Disclaimer: I don't own the thing that's not mine.

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Titans Tower, as nighttime crawls around the corner.

"An illusion?" asked Robin.

"Most likely," said Raven, "There are only a few other explanations for Starfire's behavior earlier today and each one is less likely the previous."

The Titans all nodded in agreement. They were all standing around in the main room of the tower having a debriefing of sorts. Today's little escapade ended up less than satisfactory for them all. But the most affected was Starfire who, even though through no fault of her own, was the main cause for the escape of the rather notorious gang of teenage villains, the HIVE Five.

After that the Titans conducted a search for the HIVE Five and wherever they have gone. They searched high and low all over the nearby area but the villains seemed to have left no trace. Thy also tried searching the old hideout but that place looked to be long abandoned. After Kid Flash discovered this hideout and subsequently revealed it to the world, plus the fact that their former leader, Jinx, was now on the side of good, the HIVE Five was smart enough not to stick around.

When the Titans got there, the place was barren. Anything that was useful to the group, like the computer equipment and such, were ripped right off the wall and moved to wherever their new hideout is located which could have been anywhere as far as the Titans were concerned. After that the trail went cold.

The Titans continued searching anyway but it was all but fruitless. They looked around the city until the sun began to set and they finally decided to call the day. And now they were back at the tower, their landmark of a home.

"You're saying that it completely warped your perception of reality, Starfire?" asked Raven.

"Yes," quickly replied Starfire, "Though it was an illusion, I felt that it was completely real and I didn't have the need to question how and why I came to such a situation. That in itself is quite puzzling to me."

"An illusion that can completely takeover one's perception of reality. Must be one powerful spell. The mind sees an illusion which it perceives as completely reasonable."

"So you're saying," said Cyborg, "that it's like some kind of induced daydream?"

"Deeper than that. The mind couldn't tell it was dreaming."

"So it's like the dream when you're sleeping, right?" inquired Beast Boy.

"Close, but even in a deep sleep, the mind still has some capacity of telling itself which is real and which is not. This isn't the case with what happened to Starfire. Her mind was forced to completely accept a totally false reality."

"Truly," said Starfire, "I am deeply regretful of my actions, fiends."

"Relax, Star," reassured Beast Boy, while rubbing the part of his butt that she accidentally burned, "it couldn't be helped. Something was messin' with your head at the time. It's not your fault."

"Something," said Cyborg, "or someone…"

Cyborg rubbed the bottom part of his chin while thinking deeply. Why not someone? Heaven knew that the Titans have faced their share of crazy characters in their extensive history as defenders of Jump City. It could be quite possible, if not almost certain, that some meta-human could be responsible for this. Besides, he couldn't shake the feeling that he's seen something like this before.

"Maybe he's right," agreed Raven. "I did sense a slight psychic disturbance at that time, but it was simply too feint to pin-point."

"This could mean more trouble for us," said Robin, even the pessimist that he was inclined to be in these kinds of situations. You'd think he'd learn to chill-out by then.

Every one of the Titans looked thought full at the prospects of this theory. Did the HIVE five have something new up their sleeves? Was there a new villain on the streets they weren't aware of yet? They all stayed silent in deep thought for quite a while but eventually that silence was broken by a rather rude and unexpected sound.

A long yawn came from Beast Boy's obviously tired voice. He raised a hand to rub the moisture in his eyes. He then looked y to see the rest of his team staring at him.

"What?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "We've been searching the city for hours and it's almost my bedtime."

Raven sweat-dropped at this statement but nonetheless seemed to be in agreement with Beast Boy. "his right. We should get some rest."

"Yes, I agree as well," said Starfire.

Robin thought about this quickly and concluded that they were right. It had been a long day and it didn't look like it would get any shorter unless his team got some shut-eye. "Alright, you guys shouldrest up. We'll all tackle this problem again tomorrow morning."

"What about you, Robin?" asked Starfire, noticing Robin didn't include himself in the "rest" statement.

"I'll look into the possible suspects we have that caused you to see that illusion of yours, Starfire."

"You sure you can stay up till late night, man?" asked Cyborg.

Robin looked back at him with a smirk on his face.

"Right…forgot who I was talking to," said Cyborg. "Well don't stay up too late, man. G'night."

