A/N: this is gonna be a really exiting chapter! And there's gonna be a HUGE cliffhanger
"Okay, remember the plan," Beatrix whispered to us, as we huddled by a tree, watching the small house across the street. "Pluto's waiting in the car, and me and Marcus are gonna go over to the trees, and he's gonna light the trees on fire to create a distraction."
We all nodded. "And then we go over to the guards?" Sean asked nervously.
"Yeah, we'll just tell them there's a fire," Hayley said. "That should be easy."
"And then the rest of us go in," I finished.
I was feeling a bit anxious about going back there. After all, last time I was in there I had gotten shot at, chased, and watched Cashlin die. But this wasn't about me, I told myself. We needed to rescue Olivia.
"Let's not stress about this. The hard part is once we're inside," Beatrix reminded us, before hurrying off with Marcus. For some reason, it irritated me, watching them walk off together, which I didn't understand.
I turned back to the others, and we watched through the branches, as two men walked around the house. They were wearing plain clothes, and didn't look like they were armed, but that was to be expected, as there were civilians living on that street who might be confused as to why there were armed guards standing outside one of the houses.
The last time we had been there, there hadn't been anyone outside, but I guessed they had upped security since we escaped.
Suddenly, I heard the crackling of flames, and we turned, to see that a few of the trees behind us were on fire. I watched the flames travel up the trunk, as Sean and Hayley hurried towards the house.
"Fire!" they yelled. "There's a fire!"
As they pointed towards the wooded area. As we had expected, the men hurried towards it, leaving the house unguarded. Taking our chance, me, Valerie, and Evianna hurried towards the house, as we were joined by Hayley, who snuck back through the trees. The door was locked, of course, but the wood was flimsy and we kicked it down easily.
"Where do we go now?" Valerie asked.
"To the basement," I said, as we hurried through the empty house. "The elevator is down there."
"Do you need the keycard to go down the elevator?" Hayley asked.
"Surprisingly, no," I responded. "Only to go up, which doesn't really make any sense, but it works for us."
As we got to the elevator, I realized that not needing a keycard to get underground could potentially mean that Thomas wanted us to come. That it was a trap. Or, something that Beatrix had theorized, it made it easy for them to trap people inside.
But it was too late to turn back now. We stepped inside the elevator, and I saw that there was dried blood on the floor from when Beatrix had broken her nose in there.
"Ew, is that blood?" Valerie asked, noticing.
"I guess they haven't cleaned the elevator since last time," I said.
We went down in silence, the four of us mentally prepared for what was ahead. The elevator touched the ground, and we all looked at each other nervously. "I guess this is it," Evianna said.
We stepped out as the doors opened, and looked around, relieved to see that we weren't met with guards. "Alright, let's go," I said. As we prepared to split up, Valerie pulled me into a hug. "I'll see you soon," I promised her.
She nodded. "We're gonna get your girl back."
"I know," I responded, trying to convince myself that this was gonna be successful. I paused. "She's not my girl."
Valerie blinked. "Oh. Huh. Just the way you talked about her, I thought..."
"Guys, we have to go," Evianna said from behind me, nervously twisting the taser Valerie had given her in her hands.
"We'll go this way," I said pointing down one end of the hallway. "You guys go down the other."
We quickly said goodbye to each other, and i headed down the hallway with Hayley.
"Do you think they know we're here?" she asked.
"Probably not yet," I said. "But when he hear the alarm going off, we know they do." She was wringing her hands as we turned a corner.
"Are you nervous?" I asked her.
She nodded. "What if we never make it out of here? That thing with the keycard totally freaked me out."
"We will," I told her. "We've planned this. We have weapons, and powers. And we have the upper hand, they don't know we're here."
Just then, we heard voices up ahead. We stopped, and ducked behind an open door. "What do we do?" she whispered. "I think they're coming here!"
"You go out," I whispered to her. "Use your powers to blend the taser into the wall."
"And then what?" she asked, her eyes widening in fear.
