"Roman.." I whisper.

"Shh. Close your eyes." He says softly.

I run my fingers through my hair.

"He really does have this same simulation every time huh?" I ask Ivy.

She shrugs. "Despite everything that is going on, the time you two had before all of this made him happy. Made both of you happy. I know that for a fact, but, there might be some clues in this simulation that we haven't figured out yet so just pay close attention." She says.

"Someone broke into my house last week. I guess thats why Ive been so paranoid. They didnt take anything, it didnt seem like they did, but, I just feel like Im being watched." I say, finally.

Roman turns to me. "You dont have to worry."

I look at him. "Why?"

Roman slips his fingers in between mine and smirks. "I wont let anything happen to you. Or your Mother."

"You cant do anything about a robber..." I say, trying to be smart.

Roman shakes his head. "You dont understand. I will find that robber and beat his ass. Nobody messes with my Angel."

"Believe that." He says.

I blush watching all of this unfold again. Remembering our romantic times with each other gives me some hope that Roman actually isnt as evil as he seems to be in his portfolio. Maybe he got caught in a couple of bad situations.

He lowers his eyes and pulls at my arm gently in the video. "Come here."

I slide over to him as he places his free hand on my waist and pulls me in. He kisses me, and I respond, kissing him back, showing my approval. He removes his hand from my waist and I scoot back, shaking a little. I look down and Roman smiles.

"That felt really good." He says deeply.

We stand up from the bench, hand in hand, walking to his car. He drops me off at home, never letting go of my hand and as we are standing in front of my door yet again. I look into his deep brown eyes and he smiles a little. 

I scan the screen and look at the left side where I see someone staring at us.

"Zoom in! Left side of the screen before he goes to another memory!" I yell at Ivy.

She zooms in and my mouth drops when I realize who had been following us.

"Aaron." I whisper, all of the breath leaving my lungs as if I had been punched in the gut.

Ivy's eyes get wide. "He did this to you?" She asks.

"I dont know! I have no idea what this means! I dont know if he set us up or if he was watching us to try and save us, I just- Im confused!" I say, shocked like never before.

"Do not question him. He is smart. He will think we're on to him and we need him on our side." She says.

"But what if he isnt really on our side Ivy? What if he is setting us all up?" I ask.

"Then at least we have a heads up now." She says, going back to the monitor.

Roman is just standing in the middle of the screen looking pissed, but kinda nervous.

"Let's go Ace! We dont have all day!" A man yells from behind him.

"I'm only getting what he took from me." Roman says calmly.

"Dude is loaded! Dont be a fool and look for something and get caught Ace! You know what happened to Benny." The man says.

Roman turns to the man, looking serious. "Only what he took from me." Roman repeats, in a more threatening tone.

The man puts his hands up. "Fine man, fine. Let's just hurry up okay?"

They both kick in a glass window and run into the house. For it to be such a huge house, Im surprised no alarm went off when they broke in. They both run in opposite directions. The man with Roman grabs everything that he can find and stuffs it into a bag and Roman grabs nothing, looking hard under every nook and cranny trying to find whatever this man stole from him. Sirens start blaring from the monitor, but Roman doesnt seem to be alarmed by them.

"Ace! Cmon man we gotta go! Dont you hear those sirens! If we dont leave now we are going to get arrested!" He yells at Roman.

"I havent found it yet." Roman says, opening a box.

"Im outta here! You're crazy!" The man says, running out of the house.

There is a banging on the door and the police kick the door in.

"POLICE! PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" They yell.

Roman sinks to his knees and puts his hands on his head. They grab him and handcuff him. The house is a complete mess. Roman was the one that vandalized it. Everytime he didnt find what he was looking for he broke something. They caught his accomplice down the street and detained him. The simulation skips to the interrogation.

"You thought you could get away with it punk?" The investigator says to Roman.

Roman looks up at him, intimidating and says "He took something from me and I want it back."

The monitor goes black and I see Roman waking himself up in his chair. Ivy sighs.

