Disclaimer: I do not own the DC heroes Hawk and Dove, whom I loosely based my main characters on.

Dan took more steps backward, growing instantly confused and defensive. The blonde woman, Louise, wrung her hands in front of her. And Dr. Hurley made no sounds or movements the whole time. She was still staring firmly at the place where Dan's chair had been.

"Please start explaining," he said quietly. His anger and frustration melted away, and in their place were only questions.

Louise swallowed, glanced at Dan, and walked over to Dr. Hurley. Dan couldn't quite see what she was doing, but soon the latter was moving again. Her fingers unlaced, then her arms moved down to her sides, and then she sat up rim-rod straight. Her expression was blank as she said, "Going into stand-by mode." Then silence. No movement whatsoever.

Dr. Hurley was a robot. Dan stared, his jaw going slack.

Louise cleared her throat. "I made her. Believable, isn't she?" she said, and although she was extremely trepidatious there was still a glint of pride behind her voice. This woman –couldn't be that much older than Dan- made this robot. A robot that looked so real and talked like a human and ran an entire facility of gifted children. And she was proud of it.

Dan supposed the robot didn't run The School. Louise must do it.

"You haven't started explaining," he prompted snappily.

Louise swallowed and put her hands on the back of Dr. Hurley's chair. "Right. Might as well tell you since there's no point in beating around the bush," she said and took another breath, "My name is Louise Pentland, and I'm a super genius. I developed this entire place. All the men you see around here… well, they're not men, they're androids, I built them."

"Wait," Dan interrupted, holding up her hand, "The administration, all the people who walk around with the suits and ear pieces. They're robots?"

Louise nodded. "Yes. I grew up in the next town over, you see, on the other side of the hills. This building has been here for years. I community center, I think it was? Yes. Anyway, I programmed the androids to fix it up to make it look like this. Ages it took, but I finally did it years ago. And here we are," she said, a small smile creeping onto her lips.

That explains the old gym, and the poolroom. "What about the junk yard?" Dan asked.

"It came with the building. Old places acquire old things over the years. But, old things can be made new," Louise said and placed her hand on Dr. Hurley's shoulder, "I made this one out of parts I found in that junk yard. Can't tell now, can you?"

"No," Dan conceded. He was still so, so confused. "Please. What is this place? If Dr. Hurley is a robot, if they're all robots, then who is running this place? You? And you said you were a super genius. You're… one of us?"

This time Louise smiled for real, as if Dan had just made her dreams come true. "Yes. I also have a genetic mutation that makes me different than others. Like you have," she said.

"Okay. Then… why are you doing this to us? Taking us away from our families, Prime Minister Page searching for us, the blood samples. The experimentation!" Dan rattled off, putting a hand in his hair.

"I can explain," Louise told him, once again, "Please, have a seat. You're making me nervous standing over there, you're much taller than I am."

Slowly, Dan pulled up the chair he had knocked back and sat before the desk. Louise pulled one that was sitting next to a bookshelf and sat down in it beside Dan, facing him. When he gave her a questioning look, she smiled. "The person sitting behind a desk creates an illusion of power by doing so. There's no point for me to do that between us," she said.

Dan just nodded. Now he could believe she was a genius. That explains why PJ couldn't hack into the system. She coded it herself to make it impenetrable. Phil had this theory, maybe not completely correct, but close. He stored it away to ask about later. "Alright. Start talking," he said.

Louise cleared her throat. "This place is not what you think it is. I do not work for the government, not anymore. I made this facility to protect people like us from them. Page's mutant hunt? It's been in the works for a long time. Yes, I lie to everyone here. I make them feel powerless. I make highly qualified tutors teach young people to suppress their abilities," she looked down, "But this is better than telling everyone the truth. If I did, they would feel empowered and try to take down their oppressors. Which I am all for, since I let your group of friends traipse around like you do, but if it were everyone it would be a different story. They would get serious. And with our small numbers we would lose more than we gain. So I make you feel like prisoners instead of heroes."

"Wait. You know? About the resistance?" Dan asked, suddenly feeling very exposed.

Louise actually barked a laugh. "Of course I do! I figured some sort of rebellion would form when I wrote all the strict rules and made you check in at every meal. Daniel, I'm a super genius. I know when someone turns off my camera system to bring your new members in. I know you're learning how to use your energy. I know Jenna Mourey and Alfie Deyes are running the show. I also know the technopath has rebuilt a school bus. That is something I did not see coming," she said, shaking her head.

