"The Four Adaptites"

[dochermes]

"The Four Adaptites"

7/29-7/30/2013

I.

At ten after five, Bane decided it had been a wasted day. More and more, he felt like only taking cases by appointment and spending more time traveling. The days of the big masterminds like John Grim or Wu Lung seemed to be over, and the new KDF had been doing fine handling what Midnight War events did come up. The only hint of any action that day had been a man coming in to ask if he could have his daughter trailed to see where she was buying drugs and Bane had explained that, sorry, the Dire Wolf Agency was mostly concerned with gruesome murders.

Standing up and stretching, he decided he would pick a city he had never been to before and spend a few days looking around. Kenneth Dred had left him millions in his will, and Bane had personally lived simply all his life. Now that he was in his late fifties, maybe it was time to retire. Or semi-retire. As he thought that, the office phone rang on his desk and he smiled slightly. He recognized the number on the little screen. "Hello, Bleak," he said.

"Listen," came the familiar sour voice. "Get out of there. You don't have any time."

"What? Why?"

"The cops are on their way to arrest you. I was tipped that you shot a little kid behind Bryant Park a few minutes ago. Run now. I'll explain later."

"Got it," Bane said and hung up. He tugged on his black sport jacket which had been hanging on the back of his chair and rushed from his office. Closing the door behind him, he paused in the tiny waiting room and glanced up at the monitor screen high up on the wall. No one was in sight in the hall outside. The Dire Wolf stepped out and swung left. His office was in a short hall made by the stairs going up, and to his left was only a metal door which read EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY. Bane thumbed the fob on his key chain and an electronic signal overrode the alarms for twenty seconds. This very illegal process had been set up for him by Trom Girl, and it had been useful many times in the past. As he stepped out into the alley behind his office building, he looked back through the lobby just in time to see a black and white patrol car come to a quick stop on the other side of the glass doors opening on Third Avenue.

That WAS close, he thought. Bane looked around and headed east toward First Avenue. He didn't see any other police presence, and he walked quickly down First Avenue to 41st Street. There would be time to figure out what was going on later. Bleak had never steered him wrong. He would just as soon not have to punch out any cops and try to straighten things out as a fugitive, he had done that once and it was a hassle. On 41st, he strode quickly past a slightly sleazy bar that said LOU'S PIT STOP in neon across the window, swung sharply into the alley next to it and went through a plain wooden door that should have been locked but which some other tenant had left unsecured. He hadn't spotted anyone watching him, but he had to take the chance in any case.

Up creaky wooden stairs to the second floor, still no one in sight. Bane unlocked a door which had no number or name on it, and stepped into his hideaway. For years, he had kept a secret refuge down on Mott Street, but he had relocated after being forced to reveal it to two colleagues. It wasn't that he didn't trust Unicorn and Jocelyn Garmara, but people did talk under torture and he needed someplace secure. His legal counsel, Taylor Worth, had rented this for him through a third party under a false name and took care of the rent. The fact that it was only a minute away from his office was a big plus. He was standing directly over the sports bar on the ground floor and he could hear a TV blaring beneath him.

Like his earlier hideways, these rooms were shabby and almost bare. There was a couch with blankets and pillows, two windows he kept tightly curtained, and a waist-high refrigerator. The bathroom had a toilet, sink and a flimsy shower. There was a closet stuffed with assorted clothes, and a few suitcases on its floor. No TV, just a radio next to the couch. But only Taylor knew about this place, which was the important thing.

Bane looked around suspiciously as he always did, but could find no sign anyone had been here. It was hot and stuffy in the July heat, but he would put up with that. He took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and checked the supplies he had packed away. If there was a sudden pounding on the door, he could be out a window and dropping down to the sidewalk within seconds.

He took out his Link and used its Trom systems to patch into the Verizon systems, so he could not be traced. "Bleak? Care to explain, old friend?"

"Damn right," came the bitter voice. "I'm watching the news now. What got into you?"

"You're going to have explain," Bane said. "What's going on?"

"It's on every New York channel. Someone got video of you on their phone. You're in Bryant Park behind the library, you walk up to a little girl maybe ten years old, shoot her in the head and run off. They blur out the actual impact but that's it."

"An imposter," the Dire Wolf said. "Is it a good disguise?"

"Come on, how many years have I known you? It IS you. Your walk, your movements. Have you gone psychotic or something?"

Bane took a breath. "Bleak, I tell you it wasn't me. I only left my office for lunch at Five Guys today around one. The security cameras will show me with a time stamp." But even as he said that, the Wolf realized that he had just now left the building without being seen and that was going to be hard to explain. "If an impersonator is good enough to fool you, he's something new in the Midnight War."

"All right, I'm going to meet you halfway," Bleak said. "Because I know you're too damn stubborn for any sort of brainwashing or mind control. You're a mule. But in any case, the NYPD is looking for you right now."

"Thanks for looking out for me. I'm going to investigate and I promise you whoever did this is not going to escape." Bane paused. "Say, Bleak. What's your favorite Mexican restaurant?"

"What, now you're suspicious of me?" came the outrage. "I hate Mexican food, you know that. It makes my stomach hurt."

"Just making sure," the Dire Wolf replied. "When we talk again, ask me the same sort of question."

"Yeah, right. I'll ask you where you learned to square dance." Bleak snorted and hung up.

II.

For a few minutes, Bane stood lost in thought. He racked his memory but could not think of an enemy who would pull this manuever. The Mandate was not above framing someone for murder, but he had done a few jobs for that agency in the recent past and they were on a relatively stable standing. It might be someone new. He finished the water and went over to the closet to start changing. As always, he was dressed all in black- slacks, turtleneck and sport jacket. One reason he invariably wore the outfit was to fix an image in everyone's mind. The pale grey eyes were the other identifier people remembered about him.

Stripping down, he stood there in the silk-thin flexible Trom armor that covered everything except his forearms and head. At six feet tall and one hundred and seventy pounds, Bane was as gaunt and wiry as ever. The matched silver daggers were strapped to his forearms in their rubber molding to escape detection during a search. From the back of the closet, he took out padding that strapped around his waist to add the appearance of forty pounds. It wasn't too extreme, because then his thin face would not match but it was just enough to make him look like another middle-aged man who had lost the struggle against the waistline. White sneakers, loose grey sweatpants and a baggy red button-front shirt went on next.

The effect was a dramatic change from his usual appearance but not unusual enough to draw attention. He went to the sink and scrubbed a solution into his hair that left it with lots of grey. Then came the brown contact lenses, which he hated with a passion. But those grey eyes were a giveaway. Finally, from the case that had held the lenses and the hair solution, he took out a syringe and put it to one side, warmed a squeeze tube under hot water until the contents were liquid and filled the needle. Carefully, he injected just a tiny bit of the waxy substance on either side of his nose. Not too much, just a little to make the nose broader.

For a long minute, he studied his reflection in the mirror over the sink before feeling satisfied. Bane exhaled sharply and folded his usual uniform. He needed his keys, his wallet, the Link and a few other gadgets but he could not carry all his usual devices and weapons this way without the hidden pockets in his jacket. Opening his wallet, he put one of the fake IDs in front of his real driver's license, with a photo that matched this disguise and got the ATM card for a bank account in the name Stan Connelly. They were good fakes. Bane got a 9mm semi-automatic pistol from the closet and strapped it to the small of his back, where the loose shirt would hide it. He had only fired it a few times for practice and he checked the mechanism minutely before concealing it.

What else? He couldn't think of any other preparation. Ideally, he should wait until dark to make sneaking around the city easier but the situation was too desperate for that. Bane opened the door to the hall a crack and peered out warily, just as a fat woman in a white dress came up the stairs and entered a door further down the hall, carrying two plastic bags from the grocery. A minute later, arguing voices came from that door. The disguised Dire Wolf stepped out, closed and locked his own door, then trotted down the stairs to the street. No one was there. He got out on 1st Avenue and went into the sports bar beneath his hideaway.

