10010

The day of the mission was finally upon us. All of the worrying and preparations we'd put into place finally came together for the one thing we needed to do most of all - revive the data that had been deleted from our near enemies. The Intel Initiative finally started to come together, and that meant a good bit of tension for everyone involved.

I didn't have any way of knowing what was going on in the central base, but I assumed it was a toned down version of what was happening in my base. There was a constant patter of feet as people paced about, trying to get out their nervous energy. Sometimes Alex would ask them to stop, saying they needed to conserve everything they had for when it came to the actual mission.

Ronnie always ignored these requests, and sometimes dragged me alongside her from time to time. It wasn't productive in any way, but it was kind of funny to watch her walking around with such a worried look on her face. I'd become so accustomed to her smirks that anything remotely serious was just amusing to me.

She'd been through one of those periods of walking around in circles, walking around our room for hours on end deep into the night. I'd given up on trying to get her to sleep, knowing that she'd regret her decision soon enough - although I'd regret it as well.

Sure enough, we were both waken up by a loud beating on the door just a few hours later. I ended up nearly having to drag her out of bed, the two of us both getting ready at the near speed of snails. Nevertheless, we ended up being ahead of Zeke and Deric when it came to meeting Alex outside and figuring out precisely what was going on.

I wanted the coolness of the early morning (if you could even call it that with all of the darkness) to sharpen my senses and help wake me up even further. Instead I just ended up feeling cold, horribly cold, and even foggier than usual.

With my eyes moistened from being awakened so early, I only wanted to let my eyelids close and remain that way for hours and hours on end. Certainly I wasn't alone in this feeling - I didn't need to ask anyone to be sure of that. The darkness that surrounded us along with the moans of tired teenagers let me know precisely how we all felt.

"Get yourselves prepared to get in the car," Alex said, his voice booming out over everything and everyone else. "You'll be leaving in just a few minutes, and you need to be ready."

"Oh, come on, can't we just go back to sleep? The mission isn't for hours," Zeke groaned.

"That's not true. Get ready now," Alex demanded. "We told you the date of the mission, but we never told you the time."

"The sun isn't up yet," Ronnie complained. "You shouldn't do anything before the sun is up."

"Think about it. Why would you do the mission before the sun is up?" Alex asked, all while trying to force more of us towards the car at the same time.

"Because no one will be awake yet, and it's less expected than going at night," Ronnie said, rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I still don't like it, by the way."

Despite all of our protests, we all boarded the car and allowed ourselves to be driven away. We chastised ourselves for not seeing this coming sooner - of course we'd be launched out without more than a few minutes to prepare.

I tried to look out the window at the blur of the world passing by, but I couldn't make out anything in the pre-sunrise world. It was just darkness, aside from what was illuminated by the car's headlights. We were all somewhat surprised to find our car had no driver, but we assumed this was for security purposes and the government was just showing off more of its technology.

The car arrived at our destination within a few minutes - we were at a base that looked almost identical to the ones we'd been living in this whole time. We exited the car, and then listened as its rumble got softer and softer. Zeke announced to us that we were all going to enter at the same time, and we had five minutes to regroup ourselves. He then informed us that Alex had told him this, which we all guessed.

I took in a deep breath, trying to figure out how my life had led me to this point. It seemed so insane to think that I'd made it to be one of the best data eaters and then sent off to join the Intel Initiative, then moving through it all until I stood in front of an enemy base. My heart started to flutter uncontrollably at this point, and I couldn't deny my nerves.

I started quivering just enough that I couldn't tell if it were just me feeling the tension or if everyone else was as worried as well. I glanced over towards Ronnie, wondering if she felt anywhere near as nervous as me. Sure enough, she was just as stoic as always.

I didn't understand how she could be so calm and utterly still after it all. She'd been through almost as much as I had, and yet there she was. It just didn't make sense, and I couldn't help but gawk towards her. After I end up staring at her for a while, however, she turned and faced me.

"Psi, no need to stare. If you want to tell me I'm beautiful, you might as well just say it straight."

Typical Ronnie response, of course. I make sure to think through my reply so that I won't end up saying anything stupid. Who knows? I might have even ended up with another nickname. No one wanted that, I can say that for sure.

"Just wondering if the nerves were getting to you, that's all," I said. "This is a really big deal, isn't it?"

