<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-ffff4bc5-ae99-f590-8737-c90f92b9c88b"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Second Week of May, 1996</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span></p><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Hal tapped his fork sharply against his wine glass, and waited for the din of conversation to lessen to levels that would allow him to be heard.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"We have only three minutes to midnight!" he announced.  Quickly, the noise level subsided.  "I would like to propose a toast.  To say--"</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"To say!" Key, Yury, Badass, Shadebeam, Tom and Max Vax exclaimed, hoisting their glasses.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"That's not the toast," Hal said.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"It could be," Eivandt noted.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Don't encourage them," Alice told him.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Aw..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Ahem," Hal continued.  "To say that these last four years have been eventful would be an understatement..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"To understatements!" Karina Selanova exclaimed.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Stop it."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Aw..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"These are the best of times, these are the worst of times," Hal said. "These are times of endings, and beginnings, times of fear and hope, past and future.  Now, just three minutes before the end..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Two minutes," GLADYS, seated next to where Hal was standing, noted.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"...two minutes before the end," Hal went on, "I would like to recognize the members of CalForce, past and present, who have come here this evening to celebrate an ending and a beginning.  Badass..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I didn't say anything!" Badass protested.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I was just naming you."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Oh."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"HotFlash... MeltDown..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"It's not our fault!" they exclaimed.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Hal raised an eyebrow.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"We had to say it once more, for old times sake," Key explained.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Healer..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth smiled, and felt Trashman's hand squeeze hers slightly.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Chalandra... Confusion..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"What?" Manny asked.  "Ha ha!  Just kidding... I think."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You are," Chalandra clarified.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Doubt/Willwarp..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Both here?" Eivandt asked.  "What a coincidence!"</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Criticalman... Mighty Guy..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Hey, that's us!" the named heroes exclaimed.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Microvax..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yo.  One minute to go, by the way."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Shadebeam..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"What Tom said."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Spatial K..."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I don't have to play a song, do I?"</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And those two here in our memories... Faith and Radian.  Let us toast to their bravery, their successes... and their futures."</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Hal fell silent, and the assembled group watched as the seconds ticked down towards midnight, the final seconds of CalForce's official existence slipping away, light as thieves....</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Glasses were raised....</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Final seconds... final moments....</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The clinking of wine glasses greeted the midnight hour, a delicate, perfect mosaic of sound and clarity, a sea of resonance heralding the new era....</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Midnight.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br class="gmail-kix-line-break"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">CalForce was no more.</span></p><br><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">ALU Interstitial #1</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"The Dead Dogs of CalForce"</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Prologue</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">by</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Gary W. Olson</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">reprinted from</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">CalForce #150</span></p><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Rest</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">the fault of</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Eric Burns-White,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Lord Sabre,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">who is literally writing a reaction post to a post</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">that itself was written almost twenty-one years ago</span></p><br><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth was leaning against one of the support pillars in the terrifyingly ugly Xolchacafe on the fourth floor of the A.L.U.C.H.Q.M.O.U.S.E., with Trudy leaning on one side of her, and Mandy leaning on the other. They were still in their 'party' clothes from the CalForce Retirement Dinner, though that didn't say much -- it had been an unusually quiet and casual affair for the Californian superteam.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Granted, that was as big an indicator that CalForce's day was done as any Elizabeth could think of.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Regardless, the three were passing a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue that Templar had given Elizabeth, having learned that Trashman was a fan of scotch. Elizabeth had decided to not so much give it to Bruce as drink it with Trudy and Mandy, who didn't argue. That it was a fifth that cost Templer six hundred bucks didn't really factor into that decision.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"So," Elizabeth said, giggling. "There was Templar. Desperately pantomiming every little thing, unable to say a </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">thing</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, while Manny was stuck in a hot dog outfit which honestly didn't bother him too much." She took a pull off the Blue and handed it to Trudy. "I thought his head would </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">explode!