Jackson taps his fingers on the table as he hums to the rock music blasting through his earbuds while his friend sitting across from him has Lofi beats playing through his. They're both trying to get the last bit of their homework done with Jacks being the only one keeping his eyes open. His friend on the other hand is fried.

Jacks takes a glance at him and laughs quietly at the sight of his friend's head planted down onto the table, his eyes threatening to shut.

Jacks removes his earbud and taps him on the shoulder.

"Hm?" He manages to say with his eyes halfway open.

"Dude, you can go home." Jacks gives him a sympathetic grin. "I'll finish here."

His friend removes one of his earbuds.

"No, no. I said I'd get this done." He raises his head up and sits properly in his seat. "My grades are already going to shit and I'm supposed to be helping on our project. Sorry that I'm so tired."

Jackson sets his pencil down.

"Jordan, I can finish this. Just go home. The library closes in an hour anyway."

"I..." He sighs, feeling tempted to leave. "No. I'm up."

Jacks laughs again while Jordan slaps his cheeks and picks up his pencil.

"I'm gonna get it done with you."

With determination, Jordan tries to keep himself awake and continues where he left off.

A minute later, however, he is drooping his eyes again and on the brink of plopping his head back on the table. Jackson shakes his head and is about to reach out again.

"Tu música no puede tocar," Bagley's voice interrupts Jordan's music causing his eyes to fully open.

He furrows his brows.

"The fuck? I don't have this set to spanish."

Jacks peaks his head up curiosity. His own music is interrupted as well with bits of Bagley's voice cutting in and out. He takes out his last earbud and stares at it confused.

"Yours isn't working either?" Jordan asks.

Loud static coming from the row of computers to the left of them grabs their attention. A blue hooded figure appear on their screens.

"London, this is Zero-Day. Nice to finally meet," a filtered voice speaks.

Jackson's blood runs cold once he hears Zero-Day's voice.

"Those little bombings a few months back were my way of saying hello. Now, we'll really get to know each other."

Jordan also takes notice and freezes up.

"All that technology you've come to love so well. It's all about to turn against you. Tonight, your modern world will become a living hell. I don't expect you to understand this, but what I'm doing is good. Destruction is always the cure."

Static returns to the computers, leaving the two feeling uneasy. They both take a glance at their phones sitting on the table before giving each other a look.

"Nope." Jordan abruptly stands up, takes out his earbuds and optik, and throws it down on the table. "I'm not sticking around for whatever the hell's happening."

"Wait, wait. We don't even know what's happening," Jackson says while also getting up. "Let's calm down and think for a second."

"Are you kidding?" Jordan grabs his bookbag. "You know what Zero-Day did last time, right? Now they got into the computers and our phones. They literally said they'd use it against us, so there's nothing to think about. Hell there could be a bomb in here for all we know."

Jordan slings his bag over his shoulder. Jacks would be comfortable with him leaving if it weren't for the possibility of the drones being hacked as well.

"What if it's dangerous outside too?" Jackson argues and takes a glance out the window.

Jordan looks out as well, but neither of them see anything bad going on. Cars and drones busy the streets as usual.

"Jacks, there's nothing happening outside. I say we get the hell out of here while we still can."

Jordan is already readying himself to go downstairs until he notices that Jacks hasn't collected his things. He is still standing in the same place.

"Well come on. Let's go," he urges Jacks.

"There's still a few people here. They might not have heard Zero-Day's message."

"They can sort that shit out themselves. We need to go now."

Jacks lips flatten and he puts his hands on his hips.

"If there's is an attack coming, I can't just leave them."

Jordan scoffs.

"You do understand that you could be getting yourself hurt, right? I'm sure they heard it."

Jacks still isn't budging.

"I have to make sure." He grabs his own bag. "You can leave if you want. I don't want anyone left behind."

Jordan stares worriedly at his friend. He wants to try to convince him more, but with how Jackson is, he knows his warnings won't get anywhere. He always has to be the hero. He frowns and pats Jacks on the shoulder.

"Take care of yourself," he says before turning around and making his way down the stairs.

Jacks watches him as he goes and sighs. He takes a glance at the computers still giving off static. He starts to collect his things into his bag. Admittedly, he is nervous and and takes Jordan's words into consideration, but he still can't fight off the guilty feeling nagging at him.

The image of his mother being dragged away by those men. He sat there hiding, cowering. He did nothing.

He grips the handle of his bag tighter and strides his way over to the set of stairs leading downwards.

He has to be sure nobody else is in the building.

He'll check the library and then he'll call his mom and uncle to see if they've heard anything.

Jackson makes his way down the stairs. He notices more televisions and computers filled with static. The noises echo throughout the whole building.

His breathing picks up speed as he tries to remain calm through all of this. The library is quieter than usual with only the sound of Jackson's footsteps and the static being the only source of noise.

Jackson makes it halfway down the stairs while searching for anyone who could still be in the cafe. He continues down the stairs until the lights cut off and the room is pitch black. The city lights glowing through the windows is the only thing helping him see.

He freezes.

Did someone cut out the lights? Is it Zero-Day?

He wants to go downstairs to see if anyone is tampering with the lights, but stops once he catches a glimpse of a figure appearing at the main entrance holding what appears to be a gun. He spots a few others coming from different entrances, all of them also holding rifles.

Jackson's heart drops. As the shadowy figures enter the building, Jackson slowly starts to back his way upstairs. The figures look towards each other and he notices flashing blue and red colors coming from the sides of their heads. He can only assume they are optiks.

Another figure nods before spreading out and searching different parts of the cafe area.

Jackson does his best to keep his breathing quiet as he continues to back up. He keeps a steady grip on the railing while doing so. He can't begin to wonder who these people might be, but his only assumption is Albion.

He doesn't want to stick around to find out.

He gets to the top step and nearly slips on his foot. The noise isn't loud, but it's enough for one of the figures to dart their head towards his direction.

Jacks turns around and tiptoes his way over to one of the computer desks. Looking around and not knowing where else to hide, he ducks underneath the desk. He scoots himself further beneath it. He mentally cringes at the thought of hiding somewhere as predictable as a desk, but he doesn't have time to dread on it.

He hears slow footsteps coming from the stairs and does his best to keep himself perfectly still.

The footsteps draw closer until they reach the top of the stairs. There's a halt.

Jackson listens for anymore noise through the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.

After a brief moment of silence, he hears a voice whisper, "He went up here."

Jackson halts his breath. They have to be talking about him. Who are these people? He can't see them being Albion because he hasn't gotten into trouble with them recently.

Are they- no. They can't be Zero-Day. Can they?

Jacks picks up multiple footsteps heading up the stairs. He swallows. Maybe Jordan was right. He should have gone with him.

The footsteps linger towards the desks, only a few feet from where Jackson is. He may have just fucked himself by not finding a better place to hide.

Are these people here to kill him?

Jacks doesn't have any weapons on him and all he has to rely on is his fists, but with there being multiple people with loaded weapons, he won't stand a chance. Their footsteps draw closer towards where he is and he braces himself.

Should he play it smart and raise his hand up in surrender, or should he lunge for the first person he sees and try to disarm them?

With each step, Jacks finds it harder and harder to settle on a decision. He decides to go with the ladder and readies himself to strike until the footsteps stop right next to the desk.

Jackson jumps when he hears a loud thud. He stays frozen in place trying to figure out what caused that noise. A grunt coming from a distance also catches his attention before another loud thump is heard.

He hears new footsteps this time sounding like...boots? He isn't sure. There aren't any holes or gaps he can see through.

The boots quietly wander around the room and he desperately wants to see what's going on. He decides to be brave and poke his head out slowly. His eyes widen when he sees a limp body leaning next to the desk.