The rest of the Team said their goodnights to Robin and proceeded to exit the main room to venture into their individual bedrooms. Robin remained in the main room which was characteristic of him being the former ward of the Dark Knight of Gotham and all that jazz. Nights where his turf and he understood if his team weren't as enthusiastic about the nocturnal lifestyle as he was, but that was okay.

He moved to one of the nearby computer terminals and opened it up. The circular node that was built into the wall opened up to reveal a screen and keyboard. Robin was about to start typing away when he noticed something blinking on his screen. The thing that was blinking was an envelope icon and the words "new message received" under it. Robin clicked on the icon first and foremost. When the message opened up he looked at the header to see who it was from and when it was sent. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity at what he read.

"A message from Kole and Gnarrk?" said Robin, "Sent around this afternoon when we were out."

Robin started to concentrate on the message itself and began to read it. By the time he was finished, Robin was now very curios at the rather odd turn of events.

"Well…" said Robin, "…this is interesting"

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Somewhere, many hours later.

Inside a dimly lit indoor space that was about the size of a medium-sized airplane hanger, a bunch of strange men wearing thick white suits that covered their entire body stood in the center of the rather wide concrete floor. The space was empty and quiet enough for anyone to hear a pin drop. The men didn't move from where they stood. They seemed to be waiting for something and they also seemed to have all the patience in the world while doing so.

Suddenly, one of the walls of the large hanger started to slide open and reveal a large doorway big enough to fit a medium-sized airplane (which would make sense being that the space was most likely a medium-sized hanger) but for now it was just as conveniently easy to fit a large, mechanical, caterpillar-like vehicle that slowly crawled itself into the hanger from the outside.

The men that were already inside didn't look the least bit alarmed.

After the vehicle had entered the structure with its full length, the doors behind it slowly closed behind it, denying access to anyone else. The Caterpillar stopped in the center of the large space. A door at the side opened and more of the white-suited henchmen climbed out. Three black-suited henchmen followed soon after and took their place on the floor. Finally, a white-suited henchman with a distinctive black stripe on his suit walked out.

At that same moment, an old voice came from seemingly out of nowhere. "Did you obtain it?"

All present turned to the source of the voice. From out of nowhere, Professor Chang appeared and casually walked towards the group. Upon seeing his boss, the black-striped officer of the group stepped forward slightly and gave his answer.

"Yes, sir" said the henchman, his low voiced partially muffled by his mask.

Professor Chang grinned widely, showing off his decaying teeth. "Show me."

The henchman leader nodded then turned to the two pilots who were still inside the cockpit of the caterpillar. They nodded back and manipulated the controls. From the top part of the caterpillar, a hatch opened up. At the same time, a long mechanical crane arm lifted from the roof. Its tip fed a length of cable into the open hatch and attached to something inside the vehicle. It then reeled in its cable and pulled out the strange spherical stone and set it at the floor right in front of the Professor.

Chang eyed it carefully, and then grinned once again. "Excellent…"

As if rehearsed, the men who were originally standing in the middle of the space quickly moved away when the giant rock was revealed and came back swiftly with something a little out of the ordinary to say the least.

The men came back pulling a large circular tray of some sort that was rolling on ball bearings and about thirty-five feet in diameter. The henchmen moved it by holding onto a handrail that was built into the side of the thing and was raised to about four feet for easy handling. On the top part of the tray were some odd-looking machinery that was yet to reveal their functions.

The henchmen moved the tray right next to the caterpillar with its lengthy crane arm holding the rock right over the tray. The crane arm lowered the rock until it was touching the large circular tray under it. When it did, hidden mechanisms in the tray sprang to life as four mechanical clamps rose for the surface and surrounded the large rock on four sides. Simultaneously, all snapped into the spherical rack and clamped down hard, holding the rock in place.

As the rock fully rested on the large tray, the caterpillar suddenly rose about a foot higher and the tray sank a foot lower to illustrate that there was a significant weight transfer due to the rock. The henchmen untied the cable from the rock and the crane arm reeled in its cable then folded away in the caterpillar once again. The rock remained fastened onto the tray and the men moved it away from the caterpillar and closer to Professor Chang.

