“Say that again?” Julia chimes in over the radio. “They have a lab at the school? Oh, these creeps are toast. We’ve been guinea pigs the whole time, that’s how they know so much about the students, and why Jonaleth got off scot-free on everything! Hell, even the new security cameras were likely watching our every move, and why they had such massive teacher turnover! They’re all Talons scumbags or useful idiots!”

“Are we dumb? Did we just not want to believe the obvious or the brazenness that would entail?” James adds in with a sigh. Nick immediately radios in Levine.

“Levine, Talons confirmed to have a covert facility at the Grady Biggs high school. We need to get in there and sweep the place, there might be valuable intelligence,” Nick says with urgency. “It gets worse, now that I think about it. Multiple clandestine Talons operatives likely infiltrated the school. Start doing background checks, and dig through every single discrepancy.”

“Excuse me? They did what? How the hell did they pull that off?!”

Angela suddenly goes wide-eyed. “The mechanic bay. In that area, they’ve been doing renovations forever. What if that was a cover story so that they could cordon the place off, a place where no one would look? All it took me was a lockpick to get inside. There has to be something in that wing, a secret entrance, or maybe a pocket plane!”

“Focus on that later, I’ll get a team in there and dismantle the place down to the bedrock. Focus on the now,” Nick says sternly, and Drenar never lets his focus off the room. Val and King have been talking idly for a moment, mostly about the corporate job–and a very telling suggestion that Bennett Magia is going to suffer an unfortunate accident that would be fatal for his advanced age. “Val is making power moves, fast. If she finds out who we are–”

“I told you it was a mistake to delay the rollout,” Levine scolds. “I’m listening to the audio feed. Drenar, focus on Jonaleth, I want to know what else is going on. Nick, keep James focused on Valosterla.”

“Done.” He shifts aim to focus on the surprisingly calm tone that’s taken the room, while King and Valosterla talk. Drenar hates that he can’t listen to both, but Levine seems to think it’s important.

“So, Goldilocks, you know your dad’s rotten to the core, right?” Those are the first words he hears when the microphone adjusts to the new focal point. “You don’t ever stop being a Talons soldier. Ever. It’s a lifelong commitment against injustice.”

“Yeah? Is it also a lifelong commitment to kill people, just because you don’t like them?” Kelly growls. “You almost murdered a fifteen-year-old girl. Why? Were you just born bad Jonaleth? Is that why your mind is so twisted and evil?”

“Listen, Goldilocks–”

“Call me that again, and I’ll pull your teeth out one at a time Jonaleth. With my bare hands.” Tristan tries to reach out to put a reassuring hand on Kelly's shoulder, but an errant spark on her skin dissuades him. She keeps her focus locked on Jonaleth. “Why?”

“She disrespected my dad," he answers. Kelly scoffs at that. “You don’t believe me? You and I are alike, far more than you ever will admit to yourself.”

“Almost killing someone over that? An act of disrespect?” Kelly has a stone-cold tone to her words. “You're broken, Jonaleth. There's something wrong with you.”

“Oh, there absolutely is. But I digress, she didn’t just disrespect me. She kicked me to the ground, and her cronies were trying to beat me to death. That’s the inconvenient fact the courts left out. When your dad’s a major official in the Conclave, untidy problems…go away,” he says with a sneer. “It’s why my foster dad protected me. I was justified in what I did, I defended myself. I won’t apologize for it. She’s alive. My dad isn’t.”

“So it’s not bullshit that you’re an orphan, is it?” Jonaleth shakes his head.

“Wanna know why I hate the Conclave? Why I hate the Valkyries? Why I hate every single authority who thinks that those with the wands get the last word?” Drenar nudges Angela and points to the window. This is a problem that is threatening to boil over, and Nick is otherwise zen-focused.

“Why don’t you tell me, then.” Drenar is more surprised she's even bothering to listening to this delinquent.

“Sure Go…Kelly,” Jonaleth halts, as if he had to pause himself. “I was born to bad parents. Like you. The difference between us is your parents got out, and cleaned up their act. They became a vanilla white, happy suburban family in a town nobody even knows exists in this country. Mine didn’t. Mine went as far down that bad path as you can go. They got killed over it.

"I learned a lot of stuff…later, when Roland showed an interest in me. He does that, you know. He recruits talent, the best and the brightest. He saw my potential, so I kept my nose clean–within reason,” he adds with a soft laugh. No one joins in, not even his cronies. “See, my parents, they did some bad things, same as yours.”

"Oh, really? How bad could it be?" Kelly challenges him. Drenar knows though, by Jonaleth's face, the way he clenches his jaw, there is nothing good that's about to spill out.

