The song for this chapter is "I Won't Look Back" by Fireflight.

"It is the mothers, not the warriors, who create a people and guide their destiny." –Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Lakota

*Everett's POV*

Dim light drifted into the tunnel as Will finally broke through into one of the underground rooms. He stepped aside to let us out of the tunnel and shakily lowered his arms. He stared at the roof of his tunnel, watching for any signs of destabilization. When it held without him actively applying his powers, he joined us.

We had broken through into a medical supply closet? I frowned and clicked off my flashlight. I picked my way around the gurney and boxes crammed into the space to the strip of light along the ground indicating a door. I cracked the door open and looked out into a concrete hallway. Plexiglass cells lined both walls. My hair stood on end as we stepped out into the hall. It looked like a prison...or a mad scientist's lair. The first set of cells were occupied. On the right a black woman with regal bearing and an early touch of grey to her hair stared back at me; on the left, a more familiar face looked back.

"Grounder! You're alive!" Slingshot froze next to me.

I rolled my eyes and moved down the hall. "We'll get them all out of here, but we need to find Phoenix," I reminded him.

Will had ignored the first set of cells too and moved ahead of me before stopping outside an empty cell. He raised a hand and the pillow on the cot fell aside to reveal Aurora's charm bracelet floating towards the plexiglass. "She was here, but she's not now."

"I believe I may be of assistance," A heavily accented voice said. I turned back down the hall to see Nancy had let the woman out of her cell. She introduced herself with a bow. "Alia Babette, Councilwoman of Atlantis and mother of the child imprisoned there." She pointed to a cell near the far end of the hall.

They took her kid too? My blood boiled. They'd tried the same thing with Aurora and Isabella. I jerked my head toward the other cells. "Nancy, let's get this jailbreak on the road."

Alia grinned and nodded her thanks. "I wouldn't try removing these just yet." She lightly touched the metal band around her arm. "Tampering with them will trigger a release of sedative. That would slow our escape. And this one will need help walking." She pointed to Grounder.

I frowned and looked at the supervillain more closely. He hadn't stood since we entered the hall or made a move for his cell's door, even after Nancy destroyed the lock. The Grounder I knew wouldn't show even implied weakness. The usual defiance in his eyes was missing, broken. What did they do to him?

"Stretch, Will? Help these people get aboveground. Interpol should be here soon, and they'll want everyone's statements. Tell Wizard about the...bracelets. She and Auxiliary might be able to get them off." While my friends worked, I turned my eyes back to Alia. "Do you know where they took Phoenix?"

"Your friend was taken to the laboratory a few hours ago. She is likely still there."

"Great! Where's that?"

Alia pointed up. "One level above us."

Will eyed the ceiling in thought. "I might be able to make us a way up, but not until everyone else is out of the way."

"You heard the man. Single file. Follow the tunnel in the supply closet then head for the compound gate. Look for the pair in costume." John waved several people on toward the closet.

Some of them looked sick with sallow skin and bags under their eyes. Grounder limped heavily as he leaned on Stretch. I wondered what had been going on here.

"Mommy!" A far too young voice called. A small figure collided with Alia as she knelt. The kid was barely taller than my hip.

Alia whispered into his unruly mass of hair and hugged him close for a moment, tears crowding the corners of her eyes. Then she stood with her son in her arms. "I need you to be brave a little longer, Taye. Stay close to Tyrone and Ethan. They'll keep you safe."

Grounder threw Alia a disbelieving look over his shoulder before his eyes landed on Taye. His eyes softened a little seeing the kid clinging to his mom. "Come on, little man. Your mom will be right behind us."

Taye nodded, and Alia set him down. He sprinted over to grab Grounder's free hand. He, Grounder, and Stretch headed for the tunnel together.

I scratched at my beard and looked away. "We can find her without you, you know. You can go outside with your kid."

Alia shook her head. "This is partially my doing. I will see it through to its end."

"Your doing?" John asked sarcastically. "No offense, Councilwoman, but crazy people have been doing crazy things long before you came along. What these people did isn't because of you."

