Aidan

David stared at me in shock for a moment then smiled a wide, happy smile and stepped back so I could come into the room.

"Excellent, come on in, I'll tell you everything."
I stepped inside and he closed the door behind me, I went to the table we had sat at previously and he joined me there.

"Have you heard of the ACR?"

I scrunched my eyebrows in response as I thought of if I had heard that acronym before. When I decided I hadn't, I shook my head.

"I'm not surprised, Maria probably hasn't wanted to send you on missions that would have brought you into contact with them... she's afraid they could finally turn you against her and Chronos," he started as he shrugged, "the ACR, Anti Chronos Resistance, is where most of the people I told you about earlier are. It's a group of people that oppose Chronos and wish to see it wiped out."

I just nodded in response.

"Well, I've secretly been a spy for the ACR since I started working for Chronos," he said, completely shocking me, "I pass along information to their leader, a man named Javari Fletcher, I served with him when I was a marine. I've told him all about you, and he thinks that if you were to join the cause, it would give the ACR the fighting chance they need to defeat Chronos once and for all. He asked me to convince you to join the fight since he knows that we're very close. I didn't want to use our relationship that way at first... but the more horrible things I discovered about Chronos, the more I realized that the ACR really does need you and we all have to work together to bring Chronos down."

"Ok, that all makes sense... but I have yet to hear a plan for how to get me to the ACR," I said as I processed everything I was learning, "and I will not leave without getting as many of these kids out with me as I can, it's the right thing to do, plus it will hurt Chronos since they put so many resources into grabbing them. It won't be easy for them to get more so soon after such a large group was brought in so that gives them less Phantoms to use, which means a little less people we'll have to deal with when we start this fight."

"Yes, I agree, I also want you to get Xander and Ryker out of their cells to stop their executions. Xander already seems to have decided that Maria is the enemy based on his little performance at the pit, so he'll be a valuable ally. I also talked a little more with Ryker after I left the pit earlier and I learned that he's studying computers and technology at a very prestigious university on Pluto, one of the best schools in the universe in that field, he only worked at that café part time to help pay for his classes. His skill with computers and technology will be insanely valuable to the ACR."

"Ok... so what's the plan to do all of this?"

He stood up and walked into one of the side rooms, bringing out a large duffle bag. He came back to the table and set the bag on the floor next to us, unzipping it as he sat down. Inside I could see a ton of supplies, everything from guns and ammo to food and bottles of water. It all looked somewhat old, but also in pristine condition.

"You're going to sneak into the prison block tonight and free Ryker and Xander. I took the liberty of giving Ryker a C-Watch earlier, as well as the login information belonging to one of the facility's heads of security. I instructed him to be ready to hack into the security tonight and wipe all of the data from the cameras. He's already prepared to make y-"

"Hold on... you did all that without knowing I was going to come here and agree to join you?"
"I had a feeling you'd come to your senses, but if you didn't end up showing up I was going to do this all myself. That would have blown my cover which would mean no more inside info getting passed to the ACR, but I was prepared to do it anyway. Since you're here I won't have to, which means we'll still have the advantage of me passing on info."

I nodded at his explanation then gestured at the duffle bag so he could continue laying out his plan.

"As I was saying, Ryker is going to make you invisible to the cameras. That means you'll be able to get into the prison block without anyone knowing, you'll have to take care of the guards, but you'll be able to get Xander and Ryker free. Once they're free I want you to take them to wherever it is you sneak off to all the time. They'll be safe there for some time. I've had this go bag prepared since I came to the facility, that way I'd be ready if my cover was blown, now it has a new use... getting you and the people you'll be helping escape tonight and tomorrow a solid footing to start you on the way to the ACR headquarters."
I nodded in understanding before zipping the bag back up and looking expectantly at my father figure.

