Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth."
~Buddha

Chapter 15: Circumvention

Brett

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. The sun was shining down on the world below, taking out the bitterness in the winter air just enough that I could sit outside to work without getting chilled. There were birds singing in the tree next to me, friends and couples chatting at the tables around me, and a steaming cup of coffee at my side. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.

Then the Razgriz happened…

Or should I say their kids. Well, technically it was one of their friends but still…

It all started when a guy took a seat at my table with me. He wore aviator sunglasses, a brown leather jacket, combat boots, and carried nothing on him but a phone.

"You're Brett Thompson right?" he asked.

"Depends on who's asking," I countered.

"I'm friends with the Razgriz Legacies. We need your help."

"Pardon me, but do you know how many people are after the Razgriz right now? For all I know, you could be an enemy of theirs."

"Here, FaceTime that number. Use the headphones." The stranger slid over his phone and the headphones. I picked them up and with fair amount of suspicion, dialed the number. I was greeted by the faces of Shiloh and Lux with the latter shouting, "Put down the grenade launcher!"

"Hi Mr. Thompson!" Shiloh greeted. Lux turned to face the camera.

"Do I want to know what's going on?" I queried warily.

"Well you kind of do considering we're about to ask you a massive, massive favor. Long story short, the Gray Men are back and you've probably heard that we've been declared traitors to Osea. Well, that's not true first of all. Second of all, our parents don't know about what we've gotten ourselves into. And third, you can trust the guy with you. His name is Markus Adler. He's on our side."

"Where are you guys?"

"For the sake of our safety, we can't tell you that. But we need your help. You in?" Lux asked.

"If it means taking down those guys, I'm all in. What do you need?"

"The schematics of our parents' planes."

"Why- why do you need those?"

"Reasons," the girls responded simultaneously.

"Reasons crucial to us helping our parents and the world," Shiloh added.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Okay, where are they?"

"We'll let Markus help you with that. He'll debrief you on everything. Thank you so much! We owe you!" The girls hung up as Lux shouted at the Will and Jem to stop messing with the weapons.

"So," I said, sliding the phone and headphones back over to Markus. "Where's the schematics?"

"Versailles."

"How do you expect me to get into Versailles?"

"Alex is working today. He's one of the Razgriz's biggest supporters. You'll tell him you need to talk to him privately. Tell him what's going on. You can have him call the kids with my phone if need be. Here's your ear piece. You'll put this in once you're inside so they don't flag it when you're going in. From there, I can tell you all the information you'll need to get inside the safe and get the schematics. That's where things are going to get tricky. Once you open that safe, you're going to be flagged since the Razgriz aren't in the office. You'll need to escape through one of the hidden passages which I'll help unlock for you and meet you there. From there, you're probably going to be on a wanted list so you'll have two options: escape with me or be on the run until the Razgriz win this thing. Your choice."

"I'll stay on ground, in case y'all need allies on the ground."

"I'll let them know. You ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." The two of us got up and headed over to the car. Out of curiosity, I asked, "How'd you get this car if you're a wanted man?"

"We have some allies on the ground. They're providing us with a lot of necessary things. Cars being one of them. Hop in," Markus said. We got in the car and he tore out of the parking lot. He stopped two blocks away from Versailles in a back alley with little to no people around. It made me slightly wary about his intentions but when he explained his part of the plan included him doing something over here, I forced myself to trust him. He handed me an ear piece.

"This will let us communicate. Here's a watch that you can speak into. There will be multiple people on the line just so you know, not just me," Markus informed. He stuck his own in his ear. I decided to wait until I was in Versailles as it would look suspicious if I showed up at security with an ear piece in my ear.

Markus and I parted ways, him disappearing into a side building and I walked over to Versailles. Thankfully, Alex was at the gate by himself. He gave me a smile as I approached.

"Good morning, Mr. Thompson. How are you today?" he queried.

"It's certainly off to an interesting start. Listen, I… I need to ask you a question," I admitted.

"Of course, what is it?"

"Do you know what happened to the kids?"

Alex's face fell grim. "No, and for some reason, I have a feeling the Razgriz don't know what happened either or else they'd be going after their children. Someone is blocking them from finding out or they're in a place where they can't access the information but there's very few places on earth that exist like that. Why do you ask?"

"What if I told you that I could help them?"

"I'd ask how you know where they are."

"I'd tell you that one of their allies contacted me and asked for my help. Would you be willing to help, even if what I asked what illegal?"