"Roman you know how much it takes from you when you go under. Doing short sessions doesnt help anyone." She says.

"Yeah well I've experienced enough." Roman says, opening his eyes.

"You havent duplicated yourself yet." Ivy says, unhooking his IV's.

"Yeah well not all of us can be like Angel." He says, rubbing his neck.

He looks at me and seems embarrassed. I dont know why, but he seems embarrassed.

"Sorry you had to see that." He says, standing up.

I shrug. "It's fine. We all know the simulations can be anything." I say.

"But that wasnt just anything. That actually happened." He says.

I try my best to look shocked, and I guess he believed me because he goes back to looking ashamed.

"That was during my youth. I was a stupid kid..." He explains.

"You dont have to explain to me. We've all made mistakes." I say, smiling lightly.

He nods and looks down. By his "youth" he means a few years ago. I need to know what all of that was about, but not today.

Roman and I make the trek down to the Gym for Combat Training. Aaron emerges from the lockers and I get so scared I stand still for a while. I decide that I wont tell Roman that we discovered Aaron was the one that was following us this whole time, he hates him enough already. Aaron smiles at me and Roman looks over at me.

"You okay?" He asks.

I shake my head slowly and will myself to train with these two lunatics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Combat Training, we bring Aaron with us to map out a plan with Ivy for how to sneak into the Computer Room.

"We need to go right after Supper. That's the only way we will be able to get there and back with enough time to look and no one will get suspicious." Aaron suggests.

"Or we could go at 8. An hour after dinner is done." Roman says.

"You dont have to argue with him for arguments sake Roman." Ivy says.

"No, I have a better idea about how the security will be set up and witnesses. 8 is better." Roman says.

"He's right." I say.

They all look at me like they cant believe I actually agreed with Roman. I guess we've been on the outs for so long they expect our usual banter.

"An hour will make a huge difference when it comes to traffic. We will still have enough time to get there and back while still avoiding any threats. I say we go at 8." I say, folding my arms.

"Alright. 8 it is." Aaron says, leaving the Simulation Room.

Roman raises his eyebrow at me and I shrug.

"You had a good idea and I thought I would let everyone know that its the best option. Dont get any ideas." I say, jokingly.

Roman smirks and Ivy cuts her eye at both of us.

"You have six minutes to get to the Meditation Room. Go." She says.

I am completely zoned out as Roman is helping everyone try to pass Level 2 in the Meditation Room. A million thoughts run through my mind the whole time. As I am blindly giving hope and advice to the people the main thought in my mind is whether or not I should take the serum and pass Level 2 the easy way. It feels like a cop-out. On the other hand, how can I possibly pass that level without it? And if I dont pass that level, how can I possibly pass the test that they have for us tomorrow? I am clearly the weak link between the two of us and I need some kind of advantage if I want to survive. If I fail, they will gladly replace me and have another woman standing alongside their Samoan Warrior Roman. I cant take the chance of being extinguished. I need to protect my position, I just dont want Roman to see me with the serum.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I eat my dinner in silence and Roman comes through the bathroom door and joins me.

"What's the matter?" He asks.

I look up from my pasta and give him a confused look.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I mean I know something is wrong with you and I want you to tell me what it is. You're not insulting me like usual, hanging off of Aaron like you two have some secret society, you're acting like you're hiding something." He says.

I almost take offense to that, considering he has a completely different secret identity going on about him, but I dont take offense, I just smile.

"I have no reason to keep carrying on like a child. This is serious. No matter how I feel about any of you we need to work together to escape. Plus, its not like I hate you, I think you know better than that." I say, a hint of my true feelings slipping out.

He looks up at me and I look down at my food.

"Angel.." he starts, but the door opens. It's one of his guards.

"Time to go." He says.

We glance at each other briefly before tossing our dinner and walking into the hallway. Just like the last time we snuck through the building, we are going without any of our guards. I have noticed that Aaron never has guards. I wonder if there is a reason for that. The last thing I need is to create something else to worry about, so I focus on the task at hand: getting in and out of the Computer Room.

