DAMIEN

I woke with a start.

I couldn't remember what I was dreaming of, but it was enough to jolt me upright. Sweat coated my face and seeped into my shirt. My hands were stinging. I held them up to find glistening red cuts dotting my palm.

How—?

And then it came rushing back—the Blood Battles, the water, the cop lights, the alcoholic mist, the recording of Rider and Rosalind's death—striking me like a brick wall.

Shit.

I flipped open my cuff and scanned the screen, searching for the time, and held back another curse. I was passed out for half an hour. The others could be at the top, waiting and fighting to find me. Or they could already be dead.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I struggled to my feet, my legs still mildly shaking. How could I have been taken down so easily? How did I let that happen?

I scanned the hall. The police lights were gone, the doors were open, and there was no sign of any scented mist. The Ravens must've turned off their little performance while I was passed out.

I'm going to bash the head of the next Raven I see into a wall.

I looked down at my screen again, checking the sensors for the location of the nearest set of servers. Just like before, they were right above us.

Why didn't they try to get rid of them as soon as we infiltrated?

Perhaps it was guarded and they thought they could get away without having to destroy their information. Or perhaps they figured it would be useless since we would be able to hack them eventually anyway, whether or not we found their servers. Or maybe this was a trap. Either way, it didn't matter right now. I needed to get the information, set the bombs, and get out of this damned building.

I touched the small packs carrying explosives hidden in my jacket. Setting the bombs would be the hardest part, not because of the task itself but rather the time it would take. The Willis Tower was made of nine different sub-buildings, each of which would stop at different intervals and heights like steps. Only two of these connected sections would go all the way to the top. That meant that I needed to place explosives in at least six of the subsections to bring the building down and allow the rest of it to crumble under the weight of the collapsed top. I had only placed two explosives so far. There were four more to go, and I was already behind in our plans.

Gritting my teeth against the weightlessness filling my head, I took a step forward. And then there was a hiss as scented mist was sprayed into the hall once more and the speakers crackled to life. The police lights blinked on.

No. No. No.

I needed to make this stop, needed to turn everything off if I was going to make it out alive. I reached into my pockets, hands shaking, searching for my EMT. There were only grenades and pens and a mini tool case, but no EMT. I checked another pocket. Again, no EMT.

Where the hell did I put it?

Rider's voice was playing over the speakers, pleading with me to not drive, to not throw my life away even as he was about to lose his. I blinked, trying to ignore it, trying to push it out, push it away. But it was enveloping me. I was going to go down again.

Focus.

But I couldn't focus. I couldn't think straight. I couldn't find my EMT and my hands were shaking all over again. I was going to pass out again. I was going to have nightmares filled with Rider's voice again. My breathing became shallow.

No. No. No.

And then the hall was silent. The recording halted mid-sentence, the mist stopped hissing into the hall, and the colored lights turned off. It was all silent except for the footsteps echoing through the hall. Steadying my breathing, I looked up.

His shirt was soaked in blood and he was limping and he had the audacity to still look mildly bored, but I was beyond relieved as my brother walked toward me, holding an EMT. I took a deep breath, and though the hall still smelled of alcohol, I was fine. Steady.

I straightened myself up and forced out a little smile as he neared.

"You look like shit," I said, nodding at the gaping wound in his side.

"You look worse."

"And who had the wonderful honor of stabbing you?"

"Indigo Fluor."

I raised an eyebrow. "Arielle freed her?"

"As far as I could tell, Nydia was the one who was held prisoner. Indigo Fluor came for her."

I cursed. Of course, of course Nydia was working with Indigo Fluor this whole time. All these months I wondered where she was, missed her presence, wished she were in Cressida and the entire time she was working with the girl who threatened to tear my family apart.

And then it dawned on me that Nydia was captured. Captured by these Raven bastards who managed to separate the Crown and Royal Heirs who were armed to the brim, who had me cowering in a hall for hours without even lifting a finger. What did they do to Nydia, a defenseless prisoner? What did she endure during her time as a captive? What state was she found in?

And why the hell did I still care?

I wanted to punch a wall. But I looked back at Xavier who was watching me very carefully, making sure I didn't have an unusual response. Fine. I'll settle for blowing up this whole building then.

