Interstellar

✯ 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕏𝕏𝕏 ✯

Year 3828 — Eclipse Headquarters — Section Epta

By the time everyone woke up, the Beta Squad was moved into a Helix-suppressing prison cell in a deeper section of the base. Unlike what Gavrel predicted, they left their shackles on even in the cells.

"My feet are cold." El muttered as she curled her socks. They had taken her Graviton boots as well as her other weapons.

"Do you think they'll kill us?" Kalin asked on the right side of the cell.

"Probably," Azzara replied.

"How did we get stuck like this?" Ciaran asked more rhetorically than literally. "We'll die at the hands of the people who hate us."

"Everyone hates us," Izmeria said from the left wall. "Though some people admire Strikers, not everyone does. They're trying to find some way to vent their anger on us."

"I think you're the only Striker everyone hates. I have countless people who like me," El retorted from the wall facing the glass prison wall holding the door.

"I wasn't talking about me personally." Izmeria gritted her teeth.

"Sauda's right. Not everyone is our fan which is why we should be more wary," the Lieutenant said from the left wall. "I was too slow when it came to acting which is why we are in this situation. I reflected on the mistakes I've done as a leader."

"It wasn't just your fault." Axel cut in. "We were all distracted by what we discovered." He alluded to the tubed Auraforms. "I believe that there is more that we don't know about. Eclipse was at that lab for a reason. They said it themselves that they didn't know that the Auraforms are being produced, but that begs the question of what else they do know to have got them there."

Axel was a quick witted man. Though he was quiet most of the time, he knew when to speak up. He focused on his surroundings and spoke according to them.

Loud footsteps were heard from down the hall, causing the group to go silent.

It was Zeph. Astraea locked eyes with him as he stopped in front of the cell.

"Have you finally come to torture us?" The Lieutenant fixed his blue eyes on Zeph.

"Do you take me for a criminal?" Zeph joked looking around the cell. "We'll be starting interrogations. I'm sure we can find some way to torture you there. And don't think about escaping, surveillance is watching you like a hawk. One attempt to escape and we'll kill you."

"Aren't you going to kill us when your done with us?" Gavrel lifted his gaze to look up at Zeph. "We either die escaping or die staying here."

"I guess your right." Zeph shrugged his shoulders. "It just matters if you want a painful death or not." He then drifted his eyes back to Astraea. "You there, you're up first." He pointed at her.

"Don't." El grabbed Astraea's wrist before she could even make a move to stand up.

"It will be fine. Have some confidence in me." Astraea soothed before standing up. She mustered her hardest glare at Zeph, selling the lie that she was a victim.

Zeph held a button on the glass prison door. As he did, Astraea walked forward morphing through the glass. She was now on the other side with Zeph grabbing a hold of her.

"Don't tell him anything, Nelerix!" Calyx Evron called as Zeph dragged her away. Astraea cringed at his words.

If only they knew what she did. That everything they believed in was a lie.

As soon as they were out the door of the prison hall, Zeph released Astraea.

"I guess our toast really didn't work." He grinned down at the woman.