Legacies

by Kihonne

When the original members of the Elite Force are called away to another planet for a special mission, Centium City is left undefended for the first time in 20 years. So, when enemies both old and new start to arise, the last remaining member of the Elite Force must train their children to face this threat. But with secrets being kept on both sides, how can they know who to trust?

14. Jingle Bells

Kihonne: So, this chapter turned out a LOT longer than I originally planned. Like a LOT. So, I'm so far happy with the return from the brief HIATUS. But before we get onto this extra-long Christmas special, it's shoutout time!

Xxx

LabGirl2001: Yes, I think a lot of people are frustrated with Ben and Naomi. It's a complicated situation with the two of them though, so I want to take the time to handle it properly. As for what Calla's looking into, you'll find that out very, very soon, I promise. She is definitely counting the days though until she gets an earful from the others about making them a teenaged superhero team, that's for sure. As for Kira's previous relationships, we may go into that in the future, though that may not be for a bit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Tyty: Don't worry, they'll have a real conversation about it sooner or later. I'm glad you like the ship name, by the way! I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Maddie: Yeah, Ben's going through a rough time. He'll get a win soon though, so hopefully that will help. Thanks for the well-wishes! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Guest: It was incredibly sweet of them, wasn't it? They're all really good kids. I'm glad you liked the baby shower, and Kameron coming to save Charlotte. I think you're really going to like this chapter.

Guest: Well, some couples take time to develop, and going from friends to something more is a lot harder than you'd think. I'm not going to rush this; it deserves better than that. I'm glad you liked the chapter, especially how sweet Kira was trying to cheer everyone up like that. I've definitely put Ben through a hard time lately, so he definitely needed that.

Sucker4romcom: They're definitely in a complicated situation do to everything now, aren't they? They're going to have figure out how to deal with this, but rest assured, I think you'll be satisfied with the end result. Just be patient for it – I'm giving this the proper attention is deserves and that means making sure not to rush through it. I'm glad you liked the other parts of the chapter, especially how sweet the kids were to Calla. They're definitely a good team. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

MightyMedNerd: It possibly could be one for the future. I can definitely see Calla having side projects to restore old, destroyed Mighty Med technology. I'm glad you liked the chapter so much! I'm really glad you liked the baby shower and Kira's cheerful attitude about everything, as well as everything that Ben is dealing with. He's definitely getting a real taste of what Skylar went through, though not quite the same it's still a very similar kind of emotional angst. Thanks so much for wishing me fun (it certainly was a struggle to go without internet, that's for sure), and I hope you like the chapter.

Guest: I'm really glad you liked it! I hope you like this one too!

BingeReader9: I was leaning more towards Shroyer, admittedly. Till was my second choice. Anyway, I'm really glad you liked the chapter. I wouldn't say I'm teasing you guys with Ben and Naomi, or at least that's not my intention. Slow-burn romances are kinda my thing (none of my major romances have ever gotten together in their first season, unless you count Alivia & Lily), and frankly, I feel their relationship needs a little more time to properly develop it into a good relationship rather than rush it and risk ruining such a good ship. As for Kameron and Charlotte, they are starting to move closer than they were, but I wouldn't say they're quite there yet. She's still fresh off a bad break up, and it was a little traumatic for her, so it might take them a little time. Though, I guess we'll see what happens though.

SzymonS: Yeah, Charlotte's definitely been warded off of bad boys. If I were here, I'd be off dating in general for a bit, to be honest. Gee, tell me what you really think about Ava. Clearly, you've made up your mind about her. Kira is such a sweetheart, she's one of my favorite characters in the series. As for what Calla's looking into, that is a very popular theory. You'll find out very soon, that's for sure. She does have a lot on her plate, that's for sure. As for the others supposed to calling…well, more on that soon. Back to Kira! This was definitely her shining moment, wasn't it? She's certainly the heart of the team. She's still trying to find her place as a hero and being at any disadvantage for that – not being the leader, not being the best, not being the smartest – definitely bothers her more than she's saying. It's definitely something she'll have to work past, that's for sure. As for her former crush, it's not a character you're familiar with, so I wouldn't bother guessing (though, I will admit that when I was originally designing Kira's character, Nyssa had been intended to be an ex-girlfriend simply for the irony of having Rani and Dani's daughters be together at some point in their lives). I will be touching more on that later, so you'll learn more about why that's something she doesn't like to talk about. I'm glad you like how I wrote Kira in. I had a few ways of trying to insert the information in in what feels like a natural way for her, but I felt the heartfelt conversation between her and Ben was the way to go. LGBT has never been the best represented type of relationship on TV, I am sad to admit, which is why I try to normalize it a lot in my writing. I completely agree with what you said about Dirk, lol. I'm really glad you liked the Tecton aspects of the chapter, as well as what's going on with Ben. Saturn is definitely going to pay for what he did sooner or later though. I agree with you completely about hating people who are different being wrong. It disgusts me. I just can not wrap my head around why someone would hate people for who they love. It just doesn't make sense to me, and disgusts me frankly. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, and I answered your PS in a PM!

LALALAGIRL: Well, I hope the satisfied part likes the chapter I'm giving you today. I'm glad you like the shipping name, by the way. And thank you for understanding why I'm not rushing through Ben and Naomi's relationship – a lot of people have complained about how slow it's taking, but a good ship requires time and love to sail perfectly. I think you're definitely going to like what I've got planned for their future though – it'll all be worth the wait. I'm glad you liked the kids' baby shower, and thanks so much for the well wishes. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Guest: I'm glad you liked the reference. It was definitely one of my favorite scenes from the original series. I hope you like this chapter too!

Guest: Oh, believe me, those kids are super observant to everyone else's relationships. I hope you like the chapter.

Theobviousone: That might work, but it's a fairly risky operation, especially given that, unlike Tony Stark, the shards aren't imbedded in a vital organ. They may look into finding him a real solution in the future, but for now, it's a reality he has to deal with.

Guest: I'm glad you're excited for it! I can't wait either, to be honest.

Anohername4love: I'm really glad you like it, especially how the kids threw Calla a party. She definitely deserved it after everything that's happened. It would certainly be an interesting way for Chase to find out, that's for sure. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter.

Curious: Great question! Each chapter has a counter that the authors can see that tell us how many people actually read the individual chapters, regardless of whether or not they review. There's been about 5 or 6 occasions where I've received more reviews in a day than I have actual readers. Thus, telling me that some reviewers are reviewing multiple times.

Guest: A, this was not a punishment. The chapter was going to be delayed regardless because I was behind schedule. I warned people about this before and after the reviews came in. And B, do not act as if I owed you a chapter and have failed to meet some obligation. I do not owe you a chapter or anything for that matter. I write because I enjoy writing and I post because I like the feedback and the community. But if the community makes writing unenjoyable for me, then I am well within my right not to post, or to quit outright if I want to. You get this content for free, don't complain when things don't happen when you want them to.

SummerSunShine: You're absolutely right about Calla hiding something. Good theories as to what it is – I guess you'll have to read to find out. Charlotte's definitely learned her lesson about guys like Matt, that's for sure. Thanks for understanding about the update, and I totally fee you about trying to plan for a trip like that. It's so hard to plan such a big trip, isn't it? Thanks, by the way, about thanksgiving. Yeah, it is a little weird that it's at a different time. I like it though – not only do we get turkey earlier, but it also isn't so close to Christmas. Makes it a little cheaper on us and it's not right in the middle of midterms or finals like it must be in November for you guys. Turkey is still the big Thanksgiving dinner around here, though my Dad always makes a roast instead, and my grandmother prefers a cooked ham. I think it depends on the family. But I did enjoy a lot of turkey that weekend. Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Xxx

Kihonne: So, time for the chapter!

Justine: Kihonne doesn't own Mighty Med, Lab Rats, or the Elite Force. She only owns this story, any and all OCs, and anything else you don't recognize!

Xxx

Kira's POV

"Good morning." I smiled at Calla as I walked back into the Penthouse. She looked up from her holo-computer as I came in before looking at the holoscreen in confusion.

"Morning. Where were you at…six in the morning?" She questioned, unused to seeing a teenager up early when school was out.

"I went for a run." I explained, walking past her to the kitchen sink to refill my empty water bottle. "Just because we're on Christmas break doesn't mean I should skip a workout."

"You are a very unusual teenager." She commented, looking at me before smiling a little. "Thank you for that. You're like a breath of fresh air."

"You'd be surprised how often I get that." I replied, smiling back at her. She shook her head.

"It might be a few hours before any of the others are up." She mentioned. "But Noah left early to pick his sister up from the airport, so-"

She was cut off as the front door swung open and Charlotte, still clad in reindeer-themed PJs, burst in. She didn't acknowledge us before taking off up the stairs towards the bedrooms. "You were saying?" I questioned. A second later, a couple of high-pitched screams started coming from the second floor.