He takes a glance around the room and stops dead in his tracks once he sees someone standing in front of the body with their back turned to him. He quietly gasps and huddles himself back under the desk.

The stranger takes notice of the noise as they turn around and cautiously walk towards his hiding spot. A pair of combat boots come into view and Jacks prepares himself to pounce on whoever is there. He spots the person holding a gun. He recalls his training on how to disarm someone.

The figure clutches their gun close and leans downward. Jackson's nerve tense up.

It's now or never.

He launches forward and grabs a hold of the gun. Just before he's able to kick them, they grip his arm tightly and toss him onto the floor.

Jackson's shoulder stiffens from the impact as he sits himself up. He looks up and sees the attacker aiming their gun at him. They hunch forward to take a closer look at him.

"Jackson?" He hears a feminine accented voice.

She lowers her gun. Jacks stares at her dumbfounded.

"What? Who...how do you know my name?"

The woman looks around.

"We don't have a lot of time." She takes a step towards him, causing him to lean back. "There are people here looking for you and they want to kidnap you to get to your uncle."

Jackson's forehead creases.

"Wait, what?"

No way Aiden would have fucked with more people. Not after all the progess he's made.

She takes another step towards him, but it only prompts him to scoot back. She sighs.

"Look, my name is Clara." She places a hand on her chest. "And I came here to get you away from them. I...I knew your uncle."

Clara turns her head towards the stairs and hears more soldiers.

"There's more of them coming," she whispers and reaches a hand out to Jackson. "I know you don't trust me, but if they capture you, it's not going to be good."

Jacks warily looks at Clara's hand.

"I know you have a lot of questions, but right now we have to get you out of here."

Clara keeps her hand out, trying to be patient with the kid. Jacks studies Clara with knitted brows. He only now manages to get glimpse of her features.

His mind is all over the place. How the hell did he go from a normal night of studying to being wrapped up in yet again another kidnapping heist involving his uncle?

"Why should I trust you?" He manages to form a question.

She takes another glance towards the stairs before saying, "If you don't, they'll end up taking you."

Jacks is still hesitant, wanting to know how this woman knows Aiden. Sensing his reluctance, she sighs.

"I helped your uncle get your mother back when she was taken."

Jackson's shoulders loosen. Is she being truthful? How else would she know that?

The sound of boots shuffling downstairs intesifies Clara's panic. She is about to grab her stun gun until she feels Jacks grab her hand. She sighs in relief as she pulls him up.

"This way," she signals him to follow her.

Jacks reluctantly follows her towards the other side of the room and she urges him to hide behind one of the desks as she does the same.

The soldiers approach the top of the stairs. Jacks glances over at Clara who looks to be typing something on her phone.

She points the device towards him with a text reading, "Try not to make too much noise. They have sensitive hearing."

He grows confused, but stays silent none the less. Clara readies her stun gun and peaks over the desk. She spots two soldiers spread out and searching.

Clara aims her stun gun towards the first one and fires. The soldier's body convulses before collapsing onto the ground. The other soldier picks up on the noise and takes cover behind another desk.

Clara huddles herself back into cover and looks over at Jackson who is slightly relieved that she has a nonlethal weapon instead of a lethal one.

"Stay there," she mouth to him.

Jacks can faintly hear her, but manages to understand.

Clara, still crouched down, moves over towards another desk while keeping her footsteps light. Clara uses her own sensitive hearing to track the other soldier. It's a skill Rachel teaches to all of her soldiers, including Clara.

She picks up on the soldier moving over to another desk and takes the opportunity to corner them. Once she spots them, they only have a split second to react before she fires at them. She watches them shiver before joining their partner on the floor. She focuses once again and tries to pick up any more noise.

She doesn't hear anyone else. Once she feels comfortable, she stand up. She walks over to see Jacks still in the same spot.

"We should be clear," she informs him.

He stands up and looks over the bodies.

"Who are they and why are they after Aiden?" He asks with an edge to his voice.

She keeps her gun and starts leading him to the stairs.

"They're from an undercover called Impulse. Each person who's part of it has a reason for going after him whether if it's because Aiden has done something to them personally, or if they just dislike him in general."

Jacks walks slower with a familiar bitterness building inside him.

"So you're saying Aiden has fucked with these guys? I thought he was done with all of this."

Clara frowns, knowing what Aiden told Jackson back at his apartment.

"These people have been after him for years. They still want him dead regardless if Aiden is done with his old life."

Jackson has a troubled look and she can't help but feel bad.

"I'm sorry Jackson."

It's the best thing she can say.

He stops walking causing Clara to stop too.

"So are they with Zero-Day?"

"No. They're using the attack as a distraction to get to you."

"What attack?"

She's silent for a few seconds.

"Zero-Day has hacked into Bagley. Any device that Bagley is connected to like drones, computers, and cars has been hacked. They are being weaponized against the city."

The color drains from his face.

"They're trying to destroy the city...again."

Aiden and his mom pop up in his head as he becomes worried. He knows they're supposed to be meeting tonight. He can only imagine what's happening.

"Hey." Her voice catches his attention. "Dedsec is working on shutting down Bagley."

"How do you know that? How...how do you even know all of this?"

"Because I've been listening in." She tries not to unsettle him. "I've been keeping track of Impulse too. That's how I know about the attack and their plan. Look, I know I just got here and all of this sounds confusing, but I'm sure Dedsec will find a way to-"

"Oh you're sure?" Jacks interrupts while trying to control his rising panic. "I mean just a few minutes ago, I was doing homework and then all of the sudden the computers stop working, Zero-Day shows up, the lights go out, and now you're here telling me that there's this group, Impulse, or whatever the hell they're called, after me because of Aiden?"

Jackson almost wants to laugh at the pure chaos his day has turned into.

"And you. You said you helped Aiden. How long did you know him and why has he never-"

"Listen," she interrupts. "Right now we need to focus on getting you out of here. I understand. You just met me, but you don't want these people to capture you. Believe me. Just...let me help you. Please."

Jackson eyes her skeptically, analyzing her for any sign of her lying, but he only sees her pleading eyes staring back at him.

"Why do you want to help me?"

Clara gazes into his blue eyes. He may look different, but she remembers those same blue eyes when she saw him at Lena's funeral.

"I owe it to your uncle. Let's leave it at that."

His stare pierces into her like daggers, making her avoid eye contact with him.

"We have to go. Now."

His suspicion is still present, but judging from what he saw earlier, he is inclined to believe that what she's saying is the truth.

"Fine."

Clara sighs in relief.

"Okay. Stay close," she advises.

She clutches her gun as she leads him outside. He stops once he is introduced to a group of cars wrecked across the road.

"Jesus," he mutters. "You weren't kidding."

How did it change this fast? He saw people driving normally earlier.

"As you can tell, it's not safe to drive either."

"Is it like this everywhere?"

"From what I saw before I got here, this is pretty tame."

"So you're saying it's worse than this?" He freezes when a sudden realization hits him. "Jordan."

She stares at him quizzically.

"Jordan? Who's-"

"Oh no," he breathes out.

He can only imagine the possible scenarios of what's happened to him as he opens up the channel they set up to contact each other. He patches through.

"Jordan?" He calls out.

His heart races when there's no answer.

"Jordan, come in. Can you hear me?"

Still nothing.

Jacks rummages through his hair.

"Is he a friend of yours?" Clara asks.

"Yeah. He was with me, but he left. If the attack got to him then..." He quickly pushes away his growing dread. "No, he has to be okay...has to be."

Clara keeps her eyes open for more soldiers as Jacks calls out his name one more time, but there's silence.

Jackson gulps. His stress causes his mouth to go dry.

"Jacks?" Jordan's voice patches through.

"Jordan?" He relaxes. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"If I'm okay? I'm home. I should be the one asking you if you're okay. I'm seeing some of the shit going on outside and it's pretty bad."

