"Come on, D," Nada said, looking around.  "Hurry up and find it so we can get out of here."

"Just a few more moments," DaVinci said.

They were still in the Depths of the Resonate System, looking for DaVinci's faux-icon/computer.  Nada had quickly retrieved her PID and now had it reclipped to her outfit.  But DaVinci was having a little more trouble finding his faux-icon.  They'd left the wreck of Naught's hovercar behind, but it was still visible a short distance away.  Nada glanced back at it.

"Naught's gonna kill me," she said.

"I hardly think that's worth worrying about, Nada," DaVinci remarked.  "We have bigger things to worry about.  Elogin, to name one."

"Archer, to name another," Nada added.  "And Lazarus and the True Force, to name a third."

DaVinci nodded, then jumped on a pile of broken permacrete.  He tossed pieces aside, then laughed and stood up, brandishing his faux-icon.  "Found it!"  DaVinci's faux-icon was gold, but it had a stylized version of Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of a human male (the one that appears to have four arms and four legs) in matte black.  DaVinci tapped it, and the surface flickered in a specific pattern.  He nodded.  "It's fine.  The toss didn't damage it."  He tapped the faux-icon again, and the design changed to a black fashion  logo on a gold background -- this was David's civilian faux-icon.  After all, it wouldn't do to walk into the Resonate Principal Office wearing the emblem of the Renaissance Hacker.

"Let's go, come on!" Nada said, beckoning.  "Let's get out of here before Elogin comes back."

DaVinci nodded, then paused, rubbing his temples for a moment.  Nada looked back at him.  "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just a slight headache," DaVinci replied.  "I think it's a side-effect of being zapped by a virus.  When we get to the Principal Office, I'll see a doctor."

Nada nodded, then started for the System Access Transport, which would take them back to the Surface Levels, where they could enter the Principal Office.  DaVinci's sunglasses flickered with a line of green light as he followed Nada.  He unconsciously fingered his faux-icon.  Archer, when I get through with you, he thought to himself, there won't be enough left to fill a casket.

Of course, she had to get out of True Force Central, first.

Archer ducked low and ran from one shadowed corridor to another.  She stopped, checked back in the tunnel she'd run across, then moved down her corridor, periodically looking back the way she'd come.  It wouldn't do to be ambushed this close to her escape.  She froze as the synthesized male voice of the comm-system spoke out.

>Dee-oo< All. Personnel. Be. On. The. Look. Out. For. Doctor. Archer.  Terminate. On. Sight.

Shit, Archer thought.  She neared the next intersection, then threw herself against the wall as another squad of True Force zealots ran by, force sticks at the ready.  She sighed with relief, then blinked as she saw what was across the corridor from her.  It was a public-access terminal, a low-level computer for simple functions.  Archer smiled to herself, then stepped up to the terminal.  She keyed in commands, quickly bypassing the restrictions that were placed on it.

Let's see here... "Office Level, Beta Compound, Lambda Complex, Transports..." Ah, here we are.  "Detention Center."

Archer keyed in another series of commands, and then the screen told her:

Deactivation of security measures in Detention Center requires the authorization of upper echelon members.

Archer smirked and keyed in Lazarus' authorization code, which she'd hacked months ago.  The screen confirmed her command, then, as an afterthought, Archer altered Lazarus' code, so he would find logging into the network extremely difficult.  The screen shut down as she turned off the terminal.  She sat back to wait for her work to take effect.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, Archer looked up as the comm-system spoke again.

>Dee-oo< Hostile. Synthetic. Life. Signs. In. Main. Complex.  Security. Personnel. Contain. Hostiles. In. Main. Complex.

Archer whispered to herself, "You are so screwed, Lazarus."  Then she continued toward the subterranean tunnels.

Milton glanced over at Byron and Frost, who nodded back to him.  They were both ready to go along with Lazarus' orders.  They raised their multipulse rifles -- their props for the scene.  The crew thought the weapons had been modified to fire harmless bursts of light, but the True Forcers had modified them back to full lethality.

