Already Over (Time to Rise)

Cade nodded and turned to leave, smiling. "Remember, don't be too loud."

"I'll keep it low." She nodded her head.

Cade led her to a decidedly high-tech looking building, some kind of lab by the looks of it. There were only two rooms, three if you counted the long hallway between them. Cade led Skye through the first room quietly, grabbing a medical mask on the way in. He handed one to Skye as well.

She took it from him and put it on.

Cade swiftly put on the mask and opened the door that led to the hallway, leading her down it silently.

She followed after him, gazing curiously even though there wasn't much to look at.

Cade slowly and quietly opened the door to a very large room, full of computers and machines all running silently, all hooked up to a kneeling man on a pedestal in the center of the room with cables and tubes full of some sort of swift-moving green fluid. "That's Kestrel.", Cade whispered.

She gave a nod gazing curiously.

Cade approached one of the many men in white lab coats, who saluted. "Good morning, sir.", he said quietly. Cade nodded. "How is Kestrel doing? Any anomalies lately? We can't have another Rupture."

'I wonder what happened to him that put him here.' She thought to herself.

"No, sir. He's been very stable lately. But his pulse has been quickening every time Lun goes near him, but not enough to warrant concern. We are looking into it, however."

'Who's this Lun anyway?' Skye said quickly averting her gaze over to the two.

"That makes sense. He had feelings for Lun before the incident, right?", Cade asked. The scientist nodded. "Yes, but as you've seen, he's completely shut out from the world. He has no way of knowing that Lun is nearby."

'I'm guessing a girl then.' Skye thought glancing down at the floor.

"How is the control augmentation going?", Cade asked. "It's going along without a hitch. He'll never have a Rupture again if it works like it should."

"I'm lost here," Skye murmured quietly, "Can you guys tell me what happened?"

"Three years ago, when Jade was still our ally and you weren't here, Kestrel arrived. He had a very powerful gift, the gift of doom and death. But he could barely control it. I tried teaching him, but he completely lost control over himself. That was the Rupture. We lost over five thousand soldiers that day. He's been hooked up ever since. We're augmenting him, giving him virtual training so that when we use him, we won't have another Rupture."

"I heard about that, but it never came to any of my concern." She whispered.

"Lun is one of our scientists, and used to be his girlfriend. She has the gift of life. They balance each other out. She saved his life after the Rupture."

"I see now, everything makes sense." She murmured.

"Would you like to meet her?", Cade asked.

"Yea." She nodded her head.

Cade nodded. "Okay, follow me."

Skye followed after him, taking one last glance at Krestel before leaving.

Cade led her to a small tent nearby the lab. "Lun, are you there?"