"Congratulations, Mrs. Burnham."

Purrcy clenched her cell phone a little tighter at hearing the voice. "Thank you," she answered politely. "Not even going to give me enough time to get work done on what should be a honeymoon?"

"Oh, I wasn't going to ask you to work today," she was reassured, the barb likely being purposely misunderstood. "We were hoping that you'd be willing to have your next public event be the Iwakuni base Fourth of July parade. The service men and women are pretty excited about your marriage to Michael after all. Everyone's been talking about it and very pleased."

"We didn't do it for you," she put it down rather quickly, "even if you did like Michael's idea." She leaned back in her chair.

"Yes, I have read the letter. No, I don't like it. Yes, I've been told I have to follow through and for similar reasons to your own, but it's from a lot higher up. I pretty much got the confirmation that complete civilization collapse is the result if I refuse. Since everyone knows I'm a sucker for not letting things like that happen, we'll be there.

"Please remember that I expect to get honeymoon time and free travel for it, though. No more secrecy between party members after this one, either. Full disclosure for everyone who's participating. We have to plan as a party or it falls apart. You're going to be lucky if this one you've kept under wraps doesn't cause the rest to fail.

"I'm most upset about that part. See it's properly fixed before we get there or we'll go solo and take out whomever we want. Interference that causes failures is irritating and unacceptable.

"Make sure if you're keeping it all secret anyway that we come out unscathed at the end as far as judicial matters go, too, or I'll whistleblow. I'm fully patriotic, not blindly patriotic."

"I understand," the voice was sober and more real this time. "But ...no one has said anything about other events?"

She gave a scoffing laugh. "I told you. I got the orders from higher up than your top level. Make sure it's set up right.

"Michael wants a shipboard honeymoon with visits all along the Asian coastline. We need to meet up with Shiroe in India for their opening night of the follow-on movie. Connect with him to get the timing if you need, but don't say more than you have to. He knows the next repeat is the Eagles and me on our own and they'll handle the external press until we get back.

"Complete immunity for all of us once it's over is mandatory. We'll be making sure your own experimental facilities are shut down, too, since it will otherwise be part of the problem. Please make sure you leave the data there but get people to safety that should be treated kindly and that it's shut down permanently. Inari will take over if you don't comply."

"...Have you spoken to the others to that level of detail?" it was asked suspiciously.

"Of course not. I just scolded you for idiotically not allowing it. It's how we roll regardless. I know what to expect from them without having to say anything. You do, too, and you know what orders were given to everyone. It will play out how we all expect it to.

"You've just all forgotten that old bodies don't do so well under that kind of stress. Kill me and you've killed the project. ...And I'll sit there over your head and laugh at you, since that would be the best present ever. One word from you - 'yes' or 'no'. You're going to follow through on my requirements."

"Yes." She hung up on him. That was enough and she was getting too angry.

Purrcy walked out her door, grabbed Gareth's hand and dragged him behind her until they were up in the gym, the door closed behind them. She handed him two tennis balls, switched over to Shinkou, and growled at him. He threw one of the balls at her. She caught it and he was already throwing the second one over her head.

She leaped up and hit it back at him with her tail, baseball-style, then was running after it so that he had both balls back nearly as fast as he'd thrown them. She ran hard to the other side of the room and caught the first ball sent back, then pounced on the second one as it bounced off the wall. She ran the one in her mouth back to him, dropped it, and headed for the second one.

For a while they played doubles with her running back and forth hard until she'd worked out the worst of her emotions. Then she held on to one of the balls and leaped high, catching the one out of the air and delivering it back until she was worn out enough she couldn't do that any more either.

Then Purrcy held on to both balls and barked loudly until she'd gotten the need to gripe out of her system. Gareth had to hold his hands over his ears for that part and wasn't too happy with her for it, but she couldn't complain in English, nor in Japanese for that matter, so barking it was.

Then she could finally slump down into a rest, her head on her front legs, panting. Gareth poured her some water into a bowl. She left it there until she had cooled down a little more, while he put the tennis balls away. The water was gone rather quickly.

"We can go back to Michael's office like this," she said to him, staying Shinkou. "I put up the illusion I was Shinkou on the way here, although no one saw us."

He reached out his hand for her head, and she pulled back and growled. Gareth sighed. "I won't. You just need a bit more comfort, I think."