Milton looked down at the crew.  Martin O'Brien was talking over the sequence with Michael Dugan (who was playing the hero, Detterick Noble), Todd Bunsen (who was playing Deuce), and the trecherous synthetic-lover Quinn Rentack.  Milton moved into his place for the sequence, cradling his rifle.

"All right, everyone," O'Brien said into his loudspeaker, "this scene has to be executed perfectly.  The slightest mishap could result in a serious injury."  He was very serious.  "If we screw up, it will set us back 12.5 million credits."  A wry smile came to his face.  "Screw up and I take that 12.5 mil out of your paychecks!"  A brief smatter of chuckles from the other actors and the crew.

Milton kept his rifle ready.  Say the word, boss man, he thought.

O'Brien looked up.  "All right.  Deuce, you ready?"  Todd Bunsen gave a thumbs-up from his giant computer terminal.  "Det Noble and Bosworth?"  Similar gestures from Dugan and Nate Carter.  "All right.  Tech!"

"Ready!"

"Holocams!"

"Ready!"

"Go!  Action!"

Multicolored bursts of light began to lance around the set.  Small pyro bursts blew in the walls in synch with the bursts.  Detterick Noble ducked and weaved through the obstacles on the set as Bobbo Bosworth dangled precariously from a girder.  From his vantage point above it all, Gene Deuce laughed evilly and hacked away.  Milton watched carefully, firing his rifle carefully, then saw his chance.  He swung his rifle around to point at Rentack.

Quinn started to fall backwards instinctively, away from the bursts of energy he knew was coming from the rifle any instant.  As he did so, his bionic brace immediately kicked on hover-generators, cushioning his fall.  A panel came open on the side of the metal casing, and a fold-out blaster dropped into Quinn's palm.  He quickly flipped it out into its operative mode and started to aim toward the True Forcer.

The rifle fired, and there was a pressure from the brace and a dull flash.  Quinn glanced down his legs to see a smoldering hole in the metal casing, and a faint, but unpleasant, sensation trickling up his leg.  He'd been shot, but his damaged nerves in his legs prevented him from feeling the pain.

Thanking Heaven for small favors, Quinn got off one shot with his blaster before a large blue form grabbed him and pulled him out of harm's way.  Quinn looked over at his savior.  It was Tomasi, who was pulling out his own firearm.  He held it ready.  Quinn took the momentary breather as a chance to observe was happening on the set.  The crew was taking cover, as were the actors.  Nate Carter had already dropped free of his girder to land in a pad set up below and Dugan and Bunsen quickly followed suit.

"Just as I thought," Tomasi said.  His Texan accent from his Derik Salunsen disguise was gone.  No time for pretenses.  "Crossies.  Three of 'em.  They probably have back-up."

"What're you going to do?" Quinn asked.

"First things first," Tomasi said.  "I'm gonna shoot out their left kneecaps, keep 'em down.  If that don't work, then I'll shoot out their right kneecaps."  He fired a shot over the side of the panel they were hiding behind to drive off the True Forcers.  "And if that don't work, then I'll just kill 'em."

"What about Lazarus?" Quinn asked.

"I'll deal with him later," Tomasi said.

Tomasi glanced up, then waited.  Quinn looked.  The rifleman who'd started the firing was slowly striding across a girder, keeping a steady bead on their panel.  He failed to notice the gold-furred F'Val running up behind him.  Nails came up directly behind Agent Milton and grabbed the rifle with his left hand.  As Milton faced him, Nails drove his sharpened claws into Milton's unprotected throat.  Milton made an unpleasant gagging sound, his throat bleeding -- but not fatally -- and sore.  Nails followed up the throat jab with a kick to the stomach, then a karate chop to the back of the neck.

Tomasi stood up and shot the knee of the True Forcer who was now aiming at the F'Val.  Agent Byron cried out in pain, and Nails whirled to face him, a pistol appearing in his hand.  Tomasi and Nails converged on him as he struggled to reach his fallen rifle.

BLAM!

Sprite and F'Val whirled around to see Agent Frost falling down with a grievous wound in his side.  Quinn held the smoking gun.  Tomasi nodded his thanks as he closed on Byron.  Nails turned and went back to Frost.

