

SpyCam:

The Android Attack

# By Zoe Wynns
Stop Right Here! This book is the second in a series. If you haven't read the first book, SpyCam: The President Plot, you can download it from this link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734413

## Or search the name on the iBook store. It will be made free once this book is published, for your pleasure and understanding. This book will make more sense and be more enjoyable if you've already read the first.

### Praise for Zoe Wynns

"Zoe Wynns is a talented young writer who is off to a terrific start with SpyCam: The President Plot. This is an entertaining and well-paced read, driven by spirited 14-year-old Cam and her plucky BFF, Stella. Zoe's novel has suspense, adventure and a lot of heart — a combination that will leave readers eager to take more fictional journeys with Cam and crew!"

—Tracie Fellers (fiction and nonfiction author with work in Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-Five of North Carolina's Finest Writers, and 27 Views of Raleigh)

"Zoe Wynns is an amazing author. Her first two books were well written and interesting. I have read Journey to the End five times. Her book, Flicker, Fade, Soar, that I recently just finished, was awesome. This new book is obviously another masterpiece. Keep going Zoe!"

-Caleb McLamb (CEO of M-Tech)

"Zoe Wynns has done it again. Her SpyCam books are the sort of chair-gripping page-turners that grab you at the prologue and continue to hold on after the final page has been read. But it's not only the 394 unexpected plot twists that make her writing impossible to put down; her characters, too, are unforgettable. Whether it's selfless Cam, spunky Stella, or power-crazed Shardstorm, Zoe's characters don't just come alive off the page -- they jump out at you with every witty remark or infamous almost-kiss, throwing confetti into the air (or in Shardstorm's case, bombs). In short? Zoe's novels are the rare, wonderful kind that will touch your heart and stay there forever."

-Luna Hou, winner of Wake County's annual Teen Poetry Contest

### This version of SpyCam has been updated in 2019, but I have left the original message to readers below.

### I am fourteen years old. SpyCam: The Android Attack is my fourth self-published book. Feel free to send me feedback if you find a mistake in the book, but know that I tried my best, worked very hard on the book, and I am very proud of the final novel. Thank you for downloading or purchasing this book.

### If you enjoy this book, feel free to download my three other self-published books. Journey to the End is available on Kindle, iBooks, and Smashwords. Flicker, Fade, Soar is available on iBooks and Smashwords. SpyCam: The President Plot is available on iBooks and Smashwords as well.

### Now, in 2019, I'm sixteen years old! I've published the rest of the SpyCam series, and another book called Awaken Illusionia. Feel free to check them out on Smashwords or the iBooks store!

### Please rate this book or write a quick review if you enjoy it! Thanks in advance!

### I hope you enjoy SpyCam: The Android Attack!
This is a work of fiction. While some businesses and places do exist that I've mentioned, any interactions inside those places or any descriptions of those places are purely fictional. All persons are fictional, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This book is published by Smashwords. No part of this book may be copied or reproduced without the consent of Zoe Wynns. All questions to thewynnsfamily@gmail.com.

Summary: Tensions rise as fourteen-year-old Cam learns of a mysterious object that the supervillain Shardstorm is obsessed with getting.

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Copyright 2017 Zoe Wynns.

### Prologue

Nobody suspected that he would grow up to be a supervillain.

An engineer, yes. A doctor, maybe. Even the small chance that he would grow up to be some sort of mad scientist that lived on the edge of civilization and dabbled in obscure branches of research seemed to be more likely than the even smaller chance that he could go as horribly wrong as he did.

For a while, the people that believed in him, his mother, his father, his best friends in high school, thought he was right on the track to success.

The first thing Dash S. Tempest did when he graduated from college with a major in genetic engineering was apply for an internship at Life Science Research Center and Lab, a small but not unknown facility just outside the city Dash lived in. It was a rather long internship, but it was recommended Dash stay in the dorms there to fully immerse himself in the Life Science world.

So, Dash set off, with nothing more than a suitcase in his hand and dreams bubbling up in his mind. He would revolutionize the universe of engineering and change the way people thought about the world.

A month after his internship started, there was an explosion at the Life Science Research Center and Lab. The building collapsed onto itself. Survivors suspected internal damage to the structure.

Dash survived, unharmed, and took a quick trip back inside the ruined facility to collect his remaining materials. Nobody thought anything of it.

The Life Science employees decided not to rebuild. They would take what had survived the explosion and join with a nearby research center that had been wanting to expand. Dash accepted the offer to finish his internship there.

A week after the collapse of the building, a one-year-old girl crawled out of the wreckage. She was not noticed for many days, until a small crew was sent to the site where Life Science stood to collect any salvageable materials.

It was raining that day, and a young woman screamed when she poked her head in one of the only upright rooms to find a tiny pair of dark brown eyes staring back at her.

They took the girl, whom they dubbed "Miracle," back to the new Life Science building with questions whizzing through their minds. How could a baby so small have survived for over a week on her own? Or more amazingly yet, how had she survived the explosion in the first place?

And what was she doing at the old Life Science Research Center and Lab?

After doing some tests, the Life Science employees found their answer. Miracle was not a baby girl at all.

She was an android.

A very, very lifelike android that had been programmed to grow at an average pace for an African American girl (the Life Science employees put her appearance and programming in their database and that was the race that the program suggested). Miracle didn't have to eat, but she could. She didn't need to sleep, but she could. She was immune to all poisons and medicines, really no substance affected her. Even her hair always stayed smooth!

The Life Science employees were amazed. They consented to take Miracle apart to find out how she worked. Because in their tests they could see something different. A virus, maybe. An unusual piece of code. They wanted to get to the bottom of what Miracle was made for. To serve a master? To complete a difficult task? To be a companion?

They left Miracle in a well-protected test room overnight.

In the morning, she was gone.

The employees working on Miracle rushed to check all the other workers rooms for signs of her, but they didn't find anything until they came to the last room. Dash's room.

Dash wasn't there. None of his belongings were, either. The only thing left to show that Dash had ever been an intern at the Life Science Research Center was a small notepad that seemed to have writing on the first page. The worker nervously approached the page and read it.

It was a note. It said,

"Her name isn't Miracle. Her name is..."

The name written seemed insignificant—boring, even. The worker forgot it immediately.

Later, when he would be asked to recount the name, all he would remember is that it was an unusual name. Simple, but unusual.

Thirteen years later when he heard the same name on the news, talking about some kind of kidnapping, he looked into the deep brown eyes of the girl he would always know as Miracle and felt a tug at his memory.
Chapter One

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The shrill cries of my alarm clock roused me from a deep sleep. I had been having a dream about something... something important, but I couldn't remember it now.

I rolled over with a small groan and forced open my chocolate-brown eyes. My short, light brown hair whipped into my face and I swiped it away, my sea of freckles shifting angrily. I smashed my hand down onto the snooze button on my alarm clock, and it went silent, though its red numbers proclaiming it was 7:00am still glared at me.

I pulled up my covers off the floor where they had fallen in the night. I wrapped them around myself and curled up into a tiny ball. I was freezing, someone must have turned up the air conditioning to the point where this little room had become the Arctic.

But my covers were warm, and the sun was barely out, and I really, really didn't want to get up yet...

The door to my room burst open and three little whirlwinds ran in and jumped on my bed.

"Cam!" "Cam, get up!" "Cammy, you PROMISED you'd play with me today!" "Cam, it's 7:00!" "CAM." "Cam!" "CAM!"

"Go away," I groaned, but I couldn't stop a smile from forming on my face. "Zoey, didn't I tell you I'd play with you if you let me sleep an extra half hour? Angie, girl, you're getting too big for this jumping-on-the-poor-unsuspecting-Cam thing. And Vince," I looked into his innocent brown eyes, "your training doesn't even start until ten!"

Zoey peered at me with her huge green eyes. Her bright red hair shone in the new daylight. "I know, but I decided I wanted to get you up instead!"

Angie gave me an adorable shrug. Her short blonde hair bobbed up and down and her blue eyes sparked with laughter. "I'm only eight years old. And Mama says I'm small for my age."

Vince looked at me with mock scorn. His curly hair that matched his brown eyes bounced. "I need to train for my training, right?"

I looked over at the door to the amused faces of three teens.

Marlee, who was thirteen years old, gave me a knowing grin, her dyed-bubblegum-pink wavy hair swishing and her hazel eyes sparkling.

Asher, who was fourteen, gave me a smirk, his too-cool-for-school manner showing as he flipped his dark blonde hair out of his face, his deep, deep blue eyes fixed onto mine.

And Lukas, who was fifteen, gave me a small smile, his green eyes not revealing anything and his light brown hair staying stone-still.

Maybe I should explain.

Two and a half months ago, I got a note in my desk telling me that a secret spy organization known as the STPOW, or the Spies That Protect Our World, was recruiting me for a special mission. I followed their instructions and met three agents of the STPOW, Agent Semaj, Agent Rivers, and Agent Wolf.

They told me that a notorious supervillain named Shardstorm was going to kidnap my fourth period class and bring us to the White House, using the excuse that they were teachers bringing kids on a field trip. Then, they were going to plant a bomb in the White House to destroy the President. With two other kids in my class, Taylor and Jai, and the unexpected addition of my best friend, Stella, we travelled through the air vents and stopped the bomb.

But then Agent Wolf and Jai revealed that they were traitors working for Shardstorm the whole time. They tied up me and Taylor and planted another bomb that was perfectly placed to kill the President, his family, and Taylor, and me. Stella had escaped at the last second.

I discovered that Taylor, who was rather unpleasant in general, actually pushed people away in her life because of a terrible tragedy that recently happened to her. Her story made me remember I still had a pocketknife my pocket from when Stella gave it to me as a present, and I used it to cut Taylor and myself free. We sent an announcement to the whole White House telling them that there was a bomb and to get out... immediately! We couldn't figure out how to disable the bomb, so we had to run for a tunnel in the White House that led to a basement, figuring we'd be safe.

As soon as we left the room, though, Agent Wolf started chasing us, and we knew we'd never make it out in time. Unexpectedly, Taylor sacrificed herself for me, throwing herself at Agent Wolf so I could make it out. I still suffered injuries, though, and blacked out after making it into the tunnel.

I woke up on the grass outside the White House to some good news and some bad: The President and his family were safe, and Agent Wolf had died in the bomb (however much I hated him, I still had a very hard time feeling anything but guilt about his death).

And horribly enough, Taylor had died. I still felt so, so much grief, and so much guilt, even months after. But I was learning to deal with it, and with a start, I realized today was the day we were going to put Taylor's name up into the hall of the dead. Stella (who, by the way, had tried to warn the Agents about the bomb but went into shock before she could), was the one who had christened the hallway where memories about Agents that had died for the STPOW were written the "Hall of the Dead". A bit creepy, but it worked.

"Ca-am, you're not listening to me!" little Zoey peered into my face, tiny freckles dotting her own. Six-year-olds had such short attention spans, but I had probably zoned out, thinking. I had done that a lot lately.

I blinked and sat up, making Zoey, Angie, and Vince tumble to my feet. "Sorry, guys," I said, a smile forming on my face as they all yelled different versions of "OW!" "I'm just a bit distracted today."

"Cammy, can't you play with us?" Zoey pouted. Angie and Vince joined in with pouts and whines of their own.

I gave Marlee, Asher, and Lukas pleading glances, but I'm sure they could see the smile on my face. Marlee gave me a half shrug and a laugh. "You're the one who volunteered to teach us, Cam."

She was right, of course. About a week after my recent ceremony where I'd received my black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do, school was coming to a close and it was my second-to-last week. I was finding it hard not to be overly close and friendly to my first period math teacher, Mr. James (Agent Semaj) or my second period social studies teacher, Ms. Abercrombie (Agent Rivers). It was a little easier to seem like a normal student when I was around Agent Rivers, because her strict and tough manner made it hard to connect even when I was with the STPOW.

Anyway, Mr. James asked me to stay behind for a minute after first period. I got sympathetic glances from my friends in that class, who assumed I must have failed a test or forgotten an important homework assignment.

The last kid filed out of the classroom. Mr. James strode across the once-white tile floors and shut the fading blue door. I sat down on top of a hard, beige desk, then jumped up immediately, realizing the desk had gum on it. I peeled it off my brand-new light blue skinny jeans and threw it into the small black trash can by Mr. James' desk, making a face of disgust.

"Eighth graders are disgusting, aren't they?" asked Mr. James with a grin in his voice. I snapped my head towards his hazel eyes, which were flashing with laughter.

"Yep," I grinned. "So, is this about the—"

"Don't say the name!" Mr. James said quickly, giving me a piercing stare and making me jump. "We'll call it... something other than what it's actually called."

"Voldemort much?" I muttered. Then I raised my voice and said, "Okay. Uh, we'll call it the chess club. How about that?"

"Perfect. I was thinking the History club, myself," Mr. James answered with a grin.

"So, is this about the chess club?" I asked, a bit sarcastically. This is totally about the STPOW, I thought.

"Yes. Yes, it is. How would you like to start your training today?" Mr. James responded brightly.

A beat passed.

"Today?" I asked, a bit stupidly.

"Yes," said Mr. James with a smile. "You'll be trained by Agent Rivers and myself."

"Awesome," I breathed.

"We were thinking every night from five to nine until school ends," Mr. James said with a nod. "And after you finish that, some of the Agents have sons and daughters that they'd like you to train. I think most of them are younger than you. You'd have to come stay with us at our headquarters full-time for a couple of weeks, but explanations could easily be found. And of course, Agent Star and Agent Whisper will be training alongside you and teaching the other kids if they agree."

Agent Star was Stella, and Agent Whisper was Emmi, a girl who was kidnapped with us but on whom the memory serum that all the other kidnapped students had taken did not work. So instead of the whole kidnapping part being a blur to her like it was to the other students, she remembered it crystal clear. So, the Spies That Protect Our World had taken her on as a member along with Stella and I.

"I would LOVE to do all of that!" I breathed, excitement coursing through my veins. It would be a good distraction, a lot of fun, and I thought I'd be really good at it.

So here I was, in a comfortable bed, with Angie, the daughter of the boss of STPOW, and Vince and Zoey, the kids of an Agent I thought was called Reef. Marlee's mother was Agent Swan, while Lukas's father was Agent Dusk.

Asher, though, was different. Nobody knew who his parents were. One day he just turned up on the landing pad that I'd used when the STPOW first told me where to find them. Agent Semaj found Asher, and took him to the underground headquarters. We had quizzed him entirely, but his memory seemed to have been wiped, because the first thing he remembered was falling towards the landing pad.

But seeing as the STPOW couldn't just release him, since he knew about them, the Agents decided to train Asher along with the other kids.

I finally gained the willpower to heave myself off my comfortable bed, straightening my light pink pillow and pulling my teal covers up over it. I smiled as I looked at my teal walls with pink stripes, my bright white desk, and my cushy gray beanbag. I'd been allowed to customize my room when I came, and I loved how it had turned out.

Marlee, who I'd become friends with in the three days I'd been here, fell into step with me as I slipped through the doorway and started walking down the long, metallic gray hall to the kitchen. Doors dotted either side of the hallway, each of them different colors. Stella's room was a few doors down from mine, and her door was an almost blinding yellow. Emmi's room was a bit after Stella's, but on the opposite side of the hall, and her door was a light, soft green that reflected her shy and quiet personality.

Basically, if the kitchen was a meeting point, on one side of it were our rooms, and on the other side were classrooms and training rooms. There were also meeting and planning rooms for the higher Agents at the end of the training hall, but the door to access them was locked. I'd lost my pocketknife that had a lock-picker on it during the White House bomb, and I was devastated when I realized it shortly afterwards. Stella had given the pocketknife to me, and it pained me to lose something she had so carefully chosen.

"So, do you think we've been doing well?" Marlee asked after a few doors. I jumped, lost in my own thoughts.

I was training Vince and Lukas. Stella was training Angie and Asher, and Emmi was training Zoey and Marlee.

"Vince has made amazing progress for a ten-year-old, and Lukas is a natural at this," I responded proudly. "And from what I've seen during the joint sessions, you're doing awesome too."

At the end of each day, all the trainers and trainees would come together and show what they'd learned that day. Agent Semaj or Agent Rivers would usually come and watch.

"I'm really glad you guys are teaching us," Marlee said with a small smile. "You know, my mom, Agent Swan, she wasn't supposed to tell her family about working for the STPOW. She didn't tell my dad, and she didn't tell my older sister who's in college now, but she told me." A smile appeared on Marlee's face as she recalled the memory.

"I was stunned at first. I didn't believe her at all. But she took me down the auditorium gateway, where you fall through the tunnel and land on the pillow..." Marlee looked at me for recognition and I nodded, "and showed me the headquarters," she gestured to all around us. "and then I believed her."

"It's amazing this was hiding under my school and I didn't realize anything in the three years that I was there," I confessed. "I wasn't a very good spy then, I really didn't pay attention to my surroundings more than was absolutely necessary."

"Don't worry, I don't think anybody would have guessed something like this was built under West Oliver Paige Transitional School..." Marlee laughed. "It sounds so innocent! I'm glad I go to a school with a heavier, tougher name..."

My train of thought screeched to a crashing halt.

"Wait. Look at the initials for my school..." I took out a small notepad (good spies always carry one) and wrote them down.

"WOPTS. Why?" Marlee shrugged.

"Look at them BACKWARDS!" I whispered, feeling like my head might explode.

Marlee looked for a second. Then another second. Then she gasped. "You're not serious?"

"STPOW was right in front of us this entire time!" I shouted, throwing my notebook to the floor (and then, on second thought, picking it up).

I looked at Marlee. Marlee looked at me.

And then we sprinted down the rest of the hall to the kitchen.

### Chapter Two

Marlee and I turned the corner to the kitchen and crashed right into Stella, who was holding a huge bagel.

"AGH!" Stella screamed, dropping her bagel.

"Ow!" I yelled, my knee having crashed into hers. I hopped up and down on one foot. "Stella, why must you be so bony?"

Marlee, who had somehow avoided injury of any kind, started laughing, bending double as she giggled.

"What's happening here?" Agent Semaj asked, coming up out of the hallway to the pantry holding a protein bar and looking mildly amused.

"Don't ask me, because I'm apparently just some sort of decorative statue that can be plowed into at any moment—" Stella huffed, but I interrupted her.

"Mr. Ja... uh, Agent Semaj! The first letter of each word of our middle school spells STPOW!"

"No, it doesn't," said Agent Semaj with a kind but teasing laugh, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Yes it does! I mean—backwards!" I spluttered. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I wanted to see when you'd figure it out for yourself," Agent Semaj responded with a smile.

I turned to Stella to see what she thought of this revelation and was surprised to find a scowl on her face instead of the smile I was expecting. "Can we talk, please, Cam, in private?"

"Uh, I gues—" I started with a glance at Marlee, but Stella grabbed my arm and physically pulled me out of the room. I looked longingly back at the pantry.

"What is going on, Cam?" Stella hissed once she had pulled me to a side room.

She crossed the space in long strides and pulled the door shut with a resounding bang, then sank down into one of the chairs with wheels that were arranged around the classroom.

"You've barely talked to me since we got here, and now you're getting all buddy-buddy with the trainees?"

I gave her look, my eyebrows raised.

Stella seemed to realize what she'd said and backtracked.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't mind you having other friends." She sighed. "But it seems like you're having way more fun with Marlee than you've had with me. May I ask what I've done to be so cruelly ignored?"

I was startled. "Uh, I guess I've just been busy, what with the training schedules and—"

"That is no excuse!" Stella shouted, then put a hand over her mouth and checked to see that the door was firmly shut. "You're having plenty of time to make amazing discoveries with Marlee and play with the little kids! I'm starting to think it's just me that you have the problem with!"

I was stunned to see a small tear trickle down Stella's face as she crossed her arms and quickly wiped the tear away. Then I remembered.

Stella had moved from Italy a little over a year ago. She went to a very bad school there, where the girls were horribly mean and her best friend was stolen from her. Her family moved to America for their jobs and for a fresh start for Stella. I liked to think that I was a memo of that fresh start, a best friend that would never leave or abandon Stella.

Stella had confided in me before about the awful girls at her old school, and how she worried all the time about if friends would be taken away in the blink of an eye, but this was the first time I'd seen her actually showing the hints (well, maybe hints wasn't a strong enough word) of jealousy.

It was odd to see Stella like this, since she was usually so bright, funny, and positive. But I guessed the embers of hurt and jealousy planted into her heart would never fully extinguish.

But before I could come up with the right words to soothe the fire, Stella jumped up. "Fine! If you don't care enough to even reassure me, I guess I don't need you at all!" Stella shouted, flinging open the door. "I hope you and Marlee have fun!"

And with that, she ran out the door the opposite way from the kitchen.

I sank into the chair Stella was just in with a groan, leaning my head back against the headrest. Stella and I had disagreements before, sure, but this was our first real fight that I could think of. "Ugh," I groaned aloud.

"Cam? Is that you? Are you okay?" I heard Marlee's voice from outside the door.

I jumped up from my chair and pushed the door the rest of the way open. Marlee was outside with a concerned look on her face. "I heard yelling and I came to come check on you."

