With the important introduction out of the way, they focused on getting Hitomi settled in. As expected, Hitomi had rushed over to Los Angeles without the slightest plan, only knowing to pack several of her own gadgets and taking care to avoid getting on the Org's radar. Elsie gladly offered the room that was supposed to be Camilla's, only faltering slightly when Hitomi commented that it hadn't looked like anybody had been in there for months, and why weren't most of Camilla's things in here? Judging by Hitomi's faint but knowing smile, Elsie knew Hitomi was just trying to tease her, but Elsie wasn't about to admit that she and Camilla basically shared a room.

Afterwards and over a light snack, they discussed their next move. Hitomi agreed immediately to help test people's trustworthiness, and she thought that Elsie's short list of potential allies was a decent start and probably the only help they could get. Unfortunately, she didn't know of any other metas that would be willing to risk everything for Camilla, and Hitomi spent at least a combined ten minutes ranting about how it was possible for her cousin to make so many enemies.

For the time being, they simply had to work with who they had, so Elsie texted the Songs and Mack for an impromptu social gathering that evening. The brothers both quickly replied that they would be there, but when they both asked if they could also stop by earlier, Elsie just told them all to show up whenever they wanted. Mack, as expected, ignored Elsie's text, but Jordan insisted he would be there as well.

Minyoung showed up half an hour later, intending on going over work things with Elsie. But when he spotted Hitomi lounging around in the living room, he froze, then stared suspiciously at Elsie.

"It is very nice to see you again, Minyoung," Hitomi said, pulling his attention back to her as she extended a hand out to him. "I see you are still obsessed with your work as usual."

"What?" was all Minyoung could say in his surprise, but he at least was polite enough to shake Hitomi's offered hand.

Shortly after, Hitomi turned to Elsie. "He is fine," she said, then returned to her spot on the couch where she had been sitting opposite of Elsie.

"What?" Minyoung repeated, still dumbfounded.

"I'll explain when the others get here," Elsie said, waving at him to sit as well. "You wanted to talk about work, right?"

It took some persuading for Minyoung to follow along, and Elsie kept him busy while Hitomi continued to use her laptop to search for possible Org hideouts. She had told Elsie it had some fancy features that sounded like something from a spy movie, and at the sight of Elsie's confusion, Hitomi assured she could take care of anything related to technology.

When Jordan and Mack arrived a couple hours later, they too were surprised by Hitomi's presence, but they were a little more subtle about it than Minyoung had been. It didn't take long for Hitomi to confirm their trustworthiness, and Elsie urged them all to sit down so she could explain why they were really there. Mack still seemed angry at Elsie from their argument at the hospital, but at least he and Jordan had sorted out whatever drama had come between them and he begrudgingly let Jordan drag him over to the two-seater.

"Thanks for coming by on such short notice," Elsie began, then took a deep breath. "I know I've been kinda... withdrawn lately—"

"Understatement of the year," Minyoung muttered bitterly.

"—but now, I'm going to tell you why," Elsie continued, ignoring Minyoung. She looked around at the three men, and they returned her gaze expectantly. That is, except for Mack, who just seemed like a grumpy toddler. "But you all have to promise that nothing leaves this room, okay? You can't even talk about anything with each other outside of these walls. Can everyone do that?"

"I mean..." Jordan said hesitantly. "Out of all of us, you're probably the worst at keeping secrets, Elsie."

She couldn't argue against that, but that didn't mean she couldn't be irritated at him for pointing it out. "Whatever. The point is, do you guys promise not to say anything?" After she got nods from each of them, even from Mack after getting nudged in the side by Jordan's elbow, Elsie looked to Hitomi, who gave her a small smile of encouragement. There was no turning back now.

"Camilla's still alive," Elsie said, then waited for their reactions.

For a while, Jordan and Minyoung only gave her blank stares. It was Mack that reacted first, and all of the anger that he must have been holding on to seemed to dissipate almost instantly, replaced by a look of exhausted relief. He leaned forward in his seat and balanced his elbows on his knees before he hung his head and let out a shaky sigh. That was enough to snap Jordan out of his trance, and he too leaned forward in his seat to wrap a comforting arm around Mack's shoulders. Minyoung briefly glanced at his brother before turning back to Elsie, his expression grim.

