Once Emily turned on the lights, dispelling the darkness inside the room, she took a look around the luxurious penthouse.

It looked like it hadn't even been lived in. She saw no suitcases, no leftover takeout boxes. Not even a piece of trash left on the kitchen's sparkling granite counters. Nothing. She knit her brows as she went deeper into the suite.

"You sure this is the room?" Danai arched an eyebrow at her. "Doesn't look like anyone is even staying here."

"This has to be it," Emily insisted. It has to be.

Before they had entered the room, she heard a few noises from inside. There was definitely some sort of electronic device whirring somewhere in the penthouse. If she could just find it...

Her eyes lit up as she approached the hall to her left. The door to the small office room had been left wide open. Inside, the television's muted colors danced against the wall. A news channel was being played, the volume so low that only Emily would be able to hear it. A matte black laptop sat on the desk tucked in the corner of the room.

As she took a seat at the table, Danai kept watch at the door. Emily pressed one of the laptop's buttons, rousing it from its slumber. The screensaver met her eyes—a picture of Senator Crane and a beautiful woman with tanned skin and following brown hair. She knit her brows at the image.

"Who is that?" Danai asked from behind her.

"No clue."

They didn't break into Crane's hotel room to solve the mystery of his lock screen. They came to find the secrets he was keeping from the public.

"How're you gonna log into the thing?"

"I got it," Emily replied shortly. "Just watch the door." She pulled out the USB she nabbed from Archie's lab. Before his accident, the boy had developed a flash drive capable of breaking down most electronic security measures. If she really wanted to, she could've hacked into the entire hotel with the thing.

But that wasn't what she was there for.

After plugging the thumb drive into Crane's computer, she waited for the passcode screen to disappear. She grinned once Archie's code completed its job. The screen shifted to Crane's desktop, which was littered with locked folders and files.

What is all of this stuff?

She clicked a folder and a login interface popped up. It prompted her to type in a password and username—two pieces of information she didn't have. She attempted to break through the folder's security with Archie's flash drive, but it couldn't bypass the lock.

If the device couldn't unlock it, that meant something important was inside.

Her eyes widened.

She turned to Danai, who had walked back over to the bedroom door. "D, come look at this." The girl trotted over to the desk and leaned over it. Emily caught herself looking down her shirt and her face went red.

"What is it?"

"No clue. But whatever it is, Crane doesn't want us seeing it."

Emily took a look at the names of a few of the files. One was labeled "PRA-plan". Another titled "rogues". A particular folder that caught her eye was one named "Primes". She arched an eyebrow at it.

Why did he have a folder on Primes? More importantly, what was in it?

The cogs in her brain started spinning. Pieces of the puzzle were slowly putting themselves together, but she still didn't have the full picture. She needed to get inside those folders. Only then would she know.

But she wouldn't be able to hack them. Not on her own, and certainly not there.

"Alright, I think this is all we need to expose Crane," she said. "I have a feeling everything we need is tucked away inside this laptop."

Danai flashed her a smile. "This is great news."

Emily smiled back. "It really is."

Her ears popped as she heard something move in the hallway outside the penthouse. Footsteps. Three sets of them to be exact. Someone was on the phone. With who, she couldn't tell just yet. But she did know one thing.

They were headed straight for the penthouse.

She turned to Danai. "We need to go."

"What about the laptop?"

She cursed. There weren't any windows in the room. No vents large enough for them to crawl through. The only way they would be leaving was through the front door. But that currently wasn't an option. Not at the moment, at least.

If Crane was coming back to his hotel room, he would surely notice his missing laptop—especially if it was loaded with sensitive files and encrypted information like Emily suspected.

Her heart rate quickened. Sweat coated the skin of her palms. They wouldn't be able to take it. There was no way. She racked her brain for another solution, another answer. Nothing came to mind.

She cursed again, a little louder this time.

The penthouse door's outer lock chimed, the sound echoing in her ears. She heard someone open the door. The three sets of footsteps delved deeper into the hotel room. They needed to hide. Quickly. She snatched Archie's thumb drive out the laptop's USB port and stuffed it inside her pocket. She then glanced at a nearby closet before averting her gaze to Danai.

The pair nodded at each other before dashing over to it.

Once they were nestled inside, Emily held her breath and watched through the thin slits built into the wooden door. Her ears picked up the footsteps roaming around inside the penthouse. Crane was among them. He was the one holding a conversation on the phone.

Emily and Danai remained inside the closet, listening to the voices approaching the room they were hiding in. A tense silence gripped their throats. Emily stiffened and squeezed her eyes shut. She was struggling to control her breaths, which were growing more ragged by the second.

Seconds later, Senator Crane entered his office.

He peeled off his black suit jacket and draped it around his desk chair. Emily blanched as she stared at his laptop screen. She hadn't closed off any of the tabs she had opened. If he, and when, he took a look at it, he would surely know someone had been trying to get inside.