"Quinn!" It was Martin.  The director crawled over to him.  "What's going on?!"

"Tell me, Martin," Quinn said as he lowered his blaster, "does the name Salman Rushdie mean anything to you?"

"All right, listen up," Tomasi hissed, "'cuz I'm only gonna tell ya this once.  You're gonna get me into True Force headquarters!"

"No synthetics will corrupt our holy ground!" Byron spat.  "God will welcome His Crusaders!"  He grabbed at the catch to his helmet.  Tomasi thought he was going to remove it in order to spit at him, but then there was a loud beeping from the helmet.  Tomasi's eyes flicked to the catch and widened when he saw a microbomb flashing.  He shoved Byron away and dove off the platform for the pad below.

There was a loud explosion that blew out the wall to the soundstage, taking Byron with it.  Tomasi shouted to his comrade in midair.  "Nails!  Don't let 'em get to their helmets!"  Nails nodded and used his claw to crack open Frost's helmet and snapped it off.

Tomasi landed with a muted thud, then quickly got up to climb the girders back to the upper level.

"Dunno," Niente said.  "But it's been pretty loud."

"Well, that's a given, right?" the hacker said.  "I mean, this is an action sequence they're shooting, right?"

"True..."

"And besides," Naught went on, "this is Martin O'Brien we're talking about.  He knows how to shoot an action sequence without blowing everything up."

BOOOOOOM!!

The shockwave from the explosion rocked the car slightly, and when the two sprites looked over toward the soundstage, they saw a flaming and smoking hole in the side.  Niente sat up.  "Quinn!"

"Holy mother of Babbage!" Naught shouted, ducking as a laser blast shot past his head.  He looked up to see a hovercar emblazoned with the stylized cross of the True Force.  "It's them!  Let's book it!"

"What about Quinn?!"

"Screw Quinn!" Naught said, starting the engine to his car and driving.  Niente quickly grabbed him by the ear and pulled him back.  "Ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Naught winced.

"Turn this car around," Niente growled, "or you'll find yourself walking back to the Resonate."  She looked back over her shoulder and pulled a pistol out of her jacket.  Naught's eyes bugged out.

"What in the name of the Maker are you doing?!" Naught stammered.  "If the GC blues see you with a gun they'll toss you in jail!"

"Yeah," Niente smirked, "but those Bible-thumping bastards are packing heat too, I guarantee it."  As the car roared up, Niente vaulted out and sprinted for the smoking hole in the soundstage.  Before she even reached it, a hovercar emblazoned with the True Force emblem appeared.  Two men leaned out and fired at her.  Niente ducked and ran for cover, firing her pistol up at them.

Naught started to bring his car around.  Part of his brain told him to turn his car about and turn tail and run like a good little hacker.  But another part -- the part that egged him into pulling off the suicidal hacking jobs which made the Flip Side Felons famous -- told him that was his sister down there, the one who paid for his hacking equipment, and he be damned if some 'Bible-thumping bastards' were going to delete her without his say-so!

He backed the car up, getting some speeding distance.  The True Force car didn't notice him, too absorbed in Niente and the gunfire coming from within the soundstage.  Naught shifted the car into drive, and lined up.  His eyes narrowed.  "Niente, you've done so much for me and Quinn and everyone," he said to himself, "I think it's time I laid in the beat-down."  His foot slammed down on the gas.

Trails of energy were left behind the car as he sped toward the True Force car.  They didn't see him until it was too late to avoid him.  Naught's aim was off slightly, and his car sideswiped the front end of their's.  Their car 360'd and crashed into the side of a building.  Naught pulled to a stop, undid his seatbelt, and got up on his seat, facing back to leer at them.  He got their attention: "Hey, Jesus freaks!" he called.  "Come 'n' get me, ya Cross-eyed lamerz!"

There were shouts of rage and fury from the occupants of the car, and it started to swing about to center on him.  Naught jumped back into his seat and gunned the motor, speeding off.  The car followed, the True Forcers firing at him.  Naught ducked low, buckling his seatbelt as an afterthought.  He zoomed up into Great Codex hovertraffic, his eyes searching for holes in the three-dimensional gridlock to dart through.

