A man glanced up as the front door creaked open. He took one look at the pair of silhouettes and turned back to the stark white glow of a computer screen. “We closed thirty minutes ago,” he called out with annoyance weighing heavily on his voice.

“We need a flight off-planet.”

The man straightened up in his chair, peering between his screen and the divider used to separate his side of the desk from the public-facing side. His ruddy complexion darkened the further it moved from the glow of the screen.

The first of the two men stepped through the shallow lobby and approached the desk. The muted lights above his head cast his sepia skin with a dull glow, and his dark brown eyes seemed even darker in the shadow under his brow. The dark leather jacket he wore seemed to soak in the shadows of the room.

Behind him, a wiry man with mostly tan hair brushed aside the patch of white from his forehead. A black headband held back the rest, and a thick knitted scarf wrapped around his neck above a bleach-stained gray shirt.

“Off-planet?” The man repeated as the dark-eyed visitor casually rested a hand on his desk.

“We know you were the pilot who shuttled New Arden’s officers across a couple planets not too long ago,” Elliot casually slipped his other hand into his jacket pocket.

The pilot narrowed his eyes skeptically. “Who told you that?”

“Name another pilot in the tri-city region who still has aircraft able to go into space.”

The pilot shifted uncomfortably in his brown uniform. “Sir, I hope you can understand I can neither confirm nor deny that I, a humble transport pilot of Harbour Shipping, would shuttle New Arden’s officers—”

“Humble or not,” Elliot tried.

“Listen–it was a job–I was hired out! I swear–”

“We’re not here to get anyone in trouble.” Elliot eased with a quick wave of his hand. “We just need to go back to one of your stops.”

The pilot blinked. “Oh.”

Elliot’s brows raised in anticipation. “So?”

“All right, all right,” it was the pilot’s turn to wave his hands. “Which stop were you looking at?”

“The Tallelands.” Ace stepped up to the desk.

“Tallelands,” the pilot’s fingers pattered across his keyboard. “On the planet Tal E. Yeah, I was there a few weeks ago. Country of Northaven, looks like.”

“That’s it.” Ace’s eyes lit with hope.

The pilot glanced up from the computer. In the beam of light above their heads, the thin man’s streak of white hair seemed to glow. “Say,” he asked curiously, “you’re not one of those Aravast folks, are you?”

“No, I’m a Daethen from Northaven, hence why I need to get back there.” Ace said matter-of-factly.

“Oh!” He exclaimed as he leaned back in his chair. “Wow, I was wondering what they were doing picking up a bunch of people like that. They didn’t tell me much, just where to go and when to do it.” His ruddy face paled. “I mean... I didn’t say anything about picking up anybody. Nothing at all.”

“I got it,” Ace shrugged. “They were trying to see if I could help them, but it didn’t work out.” 

“Sorry to hear that.”

“I’m not.” Ace smirked.

“So, when can you fly?” Elliot asked.

“When can you pay me?”

Elliot reached into his back pocket and handed him a small card. 

“A cash card? I didn’t think cards still existed without a name attached to them.” 

“It was a birthday present. My grandmother was old-school.”

The pilot swiped it through a machine and nodded. “Nice birthday present. Now, I’ll need to scan your chip.”

Ace promptly backed away when the man stood and reached for his neck.

“What, you think you can just fly off without being scanned? It’s standard protocol to track all off-planet passengers!”

Elliot’s annoyance turned to silent dread as the pilot waved the scanner in front of them.

“Oh, it’s not that,” Ace recovered and offered reassuringly, “it’s just that I don’t have a chip.”

“Don’t have a chip?” The pilot blinked.

Ace held out his hand for the scanner and, with his back safely pointed away from the pilot, he pressed the scanner onto his own neck. It buzzed out an error. “See? I’m from The Tallelands; we don’t have chips there.” He handed the scanner back.

“Oh!” The pilot gave a short laugh and stepped back behind the computer with the scanner. “My apologies, sir. I guess you’re going off-planet as a chip read error, then.” He then sat back in his chair. “All right, I can probably get the ship up and running in about an hour.”

“Wait, what about him?” Ace pointed to Elliot.

