"What is this," Zephyr asked in awe as he sat at the table, examining the documents with hungry eyes as he flipped through the pages.

Kanden placed two cups of tea in front of them before reclaiming his seat and shrugging. "I was hoping you could read the schematics and tell me," he confessed. He'd never been inclined for engineering, though he was positive he could follow a pictorial diagram with enough details. Anything beyond that was above his comprehension. "I found this in one of the storage lockers."

Zephyr scratched his nose before taking a sip from his tea. Then he set the cup near the edge of the table, away from all the papers, making Kanden do the same when he realized liquid and important documents weren't a good mix. The former remained quiet as he bit his tongue and squinted. Every now and then, he'd tilt his head or shuffle through the pages as if to determine something only he could understand. The extended quiet made Kanden squirm — curious to know what secrets this information held.

After a moment, Zephyr asked, "Are there any more pages? There's one missing."

In his excitement and haste to call Zephyr from the washroom, as well as the effort to help his friend walk to the table and finish making the tea, Kanden had forgotten to retrieve anything else from the locker. "Give me a minute," he said, pushing himself to his feet and returning to the storage area.

He didn't know much about his ancestors other than they were the original Founders. Little else had been carried through the generations, either because their histories had seemed unimportant or because it had somehow been lost after so much time Underground. Despite this, Kanden had no doubt one of them loved books. Books in multiple genres crammed much of the space, and Kanden had to pile everything on the floor to find every scrap of loose paper.

Gathering any document he could find, he brought them back to the table and scanned the contents with Zephyr.

"Who has this much time to read?" he asked after a moment, failing to catch a book he'd missed as it clattered to the ground with a thwap.

Zephyr chuckled as he took a sheaf for himself. "It's not like we have much else to do in our off-hours. I kind of wish they thought to smuggle porn in here though."

"Because you haven't seen enough of the human anatomy?" Kanden asked with an eye roll. Zephyr had such a one-track mind sometimes.

His friend shrugged. "Sometimes, you find yourself alone, and your hand wanders."

Too much information. "I don't."

"Yeah, well, you're a special exception," Zephyr retorted with a soft smile and crinkling eyes. "You're too good and pure for this world."

Was he serious or joking? Kanden never could differentiate intent behind words. If true, the sentiment was nice, and he dipped his head to hide his burning cheeks. Zephyr was supposed to be his friend and say nice things.

A soft thump of feet landing on the floor nearby caught Kanden's attention, making him cringe. So much for going through this unbothered. "What are you boys up to?" Father asked through a loud yawn as he trudged toward them and pulled up a chair.

His dark hair needed a good comb, standing on end in several directions. Tan scalp showed between the thinning roots, and the occasional strand of silver hair gleamed in the overhead lights. Without a sharpened razor, Father's beard had grown overnight, revealing more gray among the black. In this light and perhaps in an old novel, he might have been a feral creature; a monster in the shadows waiting to spring.

Kanden sighed and made room for the giant man at the small table. "We found some old plans for the Caverns. Have you seen these before?" Reluctantly, he took the original papers and pushed them toward Father, hoping for answers that didn't require hours of research.

Rubbing his face, Father took the papers and leaned forward with a squint. Then he pinched his eyes between his thumb and forefinger before answering in a tired voice, "Give me a minute to wake up. Is there more tea?"

Kanden almost snorted, but rose to prepare a cup. Father's voice was gravelly as if he hadn't used it in years, but at least he was bearable. Tired was better than grumpy. Setting the fresh cup before him, Kanden moved closer to Zephyr, keeping as much distance from the man as possible. "Well? What do you know about this?"

"Morning to you too," the other man grumbled, blowing on the streaming liquid before slurping from the tin cup. Sighing, he redirected his focus to the schematics before uttering a soft hum. "I actually have not seen these," he admitted, scattering the papers across the surface. "Our family has only come here during times of need."

"And exploring possibilities to escape this hellhole never occurred to you?" Kanden asked in exasperation, fighting the urge to smack his face against the table.

He shrugged. "Suffice it to say, our ancestors taught us not to squander our belongings. I'm certain they also didn't anticipate us being stuck underground for two hundred years, but here we are. I can't speak for the other Founding Families, but we can't produce more resources from nothing, and we opted to use the cache sparingly."

"You could have at least checked," Kanden snapped, ready to smack his dad for being such a fool. "These plans have been down here for two centuries, and we could have found a way out by now."

Father's mouth quirked at the corners and his brows curled to form an amused smirk. He paused holding his cup below his mouth for a moment before gently setting it back on the table. "Your words have merit–"

"Do you mean to say you're full of shit and didn't think something useful might actually be down here?" Kanden immediately slapped a hand over his mouth, aghast at his own audacity. He hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Father's mouth hung open, and on instinct, Kanden shifted his chair even further away until he bumped into Zephyr, unsure how his blunt delivery would be received.

