UNTITLED: Book One

DAY 100

This hurt I protect

It hurts to protect

I hurt to protect

Aiye (AH’yeh) gracefully strolls down the barely-lit hallway, checking each door along the way.

Nope. Naw. Wrong. Empty.

He patiently steps through the sea of unconscious—possibly dead—bodies as he continues his search, each automated door quickly sliding open the moment he’s close enough.

Still a no. That one’s not even a room. Not that one either.

In the moment, he chooses to pass on physically checking the bodies for signs of life, and instead he simply narrows his eyes as if to focus closer. Looking for signs of life instead. Dark as it was, it didn’t matter much to him since he was able to see much better than the average person. Plus, it made the stroll a bit more peaceful, and he needed that right now.

On cue, the ground shakes a little and the hallway rattles, as if there was an earthquake or explosion. Probably was.

As he looks over the maybe-dead, hopefully-just-knocked-out security force, he feels himself be suddenly overcome with a contradicting blend of conceit, awe, and pity. Starstruck at the bodies in their currently poor state. It never gets old.

Old Guard. These fallen giants were considered the best once upon a time. Before his time. The warrior legends. From a war that less and less remember—or talk about—as time passes. From honored families nobody knows, or simply won’t claim. The Dark Era it was called. So long ago now.

Sleep now, Old Guard, a brief guilt chills through him before it’s gone like a gust of wind. Probably because he knows they’re just alike. Us and them. The Old Guard and the New Wave.

He could see their similarities and differences. Their hulking bodies were big and heavy. His own, similar in height, but much leaner. His muscles more compact—more dense. Their tactics were similar though, but the timing was different. He was stronger AND faster than the old guard. They’re just older, outdated versions of he and his peers.

But still, they deserved respect. They suffered the same. No. Rather, they suffered more with the less they had. We suffered from less. Prisoners of more, but we’re lacking purpose, unlike them. Still,

{

I’d rather we be prisoners of war, than of a warden. At least we’d be more then.

}

He takes another look at the fallen guard. They were always something to look at. Walking contradictions. Noting just how wide their arms are compared to his own. Crazy-impressive stealth and speed for someone so bulky…

Aiye leaves yet another empty room as the door closes behind him. He then looks down with a sigh. It’s the awkward position of the body of another fallen guard that catches his attention. Curious, he gives the guard a light and lazy tap with his foot—nothing, hm. Did he even care?

Another quick tap to the guard’s side. He closes his eyes, tilting his head up to the ceiling as he breathes out. Noth— he leans his body forward in a flash, easily dodging the electric baton from a guard’s surprise attack. It’s so close that he could feel the heat of the electricity trace up his back and over his head.

The end of the baton slams, directly in front of him, into the steel wall. Sparks fly out as it slams with a thunderous force and leaves a crater-like indentation.

Aiye smirks.

Damage like that from a simple electric baton? It’s not even a pulse staff. Respect, Old Guard.

Deceptively quick and silent for someone so large, without missing a beat, the guard pivots, then swings their baton upward. Aiye straightens upright, calmly watching the baton in slow motion as it nearly grazes the tip of his nose then rips through the ceiling.

The baton destroys the ceiling like a pencil that’s poked through paper and then dragged through it to rip it in two. The ceiling isn’t even low, for an average person, but the guard is a head taller than the already towering Aiye and their arms were as wide as his thighs. But Aiye wasn’t lacking either. He’s the upgrade after all.

While dodging, he delivers a sharp blow, with his fingertips, to the guard’s chest—directly over the heart. A nail tapped lightly, by a hammer, into glass. He feels the bones crack and sees the guard cough some blood, so he quickly and silently delivers a closed fist to their other side. A hammer smashing brick.

The force of the attack moves the body of the brutish giant, slightly lifting them off the ground in the direction of the punch’s momentum. Bones break this time.

