The next day, Eli found the cafeteria empty when she went for breakfast. Only Mani popped from the kitchen to announce there was oatmeal. She ate in silence, wondering at the absence of everyone, her stomach turning in knots over how Armon was doing.

"There you are." the familiar tinkle of Hailey's musical voice brought relief from the tension.

"Hailey!" Elli wailed. "I was so worried when the cafeteria was empty; how's Armon--"

The petite brunette waved a hand to indicate silence and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table, sitting next to Elli.

"They're fine, Elli." Hailey took a big bite of the apple. "It was Magenta that sustained injury."

She felt the color drain from her face. She hadn't realized the teen had gone, too.

"What happened?"

Hailey glanced at her, hesitating. Then she took a deep breath. "I can't discuss the details of the mission, of course-- but if you must know, they were seen when they shouldn't have been, and Magenta protected Armon, taking a few bullets... she lost a lot of blood before they made it back."

"She was... shot?" Elli felt herself start to tremble.

It sounded bad. It sounded really bad.

"Will she... is she..."

"She's fine." Hailey took another bite of the apple. "She's resting in her room, but I'm thoroughly exhausted, and will be taking today off."

Hailey was a talented healer, but she had her limits. The use of her gift left her hungry at best, and near death's door at worst. It was like she lent herself to mend the other. Elli was surprised Hailey was up and about if she'd been so drained.

Hailey seemed to read her thoughts. "I had a late night feast and a good few hours rest. I wanted to give you a quick once over before going to bed for the day."

"You don't need to. Go rest, Hailey, I'll be fine."

The brunette gave her a knowing look. "I'll patch you up; but be careful today, Elli, and stay away from Wolf if you can."

"Wolf, why?" Elli frowned in confusion as Hailey polished off her apple and started the familiar process of easing her bruises.

"You learned about our ability sets, right? You understand what berserker means?"

In her last session with Domina, she'd gotten the run down on how everyone in Quantum's abilities worked, and a better understanding of meta-levels versus levels, though she still didn't know her own for some reason. Wolf was a berserker, meaning he hit hard, healed fast, and if he ever lost control would be a giant beast of fury, uncontrollable until he exhausted himself. No one wanted to see that.

Elli nodded, and Hailey continued, "He's hanging on by a thread this morning after seeing Magenta. Sam's on watch duty because he's the only one who can handle him if the big guy loses it. Stay clear of them today, just in case."

Hailey left her with a gentle grasp of her shoulder and Elli sat at the table, lost. She was supposed to report to training after breakfast, but with Hailey's advice, it might be better to forgo it for the day. She wondered if there was a procedure for backing out of the schedule. As she mulled it over, Ferris burst into the cafeteria, a pile of hard drives or something tucked under his arm.

"Hey, beautiful lady." he greeted, grabbing a banana. "Another fun filled day?"

"Yea," She spared him a smile. "What's up with you?"

"Hacking day." He grinned, waggling his eyebrows. "Top secret, hush-hush necessary data retrieval and what-not."

"Lovely." She nodded. "I'm trying to figure out if I can play hooky from training."

Ferris paused, catching her expression. His voice dropped and softened. "Physical training?"

She nodded, knowing he obviously knew what was going on. They probably all did since last night, and she only knew now because Hailey had decided to fill her in.

"Go to training and see if Sam's there," Ferris suggested. "If not, go hang for some time; if he is-- well, best you don't skip. Trust me."

"Gotcha." Elli stood up as Ferris started to head for the door. The only thing worse than a loose berserker would probably be an angry Samuel.

"Oh--" Ferris paused, "And take some food, just in case. He probably hasn't eaten with everything going on."

She grabbed a bagel from the bread bowl for a peace offering and headed down to see if Samuel was in the training room. Sure enough, he was there, but Elli was surprised by the state she found him in. Shirtless, gloveless, shoeless, only clothes in a pair of black sweat pants as he wailed mercilessly on a standing punching bag.

She froze at the sight of him, her mind going blank as she watched the defined muscles of his back and torso shift under his glistening olive skin, the exertion and sweat dripping from his wet, dark hair. Elli had a hard time not staring, each fluid movement of his arms landing a brutal hit against the punching bag that was about to collapse under the assault. Suddenly, she realized just how easy he'd been taking it on her for two weeks.

