A/N: So we have Holland Roden as Ariana above ;)

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"So, it's Max's birthday soon," Tobias said slyly to Ariana as they waited on top of the North Tower of the mansion for Max's signal. It was the middle of the night and a sharp wind was ripping its way through the Compound, tearing at Ariana's dark clothes and whipping through her auburn hair. Despite the freezing conditions, she felt completely fine as adrenaline coursed through her veins. Training exercises did that to her, especially the night drills. They just filled her with excitement and a type of nervous energy that didn't go away until she had won.

"And your point is?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Tobias as she turned. He was leaning on the wall of the turret, a smirk playing on his lips as he teased her.

"Ah, nothing much really," he said, acting absent minded but Ari could see the way his green eyes sparkled and glinted with mischief. "Just wondering if you had anything special planned."

"Nope, just planning to kick his butt in combat training right after I kick yours," Ariana replied curtly. Tobias laughed.

"I thought as much," he chuckled. She rolled her eyes but smiled. As annoying at Tobias was, she wouldn't have had him any other way. Being the youngest of the nine, he was the prankster, little brother to them all. Having just turned sixteen, his jokes had gotten even worse if possible, but Ari didn't mind much. In fact, none of the nine assassins-in-training that lived in the Compound did.

Well, apart from Scarlett. She always wanted to beat him up.

"Just shut your mouth and concentrate," Ari told him. "If we lose the game tonight because you couldn't stay quiet, Mr Loop and Marcos will be the least of your worries."

Mr Loop was their trainer and mentor. He was a fifty-seven year old, retired spy for the Flame who was asked to raise and train nine telepathic and telekinetic kids. He took them in when they all lost their parents in a brutal Unity attack and taught them to use their...gifts, among other things. They wouldn't be the people they were today without him and their combat specialist, Marcos.

"This is taking forever," Ariana said impatiently, glancing over the wall and out to the South Tower where Scarlett, Max and Finn should be disabling the alarms. "What on Earth is taking them so long?"

"Patience is a virtue, Ari," Tobias said, his voice monotone. "Or haven't you been listening to Marcos' lessons recently? Tut, tut, he wouldn't be very impressed if I told him that, would he now?"

"How did I end up with you tonight?" Ariana groaned as she looked up to the stars, her voice exasperated. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Because Oscar isn't here," Tobias pointed out. "And so, naturally, the most handsome and talented of us has to replace him as your partner-in-crime while he's away. That would be me."

Ari rolled her eyes yet again.

"And he gave me specific instructions to irritate you as much as possible until he gets back, so I might have swapped Max's name with mine on the training list for tonight," he added. This time she did snort with laughter at Tobias' sneakiness and Oscar's orders.

"Is that so?" she said between laughs. "I'm so going to kill Oscar when he gets back, and I'm so telling Marcos that you switched the names. Who's in trouble with Marcos now?" Tobias flashed an overly sweet, innocent smile at her and winked. She sighed dramatically then turned away, looking over the wall of the tower.

Oscar was her best friend and definitely the best spy. He should have been there with them tonight but he was on an important mission at the moment, deep in the middle of Unity territory. They didn't know a lot about it; Mr Loop had kept it a secret, but Ari was worried for him despite having reminded herself twenty times already that he was the best they had. He would be fine. She hoped.

Besides, she would personally kill him if he died.

"Ari? You copy?" It was Max, his voice echoing around her head through the telepathy link. She smiled slightly when she heard her boyfriend's voice, her heart aflutter. But she snapped herself back into focus and opened up the link to Max.

"Loud and clear, Max," she replied. "Go ahead."

"Beta Team have disabled the alarms," he said. "I repeat, Beta Team have disabled the alarms. You're good to go!"

"Copy that, Max," she said. "Over and out." She nodded at Tobias who gave her a double thumbs up. This was the fun part.

Stepping up onto the wall, Ariana turned around, her heels balancing perilously over the edge. She glanced down at the courtyard four storeys below before taking a deep breath to compose herself.

With her palms facing down, she blasted two funnels of telekinetic energy down onto the cobblestones in the courtyard. It was just enough to lift her weight but made sure it was soundless. Slowly, she lowered herself down the tower until she made it to the first window ledge. She hopped onto it, momentarily switching off her powers.

