Chapter 74: Magic and Mayhem

The mouth of the cave looked ominous. Alex felt a jolt of fear. He had his stuff. He wondered why it had to be a damn cave but wasn't about to risk it going horribly wrong. He supposed it might be a convenience thing. Fenrir whined next to him. "I know, buddy."

Fenrir pressed up against his leg. Alex pet his wolf. "Here's hoping we don't blow up the cave."

Alex carefully got out his ingredients for the ritual. He stepped into the cave, the light almost going to nothing. Fenrir was not happy about the confined space. Alex wasn't either. He'd been in enough caves, piping, and narrow spaces to cram himself through that he wasn't the fondest of tight spaces either. The path, thankfully, widened back out. Alex felt his eyes widen as the cave began to light back up. There was a giant pool of water in front of him. The light appeared to be coming from glowing stones. Alex squinted at them. It was interesting because the light was coming from cracks in the ceiling, but the stones magnified the light in such a way that the pool was easily visible. It was about four feet deep. Alex wished he'd come before sunset because he had a feeling that the glowing rocks wouldn't be glowing the whole night. Hopefully, they at least kept light for a few hours. He began to carefully set up the circles that Grim had provided. Having an eidetic memory had its benefits. Fenrir walked off and sat in the farthest corner away from him. "Aw, c'mon, fluff. It won't be that bad."

The cave was cold and damp. It almost reminded him of being back in England. Fenrir pawed the walls of the cave. Alex huffed. "Look, I didn't pick the crummy old structurally unstable cave, okay?"

Fenrir flopped down dramatically near a bunch of stalagmites and rolled around. "Try not to break anything. We don't want a rockfall."

Fenrir rolled back over and stared at him like he was an insane idiot. Alex grinned. "Sorry."

Fenrir huffed as if to say that if Alex was sorry, they would be getting out of the damn grotty cave. Fenrir's bright yellow eyes were luminous in the low light. "You're a very handsome boy."

Fenrir preened and fluffed up his fur. Alex smiled. His 'dog' was always a sucker for compliments. He ignored his pet in favor of focusing on the last round of symbols. Next were the ingredients and prep. He'd made sure to wash everything in a stream beforehand. Alex did try not to contaminate the caves he used for these things. He took one last glance at Fenrir before he began.

The second Alex left the cave, it began to crumble inward. He stared as the cave collapsed on itself. There was a loud blast of thunder and rain began to pour. Alex was soaked in a few seconds. Fenrir was sitting next to him, giving him what Alex could only call "I told you so" looks. "You're a very smart boy."

Fenrir chuffed. He gave the dog a treat. Alex knew he was going to have to get "charged" so to speak. Fenrir was looking anxiously at him. Alex figured that lightning storms weren't a favorite of his pet, especially after the bombings and gunshots they'd endured together. He was dripping water. Just great. At least his gear was waterproof. Fenrir gave him a look that suggested that the wolf was going to be soaking his sleeping bag and shaking off in his tent on purpose. Alex sighed. "Alrighty, boy. Let's go climb a tall tree in a lightning storm."

Fenrir let out a whine. The "dog" was probably right. "You wouldn't leave me defenseless while recovering from a massive shock, would you?"

Fenrir headbutted him forward and nipped his hand. Alex ran his hands through the soaked fur. Fenrir was already starting to reek of wet dog. Then again, he probably stank of herbs, body odor, and damp cave, so he couldn't talk. Fenrir began trotting alongside him. Alex kept it to a loose jog. Fenrir seemed to know that he couldn't keep up with the wolf's running and climb a tree in a rainstorm. He might be an augment, but there were limits. They quickly found a massive tree. Alex got rain in his eyes as he looked up. He began climbing the huge, knotted tree. It was larger around than he was tall. Fenrir stayed at the base of the tree. Alex didn't look down as he went higher and higher. The tree's branches hadn't even begun to thin out that much. He kept going. His arms were beginning to hurt. The rain was also pouring down the tree. It was becoming even slicker. As Alex went higher, there were rivulets and streams of water pouring down the tree. He sat down on a wide branch for a break. All of a sudden, time froze. He tasted metal and it felt like he had fire ants running through his veins. He saw white arcs of electricity across his skin. The world went dark.

