Kihonne: Alright! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Kihonne, and this, The Power of Seven, is the third installment in my Elite Force series. If you haven't read either of the first two, The Lab Assistant and The Days of Our Lives, then I really suggest you do, as there will be characters and references to events in both stories that won't make much sense if you haven't read them. Anyway, I've been really excited to bring you this story for a very long time, so welcome, and I really hope you enjoy it.

Oh, and before I forget, since the age continuities with both stories are a little wonky, here are the main characters' ages for my story:

Bree – 20

Calla and Chase – 19

Kaz, Oliver, Dani, and Skylar – 17

Kihonne: Anyway! On with the story!

Calla: Kihonne doesn't own Elite Force, Lab Rats, or Mighty Med. She only owns Calla, Dani, and anything else you don't recognize.

Xxx

Calla's POV

I stepped out of the limo and onto the sidewalk, staring up at the massive skyscraper in front of me. The entire seemed to be made up of these massive towers, but this building was different. Not just because of the sleek, stylish design, or the fact that it stood high above the others, but because of the…special addition on the front of the tower, poking out from what I guessed was the 40-something-th floor.

"Is that your head?" I questioned, twisting around to give my boss, a Mr. Donald Davenport, a look. He chuckled, nodding.

"The building needed a little something." He replied.

"And what's better than a massive bust of your head?" Chase added jokingly, grabbing a couple of bags from the trunk of the limo. He walked over to me, handing me my duffle bag. "Here."

"Thanks." I smiled at him before looking back at the building. Davenport Tower. This was where Mr. Davenport and his brother Douglas had started their careers as inventors and entrepreneurs, and, for the foreseeable future, it was to be my home. Our home.

"Let's go." Bree insisted, adjusting her jacket and shouldering her own duffle bag. After thanking the chauffer, Mr. Davenport followed her inside.

"You ready?" Chase asked me, offering me his hand. I smiled and took it, my stomach full of butterflies, although whether it was nervousness or excitement, I did not know.

It had been a crazy week for all of us, that's for sure. Three days ago, I'd fallen asleep in my own bed at the Bionic Academy, where I'd previously worked as a mentor for the young, bionic students. But after the upgrade that Davenport and Douglas had given to the students, and after a brief kidnapping by the older Davenport's psychotic ex-girlfriend and the android enemy we'd made when we were sixteen, the students no longer needed us. So Davenport had made us an offer to help form a new team, to start on a new adventure. And while our beloved friends and family, Adam, Leo, and Jaden, had stayed behind in Mission Creek to handle things there, Bree, Chase, and I had agreed to come to Centium City to help Mr. Davenport with this new project.

"What floor are we going to?" Bree's voice drew me out of my thoughts as the elevator continued to rise, the numbers flashing across the screen above the doors growing higher and higher.

"The top one." Mr. Davenport grinned at her, clearly excited to show us our new home. Finally, the elevator stopped, the screen shining the number '110' at us in bold, red lines.

The elevator doors opened up into a tiny hallway, a stylish light fixture the only thing in room aside from a grey door a few feet away us.

"This is the 110th floor of Davenport Tower," my boss informed us as he pulled out a keycard and swiped it across the scanner, "and this is your new home."

The door opened and we all stepped inside, glancing around the room. It was just as stylish as him home back in Mission Creek (as both the friend of his kids and his son's girlfriend, I'd spent a lot of time in that mansion over the years), but with a brown, blue, and grey color scheme instead. The living room was large, with twice the amount of room that we'd actual need for the four of us, increasing my suspicions that we wouldn't be the only ones on this new team of his. The entire far wall was made of glass, giving us an incredible view of the city, and revealing a large terrace just beyond the kitchen.

"Eight chairs." Chase noted quietly, nodding at the large kitchen table. Sure enough, there was room for eight around the table, and more room at the kitchen island.

"This is incredible!" Bree exclaimed, looking around.

"Check out that view." Chase agreed.

"I love it already." I breathed, still looking around. I noticed two sets of stairs in the room, one near the kitchen area, and the other sitting between the front door and a sleek fireplace. A few feet away from the fireplace was a desk with a couple of chairs, a large computer screen in front of it.

"This is where I spent my years as a bachelor." Mr. Davenport reminisced nostalgically. "Oh, if these walls could talk…oh, wait. They can talk. Walls off! Walls off!"

"Amazing." I murmured, looking out the window. You could see the cars speeding through the streets below us, so very different than our little town in California.

"Hey, come out on the terrace for a second." Mr. Davenport urged us, heading towards the set of glass doors. "I want to show you something."

The doors opened up for as we walked out onto the terrace, the midday sun shining down on us. Just like inside, the terrace was nicely decorated, with a number of fake plants, a few beach chairs, and a small side table with a couple of comfortable looking chairs sitting next to it. In the middle, only a few feet away from the terrace's half-wall, was a massive, holographic emblem. It was shaped like a black shield, with a glowing blue outline, and the letters E and F, positioned back to back in large, bold silvery letters, sat directly in the middle, the top lines of their lettering poking out just past the edge of the emblem.

"This is holographic emblem represents your new team, or as I like to call it, an Elite Force." Mr. Davenport told us.

"Cool," Chase grinned. "So, when do we get to meet the others?"

Mr. Davenport smiled slyly at that. "Right now."

He reached forward and swiped his hand through the emblem. It began to spin wildly, glowing brighter and brighter until it disappeared in a white light, revealing the four people hidden behind it.

