by

Eric Metcalf

Mike glanced around the conference room. The Guardians were all assembled, dressed in their street clothes. Some, like Juan, lounged in the tall chairs; others, like Jake, sat straight and watched Mike. Terry sat by his left hand, looking at him expectantly. She and Jake knew what Mike was about to say; the others may have had an idea, but they weren’t sure.

Mike stood up and cleared his throat. All eyes turned his way. "As you all know," he began, "preparations for my wedding to Theresa," who rolled her eyes at the use of her full name, "have been consuming an ever-greater amount of my time recently. Therefore, in an attempt to pre-empt any situations that may occur that could endanger our mission and your lives, I am turning over command of the team to my second, Jake Pryor until such time as I am able to devote the necessary time to the command of the team." Terry clapped loudly as Mike moved away from the center chair and shook Jake’s hand, leaving little doubt as to why Mike was stepping down.

Jake took over the center position and looked up and down the table intently. "Mike has already assured me that he will be with the team very rarely in the last few weeks before the wedding, so I won’t have any time to practice giving him orders." A few chuckles greeted the weak joke. "While I have been a little more, relaxed, in recent days, make no mistake: I still believe that discipline and organization is what will keep us alive in combat. Since we’re all going to be drawn into the wedding preparations in coming days, we’re going to get in some practice while we can. However, I want two personnel constantly on watch here, just so we don’t get caught with our proverbial pants down if something breaks. Rich and Kat, you have the first watch."

"Aw, man," Juan muttered, "I thought you’d lightened up."

"This is lightened up," Jake said, staring down Juan. "Now, go get prepped. First scenario starts in twenty minutes, and anyone late has to run extras. Now, move it." The team hustled out, not wanting to incur the ire of their new commander.

Jake looked over at Mike. "You two aren’t going anywhere?"

Mike shook his head. "We convinced the dress and tux shop to come out here, instead of us causing a major incident by showing up down there. They should be here in about fifteen minutes. Trust me, I’d rather be down there with you, but I’ve caught about all the flak I can about being ‘insufficiently supportive’."

Jake laughed. "I know what you mean. I’d rather be doing this than what you’ll be up to. Still, I’ll try not to run them all off."

Mike shook his head. "Don’t buy into Juan’s barking. He just does that to rebel. He’s gotten into heroing too much to give up now. Besides, he wouldn’t leave Jinn alone if it killed him, and she’s too much the hero."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, but I’d like it a little more if she’d open up to the team just a bit. She’s always been pretty reserved, but she’s really been closed after she came back from Arcanus."

Mike nodded. "I’d noticed that too. It’s your call, Commander."

Jake snorted. "Thanks a lot. Maybe I’ll have Lindsey look into it." He stopped as a memory came up. When Jinn had saved their bacon in Chicago, she’d been very cold and aloof until Kat showed up, when she’d opened up a lot. In fact, she’d almost been in awe of the young Guardian with the older body. "Actually, maybe Kat would do better."

Mike smiled as he got up and clapped Jake on the shoulder. "It’s a good plan. Why don’t you go make it happen?"

Jake groaned. "Why do you know that’s going to be easier said than done?"

Jake walked out of the conference room and saw Kat lounging around in the den. Rich was nowhere in sight, and neither were any of the others. "Kat," he called as he walked in, "come here a second."

"What," she called as she hopped off of the couch with the speed of her namesake. Her voice held the tone of a child caught doing something naughty that wanted to cover it up. "I was supposed to be on watch, but you were still in the conference room."

Jake smiled, which seemed to frighten Kat even more. "No, you weren’t doing anything wrong. I am going to, as we used to say in the Rangers, ‘give you a chance to excel’." Kat’s eyes got wider.

Jinn, now in her Wind Shear costume, was the first one down to the training room. She liked it better when Crimson Knight was in charge, actually. She knew what was required of her, and she liked that. With Mindstar in charge, she got the feeling that he knew how she felt inside, and she didn’t like that. She knew that she couldn’t fool Mindstar; he would eventually see how weak and useless she was, and kick her off of the team. While Crimson Knight was a demanding commander, he only saw what she did; she could fool him.

"Hey, Jinn," Kat called from the door.

"Firemane," Jinn replied. "What are you doing down here? You are supposed to be on watch."

"I, uh, just wanted to talk to you a sec before you got started," Kat replied, suddenly uncertain of herself. She’d seen how Wind Shear looked at her; she knew that star-struck look easily enough. She’d seen it in her mirror when she was looking at the latest idol’s poster on her wall. Still, if Jinn was really going to be a part of the team, she needed to relax just a bit. Hopefully, this would do it.

