"For the machines."
No one answered at once.
That was wise.
The north mechanical corridor carried them farther from the polished arrogance of the statue hall and deeper into the university's working bones. Here, the lighting was practical, not flattering. Ether strips ran along the ceiling in thin blue-white lines, occasionally flickering where a stabilizer needed replacing. Pipes crossed above exposed ward plates. Old warning signs had been layered over newer ones until the walls looked like they were arguing with themselves.
Liam liked this part of the building.
It did not pretend.
At the end of the corridor, he stopped before a small security booth set into the wall beside a reinforced stairwell door. The booth was half glass, half black composite plating, with a battered sign above it that read: 'Sector Access - Mechanical, Applied Etherics, Lower Labs.'
Liam held up one hand without looking back.
"Wait here."
Noah immediately opened his mouth.
Liam pointed at him. "Quietly."
Noah closed it with theatrical offense.
Mezos's gaze shifted to the booth. "Problem?"
"Procedure," Liam said.
Then he knocked twice on the glass.
For half a second, nothing moved.
Then the inner door opened.
The man who stepped out looked less like university security and more like someone the university had hired after realizing several of its laboratories had survived explosions, corporate theft attempts, and at least one duel involving improperly calibrated ether gauntlets.
He was enormous.
Nearly as tall as Arik, with the type of build that suggested doors were opened politely out of fear of the consequences. Broad shoulders. Thick arms. Dark hair threaded with grey at the temples. A scar ran from the corner of his jaw down into the collar of his security uniform, disappearing beneath black fabric and plated shoulder guards that were, technically, not combat armor.
Technically.
Liam loved that word for many reasons.
This was one of them.
Alexander looked at Liam first.
His gaze moved over Liam's face, paused for one fraction of a second where the bruising still lived beneath treatment, and something in his expression tightened in anger.
"Kid," Alexander said.
Liam's mouth flattened. "Do not."
Alexander's eyes lifted back to his. He did not apologize. He never did when he believed he was right.
"You need help?"
"I need three IDs for Lab V," Liam said. "Visitor category. No pictures attached."
Alexander's gaze slid past him then, slowly assessing Rex, Mezos, Noah, and finally Arik. He recognized enough to understand the nature of the problem and chose not to say so aloud.
"Lab V," he said.
"Yes."
"For them?"
"Visitor category usually implies visitors."
Alexander gave him a look.
Liam gave it back.
There were very few people at the university who could hold silence in a way Liam respected. Alexander was one of them. Not because he enjoyed power games, but because he understood thresholds. Doors. Locks. Records. The exact weight of allowing someone to pass where they were not supposed to be.
Alexander's gaze dropped once more to Liam's face.
This time he did not bother pretending not to see the bruising.
"Felix knows?"
Liam read between the lines of the questions: 'Do I need to brace the doors? Do I need to erase a log? Do I need to stand between you and him if he follows?'
"No," Liam said.
Alexander's jaw shifted once.
"Is he going to?"
"Not if Rex's ward holds and no one in administration suddenly develops courage."
Rex, behind him, murmured, "I feel criticized."
"You are," Liam said.
Alexander's eyes stayed on Liam. "If he appears?"
Liam hesitated for a moment, thinking of the best answer.
"Delay him," Liam said. "Don't fight him."
Alexander's expression did not change, but Liam saw the disagreement settle in the line of his shoulders.
"Alex."
At the name, something in Alexander softened by a degree.
"Delay him," Liam repeated. "That is all."
A silence passed between them, old and familiar.
Then Alexander turned back toward the booth.
"Three minutes."
He disappeared inside.
Noah exhaled softly. "I have several questions."
"Keep them," Liam said.
"About the giant security guard who looks like he wrestles industrial equipment and apparently worries about you?"
"He doesn't wrestle industrial equipment."
A drawer opened inside the booth. A keyboard hummed awake.
Liam added, "He wrestles people who try to steal it."
Noah's brows lifted. "I like him."
"You are developing attachments at an alarming rate."
Mezos watched the booth with more careful interest than amusement. "He asked about Felix as if he was preparing for an attack."
"He was."
Rex's expression had gone unusually still.
Arik said nothing.
That somehow made Liam more aware of him than if he had spoken.
Alexander moved unhurriedly through the booth. The competence of a man who had spent years keeping dangerous rooms safe from dangerous people and, at some point, had apparently decided Liam was one of the things he was protecting.
Liam hated how much that mattered.
Three minutes later, Alexander returned.
He held three slim visitor badges between two fingers. Plain white polymer. No photograph. No crest. No useful information beyond temporary category access and a small black line marking them for Lab V movement only.
Perfect.
He handed them to Liam, not Rex.
Liam took them.
"Thank you."
Alexander leaned slightly closer, his voice low enough that the others would need effort to hear.
"You call if you need the corridor locked."
Liam's throat tightened in a way he chose to ignore completely.
"I won't."
"I know." Alexander's eyes flicked once to Liam's bruised face. "Call anyway."
For a second, Liam had no convenient insult ready. "I'm fine, Alex," he exhaled. "If the things go well, there will be more visitors; keep the information away from Canmores."
Alex watched Liam quietly for a moment and then nodded.
"Perfect," Liam said and handed the IDs to Rex. "Now, to the lab V."