Jabberwoky

by Michael Spenik

Maddie has completed the Agoge and has proven herself as a warrior in her own right, no longer in the shadow of the Khan. Tony has found his father and is trying to do him proud while coping with the consequences and scars he received in the bayou. Alone, they are formidable, but together they are something else entirely.

Prologue…

Tony stands in the doorway of the apartment, opening his senses to everything inside, drinking in the nuances and details. First, he opens his mind to what he smells, his eyes half closed as he focuses on the palate of the rooms and halls beyond. The scent of bleach and ammonia is strong, indicating the recent cleaning the area has underwent. Under that, he detects the hints of dander and hair, the previous owner had a pet, not a cat or dog, a mongoose, three of them, all males.

He turns his head and notes other details, but none important, and he slowly opens his eyes as he takes a step past the threshold, studying the hall. A door a pair of yards to his right, the kitchen, more wall and on the left for another two yards then a door to the bathroom. Beyond that, the wall on the right ends, and opens into the main living area, and the wall on the left goes another two yards before the door to the bedroom. He steps forward and studies the kitchen without entering, an ice box to the side for cold items, and a Ben Franklin potbellied stove in the corner with iron pipe leading to the building's central smokestack.

He notes the simple utilitarianism of the appliances, as well as the door overtop the potbelly of the stove for cooking. There are cupboards for plates, bowls and cups, silverware, but he can sense none, all of it has been removed recently. There is no scent of vermin or rodents moving in and taking residence.

He takes a few steps and glances into the bathroom, but moves on and looks at the hardwood floor of the main room. No furniture adorns the room, a bare floor and empty walls, brick without even plaster over it, swept and dusted. He turns to the bedroom and steps in, finding a simple room also sporting hardwood, and he studies the bare brick walls, frowning tightly but inwardly nodding.

"Do you like it?" the short Asian woman asks from a few yards behind him hesitantly. "I cleaned it this morning, after your Aunt said you'd be by."

Tony turns to the lady, his expression tight, and trying not to smile or show anything. The scars on his face are tight and telling, third degree burns that caused his face to look like melted and ripped wax while his right side is untouched. He knows it off-sets people, and he tries to tone down his expressions to keep from disturbing them. The scars are covered with a rainbow kaleidoscope of colors that shift and move through the rainbow, but the scars are unmistakable.

"It looks good, just what I'm looking for," he says with a nod. "My Aunt said you were asking for five hundred a month, plus security deposit and last month up front?" he asks, his tone polite and a very small smile, trying to keep his scars from bunching and shifting.

"If that works for you," the old lady says, a woman in her seventies that owns the building next to Aunt Autumn's shop, a second floor apartment in Houston. "Your Aunt has helped the neighborhood, and has watched my cats for me often, when I had to leave town on family matters. And your father…"

"Do you accept cash?" he asks, pulling his pack from his shoulder, a sturdy canvas backpack from a military surplus store. "I can sign right now, if you have the papers and the keys."

She blinks, "Yes, I can have the papers in a few minutes, if you like. How long will it take you to move in?"

He smiles tightly, gesturing to the duffle bag by the front door, "That's all I own there. It won't take long."

Richard is sitting on the platform overlooking the Bastion, his hands resting on his knees in the lotus position. He hears the backdoor of the cabin open, and after a moment he recognizes Maddie's gait as she walks off the porch and to the barn. He makes a mental bet with himself, based on her stride, and wins it when she ascends the boards to the top of the barn.

"Hey, Rick, got a minute?" she asks as she steps on the platform, and he opens his eyes and rises to his feet.

She has a pensive expression on her face, and is rubbing her wrist anxiously, a nervous habit of hers. He smiles gently and walks over in his jeans, t-shirt and leather vest, she in the same but different colors. Rick's is a black shirt with a brown vest, hers is a red shirt and black vest, and her six inch long hair is highlighted with sharp red and blue within her brown hair, compared to Rick's nearly buzzed hair and stubble. Both wear weapons on their person, though Rick has on only a few daggers compared to Maddie's knife, daggers and gladius.

"What's up, hon?" he asks, wondering what this is about, a few possibilities already rattling around in his head.

"So…" she says with a sigh, firming her jaw and looking at him directly. "I know I'm only sixteen, and you're responsible for me. But, I remember what you told me, about learning to take care of myself, and…" she takes a deep breath and pushes on stubbornly. "And I passed the Agoge, and really learned a lot about myself, and… and I think I need to move out."

She says the last in a rush, and Rick only quirks an eyebrow as she ploughs on.

"You paid all those who went through the Agoge, we all got paid for the time we were gone, and the graduation bonus, and we got combat pay and bonuses for the mission in New Orleans," she says in a rush. "I have enough to buy a place outright, or rent with a look to own, and a lot of other possibilities, and I've been looking in the classifieds, and doing research, because I haven't spent any of it, and…"

"Okay," he says as she pauses for breath.

She opens her mouth to continue, but pauses, blinking at him and closing her mouth with a clop, "Oh, uh, okay."

Richard smiles at her, walking to her and placing his hands on her shoulders, "You went through a hard training where you really learned to be an adult, and a leader. Then you were tested in combat, and survived, saving my ass in the process."

She grins up at him, "It was kinda awesome, wasn't it?"

He smirks back at her, "It was. And I also know that Jocelyn is driving you slowly insane, after what you've been through."

"Not so slowly, sometimes," she says with a frown now, nearly a growl.

He chuckles and rubs her arms, then pulls her into a hug, "If you want to go, I won't stop you. But you know that the doors are always open."

"Thanks, Rick," she says, hugging him back.

"And weekly dinners, family events, etc…" he says, drawing back, smiling at her. "And you are still a member of the Horde, so you'll have to pick a Clan and petition, and then that guy that runs the whole thing will have to look through your file…"

He trails off as she laughs at him, "Like Mischa or Tasha would let me go anywhere but Cat, and in the Pride."

"Both of whom you're going to have to talk to about this," he says with a smirk as she gets another nervous expression after that comment.

"You won't, y'know, prep the battlefield for me?" she asks with a touch of nervousness.

"I'll bet ten bucks you've already talked to Mischa about stuff relating to this, so she's probably figured it out," Rick says with a querying expression, and Maddie's own look turns thoughtful. "You can ask her for help, but I'd rather not get involved unless you really need it, but I doubt you will. Tasha will be fine, you came to me first because I presume you figured I'd be the tough sell."

"Well, yeah," she says with a frown and a shrug as she sits on the platform as he does, looking at the Bastion below. "Between everything I know has happened before I got here, and your less than subtle reaction to seeing me in cuffs in New Orleans, I figured you'd be a bit possessive."

Rick smirks, "I can't lock you up forever, I just hope I can set you up for success, that's all."

"Thanks," she says again, reaching over and placing a hand on his, taking a deep breath, then asking nervously. "And can I keep Trixie stabled here? Her feed and housing bill is what is really concerning me if I move."

Jabberwok

Tony walks into the shop Autumn owns, jeans and armor on with a light gray cloak over that to keep the rain off of him. He stomps his feet on the front mat meant for that and pulls back his hood, slipping his pack off of his shoulder.

"Hey, Aunt A, I brought those stones you wanted filled," he says as he walks into the store and towards the counter where she sits at the counter.

"Stop," she says firmly, her arm out and palm at him. "You know the rule, take it off."

He frowns, but reaches up and pulls the mask off his face, the eyeholes sheer cloth he can still see through well due to his enhanced senses. He tucks it in his belt and nods awkwardly at where Jocelyn sits at the back table by shelves with merchandise. Tony waves at the young girl with a smile, and she grins and waves back, holding her crocheting in her lap. The young were-lion is sitting on the tabletop in a lotus position with her fingers flying and shifting the bundle of cloth.

Tony narrows his eyes and looks at her as he sets the pack on the counter, pulling the sack containing charged lodestones without looking. The stones are etched and crafted by Autumn, but Tony took the time to charge them with his own magic, as he can do it faster. Autumn picks up the sack with twenty stones in it, each the size of an eyeball, then she picks each up and holds it to the candle light to the side, studying them through the light. Tony waits patiently as she does, and when she has looked at them all she separates them on the table by color, which denotes their properties, four piles.

"I'll run them through the m-scanner, and if they look good there, we'll be set," she says, picking up the felt covered tray she is using to move the stones. "I'm surprised you were able to do it so quickly. You must have stayed up late the other day to get it all done during the magic wave."

Tony takes on a pensive expression, and as he can sense no one else in the building but the three of them, he replies, "I charged them during the tech wave. It was harder to pull, and took longer, but it worked."

She pauses, glancing at the stones, and then back at him, "These are fully charged. How long did it take?"

"Twenty minutes each during magic, forty during tech," he says with a pensive expression. "I'm thinking of trying to push magic into the sword, like dad does."

Autumn takes a breath, pursing her lips in thought. She is older than her brother, Richard Michaels, the Khan of Horde, the Alpha shapeshifter for over a thousand people who can turn into animals. She had been a small time, small town practicing Celtic Witch in New York, but a twist of fate had forced her to turn to her brother for help, whom she had not seen in years, but who had sent notes and messages as often as he could. The adventure that followed had ended with the slightly stocky, brown haired and slightly doughty looking woman resettling herself near her were-tiger brother, though she is a full human. Since then, she has been a shoulder to lean on for her younger brother, she being older and in her late thirties.

Autumn sighs again and sets the tray down on the counter, bracing her arms on the counter, making solid eye contact with him. She is wearing her usual store attire of dark slacks and a colored blouse, today is a rust red, and a white shirt. Her hair is tied back in a simple, loose tail behind her head, and her brown eyes gain an intensity that remind any who meet her that she endured a similar crucible as the Khan to pass into adulthood.

"Tony, you have a huge amount of magic potential," she says with a tight expression. "You really should focus more on magic, then on fighting. The fact that you charged all these stones in so short a time, during tech, and you're not in a coma, means you have a lot of power, and you should really learn to use it better."

"Later," he says with a frown and a nod. "Let me finish getting my GED first, then go from there. I never thought of going to college, and now it seems a requirement."

He says the last while running his unscarred right hand through his thick brown hair, which is finger length on his head, his face covered in stubble.

"I thought you were going to switch to a shorter hair and sharper chin look," Autumn says in a low voice, concern in her face.

He reaches up and gently rubs his eyes, the light from the candle sharp without the dimming from the mask's eyeshields, "It hurts too much… to shave. I can't stand to do it every day. I feel too much, I can only filter so much at a time."

Autumn reaches forward and rests her hand on his that is still on the counter, "It's only been a month since we got back, give it time. You'll learn, and it will be okay."

"I hope so," he says, looking up from his own green eyes that look like his father's. "So what do I get for the stones?"

She smirks, "I'll go scan them. Hang out with Jocelyn, I'll be back shortly."

"I'll make some tea, if that's okay," he says, gesturing to the station behind the counter.

"Help yourself, no charge for family," she says with a smile and a wink.

Tony moves to the station closer to Jocelyn and speaks in a normal tone of voice, knowing her enhanced shapeshifter hearing will hear him fine.

"You are knitting a storm up, what are you making?" he asks, putting the tea kettle over a flame.

"Aunt A had some fine grade wool, but doesn't have the time to knit it into a tight fabric," she says, her eyes on the very small crochet hook in her hands. "I'm making a thin, fine knit shirt, I think. The pattern is not easy."

Tony nods and smirks, glancing over and reading the print on the paper ten feet away easily with his heightened senses. It is a design for a long sleeved shirt with a collar, but not an easy design to be knit without being cut and sewn.

"Why not make a whole cloth and then seal the cuts and sew it together?" he asks, curious.

"It's not the same," she says with an absent nod of her head, glancing again to the diagram, pausing and pulling out a few lines of stitching and starting a new row.

"If you say so," he says, walking over next to her, walking around the shop while he waits for the water to boil.

A few minutes pass and he is steeping the tea leaves from the pot when a sound from the front strikes his ears, metal on metal. A few moments before the door opens, the scent of the visitor hits him, and he stiffens involuntarily in nervousness. The door opens and the bells over it ring, but he is hearing the soft tread of sneakers as the full array of details hit his senses. Sweat, sneakers, a bit of leather and steel with oil for maintenance, a light vanilla and pine under it, and a hint of paper and ink.

"Hey, sis!" Jocelyn shouts from the tabletop, not even glancing up from the table.

"Hey, brat," Maddie says as she walks in, behind him, and he can hear her rub her sister's head and peck her on the head. "Where's Aunt A? She called the Xiang's with a delivery request, this is my last delivery of the shift."

Tony swallows but does not say anything, never good in social arenas, and even more awkward around girls. The details of the way he met Maddie and then the inexplicable relationship he did not even know he had with her only makes things… odder for him. He continues to strain the tea, carefully pouring a cup for himself.

"Hey, Tony," Maddie says offhand, pulling out a chair and sitting at the table by her sister.

"Hi, Madelyn," he says, fighting not to stammer, and only glancing at her, forcing himself to a calm and cool demeanor.

