2 Hours Later

“How’s he looking?”

“Well… he’s stable, at least,” Kaoné responded. “But beyond that…”

Saito grunted in response, his gaze focused on the unconscious form of Captain Travis through a long observation window. Standing with the Colonel were Kaoné, Rebehka, Major Hackett, and MacTavish. The entire group currently stood within the small isolation wing of Tresnon’s hospital, with one of the two rooms dedicated entirely to Travis — and the other to Liask. With both victims suffering from the metallic infection, they had been quarantined in the back of the hospital, complete with protective energy shielding around both rooms to prevent the escape of any nanites.

“Still, I haven’t seen an ICD nearly as advanced as the one you have on the Captain…” Rebehka mused, turning to look at the Earthians through the corner of her eye. “Did you manage to improve the NSD’s designs already?”

“No, that tech isn’t ours,” Saito replied. “It’s EA’s. We came here straight from attacking his base.”

“EA… I’ve heard the Keys mention him, I think…” Kaoné said. “…So he’s an enemy of SERRCom? How long ago did you attack his base?”

“It’s been two days,” Hackett replied. “We had to Gate from the base to a planet closer to Nimalia, and then get Danielle to turn into a Frigate to take us the rest of the way. It was just about the fastest we could’ve gotten here.”

“As a SERRCom Frigate, though, right? The NSD didn’t give you any trouble when you approached Nimalia?”

“The NSD Commander gave blanket permission for SERRCom to land Frigates on Nimalia, so long as we stuck to Treséd,” Saito replied, and then nodded toward Rebehka. “You might remember hearing that yourself.”

“Right, at the summit…” Rebehka nodded along absentmindedly. “…So this ICD tech belongs to… EA?”

“That’s right,” Hackett replied.

“The stasis effect is novel… we have cryogenic stasis on Nimalia, but nothing that can actually slow down time. The CSA doesn’t have that kind of tech, either… I recall hearing at the summit that EA is supposedly a clone of Austin Travis? But that doesn’t explain how he got his hands on this kind of technology. Just the opposite, in fact. Who is EA, really?”

“We’d love to know, ourselves,” Saito deadpanned, and then glanced toward Kaoné. “But, more to the point — do you think you can cure the Captain?”

Kaoné sighed warily, as if expecting to hear the question. “…I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’ve cured non-human animals, so theoretically, I should be able to cure an Earthian just as well as a Nimalian… if I actually knew how to cure humans. But, I’ve never cured the infection in a human, other than myself. And using my Materiatechnism on my own body is significantly easier than using it on another person’s.”

“You make it sound like a cure is still possible, though. What kind of odds are we talking?” Hackett pressed.

“I really can’t say. I’d be more confident if this was a normal case, but this time… I just don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” Saito questioned.

“It’s the pace of the infection,” Rebehka explained. “Normally, it would take weeks, if not several months before the infection renders a human comatose, or otherwise overrides their executive functions. Just as an example — twenty years ago, a friend of mine was able to resist the infection for several months.”

“But here — with both Luke, and Liask — the infection has rapidly progressed over a matter of mere days,” Kaoné said. “This kind of pace is… unprecedented. And without knowing why the infection is moving faster…”

“…You can’t be sure if a normal cure will work…” Saito muttered.

“U-um…” MacTavish spoke up, meekly glancing between Kaoné and Rebehka. “A-are… there other, um, w-ways to cure…? M-maybe ampu, um, amputation…?”

“Amputation doesn’t work,” Rebehka replied. “The rashes appear localized, but in reality, the nanites breach the bloodstream as soon as they’re able to, and from there, they end up all over the body.”

“Oh…”

“There is another potential cure…” Rebehka mused, glancing between Travis and Liask before sighing and shaking her head. “…But it just isn’t viable.”

“Are you sure?” Hackett questioned. “We’re talking about life or death, here. We need to try everything that we can.”

“I’m aware,” Rebehka replied. “But that doesn’t help, here. The cure I was thinking of is using the Chaos State. If an old piece of intel that we have is right, then activating the Chaos State should immediately destroy any Nanocreature nanites in the body of the activator. But the problem is that your Captain — Luke Travis — he isn’t a Chaotic. And only Chaotics can activate the Chaos State.”

