FATR: I know very few people are reading this anymore, but I got a fresh wind of inspiration. That and I discovered that there are some things that need to be corrected in the "Cat and a Half" story line. I should have more thoroughly researched the episodes that came before it. Goddammit! Who would have guessed that Jason disappeared from Felicia's life because he was the Hobgoblin? Every time I saw The Cat I wondered about that, and now I know, and now I have to fix it somehow. Does anyone know: If I replaced the chapters with different text, without removing them, just replacing them, would I lose the reviews that the chapter has so far? Please answer, it only takes one person to answer, but try not to just assume that someone else will do it. If everyone assumes that the next reader will help, no one will help. Anyway, onto chip chip.

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Emma went as fast as the speed limit would permit down the street. She prayed to Nasarack the father and Cshicomi the mother that they weren't too late but there were some very negative vibes hanging in the air. Next to her, Leo was fiddling with some little device he had unveiled from one of the many latent pockets in his lab coat.

"Strictly a precautionary measure," he assured her when she saw Emma eyeing the stunner quizzically. "In case she shows up and gets violent."

"In case?" Emma laughed. "All that time I spent dead? She was alive, gathering energy... She's grown so much more than since you last saw her."

"Don't worry. This thing could drop a charging Jaruvian horn demon-"

Emma let out a loud cry and slammed on the breaks as her stomach dipped and her vision grayed out for a moment. She hunched over the steering wheel, panting, and slowly raised her eyes to the house a little ways down the street. "Leo... ?"

Leo sat back in the seat, eyes on the same target as Emma's. "I smell blood." He looked at Emma who was still watching the house. "Do you think..."

"I'm not sure." Emma hopped out of the car and ran for the house.

"Wait,"Leo called. "We need a plan."

Emma at first didn't hear him in her rush to get to George. If she could get there in time she could save him. That was her job, wasn't it? To save the lives Ana tried to take? After she let Jessica and her family down, she just couldn't miss this one. She couldn't- A cold shadow passed over her and she collapsed to her knees. Again. I'm too late again. If I hadn't been so selfish, hiding myself from Ana, I could have reached him before her. I could have stopped it this time.

Leo ran up behind her hunched over form. "They won't just let us in."

"I can't believe I let him die," Emma murmured. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "I should have been able to reach him last night, I could have been able to, but I was scared."

"Of course you were." Leo knelt and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Anyone would have been."

Emma shook her head, still fighting back tears. "I'm not 'anyone.' I'm Emaschire Aracshi Nasar. I'm the daughter of the Mother and the Father themselves. I'm supposed to be perfectly good, perfectly selfless..." A tear trickled down her cheek. "Perfectly happy..."

"As far as being perfectly selfless goes, you cannot possibly be any help to anyone if you are dead. No one can be perfectly happy, there is no such thing as perfect happiness." Leo straightened up, took her hand, and helped her to her feet. "We can still get to it before her if we hurry."

Emma wiped her eyes and nodded. "She left. She didn't want to fight you, not yet at least." She gave him a pale smile. "Now what?"

Leo thought hard for a second or two. Then a smile slipped across his face. "Okay, here's what we're going to do..."

----

Stephanie growled to herself as she dropped another shard of bloody glass into the bucket she had brought along. She really wished the rest of the staff would quit acting like the super-villains were her territory alone. Jenny had taken the morning shift, she should have cleaned up Max's broken mirror, but no. Jenny hadn't wanted to go in Max's room. Some bullshit about being scared. Stupid, she was just trying to get Stephanie back for this morning. She knew that if Stephanie tried to take it up with master Fisk, she would have to admit that she had unofficially dodged the morning shift to gamble with the super-villains. Thinking about that made her wonder about the exact nature of Max's mental health. She knew he was nuts, they all were in their own way, but there seemed to be more than severe ADHD involved in Max's case. She stopped to laugh at herself. She was trying to psychoanalyze a super-villain. Jesus. Well, now I know why his hand is cut. I just assumed in had happened last night while they were out. She heard the door open but didn't turn around. "You made quite a mess, Max."

Max's head jerked up and he eyed her back quizzically. "I guess I did. Huh."

She heard the bed squeak as he sat down and turned to look at him. There were bruises forming around his neck, like someone had tried to choke him. "What happened?"

"With the mirror?"

He actually seemed genuinely puzzled. "That too, but I was referring to your neck."

He mouthed 'my neck...' and put his hand to his throat. "Oh, that! Mac picked a fight with me. About..." He thought.

