"Where are they?" Jeen said for the third time as she paced the rooftop.

"They'll be here." Roman said as he sat on the ledge, looking over the darkening desert. The horizon was a dark indigo, fading into a light blue. A few stars began to dot the sky the longer they sat.

The hatch door opened and Shane climbed out.

"Good news - the plan worked, but not how we wanted. They won't make it back in time to leave."

"What happened to them?" Jeen asked immediately.

"Don't worry about that now. You need to leave." He said, his face so calm yet so serious at the same time. "That gate will only be accessible for another two hours."

Jeen rubbed her forehead stress-fully and looked to Roman.

"Okay." He said.

Jeen held a hand over her mouth, the nervousness she'd been holding in taking over.

"Okay." She finally agreed. "But you have to find out if they're okay as soon as this is over. Please."

"I already took care of them. Multitasking is my forte." He smiled pleasantly.
"Your what?" Roman said, tearing his gaze away from the desert with a furrowed brow.

"Just a word from Earth. I'll be downstairs." He said with slight amusement on his face. He opened the hatch and began to climb down the ladder.

"Wait, when do we leave?" Jeen asked quickly before he was gone.

He looked up with his heavy lidded eyes.

"Now." He said plainly and closed the hatch.

"Now?" Jeen repeated as she looked over at Roman.

"Now." Roman said through a sigh as he walked to the hatch.

He opened the door and began to climb down.

As she stood there she realized how unprepared she felt.

Wen stood by Gabriel, looking either sullen or angry, Jeen couldn't tell which. He was wearing a leather jacket, black just like the rest of his outfit, which looked tailored to fit him perfectly.

Shane stood up from his chair.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

Jeen took a moment before she answered.

"Yeah." She said, then repeated more confidently, "Yeah."

Shane nodded his head, then looked over to Roman, who stood by the window in the living room.

Roman turned and said, "Let's go then."

He walked over and past them towards the door.

With a knot that continued to tighten in her stomach, Jeen followed.

She opened the ripped screen door, cold night wind brushing her face as she walked down the porch, avoiding the hole that Roman had made earlier. As she walked down the steps and unto the dirt road, she looked across the street to see was someone warming their hands by a garbage barrel lit up with fire.
She pulled thread from her jacket sleeve nervously. She glanced over at Roman and Wen.

She couldn't believe they were really doing this. They were sneaking in. They were bringing her mother home.

"Hey Jeen."

She turned to see Shane walking down the stairs.

He walked over, holding a few gadgets on his hands.

"Take these, you will most likely need them." He said as he handed her thin and short silver handgun, and a large golden sphere.

"Thanks. But... what's this?" She asked as she held up the golden ball.

"Throw it, and it explodes the first layer, which is the gold you see. It will then change to silver. All you have to do is throw it again and it explodes again. It goes on for five layers, the last being purple. Be very cautious with it." He said, taking the sphere and examining it before handing it back, "and make sure to use it only when it's necessary." He added.

Jeen nodded, then put it in the smaller shoulder bag she brought with her, along with the gun.

Jeen, Roman, the doctor, and Wen drove into the desert as Nouveau Départ's three moons, Eppilsania, Nebluatis, and New Patagonia, lit the night sky up. They were in a ranger transfer that had no roof and was built for driving in rough terrain. Jeen had never ridden in one before, and she wished she had. The free feeling of cold desert air blowing against her face and making her hair fly was amazing. She decided to go over the plan in her head. It would take them an hour to get to the their entrance to Syke's Lab - where Nikole was keeping Isabella - that they needed, then an hour or so get inside the lab and take out all the Wardens.

As they went on, the desert was no longer flat and cracked, it had become drastic and mountainous as the ranger drove along the edge of a mesa.

The doctor was steering, Wen in the seat beside him, watching their digital map from a thin black tablet.

Gabriel stopped the car, dust pooling into the night, only visible by the illuminating light of the stars and moons.

Jeen stepped out of the back seat of the ranger, clutching the bag that slung over her shoulder. She looked around with a bewildered frown.

"There's nothing here." She said, looking over at Gabriel and Wen, who were standing, pacing in circles as they stared at the ground.

