Yeah, I know I promised another chapter of Lord Scarfie before this went up. But...this chapter...just...appeared. Honest. It popped up on my desk one morning-damn author elves at work again. Don't you worry, the Scarfie chapter's almost done.
Thor cracked his knuckles and picked up the last two crates, tromping out of the Room and down the stairs. He handed the boxes to Terukaima, who placed them among the piles in the back of the moving truck.

"Room's done," he announced. Terukaima nodded.

"Go help Rast with the thessium jar. Mizuri won't let him lift it by himself."

Thor jogged through the nearly-empty first floor of the warehouse in one corner, where Rast and Mizuri were engaged in a raging shouting match.

"Mizuree, how do yew theenk wee're s'posed t'geet out of heere if yew won't let mee carree eet?!"

"What if you drop it? This thing isn't NASA technology-it was the best I could come up with. One good jostle and you could mix the thessium with the uranium! Then you just have to expose it to hydrogen and we all get blown up! And did you know that hydrogen is the most abundant gas in the universe?"

"How careleese do yew theenk eye am?!"

"Very, Rast! Very!"

It was at this point Thor chose to step in. "All right, you two, break it up. I'll help Rast carry your capsule thing. Promise I won't drop it too hard."

Rast let out a long sigh. "Gawd bless yew, greengo! Gawd bless yew!"

Thor scooped up one end of the canister, Rast taking the other. Mizuri watched critically as they crossed the warehouse.

"What's up?" Thor glanced at the short Mexican robot. "You're always the last person to start yelling about stuff."

Rast shrugged. "Been jumpee. Eet's mah fault the prizner got away. Eet's mah fault wee've got to move."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. We lost a hostage. Big deal."

"Wee lost thee plans too, greengo."

"Rast, just forget about it. Relax." Thor rested his end of the container on the bumper of the truck, clambered into it and eased the canister back. "Nobody blames you. I sure don't, that's for sure. Mizuri's only pissed because he has to take inventory all over again."

They lay the container on its side so it wouldn't fall over if the truck hit a bump. "Yah. Yah, you're right. Thenks, Thor."

"No problem." The two robots jumped out of the truck. "Have we got everything?" Thor asked Terukaima.

Spectre came downstairs and placed the portable television set in the back of the moving truck with great reverence. "Done upstairs."

Bladewing tossed a couple of pillows into the truck. "Set down here, too."

Thor saw his opening. "Damn, the corkboard's still upstairs. I'll be right back."

He dashed up the steps before anyone could say otherwise and ducked into the Room, closing the door behind him and switching to his armor. Glancing around to make sure there was nobody present even though he knew everyone was downstairs, he flicked on his radio.

"Yo, Raiden! It's Thor!"

There was a few seconds of static-swamped silence as Raiden processor beeped at him and he switched to his armor. "Hey."

"We're moving. Follow Gate Lane in from Lassiere Street. Meet you by the tree statue in the park inside Micton Woods at three-thirty. Gotta go-bye!"

Allowing Raiden time for a single, confused 'huh?', Thor turned off the radio. He pulled the corkboard off the wall, changing back to his casuals. He thundered down the stairs and gleefully chucked the corkboard into the back of the truck.

"Okay. Now we're ready."

Spectre and Mizuri climbed into the front while Thor, Terukaima, Bladewing and Rast shut themselves in the back. Mizuri slid open the small window in the cab as they started off.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your co-pilot speaking. Welcome aboard flight number one-two-three-four-five, bound for the brand-spanking new North Beach LIST base. Estimated flight time is forty-five minutes. Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times and keep your hands the hell off my stuff."

The drafty old moving truck with Pozzi Cartage Ltd. emblazoned in red on its side cleared the gate around the old warehouse, rumbled over a speedbump and headed off down the road.

