Author's Note: Hey yall, I'm soooo sorry this took so long, but my computer got messed up and so I had to wait to get all my files transferred off of it in order to continue writing. I just got it back a couple of days ago, so here yall go. Sorry if it isn't up to my normal standards. I'm a little rusty in my own opinion. It'll get better, I promise! Thanks for those who are keeping loyal!

A New Age, A New Team
Chapter 23: Fallen Hopes

The members of Chaos and Orion (Sparks) were still around the rectangle table with the blueprints spread across them as Rashad (Sonic) continued to dictate to them the revised plan for their attack. The living room area around them was lightly lit and everything about the room had an ominous feel to it. Occasionally the members of Chaos would look around at one another with shifting eyes which were filled with selfish, devious thoughts.

Rashad's brown eyes looked around at his teammates and took in that Karen, the one known as Diamond was missing from the meeting. "Where's Karen?" Rashad in complete annoyance when he finally took a break from dictating to everyone.

"She said she had a meetin' suga." Mary-Lynn (Aphrodite) said coyly.

"What?" Rashad asked in disbelief. "This is more important than any meeting she might have had."

"She said it was with a potential new member." Natalie (Miracle) said in her thick British accent.

No one in Chaos had noticed that out of the shadow in the corner of the room, behind everyone in the room, Karen and Arcane (Shadow Runner) had risen from the floor of the room from the shadows. "Were you talking about me?" Karen asked in her French accent as she stepped away from Arcane and brushed her blonde, pink tipped hair off of her shoulders.

Everyone turned around to look at Karen and the man in black. "Where the hell have you been?" Rashad barked.

"Recruiting." Karen said proudly as she walked over to the chair that Natalie was sitting in and stood behind it.

"Better be one damn good recruit if it meant you missing a meeting." Rashad huffed as his brown eyes followed Karen from the corner of the room to behind Natalie's chair.

Arcane took one step away from the shadow, though he still stood close to it. He didn't trust the people in the room as his deep green eyes shifted from person to person in the room. He didn't fear any of them, and he also didn't trust any of them. Best not to speak, until spoken to… He thought quietly in his head.

"How'd you get in?" Ashley asked in his Texas accent as his green eyes looked over at Karen.

Karen smirked deviously to everyone. "Like I said, I was recruiting, and as Rashad said it was a "damn good" recruit." She nodded slightly sarcastically to Rashad before turning her blue eyes to look at Arcane in the corner. "I would like all of you to meet Arcane Tripidicus, also known as Shadow Runner." Everyone turned their attention away from Karen and looked at Arcane, who gave a silent nod to all of them when he was addressed. "He is how I got in here without any of you knowing." She said proudly as Arcane cautiously made his way over to the rest of the group; noting the blueprints on the table.

Mary-Lynn had resumed filing her nails once again after her violet eyes looked over at Arcane. "Ya done good sweetheart," she said to Karen without looking at her, "but ya ain't done as good as Natalie and I." She said as she smirked down at her nails and then looked over at Karen. "This is Orion Paradox, aka Sparks." She said as she pointed to Orion, who was standing near the chair that she was sitting in, with her nail file.

"Pleasure." Orion nodded to Karen, who looked annoyed at Mary-Lynn.

Karen nodded politely to Orion before moving her blue eyes back to Mary-Lynn, "And what does he do?" Karen she asked as she raised one of her eyebrows at her.

"It doesn't matter," Rashad snapped before looking back and forth between the two girls, "what matters is this plan going through like clockwork. No mistakes." He reminded everyone as he glanced around to everyone. "Arcane, our plan is to take technological equipment from the technology center." He said briefly as he smoothed out the blueprints over the table for Arcane to get a better look at.

"Alright." Arcane nodded with no emotions in his voice.

"However, we won't be needing your assistance on this mission." Rashad said, which slightly caught both Karen and Arcane off guard.

"What?" Karen asked.