Ignoring the pain as blood leaks from the corners of their mouth, no screams—not uttering so much as a noise either—the relentless guard continues attacking. This old guard is still Old Guard, even in their silent struggle.

Hands again behind his back, Aiye casually dodges to the side. A useless taunt to this disciplined warrior. But he’s in his bag now and it matters not. He might as well have some fun.

The guard follows up his attack with a carefully aimed barrage of strikes at Aiye’s weak points. Eyes. Ribs. Knees. Shins. Even with the injuries, the guard still manages a combo attack with near-perfect precision and destructive force, but despite their tenacity they’re still losing speed.

Aiye tilts his head back to protect his eyes, pivots to dodge the rib shot, lifts his knee to use his shin to block the knee strike—the electric shock only enough to make him grit his teeth, then breaks the baton with his forearm as it comes back around for his shin.

Still, without hesitation nor surprise, the guard twirls the broken baton in his hand to its other end and lunges in for a desperate final attempt. Aiye sidesteps the last strike as it blows another crater into the wall. He swiftly uppercuts the jaw of the guard with an open palm, and as one of the New Wave, Aiye’s fluid movements and attacks carve out the remaining fight left in the eroding guard.

It’s over.

He guides their body to a soft landing. The only noise being the guard’s teeth clattering across the floor.

He slowly stands upright again. Not even a sweat. Breathing still steady, sturdy—calm. He looks at the old guard. A one-sided fight. He’s unsure if they really lost to their old age, or to his evolution. Either way, time won.

They knew exactly where I was and they didn’t hesitate. They were ready and also knew their only chance was a sneak attack when my defenses weren’t up...

Aiye acknowledges them once more. Ever the soldiers these discarded warriors. Aiye could clearly see his own training reflected in their methods and movements. Unfortunately for them, my defenses are always up. Another muffled boom in the distance, and the ground shakes.

Another scan of the area. No personnel other than the fallen guards. Building shut down. A stupid amount of security guards too. I’m sure there’s more—suddenly he picks up a faint noise in the distance… A pause. He turns toward the direction of the noise. Kinda sounded like ANOTHER explosion… Like trouble, all the way on the opposite end of the facility, and it’s getting closer—fast.

He rolls his eyes and steps back, out of the way of the oncoming noise.

Suddenly, three Old Guard blow threw the wall tumbling and brawling around a figure like bees swarming a hive. They roll through another wall and out of view. But the rumbles and the booming make it sound like a war is underway.

There she is.

—

After taking his sweet time following their trail of destruction, Aiye steps around the corner into a large open space. She’s the first thing in sight, with her back to him, looking down over the incapacitated guards. She stands in the middle of the space with doors lining the perimeter of space, except for the large hole she and the guards just now made with their fight.

A giant herself. She’s the same height as the guards, but built similar to Aiye. And while he is definitely stronger than the guards are, she is even stronger. THE upgrade.

She stands under the moonlight shining down on her as if it were a spotlight showcasing the best-of-the-best. A spotlight meant just for her, and even in the dim lighting with all this destruction around, her muscle definition could not go unnoticed as sweat beaded down her scarred arms.

This must have been their common area. It’s pretty big. Aiye notes as he now takes in all the damage done. It looks as if the place was bombarded with aerial artillery. This has got pulse staff written all over it.

Aiye shakes off the thought then continues to survey the scene before him.

Solara (soh-LAAH-rah). While Aiye never fed too much into his own hype, she fed all the way into hers. She feared nothing. She felt immortal. And maybe she should, he considers as he looks around the destroyed auditorium full of maybe 50, or more, knocked-out Old Guard. Seems about right.

But wait, were they laying here before she came rolling through the wall with those other guards? Was this her second time through here?? I was gonna eventually turn this corner, wow. Glad I didn’t have to deal with this mess. That shit would’ve been exhausting.

He snaps his fingers to get her attention.

Solara finally cocks her head in his direction in an ever-so-slight acknowledgment of his presence. She remains silent in thought as she stands over the bodies of the defeated giants, with her trademark, knee-length braided ponytail having come undone up through its middle.

