Author's Note: Since Uni's really kicking in this trimester and I'm already behind schedule for writing, I may release the next chapter in another two weeks after the next fortnight. We'll have to see. Here's hoping!


Good Friday, 11th April, 2104


I guess I've never been too keen on religion, but I've always enjoyed joining Emily for her church's Easter and Christmas services every year - this one included.

The tales never get old to me and I'm always in awe of how this community tells them from a place of… I dunno, strong faith? Personality? Honesty? I don't have the right words, but whatever it's from, it's pure and genuine. There's literally something so different about Em with the strength and belief in her faith compared to others with the same one. Even as she's going through… Well, recently everything.

Plus, just because I don't fully get or even believe something doesn't mean my best friend can't or that I can't enjoy what I see and hear from it. Emily loves her faith for all her bajillion reasons, I enjoy what I get from it because it never stops fascinating me. At the very least, it keeps my mind off Monday's events for now.

Tonight, however… Something doesn't feel right. And it's not her parents sitting right next to us.

"Cora?" Em whispers, "Everything okay? Your hand's clammy."

"...Do you think it was a good idea to leave the guys alone tonight?"

"Laurie's keeping an eye on them. With Legion's help."

"I know, but…"

"You're not going anywhere," a voice grumbles, "after this. Not after you attended that protest with the grenade."

"Dad!" Em whisper-yells, "It's important! And I told you, we didn't attend it! It happened around us while we were talking house matters!"

"Emily Kala-"

"Shh. Joe," Em's mum warns, quiet as her daughter's, "That's enough. They can leave after the sermon. I feel God's saying the same thing they are. He's warning them."

Em's dad, Johannes, looks ticked off, but there's something which he and her mum Amanaki get. She even squeezes Em's shoulder, her eyes reading mine.

"Be careful," 'Naki mouths, "Stay safe."

"Sermon's nearly done," Emmy whispers to me, "so we'll immediately get out of here after, no time to waste. Just promise me you won't speed back home or skid on the landing."

I smirk.

Cora, no!

I'm not making promises on that, Emmy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's pray."

Thank, God. Literally.

Well, if He's real.

Eh, Emily brought me here, He could be.

"Lord," the pastor begins, "thank You for the great sacrifice You made for us in the form of Your son and the heavy price that was paid.

"Thank You Jesus, that You took and dealt with all our sins, iniquities and transgressions, and even our most simple of concerns with Your blood on the cross; not that we would continue to worry, but so we can handle these problems while knowing we have help and aren't alone.

"Holy Spirit, I ask You to bless each and every one of us here - to have Your bravery, merciful justice, and kindness. Your patience, integrity and courage. Your resilience, perseverance, determination and love; all to endure whatever challenges lie ahead for us.

"In Your name we pray, Amen."


"We've been hacked!"

What?!

"S-Someone tracked the s-signals of the guys…" Laurie chokes back frightened tears, shaking as we walk through the front door, "And then T-Tord started to vanish… Then Matt went cold… Tom was screaming and Edd-"

"Gone," I finish, "They're all gone and you couldn't get them back?"

She shakes her head.

"N-not even Legion could help. They did their best… I-I only let comms fully open for a new test of code… I-I didn't think Ph-phoenix would reverse the connection-"

What kind of asshole tracks down a signal from the middle of bloody nowhere and does this?!

"Shh, it'll be alright Laurie," Em reassures her, hands on my sister's shoulders, "We'll sort this out together. Now, are the firewalls and VPNs up?"

"And patched," She shakily sniffs, "There was also a video the hacker sent too, but Legion took a look and warned me not to watch it till you got home. There was n-no pausing after a certain point and they couldn't disable it."

"Play the video, Laurie," I clench my fists, "We need answers."

She flicks up a holo and presses play.

"Greetings, Golds."

"Goodness gracious… It couldn't be! Not even he's so corrupt to pull this on us!"

"Not him, surely," I shake my head, remembering the look of fresh shock in his eyes, "it's not his voice."

However, I think I know that silhouette.