"No. It's here." Gabriel said, squatting down and brushing away the clay like dirt.

"Where?" Roman asked, stepping out of the ranger. "I don't see anything but dirt."

"A trigger to open the gate. Wardens can see it with their technology." Gabriel said on his hands and knees.
Jeen jumped when she heard Shane's voice.

"Stand back, I'm already on it. You only have fifteen minutes before its closed for good, and getting it open again will take me hours."

She forgot they all had a earpieces on to communicate with him.

"Stand back? How far back?" Roman said, walking backwards.

"Twenty feet should be safe." Shane answered.

Jeen ran back what felt like twenty feet, and watched as the sandy ground began to shift.

A square shaped outline began to form and tilt downward until they were looking at a sloped entryway into a sophisticated tunnel big enough to fit loaders in. They all looked at each other for a moment before they climbed back into the ranger, their feet crunching on the dehydrated ground.

"Here we go." Gabriel said as he shifted the ranger out of park and into drive.

They went forward, bumping and going downward slowly.

The desert air and dark sky disappeared as they drove in.

Jeen turned when she heard a series of clicks as the gate began to rise, locking them in the tunnel.

She looked over to Roman, who had a smudge of dirt on his cheek, sweat beading on his forehead, and eyes that - as usual - refused to stay focused in one place.

He looked as much as a nervous wreck as she felt.

She felt so sick that the thought of ever eating again was out of the question.

They were stuck in here until Shane could get them out. She turned back frontwards, watching as they drove slowly down the tunnel.

"Nikole was paranoid about camera's when she constructed this lab, so Luckily there isn't any surveillance in this tunnel." Shane said, his voice covered with static.

"How long does this go on for?" Roman asked, a frown on his face as he wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

"It will take you half an hour before you get to the door. Nikole is very cautious about people finding this place." Shane explained.

"Yeah, and she's done a magnificent job, but she forgot one tiny detail." Gabriel paused with a slight smile on his face. "We have the smartest human alive on our side, and no one can beat a genius as amazingly brilliant as Shane."

"I except the flattery. But don't speak too soon, anything can go wrong at any time." Shane said on the other end very seriously.

They drove on, no sound in the tunnel save the engine of the ranger.

Gabriel stopped the transfer and they stepped out, walking to a metal door. They were at the very end of the tunnel, and still no sign of Nikole's enforcers yet.

"The lock is made for a manually used key." Shane said, his voice more static covered than before.

"Hey, you're kinda breaking up." Jeen said, holding a hand to her ear.

"A sandstorm started back here once you guy's got to the gate, I'm not sure when it will clear up." He answered.

"What do we do about the door?" Roman asked, his hand on his hip and his eyebrows drawn together.

Jeen glanced up when a fluorescent light flickered. She felt a twist in her stomach as she realized the storm must've reached them by now.

"Gabriel has the key I printed before you left."

Jeen and Roman looked over at Gabriel, who seemed to have missed their conversation, and as it seemed so had Wen.

"Wen, what are you doing?" Gabriel said with confusion, moving his hand as he talked.

Jeen looked over to see Wen crouched down by the door with a look of concentration as he picked the lock on the door with a metal tool.

"Picking the lock." Wen answered, looking over at Gabriel while his hands worked nimbly.

"Where-" Gabriel began ,but stopped himself, the stress rising in his voice.

Wen shrugged.

"Gotcha." He whispered as the door clicked.

He stood up, putting the tool in his pocket, and pushed the door open.

"After you." He said to Gabriel.

"We're going to talk about this later." Gabriel mumbled, giving Wen a glare as he walked in the room.

Jeen and Roman walked through the door that opened to another smaller hallway. It was grey and simple, and a set of metal doors stood ahead at the end of the hall.

"Two Wardens are posted behind that door. They are a branch that have been programmed to control themselves with the best and newest technology yet. There are more of them in the building. I can't hack into them, so you will have use the defense I gave you." Shane said.

"I think we can handle it." Roman said, his finger to his ear.

Jeen held onto the thought that they would be together soon. That everything could - would - be the same as it was before. She continued to walk, her feet silent on the floor and her hand tightening on the gun attached to her belt Shane gave her.

