A series of mechanical whirs and gears turning filled the grid of temporary holding cells within The Acropolis. One by one the doors to the cells swung open, revealing the slightly dazed and confused inhabitants.

Stella rose from her cot and stepped into the hall. Her fellow prisoners did the same. Along with Kai and Danai, Mateo—the young shapeshifter—and Bella—the non-Prime captive from their camp—emerged from their cells. Rubbing his eyes, Mateo glared at the guard standing before him.

"Finally," he grumbled. "Was wondering how long you were going to keep us cooped up in there."

The guard wasn't amused. They pointed toward the other end of the corridor. "Fall in line."

"Fall in line," Mateo mocked. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He breezed past them and made his way to the others. Stella did the same. She helmed the line of captives as the guards prepared to lead them to the compound's hangar.

She had no intentions of getting on whatever transport Atlas had for them. The Vault wasn't seeing her. She had a plan. And it was going to work.

As she suspected, there were about a dozen guards with them. Two in the front, two in the front, and four on each side. They were all equipped with batons and pistols. No assault weapons. No Jaeger armor. They weren't expecting an escape attempt.

Stella couldn't believe her luck.

She also couldn't help but wonder if their plan was doomed to fail.

General North didn't seem to consider them a threat. Why should he? The ability-nullifying cuffs on their wrists made them virtually harmless. Even with them off, Stella was the only one with powers that would do well in a fight. Kai's ability was useless without any water nearby and Danai wouldn't be able to do much flying inside the building. Bella didn't even have any powers. Mateo was the only one who might've stood a chance—but he was a child. She couldn't expect him to take on a whole squad of agents and prevail.

Still, Stella had faith in their plan. All they needed to do was execute.

With the Atlas agents prodding them forward, they shuffled through the long hall like cattle as they approached the elevator waiting at the end. Stella stiffened, her eyes bouncing from guard to guard. They all had their faces pointed forward. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see Kai and Danai waiting for the signal.

She wouldn't give it. Not yet.

They needed to get in the elevator. That was their best chance at taking out the guards.

All twelve wouldn't be able to fit. They would have to half their unit to transport all five prisoners at once. Inside the lift, it would be six versus five. Stella liked those odds. They were about the best they would get.

The guard at the front of the group pressed the button for the elevator. Seconds later, the glass doors slid open.

"Get in," the guard commanded.

Stella and the others stepped inside. As she settled inside the lift with her back touching the rear glass wall, she exhaled. She closed her eyes.

The elevator descended.

Once they passed upper levels, they continued dropping to the hangar. White, paneled walls gave way to a rocky surface as they traveled through the mountain range The Acropolis was built into.

Stella glanced to her side. Kai and Danai nodded simultaneously.

Go time.

With her hands still bound together, she clasped them together and swung them at the nearest guard. Behind her, Kai and Danai did the same. Startled, Mateo slunk into the corner. Surprisingly, Bella joined in the attack, doing her best to free a baton from a guard's holster.

The inside of the elevator quickly turned into a tight, congested arena. Stella's guard reached for their pistol, their face contorted and red. She rammed her shoulder into their chest, throwing them off balance. The guard stumbled backward, tripping over one of their comrades in the process.

Their head hit the metal bar attached to the wall. They were out cold as soon as they hit the ground.

Stella fought off a grin. Her plan might've been working now, but they still had five more Atlas agents to dispatch.

The others were doing a good job of that, though. Kai managed to turn a guard's electrified baton on them. They were slumped up against the elevator wall, their body spazzing every few moments.

Stella shuddered. Reminder to not get touched by one of those.

She turned around to face another guard. They charged at her, their baton raised high. She ducked and kicked out the Atlas agent's legs from beneath them. They dropped hard on their side. Before they could get back up, Stella dropped her knee onto their neck. She pressed down and waited for them to pass out.

She got back to her feet and nodded.

Years of non-lethal threat-neutralizing practice were paying off.

Blowing a few wild strands of hair out her face, she looked around the lift. Mateo was still cowering in the corner with his eyes wide. Fortunately for him, there was nothing left to hide from. The guards had all been taken care of.

Kai, Danai, and Bella had managed to incapacitate the remaining three agents. The element of surprise and the small confines of the elevator worked in their favor.

After retrieving the key to their cuffs from one of the fallen guards, Stella freed them all from their binds. She rubbed the raw skin of her wrist. She winced as her fingers brushed over the bruised area.

