Starting Line || Carter Grayson

(23) Fate

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Over the years with Lightspeed, Nova and I have learned to navigate and operate just about any system we could get our hands on. That's why there were no questions asked when we charged over to the mobile operations area and started getting our operating systems back up and booted.

I could hardly stomach the truth as I pressed button after button, fear trembling through my bones. How could they not have told us until minutes ago that Carter and Ryan had disappeared into the Queen's Skull Cavern. Untraceable and off our radar.

"I got it!" Nova shouted.

I ran to her side, watching as she pressed a few more buttons, "I got it! We've got footage inside the Skull Cavern."

"It's not safe for you two to be here!" Miss Fairweather and my father followed us in. Blasts around the city shook the grounds, causing us all to stumble our way through the area and do what we had to do.

"We need to evacuate the area immediately!" my father put his hands on my shoulder, trying to pull me away from the screen.

"Nova, scan the area. We need readings on them." I told her, harshly pushing my fathers hands off me. He lied to me. He lied to us again. How could he let them both head in there with no plan or no back up? How could he let the two people I loved head blindly into a battle they might not walk out of.

"Running scans now," Miss Fairweather said, "Captain Mitchell, it's no use trying to make them evacuate. Can't you see how distraught they are?"

I was so sick to my stomach that it felt painful to hold it all in. Silent tears stained our faces as we scanned with worry and unkowingnisht. We had to get a reading on them. We had to know they were okay. All the work everyone has put together to keep Mariner Bay free of demons.... This could not be how my brother or my boyfriend died. They had to be okay.

"I've got a read on Ryan!" Miss Fairweather announced and projected it onto our screen.

Nova sighed in relief, watching as he slowly navigated through the skull cavern with swift movements and quiet agility. Carter. What about Carter? I needed to know he was okay.

I put my hand over my mouth, using the half broken control panel in front of me as support to hold me upright. Nova looked at me but my eyes were locked on the screen. I was holding my breath - I couldn't help it. My hands trembled as I pressed a few more buttons, trying to get more angles of the skull cavern going. Carter had to be somewhere. He had to be okay.

"You girls don't need to be watching this." my father tried to grab me again.

"And you don't need to be telling us what to do right now!" Nova shouted, "You of all people are the last person who should be talking to us."

"I couldn't tell you girls because then you wouldn't have had a clear head on your shoulders to help evacuate the base." my father said.

"You kept this from us! We might never see them again, do you understand that? You let your son run right into a trap that's going to really kill him this time! You let my boyfriend go after him! Everyone I love is going to die because you let them go!" I spun around and yelled at my father.

"If they die, it's on your hands Captain," Nova added, "How could you do that to us?"

"Girls-" my father started.

"You guys need to see this..." Miss Fairweather clicked some buttons, showing us images of the rangers fighting against batlings. There was so much going on - it was hard for me to focus on them all when I caught a glimpse of that familiar red suit I had come to know and love.