"If it's to help the kids, then yes, I'm willing. What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to turn a blind eye on where I'm going. And if you don't want to do that, then accompany me to where I need to go."

"What exactly do you need?" Alex inquired warily.

I sighed. "They asked me for the schematics of their parents' planes. I don't know why. I didn't ask. Sometimes as a reporter, you don't want all the answers. Besides, I have a feeling I don't want to know. Are you in?"

"Count me in, but I'd feel better if I accompanied you. Let me get someone to replace me. Hold on." Alex made a few calls and I waited impatiently for his replacement to show. Even though I had Alex's help, I was still anxious to get going. My gut was telling me this was not going to be as easy as I thought it was, or what the Razgriz Legacies expected. Of course, I'm pretty sure after what happened at the base and what had happened to them in general, they expected the worst to happen.

Finally, Alex's replacement came. It was a young guy who looked nervous as hell. Alex told him, "I'll be back soon. Remember your training and you'll be just fine."

The guy nodded so hard I thought his head was going to fall off. Alex and I walked off and before I could ask what that had been about, he said, "Newbie. He's never done security by himself before. We usually have more people on security but the Razgriz have been suspicious of a couple people working here so we've cut down on security until the situation has been handled and moved some people to other places around the city. It went fine overall. A couple workers put up a fight which was off but otherwise, nothing. So where are we heading off to?"

"The Razgriz work room. Oh shoot, my ear piece!" I exclaimed softly, hastily putting it into my ear. Putting my watch up to my mouth, I asked, "Anyone here? It's Brett."

"Brett! Hey!" Shiloh's voice chirped. "Glad to see you're in… you are in Versailles right?"

"I'm in," I confirmed. "Alex is with me."

"Tell him we say hi and thank him for helping you!"

I turned to my acquaintance and repeated the message. His face lit up as he grabbed my watch and said, "Hey Shiloh! You all okay?"

"Hi Alex! We're as good as we can be but we'll be better once we get home again without being accused of treason," she responded. I repeated her message back to him. "Okay, tell me when you're at the safe."

Alex and I made our way to the Razgriz's work room. My heart was hammering in my chest but I forced myself to remain calm. This was going to be fine. Totally okay…

We passed a few workers in the hallways. Alex just smiled and said hi to them. He was being so calm and collected about this, it was weird. If I said anything, I'd just stammer it out and they'd immediately suspect I was up to something, so I decided to just smile and let Alex do the talking.

Finally we reached our destination. I alerted Shiloh of our presence. She said, "Okay, the safe is behind the team portrait. The password is 86848486858679."

"Uh, yeah… you're going to have to repeat that. I'm at the safe now," I said, removing the team portrait."

She laughed. "Yeah, it's a long one. Okay, here goes."

She repeated the insanely long password and I carefully listened to her. Relief flooded through me as I heard the click of it unlocking. Inside was a mountain of papers. I scratched my head, alerting her of the problem.

"Okay, look for something that has the schematics of the X-02 Wyvern."

"Shiloh, do I want to know why you need the schematics of your parents' planes?"

"No, you really don't. But you'll find out. It'll be pretty obvious."

"I'm going to hell for this."

"Well see you there then. We're going there too for doing this."

Alex and I quickly sifted through the papers but nothing caught my eye. Alex, on the other hand, figured it out. He pulled out a packet of papers titled 'Project Aces". Inside was at least fifty pages of different gadgets and gizmos inside the plane. This would take forever to go through. I alerted Shiloh that I had it but just as I was explaining the size of it, alarms started going off throughout the palace.

"Oh no," Alex muttered.

"What's oh no? Why are you saying that?" I demanded worriedly.

"I forgot. The Razgriz somehow have the safe wired up so that if it's opened when one of them isn't here, it'll set off an alarm."

"Don't worry, we thought of that!" Alec piped up from the mic. Your escape route should be coming in three… two… one!"

Nothing happened.

Well, at least not immediately. About five seconds later, one of the bookcases slid upwards, revealing a grinning Markus.

"Okay, I was a little off on the timing. Sue me. Now get going before our friendly security guards find you," Alec stated.

"Tie me up," Alex said.

"What?"

"Tie me up. You'll still need eyes and ears on the inside. That way if you need anything, I can give you intel. But it can't look like I'm on your side here."

"I have handcuffs," Markus suggested. Alex took them from the Belkan and sat down on the floor, handcuffing himself to one of the desks. He made a shooing motion at us, promising he had this. With a grateful thank you, I hurried after Markus in the tunnel. He flicked on his flashlight so that we could see the path ahead of us.

