The Dangers Of Daring Officer Dolly

Chapter 37. "Vengeance of the First Knight"

by Skytower

Serenity made sure that she had a good hold of Truly and blasted the wall apart. It didn't take much power to do it, the tower they were in was crumbling. Flying out of the hole she activated her shields and hovered for a moment as the spherical bubble surrounded them. Serenity’s armor was forest green and it felt good to have it on again. The armor copied her slim body with spikes at her shoulders and elbows. Darksun’s entire castle was coming apart. The towers were falling as their foundations were blown apart and the walls were going with them. The robotic drones were falling out of the sky without a control program to run them. Serenity allowed herself a moment of supreme pleasure. Archduke Darksun had tormented her for twenty years, he had made her life miserable whenever and however he could. Now he was dead and his castle was being destroyed. The vengeance didn’t taste sweet, it tasted glorious.

Truly moaned and Serenity was brought out of her joy by the reality of that moan. Her daughter had been raised by Darksun to be an evil tyrant and had failed. There was no way to know if Truly would ever be a good person. But the moan also made Serenity remember her friends.

"Armor search Esmerelda all forms." Serenity ordered. The armors mystic computer took over and a display screen appeared in front of her eyes. Serenity’s armor was technologically based, but powered by magic. Its computer could use mystic senses as well as mechanical ones. The mystic sensors searched out the were-wolf and found her. There was a beep and a little map sprang to life in front of Serenity’s face. She was near the tower that led to the dungeon, helping Ms. Dream crawl away from it.

Serenity flew down and landed next to them. Tranquility was holding two fairies and Vicki was helping Miss Shadow try to stand up. Ms. Dream and Miss Shadow had been severely beaten. Bitch-35 hovered over them all.

"Verity?" Serenity shouted the question.

"Mum!" One of the fairies shouted back.

Serenity bent down and looked at her and was horrified to realize that her daughter could not look back.

"I'm here." Serenity said.

"We have to get out of here!" Esmerelda shouted as more explosions shook the castle.

"Where's Merry?" Serenity asked.

"Down there!" Ms. Dream shouted back pointing toward the dungeon. "Fighting Hellspite."

Just as she pointed another explosion shook the ground and the tower erupted in flames.

"Armor full shield wide." Serenity shouted and a force shield surrounded them all. There was no way to get to Merry now. "Let's go!" Serenity shouted. "Stay together and stay with me!"

Together they ran and stumbled through the chaos.

By the time the sun came up the battle was over. Darksun castle was a smoking pile of rock. Serenity hovered over the ruins and pushed her sensors to the limit and beyond. But there was nothing to find. There was no life above a rat that she could detect. Not even the mutated monsters had survived. The only hope was that the mirnrock was interfering with her scans. But if it were there should have been blank spots, blind areas that she could have spotted. But there weren’t.

Serenity flew to a hill overlooking the ruins. Esmerelda was sitting with Vicki and Tranquility. Vicki held Melissa, Tranquility held Verity. Aphrodite had vanished in the battle. On the ground, stripped of her armor, bound and gagged was Truly. She had shouted through most of the battle; insults and threats until Esmerelda had finally gagged her. Ms. Dream was slumped on the ground. She was in bad shape and Serenity felt shame at the fact that her daughter had been the one to beat her friend. Bitch-35 sat next to Miss Shadow who had also been beaten and was still un-conscious. Soldiers from the UC had been by and given them robes to wear. An escort was on the way for Melissa. Serenity hadn’t liked the dark looks that Truly had gotten. She landed next to her daughter and stroked her forehead lightly. Truly responded by growling and struggling. Her eyes looked fiercely at her mother.

"Mum?" Verity asked.

"Here." Serenity said. "Armor off."

The armor flowed like quicksilver as it pulled back into her bracelets and necklace. Serenity reached over and took Verity out of Tranquility’s hands.

"Been a while since you were able to hold me in your arms." Verity said. Her voice broke as she tried the joke. "Funny, it was fooling around with tiny folk that got me into this mess. That’s justice for you."

"It wasn’t your fault or my fault." Serenity said. "It was Darksun’s fault and he’s dead. We’re all victims."

"Some more than others." Verity said. "I thought I was a bitch mum. I worked at it, I mean I really worked hard at it. Truly showed me what a bitch was." Verity groped along the chainmail shirt and Serenity lifted her up so that the blind fairy could feel her face. "Mum I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!"

She was crying and Serenity wanted to hug her tightly but she knew that the fairy body wouldn’t take it. Instead she held Verity in one hand and stroked her head with her fingers.

"We’ll change you back dear." Serenity said. She looked at Bitch-35. "Do you have to gather plants from this world for the potion to change her back?"

Bitch-35 had been looking at the castle and now she looked back to Serenity. Serenity felt her stomach drop at the look on the fairies face. Grown from one of Serenity’s eggs Bitch-35 was even more of a victim than Truly.

"There might not be a way to change anyone back." Bitch-35 said. "Darksun sold the potions that changed people into fairies and such, but he didn’t sell the antidotes. You had to go to him and pay directly. And sometimes he might not sell you them anyway. The antidote was in his castle."

"You bitch!" Vicki said. "Why didn’t you tell us that?"

"Because if I did you wouldn’t need me." Bitch-35 said looking at the ruins. "I’d be like Merry, someone you used and left to die."

"We did no such thing!" Serenity exclaimed.

"I flew into the dungeon with Merry." Bitch-35 said. "I kept my wings dark so no one could see. When she went for Miss Shadow Ms. Dream attacked her."

"This is what you get for trusting such an abomination." Melissa said and the elderly fairies voice dripped with contempt.

"As if you are the greatest being in all creation." Bitch-35 spat.

"You mean we have to stay as we are?" Tranquility asked her voice full of horror and shock. Her four centaur feet stomped nervously.

"No." Serenity said. "Even if there is not antidote here the antidote must exist. If I can not find it the Young Ancient can, or the Legion of Mystics. They owe us that much at least."

"You..." Vicki said making a grab for Bitch-35. "You little..."

Bitch-35 flew up and out of her reach and hovered there.

"Well forget coming back to Earth with us!" Vicki said. "You stay here and rot!"

"That’s what I expected." Bitch-35 said looking at the ruins. "With her gone it's what I expected."

Serenity realized suddenly that the half mechanical fairy had formed an attachment to Merry. And Serenity felt another stab of shame hit her as she realized why. She had been too busy negotiating with Dreft to get to the United Clans. Too busy to give much thought when what she thought had been a half-drow fairy had been nailed to a wagon wheel to die a slow and painful death. Serenity realized that she had been so focused on Verity and Truly that she hadn’t cared. But Merry had and had rescued Bitch-35 and tended her wounds. Merry had been the heroine then, and even after Bitch-35’s deception had been revealed it was Merry who had stood up for her.

I didn’t even after I realized that she was my daughter, Serenity thought. As usual I was too focused on my task. Dear Lord above no wonder she lied to me.

"You will come back with us." Serenity said. "I will not leave any of my daughters here."

"She will plague you until you die." Melissa said. "Her type is nothing but trouble."

"She is as much my daughter as Verity or Truly." Serenity said. "I am through failing them."

A moan interrupted them but Serenity thought she saw something on Bitch-35’s face. Surprise? Warmth? It was impossible to tell. She looked over as Ms. Dream sat up.

"How do you feel?" Esmerelda asked.

"Same as always. Like I've been tied up and tortured for a few days." Ms. Dream said. She looked the part as well. The robe that she had been given barely covered the welts and bruises on her body. She blinked and looked at the castle. "Better call Bob Villa. Bet its gonna take more than a few coats of paint to fix that."

"It will never be rebuilt." Melissa said fiercely. "Never."

"Ms. Dream did you attack Merry in the dungeon?" Serenity asked.

"What?" Ms. Dream blinked and rubbed her head. "Yea, I remember now. She was going for Miss Shadow with a knife, I couldn’t let Merry kill her so I hit her with a telepathic attack."

"Is that why?" Bitch-35 asked.

"Yea." Ms. Dream looked up. "Who the hell are you?"

"She’s my daughter." Serenity said.

"Daughter? What’s going on?" Ms. Dream asked. "Where’s Merry?"

"There." Bitch-35 said pointing at the ruins.

"What?" Ms. Dream rubbed her head and looked at her hand as if looking for blood.

"Tell me exactly what happened." Serenity ordered.

"Ok, I was trying to stay awake, Merry came in looking mad as usual. I was still a bit out of it. She cut my wrists free and handed me a knife. I cut my ankles free and looked up. She saw Miss Shadow said something... something that didn’t sound friendly and went toward her with a knife. I couldn’t let her kill Miss Shadow so I hit her with a telepathic attack. Then Hellspite came in and charged at her. I started to cut Miss Shadow free and then everything blew up."

"It was an accident." Esmerelda said sadly.

"She’s gotta be dead." Bitch-35 said miserably.

"Ok, what am I missing here?" Ms. Dream demanded though Serenity could tell from the look on Ms. Dream’s face that she had guessed.

"She wouldn't have done anything." Serenity said. "Merry gave me her oath that she wouldn't harm Miss Shadow until we were all safely on Earth."

"What?" Ms. Dream's face went white. "Her oath? THE oath?"

"Yes." Serenity said. "The same type she took in Dollopolis. Esmerelda witnessed it."

"I did." Esmerelda said.

"Oh no." Ms. Dream fell back and closed her eyes. "I was kinda groggy… she cut me loose… I saw her go toward Miss Shadow with the knife and... Oh no! Please god no!"

"She was going to free her, not kill her." Serenity said feeling the despair come from Ms. Dream.

Ms. Dream stared at the ruins and her mouth hung open.

"You had no way to know." Esmerelda said. "Merry must have been mad enough to… Mary you had no way to know what she was going to do."

"I gotta find her." Ms. Dream said getting to her feet.

"You're barely strong enough to stand." Serenity said.

"Then carry me god-damnit!" Ms. Dream shouted. "I can't go back and face Simone! I can't go back and tell her that I helped kill the woman she loves!"

"Armor on." Serenity said.

Serenity picked Ms. Dream up in her arms and took off. She noticed that Bitch-35 followed them.

Merry’s mind was too confused to think rationally. Under Ms. Dream’s telepathic assault her memories had shattered and reformed a dozen times making her un-sure even of her own name. But when Hellspite attacked instinct took over. She blocked his jaws as his teeth sought her throat and rammed her knee between his legs. He staggered and they fell to the floor rolling and grabbing for a hand hold.

Then the dungeon blew up and they both fell still fighting. More and more explosions erupted around them and they fought through all of them, careening from one wall to another and hit each other every time the chance arose. They were often in freefall and while they were Merry ignored his attacks and concentrated on staying on top of him. Merry’s chainmail shirt gave her some protection against his claws and she managed to dodge his teeth. The fall might not have taken as long as she thought but it felt like a long time. She managed to keep Hellspite bellow her so he took the impact when they landed in the water. It was some sort of underground river and they landed hard. Hellspite fell away from her and Merry found herself neck deep in freezing water. Merry found semi-solid ground under her feet and started to walk. It was dark but as long as she walked upward Merry thought she was heading toward the shore. The semi-solid ground turned to mud the further she walked and threatened to suck her down. Merry grabbed blindly and found some sharp rocks to grab. Ignoring the pain she pulled herself along until her feet hit solid ground again. She staggered onto a sandy surface and fell to her knees. Around he was complete darkness. And a sound.

Instinct made Merry move just as Hellspite attacked. They fought wordlessly in the dark, hitting and tearing at each other until another explosion shook the earth and a light appeared. It was a dim light but in the total darkness it was more than enough. Hellspite charged her and knocked Merry down, but Merry used his charge and flipped him over against the wall. There was a hideous slurping sound and when Merry turned around she saw that her throw had tossed Hellspite over the edge of a small gully and he had impaled himself against a stalagmite. He clawed weakly at the stone that come out from his chest and looked hatefully at Merry. Grabbing a bit of loose rock next to him Hellspite threw it at her. Merry was too tired to dodge it and the stone slammed against the side of her head. She fell to the ground and blacked out, but didn’t sleep. She was in too much danger to sleep. She dug and clawed and spit her way back to consciousness even though her mind could barely hold a coherent thought. She tasted blood in her mouth and felt it on her face. The pain helped keep her awake. Opening her eyes Merry saw that it was all over for Hellspite. The fall had impaled him on a stalagmite like some insect on a pin. He clawed weakly at the stone that come out from his chest and looked hatefully at Merry.

Merry sat up and tried to focus. The air around the demon was fuzzy. Then she realized that small portals had opened up around him. Each barely six inches wide. Hellspite saw them too and a look of sheer terror filled his face. He clawed hysterically at the stone that held him and screamed.

