[IC] The Dark Beyond

[Estylwen]

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Sealed Section, Narrow Hallway

@Lexisheeps, @WhiteAngel25, @Days

---

"If you need to kiss and makeup, there's the corner,"

Subject #3 giggled under her breath. Though, being as young as she was, she didn't entirely understand what Stella was suggesting. What did kissing have to do with Nick and Thierry arguing?

"We... Apologize for our recent lack of self control."

Subject #3's head tilted, observing the two. Again, she didn't entirely understand. But she was free to speak now, wasn't she? She looked up at Nick and Thierry, her brilliant eyes shining. "I don't know much, but I think you two really care about each other."

Subject #3 watched in awe as Stella worked quickly, dismantling the drones and procuring a strange rubber component from them. It was only when the rubber discs sank into the electrified water that the solution became clear: Stella intended for them to walk across to the other side.

Subject #3 swallowed nervously as she looked at the water and the imminent death it held as she tested out one of the discs with her foot. Her eyes glanced back at Stella. "Are you sure about this...?"

Not that she doubted her for a moment. Subject #3 owed Stella her life, Nick too. But the prospect of having to be in proximity of electrified water would make any sane person a bit nervous. Despite her initial fear, Subject #3 was surprisingly nimble, and was one of the first to make it across the water. She came to a stop in front of the diver on the other side, not recognizing the Voidlight logo on the sleeve of her diving suit, but relaxed when neither Stella nor Nick seemed to react to this newcomer.

"Voidlight? What's that?" She asked innocently, her pink eyes staring up at the diver. "Did you want to come this way? I uh-"

A low growl emanated from the ducts in the maintenance room, causing Subject #3 to peer nervously over her shoulder.

"-I wouldn't recommend going that way. It's... not safe."

She peered into the darkness behind the diver, past the steel door. She could see the stairwell and the water lapping at the staircase at about the halfway point. Her brows rose, and she looked nervously at Stella, calling out. "Uh, we might have a problem. The way forward... it's covered in water."

She glanced back at the diver. "Did you by chance see a way deeper into the facility from the way you came...?"

That was when she heard a thump, and she flipped back, eyes locking on Nick as he sank to his knees. He... didn't look good. He didn't look good at all.

"Nick!" Subject #3 cried out, watching Thierry try to comfort him, seeing that faraway look in Nick's eye, knowing all too well where he was.

~*~

Thin, pale hands gripped the cloth of her patient suit, curled in the corner of a padded cell. Her breathing was hard and laboured. Her muscles still ached, and her mind throbbed with pain, still recovering from when she had been on the padded table in the contained lab earlier that day.

But what sapped her strength wasn't how she had been tortured as they tried to make oil and water touch.

No.

What hurt was the words the Director himself had said.

"After all this time. I finally know the truth. You were nothing but a failed experiment, Subject #3. Nothing will ever change that."

~*~

To throw the group from the frying pan into the fire, thunderous footfalls echoed from the ducts. Emerging from the shadows was a drooling, sharp-toothed, black and ethereal, 10-foot crocodile. Its skin was scaled in hardened dark energy. Normal bullets would merely ping off of this one. Its eyes locked with Nick, sensing a vulnerability. Its massive jaws snapped viciously, staring for a moment, eying its prey.

Then, it sprung forth, maw unhinged, aiming to devour Nick.

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Upper Control Room

@Lexisheeps, @WhiteAngel25, @Days

---

A cold, dark chuckle emanated from the glinted, sharp teeth of Von Galloes, seated in the head chair in a systematically organized control room. His eyes were locked on the mega screen before him, showing the feed from a drone hovering in the shadowing corners of the maintenance room. He could see Subject #6425, Nick's true designation, collapsed on his knees, attempting to resist the command word he had sent to his central nervous system.

"Just another failed experiment."

He said. But, as he watched the Louvre director try to calm the sad excuse of a super soldier, Von Galloes noticed something. Subject #6425 seemed to respond negatively, as in, doing the opposite of his programming, to... what exactly?

"Sil vous plait."

He heard it over the loudspeaker. Thierry's abysmal begging. Almost funny, if Von Galloes didn't notice the subtle betrayal at play. He would have never programmed a subject to respond to kindness. This type of programming didn't belong in the superior weapons HiveMind produced. So, who?

Ha. What a funny joke, doctor.

A Louvre rat until his last breath, trying to save Nick from being entirely crushed by Von Galloes' will.

Oh, he couldn't wait to wring every last fibre of Nick's disobedience from his mind, body, and soul. All things had their time, though. And Von Galloes was in no hurry. Nick would see the error of his ways soon enough...

His eyes flickered over to the lovely Ghost, and he beheld her form with near-ravenous, twisted, fatherly love.

"Oh, sweet daughter of mine. Soon, you shall see how blind you've been this whole time. Soon, you shall stand by my side where you truly belong." His deep voice crooned, eyes glinting as he imagined his sweet daughter in his suppressive, unfeeling grip.

At last, his gaze took in the newcomer, standing by the failed experiment known as Subject #3. He sniffed dismissively at the latter, taking in the diving suit, noting the logo, and watching the diver's mannerisms.

He was aware of the submarine that had entered the sunken part of the sealed facility. He knew what organization was playing here. Now he needed to find out who and why.

He leaned back in his seat, watching the scene unfold in front of him as the group tried to save themselves from death. His voice was a soft, disturbing whisper.

"Struggle, my little playthings..."

[Days]

Nova took off her diving mask, which was a clear glass visor that allowed her to breathe and see while she dived, having it dangle by the connection point on her shoulder as she looked down the narrow hallway filled with deadly water. Wet dark curls that had escaped her ponytail framed her face and she pushed some from her forehead. Her hand went to her watch, turning her functions on again now she had an idea what all the noises were. Immediately, words appeared. ”Star? I think we’ve lost connection for a bit. Do you hea- read me?” Julia, the assistant from Voidlight tried to reach Nova as her words appeared in the scientist’s vision. The electric wires were making sounds, but they sounded weird and warped for Nova, not something her cochlear could handle. The flashes indicating sounds left and right were annoying and disorientating. She tried to ignore them. ”I read you, Julia.” Nova said, not wanting to bring any explanation for now, as her eyes zeroed in on the people across the flooded hall.

Immediately, she recognized Ghost from the picture Dragon had shown her. Found ya. Now she could go back to the safety of her basement, right? Maybe ask Dragon on a date, what the hell, right? She almost died like twice just getting here. Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. The operative she was meant to find was tossing discs into the water separating them from each other. In a nurses uniform. Nova blinked. A rumble came from the floor beneath her feet, yet Nova couldn’t hear the growls from the ducts, mistaking the flashes indicating sounds as more electric hissing instead of impending danger. She stepped through the door, careful to keep her feet away from the water and instead remained on the small platform before it. A girl was coming her way over the discs, which Nova now realised acted as conducting stepping stones. Ghost was a smart one. The girl was young, too young to be here, making Nova frown in confusion. She tried to remember what Dragon had told her. Ghost, a Louvre director, three allies, and a person named subject #3.

Quickly, she scanned the people behind Ghost. A blonde man in some type of guard uniform supported by a dark-haired man in neat clothes which were an odd choice to explore this place. Yet, he held himself with more grace than the rest. The blonde man seemed hurt, though Nova’s quick scan couldn’t find the cause. Then, another blonde man, younger, looking like the other one. Brothers? The last one stood behind them, a closed laptop in hand. Ghost and allies, presumably. Blinking, Nova’s vision returned to normal and refocused on the girl coming her way. God, this was dangerous, but that girl was brave as hell. ”Julia, I found Ghost. And… associates.” She said softly, before calling out to the girl. ”Be careful!” Despite not knowing the girl, her heart thumped in nerves and only eased up when the surprisingly nimble youth arrived before Nova, asking about Voidlight right off the bat.

It took Nova two seconds to process, before she glanced down at herself, a logo on the side of her arm. Ah, the girl was perceptive. What was a girl this young doing here, anyway? Nova hunched down, one knee on the floor while her forearm rested on her other one, coming eye to eye with the girl. It seemed the pink eyes saw right through her soul, and Nova looked back with her honey-glazed one, the other bright blue. Her gaze was disrupted by words forming. ”Find and bring the Vice President STAT, Star has found Ghost.”

Nova refrained from rolling her eyes. Julia was terrible at muting her communications while not talking to Nova. She focussed her attention back on the girl. Was this the subject? If so, what sick type of experiments were taking place here? It seemed the girl heard something Nova didn’t, as she looked over her shoulder back to Ghost so Nova couldn’t read her lips. But the girl’s words formed in her vision anyway. Not safe? What was going on? In any case, it seemed like they were all coming this way. When the girl asked her question, Nova nodded. She had seen another door. And since the she came was not a way back, that would have to do. The sub was made for one person, and they were now with seven. ”Hi, I’m- Star.” There was a slight hesitation as Nova introduced herself through her new name. ”There’s… a door. But it’s submerged. I can-” Nova was cut off by the girl calling out a name. Nick? She looked back at the group, where the hurt man seemed to be the subject of an argument that her augmentation couldn’t follow. They looked animated as they threw words around while the man in the guard uniform looked like he wasn’t… really here at all.

A lot of things happened at once while Nova clicked open the strap on her chest that held her backpack. She put it down beside her while keeping her eyes on the other side of the hallway. The put-together man was holding the dishevelled one, saying please, please repeatedly. A small yellow word underneath the text in her vision saying _French told her his pleas were being translated by her augmentation. Deduction told her the man begging was the Louvre Director, then. The dishevelled man someone called Nick.

She didn’t know what the actual fuck was going on, but now that she found them, she wanted to get the hell out of there. Two loud clicks were heard from her backpack as she unclipped two small tanks, both equipped with a small bar reader and a mouthpiece. Emergency dive tanks. She only had two, and both only had about 6 minutes of oxygen in them. ”Girl, listen to me.” Nova said with a soft but urgent tone, not knowing her name. She handed the girl the two tanks. 6 people, two tanks, 6 minutes. It meant three trips, Nova helping two people cross at a time, and they could only use 2 minutes per person. Which meant Nova had to find out if the route through that door would take longer than two minutes. If not, then she could bring two people to whatever is behind that door, come back with the tanks, and take the next two. ”I work with Ghost, and I came to get her. And you, too. So I need you need to trust me here. Nova gave the girl a soft smile. "Hold these. They have 6 minutes of oxygen each. I’ll go back, and see if there’s an unsubmerged part we can go to. Then I’ll be back here to take you all, okay?” The researcher said, her eyes searching the little girls before standing straight again, strapping her backpack back on. Sensing the urgency, Nova put back on her mask and turned. There were sounds behind her, but since they didn’t translate to words, just flashes, Nova assumed it was the electricity.

As she went down the steps to descend into the water, the floor beneath her feet shook and rumbled just before she pushed off, not having seen or noticed the terrifying beast that arrived on the other end of the hallway behind the others. She swam with her thrusters. She could time the distance on the way back. The dark research room was even more eerie than before while Nova tried to control her breathing. Dragon really, really hadn’t been kidding when he said it was dangerous. Her fingers searched for leverage once she came upon the door she had previously swum by before they eventually curled around some type of handle. Once more bracing her feet beside the door on the wall, the young woman pulled with all her might.

”Star? Do you have any updates? What is the status of Agent Ghost? And the others?”

Nova groaned in the effort. ”Not…now…Ju…lia.” She could feel the ligaments of her right shoulder stretch, and desperately hoped it wouldn’t follow with a pop. Her body shook as she pulled. Loud thundering sounds came from above, distracting Nova at the wrong moment as the door unlodged unexpectedly, flinging open and slamming into the woman. A shocked yell came from her lips before she could stop it as she tumbled backwards, disorientated by the bubbles of water her spinning body was creating around her. Words formed in her vision, Julia, asked what the hell that was and if she was okay, but Nova closed her eyes. Eventually, she stopped tumbling in the water.

After opening her eyes, the word ‘Star’ was displayed several times in her vision but she ignored it, trying out various parts of her body and seeing what’s hurt. It felt like she got hit by a truck, but nothing was broken, just bruised. With her hand going to her watch, she turned off Julia for a moment. She didn’t know what the hell was going on up there, but it wasn’t good. Swimming further in through the door, Nova’s focus was on finding oxygen. She didn’t look around, didn’t focus on anything but going forward. She came upon a similar staircase, but this one was fully submerged. An open steel door invited her into a hallway that was narrow, dark and downright terrifying, but Nova pushed on. After the hallway, she swam up and appeared above the waterline. She was in a big room, but there was oxygen. A bit further away, she saw a platform where they could go. From there, they would have to figure it out.

Nova didn't take in any other details of the room as she turned her thrusters off and swiped on her watch, starting a timer as she dived under again. She swam back on her own might. She stopped the timer just as she came back to the steps she had left the girl on, taking off her mask once more. 2 minutes, 12 seconds. It meant that everyone going down would have to keep their own breath for at least twelve seconds before using the emergency tank. That would be manageable, right? She stepped forward, her eyes on the hallway where she had left the group, yet found an entirely different scene.

[WhiteAngel25]

Stella's icy eyes closed for a moment after Thierry gently but sternly scolded her. She didn't mean to snap. It had been a long three(ish) weeks down here, and Stella just wanted to go home. She followed #3 across to the other Voidlight agent. A slight smile of relief tugged at the corner of her lips. "You have no idea how glad I am to see someone from there," Stella commented before the girl named Star dipped into the water once again.

Stella's guilt intensified as Nick seemed to have a breakdown. She would apologize once they were in a safer region of this stupid facility. A soft breath of relief exited her lips as she saw Thierry take care of Nick. Stella realized that their relationship seemed to be more supportive. It was rather cute despite the pain Nick went through in the last few weeks. Stella's fists gripped in frustration as she wanted nothing more than to torture those who turned the young man into a walking experiment.

Stella turned her attention back to #3, who had oxygen tanks. She smiled as she knelt in front of the girl. "You did great crossing the water. Just remember that you are always stronger than what you believe. The mind likes to lie to protect the body, but you are more than capable of avoiding those nasty guards," Stella spoke as her gaze softened. "How did they get you to move out of the vents, 3? I still had time left before you needed to get to the submarine," she questioned as she tucked some hair behind #3's ear.

Stella sighed softly as she cut the hems off her pants to make a temporary hair tie. "Here, let's pull your hair out of your face. You'll be able to see better," she spoke as she stood back up and quickly weaved #3's hair into a braid but looped it around to create a bun. Her head snapped back to the sound of the alligator.

"Thierry! Nick's grenades!" She reminded the older man as she hoped Nick still had some left on his person. Stella was getting prepared to cover 3's eyes just in case.

[Lexisheeps]

@Estylwen@WhiteAngel25@Days

Les Misérables

Thierry stood there quietly as he'd finally managed to calm himself. Still shaken from his husband's most recent breakdown, but sturdy with years- decades- worth of reactive discipline. He stood quietly, but exhaled with purpose. Keeping his husband close, if not painfully tight, but Nick didn't have an adverse reaction to the pressure. The fact that Nick stayed limp, where he'd normally be fussing, set off Thierry's temper, but only mentally.

Nick was never much for close contact. Things like French kissing had been more of a recent commodity, despite marriage. It'd been years of therapy before even holding hands. But Nick in his arms like this, reminded Thierry of why he'd chosen to come down here in the first place. Because sure, he absolutely could have sent several agents in his place. But knowing Nick's single biggest fear, abandonment, was why he was here.

Some of Thierry's emotional state went to being frustrated with himself. Frustrated at the idea that he wasn't the complete backbone that he thought he was, that he felt he needed to be, for Nick's sake. He cursed himself for having a panic attack; for showing signs of weakness. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have been so hard on himself, even happy to show Nick that being a man didn't mean lacking feelings. But he had a gut feeling that Galloes was watching through one of his many drones and got a kick out of watching him be so emotionally pained. Then a rather cold thought crossed his mind. Well at least Galloes will see what he can never have. C'est la vie. Hopefully Galloes was too much of an idiot to realize the true reason for Nick's social withdraw, but more importantly, wouldn't be able to use it against him.

And another half was spent damning the ground Von Galloes walked on, no, the very air that man breathed. It was one thing to target The Louvre. It was a very brash move indeed, to take on such a well-respected institution, but still not completely personal in nature. But to directly target his husband? There was a very good chance that Thierry was thinking of things to do to Galloes that may land him being sent to prison, or worse... fired. There are rules every gentleman should follow in a gunfight, or at least that was The Louvre's golden standard.

