Chapter Three: To Hell and Back

[Kardiac]

Faith sat in her little salsa-red car staring at the main doors of the hospital. She'd checked her hair and makeup at least twice and had generally used up all of her reasons to stall. It wasn't just the hospital that made her nervous, though she certainly had enough reasons not to like the place, it was the very real potential of opening her mouth and saying exactly the wrong thing.

"Okay, I don't know Eddy and, as a family member, I'm just checking on Lee. I can do this." The breeze tousled her flaming hair as she finally climbed out of the car. Bumping the door closed with her hip, she walked to the passenger's side and retrieved the bright bouquet of lilies she'd brought for Leland. It seemed like such a weak gift. Thanks for being all noble and stupid... here are some flowers. Hope it makes those bullets hurt less.

With a silent groan, she forced herself to walk inside. From there it was only a matter of dropping her name to get an escort to Leland's private room. But she couldn't bring herself to knock. Not yet. Smoothing her skirt with her free hand to reassure herself that she looked nothing like the masked girl from Takahashi's office, Faith took a couple of deep breaths. Why was this so hard? She'd made plenty of hospital visits. She could do this.

---

Deanna Lane-Lexington sat in the same faux-leather chair she'd been sitting in for days. The wooden arms were no more comfortable than they'd been when she had first arrived, but she was getting used to them jabbing her in the side whenever she leaned over the hospital bed beside her. Until a week ago, she had assumed the next time she was in a hospital would be a "joyous" occasion.

Her hand went absently to her distended belly, resting gently against the image she had in her mind of the child within. If there was one thing she did not want, it was for her child to grow up without a father. It wasn't like they would ever want for anything material... but there were far more important things in the world than possessions. Despite all of his wealth, her husband -- laying like a silent reminder of the man he used to be just within her reach -- understood that.

Her brother had never understood that. He'd always seen Lee as a symbol... a shining example of what he was not and was never going to be: powerful. Eddy always had a problem with power. He seemed to see it as inherently evil, despite the incredible, inhuman powers that he possessed. Maybe that was why he hated himself so much. Deanna never believed it was entirely built on feelings of guilt over the death of their father.

Still... she might have been a little too hard on him when he visited the hospital last. Eddy almost appeared to be trying to make an effort... trying to be a better brother. But then, of course, if it wasn't for him and his 'job,' there'd be no reason for him to have to visit the hospital in the first place. She couldn't let go of that one fact: Leland had gotten tangled up in 'Kardiac's' life, and it might still be the death of him.

It was then that she heard a nurse speaking softly to someone on the other side of the door to Leland's private room. After a few seconds, the nurse's footsteps could be heard withdrawing, but no one entered. Deanna could hear scuffling from the outside, the sound of apprehension, and she expected that her brother had come back for round two. Without realizing that she was talking to Lee's cousin Faith, she called out an exhausted "Come on in," and prepared herself for Round Two.

The expensive flowers entered the room first, followed by Faith's tiny frame. "Hi..." One look at Deanna's face was enough to drive away of the self-absorbed issues that had been lingering since yesterday's talk with Eddy. The lilies were set aside, blending in with the near mountain of other flowers, and, without thinking twice, Faith crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her cousin's wife.

Deanna was taken by surprise by both the identity of the visitor and the gesture that followed her entrance. Where Eddy was surprisingly willing to accept Faith's emotional releases, his sister seemed the opposite. She was an open woman with a ready smile when her husband wasn't in a coma, yet she tensed slightly at the physical sign of affection. The siblings were an odd juxtaposition. Still, she didn't fight the action... just waited it out.

"Hello," she said, her eyes scanning from the flowers to Faith. "This is an unexpected pleasure," she continued, her normal demeanor beginning to return. Deanna didn't have a huge amount of one-on-one experience with Faith, but she liked the girl well enough on the few family occasions that had brought them into the same room. "I'm sure Leland will be glad to hear your voice."

She certainly hoped he would. Taking her eyes from the woman's face, Faith took a tiny step closer to Leland's bed. He looked better than the last time she'd seen him... but that wasn't saying much. "How are you holding up?" She couldn't help Leland, that was up to the doctors. But if she could ease the burden on Deanna's heart, even just a little....

With a forced smile, Deanna looked Faith in the eyes and lied with every fiber of her being. "I'm fine, she said, her tone not as convincing as she'd apparently hoped. "He'll be awake soon...," she added, her eyes looking a little too dry, rimmed with red and ringed with dark flesh that betrayed their lack of sleep.

Looking around the room with a critical eye, the redhead could see the outpouring of floral concern for her cousin. Everyone, from businesses to individuals, seemed to have sent a bouquet. And, while it made the room look brighter than the typical sterile hospital room, it seemed to Faith that little had been done to make the room more comfortable for person who was actually conscious in it.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked. She would have asked anyway, but knowing that this was Eddy's sister made it all the more important.

"Everything I need is in this room," she said, her hand, still resting on her abdomen, slid down a bit as if reassuring the other, unseen listener in the room. "But I appreciate the concern."

Faith pursed her lips to the side. As much as she wanted to point out that Deanna was certainly not fine, she decided that arguing with a pregnant woman was just not something she could bring herself to do. She looked back over at Leland for a minute, watching him as he slept. "He'll wake up soon," she repeated the woman's words, still feeling that sick knot of fear in the pit of her stomach.

Since she wasn't going to invite herself to sit down, Faith remained where she was standing, tucking a strand of flaming hair behind her ear as she forced a quick smile. "Leland used to ride with us a lot when we were kids, you know. I remember one time, Logan, my middle brother, was showing off... as usual. Well the horse threw him and he hurt his ankle."

"I would have left him there, or a the very least lectured him about being such a dumb boy. But Lee just got off his horse and helped Logan all the way back to the stables. I remember thinking that he was so strong to be able to support Logan like that for such a long way..." She paused suddenly, unsure of why she'd chosen to share that bit of family history.

Deanna smiled a weak but genuine smile, motioning towards the chair opposite her with the hand that had been on her midsection... the hand that wasn't holding Lee's. "That's Leland... despite of all his wealth, he's one of the most selfless people I've ever met," she said, a note of sorrow still clinging to her voice. As Faith sat, she continued. "That's the side of him that most people don't get to see... the side I wish...," her words trailed off, hanging in the air.

If there were any words to follow, they were intercepted by another voice, accompanying the sound of the hospital room door. "The side you wish your short-sided brother had been able to see," it said as Eddy walked into the room. Deanna through a glance towards the voice that blazed with a mix of emotions.

"What are you doing here, Edward?"

"Ouch," Eddy said, frowning. He looked like he was about to say something else, allow his usual sarcasm to bite back, but through an amazing force of will, he let her use of his full name slide. "I came to visit my sister in her time of need... and to see my brother-in-law again."

Deanna just glared at him suspiciously. "Well," she said, holding out a hand towards Faith. "As you can see, we already have a guest." She didn't address Faith directly, preferring to aim her venom at the man who she thought deserved it. "So you'll have to forgive me if I don't offer you a seat."

Faith couldn't help but notice a difference in Eddy's countenance. There was an expression on his face that seemed more like he was suffering the disappointment of his mother rather than the unjustified chastisement of his sister. God forbid he run into Justice on his way out of this room. She also noticed that he'd completely ignored the fact that Faith was in the room at all... at least until Deanna had pointed her out.

"That's fine," he said, flatly. "I'll stand." Quickly, his eyes flicked over to Faith. That's when he gave her a look... an appreciating look that she'd never seen him give her before. It wasn't the usual 'good job kid' or 'little sister' glance... it was the once over a man would give to a "hot" young woman he was seeing for the first time. A roguish grin painted itself across his face as he asked Deanna, "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

Deanna's frown broke slightly as her eyes rolled. Introductory gestures followed her words as she spoke. "Faith, this is my unemployed-with-no-prospects 'artist' older brother Edward Lane," she said, putting on a smirk that immediately identified her as Eddy's kin. "Eddy, this is Leland's much younger cousin, Faith Kavanaugh."

Eddy smiled broadly and held out his hand. "The pleasure is five-hundred percent mine," he said with just a touch of charm that Faith had only ever seen him turn on around Agent Fairchild. "And please, call me 'Eddy'," he added with a roguish wink that probably would have worked on the average vacuous college girl.

"It's nice to meet you, Eddy," she responded loftily, shaking his hand but disengaging from his touch as soon as possible. It gave her a great deal of satisfaction to imagine the tongue-lashing --or actual beating-- she was going to give him later for giving her a look like that. It was almost... icky.

But, even if she really had been meeting him for the first time, she'd been flirted with by the best. She was far too smart to fall for a touch of charm and easy flattery. Instead she turned back to Deanna, a wry smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "So you have a brother too. Aren't they fun?" Though she didn't quite roll her eyes, her tone spoke volumes.

Deanna smiled, "Some are more trouble than they're worth," she said, though her tone wasn't quite the chastisement that the words could carry. "But despite the charming layabout he'd like people to believe he is, my brother is actually a little deeper than he lets on."

"I think I'm offended," Eddy said, smirking. "But in the presence of two such lovely ladies, I believe I can let it slide." He turned to look at Deanna. "How's my niece?"

"Or nephew," she replied. "I'm still not telling..." she paused, a hint of sorrow coming back into her voice. Her eyes drifted to Leland's face. "Leland doesn't want to know."

Faith caught her lower lip between her teeth, looking back and forth between the siblings. In moments like these she actually had to fight the urge to simply disappear. "That's kinda sweet," she said with a smile, trying to keep at least a little bit of light in the conversation. "Old-fashioned almost. Though I have to admit, I can totally see Lee with a little girl. You know... someone who will have him wrapped around her tiny finger."

Deanna smiled weakly. "I suppose he is old-fashioned, in his way." She returned his hand to her abdomen. "Of course, I already know... I've never been one to wait for anything."

Eddy smirked. "Shocking," he said, flatly.

Deanna rose to her feet, casting a furtive glance towards Eddy, then looking back to Faith with a matronly smile. "If you'll excuse me for a minute... knowing Leland has friendly company, this would be a good time for me to freshen up... if you don't mind?"

"I don't mind at all. Please, do what you need to. I'll stay as long as you'd like." She moved a step closer to Leland's bed.

Nodding to Faith, half-ignoring Eddy, Deanna smiled. "I'll leave you to it, then." She forced a quick look at Eddy, "Be good!" Without another word, she quickly slipped out of the room and headed down the hall.

Truly meeting Eddy's eyes for the first time since he'd entered the room, Faith gave a half-hearted little smile. She didn't quite know what to say to him. Generally that didn't stop her from talking anyway. But this time... she just couldn't find the words.

Taking Deanna's seat, the redhead leaned in a little closer to her cousin. "You really were very brave," she told him softly.

Eddy's countenance changed as soon as Deanna left the room. His sister knew that his 'character' was a mask, but she didn't know that Faith knew that... so he'd had to play his part. Now, though, he was free to be himself. "We put ourselves out there and face down evil with fancy powers, kevlar suits, and the best training this world can provide," he said, to both Faith and Leland. "What he did took ten times the courage we employ... he strapped on a borrowed vest and jumped into the lion's den without a net."

He walked over and put a hand on Faith's shoulder, his eyes on Leland. "I'm sorry for almost every bad thing I've ever said to you," he said, his face a stern mask. "And while I can't apologize for telling you that your sister was a 'crazy bitch,' since... y'know... it proved to be true, I would like to remind you that my sister is going a little crazy herself right now... and you could fix that by waking up."

Walking to the other side of the room, he sat across from Faith, looking at her. "He'll be all right," he said, smiling as warmly as his grimace-lined face allowed. "He's strong, and he's getting the best help Lexington money can buy... which pretty much means 'the best in the world.'" He let out a sad chuckle. "I used to hate him for that money... now I wonder how I ever let myself be blinded by it."

"Especially since I've now met two people born into it who are bigger heroes than I'll ever be," he added, smirking and winking at Faith.

A little smile pulled at her lips as she shook her head. "Bite your tongue," she teased gently. She didn't have it in her to argue. Much. But for Faith, there was no one bigger than the man sitting across from her.

Since she didn't know how much time they'd have before they had to start acting again, Faith took Leland's hand in both of her own, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm so sorry that I doubted you, Lee. You were amazing in there. But I really think it's time to come back to your family now." Without thinking about it, her tone took on a slightly scolding note. "It's really not polite to stress out a pregnant woman. She's strong, just like her brother, but she needs you to wake up and come back."

Eddy frowned, his eyes narrowing as if he were in conflict. After a minute, he stood up like a shot, his actions so fast that Faith was taken aback by the sudden movement. "Screw this!" he said, a strange resolution in his face. "Faith, Watch the door," he said, his voice changing. The tone he used was more that of a General than a friend or even a mentor... it was a tone he'd never used with her before. And to use it on her! Something was definitely on his mind!

He started a slow, deliberate walk across the room, rubbing his hands together as if they were cold.

"Eddy..." Her voice was a strange mixture of worry and faith in him. But the thought of disobedience didn't even enter her mind. She was at the door in an instant, listening and watching for any sign of anyone, especially Deanna. She didn't bother to tell him to be careful or ask if he knew what he was doing. He did. After all, they both knew what his hands could do.

Eddy stopped just short of the edge of the bed and place one of his hands on Leland's forehead, his eyes closed. "I offered to do something like this for Blue and Capin," he said to his comatose brother-in-law, "But they decided to rely on magic instead... I always wondered if it would work, and I'm damned soon gonna find out."

Focusing his senses on the patient, he thought about the pictures he'd seen of the brain and its neuro-electrical system. He'd been doing a lot of studying over the last couple of days... healthy brain wave patterns, comatose patterns, charge levels, neuron firing rates... he'd poured over so much information that he figured he knew as much about the brains electrical system as he did about the one in his bike. But still, he'd been hesitant to try.

This wasn't a pair of friends with swapped brains... this was a normal human with a normal brain... and it was his sister's husband -- his niecelet's father -- and neither of them could be expected to forgive him if he got this wrong. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and placed his hand on his own forehead, feeling the pops and vibrations going on deep inside his gray matter. "Well, he said aloud to himself, "You only get one chance at this...for family."

Taking a deep breath, eyes closed, he placed the fingertips of either hands on either side of Leland's head, index fingers on his temples. "Here goes everything."

Faith bit her lower lip then, as if it wasn't quite enough, her fingers came up to cover her mouth. It was so hard to watch the door when she was riveted to her mentor, her friend, standing over her cousin like that. Please work please work please work... The thought became a sort of prayer. She took a step back and bumped against the door, wishing she had someone's hand to hold right about now.

Eddy began to release his bio-electricity in short, controlled bursts, focusing the flow the power to specific parts of the brain in a deliberate order. Leland's eyes twitched with every jolt, lashing around like a man in REM sleep. Eddy didn't even want to imagine what he was dreaming just now. He worked as quickly as he could, though the delicate nature of what he was doing prevented any idea of rushing things.

All the while, a part of his consciousness focused on Leland's heart. Several times, the organ started racing, pushing towards cardiac arrest. One each occasion, usually with a muttered "Damn it!" Eddy would move one hand down to his brother-in-law's chest and spread the other hand so that his thumb and index finger could touch separate temples. Electrically regulating Leland's heart while simultaneously jump-starting the architecture of his brain was almost more than Eddy's brain, much less his control over his powers, could handle... even with his experience.

His biggest fear, short of killing his brother-in-law, was allowing Leland to crash... even for a second. The last thing he needed was a rush of doctors responding to a flatlined EKG machine. That alarm would not only ruin his chance to bring Leland out of this, but it would also risk exposing his powers if they arrived too quickly. His other fear was that Deanna would walk in and see what he was doing. It was bad enough she blamed him for her husband's condition... if she interrupted, she might be blaming him for making it worse... or even killing him.

Of course, he couldn't focus on those fears... he had to keep his mind locked on the prize. Every action he took needed to be thought-out, deliberate, and very, very careful. But Faith was here, and she had his back, and he'd grown to trust that. If anyone approached, she'd be able to handle it. She was, in his opinion, the best of her generation... he'd declared her so himself, and after personally training her, his natural arrogance wouldn't let him believe otherwise.

Unbeknownst to Eddy, however, his trust was about to be tested as Faith noticed Deanna emerging from the distant lounge, coffee and sandwich bag in hand, turning to walk in their direction.

The blood had drained from her face, leaving Faith pale and near panic as she continued to watch. It wasn't just Leland she was worried about now. What Eddy was doing was nearly beyond her comprehension. He was using his powers in a way that, even if she had practical powers like his, she doubted she'd ever be able to match. It was beyond mastery. And, having seen him collapse once, she was already a nervous wreck when she hit the hallway.

Thankfully, looking this upset could work to her advantage. Faith said a quick prayer then firmly shut the door behind her. Wiping the not entirely fake tears from her eyes, the redhead took a few deep breaths before looking up and noticing Leland's wife in the hallway with her. Then, hoping Deanna's motherly instincts had already started to kick in, she forced her lips into a faintly embarrassed smile as if she was ashamed to be caught being so emotional.

Deanna fell hard into her assigned role. Without thinking, she set her coffee aside and took the young woman in her arms. Eddy had never said a harsh word about his sister, even when he was explaining her blaming him for Lee's condition, and it became obvious to Faith as to why. Deanna was every bit as "good" a person as her brother, despite their differences, and she wasn't about to pass over a relative in distress over the condition of her cousin and childhood friend.

They stood there for several minutes, and Deanna allowed Faith to cry without once shedding a tear of her own. It seemed that was another similarity between the woman and her brother. They both had the ability to mask what they were feeling, only Deanna seemed to be using it as a comfort mechanism rather than a shield. Despite that, though, Faith didn't know how long she'd be able to hold her there. She was just about to release her and pray Eddy had noticed when a voice from behind her called out, "Anna! Come quick!"

With one arm around Faith, Deanna sped to the room. Letting go of her charge, she was the first of the two to step through the door to join Eddy and Leland in the room. Faith had hoped that Eddy's sudden appearance meant that Lee was awake, but it didn't. It meant something else... something better. It meant he was waking. Somehow, Eddy had not only succeeded, but he'd managed to arrange things so that Deanna's would be the first face her husband saw when he finally opened his eyes.

Relieved to be unnecessary and unnoticed, Faith took a few quiet steps into the room. Fresh tears were flowing down her face but this time she didn't have to fake the reason. Without even thinking about it she'd put herself near Eddy, standing behind him but close enough to reach if he needed support. Then, because she couldn't hug him or even put words to what she was feeling, she stopped fighting it and let her tiny hand creep into his for just a moment. He could yell at her for it later. For now she just needed that touch, the human connection as she watched Leland and Deanna receive the gift that they'd probably never know they'd been given.

"Leland...?" Deanna asked, tenuously, taking his hand in both of hers. She half-knelt, with one knee on the chair she'd been sitting in these past days, stooping over him without leaning on him, her eyes locked on his. "Baby?" Now, the tears were there... and all the control in the world wasn't going to stop them.

Leland's eyes fluttered, slowly opening, then closing against the shaded light. "...dream?" the word came out as the end of a broken question, his voice cracking through the first attempted words. Deanna laughed softly through her tears and kissed him, wiping her face as she pulled away. "...happened?" The second question came just as the first, but it was more than enough for his wife to hear his voice.

Recognizing the significance of the moment, Eddy grabbed Faith's arm and backed her out of the room, closing the door behind them. In the relative privacy of the hallway it didn't matter that they weren't supposed to know each other. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, her head resting against his chest.

---

"That was... just..." Words failed her.

Pulling back slightly, she reached for his chin, turning his face toward hers. "Are you okay? You didn't overdo it or anything, did you?" she demanded, still examining him for any signs of exhaustion.

"I almost lost him twice," Eddy replied, his eyes revealing that he was, in fact, thoroughly exhausted. "It may have been 'just,' but it was incredibly stupid!" He lowered his eyes. "It could have -- should have -- killed him... what was I thinking?"

Thumping her fist against his chest, Faith shook her head. "Stop that right now. That was the most amazingly compassionate thing I've ever seen anyone do. You didn't kill him. You gave him back to his wife." Refusing to let him argue, she moved him back toward the wall, nearly forcing him to lean against it. "I know you're not going to stop being hard on yourself. And that's okay... because I have enough faith in you for both of us. What I saw in there wasn't 'stupid'. It was love."

After a second, he did lean on the wall, placing his hand on Faith's shoulder and showing his exhaustion even more than his eyes had before. "Maybe... but it was a big risk, and I'm not sure I had the right to take it," he said, frowning. "But seeing Anna like that... if I'd just been a little faster that night...." He looked at Faith and put on a half-hearted smirk.

"Oh, don't look at me that way," he said, his hand running down her arm to her hand. It lingered there for a moment, then dropped to his side. "I know it's not my fault. But that's what I was thinking 'in the moment'... that maybe I could have done more." He sighed, softly. "So, I did more."

"One thing's for certain, though... I don't think it's something I'm gonna be trying again any time soon...."

"No you're not." Her tone slowly dropped out of scolding-mode. "I'd like to have at least one week where you don't totally drain yourself."

Leaning on the wall beside him, she looked up and down the wide hallway as she thought about the countless lives in this hospital. "Eddy," she began after a long moment. "You always do more. It's just... who you are." That smile slowly began to pull at her lips. "And it's why you have such a pushy student. You know, the one who talks too much, thinks you're amazing, and will always have your back no matter what you're facing."

"Student?" he asked with a smirk. "I thought we'd settled on 'protege'...." He tousled her hair in an undignified manner. "But, if it's all the same to you," he said, letting her straighten her hair up, "since you've more than transcended 'side-kick' status, I'd prefer 'friend'."

No force on the earth could have kept her from hugging him again. Resting her head against his chest, she listened to his heartbeat the only way she knew how. No powers, just the closeness of a friend that she loved. Though she'd hit him with that purely platonic word later, after he'd built up a good tolerance to her hugs and other emotional outbursts.

Eddy down at smiled at Faith. He realized that he'd just added her to a very small list of people. Kardiac had a lot of allies... Eddy had very few real, true friends. "But if we're going to keep your identity a secret," he said, checking first to make sure nobody was in earshot, "We're going to have to find a way to become 'friends' publicly... because as much as it may seem easy, I don't think I can drag out this whole 'pretending I don't know you' thing. It's become second nature to act like you matter to me, and that's a hard feeling to hide."

"But," he continued, smiling a mischievous, nay 'devilish'. smile, "I have an idea of how to accomplish that."

If she hadn't been so blissfully attached to Charlie, the sight of that smile on Eddy's lips might have sent her mind down dangerous paths. As it was, it merely ignited the fires of her curiosity and kept her from getting emotional over 'mattering' to him. "Of course you do," she teased, nudging him with her shoulder. "And you're going to tell me before I die of suspense, right?"

Eddy smirked, "No... this is something you've got to be pretty prepared for," he said with a wink. "You'll need an outfit that looks like you want to impress a man, and I'll need something dressy... because we're going out somewhere expensive-but-intimate... albeit, not intimate enough that the right people won't see us on our 'date'."

Faith gave him a dubious look. He made jokes about her 'looks,' sure, but he'd also made it very clear that his interests didn't lean in that direction. She'd been with him for a while now, though, and her mind was starting to see his plan forming even as he continued. "The wily, irresponsible artist charms the young deb into a date... age and other factors ensure that it doesn't work out, but they discover they have a lot of common interests and a bond of friendship begins to form... and the family gets the whole story so long as the date is properly witnessed."

She pouted a little while she pretended to think it over. "So this means I can't tell my parents about my real boyfriend yet?" It wasn't a huge obstacle, just something she'd have to be aware of. At least 'dating' someone as old as Eddy would help prepare her family for the surprise of Charlie's age.

"You do realize that dating you is practically illegal in most states," she teased. Her blue eyes suddenly sparkled with a mischief that equaled his. "And you so need something dressy. Because if you're taking me on a fake date it's going to be a good one. And you are going to dance... even if I have to fight dirty to get you out there."

Eddy smirked. "I'll go to unusual lengths to protect my identity... so I'm sure I can suffer through it." He was about to say something else when the door to Leland's room opened. Eddy quickly put reasonable distance between him and Faith, just in time to see Deanna's face turn towards them.

She gave Eddy a dubious look, then turned to Faith, a smile on her face through both gazes. "Faith... he wants to see you."

Faith caught herself just before turning to look back for reassurance. "Really?" Trying to look anything other than completely freaked out, she took a few steps toward the door. "Of course I'll go see him." She smiled at Deanna then, figuring it was at least semi-safe to smile at him too, leveled her gaze on Eddy. Her face appeared totally composed, but her eyes told a different story. She held his eyes for only a moment before turning to follow Deanna back into Leland's room.

---

Deanna walked in and offered Faith the chair she'd been occupying previously. Faith didn't take it at first, but then Leland said, "Please."

Hesitating still, Faith took the seat and, when Lee offered it, his hand. Deanna patted the back of his hand and looked into her husband's eyes. "I'm going to go get your doctor in here and have a little talk with my brother," she said, her voice too-gentle. "Take it easy," she added. "You're awake, but that doesn't mean you're better."

Leland smiled. "Of course." He watched his wife turn and leave the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, he turned to Faith. "How are you doing, little one?" He had called her that since it actually made sense... since her earliest memories. They hadn't been as close in recent years, but he'd always been good to her, and right now the look in his eyes made her feel about five years old again.

She chuckled softly and gave his hand a little squeeze. "I should be asking you that," she told him gently. "But I'm fine, Lee. Just worried about you. We all were."

"I'm sorry to have worried you," he said with a weak smile. He squeezed her hand briefly. "But you worried me first." He smiled a bit more broadly, though there was a little effort in it. As enigmatic as the statement was he instantly changed the subject. "I made my money the old fashioned way -- I inherited it," he said with a raspy chuckle. "But since my father actually raised me to be honest, charitable, and honorable, that kind of wealth can be difficult to hold on to. Do you know how I do it?"

Faith shook her head. She wasn't particularly interested in hearing about his business strategies, but he was awake and talking to her. That made any subject a riveting one. Absently brushing the hair back from his forehead, she tried to return his smile and urge him to continue.

Leland took a long breath. "I'm very, very good -- very good -- at reading people... I can talk to a person once and learn their body language, their posture, their tells...," he said, winking at her. "I never forget a twitch, tic, or voice, whether I'm dealing with a client or an adversary... or a family member." He smiled again, looking directly into Faith's eyes. He stopped after those words, and just stared at her silently.

"Um..." Biting her lip, she thought about playing dumb. But she didn't want to lie to him. She wasn't even sure if she could. She held his gaze for a long moment before finally looking away. "I'm so sorry, Lee," she whispered, drawing her hand back.

"You can talk to me about anything, little one," he said, still smiling. "Your friend out there in the hallway may hate my guts, but he'd also tell you that I'm real good with secrets."

He looked tired, but his eyes were clear. There was a determination in his face and voice. "I vaguely remember hearing the two of you talking... I don't remember what it was about, but the sound of your voices was still in my head when I woke up." He chuckled weakly. "And even though he and I haven't always seen eye to eye, he's a good man to know under certain circumstances." He still wasn't saying the words... he seemed to be dancing around the 'truth,' either not wanting to look the fool if he was wrong or. more likely, wanting her to feel comfortable telling him.

Looking down at her lap, Faith wrestled with her indecision. As much as she wanted to talk about it, she couldn't just come out and say it. "Deanna's really mad at him. And it's not his fault." Those blue eyes met his face pleadingly as she continued the dance he'd started.

"That will work itself out," he said, smiling. "I'm not worried about him... I'm worried about you." Leland looked back into her eyes, dragging her back into his dance. "Are you keeping safe? Do you have people you can call on... because he never did, and I think it devoured him...."

"I am. I do. And I keep him safe. And... I'm..." She held his gaze for a moment longer before her resolve began to crumble. "I'm sorry. When I saw you in there I really thought you were the bad guy. I thought you were going to do it and I was so mad at you. I believed it all. I doubted you... but you were such a hero..." The words came tumbling out in a flood.

Leland smiled. "I don't blame you for thinking ill of me at the time... I know what it looked like," he said, winking. "I wanted to look bad. I didn't realize that Takahashi would have some ability to see through it. We might have been able to avoid all this." he added.

Faith nodded, blowing a lock of hair away from her face as she watched her cousin closely. For having just regained consciousness, Leland seemed to be in an awfully good mood. Of course, maybe just being awake was reason enough to be happy. "But you're okay. That's all that matters. You're back with your family and the bad guy is gone..."

Reaching for his hand once again, she closed her delicate fingers around his. "You're a hero, Lee. And I'll never forget that."

"Now if there was only some way to get my brother-in-law to see that," Leland said, his smile going crooked and his eyes drifting past Faith. The door to his private room was closing as he spoke.

"He does," Eddy said, his entrance having been a bit more subdued than his usual. "But we can talk about that later." He added the last bit with a wan smile. "Right now, I'm on a mission to remove this lovely young lady from your presence so that my sister and her husband can both get some much-needed and well-deserved rest." He finished clearing the distance, putting his hand on Faith's shoulder.

Leland nodded to him. "I suppose that's not a bad idea," he answered, his voice still weak. "Have you explained... this," he continued, looking at Eddy's hand on Faith's arm, "to my wife?"

Eddy shook his head. "Not in so many words... and I trust you'll keep it in confidence?"

"As long as she doesn't ask me directly," Leland answered. "I won't lie to her."

"Good enough, I guess," Eddy said, squeezing her arm slightly. "Believe it or not, this secrecy is an attempt to keep our families out of danger."

Leland nodded. Eddy looked down at Faith and smirked. "You ready to get out of here...?"

Giving Leland's hand one final squeeze, Faith let her hand slip away from his. "I'll visit again after things calm down. And I'll try to keep my mom from visiting too much. But you know how she is..." Rising from her seat, she leaned against Eddy for a moment, not quite ready to leave the sight of her awake and on-the-mend cousin.

When she finally turned away to let herself be led from the room there was a familiar sparkle in her blue eyes. Her chin tilted upward as she grinned up at her friend. Oh, she was so ready for this. "So... I have to pretend you charmed me?"

Eddy smirked down at her, "You don't have to pretend... you can just give in to my natural charm for a while," he said with a chuckle. "Or, you could make this a lot easier on you and avoid an apparently-unnecessary lie...," he paused for a second and his face went all serious, "by just letting Anna learn the truth." He pursed his lips slightly before continuing.

"She's never wavered on my secret, even when we were at odds with each other... and it would prevent Leland from having to keep the secret from her as well. I know I'm a bit on the paranoid side when it comes to secret i.d.'s, but if they both knew, it would give you one more 'safe house' from your parents in a pinch... and I trust both of them."

He smirked again, mischief in his look. "But it's your decision.... If you're so desperate to get me dressed up and out on the town with you that you want to use this as an excuse to go ahead with my 'date' plan, I'll understand...," he said, eyes sparkling. "I can be pretty irresistible...."

Biting her lip, Faith slugged him in the arm as she thought it over. "Of course I want to make you dress up and spoil me with a fun night." Those full lips twisted in a devilish smile. "I even have the perfect dress in mind. But..." It actually wasn't a difficult choice at all. The fact that Eddy trusted them with this was all she needed.

"Telling Deanna the truth means I get to introduce Charlie to my parents. Of course, he might not thank you for that... but still... if I'm gonna get all dressed up for a date I want it to be with someone who's not faking it when they look at me like that." Chasing the almost wistful look on her young face away with another smile, she looked past Eddy back to Leland. "If you're okay with me telling, of course. I don't want to add more stress to her life."

Leland smiled again. "She's dealt with her brother's kevlar fetish for over a decade," he said with a soft chuckle. "I'm sure she can handle it."

Eddy nodded, thinking about Faith's last words to him. He smirked to himself, then looked over at Leland. "Let's give it a day, though...," he said, his face a little more serious all of the sudden. "She just got you back, and that should be the only thing on either of your minds at the moment."

He nodded, and after a final exchange of pleasantries, Eddy led Faith from the room. Another round of "see you's" later, Deanna had enetered and left Eddy and Faith alone in the hallway, the door closing behind her. When it finally clicked into place, Eddy grabbed Faith by the shoulders and pulled her into a strong, uncharacteristic embrace. He held her for a second, then took a deep breath and released her.

"I can face down a dozen psychos a day, he said, matter-of-factly. "But my family scares the Hell out of me." He shrugged. "Sometimes I think it was better for all of us when Anna and I kept each other at a distance."

With a sigh, he leaned back against the wall. "And I want you to know," he continued, his eyes locked on Faith's, "that I'm not 'faking' anything with you. I love you to death, and if I was a much, much younger man, I'd probably look at you with a different pair of eyes. As it is," he added, smirking, "Charlie's a lucky man... at least, he is until I catch him in the act and lock him up for being a no-account law-breaker who isn't good enough for my girl." His eyes flashed with mischief and his smile covered his face by the time he'd finished that last sentence.

If he hadn't been leaning against the wall, the force of her hug would have knocked him back against it. "I love you too, Eddy." Though her words were muffled by his chest, she knew he understood. There was strength in the slender arms wrapped around him --after all, he'd trained her-- and a grin on her face when she finally tilted her head to look up at him. "You should be thankful for Charlie. I kinda have this thing for older men and he's not that much younger than you are. So... when you think about it, he keeps you safe."

Eddy smirked. "Then maybe I will have to send him up the river after all," he said with a wink. "Oh, right... my lady-friend carries guns...," he added, still smirking. "I guess it wouldn't be such a good idea after all."

She gave him another little squeeze then let her arms drop. It was definitely time to be done with hospitals for the day. "But don't think you're totally off the hook about the whole dressing up thing. I'll find another reason... somehow..."

"When you think one up, let me know," he said in answer. "I've heard I clean up nice." He smirked again, then waved his thumb down the hallway. "Now, let's get out of here... hospitals depress me."

