hearts of metal

lxviii. phase 1, complete

Aelin watched the blue tinted liquid swish around in the vial. Yrene carefully loaded the vial into a syringe, while her and Rhoe watched.

"You're sure this'll work?" her dad asked.

Yrene nodded. "As sure as I can be. Once we understood how the Valg managed to turn people," she nodded towards Aelin. "We were able to reverse engineer this antidote. We just need one final test."

The three of them made their way down to the basement where they kept the Valg prisoners. They reached their target cell, where a Valg soldier was strapped down to a chair.

Rhoe nodded to one of the guards who let them in. Her dad then hovered near the back, while Aelin stood on Yrene's left side.

The Valg soldier jerked his arms against the chains, rattling them loudly. "Let me fucking go." His eyes fell on the syringe, and his eyes widened. Despite not knowing what it was, he seemed to have some suspicion. He started rattling louder and cursing. "Don't come near me with that, bitch," he hissed towards Yrene.

Aelin stepped forward, unsheathing her dagger and pressing it to his neck. He stilled, but she dug in a little deeper till blood welled up on the edge. "You're going to sit nice and still for the doctor, yeah?"

The man trembled slightly, but didn't move. Aelin gestured for Yrene to approach with her head.

Yrene moved smoothly towards the man, face blank of any fear. She uncapped the needle swiftly, before injecting him with the antidote. She then moved back to where Rhoe was watching.

Aelin took two steps back as well. They waited.

The Valg soldier sent a couple more choice words their way, before going slightly limp. His head lolled forward. When he finally lifted his head again, they were...clear.

"What's your name?" Rhoe asked.

The man seemed confused, but answered. They hadn't been able to get a name out of him before, he hadn't seemed to remember. Or he just hadn't wanted to tell them.

Aelin and Yrene left Rhoe to question the man further, returning upstairs.

"What do you think?" Aelin asked.

"It seems to have worked. We'll run more tests to be sure." Yrene gave her a warm smile, before saying, "I'll just get my supplies and finish up the tests. You'll know by tonight."

"Thanks," she said.

Hope flared inside Aelin.

They'd been living in the safehouse for two weeks now, as all the final pieces came into place. First was the cure Yrene and the others had managed to make. Second was the address Aelin had found at the Valg compound. It had led to a factory the Valg used to make their machines, as well as the green serum that flowed through its wires.

Third was monitoring Erawan, the head scientist, to take note of everyone who he interacted with most. They'd have to take them out, and make sure to destroy any copies of the machine's blueprints.

Four was Maeve. And Aelin was ready for it.

Two hours later, there were people gathered outside the safehouse. Aelin spotted Marta, as well as the familiar faces of others who worked for her dad. Several of them waved, and she waved back.

Nox was there as well, quick to bounce over to her with a grin. "Hey, Lin."

"Nox," she greeted. She then sent him a sly grin, before saying, "miss your boyfriend?"