Sam and Albert each had a laptop that they had opened on their laps. Albert’s hands were beginning to shake with anticipation. He was grateful they were giving him a second chance. This time had to be successful. Albert had a bad feeling the group wouldn’t be able to try a third time.

Albert logged into the laptop he had. Sam was doing the same with his. Sam passed him a laser disk and he slid it into the disk reader. He pressed pause on the program before typing in the passcode Sam had written down on a sticky note.

“You in?” Sam asked.

Albert typed in the last digits before the screen came up. Albert gave the thumbs up signal. Since President Arnold had seen both of them, even in disguises, they were now in charge of Homebase and were going to do a lot of the security hacking from Charles’ car a block away from the skyscraper.

“You’re sure this is safe? We’re pretty close to the skyscraper,” Albert said.

“Nothing is safe,” Sam said. “But this is as close as we can get and still have a strong enough signal.”

Sam had snuck in that day and placed an added wire into the security cameras they needed in order to steal the feed.

“How’s it going?” Abe asked from the back seat.

“We’re in,” Sam said.

Albert turned around to see Sophie, Alice, and Abe crammed in the back seat. Sophie particularly had been insanely quiet, her hands folded in her lap and staring off into space. Alice had her arm around Sophie’s shoulder, trying to talk comfort to her, but Sophie was trembling.

“Just remember. Give us the signal as soon as you want out,” Albert said as Sam talked quietly into the walkie-talkie.

Sophie stopped staring off into space to look at Albert. He could sense the fear inside her she was pushing down. “I will.” She rubbed her shirt collar, the sign they decided on. Albert nodded, trying to give her a comforting smile.

Sam lowered his walkie-talkie. “Okay, Sophie, everyone’s in place. Break a leg.”

Sophie nodded. She opened the door and slid out. Albert watched her out of the rearview window as she stuffed her hands in her pocket on her way to the skyscraper.

“This is insane,” Albert said.

“Absolutely,” Sam said.

Albert waited, feeling restless. He wanted to be doing something more than sitting in a car with a laptop, but he knew this was his place. It was best for everyone if he stayed here.

In a few minutes, Sophie appeared on the screen of the lobby’s security cameras, a completely different girl than the scared, frightened one that left the car not that long ago. She ran up to the front desk and slammed her fists down hard.

“Where is my mom and dad!” she screamed.

“Distraction is in place,” Sam said into his walkie talkie.

“Understood. Going dark,” Charles replied.

“I demand to see them!”

“Why, Miss Germain!” The secretary stood, all smiles. “It’s such a-”

“My parents! Where are my parents! My memories came back, and they have so much to answer for! My dad forced me to get my memories wiped! Just because I knew about their secret basement lab!”

“Um, I’m sorry, Sophie, but you must be mistaken. There is no lab in the basement,” one of the secretaries said as the other picked up the phone.

“Oh yes there is! That’s why my dad forced me to get my memory wiped! It’s all a disgusting lie! Everything the S.E.A. stands for is nothing but lies!”

Albert had to hand it to Sophie. She could be a wonderful actress if she tried.

An agent appeared and was immediately conflicted about grabbing Sophie, since she was the Germain’s daughter.

“Where! Are! My! Parents!” Sophie hit the table with her fist with every word she said. The secretaries were beginning to look uncomfortable.

“I’m sure they would love to see you too, Sophie. They’ve already been alerted of your presence and they are on their way down,” the secretary said.

Charles and another medical professional were already crossing the lobby.

“I believe this is our jurisdiction,” Charles said.

“You? What on earth could you both do?” one of the agents asked.

“Clearly Sophie has been missing for a while. She may need some medical attention,” Charles said.

“I don’t need anything! Just get me my parents!” Sophie yelled.

The elevator doors swung open and they saw Mr. and Mrs. Germain exit and spot Sophie. Albert watched as Sophie stared at them. He knew she didn’t remember them, and a bit of that flickered across her face. Albert, Abe, and Billy tried their best to tell her everything about her in the preparation, but it wasn’t nearly as much as they would have liked.

“When in doubt, be angry at them,” Albert whispered to Sophie on the screen. It was the mantra they came up with. “Come on, be angry.”

Sophie clearly looked as though she wanted to ask them a billion questions, but instead she screwed up her face in anger.

“You!” She pointed at her dad. “How dare you! You completely ruined my life!”

Mr. Germain frowned, and Albert could sense just a little of the uncomfortableness as he scoped the lobby to see how many people were there. “Come now, Sophie. We missed you! There’s no need to greet us so rudely.”

“It’s not rude if it’s true!” She got closer to them. “I wish it was all a lie that my own parents agreed to have my memory wiped!” Albert had a suspicion Sophie wasn’t pretending to be angry at this point. “What you did was absolutely wrong! The whole city deserves to know what awful people you are! You’re not trying to save the hobos, you’re creating them! Just because they don’t want to study the same things you guys want!”

The agitation in the Germain’s was visible. “She’s not well. You-” Mr. Germain pointed at the agent. “Let’s take her across the gardens. We’ll have more privacy there.”

