A/N: :)

Freya's POV:

"Hey." I quickly hide my phone under the helmet and turn, seeing as Yolanda shut the door behind her. "Court said you were keeping watch and..." She trails off as she holds up another ice pack. "I thought you would need another."

Dammit, Courtney. "Oh, thanks. There was nothing to do inside and..." I shrug, grabbing the ice pack from her hands before I gestured to the night sky. "it's a nice night to look at the stars."

"Mind if I join you?"

I shake my head. "Not at all." I say and pat on the empty spot next to me on the bench.

She sits down next to me and nervously drums her fingers on her leg. "Beth told me she asked you already but I want you to be honest with me. How do you really feel about your parents?"

"It's...scary." I lie, trying to sound as convincing as possible while I pressed the ice pack against my head. "Finding out that the side we're trying to stop is the side my parents are on? Now that they know who I am, looks like I'll be using the gym as my new place to sleep." I dryly chuckle.

"You're not sleeping in the school." She bumped her shoulder against mine. "I'm pretty sure one of us would let you stay with them."

I shake my head. "Courtney's house is packed already if Justin is staying with them and I don't know if I'm able to stand late-night fun facts with Beth and Chuck." I joke which causes her to laugh. "And if we're being honest, Rick and I can barely stand each other."

"Right, well...you can stay with me? At my place." She offered which caused me to turn to her with shock. "My parents only check my room when I'm at school and before I go to bed so there wouldn't be as much sneaking around."

"Well...is that something you're okay with?" I nervously ask.

"I care about you enough where I wouldn't want you to sleep on the streets." She admitted, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. A breeze flows through the trees which causes a shiver to escape from Yolanda's lips. "Jesus, it's cold."

I reach to take off my jacket but instantly I stop, realizing that I had my suit underneath. I clear my throat. "You can head back inside. You don't have to stay--"

"No, no. It's okay." She scoots closer to me so our arms would press together. "I don't want to leave you alone out here."

I raise a brow. "Why? Afraid that I can't take down any of the ISA members?" I tease and playfully nudge her side.

"I lost one friend already..." She looked down at her hands. "I don't want to risk it and lose another."

My heart clenches at her words in remembrance of Henry. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "It's okay. I'm just questioning a lot about what happens next. Like...what if we don't stop them? What if one of us doesn't make it? What if..." She trails off before she looks up to meet my eyes, feeling her hand placed on top of mine. "What if I lose you?"

My eyes soften, accidentally looking down at her lips before I look back into her eyes. "I can't promise anything."

"I care about you, Freya." She softly spoke which caused my eyes to slightly widen. "More than I've ever cared about someone in my life and it's terrifying."

The pit of my stomach stirs in discomfort. "Why?"

"At first it was just the gratitude about how you and Courtney became friends with me." She nervously picked at her fingers. "But as we got closer as teammates and experienced what we have to fight against to save Blue Valley, I was terrified for everyone's safety but somehow, you kept popping up into my mind. I don't know why but suddenly my hands get clammy, I rethink what I want to say whenever we talk, somehow easily bonding over our deep conversations, just all of these other weird stuff." She trails off before she shook her head. "I don't know if I should even be feeling this way so I'm still trying to figure it out but I think what this is—is that I think I have feelings for you, Freya."

I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. I froze.

What's wrong with me? Why can't I say something? Do I even feel the same? I mean, is any of this real, or am I still playing the part to have the JSA trust me? Did I like her?

For so long, I've made excuses that my lies were all just a part to benefit the ISA but...every conversation I had with Yolanda, I never reported it to Jordan.

It's different. She's different.

A wave of guilt hits me. The poor girl practically poured her heart out, saying that she cared about me. More than she's ever cared about someone else and here I was lying behind her back about everything.

To the team. To our friends.

"Freya?" She whispered, worry starting to fill her eyes at my silence. "Please say something."

I can't do this to her anymore. She deserved better. She deserved to be with someone that would never hurt her again. She's too good.

I broke her trust. I can't do this to her.

I pull my hand away from hers. "I'm sorry." I stand up from my spot and lean against the railing, too ashamed to even be next to her.

"For what?" She leaned against the railing as well with her brows furrowed. "You don't feel the same way, do you?"

"I, uh—I just..." I run my fingers through my hair in frustration.

"Freya," She worriedly cupped the side of my cheek so I wouldn't look away. "you can be honest with me."