The first one, the one on the left, was a skinny guy with short brown hair. He wasn't particularly tall, I noted, not that much taller than Bree. On the right was a young woman with slightly curly brown hair, with the ends a much lighter shade than most of her hair. Just behind them was a taller, black haired boy with a serious expression on his face. And in front of all three of them was a tall girl with a short, auburn colored bob cut, the bangs falling into her face. All four of them appeared to be maybe a year or two younger than us, and were standing with their arms crossed, clearly trying to look heroic and cool or something.

I recognized all of them on sight; Oliver Short, Skylar Storm, Kaz Broadman, and Dani Short. We'd met Oliver, Skylar, and Kaz several months ago, due to Chase being seriously injured by an intruder in the Academy. The boys had worked at a hospital for superheroes (and I thought my job was the coolest one out there), and had offered to help save his life while Skylar helped Adam, Bree, and Jaden track down the intruder. As for Dani, I'd met her only a couple of weeks after that, at a Comic Con convention that went from cool to crazy after we were kidnapped by a giant and a lizard dude. I had to admit though, as much as I liked the four of them, I was surprised to see them here.

"Check it out! I used the 3D hologram wall! Kaz, Skylar, Dani, and Oliver had been standing here the entire time!" Mr. Davenport exclaimed gleefully. The four of them exchanged annoyed looks.

"Yes. Five hours, to be exact." Oliver told us, sounding impatient.

"Let's not forget the two hours of him telling us how to stand." Skylar added, equally annoyed. Mr. Davenport gave her a peeved look.

"Obviously we needed three hours, because you're still not doing it right." He retorted, adjusting where she was facing.

"It's great to see you." Chase told them before glancing at Mr. Davenport. "What are they doing here?"

"Mighty Med hospital was destroyed." Dani told us, her voice grave and her face solemn. We all looked at her, shocked and confused.

"What?" Bree demanded. Kaz sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He hit a few buttons, then held it out for us to see.

It was a devastating picture, not a sight that was easy for us to see, and it must have been so much worse for them. It showed the remains of what appeared to be a massive building, most of it in ruins. The remaining, half-destroyed walls were coated in soot and ash, with flashes of red in the background to show that fires had still been burning when the photo was taken. The sky was pitch black, but without the stars or moon in sight, almost as if the smoke from the tragedy was blocking them out completely. I swallowed a lump in my throat, recognizing a large, red letter M on what was left of the far wall, the top right corner of the letter broken off completely.

"How…who?" I demanded, turning to the young doctors.

"We don't know." Kaz replied. He sighed. "We lost a lot of superheroes that we care about. We're not going to stop until we find whoever's responsible."

"They wanted to use my technology to track the criminals, but I had a better idea." Mr. Davenport told us. "To create one all powerful team combining technology, bionic heroes, and superheroes."

"Well, where are the superheroes?" Bree questioned.

"You're looking at them." Oliver told us, grinning. Skylar waved her hand at him, Kaz, and Dani. Chase, Bree, and I exchanged looks.

"You?" I questioned, trying not to sound skeptical. Kaz nodded.

"Oh yeah. Oliver, Dee, and I have superpowers now." He told us. Chase scoffed.

"What? Did you fall into a vat of radioactive waste?" He chuckled. "Wait, no, don't tell me! Bitten by a supernatural spider!"

"No." Oliver rolled his eyes. "While we were trying to stop my mother, also known as the supervillain Mr. Terror, from becoming the most powerful being on the planet, we made indirect contact with the Arcturion space rock, which gave us a variety of superhuman abilities."

I turned to Chase. "I love the rational explanations people come up with these days." I commented. Space rock? Seriously?

"A magic space rock?" Chase mocked them. "And was that delivered by a bunch of little green men?"

Skylar stepped up to him. "You do know that I'm from another planet, right?" She questioned, her tone challenging him to keep going with the jokes.

"I…do now." He walked back over to me. I laughed lightly.

"You're going to have to excuse Chase. If he can't explain it with science, it doesn't exist." I told them apologetically.

"C'mon, Calla." Chase rolled his eyes. "Do you really expect me to believe that these three have-"

Kaz cut him off, raising his fist to the air just for it to spontaneously combust. He aimed the flaming ligament at the fireplace in the living room and shot a ball of fire at it, his aim perfect. "But that-the human body can't-" Unsurprisingly, Chase was having difficulty processing what he'd just seen. He looked at Kaz warily. "I'm watching you, Fire-Boy."

"So, can you two shoot fire too?" Bree questioned, looking over at Dani and Oliver. They both shook their heads.

"No. Kaz has fire and heat powers, I've got water and ice, and Dani's got electricity and lightning." Oliver explained. "But, all three of us can do this."

Without any warning, the scrawny boy spun around and raced to the edge of the terrace, leaping over the barrier and into the open sky. "Oliver!" Bree screamed in surprise, racing to the edge along with Chase, Mr. Davenport, and I.

"I can't see him." I muttered, leaning as far over the edge as I dared, trying to catch a glimpse of him. What was he thinking, jumping off the building like that?

"Well, it was a good team while it lasted." Chase commented to Mr. Davenport. I sent him a glare – not cool, honey – but before I could say anything, Oliver came flying past us, through the air and in the direction of the top of the building. We all stared in amazement.

"He can fly?" I demanded, watching him soar. That was awesome!

"He's pretty good." Bree complimented.

