The elevator slowed to a stop in the lobby, and when the doors slid open, Jake tried not to react to the small army of city police dressed in SWAT-style uniforms crowding into the lobby at a swift march. They were heavily armed, and as Jake made his way past them to meet up with Marco and Ax, who were standing in a corner staring at the tableaux in front of them as if it was the most fascinating thing that either of them had ever seen, Jake saw one of the officers looking his way.

"Did you kids see a bear?" he asked, casting a glance over all of them.

"Yeah, right," Rachel said, laughing as if that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "A bear? Get real."

The officers seemed to dismiss them from their minds after that, which was a good thing since he'd noticed Slade beginning to size them up as if he expected some kind of trouble. And, it seemed like whenever Slade expected trouble, whoever he expected trouble from ended up in small, bloody pieces. It was just best not to walk into those kinds of situations in the first place.

"So, how'd it go?" Jake asked, trying not to think about the debacle at Ocean World that had ended up with two guards lying dead on the concrete.

Once had really been more than enough.

"We encountered no difficulties, Prince Jake," Ax said, falling into step with the rest of them as they made their way out of the building.

"Yeah, no problem," Marco said, though for some weird reason he seemed to be really, honestly disturbed; either that or he was putting on a hell of an act.

"So, what's the matter?" he asked, wanting to make sure that Marco was all right with the rest of their plan; or that he was all right in general, really.

"No biggie," Marco said, shrugging though he still looked like he didn't really believe what he was saying. "Once we got into the mainframe, it was a breeze. Total cakewalk. We had plenty of time, so I figured, why not check out one or two extra screen-names while we were there."

"Not exactly the reason we came," Tobias said, not looking particularly sympathetic.

"This girl whose screen-name is PrtyGirl802," Marco said, clearly attempting to explain himself as they stood at the bus stop waiting. "She sends me these very flirty kind of e-mails and IM messages. You know; like she likes me and all."

"So, you found out who she is?" Cassie asked. "That's not very nice."

"Yeah, no kidding," Marco said, giving a shudder that was just exaggerated enough to clearly be faked. "I found out that my online girlfriend PrtyGirl802 is actually a seventy-three-year-old retired postal worker."

"How is that important?" Slade asked as they all climbed aboard, having been aware of the conversation, just as he was aware of everything that happened around his allies, whether it directly affected them or not.

"It's not, actually," Shara said, laughing softly, paying her fee as the eight of them paid their fare and found seats close together. "It's just funny."

Marco and Slade both looked over at her, but Slade was the only one who spoke: "Why is it funny?"

"It's not important," Jake said, silencing both siblings before Shara could make a game attempt at explaining humor to someone who no longer thought entirely like a human. "Right now, we have to concentrate on the list Marco printed up."