"Maddie, call me Maddie," she says with a smirk at him, revealing a dimple, and he nods in return as she turns and reads the directions of the shirt her sister is making.

Maddie is only barely a year younger than Tony, just over five feet tall and with a lean, athletic build that is a touch heavier in the shoulders. The extra muscle there and in her legs is from her participation and graduation from the Horde's elite training for its fighters, the Agoge. She spent four months training and testing, culminating in support of the attack by the Horde on New Orleans, not as axillaries, but as direct combatants. That was where she and Tony had met, he wearing a mask and killing Hercules as he attempted to choke the life from her as she gouged out the Greek hero's eye. Not to mention that they then tag teamed against the god Poseidon a couple of hours later to save the Khan's life.

"Can you make me a cup?" she asks, only glancing at him, and he nods, stealing another glance at her as he does.

She is wearing bike shorts and a tight cotton t-shirt, hugging her figure and leaving nothing to the imagination despite its covering. She also has a leather baldric over her shoulders and back, a highly crafted and enchanted gladius over her right shoulder. In a sheath across the chest strap is a bone handled knife, and a messenger bag sits next to her feet. Tony notes the name on the bag, Secure Transport, and uses it to try and make conversation.

"I thought you would be working security, not doing bike messenger work," he says with an inquiring tone, pulling another mug from the shelf.

"The Xiangs own and operate it," she says in explanation. "The thick, simple chain and single gear bikes with a simple ratcheted back brake works, even during magic waves. But normal humans can't use them for long, whereas shapeshifters…"

"So it's all shapeshifters, delivering across the city via bike," he says, pausing as he thinks that over. "How much does the bike weigh?" he asks, mulling over it.

"Forty pounds," she says with a grunt. "It's harder than old bikes to get up to speed, and it's not bad for handling, until you want to stop. And the things ain't cheap, either."

He glances over at her, forcing himself to just look at her face, which is not difficult as his mind is thinking over the details now, "How much are they?"

"A bit over a grand," she says with another grunt, pulling out a pad from her bag and filling out some paperwork. "I bought one after we got back, and Rick paid those of us from the Agoge," she says distractedly, slowly writing in the basic information for the delivery. "The Xiang's only have a dozen riders, but it's really good money. No one wants to jump an angry shapeshifter trying to make a deadline, and we can get stuff across town in record time. Nothing too heavy, fifty pounds is the biggest I've taken, only because the bike won't take more easily."

Tony grunts non-committally, simply chewing over the information she had said casually, and he nearly does not pay attention to what she says next.

"Oh, by the way, Lu wanted me to let you know he can come over later today, to train," she has looked up from her paper work to look at him, her forehead bunched up prettily, but he keeps his expression calm and neutral, though with difficulty. "I didn't know you trained with them."

"He's helping me learn Mantis Kung Fu, and to shift through my senses," he says with a slightly sour look, turning away again, in part to not look at her, but also because he knows the scars are hideous.

"Yeah, Aunt A said something about that," she says in a thoughtful tone, and he can tell she is staring at his back, but he just carefully pours the tea in a mug. "You have shapeshifter level senses, smell and hearing?"

"Sight and touch, too," he says with a slight frown as he turns with a mug in each hand from the station, habitually turning so his scarred side is at least partially hidden. "And better than a shapeshifter's. My reflexes aren't there, yet, but I can see and feel and sense things that you probably wouldn't believe."

"Try me," she says with a snort. "After everything I've seen since meeting Rick, anything's possible."

He smirks with the good side of his mouth, his chin held down and to the side from habit when he's not wearing his mask, his unscarred right side forward. He sets down a mug in front of her and steps back, a half dozen feet between them as they talk.

"I can read the bindings of a book from a hundred feet away, or further," he says with a tight smile. "Farther, with the bad eye," he adds with a quirk of his mouth as he gestures to the milky left eye.

"How… is it really bad, if you can see that good?" she asks, frowning in thought as she blows on the green tea with honey.

"It… it just is," he says with no force, trailing off and looking further to the side to hide that side of his face more.

Before she can say anything, Autumn comes through the swinging door to the back, smiling when she sees Maddie.

"Oh, good, you're here," she says, pulling seven of the stones from the tray and putting them in separate jewel bags, then into another. "These need to go downtown, to 736 East Corbin Street, Storefront Charlie. He's paid for them already, and needs them immediately."

"Twelve minutes," Maddie says without looking up, scribbling the address on the form. "Name?"

"James Michael Ricobardo," she says carefully, pulling the drawstring on the larger bag, then putting it into a small sealed sack for the transport. "Bill my account, Huang knows," she says, shrugging at the last, having done business with the transport company exclusively.

"It's going to be steep, you know that?" she asks, holding out the pad with the triplicate papers under carbon paper.

"He's paying top notch to have it before noon," she says with a smirk. "They won't help him as much as he'd like, but I told him that when he placed the order."

She signs the signature block and hands the envelope to Maddie, who stuffs it in her messenger bag and trots to the front door.

"What do I tell Lu?" Maddie asks as she moves.

Tony blinks, and answers as the door closes, "Tell him come on over, I'll be waiting on the roof."

"You're distracted," Lu says from the side of the rooftop, watching Tony move through the Mantis style of Kung Fu he is learning.

He stop and drops his form with a forceful sigh, "I'm fine."

"Then why are you the suck?" the Chinese teenager asks, a stocky, dark haired and dark eyed member of the Xiang Clan who is also an Agogite, like Maddie.

"The proper way to say it is 'then why do you suck?'," he says with a sigh, rubbing his face and moving back a few steps to the start position.

"So, then why?" the were-tiger asks, his muscular arms crossed over his chest, wearing a sleeveless shirt and baggy pants barefoot.

"I've just got things on my mind, that's all," he says with a sigh. "School and stuff."

"Stop thinking," the were-tiger admonishes, though only a year older. "Thoughts interfere with action, with reaction, with instinct. I watch, when you fight in the Bayou. You have battle mind, but we must refine. Your form, very sloppy."

"Thanks," Tony grumbles, then goes slowly through the forms he is learning, trying to match the level of precision he has seen the were-tiger exhibit.

After another ten minutes, Lu waves him to stop, "Enough. You cannot learn today, your mind elsewhere."

Tony sighs, "Sorry, it was an off day."

Luang, called by friends Lu, waves him off, "Your progress is still good. It takes months, years to learn what you have done in the last few weeks. It will come, just not today."

"Thanks, Lu," Tony says with a nod, bowing in respect to his instructor, even though the man is only a year older.

"How comes the studying?" Lu asks, having been home schooled like Tony, and also having to go through classes and tests to finish his GED so he can take college classes.

"The math is tough, but what they require for GED isn't bad," he says, patting his masked head with a towel to pull the extra moisture out. His mask is simple black with no ornamentation, though he has some with designs on them. "History is killing me right now, but the Social Science stuff is a breeze, as is English."

"I am on the opposite side," he says with a frown. "But I am not good enough in History to help you. Though I know a few people who may help, if you would like me to ask?"

"I don't know anyone in town, really, so I would appreciate it," he says with a nod of appreciation. "So if you will excuse me, I'm going to clean up and head to my other job."

"The son of the Khan should not be abasing himself, working in such a profession," Lu says with a tight frown.

"Got to pay the bills, Lu, and I'm too low on the Merc Guild totem pole to get good contracts," he says with a shake of his head, knowing the ones he has had so far were largely in part to his connection to the Khan. "I want to stand on my own two feet, not be someone's hang-on entourage."

"You wish to be known for your own merits, not for the accomplishments of others," Lu says with a nod of appreciation. "An honorable goal. Until next time, Anthony."

Tony nods and bows before leaving, wishing he would use his shorter name as he has repeatedly asked, but none of the were-tigers are capable of doing.

Tony reins in his horse in front of the High School, here for his test on English 302, pausing to look at the two story stone faced building. Built in the 1940s of brick and mortar with two floors, a basement and a loft attic and roof, it had survived the Shift. It has served a few purposes in the last thirty years as one of the few surviving buildings of the old age, but for the last ten years, it has been a high school again. He stops at the poles set to the side for horses to tie up for visitors, and he dismounts.

He could take the horse to the stables, but the horse was a gift from his dad, and has the brand of the Horde on it. No one will mess with it or the saddlebags, knowing that they would be found and held accountable. The big black horse nuzzles his shoulder, by his quiver of arrows, and he pushes its muzzle away with a swat and a smile through his mask.

"Be good," he says, rubbing its nose, then turning to the deep steps of the entrance, in the old Greek fashion.

The steps bring to mind bad memories, and he shakes his head to push them away, trying not to think of a massive Greek god of strength choking out a pretty brunette shapeshifter. He pulls himself to the present as he walks in the front door and stops at the security desk, where an older black man in his fifties wearing a uniform has his hand on his pistol. Tony raises his hands cautiously and pulls his mask off, revealing his face and colorful scars on the left side of his face. The guard tenses at first, standing behind a simple table with a sign in sheet, and grey stubble on face. He relaxes slightly and points at the sign in sheet as Tony hands over his personal ID and his Merc Identification badge, a laminated yellow card with a picture on it and his number.

"Here on a contract?" the guard asks, looking at him dubiously.

"Trying to finish my GED," Tony says with a tight smile, then enters the main office, wanting to get this test over with.

Maddie is sitting at her desk in the classroom, her pencils and note pad set in front of her in an orderly fashion. She had been only somewhat tidy before the Agoge, but the months of repetition on placement of gear and equipment has bled over into other parts. So her pencils are all arrayed in line, her pad centered on the table, space on the left for the test sheet, and on the right for the answer sheet. A scent reaches her nose and she looks up from her desktop, recognizing it and curious.

Tony walks into the room shortly thereafter, wearing a brown denim vest and a heavy leather cloak over his arm. He also has his sword on his hip, what was Rick's old katana, as well as a bow and quiver over his back. She quirks an eyebrow, studying him, and admiring his colorful face, as she has every time she has seen him, infrequent as that is. She makes a mental note to try and change that, and pushes herself to look away, the slowly shifting colors of his face and the exposed skin of his left arm, wrist and fingers.

She glances back up as he finishes signing in, and she smiles at him, gesturing to the seat next to her, by the window. He seems to hesitate, but his face firms up and he walks stiffly to the seat, then carefully sets down his bag and pulls out his own paper and pencil.

"I didn't know you needed to test out your GED," Maddie comments in a murmur, tilting her head and speaking low, remembering what he had said about his senses.

"Dropped out junior year before the fall, after my mom died, then searched out dad," he murmurs in response. "I was home schooled for grade school, so I didn't really want to be there, anyway."

Maddie smiles sympathetically, catching his eyes, "I was home schooled until I came here, so I understand. A lot more people and tons more judgements."

"Yeah," he says, shifting uncomfortably, and she notices again how much he shifts to hide the scarred and colorful side of his face.

"You know I went through the Agoge, and what it meant, right?" she says in a mutter as the teacher starts to call for attention. He nods and she continues in the same murmur, "One of the important things it taught me, is that they don't matter, because these people, they are not your peers, so they shouldn't be able to pressure you."

"You mean yourself," he says with a nod.

"No," she says with a smirk, her head ducking down for a moment. "You aren't like them either, you're different… you are more."

The teacher is walking down the aisles of desks now, handing out the test packets and answer sheets, and Tony kicks around what the other teenager had said before focusing on advanced algebra.

Tony finishes strapping his quiver in place, checking the sit and the pull strap to disconnect it quickly. He has on the leather loricated plate armor that was his father's, and his sword already on his hip, four throwing axes on his belt, three throwing spikes, two daggers, and a boot knife on his ankle. He reaches to pull his bow off the wall, but pauses, hearing someone, no two people, enter his floor from the stairs. A moment later and he has identified them as Jocelyn and Maddie, and he waits before picking the expensive recurve bow from the wall.

He opens the door as the two shapeshifters turn to his door, and he smiles tightly at them, awkward as always around Maddie. To prevent himself from being awkward or odd, he focuses on Jocelyn, and smiles at the young girl. Jocelyn is wearing a tank top and a collared short-sleeve plaid shirt with jeans and sneakers, a tomboy appearance.

"Hello, ladies," he says with a smile as he opens the door and gestures them inside.

"Thanks, Tony," Jocelyn says, bounding into the room, then pausing at the threshold to the main living room.

"Don't touch anything on the table, it's still soaking and I'm going to focus the energies tomorrow," he says anxiously as he walks up behind Jocelyn as she looks at his living room.

The room has a dozen free weights and a squat rack with a bench under it in one quarter of the room on the far right. The back right nearer the kitchen is bookshelves made of bricks and boards, filled with what he has kept and is working to read. The front left area is an old office desk set with overhead storage, which has stones, metals, a burner and other miscellaneous items on it, obviously a smelting and magic working station. The wall and quarter by the entrance has a rack with a few weapons, and the wall next to them on the right before it ends in the living room is his bow, hung on felt hooks.

Maddie looks at it with a tight smile and a nod, then looks at him, her arms crossed over her dark gold t-shirt and soft brown leather vest, blue jeans and white Chuck Taylor's, her gladius on her back.