The big screen TV in the corner had the Channel 11 news on, instead of the usual baseball game. It showed a skinny blonde in a short skirt, standing in front of a crowd with the Public Library visible behind her. He listened to her speech, it confirmed what Bleak had said. His name was not mentioned, although the reporter did mention that police were looking for a specific person. As he saw the footage of the shooting, Bane felt sick. The man looked exactly like him in every detail, down to the steel-toed boots and how the hair was parted. It was certainly the type of gun he normally used, a long-barrelled Smith & Wesson 38.

The bartender called, "You want anything?" and Bane absently ordered a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke, then sat at the bar to watch the news further. An old man with just a fringe of white hair around his ears put down his beer and said, "Guy has to be sick."

"I'd say so," Bane replied in not quite his normal voice. "Probably stopped taking his meds."

"That's always the excuse," the old man snarled, then finished his beer. "Hope he gets shot resisting arrest."

The channel went to a different story, where residents at a nursing home on 89th had to be evacuated because of a gas leak. He ate his cheeseburger and thought things over. There was nothing to go on yet. Bane decided he had to look around the scene of the shooting in person. Finishing the fries and gulping the soda, he paid and went back outside. As always when in disguise, he felt faintly ridiculous but no one was giving him a second look. As he started walking, a patrol car went by but he gave it no particular attention and it did not slow.

Before he got to 42nd Street, the Dire Wolf had mentally reviewed every being in the Midnight War who could shape-shift to resemble someone else or cast convincing illusions. Such beings were rare, and he had only known one personally. Indigo the Illusonist. As far as he knew, Indigo was in the Coxsackie Correctional Institute upstate, watched constantly on video monitors that his illusions could not fool.`He would check. There had also been Bogus, the artificial life form who could change shape and color at all. That had been a crazy episode, with the shape-changer under the influence of con master Doc Valentine.The last he had heard, Bogus was frozen and inert at the old KDF headquarters building. He had to go past there to get to Bryant Park...

On 38th Street, the Dire Wolf went right past the building he knew so well. Next door was a listing for three doctors' offices, as well as a chiropractor. One name plate said simply THADDEUS JAMES WRIGHT, MD. It was almost five-thirty, so Ted would be on his night duty in the emergency room at Mount Sinai. Bane entered the hallway and saw that the glass panel of Wright's door was dark, but he had a key. He entered, locking the door behind him, and went past the receptionist desk to an unmarked side door. This led him down a short passage barely wide enough to navigate. Here was a one-way piece of glass he peered through before undoing concealed latches and stepping through a panel into the recreation room of the KDF building next door. So many tricks, he thought, so much preparation but sometimes it paid off.

The rec room was dark, also. Bane went through it,out into the front hall with its staircase leading up and the small elevator cage. The door to the office by the front door was open, and lights were on in there. The Dire Wolf listened for thirty seconds, slowing his own breath and focusing his awareness. Someone was in there.. not a large person, sitting still and calm. Bane got closer and called, "Sable? Argent? Who's on duty tonight?" As he spoke the last word, a small dark shape hurtled out of the office like an enraged wolverine and dove straight at him.

III.

Not taken off-guard, the Dire Wolf met the attacker with an aikido arm throw that pinned her down to the polished wooden floor with a thump. "Jin!" he snapped. "Knock it off! It's me!"

"I don't know you," the Gelydra growled, wriggling free with strength greater than a man twice her size. Demrak Jin got loose and came in with a looping roundhouse blow that Bane slapped down with a palm. In the same move, he knocked one foot out from under her and pinned her down with a knee between the shoulder blades.

"Listen to my voice," Bane snapped. "I'm in disguise. I am your Tel Shai captain and you are sworn to obey any lawful order I give you." He let her turn over. "Settle down. Listen."

"Captain?" she said. "You look so different." Demrak Jin was a petite young woman, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, barefoot. She had a shock of white hair that was too thick and bristly to look quite right, and a pug face that always seemed sullen. "And yet.. it is you."

Bane helped her up. "You must have seen the news. Someone is impersonating me. I came here to see if Bogus is secure in the freezer cell."

"Bogus? The shape-changer. Yes, he's in there. Sable and Megan check him daily and he has not even twitched since he was frozen. The door is airtight."

"Not Bogus then," Bane said. "Where is Sable?"

"She's not here. None of the regular team are here right now. Just the new kids," Jin explained.

"Tell me more," Bane said. "Where is the KDF?"

"In Chyl. Helping to fight off a howler outbreak. They have left us here with orders to stay out of trouble." Jin snorted derisively. "Telling ME to stay out of trouble! They would be better off if I was beside them with my bone blade."

"Oh, I know how you can fight," Bane told her. "Wait... who are the new kids you just mentioned?"

"Me. Haley Lawson. Timothy Limbo. We are not members of the KDF yet, just what Sable calls interns learning the ropes. Captain, everyone thinks you murdered that child..."

Bane shook his head. "I'm going to find the impersonator and make an example of him. All right, if Bogus is still secure, then I have to get going. Take care, Jin. I know you'll be a full KDF member soon."

"Wait!" the Gelydra cried out. "You are not going on your own. I owe you great debt. I have sworn to follow you into danger." She drew herself up to her full five feet two and then bowed her head low, raising one arm out straight.

"We are all going with you," came a girl's voice from the stairs. Bane swung around to see two newcomers. Haley Lawson, Windcatcher, was tall and thin, with dark brown bangs over startling green eyes. She wore black slacks and a loose white cotton blouse with rolled-up sleeves. The grin on her impudent face could not have been wider. Standing next to her was a young man of medium height, wearing beat-up jeans, a leather jacket over a white T-shirt and motorcycle boots. Timothy Limbo's mop of yellow hair hung over a face every bit as insolent as that of Windcatcher. He grinned at Bane without speaking.

"Haley. Timothy. Good to see you guys again, but sorry, I'm working alone. I'll let you know when I nail the killer."

"Not gonna happen," Timothy said. "My caspers can follow you wherever you go. They're energy, you can't escape them and whatever they see, I can see."

"And I can fly faster than your car," Haley chimed in. "So we're going to be right behind him. You might as well let us help."

Bane was silent. Then, grudgingly, he said, "You're right. I'd be trying to shake you guys and not make any progress. But listen. If we are fighting someone or something who can look exactly like other people, we need ID words. When you're uncertain if you're dealing with one of us or a fake, ask for the ID word."

"Cool," said Haley. "What are they, Tango Whiskey Foxtrot or something like that?"

"No, they have to be different categories. Haley, your word is a country. Argentina. Tim, your word is a car make. Maserati. Jin, yours will be a gem. Emerald. Everyone got it straight?"

"Argentina."

"Maserati."

"Emerald."

"Good. And remember what words the other two use."

"And your word is pussycat," Haley burst out with. "Say it."

"Fine. Pussycat. Well, let's get going. Don't you guys have field suits?"

"Not yet," Timothy said. "We do have our own Trom armor and anesthetic dart guns." He started up the stairs, and Demrak Jin trotted up behind him. Windcatcher paused and said, "Captain, we are not complete useless newbies, you realize. We have been training and practicing... and believe me, Sable is a tough teacher." She swung around and went up two steps at a time.

As soon as they were all upstairs, the Dire Wolf hurried down to the basement, where he found a vertical freezer standing next to the Trom power generator. The locks were all secured. Through the face-high thick glass window, he peered into a chamber whose walls were caked with ice. Instead of the humanoid he remembered, Bane stared at a rectangular mass of pink substance, frozen solid and with a layer of frost over much of it. Evidently, over the years Bogus had collapsed down to a compact shape. Well, Sable and Megan were the most conscientous people he knew and if they had been keeping an eye on Bogus, he accepted that the monster was safely inert.

He got back in the front hall as Timothy Limbo reached it from upstairs. The young man was wearing the same leather jacket and jeans, but he showed Bane a gun with a thick barrel holster at the small of his back. "Got my armor on," he said. "And the usual gimmicks."

