I had trouble realigning myself in the chute but I got a grip on the sides and slowed myself down before crashing into a pile of clothes at the bottom. In the darkened room, I could make out the two figures in the room. Restrained sobbing echoed the room as Sam tried to hold back his cries, Ellie stood by him with an arm on his back. I rolled off the pile of clothes and I wanted to say something to him but I had another thing to worry about. A minute passed and Lydia hadn't come down the chute yet and I kept walking back and forth between the two chutes spaced out in the laundry room.

"Where's Lydia?' Ellie asked as she watched me stare up at the chutes.

"Percival cut us off. Juan pushed me down and told me to wait for Lydia." I replied. Another minute passed with nothing, worry was setting in. "How's Sam holding up?"

"He's struggling to keep himself together." She said, looking back at the man as he sniffled and sobbed, in her eyes sadness and understanding.

Another minute passed and more worry filled my heart. "Did you love her?" I asked her out of the blue but a question that stewed in my head from when she told me about her friend. "Lara."

Our eyes meet, there was sadness stuck within them. "Yes. More than she knew. First girl, I had ever been with."

"I'm sorry, the way you spoke about her... I know this isn't the time... I was just curious." I said as I still stared at the shoots, stuttering my words.

"No need to be sorry." She said softly

The sound of crunching metal filled the chute as dust and chunks of metal fell into the pile of clothes as another minute passes. "We should leave," Sam said, wiping his face.

"We are waiting for Lydia and Juan."

"You saw what he did to Fisher, they're both probably dead. Even if the girl gets here what about the boy? He won't fit." Sam said beginning to well up again.

"Juan will have a plan to meet up with us. He's been through worse." Under Ellie's voice, a low rumble filled the further chute as Lydia shot down into the pile of clothes at the bottom. I ran to her and helped her out.

"How is Juan getting out?" I asked as she got to her feet.

"He said he had a plan but he told me that we need to leave without him and head to the safehouse in California, he'd meet us there before we have to go to the party."

"He wants us to go straight to California without him. We can't." Ellie cut in.

"Do you think I want to do that? Of course not. The last thing I want to do is leave him in a hotel with someone who wants to kill him but he promised me that he'll make it back and I trust Juan. He knows that they want Mr Wilstock and Ellie, so they need to get as far from here as possible. He's resourceful and won't do something too suicidal."

"What are his odds?" Ellie asked. Lydia's face tried to hide her panic but it couldn't.

"Without my powers, it's harder for me to put those kinds of numbers together. So, I'm relying on his determination and sheer willpower to not die on keeping him alive."

"That's not very like you," I commented.

"I guess every single one of us isn't acting like ourselves. Now are we going to leave or not?" She asked, her facial expression was solid but I didn't need my powers to see her fear.

I knew this wasn't a smart idea but Juan's right, Sam is the mission. As cold as it felt, I had to have faith that he was not going to die. "Fine. We head for California but I don't know where the safe house is."

"You don't need to because I do. As soon as we are out of range of the power dampener, I can teleport us all there." Ellie said.

"Okay, that's half a plan. We just need the part that helps us get out of this building without getting caught by the two Gemini or the soldiers." I said.

"Easy right?" Ellie replied with a smile.

"Laundry is either on the ground floor or basement. If we are in the basement, this might be the place with the least concentrated number of soldiers but not for long since they saw us drop down here, and hopefully maintenance entrances that lead into the garage. If we are on the first floor, I have lower chances of getting out of here."

"One way of finding out right?" I said as I opened the door out of the laundry.

The good news was that we were in the basement, I could tell that by the damp and dingy smell that was locked in the air, not to mention the walls that looked like they have been cared less about. The bad news was that we could hear Transgress soldiers roaming around. A lot more than Lydia made it seem like there would be but there wasn't anywhere else we could do at this point except move forward. I could hardly see my hands in the dark labyrinth that made up the basement of this giant hotel, which was a slight advantage as much as it was a disadvantage but I need to take what I could get. We tip-toed down the pathways, hugging the wall and sticking to shadows as best we could.