They were getting closer, and I knew we didn't have much time. "They don't know who you are. Pretend to be an escaped prisoner. Use a fake name, don't tell them your real one. They're either gonna put you in one of the rooms, or in an office upstairs. As soon as you're alone, call me, and I'll come get you, I promise."
She took a deep breath. "Okay."
She walked out from behind the door, just as the guards came, and I stayed hidden. "Hey, you! What are you doing here?" they asked.
"I, uhh," she said. I peeked around the door, and saw that she was pretending to try and run.
"I bet she's one of those girls that are always locked up here," one said gruffly.
The other grabbed her arm. "Are you a prisoner?" he demanded. "What cell were you in?"
"Like she's gonna tell you that. Should we take her upstairs?" Shortly after, their voices faded and I knew they had dragged her away.
The "cell" thing was news to me. The last time we had been there, they had kept me and Beatrix in rooms on this floor. Now they had cells. Had they always had that, or had they upgraded since they realized how easy it was to escape from the rooms?
When they were gone, I slipped out from behind the door. I still didn't really know how to work the walkie talkies, so I pulled out my phone, and called Valerie.
"Hey, what's happening?" she said, picking up after a ring and a half.
"They got Hayley," I told her.
"What do you mean got?" Evianna asked, her voice barely hearable as I wasn't about to turn on speaker.
"The guards. They're taking her upstairs to interrogate her."
"Did they see you?" Evianna asked.
"No. No one knows any of us are here yet. Where are you guys?"
"I have no idea," Valerie said.
"We're very lost," Evianna agreed. "There was a flight of steps, and they took us to another floor above this one, but there are barely any rooms and they're all locked."
"You're near Hayley," I said. "Or, where she's gonna be. The offices are upstairs."
"How much time do you think we have before they get here?" Valerie asked.
"Five minutes, maybe?" I said. "Why?"
"I have a plan," Valerie said. "I gotta go." And she hung up.
I really hoped Valerie's plan would work. Or else her and Evianna would end up being captured too, and then we would have multiple people to save. But I had to trust that she knew what she was doing.
Since they were upstairs, I decided it was time to go downstairs. I didn't know how I would do that, but I assumed that was where the cells were. I figured the elevator would go all the way down, but Beatrix had the keycard.
I wandered the halls until I heard heave footsteps. Realizing there were more guards coming, I opened one of the doors, relieved to find that it was unlocked, and slipped inside.
But I wasn't prepared for what I found in there. It looked like a small lab. There were white tables, with beakers full of mysterious liquid, and a few softly beeping machines. "Hello," said an automated voice, making me jump. I decided to stay silent. I'd never trusted artificial intelligence, even though it had been casually used since far before I was born.
My heart pounded as I stepped closer. Had I found the place where it all happened? I walked around, looking. I reached out to pick up a beaker, then realized that I shouldn't touch it with my bare hands, so I put on some rubber gloves that lay on the table, hoping they were clean.
It was full of a clear liquid that was too thick to be water. It was odourless, but something about it creeped me out, despite its seemingly innocent appearance. It seemed the lab had been visited recently, there was a half empty bottle of water farther down the table, and a newspaper with last week's date on it, on one of the chairs. Who even read newspapers anymore?
Thomas. Thomas would definitely read newspapers.
Then, I saw a filing cabinet, propped up against the wall at the back. Carefully setting down the beaker, I walked over, pulling the gloves off as I went.
It was locked, of course, but the metal was flimsy and I was powerful, so with some well placed telekinesis, I got it opened.
The inside seemed to be a smaller, self made lab. There was files, as I had imagined. I figured it was just boring science stuff, but I checked it out anyway.
I was wrong. It was files on me and my friends.
There was one for me, Beatrix, Olivia, Evianna, Pluto, Cashlin, and even Valerie. And at the back, I saw a few that didn't look like anyone I knew. There was a file that was almost empty, with the letters "A A" on it. Metaphorically tucking that aside, I tore mine open, and looked through it. They'd know we were here no matter what, so I didn't bother covering my tracks.