She shook her head. "I'll still bite," she said. "I've only come down to rational speaking. I'm still triggered. When I'm there, I'll let you pet. We need to get to a meeting before I fall any further."

"Okay," he picked up the bowl instead, cleaned it, and put it away.

Purrcy paced in front of the door until Gareth opened it, her toenails clicking on the hard floor. She followed at his heels, not letting him go slow, as he called for Stiletto and Bowie to meet them in Michael's office. She changed into herself as she crossed the threshold of the elevator and pushed the button for the third floor and the first.

She walked out the door at the third floor, leaving Shinkou with Gareth, not really caring if he followed her or not (he did) and walked down to Shiroe's office. She gave a knock at Shiroe's door and poked her head in. "Can I have you for a bit, Shiroe?" she asked. "I've received word."

-:-:-:-:-

"They are of course eager to have us as soon as possible, for their own publicity reasons rather selfishly." Purrcy's nose was wrinkled in distaste for their rudeness. She waved a hand. "Fourth of July parade to be shown off to everyone, followed by the harassment, I'm sure, since it will be 'convenient' while we're already there.

"We likely won't be back for at least several weeks and maybe even a month, Shiroe, since they've so very 'kindly' offered to allow us 'free' ship passage for the 'honeymoon' as payment for the public display. I've told them we at least need to meet up with you in India for the opening show, so that's the maximum they get to play with us before we get a break. I don't know if we'll get to come back with you or not, though. That part's still up in the air."

Purrcy paced the room one more cycle without speaking, then looked up into Shiroe's eyes soberly. "That assumes they haven't killed me or all of us before then. I gave it as the reason they couldn't, since you'll be expecting us. Really, I don't know why they can't just leave it alone.

"I'm sure your clue will be if they call to let you know that we've failed the exams within the week before the showing. I'm positive they'll give you that as the reason for not letting us come home this week, which is insane since none of us have had time to really get very much better anyway. It's too soon for that determination. Wait for the follow-on call."

Shiroe gave a nod and pushed up his glasses. "I'll put the pressure on at the press conference after the showing if they don't let you show up there."

"Sounds good," Purrcy gave a nod. "Don't forget that if I die, I'm happier, although Michael will die soon after since he won't be. Someone will get free and let you know what happened for sure. And yes, we will be fighting to live and get free."

"We'll protect you if you do have to sneak out," Shiroe promised.

Purrcy nodded as if in relief. "If we can do it at all legally, we'd rather, but if we can't, that will be much appreciated."

Gareth muttered into his chest, "Why can't they just leave well enough alone? Just because they want to experiment on the greatest magic user of Theldesia..."

"Who happens to be a normal old woman on Earth," Michael growled.

"And because we're all considered over the edge or near enough to it, they have the excuse to call us in and call us dangerous," Stiletto grumbled.

Bowie sighed. "Really, I don't think it's all as bad as you all think it is."

"Maybe not," Purrcy glared at him, "but we still have to plan like it is. We'll all be much happier to walk in, get our pulse taken, and walk back out to get back to real work and life. I'll stop being paranoid when no one remembers my name. Care to help me out with that?"

Bowie turned his head away, and didn't answer directly. "You know that society will forget soon enough. They just want to use a convenient excuse while they've got the tail wind to ride."

"Yeah. Like we want that, either," Michael complained. "I'm so ready to give all the publicity over. I'd skip the Indian movie showing except Purrcy's made me super curious about it now. She still won't talk about it." He looked at her, but she refused even still.

Shiroe sighed. "Well, we all here will hope that in the end we didn't have to worry, but I know it helps to have the contingency plans in place. When do you want to leave?"

"I'd like to have a little more time to be prepared to be down there," Purrcy said. "We've got to talk about it here, but I'd like to leave today, actually. If we could get a little more time out of the office together before being shut up again, that would be best for my attitude, I think.

"I've already bit his head off this morning when he called for calling on the very next day after, giving us only the one weekend instead of the four days he could have. I probably shouldn't be quite so upset on arrival." She gave a cynical grin. "I'd like to at least attempt to pass properly the first time."

Shiroe gave her a wry smile back. "Alright. Let Akatsuki know when to call for the car." Michael and Purrcy nodded. Shiroe paused, then gave Purrcy a hug. "I want this in case your paranoia is actually right."