"Good," Bane said. "How's my disguise holding up?"

"Oh, it's fine. The brown eyes and grey hair are enough, but the beer belly really sells it. I wouldn't recognize you." He peered closer. "I have to try disguises sometime."

"TIMOTHY!" yelled Haley as she stomped down the steps. "Was one of your little ghosts watching me dress?" She had changed into blue shorts that were a little snug and a soft white pullover shirt, with a blue sneakers. Over one arm was a floor-length blue cloak of heavy material.

"Who wants to see you in your underwear?" Timothy scoffed. "My caspers are busy with important stuff."

"I spotted one outside the shower the other day," she said as she joined them. "Maybe they can't be touched but you could get a good backhand across the kisser if I catch them again." She glanced over at Bane. "Sorry, captain. You know about his little pals or pets or whatever they are."

Demrak Jin came down to stand beside the other two. She was now wearing white sneakers and had something strapped across her back in a leather holder three feet long. "Ready for battle," she announced.

"Before we go, I want the caspers on the job," said Bane. "Tim, how many can you summon at one time?"

"Maybe a dozen, if I concentrate." Even as he spoke, two little puffs of almost clear smoke were hovering near his head. Seen close up, they had a tornado shape and stretched a little as they moved. Timothy Limbo grinned at them. "What's the plan, captain?"

"You'll be coming with us, but I want you to have as many caspers as you can rushing around the city looking for the imposter. They're barely visible and they can go where human searchers can't. I also want one to stay near us to give chase if we do find the guy and he runs."

"Got it," answered Limbo. "I'll get some of them on the job now." Three more of the whirling wisps circled him and then shot away, passing through the window without slowing. No one knew if these caspers were sentient energy beings who had attached themselves to Timothy Limbo or if they were manifestations of his subconscious mind somehow shaping and controlling ambient energy. Limbo himself wasn't sure.

The Dire Wolf looked over his three team-mates. So young. Haley was only eighteen, Timothy and Jin only a few years older. They looked like babies to him. As had the members of the second KDF team when he had assembled it. But then, he forced himself to remember, he himself had just turned twenty-one when he had been hired by Kenneth Dred...

"Let me make one phone call," he said, taking out his Link. Smartphones designed by Humans were catching up to Trom technology, but the Links were still untraceable and safer to use than a regular phone. "Hello. Don? This is Jeremy Bane. Yeah. I'm good, you got a minute? Right. All I need to know is about Indigo. The magician guy. Is he still lock-up? Sure? Great. No, that's all I needed. Thanks."

Bane explained, "Indigo was a crook who could realistic illusions. I tangled with him three or four times, and finally he got sent to prison. They watch him on monitors that his illusions don't show up on, and they've figured out other ways to neutralize him. According to Chris, Indigo has settled down and just spends his time reading about World War Two."

"Who's Don?" asked Haley.

"One of the guards. I saved his life years ago, and he doesn't mind keeping me up to date on a few prisoners I sent to his facility. So. Bogus and Indigo are both accounted for, this imposter must be something new. If you guys are ready, I want the three of you to head over to Bryant Park."

"What? Aren't you going with us?" Haley asked.

"I'll walk up from a different direction. I'm disguised but I still don't want the police to see me hanging around with three people they might associate with the KDF. Lt Montez in particular knows about you kids." Bane gave a barely perceptible sigh. "How about you three head over there, I'll wait a few minutes and go out the back way and approach from the far side?"

"You got it," said Haley, who seemed to assume she was the leader. "Okay, Timothy.. Jin... let's take the Nissan and hit the streets, eh?" She led them through the panel in the back of the walk-in closet, down to the two-car garage beneath them.

IV.

Left alone, Bane went across the hall and checked his disguise in the full-length mirror which hung next to the coat rack. It seemed okay. He had been so preoccupied with the fact the cops were looking for him on a murder rap that it was just sinking in that Sable had taken on training three new KDF applicants. Well, the team was short-handed. Levon had gone to Danarka to learn how to fully use Cat's Claw and Unicorn was on a year-long maternity leave. He had worked with each of the three new applicants separately and agreed they were suitable for membership.

Heading toward the back of the hall, the Dire Wolf went into the kitchen. Not much seemed to have changed. He punched in the code on the keypad by the door and stepped out into the alley where the KDF cars emerged from the underground garage. As he closed the door behind him, he heard clicks and buzzes as the building defenses went live. Then he started marching along Lexington, turning at the corner. A police car went slowly by, but the officers didn't do more than glance at him.

Making a wide circle, Bane approached Bryant Park from the north, coming down from 43rd. He had picked up a copy of THE NEW YORK POST, although he disliked the paper's attitude, to use as a prop. There was not much of a crowd, and three uniformed officers were standing by an area on the sidewalk marked off with yellow tape. He realized he had not even given a thought to the victim, the little girl, he hadn't even heard her name. Leaning against the wall that ran along the perimeter of the park on the Fifth Avenue side, he played with the paper while actually checking out the scene.

Timothy Limbo was halfway down the block on a bench, hunched forward, hands clasped in front of him. He seemed preoccupied. Bane figured Limbo was paying attention to what a dozen caspers were relaying to him visually. The caspers were hard to spot even if you were looking for them, and on a sunny day like this, they would be taken for a puff of cigarette smoke.

Looking around, he spotted Demrak Jin grimly walking along the rows of wooden booths selling jewelry, Belgian waffles, decorative candles, posters and other tourist items. A friendly young man came up to her and she growled something that sent him away. She was a bad-tempered Gelydra all right. Bane had met her while she was in service to the great Alchemist who had gone mad, Dr Vitarius. Jin had been forced to kill Vitarius to save Bane, a shameful betrayal for a Gelydra to commit, and he had arranged for her to stay with the KDF because she was exiled from Ulgor and had nowhere else to go. As he watched, she turned a corner, searching like a small shark on the prowl.

He edged closer to the murder scene, showing what he hoped would look like normal curiosity, trying to reconstruct the crime in his mind. The victim would be less than five feet tall, judging by the stains left, and had been standing next to the retaining wall. Everything had been taken away by now, of course, so there weren't many observations he could make.

Not seeing Haley anywhere, Bane folded the paper and walked past the distracted Timothy Limbo, around the corner to the front of the New York Public Library. Stopping by the famous stone lions at the entrance, he gazed over the steps leading up to the front doors and saw a man exactly like himself entering. Six feet tall, thin, wearing all black including a turtleneck and sport jacket, short black hair. The Dire Wolf trotted briskly up the wide stone steps to the entrance, feeling it couldn't be this easy. When he caught up with the guy, surely he would not look anything like Bane himself at close range. But he had to find out. Inside the Library, which was not crowded that day, the Dire Wolf caught sight of the man who resembled him going up the stairs to the second floor. Bane dropped the newspaper onto a shelf and adjusted the hilts of the silver daggers under his sleeves without knowing it.

Up on the second floor, the walls were decorated with huge blown-up photos of New York City in the early 1900s. Off to one side was an old-fashioned wooden phone booth with a folding door and a shelf to sit on, something seldom seen anywhere any more. Standing by this booth was someone that looked exactly like Jeremy Bane. Even the gray eyes were perfect. The imposter leered with a mouth that smiled but eyes that were hateful.

Still in his disguise with the grey hair and waist padding, the Dire Wolf strode quickly toward the man. "We need to talk, you and me."

"Oh, this is too soon," the replica answered in a spot-on imitation of Bane's dry voice. "I want to play it out some more." He stood with arms folded, grinning and confident. "I had lots of time to look forward to this."

Thanks for the clues, Bane thought. Even this close, he could not see any signs of plastic surgery or make-up. If the hair was a wig, it was a masterpiece. "What's your grudge, mister?"

