A/N: Dylan O'Brien as Oscar above ;)
********************************************************************************************

Creeping through the halls of Oldmere castle, Oscar kept to the shadows, holding his gun tightly in his hands. He stayed low and quiet, making sure that none of the guards that were patrolling the corridors spotted him.

It had taken him weeks to get here. Weeks of preparation, research and brute force had got him to this moment. He had been sent here by the Flame to record information from the Unity commanders that were running the Oldmere Outpost. It used to be a Flame base until the Unity took it from them seven years ago. Ever since, Oldmere had been in total lockdown. No one could get in or out without the Unity's permission.

Luckily for him, they brought in a load of new farmers to keep up the food supplies. He had snuck in with them and posed to be a poor farmer's boy for weeks while secretly slipping information to the Flame right under the Unity's noses.

But that was just what he did.

In front of Oscar was a small, wooden door that lead onto a balcony over the central room in the castle. He slipped through it, crouching low and hiding behind a water fountain. He peered over the railing at the group of men and women who were sat around the long table below him, watching the hologram flicker in the middle. From his pocket, he pulled out his recorder, clicking the button to start it up.

"...experiencing heavy resistance in Lormoor, Maplebridge and Windport," one woman was saying, gesturing to the hologram which was zooming in on three towns. "These have been Flame-held for a while now and are vital if we are to push forwards."

"We have no troops to spare!" a man exclaimed. "All have been diverted to the Sage Coast Front. We can't afford to take any from there without losing the port."

"But the trade routes are through Maplebridge," the woman argued back. "If we take that then we can cut the Flame's food supply by fifty percent!" Oscar gritted his teeth at that. Who the hell were these people to think they had the right to starve people out? What kind of monsters were they? There were ordinary people behind the Flame defences, relying on them to feed them. And the Unity were going to starve them all just to win. It was disgusting.

Oscar realised that the room had gone silent, so he looked back down to see that the huge double doors that been thrown open and a man was standing in the threshold. He was completely dressed in black, his boots sounding like thunder as he walked slowly around the table.

"Mr Lark," the first woman said, her voice tight and strained. "What an honour. We weren't expecting you to arrive until next week." It took everything in Oscar not to gasp or shoot the man right there and then. The leader of the Unity was here. The guy that they had been after for years was just right in front of him. God, what was he meant to do? Tobias and Ari would probably tell him to jump down there with all guns blazing, but Megan and Sam would tell him to wait and be patient. So he decided to wait...then he'd shoot him.

"I decided to come early, Commander Patricks," Lark said, his hands clasped behind his back as he walked around the table. "I got a message, you see. A rather important one. I had to deal with it straight away." Commander Patricks looked slightly flustered as she looked around at her colleagues.

"A message?" she asked. "What message, sir?" Oscar held his breath, craning his neck to watch the leader of the Unity carefully. He looked thoughtful but slowly sat down at the head of the table.

"I received a piece of information from one of my sources that the Flame have sent a spy into Oldmere to record information from this very meeting," Lark said. The rest of the table gasped, looking at each other in shock.

"That's impossible!" One of the men shouted. "We would know if the Flame sent a spy here."

"Well apparently you haven't," Lark said dryly, tapping his fingers on the table. "Apparently you are all so incompetent, that you haven't noticed the boy listening to this meeting up in the balcony." He then looked up at Oscar, smirking evilly. "Did you really think that you'd get away with it, boy?"

"Get him!" Commander Patricks yelled at the guards, pointing at Oscar. The guards charged, running up the balcony stairs on both sides to get to Oscar. He cursed, backing away from the railing and to the wall. He raised his gun, shooting the first two guards that reached him straight in the chest. They fell to the floor, giving Oscar time leap over them and push closer to the exit.

The next three guards were too close to shoot, the first one swinging a wild hook at his head. Oscar ducked and rolled, grabbing the guard's arm as he came up and snapping it. The second and third soldiers both charged at him from either side and so he raised his hands, shooting to pulses of telekinetic energy that sent them tumbling over the railing.

By this time, the commanders in the middle had evacuated the room and more and more soldiers were pouring in, training their guns at Oscar as they surrounded him. "Don't move!" one of the captains yelled. "Stay right where you are!" Oscar froze.

God, what was he going to do? The guards were all around him, screaming at him to stand down. There was no way that he was getting through all of them without getting himself killed. But he had to get what he knew to Mr Loop and the others. If he didn't make it out of here, then he'd be putting his friends in danger.

And that he wouldn't do.

He glanced at the window behind him. Below was the castle courtyard and beyond that the town wall. If he could get there, then he would have a chance.

"Get your hands on your head!" the captain yelled, stalking towards Oscar. "Stand down now!" Oscar smirked.

