The twins had been in so many tight situations before that they had thought nothing could faze them anymore, especially when they were close enough to have mental contact. They were smarter than most people. Faster, stronger, more capable of dealing with anything. Getting caught was simply not a possibility. Being stalked by one of their own had simply never crossed their minds before. How was anyone to know? The pictures in their laps and the look on Heather's face was clear. She did know.

Both of them almost unconsciously glanced at the two doors in the room. Heather caught the glance, and the doors immediately swung shut with a flat bang. The window locks caught and turned in place, sealing the room shut. Everyone else had a rather comical "what the hell" look, and it was time for the whole family to know what the little brats had been up to.

"You missed a camera," Heather said coldly to her brother and sister. "It was on a security light."

"And I've been a friend of the di LiCossa family for quite a while," Jon added. He was going to say more, but the "oh shit" expression on their faces said that they understood the chain of events quite well.

"Heather, is there something you need to tell us?" her father asked. It wasn't a question so much as it was a command. Max recognized the tone, but she hadn't heard it used to that degree in a very long time.

Heather ignored their desperate final look begging for clemency. She gestured towards them "Weasel one and Weasel two decided that waiting tables isn't for them and went into property acquisition. They just don't bother to ask the owners if they want to sell it first. This time they screwed up and stole a necklace and a statue of Bast from someone that had a friend who could recognize transgenic handiwork." The oxygen level in the room dropped with the collective intake of breath. The twins slid back in their seats a little more, not daring to look at either parent. No telepathy was needed. They were so dead.

Liz looked up at her mother and went to say something, anything, but Alicia cut her off dead. "Elizabeth Erin, you do not want to say a word to me," she snarled, looking at her two youngest offspring. "What the hell got into you two? Stealing?"

"Like you've got room to talk!" Cameron blurted. "You were snatching stuff since you were what, ten!" Both Heather and Daniel took a step back from the look their mother shot her youngest son. Neither of them had ever gotten that look aimed at them before, and quite frankly, they were about to start begging for forgiveness just on general principles.

"This," Alicia said coldly, "is not about me. If this were about the things that I have done, then this conversation would not be happening because I was smart enough to never get caught. I would have thought that after your teen years, you would know that it's not what you do, but what you get caught doing that counts." Zack caught her arm before she could physically go after them, but that small bit of mercy did nothing to relieve them. Mom could be counted on for an explosion of temper. Dad had a cold glare that made words from him unnecessary. They could see their future being locked into a small closet in that icy glare. Jumper cables may have been involved as well, but that part was still hazy due to abject fear.

Daniel glanced over at Heather. "This is why you wanted to know where they were working, huh?"

Heather nodded, and then looked back at the twins, feeling oh so pleased with her detective work. "I wasn't about to let them have any way of getting out of this. I know you haven't been working where you claimed you were. And Janna isn't enrolled in any kind of classes in a ten-mile radius of where you live. Jon checked on that today. None of you have been using parental money or have a job."

"Let me guess," Logan said dryly. "Janna is the one that's been doing all of the hacking work for you two." The twins didn't answer. Their gaze dropped to the carpet.

"I checked some stuff on the side with a friend," Heather said. "According to him, when he looked at the hacking techniques, he would have sworn that it was Eye's Only doing the hacks. Since I know Jhondie has been in New York, how many other people would be able to do that?"

Max blew out a breath. "And you wondered why I wanted her off of that computer every now and then."

Logan's eyebrow rose as he stared at his wife. "Breaking into places and stealing statues of Bast? I don't think she got that from my side of the family."

Max rolled her eyes. "So what are you fencing the haul for anyways?" she asked Liz and Cam, ignoring her husband's kick in the ankle. She didn't care. If her daughter was risking her life for low hauls then she was going to be pissed. Better be for at least a good twenty grand.

"Depends on the time and trouble involved," Liz admitted. "Usually around three or four."

"Grand?" Max asked disapprovingly.

Cameron looked up at her, mortally offended. "Hundred thousand dollars. And you can add at least another hundred to it if you want it out of the country. We don't play with the small timers. Gets split three ways evenly." The edges of Max's mouth twitched upwards, but she was able to fight the smile. Her baby was doing quite well on her own.

Liz glared at her sister. "We wouldn't have gotten caught if you hadn't ratted on us. I thought family was supposed to stick together."

"Be glad that Jon decided to give me the tape rather than let the Italian police come after you three," Heather snapped back. "Or even better, let the nice rich Italian family with Mafia connections know who stole from them. I wonder what the Conte would do to the person that stole a necklace that's been in the family for a few hundred years?"

"At least it would be from someone that knows not to snitch on their own family!" Liz shouted back.

"And we had lots of good stuff on you that Mom and Dad didn't know about," Cameron piped up, defending his twin. "Remember when we caught you and Jon getting busy in the back of Dad's car? I guess we'll just bring it all out since you don't think family should keep secrets for each other now."

It was the sheer luck of Daniel being within arms distance from Heather that kept her from going after her little brother right then and there. At least it slowed her down for a second and then Daniel felt his hand yanked off of her arm and the rest of him shoved backwards. The slight delay gave Jon the second he needed to be able to get to her, and grab on. Every hair on his arm stood up for a second with that odd feeling of her kinetic ability, and then it vanished before she actually used it on him.

"Heather!" Cyra's voice cut through the air sharply. "If you feel the need to kill your brother or sister, then kindly do it outside where my daughter cannot witness it." Heather looked up over at her and backed down at Tanya's dark eyes, wide with shock and fear.