"What really happened, Elsie?" he asked, his voice soft but stern. "And don't leave anything out."

Elsie hesitated. Even with her determination to find and help Camilla, it still didn't make thinking about that night any easier.

"That night..." she began, then paused to take another deep breath to calm herself from the memory. "They came knocking on my door while we were sleeping, like they were going to break it down. Camilla... wasn't feeling well, so I went to answer it. And..."

She felt herself begin to shake, and she cursed at herself for being so pathetic. "They broke in. Camilla tried to attack them with some knives from the kitchen, but then there was this... I don't know, like a bolt of lightning, and it knocked the knives right out of the air. And then that Hester lady said Camilla was under arrest.

"I yelled something at her, I don't remember what, but then that lightning guy tried to attack me, and then... Camilla saved me."

Elsie turned to Minyoung. "That's where the glass from the window went. Camilla used it to block the attack, then used the blanket from our bed to catch the shards.

"Camilla yelled at me—she was upstairs, and I was downstairs—and I tried to run towards her, but then something hit me and it threw me off the stairs. That's how I hurt my arm. It was the Org, not Camilla, that attacked me. And when Camilla tried to help me..."

She tried to swallow against the lump in her throat; it didn't help. "They attacked her. They were torturing her. I wanted Camilla to run, to escape, but she wouldn't. She wouldn't leave me, no matter how much I begged her to. And when they attacked her again..."

The rest of her sentence was trapped in her chest, but she stared at the window that Camilla was thrown from, as if that would speak for itself.

"After that... Hester set another meta on me and told her... ordered her to change my memories. And I know, I know it's not supposed to be possible," Elsie quickly added when she saw Mack about to interrupt. "But it was. At least, I think it was. That meta—she told me her name was AJ—when she put her hands on my head, I could hear her voice in my mind. I could see... I could feel her memories. And she said she wasn't going to change any of my memories, but I had to pretend that she did.

"Instead, she showed me what happened to her. She and her brother were guardians sent on a mission, but something happened and they got captured. Whoever took them tried to brainwash her, but it didn't work. She's just pretending like it did so they wouldn't keep trying. And... she said they were going to do the same thing to Camilla."

"They seem to be collecting metas with extraordinary powers," Hitomi added. "A meta that can control the mind, a meta that can generate lightning, and now, Camilla: a meta that can sense, heal, and kill multiple people all at once, and throughout a wide vicinity. And those are only the ones that we know of."

"You said AJ has a brother?" Mack suddenly asked, looking at Elsie intently.

Elsie nodded. "He was the one that attacked us with lightning. From what I saw and what AJ said, I don't think he managed to avoid getting brainwashed."

"What if this AJ really did change your memories, and you just don't realize it?" Minyoung added as Mack suddenly began tapping away at his phone. "And even if she didn't, she could still be lying to you. Why else would she still be hanging around if she's so powerful? Maybe she wants us to try and get Camilla. Maybe this is all part of their plan."

"If that lightning meta really is brainwashed, then I can see why she chooses to stay," Hitomi pointed out. "She cannot simply leave her brother there. She could be waiting until she has a way to undo whatever they did to him."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jordan said, waving his hands around to get everyone's attention. "Is no one else going to point out that Elsie said 'our bed'?"

"I—I did?" Elsie stammered, trying not to let her face flush while knowing she was failing miserably.

Minyoung cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, you did," he muttered, glancing briefly at her before averting his eyes down towards the coffee table.

"Was that not already understood?" Hitomi asked.

"Here, check this out," Mack said as he held out his phone for the others to see, oblivious to the conversation around him.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Jordan asked Mack, slightly offended. "Elsie and Camilla are sleeping together."

"No, we're not!" Elsie immediately interjected, then realized that was technically a lie. She and Camilla always shared a bed, given that Camilla could actually fall asleep, but Camilla never showed any desire to take it further than that, which Elsie was more than fine with. "Not in that way," she quietly amended.

"Oh, really?" Mack asked Jordan, then looked at Elsie with a small smile that was slightly apologetic. "Looks like we need to get your girlfriend back then."

Elsie bit her lip and nodded in appreciation. She had felt terrible about lying to Mack before, especially after seeing how hard Camilla's supposed betrayal affected him. For a while, Elsie had worried Mack wouldn't forgive her even after he learned the truth, but it looked like they were back on good terms again.

