Outpost

"Watch it!", Riley whisper shouted at Archer. She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back as a sentry walked through the hallway, right where the older boy was going. She threw a little device onto it as it passed.

"Do you want to get us killed?", she asked rhetorically. The other boy just glared at the floor. He could somewhat see his reflection scowling back at him. The grey tiles would probably act like a mirror if it was polished, but this place looked a little worse for wear. It looked like it was well taken care off at first, but someone must have slacked off.

The walls were painted grey, paint chipped and peeling off revealing black spots and white paint underneath. You'd think a billionaire like Vision would keep his outposts looking spotless, since he took pride in everything else. But no, this place looked neglected more than anything, like Vision had bigger and better things to care for. He probably did.

Archer hated the walls. The walls made the place feel like the life was sucked out of it. It was probably only him who felt that way, though. The grey walls flickered through his mind, two shadows cast on it. One of a man, one of a woman and a little boy completely hidden consumed by their towering figures. He needed to finish this quickly.

"This is taking too long," he said. "Well, yeah. It's called stealth. Would you rather be blown to bits?" He didn't answer her and instead peeked around the corner.

"We're clear." And with that they both made a mad dash through the corridor.

"Team Whale, continue straight down that hallway, then take your second left and then another left and you should find the door to the security room," Cody called out through their walkie-talkie. The young boy was stationed in the maintenance part of the ventilation shafts, calling out locations from his map and unlocking doors by remotely hacking into them.

Fortunately for them, there were only three guys stationed in this outpost, and they all were watching over security feeds and sending updates to the other hubs at certain times. The rest of outpost was occupied with twelve sentries because it was fairly small. They'd already tagged five with the little EMP's. They didn't bother about the four outside guarding and supervising the camp. The remaining two would be in with the guards, so it would be difficult to get in. They'd have to work quickly.

"Copy that. We got the last one in our sector. We'll regroup at the door," Riley reported quietly into their device.

"Good work, R. We're waiting on you, Team Pizza."

"Remind again why those are our names," Sam inquired.

"Why not?", Cody shrugged even though they couldn't see the action.

"But, if you must know it's because I'm the Grandmaster and I speak Whale-"

Sabrina couldn't help but let a snicker slip out, but immediately covered her mouth, so she didn't blow her cover. Sam had a similar look of amusement on his face as they both ducked behind a crate.

"- Also, I could really go for some pizza right about now," he hummed dreamily.

"Pizza would be great," Archer agreed, walking quietly with Riley to the door and crouching behind some boxes to keep themselves hidden.

"One question, Pineapple or no?", Riley asked.

Sam pulled out an EMP device as he caught sight of the last sentry they needed to tag and followed it quietly, Sabrina right behind him. He threw it and it stuck onto it's back.

Sabrina gave him a thumbs up.

"Definitely Pineapple," Cody answered.

"What the heck, man?", Archer asked completely disgusted.

"It tastes good!", Riley argued.

Sabrina frowned and Sam did the same.

"No," Team Pizza said at the same time.

"You guys are cowards," Cody said.

"Agree to disagree," Sam countered.

"It's exotic!", Riley protested.

"Exactly," Cody agreed.

"This is war," Sabrina declared.

"Okay, enough with the pizza war. Where are you guys?", Archer asked impatiently.

"Just got the last one," Sam replied.

"Which way, GM?", Sabrina asked.

"Go back into the hallway you came from, take the first right and then your second left. I'll make my way through the ducts and meet you guys there."

"Got it. See you guys in a bit."

Soon Archer and Riley caught sight of Sam and Sabrina sneaking towards them and came out of their hiding place.

"We're here. You can open the door now," Riley spoke into her walkie-talkie.

"I don't know who you're talking to," Cody said.

"I'm not calling you that stupid name."

"Oh look at that, the door's not opening," Cody deadpanned.

Riley groaned, "Are you being serious, right now?"

"Who?"

The other three rebels looked at her expectantly, looking slightly amused.

"Ugh, fine. We need you to unlock the door... Grandmaster," Riley said begrudgingly.

"Sure thing. Why didn't you say so?", Cody said and Riley swore that she felt him smirking.

They all got into position.

"Ready?", Sabrina asked Archer, holding a remote in her hand.

He pulled out a similar one and nodded. They both pushed a button.

"You guys got five minutes," Cody told them seriously.

They walked in front of the door and it opened. They all jumped into action. Riley threw the EMP grenade into the room and soon the two sentries were out of commission. Sabrina, Archer and Sam all pulled out their stun guns and shot each of the guards before they could even grab their weapons. Three thuds were heard and they rushed in.

"I'm locking the door behind you," Cody informed.

"Thanks bud," Archer said.

Sam ran quickly to the main console, plugged a drive into a port and began typing on the screen.

A vent cover was heard crashing to the floor and then a leg was visible. Cody popped out of it with a backpack in his hand.

"Sup?"

They all smiled at him.

