Episode Five, Part 5:
Oikogénia

I'll rise unafraid and I'll do it 
a thousand times again for you. 

"Put these on," Kodiak instructed, chucking a pile of uniforms at Sol and Atlantis as he returned to their cell, quickly shutting the door behind him.

Sol and Atlantis fumbled with the clothing, struggling to hurry everything on amid their rushing; the anxiety plastered across Kodiak's face was enough warning at how much was resting on their success, and Sol hated to think that out of everything, the thing she was really gambling the most on was Kodiak's life.

"These are the coordinates," Kodiak said, passing Atlantis a slip of paper which had the direction Atlantis would need to input to get the ship docked at the nearest dry land. "Are you sure you can do it?"

Atlantis nodded. "As long as you and River get me into the control room, then it's not a problem."

"Good," Kodiak mumbled, noticing both of them were wrapped up in the guard uniforms he had given them. "Put your helmets on and you can follow me out. Do you remember the directions I gave you for when we have to separate?"

"Straight down past two doors and then turn left to the staircase; go up a level; follow the hall until the end; another left turn, and then it's the third door or the right."

"Yeah," Kodiak said, following the path along in his mind, grateful that every time he placed his trust in Sol, he wasn't let down. "It's time, then. Follow me."

Kodiak opened the door just wide enough to poke his head outside. Once he was sure there were no guards lingering in the hallway, he stepped out of the cell and allowed Sol and Atlantis to move behind him. With them both disguised in Neptunum uniforms, Kodiak led them through the hall, making sure they weren't being followed until he brought them to a fork in the path.

"I can't go any further," he said. "I can't get caught. They'll put you through the trials if you find you, but it's okay because I've prepared you for what to do if that happens. But if they find me, they'll-"

"You don't need to say it, Kodiak," Sol assured him, reaching out and grabbing onto his arm to bring his racing thoughts to a standstill. "We know. You should go-"

Sol cut herself short as she watched a guard pass by down the other end of the long corridor. Initially, it was so their conversation wasn't overheard, but as she kept her eyes lingering on the people passing by, it was fear that kept her frozen in silence.

"...Riv?" Kodiak asked, sensing something was wrong.

"They have Wynn."

Kodiak frowned, glancing behind him at where Sol was facing, seeing Wynn being tugged along by a guard. Before he knew it, Sol was trying to get passed him and reach Wynn, but Kodiak caught onto her, sharply pulling her back in line in case anyone else was watching on.

"You have to stick to the plan."

"They're taking Wynn somewhere. You didn't know about this. You would have told me-"

"I know, but I can have a guess at what's happening," Kodiak said. "The medical wing is that way. They're going to try the trials again, but it's alright because nothing is going to happen with the implant still in his head. Xander will be in the room with him; he knows what to do if anything goes wrong."

Sol chewed on her lip, struggling to bring herself to carry on with her plan when she knew Wynn was in danger.

"Once I've got you two back to your cells, I'll go check on him, but this needs to happen now. Just like you said to me."

"You're right," Sol nodded, forcing her attention towards her sister. "We should get this over with."

Atlantis exhaled, waiting for Sol to take the lead, and eventually following her along the hallway and up through the staircase. Once they had reached the door to the upper level, Sol came to a sudden stop, turning around to face her.

She pulled something out of her weapon belt, discreetly passing it to Atlantis, even though no one else was around to see.

Atlantis took the weapon from Sol, somewhat confused as to if there had been a change of plans. "I thought Kodiak traded our guns for blades?" She asked. "Because they're quieter and no one would hear our attack?"

"He did," Sol answered, pulling out her own blade that Kodiak had given her. "But this is for you, because of your hand. I know you struggle with close-proximity defence and attacks, so if for whatever reason I get stuck out there, you can use the gun."

"Okay," Atlantis, nervously accepted the weapon, holding it close at her side. "But try not to let it come down to that."

Sol chuckled, opening the door to the hallway outside. "I'll do my best."

Immediately as she stepped outside of the stairwell, Sol led her and Atlantis straight into a guard, walking directly into their chest.

"Sorry," Atlantis muttered instinctively, already forgetting what their intentions were.

"Who are you two?" The guard asked, glancing down at their uniforms to read their tags. "Are you assigned to this level?"

"Don't worry," Sol smiled into her words, twisting her blade in her hand before she pierced it into the man's abdomen, "I know what I'm doing."

"Really? That fast?" Atlantis mumbled, somewhat in disbelief that it had taken all of five seconds for Sol to find her first victim.

"You underestimated me?" Sol laughed, focusing on keeping her blade wedged into the man to prevent any more blood from spilling than was necessary. He choked in horror - unable to get a word out or call for help - quickly succumbing to the fatal wound she had left him with, dying against the cold, dirty floor all within a minute.

Sol glanced around, seeing a conveniently located storage closet up two-doors ahead, and nodded in the direction. "Get the door for me," she said. "We'll put him and the others in here."

"Others?" Atlantis asked as she opened the closet, wondering exactly how many people Sol expected to kill.

"The two guards coming this way, behind you," Sol answered, not even breaking a sweat as she dumped the man's body by Atlantis's feet, heaving her blood-covered blade out of him and lunging towards the next two before they could reach her sister.

She sliced the leg of the guard on her left as she slid past them both, hurrying to slam her weapon into the guard's back as she collapsed to the floor in anguish. Only worried about how much evidence they were leaving behind, Sol wasted no time in shifting her attack towards the second guard, finding herself slightly disadvantaged as she was crouched on the floor.

The guard pinned her down, straddling her and fighting for the blade in her hand.

"Need any help, River?"