Small demons of many types and shapes started to come out of the portals. They all carried spears or knives and they surrounded the fallen demon. He tried to talk to them and they started to taunt and jeer him. For a little while they all laughed and danced, mocking his helplessness. Then as one they stood and raised their spears to Merry in a salute.

And then they tore him apart. Merry had seen horror movies where killer ants had attacked people. This was something like that. Each demon cut away a piece of Hellspite’s body and carried it back through one of the portals. The once powerful demon screamed and screamed until there was nothing left but a skeleton and even that seemed to scream until the last of the demons took the last of the bones and was gone.

"That’s done it." Merry whispered harshly. "No more coming back for you. Good, I hate killing demons twice."

With those words she finally lost consciousness.

When Merry came to it was because of an inner alarm. A telepathic probe was searching for her. She had to run. But Merry's body was too hurt to move. Her mind was damaged and in pain. Deep within her brain the mechanism that the Group had created was damaged as well. It reacted to the mental attack the only way it could and shut Merry’s mind down completely.

When Merry at last woke up again the mind probe was gone. So were most of her memories. Her body felt ice cold. Merry moved and was rewarded with pain from every joint.

She looked around. The light had come from another tunnel that was semi-lit by luminous moss. Getting up Merry fell down. It took her a few more tries to fully stand. She was shivering from her time in the water. Merry pulled off her chainmail shirt and something fell out of it. Merry bent down and picked up the small power canceling oval unit. It must have fallen into her chain mail shirt at some point. Putting it to one side Merry pulled off her wet leather pants. The air was warmer than her clothes. Much warmer. A hot wind was coming from someplace down the tunnel. Merry picked up her clothing and the oval and started to go down the tunnel. Her mind was a maelstrom of ideas, memories and anger. But there was a thread of thought that she kept hold of. She had to keep moving. She couldn’t let Ms. Dream find her again. She’d been attacked when she only wanted to help. She’d been used. Kidnapped, tortured...

Merry’s thoughts dissolved again only to reform as memories of Dollopolis and Simone filled them. She had to keep moving. She had to get out of the tunnels, out of Faerun and back to Simone. But she was weak and there were no friends to turn too.

"Never have been." Merry growled.

Rage started to build in her. She’d get back to Simone and then she’d deal with Serenity and Miss Shadow and Ms. Dream.

"They’ll pay!" Merry growled. "They’ll pay! You don’t do that to the First Knight and get away with it! I’ll show them that! I’ll do to them what I did to... to... To him! Who ever he was!"

Her mind full of false memories and genuine anger Merry stumbled down the tunnel. The further in she went the hotter it became. Groping naked in the semi-darkness Merry stumbled and fell against something. She hissed as a hot pipe scalded her arm.

Merry held her arm for a few minutes as the pain rose slowly and then slowly faded, but not all the way.

"Well at least I know why its so hot down here." Merry said looking at the broken steam pipe. She spread her pants and shirt over the pipe to dry and sat down. Merry tried to think but she failed and passed out again.

"Nice to see you got what you wanted." Ms. Dream said. After nearly an hour looking for Merry Ms. Dream had finally given up. Her head ached, her body ached, her stomach was boiling with hunger and her throat was dry with thirst. She felt more soul sick than she had in her entire life. She had opened her mind more than ever before and found nothing. She could sense small animals, insects and even the luminous moss. But nothing else. Not even Merry could shrink small enough to avoid Ms. Dream’s mental search. Merry was dead and Ms. Dream had helped kill her. The anger she felt at herself found another target as the Dagger of Orant and the Seal of Orant floated over to Miss Shadow. The sorceress was back to full power, her body covered with tattoos.

"I understand how you feel Ms. Dream but I had no choice." Miss Shadow said her dark face expressionless. "I am sorry that she is dead."

"What am I going to tell Simone?" Ms. Dream demanded.

"If she is still alive we will both face her." Serenity said. "We are both at fault. Just before I was knocked out I saw fairy darts hit her. Merry was hit by just one and barely survived until she was given the antidote."

"You’re not the one who attacked her." Ms. Dream said. "I am."

"You did what you thought was right." Serenity said. "I could have gone with her into the dungeon."

"And lost Truly? No way Serenity. It’s nice of you and all but the one person who’s responsible for Merry’s death is me."

"Melissa!" Dreft called out before Serenity could say anything else.

Ms. Dream looked up to see a fairy riding a centaur come galloping toward them. Dreft Jumped off and enveloped Melissa in a fierce hug.

"It is over." Melissa said returning the hug. "We have triumphed."

"We?" Ms. Dream demanded.

"Lady Highfield you must go soon." Dreft said.

"What?" Tranquility asked.

"Hey, way to be grateful." Ms. Dream said.

"We are grateful Ms. Dream." Dreft said. "To you and Lady Highfield, to all of you." He pointed back the way he had come. "The demons are gone, the drug is gone. But the heir to Darksun is still here. The people know that Darksun’s daughter survived. I couldn’t stop them. They march this way and there is no talking to them."

"The legacy of a fallen tyrant." Melissa said. "If you value your daughter’s safety Lady Highfield you must flee."

"But Merry…" Ms. Dream began.

"If we ever find her body I will send it to you." Melissa said.

"She’s right." Vicki said pointing back the way Dreft had come. Ms. Dream looked and saw an angry mob approaching.

"Open the portal Miss Shadow." Lady Highfield said. "We are done here."

"Melissa…" Verity said. "Please, come with us? Come with me?"

"No child, my place is here, on my world helping to rebuild it. You already have a world and a mother."

Verity stumbled over to her and hugged the elder fairy.

"When I’m better I’ll come back for a visit." Verity said. "I promise."

Ms. Dream could hear angry shouts from the mob and true to stereotype some of them had torches and pitchforks. There was no mistaking the hatred in their voices.

"The antidote for the poison." Serenity said. "Do you have some?"

Dreft pulled the pack off of his shoulder and handed it to her.

"Farewell Highfield."

Miss Shadow shouted a word and a glowing portal appeared a few feet away from her.

"Everyone home." Serenity said.

Esmerelda helped Ms. Dream to her feet and they stumbled toward the portal. Verity road on Tranquility’s back, Bitch-35 flew and Serenity picked up her bound daughter. Vicki stumbled through quickly.

"I’d rather face the mob than Simone." Ms. Dream said as Esmerelda half-carried her through the portal.

Jessie sat in the cargo bay of Thunderbird 2 and slowly sipped her hot chocolate. It would be another day before Lizzie could get out of the regen tube. There was no way tell when Simone would come back. That she might not come back at all wasn’t a thought Jessie allowed herself to have. The Giants had offered to let her sleep through the waiting but Jessie had turned them down. It seemed wrong to her somehow to sleep when Simone was in trouble. Jessie knew that there was nothing she could do, but it seemed wrong anyway. It wasn’t what Merry would have done.

So Jessie tried to read. She and her sister could read. Not that well but they could read and Simone had started giving them books shrunk down enough to read. She had paid a copy shop to do it at first but Jessie knew that Snowbelle was halfway toward making a printing press. Of course the stuff Simone wanted them to read wasn’t what Jessie or Lizzie would have picked for themselves. Jessie sighed and realized that she had been reading the same page over and over again. She started from the top and tried to focus. The problem was that "A Tale of Two Cities" confused her. The characters didn’t act like real people. At least real people she knew. Simone told her that there was a big lesson about nobility at the end of the book but Jessie wasn’t sure what it was.

The alarm snapped her out of her book and Jessie tossed it down and ran to the control room. A portal had opened up in the clearing. Goddess of Justice, Prudence, Gadget Gal and Yoran ran over to it.

{Automatic scan full power.}

{Interesting readings.}

{They seem to have picked up some strays.}

{No sign of Merry though.}

They were right. Lady Highfield, Miss Shadow, Miss Dream and some fairies and... were those half horse people? Yes they were. Simone had told Lizzie and Jessie about them once in a story, but what were they called? Jessie couldn't remember. They stumbled out of the portal and it closed behind them.

Jessie reached over and keyed the PA speaker, not thinking about asking the Giants first.

"Where’s Merry?" She asked.

The crowd of beings looked up as she asked and Ms. Dream answered.

"Jessie..." She started and then Lady Highfield stood up and faced the ships.

"Merry is dead." Lady Highfield said. "Hellspite was in that other world and they died fighting each other."

For a few moments shock froze every part of Jessie’s being. Then her vision focused on Miss Shadow. Without thinking Jessie keyed in the command sequence that slaved the weapons in Dagger and Deathflame to Thunderbird 2.

"Bitch!" Jessie swore and fired everything she had at Miss Shadow.

Simone lay panting on the table. Barbara's mental assaults had all failed. But that didn't mean she was giving up. The woman seemed convinced that fatigue was the key to getting into Simone's mind. So while Barbara rested Teleport-her tormented Simone. Her latest torment was simple. She simply held Simone under water and pressed her fingernail into Simone's vagina. She rubbed it back and forth until Simone was forced to breath and then she kept Simone under, pulling her out just before Simone drowned. Once Simone was lying on the table choking Teleport-her pinched her breasts and played with her pussy again.

"I bet I could get a pencil or a pen up there." Teleport-her said while she rubbed Simone's pussy. "Think you'd like that?"

Simone didn't reply and Teleport-her rolled her onto her back and slapped her ass hard.

"You better answer me! Teleport-her barked. "Think I can get a pen or a pencil up there?"

Simone coughed out more water and tried to think of an answer. Before she could the door opened. Barbara came back into the room. At a nod from her Teleport-her left.

"Some interesting news." Barbara said as Simone rolled over and looked at her. "The portal opened and Iron Mistress, Miss Shadow, Miss Dream and a few others came back. But no sign of Merry. Your ships asked about her and Ms. Dream told them that she was dead."

Simone smiled weakly.

"How convenient for you." She said. "Such good news just when you needed it. Tell me who was the spy, or was this a suggestion from Goddess of Justice herself?"

"We don't talk to her too much." Barbara said.

"But you do talk to her." Simone insisted.

"We talk to a lot of people." Barbara said. "We'd like to talk to you."

"What if the price of my conversation was Teleport-her's painful death?" Simone asked.

"That would depend on what you said." Barbara said. "ICE is a very civilized organization Simone. The worth of the individual is recognized, but rationally we realize that an individual has finite worth. If you can prove that you are worth more than Teleport-her then you will have more power than her."

"It is sensible." Simone said. "I wonder does she realize it?"

"Of course she does." Barbara said. "So don't bother telling her this conversation."

Barbara fixed her eye on Simone and the telepathic assault began again.

"Cute." Merry said holding up the small steam powered robot. It looked like a child’s toy. A clunky square body with arms and legs. She sat in the middle of the ruined drug factory, her legs too tired to go on. Merry had followed the steampipe up through tunnels and through ravines. It was fed by a natural hot spring and Merry had nearly drowned when she fell into the scalding hot water. But she had pulled her self out of that and followed the pipe all the way into the ruined office. Merry’s mind was still jumbled but she held onto the memory of Ms. Dream’s mental attack. Held onto it and around it built up a stream of anger. Not only toward Ms. Dream but toward Serenity, Tranquility and her lawyer. As the Group had dictated Merry McCormick had been submerged beneath Merry the First Knight. But there were too few memories and instinctively Merry realized that. The only answer to her lack of memories was Ms. Dream’s attack. They had all conspired against her. They would all pay. Nothing was worse than betrayal.

Merry stood up and focused her eyes on the corpse on the floor. At first Merry thought that she had stumbled onto Serenity's corpse. Then she saw the crushed tail.

"Man that Darksun was a piece of work." Merry said. "I should have killed him slower."

The lights were blinking on and off as the power failed. Merry looked around carefully. The robots were more than cute they were valuable. Simone would love them. Merry looked at the control console. It was filled with lights and switches but most of them were wrecked. She spotted cables coming out of the console and followed them to another cave. This one had held computers, rows of pc's strung together. Falling stone had crushed most of them. Merry went back to the office and spotted the bed in the center of the room. A nap seemed like a good idea but she knew that the notion was her injuries talking.

"I’ll sleep when I get to Simone." Merry said. "But I’m not going back empty handed."

Merry went over to the bed and grabbed one of the sheets. Tearing it up she fashioned a small bag. Then she tore up more sheets and wrapped the robots up in them and then put them into her bag. A ruined cabinet held some books filled with technical writing and a few more of the power canceling devices. Merry took them as well. Taking the pillow she tied it to a stick and wrapped it tightly with more sheets. It wouldn’t be a great torch but she couldn’t rely on the moss all of the way out. She put it down and then went back into the computer room. She tore each computer apart and pulled out its hard drive. There were only three drives left intact but they were better than nothing. She put them into the bag with the rest of her loot.

