A/N: Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Finn ;)
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Scarlett arrived back that evening. Tobias and the others had been eating dinner when she stalked into the room, dropping all her kit unceremoniously on the floor. She yanked out a chair then collapsed into it, her head on the table. "Hello to you too," Tobias muttered, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Have a nice trip, Scarlett dear?"

"Shut up, Tobias," Scarlett groaned. "I am seriously not in the mood for your antics right now."

"Woah, someone came back in a bad mood," he continued, a smirk plastered across his face. "Scouting territory not quite what you expected?" Scarlett leapt to her feet, looking like she was about to launch herself across the table and tackle him but Sam interrupted.

"How about we don't try and rip each other's throats out and just welcome Scarlett back," he said. "What do you think, Toby?" Tobias rolled his eyes at Sam but caught Dani and Oscar's laughing eyes in front of him.

"I was just wondering if Scarlett was going to tell us the truth of where she's actually been," Tobias said, watching Scarlett's reaction carefully. Her face was suddenly completely impassive and blank but her eyes narrowed. "So? You going to tell us or what?" She opened her mouth to say something but Marcos chose that moment to walk in.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the seven teenagers. "What are you guys doing?" he asked slowly, definitely suspicious.

"Eating," Finn mumbled.

"Honestly, Marcos," Tobias chuckled. "Any old idiot can see that! I thought you were meant to be smart!" Marcos pressed his lips into a firm line, clearly quite annoyed with Tobias but he turned to Scarlett instead.

"Welcome back, Scarlett," he said. "Mr Loop wants a mission report as soon as possible. Can you write it tonight please?" Scarlett huffed but nodded, standing and following Marcos from the room. She even left her entire kit scattered about on the floor. Once they left, everyone started giggling together.

Apart from Sam.

"Tobias," he said carefully. "What were you talking about when you said Scarlett was lying about where she went?" The laughing died down and Tobias met Oscar's eyes from across the table. There was just a slight nod, letting him know that it was okay.

"Before Scarlett left two weeks ago, I spied on her meeting with Loop," he said, ignoring Dani's gasp. "She was going after a Unity Commander and not scouting out territory. The Flame Leaders think Oscar is lying and they don't trust Ari and Max to tell them the truth. So, they sent her to interrogate and eliminate the target." They were all silent for a moment. Then-

SMACK!

"Ow!" Tobias yelped, glaring at Megan who had just punched him in the shoulder. "What the hell was that for?!"

"That was for not telling us," she said, glaring at him. Tobias smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Megan turned her menacing gaze to Oscar. "And don't you think you're getting away with it too, Oscar. We all knew you two were up to something."

"The point is, Loop and the Flame Leaders are keeping things from us," Oscar said, trying to save himself. "We don't think Scarlett has anything to do with it, but what we do know is that there is definitely a spy here."

"Oscar," Finn sighed. "Loop and Marcos already went through the procedures. There is no spy here."

"Yes, there is," Oscar said forcefully. "Lark himself said so."

"Maybe he was just trying to get into your head," Dani suggested.

"Guys, come on, we've covered this," Tobias argued. "There is a spy here, but they are obviously someone that is so well established that they are beyond suspicion. We need to go through the records for everyone here in the Mansion to find out who they are." The others looked at each other for a moment and Tobias prayed that they would help them, not for his sake but for Oscar's.

"Well..." Finn mused. "I could hack into the system and pull up everyone's files. There's a slight possibility that Loop and Marcos missed something. Mind you, it's very slight."

"Slight is all I need," Oscar said.

"Yeah, but there's one problem," Finn said. "I can only access it from Loop's computer...in his office." There was silence for a minute before everyone turned their heads towards Tobias who was happily digging into his food. He glanced up to see everyone staring at him with an expectant look on their faces.

"What?"

***

It was twelve o'clock in the afternoon when Ariana met up with Max. He was on the lunchtime shift guarding the walls of the outpost but she was on break so she climbed up the main guard tower, which was situated just to the right of the main gates, and met him at the top.

"Hey," he greeted, kissing her quickly. "You ready?" She only nodded, glancing around them to make sure they were alone before they sat with their backs to the wall, out of sight to anyone else.

"We've got to make this quick," Ari said. "The Unity will pick up the message if it's more than three minutes long. The encryption will help but we don't want to alert anyone that we're here."

"If they don't already know..." Max grumbled. Ari shot him a look but dug out her phone, carefully keying in the number that Loop gave her before they had left. Both she and Max listened intently as the ring came on, waiting for an answer. Finally, Loop picked up, saying their coded password to verify that it was them and that they were alone:

"I don't believe my purple waistcoat goes with my red jacket, do you?"

"No, but you should try the yellow one," Max replied smoothly.

"What have you got then, you two?" Loop asked, going straight to the point.

"We've broken into the Control Room and downloaded the files that were accessible to us. We've got the ones on weapons and resources," Ari said. "Most of them are coded but you'll be able to crack those. We'll send them after we end the call."

"We've also got some pictures of Unity troop movements across the country," Max continued. "Those might prove useful, although I think the map is incomplete. Not all the information is stored here. They might have moved a lot of it maybe because of Oscar."

"Copy that," Loop said but his voice was sceptical. "And what about the information about base locations? Planned attacks?" Ari furrowed her eyebrows.

"Too heavily encrypted to be downloaded," she replied curtly. "We couldn't get them." There was silence form the other end of the line. Ariana glanced at Max worriedly. This could not be good.

"Ariana, Max, you must get those files," Loop finally said.

"But sir-" Max started but was interrupted.

"No buts!" Loop snapped. "This is a mission, not a game. You will get those files and send them to me immediately. You were trained for this, now find a way."

"It's impossible!" Ariana exclaimed.

"Then you won't be able to come home," her mentor said dangerously. "This is a war, now fight it. Is there anything else you have to report? Anything actually useful?" Ariana bit her lip to stop herself from swearing at him. How dare he suggest they weren't doing a good job! They were doing the best they could in the situation.

"One more thing," Max said although his voice was monotone. "Collinworth Factory. Both Flame and Unity soldiers are fighting there. Why is that?"

"That is none of your concern," Loop growled, his voice cold. "That is not your mission. Don't ever mention it again. Now, get those files or I can't pull you out, understand?" Ari swallowed hard in anger but gritted her teeth.

"Yes, sir," she spat out eventually.

"Good, I'll speak to you at the end of the week," he said. "Don't disappoint me again." Then the line went dead.

Ari sat back against the wall as Max sent the files and photographs they did have across to Loop on the secure network before handing the phone back to her. She threw it into the bag in a feisty rage. Max didn't try and stop her. He knew her well enough just to let her get it out.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" she ranted. "We give him information and he says it's not good enough? We worked our arses off for that. And then he says we need to crack the unbreakable file to get more? Who the hell does he think he is?!"

"Our boss?" Max suggested but shut up once she fired a glare at him.

"You know what, we're getting into those files," Ariana said, her voice determined. "We are going to show him that he can't treat us like that."

"Okay," Max said, pushing himself to his feet. "But we've got to figure out a way of cracking the encryption." Ari fell silent for a minute, glancing up at the castle. She could see the huge glass widow right at the top of the tower where she knew Flint Lark's rooms were.

"You know," she said slyly. "I think I might have a way of doing that."

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Hi my lovelies!

So, that's chapter 8 done! I know it's a little boring but there's going to be some action next chapter so look forwards to that!

Don't forget to vote and comment! Who do we suspect for the spy I wonder? Comment your ideas below!

Love y'all!

CricketCat