After Rachel got Orion to the infirmary, he told her Candace and the other support staff were in the Nexus. She quickly dropped by them to tell Candace about what had happened and the doctor wasted no time in going with her to check on her new patient. Rachel excused herself—Orion was in good hands, and she had to get to the Sanctum to provide support for Ethan and Tom.

  “What the hell?”

  Rachel stopped in her tracks at the sudden voice in her ear—Alexa’s voice. She sent back her own transmission. “What is it?”

  “It’s that weird, insect-looking…whatever,” said Olivia. “It just disappeared.”

  “And you can’t find any trace of it?”

  “Nothing in the skies, nothing on land. It’s just gone,” said Alexa.

  Rachel didn’t know whether that qualified as good or bad news. “Okay, you two better get in here. Meet me at the Sanctum.”

  She went to the stairwell and ran up the next few flights. Rachel got off at the Sanctum’s level and rushed through, but she stopped when she saw the body in the hall in front of the Sanctum’s entrance.

  “Oh, no…”

  Rachel ran over to Marcus’s body and fell to her knees. She checked his pulse, but judging from the amount of blood that drenched his clothes and pooled under him, she knew the answer even before she found an artery. Rachel wrapped her arms around Marcus’s lifeless form and held him tight. She’d known him even before she became a Knight. They’d never been particularly close, but he’d been a constant in her life. And now, he was just gone. She kept waiting for his gruff voice to croak out a command, tell her she was squeezing him too tight. But nothing came.

  “Rache…”

  She looked up to see Alexa and Olivia standing nearby. Olivia was the first to retract her helmet, her eyes already beginning to water. Alexa’s helmet retracted next. Her eyebrows angled and she bit her lower lip, then looked away. Alexa had clashed with Marcus, so Rachel figured seeing him like this no doubt raised complicated feelings.

  “What happened?” asked Olivia.

  Rachel steeled herself and stood, turning toward the closed Sanctum door. “Orion said that Sylva bitch had taken him, so I’m guessing this is her handiwork.” She held out her arm, the Thunderbow forming in her grip.

  Alexa activated her helmet and manifested the Zephyrwhip. Olivia was slower to act, but she restored her helmet and also summoned her Terrastaff.

  Rachel gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief at the chaos and the unexpected scene before her. With Tom pummeling Ethan. And no sign of Sylva.

  Rachel wasted no time in taking action. She retracted her weapon, then rushed over to her two teammates. Rachel tried to pry Tom off of Ethan, but his fury seemed relentless. It took Alexa’s help before they were able to pull Tom back. And still he struggled, forcing them both to summon all their strength to restrain him. Once he’d calmed, Rachel and Alexa released him. Rachel saw that Olivia had helped Ethan to his feet, and she moved in the middle of them. After retracting her helmet, Rachel regarded both of them with the sort of stern gaze a teacher might use on a pair of unruly students.

  “Now that we’ve separated you two, who’s gonna tell me what the hell happened?” She turned to Tom first. “For starters, why were you beating the crap out of Ethan?”

  “A better question would be why did he help Marcus’s killer escape?” asked Tom, pointing at Ethan.

  Rachel’s breath caught in her throat. She huffed, then turned to Ethan. “The hell’s that mean?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “That’s not what happened. I just didn’t want him to kill her before we could get to the bottom of everything,” said Ethan.

  “The bottom of what?” asked Olivia.

  Ethan looked at Olivia, then regarded his other teammates. His eyes finally settled on both Tom and Rachel. With a sigh, he said, “There’s a lot we have to talk about.”

  With the dust settled, the entire group gathered in the cafeteria. Through a holo-link, both Candace and Orion joined from the infirmary. Ethan wanted them to hear what he had to say, too. But no one was quite prepared for the story he was about to tell.

  “When she was our prisoner, I had a chance to speak to Sylva. She told me about her world, a place called Varilia. She said that the Quantum Group invaded and killed massive numbers of people. Then, they subjugated the survivors and forced them into slave labor, stripping the world of its resources.”