"Turn right," Charlotte's voice instructed.

"Are all of you there?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're all here. Well, some of us are busy getting other plans ready. But what you have is the final key to that. We already have the tanks set."

"Did you just say tanks? I need some whiskey or something."

"Funny, that's what the Perrault did when we talked to him about this," Alec mused.

"How is he involved in this?"

"He got us the tanks. He owes a favor to our parents."

"Alec, enough chit chat. I know we trust Brett but he and Markus need to focus right now," Lux reprimanded.

"So, I must ask, why don't your parents know about this?"

"Because they wouldn't let us help in the first place, for starters," Jem said.

"And they wouldn't tell us anything, secondly," Will added.

"And third, we think by keeping them in the dark, it will also keep the Gray Men in the dark about what we're doing and we can do a surprise attack on them," Shiloh finished.

"I'm confused."

"It'll make more sense once this is over. For now, let's focus on getting the plans to us."

"I'm going to be in so much trouble for this." I fell silent, setting my attention on following Markus and entrusting him to get me out of here safely. The tunnels were in surprisingly good condition. There was only a handful of sketchy parts, one of which included a pathway with no railing and a very steep drop into a dark oblivion. Otherwise, it was good. Only had about five near-death experiences. Somehow though, we ended up at the end of the tunnel. Markus peered out of a peep hole before quickly slamming it shut and swearing.

"What's wrong?" I asked. The Razgriz Legacies were asking the same thing over the mic.

"Cops. A lot of them. They're checking out the car."

"Let me handle this," I suggested, handing over the papers. "Listen, I said I'd be on the ground to help out with the case. I'm also a journalist, and a really good one if I do say so myself. I have my camera, I have my computer, and I'm pretty sure they're checking out the car because it's a murder scene. So I'll distract them while you leave with the schematics with my car."

"Are you sure about this?" Markus said.

"No, but it's the best plan we've got. Now, when you see an opening, make a run for it. My car is parked outside the coffee shop. A black Lexus sports car. Can't miss it."

"We owe you, Brett," Lux said.

"You can pay me back by helping your parents and winning this new war. Now, on with the show!"

Making sure the coast was clear, I stepped out with camera in hand. I snuck under the tape and exclaimed, "Oh my god!"

All the police turned their heads. One pointed his finger at me and said, "Hey, aren't you the reporter for the Razgriz?"

"Yes. I'm actually here because I heard the police sirens all going. Figured something big was going down and came to investigate. I wasn't wrong apparently. Is that a dead body?" I asked.

"Yes, unfortunately we can't disclose any information though."

"Of course not. Where is the forensics team and all that?" I questioned when I saw Markus slipping out of the hiding spot. He crept along the back edge of the wall and made a break for it. No one saw him, no one called him out. He had safely escaped with the schematics and for now, I was not a wanted man.

Lux

Markus returned to the ship in the evening after believing he'd been trailed by someone. He laid the schematics down on the table, rolling them out. We all gathered around and stared at the mass amount of papers.

"This is going to take longer than I thought," Shiloh muttered, hanging her head.

"I hate to agree with you but I do. The pilots need to know the controls and unfortunately for you guys, you'll also need to know how to prep them for flight," Axel said grimly. "However, your parents' planes will have already been prepped for the most part so it's just understanding how you get them to turn over and make sure they're ready to fly. Liam and Helena could help but they'll be with us in the tanks. So what do we say that that's the plan?"

"How long does it take to prep them?"

"Well your parents' planes should always be prepared to be used immediately in case of emergencies and by looking at the specs, it should take no longer than two minutes or less for them to be ready to launch. The beauty of Belkan aircraft," Axel remarked.

"So now we need to get the cars and the tanks ready. How many was the Roly Poly able to get us?" Will asked.

"Don't insult that cute little bug. Perrault is anything but," Shiloh chastised.

"He was able to get us two tanks. That should be plenty of fire power to break through the gates and destroy any rubble so the cars can get through," Lydia said.

"Not necessarily. We have tanks of our own on that base for the exact thing about what we're planning. Thankfully because the hangars are so large, we can house up to five planes in each, which means there are only two hangars and only two tanks. We're equally matched. Maybe. If they're Belkan tanks, they'll be pretty heavily armored and difficult to take down."

"But ours are Osean which means they'll be lighter and faster," Alec pointed out. "I think we need speed and agility on this mission more so than protection."

"When are we executing this?" Simon asked. "Lydia and I have the microphones for the voice changers all set. We just need to know who is who so we can put them in the corresponding helmets."

