"Andy, I need your help in my office." Tsukasa called over the radio.
Andy headed for his office, wondering what was going on.
"Will you please keep them from leaving?" Tsukasa was scowling at the phoenix twins.
Andy raised an eyebrow, "Leaving?"
"They're trying to resign and leave town, but they won't explain why. I'm about to throw them in the brig."
Andy frowned, "Why do you guys want to leave so badly?"
The two men exchanged glances, then Taka sighed. "We found out why the vampires came after us.."
"Why?" Andy asked softly.
"Our blood makes them invulnerable to Hellfire. Makes them truly indestructible."
Akira spoke. "We don't want to get anyone hurt, so we figured if we left…"
Andy nodded slowly, "You know leaving town won't stop them from hunting you. You're safer here with us to help protect you."
"But you'll get hurt.. This way, if it's just us.."
"I'm not letting you go alone. If you're that insistent on leaving, I'll leave with you."
Taka shook his head rapidly. "No, you have to stay here. The others need you. We're not that important."
Andy growled, "First off, you are that important. Everyone here is like family, including you. Secondly, if they end up capturing you, who knows what we'll have to deal with. If we can prevent them from getting you in the first place, it could be better for us in the long run."
The twins exchanged looks, eyes locked on each other for several minutes. Finally,Taka broke contact and looked at Andy. "Alright, you've convinced us. We'll stay."
Andy smiled, "I'm glad." She looked at Tsukasa, "Probably should up defenses."
"If a quarter of this team weren't gone, I could. They didn't happen to think with their stomachs before reporting in, did they?"
Andy shook her head, "I've not seen them in a while. Want me to search for them?"
Tsukasa grimaced. "They are four hours overdue.."
Andy nodded, "I'll find them." She focused on Tet first, teleporting to his location. She looked around in confusion.
Cage upon cage met her sight, all occupied by either one or more animals. They were all lying down, and upon first glance appeared to be sleeping. Then she saw the erratic breathing.
She walked down the aisle of cages, looking into each one with worry. "Tet?" She called, hoping he'd hear her if he was in one of the cages.
"Darlin? Get out of here! It's not safe!" The voice was exhausted, severe pain coloring the words.
Andy looked around until she finally spotted him. "What happened?"
"Not sure.. This guy hit us with some kind of beam and we all shifted. But we can't shift back.. He's killing us.."
Andy growled, "I'm going to rip him apart."
"If he gets you, you'll die.. Just go!"
"I'm coming back for you." She teleported back to Tsukasa's office, anger apparent on her face.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say someone is marked for death. Should I be worried Tet will be permanent?" The dragon remarked dryly.
"Someone hit them with a beam and made them shift. There's a bunch of cages filled with animals."
Tsukasa's eyes narrowed. "Why haven't they escaped? They're even stronger and faster when they're shifted."
"They all seem really weak and in pain."
The dragon sat down hard as he realized the situation. "They can't shift back, can they? If it happened when they got there, they've been shifted for six hours.. Their bodies are giving out."
"No they can't shift back. Any ideas how to fix this? I can have Akasa search for spells while I help rescue."
"They may be too far gone to save. The beam is military, used for double agents. I don't think anything was ever created to reverse it." Tsukasa slammed a hand down on the desk. "Bring them home at least. They deserve to be here among family."
Andy frowned but nodded, heading out to try to find a team.
Kei saw her face as he spoke with Akasa and Rei. "Someone in trouble?"
Andy nodded, "Can one of you look through the books for spells or potions to shift someone back to human? It's important. Plus, I need help getting them back."
"I might have a potion. How much do you need?" Kei asked.
"If all those animals I saw were shifters.. A lot."
"I'll get right on it." The witch headed for the lab.
Rei looked at her. "How many people do you need? Kai and Ryon are here, but Yamae and Ryusei went with Tet."
"I don't know, enough to break open the cages and get them to safety. Find whoever you can, we leave in five."
