"Come on, guys," Charlie panted. "We're almost there." I had one arm around Harry's neck and the other around Charlie's. They were pretty much dragging me through the city, to the new meet point a couple of blocks away. There were no sign of any Triple soldiers lurking about but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"I've got to stop, guys," I groaned, sinking down to the floor. Harry stayed standing with a gun in his hands, keeping watch while Charlie checked my wound.

"Damn," he muttered as he saw the blood soaking through the bandages. "The stitches must have torn."

"Guys," Harry said. "We can't stay here."

"But we can't move either, damn it," Charlie growled. Harry crouched by us, looking around wildly.

"What are we going to do, boss?" he asked frantically.

"Shut up, you moron!" Charlie said. "I'm trying to think." I leant my head back onto the wall. How did my messed up life come to this? Oh yeah, I was born into it.

I jerked my head up when I heard running footsteps. Charlie and Harry must have heard them too because they leapt to their feet, pointing their guns in the direction they were coming from.

A boy came round the corner, his hands up in surrender. "On your knees!" Charlie shouted. He and Harry circled the boy as he slowly got down to his knees, his hands still in the air. I locked eyes with him and basically had a fit.

"Charlie!" I gasped. "That's him! He works with Triple. He's part of T11" That was enough for Charlie. He kicked the boy down and knelt on his back.

"You better start talking or I'll blow your head off," he growled in his ear. The boy looked up at me frantically, his eyes full of fear. He opened his mouth and shook his head as hard as he could.

"Wait," I said. "Charlie, I don't think he can  talk."

"What do you mean, he can't talk?" Harry asked. He stood poised on his feet, the gun pointing at the boy's head.

"I mean he literally can't talk," I said. I ignored the pain in my stomach and sat up. "I know you can talk in other people's minds. Not that I want you to, but I give you permission to speak to all of us."

"Erin," Charlie hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Get off him, Charlie," I said. "I need to find out what they did to Josh. He came to us for a reason." Charlie gave me a furious glare but reluctantly got off the boy. He got up off the floor, massaging his back.

'My name is Austin,' he said in everyone's mind. Charlie and Harry looked a little shocked and uncomfortable with this but for me, it was almost normal.

Almost.

'The Master made me and Adela before Erin and Josh,' Austin continued. 'We were never perfect. Not what he wanted. He shoved us into T11 with all the other failed experiments that lived. I'm sure that he would have killed us if Erin and Josh hadn't rebelled.'

"What have you done to Josh?" I persisted. Austin hung his head.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'At that point I didn't really know what I was doing. The Master had filled me and Adela with hate and rage for you. We didn't have emotions other than that. The Master claimed to Josh that we were just like that but really, it was just nurture. Afterwards, it was true that Adela and I had absorbed Josh's emotions. I told him it was only if we were near him but, that wasn't true.'

"Just get to the point," Charlie growled.

'Josh is gone,' Austin said. 'A girl in T11 called Lucy swallowed him up. He's under her control now. His body, her mind. As far as I know, there is no way to get him back without killing Lucy...which means killing Josh. Adela and I helped by keeping Josh immobile-'

"You showed him things!" I shouted. "You showed him things that broke him!"

'You of all people should know what it's like to be under the Master's control,' Austin said coldly. He opened his mouth and pointed inside. 'In my mouth is a device that takes away my voice. I can't touch it because otherwise it will kill me. The Master also has a kill switch in here as well so he can kill me whenever he likes. I'm sacrificing my life to tell you what happened to Josh, what's going to happen to you.'

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

'Right now, Triple are moving base,' Austin said. 'They've planned the very final attack to destroy every single city in the world and crush whatever rebellion there was.'

"How can they possibly do that?" Charlie asked.

'Erin knows,' Austin replied. Everyone looked at me.

"You said it yourself, Charlie," I whispered. "Josh and I were meant to be able to create earthquakes and tsunamis. Now they have Josh..."

'They need you,' Austin said gravely. 'To take your powers and make Lucy and Josh as powerful as they can be.'

"But they're not after her anymore," Harry said. "The tracking device was on her for hours and they didn't come after her."

"Of course," Charlie said. "It's all a trick. They've surrounded us right now. You lead them right to us!" He jabbed a finger at Austin who shook his head.

'No! You don't understand!' he said. 'They would have killed you already if it wasn't for me. I've cleared an escape route for you to get to your evacuation point. None of the Triple soldiers know about it yet. It was meant to be a trap for Erin. All I ask is that you take me with you and work out some way to get this thing out of my throat.'

"Charlie, we have to," I said. "He's our only way of getting Josh back. Think about the information he can give your resistance." Charlie made a frustrated noise.

"Fine, come on then," he said. "But if you make one move, Austin, I will kill you." Austin turned to me.

'I can help you with your wound,' he said. He came towards me and crouched by my side. His eyes were nervous and looking for permission. I nodded.

'I can't heal it but I can tell your brain to stop the blood coming out of the wound.' Austin laid his hand lightly on my forehead. Charlie and Harry both tightened their grips on their guns, ready to spring if Austin did any damage.

A soothing feeling came over me as Austin took some of the pressure off me as well as telling my brain to stop the wound from bleeding. 'Josh loves you very much,' he whispered to me. Somehow I knew that Charlie and Harry couldn't hear. 'I hope you know that. Even when being tortured, he blocked me and Adela from reaching you.' I nodded just as the sound of a helicopter erupted over the rooftops.

"That's our ride," Charlie said. "You'd better hope that you're right, Austin, or I won't be the only one wanting to kill you."

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Ok some things revealed in this chapter. In the next few chapters things are really going to kick off for you. And Erin is going to see Josh...uh oh.

I know this was extremely late so I'm not going to make any excuse, lol but please don't kill me...

So please vote and comment! They really do keep me motivated!

Love y'all!

CricketCat