"What was that?" Teresa said.

"How should we know?" Thomas said. "This is your area of expertise."

"That noise came from where Axel was."

"Shit," Thomas said. "No time. We need to get to him now. Can you use that ring?"

Teresa held it up. "Sure, but I prefer to save the power in case we need it."

"Alright, on foot it is."

"Oh God. Just let me rest," Connor said. "It took me a few minutes to run this far."

Thomas approached him and grabbed his arm, and pushed him forward. "Then it's just a few minutes for us two. Teresa, go ahead. We're right behind you." Thomas holstered the gun behind him in his belt loop.

Connor regained his composure and hustled along with Thomas as Teresa flew ahead. As they made their way down, the red haze had finally cleared.

"Mask off," Thomas said to Connor. "May help with your breathing."

"Keeping it on to be safe."

Thomas removed his. "Sure."

She slowed her approach, worried about what caused the noise. A gash that wasn't there earlier arced across the ceiling and into Axel's room, continued across the glass containing the gold Aeon Switch and blasted into the top corner, where the plasma rifle stopped—stuck in position and blowing steam.

Looked like it slowly skidded in a new direction. Teresa thought, Axel saw it and decided to not chase us, or follow us tell us that the switch might get free. But the glass still held, and Axel looked upset that his prize remained out of reach.

"Who knows if that's even glass," Teresa said. "If it was, there's no way it could have stopped that."

Axel turned away. "Just shut up."

"I'll get it for you," Teresa said, "but you gotta tell me where Stephanie is."

"You think they tell me anything? I have no idea where she is."

"You better think hard then. Any clues? Did you see her go anywhere?"

He gestured to the double doors past the gold Aeon Switch. "There are those doors. Haven't seen it used, though."

The hiss from the plasma rifle continued from the top corner of the room it got stuck in. Thomas peaked his head around the corner and signaled Connor to follow him in.

"Axel," Thomas said.

"Principal Bailey?"

"Don't interrupt. We're getting you and Connor out of here."

"Fuck that."

"We don't need your permission," Thomas said.

Axel grinned and started hopping around, switching between his feet with each hop. "You going to move me with that thing while I'm not in position? Risk ripping my body in half?"

Thomas rushed him, and to Axel's surprise, he got immediately pinned against the glass.

"Now you're in position," Thomas said. "Connor, get over here."

"Let go of him," Connor said. "We need to get Stephanie as well."

"That'll be Teresa's problem," Thomas said.

"I'll determine what my problems are. Axel and I are adults. Teresa is not."

Thomas thought for a moment, realizing he couldn't pin down two of them. He reluctantly let go of Axel. "What do you suppose we do then?"

"Let's get the gold switch," Connor said. "We can interface with it, and maybe there's a clue."

Thomas stepped back and looked at the gold ring through the darkened glass. A bolt of electricity struck the glass. "Are you sure it's safe? It looks like it's floating."

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"I can just bring it here with mine. But I'd like to know what's behind those doors, as maybe it'll lead to Stephanie."

Thomas nodded in approval. "Now, before they send God knows what down here."

Teresa quickly tapped her watch twenty feet, her Aeon Switch revved up, and she was past the glass and in the room. "Nice. Can you hear me?" She pointed to her ears.

The three men nodded no. She glanced at the necklace hovering on its stand. A static charge radiated off of the gold Aeon Switch. But, first things first.

She hovered to the vaulted door and noticed a lot of the equipment was from Stephanie's living room. The plate she got used to seeing all the time was on its side, propped against the wall. Even some of the computers she used were stacked on each other.

Alright then, she turned to the vaulted door, and as apparent as it was, she pressed the button next to it. It didn't open as she expected, but a rumbling noise grew louder and louder and stopped, and the doors opened. It was a large elevator. She got in, turned her watch at a different angle, and blipped herself twenty feet high. It was dark in the shaft, and a glimmer of light shined at the top. Quickly she flew up, and it led directly outside. She watched officers and staff running amok, trying to ready another plasma rifle to lower down.