Laser pulses scorched paint jobs and burned fuselages as the True Forcers shot at him.  Naught winced as one shot blew out his side mirror, and then part of his windshield.  He gulped and wished he'd thought to pack his gun on this trip.  No chance to get one now.  He weaved through traffic, even crossing the median and braving oncoming traffic, but the True Forcers were not to be deterred, though they did pull back.

Naught used that instant to duck into an alley and park for a moment.  He peered out in traffic and saw that the True Force car had stopped in the middle of the two streams of traffic, patiently waiting for him to come out.  They knew Great Codex streets better than him -- the alley he'd gone into was a dead-end.  Naught weighed his options, and the daredevil side of his brain gave him one.

Naught tightened his seatbelt, then backed up to get some more speed room.  He'd get one shot at this, and if he screwed up, then he'd be null food.  He gripped the steering wheel tightly, then slammed on the gas again.  Twin streaks of energy were left behind his car as he shot out across traffic.  He angled down through cars, aiming for the True Force car.  I hope I remembered my physics lessons right! he prayed.

The True Forcers fired at him, but Naught was ducked just low enough to see where he was going, not exposing himself enough to get hit.  He came at them at a forty-five degree angle and broadsided them low on their side.  He ducked lower as the windshield was sheared off, the True Force car flipping up into traffic.  Their car spun several times before a hovertruck plowed into it.  The explosion cleared the haze left by the traffic, and then there was nothing.

Naught parked beneath traffic and watched as debris and shrapnel drifted down.  He smirked and saluted.  "Now that's seein' ya on the 'Flip' Side."  He whooped and turned the car around to get back to the studio.

Tomasi was lying in a padding pit, firing up at a man in a costume from the film.  A True Force pendant dangled from his neck, over the side of the girder, which he was lying down on, to keep exposure to a minimum.  The gold-furred F'Val that Tomasi was working with was slowly making his way toward a bleeding True Forcer -- also in costume -- who had propped himself up against the wall, preventing a sneak-up.

Quinn was behind an instrument panel, but he periodically sat up to fire over the side toward Lazarus' goons.  Niente made her way over to him.  Quinn grinned as he saw her.  "Hey, Niente.  Bit loud isn't it?"

Niente nodded.  "Yeah.  Nil and Void would be right at home here."  She looked at his bionic brace and saw a scorch mark.  "You okay?"

"Yeah," Quinn said.  "Can't feel anything in my legs, anyway.  More of an annoyance than a wound, really.  We had three guys to deal with, but one went out in a blaze of glory, I guess you'd say."

Niente sized up what was going on.  "Think I can help out?"

"Tomasi's got the guy with the pendant pinned down.  He'll get the sucker, no worries.  It's the guy I pegged who's more of a problem," the writer said.  "He blew up Nails' gun, and now he's backed into a corner with a gun and several spare clips.  There's no way to sneak up on him."

Niente looked at the set and smiled.  "Oh, yes, there is.  Can you get the F'Val's attention?"

Quinn nodded.  "Nails!"  He ducked as Frost and Milton fired at him again.  "Nails!  Where are you, you son-of-a-bitch?!"

With a scowl, Nails ducked low and swung down to Quinn's level from his girder.  "What is it, ya User gimp?" he demanded.  Niente quickly stuck her gun up against his temple.  Nails peered at her.

"Nails, meet Niente.  She doesn't take kindly to people razzing me," Quinn said.  "Listen, she's got an idea to get the bleeder."

"I'll put it in short words, okay?" the biker said.  "I need you to distract him long enough for me to get under him."  Nails leered.  Niente prodded him with the gun again.  "Not that way, you idiot.  Under him."  She pointed.  Nails looked, then grinned, getting her drift.

"Yeah, I think I can oblige."

"Wow," Niente snapped.  " 'Oblige.'  That's a big word for a goon like you, ain't it?"

Nails scowled and didn't bother to reply.  He got up and climbed cautiously back up to Frost's level, Quinn providing cover fire.  Niente went low, passing Tomasi, who glanced at her long enough to register who she was before going back to shooting at Milton.  She watched Nails, who was taunting Frost and slowly creeping toward him, dodging the True Forcer's shots in his direction.

