I got shoved from one wall of the hallway to the other as these 20 year old geezers raced for their lives to the auditorium. The announcement had come on and a college dean explained that the break-in of yesterday had been handled with and handed over to the police for investigation.

The news about the café incident downtown suddenly made headlines this morning and everyone had been tweeting about it. No doubt, these chases were arousing people's suspicions and causing an uproar.

Some pedestrians had reported that they had seen three members of T6 as they got interviewed on live television. When asked what evidence they had, they went with the fact that there were some suspicious people inside the café at the time of the incident that handled the situation before the police came.

The school made no mention of the café incident, but they did address yesterday's break-in and warned students of the importance of being safe, especially for the next-coming event that was also, no surprise there, trending on social media.

Every student from across campus was called to the auditorium building for a monumental annual announcement. It was a way for them to evacuate class and listen to something they actually care about.

Serenity.

It was now that time of the year. Serena Heatherine would be the star of the day since her family was the host of the dance that was, once again, world-renowned. People came from distinct countries just to capture the moment on the news, and innumerable influential guest speakers came to join in on the enjoyment each year. There was always a surprise top-notch guest, and she never failed the student body there.

I met up with Cody who waited for me on a bench outside and the two of us made our way inside to find seats furthest away from the stage. We were never interested in the dance. On Serenity night, we'd sleep-over at one another's place after doing whatever we pre-planned.

"Ready for another two hour talk about something we don't care about?" Cody grinned as he rubbed my back teasingly and took a seat. I smirked and sat myself down on the seat next to him.

"Where should we go this year?" I nudged the man as other people filed in around us.

He shrugged and gave it some thought. "Last year we went to the lake resort and spent the night there. Since it's Winter, maybe something a little less wet and cold?"

"Movie?" I tilted my head as I waited for him.

"But why spend money when we can illegally download—"

"Shush," I hushed him, my head oddly scanning the heads that turned our way as if they related to us. "Let's go see the new movie. The one that Osias is starring in."

Cody's face lit up in curiosity as he studied me and pondered on my suggestion. "It hasn't even come out yet."

"It will by the time Serenity rolls by. And there won't be any uploads online that you can depend on. Let's go watch the premiere."

"I mean," His hand went to the nape of his neck as he rubbed it gently. "If you want to, sure. So movie night during Serenity, done?"

I grinned. "Done."

"Bring that big blanket we used for the tent a few months back. That'll be enough." The man leaned back into his seat as the lights dimmed down and all the representative speakers of Serenity were ready to start on stage. A projector enlarged their figures on side-screens so that people like me and Cody can still see something we had no interest in.

I settled down and placed my earbuds in just as the first speaker began talking. My head tipped over onto Cody's shoulders and he rolled his eyes at me trying to use him as a head cushion to nap. But aside from that, the boy was silent and his attention went to the stage.

"Greetings to all students gathered here today. To those that are unfamiliar with me, I am Serena Heatherine, hostess, of your annual and widely-anticipated dance commemoration, Serenity. Now what is Serenity?"

I zoned out at the introductions because this wasn't the first time I heard that speech. That girl probably got her speech memorized so well that if you cut her up, those exact words would be engraved in her skeletons. All the statistics and world-wide reviews, she never failed to say the right words. Cody mouthed the words with a blank look and got on his phone during the intro, much like everyone else who wasn't new to this. It dragged a good thirty minutes before the explanations moved on.

"What should our student body wear? Are you the least bit concerned that you won't live up to the potential we expect? Well chances are, you won't. We take formal-theme to the next level. Take what you see in movies about prom and throw it out the window like the route your ex goes when you find out why they're an ex.

If you would adjust your attention to the two screens on either side the stage, here are some pictures of our graduated students that perfectly showcase the type of attire you are expected to show up in."

As expected, this was Cody's highlight. You could see his eyes lighting up at the hundreds of dolled up girls in gorgeous, flowing dresses. Model-worthy students that looked their best that night. I could tell when that part of the program rolled in because his chest stretched out broader— something about masculinity, I don't know— and my head literally fell off of his shoulders by the end of it.

