Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be.-Jose Ortega y Gasset
Bandages wrapped around his sweaty, matted hair, covering his closed, damaged eyes. The blood had been cleaned from his head wound, stitches put in place, and morphine injected into the blood stream of the 12 year-old-boy. Now he lay on the cot, chest rising with each breath. A women with the same fiery red hair as her son looked down at him with sad eyes.
"Margaret," a towering man with jet black hair murmured to her softly and set a hand on her shoulder. She glanced up at him with glistening green eyes, then at the two children asleep on the chairs. She nodded to her husband, picked up Adam, and filed out the door, Coda and Mr. Kenway close behind.
Before the door shut, two kids slipped into the room.
"Jazzy?" the younger said softly. Her short blonde hair was singed and ash still covered her. And her eyes were red from a combination of smoke and sorrowful crying. The older male beside her looked little better.
"He isn't awake, Cub," he muttered, voice accented and rough.
"Don't you think we should drop the code names, Mutt."
"Jasper!" the girl exclaimed, her stormy grey eyes lighting up with a relief.
The red-head winced at the girl's squeal. "Mind keeping it down, Aryess?"
"Sorry," the 10-year-old whispered, earning her an amused smile from the wounded boy.
"You're awfully quiet, Nic," Jasper remarked. "Not that it is of you nature to be happy and squealing." Aryess blushed slightly as her actions were defined.
"There gone, Jazz," Nic said solemnly. "Spencer, Danny, Will, Marquez," his voice cracked, "they all died in the fire. We're the three sole survivors of the Pack."

3 was her magic number. 3 survivors of a genocide. 3 members of her family still alive. 3 years as a Pack member, being unknowingly trained for the future of a killer. 3 sides of which she had taken: young hero, merciless assassin, and now a solo vigilante. 3 times she had been targeted, and those closest to her had been killed in cold blood.
And know there were 3 hours left ticking on the clock before a girl was killed. Unless an impossible ransom was paid.
Perhaps 3 was Aryess's cursed number.

"So, we're alone?" Aryess said, voice small and eyes wide.
"No, kid, you have your brother. And I have Adam, Coda, and my parents," Jasper said.
Nic was silent.
"We still have each other," the youngest said. Long stretch of silence.
"We could be a team. And you, Nic, would lead us. Raptor always said you were a natural born leader," Jasper added.
The fire-caster snorted. "Yeah. A juvenile pyromaniac leading a little kid and a rich-boy telepath around the streets of Gotham."
"I'm not little!" the girl protested.
"Blind, rich-boy telepath," Jasper corrected. More solemn silence.

"She's unstable."
"Reckless."
"Six months she was gone, and we don't know where that time was spent."
The members of the League could have been whispering with bullhorns in there little huddle in the cave of Mt. Justice.
"For all we know, she was supporting the Light."
Seeker and SilverWings, brother and sister, exchanged a glance at the accuracy of the guess.
"But SilverWings does know the underground network of Gotham city as well as the four already chosen."
"I trust her," Harley said from the group opposite of the huddle. All discussion ceased. Batman, Superman, Flash, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, and Green Arrow looked up at the young women.
"As do I," Nightwing said.
"Me three!" Pheonix added.
"Me four," Hot Shot joined in.
Superboy nodded in agreement.
"I do!" Miss Martian exclaimed.
"Ditto," Deminsion completed the rally.
The six Leaguers practically sighed in unison.
"Fine, she may go," Canary said.
"If we are allowing the vigilante to go, then we may as well let Red Revenge and Seeker tag along," Flash muttered.
"Alright," Batman said, "Obscurity, Seeker, and SilverWings will make up Alpha Squad, Miss Martian and Phoenix- Beta Squad, and Revenge and Hot Shot Gamma Squad. Wheels up in 10."

"We'll always stick together," Jasper muttered drowsily. "Ruse, the Blaze of Glory, and the Angel's Wings."
"Silver," the girl corrected. "Like my blades." But the boys did not miss the subtle action as she fingered the little silver angel that hung around her neck.
"SilverWings. Catchy," the oldest slurred.
Nic put a hand on his closest friend's arm. "Get some sleep, Jazz."
Jasper nodded and drifted off almost immediately, the morphine in his veins slowing down his thought, turning them into dreams.
The two children walked out of the room.
"This isn't going to work," Nic said immediately. "Your brother will retrieve you, Jazzy will go back to his family, and I'll be put in foster care." He sighed and ruffled the girl's hair. "I'm sorry, kid." He turned, but didn't take one step before the girl called him back with two words, "Train me!"

SilverWings followed Phoenix into the bio-ship. The door closed immediately behind her. She sat in the seat closest to a navy-hooded vigilante. The ship took off into the deep sea of clouds and sparkling stars. Soon they were soaring above a blanket of clouds. Silver glanced over at Seeker, watching her older brother stare out the window into the night.

"Me? Train you?"
"Why not? My skills are sharp enough with my Pack training. But... You have more experience."
"With what? Running and hiding?"
"Fighting," Aryess said quietly.
Nic sighed, ready to shoot down the question, turn his back, and disappear forever into the fog of memory. But he looked at the younger girl. her stormy grey eyes were wide and desperate, pleading with him to take her seriously. To train her. To turn her strength and skill into a weapon. And the spark, of determination, dedication, the will to fight, was strong and bright behind her dark irises. He also knew she wouldn't ever forget her oath-brother, just as she would never forget her dead mentor, her friends, her brothers and sisters of the Pack. Nic wasn't going to be one more person for this innocent girl to add to her list of those who had left her, abandoned her.
"I'm going to regret this," the 11-year-old British fire-caster muttered. "Seven years, I'll train you. It won't be easy, but in the legacy of Raptor, I will try my hardest to help you."
Aryess squalled in excitement and tackled him in a hug. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," Nic muttered even as he returned the embrace.