In a nondescript room, a ring of simple cushioned chairs held the remnants of the Phalanx, with Jase at its head. He glanced around at the people there - Ryder, aka Manifest, Aubrey, aka Itera, Meadow, aka Scattershot, Niko, Randy, aka Magnetic, and of course June, aka Mist. The girl had pulled her chair as close to him as possible - he was pretty sure she'd use his shoulder or leg as a pillow at some point.
Jase let out a sigh as he took another mental tally of his resources - human and otherwise.
"Well?" Ryder asked anxiously, shifting in his chair.
"We've more or less confirmed that Angela's making moves. Seems she got her own Miracle beast," Niko said with a sigh.
"Jacob Hinton," Jase said, narrowing his eyes. He remembered the man well, and he didn't want to deal with him.
"Remind me who Angela is again?" Ryder asked sheepishly. Right. He was basically the only one who'd joined Jase's crew after they'd split off from Angela's.
"They call her the Angel," Aubrey said bitterly. "I didn't deal with her very much, but apparently she screwed over more than one of her own people to save her own skin."
"I'd say she's worse than she was when you guys knew her," Randy said. "I know now that the loan shark who screwed me over was one of hers. If I couldn't make a payment, I'd be lucky to walk away without a limp."
"She's ruthless," Niko added. "Screwed Jase over, which is why we split. Our loyalty was always to Jase, not Angela."
"She didn't take our separation too kindly, though," Jase sighed. "I've always had to watch myself so she doesn't catch up to us. Niko's basically the reason we can live somewhat freely. Not just out of sight of the military - I'd be more concerned about what Angela would do to us."
June sat silently, watching the conversation. Her expression seemed blank, but Jase knew the fire burning in her eyes all too well. She hated Angela, despite how hard he'd tried to keep the two away from each other.
"What happened exactly?" Ryder asked.
"You don't need to know that. All you need to know is that she's vicious and she's got it out for me." Jase didn't want to tell the story, especially not with June here. He knew she blamed herself for it all, even though he was the one to make the decisions leading to that point.
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it in an attempt to comfort her.
"The big problem is, Angela now has at least one Miracle super-freak," Niko said. "If she has more, like we do, we'd be in deep shit. I barely managed to identify Whiplash, but I'm sure he's Jacob. Her little attack dog." His face twisted into a grimace.
"So are we going after them?" Ryder asked nervously.
"I hope so, but what's the plan Jase?" Meadow asked, folding her arms and crossing her legs.
"We can't stay underground forever, but I'm nervous about even trying to surface if Angela's keeping an eye out for us." Jase heaved another sigh.
"I can pull something more subtle," Randy offered, showing off his trinket. Today it was a small gold ring.
"And you will. But we also need something else. I'd like to make a move to restrict Paris and his new buddies. They've gone too far with everything. I wish I could predict them as easily as I can predict the Legion, but not even Niko can trace them. Ferry makes everything even more complicated."
"Anyone else wish we could go back to the simple cons?" Aubrey asked with a laugh. She glanced at Niko, who'd pulled out his phone and started tapping on it.
"Those were the days," Jase said, smiling fondly. Even if they'd been working under Angela, it had been a simpler time.
"Speaking of the days, Jase," Niko said, looking up from his phone. "You remember Amias and Rayne? Well, I found them and from what I can tell, Angela's targeting them too."
"Those are names that bring back memories," Jase said, surprised to hear them. "I guess they'd be out of prison by now, wouldn't they? Any idea where to find them?"
"Working on it, but I'm not sure I can find any digital trace of their plans. If it's just the two of them, they might just be making plans verbally, so we'd have to bug them to find them."
"How do you know it's them?" Meadow asked.
"Well, I've only found Amias, actually. But considering what he and Rayne were like, I can't see her not being nearby. Remember the news about that Sleeper guy? I managed to get enough security footage to figure out his face, and it looks a lot like Amias. One bank even has audio of him talking with Hot Rod, and it sounds like him too."
"Sleeper..." Jase said, searching his brain. Right, the guy who put people to sleep. Seemed like a Miracle that suited Amias if he was being honest.
"And one more thing," Niko said sheepishly. "I think Angela just found us."
