Troy P.O.V

Date: October 2, 2238

The conversation with Dean Winston stayed at the forefront of my mind the entire elevator ride down to the ground floor. In particular, his question about loyalty. Something I'd never questioned of any of my friends, new and old alike. They'd never given me a reason to. That was until today. I-

"Hello? Troy!" Nova's voice penetrated my thoughts as she waved a hand in front of my face.

I straightened from the wall, blinking away the haze clouding my vision. "Yeah?" I muttered, only now realizing the elevator had come to a stop

"Are you alright? You were just staring into space."

"Yeah, I'm fine." The slight warble in my voice contradicted my words, earning a raised eyebrow from her.

"Troy, I've known you long enough to tell when you're lying, so... you might as well just tell me."

I let out a deep breath before relaying the conversation with Dean Winston. All of it, not leaving out one detail. And by the time I finished, she stood silently in utter shock, but it quickly morphed into anger.

"How could they-they... Ugh!" She squeezed her eyes shut, resting her head against the wall as she slowly breathed in and out. After a minute had passed, she slowly reopened her eyes. "So... do you think Kayden had something to do with Ms. Jacob's attack?"

"I don't know, but I'm about to find out." I mashed the button for the basement. The only way to know the truth and ease my doubts was to speak with Kayden and let him explain.

"Okay, let me know what happens." She stepped forward, reaching for the button to open the elevator doors, but I grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"What do you mean? You're going with me."

"Oh, no, no, no, no. You've lost your damn mind if you think I'm going back down there. You do realize they've doubled the guards since what happened, right?"

I lazily shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, so?"

"So?! That means it increases the chances of us getting caught. And this time, Maverick might not save us."

"Yeah, but we still have to try. And if we do run into guards, we can say we accidentally pressed the wrong button."

"Uh-huh, because there are just so many floors to choose from." She replied sarcastically, waving her hand at the eight buttons on the keypad.

Only four of them lead to a floor in the building. While two were the alarm and the emergency stop button. The last two buttons were for opening and closing the elevator doors.

When the elevator arrived, I looked out the doors into the empty hall and whispered, "See. No guards. You were worried for nothing."

"Yeah, yeah. You got lucky." She muttered.

I started to step out, but she grabbed my arm. "Wait. Here." She said, handing me a ragged baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses. "I forgot to return these to Jax."

"You had these? He tore up our dorm room, looking for them." I slipped the glasses into my pocket and placed the cap on my head. "I'll take them to him when we finish."

She nodded and mumbled a quick thank you before we approached the door. Kayden's keycard that I somehow still managed to have gained us quick access inside. There wasn't a soul in sight as we headed down the hallway to the left.

"Are you sure he's here?" She asked as we passed the lab room we'd seen last time we were here. But unlike the last time, the windows were shuttered.

"Ye-"

Suddenly a loud bang reverberated through the hallway, startling us.

"What th-" Nova gasped, jumping.

I stuck my head around the corner catching a glimpse of the door bouncing off the wall before a man charged out the door.

"What's wrong?" Nova sharply whispered as I moved back, pressing closely against the wall. "Nevermind, I don't care. We need to go." She continued, tugging on my arm.

"Hold on," I whispered back, pulling her close just as two male voices sounded down the hall.

"Wait...Wait!" One of the men yelled. "I c-c-can't do what they're asking me to."

Unsure of what exactly was happening, I slipped the glasses from my pocket and powered them up.

"What are you doing?" Nova said close to my ear, standing on the tip of her toes. Her warm breath fanned my ear, carrying a slight peppermint scent that tickled my nose.

"Keep a lookout," I said, matching her tone.

She turned immediately to keep an eye on the hallway, ensuring no one snuck up behind us. Our position was too exposed. Anyone that entered the lab would see us.

With my back plastered to the cold wall and one arm wrapped around Nova's warm body, I quickly gathered my courage before extending the glasses halfway beyond the wall.

I didn't know what was about to happen. If anything happened at all, but I wanted proof.

A guttural chuckle carried around the corner, standing the tiny hairs at my nape on end. Before a voice much deeper than the first said, "You don't have a choice. Either you do it or else."

A beat of silence passed.

"But what if they start asking questions?" The other man spoke, the shakiness of his voice audible even from here.

"You don't worry about that. Just do your fucking job, and I'll take care of them!"

"W-w-what does that mean?" The guy stuttered again. And hopefully, it was brought on by the tenseness of the situation rather than his usual speaking pattern.

"I said I'll take care of them. They can't ask questions if they are no longer breathing."

My blood ran cold, matching his icy tone. I contemplated peeking around the corner to see who was making the threat. But I'd already exceeded my limit of stupid decisions for the day. One more could be fatal. Besides, it wouldn't be just my life I would be risking, but Nova's as well.

There was already one possible victim. I didn't need to add Nova and me to the list.

I broke out of my thoughts when I heard one of the guys say, "What is that?"

Shit. I immediately pulled the glasses back and dropped them into my pocket as they continued to speak.

"What? You're being paranoid."

"I swear I saw something."

Knowing it was only a matter of time before they checked it out themselves, I grabbed Nova's hand and practically drug her to the door on the left side of the hall a few steps behind us.

Painstakingly slow, I twisted the doorknob, trying to stifle the sound of the lock clicking as I cracked open the door wide enough for both of us to slip through.

Once inside the room, I shut the door almost as slowly as I had opened it before locking it.

Darkness surrounded us, with only a little light seeping under the door from the hallway. My eyes strained, struggling to make out our surroundings and Nova's features.

"Did they see you?" Nova asked, low enough so only I could hear.

Someone passed by the door just as I was about to answer, disrupting the light, with another person following at a much slower pace.

My heartbeat pounded a mile a minute as the doorknob rattled. Wrapping my arms around Nova's shivering body, I slid us further back along the wall. I could feel Nova's heartbeat matching the same frantic pace as my own as we stood pressed together.

The rattling stopped as one of the men asked, "What's in this room?"

My breath stilled in the harrowing seconds that passed until the man answered.

"Nothing cleaning supplies."

There was no stutter this time, unlike he had throughout most of the conversation. And I couldn't tell if he was lying or if he really believed this was a Supply Closet.

"See, it was nothing. You're being paranoid."

My eyes stayed glued to the light bending at the bottom of the door as the person passed by, hopefully heading down the hallway.

Even after we no longer heard footsteps, we still waited in the room.

Nova tapped one of my pectoral muscles, and I tilted my head down for her to whisper in my ear. "Please explain to me what just happened. Why would you want to stick around to hear that?"

"They're camera glasses," I explained, my lips accidentally brushing against her ear, eliciting another shiver from her.

"What? Why does Jax have those?"

"I don't know. But I'll be sure to thank him later."

"M-" She fell silent as the doorknob jiggled.

Had they come back?

Neither of us had heard their footsteps. My heart stopped as the door flew open, and a blast of blinding light hit us square across the face. Stunned, we stood there plastered to each other, frozen in our spot.

"What are you two doing in here?" A familiar voice asked.

Squinting through the light, I make out Kayden's features, but the relief I felt at seeing him was short-lived as I remembered why we were down here in the first place.

"Oh thank God, Kayden. It's you!" Nova softly exclaimed with her hand clutched over her heart. "Can you help us get out of here?"

"Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute to make sure it's clear. Then I'll be back."

Nova nodded before he shut the door, closing us back inside the room. And true to his word, Kayden returned a minute later. Leaving our makeshift safe haven behind, we ran for the exit and didn't stop until we were safely inside the elevator.

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*Author's Note* This chapter was long so I split it into two parts.

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