I'm back! I know I always say the new chapter is my favorite so far, but I really think this one is...Here's to hoping you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Read and review. As always, hugs and butterfly kisses, ravenclawdancer4999.

Joey froze; his heart beating faster and faster in his chest. He was screwed for sure this this time.

"Now, be a good boy and put the gun on the floor," the voice commanded in a harsh whisper.

Joey didn't know what else he could do, so he surrendered the weapon as well as the flashlight. As soon as he did, something was tied tightly over his eyes, eliminating the possibility of him seeing his captor's face. He also felt all of his equipment being taken, even the black war paint.

"But, the texts," he murmured softly, "They came from Dylan's phone."

"Texts can be misleading," the voice replied smoothly, "Especially when the phone has fallen into someone else's possession."

"Who are you?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." Just like that, a gag was shoved into his mouth and he was forced to move. As he was guided along the hall, his mind wandered. Joey knew that voice, he just couldn't figure out who it belonged to. The raspy voice was undeniably female, but that was all he could deduce.

After being pushed into a room, his hands were bound as well as his ankles with what he could have sworn was his own rope. Joey lay on the floor, helpless, as he heard a set of footsteps echoing down the hallway as the figure left.

While this had been going on, Julia, Matt, and Nick had crept down the stairs and into the basement.

"Everyone knows what to do?" Nick asked, clutching his Nerf Gun. Both Matt and Julia nodded. "Then let's do this." The group crept up to the stage combat classroom and entered. For a split second, the two group stared at each other before the brothers and Julia sprinted away.

"What are we waiting for? Get them!" Lauren yelled, and the rest of her group took off after them.

The three-way alliance specifically ran towards an area that had two different hallways. Once they had reached the intersection, Matt and Nick took off down a different path while Julia continued to run straight ahead.

"Now what?" Walker asked.

"We split up," Brian nodded, "We'll follow the Langs."

"And we'll follow Julia," Meredith finished. They ran after their chosen targets, trying to make up for lost time.

It was the boys who met first. The brothers came to another split in the hallways and changed their direction once more. Matt went right while Nick went left, and Walker and Brian followed, respectively.

Just when it seemed Joe might catch up, Matt put on an extra burst of speed and ducked behind a trashcan, waiting for Walker to unknowingly run past. Nick managed to lure Holden into another room and they were now having a shoot-out, each of them hidden behind a table.

"It won't be long now," the shadowy figure smiled, watching the rest of the group on the security screens while Jim looked on. Black war paint was smeared under her eyes, as well as Jim's, and both had black bandannas tied around their forehead. The figure grabbed the flashlight and the screwdriver from the pile of stolen gear, along with her backpack.

"I'm assuming you aren't planning on telling me anything about this supposedly perfect plan?" Jim raised an eyebrow. While he was slightly ticked off that she wouldn't let him do anything but watch the video monitors, he was still curious, nevertheless.

"Correction, I will tell you what you need to know," she replied, tossing Jim the spare weapon and pulling on the pair of fingerless gloves, "The less you know, the safer you'll be."

"Gee, thanks," Jim muttered.

"You'll be able to get in on the action soon, promise," she nodded as she moved the stolen equipment out of sight, "Stay here while I go take care of something and use that to defend yourself, if necessary. And what do we do if someone manages to get in here?"

"Tell them I wandered into the building and got kidnapped," Jim recited, imitating the figure's voice, "I didn't see who it was because they came from behind and they locked me in here."

"Excellent," the figure replied, "I'll be back in ten minutes, tops. Be ready to go the second I get back here, because we won't have much time after that." The mysterious person disappeared, locking the door behind her. Jim simply sighed and shook his head.

The figure moved through the floors one by one, using the screwdriver to slightly loosen and pry open each of the air vents. It took slightly more effort to do it unseen in the basement, where all the action was taking place, but she managed it just fine. She wanted everyone to hear what happened next. Once everything had been opened, she slipped off to take care of one last detail.

It had taken Julia a bit longer to get her target alone than it had either of the brothers. As she ran towards yet another fork, she took the roll of duct tape from her wrist and threw it as hard as she could down the right hallway as she went down the left. She ducked into a room and waited.

"Which way did she go?" Lauren asked.

"I thought I heard her go right, but I also heard something go left," Meredith replied, wrinkling her nose thoughtfully. "I'll go left, you go right." So the two girls took off sprinting again. As soon as she heard Meredith's footsteps pass, Julia emerged and went back down the right hallway to follow Lauren. Once she saw Lauren ahead of her, she grinned mischievously.

"Looking for someone, Lo?" she called smugly. Lauren whipped around and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You," Lauren growled, stalking towards her roommate, "You little-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Julia chided, interrupting her smugly, "I'd be careful if I were you. Remember, we do live together and we wouldn't want any hurt feelings, now would we? Besides, you can't really be angry with me, not when you and Meredith so stupidly left me alone. You pretty much handed me an invitation to escape…" Julia was doing her job maybe just a little too well; Lauren looked as though she might throw something, with her eyes burning and her fists clenched.

Back on the first floor, Joey laid on the floor for what felt like hours until finally felt a pair of eyes staring at him. He could sense footsteps, slowly approaching him. Soon enough though, his gag was removed

"What are you going to do to me?" he said, his voice quavering slightly.

"It's really more of what you are going to do for me," the raspy voice answered, leaning in close enough so that Joey could almost hear her breathe. "Now scream, Joey, scream or else your friend gets it." He needed no further encouragement; his scream pierced through the darkness as the figure took off running.

A/N: GASP! Now all the pieces of the plan are falling into place for the elusive mysterious figure, whoever they are... Can you figure out what's going to happen next? I bet you all have a pretty close idea, but keep those to yourself for now. We don't want to spoil it for anyone else, do we?