“What about him? This ain’t enough for two tickets.” He lifted Elliot’s card.

Ace and Elliot glanced at each other. Ace had donned a look of worry, and Elliot frowned and pulled him away from the desk. 

“Listen, I don’t need a ticket,” he spoke softly.

“Don’t need a ticket? You’re supposed to come with me!” Ace hissed back.

“You heard him; I don’t have enough money for us both!” He winced and added under his breath, “Besides, I can’t risk being scanned. If they follow me, they’ll be able to find you.”

The Daethen’s brows knitted. “But, you won’t be safe here.”

Elliot put his hand on Ace’s shoulder. “But you will be safe there.”

Ace shook his head, his eyes wide with fearful sorrow. 

The Barean gripped his shoulder tighter. “Now go on. And don’t you dare turn this into another sappy moment.”

Ace was struggling to retain composure. “Elliot.”

“Stop it!” Elliot released Ace with a half-shove. “What did I just say?” His voice cracked.

“I can’t—”

“You can. This is how it has to be.”

His words flickered a light in Ace’s eyes.

Ace rushed back to the counter. “How about this,” he looked hard at the ruddy pilot and he slipped a silver ring from his left ring finger. “You take this for payment, but we don’t scan him.”

“Ace, what in the—”

He shoved his friend back with his other hand, holding the shimmering ring between his fingers. “It’s pure white gold.”

The pilot selected the ring from Ace’s fingers and held it closer to his computer screen for light.

“You cannot give away your wedding ring!” Elliot tugged on Ace’s arm. “Are you insane?”

“If I don’t receive money, I can’t issue a ticket.” The pilot’s eyes were still glued to the ring. 

“See? So, take it back!” Elliot ordered forcefully.

“I can replace a ring,” Ace replied sternly. “I cannot replace a friend.”

Elliot’s mouth hung open, but not a single word could escape from it.

“If I can’t issue a ticket, I don’t have to scan you.” The pilot looked up.

Ace’s brows raised in anticipation. “So?”

“So, both of you just come back here and get on the shuttle.” He shook his head, pocketed the ring, and unlatched the half-door beside him. “I swear, you’d better not be on the run or something,” he muttered with a sigh.

Ace turned to Elliot with a wide grin.

Elliot, however, had not yet recovered. “Why?” He finally managed to get out.

“I told you why. Now, come on.”

He tugged Elliot through the door and followed the pilot through a series of hallways until they reached the hangar. While the pilot barked their last-minute plans to the crew, Ace and Elliot started up the portable staircase into the ship’s cockpit.

Ace bounced into one of the chairs and chuckled as it spun. He looked up to the door, turning his head as the chair slowly rotated below him.

Elliot stood silently in the doorway, almost trancelike as he ran his fingers across the curved shape.

“You can come in.”

Elliot looked up. At last, a smile tugged at his lips. “Forgive me; it’s odd to think I’m actually leaving this place.”

“It does seem a little surreal after basically convincing myself I didn’t have a chance,” Ace leaned his elbows on his knees.

Elliot puffed air through his lips as he sat in an adjacent chair. “It’s not like I’m leaving behind anything important. Just a dead-end job, a shoddy apartment, and old memories.”

“Good ones?” 

“Gershwin’s are the only good ones.”

“But you grew up here,” Ace tried, “you’ve got memories of your family before Gershwin, right?”

Elliot took in a slow, deep breath. “Those are... too buried beneath the scars.” 

“What happened?”

“You’re really going to make me get sappy again?” Elliot sat back in the chair.

“I’ll get it out of you one way or another.” Ace raised an eyebrow.

Elliot’s smirk softened. “When I was fifteen, something happened to the water, and my entire family—and most of our apartment building—got really sick. I was away at school, or I’d have been sick, too,” Elliot’s eyes turned idly out the open door. “I rushed them to the hospital, and they got them into beds and hooked up to monitors, but that’s when NAGI came in. They said due to a greater emergency, they would be unable to care for my family. So, they left them, hooked to the machines, to slowly die before my eyes.”

Ace had frozen, his hand pressed across his lips.

“To this day, I can’t stand thinking they could have been helped, but they weren’t. I can’t stand that I couldn’t do anything about it. And to this day, I can’t stand looking at those beds and machines—as you are well aware from my stupid panic attack.”