While Ramses and Aaron followed Stella and #3, with Thierry's blessing, the Frenchman still hadn't budged. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't leave Nick here, but he also couldn't drag Nick underwater in his current semiconscious state. There had been a moment where he briefly thought of getting Nick to his feet and doing just that, but upon finding the soft spot on Nick's skull, his heart all but literally broke. The doctor who'd worked on him hadn't shaved his head, but there was still a quarter-sized piece of skull that was loose. Thierry looked around the hallway, picking his shattered heart back up in the process. He realized he'd have to double back as sitting around while waiting for Nick to be functional again, simply wasn't an option.

As Stella screamed about the grenades, Ramses fell into Aaron trying to figure out what was going on. Damn near electrocuting both of them in the process. Catching both his own footing and then grabbing at Aaron's jacket, he pulled his gun of choice out. Several rounds went off in the monster's direction, but the bullets simply ricocheted along the walls, causing both Ramses and Aaron to fall into each other once more. Stella's yelling hadn't caught Thierry's cursed thoughts of what he had planed for Galloes, but the gunfire did. Yelling could happen for no real reason, bullets on the other hand, meant imminent danger.

Normal people would probably freak out at the idea of a crocodile. This was no normal crocodile, let alone man. And it was headed straight in his direction. Thierry's initial reaction? Target Practice. He recognized the dark energy pattern of the scales. With little reaction time, but well aware of what could and couldn't kill this monster, Thierry calmly tapped on his watch and pulled out his bazooka, leaving behind a few other choice weapons. He'd save the grenade launcher for Nick, but was willing to fight over the flame thrower.

One rocket was all it took to send a shock wave through the hall. The blast shook the water, causing a bit of a splash, "This is were I leave you." Thierry finally said to the other agents as black soot particles fell gently like snow, "Be careful that you don't get electrocuted, mauled or worse, fired! And take care of the girls, well, maybe Stella has herself together." Well... at least he tried to have a sense of humor despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I'll send you a map of the facility once we reestablish database connection. And request support as well." Ramses nodded as he pulled Aaron to his feet.

"I fully expect you to keep that asshole alive." Aaron said while readjusting his laptop bag, referring to his brother, "I'll be waiting on the surface."

"Right." Thierry failed to mention that he already had one as he readjusted Nick in his arms. He picked the man clean up like a sleeping oversized toddler. This parental motion came naturally to him as he'd had three biological children with his ex-wife. Comically, Nick was the youngest of the lot. He finally spoke to both Voidlight agents, "Tell Dragon I said, thank you for the bomb and that Voidlight is always welcome to work with The Louvre." He said with a charming smile before turning to go back into the depths of the facility.

Thierry didn't bother to ask if any of the agents were willing to double back as well. He felt it simply wasn't fair to risk their lives for Von Galloes' entertainment. If Galloes wanted something a bit more personal, he certainly had it. The inhale didn't remain shallow as he was fully aware that he and Nick might just be out of time. But at least Nick couldn't refute Thierry's feelings for him in death.

[Estylwen]

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Hallway Outside the Contained Lab

@Lexisheeps

---

The rocket aimed true, and the crocodile groaned in pain as it fell, half of it burnt away from the excessive blast. As the unresponsive Nick and Thierry backtracked through the maintenance room and the air ducts, a low chuckle echoed over the intercom.

"Well, well, so the prey wants to play?"

It was none other than Director Von Galloes, watching through the security cameras.

"Monsieur Thierry, I seem to recall a certain meeting I had scheduled with you. How fortuitous it is that you're here. Now I don't have to chase you down."

As Thierry carried Nick through the hallways past Nick's old contained lab, something would... happen. A command sent from Von Galloes to Nick's central nervous system: Subdue. A program would kick in, giving the blank slate purpose. If Nick didn't fight the programming taking over his system, he would do everything in his power to overpower and subdue Thierry with the goal of detaining him.

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Sealed Section, Armory

@WhiteAngel25, @Days

---

"How did they get you to move out of the vents, 3? I still had time left before you needed to get to the submarine,"

"I... I was in the vents, but," Subject #3 pursed her lips, trembling as she remembered. "There were all these... 'snakes', cutting off every route and cornering me. That drone, the one with the red eye, grabbed me. I'd never been so scared..."

She took a steadying breath. "You know what happened after that. You saved me, Stella."

Subject #3 smiled despite herself, fiddling with the new up-do Stella had given her. These little things made Subject #3 feel more than just a number. More than just the memories of being strapped to a padded table. More than being Director Galloes' failed experiment.

She felt... whole. Like a real person, almost.

With the crocodile half-destroyed, and Thierry taking Nick back into the upper parts of the facility, Subject #3 couldn't help but feel a pang in her chest. Was this the feeling of worry for another human? She wasn't sure. The doctors had never taught her how to regulate anything like this.

She turned back just in time to see Star return from the depths, and she held up the oxygen takes. "I don't know how to use these..."

One way or another, Star, Stella, Aaron, Ramses, and Subject #3 took turns using the oxygen tanks to navigate the submerged depths of the sealed-off section of the facility. They safely navigated the research room with its ethereal tubes and went through the second steel door, coming up to the platform where they could breathe. Past the platform, down a long, dark hallway, was another steel door.

Opening the door would reveal an armory of sorts. Or what remained of it. Scattered within it on steel shelves were small handheld devices, opaque, made of plastic with an outdated look. Any archeologist or researcher versed in dark energy would recognize them off the bat: handheld TRUMPET devices. There were also a few oversized rods that gave the appearance and functionality of glow sticks, except when snapped, they produced deep purple radiation that repelled dark energy: Anti-dark energy rods. There were a few other miscellaneous items, like riot shields, rope, and tempered glass containers with anti-dark energy properties.

On the far wall was a row of bright yellow hazmat suits, dusted with age. Beside them was a door marked in hazard symbols, with a pressurized decontamination room before one final door led to... whatever this door kept contained. Beyond the weathered paint of caution symbols, there was a small window in the center top of the door that displayed thick, swirling purple smog.

[Days]

Nova tried to briefly re-assess the scene she came back to. Ghost had made it to this side, and she held onto the little girl. They seemed close, Nova noted. The fellow Voidlight agent had mentioned how glad she had been to see Nova, so at the very least her trip here was worth something. However, Nova’s gaze went down to the young girl once more and something swelled in the lonely scientist. The girl shouldn’t be here, or anywhere near here, and Nova already knew she would try her best to get her out. Focussing her eyes back on the group again, she noticed the younger blonde and the dark-haired guy had, barely, managed to make it to this side, yet the director and Nick remained on the other side. Her diving mask once more rested from the attachment point on her shoulder after she took it off. The girl and Ghost were still before her, but the focus was on the boys in the back.

Her lips were pressed together as they conversed, yet the context flew over her head. Who were these people to each other? They seemed like a tight group, either trusting each other because they wanted to, or because they had to. Whatever the reason, the trust was there and Nova was the odd duck out. They barely acknowledged her as is, but she seemed to be low on their list of things to address as her eyes came upon the beast that was on the other side of the hallway. The sight made her gasp, her eyes widening as they took in the impressive crocodile-like creature. She zoomed in with her retina, taking snapshots with the flick of a finger without really noticing her tendency to do this anymore. The beast was approaching fast, making Nova’s nose scrunch up. If they weren’t in imminent danger, Nova would be tempted to study the beast.

The way its scales rippled with Dark Energy was exhilarating, and Nova watched the boys shoot and miss, stumbling once more. ”Holy…” Nova swallowed the last word, aware of the youth in their midst. Right, big jaws like that could actually kill, and this wasn’t a pretty butterfly to watch interact with Dark Energy like in her labs, but a goddamn massive crocodile corrupted by it. She’d be damned if she died before she could enjoy the perks of her new salary. Instinctually, her hand flew to her thigh where her gun was, but the director on the other side of the hall procured something way more dangerous, that produced a blast that sent a shockwave toward her.

The beast was dead, and the Louvre Director’s words appeared in her vision right as she was addressed and told to say thanks to Dragon. Why would she- were they not coming? She watched as the director took Nick the other way.

She took a hesitant step forward, her thoughts going to Dragon. Shit, her communications. By now, Dragon had surely been alerted by the person Julia had sent to get him. He’d been told that she had found Ghost. Would he be there with Julia, trying to figure out why Nova wasn’t answering anymore, or would he not care? Julia was probably trying everything to reestablish communications after Nova ended it after a yell and some pained expressions. Guilt crept up her veins, but it wasn’t like anyone really cared about her specifically, just her mission. Right? Especially not Dragon. Something about that thought twisted in her chest and she brushed it away. If she wanted to live, she needed to focus. She'd put her comms back on on the other side.

She turned to the group by her side just as the girl addressed her, holding up the small thanks. Nova hunched down, her face kind and open. "Don't worry. I'll explain and I'll be with you the whole way, nothing can happen, okay?" She rose to her feet and after a quick nod to Ghost, she addressed the others. ”I’m Star. Introductions can come later, because I don't know if there's another one of those bitches coming this way and frankly- I'm not willing to find out. All you need to know is that I’m here to help you guys. Those tanks,” Nova pointed at the tanks being held by the girl. ”hold 6 minutes of oxygen each. There’s a door further down, submerged." Whe went on to explain how they worked, and where they were going. She took Ghost and the girl first. While her thrusters were only enough to push herself forward, she still held onto the girl and helped her get through the lab and the hallway so she wouldn't have to swim so hard.

The scientist-turned-explorer dropped the two off a platform before taking the tanks back to the two men. She was curious as to who they were, but that would have to come later. Remembering the guys had laptops, her eyes went to their bags. ”If those aren’t waterproof,” she stared, nudging her chin toward the laptop bag. "then I’m sure I can fit a laptop or two in my waterproof backpack.”

Once they were all on the other side, Nova took off her diving mask once more. Her head was all fuzzy from the diving and swimming, and solid ground felt good. She thought she was really in shape, working out a lot, and staying active. But, she was in shape for a scientist, not an explorer. Still, Dragon had chosen her for a reason, and she wasn't about to let him down. She turned on her comms through her watch and half turned away from the group. "Julia? I'm alright. I just had a fight with a door, that is all. Did you update Dra- The VP yet?" She turned back to the group, her eyes going past them to a long, dark hallway. It didn't seem like they would be getting out anytime soon.

[WhiteAngel25]

"What do you mean she cut off contact?" A fuming Dragon stood in the communications room. His arms folded across his chest. One could almost see smoke roll out of his nose and ears if they looked hard enough. He was alerted half an hour ago that Nova had made it to the underwater facility despite some pressure issues in the submarine. When she made it inside, the connection disappeared.

"I mean, Star, cut off her comms. I don't know why. I asked what she could see. She reported that she found Ghost, then poof!" Julia began to blubber. Her hands and arms flailing about her immediate space.

Dragon pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. The frustration was directed at both his communications assistant and Nova. Nova was too new at this to ignore connections to the surface. The Louvre hadn't reported Thierry's return, so he hadn't returned to the surface yet. Dragon didn't want to go down into a second-hand, Louvre-turned-HiveMind-bullshit facility to blow up and drag the woman he saw as a sister and the other...well, he still had to figure that one out.

Nova was bright, resourceful, and gorgeous to boot. Dragon knew he shouldn't get attached. Agents were lost in the field on a consistent enough basis. Two agents in a relationship could compromise projects and missions along the way. But damn if he didn't want to wrap his arms around Nova and pull her flush against him to see that cute blush burn across her cheekbones.

Dragon's thoughts were interrupted when Nova's voice came back online. His eyes darkened as he moved Julia out of the way with a push of her roller chair and pressed the button on the comms unit. "Star," he all but growled Nova's codename. "We talked about keeping your comms open at all times. Your new augmentations are fresh enough that malfunctions could still go wrong. Report back to Juila once you find a way out. Ghost will keep you safe. We will be discussing this when you return," Dragon spoke with such heat that he had to lift his finger off the button on the microphone. His augmentations threatened to melt the comms unit.

---

Stella followed Nova through the water path, guiding #3 until they were on a platform. "Hey, look at here. Towels!" She laughed as she reached into one of the lockers and pulled out the dry fabric. Sure, their clothes were still damp, but Stella's mane of white hair wouldn't be drenched anymore.

Stella glanced over at Nova and smirked. The expression on the new field agent's face told Ghost who was talking to her new coworker. When Star appeared like she was back in the present. Stella arched an eyebrow. "Dragon chew you out? You'll get used to that," she laughed lightly as she was checking out TRUMPET devices and helping 3 put on a hazmat suit. Seeing yellow jumpsuits wasn't the greatest sign, however, it was the only way out.

[Lexisheeps]

@WhiteAngel25@Days@Estylwen

Subdue, Detain, Reprisal- A Heart

He could feel it, HiveMind. Intercepting his thoughts. Trying to tell him what the fuck to do, what the fuck to feel. Like those punk ass teachers back in school. Or those broken mainstream society idiots. Even Thierry knew better at this point and any order was more of a suggestion. They, HiveMind, were trying to turn him into a blank slate with malignant purpose. Maybe it was by some grace of God himself, that Mute was still a prototype. Rendering Nick even more angry the more he thought about it. Wait- Is making Nick more angry even possible? Bitch, please. If HiveMind enjoyed playing with fire, they most certainly were. And if HiveMind had been paying any amount of attention to Nick's hidden Louvre file, they would have realized that trying to contain Nick's anger? Fruitless. Anger was simply how the man functioned in his day to day life. He truly was a junkyard dog. Woof.

Thierry's warmth felt nice. Lessened the anger, or made it more pronounced? There was comfort in there somewhere, honest. His eyes didn't want to open and chose to flutter instead. So, Nick curled up, wrapping his arms around his husband in his waking up trance-like state. Gunshots rang out as Thierry shot, one handed, at left over monsters from the previous hallway fight. Nick could feel the tickle of Thierry's 5 o'clock shadow as he adjusted his head. Between the sounds of the gunshots and the rugged facial hair, Nick felt blissfully unaware of how serious the current situation really was.

Two simple words kept repeating in his mind: Subdue Thierry. Subdue Thierry? ...Subdue... Thierry. There was one last blast of Thierry's shotgun as Nick woke up in full force and shoved his husband, pinning him to a wall. Nick's sudden alertness was alarming at first, then welcomed, as Thierry realized he wasn't attempting to be murdered. Oh Nick would subdue Thierry alright. This is what Von Galloes wanted, right? A post apocalyptic themed hott minute between two married men sharing spit?

Later, once HiveMind's rather comically worded objective had been finished, the married pair found the pharmacy within the halls of the eerily quiet facility. The untimely brain surgery was starting to cause migraines and each new blast of a chosen weapon, was making Nick unable to focus. A mess of pill bottles scattered as both Nick and Thierry thrashed around looking for pain medication, Nick more violently as he had yet another breakdown of burning pain. He'd already burned through Thierry's med pack supply, so he was definitely feeling the heat.

Just as Nick was about to down an entire bottle of acetaminophen, Thierry grabbed his arm, "You're trying to stop the pain, not cause me a myriad of other problems!" Thierry grabbed the bottle and gave a decent sized dose to Nick, "I can't believe this is all they have. There has to be a main pharmacy somewhere in this laboratory. Too many people lived down here, but it's not on my map."

"You think they packed it up and took it with them?" Nick questioned, downing only 6 pills- the safely recommended within 24 hours dose. Nick chuckled a bit as he took a swig of water.

"What?" Thierry blinked, confused by the sudden change of expression.

"At least I'm not tired as shit anymore." Nick smiled an honest grin.

Thierry shook his head, unamused with Nick's sense of humor, "Funny."

"I suppose we could ask the big man himself." Nick said, locating the nearest security camera. The blonde approached the corner of the room it was in, cautiously stepping over downed bottles and medical supplies along the way. He stopped once he felt close enough and held up the bottle. He mouthed his words, pretending that Galloes couldn't hear him. As if it was a normal black and white CCTV camera and not just another security drone, then spoke out loud, mocking the Made-For-TV villain, "Pain pills... Ya got some Vonny?"

_________________________________________

Meanwhile in the clean world, Ramses and Aaron were keeping up just fine with the girls. Though, Ramses did find himself questioning Aaron seriously as he inhaled his first few breaths out of the chilled water, "How the hell did you hold your breath so damned long?"

"My man, what part of endurance training don't you understand?" Aaron giggled, drying himself off with a TRUMPET labeled towel.

"But two motherfucking minutes? Two? Two."