"Wait for it." Skylar advised. Oliver came flying back down towards us, and I immediately realized the problem – he was going far too fast, and was quickly losing control. My theory was confirmed when he barreled straight into Chase, both of them hitting the ground hard.

"Sorry." Oliver apologized, rolling off of my boyfriend. "Still working on the landings."

"I can tell." Chase groaned, pulling himself to his feet. Bree and I exchanged looks. Just what had we gotten ourselves into?

Kaz's POV

I had to admit, this penthouse was dope. Even if Davenport was sticking seven of us under one roof together, I figured it would still be pretty freaking awesome given how much space there was.

"Hey, I got a question." While Davenport was on the second floor, preparing the bedrooms, the rest of us were hanging out in the living room, hanging out. Bree and Skylar was in the kitchen, chatting and trying to find something to eat, while Calla wad taken up residence on the couch, tucking her knees up to her stomach as she got comfortable. Chase was in the armchair, while Dani was on the empty end of the four-seater couch. I sat down next to her, and Oliver sat on the arm of the chair, next to his sister. "How did you guys manage to escape Mighty Med before it was destroyed?"

I glanced over at Oliver and Dani. I wasn't sure how much detail the twins wanted to go into about that day, especially the parts with Mort, so I kinda let them handle it. "We were off trying to capture our mother." Dani explained. She glanced at Oliver. "We got a lead that morning about one of her henchmen. But apparently, she leaked the lead on purpose though – somehow she must have gotten wind of the attack ahead of time."

"If it weren't for her, we would have been killed." Oliver agreed. Dani looked at him.

"Doesn't mean she's forgiven. And as soon as we deal with whoever attacked Mighty Med, we're going back after her." She commented coldly.

"Still, silver-lining." Oliver insisted. Bree frowned at him.

"You're an odd little man." She commented.

"Not the first time I've heard that." Oliver admitted.

"Usually from me." Skylar added just as Davenport came jogging down the stairs.

"Okay, sleeping quarters are all set. Boys, first door on the left. Girls first door on the right. Calla and Chase, yours is the second door on the right, and the guy who made it all possible," He jerked his thumbs at himself, "will be in the giant room at the far left. Stay out of my pool."

"Wait, why do they get their own room?" Dani protested.

"Because he likes us best." Calla reasoned. Dani gave her a look. "Also, four girls in one bedroom? The room's big, but that would be three beds, and a capsule."

"And at least this way, I can have Chase's capsule in the same room he's sleeping in most nights." Davenport added. He gave his son a look. "Don't think I don't know about you sneaking our of the mentor's quarters almost every night last year."

"Sorry?" Chase glanced at Calla, who flushed with embarrassment. Davenport grimaced in disgust.

"Just…be responsible." He made it clear it was the last time he wanted to discuss the matter.

"Well, I don't care that they get their own room. I'm just glad I finally get to share my room with girls instead of my brothers!" Bree commented, putting her arm around Skylar's shoulder and patting Dani's shoulder with her spare hand.

"Me too." Skylar agreed. "But just a heads up – I'm from another planet, so sometimes I spit acid in my sleep."

"Well that is still an upgrade compared to what comes out of my brothers." Bree insisted.

"It is." Calla agreed. I looked at Davenport.

"Hey, Mr. Davenport, when are we going to start searching for those guys who attacked our friends?" I questioned. We'd waited long enough to stop them. "Where's all that technology you promised us?"

"I am so glad you asked. Hyper-lift, open!" Davenport called. To our surprise, the fireplace split in two, the wall panels sliding apart to reveal a hidden elevator behind them. "IT'S A VOICE-ACTIVATED SECRET PASSAGE!"

"That is so awesome!" I grinned. "And it seems like such a fire-hazard!"

"I used the hydraloop technology to create an elevator that will take you from the penthouse to below the earth's surface instantly!" Davenport exclaimed proudly. I had no idea what a hydraloop was, but he seemed excited about it, so I didn't question it. "Step inside, and let me show you."

We all stepped inside the elevator. "Oh, wait." Oliver said suddenly. "I should probably tell you guys – I tend to get sick on any ride that has a big-DROP!"

He screamed the last words as we were sent plummeting to the bottom of the shaft. The landing was surprisingly gentle, considering the speed we were going at, but my best friend looked positively green.

"Whoa." I grinned as we stepped into the underground room. It was a large, black, octagonal room. Each one of the walls were black with lines of bright blue lights making a tic-tac-toe like pattern. All of the walls, except for this one and the one opposite of us, had large doorway-like shapes, but were blocked by large rock walls. In the center of the room, there was a circular high-tech table, with long high-tech desks on either side of it.

"And just like that, we're back in the basement." Bree commented, exchanging a smirk with Chase. While Dani, Oliver, Skylar, and I were all in awe of the technology around us, Calla and the two bionic siblings seemed perfectly at home. Hell, maybe this was exactly like wherever they grew up.

"This is your team's central nervous system." Davenport explained. "This is where you'll train, plan missions," I went to touch a green button on the circular table, or consol as I now realized it was, but he grabbed my hand before I could, "Learn what things do before you touch them."

"This is amazing." Skylar commented. Davenport nodded.

"Oh, and before I forget, MISS will be running mission command for you, since the people I usually have do it are still at the Academy." He added.

"Who's MISS?" Dani questioned.

"That would be me, Miss Danica." A disembodied, female voice replied. Dani froze, and began looking around.

"Okay, first of all, it's Dani, not Danica." She corrected before staring at Calla and Chase. "And who said that?"

