"Why are you so annoying?" I ask Daniel after he stops chuckling. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop his sarcasm.

"Because I can be."

"How did you even get my brothers to do that?"

"Wasn't hard, actually."

"That wasn't an answer," I retort quickly. The anger is coming back, even over something so slight.

"I wasn't planning on answering," Daniel says.

I groan, practically throwing my hand in the air in annoyance. "Why do you even bother talking?"

He turns his head towards me and smiles sarcastically into my face. "It's the best way to get under your skin, darling."

I sigh, mad about the at the ever-growing pile of stress Daniel has put on me. "Why do you always have to frustrate me so much? I never did anything to you."

"But seeing you frustrated brings me all kinds of joy."

I let out a low whistle and shake my head disapprovingly. I want to say something offensive or go off on him, but that might "bring him all kinds of joy." Daniel just doesn't have a nice bone in his nearly perfect-looking body. Screw you, fate, for making me have to deal with Daniel much more than I'd ever want to.

A stray piece of hair blows out from behind my ear, and I brush it back in place. As I follow him across the Renegade base camp, I become increasingly more annoyed with him as we bicker.

"So where are we going anyways?"

"Somewhere."

My blood boils. I hate it when people say that. I throw out my plan and switch to offense. "Seriously, Daniel. Tell me where we're going or I'll knife you."

Daniel grins, blue eyes shining with knowledge and amusement. He slings an arm around my shoulder lazily. The movement reminds me of when he kidnapped/rescued me from the agency, except my wrists aren't locked behind my back this time. "I'm not telling you. Why would I want to ruin the fun?"

I push his arm off me and grab instinctively at the side of my belt. I find empty air instead of a sharp knife. "Don't touch--"

Daniel cuts me off. "Save your breath for someone who cares."

I mentally swear at him while he speeds away towards the building with his father's office. I reluctantly jog to catch up with him. We pass through the doors together, but this time, we go across the lobby and down a navy corridor instead of stairs. Daniel stops in front of the second door on the left-hand side. He pushes the door open and strides in. I step inside the room and shut the door behind me.

I take a seat at the battered conference table and wait while Daniel fetches mix-matched papers and books from the single filing cabinet in a corner of the room. Tossing the books onto the table, I look at the titles. The Code of Conduct stands out, but the rest of the books and sheets are either impossible to read upside-down or they don't have titles. Daniel takes a seat across from me at the table before I can even reach to read something.

"I'm going to make this super basic for you since you probably can't handle this," Daniel says with mock-seriousness. I shoot him a deadly look, but he ignores the hint to grow up.

"So far in training, I've taught you how to throw knives, climb fences, and aim while under pressure. You've still got to shoot guns and bows."

"Obviously," I say. I'm kind of looking forward to shooting guns, mostly because they can keep you safer than a knife can.

Daniel leans forward in his chair, forearms resting on the table. He ignores my lovely commentary. "I never explained the history of the Renegades' efforts, so here." He picks a piece of paper out from the bottom of the messy stack. Handing it to me, I read:

______________________

: ISA loses trade alliances with all other countries.

: Poverty Epidemic first begins in Northeast.

: the Imperial States officially in a mass depression.

: 50% of population dies/emigrates to other countries due to limited food and harsh job market.

President Sheops establishes the Panel (no more democracy): group of 13 officials who make all decisions.

: Renegades (protestor group) established due to confirmed corruption in the Panel.

•Next three years include spreading the news of the Renegades. 2 million recruits.

: ISA military attacks group of 2,500 protestors. 1,086 were killed or injured.

: Silence Act makes it illegal to protest or object to laws. New generations must be brought up to fear the Renegades. Everyone is watched by cameras at all times. Borders of ISA locked down.

: Canada offers Renegades asylum. Renegades build up forces, aquire start-up donations of supplies from other countries, and establish a base on Hawaii in addition to a small, deserted island in Canada. Most members stay in the ISA and collect info secretly.

: Renegades launch first rescue mission on Los Angeles. 50 families rescued, all successfully joined the Renegade movement.

•Next 12 years include rescue and offensive missions

: Pennsylvania bombed by Panel, pinned on Renegades, and younger generations fear/hate Renegade movement. Resist joining Renegades, but parents help them understand.

________________________

I look up from the sheet of paper, shocked. The Renegades have fought through decades worth of corruption, yet here I am, a scrawny ex-ISA worker who can throw a knife or two. I haven't even made a move to help the Renegades, except maybe by telling that sergeant about the juvenile agency when I first got here. But that was months ago, and what good did that do?

"So when am I going to go on a mission?" I ask, feeling a little disgusted with myself.

"Soon. There's only one mission let: taking our country back for good," Daniel says. "The Imperial States aren't as grand as they seem to be." He pulls a large piece of paper from the stack and flips it over.

"Whoa," I say, sliding the map towards me. I immediately recognize the ISA, but the other blobs of land are completely new to me. I read strange words like "Africa," "Australia," "Ecuador," and "Poland." Daniel chuckles at my awe, and I shoot him another one of my signature glares.

Daniel throws a map on top of the one I'm looking at. Pointing at a spot on the western part of the ISA, he explains. "For our mission, we're going to be going to Fort Collins."

"What's Fort Collins like?"