"Yo, lil dude. We're going to need that tablet after all," Sam called out to Cody. Immediately, the boy rushed to his aid, holding said device.

"My drive was able to get through to most of the files, but it looks like we're going to have to manually hack into this folder here. What I'm going to need you to do is hack into it while I pull out the files."

Cody nodded in understanding and handed a watch to Riley.

"We've got three and a half minutes left," he called out to her. She gulped and nodded in understanding.

Riley stood by Sabrina as they both stood guard by the door just in case while Archer stood a little further away for some reason. The two hackers worked at the back, nothing except beeping was heard and some other techno-noises that they couldn't describe.

Sabrina looked around the room properly. It was definitely in better shape than the other areas in this place. Cords were neatly lined around the room, all various colours. Sabrina followed them. It led to the console where Sam and Cody were working, but her eyes traveled upwards towards various screens, and she saw the camp.

Her heart stopped. Hundreds of people were crowded together. Two heavily armored sentries guarded the entrance, while the other two (also heavily armored) was inside, keeping people in line and making them do either labour or taking them into a room. It looked horrible. Each person had some kind of metal band on their right upper-arm. She spotted they had coloured LED's on them. Majority of people had blue and orange, some had green and very few had red. She noticed only two people whose band had a purple strip.

What does it mean?

The rebels were getting antsy, time was running out.

Those people...

"How long more?" Riley called out to Sam and Cody. "Almost done!", Sam answered.

"Ninety-six percent," Cody added.

"Got it," they said shortly and disconnected their devices.

Sabrina turned and noticed Archer also looking at the screens, but his eyes were narrowed, and he was scowling. He hadn't spoken to her much that day, but that wasn't something she needed to worry about right now. There were more pressing matters.

"Wait!", she called out. The others stopped in their tracks.

"What is it? We don't have much time left," Sam asked and Riley gestured to the watch that displayed the numbers '1:03' and was steadily decreasing.

"What about those people?", she gestured to the screen.

"What about them?", Sam said, typing some code into the keypad next to the door.

"We need to get them out! ", she screamed.

"There's nothing we can do right now," Sam said as the door opened.

"You can hack into the sentries. Make them stop or- or - something! We can't just leave them there!"

"I'm sorry, Lia, but he's right. All we're going to do is get caught. Time is going, we have to go," Riley said urgently.

"No! We'll be fine. Please," she pleaded. She looked to Archer desperately, but he didn't back her up.

Sam turned and walked towards her. "Look, I get where you're coming from, but we're not equipped for this. They aren't our mission. We need to save ourselves," he snapped and ushered the rest of them out. She made to protest further, but Sam stopped her.

"We're rebels. Not heroes," he said and walked out.

Cody looked at her sadly, and followed Sam and Riley out.

Sabrina heard Archer sigh and flinched as he put a hand on a shoulder, "Look, as much as I hate to admit it, but he's right. We won't do those people any good if we're caught."

Sabrina's fist clenched tightly at her side.

"Hey," he said gently, his tone surprised her because this was Archer, and she found herself listening, "We'll come back, okay? We'll come back and get them out."

She looked at him, eyes determined and nodded once in agreement. He grinned, and they both ran out, following their friends.

xxx

"Sir," Cozbi called out to her boss while rushing to his side. The man sighed and lifted a helmet -which had many wires connecting to it - off his head. He looked at her annoyed, giving her permission to continue seeing as she already disturbed his work.

The woman looked at him, cleared her throat and spoke as if she'd rehearsed this at least ten times. "I've just received word from one of the camp outposts, near Solomon. They've been attacked."

This caught his attention. "Was it that group again?", he asked. "No," she replied. Vision furrowed his brows, anger seeping into his usual stoic face, "Then who was it?"

"It was the girl and her friends," she informed looking him dead in the eye. He let out a dry chuckle and turned back towards his desk. He laid his palms on the table and just stood there. Without warning, he shoved most of the contents off and then slammed his fists against the metal table.

Cozbi was unfazed as she watched a metal ring spin until it stopped. She saw the little signs that Victor was slowly losing his mind. His lab's appearance showed the mad man he truly was, behind that mask of calm.

The secretary looked up at the man in charge and took in his look. His hair was disheveled, probably due to the helmet. His usually crisp formal jacket was folded over a chair and his shirt was untucked with grease stains and burn marks. His eye bags were clearly visible as a result of his late hours, coupled up in his lab, because 'If no one can get the code, then I'll make one myself!', but clearly his attempts were failing.

The lighting in the room made him look haunting as he walked up to her, laughing lowly. "So, they're getting brave now since they took out one of my squads?"

"It would seem so."

"And the camp?"

"They're all still there."

Vision smirked, "That's peculiar. Thought she'd be a Saint like her old man. Guess some things don't run in the family."

"Sir, should we increase security at other outposts in case they target them next?"

Vision thought for a moment and walked back to the table. "No," he said with certainty.

"Are you sure?"

He grinned, "Yes, let's see what little Sabrina can do."