Knowledge is power. Knowledge is information. Information is power. I'm a complete disgrace; a sell out. I'm feeding the machine; supporting a system that expects total access to all and allows none in return. Information flows in. Power flows in. The people are left powerless. And I help keep them that way. At least that's what my brother tells me.

-Nadia

Nadia sat on the edge of her seat watching the interrogation. Being Pawn in charge of the Texan investigation, she had full access to the footage in the cell. Technically, the black Knight Bordeaux could have observed the interrogation from Nadia's office. But Bordeaux insisted on going with Peacemaker. That was practically like asking him on a date. Isn't that how those field operatives worked: bonding through inflicting pain on others? In any case, some time alone with Bordeaux couldn't hurt Peacemaker. Maybe they'd get laid. That would loosen them up.

In the interrogation, Peacemaker acted like a big fluffy teddy bear. He had a way of talking that made you want to listen. A deep powerful voice. Whatever that voice said sounded true in virtue of its intense resonance. But the Texan kid was elusive. No answers were given. Nadia found herself buying his story. Maybe he really didn't know what was going on. But then there was a slip up.

"I keep having these ... ideas," Jaime said. "Like what the freaking vibrational frequency is for human organs. And something called Ohm's law. And the oxidation of graphene alloy and it just won't stop!"

Nadia felt her heart plummet. "Graphene alloy?" she breathed. No way. He couldn't know. Nadia took several deep breaths. Calm down. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe Jaime guessed. Yeah. He just guessed that his restraints were state of the art steel-graphene alloy gauntlets. Even if he did know, he couldn't induce oxidation ... right?

She linked up to the tablet she'd given Peacemaker and sent him a notification.

Possible issue with restraints. Standby.

She glanced expectantly at the screen but Peacemaker either didn't hear the notification or ignored it. He kept on questioning.

No big deal. She wasn't even sure if Jaime was escaping. Nadia flexed her fingers and pulled the keyboard towards her. She just had to confirm the integrity of the gauntlets. She accessed the restraint's regulators.

"Structural fatigue," she read. "Aw cuss!" She slammed out another message to Peacemaker and sent it.

Get out!

But Peacemaker ignored the tablet. And things got bad. Nadia watched helpless, sending message after message that went ignored. And when Peacemaker finally did see, it was too late. Jaime ripped free of the restraints. Before Nadia could even swear properly, both Peacemaker and Bordeaux were out. Two black Knights taken down by a kid her brother's age. That was just scary.

An alarm sounded in the room, its blare squeezing through her desktop speakers. The mechanical arms tried to restrain him. One tonged arm latched onto Jaime's shoulder. He tried pulling it off, rammed from the side by another that wielded a spinning saw. He was knocked into the wall from the force. The other two tried restraining his legs. Jaime twisted his grip, ripping the tonged clasp from his shoulder. The machine sparked and the metal crumpled at his strength. He punched the spinning blade and the bearings broke, sending it whirling into the door where it lodged. His feet were pulled from under him and he dangled, kicking with all his might. The spinning blade was replaced with a spike-like javelin head. Jaime's hand morphed into a stump. The end glowed blue, then white, and the javelin, arm and all, was blown apart. He repeated the maneuver with the remaining two, demolishing the metal arms into splayed fragments of metal and wires. He fell to the ground released.

Nadia jumped to her feet, chair skidding back. A red notification popped up on her screen summoning her to the briefing room for an emergency. The emergency. She dashed out of the room, grabbing her white uniform as she went. Peacemaker's voice echoed in her head.

"Think it allowed itself ta be captured."

The power in that exoskeleton was enough to level the castle, she realized. And it was right underneath them.

The briefing room was as hectic as a shark tank filled with blood. Orders were shouted across the room. Warnings and alarms lit up screens. Nadia fell into line, taking her place at one of the many computer stations. A breach in the zoo wasn't unheard of. But the Bishops were locking it down before it could come to that.

White Bishop Faraday issued orders through a mic. "Get a squad of black Knights on sublevel five. Don't want that thing stepping one toe outside its cell."