"Xander and Ryker getting freed tonight will not only keep them from being executed, but it will also postpone the pit fights while everyone tries to figure out where they are and how they escaped. That means no more kids will be hurt or killed in the pits, which means we have the chance to save more of them. Most, if not all of them, will already be in the pits by the time it's discovered that Xander and Ryker are missing, that means they'll be in the same place which will mean we won't have to go around the facility finding them. We'll have a very small window to act before guards take them all away to their rooms. I'll make sure I'm one of the ones to stay at the pit, and I'll signal you as soon as Maria has left and the guards are starting to move in to take the kids. You bust in, take care of the guards, myself included so that my cover isn't blown, then while the facility is in chaos searching for the missing prisoners you'll take the kids and get out of here. Go to the garage, take the key for one of the troop transport trucks, load everyone into the truck and bust out of here, pick Xander and Ryker up, and drive like hell towards the city, there's an ACR safe house in the outer city that I've put directions to in the go bag. Get there and wait for an ACR assault team to come pick you up, then they'll be able to get you safely to the ACR headquarters. Once you're there Chronos won't even be able to get to you."

I committed the plan to memory. It all seemed easy, almost too easy, but I trust David. If he says this will work then it will. I got up and grabbed the duffle, slinging it onto my shoulder as I approached the door. David followed me and before I could leave he put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a fatherly squeeze.

"If anyone can do this, it's you. Everything will work out, and we'll finally get rid of Chronos for good once you get to the ACR," he said as I looked into his eyes, he was confident that all of this would go off without a hitch, hopefully that confidence isn't misplaced, "I'm proud of you, Aidan."

I smiled at the last statement, despite the fact that he wasn't actually my dad, it was nice to hear that he was proud of me. I was glad to find out that all the horrible things I've done didn't change that. I left the room and David closed the door behind me. I headed straight for the holding cells. Luckily there wasn't anyone in the hallways on the way there from David's room. As I approached the prison I knew Xander and Ryker would be in, I saw two guards outside the door. I ducked into a closet to my left, set the duffle bag down so it wouldn't get in my way and drew two of my knives. I slipped quietly out into the hallway again then walked straight towards the guards. They looked at me suspiciously as I approached but didn't seem too worried. I got within throwing distance and quickly launched the knives at them, they were too slow to stop the knives or to dodge them so they both collapsed with knives embedded in their throats. I left the bodies there and drew a third knife before swinging the door open.

"Hey what are y-"

The guard that was patrolling the halls aimed his weapon at me and started to speak as I threw the knife I had just drawn at him, cutting him off mid-sentence as the blade stabbed through his neck. He fell backwards and I heard a gasp from one of the cells. I went to the cell where I'd heard the noise come from and saw Ryker sitting up and staring in shock at the body that had fallen in front of his cell. He then looked at me and his look of shock turned into a look of confusion.

"Aidan?"

"Yeah, I'm getting you and Xander out of here," I responded as I unlocked his cell and opened the door.

He instantly jumped up and came out into the hallway, glancing at the corpse of the guard for a moment before pulling up his C-Watch display and starting to type on it. I went to the next cell over and saw Xander laying on top of his blanket. He had bruises and cuts all over his visible skin, I was sure there were more hidden under his shirt, all curtesy of Maria's torture after he had tried to kill her.

"Xander, you awake?"

He slowly sat up and looked at me in surprise and confusion. His left eye was swollen and nearly shut despite him clearly being awake. He stared at me for a second before getting up and coming to the door.

"I didn't realize you were part of Colonel Joseph's plan, he said he'd be the one getting us."

"Well, now I am, no time to explain now, we have to leave."

I unlocked and opened his cell door as well then went over to the guard's body and dragged it into his cell, setting it down and removing my knife from his neck which caused blood to freely flow from the wound. I cleaned the blade off on his shirt then walked out into the hall where Xander and Ryker were waiting for me.

"There are two more guards outside by the door, help me get them in here and in one of your cells then we can head out."

Xander nodded and limped towards the door. I followed and opened the door, quickly dragged the first body into the room and passed it to Xander who dragged it to Ryker's cell. I dragged the second guard in and to the same cell. Once all the corpses were in the cells and I had collected my knives I searched all three bodies for anything useful. I took all their spare ammo, each of their sidearms, all the spare ammo for the sidearms, and their knives. Once I had collected everything from the three bodies that I deemed useful I picked up the assault rifle that the one inside the prison had aimed at me earlier and carried all of the items out into the hall and collected the dropped rifles from the guards who I had killed out here. Xander and Ryker followed me out and I gestured down the hall where I had left the duffle bag. We walked that way while Ryker tapped away on the C-Watch display in front of him. I stuffed all the new items into the duffle then picked it up and headed towards the exit with the two teens following closely.

