Biddy turned, eyes narrowing at her employer. "Do you truly think it is wise for me to be leaving in my condition?"

(Alliance Headquarters- Swiss Alps)

Riker ground his teeth together in annoyance. "This is our chance to get our revenge on those asswipes." He held up his right arm, coldly pointing to the metal spear that had taken the place of his hand. "You forget what Linderman's bastard child did to me? I am going to rip her apart…I'd think you'd want to."

Biddy resisted the urge to say, "No, in fact I want to take them all out to dinner." Instead, she forced herself to be as aloof as possible. "We underestimated them once before, and we ended up in this situation. I'd rather be prepared to spend a long time killing them then merely rush in and do a messy job."

The other man shook in rage, wondering if he could strangle her before her powers activated. "You little bitch…"

"Try it…" Biddy said coldly, wanting a reason to take out the man that had ruined her life.

Riker took a step forward, readying the punch, only to end up on the ground, gasping for breath. It felt like an entire house was crushing his chest, his ribs crunching in like a smashed Coke can.

"Don't tell me my two favorite assassins are fighting…" Merrick said coldly, stepping over Riker's prone form. "I don't like it when my employees fight. You see…when the fight, I'm force to settle things…" He released Riker, the killer panting in agony. "Now then…what seems to be the problem?"

"Riker seems to be under the impression that I will be joining you two on this mission…I am far from ready to do so."

Merrick raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Riker, I apologize. I shouldn't have hurt you for fighting." He closed his fist, Riker grunting in pain. "I should hurt you for not dealing with the little bitch and telling her to fall in line."

Biddy took a step forward, eyes zeroing in on Merrick. "Why not try that on me?"

Merrick smirked. "Why bother…I increase the pressure on you, you just bounce it back into the ceiling." He slowly opened his hand, Biddy whimpering as her body slowly felt like it was expanding, eyes bulging out slightly as lungs began to inflate like balloons. "But decreasing the pressure to near outer space levels…tell me, do your powers work on the inside as well?" He released her, Biddy falling to the ground. "I want you on the helipad in 1 hour…don't make me wait."

&&&

(Governor's Mansion- Mackinaw Island)

"What exactly are you doing now?" Tina asked, arms crossed over her chest. Out in the main yard, Kelly stood with eyes closed, paintball guns in hand.

Helena watched on, stopwatch in hand. "Bloodhound vs. fox."

Kelly slowly turned, point her guns in different directions as she continued to keep her eyes shut. Tina raised an eyebrow as she noticed some footprints appear in the snow, darting to the left before a paintball appeared from nowhere. Kelly, however, had already fired off her own shot, the two of them both cursing as they were hit.

"Hank!" Helena shouted, annoyed.

"I didn't stop!" Hank complained, appearing in front of them. He looked at the big paint glob on his long sleeve sweatshirt and sighed. "I did what you said, run and shoot."

"But you lost focus." Helena said calmly. "Kelly was able to detect you enough to peg you."

"That mean I win?" Kelly asked.

"No, because you're dead too." Helena complained. "You can find people, but if you can't figure out how to avoid them…"

"I nearly threw up just spinning around. You know, trying to go into the GPS mode and stay in the real world is very, very hard."

Helena nodded. "Which is why we are practicing." She held out her hand. "Now, how about one more time, ok?"

Kelly and Hank both grumbled, but did as they were told, returning to their positions. Kelly closed her eyes, focusing on keeping herself in both the real world and her GPS world. Hank, meantime, went invisible, only his footsteps visible.

"Think something bad is coming?" Tina asked.

Helena shrugged. "Always be prepared. Those boyscouts got something right, atleast."

Tina nodded, watching as the woman she was developing real feelings for went after the man that had become Carter Daniels' right hand guy. "Where is your little boyscout? Shouldn't he be going through the ringer?"

"Whatever happened while he was…dead…Carter's now beyond anything I can teach him. He's like Marshal…Omega level, the only thing he can do is come up with new ideas on his own." She chuckled. "Besides…he's on Vally Duty."

Tina nodded. Everyone save Helena and Carter feared Vally Duty. The little girl was a firecracker, and her strange pink energy flames allowed her to screw with too many people and their powers. Tina's stomach grumbled as she remembered how, after trying to get Vally to eat her vegetables, she'd found that her saliva was acidic, melting food to mush before she could eat. It took nearly a day to fix, though Carter blamed Tina's fluxing powers and not, as Tina believed, Valencia.