"I'm just fantastic," I sighed.

"Listen, Cam, I heard some of the stuff Stella was saying," Marlee admitted, "but I want you to know I would never try to steal your friend like that."

"Thanks, Marlee," I said, calming down a bit. I'd go and find Stella before I trained Vince at ten o'clock. I'd talk to her, and everything would be okay.

But though I checked Stella's room, the gym, the kitchen, most of the training rooms, and even went through the empty school above us, Stella was nowhere to be found. So, it was with dread and guilt that I trudged to training room 1B for my session with Vince.

Vince was already there when I got there at 9:55. "Hey!" I said warmly. He smiled.

I got right into it. "Today we're working on our powers of observation," I told him.

Then I gestured to the rest of the room. It was a large room, with mats on the floor in case of falls when practicing martial arts or accidental shots with stun guns when practicing with those.

That had happened to me yesterday when I was teaching Lukas how to operate the gun. He had shot it before I had gotten fully out of the way, and I woke up on the floor to a flustered and embarrassed Lukas who'd apparently put a pillow under my head and caught me before I'd hit the ground. I had turned bright red and stammered as I imagined him holding me. He was pretty cute.

But I'd been burned before by a boy, and I was taking it s-l-o-w with any boys I came across now.

Lukas wasn't as cute as Jai was, though...

But I wasn't thinking about Jai now, or ever, because not only was Jai a major traitor that had a huge piece in killing Taylor, I also couldn't think of him now because Vince was looking at me weirdly and I realized that I'd zoned out. Again.

Time to live in the present, Cam, I scolded myself, and turned to Vince. "Around the room, I've made some slight changes to the décor. For example," I gestured to a painting that I'd made obviously more crooked, "that. I don't know if you would have noticed that change had I not told you," I said with a grin, "but I have full faith you would have."

"So here, I have a picture of the room before I've tampered with it," I continued, pulling out my phone, entering in the passcode (4546) and opening my photos. I showed the most recent one to Vince. He studied it, nodding. A few seconds later I took it away and said, "Start naming!"

"The last mat on the right used to be blue," Vince answered immediately, pointing. "The painting on the far wall has a different frame. There's a blue piece of paper sticking out from behind the poster in the corner."

He scanned the room, looking for more. I slowly grinned more and more with each correct piece of information he pointed out. Vince was a natural at this.

An hour later, after our session was over, I burst out of the room and started running towards the kitchen, determined to catch Stella at lunch and make amends. I did wish I had comforted her immediately and assured her that she would always be my best friend.

But as I skidded into the dining area, I was met with the harsh bubblegum hair of Marlee instead of Stella's light, light blonde. Marlee gave me a grin and shoved a huge bite of sandwich in her mouth. "Hey, Cam!" she said, through her mouthful of food.

I waved. "Have you seen Stella?"

Marlee chewed her bite of sandwich and swallowed, taking a gulp of milk and then turning to me. "She was in here a few minutes ago, but she fled when she saw me coming," Marlee said, shrugging, then taking another bite of her sandwich.

I opened the small door to the walk-in pantry and grabbed white bread, ham, and swiss cheese. Then I opened the refrigerator and pulled out mayonnaise, squirting it in a frowny face pattern on my ham and then thinking better of it and spreading it out with a knife.

I grabbed an apple and a bag of chips and then sat down at the table with Marlee.

But before I could even open my mouth to eat a bit of sandwich, Zoey, Angie, and Vince burst through the opening connecting the kitchen and the hallway where our rooms were.

"Cam, after lunch will you pleeeeeease play with me?" Zoey ran over to me and pleaded, then stole one of my chips and shoved it in her mouth.

"After lunch, I have to go do something important," I responded gently, referencing putting Taylor's name in the Hall of the Dead.

"Can I do something important with you?" asked Angie excitedly, always eager to learn more about and contribute to STPOW. Vince, who was the same way, nodded enthusiastically.

I glanced at Marlee. I had already decided that the three littles would be better off not seeing dozens of names of people that had died for the organization which they were so excited to be a part of. She gave me a you-handle-it kind of look.

I took a deep breath and said to the eager children gathered around me, "Look, guys. I'm going to do something very sad after lunch, and I don't want you to be sad. But I have an idea. You can keep watch while I'm away. Patrol up and down the halls, and yell loudly if you see anything wrong going on. That would be a big help. Okay?"

It was better to give them something that made it seem like they were helping but didn't get them in the way of anyone. And who knows, it could actually help. There were few patrols on the halls of headquarters, only heavy defenses by the doors.

Zoey, Angie and Vince nodded eagerly.

I finished my lunch, and then pushed back my chair. I walked to the first door on the right and opened it into what seemed to be just a boring conference room. Lukas, Asher, and Emmi were already gathered inside. I gave them all nods.

Lukas slowly walked over to me. "This girl Taylor... she was your friend?"

I hesitated, then laughed shakily. "She was actually a really big bully until I realized that she was just in pain because her mother had died. And of course, neither one of us would be here right now if she hadn't sacrificed her life for me. So yes, in the end, she was my friend." A lump rose in my throat and I had to stop talking. Lukas put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

Emmi quietly walked over to me and said, "Taylor was always awful to me. But now I understand. Thank you." She wrapped her stiff arms around me, and I stayed that way, with Lukas's hand on my shoulder and Emmi's small arms wrapped around me, for a while.

A couple minutes later, the door opened. Stella and Marlee walked in, both shooting huffy looks at each other. I rolled my eyes and hoped they could get it together in time for the serious task we were about to perform.

Agent Semaj entered behind them and said somberly, "All ready, Agents and students?" Everyone nodded.

I subconsciously fell into step with Stella as Agent Semaj opened a door and led us down a short hallway. Stella glanced at me, then looked down the tunnel again.

Marlee caught up with me. "You okay, Cam?" she asked, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I hope you're not too sad. I don't like it when people cry," she admitted.

"I'm okay for now," I told her, stealing a glance at Stella. She was looking determinedly straight ahead.

We walked in silence for about another minute, and then...

"I didn't think I'd miss her," Stella spoke quietly. "I thought I'd be sad and maybe feel guilty for a while, but she was so awful to everyone until the end that I didn't think I'd really miss her."

I waited.

"But I do," Stella continued. Her voice was now only a shade louder than a whisper. "She was really funny. I tried to be funny, but I was never as funny as her." Then her voice dropped to a definite whisper. "I've always tried to protect my friends, but I couldn't protect her."

I put my arm around Stella. She didn't shrug it away.

Soon we reached a ladder. Agent Semaj, who was in the lead, gestured and we all climbed down it. It was odd to see such a fun and peppy Agent so serious.

We climbed down the ladder directly into the metal hallway I'd gone into the first time the STPOW had contacted me. I immediately saw the names dotting the walls and goosebumps travelled up my arms. I shivered.

Agent Celadon, you had the best smile, even through the hardest times.

Agent Verity, you never let even a single enemy get away.

Agent Lily, your heart was as beautiful as the flower you were named for...

I closed my eyes, not wanting to look at the names for any longer, then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Agent Semaj, offering me a rainbow of permanent markers. "Hey, you holding up okay?"

I took red. "Yeah, I am," I said, then looked at the marker in my hand. "I think Taylor would have been a red, don't you?" I asked Agent Semaj with a shaky laugh. He gave me a smile back.

I found an empty space on the wall. But I couldn't think of anything to write that would encompass the essence of Taylor.

I could write something meaningful like, You saved my life and for that I will be forever grateful... Nah, that sounded like a cheesy sci-fi movie or something.

I could write something more like what Stella had said, I underestimated your kindness. I think we all did... No, that made it sound like she was some sort of criminal.

I wanted to scream. Nothing was right. No sentence could prove that Taylor was kind. No words could explain how funny she was, and show her heart of gold. No Hallmark-card cheesy lines would ever have enough feeling to express how grateful I was to her. She sacrificed herself for me, and she paid the ultimate price.

And it was because of me she was gone.

It was too much. I slid to the floor, head in my hands, crying, and feeling like a huge wimp because of it. I didn't even know Taylor until the mission. I could have had months or years to connect with her, to comfort her, to get to know her.

But I didn't even try. It was just all too much.

And then Stella was there, wrapping me in her arms, tears sliding down her face too. "Cam... You are my best friend in the world and I don't know why I doubted you. I'm so sorry. I want to savor each moment because you never know when it will all be taken away from us."

We cried together, for the lost hours of friendship we could have had earlier that day and for the fact that we'd never get those hours back.

We cried because we should have tried to know Taylor, to understand her, to peel away the layers of hurt until we got to the core of her beautiful and selfless heart.

We cried tears of anger at the bomb, at Shardstorm, at Agent Wolf, at Jai, for taking the beautiful heart inside a beautiful girl away from us.

We cried because Taylor was never coming back. She had her whole life ahead of her, and now we'd never know what could have happened. But she was a hero. And even though the world would probably never know the true story of what happened on that terrible day, Taylor would stay burned into our memories forever, for better or for worse. None of us could forget her if we'd wanted to.

Because if we forgot Taylor, even for an instant, her sacrifice would be in vain.

So, I held tight to my memories. I tucked them far away, into the furthest corner of my mind. I didn't want to forget Taylor. I just wanted to be able to breathe for a moment while the tears slowly trickled away. But as I gulped in cold, clean air, I knew the tears would return again.

Hopefully this time I'd be ready for them.
Chapter Three

I stood up shakily and looked around the room. Stella stood up beside me. Marlee was obviously pretending like she hadn't seen anything, but she had an oddly uncomfortable expression on her face. Asher was talking quickly with her, also looking strained.

But I noticed Lukas was walking straight towards me with a sympathetic look on his face. Emmi was trailing behind him.

"Cam..." Lukas came closer still, "I'm so sorry. I hope you know you can come to me if you need to." He leaned against the wall, so close to me that I could hear the light scratch of the fabrics of our t-shirts as they rubbed up against each other.

Stella backed off a little. "I'm, uh, going to talk to Asher," she said awkwardly, quickly striding across the hall.

It could have been uncomfortable, leaning against the names of the dead with Lukas by my side. But it was oddly beautiful. Lukas was so shy, it was unlike him to open up at all. I hoped I had helped him feel more at ease with the STPOW.

"I know what I'm going to write now," I said suddenly and determinedly, uncapping my red marker with a vengeance. Lukas gave me a smile and uncapped his own black marker.

I wrote Taylor's name, huge and bold, to start off with. TAYLOR. It screamed at me and I smiled. It would be just like Taylor to be demanding attention even now.

Before I could write any more, the lights flickered and went out. There was silence for a moment, then Stella started to say, "Um, it's—"

But what it was we never knew, because at that moment a siren started wailing. Marlee screamed. A tumult of voices broke out, and I shivered, leaning into Lukas and letting my red marker slip from my hand to the floor. Lukas stepped even closer to me, finding my hand with his.

There was nothing romantic about the gesture. Just two kids, in the dim light of the Hall of the Dead, trying to find something to ground themselves with. To keep them tethered to the moment.

And I knew there was nothing romantic about it.

So why did my hand still tingle in the place where his warm fingers wrapped around mine, and my whole heart beat faster as we moved closer together?

But the moment was broken as Agent Semaj shouted, "Stay calm, Agents and trainees!"

"Easier said than done," I muttered, looking at the panicked faces around me.

He continued, nonetheless. "Trainees, quickly evacuate to the Aerial Room."

"Does it fly?" shouted Asher.

"You're stupid!" Stella yelled.

Despite the circumstances, I grinned. Stella was back.

"There's a map on your watches! Go to the green dot!" Agent Semaj said exasperatedly, pulling a gun out of his sleeve and adjusting it.

Nobody moved.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO!" Agent Semaj roared. Asher and Marlee startled like they were in a dream, and ran up the ladder. Lukas disconnected his hand from mine and mouthed, Be safe, as he followed them upstairs.

"Now, Agents Whisper, Star, and Hope. Here's a stun gun for each of you," Agent Semaj told us calmly, opening a trapdoor in the floor and handing over the weapons.

I didn't even have time to process the fact that there were trapdoors with stun guns in the floor before Agent Semaj continued, "Try not to kill. Spies generally don't unless they absolutely have to, okay? But if you remember your enemy capture training, feel free to do so. Try to stick together, because you haven't had years of experience like many of the older Agents who will be on their own," he added. "And if you're feeling overwhelmed, you can evacuate to the Aerial room. Now go!"

As he said those words, a door burst open and no less than a dozen men all wearing black jackets with tornadoes, lightning bolts, or pieces of ice on the corner cocked their guns and started firing them. Bolts of electricity perfectly harnessed to knock a human unconscious started flying around the room.

Fear raced through me, but I cocked my stun gun and fired right back. I saw one of the bolts hit an enemy agent and I mentally celebrated.

Agent Semaj roared and cocked his gun. With perfect aim he hit one, two, three enemy agents and sprinted towards them, firing again and hitting another. He broke their ranks and ran towards the door, all while dodging all the bolts shot at him.

For the first time, I understood why Agent Semaj was such a high-ranking agent to be feared. The look on his face was pure fury, fury that I would not want to be on the receiving end of.

Before I could see what Agent Semaj was doing, one of the men shouted and pointed at us. "There she is!" They all began to sprint towards us, except the five that had been knocked out so far.

Stella, Emmi and I all looked at each other. "Who were they talking about?" yelled Stella, starting to run towards the ladder. Emmi and I followed, but before I took off I glanced fleetingly at the only word I'd had time to write on the wall of the Hall of the Dead: TAYLOR.

Suddenly, this seemed perfect and right. Her name would stand on the wall, proudly, forever. Without realizing it, I had written the only word that captured the essence of who she was.

I followed Stella and Emmi and we scrambled up the ladder. The enemy agents were gaining on us, and suddenly they were at the bottom of the ladder, starting to climb up and shooting bolts towards us. One narrowly missed my leg and I screamed, yanking my leg away.

Stella had reached the top of the ladder, and she pulled me and Emmi up. The villains were still climbing, and I daringly aimed my gun down the ladder and pulled the trigger four times. I heard two thuds. Half of my bolts had hit their target.

Emmi came to the edge of the ladder, a look of intense concentration on her face as she shot a bolt that hit one of the men directly in the heart. She pulled the trigger again. Another hit. Dang.

The men, nearing the top of the ladder, fired back with growing intensity, and a bolt skimmed Stella's shirt. I watched her fearfully for a moment, but she didn't collapse to the ground, she just looked terrified. The bolt must not quite have hit her skin.

The ceiling started to shake and rumble with the sounds of the battle.

The first enemy agent climbed out of the tunnel. It was actually a woman, and she shook her wild, frizzy black hair out of her dirt and blood-streaked face and yelled, "CHARGE!"

"What do they want with us?" I yelled as we took off down the hallway, our sneakers thudding hollowly on the floor, hoping to make it to the conference room that they'd originally brought us down to the Hall of the Dead from.

"Who did they point to in the hall?" Stella gasped, clutching her sides as she ran and aiming a bolt behind her that hit one of the enemy.

"I don't know," responded Emmi worriedly, who by some miracle didn't seem to be tired at all. Her legs moved almost mechanically as she made long, loping strides down the metallic, curved hall.

Suddenly, a bolt flew straight at Emmi. "Watch out, Emmi!" I yelled. Emmi saw the bolt but didn't move in time. It hit her hard, and she immediately collapsed, shaking. I swore I could see the blue electricity move through her body like a pulse through metal.

Weirdly enough, though, her eyes didn't close and her body didn't go limp. It was like the pulse travelled through her body and was... gone.

The woman in charge of the enemy agents yelled in victory. I didn't even realize I had stopped running to crouch over Emmi until a bolt almost hit me.

Emmi sat up and said, "I'm okay! We need to keep moving!"

"That's the one, men! Capture the one that wasn't knocked out by the bolt!" screamed the woman in the lead. Her black hair frizzed in every direction and her gray eyes sparked.

"YES, DARKBLAZE!" shouted the men behind her.

"Did they just say dark blaze?" Stella yelled. "That's an even dumber supervillain name than Shardstorm!"

"Did you just insult our master?" the woman called Darkblaze snarled at Stella, shooting a bolt at her. The lightning on her black jacket seemed to flash.

"Yeah, I think I did," Stella answered proudly, before the bolt hit her and she collapsed to the ground.

"NO!" I yelled, shielding Stella with my body as more bolts flew through the air. "Emmi!"

"It's okay! I've got her!" Emmi shouted back, standing up and picking up Stella like she was a sack of potatoes (but gently) and starting to run again. Bolts from both sides flew through the air.

"How can you possibly carry her so easily?" I screamed as I followed, finally reaching the conference room and quickly going inside, closing and locking the door. I collapsed onto a beanbag and caught my breath. The battle was not over, but I needed a short break.

"I don't know..." Emmi said nervously, carefully laying Stella down on a beanbag.

"And how were you not knocked out by that bolt?" I added, making sure my stun gun still had enough bolts. It had about twenty left, I'd have to be conservative with my shots from now on.

Suddenly there was a pounding at the door. "Open up! We don't want to hurt you, we just want you to give back what you've stolen!" came the harsh voice of Darkblaze. "But if you won't give it back, we'll have to take it!"

"I think they want you, Emmi," I concluded nervously, rising from my beanbag and cocking my gun. "Do you have any idea why?"

Emmi responded carefully, standing and pulling chairs in front of the doors. I walked quickly over and helped. "Well, I should probably tell you something later, but for now we need to figure out what to do with Stella!"

At those words, Stella gave a little gasp and opened her eyes. She looked around, confused, and then her light green eyes locked onto my chocolate-brown ones. Stella grinned. "Oh, hi Cam."

"What were you thinking, insulting Darkblaze like that? I thought the same things, of course, but she could have killed you!" I scolded, but I couldn't stop a smile from flitting across my face.

Stella shrugged, wincing as she propped herself up by her elbows, then sat up, leaning against the beanbag. "She was asking for it. But ugh, now I do regret it. That hurt. But I'm okay!" she added hastily, probably seeing my mouth about to open with some concerned comment. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, but uh, they're kind of trying to capture or kill or do... something... to Emmi. I think that might even be the entire reason they're here. We should join the fight again and tell an adult Agent as soon as we can," I suggested. Stella and Emmi both nodded.

The pounding at the door resumed. "We will destroy your headquarters if you don't hand it over!"

"That's rude. They're calling you an it," I scowled.

The pounding increased in intensity, and I looked at my fellow Agents. "Agent Star, Agent Whisper... Let's do this."

I flung open the other door that led out of the conference room, the one that led not to the Hall of the Dead but to the training and meeting hall. Instantly I was greeted with chaos. Lukas was right outside the door, and when I flung it open he jumped, then smiled. A long cut traced along his cheek and forehead.

"Hi guys. They found where the students were, so we're fighting now. I think I heard that Zoey, Angie and Vince were the ones that first sounded the alarm for intruders, actually." A knockout bolt whizzed by his head and a real bullet zoomed past me, grazing my arm.

"Agh!" I yelled, shaking my arm. Blood flowed, staining my dark gray and ice blue STPOW jacket. It was just a graze, but it hurt. Maybe not as bad as almost getting killed by a bomb, though. "They're using real guns out here? Where we were fighting before, they only had knockout bolts!"

"Lucky," Lukas sighed, pointing to a graze on his leg, obviously a bullet wound. "They're using both out here."

I started firing my stun gun with a vengeance, adjusting my grip when my wound became too painful. I saw one, two, three enemy agents go down, whether with my bolts or others, but STPOW Agents were dropping like flies as well -- mostly because of knockout bolts, but a few had bad bullet wounds, too.

An enemy agent came up to me, growling, and without thinking, I kicked him hard in the stomach, then grabbed his wrist and flipped him over my shoulder, slamming him into the floor. He lay there, wheezing.

Stella stared at me for a second, then gave me a grin and a high-five. Being a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do really paid off sometimes.

After about another minute, I shot my stun gun at an enemy passing by and nothing happened. I was out of bolts, and therefore completely defenseless. I'd lost Lukas and Stella in the fray, but Emmi was by my side. "Emmi!" I yelled. "Do you have an extra stun gun?"

"I do," a familiar hard, tough voice responded from by my side. I turned to find Agent Rivers there, towering over me with her five-foot-ten frame, looking very dangerous with blood dripping down her arm and part of her wavy chestnut hair singed off, maybe by a bolt. Her gray-green eyes were hard, and even if I had never met Agent Rivers before, I would have known that this woman was one to be feared.

"Here," she said a bit roughly, handing me a stun gun. I quickly checked and it had the standard hundred bolts inside.

"Thanks, Agent Rivers. Listen, I need to tell you something. I know why Shardstorm's forces are here. They're—"

"I know," interrupted Agent Rivers, "trying to take over the main control center. I heard Shardstorm himself say it to one of his enemy agents. But don't worry, we have dispatched almost all Agents to guard it. Shardstorm will not take over our headquarters this day."

"No, Agent Rivers, I think they're trying to trick you, because--" I stopped talking when I realized Agent Rivers had already gone.

"Ugh!" I growled in frustration, shooting a bolt towards an enemy agent in my anger and hitting him. I turned towards Emmi. "Do you really think that's the purpose of their invasion, because the enemies seemed to feel pretty strongly about getting you..."