"You don't get out much, do you?" she asks with a smirk.

Tony shifts slightly, tightening up a bit before answering awkwardly, "I don't know anyone in town, except the Vikings, and I don't want to drink like they do. Dad told me about how his… how my grand dad was an alcoholic, so I'm being careful."

Maddie's expression softens as she reaches over and lays a hand on his shoulder with real smile, "Not critiquing, just ribbing you. Dealing with other shapeshifters fighting to stay in control in the Agoge, you have to have thick skin and a black sense of humor."

Tony ducks his head, again shifting so as to hide more of his scarred face, "Would you guys like something to drink? I have a contract tonight, and was about to head out, but I can head out a little later."

"What's the contract?" Maddie asks, watching Jocelyn pick up the weights then change their position on the rack before going to the book shelf.

"Suburbs on the East side, they have a critter problem, not sure what it is, and can't afford to pay much," he says with an unseen frown, pulling out glasses, then ice from his freezer. "I'm still earning street cred, so it's contract. I figure it'll be an in and out nuisance call."

"What has it taken down?" Maddie asks, looking at his book collection, though forcing a nonchalant expression as she notices some of her own favorite fiction novels on the shelves. She only smirks as she recognizes the large helmet on the top shelf that still has an arrow sticking out of the eye slit.

"Cats and dogs in the neighborhood, the recent attack that got the homeowners' association to put up a reward was one of the neighbor's, he had award winning German Shepherds. Something killed three of them," he says as he pours water.

"Traces?" Maddie asks, the part of her mind that was only weeks ago analyzing enemy situational templates and courses of action talking in the back of her head.

"That's what I was about to go check out," he says with a tight smile, handing glasses to the two females, his own mind thinking about it as well, though through different thought structures.

Tony kneels in the grass behind the fenced off yard in southeast Houston, taking short breaths alternately through his nose and mouth. He has limited experience with using his enhanced senses, and he is still learning the details in his palate. As he scents the local area, another, fresher scent hits him and he frowns under his mask, turning from where he is on one knee to look towards the street. Maddie is walking her bike towards him, and he is glad for the mask, allowing him to lick his lips unseen, then turning back to the treeline a dozen yards away.

The homeowners association is built on the border of a large park that went wild when the Shift hit, and the trees and vegetation have gone wild. A recent developer with assistance from Hoffman Resources had cleared some of the land and built an enclave in the forest. They feature two story homes with double deep basements, well protected, and the perimeter of the community warded regularly to keep the forest at bay. Part of the contract the company that owns it has stipulates to allow Horde and friends of the Horde first crack on contracts for the community.

"Shouldn't you be working, or something?" he asks, aiming for distracted and disinterested to cover his own inner turmoil.

"I thought maybe it was time I helped you," she says with an unseen smirk, kneeling next to her bike a few yards away and locking it to the fence. "You said you were going to follow traces, and I doubt you have much experience yet with that nose of yours."

Tony grimaces unseen under his mask, then twists his head in agreement, "I know base scents and some markers, but I'm still learning the details. Its… overwhelming, sometimes."

Maddie steps next to him and he fights his own reaction to her presence, focusing instead at the sounds and movement around them. Shifting bushes, leaves in the trees, small animals that are moving away as they scent the werewolf beside him. After a moment Maddie breaks the silence.

"There's a reptile scent, but I don't recognize it," she says with a frown, having taken short breaths through her own nose and mouth. "It reminds me of a Komodo dragon I saw once, at a zoo in Florida with my parents. But this has more… ozone, I think?"

"Is that the sharp undertone I taste?" he asks, curious. "Aunt A says that is what magic tastes like, feels like."

"Yeah, and something else…" she says, her mouth still open as she keeps taking short breaths with a concentrated expression.

"It's almost garlic, but not," he says with a shake of his head.

"Not a big signature, though," she says, moving to the treeline with her eyes on the ground, and Tony shifts his left hand onto the handle of his bow on reflex, ready to cover her if necessary.

"I can take it from here," he says, starting to walk past her, and she simply snorts, dropping to sit on the grass.

Tony pauses and looks at her as she starts to take off her shoes.

"What are you doing?" he asks, unsure.

"These were sixty bucks, and white is the hardest color to get stains out of unless you want them to look like they got bleached," she says as she pulls off one shoe and sock, then starts on the other.

"You're going to go barefoot?" he asks dubiously, and she the look she gives him causes him to stiffen, not from fear, but from the look of challenge in them.

"I walked miles and miles in bare feet and worse during the Agoge," she says in a near growl, returning to her shoe. "I can handle it."

"I'm sorry, I forget what it all was you went through," he apologizes, turning and scanning the trees again. "I only saw how you fought, and your determination, I didn't realize you did conditioning, too."

Maddie pauses as she stuffs her socks in the shoes before rising, "What do you know about the Agoge?"

"Dad said it was Ranger School for shapeshifters," Tony says, not looking back at her, his face turning slowly as he surveys and listens to the area. "I saw some videos, and read some articles about Ranger School, but I've never been to it, so I don't know."

Maddie frowns at the plain black mask covering his whole head before returning to her bike and placing the shoes in the saddlebags on the back. She is back at his side barefoot with her pants rolled up six inches to expose her ankles.

"Follow me, I'll watch front, you keep an eye on the flanks and rear, but ten to two o'clock is mine," she says softly, pulling her sword silently from her back. "When we meet something mean, I'm on direct contact, you are on ranged attacks, aim to cripple, give me an opening to finish it. If things go south, and it looks like we can't handle it, we break contact and rendezvous two hundred yards back the direction we came from. We wait for only twenty minutes, then head back to where we started."

Tony blinks under his mask, surprised, "That is not what I was expecting you to say."

Maddie smirks a darker smile than before as she is walking into the thick forest past the ward, her sword held easily at her side.

"Rick designed the hardest leadership training program he could imagine in an effort to create the next generation of elite warriors and leaders in the Horde," she says in a low voice as her toes step around twigs and leaves to make only the amount of sound a squirrel would make. "And I graduated in the top three of those that made it. This is easier, right now, than that damn history test was last week."

"You're telling me," Tony mutters under his breath, also hating the test to pass the history portion of the GED.

Maddie has opened the distance between her and Tony to thirty yards, visibility in the trees intermittent at that distance, but allowing her to appear alone as she moves along the scent trail. Her mind is on the hunt, not the young man behind her, though it is hard to keep her mind focused. As she is pushing that thought away, she freezes, pausing with a foot partially raised and moved forward. Tony has stopped as well, his bow ready with an arrow on the string, and Maddie holds her pose before moving, the beast in her telling her to hold. After a moment, she recognizes the slight tension on the cuff of her jeans, and she eases slowly back a half step, glancing down at the fishing line strung across the path.

She kneels down while holding up her free hand, signaling in the code of the Horde to wait and watch, only now realizing she did not ask if Tony knew the signs. A glance back assures her he does, as he is slowly moving his head back and forth, scanning and searching the area. She looks back at the trip-wire, and follows one end to a screw in a tree, then the other way to a box that is divided in two, the wire running to the center of it.

She signals back, booby trap, mechanical and magic, bypass, and she steps over the wire in an exaggerated fashion. Tony nods, though not looking at her, and she trusts he knows where the wire was and to step over it as well. She moves slower now, remembering the old Indian adage, where there's one white man, there's more white men…

Tony kneels next to Maddie in the fading light, facing the opposite direction, his bow at the ready, but arrow in the quiver as the magic is up, and he can choose different specialty arrows. They have been walking for three hours, and dark will be on them soon.

"It's fresher, I can tell that," Tony says in a bare murmur, both of their hearing sensitive enough to hear the low tone. "How far, do you think?"

"We stopped hitting traps after an hour, so they were probably set by an ambitious member of the Homeowner's Association," Maddie says in a bare murmur herself. "We're within a quarter mile or less of it, now. The scent is fresh and strong."

"Same plan as you said earlier?" he asks, a confirmation, not a question.

"Yeah," she says with a nod, not as formal as she had been in the Agoge, more relaxed around him. "Question though, what's the bounty?"

"Fifteen hundred," he murmurs back. "Fifty fifty split sound good to you?" he asks.

"More than I make in three days biking," she mutters back, then rises and leads them further into the forest, the fading light affecting their senses little.

Soon it is full dark, and Maddie is searching the shifted colors of the night as she prowls forward on the trail she has been following for hours. The night is alive with scents, sounds and movement, the details still sharp to her eyes but the colors are muted, dimmed by the restricted light. Tony looks on the same scenes, but still sees bright lights, bright pinks and yellows the plants naturally emit, but is normally dimmed by the sun. The forest looks like it was dipped in paint and a black light is shined on it, with detail and sharpness as though he were an inch away from every surface.

Less than a half hour after full dark, Maddie raises her hand in a halt, and Tony turns out of habit, the Ragnarsons using the same signals as the Horde on their jobs he has accompanied them on. He scans the trees and bushes, and after a few moments he can hear Maddie speak.

"It's eating, looks like it caught a wild fox," she says nearly inaudibly, even to his enhance hearing. "Look slow, I'm looking at it."

Tony turns slowly, and freezes when he sees their quarry. It looks like a cross between a Western Dragon that has wings and four feet, and a Chinese Dragon, in that it has a long serpentine body. It is probably ten feet long, but likely only two hundred pounds at best, a foot around at its midsection and with small, underdeveloped wings.

"You've got ninety, I've got ten, take the shot," Maddie says in the same low tone, and Tony is amazed that she dropped her cut without fuss.

He draws and fires in a flash, the steel arrow arching out and striking the long neck from an angle. The narrow blade bites through the thin scales of the briefly exposed underside, through the neck muscles, and strikes his target, the spine. The monster lets out a brief shriek then goes limp, and after a moment to ensure its dead, they approach.

"Case closed," Maddie says kneeling next to the dragon-like creature, inspecting the short ruffles on its head, as well as the short tendrils from its snout.

"Too easy," Tony says, tensing up.

"What?" Maddie asks, glancing up from where she is crouched next to the dead monster.

"Three trained German Shepherds at once," Tony says, frowning under his mask. "That thing could take one, maybe two, but not three, not without marks that we would see now."

Maddie looks at the corpse before her, and nods at the logic, then tenses and rises to her toes, sword ready.

"It's not alone," she says, and twirls the galdius around her as she warms up her wrist, hearing rustling in the bushes and trees around them.

Maddie and Tony stand back to back as over two dozen of the creatures close on them from the nearby area, summoned by its sibling's death cry.

"Contract is for the job, not the creature," Maddie says, feigning nonchalance. "Body count ratio determines the cut of the bounty."

Tony only blinks, then nods, accepting the challenge, and determined not to embarrass himself in front of Maddie.

"You're on," he says, and they both move.

Tony fires his bow, an arrow lancing out and driving the steel head into an eye and skull of a creature bunching up for a pounce from a tree branch. Maddie has meanwhile ducked under a lunge from one of the creatures and hacked at its chest, splitting it open. Tony turns and leaps over a low lunge from a serpentine jaw snapping where his calf had been, firing absently into the base of the creature's neck as he looks for his next target. Maddie has grabbed one by its back leg and swung it awkwardly into another, which both tumble into a nearby log, Maddie following and spitting both on her sword, now flaming in the night.

Not to be outdone, Tony fires an explosive arrowhead, and another creature's head explodes in the night, then another a second later. Maddie and Tony shift and move, trading halves of the circle they are fighting in subconsciously, and in three minutes, they are the only living things left, save the plant life. Tony is breathing deep, the exertion heavy after the long walk to get here, and he pulls deep breaths through his mask. Maddie is breathing normal, her own eyes flicking back and forth, searching for any that may have remained of the pack, but it looks like the few survivors have fled.

Tony is still catching his breath from the sprint of fighting when Maddie flicks her wrist and the sword in it, "I'll start the count."

"I counted fifteen to ten," Tony says immediately, his eyes shifting through the carnage of dead scaled monsters. "My lead."

"You would say that," she says with a sardonic expression at him.

"Count them yourself," he says with a barely recognized shape of a smile under his mask.

Maddie walks the field, and frowns as she stops in front of him when she is finished, "Fifteen to ten."

"So, sixty-six, thirty-seven," he says with a nod. "Let's bag a few heads so we can prove the contract was fulfilled, then we can get cleaned up and eat."

"You read my mind," Maddie says with a nod, glad he had not commented or rubbed in that she had fewer kills than him.

Tony rides his horse into the stables at the Merc guild, the burlap sack with the heads of the creatures at his side. The stink bothers him and covers the details of other scents, but it cannot be avoided. Maddie is pedaling slowly beside him on her bike, and locks the frame to the door of the stall he puts his horse in.

"How long does this take?" she asks, glancing around and studying the entrance and halls, having never visited here before.

