The blue hoverbus dropped from the traffic stream above and descended toward the walkway in front of the Diamond District Discovery Center. Jasper watched from the balcony connected to the walkway. Towering behind her was the giant silver model of Kronos that stood in front of the Discovery District's front doors.

"You guys almost here?" she asked the team over comms.

"We're a couple levels up, but we've got eyes on you," Holly replied. "We'll be there before the bus."

"Good."

In the few weeks that had passed since the fight with Ringmaster on Iros, Jasper was doing her best to stay optimistic. But she couldn't stop replaying that night in her mind. If she'd only been a little faster, if she'd stopped Ringmaster from going into the warp—

She shook her head. It was still a victory, in a way. At least he was out of the picture. Starr couldn't use him. And they had his data drive.

Unfortunately, most of the incriminating evidence that would tie Ringmaster and Starr together had either been wiped from the drive, or was never there in the first place. All Ringmaster had kept were the lab records he'd stolen from Sky Labs behind Starr's back, and some of the warp research he'd found. Thea did come across one piece of evidence, though. A single file.

As much as he sucked as a person, Ringmaster wasn't exactly on Starr's side either. Their partnership had been mutually beneficial, but you didn't make it to Ringmaster's level if you weren't smart enough to keep dirt on allies that could turn on you at a moment's notice.

Ringmaster had kept an audio recording of a conversation between him and Starr. Well, part of a conversation. It was unlikely Starr had spoken directly to Ringmaster much—hiding behind written messages was much safer. But whatever the reason for this conversation, it might be enough to get the public to turn on Starr.

Starr had directly asked Ringmaster for progress on the 'warp converter,' which was apparently the name for the giant dish Ringmaster had stuck on top of the Ferris wheel at his carnival.

Okay, it admittedly wasn't much. But given the headlines around the disaster on Iros, people were bound to make the connection and realize Starr was partially involved. Thea could help with that, but she could only make so many fake news articles and net posts drawing attention to the matter. And she had to transmit the audio file, first.

Jasper thought it would be easy enough to just drop it on the net, but that suggestion had sent Thea into a long rant that the rest of the team didn't fully comprehend. Apparently, what it amounted to was that dropping a file on the net was "a great way to let it drown in all of the noise being posted constantly." Maybe they'd get lucky and the clip would go viral, but it was more likely to slip by unnoticed. Even if Thea slapped it on the front page of a website, Starr would have his own techs checking for mentions of him and stopping anything harmful before it could spread.

So, they had to get it everywhere at once. Which was, as Thea put it, "technically possible." However, she needed more power, and a way to boost her signal. And she already had something in mind.

But it would require some light breaking and entering.

The hoverbus was close enough now for Jasper to read the words "North Diamond Starting School" on the side. She rested a hand on her hip. "Seriously, guys," she said. "We have to be here to greet the kids when they—"

Holly dropped from a balcony above Jasper and landed at her right. "Told you we'd be on time."

Thea came down after her, followed by Jax, and then Grace. Jasper breathed a small sigh of relief.

She and the team had dressed plainly, hoping to blend in with the crowd. Granted, "plain" took many forms in a place as chaotic as Kronos. For Jasper, it was simply black suit pants and a black blazer over a pink button-up, long-sleeved shirt. It could have passed for Earth clothing, if it weren't for the strange shimmery material the stuff was made of. Her black hair was pulled up, as usual, but she'd twisted it into a bun and hidden it under a cap with the Discovery Center's logo on it.

"And no signs of Red Blades, right?" Jasper asked.

Jax shook his head. "Nope."

"You've said yourself they don't patrol the upper districts," Holly added. "What are you so worried for?"

Jasper's gaze flickered to Grace. "They don't usually leave Kronos either, but they came after us during the races. If anyone caught wind she's here—"

"Isn't a fight what we've been training her for?" Thea cut Jasper off, not even glancing up from the tablet in her hand. "Besides, you're usually the confident one."

Jasper rolled her eyes. "I am! I was just checking. God. She still hasn't had that much experience. Angel, you good?"

"I'm okay," Grace said, her gaze focused on the hoverbus as it came to a screeching halt. "I mean, no one's tried to kill me yet today."

