Scientia — Research & Development Headquarters
The gates opened with a metallic groan. Levi and Lily stepped through. Up close, Research & Development Headquarters looked less like a laboratory and more like someone had attempted to build a fortress for people who preferred books to rifles. The main structure was wide rather than tall, built from pale stone reinforced with dark iron supports. Copper pipes ran between adjoining wings, disappearing beneath the streets before emerging again along the outer walls. Thick glass windows revealed laboratories filled with machinery, while electrical cables stretched between buildings overhead.
Steam hissed periodically from pressure valves. Somewhere deeper inside, machinery hammered in a steady rhythm. Levi glanced around.
"Friendly-looking place," Levi said.
Lily continued walking. "It's a government research facility. Were you expecting flower boxes?"
"I was hoping for one door that didn't look designed to keep something in."
They climbed the broad stone steps toward the entrance. Two R&D security officers stood beside the doors. Unlike Combat Core soldiers, neither wore heavy armor. Their uniforms were cleaner, their weapons smaller, and both carried strange metal devices clipped beside their sidearms. Levi glanced at one. The officer noticed. Neither said anything. Lily handed over their credentials.
"Captain Levi. Lieutenant Lily. Combat Core."
One guard inspected them. The other checked a printed arrival sheet attached to a board beside the entrance.
"You're expected."
Levi glanced at Lily.
"That's reassuring."
"No, it isn't."
The guard returned their credentials.
"Captain Soren has been informed of your arrival."
That name meant nothing to Levi. Yet. The doors opened.
Research & Development Headquarters — Main Hall
The enormous lobby looked carefully organized rather than extravagant. Stone floors had been polished until the electric lamps overhead reflected across them. Iron support pillars divided the room into neat sections while brass signs directed personnel toward different departments.
MECHANICAL DEVELOPMENT
MEDICAL RESEARCH
COMMUNICATIONS
WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL APPLICATIONS
Behind the main reception desk, a large mechanical directory clicked periodically as rotating metal plates changed department names and room assignments. Pneumatic tubes ran along the wall behind it.
Every few seconds, a brass capsule shot through one with a hollow thunk.
Researchers moved between corridors carrying folders, rolled schematics, leather instrument cases, and wooden trays containing delicate glass equipment. Levi watched a technician hurry past holding something that looked suspiciously like a mechanical arm. The fingers twitched. Levi stopped. The technician kept walking.
"...Did that thing just move?"
"It did," Lily said, watching the technician disappear. "I assume that's what it's meant to do."
"Should we be concerned that you are assuming?"
"Only if he drops it."
Levi kept an eye on the corridor until the man was gone. Lily kept walking. At the center of the hall stood a glass case containing an enormous replica of a Star Badge. Not an actual one. A mechanical reconstruction. Its outer casing had been separated into layers, showing the craftsmanship beneath the familiar shape. Levi slowed. The plaque beneath it read:
ANATOMICAL STUDY OF STAR BADGE CONSTRUCTION
REPLICA — NO DIVINE CORE PRESENT
Levi stared.
"Anatomical?"
"They study everything here."
"Stars let them do that?"
"They can dismantle a replica without asking a god's permission."
"That isn't quite what I asked."
Lily looked at him. "No. I doubt the real thing would appreciate being treated like a machine."
Levi smiled faintly. "That was my thought too."
They reached the central desk. A woman in an R&D officer's uniform looked up.
"Names and division."
"Captain Levi. Lieutenant Lily. Combat Core."
Credentials changed hands again. The woman inspected them.
"Purpose of visit?"
"Research inquiry," Lily said.
"Concerning?"
Levi answered.
"Dr. Hagan Kestrel."
The woman's hand stopped. Only for a fraction of a second. Then—
"Prototype Collar Compound X-9. And the destruction of his old research facility."
Her expression reset. Most people wouldn't have noticed. Levi did. Lily did too. The woman placed their credentials on the desk.
"I'll inform the acting head of this branch."
Levi's eyes shifted toward her.
Acting.
"Appreciate it."
She pulled a brass lever beneath the desk. Somewhere behind the wall, machinery clicked. A capsule disappeared into a pneumatic tube.
"Please wait."
Levi and Lily moved aside. Neither spoke until they were several steps away.
"You caught that pause?" Lily asked quietly. "She recognized the name, and she didn't enjoy hearing it."
Levi looked toward the receptionist, who was already helping someone else. "Definitely not. Let's see who she sends for."
