Dateline: Tuesday, July 7, 1981, 7:22 AM, Greenwich Mean Time.

The team had been chopper-jockeyed from their various cities back to London, so they could fly home as a team. After being alone for quite some time, they were all very excited to see each other once more. Well, almost…

"Oh my God!" Kim screamed when she caught sight of her sightless friend. "Ashley, what happened to your hair?"

"What? What's wrong with my hair?"

"Nothing, it's just almost completely gone!"

Kim was exaggerating. Ashley's flaming red hair had been burned away at the ends, and it did look quite horrible. When Ashley felt it, it felt like straw. Anyone who knows anything about hair would know that it's not supposed to feel like that.

"Is there anything I can do about it?" Ashley asked.

"Tell you what," said Kim, "you can use my special conditioner until it grows back. You need it more than I do."

"Thanks," Ashley responded. "You're a real friend." She held her arms out for an embrace, which Kim took.

"Okay," said Dash, "if my little sister is done hugging my wife, can we please get on the plane now?"

Ashley was slightly disappointed at what Dash just said. How could he possibly think of me that way? She realized that it was because he didn't know how she truly felt about him.

Once they were en route back to good ol' California, Violet slipped back into her daydreams, picking up where she left off in France.

(FLASHBACK ALERT.)

She had come home after putting a stop to the mischief of Detour and Roadblock. It was routine stuff for people in her line of work. But when Violet opened the door, she could somehow sense that something was wrong.

"Tony? Honey, are you home?"

"Violet?" he shouted from her bedroom. "Could you please get out of here?"

Violet walked over to the bedroom door. "Listen, if this is about what I said at dinner, I'm sorry I bailed on you. I know it was rude, and I know I hurt your feelings. Can you forgive me?"

"Um…uh…can we talk about this later?"

"Well, why can't we talk about it now?"

"Because…uh…because…we can't, okay?"

"Tony, you're scaring me! What's going on in there?"

Violet opened the bedroom door and saw exactly what was going on. Tony was in her bed, with another woman, naked.

"Oh my God!"

"Vi, baby, it's not what it looks like!"

"Really? Because it looks like you're knocking up some strange whore in my bed!"

"Oh, well, then, yes, it is what it looks like."

Violet turned away in disgust. She couldn't believe it. Tony was cheating on her? How could he? How dare he? After all they had been through?

Tony came out of the room and tried to console his girlfriend. "Violet, dear…"

"Don't you 'Violet, dear' me, you monster!"

"Monster? Is that what I am to you?"

"I don't know who you are, Anthony Rydinger! The man I know was caring and compassionate, not a lecherous ass like you are!"

"Oh, can we dispose of the drama? It's you who's not pulling her own weight in this relationship!"

Violet's jaw dropped. "I don't believe this! You're actually suggesting that this, this atrocity is all my fault?"

Presently the other woman came out. "Um, I'm going to get my clothes and leave now," she said. Nobody took notice of her.

"It is your fault, Violet!" said Tony. "You have no right to be upset, because we weren't even that intimate!"

"Not that intimate? Whose relationship have you been in these past six years? I bared my soul to you, Tony! I told you everything about me, and I do mean 'everything'!" Violet waved an invisible hand in his face for emphasis.

"Maybe, but that's just not going to cut it! You're always abandoning me to go off and save Metroville!"

"It's my duty! We've been over this a thousand times already!"

"But on our anniversary, Vi?"

"Anniversary? What are you talking about?"

"Today is the seventh anniversary of our first date! Don't you remember?"

Violet just started blankly into space. "Why can't I have a normal boyfriend, who forgets obscure dates like that?"

"Well, why can't I have a normal girlfriend, who isn't always running out on me to save the day?"

Violet had put up with a lot of Tony's crap up until now. This time he went too far! "Get out!" she growled. "NOW!"

"But, I live here."

"Not anymore, you don't!"

"I picked this place out!"

"Irrelevant. I'm paying our rent!"

"What about my stuff?"

"I'll ship it to you; now move your cheating hide out my door! Our lame excuse for a relationship is over!"

Tony, still clutching the sheet around his nudity walked out the door. When he realized he wasn't wearing any clothes, he turned back. But Violet was still so upset, that she shoved him out with a force field. And as soon as he landed on his rear, she locked Tony out of her apartment, and out of her life, for the last time.

That night, for the first time in 17 years, Violet cried herself to sleep.

(END OF FLASHBACK ALERT. RESUME NORMAL CONTINUITY.)

Just thinking about it made her cry all over again. But, unlike crying into a pillow, when you cry on an airplane, everybody on the plane hears you.

"This is just pathetic," said Kim. "Why does our leader have to burst into spontaneous bouts of emotion like that?"

"It's not spontaneous," said Dash. "She been this way ever since she broke it off with Tony."

"Who's Tony?" asked José.

Dash told him.

"She told a normal man her secrets, and he turns around and sleeps with another woman?" asked Kim. "What a pig!"

"I know, right?"

José sighed. "Do you think I should talk to her about it?"

"Your choice," mumbled Dash.

José crossed the cabin and sat down next to a sniffling Violet. "Hey, uh, boss. Is there, um, something bothering you?" He had no idea what to say at the time.

"SNIF Oh, it's nothing," Violet lied.

"Well, it must be some fantastic nothing if it's making you burst into tears! You were thinking about your old flame, weren't you?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Dash told me everything. You miss him, don't you?"

"A little. When you're that close to someone, it hurts to lose them."

"But you haven't lost him, have you? You're still friends with Tony, right?"

"No, I haven't spoken to him since the, uh, since the unpleasant event."

"Just because he did one horrible thing to you doesn't make him a complete dirt bag, Violet. He hasn't given away your secret identity, has he?"

Violet shook her head.

"Well, there you go. Clearly, he's not someone you should be romantically involved with, but he's still a trustworthy person, err, to an extent, that is."

Violet sniffled one last time. "You know what, José, you're right. I should call him when we get to California. Thanks."

"Anytime, boss."

Violet coughed slightly. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Eleven hours later, the voice of the pilot came over the intercom.

"Please fasten your seatbelts, we're beginning our decent into Metroville International. Local time is 12:44 PM."

(A/N: Okay, stick around, because the fun part is almost coming! I know these chapters haven't been very exciting, and most of you have stopped reading by now, but this will get interesting, I promise! Until next time…)