Lennox woke up around midnight. He sat up and looked around. He saw Day snoring away, and blinked a few times, making sense of the current situation. He ruffled his bedhead even more, thinking hard, and then everything hit him at once.

"How long was I asleep?" he wondered aloud. He glanced around the dark room once more, then climbed out of bed. After freshening up, he stepped outside, closing the door behind him, and began to make his way to the workroom. He only met the occasional person on night duty, and he expected the workroom to be empty.

However, when he opened the door, he found that somebody was already there, snoozing with their head on their arms. Surprised, Lennox approached the person cautiously, and shook their shoulder.

"Azusa?"

Azusa sat bolt-upright and looked around, making Lennox jump back. Her eyes finally focused on Lennox, and she seemed to remember where she was.

"Lennox!" she exclaimed.

"What are you doing here, Azu?" Lennox asked, surprised.

"That's..." Azusa began frantically, but she stopped, eyes diverting from him.

"Azusa?" Lennox prompted when she didn't say anything.

"I wanted to talk to you!" Azusa said finally.

"Talk?" Lennox inquired, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "About what?"

"Erm...that is..." Azusa looked for words to speak, big blue eyes darting around as if hoping to find them. Finally, she opened her mouth, but at that moment the door opened, making her and Lennox look around.

"Eh...? What's this?" Alexis yawned as she opened the door, scratching her head. "A midnight rendezvous?"

Azusa yelped, jerking Alexis out of her drowsiness.

"Azu?" Alexis seemed surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Um...Lennox, we'll talk some other time, okay?" Azusa squeaked, jumping out of her chair.

"Huh?" Lennox straightened up. "Wait, what were you going to–" Azusa had already pushed past Alexis and ran away. Lennox turned to glare at Alexis, who was staring over her shoulder at Azusa.

"...what happened?" Alexis asked. She turned back to him and caught his glare, making her freeze. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Maybe?" Lennox said sarcastically, collapsing back in his chair as Alexis closed the door behind her. "More importantly, what are you doing here?"

"Would you believe me if I said my Lennox alarm went off?" Alexis asked, sitting down opposite him.

"No."

"Well it did."

"It did not."

"It did."

"Just tell me why you're here." Lennox sighed.

Alexis sighed as well. "I couldn't sleep."

"You were yawning."

"I'm sleepy, but I can't sleep." Alexis corrected herself.

"Why is that?" Lennox inquired.

"You know..." Alexis shrugged. "Various things." She started turning a stick of graphite over and over in her hand.

"Well, various things did happen today." Lennox agreed. "Or rather, yesterday."

"Mm..." Alexis nodded, and the two slid into silence. However, they both spoke up at the same time.

"Alexis, since you're here..." Lennox began.

"Well, since I'm here..." Alexis also started to say. They both trailed off at the same time. They stared at each other, then smiled. Alexis waved her hand, inviting Lennox to complete the sentence.

"...why don't you tell me what you found out?" Lennox finished.

"About what?" Alexis asked, folding her arms and throwing back her head.

"You know," Lennox said. "Ryder. Death. Blackie."

Alexis sighed. "What did I find out?" She closed her eyes, recalling everything that happened in the forest. "I could have found out so much more. There were so many things I didn't ask. How did he know Amara was his sister all of a sudden? What exactly did he mean by 'she screamed'? Why is he doing what he did? Why is he against humanity?"

Lennox stared at Alexis as she wallowed in her regret, and decided to speak up.

"Alexis."

"Hm?" Alexis glanced at him.

"You did follow him," Lennox said.

"But I didn't bring him back," Alexis added.

"You followed him," Lennox repeated in a louder voice. "And that's more than enough."

Alexis stared at Lennox for some time with an unreadable expression on her face. Finally she smiled and closed her eyes again.

"What do you want to know? I don't have much to offer, though."

"What can you offer?" Lennox inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm..." Alexis thought for a short while. "Quite a bit? He was a strange person. He said he was 'anything but an ally of humanity'."

