Rory's hands were already cold and clammy before he began clambering down the rickety ladder but the metal was even colder and stung his skin. He gritted his teeth and pushed the fear away, and he descended into the pitch blackness. The deeper he climbed, the more the walls of the tunnel seemed to lean in closer and brush cold fingers against him. The pinprick of light above him was soon blocked by the figures of Eden and Lucas following him down. Too late to turn back now. Rory climbed until he reached the floor of the corridor. It was dimly lit by strip lighting along the seams of the ceiling, and Rory was momentarily thankful for that small mercy.

Eden landed lightly on the floor behind him and glanced around curiously without a trace of fear on her face. He envied that in her, and had since they were children. No fear. He tried to keep from shaking and hold his face in some semblance of a confident expression.

“Let’s get moving,” Lucas said as he dropped to the ground. He took off down the corridor without looking back. “Bianca doesn’t like her time wasted.”

They walked in silence until Rory’s heart was pounding not only from fear but also exertion. He scanned the walls of the corridor but there was no familiarity; the uneven patchwork walls and tilted floor suggested it had not been built by professionals.

“You built this yourselves?” Rory asked eventually. “What is this place?”

“Home,” Lucas answered sharply. “So I want both of you to be on your best behavior. You’re guests here. Well, you’re still a guest for now, Dr. Lawrence. Eden is one of us.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Rory said over Eden’s snort of derision.

“Manners,” Lucas reminded him.

Lucas paused at the end of the corridor, where they had finally come to a sturdy door. He fiddled with the mechanism, turning his back to them. Rory was not often prone to violence, but he let himself imagine how satisfying it would be to hit Lucas in his ridiculously square jaw. He trusted Eden and, for some reason, she believed that trusting this man was the right move. Rory understood why they had to turn to the Hive, but Lucas somehow made it even less palatable. The moment passed as quickly as it had come, and then Lucas had the door open, so he and Eden followed Lucas into the base of the Hive.

The home base was cozier than he’d pictured in his head. They entered a low ceilinged circular room, filled with mismatched furniture in floral, solid, and paisley prints, all obviously second- or even third-hand. The floor was steel, just like the corridor, but layers of rugs lined the floor and the remaining silver patches blended into the mosaic. A few people, none of whom seemed surprised to see Lucas leading two strangers into the room, gathered on the couches in small groups, wrapped up in their casual conversations, their laughter floating easily through the room. They didn’t look like Rory had imagined they would either. So far as he could surmise, they looked like average people. None of them monsters.

“Follow me,” Lucas said.

Like spokes on a wheel, a handful of corridors branched off from the main room, their doors propped open by books or knick knacks. He led them through the doorway directly across the room. The corridor was chillier than the outer room. As they walked, Eden’s steps slowed almost imperceptibly, but he noticed nonetheless. He wrapped an arm around her and she flinched before softening into his warmth. He had a feeling her tension had very little to do with the chill. They passed several doors and branching halls as Lucas led them through the labyrinthine turns; Rory was convinced by the fourth left turn that they were being led in circles to intimidate and confuse them. He hated that it was working and was grateful when they finally stopped at yet another door at a dead end.

“Bianca’s office,” Lucas said. “You two stay out here for a moment.”

Lucas knocked three times quickly and then once more firmly before ducked inside the door, leaving Eden and Rory alone in the corridor.

“It’s going to be okay,” Rory said, though he didn’t know whether it was meant to be a reassurance or a question.

“This is it,” she said, sighing. “I’m out of ideas. Where do we go from here?”

“Back to our lives, with any luck.”

She raised her eyebrow sharply at him. “I can’t imagine that’s possible. Not after this. We’re terrorists, Rory.”

He couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh. “I think that’s a strong word for what we’re doing. We’re heroes, really. Risking our lives to stop Dr. Abrahams and his dastardly plan.”

She rolled her eyes and slumped to the floor, leaning against the wall. He joined her, sinking to his knees, cold against the steel flooring. What was taking Lucas so long? The silence in the corridor grew and with it came fear.

“Hey,” he said. If they kept talking, there would be no room for the doubt to creep in. “We’ll leave, then. We’ll go after this, if we can’t go home.”

“Leave?”

“To Paradise or Valhalla, maybe? Anywhere away from here and Cardinal Enterprises and the Hive. I hear Valhalla has a great laser team.”

She snorted. “We can’t just leave.”

“Why not?”

Eden opened her mouth, but the retort died on her lips. The door swung open creakily and Lucas emerged into the corridor. Rory wanted to swear and scream at him to go back into the room but he swallowed it down. He and Eden shared a look, the kind of look he loved sharing with her, where he felt like he could read her mind and she his, before they turned their attention up to Lucas.

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“What are you doing on the floor?” he asked. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Bianca is ready to see you.”

Rory wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but when they followed Lucas into the room, his breath caught in his throat. The room was cast in the pink glow that was so familiar to him. Eden gasped, and he realized she’d never seen Paradisium, only heard him speak of it. It was everywhere. The room was lit by it; no need for any kind of traditional lighting. While he’d expected an office, a control room, or a sterile interrogation chamber of some kind, they’d been brought into a nearly comfortable living space. It was cozy, bordering on claustrophobic. A single large plush rug covered the steel flooring, giving it a more cohesive feel than the mismatched rugs that lined the community space they had seen. In the center of the room, a low table supported a large glass vase filled and overflowing with roughly cut chunks of raw Paradisium. The table was littered with smaller pieces that had spilled out. Above, the chandelier above supported not bulbs but rather large pieces of Paradisium; it hung crookedly due to the haphazard way the variously sized gems were affixed to a chandelier they’d never been meant for.