A few times soldiers with flashlights walked past us and each time I could almost feel our collective hearts stop as the soldiers would stroll on past us, blissfully unaware as their flashlights just skimmed past us. It dawned on me that we had no clue which direction we needed to go or if the destination even existed, we were running on blind luck and hope. As we walked forward lights flicker on overhead, they weren't bright but it at least let us see what was see. We couldn't exactly rely on the shadows to hide us anymore, even if there was still some darkness left underground. Tension built up inside me as I crept, even the sound of pipes dribbling water from the cracks and splashing into tiny puddles made me flinch. Even the feeling of the gloomy black walls against my back left me with uncertain chills and it felt like the dingy walls continued for what seemed like forever.

In front of us, the sounds of boots splashing in the puddles getting louder, we hastily turned a corner, believing that there was no sound coming from that direction but we were horribly wrong. I bumped straight into someone as I turned the corner and our eyes meet in confusion and fear. It was a Gemini and I'd seen her before as well at A.R.D.O labs in Indiana. The chestnut-haired girl stood stunned for a second before her skin glossed over in silver and brought her hands up to prepare to fight. Behind us, the footsteps got louder and I knew that we'd be surrounded in a matter of seconds, Ellie and I readied ourselves to fight while Lydia placed a hand on Sam. The chestnut-haired girl observed us briefly, watching me frantically shoot my eyes back at where the soldiers were coming from and walked towards me. Her skin shifted back to her natural complexion as walked right past me and my friends, Ellie began to throw her fist but I stopped her, letting the Gemini walk past us to where the soldiers were coming from and stood between them and us.

"Mrs Sullivan." A soldier called out. I couldn't see them but they were close enough that if they got any closer, we would be seen. "Mr Black told us that the terrorist and Wilstock went down a laundry chute."

"Yes, I know." She said waving a walkie-talkie in her hand. "I'm going to the southern laundry room, you should two go check the North."

"We just came from there; we can accompany you." Another soldier spoke.

"I can handle three powerless Amps and a pretentious billionaire?" She spoke with calm ferocity. "Double check the north and if you see them radio in. Hurry, before they can find a way out."

"Yes ma'am." They both said before they started to run away. She turned and looked at us, unsurety in her eyes.

"Why?" I asked, short and simple.

She started to push her hair backwards as she walked toward us again. "I owed your brother."

"Oliver's dead. You have no obligation to help us." Lydia said.

"I might have been the same if not for him and I may not have an obligation but I do have morals."

"So, you're just letting us walk away," Ellie commented, her hands tight on her fans.

"Yes, but I'm not going to give you any kind of special treatment if I see you or your friends again... just know my debt's been paid." She turned away from us and walked towards where we had come from.

"Can you at least tell us which way the exit is?"

She turned her head and took a quick scan of the four of us and let out a sigh. "Keep going straight and turn right after the third turn, it will be right in front of you. There are a lot more soldiers out there and Hamish is watching the cameras."

"Thank you," I said.

"He wasn't as bad they made him out to be. I'm sorry he died." She replied as she walked away.

We followed her instructions and sure enough at the final turn a door lead out to the basement, but her other information was also true. The floor was crawling with soldiers all holding guns and were very ready to shoot anything that looked suspicious. The basement was practically a desert with predators, bare of any car for cover or get away except for the one we had come in that was being guarded. Instantly I lost hope, the soldiers on the floor still scanning around while three others walked around the exits, six of them in total on this floor and who knew how many more above. I closed the door and looked at the rest of my group, their faces seemed to lose hope as they looked into my eyes.

"I won't lie to you guys. It doesn't look good."

"We can't turn around now, there is nowhere we can go from here," Sam said, annoyance in his voice.

