He then pulls out a pair of black gloves from his pocket while I stare at him through the cell bars, wide mouthed. I feel a stab of worry in my chest but his face is sincere so I can't decide whether to be very afraid or not right now. I'm in a cell room all alone with a newly hired guard, what if the background checks the agency has done weren't thorough enough? Am I about to be killed?

"W-what do you mean?" I stutter and cringe at myself. Now is not the time to show fear. He notices immediately and somehow makes his face ease even more as he takes a small step away to show he's not going to do anything.

"Well, do you want out?" He asks with curiosity.

I nod hesitantly. "Of course." I say through a breath.

"Then, this is it." He then steps forward again after pulling on the edges of the gloves to ensure they're on safely, which I'll be honest doesn't fill me with confidence. I suppress a gulp and hold my hands out in front of me to stop him.

"Wait!" I warn, "you expect me to trust you?" I'm stood up now although it was a bit of a struggle to get up onto my feet. My ankle is still being a pain.

"No, I'm just giving you a second chance. Do what you like with it." He shrugs but my ears seem to pick up more on the slight squeaking that's sounding from his leather gloves as he breezily types the code in so the cell door unlocks. When I don't respond he pulls on the door so it opens and freedom is given to me.

Before taking the chance, I peer at him curiously. "Are you sure?"

Instead of answering he holds out his left hand, now free from the trap of the leather glove because he's removed it; his fingers are spread wide and inviting. I realise he's offering for me to take it and while a lot of my senses are tingling with danger and warning, my main agent instinct tells me that this is the way to go. I slowly outstretch my hand towards his, my senses still screaming at me to stop. I push past the worry and go with my gut feeling.

Trust him.

My hand latches on to his at they meet, coming across more desperate than I mean it to and he secures it firmly. I take a step towards him but my ankle sears in pain again. I try to just gulp harshly at the pain to suppress it but it doesn't work and a hiss finds it's way through my mouth. August sees that I need more help than just a hand and brings his other, that one still gloved from coding the door and he takes a hold of my shoulder guiding me out of the cell.

We make it to the entrance of the cell holding room that takes us back to the main building and I stop us from continuing. I look up at him now the lighting is much better, not nearly as dim as back in the cells. "Why are you doing this?" I ask but it comes out a little raspy.

He looks at me a little blankly, his face still kind and when I glance over his mouth I notice there is a trace of a smile. "I know a lot more about you than you think."

I gulp yet again and meet his eye. The mixed signals igniting around me are causing me to be so confused. How can such a sincere and kind looking person say something so strange?

"Okay, explain how that's supposed to reassure me." I demand in a steady voice, stiffening a bit as I prepare myself to get into defensive mode if this guy tried anything. He softens his posture at this and I'm confused yet again because slowly each sense in my body is converting to the idea of... trusting in this guy. His hold on my is physically firm but so yielding at the same time, in a different way.

"I really don't have time." He hesitates as he rather frantically takes glances down the hall. There are a few people wandering about heading to different doors. No one close enough to notice us yet though. He looks back to me. "In just a few words, I'm an ex-bad guy. Here to work for the good."

I peer at him closely and feel inclined to believe him. How has this man been a bad guy at any point? I was right about the background check thing though, E.I.O hadn't been thorough enough. Robert is really seemingly losing his rag at the moment.

"The problem is I don't know what's good or bad anymore. All I do know is you've been treated wrong all your career and I want to fix that."

"What's in it for you?" I wonder and the question seems to slip out.

He smiles a little more.

"A little less heartache."

My eyebrows knit together as I give him a frown.

He knows I'm still not seeing the full picture, he's just giving me puzzle pieces to his answer. He opens his mouth and says "Look-" but comes to a stop as footsteps echo loudly all of a sudden, telling us someone is very near by. August immediately tenses and lifts me up effortlessly before swivelling us around behind a large open door, concealing us behind it in it's dark shadow. When we stop moving I realise my breathing is a little out of control and I try to slow it down quietly. The person who the footsteps belong to then enters the room, walks around for a bit, suddenly becoming frantic before they promptly exit the room again.

August and I are now just centimetres from each other and he stares deep into my eyes. "We have to get out of here fast."

"I know." I whisper back.

"Do you trust me now though?"

All he had done was whisked me out of an agents sight before they saw that I had left my holding cell. But I had only left it because August had let me out. Did that mean I could trust him? Not in itself, no.