"I used to be at three, but it's been a hot minute. And Nicki can hold for five last I asked." Aaron stated matter-of-factly.

"For fuck's sake." Ramses huffed, drying himself off as well.

While Aaron had been able to keep his laptop as it was self built, Ramses had given the stolen device to Nova unsure if it was waterproof or not. A dead laptop was a useless laptop after all. "Where the hell in this god forsaken facility even are we?" Ramses questioned, approaching Nova wanting the laptop back.

"I would guess that we're near where Nick was talking about earlier. The place he said he saw the clock tower. Just a hunch though." Aaron said, noting the various hazard signs around the room.

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure he would have mentioned the purple haze out the window. Gotta be somewhere else." Ramses said cautiously not wanting to jump the gun and turned to the Voidlight girls, "What do you think? Maybe I'll try finding the database again?"

"Great idea. I think we should find that clock tower area as that's the way Nick came in. He came in on a HiveMind sub, so there should be room for all of us." Aaron popped his own laptop opened, seeing what he could find in the dark secrets of coding the facility currently had to offer.

"I'm still not entirely sure why we couldn't have just popped out the way we popped in." Ramses questioned honestly.

"The artifact Thierry used was Aladdin's Map and it can only be used once within a certain time period." Aaron stated flatly.

"What's the time frame?" Ramses questioned in earnest.

"Beats me." Aaron shrugged while looking for offline maps of the facility, "If it was do-able..."

Ramses cut Aaron off mid-sentence with a cold tone of voice, "I don't blindly follow The Louvre."

Aaron looked up from his laptop. He was more than just a bit confused by Ramses' sudden needless hostility. Was he making a point to show Voidlight he wasn't completely trusting of The Louvre? Or telling them he didn't fully trust Voidlight either? It had been a long day, but what hell just happened?

Aaron blinked at his normally chillax partner. A worried expression danced across his face momentarily as he responded flatly, "Kay."

[Estylwen]

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Hallway Outside the Contained Lab

@Lexisheeps

---

There was a low, dark chuckle over the intercom as Von Galloes watched from his drones and CCTV. Subject #6425's attempt to find a loophole was imaginative for a subject. There was a reason Von Galloes had chosen him for this particular project. And why he wasn't at all perturbed when he was asked for pain medication.

"You won't like my remedies, Subject #6425." His voice was cold, calculative.

If Nick and Thierry looked hard enough, they would find a directory along the wall outside of the small pharmacy. It detailed all the contained labs in the hallway, the exits to the stairs, breakrooms, and the central elevator at the end of the hallway. Among the details it gave, it mentioned floor 1B, which seemed to have a submarine hanger. Perhaps it would be their way out.

They were currently on floor 2. The multiple blast doors made navigating to the stairs impossible. However, the elevator was just at the end of the hall, and if they went in that direction, they could gain access to the other floors of the facility.

"If you're in pain, Subject #6425, you should take a nap. A nice, long... sleep." At the utterance of his last word, there was an audible snap that echoed over the intercom.

The lights flickered and went dim, plunging the hallway in tones of emergency red and blackness. The howls of creatures in the hallways cut off, replaced by eerie silence. There was the slight drip of water from a tap in the back of the pharmacy, echoing on metal. The creak of a motor pumping air through the ducts. And... breathing.

Behind them, flickering in and out of visible sight, was a shadow. A tall, long shadow without a face, staring.

The moment Nick would look over his shoulder to see it, he'd be hit by a flash of memory - except it wasn't his memory. In the depths of the basement of this unyielding underwater fortress, rows of black doors with numbers on them. Designation numbers following a similar pattern to Subject #6425's own numbers. One could only guess what the black doors had hidden behind them. Another flash of memory, and Nick saw for the briefest moment a numbered panel on the wall: 1C. The floor.

Behind Nick and Thierry, the slightest puff of air, the slightest shuffle - as the shadow took a step toward them.

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Sealed Section, Outside

@WhiteAngel25, @Days

Subject #3's trembling body, once submersed, took to swimming surprisingly well. She held onto Star and Stella tightly, her eyes squinted through the water, struggling to see, breathe, and swim at the same time. Eventually, they made it to the platform, and Subject #3 sat on the edge, shivering from the cold and dripping well. Nevertheless, there was a warm smile on her face as she looked up at Star and Stella.

"Thank you..."

As Stella fiddled with the TRUMPET device, she would find the power switch for it easy to find. Once switched on, the screen would flash green with visual coordinates, like a radar. Every pulse emitted an audible beep and flashed a specific dot on the screen. According to the device, the dot that alluded to a source of dark energy in the vicinity was ahead and to the left, through the sealed door and into the smog.

Subject #3 stood there patiently as Stella dressed her in a hazmat suit, looking a bit nervous. She had seen these suits before, but they had been worn by the doctors who took her on and off the field long ago when she actually had privileges like going outside of the facility to run their errands, like testing dark energy.

If Stella noticed the nervousness on Subject #3's face, Subject #3 would try to hide it. Instead, she would ask, "What do you think is outside?"

Regardless, the moment everyone was suited up and ready to go, the first door was unlocked. The decontamination chamber made them wait about a minute before the outside door opened, and a howl of wind ripped through. The open door revealed a tight cavern cut away by water, and filled with thick, unbreathable smog. They had to travel by pressing a hand to the wall, following the TRUMPET map, and following their wits.

Eventually, after what felt like 20 or so minutes of walking, the cavern opened up into a large expanse.

Subject #3 pointed, her voice nearly drowned out by the howling wind. "What's that?"

In the center of the expanse was a large, swirling void. It almost looked like a black hole, if such a thing could exist on a planet. It was surrounded by glowing purple tubes stabbed into the rock - anti-dark energy rods. One look at the TRUMPET device would indicate the source of the dark energy was just up ahead, within the void.

Crossing the void, if the group dared to do such a thing, would reveal the true ruins, except this time covered in a palpable layer of glowing purple light, making everything highly radioactive. Up ahead, they would see the clock tower. But another stark difference would be the mismatch of architecture. There were ruins, but from what appeared to be different time periods, materials, and make. Stone huts, then rotted wood, then chiseled and highly detailed stone. There was also a scattering of artifacts, like a stone figurine, and the worn remains of what appeared to be some type of ornate stick.

The 'sky', once again, was painted in a purple-tinged storm along the rocky ceiling. There was more dark-energy wildlife this time around. Dark birds fluttering in the whistling winds. Small, rabbit-like creatures nibbling on the scraps of dark grass blades growing up between the white ruin stone.

Somewhere, though, likely near the old submarines, there was a roar.

[Days]

Julia didn’t answer and Nova was about to turn back when the low timber of Dragon’s voice came through her implant. Now that, was something she heard. Thanks, cochlear. It happened in his office, too. Something about his tone of voice reached her so clearly, that she longed to hear it more. It shuddered down her spine as she stilled to read. His calling her Star put a distance between them, on purpose? She only half heard the rest, but the words in her vision were clear; she was being chastised. God, she wished now more than ever that she could see his face, just to read him. Was he angry because of worry for her, angry because of disobedience, annoyed, or uncaring and stoic? She bit her lip as she was chastised like a child, and after everything she just went through, fire bubbled in her belly.

The darker-haired man walked up to her, and she knew what for. Going down on one knee, Nova unclasped her bag and put it in front of her, opening it up to procure the man’s laptop. She wondered what they used it for, but it must be important. Both of them were somewhat glued to it. When the man walked off, Nova looked at the ground while the last of Dragon’s words faded from her vision. Ghost will keep her safe? Her gaze flickered upwards, to where Ghost was further down, having found towels with a big TRUMPET logo on them. Nova didn’t doubt it. Something about the woman made Nova feel like she could trust her with her life.

She averted her eyes to the water, huffed out a breath and spoke. ”What about ‘are you hurt, Star’, or, ‘what happened, Star’. She said, a small crinkle forming between her brows as she put extra enunciation behind her still foreign codename. She knew she cut off coms after she got slammed by the door, disorientated by the water and Julia’s insistent calling of her name, filling her visions. She was sure Julia had been worried, but it seemed Dragon didn't care much. However, he wouldn’t throw Julia under the bus like that. Didn’t want the woman in trouble. So Nova would take the heat. Though, by now Nova was sure the ‘discussion’ he mentioned would either be firing or strong reprimanding. A bit more restrained, she continued. ”I’m fine, thank you for asking. Just bruised.” Slightly annoyed, started to shimmy out of the diving suit, feeling bruises on her arms, her shoulder damn sore but still perfectly attached. Despite his anger, she just wanted to walk up to the man and have him hold her, to remedy the aches in her body. His hand had been so warm. Would his body be, too? The young woman was sure it would be healing.

”Next time I get hurt, I’ll be sure to moan into the comms so you get every detail… Sir.” She added, slight sarcasm in her tone. She swallowed, rolling up the suit and shoving it back into the round bag it was in. She attached it to her pack. Now, she was in tight, dark green cargo pants, a black fitting t-shirt and a black zipper hoodie with a small Voidlights logo on the chest. What was happening to her down here that she so blatantly was disrespecting the man she so admired, and even crushed on?

She took a deep, clarifying breath. This was her own fault. The last hour or so just wasn’t what she expected. From having to dive to being thrust into action. Her eyes fluttered closed as her temper cooled. She didn’t want to burn a bridge that was barely there, anyway. Hell, maybe it was a figment of her imagination. The way his lips felt on her hand. ”I’m sorry… Dragon. It won’t happen again. I told you that you can count on me and I still intend to do just that. I’ll keep you updated.” Nova turned and saw Ghost looking at her, a knowing look on her face. She muted herself and let out a short laugh. "Such a joy to work with..." She grinned, happy to find a fellow in Ghost. Unmuting, she went forward and dried off her hair with a towel that was handed by her.

With a side-eye, she listened in on the boy's conversation, utterly confused on who they were but not decided to question it, for now. However, the darker-haired man's voice was chilly as he stated he didn't follow the Louvre blindly. Wasn't the Louvre a good organisation? She raised her brow, deciding to not entirely trust these two. Much like the rest, she put on the hazmat suit over her clothes and took a breath. What the actual fuck was she getting herself into? She winked down at the girl, who had a suit on that was a little bit too big for her. Gosh, Nova still couldn't believe a girl this young was down here. With a nod to Ghost and the rest, the door opened. "Well, guess the only way forward is... forward. Keep your eyes open." Nova stated, though she probably didn't have to tell these people that.

The advice was rendered useless as they were immediately thrust into a tight cavern, filled with some type of smoke too thick to see through. Her hand slid over the side of the wall, Ghost in front, and Nova right behind the girl, keeping a hand on her shoulder to be able to watch over her. The lack of hearing mixed with a lack of sight was an unwelcome sensation for Nova, and a shudder went down her spine, constricting her breathing in a way that was uncomfortable. It seemed like forever, too, until the girl in front of her suddenly stopped. It cleared up as they arrived in a large space, and everything felt multiple shades of off. The woman's honey eyes followed the somewhat hilariously pointed hazmat finger of the girl toward the middle. "I- I don't know."

[WhiteAngel25]

Stella paused while putting on her neon yellow jumpsuit when Ramses shushed Aaron. Her ice-colored eyes met Ramses' light emerald ones. Ghost walked over to The Egyptian Museum agent and crossed her arms. "It's good not to trust the big companies one hundred percent. I do the same with my employer, however, I do know that the people I work with would pull me from fire in a heartbeat. Granted, usually, Dragon has started said fire, but I digress. At least, I know that good people have my back," she spoke and shot a wink at the Egyptian as she tapped her ears. "Super hearing."

Stella handed Ramses and Aaron yellow suits like the rest. "Even if you two aren't going through the purple-mist-of-mystery, you should still suit up. When we open that door, you'll be just as exposed as we are," she instructed as she strode back over to the rest of her suit and finished the gaudy ensemble.

---

Stella went first through the door, using her TRUMPET device to lead the way. She pressed her comms unit in her suit that linked to the other suits. "Keep your voices down if you need to speak. These dark matter creatures are unpredictable," she whispered as they came upon the decrepit village of eons past. Her augmented vision was going crazy with highlighting various objects of interest, but the brightest was the little squatting statue and the etched wooden baton.

While the objects were interesting, Stella's main priority was to get #3, Nova, and the others into a submarine without injury. The group made their way toward the clock tower when a familiar roar echoed throughout the cavern. Stella glanced back at #3 hanging on to the rope she had tied around her waist. ' Is it too late to hope that this is a simulation again?' she thought as she spied a large, scaly tail followed by the feet and, finally, the entire being.

"You got to be fricking kidding me," Stella muttered as her eyes scanned the dark matter dragon that was between them and where the submarines were docked. Thankfully, the dark matter dragon had yet to see them. She began to think of their options. Chances were that the statue and baton most likely did something that could distract the dragon, but Stella wanted to use those as a last-ditch effort.

Ghost led the group behind some large rocks to keep them out of sight of the giant creature. She turned back to her little comrade and knelt down. "3, I need you to stay with Star. The submarines are on the other side of the dragon. I am going to create a distraction for you, Star, and the others to run and start up the submarine," Stella explained in a hushed tone. She smiled softly. "You can do this, 3. The submarines should be similar to the one that we patched together, maybe just shiner tech," the woman encouraged before she untied the rope from her waist.

Stella quietly stepped around the sleeping violet-hued lizard towards the artifacts. She couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this. It was as if Von Galloes was testing them again. Before she could second-guess herself and the decision she made, Stella tiptoed over to the baton and grasped it tight with her right hand. Suddenly, an electrifying sensation reverberated up her arm and throughout her body even with the protection of the hazmat suit. Her body even had a slight purple glow as she crouched over in pain. Stella gritted her teeth to keep herself from screaming, she forced herself to stand up.

The glowing woman wasn't surprised that she caught the attention of the now awake dragon. "Hey there bud, we're going to have some fun," Stella spoke in a sickly sweet manner. Her eyelids twitched unevenly as whispers of a different voice began to echo inside her head.

[Lexisheeps]

The Awakening

Thierry had made his way back out of the pharmacy as Nick busied himself mocking Galloes. Checking and checking again. Rechecking. And again. His map verses the map on the wall. But it didn't seem to matter how many times he followed the room layouts or hallways. Not a damn thing lined up. Odd. His map didn't line up with this map... until he realized his own sleepless error. He turned the map right side up with a sigh. Even stranger, only certain parts of the map lined up now, "Dammit." He groaned out of frustration. They needed to get to the submarines if they were going to get out of this godforsaken facility. The sounds of scuffling in the pharmacy didn't cause Thierry to look up from his map, despite things. If he couldn't figure out how to get to a dock, he saw no point in fighting. So he fumbled around in the darkness, squinting for what felt like an eternity.

"There here!" Nick came bursting out of the pharmacy, disarming himself in the process.

"What? Who?" Thierry questioned, still ignoring the situation for the map.

Out of breath, Nick inhaled deeply while panting, "The... Hollow."

The frantic mentioning of the Shadow people did cause Thierry to look up to Nick, who was currently pulling him away from the map. He was honestly stunned. Here? In the HiveMind converted facility? How? There were so many things they didn't know about this dangerous race of humanoids. The Louvre and fellow societies in on the knowledge couldn't even agree on a nickname for them, yes, but here? Were they formed from the Dark Energy rather than purely light as previously thought? So many thoughts. Many unanswered questions, from one of Nick's previously dangerous runs, danced along Thierry's mind. One such thought put a chill down his spine. Hair stood on the back of his neck.

And then the loudspeaker interrupted what seemed to be Nick starting to explain where he was dragging him too, "I'm so very sorry Thierry, but I warned you... that my hands are tied."

Thierry tensed up, making sure to be bathed in the blinking red emergency lighting, "Mister ...Cress?" He breathed wide eyed, looking to Nick, who stayed within the safety of the emergency lighting as well.

"Well... Thierry," The loud speaker picked up Mr. Cress' somber tone perfectly, "I'm just an old fool taking orders. Just as you would."

"We need to get to floor C1." Nick stated hurriedly, "I don't know why, but we just do."

"We..." Thierry started, still visibly stunned with Mr. Cress being involved like this, "W-we've worked together for 25 years."

"27. And that is probably the biggest reason why Sabrina filed for divorce. Your oversight of time management is horrendous, old friend."

It was a low blow indeed, but Thierry didn't deny validation to the comment. The silence of the hallway was just as off putting as the silence between Nick and Thierry before Thierry finally mumbled to himself, "Oh my god, what am I doing with my life?" Thierry looked to Nick seriously, "My son is older than you are."

