At the crack of dawn, I wake up to find Elane asleep with her back to me. Last night didn't go so well but I swore to her that we would spend more time together. She may not believe me in this moment, but after this mission I'll make sure nothing gets in between us.

Quietly, I ready myself for the mission and before leaving, kiss Elane's forehead like I always do.

There're a few teams assembled outside, relatively smaller than I had imagined. Then again, Farley did say this prison was a lot smaller. Mare stands further away with her own team. I see a couple of Newbloods with her, best for taking control and stealth. Her team must be in charge of the initial contact. They will be the ones to lead my team in, Cal and I in charge of the metal bars holding in the prisoners. Ptolemus decided to stay behind since only a few magnetrons are needed. I asked to stay behind instead but Father and Mother are still upset at me for yesterday. There are a lot of teleporters here. We have teleporters in our team as well, with other magnetrons and some regular Reds. There will be a battle inside.

"Ready?" Farley asks the teams. It's a quiet morning. Everyone nods, taking the mission very seriously. I yawn. This will be an easy mission.

We fly to the base by jets, hidden by some of the Newbloods' abilities to shield us from view. Their skills almost remind me of the Haven's powers of manipulating light except these Newbloods make us invisible, light or no light.

Cal flies our jet, and he's anxious for battle because his leg won't stop shaking. Mare's jet flies ahead of ours. He must be worried about her safety, I muse. She's perfectly capable of handling herself though. I've seen that lightning girl in battle, though I would never admit it to her, she can hold her own.

Our jets land a reasonable distance to the base. Farley uses her binoculars to scope out the area. The base is small, and much less guarded compared to others.

Turning to Mare, Farley says, "Be careful. They have Silencers posted at the top of the towers."

Mare nods. No wonder why she has so many Reds on her team. Arvens have no effect on them.

Farley turns to the rest of us. "This prison holds only 100 Reds and Silvers alike. Silvers are kept underground, Reds kept on ground level. Silencers on the outside but there is Silent Stone inside the cells. Nothing we're not used to. The goal is to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Mare's team has a Silk going in first to neutralize our control. Everyone take this."

Ear pieces with mics are handed out so that we remain constantly in contact with one another. I begrudgingly put mine on.

"We'll be waiting for you guys on the inside," Mare states. In a flash, the Silk is gone, and Mare's team of Reds move out first. The rest of us are to stand behind until the Silencers move inside the prison.

Cal looks agitated and paces back and forth. Farley is as still as a rock; the rest of our teams quietly wait for an order.

"You know," I say. "You could always go in after her to make sure she's okay. Your pacing around is making me antsy."

Cal stops. "I'm not worried about Mare. I'm expecting the unexpected."

"Which is?"

"The idea of Maven showing up. Something going unexpectedly wrong. Losing more members than we thought for a small rescue mission."

"Shh," Farley hushes him. "My members are more qualified than you'd think. Have some faith in your team."

"Yes, Cal," I mock. "Have some faith in your team of Reds."

He groans. "Evangeline, why are we even on the same team?"

"Because you can't handle working with Mare effectively."

A cannon suddenly fires from the base into the distance. Mare's static voice comes through our ear sets.

"We've got control of the base. Move in the rest of the teams."

Farley speaks first. "On it." Pointing at the base, she says, "Let's move."

No need to tell me twice. Our teams move quickly and stealthily to the inside of the prison. It looks just like all of the other prisons but smaller. Judging from the number of corpses on the ground, it appears Mare got to them in a timely manner. Impressive, lightning girl.

"We're going down," Cal orders. I lift the metal bars to the staircase with ease, allowing us to hurry downstairs to free the Silver prisoners. Half of Farley's team comes with us, including Farley herself. There will be more security down below than above. Mare's team has the upper level covered.

We move efficiently. Cal takes down a lot of the guards quickly. Not enough fire to kill them, but to subdue them. I work more aggressively, using the metal bars to free the prisoners AND knock out the guards faster. I hit each cell with speed, wasting absolutely no time. The other magnetrons do the same. We are stronger than these guards, and my magnetrons enjoy their deaths. Cal looks away.

