"What just happened?" Athena asked Dyo, pulling him to a stop in a street some distance from the theatre, gasping to catch her breath. Her heart was still pounding heavily against her rib cage. She really needed to exercise more regularly; especially if she was getting involved with a guy who seemed to spend so much time running away from things. They were in the shopping district and store adverts bombarded her screen. She rejected an offer for a year's green tea subscription from Freedom Taste while Dyo replied.
"Security services were storming the theatre," he told her, matter-of-factly.
"Why? We weren't doing anything wrong. Were we?" Athena finally cleared her screen enough to see Dyo clearly again. Had the adverts always been this annoying, or had they increased recently?
"Well, technically, we're not actually supposed to be in there. The theatre has been disused for years and strictly speaking it's private property." Dyo spoke with his hands in his pockets.
"Who does it belong to?" Athena asked. Dyo shrugged, but there was something forced about the movement and Athena got the feeling once again that he knew more than he was willing to share.
"So it's private property, I get that. But why not walk in through the front door and kick us out? Why all the subterfuge?"
"They must think that we are using the theatre for something we shouldn't be and were hoping to catch us in the act."
"And they were sent by whoever owns the place?" Athena suggested. Dyo nodded. "Which would make sense if whoever owned the theatre had a vested interest in that sort of group not existing... and were keen to intimidate them into laying low," Athena continued, following a hunch. "Which would make a lot of sense if the theatre was owned by someone like Jason Leighton."
"It would make a lot of sense, indeed," Dyo replied, his voice grave.
Athena's stomach plummeted. Castor had been surprisingly good natured about her decision to stop keeping tabs on the group for him. Was he now following her instead? Athena knew she should tell Dyo the truth about her initial involvement with the group, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "So what do we do now?" she asked instead, trying to change the topic and distract herself from the gnawing concern that was seeping through her veins. "What did Bree mean outside the theatre?"
Dyo looked at her, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "It's time to pay the Freedom Institute a visit."
Athena may have been concerned that Dyo had hit his head during the escape from the theatre, but she followed him through the streets of New London none the less.
The Freedom Institute was based in a huge glass skyscraper to the east of the city. Despite her earlier protests, Athena allowed Dyo to lead her down into the closest underground station; it was too cold to walk all the way to the Institute and Athena wasn't in a rush to reach it anyway. The wait on the underground platform might give Dyo enough time to change his mind about the whole idea. They could go for a hot chocolate instead, maybe look out across the city from one of those top floor cafes. They could kiss again. Kissing was definitely preferable to breaking and entering. Then again, most things were preferable to breaking and entering, and very few things were better than kissing. All in all, Athena felt like it was the obvious choice. But Dyo wasn't to be deterred.
He squeezed her hand in his and pressed his forehead to hers. "You don't have to come if you're not ready. I understand."
But he was going either way and it would be easier to not let him go alone; if she did, Athena would spend the entire evening panicking about what might be happening to him. Being involved seemed the lesser of the two evils, so she found herself shaking her head at his words. "I'm in."
"You are amazing, do you know that? Amazing."
"You've definitely changed your tune since my first trip to the theatre."
He sighed. "I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you. It was unfair; we can't all be graced with my amazing worldly awareness now, can we?"
"Nor your arrogance, luckily," Athena replied, grinning.
He didn't get the chance to reply because the tube arrived; on time, for the first and only time in Athena's life. She couldn't help but sigh as she got on.
Inside, Athena could only make out glimpses of the vibrant turquoise benches which lined the tubes in between the suited commuters occupying them. There wasn't a lot of room to stand in either. Dyo led her further into the carriage, but it didn't improve and they found themselves pressed together close enough to send Athena a bright shade of fuchsia.
The Freedom Institute was six stops away and the tube only grew busier. "You'd have thought," Athena said to Dyo quietly, "that after all the technological advancements we have achieved over the past centuries, we would have managed to invent a form of transport on which all paying passengers could actually find a seat."
Dyo laughed. "Maybe you should propose a vote."
"Maybe I should." She poked her tongue out at him. "Seriously, though. That is what these companies should be worrying about - not weapons and warfare, but public transport."
"If only they would see reason!" He raised his eyebrows, shaking his head theatrically.
"Don't mock me," Athena replied with a scowl. "I mean it. There are so many important things that the votes could be changing. The system could do so much good, if it wasn't broken."
"Well," Dyo said, pressing his lips to her ear, so that only she could hear him. "It's a good job we're going to fix it then, isn't it?"
She turned her head, intending to smile at him, but her lips met with his instead. A jolt of electricity ran through her body as she stood there, holding on to him in the middle of the train.
They nearly missed their stop. If it hadn't been for the curt station announcement seconds before the doors shut, the Institute would have become a distant, hazy memory while they rode the train to the end of the line, their lips barely parting.