This wasn't new information, but Nick felt that, for whatever reason, Thierry was taking this fact harder than he had previously. Like maybe because they'd been so close to death over the last 24 hours, that things just... clicked all of a sudden. Nick crossed his arms, he didn't know what to say, what to do. So he chose the option that he was most familiar with; absolutely nothing. He did know that he wanted to get to C1 and find the black door with the number 6425 labeled on it. With or without Thierry. But he stood there silently frozen. Watching a man, a mentor, a father... everything but his husband... shatter. Leave him numb, leave him crushed. The somber song that Aaron used to like to play on repeat danced around in his head, I'll stay here as long as you let me...

It seemed as though Mr. Cress wasn't alone and Von Galloes was with him. What side was Cress really on? What was this old fool up to? Surely he was working for HiveMind with how he spoke to Thierry. Or was he sent to spy on HiveMind with direct orders not to tell Thierry? Nick felt in over his head. So many questions, so little time. But they needed to move and now. These shadow people, these creepy humanoid things were known by the Louvre to have the ability to affect a person's emotions and Nick had already been committed once because of them... and he didn't fail to remember the chip recently put in his head. He made the mental note that for whatever reason, Galloes was really trying to fuck around with his sense of reality, but as it hadn't worked on him yet, Thierry's now as well. What was it with this guy and simulations?

Laughter echoed in the halls, a rather exuberant voice spoke to them as they made their way to C1. The pair stayed within the blinking lighting as much as possible, both silently listening to the man's words with as much clarity the loudspeakers gave as possible. While Thierry felt incredibly disgusted by his recent life decisions, Nick was starting to feel incredibly alone. And from the sounds of laughter over the loudspeaker, HiveMind was well aware of their increasing upper hand of the two of them, and potentially over The Louvre.

"Right." Ramses didn't seem to want to argue with Stella as he pulled his hazmat suit on, but felt compelled to do so anyways, "But have you seen Dragon backstab his employees? Because I've seen The Louvre do this."

"What are you on about?" Aaron finally snapped at the man. His usual chipper demeanor had been replaced with a serious one as he pulled his own suit on, "We get it. You've been burned."

"The fact that you're unconcerned with Thierry having a way to get out of here safely is alarming." Ramses had risen his voice just a tiny bit, but wasn't completely yelling.

"Like we've never been deep in the shit before. C'mon." Aaron eye rolled as he walked out with the girls. Their safety from Ramses seemed more important currently than anything else, "Hey, this must be the main ruins. Would you just look at this place! It's like a weird underground Chernobyl." He paused then screamed as he saw her hunched over in pain, "Stella!"

Despite the beautifully hued dragon now being awake, Aaron failed to arm himself. His suit was bulky and hard to maneuver in. It was the most he could do to stay out of harms way. He looked back, but Ramses hadn't followed. He mumbled to himself, "Shit. Something's really wrong." Then approached Nova, "This suit is too big on me, I can hardly move. Are you okay at least?"

And that's when he saw it. Aaron's face contorted from slight annoyance due to the awakened dragon, to absolute terror, "That's what his problem is." He looked to Stella who was still hunched over, then to Nova, who was capable. But then his eyes fell on #3. The girl looked way too young, but more importantly, too innocent, to be involved in all of this. He spoke hurriedly, avoiding the dragon's rather slow temper tantrum the best he could, "We need to move, now. The dragon is the least of our problems."

He pointed towards the door they'd just came out of, double checking that the Hallow was still peering out. It was. Aaron shuddered as he eyed the eerily deformed figure, "Do you see it? Look closely! It's a shadow, but it's not any of ours. The lighting around us versus it's stance." The more he stared at the shadowy figure, the more creeped out... the more nauseous he felt. Clearly remembering the last run in with these... things he and Nick had, "Shit. Ramses is still back there." He groaned. Where the hell was his brother? He so desperately wanted that guns blazing with glory attitude he usually sported.

[Estylwen]

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 3, Secure Control Room

@Lexisheeps

---

A crystal glass of wine slowly stirred in Von Galloes' relaxed hand as he lounged in his business seat, staring at the sea of security feeds stretched across the wall in front of him. He was watching two feeds in particular. One feed showed as Nick and Thierry scuttling down the hallway, panicked and scared. The other showed shadows creeping around Stella, Star and the group as they made to face off with the Void Dragon.

"Nice trick, Mr. Cress. It produces the results I like to see."

His eyes flickered to the security drone hovering beside Mr. Dress's chair, and gave a small nod. The drone proceeded to fill Mr. Cress' glass up to the half-way mark with more deep-red wine.

Von Galloes stared, sizing Mr. Cress up like a child would a puppet. "Now, now, you needn't worry, Mr. Cress," His smile revealed sharp teeth. "Your British Museum is safe, as long as you keep giving me what I want."

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 1C

@Lexisheeps, @Days

---

The blaring of the emergency sirens seemed to fade to the background as the elevator dropped off the lonesome pair, Thierry and Nick, to floor 1C. Here, the emergency lights flickered similarly, in shades of red and back, along grey tile and stark white walls. Similarly, on this floor, there was an eerie presence. However, the Hollow kept to the shadows, watching its prey and lurking just out of sight.

The hallway seemed to stretch on forever in silence, until they came across room 6425. It was locked, however, a control room 30 paces down had a panel that, with the flick of a button, would allow the cell door to slide open.

Peering into the dark cell would reveal a horrifying sight. Sitting on the dark tile, panicked whimpering escaping her parted lips, was a small woman. Her ashen blonde hair was lack luster, and her skin paler than the sun-kissed texture her father had last seen her with, seven years ago.

But there was no mistaking it. This was Aurélie de Villiers, dressed in the rags of a patient suit in the basement of HiveMind's facility, white coller around her neck. And, with a dealth-like vice grip, a needle with a long razor point hovering millimeters from her jugular vein was held in her hand.

"Well, Monsiuer Thierry. What do you have to say to my meeting now?" There was a dark chuckle over the intercom as security drones floated into the hallway, their presence crowding the door where Thierry and Nick stood. They had stun batons at the ready, red eyes locked on them.

"Make one wrong move, and poor little Aurélie here will get a lethal amount of morphine in her system. She'll be put to sleep... And it'll be your fault." Von Galloes said, like a cat watching his prey.

"You don't want that, do you? You'd do anything for your sweet little angel, even after all these years. Hm? Surrender. And.... let's have a little chat. We can talk all about how well I've cared for your daughters after all these years."

Upon closer examination, a trained eye could tell some foul play going on in Aurélie's system. The hand that gripped the needle stood icyly still, like an executioner's blade waiting for the signal. The rest of her body had minor muscle spasms, like she was trying to fight the puppet strings over her form.

While Nick had mental control augmentations done to his mind, Aurélie had physical control augmentations done to her central nervous system, controlling the precise movement of her muscles.

"Well. I'm waiting, Monsieur Thierry." Said the sickly sweet, cold voice of Von Galloes over the loudspeaker.

---

Outside the HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Radioactive Ruins

@WhiteAngel25, @Days, @Lexisheeps

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Subject #3 tugged on Stella's sleeve as she spoke, her voice high-pitched. "I-I can turn on the submarine, b-b-but that... thing I recognize it. It was... my mission. Where I had been sent to... to... never come back. Where you found me, with the wolves. It... they want it."

Subject #3's voice was too shrill. A flap of dark shimmering wings, a turn of its long neck, and its glowing violet eyes locked onto Stella. She heard a voice in her mind as the dragon towered over her.

"Human... you dare to play with me? You really think you can handle the raw power I possess?" Its voice was metallic in her mind, and black like ink.

It turned to face her fully, claws breaking away the stone in its grasp. It was easily three times her height with its neck fully raised.

"Very well."

Its glowing eyes narrowed.

"I challenge you."

Its sharp eyes shifted to the rest of the group, watching Subject #3, Star, and Aaron. They would subsequently here its metallic voice in their mind. "I challenge all of you. Prove to me you are worthy of what I possess, or die."

As Star watched the dragon, she would realize a couple things. It was the same as her textbooks and research in her old office. This large dragon was the personification of Dark Condensed Energy. Every manifestation of DCE required different tactics to 'open the treasure' and get the condensed core within. As this dragon represented the heart-of-hearts, nullifying or deactivating the DCE here might mean the collapse of dark energy in the area, and a resumal of natural order.

As Stella held the ornate stick, a quick shift to the side would reveal glass. There was, in fact, a see-through glass tube all the way through the centre of the artifact. Staring down the sight would reveal a bright, glowing orb in the shape of a thumping heart in the dragon's chest. The ornate stick was hefty in her hands, and had a slight tingling sensation. It could reveal just as well as it could deliver an electrical shock to anything it touched.

As Ramses lagged behind the group, he would notice something strange with his shadow. Every few seconds, it seemed to twitch, like it had a life of its own. Perhaps Ramses' eyes were playing tricks on him, but for a moment, red eyes appeared in the head-area of the shadow, watching him, before he blinked, and it disappeared.

[Days]

It had almost been cathartic. Almost. Maybe it would have been if Aurélie still knew what happiness felt like. Now, the sight was just as thrilling as watching paint dry. Aurélie, or what was left of her, had stood there on the white tiles, glaring her victim down. The almost clinical cleanliness of the floor had been ruined by the pool of blood that slowly spread, staining the grout in between. The young woman’s victim, fellow researcher, prison guard; depending on who you ask, had been gurgling, holding his hand against his jugular, his striking blue eyes in shock. The pen that she had almost expertly used to stab the man had still been jutting out between his slick, blood-soaked fingers. He would survive. Probably. But Aurélie hadn’t found herself caring much, anymore. They had taken away the only thing she had left; Cosette.

Everything then seemed to go in slow motion. The man had fallen to his knees, and Aurélie had stood shaking in anger as she was grabbed, her arm twisted painfully behind her back. But the pain didn’t register anymore, nor did anything else. The eldest de Villiers daughter wouldn’t let Von Galloes use and abuse her anymore. Not now that he took away the only thing that kept her going in this rotten, miserable place. Her only reason to stay alive, and his only leverage over her. For seven years, Aurélie fought, then conformed, worked, then schemed, planned. Only for it all to be shattered by Von Galloes’s words. ”This will be the last time you see your precious, little sister.”

He had sent Cosette off to die. To never come back.

_{TW: Depressed thoughts}

Aurélie was supposed to think about her sins, here in this cell, but Aurélie couldn’t find a single one. Did she wish she had stabbed Von Galloes instead? Yes. But the bastard usually didn’t show his face. As if she was too minor to deal with. A nuisance. But she didn’t regret what she did, to the man that ordered her around for years in Von Galloes’ name. Fucking bastard. How was she supposed to think about her sins when she was brutally ripped away from her family seven years ago, together with her little sister, and became a prisoner? One that, didn’t get to sit still. He worked her to the bone. She was tested on and prodded and got an augmentation installed. She worked with the research team on Dark Energy, and the beasts corrupted by it. If Aurélie fought tooth and nail, the man in charge wouldn’t allow her to see Cosette. Leverage. Cruel, cruel leverage. So, in reality, how was any of this her fault? What had she even done to deserve this?

The visits she was granted with Cosette were just another special flavour of torture, too. With her memory wiped, and Cosette's appearance altered, she didn’t recognise her Aurélie, the sister she adored. Well, used to. For a long time, Aurélie tried to trigger her memory by telling her of their family. Theo, and his silly little inside jokes with Cosette. Sabrina’s kind love and amazing sandwhiches, and Thierry’s funny traditions on la Fête Nationale or his big adventure stories. She told the girl tales of their adventures in their old home, playing hide and seek in the massive estate and taking forever to find each other. Icecream by the Seine, watching the parade along the Champs Elysées on Jour de la Victoire en Europe, Theo picking her up from school, their holiday to Australia, and England. But nothing ever rang a bell. Desperately, Aurélie searched for something to click.

She begged and cried until she eventually became numb. Then, her visits, which were only allowed if Aurélie behaved well, became more like visiting your grandmother with dementia. You’re spending time, but they don’t know who you are. There’s no recognition in their eyes. But the two bonded, anyway. Until, eventually, Cosette’s mind would be wiped once more, and Aurélie would have to start the process all over again. Every time that she had to introduce herself as Aurélie, someone Cosette can trust, a little piece of her soul shattered until there was almost nothing left. While outwardly she showed good behaviour to be granted these visits, in secret, she wasn’t backing down. It took a great deal of patience to learn everything. From guard rotations to people’s personal details. Slowly, so achingly slowly, Aurélie armed herself with something very powerful: knowledge.

But it all didn’t matter now. Not when Cosette was gone and no one out there was even searching for Aurélie. Or so she had been told by Von Galloes. Years ago, she doubted him, refused to believe him. Surely, her father would do anything to get her back? Her mother wouldn't give up, and Theo would move mountains. But as time went on, and one month turned into one year, and then seven, Aurélie was sure. She was abandoned, and alone. And there was no reason to fight anymore. Yet, every time Aurélie tried to run, or fight, or not eat, Von Galloes activated the augmentation inside of her. Controlling her body to its very core. He didn’t even give her the dignity to die. She had been in this cell for a month, now, since he told her of Cosette’s faith and Aurélie went into a rage fit.

Suddenly, a metal clang was heard, and Aurelie turned her head, the white collar around her neck scafing her skin. Nothing really spooked her anymore. The small latch that they would use to bring her food through was opened. But she just ate, right? Or was her entire understanding of time passing gone, too? Blinking, she pushed herself up from the dark, stone floor and shuffled to the door. Her brow creased when she witnessed it was a needle. What? There was an involuntary spasm in one of her hazel eyes before they opened wide. Not controlling her own body anymore, her hand grabbed the needle and flicked off the cap with her thumb with alarming proficiency. Her legs sauntered her back, letting her sink back on the cold floor. With alarming speed, her arm went to stab the needle in her neck, and Aurélie could feel her entire world sink beneath her feet.

No.

NO.

If she was going to leave this world, it was going to be on HER fucking terms.

But before she could even fight, the needle stopped and hovered by the skin. It didn’t pass by Aurélie that this was the same spot she had stabbed her superior around a month ago. She was stuck like this, and her bottom lip trembled. That was her own doing, as were the tears that pooled in her waterline. What was happening? It seemed like forever, sitting there, her knuckles white with the vice-like grip on the needle, when she suddenly heard sounds outside her room. She could barely hear it over her own laboured breathing. The door to her cell opened entirely, letting in the flickering light from the hallway. Two figures appeared as Aurélie whimpered. A blond man. She- wasn’t entirely sure if she recognised him or not, but he was about her age. Her eyes shifted from him to the other man beside him. A sob wrecked through her body, her tears spilling over her freckled but pale cheeks as she saw the face of her father.

”Papa… où étais-tu?” She asked, her voice weak and shattered, breaking midsentence and sending her sobbing.

---

If there ever was an odd spot for a clock tower, it would be here. Yet, it was there, in all its glory, almost mockingly. And they were walking right to it. Around it, a multitude of structures from different times, cultures and dynasties. As if they’ve arrived in a historical theme park, where the actors annoyingly act like they’re actually from that time period. Right about now, the same question was on repeat in her mind once more. What the actual fuck had she gotten herself into? The woman swallowed before taking a step forward. Her eyes opened wide in recognition at the movement around her. Dark energy animals. Her mouth opened as she stared into the sky, looking at what passed for birds flying over them. Before them, a small creature, seemingly innocent, was scurrying around. Nova hunched down, leaning her forearm on her knee and took snapshots through her lens with a twitch of her finger. Now this, this Dragon would like to see.

Nova couldn’t decide if she was entirely disturbed, or if her biologist heart just started beating faster. If she could just take a sample then she co-… a roar sounded, and Nova was back on her feet, her eyes going toward the source of the sound. Beside her, Ghost muttered, and Nova followed her gaze to a massive beast. And maybe most importantly, what was behind it. Their way out, hopefully. Quickly, she scurried away with the rest, hiding behind the large rocks. ”Is that a fucking dragon? Like- an actual one?” She whispered, her voice laced with terror even though her face stood amazed. It was just like the factsheets and research books said. Dark Condensed Energy, the focus of her research, the whole reason she took this damn job. Her still damp hair fell from over her shoulder to her back when she turned her head once more, thankful the beast hadn’t noticed them. While she was more than willing to test out her own Dragon back home, she wasn’t really willing to tame this one. Was she equipped enough for this? Probably not. In all fairness, who is ever equipped enough for a dragon?

