Angela didn't think much about Orlando's invitation to come over for more training. Naturally, when she arrived at his mansion and rang the doorbell, she was surprised to see his sister answer the door in a cute navy blue dress. Usually, no one else was home when she came over. The house was always quiet and empty.

Not now. There was music playing in the kitchen and something smelled delicious. Enough so to make Angela completely forget that she'd already eaten a huge dinner.

"Hello!" his sister sang out as she looked Angela up and down and nodded in approval.

A good thing, in Angela's book, since the young woman was Orlando's legal guardian. It'd be nice if the two of them got along.

Orlando came down the stairs in his usual all-black attire, from his button down T-shirt, to the baggy black jeans, and even his socks. His hair was wet and looked freshly washed.

"You didn't tell me your girlfriend was so cute Orly," his sister said, looking up at him.

"She's a cheerleader, of course she's cute. But she's not my girlfriend." He pointed at Angela. "We're friends. Tait bailed on me, so I'm going to go hang out with someone else instead. Figured I'd let you and Jon have some time alone. Just remember what I said about not doing things where I can walk in on them. Because when I get back I don't want to come across anything...weird."

"What do you think I do with him anyway?" his sister asked, acting completely appalled. "Kissing is not weird. Most normal couples do it."

"I'm just saying!" He waved a hand quickly and faced Angela. "Are you ready to go?"

"Y-yeah," Angela said, watching the two.

It reminded her a lot of how she and JD did things back home. Only JD didn't take care of her on a twenty-four-seven basis. He didn't have to make all of the important decisions about school, or her whole life in general. Her heart ached for both Orlando and his sister.

She followed him to his car, preferring to let him drive. It was one of the rare nights when her parents lent out both of their cars to JD and Angela. Her younger siblings were staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight, so she was pretty sure she was being kicked out of the house for as long as possible.

Once more the two got into his sister's car.

"So where are we going on our hot date? I thought we were training," she teased.

"How do you feel about going on the field to practice?" Orlando smirked and his eyes glittered slightly under the green glow of the radio light.

"I'm down with it, but is that a good idea without Alan's permission?"

"I don't exactly care about having his permission or not."

"You want to go see what she's doing, don't you?"

Angela could sense the anger coming from Orlando, like a bad vibe. A dangerous one too, which made her leery of going out to practice tonight.

He shrugged like it was nothing, but the way he tightly gripped the steering wheel suggested it was anything but. "So what if I do? I think I deserve to know after everything we've been through."

Gently and carefully, like he was a wild animal caught in a trap, Angela put a hand over his. "Call her and break up with her, and we can do something fun. That will give you more satisfaction and freedom from the situation than spying on her. I know it might not seem like it, but at least then she can know how badly she hurt you and see the consequences to her actions. If she doesn't care, then she's not worth your time. In the end, you deserve better anyway. You obviously don't trust her, and without something like that, you can't exactly have a relationship. No matter how good the good times are. Spying is only going to make you more bitter and lash out."

"What if they're doing something important for their operation? Something we can stop?"

"Is that really the reason you want to go?"

"I need to know what's so much more important than me," he said sharply. "I don't expect you to understand."

"No, I get it. Because you wouldn't have done the same thing to her, am I right?"

"Right."

"Then that in and of itself should be an answer to what you need to be doing here." When she glanced over at him and saw how sad he was, she couldn't help but sigh. "But you're right. Her tribe is probably up to something, and we can at least drive by her place to see if she's there or not. Take a look around so we can figure out what they're doing. For Alan. And we aren't going to do anything stupid." She stressed the point.

Even though I want to start her hair on fire for hurting him like this. They better be forcing her to do it.

Orlando held up his pinkie for her to take. "I swear. Nothing stupid, or I'll wear yellow to school for a week."

She took it in her own and grinned. "Kind of makes me wish you hadn't transferred."

****

They parked on the same hill they had been on the night of their last mission, watching the park below. It was void of people, but since it was now officially winter, who would want to spend time there outside in the snow?

Off in the distance Angela could see a couple of cross-country skiers moving away from them, and there was an ice skating rink a couple of blocks away near the high school. The sled tracks impacted into the snow on the ground suggested that people had been there earlier, but must have left when it got dark.

Orlando and Angela had waited outside of Tait's house for almost an hour to see if she was home, coming home soon, or if there was no chance of her being back at a reasonable time. The two had worn their masks so they wouldn't be recognized just in case someone looked into their car and saw them spying.

When there was no evidence of her inside, or of her coming back, they went to the park.

"I don't know why I picked here. They aren't going to be around. Why would they come back to the place we busted them at?" he admitted.

Angela glanced over at him. She hated to see the frown on his face. "It's convenient maybe? You okay? Something you want to talk about?"

"No," he said and she couldn't help but be curious about which question he was answering. All of them?