Black Bishop Midnight leaned over the console manned by Nadia. "What's the target's status?"

"He's just standing there," Nadia said.

"Who's he talking to?"

Nadia consulted her computer. "He's not sending any transmission," she reported.

"Want it sedated immediately," Bishop Faraday barked marching over.

"Technically it's a him-" Nadia trailed off under both White's and Black's glare. "Uh, yes sir." She pivoted back to her console. "Activating secondary containment."

Jaime kicked the remainder of a mechanical arm off his leg. His body glowed, repairing the damage taken to his chest from Peacemaker's plasma hits. Vitals: stable. Threats: Eliminated. Energy levels-

"How about this for inventory?" Jaime brooded. "Evading police: check. Arson: check. Assault: check. Defacement of government property ..." Jaime's hands passed over his face and he shook his head. "I'm gonna need a lawyer." He peered at the unconscious soldiers. "A really good lawyer."

It was best to eliminate the possible threats before they presented a future problem. His arm twinged to change into a weapon.

"Para!" Jaime grabbed his wrist to prevent it from morphing completely. "Sé serio. There has to be an off button to this thing."

What was it the soldier had called it? An exoskeleton. Jaime glanced down at himself, wondering how it came off. There wasn't a zipper, that was for sure. The suit did things without him wanting. Like changing into a weapon and hurting people. Because he never wanted to hurt anyone.

Right?

Jaime kneaded his temples. Luis. Peacemaker said he was dead But he couldn't be, right? Jaime wasn't a killer. And no matter what a crappy employee and husband he was, Luis didn't deserve to die. Jaime had only wanted to ... stop Luis. Stop him from what? Luis had already fired the gun. Jaime just remembered a blinding anger. Hate so hot it burned him from the inside out. Luis hurt his padre. The only thing that mattered was hurting Luis back. Eye for an eye.

"Centrarse!" Jaime scolded himself. He could think about that later. Once he got out. Once he got home. Once he saw his padre and knew he was okay.

From the wall, several compartments opened. Large weapons unfolded and aimed at Jaime. "Okay, traje. Now would be a great time for suggestions." His brain buzzed but no twinge in his body to produce a counter weapon. "Recommendations. Observations-" The five weapons simultaneously whined as they charged. "Do something!"

He cringed as the weapons fired. A shield unfolded from his upraised arms. The blast struck the armor and dispersed like oil against water, energy dancing across the floor.

The blast would render him unconscious if contact were made. Continued attempts to diffuse the charge would fail. Shield degradation: 22 percent.

A nonstop barrage of blasts nailed Jaime's arms.

Shield degradation: 40 perc- 52 percent.

Jaime was all for blasting the crap out of these things. But he was unable to form a weapon due to maintaining his shield. His brain provided several solutions that would incinerate everything in the room. Jaime eyed the unconscious forms of Peacemaker and Bordeaux.

His concern for their lives was irrelevant next to his own survival.

"They are people," Jaime told himself through gritted teeth. "They did horrible things to me, but they are people. They don't deserve to die."

Then Jaime was doomed to recapture. Shield in critical condition.

His arms were stinging from the blasts. Watching the energy skipp across the floor like sparks, he got an idea. He only hoped the suit knew about ping-pong. Instead of lessening the impact by scattering the blasts, Jaime tried to get the suit to take the full brunt and rocket it back at the assaulting weapons.

For future reference, the correct terminology was-

"Don't really care about that right now," Jaime said through gritted teeth. Flaring over his vision, a diagram overlaid the room complete with angles and predicted trajectories. Adjusting the shield, Jaime took aim at the first weapon. A miss, followed by a direct volley of hits. He repeated the maneuver for the remaining four cannons. In no time, the weapons were smoldering craters in the wall.

His tattered shield crumbled to the ground and Jaime turned for the door. There was no handle, lever, keypad, or anything that could open this thing.

First, he had to assess whether it was a feasible escape. Implementing: radar and radiation detection.

