Emily's POV

My heart started thumping in my chest and I knew that Charles was not bluffing. I knew instinctually that his threats were real and there was no doubt that he was serious. Either we found a way to disarm this James Bond-like wall or else Charles would hurt someone on the other side. And the worst part? He was going to make us choose who that was.

There was no hearing anything unless Charles allowed us to. Regardless of the fact, I don't think I needed to hear anyone to understand how scared we all were. I was holding on to hope but it was fading fast. I tried to get a grip but every time I thought I got a good hold of it, it started slipping away and I would think about what would happen if Mona and Caleb couldn't do this.

I looked up and forced myself to look at my parents. My mom was crying, leaning as close as she could to my father who I could tell was trying his hardest to keep it together, to stay strong, and to be okay so my mom didn't have to be. He met my eyes and made a small nod, like he was trying to convince me that we were going to be okay.

I sucked in an unsteady breath and my mind drew me in again, pulling me into the recesses of my memory, uncovering another lost document of my past that was filed away and labeled unreachable...and it was all Charles' fault.

From what everyone has said, I was the one to get the least mad or upset about things, the one among the five of us that tried to reason and solve the issues in the most peaceful way possible. Charles had told me I was weak because of it, and that he did me a favor by putting me through all of this all these the years; he credited himself for making me strong.

I used to be peaceful. But there was no peace in my mind, I didn't even feel it in my heart. And even when we started the hunt for Charles, I was willing to consider finding a way to restore his humanity: turning him in, reinstating him to a mental institution and do the "right thing." But that's not what I was feeling right now. Right now, I was feeling red, hot, boiling anger. Underneath the minute feeling of empathy for a man that had lost his way, was a stronger, less subtle hatred for the sick coward that was behind all of this.

"We're going to figure this out Em," Caleb tried to coax.

I tried to say something to him nothing came. There was really nothing to say, either we pulled it off, or not.

"How much time do we have?" I finally managed to speak, my eyes glued onto everyone on the other side.

"About seven minutes," Caleb answered.

"And are we getting anywhere?"

Mona cleared her throat and made a small move towards me. I recognized it as a cue to come over and so I did, reluctantly pulling my aching eyes away.

I knelt onto the cold floor, "what is it?"

Mona looked up through the wall at Charles and swallowed hard, "he's good, but he's not the best. Charles bought that on the black market, and there's no records on it but it belonged to the government during testing and somehow was 'lost' during transport to an unnamed facility but, with Caleb's help," she lead off, "I," Caleb jumped in, "actually hacked into the NSA, which I'm sure I'll be getting arrested for as soon as the realize there was breach in their system."

"Okay, but what does this all mean."

"I seen the trade happen and we were able to verify the manufacturers of Charles' stupid wall. I used the vin number to trace where it's been and found out that it was made by some company LCorp. Where I hacked that too."

There was a growing energy about them and Caleb continued to whisper excitedly, hopefully out of Charles' earshot.

"We found it Em, we found a way through it."

"Okay, great, how, what are you waiting for?"

"Well these were originally for interrogating high-risk prisoners and getting in their heads so I don't think there's a way to actually get through it but we have an idea."

"Which is?"

Mona checked over my shoulder and craned her neck lower, bringing her voice with her, "each individual has over a million pixels on it, thousands of copper wiring and at least one microcomputer, which means we can hack it."

"And what is hacking it going to do? Can you program it to open up like 'open sesame'?"

"No but if we can hack into it, we can access the processing system that acts as the camera to display the desired image. And once we get into that, we can override it and write a virus to overload it with millions of images all at the same time. The microcomputers won't be able to handle the command or sort through it and the integrated wiring should overheat the entire thing, frying it from the inside."

"At which point," Caleb nodded at Toby, "the wall's tensile strength should be weak enough for a bullet to shatter the entire thing like regular glass."

It sounded great. It sounded like a plan, but they didn't seem that excited anymore.

"Okay," so I shook my head, "then why do I feel like there's a but involved?"

Mona and Caleb both looked at each other, "there's not enough time."