From her belt, she pulled out a small, handheld laser tool and cut away the lock, pushing the window open gently. She crouched on the ledge of the window, checking everything was clear below before unclipping herself from the rope.

"Okay, Tobias, I'm going in," she said through the telepathy link. "Hold position, over."

"Copy that," Tobias replied. "Holding position. Over and out."

Squeezing through the window, she found herself perching on a wooden beam that ran directly across the roof. Their dining room was below her, with the flag lying on the large, centre table.

Target acquired, she thought to herself, grinning. She ran nimbly and silently across the large, wooden beam until she was directly over the flag. She tried to stay low on the beam, keeping to the shadows.

Surprisingly enough, there were no guards in the room at all. To anyone else, it would have seemed like a blessing, but Ariana knew that they wouldn't make it that easy, and Mr Loop and Marcos definitely wouldn't make it that easy.

A glint of red light caught her eye from the corner of the room. She crawled across the beam further, hooking her legs over it and swinging backwards so she was hanging upside down. The small box mounted on the wall just below her head was shooting a very thin laser beam across the room. She glanced at the other walls, noticing identical boxes all around the dining room. Ariana smiled to herself. Marcos was really upping his game if he installed a laser grid.

She slowly opened the first box, careful not to set off any alarms, and looked inside. It was a complicated mess of coloured wires and batteries but she was pretty confident that she knew what to do. The only problem was that the backup system would engage within two minutes of her disabling it. That wasn't enough time for her to grab the flag.

"Tobias, you read me?" she asked.

"Loud and clear, Ari," he replied. "Go ahead."

"The flag is protected by a grid of lasers," she said quietly. "I can disable one but the backup system will kick in within two minutes. I'm going to need you to come down here and grab the flag, over." There was silence for a moment as she could physically feel Tobias' laugher in her head.

"I'm sorry, Ari, can you please repeat that?" he asked slyly. "Did you say you need my help? Over."

"Tobias, shut up!" she hissed. "Just get your skinny butt down here!"

"Copy that," he sniggered. "On my way. Over and out." Ari waited three minutes while Tobias lowered himself down to the window then crawled across the beam.

"Glad you could join me," she said sarcastically.

"The pleasure is all yours," he shot back with a wink. Ari rolled her eyes but smiled secretly.

"Okay, I'm going to cut the wire," she whispered. "Are you ready to grab the flag?" She gestured to the table where the flag lay. Tobias looked down then up again.

"Well, I don't suppose I have a choice," he chuckled. He crouched on the beam, ready to grab the flag once Ari had disabled the laser.

"Just be careful," Ariana said. "I can only disable one, so watch out for the others." He nodded, giving her a thumbs up. Ari leaned back down again, reaching for her cutting tool on her belt. She gently pushed aside the wires that she didn't want then pulled out the green one that connected to laser to its power supply.

"Three, two, one," she whispered then cut the wire. The laser shut down and Tobias reach out a hand, using his telekinesis to levitate the flag up. Ari yanked herself back up, crawling over to Tobias whose face was scrunched up in concentration as he manipulated the flag through the laser grid.

"Almost got it," he said, stretching out his fingers. "Almost there." She rolled her eyes but checked her watch.

"Thirty seconds," she said. "Hurry up!"

"Not. Helping," he said through gritted teeth as he leant forward. His fingers just brushed the fabric of the flag before he managed to grab it. "Got it!" he yelled triumphantly. Suddenly, he yelped as he slipped off the beam. Ari just managed to grab his ankle before he fell.

"Woah!" she cried, gripping onto the beam as tightly as she could. "Tobias, get up here!"

"Right, so this wasn't quite the plan," Tobias said whilst hanging upside down, his curly hazel locks dangling from his head.

"Just shut up and-"

Zap!

The laser shot back across the room, getting blocked by the flag that was still clutched in Tobias's hand. Ari held her breath, waiting for the alarms to ring. But there was nothing.

"You do remember that Finn and Scarlett cut the alarms, right?" Tobias asked, looking up at her with an eyebrow raised. She rolled her eyes, yanking him back up to sit on the beam.

