Phoenix. Walker. Sofia. Kate. Ave. Tara. Crimson. Violet.

Eight people against the villains inside Walker Tech.

Their plan? Split into three teams: one to escort Sofia to a tech room to retake control of the building's systems and open the way to the Jupiters, one to escort Walker to the Jupiters to program their shut down or, if that failed, physically destroy them, and one to go after the villains and protect the hostages.

From the mansion, they headed into the city in two cars. Phoenix and Tara sat in the back of Ave's rental; Kate was driving, Ave was next to her. The others were behind them in one of Walker's cars. Phoenix watched the buildings go by, sometimes in a blur, sometimes at a snail's pace; the traffic kept changing.

Tara wasn't humming or drumming her fingers like she normally did to fill the time. Kate never made a face or a noise as she repeatedly slammed the brake to avoid people and cars swerving in her way. The silence since leaving the basement lasted until Ave sighed and said, "This is so God damn funny."

Tara blinked. "What is?"

"This, right here. We were all sitting in headquarters together not so long ago, remember? Director Diop was briefing us about the Prague mission. Look at us now." He shook his head. "One teenager and three League agents, disowned by their employer, running around in chaos and refusing to ask the cops or feds for help. Do I believe in us? Of course! But, Jesus Christ, if you told me in Prague that this is where we were headed, I would've laughed."

Kate laughed now, and she glanced in the rearview mirror. "I didn't even think I would see you again after the exchange," she admitted to Phoenix.

He'd thought the same at the time, that the exchange was the last he'd see of her, Tara, and Martin, and Prague should've been the last time he saw Ave. It was ridiculous how many things had to go wrong to lead to this point, where all of those people who should've been footnotes in his life were instead...friends.

"Me neither," he said, "but I'm glad we're facing it all together."

Tara smiled at him. They'd come a long way from being strangers in the back of a van. He smiled back. The silence that followed was no longer thick with dread and anxiety like the silence before. Now, it was comfortable, it had the kind of calmness that came from being around people you understood, who understood you, who you were safe with.

Whatever was coming, they were ready.

The car hit a downward slope. They were entering the parking level beneath Walker Tech. A striped bar blocked their path, and the man in the attached booth leaned out of the window to study them. Based on the lack of uniform, the dirty look, and the splatter of blood on his sleeve, this person wasn't actually the attendant.

"We're closed today," he said. "Back up and go home."

Phoenix suspected the attendant was lying prone on the floor of the booth, knocked out or dead. What did this guy get out of doing that? It made sense for the small-time villains and criminals to act up during Crime Night, but this? Did they care about the grand plan of destroying the League, or were they simply promised payment, or chaotic fun?

Kate rolled down her window and punched him in the face. He stumbled into the back wall, slumping down out of their view. Tara got out of the car with some rope and went inside the booth.

"He's alive," she announced. "I'm tying him to the door. The attendant's not here, they probably got dragged inside."

She pressed the button to keep the bar raised and got back in the car. They descended further, suddenly plunged into darkness. The parking levels' lights were off, so they relied on headlights. Phoenix counted the parked cars, trying to gauge how many people had become hostages. It was a good thing Walker Tech let a lot of employees work remote, or the number would've been higher.

Phoenix and Ave got out of the car, and out of the other exited Sofia. The three of them would use the stairwell in this sublevel, while the others would use the stairs from the second and third sublevels. Splitting up now minimized the chances of everyone getting caught immediately upon entering; at least a few should make it through if there were ambushes. Phoenix watched the back of Walker's car disappear down the next slope, and Ave turned on a flashlight.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go."

The stairwell door was locked, and its scanner was smashed to pieces. Phoenix used telekinesis to rip it off its hinges and lean it against the wall—quietly, of course. Ave went up first, then Sofia, with Phoenix following close behind. Walker, Crimson, and Kate would be going to the lab levels, and Violet and Tara would be searching for hostages, but for all of them there were stairs first, and the anxiety of whether or not they would walk into a trap increased with every step.

Ave stopped at the top of the last flight. The stairs from parking only went so far; if they wanted to go further up the building, they had to get inside first. Sofia scanned her keycard at the door, and it blinked green.

"This opens to a hallway next to the lobby," she whispered. "The stairs we need to go to will be down a left, right, and straight across a small atrium."

"So we run," Ave said.

"We run," she repeated.

The door had no window to look through. If there were villains on the other side, they wouldn't know until they were already face-to-face. Ave counted down with his fingers and then pushed the door hard enough to hit someone, but it swung freely into an empty hallway, and the three of them immediately broke out in a run.