"What do you want to do now?" she asked instead, not wanting to press.

He didn't like to talk about his feelings; he'd made that clear before. She'd lucked out a couple of times and got him to spill, but she didn't want to push it too much. There was a chance he'd push her away completely and never try to open up again. Angela liked him, so the idea of messing up their growing friendship didn't sit well with her.

I really like him. Probably too much.

He pressed his hand to his chin, pulling a knee up to his chest as he did so, and gripped the steering wheel with his other hand.

"Don't think too hard or you might blow a fuse," she teased, hoping the humor would help lighten things up a little bit.

The usual eye roll he seemed to always do was accompanied by a quiet scoff, but there was also a slight hint of a smile.

"Want to go do some exploring?"

"Where?"

"In the tunnels."

She stared at him, studied him, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. "You want to go down into the tunnels that had bad guys in them two weeks ago? Why?"

"Maybe they left something behind?" He waved a hand. "If anything, we can see how they all connect to the school. Why should the aliens be the only ones who understand the layout? Besides, I left some homework in my locker. We can bust in and grab that while we're at it."

"Are you serious? You want to break into your school to get some homework? You're a goodie-goodie!" She couldn't help but giggle because all her images of Orlando were completely shattered in that one moment. A few of them had been slowly chipping away the more time she spent with him, but this was the icing on the cake.

He glared at her. "Yeah and? I could be a meth addict, a stoner, or an alcoholic. I bet you'd think those were cool, but they're stupid. I expected more from you."

"Hey now, I didn't say it was a bad thing. I'm just shocked to the point where I'm finding it hard to believe. But I guess when you don't go out and do things with people, what else are you going to do in your spare time since you aren't interested in meth, pot, or booze?" she teased.

"I do things. With people. I'm doing things with you."

She had to look away from him. Her face was getting too warm. "I wanted to do something fun."

"Breaking and entering is fun! And illegal! Rebellious, even. Does this help my credibility more?"

"Nah, I like you being a secret nerd more." She winked.

He threw his hands up. "Can't win with you."

"Nope. What's the homework for?"

"Biology. I got a packet of reading and obligatory study questions to answer for the weekend, and I put it in my chemistry book on accident. That class is significantly easier and I never have homework for it," he explained.

"You're taking Biology and Chemistry at the same time? Are you nuts?"

"Advanced placement Bio at that, and it wasn't my idea. I qualified, so my sister did it to punish me. It's not so bad. Chemistry is a breeze, and the other isn't so hard but there's a lot to memorize." As usual, he was calm while he spoke.

How did he do it? She would have demanded her parents change her schedule if they had done something like that to her. Unless he secretly liked all of the hard classes? He was becoming even more difficult to read.

"So what do you say? Are we going in?" he asked at last.

I know Tait and her tribe are doing something bad. That was all the justification she needed.

"Okay, but if anything bad happens, I'm counting on you to save me since I'm still new with my powers here," she said.

"I can do that. Besides, JD would murder me if I ditched you."

"True that."

"Not like I would. Ditch you, I mean. Then we can figure out something else to do after we go in, are disappointed, and have another few hours before curfew to kill."

She gave him a small smile. "Don't want to be alone?"

"I'm always alone," he said.

"Not right now you aren't," she pointed out and then pinched his arm, pleased when he winced. "Yeah, I'm a physical, flesh and blood, being. Not an imaginary friend. You're not alone."

"Whatever." He got out of the car and shut it loudly behind him.

At first she was worried she'd made him angry, but when she got out and saw his coy smile, she relaxed.

Together, they made it down the hill without any problems. What she didn't anticipate was stepping on a patch of ice, slipping, and using the sleeve of his coat to prevent herself from breaking a tailbone. His hand went behind her back, catching her quickly. With ease, he righted her again, and surprisingly he didn't say a word.

The closer they got to the tunnels, the more withdrawn he became. Angela bent down to lift up the door to the entrance and was surprised by how heavy it was. She grunted as she pulled with every bit of her strength, but the hatch wouldn't lift. It reminded her of a manhole cover. Orlando gently pulled her aside.

"Stand back," he said and closed his eyes. She watched as his brow furrowed, and his eyes squeezed shut, and he strained. The cover opened shortly after, and he set the metal door aside.

She gazed up at him. "I loosened it."

"If that makes you feel better, I'll humor you." He waved for her to drop down first. "After you."

"Such a gentleman," she said and peered down the dark hole.

It was pitch black down there, but maybe that was why he wanted her to go first. She was a natural light if she wanted to be. This would be good training for her because she had yet to ignite her fire and keep it secluded and stable.

Time to get this party started, she thought. I can't think of something that's going to tick me off or I'll blow something up. Warmth. I need to think of something warm. Hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, puppy kisses, happy smiles, his smile. No I can't get a crush on him, he's dating my best friend. Who's evil, lying, and hurting him. Who hurt me. Don't get angry. Focus. Hot chocolate, fuzzy socks...

