Interrupting her school day, Lena is dragged off to a Checkmate mission where she meets two other pawns and finds her leadership tested. It's really the aftermath that shows things are headed to a boil. This fic is a prequel to the first book in the Next of Kin series. If you haven't read that yet please do not continue. This contains spoilers. If you've read NoK, well, here's the sixth of several short pieces of some backstory I plan to post. I hope it helps to flesh out some of these characters and fills in some questions for you all. The prequels should be read in this order: "Queen Takes Pawn", "Queen's Pawn to Queen Four", "Kiss of Death", "Swiss Gambit", and "Alligator Sp3rm".

The latest Checkmate emergency is all hands on deck bringing the black and white sides of the boards together. Lena finds an old friend turned new ally, but teamwork might be asking too much of a group who's this politically divided. Who will pay the price of that divide?

On Christmas break from college, Lena goes to visit a four-year-old Lori and the Kinsinger family. We'll meet Mama Nina and briefly see TASIS, Lori's future school. This story mainly focuses on Lori's upbringing and the relationship with Lena and Nina. While there, Checkmate will learn of a development which will cause issues within its ranks.

This short piece takes place the morning after Next of Kin ends. Unlike the rest of the short pieces, it is not a prequel. This one is set in the current day and gives us a snippet of what's happening in modern times. #WattPride

Kalia gets called into work, and she's forced to take Lena with her putting the young Luthor into her first active Checkmate mission. This front seat view will show how Checkmate deals with rogue metahumans, bring Kalia and Lena closer together, and be a domino in a chain of events that will change Kalia forever.

This is a prequel to the first book in the Next of Kin series. It takes place after "Queen Takes Pawn" If you have not read Next of Kin and Queen Takes Pawn, do not read this. This includes spoilers for that series. This is meant to fill in some of the backstory for those who have already read the book.

This is a prequel to the first book in the Next of Kin series. If you have not read Next of Kin, do not read this. This includes spoilers for that series. This is meant to fill in some of the backstory for those who have already read the book.