"I'm not risking having someone who has never trained with us go along on such an important mission." Rashad said sternly to Karen.

"But Orion is getting to go." She slightly whined.

"Because we are paying him. It's strictly business with him, nothing more." Rashad said again. "That's the end of the discussion. Orion is coming along, while Arcane is staying here."

Arcane's deep green eyes looked over at Karen through his black sunglasses in annoyance. I come to join your team only to be set aside? This is bullshit…

Karen looked over at Arcane and then quickly looked away from him so that her blue eyes fell upon Mary-Lynn, who was calming filing her nails with a smirk playing on her red lips. She probably used her powers on Rashad to make herself look better. She thought bitterly.

Aurora (Satine) quietly walked down the hall in the opposite direction as Tonya, who had just bumped into her. She raised her frail hand up to her head and carefully pushed her red curls to the side of her face and soon her green eyes became blurry. Everything around her began to spin, which made Aurora walk over to the hallway wall and lean against it for support.

THUD

"What was that?" Jazmine asked as she looked over the back of the couch were the commotion of Tonya and Aurora had just taken place.

"Ah dunno." Gabe said in his thick southern accent as he stood up. "Come on." He said as he quickly walked around the couch and out of the living room area, followed by Jazmine.

"Oh no…" Jazmine gasped as she looked to the side of Gabe's arms down the hallway.

In the middle of the white-tiled floor was the frail figure of Aurora unconscious on the ground. Her red curls covered her face and were spread across the white tile. Her pale Irish skin was almost the same color as the cold tile she was laying upon.

"Come on!" Gabe said in concern as he took off running down the hallway to Aurora's fallen body, with Jazmine right behind him.

They both fell down to either side of Aurora and Gabe carefully brushed her soft red curls off of her face. "Aurora can you hear me?" He asked quietly in his thick southern accent.

"Rora? It's me. Jazmine." Jazmine said as she felt her skin. "She's freezing." She said as she looked up at Gabe in concern.

"We have to get her to Jamal." He said as he carefully scooped her up into his arms and hurried towards the medical lab, while Jazmine hurried over to the intercom to page Jamal.

"Jamal?" Jazmine asked over the intercom in worry. The was a moment of silence and no response. "Jamal!" She shouted into the intercom.

"Yes? What's wrong?" Jamal huffed over the intercom.

"Aurora collapsed. Gabe's taking to the medical wing right now. Meet us there." Jazmine said as she ran away from the intercom as fast as she could to run after Gabe.

Gabe carefully set Aurora's fragile body on one of the medical tables, just as Jamal came in wiping his greasy hands on a towel. "What happened?" Jamal asked as he began to examine her.

"We dunno." Gabe said with a shrug.

"We heard a thud and went out in the hall and found her unconscious." Jazmine added. "Is she alright?"

"She seems to be fine." Jamal said as he stuck an IV into the top of her hand and taped it down. He wheeled an oxygen tank over to the side of her bed and placed a mask over her face and listened as the air softly pumped into her body.

"What's wrong with her?" Gabe asked as he looked down at Aurora's unconscious body.

"Aurora is so skinny that it's finally taken a toll on her." Jamal said remorsefully as he carefully tightened the straps on the oxygen mask. "She collapsed from not having enough of the essentials a body needs in her body. I'm going to keep her here for a few days so that she can recover." He said as he began to place monitors on her.

"But she's going to be fine, right?" Jazmine asked as her greenish-brown eyes watched Jamal place different machines against Aurora's pale skin.

"That's correct." Jamal said as he looked up at Jazmine. "You two have done everything you can do, so you might as well go about your lives." He said as he wrote a few things down on a piece of paper. "I'll keep you updated on her condition."

"Thanks." Jazmine nodded quietly as she turned and slowly walked out of the medical center, with Gabe behind her.

"She'll be alright." Gabe said softly as he placed a comforting hand against Jazmine's back.

"I hope you're right…" She said quietly.