  “And you believed that shit?” asked Alexa, her posture stiff while she avoided looking Ethan in the eyes.

  “I didn’t know what to believe. At least, not at first,” said Ethan. “But when I followed her into the Sanctum, she confronted the Tribunal. And once she said the name of her world, they got real quiet.”

  “They were probably shocked by the level of bullshit,” said Tom.

  “Tom, can you hit pause? We agreed to give him a chance to talk.” Rachel looked at Ethan. “Did they say anything? Deny it?”

  “No. In fact, sounded more like they were equivocating,” said Ethan. “So I asked them directly. They said her world had the potential to be an enemy world.”

  “The potential?” asked Olivia.

  “Exactly my reaction,” said Ethan. “I tried to get more info, but Sylva destroyed the Sanctum and the link to the Tribunal before they could say anything else.”

  “So it’s true?” asked Olivia, her shoulders sagging. She looked at Rachel and Tom. “Did you know anything about this?”

  “Of course not, because I don’t think we can trust anything Ethan says,” said Tom. “How come he never told anyone about this conversation with Sylva until now?”

  “Because I thought it was bullshit, too,” said Ethan. “And then we got swept up in other stuff.”

  “Or maybe she got into your head somehow,” said Tom. “You saw her teleport away like that, who knows what other powers she has?”

  “I’m not so sure it’s bullshit.” Rachel looked at Tom. “Remember what Barnes said?”

  “Who’s Barnes?” asked Olivia.

  “A former Knight, tried to interface with his Titan like I did and it drove him insane,” said Rachel. “He’s still alive and Tom and I went to see him. He said it was all lies. And I remember from my own visions…it didn’t like they were happening on Earth.”

  “So…it’s true?” asked Alexa. “We’re working for the bad guys?”

  “Did you know?” Tom asked the holographic projections of Orion and Candace. “Have you known what we were part of?”

  “I’ve never heard anything even remotely like this,” said Candace.

  Tom fixed his gaze on Orion’s projection. “And you?”

  Orion shook his head. “I don’t know. But if I’m being honest, it wouldn’t surprise me. No one knows a whole lot about the Tribunal, or how far the Quantum Group stretches.”

  “Stripping resources from other worlds? Could explain why the Quantum Group has access to so much cutting-edge tech and how they can afford all of this,” said Rachel.

  “Okay…what, then?” asked Alexa.

  “Sylva told me she was part of a group of survivors gathered together by a great warrior to get revenge on the Quantum Group.”

  “Was that the big guy?” asked Orion.

  “I don’t think so. Seemed like she was giving him orders,” said Rachel.

  “She didn’t say who their leader is, but my guess is you’re right. All she would say is that he’s some great warrior. Sounded like someone to be scared of,” said Ethan.

  “Yeah, but what do we do?” asked Alexa. “If we’re working for the bad guys, then do we…I dunno, switch sides now?”

  “No, it’s not that simple,” said Ethan. “Sylva talked about building something better from the wreckage, and she said one world in recompense for many. Whatever it is they’re here for, I think it goes beyond just the Quantum Group.”

  “Regardless of what the Quantum Group may have done in the past, we all know what we’ve done. And I don’t know about any of you, but I think I would’ve remembered if I were involved in any genocides,” said Rachel. “We can feel sympathy for what’s been done to these people, but that doesn’t mean we let them destroy another world. The rest of you can do what you want. But I’ll still fight, if that’s what needs to be done.”

  “No secret how I feel about what happened to them, but two wrongs don’t make a right. I’ll fight,” said Ethan.

  “Fighting’s not my first choice, but I also don’t want anyone else getting hurt,” said Olivia. “Me, too. I’m onboard.”

  “She killed Marcus. That alone needs some kinda response,” said Alexa. “And who knows what else they’re up to? I’m in.”

  Tom faced away from the group. He rubbed his chin as he stared at the wall. “All this time…I thought that Scott and the others…I thought they died for something. That they were heroes. But in the end, it turns out we’ve all just been puppets.”

  He took the Omega Gauntlet off his wrist and set it on the table.

  “I’m done being used.”