No Stephanie.

She flew back into the shaft, blipped herself back into the elevator, and nodded no to the men waiting on the other side of the glass. Before grabbing the gold Aeon Switch, she rummaged around the counter, searching for anything out of the ordinary, any clue for Stephanie. Nothing.

She grabbed the gold Aeon Switch and had to jerk it off whatever electric force kept it suspended from the stand. Immediately an interface appeared over a part of her vision. The text was sharp and legible despite being in her peripheral.

"Got it," she twirled the switch's around, one on the left and one on the right.

She turned on the intercom, "No signs of Stephanie. Stand back. I'm gonna blow the glass away with this one." She lifted the gold switch. As she felt comfortable with their distance, she fiddled with the UI, focused—with some difficulty—on the glass, and sent it away to the far side of the room behind the men.

"Why didn't you just blip back in here?" Connor said.

"Can't send two at the same time. They resonate together."

"And no signs of Stephanie?" Connor asked.

"No, that shaft just goes topside. I'm sure you need special clearance to get down, and it looks like it was made especially for this room."

"What do we do then?"

"We get you and Axel out of here," Thomas said.

"We may have some time," Teresa said. "They're still trying to get another rifle down here, but it's still top side."

Axel rolled his eyes. "We're not going to find her."

"What do you mean?" Connor approached him.

"We're not going to find her."

"And how do you know? How do you know we're not going to find her?"

Axel was surprised as Connor only got on the offensive if his life was on the line.

"Connor makes a point," Thomas said. "You sound so certain. Have we checked every avenue down here? Maybe she's locked up somewhere that we haven't checked."

"What are you talking about?" Axel backed up. "From the looks of things, these two dipshits have been running around everywhere down here and found nothing."

"Axel is right," Teresa said. "We would have found her by now. It's a narrow corridor. I also doubt they risk shooting her with the plasma rifle that fires through a quarter mile of walls."

"See," Axel said. "Stop accusing."

"These two said you want the gold necklace for money," Thomas said. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, of course, it's true," Connor said.

"Shut up," Axel said. "Prove that. Prove that I know where she is right now."

Teresa, Connor, and Thomas decided to back off the subject. And as Teresa pondered any possible solutions as to what to do. Thomas placed his hands on his sides, looking down. Connor crossed one arm, rested the other on it, and held his chin. Teressa floated in a circle, tapping her head with her silver switch.

"There has to be a way to deduce where she is," Teresa said.

Thomas scratched his chin. "Maybe she isn't on the base—"

"Teresa!" Connor yelled.

She felt a tug on her hand. Axel hurried to the other side of the mostly destroyed room and lifted the gold Aeon Switch high in the dilapidated air.

Teresa thought she had enough space to keep the switches safe. But even Axel's quick movements surprised her, surprised everyone.

"Son," Thomas said, "take it easy."

"Holy crap," Axel said as he was experiencing the brain interface.

Connor trembled, not of fear but of anger.

Rage.

Axel was sent to Mars as he had. He was working with Stephanie as Connor had. Dated Olivya. Throwing a beer bottle like a fucking joke. Joules. Lied about Joules. Taking away his dog, his most prized possession, his most loved experience, and one of two heartbeats that never let him down, Joules, he took her life. Now he held onto the Aeon Switch. Humanity's most remarkable achievement created by the woman who took him in cared for him, and loved him.

And Axel was treating it like a toy.

Connor went straight for his throat. Not caring if he'd activate the switch. Connor would do anything, risk everything, to take Axel down. Enraged, Connor tackled his brother to the floor as they screamed obscenities at each other.

Thomas tried to step in, but Teresa stopped him. "If they set off the switch, we may lose a limb," she said.

Connor managed to get Axel in a headlock. Axel did everything he could, slamming his back against the wall to try and crush Connor again and again. The floor was littered with debris, and Axel went for a bodyslam, jumping in the air to crush Connor on the floor. But the interface wasn't just in Axel's vision. Connor's eyes scrambled, choosing options. And before he got crushed on the ground—

[]~*