Reaching back, she unhooked her bow from her pack, testing the weight in her hand. It was lighter than her usual, wooden bow. This one was of mixed materials she yet had to find out what it was, but it was both bendable and strong as hell. Voidlight definitely had their shit together. From the band over her chest, she took out one of the small rods. She clicked it, and immediately an arrow appeared. Better docked and ready than sorry, right? She was supposed to be searching and rescuing these people. Well, search complete. Rescue definitely pending, most likely failing. She bit her lip and focussed her attention back on Ghost, telling the girl she called 3 to stay with her. Nova wanted to object but knew it would be fruitless. If this girl was a priority to Ghost, then she was a priority to Nova.

She held her bow and arrow with one hand as she placed her free one on 3’s shoulder. ”Don’t worry, 3, it’ll be okay. Get ready to run when I say go, okay?” She said to her, before locking eyes with Ghost, giving her a curt nod of understanding, watching her leave. The blonde man approached her, and this reminded Nova she should really be asking names at this point. Her lips pressed together, to avoid grinning at the sight of him in the suit. She was about to reply when a sound from the scene beyond the rocks took her attention from him and to Ghost. Or, as the man beside her called, out Stella. Another codename, or her real name? Nova’s heart made a nice home in her throat as she watched Ghost gain a purple aura. There was something entirely off with her.

Suddenly, she was torn between running for safety now that the distraction was created, however creative, or helping out Ghost- Stella. But, in some way, Nova thought she didn’t need it, right about now. Nova focussed her attention back on 3. ”We’re going to run, okay? I need two hands for my bow and arrow, so you stay as close as you can, okay? I won’t leave you, I promise.” Her eyebrows dipped as Nova’s features made her promise ring true. She looked back at the young blonde guy, telling Nova that the dragon was the least of their problems. The young scientist rapidly blinked in confusion. What could be more daunting than a Dark Energy Dragon? Well, actually, Nova didn’t want to find out. Still, curiosity got the best of her and her eyes went to the direction of the man’s pointing. Her jaw dropped as she was sure her blood iced over, seeing something that yes, was definitely more daunting than a dragon. Frankly, Nova immediately considered going to cuddle with it as opposed to staring at whatever was doomingly looking at them. ”What- what is it?” She asked, even though she wasn’t sure she’d get an answer. She looked back at him. The suit was too big, and aside from his laptop, he was unarmed. She filled her lungs with oxygen and thought for a split second. Could she trust him?

Ghost seemed to trust him. Letting go of 3 for a moment, she took her gun from her leg holster and held it out to him. ”Here. I don’t know what that is, and I don’t think I even want to, but have this.” She waited until he took it before putting her eyes back on 3, standing up straight. Her dilemma between running and helping Gho- Stella was suddenly a triangle, wanting to find out where the dark-haired man, Ramses, was too. Yet, 3 was her priority. ”I need to get he-” Nova let out a sudden, pained sound as a metallic voice was in her head. One that she could hear, not read. Challenging them. Terror was visible on her face once more, and she tabbed the communication in her suit, hoping the dragon couldn’t hear her. ”Ghost- I- I’m not sure how familiar you are with this, but is Dark Condensed Energy in beast form. In my studies, once we deactivated the core within, the DCE died out. But, that theory is with fucking bunnies and butterflies, and cockroaches. Not a dragon the size of a mansion.”

But where would it be? In her studies… Nova’s hands moved before she fully thought it trough. She had one opportunity. It could work, it could not, but she was not going to stand around doing nothing now that the way to the submarines was fully blocked, and their cover blown. She raised the bow, and the strong arrow nocked in no time. Pulling the string with all her might, she sent an arrow straight toward the dragon’s chest.

[WhiteAngel25]

The slow click of deep scarlet stilettos echoed throughout the empty halls of the museum. The only light was the full moon filtering through the windows. The person in heels stopped at an office door and soon the tumbling of a lock and a lock pick quietly shuffled about until successful. A woman dressed in a black pencil skirt and a blouse that matched her heels stalked over to the system that was left dark. She tossed her long, dark locks over her shoulders and cracked her fingers.

“Apologies, Mr. Cress,” an American voice with a light French accent murmured to herself. ” But you’ve left too many tracks behind,” she added as her fingers made quick work once the computer system was up and running. She had heard through the grapevine that Mr. Cress had blocked out specific time slots in his schedule that didn’t line up with his usual duties. Sabrina worked with enough museums to know many key individuals, like her ex, had their routines. Sabrina Lennox’s honeyed gaze flicked between her watch and the loading screen as her program hacked into the feed into HiveMind facility where the father of her children was.

Horror grew on the woman’s face as she saw the video feed of her eldest daughter dressed in a shredded patient suit. She tore her sight away from Auri to her ex-husband. Her hands gripped tight as the familiar voice of Von Galloes taunted Thierry. A quick typing of her fingers hacked into Thierry’s earpiece.

”Thierry, he only has as much power as you give him,” Sabrina kept her voice calm and controlled. Someone had to be. Knowing her ex-husband, he was having a meltdown at the sight of their eldest daughter. ” There’s more to meet the eye. There always is with him,”she added with a bit of grit in her tone. Sabrina was trying to keep herself level-headed as there was only one other thing she could do to help.

” Time to shed some light on the subject, Vonny,” she growled as it took her a few minutes, and granted, Theo was probably much better at hacking than she was, especially with new technology, but it was like putting a puzzle together. Once the pieces were there, they clicked into place. Suddenly, the hallway where Thierry and Nick were flooded with light. It gave the two time to help Aurélie and get to safety from whatever they were running from. Sabrina touched her cheeks, not realizing that tears were flowing down her face.

”Save her, Thierry. If that’s all you can do for her, bring her home,” she murmured to herself as she stayed online but muted her end. Sabrina hadn’t given up on finding her girls. She prayed endlessly, losing both Auri and Cosette had been the tipping point for her and Thierry’s relationship seven years ago. Even if she couldn’t help but still love the fool to this day.

---

Stella arched an eyebrow as she could hear the heartbeat that 3 had mentioned. The dragon was talking to her within her mind. She lowered her defensive stance as she looked up at the giant creature. Her gaze flicked around the stone room they were in, bones that weren’t human littered the corner just out of reach of the dragon’s swipe of claws, and then down at the rod in her hand. Her sapphire gaze flicked to Star, a knowing look in her eyes.

”They’ve kept you trapped down here. Just like the rest of us,” Stella concluded as she glanced back at the dragon in its glowing eyes, then down its body. The ferocious beast was covered in scars, a large, white chipped, metal collar and chain anchored into the floor.

”You were here long before any of this. They lured you in here. Killed your young,” the white-haired woman saw in the corner of her sight, the group slowly slinking to the submarine. Her blue hues never wavered from the dragon’s. Stella began to walk carefully and slowly to the giant lizard. Her hands were raised as a sign of peace.

“I am sorry for the pain that you have been put through. I cannot take what they have done back, however, I can give you peace. It is all I can offer to a creature of such magnificent power,” she spoke the honest truth. Her ocean eyes slacked to a sorrowful expression. She wasn’t sure if she was going to keep her promise to 3. Stella had told the girl that once they got to the surface, she would help her find out about her past.

”Forgive me, great creature,” Stella murmured as she was finally close enough with her speech. “GO NOW!” she ordered as the group would be close enough to dash to the safety of the submarine.

With a quick hit on a rock, the rod became a spear and with a powerful shove, Stella forced the electrical rod into the dragon’s chest. Soon the young woman cried out in deafening pain. Stella’s eyes wide with shock as she watched the violet-hued light of the dragon’s heart flow through the rod, down her arm, and into her chest. Her arm, shoulder, and chest pulsed with bright purple veins and arteries due to the power transfer.

“Be…free… Stella uttered gently to the dragon despite the excruciating pain.

Once the light faded in the dragon’s eyes, Ghost let go of the rod and stumbled backward. For a moment she paused, Stella wanted to pass out as her body convulsed with the power she just consumed but she needed to get going. She tried her best to run to the submarine to avoid the shadow people who seemed to freak out Aaron and Ramses but she stumbled over some of the ruined foundations. Her arms forced herself back up, her teeth gritted in anguish and scrambled as much as she could to the submarine. The sound of the submarine starting to start, she locked eyes with 3, her expression softened.

” I’m sorry,” Stella called out as she switched her gaze to Star. “Take her to Dragon. Keep her safe!” she ordered as the submarine door closed before her just as she was five feet from the submarine dock. Stella collapsed on the deck, succumbing to the pain that coursed through her body.

[Lexisheeps]

Trigger Warning:
This post contains content about self harm and death. Including, but not limited to, suicide.
Stay safe.

"Shit." Aaron mumbled to himself. Some of his muttered whining was coherent English, French and Japanese, while some of his verbal assault, not so much more than pure frantic gibberish to anybody who didn't know coding, "...Open parenthesis... dot hack... mort intel. Hollow, Hallow. No. No no no- no Closed bracket. Not them. Give me dragons. Give me explosions and burning buildings. The end of the fucking world. But not them. Desu mort. Shi." Who was he talking to? Himself. But there was no concern if the girls heard his frantic tone.

He'd been the one who turned on the submarine. The roar of the engine was a decent peace of mind, but the idea of leaving his brother behind? Knowing full well that the Hallow was in the facility? It just didn't sit well with him. And what about Ramses? He still needed to go figure out where the fuck his partner had wandered off to. The idea that Ramses' sudden attitude change was being caused by the Hallow, wasn't lost to him. He didn't know too much about Ramses past, beyond how he'd unwittingly met Nick at Karnak, but hoped he had way better coping skills than Nick did. His brother damn near jumped down a 620 foot elevator shaft the last time they'd dealt with the Hallow, completely mesmerized. Enamored with the idea of just ending it all. And sure, Aaron would be the first to admit his big brother had behavioral problems that started after their parents died, but not like that- Never like that.

"I can't. I- I can't. I'd never be able to sleep again!" Aaron turned to the girls, 3 in particular, and knelt down to her eye level, "I'm going to get you out, but I have to help Nick first. You understand, don't you?" His voice broken with worry, "My brother didn't leave you behind just like I can't leave him behind." He stood back up, looking to Star. His voice broken yet had an air of forced confidence, "We'll all get out."

He pushed on some more buttons, reinforcing the ready steadiness of the beastly safe haven. The engine was soothing, causing Aaron to sigh to himself again. Fully aware of the bullshit he was about to step into. He turned once more to Star, "Everything's ready to go. The autopilot seems to be fully functional if you want to use that instead of inputting manual coordinates. This pressure gauge says there's enough air and fuel to get to the surface and to land. I don't blame you if you leave without any of us. I don't know what you know about the Hallow, but I can tell you first hand that it's just not worth it."

Aaron walked over to where he'd left his hazmat suit and started pulling it back on. It needed to be put back on if he was headed back outside the sub again. He swore to himself, "Dammit, Nick. The shit you get yourself into. Couldn't you just go back to being a mechanic again? Jesus. How does Thierry even emotionally survive you?" A brother's true frustration was peaking through as he spoke.

"So, the Hallow..." He started with a change of subject to explain to Star just in case she didn't already know, "Is a humanoid shadow... or we think they're a shadow... that feeds on human energy. Or... we think they feed on human energy. Every museum, society and institution that knows about these damn things has a different theory. Bastards can't even agree on whether to call them Hallow or Hollow. I personally call them Hallow as they just seem... sacred to me. Nick on the other hand, calls them Hollow. For the exact opposite reason. But I'm sure you already know where I stand with respect towards others verses Nick. Oh and I forgot to mention, nobody knows how to kill the damn things. But I can tell you that flashlights and fire are your friend. Ya know, just in case you decide to be an idiot like I currently am."

He stood cautiously adjusting the suit the best he could. It was more oversized and bulky than he remembered from before, "The hell man? I know I'm small for a guy and all, but does HiveMind only hire ogres or something? Jeez." There was no more hesitation as he exited the sub. For self entertainment, he Naruto ran back to the facility once he didn't see Stella anywhere nearby. He wasn't keen on going back inside by any means, but getting this shit done and over with quicker, the better. Once inside, he quickly pulled the helmet and tent off. It was nice to breath properly and not forced air, but forced air was still longed for the deeper into the darkened facility he went. Ramses didn't seem to be anywhere and neither was Stella. He had his flashlight ready as he knew he'd need it.

He needed to... find Ramses, Stella, Thierry and save his stupid ass brother. Again. Not necessarily in that order and not die in the process. Preferably. Check, check, and check. His checklist full of mental checks was interrupted by saving bright lights turning back on. Good. That meant he could use his computer during his interpersonal war on idiocy. Aaron wasn't too bad at relying heavily on guns, but just guns wasn't his style... that was his brother's style.

Getting his laptop out and back on was a breeze... if you considered damn near electrocuting your moist self as easy, of course. The laptop was waterproof, but the cord and socket he'd plugged into? Not so much. Regardless of the blue sparks, everything had been easy peasy. Everything right up until the light at the very end of the hall flickered off. He looked up, panicking enough for three people. Nobody had been in the hallway except himself. And then the second light at the far end of the hall flicked off as well. With laptop in hand, Aaron made his way deeper into the facility. He was currently playing a game of tag. Lights on verses lights off with The Hallow that were hiding around every darkened corner. He hadn't managed to get a full charge for his laptop and currently sat at only 62%. It was only a matter of time before he'd be plunged into complete and utter darkness, save for blinking emergency lighting and whatever battery life was left. Things didn't look good.

And then there's this bullshit. Was Nick's initial reaction upon seeing Aurélie. He wasn't upset with the girl, of course, but with Von Galloes.

While he was a complete stranger to her, as he'd met Thierry after the abduction, Nick knew exactly who she was upon first sight. He'd seen the many family photos hundreds of times. Photos that laced Thierry's office desk back at the Louvre as well as his study back at their old family estate. Even found himself jealous of them once or twice. Despite his occasional bickering with Theo, Nick always figured an absent father who loved you to be much better than a dead one or a stepfather who hated you. Every now and then the jealousy became so ripe that it reignited former ideologies. The kinds of thoughts that he frustrated his therapist with on a weekly basis, once upon a time. None of the headache inducing heartache seemed necessary at the time, but it certainly did now. Nick knew exactly where Thierry stood when it came to his children. How even after years had passed them by, Thierry had never once stopped looking for Aurélie or Cosette, despite dwindling Louvre involvement, save for Nick and a few other de Villiers loyalists.

Because at the end of the day, there's no point to this job... if there's nothing to come back to. Nick knew what needed to be done, what would be done, but wasn't so sure on where Thierry stood in regards to him. He stayed quiet as he eyed Thierry, who was still reeling with freshly dug emotions brought back up by the Hollow.

"Papa… où étais-tu?”

In the midst of Thierry's panic attack and interrupting Aurélie, the speaker chimed in again. Nick shook his head at Vonny's long lecture. What? Did the man think Thierry was just going to run away? Not live up to his aspirations as a father to his children? To just lay down and die? And that's when he heard Sabrina's voice in Thierry's earpiece. Thierry's expression seemed to harden a bit. Not of anger, but with a certain level of dutiful dignity that he'd previously lost control of as whimpered breathing turned into uncontrolled sobbing. A mixture of utter terror for the situation at hand crossed haphazardly with pure joy at knowing one of his precious children was alive, even if unwell. A feeling of fatherhood that Nick knew nothing about, but wasn't against.

"Je suis... Papa ...est là." The lights had come back on, which also helped the man snap himself back into place. Thierry turned on his heels to face Nick, "Take this."

"Thierry..." Nick raised an eyebrow as he questioned the father seriously, "Why are you giving me The Map of Thieves?"

"Because the minute I started signing everything with that added James, was the minute that I trusted you with my life." Thierry turned to Aurélie once again, stepping into the room, "Sweetheart, this is Nick. He's going to help get you home. Now give me the syringe."

Damn she was strong. It took both of them, Nick and Thierry tugging in opposite directions, before they could pry the needle out of Aurélie's grasp. Nick wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having the map, but he was okay with the idea of this girl not killing herself. You win some, you lose some? Or at least, that was where Nick's state of mind was, as fumbled around with the map. The map didn't exactly come with instructions and Thierry hadn't exactly told him how it worked.

"...Well. I'm waiting, Monsieur..."

Thierry looked up from Aurélie. He was currently smothering her in a held position that Nick was very familiar with, like any morally good father would. It was a very comforting place to be, and honestly this was strange coming from someone who typically hated any human contact. The sensation towards the whole situation for Nick was odd. On one hand, he didn't want the map. The other? It was kind of... is this what parents feel like? Despite Aurélie being a few years older than Nick, he still felt heavily responsible for her.

