Pulse: Season One

by LVCEBREROS

Freddie Benson will begin college and, after a shocking series of events, will become a crime fighting superhero known as Pulse. This show is kind of a spin off TV series of my creation. Several OCCs as well as a few familiar faces. I hope everyone likes it! There is SEDDIE in the future! Stay tuned :P

11. Episode Eleven: Phobos

Author's Note: Hey gang! I am back to bring you a brand-new episode. I do apologize for the VERY long and I do hope that this makes up for your patience and understanding. I love my readers and take what you say to heart. You all rock!

Okay, guys, now we're getting to the stuff most of the loyal readers have been clamoring for - the reunion of Freddie and Sam. I've been waiting to get to this for as long as every one of you and I hope not to disappoint my readers and will enjoy it because I worked hard on it.

A very special thanks to my bestie and fellow fan fiction writer honour632 who has been MAJOR help me with my writing and kicked my rear in gear to get this installment finished. Also, we are working on a joint fan fic called 'Wolf Life'. I hope you guys can check her out, she is fantastic.

FYI - this is a two-parter of sorts as well as the Halloween episode. Yeah, I'm aware that I'm way late but I did have a lot of personal life stuff going on so I do apologize for the lateness.

Disclaimer: Apart from the characters I created, I own nothing. That includes any characters, places, or items created by the Creator or his production company. I'm just having fun playing with them. If I could have saved those actors from that monster, I would have.

Also, I do borrow scenes from other shows and I don't own those scenes but I'm just having fun with those scenes and think they fit with what I'm writing.

I should have said this earlier but the music I use doesn't belong to me either. I just like setting the mood for the scene.

Reminder: There is an ongoing rewrite being worked on and there will be major changes in the future. Including the recast of Cassie. Some fun cool stuff I have been dying to try. I hope you guys like it.

That being said, this is Episode Ten.

•••

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

•••

THREE YEARS AGO

A man sits in an interrogation room inside a different police precinct. He has short light blond hair that was combed neatly, and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He calmly sits, drumming his fingers against the table. The man was Andre, the drug dealer who gave Heather and Ashlyn the drugs, only he looked less disheveled than he did in the present.

A door opens and closes as Andre looks up and sees Detective Danny Parker. Danny looked slightly different as he wore a suit and tie and had his hair combed neatly. He was also clean-shaven.

Danny holds a large manila folder stuffed with paperwork and sits down in front of Andre. "Andre Deimos. Took a lot of work to take you down finally."

"Well, Detective, you've got me." Andre Deimos spoke in a refined almost regal sounding tone. "I have to admire your persistence despite the deception."

"Where is Cortez?" Danny asked.

"I'm sorry, who?" Deimos said, playing coy.

"Emiliano Cortez. The benefactor for your little operation. Where is he?" Danny demanded.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that," Deimos said smugly.

"You are standing to do some serious jail time for drug trafficking," Danny stated bluntly. "You willing to go down for Cortez? Do you feel like you owe him?"

"I don't owe him a thing. He owes me. He was the money, I was the brains." Deimos said. "I won't betray him... unless it benefits me."

Danny scowls at the man. "What do you want?"

Deimos chuckles arrogantly. "I want full immunity from any prosecution. No trial, no jail time. I don't feel like spending my precious free time behind bars."

"That's not gonna happen," Danny said, not taking his eyes off Deimos.

"That's not your call, Detective. I'm betting the DA would be more than happy to give me what I want to bring down Cortez." Deimos stated.

Danny glares at him, he knows he is right and he hates that. "We'll see what the DA has to say."

Danny gets up from the chair to leave when Deimos asks "How is my brother? Marco was taken to the hospital after you shot him."

Danny doesn't turn to face him, he knows something terrible has happened to Deimos' older brother Marco Deimos.

"Marco is dead," Danny said as he turned around. "He died on the operating table as they tried to save his life. I'm sorry."

Andre bows his head then looks back up, staring at Danny dead in the eyes. "Marco is dead because of you."

"He's dead because you involved him in your criminal activities. You just want to find someone to blame for your mistakes." Danny stated. "I refuse to be your scapegoat."

Deimos chuckles under his breath. "You will come to regret your trespass against me. Not today mind you. I'm a very patient man."

"Are you threatening me?" Danny asked.

"Think of it as a word of warning," Deimos replied. "When you least expect it, I will come for what you love most... and destroy it. You will know my pain tenfold. Mark my words, I will you strike down-"

"We're done here," Danny said, having enough of it.

"We aren't done!" Deimos yelled as Danny walked out of the room. "This isn't over! You hear me? This isn't over!"

•••

PRESENT DAY

An ambulance stretcher burst into the hallway of St. James Hospital with two EMTs standing on either side of the stretcher. A doctor and two nurses rush over.

"What have we got?" The doctor asked one of the EMTs.

"Possible drug overdose." The EMT on the right of the stretcher said. "Victim is Heather Chase, a college student found unresponsive in her dorm room along with her roommate. She is the lucky one."

At that moment, Freddie bursts through the doors and sees the stretcher.

Suddenly, Heather starts screaming like a madwoman and flailing to try to get free.

"Get off me! I don't wanna go home!" Heather screamed as the EMTs and nurses tried to calm her down. "No! NO!"

"Hold her down!" The doctor ordered.

"Trying, doctor." The EMT on the left of the stretcher said.

"God, what did this girl take?" One of the nurses asked.

"Might be PCP or Ecstasy." The EMT on the right stated.

The doctor goes to inject the sedative into her arm which Freddie sees and panics.

"Wait!" Freddie shouted.

The EMTs, the doctor, and the two nurses look towards him while Freddie walks over towards them.

"Don't do that." Freddie pleaded.

"Young man, we are trying to help her." The doctor said frankly.

"And you inject that into her, it might have some kind of side effect with whatever it is she took," Freddie explained. "It could kill her."

The EMTs look over at the doctor and are surprised they didn't realize that was true.

"We need to find a way to calm her down." The doctor stated.

Freddie goes over to Heather who still appears to look terrified at her surroundings when she turns and sees Freddie. He slowly takes her by the hand as she looks into his eyes.

"You're gonna be alright," Freddie said softly. "It's okay."

Heather gulps and clutches his hand while the doctor injects the sedative into her arm. She closes her eyes and relaxes her body.

"We need to prepare her for a tox screen. Find out what she took." The doctor told the nurses who wheeled Heather away. He turns to face Freddie. "Don't worry. Your girlfriend is going to be alright."

"She's just a friend. My other friend and I found her like that… I wanted to make sure she was okay." Freddie said as Gabe entered the hospital.

"We'll take good care of her, son." The doctor said as he walked off.

Gabe walks over to Freddie. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"I don't know. They got her stabilized but they still don't know what she took." Freddie said sadly. "If we hadn't found her, who knows what-"

"Dude, you saved her life. Why are you down about this?" Gabe asked.

"Because if I had not done what I did, she wouldn't have taken those drugs in the first place," Freddie replied. "Now Heather is in the hospital and her roommate is dead."

"You can't blame yourself for that. It isn't your fault." Gabe said.

"Wish I could believe that, but I can't," Freddie said somberly, he then turned to face his friend. "Go find Cassie. I've got a feeling there's more to this than we know."

Gabe nods and heads off down the hall towards the elevator.

Freddie breathes deeply in and exhales. He wasn't sure what he should do now.

•••

Inside her hospital room, Cassie goes to pull out the IV from her arm while Danny and a very anxious-looking doctor watch her. The doctor, Xavier Trenton, was a bald African-American man with a very even demeanor. However, Cassie's actions made him slightly frantic.

"Ms Sinclair, I would highly advise you against doing that." Dr Trenton stated but before he could finish the sentence, Cassie pulled out the IV from her arm with one fluid motion which surprised the men.

"I appreciate the second opinion, Doctor, but I'm feeling much better now," Cassie said as she wiped the trickle of blood on her arm.

"I strongly disagree. Suffering from the kind of blood loss you were exposed to, I highly recommend you rest." Dr Trenton stated. "Not noting the electric shock your body was-"

"I'm fine. And I am within my legal right to refuse any further treatment." Cassie adamantly stated. "With all due respect, I just want to get out of here."

Dr Trenton looks at her medical chart and nods. "I'll have one of the nurses bring you the release forms."

"Thank you," Cassie said politely as the doctor left. She goes into the bathroom to 'put on a band-aid' meaning she is concealing her healing factor.

"I kind of agree with him, Sinclair. Your body could go into shock without any warning." Danny stated.

Cassie pokes her head out of the bathroom. "Pretty sure that's not how that works, Parker." She then quickly sticks her head back in like a groundhog who had seen its shadow.

Galen, who was now wearing his dark blue jacket, walked through the door as Danny tried to get his point across. "But Cassie-"

"I wouldn't bother. You can't dissuade her from her objective once she's set her mind to something." Galen said, getting Danny and Cassie's attention.

Cassie sees the plastic grocery bag in Galen's right hand and grins "You bring 'em?"

Galen hands her the bag. "Yeah." He opens the bag and hands her a pile of clean clothes: a dark red long-sleeved top with a pair of blue jeans.

"You knew what to grab, didn't you?" Cassie jokes.

"You are pretty predictable, Cass." Galen quips.

"Ha ha," Cassie said in a quippy half-hearted manner. "So, how is Claud doing? Have the doctors told you guys anything?"

"Not yet," Galen said. "They're still running tests to see if what Circe has done is temporary or permanent. Leo and Millie are with her and Pete is sticking close by them to keep them safe."

"Must be nice to have your friends act as your nephew's friends' bodyguards." Danny joked and Cassie playfully slapped him in the chest. "Ow."

Cassie looks around the room. "Where's my jacket?"

"I got it," Danny said as he picked it up off the armrest of the chair he had been sitting in. "We made sure you didn't lose this."

Cassie smiles brightly and takes the jacket from him. "Thank the Gods for small favors." The statement caught Danny by surprise. "Sorry for the melodrama. This jacket is very important to me."

"Is it a family heirloom or something?" Danny asked.

"It-it was a Christmas present from my parents," Cassie said. Danny looks down, realizing what that meant. "The last gift I got from them."

"I'm sorry," Danny said somberly. Galen simply said nothing as he looked down

"What's funny is that the jacket was one size too big," Cassie said in a nostalgic-sounding tone. "My mom gave my dad such a hard time about that and he simply said I'd grow into it. My dad always found ways to win an argument."

Danny goes to say something but is interrupted when Gabe bursts in.

"Cassie!" Gabe says frantically when he sees Danny and Galen in the room. "And friends."

"What is it?" Cassie asked Gabe.

"Freddie needs you. Something happened." Gabe told her.

"Is he all right?" Cassie asked, expressing grave concern. "Did something happen to him?"

Gabe remained silent for a moment until he said "Freddie needs you."

The men look to Cassie whose face goes from grave concern to sheer determination.

"Let me get dressed. Then you take me to him." Cassie stated soberly.

Gabe nods as the three sit in awkward silence as Cassie goes back into the bathroom.

•••

In another part of the hospital, Millie and Leo were inside Claud's room watching as the nurse took a blood sample from Claud who lay there calmly. She was eerily stoic as all this went on which concerns Millie and Leo.

"All done, Ms Moon. The doctor should have the results in forty-eight hours." The young nurse told Claud.

"Hey, I'm in no rush to find out how much of a bigger freak I am," Claud said sarcastically.

"You're not a freak, Claud," Leo assures her while the nurse leaves the room.

"I have to respectfully disagree with you on that, Leopold," Claud said.

"Hey, maybe you got superpowers or something," Millie replied. The statement makes Leo and Claud give her odd looks. "What? Trying to look on the bright side here."

Claud couldn't help but smile while Leo was still lost in thought. "Hey, Frowny Face." Leo's train of thought was broken and he looked up at Claud. "You all right? You've had this sullen look on your face all night."

"This shouldn't have happened to you," Leo said sternly.

"Hey, I'm okay. That's all that matters, right?" Claud replied. "And the police are going to find the woman who did this."

"Didn't figure you for having faith in the police." Leo retorts.

"Not that much faith but it makes sense to rely on something," Claud stated. "Well, besides the electrifying masked man who arrived and turned Leatherhead's brains into soup."

"Whoa, gross," Millie said, acting disgusted and playing off like she hadn't seen it herself on the POV camera on Freddie's goggles.

"That sounds... intense," Leo replied.

"Looked pretty intense too," Claud stated.

Leo sighs and looks over to Millie. "I need to talk to Claud alone for a minute. Is that-"

"Oh, it's okay. I'll let you guys talk while I grab some water from the vending machine." Millie said as she went to leave. "Be right back."

Millie leaves the room and Leo looks at Claud with a strange look that reads something ominous. He closes the blinds on the window.

"Love how everyone is giving him all the credit," Leo said bitterly.

"Am I sensing some vigilante jealousy?" Claud jokingly asked her friend.

"I'm not jealous," Leo answered. "He's reckless. He's lucky to even be alive."

"Do you think he's dangerous?" Claud said as she sat upright,

"I still can't be sure till I know for certain," Leo told his friend.

"If I had only seen the brain-melting, I would have agreed with you," Claud said. "Dude, he was trying to help us. He's stopping bad guys. Like you."

"Not like me," Leo stated. "The guy has superpowers so he's got a particular advantage."

"Just because he has superpowers doesn't make him better. Superman and Batman work together fine, right?" Claud said.

"Doesn't mean Batman trusts Superman. He does have a piece of Kryptonite on hand in case Superman goes rogue." Leo explained.

"Kryptonite that Superman gave him because Batman is the only one he trusts to put him down," Claud replied.

Leo exhales and stops pacing then walks to stand next to the bed. "So you think I should be working with Pulse?"

"Wouldn't hurt. Could benefit from your experience." Claud said, taking him by the hand. "I mean, you have been doing this longer than he has."

"I'll think about it," Leo said as Claud squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you're alright."

Claud smiles. "You know you don't have to go through this alone."

Leo smiles but is distracted when his phone chimes then he pulls it out of his cellphone. He sees that it was an alert from a crime stoppers application that was on his phone.

"What's wrong?" Claud asked.

"Two college girls suffered a drug overdose in their dorm," Leo said. "It's Phobos."

"How do you know?" Claud asked.

"Because the girl who died was found with greenish slime leaking from her eyes," Leo replied. "It's a dead giveaway."

"Guess it's time for The Fox to go to work, huh?" Claud asked with a small smirk on her face.

Leo looks at his friend with a small smile on his face.

•••

Millie heads over to the vending machine where she finds the young man in the scrubs Alec had spoken with grabbing a water bottle from the drink machine. She sees this and hurriedly walks over to the machine. "Please don't tell me-" She then sees there were no more bottles of water. "Ah, nuts."

Jake sees this and hands her the bottle of water. "Take it. I'll just get a lemonade."

"You don't have to-"

"Nah, it's fine. Go ahead." Jake said as she took the water. "So, who are you visiting?"

"Huh?" Millie said as she opened the bottle. She looks up at him and sees he's waiting for her response. "Oh sorry. I'm here seeing a friend."

"Was it that woman who was brought in that had her blood drawn like fifty times?" He asked as he went to the drink machine to get a can of lemonade. "The one every doctor is freaking out about?"