"Sure," he said before blasting another wave of energy at the captain, making the soldier yell out as he was thrown into the back wall. Oscar winked cheekily at him before he spun around, running and leaping through the window.

For a moment, he was weightless as he fell, the shattered glass floating around him. Bullets from above whistled past him as the guards desperately tried to shoot him. But just before he hit the ground, he shot waves of energy from his palms, cushioning his fall so he landed gracefully just inside the courtyard. Pain suddenly shot through his side and doubled over, watching the red stain spread through his shirt. He'd been hit.

"Damn it," he whispered.

"Get him!" A soldier yelled. Dozens of them were running from the castle entrance right towards him. Oscar swore and bolted, sprinting through the gates and into the town beyond. He zigzagged through the twisting and winding streets, pushing past citizens until he made it to a quiet alleyway.

Pressing himself against the wall, Oscar tipped his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. He clutched his side with his right hand, trying to stop the blood flowing from the bullet wound that cut into his flesh. It didn't look too serious; it had missed his lung and anything else important. But it would slow him down.

God, how did this happen? How the hell did Lark know he was there? Someone tipped them off. It should have been impossible, but someone had told the Unity who he really was. There was only one explanation for that.

Breathing hard, Oscar peered back around the wall only to snap his head back again when two Unity guards rounded the corner into the street his was hiding in. He cursed again under his breath, biting his lip so hard that he drew blood.

This was bad. This was really, really bad.

"He's down here somewhere," the first guard said to his friend, his voice echoing down the street. "The blood trail leads here."

"Maybe we should call it in," the second man said. "We might need some backup."

"Nah, it's only one kid," the first replied with a laugh. "The Flame really are desperate if they're sending in kids now to do their dirty work." Oscar gritted his teeth together, looking frantically around himself for a way to escape.

His gaze settled onto a rubbish bin just at the end of the alleyway. Above it was a ledge that led onto the roof of a building. Perhaps he could-

"Come out, come out wherever you are, kid!" a guard shouted. "There's nowhere to hide, nowhere to run! Just give up!" Oscar bit his lip to stop himself from shouting some snarky insult back. Instead, he turned his attention back to the bin.

"This is probably the most stupid thing I've ever done," he muttered to himself. What the hell would Tobias say if he saw Oscar climbing on a bin? But he pushed himself off the wall, grimacing in pain. The guards were now only a few metres from turning the corner and finding him.

It was now or never.

He hobbled over to the bin, scrambling up to stand on the metal lid. His side was in agony but he stayed quiet, focussing on his work. Taking a deep breath, he spread his hands, palms facing down to the ground. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on nothing but the bin and the ground, blocking out everything around him. He felt the metal beneath his feet begin to shake and groan as it was put under more stress from the telekinetic energy.

"Hey!" someone shouted. Oscar opened his eyes to see the two guards slowly making their way towards him, their guns up. "Stop what you're going and step off the bin with your hands up!" If it was anyone else, they would have been scared, probably terrified.

But Oscar was trained to be better than that.

He smirked at the two guards in front of him. "Oh, I don't think so," he said with a smile. "Bye!" He raised his hands and suddenly, the bin shot up into the air faster than the men could react. They looked up in complete and utter shock as Oscar manoeuvred the bin to allow him to step onto the roof of the building. He turned back to the two guards on the ground, gaping up at him. With one last grin, he turned his hand.

The levitating bin tipped upside down, emptying its contents onto the two men below. They cried out in horror but couldn't escape their fate as vegetable peelings and meat carcasses buried them.

Oscar didn't wait around for their reaction. He scrambled up the roof tiles as fast as his side would allow him before sliding down them again to jump onto the next roof. Glancing down, he could see residents staring up in shock at the boy who was running nimbly across their roofs. But what worried Oscar more was the soldiers who were sprinting on the ground below him, trying to catch up. They shoved the local residents from their path, aiming their guns up at him in an effort to stop him.

The other guards must have called backup.

Bullets rocketed past Oscar as he ran, leaping from building to building. He could hardly feel the pain in his side anymore as adrenaline kicked into his bloodstream. He knew that he shouldn't have been running with it, but all he could think was he couldn't afford to be captured. If he was, then they'd find out about the others and he would never tell them what he had found.

He wouldn't let that happen.

The Unity soldiers were still trying to keep up with him, but even with a gunshot wound, Oscar was still fitter and faster. They started falling behind in the twisting streets of Oldmere, cutting them off from Oscar's view.

Good. That gave him some time to work with.

The wall that encircled the town was just a few buildings away. He jumped onto the last one, grabbing onto a tile and running until he saw the end. Oscar skidded to a stop, almost losing his balance and falling from the edge into the gatehouse courtyard below. He looked around him in panic, his breathing harsh and rapid as he clutched his side again. God, what was he going to do now?

