AN: As a warning, this is the first part of an event which will spread over no less than 13 main stories (4 already written), 2 ongoing anthology series, and a number of "SLD Case Report" three-shots. At a guess, this will take a total of 5-6 months to publish (though it isn't entirely written yet). It will include every character introduced so far in the "Mind Games"-verse and introduce a lot more – many of whom will show up in the one-shot anthologies before the main stories.

You have been warned…

Hato Gozen pumped her wings to gain altitude, hovering just above Bengalia and Miss Pinky as they sprinted along the roofs of the buildings, shadowing the riverfront. The sun had only just dipped below the horizon, leaving the city awash with an orange glow. The sunset cast long shadows along the streets below, simultaneously reflecting off the brickwork of the buildings and catching on the thin dusting of snow still clinging to the rooftops after the latest snowfall. Hato Gozen frowned and whispered a word, shifting the coloration and dimming her sight, creating enough contrast for her to see her surroundings clearly.

Miss Pinky winced, shading her eyes with her hand. "I can't see anything," she complained, finally giving up on trying to scan the city around them and instead looking down at the rooftop across which she was running, squinting against the reflected light.

Bengalia frowned and hopped across the alleyway separating two buildings, sliding across the undisturbed snow. "Kind of hard to 'stalk' when we can't really see…"

"I think you've been spending too much time around Roaar, babe!" Miss Pinky teased, stifling a giggle. Bengalia grinned and stuck out her tongue at her. Miss Pinky wagged her eyebrows.

Bengalia shrugged. "Well, what else would you call this?" she asked. "We're not exactly patrolling right now."

Hato Gozen hummed in agreement. At breakfast that morning, Jalil and Victor had spent several minutes discussing their patrol route for the evening, before she had interjected with her own plans to go out. For right now, if they were following the plan, Amun-Vatar and Volpinax were on the south side of the river around Montparnasse.

"So if we're not 'patrolling,' what do we do if we see someone in trouble?" asked Miss Pinky, raising an eyebrow. "Are we just going to ignore them if there aren't any Lynchpin-ions around?"

"No; of course not," Bengalia replied, racing across a telephone line as a tightrope, Miss Pinky close behind her. "But it probably wouldn't take all three of us to help someone who isn't being attacked by a Lynchpin-ion."

"Doesn't seem like much chance of that," Miss Pinky commented.

Hato Gozen laughed ruefully. "It is strange that we haven't seen any Lynchpin-ions lately," she observed, scanning the road below them. This was the same stretch of river where they had broken up a half-dozen Lynchpin operations over the summer – they weren't too far from the destroyed warehouse which apparently had gotten pulled into one of Rena Rouge's plans last spring while Chloe was missing. That had been shortly after Hato Gozen herself had arrived in Paris, while she was still trying to get used to this idea of working with the Heroes of Paris. At that time, this neighborhood had been a prime location for Lynchpin activity. But everything was quiet here at the moment. A small group of women was walking down the street toward one of the many restaurants lining the Seine. A few cars drove past as a bus turned onto the street. Nothing to indicate that Lynchpin or the Bat was in the area. Hato Gozen frowned. "I didn't think the Bat could go this long without causing trouble…"

"Hence going out to 'stalk'," Bengalia agreed, nodding. "Plus, with Lupa Gris not going out as regularly anymore, we need to change tactics."

"No arguments here," Hato Gozen noted. While she watched, the women slowly walked past a dark alleyway without pausing their conversation. Hato Gozen caught an updraft and propelled herself higher into the air. She furrowed her brows on catching sight of an unexpected area of contrast in that alleyway. "And sometimes you actually find something…" she muttered.

Below her, Bengalia cocked her head, her eyes fixed on the same location where Hato Gozen was looking. A darker shape separated from the wall of the department store on one side of the alley and strode out onto the sidewalk. Hato Gozen stared at him for a long minute. He wore a long trench coat with fur lining the neck and arms, his hands tucked into his pockets. Turning to follow the women, trench coat put on a burst of speed, sprinting toward the woman at the back of the group. Hato Gozen's grip on her naginata tightened, just as trench coat grabbed the woman's shoulder with one hand, wrenching her purse out of her grip and hurling her into the middle of the street, right in front of the oncoming bus. Without looking back, trench coat ran through the rest of the women, knocking one into the side of a restaurant, another into a parked car. Horns blared. Tires screeched.