The first few seconds went so flawlessly, Phoenix actually thought they would make it. The hallway stayed empty, even after they took the first left, and then someone exited a room and stepped right into their path. As Phoenix was raising his hand, Razor was already throwing a blade.

It skimmed Ave's ear before he turned into an eagle and dove with the claws aimed straight for Razor's face. Phoenix knocked the knife off the rest of its course, grabbed Sofia's hand, and ran her past the fight. Ave could take care of himself; they had to keep going.

They took a right, and Phoenix saw a peek of the atrium at the end of the hallway, growing closer with every step. It was a large, high-ceilinged space fed into by multiple halls, with furniture, screens, desks—the perfect place for someone to be waiting. Like earlier, he and Sofia wouldn't know if it was a trap until they were already in it.

They slowed before the opening, inching along the walls, trying to see as much of it as they could before entering. The hall they needed to get to was right across, but there were things in the way, so it wouldn't be a straight shot...unless Phoenix moved everything out of the way as they ran.

Phoenix looked behind him at Sofia. She nodded, understanding. He took hold of the first couch in their way and moved it aside an inch. There was no shocked gasp inside the atrium, and no one came running to inspect. He went for it, shoving the couch out of their path and running into the atrium with Sofia close behind. Next was a plant, a bunched up carpet, another couch, broken glass, a desk, they were almost there—

His foot caught on something; at least, that was what he thought at first. But then he fell directly sideways instead of stumbling forward, and then he slid sideways, and he realized he hadn't tripped at all: something had grabbed his ankle.

Phoenix sat up, gripping the floor to keep from being pulled away further. There was a metal chain wrapped around his ankle. The other end was in the grip of a man standing on the other side of the atrium; he had the chain snaked up his arm to make it hard to lose it. At least half his skin was covered in scars.

"It's nothing personal," he said lightly. "Just doing what I was paid to."

Phoenix noticed then that he was hiding his other arm behind his back. That one now swung forward, sporting another chain with a spike at the end that was headed directly for Phoenix's head. Phoenix was already trying to unwrap the first chain from his ankle, and he kept one hand there and put up the other to grab the spike mid-air. He yanked that chain while the man yanked the other, so they were stuck in place, pulling and being pulled by chains and telekinesis, both hands occupied.

Phoenix was about to attempt to mind-control him when Sofia ran up and smashed a potted plant into his head. The chain on Phoenix's ankle went slack as the guy crumpled, and Phoenix immediately released the spike so it wouldn't fly at him from the sudden lack of tension. Sofia had been here the whole time; it seemed the man was too focused on attacking the one moving furniture with his mind to notice the one grabbing a plant. His mistake.

Phoenix looked at her. "That was incredible."

"Yeah, well." She smiled nervously. "Can't let you have all the fun."

Thank God for that, because Phoenix didn't think his mind-control would've worked. Making someone do something really against their will was already difficult—a criminal whose sole goal at the moment was to attack him was unlikely to be swayed otherwise—and he'd had little time and little focus, too, with his telekinesis already in use to keep his head from becoming a shish-kebab.

Phoenix untied the chain and stood, testing his weight on that ankle. It was unsprained, but sore; not a great thing to happen before needing to run up ten flights of stairs. He and Sofia made it across the atrium, into the hall, and into the stairwell. As they ascended, Phoenix was too aware of the time. They should've been there by now.

After what felt like forever, they got to the right floor. Sofia directed them for three more turns before stopping in front of a door. She hesitated to open it, her card hovering above the scanner.

"There are seven rooms they could've disrupted the security system from," she whispered. "This is the smallest one, the most out of the way, but..."

"They might be in there," Phoenix finished.

He positioned himself right in front of the door, hands raised, ready to pull away weapons. Sofia stood off to the side and extended her arm to tap her keycard. As soon as the scanner flashed green, Phoenix opened the door the same way Ave had, hard enough to hit whoever was waiting on the other side.

There wasn't anyone there.

Phoenix listened for the shuffling of hiding assailants or even hostages, but he heard nothing. He stepped in cautiously, peeking under the desks and behind the servers. Sofia entered and swiftly shut the door behind her. She was just sitting down at the computers, ready to retake control of the security system and unlock anything in the way to the Jupiters, when there was a loud knock.

Phoenix spun to face it, ready, but the person on the other side said, "It's me, it's Ave!"

Phoenix had only opened the door an inch when Ave squeezed in as a sparrow instead of a human, letting him shut it quickly. Ave turned back and took a moment to breathe; one hand had purple knuckles, and the other was slashed across the palm.

"I did what I could," he sighed, "but he did get away."

Phoenix was just glad he wasn't more injured. They stood behind Sofia, anxiously watching her type. Phoenix didn't know how long this would take, or if them being late to this room had gotten Walker, Crimson, and Kate in trouble. Ave had an earpiece; if he wasn't relaying anything, then everything must be going according to plan...or the line had gone quiet.

