SACRAMENTO, 2040.

Tracking down the base of the League of the White Tiger proves to be significantly easier than finding the Azure Dragons or Vermillion Wings. There's no need for costumes or convoluted maps through a maze-like hotel — instead, Ryan and Evie cross the street from their own offices to Daniel Chen's.

"Mr. Chen is just wrapping up a board meeting," the prim secretary informs them. "You can wait in his office for now."

The secretary leads them to a simple yet stately office that's clearly been modeled from the Oval Office, back when the White House still existed. Thick curtains frame a view of the tranquil gardens behind the White Tigers' premises and the mahogany desk looks older than Evie does. On their left hangs an oil painting of Yi Fan, Daniel's father and former leader of the White Tigers. His beady eyes stare into Evie's soul, and give the office a grimy feel despite all its splendor.

And underneath the portrait sits the notoriously ruthless man himself. Yi Fan nods in acknowledgement as they file in and lifts the sheet of paper he's working on — a crossword puzzle — as though to say don't mind me. Yi Fan claims to only speak Chinese, although it's been ambiguous if that's true.

"Hello," Ryan says tersely, remembering all too well the various run-ins Yi Fan had with the government when he was in charge of the White Tigers. Yi Fan flashes a humorless grin and returns to his puzzle.

"Colonel and Captain McNamara," Daniel greets politely as he swoops into his office. His jet-black hair is perfectly coiffed and suit impeccably-fitted. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Evie doesn't bother with the pleasantries. "There's been quite the terrorist activity lately."

Daniel's smile doesn't drop. "Ah, yes. Several incidents have impacted our construction contracts." He puts down his steaming mug of tea and sits in his armchair. "We've been monitoring the situation."

"And?" Evie asks.

Daniel laughs easily, slurping on his tea. Even the way he drinks his tea is so reminiscent of his frat boy days at Stanford. Evie remembers rolling their eyes at the man's photos in the tabloids, even though Evie'd only been in high school themself. "And? What do you expect me to be able to do?"

Evie and Ryan don't even bother exchanging a glance. They both know where this conversation is headed. "It seems pretty convenient that Left Behind always seems to spare your most expensive and far along projects," Evie says slowly.

Daniel raises his eyebrow. "I sure hope that you're not implying that we have members in Left Behind." His smile is tight, taking away from some of his boyish charm. "I know the White Tigers used to have a... reputation, but we've gone totally legitimate since my leadership. I don't tolerate any sort of illicit activities."

Evie wants to roll their eyes — as if the very real estate empire Daniel sits on isn't built upon his father's years of jacking rent prices and bribing politicians for government contracts. "Maybe not current members, but former White Tigers." Beside Evie, Ryan's hands are folded neatly in his lap as he stares off into the distance. That's how Evie knows they're doing a good job.

Daniel slurps more of his tea, his smile wiped off his face now. Yi Fan hasn't looked up from his puzzle, but Daniel looks at him for a beat as though his father holds the answers. "What former members do is none of my business. They're no longer members for a reason."

"Unless you're using them to monitor the situation," Evie says smugly. They've always hated Daniel Chen and everything he's stood for, so it makes it all too pleasurable to be able to make him squirm. The Evie that Ryan first met never could have done this. "Some might call that treason."

Daniel sets his mug down, a little too violently, and the tea sloshes over the rim of the cup. "What is this?" he finally says, looking between Evie and Ryan. "You two came here to interrogate me?"

Yi Fan finally looks up from his puzzle and a rapid rush of Mandarin spills out. Daniel purses his lips. Yi Fan grunts in annoyance before flipping back to his crossword.

"What'd he say?" Evie asks.

"Just asking if I have a five-letter synonym for purple," Daniel says blankly, looking even more perturbed than before.

"We're just asking questions," Evie shrugs. "It's only an interrogation if you've done something wrong."

"I promise you that we're not colluding with Left Behind," Daniel says, voice low.

"How's your mayoral campaign going?"

Both of them glance over at Ryan, who's been silently staring out the window and letting Evie handle the questioning. His tone is casual, musing even, and he doesn't even look over at Daniel when he speaks. Even Yi Fan looks up from his puzzle, as though sensing a change in the room.

"It's going well." Daniel straightens up in his seat. "I have the highest ratings in the district so far." His voice is even, friendly almost, but Evie can see how tense his jaw is.

"It'd be awful to be linked with Left Behind in the last stretch of your campaign." Ryan says it like a random observation, but the air in the room has tightened.

"I'm not sure why I would be."

"Anyone can plant any story they want nowadays," Evie says, shrugging. "Now, I know you'd never be in contact with them now that they've been spotted at Left Behind operations, but wasn't Samantha Tran once a close advisor of yours? And Maynard, he was just a few years below you at Stanford?"

Yi Fan crosses something out aggressively on his crossword, the pen digging indents into the paper. He scrawls something and shoves the piece of paper towards Daniel, who frowns at the messy characters.

