A/N: I'm actually really scared to post this update. Deathly afraid. I wasn't even sure if anyone even read this anymore, but I would get random reviews every 2-3 months that would pique my interest. Because I'm on break right now, I decided to try and finish this because I honestly hate that I never did. I've changed a lot in the time I've been away, and my writing has changed as well. Hopefully the continuation isn't too awful. p.s sorry it has not been edited.

Recap: "Now," the voice stated again,"tell me. Where. Is. Cammie? Where. are. you. keeping. her." I froze at my name, and forced myself to put all the pieces together. I opened my mouth to respond, but I could only get a single word out, "Zach?"

At the sound of my voice I heard him take an intake of breath before moving closer until our arms were touching. "Cammie?" he questioned in a rough voice. "Is that really you?"

"Yeah Zach-It is- It's me" My voice cracked as I spoke, and I could feel the weight of all the events that had happened in the past 24 hours sliding off of my shoulders. Even though Zach's appearance technically didn't mean that anything had been solved, or that the situation at hand would improve, I felt as if, for that moment, everything would be okay. Ignoring the fact that he still had the gun pressed against my back, I rotated myself around and leaned into his chest. Though I could tell he was startled for a second, he readily accepted my embrace, and peered down at me, his eyes meeting mine in the darkness.

"Look-Cammie; we need to get moving-fast" I started to interrupt him, but he quickly cut me off, "they're planning on blowing up the facility and leaving everything and everyone behind as collateral. Which is why we only have three hours to get your mom out of this labyrinth and take down their control system before they can destroy all the evidence that this facility would bring"

"When you say "they," who exactly are you talking about?" I questioned.

"We're not exactly sure right now. All we know is they're foreign hired guns that need to be stopped now. We need to get moving right now"

"Okay" I paused;"What exactly can we do?"

"Well" Zach started, "my first priority was finding you, but now that I've found you unexpectedly fast, I've got to get down to the control room and assist Grant with taking out the mercenaries there while Jonas hacks their system from the safety zone"

I nodded in response even though it was dark and Zach couldn't hear me.

"Here," stated Zach as he pressed something into my ear, "these are the comms I brought for you; they connect to the network. We haven't really got any time, but Liz will try to fill you in. I hate to say this, but whatever they did to you down there, you'll have to shake it now. We just haven't got the time"

Faking it was one of the easiest things for me to accomplish, so I continued to fake my health; both to myself and Zach. I had no time to feel. Only time to be numb.

"After we split, I'm going down the passage to the control room, and you're going through the vent to the fifth floor to get you mom"

I took a deep breath and continued listening.

"Cammie-I just want you to know" "Zach-" I interrupted his speech in a lousy attempt to stave off what I knew he was going to say. "No-Gallagher Girl, you have to listen to me" I sucked in a breath and waited for him to continue. "Regardless of what happens down there, regardless of the things we're going to have to do, and the things we will have to sacrifice… I know that we'll make it through this." My chest constricted at his words, though I found myself nodding in the darkness. "I know". Those two words propelled us into action, as I began unscrewing the bolt on the middle air vent shaft, which, once taken out, would allow me to drop down to the floor below.

Without a backwards glance, I placed my body through the square slot and slid through into the dark room. The tiled floor met my feet sharply, and I took a moment to steady myself before launching up. Though the darkness enveloped the entire room, my elevated sight allowed me to see the faint outlines of a kitchen stovetop and a small counter. Interesting. A sharp crackle in my ear startled me for a second, but I was still able to focus and continue walking to the counter. Picking up a sharp kitchen knife, I slid the sheath from the counter onto it before stuffing it into my bra. Don't judge me; it's not like I had a back pocket.

Static filled my ear as the familiar voice rang out over comms, "Bookworm to Chameleon-can you hear me?"

