Dr. Lewis and County Regent Tamsin were told by Trick to await The Regnant's arrival in the outer courtyard of the Compound. Trick, however, failed to tell them by what manner The Regnant would arrive. They were standing by with an Emergency Team and several gurneys in the JFM driveway when The Regnant landed hard behind her with Kenzi in her arms. Both Lauren and Tamsin whirled around at the sound, their mouths agape when they saw The Regnant.

"Kenzi seems to be okay, but she does need to be examined." The Regnant said as she went up and placed an unconscious Kenzi on a gurney.

"Of course." Dr. Lewis said as regained her composure. They placed Kenzi on the one of the waiting gurneys, and were in the process of bringing her inside the JFM when Bas Gunther landed with Julia.

"Julia! Is she okay?" Dr. Lewis asked while equally shocked by the expanse of his wings as they receded.

"I am fine Dr. Lewis. Just shaken that is all." Julia answered then turned to Bas Gunther "Thank you." Bas Gunther nodded.

"Just to be sure, I want to examine you." Dr. Lewis said.

"Doc, I am fine really." Julia protested.

"That is for me to decide. On the gurney." Dr. Lewis insisted. Julia sighed and hopped up and laid down on a gurney, and the staff wheeled her and Kenzi inside the JFM.

Bas Gunther went over to The Regnant who was moving a bit sluggish when everyone noticed an enormous overshadow.

"What is that sudden flash of darkness?" Tamsin looked and her mouth dropped as she saw what was coming down. Everyone followed her gaze up, and their mouths went agape.

"Oh. Dear. God!" One of the staff exclaimed as the rest of the staff backed up, and ran inside the JFM frightened.

Dr. Lewis was about to run inside as well with Tamsin hot on her heels, but quickly noticed that The Regnant did not move. When the hundred-foot gorilla-like beast hit the ground The Regnant went over, and raised her hand to touch it on the side of its face. When she had done so, the gorilla-like beast looked around, roared, then looked back at The Regnant then began to shrink and shape-shift. When the shape-shift was complete a very naked Antony was revealed.

Both Dr. Lewis and County Regent Tamsin just stared mouths still agape. One of the staff came running out with a robe, but Antony held up his hand, and suddenly a thin filament of some type suddenly covered him.

Antony looked over to The Regnant and also noticed she was moving a bit sluggish, and walked over to her. The Regnant held up her hand to halt her son's advance.

"I'm fine. I just feel a bit hot." The Regnant said as she stepped forward with Antony and Bas Gunther followed beside her.

The Regnant crossed the threshold of the JFM and then collapsed on the ground. Horrified, Antony and Bas Gunther went to her while Dr. Lewis rushed over with her staff and a gurney. They placed The Regnant, on her back on the gurney and The Regnant reflexively rolled over, revealing that her jacket was slashed in the back.

"Let's cut this jacket off!" Dr. Lewis instructed her staff.

Once they cut the jacket off that her back was slashed open from her left shoulder to right hip down to the spine and the wound spewed the same foamy substance Dr. Lewis suspected from Engelram's wounds. Dr. Lewis drew back aghast. Dr. Lewis had seen her fair share of wounds but this was by far one of the worst, if not the worst. Dr. Lewis looked to Antony.

"I take it a large scaly reptilian snake-like creature caused this?" Dr. Lewis asked.

"Yes." Antony answered.

"Where is it now?" Dr. Lewis asked.

"Dead at the Warehouse." Antony answered.

"Normally, I would use the same anti-toxin that was used to save Kenzi from Basilisk poisoning, but this a prehistoric Basilisk of some type. I need a sample of it. Can you get me a sample of it?" Dr. Lewis asked. Antony nodded to Bas Gunther who was about to turn and leave when Tamsin stepped forward.

"I will go with you." She said to Bas Gunther. Bas Gunther nodded, and was about to take her by the waist when Tamsin raised her hand.

"I have it covered," and deployed her wings. Bas Gunther smiled then turned, ran outside deployed his wings and shot up into the air with Tamsin right behind him.