"It's a city-suburb setting, but we'll be hiking a bit from the Rocky Mountains," Daniel runs his finger along an imaginary line, "going through Fort Collins, and then meeting back right here near the edge of the forested area."

It's a lot of information to take in at once. I feel like I'm being told about the Renegades all over again, only this time, our lives are at stake. But at least I know how to throw a knife.

I hear voices and lots of footsteps outside of the room. "The meeting's going to start soon," Daniel says. We get up from our seats, and I help Daniel puts the books back in the filing cabinet. Taking the lead, Daniel opens the door to leave, and I follow him. From the hall, I hear snippets of conversations from Allaincers going to the meeting. Walking next to Daniel, we turn back into the lobby and trail behind the small, scattered crowd of Alliancers.

I glance at Daniel as we walk, hoping he doesn't noticed. I haven't had much human contact besides with him and my family, and a small part of me yearns to be with Daniel even more. I stifle that desire immediately. We're only together because we have to be, not because he wants us to be.

Striding through a set of double-doors propped open by guards, Daniel grabs my left hand as if we were together. I pull away as if I just touched a scalding-hot stove.

"I told you not to touch me," I hiss at him, my fraction of love for him disappearing. He smiles, taking my hand again. "I was doing you a favor, babe. You looked like you were dying to do it yourself."

Oh, god. He's delusional?

I roll my eyes and focus on the scene in front of us. Already filled with people is a large room with concrete floors and lots of mismatched chairs. Almost all of the seats are filled up, so Daniel and I take a seat on the stools near the back. We watch a slow trickle of people file in. A tall girl my age with glasses, a man with muscles the size of both my arms, and a mix of girls, one clearly a trainer while the other three are trainees.

While studying these people, I'm still really shocked as to how the whole Renegades concept expanded to a full-out revolutionary group. Almost every question I ask myself is one I can answer. Almost.

Tucking my hands under my thighs, I look across the room to the two officials looking as important as Daniel's father. They chat and shuffle their papers. As I open my mouth to ask Daniel something, he beats me to it.

"You get twenty questions, Cardry. That's it."

I roll my eyes, but I agree. Twenty is a lot better than none. As I mull over my options, I decide to ask broad questions only he can answer. I decide on a question that should take a while for him to answer.

"Tell me about all of the missions you've ever been on." I look to him as I ask, studying his reaction. He doesn't look any different; no surprise, no nothing. Maybe he's been on top-secret mission or assassination teams. Maybe I'm just being naive.

Before Daniel can utter a word, General Fadhill enters from a door near the front of the room. Everyone takes this as a cue to quiet down, but I vow not to let Daniel get away without telling me about his missions.

"Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's Alliancer meeting. It's been quite some time since we've all met up, and I would like to begin by explaining the work we've achieved over the past two years."

The men surrounding the General set posters dotted with lots of tiny, red marks on makeshift easels to stand them up. General Fadhill steps to his right so everyone can see the maps.

The General continues. "Since the bombing of Pennsylvania, we've been fortunate enough to continue rescuing families and children in every area marked with a red dot. But we haven't launched any offensive attacks. In doing so, we give the Panel a false sense of security while they rely heavily on cameras to watch their citizens.

"Between this base in Hawaii and the base in Canada, we have about a half a million Alliancers. Count our tech teams and aircrafts, and we're set for our first offensive mission in a long time. The plan is to spread the word that the Renegades are moving in on the Panel, and we're going to do it in the simplist, most wide-spread way we can.

"The plan is to disperse all Alliancers across the entire Imperial States to post flyers. Helicopters will be dropping them from the sky, and the tech team will take over the ElectroBoards. This might seem like a pointless death mission, but it will occur at night, keeping us covered and safe.

"Meanwhiles, we're going to run the cameras on repeating reels the ITT's been collecting for months, making night patrollers clueless. After making a country-wide announcement for everyone to evacuate into the streets, they'll see the posters and ultimately everyone will be breaking the Silence Act. The Panel will meet in the capitol to arrange what should be done, and then our most elite Renegades will assassinate the Panel."

Even though the plan seems basic to me, it'll work, I'm sure of it. It all makes sense as to why this wasn't done earlier: time was needed to recruit people, get resources, and ease the ISA into thinking their cameras are fool-proof.

As everyone becomes lost in their thought, General Fadhill continues his speech. "We're planning to carry out this plan on June 22nd, so depending on where you are stationed, you might be hiking on the 21st or you might be dropped off minutes before we start at midnight on the 22nd. Once you finish your area for posting flyers, you should stay hidden until you get the signal that the mission is completed. Then you'll be flown to the capitol or stationed in your designated town."

With that, the General dismisses us to go back to training. Everyone seems confident the will be the final mission of the Renegades, and the death toll will be minimal, if any. Almost all of the Alliancers are fully trained, so that leaves me to train with guns and bows.

"Let's go," Daniel says as he grabs my hand again. I let him have what he wants only because he knows what I want.

"Where are we going? The shooting range?" I ask. "Or will you tell me about your previous mission?"

Daniel doesn't respond. I try again, this time with more sarcasm.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

i hope you guys weren't bored with this chapter. i put a lot of thought into it, especially the renegades history, and i can't wait for the mission to take place! stuff will go down, peeps, and i hope things aren't getting dry.

knock, knock

who's there?

daisy.

daisy who?

DAISY ME ROLLIN. DEY BE HATIN' !