A/N: Well, I think it's ABOUT TIME I wrote a Mysterious Benedict Society fic, seeing as it's one of my all time fave books series~! But anyway, I heard that the 4th book is coming out this fall and was inspired to revisit my favorite ship and endlessly hope that there's some cute moments between them in the new book (there probably won't be but I can still hope, right?) I digress. Anyway, read and enjoy friends xD

It wasn't the first time that they'd all been in danger. The older they got the more involved they became in the plight to stop the treacherous affairs of the Ten Men, and nine times out of ten they were successful.

But there was still that one time out of ten in which they were not.

The children of the Mysterious Benedict Society (if they could even be called children anymore—Kate was seventeen and Reynie and Sticky were only a few months behind her, and even Constance was maturing in one way or another), had been asked by Mr. Benedict to help infiltrate a secret meeting the Ten Men were planning to conduct. They all knew the devious men were up to something, and Mr. Benedict wished to know exactly what before they apprehended all of them again, and so he requested the children's help seeing as Milligan was on a separate mission at a classified location somewhere across the sea.

In the beginning the operation had gone smoothly enough. The Ten Men were meeting in an old warehouse by the docks in Stonetown Harbour ("How stereotypical can you get?" Kate said earlier in response to hearing where the hideout was), and Kate and Reynie had successfully slipped inside disguised as mundane dock workers. Their job was to quickly bug the place and then disappear before they were spotted while Constance and Sticky were in the next warehouse over, where they had set up all the equipment they needed in order to listen in and record the conversation. Kate and Reynie were to join them once their part of the plan was completed.

It was supposed to be simple and easy; if everything went well the Ten Men would reveal their nefarious plans and then all be locked up behind bars before they could enact it, and the Mysterious Benedict Society would remain victorious once again. Yet things started going sideways once the Ten Men began showing up early before Kate and Reynie could finishing bugging the place.

"Kate! Reynie! People are heading inside the building," Sticky's voice crackled over the comms they all wore hidden in their ears, his nervous tone evident despite the static. "I think it's—what's that, Constance? Okay, yeah, she says it's definitely Crawlings and a few others. You need to get out of there!" he shouted at them.

"What?" Reynie replied, horrified. His heart began to speed up. The information they'd obtained said the meeting wasn't supposed to be for another half hour!

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Sticky kept repeating frantically, but even as Kate and Reynie began rushing for the entrance, they could hear the all too familiar voices of the Ten Men coming their way.

"No time," Kate whispered, grabbing ahold of Reynie's arm and jerking him the other way instead. "Sticky, we're gonna have to stay. We'll hide in here and hopefully won't be seen."

"But where can we hide?" Reynie asked, all too aware of the voices growing louder as the Ten Men moved farther into the building.

"Up there," Kate pointed at the rafters above them with a grin. In a matter of a few seconds, she had expertly scaled the sides of the warehouse and perched herself on the metal beams before tossing down her rope to Reynie. Reynie climbed as quickly as he could and precariously settled himself beside her, the large light that illuminated the warehouse swinging in place from a few feet behind them. He had better balance and agility than he'd had when he was younger, but his skills still paled in comparison to Kate's.

"But Kate, what if—?"

"Sorry Sticky, we gotta go dark. They're here," Kate whispered. Sticky let out an anxious moan but understood and said no more.

The Ten Men gathered directly below them, pulling out empty crates littered around the warehouse to sit on as they all placed their briefcases by their feet on the floor.

"Don't. Make. A. Sound," Kate mouthed at Reynie. Reynie felt like her reminder was unnecessary—it wasn't like he was going to start purposefully making noise so that they'd be seen—but he nodded anyway. They often found themselves in risky situations like this one, so he wasn't too worried.

Just as long as none of the men glanced high above them, that is.

The Ten Men began their discussion, but they were uncharacteristically quiet. Kate and Reynie had to strain their ears to hear what was being discussed, but still only caught occasional words such as "weapon", "dangerous", and "almost ready". Kate and Reynie exchanged uneasy looks. They had placed a few bugs on the crates the men were sitting on, so Constance and Sticky should've been hearing the secret meeting loud and clear.

Reynie instead focused on the men, and noticed that a few of them were carrying actual guns, not just their briefcase weapons. He decided that was bad news, seeing as the men were now even more dangerous and deadly than before.

Crawlings was currently talking, and all the other Ten Men were giving him their undivided attention. All of them except McCracken, that is. Reynie watched the big man with a frown. McCracken was simply staring hard at the middle of the wall opposite him, but when Reynie looked he saw nothing but shadows. Beside him Kate silently tossed her ponytail over her shoulder, and at that exact moment the shadow on the wall moved. Reynie blinked, and then noiselessly raised his hand above his head. The shadow on the wall raised its hand, too.

Reynie had to bite his tongue to refrain from groaning as he realized several things at once.

They were the shadows on the wall and McCkracken had seen them, meaning they were compromised, and most importantly, in imminent danger.

Reynie bent so close to Kate his lips brushed her ear. "He knows," he breathed, hardly daring to move. "The light behind us? It's casting our shadows on the wall and he's seeing them move."

He could feel Kate tense up beside him as she no doubt realized the trouble they were in, just as McCracken interrupted Crawlings and motioned for him to stop speaking.

Sticky's voice quietly began speaking in their ears."Kate, Reynie, I know it's risky to respond, but the meeting's stopped. McCracken said something about it being unsafe because of spies. I think you should get out—now."

