JUNE 22ND

1030 EST

Normally, the cortex was empty after hours. The Union would be asleep in their rooms, Priscilla would be meeting with the Contingency to report their progress or she herself would be asleep, and the whole expanse of headquarters would be dormant.

However, not tonight.

Four figures stood on the training platform, the disabled lights and motion sensors deactivated, thanks to Avi. All four were in their supersuits and all four were silent, trying to demise a mode of transportation to Shadowedge Prison. Finally, CJ spoke up.

"The fastest way of getting somewhere is teleporting, right?" He said, his hazel eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, but we can't exactly go ask Priscilla for her to open a portal for us." Tristan rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't going to suggest that." CJ grinned impishly, looking from Tristan to Avi. "The main function of headquarters portals comes from the dashboard," he jerked a thumb behind him, to the platform that would house a portal. "If Avi can get a rig on the controls, we can form our own portal."

Bristol knit her eyebrows. "But the controls are activated by Priscilla's cosmic energy, right? Even if Avi could get to the controls, she would need cosmic energy to access them."

Avi considered this. She turned on her heel and approached the dashboard, pressing a delicate hand over the pad where Priscilla's cosmic hand would normally go. In the darkness of the cortex, the green 1's and 0's of her inner coding shimmered beneath her skin. She conducted a scan of the mechanism, trying to pinpoint a way they could access it without their caretaker's ability.

Just when Avi thought all hope was lost, a plan sprang into mind. A small keyboard of light began to shine on the pad and Avi hacked away at it, coding emerging into existence before her eyes. It was a piece of technology after all, how had she not thought of it before? She typed away, installing new commands that related specifically to one of the Union's covert ops and was rewarded with a shimmer of light out of the corner of her eye.

"We're in." Avi announced proudly.

Her companions rushed over to her, silently praising her for her plan. In front of them, the portal shimmered into existence, a glittering expanse of cosmic energy that was their mode of transportation to Shadowedge Prison.

