Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"It's not treason if you win."
~Lisa Shearin, Bewitched and Betrayed
____________________________________

Chapter 12: Countermine

Shiloh

The plan was set. Lydia had managed to hack into the security cameras two days before my meeting with Axel. She recorded over a day's worth of footage for 'just in case' purposes. The day of the meeting, she switched the current video feed with the recorded one. Liam, Lux, and I had four hours max before someone would noticed we were gone.

The place we met at was an inconspicuous restaurant in the middle of downtown. Axel was waiting for us at a table, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Lux, Liam, and I were in similar garb. We were trying to blend in but when you have two daughters of the best fighter pilots on the planet and a guy that's six-foot-three with the looks of a supermodel, it's a little difficult. At least one person everywhere you go is going to recognize you. Sliding into the booth next to Axel, I asked, "Allison okay?"

"She hacked into her the Belkan military system and had herself stationed on my ship. She's safe and sound there, but anxious about your guys' safety. We've come with a plan, but it's dangerous, will probably involve a few jets and definitely helicopters. We were going to get tanks but figured that might be overkill."

"Because jets and helicopters aren't?" Liam remarked, raising his eyebrows.

"Who's this guy?" Axel inquired, pointing at Lux's friend.

"This is Liam Tomlinson. He's a friend and someone on the Gray Men's hit list," Lux explained.

"What did Simon talk to you about?" I interrupted before the two boys began bickering.

"He came up with an ingenious idea for us to find where you guys are when we come to extract you." Axel pulled a small bag out of his pocket. "Put one on your dog tags. One for each of you. We'll be able to track you with these, even from the ship."

"Where's Simon?"

"He's back at base where I'm pretty sure he's working on hacking into the electrical system so he can control it when we get you guys out of there."

"Isabelle and Lydia are probably helping him."

"So how exactly are you going to get us out?" Liam queried.

"Did you bring the map?" Axel turned to me.

"Here," I said, pulling out a piece of paper from my purse. I placed it on the table. My friend pointed to northwest wing of the base's barracks.

"This is where we're going to have the helicopters stationed for you to get on. It's closest to all your rooms, easiest for you all to get there. This part is flexible considering we don't know what the Gray Men are going to do. We're getting you out Sunday evening since it makes more sense to get you out of there before the whole thing goes down on Sunday night. Can you agree to that?"

"Yes," the three of us answered simultaneously.

"Good. Once you're on, we'll get you somewhere safe and work on what to do from there."

"Axel, you could be tried for treason for all this. You understand what you're getting yourself into, right?"

"I understood from the moment you asked me. Have you ever heard the saying 'the child shall pay for the sins of his father'?"

"Yes."

"This how I pay for it, and I honestly couldn't think of a better way than helping the people my father fought so hard against."

"You're not your father, and you don't need to prove that to anyone. But I will say, I'm really glad you're on our side and helping us."

"I'm certainly glad I don't have the Razgriz against me. We should get going. It's a good thing my ship is stationed nearby or else I wouldn't be able to keep coming for these clandestine meetings," he joked.

"Why is your ship still docked?"

"It's been going through a lot of repairs. We should get going though. My superior is going to begin wondering where I am."

The four of us sidled out of the booth. Outside, we said our goodbyes.

"I'll see you Sunday. Be ready," Axel warned.

"No, we'll just pack and make you wait," Liam muttered as we watched the Belkan walk off.

"Be nice," Lux said, trying not smile.

Using the secret tunnel to get back into base unseen, the three of us snuck back to Lydia's room where she instantly cut the video footage and allowed the security cameras to continue on their regular filming. I handed her the tracking device for her dog tags. We went around making excuses to see our family members. Will, Jem, and Tessa would arrive on Saturday morning. I'd find a way to give them their trackers when they arrived.

"Alec here yet?" I asked.

"Not yet. He said he'd be here in a couple minutes," Lydia responded. As if on cue, my cousin entered the room.

"Hey you two," he greeted, hugging me and giving Lydia a kiss. "What's up?"