She held him back for a long while, then let him go. "Thanks. Take care of everyone for me," she said quietly. He gave a nod and was gone, the door closing behind him. Purrcy sank onto the corner of the desk to perch on it slightly. She took in a deep breath, then quietly swore rather violently for about twenty seconds, then was quiet for the rest of the minute before she sagged just a little.

"So, the additional time is so we can stop by the shrine and get those lessons we are going to desperately need before everything hits. There's barely enough time to fit them in.

"Pack your bags quick and with what you'll need for at least a full month. Shiroe will bring any formal outfits for the showing with him. Plan on both black-ops and hiding in plain site. Given that we've still got two high level things we haven't played out, make sure you've got at least one presentable outfit.

"Mercenary and pirate are the main topics and you all remember how China played out. I'm pretty sure there is where we're going after what we have to do here, then we'll work our way down and around the coast.

"I'm hoping we don't have to go around the entire world. That would be just more than I could take, I think." She sighed and really slumped, looking at her hands in her lap, "Except that's what I was doing while you were on the other side of the world."

That got soft groans. Purrcy waved her hand at them and the three Eagles left the room to go pack. Michael walked around the desk and pulled Purrcy up to hold her. She quietly told him what she could - mostly the concessions she'd required relating to the honeymoon part of it.

"Really, Michael, I'd be perfectly happy if you'd just go steal a boat and we became a real pirate band in our attempt to escape from them. I'm sure you'd all do marvelously at it. I don't want to answer to them any more than we have to." She sighed. "And then again, I know you've got orders to follow, so I won't complain if you move to them instead."

He tensed just ever so slightly. She just quietly rested her head on his chest, not wanting to look at him. "I hope you can forgive yourself for being the suggestion behind this next movement on their part." He really tensed up at that one.

She reached up and patted him on the head. "I forgave you the moment I was awake on this planet. Don't take it too badly. You know we've played this part of the game before. And you know I'm really terrible at keeping it all secret that I know. I'll do my best to survive."

Michael was very still and quiet for a while, thinking. Finally, he said in her ear quietly, "You don't know everything."

Tears came to Purrcy's eyes. "Thank God," she answered as calmly as she could, blinking the tears back so he wouldn't see them. She let him lead her by the hand up to their room so they could pack.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael left Purrcy in their room to take a short nap before they got on the road. He still had his security training meeting to do with those being left behind. It was moved up in timing, but they hadn't complained. KR had the day off, Naotsugu was there in the building anyway, and Rieze was working on putting together her security company.

Michael made sure she brought the paperwork with her for him and the Eagles so they could get them signed before they left. KR had already had his individual training with Shinkou, and she'd already had her play time, so they were able to get the full training completed in a little more than an hour.

Michael soberly looked at the three when they were back in the security office with the door closed. "So, I hate to say it, but we moved it up because we have to leave already."

The three slumped a little. "I was afraid of that," Rieze said.

"We've been begged to show up at Iwakuni base tomorrow for their Fourth of July parade to be shown off to everyone," he explained. "Purrcy needs to run in the green wild for a day before we do that so she doesn't explode, and I want to have a real honeymoon of some sort after that, so we're going to leave it up to you for a while. We'll let Shiroe know when we can stand to come back and be tied down again."

Michael looked at Rieze. "Obviously the press will be told we're on honeymoon, but if you get asked about where your missing employees are, we're on assignment to guard Purrcy, since we'll all be doing that, too. The agreement with the Navy is that Stiletto and Gareth are specifically assigned to her for the healing of all three. Bowie is Stiletto's other hand-holder so goes where he goes."

He gave a bit of a grimace. "I'm the babysitter, but also need Purrcy to hold my hand every now and then, so we're a bit of a package until we pass the final mental health tests." The others understood that. Everyone had gone through that level on arrival, to one degree or other.

"I think you'll all do fine. We'll just feel a little better knowing that we haven't just left everything uncovered while we're gone." He looked down at Shinkou. "And really it's the dog's fault. Someone needs to be with her. One of the hazards of having pets and working animals added to the set.

"Since Purrcy's the main paranoid of the group right now and we're trying to help her ease back into life on Earth, Shiroe's willing to put up with her need to have some guardian watching over him. So let Shinkou sit in his office and watch over him when the rest of you are too busy in the daytime. Cover the night shifts as best you can. Shinkou can do some limited nightwatch without supervision, but for legal reasons it's not good to go for long spells that way."