"At least try not to make it so obvious," I smacked him on the arm as I looked up to see a girl smiling while she twirled in her golden gown. Cody rubbed his arm and tilted his head down to look at me, smirking.

"You jealous?" He nudged me.

I raised my eyebrows and scoffed in disbelief. "Of you? Nah. We're not like that, bud."

He faked a flinch as he rubbed his chest where his heart was. "Ouch."

I shook my head with a smile and turned to look at the stage.

"But seriously, when are you going to at least try on a dress?" He tapped my chin playfully from underneath and got me to look back at him with dilated eyes. "Not saying you have to like it, but I think you might enjoy it. From what I heard it's fun to twirl in a dress. And you'll look different."

I decided to stop pushing the matter away and addressed it this time for him. Leaning on my arms that were propped up on my knees, I angled my head as I gazed at the man before me with soft eyes. "How different?" I posed the question, getting his attention. "Different isn't good."

"You'd look beautiful."

My chest tightened. My head lifted off of my hands slowly as I leaned back and took a good look at him. His eyes remained locked on me, and I knew right then and there, the man just meant every word he said. And that terrified me in the strangest and sweetest way.

I found myself holding my breath as he brought his hand close to my face and tucked a strand of hair behind my ears. It was the first time I paid attention to where his thumb grazed my body, and how gently his hand left my skin.

"Why are you being like this now?" I asked, barely above a whisper. "I feel weird all of a sudden."

It seemed like Cody didn't expect whatever just came out of my mouth, because his eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

I avoided his eyes as my hands searched blindly for my headphones on my lap. "I said I feel weird," I mumbled.

He stared at me in silence and I was fully aware that he wasn't going to stop even after my earbuds were in. Something new flashed through his eyes that made him frown in thought, and the man eventually settled back into his seat quietly. If I had the courage to look at him, I would have been able to see the little sly smirk that he hid as he angled his face away.

"Now for the segment of the program you've all been waiting for. Well, we are also ready to share it all with you, because this year's special guests are huge! And yes, we said 'guests.' Six of them, actually."

Somewhere in the midst of listening to my playlist, I caught 'special guests' and 'six.' Slightly intrigued, I lowered the volume of my phone until it was completely turned off, and my ears perked up to listen.

"I've got word from the big man himself, T6-GEO@'s leader, and he said— well who is he, first of all?"

The auditorium shook with screams of the title that I knew so well that the look on my face reflected pure astonishment. From right behind me, a boy screamed his head off as if we were at a concert stadium. Cody tensed up as he leaned forward on his seat, now apparently interested in the program.

"That's right. Yours truly, BETA! The man's a vicious hacker. Watch out ladies, he could be browsing through your search history for his assignments. Don't be naughty, now."

The girls rang out in laughter and some even went on their phones to clear their search history. I watched on, stunned, as I witnessed my team being used as some sort of... advertisement. Pierce was right. There was something odd about our current situation. We didn't want this fame. We didn't want to be known as some power-ranger-duplicates.

Hackers don't belong in the eyes of the public. Something was terribly wrong with our past. We have to resolve it before this got out of hand.

I glanced over at Cody and found my eyes widening slightly. I nudged him and he seemed to have not noticed. It took two more nudges before I was able to snap him out of his daze.

"What's gotten into you?" I leaned in close to him and whispered. "This is your favorite group. I thought you'd be more zealous and tell me you knew this was going to happen or something like that."

He met my eyes and his brows furrowed. "That's impossible," I heard him mouth to himself as his attention went back to the stage. I whirled my head back to the front too and my eyes flickered when I saw the screen displaying a typed message from Beta that read:

"T6 will be there. We are honored to receive such attention. We're not much of dancers, but some of us can salsa. May we meet anonymously on the dance floor. - BETA"

My jaw dropped slightly as shouts drowned out my sense of hearing. This had to be fake. Pierce said nothing about this, and he wasn't even involved in our school in that kind of way. I knew he had bigger issues to resolve right now, issues more significant than accepting some invitation to a dance party.

