An explosion of fire erupted from Ivy's hand, sending the soldier in front of her flying backwards.

"How are we doing, Spencer?" she shouted.

"I just have to get one more lock," Spencer called back. "It'd be easier if Claire were here."

Ivy turned to the closest soldier and torched it with a heavy burst of fire. The soldier kept moving, but some of its armor was starting to melt. Another blast and it was down.

The other Supers began filling the unlocked jetchoppers. Another wave of soldiers approached, but Spencer's dog Ace let out a loud bark that knocked them to the ground. Ivy sprinted over to the last chopper and followed Spencer in.

"How many is that?" Ivy asked as he opened the door to the cockpit.

Spencer grinned. "Four."

Three other choppers lifted off of Scorpion's roof. The raid was a success. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief and shared a smile with some of the other Supers.

"Hey, we should celebrate," Spencer said as they took off. "Anyone want tacos?"

"Spencer, we're in a helicopter," Ivy reminded him. "Where would we park?"

Spencer shrugged. "We could walk."

The other Supers cheered in agreement, eager to get lunch. Ivy sighed. "Yeah, sure, sounds good. I'm not hungry, though, so I'll just wait for dinner."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Spencer managed to locate a fast food restaurant close to a secluded area where they could park without being seen. As they made their way into town, Ivy couldn't help but feel like something was about to go wrong. Then again, it seemed like she always felt like that these days. There was a knot in the pit of her stomach that never quite unraveled.

Ivy was the only one wearing a jacket. It was probably around ninety degrees out, but of course the heat didn't bother her.

They walked inside and Spencer took everyone's order. A dozen concerns tugged at the back of Ivy's mind. Should they really be spending money like this? There was food back on the ship. What would Dr. Newman say? And why was the cashier looking at them funny? Ivy shook her head. Maybe she was imagining things. The chopper was hidden in thick trees, and they'd walked quite a ways to get here. No reason for suspicion.

She turned her thoughts elsewhere. As always, the list hung at the back of her mind.

The list of things she needed to do.

One: find her brother, if he was even still alive. His name was on the list of surviving Supers, but he'd been missing for years.

Two: figure out what SCI was, and why the man and woman working for them were after the Supers.

Three: stop Scorpion once and for all.

And finally, Ivy needed to figure out why she had somehow gained electrokinesis, Summer's power, after the battle in D.C. In the meantime, she planned to keep it to herself. Ivy looked down at her hands. There was still a scar on her palm from where she'd sliced her hand on the catwalk railing. Right before Terrence had betrayed them and shot Summer.

"Ivy."

Ivy looked up. "What?"

"I was thinking we should get something for Claire. And Victoria," Spencer said. "Since I asked them to keep an eye on training this morning."

"Oh, yeah, sure."

Spencer handed some money to the cashier. While they printed the receipt, Ivy's gaze drifted to the kitchen door. Two other workers were standing in the doorway, eyeing the Supers and whispering.

Ivy drummed her fingers against the counter. Something wasn't right. She glanced behind her at the television hanging in the corner of the restaurant.

"As of the moment, there is still no official word from the government on what will be done with these Supers. Many people have begun calling the police, trying to report Supers living near them. While some are calling them heroes, others are demanding they be locked up."

"Spencer, we should go," Ivy said.

Spencer frowned. "Yeah, the food's almost ready."

"No, I mean, I think these people are onto us." Ivy nodded at the TV, which was now playing a speech from President Holmes. She couldn't help but feel annoyed. The Supers had risked their lives to save him, and as far as she could tell he wasn't doing anything to defend them.

"Oh," Spencer said. He threw a glance at the kitchen. "Start heading back to the choppers, guys. I'll grab the food and follow you out."

Ivy hesitated. Spencer would be able to handle himself if there was trouble, but it'd be better if they stuck together.

But the others were already leaving. Sighing, Ivy followed them out. They walked around to the back of the restaurant and set out across the road separating the small town from thick swampland. Another thing to worry about. The place they'd parked seemed dry, but it would be all too easy for the choppers to sink into the mud.

A police car whizzed by. It was driving away from the restaurant, but Ivy's heart still skipped a beat.

We shouldn't have to be afraid, she thought. We're the good guys.

They reached the choppers. Ivy folded her arms and tapped her foot against the ground, not stopping until Spencer reached them. He passed out bags of food and climbed into his chopper.

Ivy followed him in, relieved. "Back to the Fortuna now, right?" she asked.

"Yep. Shouldn't take more than twenty minutes, I think."

Ivy took a seat while Spencer started the chopper. They were lucky that they weren't too hard to fly. After Summer figured it out, she showed Spencer and a few other Supers how to pilot them.

It had been two weeks since any of them had seen Summer. After she was shot in D.C., the Supers rushed her into their jetchopper and flew her to a hospital. Thankfully, Dr. Newman had plenty of trusted colleagues in the area, since he used to work for the government.

They'd apparently managed to stabilize her, but the Supers weren't allowed to see her yet. She was recovering from emergency surgery, and Dr. Newman was worried about her getting sick or infected. He hadn't told them anything else.

Maybe he didn't want to get their hopes up.

