Chase had never opened his phone so quickly before. He tapped frantically on the mail icon to find an organization-wide announcement from the Order of Chance waiting in his inbox. The email contained no text- just a single pdf attachment titled Order of Chance Member Contract. 

It seemed normal enough at first glance- a forty-page document containing detailed operational definitions of the Nonnegotiables, descriptions of agent duties and responsibilities, and guidelines for using Order technology. If he was being completely honest with himself, Chase wasn't familiar enough with the original contract to know exactly what had changed in Nelson's version, and that bothered him. Why would Nelson go to all this trouble if he didn't have anything to gain from it? 

"Chase," Hayley tapped him on the shoulder. "Look at the bottom of page 17- the end of the Officer Responsibilities section." 

Chase scrolled up to the page she indicated, his eyes racing across the page as he took in the contents of the new paragraph tucked so discreetly between noncontroversial sections that he almost missed it. 

The OFFICER is defined as an agent of rank COMMANDER or higher and/or a member of PROJECT PROB as defined in the previous section. The OFFICER will be prepared to publicly acknowledge Regent Alan Nelson as a legitimate HIGH GENERAL of the Order of Chance. The OFFICER will report all intelligence relevant to the location of fugitive Juliana VanderSchee to the office of Regent Nelson within 24 hours of discovery or risk suspension or dismissal from the Order of Chance on grounds of TREASON. 

"Chase, is your father here?" Chu whispered seriously. 

"I- no, I don't think so. I think he was on his way to Hewkin Manor last night."

"Good," she nodded, thinking. "We cannot let him sign this contract. He's the only one who knows where Juliana is, which means he's the only one who could potentially be dismissed for treason under these new terms. Someone needs to warn him as soon as it's safe to do so."

"We're not signing it either," Adrian's face twisted with fury. "We're not agreeing to be sellouts!" 

Chu turned her head to see pairs of androids discreetly taking their positions at all the auditorium's exits. The only two humans among them stood out in their gleaming red armor. Felix and Farrah. 

"Unfortunately, Adrian, I don't think Nelson plans to give us that option," Chu sighed. 

"Well, I presume I've given you all enough time to look the contract over," Nelson said as he paced across the stage. He'd been silent for so long that Chase almost forgot he was there. "That's actually all I have to say. Everything else is spelled out pretty clearly in the contract. I don't want to keep you guys too long- you're hard workers and you deserve your rest. Just show your signed contract to my lovely Red Knights at the door, and you're all free to go." With that, Nelson walked briskly off the stage and disappeared into the wings.

Chase could see conflicted looks all around him as the Order officers wavered between their instinct to fight and their training to follow orders. He himself was fairly certain what he wanted to do- activate his dart shooters, put on his helmet, and give Nelson a piece of his mind- but he wondered if that was just his rage talking. He wasn't a fighter- he never had been- and that was his strength. He was the peacekeeper, the one who kept hotheads like Juliana and Adrian in check, and he couldn't let Nelson change that. 

Juliana. Wherever she was, she didn't need any of her teammates making stupid decisions and compromising her safety. Chase sharply pulled his thumb away from the palm of his glove- he hadn't even realized he'd been tracing over it, prepared to jump into action at a moment's notice. 

"What are we going to do?" Hayley breathed softly as a single Order officer rose from his seat and began to make his way down the aisle. He held his phone in the palm of his hand, ready to display to the Red Knights. The rest of the hall watched in silence, waiting to see what precedent he would set. 

"Wait," Chase discreetly held up his hand for the other members of Project PROB to see. "Let's see what he does." 

As expected, Farrah stopped the officer at the exit, blocking the doorway with her arm. She cut her eyes down at his phone, watching him expectantly. Chase was too far away to hear exactly what they were saying, but he could see their conversation grow more heated until the officer dropped his cool Order demeanor and shoved his phone back into his pocket, staring defiantly ahead. 

Farrah raised her fist, and as her knuckles began to smolder, Chase lunged out of his seat. He knew he could never get to them in time, but he still barreled down the aisle at top speed, activating his suit as he ran. He pulled his hands in front of his face, bracing himself for fire, but the heat never came. Instead, when he opened his eyes, he saw Farrah on the floor with Adrian pinning her arms tightly behind her back. The young Order officer who had been waiting by the exit seized this opportunity to dive to the right and skirt through the door. This seemed to set off the bomb of tension that had been building up in the hall- people stood up from their seats left and right, rushing toward the exits in an uncontrollable flow. Chase's heartbeat quickened as the androids raised their guns - no one in the room was armed, and Project PROB couldn't protect all of them. 

"Hey!" he screamed, clambering up onto a chair and waving his arms in the air. Yet, the overwhelming noise all around him all but drowned out his voice. 

