HEROES Chapter 8

Morgan was waiting outside, trying to decide whether or not she should go up and knock on the door or just sit tight when she too, heard the 'thunder'. She turned around, squinting her eyes, trying to see what was causing it. She closed her eyes, scanning the area and located a road runner, a small bird known to run beside cars on the desert roads. She opened her eyes, glowing their lavender color now and saw the bikers advancing on the small cabin. They appeared to be in no hurry, but she knew that they weren't coming for a social call either. "God, no.....this can't be happening...not now", she whispered to herself. All she wanted to do was see Tim....find out if there was anything between them...anything at all. A part of her thought that maybe this was a sign, and not a good one. If she led them here, albeit unintentionally, then she had to do something to either stop them or slow them down, but what. She'd already exposed herself back at the little cafe, so using her abilities may not be the wisest course of action just now. Especially when she had minute control over her new abilities, courtesy of Sasha/Frank. She looked back at the cabin, her lavender eyes worried. By following her heart instead of her head, she'd endangered Tim.....again. "You are a creature of emotion, Morgan.....a creature of the heart, it's why you were born with the gift Mother Earth gave you...to help others, her animals as well. It is a gift as well as a curse and you must learn to control your emotions like you learned to control your gift." She could still see Aunt Jackie's face as she laid her hand on the scar at the side of her face, smiling gently to her after she'd inadvertantly called the yellow jackets to the reservation in a fit of rage. And now, instead of being patient, she'd untintentionally led these men to Tim. But, when she realized that the sound of motorcycles could be heard all around the shack, she began to wonder if there was more going on than just them following her.

She didn't know what to do, so she went on instinct and pushed the small ATV away from the cabin, making sure that if it got shot in the gas tank, the explosion wouldn't harm the cabin and those within it.

Tim looked at Yelena and Wraith and said "Go." He then opened the door to the cabin, stepped out onto the porch, lifted the shotgun with one hand by the slide and cocked it. He then said "Kin I hep you fellas?" Tim then lowered the shotgun and aimed it at the bald biker "This har land is posted "NO TRESSPASSIN' an seein' as though I didn't invite ya, I reckon yur tresspassin. So I suggest ya take yur little playmates an' them thar motur scootters and git offin' my land or be burried under it."

Barr, sat upon his rumbling bike and stared down Rutherford while his gang rolled into position around the cabin. Two mean looking men both armed with shotguns, parked their bikes along side their leader and dismounted. Neither of them looked as though they'd have any trouble killing a man, and no doubt had on several occasions. The bike leader, swung a leg over his hog and leaned back against the rest of his raised seat.

"Nice place ya got here. Kinda outta the way. Wouldn't say so boys?"

The two goons and some of the other bikers within earshot laughed.

The biker stood up then and stretched a bit. "They call me Barr." he told Tim, "Seems we have ourselves a situation har. Ya see, I'm looking for my bosses lost shipment and well, that little dark haired filly along with some big blonde haired son-of-a-bitch, up and beat up some of my men. So I says to myself, 'that ain't right'. Who in their right mind would up and mess with Venom? They'd have to be one dumb sack a shit, the same sack a shit who would steal from DeCamp. Now, I'm only gonna ask this once, cowboy. Where's the truck with our load a smack? Trespassin's gonna be the least a yer worries if'n ya don't answer right."

"Well thar Barr, I aint got no idear what the hell yur talkin' bout. Can't see that I recall no truck being 'round char an' ifin' yur boss dun lost a shipment, maybe he shuld of insured it. Ur maybe he ought ta check with them wetbacks that keep tryin' to cum up thisa way." Tim said coldly "An I'd be right careful where I stepped thar Barr. That thar parcel a land yur sittin' on I lent to them military boys not too fur back fur mine field trainin'. An I ain't too shur how them military boys ar 'bout cleanin' up aftar themselves. .......... Now ifin' ya don't be gettin along, thar be a whole lot hurt gonna come yur way." ....... Tim then stooped down and opened a wooden box that he was standing by. He reached in the box and removed a hand granade and stood up. "Now you chillin' just mosey on outta har. An' you tell this har DeCamp, whoever he thinks he is, that I don't take kindly ta drug dealers ur punks sending messanger boys to deliver threats." Tim then lifted the granade to his mouth and bit down on the ring of the arming pin.

