Soon the three of them were back in their chairs, Michael staring at the floor. But he could see all too well in his peripheral vision the barrel of the gun pointing straight at him. The men had lost any semblance of subtlety.

“Tell us what you messed with in there,” the guard with the gun said. “We’re not idiots. Tell us or we just might have to shoot you in the back of the head, tell the bosses that you ran for it.”

Michael had tried hard to fake tears, but nothing would come. Even with no tears, though, it wasn’t hard to show how much the incident had rattled him. “Look, I’m being honest. I was desperate. I tried to see if there was anything I could do. But it’s just a bunch of lighting stuff. I swear. No one has to know.”

“Yeah, except you ripped out the fibers connecting everything!”

Michael shrugged, keeping his eyes glued to the floor. “I can go fix that if you wa—”

“Shut up! Do you think we’re morons?”

Michael kept his expression blank. Oh how badly he wanted to say “Yup.”

“Let’s just chill,” the other man—the one without a gun—said. “No one’s going to fire us because we let a kid use the bathroom. And seriously. What could he have done? Send SOS messages with the lights? He’s only a child. Look at him. He can’t be that smart.”

Yes, I can, Michael thought. He didn’t dare look up for fear his eyes would give away just how much he was enjoying this. Kaine would come. He knew it.

Things settled after a few minutes, and the guards lapsed into silence. Michael leaned back a little in his chair and folded his arms. It didn’t take long for his good mood to evaporate. With every passing second, he began to doubt a little more. How could he have been so sure, even for a moment? Even if Kaine did get the message, who was to say he’d come save him? Why would he? It wasn’t like they were suddenly a magic duo committed to fighting crime and evil world takeovers.

A hiss interrupted his thoughts, loud in the stillness of the giant room. All three of them looked to the source—one of the Coffins, its lid swinging open as little trails of mist curled over the edge. It was three devices down from the platform where Weber’s lay, still blinking and humming. There was another hiss, then another, then another. Four Coffins total, opening up, scattered about, but all within fifty feet or so of where Weber remained Sunk.

Neither guard seemed alarmed. They had no reason to be. These were the people they worked for. It probably seemed totally normal that some of them would come back.

“Are you gonna tell them?” one guard said to the other.