HEROES Chapter 5

Scowling, Grey pulled over onto a deserted street, the meager streetlamps the only hint of gray breaking through the blackness of the middle of the night.

"Is THIS good?" he demanded, turning to frown at their acquired guest. The woman simply smiled, giving him a look that was half amused, half suggestive before she opened the door and leaned over to Grey, taking care to ensure he got a good look at her cleavage.

"Thanks for the ride," she said before nodding at Scavenger and getting out of the car. As soon as she shut the door, Greyson took off, puffing on a cigarette and shaking his head.

"F%*&in' bitches I swear to God..." he mumbled, turning on a hip-hop station and cranking up the volume. Scavenger just said "I hear ya man," before lighting his own cigarette and cracking a window. Glancing at the clock, Grey sighed. The sun would be up soon, the place was still crawling with RAID, and all the good parties would be wrapping up. Nothing better to do than go back and get some sleep. As they drove past an alley, Grey glanced down into the darkness then slammed on the breaks, his eyes wide. As they skidded to a stop, nearly fishtailing, Scavenger dropped his feet from the dashboard and rounded on him, his own eyes widened.

"JESUS F%($IN' CHRIST, GREY!" he cried, "what the f%#$ are you doing?!" Grey was holding his breath, his sharp eyes darting around in the shadows before he slowly got out of the car, his heart pounding as he drew his weapon. No. It couldn't be. That was impossible. As he moved with inhumanly silent steps, Grey crept up against the wall of a pitch dark building, listening to the two sets of soft footsteps as they approached from the alley. As Scavenger got out of the car and opened his mouth, Grey shot him a look of pure death and put a finger to his lips before he could make a sound. Sliding along the wall, Grey kept himself as hidden as he could around the other side of the wall and managed to look down the long, black alley, his meta vision cutting through the shadows and making out two sets of facial features. . . but it was one in particular that caught his eye.

When the face registered with the one in his mind, images of of his own blood splashing against the floor raced back, his insides ached, his ribs all but cracking again as he shifted. His heart pounded as the rage bubbled within him and he grit his teeth as his gray eyes blazed. In his erupting anger, the assassin lost control and before he could stop it, the words poured out of him. "REDNECK! F%*&ER! SON OF A BITCH!" His screams echoed through the empty street, startling even Scavenger. When he finally managed to hold back the rest, he swore voluntarily, knowing full well there was no way the men in the alley wouldn't have heard him. He didn't really care, however. His life was in ruins and the root of it all was strolling casually down an alley in a completely different city. Tossing his cigarette into the street, Grey rounded the corner, gun raised straight at Tim. "YOU!" he screamed, every ounce of bottled up rage exploding from him with an intentional scream. As the two men stopped, Grey's eyes were fiery above gritted teeth as he aimed the gun straight at his head. "Wrangler..." he hissed.

When Grey went ballistic and rounded the corner with his gun drawn at the two strangers, Scavenger stayed hidden. He then leaped into the air and used his molecular transformation ability to become a raven and flew up and over the building to get around behind whoever it was that his buddy had decided to knock off.



When Totem saw the lone gunman round the corner shouting an accusing "YOU!" at Cowboy, he froze. Silently he began to chant the song of the fleet fox to give him speed, but the guy already had them dead bang and it was just a matter of the mugger choosing which one of them to shoot. He thought of going for his knife, but he seriously doubted he would be able to throw it before the wild eyed man pulled his trigger. Totem definitely wasn't expecting to get mugged in an area swarming with cops and he immediately wondered if this guy wasn't after more than just some cash.

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The blue Cordoba slowly meandered through the winding roads of Oakwoods Cemetery and parked at a round about near the northwest corner. The morning light was just beginning to sift through the trees when Slate stepped out of the car and made his way to the grave site of Joanna Keys. As he drew closer to the freshly covered plot he curiously noted the flowers that had been laid before the dark granite headstone. They were fresh and the water in the encapsulating stem fountains were all full which meant that someone had just left them and even more disconcerting was the type of flowers that had been left behind. They were roses, thirteen of them to be precise, twelve blue and the thirteenth one was white, enshrouded by the others. Slate had seen the same arrangement appear in the control room at certain times in the year he had known her, but had never given much thought to the bouquet until that moment.