That was enough. Several minutes passed. Levi occupied himself by watching the researchers, engineers, technical officers, administrators, and security personnel. People here moved differently from Combat Core. Combat officers tended to notice entrances, windows, hands, and weapons; Scientia personnel watched equipment, documents, other researchers, and ideas.
"No one here expects a fight," Levi muttered.
Lily stood beside him.
"They expect someone else to fight for them."
Levi looked at her. Lily continued staring forward.
"...That was almost mean."
"Spend enough time around you and apparently it becomes contagious."
"I'm proud of you."
"Don't be."
Footsteps approached. A broad-shouldered man emerged from the administrative corridor. Levi guessed him to be in his late forties. His blond hair was graying around the temples, and he was clean-shaven. A dark R&D captain's coat fitted perfectly around a frame that suggested he hadn't spent his entire career behind a desk. He didn't walk like a scientist. But he didn't walk like a soldier either.
He walked like a man accustomed to rooms becoming quieter when he entered them.
"Captain Levi."
His attention shifted.
"Lieutenant Lily."
He extended a hand.
"Captain Verrick Soren. Acting head of Scientia Research and Development."
Levi shook it. Soren's grip was firm and controlled, much like his pleasant smile. Levi already disliked how little the man seemed willing to show.
"Come," Soren said. "We can speak privately."
Research & Development Headquarters — Captain Soren's Office
Soren's office overlooked the eastern research wing. Large windows filled one wall, though wooden blinds had been angled enough to keep anyone outside from seeing clearly into the room. Bookshelves filled another wall with technical manuals, patents, research journals, and bound reports. A telephone sat beside Soren's desk along with several brass communication switches and a small pneumatic receiver. One wall contained a locked filing cabinet considerably sturdier than everything around it.
Levi noticed that first. Soren noticed Levi noticing. Neither commented.
"Please."
Soren gestured toward two chairs. Levi remained standing. Lily did the same. Soren looked between them. Then sat.
"Very well."
Lily removed the archive summary they'd brought from the northern stronghold and placed it on his desk.
"We found a record connecting the destruction of a Northern Development research facility with Dr. Hagan Kestrel's disappearance."
Soren glanced at the document.
"We also encountered an X-9 subject," Lily continued. "A living one."
That got slightly more reaction. Not surprise. Attention.
"The subject demonstrated extreme physical enhancement and an unstable ability involving a dark, fluid-like substance," she said. "The compound appeared integrated with his nervous system."
Soren leaned back.
"Did he survive?" Soren asked.
Lily held his gaze. "He survived long enough to break out of his restraints and attack us. By then he wasn't stable. His body kept changing, and the compound was spreading through him. The Execution Squad ended the confrontation by killing him."
"But he was alive when the enhancement manifested?"
"Yes. Alive, conscious, and violent. If you're asking whether the compound killed him before the squad arrived, it didn't."
Soren studied her. "Interesting."
Levi watched the attention in his face. Lily had just described a man dying after losing control of his own body. Soren sounded as though she'd brought him a promising result.
"We were told X-9 died with Kestrel's project," Levi said.
Soren looked toward him.
"Most of it did."
"Most?" Levi repeated.
Soren folded his hands. "Dr. Kestrel has become something of a ghost story around here: a brilliant researcher with questionable methods, secret experiments, a fire, missing records, and a missing scientist."
"Sounds less like a ghost story when his experiments start breaking out of prisons."
Soren's expression remained pleasant.
"You're assuming what you encountered was Kestrel's work."
"Wasn't?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then what are you saying?"
Lily glanced toward Levi. There it was. He wasn't even pretending to enjoy the diplomatic part. Soren studied him for a moment.
"I'm saying X-9 was developed decades ago. Research changes hands. Ideas are copied, sometimes replicated poorly, sometimes improved or misunderstood."
"Stolen, you mean. Or sold?" Levi asked.
Soren paused. "Both happen. That doesn't tell us which happened here."
Levi tilted his head.
"Then we're getting somewhere."
Soren gave a quiet breath that might have been amusement.
"You have a remarkably direct way of speaking for an officer."
"People keep telling me that."
"Usually Captains learn diplomacy."
"Didn't go to the academy."
That actually caught Soren. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"No?"
"Long story."
"I'm beginning to suspect you have several."
"Couple."
Lily stepped in.
