Hey everyone :D Thanks for the new follows/favorites/reviews! I wish there was a way to publicly respond to reviews without copy/pasting them here. I'm really glad you guys are enjoying the story! My biggest worry is trying to keep everyone in character, so I hope I'm doing them justice.

Anyway, this week for me is slightly busier than normal for me so it miiiight be a bit until the next one. BUT I wrote a SUPER LONG ONE to tie you over ;). I also felt like I wanted to get a lot across at once and I didn't want to cut it in half or anything.

I hope you enjoy this one!

-Blink

If DedSec never contacted her, she'd still have some life. A life without fear. She'd still be working at Silicon Prints, living in her apartment that she thought was safe. As long as she didn't talk to anyone, she was safe.

The second she was contacted by Dedsec was the second that life was gone. She avoided getting close to people for reasons like this. It hurt to lose loved ones enough to not want to love. Emma didn't know her Dedsec friends for long at all, but she felt like she fit in with them. It wasn't a desperate feeling. No, they genuinely made her feel like she was at home. Sitara was like an older sister, but she's always been. Marcus had such a way with making everyone feel comfortable and welcome together. Wrench always had something interesting to say with his rants. Watching Wrench and Marcus interact made her feel happy. They were best friends and she was happy to be in such a place of love. Josh was always so nice to her, even if he didn't say much. She thought he hated her, but he was just quiet. Ray, though…. Ray seemed like an enemy day 1. But every friend group has bickering friends, she thought.

Owen still won. Dedsec promised he wouldn't, but Emma knew it was impossible. It wasn't Dedsec's fault. It was hers, she thought. Hers for thinking that she'd ever have a normal life. For thinking she'd ever have a friend, let alone five.

Her life now was now sitting on her couch, in an apartment she was about to not be able to afford. That new temporary apartment wasn't hers, she was silly to assume that they'd let her stay after what Owen told Dedsec. She could maybe ask Silicon Prints for her job back, but that was dangerous. The only way to get a new job was to look at Craigslist ads again, looking for jobs paying under the table. She wiped away her tears from her already red, puffy eyes. She had been crying all night for the past couple nights. She couldn't even remember what day it was.

There was a knock on her door. She didn't move, hoping that noise would go away. The knock wouldn't end. She begrudgingly stood up and stumbled over to the door. She didn't even care that she was wearing a baggy sweater and sweatpants, with her hair tied together with a falling ponytail. She opened the door to see Jerod, an old employee from Silicon Prints. He was wearing a nice dark blue sweater and holding flowers.

"Emma, you're okay!" he said kindly with a smile.

Normally her state of dress currently would make her self conscious, but she didn't care how haggard she thought she looked, "Hey."

Jerrod looking nervous suddenly, "I was worried about you since what happened at work the other day, and you stopped showing up… Oh! And these are for you," He said handing her the flowers.

She reluctantly took them, "Oh... thanks. These are lovely," She said smelling them, "Is Chris mad?" she asked about her manager.

"A little bit, but I told him about how scared you looked when you left. He seemed worried. I think he'll understand if you talk to him," Jerod said.

Emma thought a bit at the possibility of keeping her job even after leaving so abruptly, and having a no call no show yesterday. Did she want that job back? "Why didn't you call?"

"I tried, but your phone sounded like it was shut off," Jerod said.

Emma nodded, wishing Jerod would just leave. He was nice, she thought, but she wanted to be alone, "Alright, well I gotta go… uhh… feed my cat," Emma point back to insider her apartment.

"I thought you were allergic," Jerod said.

"Yeah… benadryl, you know," Emma said vaguely.

Jerod nodded, "Well, I'm glad you're safe. I was having some people over tonight if you wanted to stop by," he smiled.

She raised an eyebrow. Random party on a Wednesday. No, it couldn't have been Wednesday. Thursday? "Wait what day is it today?" She asked.

"Saturday?" He said.

"Three days," She said under her breath, finding it hard to believe. She put a hand to her head and looked back into her apartment. Was she really moping around for three days?

"You okay?" Jerod asked her.

"Yeah!" She answered quickly, "uh, I'm fine… but I don't think I can go to your party tonight, I'm sorry. Thanks for the invite," She said trying to dismiss Jerod.

"Well, if you can't make it later, did you want to go out and get coffee or something?" He asked.

Emma internally groaned. Jerod just wouldn't leave, "I look like a mess and it would take forever to get ready and -"

"Nah, you look beautiful as always," He smiled.

