A/N: A bit of a wait, I know, but worth it? I hope so. Anyway, thank you for the reviews. Oh lordy, the reviews! I can't believe how many this is getting!

Chapter Two

It was like a scene from a war film.

A huge crater stretched from footpath to footpath, leaving the road strewn with red-hot rock and asphalt. The glass of the shopfronts had been shattered for about fifty meters in either direction. So far, only one fatality had been confirmed – an old man, according to the news reports that Odie was following on his laptop.

When the gang arrived, police had already set up a cordon around the scene. Journalists and emergency services blocked most of the view of the destroyed section of the street, but the carnage was all too visible. Jay grimaced, and beckoned his team to him. They assembled around him, a range of expressions filtering onto their faces.

"Here's the plan," he explained. "Herry, Neil and Atlanta are going to go to the morgue-"

"The MORGUE?!" Neil shrieked. "But there's dead people there. Can't I stay here?"

Jay shook his head. "You'll have to sneak in, and a little luck wouldn't hurt." Neil pouted, but shut his mouth as Jay continued.

"As I was staying, you're sneaking in to the morgue and find out if the victim was the Oracle. Archie, Odie, Theresa and I are going to stay here. Theresa, I want you to use your powers to get us as close as possible to the explosion site. Odie, once we're close, can you analyse the particles or whatever and find out if Cronus was behind this?"

Odie nodded. "If you could get me some of that asphalt from the crater, that'd be great."

"I can do that." Archie said, reaching for his whip. "But I'll need to get past the police."

"How about I take care of both issues?" Theresa interjected, smiling.

Jay nodded. Glancing around his team, staring at them each individually for a few moments, his brows furrowed. "We have to consider the worst possible scenario. If the Oracle is dead, and Cronus is responsible, he'll be after us next. It's been a big day, and we're all tired, so keep an eye on each other."

They agreed in a low, muted chorus of tired expressions, and split into their groups. Herry, Neil and Atlanta climbed back into the truck, the latter two already arguing over who would have the front seat. Jay rolled his eyes, but waved them off anyway, and brought his attention back to the rest of his team, wearily standing beside him.

"Right," he said. "Let's get to work."

To his surprise, Theresa beamed brightly. "Already on it, Jay." She pointed to the edge of the crowd that had gathered at the edge of the cordon. Several police officers stood guard at the perimeter, but one – a younger, fresh faced officer – was positioned at the edge, nearest to the buildings on the left side of the street. He stood apart from the rest; an easy target for Theresa's telepathy.

"Watch and learn, guys." The psychic announced smugly, and wandered over to the young police officer. The boys watched on intently (possessively, in Jay's case) as she strode up to the man, engaging him in a conversation that they couldn't hear over the whine of police sirens and the crowd of journalists. With Theresa's back to them, they could only see the police man's face, who had suddenly become very interested in what the girl was saying to him.

Archie chuckled as a glazed expression came over the man. "Your girlfriend is dangerous, man," he said to Jay, shaking his head mockingly. Despite being a little bit pissed off at the fighter, he had to admire her uncanny mind tricks. Especially when they weren't being used on him.

Theresa waved them over a few seconds later. "Martin is going to get us a rock sample," she explained to them, watching the dazed police officer warily. "Aren't you, Martin?"

The officer nodded dumbly, and shuffled towards the edge of the crater. Bending down, he scooped up a handful of asphalt and scurried back to the four teenagers.

"How come no one's looking at him?" Jay asked, gesturing to the crowd beside them, who were all staring intently at the crater and the emergency services officers that milled around the edge of the gaping hole in the road. None of them had paid any attention to the young police man as he collected the sample.

"I'm shielding him," Theresa muttered, keeping her eyes firmly on the man. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple. "And it's a lot harder than I thought it'd be."

"Like, a perception filter?" Odie asked eagerly, his dark eyes lighting up. "Wicked!"

"Kind of." Theresa exhaled her breath that she wasn't aware she'd been holding the second Martin arrived back at the cordon's edge. "Thank you, Martin."

The officer nodded and held out his hand full of asphalt to Odie, who deposited the material into a plastic bag he'd pulled out from within his satchel.

"Want me to mind-wipe him, Jay?" Theresa grimaced, already extending a slender hand to Martin. On Jay's nod, she placed her palm on the policeman's forehead, muttering to herself as she closed her eyes to concentrate. They watched on, a little in awe of the psychic's skills, as her muttering gave way to a steady chant of archaic Greek.

Suddenly, the girl's eyes snapped open, and she staggered back. Jay caught her before she toppled over. "Theresa?" He asked worriedly, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes as he placed her back on her feet. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine," she murmured, rubbing her temple. "I don't understand… something went wrong… my powers…"

The policeman seemed to be coming back to his senses. He shook his head a few times, as if he was trying to dislodge something that had crawled into it, and then spun around to face the four teenagers.

"I… what…" he spluttered, glancing between them. "When did you kids get there?"

