✧ Chapter 22 ✧

At the quarantine base, Flight thought up the only thing he knew would make them think otherwise. His hand fumbled deep into the twisted corners of the cloak's two side pockets. Anxiety made the heart pound mercilessly for something to grasp. Bo-bom-bom-bom-bo-bom. That was the condescending noise it repetitively sank to amid the crisis. No matter how much slower the seconds could have gone, the exhaustion built up to the tip of his clammy fingers hidden by the gloves he wore.

Hisa closed her eyes tight as Flight stuttered, talking to himself a bit. Eventually, he was able to find the orange crystal after digging it up from all of that searching. Showing it to Compass obviously went through to Mr. Nebules who couldn't believe his eyes. However, knowing that Flight had traveled off-world to collect it made things a lot more problematic. For starters, a soldier just leaving the premises without reporting back to the base was already questionable. Secondly, the fact that an interrogator was playing accomplice to this was even more bizarre. Nevertheless, there couldn't be a better reason not to stop him right now.

Compass began to load taser guns from the front of its wrists. It could close its fist to shoot and reload them at enemy targets. Flight and Hisa started to run for their lives when they heard the machine's clicking noises. If they were going to escape, the best option was going to be to override one of the available spaceships. The only difficult part about this was that there wasn't any way to know where to go if Nebules was one step ahead. Getting the information out of Compass would mean plugging a USB drive into this port underneath the front of its chest to download all known locations throughout the GN-z15 galaxy. Hisa always kept a USB drive to review any SAF file inside and outside of work. This included a multi-functional map using DIVA's programming to specifically search, filter, and explore different worlds only when connected to admin accessible machines like Compass.

Since Compass was chasing after them, there was a huge risk in trying to do something like this. By the time they reached the first level of the base, SAF soldiers were blocking the entire entrance of the runway. Chief Boulderman was in front of them, along with Josh. Now Flight could tell that they would have no other choice but to surrender. Although things looked desperately bleak, Flight remembered something. It didn't even have anything to do with the fact that there might've been some secret exit they could run to because they had blocked those too.

The orange crystal was strong enough to be used by Compass to essentially bring it to life. Whatever unlimited power was hidden within this thing, was there nothing stopping him from attempting to try it himself? Sure, he didn't exactly know if Nebules already understood everything that he needed to know about the Eternal Lights themselves. So far to his knowledge, these crystals operated with technology. Styra said each one played a different role in changing all of existence. As far as he was aware, using its power similar to the way she did could be miraculous at best.

What did Styra do to use one? The first thing he saw was that she closed her eyes. Holding the crystal in his hand with the darkness of his eyelids shutting him in, he tried envisioning the next step. To change what was in front of him, he'd have to use his mind to command something to happen. According to memory, Styra mentioned to him that the Eternal Light told her where to go. In that case, he could shut the chatter from his mind. To do this, he focused on a fast personal routine that helped him prepare for any war without any interruptions to distract him.

That routine involved reloading his recommended firearm of choice: the Crimson Chargeon. He had done it recently when he was at RainbowFall Arena. There was this handgun holster that he could turn on without looking at it that allowed him to set and reload ammunition freely. Flight's cloudy and stifled brain became empty all at once because the sound stimulated his mind. The only part left was the subconscious. At that moment, a soft voice could be heard. It was indistinguishable to begin with, but became easier to listen to depending on how much he could endure facing the void in himself.

A sudden change affected the base itself. Flight's hand radiated a certain coldness so numb that it made his whole body feel like a trapped air bubble floating to the top of a water-filled balloon. The only difference was imagining that this tiny speck of air held the weight of everything without any signs of movement. His eyes began to shine a honeydew hue. It became clear that upon opening his limitations before him, there were ways to go beyond himself. His thoughts turned into reality in this almost unreal way.

From behind the SAF's tightly connected barrier of soldiers, a short young girl ran from inside one of the ship's open cargo holds where it seemed they had been hiding in there for a while. Hisa could tell exactly who it was. Her face was broken by the subjugation of an army standing before them. There was a more reasonable case to be made when she was worrying to death over Chelbie's appearance. Xavier was not going to be forgiving thanks to the way these events were playing out.