The tension broke with a stifled giggle that quickly became a guffaw. Zephyr's fists covered his mouth as his shoulders quaked and tears streamed from his eyes. Between laughs, he wheezed, "I didn't know you had that in you! Anyone else would already be on the ground with a boot in their ass."

Father and son stared at Zephyr as he leaned into the table, still chortling in his arms. Several beats passed before Father faced Kanden with a grin and unprecedented mirth behind his eyes. "I have to say I agree. Usually, you run the other way before I can utter an entire sentence."

Praise? From him? Kanden must have hit his head harder than he'd thought. Claiming a concussion was easier than accepting this new side of the man who'd only ever berated his child for never being enough.

Slumping his shoulders and dropping his gaze to hide his flaming cheeks, he muttered, "Well, it's true." His accusation and Zephyr's assessment of the consequences for anyone stupid enough to antagonize the older man. "You've known about this place for how long now? And it never once dawned on you that there might be something important here?"

"To be fair, you didn't let me finish," Father replied softly, having the decency to appear chastised as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Kanden rolled his eyes and slapped his palms against the table. "Because you always start with a long winded speech! I'll die of boredom before you actually get to the point."

When Zephyr howled in another fit of laughter, Kanden folded his arms across his chest and huffed. This was not the time for his best friend to cut in on an overdue confrontation between family. "You're all stupid," he added, suddenly out of steam and exhausted from too much happening over a short amount of time.

"You done?" Father asked once Kanden leaned backward and glowered. When he didn't reply, Father shook his head and said, "My father was on the Council too, remember? We've circled around our situation a million times. He and everyone before us have explored every option, and there's no way out. The exit is sealed, and we can't get to the top level without those maintenance tunnels."

Zephyr suddenly sat upright and sobered as confusion darkened the greens of his eyes in the overhead light. "Wait, we're trapped down here? I thought we haven't gone out yet because it wasn't safe."

Rubbing a hand over his wary features, Father released an elongated huff. Tone saturated in defeat, he murmured, "It's what we've told everyone for years to avoid mass panic. If people knew we were stuck, they'd give into chaos."

"But what's the point!" Zephyr demanded with a strangled cry as shudders visibly rocked his body. "What... why did we bother if there was never a chance to go Overland?"

"Hope," Kanden whispered, understanding the burden the Council must have shouldered all these years. Taking his best friend's hand, he rubbed a thumb over Zephyr's calloused knuckles. "People need that to function." Humanity needed that light in their hearts to overcome the impossible.

Meeting Father's exhausted gaze, Kanden offered him the first smile he could ever recall directing at the man. But for once, he sympathized. Trying to stave off unrest while keeping so much emotion bottled inside had to have taken its toll on him, and Kanden didn't want him to feel worse.

Gears whirring through his mind, Kanden tried to articulate all the possibilities and information into words. "I'm not saying our predicament isn't overwhelming, but maybe all we need is a fresh set of eyes on the plans. Instead of giving up, we should be trying something different."

Father rested his elbows on the table and steepled his hands together. Interest brightened his features while directing his full attention at his son, as if truly seeing him for the first time. "What do you mean?"

Reaching for the schematics in front of Zephyr, Kanden studied them for a moment, tracing his finger along the different lines. According to the legend on the first page, an interconnected system of vents ran through every level of the caverns.

So I was right, he mused, smiling at his earlier deduction.

Setting the sheaf aside, he rifled through the new content he'd brought, carefully stacking anything unnecessary in a pile to the edge between him and Father. Once he found the missing page he'd been searching for earlier, he added it to the appropriate documentation and cleared his throat. "Okay, if I'm reading this correctly, there's a ventilation system spread across every part of the bunker. If we can't access the upper levels via the traditional routes, someone could crawl through the spaces and investigate to see what's obstructing us from the top."

Father's nose twitched as his eyes narrowed. "No."

Ugh, and here I thought we might come to an agreement for once.

Kanden scratched his head and huffed before returning to the schematics. The yellowed pages, brittle from disuse and time, swished in time with his movement, making him grit his teeth in case they decided to crumble in his hands. Another set of lines ran in tandem with the shafts, indicating some sort of ladder leading up to hatches, but not attached to the tunnels themselves.

Passing the pages to Zephyr and pointing at them, he asked, "What are these?"

Pressing his lips together, Zephyr stared at the papers, going through the same motions of cross referencing the pages and treating them like one of Marina's experiments ready to explode. After a moment, he replied, "I think these are emergency access tubes. Like, hm..." He scratched his stubbled chin and bit his bottom lip. "I guess you could say if a lift or point of entry is unavailable, these would be used as an alternate route. They're all adjoined to the different levels, and serve the same function, except they're smaller, and you have to go through another section before entering the main part of the floor."