Scowling, she glared down at the nearest guard.

She couldn't believe General North had done this to her. She had been a loyal soldier. But the moment she did something he didn't like, she was cast away like a forgotten thought. Someone like that couldn't be in charge of Atlas.

And she certainly couldn't let him have the command of dozens—perhaps even hundreds—of super Primes.

She had to take him and Dr. Johnasson down.

Ahead of her, the elevator dinged. The doors slid open. Stella sucked in a breath. Her entire body tightened, as she half-expected to be met by dozens of guards outside. Much to her surprise, there was only a startled janitor who was in the middle of mopping the floor.

Their eyes were wide as they froze. The knuckles of their hands turned white as they gripped their mop with enough force to snap the long, wooden handle.

Danai lunged forward and pressed the button to close the doors.

"What the hell was that?!" Mateo exclaimed. He gawked at the unconscious agents at his feet.

"We planned it earlier—" Kai began.

"Wait a minute... You planned this?" Mateo squinted at the girls. "You didn't think to include me?"

Kai rolled her eyes. "Your cell was too far away."

"I could've helped."

"Yeah, well, you can help now."

His eyes perked up and he nodded.

Stella gestured toward the closed elevator doors. "Sorry to interrupt, but we've got more important matters at hand." The janitor outside surely called for security. They couldn't hide out in the elevator forever. But stepping out into the hall was a deathtrap.

But they needed to get out.

Exhaling, she pressed the button to open the doors. This time, there was a whole squad of Atlas agents outside.

She cursed loudly. In the blink of an eye, dozens of red dots bobbed on the dark blue jumpsuits she and her companions wore. Accompanying the Atlas agents were Angus, Theo, Darren—the recruit known as Ironwhip. They all donned white mission suits, their own unique, colored lines pulsed in the bright mesh.

Angus led the group. He raised his aluminum baseball bat and pointed at the group still inside the elevator.

"Stand down," he commanded. Stella could hear the fake bravado in his voice.

"Get out the way."

"I don't think you're in the position to be making demands," Lucky added from behind the beefy ginger. Theo remained behind them, his eyes flickering across the ground. He refused to lift his head.

Stella focused on him. "Theo. You know what they're doing isn't right."

He didn't respond.

Angus stepped forward. "Last warning, traitor. Surrender. Or else."

"Traitor...?" She screwed her face at him. "What did General North tell you?"

"He told us enough," Lucky answered. "Please, Stella. Stand down. This doesn't haven't to end in a fight."

Glancing over her shoulder, she gauged the expressions of her fellow escapees. They all looked ready for battle. Their bravery was commendable, but this wasn't a fair fight. Not even close. They might've gotten their inhibitor cuffs off, but they were outnumbered. And she had a feeling General North sanctioned the agents to use lethal force. She couldn't have any of them dying because of her plan to escape the facility.

But she wouldn't lay down and accept defeat either. They were escaping. No matter what it took.

Angus sighed. "Fine." He switched his bat to his other hand. "Have it your way." In one swift motion, he retrieved a baseball from the leather flaps attached to the leg of his suit and tossed it into the air. He never got the chance to hit it, as his attention had been captured by the sound of footsteps thundering behind them. He turned, his eyes widening. Everyone else followed suit.

Stella felt a shock of surprise surge through her body.

Running straight at them were the Exiles. Oscar was with them too, along with Xiomara—the young Prime he kidnapped.

She nearly had to pinch herself. Was she dreaming? There was no way this was happening. A million different emotions flooded through her. A million more followed after her eyes met Chase's. Her knees nearly buckled at the sight of him. The tall blond stopped in his tracks, letting the others pass him by. He then flashed her a smile before raising his sword and charging into battle.

He somehow looked even better than the last time she had seen him. His hair was longer and he sported a more rugged look. He and the rest of his team were clad in black suits reminiscent of their old mission attire.

It took her a moment to regain her compassion.

What are they doing here? How did they even get in?

The answers to those questions would have to wait. Right now, she had to focus on not getting killed.

A pair of Atlas agents rushed her with their electric batons raised high. She weaved between them both before blasting them with quick bolts of light. They hit the ground, their weapons sliding across the linoleum floors.

The entire area had transformed into a battlefield.

Chase, Andre, and Emily had taken on Angus, Lucky, and Ironwhip. The rest of their team, along with Stella's small crew, were battling the Atlas agents. That just left Stella and Theo free.

