Cameron paced outside the hospital room worried. Easton sat on a chair outside with his head in his hand. His unit was equally worried about her. Ben was near a breaking point.

“You know, every time Astrid ends up in the hospital,” said Easton. “I end up fearing that she might not make it. That this time be the last.”

“She’ll make it,” said Ben. “She has to. She’s strong.”

“She lost a lot of blood,” said Cameron as she looked up with tear-stained eyes. “And she was so pale, if you had seen her.”

“What the news on my sister?” asked Easton as the doctor walked out of the room.

“Well, Mr. …” said Dr. Daniels.

“Morgan,” said Easton.

“Well, Mr. Morgan, Astrid is stable and resting,” said Dr. Daniels. “But she is still regaining her energy, so only a few people can visit her at a time.”

Easton wanted so bad to go in there and check on his sister to see if she was okay. He decided to do the responsible thing.

“How many people can go in there at a time?” asked Easton.

“She can see four people at a time,” Said Dr. Daniels. “Just don’t stress her out too much.”

Easton decided to take her other brothers and Cameron inside to see her.

“Hey… East,” said Astrid.

“Hey… how’s the stab wound doing?” asked Easton.

“The doctor says I am doing fine,” said Astrid. “In a few days that I will be good to go.”

Easton had a relieved look.

“You do know that being the sentinel means that my powers heal me and the others,” said Astrid.

Cameron stepped out from behind Easton. She was even surprised to Frank and Cole.

“We came as soon as we heard,” said Frank.

“We’re so glad you are okay,” said Cole. “I guess you really haven’t retired from the career. Mom and dad would have come but they figured you would come when you are ready.”

“I will visit them later,” said Astrid.

After everyone else had cleared out, Cameron sat with Astrid talking calmly.

“What you said in there about them inside there,” said Cameron. “Did you really mean it?”

“I did,” said Astrid.

“But there’s more…” said Cameron.

Astrid took a deep breath. “There is more. When I was ten in Gatlon, I accidentally traveled to the future and what I saw was the world destroyed and I guess I fear either me or Nightfall doing something terrible if the other dies.”

“You mean if both of you die,” said Cameron. “There will be no one left to protect the world.”

“I have told him that we should delink ourselves. It is a risk having our powers linked together,” said Astrid.

“I’m only going to say this once,” said Cameron. “Your link makes the two of you stronger and possibly makes you two the best team ever. It is a risk, but you’ve seen that guy… he might be a little overprotective.”

“A little…” said Astrid.

“If you talk to him about it,” said Cameron. “I am sure you can work it out, but you should deal with it before you completely lose Luis and Nightfall.”

“I guess you are right,” said Astrid. “When did you become so wise with boy advice?”

“I’ve had my own boy drama,” said Cameron. “Get some rest, love you, big sister.”

When she woke up the next morning, Nightfall was leaning against the door. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt and dark black jeans but was still wearing the mask.

“Sorry about finding out your identity like that,” said Nightfall.

Astrid blinked. Really? That was what he was worried about the most. She supposed it was something to worry about but that was not one of the things on her mind right now.

“That is not even at the top of the thing of what is worrying me about… us. But if you are worried about,” said Astrid. “I know I was not ready to tell you who I really was and that is because I was insecure about my own past… but I trust you with my identity. I mean, I trust you with my life and I always come to you when something is troubling me. You know me better sometimes than I know myself.”

He smiled. “Good. I’m glad you are getting better.”

“Hey… can we talk later when I get released?” asked Astrid.

“Sure… whenever you want to talk,” said Nightfall.

Luis stepped in next. “How are you doing?”

“Tired of the hospital,” said Astrid. “I can’t get good enough sleep in here. Only one more night to bear.”

“Back there…” said Luis. “What you said. That was really nice.”

“I want to talk about it,” said Astrid. “But later… I need time to process and think about it.”

He nodded. “Whenever you are ready… I don’t want to push you to talk about it.”

The next morning, she was discharged by her mother, and she went to stay at her parent’s house. The house always made things comfortable. It was another week before she had been medically approved to walk around with a boot.

“She could come with us,” said Astrid. “To recover and rehabilitation at the military base.”