"There's no way." I heard Cody state out loud and I spun my head to him in surprise. He regarded me and continued. "He doesn't even know who his teammates are. How can he say the team will be there when none of us even know about it?"

"Right?" I scoffed. "This doesn't make any sense. And salsa, really? The man could probably trip over a foot and hit his partner's head on the table, but not salsa."

"Oddly specific but okay." Cody chimed in with nods of agreement.

"Excuse me, I need to go out for a bit." I tapped on the girl beside me. She looked startled but stood up obediently to let me through.

Cody rose from his seat and grabbed my arm. "Where are you going? The program's not done yet."

"Bathroom." I reassured him with a nod.

He thinned his lips as if he didn't believe me, but when other students began yelling for him to sit down so they could see, he hesitantly let me go.

I managed to maneuver through the crowd and pushed past the auditorium's doors, freeing myself of the hundreds of cramped bodies in there. I whipped out my phone and quietly dialed the number of the man-of-interest.

He had a lot of explaining to do.

▂▂▂▂▂

"The person you are trying to call has either turned off his cell or is in an area of no service. You can leave a message once you hear the—"

I sighed softly and turned off my phone. Pierce was busy, as I knew he should be. Ready to give up on contacting him and head back in, I froze when I felt a buzz in my pocket and pulled the phone back out to see I had received a text.

🍳- blocker 🙄🚫

I can't do this right now, Sunny. I'm busy. Be a good girl and stay in school.           3:30pm

.. Please, for the love of god.            3:33pm

I held back an amused smirk as I reread his message and shook my head, placing my phone back in my pocket. Then, my face darkened as I remembered something else that happened this morning.

The movie set invitation from K2 that was delivered to Pierce, it was also sent to me on my phone this morning. I knew Pierce wouldn't have sent it considering how much he was against us going, and I just told Cody about it in the auditorium, so that ruled the two of them out.

My suspicions had me pondering on this for the longest time. Did someone know who we were? If K2 sent this, I think my heart would be more at ease. If there's anyone in this world that should know anything about any of this, it was that man.

And that reminded me that the time for Osias' movie event started at four.

I decided to explain this all to Cody later with a shaky sigh as I made a run for it to my car. Just as I was about to slip into the front seat, a voice from afar called out to me.

"Oh, if that isn't our little sunshine ditching school."

I snapped my head to the side and my eyes widened when I saw Kenya's figure come into full view. Her face had a quirky smirk plastered on it as she came up to me. I turned off the engines inside and popped right back out of the car to talk to her.

"I could say the same for you," I arched my eyebrows. "What are you doing outside the auditorium?"

"Ditching." She replied simply with a blank stare.

I scoffed with a smile. "And here I thought I was meeting a foe. You need a ride today too?" I gestured towards my vehicle.

She shook her head slyly. "Another time, Risa. I have somewhere to be today."

That made me wonder if Pierce had contacted her as Beta and asked for her to come to the station. "I could take you," I suggested ingeniously.

"I believe you can. But you seem to be in a hurry somewhere too. So let us meet another time."

She was an interesting person. I nodded slowly and glanced back at the auditorium where Cody should already be getting suspicious that I wasn't coming back.

"So, you heard about Serenity?" I popped.

The woman's brows raised slightly as she folded her arms elegantly across her chest. "How could I not? Apart from today's program, my girls on the dance team have been talking non-stop about it. They even started ordering their gowns last month, imagine that."

I smirked and tilted my head. "You planning to go?"

She turned quiet for a bit as her face hid from me. After a moment of silence, the woman looked back up and she gave me a side-smile. "Maybe. I might have plans there."

"Plans? That's an interesting way to put 'having fun at a dance.'" I countered.