Luckily for them, he hadn't peered at his screen yet.

"Yes, yes, I know," Crane said while rubbing the back of his neck. An annoyed expression rest on his picture-perfect face.

Emily opened one eye and shot him a confused stare. General North?

What was he doing talking to the most ruthless general in the nation? General North was notorious for campaigning for bomb strikes on whole villages and military intervention into nations the United States had no business being in.

Danai tugged at Emily's shirt sleeve and mouthed, "There's no way they're working together."

She simply shrugged and continued listening to Crane's conversation from the shadows of the office closet.

"It wasn't in the plan for the girl to die," Crane suddenly said. "It just...happened."

Plan?

A million thoughts manifested in her head. They spread and expanded like the universe after the Big Bang.

"No, trust me, everything is still on track," Crane continued. "The PRA is going to get signed no matter what. It's only a matter of time until those who are opposing it change their minds. And if they don't, I have a few ideas on how we could persuade them."

Emily glared at him.

"Alright...alright." Crane rolled his eyes. "We'll talk again soon. Goodbye." He threw his head back and groaned. "Imbecile." He turned towards his laptop. Even though she couldn't see his face, she could see his entire body freeze.

Emily watched him, her hands shaking.

"What the—"

The senator was interrupted by one of the people in the living room. She figured it was one of his security guards.

"Sir, we've just got a call from the front desk!"

"About what?"

"Not sure. They need to see you downstairs, though."

The man sighed and ran a hand down his face. Shaking his head, he grabbed his laptop and stomped out of the room.

Emily released the breath she had been holding. She turned to Danai, who looked like she had stared in the eyes of a demon. The two of them waited in the closet until Crane and his security guards eventually left the room. Once the coast was clear, they hurried out of the penthouse and made their way back to the hotel's roof.

"That was...that was something," Danai said.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

The image of the senator's laptop surfaced in her head. They had been so close to obtaining some proof regarding his treachery. But now they were back at square one.

Then she remembered his phone call with General North. That might've been enough to convince the others at The Acropolis that Crane truly was up to something. If they could get Director Shaw on their side, maybe they would be able to get an official warrant to search through the senator's things.

She nodded to herself before turning to Danai.

"Come on," she told her. "Let's get back to base."

#

Emily wished she never stepped foot in Director Shaw's office.

Upon returning from the city, she and Danai went straight to him. Even though he had taken a few hits in the media recently, he still had a lot of pull with the higher-ups. If she could convince him of her theory, he could pull some strings and launch an investigation against Crane.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be already holding a meeting when they walked into his office.

Chase and Stella stood in front of his desk. The director was leaning back in his seat, his glasses removed and his hand fingers rubbing his wrinkled forehead. Andre and Kai lingered in the background.

"—we need to arrest them," Stella told Director Shaw. Her hands her gripping the man's glass desk and her lips were pressed into a flat line. "They'll surely get someone else killed if we don't do something."

"Arrest who?" Emily asked after stepping inside. "I hope you're talking about Crane."

Stella shot her a sharp glance. "What are you talking about, Emily? Why would we be arresting a man who was just rescued from a group of psychotic Primes?"

"Because he was behind the entire thing," Danai answered.

Director Shaw tilted his head at her. "And do you have any proof?"

She fell quiet.

Emily scowled. "We would have gotten some if we were just a few minutes early—"

"Please don't tell me you did it," Kai said while taking a step toward her. Disappointment and a hint of anger were present in her eyes. Andre stood at her side, his arms crossed and his expression stern.

Chase looked in between them, his brows furrowed. "Wait a minute. What's going on here?"

"I don't know," Stella said, her eyes gaze narrowed. She faced Emily with her hands on her hips. "But I think you should start talking."

Emily pursed her lips. Had this been two years ago, she might have decked Stella in the face for taking that tone with her. She was sick and tired of her acting like everyone's mother. The others might have tolerated it, but she wasn't about to.

"Look, I don't report to you okay. I never have and I never will." She shook her head in anger. "Since none of you wanted to take any initiative, Danai and I decided to take matters into our own hands."

"What did you do?" Stella demanded.

"Back off," Danai growled while stepping in front of Emily. "We were taking action, unlike you guys."

Emily nodded. "Everyone just keeps sulking and walking around with sadness rolling off of them. It makes me sick. I can't just be cooped up in here feeling sorry."

"Emily," Chase began while moving toward her. His blue eyes were deeper than an ocean and full of emotion. His face softened as he stared at her. "Holly died. It hasn't even been a full week yet. We're allowed to grieve."

She swiped her hand in the air. "There isn't any time to grieve! Crane is working on getting the PRA signed and he's using underhanded tactics to do so. You know he's working with General North, right?"

"And how would you know that?" Stella asked.

"We snuck into his penthouse," Emily finally said. "Before you get on your high horse and reprimand me like a child, I'll have you know we nearly got his laptop. It's full of encrypted files and folders. If we just get into—"

"I can't believe you!" Stella threw hands into the air. "You realize that's breaking the law. You do know that, right?"