"Apologies, Miss Dani. I am MISS. I am the artificial intelligence system that runs the penthouse and mission control. I am here to aid all of you with whatever you need." The disembodied voice told her soothingly. "I was created by Miss Calla last year."

Oliver looked at Calla. "You have seen Age of Ultron, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. MISS is more like Friday than Ultron or Jarvis. There are parameters in place to keep her from going rogue and killing anyone."

Suddenly, Davenport's phone began to ring. "Excuse me. I have a very important Daven-call to take." He excused himself, heading for the elevator.

"Why didn't he just take it down here?" Bree questioned.

"Probably because the signal sucks." Dani replied, holding her phone up with a frown. "I'm barely getting two bars."

"Alright, let's head out and start searching for the lowlifes who destroyed Mighty Med." I declared. It had already been two weeks since those lowlifes got away, and we needed to find them.

"But, we don't even know where to start." Oliver reminded me.

"We have to look somewhere. We'll go city by city, starting here." I decided. I looked at the Calla, Chase, and Bree. "You guys take uptown, we'll take downtown."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't just go looking for people randomly." Chase stopped us. "We have to devise a plan fire."

I frowned. Was he deaf or something. "We just did. Uptown, downtown…I don't really know any other parts of town, so plan commenced."

"Well, why don't we do this: we try and figure out who's responsible before we go blindly looking for bad guys?" Calla suggested. "Even if we found a bad guy while looking, we could easily end up getting the wrong guy. If we figure out who's really responsible first, then we can figure out their weaknesses, prepare a strategy, and take them out easier."

"That's smart." Skylar agreed, nodding.

"So, where do we start?" Dani questioned. Chase walked over to one of the desks.

"Well, first we'd need to know who the target was. Was it all of Mighty Med, or one of the heroes inside?" He looked at us. "How many heroes were inside?"

"All of them." Dani replied grimly. "It was the 400th anniversary. There was a party."

"All of them?" Calla nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, what about the villains? Any recent escapees from wherever you keep your villains? There was a breakout from the USPEI a couple of weeks ago, but the rest of the bionic heroes at the Academy are reigning them in, and none of them would be powerful enough to do something like this."

"No, no break outs." Oliver replied.

"Then let's get a list of the villains we know are on the lamb. Then, we can decide which ones could be capable of doing that much damage, and work our way out from there." Bree decided. I nodded in agreement, once again thinking that Skylar's idea of calling Davenport was a good one. Calla, Chase, and Bree had been fighting bad guys for years – they knew how to handle something like this better than we ever could.

"Here. My Mighty Med account will have access to the files." Dani walked over to the desk, accessed the top secret site, and entered her password before letting Chase take over again.

"Okay, the cyber desk is compiling a database of the villains." Chase announced before looking at us. "In the meantime, we still need to know more about you guys."

"Well, I'm 5'10, I'm a hearty mix of Irish and German, and I've been known to lie about my height." I told him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dani crack a smile, amused.

"I think we meant what other powers do you have?" Calla corrected.

"Well, Ollie and I have twin telepathy." Dani supplied.

"Oh, like K-Dog and Rio." Calla smiled.

"Sure." Dani nodded. "I have no idea who those people are, but sure."

"And I have super strength." Oliver added. Bree scoffed.

"You?" She questioned, not believing him at all.

"Yes, me." Oliver retorted, sounding offended. "Why does everyone act so surprised when I say that?"

"Because we can see your ribcage through your shirt." Skylar reasoned.

"I hate to interrupt you, Miss Skylar, but Mr. Davenport is requesting everyone's presence on the main floor. Immediately." MISS announced.

"Let's go see what the old man wants." I sighed.

Calla's POV

"About time." Mr. Davenport commented when we reached the top floor. He was standing near the fireplace/elevator, holding that creepy picture of him surrounded by his money. "Some strange is going on."

"Whoa, that is strange!" Skylar agreed, pointing at the painting. I grinned; oh, she was going to fit right in around here.

"Not that. Outside." Mr. Davenport nodded towards the windows. "Something flew by the window."

"I know something that's gonna fly out the window." Bree commented, taking the picture from him and heading towards the verenda.

"I'm serious." Mr. Davenport insisted. "There is something out there."

Confused, we all stopped, looking out the window. For a moment, there was nothing…then, I heard a strange whirring sound. "Get down!" Chase shouted. Skylar and I both ducked down, behind the kitchen counter, with our hands over our heads to protect ourselves as the massive glass windows shattered, their shards flying inwards. Kaz and Chase both leapt over the couch in their attempt to escape the glass, while Oliver, Dani, Bree, and Mr. Davenport, the farthest from the windows, darted backwards several steps, out of harm's way.

"Everyone okay?" I asked when the glass stopped falling. There was a series of affirmatives as we began to check out the wreckage.

"Oh, man! My salsa!" Kaz complained, holding up the bowl of salsa he'd grabbed earlier. There were glass shards dipped in the red sauce.

"Yes, because that's the worst of the damage." Mr. Davenport commented sarcastically before looking back at the broken windows.

"Hey, check it out." Dani commented, walking around the couch. "There's something on the floor."

"Yeah, about $36,000 worth of glass." Mr. Davenport commented.

"No, it's some sort of gift box." Dani replied, lifting a small, black box of the ground. It was ordinary in appearance, with a small yellow tag on the top. She went to open it, but thankfully, Kaz stopped.

"Dee, stop!" He told her, placing his hand over the box. "What are you doing? You gotta open the card first."