"You go through a dungeon crawl you pick up swag." Merry said to the empty chamber. "That’s the rules."

She went back to the bed and picked up the torch. Merry stumbled a bit as her vision blurred but she fought her way through it. Taking the torch over to the console she held it against some of the sparking wires until it caught fire.

"I'm going to bring you home some toys Simone." Merry said. She stumbled again and fell, cracking her knee against the stone. Ignoring the pain Merry stood up and staggered from the room. More tunnels beckoned. Merry knew that Serenity had come in through ghoul tunnels. That was her only hope of getting out.

My only hope of getting my hands around her throat, Merry thought as she limped forward.

Barbara left and Teleport-her came back into the room. Simone swallowed her fear when she saw that the villainess held a pencil in one hand. Teleport-her walked over to the table and held the pencil up so that Simone could get a close look at it.

"Dixon Ticonderoga number 2." Telport-her said. "Ever have one?"

"No." Simone said as calmly as she could.

"I got this too." Telport-her said holding up a role of Scotch tape. "Wanna guess what I have planned?"

"Something painful." Simone said.

Telport-her laughed.

"Nope. Not that way."

She picked Simone up and wrapped the tape around Simone's upper body, pinning her arms to her side and mashing down Simone's breasts. Smiling she pushed Simone over onto her back and then taped down her legs, spreading them apart. Simone swallowed in fear as Teleport-her picked up the pencil. But the villainess put it down and instead wrapped a piece of tape around her index finger. Then she pressed the finger against Simone’s pubic hair and jerked it back. Simone gasped in pain as the adhesive grabbed hold of her hair and pulled at it, releasing it only at the last moment.

"This’ll get ya hot you kinky little bitch." Teleport-her said pressing the tape hard and pulling it away again. She laughed as Simone screamed.

Simone had no idea how long Teleport-her kept it up. The girl laughed sadistically every time Simone screamed. But at some point Simone couldn’t take it anymore and blacked out. When she came too Simone found that her legs were free. Teleport-her was using a magic marker to color her body. Simone looked down and saw that her legs were blue and brown and that a yellow sun had been painted onto her stomach.

"Been waiting for you." Teleport-her said picking up the pencil. Then she held Simone with one hand and moved the pencil up to Simone's mouth. She held it parallel to Simone's mouth.

"Now you open an bite hard." Teleport-her said. "I wanna see how strong your teeth are."

Simone opened her mouth and bit down on the painted wood. It tasted dry and horrible but she bit down harder as Telport-her let go of her. The only thing keeping Simone from falling was her teeth's grip on the pencil. Teleport-her laughed again and held the pencil at either end. She started to swing Simone back and forth.

"Want to see if you can handle a loop-de-loop?" Teleport-her laughed.

It was sound and light that guided Merry out of the shadows. Sound in the form of something eating. She followed that sound and stumbled into a larger tunnel filled with ghouls. They were long snake-like creatures with wide mouths filled with sharp teeth and large black eyes. They were eating; feasting really. Even as deep into shock as she was Merry’s stomach jumped as she saw the remains of men, centaurs, satyrs and fairies being consumed. The ghouls hissed at her until one of them seemed to recognize her.

"Mystery Woman!" He said in a barely audible rasp.

The name rippled through the chamber and they drew back from her in fear.

"Show me the way to the surface." Merry ordered. "I have no quarrel with you."

Arms pointed to the far end of the chamber and Merry nodded and walked past them. She walked carefully and tried not to look down. But she did look down and what she saw would stay with her forever.

At the end of the chamber was a tunnel leading up. It started as tunnel she could walk through but quickly became one she had to climb through. The angle became steeper and Merry had to dig into the sides with her fingers and toes to keep going. The thought struck her that somewhere along the way she had lost her boots. She spent most of the climb trying to remember where.

When she reached the top Merry paused and carefully looked over the edge. She was in a field. To her right in the distance was a smoking pile of rock. To her left in the distance was a forest. All around her were dead men, dead centaurs, satyrs, fairies and demons. There was also wrecked tanks, jeeps, planes and what looked to be flying saucers.

"Let's see who won." Merry grunted climbing out of the crack.

"Halt!" Someone shouted.

Merry turned around and saw two men wearing the uniform of the United Clans run over to her. She stood and looked at them but shifted her footing slightly. One was tall one was short. She'd take out the tall one first.

"There will be no scavenging this battlefield." One of them said.

"I am Mystery Woman of Dollopolis." Merry said and was pleased to see them pale. "Who won the war?"

"Simone was poisoned?" Merry demanded grinding out the words through her anger. That explained the looks that had passed between Esmerelda and Serenity. "And they didn’t tell me. They let me think she was ok, they looked straight at me and they didn't tell me!"

Merry found herself clenching and un-clenching her hands into fists. She paced back and forth while around her a small squad of men watched her warily. She was on a hill overlooking the ruins of Darksun's castle. The two men she had encountered had led her there to find Dreft and Melissa.

"I used up time here instead of…"

"What could you have done?" Dreft asked. "Until Melissa was freed there was no way for us to open a portal."

"And they left me here!" Merry growled. "Buried and abandoned. Why the hell did I ever trust them?"

"They tried to find you." Melissa said. "But had to flee the mob before the people tore Lady Highfield’s daughter apart. They thought you dead. We all did."

"They didn’t tell me Simone was hurt." Merry said. She was hearing Melissa’s words but her mind was too scattered to truly listen. "Because they needed me to help them. Ms. Dream attacked me for no reason. They left me here! We were safe in our city until they came with some clever words. If Simone’s alive they’ll pay. If Simone’s dead they’ll more than pay." She took a deep breath. "Can you send me back to Earth?"

"Yes." Melissa said. "But our portal will not be as easy to go through as Miss Shadow’s."

"Miss Shadow." Merry repeated the name and her voice was filled with a cold hate. "She started it. I’ll go through hell if I have to, but she’s going to pay."

"I will start my spells." Melissa said quietly. "And have someone tend your wounds."

"My wounds?" Merry asked. She reached up and realized that half of her face was covered with dried blood.

"Oh yea." Merry said absently. She was only vaguely aware of the pain in her body. "Thanks."

"Lucy I thought she was going to kill that bitch." Ms. Dream said. "Hell I should have let her."

Lucy put her hand on Ms. Dream’s shoulder and she was grateful for it. God she wanted the woman. As soon as the thought appeared in her head Ms. Dream squashed it and took another gulp of coffee. Her mind had been scrambled by the torture and by the guilt she was feeling. Ms. Dream had felt the same way about Yoran and even Prudence. Yoran had caught her eye before when she had been tortured. Luckily he seemed to understand things and had gone off to get some potions for Verity. He didn’t know how to reverse the transformations but Yoran was sure that he could restore her sight.

"I would have killed her for you!" Truly shouted fighting the two police men as they pushed her struggling into the transport. "I’ll do it yet! I’ll kill you all! Here me mother! I'll be back and you'll be dead!"

The door slammed shut and the paddy wagon moved off. Sitting next to Ms. Dream Serenity lowered her head and wiped away the tears. Somehow Verity knew that her mother was crying. The crippled fairy stumbled over to her and fell onto her arm. Serenity picked her up and cradled her daughter against her chest.

Ms. Dream wolfed down a doughnut. She had to have some cushion against the coffee. Yoran’s healing potion was helping but as usual it left her feeling like she had run a marathon.

"What about those bastards in Force Group J?" Ms. Dream demanded.

"Captain Pharaoh and I shouted at each other for nearly an hour." Lucy said. "He swears they had nothing to do with this and Green Dream swore that she did not plant the bomb. She swore it while I held her and invoked Athena’s Test. So did Grimm. So did Captain Pharaoh himself."

So she didn’t do it, Ms. Dream thought. Athena’s Test was one of those little perks that came with serving a goddess. When Goddess of Justice held you and called upon Athena to show if you were lying or not you simply couldn’t knowingly lie.

"The only other ones who were in that transport besides Moon Girl were the Obrien’s." Prudence said. "And they didn’t put the bomb in there."

"Where are they?" Ms. Dream asked.

"I sent them back to Maine." Lucy said. "It is too dangerous here."

"Lucy if you fly me around I’ll see if I can find Simone." Ms. Dream said.

"You’re not up to it." Lucy said.

Ms. Dream tried to stand and failed. Lucy was right. She knew it but didn’t want to believe it. Her body was barely able to move. But her powers... Taking a deep breath she tried to use her powers. Her mind expanded and she felt the world press against her. Then she felt something else. Gasping in shock Ms. Dream turned around.

Jessie sat in the pilot’s seat of Thunderbird 2 and stared at the group sitting at the table. They were all still there except Miss Shadow who had run away and Yoran who had just vanished.

I almost had her, Jessie thought. If Goddess of Justice hadn’t blocked my shots her I would have gotten her.

The thought brought with it fear. She had acted on her own without even thinking about what the Giants would do. But they seemed to understand and the only thing they had done was cut off the power to the guns when Miss Shadow vanished.

{She is not dead Jessie.}

{For the time that the portal was open we were able to scan that other world.}

{If Merry truly died her body would emit a signal telling us so.}

{Sit. We will listen and wait.}

Jessie had sat and listened as the story was told. The display had zoomed in on each person as they talked and the picture they built up was fascinating to Jessie. A world where half horses walked around? That was just plain crazy. But Tranquility and Vicki were the proof. The story got even crazier when it got to Bitch-35. Jessie had been abused growing up, but nothing like what the half-mechanical fairy had gone through. Jessie wondered if the Giants could help change everyone back to normal. They probably could. She also wondered what it was like to have wings and fly. The thought occurred to her that the Giant’s could probably give her that sort of body too. What would that be like? Could they make her a half horse like Tranquility and Vicki? That'd be weird.

Ms. Dream drank cup after cup of coffee and cried as she described what happened to Merry in the dungeon. The others comforted her as best they could and even Jessie felt for her.

{For once Merry’s reputation worked against her.}

{The Fierce First Knight. It is easy to see why Ms. Dream thought that she was going to kill Miss Shadow.}

{Interesting. ICE has just told Simone about all of this.}

{How did they know?}

"Maybe Miss Shadow told them?" Jessie suggested.

{If so there is an alliance between ICE and the Legion of Mystics.}

{Unlikely.}

{They are watching the clearing.}

{How?}

"A spy?" Jessie asked.

{If so we seriously need to work on forming our own supergroup.}

{This team is under performing.}

{We could accept a few miss-steps when they were starting out.}

{But they've had time to get better.}

"Maybe the spy is invisible?" Jessie suggested.

{I can't believe that they wouldn't sense somebody.}

{They didn’t sense the invisible reporter.}

{A scan wouldn't hurt.}

{Jessie activate the ships scanners.}

Jessie reached over and started to key in the command sequence. She was halfway through it when she realized that she had spoken to the Giants just like Merry did sometimes. She hadn't added 'Master' or 'Mistress' to the end of her questions. And they hadn't called her on it.

This must be what it's like to be Merry or Simone, Jessie thought. It felt good.

She finished the sequence and the ship seemed to hum loudly. After a few minutes the console beeped.

{An anomaly.}

{That explains a lot.}

{Isn't there anyone on Force Group J who's not a double agent?}

{I agree, first Timidious and now Green Dream.}

"What is it Mistress?" Jessie asked. She added the word anyway, it was better to play it safe.

{The thorn bush at the edge of the clearing.}

{It's not a normal plant.}

{It's one of Green Dream's hybrids.}

{It must be beaming everything back to her.}

"She's in with ICE?"

Before the Giants could answer another part of the console came to life and alarms sounded. The group on the display screen looked up. Jessie felt her heart jump as a portal opened up a few feet away from the ships.

"Merry's coming back." Jessie said.

Ms. Dream saw the disk appear in the air. But it wasn't a silver disk; it was a red and black disk with lightning in it. A harsh cold wind flowed from it and chilled everyone at the table. Ms. Dream felt the anger before Merry emerged from the disk. Merry didn't step through the portal, she fought her way through it as lightning hit her body. Once she managed to get through it and step onto the Earth there was a thunderclap and the portal vanished leaving Merry on her knees.

"No one move." Ms. Dream said using her powers to add weight to her words. They watched as Merry climbed to her feet. Her tall body was caked with blood and dirt. The chainmail shirt was torn and she was barefoot. There was a crude bandage on the side of her head. Merry's eyes focused on them and she growled.

"Highfield!" Merry shouted at the group at the table. "You used me! You let me think Simone was safe! You left me! Ms. Dream you traitorous bitch you attacked me! I trusted all of you! Now I'm back and you're…"

"Merry!" Jessie shouted running out of Thunderbird 2. The force field blanked out and Merry turned and darted past it. Instantly the force field turned on again.