“It’s not stupid,” the white hair slid back into Ace’s face.

“And like you, I still wonder if I should have done something differently. Should I have run and grabbed a doctor, or not taken no for an answer, or not been so useless and helpless... It tore me up so bad; I lost everything, including my sanity.”

“And that’s when Gershwin found you.”

Elliot looked up. “…Good job.”

Ace offered an empathetic smile. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that.”

“It’s all past now.” Elliot leaned back in the chair and used his legs to twist it from side to side.

“Well, I hope you can come to make new good memories in The Tallelands now.” Ace leaned over with a smug grin. “Maybe even add a few more names to your two-person friends list.”

“Oh, you still think there’s two, huh?” Elliot ribbed him.

“Oh, sorry, am I being pretentious again?”

Try as he might to hold it back, Elliot broke into a hearty laugh. He held up one hand to shield his eyes and he heavily shoved Ace with the other.

Ace yelped as his chair spun in circles, though he was laughing almost as much.

Elliot hooted an exaggerated sigh. “Have you thought about what your wife and friends are going to think of you and your newfound power?” he asked once Ace’s chair had slowed to a stop. “‘Cause you’re, like, crazy powerful now.”

“They’ll be surprised, that’s for sure. But, I don’t plan on using it much if I can help it. Although technically, there are sorcerers around.” Ace raised a hand and caused mist to rise above his fingertips as the light flowed through the veins of his arm. “I may blend right in.”

“Sorcerers?” Elliot’s brows peaked. “This I gotta see.”

Soon, the pilot joined them in the cockpit, along with two crewmembers to help with the hours of travel ahead of them. In the cover of darkness, from an aircraft hangar twenty miles outside of New Arden, a ship slipped into Barea’s atmosphere and shot into space.

--

For the first time in weeks, her eyes were not wet with tears. She had not forgotten, nor would she ever forget, the loss she had experienced, but it was becoming easier to live beyond the icy hole punched through the center of her life. 

She leaned heavily on her brother-in-law’s arm as they walked down the sandy road to her door. She had been grateful to have James and her husband’s longtime friend, Dorian, at her side as they worked their way through their grief together.

“James,” Dorian shouted suddenly, giving his free arm a tug.

James stopped walking and turned to him, but he could only follow Dorian’s line of sight when he couldn’t speak further.

Athena broke from his arm and clamped her hands against her mouth, tears of hope welling in her eyes.

Two figures were walking over the hill towards them.

----

YAY it ended happily after all!! I was not expecting the cool bro-ness of Ace and Elliot when I first started writing, but I really like it a lot; similar to Ace and Dorian, but its own unique thing. I was glad I could fit Elliot into ToAG just because I hated for this coolness to only exist in this story, ha.

Although... they will both return in the next Star Trek TNG fanfiction I have planned in my brain! 😋 

Thanks for reading!

Elliot gnashed his teeth and pulled against his captors. He writhed and wrenched against the ropes that bound him until his skin had rubbed raw. He was repeatedly held back and pushed down, and he finally flopped back to the ground with an exaggerated huff.

He looked over at Ace, emotionlessly slumped over his knees. His wrists were bound by cold, metal shackles. His hair was messy and barely held back in a ponytail from all of the times the guards gawked mockingly at the mark on the back of his neck. To top it off, he now bore a patch of white hair that fell on the right side of his face: yet another sign to prove his Aravasti genetics.

He slowly turned the silver wedding ring around on his finger. Its return had been his final request granted before his public execution.

A makeshift platform had been raised in the middle of New Arden’s city square, and a crowd had thickly gathered around it. The water of the canal formed a backdrop to the scene as the sun ducked in and out of clouds overhead. The dull roar of hundreds of discussions was quieted as a thin man with wavy hair in a navy-blue uniform stepped forward beside five officers. Ace and Elliot sat, bound, at their feet.

“Citizens of New Arden,” Cason announced with his hands raised. “Today is a day we will remember for years to come, and today is a day Echoes will not soon forget.”

The mob offered a smattering of applause and shouts in affirmation.