“No! Don’t touch me!” Sophie said as the guard approached her. Sophie closed the distance between her and her parents. “You want to take me away so I don’t spill all your secrets! How the S.E.A. actually handles things!”

Mr. Germain reached out to grab her, but Sophie smacked his arm away and pushed Mr. Germain. “You sicken me! Both of you! You were supposed to be there for me, and you weren’t. You were too concerned with your own jobs.”

Sam beamed at the screen. “Whoa! That was amazing! Harriet really knows how to teach them!”

“Did she do it already?” Albert asked, leaning closer to the screen. “Did I miss it?”

“You just didn’t know what to look for,” Sam said. “See Charles getting closer? They’re going to make the pass off.”

Albert watched as the agent grabbed Sophie and pulled her away. Charles walked by as though to return to his work. He and Sophie passed between inches of each other, and Albert didn’t see anything happen. Maybe it was best. If he didn’t see it, no one else would. As Charles left Sophie, he scratched his shoulder. It was the code he had the key card.

“That’s your cue,” Sam said to Alice and Abe. “Break a leg.”

Alice opened the door and she and Abe slid out of the car. Albert watched as the agent clamped his hand over Sophie’s mouth as he dragged her to the interrogation room with her parents following swiftly behind.

Albert glanced over at Sam, who had the laptop with the interrogation room. It was all going according to plan.

Sam typed a few things on the laptop before nodding. “Alright, laptop switch.”

Albert passed over his laptop with the surveillance of the lobby. Sam had a few more things to do to get the distraction ready, and Albert was to keep careful watch on Sophie to make sure she still felt safe. The agent had pushed Sophie into the room and the Germain’s asked him to leave. Sophie kept glaring at her parents, and Albert could only hope Sophie could keep her parents distracted a little longer.

***

The door opened and Marie held her breath, expecting to see President Arnold step down to question her some more. She was beyond excited to see Abe. He was in the process of taking off a mask as he looked around the room. His face looked a little swollen, but she was still happy to see him. She leapt to her feet and ran to him. He had a huge smile and caught her in a hug.

“The place is bugged,” Marie whispered.

Abe nodded and gave her a final squeeze before letting go. He turned to the door right as Marie saw Charles and Alice coming into the room, taking off their own masks. Abe placed a finger to his lips, and Charles nodded. Charles pulled a device out of his pocket and turned it on. It reminded her of the one Tom used during her time at Presley High.

“This is a temporary fix. We should still whisper,” Charles told them all.

Abe gave her another hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Alice gave Charles her bag with what looked like a bunch of medical supplies inside, and Charles gave the bug cancelling device to Abe. Charles and Alice immediately headed toward her dad and Mr. Edison.

Abe gave her a genuine smile. “I couldn’t leave you behind.”

Even though the light was dim, being this close allowed her to see his face a bit better. It was far worse than she originally thought. She frowned. “Wow. Did Billy get super creative with his make-up or something? I thought doing something that drastic would stand out, and the point was to blend in.”

Abe gave her a quizzical look. “Huh?”

“Your face. Billy made it look like you got into a bad fight,” Marie said.

Abe’s face fell and he tore his gaze away from her. “Right. Um, I’ll explain later.”

Marie’s frown turned into shock. Did he actually get in a bad fight? Marie was distracted when she noticed Charles helping her dad to his feet. She quickly walked over to them. Alice was on her knees, checking over Tom. Charles knelt down beside her.

“How does he look?” Charles asked.

Alice shook her head. “Bad. If it was any other circumstance, I’d say he shouldn’t move until we have his leg casted, but that’s not an option right now.”

“I can walk.” Tom’s voice was weak. “I just need support.”

Charles brought out his walkie talkie. “Homebase, this is Team Retrieval. We may need a few minutes to splint Tom’s leg.”

“Those minutes are yours. Team Distraction isn’t ready yet, and Sophie’s doing a great job keeping her parents occupied,” Sam said.

Charles nodded and began unpacking his bag. He and Alice worked swiftly on Tom’s leg, and Marie took a step back, feeling nausea building up.

“You guys go find the syrophil,” Charles said as he tossed Abe the key card. Abe put his mask back on and Marie followed him out of the room, squinting in the bright light.

“Do you know what it looks like?” Abe asked as he swiped the key card into the lab section.

“Yes,” Marie said. She had been working with the chemical so long she almost could work with it in her sleep. They entered the brightly lit and very sterile lab, and Marie pointed to the clear glass door. “There. That’s where they keep the chemicals.”

When they got to the frozen area, Marie tried the door but found it locked. She frowned as she noticed they had placed another key card reader. Marie extended her hand to Abe for the key card, but Abe hesitated.

“What?” Marie asked.

“There’s that, too,” Abe said, pointing. Marie looked where he had been pointing and saw a number pad above the door.

“A key card and a pass code?” Marie asked. “That’s new.”

“Must be more heightened security,” Abe said with a frown.

She already heard the defeat in his voice. Marie felt her heart drop. “No. We can’t give up. The hobos, they need their memories back. They need to help us fight.” Marie knew it was only half true. From seeing her dad’s reaction about the chemical she stuck in her body, she wanted Sophie to remember who she was before...

