Skye's head was filled with the sound of the ticking of Midas's clock.

Tick. Tick.

The excitement of Siona and Dio leaving the Island and going home was turned sour when their spaceship had stalled and fallen to the ocean below.

Tick. Tick.

Of course, as soon as they fell, Midas sent a fleet of Ghost henchmen after them. Although Dio had died on impact, Siona had only been knocked into a coma. Still, despite their best efforts, she succumbed to her injuries.

Tick. Tick.

The whole situation filled Skye with a hollow sombreness; not the kind that made you want to bawl your eyes out, but the one that filled you with emptyness and feel nothing at all. It filled Jules more - she had made a vital mistake, either in fixing the ship or discovering the sabotage. They hadn't found out what the cause was.

So, for now, they were all sat in Midas's office, around a meeting table, just waiting.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

"How much longer are we gonna sit here in silence?" Ocean asked quietly.

"You're right. We can't sit here forever. We need to make a plan," Midas replied.

"What kind of plan?" Ava asked Midas.

Midas looked around at all of the agents. His agents.

"One that ties all people of the Island against the IO. And I mean everyone."

By the last part, Skye got a sickening feeling that this meant Shadow too. And by that, Chaos Agent. She could just imagine how Hush and her friends would feel about that.

"How are you planning on doing that?" Meowscles meowed.

Midas gave the group a smile that filled Skye with dread.

"Buckle up, everyone. We're going to The Authority."

***

Skye didn't have a single fond memory of The Authority. The amount of times she had been there to help Jules was insane, especially considering that Jules hadn't been in any trouble in the first place.

And so, now, as the group of Ghost agents marched on The Authority, Skye felt a bizarre nervousness. Shadow had all the reason to attack them, so Skye felt petrified being even close to the uniformed black building.

However, when they arrived, they were met with quite a surprise.

Not a single Shadow agent or Shadow henchman could be seen. The building, which once stood tall and proud on the Island's landscape, was now abandoned, dilapidated, in ruin.

"How did I not know about this?" Midas gasped, taking in the crumbling location.

No one answered. Skye thought to herself that The Ruins would better serve this location as its name. Which also meant that Ava would be thinking it too.

"Great idea!" Ava smiled.

Everyone stared at her.

"I suggested the idea 'The Ruins'," Skye shrugged.

All of the other agents nodded and went back to their business, and Skye stared at Ava, who gave her an innocent, bewildered look.

"Have you told her not to do that?" Ollie whispered to Skye.

"I have! And, besides, she should know to respect people's privacy!" Skye hissed. "I mean, surely Olivia reminds her?"

"I'm sure she does. Maybe Ava doesn't want to listen?"

"She is a little rebellious."

At that point, Midas gestured the group to move forward, indoors.

Spiderwebs, bigger than Skye had ever seen, hung in the main room's every corner. Every inch of the place had been swept clean of any trace of Shadow, other than the logos painted on the walls. It was so clean that it looked as if Shadow had never been there at all.

"It's so creepy," Ocean remarked. She had said it barely above a whisper, but in the emptyness of the room, they had all heard it.

Over the next hour, the Ghost agents explored The Authority more and more. It was so incredibly strange for Skye to see all of the rooms she had been in deserted. It was like a part of her had been stripped away, albeit a bad part.

Ava, on the other hand, examined the rooms with new eyes. She had never even been in them before, let alone the building. She thought that the building looked reminiscent of one owned by the Empire in Star Wars, so she imagined Empire-style consoles filling every corner of every room. Needless to say, there were many consoles.

"Hey, is she ok?" Ava heard Olivia whisper.

In front of two extravagant, ornate, dark wooden doors, Jules stood fearfully. The doors loomed over her like a monster. At least, she appeared to be intimidated by them like they were a monster.

"Heyy!" Ava greeted Jules.

Jules glanced at Ava for a second, then looked back at the doors.

"Hey," she breathed.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Are you sure? You don't seem ok."

Jules looked at Ava.

"I worked here when I did undercover work, you know," Jules said.

"Oh, really?" Ava gasped. "Do you know what room that is?"

"That room was Chaos Agent's office. Well, it was more of a study. There was so many books in there... of course, I always thought that he had read them all. It wouldn't surprise me."

"Hey, Skye!" Ava shouted, hoping that she would know more.

Skye walked over after a quick glance.

"What's up?" Skye asked immediately.

"Do you know these doors?"

Skye examined the doors. She felt secretly that she may have seen them before, but she figured that it was just déjà vu. Chances were that she probably had and didn't remember.

"I don't know. They look important," Skye shrugged.

"That's Chaos Agent's study. Where I found Chaos Agent's diary," Jules explained.

"Wow, in there?" Skye whimpered.

Jules nodded.

"What do you reckon the chances are that there's something still in there?" Ava suggested.

"Very unlikely, but it's possible," Jules mumbled idly.

Skye tried the door, but it didn't budge. She tried harder, but it appeared to be locked tight.

"I think our chances just increased," Ava remarked, throwing a glance at Jules, who did not look back.

"Ollie, help me," Skye giggled, throwing Ollie off of her head so he could turn into his two-legged form.

Ollie tried with all of his might to open the door, and got close to breaking it off its hinges, but it still wouldn't crack. In the end, Olivia had to help too, but it still refused to open.

"Move," Skye heard Brutus say from behind them.

Once Ollie and Olivia had moved, Brutus slammed into the door, shattering it from it's hinges and throwing it across the next room. He had to stop himself from falling before getting into the next room, which he seemed keen not to do.

"You're welcome," Brutus smiled, then left.

Upon the others' hesitations, Skye took liberty to walk into the study. It was all but empty in there, other than the door. To see if she was missing anything, she moved the doors behind her.

And, indeed, she had.

There was a small brown leather notebook in the middle of the room that looked to be quite old. The label on the front, reading "Diary of Martin Clifford", filled Skye's head with images of big red dogs.

"Chaos Agent's diary!" Jules gasped, running into the room and scooping up the small book.

"That's it?" Skye asked curiously.

"This is it, yup."

"What do you mean it's here?" Midas said from the door.

Jules held up the book, and Midas frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Ava asked the pair.

"Yes, very. The diary, last time I checked, was in a very secure vault on The Fortilla. This vault floated away from the Island weeks ago. So, may I ask, why is it here?" Midas explained.

"Shadow have been in The Fortilla for a while. Maybe they found the vault's weaknesses and exploited them or something?" Skye shrugged.

"Ok, maybe. But why here?"

"We have to get it out of here," Jules decided, and this caused her and Midas to leave.

Although, Skye didn't leave. Ava, Ollie and Olivia were looking at her patiently as she wandered around in the empty room. She could feel something was there... and it wasn't long until she saw it.

There was a grate, against the back wall under one of the door fragments. Purple beams shot out of the grid, barely visible, but there nonetheless. Skye lifted the grate out of pure curiosity, and she was met with a strange sight that filled her with a sinking feeling.

"Ollie...?" Skye whimpered.

Ollie whirled around frantically, as did Ava, who had put Olivia back on her head. None of them really knew how to react.

Besides, how would you react if your friend was holding a glowing purple Cube in their hands?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Word Count: 1460 Words