I stopped talking abruptly because I'd just seen one enemy agent a little shorter than the rest. He had the symbol of ice on his jacket, and his head was turned so I could see only his light brown hair. But then he spun around, and his deep, dark blue eyes, like the ocean itself, locked onto mine. He gave me a cold grin.

Jai.

### Chapter Four

All sounds of the battlefield faded away. I sprinted right towards Jai, stun gun cocked. For the first time during the battle, I was wishing it was a real gun. Then I reminded myself that spies didn't kill unless they had to.

It's not that I wanted to kill Jai, I thought as I raced towards him, I just wanted to make him feel the same pain I had felt when he tried to kill me and successfully killed Taylor. Possibly more pain.

The grin fell off Jai's face as he turned and shot his gun at me. I stepped to the side just in time, as a real bullet whizzed past my face and embedded in a wall. The shock that Jai was using a real gun stopped me for a moment, but then I fired two quick shots from my stun gun. Jai dodged both without even turning around.

I suddenly looked around the dark hallway I was in and realized I had no idea where Jai was leading me. Odds are, it was a trap.

Suddenly Agent Semaj was there, looking absolutely enraged. He cocked his stun gun and roared, "If I get my way, you will never hurt another Spy That Protects Our World again!"

But as Agent Semaj released the bolt from the stun gun, Jai fired two quick bullets from his gun. Agent Semaj dodged the first, shooting another bolt, but the second shot hit him directly in the leg.

I had to admire Jai's cold resolve; he didn't even pause for a moment after seeing that his shot had hit. He simply stored his gun and sprinted down the hallway, sidestepping to avoid the bolts I shot after him.

There would be a time and a place to deal with Jai, but right now Agent Semaj was my focus.

Agent Semaj hadn't even cried out in pain when the shot hit him. He'd simply sat on the ground, removed the bullet, and began wrapping the wound with bandages. My arm stung and I imagined how much worse it would be for Agent Semaj, because that wound was certainly not a graze.

"Are you okay?" I shook my head in disgust. "I'm going to literally kill, even if spies don't usually kill—" I stopped myself, "I mean, seriously injure Jai," I said, gritting my teeth in anger and bending down to Agent Semaj's level.

A fine sheen of sweat had broken out over his face, but other than that there was no indication of the pain. "I'm fine, Cam. Thanks, though. I just need a minute for this to... you know. Stop bleeding."

At my look of skepticism, he added, "I've had much worse, you know. I've survived a bullet wound to my side, and one almost directly to my heart."

The bandages slowly turned red, and Agent Semaj propped his leg on top of a bookbag that had been left in the hall. Blood dripped onto the floor.

When I didn't make any move to leave, Agent Semaj turned stern. "Cam, they could use you out there in the battle. I'll be out there fighting in a minute, too. But they need you. We need you. Go defend our headquarters."

I hesitated, then gave a short nod and took off back down the hallway, glancing once more at the trail of blood Agent Semaj and I were both leaving behind.

When I nervously entered the hall where the battle had been raging before, all was strangely silent. Every few feet, a drop or pool of blood was on the floor, but luckily, I didn't see any Agents that seemed to be severely injured. I didn't see any Agents or enemy forces at all, actually, except for a few of Shardstorm's men sprawled on the floor, probably knocked out from a stun gun. Slowly, I walked down the main hall, my feet lightly thudding the floor. I adjusted my grip on the stun gun, my graze dripping and adding to the flow of red.

Suddenly, Emmi raced out from inside a conference room, slamming the door shut and locking it from the outside. She looked around frantically and her brown eyes found mine, her dark skin shiny with sweat and her hair still somehow perfectly smooth.

"Cam! They're all after me! Most of our Agents are injured or unconscious, and the thirty or so of Shardstorm's forces that are still in action are trying to kill me or something!"

Then she paused. "Actually, I think they're just trying to capture me. I don't really know why."

"This is the weirdest thing," I panted, taking a deep breath and adjusting my stun gun again. "I just saw Jai over there... he shot Agent Semaj, but I think he's okay. I have an idea... what if we opened a small part of the door and shot our stun guns through there? They couldn't really dodge the bolts, but we easily could."

"Okay... I don't know what else to do," Emmi answered quietly.

I suddenly felt like sobbing. This was so hard... I'd never really been in a fight before. Sure, in Tae-Kwon-Do we had sparring matches, but we didn't use bullets or stun guns in that martial art.

Sometimes being a black belt came in handy in the STPOW, but so far during this battle, it was mostly the people best trained with a gun that were winning.

Then, without warning, a door burst open near the opposite end of the conference hall, and Stella, Lukas, Asher, and Marlee raced out, trailed by Angie and Vince.

"Guys!" I waved my arms at them. Lukas noticed me first, and they all raced down the hall towards me.

"I think the enemies have retreated," gasped Marlee, clutching her side. "We haven't seen any in forever, but we couldn't find any Agents either until we saw you guys. Where is everyone?"

"Well, there's a heck of a lot of Shardstorm's forces about to burst out of this door. They're all trying to capture Emmi for some reason," I responded with a grimace. "Are you guys all okay?"

"I didn't have time to tell you all this when I first caught up with you, but most of the STPOW is guarding the main control center. I have no idea why," piped up Stella, checking her stun gun to see how many bolts were left.

"I heard Agent Rivers say that's why Shardstorm's forces are here, but that can't be right, or else so many of them wouldn't be chasing after Emmi," I reasoned, "so I think the STPOW Agents have fallen into a trap!"

"We've got to warn them!" piped up Angie.

I stared at her. "Uh, what are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be staying safe somewhere?"

"We were the ones who noticed the enemies first," Vince answered indignantly, "and by then, the entire headquarters was getting ready to fight! We couldn't hide away in some locked room like... moles. Or whatever those things that live in the ground are. We wanted to protect the STPOW!"

"Where's Zoey?" I interrupted.

Angie and Vince looked at each other sadly.

I clenched my fists. "Tell me."

"You're not gonna like it, Cam." Marlee shook her head.

"Tell. Me."

Angie spoke up, quietly. "They took her."

"They WHAT?" I yelled.

"Took her," Lukas said, an uncharacteristic hint of anger in his voice. "And we couldn't stop them."

I shook with fury. "They took Zoey? Shardstorm and his forces are insane! Who captures a kid that small? That's like... basic human morals!"

"I think that is one thing in which Shardstorm is lacking," Stella said grimly.

Silence for a moment, where the only sounds were the slow but steady drip of blood from my arm and from other various wounds.

Asher opened his mouth to say something, swiping his dark blonde hair out of his face, but before he could a door right next to us labeled "MCC" burst open and the entire STPOW flooded out.

There were so many Agents, I couldn't even count them. Some were supporting injured friends or comrades, some looked exhausted as they were stumbling out, and yet some, like Agent Rivers, were bloody and beaten but held their heads high. I suddenly admired Agent Rivers very, very much.

"Kids!" barked Agent Rivers when she saw us. "What are you doing here?"

I told the story of everything that had happened to me since the enemy agents had burst into the Hall of the Dead.

"How did they get into the Hall of the Dead?" asked an Agent who was holding a bandage on her leg in a slight British accent.

Marlee grinned. "Hi, Mom. You okay?"

"I'm fine. I heard my girl fought bravely," responded the Agent I now realized was Swan with a smile. Her short, black hair was cropped at an angle that made her look rather punk-rock.

"Well, you know, I tried," said Marlee rather humbly. Her pink hair swished and I made a mental note to ask her if her mother was from England.

"To answer your earlier question, Agent Swan, we are currently investigating that. In fact, if you kids, and you, of course, Agent Swan, would like to accompany me to the Hall of the Dead to check, that would be appreciated. Though Cam and Lukas, maybe you should get some first aid first. Those look like nasty bullet wounds," Agent Rivers added.

Two tight bandages and some antibiotic ointment later, Lukas and I were ready to go.

We trekked down the hall where Shardstorm's forces had chased us and tried to capture Emmi, climbed down the ladder, and emerged in the hall.

At first glance, it didn't seem like anything was wrong. The hall looked like it always did. But then Emmi whispered, pointing to the end of the tunnel, "Look."

There was a huge message written in scrawling black ink.

I shakily walked towards it, somehow knowing that this message was different than the ones around it.

I, along with my fellow friends and Agents, read,

You STPOW think you're so clever with your defense system and the way you happened to get lucky enough to protect the item you've stolen? You're stupid too, you bought my ploy about being there to take over the main control center.

Anyway, you have taken something that belongs to me. Don't play dumb again, you all know what it is. You have twenty-four hours to return it to the front of the cleverly named school... or else the full wrath of Shardstorm will come down upon your ever-so-precious headquarters, and you'll see what it's really like when I'm trying to take over the main control center.

–Shardstorm.

There was another message underneath, this one in familiar handwriting and dark blue, the exact shade of Jai's eyes...

Cam, baby, you should come join us! You obviously see now that our forces are far superior to yours. If you want to be trained personally by the best supervillain in the world, deliver what your "STPOW" has stolen personally and we'll start training you as our own. I know, I know. You're mad at me for killing your friend Grumpy. Or Taylor. Or whatever her name was.

But if you're getting tempted to say no, keep in mind that we've captured your tiny little student.

I think her name was Zoey.

Jai had signed his message with a heart and his name.

I clenched my fists. Tight, tighter. My nails dug into my skin and I bit my tongue. I couldn't believe this. The "main control center" thing was all a distraction. Shardstorm wanted Emmi.

And I didn't think we were strong enough to protect her much longer.

### Chapter Five

"I, for one, think it's Emmi," voiced Asher unnecessarily.

All the Agents had already heard how Sharstorm's forces had tried their best to capture Emmi, and the oddness with how she had so quickly recovered from the bolt that had put Stella out of commission for a full five or six minutes.

With a strange jolt, I looked at Asher closely as he flipped his hair out of his face with a smirk and stared at everyone with his piercing dark blue eyes.

And I finally realized who he reminded me of. Jai.

His I-think-I-know-everything attitude and his swag were so similar they could almost be brothers, except for the fact that they looked very different. Except for the eyes, those eyes were very similar...

Suddenly I couldn't look any longer at Asher without thinking of the boy who had played a huge part in taking Taylor's life.

"Well, duh, we know it's Emmi," said Stella helpfully. "First question. Why are they calling her an item? Second question. Why do they think the STPOW stole her? Third question. How the heck are we going to get out of this mess??"

"Those," we heard a voice from the end of the hall, "are very good questions."

All our eyes were drawn to the voice. "Agent Semaj! You're okay!" I shouted joyfully.

It was Agent Semaj, looking a little beaten and bloody but not too worse for the wear. A huge bandage wrapped around his leg, but when he walked up to us, he barely had a limp.

I impulsively ran up and hugged him, relaxing into his warm embrace. I realized how much I relied on Agent Semaj, and how much I would miss him if anything horrible with the gunshot wound had happened.

Agent Semaj looked at me when I released him, his normally playful hazel eyes flickering ominously. "I saw the writing on the wall... pun intended," he added. "And Stella, here are my guesses at your three questions. I have no idea about question one, but if there's one thing we do know, it's that Shardstorm doesn't value human life very much. Question two. Emmi... you're adopted, right?" Emmi nodded slowly.

"I would say that there's a small chance you were Shardstorm's... er, daughter, but I don't think that's genetically possible," Agent Semaj reasoned carefully, his eyes scanning Emmi's dark mocha skin, dark brown eyes, and perfect black hair (somehow still shiny, even after the grueling battle.) "But he could have adopted you... then given you up to the parents you have now."

Emmi's face morphed into shock, and Agent Semaj attempted to comfort her, saying, "It's just a theory, Emmi, don't worry, maybe..."

As he kept soothing Emmi, Agent Rivers brushed past the stunned forms of Angie and Vince and looked at us Agents and older students. "Third question answered..." Agent Rivers heaved a deep sigh, "I don't know. I see many courses of action here. Bring Emmi out to the front of the school but have it as a trap and fall upon the enemy agents that come. Let Cam join the other side but have her rescue Zoey and escape with Emmi as soon as possible. Not do anything... but that puts our headquarters... and Zoey... in very grave danger."

"You can't put Zoey in danger!" yelled Angie, Zoey's best friend, and Vince, Zoey's brother, simultaneously.

"Right, that's why I think letting Cam join the other side is the best idea," Agent Rivers continued.

"WHAT?" shouted everyone in the room (except maybe Asher.) Even Agent Semaj had a look of disbelief on his face.

"They're going to be suspecting that, Elena," Agent Semaj said, a tiny bit exasperatedly. I suddenly realized I had never heard Agent Rivers' first name before. "The only thing that makes sense is the ambush outside the school. We'd need decoys, lots of Agents, and—"

"The only thing that would get done is injure more of our precious Agents," Agent Rivers interrupted with a scowl. "We've had enough injured already."

"I hate to say it, but I think Agent Rivers has a point," Marlee's mother, Agent Swan, spoke up in her slight British accent. "An ambush would just delay the inevitable time when Emmi is captured. Better to do it on our own terms, with a plan, then whenever Shardstorm decides to."

"I suppose you're right," Agent Semaj consented, looking at Agent Rivers lovingly, then pulling her into a kiss. I was reminded of the engagement ring on her finger as I laughed, playfully shielding the eyes of Angie and Vince. I caught Lukas's eye and gave him a grin, imagining an engagement ring on my hand, the same hand that was holding Lukas's...

I pushed the picture out of my mind immediately, forcing myself to remember Jai's betrayal.

But somehow, I could feel in my heart that Lukas wouldn't betray me. I could already imagine us together, and by the grin that Lukas was giving me back, I had a feeling that he was imagining the same thing.

Maybe that was just wishful thinking, though. Maybe we were just sharing a smile over the love of the two Agents. Maybe he was just thinking about Angie and Vince's young eyes when he grinned.

Or maybe, maybe there was something more in that smile.

Either way, now was not the time to think of such things. Now was the time for bravery and the time to live up to my name, Agent Hope.

I took a deep breath and answered, "I'd be willing to do it." I glanced at Emmi and she gave me a nod, though she looked nervous.

Agent Semaj and Rivers broke apart and looked at me. Agent Rivers had more sympathy than usual in her gaze. "This would be extraordinarily dangerous, Cam. Many more experienced Agents have died while pretending to be on the other side."

"I know, but it's the only chance we have of saving Emmi and Zoey," I said definitively.

"Gosh, Cam, why do you always have to be the hero?" asked Stella playfully, shoving me softly. "Give the rest of us a turn once in a while, will ya?"

That was Stella, always able to take the edge off an intense situation.

It was decided by the STPOW that I would go at sunrise, so I went to bed at 9:00pm so I'd be ready for the next day.

The mattress folded comfortingly around me, and my blankets were warm and soft, but I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to fall asleep. I knew that being a part of the STPOW would be dangerous, but this was something I'd never even dreamed of having to do.

Jai's face kept popping back into my mind. He probably wrote the wall-message flirtatiously to mess with my head (Jai was really good at doing just that). But what if, after this whole time, after trying to kiss me then kill me, after asking me out then throwing me to the ground, even after holding my hand tight then leaving me alone... he still had a crush on me?

No, that was ridiculous, I told myself firmly. I certainly didn't like Jai, in fact, I could confidently say I hated him. He probably felt the same... but what if the feeling wasn't mutual?

And then there was Lukas... I was actively denying that there was anything going on between us, but as I pulled the blankets further up to my face, I finally admitted to myself that I really liked him. I didn't know whether he felt the same way about me or not, and I kind of didn't want to know. We'd see what happened when I said goodbye tomorrow, I guessed.

None of this boy stuff would matter if I died while being a double agent, though.

It was up to me to save Zoey.

It was up to me to save Emmi.

It was up to me to save the STPOW.

The morning came before I'd even realized I'd fallen asleep. The bright orange sun spewed rays of light through my window, forcing my eyes open. My stomach plummeted as I remembered what I had to do that day.

I heaved myself out of bed and threw on clothes, then shoved my door open and stumbled down the hall to the kitchen.

Stella and Lukas were there. My heart soared when I saw Lukas, then I blushed and rustled through the pantry, trying to force my jumping heart to lie still. When did I become so boy-crazy? This was ridiculous! I needed to get ahold of myself. I grabbed the cereal, not even looking at what it was, and grabbed myself a bowl from one of the cabinets, pouring in the cereal, then milk.

I sat down at the table with a sigh, realizing this was probably going to be my last peaceful, normal meal for a while. Stella scooted her chair around the table until she was right next to me, and put a calming hand on my shoulder.

That was all I needed. I morphed my face of fear into a face of determination and shoveled cereal in with renewed vigor. Lukas gave me a grin. I smiled back, though a little shakily.

I finished my cereal without ever really tasting it and put my bowl in the sink for the cook. I turned the water on and rinsed it out mechanically. I was doing the most dangerous thing I'd ever done today. Jai was sure to suspect that I didn't truly want to train with them. Maybe it was all a ploy to get me alone and kill me immediately.

Thoughts chased each other through my head and I didn't even realize where I was walking until I ended up in the training room.

I grabbed a stand and a few boards. Tae-Kwon-Do always cleared my head.

I jumped and smashed through the first board with my fist. CRACK! It shattered and the two pieces fell to the floor with a dull thud.

The second board fell prey to my tornado kick, and the third board split under my spinning back kick. Suddenly I felt powerful and strong, stronger than I'd felt in a long time. My heart was pounding and sweat trickled down my back, but as I heaved for breath, I grabbed three boards, hesitated, then grabbed another. Three was the most I'd ever broken at once, but I was feeling lucky today.

I set them on a stand, lay it on the ground, and put a glove on my fist. I hesitated, then took the glove off. I was doing this alone, with no protection or help.

With an earsplitting yell, I drove my fist down, down, down. It crunched through one, two three, FOUR boards. Pain shot through my hand but I didn't care because I'd done it. I'd succeeded.

Suddenly, Lukas opened the door, staring at my face, which must have had been beet red, then the eight halves of the boards on the ground. I stared right back at him, then impulsively ran up and hugged him hard, sweat and all.

After many seconds, we broke apart, but he kept his hands firmly holding mine. "I'm going to miss you, but if anyone can infiltrate Shardstorm's ranks without a scratch, you can." Lukas was almost whispering now, and his face was inches from mine as he inched even closer.

Oh my gosh. He was going to kiss me. This was happening. We were about to kiss, and I felt it in my bones, and my soul, and I knew I should start taking things slower with boys but I couldn't deny how very, very much I wanted to kiss Lukas right here, right now, with sweat dripping down my back (only partially from the Tae-Kwon-Do) and the shattered remains of boards behind me.

I leaned in.

He leaned in.

Stella burst through the door and we jumped away from each other like scared rabbits.

Fury lit up her face and she didn't even try to control her voice as she yelled, "I THOUGHT you'd learned your lesson, Cam! The last boy you almost kissed tried to KILL you, and now you're doing it AGAIN? GOOD LORD, YOU CAN BE SO BLIND!"

And suddenly, I stared at Stella and I realized that she wasn't just trying to protect me to be nice. Loyalty was definitely a part of it, but the look in her eyes was more than loyalty.

It was fear.

She was afraid of a boy hurting me... like a boy had hurt her before.

"Stella, did someone... a boy... betray you before?" I asked quietly.

She didn't respond, but when I turned to look at Lukas he was staring at me with anger and confusion, his hands and lips very far away from mine. "You tried to kiss... Jai?"

"I didn't. He was the one that made the first move, and it's not like anything happened, not really, Stella interrupted just like she did now, and I don't see what gives her the right, seeing as they're my problems—" I started furiously.

Lukas interrupted, his eyes blazing. "Is that what I am to you? Another problem to be solved?"

I had never seen Lukas, the shy, sweet, caring boy, have this much anger in his gaze ever before, and it hurt so much that it was directed at me.

"No," I said truthfully to Lukas. "You're not a problem to me. I was trying to deny how I felt about you, but I realized that I couldn't. I can't."

Lukas deflated, his green eyes growing tired and sad. "Really? I feel the same about you. I have since the day I met you."

Stella growled and huffed. I jumped a little, I'd forgotten she was there. "Perfect. So, the little lovebirds have figured everything out, eh?"

"Stella, please!" I groaned. "I think we need to talk. But I don't have very much time before I leave, so let's make it fast. Lukas... I'll miss you too."

Without looking back, I took Stella by the hand and pulled her out of the room and into another.

"Stells. Stells. Stella, are you okay? What's going on?"

"I'm fine, I just..." Stella sniffed, sitting down hard on a stool in the training room we'd entered. "Yeah. You're right. I had a really bad experience with a boy once... I dated him for six months after I moved to America, and I didn't tell anyone. Then he dumped me because he told me he 'had his eye on another girl, and didn't think it was fair to continue the relationship.'"

"Who was the girl?" I asked, fuming at the one who had tried to get Stella's guy.

"You," Stella said softly, looking at the ground. My heart plummeted.

"Who was the boy?" I whispered, already somehow knowing the answer.

Stella looked me directly in the eyes. "Jai."