Wolf sat a few feet away, his back to her, sweat-drenched in a wife-beater and sweatpants. A dismantled punching bag twice the size of Sam's lay in tatters all over the floor. His breath was ragged, and Elli realized he may be crying. At the same instant, Samuel stiffened and paused in beating up the punching bag. He turned slowly as if he sensed her presence. When his eyes caught hers, there wasn't a hint of surprise.

"String Bean." he said flatly, his face stoic.

"Breakfast?" she sheepishly held up the bagel.

"No thanks, not today. No lesson, either." He turned to face the punching bag again. "Go read a book or something."

Elli bristled at the cold shoulder. While she could understand that tensions were high, he didn't need to treat her like a stranger.

"Fine." she dropped it on the bench next to his water bottle. "It's here if you need it; and I will be, too."

She sat down, crossing her arms.

Sam's shoulders trembled. "Are you insane? Did Hailey not warn you about what was going on? Get out of here."

She was about to spout off something about doing it for his own good when Wolf shifted, going still as if he had just realized there was someone else in the room. Sam's head snapped to watch the giant, his eyes wary. At that moment, Elli also noticed the cracked wall on the far side of the room and the pile of workout equipment in a mangled mess on the floor in the corner.

Samuel wasn't wearing his gloves.

She then noticed the lines of tension holding his jaw, the strain of his neck. Beads of sweat began to form on Elli's forehead, and she shivered as her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. Every fiber of her being finally registered 'danger!' as she shifted her attention back to Wolf, who sat staring at her blankly, his eyes glazed over and his mouth slack.

"Don't move." Samuel hissed.

"Did he..." Elli licked her lips, her mouth going dry. What would it be called, 'Berserk out'?

"I took the brunt of it, but he's not done," Samuel warned, each word more strained to escape his clenched teeth. "Don't move."

Elli tried to piece together the meaning of Sam's words. Did he drain as much as he could of Wolf's gift... or did he just take the beating of a lifetime? Elli glanced at him, taking a quick survey for injury. He seemed fine-- he must've done both. Her breath caught in her throat.

Elli knew she would not be so lucky if the berserker went on the attack. Even after Hailey's warning, she had really gone and done something stupid, now.

"Sam..." she hated the quiver in her voice, but she couldn't help it. Her brain was conjuring all the damage Wolf could do to her. The carousel of gruesome imagery made her limbs weak. She almost screamed when Wolf's head whipped to the left to lock eyes with Samuel, who was inching towards her. Sam paused, going perfectly still.

"Run."

It was the only command she needed, she launched herself from the bench toward the exit. She winced at the sound of bodies colliding behind her, and a gut-wrenching roar rattled the floor. She glanced back to see Sam on Wolf's back, pulling on the giant by the neck in a chokehold, and Wolf...

Elli's feet collided together as the horrible sight of his snarling face reached her brain. His eyes had lost their glaze and were overcome by his pupils, his teeth extended like fangs and his expression contorted into pure, blind rage as foam laced the corners of his mouth. She slammed into the floor, unable to catch herself with her hands. Dazed only a moment, she twisted so she could scoot backward on her butt, her chin screaming from the impact with the floor. She absently wiped at her chin, and her hand fell away red.

Despite Sam's best efforts, Wolf was scrambling toward her, his fingers scraping bloody streaks across the floor as nails and wood splintered.

"Run!" Sam's voice took on an animalistic roar, full of desperation.

Elli couldn't move, she couldn't think in front of the rampaging creature in front of her. Sam swung his body to the side, twisting Wolf's torso dangerously and throwing the giant off balance. With a heave Sam tossed him over his shoulder and Wolf crashed into the punching bag Sam had been working on.

Sam turned for just a moment toward her, and Elli's heart hiked into her throat as his pupils dilated to consume all the color from his eyes. She didn't need to be a psychic to understand what the panicked expression on his face meant. He had told her to run.

Sense finally kicked in, and Elli scrambled to her feet, re-launching herself toward the door. This was a clash of titans she didn't want to witness. Once through the door, she slid her band over the hallway door panel, bringing up a lock code. She frantically punched in the only code she could remember Domina telling her, and heard the reassuring swoop of the reinforced door lock on the other side. The panel flashed red, and Elli slunk to the floor, giving in to the relief and sobbing uncontrollably until Star came to investigate the code alarm and found her curled up in a sobbing heap on the floor.