Multicolored lights strobe and bounce off the disco ball hanging in the center of the blacked-out room. Beats pulse in the air. Men and women wearing short, flashy outfits dance around to it. Some partiers are sober, but most are drunk off the not-so-mini bar tucked away in a corner.

She's incredibly uncomfortable. There are too many people here for her. The party spirits are too high.

Sticking to the corner she sulks in, Octavia scans the room. Other corners are filled with physically passionate people. Away from the corners and sticking to a wall is a girl contentedly yet somewhat shyly watching the partiers. Octavia contemplates joining the quiet girl when a commotion distracts her. A group of familiar people dance erratically near the bar. One dancer out of the group is more familiar than the others. Octavia’s friend wears short, shiny, silver cloth around her body in a way trying to pass as a dress. Mindy dances carefree with a Martini glass in hand carelessly tossing the alcohol out of the glass. Thick hair corkscrewed in countless curls bounce and sway to her movements. Mindy's shimmery eyes catch Octavia’s. She leaves the dancing group to meet her.

Mindy, meeting her uncomfortable friend, says, "Do my eyes deceive me? Is that the Octavia Rhinehart?"

"Unfortunately," Octavia says. She crosses her arms across her half-naked chest. Gold shapes the dressed half in a heart and hugs her body half-way down to her knees. Fishnet covers her exposed legs crossed at the ankles. She teeters from standing like this in silver platform shoes she's still learning to walk in.

"Look who's smoking tonight! I never took you as a glitter girl." Mindy playfully flicks a lock of Octavia's black, glitter-coated hair back behind her shoulder.

Octavia teeters, again. "I'm not."

Mindy hooks arms with Octavia and walks her to the bar. They sit in mix-matched barstools.

"What are you doing here, Octi? I know this thing is definitely not your style. Especially the whole party crowd thing." Mindy places a now-empty martini glass on the bar and flags the bartender. "Another, please."

He swipes the glass on command. The bartender pauses for a moment when he notices Octavia but hurries to fill Mindy's drink.

Octavia sighs. "My parents found out about the party-"

"What!" Mindy almost screams.

A few partiers look in their direction. Octavia snaps her face away from them and hides in her straight hair like a curtain until she feels their curious gazes off of them. She waves at Mindy to quiet and calm down.

"Don't worry, Minty," Octavia tells her. "They didn't rat anyone out and won't talk about it unless the media finds out about it. At least that's what they told me. My parents actually told me to come to meet other Committee members' kids and make 'friends'. Plus, they said if I didn't go, they would rat out everyone involved. So, I came."

The bartender puts a frosted, pink-filled martini glass in front of Mindy. She slides it to Octavia. Mindy raises her fingers. "Another, plea-"

"On it, Miss Winters." The bartender nods and zips away.

"A Rhinehart with a heart? Surprising...if it wasn't you of course. And since you're here, why not let loose?" Mindy watches the man prepare her drink. "And enjoy such friendly service." Her eyes hang low. The tip of her tongue sticks out the slightest bit.

"Must you stare at every guy like that?" Octavia says.

Another pink-filled glass is presented to Mindy.

A soft, giggly sound rises from Mindy. "Only when I start to get tipsy. Besides, you have to at least admit this guy isn't bad. I wonder just how friendly the service is..."

Octavia rolls her eyes as she sniffs the drink. She takes a tiny sip of the pink martini mix. It's tangy and bitter, slightly sweetened by the sugar ice on the rim. Taking a second sip, she deems it's not horrible, yet not good enough for a third sip. The fizzy aftertaste is bearable but not appealing. Octavia scoots the drink away.

"Don't like yours?" Mindy asks.

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"No."

"More for me then." Mindy pulls the drink towards herself. "But promise me you'll order something because I didn't ask the bartender's IP when he gave me my drink. I have to find his Net page and PM him. And I’m sure he’ll respond. Everyone always responds to me." A smug smile presses into her lips.

"Fine." Octavia raises her fingers.

"And don't order anything lame," Mindy adds.

The bartender, dropping the drink he had been preparing for another person, flies over to Octavia. The person who lost his drink glares at the bartender but softens when he sees who he ran to.