"Not much," I said, pulling out a tracker for him. Putting a finger to my mouth to make sure he didn't ask anything about it, I wrote down what it was on a piece of paper. Alec followed instructions, sticking it on his dog tags. Holding onto the instructions so I could use it to explain to the rest of my family, I headed back to my room. Isabelle, Simon, Sophie, Henry, and Charlotte entered a few moments later. They chatted about random things, things that would seem trivial to anyone listening in, which was the entire point. There were most likely bugs in our room and we didn't want to risk anyone from the Gray Men overhearing our plans. While they talked, I handed them the note along with the bag of trackers. They listened without hesitation.

"Have you talked to the twins recently?" Isabelle asked.

"They texted me a couple hours ago," Henry announced. "They should be landing soon."

"Let's go see them!" I exclaimed, quickly getting up. My friends scrambled after me.
____________________________________  

Axel

Saturday...

Trying to convince the Admiral that the Razgriz Legacies were in trouble was not going as planned. Most other people in his position would readily agree to help not just the Razgriz, but their legacies as well. They would help because the Razgriz served no particular country (even though they were stationed in Osea), because they were the people that saved the world from nuclear destruction. My generation understood this. We were grateful for the Razgriz. But some of the older generation still had a deep hatred against them that would never disappear. The lack of willingness to help the Razgriz made me suspicious of him. While he talked, I scanned up and down his body, searching for something that would give it away that he was a member of the Gray Men. It didn't take long to find the mini Iron Cross plastered on his ring.

"I should have you dishonorably discharged for assuming that I'd willingly help the Razgriz, for telling them that I would before asking for my permission, and then having the audacity to come asking for my permission after the fact!" The Admiral barked.

"I apologize for my audacity sir. I just have been taught that if the Razgriz are in need of our help, then we should help them considering what they did for our country in the last war."

"You mean demolish our towns and destroy our infrastructure?"

"You mean stop the government from blowing up Osea who would then gain the sympathy of other countries who were remaining neutral and who would then side with Osea against us? I know you fought against them, and I know they shot you down. Hell, I know you worked with my dad in the war. But I thought you would've had the intelligence and the wisdom to leave the Gray Men."

"Excuse me?"

"How many more of you are on this ship?" I demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. I know the emblem of the Gray Men. I know that your ring is a sign to other members that you are one of them. So I will ask you again, how many others are on this ship?" I took a few steps toward him.

"What is a disgrace to the Belkan military going to do to me?"

"This." I slammed fist into the side of his head. The admiral went down, not getting back up. I should've thought this through more because I had nothing to tie him up with to make sure he didn't escape. Grabbing the phone, I dialed Allison's cabin. Thankfully she picked up almost instantly.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Allison, it's Axel. I have a serious problem."

"I think my problem might trump yours."

"Come up to the Admiral's office. Grab Markus too. And bring some rope."

"I'm not even going to ask." It took about two minutes for Allison to make her way up to me. She entered the room without knocking with Markus on her tail, rope in hand. Upon their entrance, I shut the door and locked it.

"Why is the Admiral unconscious on the floor?" Markus asked, peering around the desk to get a better view.

"He's part of the Gray Men. This is my problem. Top that Allison," I said, raising my eyebrows at her.

"The Gray Men found out we're going to rescue the legacies tomorrow so they're taking them today. We need to get our asses on the move if we're going to get to them on time."

"Yours definitely trumps mine. How did you find out about this?"

"Simon figured it out. He's on base but the academy is keeping him away from them as much as possible so he can't alert the Razgriz or the legacies without alerting the Gray Men that we know of their plan."

"Markus, alert our troops. Leave it to me and Allison to get the rest of the Gray Men onboard the ship corralled up here. When we're done, we'll get down to you and get the helicopters."
____________________________________  

Shiloh

It was seven in the evening. I was doing homework with Isabelle when the first hint of something wrong made itself known. The Base Commander came over the loudspeaker ordering everyone to return to their rooms.

"What's going on?" Isabelle asked.

"I don't know," I admitted, getting up from my bed.

"You don't think-"

"That's tomorrow. Not today."

"What if they-"

"No. It's impossible. How could-"

"Maybe they over-"

"No, we made sure-"

"I'll head back to my room. Just in case," Isabelle said.