Lance wasn't normally the antsy type, but Xany was taking a while and people were getting anxious. What he was not expecting was for the kid to come crashing through the trees, glowing like a jellyfish at three in the morning. His eyes had turned the color of gold. Lance sure hoped that was gonna wear off because otherwise, they were going to have some stealth problems. "So, what's with the new glow-in-the-dark look?"

Xany grinned. Lance was partially blinded by brilliant white teeth. "You'll see."

Well, that wasn't ominous at all. "Is everyone ready to bust in?"

Lance rubbed his eyes. "Sure. Let's wake them."

Xany went for Darian first. Lance decided he was going to go for Allen. "WHAT THE FU-"

Lance nearly groaned at that. Oh, goody, Uncle Shithead #2 almost gave away their position. At least Xany had gotten the man's mouth covered. Allen, as usual, gave them both a curious glance and then was quiet. Good, good. Charles did not look happy to be up and looked even less happy to wake up to glow-in-the-dark Xany. Lance didn't blame him. That was probably going to be hard to fix. Plus, he wasn't sure how that would work. Oh well, not his problem. Next was the SCORPIA operatives. The three of them stared with wide eyes. There was a quiet pause as Xany hesitated to wake Abigail and Kenneth. For a second, Lance thought he wasn't going to do it. He looked almost pained. Lance figured it was probably whatever freaky medical shit just got done. Those two had signed up for battle. Let them have. Their eyes widened as they took in his new appearance. Justin finally spoke up. "You'd make a great night light."

Xany scowled. "Oh, fuck you."

Justin grinned. "So, what's the plan?"

Xany sighed. "We're going to need to modify a few things, but invasion plan D is probably still our best bet."

Justin grinned. "Great."

The kid's eyes glowed for a few minutes. "I'll take care of the security grid after we get there."

Lance shrugged. "Works for me."

Several people opened their traps. "We're wasting nighttime. Shut your traps."

They closed their mouths. Good, good. Lance knew that standing up for your partner was what got them on your side. Plus, he didn't want Xany second-guessing the whole thing. That was how you got people wussing out of operations. The group started the trek towards the wire fence. The rain was still pouring overhead, Lance jogged to keep up with Xander and the wolf. He never had believed that the giant fluff ball was an actual pet husky, thank you very much. He wasn't fucking stupid, even if he pretended to be. They got to the fence after about half an hour. Xany was grinning. "You might want to stand back and close your eyes."

Lance knew when to follow suggestions, especially when they came from demented tweens. His hair stood on end and a giant boom rang out. Lance opened his eyes to the sight of tiny glowing red-hot threads against the brush. The leaves were smoking on contact. Showtime.

They were in. Alex ignored the looks he was getting, from Darian's mildly horrified look to Lance's utter indifference. The SCORPIA operatives looked terrified. Thankfully, neither Kenneth nor Abigail seemed afraid. They both seemed awed. Alex wondered whether or not he was going to have to butcher the SCORPIA operatives or not. Maybe Justin would give him an inside view. Unwittingly, of course. Or perhaps he'd go for the promotion that Alex offered. Yu would accept an apology payment. Alex was going to offer one just to be safe. The rain was now soaking all of them. He prayed that everyone's firearms and explosives would hold up under the downpour. They would need them once the compound was blown open. Hopefully, there weren't going to be too many people in there. The last satellite photos had suggested that Card was mostly guarded by traps and less by people. Alex sighed as they crept closer. "I'm glowing in the dark, mates."

They all look at him. Lance snorted. "We're not leaving you behind, dumbass."

Alex sighed. "I'm giving away our position and we all know it."

Lance huffed. "Still not abandoning you in enemy territory."

Alex could barely see through the rain, but the others were nodding emphatically enough for him to tell. There was a pause. "We can make you bring all shiny work to your advantage."

Alex blinked more rain out of his eyes. "Like what?"

Lance grinned. "We'll be the distraction. The rest of them bust in and grab Card."

Alex blinked. "Okay, that might work."

Lance looked excited. "Excellent."

Alex mentally rolled his eyes. Lance had an addiction to flash grenades and they both knew it. "Hopefully, they'll let us get to the door."

Lance shrugged. "It is triple reinforced. They'll probably set the guards a safe distance behind it."

Alex sighed as they picked up the pace against the rain. At least there was no lighting in this part of the jungle. He'd hate to be struck now of all times. When they got to the entrance, Alex saw that all of the lights were out. "Power outage?"

