(Drew)

My head was still wrapped around the idea of protecting May. It's all I could think about after talking to the guy and taking up his offer.

"I have a question," I asked him. We were now sat in a small room in the subway, completely alone still.

"Fire away, kid," he took his sunglasses off and stared at me. This man looked battle-hardened, with a scar across his right eye, left cheek and his face just looked...worn out, his deep red eyes staring straight at me. He adjusted his bowler hat on his head and waited for me to speak. "Well?"

"What's your name?" I asked him. "It didn't say on your card..."

"Well we go by code-names down here, but it's Norman," Norman introduced himself. "But you will have to call me by my code, which is Viper."

"That doesn't sound creepy at all," I laughed awkwardly and looked away from his hard stare briefly. "What about me?"

"You want a code?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Yup."

"Well anyone new is known as a cub, like a baby animal," Viper confirmed my name in the underground and I sighed. 

"I'm a bit more cold-hearted and serious than that, y'know," I cracked a smirk at him.

"You'll earn a new title if you stick with us long enough," he said simply and then more people walked in. "Ah, yes...now it's time to begin your first mission."

I looked around the room slowly. So many of the men were almost 7 feet tall and heavily built. They seemed so menacing. What was I going to have to do? Everything felt strange and hostile, I wasn't liking the situation all of a sudden. Was this really going to be worth it?

(Ash)

"Shit..." Gary murmured as we slipped into a storage room, hiding in the school. "Miette could move anywhere with the data..."

"Are you sure?" Misty asked him and Gary shook his head.

"Of course not, she won't move," he sounded very sure of himself. "It's just a possibility that could happen if we are not careful. She is in class, so we just have to wait for the right time."

"Gotcha," I said as we peeked out of the room briefly, before moving down the corridor. 

"Is anyone else confused that Drew isn't here today?" Misty asked what I imagine we were all thinking in our current situation.

"He said he would meet us here every day...no matter what," Gary was puzzled too, which was a surprise. "I did message him but his phone seems to be off."

"Weird," was all I said, not having time to think about the emotions running through me. We had a more important task at hand.

Everything was silent, as classes had begun. We knew that some students had patrol duties within the school, to catch out heavy bullying or any loiterers. Many teachers that didn't have any classes wandered between staff rooms and corridors every so often. This wasn't an easy task. 

"Okay, we should probably have only one person go up from now on," Gary advised, using his brain for once. When Gary was serious and thinking clearly, he was sure as hell a better person than his usual egotistical self. It was a nice change to see him showing off his intuition and true thinking skills. We had made it to the stairs, so his plan was a good idea.

"I will go," I volunteered, which seemed to have Misty pissed. 

"I want to beat her brains in though!" she almost yelled, Gary quickly covering her mouth. Classes that were making noise adjacent from us suddenly fell silent and we all panicked, ducking under the staircase and into the darkness. 

As the noise suddenly came back, Gary sighed with relief at the same time as me. Misty moved away from his hand and frowned in anger.

"I am lighter on my feet than you both and Misty, your anger will cloud our real objective. We can't touch anyone in the school, not now. This is our last act before we go into the darkness and survey this school from within our homes," I explained in a more hushed voice.

"Exactly," Gary nodded at me and then looked at Misty. "We will wait here and talk to the others via text. They have to go establish a new place for us to meet, so we can escape quickly."

"This all seems so surreal," she pulled out her phone and shook her head. "Whatever, but I will beat that bitch up one day."

"Sure, sure," Gary laughed and sat against the wall. "Go on Ash, get us the data Clemont worked his ass off for."

"Sure," was all I said, filled with confidence, while also feeling slightly nervous. I shook away the cobwebs from my mind, keeping myself focused. We needed the data. The fact we had been suspended made that clearer than ever and of course, it was up to me to get it back.

Of course...

I moved up the stairs slowly, being careful to minimise the amount of noise I was making on the steps. Thankfully, the whole staircase was made entirely of marble, with metal rails, polished so hard that you could see yourself in them. This meant that nothing would creak, thank God. 

One student walked past as I got to the right floor, not even glancing my way slightly. Cold slowly ran down my spine and I shivered at the thought of being caught. I was currently trespassing on school grounds. 

Is this place even a school? That is the real question here, as many things point towards it being something completely different. However, I wasn't prepared to dawdle on my own thoughts. We had all of that data and Clemont spent all night gathering it. I wasn't about to let his hard work go to waste. 

At that moment, a thought crossed my mind...

When was the right time to grab the data? 

Surely I was going to get caught anyway, but have to run with the data. Maybe, maybe not. I quickly slapped my cheeks to keep myself from losing focus on the objective and crouched down low, moving through the corridor. I thought about how May snuck up her once already and got into trouble with Alain. 