Calla got up, but by time she made it to the stairs, the screaming had stopped. "Girls? What's going on?"

Her question was met with a new set of screams. Sera came stumbling down the stairs a moment later, hair a mess and looking vaguely traumatized as she recovered from the very abrupt, very sudden early wake up. "Your daughter is crazy."

"Well, she's a Davenport." Calla muttered before stepping on one of the stairs. "Emmy? Charlotte? Good screams or bad screams?"

"Good!" They shouted back, glee in their tones.

"Then can the rest of us go back to sleep?" Kameron shouted from his own room. I heard a door shut loudly upstairs, then another one open.

"It's six in the morning, guys!" I heard Naomi complain. "Whatever it is, couldn't it wait another hour or two?"

I heard the door behind me open up and turned around to see a brown-haired twelve-year old girl walk into the penthouse, Noah behind her carrying an apple red duffle bag over his shoulder. "What did I just walk into?" Justine Parker questioned, looking genuinely amused at the scene before her.

Xxx

"I am so proud of you." Calla said, giving both Charlotte and Emily hugs from the side as the two girls stared down at their holo-computers in awe. They were both grinning ear to ear, genuinely thrilled with the news, and I was happy for them. It had been about a month since Marcus and Darius had broke their hearts, and it was really nice to see them both so happy again. Even Charlotte, who had taken it all so much harder than Emily did, was beaming as if nothing could ruin her mood.

"Hey, Calla, have you seen- there you are." Leo sighed as he walked in and found Charlotte on the couch with Emily. He looked at her before shaking his head. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

"I'm guessing she woke your household up to?" Calla guessed with a slight smile. He nodded.

"Look, Papa." Charlotte handed him the holo-computer, allowing him to read the email that was up on the holo-screen.

"'Dear Ms. Dooley," he read carefully, eyes widening as he realized what the email was saying, "On behalf of the Admission Committee, it is my pleasure to offer you admission to the MIT Class of 2042…you got in. Holy shit, you got in."

"Language, Papa." Charlotte said teasingly. Leo gave her a look, but it was clear from the pride in his eyes that he didn't have it in him to be annoyed with his daughter.

"She got early acceptance." Emily bragged, beaming up at him. "And she's not the only one."

"You got in too?" He questioned. Emily nodded silently, eyes a lit. "Guys, that's great. That's just…wow."

"Oh!" Charlotte gasped suddenly, grabbing Emily's arms. "We could be roommates."

"That's a great idea. No one else could handle your level of crazy." Kameron commented teasingly. Charlotte rolled her eyes and hit him in the arm.

"C'mon, I know you're happy for us." She teased. He sighed.

"Yeah, I am." He admitted, smiling at her. I rolled my eyes.

"You know, Cambridge is only a few hours away from New York. We could visit each other on weekends and holidays and stuff." I commented, examining my fingernails nonchalantly. Kameron looked at me, surprised, as if he didn't expect me to know that.

"We should go out to dinner to celebrate." Charlotte suggested, looking at her dad and Calla hopefully.

"It's Christmas Eve, sweetie; I don't know what will be open." Leo apologized. "But why don't we go out and celebrate you two getting into M.I.T. on the 26th?"

"Sure." "Sounds great." Charlotte and Emily agreed. Justine, who was sitting on the armchair next to Leo, cleared her throat.

"And maybe celebrate me coming to visit?" She questioned, reminding everyone of her presence.

"Oh, yes. Sorry, little Jay." Leo hugged his niece, realizing for the first time that she was here.

"It's okay, Uncle Leo." She peeked out at Charlotte and Emily. "Congratulations, guys."

"Thanks." Emily grinned at her. Leo pulled away.

"Okay, so Noah explained that you're going to be staying with us, right?" He questioned before glancing around at the full living room. "I think the Penthouse is at capacity."

"Yep." Justine nodded, pulling away before grinning at Charlotte. "All-night sleepover?"

"Duh." Charlotte fist-bumped her cousin. Justine smiled before turning to Sera, Kameron, and I.

"It's really nice to meet you guys, by the way. Noah told me a lot about you guys." She mentioned.

"Good things, I hope." Sera smiled. Justine smirked and shook her head.

"No, terrible things. He really hates you guys." She said sarcastically. I laughed at her sass.

"God, you should hear the awful things he says about you." I said, matching her tone. I shook my head. "Noah, she does not have devil horns."

"Oh god, there's two of them." Noah muttered, rubbing his eyes.

Ben's POV

"So, Uncle Oliver and Aunt Skylar really don't celebrate Christmas?" Kameron questioned, shaking his head at Seraphina. The Calderan-Human shrugged.

"Well, we have a really fancy dinner and we spend the night doing family things, like games and movies, and they always take the day off, but we don't do any of this." She gestured at the penthouse, which Naomi has decked out in tinsel, decorative balls, and other Christmas decorations. "Decorations, presents…Calderans don't have the holiday on their planet, and Dad says that it's more about family than material stuff."

"She has a point." Katherine commented, walking into the penthouse carrying a box of decorations, with Leo, Noah, and Kira behind her. Leo, Katherine, Calla, and Chase usually combined their Christmas celebrations, since everyone was living so close to each other, and with all the other kids here, it made the most sense to celebrate at the Penthouse given that it was the larger of the two apartments. "Christmas is about spendin' time wit' family. Not about presents or gifts."

"I don't see why it can't be about both." Kira mentioned, dropping a heavy-looking box by the large Christmas tree near the big window. "Wow, you guys have a lot of Christmas decorations."

"Well, we like to decorate." Leo reasoned, dropping a box by the door just as Emily came down the stairs, wearing her winter jacket. "And everyone is helping."

"I haven't finished my Christmas shopping yet." She protested, staring at Leo. He gave her a look.

"It's December 24th." He pointed out. She nodded.

"I was a little busy, you know, trying to get into college?" She suggested, smirking a little at the frown on his face. "I promise to help when I get back, alright?"

"Actually, I should probably finish mine." Kameron suggested. Emily gave him a look.

"I was going to go alone." She told him. He frowned.

"I can't come with?" He questioned. She sighed.

"Not unless you want to see your gift before I wrap it." She said sternly. He sighed.

"Fine. I'll do mine on my own too. Think Calla would drive me?" He questioned before looking around. "Hey, where is Calla?"

"Mission Command. Working on something." Leo waved dismissively. Justine frowned.

"Hey, I was going to ask…" She trailed off, frowning. "Noah told me a while ago that Mom, Dad, Uncle Chase, and the other members of the Elite Force were supposed to call sometime around Christmas. That hasn't…I didn't miss it, right?"

"Um…" Charlotte turned and looked at her dad, frowning. Calla hadn't been sure of the exact day, but I knew it was supposed to come close to Christmas. The other kids all stopped what they were doing, even Emily, to look at Leo and Katherine.

"You didn't miss it." Leo was quick to assure her of that. He looked around. "We're still waiting for them to make contact. But when they do, MISS is going to send everyone a message to let them know, so you guys won't miss it."

"Are you sure they're going to contact us this time? They missed last time." Sera mentioned, looking at Leo with big eyes. He sighed.

"Space travel is complicated guys. They'll do their absolute best." He promised. "I'm sure we'll hear from them soon."

"Alright." Kameron sighed. Naomi cleared her throat.

"So, Sera, have you ever been ice skating?" She asked, smiling as she changed the subject. "The park always makes an ice rink for people to skate on. Ben and I go every Christmas Eve."

"You should come." I added, following her lead. She sent me a gratefully smile – ice skating had been our tradition, but I understood why she wanted to bring the kids. They could use the distraction. "There's a hot cocoa place nearby."

"It sounds great." Sera smiled. "But I've never skated before."

"Oh, it's easy." Noah assured her, giving her a smile. "And with your ice powers, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it pretty quick. You're a fast learner."

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring across the penthouse. "Miss Calla would like everyone in Mission Command immediately." MISS announced a moment later, the alarms shutting off so we could hear her.

"I guess ice skating and shopping will have to wait." Leo announced.

Emily's POV

"What's going on?" Naomi demanded as we reached Mission Command. Mom was the cyber computer, looking between two different security cameras.

"A break in at two of my top-secret facilities." She explained, gesturing to the screens. She looked at Leo as he walked up next to her. "The ones in Aurora and Rockford."

"Shit." He muttered.

"Are those ones special?" Kira questioned. Mom nodded.

"Rockford houses the projects for military contracts. Not weapons, thank god, but transportation, defense systems, stealth operation technology, that kind of thing. The type of stuff that would it that much harder for us to find Lexi, Marcus, and their friends." She explained. "And Aurora holds…the more sensitive stuff."

"What kind of sensitive?" Ben questioned. Mom and Leo exchanged looks.

"The kind of sensitive where it would be really, really bad if they got their hands on anything there." Leo said slowly, not elaborating.

"So we need to get there, fast." Kameron decided. Mom nodded.