Lance tapped a lamp. "Or they want us to think that yeah."

It was then that Alex realized that he was the only one not using night vision goggles. Whoops. Oh, well. He was going to have to poke the SCORPIA operatives now. Alex helped Justin set up the charges against the door. So far, they were unopposed, but Alex didn't expect that the base was empty. Lance grinned. "Right. Everyone remembers the code word for when we set off flash grenades, right?"

They all nodded. They had decided to use "cougar" to add to the confusion. Lance had said that he doubted that most of the personnel would know that there were no cougars in the jungle. The flashbangs would blind the night vision goggles as well as regular vision for anyone who didn't look away or cover their eyes. Alex vaguely wondered how he looked to the rest of the gang on the infrared spectrum but decided that now was not the time to ask. He followed Lance as they tore off. He trusted the man to not go the wrong way, which was better than some of his partners.

Justin sighed. He hated two-pronged spontaneous plans. Something always went wrong there. Plus, he didn't trust Lance. Who the fuck didn't react when one of their adopted sons/coworkers suddenly gained lightning powers? Also, glowing in the dark like a goddamn jellyfish. With gold eyes. Maybe he'd seen some shit, but still. Now they'd run off to be the distraction. He supposed being enormous glow light would be pretty distracting for their enemies. Great. That reminded him. He was somehow supposed to write this up into a report. Yeah, so we let him run off into a jungle by himself with a man-eating wolf and he came back looking like a knock-off glowing god. That'd go over so well. Not. They'd probably be accused of doing LSD. Not to mention, Alex would probably zap them all to smithereens if he found out they spilled the secret. Justin entered first with the ex-CIA lady, Allen. The kids went last. Justin figured it was a decent thing to do. He began firing as people showed up on his infrared. There were, surprisingly, not that many people in the front of the compound. After seven people were gunned down, no more emerged. "Think that's all of them?"

Allen spoke up. "No such luck. There were at least twenty-five on satellite photos."

Justin withheld a groan. He hated things like this. Give him a con job any day. Hell, he'd take another one of Major Yu's "example" assassinations. Why was it always digging people out of armed bases missions? Couldn't they have some sort of vice? Justin sighed as they finally came across more guards. He fired without thinking, helping gun down several more. He almost felt bad, given that they had the advantage of infrared goggles in complete darkness, but remembered that he had a job to do. They were creeping down the hallways. Justin wondered if they should start using flashbangs or wait until they were deeper inside the facility. He noticed a movement from the kids out of the corner of his eye. "What are you two doing?"

There was a pause. "Laying charges."

Oh, goody. Three homicidal teens. He was so glad he got assigned to South America. Not. Justin kept moving forward. He had a feeling that they were walking into some sort of trap.

Lance was having the time of his life. BOOM!

He was finally getting to run around throwing flashbangs with Xander in battle. BOOM!

Lance felt a rush after each pin he pulled. Xander handed him another one. BOOM!

Lance wondered if he wasn't passing on his love of explosions to Xander a bit too much. The kid was grinning along with him. Lance decided to fire off some bullets just for funsies. BANG! BANG! BANG!

Xander wasn't wearing infrared. "You're going to go deaf before retirement, old man!"

Lance grinned. "WORTH IT!"

Xander laughed as he pulled him behind cover as shots were fired at them. "They're on the roof!"

Lance cussed. It was raining and the visibility was crap. Which was probably why they hadn't been hit. Xander was breathing hard up against him. Lance realized the kid was probably tired. He grabbed his shoulder. "Doing alright, Xander?"

Xander looked exhausted. "Yeah, just tired."

Lance pulled the kid to him. Sending lightning blasts was probably tiring. He had no idea what kind of energy whatever voodoo the kid had done took, but it was probably rough. Lance grabbed one of his camouflage raincoats. It was not the see-through kind. He draped it over the kid as shots rang out across the field. It didn't get rid of the glow, but it did help cover it up. He rolled the next grenade right of them. He grabbed another grenade from the kid's backpack. BANG! Xander leaned into the man's leg. "Shouldn't they quit shooting?"

Lance snorted. "They would if they were trained with this shit. They aren't real snipers, I don't think."

The kid looked confused. "Then why are they there?"

