Throwing the door to the truck closed, I look out over the rolling West Virginian mountains. They're nowhere near as tall as the Rockies- like I've ever been to the Rockies to begin with- and there are green trees everywhere. It's full up spring here, and it's evident.

Six breathes in the warm air, then looks off to the south, where the hills gradually increase. "It's been a while, that's for sure."

"It's only been, like, a month and a half here," Nine chuckles as I hear his door slam shut from the other side of the truck. "I bet they missed me lots."

"Yeah, sure thing, Stanely," Six jeers.

Nine leaps the hood of the truck and lands right in front of her, the hand pistol flipping back out again and pointing at her. "Yeah, it is a sure thing, Maren Elizabeth." As he says it, Adam drops out of the sky and lands off to my right, followed by everyone else. Then the chimaera land next to them, forming back into the herd of dogs. We figured that the racecar wouldn't hold up all that well in this rugged, hilly terrain, so they got out and flew here.

"Hey guys," I can't hide the tiredness in my voice, even though this was my idea. Huh. If that doesn't reassure them, nothing will. Adam waves silently before looking out across the mountains, Dust trotting up to him and standing idle, next to him.

"Hey, Marina," John says. Sarah and Sam still aren't talking to me. They go over and stand by Adam, Sarah taking tufts of his fur in her palm. I said I was sorry… for… throwing them against a brick wall… Yeah, I can understand it. Doesn't mean I like it.

Six steps up to John, then points out over the valley. "So, it's that way a ways, if I remember right."

John nods. "Yeah, your memory worked pretty good last time, I'd say," pointing his thumb back at Nine, who perks up.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He lets it go. Not before staring John down for a while, though. Dat evil eye.

"So what, are we walking in again?" John inquires.

Six ponders this for a second. "Acually, we could fly in, like you guys did," she glances over at Adam, whom, by the way, has all seven chimaera clustered around him. Even BK. What's up with that!

He shakes his head. "No… only seven birds."

"What about when you and Adam escaped the penthouse? BK picked you both up at once, remember?"

"Fair enough," he concedes. "But they still can't actually come in the front door."

"Yeah, there is that," she makes this tsk-tsk sound that I thought only old women made. "Hmm."

"We could always leave them with the humans," Nine says. "Let them stay in the nearest town until we get back, them taking care of the chimaeras and all."

Sarah's head whips around and she stomps over to our circle. Huh, we formed a circle. "No. No, I'm not here to sit around and babysit! I want to be out there!"

John takes her by the hand. "No, Nine may actually have a point. Surprisingly. It's dangerous in there, more dangerous than anything you've ever done. Maybe all of you should sit this one out. Just let us and Adam handle it."

She keeps shaking her head. "John, I thought you'd never leave me again! We stick together, remember?" But John's already made up his mind. He picks her up by the waist and deposits here lightly by our truck.

"I won't be more than a few hours…," he says, kissing her hand and walking back over to us. "So are we doing this or what?"

"Yeah!" Nine runs over and grabs John by the neck, putting him in a headlock. "Nice to have good Johnny back!"

John pushes him away. "Whatever. Let's get going."

"So we are walking in?" Six tries.

"No, let's just sprint it," John offers. "I'll take Adam on my back, if that's okay with you."

Adam doesn't realize he's been mentioned until he notices that we're all looking at him. "What?"

"I said, you won't mind me taking you in on my back, right?"

He shakes his head. "No, not at all. Yeah, that's not a problem."

John nods. "Cool," then he turns back to us. "Alright? Everyone ready for this?"

"Yeah!" Me and Six shout at once. I didn't even know I could be that loud when I'm so tired. Huh. Nine just shrugs.

"Sure man, whenever," but I can tell that he's itching for action, too. The last action he got was against everyone else, so that didn't work too well. Adam hops on John's back, piggy-back style, and we take off across the valley.

God, it's been a while since I could run this fast. When was it… In the everglades, when we made our great escape. We're at the cliff overlooking the entrance in a minute. It's pretty well hidden, and John's right- you can't see it unless you're looking for it. The dead animal corpses kind of give it away, though.

"So what happens when we get inside?" Nine tries. "I remember the big hollow cave with the branches leading off, but there's no telling where Ella is…," he trails off.

John drops Adam off his back and reaches his hand up to his face in contemplation.

"Here, how about this," Nine says, before reaching up to John's forehead and pressing in deep, before a blast of wind hits him in the face. "There. You guys, too," He does the same thing to Six, then me, then Adam. "That should help."