"So," CJ clapped his hands. "Who wants to go through first?"

~~~

Steeping through portals was somewhat nerve racking for Avi. Being that she was a robot, she didn't exactly have cells or anything to be rearranged as she stepped through. It just felt like an extremely cold breeze washed over her as she stepped through, coming across the cobblestone paths leading up to the gloomy building that was Shadowedge.

Bristol followed her, and CJ after her, as Tristan brought up the rear. As soon as the Union had regrouped on the opposite side of the portal, it disappeared. Their only source of light in the darkness of night had evaporated.

"We need a plan." Bristol said. "Avi, can you—"

"The prison is guarded by multiple meta-guards. Each are armed with minor supernatural abilities and a rifle. Rune and his minions, due to their status, are most likely located in the heart of the prison, under high security. To get inside, we have to create a distraction, preferably a reasonable distance from a small entrance." Avi stated, her eyes dimming from the neon glow of her scans. "The nearest one is in a tool shed nearby, it leads beneath the prison and up into it. There are about five guards stationed nearby it."

Bristol pursed her lips, examining the building like a blueprint. "I can create a distraction," she said. "If I set off a flare, the guards will have to check it out. That gives you guys some time to get inside."

Tristan looked at her in confusion. "How are you gonna set off a flare?" Suddenly, a realization of some sort filled his dark blue eyes and he looked at Bristol in fear. "Bristol, you can't—"

"I have to." She snapped. Sighing, Bristol looked to CJ. "I need you with me. After I set off the flare, because it needs to be a reasonable distance into the forest, I need you to carry me back to meet the others."

CJ nodded behind his black mask. "Of course." He said, looking to Avi and Tristan. "You guys should go. We'll meet you there in five minutes. If we aren't there by then, go on ahead of us. We'll meet you inside if that happens."

Avi started into the brush, gazing back at the group. Tristan glanced apprehensively at Bristol and CJ, who were discussing a small plan. "Come on," Avi stated, detecting a sharp flare of emotion come from Deep Freeze.

The dark haired boy sighed and followed Avi into the forest. As they walked, Avi could sense the retreating figures of CJ and Bristol, deeper through the trees. However, she could also sense a peculiar amount of fear within Tristan.

That was one of Avi's abilities. She could detect the emotions of those around her, but only specific ones. In Tristan's case, she could sense the easiest and most common emotion: fear. It radiated off his tall figure, glinting in his eyes like an unnatural sparkle.

"You're afraid." Avi stated. "Why?"

Tristan jumped, proving her suspicions. "What're you talking about?" He asked nervously.

Avi looked at him blankly, her green eyes gazing into his blue ones. "Your heart is pounding erratically and your nerves are off the chart. You are jumpy and afraid. I would like to know why." She said.

Tristan bit his lip before sighing. "I'm just worried about Bristol." He said in defeat, avoiding Avi's gaze.

At this, Avi cocked her head to the side. "Why is that? The Elemental Empress is equipped with her abilities, as well as Rapid to keep her out of any sudden danger." She peered ahead of them and surely enough, she could see the tool shed that was to be their entrance. It was thirty yards out, surrounded by five guards.

Tristan ducked behind a bush, and Avi followed. Hidden behind the brush, he looked at her and she detected another feature about the boy. His eyes had a shocking ability to change shades of blue. Normally, they were a deep sapphire blue, but if he were using his powers--or in this case, afraid—they turned an icy blue. Behind the crystal irises, Avi could see secrets darting around.

There was something he wasn't telling her but before Avi got a chance to ask, a scarlet flare erupted into the sky a ways apart from them. As both heroes looked at it blossoming like a firework above the treetops, Tristan looked away, like the flare hurt him somehow.

"What's wrong?" Avi asked him.

Tristan ignored her, peering above the brush they were hiding behind. "Come on, we have to go now." He said and watched as the five guards retreated into the forest in the direction of the flare.

While Avi was distracted by her curiosities, she fell back into her battle mode. She couldn't let the plan fail. Together, she and Tristan dashed from behind the bushes when the coast was clear and to the shed. However, they were presented with another challenge.

"It's locked," Avi said bluntly. The metal door was draped in locks, so intricately coded that she wouldn't be able to get through it in time.

"Allow me," Tristan said and took a step back. He threw a hand in front of him and Avi stepped out of the line of fire as a beam of ice shot from his palms. The ice and cold hit the locks, spreading across the expanse of them until Avi couldn't sense any form of coding anymore. "There, the locks should be frozen." He said, moving forward to tear them off the door.

They were rewarded with the door being opened, and Avi dashed inside. Surely enough, a staircase dropped deeper and deeper into the earth, until it stretched into a hallway. "Deep Freeze, we must go." She said.

"We have to wait for Bristol!" Tristan snapped, still standing outside. A gunshot fired in the distance and Avi detected another flare of fear within Tristan.

"Rapid and Elemental Empress have approximately one minute to return here before we were ordered to go on without them." Avi said, her voice laced with concern. She spotted another flare, further from the last one, although it was weaker.

Neither of the two heroes spoke for a minute, fear and concern filling the spaces between them. Just as the minute was up and Avi was tugging on Tristan's arm to drag him forward, a streak of black and blue sped towards them until Bristol and CJ stood before them. The silver door shut behind them; mission accomplished.

"No time! We gotta go now!" Bristol said, leaping down from her place in CJ's arms and bolting down the steps.

"What, why—" Tristan started, his short moment of relief taken over by confusion. However, the muffled sound of gunshots and footsteps in the clearing behind the door cut him off.

"That's why, now come on!" CJ said, dashing after Bristol.

Avi and Tristan ran after them, sprinting down the steps until the Union had reunited at the bottom of the steep staircase. Together, they ran down the hallway, relying on Avi's digital relay of the way in. It was fairly expansive, and after a while, the only one with enough energy to keep running was CJ.

"What happened out there?" Tristan asked, a worried eye on Bristol, who was hobbling along with a hand to her side, like she was holding back the pain of a sudden stitch.

CJ sighed, walking beside them. "Everything was going well until Bristol got a bit dizzy. I got her out safely but the guards noticed us. I led them away from us and then ran back here." He ran a hand through his disheveled hair, the hood of his black and red supersuit around his neck.

"Why did you get dizzy, Bristol?" Avi asked, looking at the brunette girl hobbling along in her azure uniform. The gold accents on her top and boots were distorted with shadows, rather reflecting her mood.

"I...I just didn't focus hard enough." Bristol said, glancing at her companions apprehensively.

Avi pursed her lips and ran a covert scan on her. She detected a serious amount of pain coming from Bristol but it was beginning to fade. Maybe it was nothing.

They walked a few more paces in silence, until they found a trail of ash. Instantly, Avi locked eyes with CJ. Another scan told them that it was the same type of volcanic ash they had found near Priscilla's room.

"What is that?" Tristan asked, squatting down to get a better look.

"Volcanic ash and a good amount of it too." Avi sighed. "The same stuff from earlier."

"Earlier?" Bristol questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"CJ and I were spying on Priscilla, and we found a small trail of this stuff outside her room. It's volcanic but there seemed to be a small explosion just outside her door. Beyond that much, we have no idea how it got there." Avi explained, carefully sidestepping past the trail.

They continued walking, but more questions hung in the air.

"Do you think it could be a villain?" CJ asked. "One with geothermal abilities?"

Bristol knit her eyebrows in thought. "No one's coming to mind. We haven't faced a volcanic metahuman before, especially anyone that's worked for Rune."

"Yet," Tristan muttered. "We haven't faced one yet."

The group continued on until finally, they reached a door where the ash trail ended. There was a small window on the door, and as they peered through it, they saw an empty hallway.

"We're here. Now we need to be careful, because if those guards outside reported some odd things, everyone on the inside will be alert as well." Tristan explained.

"And if the prisoners are on lockdown because of that, we'll probably have an easier time looking for Rune and his buddies." CJ added.

Avi nodded. She pressed a finger to the padlock, a spray of electricity arcing from the now-jammed wires, and the door swung open. "Into the prison we go."