Jaime's head whipped to look over his shoulder as he felt a sharp pressure in his back. Two scimitar-like protrusions sprouted from his shoulder blades, tip first. The blades were curved after the Arabian style. Did everything have to be solved with violence?

Then he realized they weren't weapons. Rather they acted as dual receptors. Combined, the two devices gauged depth just as eyes would.

The yellow filter across his eyes dulled. He stumbled off balance as his vision rippled. Using a combination of frequencies from the light spectrum that he'd never heard of, the exoskeleton allowed him to see through the walls of his prison and past the door. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. His eyes stared into darkness but saw things in a different way just as seeing was different from hearing or touch. It was a new sense, one he couldn't begin to explain. He saw energy, heat, sound. He knew there was a wall, but that didn't hinder his perception.

Threat detected.

"Por el amor de Dios," Jaime groaned. "What now?"

Soldiers stacked up on the other side of his cell door, preparing to mow him down should he attempt escape. He was trapped.

If he would only reconsider deadly force-

Not happening.

Jaime examined his prison, still absorbing the spectrums. Eight-foot thick walls. Scans revealed that his cell like others, were hollowed right out of the earth like cubbies. The walls were composed of various materials; mainly granite, limestone, and marble. Also reinforced with steel bracers. But that shouldn't be a problem. Power levels were sufficient to tunnel through several hundred feet and still maintain energy for combat maneuvers.

To his left was another prison cell. If he blasted his way through the wall, he could emerge further down from where the ambush waited. The thickness of the walls made it difficult to see, like peering through a fog, but he thought he could detect a checkpoint down the hall; a large metal door. If he could circle past that, emerging on the other side, the soldiers would be trapped in the hall while he escaped.

He aimed his fist at the wall.

Sound plan. Only what if the soldiers entered the cell and followed. He'd be attacked from behind.

Jaime considered the door. His senses adjusted until he could see the motorized gears and locking mechanisms. A specialized frequency should disable the lock's components and hold the soldiers off. His hand morphed into a sonic emitter and he targeted several points in the door. He heard the protest of metal and popping of gears. Done.

He faced the neighboring cell again, adjusting the frequency. In seconds, the wall shook itself to rubble. Jaime stepped into the room, disabling this door as well. He shivered. It felt like he'd stepped into a freezer. Huge grated vents pumped in frigid air. The exoskeleton tickled him and somehow altered to dampened the cold.

He paced to the wall to continue tunneling. He heard a noise. A small scuffle. Someone else in the cell. They were pinned under a block of rubble.

"Dios mio!" Jaime rushed forward and pulled the stone off the person's thigh. He dusted them off. A woman in a forest green jumpsuit lay unmoving.

"You okay?" he asked. "Are you hurt?"

The woman groaned.

"I didn't know there was anyone over here." Jaime fell to a knee beside her. "Are you okay?"

"P-p-please," she whispered.

Jaime eased her into a sitting position. "Is it your leg? I'm so sorry." She appeared uninjured. Scans revealed no serious damage.

The woman was shaking so badly she could barely speak. Her skin was deathly blue with splotches of purple. "S-s-so cold." Her arms snaked around his neck. She pulled him in, mouth locking over his. Jaime jerked back but the woman was wrapped so tightly she came with him.

"Excuse me," Jaime yelped. Or tried to. It came out as "Oscumoo!" He felt a shiver crawl through his body, starting at his heart and pumping out with every beat.

"Grt orf," he said and pried at her arms.

His core temperature was plummeting. The suit seemed to buzz over his skin, trying to compensate. But every second he just felt weaker and colder and- it was her! Jaime shoved the woman as hard as he could and the two tumbled apart.

"Cuál es tu problema," he yelped. "What did you just do to me?" His vitals gradually stabilized.

The woman rose to her feet, eyeing Jaime cautiously. "Thanks for the pick me up." She scraped a mane of stark white hair out of her face. "You're not Checkmate."

"No," he answered slowly. "Who's Checkmate?"

"You're a prisoner?" she asked.

