Chase was in my room when I woke up. I reached for my hearing aids. I gave him a groggy nod when they powered on.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you need me to do?" Chase looked at me intently.

"About what? I'm actually really thirsty." My voice cracked to prove my point.

He nodded, got up, and came back with a glass of water. Monroe's voice came back.

Tell someone who cares about you that they should set up a camera in your bedroom to check on you after you get back to bed tonight. Imitate all the things that should be catching to build an alibi for tomorrow. If you need help with that contact us.

"Actually, Chase, I do need help with something."

He sat and listened. He didn't question me.

"I think we have a camera like that in the attic. I can set it up for you before we all head off for school."

"Thank you."

He got the camera. "If you do need it to play on loop—not that you would—I'm going to hit record. When you want it to stop and repeat, hold in "stop" and press play."

"Why do we even have this?"

Chase smiled. "You're not the only one who needs things like this. Now, I'm going to have to get everything ready to leave. Are you sure you're good?"

I nodded. "Thank you."

I took my hearing aids out, hit record, and waited for the house to clear. Chase didn't check in on me again. No one did. I tried to sleep again.

I must've succeeded because I didn't wake up until my old phone buzzed against my leg. I let out a big sigh, and pulled my head under the covers too look at it.

Chase, 7:20 am: We're officially out of the house. (Stay safe, sicko.)

I laid in bed for a while. I needed the camera to pick up enough footage to actually work.

I let my hand run over the smooth surface of the phone. I needed T. I needed her right then.

I waited as long as I felt like I could. I pulled up Monroe's contract. I hit the buttons Chase had told me to play it in a loop. I only hoped it would work. I set my bed up with the pillows in a general Sonnet-esk shape. I got dressed as quickly as I could and made my way to the trick window. It was dark and smelled just like it had the day before. I made it to the window at exactly 11:00 AM. My underclothes were cold for the April air, but it didn't matter. I practically ran to the drop spot, checking Monroe's messages for places to avoid.

The drop spot had the suit, as promised. I held it up. It looked like it would fit. I clutched it under my arm and made my way toward the DSUI. I was really doing it. My blood pumped and my heart beat was out of control. I was doing it. I was getting closer to T.

Outside the DSUI, I slid on a plain outfit. The pants were surprisingly well-fitting given Monroe's disclaimers. I slipped on the top and the lab coat. I looked like anyone else inside the office. I slid on the bag that'd been left on top of the bundle. I reached inside it. I felt something smooth. I pulled it out. It was an ID, but it was an image of a girl that looked not unlike me. They really had worked their magic.

I took a deep breath and walked into the agency. This would either work or it wouldn't, but I was going to try either way. The check-in robot took my ID with no issue. An escort popped out to take me to my floor. The 36th floor was my final stop. The escort took me to 36 without a question. I was glad. Sometimes places programmed their bots to carry on an unsolicited conversation. It wasn't like the robots got offended by non-responses, but ever since I was little, I couldn't stand the silence after the conversation.

The escort stopped at my floor. "Thank you," I smiled down at it.

It wheeled off without any sign of recognition. I took a deep breath. At this point, I was playing a guessing game. At least the security guard from the day before had given me a reasonable hint.

I moved toward the forbidden doors. I stood quietly. I'd never thought hearing was my strength, but it didn't hurt to stand and listen.

I looked at all the doors. They all looked remarkably similar. How did anyone navigate that place? It was a nightmare.

I spun around. I looked at a random door. Oh, why not?

I put my ID in the slot in the door. With a click, it popped open. I walked in. The door swang shut behind me. There was another reader inside. That didn't bode well.

I looked at the room at large.

"Welcome, Felicity." A robotic voice greeted.

Monroe had hooked me up with a sort of fake identity that at least matched with something. That was good. I guessed that I wouldn't fit as well with the real owner of the ID.

I walked to the center of the room. A hologram popped up ahead of me.

I was one of the best students in my grade. I could handle this. I took another deep breath.

"Floor layout, please."

"Loading floor layout." The voice assured me.

The hologram put a map of the floor on the plain white table in front of me. I peered over it.

I was in a part of the floor labeled "Support and research." Everything else had reasonable labels except the block of rooms labeled "higher security."

"Close floor layout."

"Closing. Would you like to see your assignments for today, Felicity?"

I'd scammed my way into having a job. That was about my luck.

"Yes."

The screen loaded a list of tasks.

"Check on the inhabitant in HS23."

That had to be... I smiled.

"Thank you."

The computer didn't respond.

"Save power."

The computer dimmed and faded out. It was too easy, but I didn't care. Perhaps I should've.

I made my way down the hall toward the HS block. The HS block has labels on official-looking plaques. My skin crawled. I took a deep breath.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I had to be in the view of a camera. I slid into a corner that was listed as safe on the map I'd gotten before.

Monroe, 1:52: All cameras are disabled.

That was good. My nerves were going to get the better of me. T was always the one who did the daring things. I played it safe. That's always what I'd done.

I ran my fingers on the engraved numbers. HS19. I was getting closer. I felt a rising dread. I walked slowly, not sure what I wanted to find until I came to my number.

Felicity scanned into the room. The door made it's click, barely let me in and slid back to a close. The room was blindingly white and clean. Harsh light came from the ceiling. I blinked.