Alison's POV

I watched Emily and the others work frantically from the other side of the wall. When Charles gave them 5 minutes instead of 10, she crawled as close as possible and sat there, cross-legged and broken, looking at all of us with that crinkle above her brows, her fingers nervously playing with the others.

At this point my heart was already in the pit of my chest, but now, seeing the love of my life hurting, my heart just beat painfully, reminding me that every breath I was taking was counted and could be taken away in the blink of an eye. That my entire world, all 5 feet and 7 inches of beautiful mind, body, and soul that sat 15 feet away trying everything she could to save her family, to save me, could be taken away. Charles could rip every dream away from me in an instant because all I ever wanted was a life with Emily and now he was acting as if she was his, as if she was something to be had.

I struggled to orient the room each time I moved but I kept my eyes trained on her.

"C'mon Ali, stop being such a chicken."

"I am many things Emily, but a chicken is not one of them!"

"Sure, I'll believe that when you jump. Just jump already!"

My feet felt glued to the plank beneath me, toes slightly curled tight and my knees were locked.

"Em, you know I'm not the best swimmer," I groaned.

"Well of course not, because I am, but just jump already, I'll be right here if you need me."

"Promise?"

"Always."

When I opened my eyes, Emily's back was turned to me, all their heads huddled together over a laptop.

"Ali," Hanna's hoarse voice pulled my head in her direction.

I looked around and met her gaze, "Hanna? Are you okay?"

"We could ask you the same thing, how'd you get here?"

I winced as the binding dug deeper into my sensitive skin and turned as much of my body towards my friends and Em's parents as possible, "um, we tracked Charles down. After we left the hospital in Oregon, we came home. I went to Mona and we found Charles' record from Radley and we found Wren and god, my head is pounding-,"

"Okay, relax Ali," Spencer hushed me, "it's okay, they're going to figure this out."

I nodded and looked at all of them, all five of them were in this because of me.

"I'm sorry, all of you, I'm so sorry."

"What, Alison, stop. We don't blame you sweetie," Pam tried to console me. Em's dad was the first of the Fields to know and he accepted Emily's choice more graciously than Pam, and in midst of things it meant a lot to me to hear this from Em's mom. But just because they were willing to look past it, doesn't mean I was.

"But I blame myself. Charles is my brother, I decided to go after him alone the first time, and I knew how much Em loved me, I should've known she'd try to follow and all of you were just trying to come and get us, because of me, I can't let any of you get hurt, I'd never forgive myself, I knew Emily would come for me, she loved me-"

"Loves," Wayne corrected. His left eye was almost swollen shut and the corner of his mouth was covered in dried blood, and small smile playing at his mouth.

"What?" It could be real or it could've been all in my head, so I had to hear it again.

Mr. Fields coughed and I watched his stomach contract from the pain, "you said she loved you, and I'm correcting you, she loves you Alison. She just touched that godforsaken wall just to try and be closer to you, knowing that it would hurt, but you should have seen the look in her eye. She wouldn't have gotten so lost like that if she didn't care for you deeply."

So I did hear him right, but why?

"I could see it in her eyes before even she could, and I still it. The way she looked at you when you were together, and the way she was looking at you now is no different than the way she'd look after you when she thought no one else was paying attention."

"Mr. Fields, Emily's heart is the biggest I've ever known and seen, her love is the purest there could be, but I can't allow her to get hurt because of me."

"I'm afraid that's a choice that you alone can't make for the two of you, that girl on the other side of the room there is my daughter, I know her. Whatever she loves she'll fight for, and I'm telling you she loves you. And your friends are smart, they'll figure this out."

"Oh how touching, it's amazing what lies desperation produces in dire times. Oh Ali, c'mon sis, you can't seriously be buying that garbage, don't they know the truth? That dear little Emily doesn't have her memory? She can't possibly know that she loves you, especially not enough to endure more pain."

"You keep my daughter's name out of your mouth," Wayne shouted, an anger snarl on his face. "Why don't you untie my hands and fight me like a man?"

"A man? You mean a savage? There are more ways to beat a man than with a fist. And in a few minutes you're going to see exactly what I mean."

"Don't you dare."

"Or what," he spat, venomously. "Don't forget who's in charge here, I have all the control. I decide what happens next, and I think it'd be in everyone's interest if you kept that in mind."