"I'll be Blaze since I'm leading this whole crusade," Shiloh answered. "Alec will be Chopper. Will and Jem will be Cipher and Pixy respectively. Henry will be PJ. Lux will be Bartlett, Isabelle will be Nagase, Charlotte will be Snow, and Tessa will be Grimm. Did I miss anyone?"

"No, you got everyone," Lydia confirmed, writing it all down. "We'll go hook up the helmets and make sure they work. They'll be ready to go within six hours."

"I'll get in touch with Roman, make sure he and his crew are ready," Axel said. "The tanks are already waiting to be loaded at the airfield. Markus, Helena, Liam and I will need to leave soon so we get there before they're loaded. Perrault will be flying with them and Brett has gone with him to make sure he doesn't deviate from the plan. The rest of you will be waiting in the cars in a nearby warehouse, waiting for the signal from us. Once the gates are destroyed, you'll be driven to the hangars where you'll get out and get them out of there as soon as possible. We'll just have to park the tanks somewhere and get in with you which will be the tricky part. Who's riding with who?"

"Simon will ride with Isabelle, Liam with Lux, Lydia with Alec, so I say Axel, you ride with me, Roman can ride with Will, and Markus can ride with Jem. Deal?" Shiloh offered.

"Deal. I'll go get in touch with Roman and confirm a date and time. Everyone clear?"

We all nodded. The group dispersed but stayed in the common room. All but my sister. She slipped out of the room unnoticed by everyone but me. Wondering what she was up to, I followed her to see where she was going. She went up to the launch platform and sat behind a barrier so that I could just barely see the top of her head.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, coming up beside her.

My sister looked up at me. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about things."

"Want to share?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Is it about the mission? Our parents? Percy?"

"All of the above?"

"Oh boy, you definitely don't need to hold that in. Spill." I sat down next to her.

Shiloh sighed. "Have you ever felt like a fake?"

"Not really, why?"

"Because when I'm in there, talking to all of you, telling you what needs to be done, I do. I act like I know what I'm doing and sure, maybe I know what I'm saying and I can come up with plans, but what if I'm leading you to your deaths? What if I'm leading you all down the wrong path? If anything happens to any of you, that's on me. I'm starting to understand why Percy kept this all a secret."

"Okay, first off, we're here because we want to be. We know the risks of being here and following you. Every time we go up in there, regardless of being in our parents' planes or with instructors, there is the chance we won't make it back. The only difference now is that the stakes are higher and we're not holding back on firing. And as much as I loved and still love Percy, he shouldn't have kept this from us. Maybe if we'd known, we could've done something sooner to either stop him from being killed or stopping the Gray Men sooner. Secrets in our family get us killed."

Shiloh let out a small harrumph. "That's what I told him the day before he was killed… I just don't want to let any of you down. I already know our parents are going to kill us for doing all this and I can't bear the thought of disappointing them. If we're going to be doing this, we should at least do it right and make it where even though they'll be mad at what we did, they'll also be impressed."

"Our parents should've told us what was going on too. It's not just secrets between the age groups, it's secrets between everyone. If they'd kept Percy in the loop, he wouldn't have gone on this crusade by himself without our help and we would've known to have been on the lookout for anything suspicious. A lot of people are at fault for what's been happening, but no one more than the Gray Men. They can't keep their asses out of trouble and out of our lives. I don't know why. They know how this is going to end for them."

My sister rested her head on my shoulder. "We're even younger than our parents when they set out on their first mission."

"By like… four to six years too, depending on who you're talking to."

"So what's going on with you and Liam?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me there's not something going on between you two. What guy would do all this if he didn't like you?"

"A good guy?" I replied in confusion. "Liam's a friend. He doesn't see me as anything other than a friend and yeah he's cute, but I don't see us together, or him asking me out. Besides, I'm kind of done with guys. They're too complicated."

"Agreed. What do you think about Axel and Helena?"

I snorted. "She's definitely going to wear the pants in that relationship when it happens because it definitely is."

"Speaking of Helena, how is she doing? With Henri being gone and all? You both have him as a godfather."

"Honestly, I don't know. She seems to be holding up pretty well."

"Maybe we should ask her, just in case. I'm worried she's holding it in."

"Let's go find her then."

"Why don't you do it? You could relate to her better about it and honestly, there's no one better at understanding things and listening to people than you."

