THE LONG-AWAITED TRIP back home would be granted at the strike of midnight. The flight was responsibly booked at the first minute of the new day. Whether our crew would even make it past the plug doors and board the designated plane, however, was all on us.

It was currently ten past nine. It'd been about five hours since everyone was compacted into that grand storage room filled to the brim with arsenals we'd never get our hands on again. Our government official had originally prepared us private vehicles for our convenient transportation to the airport, but unfortunately, even paltry things like traffic could hinder a few world-renowned hackers and a guard.

Low and behold though, one angel graced us all with her impeccable intelligence and quick response to the dire complication. Me. The motorbikes were my suggestion, and after a good half hour of our director trying to find alternatives, our Commander had to step in and stand by my side, 'else we'd be getting nowhere tonight.

Four motorcycles were taken from some unknown compartments in the building and they were parked outside next to the gates that separated the parking lot from the diverging road just ahead. K2 took his stance on the first and foremost bike with a swift climb on his ride. While he secured on the accompanying helmet, the boys zipped up their dark jackets and each grabbed their own helmets, tossing the other pair that came with every motor to us girls and Asao.

Pierce fastened the strap on his black gloves for security on his wrists while he prepared to drive for two hours to the airport. It was a race against time. Our team of six split into pairs, with the extra bike being occupied by K2 alone. Without wasting time, the older man before us revved up the engine and he took off with a sharp turn to the right, slipping out of sight the moment the tires made contact with the gravel of the road.

Our three motorcycles roared simultaneously to life, attracting the attention of some of Osias' fans waiting outside. They didn't have a chance to react until Cody, with Asao sitting before him, had already converged onto the road and disappeared out of view. Only the sound of the engines in the distance left a trace of their earlier presence.

Kenya civilly wrapped her arms underneath Osias' arms and their vehicle began speeding further and further away from us. By this time, the fans had stampeded in hordes to the gates. Pierce whispered something to the side, slightly muffled by the helmet, but I nodded with a firm lock of my hands around his large torso.

His upper half bent down and his arms stiffened just as the bike produced one last roar and took a rapid swerve onto the road to join the others. I caught the piercing on Pierce's ear refracting light for a split moment as we transferred to the open traffic.

Wind hit the face shield and I could only make out the muffled noise of it rushing past our bodies as we maneuvered rapidly through the streets. Whenever Pierce was about to make a steep dip to one side, I became prone to sensing it through his muscles tensing just before it happened. My stomach would drop from the exhilarating excitement and anxiety that came with high speeds, badass vehicles, and hackers doing the absolute opposite of their jobs.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

We lost the others through motors passing by the motorcycle lane as well, but the boys have all been instructed on the directions beforehand since it was expected. The horizons had fanned out to look almost like sunset through the dimmed screen I was looking through.

I got a little dazed and my head bobbled down and stayed down while I tried to rest my eyes. Unfortunately, that eased the way for me to slip in and out of consciousness, which loosened my hold from the driver of the motorcycle. I tried steadying myself with the foot pegs, but it was still unsteady enough to have Pierce notice from the front.

He couldn't glance behind him to check on me, so instead he focused on getting to the next stoplight. As soon as the bike came to a stop with one of his leg on the brakes, he twisted his body around and held me upright by the shoulders.

"Hey, snap out of it," The man angled my head to look him in the eyes. "I can't have you dying on the road."

"It'd be easier that way." I murmured back. I straightened up and pushed his hands away. My eyes fluttered open as I eyed him with a conscious stance. "It's been almost two hours, Pierce. My ass' numb and my fingers all fell off one by one at each intersection like breadcrumbs."

"Must be nice. My back's about to break from someone transferring all their weight onto it."

"That's why I proposed to just let me be on the road." I yawned while fixing the position of my helmet.

He scoffed, then proceeded to flick the helmet on my head. "Cause instead of one broken back why not have two while we're at it? Everything's better in pairs."

"Unlike you who's single."

"You're one to talk."

The lights flashed bright green and we were forced to hold our oh-so-amusing bicker for some other convenient time. I reluctantly wrapped my arms back around his waist, which I made clear that I didn't want to if not for our limited options, and Pierce turned back around as he started the motorcycle again and sped past the streetlight.

