Alex Mars ordered Miles to stop a mile from the military base and they all hopped down through their individual doors on the side of the car while the rest of the minor Prods slid down through the single, big door. "If you see guards, you race forward and paralyze or taser them," Mars told Thomas, who was waiting for him. "That'd be fun-and I'm not meaning my... mental disorder. You seemed to be having fun as you put that private guy on the ground an hour or so ago," "It ain't fun," Alex said as he pulled out his paralyzer and taser from his pocket and handed them all the Miles, who gladly took them-Mars wouldn't need those anymore. 
The group started to move down the asphalt road dipped in total darkness. The moon and stars, as usual, were clouded behind clouds and smog, but Alex didn't feel nervous without his previous saviors-he would succeed today no matter what, alone.
This time, he made his way to Lyra.
"Aren't you nervous?" She asked as soon as she saw him by her side, in a tone that made Alex feel as if he was just back on the stage, preparing for some silly school play-and he loved the way she was trying to typicalize things.
"No. None at all. I'm just going to speak in front of the entire army, which about one-fifths I have been in the same training with. Also, Mark will know how to react if something bad happens. There's little possibility something will go amiss," "But what if the Military attacks and tackles you to the ground as soon as you start speaking?" Lyra inquired and somehow, by asking the question right away as if she had prepared, it made Alex feel as if she was on the stronger and winning side on a debate.
He sighed.
"I'll survive. And we can have another Revolution. Or, maybe the citizens would start a revolt and after the situation's steamy enough, we Prods can intervene-" "Al," Suddenly, she cut in, and Alex wasn't too sure if a person could cut off someone's words in a debate, but still looked at her. She looked back.
"I'm not worried about having to have another Revolution or anything. Do you know what I'm worried about?" She paused to let him answer.
Alex Mars shook his head, eyes already gone dumb.
"You," So she answered.
The two stared at each other for exactly 3 seconds until Alex Mars broke the stare by wrinkling up one side of his face in confusion at its level of extremity.
"Uh... why me?" He couldn't have been dumber, but still, it was the only question he could ask.
In turn, she couldn't have been more patient.
"-Because you're one of the only people in this world that I'd like to lose. Between Sarah and you, I think that you're more likely to become a victim of the Military and... get injured or even worse-" She bit her lip before shaking suddenly. "-killed. And I would be nearly devastated when such a thing happens, Al," She sucked in a breathe, then as if she had never been shaken up by her own words in the first place, said in a monotone. "That is all,"
Mars didn't reply. Well, as always, Lyra was right, but he wanted to disagree, he wanted to make music a possibility disappear, he wanted to comfort her...
"I won't die. I mean, I really can't, Lyra. Why? Because of you. Yeah, I know that you need me-I just do-so, I won't go away. But, I'll still do the speech. I'll make it back to you, I swear," Then, he nudged her hand and grasped it.
Lyra gave him an exhausted snort.
However, she didn't disagree.
"I'll stay watching you, Alex, just in case something happens. Remember, this is for my own sanity once you get killed, not yours," Though she tried to make the last sentence seen brave and uncaring, it didn't really work. Mars had to break into a series of quiet laughs before realizing that they were now only a few minutes away from the steel fences around the base.
Lewis reached him at that moment and handed him a tiny microphone. "For the speech. And by the way, I already handed the rest of the team the earbuds that you already have," "Good-we're only a few minutes away. Gotta stay alert," Alex pasted the microphone on his cheek and thought it felt a bit itchy and burdensome, it was manageable.
Suddenly, beside them started to stretch the metal fences of the military base and the other Prodigies started to try to look inside them through the spaces, but found only darkness.
Closer to Andrew and the bitches Fawkes and Hale, he thought when he at last saw the gates of the base.
However, unlike how he had expected, he found no silhouette of a private or sentry at the gates.
"There's no one," Miles observed.
"Maybe, that fella I tackled down by pretending to be drunk was lying," Mars choked out, not believing his luck-well, to be precise, his misfortune.
"-or, the generals may have told them to be off for one day. It's party-day for'em, you know," Lyra commented.
Well, that made sense afterall, Alex Mars thought. he hadn't been thinking that though the situation was a scheme for the Prods, it was a (false) victory for the Military. And according to the mood of the Military he knew, he was sure that they were having some fun inside the base.
"Great. Then let's get inside-but don't forget to defend yourself once danger comes," he repeated an obvious statement before pulling the massive steel doors open by 2 meters so that about 2 people would be able to pass freely.
Then, he stepped through the doors.
Ah, all those times before there... and, how stupid he had been as he entered the Military base through these doors the first time: he had been sitting right beside Andrew, who had been putting his head between his knees. At that time, he had felt so victorious and almost pitied Andrew. And how money-striven he had been to sell his Prodigious life over to the Military...
But he knew that such things weren't going to happen another time in his life.
Suddenly, his mind asked his legs to run, because it just wanted to.