"I beg to differ but I'll take the compliment. But if you just wanted to be alone, you also could've said so." I bumped my head against hers gently, a sign of affection my family had come up with after we got tired of being shocked on the lips whenever we gave one another a kiss during the winter. It had just stuck around ever since.

I got up and left my sister to her thoughts. I found Helena in her room, reading a book. She seemed surprised to see me but greeted me cheerfully nonetheless.

"What's up? Shiloh okay?" she asked. "I saw her slip out of the room and would've gone after her but I saw you go instead."

"Yeah, she just wanted to think. How are you doing?" I replied. "Like, how are you holding up after Henri and all?"

At the mention of our godfather, Helena's face fell. "Not as well as people think. You guys are the ones risking your lives by flying and going out on missions. You're the ones actually doing something about his disappearance."

"Um, you're going to be helping out with the tanks. That's not exactly sitting around and doing nothing."

"Yeah, but you guys, after hearing about your escape from the base and how you all coordinated your recruiting missions at the same time and all got back in one piece, it's impressive. I guess I just feel I have to be strong for the rest of you because you have the harder job."

"Maybe we do, maybe we don't, but either way, that doesn't negate the feelings that you're having. It's okay to tell us you're upset."

"He's your godfather too though."

"I know. And I'm terrified I won't see him again… which is why I came to you because you, of all people here, will actually know exactly what I'm going through."

"Why would the Gray Men want him? Besides him being Rald's son, I don't see the point. He's not the leader of the Razgriz, he's not the leader of Galm, he's not Bartlett, he's not the husband of the Razgriz captain…"

"I don't know either, but we'll find out when we rescue him."

"You really think he's still alive?" Helena queried hopefully.

"I do," I said firmly. "Or else the Gray Men would've let us know that they killed him. They're arrogant like that."

"Permission to kick their ass when we find whoever took him?"

"Permission granted if I can join in with you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Henri

"How long are the Razgriz going to take to get here?" Kristoff grunted. He'd been torturing me with his partner ever since I'd been taken. They were currently sitting in their chairs discussing their sinister plans. "They should've been here by now."

"They're probably dealing with their troublesome kids. Any location on them yet?" Patrick answered.

"No. Other than that one day where they were getting Helena out of there, we haven't seen them since."

Patrick groaned. "Boss isn't going to be happy. The kids are crucial to getting a reaction out of the Razgriz."

"We might have to alter those plans. Any information out of the other Razgriz member?"

"What Razgriz member?" I demanded.

"Oh, so you're awake again?" Kristoff remarked, standing up. "So, want to reveal where the Razgriz are and where they're headed to?"

"No, I don't know where they are because I can't contact them, and they're probably headed to wherever their kids are. I'd tell you that but I don't know myself. Must suck not knowing where the key parts of your plan are. That's the thing with demons. You never know what to expect from them."

He punched me in the jaw with brass knuckles. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself not to shout out in pain. I could only imagine what my face looked like from having been beaten so much. It'd probably be a miracle if my family even recognized me.

"What are the Razgriz planning to do?" Patrick asked.

"Take you guys down. Again. Isn't this going to be the third time or something?"

"Your mouth is going to get you killed."

"I always knew the last thing out of my mouth was going to be sarcastic."

"I'm not joking, shut up or you're dead," Patrick growled, pointing a gun at my head.

"If I was expendable, you would've killed me when you got me. You need me for something. What is it?"

"Until we're done getting information out of the other one of you, we need the Razgriz to come for someone alive. We only want three in particular. Well our boss does. The one they call the Demon Lord ended her lover's reign. That bitch Blaze ended the life of her son and helped bring down her lover along with her blasted husband of hers. What's his name? Chipper?" Kristoff mused.

"Chopper," I snarled.

"Oh, hit a sore spot did we?"

"Who's the other one of us you have?"

"Oh no, we're not telling you that. Besides, he's not here. He's in a different facility not too far away from here. Anyhow, I think it's time you spent some time in solitude. We're going to get some food. Don't go anywhere," he joked, smirking with smug satisfaction.

