After dropping off Isabella at their neighbor's apartment, a kind old woman who offered to watch her until Uncle Jose got back, Oscar began the journey back to The Acropolis.

Before leaving, he requested two Atlas agents patrol the apartment building. He figured if Ghost was somehow nearby, they would be enough to handle her. Luckily, they didn't ask him why.

Despite knowing his sister was protected and that he would back to the apartment in a few hours, he couldn't shake the nervousness wrapping around him like a boa constrictor. It grabbed at his throat, threatening to crush his trachea. Sweat from his palms coated the leather steering wheel.

The sound of a horn blaring past his car yanked him out his thoughts.

Suddenly, he was aware of everything around him; the lights piercing through the night air, the crappy song playing on the radio, and the faint clicking noise of the tiny machine Archie was tinkering with.

Oscar grit his teeth and tightened his grip around the wheel.

Get a grip, Oz.

The secret he was holding within himself was starting to burn a hole in his chest. His stomach churned and his lips quivered. He needed to tell someone—and he couldn't wait until he got to The Acropolis.

A heavy sigh left his mouth.

He turned to Archie, who was nose-deep in the code he was programming into the handheld device in his hands.

"Archie."

The boy kept typing away, his sharp, green eyes moving at the speed of light.

"Archie!"

His arms jerked upward at the sudden noise, nearly flinging his small machine out the slightly rolled down window next to him. Agitation surfacing on his face, he narrowed his gaze at Oscar. "Dude, you just made me erase a whole line of code. It's gonna take me an hour to rewrite it."

"Yeah, well, what I've got to tell you is more important than your stupid code." He took a deep breath. Tremors rattled his body as he struggled to formulate his next words.

"What do you have to tell me?"

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Sweat beaded on his brow. He felt like he was in a sauna with the temperature setting cranked to one hundred.

Archie arched an eyebrow at him. "Wait a minute... Are you gay? Because if that's what you're trying to tell me then I already—"

He furrowed his brows at the question. "What? No, I'm not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay. I'm just not...that." He shook his head. He was getting sidetracked. "Just...let me finish, okay?"

Archie rubbed the top of his head and ruffled his mop of dirty blond hair. "Alright, alright."

"Promise me you won't freak out," Oscar told him. Caution coated his words. "Just...try to understand. Can you do that for me?"

Archie shifted in his seat. "You're scaring me, Oscar. Are you sure you're not gay? I won't judge you or anything—"

"Promise me." There was no humor in his tone.

The boy seemed to have gotten the message that this wasn't a joke. He gulped before nodding. "I promise."

Oscar took a deep breath. He kept his eyes trained on the busy street ahead of his windshield.

"I've been..." He blinked rapidly a few times before wiping his eyes. "I'm the mole."

"The what?"

He scowled. "I'm the one who has been giving information to those rogue Primes."

Archie paused, his eyes wide with shock.

"Let me explain," Oscar quickly added. He feared if he didn't finish, he would lose the courage to continue speaking.

He told Archie about how Ghost found out where he lived and how the woman threatened his family. He explained how he had been following her orders ever since that night, assisting the renegade Primes with their mission to thwart Senator Crane and the PRA. When he finished, Archie just sat in his seat silently with his keen eyes trained on Oscar.

"Have you told anyone else?" he asked.

He shook his head. "You're the first one, man."

Archie's hands flew to the back of his head. He cursed loudly, startling one of the drivers in the car beside them. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" he hissed. "Director Shaw could have helped you—"

"She threatened to kill my uncle and sister if I told anyone." Oscar's voice was hoarse as he spoke. "I...I couldn't take that risk, man. I couldn't."

Archie exhaled through his nose before burying his face into his hands. "This is bad, Oscar. Like really bad," he said, his voice muffled. He lifted his head, disappointment and sadness etched into his features. "Are you going to tell the others?"

Oscar's shoulders slumped. "I have to. Earlier today, Ghost told me to do another job, but I refused. Her team is planning to attack the debate at the Pentagon in a few days."

"Uh oh," Archie muttered. "Do you want me to tell them? I can make up some lie about how—"

He declined the offer with a quick shake of the head. While he appreciated the offer, he couldn't accept it.

"Oscar, they're going to want your head. You know that right?"

He was willing to accept his punishment.

"Whatever happens, happens, man."

Despite his confident words, the sense of dread and anticipation climbing up his spine was enough to make him feel like he had jumped into an ice bath in the middle of Antarctica.

Deep in his core, he knew everything was about to change. That ice he had been submerged into would melt, only to be replaced by scorching flames that would destroy everything in their path.

#

Oscar cried out as he thrust into a nearby wall. A dull ache rippled down his back. Coughing, he rolled onto his side. He let out a pain-filled groan, pinpricks shooting up his spine.