A man wearing a black trench coat and hat came into view in the distance when he moved out from behind a group of trees. He was walking away and might have just been out for a brisk stroll but Sigma's instincts told him otherwise. He sighed and apologetically shrugged his shoulders at the grave for his brief visit and gave chase.

As Slate pulled up his mask during the pursuit he lost sight of the man in black behind a crypt and as he close in could hear the sound of an engine starting. He sprinted around the corner, hoping to get a good look at the suspect but found himself running head on with the speeding vehicle as it peeled out purposely trying to hit him. Sigma leapt into the air and rolled, his back just grazing the roof of the dark blue sedan as it passed under him. The tail end of the car cleared out of the way as he descended allowing him to land on his feet with enough time to memorize the license plate number as the car sped away.

As the car wove its way through the cemetery, Sigma pulled out his PDA, connected to the Green Street base system and accessed the DMV records. He punched in the Illinois plate and found that it was registered to a one John Brown, and if that wasn't an alias if he ever saw one. Sigma then pulled up a map on the address and decided to pay Mr. Brown a visit, not that he believed he would find anything but because it was the only lead he had.

Tim heard the man shout and swear, he froze glaring at the man "Ah shit." Tim quickly reached over and grabbed Totem, he then concentrated ...... freezing time ..... Tim then reached in his jacket withdrew his two semi automatics slipped one into Totem's hand, shoved him behind a dumpster then Tim dove for the othe side of the alley, hitting the ground and rolling comming up on one knee behind the back of a parked car. Tim then leaned forward and he shouted to Totem "Watch yur ass, I figur this guy ain't alone, I heard two car doors shut." Tim then shouted at the man at the end of the alley. "Look yar hombre why don't ya just put the piece away and mosey along 'fore sumbody gets a belly full a lead." Tim then reached in the pocket of his jacket and removed two clips. He glaced quickly down at them and swore to himself. "Shit." Reached across himself, reached in his other jacket pocket and felt two more clips. "Shit Shit Shit" he swore to himself. Sliping the first two clips back into his pocket, Tim reached behind him and felt his .357 caliber, with a 4" barrel, revolver in his belt holster.

Tim muttered to himself "We git outa this, ya neded ta go shoppin Tim. Thars gots ta be a sportin'oods place round har somewhere."

Sasha sat on top of the old building, watching the happenings down below in the alley. She'd been up here collecting her thoughts after seeing the tornado go rogue the way it did. That had spooked her and she needed to figure out what it was and what if anything, she could do about it.

She watched as the man dressed in black turned into a raven and positioned himself behind the two men in the middle of the alley while the other came at them with gun drawn, neither of the two men knowing that he was there.

Shaking her head, her eyes turned black as she called to the flies in the area, causing them to swarm. She would have called to the hornets and bees, but it was only May and she knew that they were trying to do damage control on there hives before their larvae hatched. So, she used the flies, they could be quite annoying when maneuvered correctly.

She watched as a large swarm of flies split apart, forming two swarms, each with enough flies within to make it look like a large, black cloud about 3 feet wide and 2 feet thick. She mentally maneuvered one swarm to the man with the gun at one of the alley and the other to the raven man at the other end, giving the two pinned down a fighting chance. She just hated it when someone cheated like the raven man did. It just wasn't right.

Laughing, she watched as the two began swatting at the biting flies, unable to do much except swing their arms.

Even Grey's sharp eyes blinked in confusion when the man suddenly disappeared and shouted from behind a parked car a ways away from him. In his anger, he hadn't paused to consider that the man was not only a meta, but Grey had no idea what his abilities were. Before he had time to consider it, however, a swarm of flies descended on him, unyielding, even as he swatted at them.

"What the f%*$... Scav!" he called, but upon squinting through them, found his friend struggling in a similar situation. The other guy with Wrangler must have been a meta... Slamming himself against the wall in hopes of crushing some of the flying irritants, Grey pressed his lips firmly together and turned toward the direction in which Tim's voice had come. Squinting through the swarm, he pointed his gun in the same direction and swiped at the flies again. "Whe..." he spat as a few flies threatened to fill his mouth, "where the f%*& are you, you ... you bastard?!" Grey screamed. He took a quick glance in the other direction looking for the one he figured was controlling the insects but he wanted to keep an eye on the one he knew was closer. Crushing a few flies in his hand, Grey left the other one up to Scavenger and continued to stalk Tim, his gun drawn.

