Finn Lennoy - September 2120
Breakfast at Trinity ended up being a lot better than I'd braced for. I'd pictured something bland and overworked, the kind of food you eat without tasting. Instead, Miriam brought out plates that felt… cared for. Simple, warm, quietly brilliant.
Nothing like I imagine for "School" dinners.
Edmund showed up as we finished, business already humming behind his eyes. He asked if Noah could take a look at the people they were keeping below ground. The ones who'd taken the counterfeit Lunex vials. Noah agreed and I fell in step beside him. I usually do...
The basement air is stale, but not abandoned. Someone's put effort into keeping it livable. I catch the small things before anything else, clean corners, orderly supplies, the way that each cell has a beds with blanket and pillows. Quiet signs of care.
The first cell holds a young man on the floor, his arms locked into metal casings wired directly into the wall. A low hum pulses through the chains and the door. Not threatening. Just… deliberate. Mechanical purpose.
"Micro-photonic circuitry?" Noah murmurs, already leaning closer.
A voice drifts from the stairs."Good eye."
A stranger descends, with Edmund close behind him. The newcomer doesn't move like a soldier, more like someone whose thoughts run faster than his steps. Off to the side, Kai shifts his stance, it's subtle, but telling. Whatever he senses, he doesn't like it.
"I'm Dr Thomas" the stranger says, reaching to shake Noah's hand.
"Thomas is well versed in GeneX tech" Edmund adds, almost proud.
That explains the humming. And the tension.
"So you set this up?" Noah asks, curiosity edging into admiration.
Thomas rubs the back of his neck. "More like… repurposed GeneX tech in which I stole it."
That snaps my focus sharper. I step a little closer to Noah, casual enough not to make a point, but intentional all the same.
"Are you from the facility?" I ask calmly but direct.
If he still has ties there, Noah is too exposed.
"He used to be," Edmund says quickly. "He's been helping us from the inside."
I study Thomas again. He's a nervous and awkward man. Not dangerous.. not right now. If he was, Kai would have already dealt with him in the past.
"So you just changed sides one day?" I ask. "Left GeneX to help take them down?"
Thomas nods, not defensive. "I was never really on their side. Edmund sent me in to gather information."
Before I can sort through that, Kai's head lifts, sharp as a blade catching light.
"So you weren't actually a scientist there?" he asks, stepping forward.
Thomas pulls in on himself. "I was.... I am. That's why they trusted me."
A flicker of darkness stirs around Kai's feet. Instinct pushes me to step in, to steady the moment before it fractures. But Noah moves first, planting himself between them with effortless authority.
"Why don't you explain why you wanted me down here?" he says, easing the tension with a practiced calm.
I let out a slow breath. Not fully relaxing, my guard never really drops when Noah might be at risk, but enough to stay balanced. Quietly ready if anything shifts.
Kai settles back against the wall, reclaiming his distance. Thomas flicks a look his way, awkward and brief, before dropping his gaze like he'd rather not stir whatever sits between them.
They definitely knew each other at the facility. The air between them has that quiet, unsettled weight.
"I'd like you to observe the two individuals and share your thoughts" Edmund says, stepping forward with his usual clipped certainty.
Noah nods and moves to the first cell. The man on the floor has open eyes, but they're drifting, unfocused. His lips move in a soft murmur, but there's no anchor to it. He looks present in body, not in mind.
"No matter what we try, he isn't aware of his surrounding," Thomas explains. "He can't form words."
Noah leans a little closer to the gate, curiosity always pulls him in fast, and I reach out to tug him back a bit. Not dramatically. Just enough.
"Is it safe to touch the door?" I ask, keeping my tone even.
"Oh, yes," Thomas says quickly. "The design only affects wavelengths that counter Lunex's energy signature. It won't affect anyone without powers. It just cancels the signal, same idea as noise-canceling tech."
That fits. A practical system with a narrow target.
And it explains why Kai keeps a generous distance from the gate, arms folded like a shield he won't admit to holding.
I stay close to Noah, relaxed on the outside, but ready if something shifts.