My earpiece began to irritate my ear and I grimaced silently behind him in pain. The crackle of the connection line going through caused small sparks of electricity to diffuse throughout my inner lobe. Cold, static chills rippled down my neck, causing me to shudder despite the leather jacket being zipped tight to the brim of the collar.

"Come in."

"What is it." I gradually reopened my eyes with a slight attitude dripping from my tone. Pierce didn't have an earpiece so that he wouldn't be distracted on the highway, so I was in charge of receiving and reporting our status every now and then.

There was silence on the other end before the older man spoke again. "We're taking a pit stop at the gas station. The others are here with me already. How close are you?"

I leaned my head back and surveyed the area. The city-side rushed past me in a hypnotizing blur. Thousands of headlights from underneath the bridge that we were crossing shined back in my eyes. For a moment, I was thankful my face shield had a dark screen to deflect it all away.

"Pierce just crossed the bridge."

"Then you have a couple of miles left. Can I expect you two in fifteen?"

I observed Pierce from behind. "If he drives faster, maybe."

"If you quit talking behind my back, maybe." The man in front deadpanned all of a sudden. I rolled my eyes while murmuring touché and turned my head to look at the other side of the road. The line cut off after that, leaving the two of us in silence again.

We made it to the station in pieces without ripping each other's throats out. The man had been slightly more aggressive ever since we left the arsenal room, yet hard as I tried, I couldn't pinpoint why. I just knew it was something he heard or discovered while we had our reunion meeting. He was bottling up something, but I prayed to god the lid to whatever it was was taped permanently shut.

Pierce parked the motorcycle and extended out the brakes with his foot. I breathed out a breath of relief from behind and swung my legs off of the seat. The two of us, keeping our distance, walked over to the others waiting at the fence by the bushes. Cody was holding onto an extra helmet while Asao took steady gulps out of his newly bought bottle of water.

Osias came out of the store in front with a pack of gum and Gatorade. "For the airport," was his justification when K2 gave him a weird eye. Kenya had her leather jacket hanging loosely from just below her shoulders as her hands worked high above her head to re-bun her curly hair. Who knows what types of bugs would fly in your hair during a motorcycle ride when it's flapping in the wind like it has its own pair of wings?

I went to check up on Cody and Asao while the others rehydrated and took a stretch. The helmet had adjusted my eyes to the dark already because even with it off, the dimmed surrounding of the foreign gas station didn't look any different with the sun already sunken out of the sky.

Ruffling my hand through the youngest boy's hair affectionately, I peered up at Cody and asked, "How's the drive? Exhausting?"

He smirked at me with lips parted after taking a sip of his water. "If you'd known how tiring it was to be the driver, you'd give our leader a little slack, hun. We all heard your little bickers every few hours on our bluetooths. You really don't get tired, do you?"

"Have you even met the man?" I retaliated defensively. "Who needs energy drinks and Gatorade when you have Pierce to trigger your nerves every half hour?"

Kenya's lips curled into a smile as she fixed her jacket back on her shoulders. "T6's Commander and co-Commander not getting along after four years? Our future is bright, sí. I can hardly wait to be in your nurturing hands."

"Our fate is doomed." Cody stated matter-of-factly while he rubbed his temples. Asao jokingly mimicked him and I gave the child a disapproving look, one a mother would give her betraying son.

K2 ordered a huddle and we gathered close around for further instructions. We ended up being told to switch drivers, meaning instead of Osias driving, Kenya would drive, and instead of Pierce driving, I'd drive.

Cody, the athlete, said he could hold out. Said his ass didn't get as numb as mine always does. I shot him daggers as we split back up and trudged back to our individual motors. With helmets back on, we all straddled the bike once more with a unified roar of the engines. K2 set out first like usual, followed by me with little delay, then from behind came Kenya and Cody.

We reached the airport barely 10 minutes into the flight taking off. Nonetheless, the important part was that we crossed those plug doors and boarded the plane before the clock stroke midnight.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Mexico City, Mexico

My mouth was left hanging as I basked in the glory of the view before me. The luxury penthouse built on the high-leveled platform ahead stood three stories high. Modest to some ego-inflated investors at a certain degree, but certainly not inexpensive. I caught the sight of a pool peeking out behind the condominium.

