Beyond

ᑕᕼᗩᑭ丅ᗴᖇ ᗴᎥǤᕼ丅ᗴᗴᑎ

𝓘𝓷𝓿𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓰𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 ✶༄ ‧₊˚

The six of them made their way down the halls of the training facility. Still wondering why they agreed to Eddie's ridiculous plan, which consisted of Bruce and Willow making a distraction while Sophia and Eddie snuck into the room to search for a certain Astra Graves. Finally, Leo and Sylvia would be watching for any guards or recruits. The biggest problem with their plan was it was three o'clock in the morning, so they had to be insanely quiet.

"Honestly, this is the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life," Sophia stated out of nowhere, breaking the dead silence with a rather loud whisper.

"Shut up, you idiot," Eddie whispered, nudging her and looking around the hallway. "We were supposed to be quiet for this to work."

Just when everyone had quieted down, Willow tripped. In an attempt to keep herself from falling, she grabbed Bruce's shirt sleeve, he was not anticipating the sudden tug, and he too started to fall, but to keep himself from slipping as well, he reached blindly out for the wall, and his hand caught on a door handle. He held onto the door handle, which caused the door to slam open with a loud bang.

Both he and Willow collapsed onto the floor and let out sharp grunts. The four that remained standing looked at them with stern glares. Everyone held their breath, waiting for some noise.

"Okay, guys. . ." Eddie said, helping up Bruce while Sophia helped WIllow. "I think we're good-" He was cut off by light footsteps that were getting closer by the second. "Guys, hide!" He whisper-shouted at the other recruits as they scrambled into the room where Bruce had accidentally opened the door. Sadly, the room was a storage closet, meaning they barely fit.

They had squeezed five of them in, except Sophia, who was trying to force the door closed. Soon as she got it shut, they heard the footsteps come to a stop. The five held their breath as they strained to listen to the conversation between Sophia and the unknown person.

"What's going on here?" A familiar blonde asked, pulling her wavy hair into a loose bun.

"Oh. . . Hi," Sophia said, casually leaning against the storage closet door. "Um, Gabbi, right?"

"Yup." She replied, gesturing toward the door Sophia was leaning against. "What's up with that? Why are you being so protective over that door?"

"This?" Sophia laughed nervously and got off the door. "Well. . .um I- uh." She trailed off, repeatedly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's um, well, something like fell off the shelf and I like threw it back up there, and I'm just here making sure it doesn't fall again." She said, patting the door twice as she resumed leaning on it.

"Ahh, sure. . ." Gabbi replied, still looking skeptical about the whole situation continued. "So you're just gonna stand there all night?"

"Um, no. . ." Sophia replied, looking around nervously, meeting anything but Gabbi's crystalline blue eyes. "It um. . . just- wait for a second!" Sophia said, pointing an accusing finger at Gabbi. "What are you doing here at three in the morning, running in the halls?"

"I was going to the bathroom," Gabbi said confidently, leaning on the wall opposite Sophia. "Then I heard a crash coming from over here, so I came to see what happened."

"And you didn't think just to mind your own business and go back to bed?" Sophia said, trying to divert the attention off her.

"Well, you still haven't told me why you are in the middle of the hallway, apparently picking up fallen items from random storage closets," Gabbi said, regarding her oddly perfect nails.

"I was heading back to my room?" Sophia said, with a tone that was almost questioning her statement.

"From where? The bathroom? Because I sure didn't see you in there."

"From the. . . um from the. . . Training room!" She said, unsure why that had to be the place that came to mind.

"Why would you be in the training room?" Gabbi said, shrugging.

"To, um, dip my feet in the pool!"

"Okay. . ." Gabbi replied uncertainly, still raising her eyebrows at the brunette, who was shifting her weight uncomfortably from one leg to the other.

"Okay, so I'm gonna go. . ." Sophia said, awkwardly pointing down the hallway as she backed away slowly, still facing Gabbi.

"Right, okay. . . Goodnight," Gabbi said, making her way down the opposite hallway as they both backed away from each other.

"Do you think they're gone?" Eddie whispered to the other four crammed in the closet with him.

"Probably-" Sylvia cut herself off and slapped Eddie's arm. "Could you maybe not jam your elbow in my ribs?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, causing Willow to snicker.

"Crap, how do we get out of here?" Bruce said, pushing against the door with his shoulder.

"I don't know, bro! You opened it before!" Leo whisper-yelled at him. "Lemme just. . ." He trailed off as he ran his fingers down the side of the door before finding a slight indent. He used the notch to push the door open, still not entirely sure how the doors at this facility worked.

Soon as the door opened, the five stumbled into the empty hallway. Immediately on the lookout for anyone else in the halls.

"Okay. . ." Eddie said cracking his knuckles rather loudly, causing Sylvia to flinch. "New plan. Since Sophia is no longer here, I'll go into the room alone and try to search her up, and the rest of the plan stays the same."

"Wait, no, that's not the plan," Leo said quietly. "I was in that room, so I know where to find stuff. I can go in with you. And Sylvia can keep watch for guards."

"Yeah, no. That's not happening." Eddie replied, brushing past them and continuing to the 'control room'.

"Wait!" Leo shouted rather loudly as he jogged to catch up to Eddie. "Who put you in charge?" He asked, annoyed, grabbing Eddie's arm to stop him from continuing on his path.

"Um. . . myself," Eddie replied, in a tone almost stating that it was apparent. "Let go of me so we can figure out who did this." He pulled his arm vigorously from Leo's grasp and walked quickly down the dimly lit hallways.

He finally reached the unnamed door and carefully slipped inside, still confused about why it wasn't locked. He was just about to step further into the room when he noticed a red flashing light blinking in the corner of the room.

He quietly searched near the entrance for anything to cover the strange light with. Eventually, he found a small cloth. He flattened it and tossed it lightly, silently celebrating when it landed perfectly over the light, blocking it out entirely.

He cautiously made his way further into the room, running his hand lightly ghosting over all of the equipment. He eventually found a blue hologram presenting a search bar on the holographic screen. He tapped the projected keys on the table, ultimately searching Astra Graves.

A page pulled up, presenting an overload of seemingly classified information.

Astra Graves, fem. 46 years. Married to Bob Graves, 42 years. Three children, Ronnie Graves- male, 19 years. Kiana Graves- female, 17 years. Cammy Graves- male, 14 years.

"This isn't helping. . . or is it?" Eddie whispered to himself as he scrolled through the information. "Yes!" He whispered excitedly upon finding a file in the computer titled 'Project Stargazer'.

"Founder, cause, training, reaction time, blueprints. . ." He whispered as he read through the different categories. Eventually, deciding to read through the 'Founder' section.

Most of it was useless information, like the planning and many random interviews, but some of it stuck out to him.

They knew about the black hole approximately a year before deciding to recruit anyone for the project. Another was they chose younger recruits because of their immunity, stamina, and metabolisms.

The final one made him shiver. The kids weren't chosen at random. . . they were watched for months before being selected.