"No thanks. I got this," she answered, somewhat breathless as she attempted to keep the guard positioned above her, waiting until her timing was just right... As Sol allowed her attacker to gain the dominate pull of the blade, she grabbed onto their neck, twisting them around with her as she barrel-rolled, eventually ending up as the one who was pinning the guard down, instead.

She moved her knee so it was holding their arm down, using one of her hands to push down against their neck, and the other to grab hold of the blade.

"You put up a tough fight," Sol said, securing the weapon in her hand. "But Neptunum are no match for a Sovereign."

"Wait-"

Before the guard could say anything else, Sol pierced her blade through their chest, taking a moment to catch her breath before she stood up, hovering over the third person who had lost their life that day because of her.

"Good work," Atlantis said, helping Sol to drag all three bodies into the closet.

"I wouldn't have had to kill anyone if they didn't treat us like prisoners," Sol said. "And they haven't killed any of our people yet, as far as we're aware. But if they find out about this, it gives them insinuative to."

"It's a good thing they're not going to know about this, then," Atlantis said, using the gun Sol had given her to break the lock on the closet door, preventing anyone from discovering the bodies unless they used a big enough force to get inside.

"Let's just hurry up and get to the control room," Sol said, double-checking her surroundings before leading Atlantis down the route she had memorised, relieved to finally make it to their destination.

She entered the code Kodiak had given her and hurried Atlantis inside, somewhat overwhelmed by the number of screens and control panels filling the room. It reminded her of the days she had spent in The City with Chessca and how instead of Athena being the authoritative voice behind all of the inhumane decisions being made, it was her. It almost gave Sol a motivation to do better; to prevent the mistakes that she had once allowed to happen, to not happen again - even more so now that it was her true people on the line.

Pushing away the memories she didn't want to face, Sol began glancing around at all the intel that filled the room; notes, maps, all kinds of medical information she couldn't begin to understand, but knew that it could end up being useful for her to know.

As she walked the row of counters along the room, Sol stumbled across a tray full of MediPens. She wasn't completely sure what they were used for, but she remembered Kodiak using one on Elara to calm her down during her breakdown in the mess hall. Deciding that they could prove to be useful, she grabbed a handful and stuffed them into her pockets and weapon belt and every other place they could fit, assuming they would be a lot easier to carry around with her than a weapon.

"How are you going with the coordinates?" She called out to her sister, hating to think that the three lives she had taken had all been for nothing.

"Alright," Atlantis said, making room for Sol to see the screen as she came over. "It shouldn't take long, I just need to-" Atlantis gasped, hit by a sudden wave of anxiety as the door opened behind them. Both sisters spun around to see who had joined them, hoping it was Kodiak, but it wasn't.

"Who are you?" The guard asked, trying to read their name tags. "Alecto? Helios? I've never seen you two on this level of the ship before. What are you doing here?"

"We're doing our job. What are you doing here? Isn't there something you've been assigned to... Leander?" Sol fired back, figuring out his name from his own tag. As Leander struggled to come up with an answer, Sol found Atlantis' hand beside hers and discreetly pushed one of the MediPens into her hold, hoping she would figure out what to do with it.

"Give me some answers or I'll call Athena in here to settle this. Like I said, I've never seen you two on this level before, so I have my reasons to be suspicious."

"What about my questions?" Sol asked, doing her best to encourage Atlantis to approach Leander as she began walking to the opposite side of the room, hoping to distract his attention from her. "I'm still waiting for answers, too. Alecto and I know what we're here for; you're the only one out of us that doesn't seem to know what we're doing."

"That's it. I'm going to call Athena-"

"Please do," Sol taunted him, trying out reverse phycology so that he would be the one fearful of Athena arriving. "I'm sure she'd love for you to call her out of the trials that are currently undergoing just so you can find out what we're doing - which is our job, by the way. We're doing our job."

Leander huffed, folding his arms as he faced Sol, hating the fact that she knew he didn't have a response for her.

"As far as I'm aware, I have more authority than both of you. That would still mean you have to answer me when I ask you a-" Leander winced, clutching onto the back of his neck as he turned around, confused to find Atlantis standing behind him.

"What did you do?" He asked, pulling his hand away to check for blood, but there was nothing - just a strange, drowsiness that suddenly began to consume him.

Atlantis took a step back as Leander began to grow weak - desperately grabbing onto the table beside him to try and keep himself upright, but there was no use; the medicine was victorious in pulling him down and before they knew it, he was passed out on the floor.

"What would I do without you?" Sol sighed, moving over to them both.

"Probably have to hide three bodies by yourself?" Atlantis shrugged, laughing along with Sol who was more than amused with her answer.

She bent down to Leander, searching for his gun and pulling it out once she had located it, wasting no time in removing all of the bullets it had loaded inside.

"What are you doing?" Atlantis frowned, struggling to understand her thought process. "Wouldn't it be better just to take the weapon?"

"When he wakes up and realises that his weapon is gone, he'll raise the alarm. Whereas missing bullets will take a lot longer for him to figure out. If we're lucky, he won't even realise until he goes to shoot someone which, chances are, could be one of us."

"You really are a genius, you know that?" Atlantis beamed at her, more proud than she would ever know to be able to call Sol her family.

There was a sudden beeping on the computer that interrupted their conversation. Sol and Atlantis both turned to face the screen to see the words 'Coordinates Set' flashing at them.

Sol let out a deep breath, pulling her eyes back to Atlantis. "It must run in the family." 

Five // Part Six
Neptunum are no match for a Sovereign.

Sol really is a badass. Also, I LOVE how far her relationship with her sister has come! Not only do they recognise that they are sisters, but they also work together on missions and help each other stay alive! Ahhhh, I love them.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate)! Yesterday was my first time celebrating as I moved to America a few months ago, and I loved it! I get a 4-day weekend and there is so much food = leftovers!

26/11/20.