It had a picture of me. Actually, multiple, that seemed to have been taken from stills from security cameras in the city.
There were general things like my birthdate, sex, the hospital I was born at, my weight as a newborn, and my parents names. It was all computer printed, except for a slip of paper which was hand written. I picked it up, and my eyes widened as I saw my mother's name.
I finally approached Mina Williams about her daughter, Damira, after almost a year of watching them. I tried to explain my plan to her, of how her child would be a key piece in this country's survival. But she wasn't having it. She said she didn't want Damira to be involved. It was quite disappointing, but I won't give up so easily. Damira will be mine eventually. It's only a matter of time. There's nothing she can do to stop it. My serum is growing inside her daughter as we speak.
I put the paper back, my heart pounding. So he had been stalking me and my family since I was born, probably since before I was born. Most of my memories of my mother was her never letting me out of her sight, terrified of strangers, and now I understood.
I remembered when she had died, and how my father had been nowhere in sight. I had been taken from my house directly to the orphanage. He had been waiting so patiently, for my mother to die, and had scooped me up as soon as I was alone. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd gotten my father out of the way. I hoped that was the case, because that meant that my father hadn't come to get me because he couldn't, not because he didn't want me.
I slammed the file shut, putting it back. I quickly skimmed the others. They were mostly empty, except for Beatrix's. He was quite obsessed with her.
Pluto's was pretty empty, other then just their birthdate and parents. I reached for Valerie's but decided against it. I didn't have much time.
Just as I was about to leave, I grabbed Olivia's file. It had the same information at the front, but I flipped farther. It seemed he had added some things after she had been kidnapped, stating how uncooperative she was, and how she refused to tell them anything.
There was a short note on their "plans to make her cooperative" which I started to read, but it made me feel sick to my stomach and I tore it up.
The one useful thing it told me, was the combination code to open her cell. 4481. I repeated it a few times, then put the file away. Just as I was about to go, I looked back at the beakers on the table. There were three of them. Though I didn't know for sure, I was hire certain what was in them. And I wasn't going to let Thomas do that to anyone else.
So I picked them up, and smashed them on the ground, hard. Making sure not to step in any, I pushed over the file cabinet, and flipped the table for good measure. I would light the whole place on fire, but I didn't have anything to do it with. I should have swiped Beatrix's lighter before we came. I didn't hear anyone outside, so I figured the hallway was empty again, and opened the door.
I was right. I pulled out my phone, and called Beatrix. "Damira, hey," she said. "I found her!"
"You found her?!" I said in excitement.
"I'm here!" I heard Olivia call in the background.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine, we just can't open the door, it needs a code!"
"Try four four eight one," I told them.
A few seconds later, I heard whoops of excitement through the phone. "It worked! She's out!" Beatrix told me happily.
"What do we do now?" Olivia asked.
"Take her upstairs," I said. "Just get her out of here, send her up the elevator. I'm going to get Hayley," I said, as I sent a quick text to Pluto, telling them the news.
"Hayley?" What happened to Hayley?" Beatrix asked.
"Who is Hayley?" I heard Olivia say in the background.
"The guards took her," I said. "I've gotta go."
It was around that time, that the alarm started going off. I was surprised they hadn't already noticed I was here. But as I ventured down the hallway, I realized that it may not be because of me, as I saw Valerie and Hayley running towards me.
"What happened?" I asked. "What did you do?" They stopped in front of me, breathing hard.
"I made the floors and stairs icy," Valerie said. "So the guards would slip on it as they came up. They did. It was total chaos, and the alarm started going off, and the guards were trying to attack us, and I barely managed to get Hayley out of there."
"It was weird," Hayley said. "Cause they decided they didn't want to interrogate me anymore."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"When we were walking, about to go up the stairs, they asked me my name. I freaked, and told them it was Evianna, cause I saw her at the top of the stairs and it was the first name I thought of."
"Okay, and?" I said, still not understanding.
She blinked in confusion. "Well, then they let me go."