Hi friends. I'm back. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews on the last chapter! I'm sorry I had to kill Spencer to get them lol. Breaking news- no one dies in this chapter! Hurray! I hope you guys like it. If there's one chapter I worked the most on, it's the vampire one. But next in line would be this one. It took me two, two and a half weeks to write? Which is longer than really any other chapter has ever taken me before. Hopefully it wasn't in vain. :P

The chapter title comes from "Who Are You, Really?" by Mikky Ekko and today's AU is Spoby as spies. Yes, you read that right. Spies. Or, really, spies in training, but spies all the same. I paired them up with Haleb because that's my OT4 (I wish they'd do more shit on the show; legit, if 5B was just Spoby and Haleb double dating or hanging out or literally just staring at each other, it would've been better and more relevant than the shit they gave us). Hopefully you enjoy! Let me know either way? Love you guys!

i've got nothing left to prove 'cause i've got nothing left to lose

Duct tape is torn from her mouth in a harsh ripping sound and she gasps and hisses in pain, tears welling in her soft, chocolate eyes. It's dark and she can't see a single thing, but her wrists are bound behind her in a taut rope and there's a coppery smell to the air- blood, perhaps? She squirms and tries to wriggle herself free, but it's a lost cause; she's going nowhere. As her eyes adjust to the darkness, she begins to make out the concrete walls that trap her in and a hanging cord just above her head. An arm extends into her line of vision and yanks on the cord and the room is bathed in a weak sheen of light, not incredibly bright, but enough to make her eyes squint painfully, her pupils retracting to their normal size. The arm belongs to a heavy-set man with tattoos on his knuckles and when he grins menacingly at her, she realizes he's missing three teeth.

"Welcome to Neverland, darling," He croons, his voice gravelly. "Peyton! She's awake!"

Another man enters the scene a second later, this one taller, rougher-looking, and from what she can tell, probably meaner. "Sophie… I'm glad you're finally with us."

She frowns and asks, "Who are you? Where am I?"

"Whoa, slow down," He grumbles, kneeling before her. "Why don't we just relax and try to have a conversation? Just get to know each other."

"I don't want to know you," She struggles against the ropes on her wrists. "I want to go home."

"Sophie, how old are you?" The tall man asks. "Eight? Nine?"

"I'm eleven," Sophie scoffs. "Duh."

"Right," He says. "Then you're probably too young to understand foreign policy. Let me explain-"

"I don't care," Sophie cuts him off. "Take me home. Now."

"See, I can't do that," He shakes his head. "We're gonna keep you right here until we get what we want from your Daddy and then maybe, just maybe, we'll let you go home. Or, maybe we'll hang you up from the ceiling and use you like a piñata. You know what that is, don't you, Sophie?"

Sophie aims a kick right into his face and grins as she watches him howl in pain, blood erupting from his nose. He swears, "You little bitch. Clarke, her feet, you asshole!"

The heavy man uses the extra rope to attach her legs to the chair as well. Sophie insists, adamant, "You've made a terrible mistake, you know. My Dad's pretty powerful; I bet he's got people coming for me right now."

"For your sake," He growls. "You better hope that's true."

"Good afternoon. As you are all aware, my name is Mr. X and the four of you have been chosen for your assessment a bit early in your schooling, but as the opportunity has presented itself, we could not turn it down," The man introduces. "You all made the commitment when you began learning that upon the end of your lessons, you would, under close supervision by yours truly, complete a mission of my creation to prove your skills were set in stone. Despite next week being your actual final week of schooling, the mission presents itself now."

The four adolescents nod their understanding. Mr. X continues. "I have chosen the four of you from your two separate schools because each of you have demonstrated qualities that I believe will be the utmost beneficial to complete this mission."

"From St. Anthony's Academy, I have chosen Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin," Mr. X addresses each of them. "Miss Hastings, you have been chosen based upon your intellect and quick-thinking in times of struggle. Do you accept?"

She nods quickly. "I do, sir."

"Fantastic," He says. "Miss Marin, you have been chosen based upon your keen interpersonal skills and the sheer bravery you have exhibited in the past. Do you accept?"

"Yes, sir," She says firmly.

"Great," Mr. X moves on. "From the I-CON School, I have chosen Caleb Rivers and Toby Cavanaugh. Mr. Rivers, you have been chosen based upon your logic and reasoning as well as your strong ability to manipulate electronic devices. Do you accept?"

"Yes, sir," He agrees. "I do."

Mr. X nods and adds, "And finally, Mr. Cavanaugh. You have been chosen based upon your physical endurance as well as your sensational surveying skills. Do you accept?"