"The biggest deal," Ronnie agreed. Deric and Zeke looked over at us, but we're stuck in our own moment. No time to listen to what any boys have to say.

"You know, Parr, we might not make it out."

"That's the kind of pep talk I've learned to expect from you, Truitt. Telling me that we might end up dying right before we rush in."

"I'm just saying!" Ronnie sighed, rolling her eyes slightly.

"We'll, right now I want to think good thoughts. Think about suceeding. Think about escaping this alive."

"Me too."

"You sure have a funny way of expressing it, then," I replied.

"Come on. Parr, I was just saying."

"Yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter now." I checked my watch, frowning at the numbers. "Three minutes."

"Parr," Ronnie began. "I want to make sure I've done this before we head in there, because I won't be able to stand it if we don't make it out."

Before I could even blink, I felt Ronnie leap over to me and press her lips up against mine. She then reached out and placed her hands on her shoulders as if she were attempting to stablize herself. Almost subconsiously, I brought my arms up and started to try and weave my fingers into her hair. Ronnie, however, began pulling away before I could finish this process.

"I think we're going to make it out," I said, finding myself rather numb.

"But there's no guarantee," Ronnie replied, seemingly excessively proud of herself. "In other words, that was completely and totally necessary."

"Was it really?" I mumbled. Ronnie didn't hear it, and I wasn't sure if that was fortunate or not. I decided to just keep going onwards - less than two minutes left until we'd be working on our mission once and for all.

I heaved out a deep breath - never did I think I would end up in a place like this after joining the data eater program and going to Ross. The fate of the world might as well lie within my quick typing fingers, at least that's how I chose to see it.

Still, it seemed all of the training I'd been through - not just what I'd done for the Intel Initiative - might not be enough for the mission I was supposed to be working on. At the end of the day, I was still a sixteen year old girl.

A sixteen year old girl whose brother was in more or less a self-induced coma. A sixteen year old girl whose best friend had just kissed her, and gave no explanation for why she'd done it. Honestly, did Ronnie even think about what she was doing and the possible consequences of it?

My mind strained to continue with what really mattered at the moment. I just needed to focus myself, one thing that I'd never really recieved proper training for. We'd learned technical and physical skills, but nothing to do with focus. I supposed it had something to do with the fact we were already expected to have it when we were brought into the Intel Initiative all that time ago.

Of course, this only made me want to see if anyone else was having trouble focusing. When I glanced over towards Zeke and Deric, I found that they seemed to be more interested in the kiss I'd just shared with Ronnie then their impending mission. I couldn't lie - I did agree with being more interested at the moment as well. It just seemed to come out of nowhere, and yet it just felt so right.

It seemed all too easy for me to end up getting distracted by what I'd been through, and I needed to stop it, right that moment. Ronnie knew just as well as I did that we needed to focus on something else other than kissing and all of that junk. I wanted to blame her for what she'd done, for distracting me so heavily, but I just couldn't.

I tried to get my mind back to the mission that I was expected to be working on in a matter of minutes, the mission that Ianto had sacrificed so much for and a significant portion of the world might end up depending on. Funny how one little kiss could end up completely driving you out of your mind right when it mattered most.

With a few sighs and quite a few seconds squeezing my eyes closed, I began to refocus myself. I'd gotten plenty of practice with that sort of thing when it came to my initial reaction to Ianto after what he'd done. Now it was more important than ever that I worked all of it out.

After all, I didn't have a moment to think about what I'd just been through - as maddening as it was, there were more important things to focus on. Figuring out why my best friend had just kissed me was nowhere near as vital as trying to avoid World War III from working out and breaking into an enemy base. Or, at least, the latter was supposed to be far more important.

"Now!" Zeke said, his voice in that strange sort of whisper that seems to attack your ear when you first hear it. We all burst into action, Deric producing a sticky drive containing a code to force the first set of doors open. This, of course, was the easiest bit of it all. Our footsteps created echoes as we ran into the base, all working towards our common goal.

What we needed to do was get to where the main data was, making sure to erase any traces of our presence along the way. The first thing we needed to do then, of course, was get rid of any security cameras that could pick up our presence, and then make sure anything they already had of us was destroyed.

