Previously: As Liz succumbed to waves of despair, Patti let her fury consume her. "YOU!" she bellowed at Callisto, who leaned forward eagerly. "You – you – how DARE you? Shibusen is where we met our friends and learned to be Kid's partners! It's where a lot of innocent kids go to school! It's where Kid works. DCU is where Sis is learning how to help Kid, and it's where Soul and Tsubaki and Maka go! You've ruined it, ruined it, ruined it!" Shaking with rage, Patti clenched her fists, and then launched herself at the witch, tackling her and causing them both to slide across Franky's desk and onto the floor.

"Your soul is mine," Patti hissed, hands wrapped around the witch's throat; Callisto seemed legitimately surprised, eyes wide and maybe a little frightened.

Before Patti could ask Liz to transform, however, the side door to Franky's office burst open. Franky looked at the scene before him with narrowed eyes.

"And just what," he growled, "is going on here?"

...

Callisto used the Thompsons' surpise at Franky's appearance to her advantage; bunching her knees up under Patti, the witch was able to throw the young Weapon off her, Patti's hands slipping from Callisto's throat. Patti flew into the overturned desk, jolting from the impact. Callisto then wasted no time in scrambling to her feet and latching onto Franky's arm.

"Oh, Frrranky-bearrr!" she wailed. "They - they - they attacked me! I had to push the button, I had to!"

"She's lying," Patti snarled, now standing. "And I don't care if you believe me or not; she will pay for what she's done." She held out her hand, and after a moment of pulling herself together, Liz tansformed and landed in her sister's open palm.

Franky seemed remarkably calm for having a bear-witch digging her claws into his arm and two angry Death Scythe-level Weapons facing him. "Now ladies," he said soothingly, "I'm sure we can come to a peaceul resolution. Calli, baby, I'm sure you had your reasons – " Callisto nodded so hard it looked like her head would fall off, not that either Liz or Patti would mind – "and girls, I understand why you might be angry. But let's not upset the applecart too much, y'know?"

He's not frightened enough, Sis, Patti said, slightly perturbed.

I know, Liz replied, narrowing her eyes. He knows something we don't.

"Why shouldn't we?" Patti asked suspiciously. "Why shouldn't I just shoot you now and take down your whole operation?"

"Well, I've still got the vest on," Franky pointed out. Then he reached into the shirt pocket of his white dress shirt and produced another of the black detonators Liz and Patti had so feared. "And I've still got this."

Liz stared at it until she felt her eyes start to burn from not blinking. Patti voiced both of their thoughts with a deadpan, "You have got to be kidding me."

"'fraid not, darling," he replied. "Did you think I'd be stupid enough to not to have some sort of back-up if I used up my leverage? I know you two were just waiting for an opportunity to leave." Franky laughed. "But now you won't! Will you?"

Patti's emotions were a roiling, seething mess, mostly made up of grief and rage. But fear was there, too — fear of what would happen, who else would get hurt, if she gave in to her desire to attack. She wasn't sure if it was her own instincts holding her back, or her sister's slightly calmer influence on her soul, but she nevertheless slightly lowered Liz's Weapon form, ceding defeat, at least for now.

"You're a clever b**tard," she told Franky, voice cold, "but still a b**tard. You'll get what's coming to you."

Franky shrugged. "Maybe," he answered. "But not now. Not today." He nodded to a couple of his boys, who approached Patti cautiously before grabbing hold of her. She glared at one so fiercely he wet his pants, but still she allowed them to drag her away, sister in hand and knowledge of the detonator in Franky's possession at the forefront of her mind.

...
Death City...

"Who said I wanted that? Maybe I just wanted to bask in the idea of having Shinigami's own parrrtnerrrs in my thrrrall." A low, throaty laugh. "I hearrr he begged on his knees for the witches' aid. Do you think he'd do the same to get you two back? Oh how delicious! How prrrecious! To see such a powerrrful man beg me for something!"

Patti's voice, "Is that all...all a game to you? Some sick plan to boost your own self-esteem? How crazy can you be?!"

"You don't underrrstand," Callisto replied. "You don't underrrstand how it felt, when Frrrancesco Scafidi, one of the most powerrrful men in this city, came to me perrrsonally and asked forrr something only I could give. Make him a vest, plant bombs in Death City, hide them frrrom Shinigami – surrre, why not? It was the least I could do, afterrr he'd placed such contrrrol in my hands!"