Jessie stopped short when she saw Merry's face. Merry's mouth was set in a hard angry line and a bandage covered the side of her head. Merry's body was tense and her blue eyes were cold. The chainmail shirt and leather pants she was wearing were both covered in blood and dirt. She was carrying something in a sheet.

{Jessie be careful.}

{We have no contact with Merry.}

{The failsafes activated and the head injury has not helped.}

{It will be at least twenty two minutes before she heals enough to return to normal.}

As soon as Merry was inside the range the force field snapped on and turned dark. Merry shrunk out of her new cloths and the bandage. Once it was off Jessie could see a dark purple bruise on the side of her head and there was dried blood in her blonde hair. The rest of her body was one giant wound.

"Where's Simone?" Merry asked stepping forward.

{Go with the truth.}

"ICE has her." Jessie said. "Mrs. Rothschild invited her to dinner to talk things over and ICE attacked, some girl in a silver suit teleported in and grabbed her."

"How was she?" Merry demanded. "What about the poison?"

"She was beating it." Jessie said.

"Where's Lizzie?"

"In the regen tube in Thunderbird 2." Jessie said.

"Good." Merry nodded. "You tried to stop them. Don't worry Jessie, you did your best."

"I really did." Jessie said.

"Do you have a lock on her position yet?" Merry asked.

{Yes.}

{Just a few minutes ago.}

"Yea, just before you got here."

"Come on." Merry said. She grew to full size and started to fold her chainmail shirt. "Help me load this stuff into Thunderbird 2. You can take this stuff and Lizzie back to Dollopolis. I'll use Dagger and Deathflame and the fighter and get Simone." She looked over her shoulder and then looked back. "Once she's safe I'll come back and settle things with them."

Jessie moved to help and thanked the goddess Ida that she was not one of 'them'.

"Merry wait!" Ms. Dream shouted but it was too late. She had vanished into the force shield and it had gone dark.

"How did she survive?" Bitch-35 exclaimed. "A castle fell on her!"

"Not a big enough one." Ms. Dream said relief competing with fear in her soul. She reached for her coffee and drank it down.

"She is mad and wounded." Goddess of Justice said.

"Lucy she isn't just mad." Ms. Dream said. "I was wide open when she came through the portal. I felt her. What she's feeling isn't mad. It isn't angry, it isn't mildly upset. That woman jumped the line Lucy. The fuses blew." She looked up and threw the cup away. "If Jessie hadn't distracted her she would have attacked us."

"I can talk to her." Esmerelda said.

"No you can't." Ms. Dream said. "Not now. Trust me, you can't."

"What about me?" Prudence asked.

"No." Serenity said. "Right now Merry is looking for targets. None of us is safe."

The force field dropped and they looked up to see the ships starting to move.

"Lucy shield!" Ms. Dream shouted.

A dome of golden light covered them just as Dagger opened fire. Three beams of white/blue light shot toward Ms. Dream, Serenity and Tranquility only to be deflected by the dome. The attack only lasted a few seconds but it staggered Goddess of Justice.

"You tricked us Lucy!" Merry’s voice was harsh and edged with hysteria. "I'll settle with you later. By the Laws of Vengeance I swear it! And if Simone is dead all of you will be too! All of you!"

The ships shimmered and turned invisible as they shot away. Thunderbird 2 had vanished as well.

"Ok, she's insane." Vicki said.

"But…"

"No Ezzy." Ms. Dream said. She held her head and fought the urge to shake it. Shaking it never did any good. Merry's anger had hit her like a sharp needle. "I just felt her again. Lucy remember when we talked about what held her sanity together? Well it's gone."

"She's going to kill us." Tranquility said her voice rising. "I heard it, we all heard it!"

"Calm down Tranquility." Goddess said. "Serenity, your mansion is the closest place and the most defensible. Take your daughters, Tranquility and Vicki there. I’ll send Gadget Gal to you as soon as I can, she can help upgrade your defenses. Ms. Dream go with them. Prudence, Esmerelda and I will try and follow Merry. Moon Girl is nearby searching, I will call on her as well."

"No I'm coming with you." Ms. Dream said.

"Mary she'll kill you. You said it yourself, there is no anchor to her anger without Simone and Simone may be dead."

"Lucy I hit her when her back was turned." Ms. Dream stood up. "We haven't had an encounter yet with her or Simone that hasn't ended in disaster. I can find Simone's mind if we get close enough. If we get close enough I can find Merry. I'm going with you."

Goddess of Justice nodded.

"Very well. But I will not let her kill you Mary."

"Good luck trying to stop her." Bitch-35 said.

"Yea it'd be nice to have that for a change." Ms. Dream said.

Merry flew along and read her scanners, looking for targets. She also checked the systems. Dagger’s shots had been slower than they should have been and not as powerful. Goddess of Justice should not have been able to block them.

"Later." Merry said as she checked the systems again. It was good to sitting in the X-wing fighter again. Good to be small again.

Merry was thinking about who she was going to have to battle to free Simone when deep within her brain an invisible switch was at last repaired. As soon as it was working other switches and devices came on.

Merry froze in her seat as her brain returned to normal It was as if she were walking around half-asleep and someone had thrown ice-cold water into her face.

{We have her again.}

{Telemetry online. Goodness look at those injuries.}

{Memory scan in progress.}

{Can you hear us now Merry?}

"Ye... Ye... Yes." Merry said. It took her a few tries to get the word out. As her mind settled down wave after emotional wave hit her.

"Oh Goddess! I attacked them!"

{We made sure that they were not hurt.}

"Goddess Ms. Dream must feel horrible!"

{Focus on your mission Merry.}

"Simone." Merry said and her thoughts crystallized. Simone was in trouble. "What’s been happening to her?"

{A two pronged assault.}

{Physical abuse and mental probes.}

{Neither have gotten very far.}

{She is holding up well.}

"Where is she and who has her?" Merry asked feeling her anger surface. That someone was holding Simone, touching her, hurting her was un-thinkable. The anger that only a few moments before had faded returned. But this time Merry was in control.

{She is in an ICE safe house ten minutes away from your current position.}

{ICE’s frontline supervillain group took her and guards her.}

{Knife’s Edge.}

{Luckily they do not know that we know where she is.}

"We better keep it that way." Merry said. "We need to distract them."

{We will send Dagger toward the hospital where Timidious is recovering.}

{They should assume that you will be interrogating him about her whereabouts.}

{It will be good distraction for Goddess of Justice and her group.}

{A fault in the ships cloak should do it.}

"Why would I go after Timidious?" Merry asked.

{He assaulted Simone as well.}

More anger rose in Merry and she had to fight to keep her control.

"Why us?" Merry demanded angrily. "Why are they coming after us so hard?"

{Fear.}

{Despite its pretensions of a rational business ICE is at heart a gang of primitive tribal raiders.}

{You have killed one of their big guns. Disrupted their plans and you remain a mystery.}

{They fear you.}

"And what they fear they destroy." Merry said.

{Correct.}

{We are coming into conflict with them too early in our plans.}

{Seems inevitable.}

{More conflict will impede the progress we have made.}

"There won’t be any more conflict if I can help it." Merry said. "If ICE is like a street gang then I know how to handle them. Their bullies. You hurt a bully enough and they look for other targets."

{Reasonable.}

{How do you plan on hurting them?}

"By letting the First Knight take over again." Merry said. "Can you give me all the information you have on Knive’s Edge?"

{Easily.}

{Close your eyes and take a deep breath.}

{But do not let yourself believe your own legend Officer Dolly.}

{They are professional supervillains who have battled many superheroes and killed many.}

"I’m not suicidal again." Merry said. "Not with Simone in danger. If I can’t come up with a good plan I’ll contact Lucy and her group."

{Very well.}

Merry closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A flood of information started to flood into her mind. Everything that the world knew about Knife’s Edge.

Enough for an obituary, Merry thought savagely.

Twenty minutes later Merry was hovering about the ICE safe house. It was an anonymous brick building surrounded by satellite dishes. An old relay station now heavily automated. A great place to hold someone. Teleport-her’s alien suit allowed her to phase in and out of reality and teleport, but her range was only two miles. It must have taken a few jumps to get here.

Merry studied the building. It was a simple one story rectangular building with a nearly empty parking lot. Even the cars in the lot were older models. The place was as unobtrusive as possible. On the screen she could see markers for the people inside. Knife and Dagger were inside with Barbara. Simone was with Teleport-her. Blue Marble sat outside in a loading dock. There was only one other person in the building. A man in a small room next to the one that Simone was being held in. The place had a lot of empty rooms, a small kitchen and dining area and a bathroom.

{Your plan is workable.}

{Though this will also make Mystery Woman more of a superhero than before.}

{If Merry's theory about schoolyard bullies is correct that will be a good thing for us.}

{After this we must give serious consideration to creating our own superheroes.}

"I think Earth Force is ok." Merry said. "They're just having some bad luck."

{We'll see.}

{The message is recorded. The ships are in position.}

{If anything goes wrong Dolly you and Simone will be on your own for a while.}

{Earth Force took the bait and is heading toward the hospital where Timidious is being treated.}

"I'm ready." Merry said.

{Ejecting.}

The X-wing fighter turned upside down and Merry fell out. For the briefest of seconds the fighter was visible. Then it blinked out. Merry fell about twenty feet onto the roof, her small size enabling her to land safely. Then she went over to one of the satellite dishes. Thick dark wires led from the dish into a connector box. Merry grew to full size and kicked the box open. At least for this she was wearing something again. A black crop top shirt and shorts and slippers. The costume was featureless and skintight. It had been grown from Merry's own skin and it could shrink and grow with her.

Once the box was open Merry shrunk down and crawled inside. There was a space between the wire and the metal pipe. Merry concentrated and shrunk down further than six inches, then further than two inches. When she was only a quarter of an inch tall Merry climbed into the pipe.

It was hard being this small. At a certain point a human beings senses just didn't function well. Merry smelled the cables, she saw them, she felt the power in them, she heard the sounds of the world; and it all combined to make her feel as if she were at the bottom of a well in the rain. She had to fight to stay focused on the climb. But on the plus side at this size she had virtually no weight and had no trouble climbing down.

{The attack has started.}

"This is Mystery Woman of Dollopolis."

The voice was almost hard enough to make the building shake. Barbara rushed outside and joined Knife and Dagger. Blue Marble raced across the side of the building. The ship was floating in the air about twenty feet away from the building. Just as her briefings had described it was a small model of a Star Wars X-wing fighter. Somehow it had gotten this close to the building despite the sensors.

"I repeat this is Mystery Woman of Dollopolis. You are holding Duchess Simone. Release her and live. This is your only chance."

Knife started to laugh and after a moment so did Dagger.

"Bitch I got knives bigger than you." Knife said.

As if to demonstrate he pointed his arm at the ship and a knife appeared in mid air and sliced toward the ship. Barbara watched as the ship dodged.

"This shouldn't take long." Knife said lifting into the air.

Barbara watched him go and felt a stirring of pride well up in her. Knife was wearing armor that had been designed and built by International Criminal Enterprises. He had battled hero after hero in that suit and killed a few as well. The idea that a toy-however well built-could be a threat to him was comical. The suit was bulky and a deep blue in color. Despite it's bulk he was more limber in it than some gymnast were wearing nothing. Great rings were attached at the wrists. The matter creating rings could give him knife after knife to throw or shoot. Knives that could cut, knives that could explode and some knives that carried a deadly poison or other drugs. For nearly a decade Knife had been the leader of Knife's Edge. He was one hell of a lover too.

She watched as he floated into the air on anti-grav and felt the roar as the jet pack on his back flared to life. A knife appeared in each hand and he soared toward the fighter. His arms were outstretched in a standard flight mode and Barbara could almost see the smile through his armored mask.

At the last second Barbara felt something. A tinge of fear nipped at her as another ship appeared behind the fighter. This ship was larger. It looked like a ship from Star Trek. Too late Barbara opened her mouth to shout a warning. A thick white beam shot out of the new ship. It hit the top of the jetpack and a split second later Knife exploded. The fighter and the larger ship pulled up and dodged the flaming fireball that he had become.

Barbara's mouth dropped open and her mind froze. She knew what had happened. The jetpack drew in air, heated it and threw it out as thrust. The air intake was screened with a heavy titanium mesh to prevent shrapnel or other debris from getting caught in the turbine blades. The beam of heat from the model ship had hit that mesh with enough energy to vaporize it. The mesh had turned into hyper-hot plasma and been sucked into the engine. Barbara imagined that Knife had perhaps one second to read the tell-tale display in his armor before the turbine blades warped and twisted, tearing into the hydrogen fuel tank.

