A/N: Matthew McConaughey as Mr Loop ;)
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"Megan! Danielle! Get to the East side of the town and set up a barricade!" Marcos barked out. "Do not let them get to our base!" Megan nodded, turning to Dani and sprinting off into the battle zone. Tobias watched them go before he reshuffled the rucksack on his back. It was chocked full of supplies, something they all had just in case one of them got separated from the rest of the group. It was always a necessary precaution they took but he had barely managed to get it together before Marcos had practically thrown him and Oscar into the truck to take them to the battleground.

"Sam, Scarlett," Marcos said, turning to the redhead and the blonde boy next to her. "Take the West. Push them back. Show no mercy." They ran off as well in the opposite direction. "Finn, you run coms. Stay in the truck and don't come out unless it's imperative." As Finn jumped back into the truck they had arrived in, Marcos turned to Tobias and Oscar.

"You two are going to be leading the offensive from the North," he ordered. "Keep the fire focused on you and push them back in the centre where you'll meet Sam and Scarlett. Make sure that no one gets past you."

"Yes, sir," Oscar replied.

"And what are you going to do?" Tobias asked. He half expected Marcos to snap at him, but to his surprise, Marcos only gazed out to the battle field the town had become.

"I'm going to make sure you guys get back home safely," he said. Tobias was about to roll his eyes but the look on Marcos' face suddenly morphed into one more worried than serious. The change shocked him to his senses, especially when Marcos turned back to them. He placed one hand on Tobias' shoulder and the other on Oscar's, leaning forwards.

"You two need to be careful," Marcos whispered. "You're being watched, and I think you know it. Just remember this: don't trust what you believe." Then suddenly, Marcos was gone, running into the battle field as if his life depended on it.

Tobias was beyond confused, and by the looks of it, so was Oscar. But before he could ask anything, an explosion shook the ground. Both boys dropped to the ground instinctively as rubble and debris rained down around them. The building that had been to their left had been blown apart, its bricks and roof tiles scattered around them. Only the foundations remained, smoking and smouldering.

"That's it!" Oscar growled, pushing himself to his feet and grabbing hold of Tobias too, yanking him up. "They chased me, they shot me and now they want to blow me up too?! Those bastards are not going to survive today!" Then he was running, leaping through the battle field towards their station. Tobias huffed but sprinted after him, catching him up easily.

"Slow poke," he grinned at Oscar, winking as he sped past.

"Oh shut up!" Oscar growled.

They reached the Unity forces within two minutes and screeched to a halt, taking cover behind a destroyed house. A battalion of troops were up ahead, about fifty metres down the road. They had armoured vehicles with machine guns mounted on top, all locked onto the road. They were ready to fire on anything that moved.

"I hope you've got a plan," Tobias said, peering round the crumbling wall but jumping back as shots rang at them. "We're pretty much outgunned."

"We're going to have to blast the trucks away," Oscar said. "Then we'll start on the foot soldiers." Tobias nodded, using his teeth to pull off his gloves.

"All right then," he said. "In three, two, one, go!" Both boys jumped from behind the house and blasted shots of pure telekinetic energy at the armoured trucks. They flew away, tumbling over and crashing into the ground. An explosion followed which Tobias blocked using his powers, gritting his teeth and growling at the force literally pushed him back. His boots dug rivets into the dirt at the effort of keeping the explosion's power from throwing back himself and Oscar.

Shooting started again as Tobias dropped the shield and he pulled his revolver from its holster, aiming and firing at the remaining Unity troops. Despite the trucks taking out at least half the troops, there were still too many for them just to shoot. "Oscar!" Tobias shouted over at his friend. "Cover me!"

"What?!" But before Oscar could stop him, he was already running at the battalion, ignoring Oscar's profuse swearing behind him. Deflecting bullets, Tobias ran at the nearest Unity solider, vaulting him with a perfectly timed front flipped then blasting him away.

The next three soldiers all ran at him but Tobias ducked their punches, grabbing the first one and throwing him into the other two, shooting them for good measure. Another wave of soldiers came at him but at this point, Oscar had decided to join him, tackling a soldier and shooting three others as he went down. Tobias grinned, raising his gun and shooting more Unity men coming towards them in perfect shots. By that point, the rest of the battalion were retreating back to the centre of the town. If their plan worked, that's right where Tobias and Oscar would meet Scarlett and Sam, caging in the Unity forces.