[Bluewolf]

Jamie stood still in the center of the Funhouse completely still. A faint white/yellow glow pulsed from her. She was not in costume. Instead she wore a tattered Garrison General Hospital t-shirt and pair of black and blue basketball shorts. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail. The only part of her costume she wore was her goggles. She stood there for several seconds, just breathing.

Suddenly, the Funhouse sprang to life around her. Large telescoping robotic arms shot from the ceiling and floor.

Without a wasted second, Jamie's eyes popped open.

One of the arms flew straight toward her. Jamie's hands slammed against its cold skin as she leap-frogged over it, a kiss of photonic energy along the way made sure that it would slam hard into the ground.

Another of the arms came from the side toward her, but hit a shield of pure light that was barely visible till the shock of the impact rippled across it. Daylight turned her head toward this current assailant, spinning quickly toward her newest attacker. Jamie's hands gracefully grabbed the arm just behind it's pincer like fingers and, using it like a uneven bar, swung herself underneath it to kick another arm out of the way. Thanks for forcing me into gymnastics mom, she smiled to herself as she landed in a crouched position on the floor.

She dove to the side as another pincer arm slammed itself into the spot where she was just seconds before. Jamie quickly swung back to face the arm, her right hand pointing at it like she was a five year old playing Cowboys and Indians. The tip of her finger began to glow a bright yellow as a thin blast of light shot a pin sized hole through the arm, rendering it lifeless against the floor of the Funhouse.

Two down... she thought to herself as she quickly took stock of the position she now found herself in. The two robotic arms left twitched angrily in the air in front of her. "Well come on then," she dared them, her lips curled into a smile.

As if they were taking it as a cue, the two arms both launched themselves at her. The Photonic Fem Fatale's hands both disappeared in balls of bright light. As the arms closed in, Jamie threw her fists in front of her releasing the energy, and vaporizing the last two arms.

"Impressive," a voice echoed through the Funhouse.

"Thanks," Jamie said a bit out of breath, "That's what lifetime of cheer leading, gymnastics, and Aikido will do for you," she blew a sweaty lock of hair out of her face.

The mirrored glass of the observation bubble slid open, and Bluewolf, not so much as dropped, but leaped down to the Funhouse floor. Jamie felt the deck plates vibrate as the blue-clad hero touched down a few feet away without so much as a tuck and roll. The blonde smirked, "Now you're just showing off."

"Funny," Wolf replied, "Faith kept saying the same thing."

"Faith is usually right," Jamie said with a smile as she walked over to the towel she had sitting in the corner of the Funhouse, "So Mister Mathews," she said with her best fake authoritarian voice, "have you had a full physical since returning from your ordeal?" She picked up the squirt bottle on the floor and shot some water into her mouth, "Being dead can play hell with your body and all."

Aaron's brow crinkled beneath his mask. "Is that an order or a proposition?" his lip curled up, "Since I'm pretty sure my personal physician isn't in the habbit of giving out referrals."

"And," he added as he pulled off his visor, "she's a little territorial where her number one patient is concerned."

Jamie giggled, "Nothing like that Aaron. I'm prolly sure I would end up kitty litter if I tried to muscle in on Kaye's territory," the blonde leaned against the wall her arms folded across her chest. The smile that played on her lips faded, "Seriously though, have you made sure that there weren't any lingering effects to the being deadness?"

Aaron took a deep breath, then promptly dropped to the floor, folding his legs Indian-style. He leaned back on his hands, looking up at Jamie. It wasn't an easy question to answer. Physically he was fine, everything seemed to be in working order. Mentally... well, some things just took time, right? He gave her a shrug. "To be honest, I don't know. You find me someone else who's come back from the dead and we'll compare notes."

Jamie slid down the wall and sat across from Aaron, "I don't know if there is anyone that has come back from what you did." She took another sip from the water bottle and wiped her wrist across her mouth, "I just want to make sure you're okay, kinda my job and all," she gave him another smile.

"Okay, as I can be, I suppose. Memory was a little jumbled up for a bit. Past, present, and some future all bouncing around in here," he tapped the side of his head. Mentioning the future brought a look to Jamie's face. "But pretty much all of that has settled down now."

Aaron knew there was genuine concern on Jamie's part, but he also knew she was dancing around something that bordered on uncomfortable and he wanted to clear the tension - needed to clear the tention - if they were all to become an effective team. "So they tell me you've been calling the shots."

And there it was. Not so much a challenge as an acknowledgement.

Jamie laughed. "Pretty much," the blonde nodded, her pony tail bobbing behind her head, "There wasn't an actual vote or anything, I was just the one that happened to start barking out orders and everyone else followed," she pulled her knees up close to her chest, "Not that Sparky the Wonder Personality exactly listened all the time," she smirked, "but it seemed to work out pretty well."

"Sparky is..." Aaron smiled, leaving the rest unsaid. Jamie could probably fill in the blanks well enough by now. "Sometimes that's all it takes, someone to step up. The question now, o' fearless leader, is what are you going to do now that your team has suddenly doubled in size?"

Aaron didn't need his heightened vision to see her eyes widen behind the goggles.

That was not what Jamie expected to hear at all. The Lady of Light sat and thought about it. A few moments passed, and the doctor's smile returned again, "Between you and me, I figured you were just gonna come in and take over. I hadn't really thought about it."

Aaron shook his head. "Hostile takeovers aren't much for teambuilding. We can't really afford to second-guess each other, much less have the team look to one of us for approval when the other says something. So the question remains: What do you do?"

Jamie nodded, her lower lip protruding slightly over her upper lip as she thought. "That's a good question," Jamie took off the goggles and rubbed her eyes. She looked back up at Aaron squinting slightly, the smile still on her face, "Part of me would love to say It's mine and you can't have it," she laughed, "but you have more experience with everyone then me, and you made all this possible so it only seems fair that you take it."

"That's not exactly true. There's a level of trust built between you and the others that stepped up in our absence," Aaron pointed out. "Garrett seems to be a little star-struck at the moment, and Riordan... well, I'm not exactly sure how he fits in to all this. Doc seems content to observe for the moment, though I've no doubt that should the need arise, he'll make a few... 'suggestions.'" He leaned forward, laying his forearms on his knees. He looked Jamie in the eye, "And what if I don't want it?"

Jamie nodded as she replaced the goggles over her eyes. She could understand what he was saying. The blonde stood up and took another sip from the bottle of water in her hand. "Well I'll tell you what," Jamie gave Aaron another smile, "I'll keep running the show for now as long as you promise to have my back when I need it," she walked over and held out her hand to Aaron, "deal?"

Aaron clasped hands with the blonde, who braced herself enough for the big man to come to his feet. "I think I'd call that a deal."

"Then it's settled," Jamie grunted as she helped Wolf to his feet. She gave him a smile, "So I think the big question I have is how should we feel about Strategoi? Me personally, I don't like them almost getting two of our people killed no matter how much information we gained from it."

"Let's walk and talk," Aaron motioned towards the door. Jamie nodded, and together they headed out of the Funhouse. It wasn't an easy question to answer, even after the little chat he'd had with Jenna. "To be fair, we all run the risk of dying every time we suit up, whether we're working with them or not. I've already started working on a deal with them. We are all working towards the same ends after all - keeping the city safe - and it would be a... tactical error for us to cut ties with them all together.

Jenna and I agreed that sharing intelligence would be mutually beneficial, but that under no circumstances would she, or anyone above her in the chain consider our team to be assets. There's bound to still be joint operations, of course. But 'official' communications will be handled through a liaison."

Jamie didn't need any sort of telepathy to know that Aaron was holding back a key detail. "So," she began, drawing the word out, "that would be you?"

"What? Me? Hell no. You couldn't pay me enough to take that job."

"We get paid?"

"Hush, you."

"So if not you, then who?" the blonde asked as they passed through the door to the monitor room.

Aaron's grin was positively evil, "Sparky, of course."

"Of course," Daylight nodded and grinned, "Anything else I need to know?"

"Loaded question, don't you think?" Aaron asked, pointedly. He clapped Jamie on the shoulder then, "That's about it as far as our issues with Strat goes at the moment. If anything comes up, I'll be sure to let you know. And on that note... you do realize that Sparky is going go against the grain. A lot."

"I've met him on a few occasions," she grinned, "so yeah I know. I'm not worried about him so much though he knows what he's doing. It's Garrett I worry about. He was stupid and let Faith's identity leak to someone it shouldn't have leaked to. Corin and I tried to encourage him, get him to understand we can prolly get it fixed," she heaved a heavy sigh, "but this is the second time his actions have put Faith at risk, and that worries me."

Aaron sat down, the chair giving a small squeal of protest as he leaned back. "That could prove to be a liability. It really doesn't take an evil genius to start making certain connections. Damage control is the highest priority, though. Faith's family is too influential not to get rocked by a public revelation that one of them is running around the city as a costumed vigilante. The impact of which would be... bad."

Many different meanings were placed on that last word. In truth, it would only take one cop, one reporter, someone with even an ounce of credibility to start tugging on the potential thread that Garrett had pulled loose and everything would quickly unravel on them. "Fortunately, I think Kardiac's intervention came at the best time."

"Intervention?" Jamie's eyebrows raised behind the yellow tinted goggles.

"One of those against the grain things I just mentioned." Aaron explained. "To prove a point, Kardiac tried to explain to Garrett just how easy it would be for someone to 'touch' his family if they really wanted to. Not just your typical telephoto pictures of their comings and goings, but some evidence from inside their homes. Naturally, the kid took offense, and copped an attitude. At some point in the exchange of words, he called Sparky by name. While he was in costume."

Jamie winced, "I don't imagine that went over well."

"Not in the least. But wait, it gets better." Aaron found that he enjoyed the re-telling of the story much more than hearing about it the first time around. "Even as Sparky's reading him the riot act about compromising identities, the kid does it again."

Jamie palmed her face, "I bet that went well."

"Let's just say Kardiac had the presence of mind to give me a call before he did any permanent damage. It also seems that Mr. Not-a-team-player has taken on another student. Though I seriously doubt Garrett is going to have the same mellowing effect as Faith seems to have had. Quite the opposite, actually." Aaron recalled the meeting Ryu had described with Garrett. He raised a brow, "Seems your boy has a habit of rubbing people the wrong way. Not a bad thing when it's the badguys, but when it's people that you're supposed to be counting on to watch your back..."

"Yeah," Jamie rubbed the back of her head, "he's always seemed very even tempered when ever I'm around him, it makes no sense for him to lash out like that. If you see Kard before I do just ask him to keep me in the loop on how it's going. Not that I'm gonna stop
him." She sat down in her chair at the table and smiled across at Wolf.

Aaron raised a hand to his brow in mock salute, "Aye aye, cap'n."

[Faith]

Though the sounds filling her home could in no way be described as a tortured animal, Faith had to admit that this was not her most productive practice session. Too many missed notes and, in general, too many times when her mind just wandered off. She blamed it on the late nights --or mornings-- and the rather enormous changes that had been happening all around her. After all, she'd just been getting used to life as Eddy's protege when suddenly a handful of new but old heroes had come back to town. And, while it wasn't at all a bad thing, it did leave the redhead feeling a little off balance.

Giving up, she set her bow aside and placed her cello in the polished wooden stand. Then, with a sigh, she went to flop down on her couch. The papers scattered across her coffee table caught her eye and gave sudden inspiration. Green Dolphin Street was auditioning a potential head chef tonight and her father needed someone to sample the cooking. With Logan in New York, moving the last of his stuff out of his ex-fiance's apartment, that left Faith alone with far more gourmet food than one person could possibly hope to eat.

Smiling at the brilliance of her plan, she reached for her phone. She was talking almost before the voice on the other line had finished saying hello. "Jamie? It's Faith. What are you doing tonight?"

"Reviewing charts, signing paperwork, and generally reviewing back paperwork that I have generally neglected," Jamie said with a sigh, "Why?"

"Oh, you're so not doing that," the redhead countered. "You and Corin are joining me for a nice dinner. Because we need it." She paused briefly then, deciding she couldn't possibly look foolish over the phone, continued on. "We've been so busy and stuff. I kinda miss you guys."

Jamie's side of the cell was silent for about a half a second, "Will there be drinks involved?"

Faith laughed as she wandered down the hall to the bedroom, already picking out her clothes for the night. "Are you kidding? Of course there will be. It's like a rule. Just meet me at 3414 Infantino. And let me call Corin to invite him too."

"See ya there."

---

"Will there be drinks involved?"

Faith giggled. Corin and Jamie really were perfect for each other. "Puh-lease..." She drew the word out, making him wait. "We're sampling cuisine at my father's new club. Of course there will be drinks."


"Be there faster than you can say jumping jack flash." Corin laughed from the other side of the phone.

"I knew I could count on you. 3414 Infantino. Don't be late or Jamie and I will eat it all without you."

---

"Give us you money woman," The first of the muggers stuck a gun in the scared girl in front of him's face, "or I swear to God I will unload this," he waived the gun in her face for inflection, "In your face."

The girl was shaking so violently that she could barely stand. "Okay. Please don't hurt me! You can have anything..."


There was an audible cough from the shadows behind them, "I was just about to get dinner too. This really annoys me." A dark shadow stepped slightly out of the corner of the alley.

"You wanna die man get the hell out of here!" The mugger squeezed the trigger firing into nothing but an empty shadow which like smoke swirled and vanished.

"Really?" The Starlight Sleuth's voice came from everywhere.

"I heard a shot," the Lady of Light stood at the opening of the alley, "luckily I was..." she stopped as she saw the darkened Mid-Night Man on the other side of the alley, "Oh you're here too?"

"I just got here," The Mid-Night Man laughed.

"Hey..." The disembodied voice from the other end of the alley sounded almost disappointed. "Don't you have somewhere else to be right about now?" A soft splash echoed as the unseen body passed by a puddle on the ground. She didn't need to be at her sneakiest anymore.

"Fancy seeing you here," the Starlight Sleuth joked as he skirted the darkened edge of the shadows, "I was going to take this guy but since you lovely ladies are here, I'll let you play through."

"But you were here first," Jamie smiled as she stepped between the now very nervous gunman and the girl mouthing the word go as she did.

"No no," the shadow shook it's head, "one of you ladies, I insist."

"And step on your shadowy toes? Never." Her friends didn't need to see her to know Sylph was grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh but Sylph," Jamie giggled, "we insist."

"Exactly," the Starlight Sleuth laughed, "go right on ahead."

The gunman's eyes darted back and forth. He was sweating visibly now and his gun hand seemed to be less steady. "Somebody do something!" he finally snapped.

"You stay out of this!"


Hidden in the safety of her invisibility, Sylph's giggle seemed mysterious... and almost sinister when she spoke again. "I'm not in a skull bashing mood. Daylight, would you take care of it please? After all, you don't have to touch him."

Daylight sighed, "Fine," she sluggishly held up her hand and one flash of light later, the mugger was out cold against the far wall

"Well done," Corin smiled as he walked out in street clothes next to the shadowy Mid-Night Man, which almost instantly disappeared in a whisp of inky smoke.

"Wow. When did you learn to do that?" Sylph stepped up beside Corin, poking him with an unseen finger to make sure he wasn't going to disappear as well. "That was cool."

"New trick I've been practicing with Doc Midas," the Starlight Sleuth walked over and nudged the mugger with the toe of his shoe, "basically it's just forming the shadow into a shape that looks like a silhouette of me. I figured I didn't have time to change when I found this guy. Besides," he pulled his old tranq gun out of his jacket pocket, "I still carry old blue with me just in case of emergencies."

Jamie, who was in costume, stared at Corin until he finished. Then calmly, but quickly, she slugged him in the shoulder, "Jerk, I had to change."

"Which is why you got the kill," Corin smiled as he rubbed his shoulder, "Here," he held up his hand toward the entrance of the alley which darkened to almost an opaque, "Now you can change back in peace."

Since the mugger was motionless, out cold, and the intended victim had ran off without even a 'thank you', Faith reappeared as well. Dressed in completely non-heroic fashion, she looked down at her expensive shoes then gave a wry grin. "I didn't want to change either." A mock sigh escaped her lips. "And I wish I had... I think I stepped in something."

---

The plates set before them could hardly be considered samples. Looking around at all the food, Faith had to wonder if bringing two friends was enough. Maybe she should have invited three or four more. "I'm going to have to spend the next two days in the Fun house to work this off," she complained softly, inhaling deeply as the heavenly aromas mingled in the air.

She looked over the plates again, shaking her head slightly. "I don't even know where to start. But I do know I'm not going to be able to handle too many of these auditions."

"My goodness," Jamie sighed, "that last one was amazing." She took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes.

"You are not kidding," Corin smiled contently, "where did you say this guy worked before?"

Faith shifted a few plates to the side to find the resume. "Nowhere local. Some place called The Georgian Room in... well... Georgia." Taking another large bite of the decadent pasta dish in front of her, she gave an exaggerated moan of pleasure. "But I'm so glad he's here."

"No kidding." Corin gave a bit of a yawn. He leaned against the table, "Man our little group has gon through a ton of change lately hasn't it?"

The redhead nodded. "We're not so little anymore. It's... not bad... just a little strange." Kicking off her shoes, she pulled her legs up into her chair as she relaxed a little more. Wine, good food... and good friends. Tonight was exactly what she'd been needing.

"Yeah," agreed as he looked out over the still unopened club, It's really nice having Aaron back in the fold."

"I got to have a little bit of night-time fun with him. I like him," she said approvingly. "Though it's a good thing I'm here now. Otherwise Jamie would have to put up with all those boys all by herself."


Jamie nodded, "Oh no kidding," she laughed at herself, I don't know what I would do if it was just me and Kaye."

Faith took a large bite of the dessert she had promised herself she wasn't going to touch. "I like her too," she said once her mouth was empty again. "But it's kinda hard to believe how different everyone is."

"What do you mean?"

"From each other," she explained. "Even us. I mean, did you ever think we'd be the sort of friends who'd just have dinner together... after stopping a mugging?"


"Good point," the blone laughed as she too dove into the dessert in front of her as well. Her eyes rolled back in joy, "Faith if you don't hire him, I will."

"For what?" Corin said as his eyebrows knitted together.

"I could come up with a few things for a guy who cooks like this to do," blonde eyebrows wiggled from behind Jamie's glasses. She then turned to Faith, "Is he cute?"

Giving a shrug the redhead shot Corin a wicked little smirk. "Only if you find older men attractive. But... with skills like this... he could be hideous and still have women throwing themselves at him."

"Are we talking like Gordon Ramsey old here? Cause I could..."

"Anyway," Corin cut her off, "how is your shoulder doing Faith? You haven't been putting to much strain on it lately have you?"

For a minute she almost looked guilty. "Of course not. And it feels fine. I'm perfectly healthy again... and stuff..."

"Uh huh," Jamie smirked, "What have you been up to lately?"

Faith held onto her innocent position for a moment longer before crumbling in front of her friends. "Darn doctors," she grumbled. Then, reaching for her glass of wine, she gave a sigh and began to confess. "It hurt a lot when Charlie and I went through the floor but that was a while ago. I didn't hurt it at all when I was out with Aaron and the night I met Ryu was just rough all around so I didn't notice if anything in particular was worse than the others. So, see... I'm fine."

Both of them stared at her.

"What?"

"Just be careful." Corin laughed as he shook his head, "Man I feel like you're dad saying that. I'm a tad over protective aren't I?" He smiled sheepishly.

"Maybe," she teased. "But I wouldn't change it for the world." Blue eyes suddenly very serious she looked to Corin then to Jamie. Pushing an empty plate aside, she reached across the table to take their hands. "You guys were there for me when I was new to this whole thing. You helped me and you taught me and you encouraged me. For a long while there it kinda felt like just the three of us and now that so much has changed..."

Jamie squeezed Faith's hand, "We were all new at all this together," She shot Corin a side ways glance, "You were still pretty green too pal. I think we all took care of each other."

"She's got a point," Corin nodded begrudgingly, "I will say we do make a hell of a team."

Faith nodded, smiling at her friends as she weighted the pros and cons of jumping up to hug them both. "We really do. And no matter what else changes around us, that's never going to change."

---

Dr. Mark Dane was a hero. Not only was he one of the best plastic surgeons in the Mid West, but he was also the most philanthropic. Fixing cleft pallets in Africa. Burn victims in China. Victims of horrible car accidents in Garrison, he did it all and for almost no money at all. Most nights he slept comfortably, but this was not one of those nights. Tonight Dr. Dane had bad dreams.

He tossed and turned, as imaginary creatures beyond his worst horrors chased him through his brain. Mark's eyes flew open as he prayed the monsters from his dreams wouldn't follow. He walked unsteadily into the bathroom hoping a splash of water on his face would calm his nerves. He flicked on the light and turned on the faucet. The cool water against his skin felt good. He could feel his nerve returning. Mark looked into the mirror and screamed at what looked back at him. He could feel his heart pound against his ribs begging to burst free. He gasped for air that would not come to his lungs till he finally collapsed against the cold tile floor the look of horror still on his face.

As silence fell over the bathroom, a figure detached itself from the shadows and approached the body. "Time of death... 1:37 in the morning," a female voice spoke in a cool, detached tone. Pausing to examine the look on Dr. Dane's face, the woman spoke again. "While the serum was highly effective at putting the patient into a heightened state of terror, death occurred too quickly. More tests are needed." Leaving the body on the floor, she turned to exit the room, shuddering as she caught sight of her reflection in the doctor's mirror.

[The Mid-Night Man]

Corin hated being on call over nights. He would much rather be out on the roof tops of Garrison chasing down the bad guys then sitting in the on call bored out of his wits. It must have been a slow night in Garrison, nothing so far the entire night.

Around eleven, Corin finally had enough. He told the nurse on duty he would be out to lunch across the street and walked out the emergency room doors and across the street to Rupert's Pharmacy and the Ambrosia that awaited him.

---

"Evening Rup." Corin waived at the old man behind the counter.

"Evening Doc," the elderly man behind the counter waived. "You want the usual?"

"Absolutely," Corin's grin was wide as he sat on one of the stools in front of the giant griddle.

"I'll get the milkshake ready before I start the burger." The whirl of the shake machine filled the old pharmacy.

A tall blond man walked up to the lunch counter and gave the stools a spin before sitting down. He glanced around the place, almost as if he was mentally mapping the exits before looking at a menu.

"Don't even need to look at the menu man," Corin chuckled, "the burger here is out of this world."

Tossing the menu on the counter, Charlie smiled. "Fair enough. I'm Charlie." He extended his hand to the man sitting a couple seats away.

"Corin." Corin smiled as he shook the other man's hand, "Been coming here since I was a kid. Rupert takes great care of me."

"Good to know." Addressing Rupert, Charlie ordered. "Chocolate malt and a double cheeseburger."

"Comin' right up."

Corin looked up at the old TV that hung above the grill, which with the advent of digital cable lay silent and dark. Corin smiled to himself, that was Rupert. He didn't give a damn about modern conviences.

Turning back to Corin, Charlie gave him the once-over. "You work at the hospital? What kind of an outfit is that?"

Corin looked down at his clothing, "These are O.R. scrubs."

"Oh, are they?" Charlie replied, laughing. "So, you're a doctor?"

"Nice Rushmore reference," Corin laughed, "and yeah I work at the hospital across the street." Corin's eyes went back to watching the old man behind the counter for a few moments before he spoke again, "What about you? I haven't seen you in this neck of the woods before."

Charlie shrugged. "I guess you could say I'm new in town. Been here for business, fell in love with the town, and mainly a gorgeous girl in the town. So I sorta semi-retired and moved to Garrison."

"Sounds good," Corin nodded again, "well welcome to Garrison."

A chime sounded, indicating customers entering the store, a common occurance, but the gunfire that tore through the store's ceiling was anything but. "Listen up! We want all your codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, diamorphine, pethidine, and anything else that will pack a kick."

You have got to be kidding me, Corin grumbled in his head. His eyes instinctively popped up to the convex mirror above the grill as he counted the thugs that entered the place. five he thought to himself. He stayed totally still as he heard their footfalls coming toward them. As Corin sat there perfectly still, the shadows formed by his hair across his face grew long. He reached out with his mind. The shadows that came from the thugs grew longer and darker.

"W-whatever you want," Rupert stuttered out of fear.

Corin could see in the old man's eyes that he couldn't take what was going on for too much longer, this needed to end.

Charlie, meanwhile, had slipped off his seat and slipped back into a display rack. His vision shifted to a field of black and white, with hidden shapes and skeletons appearing around the store. This would be so much easier if Faith were here, he thought as he quickly counted the robbers. Moving down through the aisle gondola, he watched the criminals file through the store towards the pharmacy counter. One of the robbers was moving slower than the others, clearly watching their backs as well as the front door.

The desolidified delfactor slipped out behind the lookout and quickly snatched his gun, jamming it into a counter and fired a few quick punches to knock the thug out. Grabbing him by the ankles, Charlie drug him into a hollow under the candy racks where he couldn't get into any trouble.

Corin watched the scene unfold in the mirror. Really? Corin moaned in his thoughts, and I was beginning to like this guy. The shadows started to grow along the aisles of food snaking their way across the other side and further up the walls. "You, boys should really be watching behind you, somebody just took out one of your guys."

"Check it out, Jack."

Thanks for ratting me out, doc," the former thief thought as he manuvered his way around the fresh gunman making his way back. He slipped under the counter he had melded his first opponent's gun to and waited.

Well that's one of them any way, Corin rolled his eyes, time to go to work I guess, can't let Charlie have all the fun. With a wink at Rupert, everything went dark.

The confusion was music to the Starlight Sleuth's ears. He jumped from his seat at the counter and towards Rupert pulling him to the safety of the floor, "Stay down, and stay safe," he whispered in the old man's ear.

Corin leaped into the shadow of the backside of the counter. He didn't have time to change, but he did have time to pull a few new tricks out.

Not wanting to screw Charlie over, too much, Corin let the lights come back on. From the shadows Corin's voice rang out, "You guys picked a really bad night."

"Indeed you do," Charlie said, popping out of the counter, catching Jack by surprise. Again, the retired thief grabbed his opponent's gun, but phased this one through the first. Looking up at the disarmed crook, Charlie smiled before punching him into the solar plexus, then across the jaw.

Without his gun, Jack didn't have many combat skills, and collapsed quickly.

"Nice moves," the Mid-Night Man complimented from the shadows as he pulled the now obsolete dart gun that he carried as a just in case and fired two darts into the two extra goons taking them out of the fight.

"Would you like the head idiot sir?" Corin called out to Charlie.

Charlie smiled, having realized exactly who Corin was. "After you, sir. I wouldn't want to deny you the fun." To himself, he thought Maybe Mid-Night Man's not that bad after all.

"If you insist," Corin said with a smile in his voice as he launched a third dart that landed into the neck of the lead junkie. Once he was out as well, Corin stepped out of the shadow again. "Well that was more fun than I usually when I'm on call." He walked behind the counter to check on Rupert, "You okay Rup?"

"What the hell just happened?"

"Some thugs came in here to rob the place. Luckily it seems some heroes showed up," Corin shot a look back at Charlie.

Charlie nodded. "Yup. I was hiding behind the counter, but that has to be what happened, I guess. Everything went dark on me."

"I think we're gonna need to call the cops Rup," Corin said with a smile, "and get those burgers to go."

---

About five minutes after the police came to the pharmacy and took their statements, Corin and Charlie were sitting on a bench outside the hospital. "Told ya these things were good," he took a sip from the shake.

"And you're right." He held out his hand to the doctor again. "Let's start over. Charlie Simons, AKA Heist. Former thief, trying to be a decent guy."

"Corin Graves, AKA the Mid-Night Man, was a bit of an ass the first time we met," Corin shook his hand, "I apologize about that I seem to be rather protective of our red head sometimes."

Charlie laughed. "It's okay. She's a great lady and I'm a thief. Or at least was." Taking another bite from his burger, Charlie looked up at the sky. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I described you to Roo as 'the grumpy shadow guy'. Getting to know you, I understand why he looked confused."

Corin laughed, "To be honest I was a bit grumpy," Corin stopped, "You know Ryu?"

"Yeah, doesn't everybody?" the ex-thief asked with a smile. "He was the first guy who ever beat and caught me." Charlie laughed at the memory. "I didn't stay caught very long, though. I was only in custody for about ten minutes before I slipped out. We bumped into each other over the years, traded quips, got to be as friendly as two guys on opposite sides of the fence can."

"Well you know what Disney said..."

"It's a small world after all?"

"I was thinking stay out of my park you long haired hippie," Corin grinned, "but that works too."

A smile crossed Charlie's face. "I'll drink to that," he said, before taking a sip of his shake. "I think you should know, I've given up the whole thieving thing. I think I've got a chance at a good thing, and I don't want to mess it up. She deserves better and I'm going to be better."

"Well then," Corin nodded, "If that's good enough for Faith and for Spiff then it's good enough for me."

[Dreamer]

A knock on the door caused a man to stir in his apartment. The place was nice, an upper-middle class apartment that had been rented out for years over in Garrison Heights. If the walls could talk they would speak stories about the old ratty furniture that was first here progressively get taken away by better things. There would have been stories about the old tiles in the decently sized kitchen being whisked away for a black and white pattern. His kitchen and makeshift living room had a fifties flare with a taste of the modern. As guest would go into the living room they were greeted by more of today's decoration trends. The owner went to the peep hole peering out to see someone they didn't recognize thanks to their get up that concealed their face. He opened the door letting the guard latch chain stop the door from moving, "Yes?"

After removing the sunglasses and hat, the apartment owner saw his own cobalt blue eyes staring back him. The concerned look that was brewing across his face faded quickly into a bright smile, "Son! Come in!" After the door was shut the chain latch was undone and Simon Sanders let his son Garrett in. Like many times before Garrett felt under dressed in dad's home sweet home, a three bedroom apartment he had since the divorce. Yes, dad's things were ratty and hand me downs at first, but soon Simon landed on his feet. Despite all the bills, and various payments made to the former Mrs. Sanders, Simon still saved and splurged when he could afford it. After a while Garrett and a few other people like they needed a suit and tie just to step in.

Simon moved through with a smile, and even for a laid back Saturday spent it in a dull green button up shirt, and black slacks. His feet and hands were the only parts of his body that weren't dressed up because bare feet were so much more comfortable than the black dress shoes that waited patiently by the door, and gloves were too hindering for daily use. "Can I get your coat son?" he asked before taking Garrett's long trench coat, he never gave his guest a chance to say no toward hospitality, especially his family. While putting the coat away came more questions asked to make a person feel welcomed, "Can I get you something? Bottled water, Soda, Wine, I've got a bit of everything. Even some aged scotch I've been holding on to a special ocas," Simon suddenly stopped after turning to really see his son. "Look at you! What have you been up to these past nine months?" he asked marveling at his son.

Over the past nine months spent being a hero, really conditioned Garrett's body and it was very apparent to those who hadn't seen him daily. "What are you taking or doing? I've tried nearly everything out there and I still can't replace the extra five pounds I want to get rid of with some lean muscle." While Simon was very fit, thanks to rigorous bouts in the school gym, mainly on the track and in the cardio room, the man was like many others out there, thinking they need to loose weight when they look just fine as it is.

Out of all the things Garrett's dad could have asked, this was the one thing that caught the hero off guard. Stumbling his mind quickly clung to the first answer that came to mind, "The P90X, you know the whole work out equipment thing. I saw an ad late at night, and figured, what the hell? It wasn't that much and well....it works!" he lied while trying not to blush.

Simon smiled at the blushing Garrett, the modest son not quite like his older brother Simon Christopher, who sometimes tried too hard to get noticed, "You're too modest son. You should have women knocking down your door looking for you. Smart, good looking, well...we can add well toned to the list, all you need is the confidence," he said smiling with amusement.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? You don't visit the professor too often."

"I could be like Si and just show up when I need money. Actually, I wanted to ask you to dinner. You, me, and..," Garrett paused while speaking. The next part was a little embarrassing for some reason, "A guest."

He smiled and raised his eyes rubbing his chin a little, "A guest hmm? Never done this before son, is this guest a girl?" he enquired a little hopeful that Garrett finally settled into something called adulthood.

Again the young Sanders blushed before talking, "Yeah, but not like that...She's a good friend of mine and while she would be great like that, she's kinda seeing someone and my life is pretty busy. Why ruin a good thing?" Garrett shrugged suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "Since when did you become mom?

"When she started to prefer money and get rich quick schemes over the small things in life. The things that make the bad days truly worth living, you know the simple stuff, the good stuff," he beamed at his son. With a hand gesture that encouraged Garrett to get settled on the black leather couch that stood proudly in the living room. Eventually the two began to play catch up and told each other of all the little details that had happened in their lives. Simon learned about new friends like Faith, Corin, Jamie, and Riordan, sans the details about costumes and capes, hardships that come trying to successful time manage a job, and "extra projects at work." Garrett heard stories about Lakeview University, specifically the latest rumblings in the Political Science department and about the latest woman Simon was dating, Shelly, the secretary to the English offices a floor above his own. During the stories dad had gotten each of them a cola which they began drinking like they had done since Garrett was five. Conversations between the two of them evolved from finger painting to more grown up matters over time, along with the lighter tint to Simon's hair and a few wrinkles on his face.

"New friends, working out, keeping busy at work, who the hell are you and what have you done with my son?" Simon asked as he finished his bottle not hiding the proud smile plastered across his face. Garret was coming into his own, may have taken a bit to figure out who he was, and no one's ever really true of who they are in Simon's opinion. You're only ever really sure of who you are when the final curtain of life comes down, and until then you just have a firm idea. That was Simon's thinking and it made him happy to see Garrett getting a firm idea about who he was.

Another cautious and curious eyebrow rose to his Father, "Why are you smiling like that?" Garrett asked.

Simon shook his head, "No reason. So...Dinner with this friend...Attire?"