"Thank God you're okay. I just left the library and yeah it's bad."

As they continue their conversation, Clara scans her surroundings. She can't fight her growing suspicion that they could be lurking somewhere, anticipating her every move.

Could they be here? Her paranoia is getting the better of her. Even the slightest sound makes the hair on her arms stick up.

"Alright, take care of yourself man."

Jackson ends the call and places his hands on his hips.

"Now...now we have to..." He glances around seeing the wreckage of cars in front of him accompanied with the blaring sirens in the distance. He becomes overwhelmed with all of the questions lurking in his mind and his worries of Aiden and his mother's safety. "We gotta find Aiden and my mom."

He thinks of dialing his mom, but remembers Bagley not working correctly.

"Shit," he mutters to himself and tries contacting Aiden through the channel. "Aiden, can you hear me?"

Silence.

"Aiden? Mom?"

He waits for a response while tapping his foot. He repeats their names, but nobody picks up.

"Why isn't he answering?"

Clara senses his worry and has fear lingering in the back of her mind as to whether or not Aiden and Nicky really are okay. She has to shake off those thoughts. It's possible that they're fine. Right now, her priority is the kid.

Jacks grips his phone tighter.

"Hey," Clara's voice grabs his attention. "Try not to panic. I'm sure they're both fine and..."

She stiffens. She hears clicking sounds from a distance. He stares at her confused, being unable to hear the sounds. She tries to pinpoint where the noise is coming. When she picks up on footsteps with the clicking growing louder, her face falls.

"You've got nowhere to go, Clara."

With a sharp turn, Clara points her gun at whoever spoke, coming face to face with Jonas.

On queue, several soldiers emerge from behind buildings and some appearing on top of others close by with rifles and crossbows aiming at them. She recognizes a few of them as the ones she took out earlier.

Clara peaks over at Jacks and urges him to stay behind her. Soldiers surround the two from a safe distance with Jonas appearing in the middle.

Jacks glances around while trying to keep his cool.

"Definitely not what I had planned today."

"Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Hand him over," Jonas warns.

Clara unknowingly starts to shake. Seeing Rachel's crew again brings back horrible memories. Too many.

"We don't want to have to shoot you. Do we?"

Clara clenches her trembling fists knowing full well why they don't want to kill her right then and there. All they want is for her to surrender so they can control her again. She'd be too vulnerable for them to kill.

"I can't let you take him." She stares Jonas down. "He has nothing to do with this."

Jonas's lips quirk up.

"He has everything to do with this. Don't act like you're the good one all of the sudden, especially after everything you've done."

Her glare sharpens. Pangs of guilt nab at her, but she can't let him get to her. She tries to think of any opportunities to escape as she continues.

"You mean all of the things you made me do?"

Jonas chuckles.

"The things we made you do? It was you who destroyed him and his family, am I correct?" He gestures towards Jacks. "Why don't you enlighten the poor boy about all the damage you've caused?"

Her blood runs cold. She knows exactly what he's trying to do.

Jacks gives Clara a look, feeling uneasy while he also tries to map out an escape plan. He wonders if he should say something, but decides against it.

"Quit acting like you have the moral high ground. You are not taking him." She tightens her grip on her gun.

She knows it's a nonlethal one. She can shock him, sure, but eventually he'd recover and he would try to go after Jacks again. She wants to curse herself for not pulling out her lethal weapons, but she didn't want to scare Jackson.

They continue to have a stare down. Unbeknownst to both of them and the other soldiers, Jacks slowly retrieves his phone and hovers his thumb over it.

Jonas squints at Clara before shaking his head. He attempts to hide his growing frustration.

"You can't control me anymore," she declares, hoping what she's saying is true and that they didn't somehow get the remote working.

Jonas's jaw tightens.

"I'm giving you one last chance to get out of the way."

Clara doesn't move and holds her ground. She is preparing to shoot at any moment.

The blaring sirens of several drones can be heard by Clara and the soldiers. The soldiers are too late to react as multiple smoke bombs cascade from the drones blinding both Jonas and the soldiers.

While also being blinded, Clara gets a few shots in at where she believes the soldiers are.

"This way!" She hears Jackson's voice.

She feels a tug on her arm as he guides her through the smoke. Being sure to keep up with him, they both sprint towards a hidden parking garage. Once they get inside, Jacks hacks into the garage door and closes it. They take a moment to catch their breaths.

Despite them being in a hidden place, Clara knows Jonas will find them eventually. Jacks looks over at Clara, wanting to know what that man meant by her destroying his family, but he'd have to worry about it later.

Clara dusts herself off and only now remembers she is wearing a bullet proof vest. As Jacks searches around the garage and tries to figure out how to get out safely, Clara removes her vest.

"Here." She hands him the vest. "It's a bullet proof vest."

Jacks looks down at it and takes it hesitantly.

"Wear it just in case. You need it more than me."

"Alright I guess." He adjusts it on himself.

"Do you know your way out of here?" Clara asks.

The garage is wide with only two exits.

"Um...I've only been in here a couple times, but there's only two doors that will get it us out. The one we just came through and that one." He points towards the one at the far end.

"And they could be outside waiting for us," she finishes that thought.

Jackson bites his lip knowing that his family is still out there. It takes everything in him to not panic given his circumstances.

Clara keeps her ears open, but she knows how quiet Rachel's soldiers are. Where is Rachel? Clara would expect her to be with Jonas, but for her own sake, it's probably best that she isn't here.

Clara hears one of the garage doors opening and prompts Jacks to hide behind one of the parked vans while she hides behind another.

The door opens and Jonas appears behind it with a rifle in hand along with a few other soldiers. Clara and Jacks give each other a glance. She presses her finger to her lips as she goes to retrieve her stun gun. She tries to figure out a way out of this as they search the garage.

The sound of their footsteps increase and Jackson tries to be mindful of any noise he makes. He adjusts himself behind the van and his foot scrapes against the concrete. He freezes.

Clara jerks her head over at him. Her worry increases. Did they hear that? They had to have. There's silence.

The footsteps stop. Clara readies her weapon. After a few seconds, Clara debates if she should peak her head up.

The screeching of a van's wheels startles her as the van Jackson is hiding behind launches forward, heading straight for the one Clara is behind. Jackson jumps back from the van's sudden movement, leaving him wide open.

The van crashes into the car Clara is behind. She jolts back and sees Jacks being surrounded by soldiers. Clara aims and fires at two with only one going down and the other falling over injured, but still conscious.

She's about to aim again, but a hand latches onto her arm and twists it, causing her to yelp. She uses her other arm to try and strike at her attacker, but misses him. She jerks her head back and headbutts her attacker, striking him directly in the nose.

The attacker lets go as Clara swiftly turns around and swings at the person who she discovers is Jonas. He dodges the attack while clutching his nose.

As the two engage in a brawl, Jackson charges towards the injured soldier and brings his head down to his knee. The soldier passes out and he heads for the other one. Jacks tries to throw a few punches at the soldier, but he blocks and counters his attacks with ease and swiftness that he's never seen before in his martial arts class.

The soldier elbows him in the face. Too stunned to react, Jacks is kicked against the wall. He slouches down and holds his nose. Looking up at the stern soldier, he notices a pipe he can hack into. He tries to sneak his phone out, but the soldier fires at it with his pistol.

The phone tumbles out of his hands and he raises his hands up, his heart pounding.

"Don't even try it," the soldier warns him. "You're coming with us."

Jacks keeps his unsteady hands raised. Clara catches sight of him and shoves Jonas back. She retrieves her gun off the ground and aims it at the soldier. Jonas grips her arm once again and pulls her back. He kicks her in her side repeatedly before slamming her against a parked car.