"Jack and Robert are working for both sides, bad and good." He says in a low voice, noticing my concern, then continues with, "I'm on the good side now."

I nod.

It's true I could never fully trust Jack anymore and Robert seems to just be doing his job but if that meant allowing Jack to work for us too... did that make him just as bad? I can't trust either of them.

"Would you let me go on my own?"

"If you want to." He nods but I see a small flicker of disappointment in his eyes before he conceals it. He puts me down and moves me forward a little, still carefully ensuring my ankle doesn't have to much weight on it. When I'm stood up properly he then fully lets go of me and steps away. I move a little, my ankle hurting like mad but I persist in taking at least one step.

I need to be able to just go. I need to get to my little girl.

I look to the hallway where there's only a couple of agents quite a way away. I realise that whoever had come in would bring a few extra people back to investigate where I had gone. I look back to August who is stood there watching me attempt to leave, as he leans on the wall. What would happen to him if they found out he let me go? Wasn't there CCTV in here? Had they seen all of this?

I look up to the few cameras dotted around and I can't believe I haven't thought of that already but August calls out, "Don't worry I sorted those already." There's a small smile on his face still. "You need to hurry, though, Willow."

I look at him with a pleading look and he instantly knows what I'm thinking. I can't do this without him. In tense situations, I always had a partner to work with. You kept each other backs covered. Especially when one is injured. I glare down at my ankle.

"I can't do this without you." I croak and he quickly comes over to me. Maybe it was a stupid idea but I am an agent after all and I know how to defend myself if he really does try anything. Something tells me he won't though. I was trained in determining just who a person really was deep down from the get go, when I was first training to be an agent. Top in my class for psychology.

"Let's get out of here." He mumbles as I'm swept of my feet carefully and held in his firm grasp. We quickly weave though a hallway, missing everyone by mere seconds before he ducks us into a side room. It's an old and dusty supply room but after settling me back on my feet he immediately get's to work on a small square entrance in the ceiling that had a metal covering concealing it.

When he looks to me with a pleased look I realise I've been frowning at what he was doing. He gives me a smile, bigger than his other ones. "Air conditioning unit."

"How did you know about it?" I ask him.

I knew about it already funnily enough but only because a couple years back, after Jack left us, we got wind that D.A.R.E were planning a severe attack on our H.Q. So the few of us who knew began to plan quick exits of the building and finding ways of being able to free our agents if we ever got stuck in a hostage situation. Somehow the attack was never carried out and we strengthened our security but from then on I knew every crevice in the whole building.

"It was a requirement for working for D.A.R.E. Knowing every inch of this place." He shrugs as he hauls an old chair from a corner and places it under the table he had stood on.

So when he said ex bad guy, he meant working for D.A.R.E?

"How did you leave D.A.R.E?" I found the question leaving my mouth before I could stop it. Now is really not the time to be having a conversation.

"Long story," He mutters as he jumps down from the table again after double checking it was all ready for us to exit and then he comes over to me. "But let's just say, I'm officially deceased in their eyes after the last shoot out with another gang."

"Really?"

"They'll figure out the truth soon, if they haven't already." He says with another casual shrug. "But I don't plan on hanging around for them to do anything about it. I'm finally breaking free."

His words hit hard.

Breaking free.

That's what I wanted to do now. Be free from all of this mess. Start life anew somewhere. I look to August with admiration evident on my face, I can feel it. "Can you show me how to do that?"

He looks down at me before taking me in his arms. I'm lifted into the air yet again, him acting as if I weigh nothing more than a feather and we are quickly up on the table. Before we continue on in our journey he looks at me again.

"Is that what you really want?" He asks but it seems to be more of a musing question than something he really wanted the answer to.

He doesn't wait for my answer as if he already knows what it is. I find myself above his head and lifted up into the air conditioning unit. It's cold, obviously, but not that bad. I begin to make my way, my ankle aching but it's manageable. After quite a long wind around the cold and small unit, August giving me directions, we make it to another vent and I see the air conditioning control room. It's a bit of a struggle but we manage to make it down into that room and I find myself back in Augusts arms.

When we're about to exit the room to the back end of HQ where we will be able to cut though an older and less used car park, I put my hand on his chest and he stops his hand from reaching out to the door handle.

"Yes. It's what I want." I finally answer his previous question and he flashes me a knowing look before continuing to the handle. The door is swung wide open as the fresh air of the outdoors hits us. I embrace it's biting sensation on my bare arms and breathe it in.

Freedom has never felt so good.