"The League of Predators"

[dochermes]

"The League of Predators"

5/3/2000

I.

The doorbell woke her when it rang. From where she had been napping on the couch in the office, Unicorn bounced up so quickly that she almost fell. For an instant, she was not clear on where she was or what she was supposed to be doing. In fact, her sleep-muddled mind had some vague idea that she was going to be late for school again. Then she snapped out of it. The bell rang again. Ashley Whitaker tugged down her white pullover where it had ridden up, wiped at her eyes and rushed to the hall to get to the front door. She was still so tired. This erratic training schedule was killing her, she thought.

The little platinum blonde wished she could take a second to press an ice pack over her burning eyes. That was a trick that had helped her go without sleep many times. Sliding open a wooden panel slightly above her own face level, she revealed a monitor screen and a bank of buttons. She pressed one and mumbled, "Hold on, I'll be right with you."

A familiar voice answered, "Hiya, Unicorn. No rush." It was the unmistakably hoarse smoker's voice of Inspector Harold Klein. As the monitor screen lit up, she clicked by mistake the controls that opened both the street door and the inner door. That was her first fatal mistake. The foyer was revealed as the inner door swung open, showing the short stocky form standing there in the ancient white raincoat. She knew that weathered face with its noticeable glass eye, crinkly greying hair and wry crooked smile.

"Come on in," she said and that was the second mistake that would bring her to the edge of death. No matter who was out there, even Bane himself, the proper procedure demanded she wait until the Trom sensors produced a positive ID of anyone trying to enter the building. She herself had often had to wait to be cleared even after only stepping outside for a minute.

Ashley managed a smile at Klein. The cranky old grouch. "What are you waiting for?" she said, stifling a yawn with the back of one tiny hand. "I said you can come in." Then she glanced up at the monitor screen next to her and her heart missed a beat. The image on the monitor wasn't Klein. It showed a tall haggard man with a prominent nose and deepsunk shadowed eyes. He was wearing a formal dress suit that had seen better days. Unicorn recognized him from the files she had studied that very day.

"Indigo!" she yelped, jabbing for the button that would close the inner door but reacting far too late. The Illusionist raised a massive Colt .45 automatic and snapped off three shots that were deafening indoors. One bullet slammed into her stomach, the next two struck her high on the chest and Ashley was flung back off her feet to roll into the open doorway of the room where she had napping a minute earlier. She remained sprawled in an awkward pose with one arm bent under her.

Behind Indigo, the other four members of the League of Predators were revealed as the illusion of concealment faded. Avathor, Repel, Duffy the Sumo, and Fatal Wasp. They closed the outer door behind them and stepped inside the front hall, but only with some difficulty. Their feet seemed to drag until they were well inside, nearly at the base of the wide staircase leading up to the second floor. Ahead of them was a wide staircase with carved mahogany bannisters, leading up to the second floor. Both walls of the front hall were lined with bookcases broken by unmarked and closed doors.

"That's funny," Repel grumbled. He looked athletic and fit enough, with a square sullen face under short black hair. "It was like walking through quicksand. I had a helluva time for a second there."

Avathor laughed. He was a dramatic figure whose darkly bronzed skin which contrasted vividly with the white crewcut and pale blue eyes. He wore an outfit of riding boots, corduroy breeches and tan flannel shirt. The Gralic Leech hurried to explain, "That fool girl gave us permission to enter. Otherwise, this building has a potent mystic defense... I suspect the Yellow Shield might be under the floor."

"Right, whatever you say," Repel scoffed. "Listen, better make sure blondie there snuffed it before we go any further."

The two remaining members of the gang could hardly have looked less alike. Despite his name, Stuart Duffy seemed to be a full Japanese, towering six feet eleven inches tall and weighing well over four hundred and forty pounds, while Holly Kirschner barely reached four feet nine and would struggle to make eighty pounds. Yet they were dressed very much alike in boots, dark pants and long-sleeved work shirts tailored for them because their extreme sizes made it impossible to buy clothes that would even begin to fit. The Sumo smiled down at the Fatal Wasp, who glared back at him with green eyes as venomous as her codename.

"He's right, Indigo," Avathor ordered. "Finish her. One more bullet but in the back of the skull."

"No, no, she took three slugs in the torso. I don't want to look at her head blownn open," Indigo protested.

The Gralic Leech took a menacing step toward the Illusionist. "You left your courage behind you when you got out of prison," he said slowly. "Maybe you aren't strong enough to be on this team."

"I had a successful career all over Europe for decades," Indigo snapped. "You should only last as long."

Before the confrontation could go any further, the door of a small elevator to their right opened with a DING! and a flash of the light bar. Naturally, the League of Predators swung as one to see who or what might be emerging. With perfect timing, Sheng Mo-Yuan hurtled down the staircase and dove headlong into them.

II.

Indigo had a second to yell "Argent!" before one hundred and fifty dense pounds of muscle and bone landed on him with a knee to the pit of the stomach. It said a lot about Sheng that he didn't hesitate to tackle five deadly enemies by himself. Worse, he had been off-duty for that day and was reading reports in his room on the third floor; the Trom armor was not under his T-shirt and slacks, and he was carrying none of the usual weapons and defensive gadgets. This made no difference to him. At twenty years old, his confidence in his abilities was well into sheer arrogance.

Crouched over the gagging Indigo, Sheng focussed his gralic attribute into increased strength and picked the man up to fling him bodily against Avathor and the Fatal Wasp. All three of the enemies went down in a jumble of confusion for the moment. The young Chujiran wheeled and whipped a high sidekick at Repel but his foor bounced back off the man's face without making contact. The recoil threw Sheng back off balance and he staggered a few steps.

"Forgot about me, huh?" Repel smirked as he threw a wide looping roundhouse right of his own. Sheng swayed aside and smacked that blow past him with a palm block, then reversed his arm and blasted a backfist. The results were the same. Repel's unseen gralic field forced the Chujiran's fist back in the direction from which it had come and this time, the reversal turned Sheng partly around as his momentum worked against him. Lunging in from the side, Duffy the Sumo wrapped both massive arms around the Chujiran and tightened them with enormous pressure.

By this time, Avathor had gotten up as well. "Hold him, Duffy! He's tricky."

Even though he was half the Sumo's size and one-third his weight, Sheng reinforced his muscles and bones with gralic force. He was stronger than the giant for a moment and he thrashed about wildly to break free and jump out of reach. In the close quarters of that front hall, Sheng realized that the five intruders did not have enough room to maneuver effectively. He bodyslammed Avathor and drove the Gralic Leech back against the Sumo, knocking them both up against the bookcase that lined that wall.