This fight seemed even more violent than usual. The guards laid there with dislocated body parts and broken bones protruding. He looks away. Not out of disgust. He’s seen, received and caused enough pain to be completely comfortable with all of this. Well-trained in that area. What he felt was a sudden onslaught of annoyance.

The frustration lies in the fact that WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SUBTLE. I don’t know why I bother sometimes, he laments.

—

He’s gonna fucking preach, she thought. I just know it. I can feel it.

She hunches over to start searching through the guards’ pockets. With every new keycard, she holds it eye-level to read it, but she keeps tossing them away. None are what she’s looking for.

Ignoring Aiye’s burning glare, her thoughts continue to race as she continues to focus on the task at hand. It races backwards, all the way to the day she first met Aiye. The boy with no fear in his eyes. They all arrived looking that way, those other kids, back then. They had to. But it was just a look, and she could see through them all—just going along with the way things were. Posturing and whatnot.

They lacked heart. No purpose. Not like her. Aiye lacked it too sometimes, to be honest, but to her, his look was still different than the rest. Despite all his complaining today, back then his eyes weren’t scared or complaisant like the rest. Maybe complacent at times, but never weak.

He whined and complained and talked about what worried him, but whenever shit hit the fan he was always ready to do something. He’s the only person to ever beat her in sparring, even if it was just a handful of times to her hundred. And he always seems satisfied in the moment while she’s constantly chasing something. So because of that, they’ve never left each other’s side since meeting long ago, for better or worse.

Just then, she finds what she was searching for and holds it up to the moonlight. The keycard, got you! The literal key to the next step in her big plan.

She grips it in her hand and starts to walk off without saying anything, fully expecting Aiye to follow. And he does, albeit with a huff and another eye roll.

—

They’re standing and staring…at a wall. They’re in an empty room, that’s pretty small, but the ceiling is a bit higher, Aiye notes as they stand there, burning a whole into the back of her head with his disapproving gaze.

Solara is just standing there while her eyes dart around the room, looking for something. Just as Aiye is about to say something, she holds up the keycard to the wall and it is suddenly scanned. The entire wall parts and reveals a much wider hallway with a ceiling twice her height. A smug grin creeps across her face as she feels his burning gaze weaken. Got you.

“What?” she challenges with a low growl, shooting him a smug look—a defensive, ‘I told you so’.

She knew it was unnecessary, but with his momentary hesitation, she saw her chance to end his shit talking and doubt, once and for all. She never misses the opportunity to strike.

Besides, the situation was finally starting to look more and more like the one she had promised, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to delay any lectures in the immediate future.

Either way, she’ll hear it from him again, eventually. New Wave always felt the need to express themselves, she rolls her eyes. Communication was basically sacred to the New Wave.

She steps through the entrance and starts walking down the hallway.

Wash away the old and the weak, bringing about a new wave of excellence, she mocks the lame motto they were alway fed. Basically, they were made to be the Old Guards’ replacement without much say in the matter.

Solara recalls something she once was told by another New Wave whose ass she was whooping during sparring. They were trying to preach about why they shouldn’t fight each other and how this is what THEY want from us. She was a very forgettable person, but her little speech always stuck in the back of Solara's mind…well kind of.

How’s it go again? Something like:

{

They needed us divided so they mixed up…speech? We needed… fire? Went from, ‘begging for a purpose’ to ‘sue for friction’, using superficials—whatever that means—from surface people, to forge something. Without contact -no, without contract…oh yeah! This social contract was between us, under the Sun. It only shined through our gait whenever we opened our soles to blood. Something something. Rhythmic army stomping. Left at our worst. Tryna march right but can’t chant the words.

}

Someeeeething like that... It’s close enough. Either way, as corny as she thought it was, it wasn’t all that bad. What she got from it, that is. It helped to remind her of her purpose, her enemy, and herself. Whenever she could actually remember it.