Her gun drops out of her hand and she winces from the impact. She grabs her bearings and attempts to sweep him with her boot. He steps back in time and stomps against her head, launching her further against the vehicle. She groans and holds onto her head.

Jonas stares down at her, looking calm as if he hasn't broke a sweat.

"It's over, Clara."

Clara keeps her hand on her head and starts to flutter her eyes shut, pretending that she's going to pass out. As Jonas steps forward, Clara sneaks her phone out from behind her and lock on to the parked car beside the soldier pointing a gun at Jacks. She hacks it to go forward and the soldier jumps back.

With him being out of sight, Jacks makes a beeline for one of the pillars in the garage and hides behind it. Clara hacks into more vehicles, forcing Jonas out of the way. Clara takes the opportunity to pick up her gun and stand up. She heads towards a pillar and hides herself behind it.

She glances around the garage and looks for Jackson. She panics when she doesn't see him. Did they take him already? She never saw what happened to him after she hacked the cars. After searching frantically, she finds Jacks behind one of the pillars and sighs in relief. He catches sight of her as well and he doesn't try to hide the nervous look on his face.

Jonas recovers along with the other soldiers and searches for them once again. Clara bites her lip nervously. She sees Jacks mouth out, "What do we do?"

Her lips flatten. If she's being honest with herself, she doesn't know. Both exits are too far for them to reach with them being at risk of getting caught. Jonas is already shutting down multiple cars. The best she can do is start a shootout, but that will endanger Jacks.

But what other options does she have?

Sirens blare from a distance outside of the garage, causing Jonas and his soldiers to spread out and hide behind the scattered vehicles.

Clara and Jacks stay in place as the garage door ahead of them opens and a squad full of Albion officers burst in.

"This is Albion! Come out with your hands up!"

They must have heard the commotion.

"Just when it couldn't get any worse." Clara grits her teeth.

She peaks over at the officers searching the area and wonders what Jonas is planning to do. With Albion drawing closer towards the cars, she realizes she may be able to use this to her advantage. She makes sure Jackson is still behind cover before pulling her phone out to see if Jonas has disabled all of the cars. She discovers a few still hackable.

She connects to a few of them and triggers the alarm. The sound is enough to alert one of the officers as they go to investigate. As they get closer, a cloud of smoke covers their vision. The soldiers emerge from their spots and fire at Albion. The officers draw their guns out and fire, causing a full blown shootout between the two groups.

Clara looks towards the garage door behind them and wonders if they should make a run for it. Jackson has the same idea as he hacks into the garage door and unlocks it. Once the door opens, Clara urges Jacks to run. She takes off with him following suit. He does his best to keep up with Clara's incredible speed. She has already gotten a few feet away.

She glances back every so often to make sure Jacks is still with her before they both make it out of the garage. They make an effort to cut a corner in order to stay out of sight until Jacks abruptly hunches forward and cries out in pain.

Clara halts and turns to see Jacks clutching the back of his shoulder.

"What the fuck?" He grips onto the tender spot, feeling like he had been punched hard.

Clara looks behind him and spots an Albion officer pointing a rifle in their direction. She aims one of her lethal guns and fires relentlessly at the man. She gets him in the head and he goes down.

Still hearing gunfire, Clara places her hand behind Jackson's back while guiding him away from the violence.

"Are you okay?" She asks while searching for any blood stains. Luckily there isn't any.

"I don't know. Did I get shot?" He tries to steady himself with the throbbing pain in his shoulder.

"Yes, but it looks like the bullet didn't go through." She sighs feeling thankful she had the vest.

Jackson would normally be grateful, but with his skepticism and anxiety, he doesn't say anything.

They make it through parts of the city without any run-ins with drones or Albion. Clara stays vigilant for Jonas or any other potential danger. After some time, it's safe for her to assume they lost them.

She studies the empty street they've stumbled across. She wonders if Dedsec has already stopped the attack.

As they continue to walk around, Clara realizes she made that thought too soon.

They reach another street and they are greeted by the sight of multiple buildings on fire with smoke clouding the sky. Several demolished cars decorate the sidewalks and roads. From a distance, Albion exchanges gunfire with protestors. Tear gas is sprayed and bottles are thrown.

Jacks stops in his tracks along with Clara and they witness the destruction of the city. Jacks remains frozen in place, his eyes being captured by the chaos in front of him. There's no way it could have gotten this bad.

"How...how did Zero-Day manage to do this? There's no way..."

If we wasn't already panicking before, his nerves are on overdrive now.

"We need to keep moving," Clara says softly. "Just focus on me. We're going to get out of here."

"And how are we gonna do that? Aiden and my mom are still out there and we can't leave them."

"Jackson, right now we need to focus on getting out of here. The last thing we want to do is try and look for them. That's exactly what Impulse wants you to do. Look, what I know about Aiden is that he's capable. And believe it or not..." She glances at the sparks of fire emitting off of the buildings. "He's been in worse situations than this. He's probably found a way out with your mother."

Despite her efforts, Jacks still tries to contact Aiden through the channel with no luck. He listens for any type of noise that might signal Aiden being on the other line, but there's still nothing.

"Why isn't he answering then?" He asks with an edge to his voice.

His anxiety gets harder to control with his pounding heart feeling like it's going to pop out of his chest. His tense nerves don't help. Clara keeps her composure.

"We shouldn't jump the gun. He and your mom could have gotten out for all we know, so let's not assume the worst. Okay?" She keeps her voice light.

"Or they might not have I mean..." He gestures towards the demolished buildings.

The smoke clings to his nostrils, agitating him.

"Do you know where they are?"

"They're supposed to be at a park. St. James Park."

Clara pulls up the city's map on her phone and checks the traffic. She frowns once she sees red lines surrounding the area signaling road blockages.

"That area is closed off by Albion. We can't get to where they are."

"Are you serious?" He peaks over at her phone and sees the same thing.

"The best thing we can do right now is take shelter."

Jacks lips press into a hard line, still not being satisfied with her answer. He wants to use common sense and consider Clara's advice, but the thought of not knowing if his family is alright drives him crazy.

The screech of a car grabs his attention as he whips his head away from Clara to see where the sound came from. He catches sight of a swerving vehicle with two people in the front seat panicking. The driver attempts to get a grip on the wheel, but his car has a mind of its own as it jerks them towards a row of wrecked vehicles at high speed.

Jacks watches the car slam into a pick up truck and jumps once he hears a loud bang. A scream from the woman in the passenger seat paralyzes him.

Flashes of a car flipping over and Lena's bloodied body intrudes his thoughts. The woman's scream turns into Lena's. His heartbeat accelerates and his hands shake.

What if there's no way out of this? Roads are blocked off. The whole city is on fire. People are dying. Everybody's dying.

Could his mom and his uncle be alive? No. This is too bad. They have to be dead and he'll end up dead too just like his sister.

His chest heaves as it tightens, making it hard for him to breathe. He tries to fight away the negative thoughts and come with the terms that he's having a panic attack. He only trembles worse than he did before and it becomes harder and harder to control his body.

"Jackson?"

Clara's voice barely registers to him. His head spins. She notices Jackson's shaking hands. His eyes are wide like a deer caught in headlights. It takes her a moment to understand what's going on with him as she steps closer.

She follows what his eyes are looking at and she sees the wrecked car.

It clicks with her.

She looks for any secure place to get Jackson away from the disaster. She spots an empty cafe a few feet away.

"Hey," she speaks gently. "Let's go inside that cafe. You'll be safe in there."

Jackson hears her, but he's stuck in place.

"Jackson, focus on me. We're going to that cafe. Follow my lead."

It takes Jacks a moment until he manages to turn his quivering body to her.

Clara almost wants to panic with him because of her worrying if she did something wrong. The pure terror on his face by itself tenses her up. She keeps on a brave face as she gestures him to follow her.

"Take deep and slow breaths."