Millie tries to tread carefully, remembering Cassie was also in the hospital. "The blond?" She said, sipping her water.

"What? No, the girl with the jet-black hair and smudged goth eyeliner." He told her.

"Sorry. I'm friends with both of them. I just had to clarify." Millie said.

"Oh okay." He said in an amused tone. "Don't get me wrong, the doctors are confused by your blond-haired friend. Only not for the same reasons as your other friend."

Millie swallows some water and nods. "That's fair, I guess."

"Sorry if I seem nosy. I got bored with paperwork and I got sick of eavesdropping on half a conversation." Jake told Millie.

"Let me guess, medical assistant?" Millie asked.

Jake nods, drinking his lemonade. "It's not a bad job but it can get boring."

"I feel ya. I work at the police precinct my dad works at. And by 'work', I mean me doing tedious paperwork while he keeps an eye on me." Millie explains then realizes. "And I am having a conversation with a complete stranger. I am so sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. I don't mind talking. Better than the white noise." Jake said.

"Or the voices in your head?" Millie jokes which made Jake laugh. "I'm Millie, by the way."

"Jake." He said as finished his drink and tossed the can into a recycling bin.

Millie grabs her phone. "I have to get back to my friend. If you want, we can-"

"I think you might be barking up the wrong tree," Jake told her.

"Oh. OH! No! No. No. I was not flirting. I swear." Millie said, sounding mortified.

Jake smiles and pats Millie on the shoulder. "Nah, you're good. Miscommunication is a thing."

"How about this, I like making new friends so… friends?" Mille said, extending her hand for a shake.

Jake smiles at the gestures and accepts the handshake. "Friends."

Millie nods as she pulls out her phone and hands it to him. "Here."

"Why are you-"

"Just right down your number on my phone and we can text each other," Millie said brightly. "In case of boredom emergencies."

Jake smiles and writes down a new contact on her phone then gives it back to her. "In case of emergencies."

Millie takes the phone and texts a message to Jake.

Jake pulls out his phone and sees Millie sent him a smiley face emoji which made him grin. "You are saccharin sweet, you know that?"

"So I've been told." She said as she saw a text from Leo saying 'Where R U?' "And that is my cue to take my leave. Have a good night, Jake."

"You too, Millie." He said politely as she walked off.

Millie continues walking until she hears her phone chimes due to a text message. She sees it was a message from Jake which was also a smiley face emoji.

Millie looks back at Jake who is smiling and has put his phone away and walks off.

•••

Freddie sat in the waiting room near where Heather was being treated. He had his hands clasped together almost in prayer and sat on the edge of the chair he had been sitting on.

Just then, Gabe leads Cassie, Danny, and Galen to the waiting room that Freddie is in. Cassie was now dressed in the clothes Galen had brought her and had her leather jacket back on. They walk past a weeping woman wearing a black scarf over her jet-black hair. She seems to look up at the group as they pass by.

"Freddie!" Cassie called out which got Freddie's attention.

Freddie gets up from his chair and Cassie hugs him. He hugs her tightly as the others look concerned. He pulls away and looks at his aunt. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm all right. What about you? What happened?" Cassie asked.

"Something bad went down when I went to talk to a friend to apologize to her," Freddie said.

"Apologize for what?" Danny asked.

"I circulated a nude photo of her to most of the school," Freddie said frankly. "I used my tech skills to hack into Pear's Cloud and sent a mass text to the school."

"Oh," Danny replied, mildly surprised.

"I know I was wrong for doing what I did and was going there to apologize," Freddie replied. "Gabe and I kind of... broke into her dorm and found her and her roommate on the floor. Heather, the girl I wronged, was unconscious and barely alive."

"Her roommate wasn't so lucky," Gabe said sadly.

"Do you know what happened?" Cassie asked.

"It might be a drug overdose. Not sure what drug they took but it seemed like an overdose." Gabe replied.

"How do you know?" Danny asked Gabe.

"Because I used to party with a lot of casual drug abusers while I was in prep school. I've seen my fair share of ODs in my short life." Gabe answered. "There was something strange about this one though."

"What do you mean?" Galen asked.

"There was this weird greenish goo leaking from the roommate's eyes," Freddie explained.

"Yeah. Kinda looked like green slime." Gabe said.

Danny seems very worried about what the boys have just described. "Was there anything else you two noticed that seemed strange?"

Freddie nods. "When my friend Heather woke up, she woke up screaming. It took me a while to calm her down before the paramedics got there."

"Like she was having a terrifying nightmare?" Danny asked.

Freddie and Gabe nod in agreement.

Danny breathes deeply and runs his hand through his hair. The group notices his unease and it is particularly disconcerting for Cassie.

"Danny, what is it?" Cassie asked worriedly. "Do you know what this is?"

Danny turns to face them and nods. "I'll have to call this in. Make sure the right people handle this case."

"What do you mean? What is it?" Freddie asked.

"The drug is called Phobos and from what I know, your friend is one of the few lucky people to be alive after taking it." Danny then walks off to make a phone call a little further down the hall.

The weeping woman calmly walks down the hallway and enters an elevator, leaving the scene.

"Phobos?" Freddie said, trying to piece it together. Cassie, Galen, and Gabe knew what Danny was talking about. "You guys know what that stuff is?"

"Phobos is a hallucinogenic narcotic. Mostly used as a recreational club drug." Cassie said.

"An expensive recreational drug with serious consequences. Stuff's like PCP on steroids." Gabe explained.

"A few of the kids in my support group had friends who died at the hands of this stuff," Galen said. "Your friend is very lucky."

"Why don't I know about this?" Freddie asked.

"Well, you've only been doing this for a couple of months. You haven't exactly had a chance to completely scratch the surface of the level of crime in the city." Cassie told her nephew. "Apart from some low-level criminals and actual superpowered baddies, you haven't had a chance to explore how deep the rabbit hole goes."

"And I don't think the club scene is your element. It's a seedy underworld with a flashy veneer." Gabe said. "Not for the faint at heart."

"The old Freddie wouldn't have been able to handle it," Freddie said.

"And you think the new you can handle going into the clubland underworld?" Cassie asked.

"I have to be prepared for it. It's my fault Heather is in the hospital, I need to take responsibility for it." Freddie stated.

"I keep telling you this isn't your fault. You didn't make them take the stuff." Gabe said.

"I might as well have. I drove Heather to this, I have to find out who gave her those drugs and make sure no one else gets hurt." Freddie said. "It's my mess, I have to clean it up."

Galen smiles and whispers to Cassie. "He sounds like someone we know, doesn't he?"

Cassie bites her bottom lip and sighs. "We will find the person behind this. But I think you should go get some sleep. They still have to get your friend's tox screen back, right?"

"Yeah, the doctor said it might take a while," Freddie said.

"Well, waiting around here is not going to make those results come back sooner," Cassie said. "Once we know for sure it's Phobos-"

"We'll figure out how to put a stop to them," Freddie said. "I don't think I should. Besides, I can function fine without sleep."

"I know but staying here isn't going to help matters. Everybody crashes, even you." Cassie retorts.

Freddie exhales and looks at his aunt. "Fine, I'll go but I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep."

"You're gonna have to try. You need plenty of sleep for tomorrow." Cassie replied.

"Why, what happens tomorrow?" Gabe asked.

Freddie looks at his aunt and notices she seems to be stifling a laugh. "No. She's- she's coming tomorrow?"

"Danny told me. Her flight arrives at ten in the morning." Cassie said with a small smile on her face.

"Wait, who's coming?" Galen asks while Gabe realizes what is going on and becomes a bit amused by Freddie's dismay.

"Freddie's ex-girlfriend," Gabe answered.

"Ah," Galen replied, understanding Freddie's mortification.

"As if my week couldn't get more insane." Freddie retorts while rubbing his eyes in frustration.

Cassie pats Freddie on the back to comfort him.

•••

In the parking garage underneath the hospital, the weeping woman exits the elevator and sees a long black stretch limousine parked several feet away. She strides towards it as the chauffeur stands by the door and opens it for the woman.

The woman steps into the limo seductively and the chauffeur closes the door and goes to the driver's side of the vehicle. He then starts to drive the limo out of the garage.

"You don't spare any expense, do you?" The woman said as she removed the scarf from her head, revealing her identity - mercenary for hire and deadly assassin Raina Tran.

"None whatsoever, Ms Tran." A familiar voice said.

"Only one of those girls survived their trip," Raina informed her client.

"Shame, two casualties would have sent a stronger message." The client told her.

"I think it got the right response," Raina told him. "Your detective friend knows."

"I hadn't expected him to figure out this piece of the puzzle so soon. I'm pleased. All that's left is for him to try to see the entire board." The client replied with a soft sense of glee in his voice.

"If I may ask, why do you want this detective to find you?" Raina asked.

"Because it's more fun to toy with your victims before you destroy them." The client stated. "In a way, it's my foreplay."

Raina grins maliciously and looks at her client. "From your tone, you two have a history."

The client laughs as he offers Raina a glass of champagne which she gladly accepts. "You could say that."

Out of the shadows of the limo, the face of Andre Deimos reveals he is Raina's new client. The same Andre who pretended to be the low-level drug dealer so he could manipulate Ashlyn and Heather right where he needed them to be.

"He and I are very dear friends," Deimos replied with a sinister tone.

•••

Early the next morning, Freddie was asleep in his bed. He tosses and turns, seeming to be having another bad dream.

In his dream, Freddie was on the catwalk inside of an old warehouse, wearing his battle suit but not his mask and goggles. He looks to the floor below him and his eyes widen when he finds Sam Puckett tied to an altar. Like a helpless lamb about to be sacrificed.

Freddie sees no one around and with an almost acrobatic grace jumps down from the catwalk, landing on the floor. He walks over to the tied-up Sam who seems to be sleeping but he examines her further. She was wearing the same outfit she wore the night they broke up, only it was all white. It was pure white so much so that she seemed to have an aura coming from her. Freddie also sees there was green slime-like fluid leaking from the side of her eyes. As if they were tears staining her face.

Freddie goes to untie her but as soon as he touches her, his touch causes the clothes to turn blood red. The infectious touch spread all over her clothes and the once pristine all-white outfit was now red. He recoils in horror as this happens but steps in closer and sees the slime around her eyes has turned jet black.

Freddie goes to touch her again but he is unexpectedly tackled from behind and wrestles on the ground with the person who tackled him. After an intense struggle, his attacker manages to pin down Freddie who gets a better look at the individual that attacked him.

Freddie was attacked by someone who looked exactly like him but something was off. His eyes were glowing in an almost cobalt blue instead of the electric blue that was the aura of his powers. The doppelgänger also had a menacing look in his eyes, his posture suggesting that this was someone not to be messed with.

"See what you do?" The doppelgänger said in a sinister manner.

Freddie then awakes in a start, looking around the room. He sees he is back in his dorm room where he finds Gabe's unmade bed. Freddie gets his bearings, realizing where he is, as Gabe steps out of the bathroom. Gabe was fully dressed wearing a long-sleeved white button-up shirt and dark blue jeans.

"Let me guess, bad dream?" Gabe asked at seeing Freddie's mind race, silently trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

"It feels like they're getting worse," Freddie said as he rubbed his eyes.

"What'd you see?" Gabe asked as he tied one of his shoes.

Freddie gets out of bed. "I wish I could tell you without coming off as a mental patient."

"They do say dreams are windows to the subconscious. Maybe your mind is trying to tell you something." Gabe suggests.

"Maybe," Freddie stated.

"Did this dream happen to star the lovely Samantha Puckett?" Gabe asked playfully.

"Sam was in my dream, yes," Freddie said, trying to remember the details of his dream.

"And I'm going to guess that the dream wasn't a pleasant one," Gabe stated.

"You could say that." Freddie retorts. He looks at his Pearphone to check the time. "It's half past seven, what are you doing up so early?"

"Early for you, Benson. If you had the option, you'd probably sleep until noon." Gabe quips.

Freddie shrugs. "Not really. Even if I sleep for an hour, I still feel fine. Surprises me that I haven't hit a wall yet. I shouldn't even be able to function."

"And yet you do, Mr. Scientific Marvel," Gabe said jokingly.

"Anyway... What are you doing up at this hour?" Freddie asked, changing the subject.

"My mom wants me to come over to the penthouse. She says she's looking through old family photos and wants me to help her sort them." Gabe said. "I think she's thinking of taking scrapbooking as a new hobby or something."

"And why would she want to do that?" Freddie asked.

"Beats me. Think she's trying to find ways to distract herself from not wanting to drink." Gabe said. "Just because she's got a new liver doesn't mean her demons aren't still there to cause her to fall off the sobriety wagon."

Freddie just smiles. "You're still worried about her."

"She's my mom. I don't want to have that feeling that I'm going to lose her again." Gabe said. "And I'm not going alone, I asked Millie to come along."

"Um, shouldn't you be bringing Lucy? Millie's our friend but Lucy's your girlfriend." Freddie asked as he went into his side of the closet to pull out some clothes.

"I asked but her mom scheduled some doctor's appointments for her early this morning," Gabe informs Freddie.

"Anything serious?" Freddie asked as he held up a blue button-up shirt.

"Nah, she said it's a routine check-up she has to go to every month," Gabe said as he made a face and shook his head, implying he didn't like the shirt. "She said she'd meet Millie and me at the Groovy Smoothie this afternoon. Leo told Millie he's gonna be there too."

Freddie stares at Gabe. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Not really. I just get this weird vibe from the guy. Almost like he's hiding something?" Gabe said.

"No worse than what we're hiding," Freddie said with a smile.

"Good point." Gabe retorts and the boys laugh. "So, are you nervous?"

"What? About seeing Sam again?" Freddie asked with a shrug. "Kind of. It's been a while since I've seen her. I'm just worried I'll put my foot in my mouth and say something stupid."

"Why, because you're still in love with her?" Gabe asked.

Freddie shakes his head. "Because it's Sam Puckett. She always manages to find a way to make me act like an idiot."

"Uh, and love has a way of turning you into an idiot," Gabe said.

Freddie laughs and throws a pair of socks at Gabe. "Okay, Millie. We broke up for a reason, we didn't have much in common besides the kisses we've shared."

"And you couldn't have made it work after that? I mean, I'm not a real expert on the subject but if you truly love someone, you fight for them." Gabe said.

"Who says I didn't try?" Freddie asked, catching Gabe off guard with the somber tone of his voice. "Every time I wanted to tell her I wanted to try again to make things work, I lost my nerve. Then Carly kissed me the night she left to go to Italy with her dad. Something I had wanted for so long. But then I didn't. It didn't feel the same."

"Because you weren't in love with her anymore?" Gabe asked.

Freddie shrugs. "It was all confusing. A week after Carly left, I went looking for Sam. I finally got the nerve to tell her how I felt... and she tells me she's leaving town. Said there was nothing for her in Seattle."

"And you didn't tell her she had a reason to stay?" Gabe asked.

"Because I'm an idiot, is that what you want to hear?" Freddie said, sounding annoyed and incensed.

Gabe shakes his head. "I get it, the girl makes you crazy. You just need to work things out in your head. That's the only way you'll get through it."

Freddie starts thinking and nods "That makes sense."

"So, did I help?" Gabe asked, with a curious smirk on his face.

Freddie grins, "When did you become so good with relationships?"

