***

  Sarah ran up the last flight of stairs. Without Pegasus to serve as an alarm, she’d overslept this morning, having gotten distracted reviewing Wilbur Black’s accident file the night before. She made it to Comm a few minutes after her shift began, not that anyone would care.

  Or so she thought.

  Spotting her from where she’d been spinning in Cypher’s chair, Scorpion came straight for her. “We thought you’d entered a state of hibernation.”

  “I’m only five minutes late.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Did you need anything from me?” She was almost afraid to ask.

  Scorpion gestured broadly across the room. “You’re one of the least annoying ones.”

  Now that she mentioned it, Sarah realized more and more people were gathering. “What’s all the commotion?”

  Scorpion tossed her hair over a shoulder. “Zeus is going to make an announcement. That’s all anyone knows. I was hoping to get something out of Cypher, but he hasn’t been back in a while.”

  “Back from where?”

  Scorpion’s shoulders lazily lifted and dropped.

  Unicorn joined them shortly after. “Have you heard anything?”

  Scorpion shook her head.

  Apparently, they were all curious—if not on edge—about this announcement.

  Cypher came out of one of the conference rooms with Pegasus in tow, but they didn’t have the time to ask anything, because at that moment, Zeus stepped out of his office.

  A sinking feeling started at the pit of her stomach when Sarah met his gaze through the crowd.

  “I’ll be brief. I’ve been temporarily reassigned to Center.” Zeus’s words fell like a boulder onto the room. There was a short silence, then a flurry of whispers became a swarm of unintelligible surprised voices. Zeus raised a hand, and the crowd quieted. “It’s nothing to be concerned about. You’ll be receiving another commander shortly. Do your jobs as usual. And don’t cause any trouble.”

  Sarah felt the words sting as if they’d been meant for her. Scorpion’s gaze in her direction didn’t help dispel that feeling.

  Zeus disappeared back into his office, leaving them all with unanswered questions.

  “This isn’t normal, is it?” Sarah asked when Pegasus joined them.

  Cypher sat back at his station. “He says to do our jobs as usual, but most non-priority missions are suspended until further notice.”

  “Who do you think they’ll send over?” Unicorn asked.

  Pegasus shrugged, gaze moving along the dispersing crowd. “There’s quite a few unfamiliar faces already, aren’t there?”

  Cypher leaned over his desk to get closer. “You think they’re going to send us all off somewhere?”

  “I’m not saying anything.” Pegasus smiled. “By the way, when is Griffon’s birthday?”

  “Next week,” Scorpion said.

  Pegasus nodded to himself, and Sarah wondered what she’d see if she could glimpse inside his thoughts. “We should plan a surprise for that,” he said.

  “For Griffon’s birthday?” Sarah hadn’t seen them pay attention to anyone’s birthday so far.

  “Griffon hates his birthdays, so Mermaid likes to annoy him.” Pegasus smiled, turning to Unicorn. “Can you have the others meet us in Sarah’s room whenever you’re all done for the day?”

  Pegasus whispered something else to Unicorn before they headed out. As if he had nothing better to do, he followed Sarah to her desk, perching himself on the corner as she logged in.

  “What is even happening?” she asked in a whisper.

  His worried gaze fixed on Zeus’s closed door, Pegasus shrugged.

  ***

  Sarah didn’t think there’d ever been this many people in her room at one time. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she was especially glad she’d taken down her wall of visions.

  Unicorn and Mermaid had taken up the couch, Cypher sat at her desk, Griffon took one of the chairs, and Scorpion was standing by the door as if ready to make a run for it.

  “This brings back memories. The last time we had a clandestine meeting was when Scorpion first transferred over and joined our team.” Mermaid turned to Sarah and explained, “We weren’t sure we wanted to deal with her.”

  Ah, so it was that sort of meeting. Was the talk about Griffon’s birthday a ruse?

  Next to her on the bed, Pegasus gestured towards Griffon as if handing over command of the room.

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  “Alright then, what do we know?” Griffon asked.

  “Zeus left the compound about an hour ago, still no word on who’s taking over. But what I wanna know is why you guys dragged me here,” Cypher complained. “I haven’t had dinner yet.”

  Scorpion took a step forward and he cowered, pulling himself closer to the desk.

  Sarah dug out a protein bar from her nightstand, tossing it to Cypher.

  He scowled. “That’s not food.”

  “You don’t want it?”

  “Didn’t say that.”

  Arms crossed, Pegasus tapped a fingertip on his forearm. “Anyone hear any gossip?”

  All eyes turned to Unicorn, who returned an irritated look. “No, I haven’t heard anything about why Zeus was getting reassigned. And will everyone stop insisting I’m a gossip?”

  “We’re not insisting,” Mermaid said. “We’re simply acknowledging your gifts.”

  Unicorn’s left eyebrow lifted.

  “Have you heard anything from you other half, Madeleine?”

  Mermaid huffed dramatically. “He doesn’t tell me anything. Insists we keep our roles separate and all that.”

  “Can’t be helped then. Let’s see what happens tomorrow regarding news of Zeus’s replacement and talk again,” Griffon said. “Hopefully, we can keep doing our jobs like he said and not have to worry about any political idiocy.”

  Scorpion laughed. “Other than the president’s visit?”

  “Yes, other than that.” Griffon nodded a goodbye to Sarah and headed out, the others very slowly following behind.

  Cypher was the only one who rushed to the door, probably hoping he could get some real food, but Scorpion blocked him. She checked the hallway and then closed the door again.

  “Are we hiding anything inside the cake this time?” Mermaid asked, jumping to her feet.

  Unicorn shook her head. “There’s no point in putting a lemon in there, sweetie, he’s not going to cut through it. We’ve been through this.”