Charles walked over, closer to us and I was disgusted at how much he looked like Jason, how much he resembled my family, and even more disgusted with the fact that he had my family all here with him now, pulling the strings, like we were his puppets.

Just then, he snickered and crouched down, leveling his eyes with mine, "ah sweet baby sister-"

"Don't you dare call me that," I spat in his face, watching with hard eyes as he wiped it and forced a closed-lipped smile.

"I could be good to you Ali. You and I can still be a family you know."

He was trying to get in my head, I know this was just the beginning.

"Over. My. Dead. Body." I managed to keep my voice low and controlled, and my teeth clenched; masking the terror that kept and bubbled inside of me.

"Careful sis, that might be sooner than you think," he almost sang as he dug around in his pocket for a small device with 7 switches on it.

I kept from asking what it was, but he caught my eyes on it, teasing it in front of my face.

"You see this? This is one of my favorite new toys and do you want to know why?"

He stood up and walked back, looking at all of us.

"It's like the panel of switches and buttons you all used in our first dollhouse. You know, where I had all your pretty faces on it, and you were strapped to an electric chair – you all were. You should all remember this game right? You had till the time ran down to choose who got a little shock, if you didn't choose, then you would get it."

He paced in front of us, back and forth, "you have to remember that right Hanna? Aria? Spencer, surely you and all your smarts has not forgotten. Or," he waved the switchbox in his hand, "should I remind you all what that burst of energy felt like?"

Beside me, Hanna and the others squirmed, he made us all play, and each day since we were rescued, it haunted all of us, wondering if the others knew what we did…and we had been given our answer.

"Although to be completely transparent, when I pulled you in to decide, I never really had any of the other girls there, I just wanted to watch how easy it was for all of you to betray and hurt someone you claimed to love so easily."

"You motherf-,"

But it was too late for Hanna, Charles had pressed a button and her body went ramrod straight and in the corner of my eye, I could Caleb across the room screaming but drowned out completely. I could tell he wanted to hit the wall, but from what Charles said, it could kill them.

"Stop, Charles please, don't hurt them."

But he wasn't listening, everyone was screaming and Hanna's eyes started to roll back, "HURT ME!"

That got his attention. He turned only his neck to me and held the switchbox in his hand up, releasing one of the buttons. Hanna's body slumped as far as it could down the wall and he chest heaved in pain, barely moving at all. But she was okay for now.

A red, tear streaked face that belonged to Caleb shook and called to her. And I bet he would've stood there yelling her name until she woke up if not for the two pairs of hands that grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back.

"Charles," I said somewhat breathlessly, "you don't have to do this."

"I'm sorry but I think you've missed the point. I do have to do this, and I will."

"No," I said quickly, trying my best to keep my voice low. The other side could still hear us even if we couldn't hear them. I had to think on my feet.

"No?"

"No," I confirmed, "you don't. What if there was another way? A way to, get back at me and still have everything you ever wanted. That's what you really want, right? To hurt me? To get revenge…but I know – I know you. I know you still want to be a family. That's why it's hard for you to do this right?"

I had to keep going, I could see the hard edges soften ever so slightly, intrigued, and thinking about what I was saying.

"Alison," Aria warned me, "what are you doing? You can't – "

"Yes," I looked at her, hoping to see in my eyes that she had to be quiet, that they all did. I was trying to buy the others as much extra time as I could. And the only way to do that was to believe what I was saying to convince Charles.

But to convince myself, I had to drown their protests out.

"Ali, can I tell you something?" Emily whispered to me and I turned to face her, watching as she started nervously around the tent at everything but me.

"Em, of course, just tell me."

"I just want you to know something."

"Okay, what is it?" She finally looked at me and scooted closer to me. The tent we were staying in for this camping trip was big enough for 6 people, but everyone had brought their own. One for every couple.

She unzipped her sleeping bag and sat up, I followed her lead and did the same.

"Em, don't scare me, is everything okay?"

"Yes, of course, sorry, I'm not trying to scare you, don't be scared," she laughed nervously and I followed suit again.

"Well then, spit it out."