"I like the way you think," She let out a small laugh. "But that's as far as I'm revealing. May we meet soon, love." As she walked away, I suddenly remembered a question I had wanted to ask her. Something I told Pierce the other day that I would investigate into.

"One more question," I called out. The woman stopped and turned on her heels to face me once more, waiting.

"How did you and Casey become friends?"

The question didn't seem to faze her as a smile reappeared on her face and she coolly waved goodbye. I thought she was going to leave it at that and not give me an answer, but I heard her faint voice trailing in the breeze as she made her last remark.

"Friends? We're not friends. What can you do when someone all of a sudden appears in your life and decided to stick with you? You just go along with it, as long as he knows his boundaries."

▂▂▂▂▂

I arrived at the movie set and there were hundreds of people barricading the entrance gates to the building. There was no chance of slipping in. I adjusted my mask and modified the buttoning of my suit jacket. My wavy hair was secured in a sophisticated, low ponytail because I was lazy to transform it any more elegantly than it was before when I had it down at school. Just before I left my car in the parking space, I turned on my voice changer clipped on the inner-flap of the collar of my suit.

"K2, my man," I mumbled exhaustedly as my eyes scanned over the horde of fans before me that blocked my way. "Don't tell me you expect your team to somersault over these poor girls? There must be someone that's involved in the inside job to let us in another way."

And just as I said that, two other people appeared from of the out-of-view parking lot and to my surprise, it was two people in masks. They didn't come together, but they met up at the other side of the crowd, also dressed in formal attire.

My heart skipped a beat but I kept it professional as best as I could when the masked man glanced over my direction, and his body stopped moving. He politely nudged the woman to his left and she now also spotted me. They started walking past the crowd and over to my location.

Sky blue eyes of the gentleman and emerald eyes of the lady came into view moments later as we stood before each other. I observed the two and reached the conclusion that today was not a coincidence.

Someone had set us up together. This had to be two of my teammates. I frowned and came up with an idea to test them.

"What time is it?"

When I saw the man check his watch, my heart dropped slightly. Maybe... I'm mistaken.

"4:05pm," He answered back, showing me his watch. This was the second time I heard another person speak through a voice changer besides myself. The first was Pierce. I wondered how this man sounded in real life.

"Because we're not all here yet," The woman next to him suddenly winked. "Otherwise, it would be 13:00pm."

My eyes widened when the man nodded in agreement and smiled. The mask only covered our eyes, so I was able to see his stubby chin and charming grin.

"L01, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"M&M. Pleasure meeting you at last."

I shook their hands hesitantly. "Venus." L01 asked about the invitation and we all nodded that we received it. I was tempted to ask where they both flew in from, but I knew we set rules amongst ourselves to never reveal ourselves, otherwise it'd endanger all of us.

Our identity kept us safe, after all.

"There has to be a way for us to get by," I started, fixing my gaze at the fans blocking the entrance. "We'd be stampeded on in there." The three of us stayed quiet as we took turns surveying the area. It was M&M who spoke up next.

"Something tells me," She began as she pointed over my shoulders. "That woman with the earpiece in the distance has been waiting for us." L01 and I turned our heads to her command and our eyes narrowed as we soon spotted the lady in the cerise-hued suit, searching for us.

"Then let's get this reunion started, Errors." L01 clapped his hands with a deep laugh. "After all these years behind screens, even with the masks now, I'm finally meeting you people. I hope the other three didn't sleep in and miss out on the fun."

▂▂▂▂▂

We followed the lady in the red suit into the building through a restricted door in the back. It led us into a dimmed-lit hallway before an elevator appeared. M&M and I shot each other a side-glance before we all stepped in, and the elevator began descending down from ground level.

"Fiona," The lady suddenly spoke, catching our attention. "I will see to it that you reach your destination safely. Do not worry, you can trust me."

"We don't have much choice, do we?" My alternate voice responded a bit on the rough side. "Where are we headed to? Your supervisor should at least be courteous enough to allow you to explain some details. This is low-key kidnapping."

