Respect between Enemies – The BetanWerecat

Gundam Seed: "Descending Sword" and after. OCs with appearances by canon characters. The actions of Kira, Athrun, and the others have far reaching effects. Ah, interpersonal relationships! What joys they are. Rated T for language and off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)

I am putting these up one, two because I think I might aggravate a number of people if I didn't. The end of the second one will be bad enough for some. Part One of Ito meets the Grayhawks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.


The twins birthday party was an unqualified success. This did not always happen. Born too close to Thanksgiving, their birthday had sometimes been on Thanksgiving when the Thursday fell on the wrong calendar date. It also usually meant everyone was too stuffed from Turkey Day to want another big meal and no one wanted to either cook one or clean up after one. Or, everyone was hip deep in preparations for Turkey Day and had no time or space in the kitchen to make another major dinner at the same time. So while every other birthday got a 'special' dinner, the twins got either leftovers or something batched together way too often.

But this year, they planned the menu themselves. And they made everything but the cake ahead too, claiming space in the freezers for their dinner before anyone could stuff them full of Thanksgiving preparations. So they got to have burgers, fries and brats they'd ordered in all the way from the Midwest, along with a couple strange kinds of cheese to put on them. It all proved pretty tasty, even to Kayla who was finding that she was entering that stage of pregnancy where foods could react oddly sometimes.

And since it was either grilled out in the back yard or done in the deep fryer, also set up in the back yard for this occasion, there was minimal mess to clean up too. It still hadn't snowed at the ranch so they just left the grill to cool on its own in the crisp November afternoon and the fryer to do the same. Both could be properly cleaned better cold anyway.

While the cooking had been done outside, the eating had happened inside where it was warm. Having no interest in doing loads of dishes after doing mountains of them just yesterday, Alys and Todd had brought out the summer stuff and loaded the food onto disposable plates with dinnerware and cups to match. All of it had gone out to the grill to help burn off the grease when everyone was done.

The leftover burgers and a very few brats were stacked on plates on the kitchen counter for raiding later. The cake was brought out from wherever Gran managed to hide it this year and the twins blew their candles out. Everyone took their cake and trooped out to the living room to watch Alys and Todd open their presents.

They were sixteen, an important year in the Grayhawk household. In the next weeks, they would each go with one of their grandmothers as she supervised their search for their visions. They would make their Journey's alone for this was the one thing their twin could not help them with. This search was something completely up to the individual. Sometime before Christmas, they would know their inner names and identities.

So the presents for this year would largely relate to either the search or to the 'rebirth' ceremony that would follow when they would come home adults in the eyes of the People. As expected, Mom and Pop gave them their parade saddles and bridles. Commissioned pieces, they were hand carved leather and heavily mounted with silver. Joe Totse's work if Kayla was any judge. Properly cared for, their great grandkids would inherit those still in good working condition; Joe's creations lasted. There might not be any horses in the Plants, she didn't know if there were or not, but her own parade saddle and bridle were carefully packed and would be shipped up there anyway. There were things one should not leave behind if it could be avoided.

Maria provided Alys' new Woman's Dress. It was done in a blend of styles that reflected the blend of tribes that had happened to make the current Grayhawks. The skirt was Navaho, the shirt Zuni, the embroidery patterns came from several eastern woodland tribes while the beadwork patterns were Sioux and Cheyenne.

Jamie and Carol gave Alys a silver concho belt, each of the heavy, complexly patterned conchos set with a turquoise the size of Kayla's thumbnail. John found her a pair of turquoise earrings that matched the belt. Crystal had sturdy new moccasins in the Ute style that Alys preferred, the pattern on them complementing one from the skirt Maria'd given her. Richard and Douglas gave her a pair of very large, pure white deerskins. They would be good to have on the Journey. Kayla herself had found a large example of the best modern silver work in a squash blossom necklace set with yet more turquoise. Todd on the other hand, gave his sister the strategy game she'd been wanting.