"Don't open anything." Chase told them, snatching the box away from Dani. "It could be rigged to blow this place apart. I'll use my bionic eye to scan it." He raised two fingers to his temple, then focused his gaze on the box. "It's a flash drive."

"We can download its contents onto MISS' hard drive. She'll check for any form of malware, then show us its contents in Mission Command." I decided, taking the box from Chase.

"Who would blast our penthouse just to toss a flash drive through the window?" Bree asked, frowning.

"That's why you gotta open the card first." Kaz insisted.

Kaz's POV

"It's a video message." Calla announced from the behind the cyber desk. "MISS, play it up on the big screen."

"Right away, Miss Calla." MISS agreed. A TV screen slid down from the ceiling above one of the rock walls. An image appeared on it, featuring two guys standing in what I think was an alleyway, or maybe a subway tunnel. The walls were chalk full of colorful graffiti, with a small area with barred doors that looked like a tiny prison cell. It was impossible to identify the two guys on the screen – both were wearing dark, nondescript clothing and black masks that covered their entire faces.

"Destroying your little hospital was just the beginning." One of the guys announced. His voice seemed wrong almost, like they were using voice disguisers. "We're on the hunt for every superhero that remains, and soon, they will all be extinct."

"And once you've watched us eliminate them, we're coming for you, Oliver, Dani, Kaz, and Skylar." I gulped nervously. These guys had targeted us specifically, but why? "And anyone else dumb enough to protect you."

"Who was that?" Oliver demanded once the video ended. He looked at me. "And don't say check the card first."

"Whoever it was, it's obvious they've been watching us." Chase commented. Davenport nodded.

"I'm going to go activate the penthouse security perimeter, and get those windows replaced." He decided, walking into the hydrolift. I sighed irritably.

"See?" I looked at Chase. "This is exactly why I wanted to go out and find them first!"

"As soon as we finalize a plan-" He began, but I cut him off.

"Forget your plan!" I snapped. All they did was plan. What we needed was action. We couldn't just sit on our asses and wait for the bad guys to destroy us! "If we don't stop them, they're going to take out every last superhero! Including us!"

They'd already killed over a hundred heroes. There weren't many of us left, and I couldn't let those murders take away anyone else we cared about.

"Kaz," Calla said calmly, placing her hand on Chase's when he looked like he was going to snap back. "They're going to take us out a lot faster if we go into this thing unprepared. We want to find them too, but we have to be smart about this."

"She's right, Kaz." Bree agreed. "We have no idea what we're up against. We have to be careful."

"Skylar," I turned the former superhero. "Back me up on this."

"We'll get them." She promised me. "It's just going to take some time."

"Dani?" She was always up for doing something without a plan, and I'd be lying if I said she hadn't been preparing for a fight since the hospital was destroyed.

"I'm sorry. I'm with them." She told me, biting her lip.

"Oliver?" Best friends had each other's backs, always, right? But to my surprise, he shook his head. "Oh, come on! Not you too!" I turned to all of my friends. "Guys, we have to do this! For Mighty Med." The 'For Horace, Alivia, and Jaime' part went unspoken, but I knew they were thinking it too.

"I know." Oliver agreed. "I just…I think we should play it safe."

"Safe?" I echoed. Did he not remember what those guys did to Mighty Med? To all the more experienced heroes? How could he suggest that not doing anyway was the way to go? How could he not see the danger we were in? "None of us are safe with those two on the loose!"

"Kaz," Bree tried to intervene, but I didn't let her.

"You know, I never thought being part of an Elite Force would mean sitting around and doing nothing!" I spat before storming off. Fine, whatever. If they weren't going to do anything about this, I would.

Calla's POV

"I thought you and Chase would be enjoying your new room." I looked up from my book to see Bree standing over me, two steaming cups in her hands.

"Nah. He has to sleep in the capsule every two or three nights, remember? Don't want to risk a glitch." I replied, closing the book and placing it on the side table. "Beside, I couldn't really sleep."

"The room not up to your standards?" She teased as she handed me one of the cups of hot cocoa and sat down on one of the grey stools next to me. I laughed lightly.

"It's perfect, actually." I replied. It really was; it was large and stylish, with a comfortable queen-sized bed for Chase and I too share and a fireplace on one way with a love seat in front of it. There was a desk in the corner of the room, and Chase's capsule in the other, with the wall opposite of both of them being made completely out of glass, giving us the most beautiful view of the city. And on the wall, there were at least a dozen photos, all from our time in Mission Creek with our friends and families. "And yours? What's it like sharing with Dani and the alien girl?"

"Surprisingly normal. Two bed, a capsule, and a TV. The couch in there is pretty comfy too." Bree replied. She looked at me, grinning. "And, Mr. Davenport put curtains on my capsule, for extra privacy."

"Nice." I grinned back. I looked past her to see Dani wandering down the stairs. "Want to join us?"

"Uh, sure." The short haired girl agreed, looking surprised to see us up. I glanced at the clock as Dani sat down on the couch opposite of us. Dang, past midnight already. "So, Skylar's snoring woke you too?"

"Yep." Bree nodded. I looked at her.

"You're capsule is soundproof." I told her. She nodded.

"I know." She agreed.

"Damn." I sipped at my hot cocoa. "As for me, I've just…been thinking." I looked at Bree. "Honestly, I'm terrified that Adam's already gone and destroyed the entire Academy."