Dr. Lewis's staff was in the throes of triaging The Regnant with Antony standing close looking on when Bo, Trick, Dyson and Dakari entered the room, and saw The Regnant's open back. They all looked shocked at Antony.

"What happened?" Dakari asked as he walked up to his brother.

"Mummy battled a Basilisk. A big one." Antony answered.

"Where is it now?" Dakari asked.

"Its carcass is lying dead on the Warehouse floor." Antony replied. Dakari nodded.

"Where's Kenzi?" Bo asked.

"In the next room being examined. She's fine. A nice cut on the head though." Julia said as she came up from behind them.

Bo and Dyson looked to Trick who nodded. Bo and Dyson took one last glance at The Regnant before they left the room to go find Kenzi with Julia in tow. Soon after they left the room The Regnant went into convulsions. Antony and Dakari advanced to help, but Dr. Lewis stopped their advance.

"Your Serene Highnesses, I know she is your mother but you have to leave the room so I get her stabilized." Dr. Lewis said. Dr. Louis Padameshi, Lauren's Deputy for General Medicine ran into the room.

"I came as quickly as I could, Dr. Lewis." Dr. Padameshi said as he walked up, putting on his coat, and saw The Regnant's open back. His first reaction was shock then quickly shook himself back into focus, and started to assist.

"Trick!" Dr. Lewis gave Trick a pleading look. He understood, and turned to Antony and Dakari.

"Your Serene Highnesses, Dr. Lewis is the best. She will stabilize your mother, but she needs room to work. Please, come with me to the Waiting Room." Trick motioned to the door.

They both nodded slowly. "The Regnant Guard will remain inside the room, though." Antony replied.

"Understand." Trick replied as they headed for the door. Trick, however, hovered back for a moment.

"Dr. Lewis, you have to save her." Trick warned.

"I know, Trick." Dr. Lewis replied as she worked frantically with her staff to stabilize The Regnant.

"You have no idea who you have lying on that table." Trick said.

"I know all too well. Trick, I have to focus." Dr. Lewis replied.

"Yes, of course," and he departed the room.

As they worked to stabilize her The Regnant was just lucid enough to speak.

"Doctor…" The Regnant said barely conscious.

"Yes?" Dr. Lewis responded as she leaned close to The Regnant's face.

"My son…" The Regnant said laboriously.

"Yes, Antony is fine. They are all fine." Dr. Lewis responded.

"Dakari…" The Regnant pushed out.

"Yes, Dakari, he is fine." Dr. Lewis assured.

"Dakari, I need…." And then The Regnant slipped into unconsciousness.

As soon as Antony, Dakari and Trick entered the Waiting Room Antony said, "We have to reach Mother, Emilia, and Regent Saladin."

"On it." Dakari said and left the room.

XXXXXXXX

Bo, Dyson and Julia entered the room where Kenzi was being examined by Dr. Abigail Danna and Jobina, the Head Nurse. Kenzi was sitting up as Dr. Danna was making notes in Kenzi's chart.

"Are you sure you are not experiencing any symptoms from the head trauma?" Dr. Danna asked Kenzi.

"I am fine, Doc. Just a knock on the head that is all." Kenzi replied.

"Need I remind you were unconscious when you were brought in. Plus, you had a nasty cut on your head." Dr. Danna replied.

"Expected given all of the falling debris, and I am sure the supersonic flying by The Regnant most likely put me over the top. Which was pretty awesome by the way." Kenzi replied.

"Between you and me, I am so jealous that you got to fly. Every girl's dream. The 'Superman' or in this case the 'SuperFae' moment." Dr. Danna said. Kenzi smiled hard then she saw Bo, Dyson and Julia in the room, jumped off the table, and ran up and hugged Bo hard first then Dyson then Julia.

"Are you okay?" Bo asked as Dyson rubbed Kenzi's shoulder.

"Me okay?" Kenzi looked to Julia. "I am just glad you are okay. Thank God! How did you get out?"

"Did a James Bond, and jumped out a second story window after I lost you in there. I didn't know what happened after we were split off like that. I thought you were nearby, but obviously not. What happened?" Julia asked.

