FIRE [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 26: The Embers That Burned

Finn was gentle as he walked Luna down to the cells. The others followed – cautious, confused, convicted – as he locked Luna's gate and stared at her. She felt like he was waiting for her to say something, but she had no words to speak.

Some agents had found Stefan in Central Command. He said that had they been any later, Adams might have had the chance to prove whatever it was he wanted to prove, but Aimee tried not to think of that. Adams was so determined, like he would do anything to get his hands on the microchips, but all that, all Stefan's father had worked for, seemed futile when nearly the entirety of his agents were caged behind bars. Still, Stefan could not shake the uncertainty writhing his bones, because something was off. AIM and GINM were two flames in the same fire, and something told Stefan that their embers still burned.

"Are you okay?" Aimee asked him, when everything seemed done to her. Stefan nodded easily and she chose not to pressure him about it, albeit she was unconvinced.

Everyone around them seemed to glide out of the room like a cortege, everyone but Celeste and Finn.

"Th-They aren't working like they should," Luna told him, shaking from more than his intense stare.

Finn asked Luna what she meant by that, while the others looked around them. Fear sculpted the features of each new prisoner as they realised that their titbits of immortality seemed to be taking a sabbatical.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked, speaking in most part to himself.

No one seemed able to conjure up a rational answer, but Aimee, she stalked to the end of the corridor as if she could feel the answer. Stefan followed until he realised where she was going: to Sylvain.

"Aimee, what are you doing?"

The sound of Stefan's voice shook her so slightly, yet it jerked a tear from her eye. She knew something he didn't. She crouched down to touch Sylvain's hand as he sat on the floor of his cell, silent and cold. The morbid, icy sensation pinched her and she pulled back, knocking his palm open. Stefan had finally approached and crouched beside Aimee while she stared at that porcelain hand.

"Do you see that?" she asked him, but he was only looking at her, compelled and heartbroken by the sight of her tears.

She wiped her eyes when she felt his stare, and then reached for the meagre piece of paper enfolded in his hand. Stefan faced her, inching closer as she read the writing.

"What does it say?" queried Celeste, pulling the words from Stefan's mouth and startling him with her unexpected presence.

"She wanted to fix her mistakes. She wanted time," Aimee read. "It's about Abba."

No one said anything for a while, just processed. Aimee knew that now – she knew that Abba wanted time and that she felt guilty and that she loved her – she did not need a reminder. She was ready to tear that page apart, some form of revenge for the round of tears it was bringing to her eyes, but Stefan stopped her.

"There's writing on the back, too."

Aimee frowned, befuddled as she turned the note over and started reading: "Shut it down."

Her eyes dashed between Stefan's and Celeste's, praying inconsequentially for one of them to know what that meant. When they looked back at Sylvain, they all knew, all came to one sole conclusion as the words settled in, because right there in the crease of his palm was something abnormal.

A port.

Immediately, Stefan switched on his communicator and paged Valerie. "Val, do you still have that flash drive?"