The debriefing room was a cold, cramped thing with just enough space for a metal table and enough chairs for a dozen to be sitting around a metal table. A few lightbulbs burned bright overhead, obnoxious and headache-inducing. Most of the seats were taken, so the sound of chatter overlaid the wheezing heater and the occasional rustle of paper.

There was only one person sitting beside Alex. Ryan Goodwin. He had very little presence and Alex was grateful for it. If it was anyone else, he would've felt obligated to talk. Being friendly was an easy way to get information, after all, but luckily Goodwin wasn't fond of using more than two words an hour.

The door opened and shut. More talking from outside filtered in for a brief moment. The smell of stale cigarettes was suddenly overpowered by that of coffee when a man stumbled near Alex and spilled half his burning mug straight onto his thigh. Alex shot upright with a hiss, scrambling to wipe it off.

"Sorry," the cheery Elite, Clark, said uselessly, sitting down in one of the empty seats.

Alex had been just as tired a moment ago, but he was fully awake now. He'd had a rough night - tossing and turning and eventually waking to a cabin without either Eli or Aria.

The door opened once more. Knox entered with Eli behind him. She shut the door behind her, looking every bit as haggard as Alex felt. The sound in the room died down.

Knox nodded at Eli, signaling her to start.

Clark interrupted before she could even begin. "The Siren was there," he broke in. "The Siren's alive."

Alex felt like he'd been drenched in hot coffee all over.

"The Siren's alive?" Knox echoed. "You're certain?"

Clark nodded with a shit-eating grin while everyone else in the room was deadly silent.

It was lucky that Alex was the only empath in the room. Otherwise, the immediate panic that came over him at the mention of a siren surely would've given him away. He took a page from Aria's book and stared ahead with a blank look.

"Is this true?"

Eli shrugged. "I can't say for sure. If it was her, she would not use her abilities to try to escape."

"Escape?" Knox repeated.

The blood drained from Clark's face.

"From the torture."

"Explain."

"Clark had her strung up to a tree. The woman was beaten and shocked."

Alex's heart felt too quick in his chest. He'd seen firsthand what the man was capable of with his ability. There'd been bodies that looked like they'd been fried and people who couldn't form a single sentence after. Did Eli have to leave her with a healer or something? Was that why neither of them came back to the cabin? Knox would have already been filled in if they'd brought her to HQ. Things wouldn't have been so normal. There would have been talk. Aria was probably hidden away with a healer or a doctor.

"What did she say?"

"She didn't. She was gagged the whole time."

Alex tried not to picture it and he tried not to focus on the fact that Eli seemingly stood by while Aria was tortured. Whatever had happened, it couldn't have been intentional. Though he knew Eli wanted to hand Aria over the whole time, he didn't think she'd do it like this.

Knox turned to Clark with a frightening look in his eye. "You suspected you found the Siren, a potential asset, and tortured her? You used your abilities against someone who could help us turn the tides of this whole thing? Did I understand that correctly?"

Clark looked like he wanted to scream, but he forced his head down. "I apologize, sir. I thought she was working with the Hunters-"

"What shape was she in when you found her?" Knox asked.

"She didn't look well," Clark said, eyes on the table, "sir. Cuts. Blood."

Hah. Half of Alex wanted to scream and the other half wanted to launch himself across the table to slam Clark's head into the surface a few dozen times.

"You assumed she was working with the Hunters when she was in a state like that?" Knox's nostrils flared.

"Are you entirely incompetent?"

Clark didn't say anything, but Eli looked tempted to answer for him.

Knox told Eli to start her report on what happened from the beginning and sent Clark a warning look to remain silent. By the end of it, the tension in the room was palpable. Bad intel. The possibility of a runaway Siren. The fact that someone has escaped Eli and Clark. There was a lot to dwell over.

"Find the woman," Knox ordered the room. "Do not frighten her. Do not harm her. We want her on our side. If you are in this room, you are tasked with finding her, but nobody outside of here can know she's alive."

"What if she doesn't want to come with us?" someone else asked.

"Then you drug her or you fool her. But don't raise a hand against her. Alexander will be in charge of convincing her upon arrival."

Alex nearly snorted. There was no chance of Aria willingly coming to the Elites. She was distrustful of them to begin with and her suffering at their hand would've only cemented that. And if Eli had borne witness to what happened, Aria wasn't going to allow him near her.

Rather than voice this, Alex nodded like he had full faith in his capabilities. He barely listened to the rest of what was being said and hardly heard himself speak when it was his turn to debrief on his dead recruit. The story excluded Aria's presence entirely. It came out naturally despite being well-rehearsed a few hours ago.

Eli met his gaze from across the room, looking fairly calm for someone who'd watched an ally be tortured.

What have you done? he wanted to ask, but he couldn't do anything of the sort with Knox's superhuman hearing. Why was she even with you?

The way chatter about Aria began as soon as they left the room made Alex nervous. He waited for Eli, grabbing her wrist when she came out.

She shook him off. "What?"

"Buy me coffee."

Eli sighed - audibly sighed. Bad sign. "Fine."

Alex held himself back until they were out of the building, just to be sure Knox wouldn't overhear. "Where is she?"

"I don't know."

Alex might have stopped in his tracks if knew that Eli would have left him behind. "What do you mean? How could you not know? After Clark, she'd need a healer."

"I told the truth. She escaped. We couldn't catch up to her. She slipped away."

"And if you had?" Alex asked. "Would you have brought her here?" Alex did not think Eli would hurt him, but he sometimes wondered if she'd turn a blind eye if she thought it'd help the cause.

"She was not your sister," Eli said instead. "Protecting her wasn't going to bring her back."

It was an old wound that didn't hurt as much as it used to, but it still hurt. Alex bit back the urge to swear.

"Watch what you say."

"Sorry."

Alex wasn't the sentimental clown that Eli sometimes mistook him for. He didn't argue with her to keep Aria away from the Elites because she reminded him of his sister. Really, the two couldn't have been more different.

Lola was far younger, infinitely more expressive, prone to tantrums, and had cheeks like marshmallows. Age aside, if someone resembled Lola, it was Klaus. They had the same temper and identical tastebuds. And if he was honest, Aria terrified him. 

"You never actually answered the question."

"I would have," Eli finally said. "If he saw her, I would've dragged her here whether she wanted to come or not. If I didn't, I'd lose any trust Knox has in me and we would've been screwed."

Alex wanted to be angry, but he also couldn't say he wouldn't have done the same. If it was between the three of them and Aria, he didn't think he'd risk it. He had been with Eli and Klaus too long to consider anything else. Even if the truth made him feel a little sick, it would be hypocritical to deny it. It was different.

Maybe things wouldn't be that way if Aria had been longer, but even then, risking three lives to protect one wasn't a choice he could see himself making.

Ah, Klaus was going to be upset. More than upset. He was closer to Aria than either of them had been and he'd known her before too. Attachments like that were painful when broken. If she left of her own accord, it would be one thing, but if told him the truth about what happened to his friend, who knew how he'd take it. He had the softest heart out of all of them.

"You're telling Klaus," Alex said because he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it.

If the world was a little less nauseating, he would have laughed at the fact that that was what made her pale.