"Whatever you feel like."

A nod came from father as he put away his bottle in the recycle and continued the conversation. They talked about many things, usually just the little nuances of life until it was time to part. They gave each other a hug and dad insisted his son to not be a stranger.

Once home Garrett went to the phone and dialed Faith's number. Once the familiar and cute message of Faith's pre-recorded voice from her voicemail kicked on Garrett waited for the familiar beep and began to talk, Hey. I know your probably busy doing something right now. I was wondering if you could pencil me in for Dinner one early evening," he emphasized early for the obvious reasons. "I've just got a few things I want to say to you, and an interested third party that I invited out. It's someone you don't know, and I don't know why...but I want you to meet them. I've got just as man-," the monotone voice of the voicemail came on telling Garrett his allotted time to leave a message was up. He hit three to send out the message and dialed her number again and waited just like before, "Sorry about that. as I was saying, I've got just as many things to say to you as I do them. So I figured two birds with one stone as you meet someone kind of important to me. Call me back when you can and stay safe out there. I don't want to see you in a hospital bed or wrapped in bandages any time soon...again. And I know, same for me. Bye."

---

Garrett sat at the table in a dimly lit restaurant. Families, couples, friends, and nearly every type of person came to Raphael's. Primarily an Italian restaurant, Raphael's offered a bit of everything trying to get a piece of the family restaurant market while they maintained the previous menu to not loose any old customers. It worked as business nearly doubled and it even caught the attention of Garrett recently, who sat quietly at a booth toward the back. He was wearing a well worn button up shirt, red in color, that Faith would have easily recognized from several nights together dressed as heroes. He waited for his guests to arrive.

High heels clicking softly as she crossed the tiled floor, Faith followed the restaurant host to Garrett's table. Her fingers curled in a little wave as she spotted her friend across the restaurant. "Thank you," she told the man, willing to overlook the fact that he seemed to be more interested in staring at her chest than her eyes.

"Hi, Garrett." She slid into a chair facing him, leveling one of her most dazzling smiles on him as she brushed an errant lock of hair away from her shoulders.

Cobalt blue eyes locked on the woman wearing the short brown dress that formed to every curve. It wasn't just the guide's eyes that locked on the redhead's body, a few males and even one woman looked in Faith's direction. Her hair was done up in a red bun, and a slinky brown scarf that matched the dress clung around her neck. She was clearly the most expensively dressed person in the building. Even Garrett couldn't have helped himself from taking a look, which would later be written off as male hormones, instincts, and nothing more.

He rose up quickly pulling out a chair for his guest, "You look...," Garrett paused as seeing her get properly seated caused him to see angles of Faith body in that dress, which distracted the host earlier. "Great. Beautiful. Umm..stunning," he said trying to be eloquent with his words. Once she was sitting down he pushed in her chair. "So how are things? Jamie and Corin, know by the way," he said sitting down knowing she'd get the message.

"Thank you." If Faith was offended by the way he was so blatantly checking her out, she didn't let it show. "I feel a little overdressed, actually, but I'm auditioning some potential house bands for Green Dolphin Street later and I wasn't sure if I'd have time to go home and change."

Despite the warmth in her smile, her crystal eyed gaze grew serious as she acknowledged his words. "Well, you're still standing... so it must not have been as bad as you expected." And he did look good. If there was one thing the ordeal with Constance had given him, it was a little more confidence. Or at least the appearance of it. Absently touching the jade sticks that held her hair in place, she looked to the empty third seat. "So when do I get to meet this mystery guest?"

"Someone close to me you haven't met yet, beautiful," Garrett said while he sat down. Part of him was a little nervous about this meeting and what would come from this, but this was Faith's fault. Their conversation in his apartment had him thinking about too many things lately. Tonight a few of those issues would be addressed.

As if he were on cue Simon Sanders entered the restaurant with a big smile. His guide was greeted with a smile, if they were female the man would have commented on her beauty. Garrett stood up once his father came into view.

"Son," he said with that smile never fading and arms spread out for a hug. After they hugged Simon's eyes went to Faith, "Do you shake, or hug? I'm a huggy person, so I hope you don't mind too much Miss..?"

The redhead rose to her feet and held out her arms to Garrett's father without hesitation. "Please, Mr. Sanders. I'm definitely a hugger. And it's Faith. Faith Kavanaugh."

Simon's smile brightened once the name "Faith Kavanaugh" came from his lips before he sat down. Like Garrett he was wearing a suit, dark blue, nearly black in color, with a green button up shirt. He looked very similar to his son, in both dress and appearance. They had the same eyes, jaw, and general facial structure. The only differences, besides a few wrinkles, dad had blond hair, slicked back, while Garrett had a neatly shaven head that once held black hair, and their noses were different. It was apparent that Garrett was Simon's son even if he had his mother's nose. "So you're the Faith I heard so much about, don't worry all of it was good. He just failed to mention you were a Kavanugh, your family does good work. I've always respected what they've done for the city," he smiled at her. Before his eyes went to the menu Simon had one more thing to add, "He also failed to mention how beautiful you were."

Faith gave a completely appropriate little blush then shot Garrett a quick look. "Thank you, Mr. Sanders. It's a pleasure to meet you. I only wish I could say I'd heard a lot about you."

"That's my fault Dad. I've just had a lot to deal with in the past few months," he confessed while his mind raced trying to think of a good way to avoid the "Dad, I became a superhero," conversation. "I only recently stopped paying off Si's college by shipping out mom checks. Then work piled up, and everything slipped between the cracks....I'm sorry to both of you."

Even as she reached out to pat his arm to wave away the apology, Faith felt a small twinge of guilt for not knowing these things about Garrett. He was a good friend to her, her first friend with powers; she should have been trying to learn more about his private life. "We all get busy. That's why it's so important to take time out like we're doing right now."

Touched was the appropriate emotion Simon felt at the moment. He knew what it was like to pay for Simon Jr.'s college, "Look. Forgive me for saying this, but I paid my dues when it came to your mother once the divorce settled. And I was so upset with your brother when he didn't want to go to Lakeview. All he would have to pay is the tuition for his classes, books, materials, and that's it! He decides he's too good for it and goes to someplace paying too much more for it all...That burden shouldn't have fallen on anyone else's shoulders, but I'm a dad....so I'm sort of obligated by various laws, and blood to help. You shouldn't have given in to your mom," he said sternly.

"And I'm not...Not anymore, I've been thinking about things lately...I want something for me, the lab pays me well. If it wasn't for Si's crappy artwork destroying my budget I wouldn't be in the Lourds," he said staring at his father before the waiter came taking their drink orders. Once the waitress named Aimee left, the conversation resumed. "I'm going to save up, move, maybe get back into college. The Lourds will always be my home," he gave Faith a look hoping she'd understand what he meant by home. Then looked at his father again, "Part of the reason I asked two of you here is just to say I'm sorry for my screw ups and I'm starting to wise up to things...finally."

Faith remained silent as the men continued to talk. While she wasn't disinterested, any attempt she made to sympathize about financial stresses would sound hollow. She had her own burdens, everyone did, but money just wasn't one of them. Instead she watched Garret and his father interact. There was love there, certainly, and a level of comfort with each others company. But it felt distant. It was clear they were still catching up after time apart.

"You apologize too much, Garrett," she told him, finding a break in the conversation. "I'm relatively sure your father and I didn't come here to demand confession and contrition."

He looked at Faith, "Never said either of you had, have, or ever will, but sometimes a guy realizes when he's been a jerk. So I'm apologizing for those moments to two people that mean a lot to me," Garrett's gaze went to each of them.

Her lips curled in a little smile as she looked over at Mr. Sanders. "Isn't he polite? Did you raise him that way?"

"Must have, you've obviously haven't met his mother. If you did, she'd be trying to marry you two in hopes she could latch on to the Kavanaugh funds. No offense son," Simon said bluntly while he tried to joke about what he considered truth.

"She has her good moments...," he said looking at them while his mind to figure out when these moments were, "here and there. Maybe....I'm just happy I'm not paying for the artist anymore...Or her."

Faith bit her lip and looked away, a little uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. Her own family wasn't perfect. Her dad was overprotective, mom drove her crazy, and Logan... Logan was himself. But there was more than just bitterness. They loved each other Maybe there was in this family too. She just didn't know them well enough to see it yet.

That look wasn't new to Garrett, he knew it rather well and looked toward the redhead thinking an explanation was in order. "I have an older brother and sister, and my mother thinks Si, Simon Jr., or as he likes to call himself, Christopher will be this breakout star like the next Andy Warhol. Well, he's not bad, but doesn't apply himself really. People bet on horses with each race, Mom bet on Christopher, and has clung to his loosing streak ever since. Sadly, every horse in the race needs a sponsor...meet the former sponsor," he said bitterly with a hand that moved over his person to show that Si's bill were paid by himself. "I work at a lab that pays students in the work study program fifteen an hour, and they're not even considered full time or even the lowest tier of employed person. Meet why I'm in the lourds..."

She nodded and smiled gently. "I have two older siblings, too," she reminded him.

Sensing it was time to move on to more pleasant dinner conversation Simon interjected, "You two are both young and there's something I've been dying to talk about with my students outside of class, but only a small handful have taken me up on the offer. Interested?" he asked while giving a sly smirk while blind to the truth of exactly who he wanted to ask his questions to.

"I'll bite. Faith?"

The redhead gave a cautious but curious nod. "Of course, Mr. Sanders. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"As residents, young residents, in Garrison City what do you think of the different people that put on costumes in the name of justice? Are they in the right and just concerned citizens realizing there's too much ground to cover for the cops? Or are they only hindering an already limited police force which has suffered through unrelated budget cuts without someone trying to take their job? I'm curious where you two stand on the issue," Simon asked with the utmost curiosity that lingered in his voice with no apparent hatred, malice, nor joy and happiness in his voice with each side of the issue.

All Garrett did was look toward Faith a little dumbfounded in his eyes not sure how to even answer that question. Thankfully, she'd had a lot of practice at answering questions like this. "What is it that you teach?" she asked with a teasing smile. With a sparkling laugh, she passed the question back to the wide-eyed Garrett. "I'm afraid that's beyond my area of expertize."

"I look at it like I do those wanting to serve the army regardless of creed and sexual orientation. If they want to go out and put themselves in harm's way I'm all for it. I mean what's the difference between them and a group of citizens doing citizens' arrests. As long as none of them cross a line really, and kill a person...I'm for them," he said trying to push back the sadness that lingered in his mind. He looked at his dad directly letting their eyes meet, "If some of them were raised right and suddenly wound up with powers one day, those people may not have considered it a choice, or option. I mean if you could do something not everyone else could do, wouldn't you want to use that to help out?" His eyes suddenly went to the outside hating the fact the sun would only linger for so long and then it was time to be a hero again. A job that was thankless and wound up getting him hurt. Keeping people safe was a good feeling; it eased some of the pain his special gifts caused. Still sometimes it would have been nice to get a night off.

There was a pause from Simon as he took Garrett's words as a compliment and thought about the point his son made in detail. Long ago their drinks were set down in the midst of the apologies, and Simon sipped his white wine slowly letting the taste linger. After it was set down he spoke, "If it were me that somehow got a power, I suppose I would be out there with the rest of them. I mean if you could blast lasers out of your eyes, go through walls, turn invisible, fly, something beyond what we call human..I'd be a hero, just like them." He drank more of his wine and then looked at each of them, "As a resident I'm all for it. A group of tax free police working outside certain laws to enforce the big stuff. The country was founded on a check and balance system of government, and I see this as the same thing just with the justice system. Sometimes I think the city should do more for them, find a way to put them on the payroll....Something. Heck, free premium health insurance to cover bullet and stab wounds, and anything else they deal with."

Aimee, the waitress cleared her throat as she went to take their orders and tried hard not to interject her own personal opinion on the matter. Her father was a cop and heard his take on the police debate on the matter. Dad was against capes and masks, and so was his little girl, but Aimee really wanted a good tip and these people looked well off. So she politely took their orders and kept her mouth shut. Once she walked off the talk began again.

"If it were only that easy. Think about it, if they became registered to get money or benefits their identities could easily become compromised. An identity should be the most sacred thing to a person in that position and so it would be almost harmful to help them that way. You'd probably be better off leaving out a plate of cookies, or if you ever saw a hero, just say thanks. Something small and simple, hard to track, and yet the message would be the same." There was a pause that made Garrett feel a little overly exposed, That's just me though..."

He was talking about identities again. Faith wondered if he'd ever be able to get past that. Since she couldn't scold him out loud, she reached out and kicked him under the table. "I guess I'll be sure to pack extra cookies the next time I walk alone at night," she laughed, trying to find a new topic of conversation.

With clenched teeth hidden behind his lip Garrett breathed out a little as he tried to stifle a yelp as an expensively priced shoe, that was also a bit pointy, kicked him in the shin. A sweet smile was given to Faith to acknowledge he knew why she suddenly kicked him, "I hear a few of them like snicker doodles and the one that uses these stun stick things, loves chocolate; gotta love the gossip section of the city paper..I'll make sure to pack the expensive kind in my coat next time work causes me to be out past sundown...."

"You read the gossip section? You're such an old lady." The redhead laughed again, almost alarmed that they were still on the subject.

"How else am I supposed to read about my rich friend parading about a new man she hasn't told me much about....yet," he smiled at her ever so sweetly.

Simon grinned at the both of them, "You two sound like a married couple; it's cute. How long have you known my son again?" He asked with the utmost interest since they knew each other rather well. He just wanted to know if she was a new friend or just a newly introduced to dad, old friend.

Lips pursed to the side, Faith counted back the months in her mind. "It's been what, a little over a year now?" she asked, looking to Garrett for confirmation. It didn't seem quite possible. The time had flown by, leaving her feeling like she'd known him forever.

"Easily. But its always fun when the first time you meet someone she gets you out of your pants," he grinned brightly as he remembered the chaos that was their first meeting.

A sudden cough came from Simon as the last of his white wine went down the wrong tube. Before he could interject Garrett held up a hand with a lie ready to go, "First time I met her, were just hanging around her place and my pants were wet, stained. So I had to slide out of them and let me tell you, it's strange yet memorable to do this on the first meeting with anybody. Well while this was happening, her mom suddenly came by and I had to tell a few white lies to make it look like Faith didn't just bring a strange man home with her. Am I still your boss in your mom's eyes Faith?" He tried hard to hold back a few laughs as embarrassing as that time was when it happened, it was a very cherished memory.

Faith kicked him under the table again. What was he thinking? Making up a lie to explain why they had to lie in the first place... "No, actually. I told her the job didn't quite fit. She didn't seem surprised." She turned and gave Garrett's father a little smile. "Science has never been my strong suit anyway. And, between my time at the Foundation and the few classes I have left, I'm busy enough."

"That's.....good....I guess," he said a little hesitant of where to take this conversation. He had to admit to himself the crazy times were some of the better times with friends, but those were stories left better at home or shared amongst those that went through it together. The type of conversation not said at a restaurant, it became apparent Garrett needed some lessons in socializing.

Thankfully Aimee came back with food in tow as if on cue she carefully placed each meal before the appropriate owner. Simon stared at his food and began to frantically rub his hands together, "Looks yummy!" A boisterous tone was in his voice while deep down the man hoped this would change the subject. He really wasn't a fan of hearing about how one of his son's friends had stripped his son of his pants, accident or not.

Dinner continued without a hitch and was filled with a bunch of small conversation, laughter, and a hearty tip for Aimee at the end. The trio had made their way outside Raphael's as the sun began to descend which caught Garrett's eye before he stared at his father, "Long overdue pop," he said before the father and son hugged. Simon's cobalt blue eyes that matched Garrett's looked toward Faith when the hug stopped, "A pleasure to meet you, I hope to see you and my son again soon," he said before Faith was given a hug of her own.

The redhead smiled and embraced the man. "I look forward to it." ... as soon as Garrett and I have a little talk about acceptable dinner topics, she added silently. "And I'll be sure to recommend you to anyone looking for a challenging Poli Sci course."

"Thank you. I have an open door policy with my office hours, so tell any potential new students for me to swing on down. I promise I don't bite, and won't talk politics until class time," the man smiled at the duo before he gave them a wave and went toward his car.

Once his dad was far enough away Garrett turned and smiled at Faith, "That went better than I hoped."

Faith waited until Mr. Sanders' car was well on its way out of the parking lot before turning and hitting her friend in the arm. "What kind of catastrophe were you expecting then? From where I sat, that was all kinds of awkward."

"I'm sorry, the bit about the pants was a bit awkward...I admit that, it sounded better in my head...but I cherish the memory you know. No matter how awkward and embarrassing it was for me at the time...I smile whenever I think about it now and not because you got me out of my pants," he said with a playful smirk and began to walk. When he came to a nearby bench in a swift motion the man began to walk across the narrow edge on top of the chair. His body stayed straight as Garrett tried to train himself to work like Capin on the rooftops, the fellow hero left an impression. A turn of the heel caused Garrett to face Faith, "How do you feel about the memory? You don't hate it, do you?"" Garrett asked before he made his way back to the ravishing red head.

Raising an eyebrow as she watched the balancing act, she shook her head. "Of course I don't hate it." Her tone was much softer now as she came to take a seat on the empty bench. "But I think, for future dinners and other things, maybe we should come up with a less suspicious story about how we met. You know?"

Conversations shared with Capin about respect flooded his mind and he wanted any stories about Faith could have circulated the doghouse to be pleasant. He would have hated to see her suffer any embarrassment because of his part. He sat down next to her, "So in a perfect world, how did we meet?" sincerity filled his voice as blue eyes stared back into the other set of blue eyes that looked back at him. "I'm not proud of things I've done recent and not, so anything I can do to clear up my image a little. Ridoran and I had a talk recently, there was an apology for about the glass vials and then I met Eddy, it was a sore meeting that made me feel like a jackass. I've made some bad assumptions in the past and our well dressed friend started to make me aware of that." There was a pause to Garrett's story as he realized that his dancing card had been quite full lately with new relationships formed amongst people. His gaze went away from the red headed, blue eyed girl that still caught the attention of people in the very expensive form fitting dress. "Stand up for a minute," he asked and when Faith did, his suit jacket slid off and around her shoulders, "It might be a cold night home and my jacket and gloves are in the car. Anywho, I know I've messed up a bit socially lately so anything I can do to take strides in the name of improvement are welcomed. So, how did we meet?"

A brief smile of thanks curled the corners of her full lips. She looked away from him to the steadily growing shadows. The evening wouldn't last forever; soon it would be night. "First of all, you did what to Riordan?" Resting her elbows on her knees, she leaned in and covered her eyes with her hands, trying to think. "So much has changed in such a short time, Garrett. It's going to take some adjusting but you'll figure it out. We all will."

Turning her head to look at him through locks of fiery hair, she gave a helpless little sigh. "First things first... a nice easy story. Then we're going to have a talk about your relationships with the important men in my life."

For some reason a shiver ran down Garrett's spine when she talked about relationships with the important men in her life. "How much did she hear!?" he thought and hoped that the training sessions with Kardiac were kept in private. An urge to run away frantically grew, but the last person he wanted mad at him right now was Faith and there was no guarantee that she wasn't already. A slow sigh mimicked the helpless tone in hers, "Story time it is."

"Well we know work is out. Um..." She thought about the time they'd spent together. Despite their friendship, not a lot of it was non work related. "Maybe something at the museum. Not you crashing through the wall, of course. But it's a good place for people to meet."

"That was a fun night," his coat from that night hung ceremoniously in all of its tattered glory in the closet of the apartment back in the Lourds. He still wondered what she meant as an eyebrow raised toward her. Faith had done a lot for him and so Garrett decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, "What do you mean?" he asked.

But she had already moved on. "No. I'm usually only there for benefits. And mom would ask if she'd seen you there. Um... maybe we should keep it close to the truth. I gave you a ride because... there was a fire near your apartment. We hit it off and the rest is history." She gave a triumphant little smile. "And not a single mention of your pants."

"Sounds good and reasonable, but it does leave out my favorite parts," he grinned at her in a friendly fashion.

"It leaves out the blood on my floor too," she reminded him pointedly.

His mind slipped about that part, but anyone that had the pleasure of a friendly redhead taking off your pants would forget about tiny details like blood that stained the floor from a rough night's beating were easily forgotten. He smiled at her, "Must have slipped my mind."

Faith laughed and reached out to pat his arm. "It's not the most important part, anyway. That we met and became friends is all that matters."

He nodded in agreement, "Exactly. It was a good night," Garrett commented with a big smile.

Her shoulder brushed against his as she leaned against him lightly, falling silent as she watched the sky take on more and more orange hues. "It's getting later," she told him finally. "I don't want to make you stay or anything. I know that could be a bad thing. I just..."

Those clear blue eyes found his again, holding him there until she'd finished with everything she needed to say. "I've said this before and I know it's kinda silly, but you were my first friend who does... our stuff. That means a lot to me. So I really need you to understand. Eddy is..." She bit her lip as she searched for the words. "Probably the most important man in my life right now. Well, Charlie is too. And my dad. But they fall into totally different categories. I know you said it was a rough first meeting, but I'm sure things will smooth out." Well... maybe not sure but at least hopeful.

"Probably, we didn't get off on the right foot, but he's a good guy. In time things will smooth out between us I'm sure of it," he said optimistically and tried his best to smile at her. If their greeting had been different Garrett knew he would have seen Eddy in a different light. He was a good guy, a good guy that in the end wanted to help, Sparky just had a odd way of showing it at first.

She beamed at him. "Good. And no more leaving glass thingies for Riordan, right?"

"There's no longer a need to."

"And there was before?" The smile slowly slid off her face as she questioned him.

He stared at her and sensed this conversation may have been heading in a bad direction, "We worked things out and I even paid him an extra hundred to support his new adopted child when I needed his services."

"Well that's nice." Suspicion still lingered in Faith's clear eyes. Luckily for Garrett, Riordan still didn't seem to have any desire to talk to her. So she was going to have to accept the story. "I'm sure he appreciated that."

"It was a tense meeting at first, but we eventually worked it out. Also, I couldn't just let the kid go hungry or whatever. I imagine a child is like moving...sometimes there are things you need until after you've moved or during. So I can imagine while he was trying to do whatever while running off with the child that huggies and baby wipes were a must. People often call children eating and pooping machines, so hopefully the extra money will keep the child clean and fed," he shrugged since it just felt like the right thing to do.

The redhead could only laugh. "First of all..." She held up a finger, shaking it at him. "I don't ever want to hear you use the word 'pooping' in a conversation with me again. And second..." Leaning in closer, she gave him a gentle hug. "The sun's going down. We need to go."

Garrett had some thoughts about his life lately and tonight cleared the air on a few things. Still, to him something felt unfinished. When his arms slowly slid away from the warm embrace with Faith he looked at her with his blue eyes had a serious shine within them. "There's something I have to do first...I'll see you at the Doghouse, okay?" His eyes met those lovely sapphires that could have tempted any man to do devious things if she wanted him to. He stared at her, "I promise it's not going to be anything stupid either, okay? Just something I have to do..," his voice was soft and it tried to be assuring that this wasn't a night where he would rush off head first into danger. This was a little more...personal.

[Faith]

Though the rain came down at a depressingly steady rate, showing no signs of letting up, it was an otherwise decent day. Bundled up in a fitted leather motorcycle jacket that had never actually been anywhere near a motorcycle and her favorite striped scarf, Faith took her mocha in one hand and cup of coffee for Charlie in the other and decided that she was going to wait outside for him. After all, she had an umbrella. And she was going to go crazy if she stayed indoors another second longer.

But her wait wasn't long. A dark green Alfa Berlinetta soon pulled up in front of the coffee shop and Charlie stepped out. "Hello, lady," Charlie said as his eyes landed on the redhead.

"Hi." Seeing him always brought a smile to her face, but today the expression was touched with apprehension. She was dying to show him the loft, his new home, but meeting his landlord and his neighbor... well... she was more than willing to put that part off for a bit. So she handed him the steaming paper cup with a smile and a soft kiss. "I was worried that I wouldn't remember what you liked. But I think I got it... caffeine with more caffeine."

As they walked inside he took a moment to enjoy the aroma of the black liquid. "Ah, the Redeye." Charlie smiled at Faith. "It's perfect. So what's all this about an apartment for me?"

She beamed at him then took a sip of her very sweet drink. "Remember when you said you'd take my old room? Well I found the next best thing." Mischief sparkled in her crystal eyes as she drew out the suspense as long as she could manage.

"Well the better thing would be your current room. But since that's probably not on the table as far as your family is concerned... Let's just say I'm now curious."

A blush stained her pale cheeks. "We'll have to work them up to that," she laughed, blushing a little more. "For now we'll start with you living over my dad's new club. It's beautiful! You're going to love it. I promise."

"So my landlord will be my girlfriend's dad." Charlie mulled that over. "I'm sure there's a sitcom in there somewhere..."

"Mmm-hmm... and your next door neighbor..." There was really no sense in putting it off. They were going to meet eventually. "Your neighbor is your girlfriend's least favorite older brother. And he's he's an expert at being unpleasant... to everyone. But the building is amazing. Everything has been refurbished. Dad spared no expense." There. Now he had the good and the bad.

"So, why didn't we meet there?" the Desolid Daredevil asked Faith. "Or are you worried about this whole 'meet the parents' thing?"

Looking down at her shoes, Faith could only nod. "I know my dad's going to like you. And I've spared you the joy of meeting my mother... for now. But Logan... is a royal jerk. He doesn't like me and he's not going to be nice and it's probably a really good thing you're a good guy now or we'd really have to watch out for him." She paused to take a breath and slowly raised her eyes to his. "I really don't want them to scare you off."

Charlie looked out at the falling rain. "I doubt that could happen," he said with a smile. Pointing at a drop on the window, he looked at Faith. "See the drop, running down the window? I couldn't be scared off by your family any more than this drop could run back up the glass."

They were in a semi-crowded coffee shop so she couldn't show him exactly what his words meant to her. Her fingers, warmed from the outside of her cup, gently touched his cheek then traced the outline of his lower lip. "I'm going to hold you to that," she half whispered. "But now that I've thoroughly prepared you for the worst, we can head over there any time you're ready."

"No time like the present," Charlie said, pushing back his chair. "Let's meet your family."

---

Faith and Charlie walked through a small door on the side of Green Dolphin Street, into an alcove that held two mail boxes and another door leading to a staircase. Walking up two flights of steps, Faith led the former thief through a fire door into a hallway with hardwood floors.

"Daddy had some of the flooring left over from the dance club," she said as she unlocked one of the two doors leading to the lofts. "But he probably would have done it anyway. He really wanted these lofts to be nice." With that the pushed open the door and ushered him inside.

They were greeted by a large open space floored in a darker wood than the hallway. Off to one side, in a small alcove, was a refrigerator and stove separated by a short kitchen counter. A doorway led to what Charlie assumed was a bathroom and two of the four walls were lined with tall windows.

Doing a little turn in the center of the empty room, Faith was grinning as she looked at her boyfriend. "So... what do you think?"

Charlie walked across the room to the kitchen, then turned and made his way to the restroom. Flipping on the light, he looked around. "It looks good. You didn't tell me there was an Olympic-sized whirlpool tub."

"There's a what?" She was behind him in an instant, standing on tiptoe to look over his shoulder. "Charlie... you're going to rent this apartment from my dad. Now. Because we're using this tub really really soon."

Smiling at his girlfriend, Charlie walked across the room to another door. "This is a closet, I guess?" he asked as he opened a door that led to another room, and a good-sized one, with a skylight. "This would be a good crash pad entrance," the desolid daredevil said with a smile.

Crystal blue eyes followed his gaze to the skylight. The pounding rain took away some of the appeal of a skylight, but the bad weather woudn't last forever. And then? Charlie was right. It was a good location and a safe building. Slipping her hand into his, she leaned her head against his shoulder for a minute, imagining the possibilities with him. "There's a lot of glass in the other room though. Does that leave you enough exits?"

"I can drop through the floor if need be," he said with a laugh. "Besides, the skylight entrance is not really for me. You, or your friends, would be welcome to drop in here, catch a nap, whatever. Assuming your father is willing to rent to me."

"Me or my friends?" Raising a brow, the redhead grinned at him. "I do have to warn you... you haven't met all my friends yet."

Charlie smiled. "And I'm sure Kardiac would just as soon punch me as shake my hand," he said with mirth in his voice. "But with Ryu, Corin, Jamie and you on my side, I don't think he would. Even if he could touch me."

"He'll come around." She was actually fairly certain of it, even if it was Eddy. After all, he really did want her to be happy. "Eventually."

Weaving his fingers into hers, the ex-thief nodded. "I'm less worried about him right now," he said looking at her, And more worried about meeting your family."

"You? Worried?" She looked down at her hand in his. It looked so innocent and normal coupleish. And that's what her father would see. That and the smile on her face. He didn't need to know that together they could disappear and walk through just about anything. "I've already told my dad a lot about you, so he knows he has to like you. But we can hide out up here for a while longer if you don't want to go downstairs yet."

With a shake of his head, Charlie pulled Faith in closer. "While I wouldn't mind staying here with you, just the two of us, there is no reason to delay the inevitable. We'll have plenty of alone time here after I rent the place." A mischievous twinkle entered Charlie's eye. "And get a mattress..."

Her lips curled in a grin. "Who needs a mattress? We've got your bathtub." Then, with a shake of her head, she pulled him toward the door. "Now... wipe that look off your face. We're going to meet my father"

The Phantasmal Pair walked into Green Dolphin Street's office to find Shaun Kavanaugh at a computer, scrolling through a financial spreadsheet. He looked up as his daughter entered, smiling at her before turning an appropriately serious face to the gentleman with her. "Hello, princess," he said, rising from his chair. "I understand you have some introductions to make."

"Daddy, this is Charlie Simons. Charlie, this is my father."

Charlie extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

After shaking Charlie's hand, Shaun leaned back against his desk, folding his arms over his chest in a stern way that was bound to irritate his daughter. "So, tell me a little about yourself, Charlie. How did you and Faith meet?"

Resisting the urge to glance at Faith, Charlie fixed a charming smile on his face. "It was at one of the Kavanaugh Foundation fundraisers. I was bidding on a particularly expensive bottle of wine." His hand slid into his pocket and came out with a business card. Handing it to Faith's father, he continued. "I had a client who wanted to remain anonymous, but also wanted the wine. I was the go-between. Faith and I met, sort of danced around each other, I ended up buying the wine. But I got something better. Her phone number."

Faith's father took the card, turning it over in his hand before fixing his eyes on the sandy-haired man before him. "You were the winning bid." He sounded faintly impressed. "That particular fundraiser was a great success. I'm glad to hear you were a part of it."

Beaming, Faith moved a little closer to her dad. "Charlie's very interested in the loft. And we both know he'll be cleaner than the other tenant up there."

"Be nice," Shaun scolded mildly.

The redhead pouted for a minute, not quite long enough to melt her father's heart. "Up until recently, Charlie was taking jobs that had him out of the country a lot. Now he's going to be doing more local jobs... something I'm totally not complaining about."

"Actually," the thief said with a slight smile, "I'm semi-retired now. I have a pretty good nest egg built up, and I'm sick of living out of hotel rooms. The loft looks about perfect for me. Plus I love jazz." Raising an eyebrow, he glanced at the dolphin made of stained glass. "Although, I was always more of a Charlie Parker fan. Bird could play, no doubt about that."

Even Faith looked impressed as Charlie finished speaking. Her father was smiling... approvingly! "There is a potential drawback to living here though," he said with a chuckle.

"And what would that be, sir?" Charlie asked.

Shaun gave another laugh. "I already know you're good at charity functions. If you hang around too long, I may put your skills as an Acquisition Specialist to use. Do you think you can handle working for me and renting from me?"

Laughing, Charlie nodded. "I'm sure I can, but having my girlfriend's father as a landlord and a boss? That is definitely sitcom material."

As if on cue in their sitcom, the door to the office opened. Ignoring Faith, as was his habit lately, Logan gave Charlie a quick glance then fixed an angry gaze on his father. "How come my key doesn't work in my loft?" he demanded.

Completely unfazed by his son's anger, Shaun gave a small shrug. "Actually, that's not your loft. I decided that the larger one is the one I'm going to rent out. You get the other one."

"What? Who are you going to find to rent it?"

Faith covered her smile with her hand as her father answered, "Logan, meet Charlie... your new neighbor."

"Nice to meet you, Logan," Charlie said, sizing up the other man. "I hear you're running the club. I'm looking forward to visiting the place when you get it open."

Since he couldn't be too blatantly rude with their father in the room, Charlie gave a noncommittal shrug. "Nice to meet you," he responded automatically, coming just short of glaring at the sandy haired man. Crossing his arms over his chest, a gesture that had been far more impressive before he let his physical health go, he finally looked at his little sister. "And I suppose you're here to gloat?"

The diminutive redhead smiled a little too sweetly. "I'm just here to show Charlie around and admire the loft. I had no idea you were getting the smaller one."

Gray eyes locked onto her bright blue ones. "Well it's nice to know you won't miss me. After all, I can keep an eye on you when you visit. In some ways, it'll be even better than me living with mom and dad."

He had a point there and they both knew it. She'd have to tell Charlie to be extra careful, especially at first. But, because she couldn't let him have the last word, she had to add one final barb. "Oh trust me, Logan. Nothing was better than seeing you move back in with mom and dad."

Before they could continue their descent into a full blown argument, Shaun stepped between his children. Rather than ask if his new tenant was having second thoughts, he smiled at Charlie and gestured to the still open door. "Has Faith given you the grand tour of the club yet? I'm sure you have questions and we all love to show this place off."

"I'd love to see it, sir." Charlie said to the older man, trying to hide his amusement at the bickering siblings. "Faith has told me a bit about the place. It sounds very nice."