"Dude, I've never been good at relationships," Gabe said bluntly.

The two guys just share a laugh at the situation.

•••

Millie was at her apartment, cooking breakfast for her and her dad: French Toast with scrambled eggs and orange juice. She prepares the finishing touches when Victor walks into the kitchen area of their apartment.

"That smells delicious," Victor commented.

"Hope you're hungry. I made lots." Millie said with a big grin on her face.

"Well I can't turn down a home-cooked meal made by my beautiful daughter," Victor said as he took a seat at the table. "So what's the occasion?"

"What do you mean?" Millie asked, sounding perplexed, and sat down in front of him.

"You normally don't make French Toast unless you're rewarding me for something," Victor said as he took a bite of eggs.

Millie sighs. "I heard you had some help finding Danny and the others. Help from a certain masked crime fighter."

Victor raises an eyebrow and sets down his fork. "You're rewarding me for accepting the aid of a criminal?"

"The guy helped save your partner and some of my friends. I think you deserve a reward for that." Millie replied while eating the piece of French Toast.

"He's still a criminal, Millicent. Whether I like it or not, I have to bring him in." Victor said.

"I know. But what he's doing can't be all bad, right? He's saved a lot of lives. Including that of a certain member of your family." Millie said.

"My doe-eyed daughter who likes to see the best in people," Victor said.

"It's part of my charm," Millie said, sounding a bit smug.

Victor frowns. "You sounded like Gabe Morgan just then."

Millie realizes this and scoffs. "You're gonna do this now? He's my friend."

"A few months ago, you couldn't care less about him. Especially after the way he treated you two years ago." Victor stated.

"We were both stupid that day. He was still traumatized about what happened to Mom. He was the one who found her at the bottom of the stairs the night she died." Millie replied. "We're both much more mature than we were that day. If I can give him the benefit of the doubt, so can you."

Victor exhales. "My issue isn't really with him. It's with his father. That man treated us like family but from the moment I started investigating your mother's death, he wanted me to stay out of it. I don't trust any member of the Morgan family."

"Dad, I love you but I'm a young woman. You have to trust my judgment. He may not show it all the time but Gabe is a good guy. I wouldn't associate myself with him if he wasn't." Millie told him.

"You didn't think so two years ago," Victor said.

Millie lets out another deep sigh. "It's... complicated. Look, Dad, you need to trust that I'm doing the right thing. Okay?"

Victor nods. "Okay."

"Thank you," Millie said.

"May I ask how things are going with your boyfriend?" Victor asked as he ate a piece of French Toast. "Or do I have no right to ask?"

"You have the right. Leo's great. He does seem... intense sometimes... especially after what happened to Claud. That's understandable." Millie said. "But he can be really sweet when he wants to be."

"I know I'm sounding like a broken record here but I don't trust that boy. There's something off about him." Victor stated.

"I will repeat myself by saying, you gotta trust me that I know what I'm doing," Millie replied calmly.

"Okay," Victor replied as the father and daughter continued to have their peaceful meal. "At least you are dating one of those vigilantes, that makes me feel better."

Millie looks up, feigning some surprise due to seeing the Fox on camera. "Wait, there's more than one?"

"Someone using a bow and arrow. Thought you would've heard about him." Victor said to his daughter.

Millie simply shrugs. "News to me."

•••

Inside an underground bunker, Leo stands in front of a computer monitor. The screen had the readout of an autopsy report for Heather's roommate Ashlyn. Leo stares at it for a while and he scowls at the report. After what happened in the last forty-eight hours, he was already angry and now he has to deal with another victim of Phobos.

Leo was angry. He needed to blow off steam.

Leo grabs a long composite bow and a quiver full of black and dark red arrows. He pushes the button on a speaker system with an MP3 player which starts playing music.

[Soundtrack Note: 'Shoot To Thrill' by ACDC blasts from the speakers.]

Leo walks to a larger open space in the room and pushes a button on an automated device. Along with the bow and quiver, Leo has a strange utility belt strapped around him.

Suddenly, several archery targets pop up and begin to move in different directions. He appeared to be surrounded.

Leo grabs an arrow from his quiver and draws back his bow, aiming it in the direction of one of the moving targets. He focuses on it and quickly fires the arrow at the target and hits it dead center. He quickly pulls another arrow from the quiver, draws back, and fires the arrow which hits another bullseye.

He repeats this action eight more times in rapid-fire succession.

He then tucks the bow behind him and pulls out four small metallic slivers from the utility belt. He throws them at four different targets and hits each one dead center.

Leo grabs his bow again and plucks two arrows from his quiver. He draws back his bow on the only remaining and fires the arrows, both arrows hitting the target in the bullseye.

Leo calmly admires his handiwork and walks off from the area.

[Soundtrack Note: Song stops at 1:21 and fades into the next scene]

•••

Inside an airplane flying above the city filled with passengers, Sam Puckett was sitting in her seat on the nonstop flight from Los Angeles to New York. Sam had her blond hair down and wore a top with a drawn wolf snarling on the front of it underneath a blue leather jacket. The rest of her outfit consisted of tight dark blue jeans and dark brown ankle boots.

Sam fidgeted in her window seat and looked out of the small window of the plane. She was nervous about meeting her half-brother. Sure, she and Danny chatted on the phone and via webcam but they were going to meet face to face in the flesh. They've gotten along fine but her rebellious nature could push him too far. Danny is a cop, an authority figure. She and the authorities don't mix well. He was also a near stranger to her, and not sure what to expect.

Her thoughts pulled her somewhere else. To someone else. She hadn't spoken to Freddie since the whole hostage situation with Spencer. He only gave her minor details about what happened and when she called Spencer and tried to ask him about it, he acted weirder than normal. Almost as if he was hiding something and was struggling to lie. Both Spencer and Freddie were really bad liars.

Maybe she should go to Freddie's school and pay him a surprise visit. Freddie probably didn't know she was coming. Would be nice to get to see the nub's face again.

Sam looks out the window again and sees the New York skyline as the 'fasten seatbelts' sign blinks.

One of the flight's female attendants walks up to her. "Excuse me, miss. You'll need to fasten your seatbelt. We're about to land."

"I got eyes, airplane waitress," Sam said half anxious but mostly annoyed.

The flight attendant recoils and walks away as Sam nervously puts on her seatbelt.

Sam looks back out the window and lets out a deep sigh.

•••

Inside the airport terminal where passengers of Sam's flight were about to enter, Freddie was pacing a bit while Cassie sat in a chair next to Danny. Freddie wore a dark blue button-up shirt with a checkered pattern over a tight black T-shirt and dark blue jeans with blue sneakers. Cassie wore a tight white long-sleeved top underneath her tan leather jacket paired with tight black pants and knee-high lace-up dark brown boots. Her blond hair was tied back in a half-tail. Danny was in a dark green shirt with his dark coat over it and dark jeans.

Danny nervously taps his left foot and Cassie notices Danny's anxiety and places her hand on his left knee to calm him down. "Parker, chill. You're starting to do morse code."

"I'm just a bit nervous," Danny told her. He notices she hasn't taken her hand off his knee. "Um, I think you can take your hand off."

Cassie realizes this and quickly pulls her hand away. She stares at Freddie as Danny sees the boy's apprehension in his posture.

"What's got him so jumpy?" Danny asked.

"Sam is one of Freddie's best friends," Cassie said frankly. "He hasn't seen her since she left Seattle. They're close."

"And by close you mean?" Danny asked.

Cassie turns to him and smirks. "You're a detective, I think you can figure it out for yourself."

Danny rolls his eyes, becoming more amused by Cassie's sardonic demeanor than annoyed by it.

Cassie sees Freddie's pacing is getting worse and decides to speak up. "Freddie." Freddie looks up and towards his aunt. "You keep doing that and you're going to start affecting the tides, kiddo."

"What? Oh. Right. Sorry." Freddie said as he saw the passengers exit the plane which caused Danny and Cassie to get up from their seats.

Out of the throng of passengers, Sam Puckett appears out of the crowd and looks around for Danny.

"Sam!" Freddie calls out.

Sam seems confused as she looks around. She recognized the voice but couldn't believe what she saw as she walked closer.

"Benson?" Sam replied as she saw Freddie in the terminal. She walks, almost runs towards him, and gives him a big hug.

The pair share a long embrace which makes Cassie and Danny feel a bit awkward. The two pull apart and Sam playfully punches him in the arm.

"What are you doing here? I didn't tell you I was coming to New York." Sam said.

"It was sort of a surprise for me too. My aunt told me that you were coming yesterday and that your brother was going to pick you up." Freddie explained.

"And your aunt knows my brother?" Sam asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Small world, huh?" Freddie said nervously.

Sam shakes her head. "Sure is, Frederly." Freddie rolls his eyes as Sam walks over to Danny.

Danny straightens up as Sam stands in front of him. "Sam."

Sam manages a smile "Danny."

Danny shrugs. "Sort of not sure what to do right now."

"I think we're supposed to hug," Sam replied. "They do that in those cheesy family sitcoms."

"Hugging sounds about right," Danny said with a laugh.

The two siblings go to hug each other but it becomes an awkward dance of how they should hug which causes Cassie and Freddie to try to stifle their laughter. The two manage to hug and then quickly pull away.

"This is so weird." Sam retorts which makes Danny laugh again.

"Tell me about it," Danny replied.

Sam looks over at Cassie and points at her. "Is this your girlfriend?"

Danny stammers a bit which makes Cassie crack up. "Um, uh... no. She's just a friend."

"This is my aunt, Cassie Sinclair. Cassie, this is Sam Puckett." Freddie introduced the two women to each other.

"I kinda gathered that," Cassie said frankly which amused Sam.

Sam sizes up Cassie and looks at her leather jacket. "So... Nice jacket, does it come with a Harley?"

"No, it came with a pretty sweet black Impala. I'm too old to be riding around in a motorcycle anyway." Cassie said in a snarky manner.

Sam smiles at this and the two seem to get off on the right foot.

"How did I know you two would hit it off?" Freddie said to Danny.

Sam and Cassie look over at the boys and give them matching slightly annoyed glances.

After Sam grabbed her purple suitcase from baggage claim and went through security, the four exited the airport.

From across the street, a woman in a black leather motorcycle outfit with dark green accents and wearing a matching helmet that covered her face was lying in wait. She seemed to be watching the four.

"So are we planning on doing some sightseeing or something? I didn't get to do that when we were here last time." Sam stated.

"You were in New York? When?" Danny asked.

"Almost two years ago. When iCarly got to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Freddie informed them. "Jimmy was a big fan of our web show."

"He mentioned us on his 'Thank You Notes' segment so we decided to pay a tribute to him on iCarly," Sam told them.

"After that, Jimmy invited us all to be on his show," Freddie explained.

"That must've been fun," Danny replied.

"It was… until Gibby accidentally lost his pants and showed giblets in front of America," Sam said bluntly.

Danny raises an eyebrow. "You're serious?"

"I wish we were joking," Freddie said in a mildly mortified tone.

"I saw that, sorta wish I hadn't," Cassie replied, making Sam laugh.

"So, I'm starving," Sam replied.

"When are you not?" Freddie said jokingly.

"Stuff it, Fredbag!" Sam stated, making Freddie laugh. "Any great places to get some meat?"

"You can ask Cassie, she's lived in the city for most of her life," Freddie said, pointing to Cassie.

"Really? Do you know any good barbecue joints? I'm craving ribs." Sam replied.

"Beef or pork?" Cassie asked.

"Either." Sam retorts.

"I think I might know a place. It's all you can eat." Cassie informed the teenager.

Sam grins from ear to ear. "Okay, you are my new best friend."

Cassie laughs at this but she hears a motorcycle rev up and was coming their way. It was barreling their way.

"Where's your car?" Sam asked while crossing the road towards the parking lot, failing to notice the motorcycle headed towards her.

"Sam, watch out!" Cassie yelled.

Sam looks around and sees the motorcycle headed towards her. Suddenly, Freddie leaps towards her, grabs her, and pulls her to the other side of the street. As the motorcycle zooms past, it clips Freddie's ankle.

Freddie winces in pain as Cassie and Danny look at the motorcyclist who had stopped and looks back at the scene. Cassie notices the posture of the motorcyclist and realizes that's a woman but more importantly, she knows who it is.

"Raina." Cassie seethed under her breath through gritted teeth.

The motorcyclist turns her head as if she had heard Cassie. She laughs and rides off.

Cassie goes to chase after Raina but Danny stops her before she can make chase.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, surprised by the anger he felt as he grabbed Cassie's forearm.

"She tried to run your sister over! We have to go after her!" Cassie said, fuming with rage.

"Why? Do you know her?" Danny asked, his curiosity peaked.

Cassie sighs, regaining her composure, as she turns to look back at the two teenagers on the ground. "I think we should make sure they're all right."

Danny seems a bit confused by the emotional shift from Cassie as they walk back over to Sam and Freddie.

Sam tries to get a grip on what has happened and finds Freddie on top of her. "Benson, you can get off me now. I think I'm safe."

Freddie realizes he is on top of Sam. "Sorry."

As Freddie gets off her and the two get to their feet, Sam notices that he is in pain. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think that motorcycle hit my ankle," Freddie said making a pained expression.

Cassie and Danny made their way over. "Is anything broken?" Cassie asked.

"No, I'm fine. I'm gonna be walking with a limp for a while but I'm fine." Freddie said, grabbing his throbbing ankle.

"You seem to have a habit of saving people from moving vehicles." Sam retorts teasingly.

"Only because I have friends who don't pay attention to oncoming traffic," Freddie said, teasing her right back.

"He just saved your life, Sam. That's not something to make light of." Danny stated.

"It wasn't her fault, think that biker tried to run you over," Cassie said to them.

"How do you know?" Sam asked.

Cassie turns her head and looks back at the direction the motorcyclist went with rage burning in her eyes. "Call it a hunch."

"Maybe we should go. We're kind of making a scene." Danny stated.

Cassie looks back at them with the anger she felt being put away. "Let's roll, Dan Dan."

Danny rolls his eyes as they make their way to the parking lot. Cassie and Danny went ahead while the teens were a few paces behind with Sam stuck close to an injured Freddie.

"You sure you're okay?" Sam asks as she watches Freddie limp slightly.

"Yeah, not the worst pain I've felt in the last few months," Freddie said, trying to conceal the amount of pain he was in.

"Please, the worst pain you've been in has been truly inflicted by yours truly," Sam said teasingly.

"Well, except for that time, Gibby punched me unconscious at the Groovy Smoothie but guess we can that you doing as well." Freddie jokes.

"True. Never could take a punch." Sam retorts with a laugh.

Freddie just flashes her a smile. "Guess you're right." He thought to himself 'If she only knew.'

Sam looks back at the adults then back at Freddie, "So, when did your aunt start giving my brother cutesy nicknames?"

Freddie grins. "She does that with everybody once she's known them long enough. Besides, it's not like that's a foreign concept to you, Princess Puckett."

Sam rolls her eyes. "Zip it, Nerd Boy."

Freddie just laughs at this as they continue walking.