"It's six people with guns who would be very happy to kill us," I said back.

"No, they only want Ellie and Mr Wilstock." Lydia corrected.

"That doesn't help us, now does it." Sam bite back at her.

It felt like a light bulb blinked to life above my head. "Actually, it does. I have a stupid idea. You two wait here for my signal. Ellie, I'm going to need you to trust me."

"I already trust you." She said with an assuring nod.

"Good. You to stay here until we give the signal."

"What's the signal?" Lydia asked.

"You'll know it when you hear it."

"Wouldn't it be more logical to just tell us what is?"

"I don't know what the signal will be but you'll know it when I do. Just stay here and keep him safe."

"I'm not sure I like this." Sam began.

"Well it's this or we don't get out."

"Don't get yourself killed please." He said with a waiver in his voice, it was not overt but his words were a plea.

"I'm not planning to die any time soon, but it is time for me to be a leader." I cracked my knuckles and I looked at my friend at my side. "Follow my lead."

"Let's do this." She replied.

I grabbed the door and swung it open and walked out into the open with Ellie in toe, closing the door behind us before Lydia and Sam could be seen. Every soldier shot their gazes towards us, guns trained for us except for one who grabbed their radio, no turning back at this point. With their attention completely focused on us I announced to the garage with all my chest while throwing my hands in the air. "We surrender!"

Ellie looked at me with a raised eyebrow but didn't question me as she lifted her hands. The soldiers looked at us in confusion guns slightly lowering, but still ready to shoot us down. "I should just kill you Stark but I don't know what game you're trying to play. Your powers aren't working and you're surrounded." One of the soldiers shouted to us.

"I know," I replied. "that's why we're surrendering."

"Your tricks won't work on us." Another soldier said.

"Dude, we're unarmed and standing in front of you with our arms up. What else do you want from us, a white flag?" Ellie asked, looking to me for more information. I tried to shake my head as slightly as I could to indicate to wait.

"What other choice do we have?" I said to them.

"Where are the other two?" The first soldier asked. "We know that Ward is dealing with one of your friends upstairs, where are Wilstock and the other girl?"

"Somewhere on the opposite of the building, we split off a bit back. They might even have found a way out already." I replied with a charming smile.

"This is a distraction then." The third soldier said, pointing the gun aggressively at us.

"Yes and no. I mean I brought you what you want right?" I said gesturing to Ellie.

"Wilstock is more important than her." The soldier who was on the radio corrected me; he was now closer to the rest of the soldiers. Three of them were bunched together, getting closer to Ellie and me gradually, while one of them stood on the sidelines.

"Are you sure your boss agrees with that? I mean, he doesn't want her shot on sight anymore I wonder where he stands on that." I glared at the soldier who made the comment, he stopped in his tracks like I had sent daggers threw my eyes.

"You clearly have an idea of how you want this to go or you would have escaped with the other two. So, enlighten us." The first soldier moved his finger away from the trigger.

"I would love to enlighten you," I said with a smile. "You take us in and that's it. As I said, we're surrendering."

"There isn't an 'us' in the Stark. We could kill you and take the Colts' girl to her father." Ellie grimaced at being called that but kept silent.

"You forget crucial information stooge one, I'm Stephanie Stark. Public enemy number one and member of The Foxhole."

"So is the Colts' girl, what's your worth?"

"I am standing right here, so don't refer to me like some item," Ellie growled.

I shot her a glance, a simple message in my eyes to keep calm. She took a sharp inhale before shifting to a calmer demeanour at the snap of a finger. "My worth is the information I have. Locations, people, other spies-"

"Other spies?" One of the other soldiers asked, worry and caution flashing on his face.

"You didn't think that The Silver Fox was our only spy. Transgress took any person with working limbs to join and you're vetting system is, mind my language, but ass." I said with a stifled laugh, watching the main three parts of my plan begin. First was planting the seed of doubt.