"Heya! Don't mind if I come to crash in on the brick wall party!" shouted Chelbie who was holding an interesting mask in one of her hands. Along with that, she wore fingerless gloves attached to a few buttons in the center of her palms.

Pressing a certain sequence of those buttons revealed a special mechanized set of electric roller skates which popped out from underneath her boots. Chelbie was lightweight enough to gain a good amount of control over the skates with relative ease. Studying the subject of vehicle aerodynamics became one of the reasons she was smart enough to create six wheels on each roller skate that could transfer a speed of up to one hundred and five miles per hour. A pair of these were more effective for situations like now. She zipped past the caution lines and started to increase her velocity. The frantic army was ordered by Chief Boulderman to split between two sides of the wall: one to shoot down Flight and the other to stop Chelbie from breaking through.

Then what happened next could only be described as an intense escapade. Hisa saw Flight ascend as the SAF started to shoot at both him and Chelbie with their taser guns. Unfortunately, this was where everything fell apart for them. Flight began to receive a heightened sense of mind. This caused him to create an orange shield of light that would absorb the electric shocks to protect Hisa, Chelbie, and himself as well. Out of nowhere, the three of them disappeared from the base without a trace. Instantaneously, they reappeared inside the StormStrike Zero where Flight was flying it to an incomprehensible speed. At that point, he felt overwhelmed by the power taking him over, making a last attempt to place them on the beach in his memory. His thoughts juggling between this being real finally made him collapse out of exhaustion from the cockpit. Hisa and Chelbie were beyond confused.

Although it all occurred so fast, they still arrived at his desired location. The crystal in Flight's hand no longer glowed bright like it had before. Hisa took it away from him out of concern so he wouldn't feel more tired, even though he was already unconscious. Just as Chelbie was interested in taking a look outside at the evening's tropical atmosphere, Hisa started to chastise her actions.

"Chelbie, why didn't you stay at the workshop? I told you how dangerous this entire operation is. Xavier might sue me if he feels like it. In fact, it's already bad enough that I told Flight confidential information that got us into this mess, to begin with. I should've surrendered myself. It wasn't worth it. Trying to take revenge into my own hands. There is no way I can think that getting them back for my brother's death would amount to anything."

There was an antagonistic agony that hated herself for doing nothing to stop it. Chelbie, seeing Hisa break down into silent tears, solemnly spoke out.

"Ya have the right to be mad at me. I used the StealthSteel Trike on a different route to catch up with y'all. Made this mask that I was working on for a while and touched it up because I really wanted to do more than stay in an auto parts shop and fix up trucks every day. I am thankful for those times when you guys were there for me, but y'all need to understand that I can take care of myself eventually. I want to be independent with my own choices and responsibilities not being made by others. Please. For once just trust me."

Hisa wasn't taking Chelbie's words lightly. The problem was aligned with how much trouble she would be in by returning to StarSpace. To know she would be stranded with no way to take care of Chelbie or herself if it came down to it. Unless they were going to use the resources made available in this strange world, it wasn't likely for them to last a few hours here. Suddenly, Flight woke up abruptly in the middle of her thoughts with a headache so bad that he began to feel his forehead for signs of a fever. There were none.

In a blitz, Flight opened the cargo door only to find a damaged guardian in this bulky broken armor standing before them. Hisa and Chelbie joined to see what was going on. The figure talked in a gentle voice.

"Before you ask, call me Citrinion. I assume you are looking for a young girl who wields a powerful weapon. If so, I can show you where she is." Both Flight and Citrinion recognized each other from the earlier encounter. Meeting Styra changed her entire mentality about The New Guardian's lore. As a result, it didn't take long for her to question that loyalty to Prism.

Citrinion was born with the armor they were given, much like her siblings. This only helped to distinguish one another after having their body formed from the Void. There was always something Prism would ask of them. Now it favored isolation above all things. The creation of the Omniverse changed their Master. A responsibility so massive required undivided attention. Prism told them it was not all-knowing or omnipotent over existence. Its doubt still stemmed somewhere along knowing if their power was being manipulated and by who. The New Guardian and Omnikra proved this greatly. Whatever established laws defined reality came from the outside.

Those laws created a certain dissonance to what was made. There was no order without chaos.