"I'm new, so I have to fill out more initial paperwork for each type of kill contract until I have historical data for the clerks to use," he says with an unseen frown under his mask. "And I have to write up a report, I don't get a grace period to fill it out until I've got a few years of seniority. So it will be a while, thirty minutes or more, I've never filled one out for an obscure monster hunt like this, I'll have to ask the clerk questions."

"Sounds tedious," she says with a frown as she keeps looking around as they walk, passing a waiting room with a dozen mercs in various levels of armor and weapons.

"What are they waiting for?" she asks, staring at the fenced in booth that a narrow bodied merc in leather armor is standing in front of, the line ten yards away to give privacy.

"That's the enhanced equipment line," he says without looking. "If you need magic water, oil, weapons, you have to request it there, and then if it comes in, you go through the armored door at the side."

"Just for a few magic items?" she asks, surprised.

He glances at her, surprised at her own reaction, "Normal people don't deal with magic often, I never saw much magic until I came here and met dad and Aunt Autumn. Even the simple stuff is expensive to normal folks."

"How much did those explosive arrowheads cost?" she asks, gesturing at his quiver, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Materials only," he says with a shrug. "I make them myself. Aunt A showed me how to enchant them, and I can power through some of the materials, so it only costs ten bucks a head, instead of two hundred fifty. They are made of stone, though, not metal, so they don't have penetration."

"So, you're good at magic?" she asks, not having any skill in it herself.

"Not yet," he says with an unseen grimace. "I've got a lot to learn, and Aunt A won't teach me the good stuff until I finish my GED and enroll in a college."

"You still know more than I do," she says with a twist of her head, pausing as they walk into the main foyer, having had to come from the rear of the old hotel that the Guild is housed in. "Wow," she breathes, looking at the open space with mercs walking through it. To one side that used to be a restaurant is now an open café and cafeteria style eatery, a dozen mercs sitting and eating with another dozen walking through the line, and a trio of waitresses attending those at tables. Maddie notes that the waitresses are shapeshifters she recognizes from the Horde, non-fighters, but decent folk, Rick must have gotten them the jobs. Another open door on the opposite end of the area with steel wire reinforced glass displays weapons, the mundane weapons shop, where mercs buy and sell regular equipment.

"You need a Guild membership to use the shops, but can use the café without one, if you want to wait there until I'm finished," he offers, gesturing to the open tables to the side.

"Actually," she says, thinking. "Where do I apply?"

Tony slows to a stop and looks at her, tilting his head in thought, "Well, we can get the paperwork from the clerk where I turn in the heads, but you'd need a sponsor. I guess you could call dad and ask him to sponsor you, it would go faster."

"He's not my father," she says sharply, and Tony blinks at the response, but she continues. "And Rick knows I'm my own person, I am legally an adult, after all."

"Uh, okay," he says lamely, now sure what that means exactly. "Well, if you want to do it all today, I can sponsor you, but you won't get any special treatment or anything, for Horde status or anything."

"Good," she says with a nod, upbeat about it. "Let's go get the paperwork."

Tony nods thanks to the clerk, having turned in all the paperwork and waited for the processing, and been handed the much too thin envelope with his pay. He walks to where Maddie is sitting in the café, receiving a few curious looks and a couple expressions that can only be described as leering. He sits where she has a cup a tea cupped in her hands, a bottle of water waiting for him.

"Why are they looking at me?" she asks under her breath, only loud enough for him to hear a few feet across the table.

"You're a hot teenage girl sitting in a testosterone heavy room of the city's best monster hunters," he says without thinking, swallowing on a mouth gone suddenly dry as she looks at him with slightly raised eyebrows. "It's abnormal," he adds lamely, mentally berating himself.

She tilts her head and looks around, then speaks in a tone above conversational, firm enough to be heard for a couple dozen yards, her time in the Agoge having taught her how to speak in a carrying tone.

"As long as none of the knuckle draggers try anything cute, I won't have to hurt them," she says, her tone almost bored. "I didn't take crap from the other candidates during the Agoge, and I won't take it from these chimps, either."

Tony only tilts his head and nods, acknowledging her point, though internally pensive at the possible response some of the bolder and dumber of the mercs might have to her statement.

"After taxes and fees, we got paid eleven fifty two," he says, pulling out the bills and change from the envelope, then pulling out a pencil from his belt pouch. He does the math from their kills, then counts out the money into two piles, pushing the shorter to her.

"Three hundred eighty five," he says, gesturing to her stack. "I rounded up for your share."

"Still more than I get on an average day on the bike," she says in a mumble, pulling the cash to her carefully, trying to hide that she is ecstatic to have the money, her regular paycheck barely covering her expenses at her new place. She had taken Aunt A's talk about finances and future problems to heart. She has been very frugal with both the money she made from the Agoge and from the New Orleans contract, as well as what she has already placed in savings.

"I was lucky to get the contract card when I did," he says with a tight frown she can barely detect through the mask. "It was posted on the board for Horde and Friends of the Horde as I came in this morning."

"So it's first come first serve?" she asks, glancing around in a quieter tone, realizing that the other reason she may be getting looks is because she is competition to the others here.

"Each established merc gets some territories, for certain levels of contracts," Tony explains, placing his own cut back into the envelope and tucking it away into his belt. "Neighborhoods often want someone they know and can rely on, but a lot of jobs are specifically non-territorial, it allows the client to try to low ball the price and get the job done on the cheap. You have to be careful, though, a lot of them undersell the job to get the contract filled cheaper, like this last job."

"This was undersold?" she asks, not knowing.

"That should have been a two or three man job, or advertised as an infestation, not a singular pest problem, and should have cost closer to five large," he says with a shake of his head. "I made a note on the report. They may not have known, but the Guild keeps records, so they'll know for next time, if it's a trend."

Maddie sips her tea as she thinks that over, then asks as she puts it down, "So, how long until I'm a member?"

"Paperwork will take a week or so," he says with a gesture at the desk, then takes a drink of his own water through the thin film of the mask over his mouth. "Then you can pick up your own contracts."

"Will you let me know if you pick up anything in the meantime?" she asks, leaning forward with an eager expression. "I work, but if I can, I'd like to come with you, try to make some more money, if you think I can help."

He thinks as he looks at his drink for a moment, trying to think over it logically, not the part of him that would love nothing more than to spend time with her. After a moment he nods and speaks slowly.

"It will let me take some chances, and go for a tougher job than I would usually, solo," he says with a gesture at her with the water bottle. "We'll have to talk over each contract, though, and settle on terms, fair terms, on each."

"Okay," she says with an earnest nod, trying to hide her excitement, the paycheck she just got sizable, and wanting a repeat for something she is finding she is good at.

"Then it's a deal," he says, finishing his water, then standing and stretching. "I'm for home, and a rest."

"Ready for a nap?" she asks, teasing as she picks up her tea.

"I don't sleep," he says with a shake of his head.

She pauses with the cup an inch from her lips, shocked, "What?"

"Ever since the accident, I don't sleep," he says, his tone low for only her ears, surprising himself with the admission. "I hear everything, I feel everything, the air currents, the scents, the street… everything. I can only shut out so much, but even when I do, the best I get to is what a normal person would feel, and I rest my body while my mind wanders."

"When was the last time you slept?" she asks, amazed, her own tone low.

"What month is it?" he asks rhetorically. "I'll see you later," he says awkwardly, waving and heading back to his horse.

She only watches him go and digests what he had said and what had happened over the last day, and what it all means.

Tony steps into his apartment, and once the door is closed he sighs and lets the limp he has been hiding surface as he walks to the cabinet next to his icebox. His dad's armor with enchantments had protected him, but the supple leather sill lets bruises and the impacts through. His enhanced senses means he can feel the throbbing in his thigh and hip, as well as his lower back, and the pain has been building since before he had gotten to the Guild with Maddie. He would be damned if he will show weakness to her, though, and had pushed it down and aside, but now it is just him.

He pulls out a bottle of whiskey he keeps for the nights after a rough fight, the only way he can dull the pain enough to relax and heal. He carefully pours three fingers in the short glass from his cupboard, a little voice in his head telling him he should take more, but a louder voice telling him he cannot. He takes a breath and throws back the three fingers of a hundred and one proof liquor, coughing for a moment as it burns his throat. He pulls a bottle of ale to chase it from the same lower cupboard, and starts to drink it as he removes his armor.

His gear is lying in his living room, uncleaned and in heaps as he climbs onto the thick sleeping mat in his bedroom, his eyelids heavy as he slows his breathing to shut out the world and float in the haze of semi-consciousness.

Maddie walks her bike up the steep incline that is her driveway, the long night and early day dragging on her. She had stayed and had the breakfast buffet at the Merc Guild, stuffing herself nearly sick to use the all you can eat advertisement to its utmost. She mentally grouses to herself about how much budgets suck when she pauses a dozen yards from the single wide trailer she owns on two dozen acres of land. She frowns as she recognizes the scent that caused her to halt and walks the rest of the way to her home.

She unlocks her door and enters with the bike over her shoulder, but stops as she looks at the wide arrays of pink roses adorning every flat surface of her dining room and living room. Glass vases, bouquets of two dozen thick roses, there must be ten dozen, easy, and she glares as she looks at the bright blue card on the centermost one. She does not even open the card, but drops it directly into the trash, then starts taking the flowers out the front door to the compost pile in the corner of her yard.

Tony starts out of his dazed state of rest at the pounding on his door, and he glances at the window, judging it to be early afternoon. He rolls to a sitting position and mutters to wait as he rubs his face, collecting his scattered thoughts before standing. He strides to his front door, wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms in the relative cool of his apartment. He opens the door without testing the scent of who it is, assuming that it is Aunt A, as she is vocal and unrepentant on waking him up when it is convenient to her.

He is surprised to see Maddie's brown eyes instead, a black t-shirt and a black tactical vest on with jeans. He blinks and tries to say something, but she only raises her eyebrows and pushes past him into the kitchen.

"Rise and shine, partner," she says in a sing-song voice, placing a paper sack on his kitchen counter. "I didn't know if you like bagels or doughnuts, so I got both."

"Uh," he stutters, self-conscious with his bare chest, half of which is covered with scars and bioluminescence. "I usually make eggs and bacon, cheese omelets, if I can get the good cheese."

"Pleeeeease tell me it's not that goat crap Aunt A gets," she says with a theatrical shudder as he closes and locks the door, her mouth half stuffed with a doughnut.

"Colby Jack with Mozzarella and an Italian mix," he says with a shake of his head, trying for unperturbed as he reaches for a glass to get water. "What are you doing here?"

"Work, duh," she says, taking a sip from an orange juice bottle she had brought with her in her pack she has over her shoulder. "What's our next gig?"

He blinks and takes a breath, still chasing cobwebs and a slight headache from the alcohol he had used to get to sleep, hoping she does not catch the scent of it.

"I get one or two a week, on average," he says, taking a few gulps of water on his parched mouth. "And I don't heal like you do," he gestures to her clean outfit, where she had a half dozen shallow cuts yesterday. "I need to heal, so I don't break myself, or die trying to take down something I would normally handle easily."

"Oh," Maddie says with a moue, glancing around with a touch of tension now. "So, it's not an everyday, all the time thing?"

"Not usually," he says, deciding to focus on breakfast, and pulling out his skillet and butter. "Even with our split, I covered the bills for at least a couple weeks, and I'll probably pick up another gig in the next few days, hopefully a slow one to let me heal, then go for a more active offer, faster cash, but harder on the body and tools."

"Oh," Maddie says, a bit dejectedly, sighing while concentrating on her doughnut without looking at him. "Well, I was just hoping we could get a gig, seeing as I quit the bike messenger job this morning."

Tony pauses with his hand raised over the rim of a glass, an egg held in his fingers as he digests this. He gently cracks the egg and spills the contents into the glass, along with three others and shredded cheese. He pours the egg onto the skillet and shakes his head, thinking over his own budget, wondering what hers is.

"What do you owe, and when?" he asks, curious.

"I'm not taking a handout," she growls at him. "I have savings to dip into if I need to, I just hoped that we could do another partnered job, like the other day, and get a good cash flow, until I could pick up my own gigs."

Tony sighs and nods, focusing on the skillet in front of him, "I didn't mean that, it's just that if I know what would help you, and what would help me, then I can try to look at the other boards for tougher gigs, maybe get us something that can set us up for a while."

Maddie takes a breath slowly, then lets it out, "I'm sorry, I didn't sleep last night, and my meditation today was less helpful than usual."

"Anything I can help with?" he asks out of reflex, his brow furrowed in curiosity.

She snorts, "No, it's a Horde thing, I think. It's just annoying, is all."

"Hmm," he mutters non-committedly, scrapping his finished omelet from his pan to a plate.

"Can I get one of those?" Maddie asks with raised eyebrows and intent eyes as she looks at the five cheese egg mixture.

Tony smirks, a real smile he forgets to hide with hair or shadows, exposing his full face, unmarred and scarred side alike. Maddie is looking now at his face instead of the eggs, but he does not notice as he slides the plate to her with a fork and knife, turning back to his skillet to make more.

