"...Minho..?" Hope whispered. Her voice was raw and scratchy. 

"Shuck, what did they do to her?" 

"Ya! Ya Ace, I'm here. And so are Thomas and Newt and Fry, and Lanna and Tim and Odin. See, Ace, I told ya they would come! We're busting out of here! And I pinky promised to come back for ya."

Her eyes fluttered open. Trying to process it all. Minho was crouched right in front of her, he looked a little worse for wear, but he was there. Her unfocused eyes slid passed him and she saw three more boys. They were dressed in WICKED uniforms, holding guns but she recognized them; Thomas, Newt and Tim. 

Tim rushed over and helped Minho undo her restraints. She had nothing holding her so she just crumpled forwards, into Minho's chest and arms.

"You came back..." She rasped.

"Of course Ace. I don't break sworn pinky promises!"

Hope's head flopped backwards to look up at him with her exhausted pain filled eyes. He held her face in his hand, his eyes flicked over her injuries. 

"We have WICKED on our bloody arse! gaze into her buggen' eyes later?" Someone snapped.

"Newt! Relax man, look at the state she's in!" Tim snapped back and then knelt down beside Minho and Hope. 

Hope flopped her head to look at Tim. He looked healthy, sweaty and slightly panicked, but he smiled at her. 

"Good to see you!" 

"Tim...?" She whispered. She tried to reach out and touch him, make sure he was actually here, but her body shuttered. Her arm flopped lamely.  There was still a bit of poison still in her veins, she felt so cold. Tim and Minho glanced at each other and then back down to Hope. 

"Guys...we need to go!" A panicked voice called from the door way. 

"Come on Ace, time to go!" 

Tim and Minho helped her up, her knees buckled and her head rolled. 

"I feel sick." She whimpered. 

"Yeah...yeah I know." Minho said. 

"No...like I feel si-" She didn't finish her sentence, she threw up all over the floor. The guys all backed up in surprise, some one muttered gross. It took her a minute to empty her stomach from the remnants of the poison. Her back was patted. 

"You okay?" 

"Do I look okay? I was just tortured." She snapped, wiping her mouth. Her voice was hardly above a whisper, and it was as dry as sandpaper, but she felt a little better, she straightened up, her body still shivered and she felt like collapsing, but she was up right now and glared at the moron who just asked if she was okay. All the guys looked at her with wide eyes. 

"All right, come on Ace. Lets bust outta here!" 

"Finally!" Newt rolled his eyes. 

Hope frowned at him, what was his problem. Thomas cracked open the door. There was a loud blaring siren. Bright red alarm lights were flashing, lighting up the normally harsh white hall. 

"You guys sure like to piss off WICKED, don't you." Hope muttered and rolled her eyes. 

Thomas threw the door open and waved them all own the hall. Newt followed on his heels and then Minho. Tim took Hope's hand making sure she wouldn't fall behind. Thomas turned a corner and almost ran into a few of guards. Newt yanked him backwards back behind the wall. Blue electricity bullets flew past them. Thomas leaned his head around the corner and pulled it back abruptly with a string of curses. 

"Shoot them!" Hope cried. Tim had pulled her back and pressed her back into the wall, shielding her with his body. Thomas swung his gun around and started shooting. There was a lot of yelling and screaming. Electricity sizzled and crackled. 

"Just take your time!" Hope cried, pushing past Tim. The poison had finally dissolved. Now she just felt exhausted and sore and only slightly sick, but she did knew she didn't have time to melt to the floor and cry in an exhausted heap. Later...

"Think you could do better? Newt snapped, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yeah, actually. Now give me the gun." She didn't seem very intimidating. She was white as a ghost, black bags under her eyes, her once shiny healthy blond hair was dull, greasy and a tangled mess, but the anger in her exhausted pain riddled eyes made him hesitate. She ripped the gun from Newt, stepping out into the hall, she raised the gun, pulled the trigger three times and last three guards fell with a bullet in the middle of their foreheads. 

"I don't call her Ace for nothin'" Minho yelled over the noise. 

"Go! Keep moving." Thomas jumped up and started running down the hall. "Come on, come on."

