Hey guys! So seeing as it's pretty close to the 28th and I haven't gotten any more comments (I didn't realize that there was an option for a poll until I posted the last chapter... I'm brilliant some times...) I've decided to post the next chapter a bit early. Now if you've looked at the reviews you know what everyone else thought, and I have several ideas about it. I might run a (not in review) poll for other things later on.


"This is... This is... Terrible!" Tris said as she examined the sample Josephina had brought back to the hideout.

"What is it?" Nate asked trying to get a peek as the otter hooked up her microscope to the projector and shut off the lights.

"Belladonna isn't just working on a poison... She stepped up to the wall displaying the projection and pointed at the image. "See here? This is the chemical that makes Red Spice illegal, it's what causes the rage response. Only this is a highly concentrated form of it, pure extract more than likely. Do you have any idea how much spice she would have needed just to collect enough to make one batch of this?"

"I'm gonna say a lot and hope you're not going to launch into mathematical calculations." Nat said.

"I'll spare you the numbers."

"So she's made one batch... we've cut off most of her supply right? I mean, we took down not only the smugglers but the manufacturer." Nate said, leaning on the back of his sister's chair to support himself.

"But there's still Jean Bison, he moves enough to keep her supplied and I doubt Rajan was the only one they had growing Red Spice. The concentrated form of Spice is extremely addictive, and in people with weak hearts, can be fatal. But that's not the only thing she's cooking up in that lab." Tris swapped the slides and grimaced. "This is the big one."

"Is that what I think it is?" Bentley asked, eyes going wide as he waddled up to the projection.

"Depends, are you thinking it's a super virus?" Tris asked, looking at him.

"Yeah... It's what I thought it was..."

"Wait... A super virus?" Sly asked. "As in... like... black plague or something?"

"Worse. Much worse. This has strands of at least a dozen diseases... In short if you wanted to pin point the plague that struck down Egypt in the bible... it was probably something like this..."

"This is why I had to get this sample back here. Belladonna is using the kidneys and liver, the toxins built up in them, and is building a virus that could easily destroy nations." Josephina said.

"My best guess... she's going to sell this to the highest bidder as a chemical weapon. Or she's partnered with a drug company that will have an antidote ready and waiting. Either way we can't let her finish this."

"So we still have some time before she finishes it?"

"As of right now she's still mixing this cocktail of death, perfecting it, but she's not far from finishing. We don't have a lot of time here. We need to shut down both operations she's got going." Sly nodded in agreement.

"What do you think she's planning on doing with these?"

"From what I can tell, she's planning on dumping the concentrated spice into the water system. There should be a truck coming in just a few hours to pick up the first shipment."

Josephina stood and looked over at Murray. "Murray, you and I can make sure that truck never makes it to the city."

"Got it. I'll go warm up the van!" Murray said with a firm nod before dashing out to where the van was stashed.

"Sly, we need to slow her down. There's only a few people with access to the main chemical station. It's guarded by six keys, all of which are carried by Belladonna's most trusted guards. You've got the best pick pocketing skills out of all of us, get us access to that station."

"Bentley there's several computers in the area we need to gain access to. You and I are on that. Everyone else sit tight and wait for instruction." Tris said. The group nodded and those with jobs started for the door.

Josephina climbed inside the van, double checking her shock pistol and settling down in the front seat. "Let's do this big guy." She said, snapping a battery pack into her pistol.

"It's good to be back at the wheel." He said with a contented sigh. He revved the engine and Josie grinned and nodded.

"Good to be back in action. Now let's put Belladonna's plans out of commission."


Josephina held onto the door of the van with a death grip. She was leaning out the window and trying desperately to aim at the truck speeding ahead of them.

"Murray, could you please, please, drive straight?" She asked with a small growl, as the van swerved slightly and threw off her aim.

"I'm trying..."

"Are they throwing explosives now? Oh come on! I was not expecting this stupid truck to be so well guarded." She cursed as a mine exploded far too close to the front of the truck for her comfort. "That's it, I'm going on the roof, please don't throw me off. Ill try and stop the explosives before they can affect us." She pulled herself through the window and onto the roof.

"Be careful..." Murray called after her, swerving again as another explosion rocked the van. Holding onto the top of the van, she took aim again, watching as it hit the truck.

She alternated between keeping explosives from the the van and chipping away at the truck. Her eyes darted through her targets, and she tried to keep up as best she could. The explosion was rather sudden. The truck went up in flames so suddenly that Murray had to slam on the brakes and Josie winced as she was nearly thrown from the roof.

"The truck is out of commission."

"Good. Get back to the hideout and we'll figure out what our next move is." Tris said.

"You got it. We'll meet you back at the compound." She nodded even though she knew the otter couldn't see her and returned to the passenger seat. "Let's go back big guy."


Sly rolled his shoulders and looked down at the key carrying guard. He smirked down at the dingo and gently dropped down beside him. The dingo's ear twitched but he didn't move.

"Damn lizards..." He muttered. "Running around in the dirt..." Sly watched him for a moment before he slipped forward and pulled the key and roughly a dozen coins from his pocket. The dingo sighed, looking rather bored. "Stupid heat... Gonna get a sunburn." Sly paused midstep and turned around with a small silent huff. He pulled his canteen from his leg pouch and hung it from the door knob before slipping away. He made his way towards his next target.