Jonaleth sits back, fingertips pressed together lightly with arched hands, and his head is angled low. “My parents killed people, Kelly. A lot of people. They used to cut them up for spare parts, to make a quick buck in black market organs for various Kin species. Kitsune are easy because, you know, no one cares about them. I sympathize with them; they have an entire racial sob story that kinda sucks the wind out of any conversation.”

“Get to the point, creep,” Violet growls. Jonaleth leans in, eyes focused on her, almost like a predator on the hunt--slow and deliberate.

“Wanna hear something sick and twisted my parents found out about Kitsune? It turns out, you can make a lot of money off that extra organ of theirs that regulates their mana. It's something that humans don’t have, but they’ll try to transplant one into their bodies, even if the cellular rejection kills them within six months. Shocked yet?"

"I--oh god," Violets voice flickers out, and she covers her mouth. Jonaleth continues without missing a beat.

"My parents killed people who were...problematic for those in power. But their side gig, in making money? They would carve Kitsune up while they were still alive–kept it fresher, they said. Yeah, my Pre-K days were spent listening to screams, and after a while, they became…white noise. Your childhood was likely spent in a quiet little home, or a nursery where love and care are real, tangible things.” Kelly looks utterly revolted at this sickening turn of events. Violet looks like she wants to wither. Tristan looks…grim.

“Fates on a stick.” Drenar can’t help but find the smallest sliver of sympathy for the teen who had threatened to burn his house down. He keeps listening.

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“Go on.” Kelly looks at him with that dead-calm expression she wore during martial arts, like a slab of granite.

“So, when you eventually kill the wrong kid and their influential parents come a-knocking, you’ve signed your death warrant. And that’s what happened. A squad of three Valkyries came into my parent's little shop of horrors, and killed six people. They’re efficient killers, I’m telling you, I mean they’d have to be in order to be the legends they are. The thing is, legends have dark spots, too…and they killed a five-year-old kid’s parents, right in front of him. That memory will never let go of me. Never.”

Just like I’ll never forget Mom’s severed arm and those last few words…Drenar clenches the weapon tightly. He knew exactly what Jonaleth meant by something that would never let you go.

Jonaleth continues after a brief pause, where the barest warmth of humanity crawls back onto his face. “I see it every day. I can hear that slice as my dad loses his head, trying to grab a wand. You know something, the heart doesn’t stop pumping after the head pops off like a Pez dispenser. No. It keeps going for a few seconds. It showers the room with blood, and his body just kinda jerks for a couple of seconds. They don’t tell you how gruesome real death is,” he says with the faintest bit of fear.

“Mom tries to stab one of the shiny brass and silver knights, and then gets a fire bolt straight through the chest. Bam. Two and oh. The Valkyries didn’t even take a scratch, and now they’re staring, trying to figure out what they do with the sobbing, screaming kid whose parents they just merked in the worst way possible.”

Kelly looks aghast, as do the others, and a sickening feeling creeps into Drenar’s stomach. “Have you ever smelled human barbeque? I did that day. That smell of my mother’s charred flesh from the wound that killed her. Oh, they tried to save her, but they shot her straight through the heart like they’re instinctively trained. A regen potion wasn’t going to fix that.

"That’s the other thing that triggers me. People talk about cookouts like they’re fun events for the family. But every time I’m near one, all I can picture is the smell of my mother’s smoldering flesh. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“There’s no way the Valkyries would ever do that–”

“No? I can show you the records. I can tell you which Valkyrie killed my mom. Victor One. She and her murder squad. For them, it was a Sunday morning drive of virtually no consequence. They just happened to destroy my whole world in the process. Them, and the Conclave that keeps them on a leash. Oh, they say they’re independent, but they kowtow to the Conclave because if they didn't, they’d be running the mage world right now.”

Jonaleth looks more and more human--more afraid, the longer he talks. Both Tristan and Violet are dead silent. “That Valkyrie with the shining green eyes and the braided brown hair even tried to comfort me. She told me that my parents did bad things. She promised me they’d take me somewhere safe, and that I shouldn’t have to suffer for their litany of sins.” Jonaleth shook his head. “Ironic. The woman who killed my mother spoke the kindest words I’ve ever heard in my life, and I still can’t entirely hate her. But you can’t fix that. They dropped me off at the nicest orphanage, and I was left to stew for a couple of years, all kinds of therapy…I remember it vividly.”

“You're lying. What a sob story, Jonaleth–” Kelly starts to say, but Tristan pulls her back to her seat that she'd been slowly rising out of.