The old villain moved about the rock and explored it from every angle. He seemed very impressed.

Despite its rough surface, the rock was almost perfectly spherical with a centralized mass. He tapped at its surface. And even with that simple tap, he felt the immense mass of the thing recoil his little tap enough to rattle his entire arm. It was extremely heavy despite being the size of your average Volkswagen beetle. No way was this thing made in the natural world.

The henchman leader walked nup next to Professor Chang. "Sir, is this the right one?"

"Oh, yes," replied Professor Chang but still kept his eyes affixed on the giant sphere, "you did well."

"It was as you said sir. The material was impenetrable. Though the scans revealed that it was essentially made out of natural earthen substances, it was produced in such a way that the material was harder than crystal. It was impossible to break."

"Yes, I expected that it would be such. The ancients wanted to keep something from the rest of the wold and they wanted to make sure that it stayed sealed. Their methods are uncanny to say the least but even this can be broken."

"How sir? Even our most powerful lasers don't phase it."

"Captain," Chang said looking towards him and referring to his apparent rank, "not all things can be solved with brute force. I learned that lesson the hard way. NO, what we need to do is not to break through it, rather we must let it naturally open by itself."

The henchman captain looked confused. "I can't quite get you sir."

"What we have here is essentially a treasure box holding an unbelievable treasure. And like all treasure chests, all we need is the right key."

Professor Chang stepped back and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass canister. Inside the canister was a small crystal glowing with a brilliant golden hue. Professor Chang held it up for all the men to see and wonder about.

"Fortunately for us," he said, "I have just that."

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The next morning back at Titans Tower.

"--and that's what happened in a nutshell…" said Kole's normally small face which was enlarged by the massive screen in the tower's main room.

Behind her, Gnarrk grunted in agreement.

Last night, Robin went through Kole's message multiple times just to make sure he didn't miss it. The morning after, he immediately called on the team to meet him in the main room so that they themselves were able to read the message. Needless to say their curiosity was more than a little piqued. Once breakfast was done, they contacted Kole and Gnarrk stationed in the far north of the globe to clarify the message.

Kole, being the more verbal of the duo, gave her little version of the story and translated Gnarrk's occasional tidbit. The Titans listened fully and made sure they understood. Robin especially, which really goes without saying.

"So are you guys alright?" asked Robin, his concern for fellow heroes showing to be more of a priority. Throughout all his experience as a Titan, he learned to always prioritize his teammates. Even though he would sometimes loose a case directly because of that concern, but he soon learned that they could always just chase after the bad guy some other time. Teammates, well those are irreplaceable.

"Yeah, we're fine," said Kole. "A little worn out maybe but nothing too serious."

"That is glorious news," said Starfire.

Raven stepped forward now. "So, you guys have any idea what Chang's henchmen took?"

Kole shook her head. "Not really, no."

"You guys sure?" inquired Beast Boy, "I mean "an oversized 8-ball" is kinda a little vague dontcha think?"

"Sorry, but that's the best description I can come up with. It was big, about ten or so feet across, black, and was perfectly spherical though the surface of it was a little roughed up."

"That really doesn't give us much though," said Cyborg. "That rock could be anything. Knowing it was Chang who found it and grabbed it, it has to be something that's worth worrying about. That guy gives science a lousy name."

Gnarrk grunted sympathetically, being a victim of science gone wrong himself.

"Not everything is what it seems," said Raven, "That oversized 8-ball might be something mre or at least, hiding something more. We'll just have to investigate ourselves."

"Raven's right," concurred Robin, "we'll have to do some fact-finding. Kole, Gnarrk, if it's not too much trouble, 'd like you guys to keep a look-out for other strange happenings around you. Chang's men might just come back fore more. If that ever happens, contact us right away. Got it?"

Kole gave a thumbs-up. "Got it, Robin"

Gnarrk grunted gallantly to signify his willingness to do his duty as a Titan.

"Thanks," said Robin, "I'll be counting on you guys."

With that, Robin cut off the communication and Kole and Gnarrk's images disappeared from the giant video screen. The titans started too look amongst themselves to try and put two and two together. For a few moments nobody spoke as if they couldn't really find any good words at that moment

"Well this is interesting," said Beast Boy, always managing to come up with the right words first to get things rolling. "Guess we should go do the whole 'search under every rock' thing again."

