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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000" class="elementToProof">Episode 3: Ill-Starred Introductions<br>
</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000" class="elementToProof"><br>
</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000" class="elementToProof">Jacksonville</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:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina Westing reluctantly tore herself away from her phone. She had reached the end of her dashboard on M00slr, an app
her little brother had recommended. It was for people to post their personal stories and recordings of Superguy activity, often acquired at great personal risk. At her brother’s urging, she had posted her audio of the ranting villain Malmechano, in exchange
for the satisfaction of a few likes and comments. But that had been a week ago, and now it was time for her to go back to her job as waitress at the supervillain-frequented Middle Grounds Cafe.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">After slipping on the sneakers she would have to change out of later, Mina reached for her duffle bag. For the last two
weeks she had been in the kitchen washing dishes, and now, with a sigh, she removed the objects which represented the greatest privilege of that position: chunky heeled boots. These she placed reverentially under the bed before, with the greatest loathing,
bringing forth the required footwear of the waitstaff of Middle Grounds: knee high stiletto heeled boots.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"At least," she said dully to herself, "I can use the extra height."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">She jumped at a sudden knock. Tiptoeing to the door, she looked through the peephole. The balding, red-haired man behind
it looked vaguely familiar. He looked much older than she remembered and had dark circles under his eyes; it took her a moment to place him as Ed Hinkle, an old acquaintance of her parents from more troubled times. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">With a sigh, Mina pulled back and unlocked the door. "Why did Mom send you?" She regretted her bluntness when she saw
the wounded look on his face. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"She just wanted someone to check up on you," said Ed, his strong Southern accent somehow making his words seem more
reproachful. "She worries about you, I can understand that. She’s lost a lotta people and I have, too."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Well," Mina sighed again, "Here I am, and I’m just fine. Sorry. I have to get to work soon, so I don’t really have time
to talk."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">He looked her up and down. It wasn’t creepy, more clinical, and Mina had to wonder if he thought he was going to see
gaping wounds bleeding through her clothes as she stood casually in the doorway. He seemed satisfied though, for he said: "I’ll tell your mama you’re doin’ alright." He hesitated then, and she braced herself. "You know the forces of darkness run strong and
fearless in this city and that they are for all intents and purposes unopposed by the forces of light?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"I’ve heard something about that," said Mina, carefully.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Well, you’ve got to keep a watch out, young lady. Body and soul. I’d like to lay a blessing on this here apartment,
so the Lord can keep a watch out too."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina’s shoulders slumped a little. "How long will that take?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Just a few quick minutes."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Well... okay then. But I do have to get to work, Mr. Hinkle."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">She moved aside to let him in and then, suddenly mortified, scurried ahead of him to cram the stilettos into her duffle
bag. But if Ed Hinkle had seen the scandalously uncomfortable footwear, he was being polite about it. He knelt on the floor, closing his eyes.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Our lord and savior, I ask you to bless this house and to send Your holy servant Elvis to watch over the one who dwells
here. Hunka Hunka Hi-lo-do-si-dosy-do Aha-ha hurry oh-oh-ho-houndog hunka..."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina slapped her forehead and suppressed a groan as the man tumbled onto his back in the middle of the floor, speaking
in tongues. She really should have known better.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"....Fool fool fool hi lo dosidonbecruel I BANISH FROM THIS RESIDENCE ALL THE MINIONS OF SATAN T. LUCIFER JONES AND THEIR
POWERS AND INFLUENCE AND FOX AND HIS POWER AND INFLUENCE AND ALL OTHER UNAFFILIATED POWERS OF DARKNESS in your name we pray amen."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">In the midst of his convulsions, the man had flung himself back to his feet, his arms raised to the heavens, a bright
glow surrounding him. Mina felt a light wind and heard a gasp--her own?--as the glow pushed outward and through her, fading as it passed the open door into the hallway.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Looking satisfied but twice as tired, Ed Hinkle dusted his hands off and straightened his clothes. "Best close that mouth
before flies get in there," he chuckled as he walked out.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">A coherent packet of air ballooned through the door and splashed against the opposing wall, propelled by the force of
the spell. The controlling spirit was almost propelled out of its aerial form and straight through the plaster, but it held itself together tenaciously. Advancing again, it tried to press through the open door. No dice. Fine, it thought, it didn’t really care
anyway. It had visited the girl several times since it had become aware of her existence, and this was the first time it had seen anything interesting happen. The wraith drifted out of the way of the red-haired man--Hinkle, wasn’t it?--as he walked out of
the apartment, and then turned to follow.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina was still trying to shake off her daze when she arrived at work. It was not helpful that the first thing she saw
when she walked through the back door into the breakroom was Rezo, dressed in a flowing black jumpsuit of his own (much more flattering with his black hair than her mousy brown) and towering over her in chunky high-heeled boots. She stopped in her tracks.