Michael looked at Naotsugu. "One possibility on your shift is to let her out to walk the building, then let her back in when she's done. Not ideal, but in a pinch it would be sufficient."

Naotsugu shook his head. "I'd at least walk it with her."

Michael gave a nod. "That would be better." He rose to his feet, put his hand on Shinkou's head and told her to stay, then said to the rest of them, "I'll let you all stay and decide your shifts and how you'll handle it from here. Good luck and we'll see you in a few weeks." They gave him solemn goodbyes and he headed up to collect Purrcy.

"Akatsuki," he said via phone on the way, "we're ready for the car."

"Okay." She didn't stay to chat, having learned brevity from Shiroe. Michael knew she and Shiroe were spending a quiet week together mostly this week. The wedding plans had been so short for them that they'd decided to go on their honeymoon during the quieter winter season.

"Let's go, boys," Michael said on a chat, but with his phone to his ear again. "I've called for the car."

-:-:-:-:-

"While the nurse is performing your wife's exam, will you come into another room with me and we'll just have a check-up while you're here?" Doctor Azarius asked Michael. Michael took a hidden internal breath and agreed. There was no way to refuse, not with all three guards watching over Purrcy's door, too.

They'd learned what they could at the shrine, had one last final quiet night there in a guest room to stay in hiding for a little longer, then had walked while carrying their bags as if arriving from off the train. They'd been picked up by a military car shortly after getting into the more populated area of town.

They hadn't complained, but they weren't talking much. Michael's complete dislike of publicity was well known so he just let himself be the wet blanket on it all. Purrcy had held his hand, but needed it as much he had.

The parade had been as tolerable as all the times in front of the cameras for the movie had required. At least he had Purrcy next to him this time and he'd kissed her all he wanted and kept his arm around her. The smile was pasted on since that was the key to keeping all the press down as much as possible and he was happy to be married. It was just hard to wear it given what was next.

He was still feeling that way and trying to keep it at the cold anger he'd run on while on Theldesia. That burned slower and allowed one to keep walking forward at a pace that didn't eat the soul quite so badly. At least he'd gotten a lot of practice with it.

While Michael sat in the examination room, it went about how he thought it would. Stiletto was called into another examination room. He wasn't considered stable enough to not have someone with him, and Bowie was his watch. That left Gareth alone on Purrcy's door.

The nurse took both of them up to the room with the machine that read if they could do magic or not, and asked Gareth to wait outside while the technician performed the simple test. None of them were left with a partner with eyes on them, and as soon as the machine started to run the tests, the room itself was full of the equivalent of a smoke screen - Michael couldn't see inside the room.

Bowie showed up outside the same room with Stiletto and they rotated through until only Bowie was on the door, but by then Michael was receiving the end of his exam and could only pay partial attention. When it got to the psychological part of the exam, he had to focus so he would say the right things.

Michael was walked to the same room, through the door Bowie was still standing on, and it was his turn to sit in the seat and have the electrodes attached to his skull and strapped to his wrists. He couldn't help clenching his fists a time or two once they were on. It was uncomfortable.

What they found in the initial scan, he couldn't know. When they asked him to try performing magic again, he reached for the part he knew he couldn't access anymore, tried, then shook his head. The technician gave a nod, fiddled a little more, then there was a strange reverse as if the electrodes strapped to his wrists were trying to electrocute him slightly.

He tried to clench his hand and instead the fingers straightened and tensed. He tried to lift his forearm and instead it pressed down against the arm of the chair. He did the reverse, pushing his arm down and it rose about an inch at the hand. Wondering how far it extended, he tried opening his eyes very wide. They closed.

"Hm. That's an interesting experiment," he said, just before he felt a tingle in the back of his head and the equivalent of a sleep status effect hit him that made everything go away for a while.

When Michael woke back up, he was still strapped to electrodes, but now he was also strapped to a chair and he was in a different room. It was the cliché dark interrogation room, actually. He sighed to himself. He turned his head slightly, getting the reverse motion again and feeling the wires brush against his hair. He was definitely still hooked up.

"How did all of you hide you could do magic before now?" he was asked. It was a voice he didn't know, but it didn't matter.

"We couldn't do magic then."

"How are you hiding doing magic now?"

"I'm not. I still can't do magic." His hand opened as if to hold a magic spell in it, but nothing happened.

"Magic is supposed to stay off this Earth. That was explained. Why was that trust betrayed?"

"It wasn't. We were dragged into it again by Earth's AI."