"Yes, I do, sir," He nods.

"Then it's settled. Allow me to walk you through your mission," Mr. X begins and pulls up a photo of a young girl on the projection screen. "This is Sophie Desjardins, the daughter of the Prime Minister of France. A few days ago, there was a conference in Washington D.C. at the United Nations. Mr. Desjardins had a few of his guards and service agents take Sophie all about the town to keep her occupied, but instead, they ended up dead and Sophie is nowhere to be found."

"We believe she's been kidnapped by members of a German gang in protest of France's new foreign policy," Mr. X explains. "We don't know how powerful these men are, but they've risen in the past few weeks and are only growing stronger by the minute. How many of them have Sophie in captivity is unknown as is their whereabouts, but that is what you four are going to find out."

"Now, we don't expect you to bring these men to justice," Mr. X smiles almost patronizingly. "We'll save that for someone with just a bit more experience. But we do expect you to bring Sophie home safely. Unnecessarily exposing yourselves to the danger these men exude or failure to heed my warnings will result in the revoking of your equipment and the expulsion from school. Understood?"

All four nod simultaneously. "Good. You have twenty-four hours to pack anything you may need for the journey. I will be sending you an undisclosed location where we'll be meeting before heading for D.C. You are dismissed."

They file into the hallway and the door is shut firmly behind them. Not one of them speaks until they're outside in the warm Pennsylvanian sunshine, but then Hanna squeals, "I can't believe this is happening! Our very first case!"

"Hanna, be cool," Caleb scolds. "Come on, when we get this girl back, we're going to graduate and get the real missions."

"Well, sorry for being excited," Hanna defends herself. "But I was getting really sick of those night-vision classes in the gym and rappelling down the side of our dorm. We're going to get to do these things for real, now."

"Who just kidnaps an eleven-year-old like that?" Spencer frowns. "She's defenseless."

"That's the point, isn't it?" Toby wonders. "I mean, they're trying to get to the Prime Minister. The best way to take out the offense is to go for their only weakness."

"Yeah, but why bother with the kid?" Caleb agrees. "Why didn't they just go straight for him?"

"Are you guys seriously trying to come up with a motive for kidnapping?" Hanna deadpans. "How about they're fucking crazy? And angry, by the sounds of this whole foreign policy thing. When you mix anger and insanity, it's just a giant recipe for disaster. It makes people do stupid shit."

Spencer pauses a moment and then sits on the lawn before them, yanking her laptop out of her bag. Toby smirks and asks, "What are you doing?"

"Searching for abandoned warehouses and foreclosed homes and empty buildings in D.C.," She answers as if it's the most natural thing in the world. "Look, if they're going to kidnap someone, especially someone as high-profile as Sophie, they're not going to bring her back to some place that just anyone could find. But if we can find a pattern between these places, maybe we can secure a general area they might be in."

Toby's amused. "You know we don't have to start right away, right? We don't leave until tomorrow."

"Yeah, and by tomorrow, Sophie could be dead," Spencer argues. "We don't know how many of them there are and we don't know what they're capable of. If we don't get a head start, we could be finding her body."

"Wait," Caleb sits beside her. "If you hack into the government's database, you can get a PDF of Desjardins' itinerary from the day and we can figure out where his guards were so we can check the security cameras."

"Do you think I'm a rookie?" Spencer rolls her eyes. "I did that already. I couldn't get into the international system, though."

Caleb chuckles and motions for her computer. "Then yes, I think you're a rookie. Give me that."

He snatches the laptop into his lap and his fingers fly over the keys for a moment before the screen grows dark. Spencer frowns. "Great. Now look what you did."

"Patience, dear," Caleb teases and types in an access code made of a jumble of numbers and letters. "See? No problem."

"Oh my god," Spencer exclaims, reclaiming her computer. "How did you do that?"

Caleb shrugs. "You want me to share my secret? And give away the one thing that makes me beneficial to the group? No way."

"Oh, come on, you're good for more than just that," Toby jokes. "I mean, if you were gone, what else would Hanna have to stare at?"

"Leave me out of this," Hanna playfully swats him. "Besides, you do plenty of your own staring, Toby. I'm surprised you've even noticed there are other people here."

He shoots her a look. "You're on my list, Marin."

She giggles. "So, nothing new, there."

"Okay, according to the itinerary, Desjardins' guards were at the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial and were just outside the Capitol when the kidnapping took place. They arrived at the Capitol at four p.m. and police responded to gunfire at four twenty-three, so it's safe to say the kidnapping happened between those two time marks."

