harriso3@ix.netcom.com (Ben Harrison ) Well here is my first posted Fanfic. After enjoying so many others I thought I would contibute. This is actually the 2nd Fanfic I've ever writen, the first was to a now defunct fanzine about the Dirty Pair called Dirty Little Girls. It was accepted but I never saw the magazine. Of course the Dirty Pair/Lovely Angels are the creation of Haruka Takachiho Twin Star/Dirty Pair were inspired by the Lovely Angels and my own strange ideas The members of Inquiry are the products of my own imangination and their use as Characters in several RPG's I've played in. I would like Twister (Darren Steffler) and Windlilly (Shannon Richmeyer ) for their prereading and comments. In fact the original version of Chapter 2 was Twisters, if you don't like it do not blame him I did a fair amount of editting. I wish to thank Christopher Paul Rijk for the comments he made for parts one and two. This story takes place in a universe were some people do have, for a lack of a better term, superpowers. The members of Inqiry are such people. The Dirty Pair (s) don't have them, and frankly do not NEED them. Enough of my talk, on with the story. You can send your comments to Ben L. Harrison 72440.2345@compuserve.com ************************************************************ Two Pair Beats Everything or Two Pair and One Full House CHAPTER 1 Samuel Martian sat in his study, sipping cognac and thinking deeply. As was his habit when doing so the was talking quietly to himself. "T'malt Bri'tang, the head of the Sivvat delegation, and my friend, is dead. Murdered in his private quarters. In an age and on a planet were energyweapons are common, he was killed with an old style handgun." Sipping his cognac he continued, "The police have forgotten about these weapons so it will take a while for them to dredge up the proper tests. I think could help identify the weapon with a simple spell, but they wouldn't listen to me about my mystic abilities. Odd . . . they accept my minor telepathic talents without hesitation, but would have me committed to a Psychological evaluation if I tried to cast a spell for them". Rising to refresh his drink Martin began to review the facts he _did_ know. "One of the few things we know right now is that the bullet was of silver. _Silver!_ Damn. That indicates someone knows something about Sivvat magic. But how and what does this person or persons know?" "Of course the Police don't know the significance of the bullet. One of the detectives did to make a bad joke about werewolves. Odd though, his humor appeared extremely forced. It probably came about from the Police's general ill feeling. They, as a group, aren't happy about the Foreign Ministry stepping in and having me lead the investigation". He then snorted. "I'M not particularly happy about this either. I am several things: a Mage, a diplomat, a minor telepath, and historian. But I am NOT a detective." "Of course, this will not be an easy investigation. It will not matter if technology, magic, or a combination of both solve this case. To start with the Sivvat value their privacy highly and had spells covering all of the delegation rooms and passageways. Naturally those spells interfered with the security cameras. To make things even more difficult I can't get a good retrocognition reading of the area, assuming my unreliable talent in that area cooperates". "Well, what is past . . . is . . . past." Martin stared into space for a moment. "Wait a minute. The. . . _Past_. There was something in my reading..." Martins frowned in concentration. Suddenly he straightened up, as if he had come to a decision "Fenton!!!" Martin called. Fenton, Martin's majordomo, butler and assistant in many things both magical and mundane appeared. "Yes, sir. What do you need?" "Your skills as a researcher. Access the Historical Records database and check the late 20th century for a investigation team called the Dirty . . . something or other." Bowing slightly Fenton said, "Yes, sir. What information will you require?" "Names & descriptions to start with. We are going to do something to move this investigation forward. AS the weapon used was from the past, so we shall get some help from the past as well." With the typical "nothing startles me all" look that all good butlers have Fenton inquired "Will there be anything else Sir?" "No just get started right away, please. I've got to see Al'teer." -Later- "I'm sorry to intrude, Al'teer, but I need your assistance." The female Sivvat looked at the human. To most other races the Sivvat always appeared under control. But those individuals who could read them, who had spent time with them, and the especially rare people who could call one of the Sivvat friend, one of those people could tell this ones control was fraying. Badly. "Bri'tang was not my friend for long, but he was my friend. I also guessed that you were . . . much more than just a friend to him. That is why I'm so sorry to intrude on your grief." "Wh.. What is it you need Samuel Martin?" "I see the need to summon help to solve this tragic crime. The Police could handle the mundane aspects, but they cannot begin to understand, or deal with, the magical aspects. In addition, I feel investigators who are more familiar with older technologies would be of more help. Also, as I was placed in charge, I would feel more comfortable with someone who answered totally to me." Pausing, and drawing a deep breath, he continued "Therefore, I have decided to summon some help from the past, and to do that I need to borrow the Spirit Stone." "What!! Why?" "Because alone I lack the power and the focus to reach back that far in time. I'm strong, Al'teer, but I need aid. With the help of your delegation's Spirit Stone I would have power and focus" Al'teer took on the Sivvat look of concentration. Then she appeared to nod to herself. "Yes" was her simple reply Martin was taken aback. The artifacts that the Sivvat carry with them are, if not sacred, very close to it. This is especially true when dealing with the Sprit Stones. Because of the raw magical power the Stones carried Martin expected to have a long drawn out argument, an argument he had been prepared for, not this quick agreement. His face broadcast the question before he could even speak or send a telepathic message. Control slipping further Al'teer answered. "Because I loved him, because I couldn't save him and," her face went almost feral as she almost totally lost control, "to help avenge him." -- Elsewhere -- The instigator of the T'mals death, code named Snake by his fellow cabal members, felt pleased with himself. This assassination would lend strength to the Isolationist Cabals position. In one stroke his plan had removed a strong Contact Party voice and disrupted negotiations with this Human scum planet. What's more he had a perfect cut out from the people who had actually performed the assassination. Yes there was no way that amateur Samuel Martian would be able solve this problem. Granted, he was a strong mage, possibly stronger than Snake himself to be truthful, but power and skill in one area does not always translate to another. Samuel Martin had been foolish in taking on this assignment. Satisfied Snake continued musing on this until a trusted personal aide (and fellow agent of the cabal) entered. announced the aide without preamble. . The Snakes voice had a dangerous calmness to it. The Snake gathered his thoughts for a moment. The aide remained quiet. Opening his eyes the Snake started to issue orders. He paused, mental checking if anything else needed to be done. No all appeared correct. Yes, this was disturbing, but his steps should be more than enough --- Later---- Martian surveyed the casting room. The chamber was located in a converted barn on his family estates. Martin was quietly proud of his rooms workmanship. When he designed this place as a place of power he had made it larger than strictly necessary to accommodate large ceremonies and rituals. Rarely, however, had the casting room held host to so many. Besides himself and Fenton there were several members of the Sivvat delegation present to witness and to guard the Spirit Stone. Carefully positioning each person and item he took his own place before the Stone. The Stone was a fairly large gem, that glowed with a strange inner fire. As Martin took his place the Stone visibly brightened Martin then began to cast his spell. Snake thought, hiding in his position as one of the invited guests. As the energies gathered the reception circle began to glow. Both Snake and Martian began to look worried, for vastly different reasons. thought Snake. Martian was more concerned for he knew more about what was happening, being the caster of the spell and thus connected to it. "More than two people are coming through!! What's more, the second reception circle has activated! Thank all good Powers that I built in that fail-safe, but why is it needed?" Then, with a flash of blinding blue-white light, the "guests" arrived. -Elsewhen, the 20th century.- Two beautiful women looked over a warehouse that had, until recently, been burning. In fact, they were illuminated by the flashing lights from Fire-rescue and Police vehicles. Even under the strange lights they were a pleasure to look at. One was quite tall, her short Strawberry blond hair appearing to change from red to blond and back again as the lights played across it. The other was much smaller, a delicate looking woman of oriental descent. Both of them where dressed in black urban combat overalls with the needed gear for combat, combat they had obviously participated in. The smaller of the two spoke first. "Think he will blame us for this, Karen?" "Nope. But he is going to have to do some fast talking to that board of his. Of course, we just thought they where using the warehouse to smuggle conventional arms. There was no way any of us could have known that the terrorist were making and storing Napalm there as well." The tall one sighed. "It could have been worse, we might not have been able to save the security people they took as hostages. By the way, Yevette, I saw you checking out one of them. Don't you think he was a little too tall for you?" Before Yevette could respond a figure faded in from the night. Literally. At six feet He was only slightly taller than Karen, dressed in a Maroon costume with dark gold boots and gloves. His face was completely covered by a mask and goggles combination. The rest of his costume included a combat harness (also in dark gold) supporting several weapons (most predominate a very nasty looking shotgun that even now he was returning to it's holster on his back) and other gear. He had a military air about him. The world at large knew him as Challenge. Karen and Yevette called him friend. "Don't get started, ladies. If it's the guy I'm thinking of, he is very happily married. His wife will be quite grateful for your saving him". His voice had a growl in it, like he had damaged it by shouting for a prolonged period of time (he had). "And don't worry about the fire, Yevette, when Fahrenheit and I checked over the remains of their storage facilities we found several things. According to him there was evidence of leakage and other lack of safety controls. That place could have detonated at any time. If it had occurred during the day the body count would have been very high." "Thanks, Challenge, nice of you to let us know. Now if you can convince our bosses everything will be sehr gut". "German now. Karen you must be more nervous about this than I thought," Challenge chuckled. Yevette covered for her partner , "Where is Fahrenheit and the rest of your crew anyhow?" A voice, with a disturbing similarity to Susan Summers playing "Chrissy" from "Threes Company", broke in from above. "Well, like Fahrenheit is asking some of those cute firemen if they need help hunting for 'hot spots', Seeker and the Lynx are on their way over here trying to decide how they will write up this story and I'm right here!!" "Plasma Girl, we know you aren't an airhead so why do you keep acting like one?", Karen asked with more than a little exasperation. Dropping into a BADDDDD Captain Kirk impersonation as she landed, Plasma Girl said, "Well, you know that, and I know that, but . . . the Romulans (and other bad guys) don't know that." Everyone moaned. As they considered an appropriate reply (Karen was wondering out loud how many grenades she had left) two more people, a man and a woman, approached the group. They were deeply into their conversation, barely paying attention as to where they where going. The lady, like Yevette, was of oriental descent. Her costume was a gray body suit styled to suggest a cat. The cat motif was emphasized by the snarling cat-face on her chest. Hand resting on the numkucks that she had holstered she was addressing the man. "Look, I'm not asking you to share the byline or anything like that. I just want some recognition of the help I gave you. To keep it fair I'll do the same when I write about the combat and the fire" The man, who dressed in a brown and blue costume with a "Zorro" type mask , replied, "OK, OK! Just make sure you get my last name right this time? And do you want the credit as the Gray Lynx, your secret id, or both?" "Both and I will do the same for you Seeker" "Ah, the joys of press cooperation," said Yevette, "Now if you can only get the rest of the press corps to report on us more fairly." The Gray Lynx replied, "I _did_ do a good job on that action you had in Arkansas a few years back!! It's not my fault the editor butchered the story. Although that attack helicopter you landed at, or rather _on_, Police central did cause quite a stir." Karen responded "Like I had any choice? I was running on fumes at the time! And I managed to miss landing on the local Chiefs car." A fifth person had joined the circle. He was dressed in a red and blue costume that appeared to suggest both fire and ice. Of all the people there he alone did not have a smoke smudged look. He commented, "Now we're going to have to listen to the Lynx, Seeker and the Dir.. Twin Star argue about press rights and reporting. Look, guys, if it's all the same to you let's table it or go get a cup of coffee and be comfortable while the argument takes place." "If you weren't so cute I'd get you for that Fahrenheit," commented Karen. Making sure it wouldn't degrade into a combination flirting/shouting match (even if he did almost use "that name" Yevette asked Fahrenheit about the fire site. After assuring everyone that all the hot spots were covered, and passing on that the police and fire departments had said they could go for now, Fahrenheit remarked, "Challenge, I hope you got a good fire investigator on call or with your insurance company. I just had a quick look, but I think they also had the building preset for demolition. Luckily that shot of Karen and Yevette's that set off the napalm also severed the link to the explosive charges. I've disarmed them, pointed the charges out to the Police, and glanced at what they were trying to protect. You should be able to clean house with the evidence that didn't go up." Challenge was about to thank him when he looked up. There was a strange sound that had came out of nowhere and was wavering through the air. The sound was almost a like a chant. Also, the area around them was now surrounded by a blue-white light. They all looked around quickly, going into combat/threat assessment mode. About the time they realized that the sound and light appeared to be centered on Karen and Yevette there was a sudden increase in the light. And they vanished. --- Elsewhen the 22nd Century--- The Lovely Angel had just finished entering her parking orbit. 