Chapter 4: Uncertain Promises

"Another successful test! Two minutes over the expected duration period. She has more control than she knows. If only I could show her that..."

The Oxton Retrieval Project reports, Winston, Day 205, Page 1

His joints ached. His brain ached. His everything was in an all around jumble of achiness, and it didn't show many signs of letting up. They had been tracking Tracer for a few days now with no signs of progress. After a few good hours of feeling useless, he left to grab some more tea bags for Ana while she worked and to give himself a reprieve. Meanwhile, his world around him continued to plummet to an everlasting state of decay.

When they met the minister several days before, they had snuck in. When they left, they snuck out. Mostly because he had technically committed a crime aiding a fugitive's escape. The team of investigation plus a couple dozen other agencies were now out using their most advanced surveillance technology to track him down after he didn't show up for interrogation. And he wished them luck on that venture. He had spent half of his free time devising ways of avoiding every form of Oasis detection.

But that wasn't really the issue. The issue is that he had become a criminal.

Just the other day, life gave him the proverbial slap to the face along with a dose of reality. On his way to grocery store for another reprieve, his face sat beaming from a wanted poster. Well, it was more of a "cautionary" suspects list, so no money involved, but the shock hit him all the same.

Tesla Dorn was a wanted man accused of "aiding in the escape of a fugitive," it had said. A little dramatic for his taste, but the implications left him with a knot in the stomach. Where it would have been difficult to rebuild his life before, it would be impossible now. How would he tell his mom? Where could he even go after this? Oasis was the capital of technological research.

He lumbered up the stairs, a bag of groceries in one hand, his other hand thumbing the battery in his pocket. Every step felt heavier than normal. The aches had grown slightly over the last few days, and without a charger, it would only get worse. In a week, he would be in serious trouble, where the pain would slowly become unbearable. But he wouldn't let it get that far, not if he could help it.

He entered the hotel room, slipping off his strangely shaped sunglasses and throwing them onto the nearby table. Ana sat a desk on the far end of the room, sipping at a cup of tea. He shook his head. That had to be her seventh cup by now. How she managed to drink half a gallon of tea left him with a mixture of admiration and concern.

As he set the bag on the table, his eyes flickered over to the sunglasses that protected his identity from the visual sensors. The reality of his situation sunk deeper. This wasn't his life anymore, and he wanted out.

"You really should have let me grab those, sire," the lumbering omnic said as he walked up. Not a second later than walking in, Blenn was up and about to assist him. He already grabbed the groceries and started sorting them by the time Tesla slipped off his jacket.

"I needed a breath of fresh air," he said, throwing the jacket onto a nearby couch. "Any luck?"

Blenn shook his head gently.

"Not very promising," Ana said from her chair. "You did get more tea, did you?"

"Yes, Aunty, I got your favorite."

She leapt up excitedly, surprisingly spry considering her age. "Just what I needed to hear. How have our neighbors outside been acting?" she asked.

He shrugged, ignoring the tightness in his shoulder as he did. "Better, I think. Fewer watch bots out then two days ago. But I think they're onto me. I don't know how much longer the sunglasses will protect any one of us."

"Mmm," she said, nodding as she opened the box to grab another pouch of tea, "The search on my end has hit another wall. None of my contacts in the city have heard a thing. She's seemingly disappeared."

Tesla nodded, that sinking feeling in his stomach growing ever deeper. Oasis had it's oddities and its secrets. For the last few days, he tried to ignore that feeling in the back of his mind of rumours he had heard once a long time ago. No point in putting it off any longer, no matter how much he wanted to.

"There may be something else we haven't considered," he said hesitantly.

Ana perked up, "Mm?"

He sighed and shrugged regrettably, "There's a place that I've heard the Minister talk about once called the Pit. It's no secret that Oasis blurs the line when it comes to deciding what is socially acceptable as moral research, the classic 'the ends justify the means' if you catch my drift."

"Well, anyway,, the pit is the place that would make even the ministers blush. And," he said, gritting his teeth, "wouldn't be a thing if Overwatch were still around."

Ana stared at him a moment, that knowing eye of hers probing into his face. "Sounds like mostly rumours. But for every rumour, a grain of truth often follows. How do we find it?"

Tesla looked over at Blenn who shook his head slowly, pleadingly. "I know a gal."

Blenn sighed, his massive shoulder slumping into a slouch, "Sire, you promised we wouldn't speak on this again."

"True," he admitted with a jolt of guilt, "But she's the only person who could possibly hope to know how to find The Pit, if it even exists."