“What if he's right, Kelly? Even heroes make mistakes. I doubt the Valkyries are pitch perfect, but…”

“Jonaleth is a chronic manipulator, everyone knows that,” she says in a firm rebuke, and looks right at Jonaleth, eyes narrowed. “Maybe something like that happened, but you were young. You might not remember it correctly.”

“You can believe whatever you want, Kelly. But you can't ever file that away. You can't take away that memory, and all those years of therapy didn’t take away that feeling of rage I’ve kept bottled up at the very depths of my soul. This is the story I can never tell anyone outside the veil. So I scream in rage on the inside, every single day. And that is why I joined the Talons. It is why I will burn the Conclave until there’s nothing left but ash. Because even though my parents were psychos, they were given no due process and the Valkyries killed my parents right in front of me without a second thought.”

“Your parents were killers, Jonaleth. They did what they–”

“–What they had to do? Maybe. Even pretty-eyes, I could someday forgive her. Maybe one day, my parents would’ve carved me up for my organs if I broke my toys again–still got the scar from that one,” he says with a bitter smile and gestures to his chin. “Maybe she saved me from a grim fate, but who knows?

"All I do know is that later on, the world decreed I was bad blood and I would never have a shot at being normal. I got the Valencian red from my dad, a lot of good it does me. I’m no saint, but I wasn’t a sinner until three Wargen were trying to kill me because I got mad at them for disparaging my dad–and me–because of who I am. That’s the first time I fought back after months–years–of just taking the hate and marching along, numb, and trying to tune it out. The hate flows in many directions, Kelly. You should ask your dad about it sometime.”

“My dad is a good father,” she snarls as if she no longer holds the advantage in the room. “He’s all I could ever ask for in a dad. And if your parents hadn’t met their end that day, you would have ended up just like them. And you’re terrified that I'm right.” Jonathan lets out a puff of air like his soul is trying to leave his body.

“Yeah. Shame though how the Fates work against us sometimes. Your dad and your mom got into some bad deals early on, but they got lucky. They got out. Then your mom fell into another hole, didn’t she? She is still…taking her medication?”

Kelly gets right up from the table and slaps Jonaleth with a full swing of fury. He barely even flinches and wipes a trickle of blood from his lips. “Ooh, I hit a soft spot, did I?”

“You’re an utter bastard, Jonaleth. You claim to be the victim, but you’re quick to jump to violence and goading others. What’s this I heard about you beating up Evan? You know that they’re gonna come for you on that one.”

“Asian bitch and the poor little orphan boy?” Jonaleth laughs hard enough that everyone is looking at him uneasily. Drenar tightens his grip on the autobow, this is bad in all the worst ways, and he is too far away to intervene. “You know why I hate Drenar the most, ever since I got here? He doesn’t talk about it much–if at all, but that kid is broken to pieces over his mom being dead. I can see that look in his eyes, it takes one to know one, you know?”

He almost flexes his finger past the trigger guard, but Angela softly shakes her head, in his peripheral vision. “You know what’s even funnier? That Valkyrie that killed my mom…she looked awfully similar to him. Good reason to hate on a kid, yeah? Just gotta…what’s the word, displace the hate, project it onto someone else? The shrinks taught me a lot of things, and those words they used, they were a blast.”

“Drenar’s never done anything to you. Him and Julia combined have been through awful things and they came out of it in one piece. I've known them since they were five--they both took a beating from bullies trying to defend others, and that speaks volumes of their character." She leans forward over the table, eyes narrowed. "If you call my best friend 'asian bitch' one more time, I don’t care who tries to stop me, you will die screaming before they do,” Kelly says with a deathly quiet tone.

“Damn it Kelly, don’t be stupid,” Drenar says with as much restraint as he can muster. This could explode into violence in a heartbeat, and he really hopes it's not because Jonaleth is trying to rile her up on account of him and Julia.

“Nah, see, that’s where you’re wrong. Drenar is a goody-two-shoes knight in shining armor, a defender of the defenseless who's broken beyond repair, like me. He and Julia combined. They’re gonna be troublesome when they Awaken, coming in with superpowers and trying to find their footing in this world. It’s gonna be on you to make sure they join the fold before the Conclave gets their new pet dragons on a leash. Or, you know…orphans meet a sticky end, because…they’re one refusal of their medication away from a grim fate.”

“Oh hell. Get ready to move in,” Drenar relays to Angela, all while Kelly rises from her seat and looks at Jonaleth like he's her next target to obliterate.

“Oh, Jonaleth. You really should not provoke those that can utterly destroy you.” Plasma starts dancing across her arms, and everyone in that room knows that Jonaleth is a dead dragon walking.

With those words, Drenar knows, that Plan A has run its course, and now Plan B is in effect.

The chaos plan.