"We're in each other's way--" began Repel. Knowing better than to try hitting the man again, Sheng instead seized him by wrist and elbow, pivotted and flung Vargas over one hip in a clumsy cartwheel out of reach. Indigo was only recovering from having his breath driven out of him, and Fatal Wasp was on the other side of the men, unable to reach Sheng with the venom barbs in her fingers. Seeing the automatic on the floor where Indigo had dropped it, Sheng lunged and came up with the gun in both hands. He spun in a circle, firing up above head level and was gratified to see his opponents scramble frantically out of the way.

One bullet hit against Repel's gralic field and ricocheted away to slice across Fatal Wasp's right calf. She screamed. The material of her slacks was sliced open and blood ran out freely. She had drawn her own weapon from a pocket, a flat little LCP, but the sudden pain in her leg distracted her and she fell onto her side. Sheng flung the empty Colt 45 so that it glanced off the Sumo's hard head as a parting gesture before racing up the staircase, two steps at a time.

"After him!" roared Avathor. "Don't let him get away!" Following his own advice, the Gralic Leech bounded up the stairs with his gang close behind him. In a second, he reached the second floor landing, where the conference room and main library flanked each other. As Avathor vaulted up off the final step and placed a boot on the landing, something exploded against his chest like a grenade detonating with a deep thumping boom. He was flung back down the stairs, tumbling end over end and taking his team with him as he fell.

Staring coldly down at them from the landing, handcrafted longbow in hand, was Josef Jubilec. The Blind Archer had slung his Y-shaped leather quiver over one shoulder and, well before the disoriented League of Predators had straightened themselves out at the bottom of the stairs, he had a second arrrow notched and ready to fly. As it happened, Indigo was the first to stand up and Josef let him have have it. This three-foot-long shaft did not have a resonance cap on it as the first one did, it was capped with a hard rubber bulb that smacked brutally into Indigo's stomach exactly where Sheng's knee had bruised the Illusionist only a minute earlier. Doubled up, Indigo vomited heavily and crawled away behind the stairs with no other thought but to get away and hide.

His absence was not even noticed by the other members of the gang. The Fatal Wasp lifted clear of the floor as wide translucent wings spread out from between her shoulder blades. The tiny woman also extended venom-filled stings from under her fingernails as she shape-shifted. Up she rose, intending to swoop down on this fool with a bow and arrow of all things. Once she sank her stings into his skin, they would die within seconds. Holly Kirschner grinned in confident anticipation, but then she did not know why the Blind Archers of Chujir were so dreaded throughout the Midnight War. Quick and elusive as she was, one of the arrows smashed her right in the center of the forehead. At that range, a longbow drove an arrow nearly as fast as a bullet. If the hard rubber end had connected squarely, it might easily have given her a concussion that would lead to death but by chance her head was turned enough that the arrow glanced off and the effect was much the same as getting struck by a hammer. Fatal Wasp fell fifteen feet to the floor below, only landing on the obese bulk of the Sumo by luck. He caught her without meaning to, and for a moment he was preoccupied with finding out how badly she was hurt.

Behind the Blind Archer, Sheng reappeared, twirling a katana with both hands. He had gone into the small museum and trophy room on that floor and snatched up an authentic 16th century sword forged by Masufuri. Fifteen years earlier, Bane had taken that sword after defeating the Weapons Master, Ethan Petrov. The young Chujiran hefted the classic weapon and taunted down, "How about some impromptu surgery, you guys?"

"This has gone on long enough," growled Avathor. The Gralic Leech's abilities varied greatly, depending on which powers he had recently drained from a victim. This made him a difficult enemy to confront, since there was no way to tell he would be capable of. Now he jabbed out his open hand in an accusatory gesture and a blindingly-bright thread of blue-white electricity crackled upward to explode against the Blind Archer's body. Josef convulsed, his bow flying far from reach as he left the floor and fell heavily onto his face.

"Josef?" asked Sheng, shifting his grip on the katana to his right hand. He tried to check on his teammate while also keeping an eye on the intruders. As a result, he accomplished neither. The infuriated Fatal Wasp buzzed up to wrap her tiny body tightly around him, plunging the stings on her fingers into his neck. From sacs beneath the skin, a potent toxin was injected before Sheng could even think of shifting his power to resistance. He gasped and swung around to try to dislodge his attacker but his legs were already growing weak and giving out beneath him. Argent passed out with the katana hilt still clenched in his hand. He twitched for a few seconds.

Striding up to join them on the landing, Avathor shouted, "Good work, Kirschner. Excellent. I hope he doesn't die. I want to usurp his powers."

"It's a fifty-fifty chance," the Fatal Wasp admitted. The veined wings began to shrink and recede back through slits cut into her shirt as she phased back to Human normal. "So, the little blonde tart is dead and we have a Blind Archer and this Chinese guy as prisoners. Not bad."

The Gralic Leech clapped his hands and grinned at his teammates. "Finally. I have dreamed of this moment for years. Don't you understand yet what we have done? The secret knowledge and talismans gathered by Kenneth Dred, the technology of the Trom, the wisdom of Tel Shai itself. This building holds all that and now it is ours. Nothing can defy us now!"

III.

But the Wasp had been wrong about one detail. Unicorn was not dead.

The flexible Trom armor under her clothes had saved Ashley's life, as it had already done several times in her short career. Although thin as silk, the advanced material dispersed any sudden impact over its entire surface. Nothing was perfect, she was still bruised and in pain whenever she took a breath, so she thought at least one rib was cracked. But there is no pain without life to feel it. Dimly, as her head cleared, she heard fighting in the hall beyond the office door where she had fallen. Ashley tried to get up, fell over on her side and started to drag herself. As she made it through the door into the hall, she managed to get up on hands and knees.

Some horrendous commotion was going on upstairs, with explosions and yelling. Sheng and Josef were on the second floor. Ashley started to crawl to help, realized she would only distract her friends and maybe get them killed. Instead, she forced herself across the hall into the big walk-in closet. She closed the door behind her. No weapons. Her Horn was in her room up on the third floor. The Unicorn whimpered from the shooting pain in her chest as she made it to the back wall, opened the concealed panel and slid on her butt down steep concrete steps to the walkway which led to the garage. They should have guns hidden all over the headquarters, she thought, in case of invasions like this. She would be sure to tell Jeremy about doing that once this was over....