Thierry Claude James de Villiers. Thierry Claude de Villiers? James de Villiers. His husband's name kept repeating itself in Nick's head. He hated that figuring out how the map worked wasn't his brain's top priority, but refocusing was hard now that he was alone with Aurélie. The girl seemed to stumble a bit, so he held onto her so she could stand properly. As if shit couldn't get any worse...

A devastating thought hovered in Nick's mind just as the lights went out; Cosette is Subject #003.

---

"You know, Mr. Galloes..." Mr. Cress started, not sipping from his glass, but swirling it regardless, "I can only uphold my end of the bargain." The man smiled, setting the probably tainted drink down, "I can't stop other museums or ...de Villiers' loyalists, but surely you knew that."

The door on the far side of the room opened with a swoosh. An extra large drone had finally brought in Vonny's current favorite plaything, "Ah! The man of the hour!" Cress chuckled, raising both arms happily at Thierry, "Please, have a seat, Monsieur de Villiers. We've got plenty of business to discuss, don't we, Mr. Galloes." While Cress did a fantastic job at fooling the room with his happy poker face, his innards were numb. His cheerful tone of voice held back a sickness for his colleague, I'm so sorry, Thierry. It'd taken him 4 years to locate Aurélie and Cosette in the first place, and then another 3 to be able to finally have this damned meeting.

It was unfortunate that Thierry's marriage to Sabrina hadn't lived to see this moment. And while Cress was originally unsure of Thierry's romantic involvement with Mr. Bergman or his true intentions, the young man had proven himself to be a worthy ally indeed. Much of what they'd found out about the Hollow came directly through the Bergman brother's good efforts, pleasing both The Louvre and The Council, putting both boys in their good graces. It had taken several years of dedication to finally come to this point. This meeting. This place.

Hopefully, should Cress not make it out alive, someone on the inside, be it The Council or The Louvre, they'd see the breadcrumbs he'd left behind. All the redacted information. The inconsistency with time slots. Meetings that never happened. All of it lead to HiveMind, should someone take the time to fully examine all of the information. It had pained Cress when various other top officials simply stopped caring to look for the de Villiers girls. This line of work had started growing cold over the years. As cold as the dirt they excavated. He never would have guessed it was Sabrina who'd figure it all out, but certainly not surprised as the mother was just as determined at finding these two girls as their father was.

He had been dragged to the control room by one of the many HiveMind drones. There was no shame as Thierry hadn't wiped the heavy stream from his face. There was no move to do so, however, he did adjust his suit jacket to sit down. And did so calmly, despite every inch of him wanting to finish the job with Galloes. The real man and not a hologram, right there in front of him. As close as the other side of the room. The only thing that kept Thierry's temper in check? The thing that stopped an angry father's rage and kept the man prudent? Aurélie and Cosette. And if Aurélie was here, then so was little Cosette. He could feel it.

There was hell to pay and Thierry was the calm before the storm.

[Estylwen]

Unknown Museum, Office

@WhiteAngel25

---

As Sabrina stared at the now brightly lit hallways of the HiveMind's secretive basement level, she would notice one strange thing.

In the corner, where there was a slight shadow, there were a pair of red eyes staring at the security camera. Staring at her.

The feed of the camera glitched, going fuzzy for a moment, before the visual was restored. The eyes were gone.

Instead.

In the quiet darkness of the museum's office, the air grew cold. Thick. Tense. Sabrina would feel a chill shiver her spine as a presence could be felt directly behind her.

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 1C

@Days, @Lexisheeps

---

After Thierry resigned to his fate and was dragged away by the security drones, Nick and Aurélie stood alone in the brightly lit hallways of floor 1C. There was an uneasy atmosphere, tense. The light pushed back the presence of the shadows, but there was something lingering. Something... unsettling.

A raspy, otherworldly scream tore through the hallway, causing each light overhead to violently shatter. As the lights shattered one by one, the hallway was once more plunged in stifling darkness. Except this time, the darkness was far more dangerous than before.

This time, the shadows had come out to play.

At once, Nick and Aurélie felt a bitter chill as cold, phantom-like hands reached out for them.

And just like that, they disappeared.

---

Outside the HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Radioactive Ruins

@WhiteAngel25, @Days

---

The arrow cut deep, and the speared artifact met its mark. The dragon gave a terrible roar, thrashing as it was struck, before it eyed Stella. Life had been painful for it. All it loved, it's children, had been taken away. It fought and raged, refusing to be tamed. It held out all this time.

But seeing this group in front of it, something... settled, something... surrendered, within it. As its eyes slowly closed, it wondered. Maybe now... it could finally rest.

Stella absorbed the heart of hearts in a violent transfer, once that caused her to fall to the ground, and be unable to make it to the craft. But just as Subject #3 was about to do something reckless and try to drag Stella into the submarine, a strange thing occurred. The darkness grew. Shadows formed around Stella's fallen form. And, in a blink, Stella vanished.

Subject #3's eyes widened, her breath hitching.

"Stella!!"

Alas, it was too late. All they were left with was the empty ground, the body of the dragon, slowly disintegrating into void dust, and the lapping of water.

Subject #3 squeezed Star's arm as they stood in the submarine, tears pooling in her eyes. "S-stella..."

After Aaron suited up and ventured back into the facility, Star and Subject #3 were left in the submarine, sitting as the craft bobbed in the black water.

Subject #3 tried wiping her eyes on her sleeve, having removed the helmet of her hazmat suit. "I... I don't know what to do... Everyone is gone. Nick, that big man that's always with him, Aaron... that nice man who asked my name....S-stella.."

She sniffled, turning to Star. "Everyone is gone..."

Little did she realize, while she had been talking, dark energy was coalescing around the fallen body of the dragon. It poured down from the sky-like haze along the rock ceiling, crackling and fizzing with purple-ish energy. It gathered, pooled, and condensed, causing the hair to raise on Subject #3 and Star's arms, until-

BAM!

Just like Star had studied and theorized, the DCE that had blipped on TRUMPET's scanner disappeared. However, it wasn't a peaceful fade-into-the-night.

No.

It started as a slight vibration, then a rumble. Then, full-on shaking as a shockwave raced towards Star and Subject #3, radiating outward from the dragon. Everything began to disintegrate in the wave. The birds flying overhead. The orb of dark energy they had walked into. The rabbits, the grass. Even the buildings were fading from reality - the DCE had been the one thing tying this strange form of collapsed reality in place.

And, this wave of dark energy, this final cry before being struck from reality, was headed straight to wards the submarine.

Without thinking, Subject #3 hit the auto-pilot button, just like Aaron had pointed out, and the hatch slid shut just as the monsterous wave approached them.

Almost immediately, the were rocked violently, smashing through the rock face of the cavern. Streams of bubbles passed the small reinforced window as Star and Subject #3 were shot out into the void. Into absolute darkness. Into the pitch blackness of the infinite Mediterranean Sea, 4,000 feet below sea level.

The impact lit up at least a dozen warning lights in the submarine, as they slowly tumbled head over heels in the black water, one more key thing happened.

The engines of the submarine cut off, leaving them suspended in blackness. Unmoving.

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Sub Contained Lab

@WhiteAngel25

---

A white light flashed in Stella's face as she lay in a padded table. If she were to look around, she would see overhead lights, similar to the ones you find at the dentist, shining down on her. To her right, a full medical unit and a desk with an accompanying doctor's chair, holograms streaming with data as IVs and electrodes were hooked up to her arms and chest. The ceiling and walls were stark white, and there was an observation window beyond the steel door. It seemed she was in a contained lab, much like the one she had freed Nick from not long ago. Except this one seemed colder, darker.

If Stella were to try to move, she would find metal restraints on her wrists and ankles, preventing much movement.

Movement in the corner of her vision. A lab technician with pink hair and large opaque goggles on her face, stepping around the desk to come close to the table, a lit up device in her hands making whirring noises as she hovered it over Stella's form.

The resercher's nose writckled. "Damn, these vitals are all over the place."

She hummed, smiling, sticking a lollipop in her mouth before leaping back into her chair, spinning on it before typing furiously on the holographic keyboard. "This might tickle."

The lights overhead whipped, changing their formation as a magnetic shockwave zapped Stella's brain with about the same force as a bully's finger flick to the forehead. Isntatly, the pressure and heat Stella was feeling in her chest would ease back a bit, making it easier to breath.

The researcher giggled to herself, pushing her wheelie stool back over to Stella and holding up a clipboard. "There, that should be better. How ya feeling?"

A sudden rumbling shook the walls of the lab, causing the researcher to slide a bit on her chair. She re-adjusted her goggles, looking slightly surprised. "Good heavens."

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Unknown Room

@Days, @Lexisheeps

---

When Nick and Aurélie were released from the shadows, they found themselves in a very strange predicament. They were no longer near floor 1C. Instead, it felt like they were in a glorified broom closet. The air was warm, and stuffy. It was dark, except for the screen in front of them, and the camera recording them.

If Nick or Aurélie tried to move, they would find themselves strapped to metal chairs, rope tied around their wrists and ankles tightly, preventing them from moving too much as they sat. On top of each of their heads was a strange contraption. A very light, metallic headpiece, with a single appendage. At the end of this appendage was something Aurélie was all too familiar with. A needle, filled with a lethal amount of morphine. And, the neel's sharp tip was poised neatly just millimeters off the skin of their necks. The headpieces glowed with electronic parts, so it made sense the appendage could move ona whim. That meant it could deliver a lethal dose... on a whim.

Upon realizing this, Nick and Aurélie would see the screen placed in front of them. They would see the inside of Von Galloes' pretty control room, with Von Galloes and Mr. Cress lounging in chairs with cups of wine.

And, in the center of the screen, arms held back by security drones, was Thierry.

A sudden vibration shook the floors and walls, causing the camera to look at them slightly mishaply.

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 3, Secure Control Room

@Lexisheeps, @Days

---

"Trust me, Mr. Cress. I'm not concerned with some washed-up de Villiers loyalists."

Vons Galloes said nonchalantly to Mr. Cress as they sat together in the plush control room, watching the events of the facility unfold in front of them.

The door clicked open.

Von Galloes looked over. "So nice of you to join us, Monsieur Thierry."

Von Galloes peered at Thierry over his glass of wine, watching with triumph as the Louvre man was dragged in by the arms, security drones holding on tightly. They plopped Thierry down in a plain wooden chair in front of Von Galloes, refusing to let go of him. Security reasons, presumably.

But what really made Von Galloes smirk was the feed he had just enlarged on the screen in the control room. If Thierry looked to his right, he would see the dark closet-like room that Nick and Aurélie were currently held in, how they were restrained, and the needles poised at their necks.

"I'm sure you can see what happened to your beloved Nick and sweet daughter Aurélie, courtesy of Mr. Cress' information," Von Galloes said chillingly, a cold glint in his eye.

"Just like before, the needles contain lethal amounts of morphine. But unlike before, you will be unable to save them." He continued.

Von Galloes lifted his hand, peering at Thierry like he was a puppet on a string. "Now... I want you to listen very carefully because I'm only going to say this once. You get to choose which one lives, and which one sleeps. Will it be your darling pet? Or will it be your long-lost daughter?"

He smirked, hitting a button on the control pad. A timer flashed on the screen. 3 minutes. His eyes crawl over Thierry's form, knowing the man was livid, knowing he was so angry, and relishing the hell he was raining upon Thierry.

"I'd choose quickly if I were you."

There was a sudden rumbling, and a notification flicked green across the screen: 'TRUMPET Signal Lost'.

Von Galloes' smirk widened, staring up at the screen. "And another one of my precious loose ends is tied up."

---

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Hallways

@Lexisheeps

---

As Aaron wandered through the facility hallways, he began to get flashes in his mind. Floor 1C. A steel door with two security drones hovering outside, brandishing assault rifles. A striking upgrade from the usual stun prongs. Across the door it read 'Storage Closet'. Aaron saw one more flash in his mind: Nick and Aurélie, strapped to chairs and sweating with needle contraptions over their jugulars.

Just as the flashes stopped, Aaron would experience rumbling in the facility. It passed just as quickly, but Aaron would notice one other thing.

There was an absence of dark energy creatures roaming the hallways. It was just... quiet.

[Days]

HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 1C

Aurélie’s mind was racing as tears wetted her cheeks, blurring the edges of her vision. Her long lashes stuck together with the moisture as she blinked. Was this another one of Von Galloes’s games? Another punishment? One of his many, many cruel ones? It seemed like he never stopped thinking of new ways to torture Aurélie over the years. Traditional and creative. Sometimes a delightful mix of them both. Often, she couldn’t help but wonder what she had done to deserve all of it. Had she kicked against her father's shins one too many times? Not a good enough sister to her siblings? Didn’t give back to the world while she lived in an estate? She wasn’t sure, and it left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. Even after 7 years, Von Galloes’s voice over the intercom still sent involuntary shivers down her spine, her skin pimpling at his cold, unfeeling chuckle, calling out Thierry for a meeting.

Her eyes were solely on her father, though. He was really here. For her. Or was he? Her left eye twitched, the muscles fighting against the augmentation in her body, as her hand hovered still so dangerously close to her neck. The vein in it thumped due to her raised heartbeat, and Aurélie feared that if she didn’t calm herself down, the pulsing would cause the vein to be pierced. Those pesky security drones arrived behind the two men peering in at her like she was a horrifying sight to see. A freak show. Maybe she was. Come one, come all. The young woman was afraid to swallow as von Galloes explained the contents of the syringe in her hand, and gave her father an option Aurélie couldn’t help but mirror similar options he had given her over the years when it came to Cosette. Behave or you won’t see her. Work or she will pay. Don't try and stab me at every opportunity, etc, etc. But, Aurélie realised, this time she was Cosette, and her father was the one being manipulated. She had been reduced to leverage, just another role in this endless game the eldest de Villiers daughter didn’t quite know the goal of. She watched as a multitude of feelings graced her father’s features.

"Je suis... Papa ...est là."

The lights flickered on behind him as he spoke. Clinical, bright luminescence filtered into the room around the two men in the opening to her cell. Her eyebrows knitted together, the brightness hurting the eyes of the woman who had been locked in the dark for a month now. He stood there like he was an angel sent by God himself. But God wasn’t real, and if he was, he had abandoned Aurélie at 18, and Thierry was no angel. She was too focused on trying not to stab herself with the needle to understand a conversation happening between her father and the second guy, but soon enough, her father approached her and she involuntarily flinched. What was going to happen? Her locked-on gaze on him only briefly broke off to glance at the blonde man, Nick, when he was mentioned, before zeroing back again on Thierry. He had… changed. Well, 7 years would do that to anyone, really. But, it seemed he had a little bit more grey hairs, and a healthy and happy Aurélie would’ve teased him about it. When he was close and lowered himself in front of her, she realised he smelled differently. There were still undertones of the same cologne, but more subdued. Maybe it was her mother who was using a different perfume, complimenting him differently. Yet, the sandalwood scent seemed to have a calming effect on her as she noticed the crow’s feet beside his eyes.

The other man approached as well, and Aurélie’s heart jumped to her throat as they suddenly tried to wrangle the syringe from her. They spoke English to each other, about prying her fingers, something about not breaking them. ”Papa, it’s not me. It’s- him. I’m not doing- not doing this!” She said in English, hoping they would realise she wasn’t doing this to herself. Whimpers fluttered from her lips as they pried open her hand, the syringe clattering on the dark cold floor beneath them. It seemed only then that Von Galloes turned off the augmentation, giving her autonomy over her body again. The ordeal left her trembling, pins and needles circulating through the veins in her arm. There was no time to think about it because her father pulled her into his hold. It was really him. His heart was beating, his body warm, his scent put a comforting blanket around her while his lips found the top of her head and her temple as he held her like when she was a little girl, fallen off of her bicycle. Her weak arms wrapped around him too, and she allowed herself to weep, not caring what this Nick person would think about it.

"...Well. I'm waiting, Monsieur..."

Aurélie opened her eyes as her father suddenly moved. His previous words came back to her. He's going to help get you home. Just him? Not the both of them? Her face fell and paled more than it already was when he let her go. He was leaving. To the meeting. Fear trickled through her veins like chips of ice as she scampered to stand up while calling out for her father’s receding back. ”Papa! No! Don’t- don’t leave me!” She stumbled, and Nick grabbed onto her. She just saw her father after 7 years, only to see him turn the corner of the cell that had held her. It weighed heavily like a stone in the pit of her stomach.

