Luna Ryder and Natasha Thompson were placed next to each other.

I suppose it was fitting. My sister and Aiden's mother, both of whom were killed at the same time, to have their name side by side on the Fallen Wall.

It was a collapsed wall in a 553 base in Orlando code-named Imposter that had the names of fallen agents or their families engraved on it. At first, the pretense of it was stupid in my mind. Who would want to keep a knocked down wall and write names of dead people on it? But seeing it for myself, I slowly understood. Sacrificing space for the sacrifices we had to make.

I traced my fingers around the wall as I tried to find where Luna's name was put. It wasn't written in english but the language blind people read with, braille. A series of dots that represented letters.

My fingers finally landed on Luna Ryder. I smiled as Aiden reached next to Luna's name only to trace over it several times. "It's hers," he declared breathlessly. "Which means Mom's is right," he shifted his hand and stopped, "here."

I stared at him openly. His features knotted together in concentration and I could tell exactly what he was feeling. Defeat. It didn't register with me before but it slowly made sense. He wanted to admit it.

His head whipped toward me and he gave me a small smile, crossing his arms as if to seem indifferent. "Take a picture, it'll last longer," he murmured.

I didn't return his smile, even when it began to fade. His face fell and he narrowed his eyes quickly, dishing out a quick, "What?"

"I'm concerned Aiden," I admitted. He rolled his eyes and hunched farther, huffing slightly. "No, seriously. I'm-"

"Okay Z," he interrupted. I shut my trap and in turn narrowed my eyes at him. "I get that you're worried but there is nothing to be worried about!"

His voice raised until he was shouting. Agents beside us had their attention captured by the scene he was now creating. I whipped my head toward them and glared until they turned back into preparing for the honor ceremony.

I lifted my gaze and sighed, turning back to Aiden only to find that he wasn't there. My eyes skirted around the room and then I headed toward the back door, shamelessly shoving agents to get there. Most of them scampered away once they saw where I was going but some saluted instead.

"Stop saluting," I yelled, pushing through the still lengthy crowd to the door.

"You're going to miss the ceremony, Agent Ryder," Gene Perkins whispered in my ear as I passed him.

I shoved him away, glaring slightly and then rolled my eyes. An honor ceremony for people I didn't know was at the bottom of my priorities list. 

I slammed the door open and walked out, pacing quite fast. I slowed once I realized where I was. In the middle of a packed sidewalk next to a café. These bases were ridiculous but where else would be a better place then plain sight?

My gun was visibly strapped to my inner thigh and I swallowed hard when people walked by on the other side of the road. No one seemed to be noticing me, and no one was walking near the entrance of the hidden base behind me. Strange.

"They can't see you," Aiden said from behind my shoulder. He moved so he was right beside me, and I had to crane my head just to look at his talk height. He still wouldn't look me in the eye, and guilt took over. I probably shouldn't have pushed him like that. "That injection you got when you came into the base puts a bit of a camouflage thing on you. They kind of perceive you as a normal person. It's how we hide a lot of our missions from the public."

My gaze shifted to the spot on my upper arm where I had been injected. The flashing blue light under my skin was dulling slowly. I originally thought it was a tracker. "553 has some smart techies," I commented, leaning forward slightly and then looking back at him.

He still wasn't looking but a small smirk appeared, dropping quite quickly. "553 didn't develop this tech."

I drew air in but didn't release it. He didn't elaborate, which caused my previous irritation with him to grow. I rolled my eyes and looked straight at the crowded sidewalk he was looking at. "What are you looking for, AJ?"

He sucked in a breath and I squeezed my eyes shut when I realized what I just called him. When I reopened them, he was staring at me with a full blown grin that highlighted his dimples. "Giving me a nickname, Ryder?" I rolled my eyes and looked at him once again with a deadpan expression. "No, don't stop. I love that look you're giving me. Irritation looks great on you."

I huffed, crossing my arms and he eventually stopped pinning a stare on me. "Come on Z, let's go for a walk," he ordered.

He didn't wait for an answer to his 'offer' and started to walk across the road right through the wave of cars. They yelled at him and me when I followed and he managed to evade getting hit with a car. This camouflage thing was definitely wearing off.

Aiden didn't check to see if I was fine and he quickly walked to whatever destination he had in mind. This wasn't just a regular walk. He was going to check on something. Or he needed to be somewhere.

We stopped six blocks later in the middle of a garden circle. He swirled around, looking at me as if he expected me to ask what he was doing. I plainly stared at his tense form and waited until he shifted his gaze. He looked over my shoulder, his eyebrows furrowing at whatever it was.

