The hotel lobby was almost exactly how I expected it to be, the elevator doors opened to a pristine antechamber that felt bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. It gave off a modern Greece vibe with a casual mix of cosy urban living. Massive tiled flooring, each tile had a character to it even though they all looked exactly the same from a distance, the splotching of a darker shade of white in the porcelain tiles gave it more depth. Chiselled quartz pillars circled the large space, breaking the room into different sections which all surrounded a single fountain that had the width of a G wagon and the height of a basketball hoop. In the centre of it was a statue of an angel with its wings outstretched, a single hand gripping the cloth around him and the other reaching for the ceiling. Where we had exited was where all the elevators were, three pillars stood erect in front of us and opposite I suspected the room was reflected to share the same set of four elevator shafts. Closer to the main entrance of the lobby, the pillars made a path that leads to a fountain and broke off in their respective paths to create a sort of key shape of pillars. Behind those pillars were gathering areas filled with homely couches with magazines splayed on them and on the coffee table before it. Another, which was being separated by an interesting divider made of glass and stripped wood, had a more formal setting space where I could imagine businessmen speaking about work with a laptop open across their lap. These spots were the only ones to have creamy carpets that fit the tiles, other than the reception which had a blush red carpet that leads up to the desk. At the front, desks that looked like a piece done by Piet Mondrian with the odd checker border styling with less pizazz across them greeted us. Behind them were two pretty girls wearing buttoned-up shirts and a blazer over them, they looked mystified as we walked towards them. It probably wasn't every day that they see their boss empty the hotel for themselves.

"Good afternoon Mr Wilstock. It's such a pleasure to have you and your associates here." One of the girls said with a bright smile, unintentionally scanning each of us up and down. Her name tag said Heather on it and the other girl was called Sydney.

"We've already prepared the presidential suite for you as well as their other rooms," Sydney said quickly.

"Thank you so much ladies, I know this was a strange request but I really appreciate how quickly you managed to clear the hotel for us. As soon as we have settled down, you two can leave." Wilstock was such a well-spoken man, his words felt smooth and reassuring. From beside me, Ellie rolled her eyes so hard, her brain probably rolled with it.

"It is no problem, sir. Do you have any bags we can help you with?"

"All our bags are either at the bottom of a lake or somewhere on top of Mount St. Helens," I said calmly.

"Oh," Heather said, here enlarged as she remembered were in a crash. "Well, these are your keys. You will be on the floor beneath Mr Wilstock. Room arrangements can be sorted out by you."

"I'm with Juan, Stephy and Ellie should be together, and I assume the presential suite has a second bedroom," Lydia stated.

"Yes, it does," Sydney said.

"Then Fisher should be there. This is the most logical placement, accounting for our relationships."

"You could just say you wanted to be with your boyfriend," Stephy said.

"This is just the most logical grouping for everyone. Does anyone object to this?" She asked.

"No, I think it's the smartest way to do it," Wilstock said.

"I know it is."

"Thank you once again, ladies. I think we will retire for the evening."

"It's no problem, sir." The girls said with blushed smiles. We grabbed our keys and went back over to the elevators. It was a short ride before we reached our floor.

"Okay, what time are we going to leave then." Wilstock looked to Stephy as the elevator stopped, a soft ding under his voice.

"Midnight gives us enough time to rest and heal up. Speaking of that, Juan come over to our room first before you go to yours."

"Oh, I almost forgot about my broken arm."

She narrowed her eyes. "The sass is unnecessary, now come on."

"I'm going to work on my project for a bit then head to the shower," Lydia said as she gripped the briefcase that was strapped to her hand.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit then." I gave her a little side hug for appearances and let her go forward to our room which was a bit further away from Stephy's.

The rooms were huge. A massive window that took up the whole west wall let in God's rays that broke through the newly formed clouds. Snow had started to trickle down on the buildings, trees from the hills wearing their new coat of snow proudly. Cupboards lined our entry to the two beds in the room separated only by a bedside table with a lamp on top of it, opposite them was a flat screen tv mounted to the wall. A door beside the bed closest to the entrance leads to a tiled bathroom.