"The official archives state that Kestrel's research was destroyed."
Soren looked back toward her.
"The majority of it."
"There it is again," Levi said.
Soren's eyes returned to him.
"Majority."
"You keep leaving yourself room."
Silence. Soren leaned back.
"Because certainty is dangerous in research."
"Convenient in investigations too."
The two Captains stared at each other. Lily resisted the urge to sigh. Soren finally smiled. This one looked slightly more genuine.
"I understand why Combat Core likes you."
"They don't."
"That I believe."
Lily placed another report beside the first.
"People are already being hurt. Whatever X-9 became after Kestrel disappeared, someone is producing it again."
Soren's amusement disappeared.
"We have no active authorized X-9 development in Scientia."
"Authorized," Levi repeated.
Soren's gaze hardened.
"If you're accusing my branch of conducting illegal human experimentation, Captain, choose your next words carefully."
Levi didn't move.
"If I were accusing you, I wouldn't still be asking questions."
The room went silent. A clock ticked somewhere behind Soren. Lily finally intervened before two Captains turned a research inquiry into an inter-Core incident.
"We aren't here to create enemies."
Soren looked toward her.
"We're here because someone has access to research that should have disappeared years ago. Anything you know that could prevent another incident matters more than whose branch gets embarrassed."
Soren studied her. Then Levi. Something in his expression changed. Not softer. Calculating. Finally, he opened a drawer. Levi's hand shifted slightly toward his blade. Soren noticed. He removed a file.
"Relax."
"I am relaxed."
"That's unfortunate."
Soren opened the folder.
"Kestrel's work wasn't conducted alone."
Lily stepped closer.
"Research staff?"
"Dozens over the years. Most transferred after the project was terminated. Several resigned. A few died."
"And the rest?"
"One remains in Scientia."
Levi's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Soren closed the file.
"Lieutenant Seraphine Vale."
Lily glanced at Levi.
"A lieutenant was working with Kestrel?"
"Not exactly."
Soren stood and walked toward the window.
"Vale's history with this branch is..."
He paused.
"...unusual."
Levi waited. Soren didn't continue.
"That usually means somebody doesn't want to explain it."
"Usually."
"Captain?"
Soren looked over his shoulder.
"She knows the old facility better than anyone currently serving here."
"Why?"
"Ask her."
Levi's expression flattened.
"You called us in here to tell us to ask somebody else?"
"I called you in here because you arrived asking questions about research that was buried before either of you wore those uniforms."
Soren returned to his desk.
"Lieutenant Vale can tell you what she remembers."
"And you can't?"
Soren smiled.
"I didn't say that either."
Levi stared at him. Lily could practically see the irritation building. She touched his arm. Barely. Enough. Levi stopped. Soren noticed that too. Interesting.
"Will she talk to us?" Lily asked.
"That depends on whether she decides you are worth talking to. I can arrange a meeting; I can't make Vale cooperative."
Levi raised an eyebrow.
"Friendly place."
Soren pulled the telephone receiver toward himself. He turned the crank once.
"Connect me to Annex Four."
Static crackled. A distant voice answered.
"Soren."
He watched Levi while he spoke.
"Tell Lieutenant Vale our guests have arrived."
A pause.
"Yes."
Another pause.
"I know."
Soren returned the receiver.
"Someone will take you."
Levi turned toward the door.
"Captain."
He stopped. Soren's voice had changed. Only slightly.
"Be careful what you go digging for."
Levi looked over his shoulder.
"People keep telling me that too."
Then he left. Lily followed. The door closed behind them. Soren's pleasant expression disappeared. He remained still for several seconds. Then opened the drawer again. This time, he removed a different file. He stared at the name printed across its cover.
KESTREL, HAGAN
Then he locked it away.
Research & Development Headquarters — Upper Administrative Wing
A young R&D officer led Levi and Lily through the upper levels. Scientia grew quieter as they went farther into the wing. Administrators gave way to laboratories behind heavier doors and thicker windows. Through one, Levi saw engineers gathered around the exposed engine of an experimental motor carriage. Through another, medical researchers were testing some kind of pressure-operated brace around an artificial leg. Another laboratory contained rows of glass vacuum tubes connected to copper coils.
Levi slowed near one window.
"What does that do?"
Their escort glanced inside.
"Which part?"
Levi looked at the room full of machinery.
"Never mind."
They continued.
"Seraphine Vale," Levi said.