My body reflexively sagged in relief as the voice seeped into my ear, and I eagerly answered. "I've got you Bookworm-Now, let's get me out of here to find my mom"

"Fantastic-here's the thing. You're going to need to exit the room you're in, which is really the staff lounge. The interesting thing about the facility is that it used to be an old high school. Which makes it both easy and hard to take on as the blueprints were all over the web, but the only problem is that this place is massive. Ridiculously massive. Like built in the 1900's and all…." I interrupted Liz's rambling before she could get much further. Not that I didn't love hearing her voice and all, but we simply did not have the time. "Bookworm, let's refocus"

"Oh yes sorry, anyways. In order to get to Rachel you're going to need to take the flight of stairs opposite the staff room before going down two levels into the hallway on the fifth floor of the school. After that, you'll be able to go to the room on the right side of the wall of the stairs you should find the classroom holding your mom. It should be fairly easy for you, though we're not 100% on your health without a blood sample. Also, this is going the last time we can talk on comms until you reach your mom because once you step out of this room, there will be guards crawling everywhere around you and I don't want you to be distracted; Got it?"

"upstairs, downstairs, right, and classroom," I repeated nonsensically, "right-I got it"

"Great, oh and chameleon last thing. What you need to when you get to your mom is tie the cord thats currently used to secure her and then slowly lower her out of the window. After-"

"WHAT" I interrupted in a harsh whisper. "Are you insane? She's dying of blood loss because they shot off her hand, and now I have to lower her out the window?"

"Breath Chameleon, we've got this. I'm staring at your mom right now through their feed and though she's not in the greatest shape, she's definitely still alive. I'm going to need you to trust me on this. We've got a whole team and plan ready for once you get down there and get her out, but we can't have direct access into the building as they just don't have that skill set. Plus, we know the cord is strong enough because it's and internationally known fiber based cord that's used for this sort of thing all the time"

Without stopping to analyze Liz's statement about something being used "all the time," I simply responded back, "Alright, you've got me on this bookworm, See you on the flipside."

And with that, I resumed my focus on the task I had on hand. Creeping to the door of the room, I eased it open and winced at the hinge's cry for oil. Though the hallway was dark, it was eerily lit by exit signs at the opposite ends, and I noticed a littering of lockers up the sides. Before I stepped out of the doorway, I paused for a moment, took off my shoe and then took off my sock. I had nothing else that I could afford to lose, so my sock it was. Lifting it up, I threw it across the narrow hall to the opposite stairwell door. I was honestly not surprised when the sock was cut in half in mid air, as the extremely low hum in the air had alerted me to the possibility of lasers. Sighing, I got on the floor, laid flat on my stomach, and began sliding across to the door. Because of my enhanced hearing, I knew that there were no lasers on the utmost bottom part of the floor due to the absence of sounds or humming.

Once I reached the door, I was forced to use the palm of my hands to push against the door, though I was only able to open it a couple of inches. Rethinking my strategy, I rotate my body so that my heels were flush against the door. With the increased leverage, it was much easier to apply the necessary force to open the entire door enough for me to slip through. The corridor with the steps was generous, and as I stood up, I could hear the echoes of footsteps below. Great, I was more than ready for some fair revenge. I forced myself to steady my balance before walking down the steps on my toes. The heels on my boots had wood enforcements in them; great for kicking, but less than optimal for stealth in such a silent building.

I carefully timed the moving shadow, easing down the steps until I could see the hulking man. He was completely decked out in protective gear, and was clearly distracted by the comms evident in his ear. I crept up behind him, as he was peering into the hallway on the sixth floor. Unsheathing the knife from the kitchen, I ran straight at the man before sliding through his legs, as I could tell that he had felt my presence, most likely due to the byproduct sound from my shoes. I stabbed the knife deep into his upper right thigh, and scrambled to get out of the way.

Unfortunately, his reflexes were quick, and his pain threshold was definitely high as he moved fluidly, tearing out the sharp knife from his skin and aiming it at my head. The momentum from the movement took away some of his balance though, and I was able to kick his feet out from underneath himself and launch myself out of the way of the falling knife. I launched myself to my feet and, on the way, grabbed at his belt, found the loaded weapon he had hidden under his shirt, and pulled it out within a matter of seconds. He rolled over quickly, facing me as I tried to extricate myself from under his weight.