"If only Drew was here," I murmured quietly to myself.

The bell rang at that moment and I looked across the hall, realising there were some abandoned lockers at one end. I sprinted awkwardly in my crouched position and jumped into the lockers fast, just as the students came wandering out. I could see Miette's blue hair from anywhere, it was clear as day, standing out from the crowd. 

"I have to take a chance," I murmured once again, waiting until the crowd dispersed. I had to merge in with the crowd and hope that no one else knew we were suspended, so I could then get close and take the data. 

I moved out of the locker and into the crowd quickly, avoiding the teachers and blending in. I kept my head low and followed the feet of the others to keep myself from tripping up or walking in the wrong direction. I looked up briefly and caught a glance of her blue hair again. 

Suddenly, the crowd went one way and Miette moved around the other corner, alone. Now was my time to move in, so I quickly followed and went outside, moving down the dark alleyway at the back of the school, where Miette had gone. She had stopped at the end and slowly turned to face me. 

It wasn't Miette.

"D-Dawn?" I said with a croaky voice, hardly believing what I was seeing. Dawn was...supposed to be outside...with the others...how? 

"I'm sorry," she murmured back, looking at me with tears in her eyes. Her hair had been cut exactly like Miette's. They shared a similar hair colour, so at a glance, it would look similar, which I completely fell for. As for height, Miette was about as tall as me and I never even realised Dawn was a little shorter. Then I realised that the thing under her arm was not the laptop, it was just a black case that looked like the computer I needed. 

"Shit..." I walked up to her slowly and she just fell into me, crying out. "It's okay..."

"They caught us outside, while we were walking in the street. They knew you were still inside and set up this trap on purpose. You were probably hiding while it all happened..." she looked down, the top of her head brushing against me. She was clearly upset. "I failed...you all"

"Shhh," I tilted her head up to look at me and wiped the tears away. "Stop being silly and listen to me. You didn't fail us."

"How so?" she asked, looking past my shoulder. "...Gary and Misty, right?"

I grinned at her and that made the tears stop, a small smile flickering on her face. 

"No duh," I gestured to the door. "Come on, we'll get out of here together. Where are the others?"

"They only took me, so the others left after trying to put up a fight," Dawn told me as we carefully walked through the school, sneaking through the yards outside and over the gate. 

(Gary)

We saw Ash go past with...Miette? 

"What the hell is going on..." Misty murmured, folding her arms angrily. "Is he working with them?"

No...that wasn't it. Clearly, something else was going on. The laptop. It wasn't the laptop. It looked way too fake. Something strange was happening here.

"Blue hair, fake laptop-" 

"Fake laptop?" Misty asked me, still keeping quiet under the stairs, in darkness.

"Yep, it was one hundred percent fake, I could see the marker pen on the sides, it had been coloured in," I pointed out, but she probably didn't notice. 

"What else?" she pressed on more, still puzzled.

"She didn't walk like Miette...that posture wasn't 'boss like' as Miette kinda struts," I explained and then it hit me like a tidal wave. 

"What is it?" Misty gauged my expression and she was instantly in my face, asking the important question.

"Dawn..." I breathed out and that's when we both realised. "Ash got played..."

"I don't care now, I need to find that bitch and set her straight," Misty clenched her fists tightly but I held onto her arm.

"She will be expecting that you dolt," I sighed, trying to pull her back. She looked at me with eyes that could kill.

"Call me that again and I'll set you straight," she threatened.

"Just listen to me," I practically pleaded and she settled down for a second.

"Go on," her gesture was enough to let me continue.

"Clearly, they know that me, you and Ash were all still in the school. Miette seems to know more about us than we realise, so she probably expects you to come charging in," I was sure that Misty's ideas were flawed, but wasn't sure about the possible action we could take. 

"Why don't we just catch her on the street?" Misty asked as if she read my mind and knew I had no ideas.

"The data will probably get removed from the laptop by then, so this is our only chance, right here and now...she might have already deleted it but we have to try and get the laptop back at the very least, for Clemont's sake and not just our own sakes," but without a plan, what could we do? We were stuck under a staircase, not knowing what action to take. 

"Are we going to just sit here with our thumbs up our asses or are we actually going to do something then?" Misty was raising her voice, getting worked up again.

"You create a distraction with this anger of yours," a quick-fire plan popped into my brain. "I will find Miette and go straight for the data. If you get chased out, do not come back in. If you get crowded, get out of the school. If you create a nice diversion and you can get to me, back me up, okay?"

"Understood, let's do it," Misty cracked her knuckles and gave her hands a quick shake, before cracking her neck too. "I hope someone picks a fight."

"Of course you do," I sighed. "Besides, I am the best for any kind of job, so don't worry about the data."