As she crawled along the narrow concrete walkway, she passed the Vault on one side and the Arsenal on the other. She couldn't open either one. That was only allowed to the two senior members. Another bad policy to straighten out when she got her way, she resentfully muttered to herself. Ashley was more upset than she had expected. She had been badly injured before, even in more immediate danger of being killed but this situation had her heart pounding from stress. It was all her fault. In another minute, she felt strong enough to get up. She still had to lean against one wall and it was like having sharp glass grinding in her chest as she moved, but she made it to the plain door at the far end. Ashley had only been on the Tagra tea diet for a few months at this point and its enhanced healing effects were just beginning to manifest in her body. The Unicorn swung the door inward, got down the steps without falling and flicked on the overhead lights.

The underground garage was barely large enough to contain two cars at a time, but only one was sitting there at the moment. Bane had taken the Mustang that morning. Ashley clutched at keys that hung from a panel inside the door and forced herself over to tumble into the front seat of the Subaru. Now she was thinking more clearly. Digging in the back pocket of her jeans, she pulled out her Link and called her captain. To her immense relief, Bane answered at once.

"Yeah, Ashley. What's up?" came the welcome voice.

"Jeremy, Jeremy, we're in terrible trouble, you have to come back right now, those Predators we are looking for are in our building! Sheng and Josef are fighting them, I got hurt, I'm down in the garage..."

"Stop talking," the Dire Wolf ordered. "I'm on my way. Call Cindy. She should be heading back to base by now. She will alert Sable and Megan. Stay in the car. If Avathor and his goons break into the garage, drive up the ramp and out to the street, put some distance behind you. Got it? I'll be there soon."

The Link went silent. Ashley Whitaker rubbed her sides and winced. The pain wasn't easing up. Why didn't she heal like Jeremy did? She called Cindy on the Link and again was relieved at the quick response.

"Hey, Unicorn, let me pull over. Okay," said the husky voice of the telepath. "Spill it."

Ashley repeated her story, her voice growing more unsteady as the situation sank in more fully. She had never had to deal with guilt and shame like this before. When she was finished, she gulped and tried to fight back a sob.

"All right," Cindy told her. "I'm already on the road. But listen, Jeremy will be there in a minute and there is no one in the world you would rather see come charging to the rescue. Wait in the car. And keep your fingers crossed, honey."

"Thanks." As the connection was broken, Unicorn flexed in the seat to see if she could move yet and gasped at the stabbing sensation. When she wiped her eyes, she was surprised to find her face was wet. She hadn't realized that she was crying. Even if everyone survived this battle, it meant the end of her membership in both the Kenneth Dred Foundation and at Tel Shai. Her mother would never forgive her. Weighed down by guilt and worry and pain, Ashley was more miserable than she had ever thought she could be. She wanted to crawl into a hole and be forgotten by the world.

IV.

When Cindy Brunner heard from Unicorn, she was already on the New York State Thruway south of Albany, at least ninety miles north of the city. She was in the rented Buick Regal, and she had pulled over to take the call. Since Ashley had already alerted Jeremy, her next step was to contact the remaining members of the team. Levon was at Tel Shai, being trained by Teacher Chael. Cindy punched in the code for Megan Salenger and in a few seconds heard that well-modulated calm voice she had come to trust.

"Trom Girl here. Go ahead, Cindy."

"Is Sable with you?"

"Yes. She is speaking with the police investigation team at the moment. The crime was definitely commited by Avathor and his so-called League of Predators--"

"Hold up a second. Megan, listen closely. Our headquarters is under attack by them right now. Grab Sable and bring the CORBY right back. Use the Eldar crystal to appear in the hangar. And be ready for immediate combat."

"Understood," the Trom Girl replied.

"Jeremy and I are also heading back. Unicorn said she is hurt and is in concealment. I don't know how Sheng and Josef are doing. Every second counts, Megan." Cindy blinked as her Link went silent but she had confidence in those two. She had never known two people more conscientous and level-headed than Megan Salenger and Lauren Sable Reilly. Despite a sinking feeling in her chest, she knew that she had done what she could. Seeing a gap in the traffic, she hit her turn signal and punched the gas as she roared out onto the Thruway again.

You can't win, the blonde telepath reflected. After the original team had disbanded, she had pressed Jeremy to found a new team. She had known the world needed heroes, but now that this violent crisis had exploded unexpectedly, she remembered how nerve-racking the Midnight War could be. Well over the speed limit, using her powers to keep a lookout for the minds of any State Troopers who might interfere, she sped back toward Manhattan.

_____

On the fifty acre grounds surrounding the imposing Previn mansion, with the silver Hudson River sparkling nearby and the rounded Catskills in the distance, Lauren Sable Reilly was still discussing the situation with two police detectives. They had never heard of her personally,but they knew all about Jeremy Bane down in the city. Any member of the infamous Dire Wolf's new team had to be taken seriously.

Sable had to phrase her statements cautiously. Her abilities at greatly increased sensory perception had enabled her to spot details like traces of skin oil on a door knob or the depth to which the microscopic fibers of the wooden porch had depressed in the shape of size sixteen shoes and were only now straightening up. She could not reveal any of this or the other subtle clues she had seen. Sable was convinced that the break-in and murder had been committed by Avathor and Duffy the Sumo, but she had to keep that to herself. Reluctantly, she acted a little baffled and allowed the detectives to expound at great length their own theories.

In her own thoughts, Sable was beginning to suspect something devious behind this crime. Etienne Previn had been interested in mystic curios, true, but his collection had not included anything from the Midnight War important enough to warrant burglary and murder. He had been a friend of Kenneth Dred, which meant that Jeremy wanted to learn more about the death. It didn't feel right. Sometimes Sable admitted she did too much overthinking. She looked for hidden meanings where there weren't any. But, was it just possible, that the killing of Etienne Previn had only been committed so a few KDF members would come up here to investigate? At the same time, Jeremy was looking into a possible Avathor appearance and Cindy had gone even further away from the city to look into some anamolous big cat sightings. Could someone be trying to get her team scattered...? Why?

Without warning, Megan pelted up full tilt and grabbed her by the arm without any pretense at gentleness. The Trom Girl yanked Sable bodily with her as she raced back the way she had come, and it was either run with her or be dragged.

"Sorry, sorry," she called back over her shoulder to the detectives. "Must be an emergency. I'll check back with you guys later." She noticed the dismayed expression on their faces. It never occured to her that she was a pretty, well-spoken twenty-one-year old woman and the two jaded investigators had been more than happy to stand around chatting with her as long as possible.