Morgan had the small ATV away from the cabin making sure that it wasn't close to the barn either when the bikers began to surround the small cabin. She silently made her way over to the small barn and flattened herself up against the outside wall. She wasn't sure exactly what she could do and before she could decide Tim came out onto the porch and her heart skipped a beat. He was thinner than she remembered, but then again, she knew that she didn't exactly look the same either. She'd matured.....grown harder, except where Tim was concerned. When Barr mentioned a dark-haired filly, she knew he was talking about her and shivered. She could kick herself for not doing what Tim and Yelena had taught her. Instead, she'd allowed emotion to overrule and had exposed herself. She listened to the deep timbre of his voice and knew that the biker Barr had better heed Tim's warning. She knew just how lethal he was with or without a weapon.

She sighed, knowing that she needed to stay where she was for now. Tim had not let on whether or not he'd seen her, but she knew that more than likely he knew that she or someone was there and she was worried that if she showed herself it would distract him and he could get hurt. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, deciding to wait and see what the next move would be and who would make it. She wished she had a weapon, but the main thing she'd learned how to use had been knives. They were her favorite weapons when she wasn't using the animals and even though she was a bit more confident since killing Sasha, she knew that up against this many.....well, she wasn't that confident in her abilities.

She watched as the other bikers began to surround the small cabin. The main creatures to use out here would be of the insect variety unless she got lucky and she was hoping that she would get lucky. She hated using Sasha's ability....it always made her feel dirty inside afterwards.

The biker looked a little confused by Tim's reply and even more bewildered when a couple of his gang seemed to confirm what the man had said with earnest nods.

"He ditched the truck and stashed the smack." Growled Barr, "It has to be here."

When the cowboy mentioned the fact that a few anti-personal mines might be laying about, Barr had his doubts. The area looked pretty well trodden so he just laughed, but when Tim picked up a the grenade it wiped the smile off his face. Instantly his two body guards began to back away, but Barr stood his ground.

"Easy thar boys." He said encouragingly to his men as Barr moved forward to stand between them.


There weren't many places to hide around Tim's place, and as the biker's began to swarm the area it wasn't long before Yelena and Toril were exposed.

"We're stronger if we stick together." Wraith said to Chameleon, "Let's get to Rutherford."

Yelena knew better than to crowd, Cowboy, but before she could say anything the big man was on the move. He made his way around the other side of the cabin and stopped when he saw Tim holding the grenade. "Shit!", was all he could say.

"That's him!" Shouted one of the beaten up bikers from behind Barr, "That's the f****er that damn near killed Checkers!" He added pointing empatically at Wraith.

Just as Barr looked over at the large blonde haired man, Tim slipped the grenade's ring in his mouth and bit down.

Barr was fuming. Not only did he resent being called a 'messenger boy', but the son-of-a-bitch that beat up his kid brother was standing there right before him as if he never expected that his actions would have consequences. He was going to kill that mothef***er if it was the last thing he did and he wasn't about to let this two-bit hombre stand in his way. Barr wasn't a fool, he knew the blast radius of a standard grenade and he was standing too close for the thrower not to get caught in the explosion. The man would blow himself up along with them if let that grenade loose, he'd also take the blonde guy along with him as well. No one was that crazy, figured Barr. It was now or never!

"Kill that f***er!" Screamed Barr as he reached behind his back and out flashed a nickel plated 9mm, blazing away at Tim.

The two other men, blasted their shot guns at Cowboy and the other bikers who were in position and already had their guns drawn joined in, firing away at Tim and Wraith. Those that were closer to the dark haired girl on the ATV began to shoot at her and Yelena was also in jeopardy, as the few bikers that had rode around to where she was hidden speeded toward her, guns blazing.

In that moment the guns were being raised toward Tim, Wraith began to take evasive action. His powerful muscles flexed beneath the faded blue jeans as he coiled his body and prepared to leap away from the house.

