Phoenix silently drummed his fingers on the table. He wasn't alone, but he wished he was. Hazel had called and asked him to come to HQ, and he assumed it was to finally finish up his database entry after the long-lost-sibling thing put it on pause. He'd patiently sat in the empty conference room that he was directed to, thinking he was waiting for Hazel, but then a guy he didn't know walked in, and then Tara, and then Kate, and now there were four of them at the table, waiting for Hazel. When he was alone, he could believe this was just about the database, but with the others here, it was obvious this was about some other League business.

Tara and Kate were across the table from him, talking to each other. The new guy was next to Phoenix, but his chair was turned to face the wall. The suit he wore was torn in places as if he'd gotten attacked at a dinner party before coming here. His tie hung loosely. He hadn't said a word to anyone, and he was slumped in his chair, staring blankly at the wall with tired eyes.

Phoenix kept fidgeting with his fingers, waiting for someone, anyone, to start explaining. He didn't think he could stand the suspense much longer. The others looked comfortable, but they worked here. He didn't. Something about being in the headquarters of a federal superhero agency without knowing why was freaking him out.

Answering his silent plea, Hazel walked into the room. Tara and Kate fell silent, and the other guy turned his chair around. Hazel pushed a button on the control panel on the table, and the lights dimmed as a screen unrolled itself down the wall.

There were only five people at this meeting, and Phoenix already knew three of them. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing; did a small meeting mean it was not important or very important?

Tara whistled and leaned forward on her arms. "Is this serious?"

"It isn't too bad," Hazel said, standing at the head of the table.

"Then why is he here?" Kate asked, gesturing to the guy across from her.

He put a hand over his heart. "Come on," he said defensively. "I thought we were friends."

"He's here because this is international." Hazel sifted through the contents of a folder as the screen lit up with an image of a city. "And he'll fly the jet."

Phoenix blinked. International? Were they talking about a mission? Right in front of him? He kept his mouth shut; he'd speak up about it later.

Hazel pressed a button, and the image of the city was replaced by an image of a building surrounded by empty land with the city in the distance. "This is the facility of an illegal arms dealer near Prague." She glanced down at her file and calmly added, "I need you to break into it."

Phoenix looked around to see if anyone else was surprised, or if it was just him. They were all indifferent.

"At this facility, they're holding something called the magic stone," Hazel continued, putting sarcasm into the word magic. "It's simply a rock imbibed with powerful energy. We don't know its source—it may even be man-made. It's taken us months to track it down after it went missing from a French research facility, and we need to get it before they sell it to someone dangerous."

Hazel laid the open folder on the table. Kate, Tara, and the other guy leaned forward, picking up papers and handing them to each other so they could get a better look at the details of their mission. Phoenix didn't reach for anything; he just sat there with his eyes glued to the floor.

Hazel turned off the screen, and the lights brightened. "Dismissed," she said.

Kate and Tara left together. Phoenix stayed in his seat, intending to wait until he was alone with Hazel, but the other guy wasn't leaving. He watched Phoenix expectantly, like he was waiting for him to leave.

Hazel gathered the remains of the folder. "Is there a reason you're still here, Ave?" she asked without looking up.

The guy, Ave, jerked his head toward Phoenix. "Who's this?"

"This is Phoenix," Hazel replied. "He's new."

Ave's eyes narrowed. "If he's new, then why is he coming?"

Phoenix quickly nodded in agreement. "I was wondering that too, actually. Why am I here?"

Hazel was silent for a moment, letting the question hang in the air. Finally, she said, "Get out, Ave."

"No." Ave threw up his hands, exasperated. "If he's going with us, I want to know why."

Phoenix watched as they glared at each other. Eventually they came to the silent agreement to let Ave stay, and Hazel sat down, clasping her hands.

"I want you to go," she said, "because the League doesn't trust you."

She acted it like it was obvious, but Phoenix was taken aback. "If you don't trust me," he said carefully, "then didn't you take a big risk when you sent me to meet the Snakes?"

"That was hardly a risk. Tara, Martin, and Kate were warned to be careful. They were prepared in case you turned on them. As for Azure, like I said, the Snakes generally keep their word. He wouldn't have interfered had you caused problems for my team."

"So then why did you send me?" he asked. "Was it just a test?"

"Of course. You're a powerful superhuman. We couldn't afford to trust you without making sure you're not a threat, and what better way to do that than to see how you act in the field?"

Ave cleared his throat. "Ah, Director? If he's already proven himself at the exchange, then why send him to Prague?"

"One trial isn't enough." Hazel looked at Phoenix, completely frank. "Prague will be another test."

Phoenix shook his head. He wasn't going to jump through hoops just so that an agency he didn't even work for could trust him. "Listen, Director Diop," he implored. "If I were evil, I wouldn't have even shown up today! I already assured you that I'm not going to mess with the League in any way."

"And I believe you," Hazel said. "And Kate, Tara, and Martin believe you. But what about everyone else?"

Phoenix went still. "What do you mean by that?"

"You have mind control. That's a unique, dangerous power. If any major event happens that even remotely involves you, you'll be put under scrutiny and subject to investigation. No matter how innocent you are, the League can suspect you of manipulating anyone to do anything, and you would have no way to prove or disprove it."

Phoenix stared at her. Everything she said made sense, but he'd never thought of it this way. His family was comfortable with the mind control; they trusted him not to abuse the power, so they weren't afraid. His heart raced with the sudden realization that everyone else had every right to be afraid.

