Cinder was ignoring all of the comms being sent to her as she watched Goldi and Cress's reunion unfold. She could tell that Iko would be tearing up if she could, as she was making small crying sounds and smiling almost bitterly.

On the other hand, Scarlet and Wolf were just the tiniest bit confused as to what they were seeing. And Thorne had a gentle joy about him, showing that he must have been happy for Cress.

"So,Cinder," Scarlet began. "What'd I miss?"

Leaning over to the red-head at her side, Cinder said, "We found Cress's long lost sister who's been incarcerated in the palace for a decade. And now they finally know that they're both alive and well."

"So the usual random stuff we find out every other day?" Scarlet asked.

"Pretty much."

Scarlet then passed on the information to Wolf, who was happy to finally be informed on what in the name of sanity was going on.

Stepping away, after about ten minutes of just contently witnessing the joyful reunion, Cinder stepped away actually read the comms from her port. Because since becoming queen of a planet, she'd had enough stress to deal with. She didn't need to have comms flashing in her eye on top of trying to concentrate and see the difference between light crimson and dark maroon.

She took a good moment to gander at her port, and saw a few things that might have been better to see earlier. Kaito commed, saying that he would be there as soon as he could to meet Cress's sister. Of course – because of his Emperor duties – that would be in a little less than a week.

Next was Kinney, and he was asking her where she was. Basically, because he was her personal guard now, he had to know where she was at all times. Usually that meant being with her, but Cinder had cleverly slipped out of his sight to see Goldi after her operation. To calm Kinney's worrying, Cinder sent him a quick reply, explaining that she was in the Great Hall with Iko.

The last comm was from the research team Cinder had assigned to excavate every last dirty secret Levana ever hid in the palace. She wanted whoever took over when Luna became a democracy to have an easy first term, and no insane hiccups to deal with. Everything that could be done to ensure the safety of the preservation of the future government of Luna would be Cinder's pleasure. As in doing so would ensure her freedom from the throne for the rest of her life.

Well, not totally, as the fame of her actions during the Lunar Revolution would never leave her. But she could sure as he try to get away from this life, live back on Earth, in the country, in a small house in the middle of no where.

Or... just on Earth would do. Maybe with someone to spend the rest of her days with. Someone who understood the things she'd faced, who cared for her as much as she cared for them.

Never mind that, Cinder was growing side tracked. As she read the full text of the message, her expression conveyed more and more of her horrified mind. There was a video attachment of what the message described, and she was hesitant to watch it.

It only took a minute or two, but the video left terrifying scars on her mind. What she saw, she might never forget.

An experiment most foul. One that was borderline torturous.

"Cinder?" Thorne asked as he approached her. "Is something wrong?"

She glanced up at her friend to tell him, "We have to evacuate the palace."

Alarm rose up to his ears. "Why exactly do we have to do that?"

Gulping, Cinder began to comm back the research team, telling them not to investigate any further into what they'd found until they could get chemical and disease containment services (CDC .... that still exists) on the scene.

"Since we found Goldinia, we've been looking more into things Levana hid around the palace. Somehow, they managed to find a chemical Levana was working on. One that could do this." She turned the port towards Thorne so she could see the end image of the video, which showed the end result of the chemical contagion. It took him a second to take it in, but then he registered the threat of what was to come if that chemical got loose.

The two of them rushed over to the others and grabbed their attention, momentarily regretful of interrupting Goldinia and Cress's hug. "Guys, we have a situation." Thorne stood inches from Cress and took her hand. Instinctively, Cadmar placed his hand on Goldinia's shoulder. Wolf and Scarlet's stances stiffened, both of them clearly ready for a fight.

Cinder decided to explain the matter so that everyone could relax. "The research team I put on finding all of Levana's secrets after we found Goldinia discovered another chemical agent she had concocted. And .. I'm sorry, Wolf and Cadmar. But is has to do with LSOP."

The two of them appeared on the verge of sickness at the acronym. She knew it hurt them to mention the organization that treated them as monsters. That deformed their bodies nearly past recognition. She restarted the video she'd been sent and played it for all of the group to see. What they saw would leave a mark on their minds as it had on hers.

The experiment took place a year ago, back before Cinder met Kai, and exhibited a man trapped in a metal room. Soon, the room flooded with a red gas. The man trapped pounded on the walls of the room, begging for escape and release from the room and the gas. Before he could leave, the gas filled his lungs, and he succumbed to its affects. His muscles expanded, growing at an unnatural rate. His teeth sharpened in his mouth, his jaw pronounced itself, claws grew from his fingers.

In no time at all, the man was exactly what someone would see when they saw Wolf or Cadmar leaning more towards their rage induced tendencies. In only thirty seconds, a completely ordinary man had been transformed into a lunar soldier.

"Stars..." Goldinia said is a hushed voice. "We have to get out of here."

"I agree with Cress's big sister," Iko responded. "I don't care if that stuff won't mess with me. I don't want to be anywhere near it."

Wolf was both cautious and curious. "Could the chemical affect people who are already Lunar soldiers? Because if not, Cadmar and I could go in and contain this before it gets released."

"Let's wait for the special services to get here, and not take any chances with the potentially plague inducing disease." Scarlet clearly did not like the idea of Wolf going in there to play with a crazy gas Levana had made in a lab. "We should evacuate, like Cinder said, because that is the smartest move at this point."

It was an unspoken rule that if Scarlet wanted to back peddle out of a dangerous situation, everyone else had to as well. If Scarlet thought it was a bad idea to go into a fight, meaning she actually took the time to think about it because it sounded so dangerous, then no one else dared to changed her mind. Hence, it was that much of a bad idea.

Leading the way, Scarlet repeated what Thorne and Cinder said before. "We need to get out of here. You can all stay at the farm with Wolf and me until this mess is all cleared up. But for now, let's focus on leaving."

Just as she finished, the sound of steel doors slamming shut echoed throughout the palace. Cinder and Scarlet cursed under their breaths. The doors were the ones Cinder had installed to replace the ones they'd broken down during the Revolution. Well, more like the ones the Lunar Soldiers broke down.

"We're stuck in here now, aren't we?" Goldinia inquired. Silently, everyone agreed.

So now, Cinder and her old and new friends were trapped inside the Lunar Palace. With a chemical that could turn people into bloodthirsty, wolf-like soldiers that would rip people limb from limb with their bare hands.

Not wasting any time, Cinder ran out of the room to check for other civilians. Surprisingly, no one else remained in that corner of the palace. How had she not seen all of the mourning people leave? Hadn't there been at least a handful of relatives of the dead there earlier?

Goldinia ran up behind Cinder. "Why is the palace in lock-down? According to the thing in my head, it says that a 'situation is being contained and dealt with'. But that sounds as true as Levana's reasons for her punishments."

"Well," Scarlet began. "You know that old Earthern saying 'Don't poke the bear'?"

"Yeah," Cinder said, checking her port for answers. There had been no response from her team, and she was beginning to worry about whether or not they were choosing to ignore her, or did not have the ability to respond to her comms.

"I think, despite what you told your research team, that somebody was stupid enough to poke the bear."