•••

Gabe and Millie exit an elevator to walk into the foyer of the Morgan family's penthouse. Gabe wore a white button-up shirt underneath a black leather jacket and dark blue jeans while Millie was wearing a short sky-blue dress with a blue button-up sweater over it and black flats. It was an opulent and vast space with white marble floors and a spiral staircase that led to the upper floor of the penthouse; the penthouse has two floors and at least three private bedrooms. It was nicely decorated but not overly ostentatious

"This place makes the Waldorf Penthouse look like a cardboard box in an alley," Millie said.

"Well, my mother's decor tastes are far less extravagant the the Queen Bee of the Upper East Side." Gabe joked as Millie gave him a look. "Yeah, I watched that show. I had a massively pathetic crush on Leighton Meester."

"Hmm, kinda figured you for a Blake Lively type." Millie retorts. "Gentlemen do prefer blonds."

Gabe chuckled. "Hair color doesn't matter to me. I've dated every color of the hair spectrum."

Millie rolls her eyes when an older woman with light almost white blond hair approaches the two. She wore a wool pullover and pale blue cardigan over a white button shirt and a dark knee-length skirt. This was the Morgan family's housekeeper, Frances Lovegood. Millie recognizes the housekeeper.

"Miss Lovegood?" Millie exclaimed as she walked over to the older woman and hugged her.

"Millicent Flores." Miss Lovegood, the older woman said once Millie pulled away from the warm embrace. She spoke in a proper English accent. "I never thought I would see you again. It is a pleasant surprise."

"It's really good to see you too," Millie said to her.

"Is my mom awake?" Gabe asked Miss Lovegood.

"Yes, your mother is in the garden. She wanted me to fetch you as soon as you arrived." Miss Lovegood told Gabe. "This way."

Miss Lovegood walks ahead, heading to the terrace while the teens slowly follow behind her.

"'Fetch'? I kinda forgot how oddly she talked." Millie said in a whisper, making Gabe quietly chuckle.

"Gabriel, we mustn't dilly dally." Miss Lovegood said which made the teens snicker but they continued to make their way to the terrace.

Gabe and Millie follow Miss Lovegood through the double glass doors where they find Fiona Morgan sitting on an elegant patio table. Fiona wore a knee-length garnet-colored dress and a pair of stylish black pumps, her hair pinned back in a half tail. She has two large boxes sitting on the table that she was looking through as well as two large photo albums next to the boxes. She looks up from the box to see Gabe and Millie walking towards her.

"Gabriel, I'm glad you came," Fiona said as she hugged him. She looks over at Millie and smiles warmly. "Millicent, it's wonderful to see you again."

"Thanks, Mrs. Morgan," Millie said nervously.

"May I get you something to drink, Ma'am?" Miss Lovegood asked.

"I'm quite alright, Miss Lovegood. Thank you." Fiona stated.

"Gabriel? Can I get you two anything?" Miss Lovegood asked the two teenagers.

"Nah, I'm good," Gabe said but he looked up and noticed Miss Lovegood's sour expression because he hadn't minded his manners. "No thank you, Miss Lovegood."

Miss Lovegood gives him a warm smile then she looks at Millie, "Millicent?"

Millie purses her lips, not wanting to impose on the kindly old woman. "I'm all right, thank you."

"I'll be tending to the rest of my work if you need me, Madam." Miss Lovegood said to Fiona.

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood," Fiona answers politely and Miss Lovegood walks back inside.

"So, why'd you call me here, Mom? Are you feeling alright?" Gabe asked with concern in his voice.

"I'm fine. I just felt a bit nostalgic and wanted to sort through some old family photos and organize them. Maybe relive some happy memories." Fiona said as she went over to the open box on the table.

"We have those?" Gabe asked with sarcasm in his voice.

"Don't get cute, Gabriel," Fiona said, giving him a simpering smile. "I've got it mostly sorted and I am going to organize the photos and put the important ones in these photo albums."

"That's cool," Millie said cheerfully.

Fiona grabs a stack of photos and hands them to Millie. "I found these while I was looking through the box."

Millie looks through the stack and her eyes widen. "Oh my god."

"Mills, what is it?" Gabe worriedly asked, noticing the expression on her face.

"It's my mom," Millie said as she looked at the pictures. "They're pictures of my mom."

"I found a lot of pictures of Yvette that I thought you and your dad might like back. It wouldn't be right if we kept them or tossed them out." Fiona said to Millie.

Millie stammers a bit and looks at Fiona. "Th-thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Fiona smiles and walks over to Millie. "I know that my alcoholism caused me to treat your mother quite poorly but your mother was a wonderful woman. It was a tragedy to lose her."

Millie tries to smile as she wipes stray tears from her eyes. Gabe bows his head, surprised by his mother's kind gesture. "Thank you, Mrs Morgan."

Miss Lovegood returns to the terrace "Ma'am, you have a telephone call. It's Mr Penbrook. He says it urgently."

"Yes, thank you," Fiona said as she looked over to the kids.

"Isn't that the head of the New York Historical Society?" Gabe asked.

"Yes, he wants me to help him plan the fundraiser for next month's policemen's masquerade ball. If you'll excuse me for a moment." Fiona said as she followed Miss Lovegood inside.

Two minutes of silence fell over Millie and Gabe before Miss Lovegood walked back out with a tray in her hands, two glasses of milk, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies that she sat on the table.

"It's alright. You didn't have to bring us anything." Gabe said and Miss Lovegood gave a warm smile.

"You can never go wrong with cookies and milk. It's good to see you again, dear." Miss Lovegood replied and Gabe smiled back.

"You too, Miss Lovegood." He replied and she ruffled his hair slightly.

"I had better get back to work now. You'll know where to find me if you need anything." She said and Gabe nodded as he fixed his hair.

"Wow," Millie said when Miss Lovegood had gone and Gabe turned to her.

"What?"

"I think that's the first time I've seen you be nice to a maid," Millie said and Gabe rolled his eyes.

"Miss Lovegood is more than just a maid and I can't always be rude and obnoxious now can I?" He joked.

Millie sighs as a small smile forms on her lips.

"You know, there's some really good pictures in here. I don't even remember half of the things in the pictures." Gabe said.

"That's probably because you always had something different on." She said and Gabe frowned slightly for a moment before shaking it off.

"Hey, look at this," Millie said a moment later and Gabe looked over to find her holding a picture of Yvette standing in the middle of young Millie and Gabe who were smiling and holding Yvette's hands.

"I think your mom took us out to Central Park that day," Gabe said. "We used to be best friends, Mills."

Millie nods, the air around the two getting slightly thicker. "Until my mom died."

Gabe nods, looking back at his pile of photos.

"I went to talk to you about it a couple of years ago. I saw you in front of a cafe with your snobby rich friends but when I came over to you, your friends insulted me." Millie told him.

"Yeah. They weren't exactly the nicest of people." Gabe said.

"Neither were you. You took off and left me hanging before I could tell you what I wanted to say. That hurt Gabe." Millie said and Gabe sighed.

"I tried calling you later that night and you wouldn't pick up. I called and texted all night and you just ignored me. And then I went over to your apartment and your dad..." Gabe trailed off.

"My dad what?" She asked.

"You aren't the only Flores that knows how to kick people to the curb. I tried to apologize and you shut me out. I spent months trying to make for that but I stopped trying. I knew any heartfelt gesture I made wouldn't have amounted to anything if you weren't going to talk to me." Gabe replied.

Millie just stared at him, seeing something she didn't think she would see in his eyes. Heartbreak.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore. We're friends now, right?" Gabe asked and Millie nodded, forcing a small smile on her face, watching as Gabe smiled at her and then picked up a cookie.

•••

Inside the barbecue restaurant The Longmire, Freddie, Sam, Cassie, and Danny sat at a circular table. It looked like they had finished lunch but Sam wasn't quite finished. She was polishing off a rib slathered in barbecue sauce. Danny and Cassie watch with perplexed looks on their faces as she picks the bone clean.

"I'm- How do you-" Danny asked, trying to finish the question.

"It's best not to ask questions," Freddie said as he sipped from his sweet tea. "Saves the headaches."

Sam finishes the last slurp of the sauce. "Just what Mama needed."

Freddie laughs under his breath and he catches Cassie's stare. He looks away and offers Sam a napkin. "So Sam, how's the babysitting service going?"

"Not too bad. Business has been a little slow." Sam said as she snatched the napkin from Freddie's hand and quickly wiped her face with it.

"It still amazes me that you can run a babysitting business when you hate kids.", Freddie asked.

"I don't 'hate' kids. I just find most of them... a nightmare." Sam replied while sipping her drink.

"No disrespect but how bad could they be?" Cassie asked.

"Cat and I had to watch these two British girls who turned out to be total con artists who stole and tricked us out of our stuff and later came back and tried to get me and Cat to turn on each other," Sam said frankly. "And that's not even the worst story."

The three sit there wide-eyed, shocked at what they were just told. "Okay, I'll admit when I'm wrong." Cassie retorts which makes Sam laugh.

"Danny, how's work? Have you caught that Pulse guy yet?" Sam asks Danny, Freddie perks up a bit as he waits for Danny's response.

"I am not in the mood to talk about that superpowered degenerate, thank you very much," Danny said, rubbing his left temple and making a pained expression.

Cassie notices his pain. "You all right, Parker? You don't look well?"

"Yeah, it's just a headache. I've been getting these mild migraines for a while now." Danny said as he pulled out a bottle of painkillers and popped two into his mouth then took a sip of his drink.

"When did they start?" Sam asked.

"I've had these headaches for years but they started happening more frequently since that incident at the art gala," Danny explained.

Cassie and Freddie look at each other and share a look of concern.

Cassie quickly says something. "Headaches and panic attacks? You're just a walking disaster, aren't you Parker?"

Danny glares at her when his cell phone rings. Freddie's eyes furrow while Danny checks the caller ID. "It's work. I need to take this."

The group nods as Danny leaves the table. Sam notices the look in Freddie's eyes "You alright there, Fred-bag?"

Freddie's intense stare vanished as his concentration was broken. "What? Yeah, I'm fine."

"'cause you had the same look you have when you watch Galaxy Wars or play World of Warlords," Sam said.

"I'm fine, really," Freddie reassures her.

"Okay, I'll change the subject then. How's school been going? You must be an all-star student in your school." Sam stated.

"Not really. I'm doing my best but I'm not the top student at City Tech." Freddie told his friend.

"Don't be so modest, Freddie. You're certainly doing better than most students in your class. Unless you've been lying for the past few months and are flunking out?" Cassie said in a playful manner that made Freddie roll his eyes and make Sam laugh.

"You are nothing like his mom, Cass," Sam commented.

"I will take that as a compliment," Cassie said with a laugh.

"So, do you have a job or is his mom paying you to watch him?" Sam asked Cassie.

"Sam," Freddie replied, annoyed.

Cassie chuckles, "I work as a private investigator."

"Like the ones in those crime shows that help people find out stuff?" Sam asked.

"More or less, yes," Cassie asked. "I come from a long line of lawmen but my record prevented me from following in their footsteps."

"Wait? You have a record?" Sam asked with surprise in her voice.

"Sadly yes. I got into a lot of fights and put a few people in the hospital. I'm just lucky I wasn't tried as an adult otherwise we'd be having this conversation behind plexiglass." Cassie replied.

"So you must be good at beating people up?" Sam asked.

"Understatement of the century. Cassie is like Black Widow." Freddie commented.

"Except I was never married to Ryan Reynolds," Cassie replied. "And I think my nephew is overselling me."

"Benson does like to embellish things," Sam said as the girls laughed.

"Girls laughing at my expense, yeah feels like home," Freddie said halfheartedly.

Cassie pats Freddie on the shoulder when Danny returns to the table. He had a grim look on his face. "Parker, what's wrong?"

"They just got the lab results back on Heather Chase. She tested positive for Phobos." Danny tells Cassie, which causes Freddie's face to fall which Sam notices as well.

"Who is she?" Sam asked.

"It's a work thing. I have to head to the precinct and talk to the one working the case. See if I can offer my expertise." Danny said. "Sorry, I can't stay and take you around the city, Sam."

"Hey, no big. You gotta save the day." Sam said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"I'll go with you. I can help you get your point across." Cassie volunteered.

"What about the kids?" Danny asked as he set down money to pay for the meal.

"Yeah, who is going to drive us around the city?" Freddie asked while Cassie got up from her seat.

"You have your license, right?" Cassie asked Freddie.

"Yeah, I got a New York driver's license a week ago. Why?" Freddie asked.

Cassie pulls out her car keys and tosses them at Freddie who instinctively catches them. "She's got a full tank but if you scratch the paint, I'll kill you."

Danny is shocked by the actions but can't say anything and the two adults leave the restaurant.

Freddie stares at the keys and looks at Sam who is surprised by what Cassie has done. "Dude, your aunt let you borrow her car," Sam replied.

"Seems like it," Freddie said smiling.

"For the record, your aunt's awesome!" Sam said as she got up from the table. "Let's go see some old buildings."

Freddie's smile grew wider as he got up from the table and followed Sam out of the restaurant, limping slightly to sell the injury.

•••

At St James Hospital, Pete stands outside Claud's room. Pete wore a black button shirt with the sleeves rolled up, dark jeans, and black work boots. He looks at a wristwatch to check the time when he looks up to see Galen coming down the hall. Galen was in a tight gray long-sleeved shirt underneath a black leather jacket and dark pants. The two men look at each other.

"Hey," Galen said first to break the tension.

"Hey," Pete answered back. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how Claud was doing. What are you doing here?" Galen asked. "Did Cassie ask you to keep an eye on Claud?"

"Not Cassie, Millie. She's still pretty worried about her and wants me to make sure she's all right." Pete replied.

Galen sighs. "There's something we need to discuss."

"What do you mean?" Pete asked with a perplexed look on his face.

"You know damn well what I mean. I saw your hands at the art gala. They were smoking." Galen said in a hushed yell. "You know my secret. Think it's time I know yours."

Pete looks down then back up at him. "Follow me."

Galen nods as he follows Pete to an empty hospital room. Pete closes the door and locks it as Galen stands in the middle of the room. "So, are you going to explain to me what's going on?"

"Before I explain myself, I need you to give me your word so that you won't panic," Pete told him frankly.

Galen stares at him and nods. "You have my word."

Pete takes a deep breath in and extends his arms. His fists clenched, Pete opens his hands and his hands become engulfed in flames.

Galen takes a step back and stares at this with disbelief and wonder. "You're-"

"I'm a pyrokinetic. I can create and manipulate fire." Pete said as he closed his fists and the fire vanished in a puff of smoke.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Galen asked as he went to sit on the bed in the room.

"I was born with these powers," Pete said while putting his hands in his pants pockets.

"Like Cassie?" Galen uttered.

"Yes, like Cassie," Pete replied. "They're both a blessing and a curse for me and anyone close to me."

"Is that why you haven't shared your powers with the others?" Galen asked.

"Yes, the last thing I want is for people that I get close to to get hurt because of me," Pete said.

"I understand. More than you know." Galen said with a smile. "It takes a lot to control the beast that lives inside me. A struggle I'm gonna be facing for the rest of my life."

"Guess we have more in common than we realized," Pete said.

"Guess we do," Galen replied calmly. "Does Cassie know what you can do?"

Pete nods, "Remember that explosion from the grenade at the hotel? Cassie was the one that pulled the pin and covered it up killing some of the members of the Pequod. She found out that night."

