Chase woke up well before nine-thirty that morning.

After waking up at around four and not being able to fall back asleep, he found himself pulverizing a few training dummies in one of the workout rooms in The Acropolis. It was a good way to distract himself while he waited for the others to wake up.

Whenever his father was home and not working, the man would pass his knowledge down to his son. Instead of playing catch on Saturday mornings, he read military books and learned strategy. By the age of eight, he already knew how to dismantle, clean, and reassemble a Colt M4A1.

He'd never been on a sports team, despite knowing he was a better athlete than most people. Instead, he practiced kickboxing, Krav Maga, and Muay Thai. He never had any toys. For his fifth birthday, he'd been given a bowie knife and combat boots. When he turned thirteen, he got his first gun.

It was safe to say his upbringing wasn't the typical one.

Most people would've loathed growing up in such a way. Not Chase. He appreciated what his dad taught him. It prepared him for anything. The skills his father passed down to him coupled with his new abilities—which made him stronger than any human on earth and his skin more durable than titanium—brought him immense confidence.

But he couldn't stop thinking about the plan. If they managed to sneak onto the jet, they'd be one step closer to facing Kismet. While he might've been ready to confront Kismet, especially with his newfound abilities, that didn't mean the others were.

The entire thing was incredibly risky. He was pretty sure none of the others—besides Emily and himself—knew how to fight. In fact, Theo was the most docile person he knew. Andre may have been built like a professional linebacker, but he could tell the guy wasn't a fighter.

Oscar was the only one he wasn't quite sure about.

The kid was from the rougher areas of the neighborhood back in River Hill. While that didn't necessarily mean anything, there was a possibility he knew how to defend himself. His pyrokinetic abilities could also prove to be useful as well.

During his solo, early morning training session, an inkling of doubt snaked its way into his mind. They were going to be up against trained mercenaries—men and women who specialized in all kinds of warfare. Director Shaw might've been right; they weren't ready. But if they did nothing, Kismet would carry out another attack and Atlas wouldn't be able to stop them. While Director Shaw said he had the whole thing under control, Chase knew the man's agents wouldn't be able to contain them. After all, they had a teleporting ninja on their side.

And Apex was the only Prime they knew about. Who knew if there were any more?

No. They had to do something.

The sun shone through the window on the other side of the room. He wiped his dripping face and checked his phone. It was time for him to meet up with the others.

Exhaling, he grabbed his shirt from a bench near the wall and left the room.

#

Waking up Andre easily had to be one of the hardest things Chase had ever done. The guy could sleep through a tsunami.

Once they managed to wake the sleeping giant up, the group of five began to get ready. Upon realizing they all couldn't fight in their Atlas sweaters, they agreed to wear their bio-suits underneath their regular clothes. The suits were designed specifically for each person's unique abilities. Chase figured they'd put them to use.

''Everyone ready?''

''For the record, I still think this is a terrible idea,'' Theo chirped.

He sighed and faced his friend. While he did manage to convince the guy to go along with the mission, he wasn't shy about his expressing his thoughts.

''You can stay if you want. No one's forcing you to come, Theo,'' he replied.

''No, I'm still coming. I was just saying.''

Emily adjusted the quiver and bow strapped across her back. ''Then shut up already.'' The boy raised his hands in surrender and pretended to zip his lips.

Andre pointed at the bow in her hand, his eyebrow raised.

''I snuck it out the shooting range. Same with the arrows.'' She gestured at the black-tipped arrows sticking out from the bag.

Chase realized they all should've probably tried to acquire some sort of weapon. Then again, no one else probably knew how to use one.

''I still think we should tell Stella,'' Theo continued. ''I mean, she'll find out eventually. And when she does, she's gonna be mad. I mean, like, really mad. I don't know what she'll do once she finds out. It's gonna be bad— ''

Andre patted his shoulder and shook his head.

Nodding, Theo stopped talking. He pulled his inhaler out his pocket and took a puff.

''I hope you know what you're getting us into, man,'' Oscar said. There was a hint of hesitation in his voice.

''We've just got to be smart. Andre and I will probably do most of the nitty gritty fighting. Emily's got her bow. It'll be hard for them to shoot Theo if he's moving faster than their bullets.'' He turned to Oscar. ''And you've got your fire. In my opinion, you've got the most powerful ability of us all.''

''Fire is pretty cool,'' Theo added.

The boy cast his eyes to the ground. ''I just hope you're right, man.'' The group fell silent as they stood around awkwardly in the corridor.

''So...,'' Emily said while looking around at everyone. ''We just gonna stand here like a bunch of losers or are we gonna sneak onto a jet?''

