I walked into the holding area, the other soldiers and Right Arm men were waiting. Jorge went to say something saw my demeanor, the murder in my eyes and he shut his mouth and just nodded. 

"All right listen up." He called, "We're going in hot, guns blazing, we don't know what to expect, but they wont just let us walk in and take their subjects. It ain't gonna be pretty. You're the best of the best, but if you wan out, now is your time." No one moved. Good. They were in, and they made their choice. 

I saw out of the corner of my eye Theo had slipped into the debrief, and hung at the back. He was ridged and stiff. His jaw clenched and eyes dark. I felt the burning of his gauze on the side of my face. I felt my heart beating faster. I still felt his hand on my back. My skin felt burnt. But I ignored it. I couldn't let him distract me. Not now anyways. It had been two years, why now was this bothering me? I ignored the nagging little voice in my head whispering to me he was always a distraction. My eye always followed him. I noticed when he walked into a room, or when he left. I always felt his eye on me. But inside WICKED that was dangerous. He was a dangerous young man. His father was a dangerous man. 

I missed what Vince was now saying, I shook my head and forced Theo out of my thoughts and focused on the instructions. They were simple. We were going to blast the building, go in guns blazing, shoot anything in WICKED and then herd the girls out as fast as we could before they could call in reinforcements. 

Jorge nodded and went to start the berg for take off. I threw myself into a chair, my elbows on my knees and my head hanging, my helmet between my feet. I sat glaring at the helmet. Brenda and Christina sat on either side of me. They stayed quiet. I felt their glances, but they were quiet.  They stayed quiet for the entire flight. It was a 30 min flight, Jorge was flying the bat out of hell. 

I swallowed the laugh that tried to rise out of me. I remember when Minho used to say that. We had watched some space adventure movie and the pilot kept yelling "we're jumping to hyperspeed!" And then they flew through space at the speed of light. 

"Look at that Ray! They're flying like a bat outta hell!" 

His mom threw a shoe at him from the kitchen, "Watch your mouth Minho Lee!" She shrieked. 

Minho looked slightly sheepish, but when his mom wasn't around he swore so bad a pirate would be proud. 

I felt the hot sting of tears again. I had to get my head on right I shook my head. We were almost there. I grabbed my helmet and left the area, I made my way down the hall. I closed myself into the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face and let myself take a few deep breaths. 

"Get it together Ray. She's gone. She's not coming back. All you can do now is avenge her death. And convince Jorge to bust the guys Maze out." 

I took another minute and then opened the door. Waiting on the opposite wall was Theo. His huge arms crossed. He was glaring at his boots. 

"You stalking me?" I snapped.

"Ya, something like that." He rolled his eyes. 

"Then what? Why are you always following me?" 

"You're... off." 

"Oh really? I just watched my sister commit suicide, I was smacked around by Eric, escaped WICKED, bullied by the Commander of the Revolution 'cause he views me as weak, Peter grabbed my ass and had some ptsd nightmare. I think I'm allowed to be off." I spat through clenched teeth. 

His dark eyes looked at me hard. I felt my cheeks heating up. I heard my heartbeat in my ears. He pushed off the wall and stepped closer to me. His dark eyes bore into mine. It didn't phase him that I exploded and spat what was bothering me at me. But anyone with a brain could figure it out. He was so close I felt his breath. 

"Are you going to be alight during the mission, do I need to pull you?" 

"You pull me and your gonna have hell to pay." My voice was dangerously low. "Pull me and I kill you. I need this like  fish needs water." 

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. He nodded slowly.

"Good. I would expect nothing less. Use that anger Ray." 

"Use what? My anger?" 

He nodded again with a hum. His dark eyes seemed more alive, they flicked over my face, I noticed how they hesitated on my lips before they flicked back to my eyes. "Yes. Your anger, it fuels you. Makes you stronger, more ruthless. I've watched you...anger fuels you while your fear..." He trails off. 

I stand frozen, only a few inches from Theo, his eyes flick down the hall, and then come to rest back on my face.  I forget to talk. My body forgets what it was doing. All I can hear is my pounding heart and Theo's breathing. I force myself to breath and then swallow even though my mouth is dry. 