The five of them ran down the hall. Guards stormed behind them, blue bullets flew around them. Alarms blared, lights flashed. Doctors and nurses were screaming. Hope had no idea what was going on, but there was more to this then the guys busting into WICKED. There was an explosion, shaking the the whole building. Hope's already shaky legs just about gave out. Tim threw an arm out and caught her before she hit the floor. "Okay. We need to get outta here! Now." He yelled over the chaos. 

"Yeah...working on it!" Thomas called back. 

"Shit! I'm out." Thomas cried, chucking the gun in frustration. 

"Get back."

Hope was shoved backwards. There was so much happening she was having a hard time understanding, but she knew guards were shooting, they had to escape and she had a gun she took from Newt. She shoved whoever had her off. 

"Hope! Come back!" 

She stepped out into the hall again and raised the gun. With every pull of the trigger a guard dropped. All her anger and fear, every day being stuck in the cell, every time they electrocuted her, stabbed her with needles, hit her, sneered at her, asked her questions she didn't know the answers too...it all came bubbling to the surface and she screamed with every shot. She hated them. She wanted them all dead. Blue electricity whipped past her. They were pretty poor shots. She wasn't moving, yet they couldn't hit her. A few of the bullets exploded on the floor by her feet, but she had been shocked so often and with so much power, she hardly felt these. The last guard dropped and she lowered the gun breathing hard. Anger still swirled through her, but the hall was empty of guards. For now. Thomas poked his head around the corner.

"Nice. All right." He nodded, his eyes wide in surprise and maybe slight fear. 

"Don't mess with an angry Ace." 

"I'm almost out. We need to move." Her voice was almost gone at this point. Hope spun towards the stomping of feet down the adjoining hall.

"I got him! Over here. You five! Freeze!" 

"Go! This way!"

The group was running down a hall again. Thomas in the lead.

"Come on!" Thomas called. Half way down the hall he skidded to a stop and yanked the door open. "In here, in here." He waved everyone through the door. Minho dove through the door. More bullets flew past them, a few exploded on the wall around them. 

"Newt, come on."

Hope spun around and pulled the trigger. She had to use up every bullet. The more guards she could take out, maybe she would feel better. 

"Thomas!" 

The voice made her hesitate. Janson was here. A hand wrapped around her arm and yanked her backwards. The door was slammed shut, the locked was engaged. Minho and Newt tipped a huge shelf over and slid it in front of the door. There was a loud bang against the door making them all jump.

"Somebody get this door open." 

Hope chocked on a sob when she heard Janson's voices creaming through the door. 

"Yes, sir!" 

Hope was breathing heavy, her head was spinning. She leaned her forehead on the wall, squeezing her eyes closed. She was trying to take a proper breath but her lungs were restricting. Her hands were shacking so bad the gun slid from her hands. She felt a hand on her back.

"Hope?" Tim asked quietly. She spun towards him and threw her arms around him. "Hope! What's going on?"

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Tears leaked from her clamped eyes.

"I wouldn't leave you hanging! Odin and Lanna have been going out of their minds trying to get you back."

"Papa? Lanna?" Hope whispered, letting go of Tim and looking at him.

"Of course! There was no way they were gonna ditch you!"

Hope hung her head and sniffed.

"Wait...did you think we all forgot about you?" Tim asked even quieter.

Hope stayed quiet, tears still slid down her cheeks. "Maybe..." She whispered so quietly it was hardly there.

"Absolutely not! Hope! You're like a sister, your closer then a sister to Lanna and your Odin's daughter, Hope. He wasn't going to stop until he has you back. It took longer then they wanted, but they never gave up."

Hope picked her teary face up to look at Tim. His face was set, he was never one who lied, they had been through too much for him to lie to her. She trusted him completely. She nodded slowly.

"And right now...you can't give up, okay? We'll get out of this."

"I'd rather die then go back to him." Hope whispered, her body shivered.

"Yeah. I'm with you on that one." 

"Oh, shit." Thomas cursed, there was a loud buzzing sound. 