"Anyway, check this out," Mack continued, handing his phone to Elsie.

He had pulled up a picture with a group of teens in Academy uniforms, all of them grinning widely with their arms slung around each other's shoulders. A younger and less bulked-up version of Mack was there, right next to two familiar figures.

"That's AJ!" Elsie exclaimed. "And her brother is next to her."

"That's Ian," Mack said, his tone nostalgic but his expression grim. "AJ was in my year at the Academy, and Ian was in the year below us. They always stuck with each other outside of class."

"What happened to them?" Jordan asked.

Mack leaned back in his seat and sighed. "A few years after we became guardians, they were sent on a mission together and killed in action. The details were never publicly released because of the sensitivity of the mission itself. Or, at least, that's what we were told."

"That must have been the memory AJ showed you, Elsie," Hitomi said, and Elsie nodded in agreement.

"It looked like they were ambushed," Elsie added. "Like they were caught off-guard."

"Most likely, it was a set up," Hitomi said. "Which means the Org, or at least that doctor, knew of their special abilities beforehand."

"I mean, Hester was the headmaster of the Academy at the time," Mack said. "And AJ and Ian were both strong, but not that strong. AJ was a CT4, and Ian was an MG3."

"A what and a what?" Jordan asked before Elsie had a chance.

"Sorry," Mack said. "AJ was a Class 4 with cell manipulation abilities, both passive and active. Ian was a Class 3 with gas and liquid control."

"Elsie, you said they were in a lab?" Minyoung asked. When Elsie nodded, he looked between Hitomi and Mack. "Is it possible they got those enhanced abilities after they were captured?"

Mack shrugged, looking just as clueless as Elsie felt, while Hitomi sighed in deep thought.

"I suppose it could be possible..." she began. "Either that, or they always had those abilities, but they had not been revealed yet, like in Camilla's case."

"How would they have known though?" Mack asked. "Camilla already had rumors going around about being able to heal herself. There was nothing like that for AJ and Ian, at least not that I heard."

"And if that was the case, then why did it take so long for the Org to act?" Hitomi added. "Camilla had accidentally used cell regeneration years ago. Why did they not take her earlier?"

"Can we think about the why's later?" Elsie interrupted, trying to get them to remember why they were there. "We have to figure out how to get Camilla back, and we don't even know where she is."

The group suddenly grew quiet.

"I have been looking into labs associated with the Org," Hitomi said, breaking the silence. "There are several across the West Coast, so I will have to do a little more research into each of them. Although she is probably not at an official facility, there may be personnel from these labs that may have more information."

"AJ didn't tell you? Or give any hints?" Mack asked.

Elsie shook her head slowly. "Not that I can remember."

"She sounds suspicious," Minyoung said.

"Even if it's a trap, we at least know for sure that Camilla's still alive," Elsie protested. "And we can't just leave her with them."

"Damn right, we're not," Mack agreed, then turned to Hitomi. "Alright, Hitomi, what've you got so far?"

The group spent the next few hours browsing through Elsie and Hitomi's notes trying to figure out where the Org could've possibly taken Camilla. Unfortunately, nothing suspicious stood out about any of the labs that had ties to the Org or metas in general, and they were just about to call it a night when the doorbell rang.

"Who else did you invite?" Minyoung asked Elsie.

"No one," Elsie said. "Did anyone order delivery or anything?"

When everyone shook their heads, Mack stood up.

"I'll get it," he volunteered.

Elsie quickly got between him and the door. "And what if it's just some normal, not suspicious person? Let me just see who it is first, okay?"

She didn't wait for his agreement before she went to the door and pulled up the video feed. There, she saw Nakia and Finn standing outside her building, patiently waiting.

"What are those brats doing here?" Mack hissed, having seen the video from over Elsie's shoulder.

"Who?" Jordan piped up from his spot in the living room.

"Nakia and Finn," Mack said, then to Hitomi, he clarified, "the other guardians on Camilla's squad."

"Do they not have to work tomorrow morning?" Hitomi asked.

"We're all on probation," Mack explained, looking at the video again, as if doing so would make them magically disappear. "Our whole squad is out until Internal Affairs is done conducting their investigation."

"That sounds so inefficient," Hitomi muttered under her breath.