"Thousands of people visit the Capitol daily, though," Toby says. "And it isn't like we'll be able to run prints, or anything. What are we supposed to do?"

"Ask for the security tapes from every place they visited that morning," Spencer says as though it's obvious. "We'll watch all of them and see if we can find anyone watching the guards and Sophie or following them or something. There's got to be something there. How else would they know who to target or where they were going to be?"

"I guess that makes sense," Caleb shrugs.

Hanna shakes her head. "This is hurting my brain. Can we go pack and get food and then talk about this?"

Spencer rolls her eyes, a smile on her face. She folds the laptop back into her satchel and nods. "Sure. Catch you guys later?"

They agree and begin to part ways and as an afterthought, Toby calls out, "Hey, Spence. Wait a minute."

She turns on her heel to ask, "Yeah?"

He balks and realizes he has nothing say; he just hadn't wanted her to go just yet. "I, um… I'm really glad we were both chosen for this mission."

She smiles warmly. "Me too. We'll get to spend more time together this way."

Toby nods. "I'm looking forward to it."

Spencer agrees. "So am I."

They awaken at six a.m., all their gear packed and ready for them to use, and meet Mr. X at a corner store, abandoned months ago and slated to be turned into a coffeehouse in the near future. It's a cold morning; frost colors the thin patches of grass, promising a harsh winter up ahead, and as they jog towards the empty building, their breaths are visible before them. The four adolescents enter through the back discreetly and find Mr. X waiting for them in a suit and tie right in the middle of the floor. They nod in greeting and stand before him quietly, awaiting further instruction. Mr. X addresses each of them before presenting them with a portfolio inside a manila folder with all the information they'll need along the way.

"Consider this the beginning of your mission," Mr. X instructs. "I will be checking in with you as you go on from time to time, but as of this second, you four are on your own. Sophie Desjardins' life is in danger and it is up to the four of you to bring her back safely."

"Excuse me, sir?" Spencer says. "I've been doing some independent research on the German gang, Kronos? They've done some pretty nasty things. The leader is this guy named Peyton Schmeling and he has a record a mile long. I'm afraid if he's the one who took Sophie, he'll kill her before we can act. I feel like it's almost better if we go after him first and get Sophie afterwards. If we don't, she's going to suffer and he'll get away."

"I've actually created a GPS tracking chip," Caleb puts in. "If we can get close enough to him to insert it-"

"Hold on," Mr. X halts them. "What did I inform the four of you that your mission was?"

"To retrieve Sophie safely," Hanna answers quietly.

"And what did I say your mission was not?"

"To take down the gang," Toby sighs. "But sir-"

"There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it," Mr. X shakes his head. "You are simply not qualified to carry out such a task."

"Sir, with all due respect, you taught us yourself," Spencer argues. "And you wouldn't have chosen us if you didn't think we were capable."

"And I do think you're perfectly capable, but let's take small bites of the elephant, here," Mr. X tells her. "I have professionals in place to deal with Peyton and the rest of Kronos. Keep your research, Miss Hastings, on the topic at hand."

"But how are we going to get Sophie if we don't know what we're dealing with?" Hanna asks. "We won't even know which protocol to follow."

"Follow the protocol I and the rest of my educational team taught you when dealing with a hostage situation," Mr. X scrubs a hand over his face in frustration. "Look, we don't have time to waste arguing about this. You'll do what I asked of you or I'll find someone else who will."

Spencer shakes her head. "But sir-"

"No more buts, Miss Hastings!"

A clicking sound resonates from outside the walls. Toby glances over his shoulder and his eyes widen. "Um, guys?"

"Come on, Mr. X, you're being unreasonable!" Hanna complains. "How are we supposed to do one without the other?"

Toby tries again. "Guys?"

"Treat the men of Kronos as if they were any other run of the mill antagonist," Mr. X frowns. "Do you understand me? Do not get involved."

"Guys," Toby interrupts and they finally turn their attention towards him. His voice is low when he says, "Don't look now, but we've been made."

"What?" Caleb wonders. "What are you talking about?"

They all turn in the direction of the glass windows just as one of them shatters and the glass rains down around them. Toby shouts, "Get down!"

Bullets ring throughout the air, hitting the walls, the tables and chairs, and the dusty light fixtures as their five bodies dive to the floor. Over the gunfire, Hanna shouts, "I think they found us!"

"Yeah, we're off to a great start," Caleb agrees. "We have to get out here now!"

