Erin's no-nonsense demeanor seemed to shock the man into quiet; he stopped yelling, and closed his mouth. As the fear on his face ebbed away, it was replaced by furrowed brows and a calculating look.
"You're here... to take me away?" he asked slowly. "That's what all the alarms are about?"
"Yes," she said. "We know you've been held here as a prisoner for an... extended amount of time."
The man looked uncomfortable. "You're with the Ferrum Rete?"
Erin didn't answer immediately; she glanced towards the ends of the hallway. Lukas shared her concern. More Purists could arrive at any moment. Standing here speaking was to their detriment.
"Yes," Erin said, her words careful. "We have... an affiliation with the Rete."
"Okay... alright," the man said, but he didn't come closer. "Are you going to turn me over to them?"
"The Rete?" Erin blinked, then her eyes narrowed. "All I can promise is that you'll be safer than you are now."
Ito hesitated for a beat. He seemed to be weighing various options in his mind. Then he stepped forward, and nodded. "Alright. If you can provide me immunity, then I'll come with you."
"Sure." Her tone was dismissive. "Let's move."
But as Lukas followed the two of them as they began to backtrack their path, his mind raced. Immunity? He wasn't sure what that entailed here. Why would a prisoner need immunity? His mother had said that they were seeking someone trapped - but this man seemed like a well-to-do physician, more than anything else.
Despite his mother's authority, he felt a budding seed of suspicion grow within himself.
...
Just as before, Erin forged ahead fearlessly, with Lukas and the doctor taking up the rear. As they passed the now-familiar cell clusters, he felt a shock of relief to see that they were all quite deserted. It seemed as though the prisoners had finally started to hustle, begun to seek out an exit.
That flicker of hope wavered, however, when the distinctive sounds of conflict appeared at the edge of his awareness, loud enough to break through the din of the alarm. It rose in pitch as they continued towards the compound's exit; yet they still charged ahead.
They encountered neither Purist nor prisoner until they reached that initial cell cluster that was connected to the tunnels beyond, and then, suddenly, there was movement and chaos spread before them.
Their progress came to a shuddering stop, and it was clear that getting to the exit would be no easy feat. Everywhere Lukas looked, he could see visions of struggle; Purists, armed with sparking weapons, faced off against a horde of desperate, angry people.
It wasn't the massacre he was expecting, however. The cultists had weapons, but there were only about a dozen of them; the prisoners were at least double that number. Still, the stun-guns were tearing through their numbers.
Lukas watched, petrified, as a Purist nailed a woman in the chest, sending her twitching to the ground. But they weren't expecting a man to tackle them from behind, and both figures fell in a tangle to the floor as well. A moment later, and the man rose, victorious. He turned and threw himself back into the fight, stun-gun clasped in his hand.
"They're fighting back," Erin murmured.
"They should," Ito said with sudden vehemence. "Some of these people have been here for months." But then his shoulders slumped as reality seemed to hit. "They have none of their own weapons, though. And being on the station means nearly all can't use their Factors. How are we going to get through this in one piece?"
"We stay out of the way," Erin said, and grabbing the two of them, she began to skirt the edges of the room, where the fighting was at its weakest.
They moved quickly. Erin's stun-gun and Lukas' staff served to keep the fighting at bay, but there was a heart-stopping moment when a Purist lifted his gun to take aim.
His mother was looking elsewhere, and Lukas, in that split-second, could see it all too clearly: the bolt hitting her square in the back, her convulsing, unconscious body hitting the floor. They'd be surrounded then, and locked up like the others.
If Erin fell, it was all over.
Lukas felt his body move before his brain could catch up to it. In that moment, he hefted the staff and threw it at the Purist like a javelin.
His aim was off, and the staff wobbled in the air, but the Purist saw it coming and ducked for cover to avoid its sparking electricity.
It was enough to draw Erin's attention, who promptly shot the cultist, taking them out of their misery.
When she turned her attention back to Lukas, there was something almost like grudging respect in her eyes.
But all she said was, "we're almost there."
Then, she turned away and they were moving again. Lukas tumbled through those last few steps towards the exit in a daze.
But then, somehow, they were through, all in one piece. Lukas couldn't help but grin at the sight of those dark, familiar tunnels they'd entered the prison from. It meant they were almost done.