"Anything but..." Lennox trailed off, pondering over this piece of information. "Why does he say that?"

"I tried asking," Alexis replied. "He said he couldn't tell me that."

Lennox thought for some time, thoughts jumbled. Finally he sighed and ruffled his hair, making Alexis open her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked.

Lennox glanced at her, and gave a half-hearted grin. "I just don't know...if everything we learn about this guy clarifies everything more or just makes him more mysterious. Anyway," he shook his head a little. "What else?"

"I found out a little about those crazy creature things–"

"Tell me." Lennox cut across her quickly. He sensed Alexis hesitating for a little while, and prompted her. "What did he say, Alexis?"

"Oh, nothing...." Alexis said in a falsely airy voice. "He just said...that they were..." Alexis mumbled the end of her sentence intangibly.

"They were...?" Lennox asked sternly.

Alexis hesitated, then mumbled, "Humans."

"...humans?" Lennox mumbled, pausing.

Alexis nodded.

"Why humans?" Lennox asked, collapsing back onto his chair. "Those things were nowhere near human."

"Um, I've been thinking about this..." Alexis said tentatively, and Lennox encouraged her to continue. "Uh...well, you know the Inhumans usually travel in...like, groups, right? And we don't exactly know what happens when they're completely decayed, right? So...what if that's what happens...when they decay?"

Lennox blinked, digesting her words. "Please elaborate," he said.

"So, when they decay, right," Alexis explained, sitting more snugly in her chair. "Maybe one's leg decays less than the rest of their body, and another's arm decays less, and so on. So then, in order to survive, what if they...merge up with their group...to survive? If you get what I mean..."

Lennox was silent for some time. Finally, he said, "I think someone said something similar during our meeting."

"Somebody did?" Alexis asked, surprised.

Lennox nodded in reply. "They also said something like this is the next level of the Inhuman infection. Maybe it causes horrifying mutations. But anyway, we have something new to take into consideration this time."

"Something new?" Alexis cocked her head.

"Yeah," Lennox said. "We need to acknowledge the fact that this is coming from a person like Ryder. He has seen things we haven't. Like, he has seen Amara before she escaped, however she did, from her captors."

"Ahh..." Alexis nodded. "Like maybe...if that thing really was humans in the past..." Alexis trailed off, thinking. "What could have pushed them to become like that?" she wondered aloud. "Did they go through such extreme conditions..."

The silence that followed didn't feel like a silence at all, as they felt the gears of their brains turning hard and fast. Finally, the discomfort was broken by Lennox.

"Or maybe..." he began slowly. "They aren't humans after all, but just how he views them."

Alexis looked up at him, confused. "Sorry?"

"We need to consider the fact that this is coming from Ryder, the weird and mysterious guy," Lennox continued, but it felt as if he was talking more to himself than to her. "And he said that he isn't an ally of humanity. So that would mean that he would despise humanity, right? So whatever it is that he knows, makes him feel as though those creatures describe exactly how...whatever he thinks we are."

Alexis considered this. "How can you be so sure he despises humanity, or that is what he thinks of it?"

"Huh?" Lennox turned his eyes to face her properly.

"I'm not saying what you said isn't a possibility," Alexis said hastily. "But there could be some other reasons, could there not?"

"So you say..." Lennox murmured, and it was at this moment that Alexis knew that he was completely in the zone.

"B-besides," Alexis continued nervously. "He didn't seem to be the kind of person to speak in riddles like that."

Lennox paused for a minute, and then proceeded to look at Alexis in a way she interpreted as sadness, as if he was disappointed in her naivete.

"He could be toying with you, Alexis." His voice echoed strongly around the room.

Alexis looked down. "He seemed straightforward..."

Lennox sighed heavily, making her look up again. "He didn't exactly like us, did he? We are a part of the humanity he is against, despite him being a human himself. He was probably looking down on us. So he thought he could say what he wanted in the way he wanted."

