Emily can't believe what the others tell her. That it's over, that they're finally here. But once she sees the old, beat down, graffed up sign she finally has to admit it to herself. They have indeed arrived.

"Welcome to California
Population: Probably less than the last time you checked."

Emily sighs as she enters the city with her friends. When they were on the road she used to think about California with glee, that once they were there they would finally be at their destination, that things would have gotten resolved, that they could finally rest easy. But now that she is here she feels that things have just gotten more complicated. When they were on the road she at least felt that she had a simple goal; to put one foot in front of the other and make sure not to get eaten alive. But now, once their grueling journey is over she feels herself at a loss for what to do.

They have barely entered the barracks at the city gates when they are approached by a soldier, obviously from one of the higher places judging by his fancy, untarnished uniform.

"Fields, Hastings, Montgomery, Marin. You have been summoned to the high military council for questioning. Please follow me."

The girls give each other knowing looks, before heading out with the soldier, who motions to the back of an army vehicle which they in turn get into. Once in the car they pass each other worried looks before finally settling for staring at the floor. The car ride takes longer than they expected and the vehicle has to pass a couple of gates where the driver stops and shows identification before being let through.

"Guys, where do you think we're going?" Hanna finally says after being obviously fed up with staying silent.

"I'm guessing they are bringing us into issue a statement," Spencer says in a monotonous voice, still not taking her eyes off the floor. "If I were them I would be curious to know how the plan went so spectacularly haywire."

"It wasn't our fault and you know it," Aria says and bolts up from her seat. "We didn't know that Ali would be teaming up with that no good son of a…"

"Aria sit down," Emily pleads. "If he hits a bump you're going to hurt yourself."

"I doubt that will happen," Spencer says snarkily. "The roads here are smooth as silk. This is what they used to be back before the walkers. Besides, there is not a whole lot of difference between you sitting down and standing up."

"Hey!" Aria says, slapping the other girl's arm but the joke seems to have done its job as it manages to raise their spirit for the rest of the ride.

Once the vehicle pulls over the soldier opens the back to let them out and through the back door of a very large building. Emily gasps in surprise having never seen anything of the sorts for Rosewood was only composed of normal houses, barracks and the occasional apartment duplexes. They walk in a straight line down a hallway before being motioned to stop in front of a large oak door. A uniformed officer exits the room, saluting the soldier having just brought them in and something in his voice rings familiar in Emily's ears.

"Officer Hodgins, I can take it over from here, thank you for your fine job."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir."

As the latter turns around and heads off, both Spencer and Emily lean in to inspect the new arrival better.

"It can't be," Emily says, feeling the surprise hitting her like a bolt of electricity.

"Toby!" Spencer yells and seems to momentarily forget all of her training as she seized the tall man by his lapels and yanks him brutally. "You are suppose to be dead! I thought you were dead! I saw your body! Dead! You broke my heart, you, you…"

"Spence, back off," Hanna says as she and Aria forcefully wrestle their friend off the person that still hasn't moved a muscle.

"Look Fields," Toby says and turns towards Emily who is the only one not involved in the scuffle. "I can explain everything. Just not right now. So tell Spencer… I mean Sergeant Hastings to calm herself down and just be coherent for a little while."

"Why? Where are you taking us?" Emily asks, looking at the man who despite having a shorter haircut and a more bronzed complexion is indeed the same boy that she knew as the friend of Paige McCullers all those years ago.

"You will need to give a statement to the Council," Toby says and looks the other girls, who have calmed down, over. "Just tell them exactly what happened. There was a lot at stake and they would like to know exactly how things came apart."

"Well, you would know how, wouldn't you," Spencer says, her snark having made a comeback. "We got double-crossed by someone we trusted."

"Save that for the inside Spencer," Aria says and turns around as they hear a knock on the door.

"Okay, in you go," Toby says and swings the door open for the girls to get in.

Once they get in Emily first gets shocked by the enormity of it all. She already realized that the house was large when they got in, but the room is immensely large and very sparsely decorated which gives off an even more spacious impression. The only things inside are long shelves of documents that line up against the walls and a lunar shaped table which seems to be occupied by twelve people. There are four chairs posed in front and the girls take their cue to line up in front of the chairs.

"Please take a seat," the person in the middle to the right announces.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," the girls chime in and do as their told.

"Now, please explain to us how the Execution of Case 1582a came to be."

It takes more than two hours as Emily notes duly from the large clock that hangs above their inquisitors but the four girls take turns in explaining exactly how things had turned out from the time that they left Rosewood in a loaded convoy until the moment that they arrived bloodied and beaten to the gated community of the state of California. They explain how after re-appearing in their lives, Ali quickly took charge of their group yet again and once they finished their four year training program she accepted the position of captain of their squad. They admit how they believed her story of running away from the mystery letter sender, known at the time as A, who turned out to be Mona Vanderwaal, an acquaintance to the girls who did base training with them. With Mona captured because of Ali's evidence against her the girls had believed their nightmare to be finally over but she had soon escaped in a prison riot which supposedly resulted in the death of Officer Cavanaugh. Once Mona was out of the picture and their time at the academy was over the girls were trusted for their first large mission which lasted for the better part of a year: getting a convoy across the country from Pennsylvania to California. But once the convoy was closing in on California, they had gotten ambushed by raiders and the ugly truth had revealed itself. It turned out that Alison had not only left Rosewood to escape the taunts of Mona but had run off to be with a former army doctor by the name of Elliott Rollins. By some means he seemed to have convinced her to become his agent inside the military, while secretly working for his own militia which had planned to attack and escape with the convoy.

"Whatever was inside that convoy, they must have desired it desperately," Spencer says, trying to keep her voice as monotonous as possible. "They lost a lot of their men, but so did we. The only people that escaped were the four of us and our IT, Officer Rivers, but he is currently in critical condition at your hospital unit after having taken a bullet to the lower abdominal area."

"And how do you know for certain that Captain DiLaurentis conspired with this Rollins individual to attack your convoy Sergeant Hastings?" one of the interrogators asks.

"We heard them conversing sir," Spencer says, staring at her hands. "When they thought they had killed us all."

"Thank you Sergeant Hastings, Officer Fields, Officer Marin, Officer Montgomery. You are free to go. The infirmary will attend to any wounds that you have and you are off duty until further notice. The Council would like to thank you for your work and bravery when faced with the treacherous actions of your commander."

"Yes sir, thank you sir."

Once the girls have exited the large hall and huddled up around Toby who assures them that he will take them somewhere where they will be warm, safe and taken care off, the sight of the Members of the Council catches Emily's eye. While inside, the lighting of the room was designed to cast focus off of their faces but once they are outside she can't help but letting her eyes linger on one of its younger members who seems to have stayed silent and observant during the entire course of the interrogation. Her dress is more formal now than it used to be when she was out on her rouge patrols, all ironed pants and shiny shoes, auburn hair combed carefully into a tight bun, not a lock out of place, her posture no longer a lanky slouch but rather a straight-backed pose who would make a drill instructor shine with pride, but the old intensity in her brown eyes as she discusses with her comrades gives her away making Emily freeze in her steps before uttering:
"Paige, is that you?"