Lance shrugged. "Desperation, Card thought they'd be better off sending the snipers to the war front, or he didn't think the roof guards should be snipers during the rain."

There was a pause. "It could also be part of a trap."

Lance shrugged. "We'll just have to trust that everyone can deal with it."

The kid chewed his bottom lip. "But-"

Lance lightly whacked. "But nothing. You're about to pass out and we're both at risk of being sniped. We're done here except for the occasional grenade."

Lance wondered if he'd have to restrain Xander. The kid eventually nodded. Lance continued rolling the grenades at random enough spots. Xander looked a little dazed. He shook the kid. No response. Well, shit. "Sorry, you're going to hate me."

Lance grabbed a syringe full of adrenaline from his first aid kit. He grabbed the kid and injected it while covering the kid's mouth. "What in the hell?"

Lance sighed. "Sorry, I couldn't let you zone out or conk out."

Xander made a hissing noise but opted not to bite or stab him. Small blessings. He'd been bitten by a surprising number of colleagues he'd pulled that on.

Tom Card knew they were under attack the second that their security grid and entire power went down. They had backup, but it wasn't entirely hooked up to all of the security features. They were blind. The infrared goggles were expensive and the jungle had eaten quite a few of them. He was convinced this whole ordeal was sabotaged. The fact that their backup generators had been conked out by the surge notwithstanding, Card had never had anything go this poorly in his life, even in actual wars where they lost whole squadrons in firefights. This was a skirmish. With that in mind, he'd decided to trap the attacking party. Typically, invasion squads were no more than four people, maybe six. Card was in his office with ten guards. And himself. He wasn't a bad shot. They had left three people for the roof. The rest of his people were not in the facility. They were needed on the war front. Plus, the base wasn't exactly designed for a lot of people or even permanent residence. It was quickly built and just convincing enough that they would be invaded, so he could trap whoever tried to extract him. Now it was the waiting game. Card was in his seat as he heard the grenades getting closer and closer. Once he figured that they were about three hallways down, he rose from his chair. The door was kicked in and he dropped on instinct. "Cougar!"

One of the men looked up. "Where?!"

Card mentally cursed as the second explosion rang through the room. Everyone knew that there were no fucking cougars in South American jungles. Card began firing before he got his vision completely back. It was an awful firefight. Xander had gone with seven people. It was more of an even match than he thought. Hadn't he read any strategy books? Card blinked. Perhaps that was the point. Unconventional tactics were a thing. At least one of the SCORPIA goons had been hit. One of the others was compressing the wound while firing with the other hand. Card wondered where Xander had gotten that one. Probably SCORPIA. They got all of the good ones. Card aimed for the man's shoulder. Technically, the man was a combatant. Plus, it wasn't like he'd been following the Geneva Convention for the latter part of his career. Card's world froze. He felt a burning sensation in his shoulder. Shit, he'd been shot. His gun had gone to the floor. He picked it back up and tried to fire with his off-hand. He was a much worse shot with his left. Great. "You're not going to win."

Card grit his teeth. "I have no intention of surrendering to a mercenary."

The man huffed. "Welp, we tried."

Card bit back a scream as a bullet punctured his left hand. The man smirked and gunned down the remaining guards who had frozen at the sight of him getting shot. Fuck. "Alright team, let's move out before the motherfucker calls reinforcements."

The man gave him a considering look before firing into his other hand. Card passed out. He had a sinking suspicion that he was going to be more bullet-ridden.

Marie was hauling Gary out. Justin felt like it was lucky she was on the taller and broader side for a woman. Abigail spoke up. "Why did you shoot him in both hands, feet, and kneecaps?"

Justin knew his smirk had a bit of an edge. "If there's one thing I've learned from Major Yu, it's that if you need your enemies alive, keeping them helpless is the best possible way. Think about it, now he can't walk or even feed himself."

Abigail was now giving him a squinty considering look. Justin liked the brainier ones, but she was a bit young for him. Besides, he wasn't about to be bringing anyone remotely nice around his boss. Justin sighed. "We'll need to knock out the people on the roof."

Marie and Charles were hauling the injured people. Justin sighed. "I'll go alone."