So he ran and soon reached the next wall of steel doors, knowing that the others would catch up.
He ran, not in the tensed way of a refugee seeking for cover from guns, but in the way of a free teen right after high school graduation. Towards another phase in life...
He pulled the steel doors apart and as he pushed his body through them, he saw his goal for all that running-the Military base-looming in front of him.
His breathing was shallow as he made out silhouettes of soldiers running around and brandishing bottles like knives through every floor, and especially, the cafeteria. They seemed to be completely unaware of the intriguers... 
He felt the rest of the Raiders and Rebels and Sarah catch up with him behind.
"That's it," he said, pointing at the buildings.
So they all watched, clear eyes that each belonged to a Prod, at the building, so,e feeling fear, some feeling motivation, some fearing defeat already.
"But there should be hundreds inside," Melanie said.
"Yeah, but we are also strong. And we have plans. And we're very sober," Thomas said, probably after noticing that the soldiers inside were drinking and playing stupid games, just as Alex had noticed.
"Exactly. And to me, it looks like the last scene in Animal Farm, thinking they have won and drinking their asses full to the brim. Let's do it," Lyra said, and that broke the tension of fright and failure of the Prodigies, and they all started jogging like Alex.
"Stick to the forest line," Alex whispered into his earbud and heard with his Unmuted ears the sounds of the others nodding.
So they ran along the trees, legs quick, breathe measured, some eyes on the silhouettes in the windows of the base, other eyes on each other, and arms swinging easily but barely.
"Where are we going?" Lyra whispered.
"I have a certain place in mind. Just follow," Mars answered, for he really did have a spot in mind. 
"Do you think Mark would also be there?" Lyra pressed on.
"Yes. I considered for long about the perfect spot-trust me,"
So they lapsed into another lengthy silence that was filled up by the sounds of their feet hitting the grounds softly as they jogged, following Alex Mars' lead, deeper into the base, deeper into possible danger.
They ran for another 5 minutes before Alex Mars finally stopped.
"Ah. We're here. Slow down, shall we?"
He now looked over the cement floor splattered with blood from various prisoners of before, but especially, blood from a certain 17-year-old who had been mistaken as a Prodigy...
It was where Andrew Stewart had been killed, where mark Higgins had asked for a lending-down of Mars' sergeant position, where Alex Mars himself had been incarcerated for a whole week before exiting the base completely to be banished from the country.
"This is the most important place for me in here, for me. I won't tell you all the details. Just take it in. The speech is going to take place here," Alex briefed his reasons before looking around quickly, for any signs of someone he wanted to see right now.
"Mark?" he managed in a soft tone, before freezing when a metal door of the tiny, makeshift prison of the field swung open.
Mark Higgins stepped out.
"Jesus, is it really you?" The other boy said, eyes widening until he spotted all the other Prodigies in addition to Lyra and Sarah Cannes.
"What the fuck, Alex?" "They're all allies. You can trust them. How long did you stay here?" Mark tapped his chin. "47 minutes," However, a second later, he fixed his sentence. "About 47 minutes. Was pretending to be a Prodigy," Mark smirked before realizing that he had to be a bit more serious.
"Anyway. So, what should I do?" "I'm going to have some speech. No big deal, but still, a speech. I need you to make the Military notice me. Can you do that?" "Make'em notice you?" Mark asked, spinning a pistol on his finger. "Uh-huh," Alex said, expectedly.
Suddenly, Higgins' face brightened and lit up like a candle on a fat, pink-iced birthday cake.
"There are two huge lights around the edges of this field for rare helicopter landings. Maybe if I get in and turn them on in the control room. They might be able to see ou. If they still don't, you should just start speaking through a microphone and make them see you," Mars' face also lit up in the same light and mood. "That's it. Thanks, Mark. Just make sure you don't get caught. Oh, use this earbud and I'll tell you when to light the lights up," After Mars handed over an earbud to him, Mark Higgins gave him a tight man hug that seemed to have too much tension in it that made Alex wonder if Mark was also nervous and anticipating the speech. Then, Mark ran off towards the buildings with their lights on and the soldiers drinking inside.
Now, the only thing left was to assemble everyone.
The Prods, except Lyra and the majors, pressed themselves to the forest line furthest from the base and walked away into the shadows so that the Military wouldn't be able to see them. And Lyra, Thomas, Miles, and Melanie stood at the forest line closest to Alex Mars, half in and out of the shadows and always wartching him.
Now, as Alex stood in the center of the bloody field, he didnt feel lonely and embarrassed. He was simply full of determination and, two regrets.
If he had found the Martyr and if he had had the courage to hug Lyra before this stage of the Martian Plan...
Well, I still can accomplish both things later, he reassured hismelf, gave his major Prod friends one last glance and when he decided that it was time, he murmurred two words into his earbud before turning his microphone on.
"Lights on."
-He was preprared for anything now.