Anne was a dangerous play. She could do a lot to help them with keeping Wren from being stopped by their parents, but she could also get caught up in things and be put in danger. More so if Akram discovered they'd gone back to the past or found anything to link to his research. If she could help them, Anne would have to understand what she was helping with and believe them. Otherwise it was too risky.

He figured if things went south he could knock her out and have Wren convince Anne it was all a dream. Anne might not believe it at first, but if they played it well and kept her from suspecting anything, they might just be able to trick her. Either that or they could say it was a prank or game they were playing.

Anne listened quietly, absorbing the information and turning it over in her head, deciding what to do with it. Finally, when Wren had finished explaining the gist of it, she spoke. "It's a lot to absorb."

Shadow snorted. "You don't know the half of it. We went through this too, and it's definitely confusing. We've just had the misfortune of knowing what Akram is capable of, so we have more of a reason to believe this future is at least possible."

"Akram announced his plans and broadcast them to the world on the day he launched his attack. The fall was swift and billions died. The world that rebuilt from that destruction was ruled entirely by him, and if we let that happen, we'll be forced to live through it knowing that we could have stopped it. I can't prove this to you, but I can tell you that I believe that it will happen. You don't have to help. It's dangerous, and if he discovers time travel, the first thing he'll do is come after me and my family."

Anne accepted the information with a nod. "If I chose to believe you haven't gone mad or something, how would I help you?"

"You could help us keep Dad and Mom from knowing that I'm gone when I leave, and if they figure that out, don't tell them why. Find ways to keep them distracted or something. But don't tell them I'm sick or Mom will check on me. We'll try not to take too long when we're ready for this, but if they're probably going to find out anyway. And you can also do some research for us, and guide us through the building where Akram hides his plans."

"Alright, I'll help. Do we know what building I'll need the blueprints for?" Anne asked, crossing her arms.

"We don't know yet," Dylan answered. "But we'll figure that out later. We can't really stand around much longer or people might start to wonder. You and... Amanda should go back to bed. We'll meet on Monday. I'll slip you a note with the coordinates to meet up. Bring Anne if you can, but if you can't, we'll let her listen in on coms."

They nodded and he handed Anne a small earpiece. "It's linked to the system I rigged, so it'll turn on when I turn on the system. Just hang onto it and put it in at the planned time. You'll need it to guide us through the building too, so don't lose it, and don't let anyone else touch it."

The two of them headed for the house, disappearing around a corner. Dylan stared after Wren. It was amazing, how different she and Amanda were, despite being the same person. The experiences she'd faced as part of the rebellion had shaped her, and changed her in so many ways, but he could still see the innocent, hurting young woman behind the masks that Wren wore.

She'd never wanted to lead the rebellion. In fact, she wouldn't have, if there had been anyone else she was willing to give the job to. Probably the only reason she didn't ask Zephyr to take over was because she knew that Zephyr didn't want it any more than she did, and wouldn't put her friend in that kind of position.

Dylan had watched her before she started the rebellion, and he'd seen her do little things to protest Akram's rule. She never hurt anyone, just slowly learned how to get information and use it to sabotage different things that Akram was planning. She stole food from warehouses and distributed it in secret to those who needed it most. Eventually, the people she was helping noticed the other things she did, and it must have given them hope for a better future, because talk of an organized rebellion began to float around.

When the people finally convinced her it was a good idea, she began to organize things. He'd seen her change drastically from there. Her reluctance to hurt people slowly melted away, and she became the leader the people needed her to become. Because of the danger of knowing who was leading the rebellion, however, she had pretended to be recruited by someone else into a tiny rebellion that was already founded, but not attacking the government outright.

Her ingenuity had never ceased to amaze Dylan, and it worked too. No one who joined the rebellion ever suspected she was anything more than another common soldier, and only her closest friends and generals knew any different.

He supposed that was the main difference between her and Amanda. Amanda never had to go through any of that. She'd lived a relatively easy life, without any of the hardships of being a leader or a soldier. It made her more willing to show what she felt and give reasons why, but it also made her vulnerable to Akram.