Before the imposter could answer, a slim form vaulted up from the stairs and sailed toward them as if weightless. Haley Lawson was wearing the full length blue cloak now, with its Melgar gem that allowed her to mystically summon wind from anywhere on Earth. She came to a nimble landing just out of arm's reach and the two men turned involuntarily to watch her unexpected arrival.

"Windcatcher is here!" she announced. The smug expression on his face was irritating in itself, but Bane had wanted to question the impersonator alone and he was annoyed that Haley might get in the way.

The man who looked like Bane grinned at the young woman. "Just in time to help me bring this guy in. He's tied up with that shooting this morning."

"Oh, who are you kidding?" Haley said. "I know the score." But her voice was not as certain as she wanted it to be. This man WAS Jeremy Bane as far as she could tell, and the guy with the pot belly and grey hair and brown eyes... well, could he be someone just claiming to be her captain in a disguise? It was hard to tell.

Bane saw her confusion. "So. Windcatcher, who's taking care of your pussycat while you're out fighting crime?"

That did it. "Never mind my pussycat, he can take care of himself." She turned back to the imposter. "But as for you! My captain never checked out my legs the way you are doing right now. Perv." She threw back her cloak and a blast of superheated air roared out at gale force to slam the imposter back against the wall. Haley wore the ancient Melgar gem that could summon air from wherever she wished and now she was transporting a windstorm from Death Valley. Heat flowed out in all directions, but the impersonator was taking the full impact of one hundred and fifteen degrees blistering over him at fifty miles an hour. She expected him to drop senseless from the shock and was ready to turn it off in a second.

But something unforseen happened. A coating of white frost formed all over the man's body from nowhere. As fast as the desert air melted it away, more frost appeared. He looked like a living snowman as he stood upright. Taken by surprise, Haley let the wind fade and she stepped back in alarm.

The frost dropped off, and the impersonator no longer resembled Bane. He stood revealed as a muscular light-skinned black man with a shaven head and a prominent hawk nose, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. "I wasn't expecting that," he snarled as he moved toward Haley with fists raised. She threw a blast of sub-zero air from Antarctica at him, forty degrees below zero, fast enough to throw him off his feet and slide him back up against the wall. After only a few seconds, the man struggled to his feet. His skin had turned a dull cherry-red, like iron in a fire, and the freezing wind no longer seemed to bother him. He took a step forward against the howling wind, then suddenly swung around. His body stretched, his legs lengthened half again their original extent and he raced away from where he had been standing faster than any track star.

For once, Jeremy Bane had not reacted in time. His hand went to his pistol, but too late. On the staircases on either side, curious people were coming up to find out what had been making those howling noises. Bane said to Haley, "Let's round up the other two outside."

"And try to make sense of all this? Fine. I'd love an explanation," she said and hurried down the stairs, tugging off her cape to fold it over one arm. A second later, the Dire Wolf turned and went the other way, past library visitors who were wondering what all that commotion had been. Bane was thinking about someone he never expected to meet again... Carl "Hard" Knox.

VI.

As they hustled toward the front entrance, Windcatcher started saying, "I was talking to two guys who saw the shooting this morning, and then I saw you going up the steps in a hurry so I figured you were after a suspect and I snapped my cape on to follow. I can use my powers without the cape actually on, you know I'm actually wearing the Gem of Air under my shirt, but wearing the cape seems to make it a lot easier-"

Bane cut her off. "I recognized our suspect when he turned back to normal. Hard Knox, Carl Franklin Knox. Career criminal, borderline psychotic. I caught him a long time ago when he was wanted for manslaughter in connection with a felony."

"Like what?"

"He was robbing someone's house that had a stockpile of painkillers. Old woman with chronic arthritis. The homeowner caught him and Knox hit her so hard that the old woman died. Knox went on the run, but I tracked him down and dragged him to the police station in a beat-up state. My testimony sent him to federal prison. That was eleven years ago, he was supposed to be up possible parole last year. Of all people to get some sort of gralic power...

In the high doorway to outside, Haley Lawson turned her green eyes up at Bane. "What was going on with him? I gave him Death Valley air and he turned into a snowman. I gave him freezing air and he glowed like a hot coal. What's up with that?"

"I'm not sure," the Dire Wolf said. "He also stretched his legs to run faster, and don't forget he can look just like me...maybe like anyone. I haven't faced anyone with these powers before."

Stepping out in the warm July morning, Windcatcher blinked and put on a pair of sunglasses she had tucked in the collar of her white pullover. "Well. I guess it's obvious why he changes to look like you and why he shot that little girl. He's framing you."

"Proving it is going to be tricky," Bane said. He stood at the top of the wide stone steps going down to the street and spotted something. In a flash, he was down the steps and crouching over Timothy Limbo. Haley trotted up beside him a few seconds later. Tim was propped up against the base of one of the stone lions, head hanging down as if taking a nap. But the way he was slumped had alerted the Dire Wolf.

"Pulse is strong," Bane said. "He's breathing normally. Look at that lump on his head. No wonder he's out. Timothy? Timothy, can you hear me?"

Limbo took a deep snoring breath and shifted around slightly, but did not wake up. He mumbled something. Bane said, "Haley, where's the car?"

"We scored a great spot on 41st," she said, jumping up. "I'll bring it right around." Windcatcher took off at a run down to the sidewalk. Bane continued to examine Timothy Lawson, thumbing an eye open and checking the pupils. Decades of dealing with the aftermath of knock-outs had left Bane inclined to take any concussion seriously. But then, Tim had been on a tagra tea diet for the past year, which was the secret of the enhanced healing of Tel Shai knights. He should shake this off shortly. The Dire Wolf stood up and lifted Timothy Limbo with one arm across his own shoulder. As he carried the dazed young man down to the street, a shiny new black Nissan Sentra came to a sudden halt, double-parked right in front of him. Haley leaped out and ran up to help him load Tim into the back seat, where Bane got in also. Windcatcher ran around to get behind the wheel again, grinning cheerfully as annoyed drivers behind her honked their horns.

"Heading back to HQ," she announced. In the back seat, Bane took out his Link and called Demrak Jin. He informed her of the situation and she said she would meet them at 38th Street. As it turned out, by the time Haley pulled down the ramp into the underground garage, the young Gelydra woman had raced there first and was turning on the overhead lights. In the bright fluorescent glare, Demrak Jin looked slightly more inhuman than usual. The thick seal-like hair, the flat face with a pug nose and wideset blue eyes.. she could be a little alarming at first glance.

They got Timothy up to the medical ward on the first floor, just inside the front door, and stretched him out on a bed. Bane turned on the Trom scanners and saw readings were all within normal range. By this time, the boy was touching his head gingerly and getting his eyes open. "Whoa... damn my head hurts."

"You hold still and rest," Bane told him. "Give it ten minutes before you move, then we'll see." He turned to Jin and related what had happened in the Public Library. The woman from Ulgor scowled, turned away and then came back.

"It sounds like a Velkandu solution," she said. "Ipratomus, I think it was called. My master had many serums, some more useful than others. Ipratomus was the 'Adaptive Formula,' in the correct dose it let one stay comfortable in extreme weather or if likely to be injured. It helps the body adapt quickly to outside harm. He used it once in a while."

"Hm," Bane answered. "Could be that Knox took a big dose. Where would he get it, though? After Mercado's death, I confiscated all his Alchemy potions. They're locked away."

"My master had rivals and former students." Jin shrugged. "The one he hated most was called Megistus. My master regarded him as an equal. Then there was the one called the Sphinx."

"They are both dead now. Well, for the moment let's work with the idea that Hard Knox has somehow gotten ahold of this serum and is now running wild. What can we use against him?"

The Ulgoran smiled. "Every serum has its counter-agent in the Great Art. If you took my master's supplies, you must have a bottle labelled 'Sothathin' or 'Sothethan.' Get that in his blood stream and he will be mere flesh and blood again."

"Sounds easy enough," Haley butted in. "But we're assuming that this imposter is using an Alchemy serum when he might just have a gralic power all his own."