"Your guards got here before we did?" I asked astoundingly, knowing the pool water had to have been recently filled up.

"They took the jets." K2 nodded assertively.

"Must be nice to be rich." My last statement caused four particular heads to look away silently. I raised my eyebrows behind them as K2 led the team up the flight of stairs. We crossed the polished stone platform and made our way inside the penthouse apartment.

The automatic lights swiped on in a collective movement throughout the whole building. The chandelier was the center piece of the main room, and K2 had the honors of flicking the lame switch by the door to turn it on.

The night view from inside the penthouse was majestic. Glass windows replacing the exterior walls displayed the city's lights below. Mexico's lights were beautiful. It felt refreshing to be in a different country every now and then. The air felt different, and it would definitely affect anyone's mood. I figured that's why some people grew up wanting to travel the world.

K2 sauntered to the sitting area and perched himself on an ivory-hued chaise lounge. The rest of us strayed in six disparate directions, drawn to articles in the room that we'd never seen before. Rose silk-topped settees flecked the lower deck, complimented by gold-specked curtains made out of dupioni fabric. Ancient statues guarded the columns that supported the structure of the condominium.

A wide-screen tablet was built into the wall by the sitting region, and above that, Victorian-style frames patterned the walls. A piano stood near the glass windows, velvet fabric peeking underneath the lid where it cushioned around the keys. A bar area was assembled to the other side of the room, normally where a kitchen would be stationed in a modern house. And that's not even including the two other yet-to-be-colonized floors above us.

The lights above had a blended hint of a carmine color and prevalent gold glow, which set the atmosphere quite too nicely for six grown adults of both sexes. Kenya drifted to the window to look out at the perimeters. Asao went to explore the grand piano to see how well it would sustain under his little, yet skilled, Asian hands. Cody walked a little to the far side of the room to observe the furnishing as a whole of the condo.

Pierce and Osias, being the rich ass they were, were lured by siren strings to the bar area, where their smirks were apparent after locating a few wine bottles restocked by our newfound guards. I walked over to stand beside the only other woman on the team and joined her in looking beyond the penthouse's property grounds. It was truly beautiful... breath-taking. Two weeks back, you wouldn't have been able to tell me that I'd be standing here today with these people when all I did was open that door for a seemingly dead man that others would've turn a blind eye to.

Lesson number two, you didn't need a fairy godmother to get you to the ball. You needed a dead Commander. Take notes, ladies.

I coughed as I came out of my thoughts and back to reality. "View's amazing," I covered it up as Kenya raised an eyebrow at me. She nodded silently and let out a small sigh before she ripped her eyes away from the window.

"Can you imagine flying over the city-side and exploring the country from the air?" The woman directed her sudden question at me.

I looked at her curiously. "If you do, then do let me join," I folded my arms over my chest with a smirk. "I haven't gone anywhere besides within America. That orange-beaked bald eagle doesn't let me live."

"But as a collective team, that's nearly impossible." Kenya shifted her weight to the other leg as we glanced back at the others from where we stood. "K2 definitely won't allow it, and neither will the boys."

I was distracted momentarily as I bemusedly observed Osias accidentally dropping a deluxe-set shot glass onto the marble floor. Kenya snorted from beside me as she saw Pierce smoothly ducking away to the other side of the bar's counter-top as if he had been standing there the whole time while the incident happened.

The piano music in the air came to an abrupt stop with a set of keys crashing down as Asao reacted in shock. Cody pointed fingers and soon, there was the older man's strained voice echoing throughout the room, shouting how they were grown-ass men and instead of breaking the glasses, maybe they should consider not touching stuff in the first place. Kenya and I doubled over laughing and we had to hide our faces from the two men at the bar, who were shooting us warning death glares.

"Where's the broom?" I shouted over to the disheveled side of the room with a grin still plastered on my face.

K2 placed his hands on his hips exhaustedly. "Broom? We don't have one."

"Rich people problems. Can't relate," I muttered under my breath with a shake of my head as Kenya and I shared an amused side-glance.

"Actually, now that I just witnessed whatever that was with my own two eyes, I think," Kenya started as she pointed her thumb behind her at the setting outside. "They wouldn't notice too much if we did slip out. They have themselves to deal with, anyway."