She whipped her head toward him. The speedster was just a few feet away.

And he was staring right at her.

"Theo..."

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

Tears brimmed in his eyes. He angrily wiped them away. "General North told us what you tried to do." He shook his head. "We were supposed to be a team. After Chase and the others left, you promised you wouldn't do the same."

Her blood boiled at the thought of General North. Not only had he thrown her in a cell after she discovered his true motivations behind Operation Olympian, but he had also turned her team against her. She didn't know what he told them, but it was believable enough to get them to view her as a traitor.

She wasn't the traitor, though. General North was. He was a liar and a crook and he couldn't be trusted.

"Theo, you have to listen to me," she pleaded. "General North...he's lying to you. He's been lying to us all since the beginning. Orion was never meant to help us. He was meant to replace us."

Confusion surfaced on his face. He took a half-step backward. "What?"

"They're calling it Operation Olympian. General North and Dr. Johansson were planning on creating dozens of artificially enhanced Primes. I don't know what they were planning on doing with us, but we aren't in their future plans." She swallowed hard. "Also, there's something off about Orion. I can't explain it, but he's not the savior we think he is. We can't let Dr. Johansson create more of him. We can't, Theo."

"Don't listen to her, Theo!" Angus shouted from across the room while dodging a blast of sonic rings from Emily's mouth. "She's trying to get in your head."

He clenched his jaw. "He told us you would try something like that."

"I'm telling you the truth."

Out the corner of her eye, she spotted an Atlas agent creeping behind her. In one swift motion, she crafted a spear of light and threw it behind her. She heard the agent cry out as the spear pinned them into a nearby wall. Her eyes never left Theo's.

"I know it's hard to trust me right now," she continued. "I probably wouldn't trust me right now either." She cautiously approached him. "But you have to let me get to the lab. That's where Dr. Johnasson took Cassie. I don't know what she's planning, but I have to stop her."

Theo opened his mouth but said nothing. His eyes flickered about, unsure of where to land. He seemed to be caught between two minds. "I can't let you go," he told her. Though, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

She backed away from him. The elevator was just a few steps away. If she could make it back inside, she'd be able to get up to the compound's central lab. Theo caught her train of thought. In the blink of an eye, he put himself between her and the elevator doors.

"Theo, please. You have to let me do this."

"We're supposed to be a team."

"We are."

Silence filled the space between them. For a moment, Stella forgot a battle was happening behind her.

"What are you waiting for?!" Angus shouted. "Take her out!"

Theo turned in his direction for a moment before refocusing on Stella. He released a deep breath. She tensed, preparing for an attack.

Then he pressed the button to open the elevator doors. Then he stepped to the side.

"What are you doing?!" Angus bellowed.

He ignored the boy before pointing at Stella. "Don't make me regret this."

She beamed at him. "You won't." She ran up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. His cheeks instantly reddened. Without waiting to hear his reply, she sprinted into the open elevator. She frantically mashed the 'close doors' button as she watched Atlas agents barrelling toward her.

The glass doors slammed shut just in time to seal her off from the floor.

Exhaling gratefully, she selected The Acropolis' sixth floor and waited to be taken up.

As the elevator lifted her higher into The Acropolis, she wrung her hands nervously. With every floor she cleared, her nervousness amplified. She tried her best to push it down. Cassie needed her. She would do whatever she could to save her.

After an eternity, the doors opened. Then she stepped into the blinding white light before her.

#

The lab was on the top floor of the compound, nestled near the peak of the mountain and isolated from the rest of The Acropolis by a void that dropped right to the bottom of the ridge. Stella never even knew this part of the facility existed. Though, there were a lot of things about Atlas she didn't know.

Once this was all over, she would make it her mission to uncover every secret they had kept from her.

The entire floor was empty. A few moments before, someone tripped the facility's alarm system, causing a blaring siren to rip through the whole place. Blinking red lights flashed against the white walls as the alarms echoed down the corridor.

Most of the guards within The Acropolis likely had been ordered to handle the threat downstairs. That worked out for Stella; she wouldn't have to worry about any of them preventing her from taking down Dr. Johansson.

She expected the doctor to have some protection inside the lab, though. The woman wasn't stupid. She had to be ready for whatever tricks Dr. Johnasson had up her sleeve.

Stella continued sprinting toward The Acropolis' central lab.