The family gave Todd a similar set of gifts, all designed for a newly adult man. He too received clothing, moccasins, a concho belt and a pair of white deerskins. But he got a long knife with a stag horn hilt in place of earrings, and Kayla gave him a matched set of heavy silver and turquoise bracelets, the ceremonial remnants of the old warriors' bowguards. His sister got him some silly game he'd been after too.

Todd had just unwrapped the game when the phone rang. Everyone glared at it. Jamie, the closest, was elected to answer it while everyone else went on with the party.

Kayla found herself oddly uneasy. She had no idea why, but the phone bothered her. So she was watching Jamie and saw him go from irritated to grim suddenly. Then he put the phone down and went over to whisper in Pop's ear. Whatever he said got Pop out of his chair immediately.

Howard Grayhawk grabbed the phone and jammed it against his ear. She couldn't hear what he was saying, which wasn't much, but she could see whatever he was hearing was making him madder by the second. As she watched his knuckles whitening on the phone, she was rather surprised it didn't shatter in his hand.

"Kirby, you can shoot the damn fool if you need to! If that's what he's come to, that's what he's earned!" Howard suddenly roared at the phone, shocking the entire family into silence. "You just do your job! You pay no nevermind to whose kid he is! He's broke the law and he'll pay the consequences for it. I'll not hold anything against you for it."

He nodded a couple times then said, "Well, I'll call you straight off if I see the stupid ass. Yeah, talk to you later."

He banged the phone down hard enough to make Kayla hope Kirby had already hung up. Howard looked up and found the entire family staring at him.

"What're you all looking at?"

"You." His mother told him flatly. "Isn't every day you announce the sheriff can just shoot someone with your permission in that tone of voice. At least I'm assuming that was Kirby Rennie on the line. And I'm also assuming the 'stupid ass' is Larry. Just what has he done that Kirby might be shooting him?"

Pop glared at them all. "Fine, it'll be in the paper anyhow. Larry and his Blue Cosmos buddies broke into Doc Davies office and lifted three boxes of trank darts. The brainless morons left their fingerprints all over the place and enough spilled liquor to explain why they were so brainless. They also dropped a bunch of Blue Cosmos pamphlets and other useless propaganda in the parking lot. But Rennie found one item in with the junk that explained why they took the darts."

"Oh, don't tell me," Maria suddenly said grimly, "that stupid story about how you can knock over a Coordinator with those is making the rounds again."

"You've heard this one before?" Howard snapped.

"Yes, it came around about five years ago. I thought it had died back then. Apparently no stupid story that sounds good ever does with those people."

"You want to enlighten the rest of us?" Jamie asked irritably.

"Sure, why not." Maria leaned back in her chair. "There is this story that you can use animal tranquilizer darts to capture Coordinators. Supposedly you have to hit them with at least two to take them down. Three makes for good insurance. But four might be an overdose."

She snorted in derision. "We're talking about the stuff the vet uses to knock out an Angus bull here! Yes, Coordinators do resist drugs that will flatten us but they aren't that resistant! You hit them with the same dose you use to knock down that bull and you'll put them on the ground too. We're talking a what, roughly seventy five to ninety kilo human verses a ton or more of bull at the same dosage? Yeah, it drops them. I've seen it tried. Two is an overdose. Three will usually kill."

"So you're saying you can use animal tranks to capture Coordinators?" Jamie asked.

"Well, it'll work. If you can hit them. And get a full dose into them before they swat the dart out of their clothes. Believe me, you do not want to be the luckless sod they catch holding the trank gun after they've been hit! They aren't nice about it. But yes, I have seen it work. Once. Out of about thirty-five tries. And we didn't even get to capture him. His people got to him first and rescued him. So I'm not sure how long it kept him down or anything. I just know it did drop him."

"Just who came up with that nutso idea?" Kayla snapped before she considered how it might be taken coming from her.