"Cheers," he said with a grin, handing her the flag. Ari gave him a look but took it anyway, tucking it into her belt.

"Get them!" someone suddenly shouted. Both Ari and Tobias looked down to see a patrol of guards glaring up at them.

"Oh for God's sake," Tobias groaned. "Couldn't we have one night where we didn't have to shoot them?" He grabbed the stun gun that was strapped to his leg, shooting at the guards who all dived for cover. "Go, Ari!" he yelled at her. She didn't have to be told twice. Leaping to her feet, she legged it across the beam again and jumped onto the window ledge.

"Tobias!" she cried, pulling out her own two stun guns from her belt. "Come on!" She shot at the guards, covering Tobias as he ran across the beam.

"They're getting away!" One of the men yelled but she shot him directly in the chest. The guard cried out and crumpled to the floor, his muscles paralysed. Tobias made it the window ledge, spinning to face the room.

"See you later, boys," he smirked, saluting to the guards before he jumped, supporting himself with his powers as he flew to the nearby roof. Ariana followed, just avoiding some of the guards' shots as they attempted to stop her.

As soon as he boots landed on the roof tiles, she took off after Tobias. "Guys!" she yelled, opening up a telepathy link so it connected to everyone. "We have the package. I repeat, we have the package but are experiencing some resistance, over."

"Okay, we'll cover you!" Danielle light voice replied quickly.

"Just get to the finish point!" Sam shouted. "We've got this!"

Ari and Tobias ran as fast as they could across the rooftops, hurdling the chimneys and leaping over the gaps between the gaps between the buildings. They made it to where they set up their escape route which was the east side of the mansion.

Ariana stepped off the roof first, spiralling down until her feet hit the gravel with a crunch. Tobias wasn't far behind her and they sprinted across the compound to the East Corner.

Behind them, Ari could hear the guards yelling as they experienced fire from the rest of the assassins. Max, Danielle and Sam were pinning them down in the main courtyard while Scarlett, Finn and Megan picked off the ones that escaped, stopping them from chasing after Ariana and Tobias. They worked flawlessly as a team having trained together for over a decade.

"We're clear, guys!" Ari said.

"Copy that. See you in a minute," Max replied. Tobias made it to the small gathering of trees in the East Corner first, waiting for Ari and watching behind them to make sure they weren't followed.

"I think we're clear," he said to her. She nodded and they both ran into the trees, right into the East Corner of the Compound. By the time they got there, Mr Loop and Marcos were sitting on logs by the fire with a laptop, watching the camera feeds that kept an eye on them.

"Ah, there you are," Mr Loop said, looking up as Ariana and Tobias burst into the small clearing. "We were beginning to think you weren't coming back."

"Just took a little longer than expected, that's all," Ari said, easing herself down onto a log. She took the flag from her belt and threw it at Marcos. "The laser grid was harsh, by the way." Marcos rolled his dark eyes and scowled.

"It was meant to be harsh," he told her. "How are you to learn if you aren't challenged?" Tobias snorted, making Marcos glare at him and clip him round the head.

"Hey!" Tobias cried. "No fair!"

"Oh, shut your mouth for once, Toby," Marcos replied curtly. Tobias looked a little bit miffed at the use of the nickname from Marcos but didn't say anything, only grumbled to himself. Ari looked down and smiled so Marcos wouldn't see her smirking.

As brutal and harsh as Marcos was in training, he was also like the older brother of the group. He may have been moody and distant, especially when Tobias wound him up, but she was used to it. In fact, there were times when she appreciated it.

"We'll wait for the others before we begin our review of that training exercise," Mr Loop said. "They should be back in a minute."

"A minute too long for you and Max," Tobias grinned, nudging Ari and wiggling his eyebrows yet again. Ariana rolled her eyes for what must have been the hundredth time that night and punched his arm.

"You won't ever leave it alone, will you?" she said with a laugh. He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Nope."

She sighed but gestured her hand to the smores that lay next to Mr Loop. One of them raised up in mid-air and drifted towards the fire, slowly turning as she toasted her marshmallow.