Noah leans in toward the bars again, the way he always does when curiosity gets the better of caution. I shift with him out of habit, ready to pull him back if needed. At the same time, I catch the shadows stirring quietly around Noah's feet. Kai's keeping guard too... just from a different angle.
"Let me check my understanding," Noah says as he notes a line, "his ability involves acid?"
"Yes" Thomas answers. "He melted the first set of chains, so I had to build something stronger."
Noah studies Bennet with that focused calm he slips into so easily. He scribbles notes, pauses to tap the pen against his lip, then writes again. Watching him work always settles something in me, he looks more himself when he's thinking.
After a moment, he glances up. "May I see the other subject?"
"Of course. She's next door." Edmund says.
We follow him to a wooden door. The next room mirrors the first, another converted cell, but this one has a red line painted on the floor.
"Please don't cross the line" Edmund says.
We move to stand behind it. The woman inside catches my attention immediately. Unlike Bennet, she isn't restrained. She sits on the floor with a notebook, writing furiously, humming door pulsing in front of her like a second heart.
"Interesting," Noah murmurs. "and she took the counterfeit as well?"
Thomas and Edmund nod.
Her murmuring is clearer than Bennet's. Words slipping through the cracks.
"I didn't… I don't want to-"
"You don't want to what?" Noah asks gently.
Her eyes flick up to him, then back to the page.
"Hurt… hurt."
"Are you hurting?" he asks.
She shakes her head hard, one hand tugging at her hair.
"No no no! Other…"
"Other?" Noah steps forward, drawn in and forgets the red line entirely.
Instinct kicks in and I reach out to pull him back, but a shadow bolts upward from the floor faster than I can move, forming a barrier in front of him. Kai steps forward, eyes sharp.
"Noah," he says, voice carrying a warning beneath the surface.
Noah blinks, snapping out of his focus. He looks between Kai and me, realising how close he'd gotten.
"My apologies."
Kai doesn't soften. "I get you're interested. But you need to stay away from her."
"I agree" Edmund adds. "She may seem harmless, but her power causes anyone who touches her to experience unbearable pain."
My attention snaps back to the woman. She's thrown her notebook aside and is rocking back and forth, clutching her head as if something inside her is splintering.
Noah scribbles one more note before closing his pad.
"Thank you for allowing me to observe," he says. "Would it be possible to have blood samples?"
"That won't be a problem," Thomas replies. "I took some when they arrived."
I glance down at my watch. Nearly 9 a.m.
"Noah, we should head back before your dad gets suspicious."
He nods, and we turn toward the exit, only to stop at a shout from down the hall.
"Hey! Where's my breakfast? I'm hungry!"
The voice is loud, clear, and entirely lucid. It also seem too familiar.
We all turn toward the door and Kai sighs... the resigned kind.
"You should probably also know… we have Christopher Oswald captive here as well."
I nearly choke on air.
A board member of GeneX.
Held here.
What have we walked into?
________________
Kai had already walked us through situation on the way out, and by the time we're standing beside the car, Ethan stumbles out of the school with sleep-crumpled hair and a half-formed yawn.
"Sorry," he mutters, rubbing his eyes. "Didn't realise what time it was."
"You only just got up?" Kai asks. There's no bite in it, just that tired-fond tone he saves for people he actually likes.
Ethan drifts toward him and uses Kai's shoulder like it's part of the furniture."We were out so late last night. You three are the weird ones for being awake at sunrise" he mumbles.
Kai lets out a quiet sigh but loops an arm around him anyway, steady as ever.
"We should get going" I say, more to the moment than the people.
Kai's attention snaps back to Noah. "Will you be back soon?"
"We'll try," Noah answers. "But I'm going to be busy for the next couple weeks."
There's a flicker across Kai's face, there and gone, like a shutter catching too much light. He tucks it away but I can tell his dissapointed.
We climb into the truck, offer a few waves, and drive away. In the rearview, Kai and Ethan linger by the playground, the morning making them look smaller than they should.
A heaviness settles in my chest. Last night felt like slipping into an old room I hadn't realised I missed, all the laughter, the stories, the way Kai still knows how to make a space warmer without even trying. I hadn't expected it to hit this hard.
I glance at Noah. He's already buried in his notebook again, like the night never happened. I don't blame him.