A/N: Liam Hemsworth as Max above ;)
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"What the hell is going on?" Ari demanded, storming into the Preparation Room where the others had already gathered. The room was their hub of activity and where they did most of their intelligence work. It was fitted out with high speed computers, maps and charts, all of which helped them plan out and run their missions. Screens lined the walls all showing different feeds from security cameras or maps with locations and routes charted out across them.

Ari made her way to the centre of the room where a huge, electronic table stood. In the middle, a hologram flickered of a town, the description in the bottom corner reading Oldmere.

"Sit down, Ariana," Mr Loop said to her from the head of the table. Ari took her seat between Max and Scarlett, immediately tapping the table in front of her to bring up her own holographic screen. Details of Oldmere immediately flooded her as she scanned its content for any mention of Oscar.

"Compound is clear," Marcos said suddenly, entering the room from the lift doors. "I've organised extra guards and patrols. They're sweeping everything now just to be on the safe side." Ari whipped her head around to face him as did the others. What did he mean by extra patrols and guards? Nothing could get past their early warning system without them knowing about it. What the hell was going on?

"Sir," Megan said, voicing all their thoughts. "What's happened? What do we need to do?" Mr Loop sighed, placing his hands on the table and leaning heavily on them.

"At 0300 hours this morning, I got an urgent message from the Flame leaders," he said. "It seems that the Unity Oldmere Outpost went into lockdown yesterday afternoon with a potential spy threat." He paused for a moment, studying his data. "The outpost itself contains valuable information on the Unity's plans and so Oscar was sent there to retrieve that information and destabilise the base before getting out."

"You sent him to one of the biggest Unity bases in the country?" Scarlett said slowly but her voice rising in volume. "Alone? Have you completely lost your minds?! That's suicide!"

"Scarlett!" Mr Loop snapped. "That's enough. Oscar knew that risks and we thought he could handle it. He almost did."

"Wait, are you saying you've heard from him?" Ari asked. Mr Loop looked at her but nodded.

"Yes," he said. "He made it to a local Flame safe house and contacted me just half an hour after the Flame leaders did." Ari felt like the world had just been lifted off her shoulders and relief crashing down on her. "But he's wounded," Mr Loop continued. "He needs treatment as soon as possible." Ari leapt to her feet.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" she cried. "Let's go get him!"

"Sit down, Ariana," Marcos told her sternly. "We're not finished yet." He stepped forwards behind Dani, quickly typing something on her keyboard and pulling up a mug shot of a man, one that Ari knew very well.

"Flint Lark," Mr Loop said, gesturing a hand to the picture. "As you all well know, he is the leader of the Unity and our biggest threat."

"What has he got to do with Oscar at this moment?" Ariana asked but Max grabbed her arm, stopping her from talking and pulling her back down into her seat.

"Be patient," he said in her mind. "We'll get him out. Don't worry."

"Oscar was sent to Oldmere Outpost originally to find and report back information," Marcos said. "But when he contacted us this morning, he told us some disturbing news. He saw Lark in Oldmere Castle just before he got compromised. This can only mean one thing-"

"They're planning something," Finn interrupted. "And if the leader of the Unity is there, then it means something big." Marcos nodded.

"Exactly."

"So what do we do?" Danielle asked. "What's our game plan now?" Mr Loop looked at them all, licking his dry lips.

"Marcos and I have already lockdown the compound," he said. "We're not sure how Oscar got compromised so we're taking precautions. Right now, however, I'm sending Ariana, Max and Tobias in to go and get him." He tapped on his key board again, sending a map to the hologram in the centre with their location and Oscar's safe house both marked on it.

"Tobias, you will drive Ariana and Max to the safe house where you'll all assess Oscar's condition and do whatever is necessary to stabilise him," Mr Loop ordered. Across from Ariana, Tobias nodded but he looked as grave as she had ever seen him, his hands closed into tight fists on the table. She'd have to check if he was alright when this was over. "Ari, Max, you will then stay in the safe house and prepare while Tobias will drive Oscar back here to be treated properly."

"Prepare for what, sir?" Max asked, leaning forward on the table.

"To go into the Oldmere Outpost," Mr Loop said. "You're completing Oscar's mission." The room exploded into chaos as everyone started shouting at how ridiculous the idea was. Ariana just sat there in silence, taking in the news. Normally, she would be excited to go on a mission. But this particular one had to be the toughest she'd ever faced. It wasn't because of the scale of it, but because she didn't think she could stop herself from tearing everyone in the outpost apart for hurting her best friend.

"That's madness, sir!" Scarlett yelled. "Oscar only just got out and now you're sending Ari and Max in? They won't even make it through the gates!"

"I have to agree," Finn said, tapping on his keyboard. He brought up his calculations to the central hologram, running the algorithms for the rest of them to see. "Oscar was going in with a twenty-five percent chance of getting caught. Two spies going in with double the amount of security would increase their chances of getting caught by three hundred percent. That's a risk that's way too large to take, even for someone as good as Ari and Max."

"The Unity are drawing every available solider to the outpost," Mr Loop said, waving away Finn's numbers. "We have forged papers for Ariana and Max to pose as reinforcement soldiers with two ID numbers that we recently acquired. The numbers will match up and they should be fine. They'll be put on a schedule where they can learn everything we need, and possibly more."

"And Lark?" Ari asked, her voice thin but cold. "If we encounter him?"