I place my hand on top of hers as she brushed her thumb across my cheekbones. "I know," I whisper, moving her hand away from my face. "you deserve to be happy."

She narrows her eyes in suspicion. "I don't understand you sometimes."

"Yolanda—"

"Ever since the assembly for Henry, you haven't been yourself. You're lying about something that's been going on at home and it's starting to become obvious."

The sound of a buzz is heard underneath the Doctor Fate helmet but I quickly avert my eyes away from it. "Lying about my home conditions isn't a big deal." I crossed my arms with annoyance. "What's your point?"

"My point is that you never lie to me." She emphasized. "I thought that we were close enough to not do that."

"Yolanda, I would tell you but--"

"Then tell me." She grabbed my hands. "Is it that bad to hide it from me? From our friends? You can trust me, Freya. I've given all of my trust to you so please...tell me what's wrong. Whatever it is, we can work through it together."

Maybe this was the time to tell her. Maybe it was a sign that I shouldn't lie to her anymore.

But she'll never forgive me.

"There are some things that I've done that I'm not proud of." I hesitantly start to say, remembering how easily I killed our Principal. "But becoming friends with Courtney, getting to meet Beth, Rick, and especially you...it changed my perspective about a lot of things wrong with the world. My sister's safety is my main priority, you understand that right?"

The door swings open before she could answer which reveals to be Beth, but it didn't give Yolanda and I the chance to pull away. "Guys, Rick figured out the journal. He wants to show us--" She cuts herself off as her eyes trail down. "Oh. Am I interrupting something? I can totally make up an excuse so you two can continue."

"Thank you--"

"No, you're fine." I interrupt Yolanda, awkwardly pulling my hands away from her before I clear my throat. "So, what did Rick find?"

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. *✭˚·ﾟ✧*·ﾟ*✭˚·ﾟ✧*·

"The formulas were coordinates of a map for the tunnels." Rick explained as he descended from the stairs while Beth slipped her goggles on with the journal in her hand. "My dad must've gotten down there and scoped it out."

"I'm scanning the journal now." Beth announced from upstairs and instantly her goggles glowed green as they scanned the journal. She looks down at the table that we circled around and instantly displayed a map that had several lines that ran across the city.

"Whoa." Yolanda whispered from next to me.

"This map my dad made, those are the tunnel entrances...here" He pointed to the spot that was near the edge. "This is their meeting room," He points to the upper square. "and in there," The map zooms into the large square in the middle that had the satellite. "which is where they're building some sort of machine."

"What machine?" Barbara curiously asked.

"The equipment they stole, the codes..." I listed off and Courtney nods in agreement. "They must have used those to build something."

"Something big." Beth spoke up. The map shifts and shapes into the satellite. "Chuck thinks they build something he calls a 'synaptic amplifier.' It's meant to transmit."

"Brainwaves." Courtney crossed her arms.

"So Henry's dad can reach somebody else's mind." Yolanda stated.

"Millions of somebodies." Beth corrected.

"But why?" Barbara asked, glancing behind to Beth.

"Maybe those creepy guys in the tunnel were just a test run." Rick suggested as he turned to Pat who nods in agreement.

"Right. And now they're getting ready for the big rollout."

"Are they gonna try to make everyone else zombies or...?" Mike trailed off.

"No, I don't think that's their American Dream. Like Blue Valley, they wanna have people follow their vision and join them and--"

"Follow without question." I interrupt Barbara and she nods.

"But not if we destroy their machine." Pat spoke with determination.

"Rick," Courtney walked up to him. "is there a tunnel that STRIPE could get through?"

He nods and quickly walks over to the other side as the map zoomed out to reveal the layout once more. "The river. But don't think I'm not coming with you."

"No. You, Yolanda, Freya, and Justin should enter from the opposite side of town." She explained, pointing to each of us which caused my eyes to widen.

"You want to split up?"

"Only to try to avoid detection." She assured, making sure to lock eyes with all of us. "But we'll meet back up at the machine."

"While you guys go destroy the amplifier, Chuck and I can take down the computers running the show." Beth spoke up which caused us to turn to her. "We've traced the town's electrical surges to The American Dream." The hologram zooms into one of the buildings. "Chuck thinks we can access their system from there. You know, hack the hackers."

"Okay, I'm gonna go with Beth." Barbara placed her hands on her hips.

Pat stood up from his spot. "Barb, I-I don't want you going anywhere near this place." He gestured to the hologram.

