Zane opened a soda bottle with his mind, marveling at how he had to guide the force through the tab and then pull up softly on the lever to crack open the bottle. It was way less interesting when you just used a finger. However, the somber mood around the campfire caused Zane's fascination to dissipate. 

"Do you think there's any way Jai could have survived?" Zane asked before taking a swig of the soda.

It was two days since the unfortunate event that dwindled their numbers. Rio had teleported everyone as far away as he could manage, which ended up being on a tree line bordering the woods. After realizing a gas station was nearby filled with snacks and drinks, the team decided to hunker down, especially because Rio was in no shame to teleport them away - much less move. 

The last teleportation had completely drained him, and for a long moment it looked like death had a strong grip on him, but with Blade's fretting and shoving water down his mouth, he recovered very slowly. 

"No," Rio responded. He was still a bit pallid, but the strength had returned to his voice. "Even your Frankenstein friend over there wouldn't survive a direct furnace like that. No doubt Jai was incinerated, no healing factor could survive that." There was no sorrow in his voice, and Rick after being referred to as Frankenstein, openly glared at him. 

Then tension had not dissipated between the two (and Blade since he inserted himself in everything Rio-related), even after Rio pointed out the difficulty of teleporting everyone and Rick personally saw the state he was left in. Zane suspected it was just a matter of Rick needing someone to blame, if only to try to make Jai's death make sense.

Even Richmond, who currently slurped on some cup noodles, had been shaken ever since the fight. His jabs at Rick had become nonexistent, and it looked like he regretted coming at all. 

"Shouldn't we move soon?" Aria asked from on top of a log. "If they can track us when we're at one of your secret bases, what's stopping them from tracking us out here in the open?"

Rio nodded. "Hence why I called a meeting. There's another base-"

"Why can't you just teleport us to China or something?" Richmond asked, his voice more timid than usual.

"Don't be stup-"

Rio held up a hand, silencing Blade. "I can't teleport that far - or at least I never tried. Count in teleporting all of us and there's a good chance we end up in the ocean - not to mention we have no jurisdiction there. If our pursuers do track us there and start a fight, any damage caused will reflect very badly on the country as a whole and can have grave consequences."

Richmond sighed, returning his eyes to his cup noodles. No doubt he was remembering the lavish meals offered in the numerous restaurants back at the Academy. He wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable camping. Zane, however, felt more at home out here, than he did in the luxurious academy.

"As I was saying there's another base-"

"Is running really the best option?" Zane asked, once again interrupting an increasingly annoyed Rio. 

"What do you mean by 'running'? Our objective is to protect the VIP, not face off against the villains."

"And you think the best way to protect the VIP is to hop from base to base until they find us and hope we narrowly escape with few losses every time?" 

Blade seemed ready to blow seeing Zane talk to Rio like that, but Zane ignored him, confident he could stop him if he attacked him with his ability to turn his limbs into blades.

Rio took a calming breath, the instilled professionalism overcoming his emotional side at being questioned by a subordinate. "Do you have a suggestion, or do you just enjoy bringing up problems?"

"We attack them head-on," Zane replied, using his telekinesis to crush the soda can. He admitted to himself that he was feeling just a tad bit vengeful. "The best way to protect Astrid is to eliminate the people hunting her. You've been delaying in hopes that the Supers come back in time, but do you know for sure they will?"

Rio just stared at Zane, but his silence spoke volumes. In the past week, Zane had forgotten that Rio was around his age, but it showed now that they had narrowly escaped failure and possibly death. If there was one weakness in Rio it's that a part of him was still relying on the adults to come and save him, Zane never had been saved by adults in his life, so he was able to see the error in their plan.

"We hunt them instead," Aria said with a thoughtful look at Zane. "That does make sense."

"Except for the fact they have more firepower than us," Blade commented with his usual ire. "You're a bunch of rookies and they're people who've been training a lot more intensely than you at that academy. The villain faction isn't above using immoral techniques for training, pitting their trainees in life-or-death situations to achieve the best results, which is why they are so powerful from a young age."

"Maybe we can still find a way to beat them," Aria shot back.

Blade scoffed. "That went well last time."

"Last time we were more worried about escaping and delaying them rather than defeating them," Zane pointed out. "If your training is worth anything you should be able to make a plan where we tactically take them out."

"This isn't some military movie where everyone is using the same level of weaponry. They have powers specifically made for offensive attacks. Besides," Rio paused to motion towards the tent which Astrid now slept in, "we have a VIP to protect, how will we do it if we're fighting that team? For what you've suggested we won't be able to manage with one person staying back to guard her."

A smile slipped through Zane's guard as the wheels in his head started turning. "I may have a plan for that."

≫ ──────── ≪ ♟≫ ──────── ≪

Three hours later, Zane, Rio, Aria and Astrid found themselves outside the Clifton Academy, though they were hidden behind an underbrush, rather than on the path to the gate.

"I'll go over it again one more time, just in case," Rio whispered, his eyes scanning the horizon warily. He seemed much better from the husk he had been before. "I'll teleport in, since I'm given access through the border. They'll sense my arrival, but hopefully not the fact that I'm carrying you three. I'll act like I've come to report the death of Jai and give an overall update, while you guys go to carry out the mission. Note that you'll have to do it quickly, you'll need to be back at the meeting point in a timely fashion so that it doesn't raise suspicions."

"Ok, but why are we whispering?" Zane asked in a cautious whisper himself.

"Because this place gives me the creeps, no telling if they can hear conversations on the entire island," Rio responded.

No kidding.