Now it was Father's turn to examine the pages, but no matter how much he leaned forward or tilted his head, confusion creased his forehead and accentuated the deep wrinkles around his eyes. "I didn't know about these."

Because you didn't think to look. Kanden couldn't repress the eyeroll accompanying his irritation. However, maybe Father just wasn't inclined for this sort of thing. However, Arlo was, and as the Chief Engineer, he should have been aware of the Cavern's layout. "Has Arlo ever mentioned anything about potential to explore ways out? What about the other families? Would they have this information in their hideaways?"

Father shrugged as he gave the papers back and grabbed his tea. "It's possible. Each family has their own hidden panic rooms, and no one knows the locations because we needed to preserve the knowledge in case something like the riots occurred."

"Okay..." Bumping his palms against his head in frustration, Kanden groaned. It was a wonder humanity hadn't gone extinct yet. "Wouldn't Engineering need these though? You know, to like... fix things when they break? Arlo isn't one of the founding elites. You'd think someone would have given the most essential workers important details so they can keep the systems running."

"I don't know," The older man snapped, jumping to his feet and pacing the small kitchen with both hands digging into his hair. "Helix oversaw everything and ensured we all stayed within our lanes. Ivarra was over medical and science, Arlo supervised engineering and maintenance, Sabre managed the quartermasters, and I ran security. Any training we've had and practice has been passed down from everyone else over the years."

Well, crap. That put a lot of things into perspective. Everyone relied on secondhand knowledge instead of seeking the source. Still, these were answers to questions they didn't have before, so Kanden considered it a small win.

Shaking the cobwebs from his mind, Kanden returned to his train of thought. Between the shafts and air vents, a lot of planning, and the right team, the Undergrounders might be able to reach the surface. "Alright, so let's come back to the facts. The maintenance tunnels above are blocked. The entrance to the caverns themselves are sealed for whatever reason. The lifts leading to different floors above are out of service. That leaves us access to the floor below us for water maintenance and training and this floor. But now that we have a physical blueprint, we can use the access tubes and the air vents. I'm small enough to fit through, as you know I've already proven, and it's worth trying."

Father whirled around and glared, dropping his arms to his sides. "I said no."

Gingerly standing and wincing at the sharp annoying pain in his rib, Kanden met him with a firm scowl as he planted his hands on the table. "Take this however you will, but I'm a grown man, and I'm getting tired of you dictating everything I do. I don't care if you like it. The plan is solid, and it's more than anyone in leadership tried. I don't need your permission."

Instinct demanded him to scamper backward as Father slowly approached, but Kanden dug his heels into the ground and willed himself to stand strong. He was right — he knew he was — and no one was going to talk him out of this when there was a real possibility to go Overland. When he could see the stars in the open sky instead of through a glass barrier.

"And what if you get hurt?" Father retorted, coming around the table to tower over his son. "I can't help you if you go in alone. If you get trapped inside those spaces, you're on your own."

Swiveling in a slow semi-circle, Kanden hugged himself and craned his neck to look into the older man's face. His heart beat rapidly at their close proximity, alerting him to seek distance — he hated when anyone invaded his space. He held his breath and counted until the pressure eased before speaking again. He refused to lose this battle. "It's a risk I'm willing to take if it helps everyone here. Even if we don't find a way out of the tunnels right now, we can at least fix the solar panels, and we can't put that off out of fear. I know you don't have faith in me, but I'm willing to do this, with or without your support."

His eyes burned with the knowledge Mother would have worried herself senseless, yet would have given her vote of confidence anyway. If only Father would do the same.

Zephyr cleared his throat and spoke quietly behind them. "He's right, Bastion. I don't know many people who could squeeze through some of these spaces, and Kanden is smarter than most people give him credit for. I think he can do this if we plan properly. It's better than waiting to suffocate in a tomb."

Kanden's chest expanded in gratitude. Thank you, Zeph. If only he could support Kanden's other endeavors, like his relationship with Ryker, they'd be set. He needed all the help he could get from the only people left in his life to care about him.

Father's shoulders slumped, and he moved around him to slip into his boots before heading for the door. Following his movement, Kanden frowned. "Where are you going?"

Back still facing him, Father dipped his head as he paused. "You're the only family I have left. I don't know how to connect with you, and apparently, I've failed in all my duties as a parent, but I want to see you safe. Part of that is ensuring we put a stop to the riots. Marina hasn't returned, and I'm worried about leaving the enforcers scattered." Turning, he offered a crooked smile that looked more like a grimace. "Regardless of what you think, just know I love you. I'll be back soon to check in, but like you said, we have to help everyone else too. I'll come for you and Zeph once it's safe. Look out for each other until then."

The affection, having never been given under normal circumstances, paralyzed Kanden. He didn't have time to react, let alone process the words before Father left the small room, closing the reinforced steel with a resounding clang that echoed in the heavy silence.