AN: Before we begin, I would like to point out that this particular chapter is almost completely plot and exposition. It will cover a range of details, and in particular, explain the background of the story, and the point of the first Chapter.

This is also a chance to fill in the blanks and show a little of what's been happening throughout the story from the bad guys perspective. I hope you all can follow it, and I hope you enjoy it.

You may want to read the first chapter again before diving into this.

The helicopter went south.

The pilot and the crew didn't say anything to the Planeteers for the entire flight, and that was fine with them. After the adrenaline of the sudden war started to wear off, the Planeteers couldn't stay awake to save their lives.

Wheeler piped up as everyone started drifting. "Before everyone passes out, can I have your attention for a few minutes? Linka and I had an interesting moment out back during the battle, and it's something that the rest of you should be made aware of."

"Do we want to hear this?" Kwame interrupted.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Linka demanded. "What do you think he's planning to say?"

"Well I don't know, but if it's some big announcement that involves you, then it may be something that-"

"Alas, it's not that." Wheeler interrupted. "Linka feels we should keep things between us a secret from the rest of you. At least for the time being. Right babe?"

"He lies." Linka swatted him. "And don't call me that."

"Absolutely. The last time. It'll never happen again." Wheeler deadpanned.

"You two should really take this act on the road." Kwame interrupted.

Linka took over. "Wheeler and I both used our powers at the same time…. And they…. I don't know quite how to say this. They magnified. They merged, and they magnified."

There was a silent beat as they took that in.

Wheeler piped up first. "Seriously. That's the best way of putting it. Her power is pretty strong. My power is pretty strong. We used them both together and they just… enhanced each other. They merged into something bigger and stronger than either ring alone. And it wasn't just the fact that there were two elements being used. Each element fed the other."

"Well…" Gi said finally. "I suppose that makes sense. After all, fire needs air to burn. You add fire to wind, it gets more powerful. If we mixed fire power with water power, then it'd probably cancel each other out completely."

"That's what I first thought, but it wasn't that." Linka countered. "It's like… it's like there was power being brought out by the rings, and then that power transforms into something. A flame, a breeze, whatever. But with this, it felt more like the two power-forces were magnifying each other before they made the elemental powers happen."

Ma-Ti spoke. "Gaia said that we should use our powers together, because they are strongest when they build on each other. I had thought she was talking about teamwork, but it's possible she may have meant that literally. Two rings together build a force stronger than either can produce alone."

"But fire and wind do work together." Gi insisted. "What happens if we mix three rings? Or all of them?"

Nobody had an answer to that, so they fell silent. After a while, the exhaustion came back to the fore in all of their minds, and they slept as the helicopter rocked them gently.

The helicopter kept flying for several more hours. Ma-Ti was the first to awaken as the helicopter touched down gently.

Ma-Ti did not open his eyes, and his ring glimmered just a bit. Everyone. You can speak. I can hear you. We have landed.

Ma-Ti? Wheeler's voice answered in the same manner. Are you… talking in our heads right now?

Yes.

Oh good. For a minute there I thought the dream I was having was about to take a very bizarre turn.

Linka did not open her eyes, but managed to give Wheeler a kick anyway. Ma-Ti, do you know where we are?

No. But the pilot is looking in the window. He is terrified.

Any other guards?

The pilot and co-pilot are staying close. There are two or three other people, but they don't seem concerned. The pilot has moved on. We can move and speak without being observed.

The five of them sat up. Wheeler looked out the window discreetly. "Looks like a refueling station?"

"If they've been flying long enough to need fuel, we've been asleep for a while." Gi pointed out. "And that's assuming they were flying in a straight line."

"It also means we haven't finished traveling either. Do we make a break for it?" Linka asked. "We may not get a better chance."

Wheeler peered a little further out the window. "I can see the fuel-line. It would be one hell of a diversion."

"Linka and I together could probably force the flames away from the helicopter." Gi offered.

"What do we do fearless leader?"

Kwame realized that everyone was looking at him. "No. We came along with them to get some answers. We leave now; we're back to square one. We'll let it play out."

The others were willing to accept that.

The helicopter lifted off again without the Planeteers having spoken to any of them, and the flight continued.

"I sense… relief." Ma-Ti commented.

"They were worried we were going to try something." Kwame agreed. "They were half expecting a tidal wave to hit them."

The comment was so plausible, and so impossible at the same time, that everyone held a straight face for two seconds before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"God, the week started out so normal!" Gi complained without any malice. "If I'd known what taking the ring had meant, I might just have told the dolphin to swallow it."

"Wonder who would have gotten the ring after that?" Kwame chuckled.

"Wonder who would have wanted it?" Wheeler quipped, and that just set them off cackling again.

"Do you think that the helicopter is taking us to the place they all started from, or somewhere different?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if they're taking us back to their home base, it means that all those helicopters we knocked down had to refuel just to get to us."

Linka considered that. "Interesting. It would mean that they had some advance notice about our arrival in Alaska. Assuming they all came from some base where Stumm is now."

Kwame listened to them for a while and noticed Gi rubbing her arm at the other end of the cabin. He moved over toward her and took a seat by her side. "Arm giving you trouble?"

Gi stared vacantly for a minute, not even hearing him, before her gaze settled on his face finally. "Hmm? Oh. My arm? Not it's fine."

"Good. I'm glad." Kwame didn't push it. He knew he didn't have to. She clearly had something on her mind.

Sure enough, Gi was speaking again quietly soon enough. "Right before the fight… Linka said that they should have come for us by boat, because I'm 'merciful'. What she meant was that I am weak."

"I'm sure she didn't mean-"

"No, it's okay. I am weak. Weaker than them anyway." Gi said quietly. "The fight started, and you all fought back. I never even used my ring. Not once. I could have soaked their guns. Wet gunpowder doesn't work. I could have thrown a river at them! I could have…"

"Gi, without you, we never would have been there in the first place. We never would have known something was going on! We're here as a team, not an Army."

"Aren't we?" Gi countered. "We all got these powers and were sent home. You shut down toxic waste shipments, Linka stopped illegal chemical dumping, Wheeler took on the street gangs, Ma-Ti foiled some poachers. What did I do? I went surfing!" She shut her eyes. "They were right. My parents were right. I am such a child."