Kat almost dragged Wind Shear into the workshop across from the training room. Since Jake was in on this, hopefully he’d stall the practice for a few minutes without jumping on Wind Shear. "Look, you’ve always been pretty quiet, but since we got rescued from Arcanus, you won’t even look anyone in the eye for more than an instant. What’s going on?"

Jinn’s knees almost collapsed. Of all people to see through her, it would have to be Firemane, the great magical fighter. Firemane had so much more power and grace than she did, and now she knew how much of a failure Jinn really was. It was almost too much to take. "I, I," Jinn stuttered, her throat refusing to work.

Kat almost laughed as the truth hit her. "Oh my God, you’re down on yourself because of what happened there, aren’t you?" When Jinn didn’t respond, Kat continued. "Yes, that’s it exactly. You’re a perfectionist, so showing weakness probably has you thinking that you’re weak and useless."

"I am weak," Wind Shear stuttered, her head down, her eyes fixed on Kat’s shoes.

"Bull shit," Kat cursed. Wind Shear’s eyes came up briefly then dropped back down at the profanity. "You’re as strong as anyone here. It took a lot of strength to keep going after Lake Effect was taken down, and even more to come after us when Arcanus unleashed his demon. Just because you gave in when you were pushed way too far, that doesn’t make you weak. You’re weak when you don’t get up again. Now, get back on your feet and start living again." She glanced outside, behind Wind Shear, to see Techno entering the training room. Wind Shear saw Kat’s eyes and turned briefly, and blushed as she saw who Kat was looking at.

"I, thank you," Wind Shear said, perking up. "I will."

Kat smiled at her. "You go girl." Wind Shear jogged into the training room as Kat turned around and headed back upstairs.

Jake was heading down, dressed in his Crimson Knight armor and carrying his helmet, when Rich popped out of the conference room and blocked his path. "Jake, come here a sec."

Jake followed Rich into the conference room. "I’ve got these screens showing the feeds from the security cameras." Jake glanced around the eight screens, and then stopped as his eyes saw something in the second screen. A closer glance showed him two figures, dressed in black, hiding in a bush across from the mansion’s driveway.

"Either somebody is very interested in what kind of brick is in the front wall or we’ve got some snoopers," Jake said. "Any bets?"

"Just one," Rich replied. "Starts with B and ends with D. Two words."

"Black Guard," Jake replied. He frowned as he thought of his old comrades in arms. Of course, most of them would now kill him on sight, but that was how you dealt with someone who switched sides and helped kill your leader. "You think they’re setting up for an attack?"

Rich laughed. "Let ‘em come. I’ve put in enough active defenses to slaughter a company and stall a battalion long enough for us to light into ‘em. If they try it, they’re stupid. No, I’d bet their waiting for Mike and Terry to leave so they can ambush ‘em. With all of the press the wedding’s getting, they’d try to use that to hurt us."

Jake nodded. "So what we need is a distraction. Someone to drive off and get the Guard going the wrong way."

Rich nodded. "Kat and I’ll take care of them."

Jake shook his head. "No, I don’t think so. If they see you two, they may not follow. I know who to use, I’ll just have to think up a reason. I need to get downstairs. Don’t worry; Mike and Terry aren’t leaving today, so our friends will keep." He headed downstairs to join in the training; hopefully, no one would notice that he was a few seconds late.

The ringing of the telephone snapped Rich out of his reverie. Kat was in the main room, watching TV. He didn’t have the heart to make her sit around on this duty, just watching monitors, so he let her lounge. "Yeah?" he answered, just in case someone didn’t know who they had dialed.

"Juan Cepeda, please," a young man with a slight Spanish accent said.

"Who’s calling?"

"Miguel Cepeda, his brother."

Rich shrugged his shoulders. He knew Juan had a brother, it could be legit. "Hang on a second," he said as he put the call on hold and tapped the intercom to downstairs.

"What is it?" Crimson Knight said, his voice harsh from the helmet speakers.

"Phone call for Techno, says its his little brother?"

"Miguel?" he heard Juan ask.

"That’s who he says he is. I didn’t id the location," Rich said.

"Take it in the lab," Crimson Knight said.

Techno jogged into the lab, breathing heavily from the training scenario. Jake was outdoing himself, if he wanted to run them ragged. Three on one odds took a lot out of a guy. "Si?" he answered.

