"Alright, we only have one chance to get this right, so you better listen up," Midas said, standing before the SVE Club in their lair in the basement.

Sam raised a hand. "Taro's not here yet. Neither is Mr. Lee."

"I know. They're late. Taro can catch up later. We only have two days to get ready for this tour; we don't have time to waste." Midas was speaking rapidly. His arms were crossed, his eyes shifted rapidly, and he had the general look of someone who was about to be shot into space.

"If Sam is to be believed-" Midas began.

"Which I am!" Sam said sharply.

"As I was saying," Midas continued, "They'll be picking her up for the tour at four on Friday. ISH only gives tours to new students, so she'll likely be in a group of other supers."

"I don't like this," Evan said. "Something doesn't seem right. Sam, your 'friend' just offered to let you in to ISH out of the blue? Right when we need this the most?"

    "That does sound pretty fishy," Rachel said. "Where's the catch?"

    Sam shrugged, a stupid smile on her face. "No catch. He knows I want to go to ISH, and he wants to help me out. That's all."

     Rachel leaned back and propped her feet up on the table. "That's all, huh?" she asked, snickering.

    Sam frowned. Scratching her neck, she said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

    Rachel leaned forward. "Come on, Sam. You're dense sometimes, but not that dense. Details. Now. Is he cute?"

    Midas cleared his throat tensely. "Rachel? Please?"

"Whoa, he said 'please'," Rachel teased. "I'm impressed."

Midas' eye twitched once. Without a word, he left the room. The remaining members glanced at each other, shifting uncomfortably in their chairs.

    Nate was the first to speak. "Do you think he's coming-"

    He was interrupted by a loud bang coming from the hallway.

"-back?" Nate finished.

Sam sniffed once. "Anyone else smell smoke?"

Midas stormed back into the room. "Okay. Let's continue."

"Did you just blow something up?" Sam asked.

"A broken ceiling panel. They were going to have to replace it anyway," Midas said. He clasped his hands together. "Now. Can we please take this seriously? This could be our best shot at finding another way in."

    "I wish we could send someone with Sam," Evan said.

    "I wish everyone would stop worrying about me!" Sam replied through a stiff laugh. "Honestly, I can handle myself. I'll be fine."

At that moment, Taro burst into the room. He collapsed into the closest chair. "I'm sorry!" he gasped. "I ran all the way... here. I'm sorry, I tried to tell them-"

"Taro, Sam's getting into ISH Friday night. Is there any way this could help you get into their systems?" Midas asked bluntly.

Taro immediately switched gears. "Actually, yes," he said, still out of breath. "With a virus, we could. Maybe. I was thinking about this last night. It might work."

"A virus?" Sam asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, a computer virus. You know, they make the computers freak out and-"

"We know what a computer virus is," Rachel huffed impatiently. "How does this help us?"

"Easy. Sam finds a computer. Loads the virus on it. Boom. Systems down," Taro said.

"How did you learn to do that?" Sam asked.

Taro grinned. "Google. And YouTube. The only reasons I haven't flunked yet."

"That would be perfect," Midas said. "Can you make a virus in a day?"

"I don't have to," Taro said. "The internet's full of them. I'll copy one of those onto a flash drive."

Midas nodded thoughtfully. "There's only one problem. They'll probably scan Sam before she's allowed to enter the campus. If they find the flash drive, the plan's over before it starts."

"I might be able to help with that," Evan said.

Midas was about to ask what Evan had in mind when the sounds of squeaking sneakers and quiet chatter filled the hallway beyond. The room went silent.

Taro chewed his lip and let out a nervous laugh. "I meant to warn you," he said.

"About what?" Midas asked, a bad feeling burning through him as if he were a lit fuse.

"Well. I was supposed to have detention," Taro said. "But Mr. Lee said detention was going to be in another room today. And when I found out, I ran all the way here. That was why I was all out of breath. I hate running. We're playing soccer in gym and Mr. Slovak is really-"

"Taro," Midas growled through gritted teeth.

"Okay, so my point is that Mr. Lee is bringing the entire Wednesday Detention Society down here," Taro blurted.

And even as he spoke, Mr. Lee was leading a group of kids into B3, radio in hand. With barely a glance at the team, the group fanned out and claimed seats.

"Alright kids, this is the place. Ethan, you have the next watch. The rest of you, just hang out like you normally do," Mr. Lee said as he plugged his radio in and turned it on the classic rock station. He glanced at Midas and the gang, who stared at him in confusion. "Oh, and try not to bother the SVE kids. Thank you."

Midas turned away from the other kids and marched over to Mr. Lee. "What are you doing?" he exclaimed, unplugging the radio with a sharp tug.

Mr. Lee narrowed his eyes at the student who had dared to touch his radio. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Listen. You can not bring these people here. You could ruin everything," Midas said. "Do you have any idea-"

Mr. Lee stood up. "Shut it. Let's talk outside."

"But-"

"Outside. Now." Mr. Lee left the room, ignoring the once fear-inspiring glare Midas was aiming at him. Midas reluctantly followed.

"Alright," Midas said once they had passed the doorway. "You want to explain this, Lee?"

"Look, I know you're a super. I get it. But that doesn't mean you get to talk to me like that; I'm four times your age," Mr. Lee spat. "And no. I don't want to explain this. I expect you to accept my decision and shut up. Believe me, I'm even less happy about it than you are."

    Midas crossed his arms. Shaking his head, he said, "Why are you doing this?"

    "Rather not say," Mr. Lee muttered. "All I'll tell you is that if I don't, Miss O'Brian's going to bury me alive. I would think you could stand to be a bit more sympathetic seeing as we both know what that's like."

    Midas tilted his head around, as if rolling his thoughts through his mind. "Fine. How do we know none of them will rat on us?"

    "Most of them could care less that you're breaking into ISH. Even if they do, I've got you covered. Not only am I bribing them-"

    With Cheetos and Oreos, no doubt, Midas thought.

    "-but I've also promised that if your team goes down, they go down with you. They seem pretty convinced. Like it or not, those delinquents are part of the club now. At least, on Wednesdays, they are," Mr. Lee concluded.

"There's no way we can get rid of them?" Midas complained.

Mr. Lee smirked. "No way. All the supers in the world would be no match for Lisa O'Brian's will. You want this project to stay alive? Those kids are here to stay."

    This wasn't good. The more people that knew about the mission, the more likely it was to fail. Midas could practically feel his power slipping out of his control and into Insomnium's. He glanced past the doorway into B3.

"Okay," Sam was saying to everyone. "I don't suppose anyone happens to have a nasty computer virus? Or knows where to find one?"

The response was many students recounting tales of hacked computers, buggy phones and fraudulent emails. It seemed the Wednesday Detention Society generally knew a thing or two about cybercrime.

"That was a good idea," Taro whispered to Sam while one girl showed off an Internet link that had rendered her old phone useless. "I never would have been able to find so many viruses on my own."

"Right?" Sam replied. "I guess that's what a team is for."

With a start, Midas realized Sam was right. That's what a team was for: Accomplishing what the individual alone could not.

Midas let out a slow breath. He uncrossed his arms. "Okay," he said. "Let's get to work then."