"Oh dear," Blenn said, further slumping into a nearby chair, "Oh dear, oh dear…"

"She?" Ana asked, raising a brow as Tesla.

"Blenn's ex, Levina" Tesla said, staring as the omnic shook its head "It was an interesting situation to say that least."

"I don't doubt it," Ana said, nodding.

After a moment, Blenn visibly shook his head and stood up. "Very well. For the better of all, I will do it. But I have one condition." He jabbed a finger at Tesla, "You have to figure out how to get us out of this situation."

Tesla sighed. Blenn deserved a fair deal in this case. "Done."

Ana smiled, "What a pleasant surprise. Let's gather our things a go then. I'll just have to wait befor-," she stopped, frowning at the box of tea. "This isn't my favorite," Ana said, shooting a look at Tesla.

He resisted a frown and shrugged, again ignoring the pain in his shoulders, and in his knees, and in his everything. "Didn't sleep well last night," he said truthfully. Though apparently he didn't realize how it affected him. He would have sworn green tea was Ana's favorite. He needed sleep.

Ana stared at him again, the eye seeing right through him.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" she asked, "I noticed you favoring your left leg early today."

Blasted leg, he thought, wishing he could kick himself. "I'm fine. I'll take a nap after our visit with Levina or something. I mean, if we make it out alive."

She eyed him a moment more and then nodded. "Then we better move quickly."

She turned around and headed off to her room. Tesla stood there a moment, that sinking feeling remaining annoyingly present.

"You're worried," Blenn said, speaking up only after Ana had disappeared out of sight. "You need to recharge."

"It's not just that, Blenn," he said, his voice icy, "I don't want to help her."

His omnic friend didn't even flinch. He stared at him, his glowing eyes leveled with his. "I think you underestimate yourself, sire."

Tesla scoffed and snatched his sunglasses from the table. "I think I know exactly what I'm capable of, and that overwatch rat isn't worthy of it."

He slipped the sunglasses on, ignoring Blenn's eyes on him as he moved to grab his backpack. But to Tesla's surprise, Blenn remained silent, not saying a word all the way up until they left.

Everything inside shook. Every atom. Every particle that made up Tracer's essence. Inside and out, a storm passed through her screaming from every imaginable and unimaginable direction. The world, or something like it, hovered beneath and above at the same time like a blue, glowing cloud of energy. And it tore through her like a hot blade of metal. She wanted to yell, but her voice left her, disappearing into infinity.

They had taken her chrono accelerator. And without it, she had become nothing but pain and emptiness all at the same time.

She just wanted to cry, or anything that would give her form. But in this world, she existed as nearly nothing. Air had more density than she did.

A glow of light swirled around her and she felt strangled as something seemed to wrap against her cloudy form. An image flashed before her eyes of that distant icy mountain she saw before, but now she stood behind window, and a near stranger stared back at her, eyes wide. She had white hair, snow white, with sharp green eyes. And the face stared back, as though it were someone else.

Her body zapped back together and she collapsed against the ground, a crackle of pain ringing from her back to her fingertips. The image faded and a gasp of air forced itself into her lungs as she rolled to her streamed down her face as she finally cried from what felt like an eternity of waiting.

After a few minutes, or hours, she sat up. They had moved her to a bigger cage. The first was just a test to make sure they could contain her without risk of escape. Once they figured that tidbit out, the real fun began. In a sheer act of humanity they decided it'd be a grand idea to take her chronal accelerator. For the first few minutes she could retain herself, but that didn't last for much. Then the Nightmare returned.

Nearly a decade had passed since Winston anchored her back to Earth, away from that place. Despite all that time, she never forgot a moment there, teetering on the edge of total oblivion, but never crossing over. She shoved her hands into her armpits, trying to stop the shaking that raked her body to the bones. It didn't help.

The evil scientists had thrown her ten times back into the Nightmare, ten times. She guessed it had only been a few days since her capture, but it felt like months. Tomorrow they would do it again, and again, and for however long they needed to get results. She had become something she never realized she feared. An experiment.

She planted her head into her knees, smashing the tears into the blue jumpsuit, trying to hide her pain. It didn't help either.

After a very successful bawl, she ripped her face away, bearing a wide smirk. "Oy," she said, her voice sounding as try as autumn leaves, "Think you stopped too soon, mates. Almost found myself out that time," she said, trying to leap to her feet before quickly crashing back down to her knees. She bet that looked impressive.

