Ira clipped her phone back onto her belt, letting her cloak drop back down with her arm. She looked over to Ricardo, chugging back a beer on the couch while Joseph sat reading a book in the corner.

"Ricardo."

"Huh?"

"Stop drinking, you have a mission."

"This better be important." He set the can on the table, precariously close to the edge. Dozens of others stood stacked with plates and bowls on top, ready to topple at a moments notice. Empty bottles stood above the masses, like miniature skyscrapers.

"It is. It's something I unfortunately can't handle, so make sure you don't make a mistake."

"What is it? Go rob a preschool or something?"

"No. You need to infiltrate the university. We've got a target to capture."

"Kidnapping, close enough." He stood up. "You got a smoke?" He was looking at Ira with a dumb smirk plastered across his tilted face.

Ira grabbed him by the collar. "Get a hold of yourself, man. What the fuck are you doing? Joseph, make him sober or something!"

Joseph snapped his book shut, strutting over with a light scowl on his face. "I may be a doctor, but I am not a M.D."

"I don't care, just fix him. I can't send him off on an important mission like this."

"What's wrong with how I am? I'm not drunk. Unfortunately."

"Of course your drunk. You drank half my beers! Look at yourself!"

"If I'm drunk, then why can I still see his face. Still so disappointed. Goddammit!" Ricardo flung his arm through the piles of trash on the table, sending cans clattering across the room. Glass shattered and fell across the floor. A single plastic plate bounced off the wall.

He looked at his hand, blood streaming down from a small cut. He clenched his fist, muttering curses under his breath. "What's the mission again?"

"Joseph!"

Joseph put a hand on Ricardo, and after a moment, Ricardo plopped back onto the couch.

"Hey Ira," he said. "How would you feel if your boss sent someone to watch you carry out a mission in secret?"

"I'm sure he has."

"That's not an answer."

"I just do what I'm told. Unlike the good doctor here."

Joseph already had his nose back in his book.

"How can I convince him I'm capable enough, when he had someone watch me get beaten like that. What if he caught on to you two being here?"

"Then you stand the hell up. I'm tired of watching you sit here and mope all morning. We need to go get you on the way to the city already."

"Fine. What do I need to do exactly."

"First we need to choose a point for you to get sent back to when you get to the target. Then it's just go to the campus, and touch the target. That's it."

"Why can't you do it?"

"That's not the orders. Do I look like a student to you?"

"I don't really know why you couldn't be. Dr. Mendele could even make you look younger."

"If Joseph touches me, I'm killing him."

Joseph looked up from his book, confused. "What? What'd I do this time?"

"Steel your heart, Ricardo. There's a reason this is all for, right?"

"Yeah... Yeah, let's go." Ricardo stood up. "I hope I don't see Maria while I'm there. It'll be a little hard to explain."

***

Maria was sitting on the grass next to a napping Nero. She was gazing across the field from under the shade of a building. She spotted something unusual. It was someone who looked just like Ricardo, except in clean clothes and a backpack. He was walking along on the other side of the field, looking around somewhat frantically. The similarity was too close. She stood up, leaving Nero there as she walked out into the bright sunlight on the field.

She turned invisible as she stepped out into the light, watching a few people around her do a double take before shrugging it off. She carefully maneuvered through the grass, avoiding the light traffic of the walkways entirely.

She was close enough to hear him talking now. It was definitely Ricardo, it sounded just like him. He seemed to be talking to himself, only uttering a few words at a time. She let her invisibility fall away, and followed carefully behind him, shimmering out of existence whenever he started turning.

"Not here," he said, looking at a group of students sitting around in the shade of a tree.

He wandered off, slowly peering through students as he passed by, clearly looking for someone. Maria carefully followed along, dodging around people as she weaved after her brother. She wanted to call out to him, but the words were stuck behind her curiosity. The sparse people picked up for a moment, flooding towards the buildings as the time ticked closer to the hour.

Ricardo fumbled around in his pocket, pulling out a small headset. He quickly hung it over his ear, and pushed the mic towards his mouth. "Hey, it's almost one, where am I headed?"

He picked up his pace, without looking at the people around him anymore.

"Where's that?" Ricardo asked, stopping as he spoke.

He looked around at the sky for a moment, before pointing directly away from where he had been going. He briskly moved on, having marked his objective.

Ricardo continued to talk into the headset. "What's he look like again? Yeah I know there was a picture. It's good to double check though."

He was looking for someone, and it wasn't her. Her heart dropped. She followed along behind him, towards the same building that she would have gone to anyways. Her invisibility began to flutter as her heart started beating out of her chest. She managed to calm down as he turned around, staying perfectly still as she focused on maintaining it.

***

Nero stumbled into class, still half asleep. He looked around trying to spot Maria, since she had went on ahead without him again. He had even bumbled around in their usual spot to try and find her this time.