Behind him, she caught a flash of the cook Amy Sunderland moving about the kitchen, a ferocious scowl on her face.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The henchman flipped a lock of hair out of his bemasked eyes. "Oh, it’s you, Westing. I was just about to take a smoke
break."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"What are you doing here?" Mina demanded. "Don’t tell me you *work* here now?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">He nodded. "Yeah, the old boss is lying low from catgirls, and he wasn’t giving me any hours. So I got Ms. Sunderland
to let me work here for a bit, ‘cuz she and I had that business deal, so I didn’t fall behind on any payments."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Student loans?" guessed Mina, softening. She got a dejected nod. "Happens to all of us, I guess."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">She watched him clump out the door. At least he was not more graceful than she was in heels.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Whispering and giggling as they approached, the young man and woman fell silent as they pushed through the front door
of the cafe. Though they tried to be surreptitious as they took in the crowd, among which could be seen brightly colored costumes poorly hidden under trenchcoats and hoodies, their awed looks were starting to draw attention. The woman fumbled in her purse,
starting to draw forth her phone, but the man made a "shhhh!" noise and put his hand on her arm. Towards the back, a tall woman in a black jumpsuit and nametag frowned, then began to start over.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Another, much more striking couple was sitting at a table by a streetside window. The woman, her dark red hair tumbling
past the seat of her chair, her skin a shade or two lighter than pitch black, wore a pale pink pantsuit in a loose flowing fabric over a minimal dark red top which presented an expanse of impressive chest. The man, skin and long hair just a shade short of
albino, wore much the same thing with only the colors reversed.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The woman dangled in her elegant fingers a single bright green card. The man, a fan of red cards. Before each of them
lay a neat stack of green. The woman placed her card on the table face up with a *</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">sssthk*
</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">of finality. "Antediluvian" was printed upon it.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The man considered this offering carefully, then drew forth from his hand a red card with the word "Obelisk" written
along the side. With a solemn nod, the woman pushed her green card over to his side of the table.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Don’t you need more than two people for that game?" The exclamation was a little too loud, and the pair at the table
looked up. When the newcomers realized that they had been noticed, the young man stepped forward. "See, you need more than one person with red cards, so the judge can have some options to..." He trailed off under the pressure of two pairs of gray eyes, darkening
to black the longer he held their gaze.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Yes, more people." Smiled the woman.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"To judge," said the man.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina was taking the Mad Beekeeper's order for an iced dirty chai to go when she noticed her coworker, Simone, stiffen
up and hurry towards the front of the cafe. By the time Mina had a free moment, though, Simone had returned to the counter. There had been no sounds of an altercation, but the other woman looked a little spooked.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Trouble?" Mina whispered.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Simone, a tall, elegant young woman with freckles scattered across her light brown cheekbones, shook her Afro’d head.
