Precisely three hours later everybody came strolling back into Helen's office. Except Nikola who was fashionably late and arrived six minutes after everybody else, and has he took up his spot standing near Helen he not surprisingly had a slight scent of wine about him. He walked in just as Kate was saying,

"I got the same results as Henry. Everybody got in touch with said that the Cabal was destroyed, but a new sect has popped up and just took over using the same name, a messed up version of the Dread Pirate Roberts."

"Dread Pirate Roberts?" Helen asked confused.

"Gee doc," Henry said "even I've seen the Princess Bride…well anyway uh, basically they just passed on the name, different guy same name."

"So what do we know about this new Cabal?" Nikola asked.

"There's nothing on them in the police department," Will shrugged, "but then again, didn't expect there to be."

"My sources said that they're looking to build from the ground up, and have a very good start. Apparently their getting funding from some pretty big corporations," Henry told them.

"Yeah, I'm still waiting to hear back from one of my contacts but I have a feeling he'll say basically the same thing as the rest of my sources." Kate sighed, "New Cabal, better funding and more aggressive."

"And nobody was able to supply you with a possible location?" Helen asked.

Just then Kate's cell went off, and she took it out and walked off to answer it. Will shook his head,

"No. No location, no names. Just whispers and brief encounters similar to that of those trust fund kids."

"So basically Doc, we got zilch." Henry said, "perfect!"

"We officially don't have zilch!" Kate announced bouncing back into the room, "Old contact pulled through for me. He was contacted by some guys who said if he wanted a job other than…" Kate hesitated glancing at Helen before finishing "….a new job to drop by New City industrial distract, warehouse nine two days from now at about seven o'clock."

"Nice work." Nikola said, "But I don't think we should wait two days…"

"My thoughts exactly," Helen nodded, "Henry go pull up everything you can on that warehouse."

"Got it Doc!"

Henry leapt up and scurried off to his laboratory. Kate and Will looked at Helen expectantly.

"Will why don't you go inform the other heads of the situation and just tell them they want to reach and make sure this new Cabal isn't trying to go global," she turned to Kate, "Keep in contact with your sources in case any new information pops up."

Both of them nodded and went off to do their perspective tasks. Nikola looked at Helen and asked in a teasing tone,

"And what are my orders General?"

"You and I are going for a little target practice," Helen told him.

"I haven't used a gun…well ever, nor am I about to start."

"Who said you'd be holding the gun?"

Nikola tilted his head in confusion and intrigue before saying,

"You want me to practice me new abilities?"

"Ah, there's the genius I remember from Oxford."

About an hour later Henry entered the shooting range to a most bizarre sight. Helen was standing at one end, pointing a gun straight at Nikola who stood confidently at the other end a bulletproof vest discarded at his side. Before Henry could say anything to make his presence known Helen fired off four shots in quick succession. Henry jumped a little at the noise and his eyes grew wide first in shock that his boss and just shot at Nikola and then at the fact the bullets came to a dead halt and turned and floated to Helen's feet.

"What happened to shots in increments of three?!" Nikola called to her.

"It's more fun when you're surprised!" Helen responded.

Nikola rolled his eyes at her blatantly,

"After a hundred years nothing you do can surprise me!"

"Is that a challenge?"

Henry cleared his throat and said,

"Doc I got the spec's you asked for."

Turning Helen looked at Henry.

"And?"

"And it looks like it's not just a dead drop. This place looks like it could their main operation center."

"Perfect. Gather everyone up. We move tonight then."

An hour later two cars rolled over the pavement towards New City. Henry and Kate were bringing up the rear in van. In the suburban leading the way, Helen was at the wheel, Will up front again and Nikola in back absentmindedly twirling two bullets in the air as he watched the scenery slip by absorbed in his thoughts of how once again, he'd managed to put Helen in harm's way. Sighing he snagged a bullet from Wills clip up front and started twirling it along with the other two.

Fifteen minutes later the cars were parked, and the teams had split up into Henry Kate and Will and then Helen and Nikola and started their approach to the warehouse as the sun was just beginning to fall from the sky. Helen and Nikola were almost to their designated entry point and they hadn't run into any trouble. Reaching a corner Helen peered around it and seeing nobody was about to turn it when Nikola suddenly grabbed her with one hand by her upper arm, yanking her roughly to him and quickly covered her mouth his other hand before she could let out a startled cry.

A split second later a heavily armed and rather muscular man marched passed the very corner Helen was about to turn. A second passed and Nikola lowered his hand from Helen's mouth and arm to rest it gently on her waist, taking in greedily the scent of her hair, the way her hands were grasping at his shirt, and the way it felt to have her weight resting on his body. Another second passed and Helen did not make any attempt to shift her weight as she realized she liked very much the way Nikola's hands felt around her waist. In the next second Nikola gently pushed Helen at the waist to a standing position but did not widen the gap between them. The next second brought Helen's gaze to look steadily into Nikola's finding the emotions she was feeling in herself mirrored there. Then that cheeky grin spread across Nikola's face as he leaned to Helen's ear and whispered,

"Surprise."