Hello! This is my rewrite of the first chapter of Love, Secrets and Betrayal. Having reread the existing chapter, I realize I'm going to change a lot of stuff. But I have some ideas that will make the changes totally cool. I was young and lame the first time I wrote, so I have confidence in this improvement. I used to have a book with more chapters and one-shots, but that is long gone. Too bad, really, but I do remember more than I expected. So here we go: the first newly written chapter of my four (or maybe even five) years old fan fiction! It's kinda short, but I'll get better once I get more back into writing again.

I do not own A.T.O.M. or any of its characters.

Chapter One: Alpha and Omega

The room was dark and silent. No echoes, no sound from the outside, no nothing. Five cloaked figures stood in the middle of the room, five people. They stood underneath the only light in the room, which swayed from side to side as the wind started blowing through the thin cracks in the walls. It made a low screeching noise. The five figures didn't move, they simply glared at the door on the other side of the room, as if expecting someone or something to enter. The shadows covered over their eyes, which probably fitted them perfectly; they seemed to want to keep their identities unknown to whoever they were waiting for. They didn't speak, almost as if they didn't even notice the others presence.

Finally, something happened. The door opened. A man stepped inside and carefully closed it behind him. His footsteps echoed loudly through the room as he slowly walked up to the cloaked figures. "Welcome," said a voice, one of the cloaked figures. The voice was nimble and feminine, revealing that one of the cloaked figures was a female.

"We were starting to wonder if you would even show up," said another voice, deeper than the first. It was more determined and intense, but also feminine.

"I needed to make sure I wasn't followed," replied the man, stepping into the light. This man was Janus Lee, head of Lee Industries. He seemed nervous; it was fairly obvious he was not supposed to be in the dark room with these mysterious people. One of the figures grinned.

"Scared, are we?" It was the first voice again. Lee scoffed and brushed some dust off of his coat before adjusting his glasses.

"You realize how important the task I am going to give you is? Failing is NOT an opti-" One of the cloaked people laughed, interrupting Lee midsentence. "Failing? You do realize we don't fail?" it was the deep, intense voice, mocking the blonde man. The four other cloaks laughed silently, mockingly.

"This is not stealing or black-mailing like you kids are used to," Lee snapped as he ran a hand through his hair, it was easy to notice that the mocking was irritating him. The first figure sighed and put her hands to her sides. "Sir, what is it that you want us to do? As we said, failing is not a word in our vocabulary," she said, her voice revealed cockiness and a strong confidence. Like she took pride in the fact that she and the other cloaked people did crimes for a living. Lee cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses again.

"I'm paying you a lot of money for this. Therefore, you can be sure that if you do not do this right, I will hunt you down. I won't rest until I catch you if you don't do as you're getting paid to," he was intense, making it very clear how important this task was to him. "Get on with it, man," said a third voice, and a figure shook it's head. This voice sounded laidback and calm, not at all what you'd expect from a mysterious, cloaked figure.

"You're going to eliminate Alex Manning and his team for me," Lee grinned as he spoke, his voice low and hateful. The cloaked group nodded and they all smiled as Lee turned around and left without looking back even once.

At the Aquatics Centre
***

It was raining. Like heavy tears from heaven hit the windows of the Centre. Axel Manning sat on the edge of his bed, looking out at the rain with an unreadable expression. He was in deep thoughts. What did he think about? The same as always, of course; Sebastian Manning. Axel Manning was intense about a lot of things, but the thing he thought about the most was his father. Axel had lived his life thinking he didn't have a father, but the last few months, he had felt weird. He couldn't explain it, thus he ended up just sitting and staring out the window as the rain poured down. That's why he didn't even notice the first knock on the door, or the second. Not even the third. He didn't notice the door open or his good friend Lioness entering.

"Axel," Lioness' voice was soft, full of sympathy. But it was also sad. These last weeks, she had almost never seen her friend, he always wanted to be alone, he'd disappear out on walks for hours, go to bed early, get out of bed late. He was distant. Axel jumped slightly, startled by the gentle voice waking him from his daydreaming.