"Have now idea." Kenzi lied. "There was so much debris falling I think I just instinctively started crawling. But I thought you were near me too. Glad you got out." Then Kenzi diverted the conversation, "So what was that snaky thing?"

"We surmise is was that same prehistoric Basilisk that killed Engelram." Dyson replied.

Trick then entered the room, and Kenzi went up and they embraced.

"Are you okay?" Trick asked. Kenzi shook her head.

"I will tell you that on his own Engelram would never had stood a chance against that thing." Kenzi replied. "But if he had The Regnant there he would stood a chance. You guys should have seen her in action!"

"Yes, we too were shocked that Ari can fly." Bo replied.

"Did you also know that Antony can shape-shift into a hundred foot gorilla-like beast?" Julia chimed in. Bo and Dyson looked Julia as if she told them she was Fae.

"What?" Bo said.

"Yep, Antony is really King Kong." Kenzi replied. Bo and Dyson looked at Trick.

Trick raised his hands. "I said they were ancient Fae!"

Then the man of the moment walked into the room with his hands behind his back. Kenzi perked up, and

"Antony." Kenzi impulsively called out which made everyone in the room look at her surprised. Kenzi glanced at how everybody looked at her, and then amended, "Your Serene Highness."

She was about to go to him, but between his stiff body language and the fact he stood just a few steps inside the room after he entered through the door she decided not to. Antony and Kenzi's eyes met, she smiled at him, but he did not return the smile.

"Kenzi, what can you tell me about this situation." Antony asked.

XXXXXXX

Bas Gunther and County Regent Tamsin landed at the Warehouse and went inside as Erik and the Regnant Guard assisted the Fae staff that were called in by Reed to clean up and secure the area. Tamsin shook her head at the blood everywhere.

"Where are the bodies?" Tamsin asked.

"We didn't find any. Only just a lot of blood." Erik replied

"I can only suspect they went the same way as Engelram." Tamsin said.

"I shudder at the thought." Eirk commented.

"We need to bring back a sample of the DNA of that dead Basilisk for Dr. Lewis. Where's the carcass?" Tamsin asked.

"It is not here." Reed replied.

"What?" Bas Gunther queried.

"It is not here." Reed repeated.

"We looked everywhere for it, but it is nowhere on the premises. But we did find that same dark spot again. We figured whomever unleashed that thing took it." Erik replied.

"There is no blood residue anywhere?" Tamsin asked.

"Unless some of it happens to be mingled with all of this blood on the ground. We have to run tests to determine if any happens to be mingled. That will take real time, though." Erik replied. Bas Gunther called for the contingent of the Guard.

When they assembled he said, "I need you all to go over this place with a fine tooth comb. Anything reptilian-like type skin you see caught anywhere on this debris I need you to bag it and then report back to me immediately with it. Understood?"

"Yes, Bas!" They all said in unison.

"Hurry!" Bas Gunther said and they all dispersed throughout the Warehouse.

"What about Engelram's artifacts? Was anything taken?" Tamsin asked.

"Aside from the obvious, which were the records of what the Catalog Team cataloged thus far, we can't tell if they took anything else in this mess." Erik replied.

"Well, once we clean this place up we need to start this process again. This time with more security. There are too many artifacts here to just uproot entirely. This time I want to move as we catalog."

"Move it where?" Reed asked.

"Now that we have relationship with the Presidium the best security I can think of is the Presidium. Move it all there." Tamsin replied.

Both Reed and Erik see-sawed their heads.

"Dammit!" Tamsin took out her phone and called Dyson.

XXXXXXX

"And that is how we reached this point." Kenzi finished explaining to Antony the case they took on that led up everything that happened.

"And what would this creature you met with want with Her Majesty?" Antony queried.

"Have no idea. When Clio called and informed me that Sadie found my evasive little Under Fae friend that was their condition." Julia replied

"Sadie? The Afreet, Sadie?" Antony asked.

"Yes. You know her?" Julia asked.

"I have heard of her." Antony answered.

"Well, with the big Elder Fae meeting going on I thought I could pinch-hit the deal for The Regnant." Kenzi added.

