Mark stood in a predatory stance before G-Force's greatest enemy. His lowered head only slightly registered the gathering of his team beside him, but he knew they were there, he knew in what specific positions each currently held.

They were his team. He knew every minute detail about each of them.

He also knew he would have a slight opportunity for some finesse in a war of tongues against the purple-dressed animal in front of him.

"You're late," he snarled as he stared through the Spectran Leader through his brows. "We were beginning to think that you'd stand us up."

Zoltar didn't appear even slightly intimidated under the glares of four vicious birds. He inhaled dramatically and looked at his fingertips as if assessing a recent manicure. "I had something I needed to do." He whirled his wrist absently in the air as he rolled his eyes. "A little set up gift for your beloved."

Mark's head tilted slowly to one side. "And it seems my beloved set a little something up for you, too."

"Yeah," Jason snarled. "Like a giant can of whoop-ass, G-Force style."

Zoltar rolled his eyes. "Oh how inventive, Condor. Be sure to trademark that will you." He took an exaggerated look behind the foursome. "And just where is our lovely Princess this evening?"

Mark's lip twitched in disgust at her name passing through his lips. "She's where you won't find her."

Zoltar made a dramatic show of bringing a hand up to cover at his mouth. "Oh don't tell me she's at Centre Neptune, Commander."

Mark grunted and took note of the goons filling the room around them. "You seem so smart, you tell me."

Zoltar was theatrical in his horror at the location of the Swan. "Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh Dear. Do tell me you hid she and your little child anywhere else than at your home facility, Commander."

Mark started to worry, and judging by the snort from his left, Jason was too. "Why?"

"Well," he answered in as facetious a voice as possible. "Well I hear there is to be a large explosion there tonight." Theatrics disappeared to be replaced by a victorious snarl. "One that'll not only take out your precious facility, but should wipe out ninety percent of this city's coastline." He stepped within a foot of the Eagle Leader. "As your Condor is so adept at saying, Commander. To remove the weed you take it by the root. Your entire line dies tonight …" He threw his head back and gave a long laugh that signaled his men to attack. He stood still in place as his men bustled him either side, seemingly unaware, or not caring, that he was being tossed side-to-side as his men ran through.

It felt like an eternity to Mark before he could find the ability to move. He didn't register even any feeling in his body until he felt himself get thrown back by the rampaging Spectran goons. He tilted his head back to look across the floor at Jason as he struck the ground.

"Destroy them, Jase. No Prisoners!"

Jason grunted his absolute approval at the order only a second before growling at Lisa sliding along her back feet first through his legs. She fired a handful of shots close enough to him that he could feel the ripple of the shockwave against his cup. He dropped and hauled her to her feet and instantly separated to the opposite direction, his own gun blazing.

Mark's target loomed to close to ignore. He struggled against goons like a running back through the pack to get to him. "This ends tonight!" He boomed as he struck out a goon with the sharp end of his boomerang. "Be a man and take me one on one."

Zoltar did nothing more than slalom from side to side at flying bodies around him. "I am not a man, Commander. I am a ruler." He pointed to the floor as two goons grabbed the Eagle from behind. "Now drop to your knees before me."

"Like Hell," he spat back as he leaned forward and tossed both men over his shoulder. There was another arm around his throat and he spun in the grip to slash his blade across his neck.

As G-Force fought what could only be a losing battle, Zoltar's laugh hauntingly swam though the cordite and bloody air around them.

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

Dave Barron reached the alcove for the bus parking of the subway station in what could only have been described as record time. Few of the Federation vehicles had kept up with the V10 engine of the truck doing – at the highest speed – 230km/hr. When he found the location beside a myriad of flashing lights, the stop was so abrupt that both rear occupants of the vehicle were thrown at toward the front of the vehicle.

Princess was accustomed to such variances in G-Forces – or lack thereof – and therefore merely grunted as her shoulder struck the back seat. Damien, however, was not so used to it. He let out a pained yelp as he fell through the valley between the two back seats and struck the back of Barron's chair with his shoulder.

"Damn , fucking, son of a bitch!"

Princess' eyes flared in shock as he swore again and rubbed at his shoulder.

"Fuck, Sarge. Are you trying to fucking kill us?"

Princess shuffled through the seats to check him over. "Damien. Are you okay?"