“Ace,” Elliot managed to shove his friend with his shoulder.

The Outlier, however, continued his trance-like wringing of his fingers.

“Today we take control of their efforts to undermine our people in their skewed desire for revenge. Today, we show Echoes everywhere what we will do to them when they break our rules.”

Cason had scarcely gestured toward Ace when the crowd instantly broke into shouts and yells of anger.

Elliot began to struggle again. “Ace—snap out of it!” He urged.

“And then what?” Ace’s narrow eyes slid toward him under the white and brown hair in his face.

The Barean scowled. “You can’t just give up!”

“What else can I do?” Ace turned, shouting over Cason’ continuing speech and the crowd’s calls in reply. “Try to pretend hundreds of people didn’t just die? Try to pretend I’m not going to join them, leaving behind everyone who’s ever cared about us and will never know what happened to us??” His wedding ring glinted in the sun.

“I know how powerless that feels, but I refuse to believe everything you did yesterday to save my life was done in vain.” He shook his head when Ace continued to ignore him. “I refuse to believe you’re going to sit back and force me to watch you die in front of me—only for me to get killed right after.”

Ace winced and turned away.

Elliot, however, scooted himself closer. “You may not want to believe me, but I know you can do it. I still trust you, Ace.”

The guard pulled him back into place as Ace hung his head. 

“I have no more tools,” he muttered. “No more power. I can do nothing.”

“When has not being able to do something ever stopped you?” The Barean urged, bending around the guard’s leg. “Besides, you still have the power. But, like that butter knife lock pick, you just have to find another way to use it.”

Ace’s eyes opened.

“And here!”

Ace was grasped by the shoulders and drug to the front of the platform. He was heavily dropped back to his knees, but instead of slumping forward, he held his back steady. His once emotionless face was beginning to sharpen with determination.

“This Echo we have called The Outlier has at last been captured.” Cason dramatically grimaced as he looked upon Ace. “Many of you may remember the havoc he dealt on our town days earlier. Since then, he has attempted to murder our very Commander Konstantin—not to mention he has cast a spell over this Barean traitor.”

Cason turned to scowl at Elliot, but he was taken aback by the man’s smug expression.

“By his death, we will send a clear sign to all Echoes,” he turned his eyes back to the crowd, “By his death, we will ensure New Arden’s life!”

A clap of thunder masked the crowd’s joyful cry and caused all eyes to turn to the sky.

“Well,” Cason attempted a smile, “I suppose we should get to the point quickly. General?”

The general, armed with a long rifle, stepped forward. He coldly pointed the barrel at the back of Ace’s neck. He paused and then used the barrel to sweep Ace’s hair aside. His eyes grew wide.

Cason’s eyes narrowed, and then he noticed the raindrops in the air.

They were not falling.

Behind him, the crowd had grown uncharacteristically quiet. They, too, had donned a variety of fearful expressions. Some had even begun to run away.

He looked down at Ace.

The Outlier’s eyes were coated in blue light. Glowing streams pulsed from the shining mark on the back of his neck, tracing through his hair, across his face, and down his neck. Despite the shackles blocking the path of his power to his fingers, he had found a way around them.

Screams urged Cason to raise his eyes and witness the water rising from the canal at their backs and swirling into the clouds above. He grit his teeth in an expression encompassing apprehension, amazement, and outrage.

“Shoot him!!” He barked, attempting to grab the gun from the stunned general’s hands. “Shoot him now!!”

But in a mighty crash of thunder, the wall of water and every raindrop burst through the air and collapsed heavily on the platform. Torrential waves crashed through the street and lapped against rooftops. The force broke through windows and busted down doors. People were swept away in the current, cleared from the scene and left gasping for air along the sidewalks.

Cason broke free from the current almost a block away, coughing to clear his throat and staggering to his feet through the receding water. He held up his arm to block the rainfall as he huffed air through his mouth. 

A glowing figure stood on the platform. The glint of the light made it difficult to decipher which was water and which was his physical body.

Behind him, protected and half-obscured by swirling mist, stood the Barean.

Cason mustered his weakened anger and grabbed his gun. He shouted and fired a shot, but water effortlessly collected in front of The Outlier and deflected it. He continued firing as he trudged through the slushy ground towards him, but every shot bent and diffused through the humid air. 