"If you are watching this right now and not all of you are here, this will be your last chance to pause this video and gather around - I need to take in all the fear on your faces as you realise that defeat is imminent. Certain, even."

I don't think he can even see us…

"Well, are all of you here? Good, good. This is where things become exciting and I flip the game all on its head. And it's all thanks to last Monday."

Oh, God.

"Don't think I didn't see you scrambling into your van behind the stage, green one. You see, we here at Phoenix took a photo of your van's number plate and tracked its location as it left the protest. You were lucky enough to get out of a certain range, but you are close enough to another signal: the signal from an old Phoenix-made invention. A particular one that hasn't been fully operational in decades and only recently has become active again on our radar.

Holy hell.

"Oh, didn't you know? Every Phoenix invention that's up and running sends out a signal and a diagnostic report of logs, bugs, patches and potential code-lurkers every three months back to the factory automatically. The last one we received was a month ago - but it was from the area where we last saw your van's signal.

Son of a-

"By this point now, we've wormed our way into this active signal and by my command, I sent a custom virus for this machine that holds your precious hooded friends inside: Virus 3-X-3-C-U-7-3 0-R-2-3-R 6-6. Pray as you might, the name will not matter to you as they're about to die."

You bastard!

"If I were you, I'd start running for them. When this video ends, they'll have fifteen minutes left to live. But it won't matter. You won't rescue them. They'll die despite what you'll do. But they've avoided death for too long anyway.

Whoa whoa whoa-

"And once they're gone, you'll be next. So will the rest of your family."

Click.

VIDEO FILE SAVED
TIMER: 14:59:99
14:58:99
14:57:99

"C-Cora?"

My fists clench again and I sharply inhale through gritted teeth.

"Laurel. Send every virus and bug you can back to the hacker signal's source and cut off any other forms of contact."

"I-I already did, and Legion's tracking them down to do the same. Wh-what's going-"

"Good. Grab something to defend yourself, like a weapon. Just in case. Wouldn't hurt to have it."

Storming to the kitchen, I pull a Nectar from the fridge, crack the lid open and down the whole thing in a few gulps. I'm going to need the energy.

"Corrie?!"

"Emily, grab your quarterstaff and that crowbar you've put into the attic. See if any of those flashlights still work. Or whatever Matt called them."

"Cora, gracious, what's gotten into you?"

"We're going downstairs." I pocket the empty bottle in my hoodie while heading towards the door, "You do remember the unknown wifi signal from last winter, do you?"


12:55:99

Can't believe we're back down here. Nothing's changed since last time.

No time to waste, I remind myself, leading our small charge down the last set of stairs.

"Laurie, careful where you wave that harpoon around! You almost poked my eye out!"

"Sorry Em."

Edd won't like the news of that once we get him and the others back. If we get them back. Somehow, I don't think he'd like the idea of Tom and Laur having it…

No, think Cora! Snap out of it!

"Focus Laur," I sidestep and let her ahead, "where's that signal coming from?"

"Over here! …Aw man, it's just a wall!"

I can't help but roll my eyes.

"Emmy, do you remember the first time you tried to find the last layer of basement earlier in March?"

"Corrie, I beg your pardon?"

"Cora, Emily, what has this gotta do with breaking in to figure out what's going on?"

Now that she said it…

"Well, if there's one thing I learnt from your bedroom, Laurie…"

"Cora, what are you-"

"Yeeaaaaaaahhh!"

Bam-crash!

"Corrie! Goodness gracious, Laurie and I have something to break down fake walls, you didn't have to use yourself as a battering ram!" Em sighs, picking me and my somehow-not-broken glasses up off the floor - well, actually, another set of stairs.

"Worth it," I grin, taking back my glasses and slipping them on, "Guess we have a breakthrough now."

"Ugh."

"Really, Corrie?"

11:45:99

"Let's move."


"So this must be the fifth layer of basement if it has more stairs going down," Em notes, "I'm surprised we didn't try breaking it back in March."