"Don Juan," his brother said. There was no doubt; not only was that Miguel’s voice, but only he called Juan that.

"Hey, Miguelito," Juan replied, using the diminutive of his brother’s name. "What’s up? I’m kind of busy here."

"You sound it, hermano," Miguel replied. "You playing Cassanova on company time?"

"Up yours," Juan replied. "I’m working. What do you need?"

"It’s personal. Tomorrow is parent’s weekend, and Mom and Dad can’t make it up. I was wondering if you could swing up here, maybe take a day of leave or something."

Juan started to reject the idea out of hand, but he decided that maybe he could use a day off. Besides, he hadn’t seen Miguel since he joined the Army, and this may be his last chance. You never knew in this business. "I’ll see what I can do. The boss is a real hard ass, so you never know. If I come, I may be bringing someone." He didn’t know what prompted him to say the last line, but the thought of taking Wind Shear along just felt right.

"I knew you had a chica," Miguel said in triumph. "Don Juan strikes again."

"It’s not like that," Juan protested. "She’s special."

"Okay, so I really want to meet her," Miguel said, "both to see who tamed the great Don Juan and to teach her what a real man is like, in case you’ve forgotten."

"You Chihuahua," Juan said, "you couldn’t do that if you tried, even if I had forgotten. I’ll try to swing up there today, so I’ll be there tomorrow for whatever’s going on."

"Great," Miguel said. "Meet me on the main quad at 10, and we’ll take it from there."

"Gotcha," Juan replied. "See you then." He hung up and turned around to see Crimson Knight standing there, his helmet off.

"Uh," Juan stuttered for a second. "I need to ask a favor."

"So ask," Jake replied, his voice level.

"I need some personal time, through this weekend."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah," Juan replied. "He’s a freshman at MIT, and my parents can’t make it up for parent’s weekend, so he asked me to come up. I hate to say no; he’s a long way from home, and I haven’t seen him in a while."

Jake nodded as if considering the situation carefully, but he was exulting inside. He had wanted to use Techno as bait for the Shadow Guard, and now the perfect opportunity had arisen. There was just one more detail, and he could see that Techno was already going there. "That’s not all, is it?"

"I’d like Wind Shear to go along. She really needs to get out, especially after the Arcanus bit."

Jake nodded, keeping his face even. "All right, you two are authorized leave for that purpose until Monday morning, assuming she wants to go. Take the BMW and one of the cell phones."

Juan blinked. "You sure, man?"

Jake nodded. "See, I’m lightening up. Now, go ask her."

Juan shook his head as he walked into the training room. "Wind Shear, can I talk to you a sec?"

"Uh, sure," she said, looking very hesitant. Juan knew that look well; she was attracted to him, but didn’t want to say anything, which was exactly what he wanted to see.

"I’m going up to see my brother at MIT for parent’s weekend, and I was wondering if you’d like to come."

She blushed, although the reddening was barely visible on her dusky skin. "I," she stopped then looked up and smiled. "I’d love to."

"Cool. Come on, we need to get going." They went upstairs.

Jake waited until they were out of hearing. "That went well."

Melissa looked stunned. "You wanted them to leave?"

Lindsey nodded. "They both wanted to go together, I just gave them a couple of little pushes."

Jake smiled. "There’s a method to my madness, I assure you. Now, let’s get back to work. Two more hours, and then we’ll switch Wraith and Aria for Strongarm and Firemane on guard duty. Let's go."

"Look," one of the Black Guardsman said to his commander. "There goes their car."

Looking through his binoculars, the commander couldn’t see inside the car’s heavily tinted windows. "I can’t see inside, we’ll assume it’s them. Get the trails moving."

The first man tapped the transmit key of his headset radio. "Trail one, target is moving."

"Roger, spotter, we are ready," the voice of the trail car’s driver came back.

"Soon," the commander said, "soon I will have my revenge."

Juan glanced over at Jinn as he flew past a semi on Interstate 95. After his repeated assurances that it was all right, she’d finally fallen asleep. Even at nearly 80 miles an hour, the BMW was purring like a kitten and handling like a champ. He’d decided to forgo the music after a quick search hadn’t turned up anything with a strong beat.