"It is," Mack agreed, then looked between the others. "What should we do?"

"Well, you can't just ignore them," Jordan said, as if it was obvious. "That would make them suspicious."

"I can verify that they are trustworthy," Hitomi offered.

"And if they're not?" Minyoung asked.

Hitomi simply smiled. "Then I think I can handle them. Of course, Mackenzie, you are welcome to help out if you wish, but I do not believe it would be necessary."

With that settled, Elsie buzzed them in, and the two young guardians were at her door a few minutes later. Mack stayed to open the door, and they all began bickering before they even reached the living room.

"What are you two brats doing here?" he asked sternly.

"Did you forget?" Nakia asked. "You said you would help us train today."

"So we checked your place," Finn said.

"But you weren't there," Nakia finished.

"And then we went to Jordan's place," Finn continued. "Because that's usually the only other place you would be."

"But you weren't there either," Nakia finished again.

"So we came here to see if Elsie knew where you were."

"And here you are." Nakia narrowed their eyes at Mack. "And you're acting rather suspicious."

"Who's that?" Finn asked, craning his neck around Mack to look at Hitomi.

"I am a friend of theirs," Hitomi said, taking the opportunity to get to her feet and shake their hands with a friendly smile. "My name is Hitomi. I have heard a bit about you two."

"You have?" Finn asked skeptically, but he shook Hitomi's offered hand anyway.

Nakia elbowed him. "Sorry about this kid. He's Finn. I'm Nakia. I think we met briefly in Honolulu last year." Nakia shook Hitomi's hand as well. "We're... we were on Captain Wyatt's squad."

"I see," Hitomi said, then looked at Elsie and nodded once.

Elsie subtly returned the nod, but upon seeing the two young guardians, she became reluctant to bring them into the fray. She wasn't entirely sure what was needed to get Camilla back, but it would probably be dangerous. Elsie didn't want to see them get hurt, and she knew Camilla would probably feel the same.

But Elsie must have hesitated for a moment too long, and Nakia followed Hitomi's line of sight to her.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" Nakia asked, looking around the room.

"Planning something?" Mack repeated, sounding confused. "What would we plan?"

"We are definitely not planning any kind of surprise party for any occasion," Jordan assured, as if that was exactly what they were doing.

If it was Elsie, she would have probably fallen for Jordan's well-timed misdirection. In fact, Finn looked like he did fall for it, and he let out a soft, drawn out "oh, right" as if the realization just dawned on him.

"They're lying, you idiot," Nakia muttered to Finn, then turned to Elsie. "You think the Org set Cap up, don't you? And you're going to do something about it."

Again, Elsie hesitated. She didn't want to bring either of them into this. They were too young. At the same time, she didn't want to leave them in the dark either.

"We are planning something," Elsie confirmed. "And we'll tell you what it is, but you have to promise something."

"Of course!" Finn exclaimed eagerly.

"Maybe," Nakia said sternly at the same time.

She glanced at the others, and when they all nodded or shrugged, Elsie took a deep breath.

"Whatever we tell you, it can't leave here, okay?" Elsie instructed. "You can't talk about it at all outside. Can you both do that?"

Finn bobbed his head up and down in agreement; Nakia nodded shortly.

"Camilla's alive," Elsie finally said. "And we're planning on getting her back."

Her words were initially returned with wide eyes and blank expressions. Suddenly, Finn let out a broken sob, then buried his face in the crook of his elbow of his free arm. Nakia reached out to Finn, let their hand hover tentatively above his shoulder, then patted him awkwardly in a meager attempt to be comforting. It seemed to do more harm than good though, as Finn's sobs only got louder.

"Aw man," Mack said, thankfully rushing over to alleviate the situation. "Come here, kid."

Nakia seemed relieved when Mack took over and wrapped Finn in a tight bear hug, letting the kid wipe his face on Mack's shirt; their relief turned into reluctance when Mack extended a free arm towards Nakia, and they begrudgingly let themselves get pulled into the team bonding moment.

Once Finn's sobs finally quieted to sniffles, and Nakia had enough of the squad's close proximity to last a year, the two began demanding a role in the plan as well. Mack's attempts at discouraging them were useless, and he stormed away to the kitchen to get some water, muttering something about how he didn't sign up to be a single father. When the remaining "adults" turned to Elsie expectantly, so did the kids.