"What are you saying?"

"Well, if we run on the ceiling, then they can't really reach us, right?"

John nods slowly. "Yeah… Here, I've got an idea."

We literally explode through the front door. John said that last time, there was a blue, bubble-like force field protecting the entrance, but obviously they weren't expecting to get attacked today. Advantage- us.

There's a long tunnel carved into the rock here, with Mogs on either side in what look like guard-tower things. Not a problem. Correographed with Six, I jump up onto the wall and run up to them. The same wave of nausea hits me as it always does when I use Nine's legacy, but I grit and bare it and Hop up into the tower, kicking right through the Mog that stands there and out the other side, landing with a grunt on the wall.

Well, ouch.

No. No stopping. Keep running. Up onto the ceiling, Me and Six together burst out into the main area- fuck it's huge! You could fit a whole town inside the mountain! Way down below I can see the green lava that John was bragging about. He said he'd probably make for there first then get back up to us when he's done.

We shouldn't split up! That's what I argued, but I was outnumbered by the others saying that it'd get the job done faster. It's me and Six together in the spaces near the roof, and John and Adam making for the bottom, and Nine searching everything in the middle sections. I see the three of them sprint down then side of the wall, telekinetically taking out almost all the Mogs on the numerous bridges that span the enormous gap.

Nine peels off from them as I reach the very top of the structure. The green lava's way up above me now, all the remaining Mogs start firing their blasters vertical towards the two figures peeling across the walls. It's weird- it's like I'm at the bottom of a rocky bowl with all this stuff up above me. I can't even tell that I'm upside down until I start to think about it- My hair isn't falling down or anything like that.

"C'mon, Mar!" Six shouts at me. I realize I'm just standing here like an idiot and I take off after her as she reaches the first tunnel. "Ready for this?"

I nod, and we take off down the hallway. Searching for cells. Anything, a prison, anything. "I kind of remember where they held me…," she trails off, not even breaking of sweat yet. "Here, follow me," she abruptly turns down a corridor to my right, and I have to stop myself and turn with her. Now I'm like fifteen feet behind. Great.

Six spots a Mog patrolling the hallway before I do, and she cancels out her fake gracity and drops in on him from the ceiling, knocking him out but not killing him. She leaps back up to me and grins smugly. I don't ask her about it- I just keep going.

In five minutes we've found this place where the cells appear to start. There's bars lining the walls and even prisoners in a few- we can't stop. We can't save them all. We're here for one and one only.

Up ahead there's what looks like a wide opening, and in it there's three Mogs standing around, talking. Their blasters are propped up against the stone wall to the left, and they don't even notice us as we tear up above them. It's a big room- why would it be so big? Doesn't matter.

I see what Six is doing before she does it- the same thing she did with the Mog in the hallway. She leaps off the roof and flies into the face of one of the Mogs, bashing the other two's heads together. One of them- the one she flew into- struggles to get up, and she stomps down on his stomach.

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Damn, she's ferocious.

The Mog stops struggling and looks up at her, shading his eyes from the light that hangs awkwardly out of the ceiling. "Where who is?"

"Number Ten!"

"What?" He bashes at her foot again, and she pushes down, cracks forming in the concrete all around him. If he doesn't talk soon, he's going through the floor.

"I said, Ella! The Garde you kidnapped!"

He tries to look up at her again, but his soulless, black eyes can't take the fluoresce of the light and he has to look away again. "Oh, you mean the Garde kid? Is that what you want?" She presses harder and he squeals. Ha! I didn't know Mogs made that sound, but I want her to make more of them make it. Are you really like that, Mar? Wanting to torture people?

Yup.

"Yeah! What else would I want, bitch!" She takes her other foot and kicks him in the side of the head, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to knock him out.

"Auh!" He cries out. "Please, I'll tell you, just don't do that!"

"Talk, mother fucker!" Six gets right up in his face when he says it, and I see the spittle fly.

"It's-," he's cut off by coughing, a dark, black blood coming up all over his face. "Sector H. Cell-," more coughing-, "Three-hundred and ninety-four!"

"Thanks," Six says in her most girly voice and punches him upside the head, bashing it into the concrete. That's it for him! We take off back down our hallway, not noticing the flashing red light on the wall.

All of the sudden the lights shut off. Even with my legacy, I can tell- suddenly the edges of my vision darken our and are gone. It's like tunnel vision, except worse, because I have to run like this. "Marina!" I turn around to see Six groping the walls behind me. Yeah. That.

