It had been mere minutes since McCayla awoke. The cold metal of the cell walls seemed to burn her fingertips. Although it was practically boiling outside, the room remained unpleasantly cold, like an icebox. The areas around the two nodes attached to each side of her back were red and burnt.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Jaxon walked in quickly.

"McCayla..." Jaxon showed clear concern "Are you alright?"

McCayla pointed to her back.

Jaxon ran around to see her scarred, warm back, seemingly sunburned by the two electric nodes.

Jaxon turned around to face Sera, whose silhouette was barely visible from the corner of the room. She stood by the doorway, squinting to make out what was within the dark cell.

"No." Jaxon stared wide-eyed at Sera. You could see Jaxon's face turn pale. Jaxon knew Seraphina, and he knew she was never a fighter for herself. Jaxon knew Seraphina would never harm someone with such ravenous cruelty.

As Jaxon stared in denial at Sera, and then McCayla's terrible wounds, he knew something had broken in Jaxon's old friend. Something that you cannot mend.

"Well, are we going to leave?" McCayla tried to say arrogantly, but it came out more like a whimper.

She tried to stand up, but the stretching of her skin tore at the burned parts of her back. Seraphina approached McCayla, in a calm and controlled manner, knowing McCayla would not take well to her appearance.

"It's okay.." Seraphina said as she slowly approached the injured teen, "We're here to keep you safe."

"No." McCayla stayed steady, and spoke calmly and slowly, "Go, away."

Inside, McCayla was quivering. When she looked at Seraphina, she saw the pain she had inflicted, almost as if she was still being satanically abused. The only thing that kept her from being afraid was that she wanted to be killed.

Seraphina took a while before she responded.

"I'm not from Xanythar," she tried to make a sensible statement using unreasonable facts, "We're here to keep you safe."

McCayla looked up slowly, keeping her face pointing downwards. Her eyes glistened yet you could see the prominent red veins in them.

"Just kill me now," McCayla responded, "I have nothing more for you."

Jaxon put his hand on McCayla's shoulder, trying to look confident as he stared into McCayla's face.

"We are here for you," Jaxon said, trying to keep his voice stable. It seemed that he was going to say more, but instead, he looked away, letting his hand fall smoothly down her arm.

McCayla, still skeptical, looked up at Sera.

"How are you going to, as you say, 'keep me safe,'" McCayla inquired with a slight hint of disdain.

"There is a drop-ship waiting for us," Sera responded, her tone strong yet quiet, "But our time is limited, to say the least. "

It was at this moment McCayla noticed a thin clear syringe with a translucent red liquid tucked into Seraphina's jacket, as the young girl moved to unlock the nodes on McCayla's back.

McCayla had never been one to appreciate needles. She would always be disgusted when the injecting tubes in her Xani capsule enclosed upon her, puncturing her skin.

As the nodes fell off her back, she whimpered in pain, falling flat on the floor. Sera then took the opportunity to draw her syringe, injecting it forcefully into McCayla's shoulder. McCayla tried to roll and resist, but she was weakened from her usual healthy state.

After the contents of the shot were emptied, McCayla scrambled to her feet, ready to fight. It was moments before she realized what had just happened. She felt completely fine, a lightness on her feet she couldn't ignore.

"Its pain relief with some steroids," Sera explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaxon asked before the threesome scrambled out the door.

******

The large dropship hovered over the water, its two propellers quietly spinning as it approached the Xanythar beach. It had left to locate another landing site after dropping off the agent. It seemed impossible that a group of three children could find what a government could not.

However, it was painstakingly obvious that finding the dropship was too easy. It came to the exact location that Jaxon had first been picked up in, and, even if they did attempt to contact the extraction team, carried on lowering the rope despite.

You could see the thin, matte blue rope come dangling down from the cloaked dropship, as it slowly approached the site. When the rope finally made its way to the three teens, it stayed perfectly steady. Sera seemed skeptical at first but then began to climb, scaling the rope with great ease. Jaxon followed, his muscles visibly contracting as he pulled his way up quickly behind Sera.

McCayla was the last to grab on to the rope. She tried to climb the thin wire, but her hands slid down it, removing some of her skin. Then, without warning, the rope began to retract. McCayla jumped to grab onto the rope, but her hold was weak. She tried to climb, but she kept sliding back down to where she came.

Jaxon slid down the pole, and let his right leg dangle in front of McCayla.

"Grab on!" He screamed.

McCayla, with adrenaline powered thrust, shot upwards and grabbed onto Jaxon's shin. It was at this moment, she looked down.

The Arx was the first thing that caught her eye, It was a blue shimmering building, contrasting with the grey sky. It had helipads branching from all sides, with, at the very top, a statue of Lehol Amadie, the president of Xanythar, facing towards the enemy, Parinjaier. In his right hand, he held a Parinjaier plane, crushing it. In the other, an automatic handgun, facing straight for Jaxon's nation. Where she was going.

As the world grew smaller below her, she could feel the air thinning, and her vision clouded by clouds and fog.

When they reached the dropship, the door opened, and they were merely stared at by the agents within.

"Hello agents Price and Curron"

The teens entered the ship, and the door was quickly closed behind them. Before anyone could say a word, the Parinjaier agents drew their guns and moved to cuff McCayla, Sera and Jaxon.

Sera, out of pure instinct, jumped and snapped the neck of her captor with her legs, letting them fall lifelessly to the floor. Jaxon removed a gun from another agent's hand and quickly shot the hands of the gun-wielding agents.

McCayla stood in shock at the situation for a few seconds before she too moved into action. She punched one of the male agents weakly in the gut before turning and running to the opposite wall. Sera kicked this same agent in the balls from behind and then moved to break his spine with her elbow.

As the final agent was quickly shot and killed, Sera noticed another man sitting quietly at the other end of the room.

Before she could approach the man, however, the dropship started climbing at an unrealistic speed. The man at the other end began to shout.

"I'm your only way out of this mess!"

Sera turned to look at the pilot's door, which Jaxon was already trying to unlock.

"The doors are locked, just let me out."

McCayla, in a quick and rash movement, grabbed the keys and began to unlock the man's cuffs. Suddenly, the dropship began to dive, knocking everyone off balance. Sera rushed to stop McCayla, but before she could, the man stood up and ran for the door. He reached under a bench and pulled out a key, which he quickly used to unlock the door.

"Jump!" he screamed.

To be fair, no one really knew what they were doing at that point, as they all jumped from the diving plane.

Then, they began to fall.