"She took it well. Cassie's not someone who abandons someone because they're different." Galen replied.

"She embraces them with open arms," Pete uttered with a smile on his face.

"She never gives up on them, that's for sure," Galen stated. "Just so we're clear… if you hurt Cassie in any way, you and I will have serious issues."

Pete nods. "Clear as crystal."

"I should go see Claud. I promised her mom I would look out for her and I will keep my promises." Galen replied as he unlocked the door.

"Then I will continue my guard duties," Pete replied and Galen gave him a look. "I also keep my promises."

Galen grins and the two head out of the room.

•••

Inside the dimly lit warehouse, several individuals were wearing lab coats and safety gear as they were working on cooking up some chemical compounds. Other individuals are putting package boxes inside several large moving trucks.

In an upper level of the warehouse, Andre Deimos watches the production take place with a discerning eye. Deimos wore a dark blue velvet suit with a matching silk purple ascot.

At that moment, Raina walks towards him still wearing her motorcycle outfit minus the helmet. "I got some good intel." She replied. "Parker has some family in town."

"His mother?" Deimos asked not to turn to face Raina.

"No, his sister," Raina said, which caught Deimos' attention and caused him to turn around. "I got close enough to see your detective and two others meet with a spunky-looking blond and they seemed close enough to be family. They even shared an... awkward-looking hug. It was… rather amusing."

"Are you certain she wasn't related to the other two with Parker?" Deimos asked.

"Well, the female in his presence... Let's just say she and I share a... complicated history. We'll leave it at that." Raina informed him, speaking about Cassie.

"And the other?" Deimos inquired.

"The boy looked about the same age as the blond and he seemed to be quite fond of her. Especially when I tried to get her down with my motorcycle." Raina said.

"And why on Earth would you do that? I asked you to observe. Not to commit vehicular homicide." Deimos said bitterly.

"Relax, Heisenberg. I was just trying to catch your friend's attention. It's all part of the plan. I just think outside the box." Raina said.

"Just don't think too outside the box. I understand your reputation in the underworld but you aren't invincible. You bleed and you can die." Deimos threatens.

Raina gets in his face and menacingly says "Then you'd better hope your boys don't miss."

At that moment, a tall muscular man in an all-black suit approaches the pair who pull apart and look at him. "Sir, sorry to interrupt but we have a visitor. He's waiting for you in your office."

Deimos frowns and lets out a deep breath, he knows who the visitor is.

•••

Inside the makeshift Deimos set up for himself which consists of a large crate that was used as a desk and two expensive office chairs, one in front of the crate and one behind it.

Deimos and Raina enter the office and find Alec Grayson standing in the office waiting for Deimos. Alec was impeccably dressed in an expensive-looking gray suit without a tie and his hair combed neatly.

"Andre, love what you've done with the place," Alec said in a mildly condescending manner.

"What do you want, Grayson?" Deimos asked in an annoyed tone as he sat in the chair facing in front of the wall while Raina stood in the room.

"Ouch. Haven't you learned not to mind your manners?" Alec said, sounding like his feelings were hurt. He looks at Raina and gives her a hard stare as he sits down in the chair in front of the makeshift desk. "I'll cut to the chase, the Maestro wants to know how production is going?"

"Your boss doesn't give a damn about my production. He only wants to know if there's any way to trace my operation back to him." Deimos replied.

"Believe me when I tell you that the Maestro always finds a way to make sure things don't lead back to him. He does his homework before putting down any of his money on an illegal operation." Alec told him. "He knows the risks and will... liquidate the assets when you do something stupid."

"Like Mother? And Gregor O'Shannon?" Deimos commented as Alec remembered the two criminals his boss asked him to 'personally' terminate. "I'm aware of his penchant for violence."

"They were dealt with. He doesn't like failure." Alec replied. "He also doesn't like being manipulated. He wants me to make it clear to you that if you slip up or you cross him, there will be no place for you to hide. He will find you and he will kill you."

"I'm pretty clear on the threat, Mr Grayson. Now if you'll excuse me, I have plans in the works. Have a good day." Deimos said as he dismissed Alec.

Alec gets up from his seat. "If you are planning something beyond your operation, he will find out and I will come back here but it won't be a friendly visit."

"What makes you think I won't have Ms Tran here watching back when you do?" Deimos asked as he looked over to Raina.

"Because I know for a fact that Ms Tran is all about self-preservation," Alec said when he turned to face Raina. "She'll do whatever it takes to make sure she stays alive."

"You speak as if you know me," Raina said with a smirk on her face.

"I know of the lives you've ruined. Frankly, your reputation precedes you." Alec said as he made his way out of the office and closed the door.

"Are things set?" Deimos asked.

"Everything is ready. We just need to bait the trap and let things fall into place." Raina told him.

"Good. Then that means you know what to do." Deimos said.

"I do. Let's just hope that electric-powered annoyance doesn't rear its head in these plans of yours." Raina said.

"What are the odds of me pissing off Pulse to have him trying to stop my plans?" Deimos asked, not sounding concerned.

"In this city, it's fairly low," Raina said as she left the office and the warehouse.

Deimos just smiles, walks over to a mirror mounted to the wall, and adjusts his ascot. "I won't let anyone stop me from getting what I want. Not Parker. Not the Maestro. Especially not Pulse. No one is going to stop me."

•••

Freddie pulls Black Beauty in front of the Groovy Smoothie. He parks the car as Sam undoes her seatbelt. She looks a bit anxious which Freddie notices.

"What?" Freddie asks as he takes off his seatbelt.

"For being a guy who tends to play it safe, you drive like you're one of those guys in the Fast and Furious movies," Sam questioned.

"Come on, my driving isn't that bad," Freddie replied.

"Dude, you were weaving through traffic, and in New York City, that's no easy feet!" Sam yelled.

Freddie chuckles as the two get out of the car. "Hey, you can't expect someone to stay the same forever."

"I thought you might," Sam said. "You're like a nerdy security blanket. You're safe."

"Thanks, Sam. That's what every guy likes to hear." Freddie replied.

"I mean... You remind me of the good old days. You, me and Carly. The crazy stuff we did. You know what I mean, right?" Sam stated which made Freddie smile.

"Yeah, I get it. But as much as I want to think about the past, we can't stay in it." Freddie said soberly. "We've both grown up and are doing things most people wouldn't believe."

"You going to college isn't much of a stretch. Everyone knew you'd go to college and do great things." Sam said.

"Wow Sam, that sounded like a compliment," Freddie said laughing.

"Don't get used to it," Sam said. "Say, who's this Heather girl Danny was talking about?"

Freddie looks down. "She's a girl who goes to my school. She suffered a drug overdose and had to be rushed to the hospital."

"Whoa! Is she okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, she was lucky because her roommate died due to the drug," Freddie explained.

"How do you know so much about what happened to her?" Sam asked.

"Because my roommate and I found her. I wanted to talk to Heather about... something and that's when we found her." Freddie explained.

"Wow, your life has gotten pretty crazy," Sam replied.

Freddie laughs. "You don't know half of it."

The two friends just smile as they head inside the Groovy Smoothie.

As soon as they walk inside, Charlie accidentally bumps into Freddie, causing her to drop a tray full of smoothies. Freddie instinctively grabs the tray and catches each one of the smoothies in an impressive-looking display. He misses one of the four smoothies but he catches it with his bare hands before it falls. Some of the patrons start clapping at the display and Sam's eyes widen.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed as Freddie handed back the tray to Charlie.

"Sorry about that, Charlie," Freddie said apologetically.

"Are you kidding? You saved those smoothies." Charlie said, sounding incredulous.

"It was no big deal, really," Freddie said, sounding sheepishly.

"What, were you kicked in the head by a horse? That was amazing." Sam said.

Freddie smiles and looks over at Charlie who looks like she recognizes Sam. "Sam, this Charlie. Charlie, this is Sam Puckett."

"I know, I used to watch iCarly all the time. You guys were hilarious!" Charlie said. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thanks. It's cool to meet fans of the show. Just as long as you don't ask me to quote the bits from the show, we're good." Sam retorts in a friendly manner.

Charlie nods then looks at Freddie, "Thanks again, Freddie. Must still be tired. Had a late night last night." They said to him,

"Did you work a double shift or something?" Freddie asked.

Charlie blinks and stammers. "Something like that." She awkwardly smiles and goes back to work.

Freddie just laughs which Sam notices.

"What?" Sam asked curiously.

"Nothing, it's just... you seem friendlier than you usually are." Freddie replied.

"Like you said, you can't expect someone to stay the same." Sam retorts.

Freddie grins. "Guess you're right."

"Freddie!"

Freddie and Sam look over and find Millie waving to them at a table where she is sitting with Gabe, Lucy, and Leo. The two make their way to the table.

"We ordered you a smoothie, hope that's okay," Millie replied.

"Thanks," Freddie said politely.

"Nice reflexes by the way," Gabe commented.

"Thanks but it wasn't that impressive," Freddie said.

"You're joking, right? You used to be about as coordinated as a two-legged dog, Fredhead." Sam quips.

"Huh, nice you like to break out the classics," Freddie said amused. He looks around at the table and goes to make formal introductions. "Guys, I'd like to officially introduce you to Sam Puckett. Sam, these are my friends Gabe Morgan, Millie Flores, Lucy Shepard, and Leo Maxwell."

"How's it going?" Sam said to the group.

Millie grins a bit as Gabe and Lucy make indistinct greetings. Leo just remains silent, intensely observing the scene.

"Quick question, which one of you girls is dating the dork?" Sam asked Millie and Lucy as she pointed at Freddie with her arm.

Millie and Lucy laugh nervously while Freddie blushes with embarrassment.

"Um, neither of us is dating Freddie," Lucy said honestly as Gabe wrapped his arm around her.

"Not that he's not good-looking because he is," Millie said until she remembered Leo was sitting next to her. "He's good-looking in a platonic way, I'd never date him because we're really 'close friends' kind of way."

"Breathe, Millie. It's fine. I'm not the jealous type." Leo said calmly.

Millie grins and kisses him on the cheek. "Good to know."

Sam and Freddie sit down in two empty chairs at the table. "Shame, you two seem like Freddie's type."

"Since when have I had a type?" Freddie asked.

"Well you do like 'em pretty and these two aren't hard to look at," Sam said.

"Should I consider that a compliment?" Lucy asked slightly perplexed.

"I think it's better you not question it otherwise she'll start insulting you." Freddie retorts which causes Sam to slug him in the arm only for Freddie not to react to it, not even flinch.

Sam seems shocked by this and goes to squeeze his arm. "Dude, you've been working out? Your arm seems... firmer than it used to be."

Freddie just scoffs. "A little bit. It's no big deal."

"Yeah right. The guy has this intense workout regimen. It's pretty amazing." Gabe answers.

"Somebody's got a man crush," Sam replied in a sing-song tone which made the others laugh.

"I'm serious. You should see him. Dude's like a superhero." Gabe said but he realized what he said.

Freddie's eyes widen and Millie reacts quickly and kicks Gabe in the shin underneath the table.

Gabe gasps in pain and Millie quickly covers for the violence. "Sorry, muscle spasm." She said in a mildly embarrassed tone.

Gabe makes a face and plays along. "Don't worry. It happens."

Leo watches this scene and then decides to say "So what brings you to New York, Sam?"

"Well, Nosey..." Sam said in an abrasive manner which made Freddie shake his head in amusement. "I'm visiting my brother, we're meeting for the first time."

"I would ask why that is but that'd be overstepping a bit," Leo said, drinking his smoothie.

"Got that right, Leonardo," Sam said teasingly.

"It's Leopold." Leo corrected her blushing slightly.

"Wow, and I thought Fredward was bad," Sam said as Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Well, for the record, my name is Millicent and that name isn't the epitome of cool," Millie said smiling.

Sam grins. "You're seriously sweet enough to give someone a cavity."

Millie smiles at Sam. "So your brother is Danny Parker?"

"You know my brother?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, he's my dad's partner. Danny's a pretty cool guy." Millie said.

"Yeah, the jury's still out," Sam said as she snatched the smoothie from Freddie's hands and sipped.

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna drink that," Freddie said sarcastically. Sam just smirks as she drinks the smoothie.

"So, did you get a chance to hang out with your brother?" Lucy asked.

"We had lunch but he got called into work. Something about this girl Freddie saved from a drug overdose, right Benson?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Freddie said.

"Anyway, he left me the key to his place and said he'd pick up some take and we'd spend some one-on-one time," Sam said.

Charlie walks over to the group's table and places a smoothie in front of Freddie. "One medium Strawberry Blitz."

"I-I didn't order this," Freddie said nervously.

"It's on the house," Charlie said sweetly. "This is for that epic save with the smoothies."

"I'd feel really bad for taking something I didn't pay for," Freddie replies, going to pull out his wallet but Sam quickly stops him.

"He'll take it," Sam said bluntly.

"Guess I'm taking it. Thanks." Freddie said as Charlie smiled and walked off.

"Okay, I'm going to sound like an idiot here but you two didn't by any chance... date?" Leo said.

Millie snickers a bit and Gabe rolls his eyes.

"Why is that your business, Da Vinci?" Sam retorts while Freddie looks down slightly embarrassed.

"Not really, I just noticed you guys seem rather close. Not in a friendly sort of way." Leo surmised. "Am I off if I think that?"

"You are off, that's for sure." Sam quips which causes the group to chuckle at Leo's expense. "But yeah, Benson and I dated for a while."

"If that's true, why aren't you together anymore?" Leo asked.

"Leo," Millie said softly.

"Fine, you want the inside scoop, Leopold? We just didn't click in the way I had hoped. There, happy?" Sam stated which causes Freddie to look down feeling awful which the others notice.

"Maybe we should change the subject?" Gabe suggested. "Bet you two have some insane stories from your iCarly days that have nothing to do with the two of you dating?"

Sam and Freddie look at each other and share knowing glances "And then some." Sam said as Freddie let out a deep sigh.

Charlie was finishing attending to another customer when Alec Grayson walked into the Groovy Smoothie. Alec was no longer wearing his suit jacket but was still in the slacks and had the dress shirt tucked.

"Hey, you," Charlie said cheerfully.

"Hey," Alec replied, sounding mildly distressed.

"You all right? You seem a bit off." Charlie asked.

"Yeah, it's just work. There's just days that the pay isn't worth it." Alec said soberly.

"Bet waking up in a penthouse that overlooks Central Park tends to soften the blow?" Charlie said in a good-natured tone.

"Not when you're waking up alone in said penthouse," Alec said.

Charlie looks at her friend and sighs "You know, I know a few cute girls that would be perfect for you."

"Meeting people isn't the problem, Charlie. I just- I know this sounds silly but I'm looking for the one. I haven't met them yet… I don't think..."

Charlie notices his expression. "Is it Cassie?"

Alec shakes his head. "No. No. Cassie and I are just friends and we're gonna stay that way."

"Then what's the problem? The perfect girl isn't out there?" Charlie asked as she did her job.

"I'm still not even sure if they're a she at all," Alec said.

Charlie looks up at him in shock. "Wait, you-?'

"It's complicated," Alec replied.

Charlie blushes but quickly covers it up, nervously fidgeting with the hair that ends up in front of her face. "It always is."