"Be on guard. We might need to make a premature escape," I told her. My cousin left my room. Anxiously I waited to find out what was going on. The sounds of cadets hurrying to their rooms could be heard outside my door and on the floor above me. Getting a bad feeling, I began throwing stuff into my backpack, such as an extra outfit, undergarments, my wallet, my phone and phone charger, and because I'll admit I'm pretty vain (don't judge), I put my makeup bag in there as well.

Ten minutes passed with nothing but silence. Five more minutes passed before someone flung my door open.

"Shiloh Davenport, you are under arrest for treason to the nation of Osea and for conspiracy to take down the government," the Base Commander announced. "If you come quietly, you will not be harmed."

"I will not go quietly, because I have done no such thing. And if this was a true accusation, you wouldn't have sent everyone to their rooms to get to me. So tell me the truth, why are you really arresting me?" I demanded. "And don't tell me it's for treason against my country because the only thing I've ever done for my country is try and stop the Gray Men from wreaking havoc on it again."

"That's the thing, the Gray Men aren't after Osea. We're not trying to take down Osea. We realized they're not the threat. Your parents are. Now, come quietly, or else we'll have to shoot you."

"Like you don't plan to do that already?" I snapped. "Your group already tried to kill both my parents so I'm not holding you to your word about that. But I'll go quietly for the sake of not wanting to be killed sooner rather than later."

"Good girl," the Base Commander said. I turned around so he could handcuff me. Roughly shoving me out of my room, I was greeted to the sight of Isabelle, Lux, and Henry being escorted as well.

"This is just peachy isn't it?" Lux commented casually.

"We're screwed," Henry added.

"No we're not. Good always wins right?" Isabelle asked.

"You always were an optimist," her brother laughed.

"It's called faith."

"Faith in what? The goodness of their black hearts?" Henry made a face at our captors. "That sounds like some line from a song. I should be a song writer!"

"Oh please don't. I don't want to hear about all the cheeseburgers you can eat in one sitting."

"There'd be more than just cheeseburgers! There'd be hotdogs too. And coffee."

"Hopefully not together."

"I don't know, coffee and hot dogs sound like an interesting combination. Let's try it once we're free," Lux said.

"Would you stop your yammering? You're as bad as your parents," The Base Commander grunted. The four of us fell silent. I wondered where the others were and if they were in as deep of shit as we were. Maybe they'd gotten the gist of where this was going and had been able to escape before we could. I hoped they had. Then maybe they could get word to Axel about it and he could come to our rescue. But for now, I had to focus on the current situation and wonder how the hell I was going to get us out of it.
____________________________________  

Simon

Why the Gray Men wanted me, I had no idea. I wasn't a Razgriz Legacy, I was just dating one, and just because I was dating one didn't mean I knew stuff I shouldn't (although in all honesty, I probably did know stuff I shouldn't without even knowing I knew it). I was in the lab when the Base Commander came on the loudspeaker. Immediately I knew everything was about to go down. Being the link between Axel and the Razgriz Legacies, I hightailed it out of the lab, grabbing my backpack along the way. Having earlier alerted Allison of the changed agenda for the Gray Men, I knew I needed to get word to her that it was happening now. Of course, the Gray Men had other plans. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw four men chasing me. Men with very big guns. My best bet to get away from them was via the small forest next to the academy. The trees and boulders could protect me from their view, and in the worst case scenario, their bullets.

The moment I entered the forest, their shouting began. They knew I was onto them and were probably alerting the others that the Razgriz Legacies probably knew about their little plan as well. For being weighed down with such massive guns and armor, the men were surprisingly fleet footed, having little trouble keeping up with me. The only thing that seemed to be going in my favor was that they weren't actually gaining on me. I needed to lose them, but since the forest wasn't exactly thick, they had a good view of me wherever they were. There were also four of them so eight pairs of eyes had a better chance of keeping track of me.