Helena fixed Tina with a glare. "Don't even suggest I should put Vally through this."

"I wasn't…oh fine." Tina huffed. "She's cute…I love Vally…but the girl is a loose cannon."

Helena didn't say a word about her own theory: That Vally wasn't a loose cannon; merely a child with the powers of a god. FULLY CONTROLLED powers of a god. The former Company Woman had kept a diary of all the different powers used by her companions and how they used them.

She had discovered quite a few interesting things; Hank and Kelly were the worst of the group when it came to control, while Linda could rival Carter in power, she was just scared to do so, scared to explore just how far her powers could go. Tina was lazy, having figured out how to use her powers to the bare minimum. Marshal, her partner, trained by the Company, an Omega level…was tied for first when it came to control.

Her precious son was one of the ones Marshal tied with. Oh, he stuck to his favorite whammy shots and Metatron form…but Helena had seen hints of his imagination. The story of him curing that girl BeeBee…the way he could sense someone that was blue…he be in Vally's room, rocking her before her brain even realized she had begun to have a nightmare.

Vally.

That little girl was smarter then people gave her credit for. More powerful, too.

"Hello…" Tina said, waving her hand in front of Helena's face. "We were talking about Dora the Explorer…"

Helena shrugged. "Actually, we were just about to begin your training session."

"Training?" Tina began, before she was sent flying by a blast of water.

Linda emerged from the backyard, eyes flashing blue. "How was that?"

"Perfect!" Helena called out. She turned to Tina. "You're strong when it comes to attacking and using your powers, but you need to learn how to dodge and evade attacks. Linda needs to work on her targeting, so I figured this would work perfectly."

Tina groaned. "This…is payback for the Dora comment…isn't it?"

"Nah…this is for keeping me up last night with the sounds of you and Kelly going at it. I like my beauty sleep. Linda, try hitting her again!"

"AAAA!"

&&&

"Ah, Daniel…how nice of you to stop by."

Daniel, in his 60 year old form, glared at Anthony. "Cut the bullshit."

Anthony nodded, his smile fading as he motioned for Daniel to enter. "Then I suppose we are here to have a cock measuring contest; see who is the stronger man and able to muscle the other one out?"

"If that is your way of saying that I strong arm you into calling for your attacks on my boy, then yes."

Anthony sighed. "So uncivilized."

Daniel reached out, his old form suddenly young again, 25 and in the prime of life. His muscles rippled as they stretched his once baggy shirt, his mouth curled in a sneer as he choked Anthony. "I should snap your neck."

"Oh please, try." Anthony said as his body instantly became living diamond. "I would enjoy seeing that."

Faced with the unbreaking stone, Daniel let go, fuming. "You have pushed too hard, Anthony…I'll see that you and your family are wiped out for this."

Anthony chuckled. "Daniel…such threats might have worked when you formed the alliance…all those hundreds of years ago…but this is a new age. The alliance must evolve, must grow, if we are to survive."

"And that means killing the Heir of Isaiah, the one we have waited for?"

"If he stands in the way." Anthony said coolly. "Do you forget the Light, Daniel? The one destined to bring about our glory? We can not have her in the care of that human-lover."

Daniel's spine popped as he tensed. "The Alliance was about protecting ourselves…not mass genocide…you sound more and more like my father."

"No no no…it is my son that wants to kill every human. Me? I merely believe the world would be better with…others in charge. People of strong mind and will, people better equipped to handle the dangers of the world. Humanity is weak…they are children that have found their father's handgun.

"For too long, we have merely concerned ourselves with our own affairs. And each time we believe we can let them handle things on their own, they make matters worse. The enslavement of Africa. The destruction of the environment. For the love of God, man, we had our chance to kill Hitler and we held our hand. 'Let humanity deal with it'. Millions dead, Daniel…millions.

"And then, once they are on the brink of killing each other once and for all, we have to step in and save them. How many of our people died on D-Day alone, just to ensure the idiotic Americans weren't slaughtered on Normandy?

"We can no longer stand by and be silent. We can not longer let them do what they wish. We must be the parent and raise them right. Maybe after several thousand years of our teachings, they will be able to manage themselves."

Daniel frowned, shocked as how far things had gone wrong. "We are not to sit by passively…but we can't rule them! We must be their protectors…their silent guardians. That is our mission…no more, no less."