I used the momentum from his roll to propel the butt of the gun into his forehead, and the satisfying smack gave him a cross eyed look as his dazed head snapped back. I clicked off the safety of the gun before loading and and aiming at the mans head. Out of necessity, I had to kill the man. As the blood spilled out the bullet hole in his head, I pulled out the knife from the accompanying pool of blood before pushing through the double doors. Flat against the wall in the hallway, I inched along the lockers, ignoring the metal grating into my back.

I felt around my back until I felt the knob from the classroom door, and stumbled into the unlit classroom. Instead of flipping the switch of the classroom and exposing my position to the entire hallway, I forced my eyes to see in the dark, though the advantageous sight had decreased somewhat. I raced over to the huddled form in the corner of the room where, tied to bolts in the floor and a chair in the back of the room, was my mother. She had a rudimentary bandage on both her right hand and around her head, and I honestly questioned if she was still alive.

Thankfully, the shallow chest movement straining against the restrictive cables showed me that she was indeed alive, and I forced my fingers to begin untying her from the back of the chair. As I worked, I could feel the cold temperature of her skin chill my own fingers, and my heart clenched in discomfort, even as I tried my best. "mom" my voice cracked as I whispered. "Mom please wake up"

I could see my mom forcing her eyes slowly open due to the sound, though one of her eyes were seemingly forced shut due to intense swelling. "Can-" I cut her off as I could hear the sharp scratchiness of her voice, and knew that she was in desperate need of water. "Mom don't talk. I want you to save your energy. I'm here now so you're going to be okay." I could tell she had heard and understood what I was saying, as her left eyelid fluttered in acknowledgement.

After finally releasing her from the chair, I began adjusting the cables so that it formed a longer, but still strong, pulley system. I secured the ends to the part that my mom was tied up with, and though it was definitely uncomfortable, the system was secure. I began to carry/drag my mother over to the window sill, before securing the rope to a knob on the floor. lowering my mom over the side of the sill, I gently let go of her, and began adjusting the string for the decent. Looking down into the night I could see the spinning of the helicopter chopper's propellers, and knew that this was Liz team.

"Alright Bookworm, we finished the evacuation" I spokes as I watched masked shadows carefully load my mother into the silent helicopter before gliding out into the night. I hated to leave her in her state, but there was still so much to do in only two hours."

"Bookworm?" I questioned. "What's next?"

"Cammie-Chameleon-ah screw it; Cammie" Liz's voice was low and scratchy, and I could feel myself invertedly straining to hear. "you need to get out of the classroom right now. I'm not even kidding. Jonas has got some trackers on a couple of the guards, and you have about six heading your way. They must have seen you on the security live feed. There is no way that you'll be able to take them all on at once."

"Crap" I glanced furtively around the room, realizing that there was no way out of the room other than the classroom door. I could see the stretched shadows of men in the hallway, illuminated in red from the exit signs. There was literally no place for me to go. The wind from the night air nipped at me from the open window, and I realized that I had no other choice. I took the bloody knife out from my bra, slid the sheath off, and ran to the windowsill. The night was black and the helicopter was gone, by the cord I had secured my mother with remained. Stabbing the knife into the wooden sill, I prayed that it would be able to hold my weight if only for a couple of seconds. I secured the cord to the knife handle as well, and reclined into the side of the wall, just as I heard the knob of the door turning.

I could feel the knife straining and failing against the weight, and, as the wood splintered and buckled, I kicked off the wall into the window of the room directly below. The shards of glass cut into my skin all over my body except for my feet, and one part of my hands had ribbons of blood dripping. I winced, and this was truly one of the most painful experiences I've ever faced. However, I was in the clear for now. I eased myself very slowly onto my knees, and could still feel bits of glass digging into my kneecaps.

"Bookworm-are you still there?"

"Yes, yes I've got you"

I groaned at the pain, and but forced myself to keep breathing. Keep myself from fainting as well as a matter of fact.

"Alright. Let's get these guys Liz. How do I get to the control room?"

A/N: Cute Zammie moment in a story that's nearly finished forever :)