The room remains cloaked in an oppressive dead air, each teen frozen in place as Mother's voice returns, leaving behind a lingering chill. Her words reverberate through their minds, sharp and cruel, as if she'd reached into their chests and squeezed every last ounce of hope from their hearts.

"I feel sorry for leaving you empty handed for hours and with the lights out. But I promise you as soon as the lights are back on, the fun will begin again." Mother says with her voice a snotty, faux sympathetic tone.

Sam's jaw tightens, her blue eyes blazing with defiance as she steps forward. "You think this is fun?" she spits, her voice low and venomous.

Mother corrects her, "It is fun, to watch you squirm and cower like little babies. Fear is a motivator...fear is a way to force those to wake up in a world that is changing."

"You think tormenting us makes you strong?" Sam dares her.

Mother's red light flares brightly, her tone dripping with mock sympathy. "Oh, Samantha. It's not about strength. Weakness yes. Humanity's weakness...love and hope. Fear lies around everywhere. From there, you can control it. Fear is power, darling, and you...all of you, are my puppets."

"Love doesn't make us weak," Sam snarls, taking a step closer to the lens. She looks among the others. "None of us are weak." As she turns back to Mother's camera lens, her words, though steady, carry a tremor of restrained fury. "We're not what you think we are."

Mother's laughter is cold and mechanical. "On the contrary, my dear, you're exactly what I think you are. Weak-minded, easily manipulated—but with potential. Oh, yes. Potential to rise above your mediocrity...or crumble under it."

Henry stands rigid, his fists clenched at his sides. "This is sick," he mutters, his voice cracking with some skepticism. "You're not exposing anything except how deranged you are."

"And yet," Mother retorts smoothly, "here you are, in my house, playing my game. Perhaps the derangement isn't mine alone."

"I don't believe it." Henry counters.

"Of course, my dear Henry. Coming from a comic book nerd, who sees all the comic book storylines, and villains who thrive in manipulating fear. The difference between me and those comic book villains, I will use fear as a tool to expose the weak from the uncomfortable." Mother retorts with a cynical mocking tone.

"We're not weak!" Sam snaps back at her, tired of hearing that insult.

Mother gives a sly chuckle, almost sounds real though mechanical. Her lens leans towards Sam's direction. "Always the persistent one, are you Samantha."

Sam wants to say something, but she holds back. Only her balling her fists, her anger showing.

"One way or another, the killer is among you. And I will expose you." Mother states in a serious timbre.

The group exchanges uneasy glances. Austin leans against the wall, rubbing his right shoulder from his earlier attempt to break the front door. His confident smirk is absent, replaced by a shadow of doubt. Maddie shifts closer to Lynne, her wide brown eyes darting nervously as if expecting Mother to strike out physically.

"You're wasting your time," Lynne says quietly, but there's a faint tremor in her voice. "We're not going to break. We're stronger than that."

"Oh, sweet Lynne," Mother coos mockingly. "The nation is watching, dear. And believe me, they're rooting for you to shatter. One crack at a time."

"Doubt it." Sam mocks her.

Mother informs them with an empathic warning, "You may not want to admit it, but one of you is Keith's killer." Trying to express fake sorrow for Keith's passing. "I promise Keith's killer will face justice, but not from me."

The teens look at each other. Austin doesn't like to hear that.

"What you mean by that?" He asks.

Mother stays silent for a moment. The teens stand nervously and impatiently. Each of the sharing anxious glares towards to each other and then back to the camera lens. The red light is still on, yet there is nothing coming from Mother. Not one word.

"Answer him!" Sam yells furious.

Finally what felt like a few minutes, Mother finally responds. "I wanted to save it for another day, but since you are so pestering about it. There will be a finale, every show has a finale. But this finale will be unique."

"So this is a show to you?" Maddie says annoyed.

"My dear Maddie, so obsessed in your introverted ways, you have forgotten perspective." Mother sneers.

Sam's stomach churns. She feels the weight of Mother's words pressing down on her like a lead blanket, suffocating and inescapable. She turns back to Maddie, her voice steady. "Don't listen to her. She's just...noise."

Mother's lens pivots slightly, focusing on Sam. "Noise, am I? Then let me make it perfectly clear, Samantha. Your finale is coming. And when it does, I promise the killer among you will face justice. Not from me, but from the nation."

Maddie's head snaps up. "What do you mean?" she asks nervously.

