Phoenix messed up.

He went into a room, naively assuming it was an empty utility closet like every other door they'd checked in this hall, but he was greeted by shocked curses from two armed men working on electrical wiring.

Their hands flew to their holsters, and he panicked and said, "Stop!"

They froze, faces going slack. Phoenix exhaled, and Tara, who had been checking the next door, came over and raised her eyebrows at the sight of the statues.

Put your hands up, Phoenix commanded. He was grateful that he didn't need to know Czech for his mind-control to work on them. The intention, in whatever language, was the same.

Their fingers slid off their guns, and they raised their hands into the air. Phoenix waited to see if the control would break. He wasn't asking much of them, but he'd never done it to two people at once before. Luckily, they remained unmoving as requested.

"Now what?" he asked.

Tara took their guns and hit them both on the side of the head. They fell against each other, slumping into a pile on the floor. Phoenix turned off the lights and closed the door on them.

"Ave wants us to meet them on the catwalks," Tara said, finger pressed to an earpiece. "Third floor."

Phoenix hadn't noticed any areas with ceilings high enough to warrant catwalks. They went up to the third floor, and Tara quietly pushed open a door. It led into an open space with a series of suspended walkways that hung over what he guessed was the heart of the dealership. Ave and Kate were to the direct left of the door, and Phoenix followed Tara to crouch down next to them.

The walkways were sprawled like a grid. Somewhere in the middle would have the best vantage point, but they stayed on the path that hugged the third floor's wall, a place less likely to be noticed. Phoenix peeked between the guardrails and looked down. On the ground level were dozens of Novak's men and several dozen containers, and it was loud. Very loud. The sight of so many weapons made him nauseous, and he forced himself to look up. Directly across from where they were hiding was a viewing room that overlooked the floor. The big glass windows were tinted, maybe dirty, but Phoenix could see that the room was empty.

"There's another Snake," Kate whispered.

"Which one?" Tara asked.

"I don't know, but they can turn invisible, so watch out."

Two Snakes. Phoenix knew they weren't planning on a fight, but the odds were getting worse.

"Have you found the stone?" he asked.

Ave pointed down. On the floor, a little forward from below where they were, was a glass box. It stood like a deity at the end of the room, not crowded by other containers. Encased inside was a dull, brown stone sitting on a pedestal. It looked like something you'd find on any patch of Earth if you looked hard enough. Phoenix squinted at it, hoping to see a glow or an aura or something, but it remained gloriously unchanged.

"And now," Kate said, "it's a matter of taking it."

Phoenix watched them think it through, and he suddenly realized he was the only one with long-distance powers. Theirs were all physical.

"I can fly it into my hand," he suggested, "but it would break through the glass on the way, and they might notice that."

It was bold, especially considering that he didn't even want to decide which way to turn when Tara had asked him, but he figured he should at least contribute an idea. He'd been useless so far.

"That would be the quickest way to get it," Kate agreed, "but then we'd get chased."

Ave gestured to the door they'd come through. "I can go back and take the uniform off a guy we hid, and then I'd blend in. If I can open the glass, I'll sneak the stone out. At the very least, I'll get to examine the case more closely."

Kate was silent. Her eyes raked up and down the floor, and Phoenix realized she was counting heads, trying to figure out if they would notice if another person entered the room.

"Okay," she said finally. "Be careful. If they confront you, then—"

"Fly away." Ave flapped his hand dismissively. "Don't worry. This isn't my first time playing this game, and it won't be the last."

He shuffled through the door and took off into the third floor in search of one of Novak's defeated henchmen. Tara slid over into his spot next to Kate, and Phoenix slid into hers.

"If Ave has to fly away, they might start searching for intruders," Kate said. "If that happens, then we either scramble to get the stone and risk a shootout, or we leave."

Tara rocked back on her heels, stretching her ankles. "It'll take him a few minutes to get down there, so that's how long we have to decide what's more important: getting the stone, or not making a scene?"

Kate shook her head. "Getting the stone. Not making a scene was a wish, not a necessity. That's how Hazel described it to me. And if—" She suddenly paused. "How long have they been there?"