“Actually, I was thinking if I could stick around,” said Astrid as she looked at Easton. “I don’t think I am ready to go back to the S.A.S. yet, so I was wondering if I could stay at home and help Cammie with her homework, meet her friends and it would give me a place to work on things.”

“Okay,” said Joseph. “I’m okay with that.”

“I am too,” said Katherine. “It would give me more time to hang out with my eldest daughter and perhaps help her with whatever she is working on.”

“I guess that is settled then,” said Joseph.

“Good because I have to go help a friend with something,” said Astrid. “I’ll be home later on.”

She was out of the door within a split second and Joseph watched her go as Easton crunched on his cereal.

“You know when she is not in the field. She is deadly obvious when she wants to avoid talking about something,” said Easton.

“She does not have to be on guard around us,” said Joseph. “So, she does not try have to intentionally have to try with us. She was like that too when I was training her. Give her time.”

“How long?” asked Easton.

“However long she needs,” said Joseph. “If she doesn’t want to open up about whatever is bothering her, then perhaps she has her reasons.”

The headquarters of the shadows were under a particular business complex. Well, the shadows had multiple headquarters but this one was probably the closest.

“Well, look who is back,” said Andy.

“Hey, Andy…” said Astrid with a smile on her face and hugged him. “And I haven’t had need to come back to headquarters in a while.”

“Finally need to catch up on those reports, then?” asked Andy as he put two test tubes away.

“Oh… I usually have Crawley deliver those,” said Astrid. “And no… I have completed those, but I wanted to see how the search for Kurst, and the other board members is going.”

“Well, our boss is waiting for you,” said Andy.

Astrid climbed up the glass staircase towards the offices which were on the upper floor. She had not been able to return to the building ever since she had been captured.

Nigel Byrne, the former head of the C.I.A., and a friend of her father’s when he was an agent was the head of the organization. They had a good relationship and he trusted her. Though, she figured it must be a tad uncomfortable at the top.

“Come in,” said Nigel. He was going through some paperwork and files when she stepped in. “I am glad to hear you are well. Your recent hospital visit gave us all a scare but your operation leading to that visit did provide us with a lot of information.”

“It did?” asked Astrid.

“Yes, and even though you lost, Kurst…” said Nigel.

Astrid looked down ashamed that she had slipped up and let Kurst get away.

“Astrid… it was not your fault. Kurst used your emotions against you,” said Nigel. “Even the best of us can’t account for everything. Anyway, even though, he escaped… thanks to the tracker you placed on him.”

“What about the other members?” asked Astrid.

“Astrid… we are working on it. Want to tell me what you have been doing the past few months?” asked Nigel. “I know you have your own hero team, so might as well get on with it and we may be able to help you.”

“I don’t think you can guys can help me, and Nightfall beat a intergalactic conqueror who happens to be backing the Circle,” said Astrid. “What he does not know is that our powers have to be in sync to even match his level.”

“You have not told him, that’s not going to end well,” said Nigel.

“I’m the only who has access to the Cryptex and there are other things going on between us for him to know that I am keeping more than one secret from him,” said Astrid.

“Does he know you have the Cryptex and the key to it,” said Nigel.

“He does,” said Astrid. “And we both agreed that only one of us should know where it is at all times. I am meeting him this evening for patrol.”

“But before that, we are having an important talk,” said Astrid. “Am I dismissed?”

“Yes,” said Nigel. “And Astrid, get some decent sleep tonight.”

It was evening time and her mother had made her vegetarian lasagna which was good. Astrid was pacing in her room. She had called both Nightfall and Luis. She needed to get this out and tell them.

“So… how have you been doing?” asked Nightfall.

“Jesus, don’t do that again,” said Astrid. “And I am doing fine, I am out of the hospital but being at home. God, I hate being in house arrest.”

“Nice room,” said Nightfall.

“Thanks,” said Astrid. “My sister designed it for me.”

“It’s kind of big for one person,” said Nightfall. “What do you do in here anyway?”

“I relax, I draw and I read,” said Astrid. “The rest of my secrets you will have to find out later.”

“You called me,” said Luis as he waved his phone at her.