"That's my goal," the elder Kavanaugh told him seriously. "I know a jazz club isn't the typical college scene. I also know that there are a lot of young musicians in Garrison." He led the sandy haired man out of the office and past the stained glass window. "I like to encourage talent wherever I can."

Charlie nodded. "Wish I'd had a little more encouragement when I was playing," he said with a smile. He turned and took in the sights, the marble bar, the VIP lounge, the parquet dance floor. "This place is top notch. Reminds me a bit of a little the Arbuci in Paris."

Shaun chuckled softly and nodded. "It's been a long time since I was a young man club hopping in Paris. So I'm going to hope that the memory is a good one."

"It's not a bad one. Had a meeting with a client there. Good music, good food, and a nice atmosphere."

"If all goes as planned, someday soon people will be saying that about Green Dolphin Street." Leading the way past the darkened stage, he turned and looked at the younger man. "So what was it that you played?"

"Plinked around on the piano a bit," he said with a smile. "The nuns tried to get me to work harder at it, maybe switch to the organ, but I never did."

A very familiar smile tugged at the man's lip. "Parochial School?" Shaun chuckled again. "I feel it only fair to warn you... my wife's going to love you."

"Orphanage, actually." Charlie said somewhat morosely. "Cut out when I was seventeen, but I still attend mass occasionally."

A slender arm wound around Charlie's waist. Leaning her head against her shoulder, Faith smiled at her father. "That's enough questions for one day, daddy. We'll save the rest for our first big family dinner." Turning to her boyfriend, her crystal eyes sparkled as she studied his face, touched to have learned something new about him... even if it was something sad. "So what do you think of the place?"

"It's great. I love it."

Since she wasn't about to let him go, the redhead just smiled again. "So... when do we get the keys?"

"We?"

"Of course." Faith's expression was nothing but perfectly innocent. "I promised Charlie I'd help him decorate. Isn't that right?"

Charlie worked hard keeping the grin from his face. "Of course. There's nothing like a woman's touch."

Since she couldn't blush, or even grin with her father looking at her like that, the little redhead decided the best course of action was to keep her mouth shut and wait for her father to hand over the keys. And, of course, he didn't disappoint. Reaching into a pocket he held out a set of unused keys.

"This means you passed the daddy test," Faith explained helpfully.

"So far," Shaun added, handing the keys to the new man in his daughter's life.

Taking the keys, Charlie smiled. "I'll try to keep it that way."

Looking at the younger man in silence for a long moment, Charlie's new landlord kept the pair waiting before finally nodding. "I have confidence in you." Patting Charlie on the shoulder once, he left the pair alone by the stage.

Waiting until her father was out of sight, Faith wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck and kissed him soundly. "Well that wasn't so bad, was it?" Blue eyes twinkling with mischief, she took the keys from his hand and dangled them in front of him. "Now we'll let you recover for a bit, maybe even buy that mattress, before dragging you to big family dinner."

"I thought this went well," Charlie said with a smile. "Your father seems like a great guy."

"He is." Suddenly serious, she placed a gentle hand on his cheek and stared up into his golden eyes. "And he knows another great guy when he sees one."

[Kardiac]

Eddy didn't mind the rain. After all, it kept a lot of innocents inside and made it harder for the not-so-innocents to see him coming. Aside from slippery rooftops, he didn't mind the snow either, for pretty much the same reason. But storms, especially the big ones... well, they didn't help anybody but the bad guys.

Storms provided cover, they kept the streets pretty clear of locals and the shops closed. And that meant it was time for the bad guys to go shopping. And that meant Kardiac would be working a double shift. After all, the high-voltage vigilante was primarily a nocturnal creature, and in this weather, the sun seemed to set a lot earlier.

He'd been on his way to meet Faith, and he hoped she'd still be able to find him. Of course, he was making noise, and so were the would-be looters he'd found about a half a block from their rendezvous point. If nothing else, he thought as the wall next to him cracked with gunfire, she'd be able to hear the shots. Of course, they could be mistaken for thunder... this weather had a tendency to drown out even unexpected sounds.

Fortunately, his ability to sense heartbeats was not hearing-based. It was, at that moment, the only thing keeping him alive. He'd seen two looters on his approach -- hadn't realized there were already four inside the store -- and they were armed to the teeth. Of course, he should have guessed that when he saw the "Midtown Guns and Ammo" sign above the shop window.

As he took down the fourth of the six looters, his mind went back to Faith and the weather. He'd always known that she'd have difficulty with her power in the rain, and especially in snow, but he hoped the sheer volume of precipitation in the air would work in her favor in this kind of situation. Sure, she'd have an outline of water, but the drops were so thick in the air tonight that it might still give her enough of an edge to keep herself un-perforated.

Still, it wouldn't make things as easy as they could be on a clear night... it was times like this he'd wished her invisibility had come with intangibility. The fifth looter was falling to the rain-soaked pavement when the next set of shots rang out. Quickly diving beneath the lip of the window, he was showered with tiny flecks of brick and drywall as the bullets stopped just-inside the wall. The kevlar stopped any penetration from the spray, but he could still feel the hot slag and sting of impact.

He took a quick peek at the man behind the gun-shop's counter, ducking to avoid the shot that inevitably followed. His mind was racing, charting a course across the room. After a moment's thought, he had his course. He refocused his energy, giving himself the speed and strength he'd need to pull this off. He'd only made one mistake, and thanks to the storm he didn't even know he'd made it. He hadn't seen their lookout -- their seventh man on the roof across the street.

That man had bided his time, afraid to fire into a melee for fear of striking one of his cohorts. But right now, his cohorts weren't a factor, and Kardiac had dropped for cover in clear view of the rooftop -- and right now that man's rifle was taking its time, tracing its way up the vigilante's shadowy form, looking for the best shot.

The slow deliberate movement stopped suddenly, the barrel of the rifle coming in contact with an unseen obstacle. The gunman strained against it but only for a second before it was violently ripped from his grasp. The weapon sailed away from him, making an almost graceful arc as it flew over the roof and out into the rain. It finally came to rest with a clatter at Kardiac's feet.

The stunned lookout made the mistake of watching his rifle fly away. Until an invisible knee violently connected with his groin. Groaning, he doubled over, almost able to make out a figure standing before him in the rain. "Guns are stupid." An incredibly irritated female voice sounded over the low rumble of thunder. Then his vision went black as that unseen force collided with his head.

Invisible and still grumpy about the rain, Sylph looked down at the body and kicked him one time out of sheer irritation. "People who point things at my friend are stupid too." The now-unconscious man had been so intent on preparing to shoot Eddy that it had been easy to sneak up on him. And, while the rain showed her outline more than she liked, it also helped mask any sounds she might have made on the wet ground. Then, leaving the stupid gunman on the roof, she carefully made her way over to the slippery fire escape and down to the street.

By the time she got to his side, Eddy was holding the rifle in his gloved hands, checking it over like he was planning to use it. "Evening, darlin'," he said as he heard her heartbeat slide up near him. "Thanks for the rifle," he added, smiling into the vague area of her unseen eyes. Hey slid the bolt back from the rifle and emptied five rounds from the chamber. Slowly, he placed each bullet, pointed into the store, on the brick windowsill.

"This ought to be fun," he continued, raising his hand so just his fingertips crested the window pane. "Sorry I wasn't where I said I'd be," he said, directing his words to her again. "You know how easily distracted I am." His fingers suddenly danced with electricity, and several things happened at once. The five rifle bullets exploded with the compounded sound of their simultaneous detonation, the last of the looters let out a strangely-cathartic squeal, and Kardiac disappeared into the store through the window.

Six seconds later, the last of the thugs found himself defenestrated into the veritable river flowing into the storm gutter, or at least he would have had he still been conscious. Eddy's smiling face appeared two seconds later, his eyes dancing back towards Faith. "Hope I wasn't gone too long."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." Despite her sulky tone, the redhead couldn't help but smile. A night with Eddy was almost enough to shake her weather-induced bad mood. Almost. "You owe me six seconds of listening to me complain about being wet."

He mocked a charming smile, "The wet-look suits you," he said in a complimentary tone. "But complain away... always happy to be your sounding board." He stopped himself short and held up a finger. "But first," he interjected, "Where would you like to patrol tonight... my bike's just around the corner, so the whole city is at your disposal."

He sure knew how to ruin a good bad mood. "I get to ride the bike?" Reappearing just so she could grin at him, Faith tapped her foot in a puddle with mock impatience. "Well, let's go. We'll figure out the 'where' along the way."

But, of course, she was already thinking about it before they'd even taken a step. And, since she was with Eddy, nearly every thought that crossed her mind came out her mouth. "Some places are a good bet any night, no matter what the weather is. But maybe..." She thought about it a little more, trying to find the most logical choice. "The docks? That seems perfectly miserable."

Eddy smirked, looking down at her. "You want to ride my bike and patrol my docks on the same night...?" he asked, his eyes bright. "Give 'em an inch...," he said, half-laughing. He pulled the bike out behind a dumpster, running a charge through it so that the paint changed from basic black to military green with a yellow, EKG pinstripe. He saddled up and tossed her a helmet... a teal helmet with silver fairy wings airbrushed on the side.

As he pulled on his own custom-airbrushed 'Kardiac' helmet, he looked over his shoulder and nodded to the back of the seat. "The Docks it is," he said, smirking again. "Mount up."

Faith didn't move. "Do you have any idea how much I love this?" she asked, running her fingers over what was clearly the most beautiful helmet in the history of motorcycle helmets. Placing it over her drenched hair, she grinned at Eddy before climbing onto the seat behind him. Then, because it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, she hugged him. After all, she had to hang on.

"And sharing is good for you. It builds character... and stuff." Done teasing him --for now-- she leaned her chin on his shoulder so she could keep talking while they drove. "But we don't have to go to the docks. I just thought it might be a good place to find people who were taking advantage of the weather to do bad things." Her nose wrinkled as she took a break from trying to explain her thought process. "It was just the first place that came to mind."

Eddy smirked. "It's where I was planning on taking you anyway," he said, kicking the bike into life. He revved the engine a few times before pressing a switch on the handlebar that double-muffled the exhaust. "I'd advise you to maintain the hug," he added, and the bike subsequently burst to life. Kardiac was known to operate outside the Law, and speed laws appeared to be no exception. The rain tempered his velocity only slightly, as the joy of the ride grew in his mind.

Too often, he found himself speeding off with only an objective on his mind... tonight the only objective was doing what he lived to do... interfering with those who would do wrong and mentoring Faith along the way. Truth be told, he didn't really feel like she needed all that much 'mentoring' anymore... but he had gotten used to working with her by his side. Of course, he wasn't one to say such things aloud... she's smug enough about having softened me up as it is, he thought with a smile.

Inside his helmet, he exchanged some quick quiet words with Jenna, letting her know where he was going to be patrolling and that Faith was watching his back. That was something he'd been getting used to as well... having someone who cared where to look for his corpse and preferred he not become one in the first place. She had teased him that afternoon about 'turning into Bluewolf' if he kept 'being such a boy scout.' He'd laughed it off and told her that he'd teach her a few things about knots when he got home.

Still, there were worse people he could be compared to, and the truth of the matter was that he'd never be enough like Aaron in some ways... though he considered that a necessary evil. Somebody in their little troupe had to be willing to do what was necessary and damn the consequences. With that thought still on his mind, he pulled into an alley on the outskirts of the Docks and drove behind a conveniently-placed dumpster with plenty of room to park but zero visibility from most angles. He pulled his helmet off and hung it from the handlebars of the bike.

"Ready to go thump some bad guys?" he asked, looking over his shoulder with a smile.

"Always." The grin she flashed at him was curiously mixed: one part pure enjoyment, one part the smug cockiness she'd picked up from the master. Despite the smile, she set the helmet aside with a sense of regret. She loved driving fast, the one 'bad girl' thing she'd allowed herself to do while growing up, and feeling that speed on the back of Eddy's bike... He was lucky she wanted to do anything else at all. But there was always the ride home.

"So... dad got to meet my boyfriend the other day," she told him as she squinted up into the rainy sky. Among his many roles in her life --mentor, partner, friend, big brother-- Faith had decided that Eddy also made a good girl-friend. He got to hear the details that he'd probably rather live without. Of course, this time she wasn't just sharing good news. "It went really well." The hint probably couldn't be any more blatant.

If he picked up on it, Eddy didn't show it. He did smirk slightly, the one visible sign that he was going to enjoy making this difficult. "Really?" he asked, trying to look nonchalant. "I must have missed the 9-1-1 call on my scanner... which room was he robbing when they 'met'?" He boosted his leg strength slightly and leapt up to grab the low-hanging ladder of the building's fire escape, pulling it the rest of the way down. He motioned to it as if he were holding a door open for her.

One hand went to her hip. "I told you... he's retired now." Making a little face at the prospect of climbing a wet fire escape, she started up ahead of him. Then, making sure he couldn't get away or go around her, she paused halfway. "So he wasn't robbing anything. It was a very nice meeting and they actually got along." She dangled the hint in front of him again, hoping...

Eddy tried with great difficulty and little success to remain straight-faced as he continued, pausing just beneath her on the ladder. "Well, any time he wants to turn himself in and face justice for all the stuff he did before he retired, you've got my number," he said, his eyes bright behind his goggles. "I'd love to meet him," he added, deliberately tying the statement to his previous suggestion. He knew he should feel guilty for pushing her buttons, but it wasn't something of which he was truly capable... it was so much fun.

Reaching the top of the ladder, Faith hopped onto the roof then turned to block the way, trapping him before he could join her. The pout had settled fully on her lips as she prepared to make herself comfortable, her feet dangling just above his head. "That's not what I meant. And you know it." Switching to pleading mode, she lowered her gaze then looked up at him through devastatingly smoky lashes. "It wouldn't be so bad to meet him, would it?"

Eddy smirked up at her as she blocked his way, then swung free of the ladder and clung to the wall. He quickly clambered up next to her and sat down, looking over his shoulder rather than at her face. It wasn't that he intended to hide anything... he just wanted a clear view of the dock-line. They were, after all, on patrol. "I'm new at this whole 'big brother' thing... odd, I know, since I actually have a little sister."

"But I do know that he's not going to be good enough for you, nor am I going to 'like' him," he added, smiling. "Though I suppose 'getting along' isn't out of the question... for you." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, but then stood up, his eyes on the water. "So I'll meet him," he concluded, "But not right now... we've got a motor boat coming in under storm cover, no lights."

"That's all I ask. For now." The hugs would have to come later. Right now she was on her feet beside him, watching the dark water. "I don't suppose they're smuggling kittens," she said, a little smirk tugging at her lips. Since, as a general rule, things didn't move very fast when they were trying to be sneaky... especially in bad weather, she had time to look ahead of the boat itself to the pier where it would be docking. "We should get closer."

Eddy's eyes seemed accustomed to the Docks more than anywhere else in the city. "They're not bringing something in," he said, flatly, "They're picking someone up." He waved for her to follow and then did exactly as she'd suggested, starting to move closer. He kept them to the rooftops, moving low and keeping the lights of the city between them and their quarry as much as possible to avoid casting tell-tale shadows.

Pausing atop the second-to-nearest building, he closed on her and knelt, talking in a low voice. "Garrison's docks are often used as a launching point to sneak people across the border into Canada. It's pretty well known that the mob owns this part of the city and cops don't pay it enough mind," he said, frowning. "I've taken a few of these rings down, but new ones keep popping up."

"That means whoever is down there has done something bad enough that he wants to leave the country... and he's got an escort," he continued, mapping out the area of the next warehouse over in the wet grunge of the roof on which they crouched. He pointed to the locations of the three that he'd seen, then mapped out good locations for possible sentries he hadn't had a an angle to spot yet. "Depending on the size of this guy's wallet, any or all of these positions could be manned."

"What's more, the weather gave the boat a lot of cover, so I didn't see it until it was already too close for comfort. Expect an even number from the boat, two, four, or at worst six," he continued. "These rings don't earn as much as drug smugglers, so they like to keep their operations small, and the whole team will come together in most cases."

He smiled at her, trying to cover up his concern. There were too many variables, and these types of crews were always tough to predict. "Sometimes the smugglers will rabbit, other times they fight. Hard to guess," he said, trying to prepare her. "But we don't have time to call it in... and I know we can handle this," he added, and he really believed it. He'd begun to trust her with his life as much as Aaron or Ryu.

Rather uncharacteristically, he told her that. "I trust you as much as I've ever trusted anybody in this business," he said, averting his eyes not out of deceit but of the awkwardness that he felt when these kinds of words passed his lips. "Don't think of this as a final exam... because you're not my student anymore. You're my partner. And I can go into this mess without hesitation because I know you're with me."

Her hand on his shoulder was all the emotional outburst Faith allowed herself at the moment. She'd show him how she really felt about that later on... when she wouldn't be forced to multitask work and hugs. Fingers curling into a squeeze, the little redhead grinned into the night, knowing he knew how hard it was to restrain herself. "Just as long as you don't start thinking you're done teaching me."

Since time was not on their side, she quickly looked back down at his map, thinking out loud as always. "So, worst case, there are six in the boat. Three that you know are here on the doc and probably several more. I could take out these two..." She touched the locations with the toe of her boot. ... pretty fast. And check some of those other spots. But..." Pausing, she leaned against him slightly, trying to see everything that he saw. "Where do you want me?"

"You're call is good -- take those two down," he said, then pointed at an area of the map near Faith's targets where their might be someone. "But enter from here... if there's a sentry, you can take him out on the way. I'm going to drop down here," he said, pointing to the possible sentry point on the far side of the pier. "And then move in on our fugitive, scouting there, there, and there along the way."

He covered the rest of the sentry spots with his little "patrol route". The real trouble was the boat. "I don't quite have your gift for stealth, so I'm going to make some noise. That should draw attention away from you. Don't worry about me... these guys are usually pretty routine," he added for her benefit. She liked to worry about him. "Then I want you to slip on to the boat unseen."

"I'll be big and shiny, but I'll also be in a position without straight line-of-sight, so the bulk of the guys on the boat will have to come off of it to deal with me. Once the boat is as clear as it's gonna get," he continued, pulling a device that looked like a silver pen with two small, unlit lights on it out of his pocket. He handed the 'pen' to Faith. "Click this button and toss this into the ship's hold, then get the hell out of Dodge."

He smiled devilishly. "That should provide enough distraction to keep me alive until you get there to back me up."

"I get to blow up a boat?" There was no way she could hide the excitement in her voice.

Eddy smirked. "It's contraband. The Coast Guard will just sink it if we don't," he said, matter-of-factly.

"I get to blow up a boat!" It probably said something very profound about her that she was so excited by ths prospect... but Faith didn't care.

"Yes," Kardiac replied, a resigned smile on his face. "You get to blow up the boat."

Taking the silver device from him, she gently tucked it into her belt. "I don't plan on keeping you waiting. But try not to let them shoot you too much while I'm gone." Despite the fact that it felt somewhat unnatural to be moving away from him, Faith flashed a quick smile and made her way to the edge of the roof.

Kardiac didn't wait to follow. In order to pull this off, they would need to act in concert. It was a dance, but his partner was going to be, for most of the battle, largely unseen. All he had was trust. so that was what he would rely on. He slowly moved into position, watching her entrance point and listening to his. There were men at both locations, and when he "saw" her first move, he'd know it was time to begin.

Dropping back to the ground in near silence thanks to the continued rain, Sylph found herself completely unsurprised to see that Kardiac had been right about a sentry. The man, though seemingly observant, didn't stand a chance. The little redhead had him unconscious on the ground in nearly record time. Then, for good measure, she dragged his heavier-than-it-looked body behind a dumpster to make sure no one else stumbled across it.

Seeing Sylph's target fall, Kardiac leaned over the edge of the warehouse and raised his right arm. The sound of the taser line discharge was muffled entirely by the rain, so that all the sentry felt was a sudden sting on his shoulder. He slapped at it as if it were an insect, and felt the thin line of wire too late to react. The high-voltage vigilante flipped his hand around, grabbed the line, and let a charge pass through it into its tethered target. A few seconds of violent shaking and the man collapsed.

Unwilling to keep her partner waiting, Faith hugged the buildings as she moved toward her next two targets. The small overhang shielded her from the rain somewhat and gave her the opportunity to be perfectly invisible again. She found her next target easily enough. Then quickly discovered why he'd been hired. "Holy crap."

He was easily twice her size. Disturbingly large arms crossed over his chest, he stood with his back against the building, making it impossible for her to come up behind him. That left the 'direct approach'. Or... "Diversion," she breathed.

Though there weren't many good-sized rocks within reach, Sylph did manage to find a discarded bottle. Her plan was to throw it beyond him, making a nice noise for him to turn to investigate. Unfortunately the wet glass was a bit more slippery than she'd expected. The bottle sailed wobbily through the air and hit the man in the head. Rubbing his scalp with one meaty hand, he did turn... right toward her.

Kardiac slipped between old crates and dumpsters as he made his way to the next sentry position. He'd taken a good look -- and "feel" -- from where he'd dropped down and was certain that there was only one left before he could turn his attention to their boss. A few quiet steps, careful not to slap the pavement in the rain, and another taser line was all it took to send the man reeling. Slowly, Eddy clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking in the motion. He knew the easy part was over... now he had to cross an open field without being seen and wait for Sylph to get into position.

She was back to the direct approach. Biting her lip, Faith didn't let him come to her. She crossed the wet pavement and moved in close. Without her hittin' sticks she wouldn't even have dreamed of trying to take him down. But, with their weight adding power to her blows, she kept hitting. And moving. Darting around him in the rain, she struck from every angle possible, trying to keep him from getting a fix on her. She just hoped she could get him to the ground before she got too worn out.

Closing the distance without alerting the fugitives to their presence was essential. So far, none of their targets had drawn guns, but Kardiac was certain their boss wouldn't be so hesitant. One gunshot and the boat would turn back, and the tremendous twosome would miss their chance to take down the ring. Eddy refocused, boosting his agility and reaction speed at the price of his ability to discharge electrical energy. That wasn't really going to help him much anyway until he got into the middle of things.

Sylph was panting, sweating despite the rain, as her big-armed friend hit the ground. It hadn't been pretty, more like hitting a living, grunting punching bag, but at least she could say he hadn't been able to lay a hand on her. Pushing the drenched hair away from her face, she frowned at his prone body. There was no way she was going to be physically able to move him out of sight.

So she left him there. He'd taken longer than she expected and Eddy was waiting. Thankfully her final target seemed to be overconfident. Apparently he'd worked with the big guy before and expected him to handle things. That or he was just really bad at his job. Either way, his back was turned to her and he was paying much more attention to the lighter in his hand than to his surroundings.

Scuffing her boot along the wet ground to get his attention, Faith let him turn his head. He looked confused... until her fist and stick collided with his jaw.

Seeing the Faith's second target turn to look at nothing, Kardiac leapt into action. He made a quick dash for the boss-man, letting his feet slap the wet ground as he charged. The man turned around to see who was approaching, and the high-voltage vigilante's gauntleted fist caught him through a wide arc on the left cheek. The man's head snapped to the right, then turned slowly back towards his assailant, apparently fazed but not dazed.

Eddy recognized his face from Strategoi's files. His name was Jimmy "the Slugger" Moritini, an enforcer for the gambling rings in Kentucky. He was one of three men who hadn't been picked up in an FBI raid on their main HQ in Louisville, and he was a long way from home. He was also a Class B metahuman, resistant to physical harm, and superhumanly strong. "Aw, crap," was all that Kardiac got out before he was flying through the air and into a pile of empty shipping crates.

[Capin]

The elevator paused with the barest notice, and its doors rolled open almost silently. The fluorescent lights poured out into the hallway as the dapper detective stepped out of the lift. Glistening with wet, the cape hung tight across his frame like a shell that ate up the facility's bright lights, hiding most of suit he wore for hitting the town. He moved throughout the halls like a black cutout against the stark white and steel. He could feel the environmental controls already working their magic on his somewhat soggy frame. Just another of the building's bag of tricks.

This place still felt strange. He was in constant contact with most of the crew, but hadn't gotten into the habit checking into the building. Even so, Capin couldn't help but smile walking through the Doghouse. It still had that "new superhero headquarters" smell. It was such a bright sign of how things had grown since leaving. So were Faith and Jaime and the others, even Spencer and Kat, but those were more subtle reminders. This one felt like a flashing tube of neon.

"Evening." Compared to the rest of the facility, the Cave was relatively dark despite the light from its myriad of monitors. There he found two of its most settled tenants and resident happy couple. The doors slid shut behind him with that soft hiss. "Quiet night on the town?"

"Except for that rain," Corin sat at one of the moniters, "I swear I can't remember the last time I've seen it this bad."

"No kidding," Jamie agreed as she walked over to Capin and gave the the Daper Detective a warm hug, "it's been a while Spiff."

"This is nothing. I was in London once; it rained for two weeks straight. Poured. At least this'll keep most of the mild crazies off the streets"

The cape peeled back from his chest, draping simply down his back as Capin gave Jaime a squeeze. "Good to see you, kiddo." He smiled at the bright blonde. Leaving his hand on her shoulder with a squeeze, he took a step back to regard the young hero. "Is it just me or have you gotten taller?"

"Maybe you got shorter," she winked. "So how does it feel to come back in the middle of all this Justice League stuff?"

"Like a bit of a stranger in a strange land," he replied, strolling over to the screens that clicked with the live feeds of security cameras all around the city. "I suppose this is what progress looks like. Not that I'm longing for the days when I was running around the east side and Kard the west side." His arms folded across his chest. The rain made the displays almost look like static. There would be no going back to those days. Times had changed. The world was different now; they were different. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, right?" It was that lingering question. How bad were things, and how much worse were they going to get? "Best be prepared."

"So what brings you out in the rain tonight?" The Starlight Sleuth said as he mindlessly flicked through the banks of screens.

"Oh, you know..." He smirked, turning and sliding to sit up on the console. "Crime." He reached into his coat and retrieved a manila envelope and tossed it onto the starlight sleuth's lap. "Bad guys doing bad things."

"Yamada kai, our friendly neighborhood Japanese organized crime."

Corin opened the envelope and fished out a few photos, looking up a moment with a curious arch in the shadows below his brim. "Yakuza?" It was mostly pictures of men with a few shots from various locations on the Golden Strip and a handful out on the docks.

Capin nodded. "The guy on the right is Hachiro Ogawa." And with that the dapper detective gave him the brief history of Yakuza in Garrison City. How Keisuke Kanda came to town backed by the overseas money, setting up shop in The Geisha Palace, bringing a wealth of vices to feed into the veins of the city.

"They're quite the unpleasant bunch. They give cold and ruthless new definitions." He had spent many nights running afoul of the Yamada kai crew, particularly Jotaro Ikoma, Kanda's right hand man. But Jotaro was gone, and Hachiro Ogawa had been brought into take his place. Hachiro was an unknown quantity and this made Capin nervous.

Corin read through the file, "Sounds like a lovely bunch," he turned and handed the file to Jamie, "we'll be happy to help if you want a few extra hands."

"Absolutely I would love to bust some..." Jamie was interrupted by her cell phone. The blonde held up one of her manicured fingers as she pressed her thumb to the screen, "Dr. Harris?" She answered. After a few head nods she ended the call, "I'll be there in a few. I gotta go, one of my patients is having issues. You two will have to have fun on your play date with out me?" She pouted a little as she kissed Corin on the cheek.

"We'll crack a few skulls just for you," Corin returned the kiss and watched the blonde as she left the cave, "So where do we start?"

The dapper detective hopped off, giving a jog of the head for Corin to follow him. "Since coming back and talking to Kard I've been spending a lot of time hanging around windows and corners, sneaking into thier offices and creeping in and out of the shadows and what not," he looked back giving the doctor that rather familiar smirk, "something you're rather familiar with." He shrugged his shoulders, looking back forward as they walked down the hall. "Not having a job has its benefits in how I get to kill time."

"Ogawa's overseeing the arrival of some sensitive cargo coming into pier 186 tonight around 2:30." The cowled man's face grew rather stern, an unusual sight for those that generally shared Ryu's company. There were few things that could harden his face in such a manner, things that struck Ryu close to home. "It's gonna be a delicate job. I need you to back me up. The Yamada kai don't have an unpleasantly long memory. I may have been out of town for a while, but I wouldn't doubt they've expected me to show up at every job in the last year to sock them in the nose." It was subtle, but the familiar lightness started to return to his face. "While Ogawa may not know me personally, he'll know enough to be prepared. I'd like to keep him on his toes."

"Lead on, MacSpiff," Corin clapped the Dapper Detective on the back, "I've been wanting to try out the weather proofing Doc added to my outfit for a while now anyway," he gave a large grin.

---

"You know," Corin watched as the rain rolled along the soaked brim of his hat, "I really wouldn't have minded porting us here..."

It wasn't that it was hard rain. Even with the occasional clap of thunder what had been falling over garrison was really more of a steady drizzle. It was steadiness of it. It never paused, never lightened. It just continued to fall and standing in it would soak a person to the bone. Garrison was feeling its own personal Chinese water torture. But it did keep most people in doors

"I know." Trying his best to keep somewhat dry, Capin kept his cape tight around his frame. "That may be an everyday thing for you, but for me it's still a bit creepy."

"Aw come on," the Starlight Sleuth chuckled. He would have retorted further, but the chill from the rain caused Corin to shiver down to his bones, "Weatherproofing or not, remind me to add a trench coat to the arsenal when it gets like this."

The cowled man looked back over his shoulder as they ducked under the shelter of one of the last long warehouses before the pier was taken over by all the faceless shipping crates that were stacked up toward the water like hundreds of Lego blocks. "You know, I think a trench coat might suit you." He stuck his head around the corner, keeping an eye out for any watch Ogawa might have posted. The coast was clear. "But it'd look really silly under your cape."

"I was thinking instead of," Corin pulled the cape in tight. The steady rain made interesting music as it hit the metal crates. "So what do you think it is they are bringing in?"

"Soylent Green," he replied with an expression that seemed to belie what might have been a joke.

He motioned his partner forward. The pair dashed across the open space to and into the shade of the first row of neatly packed steel. Backing against it, Capin helped Mid-Night Man hop up to the top before climbing to join him. They stood up, watching as a freighter slowly rolled in along the pier up to the dock. The metallic din rang louder under their feet. "And I don't think. I know."

"Yeah?" Corin readjusted his hat, "Drugs?"

He shook his head. "If it were drugs Kard would be standing here instead of you." This wasn't commentary on the doctor's capabilities by any means. The dapper detective was painfully aware of Kardiac's proclivities toward the subject, docks and drugs both. He wouldn't want to deal with the earful he'd get if he would have left Sparky out on a drug bust.

"Don't you know your bad sci-fi, Doc?" Finally some of that levity came back into Capin's smirk, though it was still somewhat faint. "It's people."

"Aw crap," the Mid-Night Man's smile faded, "please tell me you're kidding."

"I wish I was." Their target moved ever closer to the long dock. The veil of rain clouded the scene but its heavy yellow lights guided it in. "Human trafficking's been the Yamada kai's bread and butter since they came across the pond. I'd been able to curb them in the past but never cut it off completely." Even just talking about it started to make his stomach churn.

"Quick and quiet." He gave a jog of the head and the pair started moving across the field of metal boxes, rushing toward the waterfront. Metal underfoot he made no sound beyond the tinny ringing of rain on metal. "We'll move in and disarm first. We don't want any random gunfire ricocheting about." He shot a look to the Mid-Night Man. "I want you to get on the boat; your primary concern is to protect the cargo."

"That I can handle," the Starlight Sleuth nodded. He felt his anger rise up in him as he thought of the poor people inside that boat scared to death, afraid of what was going to happen to them. He swore under his breath as he followed Capin towards their destination.

The two suit clad men hurried to the end of the pier as their freighter approached. The dapper detective kept his eyes down the gravel drive making sure they were still unnoticed. He skidded to the edge of the last metal shipment container. Several black Land Cruisers sat idling alongside a few trucks, too many trucks for his taste. More trucks meant more "cargo". He could feel his jaw ache with the his grinding teeth.

Counting up all the men he could see, they were at a clear disadvantage in the numbers. Ogawa had brought way more men than a simple black market delivery needed and armed them to the hilt. Even Enry was getting that suspicious tingle in the back of his skull. "I don't like it..." He shot a look over to his partner. That shadow from Mid-Night Man's brim covered nearly his whole face. "Be careful."

"What's to like?" The Mid-Night Man smirked. He looked over the Dapper Detective's shoulder as the two watched the scene unfold. "It's like they knew we were coming." His eyes followed several of the armed guards as the soaked and seriously heavy armed men traversed the loading docks.

"Yeah," Capin whispered back. His cape draped over him, hugging him into the darkness of their wet night. He started to feel those twinges of doubt that perhaps he hadn't been quite as covert in his investigation as he thought. Perhaps he'd gotten rusty. "We best be even more on our toes."

"How about this," Corin nodded, "I can get on the boat easy enough. Sneak the cargo off before they even know." His shaded eyes shot back to the thugs patroling in front of him, "Just diving into the middle of those lovely folks right there might end up being counter productive to the keeping them safe part of the plan."

A smirk came across Capin's face. Capin's original thought was to keep them occupied on him while Mid-Night Man snuck everybody out. But if Ogawa simply found his shipments empty he would be livid. He'd feel that sting of distrust in his own men. It would make them feel vulnerable and weak. That would make them sloppy.

He nodded. "Let's do it."

Corin pulled up the lining of his cape. "I'm already-"

Gunfire cut through the rain light thunder, echoing from all sides of them. Muzzle flashes of automatic fire lit up the darkness from either side of the pier. even from around the corners of a handful of the steel shipping containers that filled the dockyard. "What the?"

"Hell!" Capin swung about as their scene turned into a warzone in seconds. He started counting the flash-points on the outside. "This is what they were waiting for!"