"It won't be there forever," Liz, this time. "My sister and I don't plan on hanging around here longer than we have to."

"I suppose you'rrre rrright. Hmm." There was a slight pause. "Well, then I'll just have to press my advantage while I have it."

Kid turned off the recording, which had been obtained by the bugs Roy and Garth had managed to plant in Franceso Scafidi's office. "So you see," the shinigami began, clasping his hands together in front of him, "that the attack on Death City was orchestrated by a witch in clear violation of the treaty."

It was a few days after the explosions, and after putting everyone in charge of various departments — rescue, crowd control, PR, medical treatment, etc. (except his own specialty, laying the souls of the dead to rest) — Kid had managed to find time enough to get a meeting with a witch representative to inform the witches of the attack; he was hoping they would give Shibusen leave to deal with this Callisto themselves. The representative, a young-looking girl with red eyes and curly blond hair done up in a ponytail, was named Sherwood von Phoenix. Though she seemed to Kid to resemble a snake more, her file indicated she was affiliated with pandas. In fact, her three panda familiars were waiting outside Kid's office.

Sherwood set down the tea she'd been offered and had been drinking as the recording played. "I don't know, Shinigami-san," she began in a cool, high-pitched voice, "if that is what I see."

Kid felt something shift in the air between them. "I'm sorry?"

"It's just that," she mused, "this doesn't seem to be enough evidence. We see nothing, just voices, and, if I may be bold enough — well, how are we to be expected to trust this wholeheartedly? Our relations are better, Shinigami-san, but not that good. What if all this is just a coward's excuse to not renew the treaty?"

Kid's eyes narrowed and his knuckles went white as he clenched his clasped hands tighter together. "You are not suggesting," he responded tersely, "that we ourselves arranged such a devastating attack on our own people as an excuse?"

"No, no, of course not," Sherwood responded quickly, perhaps realizing she had gone too far. "I only meant the witch's council would like more evidence, that we collect, so we know it won't be so biased." She leaned forward, as if relating a secret. "Don't think we don't know about your run-away partners, Shinigami-san. A shame, really, if I understand it correctly — are condolences in order? But I'm afraid their involvement with the witch in question may be clouding your judgement. Thus, we cannot sanction a raid on her."

"So when will you start your investigation? Kid demanded.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. My department isn't scheduled to report in or another month, and then it might take some time to make it through the chain. And if you know anything about witch bureaucracy..."

"So, first you insult me by sending someone of inferior rank," Kid began irritably, ignoring Sherwood's scowl at the slight, "then dismiss my evidence and untrustworthy, accuse me of attacking my own people and possessing a bias, and then tell me you won't look into this...declaration of war fo another few months!? What kind of allies are you?"

Sherwood's eyes flashed as she stood up; Kid stayed seated. "The friendly kind," she replied in a rather unfriendly voice. "And if you wish us to remain so, you will not send anyone to confront that witch. We insist your people stay out of it."

The two entered into a staring – more like glaring – contest for a while. Finally, still holding the witch's gaze, Kid said, "I think it's best if you leave, von Phoenix-san."

"I think the same, Shinigami-san," Sherwood responded. Her small heels clicked as she crossed the floor, opened the door, and let it close softly behind her.

Once he was sure she was gone, Kid let his head drop into his hands and breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself. The city's pain was still there – it would be a while before things were back to normal – but most times it was managable. A couple times he'd had to stop mid-sentence and catch his breath, like the time some of the worst injuries succumbed to their wounds and the families' grief was near overwhelming.

But now he was in control, and he needed to think. How to legimately go after the witch? Every hour there was some letter asking what was being done to apprehend the bomber; he couldn't very well say the witches hadn't seen eye to eye with him without starting rumors and violence. Also, how to rescue Liz and Patti? There'd been no contact from them since Roy and Garth returned, and who knew what state they were in if the leverage against them had been used.

Suddenly an idea came to him. He picked up the phone and quickly dialed one of the few numbers he knew by heart.

"Hello?"

"Soul? I need to see you and Black*Star right away. And bring your partners."