Looking at her like this, Juan was hard pressed to see what attracted him to her. Normally, he went for girls with builds like Terry; he loved lots of curves. Jinn wasn’t exactly flat, but she was more understated than he normally chose. Still, something was there. Maybe it was the skin tone: close to the Hispanic tones of his own skin, but different enough to be exciting. Maybe it was the almond shaped eyes and the lustrous black hair. Maybe it wasn’t physical at all, and that would be something really new. That was why Miguel hung "Don Juan" on him; he was always with beautiful girls in school, but he never stayed long with any one. He knew why; if it was just beauty, he got bored with one and wanted another one. If this was something different, maybe he wouldn’t get bored.

He glanced up at his rearview mirror. The Mustang he’d seen as he turned onto 95 was still behind him, just close enough to keep an eye on him. They’d drop back from time to time, but they were still there. It was probably nothing; just somebody else going up to Boston. He was going fast enough that it was hard to pass him, so they were content to just sit behind him and follow. He hoped that was all it was. Something was working on his paranoia ever since Jake agreed to let him go so easily, and this wasn’t helping. He was probably just seeing things.

"I can’t believe Mike turned the team over to Jake that easily," Jinn said as she munched on a chicken sandwich from a fast food joint they’d found when they both got hungry.

"I’m not," Juan said as he wolfed down his fries, a half-eaten hamburger sitting in front of him. "Terry’s got him whipped. She wanted him to give it up, so he did." He shoved another handful of fries into his mouth and started back in on the hamburger.

Jinn shook her head. "I guess it’s Jake I can’t get used to. I mean, he used to be the enemy."

Juan shrugged. "People change. I checked him with some of my Army buddies. Turns out he was a Ranger, real hotshot, but they cashed him out in some draw down. He never adjusted to life outside, I guess, so he jumped at the chance when the Guard came calling. He must have been a real hotshot there to rise so fast. From what I heard, he was the Black King’s bodyguard there at the last, and he could have laid Mike out if he had the chance. He didn’t."

Jinn nodded. "You’re probably right about Terry, though. She was very happy about him stepping down."

Juan chuckled. "Yeah, he’s whipped. Now, if you want to talk tough, Rich’s tough. He’s definitely set on Kat, but she doesn’t get anything by him."

Jinn smiled at the tone of respect in Juan’s voice for Rich. If he only knew, she thought. "Well, Kat does what she wants a lot of the time."

"Yeah," Juan shrugged, "but that’s because he doesn’t care. When he cares, he gets his way." He glanced up at her sandwich, barely half-eaten and sitting on her tray. "Is that all you’re going to eat?"

"I’m stuffed," she replied, patting her stomach lightly.

"Women," Juan shrugged. "Hand it here." As he reached out to take it, he saw the same dark blue Mustang sitting in the parking lot as he’d seen on the road before. He didn’t flinch, because he didn’t want to spook Jinn. Besides, they could have just gotten hungry at the same time. Still, as he bit into the spicy chicken, he knew that the chances of coincidence were getting more and more remote.

Jinn could barely stop gawking as Juan led her and a bellhop through the lobby of the fancy hotel. She had only rarely seen such opulence, and she’d never expected to be staying in a place like this. She wasn’t expecting a ‘no-tell motel’ exactly, but she also wasn’t expecting the Ritz. Evidently, Juan had decided to surprise her.

Their room was on the fifth floor. Jinn let the bellhop in first to unload their bags, and then waited as Juan tipped him. She glanced around as he left, smiling at the tasteful, deep carpet and nice furniture. Her eyes tracked around to the bed and stopped there.

"Uh, Juan?" she said.

He shrugged with a guilty grin. "They were out of two-bed rooms. This was the nicest room available. I can ask them to get a switch, if you like."

Jinn looked back at the bed. Her first instinct was to say no, because she didn’t want to be a bother to anyone else. As she thought about it, she decided her answer was still no, but for a very different reason. While she wasn’t exactly naive about sex, she was still a virgin. She knew exactly why Juan had gotten a one-bed room, but she decided that she would play along. Kat had told her to ‘go live’, so she would.

She turned to Juan, a slow smile spreading across her face. "No, I think this will work just fine." She could barely contain her laughter at the surprise on Juan’s face.

"Are you sure it’s them?"

"No," the trailer said. "They were already inside by the time I was in position to observe, but that is their vehicle."

The Black Guard commander nodded. "They must be in town for something tomorrow at MIT. This is parent’s weekend, they must be visiting someone or playing some official role. Very well. We will strike then."

Juan looked around at the sea of parked cars. "He was supposed to meet us here," he said, looking for his brother in the faces swarming around.

Jinn looked around, looking for someone who looked like Juan. "He should be easy to spot."

