I stared at Mask. She stared back.

"What?" I said, finally breaking the silence. "Just take the goddamn suit, Shift." She deadpanned. "No! I didn't even get to choose it! How come all the superheroes in the movies get rad suits, and I'm stuck with this of all things?!"

The said suit, had been provided by AIAA, and Hunter had pulled them out in the Armoury. It was a skin-right fabric, not necessarily uncomfortable, all black. A white utility belt hung on the hip, and on the front and back's centre, a black and white target sign was designed, with a pure white ONE on it. "We don't wear tights!" Mask said, shoving the suit at me. I sighed in defeat and snatched it up.

I'd pulled it on a few minutes ago.

"Hmph." I couldn't help but grumble. It was weird, clingy. I didn't mind that, but still, it didn't feel like...me. I pulled my hair backwards, into a very high ponytail, pulling the white elastic I'd been given over the gathered hair and securing it. A few stray pieces fell on my forehead, like side bangs. I let them be.

I stared at my appearance in the mirror. Brown skin, brown eyes, brown hair.
So boring.
I close my eyes shut in concentration. I envisioned sun-kissed, tan skin, a few shades lighter than my own. I saw my features sharper, and imagined green eyes.

I opened my eyes. My eyes were a strange green-brown mix, so it hadn't gone exactly right, but I did look sneaky. Intelligent. Attractive even.

I stared at the boots, with high wedges in them. According to Hunter, they added 'flair' and there was no chance of falling because they had their own points of gravity ever-shifting. It was pretty advanced coding.

Satisfied, and resigned, I opened the stall door, into the Armoury. Although we all had our own powers as weapons, we used weapons to harness them. There were the occasional Exceptions, who had no powers but dealt well with weapons.

Sin was staring at a blade, a curious choice. It was curved inwards at one side, silver and red detailing. The hilt had a red wolf's head. "Woah, Sin." He looked up and smiled lazily. "I think it should terrify everyone enough, right?" I nodded as I passed him, and Sin turned his attention back to the blade. "Looking good, Shift." He called, which made me turn and walk backwards for a second to give him a thumbs-up and continue my way.

I spotted Hunter with a complicated trigger weapon, Wire playing around with a few of the weapons, and Mask was holding two throwing blades, throwing them in the air and catching them. "I think we should strap these to the insides of our boots for the extra stealth." She explained. I nodded, grabbing four myself and hitching them in the boots.
"Let's just not stab ourselves in the feet though."

I'd found a silver gun, sleek and chrome. It had white detailing on it, and the white detailing had gold detailing, it was that detailed. Patterns of ivory ivy spread across the trigger, gold points creating the silhouette of a stag's gleaming horns.

I flipped the gun in my hand. Inscribed at the bottom, was it's name. 'Silver Stag' I held the Stag up in one hand, bracing myself for the relash. I'd fired guns before. I knew how they worked.

I spotted a target hung up on the side, resembling a mini shooting range. "How does the Academy even fund this stuff?" I murmured, before focusing on the target, the gun raise and ready. I moved it a few millimetres, and then my index finger pressed the trigger.

The bullet it fired floated soundlessly at the speed of light, a silent hit.

It hit the third circle, the outer one, on the target.

I liked this gun. The Stag. I'd keep it. This would be my weapon. I could feel it in my soul.

I grabbed its holster, and the belt of bullets that came with it, pulling them over my shoulder.

Hunter, all equipped in a bulletproof vest and a uniform, had on goggles, boxy and not exactly the circle-y kind, was calling us over. I walked with Wire towards him. "Alright guys, everyone know the plan?" He asked, excited.

So were we.

I couldn't help but feel the same giddy feeling I'd felt when I'd called dibs on my room. I was going out and making a difference, finally experiencing the reason I joined the Academy in the first place.

I nodded.

"Let's go, Squad 1."

Hunter grinned widely, and I was sure my expression matched his. Wire looked equally excited and nervous, her hands playing with her suit's fabric. I couldn't tell how Mask felt. I couldn't see her face.Sin, for some reason or other, looked more pained than anything else. Like he was being forced to march over a bed of fiery coals.

But then we were up, in the plane, and gone.

*****

"Ready, Mask?" The other girl nodded curtly, as we balanced at the flying plane's open door. A rush of adrenaline mixed with something else shot through me as I stared into the clouds and the little ant-like city below them.

San Francisco, I'd figured out in the few minutes we'd been here, was massive. A perfect place to be unseen. Apparently.

Mask glanced at me. "You like you're going to barf." She observed. I rolled my eyes. "Gee, you're always the soothing one, aren't you?" Wire leaned over her seat at the front. "You're physically healthy enough to make it. Also, your power's shifting, right? Just become a bird." I blinked, before shaking my head. "I need to have seen the thing very recently. And I haven't." Mask pointed out a hand. "Look, a seagull." I frowned, but resignedly closed my eyes, imagining my arms shrinking, my bones emptying, my body small and growing feather, wings jutting out and a large beak in front of me. "You make a fine seagull." Sin muttered, although it seemed halfhearted. I waited until Mask leaped off, her red hair blowing in the wind furiously.

