Cossette's tiny frame shook as she wailed. Hesitant, I approached her and kneeled in front of her and opened my arms. Cossette latched herself onto me, her sobs getting louder. "I don't want to die!" She shrieked, her words slightly jumbled as she continued to cry. "I made a promise with everyone! I was going to help them fulfil all of their dreams! I can't die now! I can't! I'm scared! I don't want to die and I don't want to break my promise! I – I – I –"

I slowly patted her head, "we won't let you die. We're all going to make sure that no one is going to hurt you. I promise."

Cossette nodded her head but she continued to cry. Days' worth of pent up tears were now being released. I softly removed her from my arms and let Max carry her back to her room. Kyle, Hugh and Vanessa came to stand by my side as we watched the two of them disappear up the stairs.

"From now on, one of us has to always be by her side. No matter what. Until we figure out who is behind this, we can't let our guards down." I said, glancing at the three of them from the corner of my eye. They nodded in response before the boys began to head upstairs as well.

Vanessa walked up to me. "You know, you make a good older sister." She smiled at me softly. I glanced at her and found the tips of my mouth turning upwards.

"Is that so?" I muttered, mostly to myself. I started up the stairs as Vanessa did her regular security check around the house. Once I entered y room, I tossed the soaked shirt into the laundry chute and grabbed a new one. I sat on the edge of my bed, thinking over the conversation that I had overheard again, trying to put a face to the voices that I had heard.

Sighing in frustration, I let myself fall backwards onto the bed and let sleep overtake me.

I woke up under my blankets. Someone must have come in and moved me last night. I got up quickly and made my way downstairs where Vanessa was still cooking breakfast. Max sat at the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee, holding a tablet in his other hand.

I pulled out a seat next to Max, alerting them of my presence. Vanessa greeted me good morning and handed me a cup of hot chocolate. I accepted it with a sigh of happiness and looked over at Max who handed me the tablet he was looking at.

"I came up with a schedule of who's going to be with Cossette and when." He explained, taking another sip of his coffee.

I shot him a grateful look and looked over it. On the schedule, it was a list of times where some of us are on patrol. There was a person assigned to be around Cossette every day. Kyle on Monday, me on Tuesday, Max on Wednesday, Hugh on Thursday, Vanessa on Friday, me again on Saturday, and Max again on Sunday. At the bottom was a note stating that if we were to go on a job, a maximum of four people will go so that at least one person would still be with Cossette.

I nodded as I handed the tablet back to him. "I'll send this to everyone's tablets now." He said as he began to tap on the tablet. I nodded in thanks again before enjoying the sweetness of the hot chocolate. It was a Thursday today so that meant Hugh's the bodyguard today. Though, the rest of us are most likely going to stick around unless we're heading out for patrol.

Max and Kyle headed out on patrol first. Today was the second last day that Syndicate 45 was the only syndicate in Aestrea. Syndicate 42 was returning, and with the knowledge of someone wanting to kill Cossette, we were all tense throughout the day. Hugh tried his best to cheer us up and lessen the tension in the room. He managed to succeed for the most part, thanks to Vanessa deciding to humor him by laughing at some of the strangest jokes.

Max and Kyle came back for lunch after spending the morning patrolling. After lunch, Max and Hugh went with Cossette to the camp, and Kyle stayed home to take a nap since he is on night patrol duty tonight. Not long after the three of them left, Vanessa and I began our patrol as well. We decided to go in opposite directions and both patrol Sector 3, then I would patrol Sectors 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. Vanessa would patrol the rest.

Vanessa was already in the kitchen when I got home. Max, Hugh and Cossette returning soon after. We woke Kyle up for dinner before he left for his night patrol. At one point in the night, Hugh sat down next to me and updated me on what happened at the camp.

"I asked someone what the caravan was for. They said that it was for the members of the management team. It's a place where they can hold any meetings and served as a storage area too."

I nodded. Then the person behind all this is definitely from the management team. But who?

We repeated the same thing the next day: Max and I went on patrol in the mornings, Max went to the camp with Vanessa and Cossette, Hugh and Kyle went on patrol in the afternoon. It was my turn to patrol at night but my mind wouldn't let me rest. I must have fallen asleep at one point, because the next thing I knew was Vanessa shaking me awake.