"It was you all along?!" Chase, who had just thrown him across the room, brought his fist down against the common room kitchen's counter. The granite exploded under the weight. The pieces rained to the ground, the sound reminiscent of bullet casing hitting concrete.

The blond was red in the face. Breathing heavily, he stomped over to Oscar, who had propped himself up against the wall he collided into. "How the fuck could you do this to us? We trusted you! We're family, Oscar!"

He lifted his hands, desperately hoping the boy wouldn't start pummeling him. He feared he wouldn't survive any more attacks from him.

He kept his face down, careful not to make eye-contact with the other people in the room.

Upon his arrival at The Acropolis, he had called a secret meeting with the rest of the original six team members. They all stood across from him with varying expressions adorning their faces.

They all had one thing in common, though.

Anger. Disappointment. Betrayal.

He saw it all in their eyes.

"Mira," Oscar started while wiping the blood from his mouth, "I don't expect you to understand—"

"No shit we don't understand," Chase yelled. "We're family, Oscar. We don't lie to each other. We don't betray each other." He jabbed an enraged finger at him. "Especially not like this."

Stella moved from the couch and over to her boyfriend. She grabbed his arm and forced it down. With a stern stare, she placed a hand to his chest and pushed him back.

"Calm down," she ordered.

Oscar muttered a subtle "thank you". She didn't seem to hear it.

Her usual cheery demeanor had been replaced by one of an unfamiliar intensity. The light in her hazel eyes was dim and her stunning features were taut with controlled emotion. She turned to Oscar but wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Why would you help them?" Her voice was a few octaves above a whisper.

"I had no choice."

She pursed her lips and shook her head. "You always have a choice."

"You could've come to us, dude," Theo said from behind her. "Like Chase said, we're your family. We could've helped you."

Oscar wiped his eyes. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt any of you." He sniffled before continuing. "But I needed to protect my sister and uncle first. Telling you guys could have gotten them killed."

"What about us?" Emily snapped. "We could've died multiple times fighting those Primes who decided to help."

Andre finally lifted his head to look at Oscar. "We could've helped." He was the only one who didn't look upset. There wasn't a trace of anger about him.

He just looked...sad.

Oscar gulped. He ignored the pain plaguing his back "I couldn't take the risk. If something happened to my uncle or my sister because Ghost found out I told you guys I was helping her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Chase's blue eyes widened. "Wait a minute... You knew what was going to happen at Crane's rally."

It wasn't a question. It was a realization.

Oscar shakily got back to his feet. His heartbeat spiked as he stared at the blond.

"You could've warned us..." Chase snarled. "Holly would still be alive if you warned us. Archie wouldn't be paralyzed...you got her killed...." In a flash, his fist connected with the side of Oscar's face.

He hit the wall again. All the air fled his lungs as he slumped to the floor. The base of his skull throbbed. A searing pain cut through the bone of his jaw. He wasn't sure if it was broken or not. Tears spilled down his cheeks. The sound of the droplets hitting the floor sounded like shots from a cannon.

Chase lunged at him, but Andre and Theo intervened before he could. Stella and Emily simply stood there with disbelief across their face

"I'm sorry." He covered his face with his hands as he wept. "I'm sorry, man."

"A fucking sorry won't bring Holly back!" Chase shouted as Andre and Theo held him back. "It won't make Archie walk again!" He shrugged the two other boys off of him and stomped out of the room. The sound of something breaking filled Oscar's ears as Chase walked stormed the hallway.

Oscar rocked himself on the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs as he continued to cry.

I'm no hero.

"So, what're we going to do about this?" Theo's brown eyes darted around the room like pinballs.

Andre said nothing while rubbing his metal arm.

Stella lifted her chin slightly as she glared at Oscar.

"Go."

He looked up at her, his eyes red and puffy. "Huh?"

"Leave. Now." There was more force in her words this time. "They might have been able to hold back Chase but if I get mad nothing will stop me from erasing your sorry ass from existence."

Emily nodded. "For once, I'm with her."

Oscar looked to Theo and Andre, silently asking them for help. But he knew they wouldn't come to his rescue.

No one would.

"You should've just come to us, dude," Theo said with his hands in his pockets. Andre remained tight-lipped with his steely gaze pointed somewhere else.

Oscar slowly rose to his feet and wiped his bloody nose. "I'm sorry."

Stella swiped her hand through the air. "Save it."

He backed away from them and towards the exit. With his fists clenched at his side, he slowly faced them again.

"Didn't I tell you to go?" Stella snapped. "Don't make me change my mind."

He had to warn them. It was the least he could do.

"Crane..." He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. "There's...they're planning an attack on the Pentagon. There's some secret mission between him and some other guy. I just...I thought you guys should know."

No one said anything. They just stared at him.