"It's Dan. So you've gotten all this from cameras?" he questioned.

"No, I'm kept updated."

"What?"

She sighed. "Your friends were right when they figured out there was a mole. Actually, you have two. The whole resistance was Jenna's idea, but when it was formed I approached one of the founding members. And then his friend, because it was hard to keep things from him anyway, he could tell the androids weren't human. They don't have brains."

"Who are they?"

"Alfie and Marcus. They know everything," Louise replied, "You didn't have to worry about him going through your heads, he was the mole the whole time. That was really for Jenna's benefit."

Dan sat back, looking away. Even though it was all a sham, he couldn't help but feel slightly betrayed. His head still swirled. "So you hide out behind that hole in the wall and let us work? Then what's the point of these interrogations? You've had a number of my friends in this office," he said.

"To stay on top of things, Daniel-"

"Dan."

"To make sure my secrets are upheld. Like I said, protecting so many people only works if they don't think they have the power to start an entire revolution on their own. I wrote Dr. Hurley's entire vocabulary and her responses are automated. I ask about the basement gym to make sure no one has spotted the actual age of the building. I ask about the junk yard because I want to make sure no one realizes that I'm the one stealing parts all the time. I don't care that your rebel group goes out there. Go nuts! But androids break more often than I would like, and I'm still working out the kinks," she said and snapped her fingers, "I could recruit your technopath friend. What's his name?"

"PJ."

"Right, yes. Perhaps I will do that," she said, nodding, more to herself than to Dan it seemed.

Dan schooled his expression. He had been listening, almost in awe at what was actually happening here. "Why do you keep us here if you know we want to get out?" he asked.

"Do you want to be a lab rat for Page?" Louise said, raising an eyebrow.

Dan scoffed, looking away. "No! But there are more of us out there who don't want to be either!"

"Less than you think," Louise added.

"Still," he grumbled, pushing his hand through his hair, "In the entire country? In all of the United Kingdom? There's bound to be at least a hundred more, most of them probably children. So we let Page cut up their brains?"

Louise looked down, looking extremely disheartened. "I can't save everyone, no matter how much I want to. I know a few have already been lost by this point," she said. She reached over and put her hand on Dan's arm. He didn't shake her off. "But I am very glad you and your little Fantastic Foursome are so rebellious. If you hadn't seen that the Prime Minister is putting his plan into effect, I would have never known. I try to keep up on the news, but I actually have a lot to do around here."

Dan took a breath. "You said you don't work for the government anymore? That means you did at one point," he said.

She nodded. "Yes, I did. Being brilliant as I am, I graduated university very young and was brought into MI5 almost straight away. That's where I started to work on the enzyme for Page. Yes, I developed it," she added at Dan's horrified look, "But it was not perfect, even by the time I left. I dearly hope that it's gotten there now that they're going to use it."

"You didn't know what the purpose of it was, did you?" Dan said.

"Not at first. You don't really ask questions in a place like MI5, Dan. But, young as I was, I was curious and of course smart enough to hack into the files of my superiors. It's like cutting through butter," she said, waving her hand.

Dan cracked a smile for the first time since he separated from Phil. "I have a feeling you and PJ would get along nicely," he commented.

Louise preened for only a moment. "Anyway, I figured out what they were going to use it for and decided I wasn't going to aid crimes against my own kind. I was surprised they hadn't figured out I was one of them," she said with a light laugh, "But I had no power to stop it, so I decided to resign. Luckily the whole project was put on a shelf before I could even pack up my lab space."

"They've obviously brought it out again. Page said they were going to interrogate people, and take blood samples to mix with the enzyme. Not only is that a complete invasion of the human body, but if it works then they'll have any number of 'our kind' in one of those labs," Dan said, "And, no offence- no, take offence. What you're doing here is not helping all that much."

Her cheeks colored. "Well, I'm not trying to start a real rebellion. The School is here to protect people."

Dan threw a hand in the air. "Then we should start a real rebellion! Just like you said, you're lying to everyone here. Page needs to be stopped, and the British people need to be taught not to fear us anymore. Keeping us all locked up is not going to do anything," he said, "Also, great name."

"It's the most logical choice. I'm super smart, not super creative," Louise rebuffed, "So… what would you do, then?"