The Dire Wolf glanced at her as he headed to the closet by the front door. "We have to try everything. Keep an eye on Timothy, he should be reviving by now." He stepped through the panel in the back of the closet, went down steep concrete steps and found himself in a narrow walkway. To either side were massive steel doors, but the one on his left had an Eldaran sigil fastened at its top. Bane hit the code which only he, Sable and Cindy knew and the door unfastened with a series of clicks. He stepped into a plain concrete chamber lit by a single naked light bulb hanging on a cord. Here on rough wooden shelves or packed in heavy crates were the dangerous weapons and talismans that had been taken from defeated enemies over the years.

Shards of the cursed sword Hellspawn. The Brand of Submission. The Sceptre. The armor of the Three Sleepers, the Jar of the Djinn, the Mirror of Chij. The Abydus Gong. Each had a horrifying story behind it, each had blood and deaths in its history. In one corner were five large trunks, stacked one up on the other. Each had a label DR MERCADO VITARIUS, 23 GRANT STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE NY. After Jin had slain her master, Bane had spent a long night packing up all the potions and powders and serums as best he could, and they had ended up here. He started searching through the trunks and, after twenty minutes, found an amber glass bottle marked 'Sothathan' on a gummed label. He tilted it and heard liquid sloshing within.

A suspicious thought had been at the back of Bane's mind since they had left the Library. Digging through drawers, he found a metal case which held five clean empty hypodermic syringes and he took one out. Putting on thin latex gloves from an inner pocket, he held his breath as he opened the bottle and filled all the syringes with liquid from it, then carefully closed the bottle tightly again. The Sothathan was a vile dark green color. The Dire Wolf hoped he was doing the right thing. Taking the bottle and the metal case, he headed back up to the ground floor.

Haley and Demrak Jin had gotten Timothy out of the medical ward to sit in a straightback chair in the office. "I'm okay," he said, "just so weak for some reason. I don't know who hit me."

Putting the bottle and the metal case on the desk, Bane walked over with the loaded syringe in one hand, out of sight up against his sleeve. "Good to see you back, Timothy."

"I'm still woozy," the young man said, head hanging down. "Maybe I need a few minutes."

Bane turned to Demrak Jin. "ID word."

"Emerald."

"Argentina," added Haley Lawson.

"Timothy? ID word."

"What? Why, uh- I seem to have forgot, that's funny..."

While he was still talking, Bane seized the boy's arm, yanked it violently out straight and plunged the needle into the forearm. Timothy Limbo cried out and struggled, and for one second, he seemed to swell up into a monstrous hairy brute. But then he sighed and sagged back into the chair. His head dropped to one side. In a minute, his face and body and clothing wriggled and changed. A brutal-faced man about thirty, muscular arms covered with tattoos, sat there instead. He slowly raised his crewcut head and fixed a murderous glare at them all.

"Oh my God," Haley breathed. "He's one of the imposters."

The man jumped to his feet with the evident aim of getting to the door, but Bane smashed a left cross that snapped his head to one side and dropped him to his hands and knees. "You're not going anywhere," the Dire Wolf said. "Get up in that chair." Taking two pairs of handcuffs, Bane secured him to the solid chair.

"Where's Timothy? What did you do with him?" Haley demanded.

"As if I'm going to talk. Start the beatings, I'm used to them."

Kneeling before the prisoner, Demrak Jin reached up with one small hand to grip his head in an unbreakable grasp. This close, her features were clearly not quite Human, and her cloudy blue eyes gleamed maliciously. Her free hand came up with a short blade that glittered in the light. "Oh, I have been hoping for this," she breathed with a little too much enthusiasm, and placed the point of the knife against the outer edge of the man's eye.

"JIN!" yelled Haley. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We start with an eyelid," the Gelydra said. "Always an eyelid, always slowly..." She pressed down and a trickle of blood ran down the man's cheek.

"Stop her!" the prisoner yelled. "She's gonna do it."

"Of course she is," said Bane. "She loves torture. Haley, get a tarp from the basement, there's going to be blood all over in a few minutes."

"All right, all right. I'll talk. A little. Get her away from me."

Bane came over and placed a restraining hand on Jin's shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "At least the eyelid!" she hissed. "Just to get started."

"Plenty of time for that later," he said. "Demrak Jin! Stop. That's an order."

She grumbled and got up and walked back a few steps to stare sullenly at the prisoner, as if something precious had been taken away from her. The Dire Wolf looked down and said, "Better hurry. Your name? How do you know Hard Knox?"

"Rudy. I'm Rudy Rivera. I met Knox in the house, I was doing five years. My partner in the house is Chris Welley, they call him Baby Boy. We started chilling with Knox because he seemed to like us and because the other cons were intimidated by him."

"Good so far," Bane said. "Knox would have been up for release last year, I think?"

"Yeah. Yeah. He got out. We didn't hear from him for a few months. Then he came to visit and things got all crazy after that. He smuggled in a little glass tube full of what looked like red wine and he told us to each drink half and he'd come back the next day. We went along with him, he was someone you just followed. He always seemed to know what he was doing. I drank half of the stuff and Baby Boy got the rest. That night, we felt sick but then suddenly we felt great. Better than we ever had."

"Keep going."

"Hell, you're not gonna believe this. It happened to me and I don't believe it. The next day, Knox came in, real sharp, dressed in a blue suit and tie with polished shoes. He said to just follow him and keep quiet. Then.. then he turned around and killed the guard by turning his hand into a big hammer head and smashing him in the face. He got the keys off the stiff. As he stood up, Knox suddenly looked just like the guard. I mean, exactly like him. Even his clothes changed."

"I believe it. I saw him change like that today. The same way you changed."

Rivera hesitated, then blurted out, "What's going to happen to me? I know you guys ain't cops, everybody knows about you, the Dire Wolf, and how people who attack you just disappear. But I need to make sure I'm gonna be okay if I-"

"The fear is wearing off!" yelled Jin. Across the room, her arm whipped around and the small metal blade flashed through the air to slice deeply across River's cheek, not an inch below his eye. The man screamed in pain and surprise. The knife was stuck in the chair next to his face.

The Gelydran woman stalked closer. "I tell you, torture first and then questions! That's what works."

The Dire Wolf halted her with an arm across her chest. "He's still talking. Go on, Rivera, what happened?"

"Knox got us out. He looked like the guard and somehow we was in guard uniforms too. I don't know how. Knox led us down the hall, out into the yard and he shot the guy at the gate and opened it. I don't know where the gun came from, he seemed to pull it out of a hole in his stomach. Swear to God! I thought I had lost my mind. Just outside was a black Jeep Patriot and he shoved us in. A woman was driving, a hot Spanish chick with long black hair and she floored it. We were out of there in seconds."

Haley Lawson had not spoken. She was staring with a horrified expression at Jin. It had sunk in that the Ulgoran woman was not bluffing, she came from a culture that had no problem with torturing and executing helpless prisoners. Jin caught her watching and grinned wickedly.

"That drink Knox gave you... that's what gives you the power to change your shape."

"Yeah. He takes more of it, he has more control. We need a dose every day. It takes longer for me and Baby Boy and Luisa to change and we're not as good at it. Mostly we react to danger to adapt so we don't get hurt. If we fall in water, we grow gills. If we're shot, our bodies give with the slugs and bounce them back out. We can stick our hands in fire without getting burnt. Knox calls us the Adaptites. He has plans for us, big plans."


"I bet he does. Well, Rudy, you're not an Adaptite any more. That shot I gave you brought you to normal. When my friend here starts cutting you apart..."

"WHEN! You said when she starts?"

"She's determined. Where she comes from, they have different values. Anyway, Knox first wants revenge against me because he blames me for putting him away. Right?"

"Yeah, sure. He said he was gonna pay you back."


Bane's voice got low. "By murdering a little girl while looking just like me. What has he got planned next?"

"Ah, same thing. Knox was talking about pushing a pregnant woman in front of a subway train, something mean
enough to have the whole city looking for you."