"Her head looks like its on fire." Hunter said, shaking his head. I squawked in agreement, ruffling my feathers, lifting my wings, and then I was off.

The wind lifted me, carrying me so effortlessly that for a second, I completely forgot the plan and everything. I was a bird, in the sky, free from burdens and not held down by any baggage.

But then Mask was landing.
And I watched as her face looked upwards, searching for me, amongst the thousands of other seagulls in the San Franciscan sky.

I tilted my wings, gliding the wind current and savouring every second before landing on the ceiling. I sped up, my progress downwards like a rocket, and I had to curb my wings at the last second, willing my human appearance back, and rolling over the concrete. Mask offered me a hand up, and I had to prop myself up on the sides of my arms, before grabbing her hand and letting her pull me up. We looked at the bare concrete roof, before Mask threw me an earpiece. "I wasn't completely sure you'd have clothes on after shifting, and this is some expensive tech." I nodded, smiling wryly an securing the earpiece.

Mask tapped her down. "Heyo, Hunter. We've landed. Time for the distractions please." I scanned the sky for the plane's silhouette, but Hunter had smartly gone high over cloud cover, meaning that the please wasn't visible, even from this high up.

But suddenly, two little dots - Sin and Wire - burst through the clouds. "There they are." I murmured, motioning for Mask to look for an entrance. "There's a vent. That's it." She said, gesturing towards the metal near her feet. I walked towards her, and then looked at the screws. "Happen to have a toolkit?" She shook her head. "The knives." She said suddenly, pulling one out of her boot, and jamming the blade under one of the screws. I paved towards the side, seeing Sin flashing around, hitting a buff brown-haired guy who looked like he ate steroids for dinner.

I grimaced, but since they were out and wouldn't be able to hear over the din of the fighting, I realized that the Three weren't a problem. "Get back. I've got an idea." I pulled the Stag out of its holster, aiming at the screws.

Bam.

"You missed, Shift. They know we're here."

"They already know. They're fighting us down there."

I aimed again, my teeth biting my cheek tensely.

I wasn't allowed to miss.

Bam.

Bam.

Bam.

Bam.

The screws smoked, but I grinned triumphantly, relived I'd actually managed to hit the tiny targets. Mask was prying away the melted and loose screws, a lot easier to get out now. After a few more minutes, she pulled the vent out, threw it to the side, and we hopped into it.

The vent was small. My back kept scratching against the hard metal, and my elbows scraped the sides. It was claustrophobic, but I focused on the objective.

I'd trained for this for three years. No way I was backing down now.

I heard Mask shuffling behind me, and every so often we stopped, as I peered through the vents. "Here." I decided, but then realized there was no way to break it. I couldn't reach my gun, and the bullet shrapnel would get in my face if I did. "Mask? Can you back up?" I heard shuffling, and them raised my leg up, pulling my arm from under, and snatching a knife. My leg fell back down with a thump. And then I rotated my wrist.

I could feel our time running out, seconds being lost. But finally, a screw popped out and the knife clattered down next to my knee, as I began to pry open the vent, my fingers pressed and hurting with the effort. I pushed out, with my last hit of effort and fell forwards as the flimsy metal gave way.

Automatically, as Id been trained, I flipped, landing on my feet a bit shakily. Mask dropped down next to me. "It's a main room. Most of the other rooms should be nearby."

We dove through everything that was in the main room like mad people, pulling papers out and throwing them away after skimming through them. I ran towards another room, furnished with a bed and a laptop. I fired up the laptop, watching as it loaded.

Password?

Ugh. "Mask!" I hollered. "What would there password be?" She entered an her eyes scanned the spare room. "Try thesneakyspy." I tapped in the password, my fingers dashing over the keyboard keys in a frenzy.

"It worked!" I sat there in disbelief as it logged on. I wasn't about to ask how Mask figured it out. I didn't want to know. I looked through the files, but was disappointed. "There's nothing here." Mask moved me aside, opening the email and checking it, logging in and answering the personal question with the right answer, all in a matter of seconds. I watched in amazement, throwing her the USB and dashing to the next room. A base. A few simple maps of North America. Of Asia. And South America. A small country in Asia was circled in red.

Pakistan.

In North America, several cities, namely Québec, New York, Los Angeles, Vegas, Toronto and Montréal were centred. Nothing in Mexico. I snapped a photo of the map quickly, as Mask shouted. I ran towards her, adrenaline pumping through my blood. She had the laptop, and was transferring all the files.

My earpiece fizzled. "You guys about done? Sin and Wire are getting a bit overpowered?" I glanced over. "Ten minutes." I said. "They won't last ten minutes." I breathed in. "I'm coming."

I made sure I ran straight, bending forwards slightly to gain momentum, grabbing the railing at the top ofthe stairs, and leaping off the side. I felt like my stomach would drop, like I'd puke. At the last second, before I splattered on the ground like a squashed fly, I grabbed the support pole holding up the stairs' railing. My arm stretched in pain as all my weight went on it.

I looked down. Two floors to go. I could make it, if I timed it right. My arm was burning and I had to be quick. Breathing in, I let go, curling into a ball mid-air, as I timed the landing.