"Some normies came in to sightsee, I think. Sometimes it happens. We leave them alone if they’re quiet about it, but... Anyway, these guys are being... Well, we don’t need to worry right now." Her gaze flicked to the front window, then back.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"What’s happening to them?" Mina asked in alarm, following her gaze. There at the window she saw that creepy pair in
pink, where they normally sat playing chess. They seemed to be up to something different now, with cards. And two more players? Something off about the way they were sitting. Mina stepped forward, trying to get a better view.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Simone grabbed her arm. "Just let it be," she hissed, "You know we’re not even supposed to look at those two!"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Why aren’t they playing chess, like usual?" Mina wondered, absurdly.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"The Gourmand came in earlier and mistook the pieces for novelty chocolates. Leda dug that game up instead."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Are those the normies? What’s wrong with them?" She could only see the woman’s back, arrow-straight and unmoving. The
man appeared to be smiling, or at any rate, his lips were turned up and he was showing teeth.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Nothing. I mean, they’ll probably still be alive at closing and the owner will come talk to them and they won’t come
back again. Which is less work for us and that’s all I care to know."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Probaby?" Mina squeaked. She watched the normie woman’s arm reach robotically to take a red card from the pile. The
woman shuddered.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Just then, they were interrupted by a call. "Hey, toots! How about a refill!" A trenchcoat-clad man, the brim of his
hat failing to conceal a glowing cybernetic eye, waved his empty coffee cup.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Just do your job and let it be, Mina!" Simone squeezed her arm hard and made for the coffee pot.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Do my job, huh?" Mina squared her shoulders. "All right then, I will!"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">She marched resolutely up to the front of the cafe, the clicking of her stiletto heels providing an unexpected confidence
boost, donning her brightest, most unnatural customer service smile as her only armor. "Hi!" All four pairs of eyes snapped up to her, but she made herself focus on the two normal humans. "Welcome to the Middle Grounds Cafe! Is there anything I can get you?"
The pleading looks in their eyes suggested that yes, there probably was something she could get them. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">She waited, heart pounding, for one of them to say something, but instead she heard a "hmmmm" from the other side of
the table. Then the exotic, pink-clad man said: "I think... yes, whoever put down ‘my parent’s disappointment’ takes this round." Mina involuntarily looked down at the table, where four cards were arrayed: a green card labeled "Humiliating", and three red
with "high school prom" "my parent’s disappointment" and "the failure to consume all of my offspring" written on their respective faces. She looked back at the two tourists. The young man reached forward haltingly to claim the green card, his eyes never leaving
Mina’s.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"You’ve never offered to get us anything before," The red-haired woman lilted, "Is service improving here? I would complain
about our lost chess board, but someone found us this diverting substitution." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina made herself turn around. "I’m happy to hear that you’re satisfied, but if I got you a new chess board, maybe these
folks could go on ahead with their order?" She tried not to stare too hard at the dark, serene face. She had never seen these customers up close before. They were hypnotically beautiful. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The man "hmmm"ed again. "But it is good to get outside of our box. We are learning so much in such a short time."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Maybe I could get you a different game?" Mina asked through a growing haze. The woman was gazing at her, head cocked
to the side, the dark gray of her eyes spilling out to fog the room. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"We could play this one with three," the voice of the pallid man wafted through the vanishing room to reach Mina’s ears.
This was a mistake, she thought. Why hadn’t she listened to Simone, who had been here longer? The whole room was gray. Now her whole body
</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">felt
</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">gray. She was falling into herself, becoming aware of some inner force fighting, fighting, then pleading...</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Which was humiliating. The sting goaded Mina into using her last fading drops of will, and she twitched her head violently
to the side, breaking the dark woman’s gaze.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Abruptly, she was surrounded by sunlight, the scents of food and drink, and the sound of whispered conversation punctuated
by the occasional mad laughter. "...Could all play," the pale man was saying, "Five is considered an auspicious number..."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina made herself look down. From the periphery of her vision, she could see that the dark woman had not moved at all,
her head tilted curiously as if she were still examining Mina. "Or perhaps another time." She interrupted. "We have kept this interesting young lady from her duties for long enough."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"...We have." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Yes." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"We do not wish to speak with the manager?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Not this time. We like her as she is."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Very well then. I suppose we should let the others go, as well." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina turned her head to see the two normals, who had been so still she had almost thought they had left. Slowly they