"I see. Where are Knox and the others right now, Rudy?"

The man did not answer right away, staring down at the floor. Bane barked to Demrak Jin, "Don't start on him yet," and left the room. Rudy suffered the longest and most agonizing few minutes of his life as the weird blonde woman leered at him as if she was aching to slice him apart. What was wrong with her? Was she psycho?

Then Bane came back with a rolled up blue tarp, which he started unrolling on the floor. "Let's get him over top of this. We gave him a chance to talk."

"They're at a Holiday Inn just across the river" shouted Rivera. "Jersey City. Room 301. By the Cineplex. I'll take you there, my car is at a garage on 46th Street!"

The Dire Wolf stood still, studying him skeptically. "This is your last chance. If they're not there, I'll bring Jin back and tell her to have her fun. She can keep you alive for days." He went through the man's pockets and found a set of keys and a garage ticket. "Haley, stay here with Rudy. Watch him on the monitor from another room and don't talk to him. We'll let you know what happens. Got it?"

"Yes, captain," said Windcatcher.

"Jin, you're coming with me. We're going to free Timothy from these Adaptites and put an end to them."

VII.

Before he left the building, Bane washed the coloring from his hair and discarded the waist padding. He got a spare set of the black outfit he normally wore and put the slacks and turtleneck on with the baggy sweatpants and yellow shirt over them. The sport jacket he folded over one arm. Finding a Yankees cap in the kitchen, probably Argent's, he tugged it down over his face.

"Let's go," he told Demrak and they set out at a brisk walk toward 46th Street. He was startled to find it was only late afternoon. Events had been rapid. The ticket he had taken from Rudy told him was looking for a 2004 silver Hyundai Sonata. Paying the attendant for the time, Bane spotted what seemed to be the right car and made it beep with the keys.

"Haley seemed upset I was going to cut up the prisoner," Demrak Jin observed as she got in the passenger seat. "I think she may be too soft for this crusade."

Bane shook his head, heading out into crosstown traffic. "Jin, I was not going to really let you torture that man. We're Tel Shai knights, we don't do that. I'm sure Sable has told you that."

"What? Then why did you let me start?"

"To soften him up. He could see in your eyes that you were absolutely eager to slice him up alive, and it worked better than any threats." They entered the Lincoln Tunnel, heading into New Jersey. "He already has a potent drugs or two in him, so truth serum might just kill him."

Demrak Jin pouted. "So not even an eyelid?"

"No. Sorry, Jin." He emerged into the hazy summer sunlight and drove a few miles. There was the Cineplex, eight screens with titles of movies he didn't recognize. Just beyond it was a Holiday Inn, and he pulled into its parking lot. Backing in, he shut off the Hyundai and glared around suspiciously but saw no faces at any windows. Still behind the wheel, he wriggled out of the sweatpants and yellow shirt, tugged on the black sportjacket and suddenly was the familiar Dire Wolf again. He adjusted the hilts of the silver daggers beneath his sleeves to make sure they were ready. "Let's go."

He parked by a side door, and took out a Trom device made for him by KDF member Megan Salenger. It chirped and beeped, and the lock on the door opened without triggering the alarm. Bane ushered Jin through, closing the door behind them and stepping into a cool dim hallway. He got his bearings, headed deeper and made a right turn. By a nook which held an ice dispenser and Pepsi machine, he saw a corridor of doors and the first one was 301.

Drawing back a bit, the Dire Wolf whispered to the Gelydra, "I want you to go limp. I will drag you. When the fighting starts, you tackle the one I'm not handling."

The woman from Ulgor grinned. As Bane grabbed her by the back of her jacket and one arm, she sagged with her head down. He saw no one in sight. Swinging around in front of door 301, the Dire Wolf unlocked it with the Trom device he then pocketed and swung the door inward, slamming it behind him. In a standard bland room like thousands of others exactly like it across the country, a man sat up on the bed and a woman jumped up off the couch, turning off HOUSEWIVES OF MINNESOTA with the remote. In one corner, tied with bedsheets and towels to a chair, Timothy Limbo sat with head hanging down.

Bane took stock of both Adaptites in within a second. The man had to be Baby Boy, Rudy's bunkie from prison... a good-looking black man with a young face and short-trimmed hair, wearing a plain white T-shirt and jeans one size too large. Luisa was maybe thirty, with a full figure and long glossy black hair that hung down her back. She had a powder blue dress on, with a white belt and white high heels. As she leaped up, her face was uncertain. "You're back early, hon."

"I brought something. One of Bane's little friends." The Dire Wolf lowered her to the carpeting and straightened up. "So now we have two."

Getting off the bed, Baby Boy said, "Hey Carl, you said you were going to call here before-" and in mid-sentence he was cut off as Bane blurred forward and plunged the syringe into the side of his neck. For the barest second, the man swelled up to be a foot taller, sprouting talons and fangs and scaly hide. But only for a second, then he dwindled down to his original self. A look of sheer confusion crossed his face just before Bane exploded a one-two backfist and hooking cross with the same fist that threw Baby Boy back on the bed with a dislocated jaw.

As he swung around, Bane saw Luisa had morphed into a fighting shape, a sleek tigerlike form with razor claws and fangs in a feline head. Her clothes had been replaced by a tawny mottled hide, and she pounced with a shriek of glee. But she was facing a Gelydra of Ulgor, born with the spirit of a shark and raised in war. In mid-leap, the Adaptite stopped short as a bone-blade sword slid through her chest directly into her heart. Demrak Jin swung the dead creature to one side, letting it plop on the carpet.

"Interesting," Bane said. "When they die suddenly, they kept the shape they were in." He went over to crouch in front of Timothy and examined him. "Pulse strong, breathing good." He thumbed up an eyelid. "Pupils dilated slightly. I'd guess they sedated him to keep him from starting trouble."

Demrak Jin tugged her blade free and went into the bathroom to clean it with hot water. "I was worried she would adapt to my sword and ignore it. I guess it takes a second or so for their bodies to react and she was dead before she could do that. They're hard to hurt but they can be slain. Can you revive him, captain?"

"Yeah, I think so," Bane said as he dug through his inner pockets for a metal case containing assorted ampules. "I just want to use a bare minimum dose." He jabbed the ampule marked 11 into Timothy's forearm, rubbing the site.

The Ulgoran went to check on the man sprawled across the bed. She snorted. "He won't be waking up anytime soon, and when he does he is going to need a surgeon to reset that jaw."

"I hit him pretty hard," Bane admitted. "I wasn't sure if the counter-serum would affect him fast enough. He looked like he was turning into some sort of monster."

Timothy Limbo groaned, shifted in the chair and mumbled. Bane lifted him to sit up straight. "Tim! Tim, it's me. Is your head clear?"

The boy shook his head, winced and forced one eye open. "Captain? Where am I- what is going on? I'm all messed up in the head."

"Tim," said Bane sharply. "ID word."

"Oh, that. Maserati, right? Your word was pussycat."

"Good. One more thing. What was funny about Major Buchinski?"

"Major Buchinski? He turned out to be a woman in a padded suit and mask. What is this, 20 Questions? Tell me what's going on!"

"Just making sure. We're dealing with some masqueraders. Jin, would you get Timothy loose? I want to check with Haley." Stepping to one side, Bane took out his Link and used the Trom device to patch into phone service; his calls could not be traced back by Human technology.

"Haley, situation report," he said.

"He's still tied up in the chair." came her voice. "I left the TV on the Weather Channel so at least he has something to keep him distracted and from trying to talk to me. I'm out in the hall where I can see him but he can't see me. I got a bottle of iced tea and I'm just standing out here. What's going on with you? Have you found Tim?"

"ID word, please."

"Argentina. What about you?"

"Pussycat. Tim is fine, Jin is getting him untied now. He hasn't been hurt. There were two Adaptites guarding him, the woman is dead and the man is out cold with a broken jaw. Now just the leader is loose, but he's the most dangerous one. Don't tell any of this to the prisoner yet. We're coming back for more information."