"I'm going to take a hot shower while Stephy does her thing." Ellie walked off into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"Take a seat, fair warning though. I don't have enough juice to fully heal you."

"That's fine, I'd just rather not have my shoulder feel like thousands of tiny daggers are trying to leave my body," I said to her, she perked a slight smile as we both sat on one of the beds. She placed her hands softly on my shoulder which made me involuntarily flinch before the warmth that travelled through her and into me. I could feel the shattered pieces of bones inside me pull together like magnets, coming together to form my shoulder. Pain erupted at first but slowly it began to feel better, I sat still as Stephy did her work. We sat on the bed silently, I looked at her while she concentrated with a drip of sweat following her hairline. "I have something to ask you?" I said abruptly.

Her violet eyes opened; a brief flash of annoyance filled them before it washed away. "I have a feeling I know what it is."

"What the hell happened back there? You've always said that violence was never your first response."

She was quiet, hands still healing me as she thought of the right words. "You were the one who told me that I should basically forget pacifism when it comes to self-defence."

"That wasn't self-defence."

She sighed, "He was coming after us and after what he said. I just got so pissed off." Frustration stuck in her words

"Getting pissed off is not a great Stark trait," I said to her sympathetically.

"What does that mean?" She became defensive but continued to heal me.

"You know I loved Oliver like a brother, but we remember what he did. I still don't really understand what happened at the cemetery, what went through his head, but he was full of so much rage. I just don't want what happened to him to happen to you."

"You think I'm going to start killing people."

"I'm just saying that I didn't think Oliver was capable of it and for a second there, you looked like you were going to do something you would regret."

"I was pissed and got caught up in the moment."

"Just like when you stabbed me in the leg."

"You said you were fine."

"Getting caught up in the moment is how people get killed, on either side."

"I wasn't going to kill him." She growled, almost baring her teeth.

"Then tell me, what were you going to do with that chunk of metal?" I asked, my face stern and solid.

"I... I wasn't..." She stuttered.

"That's what I thought. A few comments almost made you kill someone today. You would have never let something like this bother you before, you're letting your emotion get the best of you."

"Before when to clarify. Before Oliver died or before I was put in charge of this mission." Finally removing her hand off my shoulder, the pain had subsided, only vaguely bearable. I could at least move my arm now.

"Does the 'when' really matter? If being on this mission is bringing up some stuff for you maybe-"

"Maybe what. Listen, I know that you have done a bunch of missions and you are the Silver Fox or whatever, but this is my mission. You aren't calling the shots." She became more and more aggressive.

"I'm not trying to take over. I'm just worried."

"You say that like the only reason you even talk to me isn't that it was my brother's dying words. I mean it is your speciality to fake friendships because you were asked to."

It felt like my heart got crushed, her words came out of nowhere with so much raw anger. I stared in silence, partially trying to find words to say, hoping that she would either apologies or even falter in her solid demeanour. She did neither. "I'm sorry you think of me like that, but I do care." I stood up from the bed and looked at her, still feeling the anger rolling off of her like the months following Oliver's death, trying to get me to shout back at her but I forced it down. "I'm going to my room, hopefully, we'll talk later though."

I wandered down the hall and to my room, and unlocked the door. Our room was a mirror image of Stephy's, from the placement of lamps to the size of the room. Lydia had already claimed the bed furthest from the door and had her equipment spread across it as she tinkered with them cross-legged. It looked like she had managed to pack her whole lab into the metal case, some of them seemed too impossible to have been in there, but she had her ways. She barely noticed that I had entered, her mind was in a different plane of existence and the only thing on her mind was the chemicals in her hand. My feet carried me to the bathroom and I placed myself under the showerhead. Letting the water run down my back as I tried to wash out the stress. I got out and dried myself off before heading back to the room, Lydia was still staring deeply into her vials.

"Oh, you're back." She noted, not shifting her attention away from the chemicals.

"Well, I wasn't going to sleep in the hallway," I said. On my bed was a bundle of fresh clothes, about my size.

