Juliana slid her rough, faintly scarred hand over Chase's thin, smooth one, pausing to give it a light squeeze. From the beginning of their ride in the PROBJet, he could tell that something had been bothering her, so he welcomed her gesture, moving his head so she could rest hers in the crook of his shoulder. 

"In the ambulance, right before we got to the hospital, my grandfather was trying to tell me something," she said softly into his soft, curly hair. "It seemed important, and it's still bothering me... what could it have been? Do you think he was about to-" 

"Fess up? Yeah," Chase nodded, carefully so as to not disturb Juliana's head. "He's old, and you're his only living relation. The timing makes perfect sense." 

"Chase is right. This is just extra evidence proving that the King's our man, as if we needed any. The situation now becomes this: we're on our way to a meeting he called about an attack that he most likely organized. What's our move?" Roy asked from his seat in the cockpit. 

"Unfortunately, we don't have much of one," Juliana shook her head. "He's the King- this is his country, and his Order. We can't fool him or do anything behind his back- he knows where we are, who we're with, and what we're spending our money on pretty much at all times. The only way we can win this battle is by brute force: we have to keep doing what we did this afternoon. We have to keep defeating the Jackers in combat until they're neutralized as a threat before he can start using them as an international bargaining chip." 

"That makes sense," Hayley cast her gaze down to the floor. "So I suppose we just listen and go with the flow." 

"Sounds like a plan," Chase agreed. 

Roy lowered the joystick and the PROBJet began to descend through the clouds, landing smoothly on an obscured portion of the roof of the Hesche building. The members of Project PROB dutifully filed out, making their way down a service staircase that led directly into the breakroom containing the secret entrance to Order Headquarters and bypassing the main part of the building. 

As they descended deeper into the Earth on their way to the Platinum Boardroom, Chase couldn't help recall the first time he visited that room. He'd been so much smaller and weaker, so full of apprehension and doubt, and Juliana had been little more than a celebrity crush. Some of those things had changed, but not all. In fact, he wasn't sure if his time in the Order had made him more sure of himself or just given him more doubt to chew on. 

"Ah! We're so glad you guys could make it," Chase turned the corner to see his father standing in front of the door to the boardroom, accompanied by his mother and a tired but excited-looking Meg. 

"You guys actually captured the Raven! Not for long, but still!" Meg rushed over to Chase, pulling him into a bear hug that he certainly wasn't prepared for. "I'm proud of you, Numbers. You're a real hero." 

Chase clenched his teeth in shock, unsure of how to respond. His gaze drifted to Juliana, who smiled knowingly and flashed a thumbs up. 

"Ready to go in, kids?" asked a visibly pleased Violet Hewkin. 

"Oh, yeah, right." Chase headed for the door, entering the already packed boardroom. There were many more Order officials present than the last time: the Heirs were just barely able to find seats together in the back of the room. Soft chatter permeated the air for a few seconds, until it began to uniformly die down. Wondering why everyone was suddenly quiet, Chase raised his head to see the King taking his seat at the front of the room along with the other High Generals. 

"They have kidnapped one of our Generals and his wife, holding them hostage in deplorable conditions," he began to speak, venom in his voice. "They have attacked everything that we as an organization stand for, blatantly disrespecting the Box and its history by calling for anarchy! They have brutally murdered our friends all around the world and left my young granddaughter with physical and emotional scars. My question is: will we continue to stand by? Or will we treat them as we have always treated the forces of chaos and evil!?" 

"Permission to speak, Your Majesty?" Roy raised his hand. 

"Granted." 

"Before the Raven escaped, she said something to me. She knows the location of the Alpha Box. Our immediate priority should be to secure it." 

"If that is the case, then of course! It must be moved right away," Henry Hewkin nodded in agreement. "Would anyone be willing to suggest a possible location?" 

"My sister just married a son of the Duke of Luxembourg- she no longer carries my surname or any other association with the Order," General Serpentine began. "She also owns a little Swiss villa. If we were to hide the Alpha Box there, it would be next to impossible for the Jackers to guess its location." 

Satisfied with this plan, the three High Generals looked to the King for approval. 

"Mm. Not a bad idea at all," he nodded, the ends of his graying mustache curling downward. "But of course, the Box would be most vulnerable during transport. And who could even be trusted to carry out such a mission?" 

"May I nominate Commanders Luna Chu and Anusha Dev?" Juliana interjected. "They're smart, brave, and more loyal than the rest of us combined." 

The King's brow furrowed in confusion, but no one else in the room seemed to object, and he decided to go with the consensus. "Very well then. I don't see why not." 

"Why Chu and Dev?" Chase leaned over, whispering in Juliana's ear. 

"My grandfather is trying to set up a hero-villain dynamic: now that we know his objective, his next move is painfully obvious. He wants send us on a mission to relocate the Alpha Box, and then get Ravenna to attack that mission in a public location, staging another dramatic battle between us. Basically, I'm screwing with his plans." 

"And giving up a chance to be the hero?" Purposefully sitting out a battle didn't sound like Juliana at all. 

"There are many ways to be a hero." 

"So, Dev and I are moving the Alpha Box to General Serpentine's sister's house," Chu's biting voice echoed forth from closer to the front. "Can we get a timeline on this?" 

"My nineteenth birthday is in a week," Juliana offered. "Most of the city will be busy with the celebrations. It would provide the perfect cover to get the Box safely out of the palace. Besides, I'm sure the Raven would be wary of attacking a public event with such heavy security." 

Once again, the King looked momentarily displeased with her suggestion, but he quickly put on a practiced expression of regal neutrality. "I have no objections to performing the move on the day of Juliana's birthday. Do any of you?" Offering a pause which was obviously just a formality, he continued. 

"Wonderful. Agents Chu and Dev, I hereby appoint you Mission Commanders of Order Mission number 19-323B. I expect mission plans to be drafted and presented to your respective High Generals within two business days. As for Project PROB... " he turned his gaze up to Juliana. "We will discuss your involvement in this mission at a later date. Finally, I expect everyone in this room to be present at Juliana's birthday party armed and on standby. With that in mind, since we have determined our next course of action, let this meeting be adjourned."

Thankful that the meeting had been as short as it was, Chase stood up from his seat, waiting for Juliana to follow suit so he could exit the aisle. 

"Moving it on your birthday?" he questioned as they walked out of the boardroom and down the hallway, following the crowd of fellow Order members. "Where'd that idea come from? You've never talked about it before." 

"My party will be a highly publicized event. My grandfather can't exactly command his puppet Eagle while he's being watched by millions, now, can he?" she grinned slyly. "I proposed the idea for the first time in a meeting because it would look awfully suspicious if he suddenly started refuting my suggestions. For appearances' sake, he had to agree." 

"Sometimes, I forget you were raised to be a politician. And then you do something like this," Chase shook his head. 

"Hey," Juliana frowned. "Ever since Project PROB was formed, he's been setting up every situation we're in to his advantage. It's about time we gave him a taste of his own medicine." 

"Oh, you got that right." 

Watching PROB's likelihood of success in moving the Alpha Box gradually climb two percentage points, Chase felt a smile growing on his face. Never in his life had he had more confidence that two nerds, a jock, and a cute little girl could take down an evil King.