JACE

Shit. This isn't good.

I sprint out of the bathroom, not knowing exactly where I'm going, but my legs carry me towards the exit of the building.

"Hey!" Asylum shouts from his room as he sees me running down the hall, away from where I was supposed to go, "Where are you going?!"

"Who knows," I overhear Aether offhandedly comment and I can picture him shrugging with an expression that says he couldn't care any less.

If I'm right, Clattonia is coming here in order to get Aether, which is unlike her usual logical, calm, analytical, tactical, thought-out thinking process. Doesn't she realize how dangerous it would be for her to set foot on this property? Or maybe she does realize and she doesn't care, but shouldn't she be looking at the bigger picture? Even if she does take out Aether, she'll be captured and won't be able to continue her work in the rebellion.

I burst through the doors of the building and stand outside on the platform before the stairs, scanning my surroundings hastily and noticing how everything seems louder and more acute than normal as if my senses were heightened as adrenaline pumps through my veins and I can almost hear the blood pounding in my head and through my veins.

"Where is she?" I mutter aloud to myself, "Where could she be?"

I jog down the stairs as I continue to look around and see where Clattonia could possibly be coming from, hell, if Aeryn is with her, she could be anywhere by now, but I think that she went alone from the sound of it. My eyes widen whenever I spot the familiar, magenta haired girl sprinting down the street at inhuman speeds, streaks of red energy trailing through the air at her sides as she holds a glowing red, silver katana in each of her hands. Could I even stop her at the speed she's running? I may not be able to, but I'm sure as hell going to try.

"Clattonia!" I shout and race towards her, her eyes narrowing slightly as I approach her, "Stop!"

My eyes pinpoint the area that she goes to run in order to get around me and I quickly leap over in her line of running, her eyes widening slightly as she skids to a halt and slides sideways in order to avoid running me over.

"You can't stop me, Jace," Clattonia says firmly, "Now let me through. I could plow over you if I wanted to, but I'm asking you nicely to let me through."

"No," I shake my head and notice that she goes to take off, so I quickly entrap her in my embrace with my arms, holding her back against my chest as she writhes around.

"Let me go!" She snaps and continues to struggle in my hold, but my arms tighten around her and she squeaks in surprise.

"I may not be able to stop you, but if you take off running, I'll be dragged along with you," I say calmly, "And you wouldn't want that, would you?"

"Tsk," Clattonia huffs in annoyance and glances off to the side.

"Why are you acting so out of character?" I ask quietly, "Normally you think things through before acting, and we both know how stupid and reckless you'd be to enter that building and do what you're about to do."

"Sometimes I act on impulse too, Jace," Clattonia says after a short while, "Not very often, but whenever I do, I'm practically unstoppable."

"You're a force to be reckoned with, Clattonia, everybody knows that. And I know that what you want most right now is to rush in there and lay waste to Aether, trust me, I've never thought of something that would be as satisfying as wiping that smirk off of his face and bringing him down, but you have to wait for the chance to appear," I say.

"We make our own chances," Clattonia says and turns around in my arms so that she's facing me, "We calculate, analyze, assess, and take risks. Certain things may be left up to fate and chance, but we can always counter those and make our own fate, our own destinies, and our own chances."

"I understand that, Clattonia, but," I start, "You have to know that right now your best option is to not take that chance. There are some chances that are worth taking and there are some that are extremely risky and could make you lose everything, but this one just won't work out in your favor no matter how you look at it. You may gain the satisfaction of killing him, but it won't be worth it. He'll get what he deserves, you'll just have to wait for the time to come, and you'll know when it does."

"Jace--" Clattonia starts, her eyes softening.

"I knew you were up to something," I hear Asylum's voice come from the stairs and my eyes widen as I turn to see him standing there, "I just didn't know it involved this beauty."

"Asylum," I choke out and Clattonia visibly tenses as if she's preparing to fight if she has to.

