This chapter's sort of slow-and-fast at the same time. There's also going to be that ? POV again. Action's probably in the next chapter.

SORRY I DON'T UPDATE LIKE I'M SUPPOSED TO. 😓

Erica's POV

I woke up the next morning with high hopes. I didn't even know why I was so excited at all. We were just going to Joshua's, and nothing else. I heard Ben softly humming to himself as he walked downstairs. I got out of bed, changed from my pajamas into some jeans and a top and headed downstairs.

"Hey, Erica," Ben greeted when I entered the hall. He passed me a protein bar and smiled. "Today's our big day."

I took note of his beautiful brown hair that fell into his face as he shook his head. His smile was warm, not huge. His eyes spoke for themselves. I couldn't help but stare. That's exactly when I realized that he was staring back at me with the same dreamy eyes I supposed I also had.

"What time should we get going?" he asked, finally breaking the silence between us.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe sometime around nine?"

"It's ten thirty, Erica," he said, forcing back a laugh. I mentally slapped my forehead as I realized that I had overslept. He laughed.

"Okay, then let's get going right now," I said. He nodded, then headed towards the coat closet, from where he produced two jackets. April was always cold. We slipped into our jackets, then drove to Joshua's.

XXX

"Come in," Joshua said, opening the door for us. "We'll get to decrypting the location of the WBC lab. We don't know anything other than the fact that it's somewhere in the woods."

I pulled out my laptop, which I had thankfully remembered to bring. Ben opened his as well, and I could see him opening up his decrypting software.

"This is all we know about WBC," Joshua admitted. "T.R.A.C.K labs wants Abigail to find this location, and she wants our help."

"This should be somewhere near..." Ben trailed off, his face etched with concern. "No."

"What?" I asked, growing worried as well. If it worried Ben, then something wasn't right.

"WBC labs is somewhere near Spy School," he said.

I gasped. "Wait-what?"

"Yeah," Ben replied. "It's just half a mile away from Spy School."

Jessica walked into the living room with her laptop pulled up to the T.R.A.C.K labs home page. She placed her laptop in the center table and clicked on a link that showed us a photo of the mind-controller.

"You need to be an official T.R.A.C.K member to access this website," she explained. "Abby gave me this information."

The mind-controller machine was basically just a chair with a laser pointer that I presumed would go into your head, somehow controlling you. It all looked good, but we needed to go meet up with Abby.

"Let's meet up outside spy school at around three in the afternoon," Joshua said. Ben and I decided to go to a restaurant for lunch and so we went to Pike's Diner. Ben ordered some salad and sandwiches. We found a table and sat down to talk.

"So, what are we going to do now?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"Probably go and see what we can find. Though we might need to stay alert," he said.

I started to eat my salad and Ben started on his food as well. We ate there in silence, staring at our food only. People came in and went out. The whole place was loud, the only sound being people talking.

"Okay, it's one," I said. "We have two whole hours."

"Let's go over to Mike's and tell him what's going on," Ben said.

So we went to Mike's house. Jenny was back, and Mike's face was a whole lot brighter.

"Jenny!" Ben exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "You're back."

"Come on in," Mike said. We went in and then proceeded to explain everything that had happened. Mike and Jenny listened patiently.

"Joshua," Jenny commented when we finished. "Hallal, Joshua."

"Yes, the very Joshua Hallal," I said. "He's somehow alive."

"And he wants our help," Ben added.

Mike sat up a little straighter. "Is it possible for us to join you on this mission?"

Ben sighed. "As much as I want you to come, it's up to Joshua."

"I get it," Mike said, then looked to me. "If anything, then you know what to do."

I nodded. It was nearing two-thirty, so we went to our car.

"Okay, so we have to take the route that goes up the mountain, then there's that hidden road that leads to Spy School, right?" Ben asked. I nodded.

The only ones who knew the secret road were the Hales and the other officials. Ben was yet to know it, so I quickly told him the way.

"It's the third left once you pass the campsite," I informed him. "It looks like there's a bunch of trees, but in reality it's actually a straight path leading to the Nathan Hale Administration building."

"Oh, okay," he said, nodding his head. "I didn't realize that."

I pointed to the lane and he made a sharp left. The road was a little bumpy, but then turned smooth as we headed down to the thick part of the jungle.

About ten minutes later, we were right outside the CIA Academy of Espionage, or to the public, St. Smithen's academy for Boys and Girls. It looked the same; there were still the iron gates and the high concrete walls. Memories flooded past me as we drove.

"I have such strong memories in that place," Ben said, sighing. I nodded. Most of my life happened there.

"WBC labs is somewhere around this spot," I said. Ben squinted his eyes a bit, then relaxed his shoulders.

"I think I see it," he agreed, then turned to face me. "I forgot to tell you this, but I might start teaching at Spy School."

