They returned to the Misfits compound in the middle of the night. Arena crashed into bed exhausted. She wandered into the dining room at seven the next morning. Nate, Lorna, and Sterling greeted her.

  “Arena!” Lorna jumped up and threw her arms around her. “How did it go! What happened! Sterling won’t tell us anything!” Arena endured the enthusiastic hug, feeling as though she was returning home after a long year at school.

  “Heya, short stuff. Glad to see they didn’t put you in a cell and throw away the key. ” Nate stood up and ruffled her hair, even though her face was smooshed against Lorna’s shoulder.

  Lorna finally let her go. Arena sank into a chair, embarrassed she didn’t change out of her teal tank top and black pajama bottoms.

  Sterling cleared his throat, “After breakfast, I want everyone to meet me in the conference room.” He eyed Arena. “You may go change if you need to do so. But I have something important that I need to discuss with you.”

  “You all didn’t take over the CIA, did you?” Nate joked. “ ‘Cause there’s a few people that I hope you didn’t miss.”

  Lorna feigned shock. “Nate! That’s not realistic. He’d need our help to do that.”

  All three of them seemed different, now that she knew more about why they were there. Not only did the compound feel like home, but they were becoming her family as well. She didn’t have as sordid of a past with the CIA as the others, but she certainly wasn’t very impressed with the meeting she had with Yates. He was a shark in bloody waters.

  “Arena and I will fill in the details about what happened at Langley after breakfast, so Lorna stop poking me in the ribs until then, will you?” Sterling swatted her hand away.

  Arena stuffed some toast in her mouth, and went to change. She met the others in the conference room. Sterling winked at her, and Nate saw it, and sort of looked suspicious.

  “Our trip to Langley was both productive and revealing. For the time being, Arena retains provisional status to remain with us until we recover the hoverboards, as you might have guessed by her return. A friend who is quite high up also returned the first hoverboard to us, so we can practice with it. Anita began testing it last night, and it seems to be fully functional.”

  Lorna clapped her hands.

  “However, it was made quite clear to Arena that they wish to transfer her as soon as possible, and could accelerate her training to do so. She has requested to remain permanently here.” He smiled genuinely at her. “I will do everything possible to make that happen, but you know how the CIA can be.”

  Nate was frowning at her, something she rarely saw him do.

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  Sterling had Arena explain in detail about the meeting and the recovery of the hoverboard. Nate and Lorna, but most often Lorna, interjected questions and comments. Sterling just sat, gazing at her with a smile and saying nothing.

  Once she was finished, Sterling added, “Now that we have a hoverboard, we’re going to put it through its paces. R&D gave us copious notes from their tests, and I’d like to have Arena test some of their theories.”

  “Next week we will be running a full-team simulation. Anita will cause some trouble, with Nate and Lorna’s help. Arena will plan the recovery mission.” Arena looked startled. “She will be assisted by myself, Bertha, and the Decoys. Each team will have at least two field agents and an analyst. To make things fair, Anita will receive instructions for the simulation from Langley on the nature of the mission, and Arena will receive basic intel that will launch the mission.”

  Nate and Lorna were grinning.

  Arena’s stomach dropped through the floor.

  “The mission is especially designed to test the limits of the hoverboard, so Langley is very interested in the outcome.”

  Sterling then brought up his dilemma, his expression growing serious. “I apologize for the surprise. It is classified above your level, but since I was the one who classified it, I have the right to tell you. I want you to know that I did this for you more than myself, and I hope you understand that.” He explained how the Misfits started, and how he had set up George as the decoy leader.

  Lorna did not seem surprised at all, but Nate was glowering by the end of it.

  “I will be the first to admit that I don’t like the way CIA runs things, and decisions are often based more on personal gain than the best way to do something, but it seems like this wasn’t very necessary. And why are you telling us now? What happened at Langley to cause that to happen?” Arena had never seen Nate angry before, and it changed him.

  Sterling did not seem bothered by Nate’s anger, and in fact, seemed to expect it. “Arena found out, and then made me realize that keeping the secret from you all was going too far. You are my family. I’ve worked really hard to keep it that way, and I was afraid that our little safety net would be broken. I am a little concerned that it seems wider knowledge in Langley than I was aware. Being in New York isolates us from HQ in many ways, but we represent something to them that bothers them at the core--that perhaps they aren’t as good at their jobs as they think they are. Our greatest strength on the field is their biggest fear.”

  Nate swallowed and a muscle in his jaw twitched. She could tell he wanted to punch something.

  “Nate,” Sterling said quietly. “You are part of us, too, and you know I would never ask you to do anything that you felt was really wrong. I try to let you all follow your instincts, and it’s worked out well for us. Better than maybe other units of our level. I don’t want to be in charge-- I just want us to be together. George helps us do that.”

  Nate’s face was stoic. “Is there anything else we need to know? Otherwise, I’d like to get something done.”

  “No, go ahead.” Sterling crossed his arms, “We can talk more about it later, if you want.”

  Nate stood abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor, and left. Both Lorna and Arena jumped up, trying to decide if they should follow.

  “Let him go. He’s just going to blow off steam. It was a surprise to him,” Sterling said.

  Lorna looked at him, obviously upset as well. “I did know. But I wished you would have told me all along.”

  Sterling nodded, “I understand and I accept that. Maybe I should have.” He waved them out, “Might as well go back to the regular schedule.”

  Arena had no idea what to do or say, so she followed Lorna out the door. Lorna walked off quickly, leaving Arena behind. Instead of the gym, where she figured Nate escaped, she went back to her room and began to work on some of the simulations on her netbook.