They army crawl towards the back storage room and just as Spencer reaches for the door, a bullet splinters the handle and it comes away in her hand. She's shaking when Toby asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," She answers automatically, her voice betraying her. "Yeah, no, I'm fine."

Instead, they huddle in a mass in the center of the room and then, as quickly as it had begun, the gunshots end. There's silence and carnage and Caleb leaps to his feet to survey the area, just as Hanna panics, "Caleb! What are you doing?"

"We're clear," He shrugs. "They're gone."

"Let that be a lesson to all of you," Mr. X hisses, standing and brushing himself off. "You do not entice them further, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Your mission is Sophie," He continues. "Not them."

Caleb, Hanna and Toby nod. Spencer purses her lips and says nothing.

Mr. X turns on his heel and heads towards the exit and as Spencer scrambles to get up off the floor, she realizes she and Toby are holding hands.

"So I've been thinking," Spencer announces after a beat. "We need to learn more about Kronos."

"Spence," Toby sighs. "You heard what Mr. X said. We don't get involved."

"Yeah," Hanna agrees, turning in her seat. "Today was the only time I ever want to be dive-bombed by a bunch of gunfire. No thanks."

"Guys, he said that to protect us," Spencer states and the others stare at her.

"Exactly," Toby nods. "What's your point?"

"My point is, we were tasked with the mission to protect Sophie," Spencer explains. "And how are we going to protect her if we know next to nothing about the people who have her?"

"I guess that makes sense," Caleb shrugs. "But shouldn't we focus on the kid?"

"Well, yeah, obviously," Spencer nods. "That's why I think we should split up."

"Oh, like a task force," Hanna says and Spencer agrees. "So two of us will focus our energies on finding and retrieving Sophie and the other two will focus on distracting Kronos and maybe taking them down?"

"Yes," Spencer states adamantly. "And when we combine our efforts, we'll kill two birds with one stone and Mr. X will forget all about how he told us not to do this."

"Or," Caleb suggests. "He'll be so pissed, he'll go to our headmasters and have us all expelled and we'll never become full-fledged spies."

Spencer pauses a moment and shakes her head. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"Well as much as I don't want to break the rules, I think this is a really great plan," Hanna says. "And I'd like to be on Team Sophie. I'm good with kids."

"Hanna," Caleb chuckles. "She's like eleven."

Hanna shrugs. "I'm good with pre-teens, too."

"Okay, you two take Sophie, Toby and I'll take Kronos," Spencer assigns. "We'll show Mr. X what we can and can't handle…"

Hanna rolls her eyes and Caleb chuckles, shaking his head, as they turn in their seats to talk strategy. Toby peers out the plane window at the tiny towns and roads below and the clouds they're floating through before asking, "You don't like being told what to do, do you?"

"I don't like being told what not to do," Spencer corrects. "Look, I understand his intentions, honestly. But how does he expect us to only do half of a mission? I don't half-ass anything."

"You don't say?" He implores teasingly. "Is that why you want to become a spy? To prove something?"

"I've got nothing to prove," Spencer shrugs. "I want to be a spy because I want to help people and they have a less conventional way of going about it. There are virtually no rules. I don't like rules."

"Funny," Toby admits. "You always kind of struck me as the kind of person who would make the rules, not break them."

She shoots him a look. "Well then, maybe that's what I have to prove- that I'm not some stuck-up preppy who only cares about grades and extracurriculars and what their parents and teachers think of them."

"Whoa," Toby holds up his hands in defense. "I didn't say you did any of those things."

"I know. I'm sorry," She shakes her head. "It's kind of a sore subject for me."

"Family pressure?" He asks and she nods slowly. "Yeah, I get that. Just remember I'm on your side here, okay?"

She smiles slowly. "Thanks."

He nods. "So what do we know so far about Kronos?"

Her eyes seem to sparkle. "I'm glad you asked."

She pulls a notebook out of her carry-on and begins to detail every little bit of information that she'd found right before him and Toby can't help himself but grin, because he's never seen Spencer happier than when she's on a mission. Her eyes are alight with excitement and she's speaking animatedly and, call him pathetic, but he's finding it very hard to focus right now. In moments, the pilot announces they're making their final approach on D.C. and turns the seatbelt light on minutes later. When they land, the four gather their things and exit in a timely fashion, already on alert, as if Kronos and Sophie would be waiting for them after they've disembarked.

Hanna's the first to ask, "So… What now?"

"I think he's for us," Caleb points towards a man in a suit and dark sunglasses, looking as though he's just stepped off the set for Men in Black. He's holding a sign that reads 'XYZ' and when they approach him, he holds one hand out to stop them.