Morgan felt a burning sensation in her side and then in her upper thigh, the bullet that hit her in the side, going clean through not hitting any organs while the one at her thigh left a deep groove. She yelled in pain as she looked around, knowing that she didn't have more than a few seconds to figure out what she was going to do. She'd found out through her training with her aunt and then battling Sasha that she was indeed a little faster than the average human, but not faster than a bullet.

She slid around to the front of the small barn and slipped inside, holding her side. She saw that neither Tim nor Wraith were using their abilities and wanted to use hers and call in the birds again, but she hesitated. She knew their had to be a reason as to why they weren't using their powers, so she waited, leaning up against the inside wall when she saw a mouse. She smiled, her eyes glowing as she scanned the surrounding area inside and outside the barn and located at least a hundred tunnels dug throughout under the ground, mice everywhere. Maybe not enough to any real damage, but definately enough to help. She called on them and they scurried out of their tunnels and to the bikers. There weren't enough to occupy all of the bikers, but enough to occupy a good portion of them, especially the women, who turned out like most women, were terrified of mice. And what precious little creatures they were as the climbed up the inside of pant legs nipping and biting their way up the legs, tangling themselves into long hair, only to find their way to necks where the left painful nips.

Her side burned, the bullet having left a clean hole and her leg as well, but she'd learned quite a bit in her time away from Tim and she swallowed the pain the best she could and concentrated on the little rodents for as long as she could.

Yelena growled under her breath as she heard the sound of the noise of approaching bikes. And lots of them. This was NOT what she wanted. And that stupid Morgan was to blame for this invasion. She just KNEW she’d let someone follow her here. To make matters worse, the cabin was quickly surrounded. Yelena didn’t have much time to do what she had to do. And it didn’t help when Toril let his large frame be seen by them.

Yelena was in the middle of getting what she needed when the gunfire began to erupt. The cabin was now a hot zone and she was caught in the middle of it. Knowing Tim would shoot his way back into the cabin, she grabbed the gun she needed and started firing suppressing fire to give him cover.

The automatic machine gun was popping off rounds with each squeeze of the trigger Yelena gave it. She didn’t like shooting people but there were times when there was no choice in the matter. And this was one of them. Yelling at Tim and Toril, she let them use her voice to find their way back into the cabin and out of the line of fire from those bikers.

”KEEPING BACKING UP! THIS WAY! TO LEFT! THROUGH DOOR NOW!”

As the men’s forms appeared in the cabin, Yelena crouched low and ran forward giving even more cover fire while trying to keep herself from getting shot. Once they were back in the cabin, she looked over at Tim and nodded.

”I cover you two. Get door open to tunnel and I join you. If I not there in two minutes, I meet you on where tunnel come out. Is OK, Tim. Promise.”

Morgan remained focused on the mice, unknowingly giving the other three time to get into the cabin. She gave the mice a 'push' to keep up the attack on the bikers and then released them, her 'push' she knew, would last anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half an hour. She looked around the barn, seeing the new stall and wanted to kick herself. Had she known that she'd been followed she wouldn't have come, but what's done was done and now she was trapped. Turning, she peeked out a crack and saw Tim and Wraith make it into the cabin. Sighing in relief, she looked around for someplace to hide and something to wrap around her waist to slow the bleeding from the hole in her as well as a bandage for her leg.

The plague of mice was hindering but hardly stopped the gang members. The minute creatures were only a nuisance unless they were moving in a horde, and for the amount of them in the area only a few bikers were unfortunate enough to be set upon by more than ten at one time. While a few woman, over reacted the majority of the females in the gang were as tough as nails and hardly behaved typically. One woman, they affectionately called Brunhilda, actually bit the head off one of the little buggers once she caught it. The rodents, did their job though, because while the bikers were dealing with them, they could hardly get a straight shot off, if any, but as they swatted and stomped the possessed creatures they became all the more enraged. It was obvious to them now, more than ever that they were dealing with meta-humans, at least that's the way it appeared to them. Especially when a dust storm seemed to kick up right out of the blue.