"Hey! The driveway is over this way," one of them shouted but got no answer. "Where's their car anyway?"

Running across the painstakingly-tended lawn and over a slight rise that brought them out of sight from the mansion, Megan and Sable reached the CORBY where they had landed silently behind some beeches. They hurriedly unfastened the camoflage tarp and stowed it into the rear hold, hopped up into the cabin and skipped the warm-up procedure since they would not be lifting off. Sable opened a panel in the ceiling to reveal a beautiful pale blue gem set in a silver plate. She pressed her fingers against it and said, "Ready. Here we go."

"Wait," interrupted Megan as she fastened her restraints. "Sable, what if one of the intruders is standing where we're arrive? We could crush them."

"That's what they get for breaking into our headquarters and hurting our friends," was the stern answer. Sable forced the full focus of her will into the Eldar crystal. In a flare of blue light, the stealthcopter was abruptly gone from that scene.

_____

When Jeremy Bane had received the call from Unicorn, he had been already heading back to his car parked on McDougal Street. A long hour talking with two of his observers had left him increasingly apprehensive. Something was so fishy about this situation that he felt sure there was a ruse involved. His sources had definitely seen Avathor. The guy looked like a weight-lifter, six foot five and about two hundred and seventy pounds, so he was noticeable enough. But the Melgar renegade also had a dark tan that contrasted vividly with his pale blue eyes and the light blond hair that was kept trimmed short with a sharp widow's-peak. He could hardly be more conspicuous if he carried a neon sign tied to his chest. And this had been the man blithely poking around the neighborhood, loitering in front of stores without going in, circling a block on foot numerous times.

Avathor was not such a fool. Bane had heard of the Gralic Leech using basic misdirection like dark contact lenses or tinted shades, a wig or a brown hair rinse, to alter his appearance. Once, Avathor had worn a shirt padded around the middle to make him seem obese. If the Melgar had been so obvious today, it was because he was trying to be seen and even to be reported.

Why? To draw Bane down here? As the thought hit him that he had been lured down to this neighborhood, the Dire Wolf scrutinized the nearby buildings and parked cars even more sharply than usual. An ambush? An attempt to set him up? No, he thought, this had been to get him out of the way... At that moment, the Link buzzed and he unclipped it from the side of his belt to take the hysterical message from Ashley. At once, he broke into a run and leaped behind the wheel of his dark blue Mustang, swinging out into traffic by cutting off an outaged civilian in a Ford Taurus. It HAD been a trick to get him out of the way and he had fallen for it.

Instead of turning onto Lexington and going into the alley which concealed the ramp to their underground garage, Bane drove on another two blocks and seized an open space as a delivery van vacated it. He was not wearing the full field suit, but his usual outfit of black slacks, turtleneck and sport jacket held a variety of weapons and gadgets and he always had the Trom armor under his clothes. The matched silver daggers strapped to his forearms were ready for instant use. Bane strode around the block to enter the building next to KDF headquarters. Among the offices here was the one was where Dr Wright offered his services. No one was in Wright's office at the moment but Bane had a key.

Going past the receptionist desk in the waiting room, the Dire Wolf opened an unmarked door in the corner and hurried down a narrow passage they had quite illegally constructed themselves. It led to another door with a one-way piece of glass set at eye level. Unlocking that final door, Bane peered out into the recreation room set at the rear of the KDF headquarters. He adjusted the silver daggers on his forearms and loosened the gun in its holster behind his left hip, then stepped out into the darkened room.

V.

In the hangar on the tenth floor, Jorge Vargas paced unhappily and glanced over all the maintenance equipment without understanding any of it. He hadn't gotten past junior year of high school. With no interest in any topics beyond immediate gratification of his personal needs, so the electronic parts on workbenches and diagnostic devices on wheeled carts meant nothing to him. What he wanted was a comfortable place to sit and put his feet up.

Vargas was a tall, imposing figure of a man with broad shoulders and a square sullen face under thick glossy black hair. At Avathor's insistence, he was wearing plain dark work clothes today instead of his gaudier Repel outfit. Like the others, he had a sidearm in a flap holster on his belt; in his case, it was a snub-nosed .32 revolver he didn't expect to need. His gralic power was what he relied on.

So this was the headquarters of the KDF. Vargas walked around in circles, growing elated at the thought that he was going to be able to pay those clowns back for what they had done to him. Dire Wolf and his kid crimefighters had captured Vargas back in January. Lengthy appeals and difficulty filling the unusual charges meant he hadn't even had a trial date set yet. He had sat around in the county jail, fuming and cursing, until Avathor had sprung him from the transport van unexpectedly. Vargas didn't feel any real gratitude toward Avathor. That schemer did everything as part of a plan. Beside, once Vargas realized how the Gralic Leech stole powers from others, he knew that Avathor was going to try to siphon off the Repel attribute sooner or later. Well, let him try.

Getting bored as his short attention span hit its limit, Repel stretched and decided to go poke around somewhere else in the building. There was nothing going on here. As the thought crossed his mind, a whoosh of air struck him like a giant hand and knocked him right on his face. Vargas sprang back up to his feet and was dumbfounded to see a sleek black helicopter sitting in the center of the hangar. How the hell could it have gotten there, he wondered? The ceiling panel was still closed. Vargas did not know about travel crystals, nor how the instantaneous appearance of the CORBY had displaced enough air to create the shock wave which had struck him.

Sitting in the pilot seat, Sable showed the presence of mind which had earned her the position of team leader. She had already armed the CORBY's defense systems and now she squeezed the grip on a handle which sprayed a high pressure burst of clear vapor from nozzles under the fuselage. Bullets and explosives would have had not effect on Repel, but from their previous clash she remembered that he had to breathe like anyone else. This was the same anesthetic they used in their dart guns, only in a vapor state.

Vargas was not aware for a few seconds that he was being gassed. Seeing the face glaring out at him through the windshield, he had enough time to draw his gun. "Why, you little tramp..." was all he said before his eyes rolled up in his head and he sagged to the floor.

"I'm not a tramp," Sable replied pleasantly. "I'm a nice girl."

In the co-pilot seat beside her, the Trom Girl nodded in approval. "You are as quick-thinking as a Human can be," she said. "Even by Trom standards, you are efficient."

Sable grinned over at her partner, showing a slight overbite that people found appealing. "Why, thank you, Megan. I've turned on the overhead vents by remote control. In maybe thirty seconds, we can get out without having to hold our breaths."