Dan huffed and thought a few moments, leaning forward on his knees. "First, I'd want to tell everyone what is actually going on here. Not just the resistance, every person here deserves to know. Give them a little power and make sure their voices are heard. Next I'd start real training, combative training," he began.

"You want to fight?" Louise interrupted.

"As a precaution, we might have to. We can't just walk into Parliament and ask them to stop hating us, can we? So we need some skill. And, lots of us have offensive powers."

"Like you. You almost incinerated my android," she said.

"Yes, like me. And Phil, and Alfie, and Charlie. We could help if we were free to," Dan said. He looked at Louise while she thought, and he didn't remember turning to face her properly during this whole exchange. Her hair fell in front of her face, obscuring it from his view.

Finally she looked back up at him and nodded once. "Okay. Let's do it," she said firmly.

Dan blinked. "Wait, really?"

"Yes, silly. You're right. Keeping you all safe isn't enough anymore, not with this new witch-hunt going on. The government knows you've been taken somewhere, but they don't know where. Who do you think they'll ask first, Dan?" she said.

His heart leapt. "Our families."

"Exactly, and I don't imagine the soldiers they have out there on the hunt are going to be well receptive to the word no. You all have someone to keep safe," she said and took a deep breath, "So. Time for change."

Fucking what. Dan looked at her a bit longer, and she simply smiled a little and waited for his reaction. "Wow. Okay. One question first," he said, holding up a finger, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Louise chuckled. "Well, for one, you almost killed my android and that would have been very bad. She can't defend herself, you know. I suppose now it doesn't matter," she said and looked over Hurley-bot for a moment, "And, I believe you. You have conviction, you especially out of every one of your friends. Your power is offensive, as you mentioned. You're a natural born leader, Dan."

Dan gulped. Leading didn't really seem like something he was prepared for. "Well, maybe. This is all very sudden and kind of overwhelming."

"I know, but now you know everything," Louise said, "Where should we start tomorrow?"

Dan drummed his fingers on his knee. "We'll bring everyone into the auditorium after breakfast and fill them in at the same time," he said decidedly.

"Brilliant, it's a plan."

Dan gave a tight-lipped smile and met her eyes. "Can I…?" he stopped, letting the question hang in the air. He didn't understand how the authority in this place worked anymore.

Louise nodded. "Go, you should get some sleep. You don't need to ask me, I'm not your boss. In fact, you should probably be mine," she said, surprisingly bright, "Everything changes tomorrow! It's been great talking with you, Dan. I've forgotten that human interaction is an important part to a healthy psyche."

So Dan left and went back to his room. Even though he knew now that it didn't even matter, he was still hyperaware of every camera he passed, conditioned by now to be afraid of getting caught. The whole walk back he tried to compartmentalize. Louise was the mastermind behind the entirety of the facility's administration. She's a former MI5 scientist. She encrypted the computer system to hide her secrets, which explains why PJ couldn't hack it or find a signal. The cameras run independently and there are some even PJ doesn't know about. Alfie and Marcus know about everything. Jenna does not. Now Dan knows all about it as well. They're going to try and stop the Prime Minister from hurting any other mutants and try to prove they're not dangerous. Dan was "a natural born leader".

Phil was asleep on the couch when he walked in, which probably happened because he waited up for Dan. He was touched, his cheeks swelling with color even with Phil asleep. He was roused just enough to carry himself to bed before Dan went to sleep as well. Like Louise said, everything changes tomorrow.

In the morning everything went as usual. The alarm went off, Phil got in the shower. Dan lay in bed for a little extra time, since his time schedule basically meant nothing now. Its only purpose was to provide structure in the world that was very soon going to be upside down. The foursome had known something was going to change, but Dan still didn't believe that it was going to be this much change.

By the time Phil got out of the shower, Dan had gotten up and changed his clothes. He was sitting on his bed when Phil knocked on his door. "Ready?"

Dan stood. "Ready," he said.

As they left the room for the cafeteria, Phil watched him. "Are you okay? You look a little green, actually," he commented.

Clearing his throat, Dan nodded. "Yes, I'm okay. But," he considered telling Phil everything right then and there, "You'll see later. Nevermind."

"Nevermind?" Phil repeated, bewildered. They never had secrets between them.