"Alright. Katherine, you take Charlotte, Seraphina, and the twins to Rockford. Leo, Ben, Naomi, Noah, and Emily, you're going to Aurora. Find the intruders, stop them before they take anything dangerous." She grabbed a box of Davenwatches off the counter. "They're the geo-leaping ones, finally past proto-type stage. I'm not supposed to be giving these to anyone just yet – we haven't gotten approval for distribution from the government yet – but frankly, you're going to need them for missions."

"What about me?" Justine questioned. Mom gave her a small smile.

"I could use a lab assistant." She suggested. Justine smiled. "Alright, go to that cyber desk and start going through the inventory list for Rockford's facility. Mark whatever is dangerous or that they could use to get the upper hand on us. I'll do Aurora."

"Got it." Justine nodded, rushing to the secondary cyber desk. Mostly everyone went to get changed, while Naomi lingered for a moment.

"Did you finish what I asked for?" She asked, looking at Mom hopefully. The older woman smiled a little.

"It's in your uniform pod." She mentioned. Naomi grinned in response.

"Love you." She called over her shoulder before running into the tunnel with the uniforms. Sure enough, next to the black leather jacket and black pants that Mom had reinforced with protective materials for Naomi to use as a uniform, there was a small black and blue blaster sitting on a small pedestal, with a different looking Davenwatch next to it. It was mostly black, with dark green etchings in it.

"What's that?" I questioned, looking at it over her shoulder. She smiled, strapping on the Davenwatch.

"Just a little toy I had your mom make for me. I had a few ideas after watching some old training videos from the Academy." She explained. I nodded thoughtfully, then passed her to get my own uniform.

"Hey." I said softly to Ben. He was standing in front of his uniform – repaired and reinforced by Mom after the Saturn incident so that something like that would never happen again – but was making no move to take it. I glanced back at Naomi, then nodded at Ben meaningfully.

"You okay, Benji?" She asked, walking over. She kept her voice soft, careful not to draw the attention of the others. I turned away, not wanting to make it look like I was listening in.

"I'm fine." I heard him reach for the uniform. I heard Naomi sigh, and I knew why – this was going to be Ben's first mission since he was injured. Sure, Horace had cleared him for field work over a week ago, and though he wasn't completely at full strength, he still seemed to be mostly okay during training. At the very least, I wasn't worried about him being the weak link or anything. But I could see that he was still a bit more hesitant that he used to be.

"Are you sure?" Naomi asked gently. "Calla would understand if you need more time."

"I'm good, Naomi." He snapped at her. Everyone in the room stopped, looking over at him, and his face flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She assured him, not unkindly, before going to pull her jacket on and zip it up over her green shirt. He sighed and started to get dressed.

"You guys ready to go?" Leo questioned just as Ben finished pulling on his jacket. I watched Charlotte, Kira, Kameron, Seraphina, and Katherine geoleap away. Ben looked at Noah, Naomi, and I before nodding.

"Ready." He announced, hitting his Davenwatch and disappearing.

Ben's POV

"No sign of any intruder on this floor." Noah announced through the comm. set.

"Maybe he got away?" Emily questioned, looking over at me.

"No, Calla's security cameras would have seen someone leaving." I reasoned. "Everyone keep looking."

I shone my flashlight across the floor, the beam revealing boxes labelled with things like 'DWT-004' and 'HVB-112' along with signs that said 'do not touch' in giant, red letters. "It is quiet down here." Emily commented, looking around. "Kind of eerie, actually."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry abou-hey!" I definitely saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

"What?" Emily turned around to follow my gaze. She frowned. "I don't see anything."

"I was sure-" Before I could finish my sentence, a blast of gold shot over our heads, hitting one of the boxes on the shelves. It exploded upon contact, the force of the blast knocking Emily to the ground. I rushed to help her up but stopped when I heard a familiar voice.

"You're still alive?" I turned around to see Saturn standing behind me, a look of annoyance on his face. There was a small, remote-like device in his left hand, a new version of his gold blaster in his right. "Don't you know how to die?"

"Why don't you show me?" I growled, stepping forward menacingly. He smirked and looked like he was about to respond when we both heard the sound of footsteps.

"Saturn?" I heard Naomi shout. He sighed irritably.

"Another time, perhaps." He replied before taking off running. But I wasn't about to let him get away this time. I tore off after him, following him through the rows and rows of inventions. I could hear Naomi and Noah behind me, but I was totally and completely focused on Saturn.

Saturn must have realized that he wasn't going to get away – even without my full strength, I was faster than he was – and I saw him fiddling with the device in his hands. I pushed myself forward, knowing that whatever it was, it had to be dangerous if Calla was keeping it here.

Suddenly, a faded gold circle appeared several feet ahead of us, the inside of it a misty gold color. Saturn didn't hesitate before leaping into it, disappearing the moment he made contact with it. He wasn't going to get away that easy.

"Ben!" I heard Naomi shout after me, but it was too late – I dived through the circle without a second's hesitation.

To my utter confusion, I landed in the middle of the Penthouse, surrounded by people in their late teens to early twenties. I stopped for a second, taking in the semi-familiar faces around me. Kaz, Alivia, Rani, Skylar, Calla, and Chase, all much younger than they should have been, and all staring at me with shocked and confused expressions.

"Whoa." Naomi whispered, appearing beside me just before the circle disappeared. I shook myself – I had to get Saturn, before he got away. I could deal with…whatever this was, later.

"Hey, I don't suppose you guys have seen this guy we're chasing? About yay-high, black and gold trench coat?" I questioned, gesturing. The guy who looked like Kaz silently pointed to the door, looking stunned. "Thanks!" I called, grabbing Naomi's hand – she was staring at them, as stunned as they looked – and dragging her out with me.

We went straight down the elevator to the bottom floor in the span of a couple of seconds, and raced outside just in time to see Saturn's trench coat duck into an alleyway beside the building. "Saturn!" I shouted, lunging after him.

He sidestepped me, causing me to go past him, and quickly pointed his weapon at me. "Stand down, Saturn." Naomi warned, holding her own blaster up. He raised a hand towards her, but to my relief, didn't quite attack yet. "Stand down, and we'll go easy on you."

"Nice try, princess." Saturn retorted, shooting a blast of electricity at her. Instead of ducking, Naomi dropped to one knee and raised on arm to defend herself. My heart clenched for a moment, but then a plasma shield burst from her special Davenwatch, and the blast hit it harmlessly. I lunged at Saturn again, only for him to shoot me in the chest.

I hit the ground hard, the breath rushing from my lungs, but to my shock, the golden blast didn't burn like his old one had. Raising a hand to my chest, I felt the material vibrate a little, the uniform undamaged. Thank you, Calla, I thought; whatever she'd reinforced my uniform with must have been specially designed to protect me from his gold attacks.

I looked up just in time to see a proton ring break up the fight between us and Saturn. Looking over, I saw the others from the Penthouse watching us warily.

"Someone breaks into my home, I'm defending it. Besides, you were taking too long." Younger Calla said in response to something the Younger Chase had said, a fierce look on her face. She had a baby bump, just like she did from where (or possibly when) we were from, but it looked smaller than her current (or future?) one. "Look, why don't we all take a breath, talk this out? At least stop attacking each other long enough to explain why and how you appeared in our living room."

"Yeah…not feeling it." Saturn retorted, aiming his weapon at the Younger Calla and firing. Both Naomi and Young Chase reacted at the same time, the bionic hero stepping in front of his wife with his plasma shield forming in front of him while Naomi raised her shield-bearing arm in front of them. The blast hit Naomi's shield harmlessly, causing the younger heroes to stare at her. Saturn raised his other hand, holding the remote. "Well, it's been a pleasure." He announced, opening another circle portal.

"No, you don't!" I pushed myself back to my feet and charged towards him, but he disappeared through the portal before I could stop him. It disappeared just before I could grab him. I felt a rush of anger and spun towards Calla, pissed off. "Calla, you let him get away! What the hell?"

The girl looked at me, confused, then glanced at Naomi. "I'm sorry, how do you know my name?" She questioned carefully. I stopped in my tracks, looking over her and the others. Some part of my mind had connected the dots before, but now it was really hitting me just how young they looked, and how there was no way I was looking at the faces of people who had saved Centium City nearly twenty years ago. I wasn't even sure they were all twenty years old.

I looked back at Naomi, and saw my shock mirrored on her face. Somehow, Saturn's device, or rather Calla's device, had sent us back in time? It was so bizarre that I almost dismissed the theory outright, but what other explanation could there be?

"Yeah, okay. Start talking." Kaz ordered. I stared at him, struck by how much Kameron looked just like his father. It was uncanny. "Who are you?"

"Uh…" I trailed off, looking at Naomi for help. If this was weird for us, I could only imagine how weird it was for them. And it occurred to me that every time travel movie ever, along with the few scientists that were studying it, all agreed on one thing: don't tell the past about the future. "None of your business?"