The black SUV's rang as the bullets pitted against their sides. The suited men ran around, catching cover and shouting orders back and forth as they returned fired. In the firefight you couldn't even hear the rain. Bullets pierced the metal containers and ricocheted around inside the empty bins. Glass shattered from the cars as whomever it was that had started the fight didn't relent. As the boat neared, it became just another target.

"Go!" Capin shouted, hoping that their surprise would still give them an edge. "Do your thing." He started running back, "You keep them safe. I'll put down the resistance."

"Got it," Corin nodded as he stepped sideways into the shadows.

---

All bedlam had broken on the dock and the boat itself. There were panicked orders barked in Japanese all around Corin as he watched from the shadows. A few of Ogawa's men raced past him trying to get to vantage points over the battle raging on the dock below them. One of the soliders stopped right in front of Corin.

The Mid-Night Man made his move. He stepped out of the shadows grabbing the Yakuza member in front of him, and pulled him into the darkness with him. The very next second they were no longer on the boat, but the docks where the Starlight Sleuth slammed his prey against the metal of the nearest container and disappeared again.

If it was possible, the boat had become even more chaotic. The bodies of several dead or wounded Yakuza littered the deck. This is getting serious. Corin pointed his right wrist at several of the still standing Yakuza. With an almost inaudible series of paffs, tranq darts silently flew through the air striking their targets and rendering them unconscious.

Turning his attention to the opposite direction; Corin tried to find something to take him to the lower decks, and the innocent victims still in the ships holds. As he rounded the corner toward the back of the boat, he slammed against another of the Yakuza members coming up from the exact stair case he was looking for.

"Uh hi," Corin stuttered, "I was looking for the bathroom?'

The Yakuza soldier muttered something in Japanese as he leveled his gun at the Starlight Sleuth.

The Mid-Night Man moved instinctively as the soldier pulled the trigger, pulling his cape in front of him to deflect the incoming projectiles. He watched as the bullets divoted into his cape and then slide down, clinking against the ground. Once Corin was sure the clip had been emptied, he flourished his cape outwards infront of him smacking the rain soaked edge of it against his assailant's gun while he leveled his own weapon and prepared to fire a dart into the man's throat, "My turn."

That however didn't happen. Corin was about to fire when he and the Yakuza solider both heard a thud against the deck. They both turned their heads and watched as grenade rolled towards them, "Aw crap."

---

The flash of automatic gunfire lit up from below as the assault on the pier escalated. A quick count of the the flashes showed they had a good perimeter all around ground zero. Even though there was probably only ten or so of them, they fired with quick and calculated precision, keeping Ogawa's men distracted at every angle.

Under the cover of rain and darkness Capin leapt from his vantage point across the roadway to the next set of boxes. He had no idea who these people were or what their agenda was. As bullets ripped through the men by the pier and pierced the black trucks those were questions to be answered later.

The Dapper Detective slid across the slick wet metal and dropped to the ground with the deft silence of a cat, barely making a splash. He peeked around the corner and found the first of gunmen. The figure appeared military from his clothes down to his boots and black fatigues. He held the but of the rifle to his shoulder and fired off a volley of shots before pulling back, coming face to face with the tuxedo clad vigilante.

"Who?"

The voice was young, 18 at best. With the barest hesitation, he snapped that assault rifle back up, perpendicular to his chest and went for the trigger. Capin needed that pause before his finger found the trigger. He was fast, but in such close quarters a split-second reaction would have perforated him with holes. Instead he slammed the barrel against the metal wall and rent it from the man's grasp.

"No one of consequence." His fist smacked hard across the young man's jaw with crack. He went slack and dropped into the mud.

Capin handed the rifle off to the black cape that broke it down to its pieces. Crouching over the unconscious boy and taking his sidearm he examined him quickly. Despite all physical evidence - the army surplus fatigues and his designation as a Private, the weapons and gear, this was no soldier. He was too young to be working a special op like this. There was only one other marking on him, the black and white shield stitched onto his shoulder. His eyes narrowed as he examined it. The lightning bolt crossing an arrow. A sun and a star in opposite corners.

Gunfire pulled Capin's attention back. He gripped and tore the the patch off, slipping it into his pocket. He shot a look back at the pier, whispering luck to his partner over on the boat before darting out into the wet field of storage crates. He followed the sounds of the young soldiers shots, the shouts of orders back and forth in code.

Pinching that nerve cluster in his neck as Enry shredded his M-16 into useless scrap, the second soldier fell limp to his knees before he even could hear Capin's arrival. The dapper detective continued his assault one by one until the Yamada kai's men were getting a much greater advantage.

The assaulting gunfire had grown almost intermittent. In the pause a voice cried out as Capin closed in on it. "Jones? Smith?" The absences were noted with no response. "Company! Watch your clock; we're surrounded!" He hurried to the still distant voice, jumping up onto one of the crates. "Light the boat!"

He was caught in the sights of one of the men on the pier or on the ship. It didn't matter. The ricochet of bullets filled his ears as they pitted up across the metal box toward him. His eyes closed in on the soldier he heard shouting orders. The rain shadowed the motion, but he pulled a pin and threw it. Capin's eyes watched it arc over the ground and bounce across the deck of the ship. "Oh crap!"

Hell had just gotten hotter.

---

Corin's eyes stared in disbelief at the grenade that had landed at his feet. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap," Corin's mind raced. He did the only thing he could think of, he kicked it. The grenade rolled toward the edge of the boat, Please work, please #@^%ing work. Corin said a quick prayer as he concentrated. He watched the grenade roll, knowing that it would explode at any moment as it hit the shadow of the side of the deck, it disappeared.

"Yes!" the Starlight Sleuth exclaimed. Then immediately his attention to the Japanese man with the gun that was still next to him.

The gangster visibly shook as he tried to reload his pistol.

Corin leveled his wrist launchers again at him, "Get over it.' One dart later the Yakuza was out on the ground.

Corin raced down the stairs into the hull of the ship. These poor people had to be somewhere. The echoing of the bullets hitting the walls of the ship. The sound was maddening. Corin could barely think over the rapport of machine gun fire. As he raced down the stair case, praying to find a door into the hold and the lost souls inside. He hit the second landing and was nearly ripped from his feet as an explosion rocked the boat.

"What the hell was that?" The Mid-Night Man yelled into the comlink as he steadied himself on the railing.

There was a grunt on the other end which was punctuated by the loud clanging of metal. We have a really big problem. A big, there was a wet smack of knuckles on flesh and a splash, exploding, sinking problem.

The pier was alight with yelling back and forth in Japanese. Their boat was burning across its deck, orange and yellow flames licking high from the creaking ship. Amidst the din of rocking explosions and shots fired he could hear them calling for the boat to be docked, the cargo to be salvaged if possible. Feeling they had gotten the upper hand on their thinning attackers, they began fanning out.

"Our company brought grenades." Capin laid his unconscious opponent down in the mud beside what remained of his weapons and was on the move. He got a bead on another of the darkly clad soldiers as he pulled the pin with his finger. "Time is not a luxury we have..." With incredible skill and speed he grabbed the figure, his cape balling up over the grenade in his hand and holding it tight before its trigger could pop. His fingers jabbed a series of nerve clusters that left the young man frozen.

"Wonderful," Corin grumbled, "next I guess you're gonna tell me that there's some giant world devouring alien out there about to eat us all for lunch." He continued to race down the stairs.

Not sure what to do with the armed grenade in their possession, Enry lobbed it out into the water where it sank and exploded. The high waterfall rained down a bit on the ship, but as with the general downpour, it did little to aid in putting out the flames.

"No." Capin found himself surrounded in suited men staring down the barrels of several guns. "Not exactly."

He smiled, turning slowly and taking in his situation face by face. "Nice night for a ferry ride, eh?" Eight of them. He almost felt bad.

"Gotta love um," finally Corin threw open the door at the bottom of the stairs. His jaw went slack there was possibly a hundred maybe even more packed into a room far too small to fit. All of there eyes turned to meet his shaded ones. Holes filled with sorrow and pain.

"Come on," the Starlight Sleuth motioned toward the huddled mass.

None of them moved.

"Sonofa..." the Mid-Night Man grumbled with frustration.

The boat rocked again. There was a belching sound behind him, a loud fwoosh like God had just flushed his toilet rung in Corin's ears.

Corin slammed the door behind him. Well this is gonna be fun. They can't understand me, the ship's sinking, and I'm running out of options. Corin's eyes scanned the hold. There had to be a way out. He could hear the water slam hard against the door to the hold. His eyes fixated on the one light bulb that swung excitedly in the room. Only one shot at this.

---

The ship groaned, shifting and cracking under the damage, and Capin knew she was taking on water. And Corin and all those people were still on board. Before another two seconds passed, he had taken the weapons of half of the twelve men that encircled them. The Dapper Detective pushed himself to the limits of his own speed. He could feel his adrenaline coursing through him, Enry pumping it to faster. Each disarm came was accompanied by an artful blow that laid them out swiftly and forcefully.

As the gunfire erupted, Capin struggled to keep Ogawa's men from hitting each other. Close quarters and automatic rifles was a bad combination for a so many moving bodies. A ripping of bullets pitted into the metal behind him, missing him and his closest assailant by inches. The agile avenger rolled over the backs of two men, using the momentum of his acrobatics to throw them aside to where they slammed hard into one of the crates.

"Mid-night?" Enry rent the weapon from one of the last men standing, swinging it across and knocking the rifle from another's hands. His hands were a furious blur against the men around him, but Capin's eyes were focused over the shoulder of the man in front of him watching as the ship's nose pitched up. "Goddamit..."

He knew tonight wasn't going to be easy, but this wasn't right. His fist slammed back, breaking the nose of the man who tried to sneak in behind him. Capin was already running for the edge of the pier at full tilt before the man splashed against the ground. "Come on," the fire sizzled as it was doused by the water that over took the ship. The cargo hold had to be almost completely drowned, "Come on, Doc..."

Dodging a hail of bullets that ducked from around the trucks, The Dapper Detective planted his palm on the hood of a black car and slid across it, knocking the two men using it for cover back. He heard Ogawa calling for their retreat. The strong engines their horses up, but Capin wasn't concerned with that. Even the ones that would escape wouldn't get away. Something more important was at risk, the lives of these innocents they had brought and left to die.

Slamming a well dressed guard into his own SUV, sent spider webbing up the driver's side door window. "Doc?" Capin said into the comlink that had been silent for far too long.

"Kinda busy right now," his voice sounded strained from concentration, "but if you would do me a solid and protect that blue storage container just outside of the boat on the dock for the next few minutes, I'll be grateful." The com clicked dead again.

Squinting as the rain picked up even harder, the Dapper Detective spun around, looking for the shipping crate. It stung as the wind kicked up, pelting him with the rivulets. Two blue containers sat at the edge of the pier, yards from each other.. "Great." On the upside, the Yakuza were on the retreat and the odds of either container being hit were low. On the downside he was the only target left.

He dashed forward, skirting the bodies left prone on the ground. Enry caught the edge of one of the trucks and swung them up as line of bullet holes followed suit. "That's right. Eyes on the prize, people."

He ran along the top of the truck toward the cab and jumped from truck to truck. Shooting a glance back, he saw the tip of the ship sinking below the concrete. Up ahead was one of the black cars separated him and the lead truck. A man leaned out its window, firing several bursts back at him. "Dammit!" He ducked back from the sparks where the bullets landed. "Okay, that's not very nice!" He took a breath and step from the edge of the truck. Running he leapt across, only skipping off the black rooftop to anchor himself to the lead of the convoy.

Capin's fingers gripped the ledge of the trailer. A swift kick to the latch snapped it open and the gate swung wide. Holding tight, Enry reached out to the spinning rubber with a jagged blade, stripping a chunk form the tires causing a quick blowout. In one fluid motion as the truck screamed, Capin threw himself free, tucking and rolling between two crates with almost surgical precision. The truck jackknifed, falling on its side. Sparks lit up the wet concrete as it slid across and locked into place, blocking the road completely.

There was a screetching of tires filling the night followed by the crunching of metal as each part of the speeding exodus careened into the one before it. Capin rolled to a skidding stop in the wet gravel. Standing, he rushed to the corner craning his neck around the edge. Steam rose from the chain of broken and bent vehicles. Shattered glass shimmered in the puddles on the wet ground.

"Well, that worked surprisingly well." Cautiously, he stepped back out. Checking each car along the way to make sure Ogawa's men hadn't sustained any serious injuries in the wreck, he then neatly binding their hands for the eventual arrival of the police. Considering his own, he held his shoulder and gave that ache a little squeeze. "Not that we don't deserve a little happy surprise."

Trudging through the thick downpour, the Dapper Detective made his way back across the pier. He had to round up the young soldiers that had sunk this night completely. Unfortunately all he found was empty puddle after empty puddle. "Dammit." The bodies were gone. Collected.

Irritated, Capin returned to the end of the pier. He looked at the two blue crates. "It's safe," he called under a chilling crack of thunder.

"I saw," Corin stepped out of the shadows looking extremely exhausted, "Nice work." The Starlight Sleuth moved to the front of one of the crates and opened it, "I would have helped out, but moving all these people wiped me."

Inside the crate was a huddled mass of terrified eyes all staring back at the pair of heroes.

"I tried to comfort them as best I could," the Mid-Night Man shook his head, "but there's a bit of a language barrier."

"They've been on a boat for god knows how long, stolen from their families. I don't think any words they could understand would be much comfort." When he looked back to his partner he smiled a little. "But you saved their lives. That's more than they were going to get."

"True." Corin reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black cell phone, "I guess it's time to call in the clean up crew." He pressed a few buttons and held the receiver to his ear, "It's me, pier 186. A colleague and I stopped some human trafficing, you might want to bring friends."

While Corin had made the call, Capin did his best to reassure the strangers in a strange land that they were safe. His Korean was pretty rough and it must have been that much more unsettling for it to come from a man in a black mask and a cape, but it seemed to do the trick. He explained that they should stay in the shelter for their health, and in a show of faith and with Enry's help he dismantled the doors on a few of the storage containers. The group spread out, but remained.

"So what happened?" the starlight sleuth asked as Capin stepped back toward him.

"Unexpected company," he replied, somewhat grimly. "You know what this is?" he reached into his pocket and retrieved the patch he had torn from the first soldier's fatigues.

The Starlight Sleuth took the patch and rolled it through his fingers. "Nope," Corin's gloved hand ran across the embroidery, "never seen this before; it looks like some kind of military badge."

"They were dressed like some sort of urban assault team, but they were too young for that sort of military op and too sloppy," the dapper detective told him. "Oldest was probably 19. And this," he held the patch up, "isn't quite military, but it's awful close to one branch of the army. The Rangers."

"Funny," Corin chuckeled to himself, "there was some schmuck running around here a while back calling himself Ranger."

Capin's brow rose a little, looking back at Corin. He brought his hand up a few inches over his head. "Kinda tall? Grey and purple?" A smirk crossed his face, "Overly indulgent with self-righteousness?"

"That's him," The Starlight Sleuth nodded, "Dreamer was in with the guy for a while, until he wigged out and decided to interrogate our ginger. That ended with an arrow in her leg. The team and I had a little chat with him about that."

"I crossed paths with both of them in one night a few days ago." The dapper detective slipped the patch away into his coat. "This... Ranger fellow had tossed your friend Dreamer off a roof..." Ryu stepped back, glancing over his shoulder to check on the huddled groups of Koreans. He turned back to Corin looking somewhat grim. "He was kind of an ass, to be honest."

"Sounds like his M.O.," Corin nodded, "I wonder if he's behind the special guests today."

"I'd say so." Capin nodded in agreement, his normally light expression growing a little stern. "He fought like a soldier. Take that training and mix in that self-righteous attitude, sprinkle in a little hopelessness..."

A crack of lighting cut through the sky above, lighting the pair standing on the pier. The thunder that followed reverberated through their bones. The rain fell harder as if the lighting had literally opened up the sky. Capin arms folded across his chest, and he shook his head, "He's training an army of his own." His nerves were tingling at the thought of the man pushing these kids into the streets, arming them with sloppy training and automatic weapons. "And filling it with kids."

"Well then," Corin shuddered against the cold of the rain, "looks like we're gonna need to go find our good friend."

"I'd say so." A smile came to Capin's face, adjusting the way the rain rolled down his cheeks and along the cut of his slick, black cowl. "We'll have to be careful though. He's put enough lives at risk as it is."

Any further planing was cut short when Capin's com clicked to life Sparky with you at the docks?

"That's a negative, Big Blue. It's just me and the good Doctor." Capin replied.

Hrm Wolf grunted. He's not answering his com, I heard the explosion and just assumed...

"Not this time." Capin's black brow creased, changing the rivers of rainwater that ran down his cowl. Those white eyes slipped over toward his darkly suited partner, rising a bit with a smirk. "Is this just a call to make sure we didn't sink the pier?"

A chuckle came over the line. You know how grumpy the port authority gets when we do something like- Wolf's voice cut off suddenly, but the link stayed active. A rain muffled whump carried across the harbor punctuated by a streak of orange flame billowing into the sky in the direction of Irongate. Wolf's voice came back on the line in the form of rather colorful swearing.

Riots broken out on Irongate.

The two men at the dock's edge were already looking out across the sheet of dark static to where the massive prison sat far off shore. Irongate sat dark and dead in the water with only the faint flickering light of fire that trickled smoke up into the night sky showing signs of life.

"Damn..."

The sirens started to fade in for the arrival of the police to the scene. Capin glanced back over his shoulder to the people they had rescued. "We're on it." He shot a look to Mid-Night Man at his side who was already bracing his hat to his head over his game face, ready for travel. Not sure what lay in store, the dapper detective dropped into a defensive stance, and in seconds darkness swallowed them up.

The chilly pelting of the pouring rain cut completely, and its drumming softly faded to the background. For barely a moment, not even a second, there was nothing. No sound. No feeling. All was empty, and Capin was reminded, however briefly, how little he liked teleporting.

And then the world came back.

There was no soft yellow glow of the pier lights to see by and heavy rainfall and waves filling their ears. Only the prison's emergency lighting cast stark white circles across their fields through the near pitch black. It cast a monstrous silhouette of the sea of bodies were filling across the floor. Their ears filled with the screams of rage filled with hate and fear, anger and freedom.

Falling back to back, Capin and the Mid-Night Man had no time to assess the situation before they were circled by inmates. "Crap..."

[Dreamer]

Simon Sanders was all smiles on the inside as he made his way back toward the apartment called home. The cab was greeted with an usual smile for someone that needed a ride home past sundown. It was a pleasant surprise and when the customer asked for a simple place to get to the cabby felt it was his lucky night. The customer was quiet and just watched all of the sights and sounds of Garrison City. Everyone saw the city in a different light, one police official would have called the place "Dirty and bleeding", a random student at Beacon State was more than eager to call it "a place of opportunity and dreams," while their Lakeview counterpart was more than happy to express his distaste for the city by saying it was, "capable of holding back the best and brightest. Can't wait to leave this f***ing place." Simon had too many opinions about the City as it was a world of wonder to him, a place that still thrived with potential to be something more than it was, something better. A modern day embodiment to what a few of the city founders thought when Garrison was founded many years ago.

It was why Simon was more than happy to take a cab on certain days when the mood struck him, tonight was one of those nights to see all of the potential. When the duo made it to Simon's home the cabby was given a gracious tip and they parted ways. The forest green door, which matched all of the other doors down the light green hallway, with the slightly tarnished gold looking numbers that read 207 opened with the usual creek that WD40 only temporarily warded off the noise for a few weeks before it came back. A smile filled the room as lights began to turn on and the political science teacher slipped into his bedroom. When he reemerged back into the living room it was straight for the stereo. Tonight had been a good night and it was time to indulge, time to celebrate.

Drum sounds emanated from the stereo and were joined by a guitar twenty nine seconds into the song. The number was old and it had been ages since it was sang in front of a crowd at Brooklyn's Bar back when it was called "The Pit." Still Simon he knew all the pitches, tones, notes, and everything that came with being a singer in a band. He even remembered the old dance moves and tricks that were used with the standing microphone which included the splits that he was still able to do. When nights were really good the play list on the stereo was just like it was at "The Pit" back in late eighty-three. Garret wasn't quite there yet, Debbie, Garrett's older sister, was nearly one, Simon was three, and the Van Halen cover band Unchained Diamonds played strong. Simon held on to a few of the old costumes, props, and even the old playlist notes. Cover bands were sort of a newer thing back then, but Van Halen was pretty big back in the day. Deep down Simon wanted to be a lead singer to original material. The unexpected presence of Simon Jr. made it hard it hard to write, record, and rehearse. When Debbie came along it made everything that much harder. Still the singer did what he could to hear the roar of a crowd and clung to all the sensations that came to someone that enjoyed singing music.

Eventually all of the spandex, flashy outfits, and eyeliner was traded in for books and studying that lead to a more stable life for a family man of three children. Part of him still missed the crowds despite the love of teaching a classroom. Heck even the few times the girls screamed when the cover of "Pretty Woman" started and Simon only stared into the eyes of his then wife to the few shows she found a sitter for, he missed all of those times. Now wasn't bad, a professor had its perks but it couldn't have compared to a stage even a small rundown one that he used to call home at "The Pit."

When the days were great, Simon's living room transformed into a time machine and whisked him away back to the eighties. On a few nights he swore the smell of cigarette smoke lingered in the room while the smell of scotch danced in the air. The familiar notes of "Unchained" always started out the good nights, it was always the band's opener as it contributed to half the cover band's name. The nickname of David Lee Roth, "Diamond" Dave, provided the other. Like the old times Simon sang the words and acted as if his apartment living was the stage, it was nearly the same size. Next came the cover of "Pretty Woman," which he promptly serenaded a picture of his girlfriend to before "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love," kicked in at its usual third spot.

Bass beats of song seven, "Running with the Devil" resonated through Simon's patio windows and outside to where a figured in black waited. Dreamer smiled, "Dad must be having a good night," he said quietly before he tapped loudly on the patio door.

When the noise came from outside the Patio Simon raised an eyebrow as the unexpected sound made the former singer loose track of the words he knew backwards and forward. The noise continued which caused Simon to ready the cellphone and grabbed a bat he had just in case something bad lingered outside the door. Normally he expected trouble behind the other door which made him all the more concerned. Slowly the patio door opened and Simon swung at the figure in black waiting.

Although it was unexpected Dreamer was ready for the blow which was easily parlayed and a black gloved hand went to Simon's throat. It was startling to see a man in black that calmly waited for the door to open. It was downright scary when the figure gripped Simon's throat. The man tried to scream but the grip was too tight.

"Dad!" Dreamer yelled as he tried to stifle dad's cries. A slow crook of the head came as Simon processed the voice, "Son?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and curiosity resonating in his voice.

By now the grip loosened and Simon stepped back so Dreamer was able to slip inside, "Yeah dad, it's me."

Costumed Heroes were fascinating to the Political Science teacher for many reasons. First it made the city unique as it housed more costumed vigilantes than any other city out there. Second, their actions brought up all forms of questions that he wished to debate about, but for most the topic seemed too trite or taboo. Third, it comforted him as a citizen knowing there were people out keeping the world safe and now one of them was standing in his living room, and it was his son. Now questions brewed for Simon as he got to see his son, Dreamer, dressed in uniform.

The silence made Garrett uncomfortable as dad processed everything. It wasn't until the sound system went, "Ooooooh Little Dreamer," as the chorus to the latest song played on that made both of them laugh.

"Good timing," Simon said between laughs.

"Fitting," Garrett said with a smile.

"Not really. You haven't seen the lyrics to the rest of the song."

"I'll take your word on that, Van Halen wasn't good until Sammy came along anyway."

"I still can't believe your mother poisoned your mind like that," said Simon in a half mocking half disgusted tone. Passionate Van Halen fans were always very vocal about which singer was better "Diamond" Dave or Sammy Hagar. Simon Sanders heart bled for David Lee Roth. However his ex wife never really shared his view and passed that view on to at least one of Simon's children, but the words were an icebreaker that made the man realize it wasn't a superhero in his living room right now, it was one of his sons. His son that happened to be a superhero, was in his living room right now. Simon made his way on the couch and asked the first obvious question, "When did it happen?"

"A few months before we last talked. Before today's meal I don't know how, I don't know why, but the powers came to me after a crazy dream. Ever since every night...," Garrett sighed and gestured to himself, "I turn into this..."

"Every night?"

"Like clockwork. As soon as the Sun goes down, my skin fades into this and I can put people to sleep thanks to some sand," Garrett explained.

Ideas came to Simon as everything was taken in, he knew that Garrett hadn't bought some new exercise equipment that turned his body from cookie dough to wood. His mind suddenly reached out and clenched to one that was a gamble, "And Faith knows about your double life?" This caught Garrett by surprise as he wasn't expecting this question, and it was that looked that cause Simon to press on. "Is she a hero too?"

By now Garrett had planted on what poker face he had, "No," he lied. "Faith is a friend that I saved months and months back, and she's been helping me out since then. She said something about not being able to step out in public because of who she is, but was more than willing to look behind closed doors. Being a Kavanaugh carries influence and Faith uses it to help me out when she can. It took her a while but the woman gained enough trust to where she found out who I was during the day," the lie continued and by the time it was done Garrett was impressed by it. If only he was able to talk like that in other situations too, life would have been a little easier sometimes.

The next question came to Simon, "What are the other heroes like?"

A small shrug came from Garrett, "Just like me. Regular people that took it upon themselves to use what they have to do some good. None of us asked or begged to become powered up people. It just happened for one reason and another, and I imagine we were all raised right or have the right motivations. We don't have regular let's get to know each other seminars or over night camp out trips." An amused smile came to Garrett's lips as he imagined the entire time at some wilderness retreat and Jamie's failed attempts to get everyone to sing in front of a camp fire. "It's like work dad, but with a little more respect. You respect everyone that does their thing, you get along better with some than others," images of Kard's training sessions, lunches with Faith, and a few meetings he had with Jamie and Corin flooded his mind. He wasn't Kard's biggest fan but each session made him respect the man a little more. Yet still as he learned more about the man he did like Kard a little more, but only a little. Faith was someone he always enjoyed and the lunches were always fun, and then the desire that came with wanting to know Jamie and Corin a little more behind the mask came.

"Ever been hurt badly?"

"Do you want the truth to that?" Garrett asked with a raised eyebrow. A hesitant nod came from Simon, the tone in Garrett's voice was too serious. Something bad must have happened and as a Father he wanted to know. Garrett sighed, "Two gun shot wounds, one to the arm, the other to the opposite leg at nearly the same time. It was dark and I foolishly let my guard down. Next thing I know pain wracked my body as I nearly bleed to death." Dad wanted the truth and Garrett wasn't about to sugar coat any of it. The life of Dreamer wasn't all glory, thank yous from every individual helped, and anything else that came with a Saturday morning cartoon. A superhero was a tiring and sometimes dangerous job that was done entirely pro bono. The few thank yous were nice, but only happened here and there.

Like any parent that heard about their child being seriously hurt Simon rose up and looked Garrett over promptly, "You okay!?" Off went Garrett's coat and Simon searched both shoulders before his son pulled back.

"Easy dad...Easy." Garrett held up both hands, "I'm fine, see?" he explained before rotating both arms at the shoulder and then proceeded to hop on the leg that once had a bullet hole. Afterward Garett nabbed his coat and placed it back on, "I'm fine. Us heroes took a page out of the comic books and movies, and found ourselves a good doctor that's eager to accept money we all pit together. They're disgraced of course, but they patched me up fine. Old bastard does a nice job," he lied again. Kardiac's words about identities echoed in his mind and although Dad could have been trusted Garrett decided not to risk it. So he decided to fabricate a fictional doctor that was far removed from Jamie and Corin. Again it was about keeping identities safe. The less Dad knew the better it was for everyone.

Cautiously Simon began to wonder if his son had gone a little insane, "Are you sure you can trust them? I mean if they're disgraced..."

"Old drinking problem he hasn't been able to shake. Besides its either that or bleed everywhere, and trust me, you really want your blood to stay inside of you. It's a little creepy when it doesn't."

The man tried hard not to grimace as Garrett talked about wounds as if he was an expert, "I'll take your word for it..," Simon croaked. When he regained his composure Simon asked the next biggest quesiton that struck his mind, "So why do you do it?"

A small smirk pulled at Garrett's lips as the only answer he had, was a little cliche and lacked any big life changing revelation within, "What else was I supposed to do dad? A weird dream causes me to have a power that sets me apart from everyone else, and I live in one of the worse parts of the city...Sirens serenaded me to sleep nightly before the powers came along. I'm still figuring out the reason for it....Either way it's the right thing to do," he sighed slowly, ".....Yeah, it kills what little social life I have after work but if I just sat there and did nothing....It would be torture. All you have to do is click on the News and see the violence that plagues Garrison and the world everyday. People get robbed, killed, hurt, all of that and if I just stood by...It'd eat me alive knowing I could have done something to stop that guy from getting robbed or saved that child from dying....I do it so other people aren't serenaded by sirens every night. Like I was," the smile on his face died long ago and a serious expression stood tall in its wake.

The look changed into confusion as an unexpected hug from dad caught Garrett off guard. Simon hugged his son and for the first time in ages felt something, "I'm proud of you son," he said low as a Father' pride ran through his veins once again. One of his children had finally grown up.

---

Life had been bad for Matt the last few days. Actually the last week or two had been bad for Matt, but it had trouble picking out what was worse for him. Was it the night at the museum, his big night, that went so horribly wrong? Or was it getting fired from the museum itself? He wasn't sure anymore. The only thing he knew was another session with Dr. Saison was needed. Despite the goofy bow tie the man knew his stuff and Matt was beginning to trust him. They were making breakthroughs when it came to the museum night and Matt had even divulged about the blackouts that plagued him through college. One of the reasons he wanted to see the doctor was a fear about the blackouts coming back. Parts of his day just vanished as one plop down on his favorite chair and then hours passed in what felt like an instant. Was it just exhaustion? Had the blackouts come back? Stress? He was no longer sure about anything.

By now the trip to Dr. Saison's was far enough in Matt's memory to thep oint he could have made it to his office half asleep. Although Saison, like many other therapists, wasn't for walk-ins Matt just needed to confirm the Doctor was willing to take him in this week. Everything was getting bad and in these dark times Dr. Saison shone like a light tower that cut through the darkness, and that's why Matt was taking the stairs two at a time on this late Tuesday afternoon. Saison's days never started before eleven as far as a patient was concerned but he was the type of guy that wanted to be there early to prepare and wake up a little bit. A morning ritual that Matt knew well enough already.

Today wasn't like regulars days though as his office door was open a crack and a foul odor glided down from his room. The smell was feint and could have easily been missed since it was only 10:07 a.m. nearly an hour before the first client was expected. But when Matt got close to the door the smell latched onto his nose and it made the pit of his stomach loosened. Whatever that smell was, it was bad. Then when Matt pushed open the door more everything in him gave out, not just his loosened stomach. Shock overcame his body and he slumped to his knees in disbelief, words were lost and stuck in his throat at the same time. Tears streamed down his face before he started to scream for help and he rushed to the nearest office down the stairs.

[Faith]

"Change of plans, darlin'," he said over the comms to Faith. "The smugglers aren't gonna help... they're gonna watch, probably staying on the pier," he added, pulling himself back onto his feet. He began to stalk back towards Moritini, wobbling a bit on unsteady feet. He hadn't been ready for that, and needed a second to refocus his energy. Fortunately, 'the Slugger' seemed cocky enough to wait for Kardiac to come to him.

"You'll need to position the explosive so you don't kill them when it goes off... which means actually going into the Hold," he said, frowning to himself. "That means you'll be leaving the boat at a run, making a lot more noise than I'd hoped." His bio-energy refocused for the kind of fight he was expecting, he readied for his charge. "You may have to hold your own for a few against the four heartbeats I'm hearing until I can join you.

"Okay... I can do that." Her voice came back to him without some of the usual confidence. Being flexible was important; it helped keep them alive. But it also made her worry. "I'm on my way to the boat now."

But, of course, that meant she had to get there. Eddy had said that he was going to be big and shiny. And she didn't doubt that one bit. That just left sneaking past a bunch of smugglers who wouldn't be rushing off to help their boss. But hopefully they'd still be distracted enough to miss her outline slipping onto their boat. Hopefully.

For his part, Eddy was being as shiny as possible, literally. After that last hit, he refocused his energy, dropping his agility to his normal, trained levels and letting the bio-energy burn. He was sparking from every pore, electricity arcing around him like a R2D2 in any of a number of Star Wars movies. As he stalked towards the Slugger, he grimaced and announced in a loud, staticy voice, "All right... now I'm mad!" To his satisfaction, his opponent actually took a half-step back before finding his feet.

Kardiac flew into action, swiping with energized fists towards the big man. He slowed down his attacks enough to make sure the Slugger could dodge, doing his best to dodge at the same time. He wanted to keep the fight going a bit longer than he had planned to give Faith the time she needed, but at the same time, he couldn't let his opponent get the upper hand and regain his confidence.

All things considered, it was a dangerous, tenuous dance, something a less experienced fighter would have been better off not attempting. Even with all her training, if he'd seen Faith toying with an opponent in this fashion he'd have her running laps. He taught her, and was teaching his other student, to end a fight as quickly as possible. This kind of action was cocky and self-sure, almost to the point of showing off. But then, he was Kardiac... he'd been doing this a while, and this time it was a necessary evil.

The Slugger's fist almost connected with his chin as he caught himself drifting into thought. He was thinking about just those things, thinking about his students, and he'd almost missed an incoming blow. He frowned and gave his opponent a nasty shock... a little on the low end though so as not to put the man down just yet. Hell, he wasn't sure if he could put this guy down with one shot. Still, he was pretty sure that his opponent could take him out with a well-placed hit, and he silently chastised himself for his lack of focus. That was the danger of trying to be a 'team player'... it killed your focus.

