Her second day with the S.W.A.T. and Bomb Response units, and Lisa was officially becoming bored. Anderson was right, there was little that these teams could teach her that she didn't already know – but she'd never openly admit that to him, of course.

There had been many tales of bravery, loss and heroism from the various technicians. The tales had endeared them to her and given her a deeper respect for the jobs that these individuals had done, so it hadn't been a total waste.

The one technician she was chomping at the bit to meet, however, had yet to make an official appearance.

Princess.

The Swan.

Gosh, there weren't enough words to express how excited, thrilled and nervous she was to finally meet her. Her prowess, beauty and brilliance were legendary throughout the Federation networks. Even after her abrupt departure, which should have been the very beginning of gossip and speculation, there was nothing but respect shown to her. There was nary a whisper of gossip or wonder about her leaving. There was only shock and sadness; she'd been the heart of the project and was immediately missed by all.

Lisa had been, perhaps, her biggest admirer. Her training had begun three years before the Swan had left G-Force. She'd spent hours, days and months studying her every move. She'd poured over her reports and papers. She'd become a better soldier because of her.

She wanted to be like her…

…And now for the opportunity to meet her – How devastatingly thrilling.

When Jason had taken her aside to give her the "assignment", she'd responded with squeals of excitement. He'd made her promise not to tell Mark, or any of the team about it and instructed her to inform he and Chief Anderson about anything – especially how the young woman was doing.

She was disappointed, to say the very least, that she had yet to meet her.

So today, midway through her second day, she stood leaning against the doorway to the ballistics lab listening to Princess' partner regale her with a story about how he blew up this part of the lab testing out the new mix of explosive materials that were being used by the more "experienced" bomber.

"Anyway, Lisa. So there I was, lying on the floor with my ass in the air. Cass was wedged in the corner of what was left of the room trying everything she could not to laugh at me with my pants blown off and my naked ass on display…"

Lisa smirked if only to feign complete attentiveness. She was listening to everything he said and was mildly amused and interested to hear about the antics of the now civilian Swan, but she was more distracted in her search for the elusive woman after being told she would be in this morning, if not late because of family commitments.

Her patience was finally rewarded as the front doors opened to reveal the woman in question.

Lisa had to bring her hand to her mouth in a gasp. She was stunning; every bit the legend she'd heard so much about.

Princess' hair was the sleek black with peacock-green shimmer highlights that was so unique to her. It was longer than the old photographs of her showed, with each ended curl now kissing at the curve of her back. Her dark glasses held her hair from her face and revealed the greenest set of eyes she'd ever seen.

Princess wore a tight pair of low-rise stretch jeans with black 3" heeled boots. Atop the very elaborately decorated belt buckle was a navel decorated with a piercing blue stone peeking out from under a tight tank-top.

She was still in immaculate physical shape, and her perfectly sculpted abs forced Lisa to cover her own.

The Swan was most definitely everything the rumors said she was. She held no wonder why Mark was in love with her.

She watched as Princess set her travel-mug of coffee on the reception desk and signed herself in. She was surprised, somewhat, by her small stature. Standing at about 5'7", she seemed a lot less imposing that one would expect. With Mark standing close to 6'1", they must have made the most beautiful couple. She was at the perfect height to be able to nestle herself securely in his chest.

Her heart hammered sympathetically inside her chest. She wanted so much to call her Commander and tell him to come and collect the woman he loved; but knew she couldn't.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Damien's sudden, explosive, cheer for his partner.

"Hey! Cass! Come and see who dropped in for visit!"

Princess was all smiles as she spun to the sound of her partner's voice. She took a couple of steps forward and the smile faltered as her face fell in to uneasy recognition of the woman standing beside him. She slowed mid-step and paused. Her head tilted slowly in a defensive gesture that warned she was ready to run.

Lisa abruptly put an end to the urge to run by rushing her. She took Princess' right hand in both of hers and shook it excitedly. "Cassandra Anderson. My goodness, I have heard so much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Princess pulled back a little, obviously alarmed. Her eyes flicked from side to side as she stammered her own hello.

Lisa maintained a smile and continued to introduce herself. "My name is Lisa, and I am the Falcon on the G-Force team. Chief Anderson has arranged for me to spend some time with this department in order to ensure we have our information coordinated and updated with each other."

Princess blinked slowly. "I know who you are," she said softly, the wideness in her eyes telling Lisa that she knew her cover was busted. "And the rest of your team?"

Damien answered for Lisa. "Ah, we only got the good looking one. The rest of 'em aren't as qualified to play with us as she is."

Princess seemed to relax a little at that and turned her attention to her partner as she removed her hand from Lisa's. "I thought the Swallow was an explosives tech as well?"