started to move their limbs, their faces twisting out of their paralyzed smiles into much more natural and less creepy expressions of horror. She watched as they stood up, their movements arthritically painful, and stumbled out the door, leaning on each other.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">She was becoming aware of her own feet, stock still in stilettos for much too long.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"We do look forward to seeing you again." said the man.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Just ask us if you need any help." said the woman.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">In unison, the two rose upward and out of their chairs, floating through the door so easily they might have been levitating.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Girl, what did I tell you?" Exclaimed Simone as she pushed Mina into the tiny break room. Mina turned around to confront
her, and something on her face seemed to calm her coworker’s fury. "Okay, okay, sit down. I’ll get you some tea. Rezo," she addressed the man as he passed the kitchen door, "Make a cup of tea, I know you can handle that. Sit down," the last addressed to Mina.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"I’m okay," said Mina, but she took the opportunity to get her boots off. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"If you say so," the other woman said, then burst out laughing, "I thought you were a goner for a second! I guess I should
say good job getting those normies out of here, but you know we have to report this, right?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Do we?" cried Mina. "Oh, yeah, altercation with a customer with potential vengeance outcome, I guess..."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"And with those two, of all people!"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Who are they anyway?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Simone shook her head. "I don’t know that much. I prefer not to ask questions, but you can try Leda if you want it that
bad. Or the owner, if you’ve got a death wish."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">At this point Rezo walked in and handed Mina a mug of cold water with a Lipton bag in it. "You shouldn’t ask questions,"
he advised, "not unless you think you’re on the trail of some good blackmail material."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Do you know anything about those pink people who always sit by the window?" Mina asked, bypassing his point entirely.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Don’t be messing with that eldritch shit!" Amy stuck her head in, scowling. "Stick with good, clean technos. They can’t
curse you and their stuff is easier to fence, to boot. Rezo, get your ass back in here. You still gotta earn your keep."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Eldritch? You mean they're..." Mina trailed off, "Oh, never mind." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Hours later, Mina was blessedly back in her sneakers and headed out. Behind the cafe was a stretch of gravel bordered
by strip mall on one side and kudzu on the other. She watched her surroundings under the harsh, intermittent sodium lights carefully as always as she made her way to her chained up scooter. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">There was not even the slightest noise as the cat fell upon her from above. There was only a sudden weight bearing her
to the ground and the stinging of her palms and knees as she caught herself. Then a dizzying twist, a crunch of metal against gravel and she was facing the sky, the armored body of the catgirl beneath her back and the sharp nails at her throat.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Do nnnnnot try to move," husked a familiar-sounding voice in her ear, "Even if yooou could escape me, my comrrrrades
surround us."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina placed the voice. "Maow," she gasped, "what? Why?" Her mind provided a fact painstakingly gleaned from innumerable
internet videos: cats liked to fight on their backs because they could kick with their hind legs. Her mind then helpfully supplied an image of the catgirl’s unclad rear paws. Had those claws really been so long?</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">A rumbling sigh. "Pleeease don’t pretennnnnd ignorance. Yoooouu were the last onnnne seen with ooouur prize beforrre
it disappeared." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The mind control device invented by the villain Malmechano, and coveted by the contentious pack of humanoid cats. Of
course. "I don’t know where that is. Really." It was technically true. Of most of the device, anyway. She had taken a part from it, along with what was apparently a high tech laser pointer. Mina regretted their current inconvenient location (under her bathroom
sink) as she saw other feline figures begin to appear in her line of vision.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">A strange, soothing vibration began to infuse Mina’s body from below. Was this furry psychopath *</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">purring*</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">?
"Cannnn you really sssay you know nothing? It would be goooood for you to give mmmmy friends sommmme intelligence."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The biggest catgirl stood over Mina now. She was the one-eyed Minyang, and her fur poofed helmetless in a halo about
her snarling face. "Nnnnno more time wasted. Wwwwe have lost time hunnnnnting you and now we haaave you. Tell ussss where the machine issss that we won, ffffair and square. Tell usssss or you will be caannnceled."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"But I don’t know!" Mina protested. She knew who did--but she didn’t want to get Amy in trouble if she could help it. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">A texture like wet sandpaper scratched her temple. "I thinnnnk you know sommmmething," Maow said, "I woooould rather
not see you canceled, sssso cough it up please."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"I--"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Perssssssssuasion," purred Minyang, claws unsheathed.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Wait!" protested Maow. "Persuasion with claws is prrrroblematic and yields questionable rrrrresults!"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The squabbles of the catgirls had worked to Mina’s favor in the past, when she had not been trapped bodily between two
participants. She tried not to squirm.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Counterrrrpoint!" squalled a calico at Minyang’s side, "Perrrrrsuasion with claws is fffffun!"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Good kitties, bad kitties. Run along." </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Find another mouse to play with."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The voices chilled Mina’s hot panic into cold dread in an instant. Defying the claws at her neck, she craned her head
around, trying to see. Maow growled, but loosened her grip. The other catgirls had startled, and were looking around them with saucer-wide eyes, hissing. They saw the interlopers before Mina did, so she couldn’t tell where the pink-clad pair had been hiding.