She shook her head. "That is where you are wrong, hero. This one is my fault. I saw it coming and did nothing to stop it. I chose this future over a more violent one."

I raised an eyebrow at her and stepped out of the way of another prisoner walking toward freedom.

"When I see a person, I see some of the paths their life might take, defining moments, major choices, major flaws." Alia's eyes grew distant, and the lines in her face more pronounced. "You are familiar with the tradition on Atlantis of sending away the ungifted, even the children? That is largely on me. I did not realize how much hate and hurt a young heart could harbor."

Realization dawned on me. One of the villains here was a reject Atlantean. The whole making powers thing suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Hey," I said, catching her eyes. "Even if this is partly your mess, we're going to make it right. Right now." Turning to look down the hall where Will was helping Ethan out of his cell, I asked, "We good to go?"

Will nodded grimly. When he and Ethan reached us, I took Ethan off his hands while he worked on the ceiling. Ethan's eyes were unfocused, and I wasn't entirely sure he was in the here and now. I frowned a little more as I worried about my old friend.

Will grimaced and yanked both of his arms back as if physically pulling on something. The ceiling groaned and cracked. A rough rectangle split from the surrounding structure and fell to the concrete floor. "That's—that's all I've got. Slingshot, can you?"

"Sure. You take it easy and get Ethan out of here. I can lift everyone through." He clapped a hand on Will's shoulder and pushed him gently toward us.

I handed off Ethan and watched them long enough to be certain Will wouldn't collapse the second I looked away. Then I helped John give Nancy and Alia a lift up to the floor above us. Then John levitated both of us up.

We were in another hallway, this one more...sterile. I got major creepy hospital vibes from the linoleum floors and fluorescent lights. I shuddered and asked Alia, "Which way?"

She pointed further down the hall, and we set out, passing empty laboratories and what looked like a hospital suite, complete with a door labeled "Quarantine." Alia slowed as we approached a door at the end of the hall.

We could hear voices muffled behind the door as we drew closer. When the door swung open, we all ducked into the doorway of one of the labs.

"Get out!" a male voice bellowed.

"Suit yourself," a female but far more chilling voice answered. "If you need another job done..."

There was a grating, chipping sound, and I leaned out just far enough to see what was happening. That female voice belonged to Dullahan. Caitlyn was right; she did have an Eastern European accent. And she was carving a phone number into the drywall with one of her knives. I ducked back out of sight as she finished.

"I look forward to working with you again, Mazlíček." Then she walked away, boots thudding on linoleum.

We waited to move until we heard the elevator chime then leave. As we inched closer to the door, I drew my phone from my pocket and snapped a quick picture of the phone number on the wall. I wasn't sure if the FBI could track her down by a phone number, but it had to be worth a shot, right?

We positioned ourselves around the door, and Nancy took out the door's latch. John held up three fingers and counted us in. When he lowered the last finger, Nancy kicked the door in with a bit of her stored up kinetic energy, nearly taking it off its hinges. John and I followed a step behind her, fanning out to the left and right to get a clear view of what we were dealing with.

Aurora was strapped to a chair in the center of the room with more electrodes stuck to her than Caitlyn after Garm messed up her head. And not all of these electrodes were on her scalp. She was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, but her eyes were bright and alert as she met ours.

One man in a collared shirt with rolled sleeves stood beside her chair, halfway to pulling a Glock on us. "You heroes really don't know when to quit do you?"

John made quick work of the gun, yanking it through the air to land by our feet. "Nuh-uh. No firearms around medical equipment. You should know how flammable some of this stuff is." He released all of the ties holding Aurora to her chair while talking.

Nancy picked up the gun and disintegrated it as the man watched.

In a flash he had a pocketknife flipped open and held toward Aurora, not noticing she was free.

Vindictiveness flashed across Aurora's face, and she clamped a hand around his wrist, digging her nails into his skin. She twisted his wrist as she pushed herself up from the chair. "You want to see me give powers so badly?" She snarled in his grimacing face. "Then have one!"

"No! Don't!" Alia screamed behind us, pushing her way between Nancy and me.

The man went rigid for a moment, staring into Aurora's eyes in mixed fascination and horror. Then he started trembling and...glowing?