"You can say that again. Overriding all sixteen security cameras on the first floor won't take longer than two hours either."

We decided to sashay over and help the boys clean the floor of broken glass. Asao was ordered to stand at the sidelines and pass us the nonexistent trash bin. Simultaneously, a new bitter couple was formed within the team, as if one already wasn't enough.

Two buff and perilous men bickering at one another like elementary kids tattle-telling on their best friends to the teacher, what a sight. You don't see that everyday. Bendiciones, México.

Like back in the arsenal room, K2 managed to get us all back together on the chaise lounges. "You people can explore your penthouse some other time. But not now, we have work to do. Besides, I'd rather not be here when Blake breaks another shot glass."

"—I break ONE and now I'm being held against my throat." Osias huffed bitterly.

The older man shrugged nonchalantly. He then proceeded to shift his attention to us girls because the boys tired his soul enough today. Not that I didn't have my fair share earlier today either, but we don't bring up anything prior to tetra ante meridiem in this household.

"Your team's personal stuff will be sent over to the penthouse while you're on your assignment. Anything in particular that you want them to look out for to bring back? There's already a loaded freight truck ready to hit the road. "

"Betty and Angelica." I replied with a flawless grave face. "Please."

K2 arched his brows. "We can't bring your friends ov-"

"They're not her friends. One of them is mine." Pierce cut in unemotionally.

"Pardon me, then. We can't bring his fille de joie's either—"

"Get on your knees right now and beg me for mercy, old man." Pierce sat upright and growled at the director sitting across from him.

I decided to intervene at this moment with a smirk. "On second thought, my pan's dented anyway, and that umbrella's ferrule is gone. I'm sure this place has better ones, so never mind."

"Risa Kennedy." Pierce's voice taunted.

"My bad." I raised my eyebrows at him before I shifted my gaze elsewhere, not planning to burden myself with a fuming Commander. I was going to poke calculated holes into that man since he wanted to give me such a hard time for no reason after we left the arsenal room. If he won't tell me, I'll just get back at him. He'll reach a breaking point eventually.

It was always the hard way with Pierce. That was the only downside to being revealed. He had shut himself up again, in a reserved way that only I could detect. The others couldn't— wouldn't— be able to sense it for a while longer until things settled down. Let's just hope Pierce goes back to normal by then, because I didn't want the team to ever know how he thought of them even after four years of working together.

K2 cleared his throat firmly and we gave him our attention once more. "Project Pleiades. We just got word that you were invited. My men intercepted the message before it reached you so that they couldn't track your locations. You six will fly in and maintain disguised when you reach France. My people will be stationed close to the borders, and they will meet up with you just outside the gates of the palace. It's usually open for tourism, but the place's been reserved for the masquerade ball at 11 tomorrow night."

"Same time as Serenity," Cody stated quietly. "But that pales in comparison, doesn't it? When you think Serenity's the hot stuff all your life yet within the same day, you're invited to the Palace of Versailles... No one's saying it, but am I the only one still trying to wrap my head around all of this?"

"It's a lot to take in, I agree, but we've dealt with acting fast on our hands before," I reminded the man. "Online. This is different, but the principles are the same. Acting fast on our feet. Play your cards risky and take your chance before your opponent does. That's how we win the game. That's how we've always won the game."

"Kennedy's right." K2 nodded at me. "Now, as I've stated before, you can't go in as yourselves. I have six of my subordinates filing in for each of you, because to our advantage, no one else in the world knows how you look like. We're choosing guards of different sizes, accents, nationalities, et cetera, from you.

"Make Risa's a man." Cody smirked.

K2 choked inaudibly on air. "That's an interesting proposal, Ryder. Not impossible, but-"

"Make L01 a woman." I counter-attacked, earning a wide-ajar mouth from Cody.

"Gender isn't an issue. It's a 50-50 chance and the world probably narrowed it down already in just the first week of your team being introduced, so let's toss that thought away like how Osias did with our high-class shot glass and continue, shall we?"

"Did he just—"

"I've prepared your identification cards a week prior to our gathering today." K2 ignored the man drilling holes into the side of his head while he tried to defend himself to Kenya and I. K2 reached into his long coat like he did when he pulled out the movie set invitation, but this time, he extracted a charcoal folder that held six file documents relating to our forged identities.