### Chapter Six

"I can't believe it," I said softly, but I could believe it, I could see it perfectly in my mind's eye. Stella and Jai, Jai and Stella, her pale hand on his tan one, her green eyes staring into his blue ones. The loyal, fun, smart and sweet best friend I knew, and the gorgeous boy who I thought was kind and strong. The Jai I thought I knew was a much better fit for Stella than he would have ever been for me.

But it didn't matter now. Jai was a traitor and a murderer, and neither Stella nor I would ever feel anything but hate towards him ever again.

And then I put it all together more than I thought I could. Stella was falling for a boy too, and she was trying to stop me and her at the same time, to save us both. "Stella... do you like Asher?"

Stella turned as red as the crimson carpet we were standing on and scoffed, "What? Who, me? Like that idiot?" Then she sighed. "Am I really that obvious?"

"A tiny bit," I admitted. "Stop calling him an idiot every five minutes, or at least stop doing it to his face, and maybe he'll like you back."

"I don't want him to like me back! I want myself to stop liking him! THIS IS STUPID!"

"I feel you, Stells, I feel you," I said with feeling.

Suddenly Agent Semaj burst through the door. "Cam! Are you okay? It's time!"

I stared at Stella, and then hugged her very, very tightly. She relaxed into me and murmured, "Kick Jai's butt for me, okay?"

"Okay," I whispered, pulling away and standing up. "I'm ready for this."

I walked down the hallway with Agent Semaj. He kept up a steady string of conversation, and I answered mindlessly.

Walking down to the front of the school felt like a death march. Just one foot in front of the other... in front of the other... until we were at the elevator that led into the janitor's office. Agent Semaj turned to me.

"This is it, Cam," he said sadly. "Emmi's waiting for you outside the janitor's closet. Look, Cam, just... stay safe, okay? Be smart. I know you'll be wanting revenge. I want the same thing. But there's a time and a place for everything, and if you push that time, the results are never what you want. The right moment for revenge will rise. It will. But until that time... wait." Tears glistened in his hazel eyes. Agent Semaj wiped them away with a soft smile. "Goodbye, Cam."

I catapulted into his arms and gave him a hug. He patted me on the back, his hazel eyes sparkling with pride. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered.

After a few moments, I broke away, grabbed my small dark gray bag, and walked into the open elevator doors. When the door was about to close, I tried to steal one more glance at Agent Semaj, but he was already gone.

The elevator ride seemed to take forever. I shifted on my feet and waited, then waited more. Finally, with a ding, the elevator jerked to a stop. The doors slid open, and Emmi was right in front of them, staring, her face oddly blank.

"AH!" I yelled and jumped. I put a hand to my racing heart and breathed deeply. "Jeez, Emms. No need to kill me with a heart attack before Shardstorm even gets a shot at me."

Emmi blinked. "Sorry. I'm just..." she sighed deeply, "scared. My mind is racing with all the possibilities of what might happen, and I know there's a chance we'll die."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Look," I said, taking a breath, "bravery comes from the heart, not the mind. If you have something worth fighting for, your mind may tell you to be scared, but you know in your heart that you can do it." I gave her a smile and took my hand off her shoulder. "That's true bravery."

"Has anyone ever told you that you should be a writer, Cam?" laughed Emmi, hoisting her bag on her shoulder and starting to walk towards the entrance of West Oliver Paige Transitional School. "That little speech you just gave was almost poetic."

"A writer? Hmm... I haven't thought of that before." A small smile spread onto my face, as I thought about the possibility.

I could write about my adventures as a spy!...

...If I survived long enough to record them. It was a sobering thought and the smile disappeared off my face. I loved being a spy, but I wanted to do more with my life, and I couldn't do more if I died before I even got a chance.

We reached the front of the school. With a glance at Emmi, I pushed open the heavy doors with faded and peeling blue paint and rusty handles, subconsciously squeezing my eyes shut and then opening them when I heard the creak of the door opening.

Nobody was there. My eyes scanned the perfectly trimmed bushes, the two-sided sign sporting the name of our school, and the stone walkway leading up to the huge dark gray and ice blue building. Not a trace of movement.

Suddenly Jai appeared. I couldn't tell if he'd come out from behind a bush, behind the school, or if he'd appeared out of thin air. For some reason, that option seemed the most likely.

He gave me a smile, raising his eyebrows. "Hello, Cam. Oh, lovely. You've brought me the item."

"Why, may I ask, do you keep calling my friend an item?" I asked furiously, resisting the urge to punch Jai in the gut as hard as I possibly could. I needed to try to keep up the mask of not hating him, at least for now, until I could learn all I could about Shardstorm and his forces and escape with Zoey and Emmi again.

Jai shrugged, a sly grin sneaking onto his face that I longed to wipe away. Without answering my question, he waved us towards him, commanding, "Come on."

I followed, my heart racing.

We trekked across a large field beside our school. A black dot shone in the distance, and as we came closer I took in the oddness of its appearance. It resembled a car combined with a plane. It was a sleek black, its shiny paint gleaming in the daylight. There were two small wings on its sides, and the doors were large and yellow.

I stopped walking, seeing as Jai had. "Has anyone ever told you that car looks like a bumblebee on steroids?" The insult slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Jai took the stairs to the yellow doors two at a time, throwing me a glance briefly over his shoulder, a wicked grin on his lips. "Bumblebees sting." He threw open the door and ducked inside.

"I guess we... follow?" I turned to Emmi with a shrug, walking rather more slowly than Jai had up the black stairs. Emmi followed. After we'd made it to the top, the stairs retracted, collapsed, and folded inside a compartment that I hadn't noticed in the bumblebee-car's side. I looked at Emmi once more, then ducked inside the blindingly bright doors.

The inside of the car looked just like the first-class section on a showy plane, with black leather seats and touchscreens on the back of the chairs.

I flashed back to my first plane ride, back in fourth grade. My mom had wanted to go to Hawaii for a very long time, ever since I was in kindergarten. Our family was never poor, but we had struggled with money, and we'd never really had enough for little extras, like vacations or big presents. I didn't get my first bike until seventh grade, and even then, it was secondhand. I only got a phone because our internet company had a free giveaway.

But finally, after years and years of pinching pennies and going without the things that, according to my fourth-grade self, "all the other kids had," we'd saved up enough for four Hawaii tickets. Me, my mom, my dad, and my older sister Valorie, who was in tenth grade then but was now a sophomore in college. I rarely saw her anymore because she went to a university on the other side of the country, and only visited for special occasions, like Christmas.

We didn't have enough for great seats, but Valorie and I were so thrilled to finally be travelling that we didn't care. Passing by the first-class section of the plane, I recall hearing my mother sigh and look longingly at the obviously blissful passengers as they sunk into their huge cushy chairs, able to watch all the TV and movies they wanted for free!

Yes, my mother definitely wished she was there with the first-class passengers, but once the plane soared into the air after lifting off the runway, she pulled me close and whispered in my ear, "I'm so excited! I wouldn't rather be anywhere now than here with your father, your sister, and you."

I snapped back to the present as Emmi gave me an elbow in the ribs and pulled me into one of the cushy chairs. Jai was talking to us from across the aisle. He, also, was sitting in a cushy chair.

"As you see, the Stormrider is a state-of-the-art spy vehicle. It uses the wings to achieve a slight lift effect, giving the Stormrider maximum speeds of up to three hundred miles per hour. It also includes a cloaking device, so normal imbecile civilians won't hurt their tiny brains trying to figure out how such a vehicle exists," Jai said with a smirk.

I again felt the strong urge to kick him hard. I happened to have some very close, very smart "imbecile civilian" friends, as Jai had called them, who had no idea about the world of spies and the life that I lived, and yet could get perfect scores on their SAT's or dismantle and reassemble my watch better than I could.

Just because I was a spy and Jai was a supervillain (I had almost started fearing him more than Shardstorm because of his ability to get inside my head and yet shoot a man with not even a hint of remorse) didn't make us smarter than people who didn't know about the world of spies.

It was amazing that Jai could be so intelligent and so ignorant all at once.

"Feel free to experiment with the touchscreens on the chairs in front of you, but don't expect to get past the main logon page without a passcode," Jai added, not even looking at us, just as Emmi reached out for the tablet-looking-thing on the back of the seat in front of her.

Emmi jumped back as if she'd been shocked, then glanced at me with a look that plainly said this-guy-is-a-stalker. I gave her an I-know-right look back, and then we grinned at each other.

My curiosity inflamed, I reached out for the screen in front of me and tapped it. It opened with three options: A lightning bolt, a tornado, and a shard of ice. There were no words, and the background was pure black.

I flashed back to when Jai had shot Agent Semaj. On his jacket had been the same symbol of ice. I subtly glanced at Jai. He was now looking at his tablet. He adjusted his position a little and the same symbol of ice flashed at me that was on his jacket at the battle. Hm. I clicked on the ice icon. A small box popped up, asking for a passcode.

Remembering my hacking training, I quickly clicked on the zero eight times fast. On some spy devices, this would cause a keyboard to pop up. It was a common glitch. But on this one, not a single thing happened.

The whirring and buzzing of the bumble-car... or Stormrider, filled my ears, but I pushed it away and tried something else.

Five minutes later, I finally managed to open the keyboard. I pumped my fist silently and typed in a few things, then pressed enter. Nothing happened. Ugh. I tried four more things.

On the fourth try, (I had tried the code to defuse the White House bomb, apparently Shardstorm wasn't all that creative) something beeped, the screen wobbled, and then I was in.

The screen had a list of documents, plans, and an intro paragraph. Jai looked up briefly from his tablet. When he saw that I had gotten into the screen, his eyes widened and he typed a message frantically on his watch. I fumed when I saw it was the same watch that the SPOW had issued to Jai before our mission to save the President.

I started reading the intro paragraph. It read:

Welcome to the Eliminator page. This page is for the warriors, the fighters, the slayers, the ones who go on missions to destroy certain enemy agents and who plant the bombs that are made by the Inventors or the Worlders. The Eliminators are the most powerful and the strongest of all the Leaguers and the Eliminating League will rule forever! Sure, maybe the Inventors have the smarts, the Worlders have both intellect and fighting skills, but the Eliminators have, most importantly, the secret to defeating the STPOW once and for all, which is—

"Something nosy little girls aren't allowed to see."

The screen fizzled and went black. "Hey!" I shouted, looking up, then gasping.

Shardstorm himself loomed over me, an evil grin spreading between his lips.

He'd changed from the last time I'd seen him. His jet-black hair had grown out, giving him a wild and rough appearance. He looked like a contestant on my mom's favorite show, Desolate Woods, where different people were given minimal supplies and told they had to survive in the forest for a year.

His scar was long and pink and stretched across his pale face, adding to the roughed-up look he now sported. His deep, dark blue eyes glittered and flashed. He was just as tall as ever, and his muscles bulged when he crossed his arm across his chest. He was wearing a jacket with a tornado on it. A Worlder, I thought. Both smart and deadly. Come to think of it, I knew that before I saw the jacket.

"Unfortunately, we can't let you see that information at this time," Shardstorm told me. His voice was deep, husky, gravelly and undeniably evil.

"Shardstorm," I said loudly, willing my voice not to shake. "The last time I saw you, I recall ruining your plan. What makes you think this time will end any differently?" Taylor's face flashed in my mind and I pushed the picture away, fresh rage bubbling up in my throat.

Shardstorm laughed, a cold, dark sound that echoed through the car that I could have sworn had no echoes. I shivered without really thinking about it.

"I demand you to release us at once," I commanded, trying to muster all the power I could into my voice. "Take me if you must, but leave this innocent girl alone!" Emmi looked at me like you're-crazy-if-you-think-I'm-letting-them-take-you!

"Oh yes... that 'innocent girl'," Shardstorm answered, in an almost... caring voice.

Shardstorm approached Emmi and ran a long finger across her face. Emmi flinched away from him and I growled, "Do NOT touch my friend."

"She was my finest model... my life's work..." Shardstorm whispered, retracting his finger.

And suddenly it all fell into place.

Why they called her an it... why she never seemed the same as the other Agents or kids... why she managed to not be knocked out by the bolt... why she never seemed to get tired... why she moved so mechanically and oddly... why Shardstorm wanted her so, so very badly, and why she never seemed quite human.

It's because she wasn't human. Emmi was a robot, an android.

And she was created by Shardstorm.
Chapter Seven

"Cam? Cam, are you okay?" Emmi's voice cut through my thought and I jumped.

I had a decision to make. I could tell Emmi what I'd figured out, and though everything would make a lot more sense to her, she might need some time to process the realization...

What was I saying? Emmi didn't need time to process anything. She didn't even have feelings.

My heart panged and I felt suddenly like crying. One of my best friends wasn't alive. It felt like I should suddenly cue the funeral music and put Emmi in a casket.

I shook my head in disgust with myself. Emmi was alive. She just wasn't quite... human.

I finally looked up. Shardstorm was staring me right in the eye and I jumped a foot out of my chair and landed back directly in it. Emmi's eyes sparked with a little fear and laughter.

How could she do that if she was an android?

Shardstorm leaned in close to me. I scooted away, but his voice still reached my ears.

"You know," he said softly, with menace in his gravelly voice. "You know what Emmi truly is. I see it in your eyes. You realize now my awesome power, if I can create something as wonderful and lifelike as this." He leaned back, triumphant, and grinned maliciously. "Surrender now, and truly come train with us. Don't think I know what you have hiding in that little gray bag of yours."

He yanked it from my grasp, pulled down the window, and tossed out the bag. My heart plummeted, along with the small pouch. The bag had all my spy equipment in it. My walkie-talkie, tracking chip, grappling hooks, and all the other things I was going to use to take Shardstorm down from the inside out.

His lips spread in another evil grin, his scar stretching and his dry lips cracking.

"You see? Now you're free. No means to communicate with your little spy friends. You have an excuse for not contacting them." Shardstorm's grin faded. "I know you still feel connected to your STPOW, but soon we'll beat that out of you."

"That's not a very convincing speech to try to get me to join your side. Have you ever considered using kindness?" I huffed, hiding my hatred and fear underneath harsh words.

"Kindness? Ha! The STPOW tries to be kind, and look where they are!" Jai spoke up from his seat, looking up from his tablet. I saw the symbol of ice on his tablet blink twice and go out.

"Kindness is what killed your little friend Taylor! Kindness is what led our forces to capture that little girl! Kindness is the reason you are in this car, right now, trapped! Kindness is why you couldn't just walk away, because you're just too kind to sacrifice a couple people for the good of the mission."

Jai heaved a deep breath, and the fire in his eyes seemed to die. "That's why we use pain. Pain works better," he muttered.

Shardstorm walked over and clapped Jai on the back. Pride lit up his face.

"Well said. So, Cam, what do you say? Are you all in?" He held out his hand towards mine.

"Don't do it, Cam!" screamed Emmi. "You can just leave now! Save yourself! I'll be okay! Just go, please, go!"

I swallowed a sob. I was risking my life for a robot and a kindergartener. I felt ridiculous. But in the end, however right Jai may have been, kindness was really the only thing that separated villains from heroes. And if there was one thing I could be sure about, it was that I was the hero in this situation.

My hand found its way onto Shardstorm's. I shuddered and resisted the urge to take my soft hand off of Shardstorm's dry one. "I'm in."

Like a cue, the Stormrider (bumble-car) shuddered to a stop. I ripped my hand off of Shardstorm's, cringing. I peered out the window, but only saw a plain dirt road. Dust billowed into the air, hiding the view of anything beyond a few feet of the bumble-car. Stormrider. Whatever it was called.

"This is your evil lair?" I scoffed.

"Not everything important is on the surface," Jai turned to me, his eyes sparking.

"How would you know?" I muttered, smiling to myself. Jai was the shallowest person I knew (except for maybe Shardstorm himself). Who was he to lecture me about what was underneath the surface?

Maybe I was reading too much into his comment. Maybe he only meant that Shardstorm's hideout was underground. Jai just somehow made everything feel like a personal insult.

The doors slid open. Jai jumped up and slid out the door. I hesitated, then followed Emmi out into the bright daylight.

At first glance, it looked like a completely dull, normal field. Low grasses swayed in the slight breeze. The dirt road snaked through the field and into the distance.

I turned to look back at the Stormrider, but nothing was there. I whipped back around, and Shardstorm and Jai were walking towards me. Emmi was still by my side.

My conscience whispered to me (well, more like screamed), Tell her! Tell her NOW! Okay, not then. Tell her... NOW! Good gosh, just TELL her! It's her life, she deserves to know!

No! I huffed back to the guilty part of me. It will ruin the mission! Ruin it! She'll break down! She'll... uh...

It was bad news when I couldn't even think of an argument to get back at myself. But I couldn't tell Emmi. My gut was telling me that it was not yet the time, and I'd learned on my previous spy missions to always trust my gut.

"Come on!" Emmi motioned to me. She was at least ten feet ahead of me, following the figures of Shardstorm and Jai up ahead. I ran to catch up.

We trekked down the dirt road. Emmi and I talked quietly about our plan while we walked. The grass swayed ominously as we passed it by, and mountains rose in the distance.

It was odd that on this mission, I'd definitely felt feelings of foreboding, indecision, and guilt, but I hadn't really felt much fear this time since the mission had begun. I knew that this was only my second mission for the STPOW, but I kind of felt like a pro.

I smiled to myself. I wasn't afraid. I was ready.

Emmi, however, looked terrified. Her normally dark face was obviously paler, and she wavered when she walked. I put a comforting arm around her shoulder and she relaxed a bit.

I didn't notice that Shardstorm and Jai had stopped until I rammed right into Jai. I stumbled, but somehow Jai didn't even shift his feet. He just glanced at me, then looked at Shardstorm and asked, "This is it, right?"

Shardstorm nodded.

Jai took off his jacket, then pressed the symbol of ice to a small, seemingly normal bump on the dirt trail. The bump shuddered once, then twice. Then it was still.

"Well, looks like it didn't..." I started to say, and then I was falling.

It was different from the STPOW's tunnel of horrors, where we plummeted for a full thirty seconds before landing on a soft pillow. It felt more like I was in a wind tunnel combined with a roller coaster. My hair whipped from side to side, back and forth. I twisted and turned, plummeted downwards then shot upwards. I heard a clunk that sounded like something above our heads had closed.

I was going sideways, then the other way, and then bright light assaulted my eyes and I covered them, then I was falling further and the thought it's a trap! shot through my head and I waited for the fatal blow when I hit the ground.

But it never came. I slowly slid to a stop, feeling for the first time that there was actually tunnel underneath my body, and I wasn't just a formless lump in empty space. Jai slid up beside me and flashed me a winning grin. I mentally groaned.

Emmi slid up next to my left, looking frazzled. Her hair was still perfectly straight. I subtly glanced to my right. Jai's was too. Was I the only one with less than amazing hair? Apparently.

Shardstorm's face appeared in front of me at the end of the short tunnel and I laughed out loud. I definitely wasn't the only one with horrible hair.

"What's so funny, doomed Agent?" Shardstorm growled. "There's nowhere to go. No place to hide. You're completely under my control. Resistance is futile. Follow my commands, and you will survive." A smirk appeared on his face. "Oh, yes, and welcome to the League of Darkness. We'll have to assign you a league. I think she's an Eliminator, what about you, Jai?"

"A Worlder. I'm certain," Jai responded quietly.

I played dumb. "What the heck are Eliminators and Worlders?"

"Eliminators are the—" Jai started to say, but Shardstorm cut him off with a wicked smile. "That's on a need-to-know basis. And YOU do NOT need to know. Perhaps ever."

Was it my imagination, or did Jai look slightly disappointed?

Shardstorm motioned to us, and I crawled towards the opening at the end of the tunnel.

I emerged from the tunnel into a large room. The ceilings were high in the middle, but low on the sides. The ceiling was deep black, as were the walls and floors. White double doors were on either side of the room, and a steady stream of enemy agents flowed through both doors, each wearing the typical jacket with the lightning, ice, or tornado.

It reminded me of STPOW. I tried to push the feeling away, but as I took in the dim lights, loyal agents, and (at least currently) calm leader, it just felt a lot like home.

Without a word, Shardstorm broke away from the group and briskly walked through the door on the left, muttering quick words to a few of his forces.

"I'm supposed to give you the tour," Jai said loudly, catching the eye of a few enemy agents and giving them a nod.

Ugh, Shardstorm's headquarters felt so, so much like the STPOW! Except for the fact that it was evil. I thought the evil and menace would be obvious, but it really wasn't. The only thing that even hinted at the true purpose of this hideout was a large banner in the corner that read "Mission assignments for the week of June 20th," with a skull and crossbones underneath. I strained to see the exact words, but they were too small to make out from so far away.

Jai's deep, silky voice cut through my thought. "So, this is the room where full Agents get their assignments. You, and even I, have a long way to go before we get there." He flashed me a smile and I fumed. I didn't plan on staying here even a week, let alone long enough to where I had to go on missions.

Jai motioned for me to walk up with him and started making long strides toward the door that Shardstorm had not gone through. I glanced at Emmi and she gave me a short nod.

I lengthened my steps to catch up with Jai. He gave me a nod and said, "You know, Shardstorm wanted us to lead you into a trap when you came to train with us, to get you out of the way."