"What about my fear?" I whisper, but unlike the venom behind the last time, I know my voice sounds weak and breathy. I hate that I feel this way suddenly, I feel weak and silly. 

"It wakes you up." He whispers it, there's something else behind words, a fascination almost. I watch his eyes almost light up, as they flick over me again. I see out of the corner of my eye, his hand moves, his arm twitches like he was going to do something and then thinks better of it. He exhales slowly and then, as if he changes his mind again, his arm moves, his hand suddenly is placed on my throat. He's not squeezing. I know he would never hurt me. But my breathing stops. My skin tingles at the point of contact, like he's transmitting electricity through his skin. All I can focus on is his hand on my throat. All he would have to do is squeeze, but he doesn't. He's gentle, which is a contrast to his words and the intensity of his quiet voice. I shiver. I'm frozen in place. 

"Fear..." He whispers in the same intense yet quiet voice,  "...it doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake."

He finally pulls away, and as he does I remember to breath, and it comes in a gasp. I'm confused now, I don't know why he's doing this. It's like he's toying with me. Playing with my head and my heart. I don't know what game this is.

"Why are you doing this?" I finally managed to get out. I feel my lungs restricting.

The ghost of  smile plays on his lips. His eyes flick from my eyes to my mouth to the pulse in my neck. "I'm doing... nothing." 

He says it quietly, confidently.  My breathing comes in short wheezy gasps. Then he turns on his heel and disappears down the hall. I stand rooted to the spot, utterly confused. I don't know if this is his weird way of flirting or he's messing with me. But I find myself wanting more. I feel the place where his hand gripped my throat and it burns. It scares me to want to feel his hard callused hand on me again. I feel a heat in my cheeks. I press my palms against them, trying to cool them off.  try to catch my breath, but I can't. I know now it's not just Theo, its my asthma. 

I curse and pull out the puffer. Once my lungs are breathing fine again, I slam my helmet on and leave the dark hall. Everyone on the cargo hold is standing, strapping bullet proof vests on, helmets and strapping weapons to themselves. I slid up to Brenda and she doesn't say anything but hands me my big gun. I nod in thanks. 

"3 minutes out." Jorge's voice came out over the speaker. 

"We split into two groups. Commander Paylor will lead the sweep of the facility, Fox and I will take a group into the maze and get the kids." Theo barked. His face was impassive. I was glad I had my helmet on, the visor kept my face hidden. No one could see how red my face was or how confused I looked. It's like he didn't just follow me to the bathroom. I wasn't sure what was going on with him. But I was glad he was acting like nothing happened. I couldn't afford any distractions right now. Now was time for revenge. 

"Here we go!" Jorge's voice echoed through the room. 

I felt the rumble of the bombs we just dropped. Even over the loud hum of the Berg engine, I heard the explosion. A cheer rose from the group in the holding room. I smiled behind my mask. The Berg rocked dangerously. I knew WICKED wouldn't sit and take it laying down. They were firing back. Jorge flew in a tight circle, and came back for a second round, the gunman dropped another round of bombs. They all exploded on contact. 

"Lowering down. You guys don't have long." 

I felt the Berg lower. It was a rocky decent, The Berg swayed back and forth. The explosions were louder the closer we got to the ground. The ramp lowered, the smoke and fire made seeing difficult, but Jorge was lowering us down to the roof. Before the Berg touched down I ran down the ramp, Theo was right at my heels the rest of my squad right behind us. We had work together so often, we didn't need to yell instructions to each other. We all leapt off the ramp, landed on the blazing roof, I had to much momentum, and had to pull my body into a tight roll, but I came up on my feet running. 

We ran from the roof, Theo kicked the door leading into the building open. We raced down the stares. There were about ten different levels. 10 flights of stares to run down. I prayed my asthma would hold off. I could be the perfect solider, but my asthma held me back. Well that and my attitude. I didn't really like being told what to do. I had someone inside the Berg yelling directions at us through the coms in my helmet. They had gotten ahold of the the compound layout. 

Will kicked another door open and that's when the enemy fire started. It was chaos for a few minutes. We all still had our old WICKED gear but we had ripped the names off and put a red hand print on our helmets and vests. The Right Arm symbol; a bloody hand print. We could see who was who now. We all had our gun up and shot anything that moved. Today was no mercy. 