"One of the more secret branches of Special Operations." Maria replied, one hand going up to cut off Richard's sharp comment on special interests. "And before I get any silly remarks about real patriots or something equally stupid, these people were not nice and not folks I was happy to share a uniform with. Everyone here understand that?"

Kayla wasn't the only one with raised eyebrows on that one. General Grayhawk did not criticize the military, ever. She was famous for a twenty minute interview with a hostile media reporter in which she'd never said a single word or changed her expression even slightly for the entire time. She just let him ask an increasingly aggressive series of questions until he'd talked himself into a corner and his last question was outright treason. All she did then was smile coolly at him and snap her fingers to summon the MP's standing in the wings. It was that incident that gave her the nickname "Bronze Spider" for her patient ability to outwait an enemy. The ZAFT used it too. It simply was too descriptive of how she handled combat.

Yet now she was referring to a Special Operations team as 'not nice' and people she wasn't happy to have wearing the same uniform. Kayla decided immediately that she wanted nothing to do, ever, with any team her oldest sister would call 'not nice' in that tone of voice. Considering some of the rumors that floated around the services about the kinds of research being done into how to beat Coordinators at their own game, it sounded like Maria had met the truth behind a few of them. And she really, really hadn't liked it.

Her father just shrugged. "Whatever. Larry and his fool friends have taken a dozen of the loaded darts and a couple, three syringes of the antidote. Kirby figures they've gone out hunting. Ricky's Dad's reported his truck missing and Larry has his own so they've got wheels under 'em. Kirby's calling all the ranches and isolated homes around here to be on the lookout for the six of them. He's pretty sure they're liquored up enough to actually kill somebody if they catch him."

Howard shook his head helplessly. "The damn girl didn't know! She didn't tell him because she didn't know! Why the hell can't that stupid boy admit that? Why is he so damned upset over this?"

"Howard, stop swearing." Janet ordered. "He always was prejudiced, ever since he lost that science prize to Jimmy Howell. Finding out the child he'd given his name to was one of them seems to have pushed him over an edge. Its little Lawrence that's the key here. His son is a 'space monster' and he can't face that."

"Pop, you know how he holds a grudge." Douglas said quietly. "Well I know for a fact that the reason he's never gotten beyond Lieutenant is because he's a fool in combat. He's so determined to prove he's better than any Coordinator he takes stupid chances and risks with his battery. He's gotten his people killed more than once trying grandstanding stunts he's smart enough to know won't work! But he does it anyway because he's worked himself into a mental corner where he has to be smarter and better than they are and he can't let himself admit how good they are anymore. He's been heading for a breakdown for a long time now. The war's just moved it along a lot faster. Finding out about Rebecca and the kids may have pushed him over the edge. I've been watching him attack Kayla, and Pop, I'm not so sure he's honestly sane anymore."

"Excuse me," Crystal cut in, eyes open in skepticism. "How does a Navy officer know what's stalling an Army officer's career?"

Doug gave her a 'spare me' glance. "Well the easy way is to flat out ask his commanding officer why your older brother is still stuck at Lieutenant. So that's what I did. And that's the answer I got back. Colonel Pettibone isn't too happy to have Larry in his outfit anymore either. He thinks he's getting too dangerous to the rest of the people around him. Even if he doesn't land in jail over this theft business, I think he may get back to his company only to find himself transferred to a post far away from any chance of seeing combat again."

"The Colonel just told you this?" Maria asked mildly.

"Yeah." Douglas replied. "After about the third bottle of good, single malt Scotch that is."

"Ah!" The General said, enlightened. "Yes, a very old and honored method of getting answers."

"Expensive but it works." Douglas noted dryly.

"Doug," Howard asked, "why were you checking in the first place?"