"Hurry up, unless you want to die!" I yell at them. The prisoners scurry out like rats, in their torn clothing and dirty faces. A fireball flies past me, hitting a guard who was creeping up on me. Cal and I lock eyes, nodding thanks.

We go through each cell thoroughly to make sure our area is cleared. Farley has moved back up, ensuring safety to the prisoners as they board the jets. I walk towards a cell hidden in the corner. Grabbing hold of the bars, I bend them until they make a path clear enough. It's a little Silver girl in the corner. I gasp. Her legs are bloody, and she is unable to walk.

"Hey," I call out. "I'm going to hand you this metal plate to climb onto." There's no way I'm going into a cell filled with Silent Stone. I absolutely refuse. I form a metallic plate and push it towards her. She is shaking, afraid. "You're going to have to move faster if you want to get out of here alive."

Grabbing onto the metal, she drags herself on top of it. Cal appears next to me. "Really Evangeline?"

"There's Silent Stone in there," I hiss at him. Cal glares at me and waves me off. Without hesitation, he walks into the cell, cringing. His legs buckle under the weight and I wonder just how much Silent Stone they thought they needed for this little girl. Cal picks her up, and she clings onto him for dear life. What a noble king. Sacrificing his own safety for her wellbeing.

All of a sudden, I feel a bullet heading fast towards my head. With my quick reflexes, I stop the bullet in midair. It's one of the magnetron guards under Maven's rule. He's bruised but not dead yet. He reshapes the cell I've undone back into what it used to be. Cal can't escape now.

"I've done it!" the guard announces. "I've captured the exiled prince of Norta."

He reaches into his pocket to grab a communicator.

"Oh no you don't," I growl. Forming a spear from my outfit, I race towards him with it, intending to stab him.

"Team 3, where are you guys?" Farley's voice comes as a squeak as the guard counters my spear with his own metallic shield.

"Ran into some trouble with a stubborn guard," Cal responds. "Send reinforcements."

"Ha!" I laugh, amused. "I don't need any reinforcements!"

The magnetron is significantly weaker, barely able to keep up with my constant attacks. I throw knives, bullets, sharp metallic pieces at him while he constantly has to reform his shield. Finding an opening in his shield, I send a small knife whistling past the hole at his communicator. It falls from his hand, and he scrambles to grab it.

"Evangeline!" Cal shouts. "You don't have to kill him, just free us and we can go!"

I grasp the sword I formed in my hands tightly, irritated at Cal's mercy for his opponents. "Because of you, we're in this mess! You need to learn to show no mercy for your enemies!"

"Behind you!"

I turn and see Mare, full of lightning running down the stairs. "Are you guys okay?"

The floor suddenly gives out below us, the magnetron deciding not to have gone after his communicator. He grins triumphantly, as he rides his piece of metal further away from us. I try to do the same but to no avail.

"What?!" I exclaim. Immediately, Mare grabs onto my back and I hold onto Cal's cell bars.

"There's Silent Stone on this side of the room!" Mare yells. She clings onto my back, afraid to fall below us where churning water lies. So that's what was underneath the floor.

The magnetron laughs at our dire situation and forms bars between us and him. Probably where the backup Silent Stone starts.

"But how?" Cal asks. "How is there Silent Stone when there wasn't?"

"Backup security measures," Mare mutters. "They have them upstairs. We got to them in time though."

"Sorry, Mare, but you're going to have to get off of me if you want me to do something about this," I inform her. Mare latches onto the bars next to me. The magnetron starts to form tons of bullets to kill us. We have to move quickly, but how?

Mare starts to scramble to the magnetron.

"Are you stupid?!"

"I have an idea," she says. "If the bars are where the Silent Stone ends, can't you reach your hand through enough to do something?"

Rolling my eyes, I tell her, "I mean I can try."

"Then try!"

I move behind her, seeing what crazy idea she has for a hopeless situation such as this. Mare clings onto the bars, facing the magnetron.