"Where are we going?" Ryker asked quietly as he lowered his arms to his side after finishing the hack he had been working on.

"A bunker out in the woods," I answered as I glanced around a corner to check for guards, which there weren't any of, "you guys will stay there until I come get you tomorrow."

"You're sure it's safe?"

"Yes, Xander, it's safe... at least for the short time you'll be there," I responded as I looked over at the injured boy, "how're you holding up?"

"Definitely have some cracked ribs, if not broken, but that feels like the worst of it," he answered as he looked away from me, "I'll be fine."

I frowned slightly but decided not to push him about it. We left the building and snuck our way towards the fence, having to stop every now and then to keep hidden from guards and out of the paths of the spotlights that scanned the area. Soon we reached the fence and climbed over. I led the way to the bunker I had kept hidden for so long yet again.

"Ok, here we are," I stated as I opened the hatch, "come on down."

I went down first and started lighting the lanterns. I set the duffle down by the ladder and kicked the shovel I had carelessly thrown down here out of the way so nobody would trip over it after coming down. I lit the final lantern and glanced at the wall of names for a moment before heading back to the ladder. Xander and Ryker were sitting at the small dining table in one corner of the main room.

"There are a bunch of sleeping bags in the room over there," I said as I pointed to one of the doors that left the main space, "They're incredibly old but they all seem fine. I don't know for sure when I'll be back tomorrow, but I will be back, and I'll have a bunch of kids with me... when we get here we'll have to grab you and rush off because I'm sure we'll be getting followed. If you need to eat something there's food and water in the duffle I brought with me, don't eat or drink too much though because we'll need to conserve it as much as possible."

"Wait, Aidan, why are you... why are you doing all this?"

"Aren't you the one that said I was still a good person earlier today?"

"Well yes... but this is still insane... you'll get in soooooo much trouble with Maria."

"Screw Maria, I'm done doing things for her and I'm done doing things for Chronos."

Xander looked stunned. Despite having thought I was a good person he clearly had never believed I would do anything this drastic. Soon the look of shock disappeared and was replaced with a large smile, which looked almost creepy because of how beat up his face was.

"Wow... that's... you are truly incredible," he said as he shook his head and chuckled, "so are we... fighting against Chronos now?"

"Yep, and we'll be headed to a group that is doing the same starting tomorrow," I answered as I started to climb the ladder, "all the security footage is wiped and the cameras are down right Ryker?"

"Yeah, it's all sorted out, exactly as Colonel Joseph told me to do it."

I nodded and then finished climbing up and out of the bunker, closing the hatch behind me, then going back to my room. When I opened my door I found Orlan fast asleep on the couch, he was muttering quietly in his sleep but I couldn't understand what he was saying, not that I wanted to eavesdrop on his dreams anyway. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep, there was way too much going on in my head with everything going on. I decided to gather everything I wanted to have with me for tomorrow so I went into the bedroom and grabbed a small backpack to stuff everything into. Once I had that ready I grabbed everything I needed to clean my handguns and sharpen my knives and went back to the main room to sit at the dining table and began working.

Xander

After Aidan left I decided to look around this bunker. I was curious about how he knew about it and why it was so special that it had been kept hidden. When I got up to explore the first thing I saw was the wall covered in names that had been carved into it. I walked over and scanned the names, realizing I recognized some, there were a few names of people I had known were Phantoms that were no longer around for one reason or another. Others I remembered reading reports on when I was on report organization duty... they had been targets that Aidan was sent after on jobs... people he had been ordered to kill.

"Xander... maybe we shouldn't be getting into Aidan's personal business... I'm curious too, but if he wanted people to know about it then he would tell them."