Emma felt like she should blush, but she was just annoyed. She looked down at the flowers, realizing he went through some effort. The party wasn't just a casual invite. He wanted her as a date. She sighed and looked up, "Give me 10 minutes?" She asked with a polite smile.

~~~ Four Barrel Coffee ~~~

Jerod talked. A lot. Emma barely got any words out. She either agreed or chuckled at what he said when she wasn't sipping at her coffee.

"I'm sorry, I'm talking a lot aren't I?" He asked.

"I don't mind," She smiled.

"Kind of like how it was at work, huh?" Jerod asked with a chuckle. Emma was quiet at work. She was always listening to music. They thought she was just shy, but no one realized it was because she didn't want to make friends.

"Why'd you want to go out now all of a sudden?" Emma asked.

Jerod shrugged and looked down at his phone for a second letting out a short chuckle, "You know, I've had a crush on you for a while. Just didn't realize how much I missed you until I stopped seeing you." Emma smiled not knowing what to say. "Do you, uh… want to do this again sometime?"

Emma didn't say anything for a bit. She looked into Jerod's eyes for a bit. She didn't like him the way he seemed to like her. She never even thought of him outside of work. Perhaps being friends with him was safe. It's not like he was part of Dedsec. Still, it was dangerous… She couldn't bare to lose anyone else in her life, even someone she didn't particularly care for, "I'm sorry, Jerod… You're really nice, but I don't think that'll be a good idea."

Jerod took the rejection with grace, "Already got someone special?" He asked.

Yeah. A stalker that continuously ruins her life. But Emma knew that's not what he meant. Wrench popped into her head but she quickly dismissed it, forcing her mind to quickly think back on all her Dedsec friends, "Something like that," She said.

Jerod smiled and nodded, "Well, he's a lucky guy."

Emma mentally scoffed and bit back a retort by drinking coffee. She looked over Jerod's shoulder to see a male wearing a shirt with a Dedsec logo on it. She froze but played it cool by locking eyes back on Jerod as he rambled on about whatever Emma wasn't paying attention to. That guy could just be a fan, she thought. Not all Dedsec followers are hackers. She looked down to the table noticing Jerod's phone faced down. It was closer to her than it was to him.

Perhaps it was paranoia, but she knew she had every right to feel it. Emma set her coffee mug down casually. But as quickly as she could she grabbed Jerod's phone and she looked at the screen, ignoring his words.

Resetting tracker status…. 89%

He snatched it away, without much effort considering the shock of seeing what was on the screen loosened her hand muscles, "Haha looks like you accidentally grabbed my phone instead of yours."

Emma stared back at him, "What tracker?" She asked meekly.

Jerod shrugged, "Oh it's just a background I have -"

"I gotta go," Emma interrupted, standing up, and marching out of the coffee house. Jerod looked back at the man in the Dedsec shirt, who stood up, grabbed the phone from Jerod and walked out, following Emma.

~~~Meanwhile, across the street from Four Barrel Coffee~~~

Marcus sat in the driver's seat of a parked van, with Wrench sitting in the passenger seat, with his feet up on the dashboard.

"Have I mentioned how much I hate this plan?" Wrench asked.

"Only about 60 times, but you never explained why," Marcus responded with a deadpan expression.

"No reason," He answered, but his eyes were focusing on the back of a certain brunette.

"You're either going to have to tell me why, or I'm gonna lose my mind if you complain again," Marcus said.

Wrench sighed and leaned his head back on the rest, "It's just… you know, they're having coffee!"

Marcus was waiting for Wrench to continue. When he didn't, Marcus spoke, "And that's bad becauuuseee?"

"...Nevermind," Wrench muttered.

Marcus shook his head, looking back ahead of him to look inside the coffee house. Marcus smirked, "You're not… jealous, are you?"

"Jealous! Me? No way, man. Has nothing to do with that," Wrench quickly defended. Marcus continued to smirk and Wrench looked over at him slowly. They both made eye contact for a moment and Marcus' smirk grew wider, "Don't you fucking tell anyone!"

Marcus finally laughed, "Why you so weird about her, man? Just tell her how you feel. I don't know."

"Because we just met and we barely know anything about each other," Wrench sighed dreamily, heart icons appearing on his mask, "She's so smart and pretty. And she actually cares about what I have to say. And likes all this nerdy shit, and she's just so… ugh!…. Just so out of my league," Wrench said feeling defeated, heart icons disappearing.

"There's no such thing as a league. Besides, you're smart, too. And pretty… if that's what you want to hear," Marcus said awkwardly.

Wrench's mask displayed two solid lines of no emotion, "Marcus, you uh… trying to tell me something?"

"You want my help or not!?" Marcus laughed.

"Sorry sorry. I just don't think this is the right time, yeah? She's going through all this shit right now," Wrench muttered seriously.

Marcus nodded, "Maybe, maybe not. The whole thing with Ray probably didn't help your chances either."

Wrench tightened his fist, "I should have went after her, man."

"No, like Ray said… It sucks, but it's going to be better in the long run," Marcus said.

"I don't like…." Wrench began, struggling to find the words, "...using her as a pawn."

"She's not, she's working with us. She just doesn't know it yet," Marcus said.

"Isn't that kind of what a pawn is?" Wrench deadpanned.

"Okay, okay. I'm just trying to help. It'll be over before we know it. Then you two can live in your little fantasy land," Marcus said.

Wrench nodded, unwilling to completely accept it, but knew that it was a good strategy to keep her in the dark. He balled up his fist one more time, but relaxed, "Can you keep this between us? I'm just not ready to tell her, or anyone, while all this shit is happening," Wrench said.