Astrid especially looked on edge, looking around frequently as if she was expecting someone to jump out at her. More often than not, Zane thought she acted privileged, accustomed to being treated like some valuable object that needed protecting. Still, it couldn't be easy being a target and wondering at the start of each day if you'd been kidnapped or worse.

Aria placed a calming hand on her shoulder, whispering something in her ear that seemed to make her relax slightly. She'd shown a nurturing side that Zane hadn't initially expected. 

Rio studied the two with cold eyes then motioned for everyone to come closer. A few seconds later they disappeared from the underbrush and reappeared within the complex. Rio had assured them he had memorized some shady locations behind buildings and where shadows were prominent during his visits to the complex. He said it was basically a habit at this point.

Sure enough, they found themselves teleported behind one of the rarely used buildings far from any pathways that residents typically walked on. Zane and Aria immediately broke away from Rio with Astrid in tow, slinking forward in the shadows as they headed for their objective while Rio went in the opposite direction in a calm stroll.

Aria and Astrid were rigid, occasionally jumping at the sound of conversations and other noises, but Zane was accustomed to sneaking in and out of the orphanage, so he took the lead since he was the calmest. Still, there were a couple of near misses along the way. Being seen by anyone would severely jeopardize the mission.

There was even a time when one of the cowboy robots was turning a corner the trio was approaching and Zane, fueled by adrenaline, lifted himself and the females high enough to be out of its line of sight. There was the issue of cameras but Rio didn't know where they were or what they looked like either, so they could only hope to stay in blind spots.

Finally, they reached their objective. Zane looked at the two girls, noting Aria looked like she was just a bit away from her heartbeat being audible and Astrid looked scared but excited. He opened the door and the trio stepped into a small room with a rune projected onto its floor. Zane found the button Rick had pushed before and pushed it, steeling himself as he once again experienced the nihility that accompanied this genre of teleportation. It was a completely different feeling from the instantaneous teleportation that Rio did.

"Woah," Astrid exclaimed as she laid her eyes on the dome arena for the first time. "I'm going to be staying in that?"

Zane shushed her. There was no telling if Metas were around, and super-hearing was always possible. They stalked forward toward the entrance and saw two figures crouched on either side, watching their approach warily.

Some tension dissipated from Zane's shoulders as he recognized the solemn faces. He gave a nod when they reached them, surprised he remembered the boys' names. "Jacque, Rocco, glad you guys could make it."

"What's your name again?" Rocco asked, letting a few seconds go before breaking into a hollow grin that didn't quite feel real. "Just kidding, Zane. Wouldn't miss your cool top-secret mission for the world."

"Is Rick fine?" Jacque asked softly.

"Physically yes," Zane responded truthfully.

"I see," Jacque replied, understanding better than Zane could.

"We better get going," Aria interrupted, looking around uneasily. They were out in the open still after all.

Zane nodded and began leading the small crowd into the dome arena. He didn't get five full strides in before a figure dropped in behind him, locking their arm around his neck with a warning squeeze that displayed a commendable amount of strength. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw the others in similar predicaments, with a figure having skillfully locked them into a hold.

In his panic, Zane prepared to rip his offender's arm out of their socket with his telekinesis force, but he caught a glimpse of a surprisingly familiar piece of fabric when he jerked his head. He craned his neck as far as he could without the vice grip choking him and confirmed the identity of their attackers.

Or rather, attacker.

"Zane? Is that you?" Ms. Stone asked, her grip loosening slightly.

"Sure is. Is now a bad time for a rematch?"

She released him and the others, her expression showing that she was not in a joking mood. "What's all this? We don't have class right now, you aren't authorized to be here...much less with people that aren't students," she said, her eyes narrowing at Astrid.

Zane tried his best to think fast. Could he come up with a quick viable excuse that wouldn't alert her? On the other hand, if he took the risk that she wouldn't expose them to the Director, the reward would be large, and their jobs would be much easier. She narrowed her eyes, undoubtedly anticipating a lie given Zane's silence.

Then he told her about their mission and their plan of storing Astrid here so they could face the villains head-on. It wasn't that he trusted Ms.Stone, but he'd come to know her as caring with the way she meticulously focused on her students' development, and he trusted that aspect of her to shine through.

"And is this sanctioned by Director Han?" She asked the dreaded question.

Zane briefly weighed the merits of lying and saying it was, ultimately deciding that her full assistance would be threatened should she find out it was a lie. She probably already knew the truth, really. "No. It's why we're sneaking her in. He didn't seem to care much about the mission's success."

Ms.Stone contemplated for a few valuable minutes. "I can't help you considering it isn't the desire of my employer," she said. "However, if you were to store the girl in the backroom of the gym, where no one ever goes in without my knowledge, then there'd be nothing for me to report."

Zane offered a grateful nod and hurried the rest forward before she could change her mind. He'd taken a huge risk relying on her compassion and it had paid off greatly.

"We must hurry," Aria said, "Rio could finish anytime now."

"Rio?" Rocco asked curiously.

"The leader on the mission," Zane replied, taking Aria's point and hurrying up to the gym. He'd just been about to open the door when he heard a gasp from behind. Turning, he saw a sight that drained the color from his face.

Astrid was suddenly on the ground, convulsing violently, her body shaking sporadically like a fish out of water. The four teens stood in muted shock before Aria snapped out of it, putting the girl on her side and doing her best to stop the girl from repeatedly slamming her head against the ground. Astrid's eyes occasionally flickered open during her convulsions, appearing pupil-less. 

To Zane, it felt like a scene straight out of a cheap horror - except he could smell the stench of the vomit frothing out of her mouth. Zane briefly wondered if he'd be pushing it by calling Ms. Stone to help, considering he didn't know what the hell to do and Rocco and Jacque looked equally helpless.