Five silhouettes crouched behind brittle foliage, pressed low in a bush just outside the Pentagon's perimeter. A cool Washington wind dragged across the grass like a warning sigh, yet none of them flinched.
Kai, black scruffy hair a tangled crown, knelt at the centre of the cluster. His red eyes glimmered between leaves, burning like embers in a hearth left unattended—dangerous, unreadable, intense.
Beside him, Nadya stretched one thick arm to ease a cramp in her shoulder. Her orange hair was tied up carelessly in a bun that fought the wind and lost. Orange eyes, sharp and bright, swept the area ahead like twin suns rising behind storm clouds.
Lenny - the smallest of the group- sat cross-legged, knees trembling faintly. Blonde hair, messy fringe, a timid-looking teen. His real body, a giant armoured lizard, lay dormant behind the illusion of a boy in a coat.
