Caged No More: Chapter 42

Instructions

:CW/TW- Mentions of mut!lation, weap0ns | POV: Onyx: Finally. The day we storm the lab. I feel my heart pounding, adrenaline rushing through my veins. Inside the apartment room, we're all silent. Kai is putting on faer enhancement gear with shaking hands, not really in fear, but more in anticipation. I take stars hand. "Kai," I say, "We can do this. We've been training together now for at least two weeks. Dr. Lewis is going down." It's more to comfort me than her, and I see fae can understand. "Yeah. I know we can do this." Kai's eyes are burning with a ferocity I've never seen in them before. I can tell stars hungry for revenge. Sky is the only one of us not showing any signs of nervousness. She trots on all fours around the small room restlessly and practices battle moves on the bag hanging from the ceiling. After I strap on my badger tail, I plop down on my bed and address no one. "What happens if we lose?" I ask. Sky freezes mid-slash, eyes darkening as she faces me. "We won't lose. But if we somehow do, then, heh, they'll do unforgettable things." "Like cut out our tongues, like they did to Paris," Kai spits, "Or torture us till we don't know our own names. That's why we can't- won't- lose." I fiddle with the fur of my mask, taking a deep breath before I respond. "You're right. I'm just so nervous to go back. I can't forget what they did. We all have trauma. And It's going to be hard to return." Sky pulls us towards her. "So we stick together," she vows, "And we win. For everyone we lost or anything the lab did." We all nod solemnly, and go back to silence until our gear is secured and we successfully get on our shifting pendants. Then we walk to the bus, where Sable and Paris are waiting, in full gear, writing on a notepad. I shudder, remembering what Kai said about Paris. But the weight disappears from my stomach when Sable bounds over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me into his embrace. It's the goldbeast who pries us apart. "Time to get on the heli. We're leaving now." ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ The sun is setting when we arrive. The parking lot behind the lab is empty except for a few cars. I know the guards sleep in bunkers at the lab, so there may be more than we're prepared for. Sable tries to speak, but only an unintelligible rasp comes out. I squeeze his hand. "We'll stick together. I won't ever leave you." He smiles, and opens the door for me to exit the copter. I wait for him to land and meet up with the others at the foot of a huge oak. "Gear on," Sky's mentor orders. I slip on my badger mask and immediately can see better, hear sharper, and scent things I would never be able to without the mask. Our goldbeast hands us all a gvn (with rubber bull3ts, it claims) and a few sharp kn!ves I stow in my belt. Then it instructs us to go inside through the vents. Everyone turns to Sable and I. "Yeah, I know where they are, and where they lead," I state, shrugging. "C'mon." I lead them to the place where we escaped. The grate is shut, and when I prod it with a stick, it doesn't budge. But Sky's mentor just snaps its fingers and the grate pops loose. We crawl in, with Sable leading the way. The mentors stay behind, mainly because they can't fit. I hiss, "Sable, we can drop down now. This is the hallway, and no guards are here." He nods and kicks the vent, catching it before it falls and alerts anyone. We silently drop down from the seven-foot height, landing with small thunks that I doubt we could hear without the masks. Kai turns to me, adjusting faer seal mask. "I haven't been here in a while," she breathes, voice wavering a little. I try and stay calm for star, while inside fear is coursing through me intensely. "This place is fresh in my mind," I reply with a flick of my phantom ear, trying to brush away the memories. "We have to disable the control room now." Sky growls. "Not now. We have to deal with some of Lewis's lackeys first." Confused, I look around, then hear it. The all-too-familiar sound of boots clomping on tile, heading straight towards us.