Brian whistled to himself a little tune as he carried his mug with him down the hall, heading toward Dr. Grant for a planned meeting. However, as he approached the steel door, he overheard voices inside. Not to be rude, he removed his hand from the door handle. Just when he was about to turn around and leave, he heard a stomp of a booted foot and a familiar yelp, most likely coming from Dr. Grant. Then a voice, muffled through the steel, snapped, "Grant, these kids are not improving! Tomorrow is the day, and they're not ready for it."

"Now, now, General," another voice replied gently, obviously filled with fear, "I'm sure we can come up with something other than—"

"Grant, we've got no choice! It's either them or us. Congress is concerned that the Zenith Project will fail again, and the President does not want to have a super-powered freak walking up his doorstep. It's my duty to protect this nation, and I'm going to do it, even if it means sacrificing a bunch of snot-nosed kids and an old hag!"

"B-but Ace, uh, Yan Lin, doesn't have any powers anymore! How can she—"

"Tsunami is after her, you nitwit! She'll be the bait."

"But what if the kids become—"

"Then we'll dispatch of them along with Tsunami."

Brian gasped, staggering back from the door. The general was planning on radiating the girls?! And forcing Yan Lin to fight?! How could he do that?!

Not even giving a second thought, he rushed away, sprinting towards Yan Lin's quarters and the girls'. Hopefully, he'll make it in time.

. . . However, he dropped his mug on the way.


Knock, knock. "Psst, Yan Lin!"

Yan Lin groaned, rolling over in the covers. The knocking continued however, and again she heard someone whisper, "Yan Lin! Please open the door!"

Yan Lin groaned again, rolled out of bed and sluggishly made her way to the door. As soon as she opened it, however, the person on the other side catapulted in, as if avoiding being attacked or something.

The man who had bolted in stumbled back to Yan Lin, gasping, "Yan Lin! There's trouble . . ."

"Whoa, whoa! Hold it!" Yan Lin guided the man to the table. "What's going on?"

"Yan Lin," the man insisted. Yan Lin leaned back and flipped on the light. When she turned to face the man again, she was surprised to see it was Brian. "Brian! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here . . ." Brian struggled, "to tell you something . . ."

"What?" Yan Lin grabbed hold of his shoulders and shook them. "What is it? Is it about the girls?"

"They're planning . . ." he gasped, still trying to catch his breath, "to use the Gamma 13 ray on them."

Yan Lin jerked herself back, as if she had been shocked. The two made eye-contact with each other, silently transmitting their fears back and forth.


The light in Will's room flickered on, tearing her out of her sleep. She groaned, burying her face deeper into her pillow. A hand reached out of nowhere and shook her shoulder hard and rapidly. "Hey, come on. Wake up."

Will moaned and rolled onto her back. "What?" she mumbled, cracking her eyes open slightly.

A hand patted her shoulder again, and she could make out a silhouette moving around in the bright light. "Come on, Will. We don't have time to snooze."

"Miss Lin?" Will slurred, shading her eyes from the bright light. She saw the woman bob her head up and down, a gesture translated as a nod. Will threw hr covers off and swung her legs out. She noticed Yan Lin had already packed her things. "Are we going somewhere?"

"You could say that," Yan Lin replied, placing Will's bags in front of the door. "Now, come on. You need to get dressed and help me wake the others. We don't have much time."

"Wait, what's going on?" Will asked, standing up and grabbing the Zenith project uniform off a chair. Yan Lin, midway out of the room, ducked her head in and said, "Look, I've got no time to explain now. I'll tell you all what's going on later, when we're safe."

"Safe? But what's that suppose to—" But Yan Lin had already departed, leaving a bewildered Will in her wake. The redhead finally landed on the conclusion, once Yan Lin had called her again, that now was not the time to question or try to make sense of things. She got dressed, grabbed her bags, and ran out to help Yan Lin. Once the two had woken and gathered the rest of the girls, Yan Lin led them all to a small, winding hall behind some pipes. Most likely it was the furnace hallway. Yan Lin stopped, turning to face the girls. "Okay, you're all probably have some questions, and you want answers. So I'll do my best to answer them. One, this place here is safe. It used to be an old meeting place of ours back when I still had a team. Two, why you're being brought to a safe place, and why I woke you all up in the middle of the night is because the Zenith Project is planning on using the gamma ray on you—"

"What?" Cornelia gasped. "They can't do that! They signed a contract with my parents. It's a—"

"They're the government, Corny," Irma said. "They can do whatever they want."

"And!" Yan Lin said sharply, interrupting the growing murmurs. "And third, the Zenith Project revival was done for one reason and one reason only: to defeat the coming threat of Tsunami."

"So she's coming back?" Will said. Everyone turned to face her, giving her questioning looks, so she repeated a bit louder, "Tsunami. She's coming back, right?"