"We all were once." Kwame said gently. "Nobody expects you to be a warrior Gi."

Gi looked at him. "Say we get into another big fight when we get wherever we're going. The fight goes bad, we get separated. Are you honestly telling me that you wouldn't rather go with Wheeler or Linka, or even with Ma-Ti, rather than me?"

"I probably would. But if I had to find the others, figure out what to do next, find a place to go and a way to get there, I'd rather have you. We're here because we compliment each other Gi."

She waved at Wheeler and Linka, who were talking quietly, gesturing at parts of the helicopter's door, the clouds outside. "Look at them! James Bond and Wonder Woman! They're already working out plans, getting ready for the next fight. They were made for this! I'm… I'm not."

"Gi… I think that it's… important…. No, scratch that: It's vital that we have people who can approach the sort of problems we've been sent to solve, and to face them peacefully. If we can't find a way to do this job peacefully, then we're just thugs with more power!"

"Being peaceable is one thing. Letting your team down when people are shooting at them is quite another. We didn't start that fight. It came to us. It was necessary to fight back… I didn't even try!"

Kwame was silent a moment. "Years ago, just after I was born, my family was living in Rwanda. When I was two or three, the genocides broke out. My father tried to get us out of the kill-zone. But, they were watching for families. Dad split us up. Told us to meet at his brother's place further west. He stayed with me. Someone noticed he had a child, demanded to know if I was Hutu or Tutsi. Sending your children away with strangers who were fleeing was not an unusual tactic. They made a grab for me, and my father fought them… he got a gun off one of them, and fired." Kwame sighed. "My father was the gentlest man you'd ever meet. Whenever a spider got into the house he would always capture it alive and take it outside so that nobody would step on it. He killed two people to protect me."

Gi was speechless.

"I… I don't know how I can remember it so clearly after this long. I was barely a toddler at the time. But I picked up the other gun, and I was ready to use it. I had to use both hands just to reach the trigger. Less than four years old, already a soldier." He smiled miserably at Gi, seeing the unspoken question on her face. "No. I didn't join the fight. Dad took the weapon off me. I have no problem at all with the notion of you not doing the necessary thing Gi. Nobody should ever have to."

Gi was silent a moment. "Okay then. But I really should have done something back there."

"You've done many things before and since. You're an equal share in this. Always have been."

"Kwame is right." Ma-Ti piped up suddenly, and Gi jumped. He'd been so quiet, that she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Gi, we were all of us selected carefully. If Gaia thought you couldn't handle it, then she would have sent the ring to someone else."

"Really?" Gi smirked, feeling better. "Then let me ask you this Ma-Ti. If Gaia did make a mistake, and we all got killed back in Alaska, what would Gaia have done? All she would have to do was send the rings to someone else. Maybe she has already. We could be the third group of people she selected, and just don't know it. There could be a thousand teams of Planeteers out there for all we know."

Ma-Ti seemed truly stunned by that one. "Now there's a thought that's going to bother me."

It was so strange hearing that from him at Kwame and Gi both burst out laughing.

Wheeler took that as his cue and slipped over. "Listen, Linka and I have been talking. She says that it's unlikely the cabin is bugged, since the noise of the engine and the rotors would make it hard to hear anything, but just the same, we might not have been too smart."

"How so?"

"Well, there's coastline on the left hand side of the chopper, but there's water below us. If they decided to take us out, they wouldn't need another army. They could just put us in a helicopter and give the pilot a parachute."

"Wheeler, I doubt they will. We were invited. I'll grant you, the only reason we got the invitation was because they couldn't overpower us, but still…"

"Even so, we have a… well… call it a contingency plan. Can either of you fly a helicopter?"

"Like driving a solar car right?" Gi said solemnly.

"I'll take that as a no. I think I can get the door off pretty easily. Linka says that the clouds are high enough above us that we don't have to worry about depressurizing the cabin. But the problem becomes what to do after that. Linka says that a whirlwind under the helicopter won't keep it steady for long, because it doesn't have wings. But if we jumped, then we could soft-land in the water. A strong wind could give us enough lift to survive hitting the water away from the wreckage. So… what do you two think?"

Gi pointed at him and looked at Kwame. "See? James Bond."

Wheeler reacted like he'd been slapped. "WHAT? Did you tell him that?" He snarled viciously.

Gi jumped back from him in shock. "Oh. No. Really, I didn't!"

"Tell me what?" Kwame asked, a little startled.

"I see something!" Linka called from up front. "Yankee, I think you may want to see this."

Wheeler came up to join her and looked out the window. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"

The helicopter was taking them back to New York City.

The helicopter circled the city enough to come in over the East River.

"Any ideas where we're going?" Kwame asked Wheeler.

Wheeler was still at the window. "I can see the Long Island Expressway. There's a heliport at East 34th street. That's Midtown. From there they can take us most anywhere."

Linka was at the opposite window. "I can see a limousine."

"They have a limo waiting?" Wheeler repeated. "Whoever this guy is, he can get a priority landing clearance in New York. That takes more than a smile."

"Stumm is a member of the Board of Directors in The Corporation." Gi reported. "One of the original founders."

"I see guards." Ma-Ti murmured, though he was nowhere near the windows. "They are… wolves. They are wolves who see lions coming."

Beat.

"He means that they are tough, but they know we're tougher." Kwame translated. "They know we're dangerous. They've been briefed. They know why we're here."

"Then they know more than we do." Gi agreed. "Are they armed?"

"I don't see any guns. But they're all wearing long-ish jackets. They have weapons hidden. They don't want anyone to know they're here as an armed escort for someone."

"As bad as they want us, they want us hidden." Wheeler agreed.

"Do you think Stumm is with them?"

"Anyone who can send a helicopter and a limousine to collect someone they don't like won't be there with them. It's a power play. He's making us come to him."

"Then we do as they wish. They'll be following instructions, and they won't have the information we came for."

"Whatever that is."

"I hear you."

The instant the helicopter landed, the door opened and there were two of the scariest looking men they had ever seen on either side of it. They both had hands beneath their jackets, clearly resting on concealed weapons, and they both took in the whole helicopter in a second. "Would the five of you come this way please?"

