Two buttons.
One was simply labeled “Charge Bindings.” Elizabeth slammed her fist down on it with all of her strength. Their bracelets flickered before glowing brightly for the first time since they had arrived.
The flickering stopped. The chaos ceased. There was no sound, no dramatic indicator that things were as they should be. Reality simply seemed to stabilize without incident.
With the bindings charged, a row of buttons on the charge station caught the attention of Dr. Elliott. Each was unlit with a “Desynchronize” label next to it.
“Seems like desynchronizing is the only way out.” he said stated flatly. “But what does that even mean? Will doing so take us back to our New London?”
Elizabeth picked up the monocular Wentworth had left out on the table. She peered through it, scanning the horizon for the machine that had brought them to this place.
“I don’t think we’ll have much luck going back the way we came. Machine’s gone.” Her voice was thick with exhaustion and defeat.
Short bursts of discussion followed. They could stay here, maybe indefinitely. Lottie knew the Estates like the back of her hand. There was food, water, and clean air. Wentworth was gone…maybe he’d return. Maybe he’d come back for Lottie and grant them another chance at assassination. Then again, maybe he’d show up with an army of Royal Elites, ready to snuff out their lives without ceremony.
I won’t let him win.” Zeddrick’s voice was matter-of-fact. “I just won’t. This was the closest I’ve ever been to ending that bastard’s life. Without him, his knowledge, his experiments, the Royal Company would be naked, exposed. We could finally put the science and research to good use. We could finally show the public what’s been going on. He dies and there’s a massive public power grab for leadership of the company. Things would collapse. Too many egos and too much corruption. I hope we meet again.”
He vanished without a trace before his finger had even completed pressing the button. No sound, just gone. The others stared silently at each other, expectedly, impatiently. Then without a word, they all moved toward the panel at once.
Moments later, the tower was empty.