SHADOW || The Catalysts Series, #2

Pt 3 • XXVI || Reconnaissance

Part III: Flight

Lucifer has eyes as deep as the night, with little to no light at all. And they bore into Lena.

He stands behind a blue screen that overlays the corner of the room, which forms a little square set at the edge of the two walls. It meets not only the walls but reaches also from floor to ceiling, completely trapping Lucifer inside.

From first glance, Lena jumps at the sight of him for he looks as intimidating as the first time Lena encountered him in the canyon. But as the blue hue of the light reaches his pale face, she realised things in his features—dark crescents circling the eyes, a cracked lip, and trembling hands.

It's enough for her to release a breath she hasn't known she's been holding. With much uncertainty, she finally slackens the tension around her shoulders and lowers the gun she doesn't even know how to operate anyway.

"Lucifer?" she manages.

Lena takes a step forward, and when Lucifer does the same, she notices dried blood smeared across his left cheek. He presses a palm toward the blue screen, but instantly retracts it. He makes a face, shaking his hand, then lifts his head again to face Lena once more. There's a flicker of emotion in his dark eyes—surprise, and maybe even shame. He steps back again.

Shaking out of her initial surprise, Lena looks around for something that can get him out of this. Lucifer is one of the students they are looking for; while Lena is hoping to see Roen and the other one together, she should feel relieved that she has already found one of three, without any interference as of yet.

The sight she leaves behind isn't going to help her. The random things ranging from bottles of liquid to metal boxes seem of no use in breaking this blue sheet encasing Lucifer. When her eyes move from Lucifer to the metal wall beside the make-shift prison, she finds a panel toward the wall. She indicates with her hand for Lucifer to follow her line-of-sight, but when his eyes see the panel, he merely looks down and backs away from the screens.

Lena is confused about his reaction, so she clears her throat before saying, "I'm here to get you out and back safely." At least, she hopes so. "We need to work together to get this down for you to be free."

While she waits for him to reply, she silently asks for Jay. No respond comes into her mind, and she might be blocked off somehow in this area. Either way, at least Jay knows which way she went, and hopefully he's delivered the message to the others about her suspicions on the other hallway.

As Lena approaches the digital panel, Lucifer seems to back even further toward the wall. He slumps down. She doesn't even know if he can hear her, but he isn't helping. He isn't even trying, for that matter. Frowning, she tests her fingers over the panel anyway, hoping it's something that will lower the barrier over Lucifer.

A light spark causes her fingers to pull away, and she eyes the panel warily. It is a blank gray screen, and doesn't read anything at all. She looks once again to Lucifer for help, only to find him now staring at the ground. She doesn't even know if this panel will free him.

She lifts the weapon she holds in one hand again, and aims it directly at the barrier. Lucifer's eyes widen ever so slightly—finally, a reaction.

"Should I just blast this damned thing, then?" Lena asks threateningly, even if she isn't sure how to fire the gun. She holds the trigger anyway, then pulls it hard.

A laser beam travels from the opening and crashes toward the barrier. When the two forces collide, a strong sizzling and burning smell erupts, and smoke billows. Lena coughs at the mess she's made. When the cloud of haze clears, the blue screen encasing still stands untouched. Lena is about to fling the weapon to the ground in frustration when Lucifer shifts and raises his arms. He points toward the panel again.