Juan tried not to wince. While Jinn was technically correct, the lack of Hispanic faces around wasn’t something Juan saw as an advantage. He still wished that Miguel hadn’t gone so far away to school, but MIT was the best place around and Miguel sounded happy enough here.

"Don Juan," a familiar voice called from behind him.

Juan spun around. "Miguel," he called in return as his brother ran up and they embraced heartily, slapping each other on the back.

"You finally made it," Miguel said. He glanced over and saw Jinn walking up. "This is different. I’m Miguel Cepeda, Juan’s younger brother."

"Jinn Wu, I’m a friend of Juan’s. What is different?"

Miguel smiled. "Juan usually brings home girls who could model for Playboy, and then dumps them a few weeks later. You’re not the type, so he may have finally grown some taste."

Juan snorted. "Like you would know taste if it kicked you in the juevos. Come on, let’s go."

Jinn laughed. "You two certainly sound like brothers." She linked her arm in Juan’s as they walked off, Miguel narrating their tour.

"All teams in position," the communications officer reported.

"Excellent," Commander Mitchum said. He had waited a long time for this, to get revenge on Mindstar and his Guardians. When the Maryland commander reported that his men had tracked two Guardians, believed to be Mindstar and Powergirl, to Cambridge, Mitchum was ecstatic. Like all of the surviving Black Guard who’d served in the war, he hated the Guardians with a passion. Now was his chance at revenge.

"Signal all units, we attack as planned."

High above Boston, the Protector One circled, imitating the patterns of jets flying into Logan International. Inside, Jake stood up from his seat and turned around.

"All right, I haven’t briefed you yet because I wanted to be sure that things were still quiet. Right now, we’re orbiting over Boston. We will continue to do so until we receive a signal from Techno that the Black Guard is attacking. At which point, we fly in and help him out."

"Wait a second," Aria protested, "I thought Techno and Wind Shear were going to meet Techno’s brother, not stop an attack."

Jake smiled. "Oh, they’re meeting Techno’s brother, all right, but they’re also going to stop the attack. You see, Strongarm spotted the Black Guard watching the mansion, waiting for Mindstar and Powergirl to head into town. Techno volunteered to decoy them away from the base and up here. So, we wait here until we get the signal."

"What’s the signal?" Wraith asked.

Jake’s smiled got wider. "Techno activating his weapons. When he powers up, we go in."

"One last time," Mitchum said as he looked out the front of the van. "We and team 2 go in on Vassar Avenue, and force the crowd back towards the athletics building. We want them to run inside, so don’t fire on specific targets unless they’re running away from the building. Team 3 will come up from Amherst and secure the area that way. Once they are inside the building, assume a defensive posture. Teams 4 and 5 will block off the access streets, forcing the police to deploy well away from the building. Any questions?"

"What about the Guardians?" one of the newer troopers answered.

"If they oppose us, shoot them. If not, grab them. We will execute them later. Be watchful for reinforcements, but they should take a few hours to get here. Plenty of time for us to set up our surprises. Now, let’s get ready." He checked his weapon as the van made one last turn.

"Now, over there," Miguel said, pointing to the building directly ahead of them, across a wide grass field, "is the Little Theater and over there," he pointed to their right, "is the Athletic center. Most of this field here is where they have soccer games and stuff like that."

The field itself was currently filled with people, milling around a series of vendor’s carts that had been moved in for the day. Juan guessed that there were close to one hundred people in the area right now, not counting the vendors.

As Juan glanced around, he spotted something else. A few men with briefcases moved through the crowd. Among the families and students, they stood out badly. A closer glance at one showed a tiny earpiece connected to a thin wire: a tactical radio unit.

"Hey, Earth to Don Juan," Miguel said, waving his hand in front of Juan’s face.

"Yeah, what?" Juan said, distracted and slightly angry at Miguel’s disturbance.

"I said, do you want to grab something to eat?"

Juan shrugged. His mind wasn’t on food right now. "Sure, if you want to."

Jinn smiled. "I’m starving. Let’s see what’s here."

As they started walking towards the food vendors, the screech of brakes caught both Juan and Jinn’s attention. Two dark, panel vans had swung onto the street to their left and slammed on the brakes, almost colliding with each other. The sliding doors on both vans swung open at once, and twenty black-armored figures jumped out, each holding a futuristic assault rifle.

"Oh shit," Juan swore, "Black Guard." He glanced around quickly, looking for a way out. He saw another group of armored figures approaching from the south, also armed.

"Who are they?" Miguel said.