"Nah, I just talked to Jaden. They're still standing." She assured me. "He says 'hey', by the way."

"Jaden? That's your boyfriend, right?" Dani asked. Bree nodded.

"Yeah. Mr. Davenport needed him to stay back in California while we came here to deal with what happened to Mighty Med." Bree explained. She frowned. "By the way, whose idea was it to call him for help? I'm just curious."

"Skylar." Dani replied. "She thought, since the guys saved Chase's life, that he might lend us some tech. We didn't expect him to make a team out of it. Thanks, by the way, for coming."

"We're all in this together now." I told him. I hesitated before continuing. "I have to ask. When we met up at Comic Con, there were two other girls with you. Jaime and Alivia."

Dani closed her eyes for a moment before continuing, her voice rough. "Spark and Geminus. Um…Jaime's definitely gone. We found her at Mighty Med. Liv…she wasn't still there when we got there, but…Ollie found her mask, covered in blood, and she was already injured before the attack…" She sighed. "We don't know, but the chances of her surviving…they're low."

"I'm so sorry." Bree told her, apologetically. Dani nodded, biting her lip. I cleared my throat, trying to think of a different topic to change the conversation to. I'd spoken to Skylar before everyone went off to bed, and had asked her about not just Mighty Med, but also what happened with that Quimby Fletcher situation, and judging by what she told me, Dani and the rest of them had been through a very difficult month.

"So, what do you guys think of the penthouse so far?" I asked, smiling cheerfully, hoping to get her mind off the bad stuff. Before she could answer, Mr. Davenport came walking down the stairs.

"Hey, what are all of you still doing up?" He asked.

"Skylar snores." "Hoping that Adam hasn't killed anyone yet." We all replied. He looked at me.

"He won't kill anyone." He told me sternly.

"You left him in charge. There's no saying what he will or won't do." Bree pointed out.

"Relax. He may think he's in charge, but Rio's got a good handle on the situation." He assured us. Suddenly, Oliver came running down the stairs.

"Mr. Davenport!" He exclaimed. "I can't find Kaz. I thought he was in his bed snoring, but it turned out to be Skylar down the hall."

"Damn it, Kaz." Dani muttered, standing up.

"I bet he went off to find those guys on his own." I decided.

"I'll use my super speed to bring him back." Bree offered. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"Oliver, go wake Chase and Skylar." The younger boy nodded and ran back up the stairs. Mr. Davenport looked at Bree. "If you're not back with Kaz in two minutes, I'm going to have them track you on your GPS locator."

Bree laughed. "Please. With my upgraded speed, I can search the entire city in less than 30 seconds."

"Oh, I'm so fast!" Mr. Davenport mocked her. "Well, then, go!"

"Okay!" Bree rolled her eyes before speeding off to find Kaz.

Kaz's POV

"Okay, if I can find the costume shop that sold those guys their masks, maybe I can track them down." I muttered to myself, walking down an empty alley. Surprisingly, it hadn't been that hard to break out of the penthouse – all I needed was an open window. I pulled out my phone and quickly checked how many costume shops there were in the city. I figured, it's a big city, so there's probably gonna be maybe four or five different ones. But when I saw the real number, it shocked me. "Eighty-six costume shops in one city? What are you people trying to hide?"

I turned to head in the direction of the first costume store, when suddenly, a black cloud descended from the sky. It flew down in front of me, then morphed into a human being. Specifically, one of the human beings from the video. "Ah!" I let out a surprised shout as another cloud did the same. I gulped nervously, but forced an easy-going smile on to my face. "I mean, aha! I found you!"

The two guys looked at each other, then pulled of their masks, revealing their faces. I recognized the black haired guys instantly "Wait, you're Roman and Riker. You're dad is the superhero Rodissius." Why would they have attacked Mighty Med?

"Was a superhero." Roman, the taller, buffer of the two corrected. "Until you got your hands on him at Mighty Med."

"What are you talking about? We saved his life." I frowned, confused.

"You took away his powers." Riker reminded me, glaring.

"We had no choice. Sacrificing his powers was the only way to save his life." I retorted, defending our decision.

"You took away the only thing that made him special, and forced him to live his life as a Normo." Roman growled. "That's a punishment far worse than death."

"Well, that's a warped way of looking at things, but alright."

"Our father may not have the power to take revenge, but we do." Roman continued.

Suddenly, Bree appeared beside me, seemingly out of nowhere. "There you are!" She exclaimed, annoyed, before she noticed Roman and Riker. "Hello." She smiled at them.

"They're the guys who destroyed Mighty Med." I informed her.

"Oh, c'mon!" She exclaimed. "Why are the bad ones always so cute?"

"Okay, Bree, you can go." I turned around to face her. "I got this."

"You sure?" She looked behind me. I turned to see that Roman and Riker had shapeshifted into a massive black cloud. Damn shapeshifters. Always hated them.

"You know, on second thought, Bree, would you mind sticking around?" I asked, chuckling nervously.

"Now you see why it's a bad idea to run off without a plan?" She scolded.

"In hindsight, probably not my best decision." I admitted.

"Hey!" I looked over my shoulder to see Oliver, Dani, Skylar, Calla, and Chase run up behind us. "What is that thing?"

"Meet the guys who destroyed Mighty Med." I told them. "They're shapeshifters."

"Oh, okay." Chase nodded before frowning at me. "What the heck are shapeshifters?"

"They can morph into anything." Dani supplied, eyes wide as she stared at the cloud. "A person, a thing, and apparently, a deadly black cloud."