"She's just trying to get in our heads." The first soldier said.

"Of course, you would say that," I said simply as I watered the seed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The soldier brought his finger to the trigger and moved closer to me until the barrel of his semi-automatic was pressed to my chest. It took a lot to keep a straight face and not show any fear, I kept my slight smirk fixed on my lips and the crocked eyebrow high enough to pull the perfect poker face.

"Yeah, what is that supposed to mean?" Another soldier asked, but it wasn't directed at me this time. Now I watched as the seed bloomed into a beautiful flower of distrust.

It took him a moment to realize the question wasn't for me. He turned towards the soldier who asked, who was now aiming his gun at him. "Are you actually listening to her?"

"I do admire your dedication," I said to the soldier with the gun to my chest. "you were always ready to stand your ground."

"You, shut up." He spun his head towards me, a vein on his head was pulsing with so much force. "You can't listen to her, she's just getting in our heads. Why would she expose one of her spies?"

"If you think about it, he's the one who's wanted to kill her since we surrendered." Ellie included.

"He's the one who decided to do all the talking even though it looks like you are all the same rank." I continued.

"Stop talking you bitch." The soldier snapped, he cracked me across the face with the butt of his gun, knocking me to the floor. He pointed the barrel to me. "Any more you'd like to say before I blow your head off."

"Put your gun down." All the soldiers moved in towards him, closer towards him. Towards us.

"Hey Ellie," I called to her. "my pacifism doesn't apply to self-defence." It clicked with her immediately. She kicked the gun away from the person standing over me, it slips out of his hand as launched my legs at the soldier. My feet meet the soldier's chest pushing him back into his teammates that were ready to attack him. They all stubbled down like dominos as I got to my feet. Ellie and I stood side by side ready as the soldiers slowly got back to their feet, it was six against two and the odds weren't in our favour. Three of the soldiers got their feet before the others and we pounced as quickly as we could. First, I went for the closest one to me. They tried to get grab their gun but I kick it out of their hands before it they could turn it on us, I followed it up with another kick to his head, dropping him back to the floor. Ellie was taking two of them on by herself and handling herself like a pro, dodging and kicking with elegant ease. Paying too much attention was a mistake because before I could react, one of the soldiers tackled me straight into a pillar. My back roared in pain, the man started to punch my gut while still pinning me to the wall.

I tried to bring my fists down on his back but he didn't flinch, continuing to try to wind me. With him pushing me against the pillar, I kicked my legs up against it and with all the force I could muster pushed off, throwing us onto the floor. We scuffled on the floor, swapping blows on the floor I caught him in a choke hold as he squired around trying to get free. I held him down for as long as I could before another soldier came to aid his friend, another soldier came over to us and tried to stomp down on my face. Swiftly, I brought the other soldier's face in front of mine and the soldier above us knocked his friend out cold for me. I pushed the body off of me before getting back to my feet preparing to fight. Behind the soldier facing me down was Ellie had taken down the two soldiers that she was fighting with and was dealing with one more, clearly this one was a more capable fighter as he managed to land more hits on her than any of the others had. The soldier and I sized each other up, neither of us wanting to attack first. We circled each other slowly, the distance between us getting closer until finally, he tried to punch me. It was a slow exchange between us, blocking and evading each other's hits, he was also a decent enough fighter to know how to keep pace with his opponent. It was by chance that in the corner of my eye, I caught one of the first soldiers grabbing one of the guns and was ready to shoot. That moment of chance came just as the soldier in front of me through a punch. I parried it, grabbing his wrist as it passed by his face, I twisted it behind his back and wedged my foot between his stopping him from being able to move away from the grip. Now the soldier stood as a human shield between me and the gunman.

"Face your death, Stark!" The first soldier shouted. "Let him go or I'll just shoot through him."

"A bit much don't you think?" I shouted back from behind the soldier, with my hand still free hand I pulled my dagger out from its sheath.