“Yes. I needed to talk to both of you,” said Astrid. “Thank you for coming. So… about what I said in there, I meant it. All of it. I talked with my sister, and I realized that I haven’t completely honest with either of you.”

“Take your time,” said Nightfall.

“My sister said I need to be honest about my own feelings with myself,” said Astrid. “And… she was right. I was not being honest with myself because I was scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“When I was ten, I accidentally traveled through time and saw the end of the world,” said Astrid. She picked up sketchpad and began sketching. “It was pretty terrifying for me to see back then. The world in ruins and everything enveloped in black flames.”

“Terrifying,” said Luis.

“It was… and being ten, my parents guaranteed it would never come to that,” said Astrid. “And that was Nox’s power those black flames. When I found out, your abilities were like his.”

“You panicked… you know I wouldn’t,” said Nightfall.

“I know that now, believe me. But you would for me… if anything happened to me,” said Astrid. “And that scared me. I was dealing with a lot back then, still not able to grieve the loss of a friend and that’s when I met Luis.”

“He believed in me despite my dubious past,” said Astrid with crossed hands. “And I fell in love with him.”

“But hiding your feelings took a toll on you, didn’t it?” said Luis. “You know I wouldn’t have been mad at you. I would have understood.”

“Please don’t be mad at me,” said Astrid.

“I’m not mad but if you really love Nightfall, then you should be with him. And Astrid, sometimes love is worth that risk. I want you two to be happy.”

“Thanks, Luis,” said Astrid.

“So… a date?” asked Nightfall.

“Uh… sorry, I still have to work but maybe tomorrow would be nice,” said Astrid.

“Uh my real name—”

“Just because I trust you with mine,” said Astrid. “Doesn’t mean I agree to knowing yours. It still is not safe.”

“Tomorrow night. After patrol, wear something nice and don’t be late.”

“If it is after patrol, I will just meet you at the location.”

“So, when did you fall in love with me?” asked Nightfall.

“Not right now,” said Astrid. “I basically goaded Nox to coming after me. Have you ever goaded an intergalactic terrorist to come after you?”

“No… that seems like something only you would do,” said Nightfall.

“He won’t make a sudden decision to come after me, but he is going to come after the city,” said Astrid.

“And not after you,” said Nightfall.

“He is not dumb enough to come after me,” said Astrid. “By now, he has probably learned that you all are watching my back currently.”

“How would he—”

“He’s an intergalactic conqueror with the power of destruction,” said Astrid. “And he has resources that we simply do not have handy.”

“What does he have that we don’t?” asked Nightfall.

“Years of experience,” said Astrid.

“We have experience,” said Nightfall.

“Not as much as he does,” said Astrid. “He’s had his ability since long back before I was even born. He also has a number of supporters on his side and intergalactic technology that he has collected from planets he has conquered.”

“You really are worried about this?” asked Nightfall.

“He tried to kill me when I was five years old and then again when I was fifteen, so recently…”

“Three years ago,” said Nightfall. “You didn’t tell me.”

“It did not seem important at the time,” said Astrid. “And now it does.”

“My point is unless we get next level back up. We are so screwed,” said Astrid.

“Were you always this pessimistic?” asked Nightfall.

“See you tomorrow, Night,” said Astrid. “That was a friend of mine. There is no signature or trace of anything that resembles interdimensional energy.”

“What are you looking for a staging area?” asked Nightfall with crossed hands. “Or something.”

“If they are already operating on Earth, they could be operating out of a certain location that covers their tracks,” said Astrid.

“Found it,” said Caleb. “But it is not in this city. You are going to have to travel a little bit.”

“We are,” said Astrid. “We are going to Paris.”

The plane ride was long and there was plenty of time to talk about things. They were flying commercial to Paris.

“I still don’t think that this a good idea,” said Astrid. “It’s better if one of us only knows who the other is.”

“Hey… look at me, we are going to be okay,” said Nightfall as he took her hand and squeezed it. “Besides, I trust you with my life.”

He took off his mask and Astrid gasped realizing that she already knew the person.

“Dante?” asked Astrid. “Seriously, my partner in my espionage career is my partner in vigilantism. But… honestly, I am not surprised.”

