Episode Five, Part 3:
You'll Always Have a Family

Sol and Wynn were outside the labs, keeping low to stay hidden from Targo. They were east of the doors, perched up by the top of the slope so they could see inside through the large windows, yet remain out of sight of anyone walking below. 

Sol had a pair of binoculars, sharing them with Wynn every few moments so he could understand what was happening. 

Finally, what they had been waiting for: Kane hurried out of the labs, alone, and with a speed to his pace as if hurrying to getaway. As Wynn continued to watch his father through the binoculars, Sol pulled out her radio, immediately calling Dreea to update her. 

"Dreea, it's Riv. Are you there?" 

"Hey. Yeah, we're at the top of the cliffs now just waiting. Have you seen anyone yet?" 

"Yes. Kane left about a minute ago. There's-" Sol squinted her eyes, paying attention to the movement she could see below. "Okay, this is good," she mumbled to herself. 

"The other's are leaving now. It'll probably be an hour before they get to you-" 

"Sol?" 

The Sovereign ignored Wynn for a moment, focusing on relaying the play to her teammate. "Make sure you're all ready to go in case Rhea springs out on you-" 

"Sol!" Wynnlow interrupted again, this time his voice seeming more urgent. 

"What!?" Sol snapped, whipping her head around to face him. Wynn simply nodded in the direction of the labs, handing her the binoculars so she could see it for herself. 

Knowing something must be wrong, Sol took the object into her possession, taking a closer look at the labs. Immediately, she noticed that it was still heavily occupied with people, and when she followed the trail Rhea was walking, she could see that she had only brought a few of the people from the labs with her.

Sol huffed in frustration, pulling the binoculars away and sitting upright, trying to devise the best way to get the rest of Targo out of the labs. 

"I-I could create a distraction and you could run in there-" Wynn suggested, scrambling his mind for answers. 

"No, that's too dangerous," Sol replied, pressing firmly against her forehead, trying to resolve the headache that was beginning to grow. 

"They all have to follow her. That's what the plan is counting on. If Rhea gets there and realize we lied, she won't hesitate to attack. If Elara's not there, then it won't be a risk to kill any of Basilisk." 

"Ares is there... My dad will be there." 

Sol looked over remorsefully, knowing that wouldn't be enough of a reason for Rhea to hold off, or maybe even for Kane to try and stop an attack. 

"I'm sorry, Wynn... I don't know what else we can do. I think we have to call the group back in-" 

"There has to be something..." Wynn muttered, refusing to give up. He turned to face away from the labs, trying to gather his thoughts as his eyes scanned across all of their belongings. 

"The radio..." He humbled to himself, eyes widening as an idea struck him. 

Sol titled her head, startled a little when Wynn repeated his words louder, wildly gesturing for her radio. She hurried to pull it out, hesitant to pass it to him, unsure what his plan was. 

As she overlapped her hand on top of his - holding onto the radio - she looked at him, silently demanding an explanation. 

"I-I'll radio again, pretending I'm at the meeting point. I'll say that something's happening to Elara and that she needs the serum. Maybe if Rhea thinks Elara is in trouble, she'll order all of her people to follow her, because she thinks she's in danger and wants to make sure they're doing everything they can to get her to the rest of Targo safely..." 

Sol stared back for a moment, processing the information. Finally, she nodded, overwhelming Wynn with relief as she agreed to his plan. 

Wynn smiled briefly, then brought the radio close to his mouth, nervously connecting into Riders' channel, knowing both Kane and Rhea would be able to hear. 

"Dad? It's me, Wynn," he began, barely having to force himself to sound nervous as it came naturally in that moment. "Can you hear me?" 

Both Sol and Wynn held their breaths, anxiously waiting for a response. 

"Yes," was all Kane said, his guard high as he worried what the call was about. 

Wynn sighed, quickly redirecting his focus back to the radio. "You need to hurry. W-we're at the top of the cliffs waiting, but Elara - she needs the serum. Soon, or I think you're right: she w-won't make it." It was a difficult thing for Wynn to say. Even though he was making it up, he knew deep down that there was some truth to it, and that the panic behind his words was really there, beating inside of him. 

"S-she keeps having these visions a-and she gets violent. She's slipping in and out of consciousness and... Dad, she's so pale... Please hurry. I don't know what to do-" 

"Who's there with you?" Kane replied. There was no emotion in his voice - nothing that implied fear, or urgency, or terror. He was just questioning Wynn as if trying to figure out if he was up to something. 

"The Sovereign, their doctor, Bas, and Ell." He thought it would sound believable, hopefully luring Kane into the plan. 

"The Sovereign? You brought a Sovereign with you?" 

Crap. Wynn thought to himself, worried that he had blown the plan. 

"Uh, yeah. Kodiak," Wynn answered, surprising himself at how the words were spilling out of him, seemingly without thinking about them. "He was the one with her in the labs. "He knew how to get to cliffs, that's why he came along." 

"And the other two?" 

"Seriously, dad," Wynn sighed into the radio, not even bothering to hide his frustration. "Bas came along because he knows how to read trails, I came along because I'm her brother, and we brought a doctor because as I mentioned, she's not doing well... At all. Are you done with the questions, because I'm pretty sure it can wait? Elara can't." 