"I'm coming, Six!" Just as I start over there, an explosion rocks the base and sends flakes of rock and dust floating down from the ceiling, and with it, the lights snap on once, then off, then slowly flicker back on.

I grab Six up, who shields her eyes just like the Mog. As I get ready to run off down the corridor, a shrieking sound pierces what's like, my whole brain. I clutch my ears and drop to the ground, but it doesn't stop.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE E

What the hell!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE E

What the fucking hell!

I open my eyes- I closed them?- for a second to see that Six is on the ground, too. She writhes there, overwhelmed. I- What is it!?

Guys! What are you doing! Get out of here! It's Ella! She's the one who sent the screech! It stops as she finishes talking, but I can hear the desperation in her telepathy. What are you doing! Why are you here1 Get away1 Get out! GO!

Then I hear what I think is Nine's voice. What the fuck! Ella! What is that noise!

Then John. Ella! What was that about! We're here to rescue you!

Guys, I don't have time to explain. Just. Get. Away! That last word sounds so forced, and when it cuts out I can tell she's gone. I call to the others- Nine, John, anybody. It feels like a part of me is gone- Like I can't feel my hand anymore. Like an organ's missing. What happened?

I grapple the floor, not fully able to stand up, so I touch the wall and transfer gravity over to it. That way I use the floor to push off of, and, hey, I'm on my feet. On the wall. Then I step off onto the floor and Help Six up, dusting myself off.

I can see fear in her eyes. For the first time today, not when we first arrived at the place where she was tortured, not when the lights went out, but right now. What just happened?

"C'mon. Let's find her."

"But she said to get away!" Six screams at me.

"She's being manipulated!" I scream back. "They're forcing her to!"

Six looks reluctant, but she still follows me onward.

We turn the corner- the first freaking corner- and see that a few hundred or so feet ahead of us, a Mog horde is charging at us. The fact that we're here registers with them, and the front lines fire a round of blaster fire. I duck behind the corner of the corridor to hide.

I see Six jump out at them, taking the burning ball of plasma and levitating it in the air. Then she focusses on it and forces it to expand- her elemental legacy, I realize- creating a giant flamethrower, torching all the front line Mogs.

"Go!" She shouts. "Find Ella!"

"No! I can stay and help you!"

I charge out into the corridor, but she pulls me back with her TK. It's like she shoots an invisible rope around my waist and drags me back to her. "I got this!" The confidence returns to her eyes, and she shoves me off down the corridor. "Meet up back in the town we sent the humans too! In a few hours!" And with that, she forces her and her improv flamethrower down the hallway.

And I'm alone.

Alone as I rush down the halls, looking for anything that would pronounce the area as Sector H. I cross a threshold, the walls suddenly painted black, unlike the regular stone and concrete mix that makes up the rest of the place. With the change, I see a white J painted on the side of the wall.

A,B,C,D-,E,F,G-H,I,J. I sing the alphabet song in my head as I run. I'm close.

I cross another threshold- this one with a K painted on it. Nope. Wrong way. I turn on a dime and run off down the corridor, feeling the sweat drip off my face.

Back to the black painted area. I don't care why it's special- I just run right through it, back to the place where I left Six. In what I realize is Area I.

I look down at the place where she left me. There's ash all around- chips out of the side of the walls, burning plasma marks everywhere. But no horde. And no Six.

Don't stress it. Six can take care of herself. Still, as I run past the piles of ash, I'm hit with that same feeling that I got, way long ago. Back on the farm. I hear the silent humming, I see the sparkle-sparkle at the edge of my vision.

Still not important. Keep running.

Eventually I pass into Sector H. So many cells. Why would they make this many cells? Almost none of them are occupied. Did they actually expect to take this many prisoners? Have they taken this many prisoners?

Nope. Don't think about that. I'm at Cell Three Hundred. Keep running. I have to push myself to keep going. Three-fifty. Keep going. She's here somewhere. Three-eighty. The adrenaline is killing me- What kind of machine is restraining her? Is she knocked out? What was with the scream- are they torturing her now? I'm not sure I could see that.

Three ninety. Ninety-one. Ninety-two. Ninety-three.

Ninety Four. I stop running and peer into the cell, expecting to see a captive Ella, curled up into a ball or something.

Nope. That's not what's here at all. At all.

Chapter 12, Everyone! So, yeah. Three guesses what's going on in the cell.

And a big thanks to everyone who reviewed, everyone who keeps rewvieing, and everyone who will review in the future. It means a lot.