"I got you," Marcus said and meant it. Last few times, he was just teasing his friend over an apparent crush. He didn't realized he actually liked her. Marcus would let Wrench move on his own pace.

Before the conversation could continue, they saw Emma push the doors open and march down the sidewalk, seeing a member of Dedsec trying to casually walk behind her.

"Shit, this doesn't look good, the reset is only at 89%," Marcus said starting the van.

"Looks like Sam is trying to tail her," Wrench said.

"Yeah, he'll still be too far," Marcus said, "Where the fuck is Ray?"

"Doesn't matter, he can't do anything without a full reset," Wrench said. He looked back at the feed and saw it was going back up, since Sam was able to catch up and get right behind her, "Wait he got close enough."

With perfect timing, the number eventually jumped to 100%. Emma felt that someone was right behind her and she whipped around just as the Dedsec member passed her and continued walking straight. She watched as he walked away from her, tightening her grip on her purse strap. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

"100! He did it!" Marcus and Wrench fistbumped as the cheered, "Plus one for Sam!" Marcus drawled out.

~~~Emma's Apartment~~~

As Emma reached her door, she noticed a box in front of it. She unlocked her door as she looked the box over. There wasn't a return label on it. It just read: Emelia Myers. It wasn't delivered to her apartment, it was dropped off. It could have been from Owen. A threat perhaps. Her landlord maybe? Finally, she decided to open the box, to see a note and some clothes and a pair of shoes in it. She took a look at the note seeing Dedsec's one and only logo on it. She dropped the note back in the box as if it burned her. She stepped away from it, trying to ignore it. Hasn't Dedsec done enough, she thought. Maybe it was an apology. She scoffed. Writing a note is some way to apologize.

Then her mind went to Jerod. Did Dedsec pay him to take her out on a date to reset her tracker? Did they want to track her now? Maybe Owen manipulated them enough to turn on her. Her heart sank and the thought of her once friends becoming enemies. She knew that she should probably stop overreacting and just read the note, but she couldn't gather the courage to do so. It could be worse news than she imagined.

Emma turned her TV on, trying to pay attention to it, but only able to focus on the box in front of her. After an hour of her mental battle, she threw herself to the box and ripped the note open.

Do not make a sound. Owen has you bugged. He comes to you every few nights to replace a microphone on you. We don't know if your apartment is bugged, but it probably is.

Inside the box you'll find fresh clothes and shoes that you should wear. Please take a shower and feel for bumps in your skin where he could have placed a mic or another tracker. When you're showered and changed, meet me at Dolores Park. Do not bring anything with you unless it's in this bag. We'll talk more later.

-DS

Owen… He put a tracker in her… that was creepy. But breaking into her apartment to place a microphone on her was something that she didn't even know how to comprehend. She was apprehensive about talking to Dedsec, Ray especially, but she knew she had to. She got in the shower and immediately started feeling every centimeter of her skin to make sure there weren't anymore implanted devices.

~~~Dolores Park~~~

Her new outfit consisted of a short dark gray hoodie, over a long striped shirt that went passed her hips. Her skinny jeans were similar to her old ones, and her shoes resembled Sitara's but in primarily black with some white. Yeah, she knew who picked her outfit for her. Her eyes scanned the park and saw Ray sitting on a bench. Emma rolled her eyes, not ready to converse with him.

She strolled up and plopped down on the bench, already expressing her attitude toward Ray. They both looked ahead as they chatted, "No mics," She said.

"You checked, everywhere?" Ray asked.

Emma blushed, "Yup," She muttered quietly.

"I'm sorry I had to put you in that position the other night. It's the only way for Cyb...uh…Owen to think he's still in control," Ray said.

"That's the thing… He's always in control. Even if it doesn't seem like he is," Emma said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ray said sarcastically

"Sorry… You just don't know him like I do. Even if you are the legendary Raymond… Whatever," Emma said.

"Right. If it makes you feel better, everybody gave me some major flack after yelling at you. Until I explained everything," He said.

Emma smiled, "A little bit."

Ray chuckled, "Wrench threatened me twice in my life already. The first time was when I wanted to make an EMP out of his robot. The second was when I yelled at you."

Emma turned her head to Ray quickly, before he scolded her to look back ahead, "Wrench, huh," Emma smiled, a small blush forming on her face, "Were you scared?" She asked with a joking tone.

Ray let out a loud singular laugh, "By him? I've been threatened by far worse than that punk. At least he tried." Emma smiled. "Ready to hear the plan?" Ray asked.

"There's a plan?" Emma asked.

"There's always a plan. Remember when Sitara scrambled your tracker?" Emma nodded, but Ray continued anyway without seeing the nod, "Well, we reset it. So currently it's transmitting to Owen accurately. Marcus and Wrench are already in the process of tracking where the information is going. It's not very likely that's where Owen is, but it's a start. After we triangulate the place, we're going to re-scramble it and try to remove it completely," Ray finished.

Emma stared wide eyed the whole explanation, "That definitely sounds like a plan. What should I do?" She asked.

