Episode Two, Part 6:
Neptunum

Ammon trailed down the hallways of the ship, his new collection of weapons secured safely to his uniform. He scaled the numbers along the side of each door, resisting the urge to peer inside each window and figure out who was where, focusing only on reaching the few cell numbers he had memorised...

He punched in the code to unlock the door in front of him, already seeing the two boys rise to their feet as the sudden interruption.

"What the hell do you want?" Wynn asked, making sure that Quill was behind him somewhere - out of reach of the guard. "Do you have an update on our friends yet?"

Ammon let out a huff of frustration, mentally scolding himself for having let the events of the evening distract his mind from the promise he had made to the boys standing in front of him.
"I need you to follow me," he said, bypassing Wynn's question.

"What for?" He asked, folding his arms as he shared a nervous look with his brother. "Are you going to take us to Sol and Atlantis?" He pushed. "Dante and Luca?"

"I can't explain, but you need to listen to me."

"No," Wynn challenged him, standing his ground until he knew what benefits or consequences were dependant on his decision.
Ammon sighed, regretfully pulling out a weapon from his belt and holding it in sight for them both to see.

Wynn recognised it as a taser; it wasn't the most brutal of weapons he could have chose, but it still wasn't preferable.

"Don't make me use this on you," Ammon warned them, fully prepared to taser them both if it meant he could accomplish what he had set out to do.

Wynn huffed, biting on his lip as he glanced behind him at Quill, clearly torn between following orders and protecting his brother. Choosing to spare Quill from the torment of the taser, he rolled his eyes at Ammon, signalling his compliance.

Ammon let out a breath of relief, exchanging his weapon for a set of handcuffs that were hanging from his belt. "Put these on you only," he said, noticing the hesitation on Wynn's face as he reluctantly did as was asked.

"What, now?" Wynn complained, waiting to see if Ammon would chuck a second set at Quill, but he didn't.

"Step out into the hall," Ammon said. "There's a door at each end so don't even bother trying to escape; it won't get you anywhere."

"What about my brother?" Wynn asked, terrified that he had made the wrong choice. How could he protect Quill now if he needed to? Was he about to go missing just like Sol, Atlantis and the others? What would happen to Elara if she showed up for rations only to find that he had been taken and no one knew where he was?

"He'll remain in his cell until he's transported to the mess hall," Ammon answered. "I'm just moving you into a different cell. You need to listen to instructions."

"But-"

"Wynn, it's okay," Quill cut him off, knowing already how his resistance to the guards had turned out for them. He didn't want to have to spend another day without food or see something terrible happen to either of them. "I'll be fine. Maybe you'll be put with Elara. I'll see you guys at rations."

Ammon was glad that neither one of them could see the expression on his face. He could tell that they were both suspicious of his intentions, but to his relief, they had no choice but to do as they were told.

Wynn nodded towards Quill, trying to hold onto his brother's optimism that everything would work out okay, and stepped outside of his cell, watching as Ammon closed the door and sealed the two of them away from each other.

"Where are you taking me?" Wynn asked, knowing to follow Ammon as he lead him through the maze of hallways. "Can you tell me what happened to my friends?" He continued. "...Can you tell me anything!?"

"Not now," Ammon snapped, turning over his shoulder to answer him. "Save your questions for a while. Can you do that?"

Wynn was beyond frustrated but didn't have the patience to continue his argument; if the guard wasn't going to be any help to him, he would figure it out on his own, no matter how impossible Ammon was making it for him.

All of a sudden, Ammon came to a stop outside of a cell, punching in a code and waiting for the door to open. Wynn was hopeful that Elara would be waiting inside, but it wasn't. Instead, he watched as Dreea and Chessca made their way to the opening, relieved to see him standing there but alarmed at the sight of the guard.

"Wynn, what's going on?" Dreea asked, instinctively holding onto Chessca's hand, pulling her behind her.

Wynn shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me," he said. "But he took me out of my cell and left Quill there-"

Wynn was cut off by the sudden force on his back, stumbling into the girls' path as Ammon pushed him inside.

"What the hell was that for!?" Wynn spat, straightening himself out as he turned to glare at the guard.

Ammon ignored him, bringing out a second set of handcuffs and extending them out to Dreea. She could see from the ones already on Wynn that she was supposed to chain them around her own wrists, but she knew that Ammon was outnumbered and wanted to figure out if it was worth trying an attack on him.

"Why should I listen to you?" Dreea challenged him, refusing to take the cuffs from his possession.

Ammon sighed, retrieving the same taser from his belt that he had threatened Wynn with, not needing to declare anything: the threat was obvious enough.

Dreea hesitated, glancing between the taser and the handcuffs, trying to figure out her next move... A couple of seconds passed before she reached out for the taser, confident that she would be able to disarm him, but Ammon was quick on his reflexes - almost able to predict exactly what Dreea was going to do.