"No!" Dagger shouted launching herself into the air. Knifes appeared in her hands and she sliced at the big ship. A force shield stopped her at first but she pulled back and started to throw exploding knives at it.

"The fighter!" Barbara shouted. "Where is the fighter?"

"There." Blue Marble said. Her voice held fear and shock as well.

The fighter had moved behind Dagger and fired. She whirled in the air and started throwing knives at it. Her armor was slightly less bulky and powerful than Knife’s had been but only slightly.

"Look out!" Barbara called as another ship faded into view beside the first one. This ship was a model of a Star Wars Imperial destroyer. Suddenly Barbara realized that Dagger had her back to both ships. She opened her mouth to shout a warning but it was too late. Both ships fired at once. Thin twin beams of white light that hit their target at the same point: the edge of Dagger's neck. The beams sliced through her suit and out the other side.

Again Barbara realized what had happened. The suits were designed for bullets or energy blast or even armor piercing ammo. They were both laser shielded. But that shielding could be pierced. Both ships had focused a millimeter beam of heat at one point on the armor. Beams that could vaporize titanium narrowed down to a pencil point. Dagger’s armor might have handled one ships beam, but not two. No metal could take that for very long. Dagger turned around to face this new threat and that was exactly what they wanted her to do. Barbara wondered if Dagger realized how well the trap had been made. The ships didn’t move and neither did the beams. But by turning around Dagger moved the beam across her neck. Her armor stayed up in the air as Dagger's head fell to the ground. There was no blood. Heat from the beams had cauterized the wounds. Barbara wondered if Dagger even knew what had happened.

Barbara felt sick as Blue Marble jumped into the air and landed on the Star War's ship. She passed through the ships force shield and started to tear into it with her claws. She screamed as en electrical discharge hit her. While she was stunned the ship shot straight into the air and out of sight. Barbara watched for a minute, expecting to see Blue Marble come back down to Earth. But she didn't. That ship wasn’t going to come down and Blue Marble was too high up to let go.

"Impossible." Barbara whispered. "I've seen them battle Force Group J."

Alarms started to go off in her mind as she realized that the X-wing fighter had made no move to enter the building. Turning she ran back in and headed toward the control room. Teleport-her was the only one left and Barbara had no faith that she would do any good.

Merry climbed out of the pipe and looked around. The drop ceiling ran the entire length and width of the building. She concentrated and grew to six inches. Then she started to move. Walking on the reverse side of a drop ceiling was much like waking across a thick carpeting. The main difference was the amount of dust and the slightly scratchy feel of it. Merry walked across the ceiling until she came to a panel with an air duct going through it. Bending down she looked through a crack and into the room bellow.

The room held three computers, a desk and chair and a small cot. Sitting at the desk was a young man wearing an ICE jumpsuit. He had long dirty black hair and a cigarette dangled from his mouth. His hands were covered with tattoos.

On the monitor screen in front of him a four way split showed scenes of the battle outside the building and a room with Simone and Teleport-her.

Merry pulled up the ceiling panel and crawled under it. She kept hold of the edge of the support and hung from it for a few moments. The man was wearing a gun and at her size a bullet would destroy her body. But he was too enthralled by the battle.

"Bloody hell!" He swore as Dagger’s head was cut from her body.

Merry let go of the support and fell, growing as she fell. It was a tricky thing to do but she had been practicing it. She landed silently and grabbed him from behind.

"Peasant." Merry swore as she choked him out. "Be thankful it is your masters that will feel my hate."

He struggled but Merry had all the advantages and she had been taught how to choke out a victim by an expert. She held the hold until he blacked out and then let him fall.

On the way to the building Merry had found herself arguing for his life. It hadn’t been easy. The Group had been for a total kill, but Merry had insisted that the best thing would be to leave two of the ICE agents alive. She would have no trouble causing the deaths of Dagger, Knife, Blue Marble or Barbara; but the man was a lackey. Merry had seen his type before. They weren’t evil, they just didn’t see the difference between what they did and any normal job. They could be changed and she had seen it happen.

The Group had seen through her argument. They knew the truth and she knew that they knew it. Merry McCormack wasn’t a cold blooded killer. She’d always try to find another way. But they had accepted that leaving the man and Teleport-her alive to spread the tale of a wild woman to be feared would be a good idea. Reports placed Teleport-her’s age at 16. Too young an age for Merry to kill.

So this nameless tech would live. And so would Teleport-her if Merry could survive the battle with her.

Merry picked up the mans gun and checked it. A simple nine-millimeter berretta. Loaded and ready. She watched on the monitor as Barbara ran back into the building. Merry planted her feet, aimed at the door and waited. Barbara was a telepath. She may have had glimpses into Simone's mind.

"Trellwell send a..." Barbara shouted as she opened the door.

Her words were cut off as Merry fired. Three shots went into her. One in the heart, the next in the throat and the next in the nose. Merry didn’t wait for her to fall before she was moving past her.

"Bitch!" Teleport-her shouted as she appeared beside Merry and knocked the gun out of her hand. Before Merry could react the girl was on the other side of her and her fist hit Merry in the small of the back. She shifted again and hit Merry in the jaw, then shifted again and hit her from the side.

Merry took the hits as the enraged young woman hit her again and again. There was no way to hit back at the speed that Teleport-her was shifting in and out. There was only an instant when Merry was hit that her opponent was solid and before Merry could react Teleport-her was somewhere else.

Teleport-her swept Merry’s legs out from beneath her and Merry went down. Before she could react Teleport-her appeared and kicked her savagely in the stomach. She did it too more times and laughed. On her third kick Merry made her move. She grabbed Telport-her’s leg and buried her teeth into the girls ankle. Teleport-her screamed in panic and tried to pull away. Merry grabbed her leg and twisted it, pulling her down.

The key was fear. Teleport-her had to concentrate to teleport. She had to fix that destination in her mind and will herself to that spot. Her thought keyed the circuitry in her alien suit. She had been trained how to fight shifting and dodging blows or taking them and still shifting.

But it was different when someone bit you. It was so rare a tactic, being reserved for small children in old stories, that Merry doubted that Teleport-her had ever been trained for it happening. More, being bit triggered a primal fear, the fear of being eaten. It was a fear that everyone had and it broke Teleport-her’s chain of thought for an instant.

After that Merry just had to make sure that Teleport-her was in too much pain to concentrate. And that wasn’t a problem. She kept hold of Teleport-her’s ankle and twisted it sharply. Teleport-her screamed and Merry wrenched the ankle even more, bending it until she heard the bone snap. Then she moved up the leg and bent it savagely to the side. Tendons and bones strained and cracked and Teleport-her screamed again. Merry grabbed her other leg and did the same thing. Then she broke Teleport-her’s wrists and arms and planted her elbow a few times into the young woman’s ribs until she felt them crack.

Merry stood up and the look she gave Teleport-her was her best dead look. The kind of look she had practiced when she had been a cop. It worked and Teleport-her looked at her in absolute terror.

"You hurt Simone." Merry said. "Don’t move."

Merry turned and went over to the door to the room where Simone was. She opened the door and saw that Simone was getting into her dress. Simone looked up and smiled and Merry’s heart skipped. She had come too close to loosing that smile.

"How do you feel?" Merry and Simone said at the same time.

"I feel fine." Simone lied. She was glad that her dress covered the ink. The Group had described some of the battle and the fact that the woman she loved could be so ruthless scared Simone. "Goddess what happened to you?"

"A lot." Merry said. "But nothing I couldn’t handle."

Was that bragging, Simone wondered, or posturing to spare her feelings? The parts of Merry’s body not covered by her suit were full of bruises and cuts and there was a massive purple bruise on the side of her head.

{You are both safe.}

{Now we must decide what to do next.}

{You have accomplished your goal of leaving behind witnesses to relate the wrath of Dollopolis.}

{If ICE responds as you think they will this should be the end of it.}

"No." Merry sighed and for the first time showed some of the pain and fatigue she must have felt. "It’s never over."

Merry hopped onto the table and shrunk at the same time. She slumped down her knees. It was more of an admission of weakness than she had ever let on and Simone acted on it. She went over to Merry and hugged her. Merry shuddered for a few minutes and then pulled herself together.

"Let’s go home." Simone said. "Mrs. Rothschild and her friends can deal with ICE. I doubt that the gods will let them into Dollopolis again."

{They are ineffectual against ICE.}

{And they have a positive talent for getting you into trouble.}

{Something you do not need help with in the first place.}

{Lady Highfield has her daughters back, Miss Shadow has her trinkets back. This affair is concluded.}

"Wait." Merry said. "It’s not over. Not yet. Not for Lucy anyway."

"What more could she want?" Simone demanded.

"Success." Merry said. "Don’t you understand her yet? This wasn’t all about Serenity and her daughters. This was about Lucy and winning."

{Explain.}

Merry sat down on the edge of the table.

"Lucy Rothschild is the most mulish person ever to walk the planet." Merry said. "She can’t take failure and she really can’t take guilt. With me she keeps running into both. Look at all this, she talked her way past gods to get to us. It wasn’t all for Serenity, it was for her. Lucy needs to be friends with us, she needs to feel like she’s made up for breaking her word. Leaving now, giving her this bone will just make her work harder to find us. She’ll always be out there looking for any excuse."

"You’re right." Simone said sitting down next to her. "The woman doesn’t give up easily."

{We agree.}

{Your insight into her mind is accurate.}

{Now we must come up with a solution.}

{The problem is how do we put enough distance between her and Dollopolis to continue our activities and yet give her the closeness she demands.}

Merry tensed as soon as the question was asked and Simone knew what she was about to say before she said it.

"I have an idea." Merry said. "First we give her something to keep her busy, Teleport-her should do for that. I’m going to scare that girl so much that she’ll beg Lucy to protect her from me. She’ll give Lucy so much information on ICE that they’ll be too busy to come after us again."

Merry turned to Simone.

"She tortured you right?"

"Yes." Simon nodded.

"Then that’s the excuse." Merry said. "They already know that I’m crazy, I have to let Teleport-her convince them that I’ve gone so far over the edge even you can’t really control me anymore. That after this your so mad you don’t even want to control me that much. After we give them Teleport-her we’ll take a few days to heal, then I’ll go after Timidious. I mean really go after him. I’ll mess him up so bad he’ll never get out of the hospital. But at the end of it I’ll let them catch me. You show up after that and negotiate my release. Do something spectacular that’ll calm me down. Hopefully they’ll buy it, you leave as their friend with me in chains or something."

{Workable. You have the beginnings of an idea.}

{But there are flaws in the second part of your plan.}

{And there is a resource here you are overlooking. The ICE computers are still intact.}

{The ICE opp files are open to us.}

"ICE opp files?" Simone asked.

"ICE is a very cellular organization." Merry said. "They don’t have a computer network, each operation is given a set of files detailing goals, resources and plans. Those files are written down in the ICE main vault. When an operation is approved the knowledge that the ICE security agent needs to know is put on a computer disk and given to her. It’s up to her to destroy them when its over or anything goes wrong. I shot Barbara before she could do anything.

"So the computers would have all the information on this operation." Simone said.

"Goddess!" Merry swore. "I just realized what we have!"

{As have we.}

{And the basic idea of your plan must now be expanded.}

{Quickly. Earth Force is searching desperately.}

{Here is what you must do.}

Merry dumped the tech onto the ground beside Teleport-her. Teleport-her was in shock from her wounds and the tech was in shock from fear. He had watched as Merry had mercilessly ripped the alien costume off of her body. Merry had broken a few more of her bones in the process and had forced herself to smile at Teleport-her’s cries of pain. Then Merry had stripped him naked and used an entire roll of electrical tape to virtually cocoon him, making it very tight around his crotch. His pain would come when the tape was pulled off. Then she had dragged both of them out of the building. Him by his ankle, her by her hair. Most of the time Simone sat on her shoulder and stayed silent.

Now Merry took her and put her down in front of the tech. Simone favored him with a cold dark look.

"What is your name peasant?" She demanded.

"Al Trellwell." The tech said.

"You call her 'Your Grace' you scum!" Merry shouted kicking him.

"Enough First Knight." Simone said. "He is only a peasant. Tell me Trellwell did you watch as I was tortured?"

"Yes Your Grace." Al said keeping a sharp eye on Merry. "It was my job to watch and record the sessions."

"You recorded what they did to me?" Simone demanded angrily.

"It was my job!" Al protested trying to back up from the small woman.

"First Knight destroy this building and everything in it." Simone said. "I will not have a record of my humiliation survive."

"How?" Merry said. "The ships weapons systems were drained in the battle. They need hours to re-charge and Earth Force will find us before then."