“We can’t risk it. There might be all sorts of alarms on this thing. If we don’t enter the correct passcode, we might have the entire S.E.A. down on us before we can leave the prison cell.”

Marie blinked back tears. True, Sophie could wait a little longer for her memories, but could Marie? “I need my best friend back. I need her to be okay.”

She felt Abe’s warm hand on her shoulder. “Sophie may not have her memories, but she is certainly the same core person. Maybe we just need to focus on getting your dad and Mr. Edison out.”

She couldn’t ignore the feeling in her gut. If Sophie didn’t get her memories back now, how much longer would it take? Marie gave a hesitant nod as Abe led her back to where Charles and Alice were quickly working on Tom.

They got back, and without looking up, Charles asked for an update. Abe said his suspicions, because Marie still had a lump in her throat that wouldn’t go away.

Charles rubbed his forehead with his arm, since he had gloves on. “Alright. We’ll have to think of another way to get syrophil. Our top priority now is to get Tom, Vlad, and Marie out of here.”

The lump swelled in her throat and she was thankful for the dim light to blink away the tears.

***

“Sophie, sit down. We can have a reasonable, rational conversation about this,” Mrs. Germain said as she herself sat at the table.

“Oh don’t give me that. You guys hate math and science, so of course you’re never going to have a reasonable, rational conversation!” Sophie asked, still standing with her arms folded. “All you guys want is for everyone to think like you!”

“Sophie, there’s no reason to snap at your mother,” Mr. Germain said.

Albert saw it. That moment when Sophie’s anger softened and she glanced at Mrs. Germain. It was as though Sophie remembered this wasn’t some sort of play, and she really did have a mother and a father.

Sophie turned away, and Albert couldn’t see her face.

Albert felt his heart sinking. Mr. Germain walked over to Sophie, touching her shoulder. “Hey, come on, Soph. Let’s talk.”

Sophie turned around and pushed him. “You’re the one that ruined my life! Why should I ever listen to you!”

Albert kept checking his watch. He wasn’t exactly sure how long it took to splint a leg, but the fact that a good number of their crew was now in the prison section of the basement, he was anxious for them to be out of there.

Mr. Germain pressed on Sophie’s shoulder until she was sitting down. She glared at Mr. Germain the entire time.

“We’re extremely concerned about your math, Sophie. It’s a dangerous path,” Mrs. Germain said.

“We see it every day,” Mr. Germain said, towering over her. “We see the dangerous criminals who dabble in the sciences. It’s dangerous to study something that lacks human emotion. Millions of people have died because there are scientists and mathematicians who have forced themselves to not have a conscience anymore. The medical professionals here. I’ve watched them. Every single one of them will cut a person open without an ounce of sympathy in their eyes. That is how far removed from their humanity they are. Do you honestly want people like that unchecked?”

“Well, that’s scientists. I’m a mathematician,” Sophie said. “Big difference.”

“But mathematicians and scientists hang out together. They might do experiments on you,” Mrs. Germain said.

Sophie laughed. “Um, or not. You guys act like all scientists do is try to figure out how to blow things up. Besides, pretty sure it’s you guys who are working on the kooky science stuff to make people forget who they are. I can’t believe you did that to your own daughter.”

Mr. Germain’s eyes narrowed. “You’re impossible, Sophie. You know that? It’s like your only wish is to annoy us. We got you that math tutor, and you had us fire her last year because she was too boring.”

Sophie scoffed. “She just didn’t challenge me!”

There was a pause, then Mr. Germain straightened. Mrs. Germain looked at her husband, a shocked look on her face.

“What is it? What’s going on?” Sam asked.

Albert frowned, straining to understand. He did not like the cool smile that crossed Mr. Germain’s face.

“You don’t remember anything. Do you,” Mr. Germain said.

Sophie’s eyes went wide, and Albert could see the fear in her face. Mr. Germain’s smile grew, and Sophie winced. In an instant the anger fled from her body. She bent her head as she bit her lip.

“I…” Sophie tried to say something, but whatever it was, was lost.

“Murphy’s Law,” Albert swore.

Sam grabbed the walkie talkie. “Team Distraction. You need to start now. Team Retrieval, get into position.”

“Just a minute,” they heard Billy say.

Mr. Germain’s eyes widened, then he grabbed his clip that held his card key. “Macbeth.”

“We don’t have a minute,” Sam said.

“If we don’t get this mirror in the perfect place, they’ll never actually see Poe,” Billy said.

Albert covered his mouth as Sophie slowly got to her feet, backing away.

“Ambrose?” Mrs. Germain asked.

“She’s just a distraction,” Mr. Germain said.

“The Germain’s know. We need your distraction now! We need to get her out of there!” Sam said.

“Almost done,” Billy said.

Sophie couldn’t face her parents. She was completely different now, going back to her broken and scared look. She was playing with the collar of her shirt. “I’d… I’d like to leave now,” Sophie said partially to her parents, but Albert also sensed she was telling them just how terrified she was right now.

“Team Distraction! Now!” Sam yelled into the walkie talkie.

“Got it! Start the program!” Billy said.

Sam slammed the space bar on the laptop. In the lobby, the lights began to flicker.