Toril felt a bullet whiz past his head as he dove to the side, then as he hit the ground and rolled there was a sting across his back instantly followed by burning, sticky sensation. It didn't slow him any though and leaping though the air put one his hard soled work boots into the face of one of the gang members. The man tumbled back over his parked bike, then with inhuman speed, Toril spun around, throwing his opposite boot across the face of another. There were just too many though, and on his own, the big man wouldn't last long, not without his ability to vanish into the wind which is currently nullified by the small insignificant pieces of metal on most articles of clothing. Toril always modified all his garments, which was why he had been a little leery about wearing borrowed clothes, but who would have guessed that a bike gang would come round looking for trouble. He still had all his other abilities, though, and he used them, though not in a fashion that one could specifically say was unnatural. Crouching down, using one of the motorcycles of an unconscious rider for cover, Wraith called the winds. It had to be fast so pushed himself and in moments, the cabin and the surrounding area was obscured by a swirling dust storm. The dense clouds and eye watering debris provided all of them the opportunity to escape the sights of the bikers, and Toril didn't waste any time following Yelena's voice back toward the cabin.

Toril was breathing hard by the time he made into line-shack. He had only run a short distance, but the generation of the isolated wind storm was taxing on his body. In reality he was manipulating the atmospheric pressure in the area, and maintaining such a disruption took a lot of focus. Glancing over to Yelena, his eyes glimmered with a slight blueish sheen. A sign that his system was stressed, but he could maintain the storm for several more minutes before burning himself out. He brought up a hand gun he had alleviated from one of the bikers and ejected the magazine to check how many rounds were left.

"I hate these things, but when in Rome, eh?" he said as he popped the magazine back in and cocked the 9mm.

Since he couldn't dematerialize anyway, Toril thought, 'what the hell'. Might as well be armed and contrary to his disdain of firearms, he could shoot.

"Tunnel? What tunnel?" Questioned Toril looking around then over at Cowboy. He didn't like the idea of leaving Yelena behind and was ready to take a stand, so he hesitated to see what Rutherford's plan was.

"I'm sorry I brought this on you guys." Apologized Wraith assuming that the bikers might have followed Stubby.

As the dust storm began to build, Tim pulled the pin of the granade and threw it over the head of Barr towards where several of the gangs motorcycles were parked. He then raised the shot gun and began firing as he dove for the door of the line shack. Hitting the floor he rolled and kicked the door shut, as splinters flew from the door that was being peppered with bullets. Glass shatterd from the windows. "Well shit so much fur a peaceable mornin'" he said. When Toril appologized, Tim shook his head, as he stood. "Ain't yur fault thar pard. I figure it were Morgan ur Shasha that dun lead them varmits har. Damn that woman is more trouble than she's worth." Tim looked at Yelena, as she told them to take the tunnel and she would follow, with a concerned expression. "Ain't likin' that idear Come on Toril." Tim said as he moved to the kitchen and raised the trap door that led down to the tunnel. After Toril had ran down the steps Tim looked at Yelena "Now you come on git down thar. I got this har place wired." Tim then reached in his under the kitchen table and pulled out a detenator timer and pressed the arming button. "We got two minutes an' this place gonna be in the next county, been wantin' ta remodel this ol' shack anyway. ....... NOW GIT!"
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SIDE BAR:
Immediately after Tim's arrival and Yelena telling him about the FBI, Tim had wired explosives to the shack and outbuildings around the line shack as a precaution.

Just as the onslaught of maniacal mice was beginning to subside, the biker's where engulfed by a raging dust storm. Pandemonium ensued; some of the disoriented gang members staggered through the blinding winds toward the silhouette of the cabin and others huddled beside their motorcycles, their faces covered with bandana's. Through breaks in the stinging gusts, Barr and some of his men charged the cowboy, but he slipped away, tossing the grenade high into the air. It landed right in the midst of the majority of the Venom bike gang blowing at least a third of them to bits and leaving another third seriously injured. Twisted bike parts showered down on the roof of the line shack, while a few other shards of metals smashed through the windows, filling the cabin with glass and dust as the winds gusted in. The storm was now self sustaining and Wraith no longer needed to generate the necessary conditions, which was a relief for the meta-human since he was finding it difficult to focus as Cowboy guided him down in the escape tunnel.


As Tim lead him and Yelena into the kitchen, Toril made sure to scoop up his dirty clothes, just in case. He was then ushered down a stairway leading down beneath the kitchen floor. He was only half way down when he heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the back door and he knew the bikers were trying to get in. Not only to attempt to murder them all but also simply to escape the dust storm. He wanted to help, but he also knew better than to argue with Rutherford and when he pressed down on a detonator and announced they had two minutes to get their arses to safety, Toril continued down the stairway.