"I have a question," Maddie says, cutting up the egg and glancing at the brilliant array of colors slowly shifting over the left side of his body. The scars are vivid and resemble an aurora borealis painted on the uneven skin, shifting from the waistband at his hip and up his rippled, muscular back to his shoulder. An uneven line just short of his spine delineates the scarred portion from his untouched half, with a few splashes across his upper shoulders resembling a large handprint. "Why a bow? Why not a gun? You have the accuracy down, and during tech the range is greater as well as the damage."

"Guns don't work for me anymore," he says, shaking his head, though looking at his breakfast and not her. "Since the accident, the magic in me is too strong. Gunpowder doesn't work in guns I hold, phones are hit and miss, too. I can't contain my magic enough, even during tech waves, it bleeds out."

Maddie blinks and looks around his small apartment, realizing that nothing in the residence is technological in origin, everything works whether magic or tech is in charge of the world. She waits to eat her food until his is finished cooking, and he places a small platter of sliced ham to the side, smoked and salted, not cooked.

"This is nice," she comments as she sits across the countertop that separates his kitchen from his living room. "Simple but good," she says with a nod after he has bowed his head for a silent prayer, she doing likewise.

"Often the simple things in life are the best," Tony says with a smile, sitting on a stool in the living room and having pulled on a shirt from his desk, she on the kitchen side.

"Sounds like a Rick quote," she says with a smirk.

"My uncle Jimmy, actually," Tony says with a smirk of his own. "Mom never hooked up with anyone after dad, and her brother, Uncle Jimmy, would come by and show me stuff. He was a drinker and couldn't hold a job, ended up in prison a few years back for drug dealing. He's doing ten to fifteen now in a Georgia prison… Anyway, he would stop by and teach me things he thought every boy should learn."

"Sorry," she says with a nod of apology for bringing it up, but he just shrugs.

"Mom gave him too many chances, mostly because she figured I needed some sort of a male figure to tell me stuff a mom can't," he says with a shake of his head. "He helped me learn basics of hunting and shooting, a bit of fighting, but he never stuck around long. I always compared him to my dead dad, and he resented it… well, the dad I thought was dead."

Tony's phone rings, and he takes a breath to pull in his magic before answering it, to make sure it does not turn off. Maddie reaches over and picks up the receiver before he can center himself, answering it for him.

"Tony's place, Maddie speaking," she says in an upbeat tone, and a pause greets her before the caller responds.

"This is Mike, from Mike's Towing, I'm looking for Archer," a deep voice says from the other end of the line, and Maddie raises an eyebrow at Tony.

"This is his place," she responds without a pause as Tony frowns at her for having used his name. "How can I help you?"

"I was looking to talk to Archer," the man says, sounding a bit flustered. "I got a repo this afternoon, wanted him to come back up my guys, in case there's trouble."

"No problem," she says in a chipper voice, pulling a pad of paper from her vest pocket and a pencil. "Address and time?"

She jots down the information, thanks him and hangs up as Tony reaches out his hand for the piece of paper.

"Why did he call you Archer?" Maddie asks, handing him the paper from her notepad.

"I go by an alias in the Guild," he says simply. "I know dad has dangerous enemies, so I filed as Augustus Archer. Folks call me Archer, because of the bow and my name. Only those in the Horde know I'm the Khan's son. Everyone else thinks I'm a guy with potential Aunt A took under her wing and introduced to dad."

"Can I come along for this afternoon?" she asks, waving her fork at the note before returning to her eggs.

"It's mostly for show," he says, looking at the address and name, frowning. "It's off the books, not through the Guild, the guy that owns it has a wife who is a regular for Aunt A's shop, and she referenced me for the help."

Tony looks into the distance as he mentally finds the address in the city, then speaks slowly, "They're going to Chaplan Community, which is a wealthy neighborhood. If he's doing a repo there, then it's probably really expensive, with possible security."

"That's why he asked for help," Maddie says with a nod, wanting to learn how to reason through these things, so she can do well as a Merc, as well.

"In part," he says with a shake of his head. "He's got a few guys that work for the shop he uses just for intimidation, but they have no magic amongst them. I don't look as intimidating as they do, but I can drop most wards with ten or twenty minutes of work."

"So, you don't need me, then," she says with a shrug, understanding.

"You can come along, if you want, meet Mike and the guys," Tony says with a shrug and toss of his head. "If he needs shapeshifter strength down the road, he may call and ask you to help out, if he likes you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," she says with a nod as she picks up her plate to take to the sink.

"If you don't mind doing dishes, as I cooked, I'll change and we can get going," he says as he hands his plate across to her.

"Not a problem, as long as you don't mind that I kill the last of that ham," she says, glancing at the chunks still on the plate.

"Help yourself, I figured you'd want to eat more, with your shapeshifter metabolism and all," he says with a wave and turns to his room.

Tony exits his room ten minutes later wearing a canvas tactical vest with a set of thin metal plates under it, a t-shirt and jeans, his sword on his hip with a few other weapons displayed. He grabs his quiver then bow from the wall, then pulling his cloak over his shoulders as Maddie stands from the counter, having finished the dishes. She quirks an eyebrow at the mask he wears, black thin cotton with thinner fabric over the mouth and eyes, an angular design around the cheeks, forehead and head in red.

"I agree with Aunt A, you should leave off the mask," she says with a frown and shake of her head.

"I can see and sense through this better than a shapeshifter, and it keeps me from being distracted by the sensations on my skin," he says with an unseen frown as they exit the apartment. "Wind, sound, vibrations, I can feel it on my face with more sensitivity than the rest of the area with the burns, and as for direct sunlight… it feels like I'm touching a scalding hot surface, even though it doesn't cause real damage… it still hurts."

"Oh," she says as she waits in the hall for him to lock the door. "I didn't realize, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, nothing to be sorry for," he says quietly. "But that's why I usually cover it all up, no buffer in between makes it uncomfortable, painful… distracting."

"So… everything hurts?" she asks tentatively, following him and now curious.

He takes a breath and breathes it out before answering as they descend the stairs from the second floor.

"Not everything, but a lot does," he says softly. "I'm getting used to it."

Maddie bites down on her reflexive response, and just nods as she follows him out of the building, but she stops in her tracks once out the door. She narrows her eyes and turns to look upwind, where a figure is leaning next to a light post. Tony has slowed, having been walking downwind towards where his horse is stabled and turns back to her.

"What is it?" he asks, turning to her and sampling the air as well. "Who is that?" he then asks, looking now at where a young man is walking across the street towards her, a trio of roses in hand.

"Hello, Tim," Maddie says, her arms crossed over her chest as the son of the Wolf Clan Alphas strides up to her.

Tim Domasca stands just over six feet tall, has an athletic build that would make most male models jealous, with dark hair styled back from his face, revealing thick eyebrows and a handsome face, to include a slightly cleft chin. He smiles at her with perfect white teeth, his slightly tanned skin including dimples on his perfect cheeks. He has on a dark blue suit with a light blue shirt and a black vest with dress shoes as he holds out the three pink roses to her.

"Did you like my surprise?" he asks, his smile meant to melt her, receiving a flat expression in return.

"If I catch you in my house, I promise you will not leave under your own power," she says in a hard tone that other Agogites shrink from.

"Where are you off to?" he asks, his smile still fixed in place as he glances at Tony, dismissing him immediately from his mind.

"Work," she says in the same hard tone, ignoring the extended flowers and turning from him, motioning for Tony to keep moving. "Go away," she says simply, leaving him behind.

"Until next time," he says, his tone still upbeat, despite the dismissal.

"Stop following me, I'm not interested," she says over her shoulder as she walks to where her bike is locked up near Tony's horse.

"Give it time," he replies, walking away backwards, and she simply glowers, unseen by him.

"Suitor?" Tony asks as he walks his horse to the street a few minutes later, where Maddie waits.

"He wishes," she grouses. "He broke into my place yesterday during our contract, left ten dozen roses."

Tony thinks that over for a moment before giving the answer he thinks is right, though he does not personally agree with it, "He seems like a good looking guy, is he bad person or something?"

Maddie scowls as she pedals her bike next to where he now rides down the street, "He's the Wolf Alphas' kid, silver spoon in his mouth, most popular guy among his generation and all around Mr. Perfect. I fucking hate him."

Tony blinks at the last statement, surprised, "But you just said he's perfect. I don't get it."

Maddie snorts, glancing up at where he sits on his black warhorse, "You're still kinda new around here, and around Rick, so it probably hasn't sunk in yet. Where does the strongest steel come from?"

Tony blinks, the question sounding familiar, and he answers what his uncle used to say, "From the hottest fire."

Maddie shakes her head and responds with the answer she and every Agogite had been forced to memorize once they entered the Legionnaire phase of training.

"The strongest steel comes not from the hottest fires or the heaviest hammer, but from the proper temperance of the right mix of materials in the correct temperature," she explains in a near monotone. "A blade unable to bend will break too easily, a sword with too much flex will not hold the edge necessary to cut, improper balance will make a weapon unwieldy and useless in combat."

Tony twists his head in thought as he thinks the definition over, "So he lacks temperance?"

"He has never felt the fire," she says with a note of disdain in her tone. "He is naturally smart, naturally strong, fast and raised to be a leader. He was never truly tested. When Rick tried to train him, a couple years ago, he only lasted a week before he was fired. He was weighed and measured… and he was found wanting."

Tony nods as she says the last, "You can't be a real leader until you've failed."

"Right," she says with a solid nod of her own.

They ride the rest of the way to the address Mike had given them, Tony leading the way through the hodgepodge streets of Houston. A forty minute ride later they ride up to a street corner where three burly men stand, each over six and a half feet tall. Tony reigns in his horse a few yards away and the oldest of the three, a black man with a thick beard that has gray shot through it walks up to him.

"Hey, Archer, wasn't sure you'd get my message," he says in a familiar baritone.

"I'm sponsoring a friend," Tony replies, gesturing to Maddie on her bike who has stopped at his side. "She's an Agogite from the Horde."

The big black man raises an eyebrow at Maddie's diminutive frame, a hundred and ten pounds and only a touch over five feet tall.

"Shapeshifter, huh?" he asks, tilting his head as he looks at her tactical vest and the gladius handle over her shoulder. "What kind?"

"Werewolf," Maddie says in a hard tone, and the big man blinks at the harsh attitude. "I was the honor graduate of the course, and fought in New Orleans in the taking of the city, not as support, but front line. And I can bench press any of your fat boy assistants, easily, so I'd appreciate no sass from them."

Mike blinks at the statement, then looks at Tony, "The girl's the bad cop?"

"I wouldn't call her girl again," Tony says with a snort and an unseen smirk. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, you can follow us," Mike says, waving towards the truck. "She can rack her bike on the back and ride on the truck if she likes."

Maddie does not answer, but racks the bike on the side and hops onto the bed and then the roof of the cab, her black on black Chuck Taylor's dangling over the windshield. A few minutes later they pull up to a cul-de-sac in the suburban neighborhood, and Mike steps out of the passenger side, one of his sons driving. Tony dismounts and drops the reins of his horse, approaching the yard and driveway, an expensive dual engine Cadillac in the drive.

"That it?" Tony asks, gesturing at the car.

"That and we have to repossess two paintings from inside," Mike says with a scowl. "That's why I wanted you, in case things got bad, you know my boys are only for show."

"Okay," Tony says with a deep breath, reaching out his hand after taking off his gloves.

He runs his fingers over the ward protecting the yard, invisible to human senses, but obvious to his own enhanced senses. He pulls out a few stones from a pouch on his belt and sets up a small circle with the thirteen stones, sitting cross legged inside it. He chants under his breath for a full minute, then opens his eyes, which are now glowing with a greenish blue color. He can see the inscriptions on the ward, now, as well as a swirling set of colors, and he studies it carefully. After a moment of study, he mutters a word and his vision returns to normal.

"How long?" Mike asks, recognizing that Tony has come out of his trance.

"It's top of the line," he says as he pulls out another pouch, setting out seven more stones in the circle, then sprinkling a red sand on the ground, connecting the stones. "And they have another on the doors I'll have to crack after this one. It'll be thirty minutes, I think, on this one, and maybe longer on the next one."

Mike glances at the sky, "Guy is supposed to be out until this evening. Will we be done by then?"

"I'll do my best," Tony says with a sigh, then settles himself and starts chanting as he focuses his own magic into an invisible blade on the edge of the circle surrounding him, pointing at the ward.

Maddie watches with a hard expression as Tony sits on the front mat of the house, chanting within a circle of dirt and rocks. She had felt the shock as the first ward had fallen, and noticed as Tony had sagged slightly from the drain on him. Despite that he had collected up the stones and repeated his process in front of the door. While he has done that, Mike and his sons have hooked up the car to the tow truck and pulled into the street, ready to go once they had access to the house.

Maddie feels the culmination of power and then the second ward goes down, the slap of power harder than the last, nearly knocking the wind from her. Mike and his crew all gasp and fall to a knee from the slap of power, but Maddie hops off the hood of the truck immediately. She walks to the door as she catches her breath, noticing that Tony has slumped in his seat and sways slightly. She stops at his side, waiting to see if he is okay.