3WA standard procedure now called for an initial debriefing. Neither of the human occupants were really looking forward to it. Especially when the comm screen lit up just a soon they had settled into orbit. "Would you please explain just how you managed to blow up the Planetary Chief of Polices private air car?!!!??" thundered Gooly from the screen. "Now hang on boss it wasn't our fault" replied Yuri. "The big jerk deserved it after the way he treated us anyway" groused Kei who was sitting in her typical debrief fashion (feet up on the console, hands behind her head, looking bored). "This was going to be a simple case, almost a vacation, find the fugitive, bring him to Windarea and turn him over to the Planetary Police there, What happened!!!" "Well while the Chief was making rude remarks after we turned down his blatant sexual invitation, the prisoner managed to overpower his escort" "*@#$%&*$ incompetent idiots" muttered Kei Yuri continued without a break "Once he got to a parking level he grabbed the first vehicle he could break into, which just happened to belong to the Chief of Planetary Police". "Jerk didn't bother to lock it AND left the keys in" interrupted Kei. " Once the alarm went out we assisted in the pursuit, when we buzzed him to get him to land he managed to loose control. He then ejected" "We recaptured him by the way" added Kei "And the air car exploded on impact" finished Yuri "So you can see it really wasn't our fault" Gooly just stared at them, a very odd look on his face, like something in his stomach disagreed with him. After a few moments he grated out "Right, get your written reports into Admin then you can start your vacations". As he signed off they could see a bottle of antacid rising from its compartment. "Whew I'm glad that's over with" Yuri slumped back into her chair. "If you had let me fly we could have caught him with out crashing the Chiefs car" "What!!! If you had the controls We'd be dictating the report from the hospital" "Are you saying I can't fly?" "No, just that you can be a bit clumsy in close flying conditions" Mugi, having heard variants of this discussion many times before got up and ambled toward the cargo bays. By doing so he missed a strange warbling sound, like a chant, that started on the bridge. The Lovely Angels, engaged in one of their favorite pastimes (arguing) missed it for a brief while as well. "And why did you turn on some of that boring classical drek you like anyhow" screamed Kei. "It's better than that Rock and Roll crap you . . . Wait a second. I didn't turn on the sound system I thought you had. And where did that blue light come from??" Before Kei could come up with a reply, they vanished. ************************************************************ Chapter 2: Arrival. Two Pair and One Full House Both summoning circles flared brilliantly, cutting off any further thoughts in Martin's mind. When his eyes could see once more he stared at the now-full circle's contents. What he saw was not quite what he had expected at all. In the primary summoning area were four very beautiful females, who where groaning as they stood up (they had landed on their derrihres and were rubbing the now-tender areas carefully) but were also carefully and professionally examining the area while doing so. By the descriptions he had been given, the two dressed in urban combat suits looked like the ones he had originally wanted to bring, the Dirty Pair. The other two were unknowns to him. They were dressed in very revealing clothing and, for some reason that Martin couldn't fathom, appeared similar to the other women in the circle. In the backup circle, a precaution Martin was now quite glad he had taken, was a group of strangely garbed people that tugged at his memory. Suddenly, it came to him. These were members of Inquiry, a group of adventures with whom the Dirty Pair reportedly had gotten involved with in several of their cases. Apparently they had been close by the Pair and had somehow been picked up by the spell with them. Two of Inquiry appeared quite nauseous. In fact the one in the brown and blue costume was on his knees actually vomiting on the floor. Martin felt sorry for them, as some forms of magical transport could be extremely disorientating for those with teleportational abilities. Deciding to take action Martin stepped forward, getting the new arrivals full attention. He cleared his throat and addressed the women in the first circle. "Are you the Dirty Pair?" "DON'T CALL US THAT!!!!" All four women shouted angrily at him, sending the mage backwards in surprise. Those within the circle blinked and both teams went to opposite sections to stare at each other. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" shouted the red-head and the strawberry-blond together. "We're the Lovely Angels. I'm Kei and this is my partner, Yuri." Kei glared at her opposite. "Aren't _we_ touchy? _We_ are Twin Star. That's my partner, Yevette. I'm Karen. And do _you_ have any idea where we are?" The one who called herself Karen irritated Kei a lot for some reason. "Why you..." "Kei! Hold it!" Yuri restrained her partner before Kei did something she would regret later. "I agree," Yevette said. "I think the guy who called us . . that name can tell us. Ease off, Karen," she added as she noticed her partner was smirking at an increasingly streaming Kei. Having regained some of his composure, Martin tried again, "Ah... if the name Dir..." he stopped as all four women glared at him and quickly amended his words, "...well, I mean, _Twin Star_'s more famous name is incorrect then I do apologize for my rudeness. I admit that this is very likely a highly unusual way of bringing you here but there is a need for your particular set of talents. Many of those talents are rare in this time. So I decided that reaching into the past was the best way to solve the problem. This is the year 2069" "Wait a minute! Are you saying we're in the FUTURE?!?" Karen incredulously said. Yevette seemed slightly stunned at this, as did the members of Inquiry, who still stood in the second circle. Kei and Yuri were puzzled. "Hey, Yuri," Kei whispered to her partner. "If that year's correct then doesn't that mean..." Yuri nodded, making Kei even more puzzled. To the others this was the future, but for the Lovely Angels this was the past. Snake was not pleased. This was extremely bad luck. Instead of the spell miscasting, that fool human Martin brought the team he wanted along with even more strangely garbed humans of unknown capabilities. It was time to use his pawn, but first he had to leave the area. Snake said in the Sivvat tongue. Several other Sivvat nodded and indicated that they also had pressing duties. Snake agreed. Under the cover of the Sivvat departing, The Snake cast a minor spell to give his pawn information that would cause him to attack Martin's estate. <* Sad parting ?*> Snake amusedly thought. <* Forever parting, foolish Al'teer. *> "Hey!" Martin turned his gaze to the fiery ... Kei, he recalled. "Yes?" "If you were trying the _past_, howcome you got _us_ too?!" "Pardon? I don't understand." "_We_ are from the future, bucko!" "F-FUTURE?! That's impossible! The spell..." Al'teer interrupted. "Friend, Samuel Martin. The spell seemed to me ... wrong somehow. Such a spell could do such a thing." As Martin struggled to digest that, Karen stepped over to Kei and looked at her from top to bottom. At 5 foot 11 inches this was a easy thing for Karen to do. Kei could hardly miss this and glared at her. "What's _your_ problem?" "You're from the future you say?" Karen mildly said. "Yeah. So?" "I would've thought that in the future they would have better ways of making a woman look good." Karen grinned at Kei's now growing anger. "How many _treatments_ have you had? Looks like you could use a few more..." "THAT'S IT!!!!" Kei launched herself at Karen and the two were soon fighting it out on the floor. Karen had an advantage in reach, Kei's advantage was that she could draw on more advanced marital arts training. When Yuri and Yevette tried to pry them apart, they got sucked into the two's fight. Click-Kclach ...BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! The fight stopped as all four froze at the sound of Challenge's shotgun going off. He had fired straight up, but Martin still winced at the damage the gun did to the roof. "Enough!! Ladies, this is NOT the time to be fighting!" He stepped out the circle that Inquiry had appeared in and walked over to stand in front of Martin. "Sir, can we go somewhere else better suited to explain what the _Hell_ is going on here?" His body posture indicated that "No" was not going to be accepted. Martin glanced at where Karen and Kei were slowly getting up and glaring at each other. "A _VERY_ Good idea. Please follow me." He proceeded to leave the room and everyone else followed him out. Yuri tried to calm Kei as they did so and Yevette, Karen. Martin had the feeling that this was going to be a very long night. Note: Chapters 3 and 4 take place at about the same time Chapter 3. Meet your Local Police From general appearances it looked like a typical bar. However if you looked at the memorabilia and the majority of the customers you would realize that this was a police "watering hole". One such policeman, Fenris Donaldson took a sip of his scotch and sighed. This was not going to be a pleasant detail. It was bad enough that a case that was by rights his had be reassigned to some bloody amateur, but adding insult to injury they assigned him to be a liaison to that same amateur. He could still hear that prissy little diplomat in his mind. "Although Chancellor Martin will be leading the investigation, he will need access to Police Labs, so it would be best for a liaison to be assigned. Since you and your partner were the first detectives on the scene and because your experience with unusual cases, the two of you are the most logical choice for the job." If only the little twit knew why he and Darla kept getting the strange ones. For Fenris Donaldson was a rarity even in a era of contact and trade with multiple species. Detective First Class Donaldson was a real live were-wolf. "Bad enough I'm going to have to try and steer the case from an advisory mode with some idiot who has probably read one to many Sherlock Holmes or Ellery Queen novels but I'm facing someone who is packing silver ammo. Damn!! This thing will be tough enough with out that complication". His senses, keen even in human form suddenly detected a familiar presence. Attracting the attention of the bartender he ordered a Golden Sun malt. By the time it got there his partner Darla Lothe (also detective first class) sat down on the stool next to him. "One of these days I'm going to sneak up on you Fen" "You will have a better chance if you didn't shower at the end of every shift Darla. I could smell the soap you use as soon as you came into the bar." "Is there something wrong with it? I find it very pleasant." "Actually your right, it is very pleasant, its just very noticeable to someone like me." Pausing for a moment to take a sip of her malt she asked "How are you taking this Fen. I heard the werewolf joke you tried to make." Darla was the only one on the force who knew of his heritage. Granted she had been freaked out the first time she had seen him change (to save both their lives from a cyber-phyco) but she had come to realized he was still the same person no matter what skin he was wearing. She had kept his secret even from her husband and kids. "How do you think? Given the Sivvats appearance and the use of silver ammo it looks like someone is out hunting Weres. I'm more public than most of my tribe, I'm a possible target." "Could it be something else? Maybe silver has some significance to the Sivvat that we are unaware of, something cultural." "Could be, but something tells me it is not. Besides my instincts are also telling that me something big is about to happen". Shaking himself he asked "By the way why are you here? Its Thursday and you told me that your oldest had a soccer match." "Call came in just as I was leaving. " She scowled. "The investigative leader wants a meeting with us and some 'outside consultants' he is planning to bring in. Time's set for 0900." "Just when I thought it couldn't get worse" he moaned. Darla look agreed with him. Speaking up she said, "Tell you what, the field is close to Chancellor Martin's estates. You come with me to the game, we will swing by to get a look at it then take in the game. Then tomorrow we can see what nonsense his so called experts can come up with." Fenris stared into space for a moment. "You know, watching a game sounds real good right now." Driving along latter Darla and Fenris chatted about what her son had been doing in the league. Fenris was honestly interested as he felt his partners children were his family, or more accurately his pack. Darla was just going into a detailed description of a goal her son had made last game when she had to swerve. A hover truck was all over the road. As the truck sped by Fenris saw that it had taken what looked to be glancing hits from several plasma bursts. Just as he was about to share this observation Darla swore. He looked up. A woman was surrounded by a green glow.. and flying. "We don't have any paranormals in residence here" both detectives thought. The woman threw a ball of plasma at the truck. Only some inspired driving kept the vehicle intact. Then she turned and flew off. "She is heading toward Chancellor Martian's estate" said Darla, pointing. Fenris, with his better night vision added "And I see smoke, we better check this out" "God I hope we don't have another murder to add to this case" "Darla something tells me the Chancellor survived, something that likes to wear costumes" Arriving on scene they saw a battlefield, automatically they started cataloging their observations going into the comment response that longtime partners frequently develop. "Uniformed bodies everywhere" "All appear heavily armed" "Evidence of major energy discharges" "I'll say you can smell the ozone" "Are those Powered armor fragments??" "Ice on the ground?? At this time of year?" "Several small fires" Just as they pulled up to a group standing next to a wall with a major hole in Fenris jumped out, leaving Darla to call in the report "Just what the !