She wasn't looking at the floor anymore. Phoenix followed her line of sight to the viewing room. It wasn't empty. Inside was the Crimson Snake, Miklos Novak, and a few of his employees. Phoenix figured he was looking at the very end of their conversation, because not even a millisecond later, all hell broke loose.

Guns were pulled, and bullets soundlessly peppered the viewing room's apparently bulletproof and soundproof windows, but none of that was as concerning as the sudden presence of fire. It was flowing around as if it were being commanded, and Phoenix leaned forward, unable to keep track of what was happening through the tint of the bullet-ridden glass and the chaos.

Novak and his men were nowhere to be seen—they were likely on the floor. Only Crimson was left standing. He approached the window and looked down at the stone with a satisfied smile.

Then he glanced up, made direct eye contact with Phoenix, Tara, and Kate, and froze.

........................... a little earlier

When he entered the building, Jack was greeted by a lone, friendly man. There were no guns pointed in his face, no hostility, none of the usual fanfare of attacking an intruder. It gave him hope that, if Novak trusted him enough to let him enter on his own and be greeted so lightly, then things might just go as smoothly as he wanted.

"The Crimson Snake," the man said in accented English, sticking out a hand. "You're early."

Jack smiled and shook his hand. "Sorry. I was excited."

"Excited," the guy repeated with a dry cackle. "Well, he's happy to have you visit. I'll take you to him."

He started leading the way, and Jack felt Elle's invisible hand leave his shoulder. She was off to plan their escape route. While she did that, Jack followed the guy up two flights of stairs, responding as little as he could without coming off as suspicious. He didn't want this man to realize the Snakes wanted something, or that they would burn a bridge to get it. The less prepared Novak was, the better.

They ended up in an empty viewing room on the third floor. The window allowed an expansive look at the ground level, and Jack glanced down for only a second, long enough to find what he was looking for and short enough to appear uninterested.

"He'll be here soon," the guy said.

Jack leaned against the wall, thinking as he waited. From the stairwell, he'd been able to tell that the dealership was loud. That might come in handy when they hightailed it out of here.

If, he reminded himself, recalling the easy entry. The noise would come in handy if they hightailed it out of here. There was still a chance Novak would comply.

"Crimson!"

Jack turned his head.

Miklos Novak stood in the doorway, smiling. "It's been a long time," he said.

Not long enough, Jack thought. "You're still wanted in Dubai."

"Is there any place in the world where I'm not wanted?" Novak raised an eyebrow. "That is, out of the places that even know I exist?"

Two of his men followed him inside. Including the greeter, that made a total of four potential assailants. All of them were armed. The employees had guns slung on their backs, but Novak's was at his hip: an easier grab and a faster aim, and he had very good aim.

And so did Jack.

"What can I do for you?" Novak asked.

Jack pointed at the pedestal. "I'm here for that."

Novak approached the window to see the item in question. His face scrunched up with conflict. "The magic stone," he said. "That one's special, or so I've heard. I haven't decided what to do with it yet."

Jack tried not to comment. If there were no plans for it, then this should be an easy give, in his opinion.

But Novak shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't give it to you."

Damn it.

"That's okay," Jack said, "because I'll be taking it."

A silence settled over their crowd. The guys eyed each other, suddenly tense.

Novak breathed in deep through his nose and sighed. "I suppose," he said stiffly, "I should've seen this coming. Friendships made in this line of work rarely last." He turned to face Jack and shook his head. "It's a shame. You were interesting."

The use of past tense wasn't lost on Jack.

His hands were heated and ready, and as Novak drew his gun, Jack threw a wall of fire between them and ducked. The misaimed bullet sailed far over his head and hit the window. He ran aside while removing the firewall, and Novak and his men shot at where he'd been standing. It took them only a second to realize he'd moved away while hidden by the fire, but by then, he was already punching the closest one in the face and wrenching his gun out of his grip. Jack shot that guy in the knee and slammed the handle into the greeter's head, and at the same time, he kept moving and swirling fire all over the room to keep everyone distracted. Unable to aim properly, they kept shooting wherever they could, and bullets ricocheted off the walls and windows.

