Astrid let out a whistle as she looked around the secret floor as she crossed her hands looking across the floor. There seemed to be more floors underneath this one.

There were thousands of containers of a rare chemical compound down here. There were also containers containing some metal alloy that could only be found in outer space. Still, no sign that he was here which was a good thing.

“Any idea on what they could be making with the crystal and this machine?” asked Nightfall. “And why is it always warehouses…?”

“We know the crystal has the ability to absorb our powers and amplify them like the crystals that we wear to help us amplify our powers except this would be without physical contact and I am going to choose not to answer that second question,” said Astrid. Her eyes widened. “Oh no…”

“What? Oh no.”

“I remember the Phoenix telling me why there was only a sentinel every century and not so often,” said Astrid. “And she told me it was a cautionary measure that they had to take in order to prevent another catastrophe.”

Nightfall looked at her, slightly confused.

“At first, I didn’t understand what she was talking about or why our powers granted by the universe have the ability to cause such a catastrophe,” said Astrid.

“Keep talking,” said Nightfall. He found that if he kept listening to her reasoning. He could understand what she was saying. “I want to understand this.”

“The power of creation and the power of destruction,” said Astrid. “Night, name one instance in the history of the universe where this has happened.”

“I can think of many,” said Nightfall darkly.

“If… Nox was able to get the help of man to get our powers we would have a real catastrophe on our hands,” said Astrid. “The Phoenix warned me to be careful telling me that certain people from our planet and certain people from other planets would want our power.”

“You didn’t want to believe her… that’s not your fault,” said Astrid. “Ugh… how could I be so stupid?”

“What now?” asked Nightfall.

“The-the secret that my family was protecting,” said Astrid. “It was my secret… our secret. The power of the sentinels that means these guys…”

“Really are the mysterious third party that split your family apart,” said Nightfall. “And they are criminal organization. Man, you don’t catch a break, do you?”

She downloaded the rest of the files and then removed the flash drive from the computer.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Astrid. “All I know is I need to stop them and Nox. And I think I have a plan on how I am going to do that.”

“You do?” asked Nightfall.

“It’s more of a two-step plan and it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds,” said Astrid. “First, we have to figure out how to stop the organization and then we have to figure out how to stop Nox.”

Nox was another sentinel who went astray. He was also best friends with my dad who had been a sentinel when he was alive, but Nox had betrayed him because he wanted the power. She knew Nightfall would never do something like that.

“Yes… you do make it sound way easier than it actually is.”