"You mean look for Professor Chang?" asked Raven.

"With what Kole and Gnarrk just reported, shouldn't we?"

"I agree," said Starfire, "should we not try and investigate this situation? We know very well what the Professor Chang is capable of. We simply cannot let it rest."

"Yes, I agree with Starfire and Beast Boy but I don't think it'll be that simple," said Robin. "For one thing we don't even know where Professor Chang is right now or even if he is still in Jump City. The last time we saw him was in Paris when we took down the Brotherhood of Evil."

"And after that," said Cyborg, "the last anyone saw of him was in Steel City when the Titans East took him down along with Brother Blood. Though we know that Blood was finished after that, Chang disappeared and was never found. He could still be hiding in Steel City or anywhere else for that matter."

"Plus, that man has been known to be sort of an expert in staying under the radar," said Raven. "Whether he is or isn't inside our sphere of influence, it'll still be a challenge to actually find him even with our powers."

"Don't worry so much about it, Raven," said Robin. "After all, I was the one who initially discovered him didn't I?"

The rest of the team instantly looked towards Robin. They all soon figured out what he was talking about. It was Robin who initially found him when he needed a supply of xenothium he needed to create the Red X suit which he used to try to infiltrate their archenemy, Slade's, hideout. Of course, Robin had underestimated Slade back then and ended up failing that little mission.

Back then, Professor Chang was working as a simple weapons smuggler providing some of the most powerful villains on the Titan's rouges list their signature technology and not just the Red X suit. Professor Chang was known to have provided Dr. Light with the power supply for his high-tech suit. He was also one of the scientists who provided the technology in creating an ally of the Titans, Red Star. He also provided the Brotherhood of Evil with plenty of technology; the most prominent would be the freezing machine that the Brain used to freeze the captured Titans.

The last anybody saw of him was in Steel City when he joined forces with Brother Blood to try and build a superweapon that would've enabled them to take over the world. By then, he had moved from a simple weapons smuggler and became a full blown criminal mastermind who was the mutual partner of one of the most notorious masterminds of all time, Brother Blood.

But, at the last report, the valiant efforts of the Titans east had destroyed their plans and prevented disaster. Brother Blood lost his life and Professor Chang escaped by the skin of his teeth and was once again at large. Nobody has heard of him since then.

Until now, apparently.

"A guy like him," continued Robin, "especially of his age, will have a hard time kicking some old habits. If I'm right, he'll still try and use his old networks in whatever he's up to at the moment. Through that, I might be able to find a trail once again."

"You sure about that, dude?"

"I think it could be quite possible. But we'll never know until we actually try."

"That is fine, friends," said Starfire, "but may I inquire as to what we should do about the HIVE Five? As I recall, we have yet to apprehend them."

"Yeah, there's that too," said Beast Boy.

"Not to mention that thing or person that caused Starfire's hallucination," said Raven. "Whatever or whoever that might be, we can't just ignore it or the possibility that it may have something to do with the HIVE Five since that was the reason they got away from us in the first place."

"We'll just tackle this one at a time," said Robin. "We have no idea where the HIVE Five has set up their new hideout yet. And we also don't know where Professor Chang is either. We'll just have to look for them both separately."

The other Titans looked at Robin and thought about what he said. They soon knew that he was right. The HIVE Five and Professor Chang were, as far as they were concerned at the moment, two separate problems that needed to be tackled on different terms.

"Are we all agreed?" asked Robin to his team.

"Yeah I guess so," said Raven.

"Can't argue with that, man," said Cyborg.

"Yes, I agree," said Starfire.

"I guess you're right, Robin," said Beast Boy. "After all, we can be pretty sure that the HIVE Five and that old geezer, Chang, are probably not involved with each other anyway…"

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In the HIVE Five's hideout.

"—and now you know."

Fallacy stood in front of the crowd of rather bewildered boys from the HIVE Five. They looked, above all else, surprised at her statement that their beloved Brother Blood, founder and headmaster of their glorious HIVE academy, was dead.

And the one responsible was Professor Chang.

