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CHAPTER FIVE we are family
⋆*✧･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:
THE FIRST MISSION the Sparrow Academy ever went on was an operation to stop a bank robbery. The eight of them were thirteen years old, newly named—their father had tried to get Grace to do it for him, but they'd ended up doing it themselves—and in the worst stages of puberty. Jayme had started bleeding last month, making her an irritable mess, and Kadence's face was pockmarked with acne, no matter how much cream she slathered on. Alphonso and Ben were even more intolerable, Sloane had gotten into a habit of switching the gravity at dinner, and Fei was slowly turning her room into a creepy raven-dungeon. Even Christopher was a little wild, getting into far too many arguments with Marcus. Their father was about at his wit's end with all of them.
Yet, at its core, the team was still a team. Even when they were fighting over what they wanted for dinner that night or what movie to watch on the rare nights their father gave them a break, their barbs never went further than playful. They never shoved each other hard enough to hurt. They never pranked each other into tears.
That was how it had been, back then. So, they'd managed to get themselves together, following Marcus's lead. Kadence—who liked being Kadence instead of Number Eight, a name she'd chosen because of its meaning ("rhythm" or "flow"; quite literally musical in nature)—stood at attention, back straight, as she waited for the signal, the opportunity for her to spring into action. At thirteen years old, it had been years since she'd rebelled. Her father knew best, and so did Marcus—after all, he'd been appointed Number One for a reason.
Which meant that Kadence was Number Eight for a reason, too.
The robbery itself would've almost been cliché, if not for the eight super-teens interrupting it. The men had taken hostages; men, women, and children they'd tied up with duct tape and herded into the corner. They went through the vault with villainous glee, plundering as much money as they could. They were on top of the world.
At least, they were. Then Marcus went crashing through the skylight.
It only took three hours before the Sparrow Academy was being introduced to the world. And when Kadence had stood there, beaming, mask fitted over her face—they'd all worn them, back then—she'd known that there was something great ahead for her. For the team.
And, of course, there had been.
But not completely.
See, when Kadence had been standing there, sun in her eyes, facing a crowd of adoring fans, she'd pictured her future just as it had been in that moment—a unified group. Oh, sure, she'd always known that Marcus would be the leader (even if there was eventually a temporary transfer of power to Ben), but she'd believed that the hierarchy of their numbers didn't go any further than that. Just because Fei was Number Three and Kadence was Number Eight didn't mean that Fei was any better than her, right?