The scientists, naturally, ignored her. She had gotten the lady one to at least tell her name, Lillyanna, but everyone else had remained contently quiet, the jerks.

"It was a 100% contact," the man she now called Long-nose said. "I think she's about ready."

"Point two percent increase in mass. Is that expected?" Lillyana said.

Long-nose stared at the data and shook his head. "Seem negligible. It's to be expected with this kind of spatial warping."

Tracer gritted her teeth. They had been throwing percentages around for the last couple of days and haven't given her a lick of information to what any of it meant. She sighed irritably, realizing her irresistible charm wouldn't get her much of anywhere today than it did, well, since her arrival. So with nothing else to do, she slumped against the floor, rolled over, and tried to fall asleep without crying this time.

The hours rolled by in flashes with brief moments of awareness flashing into her consciousness like lightening. At times she thought she could hear the crackling noise of the machine activating, meaning another trip to the Nightmare, but only awoke to an empty dark room. Other times she could see strange memories blink into her dreams, some of which she didn't quite remember having. Sometimes she was in the Slipstream as she disintegrated on the first jump, becoming almost nothing.

She snapped awake, heart thumping in her chest as the image of crashing in her mind sizzled away. When she reached to rub her eyes, her cheeks felt wet to the touch, and noticed a small pool on the floor. Her eyes stayed on the small puddle, wondering if she had gotten any good sleep at all. Probably not.

Her thoughts slowly turned back to Tesla as he jumped over the ledge. She had thought on him a few times over the last two days, wondering why he had been so angry at her in the first place. Looking at the situation now, she would probably never find out, something she thought for the best. Some part of her thought she should hate him, and she might have if it weren't for the overall sensation of death exploding inside her body. And honestly, she had no idea who he really was, or why he hated her.

A memory drifted from somewhere deep inside she had been trying to forget. She saw the crowds screaming, a limp omnic collapsed on the ground. Widowmaker's laugh echoing through her mind. She slipped her head inbetween her legs again, letting the image and all of the feelings that came with it crush her inside out.

She had failed again. The slipstream had exploded. Mondatta had died. The second uprising was booming with life. And she couldn't even run a simple surveillance job. Now they would pull all kinds of secrets about her condition and do who knows what with it. And it was her fault. Maybe that's why she didn't feel angry at Tesla. For all she knew, he had good reason to be angry. And blimey she felt that anger towards herself. She was a failure.

The door swooshed and slid open. She whipped her head from her legs and launched to her feet, reflexes and training kicking in. A lone figure stepped into the room. He crossed his way until he came up to the console and then stood there, staring at it.

"Forgot to logout of facebook, did'ya?" she said, walking over and leaning against the forcefield.

"You know," the cool, smooth voice responded back up to her. "I gave you those guns hoping to prevent this."

She paused. That voice sounded vaguely familiar. "Barkface?"

The figure leaned down, holding his chin. "I don't think I can shut down the shield," he said.

"Woah, wait a minute. What rubbish is this. Who are you? Friend or enemy?"

The figure paused and then sighed, resting two hands on his hips. "At the moment, friends."

"At the moment? Then why are you helping me?" she spat out.

"Does it really matter?" he said.

"Well, yeah, it is to me. You can't be indifferent going about breaking people out wherever you like."

"You rather I leave then?" he said, tilting his head.

She threw up two hands, the very thought tensing her nerves. "I want out. I'm sorry. It's been a rough few days."

"I know." he said, the faint tone of regret in his voice. "Hopefully that won't last much longer. I have a plan, but I'll need another day to set everything up, maybe more."

Her stomach twisted. "Another day or more? Seems a bit long, don't you think?" The thought of enduring another trip in the Nightmare sent a shiver down her spine.

"At this time, it's the best I can do. These systems are heavily secured. One wrong wire touched and everyone in Oasis will know I'm here. Last out until then," he said, and turned to leave the room.

"Wait!" she cried, pressing up against the shield. "Can you atleast damage the machine, or something. Make it so it won't work? Please, just for the morning."

The man stopped. "I'm sorry, it's too risky. Just hold on," he said and paused another moment. "You're not alone. Not yet." And then he was gone.

Tracer felt a mixture of hope and distress. Hope that she had a way out. Distress that she would have to take another trip down an unpleasant road.

She stared as the door closed behind Barkface, wondering who he was and why he was helping. And more oddly, how did he survive the explosion of the airplane?