Before Jasper could respond, the bus doors slid open.

"The signs!" Jasper hissed. "You know, the ones you four were grabbing?"

Holly reached into the bag at her side and handed out the signs. "Do we really need all five of us on this field trip?"

"It's going to be the easiest way to do this," Jasper told her. She unfolded her sign and held it up. "Trust me." The others put their signs up, too.

"I'm not exactly a big fan of children," Holly said as she lifted hers.

"The rest of us can handle any troublemakers."

"And I really don't think you should be in charge of children."

"What makes you say that?" Jasper asked, moving her free hand to adjust one of the daggers hidden at her side.

Holly shot her a sideways glance. "Just try not to be a bad influence. The chaperones will be watching."

The first of the kids spilled out of the hoverbus. There were roughly twenty in total, and most were members of Kronosian species, though a few looked to be descended from aliens of other planets in the Janus System. One of the parent chaperones desperately tried to herd the kids toward Jasper and the others, pointing out the signs they'd stolen that read "Diamond Starting School Field Trip."

"Welcome!" Jasper exclaimed. She gestured to the front doors of the Discovery Center. "We have a super fun tour planned for you today."

They led the kids through the front doors. Jasper surveyed the lobby as they entered. A couple of other tour groups were within their line of sight, and there were undoubtedly plenty more wandering about the massive museum-planetarium-aquarium-library combo that took up nearly twenty floors of the building they were in.

"Today we'll be taking a path through the planetarium—" Jasper began.

One of the chaperones—no, the kids' teacher—cut her off. "We requested a museum tour, actually. They're learning about the Silver Age of Kronos right now—"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get there," Jasper said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We just have to cut through the planetarium. And who doesn't love space, right?"

The kids were completely disinterested. Some chatted among themselves, while others stared off into space, bumping into each other every few seconds as the group stopped and started in the struggle to navigate the crowded lobby. The teacher nudged a boy who was playing games on his tablet.

The group finally made it past the front desk. Jasper offered a small wave, and the receptionist didn't give her a second glance. That was the beauty of these massive facilities. With so many employees, no one could be expected to know all of them. It was easy to get lost in the shuffle.

Jasper had no idea if their path through the planetarium would actually take them to the museum, and she didn't really care. Their real destination was the retired transmission device that Thea needed to project the audio file. From what they were able to gather on the Discovery Center's net page, the device was located somewhere between a massive model of the Janus System and the fake space warp pads that lit up when kids jumped on them.

"Kids, don't forget you have to complete your papers," the teacher said. "If you pass something interesting, ask one of the tour guides. They'll be able to answer all of your questions."

"This is boring," one of the kids complained.

Jasper glanced around the large hall they were passing through. "Aw, it's not all boring," she said. "Hey, look, over there!" She pointed to the empty pedestal sitting in the middle of the corridor.

"It's empty," a girl said blankly.

"Yeah, read the plaque on the pedestal." Jasper paused. "Wait, can you kids read? How old are you? Four? Twelve?"

Grace leaned toward Jasper and lowered her voice. "Pretty sure they're all about ten years old." Thank god she'd figured out the starcycles-to-Earth years translation.

Jasper cleared her throat, momentarily forgetting her tour guide persona. "So they can read?"

Grace couldn't seem to tell if she was joking or not. "Uh, yeah."

"Right, well." Jasper lifted her chin and gestured to the pedestal. "This once housed the most valuable artifact in the entire Discovery Center. A shiny, triangular shard of mysterious metal uncovered in the Iros mines. It would have sold for untold amounts of money on the black market, thanks to its potential as an immense power source."

Jax frowned. "How do you know all of this?"

"I was going to steal it a couple starcycles ago, but some bastard beat me to it—"

"Jasper, language!" Holly snapped. "Children, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Jasper folded her arms. "Anyway, that's interesting, right kids? Someone pulled off a heist and swiped the thing right out from under security. Like a cool action movie!"

Most of the kids still looked pretty dead inside, but a few near the front seemed intrigued.

They entered the first room of the planetarium and passed a model of a star system Jasper wasn't familiar with. Must have been either the Ra System or the Aquila System, the other members of the Star System Alliance besides Solar and Janus.