~~~

They decided to stay together. Splitting up meant covering more distance, but upping the chances of someone spotting them. If they stayed together, they would slowly but surely get the answers they needed about Rune.

However, after about an hour of looking, they still had no frame of where to look.

"I don't get it." Bristol hissed. "We're in the heart of the prison, but Rune is nowhere to be found. We've checked every cell, and he isn't in any of them but they all are full."

"Maybe there's some place we haven't checked, somewhere that isn't on the main maps." Avi theorized.

"Like what, a dungeon?" CJ asked sarcastically.

Avi glared at him pointedly. "No, but maybe a hidden wing of some sort dedicated to the really dangerous villains like Rune and his minions."

"What do you think, Tristan?" Bristol asked, folding her arms over her chest.

The dark haired boy pressed his lips into a line, thinking. Finally, he spoke. "Avi, can you hack into the camera systems?"

She nodded. "Of course, why?"

"If there is some sort of hidden wing we haven't come across, chances are there are still cameras there. We can hack into the system and check through the video feeds to find Rune." Tristan explained.

Avi lit up and tapped the touch-screen bracelet she wore for intellectual backup. She ran a quick scan of a nearby camera that they had demolished, and uploaded the coding into the hacked security system. Eventually, a pixelated screen grew from the watch, and different pods of video feeds were presented before their eyes.

"There! Under 'High Security'!" CJ pointed at one of the pods.

Avi tapped it and it grew into a new page. Surely enough, the cells of their most hated and formidable rivals came into view. In the center feed sat footage of Rune, the villain they feared the most, lounging behind bars in the black jumpsuit of the Shadowedge prisoners.

"That doesn't make any sense." Bristol muttered. "This just takes us right back to square one. If Rune is locked up, then there's no reason to have these suspicions against—"

"Wait, look at the top right. That feed. No one's inside the cell." Tristan pointed out, his voice laced with fear.

Avi squinted at the codes beneath each pod, the identification number of each prisoner. "01147..." she said. Her eyes widened, and she looked at her companions as the same realization sprang into their eyes.

"Phobos," Bristol said, the color draining from her face. "That's him," her eyes were locked behind the group and with a pang of fear, Avi knew what she was looking at.

"Well if it isn't the Union," a gruff voice chuckled. "It's been a while."

The four teens looked at the man in terror. His greasy hair was wiry and filled with knots, but his piercing gray eyes examined each of them carefully. His eyes fell upon Bristol and before anyone in the Union could bark an order or cry from help, the Elemental Empress let loose a blood curdling scream and collapsed beside them.