I sweep Gabe's legs out from underneath him. He falls flat on his back. I kneel on his chest and put my elbow under his throat.

"Another win for me," I stand and offer Gabe my hand. He takes it and I help him up. "That would make one hundred for me."

"And how many for me?" He asks as I take a drink out of my metal water bottle.

I stop before I can take another sip. "Gabe, hon, we've only done one hundred."

"Ohhhh," He nods. "So zero, then."

"Yep."

"That's degrading."

"Why?" I put down the water bottle and place my hands on my hips. "Because I'm a girl?"

"No," He raises his hands in surrender. "Gender inequity was completely abolished like a hundred years ago."

"No kind of inequity is ever completely abolished. Let's be honest here."

"Fair enough, but that's not why it's degrading to lose to you. It's because you've been here a few days and I've been here two years."

"True, but my entire life has been devoted to strengthening my gift and learning to fight since I was four."

"Yeah, I know, and that's why the Council decided that you're going to go on your very first mission today."

I stare at him, wide-eyed in elation. "Seriously? Today?"

"Yep, today," Gabe chuckles. "Unless I got it wrong and I'm just stupid."

"Well, we can't overlook that possibility," I smirk.

Gabe sticks his tongue out at me. "The head of the Council wants to see you at eight, which is - right now, actually."

"Cassiopeia Belacourt," A voice booms behind me. I whirl around. "I take it that Gabriel has told you about your promotion."

He holds his hand out. "Joseph Cullen. Head of the Council."

I reluctantly shake his hand. I have a weird thing for other people's hands. I don't know why. Leave me alone. "Are you related to Dakota Cullen?"

"Yes, his father," His expression hardens. "I heard of the - attraction between you two. And I just want you to know that he is a hurt boy. He is dangerous, and I don't want him to hurt anyone. So be careful."

"Funny, my brother told me the exact same thing," I cross my arms. "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. And I understand hurt, too."

"Yes, I am truly sorry about your parents," The Council head wears a sympathetic expression.

I nod. "Who else is on the mission?"

"They should be here in-" The training room door unlocks. "Oh, they're here."

Four people pour inside. They walk over and form a line beside the Council head. There are two girls and two boys, all of them with determined looks on their faces.

"Here is the team for today's mission. Lana, Ryella, Luca, Sebastian, and - dammit, where's the last recruit?"

"You expected him to be on time? He's always either really late or a little bit early. And he's only ever early at meal times," Lana says.

"Who is he?" I ask.

"I think you may know him, actually-" The Council head is cut off by the training room door opening. And inside comes - oh hell no.

"Caden Pierce? You expect me to go on a mission with Caden Pierce?"

Caden joins the line and lowers his head. I approach him.

"I will tolerate this mission with you on one condition: stay away from me,"

Caden just nods.

"All due respect, but he is mission leader," The Council head says.

"He's WHAT?"

"I'm not quite sure why you're mad at him-"

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MY PAST! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DONE TO ME!"

All eyes are on me.

"I'll go," I spit. "But I don't want anything to do with him."

"Okay team," Caden says meekly. "Cass, go get changed into mission attire. Grab a pistol, a multi-functional watch, and a radio, but leave the mask, and report back here. Then we'll move out."

I head back to my room and open the drawer that reads "mission attire". Inside are two pairs of black pants made of flexible leather and a pair of gloves made from the same material. There are two jackets made out of this material as well, although they look like they are reinforced with Kevlar. Now that I get a better look at the pants, they look this way, too. There are two black tank tops and the mask that Caden was talking about. I pull on pants, a tank top, and a leather jacket and open the "mission gear" drawer. It is stocked with weapons. I strap on a utility belt and hook a pistol and a radio to it. I fasten a watch-looking thing to my wrist and hurry back to the training room.

"Alright, she's back. Let's go," Caden says.

He leads us out of the training room and through many twisting hallways to a large metal door. Caden bends down and places his eye in front of the iris sensor. He taps SCAN FOR ENTRY and a few seconds later, the door buzzes and clunks. One of the guys, Sebastian, helps Caden push the door open, both of them grunting with effort. I roll my eyes when they finally get the door open. I could probably do that in an eighth of the time they took without even touching it.

"Thanks, Bastian," Caden and Sebastian exchange some kind of handshake lasting about ten seconds.

"Any time now," I avoid eye contact, staring at the ceiling with my arms crossed.

"R-r-right," Caden stutters.

He waves us on through the door into a room containing nothing but a rusty metal ladder.

"So, um, don't like, get cut or anything, we don't have much tetanus left, and you're needed for the mission, so, yeah," Caden lowers his eyes as he speaks to me.

