It was later decided that Austin's punishment would be no lunch and a time out of 2 hours in his tent, which Austin used to rest.
When Austin woke up, he felt oddly refreshed, he noticed, as he worked out a bit, doing his daily exercises. He felt like he could go for a run that was hours long, and, other than the faint ache of his mostly healed bullet wounds, he received three days earlier during the ambush, and the slight soreness of his muscles from his earlier all-night excretion of energy, Austin felt pretty good after the push ups, sit-ups, planks and crunches he did.
It was as he finished his planks that he had decided to remove his shirt and jacket to apply the ointment Reya had given him that Cleo had made for him — but, as he went to apply it on his right arm and shoulder, right above his right peck, he realized that they wounds weren't nasty, purple-ish velvet bruises anymore. They were just scabbed and mostly healed. He reckoned that in a few more days, they'd disappear, but he knew that was not normal — People don't heal from bullet wounds in four days, he was sure.
"This cream…," Austin began, as he rubbed the ointment onto the wounds.
As he did so, his eyes were fixed on the backpack he'd come here with: He found his plain grey shirt and a pair of plain black pants inside, and, as he dawned the pants, before he could dawn the shirt, he noticed something else within one of the backpack's pockets: An envelope with the same shield seal as the posted onto it as the one he remembered seeing on the other two letters he received in his containment cell days ago. As he opened the letter, he read:
To: ALL Former Containment Cell Tenets
From: Executive Chairwoman, Tetia Evermore, President & Director of RAIDAR's Research Division
Date/Time: 1345th hour of the 3rd day post final preparations of the final phase, and 3rd month of the 11th year post-Global Disasters.
Before Austin could continue, he checked his watch and felt great paranoia when he realized that the watch read 1:45 pm. 'How? Was someone here invisible, or something? How did they manage to put this letter in his backpack so fast, so unnoticed?'
Austin had thought that the Meadows was a safe place. While he knew that they were being watched, he couldn't fathom someone working for these people. Sadly, considering the last few days, that was a possibility not outside the realm is possible.
Nevertheless, Austin decided not to stare on in confusion and finished reading the letter:
Dear all whom this concerns, we have just begun the 72nd hour of the final phase of Phase 1: Operation Blueprint. And, with only 96 hours left[approximately 4 days] in the final phase of Operation Blueprint, smooth and swift time must follow, for the elimination of our selected subjects must go exactly as planned for highest quality of results, especially if we hope to thoroughly and accurately prepare the data for Phase 2.
We hope of you, our tenets and staff at RAIDAR, acquire great data and results, and provided you with the best wishes luck,
— Tetia Evermore,
President & Director of RAIDAR Reseach Division
Austin was paralyzed in fear and disbelief, and his anxiety seemed to be working on overtime and, as a result, he had barely heard Reya when she entered his tent, though he did noticed that she stared at his upper torso for a few seconds before turning and covering her eyes at the sight of a shirtless Austin. "Cover up, Newb!"
"Sorry about that. You can look now," Austin said, before putting on his shirt. "I was just… distracted."
"By what?" Reya;s had a curious glint in them, as she snatched the letter from Austin's hands. "What… is this? Why are…? The Watchers! They've been secretly mailing you, haven't they?"
"Oh, I honestly don't know how this got here. One minute I had woken up and did my exercises, and the next, this letter appears in my backpack, and I still don't know how it got there nor what it even means," answered an anxious Austin, who needed Reya to believe him for some reason. "I swear it!"
Reya studied Austin's face, and Austin felt like time had gone unbelievably slow. He noticed Reya's eyes — her irises — had begun glowing an illuminated violet hue — An unnatural glow, but ever since Austin had learned that, for some people here, their eyes glowed when they used their powers, Austin was otherwise unfazed. He felt that Reya using her powers on him was something he didn't need to worry about.
Instead, he focused on what he was currently feeling: Why did he feel like he needed Reya to believe him so much? To believe he didn't betray her? And when exactly did her opinion of him become so damn important to him? Though Austin didn't have anything to compare these feelings to in his own, limited access of memories, he did feel like he was beginning to grow feelings for this raven-haired girl.
"Okay," Reya nodded, suddenly shaking Austin away from his thoughts, making him momentarily wonder what she was answering to: his defense or his thoughts. "I believe you. Do you mind if I hold onto this? I'm sure Stryker would want to know about it when he wakes up, and I should be the one to tell my brother about this."
"Sure, it's all yours," Austin internally groaned at the eagerness evident in his tone. "Go ahead, its yours."
His attention fell to Reya's face, as a slightly awkward silence came over the two of them. 'Had that twinkle in her eyes always been there?' Austin thought, observatively. 'And those curls in her hair — how had she managed ti make them with so limited resources available? It looks so… right on her. It can't be natural… can it?
'Ugh, Austin focus!' Austin shook his head, 'She came here for something, but what?'
"I'm here to talk," Reya said, as if reading his mind, and, considering her abilities, Austin wouldn't have put it past her not to. "Sit." They both sat down next to each other, on his bed roll.
'When a woman says that line, it's never good,' the Voice state astutely. Austin ignored him. "What about?"
"It's about Jackson," Reya said after a silent moment. "While you, Zachery and my brothers were in the Labyrinth with Atlanna and Trevor last night, Cleo and Zether did manage to whip up something like a antivenom cream from Jackson's blood for the six of you, using Jackson as a test. Suffice to say that the scream has stopped…."