Chapter 12: We'll Spar It Out.

My head hurt, but I couldn't let it show. I put on a face of fake confidence and walked to my desk.

"Have Baxter, McHenry, Sutton, and company come into my office." I said. It took exactly three minutes for all of them to get in my office, but I was not prepared for what I saw. Bex had frizzy hair (which I'm petty sure that's where the burning smell in the hall came from) and Macey's makeup was smudged as if she was playing in the rain. Grant and Jonas both had pit stains, a slightly red bruise forming on Jonas' arm. Liz, worst of all, was covered head to toe in a smelly blue substance.

"If they had a take-your-friends-to-work day, you guys wouldn't make it past security." I laughed, but not because it was funny.

"You said we'd handle things like Gallagher Girls, no better time than the present."

"Alright, lets handle it like we did in high school. It's been a while since I've had a good spar." I grabbed my sparring clothes from the bag behind my desk, looking at them as they stared in shock. "You coming?" I exited, listening to the footsteps behind me. We arrived at the sparring quarters. There were multiple sections, each of them a padded room for two. I showed the guard my card and he handed me another keycard. I pulled Bex's hand to 10B, and handed her gear.

"You guys can watch from the outside, but whatever happens, you can't enter. We leave when someone pushes that button, signaling defeat." The all nodded in approval. I closed the doors hearing the clicks and whirs of the locks.

"Okay, start."

"I am mad at you," she kicked me in the side. "Because once again-" she lifted her foot to kick me but I grabbed her and pinned her to the ground. "You ran away." She finished, twisting herself out of my hold.

"I am mad at you-" I roundhouse kicked her. "Because you drugged me-" I threw a punch at her but she dodged it and pinned me against the wall. "At a time when I needed to be strong." I pulled out of her hold.

"I only did that for your own good!" She shouted, each word paired with a kick or a punch, some of them I dodged, some I wasn't so lucky.

"How does being weak help me!" I shot back.

"It's better than you being crazy! I've been there! I've watched what happens when your mind pushes itself too hard." She shouted, punching at my chest. "I refuse to see it happen again."

"I would've been able to handle myself." I whispered. I then took her arm behind her and pinned it to her back.

"You know, you said that in high school." She huffed, catching her breath. "Then you tried to jump off a building." She turned her arm out of my hold before returning the roundhouse kick I gave her earlier.

"I was hypnotized!" I shifted her weight slamming her onto the padded floor.

"Exactly! You wander and get hurt! You don't even know your own destructive cycle!" She pulled my arm and swung me at the wall. I rubbed my jaw.

"You're right, okay! And I'm sorry." My voice softened. I started to approach the big red button of defeat, but she beat me to it and the doors opened.

"Listen, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you, and choked you, and formed that little scar on your jawline." She draped her arm on my shoulder. I grabbed my aching side and we hobbled out together.

"You couldn't be like normal girls and just talk it out?" Grant huffed from behind Macey and Jonas.

"Were not normal girls, were Gallagher Girls." I smiled. Bex and I dragged each other back to my office hand in hand.

I walked around behind my desk ravaging through the drawers.

"Liz, can you analyze the blood on this for me?" I pulled out an evidence bag. "I need a name and face."

"How is she gonna analyze blood from a leaf?" Macey asked. Liz pulled out a jar of purple liquid and shook it.

"I was developing this a couple weeks ago, it's able to pull footprints and random particles from hard surfaces, by making a rubber form of it."

"And why didn't I know about this?" Jonas chimed.

"Because I suggested you work in the same field as me and you said no." She gave him a fake smile. She poured the purple liquid onto the leaf, pulling a hardened thin rubber layer off of it. She scanned it into the computer and her fingers started sliding over the keys.

"There are three results. A girl from Algeria, another one in Washington, and a girl who is presumed dead."

"Can you filter the results?"

"That's what the system is trying to do now." Exactly 61.8 seconds later Liz turned completely pale. Macey walk over to her computer screen and stared at it in shock. She took one hand and covered her mouth.

"What is it?" I eased towards the screen.

"You might not want to look at this." Macey muttered.

"Why not?" I asked defensively.

"You definitely won't like the results." Liz added. Bex immediately jumped in front of me and looked at the screen.

"Grant, hold her back." Bex whispered. I felt Grant's arms grab mine, putting me into a hold that I could swear they banned because of me.

"Let me go!" I yelled.

"Sorry, I'm following orders." I lifted my foot and kicked Grant in, well, it's best if you don't know where I kicked him. I watched him bend over in pain before pulling on my leg and dragging me to the floor. I punched him with all my might watching him stumble around, before pulling myself up and running to the screen. I looked at the words, almost as if a thousand memories came rushing back to me all at once. I stormed out of the room and into Zach's office. The metal doors opened and I flew in, grabbing Zach by the collar.

"When were you going to tell me!" I shouted in his face.

"Tell you what?" In that instant Grant ran in and pulled me off of Zach. Grant held me in a tight grip by the waist as I kicked and clawed at his arm.

"All this time you lied to me! Nothing you told me was true!"

"What the hell is she talking about?" He asked, pointing to Bex in the doorway.

"You have a sister! You lied to me about it this whole time, and I want to know why!"