"Copy that, Sticky. Also, get the emergency extraction plan ready just in case," Reynie replied as loudly as he dared.

"Time to go," Kate whispered a second later, grabbing her rope. She turned to Reynie. "I'm going to swing down and take them all by surprise. That'll give you enough time to climb down and make a beeline for the exit. I'll be right behind you, and then make sure you lock the door once I'm outside." She winked at him.

"What? No, I can't let you—" Reynie began to protest, but Kate had already flung herself off the rafters into the midst of the Ten Men.

"Hello, boys," she said cheerfully, before beginning to dodge the weapons they started pelting at her.

Reynie had no time to watch her though, as spectacular as her actions and maneuvers were. He quickly descended from the rafters and snuck to hide behind some of the crates still piled up in the centre of the room. From where he was he had a perfect path to the exit. He was just about to make a run for it when he heard a small click from beside him.

Very carefully, he turned his head toward the sound and saw McCracken standing there on Reynie's right, yet the Ten Man hadn't even noticed him. He was facing the opposite way.

And aiming a gun straight at Kate.

"Time to end this once and for all," the man growled. "Just need you to stand still…"

For a second Reynie was frozen, unable to imagine just what might happen if McCracken pulled the trigger on Kate—who hadn't even noticed she was being targeted yet. As quick as Kate was, she wouldn't be able to dodge a bullet, especially if she didn't see it coming, and just the thought of living in a world without Kate Wetherall left an ache so intense inside of him he could hardly see straight. He had to do something. He had to stop him, he had to—

"Reynie! Kate!" Sticky shouted through his earpiece, causing Reynie to jump. "The emergency extraction plan is ready! We called the law enforcement and they have the warehouse surrounded, just get out of there and—"

Sticky's news caused Kate to still briefly as she listened to what he said, which unfortunately gave McCracken just the opening he was looking for.

"Bye bye, little ducky," he grinned maliciously, and pulled the trigger.

Kate heard the sound, the loud crack of the bullet and the intense ringing as it echoed off the metal walls of the warehouse, and whipped around in shock. Her hands flew across her body, searching for the bullet and trying to see if it had hit her or if by some stroke of luck had missed, but her rapid movements stilled once her brain registered the sight before her.

McCracken was standing there, his gun aimed straight at her head, looking surprised but mildly annoyed, and then there at his feet was Reynie.

Reynie, who had jumped in front of McCracken's gun and taken the bullet intended for her.

Kate barely had time to react even if she wanted to. At that moment the doors to the warehouse flew open and the police came rushing in, guns of their own pointed at the horde of Ten Men. McCracken was distracted just long enough for Kate to fly at him and knock the gun out of his hand. With one fierce kick to his midsection she sent him sprawling to the floor, and then placed her foot on his chest as her knuckles rained down fury upon his face. She couldn't stop herself. Her hands were flying out of her control, and the only thing she could think was how dare you hurt Reynie, you monster! But then someone grabbed her and pulled her off of the man—whose face now resembled a bloody Picasso portrait—but Kate wretched herself out of their grasp, her blind rage beginning to fade. She vowed to finish dealing with McCracken later, but at that moment she had a new objective: find Reynie and make sure he wasn't…

She couldn't bare to finish formulating the thought. Instead she pushed through the crowd of police officers and EMT's that had surrounded her friend.

"Reynie! Reynie!" she cried, nearly body slamming an officer to the side in order to kneel by her friend. Kate was hardly one to panic, but when she saw Reynie lying there, eyes closed and skin ashy pale, with a pool of blood staining the centre of his shirt—

"No, no, no, no," Kate whispered, reaching for him with shaking hands. It was all she could say, over and over again, as she prayed for this nightmare to end. This couldn't be happening. This had never happened before, and of all the people for it to happen to…

"Miss...you need to let go. Miss. Miss, please."

Kate barely registered that the voice was speaking to her, until someone began to gently pry her fingers off of his arm. "No, no, no," her cry continued, only more defiant this time. They couldn't take Reynie away from her, she wouldn't let them. This was all her fault, and she needed to make sure he was okay.

"Miss, he needs a doctor. We're taking him to the hospital," the officer told her, tugging at the iron grip she had on Reynie's arm. Kate finally relinquished her hold once his words registered in her brain. Reynie needed help, and a doctor was who they needed, not her. With great reluctance she backed away, watching as though in a daze as the EMT's lifted Reynie onto a stretcher and took him away. For a second Kate didn't know how to breath. What would happen if he didn't make it? He couldn't die, not for her.

"It was supposed to be me," Kate breathed, but no one heard her or even paid her any attention. All at once it hit Kate harder than a ton of bricks that she would've died that night, had it not been for Reynie. If he had only escaped like she told him to, it would be her lying on the ground, a bloody bullet hole above her heart. But instead he had stayed, and quite possibly sacrificed his life for hers.

Despite her physical endurance Kate's knees buckled beneath her, and for the first time that night, hot, bitter tears coursed down her cheeks as she finally succumbed to the torrent of emotions building up inside of her. She cried because of the cruelty of the Ten Men, and for the ugliness of the weapons they used. She cried because of the injustice in life, and how unfair it was for someone so kind and so good to be so hurt. She cried for the future, and for how much not knowing the unknown scared her. And above all, she cried for her friend that'd been willing to give up his life in exchange for hers, and the fact that she may never see him alive again…

(A/N: Don't worry there'll be a part two...or three...;)