From what Toril could tell, there was probably at one time a well or cistern under the cabin, accessed by the trap door in the kitchen floor. In the wall to his left there was a hole in the wall reinforced with timber. There was no telling how far it went in the blackness but then, Wraith was able to peer into his monochromatic, elemental world and see that it turned after twenty feet or so. He also saw a bunch of military style boxes in the corner of the small cellar-like room, and beside them was a crate filled with flares and glow sticks. He grabbed a bunch and threw them in his dirty shirt, using it like a gunny sack, then cracked a glow stick and wasted little time crawling into the tunnel. It was a tight fit for the big man, but he managed alright considering. A few times, though, he scraped his back along the ceiling and winced in pain as the bullet graze was agitated by the pressure. How he wished he could dematerialize then.

When he got to the bend, Toril paused and looked back, keeping the glow stick ahead of him so it wouldn't obscure his vision. Where the hell were those two?


Barr didn't like it, something was wrong. Why in the hell wasn't that hombre shooting back at them? The bike leader didn't get to where he was by taking foolish risks so he order the two men that had stood by his side to go into the cabin first. "Go on, I'm right behind ya." he told them, but when the men kicked in the front door, Barr stepped back into the storm and put some distance between him and the cabin.

The two big bikers burst into the front hall of the cabin, guns blazing. One caught a glimpse of the cowboy who threw the grenade and made a bee-line right for him, pulling out a hand gun and blasting away as fast as he could pull the trigger.

Yelena always did like Tim’s thinking when it came to this sort of thing and she was damn glad she let Tim talk her into wiring the cabin. While she didn’t like to kill anyone she knew times had changed and now it was either kill or be killed for one reason or other. If she and Tim had been left alone no one would get hurt let alone die but now….these bikers had called down a wrath upon them they wouldn’t soon forget.

As Tim ushered Toril into the tunnel, Yelena soon followed and she had just ducked beneath the trap door when she heard the bikers crash in and start firing at Tim. Without thinking she peeked back over the trap door and started firing just as Tim did. The bikers were hit by both of their rounds and found themselves on the losing end of the confrontation.

As soon as the men hit the cabin floor, Yelena ducked back down into the trap door, jumping the last few feet to the earthen floor. Taking a couple of steps forward, she waited for Tim to get down there with her. Shouldering her weapon, she did a quick check of him to make sure he wasn’t too worse for wear, patting his torso and back. When her hands came back with nothing but bright blood from his upper arm, she nodded.

”Some reunion. And here I thought we settle down to make damn good ranchers.”

Turning on her heel, Yelena began to run as quickly as she could from the trap door with Tim on her heels, cursing Morgan/.Sasha the entire time in her native language knowing Tim understood her the entire way. They were running very short on time to get as far enough away from the cabin before it blew and hurt them as well. She could see the soft glow of the glow stick Toril had activated ahead of her.

Would they have enough time to put space between them and the soon to be splintered line cabin?

As Yelena ran into the passageway, Tim was close on her heels, he gave a soft chuckel at Yelena's curse as he passed into the pasageway. He pressed on one of the double beams and a twelve inch thick steel door slid down from the ceiling, closing the passage just as the air seemed to be sucked out of the tunnel and a bright flash and loud explosion filled the outer passage. A small cloud of dust and smoke seeped out from under the door as it touched the dirt floor of the passageway and the heavy steel door rattled in its track. "That ought ta get their attention I reckon." Tim said "You get hit Yelena, you Toril? ...... Let's get ta loadin' some of this stuff in the jeep. Then I reckon we best get ta the ranch. ....... I suspect that thar FBI dude 'll be pokin' round har fur a spell."

As Barr followed his instincts and made a hasty retreat, the impact of the exploding cabin through him clear off his bike. He rolled across the dirt and lay there staring back at the smoldering mass of charred remains. None of his gang had survived. The majority of them had filtered into the cabin or were still well within the blast radius when the explosives went off. Nothing at all remained, except the shambling remains of the barn just visible though the enduring dust storm.