"Because I got the strangest, most incoherent, rambling, vicious letter I've ever seen from him about six weeks ago. He must have written it drunk and mailed it in the same shape because I don't think he'd have been stupid enough to have sent it if he was sober. He did a lot of ranting and raving about Coordinators but a lot more about how Army Command was deliberately holding him back. That made me real curious. And frankly, it worried me too. Larry never has been too well screwed down. That letter suggested someone whose screws were just about out of the hinges. It was fifteen pages long, tiny handwriting, and nothing but rage. Then I come home and I find the man and the letter have way too much in common. Frankly Pop, I think you did the whole family a big favor when you threw him out the other day. I think he was working his way up to literally attacking with intent to kill Kayla. And he'd have nailed anyone who got in the way trying to stop him."

Richard stared at his brother. "Are you nuts?"

"No, he's not." John said wearily. "He's absolutely right. I just didn't want to admit it. He's my twin! And he's lost it somewhere."

"Then I suggest we might want to keep our eyes open." Maria said. "Because our brother holds a grudge like no one's business. And he has one right here at the moment."

That was a hell of a way to end the twins birthday party! Kayla was pissed. Larry had done it again. He wasn't happy so no one could be happy. She so wanted to bounce his skull off a wall right at that moment!

The distinctive sound of smashing metal came muffled into the house.

"HEY!" Todd shouted, staring out the front windows. "There's a van wrecked in the driveway! And holy shit! That's Larry's truck coming in!"

A split second later the window shattered. Todd yelled in fright and dropped to the floor as glass went everywhere. Something thudded hard into the log wall beside the fireplace.

"GET DOWN!" Maria screamed a warning to the civilians present, everyone with military training already having taken cover. "THAT'S GUNFIRE!"


Adrian jerked the wheel, narrowly missing a major pothole in the road. He was driving way too fast on a road he didn't know and that had too many blind spots in it. But then, there were a couple truckloads of maniacs with loaded guns behind them; slowing down wasn't an option. Another round whined away as it ricocheted off the road. One more attempt at the tires that had missed. Damn it! And the day had been going so well too!

Morning had come in quietly enough to miss notice. Only the fact that they'd had a few brain cells still firing after that dinner and had left a request for a wake-up call got them up before noon. To his complete embarrassment, Adrian found he'd fallen asleep on guard duty. He'd spent the night sprawled in the chair, never waking Yuri for his turn. They were just lucky no one had picked that time to attack.

At least it meant they'd all gotten a full night's rest for a change. They took turns with the shower. Voril, who went first, got dressed and slipped out of the room for a bit, returning with some odds and ends of eating utensils from various rapid food places they'd stopped at along the way and a small canister. The canister proved to hold the white topping for their pumpkin pies. Adrian didn't bother to ask where he'd gotten the canister or how he'd learned about it. It was related to food, therefore Voril would automatically know all about it.

As breakfasts went, a whole pumpkin pie was probably not on a nutritionists list as a desirable item. However it was just as good in the morning as it had been yesterday. And it was quite filling.

The drive had been very pleasant too. It was a beautiful, crisp day with bright sunshine to illuminate everything and make it look warm and friendly. Voril had sat in the back seat and given them a running geology lecture all the way up. It happened to actually be interesting so no one shut him up for a change.

They were perhaps ten kilometers out of Oro del Mentiroso when the first hint of trouble disturbed the day. They encountered a police roadblock closing both lanes of the highway. They were too close when they rounded the curve and saw it to do anything but pull up and stop like good visitors. Any other action would have been immediately suspicious.

The police had been polite, and worried. They did the single most thorough check of their credentials that had happened since they'd arrived in the Federation. Sharper hearing than the Naturals realized they were dealing with gained them enough information to realize they weren't suspects here but were considered possible victims. There weren't enough details to get a clear impression of the danger but it seemed to involve the local Blue Cosmos group and stolen drugs. Unfortunately, the police neglected to mention what kind of drugs anywhere they could overhear it.

Adrian had the very decided sense that the police wanted to turn them back. They were three Coordinators and the problem was the local Blue Cosmos. It was a bad combination, he admitted that himself. But he wasn't going to turn back this close to his goal unless directly ordered to. In the end, economics won out. Yuri was a wool buyer and the sheep industry was the lifeblood of this community. They were warned but allowed to proceed to the Double Hawk. They in turn promised to call in when they arrived.

