What happens in as little two and a half years can change a person almost completely.
Dare sighed as he looked down at the dead guards by his feet. He then made his way past them and walked into the facility that now had dead body parts all down the hall.
"Jeeze," he sighed again, in exasperation this time. "They sure made a mess. No finesse whatsoever..."
He made his way through the blood covered corridors and finally into the room he was looking wolves had torn their way through the poor observation room. Monitors were crashed and the procesing bodies of the computers had been smashed terribly. He shook his head at the animosity that accompanied the job. And the idiocy.
He stepped over the dead researchers and followed the sound of the electricity still running through the wall; this was one case in which his changeling abilities still came in handy. He found the hidden compartment in the wall almost immediately. He'd been informed of the code at the beginning of his mission. It was child'splay to plug it in and open the compartment that could've been called a technologically advanced safe of some kind.
He took the silver suitcase out smoothly and, after making sure of its contents, walked out with it calmly.
One more thing. He hit the activator in his pocket, seconds later, the building exploded in flames. He didn't look back.
...
"Well done, Dare." Ming spoke as Dare entered his private office. He was one of the only ones who was allowed to do so. "I see you've got the case."
Dare only nodded, setting the case in front of Ming as the man looked him over. The arrow uniform looked quite well on him, although it had been modified for an EA. The uniform was as black as an Arrow's, but changed in the style and extra color. The uniform was more akin to a young captain's uniform that had been done in the most richest of dark colors and Ming's logo blazed a red insignia on both shoulders of the wear. A singular emblem pinned on his collar showed his high status.
Ming knew how the boy had crawled his way up the ranking in order to become a Captain in a little less than a year. The desire and determination it must have taken to accomplish such a task made him take an intense direction with the boy, using him on his on missions whenever the need arose. This boy was special. It also hadn't escaped his notice that, when asked to pick a team to be Captain over, he chose not strong and powerful people, but his childhood friends whom he had arrived with.
Ordinarily, Ming would call this a weak act of emotion, after all none of the five were really powerful. However, Dare had been adamant and promised to have his team in perfect shape for the next mission. He said all he'd need was four months to train them into lethal precision. Ming had doubted him quite seriously. And had learned to never do so again.
It only taken three.
The team that he'd seen then was a complete turn around from three months prior. It interested him and almost surprised him. Almost.
"Am I dismissed, Sir?" Ming looked up at Dare's question. He realized he had been lost in his thoughts for quite a while based on how the Sun's light was starting to slide across the smooth floor. Dare had stood there for it all, his stance official and professional. Yet, his eyes were a bright cascade of sapphire and deep emerald.
They had once had an order to them. They had looked somewhat ordinary... Now, the colors were powerfully vibrant and in a gorgeous disarray that had started when he'd broken his mind. It would forever be a marker of the event. The day the beast won.
"Yes," Ming answered. "Good work. Return to your team and remain on base until ordered otherwise."
Dare nodded. "Understood. "
...
Riley looked at the calendar slightly confused. A large red circle was over the date February 14. It was Valentine's day, but he felt it was something different. A trickle in the back of his mind. Since it was only February 1, he wondered if it would be okay I'd he just maybe ignored it...
Then it hit him, for the first time in two chaotic years. That was Dare's birthday.
...
Cascada sighed into the powerful wind. It had been more than two years now. She hadn't seen him since... Since he'd been crying as he shouted at Hawke. Passion and pain had changed his face then, making him look no longer confident but desperate. Desperate and in need.
She sighed again.
"Maybe if we'd listened...things would've worked out better. " The situations might have not gone the way they did. The thoughts came out unintentionally.
"Hey, are you okay? "
She turned just as Adria spoke.
"Yeah," she said, smiling at her good friend-something she had finally gotten used to doing- and followed her into the den as the sun slowly made its way below the horizon.
...
Ming blinked at the transmission coming to Dare's communication tablet. He listened intently.
...
"Visit?" Dare asked, pausing in his act of drying his hair with the towel. Riley smiled at him through the communicator.
"I haven't seen you in person in almost three years," Riley spoke, his eyes catching on a light nearby. "None of us have, and that's just not right for family, is it guys?"
"No way!" Drew said, entering the screen from the top-right.
"Nope!" Brenna said then, smiling as she entered at top-left.
Dare wondered if it was an intervention in the making.
"I don't know, guys," he said then, the towel still frozen on his head, covering a portion of his face from view. Thoughts rolled around his mind quicker than they could express themselves on his face. His mind worked accordingly, like a fine working clock.
"I'd have to ask the others," he said, looking at his door and saying a "come in" to a shocked Dylan.
"How do you do that?" Dylan asked, the others entered behind him.
Dare grinned at his best friends. "Because I'm magic." He emphasized the remark by tossing one of the pillows behind him at Dylan like a tomahawk.
It spoke of their training when Dylan caught it without having to really turn and look.
"What do you guys think?" Drew asked and Dylan took a seat on the floor beside Dare, the others took similar positions of the their own.
"Of what?" Dylan asked, finally looking up at the communicator.
"Of you all visiting on Dare's birthday." Riley spoke and Dare caught the horrified expressions on his friends' faces before they were all hidden from their spectators. Now they shifted to Dare.
He cleared his throat, his mind racing over possible scenarios that could occur. The stress of behaving one way together and a complete other with family may be too stressful. His gaze looked over his companions, noticing the hidden worry in their eyes and the tenseness in their bodies. He wasn't sure this would be a good idea since the training was still taking place.
He turned to Riley, about to resolve the issue completely, when a crystal clear voice spoke into their minds.
What about this, then?