Lukas came to, his ears filled with the sounds of screaming, his eyes two molten chasms of pain.

It took another moment for him to realize that the shrieks were pouring from his own mouth.

He tried to focus on anything other than the pain, seeking some detail in his vicinity that he could cling to like a lifeline. But his vision was gone, replaced by a hazy, splotchy field of colorful smears.

His only consolation was that the pressure on his body had been alleviated. Without the Purists pinning him down, Lukas had the freedom to curl into a ball and wait for death to take him.

He pulled his limbs around him, rocking slightly, wishing he could step out of his body like an old suit and find a different one; one that wasn't burning him alive, threatening to send him spiraling back into unconsciousness.

He would have stayed there forever if not for the sudden grip of somebody trying to rouse him. He struggled weakly, trying to throw them off.

"Calm down!" It was a woman's voice, ragged and strained. "I'm trying to help you!"

Lukas stilled. It wasn't like he was putting up much of a fight anyway.

"That's my son," came another voice, floating out of the incomprehensible soup his world had become. But he could tell in an instant that it was Erin's voice, low and hard.

Despite his own discomfort, he blanched at the hiss of pain from the mother, the way it sounded as though she were speaking through gritted teeth.. 

"Ma..." his voice sounded feeble, even to himself. "What's happening? Why can't I see?"

"A Factor," she said, "Something unexpected happened. This woman... she blinded all of us."

"You did this?" Lukas didn't bother masking his fury. "Why in the name of Ferrus-"

"She's not a Purist," Erin said, cutting him off, "she's a prisoner, part of a group using our commotion to escape."

"My name is Ricardia," came the other voice, "and I'm sorry - I didn't know what else to do..."

Erin cut her off. "You may have just saved us all, Ricardia. We share the same need to escape - while I have the knowledge to do so, I find myself in need of someone who can follow those directions and guide us while we recover." 

"I can do that," Ricardia answered. "We'll get through this together - it's the least I can do." 

"Good choice," Erin said, simply. "Let's get everyone up."

"That was... incredible." Another voice broke through. Dr. Ito's tone dripped with awe, despite the note of pain in his voice. "Your data suggested this level of power, but it's another thing to witness it..."

If Ricardia knew was he was referring to, she said nothing about it. In the meantime, Lukas was pulled to his feet and then corralled with the others. He could hear the sounds of exertion as Ricardia pushed and prodded around him, trying to get them as huddled together as possible.

As his pain ebbed,  he felt well enough to join the others as they used their voices and sense of touch to group up. Since they were still blinded, forming a single, linked-up unit would make it easier for Ricardia to guide them through the tunnels.

He found himself wedged between Ito and his mother, and Lukas looped his arms around them. His mother felt as unyielding as a rock, but he could feel the doctor shaking slightly.

"The Purists," he managed to ask, "shouldn't they be recovering too?"

"Shot them while they were down," came Ricardia's curt reply. "With the stun level," she added hurriedly. "They'll be unconscious long enough for us to make some distance."

Once they began to move, conversation died. The group was too focused on coordinating their movements and responding to Erin's periodic directions. Ricardia would inform her of their current path, and she in turn used her memory of the map to tell the other woman where to steer them.

Lukas felt his vision return in increments as they rushed through the complex. Colors slowly grounded themselves again in shape and dimension, until his throbbing eyes were finally able to make out the blurry features of the people alongside him.

Erin seemed to have similarly recovered, as she untangled herself from the rest of them and took the lead.

"Can you see?" Ricardia asked.

"Enough to get us out," she answered, her speed increasing. Lukas was forced to keep up, a now-familiar, and oddly reassuring feeling.

They raced through the tunnels, and luck seemed to have tipped the scales the other way for once, because they encountered no one.

Whatever blackout Erin had triggered was temporary; the lights were buffeting them with a flashing intensity again, and the alarm had resumed its wail.

With his vision clearing, Lukas felt comfortable enough to open up his feed vision, and quickly located them on the map. To his surprise, he realized that they were moving away from the embassy and any potential exits it offered. Instead, they were moving towards the edge of Onyx, retracing the route they'd taken upon their initial arrival to the station.