"I guess that's what happens when we don't have the answers we need on hand." I glance back, letting Laur and Em go ahead of me, "Laurie, are we getting closer to that unknown wifi signal from winter?"

"Oh yeah, it's getting stronger and stronger. It's weird - it's so good this far down! Well, wait. It was… Even Legion's out of range. Uggggh, it's so cold! I'm nearly freezing!"

"I know…" I sigh. "It sucks that it's so chilly and we're on our own now. But at least we've made it."

"So much for rolling up my turtleneck sleeves…"

When we hit the bottom of the stairs, the only thing which manages to illuminate the secret basement (apart from our flashlights and Laurie's holo) is the giant computer monitor up against the right-side wall. Even so, it's spookily dim.

I think I can barely make out part of the build behind the computer's monitor. Maybe there's even some server towers off to the left of all that.

On the left side of the room, there's four, long box-like things hooked up with cables to the computer- hold on… Are they-

"I don't like this place… LLGD's picking up their user signals from those electro-coffins."

"Goodness Laurie, don't call them that!"

"But they do look like-"

"Shush," I cut them off, "We're on the right track. I think. Since the lids are kinda reflective, maybe there's a peeping window of some sort on them, but if we need to open…"

We all shudder. And it's not from the temperature.

"Th-the computer has a login screen open, can I do that while you two go ahead?"

"Make it quick."

"Here, have a display screen of what I'm doing - if it'll be any comfort."

"Oh, goodness, thank you Laurie." Em's grip on the quarterstaff tightens, "I hope it'll help us t-too. G-goodness, I can see my own breath…"

Emmy and I are closer to those electro-coffins now (dammit Laurie!) and my stomach churns at the sight of them as we look over it.

"Why would the peeping window be tinted this dark?" I frown, "What in hell- sorry Emmy."

"Thanks for the apology. If only we could-"

BANG!

BLIIIP!

CLICK.

Em and I jump back, gripping each other tight.

"Wasn't me! The hack's nearly done, what's-"

"Arrrrrgh!"

It wasn't from any of us.

It takes everything to not scream back.

"N-no wonder the police never f-found the bodies…" I glance at the now lit-up interior of the electro-coffin, Laurie's shared display revealing a dreadfully familiar face through the tinted glass.

LOCK IS 43% PICKED
GAINING ACCESS TO USER EDD_GOLD_I


"H-how… How could this be happening?" Em breathes shakily, "What's kept them here for so long? Who'd do this to them? Why?"

I turn her to face me with shivering hands on shoulders, breath unstable as hers - but I swallow.

"I'm asking the same things, Emmy. But we need to keep our heads clear if we want answers and their rescue. We've gotta do this together."

She nods.

"Lord, help us now."

Y'know what, amen to that.

CRYO-VIRT COMPUTER: UNLOCKED

"We're in!" Laurie calls from the computer.

Finally, something good.

CREATING KEY FOR FUTURE USE... KEY CREATED: EAGLE'S CROSS

…Eagle's Cross?

"Took long enough!" Laurie huffs, "Hope we have enough time to get the answers we need and rescue everyone from these Cryo-Virt… Things!

'They'll awaken when the Eagle's Cross shines forth…'

"M-maybe the Admin account will have something…"

Wait a goddamn minute.

"Laurie-"

Click.

"Welcome back, Admin!" A cheery, commercialised voice booms from the computer, "To Cryo-Virt! The All-In-One Cryo-Preservation and Entertainment System for your future: created by Phoenix Industries!"

"Holy jumping jelly frogs on a jog, this is their old invention they tracked down! This is what the guys are in!"

"Laurie, Em, there's something I-"

Click, click…

"...No. No way, it can't be!"

"Goodness gracious!"

The Admin's main menu screen displays commands, options and a full name for the user.

EDWARD ERNEST DUNCAN GOLD IV

"Dad."


I can't even hear Laur and Em's panicked questioning over my own heartbeat - everything somehow makes sense!

"G-guys! Dad must've planned this, it's the reason why 'Eagle's Cross' is a password. Laurie, surely you remember his retellings of the Disappearances! You remember the legend he came up with for it, right? That they'd wake up when the Eagle's Cross shines forth? It was our clue to us from nearly the start of our lives!"