"Yes, that is very much." The soldier I held yelled at him.

"Then just let him go, so I can shoot you." He screamed back.

"This is what you had to deal with, jeez. We may be enemies but I feel bad for you guys." I said to the soldier I held captive, while behind his cover I held the dagger readying my shot.

"I'm not sure if getting sympathy from someone I'm supposed to capture is sad or revealing?" He asked, more to himself than anyone.

"Shut up or I'll-" He shouted, making huge motions with his arms and that was the moment I took my shot. My dagger sailed through the air and lodged itself into his shoulder. His grip released on the gun as he screamed in pain. I threw the soldier I was holding to the side and took off towards the first soldier, while he pulled the dagger out of his shoulder, I grabbed his free arm and with my momentum, I threw him to the floor hard. He tried to get back up but with a final punch to the nose, he stayed down, just as Ellie threw her opponent against a pillar before cracking him in the face with her elbow. She turned to me and was ready to come after the last soldier that was still sitting on the floor but I raised my hand.

"You come here. He's going to survive but you'll need to apply pressure to the wound." I said to the soldier who watched me pull the dagger from his shoulder. "Maybe consider a new job too."

The soldier walked over, ripped a piece of the other soldier's shirt to use as a rag and applied pressure to the wound. "What's stopping me from calling down more soldiers right now?" He asked.

"Nothing," I said as I walked toward the door. "Guys, we're leaving."

Lydia walked out the door with Sam following close behind, their eyes drifting across the parking area. Unconscious bodies littered the concrete, leaving the two with an open-mouthed expressions. "Now I see why Akari choose you for this."

"Let's just move quickly. They made a call before we started fighting, they're probably ready for us outside." Ellie said to us we got into the car, the keys still in the ignition ready to go. Ellie sat in the passenger seat next to me while Lydia and Sam sat in the back.

"Anyone have a plan because I didn't think this far?" I asked.

"Transgress will probably have the exit blocked off by soldiers. We don't know how strong the dampener is so we don't know far we have to go before our powers come back to us." Ellie replied.

"We could drive out and just drive as far away from the building as possible while one of us continuously tries to use their powers until they can, as soon as we can Ellie can teleport us to the safe house, but there are so many different things that could go wrong."

"Lydia, it's a good idea. Don't think about the things that could go wrong." Ellie said. "Are we good with this plan?" She turned to me, remembering I was leading the mission.

"Yeah, it will work. Lydia, try and use your powers. Ellie, be ready when she gives you the signal and Sam, you stay right there."

"I can do that." He said as he bulked into the seat.

I drove up to the exit. As soon as they got out of the basement, Ellie's prediction came to fruition I drove for the exit. Two armoured cars were parked opposite us and twenty or so soldiers stood in a semi-circle surrounding every exit. Although we were outnumbered once again,but car beats person every time. I stomped on the peddle and drove straight towards the right, straight towards a group of people who dove out of the way as soon as the car got close. Bullets ricocheted off the back of the car, shattering the glass as they passed through. Behind us the two armoured cars gave chase, gaining on us with ease. "Lydia, how big of a radius is a normal dampener."

"Uhh, between five hundred meters and three five kilometres, I think. The fact I have to put 'I think' at the end of a sentence means we need to move further away." She said, in the rear-view mirror I could see Sam staring out the back window watching the armoured cars we left behind speed towards us. In front of me, two other armoured cars were parked in our way just as the two other cars gained on our sides. I waited, driving closer to the two cars that blocked our path and just as we got close enough I pulled the emergency brake letting the two other cars zip past us and crashed right into the two cars that blocked our way. Altogether the four cars spun out of control flipping over each other, clearing the path for us. I slammed the pedal one more time and shot forward past the wreck. Under her breath, I could hear Lydia whispering to herself that ends with a frigid curse. I could just catch the numbers she spoke of equations she tried to solve and curse again. More armoured cars zipped out of alleyways, forcing us to go down one street where at the end of it was a blockade formed by more soldiers and cars. I sped up just to get far enough ahead of the armoured car beside me to make a risky sharp turn. We drifted around the corner at almost full speed, nearly crashing into the buildings but we just barely managed. The armoured cars missed our exit as we drove deeper into the city, I checked every side road as we drove trying to make sure we weren't going to get cut off but like bees trying to save their queen another set of armoured cars appeared at the end of the street coming towards us. I cut right down another street, praying that Lydia would tell me her powers have come back but are constantly being redirected north. Lights from stores and streetlights blurred as we sped forward, I took total disregard for the traffic lights as I broke a hundred kilometres per hour on the speedometer.