Just then, he heard an explosion. It was muffled, and seemed to be a lot farther away than he'd expected. It didn't produce nearly enough heat, either, but that was hard to gauge when you're covered with electrical energy. The 'boom' was enough to make him think, though, that maybe his re-focus was just playing with his senses. And like a fool, he accepted it on face value. A boom is a boom. It took two high-intensity taser-punches to take the Slugger down, but it was time to end the fight.

As the big man hit the ground, he turned to check that Faith had gotten out okay, then noticed that the Smugglers' boat was still there... intact. Another boat was burning in the distance on the far side of the docks. "Crap," he said, realizing his mistake and the danger it presented to Sylph. Without a thought for his own safety, he fired the last taser-line from his current cartridge and took down one of the smugglers. As distractions went, it was a pretty basic one... but it worked. The other three were completely focused on him now. Unfortunately, so were their guns.

Eddy dived behind one of the few remaining crates and prepared for the hail of gunfire.

She couldn't stop to watch him, so even though a sparkly-Eddy was definitely a sight to see she wasn't going to. Making a mental note to ask him to do that again sometime, Sylph did as she was supposed and crept toward the boat with silent steps. Between the rain and the punching, she didn't need to worry about the sound of her footsteps. But still, it was no reason to get sloppy.

The boat itself didn't worry her. At 31', the Isabella looked enough like a large fishing boat, a rich man's baby, to fool the casual observer. It was certainly nice looking. I guess even badguys need to flee the country in comfort, she thought with an unseen smirk. Resolutely refusing to get overly concerned about how Eddy was doing in his fight, she'd bypassed the four smugglers on the pier and was about to step over onto the boat when an explosion shattered the night. She couldn't help but turn to watch. It was big.

And apparently it changed the plan. Again.

The huge bad guy was down and she hadn't blown anything up yet. The smuggler's boat rocked slightly as she stepped on board. Then, wincing and hurrying at the sound of gunfire, she tiptoed down the few stairs that led into the hold. The fact that the smugglers were out there shooting at Eddy made her a little less worried about hurting them. And, of course, she'd rather lose a limb than disappoint her mentor.

Deciding that this was as good a place as any to plant the pen-bomb, Faith gave the room a quick once-over. For the most part it was unremarkable, nothing that Eddy would need to see. The laptop on a side bench caught her eye. Though small, was far too bulky to take away with her. But the flash drive attached to it...? With a shrug, she removed the palm sized device from its computer and tucked away in her belt while pulling out the silver pen.

Eddy could feel Faith's heartbeat. She was controlling herself well, but the slightest hint of concern for him was still present. He never wanted her to lose that, anymore than he believed he could lose his own concern for her which right then was serving as his primary motivation. She'd be setting the bomb, soon, and that meant he had to find a way to get the smugglers clear of the boat. He wasn't worried about them so much as he was worried about them noticing the invisible Sylph running clear in the pouring rain.

Unlike he and Faith, the explosion across the wharf did little to concern them. In fact, it made their lives easier. The police would be answering that call, and in doing so they'd be reducing their ability to respond to this one. That gave them even more of an upper hand than they'd had before, and with the Slugger down, they had no reason to stick around. They would get back on the boat, possibly block Faith's escape, and be onboard when the boat went boom. Even now their gunfire was trailing off as they came to the same conclusion... only without the whole "boom" part.

Kardiac smiled... they didn't know about the "boom" part, but they did know about the boom across the wharf. Scrambling, he found a chunk or broken crate just about the right size, and hoped that the rain would disguise its shape. Using the rain-soaked moisture of the board, he lit it up, sparks dancing across its surface, then stood up where the retreating smugglers could see him. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled, hurling the sparkling detritus onto the boat.

From outside, across the water, Faith could see the other boat still burning in the distance. It was definitely time to get out of here. Hesitating for only a heartbeat, she pressed the button and placed the bomb on the floor near the benches. Then, turning so fast that her wet hair hit her in the face, she ran as fast as she could toward the exit and the relative safety of the pier.

The board hit the deck of the boat, throwing its sparks into the air. It wouldn't pass any real inspection, but coupled with the explosion a minute before, it appeared to do the trick. The smugglers fled from the vicinity of the boat, two of the four going into the water. The other two ran right into Kardiac's path. They weren't there for long. Pushing their unconscious forms aside, Eddy turned towards the boat and reached out for Faith's heartbeat. Hurry.

He didn't have to wait long. Sprinting down the dock, Sylph reached him just as her explosion split the night. Brilliant light tore through the darkness proceeding the shockwave that rocked the water and blew dust and dirt around the docks in every direction. Nearly knocking him over as she wrapped her arms around him, Faith pulled Kardiac into invisibility with her as they ran for cover. She was well aware that it wouldn't protect him from falling debris or anything even remotely boom related. But at least no one could see them to shoot them... for the moment.

For his part, Eddy focused his energy on stamina and endurance, fighting Faith's hold to put himself as much as possible between her and the blast. Through the kevlar and the heightened resistance to pain, he could still feel hot embers and droplets of molten metal pelt his back as they finally reached cover. It had been a tight race, and far too close for his liking, but the job was done and Sylph was safe. He hugged her a little tighter than was probably necessary, then gave her a quick wink. "You blew up a boat."

Before she could reply, both of their comm's crackled with a familiar voice, the signal weakened by the storm. Eddy touched both of them and added a little juice to boost the signal.

Did you just blow up a boat?

"No," Kardiac answered, smirking to Faith. "Sylph just blew up a boat."

"And I did a very good job of it too," she added with a laugh, absently brushing some embers off of Eddy's back.

Geez... maybe I should swing by the docks and see if we can score the Hat Trick.

"That wasn't us," Eddy said, his eyes noticing a strange glow out on the water. He tapped his goggles and zoomed in, frowning immediately at what little he managed to discern through the rain.

We can debrief later. I called because....

"Can't talk," Eddy snapped, his eyes going back to Faith as his vision pulled back in. "There's some sort of trouble at Irongate. Gotta fly."

That's what I was going to...

"Kardiac out," Eddy said, frowning and silencing his comm, even as Bluewolf's final words crackled like a distant whisper to his ears from Faith's unit. He switched to his other comm, tapped it three times, and looked at Sylph. "I'm calling Marcus for a ride to the Irongate. I'm not going to tell you to stay here, because I know you won't listen anyway," he said, as the brown-clad teleporter appeared beside him, looking completely dry for about a nanosecond before being soaked to the bone.

"Riot at Irongate."

"I guessed as much," Kardiac snapped his eyes still on Sylph. "You keep your head down, comms open, and light bent. We're not going to Sunday brunch, here... this is going to be worse than you've probably ever seen it" He took her by the shoulders and leaned in close so she could see his eyes as clearly as day. "I won't think less of you if you'd rather stay back and keep an eye on the city...," he added, hoping she'd take the hint... and knowing that she wouldn't.

She leaned in to meet him until her forehead rested against his, the rain on their skin mingling as she gave him a half-smile. "There may come a day when I choose to watch your back from across the city..." Looking away from him, she let her gaze travel out across the lake to the prison. She knew it would be worse than she could imagine, that Eddy was probably right to want her to stay behind. But the thought of letting him go without her was just... wrong. "But this is so not the day."

Drenched and feeling a growing apprehension, Sylph flashed a smile in an attempt to hide her shudder. Eddy, of course, would be able to feel it, but hopefully Marcus wouldn't notice. "Besides, he'd much rather give me a ride than you," she teased.

"True, that," the Strategoi teleporter responded, smiling from ear to ear. "You're going to want to start in the Northeast quadrant, if what little satellite imagery we can get is any indication." He held up a hand and a glowing line appeared in mid-air, the beginning of one of his portals.

"You can see through these clouds?"

Marcus shrugged. "We can see the thermals... and trust me, where you're concerned, that's enough."

The portal light spread out as the teleportational field opened fully. The high-voltage vigilante looked over at Sylph and gave a nod, waited for her to go cloak herself, then led her through. Instantly, they understood what Marcus' 'thermals' comment was all about, and Eddy could guess why it was relevant to Kardiac. Stepping out onto Irongate, the temperature dropped twenty degrees. The rain turned to sleet, their breath became visible, and their feet found a new slickness on the ground.

Kardiac frowned. "Chillblaine," he muttered, just loud enough for Faith to hear over the wind and rain. He didn't really have to, though, since the villain, once more-popularly known as Jaques Ferrier of the Garrison City Ice, was standing thirty feet in front of them, ice clinging to his prison uniform. A number of inmates seemed to have attached themselves to the metahuman criminal in the short time the riot had been underway... and right now they were all turning, some of them with weapons taken from fallen guards, to give the arriving vigilante their full attention.

[Bluewolf]

Having been in and around his fair share of hurricanes, and that one particularly hairy job in South East Asia during monsoon season, it was safe to say that Bluewolf had suffered high volumes of rain. The steady deluge inundating Garrison was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. The weather forecasters were calling it a perfect storm, though they had no explanation for its sudden appearance. It was though the heavens had jammed a garden hose into a watering can, and then tipped the can on its edge to cover the garden in a constant flow.

It also made rooftop patrolling miserable and dangerous. Losing your footing from twenty stories up was not a pleasant way to cap off an evening.

So far, the section of town he was covering tonight had been quiet. Foot traffic was non-existent, and motor traffic was minimal at best. Weather the likes of this kept the good and the bad off the streets. The costumed set, however... well, they were more like the postal service. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night..." the saying went, and Wolf was thankful that there had been a break of warmer weather. It would have been a blizzard of epic proportions otherwise.

Small consolations were something to hold on to as Bluewolf sat crouched among the stone gargoyles of St. Bernadette's Cathedral. Nestled between the Bayside park area and the entertainment district, it was like Garrison's version of the St. Charles Cathedral in New Orleans. Streams of water as big as Wolf's forearm spewed from the mouths of the grotesque carvings. His hair was plastered to his head and if he shifted a certain way, his collar allowed a river of water to run down the inside of his uniform. The fedora and trench coat look suddenly seemed very appealing to him.

The bright spot, if there was one, was that Kaye wasn't around to have to deal with this weather, and he didn't have to deal with the subsequent bitching about how long it would take her fur to dry. Fortunately for her, she was part of the advance team to set up the excavation site around Genghis Khan's tomb.

The steady rain not only dampened Bluewolf physically, but sensorally as well. The constant roar was like white noise, punctuated every so often by a roller-coaster roll of thunder. There was not a smell in the air other than 'wet.' The downpour was as visual static, forcing him to rely on his visor's NVG settings. The occasional flash of lightning reduced those capabilities to basic UV and IR.

He stood, letting the water sheet off, and carefully picked his way across the steep rooftop to the back side of the Cathedral. Across the green strip of Bayside Park, sat the expansive docks of the city harbor. A smile broke across Wolf's face as he looked out over Kardiac's 'turf,' and wondered if the verdant vigilante was suffering the weather as well. Bluewolf scanned the docks, distinct only due to the harbor lights ringing the area. A series of yellow-orange flashes caught his eye, followed by muted thumps moments later.

Wolf frowned, and keyed his visor link back to the Fort, laying com-signal locators within his field of view. Bluewolf was a little surprised to only see two indicators, Roo and Mid-night, but no Sparky. He opened a channel, "Blue to Sparky."

Nothing. Wolf shrugged it off. Wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last. He keyed Capin next. "Sparky with you at the docks?'

That's a negative, Big Blue. It's just me and the good Doctor. Capin replied.

"Hrm," Wolf grunted. "He's not answering his com, I heard the explosion and just assumed..."

Not this time. Wolf could hear the smirk in his friend's voice. Is this just a call to make sure we didn't sink the pier?

Bluewolf laughed. "You know how grumpy the port authority gets when we do something like-" Wolf's voice cut off suddenly when Sil broke in on the line.

We're getting reports of riots breaking out all over Irongate. Several of the more talented residents have broken their containment. We'll be mobilizing ASAP, but since you and your band of merry men were closest...

Wolf grimaced. There was no way this was going to end well. "We'll move advanced elements into place. Just don't leave us blowing in the breeze for too long."

A rain muffled whump carried across the harbor punctuated by a streak of orange flame billowing into the sky in the direction of Irongate. Wolf swore colorfully and in several different languages.

"Riots broken out on Irongate." He said finally, already on the move.

Damn... Mid-night's voice carried over the line.

The wail of sirens rang ever closer to the docks in response to Roo and Corin's adventures, as well as the alert at the prison. We're on it. Wolf could hear the resolution in the dapper detective's voice. The signal went fuzzy when the two men stepped into the shadowy 'in-between.'

Wolf keyed up one of the pre-programed transport locations and activated. The now-familiar lurch and pressure faded as Bluewolf found himself dripping on the carpet of the warden's office. The warden and two corrections officers in riot gear. They spun on the new arrival and the azure avenger found himself staring down the barrels of a trio of riot shotguns.

Wolf's hands immediately went up, "Whoa, fellas. I'm on your side."

---

His white eyes went from one face to the next, each just as angry if not angrier than the one before it. "I'm just going to throw this out there..." After all that The Midnight-Man had done to get those people off the sinking boat, this hadn't given him much time to recover, and Capin worried about his stamina. "Everybody goes back to their cells, and we'll have some tea and some cookies..."

"I don't think they're gonna go for that," the Starlight Sleuth muttered from the side of his mouth.

"No?" Several of the imposing inmates started to make their moves and advance on the pair. "Well, damn."

The cowled Capin shifted his weight as a meaty fist came swinging hard and fast across his body. He gripped the wrist, twisting as his shoulder slammed up under it, popping it painfully out of joint. The man was heavy and judging by the dead collar around his neck, some sort of meta. "In that case," he felt his muscles strain to keep the momentum up and swing the inmate around and toss him back, "I suggest you make good use of all this dark..."

"Now that's a plan I can get behind," the Mid-Night Man grinned as the darkness began to grow in the common area. The prisoners furthest away from the two suited vigilantes were the first to notice the dimming emergency lights and the coming darkness. The panic spread quickly, and soon nothing but pitch covered the entire common room. As Corin watched the prisoners, a thought crossed his mind, "Hey Spiff, you can see in the dark right?"

There was a grunt and the sickening crunch of cracking bone. "Not so much, no." In the endless black Capin felt his shoulders gripped and pulled around in opposing directions. "But you know how those monks like to use blindfolds when they train." He twisted about, jamming his elbow across somebody's jaw and planted his foot into somebody elses chest. "Besides, I do enjoy a challenge."

The Starlight Sleuth winced as he watched Capin send a punch into one of his attacker's ribs the nearly caved in the perp's side, "Just let me know if you need some light to operate by."

"Will do."

Corin then turned his attention to the massive prisoner that was directly to his left. "You know big boy," he said with a bit of a grunt as he dodged the mammoth's flailing grasp, "even if I couldn't see you coming, I could have smelled you a mile away, you ever thought of using soap," he dodged his grasp again, "Though of course you being in prison, I can understand why you would want to skip shower time as much as possible."

The lurching blinded prisoner roared and lunged toward Corin, actually connecting with his shoulder landing the Starlight Sleuth on his backside.

Corin shook his head, dazed for a moment before realizing that his dance partner was barreling down on him, "Aw crap," quickly he leveled his wrist launcher at the felon and fired several darts in rapid succession, felling his attacker.

With the Dapper Detective keeping stationary as he took on the onslaught of inmates with quick precision, Enry had pooled out along the floor. He felt the vibrations storming forward. He counted the steps around him as swift jab put to the throat put another one down just in time for someone to reach around his chest and yank him off his feet. The tile cracked round his shoulders as he was slammed down. Hot fingers wrapped around his throat and began to squeeze.

"Urk..." The tighter the man gripped him, the hotter his touch. The smell of his collar smoldering wafted up into his nostrils. Capin grabbed at the choking hold, pinching the tender nerves in his wrist as the cape slid up with a hard cross to the figure's temple. As he felt the air gasp to his lungs, he threw his legs up, pinning the man's neck between his shins and throwing his body down.

As soon as he righted himself another body shouldered into him and pushed him hard into a furious crowd. "What I wouldn't give for a big giant squid right now..." The material around his forehad hardend as he smacked it into the bridge of somebody's nose.

A challenge was one thing, and Capin was far from a fatalist. But sometimes you knew better than to play the odds. Pride goeth before the fall, or something like that. As Capin and cape rent themselves a free hand he tapped the com in his cowl, opening the last channel. "You know what would be awesome?"

The hiss of interference on the line was punctuated here and there with muffled thumping and several grunts before Wolf's voice finally carried to Capin's ear. Some of that budaatai khuurga from that little restaurant back in Mongolia?

"Mmm..." Enry twisted a wrist as Capin put the man down with quick series of punches. "That was pretty good. Thanks. Now I'm hungry." A fist smacked hard into his jaw. Hard. Stars flashed in the pitch blackness and he stumbled backward. "You know what would go great with some of that budaatai khurga?" Reacting on instinct, Enry wrapped tight around the nearest body's chest and swung it about like a wrecking ball. "Some ta ma duh back up." Catching his footing he heard the whistle and caught a fist inches from his face.

All you had to do was ask, Bluewolf replied. There came the simultaneous sound of a steel door being kicked in, carried over the com and echoing from somewhere behind the mob they faced.

There was a dim light around the figure's silhouette that drew the attention along with the sound. Even with the sliver of light coming in from the exercise yard the smirk below Ryu's cowl was invisible. "Prolly could've used that door..."

"Just had to do the Big Damn Hero Entrance didn't you," Corin said with a laugh. "Welcome to the party. Could you please pick a piñata and see if candy comes out."

The ground-floor prison level was home to roughly one hundred inmates, nearly half of whom were pressed into the hexagonal hub of the central tower structure that rose another another three stories. The catwalks above groaned under the weight of the brawling going on above. Fortunately, Midnight's shadow was providing enough cover to keep the other three hundred occupants from raining down upon them.

"My pleasure," Wolf replied, grabbing the closest inmate. The azure avenger drove a fist into the man's stomach and followed with a tooth-loosening uppercut that sent the fellow to the floor in a heap. "That one was empty," he tsked, "guess I'll have to try another one."

Finding concert in the darkness, the three men put their backs into it. The bodies began to litter the open floor as inmate after inmate was incapacitated, but the sailing was never smooth. As the hours of ceaseless free-for-all wore on muscles grew tight, ached. They found the percentages of hits landing dropping while the hits they took rose. And with every body that fell, two seemed to fill the space. It was like fighting the sea.

"Aw hell," The Midnight-Man gasped for breath as Capin pulled him back from an onslaught of concussive energy blasts from the criminal Meteor Man. Spinning about Corin landed on his feet between the Black and Blue. "Thanks." Swinging his arm over Capin's ducked shoulder he fired several of his wrist rounds into the fray, managing to slow a few down.

"This isn't working," Capin grumbled, as a chair splintered across his back. Enry caught the wooden legs as they flew past and put them to good use. "We're never going to win this like this."

As he shot knowing a look back to Bluewolf he spied orange jumpsuits spilling out the exit by the handful. "Duck." As the words left him, Enry whizzed the two sticks clear across the room, bouncing them painfully off two would-be jailbirds.

"Agreed," Wolf used the opportunity to sweep a nearby rioter from his feet. A quick heel to the temple and the man's eyes glazed over into unconsciousness. "Main power to the island has been cut, and the backup generators are either dead or have been shut down. I think our best bet is to head that way. We get the generators back online, then we can worry about getting the monkeys back in their cages."

"And me without my atlas of maximum security prisons," The starlight sleuth quipped, firing off another volley. The paff-paff of Corin's dart cuff suddenly cut out. "Sunova... I'm out. Gotta reload."

"Do it quick, and," Bluewolf tapped his visor, "I have the map part covered."

"And this is where you tell us that the generators are right around the corner, right?"

"You've obviously never been privy to Murphy's Laws of Superheroing."

"Oh, I'm well versed," Capin's elbow slammed into a man's solarplexus before his fist knocked his head back and his body crumpled, "Murphy's Law of Drinking after Superheroing is the only one I memorized."

"The only one I remember is, never fight a land war in Asia," he clicked the new clips into place, "so this generator?"

Wolf slammed a man face-first into the nearby wall, "Might as well be on the moon..."

"Think you can get us there Mid-Night?" the Dapper Detective punctuated his sentence with a sickening snap as he broke another nose.

"Man I dunno," Corin's fist landed on a nearby jaw, "After moving a hundred people in about a minute and a half, and then us here, I dunno if I can get us moving again for a while."

"Then we do it the old-fashioned way."

[The Mid-Night Man]

"So, Spiff?" Corin asked as he launched some impact adhesive into a group of rioters, sticking them hard to the ground.

"Yeah?" The Dapper Detective slammed the heads of two more of the escapees together. The trio had been making their way toward the stairs. Without power they weren't going to get anywhere. That meant finding a way to get the generators running, and that meant getting several floors below ground level. It had been slow going.

"How long have we been at this?" The Mid-Night Man whirled on his heel his knuckles slamming into the side of another's face.

A grin pulled up under the tuxedo clad man's cowl as he swung another attacker around. "I'm not sure you were even in high school when I started doing this."

Bluewolf caught the man in Capin's palm with a hard cross. "Old man."

"I meant this current session," Corin grumbled.

"Oh," Capin chuckled, "a couple of hours?"

"And you've barely broken a sweat, the Mid-Night Man huffed, "you gotta teach me that."

"All in due time grasshopper," Capin smiled as he leaped up and around an on coming attacker. He hooked his arm over his opponent's shoulder and around his back grabbing his opponent's head under his armpit and drove his head into the floor.

"Yeah well..." Corin was cut off by a ringing from his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small earpiece, "Kinda busy right now," he said as his fist connected again another rioter, sending him tumbling down the staircase.

We need you and Spiff back here A.S.A.P.! Jamie's harried and whispered voice came through the other side of the phone, The power went out at Irongate 'cause of the weather and...

"Already there sweetheart," another dart launched from his wrist.

"Is he on the phone?" Wolf grumbled, his fist slamming hard into another prisoner.

"I think so," Capin gave a soft chuckle as Enry wrapped himself around his latest target, ricocheting him against the painted gray wall and then into the cement floor.

"Kids today," the Azure Avenger's tongue clicked against his teeth in mock displeasure, his knee connecting with the jaw of another attacker.

"I know," a smile grew on the Dapper Detective's face, "no etiquette what so ever."

Under the thick shadow, Corin's eyes shot toward his two partners, "I gotta go. I'll let you know when we have things under control," he clicked the headset off and slipped it back in his coat pocket. "Sorry about that. Now where was I," the Mid-Night Man stared down the newest inmate in front of him, "Oh, yeah. You." More impact adhesive stuck Corin's newest assailant against the wall, "Next?"

---

"Ohmygosh..." Sylph's whispered words hung as steam in the frigid air. Of course she knew Ferrier's face. Her brother had owned several posters of him back in his athlete days, before he went all bad-guy. But the man standing before them was nothing like the handsome figure that smiled out from the hockey posters. Staring at him, the invisible redhead felt a chill that had nothing at all to do with the temperature.

Biting her lip, she took a step behind Kardiac, hiding her visible breath as she asked softly, "The ones with guns first?" He needed to focus on Chillblaine and she needed to make sure no one got shot. But with the sleet falling harder, she was going to have to be fast... before her invisibility was rendered useless.

It was a horrible feeling to be so exposed in a situation where her powers should have been able to help. Not for the first time, Faith wished she had something a little more practical. But at least she wasn't defenseless.

Kardiac continued to stare at Chillblaine, waiting for the metahuman psychopath to give the order he knew would come. Their eyes locked, a smile beginning to curl on his enemy's lips, he replied to Faith in a loud whisper. "Like we've practiced," he said, giving her the only instruction that made sense under these conditions. "Pop in and out of invisibility while you're fighting... even in these conditions, it should disorient them enough that they don't have time to look for you when your power is 'up'."

After another beat, he narrowed his eyes at Ferrier. The villain's men were starting to look at him too, getting antsy for an order that had not yet come and considering the consequences of acting without waiting for the word from their de facto lieutenant. "Well?" Kardiac finally asked, his frown forced into a smirk. He'd always gotten lucky with Chillblaine in the past -- found some way to neutralize his powers -- but he didn't have the luxury of falling back. And he expected luck wasn't going to intervene on his behalf this time.

"Kill him." The order was given, but it didn't seem to carry any sense of urgency or malice. It was more akin to amusement, as if Chillblaine expected them to fail, but wanted to take a moment to enjoy watching them try. Eddy would have thought that it was a weakening tactic, an attempt to slow him down before the confrontation, but they'd danced many times before and Ferrier had never used minions to do his dirty work in the past. He was too much of a show-boater. He'd been a puck-hog on the ice for that same reason... but maybe, Kardiac reasoned, he'd finally learned to use his team to his advantage.

And as the men moved in on his position, Kardiac reasoned another thing... this was a bad time for Chillblaine to discover teamwork. But staring at the broken walls of the Irongate solitary confinement units, Eddy remembered something, and that something made his smile more genuine. Ferrier was about to learn another lesson in teamwork... he was about to learn that Kardiac hadn't exactly missed that lesson himself. Giving Sylph the "Go" sign, the high-voltage vigilante waded into the fray, making his way towards his old foe.

Though she'd just been complaining to herself about her lack of practical powers, Sylph had to admit that it did come in handy in situations like this. Right now, and for a few more moments, nobody had any idea that she was there... or what she could do.

Using the slippery ground to her advantage, she had the first one on the ground before he even knew he was being attacked. Kicking the gun as far away from the fallen man as she could, she popped into sight, making eye contact with at least two or three of the minions before disappearing again. From the shouts, it sounded like the whole 'disoriented' tactic was working. So far.

Popping in and out of visibility and changing directions twice before reaching her next target, Sylph placed a devastating kick to the man's knee. As he fell to the ground with a curse, she yanked the gun out of his hands, pulling the weapon into invisibility with her. Then, without stopping to think about how mean it was, she hit him in the face with the butt, knocking the fight right out of him... and a few teeth as well.

But two down still left an awful lot of guns and generally mean people. And, since they seemed to lack any sort of concern for their fallen teammates, the vanishing vixen had to rush to get clear before the bullets started coming her way. As she moved through the yard, she tried to get a clear picture of everything and everyone in sight. Several guards lay on the ground, still alive... she hoped. Though it was clear that most of them had put up a good fight in their attempts to keep their weapons and to keep the prisoners contained.

It worried her. After all, the guards were trained to deal with this population. But what worried her even more was the sight of more than just bullets flying through the air. It was clear what the collars around the necks of many of the prisoners had been for... and just as clear that they were no longer working. Biting her lip, and working to stay calm and clear headed, Faith had to wonder just how bad this was going to get.

Working on his third inmate, Kardiac had to smile at the expression of surprise on Chillblaine's face. Their paths crossing had not been coincidence -- Marcus had known what the temperature difference on the satellite imagery most likely meant -- but it had been a pleasant surprise to Ferrier, who had a vendetta against the high-voltage vigilante. The surprise had turned sour when the former hockey player realized that his foe had not come alone. Despite his amusement, Eddy knew that it was only a matter of seconds before Chillblaine turned his attention to Faith if for no other reason than the fact that she had been unexpected.

Eddy was not willing to let that happen. "Chilly reception," he shouted as the third inmate fell, his eyes locking with Ferrier's. "Of course, I'd expect nothing less from you," he added, smirking. Before Chillblaine could respond, Kardiac snapped the arm of his closest attacker, flipped the man over, and hurled him vaguely in his enemy's direction. The villain barely moved to avoid being struck, but the action had performed as intended... Eddy had made himself Chillblaine's target once again. Faith had enough to worry about... with her sudden and erratic appearances, she seemed to be getting the lion's share of the other inmates.

Still, she knew what she was doing, and with Chillblaine present, Eddy couldn't allow himself the luxury of worrying about her. He had trained her personally -- and he knew she was the best of her generation. He'd given her all he could to prepare her for something like this... now it was time to work on the task at hand. Using two more inmates as stepping stones, he hurled himself at Ferrier... and slammed shoulder-first into a wall of ice. "Still afraid to face me straight on, huh?" he asked in his most irritating, gloating tone. "I thought you hockey players were supposed to be tough."

"Icing is only a means to an end," Ferrier replied, his smile returning. "But if it's a face-off you want," he continued, ice forming over both of his hands to form multiple, impaling spikes, "I'm happy to drop the puck."

Kardiac smirked. "Seriously... 'drop the puck'?" he said, climbing over the ice-construct wall. "That's the best you could do?" Crouching quickly, he charged his hands to a bright, popping crackle, and dove towards his old foe, doing his best to twist out of the way of the incoming spikes.

Though it had been a hard lesson to learn, Faith had finally come to appreciate how keeping her mouth shut dramatically increased the effectiveness of her stealth. So, though she really wanted to, she didn't say a word about the hockey-talk and kept to her task. Besides, she didn't want Eddy to hear that she was getting winded.

She wasn't sure how many prisoners solitary confinement was supposed to hold, but it sure seemed like there were an awful lot of them. And this was just one building. But, since it was more important than ever to keep the rest of the prisoners away from her partner now that he was fighting Chillblane, Sylph kept on fighting.

Eddy was having a hard time keeping track of Faith's heartbeat, especially when keeping his own heart ticking was such a challenge. The last time he'd heard it clearly, it was starting to race, and he did not like putting that kind of pressure on her. He'd had to break this fight up quickly, especially if he was going to track down Blue and Capin, who he guessed had to be on the island by now.

He avoided a few spike-covered punches from Chillblaine and threw himself into a backflip a split-second before his feet would have been frozen to the ground. He needed a second, just one, to reach out with his senses... or not, he thought, remembering the zoom he'd used to check on the island early... there was one other modification that Jenna's team had made to his goggles.

Dodging some flying shards of ice, he tapped the side of his goggles twice rapid, then once a half-second later. Suddenly, a green dot appeared on the edge of his field of vision to the right, marking the exact position of Faith's communicator. At the edge of his goggles to the left, three tiny green arrows pointed towards the south side of the island. Three more comms.

He threw himself into a roll to avoid a blast of intense cold, the water on the ground freezing just behind him as he tumbled. As he brought himself to his feet, he quickly keyed on his comm, sending a signal to Sylph. "Lead your bogies toward the main building," he said with all due alacrity. "We've got three friendlies in that direction."

"I'll follow shortly," he added as an afterthought, spinning to take a good look at Ferrier. At closer range, he noticed something that curled his lips into a smirk. Chillblaine's power output was freezing the raindrops as they struck him. Like tiny dots of frost, they were bouncing or falling off of him with his rapid movements, but Eddy theorized a heavier deluge just might....

"Beeeehn!" he 'buzzed' to Chillblaine, dodging another razor-sharp swing of his opponent's spike-clad fists. "End of period," he said, smiling. "Time to rotate nets." As he spoke, he refocused his bio-energy into his legs, knowing it would help him run a little faster, and hoping it would help him dodge attacks from behind.

Leaping out of the way of one more blast of intense cold, Kardiac turned and ran to the West as quickly as his legs would carry him. And he prayed a quick petition to the man upstairs that he was remembering the floor plans of Irongate correctly... because one wrong turn could leave him very, very cold.

[Faith]

As the doors shut behind them and Bluewolf sealed them off from the genpop for the moment, an inky blackness enveloped the stairwell. The sounds of the rioting fell to dull muffled drone. There wasn't much concern of them being followed. Most of the prisoners would be more interested in getting away, then going deeper and deeper into the depths of the prison's confines.

Capin leaned back against the cool concrete of the wall. His muscles ached as he caught his breath. "I don't suppose either of you have a torch in your utility belts..."

"You were doing fine in the dark before."

The dapper detective's head turned to the sound of the doctor's voice. "You'd be surprised how much easier fighting blind is than walking down steps..."

"We could get you a nice matching handbag to carry things in." A bright yellowish light came from behind him as Bluewolf fired up a flashlight. He handed it over to the black-tie clad Capin. "If you can't find something at Melody's place, I'm sure Kaye could lend you one."

"Tempting." Capin looked at the flashlight, clicking it on and off a few times. "They are all the rage in Europe." He shivered a bit as his stationary body caught up to the chill of the dampness. He cast the light down the steps to the first landing.

"Should be all the way down to the bottom." Aaron lead the trio's decent. "And then west, following the blue lines."

Enry was buzzing loudly in the back of his skull. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." His companion was by no means a psychic, but his hunches had a real uncanny knack for being spot on when it came to dangerous situations. Of course there was nothing about a decent into darkness of a prison filled with violent criminals, many of which they'd had a hand in landing here.

"What? You don't think we'll just waltz in and flip the emergency switch?"

"That would be nice." At the landing, Bluewolf peered through the wire-woven glass window into the empty hall way. "We could use little luck tonight."

"Like I said. I've got a bad feeling about this."

---

Lead them toward the main building... lead them away... I can do that... Sylph took about two seconds to try to catch her breath before appearing again, staying visible long enough to catch nearly everyone's attention before starting to fall back. It didn't matter who the 'friendlies' were, or how Eddy knew they were there. At this point she would have been ecstatic to see anyone.

Not particularly worried about her partner's ability to handle the frozen baddie on his own, though, as always, she felt slightly wrong about leaving him, she tried not to think about all the space between solitary confinement and the main prison building. This was not going to be a fast trip.

A strange clap thundered through the din of pouring rain. It was loud as it cut across the island from behind her, but this was not the sort of rolling thunder that followed a crack of lightning. It was like the roar of an explosion, and with it bits of wet cement and mortar fell from the heavy sky. Even the ground shook lightly as the wave reached Faith.

The man appeared at the edge of the Solitary building. He was... huge, a behemoth of muscle and mass, and behind him was a jagged and gaping hole in the wall. The rain quickly soaked his orange jumpsuit, dirty with soot and debris, clinging to his giant frame. He stood a moment, his head raised, feeling the rain against his face. His fist opened and dropped the metal ring that had been around his neck.