The dark-haired woman that could only be a younger version of Rani 'Nyx' Shore sighed irritably. "Let's try this again, shall we?" She questioned before grabbing me by the arm and spinning me around to face her. She raised one hand and smoky slivers of shadows surrounded the clenched fist. I looked down at it, fully aware of how much damage she could do with her powers. "Who are you, how do you know our names, where did you come from, and how did you appear in our penthouse?"

"And who was that guy?" The red-headed, Irish hero that I knew instantly as Alivia 'Geminus' McLean added. "Why were you attacking him?"

"Well?" Rani insisted when I didn't answer at first. I looked over at Naomi helplessly.

"Uh, Shutterbug, you wanna take this one?" I called to her, hoping that using her old nickname would get her to help. To my surprise, she narrowed her eyes, smirking.

"Nah, you've got this." She replied. I looked at her, annoyed. "Hey, you said that Nyx doesn't scare you. You said you were stronger than everyone in the NLH."

"Is that so?" Rani smiled, her teeth bared in an almost fearsome expression. I saw the shadows dancing around her fist grow in both size and speed, and I gulped nervously.

"You're not helping." I told Naomi.

"Wasn't trying to." She replied, tone falsely-sweet. I looked at her, confused. She was clearly unhappy about something, but I had no idea what it was about. Chase stepped closer to the girl, clearly waiting for an answer. Naomi sighed. "You're not going to believe us." She told him, almost apologetically.

"Try us." Kaz challenged. Naomi gulped nervously, looking between them all.

"Okay, well, I'm Naomi." She began slowly.

"Naomi…?" Calla questioned, waiting for a last name. Naomi glanced at me and I shook my head – we shouldn't tell them the future, a voice in the back of my mind kept telling me. But Naomi wasn't one to listen, was she?

"Davenport. Naomi Davenport." She answered and I sighed. She looked at Chase. "I'm your sister, half-sister…ish. I'm Donald and Tasha's daughter." She looked at me before finishing, eyes wide. "We're from the future."

They all stared at her for a long moment before Kaz finally spoke. Eyes still wide, he said, "Oh, Oliver and Dani are so going to regret missing this."

Emily's POV

"And then the portal-thingy just closed behind them." Noah was saying, pacing back and forth across the floor.

"And you have no idea where they went?" Mom pressed, looking at Noah in concern. After Ben, Naomi, and Saturn disappeared, we'd searched for about an hour before going home to regroup, with no idea where they could be or what had happened to them.

"Is there anyway you can track them?" Kameron questioned, looking at my mom.

"If I knew which device he used, then maybe, but…" she trailed off, clearly frustrated. Katherine looked between her and Leo, confused.

"'Ow many portal makers do ya 'ave?" She questioned incredulously. Mom and Leo exchanged looks.

"Twenty-four?" Mom guessed. Leo frowned.

"I thought it was twenty-seven." He said, just as uncertainly. She thought about it before turning back to us.

"Between twenty-four and twenty-seven." She decided.

"Please stop inventing stuff." Noah almost begged. She gave him a look.

"Do you know what the device looked like?" She questioned. He shook his head. "Alright, I'm going to have MISS do a facial recognition search. MISS, find them, alright?"

"Yes, Miss Calla." MISS replied. I sighed.

"I shouldn't have let Saturn's attack knock me down like that." I muttered, feeling guilty that I hadn't been able to help them.

"It wasn't your fault, Emily. You couldn't have known that Saturn stole a portal maker." Seraphina assured me gently. She looked around. "I'm just glad we were able to get to the other facility before Jupiter could get what he was looking for."

"What was he looking for, anyway?" Kira questioned. Justine cleared her throat, straightening up from where she was sitting.

"Well, he tried to break into Sector J. That's where Davenport Industries keeps their heavily armored transport vehicles." She explained. Kameron thought about it for a second before turning to stare at my mom.

"He tried to steal a tank?" He demanded, eyes wide. Mom shook her head.

"No!" She waved the idea away. "I don't make tanks – it's an armored SUV that's impervious to most known powers and abilities."

"So it's a tank, but cooler." Kira clarified, grinning at her brother. Mom shook her head, but didn't argue with the kids.

"Well, they didn't get it, which is important. Now, we just need to focus on what happened to Ben and Naomi." She sighed getting up. "I'll start going through my designs, try and narrow down which one it was. Noah, you're sure you didn't see anything else?"

"I didn't even see the device itself, Calla." Noah sighed, shaking his head, stopping at the cyber desk. He ducked his head in shame. "We should have been faster. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Noah." Sera reassured him. Justine nodded.

"You went as fast as you could." She added. I cleared my throat.

"It was a remote." I mentioned, looking at Mom. "And the portal was gold-ish? The edges were, at least."

"Gold?" Leo repeated, sounding confused.

"Does that mean something, Papa?" Charlotte questioned, frowning. Leo looked at Mom.

"I don't remember working on a gold one." He mentioned to her. She shook her head.

"Neither do I. Gold, are you sure?" She questioned me. I nodded, a little offended that she didn't believe me.

"I know what I saw." I insisted. "It was a gold ring with a misty gold inside to it."

"Misty gold?" Mom repeated, confused. "No, that can't be right. The closest thing I have to that would be the-"

She stopped dead in her tracks, a look of surprise and realization coming over her face. "Mom?" I questioned. Mom ignored me and looked over at Leo.

"Do you remember how I told you I stopped working with Zeta fuel?" She asked. He gave her a look.

"Tell me you're joking." He muttered in annoyance. Mom waved her hands at him.

"No, no. I did stop." She assured him. "After a little incident with Saturn, Ben, and Naomi."

"You're kidding." He stared at her, no longer annoyed, but somewhat stunned. Katherine looked equally shocked.

"That's today?" She questioned. Mom nodded.

"Seems like." She agreed. The rest of us all exchanged confused looks.

"Do you wanna fill us in, or are we supposed to guess what this…mind meld is all about?" Kira questioned, raising her hand slightly as if we were in class. Mom sighed and turned around.

"MISS? Do you still have footage from the first time Saturn appeared on your scanners?" She questioned loudly.

"The footage has been degraded over time, Miss Calla, but my hard drive still contains some stills." The AI replied. Mom nodded.

"Show us, please." She requested. The holoscreen turned on and showed a somewhat distorted image of the upstairs living room. Saturn was standing in the middle of it, surrounded by a confused looking…Kameron and Sera? It didn't look just like them, but they were way too familiar to ignore. A second photo showed a similar image, but with Ben and Naomi standing in Saturn's place, wearing their mission uniforms.

"When was Saturn in the Penthouse?" Kameron bristled, eyes wide. He looked at Kira, then at my Mom. "He's broken in before? Should we be worried?"

"No, no. It's okay." Mom was quick to reassure him.

"When were these taken?" Seraphina questioned. Mom glanced at Leo and Katherine before answering.

"May 7th, in the year 2020." She answered. We all stared at her.

"I'm sorry, what?" Noah demanded, eyes as wide as saucers. Mom sighed and sat down in one of the chairs by the cyber computer.

"So, a long time ago, I'd been working on cracking time travel. And I did." Well that was the first I'd heard of THAT. "I used a kind of fuel from Caldera in order to make it work, but I did. And I created a few prototypes. Including one that looks like a remote and has a gold circle design like that." She sighed. "I always knew that Saturn stole one of my devices and used it to travel back in time, I just didn't have any context."

"So what do we do?" Kira questioned. "How do we get them back?"

"We don't." Mom decided, shaking her head. We all looked at her. "Chase and I helped them get back to the future in the past. We just have to wait until they show back up."

"And when will that be?" Kameron asked impatiently. Mom shrugged.

"Tonight? Maybe tomorrow? Somewhere around then." She decided. I sighed irritably.

"But you don't remember?" It wasn't like Mom to be so vague about that kind of thing. She gave me a look.

"Emily, you weren't even born yet. Your father's the one with the computer memory, not me." She reminded me, not unkindly. She looked around at all of us. "Look, guys, I know it's freaky and scary, and really worrying, but I know from actual memory that they're okay. And you will see them really soon, I promise. So try not to worry about them, okay?"

"Okay." We all replied half-heartedly. Katherine clapped her hands together.

"Why don't we all get back to decoratin', shall we?" She suggested. "And then maybe we could try that skatin' idea that Ben 'ad earlier?"

She and Leo ushered everyone into the hyperlift. I, however, lingered when I realized that Mom was hanging around in Mission Command. "Hey, Mom?" I asked, a little uncertain. She looked up at me from where she'd begun to focus on her work again.

"Yeah, baby?" She asked. I bit my lip, rubbing my arm. "They are going to be okay. I promise."

"I know, it's not that…when's Dad supposed to call?" I blurted out. She stopped what she was doing, her smile disappearing for a second. "I was just wondering."