@#$%^ &*<> is going on here!!!!" He had a feeling that no matter what he was not going to like the answer. ***************************************************** **************************** ***************************************************** **************************** Chapter 4: The League Strikes They were in a large dinning hall. Martin said it was the only room easily available that had a large enough table. Martin had been explaining his reasoning for summoning Twin Star. All the Sivvat had left except Al'teer. With his face and eyes completely covered by his mask there was no way you could read Challenge's face, but his body language showed he was not happy. He was speaking the tone that Officers and senior NCO's reserve for instructing their juniors on the error of their ways. "Your telling me that you intended to pull only Karen and Yevette from the past and ask them for their help. Fine. But you had no intention of bringing these other ladies", he pointed at the Lovely Angels, "or us with them." Martin replied with dignity. "That is correct. The problem is that in my summoning I used the name 'Dirty Pair'." Glancing apologetically at both sets of ladies linked with that name, "It would appear that all four of these young women are so strongly associated with that name that it has gained as much power as their proper code names." Karen and Kei started muttering something about the media never giving them a fair break. When they (and everyone else at the table) noticed they were starting to finish each others sentences they looked startled and suddenly shut up. Martin continued after they were finished. "The Sprit Stone supplied most of the raw power needed to breach the time barrier. However from what I have come to understand about the Stones they can be very precisely controlled. With the spell hunting for two sets of 'Dirty Pair' I can understand the spell reaching both ways in time but not the presence of ....Inquiry as you call your selves" Al'teer chose that moment to enter the room, holding a piece of parchment. "I have an answer for you Samuel Martin. But it brings forth more questions. When our guests arrived I told you the spell felt 'wrong'. Here is a major reason. The information that was given to you on control of the Sprit Stone was not translated precisely" "What?! But a race as close to magic as your own knows the importance of proper translation. I know you would not assign a sloppy scribe" "True, which is why I did not do the transcription myself." At every ones confused look she added, "It appears to be an universal constant that most doctors and healers can't write legibly" Fahrenheit got up from the table and asked to see the paper. Holding it up and looking at in various ways he then asked for some powered chalk. Sudden realization showed on Yuri's and Yevette's faces while Challenge body posture spoke of interest. Pulling a small device from her utility belt Yuri ran it over the paper. "Your hunch is right Fahrenheit, the writing on the paper has been changed. I can't read the writing but the scanner shows erasures and over writing" The Gray Lynx looked at Al'teer "Who had access to this paper? And why hand written? I would think it would be easier to have a computer print it out." "To answer your last question first" replied Al'teer "Computer printouts do not work well with certaint magical techiques, such as the spirit stones. As to your first question, just about the whole delegation including the human staff we have hired. The control techniques for Spirit Stones are not secret, just not often used due to the special place they hold in our society" "Like is there anyone who would more able change it or want the wrong info to go out" asked Plasma Girl (still sounding like "Chrissy"). Before Martin could reply he suddenly stopped and looked into space. "There are intruders on the grounds!! They have some how blocked both my mundane alarm system and most of my alarm spells!! We are under.." KABOOM!!!! Part of the outside wall caved in. "Attack" Martin finished. Five figures in power armor stood in the breach. Behind them appeared to be small horde of commandos. The suits and uniforms were of dark brown and blue similar to Seekers but with the colors reversed (mainly brown to Seekers mainly blue). "Your vile magical practices shall not be allowed to continue!!" said an electronically amplified and distorted voice. "The League of Pure Science shall see to that!! Grenadiers, the damping grenades. All other troops Attack Plan Alpha !!! Now!!" (Elsewhere a Sivvat chuckled in a most evil manner. Mentally linked to his pawn, he observed the group in the room, as his pawn gave his initial orders. ) The strike team leader expected the initial part of the battle to be quite easy. The grenades where going toward the targets. The rest of his troops where moving forward to engage the enemy. The low level damper field of the grenades would keep the mages and their summoned creatures off balance until englobed by the semi-portable damper/capture field. Then their other weapons would dispatch them. It didn't work out like that. The Lovely Angels, Twin Star, and Inquiry where already reacting to the threat before some of the grenades landed. Challenge disappeared in a bolt of lightning and reappeared next to one of the grenadiers. Drawing his shotgun he struck his target with it's stock then fired at the back of one of the armored units. The unarmored person was down at once while the armored one was staggered, obviously this was not a standard shotgun. A blue disk suddenly appeared by Seeker with a matching one appearing next to another one of the armored troopers . Stepping through it he arrived before his target. He then cocked his head to one side as if studying him. Suddenly he smiled and after dodging a blow from the trooper struck a very precise blow at the suit. The occupant was quite surprised when the blow caused the suits arm and all its weapons to shatter. Then the pain caused the trooper realized that Seekers blow had also shattered his own arm . The trooper passed out from the pain. Unfortunately some of the grenades still landed. The one targeted for Martin and Al'teer (who had been standing next to reach other) landed and started to emit. Instantly a force wall appeared around them. When Martin tried to blast it with a spell it didn't work. "You see vile magician your spells are useless. As soon as we destroy your demons we will take care of you" bragged the Strike Leader.. who had started to speak just before Challenge and Seeker teleported. Started he fired his own grenade launcher at the blur of motion that was the Grey Lynx. Amazingly she had dodged out of the way of the first grenade targeted at her. By the way she was moving she had obviously chosen him for her first target. He was even more startled when she used her num-chuks to deflect the grenade away from her. He was even more disturbed when she started applying said num-chuks to his armor.... hard and often. "Your not going to hog all the fun!!" shouted Karen. Drawing her .44 Desert Eagle (TM) she sighted on one of the commandos. The magnum roared and bucked in her hand. One down. Yevette was now engaged in hand to hand, covering her partner as Karen was methodically reducing the Armored troopers backup. As he watched Yevette in action Martin had the random thought "Amazing that such a delicate looking woman could be so deadly." Kei and Yuri had charged firing at one group of the commandos and where now in the middle of a swirling mass of bodies. Frequently one of the forms would come flying out of the melee. When it hit the ground it didn't move. "Hey watch it!! You could hurt someone!!" shouted Plasma Girl as one of the grenades landed next to her. It instantly formed a Force Field around her and Fahrenheit, who she was standing next to. "I really think we should get involved with the fight right now PG." With that both of Fahrenheit's hands started to burn. As he struck the force field it gave way surprisingly easy. "It must only effect magic!!" muttered Plasma Girl as she went airborne. Suddenly her costumes comm link activated and she heard Challenge's voice. Challenge had dropped into tactical mode. "Grunt to all troops. I need a SITREP now." Plasma Girl was the first to respond to his call. "Airhead here, no damage yet. I'm airborne and watching your six. I think the grenades are capture devices what only effect magicians" Fahrenheit checked in next. "Doc on line, Confirming that. I knocked it down with no problem. I'm going to try and release our hosts then back up Star 1 & 2" "Star 2 here. Star 1 is running low on ammo and one of those armored geeks is heading toward us, that backup would really be useful now" Kei spoke for the Lovely Angels. "Well what do you know!! Your transmitting on a frequency we can pickup!! The Lovely Angels are doing fine for now, Angel 1 out" "Grunt to Ski can you assist Star 1 & 2?" Seeker sounded like he was enjoying himself. "Roger, just let me," cue sound of a suit of powered armor rapidly being turned into junk "finish what I'm doing" "Catlady, this is Grunt. How are you doing?" "I'm a little busy right now" (sound of a blow hitting the floor, followed by the sound of armor getting struck several times) "Judging by the extra antenna on his suit I think I've engaged the team leader." "Keep at It. I'll back you up. Airhead, head outside and see if there are more coming. If not take them from rear, Doc after you free the friendlies keep them with you, and try to take some prisoners, Catlady I'll be coming up on your targets six." Plasma Girl acknowledged Challenge's orders as she flew toward the breach. As she went she fired a green blast of plasma that took out several of the troops pressing Twin Star. Then she did the same for the Lovely Angels. This allowed Yuri time to draw and use her "Bloody Card." Suddenly the Angels had no immediate targets. "That airheaded Plasma Girl will get herself killed if she doesn't have backup. Lets go Yuri!!" As she stored the card away Yuri followed her partner, wondering however if Kei's assessment was correct. As they broke out side they were immediately engaged in a second firefight. Taking cover they returned fire. Then they saw why Challenge had given Plasma Girl her assignment. A brilliant bolt of plasma burst among the strike teams reserve blinding many and sending others scattering. Immediately as second much larger burst exploded taking out even more. Yuri was impressed. Kei called out "Can you teach me how to do that?", visions of what she could do dancing in her head. "You have to be born with the talent for it" said Plasma Girl as she fluffed her hair. Then a laser bolt struck her shields. "Never interrupt me while I'm primping!!" she shouted as she returned fire. "Gee Yuri and I thought you where the only one to do that during a mission" "Shut up and keep shooting Kei" Two of the commandos had managed to avoid the others and get to Martin and Al'teer. Sneering they raised their weapons. "Enjoy you creatures brief success, it may help you endure Hell a little more" He looked like he was going to rant some more when he froze. Literally. His partner turned and saw that he was encased in ice. Fahrenheit announced "We can do this two ways, hard or easy." One of the hero's hand glowed with fire while the other was holding what looked like an ice dagger. "For your own health I hope you choose easy." The commando's laser bolt struck him causing him to stagger a step, his own powers enabling him to remain mostly unharmed. "OK so you want hard." What happened next was __not__ pretty. Karen was cursing in German (no I will not translate). The enemy was so close now she could not reload her weapon "Only one clip left anyhow" she thought as she demonstrated some basic and advanced Kung Fu techniques on some of the commandos. Turning her head she caught sight of Yevette getting struck in the stomach by a commando who had broke through her guard. "Verdammit Schwinehund!! Gehen zu Huella!!!" she screamed. Karen then proceeded to rip through the remaining commandos. Feet, hands, knees, elbows, a laser ripped out of the hands of a foe, they all saw use. She was a cursing Valkarie in full combat mode. Seeker, who had teleported over to take out the Armored Trooper that had threaten Twin Star bent over to help Yevette. "You OK Yevette?" "Yes, just got the wind knocked out of me" she wheezed. She looked at the damage her partner was causing "Amazing what she can do when she is motivated." "Yevette" "Yes?" "Just what is she saying?" "I don't think we really want to know." (Else where the Snake groaned. His aide was trying to awaken him. He had been in full sensory link with his pawn. The last image he remembered was of a human female striking the pawn more times than he thought possible. The Snake realized. The Snake pondered the situation The Snake suddenly realized that any further action was going to take careful thought. The last functional Armored Trooper regained awareness. Struck several times by Challenge's special shotgun rounds he had passed out. Bringing up a tactical map he realized that his team was taking a beating. Activating his PA system he shouted "Code Buster!! Grab you mates and lay down protective fire" As he gave this order he bent over to recover the Strike Team Leader. The heroes, in many cases close to exhaustion and/or low on ammunition had to let them go, although Fahrenheit did manage to capture a few more commandos. Plasma Girl harassed the retreating enemy until it looked like they had reorganized. Fearing an ambush by A LOT of commandos she returned to the estate. "Well Mr. Martin, you sure know how to show a girl a good time!!" she chorused. Just then the police arrived Well here is the next part. Please send any comments to 72440.2345@compuserve.com Thanks again to my prereaders. ==================================================================== Chapter 5: Secrets Discovered, Plans are made Martin closed his eyes. He knew that being assigned to lead this investigation was going to cause headaches. And the idea of summoning from the past a pair of investigators familiar with the murder method used had appeared brilliant. He had gotten much more than he bargained for. The investigators had arrived, along with some friends of theirs, super-powered friends. Due to interference his spell had also reached forward in time to pull in another set of investigators with the same nickname!! "Well at least these people know how to defend themselves" he thought, scanning the recent battlefield. The first thing he saw was a pair of Police detectives, one male and the other female. The Female was supervising the clean up, including the evacuation of the attackers wounded. One of his guests (Fahrenheit) and the Sivvat Healer Al'teer were assisting the paramedics. The one who called himself Seeker appeared to be examining several of the attackers. The Male detective was interviewing the remainder of his "guests". Fortunately no awkward questions had be asked, so far. Martin, in spite of the situation was somewhat amused by some of the interviewees actions. All of the females where clustered around the male detective, obviously competing for his attention. "I wonder how long it is going to last?" someone else said next to Martin. "I beg pardon?" Martin asked as he turned to face the speaker. "What's going on over there with that detective, Donaldson, and the ladies. I've seen what can happen when Karen and Yevette get interviewed by attractive policemen." "Oh?" "Normally they manage to tick off the officer in question, the officer gets ticked off at them or they compete for his attention. With those other ladies, and Plasma Girl being involved it will get real interesting." "And the final lady, The Gray Lynx, is she just not interested?" Challenge laughed and shook his head. "Oh she is interested all right, she just doesn't want to fight the crowd. She is very much like a cat in that way. She will want to do her thing on her own terms. If that means she has to do it alone, alone is how she will do it. The thing is, I can't remember when she appeared more interested." Looking out over at the group he added "And the detective in question appears to want to talk to us now." Walking over to Chancellor Martin Fenris thought, "Why is it when I'm off duty its hard to find real good looking ladies, but if they are involved with a case they come out of the woodwork?" Darla had teased him about it before but this was the largest single incident. Six of them, two of them paranormal and all of them very easy on the eye. And shedding pheromones so bad he could easily scent them in human form!! He was aware that he was considered attractive by women (something that still caused tension with Darla's husband) but he hated it when it interfered with an investigation. Oddly enough, although she was not quite as good looking as the others Fenris found his gaze returning to the one in the grey body suit. There was something . . special about her. And he noticed she was looking at him as well. Shaking his head he thought "Enough with that, back to business." "All