Disclaimer: As ever, don't own.

Except for the occasional bleating of a sheep or goat, or the exultant cry of a hungry hawk far above that had spotted a field mouse, there was no sound in the low hills surrounding Lake Marsyas. As the rising sun heated the water, a gentle breeze began to blow over the lake, rippling its surface and distorting the strange sight below: rows of columns and paving stones, lined up in perfect order. Once these had been the ruins of a Roman city, until the river was dammed and the lake expanded, submerging them. It was a quiet scene, timeless and eerie.

Not even the man known as Psi dared break the silence. He simply stood, still, watchful, in the tall reeds that fringed the lake, fingers gripping his Glock tightly. As for Jade, who lay bound on the ground at his feet, she could not break the silence, thanks to the duct tape over her mouth. Only her wide eyes conveyed the terror she felt.

Desperately she tried to beam her thoughts toward Cat. Don't come! It's a trap! He'll kill you!

But it was all in vain. Far in the distance she could see the little redhead clambering, step by arduous step, up the road that led from the valley below to the lake. As Psi had demanded, Cat was alone, and she carried nothing with her save a backpack.

No, no, Cat, don't…please don't…run… Jade began to weep.

But Cat appeared entirely undaunted. On the contrary, as she came close enough for the torturer and his prisoner to make out her facial expression, they were both surprised to see that Cat actually seemed cheerful. Indeed, once she had crested the slope and recovered her breath, she actually began to whistle. "Turkey in the Straw", Jade realized. What the hell? Does she really have no idea what's about to happen? Or does she not care?

"Hi, Jadey! Hiya, Mr. Torture Man!" Cat waved.

"You're pretty goddamn flippant, considering I could blow your friend here's brains out at any moment."

"But that would be so mean. What did Jade ever do to you?" The little redhead stared at him blankly – so blankly, in fact, that Jade began to wonder whether her intelligence boost had somehow been undone.

Psi, on the other hand, was not so easily fooled. "I'm really not in the mood to play games, Caterina. Put the backpack down and walk toward me. Slowly."

"Okey-dokey." With exaggerated care, Cat slipped the pack off, placed it on the ground, and began to unzip it.

"Hey!" Psi cocked his pistol and pressed it against Jade's temple. "I didn't say to open it, you little brat!"

"Oh, you didn't? Oopsy-doodle. I just thought you might like to see what was inside it." She peeled down the front flap of the pack. Jade's eyes widened still further, and had it not been for the gag, she would have gasped.

It was Cat's miniature black hole.

The torturer eyed it warily, not comprehending quite what it was, but obviously sensing that it was dangerous. "What the hell do you think you're playing at? If that's a bomb, I swear to God I'll put a bullet in Jade's brain right here and now."

"A bomb?" Cat began to laugh, a dry, bitter laugh, and her façade of silliness vanished. "I take it your employers didn't tell you much about that 'source of infinite energy' they wanted you to extract from me. This is it, Mr. Scarface, right here. The answer to the fossil fuel crisis, all in a tiny little box. Let Jade go, and it's all yours."

He looked quickly from her to the tiny, whirling dark mass, then back to her face. "I don't believe you. You're trying to put one over on me."

Cat shrugged. "Okay, fine. If you want to turn your back on the greatest scientific innovation since the wheel, be my guest. But I'm guessing your employers won't be too happy when they find out what a chance you missed. Especially since you already screwed up once by letting me escape."

Her words had clearly rattled him. His iron grip on his gun began to waver; he looked again at the mysterious box. His brow furrowed.

"Well?" asked Cat. "I don't have all day."

How can she be so nonchalant? Jade wondered again.

"…All right." He dragged Jade to her feet with his free hand, then pushed her toward Cat. Once Jade was safely in the little redhead's arms, he raised his weapon again. "Now both of you, back the hell away."

They complied. Cat pulled out a pocketknife and cut Jade's hands free, then pulled the tape from her mouth with a single swift movement. As she did so, she whispered: "Get behind me."

"But, why-"

"Just do it, Jade."

Jade thought she had never seen so serious a look on her normally happy-go-lucky friend's face, and she did not dare disobey. Hurriedly she slipped behind Cat.

Psi stepped sideways in front of the box, never once taking his eyes off the two girls or lowering his gun. "I guess I owe you thanks, Caterina. With this – whatever it is, exactly – my employers can finally complete their plans, and – shall we say – 'shake things up' a bit. And then a glorious new day will dawn for mankind."

He took careful aim at her chest. "Unfortunately, you won't be around to see it."

"You're still going to kill me, even after I gave you what you wanted?"

He laughed. "Of course I am, you little twit. You scarred my face. You embarrassed me in front of my fellow operatives. You ruined my life. I never had any intention of letting you leave here alive. Honestly, I would have thought that someone as brilliant as you're supposed to be would have realized that."

"As it happens, I did." And, with a huge grin, Cat clicked her right heel twice in quick succession against the dirt, activating a concealed radio transceiver.

For precisely one one-millionth of a second, the magnetic field enclosing the all-devouring black hole dropped. It was far too little time for the man called Psi even to realize what was happening, let alone to pull the trigger; but it was more than enough time for his helpless body to be sucked in by the hole's inexorable gravitational pull and crushed into an unfathomably tiny, unfathomably dense mass of matter. To the astonished Jade, it was as if he had instantaneously and soundlessly vanished from existence.

"How…how did you…"

"Later." Cat was suddenly all grim determination – it almost frightened Jade. "We've got other business to attend to now."

"What do you mean?"

"Thanks to our late and unlamented friend's loose tongue, I now know for certain what his employers are up to. And we're going to stop it."

Without another word, she retrieved a wireless earpiece from her pocket and placed it in her ear. "B. A. R. T&T. This is C. Threat neutralized. J is safe.

"Operation Storm the Castle is a go."