She stops and looks up at the ceiling with grunt, then turns to Aiye:

{

“Listen, I know you wanna say it’s not smart, or it’s not safe, but I got a question for you: When is anything we do? I mean, we see violence here—we see it in the factories. It’s what we do? *shrug* Except I don’t think it defines the ‘who’, just more like the ‘how' we do what we do. And I think it’s that… that, that defines me and you. That that, that you run from. So I brought the options to you ‘cause, with so many options to choose from, you might just refuse ‘em, knowing you love, to hesitate whenever we’re about to do anything that’ll help us move up.”

}

She then begins fixing her hair, as she continues down the hall, without taking another look back at him, or the entrance to this secret section.

As she walks away, Aiye’s jaw tightens as his eyes narrow first on her, then past her, down the hallway in front of them. Unmoved by her speech, he reluctantly follows behind.

—

They continue to walk, together now, down the new hallway. The dark, solid floor dimly lights up their path with each step.

Ever the observer, Aiye takes note of the disabled camera sentries hovering in-place, in standby-mode. The security system light blinking yellow, for deactivated, instead of its standard red when activated.

Wooow. What. Are. The. Odds… The place is completely shut down. It was crazy. All the security, the alarms—all of it. This was obviously the trail of breadcrumbs that they were meant to follow all the way back to the very place they “escaped”. Even that is doubtful now—if they escaped or not. He shakes his head.

He’s been trying to point this out to her the whole time. But she just keeps ignoring it. On a mission of her own, constantly pushing forward. He considers that for a moment.

But trap or not, this was one step closer to freedom if they could make it past all of whatever is supposed to be thrown their way. And it’s not as if he believes they can’t take it. It’s just, something about this is bothering him, and maybe what bothers him the most is the fact that he can’t figure out what bothers him the most about all this.

Hm… Am I being too hard on Sol? We could have just waited, we should have honestly. But I didn’t try to stop her. And, yeah, I tend to hesitate. I know it. And she did get us here much faster than expected. I just-… I don't know… It’s- hmph. I don't know.

Solara has always had an obsessive determination with taking these people down. He knew she took their ‘development’, a lot harder than anyone else realized. Taking her anger, brutality, and eagerness to fight as who she was rather than who they made her to be.

He understood early on that she wasn’t really eager to fight everyone, but actually just eager to find the right fight. The one that will bring her peace. Now, it seems that her only path to peace was to remove the only people that ever hurt her. The only one that ever could.

Aiye considers how they’re about to be eighteen very soon. Eighteen cycles already. Our bird years are coming to an end. Well, I guess we’re one of the few who never really had them. But, if we wanted freedom, we literally could’ve just waited a few days. We’d be able to just choose between fighting for Solaris, or to be set free into the world. That’s an easy fucking choice.

Solaris. The pseudo-corporation that’s just a front for tyrannical rule. It’s completely irrelevant and its existence is, and will always be, an insult to everyone’s intelligence. But it exists nonetheless.

Doing things their way, she’d say “that’s the easy way”. “Their way, not ours”. She’d definitely say that too. And also, “That’s not freedom.”

Ultimately, he agreed. Reluctantly, every time. But still agreed. If we went that rout Aiye, everything we’d do, in that case, would be under them and in their name, he reminds himself. We’d forever be tied to them. Indebted even.

Either way, she always got her way. She had that ability. To get anyone to bend backwards for her, willingly. Her will, that is.

“Sol…hmph” Aiye sighs. Hesitation. Then a release.

That’s something, Solara slows her pace. But her anticipation begins to drain, as it slowly gets replaced with the disappointment trickling in while the wait for something to follow grows longer.

Waiting for his lectures was like checking someone’s pulse to see if they’re still breathing after sparring. And that someone is someone you enjoy sparring with. You don’t really wanna check it, but you got to, ‘cause you need them around to make you better.