I should've looked ahead instead of turning around to see where they were because I went over the edge of a cliff. And by cliff I mean a ten foot drop that was more like a steep slope which meant I rolled halfway down it into a large pond. The splash wasn't loud so I prayed that the men hadn't heard it. But just in case, I made some more splashes to make it sound like I was getting out of the water. Then taking a deep breath, I went underwater. It was a good thing they'd trained us how to hold our breath for a long period of time. Why they taught us, I'm not sure, but it sure came in handy at this moment. If I came out of here alive, I was definitely going to send a letter to someone saying that they need to continue that training class at the academy.

Just as it seemed that I'd be unable to hold my breath any longer, the flashlights moved away along with the splashing footsteps of the men chasing me. I forced myself to wait ten more agonizing seconds before allowing myself to surface. Luck was on my side as the soldiers had disappeared. I took in a few deep breaths before moving off to solid ground. Briefly stopping to make sure my belongings were safe and dry in my backpack (thank god it's waterproof), I continued on my way, heading back closer to base where I could find a hiding spot to access my computer and hack into their security system, cameras and all.
____________________________________  

Alec

I was hanging out with Tessa in the library when the announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said.

"The Gray Men?" Tessa asked.

While I looked around, my cousin narrowed in on the ceiling, saying, "Do you two have your backpacks?"

"We haven't been going anywhere without them in case the Gray Men decided to attack early," I replied.

"I have an idea. You might not like it, but it could work."

"What is it?"

"We crawl through the ceiling. It's pretty hollow up there besides some wires and a few vents. There's no insulation up there."

"How do you know this?"

"My dad did it at Sand Island and I decided to check ours here once we found out about the Gray Men. Just in case."

"You're the best. I'm in." I went up first, using a desk as leverage to help me jump up. Since I was the strongest, it'd be easiest for me to help her up. When Tessa came up, she scooted past me to take the lead since she seemed to have an idea of where we were supposed to be going.

"Where do you think the others are?" Tessa whispered as she began crawling.

"Hopefully not captured. We should get to the hangar. I don't think Axel is going to be able to come to our rescue. But we need to find the others first."

"Let's make our way over to the rooms. We'll have to try and be quiet so no one below hears us."

"That'll be easier said than done. Let's go."

The two of us went as fast as we could through the cramped spaces. Thank god my cousin had been smart enough to bring a flashlight because I'd forgotten one. Without it, we probably would've ripped a few wires out and may have even started an electrical fire...

Ten minutes passed before we made it to the dorm rooms. We reached my sister's first. I heard voices in her room. It was muffled because of the ceiling tiles but it wasn't hard to figure out it was the Base Commander speaking. It also wasn't hard to figure out he was accusing my sister of treason. Tessa kicked me gently, silently telling me not to do anything. Not yet. We waited until there hadn't been voices for at least two minutes before peeking into the room. Isabelle's door was open, her backpack was gone, and she was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm going to kill them," I growled, putting the tile back on in case anyone else came in the room.

"They probably have Shiloh and Lux as well. Maybe even Henry."

"What about Charlotte and the twins? And Sophie and Simon? Where would they be?"

"Simon probably hightailed it out of here to alert Axel. He spent as much time in the lab as he could since it had the best escape route. If we're lucky, he's gotten word to them. If we're not lucky, he's been captured hopefully, and not anything else."

"Don't even go there," Tessa said. "What should we do- wait, I think I hear something. Shut up for a moment."

We fell silent, straining our ears for whatever Tessa had heard. It didn't take long.

"Her backpack is gone. The assbutts must've taken it. We need to find a way to contact Axel to tell him he needs to get his Belkan butt over here," a familiar voice said.

"We need to find a way to break out Shiloh, Lux, Isabelle, and whoever else they took. I couldn't tell if it was Alec or Henry that was with them. Maybe it was Simon or Liam. I don't know. They all look alike from the back," another voice responded.

"Will, is that you?" I whispered through the ceiling.

"Did you hear that? Hello? Who's there?" Will called out quietly. Despite the situation, I held back a laugh.

"It's your conscience. We don't talk much anymore," I replied.

"Alec Lewis Banks, this is no time to be joking around!" Tessa hissed.

"Jem, I think that was your conscience. Kind of sounded like Tessa," Will remarked.