“Special Agent Astrid Morgan,” said Dante. “I should have known you would never leave the action behind.”

“And it’s not about the action, Special Agent Pertuz.”

“Then what is it about?” asked Dante.

“Doing what I can to keep the world spinning,” said Astrid as she closed her flip phone. “That was Lena. She was confirming our place in the safehouse.”

“So, your family is rich?” asked Dante.

“Ha… no, I mean yes. I have an inheritance, but I have not touched it,” said Astrid. “I know you are though. I read your personnel file when you joined. I taught most of the recruits.”

“Yeah, but my dad was mostly never around,” said Dante.

“Sorry,” said Astrid. “But I guess it is better than growing up without one.”

“Sorry,” said Dante.

“Don’t apologize. I am only glad you are with me in helping getting justice for him after all these years,” said Astrid. The private jet belonged to the organization. “And I don’t need people to apologize every time I mention what happened to my father.”

The flight was long. Astrid read her book for most of the ride and he slept most of the time. They landed twenty hours later. Astrid stretched as they got out of the plane.

“Where are we staying?” asked Dante.

The drive was short. Dante watched Astrid closely in the safehouse apartment. They had not been in the room for more than four hours.

“Stop staring,” said Astrid. “We have not officially started dating yet.”

“I am just wondering how you made assassin friends,” said Dante as he paced in the room.

“It was a hard time after my best friend died and I became estranged with my stepparents. I could not go home, and I simply had nowhere to go,” said Astrid as she got up. “I pulled a lot of strings to find about who my parents were. I just so happened to be played by Havoc.”

“What happened?” asked Dante as he got up to move to the couch. “Tell me.”

“By that time, my dad was a spy,” said Astrid. “Though, I had no idea what he was investigating when he died, and I had no idea that they were involved. They said my father worked for them, was an assassin… I hadn’t known at that time that he was working undercover for MI6 at the time.”

“Good agent.”

“Very,” said Astrid. “It’s why he was assigned to investigate them… it got him killed.”

“Why did you take that case?” asked Dante.

“I found a lead that my father did not,” said Astrid. “And I had already interacted with them. So, I was not going to be in more danger than I already was.”

“But you didn’t have to be working on this alone… Ari, you could have told me,” said Dante.

“I didn’t want you to get in trouble,” said Astrid. “You would have gotten fired, and you were a good friend. So, I kept my mouth shut about telling you what I was up to.”

“You lied to protect me.”

“You have not slept a wink since we got out here,” said Dante as he sat up. “And coffee won’t keep you up constantly.”

“Then, what should I do?” asked Astrid.

“Talk to me… what is keeping you up at night?”

“How do you know that I have not been sleeping right?” asked Astrid.

“You have this habit,” said Dante. “I remember that one night after a particularly hard villain. I saw you on a rooftop not too far from my house and I talked you out of your state.”

“I think I know their source, information about us,” said Astrid. “And I can’t believe I was blind to not seeing it before but… I did not want to believe it was him.”

“Him who?”

“My former apprentice,” said Astrid. “He was somewhat troubled but excelled pretty well at learning everything I taught him.”

“Why do I sense a but…”

“He was impatient,” said Astrid. “He always wanted to go out in the field and fight crime with me. So, one day… I thought he was ready. It was supposed to be a small case. A couple of missing children and a politician.”

“Politician,” said Dante. “I thought you hated politicians.”

“It was also missing kids,” said Astrid. “And it was supposed to be easy, but Fear Career had set a trap.”

They were staking out a building complex across the street. She had decided to recount her life story to him.

“We found the children but the boat they had been kept on had been rigged,” said Astrid. “With explosives. After I got the kids to safety, I searched for days and hours looking for him but eventually I had to give up.”

“And now you think that he might still be alive and out there,” said Dante.

“I taught him all my tricks, Dante. I know it is him.”

“You think he might be mad at you about abandoning him,” said Dante.

“I didn’t abandon him but yes, I assumed he was dead,” said Astrid. “I had to stop searching for him and focus my attentions somewhere else. Now, I wish I had looked longer. Maybe, he would not have ended up going down the wrong path.”

