Ashelin was walking through the halls of the palace, she was trying to snoop and see if she could uncover any new information. She had just passed the dark eco injection room, she heard the screams of the poor boy her father had in there. Whenever she went in there she couldn't help but feel a stab of guilt because of his condition. She should be trying to get him out, she should be taking action, but instead she was standing still. Not doing a thing to help him. But what could she really do? She was one woman in the palace laces with hundreds of guard that would all be after her if she even went in there alone. There were cameras everywhere.

Finally she walked out of earshot of the screams, she sighed when she could no longer hear them. Looking back for a second she went over a plan in her head to try and get him out. She could probably pull it off with Torn, Jinx, Karne, and the girls. But how could she ever get them in the palace? All of them were wanted, especially Torn; every single break room in the palace was a picture of him. They all knew his face.

"Ashelin?" She whipped around quickly, she was completely lost in her thoughts and was just staring at the wall. So on pure instinct and reflexes she pulled her gun on whoever disrupted her. "Whoa!" he said and put his hands up fast.

She sighed when she saw it was Aaron standing in front of her with a scared look on with her gun an inch away from his forehead. "Hey Aaron," she said and put the gun away.

"Jumpy are we?" He asked smirking and lowering his hands.

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that. Just… just on edge a little. Don't sneak up on me!" She said and pushed him in the shoulder

"Okay I'm sorry." He paused for a moment. "So, penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"Yeah, but not here," she said and the two walked silently down the hall and to her private chambers. When they entered she sat down at the desk and he leaned up against the desk. "Okay, I wanna get that kid out." She said staring down at the floor.

"We all do, well that includes me and Marcus and just about no one else around here."

"I just don't know how, Father won't let me in without himself or Errol. Have you ever been in?" She asked looking up at him.

"Once, a little over a year ago," he said looking up and thinking about it. "Errol went in with me and a few other guards, the boy was trying to escape. Bought us just in case, with all that dark eco no telling what he would do."

"Ever been in since?"

"No, I don't think they trust me." He said.

Ashelin nodded and looked down again. There was a silence until Aaron spoke again. "So, how's Torn? Last I saw him he got pretty beat up. Guy needs to learn how to take it slow. I swear he's gettin' more bumps and bruises out of the KG then he was in the KG."

"He is, but I'm worried about him. He spends hours looking at those stupid maps, trying to decipher this from that and all that crap."

"Well, he's a good leader. He just wants what's best for his men… and women."

"He's always putting himself in these tight spots risking his neck for us in battles. I'm worried about how much longer he can last." Ashelin said as she stood up and began pacing the room.

"He's strong." Aaron said. "He'll survive. He's got you, Jinx, Karne, Jen, Vee and don't forget Marcus and me are always there to help."

"Yeah, you're right." She said with a slight smirk.

"Speaking of my old teammates how are the girls?"

"Their fine, Jen's leaper isn't being any helpful though. There was no reason for her to bring that thing here from the wastelands. King is nothing but a pain in the ass. She said he could help us out; so far all he's done is bite the men, which is actually kinda funny, make loud noises alert us of our position and cost money. Money that the Underground does not have, by the way." She said. "But their fine, I think Vee's actually beginning to mature, or at least I think she is."

"She may be immature but she's one hell of a fighter." Aaron said.

"I'll agree with you there, she is." Ashelin said. "Jen's doing fine as well, keeping Vee out of too much trouble, Tess too; I swear Jen could pass as a third sister."

"I miss the girls, tell them I said hi will you?" he asked

"Sure – " at that moment Aarons communicator went off.

"And that signals me to go on duty; I'll see you around, Ash." He said and walked out of the room leaving Ashelin behind in her thoughts.

Back in the HQ hideout Marcus had stopped by and was talking with Torn in the main room. They were the only ones in the hideout, they all decided to take a trip to the local bar to celebrate a recent victory against the metalheads. Torn wanted to stay behind, they didn't know why, there was no error his plans worked out perfectly. While Torn as sitting in his bedroom resting Marcus came by.

"He's dying Torn, we can't get that kid out." Marcus said, "Me and Aaron tried getting in but we were stopped. The Baron changes the code to the door every other day, as soon as you get a hold of it somehow it's already changed and there's no pattern to it at all."

"There has to be something we can do, from what I saw when I was running away… He was just a kid then, meaning he's just a kid now." Torn said sighing.

"I don't know, with how much dark eco the Baron has pumping in him, he can't survive much longer." Marcus said with a pained look on. "There's not much we can do for him…" He thought for a moment. "But I – I did see this rat."

"Rat? What rat?" Torn said raising an eyebrow.

"A couple days ago, there was this orange rat. He said he was the exterminator and that he was called in for, well, exterminating. He was all weird, I had a feeling he wasn't exactly there for what he said so I took him into a back room. Threatened him with my gun," Torn shot him a look for threatening civilians. "Hey I wouldn't have really kept my word and killed him. But he said he was here to help the prisoner. I guess he told me because I would have killed him otherwise. I'm a damn good actor. So I let him go, told here where to go, how to get there. I guess we were lucky it was me who threatened his life." He finished with a smirk.

"So… a little orange rat is our only chance of getting that kid out before he dies?" Torn said slowly trying to comprehend it.

"Yeah."

There was a dead silence for some time before Torn spoke. "Um… so, um, I hope this rat knows what he's doing."

AN: Done there, this was basically just a filler to lead into the final chapter. (tear) And yes to those of you who thought Dax would be coming in during that last chapter with the infestation he was. He was originally gonna be there but I wanted it to run smoothly with the game. Uh, thanks to cOme as yOu are, darkecogir and East Coastie1500. Okay that's over with and I'll try to finish the next chapter soon. See you guys!