  “We could do some exploding candles!” Cypher suggested.

  Sarah blinked at them. Were they actually planning to talk about Griffon’s birthday?

  ***

  Morning came faster than Sarah wished, and that ridiculous talk about a lemon inside a birthday cake felt as much like a dream as the interrogation room she’d found herself in before. And if one of those things had to be real, she’d gladly take the stupid exploding candles and lemon-filled cake.

  Sarah was sitting at her station, going over recordings from the eternally growing list of emergency calls. She twirled her pen between her fingers, trying to flip it like Pegasus taught her. The thing got stuck between her middle finger and ring finger and, in a convulsive movement, sprang to freedom, almost smacking Scorpion in the face as the woman approached.

  Scorpion caught the pen and placed it back on Sarah’s desk, appropriately out of reach. “Is this infernal pastime contagious? Don’t tell me I have to go around throwing all the pens down the laundry shoots.”

  “I don’t think the cleaning staff would appreciate that.”

  “It’s not like I can send you down one. And Pegasus definitely doesn’t fit.” She stuck a thumb out to where Pegasus was talking with Cypher.

  But Sarah’s attention was hijacked by the internal surveillance screens, where a message at the bottom stated their new commander had arrived. Sarah hadn’t been expecting any actual fanfare, but shouldn’t more of an announcement be made? People started gathering at Comm, curiosity and anxiousness the predominant feelings in the air.

  Scorpion started moving towards Zeus’s office—should they still call it that?—but stopped to check on Sarah. “Aren’t you coming?”

  Sarah glanced over towards Cypher’s desk, searching for Pegasus. By coincidence, he looked over, mouthing he’d be right there.

  Sarah didn’t much care who showed up, it would be bad for her regardless because it wasn’t Zeus. But the moment the small entourage came into view from around the corner, she had to suppress a sudden urge to run. The man who stepped forward to address the crowd was none other than the man she’d seen capturing her in her dreams. And standing right next to him, looking the part of a dutiful assistant, was Lore.

  “I am Agamemnon.”

  His voice sent a cold shiver through her.

  “I will be taking over Zeus’s responsibilities for the time being. This place has long suffered from a lax structure and command.” Agamemnon’s voice boomed above the crowd, a military leader addressing his troops—or maybe a politician trying to acquire supporters. “Allowing that to continue puts not only us, but those we are meant to protect, at risk.”

  There were a few nods in the crowd, especially from the members who had come over from Center.

  “There are many things we’ll need to fix in the following weeks, including finding where to best make full use of each of your abilities, so I expect your full cooperation with the changes being implemented.”

  Sarah shifted uneasily. Why did it sound like a permanent takeover?

  Scorpion checked her tablet, scowl deepening the more she read.

  “What’s wrong?” Sarah asked in a whisper.

  Scorpion flipped the screen towards her so Sarah could see for herself. Scorpion had been reassigned to a different team under one of the temporary transfers from Center.

  Takeover indeed. Would the rest of the team have received similar orders?

  “It will be a long road, but I believe that working together we can return this place to its initial purpose, grounded in the service to our people and our country. To those of you who have grown complacent under the previous administration, I will say this: you must change or you will no longer have a place in this organization.”

  Maybe an echo from another world, Sarah still felt like running. Not that running would do her any good. But her legs were ready to go and didn’t care much for what her mind had to say on the matter.

  A hand grasped hers firmly and she turned to see Pegasus. His expression was asking if she was okay. Sarah squeezed his hand back, struggling to show him a smile.

  “Check your orders and contact Orestes if you have any questions.” He gestured towards the man directly to his right. “Dismissed.”

  Agamemnon left, Lore trailing behind him with her tablet in hand. After a second of stunned silence, the crowd started dispersing.

  Pegasus did not move, gaze following Agamemnon as he vanished into the commander’s office—his office now. “That was… interesting.”

  “Did you get any new orders?” Sarah asked.

  “Not yet. They haven’t canceled our inspection of the WRO campus tomorrow. I might get reassigned after that.”

  “Were you done talking to Cypher?” Scorpion asked.

  He nodded.

  “Did he find anything useful?”

  “He got some more info on Zeus’s situation. It seems they’ve piled up a list of reasons to question his command, from Robyn’s death to Sarah’s recurring off-script behavior.”

  Sarah winced.

  Scorpion smacked her shoulder. “Don’t think the world revolves around you. It’s mostly an excuse. If they wanted to get rid of Zeus, they would’ve done it anyway.”

  “I knew you could be nice when you wanted to be.” Sarah rubbed the sting from her shoulder. “Just need to work on delivery.”

  Scorpion glared at her.

  “It’s likely the consequence of all the political changes, like Roussef’s resignation,” Pegasus said. “They could also be wanting to earn some points with the president’s upcoming visit.”

  “I hate all this political mess.” Scorpion looked like she wanted to keep complaining, but she only sighed.

  The door to Zeus’s former office opened and Lore shuffled out, looking a little tired. Had she been losing sleep again? Sarah couldn’t know what part Lore was playing in this takeover, but she again felt unsure about calling the woman’s attention to Wilbur Black or any of the mistake files. And consequently, to Sarah’s weirdness. She could continue plodding along with Pegasus’s help for now. It wasn’t as if anything that was decades old would suddenly be super important.

  “I guess I should go report to Armadillo,” Scorpion said.

  Sarah held back a ‘good luck’, afraid she’d get smacked again.

  When Scorpion was gone, Sarah squeezed Pegasus’s hand tighter, pulling him towards her. “That was him,” she whispered. “The man who was in charge of capturing me in my dreams was Agamemnon.”