So good news, I got this chapter done quicker thanks to Nanowrimo. Yay! Bad news, there's been wild stuff happening in my personal life from houses fires to cats getting loose. What a year it's been. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. I see that this website's traffic graph isn't working right again for the billionth time so I can't see how many people are reading this, so that's great. So here's the next chapter. Friendly reminder: WD2 is seven years old now and WD1 is about to turn ten years old. Wtf.


(December 14, 2013)

Clara tiptoed around the facility, her heart pounding. She tried to keep her breathing shallow and quiet as she snuck by the Impulse guards. Her gunshot wounds had just healed. Whatever Rachel's device did, it helped her wounds heal faster, so it didn't hurt as much to walk.

As she continued to try and sneak out of the facility. She prayed that the first guard she snuck past fell for the noise distraction she set up by throwing an object. He did walk off didn't he? Yes, he did. But what if he saw her?

"No, he couldn't have saw you, Clara." She scolded herself, trying to shut her brain up.

She hid behind a wall and noticed the exit. Her eyes widened. She could make it. All she'd have to do was stay quiet and-

Clara's legs stopped moving once she was about to get to the door. She tried to move her arms, but they went numb. Her muscles froze, feeling paralyzed.

"Why can't I move?"

She pushed herself with all her might to go forward, but her body wouldn't respond.

"Tarbanak, why can't I move? What's wrong with me?"

Her body was stuck like a statue. Soldiers emerged from different rooms around the facility with their guns aimed at Clara. She was able to move her eyes, seeing five of them blocking the door and a few more behind her.

How could they have heard her? She was quiet. She made sure she was.

"You can put the guns down." She heard Rachel say.

She failed to turn her neck to look at her with it being paralyzed too. Was she having a stroke or something?

Clara saw Rachel walk past her with what looked like some kind of remote in her hand. She struggled to move herself once again as Rachel came face to face with her. The sharpness of her dark eyes made Clara more uncomfortable than she already was. A smirk reached Rachel's face.

"Looks like this is working out nicely." She said while observing the remote in front of her.

Clara managed to move her eyes down at the remote, becoming more and more terrified. What was going on? She pushed herself to speak, but only managed a small groan from her throat. Her breathing became more unstable. Rachel took notice.

"What? You thought we would just let you walk out?" Rachel stalked towards Clara like a lioness hunting her prey. "I told you I would find a way to get something out of you."

Clara's breath caught in her throat. She tried to piece together what Rachel meant. Her shaking lips managed to form a question.

"W...W...Why can't...I move?"

Rachel crossed her arms while she still held the remote.

"You're under my control now." Rachel continued to stride towards Clara with each step making the hacker want to step back. "Everything you do and everything you say will be controlled by me."

Rachel pushed a button on the remote causing Clara to collapse to her knees. She winced at the impact and she instinctively tried to catch her fall by moving her arms, but she was reminded that her arms wouldn't move. Dread consumed her. How could Rachel be doing this? What was the remote connected to?

The chip. It had to be the chip Rachel planted on her. How could this be possible? No way could she be doing this with ctOS.

Rachel hovered over her, her smirk vanished.

"Now." Rachel kneeled down to Clara, appearing more stern. "Where is Aiden Pearce?"

"The bunker." Her lips moved on their own before she could process what was happening.

Her heart stopped. Why did she say that? Her body trembled. This couldn't be happening. This had to be a dream. Yeah that was it. So why wouldn't she wake up?

"What bunker?" Rachel asked with furrowed brows.

"It's an island," Clara spoke again with no control over what she said.

"No, no don't say that! Stop it!" She screamed at herself.

Rachel studied her for a moment. She stood up. Clara wanted to break down. The growing horror was becoming to be too much for her. Her eyes latched onto Rachel's

"Show me."

No less than five minutes later, they had her in a car. She unwillingly gave them directions to the bunker by pointing her fingers as to where to go. She desperately wanted to stop talking, but she had become a slave to her own body. All the panic, shock, and anger she was feeling was trapped inside of her. She couldn't scream, or cry. It was pure torture. She grew nauseous at the thought of Aiden potentially being at the bunker. She couldn't bare to have these dangerous people find him because of her.

Please don't be at the bunker.

