Bridge screamed and clutched his head. Boom's hands flew across the keyboard.

"It hurts!" Bridge screamed.

Jack pressed a hand to the glass.

"I know. Stay strong. Keep fighting Bridge."

Syd whipped to face Boom.

"How much longer?" She hissed, too low for Bridge to hear.

"I-I don't know. I can't get a lock on his frequency, there's some interference!"

"What interference?" Syd's heart pounded.

"I don't know! The computer only analyzes the frequencies in the room! I've already told it to ignore normal bodily frequencies, but there are still two frequencies remaining and it can't get a solid lock!"

Bridge screamed louder.

"Do something!" Syd shouted at Boom.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Boom typed faster. The screen in front of him went black for a second, then a green light showed above it. Bridge's screams faded to whimpering.

"Bridge? Bridge! Talk to me!" Syd knocked on the glass. She could see Bridge shaking from here. She crossed the little room and put her hand on the doorknob. Jack grabbed her arm.

"We can't. Introducing other emotions to Bridge right now is the opposite of what he needs."

Syd looked from Jack to Bridge and back again. She hated that Jack was right. The two turned to observe Bridge.

He was still shaking, but he had the beginnings of a smile on his face. Bridge chuckled, then laughed. His laughing turned almost maniacal. Jack and Syd shared a look. Jack clicked on the intercom button.

"Bridge?"

Bridge looked to Jack and Syd as if he'd forgotten they were there.

"They're gone." Bridge wiped laughing tears away from his eyes. He gave another chuckle. "When you told me the plan, I wanted to believe it was possible. But I never thought…" Bridge looked down at his hands. "I can't feel anyone's emotions but mine."

Syd, Jack, and Boom visibly relaxed, and Jack clapped Boom on the shoulder.

"You did it, Boom."

Though the danger had passed, none of the three in the control room was inclined to leave. As late as it was, they all needed to get some sleep. Until she was opening the door to her room, Syd hadn't realized how tired she was. Today had been more than any of them expected.

Though her head swam with exhaustion, Syd fell into a fitful and restless sleep. She couldn't seem to shut her thoughts off. She twisted and turned until her alarm raised her out of bed the next morning, feeling none the better.

Syd's first stop was the infirmary, where she was told Sky was still unconscious. Her next stop was Bridge's room, but the lack of light emanating from under the door told her he was still asleep. Her third stop was the cafeteria for a spectacularly unsatisfying breakfast.

She plodded through the halls and into the room where they planned Bridge's chamber. It was time to clean up the mess. Sure, she could have left it to the other cadets, but she needed something to do while she waited for Sky and Bridge to wake up.

Before she'd gotten far, a red-headed cadet offered Syd her help. Syd couldn't find a good reason to turn her away, and the two worked together to begin placing files back into folders and folders back into cases. Eventually the cases would find their way back onto the shelves in the archive room, but for now they stuck to organizing.

While the work was good for idle hands, it was mindless. Thus, Syd's thoughts were free to wander elsewhere. They chose to wander back to the month Bridge had been missing.

It hadn't been the first time Bridge went missing, and Syd couldn't help but remember that last Bridge almost died. It'd been roughly a week, and they had no leads. No one called for a ransom and no terrorist groups had claimed responsibility.

To make matters worse, her team was completely out of their depth. All call had been routed to the other teams to allow them time to find Bridge. However, they were essentially a SWAT team. They fought unruly enemies and citizens and saved others from their antics. Detective work? Recovery? This wasn't what they were trained for. Yet somehow, Jack had convinced Cruger to give them some time to search.

Syd tried to stay positive, but how could she? This whole thing was screwed up. The guys tried not to show it, but Syd and Z knew they were all too emotionally invested in this. Besides, she hated facing the horrible truth everyday. Bridge was gone, and making this team look for him only made it worse when they couldn't find a shred of evidence as to who took him.

Every day was the same. They woke up, they looked for clues, they went to sleep. It never ended. Tensions ran high and the team got into more than one argument. One day, it was about Syd's make-up.

"You're late. Again." Sky growled. The potential leads from their searching covered every surface area of the large room.

"Whatever." Syd shrugged.

"Whatever?" Sky's voice was dangerously quiet. "Is this a joke to you? Do you care that Bridge is missing?"

Syd whirled on Sky.

"Careful, you wouldn't want to pull a muscle from that massive leap you just made!" She snapped.

"Yeah? Then why do you spend more time caking make-up on your face and perfecting your hair than you do trying to find him?" Sky's hand began to create creases in the folder her was holding.

"Sorry, Sky, but some of us prefer NOT to look like and smell like a troll." Syd wrinkled her nose to accentuate her point. "A shower might help clear your head of all the BS you shoved in there!"

Sky threw down the papers in his hand.

"Grow up Syd! No one here cares about your little-miss-princess routine! All we care about is that apparently you are more important than everyone else! Like always!"

"Oh right, because you've been really helpful in finding what exactly? Oh, that's right, NOTHING!" Syd screamed.

"Enough!" Jack shouted. "This is not helping. Syd, I don't care what you do in your freetime, but get here on time. Sky, you arguing is preventing you from doing the very thing you're asking Syd to take more seriously."

Jack's eyes dared either one of them to say anything else. Instead of speaking, Syd spun and bolted back out the doors.

She knew Sky lashed out when he lost control. What she didn't say to him was that she took the time to do her look because it gave her some control. At the same time, it covered up her red puffy eyes from crying every night and it hid her flushed face as she tried to keep a strong appearance. And most importantly, the longer she took for her hair and make-up, the less time she had to stare at the empty leads and the lack of evidence. The longer she took, the less time she had to stare at their failure.

The door behind Syd opened. Jack. To Syd's surprise, they were alone. The red-headed cadet must have been called away while Syd had been distracted.

"What is it?" Syd asked, already knowing the answer.

"Sky's awake, and he's got one doozy of a story to tell."