"Waiting on the go ahead from the boys to re-scramble your tracker. Then just do as I say," Ray said.

Emma's heart suddenly sank. What if this is a plan for Owen, not Dedsec, "How can I trust that Owen didn't turn you all against me?" She asked.

"Guess you won't know until it's all done, right?" Ray said.

"You sound very confident, but that doesn't instill much confidence in me. You could be playing me a fool," Emma said.

"And get Wrench on my case a third time?" Ray chuckled, "No thanks."

"Maybe you are scared of him," Emma joked.

Ray scoffed and checked his phone as it buzzed, "Speak of the devil. They're all done. Hold still," He said as searched through his phone to find the right app, "Aaaaand re-scrambled! Hopefully this doesn't affect your brain too much," Ray said.

"What?" Emma asked sharply.

Ray laughed, "Just pulling your chain, kiddo. When you stand up, go directly behind us. There's a cab with someone waiting for you. He'll recognize you. I'll meet up with you guys later," Ray explained.

"This doesn't sound sketchy at all, but what do I have to lose.. Thank you Ray, I'll see you later," Emma said standing up, not making any contact with Ray as she walked away. Ray still sat on the bench messing with his phone.

Emma continued walking toward the alley that she was instructed to. She passed on, getting to the next part of the street, seeing a man leaning against the cab, "Jodie!" He said, opening the cab door.

At first she thought he wasn't talking to her, but his eyes were glued to her. It was then, when she remembered Jodie Smith was her Blume alias She smiled and got in the cab, thanking him. Emma sat in silence the whole way to wherever he was taking her. Emma eyed the cab driver. He didn't look like a typical San Francisco cab driver. He had to be a part of Dedsec. She couldn't even trust cab drivers, what a world, she thought.

"Sitara told me to drop you off in front of CD Exchange," The cab driver said, probably noticing her staring.

So he knew Sitara, she thought, "I'm in your hands, I guess."

"I'm Keith. I'm not actually a cab driver. I'm trying to get into Dedsec for real," He said casually.

Emma nodded. Was he trying to impress her? The conversation died out as she stared out the window hoping she wasn't being led to her death.

~~~Unknown Location~~~

Marcus and Wrench sat outside the compound that the transmission results led to. Marcus was using his drone to navigate through the building, while Wrench was sitting off the end of the van with his laptop.

"Whatever he has on her, we're deleting," Wrench said.

"That might send a message to leave her alone. We're here for clues, remember that," Marcus said.

"The sooner I get to meet him, the sooner he-" Wrench started before Marcus interrupted him.

"Whoa I think I found something. This terminal… has a bunch of girls names. Emma's is one of them," Marcus said. He looked up at Wrench, "Research these names real quick. Samantha Chidori."

"Yeah, hold on," Wrench said typing away, "Uh… you sure that's her name? There's only one result in San Francisco and she's… deceased." Wrench said.

Marcus and Wrench kept eye contact, "Check this one. Kimberly Santiago," Marcus said.

"Aged 9, 28, or 41?" Wrench asked.

"Not sure. Does it matter?" Marcus asked.

Wrench shrugged, "A little bit. The 28 year old is also deceased…" He said.

"Is he just stalking women to murder them?" Marcus asked with a whisper, "Let's keep checking these names…"

~~~San Francisco streets~~~

The cab driver eventually stopped right in front of a used CD store, knocking Emma out of her daydreaming, "Thanks for the ride, uh… Keith," She said and got out. Was she waiting on Sitara? She was probably waiting on a murderer, she thought for a second.

"Boo!" Sitara jumped up behind Emma and she screamed.

"That's not fair!" Emma said and sighed, "I was thinking I was being led to a murderer or something."

"That's a logical thought process. Dedsec's on your side, hun," Sitara said starting to walk down an alley, which Emma followed her.

"I didn't know he was a Dedsec member," Emma said.

"Follower. I think you can assume whoever randomly helps us do anything is a Dedsec member or follower," Sitara said.

"Is Jerod secretly a Dedsec follower?" Emma asked, eyes honed in on the back of Sitara's head.

Sitara slightly turned her head back to look at Emma but didn't slow her pace, "Clever girl. No, we just needed to find someone you knew and trusted. Poor kid was so scared."

"Yeah, so was I. Some warning would've been nice… but I understand. I think. Still mad," Emma said.

"You have every right to be. I'm sorry there isn't another way, but I think you'll forgive us after what I'm about to show you," Sitara said.

"We'll see… how did you guys even know about Owen and the mics?" Emma asked.

"Ray met up with one of his goons and he was talking to Owen through him. He was trying to trick Ray, but he saw right through the lies," Sitara explained.

Emma stopped following. When Sitara stopped hearing footsteps, she stopped and turned around to look at Emma, "It's what he wanted…"

"Come again?" Sitara asked.

"I'm not doubting Ray's intelligence, but… If Owen wanted to trick him, he would. There's no way he'd explain his master plan like a... James Bond villain!" Emma exclaimed.

"Just follow me," Sitara said.