After a while of walking in semi-darkness, Aaron shines a flashlight down the hallway.

"I believe we make a left here. At least, that's what I remember." He says.

"Yeah and you dont remember very vividly so Im going off of the map." Roman says as he pulls the blueprint out. "Left it is."

Aaron smirks and Roman looks like he wants to punch him.

We follow him for a few minutes and Aaron stops.

"This is where my memory stops." Aaron says.

We all look around and there are no doors or anything looking like a Computer Room.

"Yeah? Well guess what genius? We arent near the Computer Room yet so I suggest you keep walking and wake that memory of yours up right now!" Roman says, aggravated.

"Just look at the damn map and we'll get there!" Aaron says, equally agitated.

Roman puts the blueprint in Aaron's face.

"Can you read? It says we are right in front of it but clearly we are not because none of these walls have doors!" Roman yells.

"Keep your voices down." Ivy whispers.

"Okay just give me a minute to remember, alright?" Aaron says, closing his eyes.

"You're not a damn magician! I'm not following this lunatic come on let's just keep walking." Roman says, folding up the blueprint.

"I swear this is my last memory, it has to be here." Aaron says, his eyes still closed.

I feel on the wall as Roman and Aaron continue arguing like children. I feel a button and when I press it the wall opens and a door emerges. I turn around.

"Found it." I say, laughing.

Roman and Aaron give each other dirty looks as we all walk into the Computer Room. I flick the switch and the room lights up to a wall full of monitors. Maybe 50 monitors. It has a large keyboard at the bottom of the monitors on top of a wall to wall table and six chairs. We all take a seat and look at the monitors. Aaron hacks into the interface as we are staring at the people and places on the monitors.

Some are outside, chained together like prisoners, some are laying in the dungeons that we came from, some people are in rubber rooms with strait jackets on, and some are in hospital beds. I find the rooms that we are currently positioned in with the floor to ceiling mirrors and I freak out.

"What is this place??" I ask, a little terrified.

"A sanitorium. The Central Sanitorium to be exact." Aaron says, after he hacks into the interface.

Ivy frowns. "You mean, like a crazy house?" She asks.

"Sanitoriums were created to treat long-term illnesses, like tuberculosis, before antibiotics and other modern medicine was invented. The elevation and good nutrition that the doctors provided to its patients would fend off the illness and strengthen their immune system. So many people died in there that horror stories were created and some of them were shut down. They started allowing mentally unstable patients in this particular one and the stigma of anyone who was admitted was, for lack of better words, that they were crazy. So yes Ivy, it is referred to as a nut house now, but it's pretty much a more holistic approach to treating its patients. It was closed down when a patient tried to burn down the place and has never been reopened since. Someone owns a lease on the building and therefore no one has been able to tear it down to remodel it. I was wondering why they kept this old building intact for so long. The Twins are harvesting soldiers in here." He says, looking at us.

Our mouths are on the ground.

"Wouldn't be surprised if they admitted The Twins when they were children." Roman says.

"Nah it's been closed since 1959. Wherever they were admitted was much more modern." Aaron says, smiling.

Ivy gets up from her seat. "Okay that's enough excitement for one day. Let's leave now, please."

We follow her out of the room and Aaron pulls me behind Roman and Ivy so we can talk.

"I can manually change your Level." he says.

My eyes get wide. "What??"

"When I hacked into the interface I got into the servers for the Rankings. I can make you a level or two or however much higher you wanna become without anyone knowing. They will think that you excelled on your own. No one would be the wiser." He says, smiling.

I contemplate whether or not that would be a good idea. I mean, I dont even have to pass Level 2 to pass Level 2! It's a free ride. I look at Roman and shake my head.

"It's not right. The serum is one thing, but Roman works hard to level up. I just need to work harder. Thanks, but no thanks." I say, catching up to Roman and Ivy.