"Understood, captain. What do you want me to do?"

"Just keep an eye on the prisoner. I don't know if his powers will come back but watch for any sign of him changing. We'll be back in a few minutes."

Getting to his feet, Timothy Limbo tugged his leather jacket straight and stretched. One of the small vague blurs of smoke came gliding over to his outstretched hand. "Here, buddy, let's hear what you've got to say."

Bane watched uneasily. At first he had decided that the caspers were manifestations of Tim's subconscious mind shaping gralic force into little extensions. Now he wasn't so sure. More and more, they seemed to be independent life forms made of energy. Limbo certainly treated them as such. As he watched, a second tiny haze drifted up and hovered around the boy's shoulder almost like a parrot on a pirate.

"My friends were worried about me while I was unconscious," Timothy said. "You can see how happy they are to see I'm okay. They're getting to trust you guys."

"I'm so glad," snorted Demrak Jin.

"Do you know anything that can help us?" Bane asked.

"Hard to say. They talk in images, you know, not words the way we do. But two of them did follow the man who left here. They thought I would want that." Limbo's eyes went out of fous and he turned to the east. "Yes. Yes, he's back in Manhattan. Right around Times Square. He's walking around."

"And we need to find him. You feel okay, Tim?"

"Good to go, captain. And thanks for the rescue. The woman smacked me in the head with a wrench and then they injected me with something and threw me in a car. I was dreaming about trying to swim upstream when I came out of it." Limbo glanced over at the dead feline creature. "I'm going to bet our little Demrak had something to do with THAT."

Bane opened the door and peered out into the hall. "Looks good. Follow me and let's get some distance." He led them down the corridor and out into the parking lot. Further down, a retired couple was trying to back their camper up against a retaining wall and seemed too preoccupied to notice the Tel Shai knights. Bane got behind the wheel, Jin claimed passenger seat and Timothy climbed in the back of the Hyundai. "You're supposed to say, 'shotgun,' when you take the front seat," he told the Gelydra.

"Why would I do that?"

"It's called calling shotgun. I dunno why, people just do."

"Surface people! You have customs that make no sense," she sniffed.

Before starting up, Bane wrestled back into the sweatpants and yellow shirt, keeping the baseball cap on. He had discarded the waist padding and his hair was black again, so his disguise was mostly gone. At least he had kept the brown contacts in, which made him look very different, and the injections had left his nose wider than normal. He folded up his sport jacket and handed it back to Tim. The police were still looking for him, so he decided to have Timothy drive while he sat in the back seat.

"Great," said Limbo as he pulled out of the parking lot. "I forgot for a second the boys in blue are hunting Dire Wolf. I'll head for where my caspers steer me."

"Fine," said Bane. He took out his Link again, cut into Verizon and adjusted the voice modulator so he would sound unrecognizable. Calling the New Jersey Police Department, he reported two dead bodies at a Holiday Inn, Room 301, gave the address and hung up. Although he didn't say so, Bane knew that the local police would take one look at that inhuman feline corpse and call in the FBI's Department 21 Black to dispose of it. They were experts at making the unexplained disappear.

VIII.

VIII.

Two uniformed officers were checking cars at the Lincoln Tunnel, but Timothy used his power to get them through. As the cop peered into the Hyundai, one of the caspers drifted across the man's line of vision. Distracted by thinking something was wrong with his eyes, the cop waved them through and rubbed his eyes in worry. Timothy clucked his tongue as he drove into Manhattan. It was getting near dusk and traffic was heavy. "Where to, captain?"

"Headquarters, I think. We can start searching for Knox from there." Bane was already peering at the people on the sidewalks as they headed toward 38th Street. A patrol car was parked opposite the front of the KDF building, but no one seemed to be watching the alley into which they pulled in the Adaptite's Hyundai. "Tim, ditch the car somewhere and come in the back door. I've been wiping every surface we touched, so you just have to clean the steering wheel and turn signals. Ready, Jin?"

The Dire Wolf got out, hit the code on the keypad by the backdoor and led the Gelydra into the kitchen. As he closed and armed the door, he saw Timothy pulling back out onto Lexington Avenue. So far, everything had gone better than he had expected. Bane left the kitchen and hurried down the front hall to the office, where he found Haley Lawson standing over the limp form of their prisoner. The chair had been smashed tobits and the handcuffs snapped, but Rudy Rivera looked like a normal Human and was visibly breathing.

"Argentina!" sang out Windcatcher. "Hi, pussycat. Emerald."

Bane knelt to examine the man on the floor. "Looks like you had an interesting time."

"You bet," Haley said. The guy started to get his powers back about ten minutes ago. Suddenly he turned into a sort of giant snake with two front legs and most of his original face, ugliest thing you ever saw. He broke the chair apart, gave me a dirty look and headed right at me. But I had been thinking what to do if he started changing shape again. So I used the Gem to siphon away all the air from around him. I put him in a vaccuum. He crashed around for a few minutes and collapsed and went back to normal. And then you guys came in." Under the heavy bangs, her green eyes were gleeful. She made a motion as if dusting her hands together. "Pretty good, eh?"

"Quick thinking and quick action, Haley," Bane said. He took the metal case from his jacket and injected another dose of the counteragent into Rivera's arm. "I guess this means the Alchemy serum that gives them their powers overcomes the antidote after a few hours, or else the antidote wears off quicker. Either way, it's good to know."

"I wish I had been the one guarding this scum," Demrak Jin mumbled.

Limbo entered the office, and Bane glanced up. "How'd it go, Tim?"

"I parked the car a little too close to a fire hydrant, so it'll be getting towed. Haley, did you beat this guy up? I know you've been working out, but really..."

The next few minutes were spent bringing everyone up to date. "So," Bane said, "Of the four Adaptites, one is our prisoner here. One is dead. The third had a broken jaw and a shot of the antidote, but now I doubt if that will stop him for long. Well, the police will have him in custody by now, let them worry about him for the moment. Our problem is the leader."

"I can get the caspers searching," Timothy offered. "Should they be looking for someone who looks just like you?"

"No, I don't think so. Knox will probably be walking around in his normal shape. Big guy, six feet two, maybe two hundred and fifty. Black guy, bodybuilder, with a shaven head. He used to wear a small hoop in his left ear." The Dire Wolf got up and stood over the prisoner. "I want you to get all your little ghosts flying around the city, Tim. Knox already murdered a child to frame me and I think he's going to do something similar again."

"All right," Timothy Limbo said. "I'm going to sit in the rec room so I can concentrate on the images the caspers send me." He left the room, and Bane turned to the two women. "Maybe you guys want to get something to eat or take a bathroom break while we have a few minutes," he suggested. "We could be on the run all night once the action starts."

"Good advice," Haley said, and trotted out in the hall.

Demrak Jin was scowling down at the snoring prisoner. "I know you think I am too bloodthirsty," she grumbled. "But I am from Ulgor and it's how we are. Sable has been trying to get me to spare our enemies and I do my best."

"I know," Bane said. "I appreciate it. You Gelydrim have your own code of honor. Like our Human groups the Samurai or Apache. There's plenty of the counter-agent to keep this guy harmless but sooner or later, we're going to have to decide what to do with him." He picked up the waist padding from where he had tossed it hours earlier. "I'm going to put the grey back in my hair and grab some food. What about you?"

"I only eat twice a day, it's how my body works. I will stand guard over this... Adaptite, are they called?"

"Adaptites, yes. Okay, I'll be back in a minute."

