DREA/CHANE

Five timed minutes of running flat out, grabbing her emergency bag, (which she was now glad for the second time that she kept packed), was enough to let Drea know that although she thought she worked out enough, she needed to push herself harder.

That and she was a minute late, which had Chane tapping her foot with one furry eyebrow raised.

Andrea sighed. "Don't look at me like that. You're the leader not the mother."

Chane didn't reward her with a response, stepping into a fresh sprint that had Drea digging in to keep pace. What did Chane do to get this kind of endurance? She wasn't working out nearly as much as Drea did. She was at the dojo everyday teaching, so she knew for sure her cousin wasn't there every day.

She wondered which of them had the heavier backpack. Maybe that was it. Though Drea had taken care in packing as light as possible. Summer camping and hiking trips in the Adirondack mountains taught her that.

She nearly ran into Chane's back as her cousin ground to an abrupt halt in front of the school.

Rounding the corner, Chane came to a jerking halt and cursed internally. Flashing blue and red lights were everywhere and a couple officers condoned off the alley with crime scene tape.

Glancing back, the expression on Drea's face confirmed that was the place. Well shit. This threw a major wrench in the works.

"What do we do now?" Drea asked in thinly suppressed panic.

Chane frowned. "We have to let it go for now and manage the aftermath once we've got Scout back. No way around it."

Not pleased, Drea nodded reluctantly.

"Let's go back up Nik's team." Chane said, pulling out her phone and framing a text to Shen.

Complication with our end. On our way to you. Send a meet up location.

SHEN

Shen plugged her phone into her uncle's computer to access the server with her family code. He'd know exactly what she'd done if he checked, but, hopefully by the time that occurred, secrecy would no longer be necessary. They'd already lucked out enough, finding the apartment empty.

"How's it going, Jem?" She called out.

"Good. I think this will work." He held up a small round bead of silver in a Ziploc baggy.

Reading the code on the bag, she accessed the system, downloading the accompanying tracking program to her phone.

"It's pulsing." Nik commented as Jem pulled it out of the bag.

"No, it isn't...you know what, never mind." Jem muttered.

"How does it work?" Nik reached out to touch it.

Jem swatted his hand away. "If I'm not mistaken, it's a malleable, adhesive receiver-transmitter."

Nik raised an eyebrow. "Pretend I have no idea what that means."

Jem sighed. "Open up."

Nik blinked. "What-agh?"

Jem took the opportunity to jam his finger into Nik's mouth and compress the tracker into one if his molars. "It's meant to be disguised as a filling."

Nik gagged and spit. "Uck. I could have put it in myself."

Shen finished installing the tracking app on Jem's phone, watching in satisfaction as it linked up with Nik's tooth, mirroring the link on her own device.

Her phone dinged with a text from Nellie.

Complication with our end. On our way to you. Send a meet up location.

What the shell did complication mean?

She responded with the corner where they planned to start.

At least the tracker was up and running.

"Good to go. What's the range?"

Jem accepted his phone back. "The notes say five miles, so we should be fine as long as we don't get separated by vehicles."

Hmm. That could be a problem. But she had an idea. "You guys head that corner, southwest of Marcos, I'll meet you there. Drea and Nellie are already on their way."

Jem frowned. "Why? And where are you going?"

Shen grinned. "To 'borrow' my mom's bike."

TED

Ted grimaced as Jayce and some mystery kid were zipped up in body bags. This was turning into a right mess. He was already feeling administrative pressure from the rape spree he had to smooth over. Now he had one of the Syndicate's hitters on his way to the coroner's slab. This stress was quickly becoming not worth the money. But he didn't dare defy them.

"Mahoney, can you believe we'll have to wait on forensics? How does this not take priority?" Cintera, one of his subordinates approached, updating him.

"Why? Just some mixed breed freak jumping a guy in an alley. Took each other out. End of story." He responded, keeping his voice even.

Cintera looked around skeptically at the disaster that was the alley. "I dunno..."

"I got almost a decade on you and I've caught enough scenes like this. Mutants always make for a mess. Cancel forensics and have this cleaned up. I'll go start on my report." He announced confidently.

Cintera looked uncertain. "But..."

