By the time Aila got back home that night, she was exhausted. She grabbed a quick supper, then retreated to her room without even talking to her mom, then pulled out her phone to call June.
She picked up on the first ring.
"Hey," June said in that flat voice of hers. "Nothing bad happened today."
"Yeah," Aila agreed, sitting on the floor and leaning against her bed. "I figured I should check in with you and Jase."
"Sure thing. I'll grab him."
About a minute passed before June spoke again.
"K, you're on speaker and we're all here. How'd it go?"
"Smoothly," Aila replied. "Everyone in prison with a Miracle no longer has one, except for Prime. For whatever reason, they wanted to make a deal with him."
"Is it true that you'll be erasing our Miracles too?" Was that voice Ryder? Probably.
"Yeah. I mean, it was always my job to get rid of all of them. You were just low on the priority list, and Darius agrees with that."
"Seriously? And we're okay with that?"
A few voices overlapped on the other end, and Aila curled in on herself, glad she wasn't there in person to take their vitriol.
"It's fine." Jase's voice cut sharply through the chatter. "We'll take this opportunity to do what we can, and improve our own situation. This Ida girl holds a heck of a lot of power, and if she likes us we'll survive. We're coming out ahead, even if we're giving up the supernatural powers."
"But Jase!" A smack shut Ryder up again.
"Things will be set right," Aila said firmly. "No more people with nothing to do with any of this getting caught up in things and suffering for it. Whatever happens next, it's in people's hands. No more divine interference."
Silence followed for a beat before Ryder sighed and responded.
"Fine. I get it."
"Will we be able to get into legit business?" someone - Aila couldn't tell who exactly - asked tentatively.
"I'll look into it," Jase replied. "I get the feeling that this Ida girl could do a lot for us if we play by her rules. And she's not volatile like Angela. Her principles are firm, so she won't betray us if we don't betray her first."
"But isn't she the same one who killed Meadow?" Aubrey asked coldly.
Chaos ensued on the other end of the line again. Finally, Jase regained control of the conversation.
"Ida's principles meant she took out people she saw as a serious threat to the city and its people. We caused trouble first. Meadow wouldn't have been locked up if not for me. I'm the one who worked with Paris on that kid hostage thing. If you're going to blame someone, blame me for not realizing the severity of the situation sooner."
Silence fell for a while, then June spoke up.
"We can't change the past. We can just shape the future. I'm upset about Meadow, but crossing Ida will create more problems in the long run. We can argue with her about it later, and ask for an apology, but for now we have to work together. And...she might be able to save us."
Aila frowned at that. Save them from what?
"We were all tossed aside," June continued. "Bryce, Angela threw you away after one job. If Jase hadn't picked you up, you'd be on the streets by yourself. Ryder, Aubrey, you were both stuck paying off someone else's gambling debts and could only survive by doing this kind of stuff. Niko, you were tossed out by your dad after the divorce. Randy, I don't know how you got stuck stealing, but when Justin betrayed you, you had no options. Sure, your Miracle saved you, but you can only do so much as a solo act. Rayne, Angela threw you and Amias out as scapegoats after her plan went sideways. Me, I was never wanted by anyone but Jase.
"We're all stuck here because of circumstances beyond our control, or because of one bad decision. But if Ida gave us all a second chance, I say we take it. Jase knows we can't keep doing this forever. We'll either die, be locked up by the military, or we'll become like Angel. I don't like any of those. So when the Miracles are gone, let's find a new way to survive. All of us."
No one spoke for some time after that. Finally, Ryder cursed and spoke his own piece.
"Fine. I get it. We'll help save the city, and then we'll move on to something better. But what about Angela? Won't she still come after us?"
"Not if we sic Ida on her," June replied with a chuckle. "I mean, she managed to kill three military prisoners in solitary confinement, and smuggle Aila in to erase every Miracle and out again. I watched. Darius just walked in like they owned the place. I bet she'd love to be rid of Angela as much as us. What do you say, Jase?"
"I say it's a plan. Aila, if you want, I'll send you the address for Legion HQ tomorrow so you can get Achilles and whoever else is there. Barrier Maiden left and hasn't come back, and I don't know what happened to Knight Errant, but it wouldn't be a bad place to hit eventually."
"I plan to work tomorrow," Aila replied with a giggle. "Can't just take too much time off. Gotta get my work done."
"Deal. I'll contact you when Ida and I are ready for the next phase."
"Sounds good."
Aila paused for a second, then panicked, thinking they'd hang up.
"Jase! Thanks for everything. I mean, you took me in and got me a job and saved my family, and now you're working as my manager in this Miracle stuff, so I just..."
Jase chuckled.
"No worries, kiddo. Just do one thing for me - keep being friends with Juney, you hear?"
He hung up before Aila could reply, but she held the phone to her chest, beaming softly.
"I was gonna do that anyway, you dolt," she whispered.
Back in the Underwing, Ida was working with Darius on their next targets.
"Still no sign of Team Chaos," she muttered. "But your work yesterday got us a very interesting lead."
"How shall we deal with them?" Darius asked.
"Make them wish they were never born. But no killing - apparently that's taboo or something." Ida rolled her eyes. "Guess we can seize their ill-gotten gains and lock them up and throw away the key. What do you think?"
"I'll have Phase 1 done by morning."