The Planeteers obeyed. They were hustled into a nearby limo with heavily tinted windows. There was something unusual about the short walk from the landing pad, and after a while, Kwame realized what it was. There were very few people about. The heliport had apparently been cleared of people while they were transported through.

The limo took them through the city while Kwame shared the observation. Getting closer to the point like this was staring to wear on their nerves.

"Where are we going?" Gi wondered.

"In New York at this time of day? The traffic could be taking us anywhere. You go though fourteen hoops to get to the end of the block." Wheeler promised her. "Ooh, a mini-bar!"

The ride ended at a large building, but none of them saw the sign on the front, as the Limo came in around the back of the building. It took them down into the car-park, and pulled up directly next to an elevator. There was another pair of men there, wearing the same sort of clothes and longer jackets. It wasn't exactly a uniform. More like they had all gotten clothes at the same place.

The Planeteers were hustled out of the limo and into the elevator directly. The doors closed, and the elevator started moving upward.

Gi studied the plaque on the wall. "The Plaza Hotel."

"Really?" Wheeler said with interest. "Well, I was worried Gaia would be a tough act for the next kidnapper to follow. This will be interesting at least."

The doors opened and the five of them came out into a palace.

"My god…" Kwame murmured. His house had tin walls and only a few rooms. Gi's home was a boat, Wheeler had an apartment, Linka's room was always filled with cracks that let in the cold, Ma-Ti shared a thatched hut with bamboo walls between rooms on the edge of the Amazon River…

The sheer opulence of the suite was staggering. Maybe even a little revolting to them.

The furniture was completely antique, the walls made from hard expensive wood. The lights were all ornate, the furnishings beyond expensive. The fixtures and fittings were all 24 carat gold, and the rooms somehow had perfectly blended technology, with huge flat screen televisions and stereo and computer equipment kept unobtrusively within reach. For a long moment, none of them so much as moved away from the elevator.

From an adjacent room came what could only be an authentic English butler. "Sirs and Madams. Mr Stumm has asked me to send along his greetings, and to express his regrets that he could not be here in person. His journey to New York will take a little longer than your own. He has insisted that you make full use of the facilities until he arrives this evening." The man did not let anything show on his face but he took in the five of them with some slight disapproval. "The Plaza does provide round the clock dry-cleaning and shopping service if you would care to take advantage of them. Suitable attire is of course provided in each room and bath."

Everyone glanced at each other. They were still bruised and bloodied from the battle in ANWR. Those that hadn't been hurt were at least covered in dried mud. When faced with such scrupulous cleanliness and prestige, it was easy to feel… inferior.

Ma-Ti closed his eyes a moment, and gave Kwame a brief nod.

Kwame turned to the Butler. "We will; thank you. What is your name sir?"

The butler actually looked surprised that anyone had asked. "You may call me Appleby sir. As guests in the Royal Plaza Suite, you will of course enjoy round the clock butler services. If you should require anything, please summon me." He gestured at a buzzer that was set into the wall, carved from what looked like solid gold. "Will there be anything else?"

"Some food please." Wheeler piped up. "We've been traveling a while."

"Indeed sir. I shall have a wide selection made available immediately."

Appleby left them, and they all relaxed a bit. "This is unreal!"

Gi had located a guide book, embossed with the Plaza logo. "Let's see here… Here we go. The Royal Plaza Suite is one of a kind, taking up the entire floor, and having private elevator access." She looked up. "That explains it. Nobody could see us come in and leave, and there are no other guests on this floor."

Wheeler was going through doors at random. "Good grief, how many rooms does this place have?"

Gi turned back to the booklet. "Here. Four Thousand, Four hundred and ninety square feet. Three bedrooms, three baths. A private Gym, a personal library stocked with luxury books, a dining room that seats twelve, a butler's pantry, a grand piano, a state-of-the-art kitchen-"

"Enough!" Linka interrupted with anger. "My god, this is… you could sell a chair in this place and feed my home town for a decade! The extravagance in this place is… is disgusting. How do wealthy people live like this?"

There was a silent moment.

"I call the main bedroom!" Wheeler said finally and he went off to find it.

"You're leaving mud all over the floor!" Gi shouted after him absently.

"Hey! They can afford to have the floors scrubbed."

"By poor migrant children no doubt." Linka mumbled to herself and sighed. "But, I could use a bath."

"Me too." Kwame looked down at himself. "We never really planned for this, did we? Where food would come from, or how we could wash our clothes…"

Gi shrugged. "We haven't starved yet."

The Planeteers had been told in no uncertain terms that Stumm himself would be joining them in a few hours. They took advantage of the Royal Suite and its amenities to clean up and change clothes. There were temporary clothes in all the closets, all of them a perfect fit. Their clothing was taken, dry cleaned, and returned in less than an hour, and the Planeteers, now rested from their sleep on the flight, had taken to searching the room more thoroughly.

"The phones don't work!" Wheeler noticed with surprise.

Kwame called to Gi in the next room, where some of the expensive computer equipment was. "Gi? Can you get the Internet?"

"No!" Gi called back a moment later.

Wheeler turned on the television, set into an art deco framing. "We've got the TV. More than 300 channels."

"Information coming into the room, but none going out." Kwame surmised. "They don't want us talking to anyone while we're here."

Linka gestured at the balcony. "Anyone in New York know smoke signals?"

"None that I know of."

The food was delivered a moment later, through the private elevator, and with Appleby in the lead, a small army of servers made their way in a near unbroken convoy from the elevator to the main dining hall to lay out tray after tray of various foods. Fruits, meats, fish, drinks. Small canapés and huge portions. No expense was spared. Sterling silver was laid out at each place, and gold rimmed dishes with crystal glassware of all varieties were set out, and the servers vanished again.

The smell of it all made them suddenly aware of how long it had been since any of them had eaten, and the five of them gathered around.

"Do we trust it?"

"We trusted the place enough to get a shower; we might as well eat too." Wheeler said pragmatically.

Ma-Ti picked some exotic fruit off the nearest plate and took a bite. "It's clear."

"You telling me you can taste it if it was poisoned?"

"If it was poisoned, it would probably kill me." Ma-Ti reasoned.

Kwame waved it all off. "This is the helicopter argument all over again. We've had plenty of opportunities to be betrayed. They haven't taken any of them. I honestly think this is exactly what he said it was. So. We haven't eaten a solid meal in over twenty hours, and we don't know where we'll be tomorrow. Let's eat."