"I-I don't know yet." She answered, giving me a smile that felt…strained, almost. "But it should be soon. I'll let you know the second he does."

"Alright." I agreed a little sullenly. She nodded at the hyperlift.

"Go on. Didn't you have some shopping to do? Maybe you could take Kameron with you." She suggested. I nodded, though I knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Alright." I said again, heading for the hyperlift. I stopped at the door. "Hey Mom?"

"Yeah?" She looked at me, her smile feeling more natural now.

"They're okay, right? Like, nothing's wrong or anything?" I asked. She nodded.

"Everything is fine, Emily." She assured me. I nodded. "Everything is perfect, I promise."

Ben's POV

"What was that before?" I hissed to Naomi, eyeing the others in the room carefully. They'd decided to wait until they could get Bree and Jaden Parker here to discuss the situation. Dani and Oliver Short were nowhere to be found, apparently unreachable. She glanced at me, but didn't answer. "You mad at me for something?"

"You need to chill a bit." She snapped at me, keeping her voice low. I could see Calla and Skylar both eyeing us carefully.

"Excuse me?" I questioned, confused. She gave me a look.

"Recklessly jumping through that portal, yelling at Calla?" She reminded me. "I know you want to get Saturn, but that's not helping."

I hesitated. She was right; if I'd been a little more careful, we wouldn't have gotten caught up in all of this. But at the same time, if I hadn't, Saturn would have gotten away…even more than he already had.

I was startled by a sudden knocking on the door. Kaz, who was standing nearby, was quick to open it. "Seriously? Time travel?" Bree demanded, pushing past him as Jaden followed him in, pushing a baby stroller. Naomi craned her neck, smiling a little at the sight of her sleeping nephew in the stroller.

"According to them." Chase looked at us. Bree turned to us, eyeing Naomi carefully.

"You're Naomi. You're my sister." She didn't sound like she believed us, but I didn't really blame them. It was super freaky to us, let alone them.

Naomi smiled at her sister. "Yeah. Hi Bree, it's good to see you." She replied. She glanced at me. "This is Ben VanOver, by the way."

"People call me Aftershock." I stood up to shake her hand. She didn't take it, instead looking at me carefully.

"Wait, Ben VanOver?" Jaden questioned. "Isn't that-"

"Tecton's son. That's who he claims to be." Alivia confirmed, crossing her arms, looking at me as if trying to see the resemblance between me and my dad.

"It's the truth!" I snapped, uncomfortable with the scrutiny I was under. Naomi hit me in the leg, giving me a look. Right, I needed to be calm.

"I told you that you wouldn't believe us." Naomi sighed, shaking her head and dragging attention back to her. "Why does this stuff always happen to us?"

"Hey, it's your whack-job family." I retorted. She gave me a look, but I smirked back. If she wanted to joke around, so could I.

"How would you two even meet?" Skylar questioned.

"There was a party for the tenth anniversary of Mighty Med 2.0. I got dragged along because she funded the project," Naomi explained, pointing at Calla, "and rather than sit around and be bored, all of the kids locked themselves in the cafeteria and had a food fight with the leftovers."

I smirked at the memory. At 12 and 10 respectively, me and Naomi had been older than the rest of the kids, and it had been the only idea either of us had had to entertain ourselves. Teamed up with 7-year-olds Noah and James, we'd basically had the other kids running for cover.

"We kicked butt." I commented.

"Yeah we did." Naomi fist-bumped me in return.

Chase sighed, clearly not liking the situation. "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

I hesitated, then pulled out a phone-like device. While Naomi preferred the old kinds of cameras, I used the Davencamera whenever I took photos. I opened it up and showed them a picture from the first time Chase had run for Senate. There'd been a celebration thrown by the Davenports when they'd thought he was going to win; unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way, but at least it was a good photo. It showed the older Davenport and Dooley siblings and their spouses, along with Emily, Justine, Noah, Frank, and Charlotte. Somehow, one of the other, younger kids at the party had managed to photobomb the photo, but no one had really minded.

"Check it out." I said, showing them the holoimage. "This was taken at a party about four years ago."

"What kind of party?" Jaden questioned.

"It was a celebration. Chase-" I was cut off by Naomi rudely stepping on my foot. "What was that for?" I demanded. I was playing nice!

"Regardless of whether or not you believe us, we can't tell you the future." She told them, giving me a look. Right, I'd gotten ahead of myself there. "Remember what happened when Kaz travelled back in time?"

"Future Kaz stopped Oliver from turning evil. I don't exactly see that as a bad thing." Skylar pointed out.

"Sure." I nodded, though that wasn't the exact story. Kaz had travelled back in time more than once in his life, and the second time had some unintended consequences, both good and bad.

"If you're so worried about not screwing up the future, why'd you travel back in time then?" Rani asked. I looked at Naomi.

"Well…it really wasn't on purpose." I explained, chuckling a little. Frankly, the whole situation was a tiny bit funny. If it weren't for Saturn being mixed up in all of this, I'd have been cracking jokes about it by now.

"It just kinda happened." Naomi agreed. Jaden chuckled at that. He glanced at Bree and Chase.

"Huh, she just happened to accidently do something weird and science-y that landed them in trouble? Oh yeah, she's definitely a Davenport." He decided.

"I can't believe Dani and Oliver are missing this." Kaz said again, shaking his head. He didn't seem worried about them though, so I assumed that wherever they were, they were safe.

"How do you accidentally time travel?" Alivia demanded, still having trouble wrapping her head around all this. Naomi and I smartly kept our mouths shut, but did happen to glance over at Calla at the same time. Kaz followed out gaze, then chuckled.

"You've got to stop inventing dangerous things, Calla." He commented, smiling until she sent him a deadly glare.

"In her defense, the device was stolen. And look, it doesn't matter how we got here, we just need to get back, now." I looked at Naomi. For the first time, it was occurring to me that we had no exit strategy. If we didn't figure this out, we could be stuck here, and then the team would be left without a leader. "The team needs us."

"I'm sure they can handle one day without us. Besides, Saturn is the priority." She looked at me and offered me a smile, as if to say 'just because I don't want you to be reckless, doesn't mean I don't want to catch him too'. She turned back to the others. "Look, I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you this: we're facing a new team of villains, Saturn's one of them, and if we're going to figure out what their endgame is, we need to capture him. Before he hurts anyone else."

She silently slipped her hand on top of mine when she said that last bit, squeezing it gently. I looked at her in surprise, but didn't say anything as the others started to debate our story.

"I guess we're believing them about them being from the future?" Skylar questioned skeptically. I sighed; there was one way to prove this.

"Look, if you really don't believe us, you can test my DNA. All superheroes have their DNA put into the Mighty Med 2.0 system the moment our powers start to develop, right? My super strength came in when I was two. My DNA should already be in the system." Admittedly, I wasn't all that eager to be poked and prodded at Mighty Med again, not after just leaving there a month ago, but if it got them on our side.

Kaz nodded thoughtfully at the idea. "We do it so that, if the heroes have specific weaknesses, we can create cures or vaccines for them so we're not scrambling in the event of an emergency." He explained. I nearly snorted in amusement – that didn't' exactly help me, now did it? But I guess when you're the only superhero with your weakness, then finding a solution isn't a priority.

"We can have Horace test your DNA against our Ben's." Skylar agreed. Chase nodded.

"Alright. Aftershock, go with Kaz and Alivia to Mighty Med 2.0. Naomi, I want you to stay here and tell me everything you can about Saturn, as much as you can without disrupting the timeline," He emphasized when Naomi opened her mouth to object, "Calla, you mind getting MISS to see if you can track down Saturn?"

"How? It's not like he's in our database or something." Skylar pointed out. Calla bit her lip for a moment, considering, then smirked.

"I've got a couple of ideas." She assured us. With that, she turned towards the hidden elevator and headed down to Mission Command without explaining her plan. Skylar, Kaz, and I started to leave, but Chase stopped us for a moment to have a word with Kaz. I looked past them both at where Naomi was sitting on the couch. She gave me a reassuring smile.

"See you soon." She mouthed to me, almost teasingly. I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, c'mon Possible Baby Tecton." Kaz patted me on the shoulders, pushing me out the door.

"I really don't like being called that, man." I sighed as we stepped into the elevator.

Xxx

Obviously, the DNA test confirmed who I was, and by time Kaz, Alivia, and I returned to the Penthouse, Naomi had already filled most of the team in on what we knew about Saturn. Chase was sitting across from her, jotting things down on a pad of paper.

"Did he check out?" He questioned as we came back.

"One hundred percent; he's Baby Tecton." I sighed irritably at the nickname. "Sorry, Adult Baby Tecton."

"It's Ben. Or Aftershock." I corrected, shaking my head. "I'm twenty-two, for God's sake. People seriously need to stop calling me Baby Tecton."

"Easy, VanOver." Naomi chided gently before glancing at the others. "He's sensitive."