She slowly sidled along the side of the set, keeping her gun primed and set to go.  Milton had a perfect line of sight in her direction, but she was relying on Tomasi to keep him distracted.  Niente licked sweat off her lips and slowly got in position.

Milton spotted her.  "Frost!" he roared.  "Check your drop-six!"

Frost jerked and leaned forward to peer over the side.  He saw her and started to bring his gun down.  Niente was faster.  Her gun aimed straight up and sent several pulses through his legs and body.  Frost jerked, then leaned forward further, toppling over and landing with a wet plop on the ground.

Nails saw this, grinned, and looked up at Milton.  He dashed along his girder and jumped up at Milton's hanging gun hand.  He grabbed Milton's wrist and yanked as he fell.  Milton gave a cry as he was pulled off his girder, his gun falling away.  Tomasi quickly vacated the pad as Nails and Milton fell in a tumbled heap.

Milton screamed, clutching his broken wrist, but Nails hauled him to his feet and smacked him across the face.  "Welcome to Hell, User," the F'Val snarled.

"Crahsis uhvuhted, everyone," Tomasi called in his Texan dialect.  "We got th' suckahs."

Martin O'Brien appeared and came over.  "Who are they, Mr. Salunsen?"

"Anti-non-human terrorists," Nails replied.  "Not to worry, Mr. O'Brien.  We'll deliver this one to the GCPD.  We'll send the hearse crew to pick up the other two."

"Sorry this had t' happen t' yoah film, Mistah O'Brien."  Tomasi stuck his gun in his waistband.  "Ah'll see if muh othah associates can lend a hand in makin' up foah it."  He threw Milton over his shoulder and looked to his partner.  "C'mon, Nails."  He and the F'Val left.

"I doubt there's going to be much he can do," Martin said miserably.  "It took me six months to set up this scene, and cost me 12.5 million credits.  Now the film's going to be pushed back.  I can't afford that!"

"Financially?" Quinn inquired as he stood, carefully testing his damaged brace.

"That," Martin said, "and my reputation can't take a hit like this!  You remember my last big-budget film, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Quinn said, wincing.  "What was it called?  Uh, Immense."  That particular film had gone way over-budget and been delayed so often that it had become the recipient of several caustic remarks from critics.  (Quinn, as it happened, had been one of said critics.)

"We'll find some way to salvage it, Martin," Dugan said, returning from his hiding place.  "Don't worry."

But none of them could see how.

"Hey," Nails said, looking at the True Force operative.  "I think this User's dead."

"What?!" Tomasi shoved him aside to grab Milton and look at him closely.  Milton's mouth fell open, revealing that one of his front teeth had darkened.  There was some smell, like almonds.  "Ah, son of a bitch!  The bastard had a cyanide pill in a false tooth."  He shoved Milton's corpse aside, then drove a fist into a shelf, sending several holo-projectors crashing to the floor.

Nails cuffed him.  "Do ya mind not trashin' my store?  I gotta make a living ya know."

Tomasi scowled again.  "Search the bastard.  See if he's got any passkeys or anything we can use to find the Crossie HQ."  Nails did so as the larger sprite leaned against the counter to think. There has to be a way we can get into the Crossies' base of ops without bringing the whole True Force down on our heads, he said to himself. But how?

Nails stood up, shaking his head.  "Nothing.  I think this User was one of Lans' cut-loose lackeys.  When he was sent after us, he was cut off, so he couldn't be traced back."

Tomasi moved to the shop window and glared out at the distant tower of TruPharm Inc. HQ, which he knew doubled as the True Force's base of operations.  "It's pretty obvious," he grated, "where he'd trace back to, but the thing that pisses me off is that I know they're in there, but I can't do anything about it!"

Nails glanced back at his personal computer terminal, which was linked to a former Apocalypse dBase.  He gestured at it.  "Well, I've analyzed that data ya brought back the other day."

"And?"

"I think I know a way in."

Tomasi turned to him.  "How?"

