Ugh. Come on, Matt. He was late to a meeting again and Samantha was not happy about it. She flipped a strand of dyed-brown hair over her shoulder and headed down the Blue Base stairs. "Hey, Kat?" She asked as soon as she reached the bottom of the black-carpeted stairs. Across the lobby, Katherine answered from her seat at the clean white welcome desk. "Yeah?" She closed a tab on her nondescript silver Mac and wheeled around to face her longtime friend, wondering what Sam could possibly need from her in the middle of a creator meeting.

"Have you seen Matt?" Kat shook her head, blonde-ish curls shaking back and forth. "Why?"

"Oh, it's probably nothing." Sam said, shifting her laptop bag on her shoulder. "He's just really late for the meeting. It should've started right after lunch a half hour ago and we're all waiting for him." Although Samantha tried to keep her tone even and cheerful, Roze could tell she was worried. "I haven't seen him… I know he's not in his office- I would've noticed him walking by."

"Ok… can you call him? He isn't answering me or Mike." Kat nodded, grabbing her white iPhone from where it was sitting on her desk. A few moments later, she lowered the same device back into its place. "Nothing. I don't know why he would answer me if he didn't answer you guys, but I wish I could've helped." Sam nodded distractedly, making for the exit door. "Hey- uh, just tell me if you see him, OK? I… I just have a bad feeling about this."

And out she went, leaving Kat and the few sitting in the lobby confused and worried.

—

Sam checked Orange and Red quickly- no one had seen him since just before lunch. Where else could he be? He would never miss a meeting without telling us…

Unless something happened.

Sam had reason to be worried- a mere month ago she'd witnessed the same longtime friend and CEO of their studio company collapse after being under mind control for seven months. And then had taken three weeks off work to recover, leaving them to wonder what on Earth had happened to him.

Did she understand it?

Not at all.

Did she believe it?

Fully, without a doubt.

Sighing, she headed out to see if Matt had left. Her destination was a good ways away- across the warehouse complex- so she had time to worry. She attempted to shove down the fear, writing it off as paranoia, but the same prickling suspense wouldn't leave. What if there is something wrong? He wouldn't blame me for being cautious, would he?

She turned the corner. "So he's here…" True to her words, Matt's sleek "Matt Black" Tesla was parked directly next to the Mountaineer- the car that had helped wrap them and their company up in all this. Well, one of the cars had. This specific one was brand spanking new. Samantha Fekete had mixed feelings about this car and the identical older car- on one hand, they were a source of information and various clues about the history of their building and enemies, but on the other hand they had always undoubtedly led to pain and confusion and danger.

She didn't like that part.

But either way, this red SUV was important, incredibly so, and so Matthias had taken to parking his camera-rigged Tesla next to it, just in case. Speaking of cameras… Sam grabbed her phone and pulled it out, just in case. "Ok, Matt… if you're here, where are you?" I'll check the Mountaineer now, just in case, then head back. Hopefully that would mean she wouldn't have to come out into this heat again- her cream colored blazer was hotter than it appeared. "Ugh, slushies sound really good right- Matt!"

Her hunch had been right, and she was decidedly not glad for it.

Her boss and leader was fully passed out, crumpled between the two vehicles with his head resting at an awkward angle on the newer car's painted rims. "No, oh no…"

She looked at her phone for a second, repeating the never ending internal debate of do I film it? It felt so wrong to film such personal, vulnerable moments, but at the same time it was her job, their livelihood, and they needed Subject 4's help.

With a sigh, she slammed her phone down by the Mountaineer's wheel and turned to Matt.

"Here's the thing: when I'm looking at this kind of thing through a camera, trying to get the right angles so that Subject 4 can see them through YouTube, it feels disattached. But this… this is fully, completely real. I… what- OK, uh, Matt?"

Nothing. But talking seemed to provide an outlet for her impending panic, so Sam continued. "Ok, I need to get Matt out of here, but I can't do it alone… " She shook him again. "Matt? Come on, dude, you're really freaking heavy. You gotta wake up so I can get you inside before you get heatstroke or something!" Nothing. Talking wasn't helping much anymore, and she started to fidget, waving her hands restlessly over Matt's abdomen as if afraid to touch him. A sort of restless energy was quickly rising to the surface as fear gave way to full panic. Samantha stood, turning for a half second before grabbing her phone. She waved a shaking hand toward Matt's still unmoving form. "I'll… I'll be right back, Matt, I promise… oh, God..." And with that she was gone.

—

Woods turned at the sound of quickly advancing footsteps. "Sam?" He asked, setting down his drill at the sight of her rushing toward him. She nearly crashed onto him, holding her phone up but barely checking to see if she was getting him in frame. "Woah, woah!" Woodland put his hands up in a defensive posture. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Her face said it all.

"Matt?"

She nodded, gulping. "I don't know and maybe it's nothing maybe he just got heatstroke or something I don't know but Matt is fully passed out in between the Mountaineer and the Tesla and he's not moving at all and-"

Woods held up his hands a little higher, resting one on Sam's arm. She's shaking. This is serious. "Ok, uh… he won't wake up?"

Another shake of the head.