"Ma'am, we are on your side," was all she replied as she nodded indifferently at me. My face darkened in her direction through my mask, but I chose to remain silent out of curiosity.

L01 placed a hand on my shoulder protectively and he looked up at the number showing the floor we were passing. It was stuck at the same level we were on before. "How are we still going down when we entered at ground level? This is a bit sketchy."

"Sir, we are heading to your destination." Fiona maintained her short-ass responses.

"Is our destination not the movie set where Osias Blake is filming?" M&M cut in with a clear question, attracting all heads to turn her way as tension rose in the elevator. Fiona studied us with blank eyes as she bowed a little and turned back to face the sliding doors of the elevator so that her back was facing us again.

"There is no movie set in this building."

I smiled hysterically as if saying, 'Of course. Of course there wouldn't be a movie set down here. Fuck you,' as M&M and L01 became silent, their eyes narrowing in suspicion. The man dropped his hand from my shoulder and cracked his neck gently, shutting his eyes as if he was preparing himself for trouble.

"I was getting a little bored without the chatroom firing up like it used to. Guess today my wish came true, huh." He quieted down after getting out his comment and we waited for the elevator to come to a gradual stop.

The doors slid apart to reveal a wider compartment that seemed treacherous as hell. There were bodyguards surveying every corner of a factory-like scene, steam letting loose every now and then in one of those machines from afar. The heat flushed my cheeks and I took a step back cautiously. Smoke fogged my peripheral vision and I could only make out the red suit in the midst of everything.

We followed her hesitantly, keeping a definite distance between us in case she couldn't be trusted. I soon found myself stepping into a pitch-black room along with the other two, and to my expectation based on a similar event, the door shut and all light evaporated in a blink of an eye.

L01 was the closest to the door and he tried using the handle to reopen the door. Silence emitting from him meant we were locked in against our will. There was a strange sense of calmness amongst us, however, despite being locked in on our first reunion.

Because somewhere in my heart, even I knew this all seemed terrifyingly... weird. Like, someone was about to pop out of the corner with the lights flickering back on, and we'd get a loud, "Surprise!" That moment hasn't come yet, but there wasn't tension in the air. We were waiting like we wanted this to happen. And possibly we did. It was about time things started happening.

As if my thoughts were heard, the lights flickered on. I shut my eyes as the flaring white light filled the room, and later let them flutter open as they adjusted to the space. M&M and L01 began pacing around. I tried the handle again. Still locked. But at least the lights were on now.

I rotated my body slowly around and began to notice the things in the room. It seemed like a vast, lavish storage compartment for vehicles and extra apparatus. Motorcycles were parked against the wall, the paint on them showcasing that they had been recently cared for. Toolboxes lined the shelves above and screws, nails, paint, and wood spread themselves across every shelf, revealing their abundance.

L01 had walked over to the far corner and picked up a gun, and that was when I realized there were weaponry in this room as well. Sniping rifles, machine guns, pistols, shotguns, revolvers... all the firearms you could imagine, and some custom-made models that I couldn't even recognize, made up only a portion of the area that he stood at.

M&M had walked over to the daggers on the opposite side of the room. There were blades showcased in a glass case, laid neatly on velvet fabric because the knives could leave an abrasion on the glass. She seemed unfazed at the fact that there were consequences to touching other people's weapons, especially when it was encased in a glass case, because she tossed a particularly dangerous looking dagger into her palms and twirled it to test it out, a small smirk implanted on her lips.

I watched the two explore, possibly temporarily forgetting our situation, or maybe they had tucked it to the side. So I let loose a bit and walked over to the motorcycles, which was the department that first got my attention when I got here. Just by feeling the grip and inspecting the outline of the motor, I concluded it was a sport bike, ebony and custom-built.

My hands grazed over the leather-bound handlebars and I gripped it comfortably, as if I had been a rider my whole life. Spotting the matching, modular helmet dangling on the next motor, I snatched it up and placed the gear over my head. I slowed my excitement down a bit when I realized that the helmet... fit.

