Dateline: Wednesday, July 8, 1981, 5:13 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

"Whew!" Violet sighed as she stepped in the door. "I think I did more stuff today than most people do all week! Between the surgery, and the fighting, and…" She noticed the house was unusually quiet. "Hey, Kim! Did something happen here that I missed?"

"Yes," she answered, "and be glad that you missed it. For the past hour, it's been like All My Children in here. Long story short, all of us know about Ashley's thing for Dash, and that you knew about it since Sunday."

"Right…" Violet said, thinking she was about to get the riot act from Kim. "Anything else I should know about?" She waited for the worst.

"No, nothing vital."

Whew! Close call! Violet was so relived.

"Okay, so where's everyone else?"

"Ashley's in her room crying, José's in the bathroom, and Dash is taking a nap."

"Sounds like a good idea," Violet mused. "I'll be out of consciousness for the next three hours…" The phone rang in the middle of her sentence. "…As soon as I get that," she finished. "Hello?"

"Hey, Python, this is Loren Kriznek."

"Loren, please don't call me that when I'm out of costume!"

"Okay, but I don't know your real name."

"It's Violet. Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"I saw you guys take Omega Force to school this afternoon. Nice job!"

"Yeah, thanks."

"But it occurs to me that you wouldn't have stood a chance if I didn't tip you off about the fail-safe mechanism."

"Maybe so. Yeah, you didn't think to let us know that these guys could use magic, did you? Did you ever think maybe you should have told us about that?"

"I figured you could handle it!"

"Yeah, we might have handled it better if we had known about it!"

"Aren't superheroes supposed to expect the unexpected?"

"You have no idea how much that phrase bugs me, Loren. If I have to hear it one more time…"

"Okay, okay, I get it! You're right, I'm sorry. Anyway, the way I see it, you guys owe me a favor."

"Well, I can't say that I see it that way, but I don't think the team will have any objections. What do you need?"

"I need you to kill my mother," he said very matter-of-factly, the way you or I might say, "You need to take out the trash."

Violet was surprised to say the least. Loren had to know the laws, that if a superhero kills someone while in costume, their hero's license is revoked permanently! Also, if she killed someone in street clothes, they would try her as a civilian, which could lead to life in prison, or worse, death! She knew she had to talk her way out of this somehow.

"Gee, I don't know that I can, I mean, I've been kinda busy lately…"

"Save it," Loren interrupted. "I understand. You can't expect someone to smile and say 'yes, please' when you ask to do something like this."

"Right."

"Anyway, if we make it look like it was all my doing, you guys won't be indicted, and I'll take all the heat. I have no problem with going to prison."

"Then why don't you kill her yourself and leave me…I mean, us…out of it? And why do you want her dead in the first place?" There was silence on the other end for about three minutes.

"It's complicated," was all he said after that.

"Look, I'm tired. Here, talk to Kim, she's smart, maybe she'll understand."

"Who's Kim? Is she your secretary or something?"

Violet was too tired to argue anymore "Yeah, okay, whatever, here she is." She handed Kim the phone and brought her up to speed. Then she went to her bedroom and flopped down on her bed, turning invisible as she landed. (Violet always turns invisible when she goes to bed. It helps her fall asleep.)

Back on the phone, Loren began to tell his sad story…
"It all started when I was only sixteen years old. My older sister Lee had just finished school, and had made plans to move out and seek her own fortune. My mother had always harbored the delusion that her children would live with her forever. She tried a thousand different guilt-trips to get Lee to stay, but none of them worked. By the time she figured out that she could use magic to make her stay, she was already gainfully employed in South Carolina.

"Not wanting to lose both her children, she then decided once and for all that I wasn't going to leave her. She placed an irrevocable hex on me, so that if I ever moved away and started living on my own, I'd burst into flames. Now, I was perfectly okay with staying at home when I was twenty, but I'm thirty-five now, and enough is enough.

"I'm sure you guys know by now that when a sorcerer is destroyed, all active spells cast by said sorcerer are cancelled. Once an irrevocable hex has been placed, it cannot be retracted, even if the witch who placed it wanted to. So the only way I can escape my mother's iron grip is to kill her. I've tried to do it myself, but her magic is the strongest there is. That's why she's called the Witch Queen.

"Then I had an idea. If I had the powers of superheroes, I might be strong enough to overpower Harriet and destroy her. That's why I started to pursue Alpha Force. But every time I tried to steal your powers, you guys defeated me. Then Herr Cannon came along and stole my magic. But I didn't give up. I still had a plan to destroy my mother."

At this point, Kim spoke up. "You decided to become all buddy-buddy with us, help us out a little, and hope that some day, we'd return the favor and rescue you?"

"Yeah," he said, almost disgusted with himself.

"You're sick!"

"I know."

"So, is there any other reason why we should fight this Witch Queen?"

"As a superhero, aren't you morally obligated to fight against evil, injustice, and oppression?"

Kim said nothing.

"Okay, does the fact that my mother still has your DNA samples and can make a new batch of evil clones anytime she wants change your mind?"

"All right, we'll do it, but let the record show that we're not happy about this!"

"If you succeed, I'll move to Canada. You'll never see or hear from me ever again!"

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place? In that case, helping you out would be our pleasure!"

"Good to hear."

"But not right now, okay, we're all a little battle weary. Maybe tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure, I've been waiting for my freedom for nineteen years, what's another day?"

"Yeah, that's the spirit. Okay, I'm hanging up now, bye!"

"Bye-bye."

Kim hung up. Just listening to Loren's long-winded chronicle made her tired as well. She dragged her feet to the bedroom she shared with her husband. There she found him sound asleep. Kim snuggled up next to Dash and settled in for what she hoped would be just a quick nap.

(A/N: Okay, I'll stop here for now. Come to think of it, I'm a little sleepy myself. But before I go, there's something I have to tell you. Now, I don't want to sound alarmist, but if you read this story and don't review, you will die! Consider yourself warned.)