Lisa nodded. "Yes he is, but the Condor and the Chief preferred that only the one of us come. And I could do with the extra knowledge you can offer me."

Princess blinked slowly. "I see. And the Eagle?"

"He signed off on the assignment, but … uh … the Condor was the one to arrange the meeting."

Princess expelled a displeased breath. She made a mental note to castrate Cronus the next time she saw him for lying so blatantly to her about Anderson's knowledge to her whereabouts. "So we won't see the rest of the team, then?"

Lisa licked at her lips. "If you'll see any of them, Detective Anderson …"

"Call Me Cassandra, please."

"Yes, Cassandra. If you see any of them, perhaps it will be Jason."

Princess sighed and tugged the strap of her handbag up onto her shoulder. "Actually, that might be nice."

Lisa's eyes widened. "Really? I can call him now if you like."

Damien had to laugh. "Hey, careful, Lisa. You don't want to bring your boyfriend out here, she's hot and she's single, you just might end up getting a run for your money."

Lisa laughed and set her hands on her hips. "What, are you saying I'm not woman enough?"

Damien raised his hands in defense. "Okay, okay, I walked right in to that one!" He winked and turned his attention to Princess. "Cass, hon. Sarge wants you to take care of our special visitor today. He reckons there's a few things you and she can work through with the Subway bomb that the Federation doesn't know about yet."

Princess frowned. "But I have about ten cases on the go right now, Damien. I don't have a lot of time to …"

"Hey," he smirked with a nonchalant shrug. "Orders are orders, Cass."

Princess nodded. "Okay, if you don't mind being bored out of your mind, Lisa. I'm not exactly a fascinating tech with exciting stories like these guys."

Lisa smiled, "oh, I doubt that."

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

Princess deliberately said nothing as she strode beside Lisa towards her section of the lab. She wasn't trying to be rude, she was just unsure of what was going on around her to have invited G-Force back into her life. She chose to cut right to the chase once they were behind closed doors.

She leaned back against the evidence bench and pressed her hands onto the cold stainless steel behind her. "So why were you sent here?"

Lisa attempted to appear innocent and shrugged. "To learn?"

Princess lowered her head and smiled. "You immediately look guilty when you answer a question with a question."

Lisa groaned. "I know, and I know I should be in better control of my nerves, but damn. I'm in the same room as the Swan. I'm, like, your biggest fan."

Princess' eyes rose slowly to her replacement. "Thanks, but …" she sighed. "Am I in danger? Is my daughter?"

"Daughter?" Lisa coughed out in surprise. "There's a child in this? Jason didn't tell me you were a mom" She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "So that's why you left?"

Princess shook her head. "No, I didn't leave because of that. I didn't find out until after I'd left G-Force behind that I was pregnant."

"And you didn't tell Mark?"

She shakily lifted her hand to slide her sunglasses out of her hair. "How could I? I walked out on him after…" she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side in regret. "I couldn't exactly walk back in to his life and saddle him with a kid."

She took a tentative step toward Princess, but stopped when she watched her eyes flicker in warning. "You can still go to him, Princess. He misses you. He needs you. Geez, two days ago he, Jason and I began to go covert to find you."

"Which you were obviously successful at."

"Huh?"

"Well, here you are."

Lisa smirked. "Chance encounter, really. We just happened to end up at the same bar as you guys. Jason thought he saw you, then Damien confirmed it."

Princess bit at her cheek. "So who knows?"

Lisa closed the distance between them and took up a similar position against the bench beside her. "Jason, the Chief and myself."

Princess turned her head to Lisa. "Not Mark?"

"He'd be the one here if he did."

She sniffed and nodded. "God, I miss him."

"Then go to him."

She shook her head and peeled herself from the bench. Her voice steadied. "No. I can't. Too much time has passed. He's better without us."

"He'd argue about that."

Princess was silent for a long moment in response. When she did speak it was in a low and serious voice. "So why were you sent here?"

"To make sure you were okay."

"I'm okay, thank you."

Lisa watched as Princess began to absently pace in front of her. "Jason's worried about you. With the twosome being released in a few days, we need to make sure you're secure and taken care of."

Princess had to laugh. "Lisa, they are only two screwed up individuals. I am pretty sure I can defend myself against them. Hell, I used to come up against groups of Spectran goons all the time."

"It's different when you're out of shape and have no weapons. Add to that a young baby and you can't do it alone."

Princess narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her. "Do I look out of shape to you? I'll have you know that I spend three hours a day working on my old training programs, as well as keeping up to date with any and all available information about the Spectran movement." She set her hands on her hips in an authoritative movement. "Just because I don't wear the uniform anymore doesn't mean I am not up to date on the latest developments. Swan or not, I know I am still a target."