They were going to cut through the metal door. They had a few minutes, but not many. Hope looked around the small room for the first time. It looked like a storage room. Shelves full of all kinds of equipment. There was a giant window, they were up on one of the top floors. Hope slowly walked towards the window. She had seen outside in months. Placing her hand against the window she looked out at the city. Frowning her eyes flicked around. Most of the city was on fire. She heard explosions, gun fire, sirens. She had no idea what was going on out there. 

"How are we getting out of here?" Tim asked, the sound of the buzz saw was getting louder. Hope turned to see the guys.

"Any ideas?" Minho asked, Hope could hear the panic in his voice. 

"Maybe." Was Thomas's response. He was looking at Hope and then his eyes slid passed her to the window. He tilted his head and came to stand beside her. He looked out, and then down. Hope turned and looked out the window too. She gave him a side eye and raised her eyebrows. He just shrugged. Minho, Tim and Newt came to stand beside them. They all glanced at each other, none of them wanted to say what they were all thinking. 

Thomas turned and went over to a giant canister, Minho and Tim went to help. Newt backed up and started to cough. It was wet and phlegmy. His breathing was ragged after his wild coughing fit. Hope eyed him suspiciously. He was pale and sweaty, his eyes were red rimmed. There was a loud smashing noise that ripped her attention away from Newt. The boys had chucked the giant metal container out the window. Hope leaned forwards and watched as it flew threw the air and down into the big pool like pond at the bottom, in the front gardens of the WICKED complex. It landed in the middle of the pool with a huge splash.

"Okay, it's doable." Thomas said flatly. "Just uhh... need a running start."

Another loud smashing noise came from behind them. "Almost through." Hope's stomach dropped, and her heart jumped into her throat. Tim reached out and squeezed her arm.

"Are all his ideas like this? This seems like suicide!" Hope whispered to Tim. 

Tim looked at her, "Umm yeah. Mostly." 

"You sure about this?" Minho asked nervously. 

"Not really." Thomas answered, he was standing by the smashed out window, still staring down into the water.

"Nice pep talk." Minho rolled his eyes. Hope's stomach flip flopped, they were really going to do this.

"Yeah, we're all bloody inspired." Newt said dryly. 

He had stopped coughing and wheezing and came to stand with them. Hope snorted. Thomas looked up and clenched his jaw. He took a few steps back, the rest of the group following. Minho grabbed Hope's hand and squeezed it. "Ready to bust out of this shuck place?" 

"Never been more ready." She answered.

There was a loud crunch from behind them. "Thomas!" Janson screamed! "Hope!" 

"Now!" Thomas yelled. 

He ran forwards, immediately followed by everyone else. Hope pushed off the ledge of the window just as the door smashed open and Janson came flying into the room.  Hope flew through the air, her breath was ripped from her, her stomach turned and rose into her throat. She didn't have time to take a proper breath before her body slammed into freezing cold water. She sucked in a sharp breath, filling her lungs with water. She was pulled upwards, her head broke the surface. She coughed and spat out water, someone was pulling her towards the edge of the pool. She was struggling to get air in her lungs. Minho and Tim helped her out where she collapsed coughing and wheezing, still spitting out water. 

"Minho, you okay?" Thomas asked, "Tim, you good?" He was helping Newt out of the pool. 

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Hope wheezed between hacking coughs.

"Yeah. We're fine" Tim answered while Minho snickered at Hope's comment.

"You three, don't move." 

Hope wiped her head up, there were three WICKED guards standing on the top step, guns drawn and pointed down at them.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding  me." Minho grumbled.

"Take it easy." One of them barked, Hope had tried to get up off her knees.

"Uh-uh-uh!" Another one yelled, his launcher was pointed at Thomas. "Don't even think about   it." Hope glanced over, Thomas had tried to grab the little gun on his hip.

"Get on your knees with your hands in the air."

The middled guard stepped back, twisted one way, shot his companion, and twisted the other way shooting him as well. The guys all yelped in surprise. The middle guard ripped his mask off.

"You son of a bitch." Thomas cried scrambling to his feet. 

"Gally?" Minho sputtered. 

Hope just stared, frozen, her body had gone completely numb. 

"Will!" She screamed. 

•°•

• We are finally free! Yay! But what now...? •