A soldier entered the training room to inform Ash that Claudia wanted to speak to him. Again.
"There's been a change of plans," Claudia said as soon as he entered her office. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back, studying the Scorpion logo hanging on the wall.
"What? Why?" Ash demanded.
"Our new enemies are going to try to steal the fragment before us." Claudia turned to face Ash. "I'd send our forces in now, but we still have to wait for transportation to be ready, and the Director's booting up the soldiers we have in reserve."
Ash frowned. "When are we leaving, then?"
"This afternoon. You'll go first with a small team and ten soldiers to start clearing the path to the chamber. Everyone else will come in a second wave. Including the Director."
"The Director? Why's he coming?" Something in the back of Ash's mind nagged at him, telling him to stop asking so many questions. Some other part of him left a dozen more waiting on the tip of his tongue.
"He's the only one who knows how to get the fragment out." Claudia's eyes narrowed. "You cannot fail. This may be our only chance to get our hands on it."
Ash opened his mouth to ask why the fragment was so important but changed his mind. Instead, he asked, "And what about recruiting the altered who live here in town?"
"That will be a higher priority after we've acquired the fragment. It will be much easier after the energy field collapses." Claudia crossed the room to her desk.
"What?"
"Remember how we located kids who used to live in Tyche Point but had moved away over the years?" Claudia asked.
Ash nodded.
"We didn't have to deal with other powered kids playing at being heroes." Claudia sat down. "Imagine that, but on a much larger scale."
"I still don't understand," Ash said blankly.
"You will. Now go tell the others the new plan. Everyone needs to be ready to go by two-thirty," Claudia said. "And let them know that we're not coming back."