Steadying my tone, I asked, "How did she know Nydia was being held here?"

"Guessing it has something to do with Ace," he replied back, voice sour. I blinked at the name I hadn't heard in years.

"Ace is alive?"

Xavier remained silent.

I laughed. "That's just fantastic. Who else is gonna come back from the dead?"

Xavier's lips quirked up. "I have one in mind."

I narrowed my eyes. "You sure they still don't know."

"The Rebels certainly don't. The Raven's knowledge on the matter remains to be seen. Perhaps we'll know for sure if you do your job."

I rolled my eyes. "I know there are servers on the floor above us, but not the specific location or directions. We need to turn the EMT off if we want to activate any bombs and find the nearest servers."

Xavier turned on his heel and headed back down the hall without another word. I followed close on his heel as turned through the maze-like halls, leading us to a staircase. We climbed up the stairs and stopped on the landing of the floor above us. He looked at me and I merely held up my hand, displaying the blank screen on my cuff. He nodded. I nodded back.

He turned off the EMT.

For the first few moments, the halls remained silent. Xavier and I walked as fast as we could during that time, following the path on the sensors which gave away the pattern of the halls through the location of cameras and speakers. And then the speakers crackled to life and Xavier slowed down, holding his gun as he strained to listen to whoever might be around the next corner, just waiting to kill us.

With a jolt, I realized these weren't the same recordings I heard, the ones from the car. No. This was of a voice singing, humming along to a very familiar tune. I recognized the voice.

Mom.

At first, I thought the recordings changed by floor, but then I realized that didn't make sense. What's bound to affect one person wouldn't affect another. And then it dawned on me. This was meant to torture Xavier. This is what he must've been listening to while I was passed out in that stupid hall, what he must've heard as he tried to find me.

A steady calm seemed to wash over me. I was in my right mind again, focused. I knew what I had to do, and what I would do to achieve it. If the Ravens thought they could stop us with parlor tricks, they were wrong. Because all it would do is fuel me.

He paused when we reached an intersection, looking over his shoulder. I motioned for him to turn the corner, what I supposed was the last corner before we would reach the server room. He pressed himself against the wall and looked around the corner, gun ready. And then fell still before straightening and slowly stepping around the corner.

I furrowed my eyebrows and followed, now tense. I stepped into a pool of blood. I bit back a curse as I looked at the scene before me.

There were bodies everywhere. From the tattoos on their arms, they were clearly Raven guards, stationed there to watch the server room. Perhaps they had been attempting to remove the servers, but someone came and finished them off.

I wondered if it was Arielle or Phoenix or one of Nydia's new friends. I clenched my fist, forcing myself to stay calm despite the last thought. I would deal with the Nydia situation later.

I looked at the small, seemingly insignificant door they were no doubt guarding, now sprayed in blood. From the looks of it, whoever killed these eight guards didn't open the door. The servers weren't their target.

"Well, someone decided to make our lives easier," I said over the speakers which were still blasting in my ears.

Xavier narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He was deep in thought. What did he see that I missed?

Doesn't matter. That's not your job right now.

Right. The servers.

I walked through the bodies cautiously, careful not to step on a dismembered arm or wake any Ravens who may have just been unconscious. When I finally reached the doors, I tested the knob. Unlocked.

Sirens started to go off in my mind. Why would they just leave the door unlocked? Did they think the guards were enough? But if they went through all the trouble to have eight guards posted outside the door, they would at least take the time to lock it. Were they truly in the middle of taking out the servers or destroying them before they were attacked? Did they simply not get the chance to relock the door before they were killed? Or was the lock picked afterward?

Was there someone waiting inside?

I held my gun up and took a deep breath before turning the knob as quietly as possible. The door swung open without a sound. I stepped inside, cool air brushing my face as I looked down the towers of dark servers. Silence. Not a single breath or slight ruffle of cloth. There weren't even any speakers here. Complete, lifeless silence.

With quiet steps I walked down the rows of servers, checking for another presence hiding in the dark blue light though I already knew the answer. There was nobody here.

I released a breath and walked back to the first server where Xavier was already waiting, his eyes turning almost blue in the light, the same way my eyes must've looked at that moment. He motioned toward the server, the message clear.