right Chancellor, you invoked Diplomatic status so the cleanup squads can't ask questions and I can't require you to answer any questions of mine. The ladies over there," he gestured, "and the gentleman here," indicating Challenge "were helpful giving us details about the attack. However, there appears to be a certain reluctance to talk when we asked questions about themselves. Now as my partner and I are both the liaison to you and probably going to get assigned to investigate this mess as well I would greatly appreciate you telling me what I need to know. If necessary You can invoke the Diplomatic Secrets Act if you want to make sure confidential items stay confidential" At this point Al'teer and Fahrenheit walked up. With their medical training they had been treating the wounded, although Al'teer was quite perturbed that she had to be discreet in using her spells. She was preparing to ask for an introduction when she got her first good look at Donaldson. " a true skinchanger!!!" "Al'teer just what are you talking about" asked Martin. Donaldson started to look worried. "A Sivvat Healer has to have some degree of aura reading ability to get the best out of their spells. The aura of those who have the ability to change forms have a distinctive tint." "Just what do you mean by auras" asked Challenge "In our training auras are a reflection of the energy flows of a person. Although the environment can effect how well we can read someone, a trained healer can tell if a person is ill or injured and to what degree by reading the patients aura. The Aura can also reflect certain abilities like being able to use magic, highly developed martial arts, curses, and so on. A person with a strong life-force glows brightly. Someone about to die just flickers. Looking at you Challenge, I see evidence of power, not a great amount of raw power, but a very adaptive and flexible power. I don't normally do a continuous scan, as it is considered rude to do so in my society, but I forgot to 'turn it off' after looking after so many wounded". Looking at Donaldson, ignoring the people who had quietly come up Challenge asked, "Just what are you Detective Donaldson". "A police officer who just happens to be a Were" he replied quietly. "A Were what" With quiet intensity "I am a true Werewolf. By that I mean no matter what form I take my intelligence is in charge. I do not go out on the full moon and slaughter people. In fact if such a person, a person infected with lychantropy, was out there I would help hunt him or her down. We are people with a talent. While many of us prefer to live in rural areas we do not limit ourselves. There are several in the city that I know of, in many different professions. If anyone here wants to harass me about what I am I advise you to look at yourselves and the costumes you are wearing." There was a moment of silence. Then Karen spoke up "Well me and Yevette have a pet wolf, we call him Buttercup" Fenris started. "What?" Kei made a snorting sound. Yevette added "He has helped us out on several cases" Kei smirked "Buttercup?" Rounding on her Karen shouted "Yes Buttercup!! He has some beautiful buttercup yellow markings on him so we called him that. You want to make something of it you hair dyed bimbo!!" "Hair dyed bimbo!! Your brain must be low on oxygen from the height!! My hair is natural, more natural than yours you overtall geek!" As their respective partners pulled them apart (and Challenge stood there with his body language saying "Not again") the Grey Lynx observed "I don't think you are going to have any trouble being accepted with this group". She laid a confronting hand on his shoulder. Later they withdrew to Martin's Study. After making sure that Kei and Karen were on opposite sides of the room, Martin addressed the group. "My intention in summoning you here was to help with a murder investigation. Based on the attack shortly after you arrived someone has found out about you. And they want to stop the investigation. Detectives Donaldson and Lothe are my liaison. Perhaps they can tell us what the police know at this time. Before they started Al'teer rose. "Before we begin I wish to apologize to you Fenris Donldson. I can only offer my surprise and exhaustion as explanation. Skinchangers, or Weres as you call them are even more rare amongst the Sivvat than they are humans. While they too value their privacy, they are quite respected on my homeworlds for having a very rare gift. I should have thought of that before I spoke." She then made an odd ritualistic motion with her hand. Clearing her throat to give her partner a change to recover Darla started to recite, "The victim was a middle aged Sivvat. The cause of death was two bullet wounds close to the heart. These wounds have given us several clues about our perp." Fenris took over. "The bullets were large caliber gunpowder propelled projectiles. They were silver. We do not know why at this time the importance of the metal used." Martin interrupted "All Sivvat magic is ineffective against silver." Darla made a note, "That explains that but I don't think it will make any final report." Fenris added "That also explains why they didn't use a gauss weapon. Silver just doesn't work well as a gauss projectile" Darla resumed. "The location of the wounds indicates the attacker did not know Sivvat anatomy. While the internal anatomy of the Sivvat is similar to humans the heart is lower in the chest. In a human the shots would have been instantly fatal. Fen has told me that in human and hybrid form Weres hearts are in the same spot as any other human. When we put that together we have a person who may have thought he or she was shooting at a Were." "That is correct Darla. In addition we believe that at least three other shots where fired before the fatal ones. That leads us to believe the attacker was not used to the recoil of the weapon." "Something else that came in over the commlink just before we started. The victim appears to have manage to close and slash at his attacker. The lab boys found some material under his claws I mean nails. They are trying to get a DNA match." Yevette asked if there was powder residue or burns on the body. "There were burns on his pelt but we do not know what was the cause. We are so unfamiliar with gunpowder weapons we didn't even think of looking for residue" answered Fenris, "The weapon of choice here is a 'blaster'. It leaves different types of burns. Our forensic people are geared toward that and gauss weapons." "You have mentioned gauss weapons several times. Just what are they?" asked Plasma Girl. "A weapon that throws a projectile by way of a magnetic linear accelerator" answered Darla Karen got the conversation back on subject. "If there are powder burns that means that the victim was extremely close to the attacker when the weapon was fired. By the way did you find any shell casings on the scene?" "If that is the proper term for these brass objects" said Darla pulling an evidence bag from her purse, "Then yes." Karen took the bag, examining the contents. "Off hand I'd say it was a .44 or .41 magnum, most likely a .44 like mine". Passing the bag to Fahrenheit she asked, "Do you agree?" After looking the casing over and passing it to Challenge "Yes, and because no one reported hearing any gunshots I would suggest a silencer or sound suppresser was used. That eliminates a revolver as the murder weapon." Challenge asked where a person could find guns. Darla responded , "If you mean gunpowder weapons, then at collectors and museums. We started a search already but with a whole planet to search it will take some time. So far no one has reported anything missing from their collections." "How about on the streets?" asked Plasma Girl (causing amazement in Martin, The Angels and the police). "With blaster and gauss weapons much more available we haven't tried that area" "What about artifact dealers? If collectors and museums are the ones most likely to have firearms then an artifact dealer might be a good place to look." "Before we focus to much on the murder weapon I think we better consider something else." Seeker had been sitting quietly throughout the discussion. "We just got jumped by a bunch of well armed people from some anti-magic group. If our host has been as discreet about his powers as I think he has, then they got tipped about our presence. It can't be a coincidence. I suggest we cover more than one approach. With nine of us plus what ever our liaison and host can supply we should still be effective." Martin nodded. "You have a valid point Seeker. Who should do what?" "Twin Star with Fahrenheit should go to the police lab and check out the weapon evidence. Those three and Challenge are our firearm experts. Challenge you are more used to weapons in the tactical mode while Fahrenheit has a bit more tech training." "However that will free you and the Lovely Angels to hit the streets. With what just happened the street buzz has got to be pretty loud. I hope Donaldson and Lothe will supply us with some contacts." "Lynx and my self will hit the local press club, to see what we can find out. We will need some press passes Mr. Martin ("That's Chancellor" from Fenton) as I think ours have expired by now (General Laughter). If we strike out there we can also check out the street buzz." "Chancellor, is there someone in 'High Society' that might have something to do with this? Plasma Girl can act real well and is familiar with those type of people. Perhaps some one from the 'social elite' will drop something we need" Standing up the Gray Lynx yawned and stretched like, well, a cat. "Sounds good. However my personal past 24 hours have been jammed packed and I need some sleep." With that Martin had Fenton show everyone a place to sleep. The investigation would start in earnest tomorrow. ***************************************************** ***************************************************** Chapter 6: Preparing for the Hunt. After being shown their rooms (with many apologies from Fenton for not having better rooms available "We were just not expecting so many.") the various guests went to bed and had a oddly quiet night. Of course things didn't stay quiet after people started getting up again. Kei had thought she was the first one up. However as she left the guest wing to scope out the grounds she saw someone else was also up. It was the tall man in dark red who had taken tactical control during last nights battle. Normally military types ticked her off. However this one appeared to be both competent and knowledgeable on the difference between civilians and military. As she got closer she noticed that he had taken off his mask and goggles. He had his back to her so she couldn't see his face. Knowing that many paranormals prefer to keep their true faces hidden she cleared her throat to give him a chance to put his mask back on. Instead he just turned around and offered his hand. "In case I forgot to say it last night, Good job . . . Kei, isn't it? If you didn't catch it last night you can call me Challenge or while I have the mask off Stewart." Kei noticed several things as she shook his hand. The most noticeable was that he was wearing an eye patch. With organ cloning and cybernetic implants common in her era she was surprised to see he hadn't replaced it. His hair was an odd iron gray but his face didn't look that old. Not surprisingly his grip was strong and firm. And unlike some macho jerks she had dealt with he didn't try the hand crush routine. "Yes I'm Kei, are you doing a site survey too?" "My training calls it recon but yes. Also I can't break the Corps 0500 reveille conditioning. So I got up, and did a little snooping and pooping along with my morning run." "Mind if I ask you a few things?" after receiving a nod from Challenge "Just how do you put up with them? I mean the strawberry blond and the airhead." "They are my friends. I would and have trusted both my own and my love ones life to them. And they know they can expect the same from me. With the life style I lead such friends are rare. Plus we share common interest in investigations. Karen and Yevette are part of an international Detective agency and think-tank. They are _very_ good. Now let me ask you one. How did you all come to share a common nickname?" Flushing Kei mentioned some their past cases. The phrase "It wasn't our fault" was repeated. Often. "So we got stuck with that name. Sometime I wish we operated with masks like you do. Which leads me back to another thing. Why didn't you put your mask back on when I gave you the chance?" "You are from even further into the future than we are right now right?" Kei nodded. "So I figured that my dual identities are in some historical database. In addition I don't think the mask would be of any help in our part of the investigation. " Pausing for a few moments he added "I can tell you are just dying to ask more questions. Why don't you wait until after breakfast when we meet up with your partner. . .(Yuri right?) then I won't have to repeat myself". As he walked of he thought "And even odds one of the first five questions will be 'Are you married'." After looking around for a few more minutes Kei decided to go in and take a shower. A short while earlier Karen had awakened. The problem with that is she was not fully aware and running on autopiolt. "Still sleepy, God what a night, what a trip, where is the shower" were the more coherent thoughts as she stumbled toward the shower and bath areas, singing quietly off key. Yevette's room was just a short distance from the shower. By now familiar her partners morning routine she simply rolled over as she heard Karen pass by the door. She dozed for a few more moments then a thought tickled her brain. "We are not home. We are elsewhere. Oh well Inquiry has been told about how Karen is first thing in the morning". A few more seconds passed. Then she sat bolt upright. "OH NO!! _THEY_ WOULDN'T KNOW!!" Grabbing a robe (nice of the Mage to provide one for his guests) she rushed toward the shower area. She wasn't quite in time. Yevette arrived just in time to see a naked, squirming, and loudly yelling Kei get picked up out of the shower, and placed outside the stall by an equally naked Karen. Part of Yevette's brain registered that Karen's comment about dyed hair was incorrect. The rest of her brain was considering ways to keep Kei from killing her partner. Blocking Kei's approach to the shower Yevette shouted "Kei ! NO! Don't!! She didn't even realize she was doing it!!". Yevette hoped she was hearing the rest of the women coming up the hall (for convince Fenton had placed all the ladies on one floor and the men on another, yes the guest wing is very large). "I'll kill her!! I was having such a nice daydream while in the shower!! She did that on purpose!! She has been ragging at me since we got here!!" At about this time the Lynx burst into the room. She had obviously just woke up and was still dressed for sleep. She had found the time to grab her num-chuks. Sliding into a defensive posture the Lynx took in the picture. Seeing Yevette blocking the way to a shower trying to keep someone (oh yeah part of the _Other_ Dirty Pair) and hearing Karen singing (as usual extremely off key) the Gray Lynx concluded that someone else had become a victim of what she called "Karen's Morning Syndrome" (something she herself had been on the receiving end of before). Noticing that Kei was not immediately attacking nor going for a weapon the Lynx gave in to her instincts. She collapsed laughing on the floor. About this time Yuri entered the room. Half expecting to have to back up her partner (and wincing at what sounded like an animal in pain) she had come in with her weapon drawn. Seeing Kei having