Her red-eyed gaze went up to Nick. Why wasn’t he stopping him? Who was he, anyway? Briefly, she scanned the man holding her upright and noticed he was wearing a guard uniform, but he wasn’t one, she was sure. She had 7 years to study everyone. Could she trust this man? Surely, her father wouldn’t have left her with him if she couldn’t. Pressing her lips together as the lights went out once more, she blinked out her tears and fixed her resolve. She wouldn’t be of use to anyone if she was a whimpering, crying mess. That weak Aurélie had been shoved aside years ago. She was so close to the freedom that she had so deeply desired, up until a month ago when Cosette… She sniffled and pulled herself together, yet found herself needing Nick’s physical support to stay upright in the aftereffects of the chip’s activation. Did she even want freedom, right now? Would she go back home and tell them about Cosette? Would they even forgive her, for failing to protect the youngest of their family even though she vowed she would?

---

^{A collab between @Days's Aurélie and @Lexisheeps's Nick}

It took every ounce of willpower, every bit of common sense- or lack thereof, for Thierry to let go of his daughter. But he knew he had no choice, as his hands begrudgingly slipped from her tiny frame. Both the Map of Thieves was still charging from its last use and of course, Galloes. Von Galloes... the man that had single-handedly made his life a pure living hell these last 7 years. Still though, all hope wasn't lost. Now was not the time to be insentient. He gave one last pleading look to Nick, who seemed to be deep in the midst of a raging battle- fight or flight... He'd seen the pained baby-blue-eyed expression a multitude of times, as he clutched tight just below his tie's knot- a place that Nick knew his mother's locket rested on Thierry's bare skin; An equivalent of a wedding band.

"Papa! No! Don’t- don’t leave me!" Came Aurélie's cry, but Thierry had no choice as the drone escorted him out of the torture chamber.

"Hey," Nick started softly, "It'll be alright..." as he pulled the justifiably distraught girl to him. While his tone and actions dripped with confidence, he was daunted by an internal struggle. To love this girl as one of his own? If not paternally, then on a sibling's level. Or was it best to leave Thierry's heart out on the doorstep? Neither option seemed reasonable, yet he wanted to do both at the same time. "He'll be back, I promise." Honestly? Nick was speaking more to himself at this point, desperately trying to keep his head in the game.

Nick was thankful that he didn't wear his wedding ring on his ring finger, as he barehanded some fresh tears away off Aurélie's face with his left hand. He desperately didn't want to have to explain his relationship with her father, at least not alone. If he used social media, his relationship status would have been left on it's comically complicated, these last few years. From being in a lovingly fluffed marriage with Thierry one minute to running and hiding under the bed like a startled cat, the next. It wasn't that Nick didn't love Thierry, oh no, his problem was that he did. Even if in his own strange way.

Aurélie's gaze was locked on the door that was open, empty of her saviours but full of possibilities to leave, to escape. Except, one of the previous doorstep’s occupants was standing next to her, holding her like she was more than just a stranger. His accent was American, and Aurélie assumed him to be younger than her, yet his demeanour was more like her father’s. Protective, and caring. Did her father tell this man about her and Cosette? And what did that mean? Too many questions were in her mind as she gazed at the door, willing her father to come back through it by sheer manifestation. A concept Aurélie found to be bullshit.

She managed to peel her eyes away from the illuminated rectangle and looked up through her wet lashes at Nick. His scent was different from her father’s, and there was a clear lack of cologne or anything artificial, but comforting still. Aurélie figured she was going insane. Maybe she was starved for human touch. Any form of human affection or even the bare minimum; acknowledgement. His words were kind but meant nothing to the woman who had gone through just a little bit too much to believe that things will be alright, or empty promises. Yet, she appreciated it and didn’t move her head as he brushed the tears from her face. She knew she needed to pull herself together. She wasn’t leaving without her father.

New tears threatened to resurface but she pushed them away. ”We can’t let Von Galloes get away with this.” She merely stated, her English has a slight French accent.

”We can’t let Von Galloes get away with this.” Aurélie threatened.

Nick turned to his daughter in complete agreement, "Oh, he sure as hell won't." He paused deep in thought, then asked "Do you know anything about Subject #003? I think she might be Cosette."

The time in the cell had left her weak, but not as weak as Von Galloes would’ve liked or expected. Aurélie knew that if the opportunity to escape ever arose, she couldn’t be meek and fickle. She was stronger than she looked, especially in her hands and thighs. Yet, she stumbled forward a little and needed to rely on Nick to be able to walk out to the hallway. She should give him the information she has, right? Her resolve to trust this man was set in stone. Aurélie knew these hallways like the back of her hand and knew guard schedules, names and even holiday plans. But, before she could say anything, she saw a thoughtful look on Nick’s face. When he spoke about Sub- no, Cosette, her eyes widened. Up until right now, only Aurélie knew of Subject 3’s real identity. Well, that and those closest to Von Galloes. ”She- she is. Cosette is- was Subject 3. Von Galloes he-,” A crinkle appeared between her blonde brows, her eyes scanning the brightly lit hallway. She was sure they were being overheard, but at this point, she didn’t care. Her eyes misted over once more. ”he sent her away a month ago. To… die.”

Talking about Cosette, her Cosy, tore open the fresh wound that had just barely clotted. Even though Von Galloes took away her sister, and whether he meant to or not, he had given her something else to fight for now. Someone else. Her foot moved to the left, trying to follow a route she thought her father would’ve taken to Von Galloes when realisation dawned. If he asked about Cosette then… ”Why?” Her head snapped back toward him, making her ponytail slide from hanging over her shoulder to her back, her eyes wide with a sparkle of hope. A concept that, for Aurélie, had long since died. ”Have you seen her? Have you seen Cosette?” She inquired, her lips parting and her eyebrows raised in anticipation.

Nick had clearly struck a nerve with Aurélie when he'd asked about Cosette. He wasn't sure if he wanted the direct, I dunno, or a more cautious, well she was approach to answer her. He tried to keep his tone as calm as possible as he spoke to his daughter, "Subj-" He started and readjusted his thoughts, "Cosette was alive the last time I saw her. She was left with my little brother, an Egyptian museum field agent and two Voidlight agents. She's, well... she's..." He hesitated again, "I trust my brother with my life. And I've known the Egyptian agent for an extended period of time and Thierry...uh, dad... trusts Voidlight. So..." His voice trailed.

Aurélie searched his face for the truth, but something made the young man fumble over his words. That or choosing them very carefully. She narrowed her eyes for a fraction of a second, but despite his hesitation during his explanation, she knew what he said was true. Cosette was alive. Or, at the very least, was the last time this man had seen her. She had survived her ordeal, whatever Von Galloes had sent her out to die for. It was like her lungs filled with breath it had previously been starved of. Her sister may still be alive. And Aurélie would fight like hell to get her back. Now, she was really on a war path. Screw taking her home. She wasn’t leaving this place until she had her family with her.

Cosette was with people Nick trusted, and people her dad trusted, too. But for Aurélie, trust was a fickle thing, easily broken or only granted when someone has something to gain from it themselves. The lights flickered above them as she faced the man her dad told her would help her home. ”Nick, why does my dad trust you so much that he’d trust you with my life?” She inquired, feeling something under the edges of his demeanour that she hadn’t figured out yet.

And there it was.

The question he'd been dreading. Dammit, why did his love life have to be so complicated? Nick eyed Aurélie, unsure of what her reaction would be to what was roaming around his thoughts at the moment, "Well, Thierry..." He started and stopped a few times with several filler words, "You see... we're work partners." Nick had stressed the words we're and partners on purpose hoping she'd get the general idea. Despite that, he still found himself mumbling things he probably shouldn't be, "We met the year you and Cosette were abducted, I've been helping him look for you guys since."

It felt like he was gasping for air as he spoke. Knives were digging deeper than the thorns on his ring, as he openly fiddled with it. He placed his ring from finger to finger on his left hand, adjusting and readjusting it as he looked high and low both mentally and physically. He was searching for some sense of, you can trust me, to give to the girl. Nick was growing increasingly embarrassed and knew full well his jumbled words showed it. And was sure it was obvious to her. Not because he was a man married to a man, not at all. But because he wasn't sure exactly how to explain that he, despite being two years younger than her, was her stepfather. With a ridiculous amount of guilt and warmed cheeks he finally blurted, "We're married." His arms dropped to his sides, as his heart fell from his throat to the pit of his stomach.

He felt sick. Aurélie had every right to know. And knew full well that this conversation was bound to happen. But why like this? Why in this type of situation? Nick cursed himself for being unable to keep calm in front of her. Theo wasn't too thrilled with his existence and now another one of his husband's children probably hated him as well. He wasn't married to Thierry for the money. That shit never mattered. But how do you explain a 7 year situationship in a matter of mere minutes? You don't because you can't. He sighed. Despite feeling a strong sense of disgust about his actions, he tried to regain his calm sense of self, "Hate me later, let's just get the hell out of here." He pleaded with his daughter, "Alright?"

Aurélie blinked, and she couldn't keep the slight suspicion from flashing in her eyes. This man was trusted by her father, yet here he was, fumbling over his words and looking like a deer caught in headlights. Did she strike a nerve? And if so, why? It was a normal question, right? There was a rumble below her feet, and an odd sense of dread settled in her bones. Work partners? Was he like a protogé, this young and already work partners? When he said they met 7 years ago, the length of how long she had been here dawned on her. It was 7 years that she missed. That was a long time in her parent's life. Theo, too. Would he have gone to university as planned, or did his last year of high school become a fiasco after her and Cosette's disappearance? She swallowed away the lump in her throat. If- no, when she got out of there, there was a lot she'd need to catch up. Both in her family and the world itself. Still, it was warming to hear that both her father and this man hadn't given up looking for her, as Von Galloes had made her believe over the years.

Her eyes roamed over the man before her, fidgeting with a ring and trying to find words. It irked the woman, who'd rather have people not beat around the bush. If he was going to be this evasive, they should probably move on. Huffing out a breath, she half turned to scan the hallway once more, still eerily empty. Something felt... wrong about the brightly lit, quiet stretch of space. She was about to suggest they leave when he suddenly blurted out that they were married. Who? Him and her father? But that can't be. He was married to Sabrina. Right? She glanced up at the blonde man as her jaw fell slack, and suddenly, she saw him in a different light. So that's why her father trusted this man, well, barely one, with her life. Because they- swallowing, Aurélie noticed she couldn't even think it. Say it. If Thierry got remarried then, he divorced Sabrina? The woman she saw as a mother? Or did she... die? It was all too much, right now, and she could barely decipher the odd look on the man's face after his confession. A hint of shame?

She shook her head slightly. Unbelieving, or unwilling to believe. This- this would have to wait. There was one thing they agreed on, and that was that they needed to get out of her. She glared at him for a moment before her features softened. She'd have to trust him, for now, but she noticed her trust shifted from genuine to convenience. She pushed down a cocktail of emotions toward both her father and the man before her, keeping it inside, shelved, until she was properly equipped to open the lid on whatever the fuck had happened to her family while she was here. "Oh. Right." She said curtly, before turning away from him. Her hand splayed on the edge of the wall to steady her still weakened body. Somehow, she didn't want the man supporting her anymore. "Down this hall there-"

A horrifying scream caught her off, and the previously brightly lit hallway got blanketed in darkness one shattering light at a time. "Nick!" Aurélie cried out, still, for some reason, reaching back out to him and curling her fingers on his bicep. He was, right now, the only one she knew, and could trust, should trust. She couldn't see anything in the sudden darkness of night. A cold, eery sensation prickled over her skin and before she knew it, they got swallowed whole by the shadows surrounding them.

"Oh. Right." Aurélie turned away, his daughter's tone unforgiving as she spoke. But Nick wasn't surprised and instead concerned himself with her weakened physical state. Though he didn't force his assistance on her as she stood there, clutching the wall. He fully understood the importance of personal space. He took it all in, the palpable silence between them, despite a firm mental image of Thierry yelling at him. His husband was pleading, begging with him to react paternally. To be understanding of the inner turmoil Aurélie was currently experiencing, a plight not vastly different from his own. She spoke again, interrupting the mental scolding, "Down this hall there-"

The superlunary screech forcibly captured Nick back to the reality of the situation at hand, "The Hollow!" He breathed, as lights started shattering one by one. It started off as just a crappy situation between the two of them, but quickly escalated as the dark entities surrounded them. The sounds of glass breaking their reality kept Nick light on his feet, as he reached out for his screaming daughter, "Aurélie!"

Aurélie opened her eyes, the ghost of her shout still lining her throat. She knew exactly where she was. This wasn't the first time Von Galloes had put her in this chair. For his twisted experiments, or when she had gotten a little too violent for his liking, back when she still fought tooth and nail. Now, she wasn't alone. She noticed Nick beside her, in a similar chair. When her eyes glanced down, she saw that same syringe of morphine again. She barely dared to swallow as she looked around the room. There was a screen in front of them. That asshole, some guy she didn't recognise, and her father. Upon seeing him, a choked sob sounded from her throat as her hands tightened around the chair. What twisted fucking game had Von Galloes thought of, now?

---

Somehwere deep in the Mediterranean Sea

A shaky breath fanned over Nova’s lips as she looked at the dragon, her arrow hitting where she had intended it to: into its heart. It was cruel, but she didn’t want anything to happen to Ghost. Or Stella, as both 3 and- shit what was his name, the young blonde guy, had called her. Its roar was something her augmentation didn’t translate, but it didn’t need to. The sound was feelable through the ground, shaking tiny pebbles on top, reverberating through her feet up her spine, tickling the back of her neck. There was something sad about it, its roar and its fate. The DCE was a haunting, terrible thing. This was what she signed up for, after all, studying Dark Energy in the field. Yet, she was catapulted into something that went beyond her wildest imagination, and she longed for her office back. With the fake window displaying cities and countryside, the good coffee and hell- Nova even wanted Brenda back.

Yet, instead of running, Stella approached the beast and a hand wrapped around Nova’s heart. What the hell was happening? She put her hand in 3’s, ready to take her running at any moment, yet, the look Stella gave Nova squeezed the hand around her heart. Shit. It wasn’t long after that Stella barked her order, that they should run. Against her heart, but being led by her brain, Nova wasted no time. With her bow in one hand and 3’s hand in the other, she ran as fast as the girl could keep up with her. Different scenarios popped up in her brain, all trying to make sense of the difficult calculation that held everyone’s life, where the outcome would be that they all make it out of there, having a beer on Dragon’s tab and having a laugh about this all. In the submarine, she tried to divide her attention between the blonde man and 3, but it caused her to miss that 3 had walked up to the window with a perfect view of whatever Stella was about to do. Cursing under her breath, she moved toward the girl and put her hand on her shoulder. But before she could pull her away, she was transfixed by the sight.

Stella, but- not really. A big part of her torso, and her arm, were glowing purple. Behind her, the dragon lay unmoving on the stone floor. ”Don’t look.” She said softly to 3, trying to turn her away. The agonising cry of 3, screaming for Stella, squeezed the hand around Nova’s harm so tight it burst, and her eyes misted over as she saw Stella drop to the ground.

”Take her to Dragon. Keep her safe!”

A muscle in Nova’s jaw ticked as she gave a slow nod. Even if it was the last thing she would do, she would keep this promise. She took off the helmet from the hazmat suit and dropped it to the floor, her chest heaving with the exertion of running and the pain she couldn’t quite place yet. 3’s voice was heartbroken, and Nova put her arm around her shoulders, the only thing she could really do to soothe the pain she was feeling. She barely took note of the blonde guy putting on his suit again until he addressed her directly. Something about them all getting out. The guy’s face was one full of determination, yet fear lingered in the sparkle of his eye. Wait, he was going back out there? She listened to him, though, carefully, as he explained about the Hallow, and gave him a nod to signal that she was listening. ”You… you be safe, okay? I’m expecting to see you on the other side.” Her eyebrows dipped in sternness, watching him leave the submarine and leaving her and 3 in it, alone, and a little bit unsure.

The state of the girl told Nova she was to stay put and keep her promise to keep this girl safe. After all, she had already failed with Stella. Swallowing, she kneeled down and pulled the girl to her. Aaron. The blonde guy’s name was Aaron. Nova would remember that. If anything, Nova needed to stay strong for her. After a hug that may also comforted Nova too, she held the girl at arm's length, her hands curling around her upper arms. ”Listen to me, 3, I know- I know this feels really bad right now. But I’m with you, and I’m not leaving you. It’s you and me, okay?”