Ricardia, who had been given access to the map, gave off a soft exclamation of surprise when she realized it herself.

"We're heading to the port. You have a ship?" Even the strain of exertion in her voice couldn't mask the note of hope."

"Yes," Erin said, dismissive. "Why? Do you need passage?"

Ricardia could do nothing but gape at Erin for a long moment. It took everything she had to maintain each stride, to stop herself from collapsing in shock. The chance to get off Onyx... it was everything she'd been working towards for weeks and weeks now. To have it dangled in front of her like a shiny new present, amidst all this terror, was overwhelming.

You're forced to make a choice now.

The terrible thought slipped through the cracks in her mental defense, leaving her reeling. That was the problem, wasn't it? She'd had chances to leave by now, had made enough money with her success of a performance. But now the decision was upon her, and she was panicking.

Erin appeared to have misinterpreted her silence, because she added, without even glancing at her, "don't worry. You'd have full protection under my authority."

Ricardia knew couldn't stay in Onyx, but the idea of returning to Caedem, forfeiting her body to the Planatae was an awful one. Despite the lessons, and the stories, and the propaganda pushed by the Ferrum Rete, she'd never seen it as the honor so many assumed it to be. Still... this was the chance of a lifetime. If Ricardia played it right, she could take this woman's offer and find herself a different, safer refuge from the Rete.

"Okay," Ricardia said. Then she asked, "Do you have access to long-range communication? I haven't been able to reach anyone down here."

"Yes. I'll patch you in." Grateful, Ricardia sent a message to Sana, piggybacking on Erin's feed network. Running all the while, she quickly composed and sent out the message. Still, by the time she could focus on the world around her, they'd reached their destination. She knew it was so because Erin had come to a sudden stop along one of the endless, nondescript tunnels.

Erin allowed them all to take a moment to breathe as she inspected the space around them. Finally, she pointed towards a series of indents a little further down from where they were standing. They were deep-cut and irregular, and Ricardia recognized the design for what it was: a built-in ladder.

"We'll take this service exit up," Erin explained. Then she glanced at Lukas and added, "Before you say anything, the others have already reached the ship - we'll meet them there."

She offered to climb the ladder last, watching from below as the others' rose past the tunnel's slope ceiling into the dark, narrow chute above. Ricardia, who had gone second, was right on the heels of the other woman's son, who she'd insisted should be first.

He was quiet, following his mother's directions without protest. Earlier, as she observed his pinched, worried face, Ricardia worried that the boy was going into shock. But he'd made it through like the rest of them, and so now she only felt a pang of unease at the thought that he'd be the first to encounter whatever awaited above.

They came to a stop. Lukas, with some difficulty considering their position on the wall, flipped a catch on an archaic-looking hatch. It was a small, circular barrier that was set into the ceiling. Despite its age, the mechanism moved easily once open, and it only took a few moments for the boy to get it open, clamber through, and make way for the others.

Before Ricardia could reach for the opening herself, however, a hand, palm open, shot into view.

Stop. The message was plain enough, and Ricardia's breath hitched as watched the hatch swing shut again.

"What's going on?" Ito's harsh whisper floated up to her.

"The boy's seen something," she whispered back. "I think he's waiting for whatever it is to pass."

A long, tense moment ticked past. Then another. This was not a good place to be stationary; they were vulnerable from below, and if Erin's kid was spotted, then they'd have their exit cut off.

Ricardia was just about to suggest they fall back when a face, framed by shaggy dark hair, popped into view.

"We're good for now," he said breathlessly, "It looks like some kind of storehouse up here."

Ricardia wasted no time scrambling up into the dimly lit space, all her senses on high alert. She found Lukas crouched behind a stack of bulky containers. One of many small towers that surrounded the tunnel's exit.

Together, the two of them helped the others out, until they were all huddled in the enclosed space.

"It's secluded," Erin noted, "but not dusty. Someone could come here at any moment."