Her heart pounded more and more by the minute as they approached the bridge. The bridge was turned towards them, allowing them to drive across. Her heart stopped. That meant Aiden had to be here, or at least someone else was.

Rachel along with three other cars full of soldiers made their away across the bridge, making sure to keep their lights dim because of it being night time.

As they slowly ventured the island, memories flooded back to Clara when she was last back here. She could remember leaving the bunker after Aiden snapped at her. She was in tears as she dwelled on her own mistakes. She couldn't dread too much on it as Rachel questioned her.

"Which one?" She pressed on while driving past the various shipping containers.

She gulped.

"That one." Clara pointed towards the familiar red bunker.

Rachel brought her car to a halt along with the others. Rachel gestured Clara to get put of car which she did so without resistance.

With each passing second, Clara's stomach churned more and more, not knowing what to expect. Different scenarios ran through her head. One of Aiden emerging from somewhere and getting into a full blown shootout with Rachel and her crew. Another was Aiden seeing Clara causing him to get captured of it. She hoped that wouldn't be the case.

Rachel readied her rifle along with her soldiers before slowly approaching the entrance with Clara being forced to follow behind her. She studied the door, trying to figure out a way to get inside.

"How do you get this open?" Rachel asked.

Clara's shaking hand reached for her phone and hacked into the entrance. The door slid open. Rachel scanned the interior of it. It was littered with papers and other trash. Clara watched her search the inside of the container as she tried to will her body to move again. If it wasn't for her immobility, this would be the perfect chance to escape.

After some time searching, Rachel frowned and glared at Clara. "He's not in here. Is there something you're not telling us."

Clara stood like a deer in headlights as she and her soldiers stared her down, waiting for an explanation.

"It's...it's supposed to be an elevator. It should take you to a room...under...ground." Clara attempted to fight the words flooding from her mouth.

"Take us down there," Rachel commanded.

Clara's hand hovered over the controls on her phone.

"No. No..."

Any attempt at struggle was pointless for her. Her body moved on its own as she walked inside the elevator. A few soldiers followed suit.

"I need some of you to stay out here and be ready for anything," Rachel instructed her soldiers.

They all nodded. Clara pushed a button and the bunker's doors closed. They descended. Her hands grew clammy. A part of her hoped that Aiden would be here so he could free her from whoever these people were. Yet again, she hoped he wasn't for his own safety.

She stayed conflicted on it as they reached the bottom of the bunker. The door slid open again and they were greeted by a strong set of lights blaring down at them and stairs leading down to a row of screens showcasing footage of the city.

Clara caught a whiff of the old dust lingering around the bunker. The smell wasn't always pleasant to her, but she'd take it over the smell of metal and hospital quality food. She saw Rachel observe the place for a moment before she saw her freeze. She motioned for everyone to duck down.

"There's someone in here," she whispered.

Clara's heart raced. It had to be Aiden. Who else would it be? T-Bone? Although she couldn't see anything, she could hear shuffling. She could have sworn she heard a voice. A few seconds went by and she picked up on a voice she didn't recognize.

"How did they even stay here? There's dust and shit everywhere." The voice sounded deep, but nothing like Aiden's.

"It doesn't matter," another deep voice spoke. "Let's grab whatever we can before Blume hogs it up."

Despite the voices not belonging to Aiden or T-Bone's, she could detect a voice filter. They sounded like...Dedsec. Aiden couldn't have been here then, but why wasn't he?

On one hand, she was relieved, but on the other, she was a little disappointed. She shouldn't have been surprised. No way could he stay here forever.

Clara noticed Rachel peaking over to see the intruders.

"Who are they?" Rachel asked her.

"They look like Dedsec," she answered while she got a good look at the men who were wearing balaclavas that completely covered their faces. They were also wearing black clothing from what she could tell.

Maybe she could find a way to get their attention and they could help her. She had to know some of them at least. She saw at least five members from where she was sitting.

Rachel contemplated her next move. This could have been the biggest lead she had on Aiden so far and she wasn't going to leave with nothing.

"Don't move," Rachel commanded and signaled a few of her soldiers to have their crossbows ready to cover her.

She moved from her spot and headed towards another lone Dedsec member who was just below the balcony. She tiptoed her way down the stairs and snuck by the other two members who were too distracted by all the tech.