"Are you them?"

"Yes, sir," Spencer nods. "Mr. X sent us from the Academy and from I-CON."

The man lowers his sign and crosses his arms. "Then you must know the code."

"The code?" Spencer questions. "I don't think he mentioned one."

"You could be teenagers on a field trip for all I know," The man says. "You have to know the code if I'm going to give you his message."

"So what's the code?" Hanna implores and the man grins.

"That's what you have to tell me," He replies. "Look, if you're just wasting my time here-"

"Un deux trois quatre cinq," Toby says suddenly and the man grins.

"What?" Spencer exclaims in surprise. "It's just counting to five in French?"

"No," The man negates and then hands an envelope to Toby. "Stick with this one. He understands."

He walks away from them, out of the airport and into the sunlight, as Spencer and Hanna stare at Toby, dumbfounded. "What the hell was that?"

"Seriously," Caleb chuckles. "I can't believe you two don't know the code."

"Well, enlighten us, wise ones!" Spencer shrieks. "No one told us the code!"

"Why would they tell you guys and not us?" Hanna shouts. "This is ridiculous."

"I had to think about it for a moment," Toby says. "It was in Basics so long ago… But I was pretty sure that was it."

"So it's just counting to five?" Spencer asks. "How stupid is that?"

"No, it's not," Caleb shakes his head. "It's the answer to a riddle."

"A riddle?" Hanna eyes him strangely. "Yeah, okay."

"It is," Toby nods. "There's three cats and they're competing in a race. There's an American cat named 'One two three,' a German cat named 'Ein zwei drei,' and a French cat named 'Un deux trois.' The cats all swim across a lake; the American cat finishes first, the German cat finishes second, but the French cat is nowhere to be found. Why?"

"Because," Caleb finishes. "The un deux trois quatre cinq."

The girls stare at them a moment before Spencer states, "That's ridiculous. Who came up with that?"

"Mr. X himself," Toby shrugs and tears open the envelope. "And by this letter, we're supposed to meet him in the back alley behind the train station in twenty minutes, so you can tell him how stupid his code is."

Spencer shoots him a look. "Don't tempt me; I totally will."

Hanna bites her lip a moment before saying, "Am I the only one who totally didn't get that?"

Caleb chuckles and explains it a little better as they hail a cab and head in the direction of the train station. It takes them twenty minutes just to find the back alley, as the building throws them for loops and takes them through twists and turns, obviously meant for keeping people out of it. It occurs to them that this is the exact reason why Mr. X would choose such a place for their meeting, as he's determined to keep them out of the public's eye. When they finally reach the alley, it's littered with trash and smells strongly of engine fuel, but Mr. X is nowhere to be found. A large green dumpster marks a dead end on the opposite side of the alley and they head towards it blindly. And when they approach it, they find Mr. X.

Spencer notices him first and gasps, "Oh my god."

"Oh Jesus," Caleb hisses. "What the hell?"

Mr. X is slumped over, a knife through his heart, blood bubbling from his mouth and dripping steadily onto the pavement. Spencer squeezes her eyes shut and buries her face in Toby's shoulder as his arm comes around her, shielding her from the sight. "Oh shit."

Hanna's gripping Caleb's hand anxiously as she says, "What do we do? Do we call it in?"

"And call attention to ourselves?" Spencer asks. "No way."

"Well then, can we get out of here?" Hanna begs impatiently. "Please?"

The three turn away just as Caleb steps forward, Hanna shrieking, "Caleb! Come on!"

"There's something on him," Caleb calls back and pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket. He wraps it around the knife and gives a tug; it comes loose and he's able to slip the piece of paper off of the blade easily. His eyes widen when he reads it and he turns so his colleagues can indulge in the message as well.

It's written in blood- X marks the spot. Don't stay. You're next.

"Okay, I don't know about you guys," Hanna says. "But I think I'm ready to go home."

Toby slips the room key into the door and pushes it open. "We can't give up already. We just got here."

They pour into the hotel room as the door shuts behind them. Hanna shakes her head. "I don't care. I wasn't planning on risking my life."

"What did you expect this was going to be like?" Caleb asks her. "We were just going to show up at Kronos headquarters and they'd hand us Sophie with roses and an apology?"

Hanna glares at him. "No. But I also didn't think we'd find our fearless leader skewered in alley with a warning note predicting our death!"

"Not going to lie to you, it's a setback," Toby nods. "Kind of a major one. I guess we're on our own now. What do you think, Spence?"