</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Like that'd stop him, little miss telepathic... telepath!" Trudy was a bit on the drunk side. And by a bit we mean 'plowed.' "You'd be able to telepath his telepathing and telepath!" She took a hit off the scotch. "...why is this so less painful than the rotgut Bruce drinks?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Because Bruce drinks rotgut," Elizabeth said, accepting the bottle back and handing it to Mandy. "Expensive, fifty dollar or more per fifth rotgut, but rotgut. I swear, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Laiphroig</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> isn't so much a drink as punishment." She giggled again. "And I was the one who'd won the bet with Templar! I wasn't about to telepathy his telepaths!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You keep giggling," Mandy said. "I keep thinking you've been replaced by a pod person."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I'll have you know, I giggled </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">all</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> the time, back in the CalForce days. I think it had something to do with dyeing my hair auburn. Auburn's a giggly color. I was less giggly when it was black, and blonde is </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">tres </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">serious. So anyway -- we the people who'd bet on Team Cynical to win the ball game were </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">gloating</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Oh Gods -- and you don't even want to know Yury's conditions. Just seeing Akane in one of those glitter bikini nightmares HotFlash and MeltDown wore was worth the price of admission -- I thought her radiation powers had been blocked by the fierceness of her blush!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Wait -- </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Radian</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> was a prude?" Mandy laughed. "I can't believe it."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Believe it. Even the boob window on her black bodysuit was 'cause of Key and Yury. She was the second biggest prude on that </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">team</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Who was the first?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You're drinking her scotch, missy." Elizabeth took another pull and offered it to Trudy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy wasn't talking. She was looking away.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sober, Elizabeth would have changed the subject. Elizabeth was nowhere near sober. "Trudy... no one was hurt more by Radian's actions than me. You have no idea. But before all that? She was my friend -- and a really good one. And I'm tired of pretending she wasn't. I miss that Akane, in her black bodysuit and shy smile she hid with an affected grin." She shook her head. "She and Faith were so </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">good</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> together."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"How can you say that?" Trudy asked, softly. "She killed him."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No. No she didn't. I thought she did too. I almost killed her over it. Almost healed her mind free of all paranormality and then wiped it clean. I wanted to so badly -- I hated her so much... and then Faith stopped me."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy looked at her. "This is some kind of metaphor 'Faith would never want me to be a killer' bullshit, right?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No. I mean Faith appeared and told me not to do it. He's not even dead, Trudy. When Ramrod shot Radian through the head, she died -- at least, ultimately, after we all stopped existing for a second. Faith was the only one who could save her, but no one there would tell him he had the power to do it. So... he just... did it. He told himself. His first act of real Will." She paused. "Second. Second act of real Will. His first act was... no one noticed at the time. Dunno why it didn't transcend him."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"This is all crazy talk," Trudy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Weirdly, no it isn't," Mandy said. "Eric talks about it too -- he was there. It's haunting him. It... damn it. Nope. No depressingness tonight. Not for me. S'not about me. What was Faith's first act of will, Liz?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Don't call me Liz. Liz was... don't call me Liz." She took another pull off the Scotch and offered it to Trudy, who took it this time. "The first act a'will was before CalForce. Some guys -- these dudes -- they attacked us and fought us and stuff and I don't even care. And they tried to turn Faith against me. But... no. He wouldn't. He told me. He told me that he would never Believe that I hated him. He would never Believe that I didn't love him. And I believed him. I knew it was real. That was something stronger than Faith's gullibility." She sighed. "But love? Love doesn't get you transcendent, I guess."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~It was not quite that simple, Elizabeth. I had to decide to bring Akane back to life as an act of Will, with no one telling me. I did not need to decide that you loved me, any more than I needed to be told the universe existed. It simply did. And you loved me.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy's jaw dropped. Mandy stared.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Is it ever simple, Faith?" Elizabeth asked, softly. "'m drunk, by the way. So don't... don't let me tell you things. You know the rules."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~The rules don't apply quite the same way,~~</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Faith said, having appeared before the three. He looked shockingly like Kid Solipsism, only in the classic uniform Faith had worn with Healer -- albeit slightly translucent. Faith, that is. Not the costume. PG-13 rating, kids. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You cannot begin to comprehend the perception of the omniverse I now possess, Liz. You cannot tell me anything I do not know in far greater detail than you could possibly imagine.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Right back atcha, Faith." Elizabeth giggled. "I'm gonna freak in the morning, assuming I remember any of this."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Will you remember I love you, and will never believe you do not love me?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Always," Elizabeth answered, softly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Then there is nothing else that needs be said. I am curious, though.~~</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> He looked at Trudy. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Why would you say you have such hatred for Radian, Unorthodox Lass?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"That's Unorthodox La--" Trudy paused. "Wait, you got it right. Huh. And if you know everything, why don't you know my reasons?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I do. I am curious as to how you would phrase them.