In a places like oasis, there were no slums. There was no dark alley with musky smells and sketchy men and woman loitering about. Aristocrats, book worms, scientist, and the ilk made up nearly a hundred percent of the population. That's what made it so hard to identify who the thugs were, because they were usually buried in a book while they stood on guard or watched for prey. And contrary to the setting around them, it was a dangerous place to be.

Given, a thug around here meant someone trying to steal your research, which was terrifying for a scientist such as Tesla. He found himself thumbing the battery in his pocket. He needed to get it as far away from Oasis as possible, when the chance felt like coming around.

He looked up at the tall library, three spires lining the staircase up to massive doors. It may have looked like a normal library, and it operated like one too, but many years ago it had become something a lot more sinister in disguise.

They walked up into a library filled with actual books. Books were one of those ageless things Tesla had come to adore. He loved the smell of old pages and leather wafering about the room, filling his mind with the anticipation of change that came from reading a book. A new book meant a new perspective on the world. He could see places no one else did, places that didn't even exist. A good book could expand one's vision of the universe and the creatures that filled it. He got a little tinge of excitement just being in the room.

They walked in between several pillars and rounded towards the center of the room where a hulkish omnic's massive form sat like a boulder over the guest's service desk. It's massive hand reached down and turned the page of a tiny book hilariously disproportionate to its size. He leaned on the table where a noticeable crack danced away from its elbow. The poor desk didn't stand a chance.

The omnic raised a head at them. "Come to check out a book?"

"I'm afraid it's a rainy day and I'm looking for a pick me up," Blenn responded back with the code word.

"It'll be gone by the evening, sometime after ten," the massive omnic continued.

"But by then I'll be asleep, and without my warm milk to help me rest."

The giant nodded and shoved a thumb back at a set of stairs directly behind him. Blenn nodded courteously.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Blenn. Thought you'd be gone for sure," the giant lumbered to on side. "You not a fan of freedom?"

Tesla felt for his buddy as the skinny, tall omnic gave a bulky shrug. "I just thought I'd drop in."

The massic grunted and shrugged in return. "Red, 12, 2. Don't forget to say please."

Blenn nodded before they headed for the stairs and found themselves in a small room chromatically organized in books. Each shelf held a single color of books such as red, blue, green, and all the other colors in the rainbow.

They walked to the red shelf and pulled the twelfth book on the second row. "Please," Tesla said to no one in particular.

There was a crackle and clank as another set of stairs formed in the middle of the room.

"A little cheesy, don't you think?" Ana said as they made their way down the stairs.

"It's her way of doing things. The A.I. Minister had a flair for fantasy novels with castles and dungeons. I think it rubbed off on Levina somewhere along in her creation process."

"Speaking of which. How did he managed to create an omnic? The machines to build an omnic are hardly what I would call inexpensive, and there aren't many either."

Tesla gave a shrug, "Great question. No idea. Despite oasis' admirable ideals, it's run by quite a few people with questionable pasts. I guess he had a connection or two."

They followed an irritatingly long tunnel, definitely lengthened for ominous flare. The ache in Tesla joints were beginning to grow as they strutted down. It's been growing little by little, reminding him he needed to charge.

Eventually they were led into a massive room. And by massive, Tesla noticed it was football fields in length and height.

"Well, they've done some remodeling," he muttered.

A couple of carriers sat along the wall, each with a platform next to it holding metal crates filled with all kinds of illegal merchandise. A squadron of omnics worked, organized, lifted, and managed the system. It looked efficient, without a single bit of energy wasted by one worker. They moved like clogs against one another, acting and reacting in turn.

One of the Omnics noticed them and visibly jumped at the sight of Blenn. He tapped the shoulder of a fellow omnic who gave a near clone like response. The second ran off as the first ran towards them, using one hand to hold a red colored baseball hat.

It stepped up, huffing. It was weird to find omnics that did that. They didn't need to huff like a human, but a few chose to anyway. Probably made them feel more alive.

"Blenn, it is you!" the gangly robot cackled and shook its head, "You crazy pile of rust. You dog. Couldn't stay away, could you?"

Blenn was noticeably introverted and hesitant to respond. The poor omnic didn't have many in the way of friends. His only real friend was Tesla himself, a human. Even then, Tesla wouldn't exactly call himself the picture perfect example of friendship. Even with Blenn's previous experience with Levina, the omnic still didn't jive well with the other omics for whatever reason. A few treated him amiably enough, but most probably did it because Levina would crush them into soda cans if they didn't.

The baseball cap omnic gave him a playful punched to the shoulder. "C'mon, dude, you coming to stick around for good? We could use another player at black jack!"