“Or he would have, anyway,” said Dante. “There’s no way for you to know.”

“Certainly would not have ended up working for the wrong group of people,” said Astrid.

“You did,” said Dante.

“And I regret my decision every day,” said Astrid. “I was forced to grow up too fast and I did not want the same thing for him. Nor do I want it for my current apprentice.”

“Is that you did not chose to tell him where you were heading?” asked Dante.

“So… he would not try to follow me and put himself in danger, yes,” said Astrid. “I don’t blame myself for what happened all those years ago. He probably does.”

“Astrid…”

“Don’t,” said Astrid. “I should have known what kind of villain Fear Career was and that there must have been a trap. I had to make the call to the parents when the police nor I could have found him.”

She stepped outside and put her hands on the railing taking a deep breath. The memories surfaced. She remembered telling the parents about what happened to him and the expressions on their faces. She refused to work with anyone for months.

“I don’t blame you,” said a voice behind her. “I never did.”

Astrid wiped around to see Sean standing there with his hands raised in surrender.

“You never did find a body, did you?” asked Sean.

“The police told me I had to stop searching,” said Astrid. “But I searched for days and weeks, Sean. I searched the deck for days and weeks looking for you.”

“I wanted to prove myself to you,” said Sean.

“You had nothing to prove to me,” said Astrid. “Fear Career was the second most terrifying villain I had dealt with in years, and I wanted to protect you from Fear Career.”

“I want to help,” said Sean.

“Last time, I did not have the gut to say no. This time I do have the courage to tell you no,” said Astrid. “I have the gut to say no this time.”

“I have information,” stated Sean.

Astrid took the paper. “Thanks. And no, I have not changed my mind. You still are not coming. Dante, are you ready yet?”

They were on the way to the base.

“You going to tell me what that was about?” asked Dante.

“Dead apprentice happens to be alive,” said Astrid. “What else is there to say?”

“His ‘death’ really seemed to impact you,” said Dante.

Astrid checked her magazine and then turned toward him. He gently put his hand on hers to calm her down.

“I was responsible for his life when I took him under my wing,” said Astrid. “I can still remember the expressions on his parents faces when I had to give them the news. So, yes… it’s a shock to me.”

“You know, you can’t always protect him,” said Dante.

“I know…” said Astrid. “I don’t want him to get hurt again, Dante. Only god knows what Fear Career did to him. I should never have given up on looking for him.”

“And that’s why you are a good mentor,” said Dante. “To Sean… to Noah.”

Astrid snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“You think they would have come out this strong without your help or guidance,” said Dante as she turned her around to face him. “Strong enough to survive whatever trauma was presented to them in their lives, Ari. You did that. You made them strong enough to survive.”

“Thank you, Dante,” said Astrid. “I think we are here.”

“The warehouse is empty,” said Dante.

“But that is the transmat portal,” said Astrid pointing to the huge arch-shaped object at the control pad. “And this is what activates it when the time comes.”

“Can’t we disable it?” asked Dante.

“If I could, I would be doing that right now,” said Astrid as she looked at the control pad. “But… no. It seems they are using my father’s modified design.”

“Modified design?”

Astrid handed him the small leather notebook from her pocket. He took it and flipped through the pages until he found something that matched what they were looking.

“It’s the translated version of my dad’s original notes,” said Astrid. “Read the notes.”

“Your dad was a genius,” said Dante.

“Thank you,” said Astrid. “The transmat portal he designed was to help refugees from other planets like him.”

“Go on,” continued Dante.

“Give them another chance to escape war,” said Astrid as she snuck around back. “Or hostile environments. The model was not finished which probably means I have no way of knowing of how to dismantle this. Hypothetically, they could get three warships through this portal whenever they wanted to. It is not looking good.”

“Do you think he could bring armies?” asked Dante.

“No, I know he could. We are going to need more reinforcements,” said Astrid as she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. “I need to talk to some people.”

Astrid was still talking on her phone to her friend when they got back into the safehouse. She finished the conversation on her phone with her contact.

“That was Walker,” said Astrid. “He is going to see if we can get an army of our own.”

“Walker?”