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Heh. Same as it ever was. Okay. Yeah. I'm drunk too, so why not." She took a stiff belt, then handed the bottle back to Elizabeth. "I hate Radian because I used to be a good person, and now I'm a terrible one."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mandy and Elizabeth turned to face Trudy, startled.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~And she is responsible?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Damn right she is. Despite everything my Dad had done to me I was a good person. I cared about people. I wanted to be like Trashy and Mighty Guy and... heroes. And then we met you guys out in Xolchipalia and the Ottsamaddawidu and you all treated me like a hero too -- a good guy. And Radian did too -- so cool and warm and friendly. Bonded with Dianna too, and that never happened very often. And we got back and then Trashman was controlled and the whole thing with Dangerousman happened and we were pushed to our edge but we held it together...</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And then Radian? She went and killed a child and threatened everything that lived and then killed us all."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Killed us all?" Mandy sounded surprised. Elizabeth just looked at the bottle of scotch.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Damn right. Just for a few seconds but I felt it. Everyone felt something but I felt... I dunno. Maybe it's my connection to the Unorthodox dimension. But it hurt and there was nothing I could do. Nothing at all. And then the next thing I know the M.I.B. had me, and you helped save me, Liz--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Don't call me Liz."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"He can call you Liz!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Faith can do anything within our limited perception. Go on, Trudy." Drunk or not, Elizabeth's voice was softer, now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"The M.I.B. nearly broke me... I'd love to say that's what made me terrible -- blame it all on that. But it wasn't. Because before the M.I.B.? Was the Professor Backslash thing, when Mike and Ja-- the Dash and--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I assure you. I know all the secret identities of all who have ever lived.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Seriously?" Trudy peered at Faith's ghostly form. "Who killed Kennedy?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Joan Crawford.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I knew it! But anyway, they were missing and the Reverse Dash was all like killing people, and Scholarman and Ignorantman showed up to help us out... and...."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~And?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Scholarman healed me twice. Almost wrecked himself to save my life after Backslash hacked me almost apart -- Hell, he probably used up some of the reserve he really needed when Bulletproof shot him. Pushed back time itself. And I was so scared of him and hated him so much, because magic had taken the woman who'd made me feel like I could be a hero and made her the worst villain who ever lived, and all I could see was the same thing happening to him. I almost killed him -- but decided I owed him one. And decided that balanced the scales. That I'd saved his life by graciously not killing him." She took a deep breath. "Then the MIB happened, and broke away what was left of my heroic facade. I was just... scum. And gosh -- what happened next? I joined the Revolution."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy was in her own world now. "And I was going to kill them all, Faith. I wanted every mage dead before they could kill innocent people -- and yeah I get the contradiction in that sentence. I hated every last one of them, and I wanted to wipe them all out. The only reason I didn't was Dianna. She held me back. Over and over again. Whatever was still good in me she held onto. And then everything crashed down around us, and in the wreckage of it all... I got slapped on the wrist, which is admittedly more than almost any Revolutionary got... and Dianna, who was a good guy, even down the wrong path... became the most hated person in Superguydom. Get it? She became the new Radian to most of the world. Me? People cheer for me on the streets."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You do good work, Trudy," Mandy said. "You really do."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"She's right," Elizabeth says. "I know it feels--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No I don't. I'm amused, and I act out and have fun and joke and take risks because fuck it. And then Spandy saved me on Planet Seattle. Won the day. And when I was throwing all caution to the wind, drunker than I am right now and about ready to sleep with half of Seattle in an orgy of Rad-ish proportions--" Trudy paused. "Radish."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy, Mandy and Elizabeth burst out laughing. Apparently comparing Rad to a small vegetable was the funniest thing imaginable. Faith patiently let them laugh.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"--whoo. Anyway. 'sdumb, but I was the center of attention and all these amazing people wanted to be near me and wanted </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">me</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, and I was all like 'yes please!' And Dianna reached out to me -- reached out because despite everything and despite my getting away with everything and throwing her to the fucking wolves for two solid years... despite her saving my life again and being the MVP of the day and out of her cage for the first time ev-- you two don't know that."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Patient/doctor confidentiality," Elizabeth said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Don't even fucking care," Mandy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah. First day out of the cage, and she tried to help me. And I hurt her. I bit her to the fucking bone. I threw my murdered mother in her face, guys. And she retreated and she went into her room and as near as I can tell she won't come out even for Dani. I did it. I broke her. I took her last bit of good and destroyed it. Because I'm a selfish, evil bitch who's made out of hate. And that? Came from Radian. I hate her so much. And now she's dead and I can't even beat her down or bring her in. She got away with it. At the end of the day, she got away with everything, and me? I'm not even sure why Trashy doesn't fire me, any more."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She looked up at Faith. "Does that answer your question, Obi Wan Kenobi?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Faith nodded. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~It does. I do not say I agree with your assessment, because your assessment cannot possibly be anywhere near as well informed as my own, but it satisfies my curiosity.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Do you still hate mages?" Mandy asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Nah. I'm scared'a them, but I'm scared'a lot of things. But... this girl, Rainy Day Woman? I got to know her after the Revolution. She and Mike helped me cope after I woke up in a cell post Revolution, even though they were both Counter-Revolution. She helped me understand... really understand that my anger at Radian couldn't be applied to everyone else." She laughed, slightly. "'Course, Radian didn't even end up in that jail with us. She won again. She always did."