"You have your orders. Get it done." He turned away, brooking no further argument. He definitely was not getting paid enough for this shit.

MIKEY

Mikey bobbed along after Leo and Zoe on his way back to the dojo. He felt guilty about running late for Scout's training, but if this helped shut down the drug-o-jerks who'd hurt her, it'd be totally worth it.

This had to work. April totes rocked the recon, Sappho the digi-recon and Karai the scaring people crapless. If that wasn't a winning combo, he didn't know what was.

Upon arriving, he shoved past Leo and Z to dash inside and hurry to Scout's training room.

"Sorry, I know I'm ku-ray-zee late, but..." He trailed off, looking around the empty room. Where was Scout? She NEVER missed.

For a moment, he was back at the theater abandoned and scared, but shook his head, clearing out the dark clouds. They were passed that now. One of her cuzzies must've needed her and she'd forgotten to loop him in.

He whipped out his phone and dialed her, waiting impatiently for her face to appear on the screen. While the original voice-to-text calling system had worked, he loved the video-streaming edition. Not only did it add in the super-fun nuance of communicating with facial expression, it was also pretty cool to have your calls subtitled like the rare third Super Robo Mecha Force Five! movie that only made it over from Japan in bootlegged format.

Straight to vid-mail? That had to be a mistake?

He tried again.

No dice.

Starting to worry, he dialed Donnie. Scout knew she was traceable by phone as part of her recovery agreement, so it ought to be cool. He hoped.

"Mikey, is everything ok? I thought you'd be training Scout by now."

"Me too, D. Can you track her phone?" He asked, trying and failing to be nonchalant.

"Give me a second."

He hummed his own hold music while he waited, telling himself over and over again that there was a totally legit and not panic-inducing explanation for this turn of events and that Donnie would tell him what it was soon.

"Her phone's not responsive, but the tracker is still independently operational. It's about a block from your apartment. I'll send you the exact location."

Mikey gripped his phone tightly as he answered in a strained voice. "Thanks, D."

CHANE

Chane and Drea arrived at the corner at almost the same time as Jem and Nik, with Drea and Nik winded and puffing behind their respective partners.

Chane frowned. "Where's Shen?"

Just then, a motorcyclist, clad in black leathers, turned into a skidding halt right next to their curb. Pulling off the sleek, black helmet, she revealed herself to be Shen.

"Technically, I don't think your learner's permit covers this." Jem pointed out.

Shen rolled her eyes. "Because that's the most legally-concerning thing we are doing."

Jem started to respond, hesitated and thought better of it. "Point."

"It's smart, a contingency if Nik gets chucked into a van." Good thinking." Chane praised her cousin.

"So, what now?" Drea looked around.

"Nik gets his disguise on and looks for a dealer. Jem and I will follow closer on the rooftops. Drea, hang back with Shen, as vehicular support."

Drea emitted a low, rumbling growl. "What? Why?"

Chane looked at her. "Because if you go too much farther, your mom will know and I don't want to tip her off until we have to."

"Disguise?" Jem asked.

Nik answered by slipping on his tinted glasses and extending out his white cane.

"Drea, Nellie, I need your phones to put the tracking program on them." Shen pulled some cables out of the bike's saddle bags as she spoke and Chane and Drea handed over their devices.

While she worked, Chane addressed the rest of the group. "Nik, you'll have to go dark to avoid suspicion, but we'll be ghosting you and won't let you out of our sight. The rest up us will keep in contact with a conference call. Use your Bluetooth to keep your hands free. Jem, we'll need weapons and projectiles accessible at a moment's notice, so equip up."

He rearranged his gear as Shen returned Chane and Drea's phones.

Chane slipped her earpiece in and group dialed the rest of them. "Everyone, but Nik on?"

A chorus of 'yes' doubled out through the speaker in her ear.

"Let's do this." Jem called out excitedly, putting his hand in the middle.

Drea snorted out a laugh. "Are we really going to do this every time?"

Jem nodded eagerly.

She sighed and put her hand in. Nik shrugged and placed his over top hers.

"Such a dork." Shen muttered with a snicker, but added her hand.

"Let's go find Scout." Chane finished, placing her hand on top.