Left alone with the unconscious man, Demrak Jin made a scoffing noise and went over to sit on the couch. She unstrapped the bone blade in its sheath from her back and leaned it against her leg. It was her ritual weapon, which she had crafted herself at her coming of age ceremony. Sable had given her lessons in marksmanship with pistols and she was both fast and accurate with a gun, but her soul would always be in the sword. The Gelydra thought somberly about Dr Vitarius. Five years had passed since she had been forced to slay him to save the life of the Dire Wolf, five years in which this team KDF had taken her in and treated her as one of their own. Often, she returned to the ocean for a few weeks, never breaking surface, swimming and hunting and getting lost in the timeless present. Yet she kept coming back. Always she felt the need to return, to climb up out of the East River in the middle of the night and show up here again. And they always took her back in without question.

They treat me better than my own people would, she thought with vague unease. Perhaps I am turning into one of them....

Haley Lawson came back in, munching a huge bowl full of macaroni salad and with a bottle of Dr Pepper under one arm. "How's it going?"

"Fine." Jin scooted over to make room on the couch and Windcatcher plopped unceremoniously down next to her.

When Bane appeared in the doorway again, his hair was grey and his middle thick with the padding. Adding the brown contact lenses and the thicker nose to the effect, he was hardly recognizable. "I'm going to raid the refrigerator," he announced. "We're just hoping for one of Tim's little creatures to locate the enemy."

As Haley dug into the macaroni salad, she asked Jin, "You ever think of letting your hair grow? You'd be hot with long hair."

"Hot? Oh. This is as long as it grows." The Gelydra frowned. As she started to speak, Timothy Limbo rushed into the room. "My babies have found someone that fits the description. Where's our captain?"

"He'll be back in a second," Haley said, twisting the top off the soda bottle. "So, where's the bad man?"

"Walking along 42nd Street, trying to act like he's window-shopping. The caspers are following him. Right now, he's pretending he's looking at some digital cameras. Say, any more of that macaroni salad left?"

"Nope."

Bane came in behind Limbo, saying, "I hope no one was planning on eating that leftover spaghetti because it's gone now. I heard what you said, Tim. Haley, you're on guard duty again. Here's a syringe with the counter-agent if he stirs and starts changing shape. Jin, you're going to walk with Timothy to where Knox is. I'll follow one block over." He was holding a stiletto that was not one of the two matched silver daggers, and he slid it up his right sleeve into the sheath where his special weapon was usually kept.

"What's with the regular sticker, captain?" asked Limbo.

"I have a plan. It's not enough for us to nail Knox, we also have to arrange it so he takes the blame for the murder he's trying to pin on me. I only see one way to do that. Let's hope it works."

IX.

Outside, it was still light out at this time of year, and of course Times Square was brilliantly lit. Following his teammates from one block over, Bane kept going over his plan. This would be tricky. As they neared 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, he crossed over to watch Jin and Timothy from the opposite side of the street. He had a fleeting twinge of nostalgia for the sleazy, unpredictable Times Square he had known when he was first working for Kenneth Dred. Everything had been cleaned up and rebuilt and scrubbed until it was all just another tourist trap. Ah well. He saw Timothy say something to Jin, and they went down the subway entrance at Eighth Avenue. Bane crossed the street and followed, ignoring a uniformed officer pacing the block. He was starting to get some confidence in his disguise. The Dire Wolf trotted down the stairs to the platform where a train was just pulling out. Twenty-odd people were standing facing the opposite track, waiting for the uptown train.

Walking back and forth, hands in his pockets, Carl Knox watched the crowd. Timothy and Jin kept their distance, studying the billboards and talking in low tones. Bane came down and passed them as if he didn't know them. All his instincts told him that the showdown was only seconds away. He headed straight for Knox, who suddenly had a grin on his face.

Standing ten feet from the edge of the platform, not too close, was a Mexican woman obviously at least seven months pregnant. She wasn't young or pretty, but that wouldn't matter as far as public outcry would go. The murder of a pregnant woman would get the public even more outraged than the killing of the little girl that morning had. Bane came up almost within arm's reach of Knox when the big man abruptly shuddered and changed both shape and coloring. Just like that, he was a duplicate of the way the Dire Wolf normally looked, black clothing and all. It was a startling transformation to witness. The pregnant woman caught a glimpse of it and turned around with big disbelieving eyes.

The man who now looked exactly like Bane grabbed the intended victim by both arms and dragged her quickly toward the edge of the platform. Her bloodcurdling scream got everyone's attention but before Knox could take a third step, a strong hand spun him around and a thin steel blade sank precisely into his heart. Knox rolled his eyes up and coughed, then fell backwards to the platform. The Mexican woman got away as quickly as she could.

As the crowd rushed toward him, the disguised Bane glared down and saw that Knox was not turning back to his true form. Good. As had happened to the woman Adaptite, Knox had died suddenly and stayed frozen in whatever form he had at the time. The grey eyes in the dead face were open and staring. That was all he needed to know. Bane swung around and hurtled up the stairs to the street, past the officer who had heard the scream and who was thumping down to see what was going on. The Dire Wolf walked briskly up Eighth Avenue a few blocks, swung right and kept going. Covering some more distance, he called Timothy on the Links. "What's the situation?"

"Captain! Everyone saw him grab that woman and try to get her to the edge of the platform. She's talking to the cop now. Everyone saw you stab the guy and then run. They're all talking at once."

"Good. I want you guys to get out of there before back-up arrives. Head back to headquarters." Bane stepped into a dead-end alley, ripped the padding from his waist and shoved it between two barrels of garbage. The yellow shirt went with it. He started moving again. Walking into a McDonalds, he went straight to the men's room, got the brown contact lenses out and flushed them down the toilet, then ran hot water over his head in the sink. Most of the grey dye came out. He got back out on the street and saw two patrol cars roll by with lights and sirens both on. Bane kept moving. On 38th Street, he entered the suite of doctors' offices again next door and again went through Ted Wright's office to get into the headquarters building. He discarded the sweat pants in the rec room, and looked almost like his normal self except for traces of the grey dye in his hair.

Suddenly, Bane felt weary as the adrenalin faded from his body. That had been a tense situation but he figured it had worked out for the best. He stopped in the kitchen to get a drink of cold water, then headed into the office. Demrak Jin still sat on the couch, glaring at the snoring prisoner. She stood up as he entered, "Captain?"

"Let's hope it'll work," he said. He turned on the TV that Sable had installed and checked the local news. Channel 4 had a reporter on the street, explaining that the man suspected of murdering the little girl that morning had just been killed himself after trying to push an expectant mother onto the train tracks. The description of the man who had stabbed the killer and then escaped was confusing and vague, no two witnesses getting it quite the same.

"So... Knox is dead?" Jin asked. "He can't confess and clear you."

"He wouldn't confess in any case. In his normal state, he doesn't look a thing like me. He would just deny everything." Bane stood with folded arms. "Now the police have the body of the killer. Yes, he resembles me exactly, but fingerprints and DNA will be different. Those don't change. Everything else can be explained by plastic surgery. It'll seem one of my enemies evidently spent a lot of money trying to frame me. But with all those witnesses and security footage, I'm in the clear. Tomorrow, I'll contact Lt Montez and explain I was way upstate, Buffalo maybe, and came back when I saw the news."

He sat down heavily next to the Gelydra. "It'll be weeks before it's settled, though. Lots of statements to sign and interrogations and meetings with the DA and my legal counsel. I'm tired all of a sudden. It's been a hectic day."

"What about this prisoner?"

"I haven't decided. If he loses the power to change after not getting more of the Alchemy serum, we can turn him over as an escaped fugitive. Maybe have Cindy wipe his memory of the past few days. He'll go back to prison." Bane leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. "Maybe I am getting too old for this sort of thing."

Tim and Haley had been in the doorway in time to catch everything. "Well, you're staying here tonight at any rate."

"Yes," said Windcatcher. "Take a hot shower, we'll get a meal together and then you can sleep in your old room on the third floor. Sable has kept it just as it was. Tomorrow is time enough for tomorrow."

The Dire Wolf stood up and smiled. "Thanks, you guys. Thanks for everything. I guess you're going to be the new KDF team."

"What," said Haley scoffingly, "you had any doubt?"

4/18/2014