That's when I had a bad feeling about all of this. It was like someone was trying to remind me of something. Trigger a memory. I quickly ripped off the helmet, just in sync with the door of the room reopening.

M&M and L01 snapped their heads to the door, the weapons they've been observing being held close at their sides like they've figured out how to use them. My eyes flickered, my guards up, as in came four other males. Three of the males had masks on, and I instantly knew I was set up for a wild ride.

We were all here. No longer behind screens. T6 was in the presence of each other. And someone had set it up that way. This could either take a safe turn, or a wrong turn. But all I knew was that we were all choosing a dangerous road by being here today.

I would have thought the other three males in the room knew what was going on, but they walked over to our side, equally in shock. My eyes widened as I realized that if we were all here, then Pierce was here. He would know what was going on. Even though he said he was at the interrogation, maybe he came after all. My eyes searched desperately for him, and then another thought surfaced and my body went dead cold.

But what if the fake Beta had showed up...? What if we were about to expose ourselves in front of an impersonator?

But I took it back as soon as I made out the eyes of the man I had come to recognize in the blink of an eye. Silver grey with hints of tropical green. He spotted my figure due to me being the closest to him and he made his way over, as if he was going to make sure he wasn't dreaming that his team was all here.

I raced up to him before he could even reach me and wrapped my arms around his midsection in overflowing relief. The man froze immediately in his tracks, startled at my sudden move. He looked down at me in concern. His hands felt out of place in the air after a while and he reluctantly dropped it so that it gently caressed my back as he hugged me back out of confusion.

"Well hey there," His alternate voice greeted me in a soft tone that I wasn't used to. "Glad to see you're doing well, Venus."

"How'd you know?" I asked, looking up.

"I can just tell. M&M must be," He angled his face away as he spotted her and nodded his head to the other side of the room with a confident smile. "That lady over there."

Despite not knowing why I embraced him, he didn't seem to mind too much as I retreated out of his arms and he turned to his other members. "Arsomis is the one I walked in with. And this little boy is Pooh. Then that man over there has to be.."

"L01." L01's voice spoke up from the far side. "I'm here."

"So the mask-less man is K2," M&M intervened smoothly. "Am I to assume we are now in the presence of a friend or a foe?" She looked K2 straight in the eyes and he nodded his head. The man flashed his badge out from underneath his long coat and we all soon acknowledged his alibi.

"I see you people have taken a peculiar liking to the equipments. How does the handgun suit you, L01?" K2 suddenly asked.

The man from afar glanced up with the gun in his hand. "Nice weight. I would have picked this specific model right here, if this was up for grabs."

K2 smirked and moved onto M&M. "What are you twirling in your hand, miss?"

The woman stopped and gave him a straight face. "This red ruby correlates to something I'm all too familiar with. There's something in my guts saying you people aren't the owners of this dagger."

All the man mumbled was 'very good' as he finally turned to me and smiled. "And how does the helmet feel, Venus?"

I narrowed my eyes as I glanced down at the motorcycle's helmet in my hands. I felt the other's eyes on me and I almost regretted saying the next line.

"Too comfortable, sir." I answered grimly. My eyes flickered back up at the man for answers.

"Good." The man echoed out a warm laugh.

"Feel comfortable. Because those are all of your equipments from the last time we parted. Take a seat. I have many things to discuss today with you trouble-making hackers."

▂▂▂▂▂

Venus: ... So you're saying, I piloted jets and rode motorcycles? Who the hell made me live in that shanty apartment at the beginning of the story, who? I just want to talk.

TheReflectiveSurfaceofMySoul: Did I just get reduced to a cameo in my own story... I'm disappointed, give me my screen time. #justiceforarsomis

Pooh: :D

TheReflectiveSurfaceofMySoul: This boy did not just— which one of you scum-balls taught him how to say that?