The two men disappeared from my line of sight. I thought they'd never leave. They'd gotten supremely arrogant when torturing me, arrogant enough to believe that I couldn't do anything with the weapons that had left laying out. I hopped over on my chair towards the table once they were for sure out of the house. Grabbing a knife with my teeth, I bent forward and put it in my hand. This is where it was going to be difficult but I had to persevere. It was agonizingly painful at the angle but slowly and surely, I cut through the rope binding my hand to the metal chair. I took a brief moment of rest before freeing my other hand and my feet. I stumbled upwards, grasping the table to support myself. The torture was taking its toll on me. Whilst I gathered my composure, I watched the cameras rolling on the computer next to me. A sneaking suspicion told me that since this wasn't the only facility, others had access to the see the videos as well, which unfortunately meant that someone was probably and most likely currently watching me escape. But it also gave me time to see the other Razgriz member they had hostage. My eyes widened in disbelief. Seeing them gave me this newfound strength to run out of that building. Much to my dismay, there were no modes of transport to get away from here quickly which meant I had two options: run on foot or wait for my captors to return and steal their car. Both options had grim outcomes. There was no way I could make it to civilization on foot in my state. But if I waited for my captors, there was the chance they could recapture me before I had time to escape. However, there more places to hide here than out in the open so, knowing I was probably going to regret this, I went about searching for a place to hide nearby so that when they went searching for me, I could hop in the car, hotwire it, and make my escape.

I found my hiding spot in a copse of trees that gave me a clear vantage point but that mostly obscured anyone from seeing me. I don't know how long I sat there before the SUV finally pulled up. Patrick and Kristoff exited the car. Whilst they were making their way inside, I scurried from my hiding spot, slipping into the car from the passenger side of the car. They'd stupidly left it unlocked but I guess being out here around no one else, they weren't exactly worried about someone stealing their car.

By the time I was pulling out of the driveway, I could see them in the rearview mirror running outside to see the taillights of the ride disappearing onto the road. The speedometer never dropped below sixty as I cruised down the open road, praying to come across civilization before the gas hit empty. Knowing my luck, I'd turned the wrong direction and was heading farther away from any public place than closer. But I'd figure that out later. For now my goal was to put as much distance between me and my captors as possible.

I hit my first stoplight about twenty minutes into the drive, giving me the opportunity to check in the console and glove box. Besides an owner's manual, there was nothing of use in here to help me get in touch with any of the Razgriz.

The light turned green and I floored it. A few seconds later, police sirens went on behind me. Reluctantly I pulled over to the side. The cop came to my window with his notepad in hand. I rolled down the window as he said in Belkan, "License and- sir, are you okay?"

"No, sir," I responded. "I need to get in touch with some family members."

"I believe you need to go to a hospital first."

"Family first, hospital after. This is of the utmost importance," I insisted. "Look, my name is Henri Rald and this is going to sound crazy, but could I sit in the back of your car and you give me a ride into the closest town? I'm pretty sure my captors are following me and considering I stole their vehicle, they're going to expect me to be in it."

"Of course, sir." I shut off the engine and got out of the car. As the two of us were walking to his car, gunshots erupted. We both hit the ground for cover, scrambling towards the doors of his car. He got in first, I got in second, but not before I felt something rip through the side of my stomach. I shut the door and gripped my side to try and ease the pain. Lifting my hands away, I saw them covered in a dark, red substance.

Blood.

Lots of it.

"Shit…" I mumbled. The policeman floored the car away from the scene as he called in the shootout to his comrades, explaining he had an injured civilian in his car that needed immediate medical attention. Two cop cars flew past us, sirens blaring. I hoped they caught the guys that'd been firing at us but didn't get my hopes up. I knew better.

"Sir, make sure you stay awake, all right?" the cop said. He started rambling off his name, where he was from, how long he'd been a cop, stuff about his family, his friends, and more, but most of it didn't register with me. Deep down I knew that meant trouble for me, but my main focus was that I needed to stay awake to get in touch with Blaze. She had to know about the kids, that they weren't where they were supposed to be, and that there was someone who was in desperate need of a rescue. One of our own. Worried I wouldn't be able to stay awake that long, I asked the cop to use his phone. He dialed the number I told him for me and put it up to my ear. It rang three times before I heard a distant but familiar voice, "Hello?"

"Blaze… Henri. It's Henri," I stammered out.

"Henri!" She exclaimed. "Oh my god where are you? Are you okay?"

"Not really but l-listen. The kids-" My vision went black. I had to hurry. "-aren't at the base. The… Gray Men d-don't know… where th-they are."

"What do you mean they're not at the base?"

"One m-more thing… he's alive…" I trailed off.

"Who's alive? Henri, stay with me. Who's alive?" Blaze demanded gently but urgently. The phone slipped from my ear into my lap and knowing that I only a few seconds before I passed out, I shouted out the name. That was the last thing I said before consciousness left me.

For those of you reading Demon of the Skies, I'm working on it as fast as I can with everything going on around me. It's much more complicated to write than this so I hope you enjoyed!