He gave his friends one last remorseful, pain-filled look before bolting down the corridor that would take him to The Acropolis' hangar.

As he ran, tears left his eyes and he wiped his face violently.

He had been right.

They didn't understand. He couldn't have expected them to. Had he been in their position, he would have acted the same.

But knowing that didn't make it hurt any less.

#

Oscar fixated upon the silver lighter in his hands, analyzing every crevice and groove in the metal. He examined the initials—which happened to be both his and his father's—a million times until the image was burned into his brain.

He hoped his parents weren't too disappointed in him.

He tried to do the right thing in the end, but he feared it wasn't enough.

"Woah, what happened here?" the driver of the car he sat in asked.

Oscar looked up. The buildings bordering the sidewalk were bathed in red and blue lights. Police cars and ambulances clogged the street, bringing the traffic to a grinding halt.

People from the nearby apartment buildings stood outside of their homes, their horrified faces fixed on the burning building at the end of the road. Oscar's eyes widened as he realized which one it was.

"No, no, no," he mumbled, opening the car door. Before the driver could say, Oscar sprinted towards his uncle's apartment building.

He ran over to where the police and firefighters were gathered. Yellow tape had already been set up between the onlookers and the first responders. Luckily, he still had his Atlas ID card on him. He flashed the authorities his card before slipping past the tape.

A few firefighters were dousing the burning building with water from a hose attached to a nearby fire hydrant. But Oscar knew fire. Water alone wouldn't be enough to vanquish those flames.

The bright, reddish-orange light cut through the night like a flaming knife. Black smoke billowed into the night sky, clouding the stars beyond the atmosphere.

Without thinking, he rushed over to the sidewalk in front of the burning apartment complex. He ignored the shouts of the officers and firefighters behind him. They wouldn't be able to stop the fire.

Not on their own.

And if his family was still in there, he had to be the one to save them.

When his parents died in that fire years ago, he hadn't been strong enough to save them. He hadn't been brave enough to rush into the flames and pull them out the carnage. But he had power now.

And he had courage.

He would save his sister and uncle. He had to.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he held his arms out toward the building. He felt the swathes of warm arm rush toward him. The heat slammed against his tough skin. Anyone else would've been burnt to a crisp, but not him. He was made for this.

He let out a guttural cry as he siphoned the fire from the apartment and into his body. His insides felt like they were slowly melting into goo as he absorbed the fire. His vision waned and blurred. The taste of sulfur polluted his taste buds. Ash settled on his skin. The flames burned holes into his clothes, but he kept going. He kept going until the flames were gone.

He dropped to his knees and looked up at the charred mess in front of him.

The firefighters rushed past him and inside the building in search of any survivors.

As Oscar struggled to hold onto his consciousness, he waited for the firefighters to emerge from the wreckage with his uncle and sister. They came out with a few of the apartment's tenants, but none of them were Jose or Isabella.

His bottom lip trembled once he heard one of them say "there are no more".

No...no...not again.

He had failed. He failed his family. He failed his friends. He had failed everyone—including himself. A sob rose in this throat before exploding onto his face. Hysterical tears streaked down the soot coating his face. His body shook and quake as he fell onto his hands.

A pair of officers approached him.

"You alright, kid?"

"You did the best you could, son. You can't always save everyone."

He shook his head, snot and tears dripping from his face and onto the pavement.

"You don't understand," he croaked. "My...my sister and uncle live in this building. They...they didn't come out. They didn't come out."

One of the officers cursed under their breath.

The other rested a hand on Oscar's back and patted it awkwardly.

"Should we...should we call someone. Maybe your buddies at Atlas?"

They're not my buddies. Not anymore.

"Do you have any other family we can call for you?"

I have no family.

He was alone. Truly alone.

"Well...just...hang on, kid," one of the officers told him. "We'll get at least on the phone right away."

Both men jogged away from him, most likely to their police cruiser.

Oscar couldn't be there when Atlas showed up. Stella and the others had already alerted Director Shaw of what he did. They probably hated him—and for good reason too. If the agents found him, he would never see the light of day again.

They were no longer his family.

He was alone.

And he needed to disappear.

Before the two officers could come back, he got up from the ground and started running. He ran as fast as he could, pushing through concerned civilians and people recording the event on their phones. Nothing was on his mind except for getting the hell away from there.

Away from the smoke and ash floating in the night air. Away from the fact that the only people he had left in the world were now gone.

Away from his failure to protect them.

More tears poured from his face, but he ignored them. He had to leave. He had to hide. No one was going to help him. He was on his own from here on out. He could never get close to anyone ever again—for their sake and his own. They would only make him weaker, and he couldn't afford to get caught by Atlas.

Besides, everything he ever touched went up in flames.

And he only had himself to blame.