John and Paul walked around the old campus, noting the layout of the buildings and which ones they could start using immediately.

"This is a big step John." Paul was holding a clipboard and pen. He had been jotting down notes and ideas as they walked around.

"It's a giant step Hart, but it's the right step." John left the note taking to Paul, instead he had been the one shouting out ideas and thoughts, hoping Hart would write them down or at least remember them.

Paul nodded, it was hard to argue against John's enthusiasm. However, he still felt daunted by the thought of having an actual campus for The Academy. He looked down at his watch. "We should head over to the main building now." John nodded and turned to head towards the front of the campus to meet Thomas and his team.

John and Paul rounded the corner from the side of the building and saw the guys standing around talking. It had been five years since Thomas's team officially made it out of boot camp and they were shaping into real gentlemen. They all wore casual slacks with various shades of button down shirts and vests. They had come a long way from the rough and tumble kids they had gathered from the streets.

"Thomas." John addressed Thomas and nodded at the rest of the guys. They all had turned and stood straighter when they saw John and Paul approach. "What did find?"

Thomas shrugged. He had been here for a few hours already, covering every inch of the campus before John and Paul arrived. They were supposed to check every building, log windows or doors that needed replacing, and what furniture was still usable. Thomas had already sent some of his team to get new locks and keys for each building, 10 in total. "Nothing that we didn't expect. Only two buildings looked like they have been broken in to, and even those will only need a door and a few windows. The others are all secure. Most of the furniture is still here too, doesn't look like they took anything. I sent Mick, Peter and Joe out for locks and doors. We'll work on the windows tomorrow."

John nodded and smiled. Proud of the man Thomas was becoming and satisfied with his report. "We will set up in the main building for now. We can plan out how to best use the campus and what renovations we may need to make immediately." He looked up at the main building they stood in front of. It was a square, colonial style brick building. The shrubs around it were overgrown, the grass mostly dead, but other than that the building was in good shape. He started to walk towards the front door, the rest of the group following him. The building was last used as administrative offices with a parlor set up in the room to the left of the door. He pulled the sheets off the couches and chairs, tossing them in the corner. He gestured to the seats, indicating that everyone should sit.

John turned towards the front when he heard knocking on the door. What he saw was Phil and Jacob standing on the front stoop, knocking on the door. "What are you two doing?" They both looked up and smiled.

Phil, a tall, broad shouldered kid that used to be the scrawniest of the team smiled. His shaggy blond hair fell into his eyes and John still couldn't understand why the guys were so adamant about growing out their hair. He tried to make it an Academy rule that everyone needed to buzz their hair short, like his, but he was quickly overruled. "We are figuring out our secret knock." Jacob started knocking in a pattern of soft and hard knocks.

Paul came up behind John, shaking his head. "You can't have a secret knock. No knock will stay a secret."

"Aw come on Hart, why not? We promise we will let you in, even if forget it." Paul pursed his lips, annoyed when the guys called him 'Hart' like John did. He tried to get John to call him Paul in front of the guys more, but John said it was a habit.

"You know I have a better memory than the two of you combined." Paul wagged his finger between Phil and Jacob. "I mean it though, secret knocks don't stay secret, then they are useless."

"What should we do then? There are a lot of guys coming into The Academy now, how are we supposed to know if they are with us or trying to be with us?"

Paul shrugged as he thought it through. "I don't know, something random. Anyone trying to copy it will try to look for a pattern, so don't have one." Phil and Jacob both looked uncertain. "Let's say you want to confirm if someone is in The Academy, then you say 'fish'. If they say another animal, or something else to do with water, than that's not random and they are not with us. If they say something back like, 'table' then that's random and they are in." They were both nodding slowly, letting the logistics sink in.

"Yeah okay, that works." With that Jacob and Phil both smiled and walked in the parlor to join their teammates.

John waited for everyone to get settled on the furniture and floor. He clapped his hands together to get their attention, "Right, on to other business. We have been approached by an acquaintance for a favor." He looked over at Paul who nodded. He finally got Paul to agree to helping Mr. Phelps with this favor, but he still wanted to confirm Paul was on board. "We need a group of four or five to pose as newsies working with the Gazette. It seems someone is sending threatening letters to Mr. Phelps and there have been multiple fights between his newsies for territories. He thinks the letters are coming from either the newsies or someone from the outside that is trying to work some sort of angle."

Thomas sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees and tapping his fingers together. "So you want some of us to go in and figure out what is really happening, and who is sending the letters?"

John nodded and was about to speak but Paul cut in. "Yes, exactly. Keep in mind, before you agree, that this could be dangerous. You will have to go acting innocent, unaware of any tension. You will need to read the other kids and quickly decide who you are going to try and get close to. If you read it wrong, even if you read it right, you could end up in the middle of a fight, or worse."

"So either way we will be in the middle of the fight." Phil's eyes were twinkling as he spoke.

"Most likely Phil, try not to seem so excited." John knew some of the guys wouldn't see this as a problem, which made Paul's point more valid. If they agreed to this favor, what would the next one be?

Phil just shrugged, but looked to Thomas. Thomas was the team lead and the guys had automatically fell into line behind him without question. Phil wanted to see what Thomas thought about it.

Thomas's head was down looking at the floor. He looked up and his eyes locked with John's. "What do we get in return?"

John nodded. "Fair question Thomas. We have an option, Mr. Phelps will either owe us some favors, or he will pay us for our time."

Thomas looked around at his team then back to John and nodded. "We aren't hurting for money right now, we'll take the favors." John looked at Paul and saw Paul's lips purse at Thomas's eagerness. "Four or five right? Mick, Phil, Ryan, Lucas, and me." He nodded at Phil, Ryan, and Lucas as he said their names. The choices didn't surprise me. Any of the guys would be able to handle themselves in a fight, but the ones Thomas picked had the right personality to try to join an already existing group of guys without questions raised.

"Good choices Thomas. You can join the newsie line Monday morning."