"Now, the lock," Tony says softly, slowly moving to push himself to his feet.

"I got it," she says with a hand on his shoulder, kneeling in front of the deadbolt and pulling out her picks.

Tony only nods, standing and stretching before pulling his bow from his back, Mike and his sons approaching from the truck.

"Let's get this over with," Tony says, watching the street as Mike goes in with his youngest, and less than five minutes later comes out with two canvas wrapped paintings.

As they exit the house, the roar of a magic engine approaches, and Tony moves to the street as another expensive car races down the street. The vehicle screeches to a halt, nearly hitting his horse and an older man in a suit leaps out of the just stopped dual engine car. He hurries to the house, waving his hand at Mike and his son who have the paintings in hand, the third man interjecting himself between them.

"You can't do this! Thieves!" the man shouts, pointing at the repo men. "I've called the cops! I have mercs on the way now that will take my things back!" the man shouts at them, dodging around Mike's son. "You won't get away with this!"

"Easy, sir," Tony says, keeping himself between Mike and his sons, the man keeping at a distance and swearing at them, not actually trying to get physical.

The man continues to swear at them, but does not advance, and Tony mounts his horse and follows after the tow truck, Maddie perched on top of the towed car behind it. The irate owner remains on his lawn as the tow truck drives away in a landslide of noise, Tony picking his horse up to a gallop to lead. Two blocks from the house, at the gated entrance to the community, next to a small guard shack, a pickup truck with a dual engine screeches to a halt in the middle of the road.

Tony reins in his horse as the tow truck behind him brakes to a stop, five men jumping from the cab and bed of the truck in their way. Tony throws a leg over his horse and slides to the ground, bow in hand as he walks a few steps towards the men, recognizing them.

"Bill, Jim, Steve," Tony says, nodding to the three leaders of the strong arm gang on hire from the Merc Guild. "It's a legal repo, just step aside, let's not get ugly."

"Shut up, rook," Bill, the dark haired and pale skinned leader of the crew says, a heavy headed mace in his hand. "You're not on a Guild job, and the guy called off the books. Drop the stuff, or we beat it out of ya."

Tony sighs, his face still covered by his mask, as is his left arm by a long sleeve, though his right is bare from the shoulder. He twists his head as Maddie strides up beside him, having hopped from the car to stand beside him.

Bill snorts and laughs, "What's this? I didn't know sidekicks could have their own sidekicks."

The others with him gaffaw and laugh at the joke, each with swords and axes of their own, burly men who are used to doing violence unto others. Maddie's brow creases and her eyes flash blue with her inner beast, a low rumble of a growl in her chest only Tony can hear.

"Don't kill them," he says low, only Maddie hearing him. "Unconscious and non-crippling."

"They don't look to have the same restraint," she growls from beside him.

"That's what makes us better than them," he mutters back. "That's why we're the good guys."

Bill finishes his laughing with his guys, then points his mace at Tony, "Give it up, junior, and I won't break your knees in front of your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Tony says simply, then draws and fires an arrow at him.

The blunt headed arrow has no magic in it, just a sand filled rubber head that lances out and strikes the big man in his solar plexus. Bill stumbles at the blow, gasping and retching as nature takes over from the sudden blow on a sensitive part of his body. Tony draws and fires again as Maddie has sprinted forward with shapeshifter speed and reflexes. He notices every move and though his reflexes are not as fast as hers, he can sense everything and can slow his own perceptions down, so that it seems that he has above average reflexes.

Maddie arrives at the largest of the remaining four men just as a pair of arrows strike the shaft of the man's battle axe. The impacts throw the weapon off balance, and the bladed head misses Maddie as she ducks to the side, kicking the man in the shin. The man's leg buckles from her speed and strength, and she shoves her elbow into the man's shoulder, to which he cries out in pain. She turns from the incapacitated fighter to the next, who is preparing a thrust of his sword at her, and she twists and pushes the blade to the side with the palm of her hand, the tip of the sword scratching her vest.

The man flinches backwards as an arrow flits past his face, placing a narrow cut on the tip of his nose, and Maddie punches him across the chin. The man falls with a broken jaw, unconscious, and she turns to the remaining foes. She pauses to find that one is nursing an arrow in his shoulder, and the other is in front of him protectively, his sword held in front of him defensively, a terrified expression on his face.

"We yield, we yield," he says frantically, the violence escalating quickly and not at all as he expected.

"Let's keep an eye on them," Tony says from where he stands with an arrow on the string of his bow. "As we drive on by. Officially, they were never here, and neither were we."

Maddie eases her stance slightly and walks slowly to keep herself between the two conscious men and the tow truck that drives around them, Tony walking his horse next to it. When the truck is thirty yards away, she turns and jogs to the towed car, hopping on the trunk as Tony mounts his horse, then they drive away from the community.

"Thanks again, Archer, I appreciate the help," Mike says as they arrive at his house and garage, where a lockup is for valuables and vehicles. "I'll send a money order to Autumn's for the protection, you earned it."

Tony nods, glancing at Maddie, who is pulling her bike from the truck's side in the driveway, then back at the older man.

"The guy you pulled this stuff from, I know it's legal, but he hired off the books to try and get it back," Tony says in a quieter tone, the other humans not hearing, but Maddie getting the conversation. "Will your wards and cages hold, if he hires others to come take it back?"

"We got a solid safe and a half dozen pitbulls," Mike says, gesturing to the guard dogs on the property. "We'll be fine until the auctioneers pick it up."

"Promise you'll call, if there's a problem," Tony says firmly, his eyes masked, but his tone solid as he peers at the older man.

Mike frowns and looks at the cast of the mask's features, then nods somberly, "I will, I promise."

Tony nods, shaking the older man's hand then returns to where Maddie is waiting with her bike by his horse, feeding him a carrot.

"You'll spoil him," Tony warns, pulling the half carrot from her hand.

"Will Mike and his family be okay?" she asks, the real question on her mind as he mounts his horse.

"They have a solid house, strong bars and doors," he says reasonably. "I'm worried they'll try to stop someone who tries to take back the stuff they repoed. Mike is good people, he can throw a mean punch, but he's a brawler, he's not like us…"

He trails off with the last, frowning in distaste, but she nods in response, her own eyes focused and understanding.

"He's not a killer," she states, not a question but a statement.

"No," Tony says with a shake of his head. "He can kill a beast if he has to, but he's never killed another person. And neither have his kids. They don't have it in them."

"We'll need to split up the watch, then," she says, coasting to a stop at the corner from Mike's place. "If you'll take first watch, I can probably get a couple of friends to help us out, so we don't exhaust ourselves."

Tony blinks, glancing at her, "I planned on just staking it out myself, and you're welcome to help."

"Why use one or two, if four or five is better?" she asks with a smirk. "The other Agogites will help me, if I ask. Mike is good people, like you said. He doesn't deserve some rich jerk pulling a stupid vendetta. Mike was just doing his job."

"You know we won't get paid for this," Tony reminds her, and she snorts.

"Not everything worth doing is a financial gain," she says with a smile.

"That I recognize as a quote from dad," he says with a smile of his own under his mask. "I'll take the first watch, see if you can get us backup."

Tony trudges through the front door of Aunt A's shop, bone tired and ready for bed, but needing to check for the payment from Mike. He pulls his mask off as he enters the front door, not waiting for his Aunt's usual scolding. He sighs as he notes that only two others are in the shop, Atticus and the Russian Vohl, the guy dating his Aunt. He walks to the counter, and the Irish were-lynx meets him there with a smile on his grizzled face.

"Hey, Atticus," Tony says, sighing as he sits on a stool by the counter.

"You look done in, son," the old Irishman says with a smirk, pushing a lock of reddish grey hair behind an ear. "Is the end of the day for ye, or the start?"

"The end, thank god," Tony says with a smirk, turning and nodding greeting to the Vohl in the back corner of the shop.

"Let me make you a chamomile tea, to get ye ready for a rest, while you look over your messages," Atticus says, laying a set of letters in front of him.

Tony looks through the stack, mostly bills and his dues for the Guild, as well as fees for finishing his GED. He stacks the bills in order of precedence and smiles as he picks up the envelope from Mike's Towing and Repo. He opens it and is surprised to find two checks, one for him and another for Maddie, both for the usual rate he gives for help. Included is a note from Mike's wife thanking him and Maddie for the help, and an invitation to visit for dinner some time. The door to the shop opens and he knows who is walking in without turning, and he pulls out the school fees as Richard walks behind him.

"Son," Richard says with a smile, resting his hand on Tony's shoulder. The Khan of the Horde, despite his wealth and power, is fairly unassuming when travelling the city, wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a brown leather vest and a short green cloak. He has a katana sheathed on his hip and he walks with a confident step and a relaxed expression, looking like any other average mercenary in the city. That is until you look at his eyes, a hazel color with flecks of orange in them, and with an unflinching directness to them that seems to look into the bowels of your soul, weighing and measuring what he sees.

"How's it going?" he asks easily, his tone friendly and engaging.

"Tiring," Tony says, holding out the three envelopes with papers for school. "It's hard not to tap into the college savings to make ends meet. Thanks for taking care of the GED, though, I really appreciate it."

Richard smiles and pats his shoulder again, taking the bills from him, "I know you're legally your own man, but I'm your father and I'm responsible for your education through High School. I've offered to take care of your housing too…"

"I can make my own way, pops," Tony says with a tight smile, tossing his head slightly and looking away, still shy in the dominating presence that is the Khan.

"I know," he says with a tight smile of his own, trying not to be overbearing with his son, but not having as much time with him as he has had with Maddie and Jocelyn to be a father. "Will you be coming to dinner Friday?" he asks, tucking the bills into the back pocket of his jeans.

"If nothing from the Guild crops up, yes," he says with a nod. "Did a pest cleanup a couple days ago, an assist with Mike's Towing on a repo, and I'm looking to take it easy to heal naturally and restock some equipment. I used a few explosive heads I need to remake, and lost a few arrows on the repo job."

"I heard about that," Richard says in a bland tone. "Also heard you had a partner."

Tony frowns and shrugs, "She stopped by and helped me track the pests, I'm still learning how to parse out the scents and details with my nose. And she helped with the repo. She's looking to make better money than that bike messenger job she had."

Richard sighs, shaking his head ruefully as Atticus sets a tray with three cups of tea on it, then nods his thanks.

"We want our children to be safe, but too often they follow the same reckless paths we took at their age," Atticus says with a sympathetic smile at Richard.

Richard chuckles and tosses his head, his face and head cut to only dark stubble over his rough features. He takes a sip of the tea after blowing on it, glancing at Tony afterwards.

"I know what you are capable of, if you want to get bumped into a higher category at the guild, all you have to do is ask," Richard says, dropping the bait.

Tony shakes his head firmly, looking down at his tea, not Richard, "It'll look like a favor from on high. I'll make my own rep."

"I had to offer," Richard says with a tight frown. "You know I understand."

"I know," Tony says with a sigh and a nod, setting down his cup and picking up his bills. "I'm for bed, I'll see you Friday, if nothing comes up."

Richard stands and hugs his son, though Tony is a bit stiff and uncomfortable with it, and the young man leaves to go back to his apartment.

Tony drifts out of his dazed rest to the sound of his phone ringing, then the answering machine picking it up. He does not move, but lies in bed while listening to the message and groaning when it is finished. The pest infestation is recurring, and the homeowners are complaining. He will have to skip dinner with the family to finish the job, and if the mob of monsters he killed with Maddie was not the bulk of them, then it is likely to be a big job. The good news is the clerk who left the message said the rate when up three brackets, so they will get paid appropriately.

Tony is finishing cleaning up in his shower when his door knocks, and he recognizes the step of his visitor.

"It's open," he says firmly, and he can hear his visitor enter the apartment and his kitchen.

He finishes cleaning up and dries himself in his bathroom before wrapping himself in a towel and walking to his bedroom to get dressed. Maddie sits in his kitchen with a bag from the deli down the street, eating a tuna sandwich as he gets ready.

"So what's the pay for this one?" she asks from the kitchen counter, knowing he can hear her.

"Four grand, minus taxes and fees," he says from his bedroom, pulling on jeans and a long t-shirt before pulling his armor from the stand. "But we didn't scent anything larger than what we found the first time, so we're going to have to go deeper in the woods to find the nest."

"As long as we're done by dawn on Saturday," Maddie says with an unseen frown. "I don't want to miss Prom, lord knows I'm not going to get another one."

Tony pauses in mid movement in his bedroom, the comment catching him by surprise, "Prom?"

"Yeah, Prom," she says with a sigh. "I'm finishing early, so I get to go to Prom this year, since I'm considered a senior." After a pause, she asks with a considering tone, "Aren't you considered a senior, too?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," he says with a frown as he continues to don his armor unseen by Maddie, who is speculating in the kitchen. "Not that it matters, I don't know anyone, and I'm not much for social events, I'd scare people, what with the scars and all."

