"Marcus is hiding something..." Ben crowed, setting his food next to the leg of his chair. "If he wasn't, he'd be all relaxed but he seemed in a hurry." he turned to the rest of his siblings, scanning every one of them. From the bloated-bellied Alphonso to the icy cold stare of Dahlia. "Fei, send a raven," The sun-glassed girl just scoffed as she sat up straight. "And since when did you become the boss of us?" 

"Because you all know that I'd make a better Number One. Dad is an idiot to think Marcus would be a better leader," Dahlia resisted the urge to groan, her posture slumping as she slid slightly off the couch. For years, she watched as he threw temper tantrums over not being Number One, though he had his chance once... until he screwed it up.

FLASHBACK BEGINS...

March 19th, 2013

"MISSION ALERT! MISSION ALERT!" The alarm sounded off loudly as all the Sparrows hustled to change into their uniforms. As she burst through her bedroom door, Dahlia zipped her last zipper, following her siblings as they rushed to find out their next mission. They gathered outside of their father's office, watching as he wrote in his notebook.

Reginald looked up from his paper, glancing at them before going back to his writing. "There's been a raid on a biochemical substance, unknown but dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. As my Sparrows, I need you all to deal with the threat," he explained. "We're ready," Ben nodded.

He turned to the rest of his siblings, and they all followed into a giant van, its interior made out of almost all metal. The Sparrows had buckled in, and they took off towards the Chemical Production Facility. Security and cop cars had gathered outside the chain link fence with their guns drawn, but none had worked up the courage to go in.

"Of course, they idle by while we do all the work. Most of them sit on their asses eating donuts anyway," Dahlia noted as they passed by. "Never mind them, D. We have bigger issues to deal with," Christopher softly spoke. Bursting through the closed gate, the sounds of gunfire erupted, striking the van, but none of its occupants. "Cease fire! Cease fire! It's the Sparrows, you dimwits!" a loud voice called out, presumably speaking to the officers outside.

"Go! go! go!" Ben instructed, just as the Sparrows piled out of the van. They dashed towards the building, briefly covering their ears as multiple alarms blared all at once, flashing red danger lights. "Let's split up and find these freaks. Marcus, you go with Jayme. Fei, you're with Alphonso. Sloane, you're with me. And Chris, you and Dahlia work together. Yell if you find them," The Squid boy said before taking off with the light brunette.

Christopher and Dahlia climbed a small set of metal stairs, keeping sharp eyes and ears out for the thieves. No doubt they were part of some rich man's gang that wanted to cause mass destruction to their opponents and the world. She glanced over the railing, hearing the sounds of dollies and voices from down below. Chris looked over the side as well.

"Once we get this to the boss, it's payday, boys!" one of the henchmen cackled. "None of us will get paid if we don't bring this to him intact," Another one spoke, tapping a steaming metal can with ice fractals encapsulating it. As Christopher turned his head towards his partner, Dahlia slowly nodded before climbing over the railing, jumping on the shoulders of one of them, grappling his neck with both hands and snapping it.

By this point, Christopher had jumped down, taking the other two men within thirty seconds. As he made sure they remained unconscious, Dahlia studied the canister, the label reading in black print, A-1572 Frozen Nitrogen. "Chris, you seeing this?" She asked. He walked over to her, his eyes widening at the label. "Do you think that's the only thing they're after?" Before Dahlia could respond, the sounds of grunting and blows filled the air, and the two rushed towards the source of it, finding the other Sparrows engaged in their own battles with a dozen or so more henchmen.

As one turned his attention to Sparrow 8, she delivered a streak of blows to the gut, kneecaps, and chest, sending him to the ground, clutching every part of his body in pain. She glanced over to see Ben releasing his inner squid, wrapping around three men at the same time. As he slowly suffocated them, Dahlia noticed one was reaching for his gun, and quickly she ran towards them, sliding onto the ground and kicking, knocking the gun out of the way. Once Ben's grip on them loosened, Dahlia smashed their heads into the concrete floor.