"The Jupiters," Sofia murmured between commands, "are in a lab in a sublevel. Deployment requires open, unobstructed air, which means they have to take off from the terrace, the street, or the roof, and if we're lucky—" she narrowed her eyes at a screen "—which we are, they're still in the lab."

Now, it was a matter of stopping them. Once that team made it to the lab, Walker was going to depower the Jupiters. If that didn't work, he was going to corrupt the launch hardware, and if that didn't work, he was going to corrupt the courses, and if that didn't work, well, Kate and Crimson were there for a reason. They might still have trouble physically destroying them, because if the Ravager-League-mole at Walker Tech could add weapons to the devices without Walker knowing, then he could've just as easily added a self-destruct contingency that would bring the building down on their heads.

Sofia glanced over her shoulder at Phoenix and Ave. She turned on the monitors to the left, brought up the security camera live footage, and pointed. "Watch those for trouble."

There were a dozen screens flipping through multiple angles every half-minute. These were the primary feeds, the ones Walker and Sofia were blocked from accessing earlier. The angles were different from Walker's cameras they had resorted to; there were more here, and Phoenix scanned the scenes quickly. He saw Tara leading some hostages to a hiding spot and assumed Violet was with her as planned, walking ahead to check for danger. He waited for the lab sublevels to appear, hoping to catch Walker, Crimson, and Kate succeeding, but instead he saw Ravager standing on the roof, alone, and from another camera, he saw Azure on the level below, staring out the window.

Ravager and Azure. Both at the top of the building.

That stupid idea he'd tried to forget was back. Phoenix was aware it was half-baked, dangerous, ridiculous...but his hand was already going into his pocket. He gently grabbed Ave's arm and pulled him away from Sofia so she wouldn't be distracted by what was definitely going to be an argument.

Phoenix steeled himself and held up the power amplifier vial. "Tell me how to use this."

Ave immediately snatched it out of his hand. "You shouldn't have taken this," he snapped.

Phoenix snatched it back with telekinesis and gestured to the screens that showed Azure and Ravager just a second before they changed angles. The lab feeds still weren't up, maybe they'd already flashed by; if Azure and Ravager were at the top, he guessed Electra was in the labs.

Ave was furious. "You can't mind-control Ravager into stopping," he said. "He's powerful, he's probably spent years dreaming of something like this, he's hell-bent—"

"It isn't for Ravager."

Ave went silent, and then he shook his head slowly. "You can't change Azure, either."

"I'm not changing anyone," Phoenix said. "Trust me, Ave. Tell me how to take it. Do I drink it? Inject it? The whole thing?"

"This—this is an experiment. We don't even know if it works!"

"If it was important enough for Dr. Marlene to be afraid of it falling into the wrong hands," Phoenix shot back, "then there must be some merit to it."

Ave looked even madder, but he didn't deny it, and that sealed it: in some capacity, he knew it was supposed to work. "There could be side effects," he insisted. "You could die."

"If I do, it'll be on me, not you."

That was not what Phoenix would want to hear if he were in Ave's shoes, but he meant it. Ave didn't have any more arguments, he just stood there with his face twisted in conflict. Phoenix knew Sofia was listening now, but she was too busy doing her part to interject in theirs. A pause in her typing was all she could afford.

"The walls are closing in, Ave," Phoenix said quietly. "They're almost done with Jethro. If we don't stop them now, we may never have this chance again. Let me try."

Ave's face was unreadable now. Phoenix knew he wouldn't offer to tag along—he couldn't, because someone had to protect Sofia while she protected the lab team. If this was going to happen, Phoenix would be going alone.

"Drink it," Ave said finally. "That vial is one full dose, and that's where my knowledge ends. I don't know how it takes effect. I don't know how long it lasts."

"I'm just glad I don't have to find a needle."

Ave managed an uneasy smile. "Please don't die."

Phoenix backed up to the door. Sofia was looking over her shoulder now, tears in her eyes. "I'll do my best," he promised.

He risked the elevator now that he was only protecting himself. The ascent to the top floor where he'd seen Azure was quiet and smooth. Halfway up, he opened the vial and swallowed its entire contents. An awful bitterness coated his tongue like some childhood medicine he'd forgotten the taste of, but it was better than the full-body spasm that came next. He fell, and so did the vial, shattering into pieces. When the elevator door opened to the top floor, he was just starting to stand, struggling to get enough air in his lungs.