The second key guard was easier, he had a patrol route that he stuck to and made it easy to get behind him. He made the pull and spun away, freezing a he spotted another guard making his way towards his position. He ducked under a truck and watched the guards pass, holding his breath for a moment. Crawling from his hiding place he brushed the red dirt from his shirt.

"Well that was unpleasant..." He grumbled. "It's like the spice factory all over again." He started for his next target, swinging his cane over his shoulders as he walked. It didn't take him long to get the keys, and he whistled jauntily as he walked back to the hideout. He spotted Josephina and smirked as she climbed from the van looking disheveled.

"What happened to you?" He asked. Josie glared at him and looked over the singed fur on her hands.

"Explosives... Fire... you know. The usual."

"Ah I see." He bit back another smirk. "So I take it the truck didn't make it?"

"No. And it's sure to have drawn in police..."

"We'll deal with it."

"I'm not going back to prison. I've spent enough time behind bars."

"I have to agree with you on that one."

"Well at least it's something." She chuckled and started to the door. "I'm gonna go try and wash the soot, dirt and singed fur off. See you at dinner." He smiled and walked in after her, setting the keys on the table and flopping onto the couch.

"Blood piece of a broken down old tugboat!" Lindsey snarled, Sly opened one eye to look over at her.

"Trouble?" He asked.

"Still can't get this stupid machine to work... I don't know what they did to this abomination of mechanics but it's really grinding on my nerves now." She pounded on the side of the air conditioner with a look of hatred blazing in her eyes. "Normally, it's like... the machinery talks to me, tells me how to fix it... this piece of junk keeps flirting with the idea of telling me." Sly chuckled but quickly shut up when she fixed her teal eyes on him.

"So why don't you take a break?"

"Because I will not be denied!" He watched her lazily, occasionally she would take a wrench and crawl halfway inside the box trying to find some elusive part, other times she would curse violently and take pliers to some wire hidden deep in the casing. "I've built rockets simpler than this!" She moaned. "I built an airplane that had fewer parts! Whoever designed this was a mad man!"

Josephina joined Sly on the couch and smirked at Lindsey. "Isn't she adorable... so full of rage and enthusiasm for maiming inanimate objects..." She said. Sly laughed.

"She's something alright. Did she really build a plane with fewer parts than that air conditioner?"

"There was a getaway plane made from a car engine some metal pipe and some tarp... Flew just far enough to get us out of where we needed to be and then crashed. Luckily we were only as high as a two story building..."

"Now that is a story I'd love to hear."

"Well we were on this mission in South America..."


Tris jogged to the first of the computer terminals with her laptop bag slung over her shoulder and a look of determination on her face. She slid to a stop by the warehouse and looked around before gesturing for Bentley to join her.

"Watch my back. There are a lot of guards around." She said. Bentley nodded and double checked his crossbow. As much as he was loath to admit it, Tris was a faster hacker than he was, but he was better at building tech than she was and she'd never gotten the hang of RC vehicles no matter how many attempts she made. He looked around as she set to work. The guards howled as she entered the system and she winced slightly.

Bentley wasn't the strongest fighter, but he was quick with his crossbow and light on his feet. Not to mention he was small enough to be mostly overlooked by the guards. He raced around the area, dodging around guards and tossing smoke bombs into the gaps between the buildings to distract them long enough to take them out. Tris focused on the terminal, ears twitching as Bentley kept the guards at bay.

A guard slipped through her defenses and she ducked as he slammed into the terminal. She yelped and grabbed her batons, driving them into his neck and promptly knocking him out. She looked over the terminal and realized that a code was filling the screen, shorting it out. "Bentley this terminal's no good. I got about 25% of the way through... I should be able to continue my progress at the next one. Come on!" She took off with the turtle hot on her heels. Fighting their way past the guards they ducked into a supply room and waited until things quieted down a bit. Tris sighed and grinned at Bentley. "Three to go. Up for round two?" She asked.

The next terminal was guarded by the time they got to it. Situated beside the lab it was the most exposed of the terminals around the compound. A dingo stood by it with a vigilant expression on his face. He was not about to let anyone near the terminal. Bentley knocked him out with a dart from a nearby rooftop. He gave Tris a thumbs up and she nodded before taking up position at the now free terminal. Just like before the area was crawling with guards as soon as she entered the data base. Bentley stayed on the roof, keeping a watchful gaze on the area, darts hitting their marks well before they could get close to Tris.

"The shutdown code just initiated. I'm moving to the next terminal." Tris said.


"List of potential buyers, a copy of the formula to make the concentrated spice, blueprints for the lab and compound..." Bentley said as he looked through the information they'd gained.

"Don't forget the diagram of the extraction system." Tris said.

"Right."

"It looks like the liver will be easier to go after. We should pull it first."

"I can think of a few ways to damage the cases holding the kidneys." Bentley hummed, tapping his chin. "But whatever we do, we need to slow her down."

"Josie could go back in and collect as much of it as she could then we could dispose of it properly."

"That could work... We could also break into her cabin."

"True. She's probably got some hard copies. Can't let those get into the wrong hands." Tris said with a nod.


Alright guys! That's the chapter. I'll see you with the next one soon.