They had found the road to the ranch with no trouble. It was in bad shape but the van was handling it well enough when the ever vigilant Yuri suddenly spotted something back among the rocks and trees on their right. The something proved to be a pair of trucks. Using their Dreyfus gear, Voril got a good enough image to pick up the all too familiar 'blue and pure world' slogan in one window. He also spotted at least five men, all armed with rifles. Then he saw one of them looking at the van with unmistakable combat binoculars. That was when Adrian had stepped up the speed.

The trucks had come boiling after them. Like something out of a bad vid production, the fools had been aiming at the tires. Tires weren't so easy to destroy as they appeared in vids. They were self-sealing and almost indestructible nowadays. If you wanted to stop a vehicle, you shot the driver. This did not make said driver feel any too secure at that moment. Several more potholes, a couple of washouts and about two dozen rounds of wasted ammunition later they raced by another ranch gate.

"Map says that was the Two Bird place!" Yuri snapped. "The next drive on the left will be the Double Hawk!"

"Right!" Adrian acknowledged. "I'm turning in there. If we're covered in luck, they'll give up at that point. If they follow us down, we'll abandon the van somewhere before the house and run for it. Voril! Be sure to bring all three of our bags!"

"Our bags? What, you worried about appearances now?"

"No, idiot! Our uniforms are in them! Or do you want those Blue Cosmos guys to find your redcoat?"

"Oh, right."

Adrian just shook his head. Sometimes he worried about that kid. He was more than bright enough but he overlooked the odd important detail at the worst times occasionally.

"There!" Yuri pointed. "Three hundred meters on the left!"

"I see it." He said grimly as he prepared for a sudden slowdown and sharp turn. "Hold on tight!"

He stamped on the brakes, sending the van into a skid that took it almost sideways across the road. The trucks gained with frightening speed. He didn't look at them. They were doing whatever they were doing. He was fully committed to his course of action now and couldn't change anything to evade any move they might make. He took his foot off the brake and brought the wheel over slightly as he gave it some power. The wheels bit and they were throwing rocks everywhere. But their vector had changed and he was headed down the Grayhawk driveway!

Four shots peppered the van as the trucks overshot, smashing windows and smashing the windshield in front of him. This time, they hadn't been shooting at the tires. His vision severely hampered by the shattered glass of the windshield, he had to slow down drastically or risk wrecking the van.

Yuri unfastened his safety harness, twisted around and gave the windshield a powerful kick. It bowed but didn't fall out. It took two more strikes to knock it free enough to let Adrian see well enough to pick up speed again. By that time, the trucks were coming up behind them again.

The windshield suddenly fell free. Adrian noted that it slid down the hillside and across the road where it switched back ahead. He lost track of it after that. It hardly mattered. He had more significant things to worry about. Yuri and Voril had ducked below the seats now. He couldn't, not and drive. The shots were badly aimed but a couple had come close enough to give him a good scare.

He rounded the first and second switchbacks. He could see a large, apparently log built home ahead with several major outbuildings close by. Smoke rose from the chimney, giving him hope there was someone home. Then he saw the remains of the windshield in the road in front of him.

It had come to rest in a very bad spot. He had no maneuvering room. The road just beyond it ran between two huge rocks. There was no driving around either rock; one side was steep hill up and the other equally steep hill down. He made what he hoped was the best of a bad set of choices and tried to put it between the tires.

He missed. At the last second a bullet flying by his ear caused him to flinch slightly, jerking the wheel a bit to the right, taking the left tire over the rim of broken metal and glass. It bounced up and was immediately caught up in the undercarriage. The spinning driveshaft, open and unprotected on this model, whipped it into the more delicate lines above. Lines were severed, fluids escaped, controls failed. One brake locked, one did not engage at all.