"A thank you would've been nice," Dahlia scoffed. "I had them, Dahlia! Until you fucking took them out of my grasp!" He growled. "Well, one was about to shoot you!" She bit back. Their argument went back and forth as the rest of the Sparrows kept an eye out for any more trouble. They didn't know that another member of the gang was hiding behind larger canisters of chemicals. With all the strength he had, he kicked at them, causing them to spin in circles, trying to regain balance, but instead they toppled over, about to land right on top of Dahlia and Ben.

"LOOK OUT!" Marcus shouted, causing most of the Sparrows to quickly move out of the way. But Dahlia looked up right as it was about to crush her. "DAHLIA, NO!" A loud voice shouted, shoving her out of the way. As she rolled across the floor, she looked up to see that Christopher had saved her, and in doing so, he had been crushed underneath the giant can.

"Christopher!" Fei shouted, rushing over and trying to free him. As Dahlia was about to help, another canister fell right next to her, full of the A-1572 Frozen Nitrogen she had seen earlier. The icy cold liquid sprayed out from the dented metal in Dahlia's direction, sending her body into a world of icy pain. Screaming hysterically as the ice began to form around her body, she glanced up at her siblings before losing consciousness, hearing only the horror-filled voices of Marcus and Sloane calling out to her.

Hours later, The Sparrows returned to the Academy, watching as Grace and Pogo tried to save the lives of their siblings. When they had pulled Christopher from underneath the canister, they noticed it was leaking, and his body was turning black and forming into something that looked like a black magma cube, whereas Dahlia had suffered severe frostbite, her body completely covered in blue ice.

"You could've saved her, you know," Sloane's words were directed towards Ben, who had his back pressed against the wall the entire time. He didn't even respond, seemingly in a daze. "Are you even listening? We wouldn't be here right now if you had saved her!" She shouted, blinking away her tears. Very quickly, an argument ensued, and everyone was neck and neck with each other.

"Children enough!" the scruffy voice of Reginald called out, making them turn to face him. "Your actions today were unacceptable. You were tasked with stopping the chemical thieves, but your irresponsible actions caused two members of your team to be severely injured. Ben, I'm afraid I must strip you of your title as Number One," Ben's eyes widened with shock, His father couldn't take his title away, he had never done that before.

"From now on, the role of Number One will go to Marcus," Reginald stated. "W-what? You're giving it to him? Of all people?" Ben stuttered. "Marcus knows how to properly lead. And should Dahlia and Christopher choose to recover from their wounds, he will do his very best to lead them and the rest of you on future missions," The monocle walked back to his office, his cane clacking against the wooden staircase. Ben turned to the rest of them, scoffing under his breath before going to his room, and slamming the door shut.

FLASHBACK ENDS...

After some stern lecturing from Ben, Fei had caved in and sent a raven to Marcus's direct location on the rooftop of the Academy. Jayme, Alphonso, and Dahlia watched with Ben for a while as Fei stood like a statue, her head twitched around a few times, presumably guiding the raven throughout the city. After about ten minutes, Jayme and Alphonso quickly grew bored and walked inside.

Dahlia stared down at her hands, concentrating as they turned icy blue. After recovering from the incident at the chemical building, Grace informed her that the liquid nitrogen sank into her body, giving her the ability to manipulate ice and make it bend to her will. Even with this new gift, the pain she went through to get it never fully went away.

Years later, she could still feel the stinging pain from the icy touch, and her natural body temperature had also suffered. Though she gained most of it back and could walk around freely, there were times when she could not walk in extremely hot temperatures, feeling like she was about to melt.

She glanced up at Ben with a cold hatred. She felt he was the one responsible for her and Christopher's transformations. And although Christopher seemed to forgive him fairly quickly, Dahlia vowed to never accept his apology. But given his stubborn demeanor, she knew she wouldn't get one anytime soon.

The sound of a raven's caw rang through the air. Fei's bird had returned with information. As it flew into her back, making her break her pose, Fei glanced at the two. "He's making a deal with them," She claimed. "I'll handle it," Ben responded. With that, Fei and Dahlia walked off, leaving Ben to his thoughts.