We get to the Den and drop off our portfolios back in the file cabinets they were in. We dont want anyone to be suspicious of us, so we need to leave things the way they were. Curiosity gets the best of me and I steal my dad's portfolio before we head back to our rooms. It's a wonder I can keep it hidden underneath this jumpsuit, but no one suspects anything. When we get back to our rooms I hide it under my pillow right before Roman comes in.

"I guess prisoners dont have to knock nowadays." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Angel we're breaking out of here." Roman says.

I raise my eyebrow at him. "Yeah okay."

"Im serious. You saw those surveillance cameras. There are hundreds of people that are imprisoned in this building and we are not going to stay here any longer. We have enough of a head start to leave before anyone can catch us." he says, holding his hand out for me.

"Roman, like you said, there are hundreds of people in here! Including the Evil Twins and all of their security. Our guards may have sympathy for us, but I doubt the hundreds of others could care less what kind of torture we're enduring. Dont take our discoveries for super intelligence. We have no idea how to really escape right now and we need to focus on uncovering more secrets." I say, filing my nails.

"So you're just giving up?" He asks, dropping his hand.

I stand up. "I'm not giving up! The first opportunity that we have to escape I am taking it and I am sure you will too, but there is no opportunity. We saw a few cameras, dug up a few portfolios, and know very little about their plan for world domination. How does that qualify as us being able to outsmart the system?" I ask, clearly amazed by his stupidity.

"You dont have to be so scared." He says.

"Im not scared! Im just not trying to be stupid and make an escape plan that will get us both extinguished!" I yell.

"They will never get rid of us Angel! Dont you know how important we are to them?" He says.

"Dont you know they are watching us?!" I yell.

"Aaron disconnected our cameras from this wing." Roman says.

I throw my hands up. "Oh great! Well then I guess this is the perfect time for us to just jump out of this window and escape right? Because society is waiting for us on the other side of this building! Do you even hear yourself? They will not let us leave until they want us to Roman!" I say, feeling my face get hot.

He grabs my hand. "I told you I wouldnt let anything happen to you or your Mother and I intend to keep my word. Just come with me and I will save all of us."

I snatch my hand away and get into his face. "Dont you say one word about my Mother! They could be raping her and torturing her in another wing and we're over here sitting in the lap of luxury like our lives matter more than hers or anyone's!" I push him. "Dont you dare say anything about my Mother! If you were a real man you would have helped me find her instead of playing CIA with Aaron and Ivy!"

He grabs my arm. "Angel. Stop. You're getting worked up and neither of us needs that right now. Calm down."

"I cant calm down! My Mother is somewhere in here missing and I've been over here playing house with your dumbass!"I yell.

He pulls me into him and looks into my eyes, serious and intimidating as ever.

"Stop." he says firmly.

I look into those familiar doe eyes and I feel the magnetism that I once felt being this close to him. Before I can fight it, our lips meet and all of the tension, anger, intimidation in the room is gone. All I can think, feel is his lips and this moment. I feel my insides churning with want and need. Desire fills my heart and I get hungry. I run my fingers through his silky hair as our tongues dance and our breathing is staggered. I break the kiss, feeling it getting a little too hot, and we stare at each other. Roman holds my hand.

"Thank you." I say to Roman.

He brings my hand to his mouth and kisses it gently.

"Thank you. This is why you're the brains and I'm the brawn." He says, letting my hand go.

"Goodnight." He says.

"Night." I say back, my voice cracking.

I curl up in my covers, hating how submissive I am around him, but loving the way he makes me feel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am awakened by my guard shaking me.

"Hurry up. He's asleep." He says.

I run out of my room with my pajamas on with my guard and into the Meditation Room.

"Did you keep it?" I ask him.

"Of course. Hurry." He says.

He hands me the box and I open it quickly, revealing the serum. I take the syringe out and he stands by the door, watching for anyone to come in. I slide the syringe in my neck and insert the serum into my blood stream. My eyes roll to the back of my head and I am out.

~~~.~~~