Seeing that things were now more on an even playing field, now that she had drawn attention to the guy that had snuck around to their backs, Sasha stood up, gave a mock salute to the two crouching men down below. She wasn't sure if they saw her or not, but she didn't let it bother her as she sauntered off to the other side of the roof to climb down the fire escape on that side and go steal something to eat, disappearing into the fray of the city.

Totem had no idea what the hell had just happened. Time suddenly seemed to freeze around him and the gunman yet Cowboy continued to move. He pushed a gun into his hand then shoved him behind a dumpster and as he hit the ground time seemed to catch up and he could move once more.

Totem, quickly checked the clip in his gun then cocked it as Cowboy warned him that the gunman may not be alone. He quickly peeked around the dumpster, to check the position of the irate man and was surprised to him flaying away as a cloud of flies descended upon him. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed as he cast Cowboy a confused look. "Didn't think flies got that thick in the city." he mentioned and had a little bit of a laugh at the gunman's expense. Both of the men were then alerted by the slaps and screams of another at the other end of the alley.



Dancing around, flailing his arms about him, was a young man with multi-coloured spiked up hair, dressed in the black leather garb of a punk-rocker. "Jeeeezuuus, %&$*ing Christ!" he screamed, pulling up his collar and darting about in an erratic pattern.

Totem could see that he was plagued as well by a hoard of flies. He aimed his gun, but then lowered it. Seeing that the young man wasn't carrying any weapons and wasn't fairing to well with the insects he didn't have the heart to shoot the sneaky little bugger. In fact he actually felt a little sorry for the punker as he felt that if he had not been plagued by a freak swarm of bugs, they would have had one hell of a fight. With the spirit of the fox within him, Totem was confident that he would have sensed the man's approach and if not, it would have been a good death. Guess either way he'd never know if the black clad villain had any sand as he ran away down the alley, then magically his dark silhouetted form transformed into a raven that flew away into the night.

The raven, Scavenger out flew the swarm of flies but he could still smell them pursuing. He knew someone set the insects on he and Grey and when they found them, they'd pray for death after they were done with them. Circling around, he headed back to the other side of the alley to provide Grey with some support, but he wasn't exactly one for direct confrontation. Exposed, he wasn't as confident since he didn't carry any firearms and as a knife fighter he'd have to wait for the an opportunity to engage in hand to hand combat. The battle seemed to be turning into a gun battle and it wasn't the sort of fight he was any good in.

As Scavenger landed, the flies seemed to finally respond to Grey's flailing and eventually flew off. Spitting on the ground as though concerned one may have found its way into his mouth, he paused, his muscles tensed as he got his bearings and held back some overwhelming tics bubbling within him. His teeth were clenched as he stared in the direction of Tim's voice.

"Get the f%*& out here and fight like a man!" Grey shouted, his voice slightly choked as he tried to speak only voluntary words.

Scavenger transformed and put his back to the wall outside of the alley. "Goddam flies." he cursed, grimacing as he pulled a dead fly from his hair, "I &%$#ing hate bugs!"

A few feet away, Grey stood in the mouth of the alley listening to his partner bitch and complain as he taunted the man he knew as Wrangler to come out and face him in the open.

"The second guys, native." Informed Scavenger in a low voice, "He's probably the one that set flies on us! I think he's some kind of &$#^ing witch doctor or something!"

Scavenger then popped back some 'ecstasy' and pulled out his two gleaming curved blades. "I would have had the other guy if he wouldn't have set those flies on me! I couldn't see shit!" he apologized.

The sun was getting higher and the light was starting to filter into the alley. Even with his dark sun glasses, Scavenger's eyes were beginning to pain him and already his vision was becoming cloudy from all the ultraviolet radiation that was bombarding them. "Better make this fast, Grey. Once that &$#^ing sun is up I can't &$#^ing see a thing!"