The steering suddenly became very loose. Adrian tried to keep aimed between the rocks but it was impossible even for someone with his reflexes to avoid overcorrecting the wheel now. Then the left front brake locked up.

The van turned sideways and the front end slammed into the left hand rock. It bounced off, throwing the rear of the vehicle into the right hand rock. There were two more bounces before it stopped moving, broadside to the road, blocking it completely.

Voril was the first to move. He cut himself free of his jammed safety harness and gave the side door a solid kick. It fell off, allowing him free exit. He tossed the three bags out the door and turned to check on his friends. Yuri was already out of his harness and had been rather badly banged around because of it. But he could move and climbed out at Adrian's order. Adrian was bruised from slamming against the straps but was otherwise mostly unhurt aside from a couple of small glass cuts from the broken windows earlier.

In moments, the three of them were out of the van and dashing up the road.

The roar of a powerful engine and the smash of metal on metal announced the removal of the van from its useful roadblock position. Adrian glanced over his shoulder to see the first truck shoving its way past the ruined van, at least two guns out the windows pointed in their direction. Shit! They couldn't stay on the open, unprotected road anymore!

"They're through!" He yelled. "Break for cover!"

He jumped left, the other two broke right. A pair of bullets sang through the air where they had just been. They had gained perhaps two hundred meters toward the house and had another three to four hundred to go. The land was still somewhat steep right here but not as bad as it had been on the other side of the rocks. He ducked from rock to rock and saw Yuri and Voril doing the same.

Then his boot heel came down in the mouth of a small animal burrow. The soil was far softer than he'd expected and gave under the impact of his jump. He twisted midair, trying to avoid falling. The boot heel though, stayed locked in the burrow mouth. There was a sharp pop from his knee as he fell.

Adrian rolled with the fall and bounced back to his feet. The right knee gave another pop as he forcefully straightened it. He dodged behind another rock, panting. That had been too close.

He was almost to the shelter of his next chosen rock when the knee went out from under him. He tumbled, managing to turn it into enough of a forward roll to gain the cover he sought. Several shots ricocheted off the rock as he climbed gingerly to his feet again.

He tried putting his weight on the right leg and the knee immediately gave way. A few quick tests told him he could hobble along if he only used the right leg very briefly and almost immediately caught the weight back on the left again. He was in deadly serious trouble.

"Adrian?" Yuri's voice came over the tiny Dreyfus comm. "I don't see you moving."

"I can't. I've done something to the right knee. It won't hold me." He told him grimly. "Take Voril and get away. Then come back and look after Kayla for me. It doesn't look like I'm going to get to do that myself."

"We'll get you out!" Voril cut in.

"Don't be an idiot! Using what? They're all armed and we aren't! Get out and come back for Kayla! Make sure she and the children make it! They matter now, more than I do."

"But . . ."

"I'll see to it, Captain." Yuri agreed and the comm went dead.

Adrian nodded. He could count on Yuri. He knew the score. He'd get that stupid kid out of the way and bring them both back for Kayla and the babies. He suddenly grinned mirthlessly, at least Voril had his bag as well as his own. They weren't going to find any ZAFT uniform on him. He shuddered to think of the kinds of trouble for Kayla that would cause.

He took one peek around the rock. Ah, ha. Given where the Blue Cosmos boys were, it might be possible to decoy them off Voril and Yuri. They tended to be cowards. If offered a wounded bird, would they find that a more tempting target than the two they knew were still healthy?

He looked around. There was another rock nearby that he could make for. It should expose him very briefly to at least two of them. They'd soon know they had a cripple to hunt down. He moved.

"Hey! Larry! The one over here's limpin'!"

"Yeah, I saw him too! He's movin' pretty bad."

Yes! Now, would they take the nice bait?

"Joe, Pete, Ricky!" A new voice shouted. "Jose and Mike say theirs is crippled! Bring the darts over here! Lets see if they work!"