"Cora how are you-"

"Look, I-I-I don't know how it's making sense to me but-"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

The air spikes colder. A shard of sharpened ice.

None of us screamed.

The Cryo-Virt computer flashes red, and the admin page is gone.

4:59:99

4:58:99

4:57:99

Oh, no.


"Cora, what do we do?!"

No time to breathe.

"Laur, try to send Legion back at Phoenix again, then try to stall the timer! Em, help me open up those Cryo-Virts!"

Our feet pound to the first one nearby and we battle against the lid.

"Oh, open up you stupid frozen thing!" I grunt, pulling and pushing against the lid with bare hands, "Dammit! So bloody cold! Emily?"

"Won't budge - even with a crowbar or my staff!"

"Maybe another one might be looser!"

Same results with the other three.

"Try again," Laur urges us, "I'll help too, I've done all I can!"

She jams in her harpoon, using the sharp point into the lid gap as we all try again on the first one.

CLUNK.

"We got something!"

"Harder!"

The three of us pull and push with all we have-

"AAAHHHHHHH!"

"Laurie!"

I turn to see her harpoon in her hand, the sharp point stabbing through the live cables before she falls to the floor. Why did she turn it around?!

"No, no no!" I choke back, "Please don't-"

Her pulse is still there. She's out cold.

"Oh, the poor dear!"

"I'll take her outside, try another way to get them out!"

My arms are chilled jelly as I carry my sister up the stairs and out of the room, laying her next to the hole in the fake wall. God, I hope she'll be okay…

Rushing back in, I curse at the timer.

2:00:99

Never bloody stopped.

"Cora, I've got it - it'll take too long if we bother trying to open up the C-cryo-Virts. D'you think that if we shut down the main computers-"

"S-say no more. You take it out and I'll try to look through some excess stuff with Laur's holos."

Em nods, kneels at the side of the computer and breaks off its panel with the butt of her staff before swapping to the crowbar. As for me, I'm not a pro like Laurie, but thank God I know something of coding and commands.

Admin!Command:Release_Users

ERROR: ACCESS DENIED

Come on… Maybe…

Admin!Command:Override_Access_Denied

ACCESS GRANTED

Admin!Command:Release_All_Users

PASSWORD REQUIRED _'_ _

EAGLE'S CROSS

PASSWORD ACCEPTED RELEASING USERS… 1%…

Hopefully that should-

"Aahhhhhh!"

"Emily!"

I ditch the holos, pulling my best friend off the floor and into my arms.

"Sh-shocked…"

"D'you think you can move?"

"I-I think…"

Her breathing's short and shallow. Her fingers are freezing in my palm.

She can't stay.

I carry her out, quarterstaff still in her other hand, and place her next to a slowly waking Laurie.

"Cora…! Don't you dare!"

I'm cracking at Emmy's weakened voice, but I find myself standing in front of the computer mainframe.

Alone.

With nothing but screams and machinery starting to go haywire behind me.

0:30:99

I've got to do something - I have to!

Pulling one of Laurie's holos as I jump to where Emily was, I spot it.

"Almost had the main cables out from the source when the shock came and caught the crowbar," I mumble, "Clever Emmy."

But if anything metal won't cut the power, then-

Wait.

I've got a glass Nectar bottle. Glass doesn't conduct electricity.

Glass cuts.

I pull out the bottle from my hoodie pocket-

Ping!

What the hell?!

0:15:33

1 NEW MESSAGE FROM M-C0Y:
Give up now.

1 NEW MESSAGE FROM M-C0Y:
It's easier to let them die.

1 NEW MESSAGE FROM M-C0Y:
We can all be friends if you leave them here.

My blood boils.

With a free hand, I snatch both the fallen harpoon and crowbar from the floor.

"I!"

CRACK-CLASH!

"AM!"

SLISH-CRACKLE!

"NOT!"

BASH!

"YOUR!"

SMASH!

"FRIEND!"