“I see…”

“Doesn’t the Chaos State require access to a Chaos Ayas?” Saito questioned. “Those are quite rare, and dangerous. As much as I hate to say it, I can’t imagine that any government would loan us their Ayas just to save the Captain’s life…”

“Right.” Rebehka nodded. “Same for Liask — no government would relinquish an Ayas to save a Tresédian, especially when doing so would risk losing the Ayas to the infection. And even if they would, both Liask and the Captain are unconscious. You can’t use the Chaos State while unconscious…”

“Is…” MacTavish began uneasily, “is… that why they’re, um, unconscious…?”

Kaoné and Rebehka exchanged an uneasy glance. “I hadn’t thought of that…” Kaoné muttered.

“I suppose it’s possible that the infection rapidly induced unconsciousness to prevent the victims from using the Chaos State…” Rebehka mused, “but… why now? If we assume that to be the reason for Liask and the Captain’s unconsciousness, then why did the infection think that the two of them would have a better chance at being cured than any victim prior…?”

“This infection is supposedly intelligent, right?” Hackett pointed out. “Maybe it knows that both of the victims here might have been brought to you, Dean Densalin.”

“The infection is certainly more intelligent than any normal pathogen,” Rebehka admitted. “I mean, the fact that it has intelligence is one of the big reasons that it’s so dangerous. But as to how intelligent it is, we can’t say.”

“I have dealt with the infection reacting to me attempting a cure, before,” Kaoné said. “Remember what happened on Oriciid’kas?”

Rebehka’s face clouded. “Yes…”

“Although, now that I think about it…” Kaoné mused, “I think there’s another potential answer, here. According to the Keys… Pierce was attacked and wounded by the same beast that infected Liask, but he doesn’t have a single nanite in his body. And the Keys were present for the Critical Infection incident on Oriciid’kas, as well. And on Nayasis and Karania, too, now that I think about it…”

“And one of them is the Captain’s nephew, too…” Saito nodded in understanding.

“Hold on,” Hackett interjected, doubt writ across her face. “Are we seriously suggesting that the infection is reacting to the recruits? It seems more reasonable to think that it’s reacting to you, Deans. After all, every Critical Infection the recruits were present for, old members of Hero Machina were present for, too. Maybe the infection is just reacting to the people who beat it 20 years ago.”

“That’s true…” Kaoné mused. “But if the infection is reacting to us, then why did we only see this string of Critical Infection Incidents now? Why not at any other point over the past 20 years?”

“Sure, it seems odd. But it’s only, what, three incidents? It could easily all be a coincidence.”

“Normally, I would agree, but…” Rebehka responded with a sigh, “…the thing is, the Critical Infections aren’t the only thing that’s odd. Kaoné was right, earlier — Pierce Bradley showed no signs of being infected after being wounded by an infected creature. That should be impossible… unless Archoné Culana’s claims that the Keys are special, are correct.”

“…Let me get this straight,” Hackett responded incredulously. “You’re suggesting that those prophecies are real? And that Critical Infections are springing up all around the recruits?!”

“Well, I don’t know about the Critical Infection thing,” Kaoné replied. “That was just speculation. Critical Infections do happen without the recruits, so it could just be coincidence, as you said. But there are still several other things that don’t add up, unless we treat the Oraculmic prophecies as true. After all, based on everything that we know about how the infection works and spreads, an open wound should be a guaranteed infection. Pierce’s wound was superficial, sure, but it still drew blood, and that’s all that matters. The fact that he’s perfectly fine… it flies in the face of everything we know.”

“I don’t like it, either,” Rebehka added. “I’ve never been one to buy what the Oraculm has to say. But Culana might be onto something, here. It would explain why the Keys can summon and use Ayas Weapons, as well…”

“P-prophecies, huh…” MacTavish muttered in contemplation.

“I must be going crazy,” Hackett retorted, and then turned to Saito. “Sir, don’t tell me you believe any of this.”

Saito glanced up at Hackett, and then over at the two Nimalians. “…Hard to say,” he eventually replied, “but the thing is… right before EA left, he told me something. He said that Pallan — that Archoné Culana — would know something about how to cure Captain Travis.”

“Really…?” Rebehka responded.

“We’re talking about EA, sir,” Hackett interjected. “Can we really trust anything that he says?”