"She is my conscience. She prevents me from doing stupid stuff. Most of the time," Jem laughed.

"Glad to hear that babe," Tessa said, poking her head down from the ceiling.

"How in the- what are you doing in the ceiling?" Jem queried. She jumped down onto the ground. I lowered my head out of the ceiling.

"We were escaping the library," Tessa explained, putting her backpack on. "Where are the others?"

"Simon and Charlotte are MIA. We have no idea where he is. Liam got taken in. Lux, Shiloh, and Isabelle were taken as well. I think it was probably Henry with him," Will said.

"I thought you couldn't tell who it was since we apparently all look alike from the back," I retorted.

Will stuck his tongue out at him. "Lydia was in the computer room last time we saw her which was ten minutes ago when we snuck over here without being caught. She said she was doing something but I don't know what."

"I'm going to go get her. She needs to escape with us or else the Gray Men will kill her. Take care of each other and I'll see y'all soon. Don't get killed!"

"Don't get captured!" Jem warned.

"Here, take the flashlight," Tessa said, tossing it up to me. I thanked for it, then put the ceiling tile back in place. I made my way over to the computer lab, periodically checking what room I was in. I realized it was probably better to follow the hallway than the bedrooms so I sidled my way over so I was above the hallway. It took me fifteen minutes of navigating through the wires and the cramped spaces. When I peeked into the computer room, I found Lydia cornered in the back of the room by a soldier with a gun pointed at her head. Anger surged through me. I backed up so I was back over the hallway. Moving one of the tiles aside, I dropped down.

"Hey!" I shouted when I reached the doorway. The man with the gun turned around. "I'm the one you want!"

He charged after me. I bolted down the hallway and down a stairwell and down another hallway only to be blocked by a closed security door. Suddenly cold metal was pressed against the back of my head. I turned around to find myself looking down the barrel of a gun. I closed my eyes, only to open them again when I heard the unmistakable sound of a fighter jet.

____________________________________  

Shiloh

Lux, Isabelle, Henry, and I were tied to chairs in the Base Commander's office. He was pacing back and forth, attempting to call someone.

"Why aren't the phones working?!" he shouted. "Hertz, go check the communication lines!"

One of the men scrambled away. That left only the Base Commander and eight other men.

"You do know when our parents find out about this, that they're going to kill you. Demons typically don't have mercy when someone kills their children," Lux said.

"Oh they're going to think you've been taken somewhere entirely different, somewhere we need them to be. Specifically Blaze and Chopper and Cipher. Those three I would love to shoot myself."

"My mom could take on all of you blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back."

"I think she did once," I remarked.

"Point made."

At that moment, Hertz came back, announcing the telephone lines had been tampered with and that the internet was down as well.

"Well send someone to fix it! Did you capture Masters?" The Base Commander asked.

"No, sir. He escaped. They're still searching for him," Hertz answered.

"Way to go Simon!" Isabelle mumbled proudly.

"Sir! Sir!" Another guy came running into the room. "Sir, we have an unidentified aircraft approaching on radar! We couldn't reach you on the telephone to tell you sir!"

"Get all men to the AA guns and have them prepare to fire. That plane is coming for these nuisances." The man dashed off again.

I kept my mouth shut, because I was pretty sure that there was going to be more than one plane. At least I hoped there was. It'd be hard for one plane to take on the entire OAFA, no matter how good the pilot was.

Moments later, the guy was back, huffing and puffing saying, "It's a Belkan fighter. It's firing on the runway.

"Fire at it! Shoot it down!" The Base Commander barked. I would've felt bad for the guy had the circumstances allowed to. He had to be booking it to be able to get to and from the control the control in under thirty seconds because it wasn't exactly close.

The quietness in the room was interrupted by the AA guns shooting, one by one. My heart hammered in my chest as I prayed that none of them hit the Belkan plane. Things seemed to be going okay though because the AA guns kept firing and firing. If they'd hit something, they would've stopped by now.

"That's brilliant," Lux breathed.

"What is?" I whispered back, making sure our captors didn't hear us.

"The plane is a decoy."