They returned to the ship and Ivy walked out to the deck where training took place. There was apparently a gym inside somewhere, but it was too small to hold very many recruits. And it was nice outside, anyway.

Ivy sighed. Lately, the days seemed to blur together. Mostly training and missions. There'd been plenty of supply runs lately, in addition to the raids on Scorpion. And the raids were apparently nothing compared to what was to come.

Dr. Newman was working on a plan to take down Scorpion. Thanks to the list of known Supers they'd recovered from Cladis Point, they now had enough forces to match Scorpion's army. At least, Ivy hoped they did. Scorpion's recruits had been training longer, plus they had their robotic soldiers.

New recruits weren't the only thing that came out of the list. While going through the database of known Supers, Ivy had uncovered a pattern: a trail of missing kids. It started five years earlier in California, and led to Texas, where someone had gone missing just a month earlier.

Benjamin Ackerman, her brother, was one of them. He'd disappeared from a foster home in Arizona a few months after the trail began. There was no telling where he was now. He could be dead. Or, Ivy thought with a shudder, he could be working for Scorpion.

~

A few hours after they returned from the raid, Ivy took a break from training and stood on the Fortuna's deck, watching the new recruits practice with their powers in the fading sun.

"Ivy?"

Ivy turned to see Claire approaching her. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Dr. Newman wants to see you," Claire said. She hesitated a moment before adding, "Are you okay?"

Ivy nodded. "I'm just watching the recruits..." she trailed off when she realized the training session had ended. Everyone else had gone inside for dinner.

"Never mind," Ivy said. "I'll go talk to Dr. Newman."

Ignoring the concern on Claire's face, Ivy hurried inside and found Dr. Newman sitting at the desk in his office. He looked up when she arrived.

"You wanted to see me?" Ivy asked.

Dr. Newman nodded. "I took a look at the list of missing Supers you showed me." He stood up and picked up a piece of paper. "The trail ends in Houston. Someone else was just added to the list two days ago. If you want to take a team and check it out—"

"Yes," Ivy blurted. "Definitely."

Dr. Newman hesitated. "If you prefer, Spencer could lead the team. I know it won't make much of a difference, but I feel like you've been under a lot of stress lately." Lately, of course, meaning the two weeks that had passed since the battle in D.C.

"I'm fine," Ivy said. "Spencer's the one who took over training and helicopter lessons after..." she trailed off.

"All right, you can go in the morning then. Just be careful, okay? Scorpion's been silent the past couple weeks, but they could jump back into action any day."

"Of course," Ivy said, fighting to hold back her excitement.

"Now go get some dinner," Dr. Newman said.

Ivy swallowed and nodded before leaving the room and making her way to the cafeteria.

The others were already sitting at their table. Victoria and Claire were listening to Spencer, Claire with much more interest, while he told them about the raid. When he saw Ivy he smiled and waved her over.

Ivy sat down and glanced at Tyler and Felix, who were in conversation at the other end of the table. Tyler wasn't bad at combat, but she was still new to it. Her healing abilities were great, but without an offensive power, Ivy wasn't sure how helpful she'd be in a fight.

As Dr. Newman put it, Felix could replicate the DNA of, and transform into, other species. Simply put, he could turn into animals. Animals he'd come into contact with, at least. But he was only eight, and nobody wanted him in a fight. Dr. Newman only agreed to let him stay on the ship to protect him, especially since his mother worked for Scorpion.

"Ivy, have some spaghetti," Spencer said, pushing a tray toward her. "It's delicious."

Ivy almost turned him town, but the grin on his face made her change her mind. She forced herself to take a few bites before speaking.

"Dr. Newman said I could lead a mission tomorrow," she said. All eyes were instantly on her. "There's a trail of missing Supers leading to Houston. Dr. Newman wants us to check it out. Spencer, Claire, are you in?"

"Definitely," Spencer said. Claire nodded.

"What about me?" Victoria asked.

Ivy sighed. "You want to come?"

"I want to keep an eye on Claire."

Ivy was too tired to fight back. After what happened to Summer, it was understandable that Victoria would be worried. But Claire was just as capable as the rest of them.

"I'm okay, Victoria," Claire said. "I don't need you to protect me."

"Dad told us to stick together."

"I don't think he meant every freaking second," Ivy snapped. Flushing, she forced herself to take a deep breath. "Sorry," she said.

It took a moment for the look of surprise to fade from Victoria's face. She turned to Claire. "If you don't want me to come, then fine. Just be careful, okay?"

Claire bit her lip, but didn't say anything.

"Can we come?" Tyler asked.

Ivy turned to look at Tyler. Felix sat next to her, staring at Ivy with wide, hopeful eyes. Ivy shook her head.

"No," she said. "You aren't experienced enough."

"We've been here for two weeks," Tyler protested. "There are plenty of newer recruits that have gone on missions."

"Dr. Newman banned Felix from going on missions, and you..." Ivy searched for a reason to keep Tyler behind.

"Ivy," Claire said. "I think she'd be fine."

"It's just a small investigation," Ivy said. "We're scouting the area for Supers. We don't need more than three people."

Claire and Spencer exchanged a glance, but Ivy ignored them. "I'll see you guys at eight tomorrow, okay?" Without waiting for a reply she stood up, grabbed her tray, and left.