"No, I'm not." I just didn't like being called by that nickname, alright? It wasn't a hard concept to grasp.

"So, do you have enough proof or what?" Naomi asked, changing the topic. Chase sighed.

"Okay, we believe you." He assured her. They all turned to Skylar and Kaz to fill them in on what they'd missed.

"Alright, here's what we know. Saturn's electrokinetic like Dani, but much more powerful – he's electro-telekinetic as well, and apparently can use his electricity to create much bigger things than just lightning balls." Calla explained. Kaz's eyes widened.

"Electro-telekinetic?" He repeated. Chase sighed.

"It means that he can move things without touching them, much like my telekinesis, but through the power of static electricity instead of psychic ability." He explained, not really having the patience to explain things over and over again. Kaz shook his head.

"No, I know that it means." He looked over at Skylar and Alivia. "Electrokinesis, electro-telekinesis, weren't those…"

"Megahertz's powers?" I interrupted him, realizing where he was going with this. He nodded, frowning. "Saturn's his son."

"Wait, he reproduced? With who?" Alivia demanded, stunned.

"Yeah, that's a mystery you guys have been trying to figure out since we first learned about him." Naomi replied, nodding in agreement.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Bree asked, looking at Naomi and I. "We track him down, catch him, then send all of you back to the future?"

"Yeah, about that…" I looked over at Naomi, wondering if she had an idea. "How do we do that exactly? We weren't planning on time travelling…were we?"

"No!" She gave me a look.

"Well, with your family, it's hard to tell sometimes. It was Calla's device, after all." I pointed out.

"He does have a point." Rani announced, leaning on the back of the couch behind Naomi. "I mean, how are we supposed to get them back to the future? Are we stuck with them?"

"We can not be stuck here." The very idea of being trapped in the past…we HAD to get back.

"Well, we do have a working time machine." Jaden suggested. Naomi and I both stared at him, along with Rani.

"Calla built one a year and a half ago." Chase explained before looking at Calla. "But can it travel with three people?"

"No. It's a one-person ride, and since it can't travel across time without someone piloting it, you can't just make numerous trips." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Chase sighed.

"So, not only do we have to figure out how to find and stop Saturn, but we also have to figure out how to send all three of them through time." He muttered. Calla raised her head at that.

"Actually, about finding Saturn, I had an idea." She pulled out her tablet, a non-holographic device that hadn't been used in the past eight or nine years in our time. She handed it over to me, showing me the map of the city on it. There were two little, yellow blips flashing on it, both of them sitting near the center of the map, and very close to each other. "Okay, so when I was originally building my time machine, I noticed that the Zeta fuel gave off radiation waves. Nothing harmful, but enough that I can track it." She added the last part as reassurance, noticing the looks on our faces.

"Okay, I'm guessing these are us?" Naomi questioned, leaning over the edge of the couch to peer over my shoulder, her head just barely grazing my arm. "Shouldn't Saturn be on here?"

"He should, but he isn't." Calla confirmed, sounding pleased that Naomi came to that conclusion so quickly. "Which means that he must be underground, since that's the only place I wouldn't be able to track him. Which he must be in the-"

"Tunnels underneath the entire city, I know." Naomi nodded, smiling a little. She sat up properly so she could gesture at the map. "I started mapping the tunnels a month ago with your daughter. Now, I'm familiar with the tunnels on this half of the city," she drew a line with her finger down through the map, "but she mapped this section."

"Wait, back up. Daughter?" Skylar repeated. I looked at Calla and Chase, who were both staring at Naomi. Calla's hands were resting on her baby bump, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, crap, you didn't know the gender yet?" Naomi realized, eyes wide and her tone apologetic. "Sorry."

"Well, I guess we can cross half the name suggestions off the list." Calla mumbled to Chase.

"And that means that Hot Dog is still in the running!" Kaz grinned, punching his fist into the air. I looked at him, eyebrows raised. Wait, what?

"We are not naming our daughter 'Hot Dog', Kaz." Chase sighed.

"Wait, she was almost named 'Hot Dog'?" I chuckled. Well, at least something good came out of this. "Oh, I'm so going to tease her about that later."

"Don't." Naomi had to stop herself from smiling.

"Uh, back to the point guys?" Rani called. "It's great that, once he comes above ground again, we can find Saturn, but we still have to worry about catching him."

"And getting us back to our present." I added. Chase considered it for a moment before making a decision.

"Okay, we split up then. Two teams, each dealing with a problem." He told us. "Calla and I will stay here and work on the time travel problem-"

"I'll help too." Naomi offered. She sent me a wry smile. "I may not be our team's resident genius, but I did intern at Davenport Industries for a couple of years in high school."

"I'll stay behind too." Rani added. Alivia frowned at her suspiciously.

"Why?" She questioned. She shrugged.

"New spell book, new spells, I might be of some use." She reasoned. Alivia still frowned, looking like she wanted to argue with it, but decided against it.

"The rest of us will take the tunnels." Skylar decided. "Ben, Kaz, and Bree, you guys take the north side of the city, Alivia, Jaden and I will take the south."

"Here." Naomi pulled out her own Davencamera, the one she used more for documents than her actually photography. "I've got a map of that half of the city on there."

Alivia smiled at her. "Thanks." She turned to Kaz, Bree, and I. "Call the other team immediately if you find him, alright?"

"Good. If we can't find him in…" Kaz glanced at his watch, "…two hours, we meet back here to come up with a new plan?" Jaden nodded.

"Agreed." He decided. I glanced at Kaz and Bree before we could leave.

"Give me a second?" I requested. They both nodded and I turned to Naomi before pulling her off to the side.

"Hey." I murmured. She smiled at me, a little confused.

"Hey." She replied. I glanced at Rani, noticing how the witch was watching us.

"Do you remember what was going on for the Elite Force in 2020?" I questioned. She thought about it. "With S.H.I.R.T.?"

"Argento, right." She nodded. She looked over at Rani. "Spotlight was one of the ones he took, right?"

"You can't tell her anything. No matter how much she presses." I had a feeling that was why Rani wanted to stay behind. Naomi nodded absently. "Naomi, you can't."

"I know." She sent me a look before sighing. "They're all okay, though, right? Scarlet Ace, Spotlight, Kieran, and Taylor? They're fine."

"Exactly." I nodded. "So not saying anything isn't going to hurt them or put them in more danger. Saying something might." I reminded her. She nodded.

"They'll be fine." She repeated to herself before looking at me. "Alright, go on."

"I'll see you later." I promised her. I started to step away, but she grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"Just…keep your head, alright? I don't want to see you get hurt again." She bit her lip worriedly. I smiled kindly back at her.

"I'll be okay, I promise." I assured her.

Kira's POV

"Well, this sucks." Justine said to me and Charlotte as she plopped down on the couch in front of us, looking disappointed. Charlotte frowned.

"Calla said they'd be alright. And my parents seem to agree with her." She reasoned. Justine rolled her eyes.

"Well, of course they'll be alright. I'm pretty sure my mom and dad mentioned the time Naomi time travelled before." She shrugged. "I just didn't think much of it at the time. Like, don't you guys do this kind of stuff all the time?"

"No." "Not even close." Charlotte and I said at the same time, shaking our heads and giving the twelve-year-old girl a look. She sighed.

"Then what on Earth was the point of Noah getting bionics?" She complained. I smiled a little.

"Because it's fun?" I suggested. She gave me a look.

"It can't be that fun if time travel is weird to you guys." She grumbled before sighing. "Whatever. Mom and Dad are still going to kill him when they get back."

I laughed a little at that. From what I knew about Bree and Jaden Parker, they sure weren't going to be happy with Noah. Hopefully they wouldn't make him deactivate his bionics or get Calla or Davenport to remove the chip though. That would really suck.

"So, what sucks then?" Charlotte asked. Justine sighed.

"Well, I was going to see if you guys wanted to help me get Ben and Naomi under the mistletoe. They obviously have chemistry." She said. I internally grimaced at the idea. Things had only just started being normal between Ben and Naomi again. As far as I knew, neither of them had really talked about what had been said between them, and they were both trying to ignore it. Of course, it wouldn't, couldn't last forever, but it didn't seem like the right time for us to interfere.

"Maybe we should let that one happen naturally?" I suggested. Justine sighed.

"Well, who else is there?" She questioned. "You two aren't crushing on anyone, right?"

"No." I shook my head. Justine looked at Charlotte pointedly.

"I don't have any crushes." She insisted. Justine raised an eyebrow. "Who would I be crushing on?"

"What about Kameron? He seems nice, and he's really cute." She glanced at me. "Sorry."

"Moving on." Charlotte said impatiently. Justine sighed.

"Emily's not crushing on anyone, I think. What about Seraphina?" She asked. We both looked over at the tree, where Sera and Noah were hanging decorations. We watched as Noah gently reached over her to attach a dark blue Christmas ball to a branch above her head for her. "Wait, is something going on there?"