"Attention, Order of Chance!" Chase turned his head to see Chu standing on the chair beside him, her fist raised in the air. It took a while, but her cool, commanding voice eventually did the trick. Slowly, the room began to settle. When Chu felt that she had enough people's attention, she gestured toward Chase. "Agent Hewkin has something to say."

"Who are we?" Chase asked, holding his hands up questioningly. He could hear the sounds of Adrian and Farrah's struggle behind him as well as the crack of Hayley's whip as she used it to restrain Felix, but he chose to push those things out of his head for the moment. He had the attention of the Order's leaders, and their fate was probably dependent on how well he could command it. He could only hope that any credibility he had as an Heir and a member of Project PROB would give him their ears. 

"We are the Order of Chance. We follow the chain of command. That means we respect the throne, whether or not we respect the person on it." Saying these words made him sick to his stomach, and he could feel his teammates' horrified stares on his back, but he wasn't going to let any of his people die. Not here. Not like this. Of course, he wasn't going to let any of them betray the woman he loved, either. 

"That also means we never forsake our own. No matter where they are, or what title they currently hold, fellow Order members are our brothers and sisters. We will respect Alan Nelson as our leader, but we will never give him Juliana VanderSchee!" Chase breathed shakily, his eyes scanning the room for any kind of response to his words. Relief flooded through him as the crowd began to pull back from the exits and the androids lowered their guns. Adrian stepped away from Farrah, who rose carefully to her feet as the two continued to eye each other warily.  

"Hey, Nelson! It's time for you to decide what's important to you." Chase shouted with renewed confidence, pointing aggressively at the stage. "Do you want the cooperation of the Order of Chance, or do you want my girl? Because you're sure as hell not getting both!" Shouts of assent echoed through the room as officers began to put their phones back in their pockets as a sign of defiance. The androids from the front and side exits began to make their way up the aisles, positioning themselves to form a barricade between the back few rows and the majority of the auditorium. Whatever happened next, Project PROB wouldn't be getting any assistance. 

"Let's get this guy out of here," Farrah muttered quietly. Felix nodded, rushing to her side as the two Red Knights mounted an attack. Chase was knocked off his chair by a blast of fire to his back. The flames didn't make it through his suit, but their force sent him rolling down the aisle. When he managed to gather enough momentum to stop himself and get back on his feet, he saw one of the androids by the back exit laying on the ground with a hole shaped like Adrian's mace in the middle of its torso. Farrah shot precise blasts of fire at Hayley, aiming for the exposed skin on her arms and legs, but she managed to deflect most of them with her whip. The two young women moved with equal agility, with Farrah's flames and Hayley's whip engaged in a deadly, fast-paced dance. 

Chase took cover behind a chair and began shooting darts at Farrah and Felix. When he stood up for a moment to get a better view, one of the androids detected his presence, locking its gun on him. A small projectile glanced off his armored shoulder, but it felt too... pointy to be a bullet. Curious, Chase got down on his knees and groped along the carpeted floor until his gloved hand closed around a small tube with a needle on its end. A tranquilizer dart. Nelson didn't want him dead. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing. 

With one swing of her whip, Hayley finally managed to wrap up both of Farrah's hands in fire-proof twine. Adrian kicked the now-defenseless Red Knight in the back, knocking her to the floor as she desperately tried to burn through the whip that was holding her powers prisoner. 

"Get away from my sister, you degenerate Order brats!" Felix lunged at Hayley, who screamed as he punched her in the face with a flaming fist. A furious Chase rose from his hiding spot, telekinetically lifting the fallen android. Before he could hurl it at Felix, the deafening sound of a gunshot rang through the air. 

Chase's jaw dropped at the sight of Chu, pistol drawn, standing victoriously over Felix.

"Those are my degenerate Order brats," she spat, driving the heel of her boot into the gaping wound in his stomach. His crimson suit made it impossible to tell how much he was bleeding. 

"How did you?" Chase stammered with disbelief, gesturing wildly from the gun to Chu. 

"Takes more than a few pathetic robots to disarm Luna Chu," she shrugged matter-of-factly. 

Before Chase had the chance to feel relieved, Hayley crumpled to the ground beside Felix. 

"No!" he shouted, rushing to her side and dropping to his knees. He searched her body for a major burn or a bullet wound, but found nothing that could've knocked her out so easily. Finally, just when he was about to give up, he caught sight of a familiar-looking dart sticking out of her thigh. Somewhat relieved that she was only temporarily unconscious, Chase made a move to pull himself back to his feet. Yet, his legs felt like jelly and his knees buckled under his weight, sending him crashing back to the ground. As his muscles began to go limp, he looked down to see a dart sticking out of the back of his left glove. His hands. The only un-armored part of his body. 

"No, no, no," Chase muttered softly until his jaw went slack.