"Are you gonna follow what you said yesterday." Judy brought the topic again when they were having breakfast with their group.

"Yes Judy, I will." Zack assured. "Guys, I promised Judy I will spend more time with you fr-" Zack was interrupted by the alarm that echoed across the entire headquarters along with red light flashing.

"Wow! You have to go again. That promise got broken before it started." Noah acknowledged.

"That's the emergency alarm. Something is really wrong." Zack got up from the seat in an instant. "Alert every person inside this base to be on their toes. And Judy, come with me."

His friends stared in surprise at how the situation had suddenly changed. Nevertheless, they did what they were ordered to.

Zack and Judy raced to the surveillance room leaving behind the people in panic.

As soon as Zack and Judy entered the Surveillance Room, the big screen revealed armed soldiers advancing through the long tunnel that led to the headquarters.

"What happened to our security systems? Why are the drones not firing and traps not working?" Zack cried.

"Lemme check." Judy tapped some keys on the hologram keyboard.

"What did you find?" Zack asked, trying to understand the words displayed on the screen in computer language.

"All our security systems are offline and I can't bring them back again. It says 'Access Denied'." Judy stated.

"How can somebody get past our brilliant firewall?" Zack asked.

"I don't know. What should we do now?"

"I'll call Chief." Zack turned on his phone and called Bogart. The call was rejected instantly.

"Huh?" Zack said as he called him again. The call was again rejected. He finally gave a third call and this time the phone was answered.

"This is not the time to talk. I'm in a tense situation right now." Bogart's hologram appeared in front of him.

"So are we. We are under attack! Our security systems had been disabled."

"That's not a surprise. Jim betrayed us. He has led us into an ambush. And he was the one who handled our security." Bogart said and as soon as he did, a sound of bullet was heard from behind him.

The hologram showed Bogart firing a few shots before his face turned back to the phone.

"Should I get everyone out of the headquarters through the evacuation tunnel?" Zack asked.

"That's suicide. Jim knows about them very well. Get them out through the new tunnel. It's not completed but still usable for now."

"Does Jim know about it?"

"Yes, he does. But let's hope it crosses his mind." Bogart replied.

"Alright, I'll get to work."

"Please get everyone out safely." Bogart said before ending the call.

"What happened? What did he tell?" Judy asked.

"To get everyone out through a new tunnel. Tell me how many soldiers are there."

"600 heat signatures."

"We are only two hundred. Escaping is our only chance."

Zack immediately got out of the room and back to the hall where everybody was in panic.

"We are under attack!" Zack yelled in his loudest voice. "Everybody follow me."

Zack headed toward the kitchen while everybody else followed him like obedient children. Most of them had been

brought to the Rebels to live a new life after their old ones had collapsed by Zack. They owed their lives to him.

Zack led them to the gigantic kitchen of the Rebels where many robots worked all day to feed the population of two hundred.

"3GJ♎73H6" Zack shouted the code. As soon as he did, a metal slab opened on the floor in front of them revealing stairs that led to the evacuation tunnel.

"Everybody inside. Now." Zack moved aside to let the crowd get inside. In the crowd, he spotted Drew. His face was pale and he was looking here and there, as if searching for something or someone.

"What happened, Drew?"

"It's Ava. I can't find her anywhere. She was with me for the whole time but then suddenly disappeared. I'll go and look for her." Drew stated.

"It's dangerous. I will come with you. Let's go."

As soon as Zack and Drew came out of the kitchen and into the enormous hall, they saw soldiers breaking inside the headquarters after blowing up the main gate. Then Ava's figure came out of her lab carrying a huge backpack containing all the gadgets she and Drew had built together.

She took out Shocker, a new gadget that she and Drew were working together on. The Shocker could release devastating shock waves.

"Ava! Come back!" Drew shouted when he saw Ava block the way in front of soldiers but it was all in vain.

Ava powered up the Shocker and placed the cylindrical weapon of destruction on the floor in front of her. The soldiers aimed their guns at her but before they could fire, she slammed the huge red button on top of Shocker which produced a lethal Shockwave causing

every soldier to fall down.

Ava wasted no time in taking out the drones from her backpack which started firing at the collapsed soldiers as soon as they came out.

"Come back, Ava! We need to go!" Drew shouted.

"I will buy you as much time as possible." Ava's reply came.

"I am going to help her." Drew said. However, before he could go ahead, Zack grabbed his hand.

"Stay behind. It's a suicide. Tell that to your friend too." Zack warned.

"She won't listen to me. I know her very well." Drew said with tears rolling out of his eyes. "She needs someone to help her."

"I will go then. But only if you promise me that you won't take a step ahead." Zack said before running to Ava's help.

He helped Ava take down the fallen soldiers. As soon as the remaining soliders started standing up again, Zack flipped a metal table besides him and used it for cover.

"Fire it up again." Zack commanded Ava.

Ava nodded and repeated the same task again on the soldiers who were trying to get back on their legs. Another shockwave failed their attempts to get up and Zack took advantage of this to kill more soldiers along with the help of war drones. After repeating the process few more times, they had managed to take down about hundred soldiers.

"Ava, fire it up again." Zack ordered.

Ava nodded again and was about to do so when the button started flashing.

"What happened?" Zack asked.

"The machine is overheating. Firing it again will cause it to explode."

"We need to go then."

"Alright. Let's do it fast."

"I got ya covered."

Zack grabbed the leg of the table he had been using for cover and carried it with him to act as a shield while they made their way back to the kitchen.

As soon as the soldiers got up again, they started firing at them but all the bullets bounced back after hitting the table. Very soon, they had reached the kitchen safely. However, a surprise was waiting for them. All the Rebels were back inside the Kitchen.

"What are you doing here? I th-"

"It was the tunnel. They had blocked its end. It's impossible to leave this place." Judy reported. Her face had lost all the colours and fear was finally visible on it.

As soon as Ava heard Judy's word, she ran out of the kitchen carrying the same table with her for cover.

"Come back, Ava!" Zack yelled but Ava didn't stop.

"What is she doing?" Judy enquired.

"I think she is powering up the weapon." Zack said as she eyed Ava who was running back towards her Shocker. "I should go help her."

"No!" Drew shouted all of a sudden. "I know what she's doing. We need to stop her."

Drew dashed out of the kitchen and towards Ava, ignoring all the bullets that were shot to his left or right. His attention was only on Ava who was powering up the weapon again. He knew what she was doing.

Before Drew could stop her, Ava fired the Shocker one more time. The overheating caused it to explode which released all the energy it had stored into one powerful devastating. shockwave that killed hundreds of soldiers. Even Drew experienced the Shockwave and fell down. However, Ava was the most affected of all. The explosion sent her body flying away towards the kitchen and landed right in front of Drew.

Time froze for Drew as he stared in horror at the Ava's lifeless body. Just when he was starting to enjoy his new life, everything had been snatched from him again. He had lost his best friend. There was not a single trace left of the once beautiful girl. All that was left of her was the completely burnt body that wasn't recognizable. But in doing so, she had given the Rebels one final chance to defend themselves and to avenge her death.

Authors Note