"What the hell!?" yelped Miss Pinky, slipping a little on the snow as she sprang off the rooftop, aiming for the woman in front of the bus. Bengalia gasped, her eyes wide. Miss Pinky caught herself on the near sidewalk, jamming the end of her rake into the ground for balance, and in the same motion launched herself almost horizontal into the street, straight at the woman. The bus was barely two meters away. The woman lay on her side, arms up in front of herself. Miss Pinky reached her moments before the bus, with nowhere to go. She pushed the woman back, away from the bus, laying them both down side-by-side on the street, between the bus' wheels, and pressed the woman's head down. It passed straight over them with less than a centimeter to spare.

Meanwhile, Bengalia had turned a complete 180, sprinting along the rooftops the way they had come, trailing trench coat. Hato Gozen wheeled about in the air, easily keeping pace above the man. At the next intersection he looked up, saw her, and his eyes widened in shock. Hato Gozen turned over into a steep dive, directly at him, naginata held straight in front of her. Simultaneously Bengalia ran across the wire holding the traffic light above the intersection, swung around the wire, and dropped into the street three meters behind him. With both hands trench coat hurled the purse away from himself, straight at Hato Gozen, and turned down the side street. Startled, Hato Gozen snagged the purse out of the air and flared her wings out to catch herself above the ground. Bengalia turned and sprinted down the street after him.

Hato Gozen let out a breath and settled to the ground. Taking a closer look at the bag she pursed her lips. Somewhere along the way, the purse strap had snapped clean in two. But they had recovered it and saved the victim. And maybe Bengalia would even manage to nab the purse snatcher. Stretching her arms to either side, she slowly turned back toward the crowd that had gathered around Miss Pinky near the restaurants. She was only halfway there when she heard pounding footsteps behind her moments before Bengalia was at her side. "No luck?" she asked.

Bengalia shook her head. "He ducked into an alley, and he was gone by the time I arrived," she explained, a frustrated look on her face. "I almost had him, too."

Hato Gozen shrugged. "Just a stupid purse snatcher," she told her. "Not the end of the world. Not like we missed out on the Bat or something."

Bengalia hummed in agreement as they reached Miss Pinky, who was sitting on the curb, holding a cloth napkin against the woman's shoulder. The woman winced in pain as Miss Pinky pulled the cloth away to reveal blood slowly seeping through. Hato Gozen handed the woman her purse, and she looked up at her in shock. "Ua tsaug!" the woman exclaimed. ["Thank you"]

Hato Gozen started and thought for a minute before responding. "Koj nyob nraum txais tos." ["You're welcome."]

One of the woman's friends took the napkin from Miss Pinky and pressed it back against the injury. Miss Pinky stood up, and Bengalia threw and arm around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. Miss Pinky returned the embrace, letting out a relieved breath, and eyed the woman worriedly. The woman and her friend argued back and forth in Hmong for a couple minutes before the woman took Miss Pinky's hand and shook it heartily. "Thank you," her friend said slowly in French.

"Are you okay?" Miss Pinky asked, worry in her eyes.

The woman nodded, and Miss Pinky placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder before stepping back to join Bengalia and Hato Gozen. Miss Pinky's mouth set in a firm line, and she jumped up the building, scrambling to the roof, Bengalia right behind her. Hato Gozen spread her wings and took to the air to join them.

"Was that enough excitement for today, babe?" Bengalia asked Miss Pinky, placing a hand on her cheek.

Miss Pinky giggled and covered Bengalia's hand with her own. "We can keep going," she replied. "I'm fine now."

Hato Gozen let out a breath. "All of that, and still nothing to indicate where the Bat might be."