I tilted my body to catch whatever it was that was capturing his attention. My hand inched toward my gun as scenarios ran through my mind. TrianOut agents, some universe crack or just a general enemy. My eyes searched the crowd until I saw what most likely stole his attention.

Black hair in a slick ponytail, sweat dripping down her mocha skin, a tank top depicting her mood with it's color and of course the ear buds in her ear as she jogged through the crowd. I swallowed hard as I backed up to step in line with Aiden.

"Breaking rules, huh Sidney?" Aiden approved once she was in front of us. His voice dropped a couple of octaves near the end, trying to keep her name from being discovered by the crowd.

She smirked, wiping her forehead with her hand as she panted. "Don't know what you're talking about Thompson. I'm just jogging in the middle of Orlando."

They both grew grins and Anjali laughed as Aiden pulled her in for a brief hug. Once they broke apart, I raised an eyebrow. Aiden had mentioned that he'd been at UC for a while. I didn't know that he was this close with an agent of Unit Containment.

They both seemed to forget about me as Aiden blabbed on about what he'd been doing since last week. She brought up the incident with his mother but his excitement was still evident as they attention diverted from the event.

I bit the inside of my cheek as I turned. My senses were suddenly going haywire. I took in a deep breath as I searched around the garden circle, narrowing my eyes slightly when nothing came in view.
"Ryder."

I turned to Anjali Sidney, briefly flashing a smirk to Aiden's befuddled expression. He didn't know that I know that she was the one to 'interrogate' me. I nodded toward her once and took her outstretched hand, shaking it firmly twice and letting go. "Sidney."

"So, I suppose you know each other," Aiden interjected from the side. He still looked puzzled, making me smile lightly.

"He'll get it soon," Anjali whispered to me, just loud enough for Aiden to hear. We both stole a glance at his thoughtful expression. "He looks like a stumped bulldozer."

I held in a laugh, but it was visible enough to appear onto both of our faces. "Don't worry. He's just a really big teddy bear. A really big teddy bear with a pink hairbrush," I declared, countering her previous description.

"Okay, stop teasing the brush Amber," Aiden demanded.

I pushed my hair out of my eyes and let curses run through my head as I realized it wasn't in a ponytail. I lost them more often then found them.

We finally got into a three-man circle, all humor aside. "So Aiden," Anjali said. "What's the deal with the cryptic message?"

"I can answer that," I told her. "I have no idea why you're here or why he called you but if 553 has moles, UC does too."

"You don't have to worry about UC. Ry took care of the six moles trying to meet up with an Alina Hoffman." Anjali said. Aiden and I exchanged looks of exasperation. "We intercepted their message."

"Can you do it again?" Aiden piped up, crossing his arms. "We haven't been able to do anything of the sorts."

Anjali shook her head. "It's under lock at the Dyspathy facility." She winced loudly as Aiden clawed at his hair.

"Really Anjali, the Dyspathy facility?" He hissed, his eyes darting around before settling on her.

She shrugged apologetically. "Not my call Aiden, I'm not the Director. In fact there is no director. It's the Government's call. I just found it before they did and used it so they wouldn't think we were compromised."

"What happens if they think you're compromised?" I asked.

"There are protocols," Anjali explained. "One of them is going to be digging on our activities. If they do, they're probably going to find out I let you go on purpose."

"Anjali and Ry are our only two UC contacts," Aiden said after her. "And with the Government's hate streak on you, they're not going to like it when they find out what Anj and Ry have been up to."

"They already think I'm related to TrianOut." I nodded. "And even with what's happened, they're suspicious."

They both nodded. "And if they find out I cooperated with you and Hughes, then-"

"They're going to suspect not just you, me and Ry but Aiden as well," Anjali finished.

We all stood in silence, the honking and chattering filling the garden area. My eyes drifted over Aiden's shoulder to the sidewalk Anjali came from. Across the street was a small café, with tables outside for service. My eye caught on a certain red head who had her eyes trained on me already, sipping her coffee.

Aiden and Anjali followed my gaze to her as well.

She got up, taking her coffee with her and walked toward the opposite direction. Aiden swore under his breath and made an attempt to follow her, Anjali following. I stopped both of them with my hands.

"Let her go, Aiden." My eyes watched her get into a typical black car, the windows tinted. "She'll get what she deserves soon."

And just like that, Tyrone Finn disappeared into the busy streets of Florida.

***

A/N: We had a debate on Canadian history and it got out of control. So I kind of walked home for thirty minutes in the deep snow of Toronto and decided to read to let go of my stupid vendettas.