Dana

Previously:

I still remember her last words.

'I hate you, Bree! I hope I never see you again!'

"Dana?"

I can't believe it is happening. I turned around, expecting more securities guards, and I see the family I lost two years ago. They have all grown, changed, matured. But the eyes are the same. Adam, Bree, and Chase. My heart fills with joy, and the longing to run over and hug them all. The longing to go home and forget everything that's happened. Too bad I can never do that.

Instead, I turn back to the nuclear reactor and say, "I thought you said they wouldn't be here."

"That was a guess that I may have exaggerated to a certainty," Douglas says in my ear. I touch the com. set, ready to rip it out and crush it under my boot. But he still has the power. So instead I start pacing to work off my urge to throttle him. "It doesn't matter. Defeat them and get back to work."

"Dana-"

"What?!" I screech to Douglas, ignoring Bree. "I'm not going to fight them. You can't really think I'd do that."

"You'll do what I tell you to, or I push the Button."

"Dana-"

"Give me a minute, Bree!" I shout at her. Truth is, I don't want to talk to her. I'm embarrassed and guilty, because the last time I saw her I said the biggest lie of my life just to inflict pain on her. Who knew the day I said 'I hope I never see you again' would be the day I got kidnapped? And if all had gone as planned tonight, I never would have seen her again. I just want to tell her. I want to let her know I didn't mean it, and I'm sorry. But not right now.

"Do it," I say boldly to Douglas, walking away from the people who were once my family. "I'm not fighting them. You can't make me."

"Can't I?" Douglas challenges, and my heart skips a beat. I want to say, 'You wouldn't', only I know he would. I know he's a liar. I know our deal means nothing, and my hand brushes my neck where the chip is, just under my skin. He can take away me with just a push of a button. He can make me what I fear most. He can end me.

"Dana, is it you?" Bree asks in a hard voice. I look over my shoulder at her, willing her to just shut up. But I see her face, and my throat closes up as I remember exactly two years ago. Her eyes were kinder, her face more narrow and childlike. And the words I said to her.

'I hate you Bree! I hope I never see you again!'

"Don't just stand there."

"I'm not doing it," I reiterate. The pain hits without warning, and I drop to my knees. Every muscle contracts in fiery pain, tightens until my body is screaming for mercy. I can't move, can't breathe. I can't even scream. After what must be decades, it stops. I take deep breaths and rub my knees. I know he'll do it again, though.

"Dana?" I hear someone step forward and I throw up a heat shield.

"Stay away!" I order, because I can't handle this. The pain is bad enough, but then to look weak in front of my family after two years? I can't handle that.

"Get out of there, the mission is compromised."

I eagerly jump to my feet, fearing the punishment that awaits me in Hell. I turn to look back at my family, who have stepped back from my heat shield. The burning temperature is at a degree only I can handle. They look at me with confusion and shock and they look so different. They aren't my family. I've been gone too long for that. I don't even know who they are now. Just reminders of a life I could have had.

"You should get started on that reactor before it's too late," I say, because I'm certain that's why they're here. I run away, out the hole I melted in the wall and into the chilling air. Now is the time. Now I have to initiate my plan, because no time would be better. I can't spend another day with Douglas. I can't keep doing this, being his weapon. I'd rather be dead.

"Report to base immediately."

"Right. Except…" I trail off.

"Except?"

"Adam, Bree and Chase are back there. They don't know about you and me yet," I point out. "And I know how much you want them."

"You want to be a spy," Douglas realizes. I've been setting this up for months. Have him send me back home on a 'mission'. The perfect escape. He's letting me go. "That's not a bad idea. You're becoming more like me every day. Ready for the new mission?"

"Yes," I say immediately, resisting the urge to gag. I don't really hear his instructions. I get to go home. I'm going home. I've waited two years for this. I've waited to years to crush that earpiece under my shoe and I've waited two years to go home. I'm done waiting.

And then someone spins me around, and I'm staring deep into hazel eyes. Hazel eyes that match mine perfectly.

"Chase," I choke out. There's no guilt with his face. Just a burning love, and I forget about everything wrong. I forget about Douglas, I forget about the Triton app, about me being horrible, about it all. I wrap my arms around my baby brother and squeeze him as hard as I can, because I finally can. I have waited to do this for so long.

"Dana," he whispers into my hair, hugging me back. I remember when I we were four, and I convinced him there were monsters in his capsule. I remember when we were ten and I managed to get a book for him, one about computer programming he'd never read before. I remember our first day of school, when I was the only one to hold him as the bell murdered his ears. I remember him, and I love him.

"What are you doing here?" Bree asks from behind Chase, and I give him one more squeeze before turning out of the hug, keeping my arm around his waist. Guilt stabs my in the heart when I look at her brown eyes.

'I hope I never see you again!'

"I want to go home," I say softly. Bree stares at me, but not in a good way. Like she knows something's wrong with me.

'I hope I never see you again!'

I look at Adam, taking in his staggering height slowly. He has grown so much since I last saw him, though the vacant look in his eyes are the same. Then his eyes focus on me, and I wince at what he says.

"Where have you been?"

"Hell," I mutter without thinking. Then I smile and pretend he couldn't hear what I said. "Um… don't exactly know. Everywhere, I guess. That doesn't matter right now. I need to see Mr. Davenport."

"CHASE!" Mr. Davenport shouts from Chase's earpiece so loud I can hear. Chase winces. "What is going on?"

"Everything's fine, Mr. Davenport," Chase says. He squeezes my shoulder gently. "We're coming back now. And we have a surprise when we get there."

And it doesn't matter what can go wrong, or what Douglas could do. I'm going home.

Thanks for reading. I know it's not much for such a long wait, but I'm working on writing ahead a bit and it took forever to get this to come out right. Eventually I had to settle for this, so review and tell me what you think.