“Distrusting him out of hand is, in part, what got us into this mess,” Saito countered. “Besides, this seems like too much of a coincidence to pass up. After all, if there’s one thing I can agree with EA on, it’s that Pallan knows more than he’s letting on.”

“Indeed, he’s said as much, himself…” Kaoné mused.

“Did EA say anything more than that, though?” Rebehka questioned. “Culana is always hiding something. Without specifics, we can’t press him for more info.”

“Right,” Saito replied. “Well, there was more, actually. EA said to tell Pallan that he knows about the Fog Islands. Does that mean anything to you?”

“The Fog Islands?” Kaoné echoed incredulously. “…Is he talking about the myths and rumors surrounding the Fog Islands?”

“What myths? Is this a real place?”

“Oh, the islands themselves are very real,” Kaoné explained, passing a quick glance toward MacTavish as the Researcher whipped a small laptop out of her backpack and began typing. Kaoné then turned back to Saito, saying, “the Fog Islands are a group of islands here, on Nimalia. They’re located in the middle of the Aodé Ocean, far south of Tekdecé and Riverana, and southeast of Treséd. The islands are covered in a thick, perpetual fog, hence their name. There are a lot of stories of people visiting the islands and getting mysteriously lost, or turned around. Supposedly, all navigation and tracking equipment stops working in the vicinity of the islands.”

“Sounds a lot like the Bermuda Triangle myths we have on Earth,” Hackett mused, only to frown. “…Don’t tell me that these Fog Islands rumors are real, though.”

“I never really gave them much thought, myself…” Kaoné admitted. “I just assumed that, if the myths were real, then a reputable researcher would put out a paper about them, some day. But no one did.”

“Th-the Fog Islands…” MacTavish interjected, quickly turning her laptop around such that the screen faced Kaoné and Rebehka. On the screen was a world map of Nimalia, along with two straight lines running west to east — one in the northern hemisphere, and one in the south. The southern line passed right over a small set of islands in the southeast; pointing at the intersection, MacTavish questioned, “a-are these, um, th-the Fog Islands?”

“Yes…” Rebehka answered. “But what am I looking at? What are these red lines?”

“Is that what I think it is, MacTavish?” Saito questioned.

“Yeah,” the Researcher replied, only to suddenly lock up as she stared at the Colonel, wide-eyed. “Uh… sh-should I not, um…”

“The cat’s out of the bag, now…” Hackett responded with a sigh.

“Damn the bag, if this gets us closer to saving Travis, then it’s worth it,” Saito declared. Turning back to Kaoné and Rebehka, he explained, “to make a long story short, a few months ago, SERRCom happened across a stash of Aldredian information. Part of that stash included a lot of galactic and planetary coordinates, and all of the present-day Homeworlds are among them.”

“So these red lines represent the points that the Nimalian coordinate might be pointing to…?” Kaoné mused. “Huh. Aldredian, you say…?”

“By the fucking skies…” Rebehka muttered in disbelief. “…It can’t be true…”

“What can’t be true?” Saito pressed.

“…A few years ago,” Rebehka began to explain, “Archoné Culana suddenly started contributing to metallic infection research. A lot of our present-day infection-detection technology comes from him — but he never said where he got the ideas, despite never being involved in infection research directly. So, I asked Kievkenalis to see if he could figure out where the Archoné was getting this tech from. And Kievkenalis managed to trace the Archoné’s supply chain through multiple levels of obscurement, all the way back to the Fog Islands…”

“You’re kidding,” Hackett deadpanned.

“I almost wish I was…” Rebehka responded. “At the time, Kievkenalis and I thought that something must have been wrong — we didn’t see how the Fog Islands could relate to the Nanocreatures at all. But, Colonel, if what you’ve just said is true — that an Aldredian information cache contains a coordinate that’s possibly pointing to the Fog Islands, then…”

“…Then there might actually be something there,” Saito finished.

“’The key to this m-machine is found through… Rynisaren…” MacTavish muttered, and then glanced eagerly between Saito and Rebehka. “Th-that’s a line that I found in, um, th-that old Aldredian space station, f-from months ago!”

“Was this the same place where you found the information cache?” Kaoné questioned.

“No, this was a different place,” Saito replied, and then glanced at MacTavish. “You’re sure of this? That was a line that you found?”

“I-I’m sure!” MacTavish nodded resolutely. “I-I have it, um, i-in my notes, right here!”

