Lex let himself be led a few feet away, and his hands started searching as soon as Blue had placed them where she wanted them. He could tell immediately that they were crates, but he gave the stack a rock-test, giving the structure a few quick pushes and<span style="font-style: italic">feeling</span>how unsteady it was. When he heard the slump of dead weight hitting the ground, he decided that this was probably better than getting shot to death.<br/><br/>“Okay..,” he whispered to himself, repeating it under his breath as he made his ascent. The stack of crates swayed beneath him, but eventually he’d made it to the top, planting one foot atop the last crate and using the other to keep him steady on the next row down. His hands stretched out overhead, fingers ghosting over the ceiling above him until he found the tell-tale divots of a grate. His fingers slipped inside and hooked around the grating, giving a rough pull. The stacks of crates swayed dangerously beneath his feet, but he used his grip on the vent to steady himself.<br/><br/>With one final, determined tug, the vent fell open and the excess energy caused the stack of crates to shift unsteadily. Carefully, Lex felt up into the vent. It went straight up for the first foot, maybe foot and a half, before his fingertips felt a sharp turn into a horizontal shaft. Even for as tall as he was, it was still going to have to be a stretch.<br/><br/>His fingers hooked tightly against the lip of the shaft, where vertical turned to horizontal, pulling himself back away from it to gain a little bit of momentum before his arms burned with the task of pulling him to safety. When he felt the semi-solid surface beneath him, he let himself fall flat against it and kick himself the rest of the way inside before maneuvering his way to turn around. He braced himself with one hand and lowered his other for Blue. The sounds outside were already getting worse. “<span style="font-style: italic">Hurry.</span>”