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The soldiers had apparently got quite close to the school during the attack. There were piles of rubble where walls had been broken through and the grass in front of the school had been churned up but the main building itself seemed untouched.

When Matthias led them into the gym, Alexandra rose to her feet and extended her hands to Peter. “Welcome. I hope you don’t get into trouble for helping us.” She looked even older and more harmless than usual and had obviously done herself up to emphasize her age.

“I do as well,” he said. “But some things have to be done and I have somewhere to run if I need to. I’m more worried about my men.”

Alexandra nodded and turned to the reporters. “It might not be safe for you either.”

“We know,” the woman said. “But it’s our job.”

“Okay,” Alexandra said. “I’ve sent for Ian. As soon as he’s here we’ll get set up and begin.”

“Can this Ian really stop them cutting us off?” The reporter asked.

“Oh yes,” Alexandra nodded. “Quite easily. The young man is remarkably talented.”

“That’s good and yet somehow scary,” she said. “But it’ll scare them as well.”

“As will the fact you beat back my men with ease,” Peter said. “Hopefully it won’t make them do something stup–” He looked around as Jean groaned and clutched his head. “Jean?”

“My head hurts again,” he complained. “It keeps doing that.”

Sarah rushed to the private’s side and took his hand. “He’s an ember,” she said after a moment. “And the crack in the sky is starting to affect him.” She led him to one side. “I’ll fix this right now but didn’t you know?”

“Ember?” Peter asked.

“It’s what we call people with powers that are latent rather then active,” she said.

“Oh, no I never checked, to be honest. I should have done.”

“Yes,” she said. “Oh, and there’s at least one more latent in army – probably more but one we know of.”

“Among my men?” Peter asked.

“No; you know the incident where we grabbed the girl and fought the interloper? The young man who realised Jenny was still asleep.”

“Hmm… I’ll see what I can do but that will be more difficult since he’s not under my command.”

“I know,” she said. “Hopefully tonight will help us get on a better footing so we can deal with the real enemies.” She turned her attention back to Jean as the reporters started to set up their cameras.

A moment later, the female reporter’s phone rang. She stared at it for a moment before motioning for silence and answering it. Her eyes narrowed as she listened to whoever was on the other end. “We’ll be doing our report soon,” she said before listening again. “What am I going to say? The truth of course.” She listened again. “No, you are not emailing me a script.” She paled as she listened some more but her voice when she spoke again was calm. “Maybe I’ll tell the world that as well. I have recorded this, you know.” She shut the phone off before looking up at them. “They just threatened my family! How dare they!”

“Did you really record it?” Alexandra asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I thought they were going to threaten me but I never thought they’d threaten my family.”

“Good,” Alexandra said. “We’ll use that in the broadcast as well.” She looked around as Ian stepped through a portal. “Okay, let’s do this.”

—

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