"We'll find him," Miss Pinky assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's why we're out here!"

Hato Gozen nodded, following after Bengalia and Miss Pinky as they set off north before cutting straight across the city through the financial district. Hato Gozen frowned. Even after nearly a year in Paris, she had only crossed paths with the Bat a handful of times, and she was no closer now to stopping him than she had been when she arrived. In fact, for all she knew, maybe the Bat had moved on since the fall, leaving Paris to spread his corrupting poison elsewhere. She clenched her teeth. He had almost managed to evade her last time he moved; it had only been sheer luck that she had picked up on his trail and followed him from Belgium to France… last Christmas.

Of course, she had spent last Christmas alone in a rented hotel room eating takeout, rather than with friends.

Speaking of– "So how is Kagami doing?" she asked, glancing down at Bengalia.

Running right next to Miss Pinky, Bengalia giggled. "Crawling up the walls out of sheer boredom," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

"It's all Luka could do for the last week to keep her from sparring before the doctor actually clears her," added Miss Pinky, rolling her eyes affectionately.

"Longg told her the bone is healed, so she figures the cast can give her an extra weapon!" Bengalia supplied.

Hato Gozen smiled, some of her frustration melting away. That certainly did sound like Ryoku. "I bet she's glad her cast is coming off next week."

"Yeah…" Bengalia frowned, folding her arms in a pout. "It's too bad that means she's going to go back to her living at mother's house instead of staying with us."

Miss Pinky giggled and punched her playfully in the shoulder. "Are you thinking about adopting her?"

Bengalia grinned. "Mom probably would in a heartbeat!" They came to a wider street, and Miss Pinky and Bengalia both held up a hand for Hato Gozen to carry them across. She grunted at the excess weight, pumping her wings twice as hard to keep from losing altitude midway. "Honestly," Bengalia continued once they were across, "some days I think I prefer Kagami over Luka – maybe if things don't work out with them, I'll just keep Kagami!"

Hato Gozen arched an eyebrow at her. "Do you really think it won't work out between those two?"

Bengalia smirked. "If it doesn't, I'm throwing Luka overboard."

Hato Gozen furrowed her brows in confusion.

Miss Pinky stifled a giggle. "That's kind of their thing," she explained. "Jules pushes him over the side on at least a semiweekly basis!"

"Only when he deserves it," Bengalia insisted. Miss Pinky arched an eyebrow at her. She looked away. "Though sometimes maybe he deserves it more than others…"

Hato Gozen laughed. "The things you miss when you don't have siblings!"

Miss Pinky grinned up at her. "You have us now," she reminded her.

Hato Gozen smiled and took a closer look at Miss Pinky and Bengalia. After being on her own for so long, she had almost forgotten what it was like to have a team, to have people with her. When she had been growing up, she had spent years watching from a distance while her mother fought the Bat across five continents, training with the miraculous when she could. Her first fight had come when she was only thirteen years old, battling an enraged bodybuilder whose aggression had been enhanced by the Bat's Kiss of Death. And in that fight, while her mother had been calling directions to her from the sidelines, she had been left to fight solo, up until she had the woman subdued and was finally able to use Calming Breath to counteract the Bat's influence. After her mother had retired, she had been entirely on her own. Trusting other people was not a luxury she could afford – Doves rarely could trust others, not outside the family. The mission was far too important to risk an outsider learning about the miraculous and getting in the way – or worse, attempting to take it. That hadn't changed until Paris, when she had met Viperion and Ryoku – Luka and Kagami. They had been the first friends that she ever made, and Kagami had been the first one to know her real name aside from her own mother. And now Hato Gozen actually had… friends. With Luka and Kagami and Juleka and Rose, and even Anarka. All of the Heroes of Paris had welcomed her with open arms, but they in particular had made her feel at home. "Thanks," she finally told them as they turned back toward the Liberty. "It's nice to have friends."

"'Friends'?" Bengalia repeated, arching an eyebrow. "Don't you mean 'family'?"

Hato Gozen gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I suppose I do."