"Mom, we're home!"

"Okay, I'll be down in a second!"

Lula hurriedly wiped her eyes and smoothed her skirt. She knew she wasn't very presentable, but it was better than nothing. The kids had the stove open and were warming themselves near it when she arrived.

"Where did you go now?" she asked them.

"A-Antarctica," Jack said, his teeth still chattering from the experience.

She looked at Stryker and saw that he was the worst of them, even as he tried to suppress it.

"Okay, go light the fireplace," she told Jack, ushering the other kids into the living room. "I'll make some hot chocolate and you can tell me what happened."

Jack grabbed the lighter out of one of the drawers, then paused when he saw that their TV was off.

"Where's the hag?" he asked.

The cocoa mix slipped from Lula's hand and exploded all over the floor. Lula cursed to herself and ran for a rag as Jack picked up the container for her.

"...Wuya's gone..." Lula said, causing him to stop and stare at her. "She left this morning."

She wet the wash cloth and stooped to the floor, wiping the powder up as best she could.

"How come?" Jack asked her, frozen where he was as he watched his mother's face.

Lula sighed and straightened, tossing the rag into the sink and brushing off her hands.

"She stole something," she answered bluntly. "And I caught her. So she left."

Jack felt his anger swell. He knew something like this would happen; he should have convinced his mom so.

"What'd she take?"

This time Lula shook her head.

"Go see how your friends are doing. I'll be out with something to warm you up soon."

He nodded, even though his interest was peaked and he wanted to know. He threw the container away and ran a hand through his damp hair as he came into the living room. Entropy had wrapped a thick blanket around Stryker and put her arm around him, to which he leaned against her, much too tired to tell her to get off. Cinder was on the couch rubbing her arms as Zephyr was sprawled out in the chair, staring up at the ceiling and shivering every once in a while.

"Hold on, guys, it'll heat up in a sec," Jack said as he flicked a flame out of the lighter and lit one of the logs.

A moment later a cloud of warmth enveloped them and they all sighed. Jack sat in the middle of the room and pulled at a string on his jacket absently.

"So are you two okay now?" Entropy asked quietly.

Zephyr looked over at Stryker as he craned back to see him. They both shrugged.

"Yeah, I'd say so," Stryker said, adjusting the blanket and scooting away from Entropy. He was warm enough now that he didn't want to be in the awkward situation.

"Me too," Zephyr said, running a hand through his dreads.

"Good," Cinder sighed. "Seems we're really a team then."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Entropy said, turning and giving her a smile.

"Finally," Stryker sighed, laying down on the carpet. "Meaning we don't need anymore members."

He looked up at Jack and smiled, gaining his friend's eye.

"So, can we talk names now?"

Jack cocked an eyebrow as the others sat up too.

"Names?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

"You mean like a team name?" Zephyr asked, grinning as well.

"Yeah!" Stryker said, raising his head. "Any ideas?"

"The Crazies!" Entropy immediately shouted.

"That's the name of a movie, Enny!" Cinder laughed.

"How about...the Vipers!" Zephyr declared.

"Hey!" Stryker cried, pointing at him. "We're not naming our team after my misfortune!"

"Besides, that's the cowboy's little sister's gang," Jack said, leaning back a little. "I don't really have any ideas."

"Well, when you com up with one, let us know," Cinder said.

"Come up with what?" Lula asked as she came in with their tray of hot chocolate.

"We're trying to come up with a name for our team," Entropy said as they all grabbed a cup.

"Really?" Lula said with a smile. "You know, we monks had a name for ourselves around the '60s."

"Yeah?" Zephyr asked. "What'd you call yourselves?"

"Ah, Victor and our Water Dragon, Sean were big Rat Pack fans," Lula said. "Us girls didn't get much of a say when they named us that."

"Rat Pack!" Jack laughed, blowing on his drink. "I don't know if we'll pull that off."

"No, of course not," his mother laughed, ruffling his hair. "We set very high standards."

The kids laughed as she started to her room, then had a moment where they were silently sipping their chocolate. Stryker suddenly sat up and gave Jack a huge grin.

"...What?" Jack said, finding his smile contagious.

"I got a name," Stryker answered.

"Yeah?" Entropy asked. "What?"

Stryker chuckled, and now they all were sitting up.

"What?" Cinder asked.

"You sure you guys wanna know?"

"Duh!" Zephyr declared. "C'mon, tell us!"

Stryker's grin widened.

"Jack Pack."

Jack's eyes widened as the others considered this.

"...Huh," Entropy said, crossing her arms as she thought about it. "...I like it!"

"Yeah..." Zephyr agreed, smiling with her. "I like it too."

"That's so cute!" Cinder giggled.

Jack's face was still frozen with shock and pointed at Stryker. Stryker waved a hand in front of his face to bring him back to reality.

"Hey," he said, snapping Jack awake. "What do you think?"

"Uh..." Jack stammered. "I...I don't think..."

"Oh, come on Jackie!" Entropy groaned. "Stop being all self-conscious and just let us name the team after you!"

"It's yours after all," Cinder said.

"Yeah, but..."

"I don't think we could call it anything else if we tried," Zephyr said, grinning as wide as Stryker was.

"No, we couldn't," Stryker said, giving Jack a light punch on the top of his head before resting his arm on his shoulders. "C'mon, bud. We all like it, don't be a stick in the mud."

Jack frowned at him, then looked around at all the eager faces.

"...You guys really like it, huh?" he asked quietly.

They nodded rapidly. He had to smile and shake his head at Stryker.

"Why do I feel I don't get a choice after all?" he asked.

"'Cause you don't," Stryker said, grabbing his goggles and pulling them over his eyes. "Welcome to the Jack Pack, Billy."

Jack pulled them back onto his forehead and tackled Stryker, starting a wrestling match that the others quickly joined. Lula grinned when she heard them laughing and randomly shouting "Jack Pack" at the top of their lungs, glad that her son finally seemed to be having fun.

She frowned after a moment though. They were going to have a very long road ahead of them, no matter what she did to stop it. She only hoped that they were prepared.