"I know, I'm sorry, but you'll know really soon I promise," Dan said, reaching out to boldly take Phil's hand and squeeze. It hissed for a moment but swiftly stopped. Phil smiled a little and nodded, but Dan knew being cryptic hadn't decreased his friend's worrying at all. It was written all over his face. Dan dropped his hand almost as quickly as he had grabbed it.

Dan and Phil sat down with their friends in their usual spots. Dan felt extremely weird keeping such a huge secret, that all his friends were living lies as if it were normal. It's when Zoe and Alfie walked in together, fingers interlaced, that Dan decided he would tell Alfie that he was up to date. He made a short excuse to Phil and got up to go meet him on the other side of the room.

"Hi, Dan," Zoe chirped when he approached. He glanced down at her hand closed tight in Alfie's, and made a mental note to ask about that later. His mind was starting to become overrun with mental notes.

"Hey," Dan replied with a clipped smile. Then he directed his gaze to Alfie. "Could I talk to you for a moment?" he said.

Alfie raised his eyebrows, and then glanced around. He wasn't in Dan's department, so it would look a little strange for them to be seen speaking alone together. Impatient, Dan tilted his head and waited. He knew it didn't matter what anyone around them thought, and it was starting to annoy him that Alfie was so good at keeping up pretenses.

Finally he nodded. "Alright. We'll go out there," he said, nodding back towards the hallway. He told Zoe he'd be right back and she walked towards their table, looking curious but not like she was about to ask. Dan followed him out into the corridor, his pulse now thudding loudly in his ears. Alfie turned to him. "What's up?"

Dan didn't know how to begin. Honestly this was a rash decision and he really should have thought this through. Maybe went to find Marcus as well. "I know," he said lamely.

Alfie tilted his head. "Know what?"

"Everything," Dan continued and then dropped his voice, "About Louise."

The other's eyes widened considerably, which was understandable. It was kind of a huge thing, and there were probably a lot of questions as to why Louise trusted a loser kid like Dan. "Why did she tell you?" Alfie asked him.

"It was an accident. I was called into one of those meetings with Dr. Hurley yesterday," he began, scratching the back of his neck, "And I almost cooked her."

Surprisingly, Alfie started to laugh, tilting his head back. "Well, that's one way to do it. Louise loves her androids; she would have been devastated if one of them were destroyed. And then the cat would have been out of the bag anyway," he said.

"Right," Dan sighed, cracking a smile. He felt a little less nervous now that Alfie had laughed. But there was still the second part of the conversation. "She's also going to tell everyone."

Alfie stopped laughing. "What?"

Dan sighed. "That part was sort of my idea. I gave Louise the third degree about keeping all of this from an entire facility full of us and making us feel like prisoners for something we can't control," he said, "So after breakfast she's bringing everyone together in the auditorium and spilling everything."

Alfie just blinked, not saying anything. Dan understood why, but it still brought back his anxiety about the whole situation back full force. "I thought you should know," he added. The other started to nod slowly.

"Thanks, Dan. At least now I can be some sort of prepared."

Dan nodded. "Sure thing," he replied. Alfie brushed past him and into the cafeteria. Sighing, he prepared himself to go back inside and pretend everything was normal. Even though she and Alfie had come in holding hands, Zoe still sat in her usual space. Joe now sat on her other side. They didn't seem to want to be apart for very long.

Sometimes looking at them made Dan miss his own brother.

"What was that about?" she asked him.

"Um," Dan said and saw Phil look over at out of the corner of his eye. He knew Phil knew something was up. "You'll see," he told her, managing a small smile.

The rest of the breakfast block was thankfully not an interrogation. The rest of his friends also did not seem to notice anything was wrong. Dan was quite good at acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. He silently thanked his years of drama while he laughed at Chris's jokes and listen to Carrie tell stories from her statistics class. The only thing, a small thing that was different is that Dan didn't eat anything. No one noticed, except for Phil of course.

At one point he reached over and squeezed Dan's knee. His mouth dried right up when Phil didn't move his hand afterwards.

Before he was ready, the bell tolled, and breakfast was over. As everyone started to rise and throw their things away, an announcement blared over the loud speakers. Dan froze to listen.

"Attention, everyone," it was the cool voice of the Hurley-bot, "Today we are interrupting your daily schedules for a very important assembly. Everyone must be seated in the auditorium, as we will begin in just twenty minutes. Let me reiterate, this is very important. Thank you."

