Jake's P.O.V.

"You want us to take down all of our defenses?!" Michael sputtered angrily. "You're insane!"

Lydia rolled her eyes, settling back into her chair. We were still in that room, the one that Bentley flew into, discussing our plan. "It's the only way she'd attack the agency."

Ava shook her head. "There's got to be another way. You're putting all the agents at risk."

This time I was the one who rolled their eyes. "No, we aren't. And I thought you four 'Invisibles' were the only ones at the agency, anyways"

Michael kept a wary face from where his feet were rooted, behind the chair that Ava slumped in. "The agency is for us, but there are still regular agents who train there, who have not been... touched... by the scientists. Hunlee was the one who directed us, that's all."

Ava kept quiet. I glanced at her, and saw that her fingers were drumming on the table, her brows furrowed. Sensing my gaze, she looked up, meeting my gaze. Before speaking, she hesitated. "You're sure it'll work? And that no one else would be hurt?"

Something like understanding flickered in Max's eyes. "Yes. And she'll be there for you, since you're the target. If everyone else is warned beforehand, they should be fine."

Soft light began to creep it's way on the floor through the window. It made me realize just how much time had passed since I was sitting in my chair at Mrs. Waters' house, trying to find Bentley.

"Alright then." Max straightened from where he had remained standing. "That's the plan. It'll be on our terms, and the lack of security will be too tempting for Ben to resist."

Michael and Ava shared a look, but by now, I was too tired to be annoyed by it. "Okay, then." Michael looked towards me, nodding his head. "Let's go."

Max raised a brow. "How fast can you have your agency ready?"

Ava chuckled, standing up and stepping towards the doorway. "Fast." 

---

Agent 5's P.O.V.

My side was hissing with pain in the spot where the bullet had pushed through my suit and grazed my skin. It could be worse, but then, I shouldn't have let it happen at all.

Circling in the air above the scientists base, I relished the feeling of the early morning air weaving through my hair and brushing against my skin.

This feeling of freedom was sometimes taken for granted. One moment you have it, the next; it's gone. The other agents, they were held captive by the deadlines that they had to follow. In my mission, sure, I had a "deadline," but for me that was just my line of targets, dead. Simple.

Taking one last deep breath that I felt flow through me, I beat my wings gently, landing in front of a non-discreet garage door. The base was a healthy distance away from the location of the Penthouse, but I still got there before the sun was up.

Pressing my hand to the lock pad, the red line scanned it before green illuminated my face, and the door slid to the side.

That was another good disguise; the garage door. People trying to break in, as if they even could with the lock pad, would try to pull it up. But in reality, the door just slid into the wall. It was one of Mania's newer projects.

Walking over to the corner, I rested my sore muscles by sitting in the lone metal chair, and planting my boot clad feet firmly on the ground.

Another trick; since the chair was the only object in the room, one was assume that a small piece underneath it would move to reveal a passage way or something. The whole floor descended, actually, when an eye scanner planted in the opposite wall scanned your eye.

Once the floor stopped moving fully,  I was greeted with the bright lights of the laboratory, I spotted Psycho typing furiously on a computer. Without looking up, he spoke. "Report?"

My boots whispered tiredly against the concrete floor as I forced them to move. The metal chair scraped as I dragged it towards me. "Mission complete. Phase two- in action." I let out a ghost of a smile as Insanity leaned her head into room, her body hidden by the white hallway that parallel to the table I was sitting at. Grey, white, cold, and metal. That was the description of almost everything in this place. 

"How'd it go?" Her soft voice resonated into the room, and I curled my fingers into a fist as I remembered the words of the agents. They wanted to target Insanity- they wanted to hurt her-

"Fine." I shifted my gaze to a small, black fly that was buzzing quietly on the table, crawling to the small lamp that was two inches away. It was almost there, so close-

The sound of a throat being cleared dragged my attention away from the fascinating scene that was playing out before me. Relax, I'm being sarcastic. "Agent 5, I am a woman, as are you. That being said, I know that when a woman says 'fine,' she means anything but. Now what happened?" Her voice turned sharp, hysteria creeping in at it's edges. 

I lifted my hand to brush some annoying chestnut strays of hair away, but froze as I spotted the blood that flecked it. My blood. I needed to get that cut cleaned up before Insanity noticed, or she was just going to blow-

"What is that?!"  A pale hand with onyx painted nails snatched my own, those sharp edges digging into my palm. "Whose it this?!"

I stood up abruptly, twisting my arm out of that strong grip, and headed towards the door. "It's my own. I'm fine, Insanity, it's just a scratch, I'm fin- I'm okay, I promise."

Her eyes bore into mine, and the concern shimmering there had my heart speeding up. Concern got people hurt; it got people killed. I had to stop it now, stop it before it happens again. More people can't die because of me, they can't-

A smothered sob tore out of my throat, and Psycho's fingers unexpectedly froze. I blinked my eyes furiously, trying to dispatch the lingering mist that held court there. Why was I even crying? My brow furrowed as I thought back, furiously analyzing what had just occurred. Nothing I had thought or said would have made my cry. So then why was I?

Shaking my head clear of the confusion, I slowly backed out of the room, stopping short when my back hit a body. I mumbled an apology to the other person in our small team, not meeting his sea green eyes, instead choosing to direct my gaze to his dark brown hair. Wrenching myself free from his steadying hands that rested on my shoulders, I scrambled to one of the small bathrooms that existed down here. 

Locking the door, I turned toward that vanity mirror and began to peel the suit away from my skin. The zipper was thankfully on the front instead of the back, almost invisible, which made it very easy to put on, or take off. Again, Mania's creation, with some help from Delirium. 