Wraith took one end of the stretcher away from Mikala and smiled politely. "This is going to be dangerous." he told her, "Best you stay here." He then looked over at the woman with the telekinetic and telepathic abilities. "Seizure." he called, "You and Kekoa, come with us. I need you to help me carry the stretcher after Angel drops us off and from what I've heard about your friends abilities he can watch our backs. What d'ya say Kekoa? Once we're back at the base I'll be able to keep a closer eye on your wound as well."

Wraith then looked to Flaming Angel. "You need to get us to Fulton Market and Racine, that's where we can enter the sewers, hopefully without being spotted. Remember we can't attract any attention to ourselves and if we are seen and pursued we can't let RAID or the police suspect that we frequent the area." He explained, "Once we're out all you have to do then is get out of the area and wait for our call."

Ayana got to her feet and nodded, though she flashed a concerned look at Kekoa who got slowly to his feet, wincing just slightly as he leaned heavily on the couch. "I can carry her with my mind," she said, "so long as she doesn't move too much and someone else supports her." Lending a hand to Kekoa, she then added, "I wouldn't count on him to put up too much of a fight for the time being."

"Sewers seem a popular mode of travel lately," Kekoa commented serenely, as though he had merely been asked to hand something to someone. Ayana then turned and nodded over to Shawn who was leaning against the wall, his empty eyes staring off just past them, a strange sort of awareness about him she couldn't quite place. "What about him?" she asked, "will Yelena stay behind and keep an eye on things?"

Toril was impressed with Seizure's mental skills and nodded his approval when he relinquished his hold of the stretcher, so that it was floating in the air with Flaming Angel easily keeping it steady. He then walked over to Kekoa and laid his large hand on the man's shoulder. "You'll be fine." he told him, "Once we're back at the base I'll take another look at your injuries."

Toril then took note of the boy, Shawn. "Mikala, will see to him." he said, then he curiously looked around the flat. "Where is Yelena anyway?" he asked, "I haven't seen her about?"

Mikala looked over at Shawn as well, hearing Seizure ask about Yelena. She didn't know who this Yelena was as she had left before Mikala had arrived, but she didn't want to leave the boy alone, and for some reason, probably her size, Wraith felt that it was too dangerous for her to tag along. Shrugging her delicate shoulders, she smiled back at him having to look up once more to look at face, mischief shining in her eyes.

"Don't let my size fool you Wraith, I can handle more than you think, but thank you for concern. I will stay here, take care of Shawn and wait for Allie to return."

Before she walked over to Shawn to type into the device what was going on, she threw over her shoulder at Wraith.

"With your size, you will be harder to hide than I would be, so maybe it is you that should be concerned with the danger."

Chuckling, she typed into Shawn's device what was going on and that she would still be here if he needed anything, otherwise, she let him know that she knew he could pretty much care for himself.

Allie steadied the stretcher while Seizure made it levitate, then looked over at Mikala.

"You know your way around my place, Mikey, so make yourself at home. If we're all ready, then I say we take the truck. We can put the stretcher in the bed while, Wraith, you hold Morgan on your lap in the backseat. I'll find an inconspicious place to park while you get her onto the stretcher and down into the sewer tunnels before heading back home. Just be careful and if there are any problems at all, you call immediately and I'll be there."

Morgan, meanwhile, was still unconscious and wouldn't stir until later.

When Mikala turned her back on the others and saw to Shawn a cold gust of wind tossed her dark hair in her face and the large man was suddenly standing on to her right leaning against the wall looking down at her, smiling. "I've not trouble hiding, little one." he told her, "Sometimes, though there is no where to hide. I've no idea what you may be capable of but I feel that right now it is best you utilize your abilities from afar and offer us guidance if you are able.

Wraith pushed himself off the wall and strode over to the floating stretcher and took the handles once more. "Save you strength for now, Seizure."

Shawn read the braille on his device and fumed. Standing up straight, he turned abruptly, heading without guidance on the wall towards the door. After a few steps, however, he stopped and turned partly around so that he was "looking" over his shoulder at the others.

"I don't need a f%*&in' babysitter," he snapped, his signs matching his tone in their rigid movements. With this, he turned again and walked purposefully towards the door, wrenching it open as though he could see the knob clearly and pulling it shut, hard. The satisfying vibrations from the slam traveled up the thin soles of his Chuck Taylor shoes and spread out to his legs. Once in the hall, he ran his hand along the wall until he found the elevator. Thankfully, elevators were relatively universal, even in a completely different city. Reading braille, he found his way easily down to the lower level and headed out of the warehouse into the growing daylight.