"You know, we never hurt anyone," Cameron added with emphasis towards his sister's attack. "We were very careful when we planned so that nobody at the sites would get injured. The only time someone was ever hurt was when that guy grabbed Liz and she had to get away."

"And he was shooting at me," Liz said. "I would have just outrun him until he brought the gun came out, so that made me kick his ass all over the place until he let me go." She gave a little shrug. "Three seconds and he was on the floor and I was out the door." Most people wouldn't have been able to tell, but she knew that her Mom had to fight back a smile on that. She liked knowing that her kids could protect themselves with style and polish.

Jon blinked. "Then why did you sabotage the plane? You knew that would leave more people there, including the bodyguard you nearly put into the hospital." That was a sticky point that he and Heather had debated for a while on the trip back to Switzerland and then to the US. Why take such a crazy chance. The stupefied looks on their faces only added to the mystery.

"Huh?" Cameron couldn't figure out what Jon was talking about. Liz knew a lot about sports cars, but nothing about planes. Hell, neither of them could fly one much less know what to do to sabotage an engine. Breaking it would be easy enough with a big enough hammer, but to sabotage required finesse. "We never touched a plane." The twins shared a quick glance of confusion. There were too many people there. The daughter in the hallway. The bodyguard.

"Well someone intentionally damaged the family's private plane," Heather clarified, anger still evident in her voice. Neither of them replied. They would have to talk about it later when it was just the two of them. Both remembered how odd Southwood had been over the whole affair. As much as Janna was going to get it when she got home, they needed to talk to her as well and find out if there had been any other contact from him. This just did not feel right at all.

Cameron looked up at his father. "Dad." he tried to say. There was an explanation for their behavior. Maybe not a good one, but it was there. The first time was just a lark. And then.well, it was addicting to have these incredible abilities and be able to use them so well. It was like they were honing them from a sledgehammer into a weighted and precise throwing knife. This wasn't something that was going to be forever. It just worked for them for now.

"Go upstairs." The interruption wasn't yelled, but held a force of command. Dad didn't yell. He didn't have to. The gruffness in his voice added the thought of duct tape to the vision of their future in the closet.

The twins got to their feet and plodded to the door. They appeared humbled and defeated. Nobody knew that they had just had a conversation that made them agree that such was the best image to leave with. Plans for getting back at Heather would wait until she wasn't expecting it. For now, they were going to have to deal with the parents without an audience. Taking off and turning themselves into the police might be a better idea though, although they weren't sure if the meanest Italian prison could keep them safe from their mother. They had heard things in the past. They thought they were good? She had gotten in and out of worse places.

"How long have you known?" Alicia asked her eldest daughter as soon as the twins were heard trundling upstairs. She thought about yelling after them to not even think about taking off, but the point seemed moot. They knew that there was no place on the face of the planet that they could run to where she couldn't find them. Running would merely delay the inevitable ass kicking that was to come later.

"Jon called me a couple of days ago with the tape," Heather replied, feeling much calmer with them out of the room. She felt bad for shoving Daniel back like that, but he knew better. She wasn't always in control of the telekinesis when the twins riled her up. It was strange that she didn't shove Jon though. Mom might not have noticed that, but from the looks Dad was giving out, he had. "I flew over there to make sure it was really them before I made an accusation."

Alicia's eyes fell on Jon. He was managing to subtly keep Heather between him a Zack. Smart boy. As soon as those icy blue eyes hit him, he volunteered what he knew immediately. "I called Heather as soon as I saw the tape. Signora di LiCossa was planning on calling the Carl Pilchard agency, but I told her that I knew someone that would be able to help. Her son was dead set against outside investigators, and I promised her that my friend would be able to help quietly as a favor to me and not tell her son. Apparently he's trying to investigate on his own Heather flew out and you know the rest."

"What are the chances of him finding out anything?" Logan asked quickly, thinking of Janna alone and unprotected in Europe. The twins had the genetic revving to be able to defend themselves, but Janna was almost ordinary. Zane had shown her a few things, true, but his only child could easily find herself in a dangerous situation with no help from any quarter.

Heather smiled reassuringly at her uncle. "Police departments from a lot of countries have been looking for this trio for a while now," she said. "He's a single untrained guy poking around, trying to be all manly about it. The only reason I figured them out is because I knew what kind of person can do what they were doing. If professionals haven't even come close, then she's probably safe until she gets home and you two can have a talk with her."

"Maybe we should call her and tell her to come home early," Max mused.

Logan patted her hand. "No," he said, "The only way to trap a vixen is to have her come to you." The slight smile dancing on his lips reminded her of how he had gotten her to come back to his penthouse during those first few crazy days. "Besides," Logan teased lightly, "she's her mother's daughter more than we thought. Even if he did find her, chances are he's just going to fall in love with her instead."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Hi! So, still hanging on after all these chapters huh? Glad to see you are all still there. Anyways, even though FF.net will no longer allow MiSTing on the site, it doesn't mean that I am not going to continue to do it. So, for anyone who read the first two MiSTs and enjoyed them, head on over to http://forums.delphiforums.com/jacissml/messages?msg=162.1 and check out my latest creation. For those of you scratching your head (if it's someplace else, then I don't want to know, okay!) and wondering what the hell I am talking about, go to http://forums.delphiforums.com/jacissml/messages?msg=156.1 and start from the beginning. I think you'll find them pretty humorous and yes, what seems to be spoilers in there are very much accurate to what is going to happen in the stories. Until the next chapter, Ta! - Cat