He roared when he ran out of charges, and he tried to rush at The Outlier instead. He recoiled when something was tossed to the soaked ground at his feet. He looked down to find broken metal shackles rocking back and forth in a puddle.

When he looked up, mist was slowly receding from the empty platform.

The acting commander shut his eyes.

Today was a day he would not soon forget.

----

Not gonna lie I still really like the idea of Ace having water power all the time 😁 But he doesn't exactly need it in the real story. Although his mom has a totem that creates mist, hmmm......

Also I decided everyone needs a friend like Elliot.

Repetitive clangs resounded through the hallways of the research facility. They would increase in tempo and dynamics from time to time, but they continued intermittently for hours.

Cason had scarcely entered the genetics lab when the lead technician rushed toward him.

“Thompson, what’s all that banging?” He asked her, noting her harried expression.

“That’s... A-077,” she admitted. “It’s not stopped for hours.”

Cason pinched his forehead and shook it off. “I’ll handle that in a moment. What have you learned?”

“We verified that the genetic material sampled for this project was from 04987; the same sample we have used in the past. Before insertion, the sample was edited to remove the ability for power generation,” Thompson swallowed uncomfortably. “However, A-077’s genetics are heavily mutated compared to the original sample. Not only is his sample allowing power to be generated, but it is also a different power altogether.”

“So we’ve gathered. 04987 was an Inge-Aravasti; A-077 is acting like an Aqui.” Cason’s eyes narrowed. “Is he the only one with this mutation?”

Thompson shifted uncomfortably in her white coat. “The amount of mutation would indicate that the mutation was already occurring in the genes before insertion into the subjects.” 

“Before insertion into the subjects??” Cason spouted so loudly the entire room leapt in surprise.

The technician bit her lip worriedly. “Yes, sir.”

“Does this mean every one of the sleepers has been given the mutated genes?” The lieutenant’s usually calm demeanor was quickly breaking down.

“We’re almost finished gathering samples from all of them to verify.” She cleared her throat. “It’s been very difficult to concentrate, sir.”

Cason brought his hand onto the table beside her. “I don’t care how difficult it is—you have got to find this out before we can go any further with this project!!”

“Wait,” another technician behind them stood up. “Do you hear that?”

The room hushed to silence despite Cason’ low-burning expression.

“The banging is gone.”

Thompson glanced at Cason worriedly.

Cason audibly groaned and rushed out the room. He flagged down a security guard and raced up a flight of stairs to the examination room they were using to hold The Outlier.

When the door swung open, Ace was seated quietly on the exam table, kicking his feet back and forth.

“What is going on in here??” Cason fumed.

“Nothing at the moment.” Ace shrugged.

The wavy-haired lieutenant eyed Ace’s wrist bracers and then stepped inside the room to get a view of the other side of the door. “I hope you realize you will not be able to open the door or your shackles this way.”

“Who said I was trying to do that?”

Cason offered a bitter smile. “Do you enjoy making other people’s lives miserable?”

“Is that not what you do around here?” Ace smirked in return.

The lieutenant made a poor attempt at feigning composure. “I will ask you kindly to stop banging against the door.” He said after a long pause.

The Outlier crossed his arms. “I can’t promise anything.”

“If you need anything—”

“Can I go to the bathroom?” Ace slid off the table, crinkling the roll of paper that lined its surface.

Cason glanced at the security guard at his side.

The guard shrugged. “It has been a few hours.”

“Fine.” He gestured to the guard and turned on his heels to return to the genetics lab.

Just as he had done before, the guard placed a hand on Ace’s shoulder to keep him on a straight path to the bathroom at the other end of the hall.

“Don’t take all day.” The guard opened the door and ushered Ace inside.

“I can’t promise anything.” Ace announced as the door shut on him. He smirked and hurried to the toilet.

After relieving himself, he flushed the toilet and used the running water to cover the sound of him removing the porcelain cover to the toilet tank. He had scoured the room for its usefulness that morning, and he was able to make quick work of removing the toilet’s metal flushing arm from the tank.