"Ok…" He ram a hand through his sweaty finger-length black hair, trying to process the stampede of thoughts and fears tearing through his mind on a speedtrack. "Ok… where is he? Mountaineer, you said." He continued, answering his own question. "Was he hurt? Did you see any blood?" Sam gulped again, one manicured hand fidgeting in and out of a fist at her side. "I… I don't think so, I didn't see…"

"Sam!" Woods was breathing hard, trying desperately to stay calm for her, work this out. It wasn't going well. "Was he hurt?"

"No!" She shouted. "No, he just won't flipping wake up so maybe we should go do something about it!" Woods sighed, taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair again. "Sorry. Find someone who can help and get them out here. We'll bring Matt in and then decide if we need to call 9-1-1. Ok?"

Samantha was of the opinion that 9-1-1 should be called right away, but that hadn't worked out so great last time. If this was Syntec related there was nothing a hospital could do for Matt… No time for musing! She scolded herself, sprinting off toward Blue Base with one thought in mind.

Find Tanner.

That is, if he's even in today. In her panic, she couldn't remember his ever-changing schedule.

She was briefly aware of Woods running the opposite direction toward the back door of the warehouse but she focused forward. Tanner can help. She focused on that thought, repeating it endlessly until- "Mike!" She almost rammed straight into the heavyset, slightly shorter man. Sam yelped an apology and ran past, then stopped dead in her tracks only to run back, black platform boots squealing on the dark laminate flooring. "Mike!" She repeated.

"Can I help you with something? Are you OK?" The kind man asked, instantly setting his box full of assorted wires aside. Sam replied quickly. "You're not who I was looking for, but you'll work!" She tried to grab his arm and tug him toward the back of the warehouse but he dug in, forcing her to stop and turn back. "Sam. You have to tell me what's going on." Michael spoke in a low, calming tone. Sam only spared the moment to take a deep breath before she spurted out- "Matt's hurt. Don't know how, but he's unconscious out by the Mountaineer."

Instantly, the man's expression changed from curious to determined. "Then hurry up!" He yelped, instantly becoming a tan and black blur headed towards the back of the warehouse. He heaved up on the black bay door, sending it rocketing up to hit the ceiling with a clang. Sam, not stopping, marveled at Mike's strength. She always forgot that the kind, laid back longtime friend of Matt's had a ludicrous boxing history.

They skidded to a stop, panting in the spring California heat, Sam for once jumping the wall without a second thought. "Woods?" She sank to her knees on the pavement next to him, but Woodland didn't even glance up from his hunched sitting position. "We won't need to call 9-1-1." He muttered in a tone that held thousands of emotions just under the surface. What does that mean? Sam wondered. Her mind automatically went to the worst possible scenario. I never checked for a pulse… he won't wake up… oh, God. "What's… what's wrong?" Mike spoke for the both of them. Woods finally met Sam's glance, worried and resigned brown eyes locking. He pointed to one of Matt's still motionless hands. "They won't be able to do anything."

Sam's heart sped up, pounding wildly underneath her black crop. "Woods, what…"

He reached forward and moved Matt's hand gently, slowly unwinding the fingers until his arm slumped to one side. Almost… lifeless. "Oh, shut up." Sam spoke, unable to shop herself from uttering the cliché phrase. Relief and new worry flooded her. At least he's not dead. She thought bluntly. Matt had been clutching the Abslate, in a death grip so tight his knuckles were just now starting to regain color. "Yeah. They'd probably be confused as… about this."

Woods muttered a curse under his breath before bursting into action, waving Mike over. Sam picked up her phone, feeling yet again slightly useless. It was a feeling she was quite used to. "You get his feet, Mike, and I'll get his midsection. Sam, can you watch his head?" She nodded, but before she could move they heard a voice from beneath them.

"Wha…"

"Matt!" Came three overjoyed voices. Sam knelt yet again, replacing her phone in a stable position against the Mountaineer's wheel so she could focus on him. "Here, try and sit up." She said in a low tone, supporting Matt's head as he struggled into a sitting position. She gasped at a wet sensation and pulled away, already knowing what she would see.

Blood.

But this wasn't normal.

It was glowing.

"Matt!" She yelped, shocked. "What the…" Woods uttered the curse for her, moving to her other side to get a closer look. "Maybe you do need to go to the hospital." Woods muttered. Matt's laughing yet tense "I'm fine!" was drowned out by Mike- "Are you kidding me? Of course he needs to go to the hospital!" Woods looked up at him, annoyance and pity warring in his soulful brown eyes. "Dude. They wouldn't know what to do with him. Besides, it didn't work out so well for him last time…" Mike stiffened. "He went to the hospital? 863 related?" Sam looked up in shocked as Matt winced. "You didn't know that?"

Mike shook his head feverishly. "Are you kidding me, Matt? You ask me not to watch your videos and this- is this stuff why?" Matt hesitated a moment, then nodded sheepishly. "I'm… I'm fine though, really." He made to get up and instantly toppled, one hand going to his head and the other reaching out to steady himself against the Tesla. A splitting headache was pounding against his skull and his legs felt like jelly, the cars spinning around him until they blurred into one smudge of blackish red. He felt a hand grab under his arm and then another. Woods and Mike. Sam rushed ahead of them as they practically carried the dizzy, wounded man back toward the Bases.