"Wow! You're like a magician. What else does that coat hold, my birth certificate?" Cody joked with an arrogant smirk.

At this moment, however, we all fell dangerously silent when our director replied back while he spread out the papers, not looking up at the six pairs of eyes on him. "In the future, Ryder, it'd be better on your behalf if you'd withhold from asking something you don't want to know."

Cody's mouth hung so far open that I practically saw his lower lip on the ground. Kenya buried her face into a pillow to sniffle her obnoxious chortling. Osias and Asao high-fived thunderously, as if they were keeping score of each time one of us teammates were knocked down by the old geezer.

I let slip a grin and found myself looking over at Pierce unconsciously to check up on his state. When I saw his unexpected and silent side-smile, something the proud Commander would never show his team, my eyes softened ever so slightly.

K2 proceeded to hand each of us our respective file for us to peruse over. I accepted mine and look down at basically a biography in list form of the woman's identity I was stealing for one night.

"Celeste Rose... 24, unmarried... French... angel investor... third act to perf— wait, third act to what?" I blurted out, eyes finding K2's. The others seemed to have reached the same section just now in their own profiles because their eyes darted up as well.

"Perform," K2 reconfirmed. "I mentioned this before as well. Everyone attending there besides T6 are branches of that organization overseeing your team. They all collectively planned and organized the event, so naturally, they'd participate in the performances too. One way or another. Everyone else is giving speeches that they spur out on the spot, so I avoided looting those people for their identities because no matter how good some of you are in public-speaking, like Augustee for example, you'd never be able to perform a flawless imitation."

Asao nodded in understanding and Kenya and Osias shared a glance. "But what exactly are we expected to do?" Kenya posed.

"Dance, sing, act, play music, join in a collective game, the such."

"I can't do any of that."

"You expect one of us to sing?"

"I call the games."

"I call 'the such.'"

"Are you coming along with us on this assignment?" A voice we haven't heard from in a while spoke up.

"No," K2 smiled tenderly at Pierce's concerned demeanor. "Like how it's always been. I provide the back bone, you six make up the skeleton. Your collective actions will create one powerful individual with an influential hold. Your person has already been established, Commander. You can take it from here."

The others observed our leader with sympathetic smiles while I eyed the man with a small frown. I've never seen him like this when it was just the two of us. So uncertain. So reluctant. This wasn't right. My fists balled up out of everyone's line of vision and I made a mental note to confront the man eye-to-eye when we found a moment to ourselves again. I should've confronted him directly during the motorcycle ride earlier.

If only we could get one moment to go away from being Venus and Beta so he could speak his mind openly... one moment, where I could be Risa again, and he could be Pierce.

K2 suddenly received a call and he excused himself right there while connecting his Bluetooth to the line. After a few nods and simple ok's, he went off the line and turned back to look at us. "Some of your stuff has arrived just now. I'm going to join my men and women in unloading the truck, so go over the files and each other's files while you're at it. I won't be mentally returning as your government official until the sun rises."

"So until then you're our janitor." Cody tried to redeem himself.

K2 smirked as he pushed himself off his chaise lounge. "And you're my puppet, Ryder. Welcome to my world."

"Dictators are overthrown." The younger man held his ground.

"Not until they've killed off a few heads."

As soon as K2's back was to us and he was almost out the door, Cody flipped him the bird. We were all so far down the stair of heaven, except one. If only we'd be more like Pooh, innocent and smiley and the little ball of sunshine he was. Practice Poohism, people. Spread it. Y'all picking up what I'm putting down?

Personally, though, I agreed, along with Osias and Asao's secretive high-five in the background, that K2 won this round as well.

Silence filled the inside of the penthouse now that K2's authoritative voice had stopped belching out instructions and information. But it wasn't a tense silence like I had feared, it was a comfortable silence.

And that was the second best thing to seeing Pierce smile today. Cheesy as it sounded, being able to look at our profiles in quiet hums, murmurs, occasional glances at each other's papers, and posing simple and stupid comments about our fake identities, was quite refreshing. The team was bonding to become what it had been like four years prior.