She made her way towards her main target, who had his back turned to her. She launched herself forward, grabbing the guy around the neck and yanked him backwards. He struggled against her, but she made sure to keep him in a chokehold. She didn't apply too much pressure to strangle him, but enough to keep him in place as she dragged him behind a wall. She stopped as he still flailed around. She tightened her arm around his neck.

"The more you struggle, the less likely you'll survive," she whispered with gritted teeth. "If you co-operate with me, I can keep you alive."

The man gripped on her arm that was wrapped around his neck.

"Who the fuck even are you?" He choked out through her grip.

"I'm the one who's going to be asking questions here. Not you. Answer them and I'll let you go. Understand?"

With Rachel's arm being wrapped tighter around his neck, it became harder to breathe. Eventually he stopped his struggling.

"Okay...okay," he croaked out while he patted her arm.

Rachel loosened her grip. "Glad we understand each other. So tell me, what are you all doing here?"

The Dedsec member hesitated for a moment. "We're...we're grabbing tech. That's all."

Rachel eyed him skeptically.

"Just grabbing tech, huh?" She leaned closer to him. "You wouldn't have happened to see Aiden Pearce here, did you?"

"Aiden Pearce?" He sounded confused. "He...he hasn't been here in months."

"Months? What was he doing here?"

"He was staying here with one of our old members, but Blume found this place."

An old member? He had to be referring to Clara. So she had to be telling the truth about where Aiden was, but she remained suspicious none the less of Dedsec true intentions with the bunker. A part of her was paranoid that Dedsec could be here to rescue Clara.

"You better not be lying to me," she warned.

"I swear we're just grabbing what we can." He said, losing faith in her promise to keep him alive.

She had to be working with Blume, or some fixer. No way could she keep him alive. He started to panic as she loosened her grip slightly. Through his panic, he shouted for a split second before Rachel snapped his neck.

She sighed out of frustration and braced for the other Dedsec members to attack. She was proven right when one Dedsec member heard the noise and spotted Rachel with the limp body in her arms. Rachel tossed the body to the side as the member fired shots at her.

Clara jumped at the sound as the other soldiers drew their weapons and started firing. A full blown shootout ensued between the two groups with the Dedsec members being severely outnumbered. The bullets of Dedsec barely touched Rachel and her soldiers and she had the upper hand.

Clara listened in horror knowing that they were killing people who could have been her friends. Her throat was closing up, not allowing her to scream. All she could do was listen as the Dedsec members went down one by one. One still remained hidden behind the desk displaying the computers. It didn't take long for him to start firing.

Rachel motioned for her soldiers to surround the guy while she prompted a few others to keep an eye on Clara. He proved to be hard to ambush as he pulled out a few grenades he had in his pocket and rolled them out from behind the table. They heard it and dived behind cover as the grenades exploded. The impact was enough to hurt Rachel's hearing. Clara winced as well, but was unable to cover her ears.

The man made a beeline for the stairs leading to the bunker's exit. Clara didn't hear him make his way upstairs. It was only when she caught him reaching the top of the stairs did she notice him. He jumped back when he noticed Clara huddled by the railing. He aimed the pistol at her and was about to shoot, but once he studied her for a second, he stopped. He hesitated once the woman became familiar to him.

"Cla-"

Clara jolted back as a gunshot rang out and blood splattered on her face. She stared at him wide eyed, seeing a chunk of his head blown off. He had fallen towards Clara, who was horrified at the sight of his lifeless body falling flat in front of her. She shivered with the stench of blood hitting her nostrils. She saw Rachel with smoke escaping her gun. She glared at Clara.

"Was this supposed to be a set up?" She grumbled through gritted teeth.

Clara shook her head, her body trembling. "N...No. Aiden was here. I don't know what Dedsec was doing here."

Her throat tightened and her breathing grew out of control. She wanted this nightmare to end. She wished that Dedsec member had shot her. She could have finally been dead like how she should have been at the cemetery. She could have been free from these people, but that wasn't her reality right now.

Rachel released a long breath.

"Clean this place up," she ordered to her soldiers. She rubbed her forehead and eyed Clara again. "As for you, we'll have to change your appearance. We'd have to start with removing those tattoos."