"I don't think so…" I trailed off, as I wasn't completely sure. Charlotte glanced at me and Justine, then grinned.

"Operation: Noaphina?" She suggested. Justine smiled, but I gave her a confused look.

"Noaphina?" I repeated. Justine rolled her eyes.

"We can come up with a better name later, Kira." She assured me dismissively, grinning all the while. "Let's do this."

Ben's POV

"Well, this is boring." Kaz complained as we made our way through the tunnels. I glanced back at him and almost chuckled. It was strange to see them all so young, but Kaz especially – we'd gone on missions before, had trained together. He'd been a really big influence in my superhero training growing up, and here he was, younger than me and acting like a typical teenager. It was freaky as all hell.

"Stop complaining." Bree told him before walking up beside me. "So, I've got a question for you."

"If I tell you about the future, Naomi will kill me." I commented. She shook her head.

"No, no, it's about you and Naomi. You two seem pretty close." She observed. "Are you guys together, or just friends?"

"Honestly? No clue." The past month had been…different. At times, it was like we were back to being best friends, and at others, it felt like it was more than that. I'd wondered if I'd just been reading too much into it, but I wasn't totally convinced it was all in my head. "It's complicated. We're still figuring it out."

"Been there." Kaz chuckled in agreement. Suddenly, Bree's phone vibrated. She answered it quickly.

"Hey." She greeted before pausing to listen. "Okay, what are the coordinates?"

"Saturn's above ground. Calla just sent us the coordinates!" Bree told us, hanging up. She handed us her phone before speeding off in the direction of the coordinates. Kaz took one glance at it, then turned to me.

"C'mon, I know a short cut!" He told me. He led us through another tunnel and towards an old ladder leading up to a manhole. He gestured at me to go first and I did, pushing the manhole cover off once we got to the top.

"How'd you know about this place?" I questioned as we climbed out behind what looked like an archaic arcade. I offered him my hand, pulling him the rest of the way up.

"I brought Dani here on a date once." He explained before pushing the manhole back into place. He led us out onto the street. "Now, Saturn should be around here somewhere…"

"Found him." I said, pointing at the sky in time to show him a lighting bolt that had shot and blasted from the clear sky above. We glanced at each other, then raced in that direction.

Xxx

Kaz and I raced around a corner to find Bree already facing off against Saturn, the two of them fighting in front of a bus station. Maybe part of his plan was to escape before Naomi or I could get him?

Bree was keeping the criminal busy and occupied, but wasn't exactly landing many blows. Instead, she would speed around him, going far faster than he could react to, then try to lunge at him. Unfortunately, Saturn had fought his share of speedsters in the past and knew how to handle her. He wasn't landing any hits of his own, but carefully aimed blasts of lightning at her feet were keeping her from touching him either.

I sighed to myself, then turned to glare at Saturn. I had not travelled this far to let him get away. "Hey, Saturn!" I called before leaping at him, using all my strength to propel myself forward. I twisted around at the last minute, not at all surprised by the lightning bolt that Saturn and landed in front of him as planned. I dropped down low and swung my leg out to knock him off his feet, but Saturn side-stepped the attack and landed a sharp kick to my face. I fell backwards, one hand instinctively reaching towards my face. My nose didn't feel broken, thankfully, but it definitely hurt.

Bree took her opportunity to attack Saturn, slamming into him at full speed and knocking him back a few steps. He dropped to one knee, winded, but shot a wave of electricity out at her. It wrapped around her instead of blasting her, Saturn using his electro-telekinesis to lift her from the ground and throw her into me. She hit me before I could get back up, and we both his the ground with a thud.

Kaz shot a large ball of fire at Saturn's head, then leapt into the air after the fireball, flying towards him. Just as Kaz apparently anticipated, Saturn managed to nullify the fiery attack, using his own lightning to destroy the fireball before it could make contact, but he certainly wasn't expecting a 160 pound teenager to come hurtling towards him like that. Kaz managed to land a strong punch to his jaw.

It knocked Saturn to the ground, but the electrokinetic was quick to respond with an attack of his own. He slammed his hand onto the ground, sending an electrical charge outward , at Kaz, much like how I would sometimes use my earthquake abilities. Bree, who'd finally climbed off of me, and I were both out of range, but Kaz took the full force of the shock, dropping down to the ground with a shout as painful electrical waves took over his body.

"I'll distract him, you hit him." Bree muttered to me before standing up straight. "Hey! Trench Coat!" She shouted at him. She started to speed towards him, but, while she was still out of the range of his electrical ground attack, she leapt into the air and towards the brick wall nearby. She rebounded off of it with practiced precision, using it to push her in the direction of Saturn.

I followed after her, knowing that he would be too preoccupied with trying to deal with her to notice me. As expected, he turned to use his electro-telekinesis to catch her midair before she could land a blow, just as Kaz kicked his legs out from under him. He dropped Bree to try and deal with Kaz, and that's when I lunged at him from behind, tackling him to the ground harshly.

"Here!" I heard Skylar shout, somehow appearing right at the perfect moment, and I wrestled Saturn onto his stomach, pulling is arms behind his back roughly. Skylar handcuffed him using power-nullifying cuffs, then motioned for me to get off of him. I rolled off of him, moving to sit next to him on the ground.

"Took you guys long enough." Kaz joked. I laughed in earnest, my head falling back. We caught Saturn. I'd caught Saturn. I'd done it before, in the past, but doing it now, after he beat me last time? It felt like winning the lottery. It felt better than anything I'd ever felt. He was captured. He was done. I got to my feet, feeling very accomplished.

"Well, it's not like we were looking for him on the other side of town or something." Alivia commented sarcastically in response to Kaz's joke.

"Guys, it doesn't matter." Jaden told us, lowering his blaster. "We got the guy, right? That's the important part."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is." I bent down to address Saturn, my nemesis glaring silently at me. "We're going to have a nice little chat when we get home about you and your little friends, aren't we?"

He didn't respond at all. "I think he's looking forward to that chat." Alivia commented. I looked up and grinned at her. Oh, it was going to be one hell of a chat.

Kira's POV

Well, 'Operation: Noaphina' wasn't exactly off to the best start. It seemed that everything we tried just wasn't working. But I had to admit, it was very amusing to witness.

The first attempt was rather simple – a piece of mistletoe hung over the box of tree decorations. But after nearly thirty minutes of neither of them being underneath the leafy plant at the same time as the other, we finally caught a different couple under the mistletoe: Leo and Katherine.

"Ew." Charlotte wrinkled her nose in fake disgust as her parents kissed sweetly. Leo chuckled at Charlotte's reaction as he pulled away, while Katherine gave her daughter a half-amused, half-stern look.

Xxx

The second attempt was in the park, when the rest of us had gone skating. Emily and Kameron were still gone shopping, so we'd all gone without them. Calla had also stayed behind, claiming that she was still working on something. Leo had tried to get her to take a break but was unsuccessful.

The mistletoe was hung carefully over the entrance to the rink. Sure, we would get a lot of people unintentionally, but we were sure to get Noah and Sera.

"C'mon, guys." Charlotte insisted, sweeping onto the ice and skating forward onto the ice with an unexpected amount of grace. She stopped several feet in front of the entrance, smiling brightly. "What are you waiting for?"

"I've never skated before." Sera reminded us, looking at the ice a little uncertainly.

"It's okay." Justine offered, standing right in front of me near the back of the line. "Noah can help you." She pushed her brother forward a step towards Seraphina.

"Whoa!" Apparently, Justine had pushed him a little too hard, because he knocked into Sera, who was consequently pushed onto the ice. Sera went flying straight into Charlotte who, unprepared, was knocked down onto the ice. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Sera apologized, scrambling off Charlotte clumsily, hands and knees slipping on the slippery surface.

"It's fine." Charlotte grunted as Sera finally got off her. "I'm good."

"You sure, Charlotte?" Noah asked, sending Justine a dirty look for pushing him. The twelve-year-old shrugged in response. "You've got to be more patient, Juju."

"It's okay, I'm fine." Charlotte waved them off. Noah offered Sera his hand, pulling her onto her feet.

"C'mon, it's not that hard. I'll show you." He told her, leading her off to the side. I skated forward and helped Charlotte up.

"Plan B was a bust." I commented. She let out a slow breath.

"Plan C then." She decided irritably.

Xxx

"Okay, this has got to work." Justine muttered intently, watching Seraphina and Noah with narrowed eyes. We'd managed to convince the lady working at the hot cocoa booth to let us put mistletoe in the front window of her booth, and we were currently watching and waiting to catch Noah and Sera underneath.

"You know, most people would be weirded out by setting their brothers up." I commented from where we were sitting, watching, as the two of them got into line.

"Meh. Noah needs a good girl in his life." She shrugged. "Blake was nice and all, but she doesn't really get him. Sera does."

