The Black Phoenix

Chapter Twenty-Four: Sky Summit

Adam felt dizzy. He leaned back against the strong glass wall, gripping the handrail. The fang around his neck suddenly felt heavy against his chest, a reminder of his shadowy and shifting allegiances between his friends and the Black Phoenix. And now Jaisla, completely unexpectedly, had the heart of the dragon.

"I'm going to have a fucking heart attack," Reiko cried as the others expressed shock at what Caelestis just shared. "How much crazy shit is going to happen within 24 hours?!"

Elaine, usually even tempered and pleasant natured, cursed fantastically, momentarily causing all the other captains to look at her. She cleared her throat, turning red. "Sorry."

"I'm sorry," Kush said, half-jokingly. "I didn't know you knew those words."

"Has she told the PL's?" Madoc demanded, re-focusing the conversation.

Caelestis shook her head. "I—I—don't think so," she stuttered, wide eyed. "She's... she's such a brat! A complete brat! We don't have time for this. We don't. We... We have to focus on Cornelius. That's our priority," she said, almost to herself. "We can deal with the heart—and Jaisla— later."

"Thank you," Eiji said quietly.

The elevator doors opened right into Sky Summit, the captain's council room, right at the top of the White Crown College tower. It was a circular room surrounded by glass walls, providing them with a panoramic view of the city. This morning, cold winter mist hid most of the city. Adam found this comforting, usually he felt queasy seeing how they were.

The eight captains sat in their respective chairs around the glass d.Table, inserting their individual d.Eyes into the divots. The surface of the d.Table glowed, divided by nine colours. Red was slightly dull, as there was no representative from the Cardinal division.

Adam took the lead as the meeting host. He glanced quickly at Caelestis, who gave a promissory nod. "I'd like to set up a visual timeline," he said. "Last night, Caelestis, Madoc, and I came to a possible conclusion that many people will suspect the Black Phoenix is behind this—"

"Obviously," Reiko said.

"No," Adam said cuttingly. "Not obviously. Please let me finish." Kush put a hand over Reiko's. Reiko closed her mouth, crossing her arms. "People will suspect this is the Black Crown, the Black Phoenix. But we each have reason to believe it would be a huge mistake, not to mention a waste of precious resources, to pursue this idea."

Adam looked to Madoc. They had only quickly shared what had happened last night, focusing their energy and attention on helping Caelestis organize search parties. They had agreed to wait until they were here in Sky Summit, with the other captains, to go into detail.

Raheem hummed in agreement, nodding his head. "I know we've spent the past few years looking for her, but this doesn't feel the same as what we're used to."

"It's not her MO," Adam went on. "She's not a kidnapper. She takes down kidnappers. She's a thief, she exposes people, she's borderline dangerous, but she's never actually hurt anyone or put them in a cruel situation unless they did it to someone first. And she would have mentioned it in that broadcast. She always leaves cryptic declarations of what she's planning to do. She never hinted at kidnapping anyone, let alone the Prime Minister's son."

"Last night was an absolute mess," Madoc said. "Let us fill you in."

Reiko rolled her eyes. "It's always those three," she muttered to Raheem. Adam shot her a look and she clamped her mouth shut.

"Please begin, Madoc," Caelestis said definitively, and everyone turned their attention to Madoc.

He took a deep breath, giving Adam a quick nod to let him know to start taking notes. Adam quickly readied himself to key into his d.Scroll the timeline of events, replicated on the large Holo.Screen at the front of the room so everyone could follow.