Zoe sat on her bed, legs crossed. She sat across from Miara “Mirage” Talso, her hacker and gamma. The two were discussing their newest Hawk, Haley Bishop. As far as they knew, Bishop didn’t have a code name so they simply referred to her as the “Bishop girl.” They had already come to terms that they would need her if they were to get into the bank. 

“I don’t like it but we need her, Mia,” Zoe reasoned, even though she hated it.

The Bishop girl seemed like an extra addition to the team she had already assembled, but the gamma deemed her useful. Oftentimes, Miara ended up disagreeing with Zoe about almost everything. Half the Syndicate normally disagreed with Zoe’s logic.



Ciara and Jackob had taken to sparring in a deeper tunnel, causing loud echoing booms to be heard throughout the sewer system. They were both using their powers and causing quite a mess. They would clean up later, but for now the trash talk and fire and ice was flying.

“Oh, get over here you coward!”

“I’m a coward? You’re the one not willing to take a hit, Halo!”

“Hush now, Pentagram! You know nothing!”

“Oh really?”

“Turn around.”

Jackob turned, being rather naive for a villain. He was only allowed in the Syndicate because of Ciara. He was hit square in the face with an icicle. He yelped and fell. He could hear Ciara’s laugh, and it angered him. Fire flared up around him, but the damage had been done. He couldn’t see very well since frost had sealed his eyes near shut.

Haley Bishop listened in on Zoe and Miara's conversation, leaning against the wall. They were talking about her. But why? It puzzled her. She was fully able to do a mission, coming from a long line of solo criminals, but it seemed like Zoe didn't trust her to do as she was told. It's probably because I don't normally do what I'm told, She thought, But I can change! If the reward is enough, I'll follow orders!

Zoe sighed, standing and beginning to pace. Miara's opposing opinion was posing an issue. If the hacker wasn't on board with every detail, she could easily ruin the mission. Since Miara was a technopath, it wouldn't be hard for her to lead the police straight to them. That's what Zoe was worried about; Miara was known for being devious and disobeying direct orders from higher ranks. The two argued for a while longer before Zoe relented.

"Fine. She's off. But Ciara and Jackob are in for PR," It wasn't a better deal, she knew it.

"A11ight, a11ight. We can keep B0sh0p! PR just got good. Those 020 fight c0nstant1-," Miara yelped, surprised that Zoe would do a trade like that.

Even Miara knew that Ciara and Jackob were the worst possible to bring on a discreet mission like raiding a bank. It didn't require much PR, since they'd be gone before the news arrived. Or at least, she hoped that would be the case. 101, 110 110011121 10 1101, Miara thought, annoyed.



Ciara muted her brother's flames and stood over him, holding an ice staff at his throat. She growled, her white wings flapping. She didn't need to speak for him to know what she wanted; she wanted him to yeild, to admit that she was the better sibling, but he would never do more than yeild if somebody else disturbed them.



Elise, beta and eldest of the Syndicate, passed Haley in the tunnel, shaking her head. She beckoned for Haley to stay quiet as she began to speak, keeping her voice low so Zoe and Miara wouldn't hear.

"You shouldn't be spying on them!" She hissed.

Haley jumped, startled. She turned and studied Elise's features. She knew the beta was right, but they were talking about her. "Sorry. They were just talking about me and... I guess I thought it was important. Sorry," She apologized profusely, lowering her head and stepping away from the door. She was careful to stay close to the wall so Zoe and Miara didn't see her.

"Well, I'm going to have to tell Zoe about this," She didn't bother keeping her voice low now, wanting Zoe to hear.

Sorry kid. You have to learn the hard way. I can't go easy on you even if I wanted to, She thought with a glance at Haley. She felt bad, but she pushed her feelings aside and simply waited for Zoe to deal with it, knowing Zoe would praise her.



Zoe heard Elise's voice and sighed, stepping out of the room, trailed closely by Miara. She muttered a cause in Haley's direction and offered Elise nothing but a simple nod of thanks before shooing Miara and Elise away so she could speak to Haley alone. Jesus christ, kid. You should know better. Too bad this isn't preschool anymore. Honestly, I don't feel bad. Sorry not sorry, brat, She glared at Haley as she next spoke.