Oscar picked himself up from the ground, readjusting his gear. "You really need to rethink your strategy," he growled at Tobias who just dusted himself off, smiling cheekily.

"It worked, didn't it?" he smirked. "And besides, I knew you'd come after me." Was it just his imagination, or did Oscar blush when he said that? Deciding to ignore it for now, Tobias reached out with his mind, contacting Finn back at the truck.

"Yo, Finn," he said. "We've pushed them back towards the centre. Any updates?" It took about a second for Finn to reply.

"Megan and Dani have managed to keep most troops away," he said. "Scarlett and Sam are doing fine too. Proceed with the plan. Corner them in the centre."

"Copy that," Tobias said. He turned towards Oscar, ready to tell him what Finn had said only to find the boy in question wasn't there. For a moment, Tobias was completely confused, looking around at the empty courtyard. Wasn't he just there-?

A hand clamped over his mouth, dragging him into a narrow alley. At first, Tobias struggled but fell still at the sound of a familiar voice.

"It's me, Toby," they said. "Calm down." They released him and Tobias saw Max's face in the darkness, grinning like the mad idiot he was. Tobias hugged him, patting his back.

"Max," He said, allowing the shock to seep into his voice. "What are you...?" His question trailed off when he saw Ariana hugging Oscar just behind Max. He tried to ignore that bite of jealously in the pit of his stomach but, as always, it was ever present.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Oscar asked, finally letting go of Ari and clapping Max's shoulder. "I thought you were meant to be in Oldmere? How did you get your sorry arses all the way here?"

"They sent in troops from Oldmere," Max explained, gripping Oscar's forearm in a firm handshake. "All we got was that they were taking the Flame base here. I don't think they expected to get ripped apart by you guys, though. To be honest, neither did we. You two just took out our entire battalion. Lucky for us, we managed to slip out of your way before you saw us. Would have been awkward if we had to fight." He shrugged. "But that's not important. What are you guys doing here?"

"The Flame Leaders deployed us," Tobias answered. "No idea why, but Marcos said we're taking on more active combat duty from now on. It seems the Leaders have had enough with spying games."

"But we're not meant to do that until we make our final move against the Unity!" Ari protested. "The plan isn't ready yet! Unless..." Silence fell between them as Ari trailed off, the words settling and the daunting conclusion worming its way into their minds. For years they had been training for a day, a moment, when the Flame would finally begin the plan of taking down the Unity once and for all. They all knew it for it was the reason they were saved.

But now that day was coming. And it was coming fast.

Suddenly, Oscar grabbed Tobias, shoving him back and pressing him against the wall. Tobias made a pretty undignified squeak in surprise, causing Oscar to cover his mouth with his hand, ignoring the glare he was getting in return.

Next to them, Ari and Max were also against the alley side, watching a dark silhouette tread carefully into the light. Tobias realised that Oscar had just saved him from getting spotted, but he couldn't thank him for he was rather distracted by Oscar's torso flush against his. He turned his head away in the hope of ridding himself from his thoughts, only to find something much more confusing.

Marcos casually leaned against the back wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He appeared to be waiting, but for what was unclear. Tobias remembered him mentioning that he was going to make sure they didn't get killed, but he had assumed that was to walk the perimeter. Now that he was here, he was very much suspicious.

Out of the corner of his eye, Toby could see Ari glance at Max, her face as confused and cautious as his. They were both taunt, as if ready to jump out but one look from Oscar seemed to have convinced them not to. Telepathy wasn't always the best way to communicate, but Tobias could tell that the same question was on all their minds:

What was Marcos doing?

Footsteps interrupted their little exchange as they stilled, watching from the shadows as another figure stepped out from the street and into the alley. Ari suddenly went rigid, gripping Max's hand tightly as the person's face came into view. For once, Tobias was very glad that Oscar was keeping him quiet because nothing would have stopped him from gasping and compromising their position. He knew Marcos was a lot of things, but this...he had never even considered this.

It was Flint Lark.

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So, things are getting a bit more interesting now...Comment your thoughts!

Love y'all!

CricketCat