She nods quietly. "Yeah. Yeah I guess so."

"You'd think you'd at least be excited," Hanna shrugs. "We can do what we want now; get Sophie, go after Kronos, whatever."

"Excited?" Spencer asks, pained. "Hanna, a man's dead."

"I didn't mean excited about that," She frowns. "Ugh. We're back at freaking square one again. We know nothing, we have nothing… How are we possibly going to pull this off?"

"The same way we were going to do it before, Han," Caleb tells her. "We're going to put our brains together and think of something."

"We're screwed!" She shouts. "We don't know where they are! We're never going to find them!"

"That's not true," Caleb disagrees. "I took the little welcoming present they left us."

"The note?" Toby asks.

"Yep," Caleb nods. "And the knife. If I can lift some prints, we might be able to at least track down a who, if not a where."

"Now you're talking," Toby grins. "See Hanna? We're getting there. It might be slow, but you've just got to have a little faith."

"Whatever." She shakes her head. "I'm going to go take a shower. I smell like airplanes and death."

She turns in the direction of the bathroom as Caleb pops some ear buds in and begins to get to work. Spencer is sitting on the edge of the bed, staring out the window, and Toby can't read the expression on her face. He sits beside her and notes, "You've been quiet. You okay?"

"Mr. X is dead," Spencer shakes her head. "Of course I'm not okay. I mean, obviously I knew how powerful these guys were, but I don't think I ever expected… I just didn't know it was going to go this far."

"I know," He rubs her back a little. "It was a shock for all of us. But we're still going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to get Sophie back."

"Yeah, but…" She trails off a moment. "Who's going to tell us what we should be looking for? Who's going to point us in the right direction? Who's going to guide us?"

"You're Spencer Hastings," He offers. "You don't need anyone to tell you what to do, remember? You already know."

"This is different, Toby," Spencer sighs. "This is a life or death situation and I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"You are," He assures her. "Trust me, you are. Mr. X chose you for a reason. He saw a lot of potential in you. If he hadn't thought you were right for the job, he would've picked someone else."

She glances at him. "You think so?"

"I know so," He affirms. "And he made the right choice, I promise you."

"I was so annoying, though," Spencer says. "He kept telling me not to get involved with Kronos and I kept pushing against him… I kept insisting that we do it anyway. I'm so stubborn."

"Yeah, you are," Toby chuckles. "But you get shit done. And I think he always knew that; it's part of the reason he picked you. You don't take no for an answer. And that's a good thing, especially now."

She smiles slowly and says, "You're always so nice to me. I want to keep you around forever."

He grins. "I have absolutely no problem with that."

She leans in or he does or they meet somewhere in the middle; in any way, their lips meet and it feels familiar, like they've been doing this all along. After a moment, Caleb clears his throat and says, "I can't hear you, but I'm still sitting right here."

They break apart, blushing furiously, and Spencer laughs a bit. "We could've picked a better moment."

"I think the moment was perfect," Toby grins. "It's the audience we could've done without."

She grins, too, and for a moment, everything seems magnificent. But then she hears it- a slow, but steady beeping sound ringing into the late afternoon. The smile slowly fades and she asks, "Do you hear that?"

Toby nods a bit. "Yeah. What is that?"

"That beeping noise…" Spencer trails off and as she walks past Caleb, she tugs on his headphones. "Caleb, there's a weird sound."

He joins in on the search party and moments later, Toby's found the source. It's coming from the closet, from the in-room safe, and when he opens it, he discovers a bomb. His eyes widen. "Oh my god."

"Oh my god!" Spencer shrieks. "How much time?"

"Forty-five seconds," Toby says. "We have to get out of here."

"Where are we going to go?" Spencer asks. "We won't make it outside and far enough away in forty-five seconds!"

Caleb turns and bangs on the bathroom door. "Hanna!"

"What?" She calls back, a bit muffled.

"Get out of the shower!"

"What?" Hanna screams back. "No!"

"Hanna, get out of the shower now!" Caleb insists and when he hears the water shut off, he races back to his computer. "I found the fingerprints in the system, I just need to get the name."

"You have thirty-eight seconds," Toby says and then tosses the bomb onto the bedside table as though it's on fire. "Why am I still holding this?"

"We have to go," Spencer repeats. "We have to get out of here."

"How?" Toby asks. "There's no way."

Hanna yanks the bathroom door open, clad only in a towel, hair dripping down her back, and asks, "What the hell is going on?"

"Remember when Kronos said we're next?" Caleb asks her and then nods towards the ticking time bomb. "Well, we're next."