There would be hell to pay! Barr swore to it as he struggled to right his heavy hog. Mounting it and firing up the engine, he took one last look for any survivors and seeing none, beat it back to Ropesville to give his report to Mr. DeCamp.


Toril braced himself when he felt the rumble of the explosion. For second he actually considered stripping down and dematerializing when some of the earth above him trickled down, but the tunnel was built well. When he heard the voices echoing from back the way he had come, the big man doubled back and poked his head out.

Wraith couldn't help but feel responsible for all this trouble. It seemed to follow their kind and if he hadn't come looking for Tim, none of this might have happened, then again, Morgan most likely would have still raised a ruckus back at the Jack Rabbit regardless of his being there. Still, he did tear one of the bikers apart and he kicked himself for not exercising more restraint.

"I took one back there," Toril responded to Tim's inspection, "it's nothing though. A scratch." He mentioned. It was a little deeper than that, however, but he couldn't check the back of his shoulder blade very easily so he based his assessment on the amount of pain it was inflicting.

Toril reached down and picked up as much as he could carry, which was quite a bit for a man as strong as bear. "I'll help you rebuild." he offered Tim and Yelena, "I didn't know you were giving it all up and settling down. I should've known better than ta pop in on you guys like this. Its just that, things are pretty bad in Chicago, and my gut says that R.A.I.D. is somehow behind it all. I didn't know who else to turn to out here in Texas."

"Ya don't be frettin' about it, my friend, it was just a matter a time. But we aint' runnin this time. Har we stand an fight." Tim said. "Let R.A.I.D an tha others come. This har is Texas home a the ALAMO. ....... Sides that this har is MY land, an me an Yelena's goin ta raise cattle on it."

Morgan didn't make it up the ladder to the loft when the explosion rocked the barn, raining debris down on her and throwing her from the ladder. She hit a railing hard and bounced off it, landing in the new stall. She saw stars and then curled in on herself when part of the roof collapsed around her. Her first thought was of Tim and whether or not he caused the explosion or if the bikers had, then she slowly rose to her feet, looking around her. She had to get out of there before the bikers saw her and bending over, making herself smaller, she moved to the far side of the barn. She was sore and had she been normal, she wouldn't have gotten up, but she wasn't normal and she'd finally accepted that fact. Still, the bullet wound and graze hurt like hell and blood loss would make her weak if she didn't figure something out. She just wished that she knew whether or not Tim was okay and if it was her that led the bikers to him. She had a sinking feeling that it was her and if that were the case, Tim wouldn't be happy with her. ~So much for a happy reunion~, she thought to herself as she peered out various cracks in the wall to see where the bikers were and how many were left.

"Sounds nice." Replied Toril. It really did. The thought of it reminded him of British Columbia and the isolated house he had up there, the only place that really felt like home since the death of his wife all those years ago. "Still if ever need a hand just let me know. I'm not much of a carpenter, but if you ever need a strong arm just let me know." Toril offered with a sly grin. The tall man then shifted the load cradled in his arms. "So where' s this stuff going?"

There was only one tunnel and it had to come out somewhere, Toril figured that much, but he had no idea if there were any traps or secret door of some kind up ahead so he urged Tim to take the lead. Awaiting Cowboy to direct him, Toril's mind turned to what the government offered their kind. A registered meta-human could own property, unfortunately once a meta became official they and all their assets became a part of R.A.I.D.'s inventory. His friend Bronze Devil was well aware of this, but since the guy couldn't blend in to society he didn't have much choice. According to him, though, it wasn't that bad. He kept his nose clean and they left him alone for the most part, but it wasn't a life for people as free spirited as Tim and Yelena. Registered meta-humans couldn't just pick up go when ever they felt like. Just crossing a state line required permission, a part of the agreement that Toril could never abide and he knew that was double for Cowboy and Chameleon. They'd never live like that, which meant even after settling down the two of them could never really lead a normal life. There would always be the ever present danger of slipping up and of course one could never know when the past would catch up with them, like an old super-hero on a mission just dropping by to say hello.