"Lioness… this is a bad time," Axel mumbled, closing his eyes for a second, sighing. "Yeah, it's always a bad time, isn't it, Axel?" Lioness snapped, regretting it the moment she had said it. She hadn't meant to sound mad, though to herself she had to admit she was getting sick of being put aside again. It frustrated her so much; she clenched her fists and held them stiff down to her sides.

Axel didn't seem to react on her bluntness, but that didn't surprise Lioness. He was as good as empty these days. She stepped closer and carefully laid her hands on the male's shoulders, squeezing them a bit. "It's raining…" Axel whispered.

Ollie "Shark" Sharker was not amused by the rain, not one bit. He was lying flat out on his bed, sighing loudly to himself. He couldn't surf in this weather; the rain was so heavy it would hurt him to walk outside! Or was he just being lazy? Either way, he was bored. It had been raining for days. He hadn't had anything to do. Axel was, in a way, the team's energy, and when he was down, the others were down as well. Shark drifted in and out of daydreams, all about the sun, the wind and the water. He dreamed of being out on the water with his trusted board, surfing for hours. He had no idea that soon, his entire life would change drastically.

Arguing in front of the TV were Crey "King" Kingston and Zack "Hawk" Hawkes as usual. Today, King wanted to see a documentary about wildlife in the jungle on Animal Planet, but Hawk wanted to watch a soap opera. The loud bickering and arguing normally would annoy the rest of the team, but because of the rain, no one actually noticed. Thus Hawk and King were left to argue and switch back and forth until one of the shows were over. Or until King threatened to beat Hawk up, which only worked if King managed to look serious enough.

But on this day, the batteries on the remote died. They died just when the men were in the middle of changing channels, and stopped on the news, to both men's disappointment.

"On the two year anniversary of Veronique Akari's murder, her older sister disappears. Chelsie Akari is 18 years old and wore a pair of saggy jeans and a red t-shirt when she was last seen. The family would appreciate any help in finding their daughter. More on this case later," sounded the TV. On the screen one could see a picture of a young girl with blonde curls and tanned skin. The girl's eyes were dark, dark brown and she had freckles. The reporter explained that the family didn't have many pictures, and this was the last picture they'd taken of their daughter Chelsie. In the picture, she was fourteen.

But neither Hawk nor King paid much attention to this, they were turning the house upside-down, trying to find batteries to the remote.

While the young people occupying the Aquatics Centre rested inside and kept themselves busy with everyday problems, there was a shadow creeping outside in the dark and heavy rain. It was a girl. Her hair was wet, clinging to her face and getting in her mouth which was wide open. She was pale, had dark bags under her eyes and she was shaking like a leaf. She had nothing but a pair of saggy pants and a t-shirt on, so of course she was cold. Her lips were turning blue and she tried to embrace herself to keep warm, but winced. Under her chest, on the left side, the t-shirt had been ripped and a large, bleeding wound exposed itself. It looked as if a tiger or a bear had scratched her up real bad. '

"Darn," the girl cursed to herself. What was she going to do now? Her steps were weak and small; it took her a long time to get to the door to the Aquatics Centre. She whimpered and winced every now and then, but she didn't stop until she was by the entrance. Holding her hand over her waist and the wound, she took a deep breath before reaching to knock on the door.

And she was lucky. Hadn't Shark been in the living room to look for King and Hawk, who had disappeared on an expedition to find batteries, he wouldn't have heard the knock. And as he turned, he raised an eyebrow; who could it be? Whoever it was seemed to be in a hurry, there was another knock on the door, more frantic this time. Shark hurried to the hall and unlocked the door.

"What can I do for y-" he stopped. Stared. She was blonde, had deep brown eyes and a few freckles on her nose. She looked like she hadn't slept or eaten in days. She looked like she was about fall apart. And then he noticed the hand she covered her waist with. And the blood. So much blood. Shark had never seen that much blood before in his life. Her legs were shaking and every now and then, she whimpered. "Oh my god," Shark spoke in a low voice, not knowing what the hell to do or how to react. "W-wait here, I'll... I'll get help," he mumbled and stuttered completely taken by all the blood. The girl suddenly got a panicked expression and grabbed Shark's hand. She shook her head. And then she fell. Giving in to the blood loss, the cold, the sleepless nights, the pain and the hunger. She fainted.