"Okay okay," she sighed, "I just want you to know that I'd do anything for you, you know that right?"

I had no idea where this was coming from, so I asked her.

"Nowhere in particular, I was just thinking you know…I have loved you for a very long time, and I don't know, being with you finally has made me happier than I've ever been and I think you should know that I would do anything I could for you."

My heart swelled and I closed the distance between us, my lips melded perfectly against hers, both warm and soft and smooth. Gentle against mine, but violently taking the breath from my lungs. My hands rested on either sides of her neck, making their way down her back to pull her closer to me.

Emily pushed me back gently until I fell against my pillow and she straddled me, breaking the kiss to toss her hair over one shoulder and kiss me back.

"Emily."

"Hmm?" She hummed against my neck.

"I'd do anything for you too."

"Good, now shutup and kiss me."

"I'd do anything…you wanted." I grimaced as little as I could, the words tasting like bile in my mouth.

"You're lying!" He started to walk away, so I tried harder.

"NO! I'm not, I promise. Look at me, Charles look at me. You know what I love the most." What I didn't say was who.

I focused any leftover energy on not looking at the chocolate brown eyes that were searching for mine. She could hear me now. They all could hear everything.

"I'd do it Charles. I've disappeared before, I can do it again. We can do it together. Yeah," I kept going, thinking about ways to tell him everything he wanted to hear.

"I'm listening." He stopped where he was and turned on his heels to face me.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Emily shaking her head, looking confused and hurt and trying to get me to look at her. But I couldn't.

"You want to hurt me, but if you hurt them, then nothing you could do would matter to me, and you'd hate that. You want to see me suffer every day and you can do that, there's another way. By letting them live…without me! Let them go and you and I can leave, you can watch me wanting to be with them and you can go away knowing that they'd never find me, not again, you're too smart Charles. Today was a…mistake! Yeah, it was all a mistake, they think they outsmarted you but you let them find you, you wouldn't let them do it again though right?"

"I make the rules." He said to himself so much to anyone else.

"You make the rules Charles, you make the games that only you can beat. You can take me with you and I'd be your family, I'd have no choice, because my family is all gone now, they're all here and you could hurt me by leaving them here without me. C'mon think about it. You would be a better brother than Jason."

At that, something inside him snapped. He started pacing and his hands clenched into fists at his side, "brother, she called me brother," he whispered barely loud enough for me to hear. "Run away, let them live, no let them die, make them suffer…make her suffer, leave them here, without her, with me…family, brother," he murmured a string of nonsense and started butting the heel of his hand to the side of his head, "think," he growled.

"She's lying, no she's not. She's playing with my head, my head, MY HEAD!" He stopped pacing and put the control box in his jacket. Shoving his hands in his hair and squeezing, pulling his hair at the roots, leaning his head back and rotating his neck, his fingers deftly scratching his scalp.

"You're lying to me," he said angrily.

"No, I'm not Charles, I pro-,"

"You promise? Ha, well Mommy promised too. She said she'd come back and get me out. Daddy promised that he wouldn't be mad when he found me, but he told Mommy. Jason promised me we'd be brothers forever and then they brainwashed him! He forgot about me. They all forgot about me."

"But I won't Charles."

"LIARS! All of you. Liars, you all lie, liars must die, you all lie, liars, liars, LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR!" He started to scream and shake and he turned into something else, someone else.

"Come here Charles, time to take you medicine. Mommy can't love you if you don't take your medicine. I promise you can come home soon. Charles be a good boy, I know you didn't do anything wrong, Mommy believes youuu." He mocked in a different voice, trying his best to make it sound like our mother.

"Mommy was a liar. Liars lie and liars must die."

"No Charles, you don't have to-"

His voice got incredibly deep and echoed along the walls, "LIARS MUST DIE!" A rage filled his eyes, his pupils blown out and left eye slightly twitched.

"Mommy lied, so Mommy died. Charles made Mommy die. I made CeCe kill her for me. She was a liar."

CeCe?

"CeCe did it?"

"You know she did, no more games." And like a switch, Charles was under control again…for now.