an argument with someone (odd how that other persons voice sounds familiar) instead of fighting Yuri holstered her weapon. Narrowing avoiding tripping over the convulsing Gray Lynx Yuri asked her partner. "Just what have you done this time?" "I didn't do anything!! I was taking a shower when that overtall b***h threw me out of the shower" "Actually my partner just placed your partner outside the shower stall. Granted it was rude but you don't know how she is first thing in the morning." Yuri was surprised when that remark triggered further gales of laughter from the Gray Lynx. Handing Kei a towel Yuri asked the obvious question. "Well Karen is on total autopiolt until she has showered and has had a chance to get some coffee into herself. It's different if she is in a combat situation but all other times . . . well you have just seen. What's more most of the time she will have no memory of what she has done. At least she is singing in English today. Be glad it's not a German day." Yuri turned to Kei , "And I thought some of your habits where bad" Kei: "Every Morning?" Yevette: "Yes, even if I get up first I wait until she is finished before taking my shower" Kei got a gleam in her eye. Yuri got worried. And at this time someone who looked like Plasma Girl, only shorter and with blond hair bounced in. "Good Morning everyone. . . Why are you all standing around and what is making that horrible noise?" The Lynx, finally able to speak, said "Charline, remember when I mentioned how Karen is first thing in the morning? And you didn't believe me? Well now I have independent collaboration" Charline/Plasma Girl: "Your kidding. Well I refuse to wait until she finishes caterwauling before taking my shower." Yevette came right up to her (she couldn't go nose to nose, Charline is taller). "You are not going to toss one of your Plasma Bolts, even a low powered one, at my partner!!" "Oh I wasn't going to do that" she smirked. Turning into Plasma Girl (the effect of which she gets taller, her hair turns green and her costume appears), she walked over to one of the pipes. Standing close to it she activated her powers, using the heat of the plasma to raise the temperature in the pipes. The result were not long in coming. Karen's "singing" abruptly stopped and she did a record standing broad jump from the shower, screaming. Kei joined the Gray Lynx in convulsions on the floor. Yevette and Yuri had identical looks of horror. Turning back to her Charline form, she got undressed and entered the shower, announcing as she did so that she had been told that breakfast was going to be in half an hour. Every else decided to head that direction. Chapter 7: The Hunt Begins in Earnest. "Well did you all sleep well last night?" asked Martian as he entered the dinning room. A chorus of polite replies greeted him. "I slept great but you really need to get your water heater checked" said Karen as she sipped her third cup of coffee. For some reason this caused a ripple of reactions among the ladies present. The gentlemen looked just as confused as Martian felt. As they ate Martian stated "I think Seekers division of labor is a good plan. However I have a few suggestions. Perhaps after they visit the Press Club, The Grey Lynx and Seeker can investigate the gun collections of our museums. I can also arrange introductions to those in the 'Social Elite' who collect weapons so Plasma Girl (from her "Call me Charline when I'm in this form") can investigate those collections. When Detective Lothe gets back we can see about contacts, passes and such." "And weapons" added Karen. "I'm down to one clip for my Eagle. I know how to make reloads, but I don't think we can afford the time it would take to find the tools I need." "But do you have the time to learn to shoot?" comment Kei. "Kei." Yuri said in her most disapproving tone. "Ladies. Please. Stop. It. Now. It is too early in the morning and my estate has already taken enough damage" Martians voice carried such disapproval that the red-heads stopped their bickering, at least for the balance of breakfast. When Darla and Fenris arrived they had the press passes with them. They also had news about the DNA sample taken from the murdered diplomat. The detectives relayed the information in their usual back and forth style (your choice as to who is speaking at what time). "Definitely human tissue. This information changes our scenario slightly. We think the first shot was a miss due to the recoil, as we earlier thought. The victim slashed the assailant who missed with the second shot, probably due to the victims strike. Whether the third shot missed due to recoil or actions of the victim has not been determined. The assailant finally killed him with the last two shots. We still haven't got a match on the attacker. The perp either has no criminal record here on Tejas or he is from off world. We are checking via interstellar links now." "Did you come up with any information on this 'League of Pure Science as they called themselves?" asked Seeker. "There is very little in the official police databases. There was an story about them a few months ago in one of our newfaxs. I don't remember that much on it. I went ahead and set up a meet at the Press Club. The reporter who wrote the story name is T.J. Hanover. " Fenris paused for a moment. "One thing that I do remember is that the report claimed a connection between the League and old Earth based anti-mutant group." >From Darla, "I've arranged lab space at HQ. We will have tech standing by to assist." With a slight grin she looked at Fenris "The tech is SUPPLE . . . do you want to warn them or shall I?" Fenris choked on his coffee for a moment. "Oh great. Ladies, Fahrenheit, be careful, be very careful. This guy has a very odd sense of humor. He also is a practical joker. No one from the Planetary Chief of Police to the newest rookie is safe. What saves him is the fact that he is one of the best evidence technicians we have on the force." During breakfast the detectives passed out other information needed for the investigation. They also said they would arrange for Twin Star to check out weapons from the Police armory. Then the various sub-teams split up to decide on tactics. ====================================================== "Lost my bet. It was the sixth question" thought Challenge as the Lovely Angels and himself planned out their part of the investigation. Out loud "Yes I am married, happily as a matter of fact. Her name is Maria. And my name is Stewart, Stewart Wilson." After some discussion they decided on a "bodyguard protecting rich slumming person" approach. After a LOT more discussion they decided to have Challenge play the bodyguard. "I think it best ladies, if I play the guard. With this patch," he said pointing at his missing eye, "I doubt I could pull a slumming routine. In addition if you play it like rich kids you could pick up lots of buzz. You know 'The impress the girl with what you know routine." Kei snorted "The problem with that method is filtering out all the drek they put out" "How would you know Kei, I'm the cute one. Your normal method of questioning is to beat them up against a wall." said Yuri archly. "Ahem , ladies let us stay on subject. However we can keep wall pounding as a reserve tactic. We could also use a variation of an old theme." "Which one Challenge?" "Why good cop/bad cop, Yuri. Only we play it as good cop (that's you), bad cop (that's me) and Kei you get to be INSANE cop. And please, while I have the mask off call me Stewart or Stew." Yuri agreed "There may be some historical hero buff out there who would recognize the name Challenge." With a little more fine tuning and getting some assets arranged (including disguises. . .which took the Pair a long time to settle on) they hit the streets. New Houston was in for a fascinating day. It had been hours into the bar crawl. Fortunately the Lovely Angels knew how to fake drinking , having experience with this type of investigation. Kei, however, was too damn good at faking being drunk for Challenges piece of mind. Unfortunately they had not picked up much solid information, although Stewart was a little surprised how little pickup lines and techniques had changed over the centuries. There was street buzz about the attack on Martians estates, but nothing but speculation as to the reason why. No one was bragging about the strike. There were other people looking for the strike group, possible over "turf" violations, maybe to hire as muscle, no one knew for sure. As he watched the Lovely Angels "interviewing" yet another possible informant Challenge wondered if this whole exercise had been a waste of time. Then the gang walked in. Colors had changed over the centuries but a gang still looks the same. And this one was definably looking for trouble with a specific target in mind. Like maybe the Angels and Himself. Maybe this was paydirt. "I hear you've been asking a lot of questions girlies" the chief punk drawled to the Angels. "Those questions might not be too healthy if you continue" "Hey, we are just looking for fun" Yuri said in her innocent girl voice. "Yeah fun" added Kei in her slightly sloshed tone. Only Yuri fully understood the undertones of her partners two words, but as Yuri looked over to Stewart she knew that he had made a good guess. They all knew that this was a possible major lead. And a possible major fight. Stewart came out of the woodwork, "I hope you are not trying to cause the Ladies any problems kid. Not only are their folks paying the bills, but I like them in their own right. So back off buckwheat." Oddly enough in the slang of Tejas "buckwheat" is a major insult. The seven facing Challenge squared off on him. "OK old man we were just going to cut you a little then have some fun with the slitches, then let you go crawl back to your hole to pass the word. Now you are going to get hurt bad. Maybe even take a dirt nap. Got anything to say to that?" The chief punk did look intimidating. He most likely expected this one eyed geek (guy can't be good, lost the eye, couldn't replace it) to either roll over (then they would kill him) or be unable to handle the seven of them (plus the five he had waiting just inside the bar). He didn't expect what followed. In a most pleasant tone, like he was explaining something to a group of fellow hobbyists, Stewart announced , "From this position I have seven basic moves." Then suddenly he was in motion. Still talking in the same tone in spite of the rapid actions he was taking he continued. "Of those moves three of them disable with minimal contact" He appeared to brush against the first three punks. There appeared to be a flash of electricity as he touched the last two. They all went down. "Three of the moves, if desired, can kill." As he approached the fourth punk his hand flashed out striking several times in the ribs. If you listen you could hear the ribs break. For the fifth punk a bo-staff appeared in his hand apparently out of nowhere. It was applied most strongly. Heading toward the sixth lines of electrical force appeared around Stewart. If you looked closely the lines looked to be shaped like muscles. Punk 4, 5 and 6 were definitely down, possibly in need of a hospital although they were still breathing. The chief punk had not even had a chance to move. His five back ups where finally moving but the Angels had leaped over him and Stewart. Kei threw one of the punks into another, stunning one and knocking the other out. Her elbow smash took care of the stunned one. Yuri's kick folded another one over nicely. Dodging still another who was charging her, she "helped" him into the wall. Double teaming the final back up the Angels looked over to Challenge. Still in that same pleasant voice Challenge addressed the now lone gang leader "And the last one . . ." "HURTS." The punk found himself in complete agreement. After they had finished "talking" to the punk (who had just discovered how much he liked to sing) the trio put their heads together. "Human type gave them the description and a picture of the two of you. Plus he had a good likeness of me in costume" stated Stewart. "Yes but then someone in an encounter suit meet him a little later and gave him this device" said Yuri holding up a wooden box. "We'll get it checked later. To bad we couldn't get a more accurate description of the contact man. Oh well at least we got a contact code from him." groused Kei. "Well if you hadn't been so into being 'insane cop' he might not have passed out," commented Yuri. "Never mind that Ladies, we now have some solid leads. Lets follow them up" ====================================================== New Houston Police Central was an imposing building. As with most such headquarters it housed not only the main administrative offices but the local forensic labs. After getting Twin Star checked out and issued weapons (being use to slugthrowers they had chosen gauss weapons) Fenris took them to Supple's lab. In addition to the standard wall charts of any lab this one had additional decorations dealing with the sport of ballooning. One of the first things Karen noticed was an old fashion microscope. When she looked into it all she saw was the words "Got You" when she looked up Yevette started to giggle and point. Karen now had "raccoon eyes". Then Yevette sat down. Upon a very loud "whoopee cushion". All Fenris had to say was "I did warn you ". Just then Supple walked in. Greeting Fenris he made a point of ignoring the fuming of Twin Star. "So where shall we start?" Controlling their anger (Karen with great difficulty) they explained some of the basic principles of 20th century ballistics matching. "So you want me to match your grooves" Supple said, somehow putting a sexual connotation to the words. "No we want you to match the grooves on the fired bullets. " replied Yevette. Karen brought out two evidence bags. "Look, to demonstrate here are two slugs. Both of them where taken from the fire fight at Chancellor Martians estate. Both of them are from my gun. One way we know is by the size of the slug. These are much larger than this" pulling out a 9 mm slug in another bag. "Now if we can get an enlargement of these two?" Supple gestured to a flat space on a instrument panel. After pressing a few buttons, a holographic picture sprang into view. "Do you have a second one of those?" Yevette asked . Following his directions she placed the second round on another imaging platform. A second hologram sprang into view. Walking over to where he was controlling the views Karen said "OK enlarge both images to the same size and then rotate them so I am looking down on both of them. Good, now rotate one of the images around the long axis, slowly. Good, now hold it. Superimpose one on the other. See the groves match exactly." Supple spoke into the air, "Computer confirm visitors' observation" "Affirmative. Groves cut into objects match. Chance of error is 0001 percent." "Good" he said "Log that in and place the procedure in memory" Karen then had one of the bullets that had killed the T'mal placed on the imaging field. The process was repeated. This time the computer replied "Groves in objects do not match exactly. Objects do have a base similarity " Yevette blurted "What !?! Beyond being about the same size what are the similarities? And what could cause the conditions" The computer responded with "General pattern of groves indicate common point of manufacture. Objects appear to have started with the same base mass. To achieve conditions noted objects would have to have been in contact with items of similar manufacture." Fahrenheit said carefully, "That means the murder weapon was also a Desert Eagle .44. That narrows it down considerably. Now we can limit our