"Maybe you're right, but... I can't just keep my curiosity at bay, this is way too good an opportunity to learn more about him."

He sighed in response and came over to join me, clearly his curiosity was getting the better of him as well.

"Why are you so interested in him anyway?"

"Because he's the oldest living Phantom, he's been part of all of this since he was seven... that's ten years, Ryker," I replied as I looked at all the names, suddenly settling on what appeared to be the first four ever carved based on their location, "oh, shit... those are... I think those are his family member's names... I mean, it's the same last name as him."

"Ok, I was gonna let this snooping slide, but we really should stop now."

"You can if you want, but I can't."

I walked away from the wall and into one of the other rooms. It looked like it had been a bedroom of some sort a really long time ago. There were a bunch of cots lining the walls, but only one of them looked like it had ever been used. There were a few pictures on the wall next to it as well as a small box overflowing with random items of clothing. I went over and looked at the pictures and almost did a double take. The first one had five people in it, all smiling and happy, three kids and two adults.

"Woah... is that," I muttered as I gently touched the picture, "I think it is."

The oldest of the three kids was in the middle, and it was clearly a much younger version of Aidan. This was a picture of his family from before he was taken into the Phantom Program.
"Xander... if Aidan finds out you've been looking at all his stuff he might get angry, and I'm sure he is not someone you want to be on the bad side of."

"If this is bothering you so much and you're so worried about how he'll react," I started as I turned around and came face to face with Ryker, he had a frown on his face, "then why are you still snooping with me?"

He opened his mouth to answer then stopped and closed it, looking away awkwardly.

"You're just as curious to know more as I am, and I don't think he'd do anything to us even if he found out about this, otherwise what would have been the point of saving us?"

He sighed in response then looked past me and at the pictures. I rolled my eyes and looked back at them as well. The one right next to the first was a picture of four kids, they all looked to be around... ten or so. Aidan was on the far left, he now had a scar under his right eye, as well as a more... broken look in his eyes, but he still smiled for the picture. He was also the tallest of the group which made sense since he was so tall now. Next to him stood a girl, only a little shorter than Aidan, with dark skin that had patches of much lighter skin sporadically, she had dark eyes that looked almost black in the picture and long black hair. Next to her was a boy who looked like the youngest of the four kids, he looked eerily similar to Aidan in every way except his hair and eyes. If not for the height difference and the fact that the shorter boy had strawberry-blond hair and green eyes instead of black hair and amber eyes he could have been Aidan's twin... it must be his brother, they look way too similar not to be related. The last boy in the picture looked like the oldest of the group. He wasn't tall but he wasn't short either, and he was very well built. He had light tan skin, dark brown eyes, and very short, dark brown hair. I gently removed the picture from the wall and turned it over and found writing.

Omega Squad: Aidan Colt, Jayda Morison, Callam Colt, Alejandro Suarez. May 13, 2336.

"So Aidan would have been... eleven. The others are probably all around the same age too," I muttered as I flipped the picture back over to look at the group, "this is back when Phantoms would go on much more elaborate missions, we had small groups that would train and go on missions together... this must've been Aidan's squad from before things changed and Phantoms started acting alone on missions."

Ryker just nodded in acknowledgment as he looked at the next picture on the wall. I glanced over as I hung the picture I was holding back up. This one only had Aidan and Jayda in it, both looked a little older than in the previous picture. I looked at the back of it and saw the date was a little less than a year after the other one. February 12, 2337.

"I wonder what happened to the others?" Ryker asked as he frowned at the picture. "And what happened to her since she's not around anymore either."

"Well... when I was looking at the names on the wall I'm pretty sure I saw all three of their names... so I don't know how but my guess is they're all dead like I'm sure all the others on that list are."

I stepped away from the pictures and looked at them all together. Aidan went from being a happy, innocent little kid with what looked like a good family to being a lone survivor of his family in a matter of years. He lost his entire squad of Phantoms, the people who he likely thought of as a second family, shortly after.

"How many people do you think are on that list?" Ryker asked as we walked out of the room and back into the main space, "and do you think... well... do you think he killed them all?"

