“What just happened?” Ray yelled. “I was trying to grab him but the rift got him!”

“What was that?” Eve asked. “Your shield almost crushed him!”

“No! It’s a cage. I came up with it to carry injured civilians. I was trying to get him back here!”

Eve let out a long breath and sighed, “He was probably too close to the rift to get back.”

“We need to go after him!”

“I don’t think we can.”

Eve nodded towards the rift. The cracks that stretched around the area quickly retracted. The rift closed as violently as it had opened. It pulled at everything nearby as the center shrank. Beast was incapacitated and Harpy looked panicked. It tried to fly towards the rift. Before it could make a move, the BEARs bound it to the ground. Papa BEAR didn’t get an opportunity to reach the rift. It had shut before anyone could get to it.

“We’ve succeeded in subduing the Riftwalker and Oghrodi. Get ready to move them to holding,” Boss said.

“What about An-” Ray caught himself. “What about Volt?”

“We’ve lost connection with him. Focus on what we can do, right now.”

“But-”

“Focus!” Boss demanded.

The BEARs circled Harpy and attacked it with a myriad of weapons. For minutes it was blasted by a torrent of fire, bullets, and beams. There was no way it could survive, and the GDF wasn’t looking for a live Riftwalker. Not now, at least. While the BEARS dealt with Harpy, the Glaives monitored Beast. It wasn’t dead but there was no way it was waking up any time soon. Especially after taking the brunt of Horus’s laser.

“Everyone, get back,” Boss commanded.

Breakers descended from beyond the clouds. They had been hovering in case of emergency evacuation or if the Riftwalker was subdued. Part of the field opened, revealing a massive holding chamber. The Breakers moved the Riftwalker and Oghrodi, making sure to lock them away separately.

The BEARs stayed near the Riftwalker in case it awoke. Agents worked quickly to bind the creature before cutting it apart. The Oghrodi was confined to a cell and bound so it would be unable to move. Even if it broke free, the holding cell itself was indestructable. The GDF had tested it extensively. The Glaives who weren’t hurt during the battle moved to guard the cell.

The remaining members of Team Goldilocks moved back to the control center. Ray was still reeling from what happened. The GDF moved on like Anand hadn’t just disappeared! And why the hell did Anand jump through a rift like that! He wasn’t supposed to be the reckless one. Then again, he’d been extra stupid since joining Project Glaive.

“You’re mumbling,” Eve said dryly.

“I can’t help it!” Ray replied. “It’s so stupid!”

“What is?”

“Everything!”

“We can use this!” Tori yelled from her station. She’d used a teleporter and returned the second she could. “Volt going through the rift isn’t necessarily a bad thing!”

“Tori, return to Midwest Base,” Boss instructed. His voice was playing through her display.

Ray ran to Tori’s side and said, “Wait! Can we still track him?”

“Enough!” Boss yelled before Tori could say anything. “Team Goldilocks and Tori return to Midwest Base. I have to report this before we can do anything.”

Eve sighed and patted Ray’s back. Without a word, she sheathed her Glaive and walked to the teleporter. Tori followed suit. Ray was ready to fight Boss but he was no longer in the voice channel. He yelled at nothing and huffed before finally following the others.

The Midwest base was in a frenzy. Agents were pushing past others to get a chance to teleport to Old Nebraska. People who had been waiting for years to research a Riftwalker finally had their chance. Ray realized Tori was probably one of them. She loved working on alien tech. But she ignored the chance and moved towards Team Lucky’s lounge.

JP, Alec, Conrad, and Gale were all silently waiting for Boss. He was in the meeting room, talking to someone on the monitor. The screen was tinted but Ray knew it was Director Graves. Mostly because Boss yelled it a few times.

“What’s the plan?” Ray asked.

“We don’t know,” JP admitted. “They’re saying…”

“They’re saying the mission was a success,” Alec said.

“Wasn’t the whole point of the mission to save everyone who got kidnapped?” Ray asked.

“Yeah, but the GDF isn’t going to call capturing a Riftwalker a failure,” Eve replied. “Not to mention, we got an Oghrodi, too.”