"What the fuck?" Hanna screams. "Why are we still here?"

"Where are we going to go?" Toby asks in panic.

"We have to jump," Spencer states, standing by the window. "We'll go out on the balcony and… jump, I guess."

"Jump?" Hanna exclaims. "We're on the tenth floor! We'll die!"

"We're dying either way," Spencer sighs. "Do you want it to be quick and painless or… quick and… and painless."

"Oh my god," Hanna groans. "Oh my god!"

"We have twenty-five seconds," Toby announces and then inspiration strikes.

"Wait!" Spencer says. "Let's pull the mattress off the bed and use the sheets as a kind of… air buffer? It might soften the blow and the mattress is thick enough that we probably won't kill ourselves."

"Wait, that's not a bad idea," Caleb agrees. "I mean, it's not a good idea, but it's all we've got."

They get to work, stripping the bed as Hanna throws clothes on her still-wet body. Shoving the door open, they balance the mattress on the edge of the balcony and Caleb runs back inside. "I have to write down the names!"

"Caleb, hurry!" Hanna insists.

"Ten seconds," Toby says and turns to Spencer. "On my back?"

"You don't have to tell me twice," She climbs up and braces herself as he grips the edge of the mattress.

"Caleb!" Hanna shouts and he's scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper.

"I have two left!"

"Come on!"

He slips the piece of paper into his bag of supplies, tosses the bag onto his back and assumes the same position as Toby. "On three?"

"I don't even know if we have that long," Toby shrugs. "Let's just go."

"Oh my god!" Hanna shouts one last time and then they're off.

They sail downward and their screams are drowned out by the rush and roar of the explosion.

Toby awakens in a daze and for a moment, he doesn't know where he is. There's a terrible pain coursing through his left arm and he realizes he must be in the hospital, because it's so incredibly bright the moment he opens his eyes. But the first thing he sees is Spencer and he can't say this is an unpleasant way to wake up. She sighs in relief and grips his hand. "Thank god you're okay. You've been unconscious since the explosion. It scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," He says and his voice is thick and unnatural. "What's up with my arm?"

"You dislocated your shoulder," Spencer answers and only then does his vision clear and he notes the deep purple bruise around her eye.

"What happened to your eye?" He asks in concern and she smiles sheepishly.

"You dislocated your shoulder into my face," She replies and giggles the tiniest bit.

"Oh my god," He groans. "I'm so sorry."

"Are you kidding? We jumped out of a building from the tenth floor and escaped with only a dislocated shoulder and a black eye," Spencer says. "We should be dead."

"Are Hanna and Caleb okay?" He then asks and Spencer nods.

"Hanna split her lip so hard, she needed stitches," She answers. "Caleb's got a few broken ribs. But we made it. We're all mostly okay."

"And we're not giving up?"

"No way," Spencer tells him. "In fact, Caleb got the who and while you were being treated, I got the where."

His eyes widen. "You did?"

"They're in a warehouse on the edge of town," Spencer says, a bit hushed. "There was a mark on the edge of the paper they left us, the one with the death threat? It was a snake with daggers for fangs. That's the Kronos logo. And when I ran it through the system, I found that same print on the side of a building in east D.C. We're headed there as soon as you guys are cleared."

Toby smiles, shaking his head. "You're too smart for your own good."

Spencer shrugs. "Anyone could've done that. You rest in the little time you have, okay?"

About an hour or so later, the four of them depart the hospital in search of the abandoned warehouse. It's off the beaten path and difficult to spot, but when they've located it, they prepare for takeover. After a quick perimeter search, it appears to be mostly empty; if they were expecting a hostile situation, they can pretty much cross that off the list. There's no one around to stop them from going inside, so they do. And when they find a darkened hallway with a door at the end, they assume this must be where they're keeping Sophie. Spencer slips a pin into the lock and they're in within moments. A young girl is tied to a kitchen chair in the middle of the room and her eyes are fearful at first at the foursome arriving.

"Hi, Sophie, right?" Hanna addresses. "I'm Hanna and this is Spencer, Caleb and Toby. We're here to take you home."

Toby kneels before her and very gently peels the duct tape off of her face. Surprisingly, the young girl smiles and says, "I knew you'd come."

"I'm going to radio the helicopter," Caleb says. "Hanna, they'll take off from the roof, so you'll get her up there?"

"My pleasure," She nods as she and Spencer begin to undo the bindings.