Alec sees Charlie pick up a two-dollar top left on the table "Huh, thought the Groovy Smoothie didn't allow employees to take tips?"

"Thankfully this isn't a franchise-owned GS. Tips are encouraged, not required." Charlie said, stuffing the cash down her pocket.

"Is that a part of the Charlie Robinson 'World Travel' fund?" Alec asked.

"Yes and adding this to what I already have saved and combined my paychecks, I should have enough money to see the world in... Forty-seven years. Give or take." Charlie replied, trying to sound cheerful. "Living in New York isn't cheap. I can barely afford my rent."

"Does your roommate help?" Alec asked.

"If it wasn't for their paycheck, I'd be out on the streets," Charlie said. "Guy might be a slob but he's dependable."

"Good to see that you're optimistic." Alec jokes. "You know if you need the money-"

"I am not taking money from you, Alec." Charlie insisted. "I appreciate the gesture but I don't want to take money I probably won't be able to pay back."

"Alright, alright," Alec said kindly. "I gotta head back to the office. See ya later?"

"I hope so." She said which made Alec raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing… I remember saying that… Never mind." Alec said in a flustered tone as he walked off.

Charlie watches Alec going to make his way to leave then walks to the back and facepalms. "I'm such an idiot." With that, they got back to work.

Back with the group, Sam was in the middle of telling a humorous story which the group except for Freddie was laughing at. Freddie had his head down, mildly unnerved

"Let me get this straight, he got your face tattooed on his arm?" Gabe asked through laughs.

"Yeah, I even got my cousin Annie to do it," Sam explained.

"And you spent days trying to hide that from your mom?" Millie asked Freddie trying to regain his composure.

"Hey, if you met my mother, you would do what it takes to hide getting a tattoo from her," Freddie said, sounding mortified.

"But she found out?" Lucy asked.

"Unfortunately. She dragged me by the arm to the doctor to get it removed." Freddie replied as he looked at Sam. "Where I found out that the tattoo was fake."

The group lets out another burst of laughter and Freddie turns bright red.

"I knew eventually the doctor would find out it was a fake," Sam said, defending herself.

"Just before the doctor broke out the laser!" Freddie said, rubbing his arm, remembering the tattoo. "After that, my mom scrubbed that thing off me."

"You never told me that," Sam stated.

"Because it was humiliating," Freddie stated while Sam stifled her laugh.

"So it's true. You've always been a certified loser."

Freddie winces as he turns his head to find Ricky Maturo standing behind him flanked by his meathead buddies. "Oh, what do I owe the displeasure, Ricky?" Freddie said under his breath.

"Just wanted to know what was giving you such grief in hopes that I can rub salt in the wound," Ricky said.

"Aren't you just a peach? I'm surprised you knew how to effectively use those words in a sentence." Gabe quips.

"Cram it, Rich Boy. Or I might decide to try to wipe that smirk off your face... Permanently." Ricky threatened.

The commotion caught the attention of the other patrons and employees, including Alec and Charlie.

Freddie gets up from the chair and stares Ricky down, surprising the group. Surprising Sam especially. "Leave my friends alone. Your issues with me."

"Yeah, and I got plenty of them. You know, Heather is in the hospital, right?" Ricky asked.

"I was the one who rode in the ambulance with her, so yeah I do," Freddie said defiantly.

"You also know that it's your fault she's in the hospital? What you did to her led her to take those drugs." Ricky said spitefully.

Sam's eyes widen with surprise while Freddie looks down and then back at the bully. "I'm aware of what happened. Don't need the recap. If you got anything new to add, we're done."

"Hmm, you're right," Ricky stated matter of factly. Suddenly, he grabs Freddie by the shirt collar and throws him a good distance across the room.

"Freddie!" Millie called out as Freddie landed hard on the floor.

Freddie touches his lip and notices it is bleeding. Ricky, like a shark smelling blood, makes his way towards Freddie but a hand grabs Ricky's shoulder and turns him around. It was Sam Puckett staring a hole through Ricky.

"Hey, nobody messes with the doof but me." Sam snapped at the bully.

Ricky looks back at Freddie and starts laughing, "Seriously going to have every girl fight your battles, Benson?"

"Leave her alone, Maturo," Freddie demanded.

"Why don't you sit back down, Blondie? The men are talking. Well, if you can classify Benson as a man." Ricky replied while his buddies snicker.

"I bet most people say that about you." Sam quips.

Ricky smirks and looks at his friends "Blondie's got a mouth."

"Got more than that, Dick," Sam said as she pulled something from the inseam of her jacket, the infamous buttersock.

"What's that?" Ricky asked, holding up his arm, looking perplexed as the group looked over Ricky's shoulder to see Freddie getting to his feet. He had a strange look on his face, a look of pure rage.

"What I use to knock some sense to hobknockers like you," Sam said.

However, before Sam could strike Ricky, Freddie grabbed Ricky's arm, took his index and middle fingers, and snapped them like they were brittle wood.

Ricky howls in pain as Freddie looks at Ricky as the bully falls to his knees. The group looks at Freddie with looks of surprise and horror. Sam was just shocked at the fact Freddie was able to do that.

"Oops, my bad. Sorry about that." Freddie said feigning remorse.

"You son of- I will press assault charges!" Ricky seethed in pain. "I-I'll sue your- Ah!"

"Any lawsuit you file against him would be thrown out by any court," Alec said as he approached the scene. "There are at least more than a dozen witnesses that can attest to you starting the altercation so frankly it'd be a waste of money and time by the legal system. My suggestion is to walk away with whatever shred of dignity you have left."

Ricky's friends get him to his feet as Ricky looks at Alec and glares at him then looks back at Freddie with a mixture of fear and disdain then his friends lead him away.

"You okay, kid?" Alec asked Freddie.

Freddie nods "I am. Thanks."

Alec smiles and looks back at Charlie while some of the patrons leave. Charlie smiles at what Alec did then goes back to work.

Freddie looks around the room and looks at Sam who is shocked by his display. He looks at his friends and sees the looks of shock on their faces. However, he notices the look on Leo's face different from the other: a look of wonder.

Sam slowly approaches Freddie as she puts away her weapon. "You all right, Benson?"

Freddie glances at her and smiles "Yeah, I'm fine."

His friends also walk over to him. "Dude, you broke two of Ricky's fingers," Millie spoke up first.

"Guess I got a little carried away," Freddie replied.

"A little?" Gabe said with an eyebrow raised.

Freddie smirks as he looks over at Leo who continues to stare at him. He looks away then looks back at Sam. "We should get you to Danny's loft."

"Do you mind if we tag along?" Millie asked with Gabe standing next to her.

"Sure, the more the merrier," Freddie said as Sam rolled her eyes. She wanted alone time with her friend.

"I can't go, I have to help my mom. She's going to speak at a lecture on her work in robotics this week and I'm going to lunch with her before she leaves." Lucy said.

"Does that mean I get you all to myself this week?" Gabe said, pulling her close.

"Maybe," Lucy said sweetly as they kissed.

"Chill with the PDA, would you?" Millie said jokingly as the others grinned uncomfortably.

"Hey, if you want, I can give you a lift. I'm on my way to work anyway." Leo volunteered.

"Really? Are you sure it's not too out of the way?" Lucy asked.

"It's fine. Besides, any friend of Millie's gets free rides." Leo replied.

"And I'll hold you to that," Gabe said jokingly which made Leo roll his eyes. Lucy kisses Gabe on the cheek as she leaves with Leo.

"Anyone else finds that guy off-putting?" Sam asked.

"No," Millie said.

"Not really," Freddie stated.

"Maybe a little," Gabe said and Millie smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Let's get going," Freddie said as Sam nodded as the group went to leave the Groovy Smoothie.

•••

Danny and Cassie enter the precinct where they find Victor making his way towards them. He's all smiles at the sight of the two of them together. The pair seems perplexed by the expression.

"What's with the grin, Vic?" Cassie asked.

"Nothing, I just never imagined seeing you two walking in together willingly," Victor replied then he looked at Cassie. "And you are not being brought in in handcuffs."

"Even if he was able to slap a pair of cuffs on me, I'd find a way to get out of them," Cassie said gloating.

"Really?" Danny asked, looking at her.

"Yeah, it's easy if you know the right way to maneuver out of them." Cassie retorts smugly. "Feel free to test me if you'd like."

"I'm tempted but I think we have pressing matters to attend to," Danny replied.

"It's quite impressive. No one can figure out how she does it." Victor said, almost sounding like he was baiting Danny.

Danny smiles and looks at Cassie, "I think we got time?" Cassie grins and sits down in a chair. "So how do you want to do this? Hands in front?"

Cassie shakes her head. "It's no fun if you can see what I'm doing... Well, no fun for me."

Danny takes out a pair of handcuffs while Cassie puts her hands behind her. He goes to cuff her while some of the cops in the precinct take a bit of notice of what is taking place.

"Those aren't too tight on you, are they?" Danny asked.

"They pinch," Cassie said as he stepped back. "I hadn't pictured you being into bondage, Parker."

Danny blushes as a woman holding a large stack of files walks over to him. She was of average height and straight black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a black top and matching dress pants. She looks like a cop though.

"Detective Parker?" The woman asked and Danny nodded. "Nadira Singh, I'm in charge of the narcotics division. You wanted to discuss what's going on with the Phobos case?"

"Yes, I've just got to-" Before Danny could finish his sentence, Cassie suddenly gets off the chair. She holds up the handcuffs with a mischievous smirk on her face. "Whoa. How did you-"

"Nuh uh, a magician never reveals their secrets," Cassie said, giving the cuffs back to him. She looks around at the other officers and detectives watching the scene and does a bit of a bow. "You all enjoyed that? Bring the wife and kiddies, come see the show."

Some of the crowd walked off while most got a chuckle from her.

"Quite the performer, Goldilocks," Nadira stated.

"Well, I had two career opinions: private investigator or circus sideshow act. The PI work is much safer financially. Plus, I look lousy in sequins." Cassie quips which makes Nadira laugh.

At that moment, Captain Thompson walks over to them and looks at Cassie. "You break your record?"

"By about fifteen seconds," Cassie said with a grin.

Danny tries to hide his enjoyment of the situation as he turns to Nadira. "So, what do you have on the Phobos distribution in the city?"

Nadira places the files on the desk and opens one of them, "For the last few months, we have been observing the operation from a distance. We haven't had a chance to send anyone undercover inside the operation."

"Won't do you any good. Deimos has serious trust issues... And I have to say that I am to blame for that." Danny stated.

Cassie raises an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

Danny sighs. "When I was with the Chicago PD, I worked in the narcotics division and one of my early assignments was to go undercover inside Andre Deimos' operation. We were working with the FBI and ATF to bring down this operation. While undercover, I became very close to Deimos and his older brother Marco but I was there to find the man behind the operation, Emiliano Cortez."

"Wait, wasn't he a member of some Colombian drug cartel?" Cassie said. Everyone looks at her with odd looks. "Sue me for watching a news network."

"He was also the benefactor of Deimos' little operation. Deimos perfected Phobos and Cortez gave him the means to keep the ring going." Danny explained.

"Then what happened?" Victor asked.

"After months undercover, I gathered enough information to bring the ring down and finally get Cortez. FBI, ATF, and the Chicago PD shut down Deimos' operation and we were able to apprehend Cortez only when the DA made a deal with Deimos where he wouldn't face prosecution." Danny stated. Cassie notices a look of regret on Danny's face but doesn't speak up.

"Wasn't there some kind of condition to the deal so he couldn't distribute Phobos?" Nadira asked.

"Yes, but I'm thinking that Deimos found some loophole to ensure he wasn't violating his deal," Danny said.

"Like making a revised version of Phobos, made from similar ingredients but sold in a different form?" Cassie asked.

Thompson smirks as the others are surprised by her deductive reasoning. Cassie just smiles as an officer approaches Nadira.

"She's here." The officer said to the narcotics detective.

"Thank you," Nadira said as the officer walked off.

"What's going on?" Danny asked.

"We got word that one of Deimos' operatives was apprehended almost an hour ago. She said she's willing to give up the location of Deimos' current base of operations." Nadira stated.

At that moment, a group of police officers brought in a handcuffed Raina Tran into the precinct. Raina wore a long black coat over a low-cut black top with black leather pants and black high-heeled boots. Her jet-black hair was down and flowing

Victor scowls at Raina as she passes by the group.

However, the expression on Cassie's face made Victor's scowl look like a pleasant smile. Cassie grits her teeth and clenches her fists. A look of pure hatred.

Raina just smiles menacingly as she is led into another room.

•••

Sam and Freddie walk towards the door of Danny's loft, engaged in a conversation.

"And you just hopped into the garage truck and rescued her?" Freddie asked.

"Hey, if you met Cat, you would have tried to save her too. The girl's sweet but she'd lose her head if it wasn't attached." Sam said frankly.

"Well, Cat's lucky to have someone like you watching her back," Freddie said.

"I am pretty heroic, especially when I saved your butt from danger." Sam gloated.

"As I recall, you've put me in more dangerous situations than you saved me from them," Freddie said laughing.

"It's not my fault you were a wimpy tech nerd boy. You might as well have worn a T-shirt that said that, Benson. You were asking for it." Sam scoffs.

Freddie just grins. If only she knew about the last few months, Sam Puckett would be eating a big helping of crow.

"So, does the fudgepacker Ricky always give you a hard time?" Sam asked.

"Since orientation at City Tech. It's rather complicated, to be honest." Freddie said.

"But you took care of yourself," Sam stated. "Dude, you broke the guy's fingers."

"Yeah, not my finest moment," Freddie said, looking down.

"It just surprised me because you're the world's biggest wimp." Sam joked.

Freddie just shakes his head and smiles. "So, you're gonna be alone in your brother's loft?"

Sam shrugs as she begins to unlock the door to Danny's loft. "No big deal. It's not like he's some obsessed weirdo."

Sam opens the door and she and Freddie enter the loft where they are confronted by Danny's 'wall of weird' - his investigation of Pulse.

"Guess I spoke too soon," Sam said frankly.

Freddie walks closer to the board and begins to examine it. He sees several newspaper clippings connected with strings and sees two pictures that catch his attention: the police sketch of Pulse and Danny's drawing of 'The Woman in Black.' He sees it has a striking resemblance to Cassie which causes him to gulp. A yellow post-it note reads 'Accomplice?'

Sam comes up and stands next to him, looking at the drawing. "Huh, kinda looks like your aunt."

Freddie's eyes darted a bit with anxiety. "You think so?"

"Relax, Benson. I don't think your aunt is some... masked woman with questionable taste in wigs." Sam said as she inspected the drawing. "The mask isn't that bad, to be honest."

"Can't go wrong with a domino mask," Freddie said nonchalantly. He looks at Sam who gives Freddie a perplexed gaze. "What, I'm a nerd. You can find those all over comic books. Not like I know from personal experience... or anything."

"Whatever," Sam said, putting up her hands defensively. Silence fell upon them until Sam spoke again. "So..."

"Go ahead, ask me. Ask me what I did to cause a girl to take drugs and nearly overdose." Freddie said somberly.

"I'm only curious. You aren't exactly a malicious guy, what exactly did she do to you?" Sam asked.

