Sky's head pounded and a persistent high-pitch ringing stung his ears. His blurred vision could only make out vague colors and something wet coated the right side of his face.

Then the pain hit.

It flooded his body like a tidal wave, momentarily pushing out any other thoughts. He had to contact help. He reached out with his arms, ignoring the pain that mushroomed from the movement.

Debris shifted as he tried to move his body into a sitting position, but when Sky attempted to move his legs, his right leg was stuck. He looked back at his leg to see it trapped beneath two steel beams.

A strangled groan escaped his throat. Even as his vision cleared, the edges began to darken.

Among the sounds of settling debris, Sky thought he heard a faint wailing. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to blink away the growing darkness. The wailing came to a stop, but Sky couldn't tell if it was close or far away.

Sky tried to use his voice to call out, but only a thin grunt came out. He had trouble forming words, so he just tried for any noise that would attract attention.

Two figures came into view.

"Lawrence, call for backup! There's someone in here!"

With that, the darkness took over.

Why was it always Sky?

Syd sprinted down the halls of HQ, dodging people the entire way. Cruger had messaged them, but all he said was that Sky was involved in some sort of explosion. It seemed to her that Sky was always the one who ended up in the infirmary.

Though she was going from one end of HQ to the other, it seemed there was more activity than a normal day, but she didn't have time to worry about it. The others were already gathered in the waiting area by the time she arrived.

Cruger gathered Syd to him, Z, and Jack before speaking.

"We don't have a lot of information. All I know is that Sky was found in the warehouse district in a blast zone and has a borderline major concussion. It seems his suit took most of the blast. He's still unconscious. The crime scene techs are going over the area now. We'll know more soon."

Syd felt a knot tighten in her stomach. Something nagged her, but she couldn't place her finger on it.

Cruger turned to leave while Syd, Jack, and Z settled in for more news from the doctor. Syd's brain was working overtime. An explosion? Was it an accident? Was it on purpose? First Bridge, now Sky. Bridge was taken probably for the information in his head. If what happened to Sky was on purpose, then what did they want…

The nagging feeling snapped into focus.

The files!

Without explaining anything to Jack or Z, Syd was out the infirmary door and had caught up to Cruger.

"Commander! Commander!"

Cruger slowed down, but didn't stop. Syd kept pace beside him.

"Commander, did they find a satchel on Sky? With files inside?"

Cruger shook his head.

"They didn't find anything on him, but they are still going over the scene. Now, I need to go—" Cruger sped up, but Syd stayed by him.

"Commander, what's happening?"

Cruger gave a side-eye, but didn't comment.

Syd stuck by his side.

"You know I'm stubborn enough to follow you around all day, and I know something is going on around here."

Cruger sighed and pulled Syd aside.

"I wasn't going to tell you until we knew more about Sky's condition. The Haradia case was just hit. Our undercover operative is missing." With that, Cruger swept off down the hall leaving Syd reeling.

They were after the files after all. Then again, they just found Sky less than an hour ago, how did they have time to find the operative already? Beyond that, how did they know the files would survive the blast?

Syd's phone buzzed. Jack. The doctor was back with more information on Sky. Syd cast one more glance at Cruger's back and then returned to the infirmary.

When Syd arrived, Doctor Felix briefed them on Sky. Though they did confirm he had a borderline major concussion, he was otherwise just badly bruised. They found no major internal bleeding, but they were holding him for observation. He still hadn't woken up, but they could see him now.

Monitors hummed and beeped in the low light of the room. A cloth bandage hugged Sky's head. His skin was flushed red, not at all the blue and purple that Syd expected to see. Syd closed the door after the three entered.

"We need to talk." Syd caught Jack and Z up on the Haradia case and the missing files.

"This isn't good." Z commented when Syd finished. "If they have those files, all of the operatives are at risk. We have to pull them."

"Hold on, Z," Jack chimed in. "The techs are still going over the area. There's a chance they'll recover the files-"

"-and if they don't?" Z challenged. "How many are gonna die or go missing before the techs know if the files are gone?"

Z let the words hang in the air as the monitors became the primary sound in the room.

"How did they even know Sky was carrying sensitive files?" Z asked.

"Maybe they didn't," Jack offered.

Syd shook her head.

"It's too much of a coincidence. Sky gets attacked the one time he has sensitive information on hand? Information about the operations that Bridge helped orchestrate?"

Jack sighed.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions. We'll ready the operations to abort on a moment's notice. I doubt the undercover operatives were told about the other operations." Jack plopped into a chair. "In the meantime, we can't waste any time. We need to get that containment chamber up and running now. Bridge gets back soon, and we need to be ready for him. Doc will let us know if anything changes with Sky."

The three shuffled out of the dim room, and made their way back to their cluttered work room. Fortunately, Boom had gotten them far in the process in the containment room. He'd be working with the crime scene techs to identify the explosive used on Sky, and they probably wouldn't see him for several hours yet.

Syd let Jack and Z do most of the work. Not because she was lazy, but because she had no idea about electronics. Research? She could do that. Building a working prototype? She knew she'd only get in the way.

They'd decided not to tell Bridge anything just yet. They didn't know how his powers would react to stronger emotions. Though Bridge never had a problem with emotions before, they wanted to remain cautious.

After an hour or so of trying to be helpful and failing, Syd excused herself from the room and made for the Command Center, hoping to get new information from the scene of the blast as soon as possible.

For an agent getting blown up that morning and another couple missing, the Command Center was in a state of organized chaos. While things seemed in disarray, everyone was focused and it was clear there were a couple task forces working in separate areas.

"Syd," Cruger called out when Syd stepped in the room. "Good timing, I was about to message you. The techs recovered the satchel with the files safely inside. They're a little worse for wear, but they're safe.

Syd felt a weight lift off her shoulder.

"All four files will be re-cataloged and combed through, just in case-"

The weight was back.

"Sir," Syd interrupted. "I'm sorry, but did you say all four files?"

Cruger nodded.

"Sir, I need to see the satchel. Now."

Cruger gave Syd a strange look.

"I know I'll regret asking, but why?"

"Sky left with five files."

Cruger froze for a moment.

"It's in the lab. Go."

Syd blew out the door and through the compound to the lab. It had to be the Haradia file. That's how they'd gotten to the operatives so fast. However, that didn't mean whoever it was didn't have time to window shop through the other files.

Syd arrived too out of breath to explain why she was there. Instead, she grabbed some spare gloves and shooed a protesting lab tech away from the satchel. She gently extracted the slightly charred files from the very charred bag.

Syd flipped carefully through the files, making note that each page was still in its proper place.

The Wilson case papers were in order. Operation Silent Storm was still there. Operation Opulent was still good.

Syd's stomach flipped.

The last case file was the Haradia case. They'd taken the file for Operation Dragon Sting.