"Uh ... it's complicated. I was running from the police-"

"You made that?" she pointed to the hole in the cell wall.

"About that," Jaime cringed, "I really thought the room was empty-"

She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to his feet. He cringed at her touch but there was no draining sensation. She heaved him to the door. "Blow us out," she ordered.

"There are soldiers out there," Jaime said.

The woman's eyes were on the vents overhead. "I can't last much longer in here."

"I open the door, that will let the bad guys in." Technically the army was the good guys. What did that make him? Jaime shook his head. Focus.

"So redecorating is your brilliant plan?" she spat back.

They both whipped to face the door to Jaime's cell. Sparks fountained from the creases. The soldiers were making a move. "They're coming!" she said. "Do you think we'll get another chance? Get us out of here."

Jaime scanned the next cell. There was someone over there. Jaime aimed at the left corner, furthest point from the unknown prisoner, and blew the wall.

The woman was through the hole before the dust had settled, Jaime following after. This cell was warm. At least it was until the woman sucked in a deep breath. The temperature plunged as though he had jumped into an ice bath. Jaime disabled this door's mechanisms as well while frost crept up the walls.

"God, that feels good," the woman sighed. But Jaime barely heard her. His eyes were on the large creature that they had just woken up.

"What is that?" Jaime yelled.

Phylum: Chordata. Class: Mammalia. Order: Primates. Family: Hom-

"I can tell it's a monkey. Thank you!"

Actually, an ape.

"They weren't kidding when they called this the zoo," the woman said.

The creature stirred. It's dark eyes blinked. It rocked to its haunches and stood on its back legs. Rising. Rising. It towered at over six feet tall. Maybe seven. Jaime and the woman took a step back. It scowled down at them from a heavy brow. The creature's black lips peeled back to reveal large, yellowed canines.

"Why is there a gorilla in an army base?" Jaime whispered.

"To make the world a safer place," she said with false glee. "You forget about those Checkmate agents? That door won't hold much longer."

"But-" Jaime sputtered and pointed to the beast.

"Don't mind him. Bet he's as happy to blow this joint as we are."

Jaime moved to the adjacent wall, feeling the creature eye his every movement. He swallowed and fired another sonic blast.

Cell number three, another prisoner, this one thankfully human. A woman in a similar green jumpsuit. She had blond hair knotted in a bun. She sat cross legged on the floor, eyes closed.

There were high levels of irrational energy in there. He paused at the thought. What's irrational energy?

Unknown. Also known as: Black Science, Sorcery, Magic, Witchcraft-

"Move it, shorty," the woman said. She shoved him from behind. But his knees were locked and he didn't budge an inch.

"I can't go in there," he said.

The cell was whitewashed, drywall covering stone walls and ceiling. Even the door was sunken back to create a flat surface. All over the walls were symbols painted in bold strokes of scarlet. It looked like blood, but he knew it couldn't be; not that bright. The characters were some language Jaime didn't know-

Sanskrit. Hebrew. Coptic. Sumerian.

Apparently he did know.

A series of pentacles were positioned on the floor, each inside the other. At their center sat the prisoner. She didn't give any indication that she noticed her wall being blown apart.

The cold woman pushed past Jaime. She entered the pentacles, crossing to stare at the prisoner.

"Don't need to be afraid," the cold woman said. "She's sleeping."

Jaime tried to follow, but ropes seemed to hold him back. He couldn't, no shouldn't go in there. Engaging with irrational energy would be catastrophic-

The cold woman planted a fist on her hip and glared at him.

"I can't," he said again. "This ... black science is like ... bad for the exoskeleton or something."

"For the love of ..." The cold woman flicked her wrist. Crystal daggers shot through the air and shredded the pentacles, breaking the lines. All the red seals and symbols bled into black. It was creepy. Like, The Exorcist creepy. Irrational energy must be demons or spirits or whatever. Jaime felt the pressure holding him back decrease. He crossed himself before entering, reciting a silent prayer for good measure.