"Take the X-wing and destroy those computers then." Simone ordered. "Trellwell was that data transmitted to anyone?"

"No your grace." Trellwell said. "ICE only transmits data by hand."

"This won't take me long." Merry said heading toward the fighter. She gave the tech and the defeated villainess a look. "Don’t move."

Merry got into it and flew the ship into the computer room. Once she landed Merry dragged a USB cable out of the X-wing and plugged it into the computer.

{An ICE operational report and mission file.}

{Very rare to get one this intact.}

{Even rarer to make sure that ICE doesn't know that it has been stolen.}

{It seems leaving two alive was a good idea after all.}

"Is Simone safe out there?" Merry asked.

{Except for enduring Teleporter-her's constant stream of profanity yes.}

"She’ll stop cursing soon." Merry said.

Merry landed the X-wing a few feet from Simone and got out. Her wounds were starting to break through the shock. She was a little dizzy and her body was starting to ache. But she wasn’t done yet. Teleport-her must have been in a lot of pain but her mouth was working fine.

"I'll gut both of you!" Teleport-her shouted.

"Why is she still alive?" Simone asked turning to Merry.

"She was the one who took you." Merry answered playing her part. It tore her up how much more this was going to worry Serenity and Ms. Dream but this would give Simone more power later. "Even now she curses you. She tortured you."

"Yes." Simone said.

"The others hurt me too Simone. They used me, they lied to me, they betrayed me. I want you to witness a Blood Hunt."

"I suspected as much." Simone said. "And after this I find I can no longer trust Mrs. Rothschild. Make the declaration and name your prey First Knight."

Merry grew to her normal size and the look she gave Teleport-her silenced her. Trellwell edged away from the girl.

"I call for the Blood Hunt my lady and ask you to witness it."

"I told you that I was trying very hard to feel sorry for you." Simone said gravely to Teleport-her. "Now I actually do feel sorry for you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Teleport-her demanded trying to bluff it out.

"I witness this under the Laws of Vengeance." Simone said. "The Blood Hunt is declared. Name your prey."

"Teleport-her assaulted you." Merry said projecting the sentence as much as possible without shouting. "Ms. Dream betrayed and attacked me. Lady Serenity Highfield used me. Miss Shadow betrayed and attacked me. Timidious attacked you. Verity Highfield tortured Corrella. Tranquility Green tortured Corrella. Goddess of Justice betrayed us. I have named the crimes they have committed crimes against me and against you and against Dollopolis. Their guilt is certain and I pledge that truth with my life."

"I accept their guilt and I witness it." Simone said. "All but Goddess of Justice. The Law of Family overrules the Law of Vengeance, even the Blood Hunt."

"She orchestrated all this!" Merry snarled.

"That may well be, I am half certain of it but only half, and she is still mother to you, her daughter your sister."

"She is not..." Merry started to yell.

"She is." Simone interrupted her. "When you pledged your oath to her you accepted that by the Laws of Honor."

"Fine." Merry said. "But the others are mine!"

"Accepted." Simone said.

"What about you?" Merry asked Trellwell. "Do you witness it too?"

"Ah…"

"Do you!" Merry shouted.

"Yea, ok, right!" Trellwell stammered.

"Good, you can tell them when they get here."

Merry smiled her best evil smile and brought her foot down on Teleport-her's broken ankle. She screamed and Merry bent down so that they were face to face.

"You've got one year to live. That's it. One year. At some time in the next year I will find you. I did this once before. I took a telepath who assaulted Simone. I caught him. I buried him up to his neck in the sand and then I poked a little hole into his skull. I put a little insect in there, something like this world's bees. It was a queen and over the next few weeks I sat and watched as her hive was built in his living brain. I kept him alive by using healing potions."

Teleport-her nearly fainted but Merry slapped her.

"Don't pass out, I'm not done yet. I'm not going to do that to you. The Laws don't allow that. But I'm going to do something very much like it. I could crawl into your body and start growing. Ever see the chest buster in Alien? That'd be me. I won't let you die until you've screamed your voice away. You think your in pain now? You have no idea what real pain is. There is no place you can hide, no hole that ICE can put you in that I can't find you. I just took out the best that ICE had. You're next. You see under the Law either I kill you in a year or I have to kill myself."

Merry stood up and stomped on her other broken ankle. Teleport-her screamed and tried to back away but she was trapped.

"So get well. Get really well. Get some new powers. Go to a party. But don't ever sleep soundly. Cause one night I'm going to be there."

"It is done Merry." Simone said. "Your formal declaration is made and witnessed. Peasant you shall inform Earth Force when they find you."

"Yes Your Grace." Al said.

"We should..." Merry started to say the rest of it but another wave of dizziness hit her.

"We should go now." Simone finished.

Merry shrunk down to twelve inches and fell against her and they both fell down.

"Easy Merry." Simone said. "I have you."

Supporting each other they walked over to the X-wing fighter. Behind them Merry could hear Teleport-her crying hysterically.

"The other ship is returning." Merry said as Dagger came into view. When it was five feet from the ground it flipped over and the frozen form of Blue Marble fell to the Earth and shattered. Teleport-her screamed and fainted.

"Her overdrive must have burnt out." Merry said looking at the ship. "We can’t take her orbital."

"She can go home the slow way." Simone said. "I’ll control her from the fighter."

"That was quite a speech." Simone said as the cockpit on the X-wing closed.

"I love you." Merry said. "I swore I’d say that the first chance I got. I love you Simone."

"I love you too." Simone said softly after a moment. Merry couldn't see her face but she could here the surprise and love in her voice.

{You had better move.}

{Earth Force is coming.}

{Your performance was splendid.}

{Now rest.}

Merry set the fighter in motion but she didn’t let herself relax. She wouldn’t until they reached Simone’s jet and were safely back on their way home.

I’m sorry Ms. Dream, Merry thought. I’m so sorry.

"Then they got into the fighter and took off." Al said.

"A blood hunt." Goddess of Justice said.

"You gotta protect me!" Teleport-her screamed as the med-techs worked on her. "That bitch is crazy! Look I'll tell you about ICE! I'll tell you everything I can think of!"

"We'll protect you." Goddess of Justice said. Ms. Dream could hear the sadness and frustration competing in her voice.

"Yea, what about me." Ms. Dream mumbled.

Around them the crime scene people worked, finding the pieces of Blue Marble and putting them into plastic evidence bags. They were also finding pieces of Knife. Dagger's head had rolled into some bushes but that was easily found. Prudence was searched the grounds at a shrunken size, just in case she could find another clue.

One of the techs injected Teleport-her with something and her eyes closed. They started fitting her with emergency casts and Goddess of Justice turned and walked away.

"I’m telling you Lucy a moat around the mansion would look great." Ms. Dream walking with her. Goddess of Justice looked at her and Ms. Dream ploughed on. "Not a deep one, just a moat."

"We'll have to warn Serenity." Goddess said. "And the others."

"Yep." Ms. Dream agreed. "At least you don't have to worry."

"Yes I do." Goddess said stopping. She looked around. "All of this is my fault Mary. I broke my word. Will I never stop paying for that?"

"It's not all about you Lucy." Ms. Dream said. "There's some blame to go around here."

"I started it." Goddess said. "And this night Barbara finished it. One denial from her…"

"Since when does ICE do us any favors." Ms. Dream said.

"A Blood Hunt." Goddess said. "The very name tells me what it is. And Merry… By Athena Mary from the moment we met I sensed a good and noble soul buried under that anger. Angry, afraid, in pain…"

"Deadly." Ms. Dream said sweeping the area with her arm. "Lucy this was Knife's Edge! She took them out in about five minutes! The girls not helpless."

"That's not the point." Goddess said. "The point is that somewhere in that woman is a heroine, a great and noble spirit and I can't reach it! Simone was my only hope and now… Now I have failed again."

"Lucy." Ms. Dream said. "Lucy…"

She couldn't find the words and for a few minutes they stood silently. Then Goddess of Justice pulled herself upright.

"We have to prepare. When Merry comes after you we will have another chance. If we can capture her maybe we can calm her down."

"Oh goody, I'm bait again." Ms. Dream said.

Simone stretched carefully. She had gotten very good at that; stretching without actually moving much. That way she didn’t wake anyone up. She lay on her bed, her legs spread slightly and her arms at her side. Between her legs Merry slept with her back against Simone's pussy and her arms on Simone's legs. On her chest Jessie and Lizzie slept each one using one of her breasts for a pillow. Their hair spread across each of her nipples. Jessie slept on her left side with her feet towards Simone's stomach, Lizzie on the right side with her feet pointed toward Simone's neck. Merry stirred in her sleep but did not wake up. Simone smiled. Merry's hair had gotten tangled up with Simone's pubic hair and every time Merry stirred Simone felt a slight tug. Even after last night those tugs could arouse her.

Simone had been up for nearly an hour. Through her window she could see the dawn starting to break. It had been two weeks since they had returned from England. The first two days had been spent caring for everyone. Merry had actually needed surgery to remove bone splinters from her brain. Once they were all out of the regen tubes Simone had been treated to almost non-stop love. She had longed to hear Merry say the words 'I love you' and now that Merry was saying them Simone would never tire of hearing it.

And Merry wasn’t the only one. Simone had never had family love and rarely felt anything like true love. The social circles she had traveled in had looked down on romantic love. She and her friends had felt themselves too sophisticated for real love. But over the past two weeks Simone realized what love was. Not only from Merry but from Jessie and Lizzie as well. And last night had put so many exclamation points on their feelings that Simone had lost count.

Always before when Merry had let Lizzie and Jessie join them in bed she had been as small as they were. They had made love to Simone at that size. Not last night. They had gathered in her bedroom as usual and Merry had announced that this would be a special night, a night they would show Simone just how much she meant to them all.

Merry had stayed at her full size and all three had coordinated their love making so that Simone was the recipient of their combined attention. The result was a night of passion that Simone had never dreamed was possible. With Merry at her full size and Lizzie and Jessie at their tiny size they had come at Simone’s body in so many ways that Simone had lost count. Merry between her legs and the twins at her ears or breasts, Merry kissing her while Jessie and Lizzie dove into her pussy, grabbing and kissing her clitoris… The combinations grew from there and the tide of passion that they brought forth swamped her again and again.

Simone was amazed that they could do it without Lizzie and Jessie being crushed. Somehow it had been pre-planned, but the idea of Merry planning out their love making seemed… silly somehow. Simone could barely stifle a giggle when she pictured them sitting at a table with a diagram of her body, planning what to do and when. But that is what they must have done. Merry's passionate love making style had not diminished at all. Yet somehow Lizzie and Jessie avoided being crushed between two giants. Simone had felt not so much like a woman making love as she did a goddess being worshiped.

This is what true love is like, Simone thought as Merry and the twins stirred in their sleep. Gently she reached up and put her hands across Lizzie's and Jessie's stomachs. The twins sighed in their sleep and took hold of her fingers, hugging them to their chests. Goddess how did I ever live without this?

Yet even as she reveled in the thought a fear crept into Simone’s mind.

I've got them and I can loose them, Simone thought. We all nearly died on this little adventure. The Group was ready to let us walk into danger. It suited their plans. I've finally found her, the One. Not only her but two little bonuses as well. I could loose her. I could loose them. I could loose them both. If we stay in this lifestyle we are staying in danger. And Snowbelle and Monica…

Simone knew that she had joined up with the Group mostly on a whim. Free of her cancer, intrigued by the adventure of being small, flattered by being nearly worshiped by Lizzie and Jessie and attracted to Merry; Simone hadn't thought much about what would come. But now it was here and Simone was thinking very much about what could happen. She had a lover, a family; how could she protect them? There was no chance that she could ever go against the Group openly and win. Merry would die if she ever had to choose between them.

But somehow I have to find ways to protect you all, Simone thought. But how do I do that against four people who have the intellects of gods?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Merry woke up. Simone knew she was awake by the way Merry's body tensed up. It wasn’t just another of her frequent nightmares. Merry had heard something. Merry stood up and crawled slowly to the end of the bed. The door to Simone's room opened and Deborah poked her head in. Merry instantly relaxed.

"It's time to get ready." Deborah said.

"Merry." Simone said. She got up slowly so that she wouldn't wake Jessie and Lizzie. Merry nodded and grew to her full size. Gently Simone put Lizzie and Jessie onto Merry's chest. Neither of them woke up.

"You'll be careful." Merry said placing her hands over their bodies as Simone had done.

"Yes I will be." Simone agreed. Don't worry dear, after this we can all be friends."

"No we can't." Merry said. "Simone if they ever learn the truth they'll hate us and they'll have the right to hate us. We can never be real friends to them."

"Get some rest." Simone said. "I'll be back soon."