"Well, my former Apoc buddies have a few GCPD uniforms lying around.  >From what your observations were able to tell me, one of the few contacts with nonhumans the Crossies can stand are GC Blues."  Nails went in back briefly and returned with two GCPD uniforms -- one modified to fit a F'Val.  "Ergo..."

Tomasi slowly smiled.

Nada looked at him.  "The man who helped get you out of TruPharm?"

He nodded.  "And the guy Lazarus turned into a cyborg to kill Quinn.  Get back."  He gestured Nada back into an alley and watched as Cato's car went by, then shrank back as more police cars appeared, firing at Cato.  The door on Cato's car was punched open, and the cybernetic assassin leaned out to fire his Gunclaw at the pursuing cars, which turned around as his shots damaged their engines and armor.  One particular cop car, however, did get a lucky shot in, blowing a hole clean through Cato's hover generator.  Trailing smoke, the stolen car crashed spectacularly in the street.

DaVinci cautiously crept out, silently wishing he had a gun, but Elogin had destroyed their only weaponry before inexplicably running off.  He had a suspicion that his Digibomb program had worked, and the resultant injury to her merged creator had forced Elogin to beat tracks.  He jumped back as he saw movement from within the hovercar wreckage.

"That's impossible," Nada whispered.

"I dunno," DaVinci said.  "According to Niente and Quinn, Cato took a lot of punishment before being captured.  Including a hovercar crash."

Cato must have heard them, because he turned in their direction and smiled.  "DaVinci," he said in a semi-synthesized voice. "Thank God."

The hacker shielded Nada.  "You stay back, you hear?"

"It's all right, David," Cato said.  "I managed to override the programming.  It's me, Cato, the guy who helped get you out of Lazarus' prisoner block."

DaVinci cautiously moved forward.  "What?"

"I can't explain it," Cato said.  "Near as I can tell, my own programming made the mistake of unlocking my memories.  I think it was looking for instructions and accidentally set me free."

"So you're okay?"

Cato looked at himself, with his augmented skin, bionic implants and cybernetic fist, then shrugged.  "As okay as a guy in my situation can be."

"So you're on your way to GC?"

"You bet," Cato said, scowling.  "That bitch Archer did this to me, and I think she's planning to betray Lazarus.  If she can somehow sabotage things, there's no telling how he'll react."

"Archer," DaVinci grated.  "Did you know that she wrote a virus?"

"A Class Seventeen," Cato replied.  "Yes.  Part of her programming was somewhat unauthorized -- she included Elogin's profile so I wouldn't try to attack her."

"Yeah, well she just attacked Nada and me," DaVinci said.  "We were going to talk to the Resonate Government, but far be it from me to pass up this sort of opportunity."

"What about the Principal Office?" Nada asked.

"Go there, tell Hostan that you're there on Quinn's behalf, and explain the situation -- omitting the illegal parts like our hacking."

"Naturally," Nada said dryly.  "What about you?"

"I have a virus to catch."

"No," Cato replied.  "If your Digibomb program did work, she will likely have left.  According to the files she uploaded into me, however, she has a safehouse ten levels down from TruPharm's main level."

DaVinci consulted his knowledge of the system and turned their rented hovercar around and down through hovertraffic.  "How do we explain me?"

"Simple enough," Cato said.  "I go in, pretending to be her obedient little drone, saying I have captured you."

"But I thought your orders were to kill me?"

"They were," Cato replied.  "I can pass that off by saying there was a malfunction in part of my circuitry.  While she's busy running the diagnostic, you get her.  Then we can get rid of Elogin along with Archer."

"What if Elogin's already there?"

"Then we'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

"Neither can I," Sagittaria replied.  "But I have a problem now.  Hal Kitz somehow survived the explosion and he's told Lazarus about my betrayal.  Now he's hunting me as much as his hated 'synthetics.'"

"And to further complicate things, something happened to DaVinci," the virus put in.  "I'm not sure what it was, but it happened when you were electrocuted by the explosion.  The shock was transmitted over our link, and since I was in contact with him at the time, something...happened to him."

