Chapter 13: Escape

Torrents of different thoughts swirled around Rayleigh’s mind as he pondered his next move.

’I can’t go back to prison. I can’t!’ Rayleigh screamed internally, clenching his fists underneath the interrogation table.

’My life can’t be thrown away all of a sudden because I chose to get caught. Not when I’m this close to getting to Tris. If I get tried in Skylark, I’d be lucky to get thirty years. But that’d be another thirty years for Tris in that hellscape of a prison.’

Rayleigh’s thoughts were loud in his own head, overwhelming and invading his mind, so much so that he feared the Silvered agent before him could hear his own thoughts.

There were those who had rune abilities that allowed them to slither their way into the minds of others.

That particular prospect was what led Rayleigh to believe that it was only a matter of time before they brought in a telepath to search his mind for information.

"Now, Mr. Pierce," the agent’s hoarse voice pulled Rayleigh out of his head. "Your record shows you served seven years on a Blue-Zoned planet after a member of your bloodline implicated you when she made a failed attempt on an Admiral’s life."

The agent’s eyes locked onto Rayleigh’s as a mocking smirk appeared on his face. "What a failure you and your sister are. She failed to assassinate the Admiral, and you failed to escape The Vortex. I guess failure runs in the family."

The agent anticipated a reaction from Rayleigh, but all he got was an indifferent stare from the twenty-three-year-old.

Not getting what he wanted, the agent decided to poke the bear even more.

"I mean, you didn’t have to be a failure. If you had possessed the rune gene, then you wouldn’t have been tried alongside your sister. There is a law that would have protected you back then, but unfortunately for you, you’re just a runeless human staining the ground you walk on with your pathetic existence."

The agent’s words were laced with harsh cruelty, but Rayleigh remained unmoved by them.

But that never meant he wasn’t finding the Silvered’s face slightly punchable.

Rayleigh had seven years of practice in the art of control.

Those words would have earned the agent a broken nose from the old Rayleigh, but prison had taught Rayleigh that anger was expensive, and months of lashing out at prison guards had done nothing for him except get him beaten at every turn.

It was very easy to bait a reaction out of the old Rayleigh Pierce, not so much for the new one, as he had developed a much thicker skin.

The agent acknowledged his failure to get information out of Rayleigh. He stood up and exited the room afterwards.

Rayleigh leaned back against the chair.

Perhaps he hadn’t reacted to the words of the agent, but that didn’t mean they weren’t cutting him deep.

’I will escape this hellhole one way or the other, and I am going to take out every single one of them if I have to, if it means getting to my sister, starting with him.’ Rayleigh’s eyes were as fierce as ever.

"Open interface," Rayleigh muttered, determination filling his entire body.

► [ Initializing...]

► [ ADVANCED ROMULUS SYSTEM ]

► [ Profile ]

► [ Missions ]

► [ Attributes ]

► [ Weaponry System ]

► [ Defense System ]

► [ Cosmic Affinities ]

► [ ... ]

Rayleigh’s eyes peered through the system interface as he decided which set of skills had the capacity to help with his escape.

He suddenly remembered he had received a massive system upgrade after he successfully absorbed those weapons. His threat level must have increased as well.

Rayleigh decided to confirm it by looking at his profile.

►[ Name: Rayleigh Pierce ]

►[ Species: Rune Human ]

►[ Age: 23 ]

► [ HP: 20 ]

►[ Rank: Unranked ]

►[ Level: 3 ]

►[ Cosmic Affinity: 1 ]

►[ Current Location: Earth ]

►[ Faction: Skylark ]

►[ Threat Level: B ]

Rayleigh exhaled slowly. "I might be an unranked B-threat level, but I have abilities far beyond anyone’s comprehension."

Evolving from a D-threat to a B-threat wasn’t the only thing upgraded in the system.

A new tab was available.

Rayleigh navigated his way through the [Cosmic Affinity] tab until he ended up in [Stellar].

► [ Stellar ]

► [ Meteor Summon: ... ]

Rayleigh stared at the holographic screen before him, his eyes peering at his Stellar ability.

"What if...?"

A bright idea suddenly found its way into his head.

◇◇◇

When the agent stepped out of the interrogation room, the door slid shut behind him with a quiet hiss.

The hallway outside was packed with runers of every rank, moving with purpose, but they all made way for him without a word. It was obvious, even among this crowd, that he ranked far above the rest.

He made his way straight to the briefing room.

"Is the General here yet?" he asked one of the agents stationed by the door.

"Not yet, sir. He’s on his way."

The agent gave a curt nod, already turning to leave, when another agent came rushing in, breathless.

"Sir! New information on the breach."

He stopped.

"The breacher didn’t just breach the building." The agent swallowed hard. "He scaled the north wall. Eight meters without any equipment."

"That’s not impossible," the agent said flatly. "Levitation boots could manage that."

"That’s the thing, sir. There’s no residual energy on the wall he scaled. None. But there is residual energy on the east wall—the one the prisoner escaped through."

The agent’s expression shifted, the weight of what that meant slowly settling in.

"So it was Rayleigh Pierce who scaled the wall. Bare-handed."

He hadn’t even finished processing that when the same agent pressed on.

"There’s more, sir. He also took down three of our men on his way in. Awakened-ranked guards. All three of them."

"How’s that possible?" The agent pondered. But it didn’t take long for him to figure things out.

His jaw clenched when he realized.

"Rayleigh Pierce has activated his rune gene. He must have awakened sometime during his sentence!"

"I want a full lockdown of the building now!" the agent barked as he stormed back toward the interrogation room.

He shoved the door open, half expecting an empty chair.

Instead, Rayleigh sat exactly where he’d left him, his hands resting underneath the table, doing absolutely nothing.

The agent stepped closer as flames ignited across his palm, licking up his fingers until his entire hand was wrapped in fire.

He pointed it straight at Rayleigh.

"Are you a runer?"

Rayleigh said nothing. A smirk crept onto his face instead, slow and knowing.

"Run," Rayleigh whispered.

Before the agent could even react to that—

BOOM!

A deep explosion erupted from the far side of the building, the impact strong enough to rattle the walls and nearly knock him off his feet.

"What the hell was that?" The agent’s eyes snapped toward Rayleigh. "Was that you?"

Rayleigh didn’t answer.

He was too busy watching the message unfold in front of him.

►[ Stellar Meteor Summon: Impact successful ]

►[ Stellar Meteor Summon Activated ]

►[ Target locked: The Vortex. Interrogation Room ]