Clara gasped with tears rolling down her face. "What?"

"That guy almost recognized you. We can't take any chances."

Clara panicked. Her tattoos were everything to her. They defined her.

"But...can't we cover them up?" A lump formed in her throat.

Rachel shook her head. "It's too risky. Take her back to the facility and get someone who can remove tattoos."

As Rachel walked away, Clara did everything in her power to resist the soldiers moving towards her. The best she could do was twitch her ankle as more tears pricked at her eyes.

This couldn't be happening.

Her stomach churned as she became nauseous. The soldiers escorted her out with some of them feeling remorseful. She was whimpering at this point. No way could she live like this. Did Rachel plan to stop this at some point? She prayed that Aiden or someone from Dedsec was still around to get her out of this, but they never came. She was still being taken to the car.

She was trapped.


Clara tosses and turns on her mattress, wincing from her nightmare. She can still feel the stings of the needles from her tattoo removal. With each passing second, more sweat forms on her head as she jerks her body around. Her eyes bolt open and she leaps put of bed. She snatches the pistol lying on the table beside her and aims it at her attackers. She breathes heavily, expecting them to come out at any moment.

Once she glances around, she realizes she is inside an abandoned gym she had found not too long ago. She huffs when she realizes she had fallen asleep and she was only having a nightmare. She takes long deep breaths while setting her gun down. She rubs her arms, still feeling the stinging. She stares down at her forearms and notices the scars and frowns.

Despite her having grown numb to the loss of her tattoos over the years, the memories of the removal still haunts her mind sometimes. Her cries of pain, her pleas for them to stop, and Rachel using the remote to make sure she didn't struggle.

Rachel.

The image of her alone makes her clench her fists. She needs to find out what she's up to, but where should she start? She's yet to get the power running in the gym, or let alone get some tech. Hell, she doesn't know if she can stay here for too long. Someone could come along and look for this place, but she hasn't seen anyone and the gym looks run down. She doesn't think anyone will be here anytime soon.

Her mind drifts back to Rachel. After having met Jackson, she wants to be determined to find Rachel before she can do any harm, but she has doubts within herself. When she ran away last night, she stayed hidden while listening to Aiden and his family talk to each other. She heard Nicky tear Aiden apart with her words. Clara dreads how Nicky would react if she ever were to find out about her involvement in the death of her daughter.

She wants to smack herself for being such a coward by ditching Jacks like that. Yes, she knew he was safe, but she should have stayed and taken accountability. Something about seeing that masked man made her want to run and hide. Never in a million years would she have expected to see him there.

Her mind grows overwhelmed as she slowly sits back down on the mattress and buries her face in her hands. She can still remember Jackson's shaking body when he had his panic attack. Sure, she's had panic attacks of her own, but the way Jackson's horrified eyes stared at her gives her goosebumps.

Do they really need you?

She taps her foot with frustration towards herself.

No, they don't.

Yes, they do.

You cause nothing but pain.

You can't let Rachel get them.

She grips her hair with her fingers before standing up, grabbing the table next to her, and flipping it over. She watches the glass plaques that were sitting on it shatter on the ground. She breathes heavily while observing the pieces of glass on the floor. She doesn't care that she has to clean it up. The loud thud from the table and the broken glass makes her feel satisfied in a way.

After glancing around, however, she notices a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. It doesn't register until a few seconds later once she realizes she could have used it instead. She glances back down at the mess of glass on the ground and sighs, feeling ashamed. She sucks in a breath and tries to calm herself. Only now does she realize her hands are shaking.

"Why did I do that? What was I thinking?"

Clara contains her wobbling hands as she leans towards a nearby window, now worrying too much about cleaning up the mess at the moment. She has to keep a clear head. It's the very least she can do to make amends. She would be too much of a coward if she backs out now.

After taking some time to calm down, she wonders how she's going to make this work. How well did that Wrench guy know Aiden? Would he recognize her? She looked different back then, but it's still a possibility. Maybe she can try and avoid him from seeing her. She'd have to figure that out later. Right now, she needs to focus on finding any leads on Rachel and contacting Aiden.