"Bad news," Jinn replied. She reached out, gathering her power over the weather.

"No time," Juan said, grabbing Miguel with one arm and Jinn with the other, "we’ve got to split."

As Juan started to pull, someone noticed the men and screamed. As if the scream was a signal, the men began firing into the air, over the heads of the crowd. Juan and Jinn ducked and kept running, Jinn now running on her own. The Black Guard began to move in, the farthest from the theater closing in, trying to create a trap around the crowd. Most of the crowd was either lying flat or running towards the Little Theater building.

Juan and Jinn angled towards the turn in the line, where there wasn’t anyone running. "Come on," Juan yelled, "we’ve got to get to the car."

Suddenly, a Black Guardsman appeared in front of them. He leveled his rifle at them. Jinn glanced up at him and glared. A gust of wind slammed into him, knocking him over on his back as they ran past.

"Stop," they heard another yell, but they kept running. Laser bolts flew at them, but they were moving too fast and were too far away. In seconds, they were past the athletic building and out of the line of fire.

Juan stopped, breathing heavily. Miguel doubled over, panting. "What the hell is going on?" he said between short breaths.

"Black Guard, must by trying to grab hostages," Juan said, breathing deeply.

"Do you think it’s a coincidence?" Jinn asked, also breathing deeply.

Juan shook his head. "Doubt it. They just didn’t recognize us." He glanced over at Miguel, who was looking up with a questioning look on his face. Juan saw a back door into the building, and began pushing Miguel towards it. "Get inside, stay there, and stay away from the windows. It looks like they aren’t moving this way. Go."

"Hey, hermano, what about you?" Miguel said, protesting.

"Jinn and I are going to call in some help. Now go." He shoved Miguel into the building and slammed the door behind him. He turned to Jinn. "Let’s go."

"After you," she said.

Commander Mitchum looked around and nodded. Most of the people had herded obediently into the Little Theater, where Team Two was now guarding them. Teams One and Three had perimeter security, waiting for the police to show up.

"Commander," someone said. A glance told him it was one of Team Three’s new recruits. "We had a breakout. Three, two men and one woman. I tried to stop them, but I got blown over by a massive wind gust just before they ran past me."

Mitchum was tempted to scold the man, but something told him to take this seriously. "Wind, you said?"

"Yes sir, a very strong gust."

Mitchum nodded, his memory returning. Something he’d seen in the latest briefing packet about new Guardians. "Wind Shear," he said. "It appears we may have trouble sooner than we thought. Still, even if she was with another Guardian, they are only two. Even with their inhuman powers, we can still beat them."

The parking lot was deserted as Juan and Jinn ran to the BMW. Juan tripped the remote trunk release as they ran up. He ran over to the back and began pulling off his shirt, revealing his Techno body armor. Jinn was doing the same striptease, revealing her Wind Shear costume hidden under her blouse and jeans.

"It was a good idea to wear our costumes under our clothes," she said as he pulled off his shoes, replacing them with his jet boots.

"An easy precaution," he replied. "Besides, I’ve had a bad feeling about this since yesterday."

"A bad feeling related to that Mustang that tailed us all the way to the hotel?"

Juan stopped, gaping. "You knew about that?"

She laughed. "You haven’t lived in fear of security like I have. I know how to spot tails. I was just surprised you didn’t try to lose them."

Juan shook his head as he reached in and swung his backpack power unit on. "And here I was not wanting to do something because it would scare you. Fat lot I know." He tripped the power switch as he reached in to grab his helmet.

"Signal received," the pilot’s voice sounded over the intercom. "Location confirmed. Dropping out of pattern now. Drop zone in thirty seconds."

"In the doors," Crimson Knight barked. Mind Mistress moved in front of him to the left door, with the others forming up to the right.

"Fifteen seconds," the pilot called.

"Open the doors," Crimson Knight called. Mind Mistress swung her door open and out, just enough to activate the hydraulic assists. The sound inside the cabin increased as Strongarm swung open the opposite door.

"Five, four, three, two, one, drop," the pilot counted. Crimson Knight grabbed Mind Mistress and jumped into space as the others exited. Crimson Knight glanced around, and quickly spotted the signal from Techno’s locator. "Bear on me," he called, activating his jets.

"Air threat," Mitchum yelled. He saw the plane coming in low in an obvious para-drop run. Team One moved up, out in front of the building, and began firing at the plane.

"Shift down range," Mitchum called. "The plane’s not the threat. Look for jumpers."

