Michael paced the floor of the living room in the home he shared with Doctor Cole. He moved his eyes constantly from one part of the room to the other as he weaved slow patterns on the carpet from his motions. He could hear them, his superiors, their voices filling every fibre of his being. Since he had suffered an attack at the hands of another of Lily's offspring the Judges had had no prior knowledge about they had questioned whether their spy was still up to the task of exacting the role they had given him. Their voices had slowly risen from the smallest of whispers since the attack to shouts that he couldn't get away from. As he felt the presence of another of his kind enter the room he stopped his pacing and held his breath.

It was his time to be judged.

"Robyn?"

Robyn turned sharply to see Kit looking at her strangely. She'd been talking to him and then suddenly trailed off when she felt something far beyond the reach of her senses yet dangerously close. The concern didn't leave his face as she stood up rapidly, stumbled slightly as her equilibrium compensated for the swift movement and left the kitchen without a word. She heard Kit and her guardian of the day get up and start after her as she put her shoes on and wrenched open the front door. Through her compulsion to investigate the source of the niggling she heard her guardian calling on his radio for the second person she needed to be with her.

Having reached one of the Network vehicles Robyn whirled round and faced the now three men that were looking at her with the same strange expression that Kit still stood with plastered on his face.

Indicating the vehicle Robyn looked at her two guardians, her eyes no longer paying any attention to Kit, "Can one of you drive this?"

"I can," One of the men offered standing forward slightly, "What's the emergency? Where do you want to go?"

"There's no time! We have to go now!" Robyn shouted.

The volunteer driver jumped at Robyn's reaction to her question and he began to stammer something about needing authorisation before taking both her and a vehicle out of town as he searched haphazardly in his pockets for the car keys. Robyn didn't seem to want to listen to this and was becoming increasingly impatient, her raised voice having drawn a great deal of attention of the nearby Network men patrolling the town.

She knew that her hurried attempt to leave town was over as quickly as she had begun it when Langford came striding up, his face stormy, and the tingling sensation at the edge of her senses faded. There was no way to trace it now. Whatever it had been it was gone and there was no point in trying to see what it was, the moment had passed.

Defeated, she tramped back to the house with her onlookers now numbering in double figures and all looking confused.

Hearing the commotion outside, Doctor Cole left the Mayor's house and saw the tableau that had just occurred come to its conclusion though he was sure the appearance of someone that hadn't been seen in two weeks would start another one. It was at this point that he considered whether or not he should get his medical kit ready.

Several people made to move forward to halt the progress of the new arrival in town who had parked his car in a rush on the edge of the Town Square but he weaved his way past them and caught up with Robyn.

"What do you want?" She asked coldly, stopping her forward motion and turning round.

Unfazed by Robyn's coldness, Sportacus answered her directly, "I wanted to see you, I was almost here when I saw you storm out of the house. What's the matter? If you need to go somewhere I can take you."

"It doesn't matter anymore. I felt something but it's gone."

Sportacus nodded, hoping that his offer of a ride hadn't been ignored completely. He was trying to offer an olive branch to his alienated daughter. All hope that his attempt to build a bridge with her almost failed until she sighed and looked at him once more.

"Can we talk?" She asked and almost as an afterthought looked over her shoulder at Langford, Kit and her two guardians, "In private?"

Langford huffed but assented, "Very well. But I want a word with you myself when you're done young lady."

Out of the two conversations she was about to have she had to admit to herself that she was looking forward to the one with Langford the least. Gesturing to her father to follow her, she made her way back to the house.

Langford kept his eyes fixed on Robyn's back until she was out of sight behind the front door that had just closed and turned to look at the man that he could hear quietly chuckling just to the side of him.

"Something funny, Kit?" Langford enquired, one of his neatly groomed eyebrows rising as he finished the question.

"Only that I think you stepped in something on your way over here." Kit replied, stifling his chuckles.

Looking down at his shoes, Langford found one of them to be smeared with dog's mess. Grimacing began to walk back in the same direction he had come from and, fortunately for Kit, failed to hear him praise the three legged mongrel who had been the source of what had tarnished the Network operative's shoe.