And as if to indicate as much, he cleared his throat and fixed his suit jacket, standing straighter, chin up, back straight, eyes no longer distant, but still just as cold as before.

"Speaking of games, I do believe it is time to see if you so-called friends are ready to play…after all, it is their turn."

I grit my teeth and struggled against the binds again, "if you so much as touch a hair on her head I swear to God-,"

"God," he scoffed, "oh, Ali, there is no God for people like you and I; your threats fall on deaf ears."

My hands clenched and I would give anything to have them free so I could strangle the last bit of breath out of him.

I threw my head back, intentionally hitting it against the wall in frustration. The pain distracted me briefly, until I brought my head down and made the mistake of looking up.

And my eyes went where they always have, straight to her.

Emily's POV

I assumed that everything Alison said was a ruse – that her plan, was just that, a plan to trick Charles. But she sounded so convincing.

"She has to be," Ezra tried to comfort me, no doubt that what I was thinking might has well been written on my face, and he continued, "to get him to trust her and to buy us time."

Just like her first plan in the first place, to find Charles alone. She had been convincing then too. She broke my heart then.

"Where are we now?" I tore my eyes away and tried my best to drown out their voices too – her voice was dragging me with her.

Caleb looked up, droplets of sweat forming on his face, "I don't know if we'll make it in time, it's going to be close."

"How close is CLOSE?!"

Mona stood up and bit her lip, just to release and say, "we'd go a lot faster if you weren't hounding us every 30 seconds, honestly Emily we're doing the best we can, so just-," she looked around for the words before bursting out, "lay off!"

I swallowed hard and nodded, "okay, I'm sorry."

I took a deep breath and sat down, cross-legged.

My name is Emily Fields. My dad's name is Wayne. My mom's name is Pam. I went to Rosewood High. I used to be a swimmer. My girlfriend's name is Alison. This is not a nightmare, this is real. I was in an accident. I lost most of my memory. I get flashes. Some of them I'm getting back. I will be whole again. I will be whole again.

I will be whole again.

I will.

One day.

No One's POV

Charles checked the time on his watch and smirked to himself. He was winning, and rightfully so.

I will always win, I make the rules, I make the games, I will always win. He thought to himself, watching as Caleb and Mona scrambled to come up with a way to beat him. And behind him, his sister sat among her friends and her girlfriend's parents, helpless.

Still, the sound of her voice making an offer – that offer, rung loud and clear in his head. To him, Alison sounded like their mother, too calm to show any real emotion, words too planned to own any conviction. But her eyes – Alison's eyes – were nothing like their mother's. Not anymore.

Charles dropped his head and stared at Alison through the corner of his eye. She's made you weak sis, they all have. You've gone soft on me. You'll be of no use to me now.

He looked up, wondering what the others seemed to be going on about, thinking to turn the sound on but remembering that he was going to deprive Alison of hearing her sweet Emily's voice…not until she was crying in pain.

"Oh would you look at that, you know what they say now, time really does fly by fast when you're having fun."

Charles watched as Toby looked up, eyes narrowed, fingers flexing into fists.

"Oh Mr. Cavanaugh, why the long face, aren't you having fun?"

Toby merely set his jaw and took a few steps closer, half a foot away from the wall.

"Charles if this wasn't between us, your ass would be paying for this."

But nothing fazed Charles, "and you all call me the monster? I've just been trying to have a little fun with you all, and all you've done is insult me and make threats. Now I don't think that's very nice, what about you?"

"What's nice is that when we get the wall down, there will be nothing to protect you from me."

Toby stood straighter and leaned even closer. Charles, amused, leaned in further too, asking in a condescending tone, "well if you're not having fun, maybe I should ask Spencer?"

At this, Toby went ramrod straight. Everyone else had heard it too.

"Don't you dare."

Charles bared his teeth, white and perfect, and nodded childishly, "but look at her, she looks so bored, and if you're not having fun, maybe she can have enough fun for the both of you?" He held the switch box up in the air and placed his hand under his chin, "hmm, now if I can just remember which button was for Spencer…hmm."

"You hurt her and I won't be sending you to jail. I'll be sending you to the morgue, and no one will care that you're dead," Toby spat coldly.

