Ace crouches down beside Elias' door and slides down to sit. He plops his head into his hands, trying to cool it off.
'Fuck.'
His mind was racing and he didn't even know what he was doing here in the first place. These people were his enemies. So he sat, and he planned.... Then he stands to leave when he hears something from inside the small boy's room.
~Meanwhile~
Eli enters his room and sees that his teacher is not there. Instead, in his room stands three doctors with their medical gear sprawled around his bed and another man dressed in a suit stands near the door.
"What's going on? I'm supposed to have classes now."
"Elias. You're late."
"Father, you didn't an-"
"Elias."
He says in a stern tone.
"Enough. We're doing your yearly test today, then you will have your monthly ones next week as planned."
"Father! Wait! No! I don't want to do that again! It's scary!"
"Elias! Do not raise your voice to me! You'll do the test if you ever want to be able to live without that thing on your face all the time. And I won't have you throwing a fit about, this won't take long anyway."
"I don't care! I don't want to do it!"
Christopher, Eli's father, motions to the doctors and they set off towards him. Two of the doctors go behind him to hold him securely still, while the other reached for Elias' gas mask. While Elias was small, he had broken one of the doctors' noses last time he went through this test. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest as he tries to squirm away from the doctors.
"N-no, please! I can't breathe without it."
He pleads as his eyes fill with tears. But the doctors wouldn't give in to his pleas. As the doctor places his hand on his mask he begins to yell.
"Stop! Please! I need it to breathe!"
But the doctor tears it off his face anyway. The other two release him and he falls to the ground, gasping for air. Behind, he hears the door open, but he was only focused on reaching for his mask. He sees one of the doctors stumble back as he stares at the doorway, eyes filled to the brim with fear. The other doctors back away as well. Elias tries to breathe through his mask but it had been blocked to prevent leaking.
"S-s-s-s surface dweller!"
The fallen doctor exclaims pointing behind Eli as a much larger mask was placed over Elias' face. Finally able to breathe again, Eli starts to calm down.
"You idiot! Shut your mouth! Do you want to cause a panic?!"
Christopher yells at the doctor. For Eli, most of this was a blur due to his panicked state. Before he knew what had just happened, he was out of his room and running down the hall with his own mask on again. Just ahead of him was Ace, one handheld his unlatched mask on, the other grasped Elias' own and pulled him away from the voice that yelled behind them. They turn the corner away from the living chambers and head towards the guards' quarters. An alarm starts ringing and Elias knew that they'd get caught soon at this rate. Without hesitation, Eli pulls Ace into a room mark 'High Authorization Only', using his handprint to open the door. Out of breath and shaken, Eli's knees give out as soon as the door closes behind him, falling towards Ace. Ace grabs him before he falls and helps him down to the ground to sit quietly as they hear the sound of passing footsteps outside the door.
"Are you alright?"
"Huh? O-oh, yes. Thank you. Though I don't know why you helped me, I am grateful."
Ace stretches out a hand and helps him up to his feet. He holds onto Eli's arms as he steadies himself.
"'Cause I know how painful this air is."
"That reminds me. They called you a 'surface dweller'. But I was told that no one could live on the surface."
"Shhhhhh..."
More feet came and went.
"Let's go."
Ace grabs Elias' hand and leads him out of the room. They run down the halls, ducking into rooms to avoid passing guards and make their way to the elevator that leads to the surface. Elias pulls his hand away before they enter the elevator and Ace looks back at him, reaching his hand out once again.
"I-I can't go up there. The air is poisonous."
"Not to us."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Elias!"
Eli turns back to face the person who called his name. Ambrose stood there in his guard uniform, completely out of breath from running.
"Eli. Come here. Don't go up there. Whatever he told you, don't believe them, they're lies. You'll die up there! Eli please!"
Ace tugs on Elias' arm a bit.
"We have to go, now."
"B-but, Ambrose..."
He says looking between Ace and Ambrose.
"Eli, please."
Ambrose pleads.
"Elias."
Ace says, giving Eli's arm another small tug. Behind Ambrose more guards caught up to them, each one equipped with a tranq-gun.
"Elias. It's now or never."
Eli looks back at Ace. If he stayed he would have to continue with all the tests. But if he left, would he even be able to breathe up there? Eli thought back to his dreams. The nest. The people. The Kharaneae. Ambrose, someone who he's known his whole life, but could be hiding a lot from him? Or Ace, a strange boy he just met under an hour ago? He took a step Ambrose, but Ace still held onto his arm.
"Eli."
"Elias Morales!"
His father screams, stomping his feet on the ground as he marched to where Ambrose was standing.
"You get away from that-that, thing!"
He yells, face deep red from anger.
"No..."
Eli says quietly.
"No!"
He yells back at his father then grabs Ace's hand and pulls him into the elevator. Several guards raise their guns as the doors close but it was already too late.
"ELIAS! Don't just stand there, go after them! Don't let them leave!!"
"We can't follow them without equipment."
Ambrose says, teeth clenched.
"Then get the fucking equipment, get your asses out there, and GET HIM BACK, NOW!"
He yells at Ambrose, and Ambrose glares back at him.
"Yes Sir."
Ambrose responds as he stomps off.
"FUCK! I was so close!"
Ambrose slams his fist against the wall and the guards behind him flinch.
"Get Alpha, Beta, and Charlie suited up and out there. Report to Echo about the situation and find out how that surface dweller got past our guards and cameras. And get his GPS signal pin-pointed and hooked to a handheld tracker. They can't get far on foot. Have Delta on standby with the big guns."
Ambrose carefully orders, he was going to get Eli back from that surface dweller.