Barbara scoffed. "Well, you'll let a fifteen-year-old go?"

"I'll be sixteen in May." Beth informed with a smile.

"If there's a problem, I know that building better than anyone else." She emphasized to Pat who held a hesitant expression.

He lets out a sigh. "All right. I mean, I don't like it, but what choice do we have?"

"So," The map disappears once Beth took off her goggles. "we've got a plan."

"What's my job?" Mike asked with a hopeful smile.

Pat clapped as he approached his son. "You, Mike Dugan, have the most important job of all." He placed his hand on Mike's shoulder as he looked up with wonder. "You're gonna look after the dog."

Mike's smile drops before he shook his head with disbelief. "Is that really all I'm good for, the dog?"

I pat his back. "Hey, it's an important job." I chuckle.

"Yeah, do it with pride." Pat added.

"Actually, you know what? I'm excited for this. Let's do it!"

As everyone else went to the other room, I sneakily went to the front door and stepped outside.

I pull out my phone to read the unread message from Jordan.

Unknown

Find out what they know and come back in an hour.
{11:59 p.m.}

We still need an inside-man in their team. You'll leave on my signal.
{12:00 a.m}

"Freya?" Someone speaks up as the door swung open which causes me to jump at the sudden voice. "I saw you sneak out and I wanted to check in. You sure you're doing okay?" Beth asked as she quietly shut the door behind her.

I shove my phone in my pocket with a smile. "Yeah, I'm just..." I answer as I gestured behind me. "I wanted to keep watch for Courtney."

"You trust me, right? And our friends?"

"Of course I do." I say, noticing that she took a step closer to the wooden railing and leaned against it.

She nods before she adjusted the goggles that were on her eyes. "Did your parents attack you?"

"Yeah, they attacked me when I was coming here." I furrow my brows in confusion, noticing her nervous posture. "Seriously Beth, what's wrong with you?"

She lets out a sigh before she shook her head. "Are you working for the Injustice Society?"

My eyes widen at the sudden question. "What the—Beth, why would..." I trail off until it hit me. "Your goggles."

"Courtney said she was attacked by Tigress and a ninja partner with ring daggers. When you were sitting on the table, I wanted to do an x-ray scan because I thought it wasn't doing too much to you and instead of finding broken bones," She sadly informed before she pointed to my arms. "Chuck found bloodied ring daggers under your sleeves."

I cross my arms before I look towards the scenery in front of us. "So are you going to run inside and tell the others? I can take the Helmet of Fate and leave before the others get out here."

"I could...but I don't want to." She says as she nervously fiddled her fingers. "You don't want to do this."

"Really?" I tilt my head with amusement. "I can easily fly us out of here and make it seem like the Injustice Society captured us so what makes you think that?"

"Because you care too much about our friends to go through with it. Especially with the connection you developed with Yolanda." She stated, causing my smile to drop. "She lost Henry so imagine how she would feel about losing someone she let herself be vulnerable to again. A best friend."

Something churns in my stomach which causes me to look away. "I already thought about it. That's why I didn't want to escalate whatever was happening between her and I before it got worse."

"So why?" She slightly raised her voice before she quickly clears her throat. "Why would you look each of us in the eye and put up this facade that you're with us?"

"It wasn't always for show." I admit. "While it was for a seat in the Injustice Society, I do care about you guys, but...my family comes first."

She opens her mouth to argue but then her expression drops. "Artemis." She whispers and I give a small nod. "Freya, our team has the power to protect her. You don't have to do this anymore."

"Beth, you haven't even gotten a glimpse of what the Injustice Society are capable of." I say and lower my sleeve to expose the burns on my back. "Icicle did this when I argued with him so imagine if I decided to quit. He wouldn't hesitate to kill me for wasting his time."

"That's why you have us. That's why you're a part of the Justice Society." Beth whispered as she gestured inside. "Look, I don't want to be the one to expose your secret, but they deserve the truth from you and it has to be tomorrow because who knows what'll happen. It's better not to hear it from someone else."

I guiltily look down at my hands. "I know."

She walks over to the door but just before she could open it, she looks back at me. "I know you're worried and I'm sure the ISA engraved in your head about their views of what they want from you but have you ever took the time to ask yourself? Who are you and what do you want?" She emphasized. "I know you'll make the right choice if you come with us tomorrow." She says before she opens the door and shuts it behind her, leaving me to my thoughts.

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