But again, Charles was unfazed, until it appeared as if a lightbulb went off above his head. Snickering and holding a pointer finger straight up, he exclaimed, "that's right, it was this one!"

And just like with Hanna, Spencer's body jolted violently, and went stiff as she gritted her teeth through the pain, until she released a blood curdling scream. Breath coming ragged and deep as his finger released the button.

Her forehead was adorned in beads of sweat and Toby was standing motionless, waiting for Spencer to look at him.

"Spencer, no, I'm sorry."

And even though Spencer could hear a word he was saying, she could tell just by the sad expression in his eyes that he blamed himself. She also knew that she could be heard, even if Toby couldn't be.

"It's okay," she breathed out loud, "it only tickled," she laughed with a sharp stabbing sensation in her side, "a little."

Toby reached his hand up to place against the wall but was stopped just in time by Emily.

"Trust me, it's not that fun."

But he was so wrapped up in the fact that he was so close yet still so helpless. It was the worst feeling he could ever imagine. All he wanted was to rub the roughened pads of his thumbs across Spencer's cheeks, and hold her in his arms, and never let go.

"We need to get them out," he said as he backed away slowly, "we need to get them out NOW!"

"I'm trying everything," Caleb shot out, "this isn't like hacking into some old computer for Geek Squad! There are firewalls after firewalls, encryptions written that I've never seen before. If there was a way to do this faster, I would've done it already. It's not like all of these are connected. I can't just take one down and boom," he gestured with his hands, "the freaking domino effect happens."

Mona sat up straight at that, "wait, that's it."

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Caleb you're a genius! You got it."

"Mona, are you having a psychotic break? I got what?"

She set her tablet down and scooted closer to him, huddling us all together, "you said that it's not like all of the firewalls are connected and you're right but what did I say that every single panel had in it?"

"Well what we're mainly focused on is the microcomputers."

"Exactly. Look around, do you see any ports or wires that has our barrier 'plugged in'?"

"No," Caleb was starting to catch on, "it's wireless."

"This is amazing and all," Ezra spoke up, "but for the rest of us, do you care to fill us in on why stating the obvious is helpful to us right now?"

"It's so simple it's stupid. This – this 'wall'," he air quoted, "displays images using an internet connection. Now for it's intended users, they'd have their own server room and own internet access just for that. The shit I'm dealing with now would be a piece of cake. However, Charles didn't know that, therefore this wall is connected to whatever network Charles has been using."

"The cameras," Emily stated, "so they are all connected after all."

"Sort of," Caleb's mind was reeling, his hands poised over his laptop, a slight shake in his wrists, "the only thing is that hacking this wall through wi-fi is basically like opening up a doggie door for an elephant to crawl through. Once I get in, dozens of firewalls and pop ups are going to open and it could potentially shut down."

"That's a good thing, then."

"No Em, it's not. If that wall turns off, then there's a snowball's chance in hell that we'll be able to break through to the other side."

"I don't care, just do it already. An elephant doesn't need a doggie door to get to the other side of the wall, it just needs to charge at the wall and break through it."

Sighing deeply and sitting up straighter, "you're right Em-,"

"Well, I knew you'd start having fun now Cavanaugh," Charles said with so much charm, it was no wonder he kept getting what he needed from people – he was believable, "because look at the time!"

Charles faced Toby's side of the wall and then deadpanned, "95 seconds left."

There it was again, that split second where Charles assumed another one of his identities, dropping the one before for later.

Emily's POV

We're going to do this, I thought. But it was hard to think straight – it felt like every time I blinked, I got a flash of my life playing behind my eyelids. They were mixed up: glimpses of my childhood, dad leaving to be stationed overseas, mom forcing me to make empanadas with her even though mine always came out wrong, moving to Rosewood, meeting each of the girls, trying out for swim, getting my first job. They flashed and shimmered in front of me yet I didn't feel like I owned them. They didn't feel like mine.

It was like I watched movies where I was the star. I searched and could recall these images but I couldn't feel them. It was like walking up to a mirror expecting to be able to touch my face just by touching the glass.

I don't know the kinds of things I would think about before all of this happen but I'm sure I never imagined what it would feel like to be a stranger in my own body.

