Alex laughed at me as he hung upside down from the monkey bars. I looked up at him from my position on the ground with a smirk.

"You're going to have all your blood flow to your brain, you know." I said in a scrutinizing manner.

He simply scoffed. "Please, Snow White. Do NOT bore me with you anatomy mumbo jumbo, today."

I gasped and shoved him playfully. He laughed his classical boyish laugh and shoved back.

"Don't be an ass." I smiled. A mischievous gleam grew in his eyes and I held up a hand as he opened his mouth to speak."Do NOT make any inappropriate jokes."

He huffed. "You're a real stick in the mud, aren't you?"

"It's a gift." I said, kissing his cheek. I leapt up and grabbed the monkey bars, pulling myself up so that I was sitting on top of them.

"You know," Alex began as he pulled himself up beside me, "All we ever do is sit on top of these monkey bars. We never run the actual course."

"Okay, so? I'm fine being lazy on my down time." I said.

"So, do you want to have a race?" Alex asked cheekily.

I scoffed and turned away. I was way too tired from physical education for this.

"Come on, Snow White. Please!" Alex begged, his green eyes sparkling with desperation.

I looked out over the course. It wasn't that bad. Just a couple of sets to go through. I pursed my lips in a thin line and sighed, leaping off of the monkey bars.

"One round." I said, walking over to the first set.

Alex grew a grin that resembled a toddler getting a new toy before he jumped down from the bars and followed behind me.

I got myself ready, flexing my fingers a bit and crouching down as I prepared to go.

"Ready to lose?" I asked with a small smirk.

Alex scoffed and looked over at me confidently. "I believe that's a question you should ask yourself."

I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Three...Two...One...GO!" Alex yelled, bolting off.

I was right on his heels, but Alex moved swiftly and fluidly, climbing up the climbing wall like he'd been doing it since birth.

He looked down at me as he got to the top and winked. "See you at the end, Princess." He smirked before dashing off.

I groaned and scrambled up to the top and launched myself over. Alex was a good ways ahead of me, but I still had a good chance if catching up, if I took the nets.

I dashed right as Alex went straight and I jumped onto one of the nets. This part of the course was made like interconnected spider webs and it was very easy to get yourself caught if you didn't navigate it right.

I sideways-climbed to the left and grabbed onto the next net, glancing over to see Alex preoccupied with swinging on the rope part of the course. I quickly climbed onto the next net and silently cursed as my foot got caught in a hole.

I hissed and tried to pull my foot loose and nearly lost my balance. I looked over to see Alex swinging to the next rope and groaned, yanking at my foot angrily. Still it refused to become free.

Alex's whoops of victory made me roll my eyes and give up, I let go of my foot and hung limply upside down, my eyes closed and defeat weighed upon me like an elephant on my chest.

"Hey babe, where are you?" Alex called. I could already see the smug smirk on his face.

"Over here!" I yelled out. I heard a snicker from below me and looked down to see Alex grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Yeah, ha ha, laugh it up." I said crossing my arms. Alex scurried up the nets right next to me and smirked at me.

"You know, not helping you down is always an option."

I scoffed at him and he managed to pull my foot free at last. "Don't bring this up ever." I threatened playfully.

"Which part? Me beating you or you getting your foot stuck?" Alex asked, obviously proud of both issues.

"Both."

"No can do, Snow White. You know that me winning gets me automatic bragging rights." Alex ran his hands through his hair and winked.

I frowned. "Fuck your bragging rights."

"You know, I'd much rather fuck-"

"Hey guys!"

I silently thank God for Skye's interruption and shove Alex with a smile. "What's up, Skye?"

"Mrs. Florence just called a mandatory meeting about the mission. It's important. Like really important."

It was then that I noticed Skye's grave expression. My smile melted and Alex and I exchanged a look. We quickly rushed after Skye as she led us to the meeting room.

Inside, it was chaos. People's worried voices surged into the air and merged together, muddling so I wasn't able to hear anything.

"What's happening?" Alex asked as we sat down.

"No clue." Victor said. "No one knows."

Suddenly Mrs. Florence walked to the front of the room and silenced everyone." Her expression was neutral but her eyes showed a completely different emotion.

"Alright, everyone," She began, "We have an...issue of sorts."

People began to murmur to each other again, but they were shushed by Mrs. Florence.

"Unfortunately, we'vereceived word that Dorian is doubling the security and defense measures on allof his shacks, facilities, and buildings. Taking down this lab is exceedingly imperativeto us and our mission. He's deploying his reinforcements tomorrow. So,unfortunately, that means, we're going to have to attack today to avoid anyunwanted conflictions."