Everyone tucked in. They treated the endless trays like something of a buffet, taking bits and pieces, mostly sticking to things they recognized.

Wheeler had the roast beef, sliced a few large thick slices off the bone, and cut one of the larger dinner rolls in half, eating them as burgers.

Gi watched him do it with half an eye. "Wheeler, we're got a five star spread here, and you're forcing it to look like a cheeseburger?"

"Hey, it's a five star cheeseburger!" The American countered, and took a big bite.

Gi rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm sticking to the fish platter."

"To each their own."

"I was researching the matter the other day. Did you know that more than a third of greenhouse gases come from the meat industry? Seriously. They raise cattle like hens in a battery farm. A dozen to a cage, fattening them up till they're big enough to ship and eat. You get as much greenhouse gas from hamburgers as you do from cars. Save a tree. Go vegetarian,."

Wheeler took that in, his face motionless at mid chew. After a time he swallowed dramatically. "A place like this? Most likely free range."

Everyone rolled their eyes as Wheeler took another enormous bite. "Ghe Hid-"

"Swallow." Linka told him.

Wheeler did so. "I said: Besides, if we all have to go vegetarian… what's the point of saving the planet?"

The others rolled their eyes again, and they ate in silence for a while.

The others ate in intervals, taking turns as they did with the showers, just in case.

Once he'd finished, Kwame moved through the suite, checking on the others. Ma-Ti was running his fingers over one of the antique light switches over and over with his eyes closed, flipping the lights off and on. Kwame didn't have a clue what Ma-Ti was seeing that he wasn't, and left him to it.

Wheeler and Linka were still in the drawing room, clustered around the wet bar. Wheeler was coughing and spluttering into a tumbler. Linka was watching him amused, with a bottle of something clear in one hand, and her own tumbler in the other.

Wheeler wiped his watering eyes. "What, do you have a cast iron mouth or something?"

"I'm Russian." Linka said, as though that explained everything, waving the bottle at him gently. "This is Vodka. Scotch is what we use when we run out of baby formula." She mocked, gesturing at his glass.

"You're just trying to get me drunk, aren't you?" Wheeler struggled to regain his composure. "So you can have your wicked way with me."

"I don't need to get you drunk for that."

Kwame left them to it and ducked out.

He found Gi in the Gymnasium. She was working out, currently at a full run on the treadmill. "Hey."

"Hey." She puffed. "How's it going out there?"

"Linka and Wheeler are having a discussion on the merits of international relations and booze." Kwame reported. "You think those two are going to be a problem?"

"I think they should just get a room."

"We've got three of them right now." Kwame quipped. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all."

Kwame took one of the free-weight machines and spent some time exercising with her. "You do this a lot?" He asked. "You seem to be in pretty good condition."

"Didn't know you were watching." She drawled.

"Touché." Kwame commented, speeding up his reps.

Not to be outdone, Gi discreetly worked the controls, speeding up the treadmill. "I'm a surfer. We keep in pretty good shape. How about you?"

"Not much deliberate exercise. But it's a very physical life, mining in Africa."

"I'd imagine so." Gi puffed slightly, pushing herself. "You seemed in pretty good shape too, going up the mountain in Australia."

"Didn't know you were watching." Kwame returned.

"I wasn't, not till Alaska at least." Gi responded instantly.

Kwame was caught off guard again. Gi laughed to herself at the look on his face.

Ma-Ti came in. "We have company. Or we will in a minute."

Gi and Kwame slowed their machines, and finished, toweling off quickly.

Appleby was a bit surprised to see them all gathered around the elevator when the doors opened, but he didn't as much as blink. "Mr Stumm has arrived, and he asks that you join him in the main Living Room."

The five of them did so. The main living room was larger than most of their homes put together, and had plenty of places to sit, though they all felt a little uncomfortable sitting on the expensive antiques.

But within moments, they heard the elevator open again, and in came Stumm.

He was stooped, average height, hunched over a little, and his eyes never stopped moving. His mouth was in a permanent sneer and his nose was long and hooked. But his suit was expensive, his hair immaculate and his manner hard to figure out. "So. Here you all are. I have watched you all on monitors and screens for the past week, I wondered if you really existed, or if you were some product of some special effects setup. Impossible though that is." He made his way to the center chair, and made himself comfortable in it. "I do apologize for making you wait, but I was in Indonesia when I contacted you. I hope you have all been made comfortable in the interim."

"We would have been just as comfortable downstairs." Kwame pointed out. "I daresay you could have afforded thirty rooms for the price of this one."

"True, but this suite afforded us privacy during transit, and it has a certain… opulence to it. One that demonstrates just exactly how much better we are than the great unwashed down there, trapped at street level. This room is the Great Dream."

The Planeteers didn't know much about this man, but they knew they didn't like him.

Stumm read that easily. "But of course, the usual grand dreams don't apply to the five of you, do they? You're… noble. The dangerous kind. The kind of noble where you don't mind getting your knuckles dirty as long as it's in the name of a good cause."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a laser pointer, but he didn't point it at anything when he clicked the button on the end. The big flat screen television jumped to life and showed what looked like a promotional video for The Corporation. All paid testimonies and logos...

"So, let's talk about great noble causes for a moment. For instance, how about world peace? A dream that plenty of people have tried for. Imagine for a moment that two armies are fighting over oil, or land? The Corporation can gain any amount of resources, influence any government zoning laws… We could lay claim to any area. Buy it and develop it, portion it out as we see fit. Wars become academic. Sovereignty becomes irrelevant, as long as ownership is assured. Other causes? Poverty? Unemployment? We can take care of that. Where once were slums, now industry. Where once was homelessness, now there are workers."

"You obviously haven't been down south side of Brooklyn lately." Wheeler commented. "There are new Corporation stores up all over the place. They padlock the dumpsters so that the homeless can't get into them."

Stumm ignored that. "When terrible things happen in the world, people demand to know: 'Why doesn't somebody do something?' Once, that 'somebody' was a government, or a cop, or a hospital… now it's us. Money makes the world go round. And we have more of it than anyone. The Corporation is Global. The idea was simple. Take the abilities, products and workforce of the largest most stable companies in the world and pool these resources. Everyone stands to gain, and what spreads commerce and industry, spreads progress and prosperity."