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Funny," Elizabeth said, softly. "It took me a long time of wrestling with even darker thoughts... but I realized that Akane kept losing. She lost the battle against the magic, making her the Dark Goddess. She lost the power and transcendence -- lost it to save all of us. She lost you, Faith -- in the sense that you two weren't physically together any more--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~She found Ramrod. I was content to see that.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah, but then she lost him too -- she died."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I perhaps see things differently.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Perhaps. She saved the world, Trudy -- before any of this. You probably don't know about the Magic Wars... but if she hadn't taken up the Z Medallion and fought her way through the Looking Glass... you'd be dust and nothingness. You were once, you know. In fact, she sacrificed herself over and over again -- ultimately sacrificing her transcendence to restore the world. I didn't know that for quite a while. And it took a long while after Russia before I really got it."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You saved her and Shadebeam in Russia, Elizabeth.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You saved all of us, there, Faith. Even my mother."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"What are you talking about?" Mandy asked. "Or am I just drunk?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Assume you're just drunk." Elizabeth took another hit, then handed the bottle over. "Gods -- how much is in that bottle?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I thought it prudent to replenish the supply.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Gods I've missed you, Faith."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You know -- I noticed that." Trudy said. "Not the missing Faith thing. God knows I've missed Faith most've my life--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I saw what you did there,~~</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Faith said, amiably.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"--but you, Liz--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Don't. Me. Liz. Call."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Right. Lillibets. I'll try to remember. You always say 'Gods' when you're, like, swearing or taking in vain or stuff. Never the singular."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Hm? Oh, well -- yeah. Habit I got into so I wouldn't get weird looks."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Weird looks?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I was raised in two religions. Mom was Roman Catholic, Dad was a worshiper of Kali-Ma. Pretty much whenever I say 'Gods,' assume I mean 'God-slash-Kali-Ma.'"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy blinked. "Your Dad worshiped death and destruction?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Pfah! PFAH, I tell you, unbeliever! Kali is the consort and feminine of Shiva! She is the destroyer of evil. The divine protector. The sexual and sensual that gives new life out of death. Goddess of Tantra and beneficence. And most of all -- wait for it... drumroll please... the Healer. Apparently Spielberg neglected to, y'know, read a book before he made that damn movie. I am who I am because of Catholicism and Kali-Ma." She paused. "Maybe that's not such a prize. I'm a bitch."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I do not believe that is true, Liz.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth smiled, softly. "Thanks, Faith."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Always, Liz. Even if you cannot hear me... I am always listening to you. You are precious to me, and I would never lose sight of you.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy snorted. "Yeah, well... you're better off than me. I'm pretty sure G dash D gave up on me a long time ago. How 'bout you, Mandy?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I was raised Didactic Authorist. Now I'm an atheist."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You've literally met Gods, Mandy," Trudy said, taking yet another hit of scotch.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah -- and that cured me of any desire to worship them."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You're still a believer, Trudy?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy shrugged. "I don't talk to God any more. Believe? Sure. But we pretty much mutually decided to break up. 'Cept at Passover and the High Holidays. Can't miss a shot to repent or eat unleavened bread."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Interesting. The Ten Days of Repentance are largely concerned with asking forgiveness for your sins against others, but you would not forgive Akane her sins.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yom Kippur prays for the repentant, not for the unrepentant. Not up to me to forgive her." She shrugs. "This is a pretty damn depressing vigil."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Vigil?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah. We're sitting Shiva with Lizitikitavi for CalForce."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Not Shiva," Elizabeth slurred. "Kali-Ma."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Jewish, Tirkoff. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Jewish</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"We are going to be so hung over, tomorrow," Mandy said. "But! We were sitting Vishnu for CalForce -- how'd you first get involved with all of them, anyway, Liz?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I the Liz am not being called. And simple. Faith and I were sent by Dan Quayle to bring Rad to Washington by any means necessary, and then Key garotted me while Yury stalked Rad. It all kind of snowballed from there."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Huh," Mandy said. "Weird. Hey, Faith... what do I... that... I...."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Well said," Trudy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Shut up, Galloway. Your brother. Eric. I... what do I do? How do I help him?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You told me to come talk to him," Elizabeth said, cutting in and nodding exaggeratedly. "But I can't. He won't."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You have. Both of you. You have spoken to him and helped him and he has answered you both. You cannot hear his answer. He doesn't realize you have spoken. But it has been done. For which I thank you. I always looked up to him.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Why?" Trudy asked. "You were always awesome. I mean -- even when we met an' you'd lost your powers because Timmy "Oh shut up and die" O'Larson fucked up you were just... the best. Worried about Elizibusybet here, but nice."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Awww... you were worried about me?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You had been captured by Dana Wader. Of course I was worried. I could do nothing to help you.