"Get down!" Skylar shouted. We all ducked as the cloud shot at us, barely missing our heads. I stood up first and shot a burst of flames in Roman and Riker's direction, making the cloud back off for the time being.

"Chase, no would be a great time for one of your plans." I looked at the genius. He stared at me incredulously.

"Oh, now you want a plan? If you had followed my plan in the first place, we wouldn't even be in this mess!" He snapped, ticked off.

"I didn't ask you guys to show up!" I retorted.

"I didn't want to show up!" Chase snapped back. "Calla made me."

"Uh, guys?" Calla interrupted us. "Where'd they go?"

I looked up, and to my surprise, the cloud was gone. "I can still hear them." Skylar murmured. Calla subtly pulled a high-tech blaster out of her back pocket and held it tightly between her hands. We all backed up slowly, until we were circling the alley while simultaneously covering each other's backs.

"Uh, guys?" Chase said after a long moment. He was staring upwards at the sky. I followed his gaze, only to spot the massive, dangerous black cloud. None of us had a chance to react before it crashed down on us, the force of the impact sending us all flying in different directions.

I felt myself flying through the air, involuntarily, before crashing into something hard and heavy. And then, everything went black.

Calla's POV

"Ah." I hissed as I slowly sat up. Those shapeshifters had thrown all of us across the alley, and I was pretty sure I hit my head on the corner of a dumpster. Judging by the way everyone seemed to be just moving now, I figured we'd all been knocked unconscious.

"Is everybody okay?" Chase asked, making his way over to me. He held out his hand and helped me up.

"Think so." Kaz commented, rubbing his head as he himself climbed to his feet.

"Did we win?" Dani asked hopefully.

"Wait" Oliver paused, looking around in confusion. "Where's Skylar?"

Sure enough, the alien girl was nowhere to be seen. "Skylar!" Bree called, a hint of worry in her tone. Oliver looked around worriedly, then looked at us.

"They took her." He said simply.

Xxx

"I can not believe you let them take Skylar!" Mr. Davenport shouted, glaring at us. Well, actually, he was looking primarily at Chase. "All because you couldn't work together at a team."

"It's not my fault." Chase retorted, jerking his head at Kaz. "He's the one who took off on his own."

"I don't care." Mr. Davenport told him sternly. "You're their leader. It's your responsibility to look out for them."

"No, Chase is right." Kaz interrupted him before he could continue. We all looked at him in surprise. "I let my emotions get the best of me." He looked at Chase. "From now on, we work together instead of against each other."

"Agreed." Chase nodded and the boys fist-bumped, sealing the deal.

"Good." Mr. Davenport still looked annoyed though. "Now, how do we find Skylar?"

"Without a way to track her, it's almost impossible." Chase sighed.

"Almost being the key word." Dani added, looking at him expectantly. "That means there is a way."

"They could have taken her anywhere." Chase commented, frowning.

"Well, whatever we do, we have to move fast." Bree looked at us. "Without her powers, she doesn't stand a chance against those guys."

"Not on her own, at least." I agreed, moving over to the cyber desk. "Let's check the video again. Maybe we missed something."

"Don't bother." Chase told me. I ignored him, bringing the video up on the screen. "I scoured every frame of that video. There's nothing there that can help us."

"Not even that faded number on the sign behind them?" Oliver pointed out, looking at the screen. I frowned, then used the cyber desk to zoom in on the number. Chase scoffed, obviously having missed the sign the first time.

"Oh, come on!" He exclaimed after a moment. "Do you have some mystical super power that allows you to see that?"

"Yeah, it's called eyesight." Oliver replied, shaking his head at my boyfriend.

"There's more to the number, but it's covered in dirt." I muttered, unable to properly read the number. I glanced at Chase. "Baby, you mind?"

"I can do a spectral isolation scan to contrast the elements." He explained to the others. "It'll let us see what's underneath the dirt."

He raised his fingers to his temple and scanned the image. "It's the subway station at 128th street."

Mr. Davenport frowned. "There is no subway station at 128th street. I mean, there was one 40 years ago when I was…" He suddenly looked self-conscious, "…ten years from being born. But the city abandoned it after a really bad flood."

"Wait. Shape shifters natural dwell in dark, cavernous spaces." Kaz realized. He looked at Oliver. "That must be where they're keeping Skylar."

"Let's go." Dani decided. Chase nodded in agreement.

"I'll send the directions to your chip." Mr. Davenport told him. "You can still get there through an old underground tunnel. I used to play there 40 years ago when I was-You know, I'll just send you the directions."

Kaz's POV

"Alright, Mr. Davenport's directions lead this way." Chase whispered, his tone purposely lowered as we neared Roman and Riker's lair. The six of us snuck along, ready to attack the shapeshifters on sight.

"You won't get away with this." I heard Oliver let out an audibly sigh of relief at the sound of Skylar's voice. "My team will find me."

"I'm sure they will." Roman replied, his tone cocky. "But it'll be too late for you. By the time they get here, we'll be on to our next superhero. And the next, and the next, until all of you are destroyed."

"Not gonna happen." Oliver muttered before bursting out of our hiding spot. We followed him into the station, where we confronted Roman and Riker. Both of the shapeshifters stood in front of that cell from the video, Skylar trapped inside. She beamed, gripping to the bars, when she saw us.

"Told you." She smirked smugly at Roman.

"Look who it is." He smirked as well.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your lives." Riker told us.