"Hundreds... maybe even a thousand... honestly, I wouldn't be surprised," I responded, "my guess is that he probably killed them all... after being here ten years he's definitely racked up quite the count."

"But... even his family? And those kids in the pictures with him?"

"If Maria made him, yeah."

"Fuck."

"Yeah... that's a very appropriate reaction."

"And you... admire him?" Ryker asked as he looked at me with a look of disbelief, "I mean... I know he's helping us now... but... that's a lot of murder that he's committed... not to mention all the other things he's probably done."

"I guess it's different for you. You weren't made into an assassin," I responded as we sat back at the table, "I can see past all of that and see him because all Phantoms are just like that, he's just been around longer so he's done more. I can see that he's not just what he got forced to do here. Plus he's really hot."

"Wait... do you... do you have a crush on him?"
I looked away and chose not to answer that, which was probably more revealing than if I had said no.

"Wow... ok that's... I wasn't expecting that," I heard him say in surprise, "I guess you're right... it's different for me... I can't see past the idea that he's killed so many people... that you've all killed so many people... I just can't even imagine liking one of you that way."

"I'm... not sure how to take that information," I responded as I looked over at him, "I mean... like I said, it's not like we've ever been given a choice. The choice we get is to do everything Maria tells us to or die. We don't enjoy doing the things we've been forced to do... most of us don't at least."

"I guess... but it still feels weird to me," he said as he shrugged slightly, "maybe I just don't know any of you well enough... I shouldn't judge you guys until I really know you."

We sat in silence for a short time before he spoke again.

"I'm gonna see if I can find some medical supplies so we can get you in a little better shape, ok?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not, let me help you," he said as he got up and began searching for medical supplies.

"Do you even know what to do about any of these injuries? I thought you were a tech person and a barista."

He chuckled from the other side of the room.

"Well yes, I'm a tech person and a barista, but I've watched plenty of medical dramas to pick up a couple things."

"Oh my god. You're basing what you're about to do... on medical dramas?"

"That's correct," he stated matter-of-factly, "now come on, I found a first aid kit. Come lay down and take your shirt and pants off."

"At least buy me a drink first, sheesh," I said jokingly as I entered the room, he rolled his eyes, "seriously though," I continued sarcastically as I winked at him and took my clothes off, "you sure you're not just trying to get a nice long look at me?"

"In your dreams maybe," he said with another eye roll, "earlier you said your ribs were hurt, I need to look at them. Plus I realized that that blood has been seeping through your pants all day so there's definitely something there that needs to be taken care of."

I laid down on the cot and he started working on my wounds. He cleaned and bandaged most of them but he found a gash in my leg that had been bleeding since Maria left the cell earlier and I saw him wince as he wiped away some of the blood.

"I'm gonna need to stitch this one," he said as he pulled some thread and a curved needle out of the first aid kit.

"Go for it, doc."

I winced in pain and clenched my jaw as he started stabbing the needle through my skin, slowly pulling the wound closed with the thread. Once he was done he clipped the thread from the spool and tied it off, wiped the wound clean one more time, and started wrapping a bandage around it. After the leg wound was dealt with he let me put my pants back on and started looking at my chest.

"I can't tell how bad your ribs are, for that I'd need an x-ray... but seeing as you're not unconscious from pain I'm gonna take that as a sign that they're not broken. I'll wrap a bandage around your chest nice and tight and hopefully that'll give it good compression so they can start to heal."

I nodded and let him start wrapping my chest up. Soon he was finished and he helped me get my shirt back on since moving caused me pain.

"Ok, hopefully that's everything all sorted out," he said as he backed away from the cot, "I'm gonna go grab you something to eat and a bottle of water, you'll eat and drink and then you'll sleep. Rest helps things heal faster."

Before I could respond he was already out of the room. He came back pretty quickly with two bottles of water and a couple protein bars, handed me one of each, then sat on the next cot over and opened his protein bar. I opened mine as well and we ate and drank in silence. Once we were finished Ryker collected all of the trash and took it back to the other room. I laid down and realized just how tired I felt and let sleep take me over.