#firefighter.

Henrik nods. "I am especially glad now that I didn't go back home. Though I do feel a bit bad about taking up a room in Stacy's house."

"Stacy's so nice, though," Phoebe says.

"She is."

"I heard my name." Stacy pokes her head into the kitchen.

"Oh hi Stacy!" Phoebe smiles. "I thought you were busy doing work."

"I was, but I just got a text from Chase." Stacy shows her phone to the other two. "He and Jackie are talking to Prior right now. They want to know if they can tell him about you, Phoebe."

"Huh?" Phoebe blinks. "How?"

"Well, cause he knows your mother," Stacy says carefully. "She might be able to figure out where you are if she asks him. But Prior's been helping us so far, it might not be fair to keep secrets. It's totally up to you, though. We're all okay with whatever you decide."

"Oh." Phoebe looks at Henrik. "Uhhh what do you think? You know Prior, would he tell my mom?"

"Hmm. Perhaps not, but there is always a chance of a slipup." Henrik shrugs. "Like Stacy said, it is your decision."

"Huh." Phoebe looks away again, staring absentmindedly at the cooking pasta. "I think...it's fine to talk about, like, the kidnapping and stuff. But I don't want him to know where I am. Just in case he might mention it to Mom."

"Heh. Alright, then." Jackie smiles. "If this works out, we'll see you again later. If not, we'll see you again in like, a couple minutes."

Chase looks doubtful that this will work, but he doesn't say anything. "Yeah, good luck. And, uh, see you, Stace."

"See you." Stacy grins, and gives him a pat on the shoulder. Chase looks surprised, but she either doesn't notice or doesn't give it much mind. Then she turns and heads back to the front of the building. Jackie and Chase wave after her, then turn to continue talking.

Following Stacy, the front lobby of the building is now mostly empty, with only two of the escapees hanging out in here. She nods to them before leaving through the front entrance. Her car is parked where she left it.

Before she climbs in, she holds the door open for a bit, allowing you to get in. Then she gets in herself and shuts the door. "Alright. To the stop we go. Luckily there's an Asda pretty close by. Don't think I've ever been there, though." She turns the keys and the car starts up. It drives away from the side of the road and heads down the

the

Stacy smiles brightly. "Sure, if you can come, I'd love to have you there."

Chase laughs awkwardly. "I mean...you probably won't be able to. Since so far you've been stuck with me or Jackie. Or, uh. The girls."

"That's really inconvenient, isn't it?" Stacy contemplates. "Imagine what you could do if you could go where ever you wanted."

"Right, right." Prior nods, running a hand through his hair and messing it up further. "They're connected. It's like—like a monster we created. Stop messing with D energy and we might be able to cut off the source of his power."

"How are you doing this, anyway?" Xio asks. "Like, obviously most of us here are very familiar with how the experiments work, but you can't just get interdimensional energy from nowhere. Where does it come from? How do you get it into a scifi ray gun that can be pointed at people?"

Prior opens his mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. Slowly, worry overtakes his expression. "I...don't know."

"You don't know?!" Stacy blurts out. "I thought you were one of the guys in charge!"

"I am! But that doesn't mean I know everything!" Prior says defensively. "I'm mostly in charge of record keeping and my own section of the experiments. Marcus—uh, Dr. Myoh is the guy who builds the devices, and Ramona is the one who runs the operations. I mean, if I have to guess, we figured out some way to create ripples in space-time to cause the D energy and weltons." He pauses. "Which...actually, the fact that I don't know how we're doing something that big...is...weird."

Stacy shakes her head. "Did it just not occur to you until now? That's a pretty important thing to forget to ask."

Stacy pokes her head through the bedroom doorway, taking in the newly-arrived trio and the disembodied voices. "Oh, hey," she smiles. "Everything's going great. What's up with you guys?"

"Hi, Stace," Chase waves a little. "We wanted to talk to Prior. Is he here?"

"Yeah, come in." Stacy steps to the side, and the three of them go into the bedroom.

This is one of the nicer apartments in the old building. The window is open, letting in some sunlight. There's not that much furniture, but there is a bed, with a thick white comforter on it. A woman is sitting on the bed. She has golden hair—literally. Every time she moves her head, there's a clinking noise as the metallic strands brush against each other. Patches of her skin are also gold, though it's more like a layer of gold leaf and peels off when she touches something.

Prior is talking with her, though he stops when he sees Stacy and the others enter. "Um...hello," he says, a bit awkwardly. His hair has gotten longer since you've last seen him, not quite to chin length but he could have pulled it back in a manbun if he wanted. He's wearing a blue sweater and khakis. A medical face mask is hanging off one of his ears.

"Dr. Prior," Jackie says, also a bit awkwardly. The two of them haven't really spoken that much in the time they've been here.

Xio waves. "Hey, man." She looks at the woman on the bed. "Hi Rachel. How are you?"

The woman gives her a small smile. "I'm alright, thank you." Her voice is soft.

"So, uh, Prior, we wanted to talk to you about something," Chase says. "About what happened when we rescued Henrik. There were some...things that happened." He glances at Stacy, and her eyes widen as she immediately realizes what he means.

"Oh. Um, sure." Prior nods. He turns to Rachel. "If you need anything, you can just—"

"Don't worry, I understand," she reassures him. "Go talk with them."

"Right." Prior nods again, then slowly walks away from the bed.

Stacy still looks unsure, but with others supporting Chase's decision, she backs off. "Alright."

Jackie leans over and puts a hand on Chase's arm. "You can stay with me if you want, C. It's the same situation, and I don't think Psyode knows where my hideout is."

Chase nods. "That'd...that'd be cool. Thanks."

"But you can stop by, right Mr. Chase?" Phoebe asks. "Like, to see your friends? And your kids?" Her expression is oddly hopeful.

"Yeah, I can try to stop by," Chase says, though he looks reluctant. "If I'm sure that there's no problem. I...I really don't want to get the kids involved in this."

"It's a bit late for that," Stacy points out.

"So are we going to do anything else today?" Henrik asks. "Because if we are not, I need to work on getting some things together. I want to write down everything I've figured out about Anti."

"Nnno, I don't think so," Jackie says slowly. "I guess I'll stick around for a little while longer, though."

"I don't think Anti would have permitted that," Henrik says quietly. "Too much chance of being seen."

There's a moment of silence. Everyone wonders what Anti would do to any potential witnesses. "Well...just in case, I'll look through them real quick," Jackie says slowly. "I don't want to drive anyone out. I mean, I'm kinda a squatter myself, so massive respect for them. We'll just pick somewhere that doesn't have any people."

"Y'know I might join whoever ends up squatting in whatever building," Chase mutters.

"What?" Stacy whips her head over to look at him. "Chase, you don't have to do that."

"I don't want to, but I think it's the safe bet," Chase insists. "I...I really like being around the kids again, but Psyode is probably still looking for me. I shouldn't stay here. It's putting you and the kids in danger."

"I don't think they would do anything to hurt us," Stacy said. "That would draw too much attention."