"When?"

"After we left here." He could feel the electrodes on his head doing funny things to make his brain feel fuzzy, like he was getting a mini massage all over his forebrain. He didn't particularly like it. Not only did it make it difficult to think, it was making him nauseous.

"Are you sure you all didn't ask for it?"

Without meaning it, since he wasn't feeling particularly angry at the moment, he began to swear and cuss up a storm. His mouth strenuously denied that any of them had wanted it.

"Then why?"

"How should I know why the crazy AIs want anything?" he asked bitterly. "Our only hope is that it's temporary and we can get it over with and be let loose. It's one thing to have fun on Theldesia - or save your own neck. It's another thing to have that crazy useless burden here where there's crazy power hungry governments and people everywhere. Who wants to live a life like that, being hounded, tortured, abused, and used - especially when it wasn't asked for?"

They'd upped the frequency and his eyes rolled. If they went much higher, he'd froth at the mouth. His arm muscles were already tensing up too much and the strain on the tendons was getting too high.

Michael didn't know what they were looking for. If they wanted him to suddenly be able to do "magic" by virtue of forcing it, it wasn't going to happen. If they were trying to close the pathways down, that wasn't useful either.

The questions continued, but from that point on, he was lost in the basal brain stem reactions, the forebrain shut down nearly completely. Every time a piece of cognitive thought broke through, he could only hear himself swearing violently.

-:-:-:-:-

When Michael finally came to, he was in a military cell. A single bed, iron walls and an iron door with a small window with metal bars in it. He could hear Gareth sobbing down the hall and Stiletto occasionally banging in his cell, cussing at Gareth to shut up.

Michael cautiously checked to see what happened if he put up a shield. Every muscle tensed until he was stretched so tight it hurt. When they finally relaxed and he'd breathed back to normal again, he relaxed even further and allowed his hand to sink into the bed underneath him. It did. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Gareth," he called, then waited for Gareth to calm down enough to hear him for real. "Gareth. Let me know if you hear the purr."

He got silence back, then there was a metallic sort of thud. Michael nodded. Gareth was angry. That had been his one punch. But that had been on purpose. It got Gareth out of his depression and so he could think straight again.

"I'm back to blind, Sir," Stiletto said in a weary sort of lost voice.

"Then don't-look. May as well relax now while you can. What Royal Guard gets to have a vacation?"

Stiletto went to swearing again now. When he wound down, Michael said, a bit weary himself. "May as well leave the Gate and let them win."

Hands clanged against the bars of a window down the hall and there was a hiss that wound down the hallway. Good. That had gotten Stiletto thinking properly, too. "Seriously. Relax. You're trying too hard to be what you shouldn't be." He didn't know if they'd get that part or not. "I'm gonna pass out again for a bit." He did, but his spirit went walking inside his body.

They'd over-stretched the center of magic, but not for knowing where or what it was. Just as part of over-stretching all the rest of the muscles. That meant they'd hit on something they'd wanted to experiment with, but they didn't understand it yet. They were only getting side effect results.

If that had sparked the other two, they'd have received worse treatment for longer until all the MP bled out. Given that Purrcy had a lot of MP at this point, she would have been tortured rather long, but he'd never been called in to help her and he couldn't feel her under any duress at the moment either - assuming all that still worked.

He stayed where he could watch his center of magic until it looked healed enough and the expected time to refill MP had passed. Then he cautiously tried it again, this time not to cast any spells, but to slip out of his body. He shouldn't have been able to slip into ikiryō inside his body in the first place. It worked. His muscles tensed again briefly, but they relaxed almost immediately once he was out.

Once outside his body, Michael wrapped the proper Earth shielding around himself. His body didn't react. That was also a relief. He stepped up and down the entire hallway, looking in every cell, then slipped into Gareth and took a look at his center of magic.

It was raw for sure and would take at least one day longer than Michael's own to heal. He tugged on Gareth's spirit and since he was rather used to slipping in and out of his body, he came, although he came surprised.

"Hey Gareth," Michael said. He put his hand on Gareth's head, until Gareth decided what he wanted to do. He hadn't built up the need to punch again yet, and took the needed hug.

"Since when can you walk here?" Gareth asked.

"Since the military decided they wanted to give me that ability back ...all on accident I'm sure," he answered. "They really have no idea what they're doing yet. It's still experimental accidents. See? Look." He pointed to Gareth's center of magic. Gareth turned to look at it, then sighed sadly. "They just opened it with all the rest of the muscle strain and it leaked out until it was gone.

