Dateline: Thursday, July 9, 1981, 12:45 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Python pulled the Alphamobile up next to the curb, facing west on 5th Street. She looked to her left and saw four people running at amazing speed toward her.

"What the…?" She almost fainted when she saw who they were.

"Wow, Dash, that was exhilarating," said Liquegirl, "but let's take a cab next time. I think I got a few bugs in my teeth."

"You'll get used to it," Rocket responded as he threw the extra anti-magic in the trunk. "So, what's the deal, sis?"

"The police just raided Harriet Kriznek's house, and she took off. The report says she's headed west on this street, in a silver BMW with Oregon plates."

"You mean like that?" Heartthrob said pointing. A car fitting Python's description had just sped past them. She floored the accelerator, and the chase was on!

"Um, Vi," Liquegirl said, "I thought we agreed that I would do the driving?"

"Kimmy, we're in the middle of a high-speed chase! This is not the time to argue over who's driving!"

Just then, they noticed someone sticking their head out the driver's side window of the car in front of them. She was a gray haired woman. She pointed at the car and a blue orb of energy shot from her hand. Python swerved just in time to miss it.

"Okay, clearly this woman means business!" Rocket observed. "So what does this clunker have in the way of weaponry, captain?"

"Let's see here, oil slick? No, that comes out the rear, it's for cars chasing us. Surface-to-air missiles? Yeah, that's not going to help either. Ah, here we go! Hood-mounted machine guns!" Python pressed a white button on the dashboard. Two gun turrets popped out of the car's hood like a jack-in-the-box. A barrage of bullets came forth, causing much damage to the rear of the Beamer, including the obliteration of the rear window.

When Harriet noticed this, well, I don't need to tell you how she felt! Once again, she fired an energy orb at the car chasing her. It bounced off the hood, and sailed upward into oblivion. However, it did fry the Alphamobile's guns.

"Okay, now what?" said Heartthrob.

Just then, the Beamer took a hard left turn, taking out a fire hydrant in the process. Python pulled the wheel to the left to keep up the chase, and rolled right over the urban geyser that Harriet left behind.

"Whoa!" the team cried.

"This is why we wear safety belts, guys," Python said.

Now heading south on Baltic Avenue, the team needed an idea of how to stop that car.

"Hey, Ash," said Rocket, "do you think you can use your telekinesis to blow out her tires?"

"I'll try. Here, hold my shades, I don't want to lose them!" She stuck her head out of the window, and the heavy wind in her face made her shut her eyes on a reflex. She found the right rear tire on the BMW with her artificial touch. Then she used her powers to stop that tire from rotating. The immense friction between tire and road caused it to disintegrate.

"Not our tire, you idiot, her tire!" Python screamed.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry!" Blind Tracy felt like she had failed her team.

"Consider yourself lucky that we have armored tires. Now try again!"

And she did. This time she learned from her mistake. Before blowing the tire, she shook it to make sure it wasn't the Alphamobile's tire. When she didn't feel the car (the one she was in) oscillating, she then ripped the tire into tiny fragments.

"All right! Way to go, Ashley!"

The Beamer dropped and threw sparks for a mile or two. Then, the destroyed tire emitted a blue-green light. When the light disappeared, the tire was whole again.

"Unbe-freaking-lieveable!" Liquegirl said, more angry than awestruck. "This woman it relentless!"

The Beamer made another hard left turn, to head east on 51st Street. The Alphamobile stayed in hot pursuit.

"José," Python ordered, "I need you to TAG up on the car."

Heartthrob did as he was told, then asked, "What are you going to do, boss?"

"I'm going to ram her," she said with infinite calm and cool.

"What are you, crazy?" Blind Tracy asked.

"Crazy like a fox! With the ultra-strong Heartthrob donating his power to the car, we won't take too much damage. The Witch Queen, on the other hand…"

Python stood on the accelerator, and braced herself for the impact.

"Vi, she's turning!" Ashley screamed.

Once again, Harriet Kriznek took a high-velocity left turn onto Virginia Avenue. The team gave chase just as fast.

"Ugh! Doesn't she know better than to take corners to fast?" Python fumed.

"Look who's talking!" said everyone else in union.