My steps faltered. "I knew it." I kept walking after a moment, but now I was poised and ready to run.

"I convinced him to give you a chance, though. To train. To prove your loyalty to the right side, the side that someday soon will take over the world. Sure, a few, or a lot of people have to die in the process, but wouldn't it be lovely to have that sort of power?"

Jai turned to look at me. "And now hopefully you see that since I vouched for your life, that this side isn't all bad."

A tiny blush crept onto both of our faces and we both fought to remove it.

So that was the reason I wasn't dead already. Jai was the reason I wasn't dead already. It was an odd thought.

We opened the white doors, and entered a short hallway with two doors on either side. They were both plain black. Jai gestured to the first one. "My room," and the other, "your room."

"We have rooms across from each other?" I groaned. Emmi appeared on my other side. "Can't I have that room?" Emmi asked, looking at me nervously.

A hint of a smirk crossed Jai's face. "No, Emmi. You follow me. I'll be right back, Cam. Explore your room, get settled. There are some clothes in there for you."

"I'm not leaving Emmi," I said furiously.

Jai raised his eyebrows. "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not!" I yelled, tears welling in my eyes that I swiped at angrily. "Only reason I agreed to come here in the first place is because I thought I would be with Emmi!" At least before I found out she was an android. "You can't take her away from me!" I grabbed onto her arm and Emmi held on tight.

"You can let her go, or I can take her from you. I recall our last fight ending with me knocking you out and tying you to a chair in a room with a live bomb?" Jai responded calmly.

I couldn't stop myself from smirking, it was my little secret that he had definitely not knocked me out in our other fight. Actually, that was part of the reason I had survived the bomb.

"Cam, just let him take me! They obviously wanted me for something, it's not like they're going to kill me. That's just not good strategy." Emmi had started to struggle against me, fear in her eyes that I knew was reflected in mine.

I let out a breath and let go of her arm. Jai put his hands on her shoulder and steered her towards the end of the short hallway. "Right. See you soon, Cam."

Striding to my room, I opened the black door and slammed it behind me.

The room, at least, was nothing like my room at the STPOW. Almost everything was black, except for the bed. That was white. A large black dresser sat against the far wall, and the bed sat against the other wall, with a small nightstand on its side. There were no windows. I supposed we were underground. The ceiling was black, giving the room the impression of a dark, dank cave.

I flicked on the light switch and collapsed on my bed. I sunk into the squishy mattress and it cradled me and comforted me.

"Arggggggh," I groaned, even though there was nobody to hear me.

I was deep underground in an enemy's lair with no other STPOW Agents with me, and now not only did I have to find out where Zoey was and rescue her, I had to save Emmi from whatever torture Jai had planned for her—quickly. And it was all up to me and me alone.

I was quiet for a second, and then I sat up on my bed with a start.

I'd just heard muttering coming from the right side of my room.

"Multiply it by the variable in the last equation, carry the four, subtract the five, divide by 46 then add both exponents together, that equals..."

I nervously noticed a door that I had missed before, where the noise seemed to be coming from. Reluctantly leaving my bed, I tiptoed across the floor and yanked open the door before I could lose my nerve.

I flung open the door with a bang and screamed at what I saw inside.

### Chapter Eight

There was a girl in my closet!

A short girl with round pink glasses and tangled dirty-blonde hair with dyed-green tips—to be exact. As I flung open the door, she screamed at the same time I did. The new room appeared to be a closet, and held nothing but a few clothes hangers with, unexpectedly enough, my clothes that I knew were safe in my dresser or closet at home.

But the clothes weren't my focus now, the girl hiding in my closet was. She recovered from her shock, then blinked up at me with her blue eyes and pushed up her pink glasses, then gave me a smile. "Hi there! You must be Cam!"

She held a large orange notebook in her hands and I cringed. I hated the color orange. It was so blaring and ugly and... almost nothing rhymed with the word! The notebook was flipped to a page that had multiple complicated equations on it.

"Yes, I'm Cam," I stammered, still shocked from finding a human in my closet. It felt like some weird science fiction or horror movie. "Who are you?"

"Oh, my name is Aurora. Call me Aury, though," the newly named Aury said brightly. "You're a new recruit, right?"

"You could sort of say that," I muttered. Aury blinked again, looking interested.

I continued reluctantly, "Well, let's just say one of Shardstorm's... forces... captured a trainee of the organization I work for, and then threatened her if I didn't come train with him. So, in a way, I'm a new recruit." I took a deep breath, feeling much better now that I'd spilled my guts to somebody, however unintelligent it may have been.

"That's too bad. Was it the STPOW?" Aury answered calmly.

"What?" I said blankly.

"Was the organization you worked for the STPOW?"

"Oh. Uh, maybe?"

"It's okay, you can tell me. I won't tell. I'm just a lowly Inventor in training." Aury shifted her notebook so I could see her lightning bolt patch.

"Well, don't you work for Shardstorm?" I asked.

Aury climbed out of my closet and I shuffled backwards. She plopped down on my bed, making a few scratches in her notebook.

A thought struck me and I started searching the room for bugs, little listening devices that would pick up my every conversation. I started by looking on the back side of my headboard. Two. I scoured under my nightstand. Another one. I crushed them under my new tennis shoes.

Aury stared at me curiously as I worked, then sighed. "Yes, I work for Shardstorm. Technically. Kind of. My mom is a really high-up Agent, second-hand woman to Shardstorm himself. But I don't really like killing people. I just like equations," she admitted, making a mark in her notebook.

A bug in each dresser drawer, and two behind my dresser. One on the ceiling of my closet, and three on my clothes. I stomped on them, jumping up and down more than was probably necessary. "Then why don't you just leave, Aury?"

"I can't just leave," Aury's voice floated to me from her perch on my bed. I had found the door to a small bathroom on the left of my room, and I was now searching it for the little listening devices. One in the shower, one in the toilet (ew) one in the drain. That one took me a while to get out.

"My mom would literally kill me," Aury continued as I walked back into the room, stepping on the new round of bugs. "She'd find me wherever I went."

"That's horrible," I huffed, doing a final round of the room. "But you know, we could protect you. The STPOW could. You could do equations to your hearts content, and help us with the technical stuff."

I found one final bug on the ceiling, and groaned as I balanced on the headboard of my bed, reaching my arm as high as it went.

"You don't know my mom," Aury told me, wide-eyed. "She's really scary. She made up a new name for herself because she thinks it makes her sound cooler. My mom's super sensitive to people making fun of her because of her name. She once killed someone on the spot who did."

I snagged the bug on the ceiling as my mind flashed back to the battle at the STPOW headquarters, and one enemy agent that was especially sensitive to Stella making fun of her and Shardstorm's name. "Is she perhaps Darkblaze? Well, is that her fake name?"

"That's the one," Aury said grimly, staring down intently at her notebook.

"Yeah, she shot my best friend with a knockout bolt when she insulted Shardstorm and her name, and she would have done worse if we hadn't gotten her out of there," I confirmed. "Scary is a perfect word to describe her."

Silence for a moment while I smashed the final bug underneath my shoe, grinding it into the floor.

"So, are you the only trainee of Shardstorm's?" I spoke up, sitting on my bed next to Aury and sneaking a peek at my special STPOW watch. One message from Agent Semaj: Are you in? Are you okay? It was from three minutes ago.

I started to type a response, Yes. They separated me from Emmi. There's at least one other trainee of Shardstorm's here, but she seems nice enough. I will tread carefully. Don't send message for a while, Shardstorm threw my spy gear out the window so this is all I have left. Send.

"No, there's one other trainee. He's a guy. His name is Hunter, and he's... different. He doesn't really talk much, and he's creepily accurate with a gun. I once put an apple on my head for no reason, and he shot it off, then grinned at me."

I shuddered. He sounded like a quieter Jai to me. "Yikes. Where is his room?"

"Right next to mine, through the door at the end of the hall. But not the door that goes to the assignment room. So I'm always running late and sprinting down the entire hall for classes. Good workout." Aury took a small cereal-bar looking thing out of her pocket, unwrapped it, and took a bite.

My stomach growled. She laughed. "Want a bite?"

I tentatively broke off a chunk, looking at it with foreboding. I took a small nibble out of the bar and then immediately spit it out. It tasted like a mixture of asparagus and chocolate. "Gross, what is this stuff?"

Aury giggled and took another bite of her bar. "Compressed kale-and-chocolate energy bar! It was gross the first time I had it, too."

I took another bite. "You're right, it's less horrible the second time." We both chewed in silence for a moment.

"Uh, what is through that door at the end of our short little hall?" I took the last bite of my little chunk of bar. It had become pretty good.

"Mostly residential rooms and suites, like the one I live in. But at the very, very end of the hall, there's an experimental lab," Aury explained, then shoved the rest of the bar in her mouth, dusting it off with her hands.

My heart plummeted and hit the floor. Jai wouldn't have been so adamant about taking Emmi away if it was just to another room. I was almost certain she was headed to the experimental lab. She'd be so scared, she had no idea she was different yet...

I suddenly felt like vomiting up all of the kale and chocolate I'd just consumed. It would be horrible for Emmi to learn what she really was from a supervillain. I'd much rather her learn it from me.

"I've got to... do something now. It was great chatting with you, Aury, but could I have some privacy for a bit?"

I tried to send the message to her to get out as kindly as possible. I truly liked Aury, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. She reminded me of Emmi mixed with Stella. My two best friends in one!

I wildly felt like laughing as I thought about the fact that one of my best friends was an android. That sounded like the name of a bad comedy movie: My Second-Best Friend is an Android.

Aury blinked up at me, then shoved her glasses up and held her notebook close to her chest. "Sure. Nice to meet you, Cam. You're an interesting girl."

"You're an interesting girl, too," I told her, grinning. Aury smiled at me, trotted to the door, and slid out.

It was only after she had left that I realized I'd never asked her how she had gotten into my closet.

I immediately texted Agent Semaj on my watch, I don't know how to tell you this, but... I think Emmi's an android and that Shardstorm is going to experiment on her. I'm scared. When will you be here with the getaway car?

I waited anxiously for a response.

A minute later, my watch pinged back with a response. I've suspected that since right before you left, I apologize for not telling you my theory. The getaway car will be there on Friday at 5pm sharp. I tracked you using the bug on your clothing, and we will be directly at the location. It will be up to you to find the main exit and escape with Zoey and Emmi, hopefully also with some insight about Shardstorm's plan.

The door burst open and Jai sauntered in. I jumped about a mile high, casually not looking at my watch. "Oh, hello. Done torturing Emmi?"

Jai smirked. "Torturing is a strong word. If you meant experimenting, no, that's just begun." He smoothed his already perfect light brown hair out of his face, even though it hadn't been there in the first place. His deep blue eyes glittered with malice.

"You're all monsters. Let her go! Just because she's not human doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings," I growled in a low voice, anger making it shake.

Jai shrugged. "If you want to get technical, it actually doesn't have feelings. It's a very, very new and updated model, even this many years after it was created, so it's programmed feelings are realistic, but it doesn't have real feelings."

"Stop. Calling. Her. An. IT!" I screamed, lunging for Jai.

Jai wasn't ready for my attack. I'd gotten much better at fighting like a spy since our last contest of strength, but I still wasn't at Jai's level and I knew it. I used a new Tae-Kwon-Do move I'd learned to try to sweep Jai off his feet, but he easily dodged it and landed a kick to my gut, quickly recovering from his surprise.

But I didn't go flying across the room like before, oh no. I stayed firmly in one place, panting.

"I really don't want to hurt you, Cam. You have great potential to be an agent," Jai started.

"I already am an Agent, for the organization that counts," I gasped, pride lacing my breathless tone.

"You know, I only came to your room to take you to your first class, Beginner's Gunwork, which starts in five minutes," Jai responded calmly, brushing his hands together. "I didn't come to fight, though I certainly will anytime you'd like."

I really needed to stop letting Jai get inside my head, but ooh, he made me sooooo mad. He somehow knew the exact words to say to get me fired up and yet make himself seem as cool as a cucumber.

I decided I needed to start practicing the mental part of being a spy more often: resisting my enemy's charm. No, charm was a horrible word for it, and it reminded me of the time when I was so smitten with those deep blue eyes.

Resisting my enemy's power sounded much better.

"Follow me," Jai said finally, motioning me to outside the door. I reluctantly trudged after him.

One hour and a huge amount of sweat later, I was back in my room on the exact same spot on my bed, gasping for breath. The gun class had been a lot like our stun gun class at the STPOW... except for Hunter.

Aury was not exaggerating. The boy's aim was insane. He hit a practice bag from the other side of a crooked hallway after being spun around ten times. He shot an apple's stem on top of a volunteer's head, and he hit exactly over the heart on a practice mannequin... while someone was moving it in jerky motions all around. The fact that he could do that scared me. I didn't feel safe when I was around him.

I hung out in my room for a bit, planning and staring at the dreary ceiling, when I heard the mumbling again, in Aury's exact voice, coming from my closet.

A-gain.

I stared at the ceiling for five more seconds, not wanting to believe it, then heaved myself off my bed and slowly opened the closet door.

As expected, Aury was there again. For no reason in particular, I screamed again. Aury screamed too, clutching her orange notebook to her chest and pushing up her pink glasses.

We both stared for a moment, then burst out laughing simultaneously. "How do you," I gasped, "get in there?"

Aury grinned, then said, "Just pay attention to your surroundings, Cam." She ducked behind my clothes, then pushed on a seemingly normal stretch of wall. It creaked open, revealing a secret passageway. She motioned down it. "Voila!"

"Impressive," I said, nodding, letting Aury crawl in, then leaning down and climbing into the small tunnel with dank gray walls and spider webs on the ceiling.

"So, by the way, I was told to tell you that you can eat dinner down in the Café whenever you would like," Aury told me abruptly, then she straightened up, standing. I crawled to where she was.

The tunnel opened up into a large room. There was one door leading forward, and one leading to the right. "That one," Aury informed me, gesturing to the door in front of us, "leads to the main exit. The other one leads to the Café, which is right next to the main assignment room."

My heart started pounding with excitement. "Wait. That door, right there, leads to the main exit?"

Aury sighed. "Yes. I know what you're thinking. But it wouldn't be too bad to just stay here for a few weeks, would it? I'm so lonely, Hunter's no fun, and you're the only one who's ever been close to a friend to me."

A lump rose in my throat. I couldn't stay here with Aury. That much was certain. But I felt so bad for her, stuck at the place where evil was born around hearts of stone while hers was obviously as bright as the sun.

"Maybe I can't stay here with you, Aury, but you could always come back to the STPOW with me," I suggested carefully.

Aury looked at me for a moment, then said, "I already told you, I'd love to, but my mom would kill me. Very literally."

"I promise we'd protect you," I whispered, putting a tentative arm around her shoulder.

Aury looked at me for a moment, then said finally, "I'm trusting you with everything, Cam. You better make good on it, okay?" I grinned and pumped my fist. "When are you leaving?" she continued.

I gave her a huge hug. "Tomorrow at 5 pm, sharp. Meet me at the main exit. I'm so happy for you! You'll be a great addition to the Spies That Protect Our World, and a great friend to me."

"Yeah, I'm excited too," Aury said, smiling a little and pushing up her glasses.

I heard a yell in the distance, "Aury! Cam!"

I looked at Aury. "We should go. Do most people know about this secret tunnel?" She shook her head.

We started sprinting down the tunnel leading to the Café. The voices got louder and louder. "AURY! CAM!"

"We've got to bolt!" I whisper-yelled. We ran faster towards the Café.

Finally, a door shone in the distance. We burst through it and slammed it shut behind us, just as Darkblaze came around the corner in the hall we'd emerged in. She gave Aury a smirk (maybe that was her closest thing to a smile?) and me a growl. "Girls. They've been calling you for dinner for at least ten minutes. Where have you been?"

Aury subtly glanced at me and I grinned. Our secret was safe... for now.

### Chapter Nine

The next day, unexpectedly enough, flew by. I fell asleep quickly in my amazing bed, and had a giant blueberry waffle for breakfast. I had three new classes that day, two before lunch, one after. Another class was scheduled to be after dinner, but I knew that I wouldn't be around for that one.

At 4:30 in my room, I was getting my important stuff together, which wasn't very much, seeing as Shardstorm had thrown most of my gear out the window of the bumble-car. Stormrider. Whatever it was.

Earlier that day, I'd snuck out of my class early and explored the headquarters. I'd found a room labeled, "All Prisoners Held Here." My plan was to sneak out to the exit to make sure Aury was there, and have her find the getaway car while I got Zoey and Emmi.

I looked around my room one last time. I didn't need my clothes, however much it pained me to leave some of them here. It still creeped me out that one of Shardstorm's forces had apparently snuck into my house and grabbed part of my wardrobe. It made me worry a bit if my family was okay.

With a sigh and a nod to myself, I opened the closet door and then shut it behind me, throwing myself into darkness.

I suddenly realized I hadn't paid attention to where Aury had pressed the secret passageway open yesterday. I started groping blindly on the wall behind my clothes, pressing down on random stretches of wall. But no telltale creek occurred, no light suddenly bathed my senses. I pressed all around myself, more frantically, desperate to get out of the tiny closet.

Suddenly a loud BEEP jarred me. I looked wildly around. One section of the wall, a higher section, was glowing. A little screen asked me for a passcode. I cocked my head a bit at it. Was this the entrance to the tunnel... or something more?

Five minutes later, I had hacked in. A small safe creaked open in the wall. I checked my watch. 4:38. I was way behind schedule, but I needed to know what was in the safe.

I reached into the small compartment. I knew it was a dumb move, but I didn't have time to make sure there wasn't anything dangerous in it. I riffled around a bit, until my fingers closed around something smooth and rectangular. I pulled it out.

It was a journal, with a classy leather cover. There was no title. I thumbed open the cover and flipped to the first page.

It was a diagram, a diagram of what looked like a small baby. "The Miracle-Bot," it was called, in scrawling font at the top of the yellowing page. Little arrows pointed to different parts of the Miracle-Bot's body. The hair apparently, "Always stayed smooth." Well, that explained that part of things.

The next page showed the Miracle-Bot as a child. Her hair was longer now, her brain interface starting to develop further. I flipped the page, feeling queasy, and gasped at what I saw.

It was Emmi. It was exactly Emmi. It was like someone literally took a picture of her and slapped it onto the page. I knew it must have been a drawing, but it looked so very real. Her heart was labeled, "Most modern interface."

Interface. Emmi's loving and sweet soul had been reduced to an interface.

I turned to the next page and jumped. Words screamed out at me:

The time is coming when the Miracle-Bot will be used to her full potential. There is a piece of code in the Miracle-Bot that, when activated, will scramble the coding of all the other intelligent androids in the world to do my bidding! They will come flooding through the gates of my headquarters, ready to fight for me! But a few androids will infiltrate important organizations in America, and take them over for the good of my forces. WORLD DOMINATION WILL FINALLY BE MINE!

I stood there, stunned, for a minute. So that was what Shardstorm created Emmi for, and why he wanted her back. My mission had suddenly gotten much, much more important.

I flipped the page once more. More words, in smaller font, were written. The top of each page was dated, the first from many years ago.

Something went wrong with creating the Miracle-Bot. A huge explosion the factory I worked for. But no matter, I didn't really care much for that company anyway. I put a new piece of code in the android, just to see if it would work. It did, but the explosion occurred soon afterwards. Hm. I see endless potential in this android. I've always wanted to engineer, but maybe, just maybe, the Miracle-Bot could lead me to something more... like maybe world domination... but no, that's silly, that makes me sound like a supervillain or something.

I'm not a supervillain. I'm just ambitious.

Very ambitious.

The next entry was dated about a week later.

The idiot Life Science workers tried to steal my robot! I had to steal it back and leave them. They were stupid. Her name wasn't Miracle, though she was the Miracle-Bot. The name I made for her was so much better.

The next entry was from a month later.

There's something happening to me. I feel this fire in my soul, growing and growing and threatening to consume me. I want power. I NEED power. And I can have it easily, with the Miracle-Bot. She's growing just as I expected, just like a normal child. Nobody will ever suspect anything. But I don't know if I can focus on raising a child... robot... when there's so much work to do to make a place for me in this world.

The next, and second-to-last entry, skipped almost a year. I read nervously, my heart pounding with increasing intensity.

I have too many ideas for world domination to focus all of my attention on this nuisance android. I think I scared her by ignoring her for weeks at a time, then popping up to do tests on her. The code isn't ready yet. It may not be ready for many more years. I think I know what I must do: I'll find an orphanage somewhere near and send her there. I'm so close to finding a way to take over the world. I can feel it in my bones and my soul. And this android is lifelike enough.

Maybe she'll respond better to my tests if she has a more loving family than I.

And the final entry, only three days from the other.

What has happened to me? I read my first entry in this log, and I was so innocent. I had no plans for power, for fear, for murder, for world domination. But it is too late now. I've walked too far down the path of the villain to ever turn back now. I'm not even certain I want to.

I dropped Miracle-Bot at the orphanage yesterday. They asked for a reason and a name. I responded, "I can't take care of her anymore."