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly, an explosion sounded from across base. Then another one. Then another one. More followed. I even saw one from the window of the Base Commander's office. The silhouette of a fighter jet flew past it, but it was small. It was one of the ninja planes my parents had flown to escape from Sand Island. But the engine noise I heard definitely did not belong to that tiny thing. The engine noise I heard definitely belonged to multiple, bigger jets. There were also some helicopters mixed in there somewhere and I knew. I knew this was our rescue. Axel had been reached, and he was coming to our rescue.

Then it hit me. The decoy plane had been trying to get the AA guns to fire at it to reveal their location so the other fighter jets from a much farther distance could lock onto them and fire at them, destroying the weapons before their arrived.

If it couldn't get any better, some of the men in the room turned against the others. Four of them slammed the butts of their guns into four of the men's faces. They grunted in surprise only to be slammed in the back of their heads which knocked them fully unconscious.

"What the-" The Base Commander began. While he was distracted by our helmeted heroes, I stood up as much I as I could being tied to a chair, whirled around, and hit the Base Commander in between the legs with the leg of my chair. He let out a yell as I hopped over and butted him with my chair. His balance being off, he fell to the ground. One of the helmeted guys kicked him in the head, knocking him out. He then came over to me, unlocking the handcuffs that kept me restrained to the chair. His friends helped mine out of their handcuffs.

"So who exactly are you?" I asked as I put the handcuffs on the Base Commander.

The guy took off his helmet, giving me a smile. "Nice to see you again, Miss Davenport."

"Markus!" I exclaimed. "You came in the nick of time. How did you-"

"Allison figured it out and then Simon contacted us when we were almost here. A few of us snuck in here in the disguise of soldiers we found traipsing in the woods, presumably searching for Simon. We were able to get back on base using their identities and cards. From there we helped the Base Commander find you. Honestly we were hoping to have all of you in one room but hey, c'est la vie. Let's get going. It won't be long before the base can get their communications back on line so they can call for help. The runways damaged enough at least that they won't be able to send any planes up from here to go after us."

"Less talky, more walky," one of the guys urged.

"That's Leonard," Markus said. "He's the Grumpy Cat of the group. The other two are Gilbert and Tybalt."

"Nice to meet you all," Lux said. "Thanks for coming to our rescue."

"Do you know where the others are?" Markus asked.

"No idea. Last time I heard, Alec and Tessa were in the library and Lydia was heading to the computer room. The location of my brothers and Sophie and Charlotte are a mystery."

"Okay, that's fine. We'll find them. Leonard, take Tybalt with you to find the others. Gilbert, come with me so we can get them safely up to the roof to the helicopters," Markus ordered. He proceeded to then hand each of us a gun. "Here, we brought them for you just in case. Take the weapons of the downed people too. The less people who hate us with weapons, the better. Do any of you need anything?"

"No. They all brought our backpacks with them," Isabelle said.

"How nice of them," Lux remarked.

"Are they always this chatty?" Leonard inquired, getting ready to leave.

"You should hear our parents in a battle. They're even worse," Henry said.

"I knew it came from somewhere. Okay, we'll see you soon. Try not to get captured, or worse, killed. Tybalt and Leonard, out!"

The two of them left. We were soon to follow. It was here that Henry said, "Quickest way up to the roof would be straight ahead to the left but I can assure you that they're going to have people lined all the way up there that would love to have our heads as mantel pieces."

"That's a terrible image. Thank you for that," Isabelle said sarcastically.

"The best route for us would be to go the left, take the stairwell up to the fourth floor, and go from there."

"Then let's go," Markus said.
____________________________________  

Lydia

The moment my captor was out of the room, I booked it back to the computer I was using, hacking into the security cameras to find out where the others were. By the looks of it, Liam was being held prisoner in one of the gyms that happened to be one floor down from us. Sophie and Charlotte were kicking ass in one of the classrooms, Will and Jem were creeping down hallways with Tessa, and the others were MIA.

Suddenly the AA guns started shooting. That lasted for about thirty seconds before explosions went off and the AA guns stopped. I peered out the blinds to find six fighter jets zipping about the place, blowing up AA guns and destroying the runway. Looked like Axel had found out about our predicament.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. Shutting off the monitor, I hid behind the door, praying that whoever it was didn't check in here. Luck was unfortunately on my side. The person entered the room in a position that told me he didn't want to be heard or seen.

