The Team

We walked out of the office, away from the others. Silk seemed wary, but followed me, tail wagging slowly.

Rosie, for her safety, kept a distance from us, stopping at the double doors.

She typed in a keycode, the doors making a soft clicking noise before it opened.

A long oval wooden desk was in the center with many chairs around it. The back wall was nothing but darkened glass, a way for us to look out but my guess being no one could look in.

"Uh, where are they?" I asked, turning to her.

"They'll be here shortly. Heroes have to eat too, you know."

The moment she said food, my stomach growled.

Arching an eyebrow, she slipped out a touchscreen phone, dialing a number in it.

"Yes, please send up some breakfast to the meeting room. Thank you."

I gave her a timid smile, before pulling up a seat and sitting down.

Silk flopped down on the ground, head on her paws.

The silence rang kind of loud and I drummed my nails on the table.

Rosie was busy on her phone, typing messages on it.

My mind drifted a bit, wondering how life would be if I hadn't taken the path I'd chosen.

I'd still be helping people, even if it was one by one. I'd still not know what happened to Mom.

My mind changed course, wondering if Rosie could help me track her down.

A sudden movement caught my attention as something barreled in, standing on the table.

As I blinked, the figure crouched down to my level, her emerald green eyes staring at me. I noticed her pupil were slitted like a cat's.

She grinned at me, her red dyed hair pulled back from her face. She wore a loose blue shirt with black jeans and silver Doc Martin's.

"Oooh! I've never seen or heard of you." She said, as she lifted a strand of my hair.

She studied it for a bit, Rosie crossing her arms in the background.

"Kara, get off the table. How many times do we have to go over this? Damn." An annoyed voice rang out.

The girl, Kara, rolled her eyes as she let go of my hair, back flipping off the table.

"You're a fun killer, Cole." She pouted, taking the seat across from me.

The next person to step in was a 6'3 guy, with wild poofy curls, dark brown eyes boring into my own. He nodded in my direction, taking the seat next to Kara. He was dark skinned, a sort of tense yet relaxed rolling off of him.

There was something very familiar about this team.

Foot stomps were heard, and our heads turned to see a 5'5 girl, with long, dyed blue hair. She wore a moon themed choker, black fitted tee, and red ripped Jean's that were held together by safety pins.

She glanced at everyone with a bired expression, clicking her tongue at us.

Her eyes stood out the most; her left eye was a chocolate brown, the right an ocean blue.

"Thanks for leaving me behind, Alina." A voice said behind her.

"I was thinking where I was going. Don't know why you're so mad at me."

"Right, okay then, please have a seat Harrison, and Alina." Rosie replied, clapping her hands together.

I glanced at her strangely; she really thought we were kindergartners or something?

Kara seemed bored, picking at her nails. Cole's attention was solely on Rosie, Alina sitting in the chair to my right. The guy, Harrison, sat on the other side of his sister, soft brown hair sticking up in the back, his left eye brown, the right a blue.

Ah, twins. I thought to myself.

"Now that everyone is here, let's go over the mission, shall we?" Rosie began, pushing a button on the desk next to her. A screen slid down, a projector in front of it.

"What about Leo?" Cole asked, arms crossed over his chest, gaze locked on Rosie.

"Leo is needed elsewhere, he won't be able to make it to this mission." Rosie responded.

"That's bull, I spoke to him yesterday. He said he has nothing to do." Kara interrupted.

Rosie took a deep breath, the vein in her forehead throbbing a bit.

I wonder what was taking my breakfast so long.

"I've worked with Leo on separate occasions. He's good and we'll need him." Cole said, not backing down.

Rosie sighed, nails tapping on the table angrily. She pulled out a phone, typing in the number again.

As she spoke, a woman in a suit came in, holding a tray of food. I smiled and thanked her, digging into my french toast.

"Leo will be here in about five minutes. I'm hoping now we can brief the team and get ready for the mission, yes?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, myself included.

Thirty minutes later, as Rosie finished talking to us, Leo was seated at the end, his gaze flicking from each person. He seemed more relaxed with Cole and Kara there, and anxious gaze directed to me, Harrison, and Alina.

I smiled in encouragement, his face freezing for a moment, before he gave me a timid smile.

"So that about covers it. I need you all to start training tomorrow at eight-thirty in the morning." Rosie said.

"I don't need training; just point me to the bad guy, and I'll take care of it." Kara protested, giggles escaping her. Cole rolled his eyes at her, standing up from his seat.

"All the tests we put you through were promising, Kara, you're just too wild. Too free. You have a problem with authority and taking orders. And when this mission asks for a team, you're going to have to make do with them." Rosie replied.

"Speaking of teams, who have you assigned to be as leader?" Cole asked.

"Leader of the team is going to be Laney. And with good reason; she deserves it."

Everyone's eyes went to me, and again I felt my face warm.

"You're kidding right? She doesn't look like she's equipped to be the one in charge." Cole said coldly.

"Appearances can be misleading Cole. Why don't you find out what she really is capable of tomorrow during training. I'm sure she'll surprise you." Rosie retorted.

With that, Cole strode over to where I was, his towering height shadowing my own. Silk rose up, hiding behind me, soft whines escaping her.

"I can't wait to see your capabilities." He said, eyes never leaving mine.

"I look forward to our training as well." I replied, not backing down.

As the stare down commenced, Kara laughed and clapped her hands in glee. "So exciting seeing riled up."

She jumped on Cole's back, pushing him forward, my face colliding with his chest.

He steadied me, spinning around to face Kara, yelling at the laughing girl.

"So unprofessional." Harrison said, as he got up from his seat. He was taller than me, ranging at six foot even.

"That's what I was going to say." Alina said, standing next to him.

"So, you are dismissed. I need to go see if there have been any sightings of the runaway group. I will keep you updated as well, but if it gets to be extreme, I'll send you in earlier than planned. Remember; training tomorrow, at eight thirty. Don'tbe late." She said, stepping out of the office, phone back on her ear.

"You are right Harrison, I feel like we're more than just prepared for the mission at hand. It might just be because of the newbies." She told him, eyes sideway staring at me.

"I'm right here you know. I can hear you." I said annoyed, Leo's head turning from one person to the next.

"I honestly thought you were mute, you didn't say anything this entire time." Alina said. Harrison coughed, hiding a laugh.

I rolled my eyes at the both of them, anger bubbling up.

Leo meanwhile grinned, sitting up straight in his chair as we continued on.

"I think instead of sparring Cole, I'll take you and Harrison on instead."

Alina froze, staring up at Harrison, before smirking. She walked, then stopped in front of me, colored eyes taking me in.

"Trust me when I say, you couldn't take either of us on our worst days. But I love challenges. So at least don't make the win easy, okay?"

"Oh, believe me, I'm not. And when I win, you're going to have to eat your words."

Alina glared at me, Harrison stepping up behind her, pulling on her shoulder. She let herself get pulled away, eyes never leaving mine.

I sighed, my hands balled into tight fists.

"This is going to be one hell of a team." Leo said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. This was going to be a team from hell, alright.