Wraith watched the young man angrily stomp off, maneuvering fluidly despite his handicap. It was pretty apparent, at least to him that he was upset. He couldn't imagine what it would be like living in a dark and silent world, when his especially when he used his molecular vision was so vivid. Mikala's job just got a lot easier he considered, but he still felt that the boy would require her assistance, whether he liked it or not.

Turning back to Flaming Angel, he nodded. "Guess we better get this show on the road." he said, "Lead the way, and maybe we'll avoid the drive throughs." he quipped, alluding to the fact that he was in full costume and his mask may draw some attention, even if the windows of the car did happen to be tinted.

Mikala blushed at Wraith calling her little one. It didn't sound like an insult coming from him and she could feel that he hadn't meant it as one. He didn't know what she could do and she wasn't sure whether or not she was going to tell him just yet as she didn't know him. Her empathy told her that he was a caring, but she was still blocking to keep from reading to much into Morgan's emotions, which were bleeding through, even though the girl was unconscious.

That was when Mikala stumbled back as the force of Shawn's anger hit her empathic abilities like a wrecking ball. She was beginning to understand, by his words alone, that he was definately very resourceful and could indeed take care of himself.

"Well, I will still wait here, in case he returns."

She rose, rubbing her forehead which was now incased in a headache from picking up on Shawn's anger as she smiled at Wraith and told them to be careful.

Allie led everyone down to the underground garage where they loaded the stretcher into the bed of the Dodge truck and everyone climbed in, Morgan cradled on Wraith's lap. She knew where Wraith wanted to go and took a few minutes to think of what would be the most inconspicuous route.

Heading out she was able to aviod most of the road blocks, having to only turn around before approaching one once, able to avoid being seen as the officers were concentrating on an irate woman who didn't like be made late to work.

After a tense filled hour, traffic causing them to move slow, even on the side streets due to construction and road blocks causing some to turn around and find their own less hectic way home, they finally made it to their destination and Allie parked the truck so that it blocked the view on what they were doing. Where she'd parked was pretty inconspicuous and they quickly unloaded the stretcher and got Morgan tied into it, the girl having not stirred but her skin almost seemed hotter than before. Allie took precious minutes to lift one of the bandages covering the nail holes in her upper left thigh only to gasp. The wounds were an angry red and swollen. Something told her that all of the others looked similar and she now understood what Wraith and Mikala had been talking about as in there was something wrong with her wounds, something there that shouldn't be. She hoped that Wraith would be able to save her and wondered what in the hell she was going to tell Cowboy if and when he and Totem made it back to her place. She had no way of letting him know that they were headed to the base and didn't know that Totem had already picked up on the information through Morgan's connection with his own spirit animals.

Giving words of caution and telling them all to be careful, she then forcefully told Ayana to call her as soon as they made it to base. She would have asked Wraith but she knew that he would have his hands full with Morgan's injuries.

While Seizure telekinetically lowered Morgan down into the manhole to Kekoa who awaited below, Wraith exchanged some parting words with Flaming Angel. "You did good." he commended her in regards to her navigation through the neighbourhood, "We'll keep you posted on Morgan's condition. I'm sure this will all blow over in a few days and things will return to normal." He looked down at Allie and smiled warmly, unconsciously striking a pose.

"Hey! Move that truck out of there!" a man shouted, startling them.

Looking beyond the truck they could see two police officers on the other side of the street, who were just waiting for a car to pass before they crossed. By their casual walk it was obvious that they didn't suspect anything was going on.

Wraith could see that Seizure was already heading down the man hole and proceeded to follow her. He looked back at Flaming Angel and whispered, "Remember, keep it cool, Flames." he told her and smiled at his cheesy pun as he descended and maneuvered the heavy covering easily, quietly sealing it tight after him.

The two police officers checked the license plates on the vehicle and one of them peaked through the driver's side window, while the other walked around to the other side to inspect the alley.