"We want to help!" Finn insisted, his face still pink from crying. "We have to!"

"Mack may treat us like kids, but we're not," Nakia argued, their gaze defiant and determined. "We may be young, but we fought right alongside Captain Wyatt. We've lost people too." Nakia's eyes grew dark, but the look was gone in a second. "We're not going to just stand around and lose someone else if we can help it, especially if that someone is Cap.

"And if you think we're too young to fight with the rest of you, you're probably right. Maybe we're too young for everything we've been put through. But it's too late for that now, isn't it? We can't just forget about everything we've seen. But what we can do is help, because she would do the same for us. In fact, she already has done the same for us. She's saved both of our lives countless times; even you saw her save Finn when he was as good as dead. Now we want the chance to save her. And if you try to stop us, then we'll find a way on our own, so don't even bother."

When Nakia was finally done, Elsie sighed in defeat, but she couldn't help but smile a little too.

"What's that for?" Nakia said, offended.

"You're almost as stubborn as Camilla, you know?" Elsie said, remembering how Camilla would be willing to talk more when she was arguing a point. "You might've hung out with her for too long."

When they all agreed to include their newest arrivals, Mack begrudgingly so, everyone finally settled down and seated themselves around the living room. Elsie let the kids share the couch with Mack, taking the seat next to Jordan instead. Hitomi relocated to the recliner next to Minyoung, and she curled her tall frame gracefully into the seat with her laptop. She continued with her research while the others summarized the situation so far, concluding with their current situation of trying to figure out where the Org took Camilla.

"And this AJ didn't tell you where she would be?" Nakia clarified.

Elsie shook her head. "Not that I can remember, at least."

"That's weird," Finn chimed in. "It sounded like she wanted to try and help, didn't it?"

"I was saying the same thing," Minyoung said, then looked at Elsie pointedly. "We might not be able to trust her."

"But there has to be a reason then, right?" Finn looked around the room, as if someone magically had an answer for him. "If AJ wanted to trick us, or at least Elsie, wouldn't it be easier to just tell her where to go? It's kind of pointless to lure someone into a trap if they're not smart enough to find the clues. No offense."

"None taken," Elsie muttered bitterly.

"Unless she thought Elsie already knew," Nakia said, as if they were thinking aloud.

"Do you two think I'm an idiot?" Elsie snapped.

"No, no," Nakia quickly said before standing and beginning to pace. "Maybe AJ didn't say where they were taking Cap because she figured it was already implied. Maybe it wasn't a secret where they were planning on taking her." Nakia stopped pacing and looked up at the others. "They said they were arresting her, right? What if they actually did? What if they're keeping her at Farallon?"

The room went silent. And even though no one said anything, Elsie knew Nakia was probably right.

"Well, this just got a hell of a lot harder," Mack mumbled. "Unless Hitomi can find the prison's layout, we'll be going in blind."

"I'm guessing none of you know anyone from Farallon?" Elsie asked Mack, but wasn't optimistic about his answer.

Mack shook his head. "The security is so secretive, the guardians stationed there can't even tell their families they work there. And they definitely don't tell anyone else in the Org."

Jordan sighed. "If only we could find AJ again. You think she lives at Farallon too?"

While Mack shrugged, Hitomi let out an audible huff of surprise, then muttered something to herself in Japanese as she tapped away at her keyboard.

"What is it?" Elsie asked after several seconds when it seemed like Hitomi wasn't about to voluntarily share what she found. "Hitomi?"

Hitomi only looked up at the sound of her name, then glanced around as if she forgot about all of the other people there. Once she regained her bearings she continued typing.

"I was looking more into this AJ woman," Hitomi explained. "I wanted to see if there was a record of her being spotted in public, and if that could give us clues about where she was based out of. There were no sightings of her, unfortunately but expected, but I did notice someone else is looking for her as well. From a computer owned by a... Quentin Juneau."

The revelation was a surprise to Elsie, but evidently not as much as it was for Mack.

"Oh right!" Mack suddenly exclaimed. "Of course!" He looked around at the others, his mouth hanging open. "I usually call people by their first names so I completely forgot. AJ and Ian? They're Alana and Ian Juneau. Quentin's their baby brother."

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