It took three slams to the head to knock the greeter down, and then Jack dropped to his knees and thrust his hand forward. Fire went after their lower legs, and Novak and the other guy jumped to avoid it. Jack used the short distraction and ran right into Novak, slamming him against the wall while shooting the other guy in the back. They each got one last shot off in the process: Novak's bullet narrowly skimmed by Jack's ear, and the other guy's missed him entirely and hit the door. Novak's face was full of fury, but Jack slammed him into the wall again, and he slumped to the floor. With everyone down, Jack dissipated the remaining fire in the room.

He allowed himself a second to breathe, and then he slowly walked to the window. He was afraid of what he would see, but the people on the floor were moving along like before. They'd heard nothing. They had no idea. Jack still had to get the stone, but at least he managed to retain the element of surprise. He glanced at the stone to make sure it was still here and smiled, relieved.

But right as he turned to go, he looked up and froze.

Staring back at him from across the walkways was Kate Green and a League team.

.........................

Kate turned to Phoenix . "Get the stone! Now!"

Crimson ran out of the viewing room, no doubt headed for the stairs. Phoenix held up a hand and put pressure on the glass before just going for it and shattering it altogether. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kate leap down and Tara take off to fight the people who'd noticed.

The stone was in the process of flying into his hands when something shoved him. He lost his grip and stumbled sideways, and the stone dropped from the air.

"What was that?" Tara yelled at him over the commotion.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed, scrambling onto his feet.

He ran for the railing only to collide with something solid and fall over again. There was suddenly a woman there, and since it wasn't Amara, it had to be the Violet Snake. She was only there for a flash—he saw her fall over, make an annoyed face, and start to get up—and then she was invisible again. The door to the third floor opened and closed, but Phoenix didn't go after her. He leaned over the railing to look for the stone. He knew he'd dropped it, but he couldn't see it.

What he did see was chaos. Novak's employees were going berserk, using the weapons they had on them and even opening their cargo to use it against the intruders. Kate and Tara were fighting back. Ave came running in, completely bewildered by the downward spiral of their in-and-out plan, but after an exasperated throw of his hands, he joined the fight. All three were simultaneously and frantically whipping their heads around looking for the stone.

Before Phoenix joined them down there, he wanted to take advantage of the view he had up here. He gripped the railing, running his eyes all over in a desperate attempt to find the brown stone against a dirty, cluttered floor. He stopped when he saw Amara.

She was looking up at him. No one else had noticed her yet. Her arm was outstretched, glowing from elbow to fist with snaking gold light. Phoenix realized too late what she was aiming for.

A blast of energy shot toward the supports that held up the section of the walkway he stood on, and he felt the structure tremble beneath his feet. The section fell, and he fell with it, flailing in the air at first and then slamming back onto the collapsed walkway right as it hit the floor. Pain shot through his bones, but Phoenix forced himself to crawl away, flinching as the metal croaked and settled behind him.

There was glass on the floor. Even in his panicked state, he found it ironic. He'd broken the stone's container, and now the remains of that container were digging into his palms.

When he caught his breath, he looked up. Amara was across the shop, watching him with disinterest. She didn't move until Azure ran by and pulled her along with him.

"I told you you'd enjoy it!" he said to Phoenix as he passed by, and with two outstretched fingers, the remaining myth surrounding the Snakes' superhuman abilities vanished.

Amara blasted energy. Violet turned invisible. Crimson made fire. And Azure...seemed to manipulate darkness.

Phoenix didn't know what he was seeing. It wasn't exactly darkness; it was thick, curling mists of black that traveled through the air and hit the viewing room. Its walls and windows crumbled, disturbing the fights below with fallen glass, drywall, and rebar, but when the dust cleared, everyone kept at it.

Phoenix started looking for the stone again, practically shaking with worry. It was now four against four. The Snakes were here for the stone, too, they had to be. How far were they willing to go? Phoenix didn't think his mind control would work on them, not in his disoriented state and not when everyone was hell-bent on their own agenda.