Three seconds.

I sprang out of the ball, landing on one knee, kneeling. And then I was up and running towards the door, flinging it open, and watching as the heated fight paused.

"There's three of you?" Brown-hair said, exasperatedly.

Sin glanced over at me grimly. "Glad you could join the party. It'd be no fun without you." Wire glanced at him worriedly. The other two members of the Three Threat Trio were frozen in fear, from what, I wasn't sure. One was blonde. The other resembled Brownie.

I had my Stag ready and my finger on the trigger, staring down Brownie, ready to seriously injure. "Hey, there." I said quietly, but a crack and sudden impact with my jaw threw me off balance. Whatever had been holding Blondie back had seeped away, as he shoved me. My jaw ached, and I felt a welt swelling up and reddening where he'd punched me. I ignored it. "You really shouldn't have done that, Blondie." I spat out blood on the ground, and Sin was trading blows with Brownie. It was just me.

I looked at Blondie analytically. He seemed a bit smarter than the others, but they only used punches and kicks.

I smirked.

"Don't go all smiley, little girl. You're about to get hurt. Bad." I shook my head slowly. "Everyone knows, that the good guys always win, Blondie." The boot wedges clicked against the pavement, and I stopped in front of him.

He eyed me warily, poised to attack. I glanced backwards towards Sin. He was still fighting Brownie, but looked as though he were getting worn out, his kicks slower, his coordination imperceptibly sloppy. I turned back to Blondie, who shook his head. "Oh to be young and oblivious. But no. This isn't a fairy tale, kid. This is reality. And guess what?" I braced myself and my leg.

And then I swung the wedge at his eyes, effectively making Blondie scream, and I saw blood trickling down. It made me happy. I didn't know why. It shouldn't.

But it did.

Before he could get up, I kicked a foot down on his head, hearing a nasty crack as it made impact with the concrete. That should leave him sleepy for a bit. I remembered that there were three of them. But as I looked around, I only saw two.

My eyes widened and I pivoted on my heel, using the balance I'd trained so hard to perfect. Brownie#2 was nowhere.

And that always meant trouble. I tapped my earpiece. "Mask?" The device gave back a bit of fuzzy static. "Yeah?" I looked around. "I think one of them got in the house." I said slowly, striding towards Brownie from behind.

"I noticed."

I didn't have time to worry about Mask's safety though, because Wire was signalling for me to take over, so she could get Sin up and moving again.

I nodded curtly, tightened my ponytail, and then quietly waked over, raising out my index finger straight, like a needle. But somehow, Brownie heard. He whipped around and shoved me, leaving me sprawled on the concrete. My jaw was aching dully, and I scrambled up when Brownie walked over. I ducked under the kick he threw, grabbing the kicking leg and throwing him off balance, smirking through the pain as I watched Brownie fall to the ground.

As he tried to get up, I balled up a fist. "Over here, Brownie." I called. When he (stupidly) looked up, my fist hit his temple, enough to knock him out as well.

I looked over at Wire, who was sitting with Sin on the curb of the road. "The other one is inside!" I called to them. She nodded, telling Sin, and they began running as I got up. "Mask's still in there." Sin said urgently. "I know, I know! We have to go. Now." Sin pushed past me. He was a faster runner than me, and I was pretty fast. But I followed Sin through the doors. Sin paused, looking at the stairs."Which floor is she on?" I thought for a moment. "The fourth. We were on the fourth."

And we were jogging up stairs.

Remind me to get hoverboots.

By the time we reached the fourth floor, my leg muscles burned from the constant workout.

The fourth floor was eerily quiet.

Sin tapped his earpiece. "Mask? Where are you?"
The feedback in the earpiece fizzled like static, and her voice came back like she were speaking through a walkie-talkie. "I'm in the - ain -" Sin looked up at me. "What does that mean?" I tapped my own earpiece. "Mask?! You need to be clear. Where. Are. You?" I got just as much feedback as Sin. "Ba - signal I'm in - he main -" I tapped the feed shut. "Main room." I said confidently. Son nodded, and I pointed at the door, and we were bursting through it.

It took me a while to find Mask. She was a flurry, punching here, and by the time Brownie#2 retaliated, nope she was kicking his back, throwing his balance. "How is she that good at fighting and not the Fighter...?" Sin asked, causing me to glance over at him curiously. But then I was running to Mask. "Hey. What's up?" She soared me a glance as she landed on the ground to catch a millisecond of a breath. "Ah nothing much." I nodded. "Lead him outside." I murmured quietly. Mask nodded, before doing a complicated piece of acrobatics that resembled a flip and Brownie#2 lumbered after her.

"Over here, little guy." I snarled, and Sin moved back to join us in this. "Hey there. You're an exact copy of your bro but less cool, strong and smart. Wow man. Couldn't you even try?" Brownie#2 finally snapped. "WILL YOU STUPID KIDS. SHUT. UP?!" He yelled, running down the stairs towards us. "Oh please, don't you know?" I yelled back, as Sin pushed him through the door and hollered. "Kids never shut up."

I looked around. Two down.

One to go.