"No… it's a trap, whatever it is," Emma said.

Sitara rolled her eyes and went up to grab Emma's wrist and started dragging her, "Maybe we'll run into a trap, but I promise you won't worry about it until later," Sitara said.

Emma tried to struggle without much success, "Sitara, I'm telling you, Owen is -"

"-Not our problem right now!" Sitara continued, opening a door, dragging Emma through it and down some stairs.

"He's always a problem, he's...?" Emma took her eyes off Sitara to take in the view in front of her. Her eyes widened as she saw an L shaped table with beakers and chemistry tools laid about, boxes and boxes of supplies lying around the table to set up however Emma pleased. She turned back to Sitara, who was grinning.

"Well?" She asked.

"Is this… for me?" Emma asked.

"Welcome to your secret base!" Ray's voice was heard, startling her.

Emma jumped her attention to her right to see Ray and Josh sitting on a futon watching her reaction, "My… secret base," She repeated to herself. Emma walked over to the table to touch it.

"We got whatever we could find as basic stuff. If you need pretty much anything, we can get it," Sitara said walking closer to her.

Emma put her hand to her face, covering it as she let tears from her eyes fall.

"Oh come on now, the last time we saw you, you were crying, you can't be doing it again!" Sitara said trying to cheer her up.

"No, no, no. They're happy tears, it doesn't count," Emma muttered through her hand and her tears. She wiped her tears, "I'm sorry… this is so amazing. I'm actually a chemist again!"

"You forgive us?" Ray asked.

"US? I was just mad at you," Emma began, "but all is forgiven. No wait! It's not!" Emma said, remembering what was being discussed with Sitara before, "Whatever Owen told you… He'd never talk about what his plans are. He was trying to throw you off."

"You weren't there, Emma," Ray said.

Her face got serious as she looked at Ray, "And you weren't dating him for years."

"Okay okay okay," Sitara interrupted, "We can worry about that later."

"Marcus and Wrench will be here soon. We'll know what they found at one of his bases," Josh said.

Emma stood in silence, staring at her new chemistry table. She was ecstatic and terrified at the same time, yet unsure which one overpowered the other. The door opened once again letting in Marcus and Wrench. Emma heard their chatter, but wasn't completely focused on their words.

"Emma?" Marcus' voice was heard.

Emma snapped her head up to look at him, "I'm sorry... " She said.

"It's okay. Uhhh, you might want to sit down," Marcus said leading her to the futon. Ray got up to make room for her. Marcus grabbed a stool from the chemistry table and sat in front of her, "We tracked where the transmission of your tracker leads to, and apparently that's also where the microphones led to…"

Emma nodded, "This isn't sounding good," Emma's eyes drifted off to Wrench, who stood with his arms crossed, not looking too happy.

"Marcus, what'd you find?" Sitara asked sounding scared as well.

"Emma isn't the only one he's stalking. We found things on at least 4 other girls… that are alive," Marcus said carefully looking through Emma's eyes if he should continue or not.

Emma didn't know how to process it, "How many?"

Marcus took a deep breath, "12 that are… deceased."

"How long?" She asked.

"Some are dated from 6 years ago," Marcus said carefully. He didn't want to say anything that she didn't want to hear, but he didn't want to lie to her.

"We started dating around… 3… 4 years ago," Emma said somberly, "Oh god," She said covering her mouth. She stood up and started pacing, as per usual. Josh started fidgeting but Sitara put a hand on his shoulder to try to help him gain his composure. Sitara knew that the priority right now was Emma.

"We're not leaving you alone. Whether it's one of us or a follower, we'll keep him away from you," Marcus said quickly, trying to make her feel better.

"No, no, no. I need to know why he hasn't tried to umm…." Emma couldn't finish her sentence. She touched her forehead with her hand, as she continued to pace.

Wrench put his hand on her arm to try to stabilize her and keep her from fainting, "That's dangerous, Em."

"I don't care. 12 people are dead because of him.. And me and 4 others are alive and I need to know why," She said looking in his mask. She really wished she could see his eyes right now.

"Then leave that to us, okay?" Wrench asked.

"Yeah, we have the means to get this job done. You need to stay safe," Marcus said.

"This isn't even anything new. He's a copycat. So he's not going to be hard to figure out, despite how smart he thinks he is," Ray explained.

"You don't know him," Emma said each word individually, glaring at Ray. She was tired of telling him that.

"And you do? Unless you've always known he was a serial killer?" Ray asked her.

"C'mon, man," Marcus tried saying.

Emma stared back at Ray, realizing he was right. The Owen she knew was the one he let her know. Her glare softened as she realized she was now dealing with a stranger, which may have been worse than a stalker that knew her. "I need to sit down," Emma said. Wrench put his hand on the small of her back and helped guide her to the futon, sitting next to her. "I feel so useless…"

"Uh, helloooo?" Sitara chimed in, "You forget where we are? We're in your lab! Make your ice darts or your fear gas or whatever you think will help us." Emma let out a chuckle.

