"Who else is coming?" Casey asked. Fred and Natalie had arrived earlier and gone to put their suits on underneath their clothing, and I was shifting nervously on the sofa in the lobby with Casey, waiting for Viktor and Diego to show up. I hadn't heard from the later for a week and I was starting to worry about him. We had half an hour before we really needed to get going to make it to the rendezvous point to meet the Vulture and Iris, and I would really rather not be late.

"You will see." I couldn't help but smile, imagining Casey's face when she realized that Viktor would be part of the team. Just then, a hooded figure entered the lobby and I could feel the familiar vibes coming from him and my face broke into a smile.

"Diego?" Casey's eyes almost bulged out of her head as Diego stopped in front of us, her face frozen in shock as she stared at Diego, who offered her a small smile.

"Hi Casey." He greeted, but Casey was still in too much shock to reply. Stifling the smile breaking out on my face, I quickly handed him his pack of gadgets and instructed him to change.

"What, how, huh?" Casey let out a mumbled stream of incoherent noises. I turned around and saw Diego disappearing around the corner just as Fred and Natalie emerged. The two had obviously spotted Diego as well, and they both hovered towards us in a trance-like state.

"Was that Diego?" Natalie asked, her eyes still trained towards the corner where Diego disappeared to. I checked to see that both of them had put the watch on and nodded in satisfaction. Checking my own one, I could see a dot moving towards us – hopefully that would be Viktor.

"Yeah." I answered, receiving three questioning stares. "I ran into him in the hotel last week and asked him to come along."

"You what?" Fred's voice held a hint of anger, "Don't you think it's suspicious that he showed up in the same hotel as you after fourteen months. Do you even know where he was and what he did at all?"

"Hey," Natalie put a hand on Fred, looking at him in slight alarm. "It's fine, it's Diego."

Casey threw me a look and shrugged. "Fred has got a point." She said, "I mean, I don't think Diego would be a bad guy, but I don't know who or what to believe in anymore. Are you sure you can trust him?"

"Hi, am I interrupting something?" Viktor's voice came from behind us and I turned back around to see him awkwardly standing there, looking at us uncertainly. I could see the hint of silver from the suit under his t-shirt, and his watch firmly on his right wrist.

"Wait, he is coming too?" Fred's voice now was dripping with sarcasm. For someone who is an ice elemental, he sure had a fiery temper. "Do you just invite everyone from the street to come along?"

"Hey." Casey and Viktor yelled indignantly at the same time and Natalie shot me a panicked look. Viktor was also staring at Fred warily, and Casey looked torn between being happy or annoyed.

"I don't need your opinion on this, Bowen." I said pointedly, turning to look at him to let him know that I was being dead serious. "I have made my decision. This is my call to make, not yours. I trust Diego and Viktor and that's all you need to know."

Looking clueless, Viktor's glance darted between the four of us, not sure how to read the situation at all. Natalie didn't need any convincing, she always believed in the good of everyone. Casey's glance darted between Fred and me as we stared each other down.

"What is going on?" Diego's arrival broke our little competition and I was glad to see that he seemed to be back to his normal self. He flashed a smile at everyone and I could feel Natalie and Casey relaxing immediately and even Viktor seemed a bit charmed. He did tend to have that effect on people, unlike Iago, who always seemed to be moody and against the world.

"Shall we go?" I asked, making sure that it sounded like a statement. As I rose and leave the lobby, I could sense Diego, Viktor and Casey following behind me, while Natalie and Fred lagged slightly behind as the former talk rapidly to the other in a low voice.

"Viktor, this is Diego, Diego, this is Viktor." I quickly introduce the two and they nodded amicably at each other before falling into small chats. There were no dramas, no dramatic stared downs that Casey was hoping to see (why Casey, just why), and I felt like my faith in boys have restored a little.

Glancing surreptitiously at my watch to make sure I was walking in the correct direction. We were approaching the edge of the western part of Pax where SMS held experimental grounds. I only knew this because Viktor was explaining this to Diego. My heart started to beat faster against my chest at the anticipation of the coming mission. And the fact that two people will be coming from the UGE with us had my stomach in knots. I really would rather not deal with their politics and bureaucracy.

I could sense some major movement up ahead – we seemed to be hitching a ride with a plane again. There were three people standing next to the plane and another one inside. UGE must have sent someone to see us off.

