"Just don't... don't ask," Farrah shook her head quietly as Felix entered the room. Their uncle, Alan Nelson, stood in the middle of the room, his head tilted back as he screamed incessantly at the ceiling. Finally, shaking his fist, the Ambassador brought it down on the glass table in front of him, causing the water glasses sitting on it to shake violently. 

"Three years. Three years I've gone along with her plans, brought them back to America, gotten them approved. Three years, I've been so nice to her, when I every time I see her, all I want to do is shoot her in the face!" he fumed. "I can't take it anymore. We have to be ready sooner- before my head explodes!" 

Farrah raised her hand, pointing it at a row of wooden targets lined up at the other side of the spacious living room. She rhythmically released controlled blasts of fire from her palm, watching as they precisely and methodically incinerated each target without leaving a single burn mark on the curtains around them. 

"We're ready, Uncle Alan. We're Red Knights, now." 

Nelson smiled proudly, but before he could reply, his phone beeped loudly. He fished it out of his pocket to see that it was an alert from the embassy's security system. "Somebody's outside our house... impossible. How could one person have gotten through all those guards?" 

"What if it's Project PROB? What if they've found us out!?" Felix gasped in fear.

"That's impossible," Farrah shook her head. "We've been so careful."

"You said you were ready," Nelson smiled darkly, darting his gaze out the window. "Prove it." 

Farrah and Felix exchanged surprised looks, before turning their gaze to their uncle, hoping he was kidding. Sure, they were trained, but was he really asking them to go up against the world's foremost team of superheroes with so much at stake? To their shock, the expression on Nelson's face remained perfectly serious. 

"What are you looking at me for?" the ambassador shrugged. "Go!" 

Startled by his forceful command, Felix ran to the window, pushing it open to let in a gust of cool, night wind. Farrah joined him, sitting on the windowsill and swinging her long legs over. Luckily, they were on the first floor, so there wasn't much of a drop to the soft, dew-covered grass. The young Red Knights crept away from the ambassador's house and toward the security perimeter. 

Whoosh. An unidentifiable blur swooped down from the sky, grabbing an armed guard and taking off before anyone could realize what was going on. Looking around, Felix realized that there were fewer guards than usual. They were being picked off one-by-one. 

"She's flying," Farrah looked up, her eyes searching for the intruder. "Probably the Queen herself." 

"W-what? Why is she breaking into our house? Uncle Alan's an ambassador! Is she trying to start a war?" Felix stammered as the figure swooped down once again, collecting its prey before either of them could react. 

"I don't know. But until we're sure she's discovered our plans, we must not reveal our powers. We don't want to give her any information she doesn't already have," Farrah advised, crouching behind the last remaining security guard. This time, as the winged intruder swooped down from the sky, she grabbed the left wing, pulling the figure to the ground. 

"Agh!" she yelled as she rolled awkwardly through the grass, Farrah's firm grip on her wing keeping her from taking off again. As they made their way closer to the lighted window, Farrah saw that the Queen's wings were black instead of red, as was her outfit. Weirdly enough, she'd wrapped a scarf around her nose and mouth. Juliana hadn't covered her face in a field mission for years! What was this... some sort of stealth suit? 

"Your Majesty?" Farrah asked quietly as Juliana rose to her feet, playing dumb. "Can- can we help you? I'm sorry if I damaged your wing- I didn't realize who you were, and you came in here so suddenly." 

"I know everything...Red Knight of Nebulik," Juliana declared. "Everything, but I'm not-" 

Before she could finish her sentence, Farrah was on top of her. She shot a burst of flame at Juliana's face, burning off her scarf. The Queen grunted in frustration, throwing Farrah through the open window with surprising strength. Before Juliana could follow, Felix ran up behind her, wrapping his arms around her throat. She reached downward as she struggled, raking some sort of blade across his thigh. Unaccustomed to pain, Felix let go instantly, squealing as he clutched his leg. Meanwhile, Juliana front-flipped into the living room so that she was face-to-face with the ambassador himself. 

Before she could reach him, Farrah tackled her and pinned her to the ground with her knee. "Time to die, Queenling," she snarled. She raised her palm, which was beginning to glow a deep red, but before she could produce a flame, the intruder cried out. 

"Stop! I'm not who you think I am! I'm not Juliana!" 

"What?" Farrah lowered her hand, but didn't back away. "Prove it." 

The intruder silently pulled off one of her gloves and watched as a pair of metal claws, still covered in Felix's blood, extended from her fingertips. 

At this, Farrah stood up, staring down at the woman sprawled out on the living room floor in wonder. "You're...you're-" 

"Ravenna... better known as the Raven," she coughed, pulling herself up into a sitting position. "You've got impressive fight in you for a newbie. I could feel how badly you want my sister dead. Very relatable." 

"Why did you break into my home?" Nelson questioned as Felix slowly made his way through the window. 

"Well, I'm Arcana's most wanted criminal. I couldn't just walk through your front door in broad daylight, now could I?"

"What do you want from us?" Farrah questioned as she sat down on a gray ottoman. 