search to just that weapon type, Supple where is the phone?." Supple then handed Fahrenheit a old style handset. Without thinking Fahrenheit took it. And got something sticky all over his gloves. Then Fahrenheit was shown the comm unit. After relaying their recent discovery to Martin , Fahrenheit was told of The Angels' and Challenge's discovery. Signing off he turned to face his team mates. Just in time to see Supple trying to put a "Kick Me" sign on both Karen and Yevette. Clearing his throat he saved the girls from yet another joke. "We've got to go now." "Thanks for your technical assistance" he said with emphasis on the word technical. The tech responded with, "Thanks for the information on this technique. I'll make sure that I keep the information on file just in case we have use it again." He then offered his hand to Yevette. He was wearing a joy buzzer. As Fenris came down the hall a few moments later he saw walking toward him the usually calm Yevette looking like she could chew nails. Karen, of all people, was actually trying to calm her down. Fahrenheit motioned into the lab with his thumb. "I'll explain in the car" was all he said. Looking in Fenris saw a clearly unconscious Supple lying in a pile of broken lab equipment. Grinning Fenris closed the door reflecting that what goes around does come around. ====================================================== Andrea and Frank (AKA the Grey Lynx and Seeker) were sitting in the New Houston Press Club. They both drank in the atmosphere. In spite of the futuristic (at least from their point of view) furnishings it still felt a typical reporter hang out. The slang was much the same, those words unfamiliar easy to puzzle out. They could tell who was "print", "video" and who where rivals to whom. For the first time since the current weirdness started they felt at home. Sipping a light beer Andrea asked Frank about the news story he was reading. "This T. J. Hanover writes a good professional piece, sources look good from what I could see. And while the story never states flat out who the anti-mutant group was I have a very good guess." Laying her hand on his in a confronting manner Andrea said, "Ease up, you escaped them and you continue to confound them. Your presence in the Inquiry, a group that is 60% mutant has got to be giving them ulcers. Add to the fact that in your old Chicago team you where the only non-mutant and those ulcers must be bleeding." Trying to lighten the mood he had fallen into Frank admitted, "Yeah but my poor nose was running like a stream the first month I working with them." Suddenly he sneezed. Looking around he spotted a woman coming in the Clubs entrance. "Speak of the devil. Andrea that woman is a low grade mutant." "Better get your handkerchief out Frank, she looks like she is going to pass this table." "Change that to heading to this table, Andrea" "Do you suppose?" Andrea trailed off. "Hello, my name is T. J. Hanover. Are you the people from Chancellor Martin?" While still standing she offered a handshake to each of them. Andrea took T.J. 's hand with good grace, and in order to give Frank a chance to compose himself replied "Yes we are. Excuse my friend here. He has a few pollen allergies and one of the plants he reacts to must be in the area." Then she took a closer look at her. With her gray hair this T.J. reminded her of someone. "Great back to the old hay fever ploy," thought Frank. "That's odd I thought all the plants in here where artificial. Oh well never mind, I understand you have some questions about that 'League of Pure Science' article I wrote a while back.." "Yes (achoo) that's the story we are interested in. We need some (wheeze) more detailed information if you have it. Things like (hack), are they known for (snort) violent acts? Are they very well funded (cough cough) and if so by whom? Are they very active locally? If so in what areas. Your article didn't get into many specifics." "It wasn't specific because the only thing my editor wanted was a fluff piece on fringe elements. At first that is all they appeared to be was just that, a fringe group. At first glance most of their funding seems to come from some rich eccentrics, you know the type that leave a million credits to their cat, dog or fish. Then I discovered some of their past connections. The League started off as a splinter group of a much larger anti-mutant organization back on Old Earth. They haven't changed that much. One of the things they believe is that magic entered the human world via mutants. As they still feel all mutants are evil, magic is inherently evil. Therefor to protect the purity of mankind, magic must be destroyed and science supplant it. The break up occurred because the faction that eventually became the League wanted more effort to go into fighting magic specifically while the main body wanted to remain concentrated on the so called 'mutant threat'. I've been forced to probe into them in my spare time because," she gestured toward the story that Andrea now held "that was all my editor wanted. He didn't want anything more than a fluff piece. But when I get more on them I'll be able to write the story I should have written the first time," she said with fire and determination. Then she paused, looking slightly confused. "You know, I did some research on the parent organization as well, you sir bear a startling resemblance to a person that group called 'The Rouge Huntsman'." Now slightly nervous Frank/Seeker asked "Oh and who was this Rouge Huntsman". "A defector from the original main group. Part of an experiment to create paranormals under their own control. The project was codename 'The Huntsmen" Several people where subjects of the project . The Rouge escaped from them and continued to bedevil them for the rest of his know life." "Known life?" Frank said in a very strange voice. "Yes sometime around 2010 he disappeared. It is one of those stories that the unsolved mysteries crowd likes to cover. All sorts of speculation ranging from death by one of his enemies, wanting to give new paranormals the stage, just retiring, carrying on the fight against anti-mutants underground, to joining Elvis's entourage as a body guard. One thing that keeps the stories going is that the treatment that gave him his powers supposedly had the side effect of prolonging life to an undetermined length. The last reported sighting was at the other end of Human space about . . . are you feeling all right sir?" "Must be something I ate earlier . . . excuse me" Seeker rushed off to the restroom. "We've been traveling a lot. His system must not have adjusted yet." Andrea said looking toward the men's room with a concerned look on her face. "Sorry, the subject has personnel meaning to me and I can get to rambling on about it. Any how to answer the rest of you'alls questions. There have been no provable acts of violence. However my research has shown some mysterious fires and disappearances of people who they have persecuted. And of course like most fringe groups they do persecute people. Those rich folks that contribute are very rich and there appear to be other sources as well. Locally there is a small official chapter located in the "rough" part of town. They have kept a low profile, but I am sure they have safehouses and other support. Oh and they draw support from all levels of society. I think there might be a few members somewhere in government and/or the Police." "Are they funded well enough to buy powered armor" Andrea asked. "Yes but only relatively cheap versions. They most likely would go for the heavy firepower, relatively low protection type. Most of the people who are members are like most bullies." Frank returned from the men's room looking pale. "Sorry about that. Look can you tell me your basic references? I want to do some background checks and see if there have been any changes from your research." "All right. Sorry about how you are feeling. I anticipated your request so here is my source list. You can find most of the stuff on the public library database." T.J. then gave them directions to the nearest library's location. As they left Andrea asked "How are you doing Frank?" "How do you think you would be feeling, if you were given a date of your 'disappearance'? The only thing worse would be a confirmed death date." Frank shivered violently. Calmly Andrea said "Yes it shook me. As it would if she had said anything similar about the others in Inquiry, or our Dirty Pair. But she did say disappearance with possible later sightings. Maybe you finally took the time to write your novel." Frank looked at her with a speculating look. "How do you know I'm writing a novel? I've never told anyone about it, I only work on it at home. If fact I had planned to tell no one until I was ready to submit it. Come on give!!" Glad she had lighten his mood some she simply said "All reporters at least start a novel. I think it is a compulsion we get along with the job. Next time your in Miami I'll show you mine. It's dreadful but I'm having fun with it." Pausing for a moment she added "Now lets dig up some dirt on that League. . . or at least some background." Because they were involved with this impromptu therapy session, neither of the normally alert people noticed a man talking into a public comm station. "Prime Subject proceeded to her appointment. By accident subject sat with back to my position so I was unable to read lips. Shotgun and laser microphones unusable due to lack of surveillance site and nature of Press Clubs anti-surveillance measures. Did observe Subject 2 and 3 repeating directions to Public Library after being passed some documents from Prime Subject. Advise increased monitoring of library database." >From the blacked out comm unit. "Acknowledged. Continue with your surveillance of Prime Subject. Death to Magic" "Science Forever" was his reply. ====================================================== Charline Thomas, AKA Plasma Girl thought "There are a few rare times when I think my sister was right about my airhead act. This is definitely one of them. You would think the young set here would be having a blast. NOT. Boring. Now if I acted like Marline I could at least liven things up a bit. " Pausing for a second she completed the thought "But stealing something from your host or hostess is so very rude." The man currently trying to get her attention was started by her stifled laugh. "May I ask what amuses you?" "Oh just thinking about what my sister and some of her friends would be doing at this party" "Is she as lovely as you?" With a wiry grimace Charline said, "She better be. She's my identical twin. However the things she likes are different " "Oh and in what ways?" "The way she gets things for one. Also she likes to act like she is smarter than she is. For example she likes to talk about weapons when I know she hasn't even dated someone in the Army!!" The "Chrisy" voice was back. "I would love to get the chance to upstage her." "Well you are in luck my lady. I have a friend with a extensive weapons collection. Everything from Earth and Salusian Bronze age swords to Muskets to contemporary gauss and beam weapons. As it happens he is also giving a little party tonight. Would you like to accompany me?" Charline's thoughts where resigned "Might as well. None of the other places have checked out." So with great (but fake) enthusiasm she agreed. As she left she got a closer look at her escort. Her mind was suddenly on other matters than the investigation. "Yummy, _much_ better than I thought. And I've seen that look before in other guys. He has just had the same thought about me!! Well it may tick off Stewart but if the gun search doesn't pay off I'll find something else to do this evening. I think the Dirty Pair would understand." She then remembered the situation she and the others were in. "Both sets would." The drive to the new party site was a good distance but Charline didn't mind. The chatted about trivialities. Charline's cover was that of an heiress to a small but successfull shipping line, so gaps about her knowledge of Tejas' social set was not commented on. She got quite a bit of interesting but useless information about the planet. The estate was fantastic. Their host was a true gentleman, although Charline got the impression that if she had come alone she would have been invited to stay the night. While wondering if she would have accepted her escort asked to see the gun collection. The collection was housed in several rooms. Even with her lack of knowledge about weapons in general (when you can throw plasma bolts why bother?) she could tell it was a valuable collection. "Stewart would love it here!! Now that I think of it, maybe some of this collection was once his!" When she asked she was informed that parts were on loan to museums on a rotating basis. Finally she was in the firearms section. With one ear listening to her hosts spiel on how they worked she scanned the displays. There!! Something that looked like Karen's gun. In fact a lot like hers, down to the craftsmanship. "I see you have an eye for beauty in many forms" pronounced her host. "I knew from your swords and knives section that weapons could be pretty but I didn't know that guns could be to!" was her response. "Yes that is the pride of my gunpowder weapons display. A Desert Eagle .44 magnum. It was customized by the famous 'Man from Arlington' back on Old Earth during the late 20th century. Only fired a few times, it is in near-mint condition. It is an exquisite example of the gunsmiths craft." Cooing slightly Charline asked if she could hold it. Her host agreed provided that she kept her gloves on. Opening the door to the display she reached in. And grasped as here hand passed through the weapon. Giggling she said "OK I can understand you keeping a hologram on display while the real weapon is stored somewhere. Neat trick. I still want to hold it though." "I only use holograms when the weapon is loaned out. That one is not. What are you . . ." The host stopped when he saw Charline's hand. "Oh no!! It was mine!! But how. My security. . ." mine host started mumbling. Excusing himself he went off to call the police. Charline asked for a place to freshen up. Once alone she changed into Plasma Girl. She then activated her costumes communications link. "Airhead to Inquiry, Lovely Angels or Twin Star. Anyone out there. Come in? Come on you guys." "Star 1 go ahead." Karen sounded excited about something. "I think I found where the murder weapon came from. Are Fenris and Darla there? They might want to get here fast. Bring any of the others who can come." Charline finished by giving the address of where she was at. Karen informed Plasma Girl that they also had made some breakthroughs. "I will get Fenris or Darla to pick you up. We all have to get together now. I don't want to get into to much detail over an open circuit. By the way you missed a hell of a poker game." "What was that last part about" she asked herself as she returned to her Charline form. She had the feeling that they had gotten all the major pieces of the puzzle. Now all they had to do was put them together. ********************************************************* Chapter 8: Tracking Down the Source Challenge and the Lovely Angels continued their tracking. As they suspected the contact was only a "fixer" who had passed on the contract from someone else. The man became very cooperative when Challenge demonstrated some of his electrical abilities while hinting that he was working for the Pair because they were tougher than himself. Kei's knuckle cracking and grin did help. As they continued their investigation a voice called out from behind them. "Cousin Beaulregard!! I didn't know you were on Tejas!! Who are your