He was so relieved to be getting away from the chaos, in fact, that he stepped around his mother to be the first one out.
"Lukas, wait-" she tried to get the warning out, but it was too late.
They stepped out from beyond his peripherals, grabbing him, pinning him in place. It was a squadron of Purists that surrounded him, more than he'd ever seen in one place before. Their robes melded together, a black sea that surrounded him; the glinting lights in their goggles was a damning constellation above.
"You've been up to no good, Erin," boomed a voice. The group of cultists parted, revealing a red-faced and furious Maddox.
He glared down at Lukas for a moment, then gestured to the door.
"Get out here," he hollered, "I have your kid here." He glanced back at him. "Got a little too excited, didn't you? Thought you succeeded?"
"He doesn't know anything," Erin's voice was low and cold. "Let him go and we'll talk."
"You're in no position to say that, bitch." He sneered at her. "We did have a civil conversation. And then your co-conspirators scurried out of here." He paused for a moment. "I thought I told you to come here!"
A moment later, Erin slowly entered the tunnel, alone.
"I should have stopped them," he continued. "But the Rete is supposed to be the paragon of diplomacy, of civility. Who would have guessed you'd pull something like this? You really thought we wouldn't notice? It was a poor ruse, and letting them leave the embassy meant you would be all alone down here."
"That's awfully confident of you," Erin responded. Purists circled her, stun-guns at the ready. "You've let potential prisoners slip right out of your hands."
Maddox sniffed. "There's nothing they can say to make me complicit in anything. You and the kid, however, flew a little too close to the sun."
Erin scoffed at him, and even Maddox raised an eyebrow at the nonchalance.
"You're scared," she said, "of what I might know."
He ignored her, and motioned to the Purists to press in tighter. "You know, when I left the University, I made sure to see which board members had voted for my dismissal. Your name was on that list, Adamas - I recognized you the second you stepped through my door."
"Your word was dangerous and bordering on illegal." There was a new tightness in his mother's voice that wasn't there a few seconds ago. He glanced around at the cultists that surrounded him. From behind, he could hear the shouts of Ito as he was apprehended as well.
She's stalling, he realized, and the thought chilled him to his core. Somehow, during all the chaos and terror of the day, a strange sort of assertion had wormed its way into his mind. Despite whatever happened, he'd begun to believe his mother could handle it. She'd seemed invincible to him.
But that image was quickly fracturing.
"What I was achieving was progress!" Maddox's eyes had grown wild. "The Rete sits there on its ass and lets the Planatae dictate their entire existence! Their systems, infrastructure - all of it is dependent on the powers of the Factor, and the Planatae themselves. And yet we are forbidden to experiment, to test. Our lack of understanding cripples us, Adamas - it keeps the people weak and the government strong."
"Oh, don't be so heavy-handed," Erin choked out, even as Purists forced her to her knees. "You were conducting tests on human subjects - not for some greater good, but your own sick fascination."
"You're one to talk, woman," he said, glancing over at Lukas. "After all, you're the one who ignored the very laws you enforce to give birth on a Planatae - and ensure your child would have a Factor."
Lukas winced. Despite their ruse with his false feed-information, he'd figured it out.
Only Ricardia and her immediate team knew the truth, but Lukas hadn't been born on a space station, as his feed-info claimed. His mother had smuggled herself into Ferrus and gave birth to him there. It had been a gamble, a dangerous one, but it had paid off - he's been born with the Ferrus Factor, just as she had hoped.
Lukas had known this for years; he'd been expected to understand and to keep his power under control. His mother had always claimed it was for research purposes, and so he never imagined his abilities would be put to use like this.
As he stared at his mother, immobilized and furious, he wondered if what he was feeling was resentment - but no, the hot, prickling sensation crawling over him was shame. Despite being lured by her into this mess - to attack people and destroy walls and risk his life for his mother - all he could think about was his own failure.
It's her fault! His mind screamed at him as he was pushed into the ground. You're her son - how could she use you like this!
But he couldn't deny another voice from rising towards his awareness; one that questioned his loyalty, his skill.
She finally trusted you, it seemed to say. Believed in you. And you failed.
Lukas squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to flush the conflict from his mind, to ignore the horrors awaiting them. It was because of this, then, that when the screams began, he never saw what happened.
So when his eyes finally flew open, all he could see was a painful, fiery, world of light.