"So, is this about getting him a kiss, or getting him a date?" Charlotte questioned. She shrugged.

"Who says it can't be both?" She questioned, smiling a little.

"Oh, oh." I grabbed their arms, watching as the couple in front of Noah and Sera moved on. But just before they could step underneath the mistletoe, the wind picked up and blew the bill that Sera'd been holding out of her hands. She ran to chase after it.

"It's okay, she has to come back." Charlotte was quick to reassure. Justine shook her head.

"Doesn't matter." She pointed at Noah, who was currently paying for the hot cocoas with his Davenwatch. To our disappointment, he walked away with the cocoas to where Sera had managed to collect the bill.

"I give up." I sighed, shaking my head and getting up to get my own cocoa.

Ben's POV

"Look who we've got!" Kaz announced as we walked back into Mission Command, dragging a reluctant Saturn in with us. He was furious and quiet, but frankly, I was alright with it.

Naomi, Rani, Chase, and Calla were all waiting for us, Naomi and Calla standing next to what I had to assume was supposed to be our ride home. I examined the time travel device skeptically. I knew that most of the prototypes from back here would be less sophisticated than the stuff we had in the future, but this looked a little…unsafe. Calla's time machine was essentially 3 car seats attached to a number of cannisters, with one control panel. Unfortunately, because Saturn had crushed and destroyed the remote portal maker, it was our only option.

"Nice." Naomi smiled brilliantly at me, sharing my enthusiasm. "This is perfect. Now we can finally get some information out of this guy."

"And just in time too; the time machine is ready." Chase announced. "We've altered it to seat three, Rani's spell will keep it secure, and you have enough fuel to get back to when you're going."

"Sit down." Jaden gestured at the seat with his blaster, looking at Saturn. The villain scowled, but did as he was told, glaring at us the entire time.

"So, back to the present, I guess?" I looked at Naomi. She nodded and turned back to the Elite Force.

"Thank you. For helping us get back, and for helping us get Saturn. You have no idea how long we've been trying to capture this guy." She told them sincerely.

"Anytime." Bree drew her into a hug. "You're family."

"Stay safe." Chase added, also hugging her. "And try to stay out of trouble a little than we did."

Naomi cracked a smile. "Yeah, neither of those are very likely to happen, but I'll try my best." She promised. I nodded to them respectively.

"Good luck with…everything." I told them, remembering how crazy their final year as a team was like.

"I assume you're talking about our missing friends?" Skylar guessed.

"…And other things." Naomi glanced at me before offering them a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it'll all work out."

"Mostly." I added. Naomi slapped my arm.

"Dude!" She snapped at me.

"I'm sure we can handle whoever took them. Whom, I suppose, you're not allowed to tell us the identities of?" Alivia looked at us hopefully. When we didn't answer, she sighed. "Well, it was worth a try."

"Good luck." Naomi told them again, taking a seat. I sat down next to her.

"You too." Calla told her. I glanced back at her as Naomi pressed a button on the machine. Suddenly, there was an strong gust of wind, a blinding light, and suddenly we were sitting in the middle of the Penthouse living room, the shattered remains of the coffee table underneath us. Leo, Noah, Seraphina, Kira, Kameron, Katherine, and Justine standing around us, definitely caught off guard by our sudden appearance.

"We're home." Naomi announced, smiling at the stares she was receiving.

Xxx

"So, they're going to keep him in isolation for a couple of days, see if that loosens his tongue a bit." Calla announced, walking back into the Penthouse after escorting the S.H.I.R.T. agents down to the main floor. She nodded at Naomi and I. "We can talk to him then, see what he knows."

"Alright. Sorry about your coffee table." I apologized, looking over at Leo who was sweeping away the glass. "I can…pay for it."

"Nah," she patted my arm, "I've been looking for an excuse to replace it for ages now."

"In that case, you're welcome." Naomi told her. Calla smiled a little at that, but something felt off about it. "Everything alright?"

"Great." She replied. She started to walk away, then stopped and turned back to us. "Really good job, guys."

"Thanks Calla." "Thanks." We replied. She headed back down to Mission Command, and I turned to Naomi.

"Is she okay? She seemed off earlier too." I commented. She shrugged uncertainly just as the front door opened. Helix trotted inside, a gift bag in his mouth and a Christmas hat on his head. Emily and Kameron followed him inside.

"You're back!" Emily gasped, dropping her bags and running to hug Naomi.

"You guys went shopping together?" I questioned, a little surprised. Kameron and Emily shared a look.

"No." "We did not." They replied. I frowned, but neither one of them elaborated.

Emily's POV

"Merry Christmas." I greeted as I came down the stairs, Helix running ahead of me. He was wearing one of his many Christmas sweaters, this one green with candy canes on it. He immediately ran to bury himself in the presents, my beloved and weird pet liking to smell them, though he'd never damaged them in the past, so I wasn't worried.

"Good morning. I take it Christmas is the one day a year that you wake up early willingly?" Kameron chuckled, looking up from where he was leaned on the couch, examining the endless sea of presents under the tree.

"Yep." I replied, leaning next to him, smiling as I saw the gifts moving around as Helix sniffed his own gift out. "What are we looking at?"

"It's just…there's a lot more presents out there than I thought there'd be." He admitted as some of the others started to make their way down the stairs.

"Mom didn't want you guys to feel left out since your moms and dads aren't here." I explained, smiling to Justine, Sera, Noah, Naomi, and Kira as they walked down the stairs.

"Whoa." Kira's eyes widened in surprise. I laughed a little.

"Is everyone up?" Charlotte questioned, bursting in. Justine was right behind her. "Mom and Dad are just getting dressed – they'll be here soon."

"And I have coffee." Ben announced, catching the door with his foot before it could slam shut behind Charlotte, carrying two trays of to-go cups in his hands. I smiled at the three of them, waving a little.

"Great. Where's Calla?" Naomi asked, looking around. To our surprise, she was not in on the main floor. "MISS?"

"Miss Calla is in Mission Command." The AI replied. Ben sighed, placing the coffee on the counter.

"I'll get her." He offered, heading down to Mission Command. Kameron grabbed my arm and turned me towards him.

"Hey, listen, about yesterday…" He trailed off. I raised my chin, shaking my head.

"I don't want to talk about it." I insisted. He looked like he was going to argue with me. "And you're not going to tell anyone, got it? Or else."

"Emily…" He trailed off, uncertainly.

"You're not going to tell anyone." I repeated sternly. He sighed. "Please? I'll tell Mom once I come up with more than empty results, I promise. But let me talk to her."

"Alright." He agreed, offering me a smile. "But don't be an idiot about it."

I rolled my eyes. "Please. I'm a Davenport. Being an idiot isn't in my blood."

He snorted in amusement. "By the way, 'or else'?" He questioned. "What was your 'or else' going to be?"

I smirked, then glanced past him to see Charlotte and Justine talking by the stairs, just out of earshot. "Or else I'd tell Charlotte you have a crush on her." I whispered. His expression changed from amused to horrified in a second. "Don't worry, I won't."

"You know about that?" He hissed. I stood up properly and Kameron followed my lead.

"Everyone knows about it. Well, except Charlotte." I hissed, making sure to keep my tone quiet enough that Charlotte could not possibly overhear. "Seriously, man, we all have bets on this turns out."

He stared at me, looking a little shaken, but not freaked out about it. "What did you bet on?" He asked, sounding almost as if he didn't want to hear the answer. I smiled at him.

"I'll tell you when I win." I told him, glancing past him. "By the way, I'm not sorry about this."

"About what?" He asked, confused. I smirked, then pushed him backwards just as Justine pushed Charlotte backwards, the two of them colliding into each other.

"Mistletoe!" Justine, Sera, and I called all at the same time, pointing at the conspicuously hung mistletoe plant hung from the ceiling, Charlotte and Kameron standing underneath.

The two of them looked at each other in surprise while we all stared on, waiting. "Uh, you don't…we don't have to…" Kameron mumbled, ears turning red from embarrassment. "We don't have to-"

To his clear surprise, Charlotte leaned forward and pressed her lips against his in a quick, chaste kiss, smiling shyly at him. "Merry Christmas, Kameron." She told him before skipping off towards the presents before kneeling down to play with Helix.

"Merry Christmas, Charlotte." He smiled to himself. I laughed a little, feeling good about that, before going to go play with Helix too while we waited for the parents to join us.

Xxx

Kihonne: So, that was a good one, wasn't it? I hope you all liked it, but please let me know what you thought.

So, I know I promised you guys a double-update, but since this chapter took on a mind of its own and decided it was going to be a good 7000 words longer than I meant, I'm not actually done the New Year's one yet. Rest assured, I'm working on it now and it will be done soon (possibly within the next couple of hours, definitely before this time tomorrow). So, even though the next chapter isn't appearing right away with this one, I promise you're still getting it very soon.

Anyway, let me know what you all thought of the chapter!