The Phoenix Ghost

Change Management - Forming, Storming and Norming

Iris had been surprised when it had been Sang who'd pointed out that Volto was also the most probable reason the Blackbourne team had gone rogue. There was really no other explanation for their sudden decision to leave Sang and the Academy. That first night when the Tomas, Iris, Dr. Roberts and Sang had sat down to a working dinner to lay out the practical next steps for the Ghost team, Sang's quiet words had everyone realising that under emotional stress or not, Sang's mind never stopped working a puzzle until she had an answer. Axel, Raven, Brandon, Corey and Marc had been astounded by her simple summation but Iris had noted that Phil Roberts was not surprised. She'd wondered then why Sang wasn't earmarked to lead the Ghost team. The first private opportunity she got, Iris cornered Dr. Roberts and asked him outright why Sang wasn't in the leadership position. Phil had laughed,

'The hierarchy is a red herring, Iris. Sang will be directing everything, the boys just don't know it yet.' His smile was smug and Iris suddenly was giving the man more respect, 'By the time those babies are one, not one decision will be made by anyone other than Sang. She has grown over the last three years but, in a way, she needed to be away from Owen and the Blackbourne team so that she could take the final steps out from behind their shadows and become a team's partner and leader, not someone they felt the need to protect and hide things from.' Phil's tone of voice made it clear to Iris that was what he thought was the motivation for leaving Sang behind, 'She will have every member of the Tomas wrapped around her little finger, just like she had the Blackbourne team. Except she won't be content to follow orders when her children are involved. She'll demand control and respect.' Phil continued, clarifying,

'She was spot on with why she thinks those boys went rogue. It has not been Volto's m.o. prior to their defection, but I'd bet money Volto threatened Sang in some way and they left to protect her. Stupid, but their hearts were in the right place.' He snorted, 'It's going to cost them some real heart ache when they finally wise up and come back to her. And they will.'

Iris pondered Dr. Phil's words again as she scaled the rope wall in front of her. Yes, he's probably right she thought. But she still intended to kick all nine of their asses personally when she finally got her hands on them. Watching Sang's pain every day and seeing her tears, despite Sang's attempts to keep her sister from knowing she was crying silently, made Iris furious. But it was the nightmares that kept Sang from sleeping and getting rest that enraged her the most at the fathers of her twin's babies. Everything she'd heard about Owen Blackbourne before the day she'd met Sang had led her to believe he was smart, a strong leader and not easily prone to making any mistakes let alone stupid ones but he certainly had fucked up with this decision and he would pay! They all would.

Iris and Sang had spent much of their free time getting to know one another over the last three weeks. Where Sang had always been sweet, nurturing and ready to learn from others to the point of seeming docile, Iris was forceful and quick to express her opinion with a bluntness that rivalled even Raven at times. Both were intelligent, far beyond average, and had a driving desire to continuously learn more. The bond that grew between them was astonishingly strong and by the end of the three weeks following the disappearance of the Blackbourne team no one would guess they'd not grown up together.

This was especially astonishing given that the amount of free time they had was very limited. Iris found herself resentful of the time Sang was away from her. Sang spent twelve hours of every day with Dr. Roberts to obtain her doctorates in medicine as quickly as possible. While Iris was put through boot camp like every new member of the Academy, she found the process easy and had plenty of time to seek out her twin. Ironically, although unsurprisingly given her training with the Valhalla MC, Iris' results to date were second only to Sang's and in all activities that were mechanical, weapons or hacking oriented, she overtook the first position results Sang had posted. As Iris was determined to have set time with her sister, Sang spent at least one if not two hours daily working with Raven and Iris to improve her knowledge of hand to hand and weapons combat. While Sang worked on her combat skills, both Raven and Sang were teaching Iris Russian. Iris was amused at the efficiency of their activities. All facts which did not escape Phil Roberts who was very satisfied with his rising Ghost team.