"Eager to die, are we?" he laughs.

Mare grins back at him, boldly. "Shoot me if you dare."

The magnetron opens up the bars enough for me to slip my arm through as he aims dead and center for Mare's heart.

The resistance of the bullets against my mere arm is incredible. I break out in a sweat, heaving heavily at holding them back. The Samos blood that flows through me is strong though.

"What?" he shouts, surprised.

"Too eager to kill, are we?" I say sarcastically. It's common for fighters to get too excited and leave openings.

He reacts quick, using the metal to form a semi-cage and pushing Mare into the waters below.

"Mare!" Cal shouts, still trapped in the cell.

Good grief, that's what he gets for stepping into a constricted area of Silent Stone. I formed a cane of metal that would pull me to the other side. Being a magnetron means that we have flying capabilities in a sense, by lifting our hunks of metal.

The guard looks terrified to see me. I fight him aggressively as he struggles to put up a poor defense. I have him pinned against a wall with a knife to his throat.

"You're going to tell me how to deactivate the Silent Stone on that side, or I'll silence you myself."

"Okay, okay, the button is right over there!"

I form a solid ball of metal and throw it at the button. "Mare," I call. "You should be able to use your lightning now."

No response. I glance back at the waters and the magnetron uses that opportunity to run away. The floor hasn't reformed again, and I curse myself for believing him.

Cal shouts at me, "Do something Evangeline, she's drowning!"

I rush over and try to get rid of the cage holding her down. No use. The Silent Stone is still activated. The water is dark and there's not enough light down here to see anything. I know I can't let her die, but I don't handle water very well either.

"What do you want me to do?"

"SWIM."

"Ugh." I dive into the water, being pushed all over the place. I can't see a thing. But I can feel. I reach in the general area of the cage and grab onto one of the bars. I pull myself closer and reach underneath, on the open side. I feel what I think is hair, and pull, not sorry at all to Mare for yanking her hair. She's unconscious. I hold her close to my body and pull her up to the surface, gasping. Dragging her to the closet cell, I hold on.

"Mare!" I call. "Wake up now, you're not under water."

Still no response. She's limp against me as I struggle to hold us both up.

"Is she breathing?" Cal asks from his spot.

I check for a pulse. It's faint, but it's there. "I think."

"She's probably got water in her lungs, hit her back, make her cough it up."

"You think I can do that in this position?" I frown.

"I called Farley, they're on their way."

In seconds, a few more team members show up to rescue us. They put a ladder down for us that another magnetron made before coming. They pull us both up. Mare and I are soaking wet, and they get Cal out using brute force to bend the bars. The little girl comes with.

Holding Mare in my arms, we run to the jets where Farley is waiting. Cal catches up behind us. Placing Mare on the ground, Farley runs up.

"What happened down there?" Farley demands. "Is she okay? Medics!"

"Just a little problem with water," I tell her. I wring my hair of excess water, angry at that guard for putting me through this trouble.

Cal looks dejected. "I was trapped in a cell, and I couldn't do anything."

Skin healers assess our wounds and Mare wakes up, coughing out water. Farley pats her back.

I turn to Cal. "You really need to learn how to not let your enemies go. Because of you, we were stuck in that situation because you couldn't kill him."

Cal glares at me. "Evangeline, we knew these people. They're Silvers, they're our people."

"They're on the wrong side." I roll my eyes. "I had to get all wet because of your mistake."

Mare's raspy voice speaks up. "You saved me?"

I look at her confused expression. "Yes. I did. Be grateful. Your boyfriend was stuck in a cell."

Her face drops. "He's not my boyfriend."

Cal doesn't say anything. And just like that, they go back to not speaking to each other.

On the ride back home, I'm exhausted. We finished a lot faster than we thought but I still put forth tremendous effort saving Mare. I know how she feels about killing the Silvers at these prison breaks. I've seen her show no remorse for brutally killing them. Cal lets them go, and I know it disappoints her. He spares the very same people who oppress her own.

I drift off into sleep after a few minutes, hoping Elane is waiting for me.