01:00

Liz, wearing bio-suit 01, crouched atop The Marseilles, otherwise
known as 'Todd's restaurant' and composed her thoughts. Todd stood beside
her wearing suit 04. The other three suits were being worn by Brenda, Tara
and Talitha.

Talitha would remain behind, scanning the skies for any sign of
Demona. Should the gargoyle make an appearance, she would sound the alert
and then back Liz up if need be.

Brenda, Tara and Todd each had a passenger to carry over to the
N.U. Building. The remaining two gang members were three blocks away, parked
on a small lot. The medium sized snack vender's truck would never raise
anyone's suspicions. It was to this truck that the non-suited participants
and their goods would be shuttled. One of the bio-suited girls would go with
them to provide muscle, just in case. Stoneman could also make a less-
obvious getaway in the truck, should something go wrong.

The detectives knew nothing about the truck, but she'd bet anything
that they would pick up on it. She turned her gaze back toward the night
sky.

Goliath a.k.a. Stoneman a.k.a. Thailog a.k.a. double zero a.k.a.
'Big Guy' was on his way over to the Nightstone Building. Liz commanded her
helmet to magnify the small speck which was all she could see of the
gargoyle.

"Nightscope," she commanded and Lyath's enlarged image became
completely visible to her eyes.

He was soaring high above them and Liz could see that he was
scanning the skies in all directions during his approach to N.U.

Less than five minutes later, he landed on the roof. She watched as
he peered over the edge and checked around himself before breaking radio
silence.
"This is double zero. Big Guy is requesting an all-clear."

Talitha, who had kept up her surveillance of the surrounding skies,
answered him. "05 reports an all-clear."

"This is 00. Big Guy is making the rounds."

"04 says do it."

Liz watched as Lyath slid down onto the ninth floor ledge and
began peering in the windows. He was careful to position his body between
them and keep himself flat against the wall. After a few quick peeks,
which must have shown him an empty office, he moved around the corner and
checked the windows there.

"00. Big Guy is going in."

"04. We copy."

Liz watched as he manipulated the hidden lever and rode the ledge
down to the eighth floor. She held her breath as he ducked his head inside
and let it out again when he emerged an raised them on the headset.

"00. Big Guy reports an all-clear."

"04. Roger. 01 is on her way."

Liz needed no more urging. She ignited her jets and left the roof
in a whirlwind of asphalt. Climbing high enough so that the sound of her
rockets would be minimal, she steered toward the N.U. building's roof.

She had had a crash course in how to operate the suits that
afternoon and had to admit that they were real works of art. The suits
responded to the smallest muscle twitches, so that one hardy even had to
think about what they wanted to do before the suit actually did it.

These suits were heavier versions of the one which Xanatos himself
had worn on the oil rig the night that the real Thailog had nearly killed
them. It covered the entire body and had a helmet which completely encased
the head. It carried its own oxygen supply and could go up to twelve hours
without recharging. In addition, each had a wrist cannon similar to
Coldstone's.

Liz made a soft landing on the corner of the roof and spoke into
her headset.

"01 is in position."

She was rewarded with a smile from below her.

"00. Big Guy says welcome aboard."

"04. We copy. 02, 03, and 04 are coming over."

01:20

As the three bio-suited team members and their passengers arrived
on the roof beside her, Liz clicked off the time over her radio.

"01 reports the time as zero one twenty. Operation is on schedule."

One at a time, the unsuited passengers were handed down to Lyath
and shuttled inside before 02, 03 and 04 entered the building.

The door closed behind them, leaving the radio as Liz's only link
to the rest of the team. Oh, how she wanted to be inside at Goliath's side!
It didn't seem right for her to be out here while he was surrounded by those
who were not to be trusted. Unfortunately, her part in the break-in had been
assigned and there was little she could do about it. If only she hadn't
mentioned that they should 'leave Demona to her'...

Within the building, the team was following Thailog up the stairs
to Dominique's office. They had scanned the video monitors in the hidden
room and satisfied themselves that the area was deserted.

Lyath gently moved the false floor to the side and moved into the
office. He was followed by three black-garbed, equipment-laden girls and 02
and 04.

03 remained behind in the hidden room. From there she could monitor
all the video cameras and guard their way out. Besides, the bio-suits were
noisy and awkward in the enclosed areas inside the building. The remaining
two suits should prove sufficient.

Lyath quickly moved towards the large ventilation grate high up on
the office wall near the entranceway. With little effort and even less noise,
he pried the cover off it. He and Todd lifted two of the three black-garbed
electronic experts up into the shaft one at a time.

Outside the double doors to Destine's office, the hallway ran to the
left and right. Destines office had a much higher ceiling than the hallway
and the main duct actually ran just on top of the hallway ceiling and all
the way down the hall in both directions. Once in the shaft, Helen and Miriam
split up, each moving in a different direction.

There were two video cameras monitoring the outside of the office,
each of them thirty-five feet on either side of the doors. Helen and Miriam
could get to each by cutting a small hole in the vent directly behind them.
Each camera would block them from the other's view - as long as they didn't
do something obvious.

Like drop a ceiling tile.

Lyath spoke into his headset. "00. We have a mouse in the house."

"01. Copy the mouse is in the house at 01:30."


Elisa decided to take out 05 and 03 after the 02:00 check-in. After
that, there would not be another check-in until the vault was breached. By
the time Todd realized that something was wrong, the team would be busy
trying to find a way out anyway.

A quick test seemed to be in order. Elisa decided to briefly turn
off Talitha's microphone.