She knows she keeps stalling, but it's best she contacts Aiden sooner rather than later. She decides to push it to the side for now and tries to think of any potential leads on Rachel or Jonas. She would look into Dedsec, but after the whole ordeal with the Bagley attack and the failed attempt to kidnap Jacks, it's safe to assume he's not with Dedsec anymore. She tries to think of any other potential groups they could undercover in until she remembers.

"Clan Kelley."

She wants to smack herself for not thinking of looking into them sooner. She could break into one of their bases and try and dig up some names. She knew Rachel's deal with the Kelleys went sideways, but it's possible for her to have bribed some members. Mary's death has left Clan Kelley vulnerable so it wouldn't be a surprise if they needed extra help. Still this is just a hunch so she has to be careful.

Can she go alone? Rachel has sent her to do tasks by herself before, but knowing how resourceful she be, it might be dangerous. The only person she can think of to ask for help is Aiden, but it's been too long. Would he really help her after she screwed him over? Perhaps he should. She helped him all those years ago, so why shouldn't he return the favor?

She grabs her phone and stares down at it for a moment, contemplating her decision. She knows how to connect to the channel. She can talk to Aiden with a tap of a button. She almost feels selfish with having the nerve to demand his assistance. Yet again, this is his problem. She grips her phone and turns it on, her finger hovering over the call button. She gulps.

It's now or never.


Aiden slouches back in his car, lost in thought. Jackson managed to get to Nicky's safely, so that's one worry lifted off his shoulders. Now his mind is troubled by something, or preferably someone. Ever since Clara's 'death' Aiden always fought to keep her out of his thoughts. The only times he could ever picture her was in her nightmares, but now he thinks of her every second.

It's like a twisted game his mind is playing with him. At first, he sees the good memories with her flashy smile and her attempts to cheer him up with a few jokes here and there.

But then there were the bad ones. From the smaller moments when she would seem annoyed with him to her teary eyes piercing into his soul, his thoughts are all over the place.

His phone lighting up to alert him that the channel is open catches his attention. He glances down to see an unknown person present. He picks up his phone from the passenger seat and inspects it carefully. It couldn't have been Jacks or Wrench. They would have already said something.

He presses his ear into the phone, trying to detect any noise, or a voice. He doesn't pick up anything, but the person is still present, but silent. He freezes.

What if it's her?

Or what if it's someone from Impulse to taunt him similar to how Rempart did?

He waits a few more seconds for the caller to say something.

When he doesn't hear anything, he hesitates before asking, "Who's there?"

He anticipates an answer, but all he hears is a soft shuffling sound. Then there's silence again. He leans forward in his seat as he becomes more anxious.

Could it really be Clara? Was Jackson right?

Aiden opens his mouth to say something until he hears a voice.

"Hello, Aiden."

The voice is soft, accented. It's just like Clara's. Aiden's heart pounds in his chest. This has to be a trick. Someone has to be messing with him. He can't believe what he heard.

He clears his drying throat. "Clara?" That weird feeling strikes him again after saying her name.

The caller remains silent. He anxiously waits for a response and grows more impatient by the minute. He hears shaky breathing in the background. He clenches his knuckles before unclenching them.

"Is it really you?"

He keeps waiting for a response while tapping his fingers against his leg.

"Yes...yes, it's me. I know it's...um...been a long time."

The familiarity of her voice is too much for him. His phone nearly slips out of his hand, but he catches it. He tenses as he goes speechless. Some part of him wants to believe this is a recording playing back, or an AI voice, but this sounds too real. He tries to form the right questions.

No way. There's no way.

"Listen, I..." She isn't sure where to begin. "We need to talk things through. I'm sure Jackson has already told you that people are searching for you."

Aiden's mouth is still hanging open while taking in her voice. A mixture of emotions dwell inside him. Shock, relief, anger.

"After all this time...thinking you were...dead, you..." He can't bring himself to finish his next sentence.

"I know," she said with a sigh. "These people who are looking for you, they made me do work for them. Believe me, I would have talked to you way sooner, but I wasn't able to."

Shivers run through his body. This is all too much. The awkwardness is evident between them.

"Look, we should meet. It'll be easier to clear things up and we're long over due for a conversation anyway."

"Yeah, yeah we are."

There's a pause.

"We can meet later on tonight around seven down at the underground parking lot beneath the Wind Tower?"