I nod and begin to make my way up the ladder. At the top is a sealed metal trapdoor with an iris sensor (are you surprised?). The sensor for the pad is different, though. It only has one option, SCAN FOR ENTRY. Sebastian, the one at the top of the ladder, taps the option and lets it scan his eye. This one does not buzz. The rectangle of thick metal slides away from its seal and clunks when it's far enough from the seal for Sebastian to push the door up. The sunlight streams in, blinding me. I look away, covering my eyes.

We all climb out of the hatch. We are in another dark room. There is another door with another iris sensor. Caden unlocks and opens the door, and the sunlight shines in, blinding me. I look away, covering my eyes. My eyes adjust to it soon and I walk out the door, letting the sunlight caress my skin.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Caden's voice says from beside me. I look at him, the pleasure of the sunlight washed away not by my hatred, but by the utter sadness of his presence. "Look, I know this isn't a good time, but I have regretted what I did to you every day since it happened. I know you're never gonna look at me the same way, but I just want to be your friend."

I look at him in complete shock. Shouldn't I hate him? Why is he being so - kind? I can see the regret in his eyes. I can see his sadness and his pain. It hurts me to see it. Without thinking, I surge forward and wrap my arms around him. He staggers back in surprise at first but then hugs me back.

"We can talk about this later," I pull out of the hug. "Right now we have to focus on the mission."

Caden nods and we make our way back to the group. He walks to the front of the group and leads us through a forest. After what seems like forever, Caden stops.

"What's the plan?" I ask as Caden turns around facing all of us.

"See all those carts?" He points to a row of merchant carts.

This Village looks familiar. This is where I first saw Gabe.

"Those are run by government officials. Flip the carts, start a riot. In half an hour, eight thirty, meet at the edge of the woods. We'll wait for only ten minutes. Don't be late. If you are, we're leaving without you."

Jesus.

We all split up, heading to different carts. I hide behind a tent and wait for the merchant to take a break. I frequently check my watch. I don't have much time. Only fifteen more minutes. Finally, the merchant goes inside his tent. I thrust my arm out and the cart goes flying. It flies so far that it hits the cart across the dusty road. Hm. A job well-done, I guess.

I glance at my watch. Crap. Eight thirty-two. I sprint away from the tent, not sticking around to see the reaction of the unfortunate merchant. I can hear the angry shouts from behind me. I run faster, desperately hoping to get back to the group. I can see them waiting at the edge of the forest.

So I run faster.

I still hear the angry screams behind me.

So I run faster.

I finally catch the group.

"Angry dude - running - there!" I pant, doubling over with my hands on my knees.

"Breathe, Cass," Caden kneels to meet my eyes. "What is it?"

I take a deep breath and let it out.

"We're being chased."

Caden's face immediately shifts back to the mission-leaderish expression that he has been wearing for the entire mission. It only changed when he saw that I was in trouble. But why?

"Do you think you can run?" Caden asks.

I take another deep breath, let it out, and nod.

"I have a plan," Caden stands back up.

All eyes turn to him.

"It's pretty simple - RUN!"

We all run through the woods and back to the small concrete building that guards the Underground.

Caden unlocks the door and we all pile into the room.

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

"So I take it the mission was a success," The Council head says.

We are all standing around the table in the Council office.

"Yes, it was," Caden replies.

"How could it ever fail?" I ask. "All we did was flip a few carts. We would probably get arrested at worst. I don't even understand the point of all this."

Caden's elbow gently nudges my ribs. I smack his arm.

"We are trying to corrupt society, scare them, and make people realize how little the government is doing for us," The Council head says.

"They're not doing much about it because it's not a big issue. A few merchant carts got flipped in a tiny Village. What are they supposed to do?"

"Okay, um," Caden pipes up. "I'm going to take her to some other location now."

He grabs my arm and leads me out of the Council office.

"Are you insane?" He runs a hand through his hair. "You never argue with the Council head. Ever. You just don't do that."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm sick of doing adolescent pranks and saying I'm making a difference," I retort.

"I agree with you," Caden sighs. "What we're doing doesn't even get the government officials to turn their heads, but we can't argue with the Council head. We just have to obey the rules."

I sigh.

"Yeah, I guess," I say. "I'll obey."

We exchange smiles and I walk away, knowing what I have to do. No one will like it, but I don't have a choice. There has to be some way for us to make a difference.

Even if it comes with a price.

Even if I have to pay it.

I will pay.

I will.

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

Hey guys! We have a winner for the "guess the movie" contest from Chapter 6: The Movie! The winner is Artistic_Demigod! They are incredible at art and I definitely think that you should check out their profile! Thank you all so much for reading!

Love ya!

-Athenasgirl12