I stared straight ahead. It was like I was staring through a dirty window.

"Welcome, Felicity." The same computerized voice said. Nothing about the place felt comfortable.

A stiff plastic bed was in the corner. My breath caught. T. I'd planned this conversation, but all words seemed lost.

"Don't be shy," came her rasping voice.

"I used up most of my courage to get this far."

She lifted up her head. She looked like she hadn't slept for more than a couple hours at a time.

"What is this?" I whispered, tentatively touching the divider.

"Who are you? I don't know any Felicity."

The divider rippled under my touch. I took a shuddering breath and stepped through it.

"I knew they had experimental technology here, but this, this is bad."

"Leave me alone." T turned to face the wall.

I gulped.

"T, look at me. I'm going to get you out here. That's why I'm here."

T's head turned back toward me. "Sonnet?"

"Yeah, it's me."

My phone buzzed again.

Monroe, 1:59: We're ready on your call.

"It's really, truly you?"

"Yeah, now listen. We need to go. I need to text the team when I find you. I'm going to text when you're ready to get going."

"The team is here?" She'd fully turned toward me.

"Yeah, T. And the surprising part is, most of it was Jamie."

"You and Jamie?" T started to laugh but ended up coughing.

"Listen, I'm going to change into my suit and mask. You'll be safe."

T nodded and slowly sat up. I grabbed the black suit. It was big, it was baggy. I slid into it. I was glad boots hadn't come with it. The white sports shoes fit well enough. I put the mask on.

"Who knew you were the scary one all along?"

"Is it on right?"

My voice came out deep, with a similar quality to Monroe's.

"Yeah," T nodded, looking sad. "It's on right."

Me, 2:12: Found her, coming to you now.

I smiled half heartedly at T. "Are you good to stand?"

"Give me your hand."

I reached out my gloved hand to her. She put most of her weight onto it. I wrapped my arm under her shoulders.

"I've got you. I've got you."

T nodded. "And do you have a plan to get through that divider?"

"Is there a way to shut it off?"

T laughed. "You're really doing this. I assume this is Monroe I have to thank?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Something always goes terribly wrong with Monroe's plans. They go alright, but there's always at least one hitch."

"T, you know I like you, but we need to get out of here. Soon."

"You don't need to tell me that. The thing is, I know that you can disable the forcefield, but they never told me how."

"Okay. Did they ever do it in front of you?"

"It was always someone outside of the room."

"Okay, we don't have time to find wherever the controls are. I'm going to try to find wherever the power is coming from."

"Okay. Are you going to carry me for that or...?"

"Can you stand on your own?"

T nodded.

If I had to guess, the power probably came from the ID scanner. I walked through the forcefield to the little scanner. I scanned in my chip.

"Felicity Roano, open door, open menu, or deactivate?"

I turned around to look at T. She was staring off into space.

"Deactivate."

The lights all powered down. The force field started to flicker. The scanner itself showed no signs of powering down.

"Powering down. Administrators have been contacted. Waiting for further approval."

"T, so, what exactly does this thing do?"

I ran over and let her put her weight on me again. The field was still flickering. "T, we're going to try to go through this."

She nodded.

✰ ✰ ✰

Mr. McShane frowned. "Excuse me. If any alarms go off, just stay put. Understand?"

"Wait, what's happening?"

Mr. McShane didn't answer. Alarms went off about 2 minutes after he left. He told me to stay put, but I didn't. Something was happening, and I was going to find out what.

The hallway was crawling with security. I walked past them. "What's going on?"

"Rebels."

I nodded and walked quicker. The announcements started.

"All available units to the lobby. Rebel unit has hostages."

Mr. McShane's voiced came on the speakers, smooth and calm as though he was right next to me. "All units above the 10th floor, come to me. All units below, try to contain the lobby situation."

How did anyone expect me to stay still? Something huge was happening.

I waited for the security to go down. I followed them, trying to stay out of the way until I could be more helpful.

A figure in black made their way down the hallway supporting a girl that looked awfully like—

"Surrender our inhabitant. Hands over your head. Knees on the ground."

"Fat chance," came a deep voice.

"We need more backup in the lobby. I repeat, we need more backup in the lobby."

"Does she mean more to you than the people below us?" The deep voice said.

"Why does she mean so much to you? I get the feeling this is personal." Mr. McShane said cooly. "You're surrounded. Looks like we're going to get two for the price of one."

I looked at the wall of DSUI security. It had to be over half of the building.

The rebel turned around.

"Who's that?" They stared right at me. Mr. McShane looked back.

"That seems kind of personal," the rebel continued.

The rebel held something up. "I think I broke a few things. ID's aren't supposed to do this, are they?"

I stared at the pulsing square in their hand. They threw it toward Mr. McShane and moved down the hallway. Security moved to Mr. McShane who was flat on his back.

"Get them!"

The rebel was at the end of the hallway. I caught the girl's eye. Tyena Laurenz. She recognized me.

"Bye, Rob!"

They turned the corner.

"Get them!" Mr. McShane shrieked. I ran after the pair. They could've gone any direction.

I stood dumbly as another announcement came. "The lobby is now under rebellion control until we recover our spies."