And...

"Her name is Emmi."

The world spun. I dropped to my knees. I had known Emmi was an android, known she was created by a villain, but I had no idea, no idea that she was made for this, that time was running out so very quickly. I had to find Emmi, now.

I shoved the journal back in the safe, and shut the door, praying that it wouldn't sound an alarm or something that it hadn't been opened correctly. With a deep breath, I shoved through my clothes and threw my closet door open.

Jai was right in front of the closet door.

His dark blue eyes glittered. "Agh!" I screamed, jumping backwards and shoving the door shut.

I locked the closet door from the inside, then pushed right back through my clothes, shoved everywhere until the secret door swung open, and rammed myself forcefully through, crawling frantically.

I heard banging behind me, and I crawled faster, rubbing my hands and knees raw until I emerged into the room. I raced across the room, throwing myself at the Café door. I had to get to Emmi. I had to get to Emmi.

About halfway through the tunnel, I rammed right into a warm body. I screamed loudly, then covered my own mouth. "Who is it?!" I hissed.

"It's Aury," the whisper came back, and I let out a breath of relief. "I was trying to get to the main exit. What's happening?"

"New plan. I need your help. Do you have any weapons on you?" I said quickly. "They know about the passage now, and they know I'm about to escape. We need to find Emmi first, then Zoey, then get out of here!"

Aury tossed me a stun gun. I couldn't see her face in the dim light, but I could have sworn I could hear her smirk. "I'm always prepared."

Then her tone became more serious. "Listen. I told Hunter about the tunnels. I thought I could trust him, but I think that he told Jai!"

"That jerk," I hissed. "Yeah, they definitely know we're here, then. Let's just blast a bunch of people and try to get out of here."

We crept in silence to the end of the tunnel, and then Aury kicked the door to the Café open.

There were at least twenty enemy agents waiting for us. They were silent for a moment.

I sighed.

"Well, d—"

An enemy agent interrupted me with a yell of "ATTACK!". Bolts and bullets suddenly flew everywhere.

"Awesome," I groaned, cocking my stun gun and prepping to fire, knowing we could never make it but prepared to go down fighting.

A bolt whizzed by my head. I ducked, and shielded Aury with my body. "Cam, we aren't going to get through!" she yelled.

And then, unexpectedly, a call of, "STOP!"

The bullets ceased, though someone fired a few more bolts for good measure before stopping.

Aury and I emerged with trepidation out of the tunnel. Shardstorm's forces, most of them with lightning bolts on their jackets, were standing in a circle, guns cocked, most of them certainly not stun guns.

And in the middle of them all, Jai.

Jai paced around the room, along the edge of all of Shardstorm's forces, his feet making dull thuds every time they hit the floor.

"Cam, why do you have to try to escape?"

Thud, thud.

"It's ridiculous that you think you're even going to make it past this room."

Thud, thud.

"Is it so bad here, really, Cam? You could learn to live the life of power right here, right now. I tell you now, resistance is pointless."

Thud, thud.

Jai suddenly whirled around towards me, hands out. "Shardstorm is going to win in the end. Our side is stronger. Faster. Superior."

Thud, thud.

"Will you just stay with us?"

Jai looked directly into my eyes and said a word I didn't think I'd ever heard come out of his lips before. "Please?"

Aury looked at me uncertainly. But I wasn't looking back at her. I was looking at Jai, because I'd figured something out.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You... you still love me."

It was supposed to be a question, but it came out like a statement. A few of the enemy agents snickered and whispered to each other.

Jai's normally perfectly tan face flushed pink. "That's ridiculous. You're the enemy. I would never love an enemy agent."

"But you do. It's as clear as day, Jai, and that's why you want me to stay with you." I walked forward a few steps closer to him. "But I know. I know what you did to Stella."

He flushed again. "Stella wasn't nearly as strong as you." Then he covered his mouth. The enemy agents laughed louder, this time not even trying to cover it up.

"No," I told him firmly. "No, I won't stay with you, go out with you, kiss you like you tried to do to me when I still thought you would stay by my side forever. I won't train to be evil, train to fight for the wrong side, train to kill."

I shook my head. "That's not me, and it never will be. So please stop trying to make it so."

Then I backed up a couple steps and nudged Aury in the ribs. "But I am flattered you still love me."

I smirked, throwing Jai's signature look right back at him.

"Maybe you should ask out Hunter or something."

With that, Aury and I burst through the circle of enemy agents and raced towards the lab where Emmi was held.

### Chapter Ten

"After them!" was the cry that arose from the dozens of enemy agents we'd just breezed past. I glanced at Aury as bolts and bullets started flying by our head.

"We just have to get through a few doors, and then we'll make it to the experimental lab!" yelled Aury.

"Aim for my daughter! She's a traitor and a disgrace to Shardstorm!" I heard Darkblaze shout from behind us.

"Aaaaand that's my mom," Aury groaned, dodging a bolt that singed the edge of her hair. Then a bullet whizzed towards her and skimmed her shoulder. She yelled in pain.

"You okay?" I screamed.

"I've taken worse!" she said back, her voice fading a bit then coming back stronger.

"You won't have taken worse than what I'm about to do to you if you don't stop right this instant!" the voice of Darkblaze bellowed.

We reached the first door at that moment, throwing it open and revealing the assignment room.

I slammed the door shut, but there were more of Shardstorm's forces in this room, that all immediately started shooting at us. A bolt singed my shirt, then a bullet narrowly missed my head.

By some miracle, we twisted and turned and ducked and made it across the wide-open space. I kicked open the opposite door and rammed it shut, locking it with the deadbolt.

And then we were back where we'd started: in the short hallway that housed the room I'd stayed in. No enemy agents were around, but I knew we didn't have long.

I looked at Aury. Her dirty-blonde hair was tangled inside her short ponytail, the dyed-green tips frayed. Her glasses were lopsided and the cover of her orange notebook was torn. Her shoulder oozed blood slowly, but her face held determination and bravery.

I gave her a nod. "Nice job back there."

She slowly nodded back, pushing up her round, pink glasses. "You too. But we better go."

We both started speed-walking towards the door at the end of the short hall. When we opened it, a long residential hall lay before us. A few of Shardstorm's forces paced the halls, and they noticed us and pointed. I groaned, and started sprinting, shooting two knockout bolts. One hit its mark and the enemy agent collapsed. Aury sent four bolts straight for one enemy woman. Three hit her, and she swayed, then crumpled.

"Doesn't that kill?" I yelled, racing past the agents we'd taken out. "More than two knockout bolts?"

Aury suddenly looked scared. "Sometimes!" she yelled nervously. "I'm sorry! I forgot! I'm just so used to having to kill, it's like second nature!" She accompanied the words with two shots to two different agents. One bolt hit the mark, and I took the other one out.

"It's so sad that that's what they teach you to do here!" I mumbled sadly, lunging towards the door and making a grab for the knob. I yanked it open and ushered Aury inside.

But before she made it, a bolt flew through the door and hit her directly in the head. For a moment, she looked surprised, then she fell (rather gracefully for being unconscious) to the floor.

"Oh no, Aury!" I groaned, slamming the door the rest of the way shut. I looked frantically around for someplace to hide her, and then I noticed what was right in front of me as I carefully set Aury down against a wall.

Emmi was there, but she didn't look like Emmi. All the color seemed to have been drained from her skin, and she was lying, very still, on a small area that looked like a cot without the mattress.

Wires of all shapes were hooked up to her, and a large computer sat behind her.

The whole room looked like a gigantic robot had exploded onto it. Wires, screws, pieces and nails, computer chips and computers covered every free area of the room. A long, black table snaked around the wall. The only other surface was the one Emmi was lying on.

That was when I noticed the numbers on the largest computer. They read, "Upload 98% complete. Android Attack and Control Software 3.0." Then below was a bunch of tiny words, probably terms and conditions that read, "Make sure not to kill anyone too important with this software, leave those people to me, haha. Signed, Shardstorm."

"This is happening way too fast!" I muttered, looking at the laptop for an obvious off button.

But Shardstorm had obviously learned his lesson about those, because the only buttons there were read, "Rush," and "Settings." I clicked on settings, and three buttons popped up. Manage, Info, and Stop. My heart rose a bit as I pressed as quickly as I could on the stop icon.

Ding. The percentage flipped to 99 percent. A passcode button appeared. I did NOT have time to hack into the system!

So, I did the only thing I knew how to do with the limited time I had left: I yanked every single wire I could find out of Emmi.

For a horrible second, I thought it hadn't worked and the percentage had just kept counting up. But then the screen blipped. "Error. Android disconnected," it informed me. "Please reconnect android to continue process."

I did NOT want to do that, so for good measure, I slammed a fist into the computer, hard. It fizzed and sparked and went black.

I focused my attention on Emmi, then. She looked so pale and still... I flipped her over on her stomach and found a simple control interface with a panel that could be pushed in easily. I flipped the power switch and shoved the panel back into her back. It melted easily into her skin like it had never been there.

Emmi gasped and sat up quickly. Color flooded her face and her body, slowly transferring her back to her former beauty.

"I was so stupid, Cam," she gasped, reaching out for me frantically. "I was too selfless and now they're taking over the world using androids!"

"Don't worry," I soothed. "I stopped it in time."

Then I looked at her more closely. "So, you know?"

"Jai told me," she confessed. She let go of me and looked down at her shoes. "I had a bit of a breakdown. Imagine finding out you're not human, right here, right now. I didn't feel different. I don't feel different. I still can't really believe it."

"I'll bet," I said with feeling. "I want to talk to you about it later, but right now, we really need to get out of here."

Aury chose that moment to give a little gasp and stir, lurching to her feet unsteadily. "Cam! And uh... the android?"

Emmi waved a bit as I crossed the room, giving Aury a steadying arm. "That would be me," she confirmed.

"They're going to move Zoey as soon as they remember her. We need to get there very quickly." I made sure Aury and Emmi were both okay to stand on their own, and then swept open the door to the room.

No less than a hundred enemy agents stared me directly in the face. Shardstorm himself was in the front. He gave me a wicked grin.

I slammed the door shut immediately and bolted it with the three bolts.

"Yeah. Do we have another plan? Just out of curiosity? Because there's totally not dozens of Shardstorm's forces out there waiting to kill us as soon as we walk out."

"There's totally dozens of Shardstorm's forces out there waiting to kill us as soon as we walk out," Emmi snorted. I once again felt a pang in my heart as I remembered that the humor in Emmi was all programmed.

"Yup. There are," I admitted. "Any alternate plans? Or..." I glanced at Aury, the tunnel master, "exits?"

"There's one passage in here, but Shardstorm's Agents already know about it," Aury spoke up, crossing over to the cot and reaching underneath it, then retracting her hand with a grimace. "Wrong table. That was gum. Gross."

Aury continued to the black wraparound table and reached underneath that. Then with a nod, she pushed her hand up. A small click sounded, and a huge wide-open space in the floor opened.

We all stared. "Well, that's pretty cool," Aury said with a laugh. "Someone told me about that tunnel, I hadn't actually opened it before. What do you all think, shall we go for it?"

"Are you insane? Drop down a dark tunnel in enemy territory with no idea of where it leads?" I whisper-screamed, staring down into the dark abyss.

"Do you like our other option better?" Emmi pointed out, motioning to the door where one of the bolts had popped off by the weight of all the people pushing against it.

Aury grinned. "Android is right. Androids are pretty much always right." She elbowed Emmi, who blushed a little and laughed. Aury somehow still had her orange notebook, and she clutched it to her chest as she looked at her new android friend. "By the way, could I study your mechanics sometime?"

"Um," Emmi started, looking at me, but before she could say anything else, Aury yelled, "Thanks! CANNONBALL!" and jumped down into the darkness.

I stared at the place where she'd disappeared. "I guess we should—"

Emmi jumped down into the tunnel, grabbing my hand and pulling me after her.

I only fell for a moment before I plummeted into water unexpectedly with a huge splash. I sputtered underwater, then pushed up to the surface.

I bobbed up into a gigantic room. The ceiling was high, and unlike most everything else in Shardstorm's headquarters, white. A simple tunnel, also pure white, led out after a gradual slope where the water drained away.

Emmi bobbed up a moment later beside me. Aury was already clambering out of the water on the side of the tunnel.

I swam towards her in wide strokes. "Why, oh why did they put an entire pool at the bottom of the passage? I'm absolutely drenched—"

As soon as I climbed out of the water, a hot breeze assaulted me. Small flakes of something fell from the ceiling, drying the areas around where they landed. In less than three seconds, I was completely dry.

"Fascinating," Aury breathed, catching one of the white flakes in her palm. "I would love to study this technology, it's quite ingenious, really, it-"

"How about you tell us about that later, when we're not fighting for our lives?" I tried not to sound exasperated, but every second we waited was a second that Shardstorm could be hurting Zoey or moving her to a place we'd never find her.

Aury took a deep breath and let her somehow still dry orange notebook dangle dangerously over the water from her hand. "You're right. Let's go."

Quietly, we set off down the tunnel, our feet making dull, hollow thuds on the wet dirt ground. The white walls and ceiling shone all around us, making the passage seem lighter than it was.

When we had walked for a couple minutes, the passage ended, branching into three doors. I cocked my stun gun and carefully examined the small plaques beside each door.

One read, "Enter this room to find where those who have betrayed us are betrayed."

The next proclaimed, "Enter this room to find those who may or may not have done wrong, yet still lie in our clutches for one reason or another."

The third door told us, "Enter this room to find those who have done such egregious crimes, they are left to the darkness of death, sooner or later or... odds are, sooner."

Emmi took a deep breath. "Well, I've analyzed the evidence. These are obviously prisoner rooms, and I'm certain Zoey is being kept in..."

Emmi said, "The second room," just as I concluded, "The first room," and Aury said with a nod, "The third."

"Well, it can't be the second, because in the eyes of Shardstorm, Zoey is a horrible person just by being a part of the STPOW," Aury reasoned, "and he wanted to make you nervous so you wouldn't try to pull something and try to escape without her, so what better way than to put her in a death room?"

"I don't really think that he would put Zoey in a death room, but I think he does think she did wrong," I explained to Emmi and Aury's faces of certainty. "So, it must be the first room."

"Shardstorm is a jerk and a crappy person, but he does have kind of a revenge-thing where he gets revenge on the people that, in his opinion, have hurt him," Emmi started, "and though the STPOW may have had hurt him quite a bit, Zoey hasn't," she finished simply.

"Androids are always right," Aury said with a shrug and a little smile at Emmi.

"And since we really don't have time to debate it any longer, second door it is," I declared.

Emmi reached for the door, and jumped back. A small pulse ran through her body, sparks flew and she shivered.

"Oh my gosh, the doorknob is electricfied. And I know that's not a word but it really should be," I gasped. "Emmi, you okay?"

"I'm a shock-proof state-of-the-art android. I'm okay," Emmi gave a shaky smile. "But how are we going to get in here?"

"I have some ideas," Aury spoke up. "Can I..." she looked at me. I nodded with a grin.

She ran up to the plaque and looked at it for a moment, then reached behind it and felt around before pulling out one glove. Emmi and I stared at her. Aury looked back at us and smiled. "What?"

I shook my head. "Genius. You're just a genius and I apologize for ever doubting you."

With that, Aury grinned, pulled on the glove, and yanked open the door.

It slid open silently. I peeked inside.

It was very obviously a prison. Some prisoners stood, bound to walls or poles. Others sat, slumped on the floor in despair. The walls were dank and moldy brown, and the ceiling was low and mottled. Surprisingly, only a few enemy agents guarded the prisoners.

"Ooh, I feel so bad for all these people," I whispered. "Can we just rescue them all?"

"Someday... someday soon, but for now, Zoey is our priority," Aury whispered back. "Do you see her?"

"I do," Emmi started, but before she could say anything, the main door to the prison, not the one we'd came through, opened, and an enemy agent woman with a tornado on her jacket walked in. I recognized her as the one Aury had worried she'd killed, and I nudged her. Her face melted in relief.

All the enemy agents in the room assembled at the entrance, eyes trained expectantly on the woman.

"Leaguers. Two former trainees and the android are on the path to escape. We believe they will attempt to rescue Prisoner 79 before leaving the building, so the message I must deliver to you is—"

Before she could say another word, Emmi motioned to us, and we started shooting our stun guns at the agents. Surprise was our ally, and soon they all fell, including the woman who'd delivered the news of the escapees.

"They say don't shoot the messenger, but we just did," smirked Aury, adjusting her grip on her orange notebook. "C'mon. Let's find Zoey."

### Chapter Eleven

Emmi quickly motioned us to a corner of the room where a small, bedraggled form was sitting on the ground.

"Zoey!" I choked out, and ran over to her.

She lifted her head as we approached. It was certainly Zoey, but she looked... worn. Her green eyes were tired and dull, and her red hair was dangled and limp. As horrible as she must have felt, she saw me running towards her and her entire face lit up in a grin. "Cam! Emmi! And, uh, another person! You came to rescue me!"

"Yep, we did."

I smiled sadly, cocking my stun gun and aiming it at the ropes that bound her. I shot, and it landing perfectly, singing the rope so I could easily pull it off of her. Zoey stood up, wobbling a little.

I squatted down, motioning for Zoey to climb onto my back. Her eyes lit up and she clambered up. "Come on," I told Emmi and Aury. "By the way, Zo, this is Aury. She used to train to be a part of Shardstorm's forces, but she turned out to be way awesome."

Zoey gave her a little wave, then latched her skinny arms around my neck as we walked towards the main exit.

But as we were about to open the door, I stopped suddenly. "Hold up. There's no way we'll make it out that way. Does anyone have..."

"A low-intensity bomb that has a specific timer set to go off when it hits an object denser than a human hand that we can throw at the ceiling and then use my rope ladder to climb out?" Aury pulled out both items with a smirk out of her deep sweatpants pockets.

I stared, trying to bite back being impressed by Shardstorm's inventions. "Uh, yep. That works for me."

"Give me a sec, then," Aury smiled a bit, then fiddled with the bomb a bit. With a final click, she tossed the bomb towards the ceiling with surprising power for her skinny arms. With a bang, the bomb exploded, blasting a hole in the ceiling. The prisoners who were awake jumped.

I looked around the room once more. Some of Shardstorm's forces that we'd stunned were starting to stir. I cocked my gun and shot another bolt at them. We didn't need enemy agents on our tail when we were trying to escape.

Then I sighed and looked at Aury, who was pulling out a rope ladder. "Guys... can we please release some of these prisoners? Shardstorm's sign said it itself, they didn't do anything wrong. And we have some time."

Emmi looked towards the unconscious enemy agents. "We have approximately four minutes." Then she shrugged. "I suppose that is some time."

I grinned, then started racing around the room, shooting the binding ropes of all the prisoners. They stretched their legs, thanking me profusely. Most immediately climbed up the rope ladder that Aury had affixed to the ceiling somehow. I wasn't even going to ask how she'd managed to reach it.

"I think we're ready," I concluded after I'd cut the last prisoner's ropes. Emmi and Aury gave me a nod.

"Let's do this."

With the agility of an Olympic ladder-climber (okay, I knew that wasn't a thing, but it should have been), I vaulted myself onto the rope ladder and quickly climbed up, Zoey dangling rather precariously off my back, leading the way for Emmi and Aury to follow.

Darkblaze was waiting for us at the top of the ladder.

"Agh!" I yelled, cocking my stun gun and shooting twice. Darkblaze dodged both bolts, barely even moving. Then she shot two bolts of her own. One shot down the ladder and singed the bottom of the ladder.

Aury, who was last, cried out, dangling off the ladder and only catching onto the bottom by one hand.

Her notebook fell from her grasp and plummeted into the prison below. Aury stared at her mother with fury.

"I HATE you!" she screamed.

Emmi climbed down one rung and held out a hand. Aury latched on, and Emmi easily pulled her to safety. Then Emmi looked Darkblaze directly in the eyes. "Shardstorm should have made an android that would always obey him."

Then she smiled a little and motioned for us to get ready. "But for the record, I'm glad he didn't."

Aury and I shot our stun guns simultaneously in rapid bursts. Darkblaze dodged them all, but she was distracted enough to where I could hoist Zoey up a bit and scramble to the top of the ladder. Emmi pointed at a small red car that was maybe fifty or sixty feet away. "That's Agent Semaj!"

We made a break for it. Zoey bounced up and down on my back as I sprinted for all I was worth towards the car, and safety. Emmi and Aury easily could have passed me, but they stayed by my side. Darkblaze recovered and ran after us, tossing her stun gun to the floor and pulling out another.

"Oh, crap!" I screamed. "We've gotta move!"

I ran even faster, if that was possible. Zoey bounced up and down on my back, and I tried to crane my next to look at her terrified face as I bounced along the dirt road. "Zo, can you run?"

"I can try!" she yelled back, her voice shrill with terror. I released her.

"Look!" Aury screamed, pointing to the car. Agent Semaj had exited. He threw the door closed and started running towards us.

But we'd paused for too long. Suddenly Darkblaze was there, malice written on her pale face. Her black, frizzy hair seemed to crackle with electricity as she grabbed Zoey from the ground in front of me and held her by her clothes.