Maybe it'd never go back to how it was, considering how we all met this second time under different circumstances and our first impressions were more honest to our true selves than behind screens. But it was fine to me. There had to be a reason why we became a team. Even if someone wiped our memories and relocated each of us to separate parts of the world— literally— fate would bring us together.

Annd let's all pose for the cheesy picture- cheese!

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

We've relocated to the upper deck after making sure the coast was clear of our director. There was a whole new world up here. It kept getting better and better with each floor. Who knows, maybe the highest floor was heaven.

The second level was more furnished to suit our personal tastes. Like if the ground level was for display and bragging-rights, which it did a very well job of might I add, then the second floor was the split personality. It was the same condo yet the lights were cool colors, letting us escape us from whatever brewed the weird sexual tension downstairs.

I'm sorry, someone had to say it eventually.

There was a pool table on the far right, another mini bar, a room locked for probably the old geezer, a mini library extending all the way to the railings, a computer center, artifacts and more statues, one questionable vending machine down the hallway, and a larger room to the far left that had the calligraphic, translucent letters 'S T U D I O' engraved to the opaque glass doors.

Kenya was the one to notice it first and beckoned a finger for the rest of us to follow her. We did, however reluctantly, because performing arts was never any of our fortes. But for her, we complied. None of us knew her well enough to try to test her, was the actually explanation, but we don't bring up anything prior to penta ante meridiem in this household.

It was a dance studio like I had predicted, and while the others filed into the spacious room as Pierce flicked on the lights, a question came to my mind. "Why did we have a dance studio in the past when we're hackers? Anyone find it strange?"

Kenya then turned on her heels at us and we saw a rare, proud smile etched on her lips. We watched her curiously.

"You may not know it, but I'm a prominent performer in the United Kingdoms. Ruby Cheyenne. I do street performances, but my revenue and recognition does make it seem lik—"

"Wait, you're Ruby?" Osias suddenly cut in with wide eyes. "Like, the Ruby Cheyenne?"

"I just said it..." Kenya gave him a weird look. "Ruby's my middle name. I go by it just because it's a name passed down from my mother."

"It's lovely." Pierce gave her a smile. She returned it just before she turned back to Osias.

"I was supposed to do a program with you next month." Osias gawked, amazed. His hands went up to his chin and he rubbed it as his eyes fixated on the woman before him, finally looking her up and down. He let out a small damn under his breath and Cody had to nudge him out of sight to remind the man to protect his integrity.

Kenya folded her arms. "Now I see why the name Osias Blake rang a bell when I got the invitation. That's why I came, by the way. Otherwise, I would have never shown up."

"Well I'd just like to say beautiful, if you ever like to hit it up on the third floor without these peasants, I'm all ears—"

"Don't make me use my seal as a restraining order, Blake." Pierce's warning made the man roll his eyes before we all moved to sit on the wood-matted ground and act as if we didn't just hear something disturbing. As if we didn't just hear one of our teammates trying to hit on another one of our teammates. While we didn't have rules on inter-team relationships, possibly soon, I'd have to take the issue up with Pierce when we were alone.

Or not. The man was here too. He saw as clear as the rest of us.

"K2 mentioned dancing, didn't he?" Kenya started. "I'd be surprised if all of you knew how to. It's a ball, after all. You're all going to have to learn in case any of us are put on the spot. And learn at least the basic patterns and rhythms in the limited two hours we have."

Asao made a simple gesture at himself using his pointer finger and thumb, pinching them before his eyes. Kenya took a moment to analyze what he meant and when she figured it out, she smiled. "You have a point, Asao." She turned back to the rest of us. "He's going as a politician's son, so I'm 99 percent sure he won't be put on the spot. That leaves me to deal with the rest of you grown-up kids."

Pierce sighed as Cody scratched his head hesitantly. Osias seemed up for it, however. And we all know why.

I stared dumbly at the woman before us and stammered, "But dancing? There's no way."

"I have to disagree, Larísa." She brushed away my negativity. "Even you can manage a waltz. It's usually slow, so anyone can learn it. We'll start there, because considering that this occasion was formal and nationalistic, what better way to represent France, a romance country, than a romantic dance like the waltz? It's bound to happen."