"And now you know what you need to do," continued Fallacy. "We must avenge this atrocity. We must make sure that the traitor and his servants taste the bitter flavor of the same betrayal that they dealt our great headmaster…and me."

The boys began to look amongst themselves. They could pretty much understand what Fallacy was going for. She wanted revenge for what happened to Brother Blood's death. She believed that this directly because of another villain that was supposed to have been Blood's mutual partner, Professor Chang. But it seemed Chang abandoned him at the most crucial time and Blood ended up paying the price.

The way Fallacy said it, it really seemed to be that way. Chang was responsible and now they must take care of unfinished Business. The boys took a few glances at Fallacy to check her facial expressions. She was dead serious.

The boys knew why.

For the most part of her life, she had idolized Brother Blood believing he is everything a great leader is and should always be. When Brother Blood took over the HIVE Academy she was one of the few students he recruited himself. Fallacy has been famous among her peers for her rather rich enthusiasm for Brother Blood's philosophies. She always stood by his word and always defended it with the utmost dedication.

After the HIVE was infiltrated and subsequently destroyed by the Titans and Bumble Bee's efforts, Fallacy disappeared for a while and then later re-surfaced when Brother Blood needed help in his new plan to dominate the world. It was later found out that she was the one who actually freed him from his imprisonment in the Steel City Prison.

They later formed an alliance with Professor Chang and started construction on the GeoHammer, a superweapon with the ability to create geological anomalies anywhere on the globe on any scale. It was to be Brother Blood's key to a new world order. Unfortunately, his partner had other plans and when the going got tough, Professor Chang ran away for his own sake.

Fallacy had sworn vengeance that day. And now she will fulfill it…with a little help from some old comrades.

"So what do you say?" she asked.

The boys look amongst themselves one last time. Mammoth was the first to step forward with a straight face. "I'm in."

Fallacy smiled approvingly then looked towards the others. "And what about the rest of you?"

Billy Numerous was the next to step forward. "well shucks, ya'll know I just can't refuse a purty-lookin' lady such as you, Fallacy. I'm in!"

Another Billy suddenly appeared out of the first. "Count me in too!"

A third Billy appeared from the second. "Me three!"

Fallacy wore an expression of slight humor then looked towards the other remaining boys.

See-More stepped forward. "Well we all know what Brother Blood meant to us back then. I guess it's only proper we do this. Plus I guess we owe you for bailing us back their."

Kid Wykkyd stepped up next to See-More and gave an agreeing nod.

The last of the boys who have yet to give his answer was Gizmo. He was still the furthest away and had his hand on his chin. It was clear he was deep in thought about something and his teammates were visibly curious about what that might be, Fallacy most of all.

"Something on your mind, my little friend?" inquired Fallacy.

"I don't know…" said Gizmo. "Can we really decide so casually?"

The rest of the boys raised an eyebrow each in curiosity while Fallacy narrowed both of hers.

"We're the HIVE Five now!" continued Gizmo. "We're supposed to be an independent group of notorious supervillains. The academy is ancient history by now. We're past that. We've learned all we can from that place and we've been living on our own through thick and thin without anyone else's help. Dang it, we're supposed to be hardcore here! We can look out for ourselves just fine. Do we really have this kind of obligation?"

The boys seem to have been slightly taken aback by this and started to look amongst themselves in contemplation. The little guy does have some key points. But Fallacy wasn't about to loose her own points. She suddenly got to her feet and marched towards Gizmo.

"Obligation!" she exclaimed. "That's what you call it? You insolent little maggot!"

She started marching closer and the four who stepped forward now stepped aside to let her pass. Gizmo had nowhere to go and was stuck where he stood. All of a sudden his vision became a bit shaky and Fallacy's form seemed to be morphing slightly. The room suddenly began to shrink and Fallacy's figure a little more imposing. He could swear that her teeth were getting sharper by the second. In fact, all her facial feature were turning more…predatory

He couldn't tell what it was at first but then he quickly realized that it must be Fallacy's spellbinding powers that were causing the things that he was seeing. Gizmo knew it was all fake, but it scared the living daylights out of him nonetheless.

"How can you call it a mere obligation?" continued Fallacy as she slowly closed in on Gizmo. "What were you before he found you and recognized your pathetic little talents? Were you anything more than a mere delinquent with a penchant for mischief? What could you have ever achieved without his guidance or wisdom that he so graciously bestowed upon you? Without him, what would have any of you ever amounted to?"