The escort's shoulders shifted. Tiny movement. Levi noticed.
"You know her?"
"Everyone in this wing knows Lieutenant Vale."
"Good reputation?"
The young officer considered the question.
"She gets results."
Levi looked at Lily. Lily looked back. Neither needed to say it. That wasn't an answer.
"How long has she been here?" Lily asked.
"Longer than me."
"Helpful."
"Sorry, Lieutenant."
They passed another security door. The officer produced a key, unlocked it, and continued. Levi looked at the lieutenant insignia on Lily's uniform. Then toward the locked door they'd just crossed.
"Your lieutenants usually get access this deep?"
Their escort didn't answer. Lily's eyes sharpened. Interesting. They reached the end of the corridor.
"Laboratory Annex Four."
The officer stopped.
"Lieutenant Vale was informed you were coming."
Levi looked at him.
"By who?"
"Captain Soren."
"When?"
The escort hesitated.
"Shortly after you entered the building."
So Soren had given her warning. Time to prepare. Time to hide something. Or simply time to decide how much she wanted to say. Levi couldn't tell which yet. The officer unlocked the final door.
"Good luck."
Levi stopped.
"Good luck?"
The officer was already walking away. Levi looked at Lily.
"I like her already."
"You haven't met her."
"Everyone keeps acting weird."
"That's usually your favorite kind of person."
"Exactly."
They entered.
Laboratory Annex Four
The laboratory was slightly warmer than the hallway, enough for Levi to notice as they stepped inside. Electric work lamps hung above several long tables. Copper coils, mechanical components, dismantled weapons, medical instruments, and pieces of experimental equipment covered most of them. One wall was lined with cabinets. Another held a large chalkboard covered in equations and technical diagrams.
At the center table stood a woman. She wore a white R&D officer's coat over her uniform, sleeves folded to the elbows. Her dark hair was tied back, and she wore gloves and lieutenant insignia. She was adjusting the internal mechanism of what appeared to be a sword hilt connected to several thin copper contacts.
She didn't look up immediately. Levi and Lily waited while she tightened a contact and tested the mechanism. A spark snapped between the contacts. She frowned, adjusted it again, and produced a smaller spark. Only after setting the tool down did she turn toward them. She was young, around Lily's age or perhaps slightly older, with sharp eyes and a controlled expression. There was nothing immediately intimidating about her. And yet—
Levi had spent too much of his life around authority not to recognize it. She didn't carry herself like a lieutenant. She carried herself like someone who had once been accustomed to people listening when she spoke. Her eyes settled on Levi and stayed there.
Seraphine removed her gloves. "Captain Levi. Combat Core, and somehow commissioned without an academy education."
That caught him. Lily's eyes narrowed, but Levi kept his expression easy.
"People talk fast here. I only mentioned that upstairs."
"Information is our business. Captain Soren made sure I knew who was coming."
"Apparently it's mine too."
Something changed behind Seraphine's eyes. Small. Interest.
Seraphine leaned against the table. "I was told you're looking for Hagan Kestrel and X-9. Which question matters more to you?"
"At the moment, the compound. People are getting hurt by something we were told no longer existed. If Kestrel is part of the reason, I want to know that too."
Her expression remained unreadable. "He's been missing for years."
"Didn't answer the question."
The corner of her mouth moved. Barely.
"Captain Soren said you were direct."
"He talks about me already?"
"You've been here less than an hour and apparently threatened to accuse the acting head of R&D of illegal experimentation."
Levi looked at Lily.
"I didn't threaten him."
"You came remarkably close," Lily said.
Seraphine looked between them. A hint of amusement appeared. Then vanished.
"So what do you know about X-9?" Levi asked.
Seraphine crossed her arms.
"A great deal."
"Good. Then we might finally get some answers."
"Knowing them doesn't mean I'm going to give them to you."
Levi blinked. Lily stared at her. Seraphine remained perfectly composed.
"Then this was productive."
Levi turned. He took two steps toward the door. Seraphine's eyebrows lifted.
"You're leaving?"
"You just said knowing the answers doesn't mean you'll give them to me."
"Most officers would attempt to persuade me."
Levi looked back.
"Would persuading you work?"
"I doubt the usual arguments would convince me."
"Then we'd be wasting time. I'd rather look for somebody willing to talk."
For the first time, Seraphine genuinely smiled. Small. But real.
"Interesting."
Levi turned fully around.
"You testing me?"