Their backs would probably be turned on him. Justin slinked through the facility. Ah, there was a fire escape. He drew a throwing knife. It wasn't the most popular private lesson at Malagasto, but he'd taken it for stealth value. He finished silently ascending the fire escape. He threw two knives at once and they thu-thunked into the flesh of the men's backs. The last man turned just in time to get a knife in the throat. The first shot went wild. Justin threw a knife into the man's left eye. He dropped. Justin slinked over to the three bodies and withdrew his knives. The blood pooled underneath the bodies. Normally, he would leave at this point. But then he remembered Alex's war tips. Always raid the bodies. Justin was sure Yu would love that one. Justin pocketed the ammo since he was a little lower than he'd like it. There were some wallets. Justin wondered if stealing the boots was overboard. Probably. He decided to head back to the group. They were looking anxious. "Trouble?"

Justin snorted. "Nah. Let's get out of here and blow this joint sky high."

The group slowly padded towards the front door.

Lance was relieved once the rest of the team hit the tree line where they were. Xany was getting anxious and the sun was about to rise. Thankfully, the kid's glow-in-the-dark properties didn't seem very permanent. Lance figured Xander would talk about it when he was ready. He wasn't the overly curious type when it came to people being mutants. Sure, it was weird, but people all had their quirks. But still, asking questions about people's weird glow-in-the-dark shit was bound to get you stabbed when you least expected. Also, he figured that the SCORPIA operatives might be a problem. He'd heard some disturbing rumors about the board and medical experiments. For now, the kid was about to pass out on him. Again. Lance looked at the kid. "If you even think about another adrenaline injection, I will kill you in your sleep."

Lance grinned. "You shouldn't give warnings like that. Why don't you have a snack?"

The kid did eat a snack. Yay. The dog was waiting for them a bit further out. Lance petted the dog. "You're not half bad."

The golden eyes seemed to glare at him but allowed the petting. The dog had ducked out at the lightning blast, not that Lance blamed the fluff ball. It had already gotten one guard, so it was good enough in his opinion. Xander was with the group examining Card. "You know, when I said alive, I was hoping for fewer holes."

Justin shrugged. "Look, kid, he's dangerous and I'm sick of trekking through the jungle."

The kid closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The SCORPIA operatives flinched ever so slightly. Lance laid a hand on Xander's shoulder. Sometimes, you needed to take what was given. "As long as Charles keeps him alive, we're good to go."

The operatives looked ever so slightly relieved. Xander glanced at Charles, whose face tightened. "Shouldn't be too hard. Plus, we're not going to be out here that long."

The kid nodded. He went to check out Gary next. "How's he doing?"

Marie tilted her head. "Serious, but not critical."

Xander looked at the man. "The bullet went out?"

Charles nodded. Lance sighed. "Everyone, it's time to check for injuries. We don't want you getting infected on the way back. Jungles have a crapload of bloodborne nasties."

People began rustling around to check themselves and each other for injuries. Most of them had at least a few scrapes. Plus, there were some wrist injuries for the kids, who weren't used to firing that many rounds in one go. Lance made a mental note to make Allen have them shoot more. "Alright. Let's get moving."

There were groans all around. Lance scowled. Friggin' wimps. Well, except for Xany. But he had the excuse of being thirteen. The other losers were all supposedly fit adults.

Alex pulled Lance aside. He was a little bit nervous about the whole thing. They had both volunteered for the first watch. Nobody had much argued. "So, we need to keep my um...unique health attributes a secret."

Lance nodded. "Yeah, I've heard some nasty shit about SCORPIA's board a medical stuff."

Alex blinked. "Allen?"

Lance shrugged. "She likes you. I'll keep an eye on her. Charles and your uncle?"

Alex sighed. "Darian won't let it get out of the family, but he'll probably tell my grandfather. Charles knows enough to say nothing. Besides, he's a good man."

Lance sighed. "Abigail and Ken-Ken looove you."

Alex flushed. "Shut up."

The man just snorted. Alex rolled his eyes. He leaned against a tree. "Justin might be willing to keep it quiet."

Lance shrugged. "Your mutation. Your call."

Alex chewed his lower lip. "Alright, we'll see how he reacts."

They both crept towards him. Lance covered his mouth and shook the man awake. Justin followed them into a clearing. "This isn't my watch time."

Lance smirked. "No, it's not."

Before Alex could react, or even open his mouth, Lance pulled him into a chokehold. "Listen here, you SCORPIA scumbag."