Ricardia was in agreement. They had found themselves in a dim, cavernous space. Based on the number of crates, containers, and goods, it was likely a shipping warehouse at the harbor. A sound sent her ducking for a moment, until she looked over and realized it was the dull thumping of a logistical bot. The squat, slow-moving things carried goods to-and-fro throughout the space. The Purist emblem was stamped across most of their shiny exteriors, but they paid them no heed. Luckily, bots like that were designed to ignore most stimuli unless specifically approached with a command.

Moving with urgency, they left the safety of their exit in search of a way out of the warehouse.

"Sorry for shutting you all out," Lukas added, as they picked their way carefully through the maze of goods. "I didn't want them hearing the sound of the alarm from the tunnels."

"Good thinking," Erin said. "Did you notice which way the men went?"

"That way," Lukas pointed in the direction of the warehouse's far wall, almost hidden by the gloom. "I can't hear them anymore, so they must have left."

Careful, keeping silent, they moved as a single unit. Ricardia eyed the labels of the goods they passed. Most if it was fuel, she could tell. But she also spotted shipments of fruits and other produce, locked within distinctive, refrigerated containers. Others held meats, cheeses, and other edibles.

Imports, she decided. Onyx likely sourced much of its food from other sources; there simply wasn't enough space on the station to provide for its population using traditional means. And since it was outside the purview of any government territory, she doubted that there were any state-mandated nutri-plants present to provide raw vitamins and minerals to make up for it.

After skirting a pair of logistical bots, they drew close enough to the warehouse's edge to make out the exit. High and wide to accommodate a variety of products, the gaping barn doors were wide open, giving the group a view into the darkened port beyond. They'd been in the tunnels long enough for the station's night cycle to trigger, but despite the late hour there was still a buzz of activity.

The warehouse faced a docks, where a squat, hulking cargo ship was currently being unloaded. Past that was the wavering, transparent pressure shield that kept the station's oxygen in, and the vacuum of space out. Other ships flickered into view, only to disappear again against the backdrop of flickering stars.

Lukas pointed across the way at a trio of men working at the ramp of the cargo ship.

"We need to get out of here," Ito hissed. "They're gonna come back here with the next batch of goods."

Erin nodded in assent. She waited until all three men had their back to the warehouse before giving the signal; they rushed through the entryway and out into the open.

Ricardia held her breath until got some distance between them and the men, huddling in the shadows of another large building further down the port.

"The tunnels took us to the commercial side of the port," Erin said, eyes glassy with her feed vision. "We need to get to the private sector, on the other end."

"Which dock is your ship waiting in?" Ricardia asked.

After a moment, she received a notification from Erin, which revealed itself to be a rough map of Oynx Port Authority. The ship was indicated with a marker; located in Commercial Station Three, it really was almost on the other end of the port. She sent the information over to the Sana, but when she moved to close her feed, an alert on the public feed stopped her cold.

"You all need to check this out," she said, sending it to the others.

It was a message on the public sector: due to unforeseen mechanical errors, Onyx Port Authority is experiencing a temporary lockdown to address and solve the issue. We thank you for your understanding.

At the end of the message was the distinctive Purist emblem, but modified. It sat besides a circular dark shape that boasted a mottled, green-purple patterning - the symbol of Onyx Station.

"They can do that?" Lukas sputtered. "It's got to be because of us, right? There's no way it's a coincidence."

"They can," Ricardia said. They were moving again, weaving through the array of warehouses. "The Purits essentially control this station. They're the closest thing to government we- they have." She surprised herself with her stumble, but the others made no comment of it.

Erin led them around another crew of workers, this one busy packing electronics. Nearby, a transport idled, ready to take the product deeper into the station.

"The day-laborers shouldn't be too much a problem, but we should still be careful. Any Purists we come across will be on alert though."

"There won't be," Ricardia said. When Erin glanced at her, she explained further, "I've been here long enough to know that they almost never show up on the streets. They hate mingling with us 'dirty commoners.'"

"That's probably why they're trying to shutdown

the entire station," Ito added. "They'll be able to organize auxiliary forces with their supporters - search parties."

"Well, let's not give them the chance," Erin said, and Ricardia was in full agreement.