"You should have enough MP back now, but you shouldn't do anything about it. Walking doesn't take much, but until the rest of the muscles heal from the torture, they'll go back to full stretch if you try to create and cast while in your body. I could cast as ikiryō just fine. Come with me."

He took Gareth's hand and walked them out of his body. It also tensed painfully on the exit, but Michael didn't let him stick around to see.

They walked to Stiletto and entered his body next. That was really bad news. Stiletto was already there, sitting moodily staring at his center of magic. Michael put his hand on Stiletto's shoulder. Gareth got a little closer and took a breath. Cautiously he pulled up a healing spell and cast it on the torn muscle. Slowly, the tears knit and it went from red and raw to a bright pink.

"You've got a two to three day heal time on that," Michael let Stiletto know. "No spell crafting until those muscles are healed. It will take the rest of your muscles that long, too. We can cast as ikiryō since that doesn't wake up the physical reaction."

He sat down next to Stiletto and Gareth sat with them. Michael told them what else he'd learned and then asked if they'd go out with him and search the rest of the building for Purrcy. "What about Bowie?" Gareth asked.

Michael shook his head. "Don't get caught." He rose to his feet and walked, taking the outer guard room first. As expected, Bowie was there. Michael looked over his shoulder at the monitors. The three of them all looked like they were sleeping.

Michael stood there and watched to make sure the other two didn't return to their bodies after they left the watch room to hunt for Purrcy. Michael then went small up in a corner to set up a warning crow to make sure they didn't come out to talk to Bowie. Either one of them, but Gareth most of all, was another candidate for mole.

Michael went and sabotaged the magic experiment equipment next, leaving behind a delayed spell that would make the entire thing spark and smoke - and erase the memory of the technician in the process. He made it crude on purpose so it would look like the accident it was supposed to look like.

He headed for the basement and did the same on the same equipment he found there, plus a few other computers here and there in that bay so that it would look like a cascade rather than a surgical removal. He hunted down there for a solitary cell for Purrcy, and found nothing there, either.

-:-:-:-:-

Night shift change-over came and Bowie left the prison floor. None of them had found Purrcy so far. The three of them followed Bowie out and listened in on his report to the doctor and the CO. Michael sent Gareth and Stiletto out with Bowie to follow him, and stayed to listen to the other two discuss what their next plans were.

Unhappy to hear they intended to continue the experiments, Michael pulled up the memory erase spell and went and sat as a gnat on the CO's head when the doctor left. He very carefully erased the conversation they'd just had. He flew after the doctor and did the same, then rode with him until he reached the clinic.

Doctor Azarius made his evening rounds, and none of the patients was Purrcy. Michael checked each floor as the doctor walked from room to room. When he went to his office, Michael read all the files over his shoulder, then looked through what paper documents there were on his desk and his secretary's desk.

He did find one requisition document of transfer between the Japan Self Defense military base and the clinic, but he couldn't read the Japanese well enough to know who or what was sent and which direction. He hoped it wasn't Purrcy. That was half-way up Honshu from where he was currently, very near Tokyo.

Concerned now, Michael returned to the guard station on the wing they were prisoners in. He set a loop on the computer video recording line. That was easy to make look non-magical. Finally he headed back to check in on Stiletto and Gareth.

Treating it like the usual training exercise, he moved carefully, expecting traps and munitions. He went to Stiletto's room first and set up a double shield, including illusion cover, then went and found Stiletto. "Do you want to keep it or not?"

"I do," Stiletto said with a determined look on his face. "As long as I can keep it for, I want it."

"Even if you have to keep hiding to save yourself from things like this happening all the time?"

"Even if," Stiletto was firm.

"Slip back into your body, then. I'll come get you in a few."

Stiletto gave a nod and Michael walked to Gareth's room. Again he set up double protections and illusions. "Do you want to keep it or not?"

Gareth hesitated. "If we're done and the goal is met, I don't want it. I want to live a normal life from here on."

"Are you willing to go through the final torture of being tested until they give up and leave you alone, or do you want to skip that and then have to hide for the rest of your life, postponing it? Or do you want the third option?"

"What's the third option?"

"You hope that when Purrcy gets out she can talk Inari into erasing everyone's memories again and it just happens naturally. If you stay here, you might get the first option for a few days. I still don't know where she is."

