Chapter poll: Combining the last poll with my personal preferences, it looks like we have two winners. I'm now releasing the covers for them. Now that you can better visualize them, let me know in the comments which one you like better!

1. Birds of Prey

2. The Culling

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"I can see... nothing. What am I supposed to be able to see again?" Chase frowned, fiddling with his brand new headpiece. Made mostly of lightweight metal fiber with various lenses attached, it fit snugly around his skull like a sort of high-tech helmet. Pinching one of the lenses between his left thumb and pinky, he attempted to adjust it. He knew he had terrible vision, but even with his contacts in, all he could see was darkness.

"The cameras aren't on yet," Juliana moved to the middle of the circular lab, hopping on one foot at a time as she stepped into her suit's thigh-high boots. Fully suited up, she pulled her mask down over her face. "Hey Roy- fling some spikes my way, would you?" 

"On it!" Roy swung his mace, releasing a volley of spikes. 

Chase gasped as the lenses came to life around him. His right eye gave him a 360 degree view of Juliana's visual field complete with lightly outlined crosshairs that separated the probability fields, making them easier to read. To his left was the feed from a remote camera that gave him an aerial view of the lab. The spikes were highlighted red, drawing his attention to them as they flew toward Juliana. 

"Dodge down and to the left!" Chase shouted into his microphone.

Juliana dropped to her knees in one swoop, rolling out of the way of most of the spikes. She was about to telekinetically divert the rest when Chase called out in protest. 

"Use your lasers!" 

She raised her glove, letting out a blast of red light that instantly pulverized two of the spikes just as she twirled her spear in her hand, watching as the twin tips flung the rest of them out of her path. 

"...and, trial twenty one is in the books! Excellent job, all of you! I think this will be the device we use for you permanently, Chase. It seems to be working quite well." Commander Dev emerged from behind a protective glass screen where she'd been standing to observe the members of Project PROB. 

"I never would've thought to do that myself," Juliana beamed, shaking her head in disbelief as she took off her mask. "Telekinesis is always my first instinct. Out of curiosity, why did you want me to use the lasers?" she walked over to Chase, the tall platforms on her boots making her at least an inch taller than him. 

"The time it would've taken you to activate your telekinesis was 2.5 milliseconds longer than the time it would've taken the spikes to hit you," Chase explained, tapping the lens in front of his right eye as he pulled off his headpiece. "Helmet told me." 

"There's no way one person can be mentally present in the field and be monitoring this constant flow of data at the same time," Roy observed. "Even I have to admit, this is a pretty solid arrangement." 

"I guess you're an official member, then," Juliana smiled. "Welcome to Project PROB." She reached out to shake Chase's hand, looking mildly surprised to see that he was wearing his new PW. He pulled away, looking slightly embarrassed that she had noticed the smooth leather gloves. He wasn't quite sure what drove him to put them on in the morning- somehow, even though he had no idea how to use them, he just felt safer with them. 

"What's this about Project PROB, now?" 

All heads turned toward the front of the room to see Adrian standing at the front of lab, a cheeky grin plastered across his face. Juliana instinctively moved to put the mask back on her face, but it was too late. He had already seen her.

"How did he get in here?" Roy narrowed his eyes in suspicion, cutting his eyes over at Juliana. 

"I... I forgot I gave him a key. It was a long time ago- before any of this tech existed. We were partners for an engineering project in middle school, and..." 

"Ah, the good old days." The smile still hadn't left Adrian's face. He leaned casually on one of Juliana's glass cases, surveying the room intently. "You still haven't answered my question. What's this about Project PROB?" 

"We're testing out a novel strategy to defeat the Jackers by the King's orders. That's all you need to know," Roy said firmly, tapping his mace on the ground in a mildly threatening manner. 

"Oh, come on. What's he going to do, tell the Eagle?" Hayley rolled her eyes. "The King is trying to reinstate Project PROB with us as its new members. He wants us to take on the Jackers someday... well, if we're ever needed, that is." 