A closer look at the cold woman's daggers, Jaime saw that they weren't crystle, but ice. He disabled the door and turned to continue tunneling. He jumped back when he came face to face with a pair of wide blue eyes. The sleeping woman had woken up.

"The leaves are eating the air," the woman told him. Her hands fluttered in front of his face as though she swatted some invisible pest. "Say hello to the angry dancers."

"Uh ... hi?" Jaime said. He inched back. Every horror movie he'd ever seen screamed that the innocent looking air heads were actually possessed psycho killers. It was only a matter of time before she made a suit out of his skin so they would "always be together."

In that case, Jaime should eliminate her before she got the chance.

Jaime tensed his muscles to keep his sonic weapon from pointing at the woman.

"Did you know the buttercup gives birth to light?" psycho lady said.

Jaime shrugged, unsure how to answer, taking another small step back.

She stepped forward, her face inches from his. "You keep moving away from me. Did you know that?" She frowned. "Or am I moving away from you?"

"We don't have time for this," the cold woman said. She grabbed Jaime's arm and pulled him to the wall.

Psycho lady faced the cold woman and frowned. Recognition slowly dawned in her face. "Frost," she bubbled. "My old teammate. You look pale. Try some rouge." There was a scuffle behind them. The gorilla squeezed through the hole. Psycho lady beamed at the creature. "Hello, good sir," she said and bobbed her head. "Hope this isn't too forward, but what size shoe do you wear?"

Jaime leaned over to mutter to Frost, "She's a few tacos short a fiesta, if you know what I mean."

The woman named Frost redirected him to the wall. "When Checkmate gets through, I'd like to be halfway to the surface."

"Almost there," Jaime reassured. "Just one more." He blasted the wall.

Cell number four, prisoner number four. This cell was also painted white with red symbols. A blast from Frost and the black science was eradicated. This prisoner was a woman as well, dressed as the others. Her head was sheared to the scalp. She stood from her position on the floor, stretching as though waking from a nap.

"Prison break," the bald woman said. "I like." Her silky voice was thick with an Indian accent. She turned to the door, eyes closed.

Jaime's skin prickled. Increase of irrational energy.

He glanced back at psycho lady. She was trying to get the monkey—

Ape.

—ape to engage in a conversation about fairies that lived in animal fur. Nothing emanated from her. So where was the irrational energy coming from? The bald woman began muttering something under her breath. Her eyes opened and Jaime took a startled step back. Her eyes glowed neon pink.

He didn't have time for shock. At that moment, a sharp hiss entered the air. Gas flooded the room from vents.

"It's raining!" psycho lady giggled.

Jaime covered his mouth to keep himself from breathing it in. Frost and the gorilla had similar reactions. "What is this?" Jaime yelped.

Contains: One part carbon, one part hydrogen, three part chlorine-

"This isn't chemistry class," Jaime said. "Just tell me if it's poisonous."

Filters render toxin ineffectual.

"I'm talking about them!" Jaime pointed to the women and the gorilla.

His concern for their lives was meaningless next to his own survival.

Jaime growled in annoyance.

Frost gave him a weird look. "Enchantress isn't the only cooky one in the bin." She rolled her eyes and said, "I got this." Hands held away from her sides, she took a deep breath. The temperature dropped. The gas condensed and drifted to the floor as snow. Psycho lady ooed and awed.

"Don't eat it!" Jaime ordered and covered her mouth.

The psycho named Enchantress frowned. "Meanie."

Meanwhile, the vents iced over, blocking the gas. All the while, the bald woman's chant became louder. A purplish glow enveloped the door. Mouth slack, Jaime watched the metal melt away and drip to the floor like water.

The five scrambled through the opening into the hall. Jaime disabled the checkpoint door to keep the soldiers trapped a few moments longer until they-

A clang rang through the cells behind them and the floor trembled with an impact.

"They got through," Frost warned. "Run!"

Loose Spanish translation as taken in context:

centrarse - focus
cuál es tu problema - what is your problem
dios mio - oh my God
padre - father
para - stop
por el amor de Dios - for crying out loud / for the love of God
sé serio - seriously
traje - suit