"Well I wasn't missing that ego of yours, that's for sure," Misty joked, giggling like a little girl would. She sure had a small soft side at times.

"Yeah yeah," I grinned and slowly moved from under the staircase, while Misty started banging on walls and shouting.

"YOU THINK YOU COULD SUSPEND ME?" she was shouting, students, peeking out of classrooms and crowding around to see what was going on.

Miette couldn't have been in the classroom. She always ate in the cafeteria and Dawn was in her place in there anyway. How did the school even let Dawn take her place? Why did no one ask any questions? It was certainly weird. 

"Time to scope out the cafeteria," I said with a small sigh. I only had a short amount of time left in the day. Things were going to be extra dangerous after lunch, so the time to strike was certainly now.

Entering the cafeteria, I noticed Miette. However, the laptop was not in sight. Guess it was going to be harder than I thought.

"Hmm," I scratched my chin, withdrawing from the cafeteria swiftly. Every student leaves their bag in their classroom but I wasn't willing to go up there yet. 

Sycamore.

It was clear as day! Sycamore was part of this. He must have taken it off her as part of the plan, to try and waste time. He was probably hoping that we would be caught beforehand. 

Where was Misty? That was a question I had to answer first. 

"Did ya' miss me?" Misty spoke into my ear, causing me to jump up in fright.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I took a deep breath and she just giggled again. 

"Have you got the laptop?" her tone was serious now.

"Nope, but I think Sycamore has it," I explained why and she nodded.

"Okay, let's go to his room," she finally had the right idea and so we headed to the right classroom.

We stormed in and found Sycamore, laptop in front of him, with two big guys guarding the sides of his desk. 

Alain's big friends...

Great.

"What a pleasant surprise," Sycamore got up and smiled. "Two trespassers have arrived. Get them."

The two big guys moved towards use but Misty wasted no time, jumping onto the desks and using that leverage to spear one of the guys onto the ground. 

The other charged towards me and I slide a desk in front of myself, before spinning away from that spot. He ran straight into the desk, crashing over it and knocking paperwork everywhere. I ran straight at Sycamore and faked a punch, causing him to flinch.

"Softy," I grinned, grabbing the laptop and ensuring the data drives were still intact, before running to the door. Misty was following, until the guy on the desk grabbed her shoulders. 

"Get off me you dolt," she used the word I used on her, swinging a foot backwards and into his groin. The guy, crippled by the pain, collapsed onto the ground.

"THE DATA!" Sycamore cried out. "STOP THEM!"

Suddenly, teachers and prefects were swarming us in the corridor. Each side seemed to be closed off. It seemed like we couldn't escape, but Misty had other ideas.

She yanked the laptop from me and threw it into my bag, before dumping her bag into my arms. 

"Follow me!" she ran straight into the crowd, using her arm as a sort of battering ram. The prefects blocked it and I thought it was all over, but I saw Misty glance at me and I realised what she was doing.

She was sacrificing herself for the data.

I nodded solemnly and jumped onto her back, planting my foot on it carefully. Then, using the momentum, I put all of my weight on that foot and launched myself over the crowd, with both of the bags and the data. As soon as this happened, Misty let herself get apprehended and I ran outside, towards the gate. Dawn and Ash were waiting, prefects chasing me from behind.

"Ash, Dawn, catch!" I yelled out, throwing Misty's bag over the fence. I couldn't throw mine with the laptop in, but I could climb the gate with ease. "I'm the best damn climber in this school!"

"How does he keep that ego up?" Dawn giggled. 

"I am not sure," Ash laughed at me too.

I hopped over the gate with absolute ease and we immediately started running away, but I wasn't even sure where we were going in the first place.

"Did we set up a rendezvous?" I asked the two as we sprinted. I noticed Dawn looked just like Miette, so I was right after all.

"Yup, just follow us," Ash replied and then he stopped suddenly, realising Misty wasn't here. 

"Where is Misty?" Dawn just noticed too. In the rush of getting away, they hadn't even realised. 

"She...they got her," I used this opportunity to catch my breath.

"Shit..." Ash murmured and sighed.

"Oh..." Dawn looked worried and she glanced at the floor.

"She sacrificed herself for the data, so we should just focus on what we have found first and then we can help her...unless something bad happens," I proposed that idea to them both and they seemed to sort of agree, but also not agree as anyone would want to save Misty in the given situation.

So we headed to the rendezvous point, not really knowing what to expect with the data we finally had. Well, we could now finally answer most of our questions and uncover the school for what it really is...whatever it truly may be. 

We were about to find out.

And then it would be time to rescue Misty.

One step at a time though, hmm?

That's how every plan becomes the perfect idea.