"Unless you can't afford anything. Then spreads crime and desperation and starvation, because there's nobody else to turn to." Kwame put in.

Stumm took the hint. They weren't falling for the rhetoric. "Fine. Let's talk in facts. The Corporation is global. We have more money than most countries, a population of workers greater than the population of Australia, more money than two-thirds of the western world, enough vehicles, produce, energy and everything in between to outfit the world. If we decide to leave an area, that area will starve, plain and simple. People work as we direct them, pay as we decide, and eat or starve by our whim. We are gods. And like any Pantheon of Gods, we have our true believers, we have our servants, and we have heretics to defy us. Last week saw three such acts of defiance."

He clicked his little laser pointer, and the television suddenly changed images to show a news report, the same one Wheeler had seen about the Chemical Plant in Linka's hometown being destroyed by a freak tornado.

"Incident one, there was a tornado disaster on the edge of the Great Northern Forest. Though there was a small town nearby, there was only one facility damaged. A Chemical treatment plant, run by The Corporation. Tornadoes are created by existing storm fronts, but that night, there was nothing but clear sky. Witness reports were therefore verified by camera footage. We have eyes watching all the angles."

The image changed again, this time the footage of a security camera. It was a night time image, but there in the center of the frame, standing defiantly on a hilltop, was the unmistakable shape of Linka, left fist extended. The image was moving, and her left hand lit up with a fierce light blue glow. She waved her hand a few times like a conductor, and then the image went to static.

"Now, I don't appreciate being called a madman, and I know for a fact that nobody would believe for a second that it is what it looks like, but when people see a tornado spontaneously form, they run. They don't wave at it. It defies the laws of reality, but the image is unmistakable. The young woman on that hill top is somehow connected to a tornado." He turned his weasel eyes on Linka. "Now, unless there are two of you, and I doubt the sighted world is so lucky, that was… you. Wasn't it, Miss Petrova?"

Linka said nothing.

"Incident two. A copper mine in Africa. It started out as a family run business, and grew to include thousands of workers. But the Mine is poorly placed for such a large workforce, and the mine runs dry. A nearby facility belonging to The Corporation takes note of this fact and takes advantage of it, giving the opportunity to form an unofficial trade agreement regarding some of the unfortunate by-products of their trade."

"They paid off the Mine to store illegal toxic waste." Wheeler translated.

"If you prefer." Stumm didn't seem at all concerned. He clicked the pointer and the image on screen shifted to show police-style photographic evidence of the barrels, with the toxic symbol clearly visible on the side. "The trade continues until last week, when the heir to ownership, eldest child of the business founder, decides in the name of 'personal reasons' to throw away a guaranteed job and home, which is no small thing in that area, and leaves the country, leaving behind a deathly ill sister, prognosis terminal. The timing is sad to say the least. Interviews with people who knew this man found it unfathomable, given how much time he had spent volunteering to help out, and how much of his standing pay check went to them anyway. The day he leaves, there is a sudden earth tremor, and some of those 'unfortunate by-products', are brought to light. Literally, in fact. Interviews with the staff indicate that the ground simply opened, flowed apart like water, and the tunnel underneath was raised to the surface, revealing its contents."

The image changed again to show Kwame at the gate, looking back. The timing was obvious, as other staff members were running away, panicked over the sudden ground movement. Kwame was untouched by any of it, holding out his left hand, ring visible and glowing a natural green.

Stumm smirked. "Witness reports say that it was done so smoothly, that the barrels didn't even tip over. Quite amazing for such a localized earthquake. The mine is now under government investigation. An investigation, incidentally, that will find no link to The Corporation, or its holdings." He turned his sub-zero gaze on Kwame. "Now, unless I'm mistaken, that was… you. Wasn't it Mr Deka?"

Kwame didn't answer, couldn't meet his gaze.

Wheeler was not so afflicted, jumping up and storming over to Stumm. "Listen you-"

"INCIDENT THREE!" Stumm shrieked with such sudden menace that Wheeler sat down again, very hard. Stumm had his voice back under control in the space between words. "A relatively low level member of the Corporation, Mr Howard Arjay, makes a complaint to the Brazilian Authorities. His story is taken by the police, and immediately dismissed as being ridiculous. The only corroborating witness revises his statement twice in the same hour, eventually claiming memory loss. Witnesses say that a 'pack of wild jaguar' escorted them to the edge of the Amazon Jungle, and left them there at the road. No small event given that jaguar are solitary hunters and do not form packs. Arjay is summarily dismissed from the authorities, but will not take the hint, and makes his case instead to the Security Forces of The Corporation, demanding punitive action. He names a young boy whom he claims had altered his hunting trail markers a few days before. The allegations are briefly investigated, and lead to the family of a young boy, Ma-Ti Costa. When your family is questioned, reports say that you wandered off into the jungle days ago, haven't been seen or heard from since, and they simply couldn't be more okay with it." He fixed those eyes on Ma-Ti. "There's not some other fifteen year old wandering around the Amazon right now, is there Mr Costa?"

Ma-Ti didn't seem to be looking at him, but he answered anyway. "…there's nothing left to be a stone…" He murmured finally. "How are you even alive?"

Stumm shook that off without missing a beat. "Now then. As head of appropriations for our defense contracts, I have considerable pull with The Corporation's Private Security Forces. It's something of an open secret, that they are offered freelance work as a mercenary force. I make it a point to read all reports of anything unusual. One never knows when an inconvenient truth could slip through the cracks and disappear. As a result, I was made aware of all these incidents. When I realized that they were happening internationally, I began a search for the three of you. My search led me first to Moscow, when Miss Petrova had purchased a ticket to New York City. I flagged her name, so that she would be arrested on arrival, and looked into it. Her ticket was paid for via money order from an American construction worker named James Bond Johnson."

The image changed again, this time to Wheeler's latest mug shot, and Wheeler twitched. The picture was taken only a few days before, the time he had been picked up with Avery.

"James Bond Johnson?" Linka interrupted.

Wheeler was doing a slow burn. "Now you know why I prefer Wheeler."