"Maybe."
"Why?"
"Because people come into this building asking questions all the time."
She walked around the table.
"They usually arrive with a conclusion already decided. They don't want information. They want someone with the correct credentials to tell them they're right."
"And?"
"And I find that tedious."
Lily stepped forward.
"People have died."
Seraphine looked at her. The amusement disappeared.
"I know."
The answer came too quickly. Lily caught it. So did Levi.
"You've seen what X-9 does," Lily said.
Seraphine didn't answer. Levi looked around the laboratory. Weapons. Medical equipment. Engineering components. Not one specialty. Several.
"You worked on it?"
Seraphine's gaze returned to him.
"No."
"Then you worked around it? Studied what was left?"
She let the questions hang. Levi nodded slowly. "I seem to be getting closer, but you're welcome to correct me."
Seraphine gave him a look.
"You enjoy this?"
"No."
"You look like you do."
"I enjoy when people answer questions."
"And yet you're remarkably comfortable making assumptions."
"Only until somebody corrects me."
Seraphine walked toward one of the workbenches.
"X-9 didn't begin as a weapon."
Levi and Lily exchanged a glance. There it was. The first real answer. Seraphine picked up a small metal component.
"Kestrel was studying containment."
"Containment of what?" Lily asked.
Seraphine placed the component down. "Power. He wanted to restrain Star users, Shard users—anyone whose abilities made conventional restraints unreliable."
Levi remembered Irons saying something similar.
"The idea was to suppress the ability," Levi said. "That's what Irons told us."
"Originally, it was." Seraphine looked toward him. "You've seen how far the later version departed from that."
The prisoner. The black markings. The tendrils. The thing moving beneath his skin.
"Yeah."
"Kestrel discovered that the same principles used to inhibit supernatural output could potentially be reversed."
Lily understood first.
"Instead of restricting the body's ability to channel power..."
"You force it to contain more."
Seraphine nodded.
"More than it naturally should."
Levi's expression hardened.
"That's when people started dying."
"People had already died."
The bluntness surprised him. Seraphine didn't look proud of it. She simply wasn't pretending otherwise.
"X-9 was dangerous from the beginning," she continued. "The difference was intent."
Lily crossed her arms.
"You sound as though you're defending Kestrel," Lily said.
Seraphine looked toward her. "I'm correcting your account of the project. Understanding how it changed isn't the same as defending what he did."
Cold gathered faintly around Lily's fingers. Levi noticed. So did Seraphine. Neither woman commented. Seraphine continued.
"Hagan Kestrel was brilliant." She paused. "And, eventually, insane."
"Eventually?" Levi asked.
Something flickered across her expression. Gone almost immediately.
"He wasn't always that way."
There was history there. Levi could feel it. But pushing now would close the door. So he changed direction.
"What happened after the fire?"
Seraphine's gaze sharpened. Better question.
"The official answer?"
"Already read it."
"Then you know."
"I asked what happened."
Seraphine looked at him for several seconds.
"Someone came back."
Lily stepped closer.
"Someone returned to the facility after the fire?" Lily asked.
Seraphine nodded. "Yes, after the fire. Someone returned for what survived."
"Who came back? Five Points personnel? Researchers?"
Seraphine shook her head. "I don't know who they were. I can tell you what was taken, but I can't identify them."
Levi frowned.
"That's a lot of not knowing."
"I told you I'd answer questions worth answering. I didn't say I'd invent answers for the rest."
Fair. Annoying. But fair.
"Then tell us what you do know," Levi said.
Seraphine looked toward the door. Then toward a small brass grille mounted high on the wall. Levi followed her gaze. Vent? No. There was a thin wire running from it. He looked back at her. Seraphine casually moved to another workbench. She turned a valve. A nearby machine rumbled to life. Gears engaged. A pump began cycling. The room filled with rhythmic mechanical noise. Levi watched her. She said nothing.
Then she reached beneath the bench and flipped a second switch. A harsh electrical buzz joined the machinery. Lily understood.
"Audio?"
Seraphine looked at her.
"Research equipment can be very temperamental."
Levi smiled. Now he definitely liked her. Seraphine lowered her voice.
"Someone entered the ruins after the fire," Seraphine said, keeping her voice beneath the machinery.
"What makes you sure?" Levi asked.
"Research disappeared. So did equipment, samples, and records. Pieces survived long enough for somebody to take them."