Daniel crumples the paper and holds it tightly in his fist. . "What do you want?" The words come out in a spit, like he's tasted something horrible in his mouth.

"You've been monitoring the situation," Evie prompts.

Daniel releases a heavy sigh. He grabs his mug and throws the tea down his throat in a large swig. "Certain sources suggest that LB leadership is hiding out in some random town in Nevada." His usually handsome face has soured, like it pains him to give up his intel. "They're tracking something. A weapon."

"Thank you," Evie says gleefully, picking up their messenger bag and standing to leave. Ryan does the same, their mission a clear success. This is the closest they've ever been to tracking the group down — something's different this time, Evie can feel it.

"I know I have no affiliations with former members," Daniel says as they leave, his voice strained. "But old family members won't be caught in any crossfire, right? I don't know about you, but for us Asians, family matters."

Evie was a bit surprised to hear Daniel refer to them as family members. After all, he seems like a leader who would find the concept inconvenient to his operations. But there's been this weird family-dynamic in all the gangs she's interviewed. Maybe in a world far away from their home countries, racially-bound allegiances are what hold stronger than bloodline.

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Not that bloodline's irrelevant either. It's clear that every inch of Daniel is watching his father for indications on what to say. But Yi Fan pulls out another crossword puzzle from his pocket, looking more like a senile old man than a former gang leader. And it would be stupid to fall for the act. In Evie's opinion, the White Tigers are the trickiest of them all.

Evie shrugs. "Once a White Tiger, always a White Tiger, huh?"

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SACRAMENTO, 2031.

Evie hated award ceremonies. They hated the itchy outfits and over-dramatic speeches. But living with Ryan McNamara had proven to be... well, pretty boring. He had no friends and lived and breathed work, which meant that Evie was often left at home with nothing to do. So they studied and quickly rose to the top of the class. Hence, the constant award ceremonies. Because a 4.0 GPA really mattered when the freaking end of the world was imminent.

Ryan, to his credit, showed up to every single one. Today, he sat in a navy suit and towered over the rest of Evie's classmates. "I read that the award you're up for is the most prestigious in the district," he said.

Evie shrugged. "It's whatever."

Ryan frowned. "Hard work is nothing to scoff at. You should be celebrating."

Hearing Ryan utter the word "celebrating" felt off. Evie had no idea the man even knew the concept of celebration. Besides, it felt hard to celebrate something so meaningless. To be honest, Evie had no friends either. It'd been nearly a year since Evie's adoption papers had been signed, and Evie truly did appreciate Ryan's strange generosity in taking them in. But without Shailene or their parents, Evie was drifting. They'd always been defined by their family, the outspoken Fischers, and Evie loved it that way. Without them, Evie had no idea who they were.

"I am celebrating," Evie said. "I'm here at the celebration, aren't I?"

Ryan's lips quirked at that and he responded with some sort of dry quip, but Evie wasn't listening anymore. In the crowded banquet hall, there was a woman with dark complexion and even darker eyes, gliding between groups of people. Her braids were tied into a bun, which wasn't ever a hairstyle Evie saw on Shailene, but lots of things could change in a year...

"Evie? Are you alright?"

Evie was already pushing through the crowd, accidentally knocking over disgruntled classmates. "I'll be back in a minute."

The woman was keeping her head low, as though she was in search of something but didn't want to be seen. No one took notice as she passed by, gently patting them on the shoulder before slipping away. Evie marched directly toward her, determined to reach her before she left.

"Shailene," Evie gasped, their hand closing around the wrist of the woman who jerked in surprise. "It's me."

The woman looked up. "Evie?"

Every single part of Evie shattered when they saw the woman's face. Her nose was far too wide, her eyes the wrong shade of brown, and every feature was arranged in a way that was decidedly not Evie's sister. Evie jerked back, red burning into their cheeks. "I-I'm sorry."

The woman laughed, tilting her head back as though Evie was hilarious. "Don't be sorry. I'm Superintendent Johnston." She reached out a hand for Evie to shake. "I heard that you were up for a certain award tonight." Superintendent Johnston wagged her eyebrows at Evie, as though they were friends.

Evie looked back at Ryan, who was staring at the exchange from across the room with emotionless eyes. "Um. Yeah. Nice to meet you. I've got to go."

"Oh," the superintendent said, taken aback. "Okay, bye."

Evie stumbled back to Ryan, making a pathetic excuse that they knew he didn't buy as they took their spots. Evie won the award that night, as well as several others. But all they could think about was what a loser they were. It was almost a year now. Why would Shailene, a wanted fugitive, be looking for Evie at some stupid school ceremony? No, if Shailene had wanted to find Evie, it would have happened by now.