"I am not sure whether that was crazy, courageous, or a combination of both." Antony said.

"Kenzi has a history of doing both." Julia answered.

"Eh!" Kenzi said.

"Calling it like I see it." Julia replied.

"Do you have picture of this relic?" Antony asked.

"Sure do!" Julia said as she pulled out her phone. 'It's a sketch rendition of it, but here it is."

Antony peered hard at it then said, "Vault?"

"You recognize the writing?" Julia asked.

"It's in the old tongue, but yes." Then Antony turned to Trick and handed him the phone. "Do you recognize this relic?"

"I have only been sporadically involved in this latest case. This is the first time I've seen a picture of it." Trick informed as he took the phone and looked at the picture, and his eyes narrowed.

"I too recognize the ancient tongue, and yes that word means 'Vault,' but I do not recognize the relic itself." Trick's eyes narrowed again as if it were familiar but he couldn't quite place it.

"Does it look familiar, Trick?" Bo asked from watching his reaction.

"Not sure." Trick replied.

"Not another self-memory wipe, is it?" Kenzi half-quipped. Trick gave Kenzi an exasperated look.

"Gotta ask." Kenzi said matter of factly. Trick handed the phone back to Julia, and she put it back in her pocket.

"Speaking of asking, Your Serene Highness. What are you?" Kenzi asked.

"I am what you saw." Antony replied.

"You seem to be a great many things, Your Serene Highness."Kenzi said. Antony took a deep breath.

"Like all Ranoruks I possess hybrid powers that include shape-shifting into what you saw." Antony replied.

"Your Serene Haighness, we have never seen your kind of Fae on this plane of existence. If someone called in a sightings report we would have to explain it off as some sort of movie-making. A projection perhaps." Dyson explained.

"You mean you have never seen my kind on this plane." Antony countered.

"You mean there are Ranoruks here like you…as in what we saw earlier?" Julia said incredulous.

"There are tales of such sightings in both Fae and Human history books. They are mostly dismissed as tall tales meant to sensationalize, but as you can see…" Trick looked to Antony.

"Lauren said that your kind was virtually extinct here." Bo added.

"That may very well be true, but we still have extended connections to the Ranoruks here." Antony replied.

"I have to say your mother is seven kinds of awesome! She took that thing head on! She did this leap thing with the shield!" Kenzi said. Antony let out his first smile since he walked into the room. That made Kenzi smile.

"Mummy is an incredible Warrior, and incredibly brave." Antony said with admiration.

"Brave my ass! She is superhuman! Sorry, I mean Super Fae!" Kenzi replied excitedly. Antony let out another smile.

"Her Majesty is a Succubus too, right?" Julia asked.

"Yes." Antony answered.

"So how can she do that energy ball thingy?" Kenzi asked. "That was super cool!"

"You mean this?" Antony said as he extended his hand out and formed the same energy ball. Everyone perked up in the room, except Trick

"What is that? Is that a Succubi thing? Can I do that?" Bo asked quickly.

"That is a skill that is learned. We can and will teach the same skill to Bo." Antony replied.

"BoBo you should have seen it!" Kenzi said.

"I can't wait to learn it." Bo replied.

"By the way, where is Her Majesty? I want to thank her for saving my life." Kenzi said.

The pained looks of them all returned to their faces.

"She is fighting for her own life right now." Antony said. Kenzi's face dropped as she turned to Bo.

"What?" Kenzi asked.

Just then Dyson's phone rang. He stepped aside to answer it.

"Apparently, when she grappled with the Basilisk creature it slashed open her back." Bo answered.

"So that truly was a Basilisk." Kenzi said.

"Yes. The same creature's whose DNA sample we needed to save you from that foot soup you ate that one time." Bo replied.

"BoBo, the Basilisk The Regnant battled was not some average-sized python. This was a huge, Anaconda-movie-level huge snake." Kenzi said.

"Lauren suspects it is a prehistoric Basilisk. If that is the case then such creatures can reach sizes never before seen on our plane, except again only through myth." Trick answered.

"That creature is no myth. At least not anymore." Julia replied.