Phoenix stopped when he noticed the fuse box on a column. Dozens of wires, and even the blue stripes of light that ran over the walls, were tucked neatly into that box. And next to it, expertly placed, was a glass case with a fire extinguisher and an emergency flashlight.

He had to get there first, but he had an idea.

....................................

Jack was confused.

By the time he made it downstairs, everything had gotten worse. The stone wasn't in its container. For some reason, Azure and Amara were here. Everyone was fighting. The League was here for the stone, too, they had to be. So they and the Snakes were fighting each other to take it, and in the midst, Novak's men were fighting to keep it.

It was a mess, and Jack sighed and joined in.

He had to be careful. The shop was full of weapons that might explode if handled wrong, and his superpower was fire. Novak's people were using high-tech guns and blasters, and even though they were careful to avoid disturbing their merchandise, there was no telling what would happen.

Jack narrowly dodged a blast to the face and fired back—literally—at the guy who charged at him. As he fought, he kept tabs on everyone. Kate and the League agent who evidently turned into birds—needless to say, that guy was extremely hard to catch—were trying to keep the assaulters occupied. Azure and Amara were doing similarly. The flying woman was shooting up and down and knocking people over. The new kid, the one from the exchange, was recovering after falling down with the walkway Amara blasted. Elle reappeared every few seconds so her team knew where she was, and then she'd go invisible again.

Jack was tackled from behind. He reached behind him with fire-laden hands and burned the shoulders of the man who was holding him down, and as he screamed and let go, Jack shoved him away.

And just as he got up, the bird guy dropped from the air and sent him to the floor again. They aimed for each other's throat at the same time, but the agent apparently realized it would end badly for both of them. Right before impact, he turned into a sparrow and flew away.

"Hey, Crimson!"

Jack got up, ducked when someone swung an electric baton at his head, and kicked the attacker in the shin. "Yes, Azure?" he called out.

Azure was across the room, hands cupped around his mouth. "I think we should call off the game!"

What game? Jack thought. Elle suddenly materialized beside him and helped him throw the guy into a wall.

"No way!" she snapped, and then she disappeared again. Her seemingly-disembodied voice continued to yell at Azure, "I didn't get a chance to tell him about the game, but we're still playing! No calling it off!"

"Sorry, Violet," Amara said, blasting someone into the hallway. "He's a coward."

Azure glared at her. "Stop it!"

"I call it as I see it."

It was amazing that they were managing to have this conversation right now.

Jack backed off, getting tired. Where was the stone? Even Elle was having a rough time finding it, and barely anyone was going after her. It must be getting kicked around. Glass and shrapnel crunched under his shoes as he searched for it. Everything was a blur; he couldn't keep track of whether he was fighting Novak's people or the League's.

After he knocked someone to the ground, he looked up just in time to see someone aim a gun at Amara.

Jack started toward her, screaming at her to move, but just as she turned to face the shooter, someone grabbed Jack's arm and yanked him backward.

Two bullets hit Amara.

Jack whirled around, ready to hit whoever had stopped him, but Azure raised his hands defensively and let go of Jack's arm.

Jack looked at Amara again.

She simply stood there, two neat little holes in her chest. There was no blood. She didn't even look fazed. She just energy-blasted the shooter right in the face.

"It's alright," Azure said calmly. "She can't get hurt."

Jack stared at him. Why was he learning more about Amara today than he'd learned about her in the past year? He jerked his head toward the crumbling viewing room. "What was that shadow thing you pulled?"

"That's...my superpower," Azure said. "I can teleport, too, if you were wondering how I got here."

It wasn't adding up. Jack didn't even know Azure had a superpower, let alone something as destructive as that. "And why have I never seen you use it before?"

Azure looked away immediately. "Do you really want to stand here and talk right now?"

As if on cue, three people came at them, and they broke apart.

This isn't working, Jack thought. The fight was getting complicated; how long could they keep this up before something catastrophic happened? He would rather leave the stone behind than risk getting killed by Novak or arrested by the League. 

He was about to suggest an escape to Azure when the lights turned off.