Ray grumbled. Eve was as nonchalant about this as everyone else. No. She was more nonchalant than them. She didn’t seem to care at all that Anand was gone. It was all about the mission with her. Anand didn’t matter since the GDF still won. Ray turned quickly and grabbed Eve’s arm.

“What about Anand?” he yelled while shaking his friend. “Am I the only one who cares about what happened to him? Don’t-”

Ray stopped. He hadn’t looked at Eve since they’d returned. Tears welled up in her eyes but Ray couldn’t call it crying. Eve was straight faced. Her eyes were unfocused and hazy. She was like a husk. Ray knew Eve wasn’t as lively as himself but he’d never seen her like this. He was an idiot if he thought she didn’t care about Anand.

“Sorry,” Ray said and let go of Eve.

She shook her head. “We just have to wait for Boss to figure out the next step.”

They sat down with the rest of Team Lucky. The TV was connected to the internal GDF communications. Everyone could listen in on what the Riftwalker was revealing but none of them were interested. Not right now. The person who’d be most excited wasn’t there to enjoy it and that weighed on everyone.

“It’s our own fault for helping him,” Conrad said.

“If we hadn’t he’d be dead,” JP replied.

“For all we know, he is,” Alec added.

Ray barked, “He’s not!”

He’d never raised his voice at any of Team Lucky’s members. But they didn’t know Anand like Ray and Eve did.

“Unless dying was part of Anand’s plan, there was no way he’d kick the bucket,” Eve said in a cold monotonous voice.

Boss finished his meeting and stepped into the lounge. He’d never looked so exhausted. He sighed while greeting everyone.

“As you’re likely aware, the GDF is considering the mission a success,” Boss said. “Director Graves believes we may be able to find a way to open rifts using the Riftwalker.”

“How long will that take?” Ray asked.

The question was met with a silent stare. It was a look Ray had received from people throughout his life. Boss was clearly saying to shut up. This was the first time the silent stare sent a chill down Ray’s spine. He couldn’t imagine how Anand dealt with Boss for months. The man was terrifying.

“It has taken years to retrieve anything substantial from the Oghrodi. Now we have one of them as well as a Riftwalker. We can’t rush the process of researching everything about them,” Boss explained. “However, I’ll be damned if we don’t save the kidnapped civilians. Director Graves agrees with me but on the record, she’s against us pursuing the mission right now. Even if we have an inside man.”

“So, the GDF isn’t going to do anything,” Eve said.

“No, but we are. Off the record, she’s given us permission to continue the mission. But we’re at a massive deficit.” Boss held up his arms and gestured to everyone. “This is the entire team until we can confirm Anand is able to help us. Once we can work out a plan with him, we can ask for help from others within the Midwest Base.”

Alec scoffed. “We’re banking on the fact that people here know him and will wanna help, huh?”

“Exactly.”

“You sound so sure that he’s alive,” Ray said.

“I’m not,” Boss replied. “But if there was any doubt about his status, I’m sure you or Eve would’ve said something. Do you believe Anand is alive?”

“Definitely,” Eve said.

Ray nodded. “No doubt.”

“Then I have no reason to question it,” Boss said. He turned to Tori and asked, “Were you able to find a signal from Volt?”

“That’s what I was trying to say earlier. Yes!” Tori exclaimed. “However, I can’t get an exact location since the signal keeps dropping.”

Conrad hummed. “How come? Collars never do that.”

“I’m guessing Anand’s Collar is damaged, along with his Glaive. Not to mention, we don’t have a proper connection to the rift’s destination.”

“You say that like you know where it went,” Eve said.

“As perceptive as usual,” Boss said. “We have a general idea, yes. We have been working on establishing a connection to the location for some time. It’s about time we put it to the test. If all goes as intended, we should be able to contact Anand.”

“That depends if he still has a connection to us,” Eve said. “The rift could’ve damaged Volt’s communication functions. The signal and connection might get worse as time passes.

“We shouldn’t waste time sitting around,” Ray said while standing up. “Let’s get started!”