Zoey screamed. Her voice cracked and she went limp in Darkblaze's rough grip, on the ground, shaking. Darkblaze stood in front of her with a self-satisfied smile.

"You leave her alone, you've already done enough to her, you... you..." No insult I could think of seemed to be enough for her.

"I know exactly what to call her," came a familiar voice from behind me.

There stood Stella, followed by Agent Semaj, and Lukas. The wind whipped Stella's light blonde hair and the expression on her face was angry enough to rival Darkblaze's.

Stella looked at Darkblaze and proceeded to call her many words that I'd rather not repeat.

Agent Semaj took two wide strides forward and covered her mouth with his callused hand, then gave me a smile. "Great to see you again, Cam, Emmi, Zoey. Who's your friend here?" he asked, motioning to Aury.

"That would be Aury. I'll tell you all about her later when we're not all in mortal danger," I responded cheerfully, then immediately stared Darkblaze down with a death glare, stepping closer and running through all the ways I could quickly remove her hand from Zoey's clothes and grab her back. "Give me back Zoey right this instant or else."

"Or else what?" Darkblaze asked calmly, stroking her gun. "You'll shoot me? I don't think so."

In a whirlwind of black, Darkblaze proceeded to kick the stun gun out of Aury's, Agent Semaj's, and my hands and return to her post in front of Zoey, now aiming the non-stun-gun at her.

"That's horrible," I whispered, my voice cracking.

"Give me the android now," Darkblaze snarled.

"Don't do it, Cam!" Aury yelled, her eyes wild. "It's not worth it! He'll take over the world!"

"Why do they want her?" Agent Semaj asked curiously and panickily.

"I'm pulling the triiiiiger," Darkblaze put in in a singsong voice. Her hand was indeed on the trigger.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" bellowed Stella.

Emmi looked at the ground. "Take me," she whispered.

But nobody heard her.

Lukas looked panicked, and he made a jerky step towards me. "Cam," he said. "Get out of the way."

"I will not allow my poor excuse for a mother to hurt anyone ever again!" Aury yelled decisively. She started striding towards her mother, but I knew she'd never make it because Darkblaze's finger was pulling down, down, down...

And I proceeded to do the stupidest and bravest thing I'd ever done in my life.

I jumped in front of the bullet.

Now, I'd survived a bomb blasting in the next room from me that killed two others, a master of martial arts slamming me to the ground with all he was worth, and another gun shot, (though it was only a scrape) by this point in my life, but the pain of all those was nothing compared to this.

It was like fire. No, it was like the sun. It was like the sun had come down to earth specifically to target that one particular spot in my arm.

Why did it hurt so much? My arm, which must have had been where the bullet hit, was exploding. It was like another little bomb, but in my arm. And it wasn't a scrape, either. I could see the bullet, could see it inside me...

Why did it hurt so much? I felt Stella close to me, heard her yell, "What did you do to her?"

I fell to one knee, but somebody caught me and slowly lowered me towards the ground. Blackness crept up on my vision. Agent Semaj didn't react like this when he took the bullet to the leg. And that must have been worse than this!

I was so weak.

I fell to the other knee, cradling my arm.

Voices cut through my mind. I looked up blearily. Stella was glaring at Darkblaze with a mighty rage, who was holding up a small bottle. "Give me the android, and I'll give you," Darkblaze smirked and tapped the bottle, "the antidote. Those bullets were coated in poison."

Ah. So now it made sense why my vision was steadily darkening. It made sense why I suddenly felt my body press into the ground. It made sense why Lukas's green eyes floated above my own and why the world seemed to be blurred. It made sense why I couldn't eke out the words, "Don't do it! I'm not worth it!

It made sense why I felt a small bottle pouring liquid into my mouth...

Wait, what?

The world slowly came back into focus.

I sat up quickly, throwing my arms out in front of me, feeling them smack a warm body. I heard Stella laugh a little, then I clutched my head as pain shot through it. I groaned and sucked in a painful breath. My arm still throbbed, but the bullet seemed to have been removed, and the pain was lessening with each passing moment.

"Whoah, girl," Stella's voice said softly. "Steady, now."

Lukas suddenly appeared on my other side. "Feeling okay, Cam?" he said with a concerned tone.

"Could be worse," I said, gritting my teeth and ignoring the pain. "But..."

Then I remembered.

"Please tell me you didn't trade Emmi for the antidote!" I gasped, sitting bolt upright. "She has an interface in her that can put all the intelligent androids in the world under Shardstorm's control, and that's exactly what Darkblaze is about to do!"

Everyone blinked at me, stunned.

Aury looked at the ground.

I looked around, realizing Emmi wasn't among the five faces that swirled in front of my eyes. I groaned, letting my head fall back onto the ground. "You did do it."

"Cam, you don't understand," Aury spoke up quietly. "If we hadn't done her deal, unfair as it may have been, you would have died."

Silence.

"But now, you know countless more will die, because you gave up Emmi." My voice was barely a whisper now.

Stella laughed. I sat up again, surprised. "I don't think you should be counting us out yet, Cam-girl." She came over to sit by my side. "Spies never quit."

"Then let's go back in there!" I said loudly, standing up quickly. The world spun and went black for a moment before blinking back into focus and I stumbled to the side, falling back on my knees. My arm burned.

"You need some serious medical care before you're getting anywhere near Shardstorm again," Agent Semaj told me, coming up to me.

I leaned against him. "I guess you're right."

Aury gave me a small smile. "So, can I come... home... with you guys?" she asked nervously.

Agent Semaj gave her a warm smile. "Of course. It's obvious you're on our side now."

How much had transpired while I was out of it from the bullet?

Agent Semaj motioned to us. I took his arm, but then Lukas was there, supporting me and holding me steady. Agent Semaj let go with a small smile.

Aury helped Zoey to her feet, and together, we all walked to the small, red, innocent looking car that just hadn't been close enough when we needed it.

### Chapter Twelve

The only word to describe the STPOW when Agent Semaj, Stella, Lukas, Zoey and I walked into the doors, supporting each other, was pandemonium.

The hallways resembled anthills after poking sticks into them like my sister used to do to make me laugh. Agents speed-walked through busy corridors, talking frantically on walkie-talkies or cell phones. Hundreds of different ringtones, text notification sounds, and videos were being played at once, giving the impression of a different language. Come to think of it, some of the videos probably weren't in English. I shook my head. I needed to start taking foreign language classes.

I glanced at Stella. She was lucky. She knew Italian.

Agent Swan noticed the new arrivals first. She was briskly walking down the main training and meeting room hall that we'd entered. She looked up from an obvious video chat, and her gaze wandered until it fixed right on mine.

"Oh, hello, you all," she said loudly in her slight British accent. I had never asked Marlee about that accent and its origins yet. "Marlee has been worried sick about you all. Cam, that looks nasty. Gun wound?"

I nodded weakly, still not particularly ready to talk about what had happened and that my friends had traded the fate of the world for my life.

"And Zoey! You're back! I'm so glad they—"

But the rest of Agent Swan's words were cut off by two concurrent screams of joy.

Angie and Vince pushed past any and all Agents that were in their way as they bolted down the hallway for Zoey. Aury let her go, a smile on her face, as Angie and Vince reached Zoey and swept her up in what must have had been the tightest hug of her life. They released her, and Zoey glanced over her shoulder at me with a huge grin.

And in that moment, I knew Zoey was going to be okay.

"Well, we're in a bit of a crisis here, if you could guess," Agent Swan continued, a bit breathlessly. All available Agents are currently being deployed to various places to try to stop the Android Attack, that's what we've taken to calling it. A few Agents are going straight to Shardstorm's headquarters itself to try to turn off the interface before it starts."

Agent Swan took a deep breath. "Actually, Cam, if you are able to recover in time, you, Agent Semaj, Agent Rivers, Agent Star, and the trainees Lukas, Marlee, and Asher will be sent on this mission. It requires extreme stealth, so we chose the people closest to you and therefore likely to best communicate with you. You know Shardstorm's headquarters, but you've obviously also had some bad experiences there. So, the question is: Are you willing to go back?"

"Of course," I said instantly. "If Aury can come too."

Sure, I hated Shardstorm's headquarters with a burning passion, but I wanted to do anything and everything I could to help the STPOW after letting them down...

Then I mentally slapped myself. Stop thinking about that, I told myself. It's not my fault I'm alive. It's not my fault they decided to save me over saving the world. It's not my fault that kindness won... again.

I guessed Jai was right about it causing problems.

Someone appeared to take me to the hospital area, but before I was whisked away, I heard Agent Swan say, "The mission begins tonight!"

"Tonight?" I whispered. It was too soon...

And too soon was I standing in the elevator that led to the janitor's closet with a bandage on my gun wound that felt sticky for some reason every time I moved my arm and a bag of STPOW equipment that I hoped not to lose this time. But this time, if all went well, nobody would know we were there.

All the Agents and trainees that Agent Swan had named were waiting for me at the top of the elevator. The fear that I was certain was painted onto my face was mirrored on every other I peered at.

"Everyone ready?" Agent Semaj asked quietly. Nobody answered except for in small nods.

We all trekked to the front of the school, and then, outside the doors...

It was a Stormrider! The bumble-car!

Only, not quite. Instead of being black and yellow, it was dark gray and ice blue. I subconsciously looked to the side to see Emmi's reaction, and then felt a lump rise in my throat when I realized she wasn't there.

"Shardstorm has one of these," I blurted.

Agent Rivers glanced over at me. She looked mildly annoyed. "Yes, he stole the design from us. Very frustrating after years of work."

I felt my face flush. I had been thinking it was the other way around.

We climbed into the Stormrider. Bumble-car. Whatever it was.

And then we were off.

Enough thoughts buzzed through my head to make it feel like we'd only taken a minute to arrive. Agent Semaj turned to us quietly as we touched down on the dirt road. "I kept on the cloaking device as we landed to make sure no enemy agents saw us coming, so you'll have to be careful getting out."

The door slid open, and I walked confidently to the edge of the Stormrider, ready to jump onto the first step.

Nothing was there except for dull dirt ground and waving grasses.

"This feels like the worst possible kind of déjà vu," I muttered, then raised my voice. "Uh, Agent Semaj? How do I get out?"

The rest of the members of the mission came up behind me. "You've got to guess on this one," Agent Rivers grumbled, pushing past me and stepping out into the open air. I gasped.

But she didn't plummet to the ground below. She just stayed there, hovering in midair, until someone coughed and she jumped a little, then carefully stepped down in decreasing increments until she reached the ground. It was the oddest thing I'd ever witnessed.

When Agent Rivers reached the ground, she motioned for us to follow. We snuck with the ease of the spy masters down the invisible stairs.

When we reached the metal grate, I stared at it for a moment. Then I looked up. Everyone was staring expectantly at me. "Well?" Stella asked.

"If we take this route, we shoot out into a crowded main room. But we could wait for an enemy agent to come by and ask him or her for a better, quieter entrance," I reasoned.

Everyone nodded or murmured words of consent.

Soon enough, a few minutes later, an enemy agent walked along the dirt road after getting out of a cloaked Stormrider. We were all hiding in the grasses, or behind small shrubs. The enemy agent was about to go through the passage when he noticed us, but he was too late. We surrounded him, stripping him of his weapon and clapping our hands over his mouth so he couldn't scream. He tried to fight, and was obviously a formidable agent, but there were just too many of us.

When we released his mouth, he spat on the floor then looked around at us in disbelief. "You're the... the ones that are all over our videos, they say to look for you because—" he spluttered.

"Yes, yes, all that is true," Stella interrupted rather dismissively. "We need a way to get into Shardstorm's base. We're going to ask you to show us a secret, or at least quieter entrance to the headquarters, and you're going to take us to it."

"Why the heck would you think I'd help you... ooooh." The enemy agent's protest was cut off as Agent Rivers held a stun gun to his chest.

"You will show us where it is, or we'll shoot you with this and when you wake up, we'll ask you again," Agent Semaj confirmed.

"Fine," he groused, then slyly pulled out a small chip and started to whisper into it.

Aury reached up and grabbed it, then threw it as far away as she possibly could. She then turned back to us and beamed. "What were you saying?"

"Uuugh," the enemy agent growled, then began to walk, closely guarded by us.

After a bit of walking along the dirt road, he motioned to a ladder leading into darkness. "This leads straight to the main control room."

"Perfect!" I whispered. Then I snapped to attention and stared at the Leaguer. "For your help, we won't kill you. Congratulations."

The enemy agent glared at me for a moment, then whipped out an obviously hidden gun that we hadn't discovered. "Now! You will surrender to my demands, or else you will—"

His words were abruptly cut off as no less than four bolts hit him at once, all shot by different Agents or trainees, and the rest of the bolts that everyone had shot around him ricocheted off shrubs hit and burned the grass. His body seemed to be illuminated for a moment, then he fell heavily to the ground, shaking all the grass. The gun thudded to the ground a moment after him.

"Oh no, I hope we didn't kill him," I groaned, rushing over and checking his pulse. Weak, but steady. I breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive. Let's just... not shoot more than a couple bolts at someone from now on, okay?"

Everyone murmured words of consent.

With that, we all climbed down the ladder.

From far up, I noticed that we seemed to be climbing down into a hallway, not a room, and there wasn't anything that looked like a control center in sight. "That little jerk lied to us," I huffed.

"That's rude," Stella said, dropping down first and immediately twirling behind a doorway. None of the minimal enemy agents in the hall except one noticed her, and she immediately shot him with a stun gun and dragged him into the nearest empty room.

We all dropped down similar ways, only needing to take out a couple more of Shardstorm's forces in the process. The hallway walls, ceiling, and floors were black, and seeing as our STPOW bulletproof jackets and durable leggings were black, we blended right in.

The steady flow of enemy agents continued.

Using the signals we'd learned during basic training, I motioned that we should split up, and that I was going to explore to the left. All the other Agents and trainees showed the ways they were going to explore, and Stella motioned that she wanted to come with me. Slowly, everyone peeled away from our little meeting point.

To the left was a small hallway, then a large door that most of the enemy agents seemed to be interested in, yet avoiding. I motioned to Stella. "That might be it!" I whispered.

One of the enemy agents noticed me and I shot him with the stun gun, quickly shoving him in a nearby room and looking at Stella expectantly. I twirled behind the next doorway, peeking my head out to check how close we were. Stella ran up behind me.

"Okay. On the count of three, we make a break for it. One..." I cocked my stun gun. "Two..." I took a deep breath, "THREE!"

Stella and I burst out of the hallway and sprinted towards the door. The enemy agents immediately noticed us, and pointed. Bolts flew past our heads and hit the floor and walls all around it, exploding in showers of red, lighting up the mostly dark hallway. Stella and I were nearly at the door when I read a huge sign outside the huge room.

"Main control room! This is it!" I yelled.

Stella's momentary hesitation to read the sign sent a red bolt into her arm. She collapsed to the ground, stun gun clattering.

"Ugh!" I yelled. "I hate you... stupid Leaguers!" I pulled open the huge doors to the main control center, dragging Stella with me. A bolt snuck in after me, but I dodged it and slammed the heavy doors shut.

I set Stella down and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then I looked up and screamed the loudest I ever had in my life.

Shardstorm stood directly over me.

### Chapter Thirteen

I started to run back to the entrance, putting a hand on Stella again, but Shardstorm whipped out a stun gun and shot it at the doorknob. It fizzled out, leaving me with no way to open the heavy doors.

Shardstorm gave me a wicked grin, his hair as black and disheveled as ever, his scar pink and stretched and long. "Don't leave so soon, Cam. I have been wanting to talk to you so... very... badly."

He paced for a moment, then whirled back towards us. "First, let's make sure your friend stays unconscious for a good long while." Shardstorm shot one more bolt at Stella, then two... "NO!" I yelled, trying to jump in front of the third bolt, but I wasn't quick enough and it hit Stella once more.

Her whole body shuddered and went even limper than before.

"Cam, Cam, Cam. I would have thought you would have tired of playing the hero and jumping in front of bullets," Shardstorm tsk-tsked, motioning to my throbbing bandaged arm.

"I'll never stop protecting my friends," I snarled, reaching over to check Stella's pulse. Faint and unsteady. "Let me out of here! I need to get her some help!"

"No can do, Cam. I haven't even had a chat with you yet."

Shardstorm walked over to the large computer that I hadn't even noticed when I'd walked in. It sat on an even larger table, and Emmi was nowhere in sight. The computer read in bold letters, "Android software download complete. To exit the program and forfeit all androids under your current control, press the large, red button on—"

Shardstorm slapped his hand on the Power Off but Continue Running Program button and the computer screen went black.

He grinned at me. "Beautiful, isn't it?" He began to pace around the room, grabbing something small and black off the table and fingering it.

Shardstorm suddenly purred, "The great thing about this little program I created to control the world's androids, is that the Inventor League has come up with a way to transfer it to humans!"

Fear shot through every bone of my body. "You're a monster."

Shardstorm took a large step closer to me. I jumped back. "All that is necessary is a small—" he took a step closer to me, but I was backed up in a corner and I couldn't go any further back— "painless—" he took a step closer, and my heart beat faster, because I knew I probably wouldn't survive this encounter and my time was finally up— "patch!"

He lunged and I tried to jump out of the way, but I wasn't fast enough and he slammed the patch into my arm.

I waited for my mind to go blank, shaking with fear.

Shardstorm laughed. "No, we haven't quite figured out a way yet to take control of your mind. Sadly. But your body," he jerked a small remote that he'd pulled out of his pocket and I crumpled to the floor entirely against my will, "is completely ours!"

I strained to stand up, to get up, to fight the power of the patch, but I couldn't do it. All I could do was lie there on my back, arms splayed out, like an insane turtle, while I waited. Waited for him to release me.

Shardstorm spoke up without warning. "Now, I'd like you to hear a story." He jerked the remote again. I felt my body lift up and crash into the small desk chair in front of the table, my head flying back and slamming against the hard plastic.

"Once upon a time, there was an ignorant little boy named Dash Tempest," Shardstorm began, pacing around the room and fingering the remote as he talked.

I struggled to fight the hold the remote had on my body, knowing that things were not going to go well for me if I did not get out of here soon.

"This little boy was curious. He wanted to see what would happen if he put a new and untested piece of code in the android he was working on," Shardstorm continued pacing, his voice growing more agitated.

"But then the truth grew in this little boy. He realized that without power, he was worthless. Pointless. Just a little tiny blip in a world of billions of other blips."

I felt like I would have stayed stone still even if I hadn't been stuck in the chair, knowing that Shardstorm was telling me something he might not have ever told anyone else before.

Shardstorm suddenly stopped pacing and whirled around to face me. "So, the little boy started planning. Scheming. He took the android for his own experiments."

"But the boy who was fast-growing into a man made a mistake. He gave up the android, in hopes that someday he'd find her again, because he had a better idea to take over the world: Kill the President! He planned and schemed and recruited allies for years and years and YEARS! And in one fell swoop, a heartless but intelligent girl ruined it all!"

Shardstorm was yelling now, and when he finished, he breathed deeply, then stared at me. I was forced to stare back, my eyes watering with strain of keeping them open. I managed to blink and hold my eyes there for a moment. Every moment I couldn't see Shardstorm's face was a better moment than it would have been otherwise.

"I was once Dash Tempest, but I gave that name up many years ago. Dash was just a boy. I am a man. A real man. I am Shardstorm, and I forever will be."

I worked at my mouth until I managed to break free from at least a bit of the power of the patch.

"You know, there's still hope for you."

Shardstorm jerked his head towards me.

"What?"

"You can still be the innocent man Dash Tempest, that loved to engineer and create, not kill and destroy."

The patch burned on my skin and I gasped with pain and let it take over my body again. Sweet relief.

Shardstorm paced for a moment, looking closely at the remote, at the power he held in his hands. Then he looked up at me again, a hint of sadness in his gaze. "Do you think I have not considered this? It would be much easier to be a tiny, insignificant blip than a nationally recognized criminal. But it's too late now. I've gone too far down the path of evil, and I will never turn back."

"You know, Jai told me something that I've thought a lot about," I spoke up again slowly. "He said that kindness caused problems, and pain worked better."

I heaved a deep breath. Fighting the power of the patch even to talk was agony. "But you know what? Pain, and darkness, and evil, may seem like a good short-term solution, but in the end, kindness always wins."

I narrowed my eyes, all the agony suddenly gone.

"And that will never change, whether you be Shardstorm, the nationally recognized criminal and supervillain, or Dash Tempest, the insignificant blip that knew how to love."

With those words, the heavy doors crashed open and in burst Agent Semaj, Agent Rivers, Lukas, Asher, and Marlee. They looked wildly around until they saw me, frozen in the chair with the patch stuck on my skin.

I saw Shardstorm give me one last grin and run out of the room. "Until later, my friend," he snarled.

"Cam!" Marlee was the first one to me. Her eyes landed on the patch and she ripped it off. Pain shot through my body and I clenched my hands, but I was free.

"Thank you," I gasped, standing slowly. Then I motioned to Stella. "Shardstorm shot her with three bolts after she'd already taken one."

"I'll give her care," Agent Semaj spoke up, walking over to her and checking her pulse.