"We were just leaving, Officer." Jay replies smoothly; two years of training enabled him to have no hesitations about lying to the police. He knew that down the track he'd need to have a serious think about his moral principles, but for now he needed to concentrate on his team. Glancing meaningfully at the other three, he guided them away from the cordon edge swiftly.

"What the hell was that about, Theresa?" Archie muttered as they paced away quickly.

The psychic shook her head sadly. "I'm not sure. My powers… they just stopped working. They faded out, just when I was taking away his memories of us."

"Don't worry about it for now," Jay said, although he knew that she would worry – hell, he was worried too. Sighing, he pulled his PMR from his pocket and gestured for his team members to hold up. "I'll let the others know we've got a sample. Let's get back to the dorm."

The morgue worker blinked rapidly as he studied the student ID card in front of him. "Look here, um… Neil," he began, ignoring the brilliant beaming of the teenager standing in front of his desk. "I don't think I can just take you down to the storage area, even if have a…"

"-School project."

"Whatever. You need to have clearance, and forms…"

The blonde boy didn't miss a beat. "How about you show me where these forms are, and I'll get some clearance?"

"Well, uh…"

"There's a coffee in it for you."

Sighing, the man glanced up at the clock. He was only three hours into an eight hour shift that was trickling on far too slow. Coffee sounded like a blissful release. It wasn't exact protocol, but the blonde kid seemed okay, and it wasn't like his manager was going to be checking up on him any time soon. "You're shouting the coffee, right? Well, the papers are upstairs. Follow me."

Once the morgue worker and Neil were out of sight, Atlanta and Herry slipped through the doorway, striding quickly for the adjacent door that they knew had to lead to the cold storage. Glancing at the burly boy, Atlanta grimaced, and opened the door. Expecting to be overwhelmed by the stench of decay, she was pleasantly surprised to find the grey room smelled instead of… lemon?

"They sure keep this place clean," Herry remarked, picking up on the smell too.

"Probably 'cause its hygienic." Atlanta realised, smiling to herself. "The… uh… body… where do you think it'll be?" She scanned the walls quickly, taking in the small metal hatches on the one furthest from the door. "There." She said, answering her own question.

Together, they proceeded towards the wall. Once they were closer, they were able to read the identification cards on each of the hatches. They found their desired one immediately – the simple handwritten card said 'John Doe, suspected street bomb victim.'

They stood awkwardly in front of the hatch for a moment, well aware that they couldn't afford to waste any time, but too apprehensive of what lay within. They'd seen a number of bodies in the war, but none quite as gruesome as their imaginative minds suggested this one would be. Atlanta wasn't squeamish… but this was a body that had been blown up. She didn't want to go anywhere near it.

"Do you want to…?" She asked Herry, desperately hoping that he had better control of his guts than what she had at that moment. When he shook his head, her stomach plummeted.

Her fingers closed around the latch and she pulled it open, drawing the sliding stretcher out just enough for the shape of a head, covered by a thin white sheet streaked with blood, to be drawn out. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the sheet back from the head.

"I think I'm gonna…" Herry muttered, and retched into a waste paper bin.

The face was mangled and bloody, with chunks of skin burnt away to the bone. Haunting, dry eyes stared back at the huntress; the man's empty irises and torn flesh burned an image into Atlanta's mind that she knew she wouldn't forget for a long time coming. But then, looking more closely, she realised that something was wrong with the body before her.

"It's not him, Herry," she whispered. "It's not the Oracle."

They were just two blocks away from the dorm when Theresa's vision began.

The familiar shock of being pulled into the other reality that existed within her consciousness startled her; unblinking, she stared as the world blurred and took shape before her. The streets of New Olympia were replaced with a sort of emptiness – neither black nor white, dark or light. In this place of her vision she spun around, wondering where she had been pulled to.

Theresa.

She gasped and suddenly, he was before her.

Oracle, she spoke, although the words did not come from her mouth, but rather her thoughts. You're alive?

Yes. His voice was as emotionless as his face; as blank as his glowing blue eyes.

But… Cronus…

I defended myself adequately. I will explain, in good time. He extended his hand to her, cupping the side of her face with his palm. Though her physical state was far from this devoid place of the vision, she could feel the coolness and wrinkles of his skin.

This is where you will find me. He said, staring acutely.

In the vision, she saw a building; one within the city. She saw an elevator, and a rooftop not so different to the dorm. She saw the Oracle there, leaning out across the railings, staring into the city. Skyscrapers pierced the sky, bleeding starlight that lit up the dark blue flecks of the Oracle's glowing eyes. And, as she watched, the stars ebbed and twisted, taking a form. Already, she could sense an evilness from the figure.

You must hurry. The Oracle warned.

Gasping, Theresa was flung from the vision. She was dimly aware of strong hands holding her upright, and of the grey concrete beneath her. Blinking, she took a few deep breaths, and straightened up. Three pairs of eyes stared at her expectantly.

"What did you see?" Jay pressed her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"The Oracle." She said slowly. "And he's in danger."

The corners of Jay's lips slowly turned upward. "Then I guess we'd better help him."