"Excuse me!" One girl raised her hand. "What's that giant blue planet over there, with all the rings?"

Jasper paused, put her hands on her hips, and looked the thing over. After a long moment, she said, "No idea."

"Oh, I actually know this," Grace said. Quieter, she added, "The astronomy tutor Starr gave me specialized in the Ra System."

Jasper frowned. "Why'd you have an astronomy tutor?"

Grace shrugged. "I had a lot of tutors." Turning to the kids, she said, "That's the planet Eripme. It's the third from the sun, and the most heavily populated..."

Jasper couldn't help but be impressed. She'd never been able to keep nonsense like that in her brain. Grace must have found it interesting, because she animatedly continued talking about the planet for a minute before trailing off.

"Jasper," Thea said.

"Huh?" Jasper glanced Thea's way.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"Uh, no." Jasper's gaze darted around the floor. "I was looking for the...gift shop."

Thea lifted an eyebrow. "Gift shop?"

"Yeah. I want a keychain."

"Okay then. Well, my equipment picked up the transmission device's signature. I've got its exact location."

"Lead the way, then." Jasper looked over the crowd of kids. "Come on, let's keep it moving!"

Grace appeared at Jasper's right. "Sorry, I know we're on a time crunch."

"Oh, no, not really." Jasper slid her hands into her pockets. "Probably best if we sell the tour guide thing, anyway. So, uh, good job."

Jasper and Grace caught up with Holly and Jax. "You two ready to play security?" Jasper asked quietly.

"Think we'll run into trouble?" Jax replied.

"My head says doubt it, my gut says it would be just our luck for something to go wrong." Once again, Jasper found herself surveying their surroundings. "But I really just don't want security questioning Thea."

Holly and Jax slipped away to the nearest restroom to disguise themselves as security guards. Meanwhile, Thea led the tour group around a corner and stopped. "Here we are," she said, a hint of a smile on her face.

The transmission device didn't stand out among all the other spacey equipment sitting around. It was a simple gray box connected to an array of wires, several of which led to the massive satellite dish on the Discovery Center's roof.

"It's not connected to a power source, obviously," Thea said. "But I brought a battery with enough power to handle that. It'll last long enough to get the signal out." As she made her way to the device, Holly and Jax returned in guards' uniforms. They kept a short distance away from her, ready to step in if need be without drawing unnecessary attention.

"We're really doing this in the middle of the day, with all of these people around?" Grace asked. Anxiety flickered across her face as she looked around.

"Don't worry, Angel. No one expects criminals to go after an old transmission device. Especially in a building that's got way more valuable stuff." Jasper tipped her head back to study the balcony that surrounded them on all sides, offering a glimpse into the floor above. "Speaking of which, I heard there's some pretty killer pieces in the art wing."

Either Grace missed the implication that Jasper wanted to steal art, or she didn't care. She glanced over her shoulder at the group of confused kids and chaperones. "What about the tour group? If the teacher complains, someone who actually works here might get involved."

Good point. Jasper whirled around and waved for the group to follow her. "All right, time to get to what you came here for! Onto the history museum!"

"Aw, but I wanted to look at the spaceship models!" someone complained.

"Tough." Jasper clapped her hands together a couple of times and moved forward. They left the space stuff behind and passed historical images of Kronos. Skyscrapers halfway through construction, important political speeches, fashion from earlier decades. Jasper didn't pay any of them much attention, too distracted by new concerns. What if Thea couldn't get the audio file out? Or, what if she did, and it didn't do them any good?

And even if they did succeed, the idea of everyone realizing Starr was responsible for the destruction on Iros, that he was working with Ringmaster...it was nice, but would it be enough to get him thrown out of office?

God. Jasper had been so close to taking him down a decade earlier. If only she'd been a little more patient. She could have gotten that footage to someone who could actually do something about him. Well, theoretically. She still hadn't figured out how to contact whoever was supposed to be holding governments in the Star System Alliance accountable.

"Let's stop here," a teacher said, bringing the group to a halt in the middle of one of the museum rooms. "This is what your quiz tomorrow is on, remember?"

While the kids milled about, Jasper and Grace stood at the edge of the room.