Lucy's study was usually as orderly as the rest of her. But now it was a mess. An orderly mess Mary had to admit, but by Lucy-standards it was still a mess. On her great English oak desk papers and books were stacked two feet high. Another desk had been brought in for Serenity to work on and that desk was even worse. Smaller tables with books and papers were everywhere. A large white board had been brought in and obscure legal terms covered it.

"How is she?" Serenity asked as Mary walked into the room.

"She'll be ok." Mary said handing Serenity a cup of coffee from the tray she carried. "She's with Prudence and Esmerelda again. That last bit on MNN really got to her."

"Them." Serenity swore. "That wasn't a television report, that was a savage attack."

"Any progress?" Mary asked as she handed Lucy a cup.

"Yes and no." Lucy said. "It may take years to get Vicki and Tranquility's lives back."

They have it rough, Mary admitted to herself. I have to remember that whenever I feel sorry for myself.

Getting back to Earth had turned out to be the easy part for the three changelings. The Young Ancient had been able to cure Verity's blindness but that was it. Breaking a magical spell was one thing, but the potions that had changed Vicki, Tranquility and Verity weren't entirely magic. There was some hard and very unknown science behind their transformations. Yoran was working on it but it would take years for him to find the cure. If he was lucky.

That would have been hard enough for them to live with if things hadn't gotten worse. Tranquility's meeting with her parents had been heartbreaking. She had expected sympathy and help; she had gotten neither. Both of her parents had been horrified and had stormed out of the room saying that their daughter was dead. And to make matters worse they were going to court to prove it. The claim that Tranquility Green had died and that the centaur who replaced her was not their daughter had some legal weight. Her DNA had been changed as well as had her finger and retinal prints. If that wasn't bad enough she had become the Freak of the Weak for the news media. One reporter had managed to snap a shot of Tranquility without her top on. That picture was now number five on the Top Internet down loads. MNN had run a special on Tranquility and her new body that had been graphic, brutal and tasteless. The girl was close to suicide and hadn't managed to get through one night in the last two weeks without having a nightmare.

Vicki had never been very famous but her life was in shambles as well. One of her ex-husbands had taken up the same reasoning as Tranquility's parents had. He claimed that his ex-wife was dead and that he was entitled to her fortune as stated in her will. Her law partners were helping him.

Lucy had turned her formidable legal mind to both cases and called in help. Mary was sure that Lucy would win the cases but it was going to take years.

And of course in the back of everyones mind was Merry's threat of the Blood Hunt. Mary slept with the light on.

"Here it is." Lucy said. "1955, Glob Man versus Helen Paulson. Paul Paulson was mutated by atomic fall out and despite the fact that there was very little human left in him his identity was accepted by the court and his wife was forced to accept that legally he was still alive."

"That will help." Serenity said.

"What ever happened to him?" Mary asked.

"He went mad and killed her before being caught in a rain storm and washed down a sewer." Lucy said. "A tragedy really."

The intercom beeped and Lucy answered it.

"Yes Walter."

"Thunderbird 2 and an Eagle just appeared two miles out ma'am." Walter's tense voice announced.

"What are they doing? Are they approaching?"

"No ma'am, just hovering."

"Any sign of movement on the internal scans?"

"Nothing ma'am." Walter said. "Nothing bigger than an ant moving in the kitchen."

"Don't challenge those ships." Lucy said. "Tell Flame to stay in her cave."

"What now?" Mary asked.

"It's not an attack." Lucy said.

"An invitation?" Serenity suggested.

"Simone." Lucy said hopefully. She pressed a button and only the fact that her hands were trembling showed how nervous she was. "Attention." Lucy said and her voice was carried to the entire mansion. "We have two ships from Dollopolis out beyond the cliffs. I do not believe that this is an attack. But be careful. Moon Girl please stay with Tranquility, Vicki and Verity. Prudence please meet me on the back lawn. Everyone else follow procedure."

"They must be very curious." Simone said.

{That is an understatement.}

{Are you ready?}

{Remember this will hurt.}

{And do not get too exited afterwards.}

"I’m ready." Simone said.

It wasn’t like when she shrunk. Simone had gotten used to the stomach dropping sensation that accompanied her shrinking. This was different. To fool everyone Simone couldn’t simply fake being weak and injured; she actually had to be weak and injured.

As the pain hit her Simone thought of Merry. Merry’s life as an agent had taken too much of her time. She’d been forced to give up being a policewoman. The Group had arranged a car accident and faked a disability. The plan had been for her to quietly fade away. Simone wanted them to live together. But Merry had refused. She wasn’t a cop just for the uniform. She had become a cop to help people. She still saw too many in Pine Hills that needed help. People like Lizzie and Jessie. Merry felt that she had failed them by being too much of a cop. Also Merry was worried that word would circulate if a blonde named Merry was living with a red head named Simone. They hadn’t always worn masks after all and their names were known. So Simone re-financed a decrepit youth center and Merry became its director. The Group stocked it with good people and at least three times a week Merry went there. To do it she went through the same thing that Simone was going through now.

And I have it easy, Simone thought. She felt the strength leave her body. Felt her leg start to burn and then ache. If Simone hadn’t held a cane she would have toppled over. How much harder for Merry when she felt her legs become partially paralyzed and had to use two canes to walk?

Simone couldn't help but scream as her body was robbed of its strength. The process didn’t take long but Simone marveled how Merry could go through it as often as she did. And without complaint.

Simone staggered over to the pilot's chair and sat down. Her own reflection looked at her from the darkened monitor screen. Her hair was now streaked with white, her face was tight against her skull and Simone was sure that her skin was pale.

"This should do it." Simone said and heard a gravely weak voice in her ears. "Oh yes, this should do it."

Simone heard a tapping and saw that Prudence was standing next to the window. She was being supported by one of Goddess of Justice's flying light disk and the look on her face told Simone that the deception was working.

"Time to keep it going." Simone said.

"It's just Simone." Prudence said as soon as she got close enough. She jumped off of the disk and grew to full size.

"Two ships for just her?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Yea." Prudence said.

"What's up?" Ms. Dream asked. Deep in her a worry began to build. Could Merry be dead?

"She won't say." Prudence said. "She wants to meet with us in the hangar bay. Me, Esmerelda, Verity, Tranquility, Mom, you, Serenity, Bitch-35 and Vicki."

"How does she look?" Serenity asked.

"Like she can barely move." Prudence said. "She's using a cane to get around."

"What about Merry?" Ms. Dream asked.

"She didn't say." Prudence said. "But she didn't look too happy when she didn't say it."

"Prudence get the others." Goddess of Justice said. "We'll meet you in the hangar bay."

Simone landed Thunderbird 2 and the Eagle in the hanger bay under Rothshild mansion and took a deep breath. Or tried to. It came up short.

"This isn't going to be easy." Simone said.

{We're here.}

{Half the job is done Simone.}

{You merely have to steer things in the right direction.}

{What ever guilt you feel will be salved by how much you are going to give back to Ms. Dream.}

I don't feel much guilt, Simone thought. I just hope I'm smart enough to fool these people.

She felt the ship vibrate as the cargo pod separated from the main ship. The cargo door opened and Simone hobbled down the ramp.

"Greetings Mrs. Rothschild." Simone said stopping at the end of the ramp. "Our last conversation was interrupted."

"Yes I know." Lucy said. She was staying in her non-powered guise and so was Mary. Serenity wasn't using her armor.

They're trying not to scare me, Simone realized.

"There is one missing." Simone said looking around the bay.

"Bitch-35 is in England." Serenity said. "She is helping to guard Teleport-her."

At the mention of the name Simone felt anger but she controlled it.

"There are matters that must be settled Mrs. Rothschild." Simone said leaning heavily on her cane. "And they will be settled."

"You want to sit down first?" Mary asked. "You're not looking too good."

"I'll be fine." Simone said. Her gaze fell on Vicki, Verity and Tranquility. "Tranquility, Verity; you I shall deal with first."

"Define deal with." Vicki said. "Cause if you're going to hurt them…"

"If I were going to hurt them Ms. Trumble I would have brought more than Thunderbird 2 and one eagle. I would have waited until Merry had recovered and then simply left it in her hands."

"How is she?" Prudence asked.

"Hurt." Simone said. "Barely alive as is usual for her after an encounter with you people."

"Hey it wasn't all our fault." Mary protested.

"No." Simone said and she felt anger rising in her. "And I will deal personally with Miss Shadow. But having to dig bone splinters out of Merry's brain is not a pleasant way to pass an afternoon Ms. Dream. Hellspite's last attack fractured her skull and that was only the start of her injuries."

Ms. Dream paled and Simone felt a tinge of guilt but ruthlessly purged it. They had to be reminded that Merry was not invulnerable.

"Now Verity, Tranquility. Before Merry blacked out she told me everything. I ask you now: are you sorry for what you did?"

"Yes." Verity said.

"Bloody hell yes!" Tranquility shouted. "Really!"

"Don't you think they've paid enough?" Vicki demanded.

"Yes Ms. Green I do." Simone said. "As does Merry."

"She does?" Tranquility demanded. "She… I mean she was going to…"

"Merry is not heartless." Simone said harshly. "She is not a monster." She let her voice soften. "But she is also prone to anger."

"No kidding." Ms. Dream said. "Ok, so those two are out of the Blood Hunt thing?"

"Yes." Simone said. Leave it to Ms. Dream to bluntly get to the point. It was good to see Tranquility and Verity's bodies relax at the news.

"What about me?" Ms. Dream said.

"Yes, but for a different reason." Simone said. "Verity and Tranquility are safe because of a provision in the Law of Vengeance. They were both cursed before Merry made the declaration, and neither had anything to do with the attack on me. You are free of the hunt as well Ms. Highfield for a similar reason. Merry and I have both concluded that there is no way to hurt you as much as the Archduke has."

"Ok, that's great, get back to me for a sec." Ms. Dream said.

"I will soon." Simone said. "It is in fact for your sake that I have made this trip. Merry begged me to do it as soon as possible."

"Merry?" Lucy asked.

"Yes." Simone said. "Of course I'm sure she meant as soon as she recovered, if she knew I was outside of Dollopolis alone she'd claw her way through the walls to get to me."

"That leaves three people still on the list." Lucy said. "Timidious, Miss Shadow and Teleport-her."

Simone felt another wave of anger rising and fought to keep herself under control. Some things didn’t require acting.

"In Miss Shadow's case I have over ruled Merry's declaration and claimed the right of vengeance for myself." Simone said. "By the time I'm done Miss Shadow will regret her actions, what ever their reasons. My methods differ from Merry's, I will not kill her or torture her. But I will torment her."

"Cryptic." Ms. Dream said. "What about Teleport-her."

"What about her?" Simone demanded. Her leg was starting to throb and her head was aching.

{Careful Simone.}

{Remember you're not at full strength.}

Simone tried to calm down.

"Merry nearly killed her." Lucy said.

"She will finish the job in her own time." Simone said. "And I shall enjoy watching."

"I can't allow that." Lucy said.

"You can't allow it?" Simone demanded. "You would defend her?"

"Not her actions." Lucy said. "But what she did does not give anyone the right to torture her to death."

"Do you know what she did to me!" Simone shouted. "She tortured me! Humiliated me! Played with me as if… as if…"

Simone suddenly felt her legs give out from under her and the world spin through her head.

{We did warn you.}

It was the last thought she heard before the world went black.

"Simone!" Prudence shouted going over to her and shrinking.

"No!" Lucy gasped and Mary felt her despair. But she also knew that Lucy wouldn't let Teleport-her stay on the kill list. But there was a sick feeling in Mary's stomach as well. They were so close, Simone was willing to listen and talk. If she died now it would all crash and burn. They'd have to face a fully enraged Merry with no chance in hell of calming her down.

"Yoran get down here!" Ms. Dream sent using a strong telepathic shout.

"I've got a pulse." Prudence said bending over Simone and feeling her neck.

"She must be weaker than we thought." Serenity said.

"What happened?" Yoran said appearing at the lift entrance.

"She got excited." Prudence said.

"Another small one." Yoran said rushing over to them. "Thrilling. I should be buying medical tools from Toy's R. Us."

"Is she going to be ok?" Verity asked.

"She better be." Tranquility said. "I don't want to be on the same planet if Merry finds out she died here."

"I will not die here." Simone said opening her eyes. She struggled to sit up, knocking Yoran's hands away as he tried to help her. "I am Simone of Dollopolis. In Dollopolis we stand on our own or… Or…" She fell back and Prudence caught her. "Damn." Simone said after a moment. "That would have been far more dramatically satisfying if I had managed to sit up."

"Let me help you." Prudence said.

"Thank you." Simone said as Prudence helped her to sit up. She took a few deep breaths and they ended with horrible sounding coughs.