"Miss Beckett." A man that I had never seen before began to approach us as soon as we were within view. I could just make out the figure of a man and a woman next to the plane, dressed only in the gears we received. He gestured for us to follow him, and explained that he was only here to ensure we take off safely.

"And I would like to formally introduce you to our two operatives." Mr. something-beginning-with-a-M said, and as soon as my eyes met the guy my jaw dropped. Because winking at me with a slightly crooked smile like he owned the world was none other than the delivery boy.

"This is Vulture." He introduced the delivery boy before pointing to the slender girl next to her. "And this is Iris."

Iris looked to be around her early twenties, with jet black hair and bronze skin; she looked like a fierce warrior from the past. She looked significantly less friendly than Vulture, who was waving rather wantonly at everyone so much that Fred had put his arm around Natalie.

"Hi." I took a deep breath and held out my hands at the two, "My name is Gail." I had omitted my full name, although the UGE had probably briefed them on all our details already.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Vulture said, his eyes twinkling mischievously, obviously hinting on our brief meeting yesterday. Shaking his head, I ignored his comment and turned to face Iris. She gave me a once over, her face remaining stoic and quickly shook my hands. The rest of my team filed in and introduced themselves one by one too, and the whole thing almost felt like a business meeting.

We were then ushered onto the plane and the pilot was instructed to start flying as soon as possible. Mr. Martin, whose name I finally remembered, began to hand us an earpiece and a small thing that looks like a teeth case each. "This is your communication channel, put your mouthpiece on your front molar and it should transmit sound."

Not a hundred percent sure which one was my first molar, I just slid the case in until it fits over one of my teeth and slotted it in gently. Putting my earpiece in my left ear, I watched Vulture and Iris closely to see how they use it. "There is a small button on the ear piece, just press it to activate the set." Diego whispered next to me and I nodded, slightly embarrassed that he caught me sitting there, clueless.

"We will rendezvous at the same location you will be dropped off in 8 hours. And if we don't see you, we will return 24 hours later with a ground vehicle and every 24 hours after." Mr. Martin explained, then handed Vulture and I a small device the size of a thumb each. With a shock, I realized that it was a phone with only two buttons. One was the green accept call button and the other a red triangle.

"You press call to reach us, and the other one if you are in danger." Mr. Martin explained, "The drop off point should be marked on your personal devices already, along with the extent of the unknown force field."

Personal device, what a weird name to give to this watch. I mused to myself and checked the information as instructed. My heart clutched tightly when I saw the digital rendition of the POE Academy. The drop off point would be the closest to the western wall, and to be honest, we were so close to Pax we could practically walk there. I wasn't sure if flying over was necessary.

"I wish you all a successful mission and speedy return." Mr. Martin said, his tone of voice flat and unemotional giving me the impression that he had said that thousands of times. Vulture nodded while Iris moved his head slightly in acknowledgment. Mr. Martin wasted no time in exiting the plane and the door practically shut right behind him.

An awkward silence descended as the pilot carried out pre-flight procedures, closing the door of the cockpit. Casey threw me an exasperated glance and gestured for me to do something, I gave her my best what-do-you-want-me-to-do look and she rolled her eyes. Someone was grumpy today.

"If you don't mind me asking, did you pick your own code name or did you get assigned?" Viktor asked out of the blue, an earnest look on his face. This caused Vulture to laugh rather heartily while a look of embarrassment briefly flashed across Iris's face.

"Well, I was given mine by our colleagues." Vulture said, a snicker forming on his face as though he just told us a joke. "But Iris over here..."

"If you don't shut up, I will kill you." Iris spoke for the first time, her melodic voice surprised me. Although her face looked serious enough, Vulture did not seem at all faze by her threat.

"Her real name is something of a legend." He continued anyway, ignoring the daggers Iris was shooting at him. His conspiring tone drew all of us in closer and his smile widened. "Her real name is Twinkles."

A blanket of silence descended, as all of us sat wide-eyed staring at Vulture, not sure if we were being punked or not. If Iris has any POE powers, she would have used it on him. This kind of confirmed that Vulture wasn't lying – which begs to question, what on Earth was Iris's parents thinking when they named her?

"Vulture..." there was a dangerous edge to Iris's voice that sent a shiver down my spine, but again Vulture didn't seem at all concerned about it. He waved Iris off and her body tensed up like a leopard before relaxing again. It seemed the two had been quite familiar with each other.

"So, Gail..." Vulture suddenly turned to me, his eyes twinkling with mischief (no pun intended). "Which one of these fine gentlemen is your boyfriend?"