His attention turned. Perhaps he had felt the chill in the air. Perhaps it was something else. But he caught sight of Chillblaine engaged with Kardiac. In that moment, any hesitation disappeared. He ran, straight ahead, leaving Chillblaine to fend for himself against the high voltage hero. His speed was unnatural. He tore through the fence around the basketball court like it was paper and sprinted for the far end of the island.

Faith couldn't help but whimper as the mountain of a man tore past. She was crazy, certifiably insane, to even think about chasing after him. But she did it anyway. She couldn't let someone like that get away, especially not with a good number of his fellow prisoners deciding to follow him rather than continue to fight her. Thankfully, it appeared he was heading the right direction.

So, rather than focus on how this new inmate's arms were as big around as her entire waist, she took off after him, sprinting through the rain to make sure she was the one who caught up to him first.

Steamroller ripped through the second fence and crossed over the exercise yard. The massive prison proper loomed up high along side it. The sight seemed to make him slow to a stop. To Sylph, that seemed to be a good sign. Too bad she had no idea how to get him inside. The closer she got to him, the larger he seemed to be. Would he even feel it if she hit him?

Short on alternatives she was going to have to find out. Her eyes locked on on cluster of nerves along his spine. If she was lucky, a well placed blow could shock him hard enough to stop him. Or at least slow him down. She pulled back, fingers gripping tight on her baton, and she swung.

The mountain of a man reeled on her in mid-swing, one thick arm rising to catch that hitting stick as it smacked hard against his muscled forearm. The other reached for her with devastating momentum, slamming its palm hard against her chest and throwing her down into the wet gravel. She could feel the inevitable bruise as her elbows tried to brace her up. Faith cursed her self in the same breath she counted her blessings that he hadn't broken something... yet.

"Thought you could sneak up on me, eh?" His teeth ground together angrily as he peered into the rain upon the rivulets that rolled along her invisible frame. He leaned down over her. "I felt you coming the moment you chased after. You didn't have a ghost of a chance."

Feeling uncomfortably like a bug about to be squashed, Faith rolled to the side then quickly got to her feet. "Was that supposed to be a joke?" she asked with as much bravado as possible. If her heart hadn't been racing before, standing face to face with him was introducing her to a new level of worry.

"It's a fact, lady." He stood straight, adjusting to stay square with her. "I dunno who you are. Don't care. I'll give you this one chance to save yourself the pain. Walk away."

"Never gonna happen." Bracing herself, she tightened her grip on her sticks. The problem was, she was afraid he was right. Then, because he was never going to get any less enormous, she rushed him. Sliding through the rain, she dodged toward his right, reasoning that maybe a broken arm could possibly make him less dangerous.

He played right into her hands, swinging high as she ducked low. All Steamroller caught was air and water while Sylph positioned herself rather nicely for a furious attack. Bringing her baton down on his arm in what would have been a bone breaking blow, she whirled around behind him to follow with a kick to the back of his knee. As depressing as it was that it wasn't hurting him at all, she knew she had to keep moving.

Although he seemed rather unfazed by every blow she landed, the same could not be said for her. Each strike rattled up her arm as if she had been hitting a chunk of metal. At least that felt just the slightest bit less painful than the kicks she unwaveringly attempted. And his size relative to hers seemed to hinder him just enough that though her attacks seemed frustratingly futile, she buzzed through every strike of his swinging limbs like a fly.

The analogy seemed rather appropriate as she cracked him across the jaw without the slightest reaction other than the turn of her head. The water whipped from the ends of her batons as she countered with a crack to the temple that should have been crippling. Steamroller barely winced, and growled through his teeth as his knuckles brushed through the ends of her hair.

"The guy who put me in here was faster and stronger than you." She shot back, avoiding the brick punch that reached for her ribs. "I still nearly pulled his arms out of their sockets."

She couldn't let herself react to his words. Even though the very thought made her arms ache... or maybe it was the fact that she'd been swinging at him, and everyone else, for far too long tonight. "But I'm sure he wasn't as cute," she countered, trying to keep talking while she kept moving. Ducking under his arm, she jabbed her stick up into his armpit, going for one of the few soft spots that she hadn't tried yet.

Perhaps it was the weariness of the hours of nearly ceaseless fighting getting to her. In that moment, the why didn't matter. She felt her baton stick as his arm closed over it, sticking in her opponent's grip. "I don't care how cute you are." Panic held her long enough that his thick fingers landed against her and wrapped around her throat. That strong hold squeezed her tight, lifting her weight off the ground. "You're not going to stand in my way."

Her feet kicked futilely as his warm fingers bruised her pale skin. Her hands flew to his wrist, trying desperately to relieve that crushing grip. "You don't... have to do this..." she gasped. But at that moment, she didn't believe her words. It felt like he did need to.

"You don't know what I need." Steamroller squeezed, her air becoming preciously difficult to find as his anger rose. "I gave you your chance to let me go."

Tears streamed down her cheeks, fear and pain pounding in her veins. His grip was like iron and she half imagined his fingerprints burning themselves into her neck. Her body was just an extension of his hand. It was as if his anger flowed through him into her as he shook her.

But it wasn't just anger. Closing her eyes, Faith felt sick as wave after wave of something she couldn't explain washed over her. "Stop..." The word was little more than a whisper. Opening her eyes she looked up into his face, noticing for the first time how dark his eyes were. "This isn't the way..."

"There..." He growled and shook his head. "There is no other way." Despite his words she felt more air filling her lungs. She has found something; he was hesitating. "I can't stay here."The darkness in his eyes locked upon hers. The rain pelted his face and in the moonlight light, somehow, she could feel the sadness that shifted in his gaze. "I will not stay here and rot..."

"But if you go like this..." She took a breath, amazed at how good it felt. But now that she could speak the words came in a rush, like she was simply following a path. "They'll stop you. Again. And you really will rot here, all alone." It was the right path, she was sure of it. Despite the pain and strange nausea, she knew she had found truth. "Don't do that..." She took another breath, said a silent prayer, and pushed on. "... to him."

His face dropped. "What?" Every attack she had made, every punch and kick and smack of her hitting sticks had been like trying to knock down a tower with her fists. But now, clinging to his writs and dangling from his choking grip, Steamroller looked like Faith had finally somehow knocked a cornerstone loose. "What?"

She wanted more than anything to feel the ground under her feet again, but she was afraid to struggle free, to lose the strange connection that she knew was keeping him from killing her. The feeling she was getting from him, somehow, was completely familiar. It was family and it was longing and it was a desperate love. And while she didn't know how she knew it, Sylph's blue eyes welled up with tears again as she spoke to him. "You miss him. I know. But you can't go to him like this. Escaping? Hurting people? They'll lock you up forever. Why don't you let me..." The drenched redhead feared she was pushing too hard, but the words kept coming. "Let me help."

"How..." He let her go, and Sylph dropped down to the wet ground with a splash into the gravel, coughing but stubbornly remaining on her feet. "How do you know about my boy?" His voice was low, and his anger simmered near its surface. Whatever it was she had tapped into, she had somehow stayed his hand, but judging by the fist it had balled into the moment was tenuous.

Her hands came up to her bruised throat as she stared at him. It was a very valid question, especially since she was wondering that herself. But she had to answer somehow. Silence wasn't going to help anything. "I just... know how much you've missed him. You feel like you've missed so much in his life..."

"I... haven't seen him years." That tight gaze rose from her face for a moment, rising once more to the falling sky. "He turns twelve next week." The big man's heavy fist fell open.

Faith took a tentative step closer. She didn't have that strange rush of feeling anymore, but she didn't need it. She knew now. "Fighting your way out of here would get you to him. But then what?" She took another step, pale face looking very young in the pouring rain. "They'll find you and they'll bring you back here and you'll lose him again. He'll lose you again. That's not good for anyone." She was close enough for him to grab her again, to choke the life out of her if he so desired. "But you have other options. Don't be just one of those prisoners trying to escape. Stand out. Be the one who tries to restore order, who takes some responsibility. The one who has someone with friends in the right places... who can get him a real visit with his son..." She bit her lip, waiting for him to snap and squish her like a bug.

His chin fell. He looked back over his shoulder, once more finding the massive prison dark prison of Irongate. It's large metal doors hung loosely on their hinges and let loose several prisoners. "You said you would help."

"I will." She looked into those dark eyes once again. "I don't make empty promises. I want to help you get your visit. And not just because you could kill me right now. But because I know you need it."

He nodded. It was the smallest of movements, but the weight it carried was incredible. His eyes fell to the ground. "Alright."

[Bluewolf]

"We're not alone down here," Bluewolf said, his head tilted in an oddly canine manner. The corridor lead to the facility's power plant where, even at this distance, the pathway was usually alive with the hum of machinery.

"You think?" Sarcasm bit in Mid-Night's voice. "Right now I'm just thankful for the time to catch our breath."

After rounding another corner, Capin and Mid-Night Man were finally able to hear just what it was that Bluewolf had been referring to: a steady, rhythmic, thumping. The corridor made yet another turn and at the end, the heroes found the source of the noise. Four Irongate corrections officers in riot gear were swinging a SWAT battering ram, pounding away at a set of heavy steel doors.

"Hope you managed to catch that breath, Doc."

A few battery powered lamps lit up the dark hall way where the four men furiously and seemingly futily pounded away. Capin killed the flashlight and the three of them catuiously approached. "Need a hand?"

The hallway rumbled as the four men dropped the heavy ram to the ground, swinging about as their hands found the rifles slung from their sides. It's rattled landing ehchoed down the eerily silent hallway. Once more tonight Bluewolf was staring down the barrels of Irongate's finest. "FREEZE!" The sights lined up and little red dots shook along the three men's chests. "Don't you move! Don't you fricking move!"

Three sets of hands rose in open palmed protest.

"Whoa!"

"We're with you fellas!"

There was a silent stand off for a moment, guns aimed steady. Bluewolf, Capin and the Mid-Night Man held their ground, giving the officers a moment to let the situation sink into them. As it settled in that none of these men were in the orange jumpsuits their muscles relaxed, though they didn't drop their guard.

"It's alright." Bluewolf stepped forward and the recognition took hold.

"You seem to have a problem with your lights." The dapper detective looked up to the lifeless flourescent tube running along the ceiling, "And your door."

The CO closest to them jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "A couple of inmates have holed themselves up inside the generator room. Figure if they can keep the power out, things might swing their way in this mess."

"Funny, we were thinking just the opposite," Roo gave the men a thin smile while Bluewolf moved between them. The area the guards had been hammering at was chipped and dented, and should have given way under their siege. The azure avenger lay a gloved hand on one of the doors. They were warm.

He switched his visor over to IR. A wide band of heat marked the seam between the two doors and was crossed at regular intervals by thinner bands that stretched across the doorway. Whoever it was on the other side, they obviously had a way to weld a barrier strong enough to resist common forms of breeching. Bluewolf stepped back from the door.

"You fellas could have pounded on these doors until your arms fell off. Not much short of a plasma torch is going to get us through there."

One of the CO's snorted, "Don't suppose you have one of them in your utility belt?"

That caused a chuckle to pass through the group. Wolf smiled, "Actually, I do, but I can think of a faster way." He nodded to Capin, "Would you be so kind as to open the door for us?"

Stepping forward, Capin's cape flowed long downt he sides of his arms. It flowed forward and reached the battered door before he did. "Hmmm..." The inky black material grew thin, crawling up the steel. Watching as it slipped into the cracks along the hinges, the uneasiness of the CO's was almost palpable. Capin closed his eyes, feeling for every flaw in the seam. Enry filled those little cracks and gaps, taking a solid hold and slicing its edges a little wider. He took a breath.

"Might wanna step back." And they did.

Muscles tensing, Capin swung about to put some added momentum into his partner's cutting. The mysterious black Enry cut through the strong bonds like butter as he slid through. The door creaked and bent at the edges and in a moment it was torn free and slammed down against the concrete ground. Letting it go, the heavy chunk of metal fell back agains the wall.

Capin stood up, rubbing his shoulders. "I think it was just stuck a little."

"Alright, gentlemen, I'd ask you all to fall back to cover. We'll let you know when it's all clear." Wolf's voice, while cordial, carried a note of command to it that didn't sit well with the guards.

"So what? We're supposed to sit back and let you capes do our jobs?" One of them said, with mumblings of agreement from the others.

Wolf looked at the nametape stitched into the guard's body armor. "Erikson," the guard nodded. Bluewolf never took his eyes off Erikson, but spoke loud enough for the rest to hear. "Do you see any welding equipment? Whoever sealed this door could generate enough heat - without a torch - to keep you gents out, despite your best efforts. If I was a betting man, I'd wager that whoever it is could also melt the barrels off your rifles without breaking a sweat." He clapped the guard on the shoulder, "We don't want to take anything away from the sacrifice you gents are willing to make, but we're better suited to deal with what lies beyond. Are the benefits worth never seeing your wife or daughter again?"

Erikson didn't respond, but his widened eyes spoke volumes. "Good call, son," Wolf turned his attention back to the first guard. "There's a good spot just around the corner to set up a defensive barricade. If anyone gets passed the three of us, they'll be heading your way, but they won't be expecting you."

The corrections officer nodded and motioned the rest of his men to follow. Once they were around the corner and out of sight, Corin looked at Bluewolf, "How'd you know the guy had a wife and kid?"

A small grin tugged at the corner of Bluewolf's mouth. He tapped his visored nose, "How many prison guards do you know that wear Idole d'Armani perfume and wash with baby shampoo?"

"Fair enough," Corin chuckled. All three turned back to recently unblocked passageway. A collective sigh passed through each of them in turn.

"Well gents, as the Bard once wrote: 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...'"

[Kardiac]

Javelins of ice flew past his body as Eddy twisted in midair and threw himself against the wet, metal door standing before him. Ow! The door gave, but not as easily as he'd hoped. It gave him a moment's hesitation, which in the current situation was a very, very bad thing. Without thinking, he rolled to the left and then hustled to his feet and forward into the dark room before him.

Taking a second to glance back over his shoulder, he discovered that he'd been right to roll to the left, as the right side and center of the door were both frozen under hundreds of pounds of ice. Quickly flipping his visor to low light, he surveyed the room. He smiled, realizing that the floor plans of the prison had been a very solid memory... he was right where he wanted to be.

Ice crunched beneath prison-issue shoes as Ferrier stepped into the doorway. "Off-sides, moron," he said, smiling broadly. "You've just scored me the game winner. I've worked in these kitchens, and there's only one way out."

"Funny,"[kard] Kardiac said, nodding towards the service exit used by the staff to carry the food out to the mess hall. [kard]"I see two doors," he added, forcing a weak frown and rolling his eyes... though he doubted Ferrier would notice in the darkness. "And can we drop the hockey metaphors... they're kind of going into overtime."

Ferrier smirked. His left hand shot out and a wave of cold air bursts from the doorway in which he stood. In a half-second, the service entrance was frozen over, the frost thick enough that even boosted strength would have difficulty breaking through with any alacrity. "Oops," Ferrier replied, not realizing he'd done exactly what Kardiac has wanted him to do. "Looks like it's gonna be sudden death."

Kardiac paced slowly to his left, moving away from the frozen door in a manner that deliberately looked like he was concerned for the cold... worried about his lack of escape route. "Puck off," he said, his tone angry, his 'metaphor' deliberately base. Eddy hoped it would make him seem frightened or desperate... and it seemed to have the right effect.

"Mature," Chillblaine said, his smirk growing wider and thinner. He stretched out his arms, fingers pointing at Kardiac like daggers.

Eddy knew what that meant... and it wasn't what he wanted. Spears of ice were not going to be conducive to the successful execution of his plan... or in these close quarters, to the successful continuation of his life. Thinking quickly, he spread out his arms, gave Ferrier a wide profile, and scowled... locking eyes with his old foe. "Go on, then... at least it'll be quick."

Chillblaine frowned. "Oh... I don't think so," he replied, his fingers flattening, palms out.

That's more like it, Eddy thought, trying not to smirk.

"I think I'll leave your head free... so you keep some presence of mind," Ferrier said as Kardiac backed up against the industrial-sized dishwasher. He skirted a little more to the left, bumping the dangling sprinkler that hung above the sink with his shoulder as he moved. "With your sensory abilities, you should be able to feel each part of your body as it succumbs to frostbite and freezes to death."

Without another word, Chillblaine let loose a wave of cold directly towards Kardiac. It was precisely what Eddy had been hoping for, what he'd been leading Ferrier to do. Like lightning, he stepped aside, snapped out his gauntleted hand and grabbed the sprinkler head, ripping it from the flexible pipe that fed it.

Chillblaine hadn't noticed the vigilante's left hand turning on the cold water to full, but as the sprinkler head was torn loose, it became all too apparent. Water streamed out, the cable-like tube whipping around for a half-second before Eddy got it under control. The frigid water hit the wave of cold and froze almost instantly, having just enough time to trace the course of the frosty air back to its source... Ferrier's hands.

They froze in place, the water likewise freezing in the air all the way back to, and into, the sprinkler hose. There was a moment of shock on Ferrier's face, then the sudden realization that the ice wasn't particularly thick or stable... escape would take only a couple of seconds. "Do you really expect this to hold me?" he asked haughtily, smirking again at Kardiac.

"Not really," Eddy replied, and his hands snapped up and grabbed the thin bridge of ice that stretched from the sink to the villain. The effect was immediate, electricity dancing along the length of the frozen shaft to strike its creator. Chillblaine flailed madly for a second then dropped to the ground with a stunned look on his face.

"I just expect it to hold a charge," Eddy said, rolling his enemy over with one foot to make sure he was down for the count. Certain that Ferrier was out for a few seconds, the high-voltage vigilante picked him up, shoved him into the dishwasher, and closed the heavy metal doors. A couple of zip-ties and a few millimeters of oil pencil later, the doors were locked shut and a message was scrawled on the outside of the unit to let the guards know who was inside.

Without further hesitation, Eddy charged out of the building, turned south, and ran towards the main structure -- and Faith -- as fast as his boots would carry him.

[The Draoi]

Jamie bit her lower lip as she watched the news. The storm that was battering Garrison had somehow knocked the power out at Irongate and a riot was in full progress. The hospital was already in full alert mode with every doctor called in, except for Corin, who had been out with the fellas for a few beers since he wasn't on call and would not be in any condition to come in.

Jamie was getting nervous though. She hadn't heard from either Corin or Ryu since she had left the Doghouse. She pulled her cell phone out of her lab coat pocket and rolled it in her hands for a few moments before finally dialing.

Kinda busy right now, Corin's voice was barely audible over what sounded like a human freight train all around him.

"We need you and Spiff back here A.S.A.P.!" Jamie whispered holding her phone close to her mouth, "The power went out at Irongate 'cause of the weather and..."

Already there sweetheart, his voice was so muffled under the din that she could barely hear him, I gotta go. I'll let you know when we have things under control, the line went silent.

Jamie stared the phone for a few moments. At least the prison thing should be in good hands. Her bottom lip returned to it's normal position between her teeth.

She looked back up at the television in the waiting room. There were now reports of looting in the Lourds. This rain was making the local gangs braver than usual. She knew they needed to respond, but with Ryu and Corin handling the riot that meant she would need to call in the others. Her manicured thumb flew to Aaron's number but when she called all she got was voicemail.

Swearing under her breath her next thought was Faith. Not only could she help but she could get a hold of Kardiac as well.

The blond swore again as she again heard a voicemail in the cell phone's receiver.

She tapped the cell phone against the palm of her hand as she thought.

She knew she could call anyone on the communicator that was in her purse in her locker, but with as many people as there were in the hospital right now getting caught using that would be more than a little hard to explain. Her eyes slid back down to the list of contacts on her phone and rested on a name, Riordan Burke.

Jamie said a quick prayer and dialed.

"Hey Jamie, what's up?"

[jamie]"Thank God someone finally answered," the blond sighed into the phone, "I need you to meet me at Garrison General as soon as possible, and can you use your comm to get a hold of Garrett? I'm stuck in civilian gear and can't use mine."

"Sure thing! Let me just get a sitter and I'll see you soon!"

Jamie hung up the phone. She knew Garrett and Riordan couldn't protect the whole city by themselves, and with Kardiac, Faith, and Bluewolf all out of contact, she needed another person she could trust. She flicked her thumb again against her cell phone and dialed another number.

"This is Charlie, what can I do for you? the thief's voice sounded through Jamie's phone.

"Hey um," Jamie said nervously into the phone, "have you talked to Faith?"

"You haven't heard from her?" Charlie asked, a note of worry in his voice. "Last I knew she was on patrol with her electrified mentor."

"No." She said flatly, "If she's with Sparky that makes me feel a bit better." There was a silence on the other end, "Can you come to Garrison General, I need you."

"Civvies or in my gear and goggles?"

"Bring the gear."

---

The rain fell in buckets on the roof of Garrison General. A slight glow covered Jamie, keeping her dry as she waited.

"Gotta love this weather." Came a flippant voice from behind her.

Jamie turned around, both Garrett and Riordan standing behind her. "Look we don't have a lot of time. I can't leave here. Capin, and Mid-Night are trying to stop the prison riot and God knows where Wolf, Kard and Sylph are." Her eyes hardened behind her glasses. "You two are it right now. There are people out there trying to take advantage of this," she waived her hand out toward the skyline "and it's up to you guys. Well you guys and him."

Charlie walked through the wall, clad in his emerald and brown "work clothes". "Hey, guys. How's it going?" he said with a faint smile. "What's the plan, Daylight?"

"You three try to protect this city and find out where the hell the rest of the team is." Her hands rested on her hips.

Dreamer nodded as the rain came down hard on the new gear, "We won't let you down Daylight. Do we have an idea what area's been hit the hardest?" he asked Jamie then looked back at his two associates.

Riordan eyed Heist, he had never met the man before but something about him bothered Riordan.

"The Lourds. That's where most of the looting is." She looked each one in the eye, "I trust you three. I'm sure you can handle this. While you're out there follow Heist's lead he'll be in charge."


Once the name "Lourds" were mentioned any muscle in Dreamer's body that hadn't been on attention became rigid. Although some people called it Hell, Garrett considered it home and so he always felt like it was his personal duty to keep an eye out on that particular part of Garrison. Red eyes hardened as he stared at Jamie, "We won't fail," he said with a sternness that made the statement sound like it was fact. That no matter how badly hurt the trio were bound to get they were still going to crawl away from this as the victors. Failure wasn't an option to Dreamer especially when the Lourds were concerned.

"Jamie you should know..." Riordan moved closer to her, "This storm isn't natural..."

"How do you mean?" Her eyebrows knitted together.

"I don't know...at least not yet...but someone...or something...is causing this storm...something dark..."

"Could the cause be the same guy that offed the Shrink?" Dreamer asked The Draoi, slowly the gears in Garrett's head started to turn as he thought about a murder the two of them had been working on.

"No I would know if they were the same person." Riordan said still staring wordlessly at Heist.

A red eye began to shift toward Jamie as her words replayed in Garrett's head, "While you're out there follow Heist's lead he'll be in charge." Although the voice was still stiff, it wasn't defensive.

"Why are we following Heist's lead?" He wasn't questioning the order nor what Heist could have brought to the table. The guy could have been on par with Kardiac when it came to power for all Garrett knew. However, the mostly black clad hero was a little curious by the order since he considered The Lourds home.

"To be honest," Jamie turned to face heist and then back to Garrett, "he has more experience than any of us, on both sides of the fence. Heist is good at what he does."

Dreamer nodded once to Daylight and then looked to Heist, "Lead the way."

---

The rain slammed hard and fast against the concrete streets that covered the Lourds. The thunder rumbled through the cavernous streets. With the rain and the and high winds, no one should have been out.

However no one told that to the large gang of looters that stormed through the streets, with bats, chains, and anything else handy the mob destroyed the glass store fronts pulling out anything worth anything.

Heist, The Draoi and Dreamer made their way towards the crowd. Riordan swung his staff in preparation and began to dig through his satchel.

"I know I have some calming herbs in here somewhere." He looked up from the bag to the other two, "So what's the plan boss?" He said rather flippantly to Heist.

"First, don't call me boss," he said, a thin-lipped smile on his face. "Next, I need a bit of a rundown. What's our deal? Powers, abilities and what-not."

"World class mystic, bottomless bag of magic tricks and items and an unbreakable channeling staff." Riordan shrugged.

An eyebrow raised behind Charlie's goggles. "Got some magic sleeping sand in that bag?" the ex-thief asked before turning to Dreamer. "What about you?"

"I've got the magic sleeping sand," Dreamer smirked as he pulled out a glass shaped disk filled with sand, a new device constructed by Doc Midas, he had seven of them on his person inside his coat.

A brief smile flashed across the former thief's face. "When we go, send as many as you can to dreamland. And Magicman," he said, turning back to the other man, "What do you have in the areas of sleep, confusion or out-and-out lethargy?"

"As I said I think I do have some calming herbs here somewhere, there's some aged pixie dust that might still have a punch, and some sedating mantras couldn't hurt." The mystic took a long look at Heist, "How's your Qi?"

"My what?" he asked.

"Your qi! C-H-I!" He stressed the word like Heist was a complete moron, " Your inner light...your source...cuz if you've got a dirty Qi, than your Qi will get all up in my aura, then my mojo will spiral out of whack and this being the year of the Tiger and last night was waning moon...and don't get me started on this one's karma." Riordan pointed to Garrett.

Dreamer stepped between the two men, "Hold it you two," he said with eyes mainly focused on Draoi, "We've got a mission to do, let's worry about personal auras later," red eyes went toward Heist now, "too many people need us right now." A pregnant pause went by before Dreamer's eyes shifted back to The Draoi, "I've been working on that by the way," a black gloved finger pointed out toward his magical friend defensively. "What's the plan Heist?"

"My karma's a little shaky. But we knock out as many as we can with Dreamer's sleeping dust. We knock the rest out the best we can."

Riordan lifted his hand to his head as if tipping an invisible hat. Than leapt backwards towards the crowd without even thinking about it.

"Dance magic, dance!" Riordan sang as a handfull of pixie dust was thrown from his left hand and got two guys right in the face. They each stopped what they were doing and began to perform a ballet.

He than turned and got another with what was left and watched as he flapped his arms and tried to take off.

The former thief shook his head. "Let fly with the discs. And try not to hit Draoi."

"THE Draoi!" Riordan snapped with a grin as he temporarily blinded a rampaging woman with a fold of pure darkness.


Part of Dreamer wanted to add a wisecrack comment about his desire to hit, but now wasn't the time. He nodded toward Heist, "After you. I'm going after people that have sticky fingers and have been caught red handed. Their buddies will think they have the numbers game, it'll be easier to flush out who's a bystander and who's not."

"Just throw, we'll sort out the bystanders later."

Although that approach wasn't what he thought was the best, it was still an order by Heist. A glass disc went into each hand and they were tossed into the heart of the crowd. People started to fall into a deep slumber within moments. Anything they were doing was stopped in favor for the best night's sleep they ever had.

Charlie scanned the unconscious looters, looking at them, then through them. Something didn't add up. "These people don't look like the looting kind." Looking down at the mystic, he shouted, "Hey The Draoi, can you see any manipulation that might have hit these people?"

"Hmmm...let's see..."

But before he could do anything another looter jumped forward, nearly knocking the magician back. Riordan swung his staff and got the advancing thung in the neck and once he pulled back in pain Riordan was able to put him out for good with a blow to the head.

Before Riordan could catch his breath two more came at him.

"Aw crap."

---

"I don’t need you to crush him, not kill him. Scare, injure, break, that’s what I need you for. Not your usual job I know, but he’s not your usual prey either…" a voice from a few weeks ago ran through a man's head. He waited in the darkness of the chaos, the rain hadn't bothered him in the slightest even as drops of water streamed down the lenses of the headpiece he wore the weather was far from a distraction. He had his orders and now it was a matter of waiting.



People screamed in the street, innocents up high were locking doors and windows, those that were on the ground became consumed by the mob mentality if they weren’t quick enough to hide from it. Those that were unable to hide added to the chaos, shattered windows in business before a flood of bodies grabbed anything that wasn't bolted down. Cars were rolled and tipped over, and the police had their hands full elsewhere. This was the small section of Garrison City called the Lourdes. Normally things were bad down here; today they were ten times worse with a capital W. The place that normally bred violence and terror was consumed by it.

Now was the perfect time for old grudges to be settled and so the hired man waited in the shadows for the opportune moment.




"Tonight's the night..," the voice from weeks ago echoed in the man’s mind, "He's sentimental to the Lourdes. The second he hears it's in trouble he'll be there.” Although the voice was slightly distorted thanks to the rain, it rang with such certainty he knew the woman was right. She studied her prey and planned accordingly, if she hadn't that certainty wouldn’t have rung in every syllable of every word she spoke in the short conversation the two had tonight. So the man in the shadows knew his wait wasn’t going to be long. What the man hadn't known was that he wasn't the only thing that worked about in the Lourdes tonight. Something else dark and disturbing stirred.

[Capin]

The three of them moved into the darkness with a hesitant trepidation. The stillness seemed to push back over them from the inky black that poured forward from the far end of the long room. They moved on in, holding close to the rails that surrounded the lifeless machinery and waiting for any sign of who or what was waiting for them.

The three heroes halted as voices drifted to them, odd echoes carried by the concrete and conduit. "You really think this is gonna work?"

"As long as our dear Lincoln here can make the proper alterations to the facility's power grid, which he assures me he can, we'll have a sizable force at our disposal. The authorities will have no choice but to negotiate the surrender of hostages. There are enough stores in this prison to survive a protracted siege for a significant amount of time.

"That's assuming they just don't nuke the whole joint and be done with it."

"Kid's a bit of a wuss," the former fighter glared down at Bishop's tech guru, "you're sure he's the right man for this?"

"Of course I am," Bishop crossed the room and stared down the newest member of his team, "I pick my associates very carefully Mister Stattan," he stared coldly at Tapout, "and those that are found wanting are not tollerated. Do I make myself understood?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Capin leaned back into large yellow cylinder. None of the voices sounded familiar, nor did the names ring any bells. He looked to Bluewolf who passed it along to the Mid-Night Man. "Take a look. Just recon. Don't try to engage."

Corin nodded, that smirk invisible in the shadows that cloaked his face. "Don't worry about that." He turned, seeming to peer through the black that stretrched before them. "I don't have the energy to play that kinda hero. Not with you two here to back me up."

He gave an unseen tip of his hat and slipped through the darkness toward the echoing voices. Moments later they heard the rustle of his damp cape behind them. "Three of them." He sighed a little, the wear coming through in his quiet voice. "I dunno one of them, Tapout. He's a big one though. I'm guessing a bruiser. The other two however," Corin rubbed the back of his neck for a moment, "Bishop's the big guy. Our little team tussled with him and his little buddy Uplink and a few others a while back. He's an old friend of Heist's. Bishop can change into whatever he's touching, and Uplink's some kind of computer whiz, not sure if it translates into any actual powers that I saw. He should be no issue. Bishop's the one we need to worry about I would think."

Bluewolf rubbed his chin, those gears whirring. He looked over to Capin who was stretching his back. "How you feeling."

"I was made for dancing." He cracked his neck. "All night long."

"Good. Tapout's your new partner."

"Hope he can tango."

"We'll take on your Bishop friend together." His head tilted, listening down to the far side of the room. "If this Uplink is as easy as you say, maybe he'll just back down."

"Or," Corin smirked, "We take him out first." The Mid-Night Man stepped around the corner and launched a dart into the base of Uplink's neck taking him out of the fight instantly. "Hello Bishop," the Starlight Sleuth grinned as he leveled his wrist at the large man in front of him, "How's prison been?"

"You," Bishop's lips curled into an angry sneer, "Did you bring the miscreant Heist with you as well?"

"No," he was joined by Bluewolf and Capin on either side, "but I have other friends. Good night." Another dart shot through the air, but bounced off of Bishop's now stone-gray skin. "Aw crap," Corin grinned sheepishly and looked at his two partners, "Well that was my plan, you guys got anything?"

"Beat them till they stop moving?" Bluewolf shrugged.

The Daper Detective smirked. "It's the usual plan," he added, eyes flickering over to lean, muscular figure who had already dropped into a fighting stance, his head swiveling on his neck.

"Why mess with the classics?"

"I always enjoyed the classics," Corin cracked his knuckles.

"You think this scares me?" Bishop roared with a bit of a laugh, "I've come this far and I will not let cretins like you ruin my plans." His stone muscles flexed, ripping the orange jumpsuit that covered them into tatters.

The stone mastermind turned and tore a length of metal pipe from the wall like he had plucked a flower, his skin shifting from rough stone to dull iron. He clapped the weapon in his hands a few times, the ringing of metal on metal echoing through the chamber.

Wolf's eyes narrowed behind his visor. This was going to have to go down quickly if the three heroes expected to walk out of here without a permanent limp. "Sounds like someone's been spending time in the prison library with a thesaurus."

"Seriously," Corin quipped, "I'm almost looking forward to the beating if it means he'll stop talking."

It was a deliberate goad, taunting their opponent's intellect, and it seemed to have the desired effect. Iron eyes blazed as Bishop drew the pipe back and charged Bluewolf and Mid-Night Man. Bluewolf braced himself for the impact, while Mid-Night danced to the side. "Doc, could use a little dark if you're feeling up to it."

Feeling fatigued was an understatement. Corin fully believed that should they make it out of this, he was going to have to take some of his vacation time just to sleep for a solid week. "A little dark, coming right up..."

The starlight sleuth concentrated, pulling the shadows down from the ceiling. A blanket of velvety darkness covered the iron giant just as he reached Bluewolf. Fortune had smiled on the duo when Bishop had shifted from stone to iron. From his belt, Bluewolf revealed a pair of stun guns he'd acquired from the warden's office. Ducking a blind swing, Wolf took the bone-jarring impact of Bishop head on. Wrapping his arms around the human wrecking ball, he jammed the devices into Bishop's back just over his kidneys and triggered them.