"Yes ma'am." He headed down the hall as Akasa watched her.
"It's bad, isn't it?"
Andy nodded, "They're really weak and hurting.. Tsukasa said the beam is military, so I'm afraid of who is using it.."
Akasa grimaced. "I don't think Branch wants us dead… but it could be in private hands. Either way, this is a problem."
Rei returned, Ryon and Kai behind him. "Yoshi is on his way."
She nodded, "I'll start using spells to unlock the doors, you guys break the other ones open." She looked at Ryon and Kai, "You guys get them out of there. If the people using the beam show up, keep working, I'll try to fight them off."
They grimaced and nodded.
"Where to?" Ryon's eyes were dark, flickering as he fought his wolf and dragon.
Andy gave them the location quickly, "Be careful. And let me know if you find anything suspicious."
He nodded, grabbing Rei and vanishing.
Yoshi jogged up, an explosive pouch strapped over his chest. "Ready."
Kai gave Andy a nod as he and Yoshi disappeared.
Andy teleported back to the location, starting to unlock doors with a spell.
The others were yanking the doors open, the two porters grabbing the shifters. They vanished and reappeared rapidly.
Finally the only people left were the twins and Andy.
Ryon reappeared, swaying as he tried to steady his breathing. "Let's get out of here before our luck changes." He grabbed the twins, Yoshi pressing the detonator as they vanished.
Andy was about to teleport when she heard something behind her.
"You bitch.. How dare you steal my zoo.."
A man came toward her, his clothing in tatters. He was clutching a small remote in one hand, a gun in the other.
Andy growled, "Those are people, you can't just turn them into zoo animals!"
"They are animals.. Pretending to be human to fool us! They belong in cages.." He fired the gun as he yelled.
It was faster than she could dodge, the bullet lodging itself in her abdomen. She fell back, trying to catch her breath. She pushed herself to her feet, starting to mutter a spell.
He gasped as his face turned red and he struggled to breathe.
She struggled to finish the spell, the pain growing.
His eyes glazed, toppling to the ground silently.
Seconds later, Kai was there. He grabbed her arm, then they were in the infirmary.
"Akasa! She's been shot!"
Andy tried to stay on her feet but she swayed, knees finally buckling.
Kai and Yoshi lifted her onto a bed as Akasa appeared beside them. He checked the wound. "I have to remove the bullet." He grabbed tweezers and reached into the hole. After pulling it out, he stitched and wrapped it, then muttered several spells.
"How are they?" Andy asked weakly.
"Just focus on yourself, okay?" Kai's eyes were clouded, his voice soft.
She could hear someone's soft sobs several beds down.
She frowned, "Please tell me what's going on.."
Akasa sighed. "We were too late for two of them. Nothing could be done. The rest are still fighting."
Andy tried to push herself up.
Kai held her down. "Stop it. You just got stitches. You need to rest."
"I need to help them," she said, barely conscious.
"You can't even stand upright! How are you going to help them?" Yoshi was trembling with barely controlled anger.
"But the team's more important.. I need to help.."
"You can't help anyone if you die." Akasa said softly.
Andy nodded slowly, finally giving in and closing her eyes.
Kai let go of her, sadly surveying the room. "Thanks for lying to her."
Akasa nodded, his face grim. "For her own good."
Andy woke slowly, fighting the pull of the medicine. She opened her eyes before trying to sit up.
Several team members lay hooked to monitors. Four beds were covered by sheets. Another one was uncovered, Kei gently running a hand through the body's hair as he cried quietly.
Andy pushed herself up out of bed, looking at the men. She tried healing spells on the living before moving to the covered bodies.
Kei gave her a look. "You shouldn't be out of bed."
"Helping the team is more important than resting," she answered quietly as she uncovered the men.
Tet's face stared back at her, Kenji, Ryusei and Shouma beside him.
Andy focused on them, gold light surrounding them.
They began breathing slowly.