She guides him over to the cafe, being mindful not to touch him. Jackson clutches his chest, feeling like an elephant is sitting on top of it. Is he dying? No it's...yes he has to be. He's going to d-

"Hey, look at me. In..." She inhales slowly. "And out."

Jackson attempts to follow her lead, but fails to do so. His rampant breathing proves it to be a challenge to control his breaths as much as he wants to.

They go inside the cafe. Clara makes sure there isn't anyone around before pulling out a chair from one of the tables.

"Sit here." She pats the seat.

He sits himself down and tries to control his breathing again. Clara grabs another chair and sits down. She silently prays that Impulse doesn't find them or the attack doesn't spread over to the cafe.

"Okay. Whenever you're ready, I want you to count backwards from five. Take a deep breath with each number."

Jacks is silent for a while. Sweat forms on his forehead and the back of his shoulder is sore from all of the tension. He manages a small nod.

"Five..." He inhales shakily. "Four..." He exhales.

He continues counting slowly until he reaches one. He repeat this a few times with higher numbers. Sometimes he counts out of order, but the more he does it, the more grounded he feels.

"That's it. You got it," Clara encourages him.

While trying to appear calm, she takes a few worried glances outside. She spots a few drones from a distance hovering around some of the buildings. Hopefully they don't head over in their direction. She directs her attention back to Jacks who is starting to breathe a little slower.

Several minutes go by with Clara talking Jackson through his panic attack. Jacks gradually stops shaking. The softness of Clara's accent and her words helps him come back to reality.

After some time of Clara sitting patiently with him, he gets his breathing under control and he takes in his surroundings. His anxiety still lingers, but he at least has his panic under control. It takes him a minute to finally speak again.

"God, I hate those," he says with an edge to his voice, his mouth dry.

He winces at the soreness behind his shoulder and holds onto the tender spot where he had almost been shot. He huffs, being embarrassed with himself. It has been a long time since he's had a panic attack that bad.

"Yeah, I've gotten them too." She remembers having bad anxiety as a kid and she has even had an attack recently. "They always suck. My Papa would always talk to me about other things to try and calm me down."

"That's what my mom does," he says before his heart stops.

Wait. His mom.

"We need to find shelter," she advises, trying to take his mind off of his worries. "It's the best for both of us right now."

She notices some of the drones and a few Albion trucks moving around from afar. If they stay there any longer, they could eventually reach where they are.

Jackson doesn't respond. He zones into the cafe menu, not paying attention to what's written on it.

"If we don't hear back from them in thirty minutes afterwards then we can try and look for them. Okay?"

Although Jacks does hear her, he still continues to stare at the objects around him.

"They'd want you to be safe."

Jacks closes his eyes and inhales deeply.

"Fine...fine. Okay."

Clara holds her hands in her lap.

"Is there any place you know of where we can go?"

Jackson is quiet for a few seconds. His heartbeat only now starts to slow down.

"Yeah, but it's in Brixton."

"Brixton..."

She pulls out her phone and checks the traffic map on her GPS. Luckily, there is a way to Brixton without any traffic.

"Mark it." She hands the phone to Jacks which he slowly takes.

He studies the map for a moment before pinning Wrench's hideout. He hands the phone back to her. She stands up and holds the phone in her hand. Jackson still remains seated. She doesn't want to rush him into getting up, but they do have to go soon.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, just give me a second."

She's silent as she waits for him to grab his bearings. Eventually he stands up.

"Okay," he says. "Let's get going."

(Earlier)

Aiden and Nicky had both gotten done with their pizza. Nicky already signed the bill and they are getting ready to leave.

"This was nice. The two of us getting together and talking," Nicky says while slinging her purse over her shoulder. "It's been too long."

Aiden grins.

"It has. We should...we should do this again."

Nicky gazes at him with a growing smile. A glimpse at his green eyes takes her back to when they were kids.

"Yeah." She nods.

They stare at each other for a few seconds. They're tempted to hug again, but refrain once more.

"Well, I'll see you-"

The window shatters beside them causing them to jump as a drone appears and shines a beaming red light directly at Nicky. She stares at it quizzically, trying to process what's going on as Aiden calls out to her.

He rushes over to her and pushes her out of the way. The drone fires and nearly hits both of them. They land on the floor with Aiden pulling out his phone to disable the drone. Within a second, the drone shuts down and falls to the ground.

Aiden is the first to get up while he along with everyone else in the restaurant looks to see where the drone came from. He doesn't see anyone controlling it remotely nor does he see any other drones around. He makes sure before reaching his hand down to Nicky.

"What was that?" She sounds breathless as she grabs his hand and pulls herself up.

"I don't know."

They cautiously look out the window and what they see shocks the both of them. Multiple people rush out of shops and restaurants with drones chasing after them. The beep of an oncoming car causes them to look over. The car spins out of control and collides into a nearby building. They jump back wide eyed.

"What the hell is going on?" Nicky asks growing concerned.

"I thought you'd know the answer to that," he says, not being sure if this is a regular occurrence in London with all of the tech it has.

The loud bang of the car exploding causes Aiden to jerk Nicky back. Although the impact doesn't reach the restaurant, it's enough for everyone to start running outside. Aiden doesn't want to stick around to figure out what's happening. All that matters to him right now is getting Nicky out of whatever's happening.

"Come on." Aiden grabs her hand and leads her out of the restaurant before she can even blink.

They make it outside and witness more drones chasing after people along with a few Albion trucks speeding by them.

"What the..."

Nicky doesn't get to finish her sentence as Aiden grabs her hand and leads her away from a few oncoming drones. He leads her to an empty alley. They stop to gather themselves.

"Are you okay? Did they hit you?"

She inspects herself.

"No, I'm good." She takes a peek around the brick wall and takes in the scene in front of her. "Is there a problem with ctOS or something?"

"I don't know, Nik. Probably."

"What do you mean probably? You're the expert on this stuff."

The blaring sirens of several drones captures their attention. The drones detect Aiden and Nicky and charge after them with their guns aiming at them. Aiden hacks into one of the bigger ones and gets it to turn on the others by firing at them. It isn't enough to distract all of them as five more aim at the two of them.

Before one of them can fire, Aiden hears a gunshot beside him. The bullet strikes the drone and it's enough for it to go down. He turns to Nicky holding a pistol.

"Get behind that dumpster!" She orders while pointing towards it.

Aiden complies with Nicky following close behind him. They huddle behind the dumpster while the drones fire their rounds at it, missing the both of them.

Aiden is taken aback seeing Nicky with a gun, but he doesn't dwell on it too much as he tries to configure a plan. He already disabled the one drone that was behind the window and it'll take him a while before he can do it again.

The drones close in on them as Aiden tries to think of something quick. Then he remembers his system crash hack. He wastes no time activating it. The drones shut down in response along with all the other ones down the street. Aiden stands up.

"What did you do?" She asks.

She reluctantly gets up as well.

"I shut down everything for a few seconds. We need to get out of here now."

He keeps his hand on the small of her back as he guides her out of the alley. She keeps her gun close to her while checking the street.

"I never knew you owned a gun," Aiden notes, knowing Nicky has never been the violent type.

"Yeah well I have to take precautions. Jackson doesn't approve of it, but I figured I needed one after everything that happened."

He should have figured.

Aiden leads her to one of the London Underground spots. They go down the steps. They don't see anyone else down there.

"What do we do now?" Nicky asks.

Aiden is about to answer until a voice comes through on his optik.

"Aiden? Aiden are you there?"

He recognizes the voice.

"Connie?"

He patches through the channel. Nicky looks at him confused.

"Thank the heavens you picked up. I was worried the attack got to you."

Aiden furrows his brows.

"What attack?"

"Who are you talking to?" Nicky interjects.

