"'Custody'?" Alex blurted out "you can't expect to keep them prisoner and get away with it! They have rights!" 

"They're illegal aliens on US soil," Burke interrupted, "without so much as a passport. The patriot act enables me to detain them for a long as necessary" 

"You can't keep this quiet" Alex said to him, "the world has the right to know that they exist" 

"And you're going to be the one to blow the whistle, Doctor?" He asked mockingly, Charlotte-Mae glaring at him "a failed astrophysicist fired by three universities for obsessing over UFOs, teams up with an ex-con and a runaway in declaring that the government has captured two normal-looking kids and is holding them hostage inside a mountain that doesn't exist? It would be so much easier to let you speak than to deal with all the paperwork involved with killing you"

"Someone will believe us" Jack said

"From behind bars?" Burke shot back, "let me remind you, Mr. Bruno, as a convicted felon, you're looking at twenty years just for standing on this mountain and talking to me. Shall I go on?" 

". . . No." Jack said, "I get the message" 

Alex looked at him in surprise,

"Smart man" Burke said, "give them a lift back down" 

"What?" Alex asked, looking at Jack "that's it? It's over?" 

"I'm sorry" Jack replied "I will not go back to prison" 

He walked over to Charlotte-Mae, bending slightly to grasp her arms, gently pulling her to her feet,

"Let's go" A man said, roughly pulling Jack, Alex and Charlotte-Mae

•

The car ride down the mountain was so tense, you could cut it with a knife,

"Thankfully Seth and Sara didn't have to witness how quickly you gave up" Alex said coldly

"I told them from the beginning it was a suicide mission, I wasn't wrong" Jack retaliated

"They trusted you" she replied "I trusted you"

"Join the club of everybody else in my life who I've disappointed" Jack said

"They will dissect them like frogs in a high school biology class" she replied "you know that"

"It's not my problem" he shot back "and it never wa-" Alex reached over Charlotte-Mae's head, slapping him across the face

"Hey!" One guy in the front said, turning around

But Jack didn't give him time to say anything else before punching him and pulling the driver over the top of him. The car swerved up over a hill of dirt and came close to going over the edge as Jack pulled and push the driver from side to side, slamming his head through the window and slamming him into his colleague, forcing them both out the other side. Alex jumped into the driver's seat and Jack jumped into passenger, while Charlotte-Mae stayed in the back, Jack closed his door and felt his jaw.

"By the way, that slap, very realistic" Jack said to Alex, "when did you know?" 

"You haven't bailed on the kids yet" she replied "why start now?"

"Mae?" Jack asked "why didn't you fight back?"

"I have a plan" she replied, shrugging slightly, looking at him with a smile

•

Alex drove around to the back of the mountain, looking for some way to get in,

"There!" Charlotte-Mae said, pointing to a concrete drainage pipe

She stopped the car, the three of them getting out, Jack quickly grabbed ahold of the wheel to open the pipe, struggling because of the rust. Charlotte-Mae grabbed another side of the wheel, giving him a hand, grunting as it began to move. With a final grunt, we got it to turn and Jack pulled open the rusty door.

"After you" He said, gesturing to Alex

"I'm right behind you" She replied, causing Charlotte-Mae to roll her eyes

"Both of you are wusses" she commented

"Hey!" Jack protested, causing her to poke her head out

". . Don't go in the pimped out fridge Jack" she mocked, turning back and climbing inside

Charlotte-Mae heard them climb in behind her as she crawled through the pipe.

.

"Back up a bit" Charlotte-Mae told them

She turned herself around, laying on her back, looking at the porthole for a second before a white ring began to form around the inner part of her iris, bending her knees inward before throwing her feet out. A harsh gust of wind followed, the porthole coming free, falling down the vertical pipe, Charlotte-Mae poking her head out, watching as it fell.

"Nice work, Mae" Jack praised

Maneuvering herself, she wormed her way out of the pipe, climbing the ladder with Jack and Alex following,

"I can" Alex said

"You can" Jack replied

"Here I go. Oh boy" Alex said again, grabbing onto the handles as best as she could

"That's it. Right there" Jack continued to say to her "you got it"

Suddenly the tunnels shook, Charlotte-Mae stopping,

"Ah! What's that?" Jack cried out

"Oh no, Jack. Exhaust furnace!" Alex said, "Quick, Mae! Back up!"

"No! This way, this way!" Jack replied "there's another tunnel right here"

"Hurry up!" Alex replied as she climbed down,

Jack slipped into the tunnel, followed by Alex and Charlotte-Mae slipped in just before the fire burst through the tunnel where they were, the two adults screaming as they slid down the tunnel, pulling Charlotte-Mae with them, a shocked scream emitting from her. Suddenly, Jack stopped screaming, a thud filling the air, Alex being next, catching Charlotte-Mae and keeping her on her feet,

"You okay, girls?" Jack asked, looking at them

"Yeah" Alex replied

". . Anxiety" Charlotte-Mae answered, earning a light chuckle

"Okay, let's go" Jack replied

•

Jack poked his head out of a pipe for a moment, pulling himself out slowly and quietly, helping Charlotte-Mae, then turning to help Alex down as well, pressing themselves against the wall as he looked out to see if anyone saw the. 

"What now?" Alex asked Jack

"Find the kids. Don't get caught" He said

"Good plan" She replied with a nod

They did their best to stay in the shadows, keeping to the darkness so they couldn't be seen, staying close to one another. They arrived at a hallway, which was empty except for boxes and equipment, allowing to run down to the end towards a door where the commotion seemed to be, sneaking in behind a huge pile of covered equipment and peeking round the corner to see Burke in a white room surrounded by glass. Alex and Jack jerked back when they saw him, Charlotte-Mae knowing that she hadn't need seen, a small gasp emitting from her when she saw Seth and Sara dressed in white, laying on tables, other men dressed in containment suits.

Suddenly, red lights started blaring and an announcement came on to the PA,

"Whiskey 7, we have penetration in fence sector 28. Break. Tango 31. All stations, general alert."

"Oh no!" Alex whisper yelled.

"No, no I don't think that's us" Jack replied

"Red alert, security breach."

They peeked out again, seeing that everyone was leaving the room, even some of the people testing Seth and Sara,

"Close containment doors, all levels!"

As a truck rolled by, Jack grabbed Alex's hand, who grabbed Charlotte-Mae's, running over towards the testing facility, keeping behind the truck,

"This facility is on red alert!" 

Jack knocked on the door and it was opened by a man in a lab coat,

"Hi" Jack said, "can I borrow that pen?" 

The guy looked at it, Jack grabbed his collar and pulled him into the door, then pushed him over a table, knocking over glass bottles and test tubes, punching another guy and pushing him to the ground as well, but not before Alex turned around and roundhouse kicked him in the face, causing Jack to look at her in surprise,

"I have three older brothers" She said as a form of explanation