Chapter Text
“Libra, location?”
Artem’s fingers instinctively fly to his earpiece. “Eastern corridor.”
“Excellent.” A few seconds of violent keyboard clacking pass before Vyn speaks again. “Raven is closing in on the professor. I recommend going in as backup.”
Suddenly, the gun pressing at Artem’s side feels weightier than before. “Noted. How’s Rosa?”
“Shutting off all remaining exits with King. They are both quite far away from our target, so I suggest you start moving before Raven gets himself cornered.”
“Right.”
Vyn goes silent after that.
Back pressed against the wall, Artem draws in a deep breath. Fifteen minutes ago, his tracker had stopped working, likely due to connection problems, battery issues, or faulty workmanship. Perhaps even some combination of the three. Vyn has been checking in on him at five minute intervals ever since.
Since the surrounding area is clear, Artem begins to head towards the professor’s office. For the past few weeks, the NXX Investigation Team have been closing in on a professor, Dr. Collier. Collier was well known in underground circles for concocting lethal drugs that used NXX as a key ingredient.
The NXX’s current mission? Stop the professor’s illegal operation and confiscate all files containing the methodology used to create his drugs.
Aside from the tracker problem, things were going smoothly so far. Or at least, as smoothly as a mission in a literal underground lab could go. Artem pauses at a corner to listen for footsteps, but it’s silent.
Dr. Collier’s office is only down another hallway. As Artem narrows in on the target location, he begins to hear voices drifting from it. He recognizes Luke, but there’s an unfamiliar voice as well: one that’s raspy and crackly.
A gunshot sounds from the direction of the office.
And Artem begins to run.
Although he could have if he chose to, Artem doesn’t burst into the office. He whips out his gun and opens the door — without knocking — before quietly slipping in.
It’s not quite so much of an office as it is a separate laboratory. Scientific equipment is stationed on rows of long tables, papers are pinned up on the walls, and vents dot the corners of the ceiling.
Aside from Artem, only two other people are in the room: Luke and Dr. Collier.
The professor’s back is to Artem, hands raised as Luke points a gun directly at him.
“The first one was a warning,” Luke says, in the cold tone that Artem has still yet to get used to. Centimeters away from the professor are the shattered remains of a Florence flask. A clear blue liquid pools beneath the glass shards.
Luke doesn’t take his eyes off the professor at all, but Artem knows that Luke is aware of his presence.
“I’m giving you one more chance to tell the truth,” Luke says. “Where are the documents?”
Artem presses himself against the door, standing in as a barrier in case anyone else tries to enter the room.
Dr. Collier remains silent.
“Of course, you don’t have to tell me.” Luke cocks his head to one side, but the gun remains steady. “This lab. It’s full of chemicals. Packed, even. If I shoot one bullet in exactly the right place, break the right container… I could burn this place down to the ground.” He pauses. “Your life’s work. Gone forever, and no one left to salvage it.” Luke lets his words linger for a moment, then steps forward.
The professor flinches.
“Ah.” Luke lowers his gun. “Perfect. Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Collier.” Luke moves to the professor’s desk. “I should also inform you that you are under arrest. Right now, my colleagues are closing in on you. Artem, if he tries to escape, don’t hesitate to shoot.”
Artem readies his gun.
It takes him a few moments, but Luke locates a hidden compartment under the desk. A latch clicks, and he draws out a slim folder, a USB stick, and a bronze cube the size of his palm. Luke flicks through the documents in the folder, then nods. He picks up a briefcase next to the desk — likely the professor’s — and empties it before placing his newfound items inside.
“You’re bluffing, aren’t you?” Dr. Collier says. “There isn’t anyone behind me.”
Luke doesn’t respond. He slams the briefcase shut and picks it up.
And that is when the professor makes a break for it. He whirls around and sees Artem, but doesn’t let that deter him. He picks up a large glass shard from the floor and begins to run at Artem.
Still standing against the door, Artem aims at the professor, trying to get a good shot. Somewhere that’ll hurt, but won’t kill him — spots like fingers, toes. They’re hard places to hit, especially since humans differ largely from bullseyes or practice targets. But people don’t call him a robot for nothing. Artem pulls the trigger.
And does the unthinkable.
He misses.
In the end, it’s Luke who shoots the professor. But he’s much less merciful — the bullet hits Dr. Collier in the shoulder.