When she's free, Sophie stands, a bit wobbly after so long being forced to sit, and Hanna grabs her hand, darting towards the hallway to ascend to the roof. Caleb follows not soon after and just then, a door on the opposite wall opens and a heavy-set man enters the scene, grabbing Spencer by the wrist just as she tries to escape. "Now, what do we have here, hmm? Superheroes coming to save the day?"

Toby turns and advances on them. "Let go of her."

But the man raises a gun in his direction and shakes his head. "Let's not come any closer than that, alright? You're good right where you are."

"Get your hands off of me," Spencer struggles against him and the man chuckles.

"What kind of host would I be if I didn't get to know my guests?" He says. "My name's Clarke. What's yours, sweetheart?"

She says nothing and he brandishes the cool metal of the gun against her temple. "I said, what's yours?"

"Spencer," She emits through gritted teeth.

"Spencer," Clarke says, trying her name for size. "That's a pretty name. Pretty name for a pretty girl. And what about your friend over there?"

"It's Toby," He snarls. "And I swear to god, if you don't let go of her-"

"You'll do what?" Clarke chuckles. "Bring a knife to a gun fight?"

"Toby," Spencer says. "Just go."

He glances back at her, bewildered. "Are you kidding me? I'm not leaving you."

"Aw, did you hear that? He's not leaving you," Clarke teases, cocking the gun against Spencer's skull once more. "But we didn't say anything about you leaving him, now did we?"

"Don't," Toby shakes his head, pleadingly. "Please don't."

But Spencer is remarkably calm. "Toby, go. Just go."

"I can't," He disagrees. "I can't leave you like this."

"Aye matey," Spencer then says and his confusion increases exponentially.

"Aye matey?"

"You heard me," She nods. "Now go. Go!"

With one last look, he takes off down the hall and Clarke asks, "Aye matey? You a pirate in a past life?"

"Something like that," She mutters. "Now can we just get this over with already? Shoot me and be done with it."

"Nah, I ain't gonna shoot you," Clarke says, taking the gun off of her and slipping it into the back pocket of his jeans. "That show was just for lover boy over there. It's up to Peyton what he wants to do with you."

"And Peyton is your leader?" Spencer asks. "So… Where is Peyton now?"

"He's right here," A tall man answers, entering the scene. "Wondering who the fuck you are and where you put Sophie."

"Oh, Sophie's on the way back to her father, where she belongs," Spencer replies and extends a hand towards him. "And Spencer Hastings, by the way. Pleasure."

Peyton ignores her hand instead grabs her shoulders, holding her fiercely up against the wall. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I think I am Spencer Hastings," She answers calmly. "A special agent employed by the U.S. government to perform a search and rescue mission on Sophie Desjardins."

"Oh really?" Peyton grins wickedly. "And who do you think I am?"

"You are Peyton," Spencer says. "You're the head honcho of Kronos, I'm assuming, and you're in a lot of legal trouble."

"No," Peyton shakes his head. "I'm pretty sure I'm Peyton, the one who got away with Spencer Hastings' murder."

"You're not going to kill me," Spencer shakes her head and he frowns.

"How do you figure?"

"Because," She states simply. "All I have to do is say the words and my team will come busting through to capture you."

He smirks. "Oh really? And those words are?"

She smiles. "Aye matey."

A crash from above is heard and the entire ceiling crumbles through. Spencer's ears are ringing, but she grabs Hanna's extended hand from above and the bungee cord attached pulls her upward. Military agents from all branches flood the scene and take Peyton and Clarke into custody, and the former glares menacingly at Spencer as she waves goodbye tauntingly. The French prime minister is there, reuniting with his daughter on solid ground once more, and he takes turns thanking and embracing each of them for safely returning his daughter. They're presented with awards and told their mission is complete and when all is said and done, Toby turns to Spencer with a look of awe on his face.

"Aye matey?" He wonders. "What the hell was that?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" She smirks. "We have a code, too."

"Yeah, Hanna explained it's the one for danger," Toby says. "But what does it mean?"

"It's a riddle, just like yours," Spencer says. "What does a pirate say when he turns eighty?"

"Aye matey," Toby answers and then chuckles. "Wow. That's worse than ours."

"I don't know, they're both pretty bad," She grins. "We can thank Mr. X for that."

He loops an arm around her waist and brings her closer. "You scared me earlier. Sending me away? I thought he was going to kill you."

"Toby, I always have a plan," Spencer insists. "I was trying to get you to go fast enough so you could tell Hanna said plan."

He grins. "You're unbelievable."

Spencer chuckles. "Well, you better get used to it. This was the first of many, many missions to come."

Toby nods and says, "As long as I get to keep doing them with you, bring them on."