To Lyger 0: A crisis is a good time to learn what someone is made of.

To yellow 14: That's the nice thing about this particular setting: no one has any idea what to do!

The next morning, Ramus strode through the city hall atrium in silence, his the only footsteps audible on the marble floor that early in the morning. A couple of aides stood outside of the Prefect's office, carrying on a whispered conversation while looking around nervously. Ramus frowned. With these super-criminals on the loose, now was not a good time for the Prefect's attention to be split between the SLD and the city's government. Giving the aides a closer look, Ramus' eyes widened in surprise: one of them was President Guizot's executive assistant. Listening in on their conversation as he passed, Ramus caught snatches of their discussion – infrastructure concerns and transportation of goods between Paris and the south, given that so many of the bridges and roads had been damaged so severely by the Tarasque's passage. He pursed his lips. Was that really their priority at the moment? Paris itself was in ruins; the people of Paris were going to be starving in a matter of weeks, even with the supplies salvageable from the city. Could Paris afford to help the rest of the country? And yet, someone had to do it… But, then, how was Roger supposed to supervise the manhunt for the escaped prisoners when his attention was divided so severely.

Ramus let out a breath. Someone had to worry about the rest of France. All he could hope was that it wouldn't divert attention away from Mind-Wipe and his companions.

Élodie didn't look up from her computer as Ramus passed through the outer office, entered the SLD office, and pressed the button to summon the elevator. "There has to be a pattern here," she muttered to herself.

"Looking for Mallarmé?" asked Ramus, frowning.

Élodie glanced up at him in surprise. "Hi, Lieutenant," she greeted him, a troubled look on her face. She waved vaguely at her computer. "I'm trying to track sightings," she explained. "Unfortunately, there just isn't any consistency to them. Mallarmé has only been spotted three times; Nouvel even less than that. Papon was seen once south of the river right after the escape, and not again since then. But then Dumont has been spotted virtually everywhere in the city. And of course most of the sightings come in long after the fact…" She glared down at the radio in irritation before giving Ramus a helpless look. "I have no idea what to make of it all."

"Have you asked Vernant?" Ramus suggested.

She shook her head. "No; he's been so busy with Ray, I didn't want to bother him. And now with François injured…" Ramus nodded ruefully as the elevator door opened. Élodie sighed heavily. "Let me know how the procedure goes," she instructed him, indicating the box on her desk. "And bring this down with you!"

Ramus picked up the box and nodded. "I will," he promised, just before the door closed and the elevator descended rapidly down to the lab level. He rubbed his prosthetic agitatedly, staring down at the floor. It was becoming more and more clear by the day that the Paris police – what was left of it – was hopelessly outmatched in trying to stop Mind-Wipe and his group. Mistral had had a run-in with the regular police a couple days earlier, and two of the officers had been injured, with several civilians caught in the crossfire. Since torching a police cruiser the other day, Fire-Fly had gone into hiding, though the new hardware she had reportedly been wearing made her a far more potent threat than she had been when the SLD arrested her the first time. And while Monte-en-l'Air had not attempted to attack any of the officers sent after him, he moved so quickly that whenever he was spotted, he routinely slipped away before the police could respond.

Of course, they had known all along that the regular uniformed police were outmatched against super-criminals; that was why the Police Prefecture had formed the SLD in the first place. But after their losses against the Tarasque, they were already stretched thin. And then, with the sheer volume of super-criminals now loose, their resources were only stretched thinner. Mistral, Fire-Fly, and Monte-en-l'Air were supposed to be the easy ones for the SLD to handle…. But could they deal with all three simultaneously. And what were they going to do when Dynamus, Elemento, and Mind-Wipe showed themselves again? Or, for that matter, what could they possibly do with Sandy, since she had evidently discovered the miraculous of a fallen hero?

Originally, the SLD had been founded not to arrest the super-criminals but to assist the Heroes of Paris in stopping them. He and the others were only to control the scene, deal with the aftermath, and potentially to engage the super-threat until the Heroes of Paris arrived. Of course, their mission had expanded from there. He looked down at his prosthetic, cycling it through all of its functions before deploying the collapsible shield. Thanks to this, he could potentially handle one of the four most dangerous escapees with help… but unfortunately their best weapon against the stronger super-criminals had been taken entirely out of the fight within twelve hours of their escape.

While Gouger had woken up, she was still confined to the lab under observation. Before placing him in the prison and suppressing his powers, they had not attempted to measure the outer limit of Mind-Wipe's power. And unfortunately, without that information they couldn't risk Gouger in the field if she might still be susceptible to Mind-Wipe's influence.

This was a bad time for the Heroes of Paris to be MIA.

The elevator door opened with a ding, and he stepped out to find the lab level surprisingly quiet. One of the containment cells along the far wall had its light on; within he could see Gouger lying on a cot and tossing a ball at the ceiling. Closer to the elevator, the lab on the left had a single cot visible through the glass wall, on which Roux lay with several saline bags connected to his arms, his chest rising and falling steadily. Ramus let out a breath. Even though his team had been hit hard and suffered losses it could ill afford, his teammates were still alive.

At least they hadn't lost anyone since Danny.

Vernant and Sarsavat were visible in the second lab room, and Ramus moved in that direction. Before opening the lab door, he glanced inside through the glass window to find Ray propped up on the lab table, his fiancée Delphine standing next to him. Vernant crouched in front of Ray, with a stethoscope held to Ray's wrist and an intent look on his face. Coiled a couple meters away, Sarsavat held his head on a level with Ray's, carefully organizing the instruments on Vernant's tray. The alien's mouth was set in a thin line; his eyes occasionally drifted across to Delphine, who kept looking up at him nervously. As Ramus hesitated, Sarsavat turned to look at him, bobbing his head in greeting. Sighing, Ramus pushed the lab door open and stepped inside.