"Stop! He'll kill us all!"

Alia's words seemed to reach Aurora this time. Aurora released her victim's wrist and stepped back. A bit of horror crept onto her face as she watched the man who was her captor double over, then fall to his knees.

When the temperature in the room started to spike I caught on. I froze time just as the man's core started flaring white-hot. Shit! Is he exploding? I only had a few seconds to work. Five of us to get out, and the tunnel being the easiest way out...I didn't have enough time. I looked at the two mothers in the room. I had to at least get them out, but even that would stretch the remainder of my power thin. I couldn't do this alone.

I grabbed John's shoulder. Mentally, I knew I had to be able to "bring people up to speed" so to speak. I couldn't move as fast as I could with another person without killing them if I didn't at least partially speed them up too. I'd never purposely tried to speed someone up though. Please work.

John moved sluggishly for a moment then shook his head and looked at me at normal speed. Time was still slowed around us. "Guinness, what did you do? I've got a massive headache."

It worked! "I bought us some time," I said without letting go of his shoulder. I had a suspicion that if I did, he'd drop back into time.

John shot me a confused look before the state of the room clicked in his head. "How did you..." His eyes widened as he stared at the small shockwave starting to emanate from the glowing man.

"We have to get everyone out of here. I need your help."

He shuddered and glanced back at me warily. "Okay. Let's do this."

With his powers weakened too, John could only move two people at a time. So, he levitated Aurora and Alia first, then we took off for the tunnel. I was careful to keep a grip on John at all times. He had to set them down briefly to lower the two of us into the cell block, but otherwise, we moved quickly.

An awkward silence filled the space between us as we worked. By the time we entered the tunnel with the floating ladies and John in the lead, I couldn't stand it any longer. I cleared my throat. "Listen, John...after this mission, after we get everyone home, I'm taking a break."

John froze for a moment, and I glanced up at him, worried my power had failed. He stared into space for a moment, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. Then he swallowed and started walking again. Without looking at me he asked, "How long?"

I shrugged. "As long as it takes. Think I'll visit my folks for a week or two, maybe longer."

"This is because of—"

"Yeah...but I've needed to visit them for a while now. Dad's health hasn't been the best. Mom could use the help, and I need to clear my head."

John didn't say anything else until he'd set Alia and Aurora safely down outside. We turned around and jogged back underground. "You don't have to leave," he finally said.

I almost missed it—he'd barely spoken above a whisper—but I ignored him. Not leave? Yeah right. How am I supposed to function on a team where I can't trust the other lead? Where I have to see him and the woman who used to make me happy making each other happy instead?

John stopped in the tunnel, forcing me to stop too. He turned to face me. "I'm supposed to be a team leader, and I haven't been acting like it. I made a selfish choice, not thinking about the ramifications for the team as a whole." He broke eye contact before continuing in a firm voice, "That will change."

We started moving again, and John sighed. "Just...give it a week before you leave?"

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled. I had to stick around for the funeral anyway. What were a few extra days? I could easily spend most of that time at work or one of the bars around town. I chuckled as I thought of the face my boss would make when I turned in my stack of PTO days. I hadn't taken off in almost a year.

My grin faded as we made it back to the lab. "Damn it! My power must be wearing off faster with two of us." The explosion radiating from the fallen villain took up half the room now, and I could see it still expanding in slow motion.

Nancy had her arms half raised to shield her face. "Grab her and let's get out of here!"

"Got her!" John yelled. We booked it for the hole in the hallway. I tried my hardest to maintain our position outside of time, but the strain was starting to wear on me. Pressure built in my head, and my vision doubled for a second. We made it to the supply closet when I knew I couldn't hold it any longer.

I tried to warn John. "I can't..." Then I stumbled. He grabbed my arm as I lost my grip on his shoulder. He threw Nancy down the tunnel, trusting her power to absorb the impact. The pressure in my head vanished as he pulled me back to my feet. My eyes went wide, and I shoved John through the doorway. A split second later the explosion hit. I landed hard next to him and rolled to my back just in time to see the ceiling cave in above us.