Elisa made sure that her microphone switched from broadcast to local
and issued the verbal command which would bring up a master control screen
on her visor.

Nothing happened. No screen. No acknowledgment.

Nothing.

"Uh-oh!" Elisa didn't panic - quite. "I must have done something
wrong..." She reviewed the various commands Xanatos had taught her and got
ready to try again.


Ring

Demona looked up from where she lay sprawled across her bed and
glared at the phone. Who could be calling her here?

Ring

This time the look she threw the phone was nearly lethal. She closed
the book she had been reading and reached for the remote to the television so
that she could mute it.

Ring

"This must be another wrong number," she huffed.

Riiii... Her answering machine picked up.

""You've reached the Destine residence. I'm afraid that I do not
wish to take your call right now, but if you insist on leaving a message,
so be it.""

!Beep!

A female voice began speaking. "Ms. Destine, you don't know me, but
I know one of your employees. His name is Daniel Todd and he is about to
wipe you out. If you want to hear more you can reach me at..."

Demona had lunged for the phone and nearly deafened her caller with
a snarl. "What do you mean, he's going to wipe me out? Who is this?"

"That's not really important, is it? I want to hurt Todd. That is
the only reason I tell you this. Even as we speak, he is breaking into the
Nightstone vault with a squad of bio-armor-suited girls. I believe that you
know who they are?"

"The gang! He dares to turn my own team against me!" Demona's voice
was becoming piercing. "Why? What does he hope to gain?"

"He plans to turn over every piece of incriminating evidence he can
find to Alexander Thailog."

Demona began to laugh. "Fool! Thailog is dead!"

"I'm afraid not. Several of my friends have seen him. Big guy, about
seven feet tall with wings and a tail?"

Demona was speechless.

"I thought so. He's not dead but he would like to see you end up
that way. If you hurry, you can catch him and Todd. As I said, they're
already at the building. One other thing...Todd is wearing bio-suit number
01."

The phone went dead in Demona's hand. She stood still as the phone
dropped out of her suddenly nerveless fingers. Fear and rage were warring
within her and neither was gaining the upper hand.

If she lost her company where would she go during the day? What
would she do? She could no longer sleep atop a skyscraper, oblivious to the
world around her until sunset. She had to have a safe place to sleep... and
she liked the comforts which wealth could bring, not to mention the power.

She had to save her company! Well, if Thailog was a ghost she'd
find a way to make him suffer! If he wasn't dead, he soon would be and Todd
would be joining him!

Demona raced up the stairs of her posh rental home in Alexandria
and launched herself out the third floor window with a blood-curdling scream.


Helen and Miriam had reached their respective cameras and were done
cutting through the airduct floors and ceiling tiles.

Helen began to carefully strip away part of the insulation on her
camera's video line. It was hard, tedious work since she had to fit both
hands through an opening only eight inches across. She was laying on her
stomach and reaching down through the airduct and the ceiling four inches
below. She could barely see any of the camera and although she had a mirror
handy, she was basically working blind.

She forced herself to remain calm and not let the heat in the duct
and the cramped quarters get to her. She knew that down the hall, Miriam was
doing the same thing with her camera and relished the thought that she might
finish first. This did not cause her to rush, though. Rushing only led to
mistakes which led to lost time.

The wires were finally laid bare.

Helen pulled a padded package off her back and shoved it in front
of her in the duct. Opening one end of it, she attached a large battery pack
which she had also had on her back and a cable. In just another moment she
had the other end of the cable attached to the camera. She pushed the play
button on the VCR and reported in.

"Mouse 1. Awaiting video confirmation."

"04. We copy, Mouse 1."

Helen relaxed and ate a power bar while she waited. She didn't have
to wait long.

"Mouse 2. Awaiting video confirmation."

"03. Stand-by." Tara checked her monitors in the secret room. She
could see the door to the office on two of them. She focused on the one
which showed the doors on the left of the screen. This conformed to the
direction in which Helen was to have gone. "03. Mouse 1 go ahead."

Helen dropped a piece of the ceiling tile through her opening.

"Mouse 1. Bombs away."

Tara's monitor showed no sigh of a dropping tile. Helen's tape of
the deserted hallway, procured for them by Todd, was working properly. Helen
had accomplished her task.

"03. Good job, Mouse 1."

"Mouse 1 copies."

"03. Go ahead Mouse 2."

The same procedure was repeated for the other monitor with the same
results.


Elisa had given up trying to use the master control in her suit and
switched her microphone back to broadcast. She was worried about the snafu,
but knew better than to keep beating a dead horse. She would have to find
another way to take out the other bio-suits. That shouldn't be too hard...
Xanatos had told her what their few weaknesses were.

She had been following the team's progress and knew that the first
check-in was coming up.

"04. The mice are nice."

"01," she said. "We are on schedule at 01:58. Check-in."

"00," came Goliath's voice. "Check. 00 also reports a check for Big
Guy."

"01. Check," she replied and then listened for the others.

"02. Check." That was Brenda.

"03. Check." That would be Tara.

"04. Check." Todd.

"05. Check." Talitha.

"Mouse 1. Check." Helen.

"Mouse 2. Check." Miriam.

"Mouse 3. Check." Lorrey.

"Chester 1. Check." That would be Victoria in the truck.

"Chester 2. Check." Sara, also in the truck.

"04. Everything is go. Leaving the nest."

"01. Copy. Leaving the nest at 02:00. Right on time." Liz settled
in, listening to the events taking place within the building and trying to
decide when and how to take out 05.