Casey made a sound like she was choking and Fred nearly snorted, quickly covering it up as a coughing fit. Natalie laughed, then stopped abruptly as Viktor and Diego shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"He is not here." I answered curtly, wondering why even a random stranger was rubbing his nose into my relationship status.

"Well, what a shame." Vulture commented, his casual manner of saying it somehow made me even more on edge. Despite his friendly façade, I could sense that there was something off about him and I had yet to decide whether it would make him a danger or not.

"Oh hey, we are nearly there." Vulture said and as if on cue, all our watches, I mean personal devices started beeping simultaneously. Glancing out of the window furtively, I couldn't see anywhere large enough for us to land, but I caught my breath when I saw the POE Academy.

It was exactly like the photos and map – except nothing can ever prepare me for the intensity of the blue dome. It seemed to pulse and change hues, with small currently of stark-white electricity zigzagging through it like a living membrane. It also looked thick – you could still see the outline of the Academy, but everything looked distorted and tinted blue. I noticed a frown appeared on both Vulture and Iris' face and turned back to look at them questioningly.

"The barrier had grown thicker." Iris replied, her face reverting back to normal fairly quickly, and I began to wonder about the emotional range of this girl. Vulture looked the most serious I had seen him so far and he was tapping a finger against his chin.

"There really isn't much we can do about it except go and have a closer look." Diego's voice from behind turned our attention around.

"This gentleman here has got the right idea." Vulture exclaimed as the plane started to decrease in altitude. "Let's get to the ground."

"Wait, are we jumping out?" Fred's icy voice called out from the back as Vulture and Iris started lining up in front of the door, strapping themselves with some kind of gear. The two of them shared a look with each other before the former nodding at Fred, as though neither of them could understand what Fred's problem was.

"I assume you can all take care of yourself?" Vulture asked, a wicked grin spreading across his face and Iris pushed the door open before any of us could protest. A rush of windblown it, almost toppling us backwards and with one last evil grin, he waved at us and leaped off, closely followed by Iris.

"You all have five minutes." The pilot's voice sounded through the intercom and everyone looked at me. I bit back the bitter smile forming on my face. I should have known the UGE would pull one last stunt on me. But they are messing with the wrong girl.

"Don't worry." I looked back at my team, an involuntary smile forming on my face. "I have a plan."

"Whatever your plan is," Fred shouted above the hollowing sound of the wind rushing in from the opened door, "You better make it happen fast."

Peeking out quickly, I used my mind to estimate that we were only about several hundred feet up. Even if we were to jump, my telekinesis would have broken our force enough that we won't die. But we probably would be badly injured.

"Fred, can you make a sheet of ice big enough to fit all of us on?" I shouted back, Fred paused to consider this for a few seconds before nodding his head.

"I will try!" He shouted. Looking around, I found a loop of ropes and some harnesses – they weren't completely heartless. Shoving those to Natalie, Viktor and Casey, I told them to strap themselves in as quickly as possible and turned to Diego.

"We need to lower ourselves down." I said, and as he stared into my eyes I could see Diego understanding my plan. A look of surprise, followed by shock crossed his face and he stared at me with a mixture of awe and horror.

"I don't know if we can pull this off." Diego stepped closer to me and whispered in my ear and I could feel everyone's eyes boring a hole in my skull. Ignoring them, I learned across to Diego and replied.

"We would just have to try."

"We are ready!" Casey's voice rung out and I pulled back, nodding at Fred who had made a two by three people size ice platform about three inches thick right in front of the door of the plane. We only have a minute or so left so I ushered everyone on the platform, putting myself first and Diego last. Using the last piece of rope, I tied it around all of us using my telekinesis and warped a mind wall outside of it.

"Ready?" I asked Diego, who gritted his teeth and nodded. Without giving myself the time to think, I shoved the ice platform out of the plane and sent us plummeting down towards the ground.

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An extra extra long chapter just for you guys! Christmas is coming around soon! What are your plans? I am excited to see some of my friends who have been busy working (because I am currently still unemployed. 

Anyway Getting them to the POE Academy is taking way too much chapter time than I thought, which is interesting. I sometimes find that the story does take a life on its own.

I might not have mentioned this before but I have joined the new Wattpad Star program and it's inspiring to talk to so many amazing authors - it really motivates me to write more.

So guys - do encourage me and let me know what you think of this chapter. So much more powers are being used.