Their pilot friend dropped them off a few meters away from one of their safe house - an apartment in a luxury hundred-storey building.
"Thanks for the help." Zack thanked.
The pilot gave him a nervous look and then took off. Luckily, it was noon and nobody spotted the helicopter landing on the street. The bungalows near the building too hadn't somehow seen the helicopter.
"Do you think the others are here yet?" Judy asked.
"The others have no chance of being here yet. A helicopter is way faster than bus."
"Let's go and check out the apartment then. Have you ever been here before?" Judy asked.
"Not this particular safe house." Zack replied as they walked through the empty path.
The path was made of cream colored tiles and there were a few plants at the edges of the pathway. Bungalows made of Vermoium, a strong construction metal, seemed to gaze on the streets.
They stopped in front of the apartment building, a huge structure made of dark blue transparent Vermoium which gave it strength and shine both. There was a small park around the building.
A robot guard was standing at the entrance of the building.
"You have it?" Judy asked.
Zack shook his head. "I left it in my room."
They both were aware of the fact that the robot was about to take a body scan of them, something which wasn't good for Zack who was quite infamous once. There were no recent criminal records of him, because the government couldn't reveal the rescue missions he had carried out, which provided Zack safety from common people but not from Body Scanners.
"I guess we will have to wait for Drew to arrive then." Judy sighed.
They settled down on a bench in the park.
"I didn't get to check on everybody. Are Ricky, Susan, Noah and Brian safe?" Zack asked.
"I didn't saw Brian on the bus." Judy's eyes turned teary.
"Hey, it's okay. Brian won't have liked seeing us cry for his death while the man behind it still lives." Zack tried to comfort her.
"And how do you know this? Do you even care about him or anyone else?" Judy got up from the bench and stormed away.
Zack ran to stop him but before he could, the bus containing all the other Rebels landed in front of them.
"You both did an amazing job." Billy said as he got out of the bus.
Zack looked at Judy but she turned away.
"How's the pain in your shoulder?" Judy asked Drew when he got out from the bus.
"I honestly forgot about it." Drew replied. "You fixed it pretty well."
"Don't thank me. Thank-" Judy stopped in middle.
"It was her. I know that." Drew wiped a tear from his eyes.
"Hey buddy. How are you doing?" Zack interrupted them.
"I'm fine." Drew grumbled.
"Okay so imagine that Ava is gazing at you from wherever people go after death. What will be her reaction?" Zack asked.
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"She'll give me her ultimate 'I will kill you' deathly glare and then start shouting at me." Drew replied and it made him smile immediately as he thought about that crazy girl.
"Yeah, that's the spirit. Now imagine her face if you manage to do what we had been trying for years; kill the President."
"She would be really proud of me."
"So, you ready to make her proud?" Zack gave him a wink and then walked away.
"What now, heartless person?" Judy stopped him.
Despite the pain he felt on hearing those words, he replied to her just as he would normally do.
"I will give Bogart a call and update him on everything. You get the others inside. Take Drew's help to disable the robot." Zack instructed.
"Fine." Judy muttered as she walked to Drew and told him what had to be done.
Drew gave a nod and took out a tiny drone from his backpack. Using a controller, he directed the drone to the back of the robot. He then slammed another button and the drone denotated. It was a small explosion but enough to damage the control panel of the robot which was situated on its back.
"It will take a few minutes for the robot to reboot. Let's not waste the time."
"Yeah sure." Judy guided every other Rebel inside the building. Zack followed them in the end.
The building looked elegant from the inside too with its golden light and hologram statues that looked more real than the actual statues. Robots were spread across the entire ground floor, making sure that not even a tiny speck of dust remained.
It took them a lot of turns to get everyone up the elevator. However, at last, only Zack and Judy.
Judy muttered a curse under her breath when she realized it but still kept the door opened for Zack.
Once both of them were inside, Judy pressed the button for 96th floor and then tried to ignore Zack as they went up.
"So we stopped talking now? Just because I didn't cry on hearing Brian's news?" Zack asked.
"I realized something about you. You don't care about anyone. You're so obsessed with your work. That's all you care about. If something happens to me, you won't care even then. I heard your conversation with Drew. You're using everyone's weak state to achieve your cause. You don't have love for anyone."
"What are you saying-" The elevator's door opened before he could speak any further and Judy walked away from Zack.
Even though Bogart and Andy had been told about it before, they still seemed shocked when they arrived at the apartment and counted the number of Rebels that were still remaining [https://em.wattpad.com/e2e39132b7aae64866f6e5734e9f90221654fe11/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f585f31374533374a4b50685865673d3d2d3930333737393434382e313631383961386537353230653039373639303230323939353130372e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Even though Bogart and Andy had been told about it before, they still seemed shocked when they arrived at the apartment and counted the number of Rebels that were still remaining.
Their fight had let them quite battered. Andy's suit had been torn from a few places and was covered in blood. Bogart had been shot twice and was only able to move freely due to Ava's bandages.
"This is all my fault." Bogart sank down on a chair.
"No, it's not your fault. It's not anybody's fault. Nobody was responsible for what just happened except Jim." Zack said.
"I left the entire security of Rebels in hands of Jim. I should have kept a watch on him."
"You, Jim and Andy started the Rebels. Who would have thought that Jim could betray us."
"But still-"
"This is not the time for that." Zack said. "It's time for us discuss what step to take next."
"What's left to do now except to hide away for the rest of our life. The 'Rebels' is finished." Andy said.
"How can we say that? We still have so many left." Zack turned towards all those teens who had survived. "It's time for us to be more aggressive. We have been a bit silent for too long. I think it's time for us to be a 'Rebel'. Cause terror to the government. Avenge all those people who have lost their lives."
A smile spread across Bogart's face. "You're my greatest treasure, Zack. And you're right; it's been a long time since we have unleashed terror on the government. What does everyone say about showing our true powers to President Kenny?"
Everyone else shouted in approval except for Judy who shot Zack a disgusted look causing his heart to sink even more. Judy's piercing words had left him devastated .
However, he managed to mask those emotions for the rest of the day. He helped Drew in assembling the 'Medical Assist' and the 'Helping' Robots that were kept in the apartment ever since it was purchased. The Medical robots spent their entire day performing surgeries on Rebels who had been shot while the Helper robots took the job of cooking meals for the entire population inside the house.
Zack spent the rest of his day comforting every person he came across. However, whenever Judy would see him, she would give him a scowl and walk away.
The more times that happened, the more broken he started feeling from inside. He couldn't even get a chance to speak with Judy because whenever he would approach her, she would run away.
Even at night, when he was trying to sleep, all he could think about was Judy. When he managed to sleep, even the dream that came to him was about how he and Judy had met.