"If the situation is right," Marcos said before Mr Loop could answer. "You eliminate him. Permanently." Mr Loop nodded in agreement.

"He's too much of a risk to remain alive," he said. "Although, only pull the trigger if you know you won't be compromised."

"Yes, sir," Max said, nodding.

"Now, you three go downstairs to the garage," he ordered. "Marcos will brief you on the details down there. We can give you support until you get to the safe house, but after that...you're on your own." Ariana nodded, rising from her seat.

"We won't let you down, sir," she said. "I promise." She spun on her heel and entered the lift, Marcos, Tobias and Max behind her.

***

"You'll be taking this SUV," Marcos told them ten minutes later, showing them the sleek, black vehicle that Ari and the boys would be travelling in. "We took it from the Unity few months ago so the plates should match up in their data base."

Ariana nodded, walking around the SUV to examine it in her stolen Unity uniform. She always felt odd when wearing it, as if she was betraying the Flame in some way, but she knew it was for the good of the mission. "Yeah, it looks good," she said. "You think you can work with it, Tobias?" Tobias looked up from his hands.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Yeah, I can do it." Ari pursed her lips and looked at Max worriedly. She knew they were both thinking the same thing. Tobias might have seemed calm on the outside, but on the inside they knew he was trying not to panic. She knew why.

Oscar was like an older brother to them all; lose him and they all might fall apart.

"You're going to find him, Toby," Marcos said to Tobias encouragingly. "You've got this." Tobias cleared his throat and raised his chin.

"Yeah, I know," he said, forcing his usual grin to his face. "Of course I've got this. I'm only the best driver we have, and I'm the youngest." Marcos rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he sighed. He went to the side countertop and picked up two tablets, handing them to Ari and Max. "Your new identities are on these. Read them on the way up and in the safe house but don't take them into Oldmere. You two need to keep as clean as possible."

"We get it, Marcos," Ari groaned. "Come on, let us go already." Marcos scowled.

"Fine, go," he said coldly. "I'm just trying to make sure you don't get killed." He turned back to the lift and pressed the button.

"Hey, Marcos?" Ari called out. He turned, an eyebrow raised.

"What?" he snapped.

"I'm sorry, I'm just want to get Oscar out of there." Marcos' hard dark eyes seemed to soften slightly and for a moment, Ari thought she could see the vulnerable young man who had lost his family to the Unity. But the moment was gone as soon as it came and the cold armour clouded over his eyes again.

"Just do your job," he said before stepping into the lift. "And don't get killed." The doors closed and Ari was left with Max and Tobias.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but he has a point," Tobias said, leaning on the bonnet of the SUV. "I don't want to get killed." Ari rolled her eyes, going to the counter and packing up all the supplies they would need.

"We're not going to get killed," she said firmly. "Especially not you as you're only driving us there and getting Oscar back." He opened his mouth to speak but Max covered it with his hand.

"How about you get in the car, Tobias, okay?" he said with an eyebrow raised. "That way you and Ari won't kill each other before we even make it out of the mansion." Tobias grumbled but let out a muffled 'okay', climbing into the driver's seat of the SUV.

Ariana turned away, putting all their standard Unity weapons in the bag before Max came up behind her, his hands on her shoulders. "You alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied, not turning to face him but instead focussing on her work. "I'm completely fine." She heard Max sigh.

"Well, that's strange," he said. "Considering how tense your shoulders are and how curt your tone is, I would infer that you're extremely stressed."

"Are you saying that I'm a bad liar," she asked with a ghost of a smile. "I am a spy, you know. I could easily take offence to that and knock you out." Max laughed but spun her around face him. She linked her hands behind his neck as his arms went around her waist. His soft, hazel eyes studied her intently.

"You're not a bad liar," he said softly. "Only I know when you're lying, which you are when you say you're fine." She sighed, resting her forehead on his shoulder.

"I'm just worried," she confessed. "About Oscar, about the others, about everything. I have a feeling that this is bigger than just one compromised spy. I just...I just don't like this. I don't like it at all." Max slipped his hand under her chin, raising her face so she would look at him.

"I'll tell you what's going to happen," he said gently. "We're going to get in the car, we're going to listen to Tobias chatter about nonsense the entire way up and then we're going to arrive at the safe house and find Oscar. Then, we're going to send him home and kill the people who hurt him. Sound good to you?" She smiled slightly.

"Sounds like a date," she said with a grin. Max smirked back and kissed her. She held her breath. Even now when they had been together for almost two years, she still thought it was like fireworks every time he kissed her.

"I don't want to interrupt you or anything," Tobias said, leaning out of the car window. "But while you're making out, Oscar might be, I don't know, bleeding out?! Hello, a little urgency here please!" Ari broke the kiss with Max and glared over his shoulder at Tobias. But she soon smiled at the exasperated look on his face.

"Okay, we're coming," she said with a laugh. Max reached behind her and grabbed their bags, throwing them in the back of the car while Ari jumped in the passenger seat. Max got into the back seat and Tobias revved the engine. The big doors opened, leading to the ramp that took them out of the underground garage and into the mansion grounds with a straight shot to the gates.

Tobias floored it, shooting them up the ramp and towards the wide open gates. "Here we go," Ari muttered to herself, watching the mansion shrink in the mirror as they sped to the Unity and to Oscar.

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And that's Chapter 3 done! Okay, I know it's been a little slow so far but it's going to pick up again next chapter with finding Oscar and getting into Oldmere again.

So let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Love y'all! Thank you so much for your support!