Sagittaria scoffed.  "Never mind.  Right now we have to worry about Lazarus.  Thanks to that fool Kitz, I can't get back into TruPharm to get the equipment I left there.  The data's no problem -- I can hack in and get it back -- but I've lost all the equipment I had there."  She held up her needle gun.  "This is the only thing I have left.  I don't even have my computer anymore!  The minicomp I have in my faux-icon is not as good as the other one!"

"We can get you another one," Elogin told her.  "It's not that hard."

The hacker femme sighed, then looked at her faux-icon as it flashed.  She tapped it and called up a screen.  She smiled.  "Well, fancy that.  It appears that Cato managed to get out of prison after all.  He's on his way here."  She squinted at the readouts.  "And it appears he has a guest."

Elogin closed her eyes and scanned with her powers.  Her eyes snapped open.  "It's DaVinci!"

"Ah!  How fortunate!" Sagittaria smiled.  "We can get the coordinates to Cragis from him!  Then we don't have to worry about digging poor Il Lupe's mind out of the rubble that was left."  She looked at her virus.  "You wait over there.  I'll monitor them on the my minicomp."

"Get the kamikaze protocols up," Elogin advised.  "I have a feeling that something's not right."

DaVinci scowled, grinding his teeth.  "I'm going to march right up to Archer and punch her goddamn face in, then show her just how much getting shocked by Elogin hurt."

Cato blinked his eyes, circuitry glittering within.  "How are you going to do that?"

"Leave that to me.  You just keep Elogin off my back."

Elogin chuckled.  "The poor fool thinks I'm you, Sarah."

Sagittaria smirked.  "Let him think that."  She sat down at a table, her minicomp open in front of her.  "I'll run a test on his subroutines, check for any damage done by the Resonate Police..."

Elogin prodded DaVinci's form with her foot.  "Well, we got this meddlesome hacker now.  Should I rape his mind?"

"Go ahead," Sagittaria said.

The Class-17 Virus nodded and let a tendril of her powers enter his mind -- only to be immediately thrown out.  Elogin gasped.  "Sarah!  He's not unconscious!"

DaVinci abruptly sat up as Cato swung up his Gunclaw, slashing Elogin across the chest, then lunged and pinned her against the wall.  Sagittaria focused on her computer, trying to hack into Cato's cybernetics' psuedointelligence core and make him stop.  DaVinci turned to her, glaring, then moved up behind her.  She started to turn to aim her needle gun, but he smashed it away, then grabbed her head between his hands.

"Care to find out what Elogin's little shock felt like?" he growled, sounding almost feral.  She gasped in shock (Did I hear a viral resonance in his voice?!), then screamed as an electrical shock went through her head and into her body.  Her vision swam, but she could see DaVinci's reflection in her minicomp's screen and gasped as she saw it.

On the other side of the room, Cato was thrown back as Elogin started screaming as well, her form glowing as the shock made her own viral powers go haywire.  She finally collapsed against the wall and slumped to the ground, just as Sagittaria did the same in her seat.

"Now I'm going to kill you!" DaVinci howled, gripping something in his hand and raising it overhead.  Cato turned and looked at him.

"DaVinci, stop!!" Cato shouted, running to him and stopping his swing.  "Look at what you're holding."

The hacker looked at him, and Cato gasped in shock, just as Sagittaria had.  DaVinci lowered his hands and then dropped the object in them in revulsion.  It was a black and silver cane -- exactly like the one Lean Il Lupe used.  He looked at his hands, then turned and looked at the minicomp's screen.

His face looked back at him, but with an almost animal-like intensity to it.  But that wasn't what made him step back in horror.  It was the fact that his dark eyes weren't looking back at him.  Far from it.  What was looking back at him was a pair of glowing blue-gray orbs -- exactly like the eyes of Lean Il Lupe.

That's why Elogin ran off...she saw my eyes like this, the analytical part of his mind told him.  It frightened her.  But how did this happen?

Then the emotional part of his mind kicked in, and he screamed in fear.  "WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ME?!"

And from the back of his mind, a chilling voice, a voice that he wished he would never have to hear again, replied, Your pet Wolf has come home to stay, DaVinci.

Shuddering in terror, DaVinci shoved Cato away and dashed out the door, leapt into the hovercar and drove off as fast as he could.