"What do you wish, Miss Rhinehart?" the bartender asks.

"A mojito and your IP address for her." Octavia points her thumb at Mindy.

"Octi!" Mindy says.

"What? You said you wanted it."

"I was going to ask for it!" Mindy pouts.

Octavia shrugs. She turns to the bartender who stands there awkwardly. "Just get the drink for now. We can deal with the IP address later."

"Y-yes, Miss Rhinehart." The bartender stammers before stumbling away.

Within a minute, a pristine mojito and a scribbled-on napkin are delivered to Octavia.

Octavia slides both down to Mindy. "I know you like and want."

Mindy pulls the items closer to herself. She unlocks the DigiWattch on her wrist and turns the face of the watch so it can scan the IP on the napkin. After a ping comes from the watch, Mindy checks the face of it. The name Maxwell pops up. Mindy smiles and locks the watch. "I’ll send that message later,” she says to herself. Taking her mojito, Mindy says to Octavia, “You're so sweet.”

Before Octavia can retort her kindness, the man who lost his drink comes behind them and slings his arms around her and Mindy's shoulders.

"Hey, Minty," he says to Mindy. "Man... Long time no see, Ova," he says to Octavia.

A smile flashes across Mindy's face. "Hey."

A glare glazes over Octavia's eyes. "Go away, Xander."

"Why a party killer, Ova?" Xander says in a drawl. His brown eyes have taken on a gloss and dark skin little beads of sweat.

Octavia nearly chokes on the smell of alcohol in his lime blazer while she talks. "First, because you keep calling me Ova..."

"Aww, lighten up, Octi. He's only calling you that because he wants yours, am I right?" Mindy nudges Xander in the side. Mindy and Xander chuckle.

Octavia doesn't laugh. She scowls. "Gross." She shoves Xander's arm off her and stands to walk away.

Xander grabs her arm. "Come on. Can't I tease you anymore? You're such a buzz kill."

Octavia snatches her arm from him. "I didn't even want to be here in the first place."

"But you're here now, so enjoy it," Xander says.

"Sounds like familiar advice to me," Mindy says with a wink.

Octavia sighs in submission and plops back onto the stool.

Mindy smiles. Xander hoots.

"Now you have to drink something," Mindy says.

"So, you're going to sample every drink until you find one you like," Xander says. "Or get drunk out of your mind."

Octavia opens her mouth to say something but gunshots ring through the room. Disco ball pieces come crashing down on the floor. Music screeches to a halt.

Octavia's heart skips a beat. Static awareness electrifies her skin. Gunshots were only ever something heard in movies set in years past and heard on the NetNews whenever covering stories about… Octavia’s breath picks up. He could not really be there…

"No..." Octavia grabs Xander and Mindy's wrists and tugs them towards a nearby exit. "We have to go. Now."

Xander and Mindy don't hesitate to follow her as the electricity powers down. Other partiers, screaming, are steps behind them, threatening to push past them. Octavia curses the shoes she's in as she would be able to go faster without them. She can't kick them off because they're strapped to her feet. 

For all of them to stay together, Xander and Mindy practically drag Octavia as they run. Octavia does her best to keep her steps in rhythm so they don't have to carry her as much. She ignores the aching in her ankles and calves to do this.

The three make it to a door leading outside. Octavia sucks in a hopeful breath just before the door opens on them. Xander and Mindy stop. Octavia is not as fast to react. Momentum takes her out of the grip of her friends. The hopeful breath she had is knocked out of her when she rams herself into a Chromy. The rebel man wearing camouflage, a filtered mask, and a long round of bullets over his shoulder doesn't budge despite the force of the impact causing Octavia to fall. Xander and Mindy catch her before she hits the ground.

When Octavia stands on her feet, the Chromy presses the machine gun he carries into her gut. Her insides flutter where the barrel pushes into her. Her breath flutters in unison.

"Center room," the Chromy barks.

Octavia robotically and clumsily follows his order with Xander and Mindy at her sides. Prodded along like cattle by the man, they are mushed into the center of the room as more Chromies flood into the party area.

A thud directs Octavia, Mindy, and Xander’s attention to the stage where they see Shard. He shouts over the anxious chatter for everyone to shut up.