"Bullshit," Maddie says with an unseen shake of her head, frowning at his bedroom door. "You know a few of us from the Horde, and you wouldn't scare anyone. You look fine. You should come and relax, have a good time."

Tony does not answer, just shakes his own head at the thought of being thrust into a group of people his own age. He remembers the peer pressure and the teasing and the bullying at his last school, and has no desire to repeat the experience.

Maddie is mentally devising her own scheme for Saturday now, knowing how to maneuver the young man into a position he cannot refuse.

Maddie is leading Tony through the brush of the forest, midnight come and gone in the forest behind the sub-division, her sword out and he with an arrow on the string of his bow. He makes a slight mumbling sound and she freezes in her tracks at the signal, her senses straining in the dark to sense what he has. She can hear him shift and turn to the side, easing slowly next to her, and she continues to scan the moonlit darkness of the brush covered clearing they are in. She has been following a scent of one of the smaller creatures, and it had led them here, but she is only scenting four of the creatures.

"It's big," he murmurs, his body tensing beside her, and she grows nervous. "I can hear its heartbeat, and it's really big."

"How—," she begins to ask, but before she can finish the question, the ground heaves and dirt flies as a gigantic version of the draconic creature they had fought before darts from an unseen burrow under the clearing.

Where the smaller creatures had only vestigial, unformed wings on a long serpentine body, this one is slightly thicker in the middle, with wide wings from its body. The tendrils from its eyebrows and chin are a yard or more in length, its head easily four feet long and its body four yards long, the neck equally long with a tail twice as long and snapping about it angrily. It lowers its head and snarls at them before snapping at Maddie in a flash.

Tony dives to the side and fires at the monster's eye, but a second eyelid flashes down, the steel arrowhead bounces off, and he mentally curses that the magic is down. Maddie has dropped back, dodging the bite and bounced back onto the creature's neck, just below the jaw. She grips with one hand and her legs searching for purchase as the monster rears back and snaps its head back and forth trying to dislodge her. Maddie is chopping and shoving her gladius at the neck and back of its head, but unable to penetrate the metallic scales.

Tony pulls arrows out and fires at the underside of the neck, but the steel bounces off the thick scales there, and he darts forward to fire point blank, hoping the close distance will improve his chances of penetration. The dragon is multitasking, however, and a front claw drops down and nearly smashes him into the ground as he dives to the side and rolls on his back, his bow drawn and firing straight up into the creature's chest. The arrow head barely sticks, and Tony curses as he rolls to the side, dodging another claw by inches, which catches part of his bow, shattering the frame.

The dragon rises on its hind legs and steps from Tony, and Maddie is nearly tossed from the whipping head, holding on only by gripping a tendril in one hand, causing the dragon to howl in anger and pain. She turns and leaps at the monster's back with her sword, shoving it down with all her strength in the shoulder of the wing. Tony is rising to the balls of his feet with his own katana in hand, pushing his own personal reserve of magic into the blade. The blade glows blue in the night, vibrating with power and electricity as Tony cuts at the dragon's tail that is whipping at him. The tail is severed at the cut as though no resistance met the blade, but the meaty extremity twitches with momentum and hits Tony hard in the shoulder and side.

Tony is tossed to the ground a few yards away from the blow, his head ringing and pain racking his awareness. Maddie sees him fall, and the dragon rears to slam a front claw on the downed human nuisance, the katana lying yards away and out of reach. Maddie leaps from the creature's back and lands on the side of its head, throwing it off balance and the claw misses Tony by a bare foot. Tony rolls to the side towards his sword as Maddie shoves her father's dagger into the monster's snout repeatedly, fighting to avoid the dexterous tongue that is trying to wrap around her ankle and pull her into its mouth.

Distracted by the werewolf on its face, a wing hanging limp from an injured shoulder and half its tail missing, Tony is able to run under it and push his magic into his katana again. He slashes across, then down quickly across the beast's stomach, and after a trio of cuts, intestines pour out, which Tony barely avoids as he dives to the side. The monster roars into the night and its thrashing is now erratic and hysterical, tossing Maddie from its snout into a tree a few dozen yards away.

Tony has run into the trees and sought cover as the monster roars after him, stopping as it realizes the pain is its own guts hanging from it. It falls to its stomach and side, then mewls piteously before falling into ragged gasps for nearly a minute before dying. Tony has stopped paying attention after it mewled, though, running to where Maddie had landed in the trees. He slides next to where she is levering herself up with one arm, her right cradled to her side and a pained expression on her face.

"Are you okay?" he asks, hesitating before touching her, noting that his own right arm throbs, unable to raise it over his shoulder height.

Maddie spits out a spray of blood, which dribbles on her chin, and she spits again, this time with a few broken teeth following it. She grimaces but her face firms in determination as she shakes her head, pushing with her legs to stand.

"I'll be fine," she says, spraying a bit of blood from her lips that she wipes away with her arm. "Is it dead?"

"It's dead," he says with a nod, glancing at where the beast has settled, frowning. "But I'm a bit at a loss for what to do now. Its… bigger than I'd thought it would be."

"Yeah, got that," Maddie says, the pain focusing her, and snapping into her mental state of leadership she had assumed in the Agoge. "We need to do battlefield chores, butcher and clean it if we can, that thing will be worth money for parts, skin and organs. Reach into my pouches on the right side."

She has turned and he pulls out a pouch with a wrapped object in it, and pulls out a cell phone. He looks at it in surprise, the devices hideously expensive and rare with only spotty service. Maddie takes the phone from him in her good hand, pressing and holding the five key, waiting for it to ring, and after one ring someone answers.

"Hoffman Resources, Kim speaking, how may I direct your call?" a perky voice says on the other end.

"This is Maddie Johnson, I'm on a contract with Anthony Hessberg and need a cleanup crew for biohazard, it's a dragonoid over twenty yards long and weighing an estimated six tons or more," she says simply, keeping her explanation brief and to the point in case the call drops. "We don't need emergency medical attention, but we need cleanup and harvesting."

"Understood," Kim says from the line, her voice firm and professional, having attended the Agoge with Maddie and present when she had broken up with Joachim afterwards, backing her up. "We'll have someone there in an hour or less to help secure the area, it may be longer for a full crew."

"Just get us someone to hand off to, its dead, so the hard part is over," she says, hanging up the phone and slouching against the tree as she looks at the lump of the dead monster.

Maddie stands straight and firm as she watches the half dozen Agogites methodically chop up the remains of the Jabberwocky, what they have taken to calling the dragon. Tony is beside her with his own firm stance, both striving to look unperturbed and properly badass, having killed a dragon. The magic had returned before anyone had shown up and Tony had used his own healing abilities to patch up Maddie's broken bones most of the way, and his own damaged ribs and shoulder. So though both are bruised, bloodied and sore as hell, nothing is broken any longer.

"Most extraordinary, sister," Luang says as he walks up from where he has surveyed the dead monster, the sky lightening in the east. "The Khan will be impressed with your skill in taking down this beast."

"I didn't take it down alone, we worked together," Maddie says with a gesture to Tony. "Have you got this under control? We have things to do today."

"I am aware," Luang says, bowing his head, wearing brown and green robes of his clan. "We shall handle the cleanup and harvesting of the remains. Standard Hoffman Resources contract for the labor, I presume?"

Maddie blinks and thinks, forcing herself not to prod her empty tooth sockets and broken teeth as she thinks, trying to remember the details of the contract.

"That sounds agreeable," she says with a nod, glancing at Tony who nods, but unable to recollect the details. "Let's get going then. Aunt A will be expecting us, and have leftovers from dinner at the shop."

Tony nods wordlessly, exhausted beyond measure at having healed both himself and Maddie enough to be functional and ready to drop into a coma.

Tony wakes up out of the first non-drug or alcohol induced sleep he has had in weeks to banging on his door, and before he can say anything, it opens. He groans as he rolls over in the tangle of his covers, barechested and in sweatpants as he covers his eyes from the slivers of light entering through from the blinds. He does so just in time as his bedroom door is flung open and Aunt A stands there with a stern expression on her face.

"Get up and shave, Tony," she says with only a bare glance to look at him before going to the living room, placing hangers on the rack for his weights. "You need to get spiffed up before the dance starts."

Tony groans, pulling his head under his pillow, "What are you talking about?"

"Prom, dummy," she scolds him, unzipping one of the garment bags and pulling out three jackets of different cuts. "You are only young once, and you deserve to have a night of fun. Trust me."

"I got beat up by a dragon last night," he mutters into his pillow.

"This morning, actually," she says in a scolding tone. "And you've been sleeping for eight hours, man up and get in the shower."

"Why are you doing this to me?" he asks rhetorically as she walks firmly into his room and opens the blinds, raining afternoon sunshine onto his bed, the light hot on his skin.

He rolls off the bed in a tangle with his sheets, pulling them over him to block the light, "Okay, okay! I'm up, I'm up!"

Autumn only frowns at him and shakes her head, "Your father skipped Prom when he was in high school. He'll never admit it, but he regrets it. Now get cleaned up."

Tony groans and holds the sheet over him as he walks to the bathroom to shower and clean up at the direction of his Aunt.

Maddie smiles as she turns in her bedroom, her three friends from school in the room with her. She has finished her makeup and hair, as have the others, and now they have finished putting on the dresses. They all wear various metallic colored, backless dresses that differ in their folds and how they hang from their shoulders, so no two are identical, but you can tell they are part of a group. Maddie and Stephanie, a blond girl slightly taller than the werewolf, are from the Horde. Stephanie is a tawny haired were-lion who had not attended the Agoge, but a member of the Pride and an honor student at the school. Missy and Deborah are both humans, and practicing Celtic witches, regulars at Aunt A's shop and how they became friends with Maddie and Steph.

"Your bruise is showing," Missy says with a frown, pulling out a jar of cream from the dresser, and moving to her side with Deborah.

The two witches apply the salve and chant, unable to heal the injury, but able to cast a minor glamour to hide the imperfection.

"I'm more worried about not speaking right," she says slower than she usually would, speaking around the broken and missing teeth in her mouth. Aunt A had been unable to conjure new and healed teeth quickly, needing a couple of days to replace them.

"You still look like a knockout," Steph says with her own smirk, adjusting her dress around her own slim shoulders, lacking the definition Maddie has through the shoulders and back. "I look like a starved housecat."

"You look fabulous, Steph," Maddie says, glancing at where the two junior witches have fixed the site of the bruise. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"It won't do for the Khan's daughter to look less than amazing at Prom," Deborah says with a grin on her pale face, framed with shoulder length black hair. "Joachim needs to know just what he lost, and have his nose rubbed in it."

"And to see who's got the balls to step up and take a swing," Missy says with a nod of her own, her brown hair falling down in a wave over her own tanned skin. "This is a big night for you. This is your first chance to move on, after that dick made a mess of everything."

"Let's not talk about him," Maddie says, turning in the mirror to study how the dress joins behind her neck and the small of her back. Her short brown hair is cut and styled along the line of her jaw, the dye washed out to her natural chestnut color, going well with the coppery sheen of the dress. "I just want to move on, and forget about that ass-hat."

"I heard Tim will be coming," Steph says with a leading tone, giving Maddie a smile.

"Let's forget him, too," she says with a frown, sighing and turning from the mirror.

"I don't understand," Steph says as they head to the foyer to gather their formal cloaks, their carriage ride to arrive shortly. "He's handsome, he's smart, and he has worked his way up in Clan Wolf, fought for it too. What's wrong with him?"

"He's a tool," Maddie says simply. "He's got an inferiority complex and daddy issues. He needs to grow up."

"You're never going to find someone if you keep thinking like that," Missy says with a frown and shake of her head. "No one is perfect."

"I'm not looking for Mr. Perfect," Maddie says with a toss of her head and shrug of her shoulders. "I'm looking for Mr. Right."

Tony frowns as he walks up the steps to the theatre, where the Prom is being held, stiff in the long jacket and slacks. The fabric is soft linen and a polyester mix that is surprisingly gentle on his skin, Aunt A having picked it out knowing his sensitivity. The jacket is pure white, as are the pants, with a dark red vest, a mandarin collared shirt and a black stud cravat at his throat. He had reached for a plain black mask to wear and she had slapped his hand hard enough to send stars into his vision from the pain. She made him swear he would not wear one all night, and threatened curses on him if he did not make the oath and keep it.

His concession to his scarred face is his three inch long, dark brown hair that is combed full and falls to his eyebrow on his left side, hiding some of the scars. He had pulled on a pair of thin black leather gloves once he had left his apartment, though, able to hide his left hand's scars and the sensitivity of the skin. He fights not to adjust his jacket or vest as he walks into the entrance, having handed the ticket Aunt A had given him to the greeter, a teenage girl he does not know. He looks around at the cleared foyer where the party is held, a ballroom in all but name with a sweeping staircase along one wall ten yards wide with deep steps, grand carpeting along the stone floors.

The balcony above has a contemporary band with a mix of strings, brass instruments and wind, preparing to fill the high ceilinged room with music. Beside the instruments is a DJ playing music through technology and power, while the tech wave lasts. There is a hardwood area on the second floor near the band for dancing, and he awkwardly moves through the crowd of strangers away from the dance floor.