By this moment she was standing right in front of gizmo and grabbing on to his suit. She hauled him up off the floor and lifted him so that their faces were less than a foot from each other. "I'll tell you what!"

To Gizmo, he was looking at one of the scariest sights he'd ever seen. Due to Fallacy's apparent hallucinogenic powers affecting him, he found that Fallacy's face has completely morphed into that of a monstrous predatory feline of some sort. Her face developed a snout and her bared teeth were as sharp as nails. She was also drooling a suspiciously red liquid.

"Nothing!" said Fallacy and Gizmo heard it as a low reverberating growl which drained the blood from his face. "This isn't a simple obligation on our part, my friend. This is out life debt!"

Gizmo didn't need any more convincing. "Alright! Alright, I got it!"

Fallacy removed her spell on him and his vision returned to normal. She also visibly calmed down and gently lowered Gizmo back to the floor. The other boys were frozen with nervousness.

"Uhhh…are ya'll cool now?" asked Billy Numerous.

"Yes, we are," said Fallacy.

Gizmo breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's understandable," said Fallacy, "We have all been through many trials that have tested our resolve. We have survived this long to prove that we are strong. But we must not forget those that have given us our strength. If we deny such, we deny ourselves of our worthiness as HIVE students or otherwise."

This time, all the boys nodded in complete agreement. Fallacy looked very satisfied. This wasn't such a bad day after all.

"Not to be a party-pooper or anything," said Mammoth, "but how are we gonna find that old geezer, Chang? Last I heard he wasn't even in the city anymore. We don't know where he is now"

Fallacy looked at him with a devilish grin. "We'll just have to ask some people who might know…"

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The Jump City Airport

It was still early morning and most people were just having their breakfast. But at the Jump City airport, even at this considerably early hour, it was already business as usual. The lobby was already bustling with people who came from and going to wherever you can imagine on the globe. People of all walks of life tend to come and go as they please in airports like this.

Because of that fact, most people in an airport no longer seem to be able to differentiate between those who're dressing normally for their respective cultures. One can just assume that they came from wherever that happened to have a different fashion sense.

That's fine and dandy for the most part. Not just for the people who don't notice but also for the people who don't want to be noticed. A good example of which just walked across the lobby.

Coming out of an exit, a teenage boy casually strolled across the lobby of the airport affording as little stares as he could. From his soft facial features one could tell he was in his mid-teen years. From his general look, skin-tone and all, one could guess he was European of a sort. Is medium-length straight hair was dark brown with light, tan highlights. His eyes were a deep auburn hue.

As for his wardrobe, which could be considered a little unusual, he wore black denim cargo pants which were comfortably loose but not baggy held to his waist with dark brown leather belt and the bottom of the legs were tucked in heavy looking ankle-high boots. The many stitches and pockets of the pants were accentuated with silver lines. For his torso, he wore a comfortably snug, long-sleeved, turtleneck shirt made out of a thick material, also black and with silver-accentuated stitches which made the shirt seem to be tailor-made to match his pants. His hands were covered by similarly designed fingerless gloves.

Over it all, he wore an unusual jacket of sorts. The jacket was light-gray in color, almost like a cream color. It had short sleeves which only covered his arm up to the elbow. Starting at the waist, its back and side split into three separate tails that extended to just past the teen's knees. On the most part of the back of the jacket, drawn in bold black lines, was a traditional roman cross. The edges of the jacket were also accentuated heavy black lines.

As far as jewelry was concerned, the teen had a small, plainly designed, golden crucifix hanging off a short golden chain from his belt.

He continued to walk casually amongst the bustling crowds, not really minding if anyone was truly noticing him or just throwing a passing glance. It didn't really make a difference to him. All he was here for was his work. Continuing onwards, he reached the large glass windows which gave an amazing view of the city skyline. He watched as the rising sun's fresh rays of light caused the city to glisten.

"Jump City…" he said. "Sounds like a really interesting place…"

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Author's note: Thanks to all those who read the story thus far but I could appreciate a review or two more. Please R&R. All your input are of great value to me.