"Lydia? Tell me you're in here," Simon whispered loudly.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me," I said. He jumped.

"Speak for yourself. You okay?"

"Yes. How did you find me?"

"Figured you'd be hacking into the security system so I checked here. We should get going. Do you know where the others are?"

"Let me check," I said, running back to the computer to turn the monitor back on. Immediately I saw that Shiloh, Lux, Henry, and Isabelle were in the company of two men that seemed to be on their side; they were making their way to the roof it seemed like. Tessa, Will, and Jem were making their way to the roof via a different route. Liam was still being held hostage.

"Lydia," Simon said, pointing to one of the camera screens. My eyes went to where he wanted me to look and my blood went cold. Alec was being held at gunpoint.

"We have to go save him," I said.

"We need to get Liam too. That guy won't shoot Alec. He needs him for leverage against your parents."

"We can split up."

"No, we stay together because it's going to be much more difficult to find each other again with the entire base searching for us. And look, Isabelle and her group are moving towards him. To get where they want to go, they'll come across Alec and the guy with the gun won't stand a chance. Have faith in your boyfriend."

"I do. I just don't have faith that the Gray Men won't shoot him. Come on, let's go save Liam." I shut off the computer. Simon and I slung our backpacks over our shoulders, tiptoed down the hallway, down the stairwell, and to the gym. I pulled my friend into the equipment room. In it was multiple types of sports gear. I set my eyes on the baseball bat.

"Lydia? Is that you?" A voice whispered.

It took all my willpower not to scream. "Who's there?"

"It's Greg. I'm hiding here because there's a psycho out there. What the hell is going on? Why is Liam being held hostage in there and why are fighter jets destroying the base?"

"The jets aren't here to destroy the base. They're here to provide cover for the helicopters meant to be getting me and my friends out of here."

"What did you do?!"

"Shhh! We're here to rescue Liam. Look, you know about the Gray Men right? Well long story short, they're going after the Razgriz by capturing their kids. Simon, Liam, Sophie, and I are on their radar because of how close we are to them. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go save a friend."

"With a baseball bat?" Greg questioned.

I put on a determined expression. "With a baseball bat."

____________________________________  

Shiloh

"Guys, look, the security room!" Isabelle pointed out quietly. "Let's see if we can find where the others are."

"Good idea. Hang on," Markus said, swiping the Base Commander's badge. He turned to me with a grin and said, "Took this off of him before we left. Thought it'd come in handy."

"Hands in the air and no one will get hurt," Gilbert commanded, pointing his gun at the security guards. They did so without hesitation. I grabbed the handcuffs off of them and cuffed them, making sure I put the keys somewhere they couldn't reach.

"Okay, Liam is with Lydia and Simon. It looks like they're heading up to the roof. Jem, Will, and Tessa are... scaling the outside wall of the building to get to the roof. I don't even want to know where they got the equipment to do that."

"Smart. It'd just make your head hurt," I said.

"Charlotte and Sophie are already on the roof. It looks like they're waiting for us. Axel is right there with them." Markus paused. "We need to get to Alec."

"Oh my god," Isabelle and Henry said simultaneously.

"If we can get that door open, it'd make the escape easier once we've saved him. Isabelle, Henry, go with Gilbert and help him unlock the door. Isabelle's brilliant at code cracking. And I think she needs her big brother for support right now."

"Let's go. Shiloh, Lux, Markus, bring my brother back alive. I can't lose anymore family," Henry said.

"Neither can we." We all dashed out to our destinations. Lux and I followed behind Markus, keeping watch on the rear in case anyone came after us.

"Drop the gun!" Markus ordered. "Or I'll shoot!"

"Will you now?" The man countered casually.

"We don't want any violence."

"Says the people who blew up the base."

"We took down your AA guns and your runway so that you couldn't shoot us down or send people after us, but we have not killed anyone. Do not be the first one to die."

"How could you turn on your own country? These people ruined the Belka that would have been victorious if they hadn't shot down Ofnir and Grabacr and the SOLG."