Maddie sips her cup of punch with her friends on the second floor of the theatre, near the band and chatting about the dresses and suits of classmates. She laughs at Steph's comment at the popular girl who will likely win Prom Queen, but trails off as she watches Tony enter the foyer. He is wearing a white suit with a red vest, the color bright and setting him apart immediately, as does the luminescence of his face that is startling against the white of his shirt and jacket. She can sense his stiffness and awkwardness, even from this distance as he studies the crowd and ignores the looks he gets from the others in the room. He obviously does not register that they do not look at him in disgust or shock, but in recognition and some appreciation.

Maddie stiffens and clenches her jaw as she notes a few of the girls in the crowd giving him the once over. The pain from her broken teeth jars her thoughts, and she realizes that she feels jealous, possessive. She takes a breath and turns back to her friends, trying to sort through her thoughts and suddenly transparent feelings.

Tony sips on the punch he had picked up from the side table and camped near the foot of the stairs, trying to smile without looking scary. He feels like a mongrel dog dressed up like a peacock, there is no way he looks nice, and he cannot figure out why Aunt A had made him come. He knows only a few of these people, and none of them as friends. A scent hits him that he recognizes and he turns to the stairs and starts to correct himself on knowing people, but just stares instead.

Maddie is walking down the long stairs with one of her friends beside her, Missy, if he recalls, but his attention is entirely on the teenage werewolf. She has on a long dress that reaches her mid shin, a cut up the side to above her knee to allow her movement but not revealing. The copper of the dress is complemented with shining steel jewelry on her neck and wrist, with glints of topaz in her earrings under her chestnut hair. Her shoulders and arms are bare, and looking at her, you would never think she had been thrown against a tree less than twenty hours ago by a dragon.

"You clean up good," Maddie says with a beaming smile down at him as she closes to less than five yards away.

He opens his mouth twice before he coughs, taking a sip of punch to collect himself and speak, managing not to sound strangled.

"You look wonderful," he says nodding in a slight bow, awkward and completely out of his depth.

"You are handsome," Missy says with a smile at him, a twinkle in her eye as she looks him up and down. "I'm Missy, I go to school with Maddie. I don't think we've ever met."

"Um, I'm," Tony stumbles, glancing from one girl to the other taking a breath to collect himself. "I'm Tony, er… Anthony, Anthony Hessberg, but folks call me Tony. I'm finishing up my GED, and they said I could come to Prom… I mean, my Aunt said I should…" he stumbles, awkward and heat rising up his neck, nervous and angry with himself. He can fight monsters and gods, but he is at a loss with two teenage girls.

"You're glowing," Maddie says with a softer smile at him, staring at his face and damaged eye.

Tony looks around awkwardly, self-conscious and stammering, embarrassed that he is making a scene.

"It looks beautiful," Missy, says staring at his face's luminescence. "Like the northern lights at night, riveting."

Tony only glances around awkwardly, at a complete loss. Maddie lays a hand on his right arm, pulling his elbow towards the stairs.

"Why don't you come stand with us, by the band?" she says with a smile, moving close to him, and he follows her dumbly up the steps, her perfume and scent capturing him.

"We can talk, and then dance," Maddie says with an eager smile, leaning into him, and he shakes his head with an uncomfortable frown.

"I can't dance, I don't know how," he says, glancing at her almost frantically, then at Missy, looking for a way out of the pressure and stress, desperation entering his voice.

"We can fix that," Maddie assures him with a smile, pulling him towards the dance floor.

Tony stops and shakes his head, his mind replaying a junior high dance his mother had made him go to the first year he had stopped being home schooled. The teasing, the mocking, the laughing…

"I can't, I can't," Tony says firmly, desperately, pulling from Maddie's hand and hurrying down the stairs and following the path of least resistance towards the theatre's seating and stage.

Tony stands in the center of the stage, his attention focused on the slow shifting of the thick felt curtains to the sides and gentle metallic clinks of the wires overhead. The sound of the gentle movements in the old building is calming, relaxing, and is almost, almost, enough to keep him from noticing the soft steps descending the aisle from the foyer. A breath later he knows that it is Maddie ascending the steps to the stage, and he sighs, not sure what happens next.

"I told you, I don't dance," he says with a nearly frustrated growl, his eyes still closed.

A moment passes before she replies gently, "I've seen you dance, and it's saved my life, a couple times…"

Tony frowns, taking a breath and fighting the internal battle, to grab her and make her his, to kiss her, to hold her… even if she was not stronger and trained by the greatest fighter and leader of this age of man. Not to mention she's obviously out of his league, and would never be interested in him. He takes a breath, knowing the outcome, and turns to her, opening his eyes finally, the shifting colors of the overhead lights agitating his eyes.

"Maddie… Madelyn…" he says with a sigh as he turns to her.

"I'm not good with social situations, I'm shy, I say stupid stuff, and I'm scarred, ugly," he says with a sigh, frowning at himself. "I know they say shitty things about me when I'm not there, and I don't want to be around and make you and your friends outcasts just because you took pity on me."

Maddie has stopped from a few yards away, taking in what he says, her face bunched up in emotion, wanting to yell at him for saying something so stupid. As she starts to think her response, how she will yell at him and scorn him for being so stupid, a song comes on. She hears the notes, a retro disco song from decades ago, and she knows that Tony can hear it with his own enhanced senses. Instead of yelling, she sways to the easy rhythm, hearing the words and stepping up to him.

"Shut up and dance with me," she says in time with the music playing in the foyer a hundred yards away.

Tony is all too aware of the sounds and music, then as Maddie surges forward with a swing at his face with her own right fist. He sways backwards and she follows up, but slow, keeping her strikes timed with the music. He dodges and dips, evading the blows and then blocking one solidly, which she holds as she looks across the handspan separating their noses.

"See, I told you that you can dance," she says with a grin.

"You're holding back," he says with a frown that has more than a touch of mirth in it, enjoying the mock fight with her.

"Shut up," she says with a smirk in return, then kicks out at him.

He picks his leg up and avoids the blow, and focuses on the music, the tempo, and he falls into the rhythm, not too dissimilar from doing practice katas. They strike and dodge, legs and fists licking and flashing out, though few connect, none with power, both dancers smiling as they move on the hardwood of the stage. They ignore everything but the other as they follow the beat, paying attention to the movement of the other as they move in time with each other.

At the end of the song, the sound trailing off in a 1980s retro tech sound, he is holding her close, the distance between them melting for a change, their lips less than an inch apart.

"I… I'm not good at this," Tony says, the two of them staring at each other over the short span for a long pair of deep breaths.

Maddie smirks, her eyes tightening as she looks into his eyes from so close, "I disagree, I think you are doing fine."

Tony pauses, then leans in and kisses her, and the world disappears, but all too soon, he is rising up as a slow, sharp clapping echoes in the theatre. Tony rises up from where he had dipped Maddie, and they both square off at where Joachim is entering down an aisle, three others with him. Tony still has Maddie's hand in his own, and his senses are focused on the four shapeshifters approaching the stage.

"Get lost, Joachim," Maddie growls, her eyes flashing blue with her beast.

"No," he growls in return. "You got no sword, and I see now what happened. He did it, he turned you against me."

"You did it yourself," Maddie growls, and Tony reaches over and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Go grab backup," he says softly, turning to where Joachim hops on the stage, followed by the others, all with a swagger and the attitude of bullies.

"You'll need help," she replies quietly, not one to run away from a fight.

"You need to get it, you're faster than me," he says simply, stepping away from her, Joachim focused on him. "I'll survive til you get back."

"Relax, I won't kill him," Joachim says with a dark chuckle. "I don't want go to prison, I just want to teach him not to poach."

Tony shifts his stance and assumes a defensive Kung Fu pose, keenly aware of the stronger, faster were-bear about to attack him. He pushes his excitement down, channeling his adrenaline and slowing his perceptions, watching every shift and movement of the four youths arrayed against him. Joachim charges, a wide spread of arms to take him in an embrace, and Tony ducks to the side while turning and lashing out with a stiff prod of bunched fingers.

The jab at the youth's side causes him to stumble from his missed grapple, and Tony leans back from the attempted backhand. He counters while ducking reflexively, hitting the right ribs now, and Joachim swings down at him with his left. Tony turns and grabs the arm while avoiding the blow, a twist of stiff fingers into the elbow, another on the back of the shoulder. Joachim stumbles with a limp left arm, and Tony shuffles back with his hands held in front of him in a Mantis pose.

"Fucking asshole!" Joachim shouts at him, his eyes flashing with anger. "Get him!"

One of the others rush him with Joachim, one having chased where Maddie had run down the side of the seating, another simply standing and watching indecisively. Tony avoids the uninjured shapeshifter, not knowing his animal type, and risking a possible attack from the injured Joachim. The other bully misses him, but Joachim manages a swing with his injured arm after Tony avoids his right hook. The blow is not full force, but still as strong as a normal human's punch, and hits him on his sensitive left side, high on his shoulder.

He stumbles to the side from the impact, radiating through his still injured right side as well, and he jumps to the side to avoid the grapple from Joachim's friend. The other shapeshifter manages to shove him off balance, though, and Tony falls from the stage, landing hard on his side below where the orchestra would be. Joachim has leapt high from the stage, roaring as he comes down at where Tony is rolling to his back, stars in his vision.

Tony flips to his feet in an instant on reflex, twisting on his feet and lashing out with a kick, the heel of his right foot landing hard on the side of Joachim's head. The werebear hits the ground limply, sliding a few feet into a bolted seat, which thunks against his head. Tony shuffles and glances at where the shapeshifter's friends are at, staring in surprise at the slightly moaning body of their gang leader.

"Go get medical attention for your friend," Tony growls as he relaxes his stance and forces himself to act cool, shaking dirt from his jacket.

With that he turns from the two remaining teens just as Maddie walks down the theatre aisle with Tasha and Mitchell behind her, both chaperones for the Prom.

"Let's go dance," he says with a tight expression, shaking his jacket again, acutely aware of the dirt on the white fabric.

Maddie only glances at where the two remaining bullies are lifting their nearly unconscious leader from the music pit, then takes Tony's elbow and follows him into the foyer.

Epilogue…

Richard sits on the roof of the barn, idly strumming the guitar in his hands, a few other instruments around him. He had a very awkward conversation with his sister this morning, during which she had laughed at him for missing the obvious and not having a plan in place for a change. Fortunately he heals quickly, and the injury to his pride healed in less than an hour. Nonetheless, knowing what has transpired over the last week, he can guess what is going to happen next.

He plucks an easy rhythm on the guitar as he hears a set of footsteps rise up the beams of the barn, leading to the platform he sits on. There is only one human able to ascend the steps so quickly and surely, his oldest child. Richard smiles from his cross legged position as Tony walks over and sits at an angle from him, his posture awkward and tense.

"Hey, dad, I need to tell you something," he says, nervous.

"You play, right?" Richard asks, cutting off the young man's planned pitch.

"Uh, yeah, a little," Tony replies, and Richard hands him the guitar, picking up another from the side, tuned a bit differently.

"Good," Richard says, nodding. "My mom made me learn to play, after my father died, it helped me, I think," he says, strumming for a moment. "Do you know Tom T. Hall?"

"No," Tony says, shaking his head, confused and nervous.

"Relax," Richard says with a reassuring smile. "I already know. It's not much different than what happened to me."

He picks up the beat, getting into a regular groove, gesturing for Tony to pick it up, and he does, with Richard then playing the accompaniment.

"If you love somebody enough, you'll follow wherever they go…
That's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis…
If you love somebody enough, you'll go where your heart wants to go…
That's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis…

I know if you'd seen her… you'd tell me 'cause you are my friend…
I've got to find her, and find out the trouble she's in…

If you tell me that she's not here, I'll follow the trail of her tears…
That's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis…

She would get mad, and she used to say…
That she'd come back to Memphis someday…
That's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis…
I haven't eaten a bite, or slept for three days and nights…
That's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis…

I've got to find her, and tell her that I love her so…
I'll never rest 'til I find out why she had to go…

Thank you for your precious time, forgive me if I start to cry…
That's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis…"

Richard strums out the chords of the song, then turns to Tony with a knowing smile he did not have four years ago, before he had become a shapeshifter, before he met Tasha, before life had hit him hard in the face and would not stop.

"I wonder, sometimes… how I got here, to where I am, and what I do, compared to where I was, not so long ago," Richard says to his son, smiling wistfully. "In the end, it was the woman I fell in love with that brought me here, that made me become the leader of the Horde, the guardian to two wonderful young girls, and soon to be father of triplets."

"So, it's a story of how we got here," Tony reasons aloud, nodding.

"Yeah," Richard says with a nod of his own, smiling lopsidedly. "Do your best, don't be an ass, and work hard to be worthy of what you get. If you do the best you can, and aim for the high ground, you'll do okay."

"Okay," Tony says with a nod, and Richard nods as well, starting to strum his guitar again.

End…