Yan Lin bit her lower lip, but sighed and nodded. "Yeah, she's coming back."

"What about Brian?" Taranee asked quietly. "And Dr. Grant. Aren't they going to—"

"Brian's the one who warned me," Yan Lin interrupted. "He's right working on a way to distract the Zenith project while we escape. And Dr. Grant?" She shrugged. "That old geezer couldn't find his way out of a paper bag, much less help us get away."

"So what are we going to do?" Cornelia demanded. "Are we running away? The government wants us to fight Tsunami, so do we—"

"You won't fight," Yan Lin said slowly. "I'm getting you all out of here before the government messes you up like they did with me. But I will go face Tsunami. She wants me, and only me. I'm not getting you kids further involved—"

"You already got us involved," Will said sharply. "And besides, you don't have any powers. We should be the ones to—"

"Look, Will, this isn't your concern. I appreciate your concern," Yan Lin paused and took a deep breath, "but I need to handle this alone."

"But you can't, Aunt Yan," Hay Lin's sudden burst pulled everyone's attention. Hay Lin pushed forward, throwing out her hand, held in the air palm down. "Listen, whatever grievances you've had about the past, it's time to let it go. We can't hold onto our guilt and shame forever."

Yan Lin stared blankly at Hay Lin, internally surprised by her outburst. Hay Lin nodded at her hand. "We're in this together," she continued. "We're both fighting Tsunami."

Will put her hand on top of Hay Lin's. "I'm in, too." She grinned at Yan Lin. "I'm not letting you join the rest of your team."

"Me, three," Taranee said, joining the hands with her own. "It's like what Hay Lin said. We're in this together."

"Count me in!" Irma whooped, slapping her hand on top of the others. She got weird looks from the others, so she grinned sheepishly. "What? Anything that has to do with butt-whooping, I want in on the action."

"Well," Cornelia said, clapping her hands together, "I always wanted to be part of a team. So," she rested her hand on top, "I'm in." Everyone then turned their heads to Yan Lin, looking up at her wishfully. Yan Lin, sighed, smiling in spite of herself, and waved her hands in front of her face. "Okay, okay. I get the picture. You can come."

"Can we get codenames?" Irma asked energetically.

"Yeah, can we?" Hay Lin pleaded, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Yan Lin sighed, shaking her head. "You need codenames—" she began to say, but her voice was drowned out by the others begging, "Please-please, can we get codenames?"

"Okay, okay!" Yan Lin once more waved her hands out in front. She pointed at Irma, "I dub you Super-Annoying Girl, you," pointing at Cornelia, "the Golden Wonder," pointing at Hay Lin, "Vanishing Woman," pointing at Taranee, "Scaredy-Cat," finally pointing at Will, "and you, Lightning Lass."

"Aw, that name sucks!" Irma said.

"I was hoping for something more encouraging," Taranee said quietly.

"The Golden Wonder?" Cornelia yawned. "Boring!"

"I've heard better from four year-olds," Hay Lin stated bluntly.

"Why can't we pick our names?" Will asked.

"Alright, fine!" Yan Lin said, throwing her hands up in the air. "You pick your names."

"Okay, then," Will turned to face the others. "So what do you think best suits me?"

"The Thunder Bolt!" Irma blurted out.

"How 'bout Electra?" Taranee suggested.

"No, no, it's got to do with her features and powers," Cornelia said as a matter of fact. "Like Red Bolt or something."

"Red Lightning!" Hay Lin exclaimed.

Will nodded happily. "Yeah, I like that! Red Lightning, that works perfectly."

"So how 'bout me?" Hay Lin asked. "What's gonna be my codename?"

"It's got to do something with your powers," Irma said.

"How about Houdini?" Cornelia offered. "You know, cuz you're always disappearing like him."

"If she's Houdini, I want to be Aquarius," Irma said. "Like from the Zodiac."

"Then I'll be Wonder." Cornelia winked at Yan Lin. "I liked the Wonder part, not so much the Golden part."

"And I can Volcana," Taranee said.

"Yeah!" Hay Lin said.

"Fits perfectly," Will said with approval in her voice.

"Okay, then," Yan Lin said, stepping in. "Now that everyone's happy with your codenames, I'd like to show you something." She pointed above her head. Will and the others looked up, surprised to see handwriting on the lower hanging ceiling, each signature a codename from one of the original Zenith team. Yan Lin reached into her pocket and pulled out a red sharpie, holding it out to be taken. "Welcome to the Zenith Team, girls."

"Cool!" Irma snagged the marker and scribbled her name on the ceiling. The others took their turns writing their codenames down. Once it was done, Yan Lin nodded her head with approval and said, "Okay, team, time to kick Tsunami butt!"

"Yay!" the others exclaimed, pumping their fists into the air and flowing their leader into one of the greatest battles ever.