After another few months on the Tagra diet, both women would have developed enough adaptive reactions in their enhanced healing that they would have been able to ignore the anesthetic gas. Not yet. Half a minute passed before Megan announced, "Sensors indicate all clear, captain." As she spoke, the Trom Girl unbuckled her restraint straps and slid the hatch open on her side. She was holding the beam projector in her hand and she adjusted its intensity higher. Megan was already wearing a field suit, complete with helmet although she had left the visor up. It was not clear which enemies they would be facing.

Beside her, Sable alighted with one of the anesthetic dart guns ready. Since she had been interacting with the police, she had decided not to wear a field suit on their trip. A sedate pantsuit outfit in dark brown, with a tan blouse and simple gold chain necklace gave her a professional look that had been useful for the situation. Still, she had on the Trom flexible armor under her clothes and carried an assorted of the miniature tools and gadgets in hidden pockets. The dart gun holster had been snapped onto her belt before leaving the CORBY.

With her sensory abilities, Sable only need an instant's glance at the snoring Repel. She could see the pulse in his throat and smell the hormone levels in his faint perspiration, hear how smooth his respiration was. "He'll be out for the next hour. To be honest, he's likely to feel nauseous and unsteady for ten to fifteen minutes after that."

"That is good news," Megan commented. From behind her seat in the copter, she had taken a webbing harness which she now shrugged into to hold the flat disc of the gravity shield between her shoulder blades. "I am getting unclear readings on my Link. There are beings with gralic abilities in the building and it is difficult to compensate for them."

"We know Avathor's team has gotten inside somehow," Sable said. "At least they're down one man. Come on, let's see if we can improve the odds for our side."

They made their way down the stairs to the ninth floor, pausing as Sable listened and sniffed the air. Normally, Megan would be taking sensor readings on her Link to detect life forms but the gralic-powered intruders made that uncertain. Past the ninth floor, with its detention cells and secondary medical ward, they moved down to the eighth floor. This was taken up by research laboratories and a workshop where Leonard Slade had operated. Megan had claimed it for her own and the other members seldom even peeked into there. Still nothing.

It was when they reached the seventh floor, where the gym was, that voices could be clearly overheard. The two KDF members nodded to each other before moving to open the door. The gym had a lot of open floor space covered with thin hard mats for sparring. There were four treadmills along one wall, a variety of specialized Nautilus machines and a few soft ottomans for resting on. A door in the opposite wall led to the showers and lockers.

Here stood Stuart Duffy and Fatal Wasp, examining the equipment. The Sumo had removed his coat and shoes. In his khaki slacks and brown silk shirt, he was an overwhelming sight. The Hawaiian-born mercenary had an enormous belly but it looked rock-hard and his biceps stood out under his sleeves like coconuts. He lifted a dumbbell between his thumb and index finger without effort. "Pitiful."

Standing next to him, the Fatal Wasp scoffed. "Why, you big sausage, you couldn't squeeze into this equipment to use any of it. They'd have to assemble it around you."

The Sumo gave her an affectionate smile which she did not return. "And you, Holly... I guess you could do some pulldowns on this machine if we got you a phonebook to sit on, haw!"

"This is all of me you could handle," she sniffed. Her lower pants leg hung open and gauze bandages could be seen beneath it. Not much blood had seeped through. "Let's get out of here. Avathor's nuts to tell us to stay on this floor. None of those KDF characters are hiding in here."

The door swung inward and Megan Salenger extended her arm to play the invisible neural shock over the Sumo. For once, she underestimated an opponent because the Sumo bellowed in pain but did not fall with a short-circuited nervous system. Off to one side and unhit by the beam, the Wasp swung up her LCP and blasted off five .25 caliber slugs in a single burst. Two went wild. Three went past the Trom Girl and caught Sable high in the chest and knocked her down. The final bullet snapped directly into the beam projector, exploding the device into a spray of metal and plastic shards. Although Megan wasn't seriously hurt, that impact had sprained her wrist and taken her by surprise.

"Nice shot," said Duffy.

"Yeah, I wish I was that good. I was aiming at her stupid face." Fatal Wasp ejected the empty clip from the gun butt and clicked a fresh one into place as her translucent wings extended out across her back. With a loud buzzing, she rose up off the floor and glided toward the doorway where the KDF women were standing. A sly grin spread on her gamin face as she took more careful aim.

In the next split-second, that smirk was wiped away. Megan Salenger lifted clear herself and rushed at her opponent at more than three times the speed the Wasp could reach. Propelled by the gravity shield, the Trom Girl pivotted her body around and drove a straight leg right against her enemy's chest at sixty miles per hour. The Wasp howled, spun wildly end over end and crashed down to roll limply across one of the practice mats.

"Does that hurt?" Megan asked blandly. "As much as my hand does, perhaps?"

"Holly!" yelled the renegade Sumo, crouching over the tiny stunned woman. "Are you okay? You have to be okay."

Hovering steadily well out of reach, Megan called down to him, "Worry about your own safety."

"So true," muttered Sable as she extended her dart gun with both hands in a marksman's grip. She loosed a flurry of six shots. The compressed CO2 propellant drove the darts to jab into the Sumo's thick neck and upper chest, the points being long enough to pierce the thin shirt. A normal person could not have followed the movement of the needle-thin darts but her enhanced vision saw clearly that they bounced off Duffy without scratching his skin. She had feared that might happen.

"You fools," Duffy said as he rose and started to move toward them. "I am no mere muscleman. I am a variant. My skin is hard as iron, my bones dense as granite. I am going to pull you two apart for what you've done."

As she kept an eye on the groaning Fatal Wasp, Sable decided to taunt him. "It's none of my business, 'Slim,' but that girl is not into you AT ALL. You're wasting your time pining over her."

Stuart Duffy lost his mind completely and stomped toward the slim young woman teasing him from the doorway. He had forgotten the other one. Megan dove down behind him to clutch his right ankle with both hands. She did not calculate she could lift him entirely, but she held his ankle and triggered her gravity shield up at full power. The Sumo was flipped upside down, wrenching his thigh muscle nearly out, and then he fell from a few inches directly onto the top of his head. Not noticeably hurt, he heaved up onto his knees and threw a looping roundhouse blow that whooshed as it missed the Trom Girl entirely.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Sable swung toward the other enemy and fired a final anesthetic dart that sank into the Fatal Wasp's exposed upper arm. The woman slumped out face down. There, thought Sable, two of Avathor's team were out of the fight for right now. If only she knew how many were in the gang and how many were in the building.

