MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

36

The Neverseen were waiting for them.

Sophie tumbled out of the room, the metal door slamming into the enemy agents closest to the doorway. Caught off guard, the remaining agents scrambled, giving just enough time for the rest of her friends to follow her out of the room.

Unfortunately, Sophie was notoriously bad at hand-to-hand combat. She'd even been given remedial fighting lessons for a term at the Black Swan, but ended up with more injuries than her opponent at the end of the quarter- who, not to mention, was seven years old and about two heads shorter than her.

Dex and Fitz tried to help out, while Sophie stood awkwardly on the sidelines, knowing she'd end up accidentally tripping and punching one of her fellow comrades if she tried to join the fight. But it was Keefe and- most surprisingly -Biana who carried the team.

"Did you have any idea Biana could fight like that?" Fitz asked, sounding awed. He spotted a Neverseen agent approaching from behind him with a melder, and casually elbowed them without turning around.

"Nope," Sophie admitted, turning her attention back to the epic fight scene unraveling before them.

Biana slid to the ground, tripping one of the agents, who squealed like a toddler and face planted onto the ground. Another agent attempted to tackle her, mistakenly thinking her fighting skills would be compromised on the ground- but Biana miraculously caught him in mid-air and sent him flying across the room, maybe thanks to a couple helpful inventions by Dex. Agents tripped. Neverseen cloaks went flying. And Keefe was just as skilled.

A pang of jealousy shot through Sophie as she watched Keefe and Biana fight side by side, but she tried to ignore it as Biana addressed the last of the agents.

"Okay.... Here's the deal," Biana said sweetly. "You can get in the car, drive to Starbucks, and bring me back a unicorn frappuccino with extra whipped cream- or I can finish you off like I did with the rest of your little friends."

The agent glanced around and mumbled something that sounded like, "Frappa..." but he cleared his throat and squeaked instead, "I'd like to see you try!"

Biana shrugged. "Eh. You asked for it. But I'm still getting Starbucks after this whether you like it or not!"

She whirled around and promptly kicked the agent in the face, who collapsed to the ground.

Sophie burst into applause and laughed. "We'll get you some Starbucks after this. Promise, B."

Biana lit up, and the five took off down the hallway.

"Quick question," Dex said finally, sounding slightly out of breath as he glanced wearily towards Keefe. "Is he good or...?"

Keefe opened his mouth to speak, but Sophie gave him a sharp jab. "Don't listen to a word he says. When we get back to headquarters, we'll have the Collective deal with him."

"That hurts, Foster," Keefe whined, giving her an adorable pout.

She rolled her eyes at him, catching a glance of Fitz's scowl and blushing.

Luckily, the East Wing exit was close- they managed to reach the door, only encountering two agents, who, as expected, were almost instantly knocked out by Biana. The exits had also been barricaded, but they had trained for situations like this before.

"Anyone have something heavy?" Fitz asked, scanning around the room.

"Better." Biana pulled out what looked like a tiny missile launcher, strapped onto her wrist. Besides the fact that it looked like it'd been shipped through a glitter tornado, courtesy of the one and only Biana Vacker, it looked dangerously powerful. "Got this as a birthday gift from Marella."

"Marella?" Dex, Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe yelped in unison. The feud between the two girls was notoriously well known.

Biana shrugged. "What? You can thank us later, by the way."

She pressed down on the device with her index finger, sending the tiniest missile Sophie had ever seen flying towards the door. The entire front wall exploded in a flash of smoke and rubble.

"You carried that underneath your hand all day?" Sophie asked, staring at the enormous gap in awe.

Biana struck a pose. "You really do owe me that frappuccino."

They took off down the street, hoping nobody would notice five cloaked teens looking like they'd walked through a nuclear tornado.

"Hold it right there," a familiar voice warned. Sophie skidded to a stop, whirling around.

All five members of the Collective.

Standing. Right. There.

Chills whirred down Sophie's spine as Agent Leto took a step forward.

"What the heck were you kids thinking?!"

A/N Sorry, that was a little filler... still, hope you all enjoyed! (Especially tried to highlight the QUEEN BIANA 'cause she's sadly underrated in a lot of KOTLC fanfics I've read <3 Love you, Bi!)

Oh, and by the way, thank you so much for all your support on this story! You have no idea how much I appreciate all your sweet comments. Love you guys! <3