I laughed. "What will you teach?"

"As an agent, I did not like any of our professors, so I'm thinking about teaching fighting, thwarting of the enemy or weaponry."

This made me laugh even more. "You weren't good at any of those, Ben."

"I know," he said. "But I'm better now."

"I've applied too, Ben," I admitted. His face erupted into a big grin. "For self-preservation or fighting."

He laughed. "You were always the topper."

"I still am."

? POV

"Where are they?"

I looked behind me. I could see two vehicles.

"They're on their way, sir."

"Good. You three wait, then let me know once they're in."

I nodded to the rest of my team before answering. "Yes sir."

"Good. I expect you to make sure everything goes as planned. You got that?"

"Yes. Ripley and Hale are going down."

Ben's POV

I pulled to a stop outside the big building that stood amidst the trees. It looked massive in size, about seven stories tall. Erica and I got out of the car. I pulled my phone out to text Joshua our location so he could come here, but Erica placed her hand on my arm. I looked up and she pointed at a car. Joshua's car.

"I thought he didn't know," Erica said, confused.

"Yeah, then how come he's here before us?" I asked. Erica motioned for me to follow her and we made our way to the entrance.

"I can hear some voices," Erica said, then pointed to the entrance. "You go that way, I'll take the back route." With that, she ran off.

Erica's POV

I ran off to the back. I could hear voices, and that made me pretty suspicious. I crept up behind the corner of the building and heard two voices.

"...be here any moment," Jess was saying.

"Where are they?" asked another woman I didn't know. I presumed she was Abigail.

"They're on their way," Jess said. I took this as my chance to go up to them.

"Erica!" Jess said when she saw me. "You're here! This is Abby. Abby, this is Erica Hale."

Abby walked up to me and shook my hand. "Nice to meet you, Erica."

"I thought you needed the address...?" I asked.

Jess smiled. "I did, but Abby already found it, then texted us, so Josh was able to get here. He's gone off to park the car."

I nodded, then we went to the front door. Abby seemed super nice. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jess hold something in her hand and she was trying to hide it somewhere. I eyed her suspiciously, but she was too engrossed in talking to Abby. I didn't really pay attention to their conversation, though, because I caught up with Ben.

"So, there's a certain something going wrong, but I can't really make out what it is," I told Ben.

He looked at me with a confused expression, then took my hands in his.

'We'll find it out. But for now, we need to keep our guard up," he replied, then he and I went inside.

The inside of WBC labs was like a normal science laboratory. There were people working all around, but it didn't look like the mind-controller was the only thing that was in function here.

"WBC labs is huge," Abby confirmed my thoughts. "But the section we're headed to is this."

She walked over to a big door and pushed it open. There were only three men here, surrounded by a big machine I presumed was the mind controller. It was very sophisticated and wired. Joshua and Jess seemed to be shocked as well. Abby rushed over to a big screen and typed something up.

"This is what we intend to do, and these are the articles on the three fugitives," Abby explained, opening a series of files. "So far, three data inputs have been stolen."

I looked at the processor they had by the machines. There was another flash drive in there. I silently gestured to Ben only to see that Joshua's hand was inching to the flash drive. Ben couldn't see that as his back was to Joshua. He was the closest, so I tried getting his attention as Abby spoke on.

"This is our last data chip and..." Abby trailed off as the computer suddenly started beeping. All the people working at the machinery rushed over to the computer as well. Behind me, Jess started laughing hysterically as Joshua plucked out the flash drive.

"Too late!" he screamed. "Ha!"

Abby's confused expression changed to a sinister one. She laughed maniacally and pulled out the three stolen flash drives from her pocket.

Jess, Joshua and Abby ran to the far side of the room and pulled out three guns.

"What?" Ben screamed, then turned to me. "Joshua, you-"

"Betrayed you?" Joshua snarled. "Of course. I'm Joshua Hallal. You should never trust me."

Trust. That was what threw me off when I first trusted him. He betrayed me. Trust.

-Flashback-

"Joshua, what's going on?"

"Erica, this is for the best. I'm joining SPYDER. I'll make millions."

"No! Josh..."

"Erica, I love you. This is for the best. Goodbye."

"How could you?"

Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.Trust.

-Back to the present-

I shook my head, trying to get out of the memory. I focused back towards Joshua.

"The three fugitives who escaped jail aren't Kristy, Jawa and Zoe, it's us!" Jess screamed.

Abby laughed. "You were fools to believe our every word."

"You helped us with a lot, Ripley. Now you'll die!" Joshua screamed, then fired shots all over the place.

"Erica!" Ben screamed. "Duck!"

I ducked just as a bullet flew past my head. I dove underneath one of the tables. Joshua kept on firing. Shots flew all over the place, hitting one of the poor scientists.

That's when the building exploded.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!