Anthony scoffed. "Men like my son will never accept that, Daniel. Merrick will not rest till he is king of the world, humanity either under his heel or dead."

"And my Carter will never accept that, Anthony."

"Then I guess we must see whose son is stronger."

&&&

"Mmm….daddy?"

Carter smiled, stroking Vally's silky hair. "Have a nice nap, baby girl?"

"No…yawn….baby." Vally said simply, stretching. "Big girl."

"That you are." Carter said with a laugh, lifting his little girl into his lap. Vally giggled as her father tickled he sides, wiggling his tongue as he did so. "And utterly cute!"

"EEEE!" Vally squealed, trying to escape. Carter laughed, lifting his daughter high in the air, her little legs kicking wildly.

"Look at ya flying, princess. Look at ya flying."

Vally paused, blinking. "I no fly."

"Oh?"

Valencia nodded. "Yup, no fly." Her eyes flashed pink.

"And…what exactly do you…do."

Vally stared at him for several moments, her face passive, before she giggled. "Silly daddy." She held out her arms. "Weeeeeee!"

Carter merely raised an eyebrow, wondering it were merely a child's attention span…or if the two year old had actually deflected his questioning.

But whatever the reason…he decided he had more pressing issues.

Like letting his little girl fly.

&&&

Seth flipped open his phone. "Yes sir?"

"No luck with Anthony…but I have the feeling Merrick is our biggest concern." Daniel said.

"He was always a bit crazy, sir." The Frenchman said.

"And now he wants to take over the world. How long will it take you to reach your destination?"

Seth thought that over. "Speed vs. Safety?"

Daniel sighed. "As much as I would want to focus on one, we have to go for a mix."

"That will only make things worse." Seth said simply. "When you mix…you do neither well."

"But you do neither horrible." Daniel answered. "Just get there as fast and safely as you can…and protect my family."

"Yes sir."

"Seth…you do whatever you have to…you protect them."

"…yes sir."

&&&

"Hey Carter?" Linda called out, her voice at unease. "You mind coming out here?"

Carter looked up at Vally, who was still held high in his arms, who looked down at him, confused. Bringing her back down, Carter walked towards the front door, surprised to find the gang at full attention on the porch.

Helena was at full ready, as was Tina and Kelly. Hank stood to one side, fists clenched, while Linda slowly focused on the ball of water in her hand. Marshal, in his hybrid form, snarled at the intruders.

"Maddy?" Vally whispered.

"Hi baby…come to big sis, ok?" Madrid held out a hand, motioning for the toddler to come towards her.

"Maddy!" Vally squealed happily, wiggling in her father's arms…

….only for Carter to hold on tighter.

"Daddy?" Vally asked, confused.

"Tina…Kelly…get Vally out of here, now." Carter commanded, passing the wiggling little girl over to Kelly. "If you don't hear the safe word, kill however approaches."

"Daddy…?" Vally questioned, eyes brimming with tears. "Maddy-mama is here…awen't you happy?"

Carter ignored her, instead walking towards Madrid, eyes flashing. Madrid and Galatea braced themselves, Lee standing in the rear. "You should have left us alone…you've only endangered her."

Madrid touched the sidearm strapped to her waist, cloning a duplicate in each hand. "You stole my sister, you freak…I'd hunt you down to the gates of Hell to save her."

"And now you bring the devil to the gate." Carter snapped. "I don't know who the traitor is…but I won't let them get word back to their commander."

"You're outnumbered." Helena said sternly, stepping forward. "IF you stay…we'll protect ourselves."

"If you keep Vally locked away, we'll save her." Sergei commented.

"You're outnumbered." Hank said.

Lee held out his arms, summoning 30 thug clones. "Try counting again…Carter…we don't have to do this."

"Actually, he does." Marshal said, nodding towards Galatea. "Ready for round 2?"

"Oh yea."

Linda clenched her fist. "This is the final warning."

"Daddy?" Vally called out in a panic. "Maddy?!?"

Carter grit his teeth, bursting into silver flames. "Behold the Voice of God."

Madrid smirked. "I'm going to enjoy shutting that mouth of yours."

"DADDY! MADDY! NONONO!" Vally screamed as Kelly and Tina hauled her inside. "NO!"

Carter and Madrid locked eyes, nodding…before leaping at each other.

Vally's screams drowned out by her parents' battle cries.