The PA system cut out. The resistance members stood around exchanging looks. Dan couldn't help but notice that a lot of them looked over at Dan, and at Phil. Sighing, the former decided to start the trek and walked towards the door. Moments later the others followed. Ever since Louise pointed out the "natural leader" thing, he couldn't help but notice that things like this happened more often then he was used to.

Phil sidled up beside Dan. "This is what's making you jittery, isn't it?" he said.

"You know me so well," the younger one replied.

"Better than most," Phil agreed, "You know what's going on and you don't like hiding it."

"Yep."

"And you're not going to say anything?"

Dan shook his head. "It won't be a secret for much longer. Just… prepare yourself and don't freak out," he advised.

Phil smiled at him. "Dan, if I can be described as anything in life it would be chill," he whispered. Dan cracked a smile and muttered something along the lines of 'you spork' while they entered the auditorium.

Dan sat in the very front row, feeling there was no point in trying to hide. Phil sat beside him, and the others filled in the rest of the row. Dan's knee shook nervously while everyone else filled in the seats, and in his opinion they were moving much too slowly. There was no point in putting it off. However, if he were in their shoes, he would probably be a little anxious about what was to come as well.

The anxiety was all for nothing. It just made his blood boil, almost in the literal sense.

Twenty minutes later, to the second, the stage lights lit up. Dan lifted his head to look, not really sure what to expect. And what did happen was definitely not it: the Hurley-bot walking onto the stage. It reminded him of his first day in this place and that felt like a lifetime ago.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," the android said, inclining her head, "As I said, this is of the utmost importance. While we speak, I'd appreciate complete silence until we are finished. Thank you."

Dan quirked a brow. A little light on the humanization, Louise.

There were confused murmurs all around the auditorium, and then Alfie jogged onto the stage. Zoe sucked in a breath on the other side of Phil. "Err, hey guys," he said, waving a hand vaguely. He must have gone to find Louise beforehand. Dan didn't look at his friends. "So, my name is Alfie Deyes, for any of you who don't know and I'm a case worker here. Um, I ask that you remain seated and not freak out."

When Louise slowly made her way onto the stage Dan realized why Alfie was up there with her: for protection. Louise paused, opened her mouth like she was going to say something, and then walked over to the android. She opened the neck panel, pressed a few buttons, and then it shut down. The file that had been clutched in the robot's arms fell to the ground, empty. Confused murmurs spread through the crowd.

"Hello," Louise said, waving her hand in greeting, "My name is Louise Pentland. And everything you know about this place is a lie."

This time the murmurs bloomed into talking. Dan avoided meeting Phil's eye. Louise had to remind them that she asked them to be quiet until she finished. Once she had everyone's attention again, she went into a similar speech to the one she gave to him. She added in Prime Minister Page, the witch-hunt, the experiments. Everyone seated around Dan was silent, and out of the corner of his eye he could see that Phil's mouth was slightly open. She ended with, "I'm not trying to start an uprising. Just someone with a little more understanding of people encouraged me to come clean. You all deserve more than what I've given you."

This time Dan did meet Phil's eye. He raised his eyebrows in question. Dan nodded, confirming that this was what he was hiding, and was about to turn away when something caught his eye over his friend's shoulder. Someone approached the stage, and Dan's eyes widened when he saw who it was.

Jenna stood in the light, arms crossed. "So what about you, dumbbell?" she snapped.

Alfie, whose face turned beet red, approached the lip of the stage. "I was a resistance leader. I was keeping up the image to help Louise protect our population," he said, "I was in on it."

Dan could only see the back of her head, but he could imagine how infuriated Jenna looked. From somewhere in the rows behind them, someone piped up. "I was in on it too." It was Marcus.

Jenna spun around, glared furiously, and then looked back at the stage. "So what happens now? Since obviously everything I've known, every thing I've been in charge of, is fake I assume I have to ask you two," she continued, gesturing towards the stage.

Louise found Dan in the crowd. He didn't quite know what to do. She looked away. "I don't expect us to do anything. I was going to work nearly around the clock to find more of us before the government does-"

"Do nothing?" Jenna interrupted, dropping her hands to her sides, "You expect us all to walk around here like everything is normal after you dropped this huge bomb on us?"