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You are just the best, Faith. And you did help me. You always help me. Sitting Shiva indeed. Shiva was Kali's </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">consort</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Of course. The Healer takes the Supreme God of Terror and Delight upon the Tiger Skin as Consort.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"It's just a codename, Faith. And Bruce is </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">no</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> god."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Indeed, he is not. Faith cocked his head. Do you need help getting to bed, Liz?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No! No...I do </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">not</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. We are watching and waiting and sitting Kali-Ma for CalForce. As long as I'm awake... as long as I'm awake then CalForce isn't done yet. I'm still here."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You left CalForce years ago, Liz. And they dissolved at Midnight. All agreed.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah -- Dead Dog rules only work at Cons," Mandy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I'll wait for them! They'd wait for me! They'd all wait for me if I needed... all of them. Even Karou. I don't even know Karou."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You would like him.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I believe you."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Thus.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Me, I'm staying up because I want to put off the morning," Trudy said. "You know Trashy'd be in one of those--" She tightened her voice in imitation. "--it is incumbent upon us to remind the world that even if CalForce is gone there are still heroes who' blah blah blah. With that whole smug 'we're the best ever' attitude, which was always dumb. We weren't the best. We still aren't."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"CalForce was," Elizabeth said, slapping the linoleum floor. "We were twice as strong and four times as cool as the League at its height -- we'd be more but you had the Dash. We had Faith, Akane, Chalandra, Badass, Key and Yury, Templar, me-- I mean, seriously. In a real fight we'd have </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">smoked</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> you like kippers."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No argument here," Trudy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Well, I say 'me.' I was never... I wasn't exactly the showstopper. I think I got in out of nepotism. Faith was the real--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~You were one of the most valuable among us, Elizabeth.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Pah! The day I left Badass left, and I promise they missed him more. 'Specially Chalandra. Well, for a lot of reasons. Wink. Say no more."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Not Python," Mandy said. "Please."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You know what I was to CalForce? You know what it was... I did? I was Mom. Manny and Eivandt and Key and Yury could be all 'it's not my fault' because I was there to be Mom. And they just found some other Mom. MicroVAX maybe. And they had Kent, so who needed a telepath?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I needed you, Liz. I still do.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I know. But you were gone too. Me? I wasn't..." she sighed. "We talk, for now. Some of us. I hadn't spoken to Badass in years. But... right now it's just me. I'm CalForce. I have as much right to declare it as anyone."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I'll join," Trudy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Me too," Mandy said. "I have an unbreakable brip."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And you look just like Chalandra if Chalandra were short haired and brunette," Elizabeth said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And twenty pounds heavier. Be fair. And of course I do."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"What?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mandy snorted. "My last name's Harken. It was anglicized at Ellis island when my family immigrated. Do the math."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You... you're Chalandra's descendent?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Um, no. Don't think she had kids before she went vamp. Or if she did I dunno. But families were big back then. We're descended from Chalandra's father through a son. The resemblance is mostly coincidence."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No no no no no," Elizabeth said. "I know for a fact that Vander Harkness was Chalandra's father's descendent through a son, and they didn't anglicize his family name! Your story holds no water! It is..." she held a drunken chin up "waterless."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"...Elizabeth... in all the generations from Chalandra's father to today... is it really that hard to believe that one of those families had two boys instead of one, and that maybe one of those two boys married outside the normal family circles, and lost its connections to the Harkness family fortune?" Mandy half smiled. "And by one family I mean 'tons?' There's a bunch of variant anglicized names for the broader Harkness cohort. You should have heard my grandfather rant about it, too -- generations before, but he was convinced the Harknesses owed him... I dunno. Money. Me? I'm just glad I didn't end up in the side of the family that loved insane names. Seriously -- Chalandra? Vander? Bertrand?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"As a proud daughter of Mister Tirkoff... Tudegretwytenort Tirkoff--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"It's a beauty way to go," Trudy muttered.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"--that is... I can understand. So, is your name actually Mandy? Or is it short for Amanda...?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No -- short for Mandalora. Mandalora Forsythe Harken." </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Oh yeah. Dodged a bullet there," Trudy said. "Wait -- why did they have to anglicize </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Harkness</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Oh, like I understand immigration from the thirties? And is Trudy short for Gertrude?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Nope! Short for Awesome, though the birth certificate just says Trudy."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Eric kept me sane long before I met Liz, though I admit he did not do as good a job. No matter how selfish he seems he was the most loyal person I'd known before Liz as well. He was my hero.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">All three blinked. "What?" Mandy asked, softly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Trudy asked why I looked up to Eric. I looked up to Eric because Eric was my hero. His certainty counteracted my gullibility. Liz was far better at it, as I said -- in ways my life began when I met her. But Eric was the best person I had ever known before her.