"Jesus," Crimson Knight swore as the laser bolts began flying up from below. "We’ve been made."

"We can’t land in this," Aria yelled.

Jake nodded; she was right. He and Strongarm wouldn’t have a problem, but Mind Mistress, Aria and Wraith were sitting ducks. "Circle wide," he called. "We’ll come in from the north."

"Defensive positions," Mitchum barked. "Threat axis is north." He moved to the north along with his team, covering Vassar Avenue.

"No response on the cell phone," Wind Shear said, shaking her head. "No one’s home."

"Wait a sec," Techno said, pressing his hand against his earpiece. "Son of a bitch, they’re here."

"What do you mean?"

"I just heard Crimson Knight on the tactical frequency. He’s close, real close. He must have known something would happen."

Wind Shear shook her head. "We need to link up with them, then."

"No can do," Techno replied. "They came down to the north. Wait a second."

He activated his radio. "Crimson Knight, this is Techno."

"Read you, Techno."

"Suggest Hammer and Anvil. We are south of threat position."

"Suggestion approved, Techno. Get moving."

"Roger that, CK. We’ll leave a few for you, over."

"What is going on?" Miguel wondered. He’d wanted to obey his brother, but something was happening, and he wasn’t just going to hide under the bleachers. He moved quietly over to the north side of the athletic center, looking for a good window to look out of.

One of the corner offices was open, letting him see both north and east. "Cool," he thought. "This’ll work." Movement to his right caught his eye. He glanced over to see a man in high-tech body armor and a woman in a silver bodysuit moving quietly up along the building.

"Mega cool," he whispered. "Techno and Wind Shear. Hey, wait a sec." He looked closer at the jaw protruding from Techno’s helmet and Wind Shear’s face. "No way. It can’t be."

"Not many guards," Techno said, looking around. "They’re all on the north side, waiting for the rest of the team."

"Their mistake," Wind Shear replied. "I was all ready for a pleasant weekend, and I’m not going to let them spoil it."

"My thoughts exactly," Techno said. "Looks like they herded most of the people into the Little Theater. I say we wait until the rest of the team’s in position, then hit them. If we do it right, we can sneak in and knock out the guards before they know what hit them."

"Good plan," Wind Shear replied, "Does Crimson Knight know?"

Laser fire erupted from the far side of the building, answered by the roars of Firemane’s blasts, Crimson Knight’s lasers and Aria’s sonics. "They do know," Techno said, "let’s move."

Three guards were standing on the south side of the building. Two ran off to join the fight, leaving only one guard near the doors. He stepped out from the building a few steps, looking around.

Techno raised his plasma gun, but Wind Shear waved him down. She looked up to the sky and called on her power. A lightning bolt arced down from the blue sky, grounding into the Black Guard solider. He cried out briefly before the massive electrical shock knocked him unconscious.

"What the," Mitchum said. The bolt of lightning from a blue sky meant one thing; Wind Shear was moving in. He stood up, bringing his arm up to motion his troops to the far side.

"No you don’t," Crimson Knight said, taking aim. Just as Mitchum brought his arm up, Crimson Knight fired. The beams caught Mitchum in the back, knocking him off of his feet and out of the fight. The remaining Black Guard, now leaderless, resumed their fire at the Guardians in front of them.

Techno looked through the open door of the Little Theater. He saw two guards on the stage, aiming submachine guns down into the crowd. Two more guards were standing near the exits, also aiming into the crowd. He heard creaking overhead, than meant at least one more was on the overhanging balcony.

He pulled back slowly, doing everything fluidly to stay as silent as possible. Wind Shear looked at him. He pointed one finger up, then two at her and two at the floor. This was a silent code for one guard in the balcony, two near me and two far away. She nodded. This was a hard position to attack. It was almost impossible to hit all five guards at once so at least two free would have free shots at the crowd.

Wind Shear pointed at Techno then pointed up and towards him. She pointed at herself then at the floor and at him. Techno nodded. He would go upstairs, take out the man on the balcony, and then take a shot at the two on the stage. She would wait for his shot then take out the two by the door and the two on the stage.

Techno slipped up the stairs, moving slowly and fluidly, almost like a human inchworm. Any noise, even the creaking of a stair, would alert the Black Guard and put the hostages in serious jeopardy. Their plan depended on surprise, and any noise would give that away.