"Mr Wilstock asked the receptionists to get us some clothes since we lost ours." She said, almost as if she could see me without looking. "Also, a backpack with more supplies."

"How did they know our sizes and is that how you got your entire lab here?"

"They guessed as best they could. As for the lab, I upgraded the briefcase to carry more things in it. I've added slots for more chemicals and equipment and added a device I created last night while learning C++ that reduces the weight of anything it is applied to. The briefcase weights nothing now." She said finally turning her head to me, a gleaming smile from ear to ear lit up her face. Whenever she spoke about anything she's created or achieved she would have this vibrant smile that brought out her dimples. It brought a smirk to my face.

"Will it work on a human, I need to lose a few pounds," I said as I grabbed a shirt and jeans from the pile of clothes and shimmied into the bathroom to put them on.

"You don't need one. For your height and body stature, you fall under the right weight category for yourself." She shouted at me.

"How sweet," I said exiting the bathroom.

"I was simply stating a fact."

"How is the science experiment going," I asked.

"You calling it a 'science experiment' undervalues what I'm doing." She scowled.

"Sorry, but seriously. How is it going?"

"Honestly, I haven't made much improvement. I don't have Aristotle or Hypatia to test it on. The analyzer I made is showing the same exact things as yesterday. I've tried almost all the chemical combinations I can with the chemicals at hand and it's exhausting me." I walked over and sat at the side of her bed, placing my hand against her arm, it was frozen to the touch.

"You're freezing, why don't you go take a hot shower and a nap as well. Get back to it once you are done."

"I should just stay focused on doing this." I noticed the slight chatter in her speech and her body would also randomly burst into shivers. How had I not noticed it before?

"You had the worst end from Spirit Lake and you're still shivering. You're smarter than I am, do you think what you are doing is logical?"

She glared at me, she slowly grabbed the equipment laying on her bed and placed them carefully into the metal case. "This isn't you being right. This is me realizing I'm putting myself at risk of hypothermia." She got up from the bed and looked at me. "I'm going to take a long warm shower, then maybe take a nap."

I smiled again. "You're welcome." She grabbed her clothes and walked into the bathroom. I lay back on her bed with my head hanging over the side, I stared out the window into the dark night sky. Stars emerged from the darkness, slowly gleaming into existence. I moved my arms to my side to push myself up and knocked the metal case that was still wide open. Lydia must have been out of it, she wouldn't have left it open like that regardless of who was in the room, she once slammed it closed because my fingers were too close to it. Now, everything I desired was right beside me. I sat up and looked at the vicious red liquids that lay in the case, taunting me. My hand started to hover over the case, wanting to just grab one of them like a claw game. I looked towards the bathroom door constantly, maybe hoping that she would stop me but my intentions overlying that were darker. It took everything I could to leave the vials where they sat and move away from the case, my chest steaming from the heat and agitation that was building up inside of me. My throat felt like it was closing up, I forced my legs to carry me to the window and shove the window open. The frigid air blew into the room, slowly my breathing relaxed to what it should be and my heart pulsed a little slower. The air brought in the smell of the water coming from the river close by and silence. It was soothing until it was unnerving, even at night the air sound be filled with honking and engines running below but it was just silent. I searched around the window and there were no vehicles for two blocks. I knew this play well, I used it while I was in Transgress. I looked down and there they were. Two armoured cars and I suspected there were six more covering each side of the building, soldiers were already standing at the doors with their guns aimed and ready. I knew what followed and almost on cue the lights went out. I ran around the room, grabbing my bag and putting clothes inside.

"Juan, what's going on?" Lydia asked from the bathroom.

"Get dressed. Transgress is here."

"Shit, pack my bag." She said as she went back in, I could hear her scuffling around inside. I pulled my torch out and just threw everything I could into the bags before Lydia shot out of the room, her hair still dripping with water.

"Let's go, we need to get to Wilstock," I said as I closed the metal case last.

"No matter what. They cannot get the Roboro. Even if it isn't finished, it's closer than they got." She said, seriousness in her voice.

"Won't let them get their hands on you or the vials. Now let's go." I said to her as I handed her the case that was now unknowingly a vial lighter.