Levi's expression changed. "Enough to recreate X-9?"
"You met a living subject. That suggests somebody managed it, doesn't it?"
The prisoner answered that. Lily looked toward the cabinets.
"Why isn't any of this in the official record?" Lily asked.
Seraphine gave her a level look. "You're assuming the record you were permitted to read is the whole one."
"Then where is the rest?"
"Somewhere you don't have permission to look. I didn't write the access rules, Lieutenant."
Levi sighed.
"I really hate this place."
Seraphine smiled again.
"I've been here longer. Imagine how I feel."
That caught Lily's attention.
"How long?"
Seraphine's smile disappeared.
"Long enough."
There it was again. The evasive answer. Levi noticed the lieutenant insignia. Then the secured laboratory. Then the fact Soren had personally sent them to her.
"You're not really a lieutenant."
Silence. Lily looked at him. Seraphine's eyes narrowed. Levi gestured toward her uniform.
"Maybe that's what the coat says." He looked around. "But lieutenants don't usually get private laboratories behind three locked doors."
Seraphine stared at him. For several seconds, nobody spoke. Then she laughed. Quietly.
"You really didn't attend the academy."
"Nope."
"That explains a lot."
"I've been told."
Seraphine moved toward the far wall. She stopped beside a cabinet. Pressed her thumb against a seemingly ordinary piece of molding. A latch clicked. Part of the wooden panel shifted outward. Lily's eyes widened slightly. Behind it sat several old folders. And a key. Not modern. Heavy iron. Seraphine removed it.
"What does that open?" Levi asked.
She held it between two fingers.
"The part of Kestrel's facility that didn't burn."
Levi's expression changed. Lily stepped closer.
"The archive report said the structure was destroyed."
"The upper structure was."
Seraphine placed the key in Levi's hand.
"The lower levels survived."
"Why weren't the lower levels sealed?"
"They were sealed. That's why you need the key."
Levi looked at it. "Apparently the seal isn't doing its job very well."
That earned another faint smile. Seraphine moved toward a map hanging beside the chalkboard. She pulled it down. Beneath it was an older site plan.
"The original facility was built partially underground, with pressure chambers, storage, testing rooms, and emergency containment down there."
Her finger traced a lower section.
"This entrance survived."
"What's still down there?" Levi asked.
"That's the problem. I can't give you a reliable inventory after everything that happened to it."
He studied her. "Have you been back since the fire?"
"I haven't said I stayed away. I also haven't said I know what other people left behind."
There it was again. Lily's patience finally cracked slightly.
"Do you intend to give us a direct answer at any point?" Lily asked. "You've handed us a key to a restricted facility, but you won't say what you found there yourself."
Seraphine looked at her. "When I trust the people asking. The key is help, Lieutenant. It isn't a promise to tell you everything."
The two women stared at each other. Levi looked between them. Something about the temperature in the room had dropped. He decided not to mention it. Instead he looked at the site plan.
"Why help us?"
Seraphine's attention returned to him. The question seemed to catch her more than any of the others. For the first time, she didn't immediately have an answer.
"Because X-9 shouldn't exist."
"That's not what I asked."
Seraphine's eyes narrowed slightly. Levi continued.
"You've been giving us half answers since we walked in."
"Maybe they're the answers you've earned."
"Fine."
He lifted the key.
"Why did we earn this?"
Silence. The machinery continued rattling behind them. Seraphine looked at Levi differently now. Not like a Captain. Not like an investigator. Like she was trying to decide something. Finally—
"Someone once made me believe Five Points could become better than what it was."
Levi waited. She didn't elaborate.
"Who was it?"
Seraphine's expression closed. "Someone I'm not ready to discuss."
That was all. And something in her expression told him pushing further wouldn't get another word. Seraphine looked toward his Star Badge. Then back to him.
"Most Captains who come through Scientia want weapons." Her eyes moved toward the experimental equipment around the laboratory. "Better armor. Stronger restraints. Faster machines. Anything that gives them another advantage." She looked directly at Levi. "You came looking for an answer."
"People are getting hurt."
"Exactly."
For a moment, neither spoke. Lily watched Seraphine watching him. There was nothing openly inappropriate about it. Nothing she could point to. Still— Something irritated her. She wasn't entirely sure what. Seraphine stepped away.
"The entrance is approximately six miles outside the eastern edge of Scientia. Follow the old maintenance road until you reach a collapsed pumping station."