"Can I see The Regnant?" Kenzi asked as she looked to Antony.

"Lauren is working on her right now." Bo replied.

Dakari then entered the room, walked over to Antony and said, "Jock and Julian are here. They are in the Waiting Room. I have apprised the Presidium. Mother is on her way. She is bringing Emilia, Elena, Dr. Marek, and a contingent of the Order."

"I am sorry? The Order?" Kenzi said as she looked around for explanation.

"The Knights of the Guard." Trick answered.

"Are they some sort of special forces?" Julia asked.

"You could say that." Trick answered. Dyson returned to the group.

"That was Tamsin. The carcass of that Basilisk is not there anymore." Dyson reported.

"What?" Bo said.

"It's gone." Dyson replied

Antony immediately turned and left the room headed for Dr. Lewis with everyone in tow.

They were guided by Dr. Danna to an Observation Room overlooking the Surgery Room where Dr. Lewis and Dr. Padameshi along with her surgery staff were operating on The Regnant.

Kenzi was taken aback by the severity of the wound, covered her mouth, and fell into Bo's arms for comfort. Trick hit the intercom.

"Dr. Lewis. We just got word that the carcass of the Basilisk is gone." Trick said.

"That is not good, Trick." Lauren said as looked up at the Observation Lounge.

"Tamsin reported that whoever, sent that thing to attack The Regnant made sure they not only took the carcass they also made sure they cleaned up on the way out." Dyson said.

The Observation Room phone rang and Dr. Danna went over and answered it.

"Still not good. I can use platelet transfusions to slow down the poisoning, much like I did with Kenzi but The Regnant is still going to develop hemorrhagic fever from whatever virus or viruses that thing was carrying, and that is our next battle we will have to face if we do not find a cure soon. It is fortunate The Regnant's own DNA comes from ancient stock. That is what is allowing us to work on her right now, and heal some of the deeper wounds without her dying on the table. If she had been some average, modern-day Fae she would be dead already. But I cannot stress enough we need to find that creature so I can develop an effective anti-toxin." Dr. Lewis explained.

"Yes, Doctor we will do our very best." Trick replied. Dr. Lewis nodded and returned her attention to working on The Regnant.

Dr. Danna hung up the phone.

"I think it would be best if everyone returned to the Waiting Room until Dr. Lewis and Dr. Padameshi are done. Trick said.

"Agreed." Dakari said as he looked at his brother who looked pained watching the surgery on their mother.

"Your Excellency?" Dr. Danna said. Trick turned.

"That was the Reception Staff. The Morrigan has arrived along with Ryan Lambert. They are in the Waiting Room." Dr. Danna reported.

"Here we go." Trick said as he let out an exasperated breath.

As everyone walked out and headed for the Waiting Room Dyson held Trick back for a moment.

"I told Tamsin to connect with Clio and find Sadie." Dyson said.

"Good idea. We need to keep this contained, controlled, and get to the heart of the matter fast."

Trick rubbed his head as they walked. "I cannot believe this is even happening. Of all the Fae, why The Regnant." Trick replied.

XXXXXXX

Tamsin contacted Leighton to find Clio, and that it was urgent. It didn't take very long for Clio to respond. In fact, Clio arrived at the Warehouse within the hour.

"Clio. I am not surprised that you responded so quickly." Tamsin said with Bas Gunther standing behind her.

"Hey, when word got around that The Regnant was attacked at the Warehouse saving Kenzi and Julia, you bet your sweet hinny I was going to show up. I do not want my name mixed up in this." Clio replied while looking at Bas Gunther tentatively.

"We need to find Sadie, and we need her to come here. She is a link to this infamous, elusive Under Fae, and we need to find him. Fast. Can you deliver Sadie?" Tamsin said.

"Sure can." Clio said.

"Good. And if she balks in any way, knock her over the head, and drag her here. Leighton will go with you."

"I am sure I will not need any persuasion in bringing Sadie here over this."

"Why is that?" Tamsin asked.

"Sadie and The Regnant use to be an item." Clio replied.

Tamsin's mouth went agape.