"And if a squad of goons runs through your home? With the baby? What then?"

"I have the protection of the Rangers, Lisa. Cronus has round the clock surveillance on my home at any given time."

Lisa's eyes widened as if insulted. "You would rather have them on hand than your own team; than the father of your child?"

Princess lowered her head and coughed to fight off a tear. "I had no choice in the matter. Cronus insisted."

"How did he know to find you?"

"You'd have to ask the Chief about that."

Lisa frowned. "You say the Rangers know your whereabouts?"

She nodded. "Cronus confirmed it when he visited me a couple of nights ago."

"Dammit." She raised her communicator to her mouth. "G-6 to G-2, Jase, are your ears on?"

Princess gasped and roughly pushed Lisa's wrist from her mouth. "What are you doing?"

"Calling Jason."

"No. I want all of you to just leave me be. I'm fine, we're fine."

Lisa was insistent. "No. You don't understand. Keyop and I have been monitoring the comings and going of Melissa and Anson's visitors. Melissa has had constant meetings with Rangers pilots since she first went in."

Jason interrupted anything further by answering his page with a gruff. "Yeah, Lisa. What ya got?"

Princess covered the faceplate of Lisa's communicator. "No, Lisa, please. Not yet. Let me find out …"

Lisa's lips curled as she yanked her wrist out of Princess' grip. "Her last visit was with a group we are sure were Spectran. I'm not risking you or the baby."

Jason's voice muffled into the conversation. "Lisa? Everything okay?"

It was ignored. "Lisa, no. I trust Cronus to keep my information as secret as possible. Only his most trusted will know where I am."

"And if you recall, Anson and Melissa were on that list before all this."

"Not to Cronus."

Jason's voice became more urgent. "G-6 respond. That's an order."

"Yeah, Jason, just wait. Princess is being difficult."

Princess' eyes pleaded. "Lisa, please."

Jason was heard to gasp. "Princess? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, Jason. She's fine and being as bull-headed as you normally are."

Princess moaned and flopped into a chair. "This is not happening. Not now."

Jason called to his former teammate. "Princess, come on. It's me. Talk to me."

Lisa frowned at her slumped form and answered her assignment leader. "Jase," she sighed heavily. "We should probably leave her alone."

"Hell no, Lisa. Not until I know …"

"I'm fine!" Princess snapped finally, lifting her own communicator to her lips. "Message to G-Force, Rangers, and everyone else. I'm fine. I can look after myself. I don't need anyone's help. Now, leave me the Hell alone!" She ripped the only contact she had with Cronus and the team from her wrist and hurled it at the floor, stomping on it as she pulled open the door to leave. "I left, remember. Now for God's sake, let me go."

Lisa gasped and cursed at herself as she watched the door slam behind Princess. Mark's voice was the first to respond to the broadband demand from the former Swan.

"Princess?"

Lisa screwed up her nose and dropped her forehead on the wall as calls from more than one G-Forcer began to echo through her bracelet. "God, what have I done?"

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

Princess didn't know where she was running, she just knew she had to. She had to just trust her legs to take her as far away from her precinct as was possible.

Why couldn't they just leave well enough alone?

Didn't the team realize that by hunting her down and harassing her that they were putting her in more danger? Of course Zoltar and his cronies at Spectra were going to monitor their every move in order to find her. Regardless of whether or not she was a part of G-Force, she was still their weakness.

Dammit! They should have just forgotten all about her. She wasn't worth it!

She ran hard, wiping at tears with the back of her hand.

Eighteen months she had spent trying to forget them. Eighteen months of heartache and sacrifice, struggle and hardship. How dare they come back into her life when she had finally gotten them all out of her system.

In her tear blinded state, the normally coordinated G-Force Swan stumbled over her own feet. She yelped as she tripped and fell to the ground on her hip. There was a crack as the side of her head hit the ground.

Her crying intensified as she clumsily propped her upper body up by extending her arms and pressing her hands into the concrete. Her head hung low and ached as her body shook violently. The fall, and the dull ache in her head heightened as she finally let loose every emotion she'd been building since walking out of G-Force eighteen months earlier.

It wasn't until she heard the shuffle of several feet ahead of her, and the familiar clack of a home-made weapon that she allowed her instinct to take over and calm her. She raised her head slowly and searched through her bangs at the obvious threat ahead of her.

It came in the form of a gang of young men, a mixture of Hispanic, Black and White, all in their early twenties, and all looking to take down this badly downtrodden young woman.