They called him Viking and for all he knew was the only survivor of the Venom bike gang. Formerly number two, it hardly mattered now that he had moved up in position considering everyone was dead, a fact that made the bruised and bloody man laugh out loud. Slowly he pulled himself out from under the debris of the line shack that would have killed him had he not been thrown against the wall of the barn, which prevented him from being crushed by a large slab of wood and drywall.

Rising to his full height, Viking wasn't an overly tall man nor was he one of the bigger members of Venom either. He sported a red beard and that combined with his long greasy auburn colored hair gave him the classic look of his namesake and the was the extent of its definition. The term going a 'viking' did not entirely apply to the man, since he absolutely hated women but if anyone ever suggested he was homosexual, Viking would gut them on the spot. He was anything but the kind for he was a pure misogynist. Viking despised feminine guile and any excuse a woman provided to shut one up, he took without question.

Before the house exploded, Viking had been following the black haired girl on the ATV but had lost her in the dust storm. He managed to locate the barn and spied that she was inside just before he was pinned beneath a large piece of the line-shack. Now that he was free, Viking could think of nothing better to do that finish what he started and so he started limping toward the busted side door to the barn. He paused to check what was hindering his leg and found a piece of a 2x4 stuck to it. A closer inspection and a quick probe, revealed that there were nails running through it and that they had lodged in his leg, which normally might have been extremely uncomfortable. Viking, however, ate pain like candy. It had little effect on him, and so he grabbed the piece of wood and tore it out of his thigh with not so much as a whimper. Tossing the bloodied block of wood away, Viking pulled out a .44 caliber six shooter and kicked in the door.

"Hey girly! I know you're in here!" The man shouted in and laughed. He then peeked around the corner, weapon ready and peered into the darkness for any sign of the woman, whom he suspected was a meta. He'd never killed one of them before and he was looking forward to it. "Where are your friends at?"

THE CIRCLE T RANCH...


Agent Mitchell's and Sheriff Greer's impasse was broken by a faint and distinct popping noise in the distance. All three of the men knew the sound, it didn't take a genius to realize that whatever made it had to have packing a lot of power and the first thing that went through Greer's mind was the old mine north of town. It was never properly close down and sometime gasses built up. The last incident was a couple of years ago when some kids wandered in and used a lighter to see by. After that, Greer was buried up his nose in paper work for a month with the aftermath of that incident. It actually made national news. He didn't want to go through that again which is why he actually sighed with relief when he realized the sound originated from the opposite direction.

"What the hell was that?" Questioned Mitchell looking at Greer.

Roy's eyes flashed toward Henery for a second. They both knew that the direction from where the distant explosion emanated was Tim's land. He then met the agent's intense look with his own weary stare, knowing all too well that there was no pulling the wool over Mitchell's eyes in this case. Even an idiot would know that wasn't thunder or an sort of planned explosion. The rumble was enough to blow out a dozen stumps let alone one.

Agent Mitchell peered out toward the horizon. There was a great cloud of dust and rising up out of it was black plum of smoke feathered by the winds. It was an usual sight, even for Roy and Henery. Dust storms weren't uncommon, but this one was odd, and the black smoke meant trouble.

"Henery." Said Greer with authority, "I want ya to ditch the truck and I don't wanna know where you stashed it, ya here me? Agent Mitchell, gimme me hand gettin' these pieces a shit in the back of m'truck. I'm gonna get them processed and locked up back in Levelland."

"What about that?" Inquired Mitchell pointing at the strange weather anomaly and remnants of serious explosion.

"We gotta get these guys locked up first and you're coming back with me." Ordered Greer.

"Yeah, but —"

"No buts," Interjected Greer, "These are DeCamp's men, and I need someone ridin' shotgun while they're bein' transported. Now com'on thar Mitchell, shake a leg."

Mitchell was beside himself. He wanted to investigate that explosion, he felt it in his gut... No, he knew that the Wrangler was somehow involved. He caught the exchange between Henery and the Sheriff and had a feeling they knew a lot more than they were saying. He had no choice though. A local law enforcer had requested his help and he couldn't refuse him based on circumstantial evidence, Levelland was only about twenty minute drive anyway. He'd do his duty then get back to check out that explosion before the coals were cold.