Barron unstrapped his seatbelt. "Suck it up and be a man, Knight," he growled as he threw open the door and stepped out onto the pavement.

"Yeah easy for you to say," Damien answered as he lay across the center console on one shoulder and looked out at his Sergeant. "You had on a fucking seatbelt."

Princess shushed him gently. "You're okay, Damien. You'll just have a bruise in the morning."

"Yeah," he moaned softly as he drew himself to a seat. He looked back out of the window at Barron and raised his voice. "And I'll take workers bloody compensation for it."

Princess shook her head and shuffled back into the rear of the truck. She quickly set a detector into her holster and pulled on a helmet. She didn't flinch as Barron pulled open the rear doors and the metal ramp clanged heavily on the bitumen.

"You're not going in,, Anderson."

Her eyes flared in time with the gaping of her mouth. "You are not pulling me off this, Sir. I have to disarm it."

Barron shook his head and flicked his fingers to invite Damien out of the truck. "Absolutely not. You're his eyes out here."

She pointed down into the tunnel. "That's my child down there, Sir. I have to do this."

Barron shook his head. "If you walk in there, Cassandra, you'll obliterate all of us." He tapped at his temple. "Think, girl. Think." He tugged a heavy duffel bag down the ramp and walked down to coordinate the above ground teams.

Damien set a hand on her shoulder as she flopped into a chair in front of a view monitor. He heard her shakily inhale. "Don't worry, Cass. I've got it." He used his finger to draw her face to look at him. "You trust me, right?"

She nodded. "Just. Just take it serious, Damien. My whole existence is down the other end of that tunnel."

He pulled on a helmet with a camera and winked as he stroked his fingertip down her nose. "I won't let you down, Partner. I promise you."

She nodded and leaned her elbows on the communications desk as he walked out of the truck and tugged on his Kevlar vest. She dropped her head into her hand as she dropped the other to switch on the monitor. She was slow to affix her headphones and pull the microphone to her mouth to calibrate her systems.

"Damien, it's Cass. Are your ears on?"

He answered her quickly. She could hear by his breathing that he was on the way into the deepest part of the subway. "Reading you loud and clear, Cass. Gotto say this isn't as much fun going in alone."

She found a smile as she lightened the contrast on the monitor. "You're not alone. You've got me with you."

She watched closely through his eyes as he made his way through a well lit and deserted train station. There seemed to be no real obvious signs of anything large out in the open, so she suggested a new location.

"Try utility rooms, Damien. They've been building this a while, so it can't be obviously in-your-face."

"Hear that loud and clear." He swept his eyes along the wall. Within a couple of seconds he found a well-hidden utility room door. "Cross your fingers it ain't locked, Cass."

"I've got everything crossed," she promised as she leaned across to pull a manila folder from a slot on the wall. She opened it and let her finger trail the page to find the appropriate information to the supposed weapon.

"I'm going halves in 6/49, girl. It's open." There was a high and held breath, and then a completely mortified groan. "Oh sweet Jesus. Cassie, this is worse than we thought."

She looked on in horror as he panned his head across the room to let his helmet cam do the talking. She brought both hands to her face and found herself holding a sob at the devastating image in front of her. "God, Damien. You can't possibly disarm all of those units in time."

"I know, girl. There's gotto be ten of them in here."

Ten was accurate. Each separate device connected to enough explosive to equal that of a ten-tonne atom bomb. The timer was set for only ten minutes, and it was ticking down fast.

Without too much thought, she raised her communicator to her lips. "G3 to 7-Zark-7, are you reading me?"

She didn't have more than a second to wonder if her old communicator was still functioning. The saccharine sweet android voice answered her fast. "Oh Princess. It's so lovely to hear your voice after all this time."

She didn't want to waste time on niceties right now. "Zark, I don't have much time. Were you able to fins a solution to the problem with the sensors and our implants?"

His voice seemed almost distracted when he answered her. "According to the latest data from the engineering team, the sensor does have a limitation that we can exploit. Why do you ask?"

She bit on her lip and sniffed as she continued to watch the apprehension of her partner and the time ticking away. "Just tell me, Zark. I promise you I'll spend an entire evening with you if you just cut the crap and tell me."

He was obviously shocked, but complied. "The sensor can't read through lead. It's got a low penetration, especially through the G-Force helmets, but the implant isn't exactly that deep, either."

