Amanda could hear shouting behind her as panic took over, and she lost control, biting and kicking at the man holding her.

"Hold her still!" Kris shouted from somewhere above her.

"I'm fucking trying!" her captor yelled back.

"Let…me…go!" she screamed at them both.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of metal that didn't make sense until she felt the sting of the needle sliding into her skin. Terror overwhelmed her, and she finally broke away to a simultaneous chorus of "Goddammit!" from both men.

She stumbled forward and realized that she was surrounded by men dressed in black. They circled her, watching her with barely concealed hostility, keeping a space of about ten feet between her and them. Kris motioned them back with an outstretched hand of reassurance as he stepped up to the edge of the circle and studied her.

"What do you want, asshole?" she hissed at him.

He shrugged, "Right now? Nothing, really. Kind of wondering what you're doing here."

She blinked and spluttered, "What I'm doing here? What I'm….Are you fucking crazy?"

"No," he drew out, squinting his eyes, "Surprising that the gas doesn't work on you. You must not be like Project Incubus."

Her eyes narrowed, "Are you Blackwing?"

Some of the other goons chuckled when he laughed, "Blackwing? Government never pays employees what it's willing to pay its contractors. No, no, no…we're what you would call 'fugitive apprehension agents'."

She processed this flatly, "You're bounty hunters? Seriously?"

"It's a living," he shrugged, "Some of us have worked in Blackwing before, of course…." he stopped talking when she swayed and told the rest of the group, "Remember…nobody touch her yet…"

Her vision swam, a wave of dizziness taking over that brought her to hands and knees but was gone almost as quickly as it had come. She eyed Kris, shaky with adrenaline and anger, "What did you do to me?"

"It's just a sedative," his calm voice did nothing to reassure her, and he spoke quickly when she cursed, "Take it easy…there's nowhere for you to go, and nothing you can do about it. It's not going to hurt you, but we've learned not to touch people like you if we can help it. By the way, did you know that they're offering the same price for you as for your boyfriends?"

"Me and my boyfriends are going to kick your ass," she muttered, eyes darting around for an escape route and not finding one.

"We'll…." He cut off as the goon with the bloody and broken nose stumbled out the back door with Gripps slung over his shoulder, dropping Gripps to the ground.

"Gripps!" Amanda shouted anxiously.

"He's okay, he's just sleeping," Kris assured her, unconcerned. The goon glanced over at him, then saw Amanda and charged toward her, his eyes dark with malice.

"Karl!" Kris turned to intercept him with two of the others, "Karl, stop it! Stand down! I dosed her—she'll be asleep in..." he checked his watch, "Nine minutes! Karl!"

"I don't fucking care!" Karl yelled, being held back by two of his colleagues.

Amanda watched Karl warily, but the chill that ran through her had little to do with him. Without taking her eyes off of him, she groped around until she found a fist-sized rock and clenched it tightly. She barely had time to wonder where the others were before Karl surged through with a roar to grab her, dragging the men holding him back along. She scrambled back, kicking and striking out as best she could in pure panic.

"Don't touch her! Don't touch her! KARL!" Kris was bellowing over the noise of Karl roaring and everyone else shouting.
The clamor was interrupted by the arrival of a sleek, black SUV that turned into the alley and stopped at the end of it and began to move towards the group, which froze in place as if realizing what the scene must look like to others. Back to business, Karl was flung backward again and the group paused to watch the approach of the SUV.

"Team Two is back," Kris announced, with a clear tone of relief in his voice, "Get ready to…."

His words were drowned out by the revving of the engine as the SUV accelerated, then screams as it mowed down the first of the black clad henchmen in front. Amanda laughed as she retreated with the rest of the interlopers towards Gripps. The men didn't retreat for long; Vogel leapt out of the driver's seat of the SUV, and they ran to meet him.