Soon, her hands were on fire although she didn't notice until she heard Orlando step away from her. Then she could see some light through her closed eyelids. There wasn't a lot, just small flames that danced along her fingertips, but it would be enough for her to see by for the time being.

She touched the cold metal of a ladder, and carefully climbed the rungs down. While she waited for Orlando to join her, she took a look around.

The tunnels were completely dark. She held the fire out in front of her to try and get some kind of picture of what they were dealing with. The walls weren't smooth like the tunnels she had been in the night of the party. They were man-made, but much older and far narrower than she would have preferred. Electric lights were installed, and she searched the walls for a switch to turn them on.

"There better not be any rats down here," she said as she looked.

A maintenance box hung on the wall near the ladder, and next to it was the light switch. She flipped it and watched the lights turn on down the tunnel for as far as she could see.

Orlando jumped down the last few rungs and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure if that was the brightest idea."

"It was bright, but not in the way you're suggesting," she said. "I figure if anyone is down here, the lights would have already been on. I think we're safe."

"For now. I meant if someone decided to come here later and noticed the lights being on, they might wonder who else is here."

"Then we'll be careful and blast anyone we need to." She walked forward in the direction she was pretty sure went to the school. He followed at a comfortable distance, looking around as he did.

"I was secretly hoping for something more interesting," he admitted.

"Same, but what can you do?"

They came upon a three-way fork in the tunnel. One path continued straight ahead, one went right, and the other left. Signs on the walls labeled where each one went. Going straight would take them to the water tower, right, to the mall, and left went to the high school. Angela knew that the water tower and mall were at least a mile away, if not more. The tunnel system was so extensive and broad.

Silently, they went left. On their way to the school, they passed a number of doors. When they peeked inside each one, they saw nothing but large empty space. The rooms could potentially be good spots for meetings and other work.

At the party, The Doctor had set up one of his labs in a room just like those. A harsh reality of the mobility of his project. He could set up and take down his work anywhere. The tunnels were everywhere and connected miles of cities together.

The hall started to get progressively dark the closer they got to the school. She also noticed a slight incline in the floor as they walked. A sign read "Lunar Falls pool" next to a door.

Orlando stopped to investigate it. He gave it a firm tug and then pushed. "Locked, duh," he mumbled. With a slight twist of his hand, the door latch clicked.

"Neat trick. Didn't know you could pick locks with telekinesis," Angela commented as she let him go first through the door.

The two were inside of the pool maintenance room. A soft red and green glow came off of the emergency lights so they could see. A small window allowing them to see into the pool itself gave her a disorienting sensation of being underwater even though she knew she wasn't. The pool lights were on.

In fact, the whole pool room was illuminated.

She stepped toward Orlando, moving away from the window. "I think someone is here."

"Open swim?" he suggested.

"Maybe," she whispered, but her instincts were telling her otherwise.

When they'd driven by the school, there were only two cars in the parking lot, and they looked like they'd been left a long time ago. The lights to the building were off except for a few small ones in the entryway, and those were likely there for security reasons.

Angela took a shaky step toward the window one more time to try to pick up any sounds. All she could hear was the sound of the water moving, but not children playing. There were no splashes, shrieks, or anything else resembling what an open swim session sounded like. So what was going on?

Orlando grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her away. "Let's get my homework and leave."

She nodded in agreement, wondering if they were thinking along the same lines. If there were members of the green or blue tribe inside, she didn't want to run into them tonight. Not with only her and Orlando.

Finding information from an abandoned site was one thing, picking fights with a group of super powered teens was another. She let Orlando lead the way out. He knew where they were.

The hallways of the school were dark as they navigated away from the athletic portion of the grounds and crossed over to the academic side. The two sections of the school were connected by a long, wide hallway with windows for walls. The moonlight poured in through them and lighted the way.

"There aren't cameras or anything here?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "No. There's probably alarms on the doors, but I've never seen a camera inside. Getting scared?"

"Nervous, and I don't want police showing up here to check things out."

"I think we're safe from that. If the other tribes are here, they'd have thought about that already, unless the police are in on it. But something tells me the adult population of the town is clueless. The Doctor said young people were easier to work with in the reports we stole from the old lab. Who knows? A lot of this is still hard to believe. I'm having a difficult time figuring out how we're going to make any kind of difference," he said, and stopped at his locker.

Thankfully it was on the first floor. She didn't know how far she wanted to venture into the building. The locker opened with ease, making a creaking sound which echoed down the hallway. He pulled out a textbook, then closed the locker door, being mindful not to slam it. They headed back the way they came.

Angela thought about what he said. Similar thoughts had crossed her mind.