Nodding, Chase motioned towards the elevator at the end of the hall. ''Let's get a move on.''

They traveled down the hallway and entered the lift. The walls were all glass, allowing them to see the craggy stone of the mountain they were in as they were pulled downward.

On the lowest level of The Acropolis resided the hangar. All of Atlas' vehicles were stationed there. It hid behind the massive waterfall that cascaded down the side of the mountain the base was built within. Chase remembered seeing the wall of rushing water split into two as the metal walls to the hangar slid open when he and the others first arrived. It was truly a sight to behold.

That was were the jet would be flying out of. As far as Chase knew, it was the only real way in and out of the Atlas headquarters.

Glancing at the time, he realized they only had a few minutes to get on the jet before the agents boarded and departed. Where the aircraft was going, he hadn't the slightest of clues. He just hoped he and others would be able to successfully stowaway and complete the journey without getting caught.

A chime sounded within the elevator as the doors slid open. The group rushed out and made their way towards the entrance of the hangar.

Leading the line, he prepared to turn the corner but stopped upon seeing a man guarding the door. Cursing under his breath, he stopped and held his arm out to the side. Apparently, Theo didn't interpret the signal correctly because he walked straight into him.

''Oops. Sorry.''

''Good one, idiot,'' Emily hissed.

He met her with a sheepish smile.

Peeking around the corner, he tried getting a good look at the guard. He was clad in the Atlas agent uniform—dark blue tactical gear with a gun holster on the thigh. His name tag read: Agent Owens 0A61. While he was securing the hangar's door, he didn't seem to be taking the task seriously. He was lost in his phone. A smile would spread across his lips every couple of seconds, occasionally accompanied by a chuckle.

Chase rolled his eyes.

''What's the problem? Why'd you stop?''

''We've got a small issue,'' he answered. ''Some dude is guarding the door.''

Had they not been trying to break the rules, it wouldn't have been a problem to just walk up there and ask for entry. But, since they were attempting to sneak onto a jet and fight superpowered terrorists, a more covert approach was needed.

''We need to get him out the way,'' Chase said.

''I don't suppose you've got any ideas, do you?'' Oscar inquired.

The blond rubbed his chin. He had one, but it was fairly arbitrary and involved hurting the guard a bit. Nothing too major but he'd definitely come back around with a massive headache and slight memory loss. While Chase didn't necessarily want to go down that route, he didn't see any other options to get Agent Owens out the way.

Sighing, he faced the group.

''Alright, here's what we're going to do.'' He turned to Theo. ''You're going to run up and snatch his phone. Once you do that, you're going to run back here. He'll come chasing after you and I'll knock him out.''

''That's a little mean,'' Andre noted.

''Yeah, I know, but I don't suppose you've got any ideas. Or do you?'' The lack of response from the big guy was all he needed to know he was right. ''Okay then. Everyone good on the plan?''

Everyone nodded.

Theo stepped forward. ''Be back in a flash.''

Behind him, Emily face-palmed and Oscar struggled to contain his laughter.

''Never say that again,'' Chase told him.

The brown-haired speedster paid them no mind and zipped away in a blur of grey. Two seconds later, he arrived back where he started—this time with a cell phone in his hand. Smiling, he held it up like a trophy. ''Done.''

''What the hell?'' the guard yelled. The sound of his boots stomping across the tiled-floor echoed down the hall.

Rolling his shoulders, Chase let out a nervous breath.

He knew how to knock someone unconscious. That wasn't what he was afraid of. He'd done it several times before. The only issue was when he did it, he wasn't able to break steel bars with his bare hands. If he didn't keep his strength in check, he could've seriously hurt the guard.

And he didn't want to do that. He just wanted to make him sleep for a bit.

Over the past couple of weeks, he'd been working with a few trainers to regulate his strength. He figured he'd see if their lessons were useful or not in a few seconds.

Agent Owens turned the corner. His eyes widened upon noticing the five teens hiding alongside the wall. He spotted Theo and squinted.

''What're you all doing down here? Hangar is off limits— ''

Chase cut him by hitting him on temple with his palm.

He crumpled like a discarded can. The boy immediately knelt next to the fallen guard and held his fingers over the man's wrist. A faint, but steady, pulse throbbed underneath the skin.

A sigh of relief escaped Chase's lips.

He knew he couldn't leave the guy on the floor. Someone would surely find him. So, he lifted the Atlas agent like a rag doll and tossed him over his shoulder. Looking around, he spotted an empty trash bin and walked over to it.

''Sorry about this.''

