Lauren's Pov
Mia had been recovering from what happened with Josh for a little over a week before anything happened. We were having a meeting about the Inner Circle and what they've been up to. Mia and Jack had been included in these meetings ever since Wes died because once you were aware of the Inner Circle you wanted to know what they were doing.
"So we have literally no idea what the Inner Circle is doing. Like at all," Andy said.
"No, but John should be calling me any minute to give me an update on what he's found," Lorna said.
"But what if he hasn't found anything? We've gotten nothing for over a month. We have no idea what they are doing or what they are planning, let alone how to stop them." I said.
"Look, I hate it as much as you do but you know as well as I do that they are the most secretive organization in the country, if not the world. There is nothing we can do until we get information," Marcos said.
I sighed as Lorna's phone rang. She picked it up and we all watched her reactions as John told her whatever he knew. Near the end of the conversation, Lorna's eyes widened. Andy and I exchanged a glance. That had to mean that John found something right?
Lorna hung up and looked at Marcos, "He found something."
I smiled. Finally, we could actually do something.
"What did he find?" Mia said sitting up from where she was laying down on the couch.
Lorna took a deep breath and explained to us what John told her, "Apparently the Inner Circle was looking into a munitions factory in West Philadelphia. We don't know what they want with it or why they were even looking into it."
"Ok, now what?" Esme asked.
"I don't know," Lorna said.
"Are we going to fight?" Andy asked.
Lorna sighed, "What can we fight. We don't even know why they are attacking, or when they are attacking for that matter. How could we fight them."
"So we're just going to do nothing then," I said. How could we just do nothing and let more people get hurt?
"For now." Lorna said, "Until we come up with a plan."
"Screw a plan. Every time we make one it just goes wrong." Andy said. I could feel his anger mingling with my own.
"We want to fight Lorna. We can't just sit here and do nothing while the Inner Circle hurts more people." I said.
"Lauren last time you went up against the Inner Circle you got shot," Marcos said.
"Technically that was a purifier, not the Inner Circle," I said.
Lorna sighed, "Who was there because a spy who works for the Inner Circle told them where you were going. We have to wait until we know more."
"I'm done waiting. I want to do something." I said.
"And we will, just not yet," Lorna said. I sighed and leaned back in my chair.
"We should probably come up with a plan to watch the factory," Jack said.
Lorna nodded, "John is sending someone with Caitlin when she comes back who can hack the security cameras."
"Okay. The plan is to wait for Caitlin to get back then make a plan then." Marcos said.
"Right," Lorna said.
I sighed. I just wanted to do something. I was tired of waiting. The meeting ended after that. Mia got up to go do some training with Lorna. Marcos and Esme went to go do whatever they do all day, so it was just Andy, me, and Jack left in the room.
"Why won't they let us just do something. We've been stuck inside for months." Andy said. He got up and started pacing.
"Yeah well, them not letting us do anything isn't anything new," I said.
Jack got up and walked over to us, "You know you could just go and not tell them." Jack said.
"They have security cameras everywhere. They would know the second we walked out the door. Not to mention the actual guards outside. I think it's Lorna's turn too. It'd be pointless to try." I said, raising my eyebrow. I sighed and leaned against the back of my chair. As much as I wanted to go and break the rules, we would get caught if we did.
"You could go when they change shifts," Jack suggested. I looked at Andy, he had stopped pacing.
"That could work. But we would need someone to distract the others. Mia wouldn't agree," Andy said.
I nodded, "Could you distract them for us?" I said.
Jack shrugged, "Sure why not."
I smiled and hugged Jack "Thank you, you're the best!" I turned to Andy, "If we're going to do this we should figure out a plan." Andy nodded.
Esme's Pov
I was in the medical room watching Leah after I helped some kids who hurt themselves playing in one of the storage rooms. I had ended up being the one put in charge of the medical stuff after we locked Josh up. I basically never left this room.
I was sitting on the chair in the corner of the room, a space where I normally occupied. I was listening to Leah's breathing while reading an old magazine I found. I heard her breathing pattern change suddenly. I looked up and walked over to check on her. Her breathing had gotten a lot quicker.
I gently put my hand on her arm. I gasped as her eyes flew open and she sat up gasping.
"Oh my god, Leah, you're awake," I said.
Leah leaned back slowly, "How long was I out?" She asked.
"A month and a half," I said pulling a chair over to her bed.
Her eyes widened, "That long. What happened?"
"Not much really." I took a deep breath, "Do you remember who attacked you?"
"I didn't know who they were but they had a knife, it was gold, and after he stabbed me these blue lines were running across the blade. That must be the knife that can take away mutants' powers. He... Oh my god." She stopped.
"What?" I said concerned.
Leah took a deep breath, "He said that he wanted to kill you too. As well as Lorna, Andy, and Lauren. He said that he had a special way to kill Andy and Lauren too. And I think he planned to use that knife. Has anything happened while I was asleep?"
"No, but, it might happen soon. I need to tell the others. I'll be right back" I said. I squeezed her hand before I ran out of the room to the meeting room where I knew that Lorna and Marcos were.
I walked into the room and saw Mia and Lorna looking at something on the table.
"Guys, we have a problem," I said.
"Multiple problems apparently," Lorna said, her voice tense.
"What's your problem first," I said.
"Andy and Lauren are missing. They left, and before they did they left this note." Mia said, holding up a piece of paper. "They said that they didn't want to wait for more information, they wanted to try to figure out more themselves."
"That's not good," I said as I looked around the room. "Where's Marcos and Jack."
"Marcos is on watch and Jack, I don't know, I talked to him when I was going on watch but I haven't seen him. I'm guessing when he was talking to me that's when Andy and Lauren slipped out." Lorna said.
Mia looked up, "I can look at the security cameras"
I nodded. Mia walked to the computers in the corner of the room. She sat down and started typing. She pulled up the front camera and started rewound it.
"I got off watch at around seven so we can start there," she said.
We watched the camera feed for a couple of minutes before Mia paused it, "There," she said. It showed Andy and Lauren looking around before going out of the door.
"This isn't good," I said.
"No, if they-" Lorna started.
"It's more than that," I said, cutting her off, "Leah woke up, and before you say how great that is, we have a problem. Leah said that before the spy stabbed her he mentioned that she wasn't the only one that he wanted to kill. He wanted to kill me, Lorna, Andy, and Lauren."
"That's not good," Mia said.
"To say the least. If the spy knows Andy and Lauren left..." I said trailing off.
"Then they're perfect targets." Lorna finished for me.
"We need to find them before the Inner Circle does," Mia said.
"Find who?" Caitlin said walking in and dropping her bags on the floor near the door.
