A/N: Thank you to the guest TDIForever for leaving a review on the last chapter :)

CW for injury/pain, temporary blindness, depersonalization/derealization, and stressed vibes. Everyone is stressed.

Enjoy!

When Courtney did eventually return to base, things were quite a bit worse than they were when she'd left.

"Alright, alright, hold still—" she gritted her teeth at Zoey as she restrained her so she could attempt to heal her burns that, according to her, still felt very actively on fire. There were maybe one or two spots that were more severe but overall it was not the worst burn wound in the world and could be healed.

Emphasis on could.

It wouldn't be easy with the environment being so hectic or the fact that Courtney hadn't practiced healing very much at all since she was a very young girl whose parents insisted she start training in it as early as she could lift a drop of water, as it didn't come naturally to her like it did some select people and she preferred learning how to fight with it anyway. "I'm no Master Healer, so don't expect a pristine job here." She heard things from a few rooms down. "Could you stop yelling, Alejandro, I'm trying to concentrate—ugh!" She dropped the water she'd been using. "Stop crying for two seconds or you're staying burned, Zoey!"

"Shut your air hole, Courtney, and heal me already!" Zoey replied angrily.

"I would if you'd hold still!"

"Both of you put a sock in it." Alejandro was in the doorway and appeared thoroughly miffed. Both his hands were in fists. "I'm going to guess that whatever burn wound Zoey has procured for herself was from our most irritating guest. Whatever happens in the next twelve hours, do not I repeat do not mention anything about that or where 'he' is at this time."

Both of them had gone stone cold silent. "Of course, we won't say anything," Courtney replied. She'd talk to him about her trip outside later.

Zoey just nodded before letting out a pained hiss through her teeth.

"Can you tell us why?" Courtney had to ask while re-prepping her water to try round four of healing Zoey.

Alejandro grimaced and turned away so they couldn't see the fear in his eyes as he spoke. "We have a few visitors for the evening."

They could hear the chatter of new voices down the hallway. Courtney could recognize two of them from earlier.

Great.

Izzy and Junior walked down the street to where their date was to finally start after being let go from the police station and Junior frantically changing out of his work clothes into something more date-appropriate while Izzy had bounced around his living room and his mom had asked her about her day to which she'd replied for twenty minutes.

"I'm so excited, you're going to love this," Izzy insisted, effectively dragging him along towards their destination.

Junior was still tense and distracted by his own thoughts about how the day had gone up til now. His worry made him slow down and pay less attention to his surroundings, and he couldn't just focus on the date anymore.

Izzy stopped them just before a crosswalk. "You're not thinking about right now," she said plainly. "You're somewhere else in your head, I can tell."

"…nothing slips past you, does it?" was his reply, not really looking at her.

"Nope." She let go of his arm. "The Avatar said some mean stuff earlier to get her way. People who act like that aren't in my good books!"

"She was right, though. I'm too afraid of what could happen to really do anything. I don't think I can do anything at this point other than worry," Junior admitted, hugging his arms to his sides.

"You could come with me and retrieve them," she said like it was a totally normal suggestion.

"Very funny, Iz."

"No, really! Let's go get them!"

Junior blinked. "You're not actually suggesting what I think you are."

"I am always serious, Dwaynee. It'll be fun! I'll show you how to keep yourself from getting turned into komodo chicken fried fresh off the market stall first, then we strike!" She clapped her hands once for emphasis. "An adequate first date experience, I'd say."

Junior was dumbfounded. His date was suggesting they conduct a highly dangerous rescue mission and was insisting he participate actively.

What was he getting himself into with this girl?

"Where do we start?" he asked before he could think about a more logical response.

Izzy grinned and rubbed her hands together. "This'll be fun!"

Mike woke up with a splitting headache. He grabbed his head and clenched his teeth after coughing the last remaining smoke out. "What just happened," he said aloud, wide-eyed. "What was that feeling." It had felt like being shoved into the world at the speed of light and yanked back again just as fast and he couldn't process anything in between. It had finally stopped but it hurt now and he still didn't know where he was or why he'd been pulled in so forcefully before or anything.

He was able to stand but quickly regretted it, his vision spotty. "There's always gotta be something," he groaned. "Always have to get us into these situations, don't you?"

There was no reply.

"Whatever. I need to get out of here, wherever here is," Mike decided, trying hard to focus his sight. "Can't see anything—"

"Good."

His frown deepened. Not helpful, he thought, staggering towards what looked like a potential door.

He was wrong, it was an old stack of crates from the previous users of the building he was in that he ended up kicking over. He heard a low, rumbling laugh and turned around, but no one was really there behind him. "Very funny," he said through gritted teeth. "The lights are on and I still can't see." He found the wall with his hand and started following it to the real door.

You really shouldn't leave, mate… don't know where we are or… out there and…could be dangerous—

"I don't know that most of the time anyway," Mike bit back at whoever was trying to spottily warn him. "Someone does, one of you got us stuck here in the first place but you can't be bothered to deal with the mess it's caused." He felt a protrusion in the wall and pulled on it, but the door was indeed locked.

There was that laugh again. "If you're not going to be useful for a change why don't you just shut your air hole for two seconds—" Mike said before feeling something over his shoulder, something like a hand or an arm pressing into his back, and it was cold.

"Trying to silence me again, Mike?"

Mike tried moving away but realized he couldn't. He couldn't move any of his limbs. He couldn't feel them either.

"It's almost funny. You really thought you were going to leave all by yourself."

Mike saw the body's arm pry itself from the door handle, leaving a layer of frost behind. It walked to the center of the room and sat on the floor, staring at the empty wall.

"You thought you had a say in what happens around here. You never have."

He felt another shove and fell into a familiar nothing.

"Stay out of our way. We don't need you."

When he yelled out in protest, he couldn't hear his own voice.

Things are heating up! See you next chapter to find out how it all shakes down.