After a long moment of awful silence, she spoke. "Every little bit helps. Maybe we won't stop the war for the Alturans, and maybe they'll move on to a new planet for their next battlefield, but at least we can do our best to maintain the status quo of our home. Those other tribes are threatening that. Think about the kind of chaos that will ensue when people with superpowers start to become more mainstream. Sure they say science is developing the theories, and blah, blah, blah, but I don't know if our planet is ever supposed to discover it. Mentally, we might not be ready for it. We can barely handle differences in gender and race. Throw in superpowers and life on other planets into the mix...and I'm sure you get what I'm saying."

"True."

As soon as they crossed over into the athletic area again, both grew quiet. They barely breathed for fear of getting caught by whoever was using the pool. Their steps were light but fast as they tiptoed through the darkness once more.

Orlando stopped by the main entrance to the pool room and pointed, as if asking if they should take a peek. Angela shook her head, not wanting to. He held up a finger and pointed again mouthing, "One minute, promise."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, then mouthed back, "Fine".

The lock didn't need to be picked. The door opened without a sound. Sure enough, the lights to the pool were on, and quiet talking could be heard echoing throughout the large room. A small circle of teenagers were sitting on the floor near the diving boards.

Tait and her brother were among them, but they were the only two who were recognizable, since they were also the only two she had seen take off their masks in front of Angela and Orlando, of the other tribes at least. It was startling how the masks could so easily disturb anything recognizable on a person, making features fuzzy like television static. The instant someone saw the mask removed, every physical feature of the wearer became clear as day to that person, even when the mask went back on.

So while the other teens in the circle were disguised with static, Tait and Peyton stuck out in clear high definition.

Orlando clenched his hands into fists as they crept into the bleachers that were located high above the swimming pool. They ducked behind a bench and listened.

"Good session today," Peyton said, but Tait snorted as if she weren't impressed. He glared at his sister, but didn't say more.

"So next weekend, we're going to be having our first big mission and we'll see how many of you actually make the cut," Tait said, her tone sharp and her words quick. "There are five of you here. There were twelve of you total who got the injection. You do the math on how many we're missing. Good thing we have all of the names of those who got it. You're getting an upgrade, and if you can bring one of the others along, bonus points for you. Each of you will be given the list."

"What kind of an upgrade?" one boy asked. The most Angela could tell was that he had light brown hair.

"You'll find out next weekend," Tait snapped back.

She must have been in a bad mood because Angela knew Tait was not usually an aggressive person. It could have all been an act to maintain authority over the group. Then again, when she was Sprout, she seemed to be a different person entirely.

"While half of you get the upgrade, the other half are going to be with us doing some field work. There are some supplies we need to pick up from a warehouse. That's the kind of stuff we do a lot," Peyton chimed in.

Orlando glanced over at Angela. She was intrigued by the whole thing as well. What kind of supplies? What kind of an upgrade? And who was on the list?

"My Leader?" a different boy asked, interrupting Tait as she was about to say something more.

"What?" she hollered and her voice reverberated through the entire room so loudly Angela winced.

"My apologies for interrupting, but I sense the presence of more people nearby. You told me to let you know if there was anyone interesting," he said. He was good at kissing her butt. It made Angela a little nervous.

Tait shook her head, scowling. "Yeah, and?"

"There's an Alturan nearby, as well as one of the experimented. I mean, one more that isn't in this room. Within about three blocks distance from here, at the most."

Peyton and Tait exchanged a glance. "Mondae said she was going to come soon, maybe...?" Peyton asked.

"...she found another?" Tait finished for him and smiled.

The boy closed his eyes and took a few slow deep breaths, "It's not Mondae. They're here in the school. The DNA pattern isn't completely familiar to me, but I might have disturbance in my reading because there are so many civilians nearby. There is something recognizable. They're close. I'll have it soon."

Angela glared over her shoulder at Orlando. That seemed like a good cue for them to leave. Whether or not this guy was talking about them she couldn't be sure, but she didn't want to stick around and find out.

Orlando nodded at her and they crept back out of the room and bolted for the maintenance closet, grabbing her hand to lead her back through the tunnel to the entrance. The lid was still off, so getting out was much easier than in.

"The lights," she said. "Don't forget the lights."

With one flick of his fingers, the light switch turned off, and together they covered the entrance.

"Pancakes?" Orlando asked as they jogged back up the hill to his car.

She buckled her seatbelt the moment she got in and sat down. Orlando peeled out of the parking lot just as she sat back. She took a moment to catch her breath.

Angela faced Orlando. "Yeah, I need something to calm me down after that adventure."

"Tell me about it," he agreed and took one quick look around to make sure they were alone before pulling off his mask and stuffing it into his coat pocket.

She did the same.

An upgrade of the injections? What does that even mean? She shivered, not liking the idea of being a lab rat again. I'll be on that list.