Before anything else, both of them felt the impending impact. As 3 ran to start the submarine, Nova tore off the hazmat suit she was wearing after securing the door. The decision was made for her. She’d get 3 out of here, even if it was the last thing she’d do. She owed to Stella. The impact was rough, sending Nova flying through the hull of the submarine, her limbs flailing. By some miracle, she managed to hold on to something close by and clung to it like her life depended on it. Which, it probably did. She wanted to protect the girl, but all she could do was try not to be slammed into sharp objects.

Just as quickly as it started, it all ended. The submarine creaked, dangerously and hauntingly, making Nova fear for its structural integrity. ”3?! Where are you?” She called out but found the girl still by the controls, clinging to the pilot chair. ”3- what…” She glanced at the lights, warning them of a myriad of problems with the submarine before it all cut out, showering them in darkness and shadows. Out of instinct, she grabbed onto the girl and sunk to her knees, pulling 3 to her. ”Are you okay? Are you hurt?” She inquired, closing her eyes as she felt her heart hammering out of her chest. Raising one hand, she clicked on her earpiece. ”Julia? Dragon?” Her breath was laboured, fearful. ”I- do you have my location? I think- I think I need some help.” She swallowed, not wanting to say too much about their predicament to avoid scaring 3.

Nova hated the goddamned ocean.

[WhiteAngel25]

---

Sabrina quickly turned around when she felt the new presence behind her. She cursed in French under her breath as she was face to face with what seemed to be a woman statue with red, glowing orbs for eyes. From her early days with Thierry, Sabrina knew that all sorts of weird shit was out in the world, and HiveMind was good at finding them. Fortunately, the mother of the de Viller children also studied creatures from time to time, thanks to hacking into the HiveMind database to keep her skills sharp. She knew that she couldn't look away from the stone creature. If she did, it could attack her. It was times like these when she was glad Theo wasn't anything more than a tour guide and curator for the Louvre. Her sweet son wanted to be like his father, bless his heart.

Sabrina moved backward around the desk. She knew that she needed two things. A mirror and a pickaxe. Coincidentally enough, there was a mining exhibit in the museum, and a few of the artifacts still being studied were on the other side of the large office. All she needed to do was to get to it.

Keeping her gaze on the stone creature, Sabrina took off her heels, mainly so she could run if necessary. She continued to back up around the furniture until she got to the table with the artifacts. Taking a chance, Sabrina glanced down at the table to grab the small one-hand pickaxe. She shot her gaze back to the creature and gasped in slight fear as the being practically had her with its right-hand inches from her throat.

A shakey exhale left Sabrina's lips as she kept her gaze on the statue, slowly moving around the being. She licked her lips softly as she needed a mirror of some kind. Without another thought, Sabrina backed her way to the door, closed it, and bolted to the nearest bathroom. Her feet padded against the floor while the creature's footsteps scraped loudly and fast after her. She stopped at the end of the hallway and smirked before quickly facing the concrete being who was coming after her. The being stopped just before the woman, its hateful red eyes stared into Sabrina's goldish ones.

"Do me a favor," the woman spoke with a mocking tone, "Tell me if the inlay of this mirror is off." Sabrina finished her sentence as she ducked down. The creature caught its gaze in the mirror. Sabrina rolled to her left out of the way before she backed up and ran at the concrete statue, raising the pickaxe above her head, and cracking it down on the head of the statue. The mother of three did the action repeatedly until the head of the creature was gone.

Sabrina bent down and picked up the two red jewels that were the eyes of the creature. A smirk plastered on her lips. "Well, Galloes, I have to say I'm impressed. It's been a while since I've had a good fight," She spoke to no one in particular and went back to the office to disconnect her feed. She had done as much as she could do, the rest was up to Thierry.

---

@Estylwen

Pain. Heat and pain. That's all the young woman could feel. The power inside her chest felt like it was burning her from the inside out. Stella went to claw her hand at her chest only to find it strapped to the table. She blinked open her icy eyes and winced with the bright light above her. An odd woman with pink hair scanned her body with a device, and then there was a flick to her forehead.

"What is going on? Where am I?" Stella asked as the fire within faded away. She tugged at both wrists and ankles. All of her limbs were fully secured to the table beneath her. How did I get here? I should be dead. Am I dead? The white-haired woman thought as she glanced around the room. It was similar to a room she'd been in before, but she couldn't remember why the lab room felt familiar.

---

@Days

Dragon had enough. He had kicked Julia out a while ago. The man burned with fury at the fact that he couldn't go in and rescue Nova and Stella himself. So, when Nova called out for help, he pressed the button. "We hear you, Star. We have your location, and we will meet you at the docks for the submarines. Don't worry, babe. I'll be there soon with medics on hand," Dragon replied, allowing Julia her chair back before heading back to his office.

Julia giggled slightly and pressed the communications button. "Star, you should know he hasn't stopped pacing this entire time. I don't think I've seen Dragon this fired up in a long time," the assistant admitted before pulling herself together. "I will stay online with you until the submarine surfaces."

[Lexisheeps]

Gunshots rang out.

Butterfly kisses melted into whiskered tickles. They mixed gently with relaxed breathing on his skin. It was the next morning. One that started off warmly enough, but he still managed to be on the wrong side of the bed. A foreign set of emotions rummaged around Nick's thoughts. It was the first morning. The next day after the literal start of a new life, but he was already contemplating escaping his newly wedded partner's fantast embrace. Thierry couldn't abandon him if he fled first, right? But he needed to act fast. Time wasted away as he laid there, somewhere between the sheets, Thierry, and a heavy amount of dread. There's no rest for the wicked, this was only temporary comfort. The sleepy haze broke awhile ago, but he kept his eyes closed. He stayed slack underneath the lovey cuddling as he pretended to be asleep. If Thierry could tell he was awake, he hadn't said anything yet... The minute his partner got up to go start his morning coffee routine, he'd hastily get up and slip out the window. Or would he? It sounded easy enough, but Thierry's weight kept a knot tight in his throat. Maybe he'd stay or maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he was a dreamer too.

Gunshots rang out.

The man's kick caused him to flip back and fall with a rolling motion. He fell from the top of the speeding HM branded semi-trailer and landed hard on the hood of a car. His future husband's driving was sporadically hellbent. Weaving in and out of traffic, playing chicken. The ultimate prize for such recklessness? The hereafter. Passersby would probably assume they were shooting an action movie. Probably. Monsieur had just barely caught him from certain death with his Bentley Continental GT. And just barely was equivalent to perfect timing in this line of work. Nick promised he would curse himself later for damaging such a great way to blow 200k, as he haphazardly traded Monsieur for a FAMAS. The guy on the semi called for backup after realizing Nick had managed to take the artifact from him. A new sling of ammo meant new aim at the cars on either side of them. What highway were they on as Monsieur drifted the car into the opposite direction? Fuck... he hated roller coasters. Which country's laws were they currently breaking? Yet another dangerous Louvre mission would call for another massive cover up. Was this the true start of Nick's personal involvement with HiveMind? The incident that would lead HiveMind into sending him the job invite? Monsieur hadn't told him much about the artifact, but was still determined to acquire it. And of course, Nick was always happy to shoot now and ask questions later.

Gunshots rang out.

He'd made damn good time getting to the auction house. Watching the Louvre-sponsored auction had become a bit of a hobby of his in between jobs. He never bought any of the trinkets for sale as he couldn't really afford it, but it was still interesting to see the various private collections and their collectors. He was surprised to make such good time with how bad the weather was that day. The rain and fog made the roads he traveled on exceedingly treacherous, but this only stopped the riffraff from showing up. The white floor squeaked under his wet shoes when he abruptly stopped mid-step. His current boss, Monsieur de Villiers, was coming down an elegant marbled staircase. The luxurious hallway was aided by the man's existence, or rather... the handsome man's conspicuous features transcended the beauty of the liminal space. Of all the days to wear combat boots... Nick shoved aside personal feelings of self incongruity as they exchanged pleasantries. One particular stair must of been slick with excess water, causing Monsieur's knee to give. There were only a few steps between them when he slipped and then quickly none, as Nick readjusted himself to catch his boss. Interestingly enough, instead of reaching for the railing, Monsieur had reached out for Nick. They stood there with a silent gaze for an extended moment. What... just happened? In Nick's mind, this was the moment Monsieur turned into Thierry.

...

S'il vous plaît?
J'ai besoin.

...Mais? Pourquoi tu me fais la gueule?!...
This is who I am. Who you were. Why are you arguing with me about this!?

Because I see you making the same mistakes I already have! HiveMind isn't owned by The Louvre...
...Thierry...

...No! I will not idly sit by and...
And what? Watch me ruin my life the way you have yours?

That's, Thierry paused then whimpered, not fair.

The image seared deep into the very fabric of Nick's soul. Yet another self-inflected mortal wound. Thierry in tears. He didn't think he'd ever forgive himself for it, even if Thierry did. Dammit, why was he such an asshole? He knew he would never deserve Thierry the way Sabrina did.

Gunshots rang out.

Wait. You mean there's really gunshots? Shit. He's not just imagining the familiar sound in his slumbered state of mind. Nick tried to move, stirring just a little, but was incredibly stiff. The Hollow had taken a hell of a lot out of him. He tried again, but not much movement occurred. Fuck. His brain seemed mostly willing, but his body remained dormant. The Hollow had taken damn near all of his strength. He could feel the chill of the chair, the course rope, the headgear. He internally grumbled to himself. Now what? What was that sick bastard Galloes up to now? How long had he been out of it? Whatever it was that he'd been dreaming of, he didn't remember much of it, not that it really mattered at this point. But he pushed aside an odd remembrance of being upset with himself, as the sounds of gunfire grew closer to them.

"A lie?" He managed to mumble out, sleep still overwhelming his eyelids. That spray of bullets. It had to be in the hallway. With a bit more audible strength, "Aurélie?"

Harsh sounds of an intense scuffle replaced gunfire. Whoever it was, they were right on top of them. Banging occurred from behind them. Then a familiar thrash of someone being thrown against a door and the door giving just a little. Aaron's screaming popped Nick's eyes open in terror. Aaron was still in the facility? With the Hollow? What the hell? Hadn't he left with Ramses, Stella, and Cosette? No. It- it sounded like... whatever was going on, whatever was happening to his little brother, was nothing short of torture. Point blank range of an electrical device of some sort and he was in direct contact with it.

With the little bit of a head turn he could do, he saw Aurélie strapped to a chair in a similar fashion to himself. No. No. This asshole, Von Galloes had to be stopped once and for all. It was one thing to attack The Louvre, any of the companies they competed with, himself, his brother, fucking Thierry de Villiers himself, but a little girl that had literally no real connection to this stuff? Other than her fath... so that's why Thierry was so hellbent on keeping Theo from being a field agent. He'd often wondered, but hadn't really questioned it. Suddenly a whole bunch of unasked questions were answered. The argument he'd had with Thierry just before leaving for this job. Thierry hadn't wanted him to go, but now that they'd found Aurélie and Cosette he was almost glad he had. Happy for the girls, happy for Thierry, wondered if Theo would think of him in a different light now. And Sabrina? He still worried about his own place within the de Villiers family. The family felt crowded anytime he thought of himself as apart of it. He felt unwanted. But for now, he pocketed this almost happiness as a tear rolled down his cheek. Aaron had finally gone silent, but the sounds of someone being half ass dragged soon replaced the tenor voice.

Minutes went by in relative silence as Nick had nothing to say. Nothing to calm Aurélie, let alone keep his own whimpering at bay. At this point, he'd pretty much given up. He'd just watched in terror as Ramses appeared on the tipped CCTV monitor before them. The monitor that displayed Galloes, Cress and Thierry. He watched, unable to fully react as Aaron's limp figure was thrown to the floor and then as Ramses readjusted the baton in his hands. The same type of baton the drones behind Thierry were carrying. Shit, is that what those things could do? Stun you to damn near death? Cress just sat there doing nothing but holding a glass of wine. He hated the Louvre, no, loathed it. If he ever did manage to get out of here? Nick would be damn sure to burn The Louvre to the ground. Along with any other society that stood in his way. Period. Even if his actions ended in divorce. At first he'd hated Ramses as well, but after seeing the two red eyes in the man's shadow, he knew he wasn't of sound mind. It wasn't Ramses' fault. Just another pawn in Von Galloes' sickly twisted game. Once the Hollow had control of you through your shadow, that was pretty much it, as far as Nick knew. Nick figured the two of them had stayed behind for one reason or another, to try and get Aurélie. But why was Galloes after field agents? How many other field agents and which societies had he managed to collect from so far? What was his end game?

Galloes must of been so damn pleased with himself, surrounded by a bunch of broken agents.

---

2:45

Thierry sat there calmly, despite Galloes' 3 minute threat. No snide comments, no begging. No asking for a chance to join HiveMind and forsake The Louvre. No begging for a chance of forgiveness. No reaction at all. Thierry sat there, numb. He was still mentally of sound mind, but unwilling to falter to Galloes despite the situation at hand. The man wanted to play a cheated game of Chess? Fine, but that didn't mean he had to play too. So he sat there calmly. That wasn't to say it wasn't uncomfortable to see his daughter caught up in this mess and his husband, well...

If he ever did verbally pick, he wondered if Nick knew it wouldn't be him. Surely Nick knew, surely. But then again... why would he choose Aurélie over Nick? Not because he didn't love his daughter, but because she hadn't had a life for the last 7 years anyways. She really didn't have much to go back to, but Nick did. She was already as good as dead to the world, wasn't she? Perhaps. But was Nick even worth saving? He had one hell of a track record, that's for sure, as his moral compass dangerously swayed back and forth through the years.

Instead of answering the Villain Of The Hour's demands, he closed his eyes with an inhale. Taking in the sounds around him and granting acknowledgement towards the sensation of his drying tears...

It was the first morning. The room's air was chilled. It had snowed the night before, but he was warm and comfortable under the blankets. He'd cuddled up to his newly wedded husband for extra comfort. He was honestly surprised to find Nick still there with him. He was certain the blonde was going to escape in the dead of night while he slept. Because why not? He'd done it before. It seemed that just when he thought he knew what Nick would do, he'd throw a curve ball and sidetrack him. Always full of fire, always full of surprises. Was he... was he pretending to be asleep again? Let yourself be loved, you miserable little shit. My morning coffee can wait.

Dammit Nicholas, this car cost me 300 thousand dollars. And now I have to get a new hood? The word grace is nonexistent in your vocabulary, isn't it? Here. Take my FAMAS while you're at it... You've damn near taken everything including my soul anyways, so I don't need it since dead men don't need guns. Dammit! You're supposed to shoot at them and not my side view mirror! I needed that!

He'd slipped on the wet step, causing his bad knee to buckle. They were silent for several minutes before he finally professed, You have the most soul crushingly blue eyes, mon amour. Then pulled his future husband in for their first kiss. Mon ange...

Thierry continued to sit in silence. Completely disgusted with himself. Had he really just mentally chosen Nick over Aurélie? He'd been married to Sabrina for over 20 years and not once felt this way about the woman. Sure, he cared about her general well being, but had it ever been love in a romantic life's partner type of way? No. She had a rather nasty habit of nagging him about his work, whereas Nick typically wandered off due to work himself. He didn't blame Sabrina, of course, but he didn't understand where he'd failed as a husband to her and as a father to his children. Sabrina may have wanted him around, but did she really need him the way Nick did? He didn't think so and felt this was where he got hung up.

1:09

It was a strange teeter-totter of emotions. Why did he even have kids in the first place? He wasn't fit to be a father, was he? While he'd always had good intentions, his blundering with work had caused the three of them more harm than good... No. The stress of the situation was causing him to overthink and in a similarly negative way as Nick would. But the idea that maybe Nick had the right idea about pushing people away, wouldn't leave him alone.

Thierry's internal battle was interrupted as Ramses came into the room. He wasn't thrilled to see Aaron be literally tossed aside like that, but didn't hate the Egyptian as he'd clearly been possessed by the Haollow. The two red eyes on the man's shadow made the hairs stand on the back of his neck. Somewhere along the silence, after seeing Aaron, he realized that picking Nick also meant that... Nick could help him beat HiveMind now and help save Aurélie later. It was a fresh lease on life, realizing he hadn't picked his husband over his daughter, while picking his husband over his daughter. He exhaled and looked away from the Haollow. Thierry turned to face Galloes again, "Do you have family, Von? What's the rush? You've got all the cards." He questioned with a charming smile.

Be still my heart.

0:00