"Emma, you're not going to like what I have to say most of the time," Ray began, "But you need to know that we're not your enemies. I'm not your enemy. I've dealt with pieces of shit like him before, and I'll do it again." Emma nodded at his explanation. She knew he was right, it was just hard to accept it sometimes.

"We'll track him down and we'll be face to face with him," Sitara said, "And he'll have nowhere to go and he'll see how it feels."

"But how many more people are going to die before we get to him?" Emma asked.

"We already have a head start. We can find clues about his whereabouts through the stuff we hacked," Marcus said. He stood up and pulled his laptop out.

"Wait, save that for hackerspace. Emma, you should come with us," Sitara offered.

"Wait, doesn't he know where the hackerspace is?" Emma asked, remembering he had a mic on her.

"There was audio recorded from there, but no location. Hackerspace is safe. As is this place. We can only find and access it in a similar way." Marcus explained.

Emma looked up at her chemistry table. She knew her life was in danger, but she smiled at the thought of finally being able to do something useful to help them. Maybe not tonight, or tomorrow, but eventually she will be the Lucious Fox of DedSec and provide them with anything they could possibly ask for.

~~~ Hackerspace ~~~

Emma was on the futon surrounded by pieces of paper that she tore from a notebook, with a laptop in front of her. Her hair was up, as she was going through papers, researching and creating formulas that she planned to try the next day.

Everyone else was sitting around the table, discussing their own findings.

"He may not even be in San Francisco," Marcus said.

"Could be why he has lackeys at his beck and call," Ray suggested.

"But everyone he killed lived in San Francisco," Josh said.

"Does time being in captive have any relevance?" Sitara asked.

While everyone was spitballing ideas and theories, Wrench was slouched back in his chair, staring straight ahead at Emma, on the futon. He couldn't help but think how cute he found her hair up and messy like that. For some reason, she looked even more attractive when she was in her element. He's never seen her so alive as he did when she was scribbling down formulas. He just wanted to go sit by her and hear her process, even if he didn't understand a word she was saying. Then he mentally slapped himself. He was gushing over her more and more every time he saw her. He was falling too fast for her.

"Wrench!" Ray said snapping his fingers in front of his face, "Less ogling, more effort trying to protect the thing you're ogling?" He suggested quietly.

Wrench scoffed, "I was just thinking," he said leaning back toward his keyboard. Ray was right though. He can think about her when he knows she's safe. Then maybe he could try asking her out - he banged his head on the table, causing everyone to stare. Why was he thinking about asking her out, he scolded himself.

"You alright there, buddy?" Marcus asked a little freaked out.

"Be right back!" Wrench shot up from table and headed for the stairs. Everyone else just looked at each other. He just wanted to get some fresh air but then he realized he couldn't trust his friends not to say anything incriminating about him with Emma in the room. When Wrench reached the stairs, he did a quick heel turn and went back to the table, "Nevermind, we're good."

"You're being weird," Josh said.

"Okay is this about me, or about her?" Wrench asked gesturing toward Emma, who is still too preoccupied with her own muttering about formulas to pay attention.

"You tell us," Sitara teased.

Wrench titled his head sideways as his mask displayed two horizontal lines "glaring" toward Sitara. Emma was heard groaning out of frustration as she stood up and stretched. She was muttering about formulas, no one was really sure.

"Now she's being weird," Josh said.

Emma turned, "I'm sorry. I just can't figure out something that I need without testing things… Anyone want to go to the lab with me?" She asked.

Wrench was about to volunteer until Sitara piped up, "No one's going anywhere right now, especially you."

Emma walked over and sat down on the same seat as Sitara, making her scoot over a bit to make room for her, "Sitaaaraaaa, but it's going to be all I can think about all night," She whined, resting her head on the table.

"Oh, I think someone here could help you think about something else," Sitara smirked, glancing over at Wrench. He ignored her and focused on typing something on the computer. He wasn't actually typing words, he just wanted to look busy.

"If it's not chemistry, it's not going to help," Emma muttered, face still on the table.

"Might still involve chemistry," Ray said quietly. Sitara chuckled.

"Oh really? What are you thinking then?" Emma asked innocently.

"Emma, don't trust anything these weirdos say," Wrench said.

"You're one to talk," Josh said.

"Aren't we all a little weird, anyway?" Emma asked.

"What can we do to help, hun?" Sitara asked genuinely, "Aside from going to the lab. That's not happening tonight."

Emma sighed and stood back up, "Nothing. Just going to try to come up with new ideas," She walked back over to the futon, sounding defeated.

Sitara went back to talking to Marcus. Without warning, Wrench stood up and walked over to the futon, standing next to it, "I'm no chemist, but may I offer you a distraction?" He asked.

Emma looked up and blew some hair out of her face, "Yeah, sure!" She said moving papers away from the spot next to her, so he has room to sit. "Sorry, it's a mess. I don't really have a filing system or anything…" she tried to joke.

"This is nothing. You should see my garage when I'm trying to build something," Wrench said sitting down next to her.

