The planning ended up being a little trickier than Jason anticipated and wasn't helped at all by his being drunk.
He knew one thing – he had to ambush Mark when he was already naked. There was no way on this earth that Jason would risk his life by actually attacking Mark and then stripping him naked. It'd take far too much time – and the chances of his actually being able to do it whilst Mark was dressed (and therefore alert) were close to nil. There was more than one reason why Mark was the Commander – but his fighting ability was right there at the top.
After much deliberation, he came to a decision. He'd challenge Mark to a one-on-one bout, and then, after Mark had showered (he had no intention of giving Princess a smelly gift), he'd jump him, truss him up and transport him. It would be made a lot easier that they were going to Camp Parker tonight, so that Princess could celebrate her birthday with her whole family around her.
He smiled – it was a tradition that they all loved. "Family" events – birthdays and Christmas especially, were spent in the mountain retreat. It was what the whole team called home, even though they no longer lived there full time. When they spoke of visiting "home" that was what they meant.
It was the perfect place for him to get his two best friends together; even if it was by force.
Now all he had to do was prepare his tools. He was tempted to use Mark's Sonic Boomerang to do the deed, but he knew that Mark's skill with the damn thing would result in him being the one knocked out.
He decided to do it the old fashioned way, and stole a vial of sleeping gas from the sick bay at Centre Neptune before they left – not a lot, enough to put one of them out for half an hour of so. Plenty of time for what he needed. He was careful enough to stash the rope and other restraints in a bag in the boot of the car – as was usual; all the luggage was going with him. Mark and Princess had elected to ride their bikes up; Tiny would already be there, the Phoenix with Mark's plane and Keyop's widget securely hidden in the underground hangar. It would be him, Anderson and Keyop: and they were two people he definitely didn't want to get wind of his plans.
On the way to collect Keyop, Anderson and the luggage he stopped at the Mall. One more thing he had to get – and he hoped that nobody saw him buying the length of fabric that he was going to use for his bow. He also remembered to pick up a card.
He already had her other gift - an antique carved chest that he'd found in a second hand store, the wood polished and glowing from use by many hands. He knew she loved such things. When he found it, he'd remembered when, not so many years ago, they had sat enthralled as she wove tales around the antiques at home, speculating on who had first owned them.
The chest was safely at Camp Parker, wrapped and hidden under his bed these past few months.
And tomorrow afternoon, he'd give her his special present.