After dumping the guard inside like a discarded can, he joined his friends.

''He's going to be so confused when he wakes up,'' Theo said with a laugh. He bolted over to the trash can and returned Agent Owen's his phone. A moment passed and he was back at Chase's side. ''Let's do this thing!''

The five of them advanced on the hangar door. Even though, the guard said the hangar was off limits, it was open to all level one key card holders. That meant their own cards worked with the door's scanner. Once they passed through the entrance, they began searching for the jet scheduled to leave soon.

As they delved deeper into the hangar, Chase took a better look at the place.

Metal scaffolding scaled up the roof. Hanging lights dangled between the steel arms, shining down onto the glossy, white flooring blow. A cat-walk lined the upper level of the high walls, allowing workers to operate on some of the larger vehicles.

Only a few aircrafts were parked inside. Even more trucks, all with the blue Atlas logo plastered on the sides, remained stationary on the far side of the hangar. The place was pretty much empty. A couple of engineers milled around, toting tools and spare parts, but apart from them, no one else was inside.

That was good news.

It meant Chase and the others would be able to get inside before the Atlas agents could.

''I think that's our ride.'' Emily pointed ahead of them.

A lone, black aircraft stood at attention in the center of the hangar. Two vertical turbojet engines were built into the jet's narrow wingspan. Towards the front, the vehicle slimmed into the cockpit. It reminded Chase of an armored bird. Except birds didn't have artillery guns under their wings.

The back of the jet opened like a snake's mouth, its lower jaw serving as the walkway into the inside. Hydraulic arms supported the platform. Inside, Chase could see part of the cockpit and a few of the seats on the sides.

No one was inside.

His eyes lit up.

Making sure to avoided being seen by the man pumping fuel into the jet, they managed to board the thing. The seats were all pushed towards the front with a small cargo bay taking up the rear space. Weapon crates were strewn around the back. Some of them were as tall as Emily. Though, that wasn't a difficult feat.

He decided they would hide there for the duration of the flight.

After he and Andre rearranged some of the boxes to provide enough cover, they sat down on the cold, metal floor and waited. Chase tried to get comfortable. He had no idea how long they'd be inside the jet and he didn't want to feel cramped for hours on end. Eventually, he gave up and opted to sit with his knees close to his chest. The others seemed to be fairing the same.

Fortunately, Andre found a heavy tarp that they could use to cover themselves. The downside was that is smelled of plaster and gunpowder. The group positioned it over the crates and themselves and settled in.

A nefarious combination of the darkness swirling inside the aircraft and his own exhaustion, a side effect of him not being able to sleep, caused him to doze off. He figured resting his eyes for a few minutes wouldn't hurt. Within seconds, he found himself resting his head on the crate behind it and snoring lightly.

Someone poked his arm. He jolted awake.

''I'm up, I'm up.''

Emily clamped her hand over his mouth and cast a glare at him. Slowly removing her hand, she pointed a finger through the tarp and at the ramp of the jet. Peeking his head out, he spotted a few Atlas agents making their way to them. His eyes widening, he ducked back into his hiding spot.

The sound of footsteps clambering up the ramp and into the aircraft filled his ears. They passed by the cargo bay without a second thought and took their seats. A sigh of relief left Chase's lips.

''That went better than expected,'' Theo whispered.

Emily smacked him upside the head at hissed at him to be quiet.

''Ready for takeoff?'' someone at the front of the jet, most likely the pilot, inquired.

''Engines are ready. I'll put in the coordinates for the Nexxus lab just outside of Calgary.''

Realization struck Chase's face. That was where they were going; up north to Canada state.

''Alright. Closing the ramp now.''

Through the opening in the smelly tarp currently draped over him, he noticed the opening to the jet began retracting. It slowly rose from the ground. As he continued to watch it, the low hum of the engine causing the ground to rumble, he noticed someone running at them. He squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look.

His mouth felt as if it was full of sand.

Uh oh.

They were sprinting towards the jet. Every few seconds, they'd glide through the air low-flying kite—hovering a few inches above the ground—before dropping back down.

''What's wrong, Blondie?'' Oscar asked.

Before he could even answer, someone dove over the closing ramp and into the jet. They collapsed onto the tarp and fell into Chase, causing them both to crash to the floor. It made an awful lot of noise, but due to the jet's turbines roaring and the hangar entrance splitting open, the agents didn't hear.

Smiling sheepishly at the girl who was now on top of him, he rubbed the back of his head while she climbed off him. She folded her arms across her chest. A furious glare hid behind her hazel eyes.

''You all have a lot of explaining to do.''