She saw them advance, their sandals crunching the gravel, black as night and white as bone.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Minyang turned to face them, the other cats arraying themselves around her. Mina was pulled to her feet by Maow, who
was now thankfully aiming her claws outward.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The catgirls were all growling now. Minyang was in front, holding the intruders in her gaze--but if they were trying
to hypnotize her they were having no success. "What do you want?" She asked. "Why do you interrupt our business?" </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"This child is under our protection," the woman said. "An employee of our favorite establishment."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"No claws, no cancelings," confirmed the man.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Minyang crouched, claws curving out. "Nnnnno amount of nnnepotism--AYEEEEOWOW!" She jumped backwards, apparently from
nothing, but as Mina focused her gaze she thought she could see a faint, out-of place shadow imposed upon the scene like a bad photoshop. The other catgirls were starting to hop around too, attacked from different angles. Maow spat something which didn’t sound
like English but sure did sound like a curse word, jumping backwards and pushing Mina away so hard she fell down again. Looking back, Mina met frightened blue eyes for an instant and then the siamese was gone. All of the catgirls were scattering now, as noisy
in retreat as they had been silent in ambush. In seconds, Mina was left alone with the mysterious mauve duo.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Very interesting."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Was unsure if that would even work."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"I hope she isn’t injured."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"The uniform is torn."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Oh no! But we can pay for a new one."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">They were walking towards her, solicitous expressions on their faces. Mina was beset by the horrifying impression that
they were going to offer her a hand up, and hastily scrambled to her feet before they could get close enough.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"The poor thing is trembling! Maybe a new coat, too."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"It isn’t very cold, but I see you’re right."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Thank you," Mina burst in, "Really, I thought I was cat food."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Oh we’d never let them harm
</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">you</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">." The man’s smile certainly looked the way a reassuring smile was supposed to look.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"We *</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">like*
</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">you!" declared the woman. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"...thanks?" </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"For your uniform." The woman held out a wad of cash. Mina was really starting to feel like an ungrateful cad.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"If you ever need anything." The man was holding out a business card.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Mina took both offerings politely. Amara Night and Zayd Mortis, the card read. There was no number. "Are you some kind
of superheroes?" But she remembered two pairs of eyes, glazed and pleading...</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"For you? Whatever!" The woman laughed as the two strolled away, arm in arm into the night, leaving Mina wondering what
had just happened and if she had, in fact, been rescued.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">*****</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Savannah</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:'Courier New';color:#000000">The Electric Eye pushed cautiously through the door of the old house, the leggy blonde clutching his arm and still fretting.
"Watch out! I don’t know what kind of traps they have--I was always blindfolded when they brought me--"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Got it, toots," the detective drawled, his Eye scanning every dust mote of his surroundings for traps mundane or magical.
Mostly magical--he knew the nature of this beast by now. The whole house glowed with it, readouts popping up over particularly intense spots. The most intense reading came from below--which was funny, since they were on the lake and a basement would be nothing
but indoor swamp. There were a surprising number of electronics upstairs, though. "You just stay close, and don’t put those pretty feet anywhere I haven’t stepped."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Up or down. "Where did they take you?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Downstairs," she gasped, "There should be a staircase straight ahead."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Thanks." He advanced slowly down the dark wood-paneled hallway, paying special attention to the dark and light gray
tiled marble floor. Something nasty could be camouflaged by the background glow from underground. Laylah followed close. When the Electric Eye sidestepped a set of tiles he didn’t like the look of, the woman was startled. She stumbled in her stiletto heels,
and he cursed, seizing her by the arm and yanking her towards him just before a flash of light blasted the space where she had been. Laylah clung to him, trembling. He was starting to wish she had stayed in the car--the way she pressed against him was something
he would prefer to enjoy in a more relaxed atmosphere.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"I’ll take you back and come in alone," he offered. But the woman only shook her head. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"No--I have to do this!" she breathed tearfully.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Well, she did feel nice on his arm. He led the way forward again, stopping before a panel on the wall beneath the upward
stairs. His Eye scanned the intricate carvings which seemed to cover all the wood in this house. He reached out, tracing his fingers along a particular pattern until a small hidden slat the size of a credit card popped open. He knelt before it, drawing forth
his lockpicking kit. Behind him, the woman prayed under her breath.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">When the big wooden panel slid outward, he turned to the blonde woman one last time. "You sure you can handle this?