He finally speaks up, “Sure, you’re right about all that.”

She stops for a moment to process. All that? Huh? Wait, ugh! Is he talking about what I said, like 10 minutes ago?? Why does he always do that!

He continues:

{

“But I feel like, you’ve been running stress tests on my faith these past hundred days since we’ve escaped. And I feel like, no matter what I say, you do whatever anyway, no matter whatever’s in your way. I’ve made choices Sol. You just didn’t like them. So this “choice” talk is annoying, I don’t like it. My is patience being worn thin by all your so-called options, and I can’t stop them from rocking my flow with your bolder and bolder choices. Now I’m hearing negative voices. I look around and only see the options you’ve chosen. They’re raining down on me ‘til my options washed over. Now I find my ‘choice’ is, where my voice is—in emotion. It’s quiet—farther from hope, but not hopeless.”

}

Aiye sighs as he finishes, “Because I really hope this works. I don’t wanna do this a seventh time Sol.”

Of course he has something to say, is her only reaction and thought. It’s followed by a slight grin to herself as her worries vanish, not fully listening, but she’s satisfied by the sound of his venting—complaining. For her, it means he’s still with her.

She stops at another vault door at the end of the hall. Its length is twice her height and perhaps three-times as thick as the first door.

Wait, what? Why’s the power off for this door? So these assholes are gonna make me open this myself. I know Aiye’s not wrong about this being a trap, damn… But whatever. What’s it matter anyway.

Solara grips the handle and plants her foot, HARD, to summon the necessary strength. A small crack, in the solid floor panel beneath her foot, forms from the amount of force she exerts. She begins to heave the door open while Aiye’s lecturing—preaching, whatever—continues.

“The fighting, we can handle. What I do care about is how you-”.

“-took up the mantle,” she grunts, now pulling with so much force that every step she takes backward creates more cracks in the flooring:

{

“Grabbed it. *ARGH* Like this handle. And I DRAGgged it a-cross… the span of my promise *huff*… to you. *huff* *huff* Don’t I always tell the truth? Don’t we always make it through? And you’re right… *grunt* in a hundred DAYS *huff*… this ain’t even our hundredth, but just our sixth attempt too! Some positivity for you.”

}

Aiye, still lost in his mood, lost in his search for more words to say, places his hands above hers to help with the very last bit of the work.

Solara rolls her eyes. “Thankssss asshole.”

“You should’ve waited and I would’ve helped.” Aiye defends, halfhearted, knowing that was dumb.

“Wait for what? We’re clearly in a rush and you’re taking your sweet ass time tryna talk about nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, and I’m in no rush, YOU are.” He replies more sternly now. Confidence returning as he starts to find the words to better articulate his true frustrations. “Maybe if you compromised or gave me some time, you’d see that I would help you, but you always rush things your way and on your time. And this ain’t something to rush!”

They both stand back from the open vault door and take a moment. Sol calmly brings her slightly elevated heart rate back to normal breathing. Aiye, seeming to have found his words and feelings, points to the now open vault and continues his demonstrative rant:

{

“What I’m saying is it’s a trap, Sol. We’re at another door, behind a door, through a hallway that’s barely lit. It’s barely guarded. Despite the obvious! They knew a bunch of Old Guard could hardly stop us.”

}

“Did you even think about your own concerns? Like, if he wants us here this time—if we’re exactly where he wants us, then weren’t all attempts before this designed to fail? And I’m cool with that, because he can think he’s got the upper hand. I doubt that he’d let us in if he knew what we were actually here for…” she challenges.

“Yeah but- !…Agh. Fuck. There’s a point there, but Sol, I swear I just worry.”

“About. What?”

“About us. Where we’re at and what we’ve been up to. Like where we came from and where we’re going. I feel like something’s coming. It’s hard to describe.”

“Something… yeah, I know the feeling.”

Aiye snaps he gaze towards her. “Wait, you’ve been getting the same feeling?”