The Trom Girl swooped down with the intention of keeping the Sumo off-balance. Again, though, she underestimated the man's capabilities. Weighing more than four hundred pounds, he was so overly strong that he was still nimble as a dancer. Duffy leaped up and caught her around the waist with a meaty arm as thick as her torso. His sudden weight overwhelmed the gravity shield's balance for a second, enough to spill them both down upon the gym floor. With his open palm, he slapped the top of her helmet. The visor cracked vertically. As the Trom Girl wriggled and got her legs up under her to begin an escape, the Sumo brought his fist down upon her head to shatter the incredibly resilient helmet. The internal shock absorbent layers kept her from being killed outright, but Megan collapsed into a limp heap under Duffy's massive arm. Blood trickled out of her nose.

As he rose back up, Duffy rocked back a step when a resonance cap detonated against his chest. The explosion echoed back and forth from wall to wall. The caps were designed to break bone if direct contact was made but he only smiled. While his shirt was torn to shreds, the skin underneath had not even reddened.

"I am Akizuki, the Mountain of Iron!" he roared. "Nothing you can do will stop me!" He thundered toward her as quick on his feet as a man one third his size. Sable stood her ground. She flung her remaining resonance cap but Duffy backhanded it away and pounced upon her like a wave crashing. Sable kicked and punched and, against any halfway normal person, she would have broken free. But the Sumo flung her down upon her back and smashed an elbow to her solar plexus. Even her armor could not protect her from so much impact. The blood rushed away from her body core and she passed out.

Throwing her carelessly over one shoulder, Duffy hustled over to place the similarly stunned Trom Girl over his other shoulder. He had more than enough width to hold them. Then he picked up the sleeping Fatal Wasp, took her pulse and decided she was drugged by one of those damned darts but would be all right. Carrying all three women as if he didn't even notice the burden, he strode hurriedly toward the door.

VI.

In the conference room on the second floor, the green metal filing cabinets had been forced open. Piles of manila folders and loose documents littered the floor. Avathor was almost hugging himself, giddy with excitement.

"I can't believe the treasures that idiot Bane has been sitting on," he laughed. "With these files, we can loot a dozen adjacent realms. Hoards long thought lost and hidden fortunes! The formulas of Velkandu Alchemy. Dirty secrets of the White Web and STIGMA. Weaknesses in the defenses of Androval, Ulgor and Maroch. I can hardly stand it."

On the other side of the room, Indigo was examining shelves of weighty reference books. "Some of these can fetch a hundred thousand dollars apiece. I didn't know unexpurgated copies still existed of THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN or ZHUNE, HOMELAND OF THE HUMAN RACE. And I saw an open door of a vast library down the hall. We're millionaires without ever doing anything but selling these one at a time, Avathor."

The Gralic Leech straightened, eyebrows lowering. "Wait. I have let myself become distracted. We are not safe yet. The other Tel Shai fools might return at any minute. Indigo, go downstairs and hide the blonde girl's body, then fetch Duffy and Repel here for orders. I want the Wasp on the roof, keeping watch."

The illusionist hesitated and Avathor said in an ominously smoth tone, "Are you not up to your duties, magician?"

"Oh, don't worry about me," Indigo answered.

"I think you are falling apart. You've met Jeremy Bane twice and both times he beat the living hell out of you and sent you back to prison. Honestly," Avathor shook his head. "Your membership in this League is hanging by a thread."

Indigo did not respond. He headed out of the conference room and, once he was out of sight, he rubbed his sore abdomen carefully. It still hurt enough that he would have considered seeing a doctor if he had been by himself. He wanted to escape. But going on the run was not safe either. Avathor had made it clear that resigning from the League of Predators would be calling a death sentence on oneself.

Stamping his feet on his way down the stairs, the Illusionist fumed over this latest indignity. He had been a world class operator on his own. For thirty years, he had terrorized Europe with his illusions. He had taken hundreds of women who had thought they were lying with a loved one. He had walked unseen out of museums and banks and casinos, carrying vast wealth. He had murdered anyone who dared stand up to him, making them drive off cliffs or unknowingly drink poison from a bottle that looked like wine to them. And yet here he had ended up somehow, cringing meekly and obeying the orders of a... a Gralic Leech.

It was all Bane's fault. That damn Dire Wolf had tricked him, misled him, broken him down with crude physical assault. If he ever set eyes on Bane again....

As Indigo set foot at the bottom of the stairs, a strong hand seized him by one shoulder and swung him around. Indigo had only a split-second impression of cold grey eyes and the thought barely formed in his brain that his wish had gone terribly wrong. Then something hit him like a rock on the end of a swung cord. Jaw dislocated and with some subdural bleeding in the back of his skull, the Illusionist sagged unknowingly to the carpet and slept in the dreamless dark of the comatose. Bane drew back his fist, listening and watching, but not picking up any clue that others were nearby. He scowled at the nearless lifeless form at his feet. This guy again. Indigo had an amazing wild talent but the strength and determination to become a world-class menace was not in him.

For a brief second, Bane actually felt a twinge of sympathy for the Illusionist. Only five years ago, the man had been handsome as an old-time movie star, confident, even arrogant. Now he looked like a wino down on his luck. Well, the Dire Wolf thought, Indigo had made his choice. He fired one of the anesthetic darts into the side of the magician's throat, then dragged the half-dead form out of sight behind the stairs.

Before entering his headquarters, Bane had tried taking readings to find out where his friends were. He couldn't get a clear signal. Too many of this League of Predators had gralic powers that acted like static. He knew that Avathor had gathered this gang, and that Repel had been freed from that prison van to join it. Obviously, Indigo had also been part. But there was no way to tell who the other Predators might be. Samhain? Sepulchre? Maybe even Quilt, that was a scary possibility. He realized he was up against unknown odds. The Dire Wolf bounded across the front hall in one step and disappeared into the walk-in closet. He had a plan. Going through the sliding panel and down the steep steps, Bane turned on the overhead lights.

To his left were the water tank and pump that had been there when Kenneth Dred had owned this building, but the featureless grey metal cube of the Trom power plant replaced the gasoline-fueled emergency generator. He glanced down the narrow walkway at the door at the far end, where as far as he knew, Unicorn sat huddled and uncertain. Unfortunately, there was no time to check on her. He didn't know what Avathor's gang might be doing to his team at that second. He strode past wall shelves cluttered with suitcases, old TVs and appliances, neatly labelled cardboard boxes of evidence. Flanking each other halway down the walk were a pair of massive iron doors with Eldar talismans fastened at their top edges and ensalir trim crossing their fronts. To his right was the Arsenal, to his left the Vault.