He closed the toilet lid to use it as a seat, rolled his left wrist over to expose the small gap he had beaten open in the shackle’s seam, and used the metal arm as a spike to drive into the opening. He wrenched it back and forth until the locking mechanism gave way. He pushed it back closed to keep up the locked illusion, and then rapidly did the same to the other shackle.

He reached into the toilet tank to open the flapper for another flush of water to mask the sound, and in that time, he was able to reassemble the arm and handle and return the cover to its place.

He then stepped to the sink to wash his hands, stop up the drain, and leave an almost imperceptible trickle of water running from the faucet.

The Outlier dried his hands on a paper towel, turned off the light, and exited the bathroom.

“Was that fast enough?” He asked innocently.

The guard shut the door and sighed. “Come on.”

--

“So?” Cason stood over the shoulders of Thompson and an assistant as the three of them looked at a screen full of squares and numbers.

“Every single one has some form of mutation.” Thompson announced dimly. “Almost half have the same water-manipulation pattern found in A-077’s sample, though none are as strong. A-077’s genetic sample is… well, almost indistinguishable from a full-blooded Aravasti.”

Cason sighed with furrowed brows. “You realize this mistake may have cost us this entire project, do you not?”

Thompson bowed her head. “Yes, sir.”

“You remember what happened to ORBIT when they took 04897 on board, hm?” He leaned closer with bared teeth. “She killed every last one of them–including technicians like you.” He hissed into her ear.

“Yes, sir.” She muttered, trembling.

He straightened up with a scowl. “A-077 will do the same if given the chance–and if they all awaken similarly, we will lose control and this entire plan will have been for naught!” He stressed before stepping back and crossing his arms. “We barely had the resources to hire off-planet transport and capture this set of sleepers. Do you think we can simply catch another hundred and try again as if nothing happened??”

“No, sir—I understand, sir; I’m sorry—I didn’t realize this had happened until now. I—”

“I’ll let Konstantin know,” Cason spoke coldly, watching the technician crumple in front of the computer. “We will decide what should be done from here.” His eyes glanced back to the computer. “Who is B-077?”

Thompson raised her eyes to the screen. “The Barean.”

A half-smile found his lips. “Ah, that’s right. Our only clean slate; perhaps we haven’t lost everything after all.”

--

Ace and the guard had barely reached his holding room when another technician opened the bathroom door and switched on the light.

“Who left the sink running?” She called.

The guard had to look twice before realizing who had just been in the bathroom. He grabbed Ace by the shoulders and pushed his back into the wall.

Ace met his eyes and offered an uneasy grin. “Oops!”

In one fell swoop, he gave a heavy shake of his arms to throw the shackles from his wrists and thrust his hands forward. The water burst through the faucet in the bathroom, swept the technician off her feet, and inundated the guard under a heavy wave of water.

The sounds of gushing water alerted two others to rush into the hallway, but Ace simply redirected the water flow towards them.

The guard, back on his feet, dove at Ace from behind and tried to restrain him in a bear hug. The Outlier struggled against him as the water swirled through the air and forced them both backward. The guard’s head slammed into a fire alarm, and the force broke Ace from his grasp.

A jarring bell immediately began to ring through the hall as water sprinklers popped open from the ceiling.

The guard’s eyes widened in horror as he slid to the ground. 

Ace bared a toothy smile as his eyes shimmered with blue light.

--

The fire alarm’s siren interrupted all thought and action in the genetics laboratory.

“Was there a test scheduled today?” A technician turned to the door, just in time to watch water trickle down the hallway.

Cason, Thompson, and the others turned to the door in varying states of shock, and almost as quickly, they rushed to the doorway.

At the end of the hall, water was steadily flowing down the stairs from the floor above.

Cason turned to outrage as he clenched his teeth. “That had better not be what I think it is!” He chewed on the words.

“Sir—if the water reaches the monitors it could trigger them all to wake—”

Thompson didn’t have time to finish her sentence as Cason bolted from the room and splashed down to the monitoring room. He had barely reached the open door when a mass of water dropped to the ground at the bottom of the stairs. 

The Outlier rose from the water, gleaming from head to toe. A streak of white hair fell into his face as his cold eyes locked onto Cason.

