Waiting in the small conference room was tourture. Everyone was spread out, dealing with the tension of the situation in different ways. Becky and Trayvon were off in their own little corner, talking about what had happened during the game yesterday, Erika, Damian, and Koda were all playing together on the ground, Damian showing Erika how to train Koda (I guess that he thought that Koda was her dog instead of mine), and Braylen, Keisha, Callum, and I were sitting by the TV playing with a box of Ghostbuster Uno cards that Keisha had brought with her from home.

Everyone was in their costumes at this point, even the masks, so it looked like a bunch of teenagers and their dog were running late to some kind of costume party. Excitement and nerves were buzzing in the room, but it was questionable on whether they were because of the Homecoming dance tonight, our current situation, the upcoming fight, or a mixture of all three.

"Uno." Callum said, putting down his second to last card, a plus four. "And the color is green."

"Motherfucker." Keisha cursed, grabbing four cards from the pile.

I glanced at my stack of five cards, realizing that I had zero green cards and only one color changing card I had been saving as an emergency. I grabbed it, struggling to get used to the fixed gloves Callum had given me after I came back from changing into my costume, and placed it on top of the pile. "Blue. Your move, Braylen."

Braylen smirked, thinking he came up with a devious plan. He slapped down a blue reverse card. "I think it’s your move, actually."

I smirked back, glancing down at all of my cards since they were all reverses. I had known that he had the other four reverse cards in his eight card deck since he was horrible at hiding what he had. He had fallen into my trap. I slapped down a yellow one. "Still you."

Braylen laughed, slapping down a green reverse card. "You’re playing a dangerous game here, Andrews..."

"Am I now?" I asked, slapping down my blue reverse card.

"You are." The other green reverse card got slapped down.

"I think I know exactly what I’m doing." I said, slapping down my red reverse card. The only red card he had left was his red reverse card since the color before Callum changed it was red. "Uno."

Braylen looked down at his cards, then back at me. "Did you just play me, Anna?"

"Well, why don’t you lay down your last card and find out?" I taunted.

Braylen studied me critically before slapping down his final reverse card. "Color’s red. Your move."

"Actually," I said, placing down my final yellow reverse card. "It’s nobody’s move. Game over."

"She played you like the cheap kazoo you are!" Callum said, laying his card down as he started clapping. "All hail Ms. Anneliese Andrews, the queen of Uno!"

"Well done!" Keisha said happily, gathering all of the cards as she started shuffling them.

"How did you know I-"

"You’re really bad at hiding your cards, buddy." Callum said gently. "Can’t blame Anna for being extremely perceptive."

"I am so going to beat you next game!"

"Fat chance."

Braylen looked over at Damian across the room, then leaned into our little square. "So… Do we have an actual plan?"

"An actual plan for what?" Becky asked as she and Trayvon joined our circle. "Deal us in Keisha."

"You got it." Keisha said happily.

"A plan on how to… You know, Damian?"

"We get the doll to me and I figure it out from there. Easy." I whispered back as Keisha gathered the runaway cards.

"That’s the plan? Seriously?" Callum whispered. "I really don’t think that that’s a good idea, Anna. How are you gonna figure out how to break the mind control or whatever we’re calling it now?"

"Look, it’s going to sound crazy, but remember when I felt that strange energy from the doll?"

"Of course we do. It happened after your teleportation thing. Why are you asking us this?" Becky exhaustedly whispered.

"Maybe I can feel the doll’s power source over the person." I said cautiously. "I bet that they’re going to be hiding the personal thing a lot better now that they know we know about it, so if anyone stands a chance at finding that energy source, it’s me. Get the doll to me and I’ll take care of the rest."

"Sadly, she raises a fair point." Trayvon said quietly.

"Have you figured out how to do the thing yet?" Callum asked.

I shook my head. "Not on command."

"Then you’re going to need a fast escape. Once they see you with the doll, they’re going to go after you."

"I can just jazz run out of there."