"A colleague. I'll patch you through." He patches into her optik and connects her to the channel. "Sorry about that, Connie. What attack are you talking about?"

"You don't know? It's Zero-Day. They used our tech to get into Bagley and cause a wide spread attack on the city, so if you notice drone or cars going on the fritz, that's why."

Nicky's heart drops, recalling the bombings.

"The whole city...?" Aiden mutters.

"Yeah. Is Jackson there with you? I've been trying to get a hold of him, but he hasn't answered."

"Wait, how do you know Jacks?" Nicky joins the conversation.

Connie pauses before speaking.

"You're his mother I presume. We know each other through Dedsec."

"And how do you two know each other?" She asks, referring to her and Aiden.

"I've done some jobs for her," he explains and brings his attention back to Connie. "Jacks isn't with us."

"Bloody hell. I hoped he would be. There's already reports of fires and roads being blocked off through different parts of the city."

Nicky hovers her hand over her mouth. Aiden finds himself getting worried too.

"What-"

"So you're saying that Zero-Day used your tech to get into Bagley and is trying to burn down the city with it?" Nicky interrupts, wanting to make sure she heard her correctly.

"That's their plan. Dedsec's working to shut down Bagley and we're nearly there."

"Jacks isn't home," Nicky says under her breath.

It's loud enough for Aiden to hear and he looks over at her. Concern is written all over her face.

"He's at his college right now, or at least that's what he told me." She inhales a sharp breath. Her panic rises. "Oh no."

Aiden gently places his hand on her shoulder.

"Try to stay calm. He could have gone home."

He tries to disguise his own worry and put on a brave face for her.

"You try calling him. We'll continue shutting down Bagley. Stay safe and let me know if Jackson answers," Connie says.

"Okay. Thanks for letting us know," Aiden replies before closing the channel.

Nicky is already dialing Jackson, but fails to connect because of Bagley giving her errors.

"I'll call him through our channel. You won't be able to call him through Bagley."

"You guys have a channel set up?"

"Yeah. Bagley can't interfere with that." Aiden opens up the channel. "Jackson, come in. Are you okay?" He patches Nicky through.

No answer.

He anxiously waits a few seconds before trying again.

"Jacks, do you hear me?"

More seconds pass and not a single sound can be heard from the other end.

"Jacks?" Nicky chimes in. "Can you hear us? Are you there?"

She taps her foot and waits for a response. She sighs heavily when there isn't one. They repeat his name multiple times with no luck. A familiar dread overcomes the two.

"Why won't he answer?" She's on the brink of tears. "We have to find him."

"No," Aiden says firmly. "I'll look for him. I can take you somewhere to find shelter and-"

"No, Aiden. We're going to look for Jacks together. I need to make sure he's okay."

"You'd be safer-"

"Not everything can be up to you!" She raises her voice while pointing a finger at him. "I'm not going to sit around and wait. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. This is my son we're talking about so don't try and leave me out."

She shoots him a sharp glare and waits for any sort of opposition from him. Aiden stares at her deadly eyes. As troubled as he is about her safety, he knows he won't win this one. She's stubborn like him and would go to great lengths for her child. He caves in.

"Fine. Stay close. Alright?"

"Yeah, I hear you."

With that, Aiden inspects the entrance to the train station and sees the trains lights flashing.

"Looks like we're not taking the subway," he notes.

"I'll take us to his school. I remember where it is," she says while making her way up the stairs. "Please be okay," she mutters.

Aiden follows closely behind her with his pistol held behind his jacket. They exit the underground and they're alarmed to see the place looking worse than it did before with backed up traffic and the fire getting worse. Several drones search for people to chase with some of them turning on each other.

"Watch it," Aiden warns her to stay out of sight from the drones that haven't spotted them yet.

"I see them," Nicky assures him. "This way."

Aiden follows her through the city while making sure there's no drones on their tail. Every once in a while, he glances at the destruction around the city. Witnessing the fires, destroyed vehicles, and people being arrested or beaten by Albion makes him worry if Jacks is really okay.

He can't get into that. Jacks is a smart kid and he's tough. He has to be okay. They have to keep going.

Aiden does what he can to help other people by hacking into some of the drones and disrupting Albion's earpieces. He wants to reserve some for the drones in case they come looking for him and Nicky. He can't save everyone.

They jog a good mile until they both stop. A group of Albion trucks block the way they need to go.

"You've got to be kidding me," Nicky grumbles. She looks for any other ways they can go, but she only sees more roads being blocked off by Albion. "They're closed off too?"

"Do you know any other way there?" Aiden asks, keeping his voice soft.

"N...No. No, this is the only way over there."

She pushes her fingers onto her temples. The stress gets to her with her head tensing up. Are they trapped?

"Oh God. How are we gonna get out of here? Jacks could be...oh no what if he's-"

"Don't think that. We'll get to him," he comforts her while searching for any potential ways they can get across without running into Albion. "I'll think of something."

He scans his surroundings amd spots a boat parked at a distance. He considers taking the boat across until a few Albion boats appear in his view. It's too risky.

Aiden continues searching for opportunities. He catches a glimpse of more drones passing by and he has an idea.

"Okay. I have an idea, but I don't think you're going to like it," he says while drawing his phone out.

She turns to him.

"What is it?"

Aiden doesn't answer. He looks down at his phone and taps away at it. Nicky looks over at it curiously, not understanding any of the coding gibberish on it.

"What are you doing?"

"Wait for it."

She stares at him bewildered and worries that he might be coming up with a terrible idea.

"Aiden, what - oh Jesus!"

Nicky jumps back, startled at the sight of a giant cargo drone hovering in front of her. She points her gun at it, waiting for an attack. Much to her surprise, the drone stays in place.

"You can put the gun down. I'm controlling it."

"You are?" She slowly lowers her gun. "But how? Bagley runs the drones."

"As long as I have access to it, Bagley can't interfere with this drone."

Nicky takes a step back from the drone and inspects it carefully.

"Okay, so what are you going to do with it?"

"This is gonna sound crazy, but we're going to get on top of it and ride across."

Nicky stares at him dumbfounded.

"Excuse me. What?"

"You're going to have to trust me on this one."

He goes towards the drone and climbs on top of it. The drone wobbles as he adjusts himself on top of it. Nicky watches him wide eyed like he's a mad man.

"Can...can that even hold the both of us?"

"Yeah. Don't worry I've done this before."

She blinks repeatedly.

"What do you mean you've...why are you riding on top of cargo drones?"

"It's not as scary as it looks. We'll get across without being seen."

Her jaw drops.

"That thing can go up to a hundred feet in the air," she argues.

"But it'll get us over." He reaches his hand out to her. "Nothing is gonna happen to us."

Nicky stays in place, contemplating if she should consider his idea.

"This is the best way for us to get to Jacks. None of the drones will catch us and Albion won't either because we'll be too high up. We'll be safe." He extends his hand out closer to her. "Come on, Nik."

Aiden tries to stay patient as Nicky still thinks about it.

"Unless you have any other ideas."

Nicky eyes him before slowly making her way towards the drone. She cautiously takes his hand and steps onto the drone. The drone tips to the side nearly making her trip.

"Oh God. This is insane.

"Don't worry. I got you," he reassures her.

He helps pull her on top of the machine with her clinging to him for support. He makes space for her to sit on the drone. She adjusts herself onto it.

"I swear if I fall..."

"You won't fall."

"I'm dragging you down with me."

He chuckles.

"Trust me. You won't fall." Aiden activates the drone once again. "You ready?"

She clutches his shoulder.

"Not really, but what else can we do?"

Aiden pats her on the back before slowly lifting the cargo done off the ground.

"I'm doing this for Jacks. I'm doing this for Jacks," she murmurs.

