Jim took a deep breath. He didn't have time to just rush into this. His instincts screamed at him to just grab anything and start figuring it out, but he couldn't afford the time it would take if he messed things up more. He had to be certain Sy would be alright before he took any chances.

His tablet dinged.

Hogarth 10:05
Mellow just arrived. He's heading up the wall now.

Now Jim could go.

Intuition had always been his best bet with anything mechanical. Experience and classes had helped, of course, but ultimately Jim followed the thing inside him that tugged him to make certain choices.

The red wires went together. Green and yellow never touch. The myriad of black, blue, and white wires needed careful handling until he worked out which did what. And all the while he had to be certain of just where his hands were, to avoid a painful shock should any of the tips touch his skin.

He didn't know exactly how many volts ran through any individual wire, and he most certainly was not looking to find out. This would be easier if he had literally any of his tools, or even a pair of rubberized gloves, but he didn't have time to go get any.

His tablet had alerted several times beside him. Temptation cooed at the back of his mind, urging him to check the messages. Surely they were just saying that Sy was safe now, and he no longer needed to be working at this?

But if he released the wires now, he'd lose half his progress. And if for any reason they couldn't get Sy and Zephyr to the ground, he couldn't risk the delay.

Another alert dinged in.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Jim cautiously wove a white wire from one side of the panel box to the other. He was certain this was one of the wires that registered the badge being scanned, which meant he needed to connect it to the ones on the other side that activated the door.

It was just a touch too short to make it the whole way across.

A spark lept out from the wire in his hand, a tiny arch of lightning connecting the white to the blue he'd been reaching for. Beside him, the door began to make a horrible grinding noise. Jim flinched, but resisted the urge to jerk his hand back to make it stop. He'd only run into more live ends if he did that.

Slowly, carefully, he wiggled the white wire away until the current lost connection and died.

The tablet beside him started dinging wildly. Messages from his friends, he was sure, asking if he was alright. That noise had not sounded good, Jim had to admit. He wasn't surprised they were worried.

"Alright." Jim didn't usually talk to himself out loud. It felt right today, though. "That didn't work how I wanted it to. So how about…this."

"How about this, how about this?" Morph ecoed from beside Jim's head. He zipped around to the other side, curiously checking out what was going on.

A black wire, a white one, and a blue were pressed together. The door beside him started to hum. Cautiously Jim nudged another wire towards them with his pinkie finger. It was a strain to keep all four wires in position without letting any of them touch his skin. His fingers bent at fainly unnatural angles as he only barely was able to make them touch. The new wire barely brushed against the edge of the white wire. But it was touching.

The door started to slide open.

A sliver of sunlight shot through the hairline crack between the doors. Painstakingly slowly the slice of light began to grow. Morph transformed into a piece of paper and flew through to the outside.

"He did it!"

"Jim!"

"Dieu merci."

"It's opening!"

The chorus of his friends' overlapping voices could not have been sweeter. The sound of them lended him so much needed strength. His hand was shaking, fingers aching as he struggled to maintain the position he was in.

"AH!" Involuntarily, Jim yanked his hand back, loosing hold, and track, of the wires he'd connected.

"Jim!" A soft thump on the other side of the door indicated Sy had slammed his hands into it as if it would help him get through. "Are you alright? What happened!?"

"I'm fine." Jim shook out his hand. "I got a cramp. The door scanner's all busted up, and the wires aren't cooperating with me."

"Can you get the door moving again?" This one was Zephyr speaking. He sounded worse than Jim had ever heard him before. Even more tired than he did when he was dealing with Braxton.

"I can, but it'll be a few minutes." Jim admitted reluctantly. "Hang on. It should be faster this time. I think."

Someone on the other side of the door said something that Jim couldn't make out. He moved over, closer to the opening so he could ask for them to repeat it and nearly got stabbed in the face for his efforts.

Long, sharp points jabbed through the openings. It took a moment for Jim to recognize them as Mellow's legs. The claw like tips tensed and strained.

The door began to move.

A faint, deep green sparkle coated Mellow's legs and the edges of the door. They slid apart faster now, Matt's magic just enough of a boost to Mellow's natural brut strength. The spider like alien's legs flexed, pushed, and shoved the doors wide open.

For a moment, he stood, silloetted by the gleaming sunlight, his figure completely filling the opening, legs stretched from door to door, body upright and consuming the middle of the passage way.

And then he dropped to the ground and Jim could see Sy.

Sweaty, sunburnt, exhausted Sy.

Gorgeous, smiling, radiant Sy.

Jim surged forward, arms wrapping around his boyfriend in an instant. He clutched him close to his body, just breathing in the feeling of having him back where he belonged. Safe.

Surrounding Sy on the far-too-tiny-for-the-number-of-people-up-here roof were all their friends. And also Maximus, for some reason. Somewhere in the back of Jim's mind the fleeting concern that Maximus was still angry at him and Braxton passed through, but it was quickly pushed aside in favor of being glad everyone was alright.

"Can you please get out of the doorway so we can get off this roof?" Zephyr's voice betrayed his lack of patience.

"Off the roof!" Morph shot back inside over the couple's heads.

Jim shuffled back, not yet letting Sy out of his arms. One by one the other young men stepped inside. Their small alcove was quickly getting crowded, but somehow it didn't feel like a problem. Everyone was together, and everyone was safe. That was all that mattered.

Everyone looked a bit worse for the ware, though. Mellow was tucked into a corner, holding himself as small as he possibly could. Hogarth had an arm around Varian, and both boys were huddled against Maximus' side. The horse was looking about ready to defend them from an entire army, if needed. Matt was leaning heavily upon Braxton, and clearly couldn't fully support his own weight at this time. Braxton looked like he was two steps from attacking an army in Matt's defense. Sy and Zephyr, though, were looking the worst of the lot.

Jim wasn't fully certain if Sy had fallen asleep on his shoulder, or if he was just leaning heavily against him. His skin was hot to the touch, and had been fairly pink with the beginnings of a nasty sunburn. His lips were starting to chap, likely a combination of dehydration and licking or chewing at them in discomfort due to the dehydration.

Zephyr didn't seem to be faring any better, though he held himself upright and was forcing himself to be as together as he possibly could. His hair was mussed up and exposing the parts that rarely saw the sun and weren't bleached to his usual golden blonde. The strands were darker and curlier, sorely in need of a comb. Unlike Sy, he seemed to have tanned in the sun, rather than having burned. Everything about him seemed darker, including the heavy bags under his eyes.

"We need to get to medical." Braxton scooped Matt up into his arms, ignoring the half hearted protests.

Hogarth nodded, holding Varian a touch tighter. "We have Zephyr now, so Braxton won't be immediately expelled. Maximus is going to run ahead of us. He'll send help to meet us. Varian is going to go with him. He'll wait for us in the med bay."

"You should go with him." Sy, apparently, wasn't asleep after all.

Hogarth glanced at Varian, seemingly checking for permission. Varian gave a small nod. Hogarth nodded back. "We'll see you soon."

With that, the two young humans mounted Maximus and moments later disappeared down another hall, Morph flying after them.

AN: I am so sorry, I absolutely forgot to upload here for the last four chapters. Your newest one starts with Saturday 09:50. Please don't miss a chapter! Also, not me forgetting that Morph was with Jim. He's back! Kinda.

Anyway, as always, I love to hear your thoughts on things. Feel free to drop me a line!