Surprisingly nobody else had tried to shoot me. I'd gotten lucky with Kristin's bad aim and the vial of MC-57 Dr. Gracie had gotten me. But that didn't change the fact that Kristin had tried to kill me.

Maybe I deserved it. I was making a deal with the people our organization was dedicated to stopping. But I was doing it to save 25 million innocents.

And most of the Order seemed to be taking it pretty well. Some of them had even said they agreed with me during breakfast. Of course, the ones who disagreed could just be avoiding me.

"Earth to Xander, we're here."

I suddenly realized I was driving and that we'd arrived at the Hideout. I parked the car out front and the three of us got out. I'd brought Daniel and Leo along for support.

The Hideout was the perfect meeting place because there was no way in hell I was letting Kate anywhere near our base. And I didn't love the idea of spending the rest of my life in a Legion prison cell.

I walked through the front door and remembered exactly why I'd fucked up my life by kissing Kate. She was beautiful.

Behind her was a man I assumed was her brother. He looked exactly like Kate but was too young to be her father. Anyway, Death never showed his face in public, he always wore a mask.

Would Death ever show up?

"Silver, you made it." Kate greeted me.

Silver? Right, we had to pretend to hate each other.

"Devil. Do you really think I'd miss this?" I replied, being sure not to use her real name.

"I don't think you'd dare. Silver this is Lia; she's one of my best assassins. And this is my brother Derek. And you know Izzie of course." Kate said gesturing to two girls in the back.

Izzie's here? She's alive!

"Of course, you kidnapped her from us, remember? This is Daniel, my best strategist. And you know Leo." I said.

"A strategist and a sniper. You came prepared."

"Yes, how dare I bring a strategist to a strategy meeting," I said sarcastically.

"Bold of you to assume you have a say in anything. Let me remind you we're the ones with the army." She momentarily crushed my soul.

"Yes and we're the ones with the spies, that's kind of why this alliance works," I said, bringing my soul back to life.

"Ceasefire."

Then Izzie and another girl walked back into the room and I fully registered that Izzie was here. She looked unharmed, happy even.

Izzie saw me and suddenly my ex-girlfriend had full-on tackled me. I guess we were over the breakup. The whole kidnapping and separation thing had kind of cut off the mourning period.

"We'll get you out I promise," I whispered in her ear.

"You don't have too. I'm staying, I'll be your eyes on the inside."

Izzie pulled away and went to hug Leo. I decided 'eyes on the inside' would be a good thing. And Izzie could definitely handle herself.

I noticed Kate had turned away and took that as my cue to talk to Izzie. Then the purple-haired girl Kate had introduced as Lia walked over.

"Guys this is Lia, umm were dating now."

What the fuck did I miss during the past week?

"Isn't she a little...female for you Iz." Leo asked bluntly, "Not that there's anything wrong with liking other chicks."

"Honestly I'm not surprised, you were always checking out that girl from three tents down when you were sixteen," Daniel added.

"Uncle Dan! I was not checking her out." Izzie laughed.

"Is there another girl I should be worried about Hermosa?" Lia joked.

I noticed Izzie occasionally glancing at me. I realized she felt awkward about dating someone new around her ex.

"I'm happy for you guys," I told them, Izzie visibly relaxed. "And not surprised about you dating a girl, I mean no man could ever compare to my amazingness and you have to go somewhere."

"No, I think I'm just bisexual, and already over you." Izzie laughed.

Daniel started talking to the girls and I naturally drifted off. Daniel and Nora had practically raised Izzie when she'd first come to the order and they'd obviously have stuff to catch up about.

I walked over to Kate.

"What're you drinking? Smells good." I asked; I didn't recognize the very delicious smell.

"Hot chocolate. You should try some."

"Hot chocolate doesn't smell this good. Are you sure it isn't poisoned or something." I'd be surprised after all the effort we'd put into the alliance.

"If it were poisoned do you really think I'd be drinking it?" She took a sip. "It smells good because it's real, not the fake stuff you get at the grocery store."

"This much of the real stuff could buy me a sports car." Real chocolate was that expensive.

Then I instinctually pulled my gun as Gold Order soldiers burst in through both entrances.

Kate shot one and I followed her as she ducked behind the bar. She pulled a high tech jumpsuit and helmet out of a cabinet and began putting it on.

I recognized the suit as a bulletproof model we'd unsuccessfully tried to steal a few months ago. The suit was worth roughly three million dollars.

Kate charged out from behind the bar and began to fight. I turned and faced a group of men. Then I realized I was completely unarmed.

Having bullets bounce off of you during a fight is weird. The looks on my attackers' faces however were awesome. I started attacking three men at once hoping to knock them out.

One of them was particularly skilled and I ended up in a blur of punches and kicks as his friend kept trying to shoot me. I still flinched a little when being shot so the tactic was effective.

Then from out of nowhere, Kate started taking bullets for me. I refocused on the man I was fighting and without the distractions managed to disarm and kill him.

Then I saw a boy in a Gold Order uniform slip out the back exit. I couldn't let him get to the Gold Order with information about the alliance.

I bolted after him.

The boy was frantically trying to open the Gold Order's van with a manual key. He was too shaky to get the key into the lock.

Then his hat fell off revealing a long braid. I realized the Gold Order boy was actually a young woman. She glanced over her shoulder and saw me.

Her face fell and she pulled a knife from her belt. I took a step forward hoping to capture and disarm her. Hopefully, Kate would let me take her back to my base.

Then she held the knife against her own throat and I realized her intentions.

"I won't let you torture me. I'd rather die." She was clearly terrified; I saw a drop of blood run down her neck.

"I don't want to hurt you. Just put the knife down and we can talk. I promise nobody wants to torture you." I lied, Kate would definitely want too.

Another drop of blood ran down her neck.

I realized this girl wouldn't let me take her alive. I couldn't let her get back to Gold with information about the alliance. But I couldn't kill her either.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Rachel. I just wanted to help I'm not even supposed to be here. Please."

"Go. Tell Richard Gold that Xander wishes him a slow painful death." I told her.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate the sentiment."

The girl managed to get the keys into the lock. In under a minute she'd pulled out of the alley and was driving towards the inevitable death of 25 million people.

And it was all because I couldn't find it in me to kill one innocent girl.

I walked inside to tell Leo and Daniel my mistake. But something was wrong. Izzie was on the floor crying.

Crying over Daniel's body.

No.

***

Hey guys! Will Xander continue to get positive reactions from the rest of the Silver Order? What do you think of Izzie's coming out strategy? What will Rachel tell Richard Gold? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade