Sean, Tangaroa and Grace arrived back at the cave they had been using as a hideout after leaving the others in the restaurant. Watching them enter the cave deep within the woods surrounding Ocean Bluff, she made her way quietly into a rocky outcrop, concealing herself as best as she could.

She pulled her pistol from her jacket pocket and pulled out the magazine as slowly and quietly as she could to ensure it was loaded. She pulled back the slide, just far enough to check that the chamber was empty. She slid the magazine back into the chamber, clicking it back into place gently. She froze for a second as Grace turned around, looking directly in her direction. Her heart pounded as she worried that she had heard the clip being replaced. Armed or not, she knew she would be no match for them. She shifted a little, taking off the safety as she prepared to defend herself. If she took them by surprise, then it was possible she could take one, possibly two of them out of the picture before she was killed.

Grace furrowed her brows and stared into the gloom. Her keen eyesight caught a couple of loose rocks tumbling a short way from the entrance. Shrugging as she figured she was being paranoid about hearing something suspicious, and turned back to the company of her comrades. Susan breathed a quiet sigh of relief and relaxed her muscles a little, slipping her gun back into her inside pocket.

She looked around the cave for inspiration. There was large deposits of metallic ores and seams in the rock which reflected light from the entrance all around the interior of the cave, limiting how much she could move around without being noticed. While it wasn't exactly bright in the area she was nestled into, much of the cave was almost as bright as it was outside in the daylight. Looking around, there were literally dozens of side caverns, meaning that simply searching for Jarrod would be pointless. These caves looked to be old mines, they could extend for miles in every direction, and if it was as bright as this throughout, she was sure to be seen. Until she had a better idea of what was going on, all she could do was wait and observe them. Maybe they would give something away.

"We all have a big day tomorrow." Sean reminded them as he started to gather wood for a fire. "It won't be long now."

"It should have been us on the first place." Tangaroa stated harshly, helping to gather the wood. "How much longer do you think it'll be until the transformation is complete?"

Susan listened a little more closely as she heard this. They were obviously planning something, and if they had some kind of secret weapon up their sleeve, then the others would need to know about it.

"He's a strong one; he freed himself from Dai Shi before." Grace answered. "But I started the transformation over an hour ago. It shouldn't be too long before he loses himself completely."

Susan covered her mouth to stop herself shrieking in worry. Jarrod had told her all about his time as Dai Shi's vessel. He and the others had told her that Dai Shi had been destroyed. Was it possible that they had found some way to resurrect him? She had to try hard to breathe as the pieces all fell into place. That was why they had attacked all the other masters, but they had only kidnapped Jarrod. They needed him to act as a vessel for Dai Shi's spirit. She was horrified to think what he must be going through facing that again.

"Well I don't want us to leave anything to chance." Sean responded, getting up. "I'm going to the temple. We can't exactly turn up to a duel dressed like this. Tangaroa, go and find us something for dinner and start the fire. Grace, why don't you go and check on our guest? Make sure he's comfortable. Say your goodbyes while you're at it. Once Dai Shi's back, we'll make sure the job's done right."

Susan felt her panic returning and had to concentrate hard to stop from giving herself away. They weren't bringing back Dai Shi to follow him; they were bringing him back to destroy him. Seeing the two men coming towards her, she pulled further into cover, hiding from view. From her vantage point, she could see Grace heading down one of the side tunnels. Satisfying herself that they had gone beyond earshot, she made her way down the tunnel after her. She had no idea what she was going to do once she found Jarrod, all she knew was that she had to save him from the pain of wandering the earth under Dai Shi's control. Even if that meant bestowing the kind of mercy only someone who truly loved him could.

Meanwhile at the temple, Sean arrived at the top of the stairs, finding Flit working on the injured students, being aided by RJ. They had left the others to train, instead deciding to return to the temple. Since they knew that their enemies could enter the grounds, they knew that the students were not safe from them should they elect to return. The students beheld Sean in fear, recognising his torn, filthy robes and knowing he was one of those who had decimated the temple. Flit and RJ approached him slowly.

"I am a healer; I have no desire to see more bloodshed." Flit stated, stepping forward, holding a hand up in a gesture to stay RJ's hand. "State your business here and leave."

"He doesn't need to leave." Dom said coldly, arriving out of a side building, carrying an armful of dressings. He handed them off to one of the students helping with the others. He started to step forwards, his fists clenched, ready for action. "If he wants to fight..."

"Dom!" RJ interrupted him, flashing a glare his direction. "We've accepted the duel. If we break the rules then they have no need to keep their side of the agreement."

"They have my brother RJ!" Dom snarled.

"Your brother is still alive." Sean assured him. "For now."

"What do you want Sean?" RJ reiterated Flit's question. "Just get it and get out of here."

"Well we can't exactly go showing up for a solemn occasion like a funeral like this now can we?" He asked RJ, gesturing to his uniform. "We figured we should sort ourselves out with some clean clothing."

"You aren't fit to wear the rags you're wearing!" Dom yelled, grabbing Sean by the jacket. The student just laughed at him.

"Go ahead, strike me." He dared the Rhino Master. "Then my comrades will kill your brother, we'll finish off your fallen friends, and we'll take the fight to you in the middle of the city. We might even invite along a few news crews for company."

"Let him go Dom." Flit implored him, getting between them both and forcing them apart roughly. "I have patients to worry about, and the last thing I want is to endanger them."

"He's right Dom; we have to play by the rules." RJ reminded him. "Go and get him some robes."

"Excuse me?" Dom asked incredulously, his face boiling red in his rage. "You want me to..."

"He isn't going to do anything, just go and get the robes." RJ instructed him. He knew that Dom was understandably having a hard time keeping his cool. The beast war had cost him a lot. It had cost him his father, and growing up with his brother. Now these creeps were threatening to take his brother from him, and worst of all, Gabby, the woman he loved had been forced into the situation of having to face them long before she was ready, putting herself in danger for her friends. "Go!"

Dom growled under his breath and left, shoving his way past Sean. The Irishman looked around at the scene of devastation.

"There are so many memories here." He commented. "It'll be good to move back in..."

"We're playing your game Sean, just satisfy yourself with that and go." RJ told him abruptly. "We're facing you in this farce."

"We're looking forward to it." He replied, getting into RJ's face. "It's just a shame about that little brunette girl. She seems kind of cute. It would be a real shame if..."

"We're playing your game, now hold your tongue." RJ warned him. "I swear to you, if anything happens to Jarrod or Gabby, Dom's going to tear you apart."

"Please, after what we did to this place and his brother? He wouldn't last five minutes against us." Sean taunted him. "Maybe once we're finished, we'll take care of the rest of you just to complete the job. Of course I might spare your wife. She's a beautiful woman, and I love kids. Maybe I can comfort her after you're gone."

"RJ, no bloodshed remember?" Flit warned him as he saw RJ's mood darken. "He's just trying to get to you. Let it go."

Dom arrived back with the robes and thrust them forcefully into Sean's arms.

"Here, these should fit you." He snapped. "Now take them and go."

"Tell your friends we're looking forward to tomorrow night." He replied in a sneer, turning and walking away. As he disappeared into the darkness, Flit brought their attention back to the injured. They had gone back to the temple to take care of them and keep them safe. Chasing after Sean now would only lead to all-out war. Like it or not, for now the safest course of action was to play by their rules. Not knowing where they were keeping Jarrod, there was no way to get him back safely unless Sean and his cronies were made to reveal his location.

Back in the cave, Susan made her way silently into the holding chamber behind Grace. She watched as she lit a couple of torches as she came over towards Jarrod. Susan quickly found a place to hide and watched her. Grace picked up a damp cloth and began mopping blood that had leaked from the wound in his shoulder where she had stabbed him with the claw.

Susan felt a sickening knot building in her stomach. She could see that he was hurt, and that he was weak, most likely a combination of blood loss and mistreatment. Bruises covered almost the entirety of his torso and face, and there were patches of dried blood on several superficial cuts. The wound to his shoulder seemed to be recent, given that it had clearly only stopped bleeding recently. She heard Jarrod groaning as Grace cleaned him up.

"Don't touch me." He demanded weakly, trying to pull away from her. "Leave me."

"You're resisting Dai Shi's influence well." She complimented him as she put down the rag. "I always knew you were strong. It's one of the things that attracted me to you."

"He's not coming back." Jarrod responded. "I won't let him. I'll fight him..."

"You and I both know that you can't fight him forever." Grace taunted him, jamming a finger into the wound in his shoulder and twisting it, forcing the claw in further. Jarrod screamed out in pain, almost causing Susan to break cover and tackle her. She couldn't bear to see him suffer. "You know, if it's up to me, I might just let Dai Shi go and have a little fun first before we take him down. It would be a terrible shame if that pretty little cop of yours..."

"I'll never hurt her!" He roared, struggling against his chains. "She means everything to me!"