He finally reached the top of the stairs. The balcony was only three yards away, but each inch was painfully slow. He felt like his chest was going to burst, but he could barely breathe, nearly holding his breath to prevent noise. Now he was at the door. A quick peek inside showed the guard looking over the crowd. He could take the shot from here, but that would put too much time until his shot at the stage.

He crept into the balcony, even more silent now, if that was possible. He crept forward, inch by inch. He kept wishing, as hard as he could, that the guard wouldn’t turn around. His plasma pistol was raised, ready for a shot as soon as the man showed the slightest movement.

A weak step creaked as he stepped on it. The guard started to spin around. Techno fired. The blast slammed the guard off of his feet and over the railing, spilling him into the crowd below.

The crack of the plasma shot alerted Wind Shear. She spun into the doorway and cut loose with all of the wind force she could muster. The two guards at the back of the room were looking up. He wind blast threw them forward onto their stomachs. Reaching down, she threw all she had left at the right-hand guard on the stage.

Techno almost leapt to the front of the balcony. The two guards on the stage were looking down now, looking down the aisle. Techno swung his pistol up and fired a blast at the left-hand guard. His blast slammed the left-hand guard back at the same instant as the right-hand guard flew into the curtain, propelled by Wind Shear’s blast.

There was stunned silence for a moment in the theater, and then cheers began to break out as people realized that they were free. Techno activated his radio as he took a deep breath. "Techno to Crimson Knight. Hostages secure, five hostiles down, no friendlies down."

"It’s over," Crimson Knight roared, using his helmet speakers to their utmost. "We have the hostages. Surrender now." The Guardians ceased fire at his shout, and stood watching the Black Guard.

He saw a couple of Guard with their hands to their ears; they were trying to raise the hostage guards. When they failed, they dropped their weapons and stood up. Soon, all of the Black Guard had surrendered.

Miguel stood by the athletic center, looking around for Juan and Jinn. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be right about them or not. Having a brother and a sister-in-law who were superheroes was mega-cool, but he wouldn’t be able to tell anybody. Still, it would be cool knowing.

"Hey, Miguel," Juan called as he and Jinn came walking up. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I’m fine," he replied. "Are you two okay?"

"Sure," Jinn replied. "All we did was call the police and hide in the car."

Miguel nodded. "Yeah, I’m sure."

Juan glared at him. "You weren’t doing something stupid like looking out windows, were you?"

Miguel smiled his best smile. "No, of course not."

Juan shook his head. He had to accept the probability that Miguel knew their heroic identities. "Just remember the difference between thinking you know something and knowing it for sure."

Miguel nodded. "You got it, bro. Of course, for a little help on my thesis, I can assure silence."

Juan snorted. "You little Chihuahua, that’s blackmail."

Jinn just laughed. "Yes, but I think Miguel knows the story of the goose and the golden egg."

Juan laughed and grabbed Miguel in a bear hug. "I’m just glad you’re safe, hermano."

"You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?" Juan said as he sat in the conference room with the rest of the Guardians, finally being debriefed about the issue several hours later since Juan and Jinn had to drive back.

"We knew something was up," Jake replied, "when Rich spotted a couple of snoopers that we made for Black Guard. I was looking for a way to get you and Jinn out of the base as decoys, and this thing with your brother just happened to come up. No, I did not rig that."

"But why the hostage stuff," Melissa asked, "if they were just after Juan and Jinn?"

"They weren’t after Juan and Jinn," Jake replied, "they were after Mike and Terry. Normally, they’re the ones who drive the BMW, so that’s why I had Juan take it. The windows are so dark that you can’t see whose inside if you don’t get a good look through the windshield, and Juan drives too fast for that. We wanted the Black Guard in the field, where we could hurt them, so I wanted to draw them out. The hostage angle was a little different, but Juan and Jinn got us out of that mess."

"Good thing I didn’t try and lose the tail," Juan replied. "I would have wrecked this whole big plan I knew nothing about."

"Bait wriggles best when it doesn’t think it’s bait," Jake replied. "Why didn’t you try to lose the tail?"

"He thought I hadn’t noticed it," Jinn said, "and he didn’t want to scare me. I had seen it since we left, but I didn’t want to upset him by telling him about it if he didn’t know."

"I don’t have that bad of an ego," Juan said, "do I?"

A round of laughter greeted the question. Jake let it settle down. "Well, all’s well that ends well, for us at least. As for the Black Guard, they’ve got fifteen in prison, and five in the hospital including two cases of plasma burns and one severe electrocution. Which all would not have been possible without our two decoys. Let them always forget to ditch their tails." Laughter and clapping erupted in response.