Gareth considered. "I'll come with you and hope on erasure. It's the least painful option at the moment, and she's going to need a healer for sure. I can at least do that much."

"Haven't you already killed her?" Michael tested him.

Gareth stared at him wide eyed, then went fearfully defensive. "I haven't. You said it yourself. If she was in that state, she would have summoned you, conscious or unconscious."

"So you still believe you can do it later?" Michael pressed him.

"Impossible," Gareth said flatly. "Even if she's in that kind of state, I can't kill her."

"Why do you believe that?" Michael asked dangerously.

Gareth paused, pursed his lips, then said, "Inari won't let me. Every time I think about it - how angry I am, what my plan would be, it shuts me down and I'm sliding into other thoughts instead, usually related to how much loyalty I owe her, which is B.S."

"Until you hear the purr," Michael said, testing the other direction.

Gareth's eyes slipped, confirming Michael's assumption. "Fine. If Inari has you in lockdown you can come and pray with the rest of us that it lets us all free." Gareth gave a nod of agreement. "Get back aboard. I'll be by."

Michael left Gareth to return to his room to set the illusions and shields on it. When he returned to his body, another twinge of muscles accompanied the action. He rose stiffly from his bed, used the chamber pot, then paused in the middle of the room.

Performing the obligatory preliminaries, he prayed, "Inari of Earth, please lead me to places of healing for my comrades and my wife. Let this end in reward for us who have been punished enough already." He finished it, then prayed, "Father God, please let me find Purrcy. Let me know what I need to do to help her heal, and please keep her safe. Don't let her die. Amen."

He centered into the proper state without transforming and walked through his cell wall, down the hall, and into Gareth's room. Gareth was sitting on the side of his bed. He rose to his feet and Michael took his arm. "It might help you to close your eyes. Just walk."

Gareth let Michael lead his feet until they were in the hall. Michael let Gareth watch his own footsteps until they were outside Stiletto's room. Gareth closed his eyes again and they were all in the one room together. Michael took Stiletto's arm, and they sank through the floor to the first floor of the building. He walked them through the wall to the night-darkened alley. They entered the next building and walked up the stairs to the roof.

"Okay. Natural effects like those don't hurt so much," he whispered. "We're going to experiment stepping to the next roof over. I'll have hold of you if your body gives out." They nodded, and they all got ready. On the count, they all stepped in their respective ways and all made it to the next roof.

Michael had them rest until their bodies stopped twinging and they'd recovered. Getting out of military bases was difficult. Up was watched just as much as out and down and in. When they got to the point of most watched distance from the fence that surrounded the base, they shifted to be in the spirit realm and walked.

Prickles went up and down Michael's back and sweat dripped as they continued to cautiously step from building roof top to building roof top, resting in-between until they were at the fence line. When the guard's back was turned, they stepped over the fence and hid under the closest copse of short trees outside the fence.

They walked the dark fields, following Gareth's instincts, Stiletto's knowing, and Michael's star navigation until they chanced on a stream. Michael paused, then said, "Wash. We might be able to get some of the effects out of the muscles if we change speeds."

"We may need the miracle," Stiletto agreed. Gareth nodded to that. They stripped and waded into the cold water. They washed hands and rinsed mouths, each with a prayer and intent all his own in their hearts. They didn't have soap, but some of the rough volcanic sand was at the bottom of the stream, so they scrubbed with what they had.

Michael could feel his muscles relaxing as he let the water wash over him. He kept his desire to rescue his wife foremost in his mind as his prayer. When they were done, they climbed out, rolled in the grass to get the worst of the water off, then sacrificed one article of clothing to rub down vigorously with.

When they were dressed they were on their way again, hanging their makeshift towels on their belts to dry. Michael turned them back towards the city then. There was one place they could go that was safe to rest and to ask where to go next.

-:-:-:-:-

They were careful to not be seen in any spots of streetlights as they flitted in the dark night from building to building shadow. Michael walked them through the rock wall surrounding the shrine. They walked to the back building of the shrine and found a side room to curl up in and sleep. The energy and atmosphere seeped into him, healing him a little more as he sat guard over the other two who needed more healing than he did.

Gareth's hand on Michael's shoulder woke him about noon the next day. He could hear the mid-day ritual chants outside. Gareth handed him a bowl and he ate quickly and without paying any attention to it. When he looked up, Stiletto had the look of someone being sun-blinded, with tears leaking out of his eyes.

