Some Things Never Change

Chapter 1

The loud pounding of feet against the cement floor echoed in the mostly empty and dark hallways, their only light being rundown fluorescents beaming down into the dark. The sound of their sprinting only being cut through with the ear-splitting bang of a gunshot behind them. "Hurry up! Come on!" The man in the lead of the four runaways yelled. He took a sharp turn to the right, with the rest of the ragtag team following close behind him which caused one of them to slide into the wall a bit.

"How the fuck did this happen, huh, Skye?! I thought you said you had a plan!" The man last in the group snapped, his voice nearly being overpowered by a loud boom as the first man threw open the door in front of them, slamming it into the wall.

"You're one to fucking talk, Jack! Who would have guessed that I can only do my job correctly if I'm given the right information!" Skye yelled back at him, being quick to follow in the footsteps of the man leading them into the room. It seemed like a plain, and for the most part, empty office. All it had was a small desk with a lamp sat on top, a tucked-in chair, and abandoned file cabinets.

"Can you two shut the fuck up?! Jack, lock the door. Skye, help me move this desk. Elliot, I need you to figure out where we need to go next." The man in the lead quickly demanded of all of them, trying his best to keep the situation under control. "Jack, I need you to make sure Elliot can focus."

"You got it, Damian," Jack responded with slight breathiness in his voice from their sprint. With Jake quickly sliding into the room, he shut the door behind them and locked it. "Alright, El, don't let us down. You got this." He said, swiftly shifting past Skye and Damian as they paired up to move the desk in front of the door with the lamp being discarded to the floor. "Just uh..a gentle reminder though that if you fuck up, there's a great possibility of us all dying. No pressure though." Jack commented with sarcasm in his voice as he grabbed the chair and moved it to the back of the room.

Elliot's icy blue eyes narrowed at Jack, throwing daggers at his back as he got the chair. "Wow, you don't say? I had no clue!" He sneered, walking over towards the back of the room where Jack set up the chair and sat down, tucking in his legs under him and crossing them over each other. With him finally being settled, he closed his eyes with a steady breath out to focus.

"Jesus, this team's a fucking mess..." Skye muttered under her breath as she and Damian sat the desk down in front of the door. This is why I prefer to work with the people I pick. Elliot was fine, but why the fuck did we have to pick up Damian and Jack? She thought to herself with a soft sigh of disappointment. Now wasn't the time to think of their past mistakes though. All of them had gone through their ammo and were left with empty pistols. Their last hope to get out of this situation was Elliot and Damian.

"Come on, Elliot, we need an update. They'll figure out we're in here soon. What do you see?" Skye asked, directing her attention towards him in the back.

Elliot's eyes shot open with white glazing over his eyes, completely replacing any color his eyes had including the black of his pupils. Using his powers allowed him to freely check out the rest of the building from where he was sitting via astral projection. He could see his own body sitting in the chair, with everyone anxiously waiting for him to find a solution. Right now, he had to focus on finding another empty room. His spirit floated through the wall and back into the hallway.

There, he could see the blurry, pitch-black shadows of those who were chasing them in the hallway earlier. Elliot's ability prohibited him from seeing any details other than basic shapes in black and white. The lack of good lighting certainly wasn't helping either. His semi-translucent spirit drifted behind their seekers, feeling particularly glad they couldn't see spirits as he started searching for rooms they may have already checked and wouldn't have checked again.