Stumm smirked again, enjoying himself. "Mr Johnson had recently been arrested on suspicion of gang violence, summarily dismissed and released as Self-Defense. Then he goes home and sends a large sum of money to a girl in Russia that he has no way of knowing. Local news says that the same day, a building being used as a hangout for members of said gang is consumed by what fire-fighters on the scene describe as 'an incredibly controlled, localized fire that went out the second we got there'. The fire leads to the discovery of illicit evidence, and several arrests are made of the gang that accosted Mr Johnson that same week."

The image shifted again, this time showing Wheeler's personal effects from the arrest. The ring was clearly visible, right next to his wallet and the seed packets.

Stumm continued, spelling out the story. "Now of course, these things all happen at the local level, and while the fire is unusual, the Fire Department doesn't make its reports to The Corporation. The whole matter might have passed unnoticed. But Mr Johnson comes up again soon after, in a small incident at JFK Airport."

The image on the television shifted back to another video clip, this one a security camera of Linka being arrested by the Airport guards, and her immediate release after a quick but pointed conference with Ma-Ti and Wheeler.

"Three incidents taking place internationally now include a fourth occurring at the local level. Of the three people we are watching, Miss Petrova Mr Deka, and Mr Costa, a fourth, Mr Johnson is involved. And three of them have met. My attention is piqued, to say the least. There are no records of any connections of any kind between any of you, and then one day you all go rogue and decide to find each other? It's a mystery. Mr Deka then reappears on the grid, having hitchhiked his way to Tambo International Airport, and purchased a ticket to Taiwan, which has a number of connecting flights to New York. But Mr Deka does not make his connecting flight, and his bank accounts are now frozen due to the investigation into the corporate accounts and activities of Deka Mining. It took me a full two minutes to discover that he had made alternate travel plans."

The image shifted again, this one a security camera in Taiwan Airport. The image was of Kwame and Gi giving each other a greeting hug. The image froze on Kwame's back, the ring on Gi's fingers clearly visible.

Gi sank into her chair unconsciously, as Stumm looked to her. "You were the only one not on my radar Miss Takashi. You should have stayed at home where you were safe."

The Planeteers were feeling their hearts sink. They had barely started, and this man who could send armies after them, knew all their names, all their families, all their connections to each other…

Stumm leaned back in his chair, summing up. "When I found out you were all headed to New York, I waited. All I had to do was wait for you to get here. I waited a little longer to see if there were any other Ring-Bearers coming, and as it happened, that was almost a mistake. You all disappeared again. There was no record of you leaving, until you finally reappeared on the grid, this time purchasing a rental agreement in Alaska."

Kwame sent Ma-Ti a quick glance. Ma-Ti had talked them past airport security, so that Linka would not have been picked up, but the Rental Agreement had not been in her name either. "Hold on. We bought plane tickets."

"Miss Petrova did not." Stumm commented.

"You had her name tagged, but not the rest of us?" Kwame commented, and noticed the other Planeteers sitting up, taking notice.

Stumm glared at him for a microsecond, caught out. "You're too clever for your own good Mr Deka." He sighed. "Okay, fine. I don't have all your names flagged. I can slip one name onto every watch list in the civilized world, but five at once would be noticed."

"Noticed by who? You said yourself that you have a lot of weight with your mercenary force."

"Corporation Private Security Force." Stumm corrected.

Kwame waited.

"Fine." Stumm confessed. "It was… necessary to remain unobtrusive. To go unnoticed by… the rest of the Directors in The Corporation."

"Why?" Linka asked sharply.

Stumm smirked. "And now of course, we come to the reason you are here. I wasn't sure at first, what you people were about, if your apparent abilities were real, or just smoke and mirrors. So I sent a modest force to engage you at ANWR, and see what happened. I figured if you were a hoax, you'd be uncovered pretty quickly."

"A modest force?" Kwame repeated in disbelief.

"Some of those people did not survive." Linka pointed out, more to see what he would say than anything else.

"They worked for me. I knew what the risks were."

"What if we weren't the real thing?" Gi piped up. "What if we'd been killed in your attack?"

"Then I would have known that you weren't what I was looking for." Stumm said slowly and patiently, as though he was explaining a very simple concept.

"And now that you know, what do you want?" Wheeler cut to the point.

Stumm leaned forward. "Your investigation at ANWR was on the right track. You simply failed to get there in time. How much do you know?"

Kwame felt everyone glance at him again and volunteered some of the information. "We know that someone has been drilling in the Refuge. We know that it was someone in The Corporation, and we know that it's a mobile rig that can do so covertly. We know that they have the ability to hide information that does leak out, and we know that nobody on the ground knew about it."

Stumm shook his head slowly. It almost seemed as though he was going to laugh for a moment. "Five young people managed to track down what no news, government or law enforcement agency on the Planet can get to. You really have to wonder sometimes."

"So, let's hear the story." Kwame said evenly.

"You already have the story." Stumm said. "What you need is the background, the reason why, and the facts to back them up."

Stumm clicked his control again, and the screen lit up with a familiar set of news footage. It had been on every screen in the world once upon a time.

"Six Months after the corporation was formed, there was an explosion on the Mediterranean Oceanic Oil Rig." Stumm narrated. "The explosion resulted in the deaths of thirty six workers. It was an international tragedy witch resulted in ecological disaster. After a quick investigation, it was ruled an industrial accident. Unfortunate. Unpredictable. Defensible. Forgivable. The ruling was that it was not the fault of any of the employees or the equipment. The ruling of the investigation was that drilling for oil is inherently dangerous, and the risks are accepted by all that do it. A tragic accident and nothing else. What nobody knew was that the head of the investigation was hired by a Corporation legal subsidiary soon after, making him one of our best paid employees."

"So the Corporation paid the investigators off to clear themselves?" Wheeler said sarcastically. "What a shock."

"What did cause the accident?" Linka asked.

"Sabotage." Stumm explained. "The sabotage was carefully done to be hard to spot by any of the workers, but set to be fatal to as many workers as possible. The target was not the rig, but the employees." Stumm smirked. "The investigation did not consider the manifests of who came aboard the rig prior to the explosion. The manifests showed only Corporation Employees came aboard. One of them however, was not registered to work on the Mediterranean Rig."