Kei looked down at Yamae. "Is it worth bringing them back? Maybe this is better. They can't be hurt anymore."
Andy sighed, "Don't you want to give them the chance at life? I don't think it's fair to just cut it short. I mean with your logic shouldn't we all just die so we don't have to keep dealing with this shit?"
"We're playing god.. Do we have that right?" The witch sighed as he stared at his brother.
"I used to wonder the same thing.." she sighed as she stared at Yamae, "but I was given this gift for a reason. I might as well help my friends out with it."
He nodded, sitting back to let her near. "Listen to me getting philosophical.."
Andy focused on Yamae, the gold light shining.
He started to breathe and Kei smiled softly. Then he swayed and fell out of the chair, his eyes half open.
"What's wrong?" Andy said softly, trying to help him up.
"Had to use life force in the potion.. I might have overdone it.." He gave her a weak grin.
Andy sighed, "Let's get you in a bed then."
"I'll be fine.." His eyes closed, going limp in her arms.
Andy lifted him and set him into a bed and muttered a couple spells. She felt the exhaustion hit her and she moved her hand to the wound. She winced when it came back bloody. She went to find Akasa.
He was frowning at Kei's spellbook. He looked up in exasperation. "Damn fool must be trying to join Yamae.." He stopped as he saw her side. "Dammit Andy!"
"Kei passed out.. I think the stitches popped when I lifted him.."
"You don't learn do you?" Akasa pushed her onto a bed and began restitching. He looked over at the uncovered beds. "You just had to revive them.."
"Would you rather I not have?"
"I'd rather not have to restitch you because of it.. I'm worried about Kei."
"I don't think he has dealt with life force magic much before.."
"Me either. He almost passed out several times while working on it." Akasa finally moved away, sitting down beside her.
"We'll keep an eye on him. If he doesn't get better, I'll figure out how to help him."
"Yeah. Boss is worried we might be in trouble with so many of us down."
"I'll be back up soon," Andy gave a small smile. "If anyone comes after us, I'll kick their asses."
He laughed. "I know you will."
Tsukasa and Daiki chose that moment to enter, the dragon scowling as he saw her. "You are incorrigible."
The vampire bit his lip, fighting laughter.
"What's up?"
"Just checking in. Was prepared for the worst, honestly."
She nodded, "I think everyone will be alright now."
"Very glad to hear that. They were so bad, Akasa here was warning me to be ready." The dragon sighed with relief.
Andy sighed before yawning.
"Get some rest." The two men smiled, then left.
Andy closed her eyes, quickly falling back to sleep.
Akasa moved away, checking on the patients quietly.
When Andy woke again, she stretched out a bit before sitting up. She winced at the pain in her side but could tell it was a lot better than before.
The infirmary was empty except for one bed. Kei lay still unconscious as the monitor beeped slowly. She could see the dark vine on his neck getting darker.
She went and grabbed the potion for the vine and gave him some to see if it would help.
His shaky breathing eased a little, but that was the extent of it.
She focused for a moment, then sent energy toward him, silver light surrounding him.
The monitor began beeping faster, the vine slowly beginning to vanish.
She stopped, the light fading away. She moved to sit beside him, feeling a bit exhausted again.
Tet entered, his eyes growing concerned as he saw her. "Are you okay, darlin?"
"I'll be fine," she gave him a small smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Someday I'll stop being amazed at you, but not today. I'm fine. What happened to him?"
"The potion he made to help you guys needed life force. We think he's inexperienced using it and used too much."
"Talk about a learning curve. He's going to be okay right?"
"Yeah, he'll be fine."
"Good. Boss put us on stand down. Ordered us all to get some r n r. Any ideas?"
Andy looked thoughtful, "Why don't you guys take a beach day?"
"Alright." He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Try to get healed okay? Furball suggested something and I want to try it.."
Andy smirked, "Can't wait."
He grinned and left the infirmary.