"Look, it was a petty thing that I wish I hadn't done and if I could take it back, I'd do it in a heartbeat," Freddie replied. "Besides, it's no worse than what you used to do to Gibby. The poor guy still has to read those comments."

"True, but messing with him was all in good fun. Like messing with you." Sam said.

Freddie smiles. "It is good to see you. You know that?"

"Awe. I'm touched, Freddifer." Sam said, feigning sweetness.

Freddie sighs. "Listen, if you want me to stick around-"

"No, it's cool. I'm sure you have other things to do today than spend time with me." Sam said grinning.

Freddie looks at her with a small smile on his face. "There is nothing I would rather be doing than spending time with you, Sam."

"I'll be fine. Really." Sam said.

Freddie's face falls as he bites his lip and goes to leave. "I do have plans. I'll call or text you later. Make sure to lock the door. This city isn't exactly safe."

Sam nods, failing to notice Freddie's melancholy. He exits the loft and shuts the door.

•••

Freddie stands outside the door and lets out a deep breath. "Why can't you just tell her? You're an idiot."

He then goes down the hall and makes his way out.

•••

Gabe and Millie stand outside the building waiting for Freddie and they see him exit. He wipes something from his face and seems visibly upset.

"Freddie, you okay?" Millie asked.

"I'm fine," Freddie said curtly as he sniffled.

"You don't sound fine," Gabe stated as he and Millie followed him to Black Beauty.

"I'm fine," Freddie repeated as he opened the driver's side car door. "I want to hit something... HARD." He gets into the car and slams the door.

Millie and Gabe look at each other then reluctantly get into the car.

•••

Back at the precinct, Nadira and another member of the narcotics division, were in an interrogation room interviewing Raina. Captain Thompson, Victor, Danny, and Cassie watch from the other side of the one-way glass in the room adjacent to the interrogation room.

"You said you had information concerning Andre Deimos' operation," Nadira stated.

"Did I say that?" Raina said feigning ignorance. "I don't recall."

"Cut the crap, Tran! You got a wrap sheet a hundred miles long. It would be in your best interest to tell us what you know." The other detective spat.

Raina just smiles and looks behind them at the glass. "Tempting offer but I'll pass."

"Then why did you let yourself be taken into custody?" Nadira asked.

"Maybe because I love being in the company of such wonderful personalities." Raina quips. Nadira and the other detective stare daggers through her which makes Raina groan. "Very well, I wanted to know if it was safe to speak. Andre Deimos isn't the kind of guy you cross without fearing the consequences."

"Because you're such a stand-up citizen yourself." Nadira scoffs.

"The point is that I am willing to give you the right information to bust the son of bitch." Raina replied.

"And you want something in return?" Nadira estimated.

Raina smirks and looks square in Nadira's face. "Well, let's just say I've been a very bad girl and got lots to answer for."

Cassie watches the scene, stone-faced. She tries to remain composed but Danny notices her right hand is clenched tightly. Tight enough to potentially draw blood.

Suddenly, Cassie feels a gentle touch on her hand. She looks over and sees Danny holding her balled fist. She gives a weak smile as she sighs and pulls her hand away to cross her arms over her chest.

"What do you want?" Nadira asked.

Raina smiles. "I want full immunity from prosecution. I know you can give me what I want."

Nadira looks back at the glass window and then back at Raina. "We'll consider it. Now tell us what you know."

Raina's smarmy and arrogant smile was on full display. "Deimos has been conducting his business in a warehouse on 32nd and Espinoza. He's going to make another delivery this afternoon."

"How sure are you about the information?" The male detective asked.

"I've been working closely with Deimos for the last three weeks. The man hired me as extra muscle, and wants to protect his operation from anyone working undercover." Raina explained. "He had a bad experience with someone infiltrating his operation three years ago. He has major trust issues."

Danny swallows hard as Cassie looks over at him. Noticing his unease.

Raina grins with malice on her face as she looks back at the window in the interrogation. "May I ask who is watching this?"

"That's none of your concern," Nadira said bluntly. "Who do you care?"

"Just curious. Want to know if a certain fiery redhead is watching." Raina replied. "She and I are... acquainted with one another." She looks back at the window and waves in a manner that appears cordial.

Cassie glares and goes to exit the room. "Bitch is asking for it!"

Before she could leave, Thompson stood in front of the door. "Can't let you compromise this case, Cassie."

"After what she's done, I assumed you'd be joining me," Cassie said bitterly. "She killed-"

"That wasn't confirmed. Besides, I only saw that vigilante Mockingbird with him." Thompson retorts. "She's the only one I find responsible for what happened to Noah!"

Cassie looks down and sighs "So we're just making deals with sociopaths now?"

"You're not even a member of this police force!" Thompson shouted.

"Say that again when you come to me for information on what's going on in the streets because you're too scared to do your footwork!" Cassie replied which made Thompson sullen. "Besides if I was, I'd be much more effective than the circus monkeys you have on your payroll!" Cassie yells then remembers Danny and Victor are in the room. "Present company excluded."

Danny shakes his head in amusement and Victor just shrugs while Nadira comes into the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Nadira asked as she surveyed the scene.

Cassie looks over at Nadira. "Please tell me you aren't considering making a deal with her?"

"I don't have a choice. It's the only way I can bring down the Phobos distribution for good." Nadira said.

"I have to agree with Cassie on this one. Raina Tran has a wrap sheet long enough to circle the globe five times! She's not exactly trustworthy." Victor said, hiding his bitterness towards the mercenary.

"She can't nor should she be trusted," Cassie replied.

"We're not going to let her off that easily, Rapunzel," Nadira stated to Cassie. "I'm gonna get a hold of the DA as well as the international agencies that have Ms. Tran on their Top Ten most wanted lists. If she is that dangerous, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to take her in after we get what we need from her."

"So you're going to double-cross the deadly assassin?" Cassie asks with a hint of incredulousness. "I'm counting the million ways that will blow up in your face. And I'm only noting the amount of iterations where you escape with your life."

"Cassie, it's either trusting her information or more innocent kids die at the hands of Phobos," Thompson replied. "Our hands are tied."

Cassie just shakes her head in disappointment. "Fine, do what you want. Just don't expect me to watch."

Cassie exits the room and leaves down the hallway in a huff.

Danny looks perplexed by the scene. What had Raina done to Cassie that made her so angry? Who was Noah and why did it connect to Cassie and Captain Thompson?

"We need to get a team together to storm the warehouse," Thompson stated.

"I can get some of my best men in my unit together in five minutes," Nadira replied.

"Do it," Thompson said.

"I'd like to go in as well, sir," Danny stated.

"I can't let you do that. You have too much history with Deimos." Thompson stated. "You'd compromise the operation."

"Excuse me?" Danny stated sounding offended. "I've dealt with Deimos. I know what he's capable of. I will not-"

"Danny, relax," Victor said to calm Danny down. "I'll go. Make sure they bring Deimos down. I promise."

Danny nods as Victor walks out with Thompson and Nadira leaves the room. He looks around and angrily kicks a chair over.

•••

At the Pulse Cave, Gabe and Millie were sitting around relaxing. Millie was stocking a first aid cabinet that had been placed inside and Gabe was hard at work with a small high-tech device.

Millie puts a large bottle of rubbing alcohol inside then looks at the door to the dojo then back at Gabe "Do you think he's okay?"

"Not sure," Gabe said as he continued working. "He's probably just having a rough day."

"You think it's because Sam's in town?" Millie asked.

"Among other things. Guy's been under a lot of pressure." Gabe said as he set down his work. "He just needs to blow off some steam. That's all." Millie sighs and goes back to stocking the cabinet. Gabe notices her unease. "What?"

"It's just-" Millie began and exhaled, "He seems to do a lot of that lately. Blowing off steam."

"Mills, he's doing something that sometimes seems like it's never going to have an end. Fighting crime doesn't end things, just slows things down." Gabe said. "You'd have to have an unbreakable spirit or be a bit mad to keep going. Guess Freddie's a bit of both."

"Freddie isn't crazy," Millie said, looking down.

"In a sense, everyone's a little crazy. We do things over and over again, expecting different results." Gabe stated as the door leading to the Pulse Cave opens and closes. "That's kind of the definition of insanity."

"Depends on the definition," Pete said as he made his way down the stairs. "Nothing is ever concrete."

"Hey, Pete," Millie said, greeting sweetly. "How's Claud doing?"

"She's good. They might be letting her out of the hospital in a few days." Pete said. He looks around. "You guys here by yourselves?"

"No, Freddie's here too," Gabe said as he went back to work on the device. "He's letting off some aggression on a punching bag."

"Did something happen?" Pete asked.

"He got into a small altercation at the Groovy Smoothie. He broke Ricky Maturo's fingers." Millie said.

Pete's eyes widened. "Isn't that the punk who likes to give Freddie a hard time?"

"The very same," Gabe replied.

"Take it Maturo was asking for it," Pete said.

"Something like that," Millie stated. "He's been in there for the last hour."

Pete sighs and goes to enter the dojo. "I'll go talk to him."

"Sure that's a good idea?" Gabe asked.

"It's better than leaving him alone to stew. I'll be back." Pete said as he opened the door and walked inside.

Gabe and Millie look at each other and appear to be very worried.

•••

Inside the dojo, Freddie was punching a bag as hard as he could. He was wearing only the short-sleeved black shirt he had worn underneath the button-up shirt.

As he hit the bag, the words Sam had said at the Groovy Smoothie repeated in his head on a loop. 'We just didn't click in the way I had hoped.' It hurt, almost like a freshly open wound dipped in salty seawater. He wanted to make the pain go away and the only way he could think of was to hurt something as badly as he was hurting.

Freddie did hurt some, Ricky Maturo. The antagonistic meathead picked a bad time to remind him that his mildly malicious actions had put Heather Chase in the hospital. Wrong place, wrong time. He grabbed the index and middle fingers on Ricky's left hand and practically snapped them as if they were toothpicks by using his superior strength.

Not exactly Freddie's better idea but he wasn't thinking. He was reacting, running on adrenaline. Acting on some kind of impulse he had no control over. However, he had done this in front of his friends. In front of Sam. The look of fear that was on her face was something he could not bear to witness again. He couldn't do it again.

Pete walks into the dojo and watches as Freddie nearly punches the bag off its chains again. "I'd ask if you had a rough day." Freddie looks up and glances over at Pete. "But I'm thinking that might be a bit cliché."

Freddie seems annoyed and punches the bag again. "Not really in the mood, Pete."

Pete bites his bottom lip and looks down at his hands. He knew he had to try something. "Looks to me like you need to blow off some steam."

"I am. Punching this thing is blowing off some steam." Freddie said as he continued punching the bag.

"How about hitting something that hits back?" Pete asked, removing his jacket and throwing it on the wooden bench.

Freddie looks back at Pete and looks mildly perplexed. "You want to spar?"

"Are you okay with that?" Pete asked as he walked to the center of the room.

"I don't want to hurt you," Freddie said as he turned completely around to face him.

"Don't get overconfident, kid. Just because you've become a much better fighter, doesn't mean you can beat me." Pete said with a smirk.

Freddie smiles and walks to the center of the room. "Any ground rules?"

Pete shakes his head. "I think it's time to take the kid gloves off, don't you?"

"So I can use my powers?" Freddie asked.

Pete looks down at his hands and then back at Freddie. "Don't see why not."

Freddie sighs and holds up his hands as his fists spark with electrical energy. "Ready?"

Pete raises his arms and his hands ignite, engulfing his hands with flames. "Now I am."

Freddie rears back a bit surprised at the sight of this. "Whoa!"

"So, are we going to do this or are you going to just stand there with your mouth hanging open?" Pete asked.

Freddie grins as his hands spark then ball lightning forms on each of his hands. "All right, let's do this."

Pete forms a fireball in his hands and hurls it at Freddie who can dodge it by rolling out the way. Freddie throws one of the orbs of lightning at Pete who also can dodge it.

Pete charges at Freddie and throws a few punches which Freddie is barely able to dodge. Freddie throws punches of his own and only two of them manage to hit Pete, one of them connecting with his jaw.

Pete stumbles back a bit and looks at Freddie then smiles. "You're angry."

Freddie shrugs and the two continue their brawl with Pete motioning Freddie to charge at him. Freddie does so but instead of punching him, he leaps in the air and knees Pete in the chin. Pete shoves him back and Freddie rolls on the ground then lands on his knees.

Pete rubs his jaw then he and Freddie go back to the center of the room and lock up.

Freddie looks up at Pete only to see the face of the doppelgänger from his dream staring back at him.

"She's not going to accept this." His double told him.

Freddie's eyes widen then he kicks him in the stomach only to get a blow to the back of the head after he was hit by an elbow.

Freddie shoves him back as the double wipes the blood from his lip.

"She's going to leave and not want anything to do with you!" The double replied.

Freddie growls and his hands form ball lightning again only this time they start to change and turn into hard light projectiles that look like throwing knives. He throws them at the double who dodges them. Freddie forms another set of lightning daggers and charges at his double who holds him back.

However, the double was Pete who was struggling to hold back an incensed Freddie whose eyes were glowing electric blue and there were small black veins around his eyes.

"Freddie! It's me!" Pete yelled to snap him out of it but was failing as he saw Freddie's eyes were filled with rage. "Freddie! Stop!" His hand is engulfed with flames and he slams his hand on Freddie's exposed left bicep.

Freddie screams in pain and backs away, falling to the ground. He grabs his injured arm as he looks up at Pete who has made his fire vanish.

Pete kneels and goes to check on him. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

"I... I think so." Freddie said, breathing in deeply and reacting to the pain in his arm. He seems a bit out of it. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Pete asked, perplexed at Freddie's confusion.

At that moment, Gabe and Millie walk into the dojo and find the two of them on the floor.

"What happened? We heard screaming." Gabe asked.

Millie sees Freddie's burned arm and she looks terrified. "Oh god, Freddie. You okay?"

"Yeah." Freddie gasped but after a beat, he let out a pained breath. "No. No, not really."

"It looks like a second-degree burn," Millie said as she examined the injury. She looks up at Freddie. "How did this happen?"

Freddie looks at Pete who sighs and extends his arm. Suddenly, a small flame forms on his hand. Gabe jumps back a bit freaked out as Millie's eyes widen. Pete closed his palm and extinguished the fire.

"Pete's got powers too," Freddie said, wincing in pain.

Gabe and Millie look at each other then at Pete and there's a long silence until Gabe speaks up. "Well, that's an interesting turn of events."

Freddie gives a small smile until he groans in pain. "Okay, kinda hurts to laugh."

"We should take you to a hospital," Millie suggested as she and Pete helped him to his feet.

"No. I'm fine." Freddie said as the two helped Freddie into the other room. "Just patch me up a bit and call Cassie. Thinking I'm going to need both first aid and healing."

Gabe looks back inside the dojo and sees the scorch marks on the wall. He shakes his head. "This must've been awesome. Damn."

With that statement, Gabe follows the others.

•••

Back at the precinct, Danny sat at his desk looking very intensely pensive. He was still upset about being left out of the sting to bring in Andre Deimos. He understood why he was left out of it but to him, it wasn't fair.

His train of thought is broken when a hand holds a small container of frozen yogurt in front of his face. He looks up to see Cassie standing next to him holding another small container and a spoon in one hand and another container in the other.