I would've kept thinking about this but Mona excitedly jumped from where she was kneeling, and yanked at the collar of Caleb's shirt, whisper-yelling something about whatever they were doing.

I ran over immediately, "what? What is it?"

But I was ignored as they tapped furiously at their tablets. I searched Toby and Ezra's eyes for answers but Ezra merely wrapped his arms around my shoulder and pushed me gently behind him and Toby.

"Stay behind us Emily."

"Mona, we're running out of time."

"I know, I'm almost through. I just need-,"

"Regardless of what you need, you have 30 seconds. And I'm not daring to test Charles on his word right now."

"I know," she hissed, beads of sweat I didn't notice before starting to slide down the side of her face with a few beads poised above her brow.

"I know," she repeated, to Caleb, "I know," she repeated to herself.

Caleb opened his laptop, "if I did this right, as soon as you get in, I should be able to control the electrical circuiting to the entire wall."

"Well there can be no ifs."

I peered over Toby's shoulder just as he cocked the hammer to the gun back and readied it in his right hand down at his side.

"What are you planning on doing with that?"

He barely even flinched a muscle when I spoke to him, his eyes trained hard and steady at the barrier in front of us.

"When the time is right, I'm going to blast that wall to pieces and then do the same to Charles."

This was it, I was counting down in my head, just reaching 5 seconds, watching from a distance as Charles flexed his fingers over the control in his hand.

"Looks like time is up," he smirked.

"Now," Mona yelled just in time for me to watch Caleb bring his hand down harshly over some keys.

I had just enough time to see the shock and…fear? in Charles' face before the wall seemed to hum and then silence. Charles said something but we couldn't hear him and our faces said as much.

"What just happened?" I asked trying to get around the men in front of me. Ezra held me again, "it's for your own good, we can't afford to have you get hurt again."

Something of a growl escaped my lips before Mona came to join me, "we did it Em, he can't hear us. We got in."

I looked up and could see the anger start to boil under the surface of his skin, it made mine go cold.

"What next, we have to get inside, we have to get through!"

"Caleb is in control, all he has to do is plant a virus in the system, the sensors that deliver the electric shock with over heat, the computer chips will begin to get extremely hot and assuming the entire thing is made up of some sort of polycarbonate, the heat will make it more permeable."

"English, what the hell does that-,"

"It'll get so hot that we can shoot our way through."

Just then Charles started to bang at the wall, a snarl settled perfectly at his mouth.

"Caleb," Mona asked nervously, "how much longer."

"It's taking right now, the virus is working, at the rate of infection and the amount of hardwiring in this…go Toby, go now!"

Mona turned around and covered her ears, Caleb and Ezra both raised their arms as a shield, but I stayed frozen. This. This was it.

Toby raised his arm, right at Charles and the familiar sound of a gunshot went off.

Followed by the sound of cracking glass under pressure.

Charles moved in what looked like slow motion.

Another gunshot.

The sound of glass shards falling like rain.

Then I heard them. I heard them all.

But not before Charles got to one of them first.

x-x-x-x-x

AN: wow it's literally been almost half a year since my last update I think and I won't ramble on for too long, but this break was really about me finding myself again and finding a way to reinvest myself in this. It took me extra long because I had to get back into the headspace I was in when writing this, I almost had to relearn what I wanted to happen in this story. Not to mention the fact that – idk – I really had a hard time remembering what it felt like to do something that I love…for myself…I want to talk more about it, because I love you all and I think starting conversations about issues in our society is how things get solved.

Anyways I hope you aren't too mad about this cliffhanger as well, I swear I have a blank document up and ready and I'm writing the next chapter as you are reading this. I'm so excited to be on summer break and have some free time to get back to this and my other stories. I appreciate all the loyal and patient supporters I've had over the years, you know who you are. I started this story when I was in a very dark headspace – emotionally, mentally, even physically – and I'm ending it soon on what I feel like is a touch of happiness that I've finally found in myself. I hope this resonates with the last few chapters and gives (for those of you who like them) a happy ending to my favorite (published) story.

BRB, Lina

P.S. let me know who you think Charles got to first! *gasp*