Justin was attempting to get out of the chokehold. "You haven't made your report yet, right?"

Justin shook his head. "The others' devices broke ages ago. None of us called in yet. I was tired."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Good. Now, we have a nice, shiny deal for you."

Justin looked like he didn't think this was a good deal. "You keep my secret."

Justin shook his head. "I can keep it until I'm blue in the face, but their reports will contradict mine."

Alex looked at the man. "What if they don't make their reports?"

Justin froze. Lance grinned. "I'll kill the woman if you take the man. That way, you get your promotion, a nice favor from Xany, plus no more coworkers you don't like. If you spin it right, your boss might even give you a bonus."

Justin quit struggling. "What was the chokehold for?"

Lance grinned. "We couldn't have you running off to warn your coworkers, now could we? And, frankly, neither of us felt like playing jungle tag with you three, even with one injured."

Justin sagged against the man. He was massaging his throat. "So, when does this go down?"

Lance smirked at him. "Now or never, princess."

Justin gave him a look. "Where is my long-distance phone?"

Lance shrugged. "You get it back after you go stabby, stabby."

Justin eyed them. "Okay, then."

They both crept towards the two sleeping operatives. Neither of them made a sound. Justin was barely hesitant on the subject of murdering his coworkers. He crushed Gary's throat and slid a knife through his arteries, dragging the body away from the camp. He grabbed the man's tags. That would be all the evidence Yu would need. They'd probably track down the bodies later, but by that time the bodies would be too decomposed for any kind of definitive autopsy. Lance was already carrying Marie's body to join them. The kills had been quiet enough not to wake the others.

The others slowly woke up. Everyone had at least six hours of sleep, even if it was not consecutive. That was about the best they could, given that they were in disputed territory. "Where are the other two SCORPIA operatives?"

Lance shrugged. Hopefully, this would go over well. "They tried to run off and I killed 'em."

Dead silence. Lance figured that he would spare Xany and Justin the extra scrutiny. The adults looked skeptical but didn't question him in front of the kids. Probably didn't want to traumatize the kids with the dark side of espionage more than they already had been. Darian was giving him a long considering look. Lance was unsurprised when the man pulled him aside. "You're...with the family, aren't you?"

Lance grinned. "Took you long enough."

Darian nodded. He looked almost...impressed. "You're good."

Lance lightly punched his shoulder. "I'm good, babe."

Darian squinted at him. "I guess Ian isn't as stupid as we thought."

Lance shrugged. "That remains to be seen. I always wanted two sons."

Darian squinted at him. "It's up to Alex now."

There was a silence. They went back to the group after finishing their lunches. Allen was giving both of them the evil eye. Lance had a sinking suspicion that he was going to get yelled at. Justin was eyeing both of them with no small amount of suspicion. "How much longer?"

It was Abigail. Lance felt a stab of sympathy. She was used to quick pre-arranged assassinations. With about five people in Ops backing her up. None of her training had been for warfare or military assaults. "A few more days."

Abigail deflated slightly. Lance softened a bit. "Chin up. The hard part is over for now."

It took them a good, long while to get back while dragging a gagged Tom Card along with them. Nobody had wanted to risk the man convincing some of his former allies or one of the children to release him. Lance didn't doubt for a second that the man could slither through the jungle on the power of sheer will. Sure, he was also being kept barely conscious under sedation, but there had been stranger things. Lance was as relieved as the rest of them to see the back of the jungle.

Antonio was more than a little relieved to see that they had made it back with most of the team intact. Alejandro looked a bit worse for the wear, but there were no obvious gory wounds. Two people were missing from the team, but Antonio was mostly concerned with Alejandro. Tom Card was being carried by Charles. Antonio wondered whether the man was going to survive until his trial, but decided he didn't care all that much. "I see that most of you made it back."

Lance nodded. "Yup."

Tom Card was hoisted like a turkey that had been caught. "Have we got holding cells?"

Antonio nodded. Two of his guards stepped forward to grab the man. He was promptly carried out. Lance leaned against the pillars. "Why don't all of you shower and sleep before we convene for dinner?"

Antonio watched as they all went to their quarters. He noticed that Miguel had been watching them from the balcony. Antonio stepped inside the house. His son had raced down the stairs to meet him. "They're back!"