Bishop's howl of rage was cut short as over a million volts flowed into the prisoner, filling the air with electric crackle and ozone. Momentum carried both men to the ground with a resounding crash. The criminal's morphic abilities were shut down as soon as he lost consciousness, otherwise they might have had to scrape Bluewolf from the floor with a spatula. Rolling the big man from atop him, Bluewolf accepted a hand up from Mid-Night Man.

"Nice, but how did you know he was going to turn into something metal?"

Bluewolf shrugged, "I didn't. Just dumb luck, I suppose. Kinda fun taking a page out of Sparky's book though."

As the dark had descended over what little light the three criminals had set up, Capin stepped into Tapout, throwing a weak swing that cut through the air in front of him. The fighter took a lazy step back, laughing. "Really?" He bobbed and weaved, ducking every swing that came his way as if the agile avenger had telegraphed his attack hours in advance.

"I was a six-time MMA champion on the UFC circuit before my gifts." His smile was smug as he easily ducked around another punch. "But now?" Ther was another laugh as he quickly sidestepped Capin's kick. "I can feel your movement before you even think about making it."

His fists balled up, watching as every following attack seemed even slower than the last. He was used to his opponents tiring out, but not this fast, not this easily. "Don't feel bad though" He shifted back, readying to take the offense. "Nobody's landed a finger on me since-"

His face shifted, an odd look of confusion taking his eyes. Capin's fist cracked hard against his jaw and Tapout's head swung around. "Did you feel that one?" Tap out wobbled on his feet, swaying back and forth. His eyes started to roll back into his head. "This is me," Capin reached forward, poking his finger against the prisoner's orange clad chest. "laying a finger on you." With the slightest push Tapout fell back, collapsing limply onto the ground.

"Alright, let's get some juice back into the joint..."

"Anyone know anything about generators?" The Dapper Detective looked back at his two partners.

"Damn it man I'm a Doctor, not a mechanical engineer," Corin smirked.

"Been rehearsing that for a while haven't you," Capin said with a deadpan expression on his face.

"Only since we got down here, did it seem rehearsed?" Corin's smile widened.

"Just a little," Wolf smirked, "How about we wake sleeping beauty up over there and see if we can talk him into helping us out."

"I dunno," Corin knelt down to check Uplink, "The darts are usually enough to take someone out for a few hours."

"I got this," the Dapper Detective knelt down next to the unconscious rogue. His fingers lighted against Uplink's neck, hitting certain spots.

After a few seconds, Uplink's eyes fluttered open. They opened even wider, as he took note of who was around him and skittered away toward the wall, "Don't hit me!"

"We're not gonna hit you," Corin groaned with a good ammount of exhaustion in his voice, "We just need you to turn the generator back on."

"We want this ended and now." Bluewolf took a step toward Uplink, "Turn the generator back on, Poindexter."

"It's Uplink," the techno terrorist said in a bit of disgust.

"Fine, Uplink," Capin crossed his arms, "can you fix the generator?"

"I hate to say this," Uplink looked up at the heroes sheepishly, "but what's in it for me?"

"You're kidding right?" Corin looked at the other two, "He's kidding, right?"

"How about this," Bluewolf stared down at Uplink, "you get that generator going again, and I make sure you get moved somewhere minimum security, deal?"

"Deal." The techno terrorist scrambled back over to the generator and began to tinker with it. After a few moments, the lights flickered, blinked, and then came back on strong as before.

"Nice job, Uplink," the Azure Avenger patted Uplink on the shoulder, "Now come with us. There are two very nice guards that will take you to a secured area while we calm everything else down."

[Daylight]

"Okay," Jamie said half heartedly as she kept one eye on the TV scanning for any kind of coverage of the prison riots or anything about the others on the streets, "Mary take her up to recovery."

The Lady of Light pulled the surgical gloves from her hands and walked toward the reception desk. With everything else that was going on her mind was nowhere near where it needed to be, Some leader I am, she grumbled to herself, I'm stuck here while everyone else is saving the city. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket hoping that the multiple buzzes were from Corin or Faith telling her that they were alright. "Why has Garrett called me ten times?"

The blond was just about to call him back, when a sound that had sadly become entirely too familiar to her rang out through the emergency room.

"What the hell?" The Champion of Ra's head jerked toward the entrance to the ER, and the group of men holding guns that had entered.


"Alright folks." The man who was obviously the gangs leader spoke up as he shouldered a shotgun, "We're gonna let you all get back to your bleeding, sneezing and doctoring in a moment. Right now I need all the nurses and doctors front and center with every bit of Vicodin, OxyContin, Demerol, Percocet, Darvocet, Ritalin, Morphine and anything else with a kick and a good street value and we'll be out of you're hair."

Well that'll teach me for being pissy about being stuck here, Jamie smirked. Rather than cause a scene, she held up her hands and joined her fellow doctors and nurses that were being rounded up.

The leader looked at the doctors and smiled as he rounded the desk of the nurses station and sat down in front of him, "Listen folks," he said with a calm, almost playful tone, "I know you have patients to worry about, and that is important to me it really is; however what is more important to me is all the pharmaceuticals in this hospital. Now the patients won't go too long without them, as we all know the other area hospitals will be able to pitch in, and that you all will get more in in a day or two. So just be good, follow my orders, and nothing will happen. And if you think the police will come save you, they are so busy with this storm and the prison riot they won't be here till we are gone. So be a bunch of dears and bring me that medicine."

"And if we don't?" One of the male doctor's spoke up.

The leader's face became even more genial, "Then I guess I supply motivation," quicker than anyone could react, the leader unholseted a gun and shot him in the shoulder, dropping him to the floor. He held up a hand for quiet, "We really shouldn't panic right now ladies and gentlemen, we now have another patient that will run out of time very soon, so don't dawdle." he shooed them off.

---

The mass of hospital staff wound their way through the back way of the ER toward the dispensary, Jamie scanned the two men the leader sent with them to ensure compliance. Both seemed to be in their mid twenties, with a large mass of weapons strapped to them. Honest truth was it would be simple to take these twits out. The hard part would be to then explain why she had supernatural light powers.

That's when it hit her. She was not the best actor in the world, but there was one thing she was good at, pretending like she was sick. It was a talent that got her out of many boring hospital functions as a child. Instinctively, Jamie started shaking and losing her balance. She fell backwards against one of the male doctors and against the wall. She then slid against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Keep moving," one of their escorts shoved his gun in her face.

Jamie shook her head weakly. Just as she opened her mouth to talk, she executed a perfect dry heave that made him jump back.

"For God's sake," the other escort grumbled, "just take her to the bathroom and let her chuck and then catch back up. The boss wants us in and out."

The crook nearest Jamie nodded nervously and he grabbed the sick doctor by the arm and lead her into the restroom. There he half tossed her down on the linoleum floor, "Ok, do your business and if you get any on me I will shoot you," he pointed the gun at one of the stalls.

Jamie, her face turned away from her escort, smiled. She whipped around toward him pointing her palm at his chest. Before he could react, a concussive blast of light hit his chest slamming him out cold against the wall.

Jamie stood up and peaked out of the bathroom door to make sure the other thug hadn't turned around, and then returned her attention to her friend on the floor. With another blast his weapons were nothing more than slag melted to the floor. Quickly taking a zip tie that he happened to have in his back pocket, she handcuffed him to the leg of one of the stalls and made her way out of the restroom. The locker rooms were just up ahead, and she was gonna need a change of clothes.

---

"Where the hell is he?" The thug that had stayed with the rest of the other doctors grumbled as he opened the door to the pharmacy again to look for his associate. "The boss isn't gonna like this..."

"Then he is going to absolutely hate this," the Lady of Light burst through the door on the other side of the pharmacy. Before he could even level his gun, a photonic blast hit him in the chest, and sent him sprawling against the floor.

Daylight then turned to his hostages, "Okay folks," she said a reassuringly as possible, "All of you stay here and stay hidden I'll handle our guests."

The group of doctors and nurses nodded solemnly and crouched down behind the counters.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," she whispered, "just stay down."

---

"Where the hell are they?" The head thug looked down at his watch, a mix of frustration and anger on his face, "I give those two the cake job while the rest of us stay here, and they can't even get that right." He stood and leveled his shot gun against his shoulder. "You two go check on them," he smiled his usual confident smile, "I got these folks covered."

The other two nodded and sprinted down the corridor. As soon as the vanished behind the wall, there was a bright flash of light and the two flew backwards and slammed hard against the wall behind them.

"What the?" The gang leader turned toward the wall and the spot they flew from, and his gaze was met by Daylight.

"Taking advantage of a situation like this is never a good idea," the Lady of Light smirked, "Always comes back to bite you." She leveled the palm of her hand at him.

"Hold it right there blondie," he snarled as he leveled his shotgun toward the crowd, "You either lower your little palm away from me, or I'll unload into the crowd here and make things very upleasent."

Jamie lowered her hand. She couldn't risk someone getting hurt.

"Good girl blondie," he smirked, "Now then unless you want to get these nice people hurt, I suggest you go get what I want right now."

Jamie lowered her head in defeat, mostly to hide the smirk of victory that grew on her face. She jerked her head up at the same time her arm swung forward. A razor thin beam of light shot across the distance between her and the talkative hostage taker, slicing his shot gun in half rendering it unusable.

Before he could react, Daylight was on him with a right cross on his jaw that sent him sprawling to the floor.

Jamie's eyes scanned the area. They landed on a young nurse, Mandy. Mandy was a shy quiet girl who had just gotten out of nursing school a year before, but was still a bit unsure of herself. "You," she pointed at the girl, "get these people safe and taken care of I'll alert the doctors to come help."

The girl nodded as Jamie raced back down the hallway.

[Dreamer]

People continued to loot and riot, "Any suggestions guys? Draoi? Heist?" Dreamer asked the question as his red eyes scanned the crowd, I only brought so many disks with me, and the people keep comawoooo," Dreamer fell off of his disk as something sliced through the air and whizzed by the trench coat clad hero.

The Draoi had manged to throw a flimsy protection spell around himself but before he could attempt to put the same his compatriots another wave of thugs hit him hard.

"Don't fail me now!" Riordan said to his bag as he shoved his hand in and managed to pull something out, he didn't know what it was but he knew it was slimy and squirming. He threw whatever it was at the crowd before him and was relieved to see that it was a Mongolian Slug Dragon, non lethal but once it bonds with a host causes instant paralysis.

A knife embedded itself into a wall before Dreamer fell into the crowd. The crowd started to swarm Dreamer who gave the first few a batch of sleeping sands with a fast defensive wave of the hand. Then the strikes came to the first few in the crowd. "I don't want to do this!" Dreamer growled before he deflected someone that rushed him. One thought flashed into Dreamer's mind as he started at the next person that dared went after him, "Why didn't Kardiac ever train me in a weapon?" The next person had an elbow to the face before a sweep of the legs had taken them off their feet. Dreamer's red eyes hinted with readiness although he desperately wanted a few friends to help.

"Aw crap," Charlie pushed off the ledge and dropped his density, slowing his fall. A split second before impact, he resolidified, crashing into three of Dreamer's attackers. Righting himself back-to-back with his current ally, his mouth curled into a grin.

"I like it better when they attack stupid-ninja style, the reforming thief quipped as he reached through the man standing before him to grab another looter. Yanking the second looter forward, he slammed him into the first man. Their colliding heads sounded like hollow coconuts as both rioters crumpled to the ground.

Dreamer smirked before a sudden front kicked knocked down a rioter hard, "I'd almost prefer these guys! Ninjas are trained, they can probably take a punch," an elbow to a young man's jaw sent him back into the crowd of people as a white speck left his mouth after the shot. It was probably a tooth by Dreamer's guess."Most of these people aren't that trained. They go down easier. One or two shots, and the rioter goes crashing down..By the by, thanks for the assist!" The words came out between various blows as rioters started to swarm the two heroes on foot.

"Try to keep them busy and I'll try scanning the area again!" The Draoi shouted from his position where he had managed to form a seer's circle on the ground with his powders and enchantments.

Charlie didn't bother dodging punches, instead leaving only his fists and feet solid. As he slowly worked his way through the looters, he glanced back at Dreamer. "Maybe these guys aren't trained, but whoever tossed that blade at you was. That was a high-end throwing knife. Any ideas on who chucked it?"

As black leather whirled as dodges and counters were thrown against the looters Dreamer smirked toward Heist, "I'm pretty popular down here. People like this love me," he said with sarcasm. "Fortunately, I only have a few people that crazy about me down here... So good news, I can probably count on one hand all of the people that deliberately want to throw a knife at my head." Sleeping sands went from Dreamer's hands toward the people. A wave of sleeping sand had put some of the rioters down in a quick fluid motion which made a slow smile form on Dreamer's lips.

"I can feel it..." Riordan said as the powder lines around his feet began to glow, "This isn't a normal mob scene you were right...It's..."

Suddenly a transparent image of a shirtless muscle-bound bald man loomed over the crowd, the man was covered in occult tattoos and wore a wicked grin on his face.

"I'M HERE DRAOI!" The voice thundered throughout the alley even causing the rioters to stop and stare for a second before returning to their mindlessness as the image dissipated.

The seer's circle stopped glowing and the powders that made it up began to blow into the night breeze.

"Sim Sala Bim..." Riordan muttered as he looked around to try and find were his arch-nemesis was hiding himself.


"Looks like I'm not the only one with friends," Dreamer yelled before he side stepped a haymaker and counter with a fierce knee to the abdomen followed up by a precise elbow strike aimed at the spine. "Stay down," he said before more yells made toward Draoi, "What's his story!?"

Riordan dashed away from the safe little corner he had found for his seer's circle and had his fist collide with with several chins along the way.

"He's an old enemy of mine, a dark magician trying to impress the lower powers! He's causing this mob scene!"

Riordan smelled the air. He could feel it now. Sim's pulse in every one their mindless opponents. He tore through the street, dodging and hitting as he did so. Only to come to the very head of the mob. It poured through a back alley, Riordan jumped over one rampaging man and landed right at the alley's mouth.

"I'm going in! Come as fast as you can!" He shouted back to his allies.

He turned in the darkness and finally found him. Sim was floating mid-air, sitting indian style with his eyes closed.

"We got the looters under control," Heist said as he came running into the alley. His eyes moved to Sim, then to Draoi. "Huh. Nemesis stand-off."

"I don't need the looters anymore...I have this!" Sim cut into his own chest with his ceremonial knife, and from the cut came a low growling noise. Soon monstrous claws appeared from the wound and pulled it open wider, as a large black reptilian mass made it's way through.

"Crikey..." Riordan began digging madly through his bag as the creature emerged fully formed. It flew once around the alley, getting it's bearings. It was indescribable no bone-structure to speak of just a writhing mass of scales, mouths, claws and wings. Several eyes littered it's strange hide, all of them black as night.

Charlie turned to the Draoi. "I'm never letting Daylight talk me into this ever again."

"You think you're upset, I'm not even getting paid for this!"

Sim seemed to be still, focusing all his energies on the creature. There was a greenish light that hung between him and the creature.

Riordan tried to knock the man out with his walking staff but it bounced off the light like rubber.

"Of course! You'd have to be protected! Can one thing go right, please?" Draoi wailed to no one in particular.

The creature opened one of it's mouths and lobbed a ball of black goo at the heroes.

"Don't let it touch you!" Riordan shouted, "I can't fly, let me see if have anything that can get at least one of us airborne! He began to dodge and rummage through his sack at the same time.

The former thief nodded. "You fly. I'm almost impossible to touch, even by magic. Silica glass and electricity, that's it."

"Okay I've got some pixie dust here that expired last week, i'll chance it." He threw the dust on himself and did his best to think of a happy thought...

"Faith Kavanaugh...you are still my happy thought..." He muttered as he began to float upwards. The beast snarled at him and began to move towards him.

"The minute I take this thing out, cold cock Sim before he comes to from his trance!"

Heist nodded and desolidified. "With pleasure"

The creature sliced up Riordan's left arm with one of it's clawed tendrils but the mage had no time for pain. He withdrew a tribal looking knife from his sack and began chanting over it. The knife glowed a soft blue glow and after a moment's pause Riordan kissed the knife's edge and closed his eyes as he hurled the weapon forward.

The knife lodged itself into the creature's main eye, the thing wailed an unearthly wail but it's tendrils were still trying to find him.

"I hate to lose this, it was a gift from a minor god of agriculture I helped out once." He said as he raised a large golden seed from his bag. "But I guess it's just a material possession, and you can't take them with you..." He lunged forward and withdrew his knife, placing the seed into the gaping wound. It seemed to feed of the black blood of the beast and vines sprouted from all over the creature's hide. Soon fruit bearing stalks replaced dark claw and wing as the creature screamed.

"Get him now!"

Swiftly, Heist moved through the wreckage and vines. Solidifying at the last second, he smacked Sim Sala Bim across the jaw. The dazed sorcerer fell to the ground and as the ex-thief connected again, Sim's eyes rolled up before closing.

"That went better than I expected," Charlie said, looking around the alley. It was then he noticed Dreamer wasn't with them. "Um, where's the paleface?"

Dreamer was off in the distance as he stared down a man that was prepared for a fight. More specifically the man was prepared for a fight with Dreamer himself, the gas mask the individual wore was a dead give away this guy came with one purpose in mind.

"And you are?" the hero remained loose but ready as he wanted to size up his opposition before any fighting cues of his own were given away.

The man in the gas mask pulled out a thin knife, what looked to be a modified stiletto, and ran it over the area of his gas mask where his mouth would be. What was hidden by the mask was a tongue that had a few small cut scars that ran on the underside. Much like Dreamer the man with the mask wore a long black leather trench coat, had a back costume that looked among the same vigilante style with subtle red accents that caught Dreamer's eye.

A mocking grin danced on Dreamer's face, "You come gift wrapped too! In my favorite colors no less!!" One moment later the taunting expression died quickly and a serious look embodied his face which was matched by the tone of his voice, "I asked you a question: Who are you!? And while you're at it, who sent you?"

Three blades flung toward Dreamer was the only reply the man gave. Unlike most knife throwers seen at carnival acts across the country, these knives were thrown in a straight arrow like fashion with virtually no spin on any of the blades. A diving roll quickly avoided all three projectiles, a detail that was noted was the masked man moved at a fast rate. It wasn't blinding nor superhuman, but someone that had been very trained at their art perhaps. What was more disturbing to the hero was the chunk noises the knives made as they bit into brick of a nearby wall.

Before Dreamer had a chance to say, "Wow you're fast," the masked man had lost the coat and the small bits of light in the Lourdes made small gleaming effects reflected off the black costume of the nameless person as he ran toward his target. Each gleam was a knife that were properly holster on to the individual's upper body and belt, all like three previously thrown.

This time Dreamer readied himself and two began to trade blows. Unfortunately, Dreamer successfully blocked the first blow but was too slow on the follow up. A shot to the ribs had thrown him off slightly, but he manged to fend off a knee strike. Moments later Dreamer was on the ground as a reverse backhand caught him off guard and sent him to the ground.

"The name's Mercer," said the masked man. Each word came out in a eerie fashion as the gas mask distorted the sound to be akin to that of a voice of a horror movie villain. For a second there was a pause and although many sounds raged through the street the only one that caught Dreamer's attention was the clean, crisp sound of metal brushing against material as more knives were being freed from their holsters. Mercer waited for Dreamer like an animal that waited for the right moment to strike.

When Dreamer was to his feet Mercer struck with blades in hand. A new strategy better suited Dreamer for the next assault and that was acting defensively, don't worry about a counter strike just avoid injury and disarm Mercer when the opportunity rose. Everything worked to plan as stabs and slashes were halted until Mercer's words wounded him in a way no weapon could, "Mari says 'Hi'."

Phantom pains surged through Dreamer as memories of the gunshot wounds throbbed and screamed in agony as the memory of that night came to life. Mari's name alone uttered from someone else's lips sent a chill down his spine and made it hard to react to the next attack which had missed but still grazed his face.

Blood flowed from Dreamer's cheek that now bore a cut thanks to the distraction and strike. A cry of sudden pain left his white lips before a kick sent him back down onto the ground. Water and rain mixed which made the memory of the night Dreamer was almost killed much more vivid. He remembered the deluded red highlight of the water when rain kissed the blood that flowed from his two gunshot wounds much like it did with the blood from his cheek.

"Mari's going to be upset when she finds you, but I just can't help myself," Mercer readied the next blade. White skin had its ups and downs, but on a evening where darkness had consumed most of the streets it made for one really clear target.

Despite a mess of a left arm Riordan forced his way towards the two fighters.

"He's over here...he's not alone..." He called to Charlie.

Riordan took the knife, covered with black monster blood, and repeated the same phrases he had whispered over it moments earlier and with a swift motion the now glowing blade flew straight at Mercer, turning and spiraling under it's own power through the air homing in on the fiend.

Mercer smiled beneath his mask when he saw a different knife coming out him as it turned and spiraled. The blade danced and gleamed as it went end over end toward him. He thought for a moment, the idea came to him to pick up Dreamer and use him as a shield. Sadly, blood had strange effects on people including himself. If some freak had the ability to make Mercer's own knives turn on him, he imagined what the guy could have done if they saw Dreamer hurt by his own actions. What lengths would that have driven a man like that toward?

Either way the outcome would have probably been grim for Mercer so he leaned his body out of the way instead of bringing dire harm to Dreamer. The blade rushed by Mercer and he turned his body toward the downed hero and kicked him in the ribs once. Before Mercer left, he leaned down in what looked like to be some oriental animal-based fighting style and whispered, "We're not finished today, remember that." With those final words Mercer began to run away. All of the odds were against him now but he had wounded his target, so his task was complete.

Blood continued to run down Dreamer's face as he looked back toward Mercer before he stared at his friends, "Sorry. Got distracted," he said and nodded once to The Draoi, I owe you."

"A lot of people owe me tonight..." Riordan grumbled.

"And by the end of it a lot of people will owe every person that wears a mask, costume, or both when this is done." His words were rough, harsh, but in Dreamer's mind the fight played back over and over again. The last time he felt this helpless was from Mari, a woman that tried to kill him. This Mercer guy just schooled him and made it look easy, and that really annoyed Dreamer. I need more lessons from Kardiac, Garrett thought to himself while the weather washed away the blood from his wound. "What's our next move Heist?" Dreamer stared hard at the field leader and waited for the next order.

"Let him go. I'm sure there's bigger problems to deal with." Looking down at Dreamer, Heist asked, "How are you?"

The pale man gritted his teeth but took a moment to recompose himself. "I've been better. I've been worse," he said, pride wounded more than his body.

Heist nodded. "Call in to Daylight. I'm sure she's gonna need us somewhere else."

[Faith]

The flood of prisoners who had followed Steamroller in hopes of joining him in escape, or at least seeing a satisfying fight, seemed to swell in their anger. Either way, they'd been cheated. And, while she didn't know exactly where they had all come from, Sylph was positive that she couldn't handle them all. It still hurt to breathe and she could feel a weariness in her limbs that made her worry more and more.

Looking up through the drenched locks of hair that were plastered to her goggles, Faith bit her lip. The truce or whatever it was they'd formed here was so tenuous. She didn't know what to say. But he was the only one here. "I... I said I'd help you. And I'm going to." Her eyes held his with the same stubborn sense of purpose that kept her on her feet. "But I'm going to need your help first."

Steamroller stood. His expression retained that darkness, his eyes shadowed in the rain that rolled off his cheeks. "How do I know you'll keep your end?" Catching a bit of the moonlight, she saw those dark circles rise to her.

"Because I promised." But she didn't expect that to make sense. She cast a quick glance to the prisoners who had formed a sort of circle around them. "And because I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure I get home to see my family. I won't do any less for you."

He regarded her a moment, then shifted, looking around to the other escapees that had found themselves milling about outside the prison. They stood, practically waiting for him to pound her. The hulking figure's shoulders rose and fell with a heavy sigh. It was accented by the cloud that rose from his face. "What's your name?"

"Sylph," she answered after a moment's hesitation.

"Sylph..." Steamroller repeated her name. He turned around, standing between her and the growing crowd. "Alright, Slyph... I'll help you."

Faith could have cried with relief. "Thank you." Her whisper was nearly lost in the wind. "But first things first..." Rain dripped from the ends of her hittin' sticks as she tightened her grip. Then, pushing worry and weariness aside, she threw herself back into the fight, hoping... no, trusting that she wouldn't be alone.

---

Eddy "felt" the battle before he saw or heard it. The raging heartbeats were more the only thing in the area, to him at least, more violently clamorous than the wind and rain. There were a lot of them, and one of them beat like thunder untapped... a metahuman, and a strong one at that. And somewhere amidst that fray -- according to his visor's comm-tracer -- was Faith.

As the silhouettes came into view through the rain, he saw the small, lithe figure of Sylph pop into view, then out again. She was in the middle of it all right. And moving towards her, hurling inmates aside along the way, was a mountain of a man. Kardiac recognized him from his Strategoi file... Steamroller.

Eddy couldn't remember much about his powers or abilities, but he assumed that the man's name pretty much hit on the key bullet points. And seeing how unconcernedly he cast his fellow prisoners aside as he approached Faith gave Kardiac a pretty good idea of his temperament and personality.

So, focusing his bio-energy into physical strength, Kardiac leapt over the heads of the mundane inmates and made a straight line towards the big guy. He hit Steamroller like a sack of bricks, and the large man definitely noticed. It didn't knock him down, or take him out, but it was a start... it got his attention. With a roar of irritation and unexpected speed, the mountain of flesh swung around a meaty hand, grabbed Eddy by the arm, and hurled him into the air.

The ground was unforgiving, and Kardiac was pretty sure his shoulder had just dislocated. Fortunately, the rocky firmament had popped it back into place. Unfortunately, it hurt like Hell. Eddy got back to his feet as quickly as possible, bracing himself for Steamroller's attack.

It didn't come.

His worry reignited, Eddy frantically searched the throng for Sylph. He spotted her pop into sight for just a second as she gave one of the thugs a sound shot to the head with her hittin' sticks. She was still visible, however, as another of the inmates turned to her, a long section of rebar raised above her head.

Kardiac rushed forward, but he knew he wasn't going to make it. Steamroller had thrown him too far clear of the fight. In a split second, his mind raced through the unwelcome image of what was to come. But to his surprise, the image never played out. The man-mountain was back in the fray, and Faith's attacker was beaten to the ground with one powerful swing.

He's helping her! Eddy suddenly realized, surprise clear on his face. His mouth soon followed the shock in his eyes. "What the Hell?" He took a second to let the realization set in, then refocused on the fight, tracking the newly-delineated sides before rushing in to join the "good guys." The next time Faith appeared, he was standing beside her, an inmate violently thrashing in his electrified grip.

He gave her a quick, awkward smile. "You seem to have a gift for making friends."

She raised her chin to display the impressively disgusting bruises already forming around her throat. "It's better than the alternative." Meeting his eyes for a brief second, Sylph quickly popped back out of sight before he could catch her doing something horribly unheroic... like crying.

"I thought I was gonna..." Instead of finishing the thought, she snapped an invisible kick to an inmates jaw, silencing a rather foul mouth and sending him stumbling back.

She didn't say another word to Eddy until she had her current opponent unconscious on the ground. Then, relatively certain she was in control of herself again, she reappeared and tried to smile. "I think I'm really gonna need to talk to you when this is all over."

"Ya think?" he replied, smiling a little now that he was back in the fray. Knowing she was here beside him, safe if not entirely sound, and well within his theater to assist, had him back on his game. Another of the thugs fell as he turned to face her.

He grabbed her by waist, his arms crossed, and called out a quick "Behind you," Before picking her up and flipping her around to face the sky. Her feet shot out with practiced precision, catching the approaching rioter right in the breadbasket.

Without breaking stride, he spun her around and flipped her feet-first under his right side just in time for her to deliver the same treatment to an inmate that was attempting to sneak up behind Eddy. Letting go with one hand, he spun her back to her feet, her back once again to his, and released her just in time for both of them to deliver finishing blows to the half-stunned thugs facing them.

Eddy smirked. "I told I'd let you get me dressed up and take me dancing," he said, his voice tinged with mischief. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see her disappear from sight once more. Through the place she'd been standing, he saw Steamroller standing alone amidst a pile of unconscious rioters.

"I'm so glad he's on our side.

"He has a son," she explained, reappearing on Eddy's other side after finishing off yet another in the seemingly endless wave of escaped inmates. "And I'm going to make sure he gets a visit with him."

Something about having her mentor near her in the fight, even if the spinning and tossing had made her unusually dizzy, was enough to make her feel better. A grin grew on her lips. "And this so doesn't get you out of going dancing with me."

Eddy chuckled slightly, his foot drowning out most of the sound with the loud, sickening crack of the jaw it had just connected with. The inmate stumbled back before collapsing into a heap on the ground. "Well, damn... figured I'd about covered that."

"Duck!" he cried, and as she dropped to avoid an attack, Kardiac flew over top of her, his feet hitting the thug high as she swept the man's legs out from beneath him. "Beautiful," he said, smiling. "You'd almost think we'd rehearsed that."

"Crazy." For a moment her grin was almost enough to drive the rain away. "Almost like we're partners or something."

Another few moments and another few incapacitated inmates passed by them before they were standing back-to-back again. "This is ridiculous," Kardiac said, finally. "We've got to wrap this up and make our way inside... join up with the others and put an end to this party."

Sylph nodded her emphatic agreement. "Any brilliant ideas on how to wrap this up?" she asked, putting a booted foot squarely into the most sensitive part of a charging inmate's anatomy. "Because even with my big friend over there we're not really making much progress."

"Actually, I do have an idea," he replied, frowning. "But it's pretty damned crazy, you're not going to like it, and it's going to require a you to convince your new friend over there to carry me," Kardiac continued. "Think you can do that?"

Faith chewed on her lip for a second, glancing over at Steamroller. After a beat, she nodded tentatively. The look on her face made it very clear to him that she had grown to hate the words 'you're not going to like it,' but she had to trust that he knew what he was doing if they were going to get out of this.

Eddy smirked. "Good," he said, punctuating his statement by incapacitating his nearest opponent with a shot to the jaw. "When I say 'jump,' you jump... no questions."

His eyes drifted down to the wet pavement beneath their feet. He didn't understand what hold Faith had over Steamroller -- it had to be more than a simple promise... he'd felt her 'influence' himself on the day he'd fought against her -- but whatever it was, he had to trust her... he did trust her, he realized as the thought crossed his mind.

Stepping back from the fight for a few heartbeats, he let himself rely on her to keep the throng away from him. He closed his eyes, focused his energy with an intensity he'd only managed one time before... on the day he'd faked his death at Bluewolf's hands... and summoned every bit of energy his body could spare.

Opening his eyes, seeing the world through a haze of the arcing electrical field now covering the upper half of his body, he looked over at Sylph. His usually-resonating, electrically-charged voice was almost incomprehensible through the crackling energy that infused it. He managed to get three words out: "Generator room" and "Jump!"

Crazy plans that she hated or not, Faith jumped as soon as she heard the word. She didn't need to know the plan to trust him. And, of course, not knowing meant she didn't have any time to complain about how she didn't like it when he hurt himself.

The instant her feet left the ground, Kardiac threw himself down, both palms flat against the slick, wet pavement. A layer of running water nearly half an inch thick coated the concrete of the walkway, and he smiled. In the one-and-a-half seconds that Faith was airborne, Eddy let the water take it all... every joule of energy he'd accumulated, modulated to the wattage and amperage of an incredibly powerful taser.

Sparking light arced across the pavement and traveled up the bodies of the rioting inmates. Dozens of men in the proximity of the duo began to violently shake and contort, dropping to the ground even as the flow of power stopped and Sylph's own feet touched down. Still prone, Eddy looked up at her with a wicked smile on his face, nodding towards the remaining crowd of inmates fleeing through the rain for a safe, grounded location.

"See...," he said, his speech slightly slurred. "Pretty damned crazy." He looked like he was about to say something else, but before he could, his eyes closed and Kardiac fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Ohmygosh..." She didn't wait for Steamroller to help. "You'd be a lot more amazing if you didn't keep passing out on me," she complained, conveniently ignoring the fact that he'd technically only done this once before. Struggling and swearing just a little, Sylph managed to almost get him to his feet, attempting to drape his limp arm over her shoulders.

Pushing the hair away from her face, she looked for the giant of a man she'd befriended. He was the only other person still standing. Though part of her was still worried he might change his mind and decide to throw Kardiac across the yard like a football, the redhead flashed him a quick nervous smile. "I don't suppose you know where the generator room is?"

"Never seen one on the grounds." Steamroller looked over his shoulder, finding their battlefield almost strangely silent, save the pelting rain that rippled across the almost lake sized puddles. "Probably somewhere inside the main building."

With an almost stiff stride he joined her at Kardiac's side. He hadn't jumped, and while it may not have put him down as it had so many others, she could see how her partner's attack had taken a toll on him. "You're friend could have killed us both." The rain rolled down the hard lines in his face as he looked at the limp face that rested against her collarbone.

"But he didn't." Faith didn't have the energy to argue but the way she held onto Eddy as she supported his much larger frame spoke volumes. Her chin came up through the sheets of rain poured down around them. She'd carry her partner herself if she had to. But that wasn't the plan.

"Help me carry him. Please." Her words carried a tone that hovered between an order and a request. "The sooner we get inside and find the rest of my friends the sooner things will get a whole lot better around here."

The large man nodded, reaching down. "Yeah." Helping steady Sylph with one arm, he took a grip of Kardiac by the front of his kevlar woven costume and him like a ragdoll and throwing him over his shoulder. "Let's get this over with."