As the county police truck pulled away from Timble's ranch, Roy looked out his window at Henery. His eyes told him to go and make sure Tim was alright and if we was to give him a head's up that the explosion on his land was about to launch a full blown FBI investigation.

Morgan heard the biker kicking in the door and hollering for her. She was up against the wall of the stall, making herself as small as she could in the shadows. She looked around, wanting desperately to use her ability, but this would cause her eyes to glow and she would be seen.

~Go ahead....call something....something poisonous. C'mon....you know you want to.~

It was Sasha's voice again and Morgan squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore it, but with the voice came the strong urge to do exactly what it was suggesting. She hated that she had Sasha's ability now and didn't want to use it unless she had to. But, there weren't enough animals around to call, but there were probably enough scorpions and beetles to call. Dammit!!! She didn't want to do that.

~C'mon, Morgan. He's more of a demon than you are. Kill him....you know you want to!~

Now it was her father's voice, followed by his maniacal laugh. She sat very still, trying very hard to ignore their voices...ignore the urge to do what Sasha suggested.

Lunch hour and the busy streets of Chicago were eerily quiet. Despite the fact that the serum was fast acting, city officials were urging the public to stay indoors for at least one more day. Some people had returned to work, but those not obsessed with success gladly took the day off.


Slate spread some mayonnaise on a piece of bread, combined it with some mustard then capped his pastrami sandwich. He had been working all morning trying to gather some intelligence on what R.A.I.D.'s next move would be and after five hours sifting through their databases he finally succumbed to hunger. He poured himself another coffee, stirred in some sugar and while he chewed down his lunch made his way back to his computer lab in the central bay of his garage in the rail-yards east of Archer Heights.

He tried calling Wraith again and his phone was still off or out of service range. 'What the hell was that guy doing?' Devon wondered, hoping that the big guy didn't bite off more than he could chew on this one. After a restless night, Sigma had awoke and surmised that this Doctor Jacobon might be under observation by RAID, and were that the case, Devon would be a sitting duck. That's why he had been trying to get a hold of him. It time's like these that Slate wished he had one of those abilities that would allow him to travel quickly over great distances. With all flights in or out of the city cancelled, his only other option was to run the road blocks, but he wasn't about drive all the way to Texas on a hunch. That jerk needed to turn his bloody phone on!

As Yelana and Tim ran ahead of Toril. "Well now I reckon we kin always use another hand 'roun char. Ya knowed anythin' 'bout cattle ur horses thar Toril?" Tim called back as he started to load boxes of ammunition and explosives into the jeep.

Henery watched, with amusement as Roy and the FBI agent conducted their little truf war, assured that the federal agent had met his match when it came to butting heads with Roy. When he hearded the muffled explosion, he looked off towards the rising smoke and dust expressionless, then looked at Roy ........ "I reckon I knowed a right good place ta hide this har truck. Now ya'all git them varmints all locked up an' high tail it back har. I'll have tha' missis rustle us up some grub thin we'll have a look see." As Roy and Agent Mitchell started to leave, Henery gave Roy a look that told him he understood. He then tied his horse to the back of the truck and climbed in. After Roy and Mitchell were out of site, Henery started the truck and headed southeast.

Morgan stayed where she was, trying hard to ignore the two voices inside of her head. The urge was becoming stronger to use a creature that would kill the man and even though he may not leave her a choice, she still did NOT want to use anything that was a part of Sasha. She listened to him getting closer to the stall she was in and knelt down. She was up against the wall and near the opening, staying very still. She knew that if she didn't want to use Sasha's ability then she would have to do this on her own for there weren't enough birds or animals to use in the immediate area.

Just as he got to the edge of the stall, she leapt up, hauling herself over the wooden slats, her foot connecting with his face. The gun went off, the shot going wide and she landed with a thud, her side and leg burning from the movement. She watched as the biker covered his face with his hand that wasn't holding the gun, blood streaming through his fingers from his nose. Before he could aim, she swiped his feet out from under him. She got to her feet quickly as he hit the ground and leapt over him to get to the crumbling door of the barn.

"You're such a wuss, Morgan! You could've called in rattlers or scorpions, something that would have killed him and you didn't!!"

"SHUT UP!!!!" Morgan yelled at the voice inside of her head as she ran for the door.