"Is it okay out there? How did you find me?" I tried to see past the door, but Agent Rivers was standing in the way.

"Finding you was pure luck. We were chased here." Marlee gestured out the door, fear in her eyes.

I nervously looked around my friends to peer out.

At least a hundred androids stood outside the door. And in the lead of them all, her eyes red and cold...

Emmi.

I was about to have to fight one of my best friends.

"We've got to get to that computer to turn off the interface!" I yelled, making a lunge for it, but an android with pure silver skin, the first inside the room, blocked my way with a growl, his eyes bright red.

"Fine then," I growled, brandishing my stun gun, and then realizing it was useless against androids and tossing it aside. I set up a classic Tae-Kwon-Do fighting stance. When the android jabbed with the knife he was holding in his hand, I dodged, grabbed his wrist, and flipped him to the ground. Sparks flew out of him, and his red eyes flickered and died.

But he was immediately replaced by two more androids. This time one of them was a girl. She had skin and hair on half her body, but the other half was rusted metal. The other android was boylike, and he looked real except for the fact that he had metal arms and legs.

I kicked the first one, and she jumped back, but I followed up with a punch that made her red eyes flicker and fade. My heart soared with relief, but I'd forgotten that the other android was right behind me. I felt a hard punch to my back that sent me flying across the room.

I slammed into the wall and slid to the ground, my head and bullet wound throbbing as black dots exploded in my vision. I gasped for air and coughed violently, shaking my head.

"There's too many of them!" I heard someone yell.

I slowly got to my feet, and screamed back, "But we'll all keep fighting!" A small cheer of approval arose from the STPOW members.

With new power, I lashed out at an android that was attacking Lukas. The android fell, and Lukas beamed at me.

And suddenly Emmi was there, right in front of me, her eyes cold, hard, red, and definitely not the beautiful brown I knew and loved. She growled and tried to punch me in the stomach, but I dodged and lightly grabbed her wrist, carefully flipping her, trying not to hurt her. But I just hadn't been strong enough, so Emmi quickly recovered.

She obviously had no qualms about attacking me, though, because her next move was kicking me in the stomach, hard. I doubled over, pain shooting through me as I groaned.

And then Agent Rivers was there, grabbing Emmi and firmly slamming her head against the wall. Her red eyes flickered and died.

"Did you kill her?" I gasped.

"No, she's just... whatever android unconscious is," Agent Rivers said uncertainly, then her manner changed and she ordered me, "I'm letting everyone know that our main goal is to turn off that program! We can't fight this many at once."

"Let's go!" I yelled, and together, with Agent Rivers, we pushed through the sea of Androids, our eyes on the prize: The huge laptop with a blinking, "Turn off program," button on the main screen.

I nodded, eyes on the prize.

But before I could move, I heard a groan and a thud from beside me.

An android had driven its knife into Agent River's side, and she hit the ground hard.

"No!" I yelled, fury and fear making my voice wild. "NO!"

I bent down to her level and checked her pulse as blood began seeping through her clothes, and onto me, onto the floor, onto everything.

Agent Semaj suddenly pushed through the crowd of androids, his eyes only focused on one thing: his fiancée. My heart gave a leap as I noticed that Stella trailed behind him, supported by Aury!

I ran to Stella and gave her a huge hug, relaxing into her warm grasp.

"The good thing about bolt wounds is that it doesn't take too many to kill you, but if you survive the initial bolts, you barely have to recover at all!" Stella whispered to me, hugging me tightly.

Then she released me as her eyes were drawn to Agent Rivers. "Oh no. Ohhh no."

Agent Semaj bent up from taking her pulse, his face white. "I need to get her to the STPOW for medical attention right now." He looked at us, love in his eyes. "But I have full faith that you all can finish the mission. Good luck," he said softly, picking up Agent Rivers like she weighed nothing and pushing through the sea of androids, kicking and punching and whirling as he went.

And then we were all alone, just Aury, Stella and me. Lukas, Marlee, and Asher pushed up to us a second later. "What's going on? Where are they going? Is Agent Rivers okay?" Marlee asked frantically.

I didn't answer her questions. All I said was, in a hard voice, "Let's finish this."

And together, we started sprinting towards the computer.

I led the way, as my fellow Agent and trainees ran behind. We were winning. We were together. We were unstoppable, because I had the friends I loved the most in the world with me right here, right now. (Except Emmi, but if you wanted to get technical, she wasn't a person.)

Then, suddenly, by a miracle or the power of togetherness, we were there. In front of the computer.

I looked at Stella, she looked at me, and at the same time we slammed our hands directly onto the 'STOP PROGRAM' button.

The computer hissed and whirred, then wrote in small letters, 'Program stopped. Program chip in attachment two of Miracle-Bot."

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. "We did it." I slammed a fist down on the computer, and it sparked and went black.

Behind me, the android's eyes were slowly popping back to their normal colors. The androids on the floor were standing up, and my eyes found Emmi's as she started to run towards us.

"Cam!" she shouted, sprinting up to the computer and hugging me tightly.

"You're back. You're free," I murmured, releasing her and looking her square in her brown not-red eyes.

Aury walked up to us, gave Emmi a high-five, and then yanked off her arm.

Everyone gasped, but it revealed a small compartment, not wires like I'd feared. Aury reached in and pulled out a small piece of metal, about the size of a fingernail. She held it up to the light.

"Amazing that this tiny thing caused so much trouble."

And with that, she threw it on the ground and crushed it under her shoe until it was just bits of metallic dust.

Then she reattached Emmi's arm, giving her an awkward pat on the head. "Sorry, Emmi. I just knew it was in there and kind of didn't want to wait."

Emmi smiled and blushed a little. "That's okay."

Stella cheered. Marlee and Lukas joined in, then Emmi and I, then finally, Asher. I hugged Stella, high-fived Aury, and to my own surprise, kissed Lukas on the cheek.

I blushed deep red, and so did he, but he took my hand and I leaned into him and I knew he didn't mind.

But then the air seemed to still.

And a horribly familiar, smooth, deep, calm and cool voice that I'd thought I would never hear again cut through our miniature celebration.

"Looks like little Cam's outsmarted us once again."

I turned around slowly, not wanting to believe it. Not believing it. Not knowing how it was possible that the man who I was sure had died in the bomb weeks ago was standing before us now, talking, and swiping his dirty-blonde hair out of his face.

Channing.

Agent Wolf.

### Chapter Fourteen

"No," I managed to choke out. I felt Lukas's body freeze beside mine.

He whispered in my ear, "Is that...?"

"He's dead. He's supposed to be dead. He can't possibly still be alive," I groaned, collapsing into Lukas. He held me tight.

Stella slowly turned to face me on my other side. "That... can't be Agent Wolf. Channing. The traitor that died in the bomb that also took Taylor's life."

That would be literally the most unfair thing the earth had ever thrown at me. How could he be so evil and yet so very alive, while Taylor was so good and pure and so very dead?

Then my heart leapt for a moment, as I realized that meant that Taylor might still be alive. But then it fell again as I remembered that Agent Rivers and Semaj had definitely seen her after the bomb went off... I wasn't certain they had seen Channing. Agent Wolf.

Whatever he was called, I hated him.

"Channing," I spit out in horror.

I watched as Channing's now-scarred face split into a smile. He tossed his sandy-blonde, burned hair out of his face. "I prefer to go by Agent Survivor now," he hissed.

I suddenly noticed that Shardstorm and Jai were on either side of... Agent Survivor. Agent Wolf. Channing. Whatever he was called. Jai gave me a small, malicious smile as I stared at him with anger.

"How did you survive that bomb?" choked out Marlee. "My mom told me Agent Rivers checked, and you were definitely... dead."

"Tell your Agents to wait more than two seconds when checking someone's pulse to see if they're alive next time." Agent Survivor chuckled in his cool, unfeeling way.

"But... but... you can't be alive!" I spluttered. "That's just... not..."

Aury looked sideways at me. "You never mentioned the fact that he was supposed to be dead when you talked to me about someone named Agent Wolf. I would have told you right away he was still alive, but Agent Wolf seemed so different from Agent Survivor..."

I groaned and shook my head. Agent Wolf was right before my eyes the whole time.

And as I stared at the three people I hated most in the world, and even though a man who had seemingly come back from the dead was standing right in front of me, I somehow couldn't keep my eyes off Jai.

Lukas's hand on my shoulder tightened.

Shardstorm noticed it too.

He walked over to Jai slowly and put a hand on his shoulder, his face splitting in an evil grin.

"Really, stop staring at Jai, Cam. He'll think you're flirting, and it's a father's job to protect against toxic relationships."

Toxic relationships? I wasn't a toxic...

Oh my gosh.

Shardstorm was Jai's father?

It explained so much and yet made so much more confusing.

Shardstorm continued talking, seemingly oblivious to the fact that everyone had suddenly become stone-still with the revelation. "Too bad my other son tried to go to the wrong side and I had to wipe his memory..."

Shardstorm stared at Asher and suddenly it all fell into place. Asher couldn't remember anything because Shardstorm had wiped his memory. Asher ended up in STPOW because he was trying to transfer to our side.

Asher had the exact same deep, dark blue eyes as Jai because... they were brothers.

"Oh, this is awful," groaned Aury. "I knew all this, Cam, if you'd just asked me!"

I wasn't focusing on Aury, though. I was focusing on Asher, particularly, the hunger in Asher's eyes.

Asher glanced at me, then his hand, which I'd just noticed was holding Stella's. He pulled out of her grasp. "Can I come back to you, Father?" he asked softly.

I gasped.

Stella gasped too, then started sobbing, burying her face in her hands. Everyone else stayed stone-still.

Shardstorm absolutely beamed at his sons. He must have been thrilled to have two children that wanted to follow alongside him.

"Of course, Asher. Join the right side now, before it's too late." His lips split in a snarl. "And never let your loyalty waver again."

"No, Father," Asher quickly assured him, stepping over the invisible line separating good and evil and joining Jai, Shardstorm, and Agent Survivor.

They all turned their backs and were beginning to walk away when I called out to Asher.

"Why, Asher?" My voice cracked. "Why change sides now, when I know you have so much good in your heart? You know it too, or else you wouldn't have tried to leave Shardstorm and join the side of light."

Asher stopped, and then turned around slowly. "One simple answer, Cam." A single tear trickled down his cheek. "Family. I'd never had that in my memory, and now I have the chance to finally have one?" His eyes suddenly turned hard. "Face it. You would do the same thing I'm doing."

"No, I wouldn't, Asher," I said, truthfully. I turned towards the people who truly were part of my second home. "The STPOW is my family now!" Stella, Aury, Emmi, Lukas, and Marlee gave a hearty cheer.

Then Jai stopped walking and turned around slowly towards me. "Blood is stronger than you might think."

Twin pairs of deep, dark blue eyes stared back at me from the wrong side.

Then Jai turned around and started walking again. Asher followed.

The battle was over. We'd turned off the androids, rescued Emmi, and overpowered Shardstorm's creation. But as I stared at the tiny blip that was Asher in the distance, one thought ran through my mind, and I knew that it was certain:

The war had just begun.

### Epilogue

"Isn't this class over yet?" Aury complained, checking her watch and clutching her brand-new teal notebook to her chest (I had picked the color out personally.)

"Aury, fighting is important," I chided, holding up a small circular Tae-Kwon-Do target. "I know you'd rather be solving complex equations that I couldn't even begin to understand, but for a spy, learning martial arts is—"

Aury sighed loudly, interrupting my speech, and held up her stun gun, shooting at the target and burning a hole in the center. "Bam. Direct hit."

"You were supposed to kick the target, not shoot it!" I cried, running over to the sink in the training room and turning on the cold water. I threw the target in the basin and let the cool water put out the smoke and small fire that had almost started. Then I turned around and stared at Aury, a smile forming on my face that I tried desperately to wipe away.

It had been two weeks since the Android Attack at Shardstorm's headquarters. As I looked around the brightly colored training room with pink walls and a red cushy floor, and Aury's sly smirk, I was reminded of how lucky we were.

I flexed my arm that had been shot and only felt a slight ache. I didn't even need a bandage anymore.

Yes, very lucky.

"Cam, if you're not even going to pay attention to training me, I should probably just leave now, okay?" Aury piped up, opening her teal notebook and making a few marks.

"No, I'm sorry! I'm paying attention! I'm just kind of tired," I admitted with a yawn. I'd stayed up until three a.m. the previous night in Stella's room along with Emmi and Aury, giggling and telling secrets and being very girly-girly. I didn't get to do that very much, so I was glad when I did.

"It's your own fault you volunteered to come back for another two weeks after the first two and train me," Aury snorted with a smile. "And Stella and Emmi's that they decided to come with you!"

A few moments passed in silence while I fiddled in a cabinet, trying to find another target.

"I hope my Agent name is cooler than Marlee's. Agent Bloom? That makes it sound like she's some kind of spy-fairy! And Lukas's wasn't much better," Aury spoke up, obviously fantasizing already about her name.

"I thought Agent Wisp was a cool name," I protested. It reminded me of how curly his hair was after getting out of the pool... yes, we'd gotten together alone one weekend to go to the pool.

"Well, maybe mine will be better," she breathed. "Agent Equation? No, that sounds stupid. What's something that has to do with math but sounds like an actual spy?"

A hint of a smile crossed my face. Agent Semaj told me that since I was training Aury, I could come up with her Agent name. I already had one in mind that fit the criteria she was wanting perfectly: Agent X.

A timer beeped on my cellphone. I wrenched it out of my pocket and checked it. "Okay, Aury, now you can go."

"Thank goodness. I'm starving," Aury said loudly, flashing me a smile before heading out the door towards the kitchen.

I followed her down the short hallway to the dining area.

To my surprise and glee, Agent Rivers was there, sitting at the table! She'd been in the STPOW's hospital for the past two weeks, recovering, but she looked pretty healthy. The only sign that she'd been stabbed was a huge bandage covering the wound and a slight paleness to her face.

When she saw me, Agent Rivers gave me a rare true smile. "Cam. I hear you've been up to quite a lot while I've been... otherwise occupied."

Agent Semaj came up behind her and gave her a quick kiss. "No harm in admitting you've been injured, Elena," he said lovingly, pointing to his own scar where Jai had shot his leg.

Lukas, Stella, Emmi, and Marlee were also sitting at the table. Marlee and Emmi were in deep conversation, probably about Great Britain. I'd finally remembered to ask Marlee where she was from. Her mother apparently had lived in Great Britain until she was thirty-five. Marlee had been born there.

Emmi, now that she knew she was an android, was realizing just how many things were different in her than in other people. She had been spouting unlimited facts about Marlee's birthplace since she'd learned about her origins, and Marlee was just drinking it up.

Meanwhile, Stella and Lukas were in a different discussion. I felt so bad for Stella's luck with boys, two so far had betrayed her in one way or another. I think Stella thought it was her duty to make sure at least I had found a good one.

I slid into a chair. Aury sat down next to me. She had grabbed a gigantic sandwich and was proceeding to cover it in mayonnaise. I laughed. "It's only eleven o'clock, how are you hungry for lunch already?"

Lukas glanced up from his conversation with Stella. He seemed relieved to see me, and he gave me a huge smile as he motioned to the stack of pancakes in front of him.

"I heard it was breakfast for lunch day!" He accompanied the words by digging his fork into the pancakes and shoving a bite in his mouth. Stella looked disgusted, but I just grinned.

"Oh," Aury spoke up, "well, in that case..." she disappeared into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a plate of bacon. The smell hit my nostrils and my stomach growled.

Lukas laughed. "Look who's hungry after all!"

"Maybe I will make a sandwich," I concluded.

As I got up from my seat, Lukas grinned at me.

Stella gave me a high-five.

Aury said, "Come back soon!"

Agent Rivers gave me a mock salute.

Emmi noticed me and waved.

Marlee swished a sign proclaiming, "Here sits Agent Bloom," with pink font that matched her hair perfectly.

Agent Semaj beamed at me, his hazel eyes twinkling.

These were my friends, I thought. My family.

And I knew that Shardstorm would return.

But now, I wasn't worried. I was ready for whatever Shardstorm threw at me.

Because my fellow Agents and I would conquer it together.

The End... but wait! Keep watch for the next book in the series! SpyCam continues!

Stick around after the acknowledgments for bonus content and an exclusive quiz!

### Acknowledgements

Wow, writing this book went fast! It's hard to believe it was only about three months ago that I published my first book in the SpyCam series.

First off, thank you to my sister, Logan! Thanks for always being a huge fan of mine, and encouraging me always. Just to give an example, one night on vacation, when we were staying in a hotel, Logan had run out of books to read, so my mom let her download a free one on her phone. It was a spy book that seemed similar to mine. Two chapters in, Logan glanced up from my mom's phone and said, "Can I read the book Zoe's writing instead? That one's better."

Thanks to my mom, who gave me advice about parts of the book that I wasn't certain about, and if I wanted to use a word but wasn't 100% sure what it meant, my mom would always confirm for me.

Thanks to my dad, for stimulating my writer's mind with long conversations about my book that somehow always ended with my dad trying to convince me that Emmi should find out she's an android by someone cutting her arm off and everyone seeing wires inside. Great idea, just didn't fit with the story I was writing. :-) And thanks, Dad, for your help with the cover.

Thanks to my AMAZING editor Luna, whose feedback this time got me really thinking about the book and the rest of the series in general, and whose compliments made me grin every time I read one!

And finally, thanks to all the people that I sent a frantic message to saying, "Hey! My new book's out!" for being so kind and supportive.

Now turn to the next page for an exclusive quiz!

### Quiz:

### Which SpyCam: The Android Attack character are YOU?

Question One:

Everyone calls a certain kid in your math class 'annoying.' When your math teacher changes the seating chart so he sits behind your best friend, and he starts pulling his/her hair, you-

  1. Politely tell him to quit it, and if he doesn't, say it louder.

  2. Sass him until he stops, and if he doesn't, pull his hair then high five your best friend under the table.

  3. Don't do anything, but send your friend lots of I'm-so-sorry looks, and comfort him/her after class.

  4. Very quietly tell the annoying kid to stop.

  5. Make a note in your notebook. This is the fifth time he's done this! Interesting!

Question Two:

Your favorite colors are-

  1. Teal and Pink

  2. Yellow and Blue

  3. Soft Green and Pale Rose

  4. Red and Black

  5. Orange and Bright Green

Question Three:

The new girl in your class seems lonely. You-

  1. Go up to her and ask her name, and where she's from.

  2. Make a joke first, compliment something in her outfit, and then start a conversation.

  3. Smile at her.

  4. Say "Hi," to her.

  5. Ask if she is willing to be a subject in your research study, "New Kids."

Question Four:

You love to-

  1. Write, do sports, hang with friends.

  2. Talk with friends or go out shopping.

  3. Read, sit quietly.

  4. Do sports, eat :-)

  5. Practice math and science

Question Five:

You would never-

  1. Turn away from a tough situation just because it's tough or because you're afraid.

  2. Let a friend in need suffer alone.

  3. Be unkind to anyone for any reason.

  4. Let your anger take complete control of you, and not listen to the other side of the story.

  5. Not do what you feel, in your heart, is right.

Results on next page!
You are:

### Mostly A's: Cam!

You're bold, brave, and a natural leader. Sometimes your fear may creep up on you, but you turn to friends or your own logic for comfort. You should be proud to be just like this strong young woman!

### Mostly B's: Stella!

You're sassy, confident, and fiercely loyal. You would never let a friend in need suffer alone, and you're as bright and positive as the sun itself!

### Mostly C's: Emmi!

You can be quiet, but your kindness is your greatest virtue. Though you can sometimes be shy, you push through it when someone needs a friend or needs help!

### Mostly D's: Lukas!

You are logic-based and you value fairness and the right to let everyone state their opinion and have a voice. You never let your anger take control of you for long, and you are loyal to those you know and love!

### Mostly E's: Aury!

You're inventive and confident, and you love all things to do with learning. You love math, science, and your friends. You lean strongly towards making decisions by what you feel in your heart, rather by logic.

Now turn to the next page for bonus quotes!
Bonus Content: Best Quotes of the Book!

Cam:

"Bravery comes from the heart, not the mind. If you have something worth fighting for, your mind may tell you to be scared, but you know in your heart that you can do it. That's true bravery."

"Kindness always wins."

Agent Semaj:

"There's a time and a place for everything, and if you push that time, the results are never what you want. Until that time... wait."

### I hope you enjoyed SpyCam: The Android Attack! If you did, I have three other books that I've published. The first one, Journey to the End, is available on Smashwords, Kindle, and the iBook store for $0.99. The second, Flicker, Fade, Soar, is available on Smashwords and the iBook store as well, for free. The third, SpyCam: The President Plot, is the first book in this SpyCam series. It is available on Smashwords and iBooks also, for free.

### Now, republishing this book in 2019, I have published eight total books! Check them out by searching my name on Google, Smashwords, or the iBooks store.

### If you enjoyed this novel, please take a little time to rate it, or even write a review. For a teen author in a big world of other authors, every review helps my books stand out from the bunch (and, it makes me really happy.)

### Thank you for reading!