Only Bane and Cindy knew the code on the touchpad which unlocked the Vault, and only they knew that the keys had to be pressed with a specific rhythm. Here were kept trophies and talismans of the Midnight War, gathered over fifty years by Kenneth Dred and then added to by the KDF. Under a single naked light bulb were revealed the most dangerous items on Earth. There stood the blur ceramic Jar of the Djinn. A locked crate holding the gathered fragments of Hellspawn, the Blade Which Seeks Life, stacks of the Zhune artifacts bearing the lost science of that ancient land, the Ghoul-summoning pendant. The Spiked Gauntlet. The voodoo Death Drum from their first meeting with Samuel Watesa, the Silver Hammer of Malberon. Ceremonial arthame daggers, a Hand of Glory, sealed vessels of Alchemical serums. Two Mummy cases nailed shut, jeweled chalices and plain clay goblets, a row of human skulls behind glass casing, some crumbling sea trunks piled atop each other. Much more. Bane's eyes flickered involuntarily toward a red decanter from which a pleading tiny voice squeaked. "I'm sorry, Mercurio," he whispered.

Here also were one or two benevolent items. He picked up a soft cloth cachet from a shelf, opened an ornate chest of gleaming ebony and carefully filled the bag with two handfuls of what seemed to be sparkling gold dust. This was 'Cyrinkyl,' the Star-Snow used by the Eldarin as a humane weapon when they had to fight. Never before had a mortal Human been entrusted with Cyrinkyl and the limited amount remaining in that chest made Bane reluctant to ever consider using it. But today was an emergency like no other.

Sealing the Vault again behind him, the Dire Wolf drew his gas-powered gun and ejected the clip of anesthetic darts. While still running back up toward the steps leading to the front hall, Bane tugged a magazine of the resonance caps from an inner pocket and clicked it into place. He was trying, not entirely with success, to remain calm and professional and clear-headed for combat. But Avathor and his goons had dared to invade KDF headquarters and attack the novice team. A cold rage he had not allowed himself to feel in years boiled up inside him.

VII.

After Indigo left the conference room, Avathor decided he would have to kill the man. First, of course, he needed to bind Indigo for a few hours so he could steal the Illusion-casting but after that, the man had to go. He was useless. But first he had two prime candidates for siphoning. Tied with wire to their own chairs at the long oak table, Sheng Mo-Yuan and Josef Jubilec sat with their heads drooping down onto their chests. He had used their own anesthetic darts to knock them out for the next hour.

Avathor's Gralic Leech power enabled him to siphon off gralic abilities from his victims. Depending on how quickly and thoroughly he did this, sometimes the subjects died outright. Sometimes they survived and even regained their powers in time. Over his long career, Avathor had enjoyed possessing everything from flight to telepathy to invisibility. Unfortunately, the stolen powers never lasted more than a week at best, so he was constantly searching for likely victims. This Blind Archer, here, possessed perception which allowed him to hit any target whether in darkness or rain or fog. That was useful, certainly, but it was the Chujiran youth whose capture excited Avathor most.

From all reports, this 'Argent' boy could channel gralic force into his own body to increase speed, strength or durability. Evidently, he could only call on one attribute at a time but even so, this would be an amazingly versatile ability to posses. Avathor leered down at the unconscious Sheng. He would try to do this carefully and keep this Argent child alive. If he kept the boy prisoner, Avathor thought he might be able to refresh the stolen abilities before they faded. It was an experiment he had long wanted to try.

The Gralic Leech had no confidant at the moment , no toady to whom he could express his feelings. When his strange ability had manifested itself, he had been first ostracized and then banished from Androval on pain of death if he should return. The Melgarin were not a tolerant society. At the moment, he wished to boast and brag about his achievement in taking this citadel. When he saw the huge bulk of Stuart Duffy fill the doorway, Avathor felt even more elated. The Sumo had brought two additional prisoners.

"Boss, boss," Duffy pleaded as he unceremoniously dumped Megan and Sable on the floor so he could hold up the limp form of the Fatal Wasp. "See if Holly's going to be alright. Hurry."

In a few seconds, Avathor reassured the giant mercenary. "Her pulse is strong and steady. She's breathing normally. I think it's only the effects of a KDF dart that is keeping her asleep. Duffy, put her on that couch in the corner. And stop fretting like a lovesick schoolboy." As the Sumo Stretched the Wasp out gently, the Gralic Leech propped first Sable and then Megan up in chairs around the conference table. He got the reel of thin wire he had used before and tied their wrists and ankles to the chairs more tightly than was really necessary before stepping back.

"Here." Duffy handed his leader the dart gun which Sable had been using. The Gralic Leech ejected the magazine and carefully popped out two of the needle-thin darts. After jabbing one into Megan Salenger's neck and then another in Sable, he exhaled loudly and laughed out loud.

"I do not know who this one is," he said, pointing at Sable. "Hopefully, she has some useful power I can claim. The other one is the famous Human orphan who was raised by the Trom. If nothing else, some skillful torture will convince her to tutor us in the use of Trom technology. This gets better and better."

The hulking Sumo pawed unhappily at the scraps of his shirt which hung down over his massive chest. "So. I guess that only leaves Dire Wolf himself and that telepath he works with, huh?"

"Plus a few of their friends," Avathor admitted. "But we can handle them. Where is Repel, by the way? I sent him to search the hangar. Indigo should be back by now, as well." The Melgar renegade turned his pale eyes up to meet the anxious stare of the Sumo. "These four will be unconscious for an hour at least. Come on, let's see what happened to the rest of our League. No, don't go over to the Wasp again, I tell you she's fine..."

Duffy and Avathor were next to each other beside the conference table, facing away from the hallway door. They would have sworn they were both alert and on guard, and yet, somehow, a tall gaunt form was suddenly behind them. From each hand, Bane flung a tiny glittering cloud of pale golden dust which swirled around the two intruders and clung to their heads. Choking and wheezing, they reeled back. Calmly, Bane picked up the dart gun and clip which had been left on the table and pocketed the items.

His eyesight clearing, Avathor found the gold powder was struck on his face and shoulders, resisting any efforts to rub it away. "Bane! Here! Duffy, kill him!"

The monstrous wrestler grabbed at the Dire Wolf with both hands but he received a stunning surprise. Bane hopped to one side, kicked down at the side of Duffy's knee and spilled the big brute to the floor. Kneeling, the Sumo's head was still five feet off ground level and Bane gave him a combination right backfist, then a left cross that rocked that big round head from side of side. Duffy crashed over onto his back and did not stir.

