Axel stumbled into the hallway. The corridor was dim, lit only by flickering red alarms that pulsed like a heartbeat, more like the academy's heartbeat which was now panicking.
Sirens wailed overhead.
BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP
'Great. I escape my cell and the whole building thinks the apocalypse started…'
He sucked in a breath and forced his heartbeat to settle.
"Robbing someone is gonna be hard when everyone's trying to kill me…"
His hands throbbed sharply, reminding him that hitting anything else might shatter bone but he pressed on. There was no going back now.
He moved down the hall, staying low. The sound of boots echoed up ahead. They were guards running toward somewhere else.
Axel didn't stop moving. He pushed through a narrow metal door at the end of the hallway, one he didn't even know existed and stumbled out into the open.
He was still inside the Oval Academy grounds… but this part of the school didn't look familiar at all. It was like a hidden section that was tucked far behind the main buildings.
'How big is this place…?' Axel wondered.
It was already late in the evening, but without his device he couldn't tell the time. Every one of his belongings had been taken. The only thing left was the glowing tag on his collar:
The Lumina 3 level which basically said, "Weak, harmless and easy to catch."
He kept walking, sticking close to the shadows until he reached a more open area. Voices drifted from ahead, dozens of them. Axel slowed down a bit and then he peeked around a corner.
Students. Lots of them.
They were all heading in the same direction, chatting, laughing, and completely relaxed. No panic. No guards storming around. No alarms blaring at this section.
Not a single person seemed to know that an "escaped REIN agent" was supposed to be loose.
Maybe the Oval officers were trying to keep it quiet. Or maybe the school didn't want the students to panic. Either way, it worked in Axel's favor. No one looked twice at him when he slipped into the crowd and kept his head low.
He matched their pace, pretending he had somewhere to be, then slipped out of the flow and ducked into a dark alleyway between two buildings.
Only when he was completely hidden did he let out the breath he had been holding.
Now that Axel wasn't running… reality hit him hard.
'How am I supposed to fix this?' He asked himself.
He was alone.
The government thought he was a terrorist. They wanted him locked up or dead. He was stuck in their strongest facility with no plan, no backup, no idea of what to do and no idea how long he could run before someone found him again.
"Great," he muttered to himself. "Really great. You really screwed up this time, Axel."
He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the cold ground.
For the first time since, Axel felt completely stuck.
Not trapped by a door or a cell…but trapped by the entire world.
"What's the point…" he whispered.
His hands curled into fists, but even that felt weak.
"Why not just give up?"
For a moment, giving up felt easier than fighting.
There was really nothing to do now.
Axel let his head fall back against the wall. His mind was empty and drifting to who knows where. Maybe giving up wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe this was where everything ended for him anyway.
But then, he heard voices. They came from the far end of the dark alleyway, faint but clear enough.
"Gotta go get some more CNTs," one student said. "Maybe some weak Lumina 1s and 2s will be generous enough."
The others laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.
"Yeah, we only need a few more. After that we'll be done for today."
"And we hit, what? Like nine people now?"
"At least. Let's get ten before curfew."
Axel didn't need more context. He knew exactly what they were doing.
Bullies doing their usual routine, extorting the weak and hunting the ones who couldn't fight back.
Funny enough… he was their perfect target right now.
"You go that way," one of them said. "I'll go this way."
Their group split, three heading deeper into the school… and one walking straight toward the alley where Axel sat.
Just his luck.
The student stepped into the narrow space, stopped in front of him, and stared down his nose.
"Hey," the guy said. "Send me 30 CNT now. We can do this the easy way...or the hard way. I myself prefer the hard way, but you choose."
Axel didn't move and the student snapped his fingers at him.
"You deaf? Hurry up. Send it."
Still, Axel didn't respond, not because he was scared, but because he was staring at the student's familiar red hair and face.
Axel blinked. 'Dane Cornwall…?'
The student who accessed Terminal B-33 seconds after Axel. The same one who he wanted to rob.
Axel slowly got back on his feet. Dane raised a brow, annoyed.
"Yo, what are you—"
But Axel wasn't listening to him. His thoughts were somewhere else.
A mission he still hadn't completed sat glowing in the corner of his vision.
[Rob a student of 50 CNTs.]
And in front of him stood the perfect target.
Not just for the mission, but for something even bigger.
A spark formed in Axel's mind and he got a new idea. A way out.
'What if… I rob Dane Cornwall… and frame him for the terminal hack?'
He had accessed the computer after Axel. He already had a habit of preying on students. He had motive. And if CNTs went missing from him… it could look like a trade gone wrong. He would look like the real REIN agent, whether he was one or not.
This was a way to kill two birds with one stone. Rob someone and clear his name.
Not just that, the five minutes of cooling down on his Infernal Core were done. He was in fighting shape.
[Infernal Core: Active]
For the first time since escaping the cell… he saw a path forward.
Dane, still clueless, clicked his tongue.
"Hurry up already. Stop wasting my time. Send the money."
Axel finally spoke.
"Actually…" he said quietly, stepping closer.
"You're going to give me something."
***