"Please, Zark. Just get to it."

"If you apply a lead plate to your helmet, Princess, then it should deflect the sensor's waves and pretty much render you nothing but a dead object in it's sweep."

"Where the hell am I going to find lead?"

"Pardon me, Princess?"

She shook her head. "Nothing Zark. Thank you. I appreciate your help."

She took another look at the time ticking down, and the fact they had only nine and a half minutes to react. A bolt of inspiration came to her inside a deep inhale, and she flew out of her chair.

"Sarge, do you have any antiques in this truck?"

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

Mark didn't completely think it was all that fair of Zoltar to come to a fight against five people with over one hundred of his own men. He also didn't find it particularly pleasant that each of them had automatic firearms, whilst his team was pretty much relegated to single fire option weapons. As he toppled to one side with a blinding hit from a goon, he tossed out his boomerang. It returned with enough time for him to launch a foot against the cheek of his attacker and roll back up to his feet.

He crouched to look through the throng for the king of the group.

"Zoltar. Where are you, you cowardly son of a bitch?"

A whirring clack of bolas spinning past his head ended his search, and Mark dove into the chest of a goon hulking over Lisa. In her place another goon fell clutching at his throat where Keyop's bolas had struck.

Jason's voice cried over the din. "Commander. Outside."

Mark's back straightened to look above the heads. Zoltar was fast heading out of the door, with Jason right behind him. He looked back at Lisa and Keyop. "Forget them. Take out Zoltar – he's your only target now."

They moved in triangle formation with Mark at the lead through the men and into the carpark. They skidded on gravelly tarmac in front of a large cricket-shaped machine.

"Give me a fucking break," Mark hissed under his breath.

Jason rubbed at his brow under his visor. "It just continues to get better, doesn't it, Skipper?"

Zoltar's laugh filled the air once more. He stood at the ground at the Cricket's rear leg. One hand he held victoriously in the air, his eyes wide on his clawed fingers. In the other hand, he grasped the hair of a bound woman on her knees.

"G-Force," he boomed in apparent victory. "Tonight you see defeat …" He lowered his head to gaze darkly at the G-Force Commander. "Defeat, finally, at the hands of the one true ruler of your puny little planet."

Mark sneered to one side and checked his team through his peripheral vision to ensure a uniform line. "We are not defeated yet, Zoltar."

He shook his hand, causing the woman in his hold to wail out in pain. "You know who this is, don't you, Commander?"

Mark flicked a lip. He knew who it was, but felt no urge to care. "Yes, Zoltar. She is but one of your many mindless goons."

"Oh no, no," he corrected with a smile. "A goon she is not." He hauled her painfully to her feet. "A puppet, perhaps."

Melissa tumbled with a hard push to her knees and looked at defiant as possible toward G-Force. "This gives you nothing, Zoltar," she seethed. "He and I are nothing to each other."

Zoltar ticked his finger from side to side in chiding. "Now. Now. We both know that isn't true."

"Yeah," Mark corrected bluntly. "Kill her. I really don't care."

Zoltar laughed. "Oh you say it, Commander. You say it, but do you mean it." He leaned down to the woman and held her hair to turn her face to Mark. "She's blood, after all. What would daddy say if you let his little girl die?" He smirked. "You're a daddy aren't you? What if this was little … oh what is her name?"

Mark growled. "Don't you dare breathe her name."

Zoltar laughed again, paused, and then held a hand to his ear. "What was that sound? Do you hear it?" He blew out a breath to mimic an explosion. "Oh noooo," he wailed. "Was that the end of Centre Neptune; and your legacy?"

Jason hiccupped beside Mark. "Commander. Enough of this bullshit, let's take him."

Mark blinked back the sudden feeling of loss inside his belly. "Yeah Jase." Each tear he blinked out of his eye hotly burned down his cheeks. He used that small amount of pain to find his anger. "Yeah."

He stepped forward and spread his arms to his side. "G-Force. Whirlwind pyramid."

Jason quickly thread his arm across Mark's. "They got out Mark – you know they did."

He felt the light touch of Lisa's feet on his shoulders and clenched his eyes tightly. When his world took on a violent spin, he expelled every heated emotion he'd felt over the past eighteen months expel from his mouth in a single, fierce cry.