Luke eyes the glass shard in the professor’s hand as Artem secures him. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to bring a knife to a gunfight?” He draws in breath to say more to the professor, but pauses, his eyes darting elsewhere as he listens to something. Artem tenses.
“Yeah, Libra’s still here with me,” Luke says, and Artem relaxes. It’s only Vyn. “We have Collier secured. Tell King and Rosa to come in quick, won’t you? We need to get the professor hospitalized, fast.”
Neither of them need to wait long. Marius bursts through the door, you following after him, and everything after seems to go by as smoothly as butter across a pan. Dr. Collier is brought up aboveground, where he is handed over to other authorities and whisked off to a hospital. After the NXX team is tasked with writing a mission report — due within the next three to four business days — they’re released from the site.
Everyone piles into a Pax SUV. Marius insists on driving back, and after no one opposes him, he gets into the driver’s seat and starts the engine. No one takes issue with you claiming the passenger seat, either, but Vyn does get shoved to the back with the equipment while Luke and Artem claim the middle seats.
“In this team, it does not matter if you are royalty,” Marius says cheerfully as he drives off. “We’re all the same here.”
“I never complained,” Vyn retorts.
It’s difficult to bicker when both opponents are on opposite ends of the car — and one of them is driving — so their conversation peters out soon after.
Artem pulls out his laptop and immediately begins outlining the report. About a paragraph in, he pauses — hadn’t he gotten his work team carsick at one point by doing the same thing? But no one seems to, well, for lack of a better term, be pressured into working, too, so perhaps it’s safe to continue.
A different thought hits him, like a yellow light turning red seconds before he drives down an empty street. “Luke,” he begins tentatively.
Luke turns from the window, all puppy-eyed and bushy-tailed again. Many unassuming dogs were all bark and no bite, but Luke had the potential to be both at any given time. Canine comparison aside, it scared Artem sometimes. He’d never, ever want to be on the receiving end of Luke’s wrath.
“How did…” Artem hesitates. It was such a small question, such a tiny detail. Perhaps insignificant in the grand scheme of all things. “How did you know where to find the files?”
“Oh, easy.” Luke pats the briefcase sitting on his lap. The folder and the USB stick were with the police and the NSB, but Luke had wanted to keep the cube to tinker with. “After I threatened the professor, I moved forward. Made it look like I was going to act on what I said, you see, or do something unexpected.”
Artem nods, signalling for Luke to continue. “And?”
“And… that scares people sometimes. I moved, he looked at the desk, and that was all I needed to know.” Luke reaches up to adjust the air conditioning. “People look out for what they want to keep safe. A blind spot, if you will. A liability.”
There is a bitter edge to his last few words, something that Artem struggles to interpret. “Is it that simple?”
“Not always,” Vyn says, poking his head between the two of them.
Luke gently pushes Vyn’s head back. Vyn mumbles a complaint about Luke’s fingerprints staining his glasses, but Luke keeps his gaze on Artem. “Yeah. People can be… really deceptive sometimes.” He purses his lips and glances down at the briefcase.
He doesn’t add anything else, so Artem turns back to his laptop. But with Luke’s words ringing in his head, he struggles to concentrate on the screen in front of him.
A blind spot. A liability.
Luke had completed what they’d all started out to do with such ease. He’d interrogated the professor and found the files without a single hitch in his plans.
But Artem — Artem was the one who’d ended up with a broken tracker and had to have Vyn check up on him. He was the one who’d failed to shoot the professor — and had to have Luke do it for him.
Artem wasn’t supposed to do that. He wasn’t supposed to make mistakes when it mattered most, to slip up when others were counting on him.
And now here he was, writing up a report because it was the only thing he seemed to know how to do perfectly.
But it’s even worse, because right now there are no words. There is only a badly written paragraph and an empty white abyss, taunting him like a serpent in its lair.
“So what is this thing, anyway?” Marius picks up the metal cube and weighs it in his hand.
“Whoa, careful.” Luke plucks it out of his palm and holds it up to eye level, which is more like mouth level for Marius. “It could be fragile.”
They’ve been back at headquarters for less than five minutes. While you and Vyn are making a snack and a hot drink respectively, Artem is seated on the couch, watching Luke and Marius from a safe distance.