Emma chuckled, "Funny how similar two different things can be," She smiled looking at him.

"What are you working on, anyway?" Wrench asked.

"Just scribbling down ideas I've been having for years. But you said you could 3D print airsoft guns with a high pressure spring. So I was thinking of ways I could get different types of sensory gas grenades in the size of BB pellets," She quickly muttered.

"Have you done it before?" Wrench asked.

"In the form of a ghetto airsoft gun that shoots out darts, not pellets…" Emma said.

"Ahhh right your ice dart gun. When am I going to see that?" Wrench asked.

"If I don't get to go to my lab, you won't get to see it. But you'll see the 2.0 version with pellets. I'm trying to create something that can expand with oxygen so it creates more of a widespread impact," She explained, speaking almost too quickly.

"It's pretty cool that you know how to do all this," Wrench said, regretting saying it just as it came out. Was it demeaning? Was it too forward? He just thought it was cool, he didn't want to accidentally come on to her and make it weird.

Emma smiled clearly not reading into it as much as Wrench was, "Aw thanks, but what you do is a lot cooler," She said as a matter of factly, "Hey, um….I'm sorry for blowing you off the other night. I know you were just trying to help."

"Hey, don't be sorry," He said tapping the back of his hand to her leg for a second, "That was then. Everything's okay right now. Well, shit. Not at all actually, but we're all friends again now, right?" Wrench asked.

Emma nodded and leaned back into the couch, like Wrench was, "Heard you chewed out Ray, though."

Wrench felt nervous, "Hahaaa, who could have told you that?"

"Ray, actually," Emma said, "But thank you...for doing all that…It's really nice to have people that care."

He nodded, looking over at her, "You still want to finish Predator sometime?"

"Definitely! I was having a lot of fun watching it. Wouldn't want to keep it associated with something bad, you know?"

"Hey hey, guys!" Marcus called out. All eyes were on him, "I found something. I traced back where all the photos were uploaded to the server. Leads me to a hotel in Oakland…"

"Owen used to have an uncle that owned property in Oakland, but he passed away. Or at least that's what he said," Emma said.

"It's worth a shot at least," Marcus said. "But wait there's more! All of the deceased victims were ruled as suicides."

"You think he convinces people to suicide?" Sitara asked.

"With his manipulation game? I could see it," Ray said.

Emma stared ahead. She knew Owen on a personal level, at least she thought she did. She once did. Hearing Dedsec talk so casually about him being evil felt unreal. Her face scrunched up and she tried covering her face with her hand. Wrench noticed she went quiet so suddenly and turned to look at her. He turned back to his friends, "Hey, guys…" He said quietly, but they didn't hear him. Wrench resisted the urge to comfort her by putting an arm around her, but he wanted to do something. His hand reached out to lightly touch her knee, ready to move back if she wasn't comfortable with it. Much to his relief, she put her hand on his, holding it tightly. He turned his hand around so that they were holding hands, intertwining their fingers. Had it been a normal situation, he'd be gushing. Hell, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited about the hand holding, but he knew he was just comforting her and nothing more. Or at least he would convince himself. For his own sake.

"It's fine," She whispered as she rested her head on his shoulder, ignoring the studs that were attached to his vest.

"We can talk about something else," Wrench said to her quietly, as the others continued to talk about the possible location of Owen.

Emma idly grazed her fingers over Wrench's forearm. She was studying his tattoos. They were very scattered and independent from each other. She was curious if they even had a story or if they were just something he got because he was bored. He looked down at her hand gliding on his arm, trying not to develop goosebumps. He wondered what she was thinking. He assumed she was about to ask about all of his tattoos. He wondered if she had any, which she didn't, "Who can Predator lose to?" Emma asked out of nowhere.

Wrench smiled and was relieved she was talking to him, "Wolverine," He answered almost with disbelief, "He can beat most Predators, sadly. Batman fought the movie Predator once, and won. It was bullshit."

"That's why Batman is the best," Emma said.

"He's lucky he has such loyal, pandering, writers," Wrench said sarcastically, wanting to use more vulgar words, "Batman and Wolverine both."

"Loyal? Nah, everyone knows Batman is the correct winner," Emma said, "When you write your own Batman vs Predator comic, you can be wrong and have Batman lose," Emma said.

"If I wrote one, it'd be one giant page of Predator taking his head off," Wrench said.

Emma laughed, "A bit much, huh?"

"That's exactly what would happen! In a real fight." Wrench said.

"One day i'm going to know enough about the predators to be able to argue against that," Emma said.

"Impossible. When you know enough about the predators, you'll be on the path to enlightenment," Wrench said.

Emma lifted her head off of Wrench's shoulder and looked up at his mask. She really wondered what he was trying to hide. Wrench on the other hand, was relieved he had a mask to block what little distance was between their faces. He was nervous, but he'd be even more nervous without it. "We'll see. Thank you," She whispered as she let go of his hand and got off the futon. Wrench stayed seated for a moment longer.

"And then there's the warehouse! That has to be it!" Marcus said as Emma joined in on the conversation.