“One of my fellow classmates at Havoc,” said Astrid. “He was letting me know that he had a plan. I am exhausted but I don’t think that he is going to make his move soon.”

“Good… because then you have some time to relax,” said Dante.

“Dante…” said Astrid.

“You’re going to redesign a portal to not work. You are going to be needing a little break,” said Dante.

Astrid looked up from the journal. “We might not have to. The design in the warehouse was not complete. Nox must have been working from memory.”

“From memory,” said Dante.

“Memory,” stated Astrid. “There was only one time he could have possibly seen it.”

“When?”

“When he killed my father,” said Astrid. “My dad must have been carrying his notebook with him.”

She dialed her best friend, Eleanor Bishop. She was their technology expert and analyst. They were back in Gatlon by the end of the week.

“That model does not work,” said Astrid as she got up from the computer. “He was trying to keep us from figuring out how to track him. The transmat device was to mask his signature, so that we could not find him. I am working on tracking his location.”

“So… what now?” asked Sean. He exchanged glances with Noah, who was her current apprentice.

“Hypothetically, we find him… however, I still do believe he is up to something,” said Astrid. She turned around and paced across the room. “He would not create a redirect if we were not to follow through.”

She took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down while talking through the group. Nox was trying to get her agitated, she was not going to let it happen.

They did not get much done currently. Astrid sat in her room sketching… it helped her get her mind of the time she was held in Italy. It was midnight and everyone else in the house was asleep. She heard rustling by the window.

“Can you ever come through the door, Dante?” asked Astrid as he climbed through the window. “You might as well come in through the front door since I know who you are.”

“No… coming through the window is fun,” said Dante. “Want to tell me what happened in the squad room?”

“Nothing happened,” said Astrid.

“Nothing happened, really?” asked Dante.

“Nothing, sometimes when you have to think like these nut-jobs. It messes you up in the mind,” said Astrid. “Thinking about Nox brings back bad memories. He’s playing games with me, and I am letting him get to me. Did you visit my room to judge because I nearly exploded in the squad room?”

“No… I wanted to see if you were okay,” said Dante. He sat down on the opposite side of her bed. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” said Astrid. “And while I was at home, I found something that might seem interesting to us. I mean, something really interesting.”

“Alright, show me,” said Dante.

“Just a minute, umm… can you turn around for a minute?” said Astrid, as she pulled out her nightdress from her drawer and closed it. “I need to change.”

“Oh… um, right,” said Dante.

Astrid removed her shirt and changed into a loose shirt and some shorts. Her dark blue eyes shifted to look at his green eyes as she turned around.

“So, what did you want to tell me?” asked Dante.

Astrid blinked yawning. “Right… it took me hours to figure this out but bear with me... I have been living on energy drinks for hours.”

“Have you gotten any sleep?” asked Dante.

“Not since last night,” said Astrid. “Anyway, I was wondering how he seemed to know what we would do before we did.”

“He can’t tell the future like you do?” asked Dante as he took off his shoes.

“Err… no, as far as I know, I am the only one with that ability,” said Astrid. “And trust me, it is not a gift. I have lost hours of sleep because of that.”

“You look that way too,” said Dante as he walked around her and placed a paper bag on her table.

“Yes,” said Dante as he came to sit down on her bed. “I thought that you could use fried sugary goodness in your life right about now. You eat donuts, right?”

“I do,” said Astrid. “It’s like he knows what we are planning on what we are doing before we do it. I think there is a sleeper agent within the Shadows working for him.”

“How will we find out who it is,” said Dante. “I mean, we are the only ones who can possibly suspect who exactly it is.”

“I have a couple of friends within the organization,” said Astrid. “That… I can trust. We can also trust the people on our hero team but otherwise, trust no one else.”

“Agreed,” said Dante. “You know I am a special agent too, right, Ari?”

“I am aware,” said Astrid.

“Do we trust our boss?” asked Dante.

“Yeah… we trust our boss,” said Astrid. “But no one other than who I have recommended.”

“Understood… and Astrid, you are not alone in this,” said Dante as their hands touched. She pulled her hand back and he frowned. “We are all here for you.”

“If only it was that simple…” said Astrid.