Solara nods, “It’s why I’ve been in such a rush. I don’t wanna give in to whatever this fear is, but I’m not about to ignore a sign beating me over the head. Like this weak ass trap set up here, or these dreams I’ve been having lately. Well, not just lately. I’ve been having them since I was like 12, but they’re getting stronger and coming more often.”

“Waaaaait…Sol, what dreams?? This is the first time you’ve EVER mentioned this!?” A concerned Aiye presses, putting his hand to her shoulder and stopping their walk down the hall.

She scratches her head, looking down the hall at where she wants to be heading, clearly not wanting to waste time. But she explains:

{

“I’ve been dreaming more frequent. Like, if I called it something I’d say it was a walk, at first. Then a jog. Now that jog’s become a sprint. And it’s that, that, that’s the source of my stress. That, being better than the rest doesn’t make us the best, or the best us. That the universe is gonna test us. That, that challenge is gonna stress us. And so our flowww, would be broken—stolen by, well… by less trust?”

She shrugs at that last part as she starts to walk down the hallway again, continuing her explanation with demonstrative hand gestures:

“So like, now we’re out there, right? We’re better than the rest but not the best—yeah yeah, blah blah. Except, all that’s got us is fighting monsters, AS monsters. Out there trying not to be swallowed by our monsters. Thennnnn, BOOM! That stress comes. And you know what? It’s that ‘THAT’. That, ‘that’, from earlier? Yeah. THAT comes. So the monsters best us. And catch us. Then drag us into some abyss somewhere we chose to stick our head in. Like a uhhh—I don't know. Uhh universalllll… correction? When they collect us. *shrug* And some other strange stuff regarding something or someone. Then blah blah, like, the light floods ’cause the sun bleeds when death comes. Some shit like that.”

}

His expression displaying his attempt to make sense of this. What does that even… That sounds foreboding as shit—the fuck?

Aiye follows behind her for a while before speaking up, “I don’t know… that’s pretty intense, I admit. Strange, really. Real specific too?”

This response annoys Solara. She grunts and waves it off as she continues walking.

Aiye defends, “Well, it’s just that for me I think it’s just me worrying that maybe I’m not enough. Like I’m afraid, if I’m keeping it real. Nothing really… —I don't know, magical, or like mystic like what you said.”

Solara rolls her eyes:

{

“Yeah, just PESSimistic. Being real has two sides Aiye, but lately, this same scene of you being shaky seems to be the only reel I see. I’ve just about had enough. Not enough?? You are overthinking WAY too much. And about stupid stuff! Too much negative shit. Pessimist. And it’s got you stuck in the middle of feeling average and not enough.”

}

“-Yo! Naw, c’mon now. That’s too much. Too far!” Aiye takes offense. Still behind her, he pushes with her one arm, using just enough strength to get his point across without making it hostile.

For the New Wave, being called average was a serious insult. Being that they were far from it—especially these two. She had spoken fighting words.

After being pushed, Solara stumbles a step forward and then gives a late, passive aggressive swat backwards at where his arm was a moment ago. She snaps back at him:

{

“I said what I said! All of a sudden you’re some fiend for fear, got me thinking you’re faking you care. Here’s a fear! There’s a fear, *clapping while looking around* we got an expert here! And so now, we get to this hallway and you’re too scared to move. We moved through two doors—you were too scared to choose. We finally get here and you don’t know what to do! And you don’t seem to know shit, but fear knows you. And you don’t seem to notice that it knows now you can’t commit. And it invited you to question this… AND NOW it knows doubt’s settled in. A perfect environment for fear to live when you make negativity your friend.”

}

She moves to storm off again. Aiye scoffs to himself trying to brush off her words and is about to turn it into another one of his infamous eye-rolls, but as if she sensed it, Solara ends up whirling back around in his direction. She’s stomping towards him while adding to her rant:

{

“OH! And check this! You actually made a move on it! You’ve engaged in allll this shit now. And to me it’s just wooow, you really missed that it trapped you when it even vowed you it’ll ring around you!”