"There, the device is over there," Ronnie called out to the rest of us, using the same whisper-yell tone as Zeke. "Inside of that room, that's where all of the cameras feed in."

Deric took out another one of the sticky drives and opened the door in the same way as he had when we first broke in, allowing us to spill into yet another darkened room. When we looked around, we realized that each and every portion of the building had its own camera device, all showing its own display.

"We have to shut them all down," I said. "So we have to split up."

We each scrambled to our own device, and I was pleased to see a small keypad attached to it. This would be simple - I just needed to program in a basic complete data wipe. It was one of the first things I'd learned back at Ross, so I didn't anticipate having any problem. Sure enough, I hacked into its programming quickly and ended up starting the process.

As I watched the device slowly beginning to lose all of its data, I couldn't help but think of Ianto and what he might've thought of all of this. Oh, he'd loathe it. All of this data being lost, especially when it didn't necessarily have to be. Part of me started to see why Ianto hated the idea of it so much, why he found it so utterly sickening, but it was just another distraction.

What I really needed to do was get back to focusing on the mission. It seemed so easy to get off track now, especially because of the way my mind chose to work. I absorbed in the darkness that surrounded me, the few lights around the area slightly burning my eyes when I glanced towards them. The device in front of me continued to flash as I continued to type.

I looked to the side, seeing Ronnie standing beside me. Her mouth was moving, and I could only assume she was mumbling swears under her breath as she attempted to work faster. But when she noticed me looking over at her, she started to smile. I went straight back to my own work, but then I felt the prickle that meant she was staring over towards me.

This new distraction only made my fingers fly faster, moving across the keys in order to make sure it would all work out. Every moment was a vital moment. And yet somehow, a piece of me wanted to float away and get me somewhere else, somewhere where I didn't have to worry about the future of the world and about my family.

I noticed that my fingers were starting to slow down because of my inner struggle (if I could call it that). I gave myself a second to stop, and then throw myself back in using a new rhythm. It was more of a risk than I chose to admit to myself, but it did end up working. Apparently, though, I wasn't the only one to notice my drop in performance.

"Come on," Deric hissed. "You two better stop making googly eyes at one another so we can focus on this mission. You know exactly what we've been training to do, and we can't stop all of that now."

"I'm not making googly eyes," I sqauwked out, simultaneously wanting to be loud and also knowing I couldn't raise my voice too loud.

"Quiet, Alia," Zeke warned. "We still have plenty of cameras to shut down."

I nodded a few times despite being somewhat insulted by this outcry directed towards me, as if Ronnie were completely innocent of anything. Of course, I didn't have time to complain or try to defend myself. I just needed to get my first camera's information completely deleted.

It took every ounce of my self-control to prevent a happy giggle from escaping my lips when I finished deleting the camera data and spun on to the next one. My glance around the room showed me that I was quite farther than anyone else - and of course, I was already to my second camera device.

After seeing how well the simple code worked out for the first device, I utulized the same technique when it came to the new one. I could use the experience I'd already been through and increase my speed at coding just that much more. I could hear shuffling from around me as everyone gradually finished their first camera. But when I blocked it out, I ended up finishing my second camera device.

I let out a quiet "yes" of excitement, trying to ignore the creeping fear that everything was about to get significantly more difficult that started washing over me. The small outburst was enough to draw attention to me as I moved on to my next camera device, Ronnie having the best view as she was standing right across from it.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ronnie said. "Don't delete anything on that yet. Look at it."

I did as she said, and the boys soon looked as well. Pretty soon we were all surrounding it, staring over at it. Within moments we all understood why Ronnie wanted me to wait before deleting anything. "It's the...it's the main computer room, isn't it?" I asked, shaking slightly.

"And there's light," Zeke added in. "We're running out of time if the sun is coming up."

"I noticed," I murmured.

"Then why are we just standing here?" Deric said. All of the pressure was certainly making him a lot bossier than I remembered him being back during training, but for good reason and with good effect. Without another word, we went back to deleting the data. This time, however, you could practically hear the drumlike beating of our hearts all syncing into one frantic rhythm.

A/N I bet you probably didn't see any of that coming - plot twists are my favorite things in this story! So yes, there you go. The Intel Initiative is all coming together, which I think is marvelous. Finally time for Alia and the crew to put all of their skills to good use!