Hawk and Dove

"Harder, faster, more often."

They decided that it would be better to have a more intimate meeting about their plans. The strange part was that everyone immediately started looking to Dan and Phil for orders. Dan didn't really consider them orders... more like suggestions that everyone followed no matter what. Even though they picked Dan and Phil to lead them, they knew they needed more opinions on their task at hand.

After Alfie asked what to do first, Phil suggested that everyone head back to their rooms in the meantime. There was no point to go to lessons or training block when they were going to change everything anyway. Carrie and Charlie volunteered to make sure everyone got back okay without trying anything funny. The last thing they needed were a bunch of preteens running away into the mountains. While that happened, Dan and Phil decided on who would help them out.

"Like a council?" Chris said, looking speculative.

Phil nodded. "Exactly. Like a cabinet of advisors to make sure Dan doesn't convince me to let him set everything on fire," he said.

Dan looked indignant. "I resent that, you twit."

The two of them seemed to agree on this without argument. Chris and PJ were their first choices, obviously. They went on to also pick Louise, Alfie, Zoe, Marcus, and Jenna. They were all ready to head back to Louise's office to discuss when Zoe piped up.

"Where's Jenna?"

Dan paused and looked around. Even amidst the dispersing crowd, Jenna couldn't be seen. She was tall and blonde; it wasn't easy to miss her. He wondered where she could have gone off to, but he was a bit worried considering how she reacted to the reveal. Frowning, Dan turned to Marcus. "Can you go see if you can find her, then meet us in the office?" he asked. Marcus nodded and hopped off the stage.

Phil inclined his head. "Right then, lets go," he said. Louise led the way up to her office. The door still had Dr. Hurley's plaque on it, and Dan ignored it as he walked into the room. Louise rolled the chair out from behind the desk and sat in between the two others that were previously left. Phil sat right on the desk and Dan decided to lean against it beside him, and the others found their own seats. And moments later they were all looking at Dan and Phil, and Dan realized he had no idea how to conduct a meeting.

"So," he started, a little awkwardly, "Who has ideas? Anyone?"

It was silent for a moment before Zoe cleared her throat. "I agree with your sentiment, Dan. I think we should take a more, well, aggressive approach to ending the mutant hunt," she said.

"I disagree, actually," stated Louise, "I think that would hurt our chances of getting our point across. They're afraid that we're dangerous, wouldn't attacking prove that sentiment?"

"But if we went in peacefully, they could just take us in if we don't fight," Alfie added.

"But fighting could start a war," Phil said, frowning.

"And I don't think a war of just us versus the British Armed Forces is going to be much of a fight," Chris agreed, shrugging his shoulders.

Dan sighed. "But this really isn't about us, is it? This is about people who are still out there being hunted down like criminals, and the people who have already been taken in could be getting cut open. It's already happened. Right, Louise?" He looked pointedly at her. She sunk down a bit and nodded. "See? She worked in the lab, guys. They needed mutant blood to fabricate the enzyme they're using to identify them now. We have to save them!"

There was silence for a few beats. "You're suggesting we become super heroes, Dan," Alfie said quietly.

Dan took a breath, sighing. Everyone had a good point; especially Phil. Going in fighting would look, to the general public, like they were dangerous monsters just as the prime minister told them. But without fighting, at least a bit, the captive mutants won't be released. Nor will the hunts stop. He felt like no one would want to hear what they have to say even if they did try getting a meeting with someone in power.