"You haven't really dealt with that poison yet have you?" Yoran asked.

"The poison yes." Simone said. "But my body can not heal yet. Not fully."

"Why not?" Yoran asked.

"Because at the moment the Temple of Healing is full up." Simone said. "And most of my life force is needed there. Prudence, in the cargo bay, there is a chair. Would you mind."

"I'll get it." Prudence said. She stood up and rushed into the cargo bay."

"I could help you." Yoran said. "With the temple I mean."

"You are a man." Simone said. "No man enters Dollopolis unless he is a prisoner, hostage or slave. The penalty for bringing you there would be a year of exile."

"I'd go as a slave." Yoran said smiling.

"Here." Prudence said bringing out a small folding chair. She set it up and helped Simone into it."

"Thank you." Simone said. She tried to take a few deep breaths, failed and settled for a few short ones. Then she looked at Lucy. "Now Mrs. Rothschild, where were we?"

"I know how you must feel." Lucy said. "I've been raped Simone. So has Mary, Serenity… I know that your people love vengeance, but here, in this world we have laws. Dead Teleport-her stops, her life and any chance for her to repent stops. You can't take that away from her."

"What interest do you think I have in her redemption?" Simone demanded.

"Probably none." Lucy admitted. "But what interest did you have in Lizzie or Jessie's redemption? They assaulted Merry and you didn't kill them. They worked their way up from slaves to subjects and even to knights. They love you and you love them, I've seen that. Why give them such a chance and not Teleport-her?"

Simone frowned but Mary could tell that the argument had moved her.

"I will concede your point Mrs. Rothschild, but there is no way to cancel a Blood Hunt once it has been declared. Not for Teleport-her in any case. The extenuating circumstances that existed for the rest do not exist for her. She assaulted me, took me, played with my body. Once Merry knew of that there was no stopping the declaration. And once the declaration is made there is almost no stopping it."

"Simone." Lucy said. She sank down to her knees so that they could be face to face. "Simone please. We are so very close here. Everything up to now has been a disaster, we've all made mistakes. I've made mistakes. But we can move past them here and now. No more hiding, no more miss-understandings. We can help you. But if Merry deliberately tortures and murders Teleport-her then we fail. I will have to pursue her then."

"After all she has done for you?" Simone said gripping the sides of her chair tightly. "After all that she has suffered for you?"

Easy Lucy, Mary thought.

"Yes." Lucy said. "Even after all that she's done for me and all I've done to her. Justice can be harsh that way Simone."

"Look with all those crazy laws you have isn't there a way out?" Mary said. "I mean come on."

"Does the life of that girl mean so much?" Simone asked. "She was part of Knife's Edge Mrs. Rothschild. Can that be so easily dismissed?"

"No." Lucy said. "But Justice can not be vengeance, the two can not live together. Simone for Merry's sake and yours, and everything that start from this moment, please call it off."

Simone gripped her cane tighter and for a moment Mary thought she'd been pushed too far again. But she recovered and looked up.

"There is one way." Simone said. "But the risk is great. It is a way not covered under the law."

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"Merry is in the Temple of Healing right now." Simone said. "I can reach into her mind and remove the memory of the Blood Hunt declaration."

"You can do that?" Mary asked.

"Yes." Simone said. "But do you understand what it means for me to do this? Above all else Merry hates two things: a telepathic assault and betrayal. If she ever learns that the woman she loves did both to her then her rage will be un-stoppable. All of you only think that you have seen Merry as mad as she can be. I can tell you that there are levels of fury in her soul that are beyond measure."

"So we don't tell her." Prudence said. "None of us."

"What about the peasant?" Simone demanded. "And Teleport-her?"

"I can take care of them." Mary said. "They won't remember a thing."

"And no one here will ever say a word about it." Lucy said.

Simone looked around and saw nods of affirmation.

"Very well." She said. "But if Merry ever finds out Mrs. Rothschild you will have to kill her. I will already be dead."

"She won't find out." Lucy said.

"We're forgetting someone." Serenity said. "Timidious."

"Him." Simone said. "He is exempt under the Laws of Vengeance. When Merry declared the Blood Hunt it was before we found out that as badly as he assaulted me he had already done far worse to Ms. Dream. She has the right of First Vengeance."

"Me?" Mary asked.

"Yes." Simone said. "And you are the reason I am here Mary. Merry feels for you, I believe she would love you if you were ever to live in Dollopolis. She has talked fondly of you body and sadly of your pain. When she learned what was done to you she realized that her anger would pale besides yours."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mary asked. "How could I ever get madder than her? Hell how can anyone ever get madder than her?"

"Timidious is an ICE agent." Simone said. Mary felt every one of her words as if they were physical blows. "For over a decade now he has been using his powers to manipulate you, weaken you, control you. Not only you but Green Dream and Grimm and other heroes and heroines as well."

"Impossible." Lucy said.

"That is why I wanted to meet here Mrs. Rothschild. Green Dream's plants communicate to her and she passes that information on to ICE. Not consciously of course, but when she sleeps she is an open conduit. Your home is filled with her plants."

"I don't believe it." Lucy said.

"Me neither." Mary said.

"Then I will prove it." Simone said. "But I had hoped to give you more time to prepare. Mary: command 010010001. Execute."

Mary felt her mind snap for a moment. The world vanished. She was floating in a pleasant limbo and hearing only Simone's voice.

"Mary I command you, remember all and awake." Simone said. "Now."

It was as if every thing fell into focus for just an instant before slipping away again. But this time it was different. This time Mary realized it was happening. She felt a thousand doors in her mind begin to close. Close as they had so often closed before and left no trace.

Not this time. This time she could stop them. Mary reached out with her willpower and took hold of each door. For a moment they fought her. Then they shattered. Memories, feelings and thoughts came rushing at her all at once. They poured over her mind and hammered away at her sanity. But the same doors that had held those memories, thoughts and feelings back had also held Mary's soul back. She felt it fill her and for the first time in a very long time Mary felt complete.

She opened her eyes and looked up into Lucy's face. A face so full of concern and worry Mary wanted to cry. She'd always get that look. It was the look of a concerned sister, not a lover. That was what Mary had realized so long ago. The love of her life, her perfect soul mate, was a woman who didn't love women. Not that way. Mary had learned to live with that. Until Timidious had taken that stoicism away from her. Mary had first realized that she could love both men and women when she was sixteen and had made out with her best friend after breaking up with a boy friend. It had been great. It'd been scary too. Mary had been scared of what she was feeling and scared that they would be discovered. It was the later fear that came true.

They had only been kissing, but that had been too much for her alcoholic parents. Her father had gone into a homophobic rage and broken Mary's jaw and her best friends arm. Her best friend had responded by pulling out a gun. Mary grabbed the gun, they struggled, the gun went off twice and both her parents died. The guilt had never gone away. Timidious made sure that every time Mary looked at Lucy that guilt came back. As time went on and supervillains assaulted her mind and body he turned the screws, taking advantage of her weakness, making her feel that guilt and pain more and more to the point where Mary would do anything for some relief. Relief he would provide in exchange for cooperation. Every secret Mary knew he knew and she never remembered one of their little talks. He was there after each psychic attack and rape, concerned; trusted. And each time he took full advantage of her weakness to gain more and more control over her. His rapes had been worse than the supervillains.

"Mary?" Lucy asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Mary said sitting up. "No. That's a lie. I'm not all right. Right now I'm in shock. Give me some time and some coffee and Timidious burning in hell and I'll be alright."

"It's true then?" Lucy asked.

"Yea." Mary stood up. "Everything. Everything that's been tearing at me Lucy, all those confused thoughts, the self hatred, the doubts… All him."

"As I said Mary the right of First Vengeance is yours." Simone said. "That command was one of two dozen I found. It merely put you into a hypnotic trance. The others were set triggers to be used in battle. There may be more."

"Thank you." Mary said. She knelt down. "And thank Merry."

"Timidious an ICE agent." Lucy said. "Now it does make sense. Captain Pharoah's paranoia, Green Dream and Grimm's love. Great Athena did he make them love each other?"

"I don't know." Simone said. "Nor do I know if he as affected Captain Pharaoh. I know he wasn't able to affect everyone in Force Group J."

"How do you know all this?" Serenity asked.

"Because of Merry." Simone said. "Before she destroyed the ICE computers she copied the data from their hard drives into her fighters on board computer. It was encrypted so it took me a few days to read. On the hard drive was an ICE operational file. Under resources Timidious and his activities were listed."

"Can we have a copy of that file?" Lucy asked.

God I love her, Mary thought. She's put it together even if Simone hasn't. An ICE opp file! We'll tear'em apart with that.

"Yes." Simone said. "Prudence inside the cargo bay you will find five memory tabs. Could you bring them out please."

"Right." Prudence said.

"Mary…" Lucy began but Mary held up her hand.

"Later Lucy." Mary said. She could feel her mind settling down. On the horizon lay anger but Mary wasn't going to let herself feel it yet. Not yet. Shock was her friend. Later would be time for her to cry and shout. Later in private.

"Here." Prudence said carrying the tabs out of the bay.

"The green one contains the ICE file." Simone said. "Complete but for the deletion of my own torture and a list of ICE agents that have infiltrated the Legion of Mystics."

"ICE Has people in there?" Serenity asked.

"Yes. Or no." Simone said. "Many or few. You may tell Miss Shadow that. I told you that my ways of vengeance were not Merry's."

For a moment Lucy looked like she was going to argue the point but then thought better of it. She took the green tab from Prudence and looked at it.

"Their time is coming." Lucy said.

"What are the other four?" Prudence asked.

"They are from me to Lady Highfield." Simone said. "Merry objected but I overruled her. She argued that, I think it was one of the reasons that she was so willing to argue for Verity and Tranquility. Merry can be strange that way."

"For me?" Serenity asked.

"Yes. After Merry's battle with Hellspite she was lost in the tunnels under Darksun's castle. She stumbled onto his drug factory and the corpse of one of your clones. She also stumbled into a room full of smashed computers. Three of them were intact and Merry tore the hard drives out of them. These four tabs contain some of the files that were Darksun's lives work. The prototype potion to change Verity, Vicki and Tranquility back is in the files. It works with side effects, but it works. Yoran should be able to help you perfect it."

"The antidote?" Tranquility yelled. "You mean I can change back?"

"I can't guarantee that the ingredients are available on this world." Simone said.

"Where ever they are I'll find them." Serenity said.

"Merry thinks that I go to far with this." Simone said. "But I do not. Bitch-35's cybernetic blue prints are on the tab as well."

"She will be grateful." Serenity said. "And I'm more grateful than I can say."

Simone nodded and Mary saw her hands start to shake. She hid them under her robe but Mary could feel pain coming from her. She was pushing herself too hard.

Yoran must have seen it too.

"I think you should get some rest Simone." He said. "Wait here a while before you go back."

"When I am home." Simone said. She coughed and doubled over but pulled herself up.

"I have one last gift to give." Simone turned to Prudence and handed her a small key. "Prudence that eagle is now yours."

"Mine?" Prudence looked at the ship.

"Yours. You are Merry's sister, you will be our link to this group."

"A link?" Lucy asked.

"For as long as we stay on this world Mrs. Rothschild it is inevitable that we will come into contact with you. No matter how we try to hide circumstances seem to pull us toward each other. I don't like that. To be frank I have no use for your endless battles. I know you protect your world, but it is your world. I do not like the fact that Merry faces danger helping you protect it. But I accept it. We shall be able to contact you through Prudence and if you have the need of Merry's services you can call upon us."

Mary didn’t need her powers to feel the rising tide of joy in Lucy. In all of them. Except Simone. From her Mary felt worry.

"I warn you though." Simone said. "Merry's first duty, her only duty is to Dollopolis. Do not call us idly. Call only when the need is great and do not expect us to come running."

"I swear we will not call you unless we need to." Lucy said.

"Good." Simone said. "I…" She broke off with another fit of coughing and Mary felt a wave of pain come from her. "I must go now."

"Please stay for a while." Lucy said. "You could rest here."

"I'll rest at home." Simone said. She stood up and walked unsteadily up into the ship. She turned as the door began to close.

"Farewell."

A chorus of goodbyes followed her as the door closed.

"ICE." Lucy whispered looking at the tab. "For all these years you've held the advantage. No longer."

"Oh I can see those wheels turning." Mary said and wanted to laugh. Lucy was happy. For the first time in a long time Mary could feel that and not have it confuse and scare her.

"Wait!" Prudence said as Thunderbird 2 floated swiftly out of the bay. It shimmered and vanished.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know how to fly that thing." Prudence said pointing at the Eagle.

Mary started to laugh. After a few moments everyone joined in including Prudence.

…End.

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