Emily scoffed. "Of course I know that."

"I told her not to," Kai interjected.

Stella turned her harsh glare to the girl. "You knew she was going to do this? And you didn't think to tell anyone?"

Kai wrung her hands together and dropped her gaze to her shoes. "I...I—"

"Leave her alone," Emily ordered. Even if she was mad at her, she wasn't going to let Stella talk to her like that. "She didn't do anything."

"By not telling me, she was aiding you," Stella argued.

"You're acting like you're the one in charge." Emily stepped up to the brown-haired beauty and tilted her chin upward a bit so she could look her in the face. "Last time I checked, Chase was our leader."

Stella glowered at her. A small, menacing light shone beyond her honey irises. Her nostrils flared as she balled her fists at her sides.

Director Shaw cleared his throat. Everyone fell silent as he rose from his seat and equipped his glasses. "Actually, believe it or not, I'm the leader."

Emily rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant."

He gave her a wry smile. Clasping his hands behind his back, he started to pace behind his desk. "Stella is right, though. You've been employed to help uphold the law, yet you're out breaking it. Had Crane caught you and pressed charges, that would've been disastrous. We're barely staying afloat as it is."

"What do you mean?"

Director Shaw exhaled dejectedly while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Atlas' stocks are down. I don't care about the money, though. That's not what this is about. It's the fact that many of our partners are jumping ship. They know we're going to be eventually absorbed by the United Nations."

"That's not going to happen."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Emily. Anything can happen."

She opened her mouth to reply, but the words didn't come out. He was right. Anything could happen. For so long, she hadn't accepted the possibility of Crane actually winning. But it was starting to dawn on her now. If they couldn't pull something huge off, and soon, Crane would win.

Everything would change if that happened.

Everything.

"Do you realize how stupid breaking into Senator Crane's penthouse was?" Stella asked her. "There is a way we do things. And that definitely wasn't it."

"Well the way we've been doing this isn't working," Emily snapped. She turned to Director Shaw, her face pleading. "Please, we have to do something. I know I don't have proof and I know I went behind your back, but you have to trust me." She turned to Chase, who didn't even seem like he was paying attention. "Chase?"

He looked at her, his face expressionless.

"You trust me, right?"

The blond sighed. "I don't know, Em. You were totally out of line today."

She shook her head at him. She refused to acknowledge what he was saying—or, rather, what he wasn't saying.

He had been one of the few in the group who opposed Crane. He was supposed to be the team's shining beacon of justice and morality and goodness. But his beacon had dimmed. It was no brighter than a small candle now.

He was tired. He was sad. And he was done trusting her.

Emily's lip trembled. She felt tears welling her eyes. "Chase...please..."

Stella slipped her hand into his while keeping her cold stare trained on her. "We don't trust you, Emily."

Her mouth twisted into a snarl. It was her fault. She had been in Chase's ear, persuading him to drop his suspicions regarding Crane. He was especially vulnerable to her treachery now that Holly was dead.

She was a virus. A parasite. For all they knew, she was the mole providing information to the senator.

She didn't understand what he saw in her besides her looks.

Maybe Chase was just as shallow as Stella was.

"Emily," Director Shaw said. "You have to let this go."

"But, sir—"

"That's an order, Reverb."

She stiffened at the use of her codename. He was serious. She glanced at Kai and Andre and then at Danai. None of them would meet her eye.

Cowards. All of them.

Grumbling under her breath, she turned on her heel and stormed out the room. She stomped down the bright corridor, not quite sure where she was going. Soon, she broke out into a full-blown run.

Tears flew from her eyes. She frantically wiped them away as she ran.

She kept running and running and running until she couldn't anymore. She collapsed against a wall and wept. Wrapping her arms around herself, she closed her eyes and let her emotions wash over her.

Holly's face protruded her mind. The tears kept coming.

She and Holly were never great friends. In fact, they barely knew each other. She didn't have any reason to grieve. She didn't have an excuse to feel sad.

So why did it hurt so much?

Everything around her was happening too fast. Holly had been killed. Archie was paralyzed from the waist down. Atlas was nearly dead in the water. Crane was winning. And there was nothing they could about it.

As she cried, she heard a lone pair of footsteps approaching. Sniffling, she wiped her nose and hid her face from them.

"Go away," she croaked.

"Emily, please. Talk to me."

It was Kai. Of course.

"I said go away."

Kai ignored her. The girl crouched in front of her. She gently lifted Emily's chin and brushed the wet strands of black hair away from her face. "It's okay to cry."

"I'm not crying..."

She laughed quietly before wrapping her into a hug. Emily resisted for a moment.

"It's okay...It's okay..." Kai rubbed her back lovingly.

Eventually, she gave in. The walls around her crumbled and came crashing down. Squeezing her eyes shut, she gripped the back of Kai's shirt with both hands and cried.