“Colonel…” Hackett muttered, “you know this is confidential…”

“Damn the confidentiality, Major,” Saito retorted. “This isn’t just about Captain Travis, either. If sharing this information nets us a cure for the infection, then we’d have to be insane not to share it.”

“But—“

“If it’s consequences that you’re worried about, then I accept them all. Our little diversion to Nimalia is already outside the parameters of Operation Thorn Crush, anyways, so I suspect that the General will want my ear when we get back, regardless.”

Hackett eyed Saito uneasily. “…If you say so, sir.”

“SERRCom confidential, though…?” Kaoné responded uneasily. “Colonel, you don’t have to—“

“No, I’m with him,” Rebehka interjected. “If governments hold infection-related information hostage, then we’ll end up seeing Morcii again, I’m sure of it.” She then turned to Saito. “What were you going to say?”

“To make another long story short,” Saito replied, “we found a different source of Aldredian information after that first stash I told you about, and the second source contained a hint that possibly points to the first.”

“Rynisaren…” MacTavish echoed.

“And that’s what you were talking about?” Kaoné questioned. “’The key to this machine is found through Rynisaren’, you said?”

“I-in context, ‘machine’ refers to, um, an infection-curing machine,” MacTavish said. “A-and Rynisaren is, um, th-the name of an important Aldredian figure.”

“And also the name of the ship where we found these coordinates,” Saito replied.

“So you’re saying…” Rebehka muttered, her brow furrowed, “…that, supposedly, there’s an old Aldredian machine hiding on the Fog Islands that can cure the infection?!”

“We can’t know for sure — after all, we found hundreds and hundreds of coordinates. Even if such a machine does exist, it might not be on Nimalia. But… it does seem like a distinct possibility.” Saito glanced between Kaoné and Rebehka. “What do you think?”

“…If this really is true…” Rebehka mused, “then… the fog, the failing navigation equipment, the getting lost… by the skies, all of those stories might just be the result of Aldredian attempts to keep the infection from getting a hold of that machine!”

“Assuming the stories are actually true,” Hackett pointed out.

“I find this hard to believe, as well,” Kaoné said, “but… we have several different, independent sources all pointing to the Fog Islands, now. Kevken’s detective work, EA’s hint, and these Aldredian caches… This all seems beyond coincidence.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Saito replied. “Now, as I said, we found hundreds upon hundreds of coordinates, and only one of them points to Nimalia. So it’s possible that this is all just a red herring, but even so, I think this bears some investigation — and it sounds like that starts with talking with Pallan. Do you know the best way to contact him?”

“Actually… Pallan and Kevken both are due to arrive here in Tresnon later today,” Kaoné said. “Their purpose here is to deal with the SFC’s involvement in the Bleeder attack, and I’m sure Davídrius will want to get that out of the way, first. But after that, we can pull Pallan aside to ask him what he knows…” She turned to look warily at Liask and Travis, both of them still laying unconscious atop their hospital beds as silvery rashes snaked their way across their bandages. “…And hopefully, he’ll be willing to talk.”

---

*

“I can’t believe they kicked us out…”

“Well, I mean…” Twy responded as she glanced at Austin, “it is an isolation wing.”

“Ha, true,” Gavon remarked, passing Twy a faint smirk before turning his gaze upwards and sighing. Bright blue skies stretched in every direction over Compound Tresnon, allowing the sun to beat down mercilessly on the inhabitants of the Compound — including the group of individuals that now stood outside the town hospital, having just been asked to step out to make room for treating people who were still injured. Austin, Spike, Sky, and Twy stood in a small group to the left, while Mote, Mark, Kate, and Danielle stood slightly off to the right, with Gavon between them.

“Uncle Luke…” Austin muttered, his gaze downcast as he heaved a weary sigh. “How the hell…”

“We’re sorry,” Mark apologized. “If we’d had a better hold of the situation, then the Captain wouldn’t be infected, right now.”

“What even happened?” Spike questioned. “Y’all were attackin’ an EA base, right? How the hell did that lead to Luke gettin’ infected?”

“Indiscretion… on all sides,” Mote responded, while side-eying Kate — who conspicuously avoided meeting his gaze.

“’Indiscretion’?!” Austin echoed, turning his gaze up to stare incredulously at Mote. “What the hell kind of an explanation is that?!”