Callum sighed exhaustedly. "Anna, I know that jazz running is the end all be all in marching band, but we actually need speed here, not balance and quietness."

"I can lift her up to the second floor." Braylen suggested.

"Dude, you’ll be fighting with the rest of us." Trayvon said cautiously.

"It’s called multitasking." Braylen said, shrugging.

"Dude, you can’t just yeet her to a whole different floor in the middle of a fight!" Keisha hissed as she passed out the cards.

"Why not? I’ll do it gently."

"It sounds like fun!" I said happily.

"And this is why we aren’t doing it. You two are too chaotic right now and you’re actually approving of a horrible, horrible idea." Callum said, shaking his head. "We will figure out some other way to get you to safety to figure out the doll."

"What doll?" Damian asked as he, Erika, and Koda walked up to the big group.

Everyone seemed to freeze, but I quickly came up with an excuse. "One of the people in F.E.R.R.E.T. can control people using dolls and we think they have a couple dolls of the superheroes here."

"That sounds bad." Damian said, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair as he sat down next to Erika on the outside of the circle. Koda weaved his way through the circle and laid down in front of my feet.

"Oh, it is." Braylen agreed.

"Extremely." Trayvon added.

"So, what’s the plan?" Damian asked curiously.

"Get the doll to Becky." I lied as Becky’s eyes widened. Obviously, she wasn't happy that I used her as an on the fly scale goat. "She can use her clones as a distraction while she figures out how to disable it."

"Sounds like a sound plan." Damian said, shrugging.

"So what are we doing until Beth comes up here to get us?" Erika asked, putting her shaggy green jacket on. I’m actually surprised that she didn’t do that earlier since her green jumpsuit doesn’t have any sleeves.

"Well, we’re playing Uno." Braylen said, patting the empty space between him and Callum. "Do you want to cheat off of my cards too?"

I rolled my eyes. "It’s not technically cheating if everyone can see your cards, Braylen."

"She raises a fair point." Keisha agreed. "We all saw the cards. We just wanted to see how far we could get into the game without you knowing."

"Turns out, we can get all the way through."

"Did you three discuss this when I went to the bathroom?"

"Braylen, buddy, you know that I love you as a friend, but you literally left your cards face up in the chair when you went to go to the bathroom." Callum said, giving Braylen a disapproving look. "You were practically asking us to look at the cards."

At that moment was when Beth decided to walk into the room in her skin tight white jumpsuit with a pink unicorn tail and pink mask that had a small golden horn attached to it. She clapped her hands as she walked inside. "Okay kiddos, time to move!"

"I’ll pack up the cards later." Keisha said after staring at her cards for a split second, waving her hand as she walked out of the conference room.

Everyone silently filed out of the conference room after Keisha until it was only me and Callum left in the room. Beth blocked the door with her arm. "And you two are sure that we’re going to get attacked today?"

I nodded. "I saw it myself in the interrogation room."

"I’m just asking because it hasn’t happened yet."

"They’re probably waiting for us to show up." Callum reasoned. "Afterall, we’re the main targets."

"And I wish you kids weren’t." Beth said, lifting up her arm. "Better catch up to the group."

Callum and I quickly ran down the stairs, catching up with the rest of the group. Beth squeezed past us and told us to wait for my father to guide us to the main stage before she left into the main hall. I didn’t know when she crept up to me, but Erika managed to stand by me in the hallway, gripping my hand tightly. I gripped it just as tight.

After what felt like forever, Dad opened the door. He smiled at all of us. "Follow me guys."

As Dad led us to the main stage, I started hearing more and more of Beth’s speech that she prepared to welcome us in. "-And we are hoping to start more chapters like this all throughout the country, not just the one here. I am so very pleased to introduce all of you to the inaugural chapter of the Thunderbird Alliance!"

As we got on stage, the news reporters in the massive superhero audience gasped. One of them, a short man with a mustache almost as big as his face spoke out in surprise. "They’re children!"

"No, they’re not. They’re teenagers."

"That’s almost worse!"