She didn't even flick her hair from her eyes as she demanded in the lowest and most dangerous voice possible, "get away from me."

One of the men, a black youth with a half afro, half mohawk hairdo, stepped forward and stooped forward to leer at her. "Give me all of your money."

She drew herself to a crouch and continued to stare through messy bangs at him. "Go and earn your own," she snarled in response.

He laughed and thumbed at her as he looked back at his posse. "Oh she thinks she's a tough one."

"I am," she purred. "So back off."

The entire group of men began to laugh loudly. A young white man who dressed as though he was a pimp pulled a sizeable pocketknife from his belt and held it in her face. "Want to play, little girl?"

Urged on by frustration, fear and anger, she snapped. With a single flick of her wrist, she had the young man on his knees, his wrist in her hand and she towering above him. Her grip was tight, and the young man could do little but grunt in pain as he demanded his boys come to his aid.

Seven other men surrounded her, all armed with a variety of cheap, but effective, weapons.

Princess could hear laughs and jeers, and immediately green filled her vision. She could feel the stares, leers and general muskiness of a hundred Spectran goons.

"You won't take me," she growled as she stepped back from the goon in her hold and rounded her arm for transmutation. "G-Force transmute!"

Nothing.

There was no flashing lights; no haunting honk of the Swan, and no sudden draft of wind catching at the hemline of her miniskirt. But there was laughter.

She searched her pockets for her yo-yo and found no weapon.

"Look at her," she heard through the haze. "She thinks she's the Falcon! Here, little birdie …"

Reality snapped again as she stepped back and shook her head to clear her mind.

There weren't any Spectrans. There were just thugs. Thugs that taunted and poked at her lithe little body.

"Where's the Eagle, where's the Condor?" the boys taunted.

"Right here, asshole," a voice familiar to Princess answered.

She looked to her side to see the wings of the Condor float down softly beside her. Jason stepped half in front of her and folded his arms across his chest.

"You've got exactly three seconds to fuck off and leave my girlfriend alone, or I kick your sorry asses into Hell."

He didn't even get to the end of the threat before the alleyway cleared of petty thugs. Immediately, he turned to check if Princess was okay.

"Princess, Baby, you okay?"

She pouted out her bottom lip and shook her head as she leapt at him and threw her arms around his neck. "Why didn't you guys just leave me be?"

He returned her embrace and let a tear streak down his cheek as she shuddered in his hold. "Because we couldn't."

"I didn't need you," she whimpered softly, trying to be argumentative but speaking too softly for it to be effective.

"No, but we needed you."

She rolled her head against his shoulder so that she faced the center of his chest. "I'm not in danger, Jason. Why don't you guys get it?"

"Yes you are, Prin."

She dropped her hands to circle them around his waist. To the rear of them she could see the black silhouette of the Falcon quietly approaching. She kept her eyes on the figure as she spoke. "I'm safe, Jason. They won't come after me … Not if you guys just stay away."

He smoothed her hair from her face and lightly stroked her hair. "Just humour us. Don't forget the babe, Prin."

She pulled back and slowly drew her hands from him before letting them fall to her sides. Her gaze was still on Lisa as she paused a respectful distance away from Jason and Princess. "Please tell me Mark won't be the next one dropping in."

Jason shook his head and extended an arm to her. "Please come with us, Prin. Let us set you and the kid up in a safehouse until we know you'll be safe."

One hand flew to her hip and the other rose up over her brow and into her hair. "Melissa and Anson are only two people, Jase. Two people. I am not threatened by them. They can do no more than be pains in my ass."

"If they have ties to Spectra …"

"Then I'll deal with it." She rubbed at her aching skull and groaned. "I need to sit down."

"Are you okay?"

She shrugged and took a seat on an upturned milk crate. "I just banged my head, that's all. No need to send me off to med. or anything."

"Are you sure?"

Her look answered him without words – she was irritated beyond belief.

He crouched in front of her and set his hand on her knee. "I'm sorry Princess, but you left us without a word. We are all worried about you, your safety … how you're doing."

"I'm okay," she sighed before she looked up at him. "I do miss you guys so much, though."

"Then come home."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

She shook her head and dropped her head to her knees. "I just can't."

He circled his arms around her collapsed body and dropped to a knee in a protective portrait.

From her vantage point, Lisa covered her mouth with her hand. She knew from experience that the Condor had a tender side, but until today she'd never fully understood just how gentle the most fearsome of the G-Force team could really be.

It broke her heart.

She stepped back into the shadows and raised her communicator to her mouth…

She needed to talk to the G-Force Commander. She needed to make sure he was given the choice that Princess was denying him.

Mark needed to know…

…And he needed to know, now.