He didn't see her. As he sat down, he reached over into the air of her desk, expecting her to just appear there. Once he was sure she was not there, he slumped back into his desk, pulling out his phone. He decided against sending her a text.

Mr. Virzi walked in, with a stack of loose papers in hand. "Good afternoon class!"

"Good afternoon..." said the cascade of mumbling.

"Good enough. As you can see, I have some papers here. Aren't you all excited?" he asked, really emphasizing the sarcasm. "Yeah me neither. This is a test the dean has forced me to give you, on short notice I might add. I say test, but it's more like, a questionnaire? Just fill it out and hand it back to me so I can get on with the lesson."

A knock came to the door. Mr. Virzi walked over with a puzzled look, before opening the door. In stepped a young man, with short brown hair and tan skin.

"Are you lost young man?" Mr. Virzi asked.

"Hello. Are you Mr. Virzi?"

"Yeah? What are you doing here?"

"I'm a new transfer student. Nice to meet you."

"I didn't get a notice about a transfer student. What's your name?"

"Hmm, Ricky." He looked over the room, locking his eyes onto Nero immediately.

"Last name?"

"Rogers?"

"I'm going to check the computer. You can go have a seat in the meantime."

"Thank you."

As the transfer student went straight towards him, Nero frantically glanced between him and the empty chair. Most of the class watched as he walked to the back of the room, murmuring under their breath.

"Sorry, this seat is taken. My friend sits here." Nero said, reaching over to the chair.

Ricardo reached up, tapping onto his headset. "I'm here. Yeah, that's enough."

"Hey transfer student. You aren't on the roster. Are you sure you have the right class?" Mr. Virzi asked, looking up across the room.

Ignoring Mr. Virzi, Ricardo reached forward, right towards Nero's arm. As he was about to grab it, his hand stopped, with the skin of his forearm rippling slightly. Maria slowly appeared, as splotches of her came into existence, she had grabbed onto his arm.

"What are you doing here?"

"Maria? What are you-"

They disappeared in a flash of purple light. Instantly gone. Mr. Virzi practically sprinted towards Nero looking around.

"Nero, what just happened? Where's that boy? Are you alright?"

"I- I don't know. There was Maria, and they just... disappeared."

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Thank god. Anyone else hurt?" He looked around as mumbling erupted throughout the class. His broad figure rapidly spun around, leaving a warm gust as he jerked his head back and forth across the class.

Nero reached up, touching his arm. It was like touching an inferno, nearly singeing his fingertips. He pulled away, wincing. He let out a soft click of his tongue and a slight groan.

"What is it?" Mr. Virzi asked, turning around.

"Maria was there, she disappeared with him."

He stormed off down the isle. "Fuck! Class is cancelled. Go home everyone. I've got something to take care of."

He slammed the door as he left the class stunned behind him.

***

Ricardo and Maria appeared, surrounded by four men with rifles, geared up in full black armor.

"Mission failure! At ease!" Ricardo shouted at them. They lowered their guns, standing idle.

"Maria!" he continued shouting. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Maria looked at the four men, then around at the rest of the room. It was a familiar sight in District 13, a dusty room, with not even insects crawling around in the corners. Broken rows of hydroponic troughs sat against the walls, pushed away from the center. Their lights still hung above the center of the room, broken and dark. "I do now," she answered.

"Good. You've wasted our opportunity! Reflect on this."

"No. I saved my friend from an idiot! Look. What you are doing? Is this anyway for us to live? There's no way Father put you up to this. Who are you working with?"

"Why do you have to bring him up? What does he have to do with this?"

Maria slapped Ricardo. "Wake up! You are ruining everything I'm working towards! Do you think I could just continue on like nothing happened once you strolled into my class to abduct someone? What's wrong with you? Where is my caring brother?"

"I do care!" He slammed his hand onto one of the metal pillars. "That's why I'm doing this."

"You only care about yourself!"

"Shut up!" He threw his headset to the floor, stomping on it. "I'm doing this for you. You know? This is so I can get you out of this shithole, and so you can live a life of peace."

"If you cared about getting me out, you'd let me get my degree. Not whatever this is."

"Fine." Ricardo sat down on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Sit down, get comfortable. We have to wait out the IMB."

"Can't I just go home?"

"The stairs are out about five floors down."

Maria ran over to the side of the building, grabbing onto a pillar as she looked out. The sun, still high in the sky, gave a fantastic view of the disheveled district below her. "What floor are we on?"

"The thirty-seventh."

One of the four men walked up to Ricardo. "Excuse me, Captain, the lieutenant is calling for you."

"Tell her the mission was a failure. I'm sure she has something to fix because of that."

"Yes sir."

The man turned away, pressing a finger against his headset as Ricardo slumped down on the floor.