The drone lifts them further into the air. The slight wobbling of the drone causes Nicky's whole body to tense up. The drone raises them until they are above the city. Nicky sweaty hands latch onto Aiden's jacket.

"This is insane," she says shakily. The breeze brushing against her doesn't help.

"Relax. Try not to look down."

"Aiden, you know damn well that's going to make me look down." She scoots as close as possible to him and tries to keep her eyes away from the city below them. "And you've done this before?"

"Yeah."

"You've never fallen off?"

"Nope."

"Will the drone stay stable?"

"Yes, Nicky." He turns to face her. "As long as you stay still, it's safe. Dedsec uses these all the time believe or not."

She takes a deep breath.

"Okay then."

Aiden continues controlling the drone across the city. He has an idea as to where Jackson's school is, but he has a hard time pinpointing which building it is. He would use his GPS, but with Bagley going nuts, it won't work properly.

"I know I said not to look down, but I'm gonna need you to point out which of these buildings is the school."

Nicky hesitantly looks down and gasps at the growing fires around the cars and buildings below her. She prays that the destruction hasn't reached Jacks.

"Nicky." His voice snaps her out of her daze. "Which one?"

"Let me see." She surveys the area and spots a grand building. "That one."

Aiden follows where her finger is pointing and hacks the drone to go downward. They descend towards the school until the drone reaches the ground. Once they reach the front of the school, Aiden is the first to shift himself off of the drone. He lands on the ground and reaches his hand out to Nicky.

"Come on."

Nicky takes his hand and scoots herself off of the drone. She scans the building and looks for a library. She spots it.

"It's this way," she directs him towards the library.

She leads him towards the entrance and they go inside. Nicky notices the lights are shut off and she finds it difficult to see.

"Jacks?" Her voice echoes throughout the building.

With there being no response, Nicky heads towards the stairs with Aiden following. He keeps his guard up.

They reach the top of the stairs and call for Jackson again, but the whole building is empty. No bookbags, papers, or any sign of life.

Nicky paces around the library, searching frantically for her son.

"Are you sure he was here?" Aiden asks.

"Yes. I talked to him earlier today and he said he would be here."

"Maybe he evacuated with everyone else."

"Or maybe Albion has him."

She runs her hands over her face. Her feet are getting sore from all of the pacing, but she doesn't care.

"Let's not assume the worst. We can still look for him." Aiden tries to console her but she continues to panic.

"Where is he?"


Clara and Jackson had ventured through the city and they hadn't had anymore run-ins with Impulse or Albion. The attack dies down with there not being as many fires or car crashes. People are no longer running and screaming on the streets. The city is quiet with the crackling of the flames filling the void.

With all of the cars halted, it's safer to drive. Clara managed to find an undamaged car to drive. She found it parked on the side of the road and didn't know who it belonged to, but she took it regardless. Jackson was too exhausted to protest it.

Now they are driving towards Wrench's place with Clara behind the wheel. Both of them are still feeling sore from the hits they took from the fight earlier. The silence between the two is deafening. No radio. There's only the swiping of the windshield wipers and the rumbling of the engine to fill for noise.

It's been a few minutes since either of them said anything. Jacks is still recovering from his body going into overdrive as he looks out the window, observing the damage done to the city.

Clara focuses on the beaten road. She feels fortunate that there aren't as many cars in their way. She is tempted to say something to Jacks, but she doesn't want to make things awkward. She doesn't exactly know where they are headed. She only knows the location she needs to follow. She assumes he's leading her to one of his friend's places.

Clara hears Jacks shuffle in his seat while clutching his shoulder. He turns his attention to Clara and studies her. He tries to figure out if he's seen her before or not since she seems to know Aiden so well. Nothing about her rings a bell to him.

He rubs his arms and dwells on how he panicked earlier. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it. After a few seconds, he brings himself to speak.

"I know I don't really know you, but...thanks for getting me out of there." He expresses his gratitude while rubbing his hands. "And...and sorry for freaking out. I don't know what came over me."

He wipes off the sweat from his forehead.

"Don't apologize. I get like that sometimes too. It's nothing to be ashamed of," she answers.

She gives him a side glance and quirks up her lips to try and lighten the mood. Jacks works up an awkward smile back with a short nod despite him still feeling ashamed.

He turns back to the road with burning questions nagging at him.

"How did you know those guys? It looks like you have history with them."

She takes a deep breath and leans back in her seat.

"You're right. I do whether I like it or not."

His brows draw together.

"What do you mean?"

She shifts her eyes around, becoming uncomfortable with the topic.

"They erm...they forced me to work for them."

Jacks stares at her momentarily. He wants to bring up more questions about it, but decides to drop it given her facial expression.

"So..." He thinks up another question. "Why hasn't Aiden ever mentioned you? You never answered my question before."

Clara is reminded of her past with Aiden. She shivers, remembering everything she did to him.

"Why would he mention me?" She shrugs. "Aiden and I left on bad terms, so I'm not surprised."

She wants to believe what she's saying, but does she really? Knowing that Aiden has never talked about her makes her feel like a piece of heart is torn out. She suppresses the pain in her chest. She has no right to be hurt.

Jacks attempts to put the pieces together as to what happened between them. He recalls what Jonas said.

"Did it involve me and my mom too? What did that guy mean when he said-"

"He was lying."

Her stomach drops. She doesn't know if she has the heart to tell him.

There's an uncomfortable silence as Clara tries to keep it together.

"He was just trying to make you afraid."

She feels guilty for lying, but she's so close to getting Jacks to safety. The last thing she wants him to do is bolt out the door.

Jacks eyes her skeptically. There has to be more to it. He feels it.

"Well...what made you and Aiden split then?"

She avoids looking at him, her mind racing for a possible answer. She can't bear lying to him again.

"It's...complicated."

"How is it complicated?"

"Just drop it," she states firmly.

Jacks falls silent. Clara starts to feel bad. She sighs.

"Sorry. It's...touchy."

"I can tell. I can't help but ask though, were you two together or something?"

She lets out a short laugh.

"No, no. We were friends, or acquaintances, however you want to put it."

"Do you plan on talking to him again if we manage to get in contact with him?" He asks, his anxiety still lingering.

She is quiet for a moment.

"Yes. I know I have to. I just...don't know how it's going to go. It's been a long time since we spoke. After everything, I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't forgive me."

Jackson takes everything in, having more questions than he did prior. Clara drives slower once she reaches Brixton and keeps an eye out for the building. Jacks is so lost in thought that he almost forgets to point out the spot.

"That's it. Right there," he instructs her and points at Wrench's place.

Clara sees it and pulls into a parking space. As they both get out of the car, Jacks watches Clara for a moment. Should he ask anymore questions, or does he even have the energy for it?

"J...Jacks?" He hears a gravelly voice through his optik. "Can you hear me?"

He gasps when he recognizes the voice.

"Aiden? Is that you?"

Clara turns her attention towards him when hearing Aiden's name.

"Jackson, you're alright!" Another voice comes through.

"Mom? Where are you guys? I...I tried calling over and over," he explains while pacing back and forth.

"We're at your school looking for you. Where are you?"

"I'm at Wrench's place. A friend of mine.

"Where is-"

"I know where it's at," Aiden interrupts. "Stay there. We're on our way."

Jacks sighs in relief knowing they're alive.

"Are you guys okay? There were so many car accidents and everything was on fire."

"We're okay," Aiden replies. "Are you hurt?"

Jackson feels his muscles aching, but he doesn't want them to worry before they get there.

"No, I'm fine," he lies.

He wonders where he should begin with informing Aiden about more people being after him, and Clara.

"There's um...there's something else."

He glances back at Clara who is listening intently. She knows he's about to tell Aiden about her. She needs to talk to Aiden at some point and she can't hide forever. She gives him a nod of approval.

"What is it?" Aiden asks.