But they jerked apart - or as apart as they could get - at the announcement and Dyo grabbed her hand in his again, pulling her through the doors as they started to close.
They paused on the platform for a moment, breathless and laughing.
"I guess we should get going," Dyo said, his eyes locked on to hers.
"I guess we should," she replied, smiling.
"It's a shame though."
"Such a shame. Do we have to go?"
Dyo broke eye contact, sighing. "Unfortunately we do. Bree is counting on us - well, me. I didn't tell her that you would be coming. But what she doesn't know can't hurt her. Come on." With a wink he was leading her from the platform and back out into the open air.
The building towered above them across the road. It looked dark and empty.
"How are we going to get in?" Athena asked, struck by the magnitude of what Dyo was attempting to do.
"Through the front door, silly," he replied, leading her through into the lobby, where a lone receptionist still occupied her desk. The doors on either side of her were both flanked by security guards.
"Wait here," Dyo said, leaving her beside an enormous potted plant which looked as though it belonged in a rainforest. Glossy screens were stationed throughout the lobby, advertising the FI's various subsidiaries. Athena was assailed with details for Freedom MediCare, Freedom Power and Freedom Learn. After telling her glasses that she needed neither private healthcare, a new energy supplier or help paying her student loans, she was able to observe Dyo as he leant across the front desk, speaking to the receptionist.
Athena couldn't hear what they were saying, but she watched as the receptionist ran a hand across her hair to make sure it was smooth and curled her bright pink lips into a smile before laughing at something he said to her, her eyes never leaving his. After a few minutes of rapid conversation, she handed him a pass along with a small piece of folded paper. Dyo thanked her - Athena could make that much out at least - and returned to Athena's side.
"Sorted," he said. "Shall we?" He gestured towards the door to the right.
"How did you get that?" Athena whispered, her brow furrowed.
But he put a finger to his lips, which lifted on one side in a crooked half grin, before placing a hand on her back and using it to guide her forwards, past the security guard and through the door.
Once the doors swung shut behind them, Athena tried to speak again. "Seriously, Dyo-" but he cut her off with a swift kiss. Well, he'd intended it to be swift, at any rate. But it was considerably longer before he broke away and sent the feed message that would silence her for the time being. No privacy vote here. They can see and hear everything.
Athena had to fight her instinct not to glance around for cameras. She directed her attention towards Dyo instead. How did you get the pass?
Charmed it out of her. He wrote back, smirking.
Athena merely raised an eyebrow. What? He added. He looked insulted, only the glint in his eye letting her know that he was joking. My looks happen to make me an extremely valuable asset to the team.
So what now? Athena wasn't going to get a serious answer out of Dyo so she changed her focus.
Now, we try to find out what the Freedom Institute is planning.
And we do that how?
All in good time, Thena. All in good time.
He led her down the corridor and into a stairwell, where they proceeded to climb until they reached the seventh floor. Athena was pleased that he seemed to have learnt from their last excursion; he knew where he was going this time, so must have downloaded a map. Intrigued to see where they were headed, she scanned the feeds to try to find a map of her own, but came up blank. Odd. But the Institute was a private building, unlike the voting centre. They weren't obligated to put a map online. Perhaps you had to get it from the receptionist, or maybe someone else in the group had sent it to Dyo. She was about to ask him when he stopped suddenly in front of a glass door with the words Data Centre inscribed on it.
Athena was starting to guess what they were going to do. She put a hand on the door handle, but Dyo held her back. "Not yet," he whispered in her ear. "Wait." As he spoke, he pointed to a camera inside the room. It was directed away from them in the corridor, but if they entered, they would be in its line of sight instantly. A bright orange light blinked beneath it, signalling that it was switched on and recording. But as Athena looked, wondering how on earth they were going to avoid it, the light turned off.
She glanced across to Dyo in confusion. Our success is not entirely down to my charm; the team as a whole is extremely skilled. The camera's nap is courtesy of Ismene - our tech expert.
He grinned and opened the door.
The room was filled with data storage units. Dyo pulled off his glasses as he approached the first. He unscrewed the right frame, revealing a micro usb connector, which he fitted into the back of the machine.
"This shouldn't take too long," he told Athena quietly.
"Are you trying to copy all of their data on to your glasses?" He was crazy - there was so much of it; how could it all possibly fit?
"No - the glasses are streaming it directly to Bree and Ismene."
"How long should it take?"
"About ten minutes, why? Wondering how we are going to pass the time?" He was standing in front of her now, his lips millimetres from hers. Slowly, he backed her up against the only empty wall in the room. She could feel his breath, warm, on her cheek.
"I don't think Bree would approve of us getting distracted on the job."
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, why do you think I invited you along? I knew we'd have time to kill..."
She pouted in mock annoyance, pushing him away from her. "So that's all I am to you? A play thing? A distraction?"