The desperation got the better of him. A sheer anger and spite ripping through him, a need to know that when it came down to it, his dad would help them save Elara. 

"Damn it, dad, she's suffering! You're- You're gonna kill her!" 

As Wynn's voice broke, emotion getting the better of him, Sol reached over and pulled the radio from his hands, forcing him to take a moment to compose himself. She rested her other hand on his leg, her way of reminding him that she was there, and what he had to say about his sister was actually true yet. She still had time. 

"Okay. I'll be there soon. Try and keep her awake." 

Wynn slumped down, closing his eyes as he leaned up against the bush, calming himself down. Sol turned her attention back to the labs, waiting on edge to see if it had worked. 

About a minute later, someone ran past. They came from the direction Rhea had walked in, and were headed to the labs. 

"Wynn," she murmured his name, encouraging him to look. 

"What? Are they back?" 

"Look!" She whispered, her voice full of hope. The doors to the lab opened and around 20 people exited, following the guard who had re-entered as he lead them towards Rhea and Kane. A few of them seemed to be carrying supplies, two of them even holding a makeshift stretcher. 

"Yeah," she mumbled. "It worked." 

//// 

Once Targo had been for around 10 minutes, and Sol was sure they were gone, she led Wynn down the slope, quietly assessing which door they should enter from. 

She peered in through one of the windows as they passed, relieved that there was no sign of Targo anywhere and that the labs looked completely empty. Reaching one of the doors on the side of the building, Sol pulled on it and discovered it was unlocked. She entered and Wynn followed closely behind. 

"Okay, you know what to do?" She asked, making sure he still had his gun out, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice. 

Wynn nodded. 

"You look around here. Check every cupboard. Remember, we want the finished serum, but if you find something that looks like it might have been used, then take it. That way it can help Aeryn and Fenn to replicate it." She explained. "I'll check the exam rooms. I'm pretty sure there were some things in there when we were here last." 

As Sol left Wynn to search his section, she trailed down the hall, glancing carefully everywhere she went, worried that Targo could return at any minute. There were several doors on either side of the hallway, each leading to their own exam room, but the one she was in interested in was the one she had entered last time - where Rogue had found her and almost killed all of them. 

Shaking all the thoughts away, Sol turned the handle and entered the room. Straight ahead, she could already see what she was after; a tube of the serum was resting in a holder that sat on a table in the middle of the room. Sol hurried over, carefully picking up the tube, and gazing over it for a minute. She needed time to realize that the plan had actually succeeded and she was able to get Elara the serum no matter what happened with Kane. 

Holding it tightly, Sol walked back towards the direction of the door. The were counters and cupboards lining the walls that she had overlooked as she entered, and on the side, an array of different chemicals and measuring devices. But what stopped Sol in her tracks was that there was a girl standing there closer to the far corner of the room, staring back at her in just as much shock. 

Sol gulped, worried that everything was about to come crashing down leaving her worse than before. 

The girl standing opposite her was Chessca, and if anything, she was worried for her safety. Who was Sol? What was she doing here? The only thing that she knew was that Rhea and everyone had left, leaving only one guard in the labs to make sure she didn't escape. 

Chessca glanced her up and down, noticing the serum she was holding in her hands. She got her answers then, realizing that she must have been from the clan Rhea and Kane were always talking about. The same clan that had the Heir. And it wasn't long before she figured out that the serum was for Elara. 

Though she was confused why they hadn't just taken the serum Kane was delivering them, Chessca knew that this was likely to be a part of their plan and that they probably didn't trust Kane or Rhea not to attack. 

She knew she had two options: either she could scream out to the guard in a hope that he would hear her and discover that Basilisk were there, or she could stay quiet and let things unfold. 

Chess glanced down at the counter, seeing that she had 9 tubes in front of her - and if they were for Elara, they would last a while. Enough to buy some time, anyway. Without even a second thought, Chess collected them all and placed them all in one of the containers next to her. Picking it up, she walked over to Sol cautiously, both of them seeming afraid of one another. 

But Chess was a prisoner to Targo. She had been through The Alteration and experienced every agonizing phase of that, and if there was a way she could stop it from happening to another young girl, she would do that. 

She pushed the container forward, extending it to Sol without a word. 

The Sovereign couldn't comprehend what she was doing at first. Was it some sort of trick? Did targo know the meeting with Kane was a decoy all along? 

Before she had time to settle on an answer, there was an unmistakable gunshot that echoed throughout the building, and Sol knew that Wynn was out there somewhere. 

She looked back at Chess as if expecting to see her lunge or attack her whilst was distracted, but she seemed afraid, startled as she stared at the door, slowly looking back to Sol with the same question in her head: do you know what that was. 

Chess encouraged Sol to take the container and it was then that the Sovereign realised she didn't have an ulterior motive. She took hold of it, nodding her thanks carefully, and hurrying out the room - not a single word exchanged between the two of them. 

Right as Sol emptied the contents of the container into her bag, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and there was only one person on her mind: Wynn. 

Five // Part Three
I really like this chapter! Hope you do, too!

Thoughts on Chess?