"Relax, kid," Asylum chuckles and puts his hands in the pockets of his pants, "I'm not here to rat you out. You know that I don't like it here and that I believe an individual is defined by their character, not what they are. You could've told me, you know. At least then I would've known where you've been sneaking off to all the time."

"Sorry," I breathe a sigh of relief, "I just didn't want to get you involved because I didn't know if you'd help and I didn't want to jeopardize your career, not to mention your life."

"Please," Asylum chuckles and glances up at the sky, "I've got nothing to lose anyways. May as well fight for what I believe in, eh?"

"Clattonia," I say and turn my gaze back towards her and she watches me, "This is Asylum, the friend that I mentioned."

"Hm?" Asylum raises a brow slightly at the fact that I've talked about him, "Nice to meet you, Miss Cessair."

"Likewise," Clattonia nods and relaxes in my hold.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," Asylum says and waves with his right hand as he walks back into the building, his left hand still in his pocket, "I don't know what you'll tell Misa though."

"Misa?" Clattonia questions and raises a brow at me.

"Misa is my childhood best friend who works here with me. She's a little bit older than me and treats me like her younger brother and always competes with me," I smile sheepishly, "Her opinion on Supernatural isn't as strict as most who work here, but she isn't as accepting as Asylum is."

"Oh," Clattonia says simply.

I go to say something, but my attention becomes diverted whenever I spot Reece and Essence running towards us.

"Reece? Essence?" I raise my eyebrows in surprise and Clattonia whips her head in their direction, "What are--"

"What the hell were you thinking?" Reece snaps as he slows his pace but looks visibly angered as he stomps over, "What was so important for you to run off like that?"

"I--" Clattonia starts, but Reece pulls her out of my grasp and into a hug.

"You worried me," Reece says quietly.

Beside him, Essence smiles at the scene before her eyes meet mine and she waves shyly as I smile back at her.

"Katsuro texted me and told me that you ran off and nobody knew where you went. Essence and I hurried back to the base and Lucian told us that Katsuro took off looking for you," Reece explains, "What on earth happened?"

Clattonia shifts her gaze to the ground for a few seconds before looking up into Reece's gaze and gently touching his arm.

"Reece, we found out who killed your brother," Clattonia says quietly and Essence inhales sharply.

"We?" Reece's gaze shifts over to me and he narrows his eyes, "How do you know about what happened to my brother?"

"I saw the file," I say after a few moments, "I called Clattonia and told her about it. I was going to mention something else that was important, but she hung up and took off by then."

"Wait, what?" Clattonia asks, "What else did you need to tell me?"

"The documents that Midnight had were for a classified project," I say, "I don't think he knew what papers he was taking, but it's why White Rabbit reacted the way they did."

"What project?" Reece asks.

"We should probably talk about this somewhere else," Clattonia interrupts, "It isn't safe for us to be standing out here."

"Clattonia is right," Essence nods in agreement.

"I'll text Katsuro, Lucian, and Aeryn and tell them to meet us back at the base," Reece says as he presses one of the side buttons on his watch and goes to message them.

"Lucian and Aeryn? They went out searching for me too?" Clattonia asks.

"Yeah," Reece nods, "Essence, Lucian, and Aeryn came with me to look for you and Katsuro. I told Lucian and Aeryn to pair up and go another direction in hopes of finding you both faster."

"Um," A familiar, feminine voice calls from the sidewalk and all of us turn to look at the source of the voice, my eyebrows raising in surprise to see the redheaded woman from the restricted floor, and she pushes up her glasses as she stands there in a white labcoat with a lavender, button up shirt and a black pencil skirt with short, black, combat boots and has a white, plastic, grocery bag dangling from her index and middle fingers on her right hand, "Excuse me, but could I talk to all of you somewhere private? I promise I'm not out to get you. I saw Jace on the restricted floor and knew that maybe there was hope, but seeing all of you with him, I now know there is."

"Hope for what?" I ask wearily as everyone around me tenses and prepares for the worst.

"Hope that somebody could possibly stop this madness," The redheaded woman says with an almost desperate plea in her voice.