He stumbled out before the elevator closed. By the time his ears stopped ringing, he knew it worked. He felt different, like he could take hold of the tiniest things and the biggest things and fling them across the world as easily as he could snap them in half. Everything was bright in his vision, and there was a dull buzzing in his head.

He didn't like it. He could feel that his power changed, that it was greater, and that sensation was horrifying. Some people could handle this strong of an ability, and he decided he was not one of those people. No wonder Azure was insane.

Phoenix made his way to the room he saw on the camera: the executive office of the head of the company. It wasn't Walker's—he was the majority owner and had a heavy hand in decisions, but he was not the official head. Walker said that guy, like Noori, was supposed to come in late today.

Phoenix watched the ceiling as he approached the office. Ravager was right up there on the roof, and he could fly. The odds of him not escaping immediately once confronted were not in Phoenix's favor, but hopefully his supercharged telekinesis would help with that.

Phoenix stopped before the door and took a deep breath. It may very well be the last breath he took. He pushed the door in slowly and saw Azure standing at a window that made up the entire back wall, staring out at the city. He looked the same as he had at the exchange: not dressed up for a fight, no gear, no weapons, just regular clothes, plus the baseball cap from when Phoenix last saw him. There were tendrils of darkness curling around at his feet.

As soon as Phoenix took the first step inside, Azure spun around to face him and threw a mass of shadow. Phoenix ducked, and it sailed over his head, into the hallway, and exploded in there.

"I told you that if I saw you again," Azure barked, heading for him with more darkness in tow, "I won't be holding back."

The shadows filled the room and Phoenix's vision. All he saw was Azure, angrier than he'd ever looked. They were only a few feet from colliding when Phoenix threw his hands up in surrender and exclaimed, "Calm down! I want to talk!"

He braced himself for a hit to the face, but it never came. Azure had stopped short, allowing the darkness to dissipate from the room, and he tilted his head expectantly, but he was still mad.

Phoenix lowered his hands to his sides. "Please let me explain. I need your help."

"Why on Earth would I help you?" Azure snapped.

"Because I don't think you wanted any of this to happen. Your powers put you in a bad situation, and I don't blame you for that."

Azure took a step back. He was confused now; there was a long moment of silence before he shook his head. "Don't be so nice to me," he muttered. "Even without my powers messing with my head, I'm still not a good person. That's why I was a Snake. That's why I fell in with Ravager in the first place." He slowly returned to the window, quiet as he said, "I am, fundamentally, evil."

Phoenix walked into the room; he was allowed to this time. "Do you know what Kate told me about the Snakes, before the exchange?" he asked. "She said you were dangerous, cunning, and a constant thorn in her side, and she hated you, but she insisted you weren't violent. You were the bad guys, yes, but not cruel. You're with Ravager because he took advantage of your instability and put ideas in your head. You're not evil, Azure, and you never were."

"How do you know that?" he exclaimed, turning back around to face him. "How are you sure?"

"Because you could've hurt us in Prague, but you didn't. You even promised to give the stone back. You care about Violet and Crimson, so you told me the truth even though I was no one to you. And the low death tolls of the Crime Nights? I don't know what excuse you gave them, but I know it was your doing. You never truly wanted any of this to happen."

There was no answer. That was confirmation enough.

"I want you to help me take down Ravager," Phoenix said.

Azure looked at the ceiling as if he could see the villain's footprints burning through. "Even if I wanted to," he murmured, "I couldn't. Everything's so...volatile."

"I can keep you focused."

"Last I checked, your mind control doesn't work on me."

"It's working right now, isn't it?" Phoenix asked. "I told you to calm down and let me talk, and you stopped attacking me and had a conversation instead."

Azure stared at him, realizing it only now. With the target now aware, Phoenix suddenly felt a hint of what happened the first time he did this—the sharp stabs of his mind, the pain. The amplifier was doing its job, that was why he was able to get through at all, but some difficulty remained. Ave was right.

"I can't make you help me," Phoenix said quietly, "all I can do is keep you focused. That means you have a choice to make. We don't have much time."

Azure leaned a little sideways to see past him. Phoenix turned to follow his line of sight; he was looking at the destruction in the hallway he'd caused earlier. The windows and walls were cracked, the floor speckled with debris. This was a fraction of what he was capable of.

"If we're going to do this," Azure said, "you have to keep me in line the entire time. You can't lose me. Not even for a second, or everything will fall apart."

Phoenix nodded. He could keep this up. He had to. "We can do this."

Azure took a deep breath as he adjusted his baseball cap. He gestured to the end of the hall, where the roof access stairs waited, and actually smiled. "Then let's do this."

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

Author's Note

Below is the original ending banner. March 30th, 2018, was when the last chapter of the first version of The League was posted!

These following covers below were made for me back in 2018 by -wanderes