She pointed at the map.
"There's a drainage channel behind it. Follow that north. You'll find an iron service door beneath the ridge."
"And the key?"
"It should still work," Seraphine said. "It's old, so I wouldn't promise a cooperative lock. And one more thing: if you find black storage cases marked with an older four-point seal, don't open them alone. Leave them closed until you have someone who knows what they're handling."
Levi looked up from the key. "I'm guessing that's more than a warning about rusty hinges."
"It is. Take this one seriously, Captain."
Lily marked the warning beside the site plan. "We will."
Seraphine's gaze lingered on him. "As for the lock, you're Combat Core. Improvise. The cases are another matter."
Levi smiled.
"Now you sound like Stone."
Seraphine caught the name.
"Stone?"
Levi's expression changed slightly.
"My old Captain."
Seraphine seemed to recognize that she'd stepped somewhere personal. She didn't press. Instead she looked toward the noisy machine.
"You should go before someone starts wondering why my equipment suddenly became so loud."
Lily folded the site plan.
"Captain Soren?"
Seraphine didn't answer. She didn't need to. Levi put the key into his coat.
"We'll go tonight."
Lily looked at him.
"Tonight?"
"You wanted to wait?"
"No."
"Good."
Seraphine watched them move toward the door.
"Captain."
Levi stopped. She looked at him.
"If you find something down there..." A pause. "...don't assume the first explanation is the right one."
Levi considered her.
"Usually isn't."
Another tiny smile.
"Maybe you are worth talking to."
Levi opened the door.
"Try answering more questions next time."
"No promises."
He stepped into the hall. Lily followed. Before the door closed, she glanced back. Seraphine was still watching Levi leave. The door shut. Lily stared at it for another second. Then continued walking. Levi glanced toward her.
"You all right?" Levi asked.
"I'd prefer fewer games when we're asking about human experimentation." Lily adjusted the folded plan beneath her coat. "We have what we came for. Let's use it."
"That doesn't quite answer the question."
"Then apparently I am learning from Vale."
Lily walked faster. Levi frowned. He genuinely had no idea what he'd done.
Laboratory Annex Four
Seraphine waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. Then she shut off the machinery. The room became quiet. She returned to her workbench. The sword housing remained exactly where she'd left it. She picked up her tool. Stopped. Looked toward the closed door. Then shook her head.
"Interesting."
She resumed working.
Research & Development Headquarters — Captain Soren's Office
A tiny needle moved across a rotating wax cylinder. Static. Mechanical noise. Then nothing intelligible. Soren stared at the phonographic recording apparatus. He rewound part of the cylinder. Seraphine's voice emerged clearly at first. Then machinery overwhelmed everything. Soren stopped it. His expression hardened. He rose from his desk and crossed toward the window. Far below, Levi and Lily emerged from the headquarters. Soren watched them leave. Then looked toward Annex Four.
"Still playing games, Vale."
He returned to his desk. Opened the locked cabinet. Removed the Kestrel file. Beneath it sat another folder. No Five Points markings. No official registry number. Only a handwritten designation.
RECOVERY SITES
Soren rested his fingers against it. For a moment, he considered opening it. Instead he shut the cabinet. Locked it. And picked up the telephone.
"Get me the excavation office."
A pause.
"No. Not through the central switchboard."
His eyes remained on the window.
"The private line."
Scientia — Eastern District
Levi and Lily walked beneath electric streetlamps as evening settled over Scientia. Lily carried the copied site plan beneath her coat. Levi carried the key. Neither spoke for several minutes. Eventually Lily broke the silence.
"She liked you," Lily said at last.
Levi looked over. "Seraphine? She spent most of the meeting refusing to answer me."
Lily stared at him, then looked ahead again. "Never mind. We have somewhere to be."
"Have I missed something?" Levi asked.
Lily adjusted the folded plan beneath her coat. "Several things, apparently. None that will help us reach the facility."
"That sounds like a conversation I'm going to regret postponing."
"Then you have six miles to prepare."
Levi considered that, then followed her.
He shoved his hands into his coat pockets. Ahead of them, Scientia's lights slowly gave way to the darker outskirts of the sector. Somewhere beyond them waited the remains of Hagan Kestrel's laboratory. A facility officially destroyed years ago. Research that supposedly no longer existed. And someone had gone back for it. Levi touched the iron key inside his coat. Tonight, they were going to find out what had been left behind.