"Put them on," Ammon ordered, "or I will use this."

Dreea huffed, having no choice but to take the cuffs, still trying to buy her time before she secured them around her completely. She looked over at Wynn, trying to get intel on what he thought was happening.

"Maybe you'll be put with Quill," Wynn shrugged, hoping that for whatever seemingly pointless reason, Ammon was just here to switch the cellmates around. "Chess and I will be fine," he said. "I'll keep her safe."

Dreea nodded, reluctantly feeling Chessca's hands drop from her arms, wishing she had a moment to hold her, kiss her, or even just assure her that she would find her way back to her - just like she had been trying to convince her that Sol would - but she couldn't promise anything.

"You guys stay safe," she warned them, refusing to react to the pulling of her arm as Ammon led her outside, certain that he was just trying to illicit a response from her. "We'll figure this out."

Once again, Ammon shut the door to the cell, leaving Wynn - still handcuffed - inside with Chessca, and taking Dreea in a different direction to where Quill was waiting.

"If anything happens to either of them," Dreea began, trying to memorise each turn they made down the halls, "you'll live to regret it."

Ammon let out a heavy breath, stopping outside of another cell. His chest felt heavy at her words; terrified, but not for the reasons Dreea believed.

He began taking of her handcuffs, punching in a the code to the door, and allowing it to open. "This is your new cell," he told her, his voice softer than moments before.

Dreea wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but there was something about Ammon's sudden fragile-ness that made her go against her instincts. She chewed on her lip, hesitating until she looked inside the cell and noticed Elara tucked away on the corner of her bed - her eyes filled with a hope as she realised Dreea was there.

Dreea spared one more look at Ammon - who was keeping his head down - and hurried inside, relieved that Elara wasn't on her own anymore, even though she knew it meant Quill would be. She had no idea what the changing of cellmates meant; if it was a transition that would come to take a worse for her people, or not, but she was grateful nonetheless that she could protect Elara for Wynn, knowing Wynn was keeping Chessca safe for her.

Before either one of them could question Ammon, he had sealed the door behind them both, already hurrying to get away from their cell as if he couldn't bear to face them any longer.

Dreea turned to face Elara, making sure she was okay - being completely unable to shake away the eery feeling that came with Ammon's hasty departure.

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Wynn and Chessca were sat on one of the beds, trying everything to get the handcuffs of of Wynn, believing Ammon had simply forgotten about him and been too focused on transporting Dreea to realise that he had left one of his prisoners chained up.

"If we try and break the window behind the bars on the door, we might be able to catch a shard of glass and use that to pick the lock," Chessca suggested - making it her fifth idea, but she was already beginning to run short. "Otherwise, I have nothing," she sighed, slumping further down beside Wynn.

"It's okay," Wynn assured her, not wanting her to bear the stress of the situation. "They won't leave us in here forever. Worse case scenario, I have to wait until a guard comes to takes us to rations tomorrow."

Chessca looked down, not feeling nearly as hopeful as Wynn. "Do you think Riv and Atlantis will be back then?" She sighed.

"I hope so," Wynn frowned sympathetically. "And I know that you get nervous without Sol, Dreea and Atlantis around; I feel the same when Quill and Elara are away from me, but we're all a family; we all protect each other-"
They both turned their heads to face the door, confused to see Ammon yet again standing there. What was he doing? Was he going to move one of them now?

"Where's Dreea?" Wynn asked, wasting no time in demanding answers for the ever-growing list of his missing friends.

Ammon sighed. "She's with your-" He shook his head, composing his himself. "She's with another one of your people." 

"Did you come to take these off?" Wynn huffed, raising his hands up to show Ammon his mistake.

They didn't get an answer from him, but Ammon approached them with the key in his hand, unlocking one side of the cuffs. As Wynn extended out his other hand for him to do the same, Ammon caught him off guard and attached the free cuff to Chessca's wrist.

"You've already locked us in a cell together; what's the extra measure for?" Chessca rolled her eyes, already exhausted of the back and forth - no longer having the patience to remain calm and polite.

"Just follow me," Ammon said, beginning to turn around but he stopped himself - seeming to realise that they were growing more and more inclined to ignore his demands. "This is the last time; there won't be any more moves after this, I swear."

Wynn shared a knowing look with Chessca as if to say that if one of them was in, they both were... He was already terrified that he had made the wrong decision by leaving Quill in the cell, and he couldn't risk putting Chessca in any danger, either; she meant too much to Dreea and Sol and he knew that if it was Quill or Elara locked up with them, then they would do anything to keep his siblings safe for him.

"Whatever it is," he said, completely forgetting that they had company for a moment, "we'll face it together."

Two // Part Six
Together.

Sorry if the layout is so weird! I'm editing on my phone and it's so different!

Hope you like this chapter! Two in one day!

BIDEN 2020 YASSSSS. TRUMP IS DONE.

07/11/20.