Darts? Oh, maybe the drugs the police had been so concerned about. Wonderful. He'd always wanted to be the subject of an uncontrolled medical experiment by Blue Cosmos! Yeah, and if one believed that, he had some very nice oceanfront property in the local area here to sell them.

Adrian studied the land between his rock and the house. He wasn't going to make it the some two hundred meters he judged it still was to get there. That was just too far. But if he was lucky and clever, he might make it half way. He began his limping dash for the next rock.

He wasn't fired on this time. Somehow, that wasn't reassuring. But it did hint he might have a tiny bit of time here while they changed live rounds for these 'darts'. He lined up on the next rock and kept moving, determined to gain every scrap of ground they'd let him have.

He'd gained about a third of it when he felt something hit him in the hip. His hand slapped it immediately, snagging some kind of tube that he pulled away from his body. He reached his next bit of cover a few seconds later and paused to look at what he held.

It was a syringe. It looked like it had discharged a quarter of its load. He checked it and found a medical name on it he didn't recognize. It gave him no hints as to what it was going to do to him. He broke the needle on the rocks and made for his next goal, sure that to stop now was to die where he stood.

He was hit three more times. He removed them as soon as he felt them strike, hanging on to them so he could be sure to break them. Adrian realized he was getting a bit lightheaded as he reached the next rocks. He checked the syringes to find none had managed to get more than a quarter of its contents into him. Still, with the first one that was almost one full syringe's worth now. He snapped the needles and moved on.

He was aware he was staggering. Two more darts hit him. He was a good deal slower about getting them out than he had been. But he could also hear some really vicious cursing that seemed to indicate several shots had missed. He looked at these and was worried. They were both a bit over half empty. He snapped the needles, and realized he couldn't move anymore.

The bad knee wouldn't take any weight at all for even a few seconds. He fell back against the rock, only able to stay upright because of its support. The world was getting somewhat dim and the colors were all fading into grays. He could feel his heart and his breathing slowing. How odd, he was terrified out of his mind and his heart rate was dropping?

"Ooh, hey Mike he's over here!" There was a young man not much older than himself in front of him. But the eyes were ugly and the smile vicious.

"Hey, foreigner eh? And one of the really pretty ones." This was a new one, about the same age, with the same eyes and the same smile.

"Yeah, you think Larry'll mind if we show this one what his kind are good for?"

"Naw, we brought him down, we get him first. That's the rule Jose. Larry's got nothing to say about that."

They were as stupid as they were crude. They hadn't secured him or searched him for weapons yet. They were assuming their drug had fully incapacitated him already. That really, really was dumb of them. It was taking him down, yes, but it hadn't finished the job just yet. And they were both just too close.

Adrian suddenly dropped. He twisted as he did, landing on his right arm, the left over his head, balancing him against the rock. Before he could finish falling, he kicked out with his left foot. The solid boot heel made perfect contact with the Jose creature's family jewels. The man didn't even scream. He just folded over and collapsed right where he'd been standing.

Another twist and Adrian landed hip first, saving the already damaged right knee from taking the direct strike. He rolled and came up on his left arm. Jamming the left foot against a handy rock, he threw himself at the second man, his right arm cocked for the strike.

There was a third there by then, he could see him out of the corner of his eye. This one was lifting his rifle, getting set to slam it butt first into him. But the Coordinator was still faster. His right hand shot forward. The arm was less than two thirds extended when the heel of his palm met another set of family jewels. He completed the extension, folding this one up like paper as well. Then the rifle butt came down between his shoulders and the universe went instantly to black.


"Yeah that's what I said Kirby, all six of 'em. They're after three guys from a van they ran down in our drive." Howard was on the phone, sitting on the floor below the level where any shot was likely to hit him.

Maria Spotted Horse stood quietly by the living room wall, ready to duck back if a gun even looked like it might point remotely towards the house. Things were going much as she'd seen them in the water. But there were several possibilities that could come out of this fight and she needed to know which ones to be prepared for.