"What's up?" Michael asked.

"The vision keeps coming and going and it hurts when it comes," Stiletto explained.

Michael took his now mostly-dry undershirt from his belt and tied it around Stiletto's eyes. Stiletto eventually relaxed, resting his head on his knees. Gareth came back from putting Michael's bowl away carrying a canteen of water. They all drank thirstily.

Gareth settled with his back against the wall and Michael sat cross-legged near them. Again he tried to feel for Purrcy, to reach for if she was okay or not. Again he couldn't tell. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and went into meditation.

He didn't want to get too far from the base in case she was really still there somewhere, but his only clue otherwise was so far away it would be a long journey that should be started sooner than later.

When meditation still didn't come up with anything, he asked, "Gareth, can you slip out and find her down your link?"

"No. I've already tried," Gareth answered quietly. "...I'm sorry." Their cell phones had been confiscated so there wasn't a way to call and ask Tetorō.

Michael pondered on what should be done. "I may have to strike out on my own," he finally said. "The two of you need to heal up properly before you go out into the dangerous outdoors. If I can get to her and we can get this wiped from people's memories, you can walk out of here as if one of the parishioners.

"If I can't, you can at least walk out one at a time and sink into hiding. Gareth, you've got until tomorrow at least. Stiletto two days more minimum. I shouldn't until tonight, which is a better time to slip out unseen anyway."

"You said I should come along for healing," Gareth protested.

"And if you're here, I'll know where to bring her for it," Michael pointed out.

Gareth slumped, resting his head back on the wall.

A light tapping came at the sliding door. Gareth rose to his feet and slid it back just a crack, then opened it just enough the priest of the shrine could enter. He inspected the three men. Michael bowed from his sitting position. "I'm sorry to intrude unexpected again. Thank you for protecting us and feeding us again."

"Is there something I can do for you?" the priest asked quietly.

Michael pondered that. "We were captured and were only able to free ourselves last night. But ...my wife is still held captive. She was separated from us and I don't know where to go to help free her. Can you tell me? Do I go back and look again where we couldn't find her before, or do I go forward?"

"Can't you ask Inari yourself?" the priest seemed a bit suspicious, not too surprising really.

"My heart connection has been artificially cut off and I'm wounded sufficiently that for another day I can't receive the answer. I'm afraid to leave her in their hands so long when she could have been taken anywhere, and if on a ship or an airplane, I will be already too late." That was actually his worst fear - that the connection was silent because she was already beyond reach.

"I will go and meditate and see if Inari will tell me," the priest finally said with sympathy.

"Thank you," Michael responded with sober gratitude.

The priest slipped out carefully and walked away from their room. When his footsteps were far enough away, Gareth asked quietly, "Do you think they might have?"

"I can't reach her at all, Gareth. I can't feel her. She might just be blocked by equipment still, but you know our angels and their berths. They could already have her to Hawaii by now. That's the distance it would take and we'd be out of range."

His shoulders sagged, having to say the worst case. He couldn't lift his head. It might still be possible to find her, but it would take a very long time, and there was no guarantee he could get off of Japan now.

An arm was around his shoulders as Gareth knelt with him to comfort him. "She said we'd stay on this side of the pond for now," Gareth tried to find encouraging words to say.

"I'm sorry I can't go looking for her yet, Mike," Stiletto said sadly.

Michael shook his head. "No, you shouldn't. She would be sad if you damaged yourself further at this point. If I can't find her by the time you're properly healed, you can go looking." He sighed, then pulled Gareth around to sit where Michael could hold him. He hadn't needed that in a long time.

"I want to keep holding to that thought and others like it, Gareth." He rested his head on the younger man's shoulder. "If this is the culmination of the sixth level, though, and Bowie was the stand in for me and all of us who attacked the shrine and kidnapped her out..."

He took a breath and closed his eyes. "...Then she's on her way to the States and I'm the Nyanta who has to figure out how to get over there to meet her somewhere and fight for the right to have her back so we can go into hiding."

He didn't want to think about it. He really didn't. It felt far too overwhelming right now. There wasn't a convenient Gate of Time waiting to be entered anywhere on the Earth. Time was already solidly linear and he was already too late. Gareth sat with Michael as he trembled, trying to hold himself together, and Stiletto kept them quiet company.