All of the nine had powers; it was the reason why they were so important to the Flame. She didn't quite know how she got them; no one knew. But after their parents were murdered in a brutal Unity attack on their home town, the Flame had rescued them. They told them that they now had a second chance to make a difference in the war, to fight instead of hide. To Ariana, these powers meant avenging her parent's death.

"Starting the smores without us, are we?" a voice rang out. She smiled to herself, turning to face Max who had just appeared out of the trees. The others were just behind him, making their way to the logs to sit down. Max came towards her, planting a kiss on her lips before stealing her marshmallow with his own telekinesis.

"Hey!" she shouted as he winked and ate it.

"Because you love me," he said as if that gave him the right to steal her food. She rolled her eyes but let him sit next to her, laying her head in his shoulder. His arm immediately went around her, holding her tightly against his body. .

"Very well done, all of you," Mr Loop said once they were all settled and were munching on smores. "You did very well. This was a difficult one, but I think you all coped fairly well. There are a few pointers, though, that we should improve on." He gestured to Marcos who stood up.

"Here we go," Tobias muttered. Marcos shot him a glare before speaking.

"First of all, there should be less chatter," he said, sending a pointed look at Ariana and Tobias. "Operations like these need to be kept clean and precise. If your enemy were to one day block your powers, you have to be prepared to speak only when necessary, not having arguments."

"That was his fault," Ariana said, pointing at Tobias. He only rolled his eyes in response.

"Secondly, you have to be aware of silent alarms," Marcos continued, ignoring her and Tobias. "When you broke the laser grid, the guards all got a warning in their coms units. None of you thought of that, did you now? Finn, as that is your area of expertise, I expected you to figure that out."

"Yeah, sorry," Finn mumbled. Ari bristled a little at Marcos' unfairness.

"But other than that, none of you got caught or hit so I suppose that's something to celebrate," he finished. He turned to Mr Loop. "I'm going to give the guards the all clear. You can finish off here."

"Thank you, Marcos," Mr Loop said. He left, disappearing into the trees. Tobias suddenly whistled.

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," he said. The rest of us laughed, including Mr Loop.

"He was rather intense, wasn't he?" Dani chuckled, flicking her hair back. "Geez, he could relax a little."

"Marcos has always tried to push you hard," Mr Loop said. "But that's only because he cares for you. He wants to know that you'll all be prepared and safe once you leave here. Losing his own family to the Unity will only heighten that protective instinct."

"He has a funny way of showing that he cares," Sam grumbled.

"The point is that you did well tonight," Mr Loop continued. He stood from his log, plucking all the smores from the air despite their protests. "Ah, shush now," he snapped at them. "You're lucky that you have marshmallows. Many others don't."

"Yes, sir," they all mumbled. He nodded at them.

"Now, off to bed with you all. You have a full day of training tomorrow." He began to walk away but Ariana called out, stopping him.

"Sir, have you got an update on Oscar?" she asked. Everyone fell silent, watching Mr Loop carefully. When Oscar first left, everyone had asked millions of questions to where he was going and what he was doing. Mr Loop had told them that the mission was top secret even to them, and so the best that they could hope for was updates every few days.

But the lack of information worried Ari; it would worry any spy. She understood how vital secrecy was, and so she didn't question Mr Loop, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"He contacted me this morning saying everything was going as planned," he said. "He should complete his mission in the next week or so."

"But he's okay, right?" Tobias pressed. "I mean, he's not hurt?" It was probably the most serious thing he had said all night.

"The last time I checked, he was fine," Mr Loop reassured them. "I expect a progress report from him tomorrow morning." Ariana inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

For the past month, her stomach had been a knot of nerves. Waking up every day and not having her best friend there to make fun of her bed hair or to steal her breakfast was hard. It was only made better by knowing that the work he was doing was important and was going to save lives.

But even with Mr Loop's assurances, she still had a really bad feeling about the entire thing. For her, that was something that was hard to ignore.

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So that was the first chapter! What did you think of this one?!?! Hope you enjoyed it!

This one is longer than most of my chapters will be but only because it was an introduction to the characters ;)

Okay then, don't forget to vote and comment!

Love y'all!

CricketCat