He has yet to add anything to the report, and that simple fact is gnawing at him on the inside. The serpent has struck, and the antidote of inspiration is nowhere to be found.
“Hey, check this out.” Luke dangles the cube in front of Artem at a decidedly unsafe distance.
It looks the same as before — a bronze cube that can’t be any larger than a mug — but now Artem notices a coin shaped hole on one side. A glass lens fitted in the hole allows him to make out a couple of cogs, bolts, and other metal things he can’t quite name inside the cube.
“Nice,” Artem says. There isn’t any other word that comes to mind.
“Yeah, it’s pretty neat.” Luke peers through the glass lens. “Wonder what it does.”
“Mhm,” Artem says, only half listening. “Be careful with it.”
“Oooh, what if it’s a camera?” Marius suggests.
Luke shakes his head. “Doubt it. Cameras aren’t built like this.”
“Ah. Well.” Marius’ gaze lingers on the cube, then he walks away, presumably to find you and Vyn.
Luke plunks himself on the sofa next to Artem and continues to inspect the cube. He’s silent for long enough to make Artem feel like he has to engage in small talk.
“Are you going to take that back to your shop?” Artem asks.
“Maybe.” Luke flips the cube upside down and sticks a nail into one of the crevices, picking at a panel. “Ah, there’s something under here.”
“That’s interesting,” says Artem, despite not finding it very interesting at all.
Luke fumbles around into one of his pockets and pulls out a very tiny screwdriver. As Artem politely watches, he unscrews all four corners of the panel and takes it off. Slowly and mechanically, a small button rises to the surface.
“Hmm,” Luke says, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. “Wonder what this does.” He pushes the button, then braces himself. Nothing happens.
“Okay,” Luke says, probably more to himself than to Artem. “Didn’t explode on me. That’s pretty good.”
“Wait—” Artem begins. He’d thought it might explode?
“Luke!” you call from the other end of the room, interrupting him. “Vyn’s making hot chocolate. Do you want some?”
“Ooh, yes please,” Luke says. He sets down the cube on the table across the sofa, then turns to Artem. “I’ll get a mug for you, too?”
“Yes, thank you,” Artem says.
“Cool. Be right back.” Luke heads over to the lounge area, where the rest of the NXX members presumably are.
Artem returns to his laptop. The blinking cursor stares at him, begging him to chase after it like some twisted version of Jay Gatsby’s green light. Artem shuts the laptop. Think, he tells himself. Reports are easy.
And then he looks up to see that the cube is glowing.
“Uh,” Artem says. “Luke?”
From the glass lens, Artem can see that a bright light is building from inside the cube. Artem leans in closer to see—
And is blasted back by a beam of white light. Like a flood, the beam erases his surroundings, and suddenly there is nothing left at all.
Artem spirals down into a white void, falling into what feels like an eternity. It’s silent, the type one might expect in pure darkness, but all around him he can only see light and the lack of color.
Or, perhaps, all colors? Artem corrects himself. White is the amalgamation of each part of the color spectrum, after all.
But maybe he shouldn’t be thinking about colors right now.
And then he thinks:
Is this what it feels like to die?
And suddenly the NXX headquarters comes back into view. Artem is slammed against a wall, every layer of sound surging back into his ears.
It’s NXX, but… it isn’t. Not really.
Someone gasps. A woman. “Did that man just come through the wall?”
Who are these people? Artem shuts his eyes. The lights, the noise… everything threatens to overwhelm him. After he pulls himself together, he’s going to have to find a way to get back at Luke. Didn’t explode on me, he’d said. Artem had let his guard down, and now look what’s happened.
Another person stands up, her back towards Artem. Dark, wavy hair falls down her shoulders. “I’ll investigate. Lucia?”
Artem’s train of thought screeches to a halt. Wait. Lucia?
Somewhere in the room, someone cocks a gun. “On it.”
The woman approaches him. Now that she’s facing him — and at a closer distance — Artem notices there’s something familiar about her eyes.
He’s used to seeing them each time he looks in the mirror.
“Who—” Artem clears his throat, trying to shove away the pinpricks of fear, the snake’s fangs beginning to poke at him. “Who are you?”
The woman stops about a meter away from him, keeping a cautious distance between them. “Artemis Wing, senior attorney at Justitia Law Firm. And I’m inclined to ask you the same question.”