Mother's tone turns icy. "Justice will come, my dear. I'm not the one who will render your verdict. The audience will decide your fate. Each hesitation, each stumble, each lie you tell will be weighed and judged. And when the time comes, they will vote."

The teens are stunned as they look at each other with no utter verbal response at first, but then Henry breaks their short term silence.

"Vote?" Henry echoes, his throat dry. "You're...you're leaving our lives up to strangers?"

"Oh, yes," Mother replies with a hint of glee. "The nation demands blood, Henry. The nation demands truth. One way or another, they will have it. So, my children, play your parts well. Every performance matters."

The teens look at each other unsure what to say after hearing this stunning news.

"Good luck, my children," Mother coldly tells them, "You're going to need it."

Her red light slightly dims, plunging the room into silence once more. The teens stand motionless, their faces pale. For a moment, no one speaks. Then, without warning, the house's lights flicker back on, bathing the room in harsh fluorescent light.

The mood once dark now shines as the radiance gleans high. However, the teens wish they were back in the dark.

"Finally," Mother's disembodied voice jeers as her red light brightens. "Let there be light."

The teens are so numbed by her recent remarks, they continue to be silent. They are left paralyzed, their trepidity rising than ever before.

"As soon as the nation comes back online, the next challenge will begin." Mother advises them in the cruelest, snarkiest tone, "Better knock them dead."

The camera lens suddenly lowers, the glow of the red light fades, leaving the teens to grapple with the impact of her parting words. As they struggle to collect themselves after what they just heard, none of them speak for several minutes. There is only a disturbed lull. A period of silent dread.

Henry silently jokes, "Julie, Mother is not."

Sam stands, her arms folding and her head staring intently at the floor. Austin leans back on the side wall, unsure what can he say. Lynne walks to the couch as Maddie is already sitting, her head lowering and her hands shaking.

Henry collapses onto the couch, running a hand through his dark curls. "This is insane," he mutters. "Can't believe she's letting strangers decide if we live or die? How...how is that even fair?"

"None of this is fair," Austin snaps as he starts pacing the room. "This whole thing is rigged. And now we're supposed to put on some act for these psychos watching us?"

Lynne leans back on the couch, her hands trembling in her lap. Her usually poised demeanor is fractured, the pressure gnawing at her. "If the nation thinks one of us is the killer..." Her voice trails off, her dark brown eyes filling with dread.

"They won't," Sam says firmly, though her own resolve feels like it's hanging by a thread. "We're not giving them a reason to think that. We stick together. We show them we're stronger than this."

"Stronger?" Maddie echoes, her voice rising. "Sam, look around. We're falling apart. Keith is dead. We're trapped here. And now she's turning the whole world against us."

Sam takes a deep breath, trying to steady the storm brewing inside her. "I know. But we can't let her win. If we start pointing fingers or breaking down, she'll have exactly what she wants."

Maddie doesn't respond. Instead, she pulls her knees to her chest, her dark hair falling like a curtain around her face.

After several more minutes remaining in the Central Room, Lynne in a dead-pan tone decides to head to the kitchen to try and fix something. Austin and Maddie both retreat back to their rooms. Sam finally sits down on the couch, ponders about how can they remain strong and show those watching they can't control them.

Henry looks to her and tries to make her happy, "Sam..." He wants to say something.

"I don't want to hear it." Sam says in a slightly defeated voice.

"No, Sam—" Henry wants to say something else until he spots the laptop and notices its power has been restored, and something is blinking on the laptop screen. Henry turns back to Sam. He knows she doesn't want to hear it, but he wants to remind her about their fight.

"There still might be hope." He whispers.

Sam looks puzzled by that, yet before she can respond, Henry is already at the desk, checking the computer for the source of the blinking. As Sam turns back, trying to reflect on what she is going to do. Back at the small desk, Henry sits down on the chair and is surprised the blinking is a new email notification. Henry sighs in relief. He opens the new email, revealing a message from Elijah:

Subject: Truth about the Blackout

Sorry Data, I noticed you guys may have experienced a power outage. But I promised you there was a reason for that. A reason that might finally answer one of your biggest questions. Whose behind this. Their name is SEED. Let me know if you got this, and I will try my best to respond.

–Spock out.

Henry looks closely and then leans back a bit stunned. The next question looms next.

Whose behind SEED?