The more we pushed in the less they resisted there were more people in white coats then there were soldiers. Clearly they weren't expecting an ambush. A few of Paylor's men sat down at the computers and started copying and stealing the data from the hard drives. Theo waved us on. We pushed further in. Following the directions yelled through the coms. 

We were directed into a hall that wasn't bright white and shinny. This hall was dark, and cement. Yellow paint directions on the ground. Pipes and wires ran along the wall, the florescent lights were dim and flickered. We all made our way down the empty hall. We had our guns up, and eyes open, Christina and Al had our backs. Brenda had our right, Will had our left, Theo and I took lead. We moved as one. As a trained unit that went into many situations like this. 

We moved down the hall, and came to the door the instructions told us. There was nothing fancy about it. Nothing remarkable. No big sign saying MAZE. Nothing, it was a big door, wide and rusty, Theo and Will pulled it open and we entered. 

This hall was now dark. It was huge and open, our footsteps echoed, like it was hallow, it was so large a few jeeps could park beside each other. There was a district smell that made my stomach turn the further in we went. Like burning motor oil, sterile cleaning solution and rotting meat. My foot got stuck in something, like wet mud. I looked down. The flashlight on my gun showed that my boot was stuck in some kind of greenish yellow goop. I almost dry heaved inside my helmet. 

"What the hell is that?" The group stopped, more flashlights flicked on and shown around the dark tunnel.

"I dunno, but not good." I answered. 

"Griever goop." Al answered.

"Those giant biomechanical monster thigs that either kill or sting?" Will asked.

A few of us nodded. I remembered my dream and I shivered. The monster that killed my sister. The monster that terrorized Minho inside his maze. 

"Shuck." Christina cursed, she moved her gun back and forth behind us, the thin beam of light went back and forth. I yanked my boot from the goop, there was a wet suction sound. I motioned for everyone to keep going. We slowly made our way forwards again. The beams of light showed Griever slim and goop all over the walls and ground. A few guys slipped. Someone was close enough to grab an elbow before they fell. 

We got to a dead end. My small beam of light landed on the wall, there was a key pad and computer. I slid my gun onto my back and tapped the key pad. A bright blue light appeared while the screen loaded.  The WICKED symbol appeared 

"WELCOME TO WICKED." 

I tapped the screen again, a few others crowded around. 

"PASSWORD REQUIRED" 

little lines appeared, clearly we needed a passcode to get into the maze from this way. 

"Yoda." I called into the com, "I need a passcode. Any ideas?" 

"Hold on Fox." 

There was static for a moment while Jorge conveyed the message to whoever was in charge of the technology stuff. 

"Hey, Fox, they want to know numbers or letters and how many." 

"I dunno. Eight spaces. The key pad has both numbers and letters. Could b anything." 

"Shuck. Okay, hold on." 

I didn't have time for them to hold on. I though hard. I typed in a name, no spaces. A-VA-P-A-I-G-E. 

"DENIED." 

I cursed. 

I tried another one, W-I-C-K-E-D-M-B. 

"MB?" Brenda askes. 

"Maze B." I answered as the red "DENIED" flashed across the screen. I cursed again. I ripped my helmet off, I couldn't breath under there. I felt restricted. 

"Slow down and breath." Theo had stepped up beside me. "Breath." HE ordered quietly.  "You can do this. Slow down and think. You've watched for years, they wouldn't make it easy on the girls, but you have seen it all, you know what's going on behind the scenes. And you have your memories. Slow down, and think. And try again Ray." 

I closed my eyes and went through the footage of my little sister running the maze, watching her discover the different sections of  the maze, watching Minho build a small replica of the maze, discovering the big red painted numbers. I knew it wouldn't be as simple as the numbers 1 through 8. But I had a feeling it had something to do with the numbers...I squeezed my eyes closed even tighter. My jaw was clenched so hard my head was hurting. The numbers of the maze...there were eight different sections. My eyes flew open and I punched the numbers into the passcode spaces.

71526483

"ACCESS GRANTED"

I grinned. I heard a soft laugh beside me. I glanced at Theo. He was looking already. Before I could say anything the big metal wall started to open, and it brought even more chaos. 

•×•

OOO. Theo is getting handsy. What do we think...