friends??" Turning the trio saw a moderately tall woman with iron gray hair. Like Challenge she didn't look old enough to have gray hair. The woman continued "And still wearing that patch. Look I'm proud of the connection as well but you don't need it." With that she grabbed the eye patch. Then she gasped, seeing the empty socket it concealed. Grabbing the patch back Stewart said "Lets talk, in private." The Angels quickly grabbed the woman and hustled her down an alley. "OK lady, just who are you and who did you think I am." The woman looked a little shaky. "I'm T.J. Hanover. And you look just like my cousin Beaulregard. And he bears a surprising resemblance to our Ancestor. Bolgie has two perfectly good eyes but likes to wear the patch to enhance the resemblance. You looked so much like him that I . . . oh my God." T.J.'s eyes got even wider and the color drained from her face. Stewart didn't look that good either. In a strangled whisper she said, "Your him!! Your founder of the Wilson Clan. Your Stewart Wilson, the first Challenge!!" "The first Challenge? Clan?" Stewart was leaning up against a wall. "I don't know what you are talking about." T.J. continued "Your wife's first name was Maria. She used to be your secretary. When your corporations Chief Administrative Officer retired you got her to take his place. You also made her Vice-CEO to cover for you when you where adventuring. She referred in her diary's to your adventures as your 'strange hobby'. You were part of several hero teams. You were friends with the notorious 'Dirty Pair'." At this point, by reflex, Kei and Yuri hissed "Lovely Angels." Taking advantage of the interruption and T.J's confusion Stewart said, "Most of that information could be found in a historical data base. If I was your ancestor how would you prove it?" "Most of your descendants also inherited your powers to varying degrees. I'm one of them." With that her hands started to spark with electricity. "The powers that I do have aren't that much but they do give me an edge in some of my investigations. I haven't followed the costumed adventure tradition because being a reporter gives me enough excitement" Yuri looked at Stewart. "I hadn't made the connection before. Your family and corporation is still around in our time. In fact I think at least one of the other consultant teams has a member of your clan in it." Kei snorted "Great Yuri. You are suppose to be the smart one. Until just now Stewart could have denied a connection. You just confirmed it." Yuri blushed. T.J. was shaking her head. "Your time?" Stewart groaned "Never mind. This situation is just what I don't need. Ladies back to the car. I don't feel like discussing this in an alley." "My apartment is not to far by vehicle. We can go there." Stewart was understandably in a slight daze. It is not everyday you met someone claiming to be your descendent when as far as you know you don't even have children yet (although Maria and himself had been trying. A lot.) The Angels however where still fully in investigative mode. As they went to their borrowed hover car Kei gave Yuri the "we are being watched" sign. Yuri causally scanned the area and confirmed. T.J. was then treated to the typical Dirty Pair method of driving. Incidentally this also had the effect of losing their tail. When they arrived Stewart and T.J. had recovered most of their composure. Once safely inside the Angels did a quick sweep for bugs (they found none). "OK I should have known something like this could happen" said Stewart. "I just thought the odds were against it. T.J. if you are my descendant and my position means anything to you I'm going to have to ask you something very difficult, especially for a reporter." She interrupted with "I can't tell anyone about this right?" Nodding Stewart replied, "I'm afraid so. The person who brought us here could be in for a lot a trouble it became common knowledge." Pausing for a moment T.J. announced "That person would be Chancellor Martin. I met some people today to talk about the League of Pure Science. They were sent from the Chancellor's office. They called themselves Frank and Andrea. Are they friends of yours?" The trio nodded. "Frank became sick and agitated when I commented on a resemblance to the 'Rouge Huntsman'. It wasn't just a resemblance, was it? Frank is the original." This time only Stewart confirmed. "Because they were asking about the League, its history and operation methods, and because of the T'mals murder, coupled with your presence here. I can only conclude that the Chancellor has some sort of time travel capability. He used the ability to bring you to our time in order to solve the mystery." Again the pause. "Damn it Ancestor this is a major story, its mine and your right that I can't tell anyone about it. Ignore for the moment what it would do for the investigation itself. If I could get it past my editor without going to the psycho ward, then I would have to deal with the Foreign Office, who would try to lock me up. Plus I really can't prove any of this." Yuri asked, "Perhaps you could work something out with Martian. Maybe tell some of the story when we break the case." >From the window where she had been watching the street Kei announced "The tail is back. Appears to be settling in for a long haul." Both Stewart and T.J. went "WHAT TAIL". "Kei spotted him when we left the alley. Can't tell if his assignment is T.J. or ourselves." Looking at Stewart face, Yuri continued "Hey don't feel bad about it. I think I would have fainted if I ran into a descendant of mine. At least you have a spouse. Kei and I haven't been having to much luck in that department lately." "Shut up Yuri." "I think it might be a good idea to find out who sent him. It would be better if he didn't know we had made him." Looking at the Lovely Angels, "Do either of you have anything like that could help use with that?" "I've got a dart gun with a sleep drug like that but it is very short range. It is a fairly recent development so it will not show up on any tests they may run. Kei, could we get close enough without alerting him?" "Not from his position. What's more he would recognize us." "Ladies, you haven't seen all my talents yet. T.J. can you guess which one?" "That's right you can turn" Stewart had disappeared from sight "invisible" she finished. "Now how do you fire this?" came a disembodied voice. "I should have no problem provided he can't see into the IR or UV range." Kei announced that she could see no sign of any vision devices. She still advised Stewart to be careful. The Angels gave a brief run down on the operation of the dart gun. Still invisible Challenge left the apartment. "That was strange to watch" mused Yuri. "If you think that was strange try going to one of my family reunions" said T.J. in a wry voice. Continuing "Can you tell me more about yourselves?" As he approached the spy Stewart went into what he called patrol mode. "Still no evidence of enhanced vision devices. I will have to be careful, watch for puddles and such that might give me away." thought Stewart. As the invisible hero approached the tail looked at his wrist and started walking toward a public communicator booth. The thought that the man had received some training crossed Stewart's mind as he noticed his target positioning his body so no one could see the number dialed. Stewart did come close enough to overhear some of the conversation.. An electronically modified voice said "Report" "Prime subject accosted a trio, two women and one male, identifying the male as a relative. Prime subject then appeared shocked and was then was rushed into an alley. Could not approach without risk of discovery. After a few minutes entire party then went to a hover car with the license plate of UQV 87X. The hover car then was driven away in an very erratic manner. I was able to track for a while but they did lose me. Unable to conclude if driving tactics were normal for the driver or if the maneuvers were a deliberate attempt to shake possible tails. I decided to return to Prime subjects apartment building. Upon arrival I spotted the hover car from before. The two females appear to be part of the demon group that the Strike Team fought recently. Unable to identify the male but suspect he is also part of the group in disguise. These are not the same people Prime subject met with earlier. Will resume surveillance unless ordered otherwise. Report ends. Hail Science." There was a pause and the person as the other end digested the information. "Continue surveillance. Remain with Prime subject. Additional personnel will arrive soon to allow tracking of this trio. To avoid losing this group you are authorized to bug their vehicle. You are also authorized to use broadcast comm if the trio leaves before additional personnel arrive. You have your orders. Hail Science." "Death to magic" was the reply. Stewart thought "I'll let him plant the bug. It will give us an idea on the level of training and equipment they have. Then I will tranq him, riffle the body, leave him and then we all can head back to base. I think T.J. might be of more use to all concernd back at the estate." His invisible fist clenched, "And I am going to do my best to protect any descendant of mine from harm if at all possible." The tail was much better at tailing than bugging but was at least competent. He even did a check to make sure the bug worked right. He then settled into his "hide" to observe T.J.'s apartment. Kei still observing from the window saw the target suddenly slap his neck and slump down. "That's it he's been nailed. You finished packing T.J. ?" "I've had to do this drill before Kei, I keep a kit ready at all times." They hurried down stairs. And into the alley where Challenge/Stewart was looking through the spy's personal effects. "Nice slightly oversize watch, might be a communication device, what I assume to be standard ID and credit cards, a hold out pistol of some sort and a knife at his ankles, a small pistol in a holster at his back and the general junk a man will carry at any time. You ladies want see if I missed anything? Oh and he planted a bug in our car. I know where it is so we can disable it." The Angels searched the person. They noticed the ring was some sort of beacon, currently turnned off. T.J. said he had the look of a native or long time resident. According to T.J. the man's ID was good but fake. "Probably has his real stuff elsewhere. Bet we could use it though." "No we are going to tie up some of their resources. We are going to put everything back as we found it and then leave. He will spend his whole time watching us and waiting for us to leave. And when the backup arrives that was to tail us, those worthies will also be sitting around getting bored." Yuri agreed. Kei looked like she wanted to crack heads. Then they headed back to Martian's estate. (As The Lovely Angels and Challenge searched, Snake was searching for them. However the main method he had was via the locator box he had his aide give the punk. When the punk lost awareness of his surroundings from Kei's insane cop routine the link had been severed. The spell linking the holder of the box with the spell caster from a distance was very difficult and had only been re-established when the trio had almost reached Martin's estate. The estates shields greatly reduced the amount of information he could receive. However now he knew what Challenge looked like without his mask and he could track three of his foes once they left the estate) ================================ Somewhat earlier in the day "I'm bored" complained Karen. "Earlier that encounter with the lab tech was interesting, and I'm going to remind you of it Yevette next time you bug me about MY temper, but this repeat sweep of the grounds is looking like a waste of time. We haven't found anything new except scraps of the armor used by our attackers. Maybe we should go back and question a few of the people Farenheight took prisoner." "For one thing I'm not sure how far we can legally go, diplomatic status or not. For another the regular police are still questioning them. As for looking at this armor the amount of scraps indicate they most certainly were using lower grade armor. Collect enough we may be able to trace it to the manufacturer." returned Farenheight. "Yeah, the stuff has to be low grade. Even Yevette's wimpy 9mm could have penetrated this stuff." "Look Karen, just because you think everyone needs to crack engine blocks doesn't mean its always the best round." "I didn't hear you complaining during the last fight." "That's because I was to busy covering your rear once they closed with us" shot back Yevette. "Ladies I don't feel like hearing Twin Star standard argument #4 right now. Lets get back to the case." Farenheight said with a tired voice. "Well only because you're cute. All of these scraps really tells us they tend to go for the quantity over quality argument. Or maybe they were not expecting to go into action so soon and had to buy cheaper stuff than they usually use. Which gives me a thought." Raising her voice so she could be heard, she shouted over to Fenris and Darla "Hey the people who deal with personal armor, have they had any sudden big orders or losses?" "We are still checking, nothing from the big boys. We are also checking to see if they were stealing a little from different places. Also nothing from our smugglers. And no one has moved powered armor recently" Darla replied. "I'm going to try something now" said Fenris. "All our conventional methods are dead ends or are still pending. I'm going to try the Were touch now." "Uh Fen, is that necessary?" asked Darla. "I don't know what else to do. Maybe a different skin will give me a new perspective. Or maybe I can pick up a sent. Lets go inside so I don't ruin my clothes." As they started to return to the main house, Farenheight lowered his voice and spoke to Twin Star. "Did you notice when we were coming to and from Police Central how much Fenris was asking about the Lynx?" "Now that you mention it he has. Especially such things as if she had a steady boyfriend or what. We told them the truth, some guys but nothing steady or serious." replied Yevette thoughtfully. "Hmmm it may look like you two may have lost out on picking up a guy this trip. Of course that other Pair may also hold his interest as well" "Hurumph" Karen snorted. "Yuri might have a chance but I can't see a hunk like Fenris messing around with Kei. I mean Kei has a terrible temper, yells a lot, is highly aggressive." Before Farenhieit could say some thing stupid like "Sounds a lot like you, Karen" they reached the house. Darla was waiting outside a bathroom door. As they approached an arm holding clothing reached out and handed it to Darla. "Fenris says he feels uncomfortable changing from human to Hybrid or wolf in front of non-weres. I'm the only mundane he allows to see him change. I think it is because I'm his partner." Then there was a scratching at the door. "Fen's senses are at their peak in wolf form. How ever he has problems with doors and such." She opened the door. "He could be Buttercup's brother!!" said Karen and Yevette together. "I h'pe he r she s n't an acetor o mine usg y to mooch off of" came the reply from the wolf sitting in the door. Some how you got the impression the wolf was grinning. "Yessss I cn tlk in this frm but yyr gtt to list en car fully" Everyone besides Darla looked shocked. "Fen said he could talk in this form but you have got to listen very carefully" Calmly Darla continued "Fen's going see if he can find any unusually scent traces or tracks human eyes may have missed." "Interesting" observed Farenheight. "Do you know if you had any ancestors in the San Francisco area. I'm