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And let me guess -- he told you that and you believed him," Trudy said, laughing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~No. Eric never attempted to use my powers. In part because he believed I only had them because his subconsciousness was trying to tell him something.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah, he's nuts," Mandy said. "Wonderful and nuts."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Eric is perfectly sane, from a certain point of view you are not capable of understanding--~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"With our limited perception!" Elizabeth shouted, laughing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Precisely.~~</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Faith sounded pleased.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Wait," Mandy said. "You mean there's a point of view where he did dream all of us up?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~His power is Belief, as mine was and is. By definition, there is a point of view where he has done precisely what he claims.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No, wait," Trudy said. "I call bullshit. I've read up on this. If he were literally correct -- if he were a true solipsist and if the world only existed because he was there to perceive it, then we wouldn't be here right now. He can't perceive us right now, right? Or can he? Oh crap -- can he?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~In one sense, he can perceive you right now, yes. Though not with what you may consider consciousness. There are many things that can be perceived without realization, at least until you transcend. For example, I am letting you perceive me here. I am also elsewhere, and if you were capable you would see me there, too -- but you are not, so you do not.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Where else are you?" Elizabeth asked. She sounded a bit less drunk, at least for the moment.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~That question is not easy to answer. Perhaps it is easier to say I am also perceiving and interacting, essentially simultaneously, with Rad, Shadebeam, Manny, Chalandra, Hal and Ak--~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Hah! So you're not the only one Dead Dogging CalForce, Liz," Mandy shouted. "They're doing it too!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Me Liz not being called, Mandy. And even if they're up, they're not... like was said earlier. They decided. I'm the one who decided she was... I..." She shook her head. "I'm being silly. I just can't let go. And I don't have the right. If I were going to be like this, I should have stayed with them. It's not fair for me to be throwing a tantrum because they decided to go on with their lives the same way I decided to do the same years ago." She swallowed a long drink off the bottle, handing it to Trudy. "I'm just scared of a world without them. I burned my M.I.B. bridge once and for all--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Liz--Elizabeth?" Trudy said, softly. "Thanks for that. I don't think I ever said that."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth shook her head, putting her hand on Trudy's shoulder. "Y'don't have to thank me, Trudy. But still -- that was me from post-medical school to CalForce. Right up to Intelligence Czar reporting directly to President Seconds. That's gone. CalForce is gone...."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"But the Academy's still here," Mandy said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And speaking as no one with any authority at all? The day you want to be primary team's the day we make you primary team, Healer. It'd be an honor and a hoot."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Thanks. But that's not me. The superhero Healer was CalForce. The Healer who's here is someone else."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And before CalForce? What -- the government?" Mandy asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No. Before CalForce... half of Faith and Healer. Faith always gets dibs."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Then perhaps I should mention this, Healer.~~ </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Faith's voice reverberated through the three as he spoke.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> ~~You said that as long as you stayed awake, you were a member of CalForce and therefore it hadn't ended. Well, as long as I am awake and capable of perception, I am half of Faith and Healer, and I will never sleep as you know it again. You are one of the two people I love most in any world.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"The other being Eric?" Mandy asked, quietly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth shook her head. "The other being Akane." She was crying, softly, but not unhappily. "Thank you, Gary. I'll name my firstborn after you."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~No. You will have another to name him after. That is all right. You'll have more than one child. And yes, the other was Akane. I do love my brother, but it is... different."~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy paused, and nodded. "Okay. Okay, still hate her... but maybe a little less. If she meant that much to you guys..." She paused. "Wait, did he say you saved Radian in Russia?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth shrugged. "What's a disintegration bobby pin to dissolve bonds here and there?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Damn... do you still carry those spy things around with you?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Trudy, I'm no longer a government operative."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"That's not an answer."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No it is not."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">«Hey guys,» JOEL's voice chimed in. «I've been on Privacy and all but you're in an open space and there's Academy kids coming down the elevator so I needed to warn you, since--»</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Oh crap," Elizabeth said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I don't think I'm up for a mad dash to a hiding place," Trudy said. "Not without leaving a trail of vomit."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I can't even feel my legs."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"It's fine!" Elizabeth said. "I'll telepa...no I won't. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">So</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> drunk. No telepathing the telepaths. Um... um... Faith! You have the power to cloak us all from the view of the students!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There was a pause. Elizabeth flushed. "...uh...."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Faith chuckled. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I Believe you, Healer. It has been taken care of.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There was a dinging sound, and Memorex, Kid Electron and Frigid Girl rounded the corner. "This isn't going to work," Fridge was saying. "JOEL's watching even if no one else is!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"JOEL won't narc us out to Tirkoff," Kid Electron said. "He's a pal. Besides, we're not gonna hurt anyone."