Wen and Roman walked in front, Wen always a few steps ahead because he walked too fast.

They stopped in front of the door.

Wen put his hand on the latch and turned around, looking over at Roman, the light above reflecting in his black eyes.

"I'm gonna open the door." He whispered, and before Roman could reply he ripped open the door and shoved Roman forward.

It took a Roman a second of staring at the Wardens who turned around almost as quick as Wen opened the door before he reacted.

He grabbed them both from their necks and shoved them together, their black helmets smashing.

He let them go and they toppled to the ground, sparks from smashed wires inside their heads flying in the air.

Gabriel looked ready to scream at Wen, but reminded himself to keep his voice down. "Wen, what was that? I told you, only do what we planned! You can't jump into something like that without telling us first!" He hissed, spit flying.

Wen looked unfazed, a face that Jeen assumed meant the most likely got that reaction quite often.

"Sorry." Wen said, looking very unapologetic as he stepped over the enforcers.

They walked into a dark building that felt empty, Roman closed the door behind them, shutting them inside the dark building.

She felt so close, yet the nervous pain in Jeen's stomach kept telling her something was going to go wrong.

"I need to head over to the control room. Wen stay with them and get to the lab. Shane will show you the way." Gabriel whispered.

"Okay." Wen answered, messing with his wristbands.

"Remember your training." Gabriel added when Wen began to walk away.

"Okay." Wen said again tiredly, though he also sounded excited.

Jeen and Roman went down the hall, Shane guiding them as they went.

Shane's voice appeared in Jeen's ear.
"Take a left at the next corner."

They took a left down a hallway that was lit up by glowing strips of light on the ceiling.
"Keep going until you come to a door that has the number one on it." Shane said.
"Got it." Jeen said.

They walked down the hallway, Wen still in the lead with his gun drawn. Jeen's heart was beating so hard it felt like it was about to beat right out her chest. They came to a long row of doors. Each with a number on them. Jeen read each of them, feeling more and more anxious when it wasn't the right answer.
Two-hundred and two.
Forty-three. They were all completely random.
"What's with the numbers?" Jeen whispered while pressing the communication device on her ear.
"They're not in order of number value. Each number stands for the project in that room. And each project number goes up with the number of attempts and failures." Shane explained.

One. of course.

They failed only once in the Roman project.

Londen was their failure. That thought made Jeen angry.

Londen was one of the best people she knew, and the farthest thing from a failure. They finally came to a door with a black one on white background.

Wen pushed the door open and they came to a set of stairs. Once they were up the stairs they ran down another hallway, and Jeen was so busy looking around the hallway that she didn't notice Wen abruptly stopping ahead of them.

They both bumped into him, but he didn't move an inch forward.
"What?" Roman said to Wen, who didn't answer.
"Shane? There's lasers. Can you get rid of them?" Wen whispered after a few seconds.

"I can't get to them from that far, once Gabriel gets to the control room, he can disable them."
Jeen sighed. They were so close.

"How long till he gets there?" Jeen whispered as she stared at the almost invisible green lasers.
"You can-Gabriel-ear-" his voice began to break up, his words turning into garbled gibberish.
"Shane? Shane, you still there?" Jeen asked, a frown forming on her face.
"The connection is getting-you have-"
"What's wrong? We can't hear you." Roman said.
"Remember-half-get-" His voice turned into static.
"Shane? Shane? C'mon." Roman mumbled as he took out his earpiece.

Jeen and Roman stood there for a few more minutes trying to get the connection to work again, but to no avail.

"Dad? You there yet?" Wen asked through the earpiece.

"Almost. It'll be a few minutes." He said.

"Shane's gone." Wen said to Gabriel, looking around the hall with a frown. "We're on our own."

"Yeah, I just tried reaching him, but the connections completely cut. Don't go anywhere till I get those lasers down." Gabriel said in a hushed tone.

"Got it." Wen said, walking closer to the near invisible green lasers.

"What are you doing?" Roman asked as Wen crouched down.

"Ssh." Wen hissed.

Roman and Jeen shared a look.

Wen listened closely.