Which is why we need to finish this as soon as possible, Dylan reminded himself. Turning to Shadow and Panther, he said, "You said you had a bolt-hole. Let's see it."

***

The duo's hideout was a bit less of a bolt-hole and more of an underground home. They'd found a completely blocked off and abandoned sewer under Chicago city and although it was a long drive to get there, there were only two ways in, and both were easily defended. No one else knew about it either, which made it ideal, especially since it was near Akram's main building.

The inside was cozy, with some pieces of old furniture situated around a small makeshift table. The one light source, a battery-powered lamp, sat on a tiny coffee table that looked like it had probably been rescued from the dump. All of the furniture probably had been. A black rug had been rolled over the floor, and two little rooms had been constructed using cardboard and sheets. Inside were bedrolls and a couple of boxes that probably contained personal things.

"You two have been living here together?" Dylan asked.

Panther snorted. "No. I live in a separate area that attaches to the main tunnel here. This is where Shadow and his brother hang out."

Dylan nodded. "Is your brother here right now?"

"No." Shadow looked down at his brother's make-shift bed. "He's been gone for a couple of weeks now. He does that sometimes, just disappears. Usually he comes back with money and food."

With a nod, Dylan sat down on the sofa and pulled a blueprint out of his backpack. "I have the blueprints for the main company building. Akram is there a lot, so there's at least a chance he keeps his plans there. The plans for his house will be a bit harder to find, but I'm working on that now. Any ideas?"

They studied the floor plan for a while before Shadow pointed to something. "This is his office, right? So if the files were anywhere, this is where they would be. There's too much security to get in there the normal way, but we could act as guards or janitors."

The others considered that for a moment. "It could work," Panther offered.

Dylan shook his head. "Akram would be onto us too fast," he decided. "But the idea of disguises is a good one. We just need a less noticeable disguise. Or at least a disguise no one will question us in."

"We're all teens, what exactly are we going to come up with that will keep people from noticing us? I mean yeah, none of us are shorter than normal, but Wren at least looks like a fourteen-year-old, and you don't look much older than sixteen," Panther pointed out. "It might be better to find a way in that doesn't involve being spotted."

Dylan looked at the blueprint again and frowned. "What if Akram invited us in?" he suggested.

"As nice as that would be, I don't think going up to him and saying 'Hey we'd like to reveal that you're planning to take over the world by stealing your top secret plans, mind letting us in?' is going to work," Shadow said.

Panther grinned. "I'm sure Dylan's plan involves a bit more finesse than that."

"Actually I was thinking we could play to his interests. He owns a company and he happens to enjoy buying out other people's companies. So we call him up and one of us plays the son or daughter of the owner of a big company. We tell him some story about how the company is taking over 'our father's' interests or something, and then tell him we want to help him buy the company. It eliminates the questions about our age, and besides, who's going to suspect a teenager of trying to break into their office?"

Panther looked at Shadow. "That's... actually not a bad idea. All we need to do it find a company who's owner has a family with a younger teenage daughter."

"I know someone who can help us with that," Shadow said.

"I'd rather not bring anyone else into this. We have no idea what we're going to be dealing with right now, and for all we know the future Akram is perfecting time travel as we speak. This needs to be done quickly and quietly. The more people there are, the more chance there is of secrets being leaked."

Shadow nodded, conceding to Dylan's point. "Okay, normal research it is. Do we have a computer?"

"I have one at home. And speaking of home, I should be headed back there. I have to get up at eight and my mom will be very angry if I'm not even home."

Panther grinned. "Okay, we can come back later and finish planning."

Shadow leaned over and opened a drawer, pulling out three sets of coms. "We only stole three because there's only three of us, but we can get more while we're waiting for you and Wren to be ready. Just make sure you and Wren have one at least, that way we can contact you if we need to."

Dylan took two and nodded. "Let's go."