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"We can go to the Five Spot and get Transit breakfast from there!" Frigid Girl said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"This is better," Memorex said. "If we cook it, it'll be made from love."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Love doesn't make pancakes not suck, Mem."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Neither will we," Kid Electron said. "Trust me -- what could go wrong?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You did not just say that," Frigid Girl said, as the three snuck into the kitchen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Should you do something about that?" Mandy asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"In my current state?" Elizabeth said. "I'm not even sure I should stand up, much less try to be the Tirkoff one narcs to."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Works," Trudy said. "So... your Dad was the convert?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Convert?" Elizabeth asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"To Kali-Ma?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No... Dad's from Moratuwa and Mom's from Volgograd. They met in Des Moines."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"...So... he's... okay, I don't know where Morat--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Sri Lanka."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"...so he's Indian?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No, he's Sri Lankan. And Mom's Russian." Elizabeth shook her head to clear it. "What's the weirdness here?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy cocked her head. "Okay, speaking as the only Semite in the room... you're telling me your Dad's Indian?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No, I'm telling you he's Sri Lankan. Admittedly of Indian ancestry, but that's not the same thing. What, do I have to go put on a Sari? I can do it. I own </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">many saris.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I have never seen you wear a sari, Liz.~~</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Faith put in.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Well, yeah. I'm more a jeans and tee shirt girl, and it's not like Dad exactly cared if I--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You're half-Indian." Trudy sounded dubious.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I'm half </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sri-Lankan</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Of admittedly Indian-- what's the issue here, Trudy?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"What's the-- Liz, you're the whitest girl </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">in</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> this room. Maybe in this building. Not only don't I buy Indian -- I don't even buy Russian! You're like a blonde cornfed midwesterner!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"The hair's a dye job, Trudy. You know that. Oh, and Sri Lanka, not India, and don't call me Liz."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"So... your Dad's mostly British descent, then?" Trudy asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Maybe a quarter -- here." She opened her purse and fished through. "Here. Eleanor and Tudegratwhytnort Tirkoff, circa 1983."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trudy stared at the picture. "So... yeah. You're adopted?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mandy peered over at the picture. "I'm kinda with Trudy here. Genetics only pushes so far -- you don't have either of your parents' coloration, they're both brown eyed and you're kinda blue or grey or something like that--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Dude," Trudy said. "Your Dad kinda looks like Robert Stack! Only Indian!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sri Lankan.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> And yes he does! And I'm </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">not</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> adopted. They'd have told me! And Gods know they were wild enough to have three or four kids!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Where do they live now?" Trudy asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Mom's back in Russia. Lives with her new husband. She's Eleanor Selenova now." She paused. "I kind of have a step sister now, too. I'd bring her by but we have no contact with each other and also she's MIB so no fucking way does she get in this building."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"And I thank you again," Trudy said. "But you get to spend time with your stepsister. Just, you know, do it at the Five Spot." She paused. "She wasn't part of--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Fuck</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> no. She had nothing to do with any of that, Trudy. Pinky swear."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I believe you. Or at least believe you believe."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Karina Selenova had nothing to do with what the Mega-Intelligence Bureau did to you, Trudy,~~ </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Faith said. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~And for the record, had either Healer or I understood the depths some branches would stoop to--~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Dude -- you're both ginchy with me. No sweat. Mandalora fell asleep."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth looked over her shoulder. "So she did."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"S'good plan." Trudy leaned on Elizabeth's shoulder. "Wake me if the alert goes off, so I can flip it off and go back to sleep."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Right." Elizabeth laughed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Behind the pair, there were several loud crashes. "Damn it, Fridge!" Kid-E shouted.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Hey, it's </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">not my fault</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, Kid-E! You don't know how to balance--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"SHH!" Memorex's voice was lower. "We'll get caught! C'mon."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth chuckled. "At least CalForce has a legacy, Trudy."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There was a pause.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Trudy?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~She is also asleep, Liz.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Seriously? Wow, she's good." She looked up at Faith. "Hi, Gary. Thank you for... thank you for tonight."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I was there toasting in spirit. And I would not miss this, Liz. Not for anything.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I know. So Chal, Manny, Rad and the others are doing this on the West Coast, too?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~They are. Do you want me to say hello?~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth paused. "No. They saw me earlier tonight." She snorted. "All my talk of being CalForce, but I'm on the East Coast and they're all together. Why aren't I with them?