“If you get this room wet, if these computers go offline, you—you will kill every single Echo asleep in the next room!” Cason spouted, thrusting a pointed finger at the door.

“Then, get away from the room.” The Outlier strode down the hall with mist and water curling at his heels.

Cason held firm in the doorway, though it was clear he was struggling to uphold his composure. “You know, your friend is in there. What was his name,” Cason glanced down at the water puddling at his feet as the man at the computers began pulling cables from off the floor. “Elliot?”

He stopped walking, though his eyes did not lose their light.

Cason huffed through his teeth. “That’s right—Elliot is in there. If you don’t stop this, you will kill him and all the others.” He offered an empathetic smile, “That’s not what you want, is it?”

He blinked, losing the light for only a moment. “You... you put him in there?” The water swirled tighter around him as he grimaced angrily. “You’re turning on your own people?” 

“Careful, remember what I said? You don’t want them to die.” He narrowed his eyes and added, “It would be your fault.”

He let out a slow breath, and the light at last left his eyes and faded from his hands and arms. The mist faded and the water ceased moving.

“There you go,” Cason’ lips curled into a smile. “Thank you.”

“Cason!!” A deep voice boomed from around the corner.

The lieutenant turned on his heels. “Sir, I’ve got this under control—”

“Is this what you call control??” Konstantin kicked up the water as he rounded the corner. He froze when he saw Ace, shackleless, standing a few feet from Cason.

“Everything’s all right,” Cason held out his hands and glanced at Ace, “he doesn’t want to hurt the Echoes in the other room by getting the computers wet.” He stressed the words with a knowing glance toward the commander.

Konstantin heaved a breath and started toward him. “Cason, I have been trusting you every step of the way with this project. I have been allowing you to keep this ‘outlier’ alive while you spout off every aspect of this project, knowing you must have some sort of plan to keep the information within these walls and retain control of him. And you, sir, are not giving me any confidence!!”

“I apologize sir, we’ve had a number of... mishaps today.” He again turned to check on Ace, surprised to find the man standing where he had left him.

“I’ll say.” Konstantine’s fists clenched. “I was just informed about our little genetic ‘mishap’.”

Cason tensed up and almost jumped when Ace stepped next to him.

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t concern you, Echo.”

Mist circled Konstantin’s feet as Ace grit his teeth. “Wanna bet?”

“Commander,” the lieutenant’s demeanor was cracking with apprehension, “we will discuss that after—”

“Oh no! Since we’re so keen on including the Echo in all of our top secret information, let’s spill it all now!” Konstantin spread his arms wide, breaking the mist barrier as he stepped through it. “Let’s tell him that they all got a mutated dose of Aravasti genes and we need all of them dead anyway!”

Ace’s eyes grew wide, and he swiftly turned to Cason in distress.

Cason, for once, mirrored his agitated expression.

“They’ll all wake up too powerful—too hard to control—just like this one!” Konstantin shoved Cason into the monitoring room and squared up with Ace. “So, every last one of them, including you, will be thrown away with the rest of this project!”

Ace thrust his arms into Konstantin’s chest, but the man grabbed him tightly by the wrists and only received a splattering of water before the strength of his power was lost. He spat it back at Ace’s face and grinned.

Ace writhed and kicked against him, but the larger man swiftly shoved him backward into the wall beside the doorway. He still fought as hard as he could, but with a second more forceful shove into the wall, the wind was knocked from his chest and he struck the back of his head from the force. He was then kneed in the stomach and pinned to the wall by his arms as the rest of his body fell painfully limp.

“Shut them all down,” Konstantin shouted into the monitoring room beside him.

Cason had just returned to his feet when he looked to Konstantin with furrowed brows. Beside him, the technician’s mouth was gaping.

“Stop standing there and shut them all down!!”

“Sir—”

“No,” Ace groaned through his teeth, “Elliot—”

“There’s still one—”

“I don’t care!” Konstantin bellowed over his opposition, “Shut them down!!”

The technician winced and typed the command into the keyboard. He glanced at Cason to supply a secondary command, and, biting his lip, the lieutenant complied.

Another siren joined the mindless buzzing of the fire alarm’s bell as the computer screens began displaying a series of small red boxes.