At around midnight, I left the house for patrol and walked around the sectors at random. A large white truck caught my eye and I began to follow it. I climbed onto a nearby building and followed the truck from above, keeping my steps as silent as possible.

Finally, the truck pulled over by two people, a man and a woman. The driver climbed out of the truck and began to talk to the two people. As they made their way towards the back of the truck, I jumped down from the building and landed in a dark alley and snuck my way towards the entryway of the alley. I stayed in the darkness and I couldn't see them but I could hear them clearly.

"Got 'bout a hundred of these." I heard a male say as he grunted. The truck driver most likely.

"What about the special one?" came another male voice. I frowned.

"In that case over 'ere." Said the truck driver. I heard the sounds of someone unlocking a metal case. I pulled my black hood over my head to hide my white raid and risked a peak over at them. The lady was holding something that was originally in a metal case. She smoothed her hands over it and gave a sound of satisfaction.

"Excellent. They all look the same but this one feels only the slightest bit heavier." The lady said. My frown deepened as I tried to place a face to the voice, but I didn't recognize it at all.

"Are you sure the plan will work?" The other male asked.

The lady sighed, "we've already gone through this. We have one hundred toy guns and one real one that looks exactly the same as the rest. No one will suspect a thing!"

The lady placed the gun back into the metallic case and handed it back to the truck driver. "make sure you deliver these on time tomorrow. And make it inconspicuous." She snapped as she walked away, the other male following close behind her.

"Yes ma'am." Grunted the truck driver as he pulled down the door of the truck and climbed back into the driver's seat. As the two separate vehicles drove away, I stayed in my spot in the darkness. Not a moment later, I was back on the roof of the buildings, running and jumping my way back to the syndicate house.

I pressed my hand onto the scanner for the biometric key and rushed into the house, slamming the door shut behind me. This caught the attention of Vanessa who was in the kitchen getting a drink.

"Goodness, Amelia! Are you okay?" she filled another cup with water as well and slid it across the counter. I rushed towards the counter and took a shaky sip from the cup.

"We have to keep Cossette from anything that resembles a gun." I mumbled.

"Tell me what happened," she said as she sat herself down on a chair beside me, "everything."

And I did. I told her about the conversation that I heard and the plans that they had. "From that, I think it would also be best if we kept Cossette at home tomorrow." Vanessa said, her face scrunched into a frown. I nodded in agreement. If the lady had asked for these to be delivered tomorrow, then that is a sign that whatever is happening tomorrow will orchestrate Cossette's death.

I felt a hand over mine. "Go get some sleep." Vanessa ordered. "We will let the others know of this new information in the morning." I nodded again in response and slid out of my chair. It wasn't likely for me to actually fall asleep now, but I knew that I need to be well-rested to be prepared for anything that might happen tomorrow.

I was the last person to wake up in the morning. As I entered the living room, I noticed the tension that was present in the room and in every single one of us. I looked over at Vanessa who nodded at me, letting me know that she had already relayed the information to everyone.

Cossette sat at the sofas, curled up into a ball and was visibly shaking. Max sat beside her, muttering things to her in an attempt to comfort her. Hugh and Kyle were already gone for patrol so it was quiet in the house.

Vanessa handed me a tray of food that was my breakfast and I ate in silence, keeping an eye on Cossette, who still hasn't stopped shaking. The day went by without a hitch, but just as Vanessa and Max were about to leave for their patrol, a loud alarm went off in the house, indicating that we had received another mission. Instead of a hologram this time, our tablets buzzed and we all looked at the message we received.

It was a request asking for all members of Syndicate 45 to be at the syndicate management building to reinitiate Syndicate 42 back into action. I paled, did it have to be today?

"Do all of us have to go?" Hugh asked as he fidgeted in his spot. He wasn't the only one, all of us looked uncomfortable with the fact that the message has asked for all of us to be present.

Kyle cursed under his breath, "we don't have a choice." I tsked in annoyance and approached Cossette who was still curled up.

"Cossette," I placed my hands on her shoulders as she tilted her head slightly so she can look at me, "we're all going to the meeting. You'll be safe as long as you stay in the house. Okay? Do not leave under any circumstances. No matter who comes to the house, do not leave."

Cossette nodded meekly before curling herself into a tighter ball. Her knuckles white as she clenched her fists around her arms. I stood back up and nodded to the others. "Let's make this quick." I muttered as I moved towards the front door.