"I've just come to see Levina is all. Then I'll be on my way," he said in a polite, timid tone and he tap two fingers together at his waste. "Where is she?"

The omnic tilted its head disbelievingly, "Where do you think?"

Blenn nodded grimly and led them away, through the throngs of working omnics and up a set of several stairs.

"Must be quite the woman," Ana whispered at his side.

Tesla nodded discreetly. "You don't know the half of it."

They continued their way through a number of other chambers, some looking to be kinds of storage rooms filled with various packaged and unpackaged objects ranging from weapons, technologies, and even what looks to be a vehicle room of sorts. It took them an annoying five minutes to make their way to an elaborate hallway and to a massive door where six omnics stood guard and holding beastly guns. When Tesla and the rest entered the room, they all gave their own startled reaction at Blenn.

He was a tall omnic, above average thanks to the design tweaks by Tesla's father. But it was probably more of the history behind Blenn that stirred up a mutter of conversational whispers.

Blenn, Tesla, and Ana arrived at the door. He gave three, curt knocks. A moment later, the door swung inward revealing a scrawny, older man, a human. It was the first human that they had seen so far in the whole facility. Tesla felt tempted to inquire further, but now wasn't the best time to get into the topic.

They entered the room and Tesla could feel Ana jump a little when Levina came into view. She had probably expected something far larger and more intimidating, but Levina was completely the opposite. Well, at least in appearance.

She was a smaller omnic, a little over five feet, but looked nothing like a robot. Her frame was filled in full with plating and organic looking joints. She had long red hair hanging in swaths of light sunny curls behind her back. Her face looked and moved like that of a human, the metallic sheen seeming soft instead of hard. She wore colorful clothes, the modern oasis tunic and tassels mixed with glowing lines around the neck and waist. All in all, she could have fooled anyone were it not for two two things.

Her eyes had no pupils, and instead looked to be made of solid blue glass. Next those, two lines ran down her face, as though three plates fitted tightly together.

She spoke into an intercom on the desk, lips moving and all, and doing so it quite the irritated tone.

"Listen, you little nut. If you don't settle for six thousand per kilo I'll personally come there and crush you into ones and zeroes. You got me? No one will-," she stopped as her head swung towards the door. Her hand dropped to the table, shutting off the comm. Tesla felt his nerves tighten and he was sure he just saw a spark shoot out somewhere from Blenn's neck joint.

"Blenn!" she yelled and in one bound she landed right in front of him, wrapped both arms around him, and the lifted him up in the most comical bear hug he had ever seen. Blenn was a relative giant and she a small elf in comparison.

"M-Mistress Levina," he said, his voice barely suppressing his depression.

"It's been so long, my love! But I knew you would come back, I had no doubt at all! You have no idea what it's like to not have you at my side, constantly supporting me moment by moment, every second of every day." That was an understatement.

She set him down and her glassy eyes quickly turned to Tesla. "You brought him?"

Blenn held up his hands uncertainly, as though he felt he should make some gesture.

"Guards!" she quacked, "Kill this human and toss his body somewhere smelly."

The doors burst open and several omnics poured through, guns at the ready. Tesla tensed, dropping to a defensive posture. He figured it might come to this, and he was ready.

"W-wait, please! I need your help!" Blenn cried, running in between the guards and Tesla.

Levina held up her hands and the omnic guards stopped.

Tesla felt his hair rise, he half expected an outburst of anger and insult, but to his surprise, there was none. Levina turned her massive blue eyes back to Blenn and smiled broadly.

"Anything for my Sweet Blennyboo!"

Tesla looked over to see Ana staring right back at him. He didn't need to see her face to know that it winced at the pet name.

"Under one condition, of course," she chimed. "We kill your human pet and you stay here with me from now on!"

And this is where things got complicated. He wish he had more time to explain it to Ana before arriving, but this was actually a pretty dangerous place to Tesla to be. Amongst the many other people he had rubbed the wrong way in Oasis, none sat hire at the food chain than Levina. No one hated, despised, and loathed him more than her. Every sensation she had for Blenn turned out to be the exact opposite for him.

Blenn and Tesla sighed in unison.

"We can't make that deal, Levina, no matter how many times you ask" Tesla chimed in finally, deciding to skip over any chance of formal greetings.

She grunted, "I could just kill you here. I wouldn't even need help from them."

Ana was definitely going to inquire further into this afterwards.