One glance at the wound didn't reveal very bad news, thankfully. Blood was dripping down, and it hurt like hell, but at least it didn't look like it was infected. That agent, whoever he had been, wasn't a very good shot; the bullet would've missed me entirely if I hadn't been distracted by that one agent.

Shaking my head, I bit my lip, eyes watering again, as I cleaned the wound with cold water and soap. That being done, I wrapped and taped gauze over it, before zipping my suit back up, and looking into the mirror once more. 

A diamond-shaped face held shadowed light blue eyes with faint purple splotched under them, rimmed with soft-angled brows greeted me, along with wind tangled chestnut hair. No matter how I put it up, the wind always steals my ties for itself. Pale pink thin lips released half of what would have been a long sigh. A button nose completed the second half. 

You have work to do, was the unsettling thought that eventually drove me from my spot in the bathroom. 

Reaching the small area that passed for a kitchen, I walked straight to the fridge, and drew out the leftover pizza pieces from the other day. Placing them into the microwave, I tapped my foot on the ground, pouring some milk, as I waited for the three pieces to warm up. 

Beeping filled in for the quietness, and Psycho chose that moment to appear. Grabbing the pieces that rested on a napkin, I leaned against the sink as I regarded him. More silver seemed to be creeping into his hair, either as the lasting effects of the Mercury, or just plain age, I didn't know, and bags similar to my own were appearing under his eyes.

Even that everlasting hint of madness that always shone in his eyes seemed dimmed as he stared right back at me, raising a brow. "Is there something you want to say?" 

I took a sip of the milk, thinking. Wiping a sleeve over my mouth, I replied. "Psycho- or should I call you Peter?" That question had been in the back of my mind ever since he told me the story of his team. Only I had never brought it up, until now. 

He blinked at the question, the only sign he'd show that he was surprised. "Well," he shifted, clearing his throat, "Psycho is what I'm used to-"

"Alright, then."

"-But Peter is fine." The second half of the sentence was spoken softly, as if it was a decision that he had only recently accepted. 

I nodded my head. "Peter, about phase two." I took a breath before continuing. "I want to give it a day- you know, to rest."

He studied me for a minute before responding. "Okay. Only a day, though. We need to get this wrapped up." He turned to walk out of the room. 

"Peter," I called, causing him to pause. "What is the plan, exactly?" I finished eating, then threw my napkin away before drinking the rest of the milk.

"You know what the plan is." The deadpanned words caused me to roll my eyes. 

"What are we going to do with them?" I put the empty glass by the sink, then turned to face him fully. "And I want the truth."

He shut his open mouth, leveling a gaze at me. A saccharine smile graced his face, and he answered. "What's just."

---

I woke up just as an alarm went off in the building. I rolled off the cot, and rushed to the kitchen, where the sound was coming from. Delirium and Insanity were there, watching the ceiling that allowed us to move in and out. 

"What's wrong?" I directed the question to Insanity, but Delirium answered, calmly braiding her long, white hair. 

"There was a breach. Mania, Psycho, and one of those other fools are checking it out." She said the words with barely hidden disgust, and I looked to her, amused. 

"Don't like them much, do you?" 

She shrugged, her dark fingers nimbly moving through her hair. "No." She cut a swift glance at me before returning her gaze to the ceiling. "They're too... slippery."

I nodded my head, half paying attention, as the ceiling descended. The three males were quiet, Mania looking at something on a tablet. 

"Everything okay?" Insanity looked to Psycho, voicing my own thoughts.

"Well." He put his blue gloved hands into his lab coat pockets, glancing at what I now assumed to be video footage, that was playing on the tablet. "I don't know."

My brows flicked up. For Psycho to say that... it couldn't be good. "Did you get any footage of the person?" 

Psycho ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "That's the thing. Whoever it was, was trying the lock pad. And the camera records footage from the top of the pad and below. But we only got footage of an upside down hand. Meaning..."

"Whoever it was must have come from the roof. From above," Insanity finished for him. "Except that's impossible. One of the camera's would've caught a ladder, or- or something." Her eyes darted around, as if she could see the scene for herself. 

"It's not impossible." For the first time, I heard Mania speak. His voice was low and gravelly, and my eyes widened as he met them. Psycho deciphered his glance to me, shaking his head slowly. 

"He's right." 

At this point, I was very confused, and as much as I wanted to figure out what they were talking about, I knew that we would have more problems than an attempted break-in if I didn't get going. 

After freshening up and re-braiding my hair while munching on a granola bar, I strode over to the metal chair in the first room. I was poised to sit down when Delirium's voice caught my attention.

"You know what you have to do." I looked to see her leaning in the doorway across the way, with her arms crossed.

Nodding, I replied. "Where's Peter?" 

Her brows lifted, but she didn't comment on my use of his real name. "He's busy with the others. I figured that I should see you off instead." 

I weighed her words. Busy with the others. "Have they figured out who it was yet?" 

When she didn't reply, I sighed and sat down in the chair. "Bye, Delirium."

I was almost to the first level when she responded. 

"Goodbye, Agent 5."

---

I gripped the small, black object in my hands. 

I stood with my arms crossed, gaze on the building that was across and below me. Night wind ruffled the hairs that had escaped from my braid and scraped against my wings. The stars twinkled above. It had been a day since I had seen the other agents. I wondered what they had accomplished in that time. Not much, if the scene in front of me was to show for it. 

No defenses. At all. It was like a tomb. Not antennas to get signals, no agents on patrol. 

I narrowed my eyes, but didn't think too long on it. I had a job to get done, one that was made infinitely easier with the fact that they were idiots. 

I bent my knees, then pushed off of the roof, snapping my wings open. I beat my wings up, angling towards the area above the agency's roof.

I brought my arm up, clutching the device.

Slamming my arm down, I hurled the object at the building. 

I grinned into the darkness.

Annihilation: complete.