"There is this woman who helped me get away from the attack. She says she knows you."

Clara braces herself, her heart pounding. This is it. She has to be ready.

"Who-"

"Jackson!"

He doesn't get to hear the rest of what Aiden's saying when he looks up to see Wrench standing on top of the apartment complex. He leans over the railing, trying to get a good look at Jacks.

The color drains in Clara's face when she sees the masked man. The spikes. The blonde hair. No. How? What is he doing here?

She instantly recognizes him, her eyes growing wide. The world around her stops. Her chest heaves from her rapid breathing. She can never forget his face for what she did to him and his friends. His strained voice echoes in her head.

Get away from him!

You're gonna pay for this!

Her hands shake as painful memories resurface. She can't stay here. No way can she stay here. Why is she even thinking of trying to be a savior?

It's always been too late for her.

The thought of being surrounded by the people she has hurt sets her into full panic mode.

She needs to get out of here.

"Wrench!" Jacks calls back to him.

"Holy shit, man! Did you see what was happening out there?" He makes his way down the stairs.

"Yeah. Sorry, Aiden. I was talking to Wrench. She's right here." He turns around and is taken aback when he doesn't see her. "What? Where'd she go?"

He looks around, but he still doesn't find her. She couldn't have vanished that quickly.

"Why'd she...?" He walks dawn and pokes his head around cars, but she's nowhere to be seen.

"Who is she? You don't see her?"

"No. She was just here."

Wrench reaches the bottom of the stairs and heads towards Jackson. He notices the sweat on his face and his worn eyes.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Jackson jerks his head around thinking Clara is the one behind him, but he only sees Wrench.

"Yeah," he answers as he searches for Clara. "Look, Aiden. I'll explain when you get here. I want you guys to travel safe."

"Alright, we'll meet you there."

Several minutes go by until Jacks spots Aiden and his mom riding on top of a cargo drone.

"You're shitting me." He releases a breath, relieved that they're both alright.

The drone descends onto the ground.

"Jacks!" Nicky gets off of the drone and rushes over to him.

"Mom!"

A wide grin forms on his face as they both embrace each other.

"Oh, baby. I was so worried," she mumbles into his jacket while running her fingers along his scalp.

Aiden hops off of the drone and strides over to the two.

"Jackson, you okay?" He asks, his racing heart slowing down.

Jacks winces from the contact with Nicky, but he does his best to hide it. When they pull away, Jacks turns to Aiden.

"Yeah," he says. Although he is relieved that his uncle is okay, he can't shake off what he encountered. "But you have some explaining to do."

"What do you mean?"

Jacks huffs, feeling breathless.

"I just had a run-in with some assholes who were after me because of you."

Aiden's forehead creases.

"What?"

Nicky gives him a side glance.

"Yeah. You said you were done with all of this." He points his finger at him with narrowed eyes.

"Hold on. Who was after you?"

"I don't know. Some group called Impulse? Does that ring a bell to you?"

Aiden shakes his head.

"No," he says.

How could someone be after Jackson? He was so careful. He stiffens from the situation. The sharpness of Nicky's glare doesn't help.

"I've never heard of a group with that name. I haven't crossed anyone lately. When I said I was done, I meant it."

Jacks eyes him and searches for any sign of dishonesty. When he doesn't detect any, he exhales.

"Well they were apparently using the attack as a distraction to try and kidnap me. That's what that woman, Clara, told me."

Aiden's heart skips a beat.

"What did you say?"

Jackson rolls his eyes.

"I said they were trying to-"

"No, I caught that part. I meant that name. The woman's name."

"Her name was Clara," he repeats.

His breath is caught in his throat. It's hard for him to take in all of this information at once. He's already stressed about the fact that there is someone out to get Jacks, but hearing Clara's name alone runs a chill down his spine.

"C...Clara?" Her name rolls off his tongue. Saying her name again is strange to him. Almost surreal. "Clara who?"

"I don't know. She never gave me her last name." He notices Aiden go pale. "Look, I don't know what happened between you two, but those people who were after me were serious."

"Let me step in here," Nicky interjects. "You mean to tell me there are people after you? After us?" She narrows her eyes at him. Her face heats up as she clenches her fists.

"Nicky, I don't know who any of these people are."

"It doesn't matter! There's people coming after my son to get to you! We're in danger again!"

Aiden is left speechless. He knows she's right. His blood runs cold, being reminded of the day Lena passed away. The same anger and sadness is present with Nicky just like how it was back then.

Jackson watches both of them argue. He wants to be angry at Aiden, but he doesn't know if he can bring himself to. It's clear from looking at his uncle that he feels guilty and he has proven himself to want to change.

"You just couldn't let things go could you? We have to constantly pay for your mistakes! Why did I even think you could change?!"

Her eyes tear up as she yells her heart out. The louder her voice gets, the more Jacks feels the need to say something. He can never forget what he saw in Aiden's mind. He had suffered just as much as they did and he knows Aiden wouldn't want this.

"You're the same as you were before!"

"Mom."

"You should have never come back!"

"Mom!"

Nicky turns to Jacks with tears running down her cheeks and her lips trembling.

"Hey," he lowers his voice and rubs her shoulder. "Don't say that. Aiden has changed."

He looks over at Aiden who is trying to hold it together. Nicky's words carved into him like a knife.

"And we...we can figure it out. Aiden and I can find them and we can shut them down."

"Absolutely not. Whatever this is, you are not getting involved."

"She's right," Aiden finally speaks.

Jacks wants to laugh.

"Both of you need to stop treating me like I'm a kid. I can get Dedsec to help too." He nods over to Aiden. "We can find them."

Nicky stares at Jacks with reluctance. An awkward silence plagues them.

"I can help too," Wrench proposes.

All of them face him. Jacks had forgotten he was still there.

"I mean if you want." He raises his hands up. "I'm not leaving anytime soon anyways."

"We'd appreciate it," Jacks says.

Nicky ponders about it. She desperately wants to swoop Jacks away from all of this, but she can't baby him forever.

"We'll work through this."

Nicky wipes away her tears and sniffles. She glances at the two of them with her lips flattened. She gathers herself and takes a step towards Aiden.

"I want you to listen to me carefully," she begins. "Whatever is going on. If it doesn't get resolved, if anything and I mean if anything happens to Jacks, we are done. Do you understand?"

Guilt clouds Aiden's features. Should he let Jackson be involved again? Hell, should he even stay in London? Maybe he's done too much harm. But then he sees Jacks. His eyes gleam with optimism for Aiden. Despite him being shaken up, Jacks still cares about his uncle and he doesn't want to lose him again.

Aiden can sense that. One look at Jacks makes him feel like he has a chance.

Finally, he manages to look Nicky in the eyes.

"I promise you-"

"Don't promise me, Aiden," she stresses.

He takes a deep breath.

"I will fix this," he corrects himself.

"We'll fix this," Jackson adds. "It'll be okay, mom."

He pulls her in for another hug. Deep down, he is nervous, but he'll always put up a front for his mother.

Nicky sighs heavily into his shoulder and releases a shiver.

"We're all okay. That's what matters."

Aiden observes them with an unsettling feeling. He has second thoughts. What if they are better off without him?

No. He needs to fix whatever he may have caused. He can't run away again.

"So...this is awkward. Um, I'm gonna go inside." Wrench clear his throat while pointing back to his hideout. "Let me know if you need anything."

Aiden gives him a quick nod. Wrench makes his way back to his hideout leaving Aiden shifting uncomfortably. Just when he thinks his life is getting back on track, something snatches that opportunity away.

He can't dwell on it. He has to figure out who this Impulse group is, but more importantly, Clara. He wonders if it's the same Clara he knew a long time ago, or if it's someone else. But who else would he know named Clara?

He grimaces as the ghosts of his past have come to haunt him again.