Peter and Ione kept their promise and took Rachel, Ryan, and Sabu to their destination, the headquarters of the Resistance's Los Angeles division. Nestled in the mountains surrounding the suburbs of the nation's most populous city, the base was hidden away so that the UST could not find their location. The area surrounding the headquarters was covered in cement, this acted as runways for planes they hid in large tents and underneath loose brush. These planes ranged from standard civilian planes members had donated to the cause to heavily armed fighter jets that had been stolen from military bases during raids or when a member of the standard military defected. In the center of the military base stood a building that had been constructed quickly since the Resistance did not have time to waste. The local leadership, military officials, and the rest of the members all met in this building.

Before they reached the premises, Ryan showed his ID to a guard who stopped Peter before he got too close to the base. After about five minutes of driving, Peter stopped the car in front of the building. Ryan and Sabu got out of the car and headed off into the building while a guard approached the car and took Rachel to a holding cell on the right side of the building. After about twenty minutes, the same guard approached Rachel, now wearing handcuffs, and escorted her across the building. During the three minutes it took to cross the building Rachel saw many of the local Resistance fighters during their time off. Some were playing card games; others were repairing various weapons they would most likely use on Deplorables very soon. A voice came over the intercom and called a maintenance crew to Runway Three, Rachel guessed that someone must have spilled something and it made a mess.

The room Rachel had been taken into by the guard was dark and littered with monitors of various types. The outskirts of this room were littered with personnel sitting at their desk with headphones on. These men and women were intercepting private government transmissions, reading emails and listening into conversations sent from officials of all ranks. In the center of the room was a large table with monitors standing on polls all around. The guard sat Rachel down on a chair so that she could be interrogated by a tanned skin, black haired, dark eyed, woman.

After about ten minutes of Rachel answering every question with a lie, the woman, Alex Vasquez, asked, "So, you're telling men your name is Rebecca Lisa, correct?"

Rachel looked over at Ryan who rested his back on one of the monitors before she faced the woman and nodded in reply. Every person in the room, from Alex, the various other high ranking officials in the room, the guards standing watch, and especially Ryan, did not believe a word Rachel had just said.

In response, Alex replied, "Imagine what would happen to you if you told the Deplorables your name was the first names of your older and younger sisters, Rachel Alcroft? Daughter of Joshua Alcroft, Software Engineer at Cal Poly Pomona before working for Thump's Advanced Weapons Department, are you not?"

The tall, brown haired man who led the local branch of the Resistance, Jeffrey Petersen, approached the opposite side of the table before Rachel could ask, "What's going on here?"

Jeffrey straightforwardly replied, "This is a chance for you to do the right thing. You might be able to help us"

"I believe you've been acquainted with our intelligence captain, Ryan Rodriguez?" Jeffrey said as he pointed to Ryan.

Before Rachel could even respond, Ryan approached her and asked, "When was the last time you spoke with your father?"

"Early January of last year," she replied.

"Do you have an idea where he's been all this time?"

"I'd like to think his body's decaying in a ditch somewhere after some Deplorables beat him to death. It's a lot easier that way."

"Easier than what? Knowing he's a part of the Thump war machine."

"Sorry, I've never really cared about politics to come up with my own opinions on such matters," Rachel replied in a way that let her tell the truth without giving the Resistance valuable information.

"We're on a strict schedule here. If you're not going to help us, we'll send you back to the Deplorables with a note saying you were helping the Resistance; after we break your hands and vocal cords so you can't blab about our location or what we were discussing," Alex said as she had grown impatient with Rachel's answers.

With the fear of being severely damaged Rachel realized the severity of the situation and replied, "Okay, look, I didn't even know my father was working for Thump until today. I lost contact with him after Kabadaian's Purge, so I really don't know where he is."

"Don't worry about that, we have a lead that might help us find your father. Wendy Rogers is reporting that she has a UST pilot in her custody with valuable information," Ryan added.

Rachel was completely confused by the situation and asked, "Wendy Rogers? Then why do you need me, I'm sure you all voted her? I'm pretty sure she would hand over the information over to you."

"Yes, we voted for her, but many people in the Resistance, especially in our division, don't believe she is Progressive enough. They believe she embodies the establishment that has their own interests in mind while in government. Not to mention the more conservative members simply don't like her. This schism in the Resistance has made our relationship with her very complicated. But now we have no choice but to mend our relationship," Jeffrey said, clearly distraught by the reality that the Resistance could not truly function as a single unit because of a few, but influential, nitpicky members.

"But what does this have to do with my father?" Rachel asked.

Jeffrey looked at Alex, who in turn looked at Ryan, who said, "The pilot that Rogers captured is a defector, she's claiming that Thump is building a system to decentralize his nuclear arsenal. The pilot is also saying she has a message from your father."

"We have to get our hands on this information in order to proceed with the next phase of our plan," Jeffrey added.

"Captain Rodriguez's mission is to authenticate the pilot's claims, and if possible extract your father," Alex claimed.

"It's obvious now that he is critical for the development of this system. Seeing that you're Joshua's daughter, we're hoping Rogers will hand over the pilot and your father's message to you. Once we get our hands on both of these sources of information, we hope to find your father so that he can help us destroy the system," Jeffrey said.

Rachel nearly broke down in tears after hearing all of this. She kept her tears from showing themselves as she thought over what exactly she would do. It was at this moment that she noticed that a young man blond hair, dressed in a dress shirt and blazer, walked over to the table from behind the monitor. The man was head of the cyber-warfare department of the Resistance's LA branch, a man by the name of Zack Wehrenberg. All he did was stand right of Jeffrey and stare at Rachel with his soft eyes that begged for her help.

Zack's stare opened up Rachel's mind to the possibility of collaboration, leading her to ask, "And what if I decide to help you guys?"

"We'll make sure you go free," Jeffrey responded, promising Rachel that the Resistance would leave her alone after this ordeal was over.