Antonio smiled slightly. "They are. You'll see Alejandro after dinner."

Miguel paused. "Does this mean we've won?"

Antonio sighed. The man was unsure of how to answer that question. They had shielded the children from the war for a reason. There was no actual "winning" in a real war. Both sides had lost thousands of men. "It means we are likely very close to peace."

Miguel nodded. "Do you think Alejandro will want to see me later?"

Antonio honestly wasn't sure. In his experience, the man would probably just want to sleep. "Perhaps not tonight. Jungle treks are exhausting."

Miguel still looked hopeful. Antonio decided it would be up to the boys. Miguel wandered off. Antonio watched him go with a soft smile. It was a good reminder of what he was fighting for. Antonio sighed and went back upstairs. He had several battlefronts to manage. Just because they had captured the leader of the opposition didn't mean all the fighting would magically end. It didn't even happen in wars that were officially declared. Then again, perhaps portraying the capture and trial of Tom Card on live television would result in the demoralization of the man's troops. In a way, he could see Alejandro's point of view. Killing him would have made him a martyr. Keeping him alive and imprisoned would be different. Plus, showing an edited sort-of-interview would likely kill some of his popularity. There had been several extremely questionable trends in the files about the "school." It would be prudent to mention them on television. Plus, Alejandro had several plans that involved the other "schools" that he had somehow discovered. Antonio would be willing to dedicate some of the forces to Alejandro and his family for a semi-permanent assignment to rescue the children. Antonio also intended to start a separate private school for the rescued children. A real school, not a front for child assassins. But that would come later. First, this war.

The trial of Tom Card had been a more than slightly controversial topic. Alex had not imagined that this many people would be so downright bloodthirsty. Lance had been calling for the man's death from the beginning, but it was different when most of the man's former staff and some of the older children also chipped in. "No, we are NOT just going to execute him, for the last time. He gets a trial, even if it's mostly a formality."

Everyone glared at him. The badgering, bribery, and occasional attempts at blackmail, not to mention several poisoning attempts on the man, had been going on for days. "Now, where is the nearest defensible courtroom."

There was a pause. "Who gets a vote?"

It was Abigail. Alex let out a long sigh. "I think we should get a good mix of people. We need a couple of the older kids, a couple from the army, a couple from the government, and a few from our military. Try to pick people who are known for being fair."

There was dead silence. "I can live with that."

It came from Lance. There were grumbling sounds of assent from around the room. That seemed to get people back on task. Lance spoke up. "I'll arrange the security with Darian."

Justin sighed. "I'll guard the damn fucker."

Alex thought that this might just work. "We'll need to run pieces on each of the jurors. And decide on a presiding judge."

Alex sighed. Welp, now his headache was beginning to come back. "Who's the best for being a judge around here?"

Dead silence. "We all thought it would be you?"

Alex blinked. "Alright, then."

The lady looked surprised. Maybe he'd shut down her ideas a few too many times? "You can design the costumes if you want."

A jolt of panic seemed to go through the woman. Then she rounded on her staff and started giving out orders rapid fire. People started milling around at various tasks and phone calls. They'd have to discuss the setting up of the government at a later date. Plus, there were other issues like infrastructure and schools. Altogether, ruling a country or, rather, a third of a continent was going to be a lot of paperwork. And here he'd just wanted to break up the little deal his uncle had made. In for a penny, in for a pound, he supposed. Welp, now that that's settled. "So, how's the end of the war going?"

Several maps were whipped out and people started updating the war room on the most current information. Alex moved towards the maps to examine the areas they were fighting in. This was going to be another few weeks, but Alex was confident that they'd be done well within his timeline. It was nice to have his plans come together. He made a mental note to start writing to Jet online again. She was probably worried about "Emerys."

The cleanup of the CIA troops with Card out of the way had become a much easier task. They had lost their best tactician. Plus, Lance was sure that morale was low when it came to the fact that more than a few major players were captured, dead, or traitors. Lance was behind most of the tactical planning. Sure, Antonio, Darian, and Justin weren't terrible at planning battles, but he'd been mainly with the CIA for almost thirty years. Lance didn't feel like taking those side jobs was a disqualifying factor. Xany's disguise kits weren't gonna pay for themselves. Speaking of the kid, he seemed to be getting pretty anxious. "How's it going?"

