Renegade

Chapter Seventeen: Reuniting

Mark closed his eyes, being able to more easily see the location of Phoebe that Byron was projecting to him in his mind's eye. He hadn't encountered a single person yet, and each step he took made him feel more and more uneasy. The hallways of the building he was in were long and dark, with torches and occasional ceiling lamps guiding his way. He continued to follow the directions Byron was giving him, and eventually he came to where she was without conflict. Now nothing but a door stood between him and Phoebe. He had to be cautious though; there was absolutely no way he could tell what was waiting for him on the other side of that door. He lit a fire in his palm and thrust it forward at the door, causing it to disintegrate. He ran through the smoke and into the room, his fist on fire. However, as he braced himself for opposition he felt nothing. He looked around in confusion, seeing that the only person in the room was Phoebe, who was tied to a wooden chair in the center of the room. Phoebe smiled brightly as soon as she saw him. Mark rushed over to her, undoing her restraints. "Oh my god, Mark," she said, embracing him. Mark held her close for that single, comforting moment. "You're the only one here?" he said, confused.
"Yeah," she said, "They put me here and left. I don't know where Veronica is or anything though." Mark let go of her.
"Then it's a trap," he said, putting the pieces together. "They used you to lure me away from Byron. They have no clue that Cassie is here."
"So you two made up?" Phoebe said as they exited the room.
"I guess so, yeah," he replied, "We've been catching up for the past day, but it's still so weird to me that I had a sister I knew nothing about."
"Where is she now?"
"She went to find the leader of this place. Byron said we'll need them to get Veronica's memories back. By the way, I should warn you that Veronica's not exactly the same."
"Believe me, I know," Phoebe responded. Suddenly, an enormous explosion rocked the ground around them, causing them to stumble.
"What was that?" Phoebe said.
"I have no clue," Mark said, "But we need to get out of here now."

"I've shut down the cameras on the back door," Ashley said to Kaytlen and Caleb. The group was crouched outside the Secret Service Headquarters. It was dark outside once again, and the only lights on were the few in the Headquarters and those in the President's Mansion, which Ashley could see in the distance. "We only have a few minutes to get inside before people come out to fix them," she explained, "Once we get inside it'll be a mad dash to get Oscar and Nellie, but from there we'll have to improvise."
"That sounds great," Kaytlen said sarcastically.
"We don't really have any more options," Ashley said, "That place is the most tightly monitored building in the entire Nation. They keep records of absolutely everything."
"We know," Caleb said, "They've probably caught on to us by now anyways since you stole their information gold mine last night."
"One last thing before we go in," Ashley said, "There's going to be some things down there that might be...disturbing. Just remember to keep your head on straight. Keep your eyes on the prize."
"Oh trust me," Caleb said, "My prize is one I've always kept my eyes on."
"Let's just go," Kaytlen said, rolling her eyes as the group crept quickly towards the back entrance to the building. The door required a retinal scan, but Ashley simply shifted herself into the woman whose disguise she stole the previous night and unlocked the door. Ashley kept this form for the rest of their descent as they accessed an elevator and went underground. The door opened, and they were shocked to see an Agent standing right in front of them. He was just as shocked, but before he could reach his communication device the air around him suddenly dried up. Kaytlen threw a fistful of water at him, throwing him into the wall behind him. He crumpled over, his eyes closed. As soon as this happened a loud shrill sounded through the air. "That's the alarm," Ashley said, "Quickly. We're on the right floor." They began running, Ashley guiding them to the right room. She knew that they wouldn't like what they were about to find, but Ashley saw no way around it. She braced herself for what she knew was about to happen as she used her disguise to access the cell block where their friends were being held. The hallway was completely dark, with very dim lamps marking cell numbers. Holding her breath, she walked over to the right cells, using her disguise to turn the lights on in the glass walled cells, and finally what she had feared became unveiled. On the left side was Oscar, who flinched at first but whose face turned to joy as soon as he saw who it was. But next to him, on the right, was once of the saddest sights Ashley had ever seen. Huddled in the corner of her cell shaking was Nellie. Her clothes were in tatters and dried blood covered a lot of her body. There were marks on her wrists and ankles were it seemed as though she had been harshly restrained, and burn marks lined her forearms. However, the most disturbing part about her appearance was the blood-soaked bandage that covered her right eye.
"What the hell," Ashley heard Caleb gasp behind her. He ran up to the glass, looking at her. "What..."
"They tortured her," Oscar said, walking up to the glass. "They wanted information on Thomas for some reason. It went on all day yesterday and the day before that. I insisted that we didn't know anything, but they never believed me."
"You didn't do anything?" Caleb shouted at him.
"What else could I do?" Oscar replied, "If it could have been me I would have chosen that. I told them to hurt me instead. But they told me I was too strong. I had grown up on the streets and was used to pain. They wanted someone to suffer."
"Who was it?" Caleb said angrily.
"It was Peyton," Oscar said. Caleb pressed his forehead against the glass and closed his eyes and Nellie struggled to stand up, her legs quivering. She stumbled forward, resting her forehead on the opposite side of the glass.
"Caleb," she said, "Please get out of here."
"We're going to get you out of here," he said, "We'll get you help and safety. I promise."
"I'll only slow you down," she said, "It's ok. I'm just glad I got to see you one last time."
"No it's not," Caleb said, raising his voice as tears streamed down his face. "I'm not leaving without you. And I'm not leaving until this whole building is burnt to the ground!"
"Caleb..." Ashley said, concerned.
"You knew about this, didn't you?" Caleb said, turning towards her. "This is what you meant when you said there was something wrong down here."
"Yeah, I saw this when I went to their surveillance room. But-"
"And you didn't think to tell me? Or warn me? Or anything?"
"That doesn't matter right now," Ashley said, feeling the clock ticking. "Right now we need to get out of here. You can lecture me later and I'm sure Byron will too. But we need to get them out of here."
"Fine," Caleb said, standing away from the glass, "Do your thing." Ashley stepped forward, moving in to the retinal scanner. Just as she aligned her eye with the scanner she heard a loud bang, and a body hit the floor. She whipped her head around, seeing two Secret Service agents enter the cell block, standing over Kaytlen. Ashley backed up, letting Caleb rush at the agents. He dodged two of their shots, one barely missing Ashley and bouncing off the wall next to her. It was a simple tranquilizer dart, thankfully, meaning that Kaytlen hadn't been shot lethally. Ashley kept running away from the fight, ducking into an adjacent hallway. She looked behind her, looking forward to see a Secret Service agent passing her. He was running past her though, as if she was invisible. Then she remembered that she was still in disguise. She quickly thrust her foot out, barely managing to trip the agent, sending him sprawling across the floor. He turned around, but Ashley kicked him in the nose with her heel. His head cracked against the ground and he went out cold. Ashley net over, grabbing his gun and quickly morphing her body to match his. She rushed as quickly as she could back into the cell block, but she stopped as soon as she saw more agents entering it. Right where she had been just a few minutes ago, standing over the unconscious bodies of Caleb and Kaytlen, stood Peyton Burton. "That's four of them now," Peyton said, "That means that there has to be more nearby. Double down on the defenses, and make sure that every inch of this building is being watched at all times. I want the rest of them here within the next day."