Louise looked down at her feet. She wasn't cut out for this much human interaction; her mind was wired for a different kind of intelligence. Jenna was being harsh, but Dan understood why. He recognized her tone. She felt betrayed, by the system and probably by Alfie, and Dan remembered that feeling from when his own parents turned him in. There wasn't even a goodbye.

But after Jenna's statement, there were outcries all over the room. People agreed with her. Dan turned in his chair, looking around. The auditorium wasn't even half full, and most of them were children. The older ones were part of the resistance, except for a few. Dan turned back around as Alfie tried to get everyone's attention again. "Listen! Being unhappy in a facility of your peers is different than trying to stop the actual government of the United Kingdom. We can't just storm the city of London!" he said.

"We can't sit around either!" someone in the crowd argued.

More angry shouts followed that. People started to stand, and the shouting swelled to an influx of questions and suggestions and garbled words. Even some of Dan's friends were on their feet, protesting along. Louise and Alfie looked helpless, and Dan's hand closed around his armrest. They were right; they couldn't just do nothing and pretend everything was fine. They couldn't wait for more mutant kids to just fall into the hands of Louise's androids. They needed to stop the mutant hunts and save those people. And that wasn't going to happen with them all being safe in this glorified prison. Louise had conveniently left out that she had agreed to his ideas in her office last night. He supposed it was up to him.

Dan sprang to his feet and started to push towards the stage. Phil gasped his name in surprise and it sounded like he was following. Dan wasted no time and climbed right up onto the apron, surprising Alfie. Louise simply stepped back. The flurry of words from the crowd didn't stop.

Heat surged down his limbs at Dan's command, and pooled in his palms. They caught almost immediately. He breathed out once, a puff of black smoke dispelled from his mouth, and he waved his hands over his head to get their attention. "Hey!" he shouted. The shouting cut off abruptly and the ones closest to the stage backed up a few paces. Dan retracted the heat and didn't even have time to congratulate himself. He was too focused.

"I was just as confused as you all are when I found out, but this," he gestured to the crowd, "Is accomplishing nothing. In case you all haven't noticed this place has kept us safe. Louise's methods may not have been pleasant, but they were the most logical, because here we are. Without her, and without this, some of us could be in the capitol right now with our heads cut open." No one said anything. Jenna still looked irate. "I agree with a good portion of you. We have to do something. But Alfie is right in the fact that we can't just attack. Hardly any of you know how to fight, which we would need to do to break in."

"Wait," Phil interrupted, a few steps behind him. He moved to stand beside Dan. "Who says anything about breaking in? We don't have to be aggressive about this. We're all people with the ability to talk."

The crowd shifted, and there were a couple words of agreement. Dan looked around at them, confused, for a few moments before he replied.

"They're scared of us, Phil. No one in power, especially not the Prime Minister, is going to want to be in the same room with us. We can't just call a meeting," he said, gesturing with his arm.

There were a few more murmurs from the crowd, agreeing with Dan. Zoe, Carrie, Joe, and Caspar had pushed themselves to the front. Dan glanced down at them and then back at Phil, who looked pensive. "But going in guns ablaze will get us shot," he replied, "We'll basically be starting a war."

Murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd. Dan and Phil looked at them, and then at each other. "Well, we have to do something," Dan said, shaking his head, "Pretending like nothing's changed is not an option."

The other nodded. "I know. And we will do something," he said.

Jenna scoffed. "You two are also getting us no where. Who put you in charge?" she said.

Dan furrowed his eyebrows. Again with the leader thing… maybe he should start getting used to it. "No one put us in-"

"I wouldn't mind if Dan and Phil were in charge," Zoe piped up, a few people over from Jenna, "They have good ideas and they know how to use their abilities. I've seen it." Resistance members around her put in their assent, nodding. Dan looked over to see Phil's cheeks coloring.

"Maybe we should listen to them after all," Carrie said firmly.

Louise piped up, inclining her head hopefully. "Maybe we should have a more intimate meeting?"

"Well, that's never going to happen with hawk and dove over here arguing," PJ added as he and Chris joined them on the stage.

Dan and Phil both looked over, eyes widening. "What?" they said in tandem.

PJ looked speculative. "Hawk and dove? You know, during war, the hawks are the people who want to fight and the doves are the people who want to talk," he said.

Dan and Phil exchanged another look, their smiles growing. There it was, that was it.

"Alright, Hawk and Dove," Alfie said, stepping forward, "What do we do first?"