Amanda watched anxiously for only a moment, because Karl took advantage of the opportunity to grab ahold of her left arm painfully. She cried out in pain and struggled for a minute, kicking out uselessly against the much larger and stronger assailant. It wasn't until he brought a hand to the back of her neck and squeezed painfully that she remembered the rock. Her aim was wild in the terror of the fight, but her third blow to his face with the rock hit his broken nose, and a hysterical laugh bubbled up out of her as he dropped her. Before she could move further, Cross barreled through the open back door from the laundromat.

"Hi!" Cross crowed at Amanda as he hit Karl with the crowbar, knocking the goon out cold, "Damn, Drummer—what did you do to make him so mad?"

"I broke his nose," Amanda beamed at him as he hit another goon with the crowbar.

"Nice!"

Amanda knelt next to Gripps as Cross kicked another henchman and reported, "He's breathing! They sprayed him with some kind of gas. Where's Martin?"

The smile Cross gave her was ferociously victorious, "Kicking ass! Right behind me!"

"Good, I…"Amanda swooned as her head spun, and she dipped her head down to Gripps chest for a moment.

"What's wrong with you?" Cross crouched next to her.

"They…they fucking drugged me. He said I'm going to fall asleep in a few minutes," she watched Vogel spinning in circles, surrounded by bounty hunters, "Listen…I'll be fine. Go help Vogel."

Cross glanced at Vogel, "He's good. He's got them outnumbered one to ten," but he frowned as Vogel took a hard fall. He hesitated a moment, then gave Amanda a wrench that had been stuck in his belt loop. She clenched it determinedly, and he nodded approval and moved towards the knot of activity, "I'll be right back."

Amanda watched as Beast jumped from the top of the van, bowling over two bad guys, and then smiled as Cross joined the fight in earnest and bellowed, "TODAY, WE CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!"

She almost melted with relief when Martin hurdled through the back door of the laundromat. He counted heads quickly, started towards her, then froze; she understood when she heard the click of a gun near her ear.

"Stop there, Martin," Kris warned from behind her, "We don't want to hurt anyone, but she's easily the most expendable one of all of you."

A growl bubbled up out of Martin's throat, blue energy surrounding him, and Kris warned, "I can shoot her before you can drain me, Martin. Don't try anything stupid."

Even though Martin didn't move, the sense of menace pouring off of him was tangible. Kris recoiled, then scoffed, "Go ahead, Martin—take her fear away. Let her think it's all going to be alright…"

Somewhere in a detached, fascinated part of her mind, Amanda made a note of what Martin looked like when he's really, really angry. His eyes were blazing, but his voice was calm when he spoke, "You never did know when to stop talking, Kamble," his eyes flickered to the wrench in Amanda's hand," And she's not afraid—she's pissed."

At the last word, Amanda grabbed the gun and twisted it to the side, hearing a "snap" and a scream. Kris had managed to don the gas canister and pressed the button now. Gas flooded around them briefly as Martin leapt into Kris with a snarl, and they tumbled away from Amanda, Martin seemingly unaffected as he hit Kris again and again. She couldn't hear the words Martin was muttering through gritted teeth, and she didn't know if it was the drugs or if Martin's anger was so real that the air around him seemed darker.
She slowly became aware of Gripps' voice raising beside her, "Martin! Martin! Don't kill him! Martin, man...that's enough!"

Martin stopped with a shudder and another furious growl, taking a long, deep breath. Then he glared sideways at Gripps with one eye in silence.

Gripps' voice was hoarse as he repeated softly, struggling to sit up, "It's over, Martin. Don't kill him…not who we are, man."

The lethal tension drained from Martin's shoulders, and he scanned the other side of the alley. Gripps was right…the fight was over, and the other members of the Rowdy 3 were walking over. Amanda's vision was dimming in and out, and Martin crawled over to her with a frown, checking her for injuries.

Cross strode over, kicking the still unconscious Karl on his way, "You alright Gripps?"

"Peachy," Gripps groaned, "You guys good?"

Cross knelt next to Martin, "She said they drugged her. That she's gonna sleep."

Amanda had just enough lucidity to intertwine her fingers through Martin's before the blackness swallowed her whole.