"About?"

He squinted one eye and pursed his lips as he thought. "I don't think it's my place to say, really," he finally answered.

Stephanie went back to work. "So you're telling me that Mac tried to strangle you."

"Exactly."

"Not more than an hour ago."

"Yep."

"And you forgot."

Max shrugged. "Memory is a funny thing, isn't it? Besides, I didn't forget, I just had other things on my mind. Didn't really have the time to consciously process it, you know?"

There was something else on Stephanie's mind, too. Something that had been bugging her ever since she had asked that question. It was a silly something, but she still couldn't get it out of her mind. "So out of any girl in the entire world, you would want to have sex with Poison Ivy?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Any special reason why?"

"She's hot."

Stephanie left it at that. Besides, she was finished and she had to move on to her next task. "See you around." The thing that really bugged her was that every last one of them, well, except Otto who hadn't answered, had picked super-villainesses. It made her feel... inadequate somehow for not being a super human. It was ridiculous, of course, because she didn't see any of them in that way, but it still hurt on some level. She hadn't expected any of them to pick her. That wasn't the issue. It was really just the principle of the thing. Maybe I should take it up with the resident mad scientist. Though this thought crossed her mind as a joke, it really made her stop and examine that option. Would Otto turn me into a super human if I asked him to? What was he doing with our blood samples, anyway? Hmm... She walked into one of the other rooms in her jurisdiction and glanced around. How many rooms did one person need, really? At some point the rooms just become the back drop for the stuff. This room was such a case. Most of it was art master Fisk had collected over the years, like a miniature personal museum. Between two bronze statues were two love seats, back to back. The super-villains never came in here, at least not as far as she knew. It was mostly a quiet place for Fisk to reflect on things. He did a lot of reflecting lately, especially since his wife had left him and his son and gone to jail. She didn't know the specifics. It wasn't her place to ask. Not that she wanted to know.

"This is the place where I sit, this is the part where I love you too much..." she sang as she began to oh-so-carefully dust the statues. This room had been designated her's because master Fisk had absolute faith in her grace and light touch as a dancer. Stephanie knew this room was sacred to him, and she treated it with due respect. "Is this as hard as it gets? 'Cause I'm getting tired of pretending I'm tough. I'm here if you want me, I'm yours you can hold me..."

She didn't notice the eyes of the painting on the back wall flash blue and come to life, watching her.

"I'm empty and taken, I'm tumbling and breakin', 'cause you don't see me, and you don't need me, and you don't love me..."

"Stephanie," the female voice that had visited Max hissed.

Stephanie jumped and turned to eye the Mona Lisa on the back wall. No one knew that the one in the museum was a forgery. Fisk had the real one. She didn't know why, and again, she never asked. "Uh... yes?" Then she mentally kicked herself for talking to a painting. I've been hanging out with those four far too much lately. I think I've lost it.

"Don't worry, sugar tits. You are perfectly sane."

The painting's lips had actually moved! Stephanie's eyes darted around and she crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn't really figure out how to react to either statement. "Err... I... Sorry, but who are you?" The painting swirled into a vortex of colors and reformed into a portrait of a woman with long black hair and electric blue eyes. Two large black dragon wings arched out of her back and fangs glittered in her mouth. She was wearing a black vinyl corset and a long tattered skirt with dangerously high slits in it at various intervals. There was blue light reflecting in her hair and top. The most unnerving thing, however, was that this demonic creature was sitting on a pile of skulls. She gave Stephanie what may have been an attempt at a friendly smile but the fangs and reptilian eyes ruined any friendliness there might have been.

"I'm Ana, a friend of Otto, and possibly you as well."

"What do you want?"

Ana laughed. "It's not about what I want, my dear, it's about what you want. Your thoughts are intriguing. Tell me, what kind of super human do you see yourself as?" She leaned her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands as she waited for Stephanie's response.

"I never really gave it that much thought before," Stephanie admitted.

"Well, what do you want? Strength? Power? Sex appeal?" Ana winked at this last statement. "Or would you like 'D'–all of the above?"

"I've seen movies. If I haven't gone completely insane, which is an explanation I'm still entertaining, I know this is not just about what I want. You're going to take my soul or something, aren't you?"

"Only your first born."

Stephanie stared at her.