"I'll activate the security." Max said, playing with a screen hidden in a compartment by the main entrance. I nodded thanks and left the house. We decided to ride our motorcycles to the building so that it would be faster. I didn't have my license yet so I rode with Vanessa.

We got to the building in no time and Mrs. Miller met us by the entrance. She led us to the same room we hold our usual meetings and we sat on one side whilst Mrs. Miller took a seat at the head of the table.

One by one, the members of Syndicate 42 began to trickle in. The first one who came in told Mrs. Miller that they were all separated during training so would be coming in at different times.

I tapped my foot against the floor as I waited. I just wanted to get this done and over with. Despite what I said about Cossette being safe in the house, it was more comforting if at least one of us were back there with her.

An hour had passed and only two more people had showed up. There are six people in Syndicate 42, and the three main members were still absent. Dillon and his two lackeys. Fifteen minutes later the two lackeys showed up.

"Where's Dillon?" Mrs. Miller asked the two boys as they pulled out a chair each.

They shrugged. "Why don't we just start without him, I'm sure he'll turn up at one point."

Mrs. Miller shook her head. "No, everyone has to be present."

We continued to wait in silence, I began to tug on my hair as time continued to trickle away. Just where the hell is that bastard?

A low rumbling snapped me out of my thoughts that were heading into a murderous territory. I frowned as I looked at the others to see if they heard it as well. The room then began to shake as Vanessa tugged me under the table with her.

"This isn't an earthquake!" Max yelled over the loud booms that had begun to sound throughout the room. An alarm began blasting and all of us ran out of the room.

"What happened?" Mrs. Miller demanded as she stomped towards one of the administrators.

"One of the labs exploded, ma'am." He replied as he continued to guide the evacuation flow.

Mrs. Miller sighed and motioned for us to follow the flow of the crowd. We ended up outside and stood alert by the main entrance. Mrs. Miller came out soon and came over to talk to us all. "Turns out it was some experimental mishap. I'm sorry but it looks like we'll have to delay this. Sorry for the waste of time." She bowed to us in apology before making her way back inside the building to talk with a few people who were in there getting information as to what had happened.

Without wasting another second, Kyle, Hugh, Max, Vanessa, and I ran towards our motorcycles and made our way back to our house as fast as we could.

As we reached our house, I think I forgot how to breathe. I jumped off the back of Vanessa's bike and ran towards the house. Eyes running over every space and corner I could see. The house was destroyed. Completely destroyed. There were some firemen who were hosing down some stray fires, but where our house used to stand was now just pieces of concrete amongst a sea of ashes. My eyes scanned the area looking for someone.

"Where's Cossette?" I nearly screamed.

One of the firemen walked up to us. "I'm sorry about what happened. There are people trying to figure out how this happened. We also have a box of things that we managed to scavenge from the fire."

"Sir, do you happen to know what happened to a small girl who was in the house at the time?" Max asked, stepping off of his bike as well.

"Some people in suits showed up. They said they were going to take her to camp." The fireman replied. Max said his thanks as we jumped back onto the bikes, immediately heading towards the camp.

As we neared the campsite, I focused on the area to see if I can spot Cossette. Vanessa stopped suddenly, jerking me forwards. "This road is blocked!" She screamed in frustration. Gritting my teeth, I jumped off Vanessa's bike and tossed her my helmet before sprinting towards the campsite.

As I got closer, I saw that the group of teenagers were gathered together. Each of them were holding a toy gun. I watched as one of them hold the gun pointing at the head and pull the trigger. A strange toy arm with a fist came flying out, punching the kid in the head.

I frowned as I continued to sprint towards them. A game. Russian roulette. That's what they're going to hide this murder behind?

Cossette was next. I pushed my legs to run faster. Cossette was shaking, her eyes squeezed shut as her face etched into an expression of pure fear. She raised the gun to her head.

"Stop!" I shrieked. "Cossette! Stop!" She didn't seem to hear me.

"STOP!" I yelled at her one more time.

Cossette ripped her eyes open and immediately dropped the gun to the ground. I was at the campsite now. She saw me and the fear changed into relief. She gave me a wide smile, her eyes twinkled in relief and from some stray tears.

I continued to sprint towards her, relief beginning to flow through my body as well.

The sound of a bullet being fired echoed in the air.