Down in the sewer tunnel, Wraith helped guide the hovering stretcher ahead of Seizure, pushing Morgan along as if she were on an invisible gurney. Kekoa brought up the rear, keeping a watchful eye out for any RAID enforcers who might still be searching lines. All of them had learned not to ever discount the persistence of RAID and Wraith was careful to keep an eye out for trip wires and laser sensors, as they moved slowly through the first line of many they had to traverse.

Seeing that Wraith and the others had made it into the tunnels undetected, Allie turned her attention to the two police officers who were scoping out her truck. Once went back and typed in her license plate number while the other approached her where she was standing at the front of her truck, making sure that her hands where he could see them. Her demeanor was relaxed as was her stance.

"What are you doing here, Miss.....?"

"Jameson......Allie Jameson. My dog got away from me a couple of days ago and I thought I saw him running through here and stopped to see if it was him, but he won't come when I call."

"Well, this is no place to park your truck, Miss Jameson. You will need to move it or receive a citation."

Just then, the other police officer came back, looking at Allie as if she were a goddess or something. He whispered in his partner's ear who immediately perked up.

"Oh...Miss Jameson...I didn't realize exactly who you were. Please accept my apologies. Do you need any help finding your pup? We would be happy to help you." But, if he wandered up around the Green Street district, you won't be able to search that area as we had some trouble there earlier and it's cordoned off."

Allie gave both men a very coy smile, letting them know how much she appreciated their offer of help.

"Thank you, gentlemen, but it wasn't my Bosco and I appreciate the word on Green Street. I do hope that he didn't wander into there. I will keep looking and pay closer attention to where I park my truck. I will put in a good word to my father for both of you when I see him for offering to help me."

Both police officers grinned at the beautiful woman, saying their thank yous before letting her go about her way, wishing her luck on finding her dog. She chuckled as she drove away as she didn't own a dog. She knew that some people looked down on her for being a rich man's daughter, but there were times, like this one, where it paid off. Her father, being a prominant business tycoon of retail, had always made huge donations to the various police stations around the city and in the suburbs which helped Allie out immensely as well as the fact that a lot of the officers simply liked her as she was down to earth and did whatever she could to help out the less fortunate, mainly the kids including their own.

She climbed into her truck and headed home, hoping that everything turned out okay and Morgan would live. She was still worried about Kekoa, but he seemed to be oblivious to her suddenly and she didn't know why, but she wasn't going to worry about it right now. She had more urgent things to worry about, like finding out where in the hell Cowboy and Totem were so that she could let them know what was going on.

Morgan knew that something was wrong. She was so hot and something was holding her down. Her legs were burning, as if they were on fire, as well as her side, but she couldn't move her legs either. Opening her eyes, their lavender hue now very dull, she looked up and saw a big man towering above her. To her, it looked as if he had something to do with the reason why she couldn't move and her delierious mind took her back to her father and when she was tied to the chair. She immediately begain to thrash about, fighting to get loose, not understanding in her feverish state that she was in safe hands.

Wraith spoke soothingly to her, trying to calm her, but right now, the fever had her in it's grip. Finally, after several long minutes, she began to quiet, looking up into Wraith's silver gaze, her own eyes pleading.

"My legs and side.....they burn....make it stop."

Right before she slipped into unconsciousness again, her eyes glowed briefly as she connected with whatever she could, not focusing on any one animal, but focusing on them all, she mumbled.

"Keep Tim safe...don't let him get hurt."

A feral cat prowled along the wall of an alley focused on a singular thought implanted in it's mind. It encountered a mangy grey tabby that hissed a warning, but the trespasser merely stared blankly, then as it ran off, the tabby continued on the journey the other had begun tracing back it's steps to where it had last seen humans. A stray german shepherd cross was digging through a trash can when it spied the tabby cat which fearlessly approached the predatory animal as it gnashed its teeth and growled. As their eyes met, the dogs expression sobered and like the other before it, the cat went on its way leaving the larger canine to complete its quest. The sensitive nose of the dog recalled the scent carried by the feline messenger and driven by a command that dominated its mind ran down the alley and found the source that allowed the animal a sense of pleasing its invisible master. The dog approached Tim Rutherford, wagging its tail in a friendly manner and sniffed his boot. The dog growled at the Haida man, but then recognizing that he was no threat focused on the one who was.