"There's a buzzing." He said, turning and looking over at the two of them.

"And we obviously know what that's supposed to mean?" Roman asked, his eyebrows raised.

Wen rolled his eyes and looked back at the lasers.

"They used to make lasers green for a while, meaning these are old, and when they're old, the more likely they are to be weak." He pointed to the lasers as he spoke. "Buzzing is a sign of them getting weak. And at this point, if an object moves fast enough fast the motion sensors, it makes them malfunction and shut themselves down."

"I'm guessing the 'fast object' is going to be you?" Jeen asked.

He nodded.

"That's interesting and all, but aren't we waiting for your dad to disable them right now."

Roman pointed out.

Wen shrugged.

"True. But I've been wanting to try this for a long time." He said with maybe too much excitement.

"Trying new things can wait, we should just - what's he doing?" Roman began but gave up when Wen took a few steps back, obviously oblivious to Roman's words.

Then he dashed forward like a bullet.

He ran so fast Jeen didn't even have time for a reaction.

She tensed up, waiting for some kind of alarm or anything, but nothing happened. After a few seconds of Wen standing there, completely still, the lasers began to flicker until they disappeared.

Wen smiled triumphantly and lifted his finger to his ear.

"Hey, Dad, we won't need you to shut those lasers down after all." He said in a hushed tone, then motioned for Jeen and Roman to follow him.

They walked down the empty hall for fifteen more minutes and got nowhere.
"We're running out of time. We need to get Mom before Londen and Saule's distraction runs out." Roman whispered.
"I know." Jeen said, feeling a headache coming.

She stopped abruptly at the sound of voices.
"Do you hear that?" She whispered.
Roman nodded.

They walked forward silently, turning around a corner.

A new line of doors lined each side of the dark hall. Jeen stopped when she saw a stream of light coming from a door.

"One." Wen whispered, nodding towards the number on the door.

"Dad, we're here."

"I'm looking at surveillance. I see Isabella," Jeen's heart sputtered in nervous relief when she heard that. "Two Wardens, and Nikole. I'll wait until she leaves to unlock the door."

"Okay." Wen answered.

Jeen beant down next to the door and put her ear to it.

She heard the voice of a woman.

It sounded almost robotic, and Jeen had to quiet her breathing before she could understand what the woman was saying.
"A week. That's too long."
Jeen's heart stopped when she heard the second voice.

It was Isabella.
"It-I can't finish it any sooner. The-the serum needs to age. And this lab is old, and I-I've had to do almost everything from scra-"
"I'll give you two days. If it's not done by then, not only will your daughter die, but you as well." That must be Nikole Lionel.
"Alright. Alright. Please, don't hurt her, or Roman. I'll finish as soon as is possible." Isabella said, she sounded sick and her voice was hoarse.

Jeen looked back at Roman, who looked white as a sheet.

The talking stopped and the sound a door closing followed.

A few seconds passed before Gabriel said, "I'm opening the door. Wen, go in first. Remember your training."

"Okay." Wen said, which seemed to be his most said word.

Jeen's hand went to her gun as Wen opened the door.

He walked in slowly, his gun raised as he took aim and shot the two guards one after the other.

They slumped to the ground.

The lab was a large gray room, a small aqua light bulb hanging from the ceiling over a table covered in a chemistry set, and above it a rectangle window with cold moonlight pouring in.

"Well that went smoother than expected." Roman commented as he walked in the room.
"Jeen? Roman?" Isabella asked in a voice that sounded unbelieving, like she was in a dream.
"Mom!" Jeen said as she ran and tackled her with a hug.
"How... when... who?" Isabella's confused voice asked.
"I'll tell you later. But right now we need to leave." Jeen said as she pulled away from the hug to examine her mother. She looked gaunt with red circles under her eyes, and her usual tidy bun was falling down and limp.
"Roman." Isabella said as she walked over and hugged Roman, who was taller and wider then her, and the more Jeen looked at them, the more she realized that they looked nothing alike.
"I've missed you both so much." Isabella croaked as she reached out for Jeen to hug again.
"We missed you too." Jeen said.

But Roman remained silent. Jeen wanted him to tell Mom how much he missed