Avathor stared with horror at seeing his invincible bodyguard demolished with only two punches.

"Yeah, that's Cyrinkyl on you," Bane told him quietly. "Eldar star-snow. It removes gralic charge. You're just normal flesh and blood now."

VIII.

"Repel! Indigo!" shouted the Leech.

"I wouldn't expect much help from them," the Dire Wolf said. He raised one hand palm up, and flexed the fingers in a 'come here' gesture.

"You bastard!" Avathor rumbled. "I'm still twice your size. I'll kill you and win this campaign."

"You can try." Before the Gralic Leech could take a step forward, Bane lunged in with a fencer's quick step and drummed twenty alternating left-right hooking punches to the ribs, all within one second. Avathor gasped and staggered, bending over. His fists fell, leaving him exposed and Bane brought the rigid edge of his hand up high and then down to the base of the Melgar's neck with a noise like an axe biting into wood. Avathor fell face down without any attempt to catch himself.

Even with his healing factor, the Dire Wolf's hands were sore after delivering that barrage. He flexed and kneaded them to keep them from getting stiff as he checked on his team. Sable, Megan, Sheng, Josef... they had all taken some damage but they would be all right. Bane's knees got weak. He dropped into a chair at the side of the table next to the sleeping Blind Archer and took a deep calming breath. He was a little surprised at his reaction but he had not been acknowledging just how worried he had been. He felt exhausted suddenly.

Unclipping his Link, he called Cindy and immediately assured her the situation was under control. The new team was accounted for and would recover within the hour. The League of Predators had been captured.

"Oh thank God," came the telepath's voice. "This drive is taking forever. I'm only now reaching White Plains. Jeremy, I talked to Ashley a minute ago. She's almost hysterical."

"She should be," Bane commented unsympathetically. "Letting a team of our enemies into headquarters...! All right. Call her back and tell her to come up to the conference room. Get here when you can. I'm going to secure these thugs and see if our team can be rousted."

Breaking contact, the Dire Wolf used more anesthetic darts on Duffy and Avathor. The Fatal Wasp was sleeping off the effects of hers. He thought there would be enough time to make sure they were locked up before they would stir. As he was doing this, he heard the elevator door across the hall ding open. Shamefaced as he had never seen her, Ashley Whitaker limped into the conference room and waited for him to speak.

"Snap out of it," he said. "Right now, I want you to get the green-coded syringes from that drawer to your left. Inject the contents of one apiece into our friends. But not Sheng."

Still silent, Unicorn opened the cabinet and took out a metal case holding a dozen hypodermics, each of which had a green band around its middle. Other syringes for different purposes were in that drawer as well. Still bent over, she walked to the oak table and tugged up Sheng's shirt sleeve. Then she froze and lowered his arm again.

"Not Sheng, I said," Bane snapped. "He was stung by the Wasp. I don't want to add another strong chemical to his system. Do the others." Bane crouched down, seized the unconscious Avathor under both arms and dragged the Gralic Leech out of the room. While he was gone, Ashley administered the antidote to her friends. It wouldn't work instantly and there would be some nausea and dizziness for a while, but they would come to within a few minutes. She sat down at the table herself, still sore from the point-blank gunshots she had taken. She had never seen Bane be so sharp with her, she realized she had goofed up beyond forgiveness this time.

Bane returned and picked up the Fatal Wasp in his arms before heading back to the elevator. Ashley knew he was locking them in the seldom-used detention cells on the ninth floor, right below the hangar. There were six reinforced rooms there, designed to restrain Melgar or Gelydrin or even Trolls. That floor also held a secondary medical room for when the KDF team might come back wounded and be rushed right there from the CORBY. The Dire Wolf came back a third time, studied the immense bulk of Stuart Duffy and started dragging him with difficulty out of the door. Ashley got up to help, but he stopped her.

"No. Stay here and brief our team. They're starting to revive. I still have to fetch Repel and Indigo."

More dejected than ever, Unicorn helped her teammates as they groaned and blinked and came back to awareness. She filled them in on everything that had happened that day, repeating herself as each of them recovered from grogginess. Ashley did not spare herself in the telling. She said the whole disaster was because of her. Once Sable had gotten back to near normal, she examined Sheng with her enhanced perception.

"I'm fine," the Chujiran slurred as he tried unsuccessfully to raise his head. "I'd like to go dancing..."

"Well," sighed Sable. "He's going to feel like crap for a while, but at least he will be all right. The Tagra's eliminating that wasp toxin at a good clip. But I think we need to put him in bed and let him rest," she said. She turned thoughtful eyes on Unicorn. "Your heartrate is sky-high, Ashley. Calm down."

The tiny blonde did not answer. She watched as Bane returned and checked on everyone before sitting down himself. He let out a deep breath. "They're all in the stongest cells we could devise, and the anesthetic will keep them quiet for a while yet. I used star-snow on Avathor and Duffy, so they won't have powers for a few days. Wasp and Indigo and Repel don't have abilities that would help them break out, in any case. Once we catch our breath, we can turn most of them over to Department 21 Black. Duffy is wanted for homicide in Califiornia. But I know Androval wants Avathor back for execution. All that can wait for the moment."

Josef Jubilec examined scorch marks on the tips of his fingers from where Avathor's electric bolt had exited his body. "Not our finest hour, captain."

"I'm sorry," added Sable.

"You did all right," Bane said. "With only a few months training, you people stood up to hardened enemies who have been in the Midnight War for years. Once you're ready, I guarantee you guys will be more than a match for anything out there. But there is one unpleasant matter to attend to." He got to his feet and went to the head of the table to face them. "Ashley, stand up."

This was it, the blonde thought as she rose. She was NOT going to cry, she wasn't, she was going to take this like a soldier. "Yes, captain."

"Luckily, none of us were killed. And we do have five of the most wanted threats in the Midnight War locked up now. But you admitted Indigo into this building without waiting for him to be cleared. The procedure is mandatory and you skipped it. Is that correct?"

Again, she said, "Yes, captain."

"You are suspended from all duties for three weeks. You may reside in your quarters as usual and take your meals here but you will not participate in any activities for three weeks from this date, even emergency missions. Your living allowance is cancelled for this period, as well. After that, you maygo back on duty if you intend to stay on the team."

The Unicorn was staring at the floor. "I understand."

Bane's voice softened almost imperceptibly. "I'm sorry to do this, Ashley. Someday you'll understand."

"Now you do sound like my mother," she said.

4/19/2000 - Rev.11/22/2018