Ana laughed again. "I'm kidding. What would I do with a whiny, snot nosed, little brat, anyway? Eat it?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

"Come on, sugar tits, there has to be something you want, something you can only get by making a few changes. Okay, you don't completely trust me. I understand. If I were you, I might not completely trust me either. How about you let it incubate upstairs for a little while? You know where to find me if you change your mind."

And with that the painting swirled into a vortex again and returned to normal. Stephanie blinked a couple times, shrugged, and went back work.

----

Otto flipped through a book, trying to figure out what the new DNA that had formed in Stephanie's blood looked like. It seemed a tiny bit familiar, not something entirely alien. He sat back and sensed a powerful presence behind him. He whipped around but only saw Jessica's books on a table. Shaking his head, he turned back to his work and paused. A glance over his shoulder brought his eyes to rest on the books once more. Turning in the swivel chair he tilted his head curiously. The top two tentacles retrieved the thickest one and dropped it in his lap. The cover had a strange hand print stamped on it in silver. There were various signs and symbols placed at strategic and perhaps meaningful places on the palm and fingers. The middle of the palm was a pentacle with an eye in the center. Some of the other symbols were vaguely similar to astrological signs he had seen. It made him wonder at the melding of cultures that took place when the Nasarians were forced to scatter. He opened the book to a random page and scanned the text. He was disappointed that he couldn't read it. There were, however fascinating diagrams to try and figure out. There was a picture of the island, he guessed, with labels that he couldn't understand pointing to various parts of it. With a deep sigh he flipped the book closed and looked up to reach for the smaller one. There she was, blue eyes glowing in the dim light, casually leaning against the desk with her arms crossed.

Ana smirked. "A little light reading, Octavius?"

Otto ran his hand over the cover of the book. "What does it mean?"

Her arms dropped to her sides and she shifted her weight to her right foot. "You know, if you keep wasting what you have already given me on trivial things like this, you'll never get your wife back. Favors are earned-"

"Never given. I know," he whispered.

"And some cost more than others." He still wouldn't look at her and she sensed a deep sadness welling up within him. This tortured soul was a virtually limitless energy source. The angst in his life was in fact worth even more than George's death, Mac's jealousy, Quinton's arrogance, and Max's self-loathing all combined. "I have a job for you."

"So you found it?"

He sounds so hopeful. It would be such a shame if his dreams were shattered yet again. "It is in the History Museum. You will go now." And with any luck, everything will fall into place within the next 36 hours.

Otto studied the cover of the book again, absently tracing the silver lines with his fingers. "Fisk is getting on my case again, because of Jessica."

A dark cloud passed across her face but Otto didn't see it. Her voice dripped with venom as she spoke her next words. "That is not my problem. Did I tell you to take Jessica and Jacob?"

"No."

"So stop bitching about your issues with Fisk and do as I say."

Otto paused then took a deep breath. "Do you... Will I really get to see Rosie again?"

Ana cocked her head. "You doubt me, Octavius?"

"No... I mean... If..." Otto thought better of his words and shook his head. "No." He put the book down, still not looking at her. "I... I need to wrap up here first." He heard her hiss to herself and felt her glare on him. Otto didn't flinch, at least not outwardly.

"Fine," she finally growled. "But if certain people get to it first, I will have your head. Do you understand?"

Otto nodded quietly, eyes on the floor, and stayed that way until he could no longer feel Ana's presence. Then his eyes returned to the screen. He stared blankly, lost in his own thoughts, face bathed in red light. "I hope..." He sighed heavily. "Let's go." Even though he knew that if he went, his partners had to go along. "I would like to request your permission to..." He stopped and thought. He smiled at his pets. "Perhaps I should just get right to the point. I feel like robbing the history museum. Anything you want me to pick up while I'm there, master Fisk?"

What if he asks why?

"Do you think I could convince him it's because I'm bored?"

You could manipulate one of the three stooges into making the request for you.

"That's not nice," he scolded but couldn't help chuckling a little. "I would like to wait until nightfall, but I don't think that would sit well with Ana."

Pardon our opinion, but the way you let her boss you around is pathetic. The same goes for Fisk. You could take Fisk, you know you could.

Otto shook his head sadly. "Sometimes you have to submit to others. Especially if they have some kind of power over you. Do not fret, though, my pets, for once I open the gate I will have everything I require to reassert control over my life, maybe even the lives of those around me." He could sense the arms' approval. With a sick smile on his face, Otto pushed himself to his feet to go pay a visit to Fisk.

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FATR: Don't forget to help me with the question posted at the beginning of the chapter. Penguin Peace!