"Look, Levina," Tesla said, straining to keep his tone soft. She really could kill him if she wanted too. "If you'd like, maybe we could make some other kind of deal for the help."

Blenn straightened a little. "It would mean a great deal to me if we could receive this help. There is someone in grave danger."

The womanly omnic stood, arms folded, staring at Tesla without breaking. The pale gaze of those glassy eyes always made him uneasy, no matter how many times she had thrown them at him.

"What is it you need?" she said, looking towards Blennyboo.

"Ah, well, we're trying to find the location of a secret operations facility. We thought you might know where it is."

If she had pupils, she probably would have rolled them. Instead she wobbled her head in exasperation. "The Pit?" she asked.

Blenn and Tesla perked up.

"You know about it?" Blenn asked.

"Know about it? They're one of my biggest customers. They've asked for all sorts of oddities. I try not to think about it too much. It's mostly humans there anyhow," she said that last bit like something sour slipped into her mouth. "So, you want to know where it is, or you want help getting in. Which is it?"

"Er uh," Tesla muttered quietly, catching a shared glimpse with Blenn.

"Both," Ana chimed it at last. She had been strangely quiet and unnoticed. "We need its location and a way in, if you can provide."

Levina jerked as though she had only noticed the masked person for the first time, her eyes growing wide with surprise. She rushed forward with blurring speed. Tesla tensed, ready to leap to Ana's aid, but it was too late. The omnic had her in a bear hug as well, swinging the old woman about.

"Oh Ana, how I've missed you! You don't write enough," Levina said sourly. "You know I like your letters."

Tesla's mouth dropped open. "You know her?"

"Well of course I know her. I know anyone worth knowing. Which doesn't explain how I know anything about you. Waste of my time," she said in a not so subtle mutter. "But the mask did throw me off, Sweety. I like it, very you."

It dawned on Tesla that Ana's surprised jerk from earlier must have been one of recognition, and not, well, surprise.

"Levina and I go back a few years. I had no idea you ran such an operation. It's quite impressive, dear."

Levina smiled proudly, "Isn't it though? I smuggle all sorts of contraband. It's great!"

"You'll have to give me a tour."

"Oh how that woul-,"

"Is there any chance that we could get back to the issue at hand?" Tesla interrupted, this time letting the irritation come out in full force. The pain was getting to him, but this wasn't gossip time. "There's a life hanging in the balance."

"No harm in a little friendly catching up, Tesla," Ana responded, "But he is right. Will you help us?" she said towards Levina.

Levina paused and then turned back to her desk. She walked over and sat down in a massive, plump red chair that almost seemed to swallow her. "I've got mixed feelings on the matter. I'd do anything for Bennyboo. And for you, Ana. But the idea of helping...him perturbs me."

She cringed, and made a swallowing noise as though she were trying to force something back down into her stomach that had just come up. It took all of Tesla's strength not to sigh. She didn't even have a stomach.

"What kinda offer you got for me, boy?" she said, and begun to expect her fingers as though they had nails.

Tesla stood there and noticed that Ana and Blenn were looking at him. Since when had he become the spokesman? It had been his idea to come up with an offer in the first place, but now they were expecting him to do all the work.

He suppressed another sigh and rubbed back of his kneck. "I could pay-," he stopped himself right there at the look on her face. He couldn't possibly pay her enough. She had built an entire smuggling facility under Oasis, and that would have cost five or seven fortunes.

His eyes slowly drew themselves to Blenn who was tapping his fingers together anxiously and hopefully at the same time. An idea slowly brewed in his mind, emerging from the foggy mist of his thoughts. With it came a twinge of guilt, but they were running out of time. The sooner he could get Ana in, the sooner he could kiss Oasis and this whole crazy fanfare goodbye.

"Blenn could visit," he said, keeping eye contact with his omnic friend, "Without my accompanying him."

Both Blenn's and Levina's heads jerked towards him simultaneous.

"But I'm no-,"

"Done!" Levina blurted out. "I can have you there in by tomorrow morning. They're expecting a new shipment of CyronRelays. Why they need fifty kilos of them is a mystery to me, but what do I care, right?"

Ana nodded in satisfaction, and Blenn sagged slightly, his shoulder slumping. Somewhere in the back of Tesla's mind he knew he had crossed the line again. Blenn had always been a dear, consistent, and dedicated friend. In one moment, he had slapped all of that in the face. For the first time in years, Tesla felt that cold, dark realization creep back into his mind.

He would never be worthy of his father's name. He would never be the hero his father had been.