Raiden cursed quietly and engaged himself in a small battle with the map of Lazuli Island he had bought not ten minutes before. It was old and made of paper instead of being a cartridge to be plugged into a handheld computer called a GlobeGuide, but at least it had been cheap. He finally managed to fold everything out of the way and leave the western part of the Micton suburbs exposed.

Micton Woods was a large blob of green to the left of a patch of red hacked up by roads on the north end of the island. Lassiere Street skirted the west edge of the subdivisions heading south and vanishing off the section of map Raiden was busy with. Gate Lane was a tiny two-lane offshoot from the wider road, heading into the forest for about three-quarters of a mile until it ended in what the map called Blue Spruce State Park.

With one finger he traced the route from the park to his current position at Braiche Road and Main Street North. Four miles. He looked up at the digital clock in the window of the music place across the road. 1:26. He'd have to hustle.

The mid-January afternoon was cold and windy, putting Shadow Man's sweater to the test. At several points on his walk he wondered why Lazuli Island didn't have a subway system or something. It would be pretty tiring for somebody to have to walk halfway across the city to work, let alone traversing the entire length.

Blue Spruce Park was very aptly named; the road leading to it was lined with the same type of tree. A hard dirt walkway ran through the woods next to the road, empty except for Raiden. The park itself was a big hilly natural clearing in the forest, complete with running track, bathrooms and two baseball diamonds. A narrow asphalt road wound into the glade, around the statue of a tree laden with several examples of the local animal life and out the east side into the woods again. One of the only visitors at the moment was sitting on a bench next to the statue, his platinum-blond hair shining in the dull winter sun.

Raiden stuffed his hands into the pocket on the front of his sweater, followed the footpath down the side of the hill and over to the monument. Thor glanced up as he sat down.

"Oh, you came. Thanks. I wasn't quite sure for a while."

Raiden leaned back on the bench smiling. "No way-I owe you. Thanks a lot for letting me off last night. I thought I was done for."

"No sweat. Look, Raiden-geez, can I just call you Ray?"

"Go ahead."

"Look, Ray, I don't want to be around the rest of the guys anymore. Working with them feels...wrong."

There was a short silence as Thor tried to pre-phrase what he wanted to say in his head. Raiden brushed a snowflake off his nose.

"I don't want to kill all these people. It might be my old programming finally kicking in or it might just be me, but I won't do it. I refuse to do it."

Raiden didn't say anything, waiting for Thor to continue.

"Terry's right; I don't have anywhere to go. Back in America I've already been replaced. But I have a friend-well, I think he's my friend-running around the island. I was hoping that maybe...maybe that buddy would let me tag along for a bit."

"Of course I'm your friend. If you want us to stick together, that's fine. It's only that I'm staying in Lazuli Island. To fight."

"The LIST?"

"As hard as I can."

"Hot damn. That's a lot of work for one little Wilybot."

"Some help would be nice."

"And some help ya got, Ray. We can be like secret agents-no, superheroes! We'll have codenames and hidden bases and we'll save the populace at least twice a day!"

Even though Thor was built to look like he was nineteen years old, he could still act very much like a little kid. Raiden grinned and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. Thor responded with a laugh and a shove.

"We'll have to come up with a name for ourselves, at least. How about...oh, I got it! The LIST will tremble in fear at the mention of the Doofus Patrol!"

"Not on your life." Raiden chuckled. "How do you like the sound of the A-LIST? Anti-Lazuli Island Strike Team."

"Nah, that's downright sad. I do like the acronym idea, though. Let's try this: you say a word, I'll say a word and when he have four we'll make that our name. Okay?"

"All right. Um...island."

"Terrorist!"

"Control."

"And squad. Let's see...that makes us..."

"...the I-T-C-S."

"Sounds official."

"Yeah."

"You like it?"

"Yup."

"Excellent. We are now the ITCS!"

"I guess we are." Raiden rubbed his hands together. "Lord, I'm freezing. Wanna go pick up a hot chocolate and find ourselves a secret lair?"

"Aw yeah! Dude, Ray, this is gonna be great!"