"Do you not care that millions of people would've died?" I demanded.

"Do you not care that the country, the regime you were supporting, set off seven nuclear bombs that killed your own countrymen?" Lux added angrily.

"Your parents murdered our people too!" He growled, his eyes popping out of his head rather psychotically.

"My parents killed people, yes, but not because they wanted to. My parents took on their targets, but never did they target civilians. Not like you. Not like the Gray Men," my sister replied.

"Put. The gun. Down," Markus ordered. I could tell by his tone that that was his final warning. The man whirled the gun on us, but before he could fire, Markus pulled the trigger on his own. Blood went everywhere, a fair amount finding residence on Alec's panic-stricken face. Lux and I rushed up to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, throwing my arms around him. Lux pulled the two of us into her arms, turning it into a group hug.

"I-I'm fine... where are- how did you-" he stammered.

"We'll tell you later. For now, let's get out of here."

"Alec!" Lydia exclaimed, charging down the hallway toward her boyfriend. Simon and Liam were right behind her.

"I'm okay," he told her gently.

"You all okay?" Liam asked.

"We're fine now thanks to Markus's incredible aim. You?" Lux answered.

"Now that I'm not being held hostage, I'm great."

"What?!"

"They cornered me in the gym before the announcement even came on. I had no chance to escape. Two of them left when Simon made a distraction. He knocked them out with a baseball bat. Lydia knocked out the guy guarding me with a baseball bat too."

"Whose idea was it to use the baseball bat?" Alec queried.

"Mine. I didn't have a gun so I improvised," Lydia said.

"I love you. I'd kiss you but I have blood on me."

We all jumped a little when the security door opened to reveal Henry, Isabelle, and Gilbert. The Banks siblings pulled their eldest brother into a massive hug.

"Escape now, hug later. I hear boots," Gilbert said. With that said, the ten of us ran down the hallway. Not a moment too soon either because Gilbert had been right. Over a dozen soldiers came charging down the hallway at us. Isabelle was the first through the security door. She worked furiously to hotwire the thing shut. The rest of us made it through. It was only when I turned around that I realized Alec was just under halfway down the hallway, gun pointed at the soldiers.

"Alec come on!" I shouted. "The door is about to close!"

My cousin fired at the ground, hitting a few men in the feet or legs. Those men went down and the soldier behind them tripped over them. Alec tried to fire some more but the gun was out of ammo so he tossed it to the ground. He sprinted towards the shutting security door, with all of us yelling at him to hurry up. Just as the door was about to close, Alec slid under it. Bullets hit the door on the other side, making me flinch.

"That was so stupid of you," Henry said.

"I had to give Isabelle time to get the door down. I knew I'd make it," Alec heaved out.

"No you didn't idiot."

"Let's just say I did and get moving. The door won't hold long and there's some helicopters waiting for us." Deciding it best not to argue with him, we ran down the hallway. Just as we approached the fork in it, a lone soldier appeared. Gilbert simply jumped and slammed his knee into the guy's chest. He took the gun off the soldier and tossed it to Alec. We started off again, and this time met no more opposition along the way. On the roof, we found Tessa, my brothers, Sophie, Charlotte, and Axel waiting for us.

"Get on the helicopters! The boys and I will hold off any soldiers that come through that door!" Axel shouted over the whirring helicopter blades. I got on the first helicopter along with Lux and Liam. Will, Jem, Sophie and Tessa got on the second. Lydia, Alec, Simon, Isabelle, Henry and Charlotte got on the third. I yelled at Axel that we were ready. He and his comrades needed no more encouragement to get on. Axel, Markus, and Gilbert got on our helicopter. Tybalt and Leonard got on the second one. Our rides lifted up in the air with the friendly fighter jets falling beside us to escort us to our new destination, wherever that was.
____________________________________  

I've been so excited to write this chapter because so much happens in it. Hope you enjoyed! Any of you reading it on FanFiction, find the story on Wattpad to see the boss ass gifs that go along with some of the scenes :) Reviews would be lovely and I promise I'll get DOTS up as soon as I can!