"What'd you find?" Emma asked.

"The warehouse where he made the girls kill themselves. We tracked it down," Marcus said.

Wrench finally stood up to join the conversation. He walked over to his counter, which was on the opposite side of the table as Emma, as leaned against it. He liked her being so close to him. But he was just comforting her, he kept having to tell himself not to get used to it. Emma kept glancing over at Wrench, who wasn't as talkative as usual. He was so nice, she thought. He comforted her when no one else really knew how, or tried really. It wasn't the first time he helped her either.

"Marcus, you want to check it out tomorrow with me?" Ray suggested, "I know that area." Marcus agreed.

"I'm going, too," Wrench said.

"It might not be that big of an operation. We're just scouting it," Ray said.

"Could use all the help you can get," Sitara said.

"Who's going to watch over Emma?" Marcus asked.

"I got some boys ready for some bodyguard duties," Sitara said.

"Can you do me a favor and not make it sound like I need babysitting?" Emma asked, cringing.

"Sorry, you're right," Marcus said.

"You met Sam already, but him and Vince will be around tomorrow to be your bodyguards. Not babysitters," Sitara said.

"I know Sam?" Emma asked.

"Coffee shop guy," Sitara said.

Emma held her arms out, "Oh yeah, nice to formally meet him after all that hacking and following he did. Was meaning to talk to you about that."

"We did what we had to do, but it worked, didn't it?" Sitara asked with a smile, trying to diffuse the situation.

Emma scrunched her eyes together, "I guuesssss," She drawled out, "Just… no more secrets please. Write a note if you have to, I don't know. I can act, whatever."

"Couldn't take the chance of anything being inauthentic," Ray explained.

Emma understood, but it never made it any easier. Plus she didn't want to keep arguing with Ray. She knew that she'd have to get used to Ray having the final say, "So can I get into my lab tomorrow then?"

"Sure can. You're gonna spend the night at my place, then tomorrow we'll get to your lab and set it up for real. Order anything you don't have, start your evil villain experiments, etcetera, etcetera," Sitara said. Emma nodded.

"So I guess we have our plan," Marcus said looking between Ray and Wrench.

"Getting closer to exposing that rat," Ray said sounding awfully excited. He's been familiar with Cyb0rg AKA Owen for far too long.

Sitara put her arm over Emma, "Well, us girls need to gossip and get our beauty sleep. I trust you boys can handle it from here?" Emma rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. Emma went to the futon to grab her notes, trying to keep them in what little order she had them in.

"Yeah you rest up and get your lab in order. We'll report to you tomorrow," Marcus said.

Sitara and Emma waved goodbye as they walked up the stairs, out of sight of the remaining boys. Wrench turned around and looked down at his counter, picking up a random circuit to have something to mess with.

"So we got the plan? Should we make any revisions?" Marcus asked.

"Couldn't hurt. I can draw out the layout to give you boys a better idea," Ray said.

"I can find the blueprint online," Josh said.

The whole time Wrench stood in silence, continuing to fiddle with random objects to appear busy, but his mind was going a mile a minute. He didn't want to admit it, but Emma being out of his sight made him nervous. Sitara didn't live far and they had other Dedsec members around to help, but he wouldn't feel comfortable until he saw her again. He wanted to bang his head against the wall though. Was he being possessive? No, he was worried, he thought. She was a friend of his, and he was worried. He'd be just as worried if Sitara or Marcus had a stalker like that. But he knew Sitara and Marcus could handle their own. It wasn't a secret that Emma didn't know how to defend herself. If she already had her airsoft gun projects, he'd feel better.

Wrench turned back and headed for the stairs, "I'm spent. I'll uh… see you guys tomorrow."

Marcus stood up, "Wrench..." He began. He was guessing it was about Emma.

Wrench knew exactly where the conversation would have went, "I'm fine," He said already walking the last few steps. Marcus sat back down and looked at Ray and Josh.

"What's his deal?" Ray asked.

Marcus promised he wouldn't tell anyone about Wrench's crush on Emma. He shrugged, "No idea."

Ray wasn't convinced, but he was a little angry that Wrench bailed without going through details together. He was fully expecting Wrench to ask questions when they could have been answered that night. They were all tired, but the work had to be put it. He rolled his eyes and dismissed it.

Walking home, Wrench realized how late it actually got. So much happened that day. All involving Emma. He wasn't sure how she could handle all the events from the day. It was some heavy stuff and he admired how well she seemed to handle it, at least on the outside. He wanted her to be able to confide in him. He thought back to her holding his hand, which she started. Sitting on the couch, talking about Predator and Batman… he wanted that. Everyday. With her. He also wanted to yell, frustrated with his feelings. Was she even interested in him? He wondered. She got real close to him only to be so normal when she let go of his hand. He suddenly felt angry, thinking about it. Maybe she was just a flirt. He shook his head. If she was a flirt, she would have done the same with Marcus, or the guy in the coffee shop. Maybe what he wanted could be a reality. His mind wouldn't stop going back and forth and all he wanted at the moment was for it to be 'tomorrow' already so they could be one step closer to getting rid of Owen forever.