The table was surrounded by a few cushions, each different, like they’d been foraged from someone else’s discarded interior design. She, who must have been the leader Lucas had mentioned, was waiting for them at the table, half hidden in the pink twilight. When they entered, she spread her arms wide in welcome.

“Isn’t it grand?” she asked. “Please, sit. We haven’t met, Dr. Lawrence, though I’m a big fan of your work. Let me introduce myself. I’m Bianca. Lucas tells me you have something important to discuss.”

Bianca was the most terrifying woman Rory had ever laid eyes on. He seated himself in a trance, awkwardly lowering himself to a cushion. Bianca was tall, even seated, and her dark hair glowed magenta in the Paradisium light. She was beautiful, in a dark nebulous way that frightened Rory more than he’d like to admit. In her eyes, the same fervor that haunted Dr. Abrahams’ eyes burned. They’d made a mistake coming to her. He felt that in his bones as truly as he knew anything. Beside him, Eden took a seat on the cushion beside his, sitting up stiffly. Her eyes never left the face across from her. In Eden’s tension, he finally sensed her fear. They’d surely made a mistake. Lucas, instead of taking a seat beside Rory or Eden, took a place standing behind Bianca’s left shoulder.

It was too late to back out now. Eden had already begun explaining the nature of the Tyche to Bianca, who never seemed to blink. Rory was amazed by her steady voice under Bianca’s stern gaze, although her verbiage was less than scientific. His own hands were trembling in his lap; he clenched them to stop.

“Tell me what you think, Dr. Lawrence,” Bianca said when Eden had finished her general explanation. “What do you make of it?'

"What I make of it?" he repeated, trying to organize his thoughts into anything resembling intelligence. It was hard to think under her cutting stare and he had a feeling he needed to impress this woman.

“Don’t waste my time," she cautioned. Behind her, Lucas flinched, although she had not spoken loudly. In fact, Bianca smiled at him, saccharine and patient. "Tell me, is the weapon as powerful as Eden makes it out to be?'

Rory nodded. “It’s the greatest threat the cities have faced,” he said. “It seems like you are no stranger to the power of Paradisium. The Tyche will be able to orbit through this lifetime and the next, and her laser will be powerful enough to demolish any city at Dr. Abrahams’ whim. Or even Haven, if he’s crazy enough. Which he might be at this point."

Bianca looked up over her shoulder at Lucas and they shared a meaningful glance. Rory waited, but the silence made his muscles twitch.

"You are our only hope we have to stop the Tyche,” Rory said. “We’ve got to keep them from launching her, somehow. If the other cities see her go up, it’ll be too late to stop whatever comes next.”

Rory trailed off, unable to really comprehend what would come next. War, he thought, although his understanding of what that was had been limited to what he’d learned in the fourth grade. It was incomprehensible, laughably unthinkably, and yet Rory could not let go of the thought. Instead of answering him, Bianca directed herself to Eden.

"You've been a good investment. I can see why you were so desperate to protect him, although I do wonder what he sees in you. Probably not the same things I see in you."

Beside him, Eden stiffened but her jaw tightened and she said nothing. He followed her lead. Bianca smiled and went on, this time to Rory.

“What we really have here is a chance to give the Tyche a new mission. A better mission. A mission for the greater good! The Tyche will be much safer in my hands than in Dr. Abrahams’, don’t you agree?”

Bianca’s meaning dawned on him slowly. "This was a mistake," Rory breathed, to Eden, to the room in general. "We never should have done this."

“War will be just as bad for us,” Lucas said. Rory was surprised to hear him speak against Bianca, but his face showed his reluctance. “We should destroy the Tyche. It’s safer. Our mission is to save Haven from Cardinal Enterprises, not destroy it with their help.”

“I haven’t asked you, Lucas,” Bianca said. She gestured to Eden. "I don’t need this one any longer, but I have a feeling she’ll complicate what comes next. Lucas, take her back to her cell and then meet us in the common room."

Lucas hesitated. Did he have the strength to defy her? “Bianca–”

“You’ll join her in a cell if you’d rather, Lucas,” Bianca said.

Before Rory could say anything, Eden was scrambling to her feet. Bianca stood, even taller than Rory had judged, and the shadows on her face deepened.

“Enough of this," she said, sweeping her jacket to one side. Her own laser gun was even larger than Lucas’s. "Take her to the cell, Lucas. Now."

There was a flurry of motion, as Lucas seemed to snap out of whatever reluctant haze he’d been in, and he swiftly folded Eden's arms behind her back. She shouted and struggled, straining against Lucas.

“Let her go!” Rory shouted, scrambling to join the fray.

The whine of the laser gun powering up sent a chill up Rory’s neck, and Eden stopped struggling. Rory froze perfectly still. Bianca had trained her weapon on him–not Eden, he noted with relief–and she flexed her fingers as if she itched to fire.

Bianca smiled sweetly. "I'd rather keep you alive, Dr. Lawrence, to make my own life easier. So why don't we all settle down. You each have a choice. Die here by my hand. Or do as I say. Only one of those options will be mostly painless."