Ace shouted at the top of his lungs and kicked Konstantin in the stomach with both legs. It was just enough to free his arms and send all the water from the second floor barreling into the commander. The force knocked the man so hard, he was thrown down the staircase at the other end of the hall.

Ace rushed into the monitoring room, pushed past Cason and the technician, threw one of the rolling chairs against the wall as leverage, and leapt into the wire conduit. He grabbed the bundle of wires when he reached the other end and swung out of the shaft. He pushed his legs as fast as they could go, wincing as the machines across the room blinked red and powered off one by one. He ran to the only bed that would have been available for someone new.

He let out a cry and dove at bed 077 as the red light faded. The force knocked the bed onto its side, throwing Elliot’s lifeless body against his own as they hit the ground. 

All around them, the red lights faded and the sound of a great exhale passed through the room. Soon, there was nothing but Ace’s labored breathing to break the silence.

“No,” Ace both gasped for air and heaved out sobs as he struggled to his hands and knees. He reached for Elliot and shuddered when the man’s arm was cold to the touch. “Please, no,” he nudged his friend in vain. “Elliot!”

The man did not move.

A dark pallor fell over the Echo as he sat at Elliot’s side. His expression dulled until it bore no emotion, and a heavy fog descended upon the silent rows of beds.

Elliot choked on a breath. He wheezed a few gasps of air and uncomfortably rolled to his side. He groaned and tried to blink the room into focus, but it remained gray and hazy. Thunder rumbled through the floor, and when he managed to sit up, he was taken aback at the Echo’s presence.

“Ace?”

The Echo turned his head. His eyebrows had arched, but the light did not leave his eyes.

Elliot shrunk back unnervingly. “Hey, snap out of it,” he tried. “It’s me!”

Ace clamped his eyes shut and at last broke from the light. “Elliot!” he gasped, struggling for words, “I thought... I thought you were...”

The fog began to fade, and Elliot shuddered when he realized where they were. “Why are we in this room again?” He complained weakly. 

The Echo turned away, wincing in anguish.

The Barean’s eyes dulled as his mind began to put together the pieces: they were on the floor beside an overturned bed among rows of dark, motionless machines and bodies. “Ace, please don’t tell me what I think just happened...”

“I was so focused on saving you,” Ace was beginning to tremble as realization and remorse sunk in. “Why didn’t I knock every bed over as I ran? Why—why didn’t I wake more of them?” His brows arched in pain as his lips quivered, “Could I have saved them?”

The heavy metal door opened with a clank. Armed guards rushed in and surrounded Ace and Elliot. Weak and worn, they were unable to retaliate before both were wrenched from the ground and Ace was reshackled.

Cason joined the circle, glancing between the Outlier and the Barean. “You are a man of surprises, Outlier,” he said coldly. “You left your fellow Echoes to die while you rushed to save the traitor.”

“Don’t let him get to you,” Elliot blurted. “Their deaths are not your fault!”

“Silence him.” Cason ordered before redirecting Ace’s attention with a quick grasp of his chin. “And you do realize we can add attempted murder to your repertoire—that is, if Commander Konstantin is able to heal from the injuries you supplied.”

“Just kill me and get it over with.” Ace hissed despondently.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Cason grinned as he released his grip on the Outlier, “But I have one last use for you.” The grin widened when he turned to Elliot. “Keep him alive too.”

The man holding Elliot glanced up and unclenched his fist.

Elliot struggled to lift his head within the pause, blood dripping from a busted lip. His face fell when he realized Ace had stopped fighting back.

“We’ll let him watch.”

----

A brief Gemini mention! Even though its not good, lol but I figure they'd know about what happened...

I forgot that Cason almost redeems himself in this chapter by being kind of shocked/outraged by Konstantin's orders.... buuuut that doesn't last long once he's the one with the highest power in the room.

Ace is in a state where he is controlled by the power more than he controls it, which is not uncommon at this stage of his "training." Even Gemini can kick into the "overdrive mode" if she's not careful.

This chapter got long, and honestly I tried to split it to make the next (much shorter) chapter more balanced, but... didn't really know where to break it 🤷