"The saboteur was from The Corporation?" Kwame asked. "Why would they sabotage their own Oil Rig? To drive up prices?"

"To take lives." Stumm smirked. The image changed again. Pictures of all the workers killed in the explosion. "This is where the story diverges a little. Four years before the explosion on the Rig, a group of Energy Producers, who incidentally would later go on to join The Corporation, bring forward a plan before Congress for an Automated Drill Platform. The plan is denied, based on the notion that a complex piece of machinery full of heavy equipment and explosive elements like oil would be far too dangerous. Four months after formation of The Corporation, there is a Mid-Term election, and fourteen congressmen who voted against the Automated Drill Platform are voted out of office. The ones that replace them had huge campaign contributions from The Corporation. Two months after that, the explosion in the Mediterranean, and The Corporation brings the plan for the ADP forward once again. In response to the public grief over the loss of those poor workers, and thanks to the many hours of footage of weeping widows on every station that belongs to The Corporation Media Division, this time the plan is passed, and the first prototype of the Automated Drill Platform is under construction soon after."

Gi raised her hand like she was in class. "I remember this part. The ADP was put in the Mediterranean to replace the one that exploded." She seemed to think for a moment. "Actually, wasn't there something in the news about a bunch of scientists that said it was all a con?"

"Indeed. They were laughed out of the room, but as it happens… They were right." Stumm confirmed. "The Automated Platform in the Med Sea was a hoax. It's never produced a drop of oil."

Hushed silence.

"Then where was the oil coming from?" Gi asked.

"From ANWR." Kwame said coldly. "That's what this was about. You were running out of Oil in the Med Sea, so you blew more than thirty of your own workers to hell and used their deaths as a rallying cry to build a new rig that would have no people on it."

"That's right." Stumm said, unconcerned. "With no workers, there would be no witnesses to the fraud, and we have a mobile drilling platform taking whatever we need from wherever we want, and nobody to notice that we were doing it. The oil comes pouring in; nobody cares where it comes from. So with us to cook the books and announce that the Oil is coming from the Med, we can take it from wherever we want and not have to pay any start-up fees, any permit fees, inspections don't happen… The rest, as they say, is history."

Chilly silence.

"Well, it's a hell of a story." Wheeler conceded. "Why tell us?"

"Because I want this to stop." Stumm snarled, suddenly furious. "There's no profit in the destruction of the ecosystem. I want this... rape of the world to stop!"

"Try again." Wheeler snapped instantly. "Keep talking and maybe you'll say something believable enough to erase all that other stuff you just said."

Stumm actually smirked. "Fine. Turn on the TV, pick up a paper. They'll tell you the same thing. The world is running out of resources. But that's a narrow viewpoint. Miss Takashi agrees with me."

Everyone looked at Gi in shock. "I do?" She said in a small uncertain voice.

"You do. And the way that I know that, is because you said so in your interview with Wired magazine when you competed in the Solar Car race."

Gi's expression cleared. "Oh. That. I was talking about how innovations made a lot of problems redundant."

"The laboratories and production lines we have? The Corporation is the only hope for innovation you have left."

"I didn't mean it to be a way to allow-"

"Nevertheless, that's what you did." Stumm countered. "I especially liked the line about how quickly the world went from 8-Track tapes to Blu-Ray players. Trees were once cut down to make books. More people buy their books electronically now than anything else. The Corporation is saving trees and nobody notices. Innovation makes solving a problem redundant."

The five of them didn't have an answer to that, because it was true.

"When the world runs out of fossil fuels, The Corporation will own all the alternatives. When the farms die out, The Corporation will own all the synthetics. Appius is a chump. He's doing a bad job. He's short sighted. He's making his profits, and playing the same game that every other CEO on Wall Street has played for centuries, as though The Corporation was just another business. And I want him gone. Office politics, the reasons don't concern you."

"Then go ahead." Linka sneered. "You don't need us. You have all the information, you have the clout with the authorities, take him down. You don't need us."

"Actually, I do." Stumm said. "You see, there's a... complication."

"That being?"

"When The Corporation was formed, Appius was voted unanimously as CEO." Stumm explained, telling another story. "Unanimously. That's unheard of. More than eighty high level executives, plus their various underlings were fired in The Great Merger, and they were denied their Golden Handshakes on their way out the door. I'm a very wealthy man, and I can tell you with some authority that kicking many wealthy and powerful people to the curb with nothing, is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Appius had... help."

"From who?"

"From his hatchet man. It is at this point in our story that along comes a spider. A man who has no moral qualms whatsoever, and who is willing to kill for whatever profit he cares to name. A man who never blabs, and has the dirt on everybody who ever lived. He is the one that gathered material damaging and humiliating enough to make several hundred powerful and greedy people walk away with nothing, and the same man who sabotaged the Mediterranean Oil Rig, and never spoke of it to anyone. His name is Argos Bleek."

Gi reacted. "That's the name on the IP account. He's the one that killed the reports about drilling in ANWR."

"Correct. He's the one that kills press stories, kills public scrutiny... and on occasion kills people who get in the way. He has the full dirt on anyone who may cross him or Appius one day, and he's a cold blooded killer. He's dangerous. If I or any member of The Corporation try and turn Appius in, I will be found dead soon after... if I'm lucky. A legal challenge can be dodged, argued away. The Board of Directors don't care about immoral business practices. I know, because I'm one of them and I don't care. I can convince them to take on Appius and Bleek, but I need something pretty tough to lay on him. Something that could be very damaging to The Corporation. something that makes it worth cutting Appius loose."

"The mobile Rig." Kwame guessed. "An illegal oil rig that's tasked to strip mine nature reserves illegally."

"Environmental issues are very touchy nowadays. If you can expose that little operation, I can clean house at The Corporation." Stumm finished. "And, I can clear off your records. No connections to each other, or to your remarkable bag of tricks. Bleek isn't the only one who knows how to kill unpleasant truths."

Silence.

Ma-Ti's ring glimmered a little. I can hear you. What do you think?

Kwame's voice came next. Does anyone have any reason to doubt this information?

You can't tell me you trust him. Wheeler interrupted. He can send an army to ANWR after us, and he can track us across the world from any security cam he likes, but he can't handle some Hitman-slash-Blackmailer called Bleek on his own?