He bit his lip. "Of course not. You're also nice to look at, your voice is sweet and when you're cross, your nose crinkles in the most adorable way. Kind of like it's doing now, actually..."
"Take it as a warning that you should be very, very afraid."
He moved closer again, his amber eyes playful. "But it's so cute!" he kissed her lightly on tip of her nose. "There," he said, his voice softer. "I've been thinking about doing that since the first time we met. And this," he added, trailing kisses along her cheek. "And this," he murmured against her skin, inching lower.
Athena's breath hitched. She ran her fingers through his hair as her eyes strayed, paranoid, towards the camera on the wall. The orange light was back on.
She gasped. Dyo, who was busy kissing her neck, laughed against her skin. "I'm pleased I'm having such a positive effect," he murmured, but she shushed him.
"The camera is back on!"
"What?" Dyo swivelled round, then cursed. The wall they were pressed against was in the camera's blind spot, but there was no way out without walking in front of it and they would still need to reclaim Dyo's glasses.
"How?"
"Something must have gone wrong..." Dyo sounded amazed. "But they promised half an hour..."
"What do we do now?"
"Abandon and try to get out."
"The glasses?"
Dyo was silent for a moment; thinking. "We can't sneak out of this one. We would never get past that camera. We need to think of a good enough excuse for when we get caught..."
"Like what?"
"Just... trust me, okay. I will get us out of here."
With that, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pressed his lips to hers and pushed the two of them out into the middle of the room.
Athena panicked. What was he doing? This was definitely not the time for doing that! The camera could see them! The camera... would pick up a couple of students making out in a room. Nothing illegal about that. Athena stepped backwards, in the direction of the data hub Dyo's glasses were plugged into. When she could feel her back against it, she swivelled, so that his body was hiding her from the view of the camera. Slowly, Dyo let his hands travel down from her waist, sending shivers across her skin as he did so. His hand looped round her body, reaching surreptitiously for the glasses. He disconnected them and slipped them into Athena's back pocket as the security guard came crashing through the door.
"What do you think you are doing in here?" The gruffness of his voice was softened by the fact that he was so out of breath, but the pair broke apart, looking guilty.
"Sorry, sir," Dyo said, grinning sheepishly. "I guess we got a little bit carried away. This was the first room we came to..."
"How did you even get in here?" The security guard sounded more amazed than anything; this clearly wasn't the sort of thing he was usually dealing with.
Dyo took the pass from his pocket and handed it to the guard, who examined it, looked at Dyo, then looked at the card again.
"Right... Well... This pass doesn't give you access to this room. Upper floors only. You should have taken the east elevator and-"
"Like I said, we got a little distracted," Dyo said, cutting him off. "But we'll go now. Right away. You can escort us out, if you like."
The security guard didn't seem to like that idea much. "I'll escort you to the elevator," he said after a pause.
"Alright then. Sounds like a plan." Dyo grabbed Athena's hand and led her from the room. Instead of going back the way they came in, Dyo veered right, in the direction of a large elevator.
When they reached it, the guard stabbed at the down arrow roughly. The doors opened seconds later and he ushered the pair in. "Straight out. They'll be expecting you downstairs."
"Yes, sir. We're sorry for the trouble," Dyo told him as the doors closed. Once they were alone, he grinned and pulled his glasses out of Athena's back pocket.
"Dyo?" Athena asked, backing away from him to lean against the wall of the elevator.
"Yeah?"
"What's on that pass?"
Dyo's eyes remained fixed on his glasses as he screwed the frame back into place "What do you mean?" he asked her, his tone too considered to be casual.
"The security guard freaked out when he saw it," Athena pointed out, folding her arms. "He didn't even tell us off - he just showed us out. That wasn't normal protocol."
"Relax, Athena. Of course it was."
"But-"
Dyo cut her off before she could protest. "Did you want us to get into trouble? If that's the case I'm sure we could-"
He moved towards her, but she stepped to the side to avoid him. "Dyo, please. Don't treat me like I'm stupid."
"It's a normal pass, look-" With a sigh, he took the pass back out of his pocket and held it out towards her. It looked ordinary enough - a photo of Dyo that must have been taken in the lobby; clearance level of 0, which sounded pretty low; and Dyo's name, his surname obscured beneath his thumb.
Athena was about to ask why only he had needed a pass to get in; why the receptionist hadn't needed to take her photo and name too, when the elevator doors opened on the hushed lobby.
Smiling, Dyo took Athena's hand in his and led her confidently past the confused receptionist and out onto the dark streets of New London.
{If you haven't read Amber & Ice, I would love to hear what you think is going on in the comments. If you have, please avoid spoilers but feel free to post about how smug you feel for knowing what Athena - and new readers - don't! Oh, and please vote if you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you!}