The large dog barred its teeth and sprinted round the corner that Tim was hiding behind. It followed the voice of the irate gunman, and as Grey Pyre stood at the opening of the alley swearing away he saw a large black dog bearing down upon him.



Totem wasn't sure what just happened, but had a feeling that Morgan must have somehow guided the animal to help Cowboy, unfortunately the poor animal was running directly into a bullet. He figured though, that they should not let the animal die in vein and holding his gun at ready looked over to Cowboy and signaled with a nod that he was going to open fire.

Wraith was thankful when Morgan slipped into unconsciousness once more. Although from a doctors point of view he would rather her remain as lucid as possible so he could access her condition they could afford her making noise and giving away their position. Unfortunately after they proceeded on down another tunnel, it seemed that the girls outburst had done just what Wraith had feared.

"It could have been a rat." echoed a voice from another tunnel behind them, then another voice replied, "No, I am sure it sounded like a girl shouting something."



The two RAID enforcers, cautiously moved toward the the direction of the noise that the lead man believed was a human voice. They had been assigned to make one last sweep of the sewage passages and the enforcer bringing up the rear was inclined to believe that his partner was just hearing things. He considered radioing in their current position, just in case they encountered something but then he was pretty sure it was just another false alarm.

"Shit!" Wraith cursed in a hushed tone when he heard the voices and the sound of the distant foot steps splashing through the water. Turning back he handed the stretcher to Kekoa and looked at Seizure as he pointed down the tunnel. "In about another one hundred meters you'll hit a junction. Make sure you go left, then make right at the first tunnel you come across. That will lead you to the passage that goes to the Eastern door of the base, the one that connects it to the warehouse."

Wraith then shuffled past them in the tight tunnel and began to head toward the voices. He paused then and turned back one last time. "There could be others so be careful, and if I don't make it back Bronze Devil will know what to do." He told them, then gave a smile. "Good luck." he whispered then turned and headed back down the passage way slightly favoring his leg from his fall he suffered the previous night.

The RAID enforcers could hear movement up ahead and quickened their pace. They weren't using any flash lights since their visors provided them with night vision that instantly reacted to light sources so that the men would not be blinded.

"What the hell did I tell you?" Said the leader to his partner via their communicators built into the helmut, then he stopped in his tracks when he heard a loud whistling sound emanating from ahead of them. "What the —?" were the only words he got out before a powerful blast of wind knocked him off of his feet and crashing into his partner behind him.

Wraith came flying down the tunnel and plowed into the closest enforcer, driving his fist across his bullet proof visor. The helmut protected the man, but the force of his head snapping back against his neck knocked him out cold, but even as he moved to deal with the second, the enforcer raised his gun and fired. As the bright white plasma beam lashed out, Wraith managed to throw himself to the side and dematerialize, the electrical burst just missing his wind form, which would have negated his ability and caused him some physical damage.

The RAID enforcer spun around, searching the tunnel for any sign of the costumed meta-human but nothing was appearing in his visor. He checked on his partner, dragging the man onto his back so that he wouldn't drown then switched is visor few to thermal and searched around him for any heat source that an invisible person would leave behind. Strangely he couldn't detect any hot spots but as he swiveled his head behind him he saw a cold area, roughly in the shape of a man. He fired, but the cold entity suddenly became warm and grabbed his gun.

Wraith materialized, grabbed the gun of the enforcer and lifted him off of the ground, smashing him hard into the ceiling. He then hurled him into the wall of the tunnel with enough force to render the last enforcer unconscious.

Tim patted the dog on the head and whispered "Morgan sent ya didn't she? Well good fur her." The dog then sprinted towards the man at the end of the alley, with his teeth bared, as the sun began to lighten the west wall. Tim glanced over at Totem, nodded then held up his hand. Looking back down the alley, he slowy raised one finger, then two, then the third just as the sun struck a window on the second story of the alley wall, throwing a bright refection in the eyes of the man standing holding the gun and anyone else that would be standing there. Tim and Totem sprang to thier feet running towards the man, criss crossing eachothers paths, firing thier weapons. Tim's semi automatic ejected its last shell casing, the chamber stayed open. He closed the chamber, slipped the weapon in his shoulder holster and reached behind his back pulling out his .357 eight shot backup revolver from its lower back holster.