After General North seized control of Atlas, he immediately sanctioned the construction of the lab. She never knew why, considering the compound already boasted plenty of adequate laboratories. Now she knew it was for Dr. Johansson and her experiments. Operation Olympian had been happening right under her nose for years and she never knew.

But now she did. And she was coming to put an end to it.

She came to a stop outside the lab's glass doors. They were locked shut, but the lights inside were on. With a deep breath, she approached the scanner on the wall and placed her hand on the smooth surface. Fortunately for her, they hadn't yet removed her biometrics from the compound's system. The scanner lit up green and the doors opened with a chilling whoosh. Cold air rushed out to meet her. Shivering slightly, she ventured inside.

State-of-the-art equipment populated most of the cavernous room. The walls stretched up at least three stories before giving way to evenly-spaced skylights. Sunlight poured through the clear glass. More spotlight-like fixtures built into the concrete of the ceiling shone beams of light onto the white-tiled floor.

Even for Stella, it was a lot of light.

In the center of the room was another one of those massive glass tubes Stella saw at the research facility in Northern California just a few days before. Floating inside with multiple tubes attached to his skin was an unconscious Orion.

He was completely repaired from their previous mission. His bronze skin was as flawless as ever. No one would've been able to tell he nearly died just a few days prior.

Standing in front of an array of computer displays was Dr. Johnasson. A young woman also wearing a lab coat sat beside her, typing away on the touchscreen keyboard built into the desk.

"Where is she?" Stella bellowed as she delved deeper inside the lab. Holding her hand out, she prepared to let off a blast of light at the doctor and her assistant.

The young woman froze in her seat, but Dr. Johansson urged her to continue. The doctor turned around slowly. Her thin brows were knit together tightly and her lips were puckered.

"You're too late." Her gaze shifted to the right. Stella followed it.

Her chest tightened once she found Cassie strapped to a vertical table with wires and tubes connecting her to Orion's containment unit. She noticed one of the tubes was transporting Cassie's blood. Her lip curled into a sneer. She pointed a glowing hand at Dr. Johansson.

"Shut it down."

The woman raised her hands. "I already told you, it's too late." She gestured at one of the computer screens. "The sequence has already begun. Once it's complete, Orion will truly live up to his name." A smile stretched her lips. "You call yourself Starchild, yes? Soon we will see who is the real master of the cosmos."

Stella glanced at Cassie again. The girl's eyes were closed, but it was clear she was asleep. She shifted and struggled against her binds, an uncomfortable moan escaping her lips every few moments.

I have to get her out of there.

Scowling, she switched her aim from Dr. Johansson to her assistant. The young woman froze again. This time, they lifted their fingers from the digital keyboard. The screen closest to her displayed a progress bar. Whatever sequence was occurring was eighty percent complete. If Stella wanted to stop it, she needed to do it now.

"Shut it down," she repeated. The light in her palm grew. "Final warning."

Dr. Johansson glared at her assistant. "Don't you dare. Finish the sequence!"

"B-But, ma'am—"

Stella powered forward, her hand still raised. The look on her face dared the lab technician to try it. She then used her free hand to point at where Cassie laid.

"That's a child over there," she said, softening her voice a bit. "Think about what you're doing. You're torturing that poor girl."

The young woman stuttered, her wide eyes bouncing between the writhing Cassie and the doctor.

"Do as I tell you," Dr. Johnasson ordered.

"Please," Stella begged. "You can stop this."

The technician gulped hard. A bead of sweat trickled down their temple. She cursed under her breath and jumped up from her seat. She held her hands away from her body as if they were cursed.

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "But she's right. This isn't right."

Dr. Johansson shook her head in disappointment. "Weak." She then sprang forward. Stella launched a bolt of light at her but narrowly missed. She sent another one her way, this time finding her target. Crying out, the woman crashed to the ground while holding her side.

However, she had already pressed a button on the keyboard.

"Releasing Project Orion," a robotic voice announced.

The progress bar on the main display screen paused. The massive glass cylinder holding Orion disengaged from the metal base in the ground and rose toward the ceiling. A symphony of pressurized bursts of air filled the room as all the tubes and wires attached to the Prime's skin fell away.

Stella's entire body went cold as the panic settled in. She turned to Dr. Johansson. "What did you do?"

"You forced my hand," the doctor answered coldly. "Orion! Attack!"

His eyes snapped open. Stella's heart stopped as she couldn't help but stare back into them.

They were as golden as ever.