"Just like you meant everything to me." Grace responded, stroking his hair. "Of course you never returned my devotion, my love. You always shoved me aside. You always ignored me. Now I bet you're regretting your decision to turn me down."

"Not really." He said defiantly. "I never was attracted to psychopaths."

Grace slapped him, almost causing Susan to call out in triumph. She knew her one-person mission was important, and she couldn't risk this chance to free him, but she couldn't help feeling overjoyed at what she had heard. Despite everything he was going through, he clearly still loved her. She had never been surer that she had made a terrible mistake about him. She held her breath as she saw Tangaroa walking into the room. She pulled further into cover, watching as he entered.

"Sean's back." He informed her gruffly. "I've got us something to eat."

"It looks like our times up lover." She sneered, stroking his hair tenderly. "Next time we meet, I have a feeling things will be very different."

As Grace and Tangaroa left, Susan suddenly realised the major flaw in her plan. She was now trapped in the holding chamber with Jarrod. She couldn't risk trying to release him while they were there, she couldn't escape. She was no match for them, and in his present condition, Jarrod wasn't either. She found somewhere to secret herself and rest until then. Until sunrise when they left to face the duel, she and Jarrod were trapped.

Back at JKP, Gabby was sitting on the couch, nursing a few minor injuries with an ice pack when Casey came over to her.

"You did well today." He reassured her. "You're really impressed us. Master Phant's right to be proud of you..."

"Don't try to comfort me, you clobbered me." She muttered, dropping the ice pack on the table nearby. "You and Theo hammered the crap out of me."

"We've been training a lot longer than you have." Casey reminded her. "I'm really impressed; you did way better than any of my students..."

"Casey, I'm going to fail you." She sighed, her disappointment in her abilities getting the better of her. "These guys are dangerous. You need someone better than me."

"Gabby, everyone has to face someone who knows more than they do at some point." He told her sagely. "We're all beginners at some point."

"Casey, Jarrod's relying on us." She reminded him. "If I mess up, if I can't beat that guy..."

"It's three-on-three remember." He interrupted her. "Theo and I will be there too."

"But you'll have your own opponents to deal with." She responded. "Lily told me all about this Tangaroa guy I'll be facing. He's really tough and..."

"Gabby, just do your best. That's all you can do, any help you can give us will help get Jarrod back." He assured her. "You've already overcome the biggest obstacle, the one that most find it the hardest to overcome." He smiled at her warmly as Theo sat down with them.

"You've got the courage to fight for what's right." He told her. "Even when you know the dangers involved."

"Everyone's really proud of you Gabby." Theo said comfortingly. "You'll make us all proud."

The following day, Susan heard a commotion from the main room of the cave. Making her way quietly through the passageways, she found her way back to the main chamber, finding the three warriors, getting ready in their new robes. Tangaroa checked his butterfly knives as Grace finished off with some breakfast. Sean picked up a gleaming Jian, swinging it a few times to check it's performance, before shoving it into a scabbard on his belt.

"Well, we all know how important today is." He announced, rousing the attention of his two accomplices. "Are we ready to take back the destiny that was rightfully ours?"

The others let out a huge cry and rounded with him as he headed out the mouth of the cave. Susan watched them go, satisfying herself that they were gone before turning and heading back into the holding chamber. Jarrod stirred and looked up, watching her coming into the room.

"Jarrod, it's me." She greeted him. "I'm here to get you out of here."

"Susan, stay away from me." He begged her. "He's poisoning my mind. I can't hold him for long."

"Jarrod, I'm getting you out of here." She reiterated, beginning to check the restraints for some kind of release mechanism. "I'm not letting this happen."

"Susan, I can't hold him forever." He yelled. "Do you have your gun?"

"Yes." She replied, pulling it out of her jacket.

"Then put a bullet in my head." He instructed her. "You know I don't want to live like that again. Please, spare the world a lot of pain and do it."

"I can't!" She whispered, a few tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Jarrod I can't do that!"

"You can't let me endanger the world like that!" He answered. "Just do it!"

"I can't Jarrod, I can't lose you!" She roared. "I love you!"

She heard an evil laugh rumble up from his chest in a voice she knew wasn't his. He cast an evil glare over her and sneered at her.

"You sentimental fool." He spat in disgust. "Your weakness will be what sets me free."

With that, he summoned a dozen rinshi warriors into the room, surrounding Susan. The first one attacked, scattering her gun clean across the room. She pulled into a guard, preparing for the most important fight of her life.

"I'm not giving you Jarrod!" She bellowed wiping away a tear. "You're not having him. I love him."