The blood was roaring in Evie's ears by the time that they left the ceremony and walked back towards Ryan's car. The awards felt so heavy in their arms, and their responses to Ryan's congratulations were getting lamer and lamer. They spent most of the drive in awkward silence and Evie couldn't help but notice Ryan looking at them from the corner of his eyes every few minutes or so.

"Evie?" Ryan asked, as they pulled into his apartment complex. "I have a proposition for you."

Evie didn't even bother looking up. "And what's that?"

To their surprise, Ryan seemed at a loss for words. "I want to start with the disclaimer that I know I'm the very guy your entire family has spent their lives fighting against," he finally said, turning to Evie with a sincere face. "It's the ever-present elephant in the room."

Evie let out a humorless laugh, still staring at the carpeting of his car. "My parents are probably rolling in their graves knowing that I've been adopted by the man who runs WRAITH."

"Yeah," Ryan winced. "I know."

"So what about it?"

Ryan opened his mouth. And closed it again. And opened. "We only like to recruit the best of the best at WRAITH," he said, his fingers taut on the steering wheel. "And that's a rarity these days. But between what I've observed of your drive and discipline, as well as your stellar accolades, I really think you should consider applying to WRAITH."

"Oh," Evie said, not having expected the conversation to go this way at all.

"I know," Ryan repeated, rushing to speak before Evie could say anything else. "We're the Fischers' mortal enemies. I know I seem like a workaholic who only loves his job, but I wouldn't take it personally if you have no interest whatsoever. I know your graduation is coming up next year and I don't know what you have planned but... I just thought I might bring it up."

Evie sat there for a moment. They looked up at Ryan, who was no longer turned towards them but focused on the road ahead. He was nervous, Evie realized. They'd never seen Ryan nervous before. They supposed that he was asking a Fischer to join his side of the fight. But Evie was the forgotten Fischer. Actually, they're not even sure that that was their legal last name anymore. There'd been a lot of paperwork during the adoption.

"Okay," Evie said. "I'll apply."

Ryan's eyes widened and he looked as though he was one second away from dropping his jaw. But he composed himself quickly. "You will?"

Evie shrugged, thinking of how they still saw Shailene everywhere — a glimpse of dark braids in the crowded market, a flash of her dancing dark eyes at school. Every time, Evie's heart jumped to their throat and soared at the thought that their older sister had finally come back for them. But everytime, Evie would quickly realize that the lips are all too thin to be Shailene, or that she'd never wear such a frilly skirt. And they would feel stupid and hopeless all over again. Clearly, Evie had a problem. They needed to fix it.

"Why not? It's just an application, right?"

"Right," Ryan said, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. "Okay. Let's talk about it more at home." In a rare moment, Ryan let himself smile. And Evie found themselves smiling back.

"Sounds like a plan."

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Ryan and Evie have gone on so many overnight missions that their packing routine has been rehearsed to a precision. While Evie secures all of the weapons and takes inventory on equipment, Ryan folds their uniforms military-style and compacts them into two duffel bags. While Evie programs the apartment to look occupied in their absence, Ryan double checks the itinerary and folds their paperwork into crisp envelopes. It's like clockwork, the way that they work. Efficiency in total silence.

But this time, it feels different. For years, Ryan and Evie have followed nonsense tips or even accurate ones, arriving at the scene hours after Left Behind has finished their destruction. Evie's learned by now that Shailene was never looking for them — she was too busy blowing up buildings or running other terrible ops.

"Do you miss her at all?"

Ryan doesn't look up from his folding, nor specify who exactly her is. They never talk about Shailene but tonight, her presence hangs in the air of his sterile apartment. Tomorrow, everything changes. Tomorrow, Evie will find Shailene.

And Evie is ready to face her.

Evie is silent for a moment, unused to this type of touchy-feely talk. "Of course."

Ryan hesitates. He folds and refolds the same sweater over and over again. "I won't turn you in for sympathizing with the enemy even if you say you miss your terrorist sister." He says it with levity, as though a joke, but Evie can see just how much he means it.

Evie feels like she needs to clarify. "I miss her, but not in a way that you are implying."

Most of the country sees Ryan McNamara as an emotionless war hero, a military leader that's been through the worst of it all and ready to do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals. For the most part, that's true. After all, Evie remembers his casual cruelty when he first interrogated them all those years ago.

But he's also the same man who adopted Evie from that awful foster care facility. When everyone else left Evie, Ryan was the one who gave them a new chance of life. When Evie had no one else, they had Ryan. And Ryan's words... they're the closest he'll ever get to telling Evie that he truly cares about them. Evie never calls him their father, but they both know exactly why they work so well together in every op.

Ryan nods. "Still, I wouldn't want family matters to get in the way of the operation."

"I know," Evie says. They blink the silly tears away before Ryan can see them. "But my loyalties are clearer to me than anything else."

It's their first time saying anything of the sort. But Evie finds themself meaning every single word. Evie is ready to find their sister.