thinking of taking on a partner and I think someone with your capabilities would be useful." "Nrot tht I knnnow of" Fenris growled back. "Letts grett starrrted". "What?" Twin Star and Farenheit thought but were to polite to ask. Once again they started checking the grounds. After a while Fenris "hit" on a patch of uniform cloth. "Therrrre s somt'ing fam'er 'bout tis one. Somt'ing t'at meks me thnk of fooood. Cn y see any stns?" "Fen also has problems with colors in wolf form. He is not color blind but there are some contrast problems he has. And yes there appears to be a light food stain." Karen examined the cloth further "Yevette that stain looks a little like your apron when you are experimenting in the kitchen." "You're right Karen." Pausing for a moment she added "Fenris I assume that you could have recognized the scent from food you are more familiar with?" Fenris nodded. "This must be from a restaurant that serves food you just don't eat much of. It's useful, but I don't think we could get you into every restaurant to check." "N't unress wun of yew p'lays blnd prson adn uses me as a seeing eye dggg" Darla ignored his comment (they had done just that on one case and she felt embarised doing it) "Have you got a better scent now Fen?" "Yessss beeef, sme spiccess I can't ID, nd grease." After Darla repeated the statement Yevette mused out loud "Off world or minority culture cuisine??" "Probably off world. A cop eats all sorts of food in different places. Think it could be from the Starport area Fen?" asked Darla. The wolf nodded. "Lets finish the sweep. But I think this is all we will find" said Karen. She was right. ================================== "You know I'm beginning to wonder if we are going about this slightly wrong" mused Andrea King, A.K.A The Grey Lynx "What do you mean. Everything we have doubled checked so far matches what T.J. has told us." replied Frank Lipski (now you know why his call sign is Ski) better known as Seeker Andrea nodded "That's just it. What we have been digging out has been public databases. Granted it is useful as most people don't realize what can be found in public records but we really are not going that deep." Continuing and looking thoughtful she added "What I'm wondering is are we using all of our information sources." "I've seen that look before, normally in the mirror when I think I've got a good source worked out. Come on Andy, give." "We have got an diplomat, a rich one at that, who is officially in charge of this investigation. Even if he doesn't know how to turn on a computer himself, how much you want to bet he has connections who can dig deeper than we can here?" "No bet lady. Besides I think we are about as deep we can get from here anyhow." Chuckling Frank added "You know it funny when you look at it, some things just don't change that much." "What are you talking about Frank?" "Well here we are in the future" Frank paled slightly remembering the encounter earlier in the day but continued "Supposedly computer tech has increased with everything else but I can only retrieve stuff here only slightly faster than at my paper." "What?" said Andrea suddenly alert. "Yes the speed of retrieval here is close to what I'm used to. I even noted I was doing the same things while waiting here that I do at my desk at work." Whispering now Andrea said "Frank as a break I did a check on how Martial Arts developed from the 20th century to our here and now. It was larger than some of the files you showed me just now. I retrieved it almost instantly." Quickly Frank returned to his own terminal and asked for a file on Polish history and planets settled primarily by Poles. A large file was quickly presented. This file was also larger than most of the files he had checked earlier. The two reporter/heroes came to the same conclusion at about the same time. Inquiry triggers. "Someone wants to know if someone pokes around anything involving the League of Pure Science" he said. "How much you want to bet we are going to be followed or ambushed after we leave the library" was the Lynx's response. "No bet. Lets leave. It's at the end of lunch time anyhow so it will appear natural. I saw a restaurant not far from here. We can eat and call Martian's place from there. I am suddenly leery of using the phones here." "I am in complete agreement". The Denny's restaurant chain had somehow survived to the present time. The two noticed that the basic outline had remained the same. After being seated and giving their orders they started checking for threats. "That guy that just came in screams of muscle Andrea" "And the one who is coming in behind him is oh so carefully ignoring the first." "Not to mention the hover car limo that just pulled up into the parking lot. Funny how a gun wagon looks the same no mater what type of chassis it has." The salads they had ordered had just arrived. "Well I am going to see if Denny's has improved over the years" announced Andrea. "If they want a fight they can do it after lunch." Frank nodded his agreement. After lunch (Denny's hadn't made any great strides but they hadn't lost any distance either) the two reporters sauntered out. As they expected the two muscle-clowns followed. "Well, do you want to take them on or shall I? Or shall we split up and make them play hounds and hares?" asked Frank. Andrea was pondering this when the thugs reached them. "We have some friends who want to have a little talk with you" the slightly smaller thug said. "Lets share, This one is mine and you can take the other" said the Lynx ignoring both the punks. "OK fine" was Frank/Seekers response as he studied his target with a very precise focus. The first thug made the mistake of trying to grab Andrea and hustle her to the limo. "I said they want to talk to you oooffff" The interruption was caused by Andrea slamming her knee into the thug's stomach at a very high rate of speed. Reflexively he fell to his knees where her spin kick follow up sent him into dream land. Frank's attack was a very precise series of strikes to the limbs. His thug was laying groaning from a broken arm and leg with his other limbs responding slowly to his commands. The limo accelerated down the street. Frank leaped straight up, landed on the roof of the limo and rolled down the back side. Andrea also leaped but high and one side to a wall where she clung to the surface. The car kept on going. "I got a plate number" called Frank. "Good" responded his partner. We must really be on to something, they are trying to silence us or scare us off." "And you know the success rate for that method with us, don't you my dear? I think we should head back to the estate. We need to talk to everyone about this in person" Shortly there after their car drove off. During the trip back Andrea started to talk about and ask questions about Fenris. ================================= Frank and Andrea arrived while Fenris was completing his search. This put Fenris in an awkward situation. He wasn't sure how Andrea would react to his wolf form, but he couldn't change right away as his human form would then be naked. "Daaara what m I gna doo?" "Go and dash on to the house. I'll send one of the others to get your clothes and close the door for you." Darla then called Farenheight over and made a request. "But do me a favor. Don't be as quick about it as you can be. Have a little trouble finding a sock or something alright? I want to have a word with the Lynx" Farhenheit agreed and took off toward the house using his powers. Twin Star, seeing Fahrenheit take off, also started to walk toward the house. Yevette called out that she was in a cooking and thinking mood. Karen asked if she ment cooking or experimenting. Darla simply nodded and walked to the drive and waited. "Was that Fenris dashing into the house?" asked Andrea "if it was he is as handsom as a wolf as he is as a man." "Well that answers that question for me" thought Darla. Aloud she asked Frank to get out and walk on into the house. Puzzled but sensing he would be in the way if he insisted on staying Frank agreed. The two women sat in silence for a brief while. Andrea broke the silence first. "Isn't this suppose to be the father of the girl and her boyfriend?" Darla chuckled, "Am I that obvious? But to be honest, he is my partner and he has told me he considers me and my family his pack. For the type of person he is that means a great deal. I don't want him hurt. Despite his good looks he has had some bad luck with more than a few ladies. What I need to know is, how do you feel about my partner." Covering her face Andrea suddenly sobbed out "I don't know how deep it is dammit. I am certainty attracted to him but with the others around I have so much compitition. And I'm not sure how far I want to go. I'll be leaving fairly soon after this case. I mean I would be too far out of time if I stayed. And I can't ask him to come with me, the same would be true for him." "So you do care for him. Good. I've overheard Twin Star talking earlier, they consider themselves out of the running. In fact Fen was pumping them and Farenheight for facts about you earlier. You want some advice?" Andrea nodded. "Go to him, talk to him. At least have some time together. He needs to know a woman likes him for something other than the trill of being around a cop. Yes, that was what the others where after. And I think you could use some companionship too." Gaining control of her voice Andrea said "But I'm scared." Darla laughed, not in a mean way but in mild surprize. "She faces paranormal foes with calm, breezed through time travel without a qualm. But is scared to talk to someone she cares about. Go. We can handle the investigation without the two of you for a few hours." Andrea had a look of gratitude on her face as she got out of the car. And ran toward the house. Darla waited a moment then brought the car to hover and then to its parking space. Smiling as she parked she thought "The things you do for your partner." -- Ben L. Harrison 72440.2345@compuserve.com Harriso3@ix.netcom.com ==================================================================== "It wasn't our fault!!" -- The Lovely Angels, any post mission brief Chapter 9: Down and Dirty? When the Angels and Challenge brought T.J. in it caused a stir in more ways than one. Frank was still some what shook up by the revelation T.J. had hit him with earlier. However he became a little more resigned to the situation when Stewart/Challenge admitted that T.J. was apparently a descendant of Stewart's. T.J. was show to the room she was going to be staying at. She told everyone she would be down in a few minutes. With every one except Plasma Girl back, and she not expected back until much later, the rest settled in for a brain storming session. Darla announced that Fenris and the Lynx where busy elsewhere. Darla's statement was given in the "No Argument Allowed" tone that the police are capable of. No one, not even the more argumentative member (s) of the Dirty Pair (s) felt like contesting her statement. Martin had Fenton get the kitchen staff to prepare some food and then told Fenton to stand by in case his services where needed further. When he returned Fenton announced that "Ms. Yevette has asked for permission to share the kitchen. She wishes prepare something in addition to what the staff will prepare. Ms Yevette also said to tell everyone she would be cooking, not experimenting." For reasons Martian could not fathom, Karen and Stewart looked relieved. Soon the investigators started out reporting what had occurred during the day. Darla laughed the loudest when she heard how Yevette, of all people, knocked out the lab tech. Darla had been a victim of his jokes more than once. Kei almost started another fight with Karen when she speculated out loud if Karen's skin was smooth enough to feel a joy buzzer. Fortunately Yuri had made sure that Kei and Karen where sitting in different corners of the room so blows where avoided (barely). Frank/Seeker reported on their earlier conversation with T.J. and of the Lynx's suspicions of inquiry triggers. Everyone agreed that the suspicions were pretty much confirmed by the attempted attack after their lunch. Fenton was asked to take Seeker down to the computer room, after dinner of course, and have the two of them continue the research. When asked why a Mage had a computer room Martian simply stated he had many interests, that a computer was useful in dealing with them and with Fenton being one of the best hackers on the planet he really didn't need to know computers personally. Yuri started to look at the majordomo with a professional eye. Fenton, as usual, remained unflappable. When Challenge and the Angels turn came they produced the box they had taken from the punk they had "questioned" (Elsewhere Snake picked up the activity. Calling on the link he got a very blurry image of the investigators. Not enough to identify anyone he didn't already know, but he now could give a general outline, if he could maintain contact longer. Then he realized that Martin was picking up something from the box. Snake quickly severed the link. <"(Untranslatable Sivvat Expletive, normally considered obscene) Samuel Martin is luckier and more powerful than I thought. He is starting to gain my respect as a Mage.> The Snake then attempted to link with his pawn. That individuals mind was frantically trying to deal with several crisis at once. A street gang that had been hired by one of his pawns minions was now looking for the League with payback in mind, one of his surveillance operatives had lost his prime subject along with some secondary subjects. Two of his enforcers were now in the hospital, fortunately still unconscious and someone had been digging into the League's background. Normally the Snake could have slid into his pawns mind but there was too much "static" for him to do so and remain undetected. This was not good. Standing he called his aide. The aide bowed and left the room.) Martin was shocked. He had been getting a minor mental "buzz" of warning but had assumed it was from the general nature of their situation, but now it was sounding a full alert. "WHERE DID YOU SAY YOU GOT THAT BOX FROM?!!" Blinking Kei repeated how a punk had it on him when he tried to rumble with them. More in control now Martin asked if she knew how the punk had got it. Yuri told him how the punk described someone in an encounter suit. Before anyone could ask what was going on Martin started making passes over Kei, Yuri and Challenge. A strange glow surrounded all three. (Elsewhere the Snake suddenly gritted his teeth and made a cutting motion. <(Sivvat Equivalent to DAMN IT but with even more venom in it.) He was quicker than I thought. Now the best I can do is hide the traces>) Martin studied the glow. Suddenly he reached forward like he was grabbing something. He looked just like a wide receiver who _just_ missed a pass. "Blast it, I was so close. This one is good, very good." The Lovely Angels looked shocked. Outside of their arrival they really hadn't seen magic in use before and they didn't get that good of a look when they arrived. Some members of Inquiry had been members of teams with mystics in them so they were slightly less shocked. Karen spoke for all of them. "What just happened?? That glow just {now in German: didn't look natural. What where you doing Martin?}" "Karen you dropped into German just now" said Seeker. "Sorry. It was just too weird even for you guys. What were you doing Martin?" "There are several spells on that box. The first spell's job was to tell the caster the location of the holder. A second set of spells was to locate specific people. You noticed there were nine buttons on the box, three of those buttons are depressed, Yes?