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Because you belong here, Liz. I... find it strange to consider, since I never had to grow up, but you grew up.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"...what? C'mon. Don't tell me they aren't adults."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~They are. They have also grown up. But growing up is more than age. It is learning to go where you should, instead of where you may want. And also... learning what you want now is not what you wanted then. I could be wrong, since your minds are so small as to be nigh incomprehensible to my greater perceptions.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Yeah." She smiled a bit. "CalForce. We really were the best, you know? Absolutely the best."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~I believe you.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth took a long breath. "If that offer to help us up to bed is still good...."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Of course it is, Liz.~~</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth grinned. "You know what to call me, partner."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~~Yes I do, Healer. Hold on.~~</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">###</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth's eyes opened. "What time is it?" she asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Seven forty," Bruce said. "You didn't wake me when you came to bed."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You sound surprised."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I'm usually more observant."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Well, I'm good at masking my movements when I need to. I actually used to sneak up on Chalandra. Not many people could do that."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You're not many people." Bruce leaned over to kiss her. "Though you need a shower. You reek of Johnny Walker Blue."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"...you can tell what I was drinking purely by smell hours later?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"That can't surprise you. Do you need an analgesic?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth paused. "You know... no. No I don't." She smiled a bit.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"You must have had a lot of water."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Not a drop after dinner, and I put away at least a fifth if not more."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Bruce arched an eyebrow.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Elizabeth smiled. "I'm going to go shower."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"That seems wise. I'm sorry I didn't stay up with you -- there was--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I remember the alert. Everything okay in Dark City?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">      </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Never -- but the immediate issue's been dealt with. Are you all right? I was worried you'd be a bit...."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Morose? I had good people with me. And now I shower. Just glad it's Saturday. Though I'll need to check if Trans is feeling any better."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Bruce nodded with a slight smile. "I've got to head down and relieve Spandex Babe. She elected to do the overnight as well. And... I'm worried about her."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"We all are." She kissed again. "Go be great." Elizabeth stood up, heading into the small half-bath connected to the suite. Rank hath its privileges.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">After getting cleaned up, Elizabeth considered her closet. She normally wouldn't bother with a uniform on a Saturday. On the other hand, she was in a 'Healer' kind of mood....</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">  </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She arched an eyebrow as she saw a uniform at the end of the rack, which didn't look like the red and white uniforms she normally wore now. She considered some of the things from the night before, and reached over to grab it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She wouldn't have been surprised if it didn't fit -- she'd put on some weight, though in generally good places, according to reputable lecherous authorities -- and some additional muscle tone, but it zipped right up. Red and black paneled, with military belt and matching military boots. She put her hair up -- she'd been deep brown with reddish highlights in Russia, after she reupped with the Mega Intelligence Bureau to help hunt for Radian, but didn't feel up to dye or henna today. It wasn't her original costume -- but then, her original costume was a cross between a Marine dress uniform and Samantha Fox's 80's wardrobe. Nostalgia only went so far.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">     </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Don't mind me," Bruce said, crossing through. "Left my wallet--"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">    </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Bruce stopped.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Healer looked over her shoulder, legs slightly spread, hands on hips. "Yes?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I... don't... think I need my wallet today. Excuse me."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">       </span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Healer smiled a little bit as Bruce withdrew. She looked back in the mirror. It seemed like a good day to fight a little crime. And if a student happened to see her? She was </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">certain</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> it would be educational.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">###</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre">        </span><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap"><i>Will you stay with me to the end?</i></span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><i><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre">        </span><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">When there's nothing left</span></font></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><i><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre">     </span><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">But you and me and the wind</span></font></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><i><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre">       </span><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">We'll never know till we try</span></font></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><i><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre">       </span><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">To find the other side of goodbye</span></font></i></p><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre">      </span><font color="#000000" face="arial"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">--"Please Stay," Warren Zevon</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">--</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">With thanks to Gary</span></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></div></span></div>