"That couldn't be..." Alexis mumbled.

"He may be teasing us," Lennox added.

"Teasing...?" Alexis whispered, but at that moment the image of Ryder's final teasing, challenging smile cropped up in her head, and she stopped suddenly, digesting this.

Lennox noticed this and his expression softened. He patted Alexis's shoulder and said, "Forget it. We'll think about it later."

Alexis looked at him for some time, slowly pulling out of her thoughts, and nodded. Lennox smiled in reply.

"What else did he say? Where did he go?"

"Wherever he needed to, it seems," Alexis replied half-heartedly.

Lennox blinked. "That's all?"

Now it was Alexis's turn to sigh. "I asked if he was going to go back to killing, but he didn't answer, because he has to be a weird, mysterious guy." She huffed.

She's still brooding over it, Lennox thought, uneasy.

"Alexis, you know what?" he said in a cheery voice. "That's enough for now. We can continue this discussion in the morning with everyone else, right? So you can go to your room now, and I'll go to mine, okay?"

Alexis nodded slowly, and Lennox turned to leave the room. However, Alexis remembered something, and grabbed his wrist tightly, jumping him.

"Wh-what?" Lennox asked shakily.

"I forgot something! Important!" Alexis said forcefully.

"O-oh, okay..." Lennox stammered. "S-so can you let go of my arm? Or loosen your grip?"

"Oh, sorry!" Alexis gasped, letting go of him instantly.

"So what is it?" Lennox asked, rubbing his wrist.

"Um..." Alexis hesitated a little, wondering how to best phrase what she was going to say, and Lennox waited patiently. "Before he left, Ryder told me something..."

"What?" Lennox prompted, focusing his full attention on her.

"He told me...that this whole thing...the virus thing...isn't Amara's fault."

Lennox froze. "Amara? What's she got to do with anything?"

"I don't know," Alexis said. "But he told me that it wasn't her fault...but her father's."

"Father...?" Lennox murmured, taken aback. What did she mean? Was Amara blamed anywhere? Did she have some sort of connection to the virus?

Lennox grabbed Alexis's shoulders and shook her. "What does Amara have to do with anything?"

"I...I don't know..." Alexis replied, disoriented.

"Tell me, Alexis!" Lennox shouted, gripping her shoulders tightly. "We could find out a lot!"

"I honestly don't know!" Alexis replied, trying to pull his hands off. "Calm down!"

Lennox regained his senses and tried to calm down a little. He let go of Alexis and rubbed his hair.

"You know what?" he said finally. "Let's just call it a day for now. We'll talk with everyone in the morning. Come on, I'll walk you back to your room."

Alexis nodded, and followed him, but froze again after a few paces.

"What now?" Lennox asked.

"I'm not letting you walk me back!" Alexis shouted. "If I do, you'll just drop me off and come straight back here! I'm walking you."

"Hah?" Lennox retaliated. "It doesn't matter either way because I slept plenty. Now let's go."

"Nonononononono, you need as much as sleep as you can get!"

"Then how do I know that you'll go back to your room?"

"I...I will!"

"Shut up! I'm walking you!"

"No, I am!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"I SAID I WILL!!"

"Fine then," Alexis huffed. "Rock-paper-scissors!"

"You're on!" Lennox said, raising his fist.

***

"Nighty night, Lennox~" Alexis sang cheerily.

"Good night," Lennox replied stonily, ready to slam the door in her face. "You better go straight back."

"Yes, yes~"

"You better."

"Understood, Commander Lennox~" Alexis saluted mockingly.

Lennox scoffed and closed the door. After waiting a couple of seconds, he leaned his back on the door and slid to the floor, mind racing with the numerous thoughts bouncing around it. Instead, he tried to push one thought through.

"Hopefully she went back," he said aloud, but the only other sounds were Day's faint snores.

Little did he know that 'she' was sitting on the other side of the door, thinking the same things as him.