I agree. Linka said. This man is looking to gain from this somehow. He hasn't even asked how we can do the things we can do. So what's he really focused on?

Do we care? Gi asked. I mean, we want to stop them, does it matter why this guy is helping us?

Yes! Wheeler said instantly. If we get into bed with this guy and lose, we could all go down with him. Or worse, end up working for him. What if he sends us after someone innocent next time?

Then next time, we say no. Kwame said firmly. Wheeler, you were worried about taking on powerful people who would retaliate. It wouldn't hurt to have one of them backing us too.

Silence. Not a word had been spoken aloud, and the five of them were having their silent conversation, looking back and forth at each other. Stumm was watching, unable to hear any of their little conference. Finally, they all turned back to him.

"Do we have a deal?" Stumm demanded.

"...yes." Kwame said finally. "But just for this. After that, we'll have to find out later. First we try, then we trust."

Stumm nodded. "Agreed. I can't be connected to you just yet anyway."

Kwame turned back to the immense globe. "So. Where do we find the rig now?" He asked. "Obviously, it isn't at ANWR any more."

Stumm nodded. "The Mobile Rig has moved. It's now far out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's nobody close by to catch them so they can take their time. They've been there a few days, and will likely stay where they are for some time. They've discovered Oil reserves out in the middle of International Waters. Nobody has jurisdiction out there, so there's nobody with the authority to drill." The screen behind Stumm lit up again, with an oceanic map. Cross-hairs were drawn over a spot in the middle of the ocean, south of the Equator.

"And... how do we get to it?" Kwame asked.

"Oh no." Stumm said with no small amusement. "You see, if we're going to do this without anyone finding out I'm the one that tipped you off, then I can't help you. I pointed you in the right direction; the rest is up to you."

"And how exactly are we supposed to get halfway out into the Pacific Ocean?" Linka demanded.

Stumm seemed surprised. "What? You can't walk on water?"

"Well, even if we could, it's a long walk."

Gi snorted. "It can be done."

"How?" Ma-Ti asked.

"Well!" Wheeler said brightly. "Seems we've got a plan, and I think we've taken up enough of your time Mr Stumm. Come friends, let us away."

The other got the point. They didn't talk about plans and abilities in front of this guy.

Stumm smirked and at that moment, the door opened, and two guards came in. Strumm gestured at one of them. "Take these nice people outside." His voice hardened. "Remember, nobody can know who told you where to go."

Kwame nodded. "Who'd believe us anyway?"

"Appius might." Stumm actually seemed to shiver. "Him and his trained attack viper Bleek." His eyes hardened. "It would be easy. I can draw a line between the destruction of our property and the unnatural powers of five young people. Putting five names on international law enforcement lists means going outside The Corporation. Our own internal lists are much easier. It would be nothing; it would be less than nothing for me to freeze your accounts, tag your passports, put out warrants, deny you the use of any ATM, any credit card. You will never have an account, a safety deposit box, a car, a rental, a home loan, a cell phone, a driver's license, a job, or anything involving people ever again. Your faces will be broadcast on every screen from a cell phone up. Screw this up, and my last act will be to make sure you all burn with me."

The Planeteers were marched out without another word, to the service elevators. They were given the elevator alone; their guards staying behind. The Elevator took them down to the garage level, and the five of them were met by a new team of guards who quickly hustled them to a black van with blacked out windows.

They were dropped off in the middle of Central Park. It was late, and there were few people about. The black van was halfway up the street before the young people were able to sort out where they were.

"That was fun!" Wheeler said first thing. Everyone just stared at him. "What? It was! You know that scene when the heroes and the super villain have some elaborate extravagant dinner, and the evil plot is explained? Stumm was monologue-ing!"

"Yeah. You see it in all the James Bond Movies." Linka added brightly.

Wheeler winced. "Oh hell. I was hoping I dreamed that part."

"You can dish it out, but you sure can't take it, huh Yankee?"

Kwame looked at Gi. "You actually have a way to get us to the middle of the ocean?"

Gi grinned. "I do. You've seen it."

Kwame let out a breath. "Ah. That."

Wheeler looked back and forth between them. "I have a bad feeling about this." He said to Linka.

"Me too." She said solemnly. "We may need 007 to come in and save the da-"

"Stop now." Wheeler said seriously.

Kwame, Gi and Ma-Ti all rolled their eyes and headed off up the street toward the nearest train station.

"Ooh. Power. I like this." Linka considered, enjoying herself.

Wheeler sighed, conceding defeat. Well, some days you get the hot Russian blonde, some days the hot Russian blonde gets you. He thought to himself. "Okay. What do you want?"

Linka noticed that the others left them behind, and sidled in close to him. "Well, there is one thing I want. It's been on my mind for a while now. Pretty much since the second I met you in fact."

Wheeler froze as she pressed in close and slid her hands up his chest. "Oh. Ah. Um… am I going to like this wish?"

"Maybe." Linka drawled. She put her face close to his, nearly nipping at his jaw. "Don't you ever… ever… call me babe, ever again." She breathed hotly in his ear.

Wheeler was lost. He would have promised her a kidney is she'd asked for it. "S-sure." He managed to squeak, a full two octaves higher than usual.

A loud 'hey taxi' whistle from up the street interrupted them. "If you two are about done vaporizing each other's deodorant, some of us would actually like to save the world today!" Gi called back at them in amusement.

Linka moved back with all a gymnasts grace and actually started to slink toward the others, victorious. "Right with you."

Wheeler on the other hand, was frozen in place, not having so much as twitched. He stayed that way for a very long time. "Yowza."

AN: Planeteer Exposition Fest 2011!

The hardest part in this one, believe it or not, was giving them all names. I discovered in my searching that Wheeler's name in canon was in fact 'Jason' and not 'James' though this was mentioned in exactly one episode (That I am aware of at least). Given that I have already put a first name of 'James' in chapter 3, I figured what the hell, and let it go. James Bond was just my own sadistic amusement. I figured Linka might appreciate something to bargain with.

It was amazing to me that even with an extra few seasons and backstories finally for some of them, none of them had any last names (At least none that I could find). Since the story is non-canon in the strictest sense, I can live with it, but seriously, the writers could at least give the heroes of the world full names!

AN Two: Re-uploaded for corrections to grammar and such.