“It certainly is very… PR-speak,” Gavon remarked.

“Surely, you can tell us more than that?” Twy urged. “If nothing else, Austin and Luke are family…”

“And anything involving EA surely involves us, too!” Sky pointed out.

“SERRCom leadership will be the judge of that, not you,” Mote countered.

“Mote…” Mark quickly interjected, drawing Mote’s attention. “…You know it’s not that simple. And I know you know that; otherwise, you would have argued against this detour to Nimalia.”

“Tch…”

“To better explain…” Mark turned to address the Keys and Gavon. “It seems that EA was studying the infection in some labs at his base. Through the course of us fighting him for control of his base, the place was leveled, which freed the infection… and allowed it to infect Captain Travis.”

“What? How does that follow?!” Austin questioned. “Y’all have shields and shit, don’t you? The infection can’t infect through a shield! So you’re telling me that Luke’s shields somehow got killed during all the fighting? But how? He’s a fucking sniper! A marksman! His shields should be the last to give! How’d he get infected, but not literally anyone else?!”

“…I have to say, I agree,” Gavon added. “I’ll grant that anything can happen on the battlefield, but I know the approximate shield rating of SERRCom powered armor. Those things can take quite a bit of punishment before going down.”

“Well… there was an orbital bombardment going on,” Danielle replied.

“A what?!” Twy exclaimed.

“That would do it…” Gavon mused.

“How the hell did Luke get hit by a fuckin’ orbital bombardment?” Spike pressed. “Are you tellin’ us that EA shelled his own damn base?”

“Well… not exactly…” Mark replied, his eyes momentarily flicking over to Kate.

Upon seeing this, she let out an exasperated huff. “What?” she retorted, “the fuck do you want me to say, huh? That it was my fucking fault?!”

“You did blow up the generator…” Danielle pointed out.

“Which was a plan that fucking worked!” Kate immediately replied. “EA’s mech went down! It’s— it’s not my fault the bastard had fucking Nanocreatures on the base!”

“…I’m lost,” Sky said. “What… what happened?”

Mark heaved a lofty sigh. “Perhaps we should just explain the details of it all. You see…”

A Few Minutes Later

“Well…” Gavon remarked, “…that’s quite the plan that SERRCom enacted.”

“An ongoing bombardment while you raided the base…” Twy muttered. “…I mean, I kind of get why, but—“

“But that sounds dangerous as all hell!” Sky exclaimed. “What kind of a plan is that?!”

Mark sighed again, at a loss for words. He had just relayed the full details of Operation Thorn Crush to Gavon and the Keys, but when asked to speak in its defense, he had little to say.

Mote, however, quickly spoke up. “It was the only proper option,” he insisted. “Bombardment shields are incredibly strong. Trying to break straight through one could have taken weeks, for all we know. Even if it only took a day, it still would have been enough time for EA to evacuate most of his tech to a different location! Preventing him from transforming his shields into a full dome over his base was our best bet at properly capturing or destroying the base in a timely manner.”

“And how did that pay off, huh?!” Austin argued.

“The base was destroyed,” Mote shot back. “SERRCom’s strategic objective was achieved.”

“And what about Luke?!”

Mote cast his gaze to the side, a scowl on his face. “…Not everyone survives every mission. That’s just life as a soldier.”

“Oh, bullshit!” Austin retorted, his brow furrowed in anger as he jabbed a finger in Mote’s direction. “The way you told the story, there was no fucking need for that generator to go down!” He then turned to glare at Kate. “You’re the one who destroyed it! If anyone, Luke’s fate is your fault!”

“Oh piss off,” Kate snarled. “I was just doing what had to be done!”

“I can’t say that I agree,” Gavon interjected. “Tell me. After you decided to destroy the shield generator, did you even once inform your allies of your plan, to give them a chance to evacuate?”

“I— look, EA hacked our comms, okay? If I had told everyone the fucking plan, then he’d have heard!”

“It sure sounded like he figured out your plan, anyways…” Danielle responded quietly.

Kate whipped around to glare at Danielle, her fists tightly balled as she attempted to think of a retort. However it was Mote who next spoke, with his attention focused squarely on Gavon. “Who even are you?” Mote questioned, “and why do you care about the Captain?”