"You know, life was pretty nice at the Governor's Palace," Grace said after a couple of minutes. "Food was brought to me, I had tutors, no one tried to kill me. I didn't spend my days on the run, committing crimes, trying to bring down the most powerful man in the star system."

Ouch. "Yeah, I know the apartment isn't great," Jasper said, hoping her tone sounded casual. "But like I told you when I busted you out of jail—"

"No, sorry, it's not that," Grace said. "What I mean is, I didn't really have a purpose. I had no idea I was from Earth or that my wings were given to me in a lab. Since I had no memory, all I could do was learn as much as I could about Kronos and try to figure out a job I might want when I was old enough to leave the palace."

"Not that Starr would have let you do that," Jasper muttered.

"Right," Grace said. "Anyway, what I'm saying is, I guess it's nice that I have something to work toward now."

Oh. Grace wanted to have a serious conversation about...hopes and dreams and all that nonsense. "Sure," Jasper said. "I just hope we can take down Starr sooner rather than later."

"I don't just mean that." Grace folded her arms and looked down. "When Kara Callisto was breaking me out of the palace and talking about using my wings as proof against Starr, she mentioned I matched up with a missing persons file." Her gaze flickered briefly to Jasper. "Somewhere out there, people are looking for me."

Jasper's heart dropped.

She had to tell her. She should have told her before she got all these ideas in her head about Earth and her family and—

Jasper swallowed. "Why bring this up now?" she asked.

Grace nodded at the massive Starr family tree hanging on the wall in front of them.

Jasper hated the way her blood instantly ran cold, how the numbers in her vision flashed to warn her that her heart rate was jumping. She scanned the portraits on the tree, realizing just how long the Starr family had held Kronos in their grasp. Generations of them had replaced their ancestors as governor, ever since the first took over the city from—well, Jasper couldn't remember the name. She wasn't great with history.

Syrus Starr's cold gaze looked down on her. Above him was his father Ryse, who'd died just about fifteen years earlier, and Ryse's father Tyrso. The one who'd sentenced Jasper to her living hell. The one who was still alive, living somewhere on Sagev while his grandson ruled the star system and carried on his work in Sky Labs.

Grace was talking again. "Do you—do you still really need me? I mean, if this audio file is enough to get people to want Starr out of office, do we still need my cybernetics as evidence of the lab experiments?"

Jasper's gaze darted further up the family tree. Generations. Governor was technically an elected position, but no one outside the Starr family had held the title in centuries. Once you were in, you were in for life or until you chose to retire. Unless, for whatever reason, the people were able to convince the council of district leaders to host a new election.

But district leaders were other members of Kronos' elite. All friends with the Starrs. What chance did they have? Even if the audio file convinced every citizen of Kronos that Starr needed to go—

Jasper finally processed Grace's question. "Uh, well, even if this does work, the audio file only connects Starr to Ringmaster and the warp dish, not Sky Labs. We still need to get that shut down."

"Should we try to find that Earthguard group Callisto mentioned?"

"Doubt they'll be of much use." Jasper's fists clenched at her sides. "I mean, this has been happening for decades, maybe even longer. What the hell are a bunch of people on Earth supposed to do?"

"But Kara said—"

"Look, Angel, I'm betting Earthguard planned to take you to the people running the Star System Alliance and get them to do something about Starr. Why bother with the middleman when we could do that ourselves?"

"Can we do that ourselves?" Grace asked. "I thought it was super hard to contact them—"

"I'm looking into it," Jasper told her.

Grace's hopes of returning to Earth reminded Jasper that she wasn't the only one who'd been ripped from her home. Thea and Jax had once had families on Earth, too. Families who had no idea what had happened to them. But after spending forty-five years in a warp—was there anything for them to return too? Their parents had to be dead, or close to it.

One of the chaperones caught Jasper's attention. "Excuse me, we're going to get food in the cafeteria. You can handle the kids until we get back, right?"

Damn it. Jasper had been planning to slip away from the group as soon as Thea said she was done. "Uh, yeah, sure," she said. "Why not. How long do you think you'll be?"

But the chaperone was already gone, leaving Jasper and Grace alone to deal with twenty children.