Ravenna's features lit up at this question, as if she'd been waiting for it her whole life. Her hair was a mess, her complexion had seen better days, and her bloodshot eyes glimmered with a madness that neither Farrah nor Felix could totally fathom. "Three years ago, for the first time in my life, I had hope for a better future. And then Juliana ripped that out from right under my nose. She took... she killed someone who meant everything to me. And now I want him to rest in peace. I want revenge." 

"And you came to us?" At this point, Nelson looked almost amused. 

"For three years, I've been hiding in plain sight. Keeping tabs on Project PROB and the Alpha Box and looking for an opportunity to strike. When you three moved into Arcana City, I noticed a lot more activity around the Box than usual. And obviously, my question was- what does an American ambassador want with the Box? So I dug a little deeper, did a little spying, and the answer became clear. Somehow, you guys have resurrected the Red Knights of Nebulik- Project PROB's most ancient and most formidable enemy. And I want in." 

Nelson watched Ravenna, taking in the sincerity in her eyes, before he let out a small chuckle. "Very smart. There's only one thing you missed. We didn't choose to resurrect the Red Knights. It is our legacy. It is in our blood," he held up his forearm, gazing at it with pride. "When the Red Knights were defeated in the year 1336, Drosi Nebulik was banished from Arcana and his wife, Imogen, was burned at the stake for witchcraft. The world believed the Nebulik line was dead, but Drosi was determined to preserve his noble lineage. He remarried and had a son, and for generations, the once proud Nebuliks wandered Europe, penniless and slowly forgetting their past. Until, that is, a brand new nation began to rise to prominence on the world stage." 

"America," Felix smiled, looking over at Ravenna, who was still listening with rapt interest. 

"It is well known that European immigrants who came through Ellis Island in the 1900s often had their names Americanized in their new documents. So Nebulik... became Nelson." 

"Wait, does that mean you're..." 

"The last living descendants of Drosi Nebulik- the true founder of the nation of Arcana and its rightful king, who was so dreadfully wronged by his 'friend' Darian VanderSchee," Farrah nodded. "Our pain is even older than yours."

Ravenna stood up to approach the Nelsons- the Nebuliks- as a newfound respect for them dawned in her eyes. "I must be honest- I was hesitant to approach you, Ambassador Nelson, even after I learned your purpose for being here. I've spent my whole life hating politicians- I was abandoned by one, after all. I've seen them as scheming, wicked, and greedy, and no, I do not think you are any different. I have, however, realized that in this situation, there is use for your greed. I am here to avenge someone I loved, while you are here to take a throne you believe is rightfully yours. Once I kill Juliana, I don't know what I would do. I don't want the throne. So I'm glad I've found someone who does."

"You don't want the throne," Nelson shook his head in disbelief. "What an unusual VanderSchee." 

"The only thing that's royal about me is my last name. I'm not ashamed to admit that you'd rule Arcana much better than I ever could. So my proposition is this: we work together to get rid of my sister, you help me disappear, and then you do whatever you want with Arcana and the throne. I could really care less." 

"That can certainly be arranged."

"Oh, and, another thing- I'm half machine, and I haven't had maintenance done in three years. My circuits act up sometimes, and I have no one to check them out. I'm going to need an engineer." 

"That can... also be arranged," Nelson nodded, tilting his head back in thought as though he was already formulating a plan. 

"Okay. We have a deal," Ravenna reached out to shake the ambassador's hand. He visibly flinched at the feeling of the metal veins that ran across her palm, but she elected to ignore his discomfort. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to. 

"So, do you have an actual plan of attack?" Nelson questioned. 

"I've been studying floor plans of the palace. I think I can get to Juliana when she's sleeping. It's hardly honorable, I know, but neither was what she did to him." 

"Oh, no, no," Nelson shook his head. "That won't do at all. She'll die a hero. She'll get memorials, statues erected in her honor, and you'll be remembered as a cowardly assassin. You wouldn't like that, would you?" 

"No... I suppose not," Ravenna's eyes glinted with interest. 

"Speaking from political experience, the best way to destroy a public figure is to destroy their reputation. Make the media hate on them every day. Make the people throw rocks through their windows. Shower them with all of society's pent up fury until they can't take it anymore. You are actually in a great situation to do that to your sister- you have the perfect sob story. You were abandoned at birth, struggled with a disability, and then she took the only person who ever cared about you." 

"I'm also a mass murderer and an accomplice to an international terrorist," Ravenna sighed. "I don't see that garnering much sympathy." 

"Let me ask you a question- when did all that happen? The murders, the terrorism," Nelson asked. 

"Well, about three years ago. I've been pretty quiet since then- I've had to be, they're looking for me anywhere." 

"Okay, great. Everyone's forgotten about it," Nelson declared, smiling slyly. "One thing you'll learn in politics is that the general public has the memory of a goldfish and the IQ of one, too. They're so easily driven to a primitive mob mentality. So let's take advantage of that. Let's send the mob to Queen Juliana's doorstep."