"Good morning, Lieutenant," Sarsavat greeted him, dipping his head.

Ray glanced up at Ramus as he entered. "Hey, LT, it seems like I could use some help here; any chance you could give me a hand?"

Ramus arched an eyebrow at him. "Well at least you didn't lose your sense of humor!"

Standing behind Ray, Delphine put her hands on his shoulders and pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring. With his remaining hand, Ray reached up and squeezed one of her hands, twisting his head slightly to meet her gaze over his shoulder. "I'm okay, babe; really," he told her quietly.

She gave him a jerky nod. "I know. I know we'll get through this," she assured him, pressing a kiss to his forehead and leaning forward to wrap her arms around his torso. "Somehow…"

Sarsavat nodded firmly. "Yesss," he agreed. His nostrils flared, and he turned to face Delphine, examining her carefully. "You will improve. You have sssupport."

Ramus chuckled and opened the box under his arm. "As it happens, I can give you a hand," he told Ray. Ray leaned forward in surprise and stared into the box at the simple, glove-sized prosthetic hand within. Shiny silver, with robotic fingers and an obvious wrist joint built into the connector port, it was not polished or neat, resembling a robotic gripper more than a human appendage. But it was nevertheless a hand – more hand-looking than Ramus' own prosthetic. "Chrysaor dropped it off last night," Ramus explained. "He said he'll dial it in remotely after we've installed it. Carré was going to bring it down, but she got caught up in a project."

Ray scoffed, shaking his head ruefully. "You make it sound like I'm getting an upgraded keyboard or something," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "'We can rebuild him. We have the technology.'"

Sarsavat cocked his head to one side. "I do not underssstand…"

Delphine sighed heavily. "It's a movie quote," she explained. She chuckled wryly. "He thinks he's funny."

"Your humor sssuggessstsss that he isss," Sarsavat pointed out.

"When did this become my life?" Delphine wondered, shaking her head. Ray glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow, to which she gave his chest a squeeze.

Vernant carefully removed the prosthetic from the box and studied the port intently, his eyes shifting back and forth between the prosthetic port and the one on Ray's stump. "This does appear like something from The Six Million Dollar Man," he agreed. "From looking over the design prior to production, he tried to work in a few upgrades, though he could not replicate the same features as Lieutenant Ramus' prosthetic."

Ramus rubbed the edge of his own prosthetic, his mouth set in a thin line. "You didn't exactly give him as much to work with as they had with me," he noted wryly. He frowned. "But at least yours might be able to pass for human."

"Just keep me away from a metal detector," Ray agreed, eyeing the prosthetic dubiously. "It looks like it came off of C-3PO. But as long as it gets me back out there…"

Delphine's eyes widened. "Wait… you want to go back?" she demanded, an agitated edge to her voice. "After losing your hand last time? After your friend was killed? What's going to happen next time?"

Sarsavat's breathing hitched, his eyes darting back and forth between Ray and Delphine. "Sssupport," he muttered agitatedly. "Sssupport."

Ramus put a hand on the alien's shoulder, and Sarsavat gave him a surprised look. Ramus put a finger over his mouth, and Sarsavat stilled, though his eyes remained dilated and he rocked back and forth.

Ray tugged on Delphine's hand, pulling her around in front of him. "I have to, babe," he told her quietly, rubbing her back. "And not just because it's my job and it's important. I have to do it for Dan. He wouldn't want me to give up just because of him. He would want me to continue doing this. For his memory and to protect our city." Delphine frowned. "And I have to do this to protect you," he continued. "especially with everything that's been happening in the city lately, and especially the escaped criminals."

Delphine's mouth opened and closed. She looked down at him, tears in her eyes. "It's just…"

He nodded, letting out a heavy breath, and hugged her. "I know–I'm sorry. I'm sorry for worrying you."

She snorted humorlessly. "You're sorry? Babe, you don't have anything to apologize for. You're a hero!" She dropped onto the makeshift examination table next to him. "I'm sorry." She pressed her lips to his before resting her forehead against his. "I'm–I'm proud of you. Just – be careful. When you get back out."

He grinned. "You know me! I'm always happy to lend a hand!"

She gave him a deadpan look.

Vernant cleared his throat and placed a hand on Delphine's shoulder. "If you will wait outside, Mme Tilmont, I need a sterile environment for this procedure. You will be able to watch on the monitor if you like, and we will keep you apprised of his condition."

Delphine kissed Ray again and nodded. "You behave," she warned him before leaving the room.

"I think I can handle that!" Ray called.

"The same goes for you, as well, Lieutenant," added Vernant. Ramus nodded, moving to leave as Sarsavat did the same. "Not you," Vernant told Sarsavat. "Will you assist."

"Absssolutely," the alien assured him, bobbing his head several times.

As he followed Delphine out of the lab, leaving Vernant and Sarsavat to begin attaching the prosthetic, Ramus frowned pensively. With the abilities of the villains arrayed against them, they needed abilities of their own. He could handle some of the villains – Gouger could as well, were she not compromised. But they were the only officers with abilities. Wilson could take out one or two with well-placed shots, should they give him the opening. Girardot, Mansart, and the rest were all competent officers and excellent shots. And depending on what Chrysaor had managed to work into Ray's new hand, he might prove capable against them as well – though he would require weeks of practice before he could use the prosthetic properly… or at least that's what it had taken Ramus. But under the present circumstances, they did not have the time or the resources to wait, nor to do it on their own.

However…

There were vigilantes out there – some of them even with some level of powers. If they were going to stop this team of super-villains, perhaps the SLD needed a super-team of their own.