}

Solara spreads her arms out wide in a sarcastic gesture at her last words.

“Ohhh fuck off! Miss me with all that shit Sol! You’re missing the point I’m actually making! AGH…*sigh* It’s just-”

“-it’s just nothing. You’re worried about nothing. That’s the fear talking.” Solara interrupts as she steps up close to him, eye-to-eye. “I wanna be climbing, Aiye.” She repeatedly pokes him in the chest, “YOU’VE got us tightrope walking.”

He catches her hand at the wrist and replies coldly, “…And that’s your impulse talking… That shit you’re talking. It’s reckless. Never concerned with falling—or where, or on whomever you’re walking.”

Solara catches his tone, realizing that she might’ve gone too far. She yanks her hand away, “Anyways-,” Solara begins.

“-Anyways.” Aiye interrupts and points to the end of the hall. “We’re here. The past is the past… Forward, not backwards.”

An awkward silence fills the hall and they stand there staring at the entrance to the final part of this plan. Not yet ready to walk through the doorway.

“Sorry, Aiye. That was too much. I sent some jabs at you, but I’m not committed to this attack and for that, I’m sorry. So let’s focus on what we came for. We’re almost free—get excited!” She nudges his arm.

Free. There’s that word again. What is her idea of freedom anyway? He wonders. Because one of the hinges they had seared into their heads while growing up was that ain’t nothing free.

He finally surrenders after a long pause, “Fine. Fine, fine, fine. Let’s do this. Let’s get on with it.”

She chuckles. And with that, she feels the tension is behind them. She slaps him on the back and walks in.

Aiye stands with a slight grin while her figure is swallowed by the darkness of the room. He waits. His heart beat the only thing he can hear. Still slow. Steady. Sturdy. Calm.

He listens closer. Silence. He breathes. Release. Silent acceptance. Yeah. We’re here. He relaxes himself. Finally here. I hope. He follows after Solara just as the lights come on.

“Agh!” He exclaims. The sudden light was blinding after being in the dark for so long. “A warning would’ve been nice.” He says while he rubs his eyes. He gathers himself and takes in his surroundings.

The room was a lot larger than what they had expected. It was nothing like the past attempts. It was cold as hell too. But that should have been obvious at the door? If they couldn’t feel the temperature at the door then they must be in the right place.

Aiye turns back towards the direction of the entrance to see that he had actually walked through an energy screen.

Red flag number, I’ve-lost-count. But okay, positivity.

He scans the room again to see what other details he may have missed until he spots it. A translucent panel subtly positioned by a machine.

He looks over to Solara and snaps his fingers in her direction, “Sol, found it.”

Solara tosses him the special key card. Aiye catches it and taps on the panel. It does nothing. He tries several more times before he disappears out of the room and back through the entrance.

He returns sometime later with the keycard’s owner slung over his shoulder in one arm, while still holding the keycard in his other hand. Setting the guard down, up against the wall, he takes their hand and places it against the panel. Nothing. Solara watches on in amusement chuckling at every attempt. Aiye shoots her a look while she continues to laugh, then drops his head down in frustration.

“Why would they make a keycard that can open the first door, leave the second door unlocked, AND THEN have a room with no one else in it and NOTHING TO ACTIVA-.”

Wait. Duh. It IS a trap after all. And they want us back. This was all set up for us. Right? So that must mean…

Aiye puts his hand to the machine. The machinery lights up. He… is NOT amused.

After looking through the terminal, he steps aside with a look of surprise flashing across his face before becoming deep thought. Solara notices and rushes over to finish while he walks around and observes the rest of the room.

“Huh.” Solara says plainly.

“Yup,” Aiye joins. “So… that’s how they won.”

“Yup.” She simply replies.

“Sol.”

“Yup.” She knowingly replies.