Get to work.

Without hesitation, I pulled out a Tab from my pocket, placing the slender, pencil-like device into one of the slots in the servers. The Tab projected out a holographic screen, displaying lines of code.

I got to work.

It only took a few minutes for me to get in. The Ravens didn't seem to expect anyone to hack into their databases straight from the servers. It didn't take me much longer to start extracting the information in their databases and sending it to the servers standing ready in Cressida.

I took a step back watching the progress as the process took place. It should only take a few more minutes. I stretched a little, rolling my shoulder that must've cramped from sleeping on the hard floor. I looked over at Xavier. He was standing by the door, gun ready, though he looked relaxed.

And then I looked at the door.

What if...?

I held out a hand to Xavier. "Give me your Tab."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I need another one."

He raised his eyebrow higher as if to ask, "Why don't you have an extra one?", though he pulled out his Tab and tossed it over.

I ran towards the back of the room to the last row of servers, ones which had green lights blinking abnormally quickly, and plugged in the Tab. Again, the screen of code popped up. I mentally thanked Xavier for having the optimal hacking software downloaded. Once again, it was only a few minutes before I was looking at their security system.

There were multiple digital security protocols created and running, but there was one that took up the most storage, signals, and power. It was running so quickly, I wondered how the servers managed to keep up with it. I tapped on the protocol and read the code, monitoring all of the systems it was connected to and controlling.

Bingo.

The protocol was the exact one that was operating the speakers, lights, vents, and plumbing. This was the protocol that was responsible for haunting us wherever we went, monitoring us through the cameras, watching us as we were crippled by the simple audio and scents it produced. There were six different instances within the protocol, one for each person. I scanned through the names which listed mine and Xavier's first. And then there was Arielle Fortier, Daria Fortier, Indigo Fluor, and, sure enough, Ace Kingston.

Well, shit.

Even if Xavier may have had suspicions before about Ace that he failed to share, we both only knew for sure that he was alive and plotting against us a few minutes ago. The Ravens had somehow known and were aware enough of Ace's activities to guess that he would eventually infiltrate the Raven base.

I tapped on his name and read the file. The only thing he would encounter was yet another audio recording. I tapped on the audio file and let it play, hearing the arguing voices and desperate pleas, each and every voice entirely recognizable. Of course it would be the day his parents—my aunt and uncle—were prosecuted.

I stopped the voice recording and went back to the main file. My finger hovered over Indigo Fluor's name but paused. I already suspected what protocols were prepared for her, what experiences were in store. And perhaps I should've looked into it deeper to confirm my suspicions, but I thought the much higher storage it used—a sign of more machines and systems required to complete a task—was enough confirmation.

Maybe I should've been keener about the fact that I needed whatever information I could gather on her, someone who was an enemy of the state. But she was still my friend at one point. Even if she was lying the entire time, I still considered her a true friend, true enough to tell her of some of my most vulnerable moments.

So, I didn't look into her file. I would spare that amount of privacy, the amount that I would've wanted with my own extensive mental torture file. We weren't at war just yet, and I could spare to give her that much mercy.

I scrolled back up to the general area to where the protocol had been activated. All it would take is a few lines of code to override the previous commands. Rolling back my shoulders, I typed them out and, at last, pressed enter. I took a deep breath and scrolled back down to check each person's instances.

They were all terminated.

I released a breath, removed Xavier's Tab and went back to the front of the server room where my Tab completed the extraction process. A few more taps and I removed all trace of the data ever having been copied and transferred before unplugging my Tab. I gave Xavier his back and said, "I think I stopped the speakers."

He raised an eyebrow. "And did you test it?"

"Only one way to do so."

And with that, I opened the door and stepped back into the blood-filled hall. Silence. Another step. Silence. I jogged down the hall, stopping where the bodies ended, where there were sure to have been cameras. Silence.

I grinned.

"The Ravens had their fun," I said. "It's our turn."

I turned to find Xavier carrying a rare smile that matched my own. His eyes sparked in victory. I pressed a hand against my jacket where numerous explosives were hidden.

"Let's burn this place to the ground."

Double update today, so there's another chapter available!