"I figured as much," Adrian nodded. "But Project PROB is supposed to have four members. Since there are only three of you, I thought I'd offer my services. As you know, I'm always ready to take on new responsibilities for the benefit of the Order." 

"I appreciate the offer, Adrian. I really do, but we already have a fourth member," Juliana said, looking over at Chase, who looked down at the ground. Part of him had been hoping that she would accept Adrian in his place. He still felt like an impostor among the other Heirs and at every moment felt like he was only one mistake away from letting them all down. At least Adrian knew what he was doing. 

After a momentary pause, Adrian let out a hearty laugh. "Good one, Jules!" he guffawed before slowly composing himself when he realized that he was the only one laughing. "...you're serious. I understand he's an Heir, but he hasn't been an Order member for a week and you're putting him on Project PROB! You're going to put him up against the biggest, toughest bad guys on the planet with a whopping four days of experience under his belt? That's not just dangerous for him and you- that's dangerous for all of the people Project PROB is supposed to be defending!" 

"Chase is the best probability reader I've ever seen." Even Juliana seemed to be getting a little frustrated at this point. "I think it's time for you to go now, Adrian. We're in the middle of practice, and the King has us on a very tight schedule." 

"Right. Let me know how your Aptitude-hogging golden boy does on his first field mission, will you?" Adrian shook his head, the smile dropping off his face as he headed toward the door, almost bumping into an unusually excited Commander Chu who barged unapologetically into the lab. 

"Didn't you say the Eagle had an informant among us? An important male Order member..." Roy trailed off, staring at Adrian's back. 

"Oh, come on," Juliana rolled her eyes. "Just because you don't like someone doesn't mean they're a Jacker spy." 

"Stop with your conspiracy theories and listen up," Commander Chu strode briskly past Juliana and Roy, situating herself comfortably in the middle of the lab. "I have good news for you four. Our tech team managed to reactivate the Hewkins' LocChips. We've traced them back to a remote Southeast Asian island- a suspected Jacker base." 

"So what's the plan?" Roy raised an eyebrow. "Do we have a team ready?" 

"Idiot," Chu rolled her eyes. "You are the team. This crucial rescue mission is your chance to establish yourselves as  Project PROB! And you haven't even heard the rest of the story. We all assumed that Chase's younger sister, Megan, would be with her parents, but she's not. Her location still shows as the Hewkins' house in America, and that made us very suspicious since most of the house's covert Arcanese security has been down for days. The Hewkins would never leave their daughter in an insecure house... we suspect she's being held there by the Jackers against her will." 

"But what could the Jackers possibly want with my sister?" Chase frowned, his heart racing at thought of Meg being in danger. As annoying as she was, she was truly helpless on her own, and that worried him. 

"It's not her they want..." Juliana trailed off, understanding dawning in her eyes. "It's the house. We've hidden the Alpha Box there many times before. Maybe they're looking for it. Maybe they think it's still there!" 

"We have to help Meg," Chase stood up, gripping his helmet with newfound resolve. "She's all alone in that house. She's probably terrified. Who knows what she's going through?" 

"Is that spirit I see on your face, rookie?" Chu raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Impressive. Before you get too excited, though, there's just one last thing I wanted to bring up. The Hewkins' house is in the middle of an American suburb. It's not a remote Jacker base. You're not going to be able to go there without attracting a lot of attention. If you accept this mission, you have to be ready to expose yourselves to a lot of people, potentially to the entire world. You would be wearing your masks, so no one would know your true identities, but your code names- Crimson Angel, Obsidian Hunter, and Twyst- would become common knowledge. People would talk about you, and not everything they say would be positive. My question is, are you ready for that? Are you ready to step out of your little rich kid comfort zones and face the real world?" 

Roy, Chase, and Hayley all turned to Juliana. 

"It's your call," Roy nodded. 

Juliana squeezed her eyes shut, squaring her jaw. "A little girl is in danger because of something that has nothing to do with her. The original Project PROB didn't become legendary for hiding in the shadows and watching innocent people get hurt. Commander Chu, book the PROBjet for the closest available date. We're going to go save Megan Hewkin."