“Except I don’t get how this frees us? Like actually. I don’t mean to be negative or nothing. Just genuinely curious, what exactly are you hoping to get with this information?” He asks.

“Everything.”

“Okay.” Aiye bluntly responds, annoyed at her vagueness. Then he gives a puzzled looked to his side, contemplating before he finally asks, “How do you mean?”

She lets go of his arm and stares down at the floor. Then looks back into his eyes. The air around her more ominous. There’s silence between them, for too long, while the data continues streaming down the holo screen, before she finally speaks again. Her tone and aura now dark and detached.

“Everything, is everything, Aiye… There’s no other meaning.”

A pause as Aiye stares into her eyes. Damn, it’s Solara. The other Sol. The murderer. The killer. Death dealer. The one that only came out during their “exercises” in the Factory. During their worst times.

He begins to wonder what about his question and this situation could have possibly triggered this side of her? He was careful. He only asked what she was after. He had followed her, like he always does—and that was on him—but, what now? Why this, now, of all times?

When he saw the bodies he thought she had already let this out. Blew off this steam, but he knows she didn’t kill anyone, today. So maybe this side of her has been waiting all day to come out? But there’s nothing to trigger it! Unless “everything” referred to…ah, shit. “Him”.

Not Aiye, but the man who caused her the most pain. The one she blames. The one in charge of everything.

“…Sol.”

All beneficiaries had their, “thing”, to cope with the trauma of growing up in The Factory. Unfortunately, as the strongest out of all beneficiaries, this was hers.

Aiye shifts himself into a subtle defensive stance. Ready for whatever came next from this person. Her eyes knowingly glance down at the subtle shift and then refocus again on his eyes.

Despite identifying the trigger, he knew well enough from experience that this Sol, Solara, only listened to strength if she was thinking about making a move. Reason-first was a rare approach with this one. She was dangerous whenever she was in this state of mind.

“Yes, Aiye?” Her expression blank and voice cold now.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘everything’?”

“I want it all, Aiye.”

“All, huh. I see. So that’s what we’re doing… All that freedom talk, but this was always about him, right?”

There. He’s said it. And he could tell he’s right. Her eye twitched and fists clenched. Both quick. But it happened, and he caught it. She’s uncomfortable, very. Good. That means she closer to returning to her normal state of mind, than going berserk.

She turns back around to study the data running down the screen, presumably done with this talk.

Well, at least Solara is gone. Aiye’s Sol is back. A crisis averted.

“I will be free.” Solara mutters to herself, no longer allowing anything to break her concentration.

The screen that the device is connected to is suddenly flooded with information. She’s found what she was really after. It continues listing information rapidly. Flashing pictures and schematics.

Wait. That’s way more than expected? A title, Aurora Gateway pops up. Aiye scrunches his nose at the name. This guy’s obsession with the Sun, continues.

They continue reading through all the files, skimming through it quickly. Their eyes meet then they both step back, stunned.

“…Those codes you swiped, were his?” Aiye horror written all over his face.

“Yep…”

“So this trap he set was probably based on the assumption that they were from a Solaris exec.”

“Yeah, probably. Maybe.” Solara gathers herself. Mood completely humbled now by this new development. “They’re definitely gonna send people after us now… BUT, on the plus side, we know how we won the war…aaaand how we’re going to win all wars to come.”

They’re both silent for a while. Solara’s eyes rapidly darting around the floor as she’s locked-in on her internal thoughts. After some time her energy starts to build up again.

She looks up as though she has it all figured out. Then, with a devious grin across her face, she says to Aiye something that he has grown accustom to hearing when she’s got a crazy idea. She looks him in the eye, still grinning deviously, nodding her head repeatedly, “I can fuck with this.”

The grin stretches even further as her confidence grows in whatever plan she’s come up with, “I can definitely fuck with this.” Then she excitedly hits Aiye in the chest before walking away, “So let’s go fuck shit up, together!”

The thunderous drum strikes once…