"Why were you spying on us?"

Haley studied her feet. Perhaps spying hadn’t been her best idea. “You were talking about me. Sorry…” She muttered, not looking up at the leader. “I was just curious as to why you were talking about me…” It was a weak excuse, but it was true. Why would they be talking about me if they didn’t want me to hear? Well, that’s probably part of the reason they were holed up in Zoe’s room-

Zoe sighed, shaking her head. Disappointing. Well, I guess you have to be punished somehow. Sorry, kiddo- not, She thought before speaking. When she did finally speak, after a long minute or so of her silence, her voice was ice cold and she made it clear she didn't want any bullshit excuse from Bishop.

"Go find Halo and Pentagram. Make sure they don't fight. You'll stay with them until I call you for the mission- if I decide to let you stay," She snapped at Haley.



Jackob glared at his sister then set the staff she was holding at his throat in flames. She dropped it and he kicked her back, causing her to stumble. But she didn't fall like he'd hoped. SHIT! He thought, quickly attempting to stand. But Ciara had locked his ankles to the frozen ground and he fell hard. He winced, blinking quickly to clear his vision. He burned away the chains but by the time he had, Ciara had placed a foot on his chest, holding two icicles at his throat again. This time, they were blue ice- he couldn't burn them away. He hissed but relented.

"Fine. I yeild," He coughed, trying to push her off.

Ciara wasn't satisfied. She didn't move, bracing herself and thrusting the icicle closer to her brother's throat. You know what I want. Say it! But she did not voice her thoughts,only remained mostly motionless until he said what she wanted to hear. She knew he would never say it, but she'd kill him if she had to. She was the better sibling, and hated that Zoe made her babysit Jackob. It was an age-old rivalry story told millions of times, but she didn't care. She hated him, and the fact that she had to behave like she and Jackob were on good terms made her want to kill him even more.

Haley nodded, still avoiding eye contact. She took a step back then retreated into the tunnels, in search of Halo and Pentagram. She didn't know their real names, only that they were siblings. Why are two siblings so different? Maybe fire and ice? I can't remember. Crap what were their names? I think one of them was... Jake? No. Jackob? Yeah, I think that was it. But what was Halo? Since I'm pretty sure Jackob is Pentagram, so then what's Halo? I think her name is Sia... it starts with that... uh... She emerged on the two siblings fighting and froze.
"Uh..."

Jackob coughed and continued to try to push Ciara off, pain shooting through his chest. Shit, Ciara! You know I won’t play your games! Just let up! He thought, groaning and eventually stopping his attempts to push her off. He just lay there, glaring up at her and coughing on occasion. He pulled back as far as he could from her, which wasn’t very far considering she was pinning him to the ground. He didn’t fight back this time, knowing she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him and make it look like an accident. His head turned as he finally noticed Haley. He gave her a pleading look. Ciara wasn’t letting up, and he was pretty sure she’d broken at least three of his ribs already.

Ciara pushed her foot down harder when she noticed Haley. She would end this, even if it’s the last thing she did before getting banished from the Syndicate. She was sick of her brother forcing her to pretend she was alright all the time. She wasn’t. She stumbled backward suddenly as images flashed past her eyes, the icicles vanished as she caught herself and balanced using the wall of the sewer. 



Zoe frowned then disappeared back into her room to prepare. She pawed through her make-shift closet that Miara had made her on her birthday. She paused when she found one of her older outfits- a tight black pair of leggings and a thin black dress. That outfit was from when she was just starting out as a criminal. She shivered, but noticed a strange draft. Normally, the “room” didn’t have a draft…

Haley slowly approached Jackob, recognizing him. She offered him her hand to help him up, glancing hesitantly at Ciara. Why had the siblings been fighting? Why did they fight? She had so many questions. But she didn’t speak for a good moment before deciding to ask only one of her questions. “You alright?” It was directed at Jackob, since she noticed his weakened state.
That draft had not been a draft in fact. It had been a Haunt. The Haunt floated near Zoe, sometimes passing through her to simulate a strange draft. But it had a rhthym to its passes. Three long. Three short. Three long. Morse code for SOS. There was no emergency that it knew of, but it still did as it did.