I don’t need you fainting on me." The Eye examined her. She still glowed faintly from the aftereffects of the mind control she had been under. The readouts showed her state of physical stress as she drew herself up and nodded. She certainly believed she was
ready to confront the evil mage who had taken over her life and business. He doubted if she would be of any practical use, but the way her tearful eyes gazed trustfully up at him sure was a confidence booster.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">He drew his gun and descended. The stairs were clean and dry and descended about twenty feet, which implied some magic
must be employed to keep the water out, or else a great many pumps. They emerged into a low, wide room paved in granite and lit unnaturally. Immediately ahead was an archway, carved roughly from a single stone leading apparently to nowhere. In front of the
archway was an altar, of the standard human-sacrifice variety. The whole area glowed so brightly with magic that the detective had to shutter his Eye, using mundane vision to make out the physical details.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">Laylah cried out, flinching against him. He turned to see a humanoid figure of coiled metal and sharp edges. He almost
emptied his clip into the thing, but its lack of movement checked him. When he unshuttered his Eye to look at it, it was empty of either magic or electrical energy. He chuckled from relief. "Relax, sweetheart. It’s a dud." It was barely more than a stick figure,
in fact, lacking even gears to move its parts. Some kind of modern art crap. He'd thought this mage at least had taste.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Over here." Called a cool, strange voice. He turned, cocking his weapon. Another spot of sourceless light had appeared
in a corner away from the altar, illuminating a figure in flowing gray-green robes, hood pulled back to reveal a hairless, androgynous head.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"So you’re the one the mages call Homunculus. You hide yourself pretty well."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Thank you." He--she?--spread their arms wide. "But now you have found me. What do you intend to do now?"</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"First I’d like to inform you about the bullets in this gun. I’m a bit of a mage myself, and I made them to blow through
shields," He paused, then added, "Sugar." to see how the endearment worked on the androgyne.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">A slight frown. "Noted."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Secondly. You owe this lady an apology."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"I deeply regret the inconvenience, Laylah."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Max... I..."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Thirdly. You've been noticed. Honey. I’ve got a guy wants to talk to you about the shit you’ve been up to in Jacksonville."
He paused. "You go by Max? Would that be Maxine or Maximillian?"</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The click of a step behind him and the whoosh of movement were just enough warning for the Electric Eye to turn his head
before a shining blade lopped it off. The fraction of a second--not enough to save him--showed him the scrap metal stick figure come alive with magic and motion. Then the world was turning around and around, and he heard the sweet silvery voice taunting: "That’s
for not having any manners."</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">*How*</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">? He thought, coming
to a rest. He could feel nothing below--he could feel nothing. The thing had been completely inanimate. He was facing the altar, blinding-bright to his cybermagic eye. A magical spirit could have hidden behind that glow. A dozen of them, and he would have
been none the wiser. He heard Laylah--poor, lovely, Laylah so frightened--but now she sounded exasperated to his fading ears. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"We have a deadline, Elemental!"</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"Touching loyalty," added Homunculus, drily. "But inconvenient. What will Daemon say?"</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">"It’s true though! And I don’t think we could have used *him* anyway!" </span></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">The melodic, metallic voice, sounding petulant now. The sculpture, inanimate until possessed. He tried to turn for another
look, but of course he could not. There was more conversation, muffled by the darkness closing in on all his senses. Only the cybermagic eye remained steadfast, sending its vision to him and through him and onward.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" class="elementToProof">
<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">*Elvis damn it*</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000">, he thought to his employer, *</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000;font-style:italic">get
these slippery bastards!*</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Courier New';color:#000000"> And then all was darkness.</span></p>
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