A truck slammed into the back of our car trying to swerve us off the road with another one tracing behind it, still continuing to force us northward towards where I saw more armoured cars blocking the path. The trucks behind me pulled up to either side of our car, matching our speed and blocking any chance of diverging into different paths. They gave me no choice but to go forward until we reached the road where the one on right dropped behind me while the one on the left slammed into us. I careened to the right and onto the road, which ended with a bridge.

"There leading us to a trap!" Ellie shouted.

"That is very evident but I can't do anything," I replied, still driving forward. From where we were, I was beginning to see a row of the armoured trucks blocking the end of the middle of the bridge.

"After all we've gone through today, being arrested is probably worse than dying from a plane crash or getting captured by Vortex." Sam sighed as he stared at the trucks.

It was all going to Hell and I choose to make a Hail Mary play. "Lydia, the moment you get your powers back grab Ellie," I said as I slammed on the accelerator. Getting closer and closer to the blockade, we had everything and nothing to lose at the same time. I got us close enough to see the soldiers holding aiming their guns toward us and at the very last second, I turned the car left and shot the car off the bridge. Time felt like it slowed down and as we plummeted to the water depths a voice called out but the rush of adrenaline let it come out as static. Ellie grabbed the passengers in the back seat and held me close, with near perfect timing we puffed away in a blue cloud of smoke.

We splat hard onto a hard surface, bouncing off my shoulder until I slid to a stop. Ellie landed on top of me while Lydia and Sam landed beside each other. A sudden burst of laughter filled my chest as I just began to continuously laugh, I was either going insane or everything was finally setting in, then Ellie rolled off of me and started laughing as well.

"How are we alive!" Sam screamed out.

I sat up on the floor and looked around at where we landed. It was the entrance of what used to be a fancy house and it wasn't some small entry platform but a wide room that could easily host a large gathering of people. The floors had been stripped away to their base dark concrete that left small chunks of pebbles embedded into my palms. Support columns crumbled to hold the roof up where some had even collapsed, obstructing some of the many doors. In front of us was a set of double doors that I assumed led outside, to the sides were windows that gazed out to a thick grove of trees rustling in the night wind and doors, some larger than others and behind us was a staircase that had also been stripped to the bare concrete that created it. It led up to a second floor with more doors that probably led to more run-down rooms of what I could only assume was an abandoned manor.

"How did you know that going off the bridge would get us just out of range dampener? There was no way you could have known." Lydia asked while trying to completely grasp what happened.

"She didn't know, it was dumb luck," Ellie said with a smile.

"We could have died though." She said, still in a panicked state.

I walked up to her and gave her a hug. "We could have died many other times today, so sometimes you just have to throw logic out the window and hope for the best."

Lydia just looked at me flabbergasted, mind still racing from everything. "I need a drink," Sam called out the air.

"We can get you something after I call Akari."

Before I could start to grab a phone from my bag, one of the doors shot open with violent force and a tall blonde hair boy ran out of it, hands and crystal blue eyes crackling with lightning as he stood ready for a fight. As soon as he saw us, the lightning faded and let out a relaxed sigh. "Took you guys long enough to get here. What took you so long?" Adam said as a cool smile formed on his lips.