Jackob accepted Haley’s hand with a nod of thanks, pulling himself up. He winced, looking down at himself. He had injuries everywhere- frozen burns and deep gashes. It hurt to breathe, probably because he had at least three broken ribs from Ciara. He groaned, dusting off his clothes as best he could.

“I guess, yeah. Thanks,” he replied, finally looking up at Haley, “you’re the new Hawk?”

He didn’t mean it to sound judgemental, but his tone was judging.



Ciara backed away from Jackob and Haley then turned and fled into the darker tunnels. Her feet splashed in the murky water, but she didn’t care. She ran until she couldn’t run any farther, panting and sliding down against the wall. She froze the water in front of her and left a little passage so she didn’t flood the place. Cold tears ran down her cheeks. Why do I keep doing that? I could have killed him! Zoe would kill me… perhaps she should. I’d be better off out of my brother’s life… Her thoughts trailed off, leaving her in silence with her tears.

“Pathetic. I shouldn’t be crying. He deserves to be dead anyway- always jeopardizing the missions. After all, without him, we’d all be better off. That way I wouldn’t have to pretend. Pretend and keep pretending I’m okay. That’s all anybody expects from me anymore. When does it ever end? Never. It goes on forever until the day I die. How am I supposed to be the angel they all want me to be when I can’t even be good enough for myself? I can’t even spar without seriously injuring my own FUCKING BROTHER!” She brought her foot down on the frozen water, sending ice shards everywhere. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t keep pretending…” She trailed off as she heard a quiet splash.

She looked up, vision blurry from crying. She hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and rubbed her eyes, blinking rapidly to clear them. Once she could see straight, she realized it was Max O’hare, better known as Searchlight. She, for some reason, was the only one he allowed to call him Max.

“Hey, Max,” She muttered, turning her gaze away from him.

Haley helped Jackob up then stepped back, nodding. She didn’t like his tone but she wasn’t about to tell him off; she hardly knew him. “Yeah. I am. Why…?” She asked slowly, trying to keep her voice even. Seeing him standing was more intimidating than Zoe if she was honest with herself.
The Haunt watched Zoe, floating in the same place this time. It was sad that Zoe hadn’t yet reacted to it, though it assumed the girl was lost in thought about the outfit. It floated over and folded the corner of the outfit in on itself, just to try to get Zoe’s attention.

(wrong tab. Meant to put comment in OOC.)

Jackob propped himself up against the nearest wall, sighing. "I truly am sorry you had to see that. Do me a favor and not tell Trix, will you?" He replied after a few minutes to catch his breath.



Zoe frowned, smoothing down the corner. Odd, She glanced around, feeling like she was being watched. She hated that feeling, and she never had it often since not many dared to spy on her. She listened, silent. But there was nobody else she could hear. She shrugged the feeling off with a shake of her head. "Just a rat, Wolfe," She muttered.

"If she asks, I have to tell. You know the rules," Haley responded cooly, crossing her arms. While she was pretty new to the Syndicate, she was also pretty loyal. Meanwhile, the Haunt let out a soft laugh. No way was it a rat. It found her entertaining.

He looked a bit alarmed. But he pulled himself together. "If she asks, you send her to me. Let's just say that's an order," His tone was still light.



She heard the laugh and looked around. "Okay, not a rat. I swear to god, who's spying on me now?" She grumbled.

"I- I- wha- wait- I- I'm confused- if she orders me to tell her, then I have to tell her. Isn't that how this works?" Haley stammered, stumbling back as she tripped over the air. She blushed, embarrassed, and studied the ground. The haunt snorted a laugh. "Wouldn't you like to know, girly!" It taunted, floating into her before passing through her back to leave her with a cold feeling.

"If that happens, you tell her to come talk to me," He repeated, sighing. He found her disappointing.



Zoe's head jerked up and she looked around. "The fuck...?" She muttered, her hand going to the gun at her hip. "Who's there?" She growled, shivering as the haunt passed through her. This was sketching her out.