"Let's do this, brother." Roman held out his hand to his siblings. Recognizing this as their way of shapeshifting together, I looked back at Chase, awaiting his plan.

"Oliver, use your strength to free Skylar." Chase ordered. Oliver didn't need to be told twice, as he was already climbing onto the platform in his rush to be his crush's hero. He wasted no time, pulling the entire rack of bars out of their hinges with ease. She stepped out, looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Stop looking so surprised!" He exclaimed, hurt by the shock on her face.

"Oh, great. They're doing their dust bunny thing again." I announced, drawing their attention back to the giant cloud in front of us.

"I got this." Dani announced. She stepped in front of us and raised her hands, sending sparks and strings of electricity outwards. However, the moment she started using her powers, the cloud raced towards us, ducking past her and circling us. It turned into a ring of smoke, gaseous enough to float through the air and be impossible to fight, but solid enough to beginning pushing at us, forcing us all into the center of the quickly moving ring.

"They're creating a ring of centrifugal force around us!" Chase shouted as the ring began to move faster and began to grow tighter. Already, it was almost impossible to move, with all of us being squeezed together painfully.

"Guys, if we don't do something fast, the force will crush us." Bree gasped out.

"Not gonna lie." Oliver smiled as he was pushed up against Skylar. He smiled at her. "Kind of okay with it."

She rolled her eyes. "Wait." Chase said suddenly. "If shape shifters change their form by manipulating their molecular structures-"

"Then there has to be a way to freeze the molecules and stop the swarm!" I exclaimed, realizing what he was getting to. "Oliver, you have ice powers! Use your cryoblast!"

"Right!" Oliver agreed. He raised his hand as best as he could, and it began emitting a cold, blue light. The ring began to grow lighter, black turning to dark grey, turning to lighter grey.

"Keep going!" Calla encouraged. Oliver continued for another couple of moments, until the ring froze completely, Roman and Riker's black cloud trapped inside. It clattered to the ground, too thick to shattered.

"It worked." Dani commented, surprised as she stepped over the ring. She looked at Chase and I. "Nice plan, guys."

"Always the tone of surprise." I teased her, ducking forward for a kiss. She smiled against my lips, her soft pink ones moving against mine eagerly.

"Good job, guys." Bree agreed as I pulled away. I nodded, then turned to Chase.

"Dude, that was a great idea to mess with the molecular structures." I complimented him.

"It was your idea to freeze the molecules." Chase offered in return.

"Yeah, but you're the one-" I was cut off by Dani, midsentence.

"Calla, I think you and I might have some competition." She commented, smirking at Chase and I. Calla nodded.

"It seems we might." She agreed jokingly.

"Guys, get together." Bree urged us, pulling out her phone. "Our first victory selfie!"

Taking the photo wasn't very easy with all seven of us. There were just too many of us, Bree and Dani were hogging the screen, and someone – Calla – was too short to be anywhere but the front of the group. But eventually, we got it done.

"Sweet. First mission completed!" I grinned.

"Uh, not quite." I turned to look at Dani, but she was staring at the iced ring. "Look."

At first, I didn't know what she was talking about, but then, with a sickening click in my head, I realized exactly what the problem was: there was a crack in the ring, and the cloud inside it had disappeared. Roman and Riker had escaped.

"Mr. Davenport's not going to be happy about this." Calla commented, frowning at the ice ring.

And she was right.

Upon returning to the penthouse, and explaining what had happened, Davenport was furious.

"They got away?" He demanded. Everyone else was sitting on the couch or one of the various seats while I searched for a bottle of water in the kitchen.

"Yes, but this time, it was because we were too good of a team." Chase replied, grinning.

"Oh, and we have a very cute selfie that captured the exact moment they escape." Bree added, pulling out her phone and showing him the picture. Oliver looked over her shoulder, then nodded, smiling.

"That is a good one." He agreed. "You can't even see my ribs."

Davenport just looked at us, clearly wondering whether or not it would have been better to just scrap the entire Elite Force idea, rather than have the seven of us form it.

"Look, we've got to warn the rest of the superheroes and let them know they're being hunted." I reminded the others. We couldn't forget our mission.

"The good news is, Roman and Riker don't even know where they are, so we should be able to alert them first." Skylar added. Dani frowned at her.

"How? We don't even know where the survivors are, or how many." She reminded her. Skylar nodded.

"I know, but I have an idea about that." When she didn't elaborate, I figured she would let us know in the morning, or when it was time.

"Good, but it's still going to take some time." Chase told us. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

"Let's get some sleep." Calla suggested. "It sounds like we're going to need it."

I followed the others up the stairs, kissed Dani goodnight, then watched as everyone retired to their rooms.

This team wasn't perfect – I think that was obvious, given how our first day as a team went – but we were a team. And together, I really thought that we could stop Roman and Riker, and avenge everyone we lost in Mighty Med. If we didn't drive each other crazy first.

Xxx

Kihonne: Alright, so what did you guys think of the first chapter? Was it good, bad? Somewhere in between? You guys are the reason I write these stories, so any input is welcome, compliment or criticism. Anyway, here's the update schedule for the next few weeks:

January 16th – Holding Out for a Hero

January 23rd – Power Play

January 30th – The Superhero Code

Oh! And before I forget, if you guys have any ideas for original chapters, or prompts, or anything of the kind, please let me know. I've got a few slots open for original chapters, and knowing what you guys want to see will really help me in figuring out what to do for future chapters! Anyway, until next time, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to review!