Lance sighed. "Give it a few more days and ask again."

The kid huffed. At least he had a ready-made therapy dog. Fenrir was glued to the kid's side. Lance arched a brow. "Do you have some kind of private deadline?"

Xany snorted. "No, I'm just getting a little impatient, I guess. I was hoping capturing Card would end the war a bit faster. Plus, the trial's coming up."

Lance rolled his eyes. "If they don't all unanimously vote him the death penalty, I'll eat my combat boots and weapons set."

Xany laughed at that. Lance was glad. "Sure, but is it going to go over well?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "If I know the United States Senate, the second that his crimes get out, they disavow the shit out of him and everyone else involved. They're slimy like that, you know. They might try to scrap some of the people off the pavement by claiming they were ignorant. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone got burned, though."

The kid chewed his lower lip. Lance made a mental note to have him trained out of that. "Doesn't that make us a lot of enemies?"

Lance shrugged. "I wish them the best of luck, given that all of their accounts and IDs that the agencies know about will be done for."

Xany glared. "Prime SCORPIA recruitment material right there."

Lance grinned. "Another reason to avoid the shit out of them. Besides, we'll be killing and sentencing most of them. If they're pragmatic enough to go to SCORPIA, they're pragmatic enough to ignore you if you ignore them."

The kid sighed loudly. "Fine."

Lance lightly patted the kid on his head. "Stop worrying so much, your cute fluffy hair will fall out."

The kid rolled his eyes and walked off.

Eric and Madison were worried about Xander. He was being distant. "Hello, you two, classes treating you nicely?"

The two exchanged a glance. Eric finally spoke. "Well enough."

Xander grinned. It seemed a little off, even to him. "Good, good."

Eric crossed his arms. "So, uh, how's it going?"

Xander let out a sigh. The two could tell he was censoring quite a bit. Eric made sure to stare at him the entire time. "You'll be fine, don't worry."

That got Madison to look at him. "That's not an answer."

Xander ran a hand through his hair and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a few swears. "It's going pretty well."

Madison resisted the urge to snort. "Mhm."

Xander seemed to be dedicated now. "Really. I'm just getting impatient. Card's trial is happening next week and we're mostly done mopping up the CIA forces."

Madison and Eric knew a death euphemism when they heard one, but decided not to push it. Eric inched closer to Xander. "Can you pick us up?"

Xander lifted both of them onto his back and shoulders. "You're getting too big for this."

Eric crossed his arms. "Better start lifting weights, then."

Xander's mouth fell open and then he burst out laughing. "I walked into that one. So, besides slacking off on the whole walking thing, what were you wanting to do with me today?"

Eric burrowed into Xander's side. "Movie!"

Madison was dangling precariously over his shoulder. Xander shifted her back up towards his neck. Xander brought them up to his room. It had a TV! Eric tried not to gape at the really neat room. "Sorry about the mess, guys. I just got back."

Eric wanted to ask what mess, but quickly decided he wasn't going to nitpick Xander's whole life at the moment. He dumped them both on his bed and Fenrir jumped up with them. "How does Disney sound?"

Madison huffed. "I want a cool princess!"

Xander grinned. "Let's watch Mulan. She's my favorite."

The two shrugged. "Did you want a different one?"

Eric bit his lip. "We haven't seen any, just heard about them."

Xander grinned. "Don't worry, I think you'll like this one."

Madison and Eric sat down next to him. Xander wrapped an arm around both of them and Fenrir sat on their legs. Eric's feet were immediately starting to go numb under the immense weight of the dog. Fenrir let out a little whine when the popcorn was brought out. Xander looked at the dog. "You're not supposed to have this."

The dog let out a longer whine. "No."

Eric was suddenly faced with wide pleading yellow eyes. "Fenrir."

Eric looked at Alex. The giant tufted ears were poofed up. "Um, can we feed the dog?"

Xander rolled his eyes. "Not the popcorn."

Eric was handed a giant strip of meat. He held it out for the dog. Fenrir wolfed it down and still cast a longing look at the popcorn. Eric pet the dog. Fenrir let out a sigh. "Did he just sigh?"

Xander snorted. "Yes. He does that. He's a brat."

Eric bit back a laugh. Madison was also hesitantly petting the wolf. Fenrir slumped on top of them. The movie finished starting up.