"You're feeding Osias' fantasies." Cody raised his eyebrows at the bigger man's undeniable sly smirk.

Pierce rested his head on his fist that was propped up on his leg. "I'm not dancing, Augustee."

"Who gave you an exception just because you're commander?" The woman challenged him nonchalantly. "Matter of fact, I'd like to see you go first. You have to fix the leader in order for his team to not follow his same mistakes."

I saw Pierce seriously considering whether or not to defy this woman, unlike when he was with the others, and I can't help but feel like Kenya will become a secret weapon in keeping all of these boys in check in the future, possibly even our director.

Lesson number three, stay on Kenya's good side.

Pierce ended up not dancing, much to my and everyone else's disappointment. He instead went to a private room outside the studio with Kenya, and when the two returned, the woman suddenly announced that our leader had a free pass.

Okay, so I underestimated Pierce. Lesson number four, don't do it again.

The music turned on and I realized that Kenya had chosen a rather bright and melodic piece. It was still in triple time, though. Cody, Osias, and even Asao for the fun of it, joined in with their new and extraordinarily skilled dance teacher.

I dreaded my turn with every ounce of blood I had in me. Though I had on a smile every time Kenya glanced over and recited for probably the twentieth time today, "See? It's easy," the smile wiped away along with the sweat dripping down the side of my face.

Pierce saw my conflicted agony and he smirked when I met his eyes. Despite seeing how great it was that he was willing to lighten up a bit with his narcissistic self, and that took a lot in me to say, I couldn't force the relief to dominate over the simple rage I felt that he got to watch all of us flap around like flamingos while he chugged himself a small glass of alcohol.

The music stopped and soon it was my turn. The boys pulled me into their circle like the sacred fire ceremony the natives would do on sacrificial days. I shuddered at the thought and my eyes widened when Kenya, Osias, and Asao went to sit down.

"Cody will be your dance partner." Kenya explained as she looked up at me from the ground. "We've all been fooling around just now, but in a waltz done correctly, it's a duo thing. Not a sextet."

"What a great double-meaning word." Osias chimed. It was Pierce who elbowed him in the ribs this time for the team.

"Fooling around?" I was too perplexed to even consider what the actor commented. "How is it fair that they can fool around but I have to do it seriously?"

"Not exactly fooling around, hopefully they remember everything I just taught them and weren't just goofing off." She shot the two older men in particular a watchful gaze and Osias and Cody loosened their collars as one looked away with pursed lips.

"Besides, you're the only other female on our team." She looked back at me. "The boys have some leeway with just guiding their partners, and while that's still important, it's the girl's role that ultimately makes a waltz appear majestic."

So I bottled up my defiance and rose to my feet. Practice took a good few hours. She really worked on me and wanted me to learn no less than I had to, and a little more than the level I should be at. Eventually, the boys filed out to help with the loading of more sets of trucks that arrived.

I stayed with our dance teacher and practiced rigorously. It was difficult, time-consuming, and dreadful, but when I think about how all of this could potentially pay off in the next couple of hours, it gave me the motivation to persist on.

Kenya finally turned off the music after we did a final rundown of the steps like she had promised, and the two of us plopped to the ground with our backs to the floor and our chest rising up at the ceiling and back down.

After I used a moment to regain my breath, I rolled on my sides and I saw Kenya's eyes lock on me with a smile like she was proud of my dedication and diligence in the past few hours. A thought suddenly came to my mind, and I thought it was safe to ask now that it was just the two of us.

"So what did you do that made Pierce end up not dancing?" I asked curiously. "It almost seemed like you had him before you two left the studio."

"Oh, that?" She arched her eyebrows amusingly. We heard steps coming up the second floor as Pierce called for us to come back downstairs. Before they came, however, she cupped her lips and leaned over so that her face was just above my left ear.

"I made a little deal with our Commander to let us fly K2's jets at night without the others knowing."

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Venus: Anyone remember what Lesson number one was? It's always good to go back to the basics.

Minna: My babe JessicaBootan and her amazing graphic skills are out of this world. Please welcome the new cover warmly, they were both created by her! There's a chance the old one will return after the story is done. The new one, in my opinion, will set the mood better for the second arc so that's why I changed it up.

Pooh: :D