She'd seen the boys separated when the trucks had burst past the wrecked van. The Fox and the Jay were out of sight now, somewhere up the hillside on the north side of the house. First Kay was upstairs right now, watching that situation out the bedroom window. She was focused on the Eagle. He stood far too good a chance of getting himself killed in the next few minutes.

Instead of dying, he managed to take down both Jose Ramos and Mike Porterman. True, Pete Jones had immediately knocked him out but that wasn't important. He'd evaded the chance of death, which was what mattered. There would be more chances shortly but he'd survived this one. Even better, he'd taken the odds down. Neither Ramos nor Porterman were going to be a factor in the rest of this battle.

"Kirby, I don't think I can keep him out. He's got at least one hostage already. If he gets the other two . . . ." Howard was still talking to the sheriff. Maria sniffed. He was losing ground there. Besides, it wasn't the Eagle who would be the hostage that forced the family to back down.

"I hate stairs." First Kay announced, panting almost in her ear.

"What of the boys?"

"They're away clean." The other Medicine Woman told her. "And Ricky Tomlinson is sneaking around the barn."

"Alone?"

"All alone." First Kay confirmed.

"So, things are falling into place."

"Yeah. I just wish the Spirits had granted us Sight that went through to the end of this little war. I hate only knowing the first half of a battle."

Maria rolled her eyes. "You and me and every other person ever afflicted with such visions! You ready for what we do know?"

"Oh yeah. Got all my medicines set up. How about you?"

"Mine are ready too."

"And here comes your namesake."

"Right on time." Maria turned as the grand-daughter named for her joined them.

"Right on time for what this time, Gran?" General Grayhawk asked.

"Later. What were you up to?"

"Got a couple horses saddled. Alys is going with Kayla down to the low meadow hunting blind. She can't stay here and I don't want her going alone."

"They won't make it." First Kay told her. "Ricky Tomlinson is out back with a rifle."

Maria's bronze eyes froze, then went molten with rage. She was gone a second later. First Kay just shook her head.

"She really doesn't like that boy."

"Nobody with half a brain likes that boy." Maria Spotted Horse snorted as she turned her attention back out the front window. "She'll be too late to prevent anything though."

"Damn shame to lose two good horses."

"Better that bloodthirsty little weasel kills the horses than the girls."

"There is that."

"Damn it, Larry has degenerated into such a coward." Maria muttered.

"Doesn't take much in the guts department to kick an unconscious man." First Kay agreed coldly. "Hope he stops before he breaks any ribs."

Two shots came from the back of the house. They sounded like they came from somewhere beyond the ram barn. The two old women just looked at each other.

"What's that line from that play?"

"You mean the one about the world being a stage?"

"That's the one." Maria agreed. "And that was the sound of the curtain rising. We better get to our places."

She took one last look. Larry had quit kicking the Eagle and had tossed him over his shoulder now. Jones was supporting both Ramos and Porterman as they staggered toward the front door. But it was the happy grin on Joe Hopping Frog's face that seriously angered her. That young man was looking forward to the pain and suffering of others, very much looking forward to it. That one had a lot to answer for.

"Pop!" Jamie warned. "They're headed for the door. You better get off the phone!"

"You heard him Kirby? Yeah, yeah, I'll try. But you better get here in under forty-five minutes! There'll be people dead by that time." Howard hung up the phone.

Richard immediately picked it up and played with it.

"What do you think you're doing boy?" Howard snapped.

"Making very sure that if they check, the last number that shows up on here will be from a call made last night." Richard answered. "Or do you want them to know the sheriff has been chatting with you today?"

"Make it fast, Rich," Jamie hissed. "Larry's almost at the door!"

"Done!" He put it back on its cradle and moved quickly to join the rest of the family in the living room.

The front door boomed. Someone, probably Joe, was pounding on it with a rifle butt. From the sound of it, they were going out of their way to do as much damage to the door as they could.

"Hey Pop! I'm home! And I'm comin' the hell in!" Larry shouted as the battered door gave way.