Lucien paused, wincing.

’Shit.’

He’d meant to do this swiftly while all the security underground were focused on annihilating Lector and Evelyn. He had meant to follow the map, get to Amira, then get her out to the surface before Lector and Evelyn were done.

But the thing was, once he singled out Amira sitting in a cage filled with children, amongst hundreds of different cages in that dark room, the map had disappeared. And as he broke the cage and brought her out, he had to navigate his surroundings with his memory and wits, finding his own way back out.

He’d pointedly avoided the areas where he heard the sounds of blasters. But the sounds had stopped all of a sudden, and he found that he could freely navigate his way with a sleeping, unconscious Amira.

And the result of that?

Well, here Lucien was, wearing a nervous smile, holding an unconscious purple-haired child flung on one shoulder, gazing at Lector, who had his pistol pointed at him with a dumbfounded facial expression, surrounded by the corpses of men that probably numbered into hundreds.

’Fuck my luck.’

He just had to run into Lector, didn’t he?

Sighing, Lucien walked forward, toward Lector, still holding Amira on his shoulder.

He looked around.

"You’re done here, aren’t you?"

Lector, regaining his composure and recovering from his shock, gathered himself, scoffing. And he hung his pistol back on his strap, together with that large, gun-like steel weapon. A bigger blaster, Lucien thought. Useless things they’d all be once Eden struck.

The Prowler wore that nauseating bright smile of his. And it seemed to brighten up the half darkness of the room.

How great. Lucien was having trouble seeing clearly after all.

"Yeah, we’re done." Lector faced forward, gazing at a steel door at the end of the room. "You found the child you were looking for?"

Lucien’s tense facial expression turned warm as his emerald eyes regarded the child asleep on his shoulder.

’Amira.’

"Obviously," he said, looking around now. "But where’s Evelyn?"

Lector crossed his arms, looking a bit puzzled.

"She should be on her way out by now. If nothing irregular occurred. She’s secured our target. And now I just need to rescue all these kids–"

[RUN!!!!! NOW!!!] Evelyn’s voice rang from Lector’s camo-watch.

Lector shook subtly, tensed. That was surprising. Lucien had no idea that The Rock of Mariva could even feel tense.

"What’s the problem, Evelyn?!" Lector yelled at his watch.

At the same moment, the ground around them began to tremble.

Lucien felt his legs quiver, his heartbeat cranking up a notch.

’Is this what I think it is?’ he thought. ’Well, at least Lector wouldn’t get to ask me questions about Amira. But shit, that wouldn’t even be necessary if we all die in here–’

Lucien put a hand on Lector’s shoulder.

"I think we have to go now, big guy."

[Forcing the target to come with me, he triggered a self-destruct button on the facility just before I knocked him unconscious. I realized after our short conversation and tried to disable it, but... I’m on my way now! Go, go, go!!]

Lucien frowned.

"Well that doesn’t sound quite nice. We have to go now, Lector!"

Lector stood firmly, his back to Lucien, his fists clenched.

"The children."

The scowl on Lucien’s face deepened.

"What?"

"The children, Lucien. We can’t just leave them all to die. They’re all innocent. All of them! They didn’t want in on any of this. If this facility blows up, they all die!"

Lucien’s eyes widened.

Well, he hadn’t been thinking that far. And frankly he didn’t even have the time for that. Yes, the blond man was right in a way, but shit it, Lucien had seen hundreds of children on his way here.

There was no way they could rescue them all in time.

It... it just wasn’t possible.

’Damn, he’s making me feel bad. Isn’t this guy supposed to be a Prowler?’

Lucien clenched the man’s shoulder. Tightly.

The quivering of the ground around them became stronger, shaking them, loosening their balance.

"You can either die here trying to do something impossible, or you can live to save the lives of thousands of children around Mariva being forced into doing things that they weren’t born for."

Lector actually remained silent for a while, as if he were contemplating Lucien’s words.

’Heavens know we don’t have enough time for this.’

Then, finally, reluctantly, the man turned, facing Lucien.

His smile was gone. And his hazel eyes were reddened.

"Let’s go."

He held tightly on to Lucien, which made the young man’s eyes widen.

’I’m being carried like a child. A child carrying a child!’

Lector began to run.

And as Lucien squinted his eyes, he saw Evelyn running out of that one steel door at the corner, holding on to an unconscious man twice her size.

’Damn, that lady’s strong.’

The quivering all around the building increased, and then, as though it were angry and hungry, fire began to rage as explosions detonated.

But they ran.

To the surface, to the outer rooms, and finally, to the reception where Lucien had first met Old Man Whiskers.

And then, just as the team was about to jump out of the building, the explosion took off ferociously, sending them flying.

In that slow, cascading aerial motion, Lucien saw Evelyn holding onto that man with one hand, gracefully soaring through the air above them. How curious.

They landed on the ground. Hard. Far away from the destroyed building.

And the sounds of explosions rumbled.

Lucien lay sprawled on the ground, a child in his protective embrace.

Lector sat next to him, looking downcast.

Lucien didn’t even bother looking at Evelyn.

Instead, he focused his attention on the purple-haired kid in his embrace, who finally opened her eyes, coughing.

Lucien also coughed, smiling. And then he rested his head back on the ground, looking above at the cloud-hidden sun.

’I might not be so unlucky after all.’

Slowly, he closed his eyes.