"I rarely use the mind control," he said quickly, "and it's not powerful! It's very limited, I told you that."

"But can you prove it?" Hazel began pacing the room. "How do you even know your limits, Phoenix? Have you tested your power on innocent people to see how far you can push them?"

His eyes went wide. "No. Of course not!"

"Then how do you know your limits?"

He sank against his chair, unable to think of an answer. "I...I just know. I can't explain it."

Which meant he couldn't prove it, so as far as anyone but him knew, his power could be limitless.

"Exactly," Hazel insisted, but she looked apologetic. "Through the exchange and through Prague, I'm trying to give you a solid foundation of successful missions. That way, anyone who looks back at your record will see that you were helpful, and they'll have a reason to trust you."

Phoenix said nothing.

"You don't have to do this," she said quietly. "I won't force you to go to Prague. But know, if you don't do this now, bad things will happen in the future. That's not a threat. That's a guarantee."

Phoenix closed his eyes, wanting to shut out the world for a moment. He couldn't believe he'd never thought about how easy it would be for someone to paint him as a villain, and how hard it would be to prove his innocence to people who had no reason to believe him. And now, the only way to keep that from happening in the future was to help steal a rock from an arms dealer.

He opened his eyes. "Okay," he said dejectedly. "I'll go."

"Excellent." Hazel's face softened. "I know this is harsh, but I truly am trying to help you."

She smiled, and Phoenix did his best to return it. As awful as he felt, he appreciated that she was looking out for him.

After she left the room, Ave nudged Phoenix's shoulder. He'd been silent for so long, Phoenix had forgotten he was there.

"Don't let all this get under your skin," Ave said, fixing his tie. "We have to choose carefully, the people we trust. Bad things happen when we choose wrong."

"I know." Phoenix sighed. "I know."

................✈................

They were halfway into their flight to Prague. Phoenix stared out his window at the puffy clouds, controlling his breathing. Everything up until now had been easy: he was calm when they met at the League's private airfield, and he was calm when the jet took off, but now the reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. He knew no one was depending on him to do anything, but that didn't change the fact that he was severely underqualified to be here.

Kate and Tara sat across the aisle from him, facing each other. Tara's eyes were closed, and she was leaning heavily against the armrest, either sleeping or close to it. Kate rested her chin in her hand as she stared out the window. The jet was eerily quiet, and Phoenix tried not to think about how safe it was to be on a small plane with only one person who knew how to pilot it.

Speaking of piloting, Ave walked out of the cockpit and sunk into the seat across from Phoenix. Aviator sunglasses were resting on top of his head, and he took them off and hung them on his pocket.

"So, fiery bird," he said, smiling at his pun. "I never got a chance to introduce myself. My name's Avery, but that one over there"—he tilted his head toward Tara— "thought it would be funny to call me Ave, and now everyone calls me Ave, so you may as well do it, too."

Phoenix tried to work out the joke, but he couldn't. "Why is that funny?"

"Because of this." Ave winked, and suddenly he was gone. Sitting in his place was a little sparrow, but it was quickly replaced by a hawk. Then the hawk turned into a toucan, and in a flash, Ave was back, looking exactly as he had before.

"Class Aves," Phoenix murmured. "The taxonomic classification of birds."

"Bingo." Ave shrugged. "Turning into birds is a weird superpower, I'll admit, but it does help me get around unnoticed. And I've been meaning to task, how do you feel about the tracker program?"

Phoenix blinked, surprised. "I don't really have anything to say about it."

Kate looked at Ave. "You're supposed to be flying the plane," she said dryly.

"Autopilot," Ave snapped. "Can't I talk to people without being told to go away?"

"Running your mouth is what got us in trouble in Spain."

Ave practically jumped out of his seat. "Barcelona was not my fault!" he shrieked.

At that, Tara woke up. She raised her head groggily, stifling a yawn, and asked, "What are we talking about?"

Ave said nothing at the same time Kate said Barcelona, and Tara immediately burst into laughter. Ave and Kate both joined her, faces turning red from an inside joke Phoenix didn't know about. He didn't laugh because he didn't get it, but he smiled. It was clear they'd been friends for a long time, and it was nice to see them happy.

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

"All I'm saying is that he should've explained. I'm not happy that we were sent halfway across the world without knowing why we're doing what we're doing, you know?"

Jack didn't respond right away. Elle was just blowing off steam; she didn't actually expect any answers. He sipped his tea, admiring the scenery from the outdoor cafe they were sitting in.

"Prague is nice," he commented. It was their first time in the Czech Republic. The capital city was beautiful, its architecture fantasy-like. The weather was nice, too: sunny and warm.

Elle nodded, but her face was still scrunched in irritation. The Black Snake had told the two of them to go to Prague and get something called the 'magic stone' from the arms dealership in the outskirts of the city. The assignment wasn't too left-field: the Snakes already had a relationship with Miklos Novak, the feared arms dealer. The problem was that Black refused to tell them what the stone was for.

"Halfway around the world," Elle muttered into her teacup, "for a rock."

Jack glanced at his watch. They had a few hours before they had to meet Miklos. "Lighten up," he said cheerfully. "It could be worse. At least it's here and not somewhere like Siberia."

Elle sighed and looked around at the foreign city. "Yeah. Sure. Prague is nice."

Jack couldn't agree more. This felt more like a vacation than an assignment. Getting the stone would be easy; Miklos might resist, but he and his crew were nothing up against two superhumans. Everything would be fine.

As long as there were no surprises.