He wonders if he should even consider going. It could be a trap for all he knows.

"I swear if this is a trick."

"I promise it isn't. Please, Aiden, just meet me there and I'll explain everything."

He ponders about it, feeling conflicted, but since he is desperate to see Clara again, if it even is her at all, he accepts it.

"Okay. It better be everything. Don't leave anything out," he states.

"I won't," she answers, although she can't guarantee it.

They grow silent after that. The air between them is tense with neither of them not being sure how to end the conversation.

"Well erm...I'll see you there."

She lingers for a few more seconds before leaving the channel. This time, Aiden does drops his phone. He leans back and runs his fingers through his hair. Did that just happen? He replays the conversation over and over.

These people held her hostage? Does he truly believe it, or could it be fake? There's only one way for him to find out.

On Clara's end, she is a nervous wreck. Her fingers couldn't keep the phone steady throughout the entire call. She had been trembling. Hearing his rough voice made her travel back in time to when she was younger. She felt relieved and dare she say it, soothed in a way, but she was also nervous.

She can only imagine the possible scenarios as to how he'll react when he sees her. She bites her nails, dreading it.

Hours go by and the clock reaches six thirty. Aiden is the first to get ready. He never told Jacks he was going to meet Clara. He figures this is his own problem, not his nephew's. Jacks hasn't found anything on Clara anyway. This is the only thing he has going for him.

He starts up his car and follows the coordinates. Throughout the entire ride, he doesn't know what to expect. Would she be angry at him? She didn't sound mad on the phone. The whole ordeal is too difficult to wrap his head around.

Once he gets closer to the tower, he grows more and more nervous. Observing the city's vibrant lights and the busy streets at night reminds him of the first time he was on the way to meet Clara, or 'Badboy17.' He was disgruntled that he had to take the time out of his night to meet this mysterious person.

If only he knew how much Clara would have impacted him. He regrets being as aggressive as he was back then to this day. He sighs with goosebumps forming on his arms.

It takes some searching, but once he spots the Wind Tower sign, he tenses. Driving towards the open garage door gives him an unsettling feeling as he treads carefully inside. He enters the garage and searches for anyone standing by who could look like Clara. He also keeps an eye out for any ambushers. He doesn't see anyone besides a few people on the other side of the garage chatting about their business.

Once he doesn't detect anything suspicious, he makes his way over to a parking spot. Parking his car, he clutches his pistol and his phone close to him. He steps out of the car with caution and scans the garage. The brightness of the garage lights shine down on him as he slowly walks along the black and yellow floors.

He grows more suspicious by the minute. A text pops up on his phone by an unknown number.

"Follow the arrow."

At first, he's confused, but he then spots the big arrow on the garage floor. He is hesitant and it takes everything in him to not go back to his car and forget this whole thing. Is he truly suspicious, or is he trying to run away from this? He isn't at all mentally prepared, but he has to stick to this.

He grinds his teeth before continuing to follow the arrow. He keeps his eyes moving from the arrow to the entirety of the garage. He keeps watch of the other parked cars on either side of him, staying alert for anyone, or anything coming out from behind them. He controls his growing nerves as he makes it towards the end of the path.

He looks down and the path is now directing him to turn right. He does so with growing agitation. He sees a large TV on the wall to the right of him and an empty parking lot to his left. If he wasn't feeling uneasy before, he most certainly is now.

"Where are you?" He wonders.

He sees the TV fizzle with static before a black background appears with a large white text reading, 'Look behind you."

Aiden stiffens. It's all too familiar. He isn't ready to turn around and he almost doesn't want to. He wills himself to do so anyway and he isn't prepared for what he sees in front of him.

Clara emerges from behind a pillar and slowly makes her way over to him. He is able to see her clearly underneath the lights. He takes in all of her features, never missing a detail. She looks exactly how Jacks described her down to her tossed hair, her piercings, and the jacket. She has her signature smokey eye makeup with some lines being visible beneath them. She is also wearing leather pants accompanied with combat boots. One thing he notices is the absence of tattoos.

He can tell she feels just as nervous as him. Her stiff shoulders and her wide eyes tell him more than enough. She stops once she is in close proximity to him. His green eyes lock onto her bright blue ones.

"Clara."

"Aiden."