The crowd erupted into chaos as Yukiko, in her red hot lava covered costume, stood up. Everyone quieted down once they noticed she had gotten up. "I am sure that Unicorn will answer all of your questions if you ask them one at a time."

"Yes, thank you, Lava Rock." Beth said happily. The reporters all raised their hands and quietly waited for Beth to call on someone. She finally picked a black haired woman in the front row. "You ma’am?"

"Hi, I’m Candace Shapiro from ten o’clock news, and my question is, isn’t this kind of illegal? Law states-"

"The law technically states that you can’t use your powers unless you’re a part of an organization that allows you to use your power. Trust me, I looked this up. The only reason kids don't use their powers until they hit college is because that's the first opportunity they have to join an organization where they can use their powers. We are simply trying to create that organization for those who manifest early to give them time to learn how to control their abilities. Some teams, like this one here, will be sent on special missions to help out the main heroes, but only if the situation is extremely dire. So, to answer your question, Ms. Shapiro, no, this group is not technically illegal. This is actually our first step to appeal the law that states you can only use your powers once to get to college." Beth explained, looking at the mustache man who exclaimed earlier. "Man with the mustache in the back?"

"Jeremy Flynn from SupersWeekly.com, and are you saying that the teenagers in front of us have all manifested their powers early? I thought that you could only manifest your powers while you're in college."

"While that is the norm, these students before you have all either manifested early or they got their power in a freak accident." Beth said, motioning to me. "For example, Blue Bolt here. Blue Bolt, sweetie, can you raise your hand for me?"

Not knowing what else to do, I sheepishly raised my hand as Beth continued talking. "About a year ago, Blue Bolt was struck by a bolt of lightning. Ever since, she’s had control over lightning and some electrical devices."

The reporters all started taking pictures and turning their steely gazes on me, making me feel like I was some piece of livestock they were bidding money for. It was making me feel like they were all looking at me from under a microscope. I was a small insect in their gaze.

Erika seemed to get this as she took a step forward. "Or we just manifested early, like I did. A little over a month ago, I woke up and saw one of my dying plants suddenly alive and overgrowing it’s pot just because my hand was in it."

"Exactly. Thank you for illustrating my point, Rosethorn." Beth said as Erika took a step back.

As soon as Erika was back in line with the rest of us, she leaned a little closer to me. "If they’re going to be staring at you like you’re livestock, they may as well be staring at the both of us."

"Thanks."

"Bernie Hopps from The New York Times, are these kids here against their will? Are they being bribed to join this organization?"

"Of course not!" Beth said, surprised. "These kids are here because they want to be here."

"I have another question if you don’t mind?"

"Of course not."

"Is Blue Bolt over there the one responsible for the attacks on the various electric companies in the area?"

Before the rest of the crowd started screaming accusations at me, I stepped forward before Beth could answer, a look of confusion on her face. I guess the attacks were still not common knowledge. "I’m not the one who’s been doing that. The night I got struck by lightning, I was walking back from a football game with a friend and she got struck too. It is the Thunderbird Alliance’s working theory that she is the one responsible for the attacks since I have been previously occupied on the days of the attacks."

Mr. Hopps seemed to scoff at the idea. "And why should we take the word of a bunch of teenagers?"

"Because they’ve done their research." A voice from the back of the crowd said. We all turned our attention to the back where a bunch of teenagers were standing wearing comfortable street clothes, Zelena leading the way, wearing the same red jacket she was wearing when she had shot at Erika, leaving no doubt in my mind that she was the one who did it. And she knew I knew she did it. She wasn't just wearing that as part of her uniform or whatever. She was wearing it to mess with me.

Mr. Hopps nervously held out his microphone to Zelena. "And who are you, exactly?"

"We’re The Freaks of Nature." Zelena said, staring directly at me from the ground. "And we’re not anything like them."

As soon as we heard an explosion go off in the warehouse, Braylen sighed heavily, looking at the rest of us exhaustedly. "Here we go."