Inside the room was a lab technician wearing a lab coat with a giant machine behind him. “You're not supposed to be in here. What are you doing?” the guard demanded. Jedd swung the gun that was tossed over his shoulder and smacked the butt into the technician's face. The guard crumbled to the ground. Jedd then took off his mask, revealing the same sunken eyes that Ralphie had seen before, but his face seemed full of color. Jedd motioned towards the door, and Leon locked it.

  “Sit down here,” Jedd motioned for Leon. There was a large machine that sat in front of the three of them. It hung from the top of the ceiling just above a large cushioned chair. Its body was large and bulbous. It has various wires and needles that hang down a couple of inches above Leonn's head. Jedd placed the large machine on Leonn. Jedd grumbled,

  “Where is it?" he muttered over and over.” The machine whirred and clicked around Leon’s head.”

  “How are you doing this?” Ralphie asked.

  The machine forced Leon’s head to lean back towards the ceiling.

  “I’ve stolen loads of CelTec technology over the years. I trade it to the Spades in exchange for information.” Jedd looked at Leon, “When you're ready, I will put you to sleep.”

  Leon smiled and gave a thumbs up, “I’ll see you on the other side.

  Ralphie smiled at his friend as he watched a needle come down from the top of the machine. It looked like a giant claw. Leon started counting down as the needle was injected into him. He got to about five before he was knocked out. Ralphie looked fearful for his friend. He turned to look at Jedd, who smiled kindly.

  “What happened with my parents?” Ralphie pulled off his mask so he could breathe better.

  Jedd kept operating the machine with various blades and knives spinning out of the machine before cutting into Leon. “Well, I disappeared when you were young. CelTec was after you and your parents. Your mother was a brilliant inventor, a true inventor; she was trying to develop the technology to reset The Minds.

  It would release CelTec's control of the world, giving everyone the ability to fully access The Minds. Your parents believed that Chuck Thorne supported their cause. He gave them the technology to build such a device. But your mother grew skeptical of Chuck Thorne; she believed he had become power hungry. So she stored the blueprints on a chip that she made copies of and hid them. Along with the rest of her work. When your mother told Chuck Thorne he was furious, he had only allowed for the device to be created to see if it could be done and to design a countermeasure. So CelTec took everything from your parents, all their money, and they threatened to take you when you were a kid. Luckily, Chuck Thorne wouldn’t let them take you. He did have your back in that regard. What do you remember about your childhood? Jedd asked as the back of Leon's skull opened. Jedd zoomed in on an implant that had been wired through the brain.

  Ralphie watched intently. “Not much, I do remember there was a period when I was younger that my parents were stressed. I used to come home, and my parents looked exhausted. My mom always looked like she wanted to cry. I remember my dad’s eyes looking isolated and tired. But every time I asked what was going on, they would tell me that everything would be ok and that everything would be fine. But I could tell that they were lying. Then one day, I remember my mom and dad coming to my room. They both looked sad, sadder than I have ever seen someone look. They told me that they had to go away for a while. I was very young at the time and didn’t understand. They said that they didn’t know how long, but that they had arranged for Leon’s family to take care of me and that I would be looked after.

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  I remember my parents hugging me for a long time. Longer than I’ve ever been hugged before. Then they left, and I just always assumed they would never come back. Then, after a year, they came back. My parents were much happier; they each had new jobs, and we had a lot of money. More than we ever were before, they were extremely interconnected with Chuck Thorne. He would come to my house every week, bringing gifts. They still hated CelTec; they would even talk to Chuck Thorne, and he would tell us all the ways he was going to fix things. Every time I asked them about what had happened, they always told me that they had gotten into money trouble and had to set things straight. They would never tell me anything more than that, so eventually I stopped asking, and then I forgot about it.”

  Jedd frowned. “I was there for the whole thing.” He sighed, “Your parents had agreed with CelTec that if they gave up the blueprints, then you would live a good life. The deal also included that CelTec could not involve you in any of their work. For the most part, Chuck Thorne has kept that promise. But your parents had no intention of giving him the full blueprints, only a partial copy. Chuck Thorne knew this, so he decided to have them wiped and repurposed to how he remembered them. The truth is, your parents were the single most important part of this fight, and I have been searching for the complete set of your mother's work ever since.”

  The machine spun around, removing electrode after electrode. Leon's vitals remained stable. But there was a loud knock at the door. The knocking kept happening, getting louder and louder. Jedd motioned for Ralphie to grab his pistol as he slowly moved towards the door. Ralphie put the mask back over his face as he aimed the pistol at the door. The knocking continued until Jedd opened the door just barely so he could scream out, “What the fuck are you doing?” There were two blues outside the door, armed with rifles. They looked at each other, “We were supposed to escort Henry Zingiber to his report meeting. He is late. That cannot be tolerated.”

  Jedd yelled again, “I don’t care how late he is, he's not here, and I am in the middle of an emergency procedure. So if you could kindly fuck off, that would be appreciated.”

  One of the Blues shook his head, “I’m sorry, sir, we cannot do that. We need to come inside to confirm his whereabouts.”

  “Well, only if you barge in fuckfaces,” Jedd said as the Blues proceeded to barge in. Ralphie shot them twice, their bodies falling to the floor. They started breathing heavily on the ground. “What the hell just happened?” Jedd exclaimed before walking over and inspecting the gun in Ralphie's hands. “Did they turn mindsweepers into handheld guns?” Ralphie nodded. “Fucking hell.”

  The machine clicked, glowing before releasing a snipping noise. The machine split in two, allowing for Leon’s head to fall to his chest. His head was steaming with a fresh scar that ran from the back of his head to his neck.

  Ralphie looked over and panicked, “He’s not moving.” Jedd ran over to him, frantically picking up his head. The scar was stark white. He reached up to the machine, grabbing the implant, and all the electrodes appeared to have been removed. “Dullahan said this could happen. That it could kill him,” Ralphie said, staring at Leon's lifeless body.

  Jedd began to control the machine again. It revved back to life; he might have made a mistake while dealing with The Blues. The machine spat out a shot of adrenaline that it injected into Leon's neck. Leon sprang to life, gasping as he did. Ralphie and Jedd let out a sigh of relief.

  Leon blinked rapidly, and he could feel the loud thumping from his heart. Leon ran his hand over the scar; it was soft and warm to the touch.

  “We have to go,” Jedd said. “They will be on to us as soon as they realize these Blues haven’t come back.”