"José, get your hand on that console, now!" He did. "Now everyone hang on!" She switched on the rocket engines in the back for a little extra thrust. The car cruised forward, and crashed right into the silver Beamer. The rear bumper (or what was left of it anyway) fell off, and was crushed under the Alphamobile's tires.

At this point, I guess Harriet realized that she couldn't outrun the supers, or shake them off her tail. But she did notice that Python was tailgating. So she slammed on her brakes suddenly, and without warning.

The team didn't notice this until it was too late. The Alphamobile rear-ended the witch's car, causing the former to skid to a stop. The force the red SUV exerted on the silver sedan made the latter slide unexpectedly forward, into an intersection, running a red light. Another car coming the other way like a bat out of hell struck the witch's car violently. That was pretty much the end of the chase.

Hattie's car was junkyard fodder, to put it nicely. The back end had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. The passenger's side door was actually folded inward and bent backward. The engine? It was nowhere to be seen! Thanks to extra safety measures installed by Mirage, the team was unharmed. Their car had a few scratches here and there, but otherwise looked fine.

The supers clambered out of the vehicle to examine the wreck.

"No way she survived that!" Python said. "Looks like our work is done after all."

"I don't think so," Liquegirl said. "You've seen what Herr Cannon could do with Loren's magic. Hers is the most powerful, so maybe she could walk away from this."

Sure enough, Harriet opened her door and stepped out of the car. (Not that it was technically a "car" anymore, but you get what I mean.)

"Dash, please tell me you have the anti-magic ready to go!" Python said.

"Yeah, about that…" Rocket answered.

"What?"

"It's in the trunk, it's ready. HA! I got you, you totally thought I forgot it, ha ha…" And then Rocket saw Python's temple throbbing. "Right, then, I'll go get it." With his super-speed, he had the whole team magic-proofed in about nine seconds.

Unfortunately, it only took eight for the Witch Queen to escape. Python was raging.

"You see what happens when you make jokes at inappropriate times, you blockhead? Thanks to you, we lost her!"

"No, we didn't!" Blind Tracy perked up. "My telepathy tells me that she's heading east from the site of the wreck!"

"Quick, back in the car!" Liquegirl said. Everyone got back in the car, exactly where they were sitting last time. But when Python turned the ignition key, nothing happened. The gears spun, but the engine wouldn't start.

"What's wrong?" asked Heartthrob.

The dashboard told the sad story.

"We're out of gas," Python said with melancholy.

Liquegirl, Heartthrob, and Blind Tracy all groaned. Rocket, on the other hand, seemed to take it in stride.

"All right, everyone get your TAG gloves on," he said in a take-charge kind of way, "we're going after her on foot." Before anyone could object, he was dragging everyone behind him at lightning fast speed.

"Oy! Again with the running!" Blind Tracy blurted out.

Needless to say, Alpha Force caught up with Harriet, somewhere on 20th Street. When he was within ten yards of her, Rocket broke off from the rest of the group and tackled the elderly witch.

"Ow!" she screamed. "I'm hurt! Police brutality!" Then she got a good look at her assailant. "Oh, it's you. What's the point? You guys mercilessly pick on my defenseless baby boy, why should I expect you to respect your elders?"

"Excuse me?" Python said. "Your son is a lot of things, but a 'defenseless baby boy' is not one of them!"

"Oh, by the way, we know it was you!" said Liquegirl.

"You know it was me who did what?"

"Who orchestrated our assignment in Europe, so that you could obtain our DNA to make a batch of evil clones to destroy our reputation!"

"And do you know how we know this?" asked Heartthrob.

"Your 'defenseless baby boy', as you call him," said Rocket, "told us everything!"

"That's a lie!" Harriet shrieked. "Loren's a good boy, he would never betray me to his mortal enemies!"

"News flash!" said Blind Tracy. "Loren's our friend now! And he says he wants you dead, so that he can move out!"

"Silence, insolent twit!" bellowed the Witch Queen. "You five don't deserve to be superheroes, you deserve to die!"

"Bring it on, witch!" said Python, removing the glove from her suit.

Ceremoniously, she threw the gauntlet down, and the fight was on.

(A/N: Okay, stopping here for now. I need time to map out this next battle. It needs to be high-octane, hard-hitting, action-packed, thrill-a-minute, etc. And stick around when the fight is over, because you'll never see the surprise plot twist coming, I promise! Until then, please, oh please please PLEASE review!)