“Ah ha… I suppose we haven’t ever properly met,” Gavon remarked sheepishly. “Sorry. I’m Master Captain Gavon Savénos. I’m a guest instructor here, and a… shooting buddy of Luke, shall we say.”

“They’re a couple!” Danielle remarked cheerfully.

“A couple?!” Mote echoed incredulously, his nostrils flaring with indignation as he stared at Gavon. “With you? A Black Sun?!”

“Shut the hell up,” Austin snapped. “At least Gavon hasn’t gotten Luke fucking infected!”

Mote’s entire expression flared with fury, his arms dropping to his side, and his glare turning on Austin. “SERRCom isn’t—!”

“Wow, that’s rich,” Sky retorted. “You’re really gonna take a jab at you as a jab at the whole of SERRCom, huh?”

“Alright… I think we all need to take a step back, here,” Mark quickly interjected before Mote could respond. “I understand that people are upset… and rightfully so. But, Austin, Spike, Sky, Twy… and Gavon, too… just know that the Captain is valuable to us, too. We didn’t want this to happen any more than you did.”

“And yet you blew up the fuckin’ shield generator,” Spike pointed out, his attention focused squarely on Kate.

“Fucking… whatever,” Kate responded with a dismissive shrug, at which point she turned to begin trudging away. “I’m not gonna just fucking stand around while you try to blame me for this shit.”

“Are you fucking serious—?!” Austin began to shout after her, only to stop and glance down at Twy, who had just put her arm out in front of him.

“Austin…” she said quietly, “…just leave her be.”

“But she—!”

“I won’t defend her unilateral destruction of the generator…” Mote said, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, as if in thought. A moment later, however, he opened his eyes to look at Austin. “But if you’re going to blame Kate, then you should blame EA just as much, if not more. After all, the orbital bombardment didn’t kill the Captain. It was the infected creatures that EA had on his base that wounded and infected Captain Travis.”

“…But that’s—!”

“And if you aren’t willing to blame EA…” Mote began to turn away, his gaze lingering on Austin for just a second, “…then you should have a good long think about why. About why you’re willing to put the blame at the feet of SERRCom, and not the one who has demonstrated himself to be a threat to not just you, but everyone around you.” He then fully turned around, jogging off in the same direction that Kate had left a minute prior.

“…What a fucking asshole,” Sky muttered as the group watched him leave.

“I’m… sorry, about him,” Mark responded sheepishly. “Like I said, Luke means a lot to us, as well. And Mote and Kate, uh… aren’t the best at expressing themselves.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Spike retorted.

“Yes… and I feel I should apologize, as well,” Gavon said. “I’ve known Luke for only a fraction of the time as the rest of you, after all. It’s certainly a bit presumptive of me to start speaking on his behalf…”

“That may be so, but you’re still Luke’s friend,” Mark replied. “So I understand you being concerned.”

“Would’ve been better if Luke wasn’t infected in the first fucking place…” Austin muttered.

“I don’t like this, either…” Twy responded, “but, it’s not all hopeless — remember, Kaoné’s cured animals of the infection, before! So Luke still has a chance!”

Austin glanced over at Twy, at which point the latter flashed him an encouraging smile. He offered her a quick smile in response, only to then turn his gaze to the ground while a lofty sigh escaped his lips. “…Yeah. I hope so…”

“It really is a shitty situation, all around…” Gavon mused, his own gaze sweeping across the city streets around them. “But… while Luke’s fate may be out of our hands, there’s still something that we can do to help out, around here.” He then turned to look at each of Austin, Twy, Spike, and Sky. “Maybe doing that will help take your minds off of things.”

“If you’re helping to clean up the city, then Mark and I can help, too!” Danielle quickly offered.

“…Ain’t a bad idea,” Spike admitted, rolling his shoulders in preparation for more lifting and moving. “Austin, Sky, Twy. Y’all in?”

“Might as well,” Sky replied.

“And we can get lunch here in a bit,” Twy added. “How does that sound, Austin?”

“…Suppose it’s fine…” Austin replied, softly clapping his hands together and using his Imperator powers on himself to lift slightly into the air. As he did, everyone around him turned to begin approaching the damaged buildings nearby, seeking to offer their aid; Austin lingered, however, his gaze turning back to the hospital behind him. “Luke… and EA…” Austin muttered, only to shake his head a second later and whip around to fly off after his friends, joining them in helping to clean up and repair Compound Tresnon.