Come on, Oscar! He shouted at himself. Think! Get yourself out of this. Just think!

A gleam from below him caught his eye. He looked down and spotted the motorbike parked within the courtyard below, not a single soul around it. The gates ahead were wide open as a truck convoy came in with Unity supplies.

Oscar smiled to himself, planning a route to get down there-

Crack!

The bullet had come out of nowhere, ripping through his left shoulder. He cried out as fresh waves of pain rolled over him. He dropped to one knee on the roof tiles, partly to hide himself from another shot and partly because he barely had any energy left to stand. Pressing his hand to the wound, he gritted his teeth, trying to stop the blood from spilling from the new bullet hole. It was no use though; his hands were completely painted crimson in seconds.

This was not good. One bullet wound he could deal with, but two? He'd bleed out in hours if he didn't get somewhere safe soon.

"Over here!" A woman yelled. "On the roof!" Oscar whipped around and spotted a single soldier scrambling up onto the roof behind him. More guards were thundering down the streets below trying to cut him off. He bit his lip, trying not to let his panic set in as he glanced down at the motorbike again then at the gates.

He didn't have a choice.

Pushing through the pain, he looked down again before jumping from the roof. With his good arm, he shot a blast of telekinetic energy to slow his fall, flipping over in the air before landing heavily on the concrete, rolling out to absorb as much of the impact as possible. He groaned as he pushed himself to his feet but managed to stumble over to the bike, grabbing hold of the handle bars and revving the engine.

"Stop him!" someone shouted. "Don't let him get away!" The soldiers by the gates looked up from what they were doing in shock, staring at Oscar. He grinned, pressing forwards on the handle and shot towards the gate. Bullets were being fired all around him as he rocketed through the courtyard as fast as the bike would allow him.

"Close the gates! Close them now!" another soldier screamed. But it was too late. Oscar was already through, speeding down the road away from Oldmere. The wind whipped through his jacket and tore at his clothes, the cold biting him through his clothes. But at that moment, he couldn't care less. He had escaped.

Oscar looked over his shoulder then breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't following him but he'd probably have to dump this bike soon just in case there was a tracker on it.

He looked down at his side again and at the crimson stain that had spread across his light blue shirt. His shoulder wasn't looking much better.

"Shit," he whispered, breathing hard. He had to contact Mr Loop and get him to send help. Where was the nearest safe house? There had to be one around here somewhere. Ignoring his pain, Oscar fought through his murky thoughts and latched onto the one thing he knew he had to tell Ariana and the others:

Flint Lark was at Oldmere.

***

"Ari," someone whispered. "Come on, Ari, wake up!" She shot bolt right up, almost smacking her forehead into Tobias who was leaning over her. She rubbed her eyes in the light, blinking hard to adjust.

"Tobias?" she asked, staring up at him. "What the hell are you doing?" She glanced at the clock by her bed and blanched. "It's four in the morning! You'd better have a bloody good reason for waking me up at four in the morning?" Tobias didn't answer, just spun on his heel to her closet, riffling through her clothes until he found her training gear.

"You need to get dressed," he said as he threw the clothes at her, his voice toneless. "Now."

"What?" she said worriedly. "Tobias, what's going on? Are you okay?" He didn't answer, just placed his forehead against the wooden door of her wardrobe and squeezed his eyes shut. His hands closed into tight fists at his sides. Ari knew that it was something he did when he got nervous or panicked and there wasn't anything for his hands to do. That action alone made her kick back the covers, scrambling out of bed and running to Tobias. She placed a hand on his shoulder, turning her youngest sibling to face her.

"Talk to me, Tobias," she said gently. "Come on, what's going on?" Tobias took a shaky breath, looking up at her.

"It's Oscar," he whispered.

"What about Oscar?" Ari asked, her voice on edge.

"He's been compromised," Tobias said. The world suddenly started spinning, the floor tilting as the shock overwhelmed her. Ariana could see Tobias's lips moving but she couldn't make out any words coming from his mouth. She took a step backwards to steady herself, her hand going to her forehead.

"Ari?" Tobias asked once her head had cleared. "We have to go downstairs. Mr Loop wants to brief us in five minutes. I'm going to wake Megan and Finn up." He turned to leave but Ari grabbed his arm.

"Tobias, is he okay?" she asked frantically. "He made it out all right, didn't he?" He gave her a pained look.

"I don't know," he said before leaving the room, gently shutting the door behind him.

**************************************************************************************

And that's chapter 2 with an introduction to Oscar there! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Okay then, let me know your thoughts in the comment! Don't forget to vote!

Love y'all! Thanks so much for your support so far!

CricketCat