"Thought you could use some cheering up," Cassie said with a small smile on her face.

"You think frozen yogurt is gonna make me feel better?" Danny asked.

"No, but it wouldn't hurt to try," Cassie replied as she tempted him with it. "It's vanilla."

Danny shakes his head amused and smiles as he takes the container. "Thanks."

Cassie smiles and grabs the chair in front of Victor's desk and sits down next to Danny. "You okay?"

"This is your idea of getting me to open up?" Danny asked as he opened the container. "Giving me frozen treats?"

"Well, it works on five-year-olds... and most adult man-children who still live with their mothers," Cassie said as she opened her container.

"Could at least get me a different flavor. Or was this a 'subtle' way of making fun of the fact that you think I'm so 'vanilla'?" Danny asked, placing the spoon in frozen yogurt.

Cassie quickly takes a spoonful of her frozen yogurt and tries to talk with her mouth full. "I have no idea what you mean."

"I've been hanging around you too long because I understood what you said." Danny joked as Cassie swallowed and just smirked at him. "I'm just frustrated. I should be out there when they finally bust Deimos. Not sitting around waiting."

"Hey, as they say, 'patience is a virtue'," Cassie said. "Besides, you'll be here once they haul this Deimos creep in here in handcuffs."

"Guess that's a silver lining," Danny said as he ate some yogurt. "I can't shake this feeling that-"

"It sounds like a total setup?" Cassie asked then Danny nodded. "You're not alone in that sentiment. Especially with this vital information coming from that vicious sociopath."

Danny sighs. "Can I ask you something?"

"If you wanna know what flavor I got, it's piña colada. I also like getting caught in the rain." Cassie said in a joking manner.

"No, not that," Danny said with a chuckle then quickly became serious. "What exactly did Raina Tran do to you?"

Cassie looks down at the container and then back at him. "It's rather complicated actually."

Danny notices her silence and that she seems to be hiding something quite painful. "Must've been very bad if it's got you quiet."

"Yeah," Cassie said, pursing her lips. She looks down and lets out a deep breath. "She took something from me. Someone very dear to me."

"Noah?" Danny asks and Cassie looks at him. "It's not like I was going to ignore your little blow-up with the captain. Especially when I'm still in the room."

Cassie gives him a weak smile. "Noah was my boyfriend in high school. He was the second person I ever loved."

"And who was your first?" Danny asked. She glares at him to indicate he is pushing it. "Never mind."

"Noah was Captain Thompson's only son. He wanted to be a cop, just like his dad." Cassie said wistfully until her gaze hardened and some tears streamed down her face. "And that bitch gutted him like a fish. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

"God, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up if it was going to bring up any painful memories." Danny said, sounding remorseful.

Cassie shakes her head as she wipes away her tears. "It's okay. Someone once told me that it's better to feel anything than to feel nothing. The less you feel, the less you are as a person."

"That makes sense," Danny replied.

Cassie clears her throat and looks at Danny. "Since I shared my grievances with Raina, it's your turn."

"I've got no personal grievance with her," Danny said playing dumb.

"Please don't play stupid with me. You aren't good at it." Cassie retorts which makes Danny sigh. "What's the deal between you and Andre Deimos?"

"I already told you about what happened three years ago. I busted his operation by going undercover. That's all that happened." Danny said, also looking down at the frozen yogurt.

"Nuh uh, Danny Boy. I saw your face when you were telling that story." Cassie explained. "There was a twinge of regret. I also read your posture. I know that there's got to be more to it than you let on."

Danny just smiles. "You know how to read body language or something?"

"I'm not fluent in it but I know enough to see through people," Cassie said. "Just tell me. I know how to keep a secret, trust me."

Danny sighs. "While I was working undercover, I was under an assumed name. Kendrick Malone."

"You must be a fan of Batman," Cassie said and Danny gave her a perplexed glance. "Matches Malone was an alias Batman used when he'd go undercover."

"I actually wanted to use the name Denny Colt but that crappy film adaption of The Spirit is still out there so that wouldn't have been a good idea," Danny replied. "I hate Frank Miller for that movie."

"I hate him for other reasons," Cassie said. "Quit changing the subject. What did Deimos do?"

"It's not what he did to me, it's what I did to him," Danny stated.

Cassie stares at him wide-eyed. "What did you do?"

"During my investigation, I became close to Deimos and his older brother Marco. I never really understood why he was so eager to welcome me into the fold." Danny said. "When the bust finally went down, Marco decided to try to kill me for betraying his family. We shuffled and wrestled for a gun Marco had on him. One thing leads to another and-"

"Marco was shot." Cassie estimated.

Danny exhales and nods "He was in surgery for two hours but they weren't able to save him. Marco Deimos died on the operating table."

Cassie looks down and then back at Danny. "It wasn't your fault. You're a cop, that kind of stuff happens. I know my dad had that happen to him. Kind of explains why he became an alcoholic, that kind of guilt turns your stomach."

"I have spent years telling myself that it wasn't my fault. It takes many times of me saying it before I can believe it." Danny said.

"So do you think that Deimos might be doing all this to get back at you?" Cassie stated.

"The thought did cross my mind," Danny said. The two of them share a look of calm as well as concern.

"We are quite the pair, huh?" Cassie asked as Danny rolled his eyes.

At that moment, Galen storms into the precinct and walks straight towards Cassie as soon as he sees her.

"Where is she?" Galen asked, enraged. "Where is Raina?"

Cassie gets up from her chair. "Gale, calm down."

"Wait, you have a history with Raina?" Danny asked Galen.

Galen looks over at Danny. "Only because of what she did to Cassie." He looks back at Cassie. "She got herself arrested? Doesn't that seem-"

"Completely suspicious? I had the same thought." Cassie replied.

"If she tries anything, I'll kill her," Galen whispered as his eyes began to glow yellow. "I will tear her neck out with-"

"Gale, glow stick eyes," Cassie said as she pointed at her eyes to indicate his eyes were glowing.

Galen rubs his eyes as Danny walks over to the two. "Also it's probably not the best idea to say you'll kill someone inside a police precinct," Danny stated. Galen nods as his eyes revert to normal. "Anyway, how do you even know Raina is even here?"

"I texted him," Cassie said. Danny gives her a disapproving look. "Oh don't give me that look. If she tries anything, we'll need all the help we can get."

"You're overreacting just a bit. She's being taken to where we'll keep until Singh decides what to do with her." Danny explained. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

Cassie and Galen give him looks that read 'Did you just say that'.

"I shouldn't have said that, should I?" Danny asked, slightly embarrassed.

Cassie and Galen simultaneously shake their heads in disapproval.

•••

In another part of the precinct, Raina was being led to a holding cell by two uniformed officers. She was wearing handcuffs and had her hands in front of her.

"All right, Tran. As soon as Detective Singh comes back to deal with you, you'll be calling this cell home." A burly-looking older officer with a bald head whose name tag read Orson.

"Sure know how to make a girl feel welcome, boys," Raina said haughtily.

"You're lucky you got your deal, otherwise you'd be looking at the death penalty for your crimes." The other officer was a lanky young man with nearly combed brown hair whose name tag read Ackerman.

"Doubtful. I'd probably do time in a federal prison." Raina gloated. "The US government would make my time in there quite comfortable with the valuable information I have."

"Shut up and get in the cell!" Orson ordered.

Raina smirks. "I will but first, a question-"

"No questions! Get in now!" Orson bellowed.

"It's a quick question," Raina said as she got in Orson's face. "How quickly does a person die from asphyxiation?"

"Ackerman, get the captain!" Orson turns to Ackerman and takes his eyes off Raina. "She's not being co-"

Without warning, Raina gets the chain of her handcuffs around Orson's neck and begins to strangle him. Ackerman goes to try to help him but she sends a well-placed shot to the young officer's stomach. A kick that sends Ackerman slamming into the wall.

Raina continues to strangle Orson who struggles to get himself free. The assassin becomes impatient and then swiftly and viciously snaps Orson's neck.

"Guess I'll never know. Curse my patience." Raina said as she let Orson's body slump to the floor.

Ackerman slowly gets to his feet and goes to pull out his service weapon as Raina riffles through Orson's dead body and finds the keys to the handcuffs. Ackerman raises his gun as Raina frees herself from the cuffs.

"Don't move! I will shoot you!" Ackerman threatened.

Raina just smiles "No you won't. Wanna know why?" Ackerman starts nervously shaking as he holds up the gun. "You're not a killer. Probably never even firing at something wasn't a practice target. You're a boy pretending to be a man and there's nothing-"

BANG!

Ackerman had closed his eyes when he fired his gun and sadly the shot had missed and Raina looked a bit surprised by this.

"Well, I stand corrected," Raina said amused. "I was going to kill you fairly quickly but you might put up a fight. And hey, at least you get to die like a man."

Ackerman points his gun at Raina again but Raina kicks the gun out of his hands. Ackerman tries to defend himself while Raina sends a quick flurry of punches and kicks at him, hitting him in his weak spots.

Ackerman struggles to protect himself until Raina puts an end to the seemingly one-sided fight when Raina makes two long daggers pop out of each hand and she stabs Ackerman repeatedly until a bloody and lifeless Ackerman falls over dead.

Raina uses Ackerman's shirt to wipe off the blood from her daggers and calmly walks out of the room, leaving the carnage behind.

•••

Leo was standing outside the forensics lab after hearing the gunshot from Ackerman's gun. He looked around the hall and heard footsteps approaching. He goes back into the lab and remains out of sight as he sees Raina Tran walking down the hall.

Raina then stops, sensing a presence. Leo was worried, he knew how dangerous Raina was. What she was capable of. Even with his fighting skills, he was no match for the assassin. Leo swallows hard and then breathes a sigh of relief after Raina continues walking.

Once she is fully gone, Leo gets out of the lab and looks around. He runs over to the holding cell and finds the bodies of Orson and Ackerman. He knew what he had to do and he took off down the hall towards the main entrance of the precinct.

Leo makes it all the way there quickly and finds Danny, Cassie, and Galen standing there amid a conversation. "Detective! We have a problem."

"What is it, what's wrong?" Danny asked.

Cassie sees the seriousness on Leo's face and estimates what has happened. "Raina escaped, didn't she?"

Leo nods as Thompson makes his way to the group. "She killed Orson and Ackerman."

Cassie looks over at Thompson and glares at him. "Still don't think she's a threat."

Captain Thompson sighs and yells "Listen up! Raina Tran has escaped from custody and is roaming the halls of this building. Approach and subdue her by any means."

As Thompson handed out orders, Cassie looked around and used the chaotic scene to slip away. Leo sees this and does the same.

"Be vigilant. This woman is considered extremely dangerous." Thompson warned his officers. He goes over to Danny. "I'll alert Victor and Detective Singh of the situation."

Danny nods and Thompson goes into his office. Galen looks around and walks over to Danny.

"Notice anything missing? Like our favorite blond firecracker?" Galen asked.

Danny looks around and notices Cassie is gone. "She must've gone after Raina on her own."

"Which won't end well," Galen said grimly.

"You think you can find her?" Danny asked.

"Like find her scent?" Galen asked, indicating his hybrid powers. Danny nods. "Don't worry, I've been around Cassie so long that I know her scent."

"Do I want to know what her scent is?" Danny asked.

Galen smiles "Lilies and cinnamon. Come on."

Danny just shrugs and follows Galen's lead as Galen tracks Cassie's scent.

•••

At an abandoned warehouse on 32nd and Espinoza, Victor and Nadira arrive with a squad of men in SWAT gear. Nadira looks at her phone which reads 'Captain Thompson' but she quickly presses 'ignore'. A look of remorse came upon her face.

"What was that?" Victor asked, noticing her actions.

"Nothing, I wanted to make sure my phone stays on vibrate," Nadira informs him.

The two cops lead the team into the warehouse. Their guns are drawn and they enter the building that they find completely deserted.

"The place is empty," Victor stated. "Raina just played us."

Nadira looks around and notices a box in the middle of the room. It looked like it was a gift wrapped with dark green wrapping paper and a lime green bow. It seems out of place inside the warehouse. "What the hell?"

"Think it might be a bomb?" One of the other officers asked.

"Call this in," Nadira said to one of the officers. "We might be dealing with an explosive."

Victor stares at this and then at Nadira. Something about this didn't sit right with him. Something was seriously wrong.

•••

In the precinct's underground parking garage, Raina exits the elevator that leads to the garage. She looked around for any witnesses she had to eliminate. Raina keeps walking towards a vehicle until she stops dead in her tracks and an evil smile forms on her face.

"I was hoping it would be you," Raina said without turning around.

Standing eight feet behind her was Cassie. The two women stare each other down, like two gunslingers before a duel to the death.

"I've been itching for someone to give me a challenge. These cops aren't worth killing." Raina gloated.

Cassie glares at her. "What are you after, Tran?"

"Nice to see you haven't lost your warm and charming personality," Raina said in a faux jovial manner.

"Answer the question!" Cassie snapped. "Why are you working for Andre Deimos?"

"Because the pay is sweet. Although, I would've done it for free... just to get a rise out of you." Raina replied.

"Still trying to prove you're better than her. By attacking me?" Cassie said.

"Yes, Mockingbird and I have some unfinished business but I realized I don't have to look far to settle the score with her," Raina said with a sinister smile. "By hurting her bestie."

Cassie just smiles as, all of a sudden, both women start speaking Mandarin Chinese.

"Think you can take me?" Cassie asked.

"You've never been a challenge, Sinclair," Raina said back. "You always thought you were so strong. So brave. Thinking you could be just like her."

Cassie scoffs. "And you're no better? Face facts, Raina. You were just a scared little girl pretending to be a soldier following orders. That's who you were... and that's what you'll always be. You're always someone's whore."

Raina scowls at her and then punches Cassie in the face. Cassie spins with the punch and follows through with a backhand fist. Raina catches her arm and knees her in the small of her back. She stumbles but quickly retaliates with a roundhouse kick that Raina ducks under.

Leo enters the garage and finds the two women fighting. He finds himself in awe of Cassie's technique. Something about it seemed familiar to him.

Raina stands back up leading with a roundhouse kick of her own. Cassie blocks the kick and the following backhand, catching Raina's arm and slamming a fist across her face.

However, the tide turns when Raina does an impressive sweep that makes Cassie stumble backward and slam onto a pillar of the garage. Cassie tries to catch her breath but Raina strides over to her and grabs her by the neck with her right hand.

"You still got impressive moves," Raina said as she choked Cassie. One of her dagger spikes pops out of her left wrist. "This is going to pinch quite a bit."

Suddenly, Leo tackles Raina down and causes her to lose her grip on Cassie. Cassie catches her breath as she sees Leo and Raina on the ground.

Raina gets to her feet first and gets a glimpse of who denied her the sweet taste of inflicting pain on her arch nemesis. Leo gets to her feet as well and sees an extremely irate assassin staring back at him.

"Hope that act of chivalry was worth losing your internal organs?" Raina said as both her wrist gauntlets popped her daggers.

Leo's eyes harden as he barely dodges the swipes Raina made against him. With one lucky left jab, Leo hits Raina across the face. However, Leo's luck runs out and Raina nicks Leo in his left arm.

Raina kicks him to the ground and he lands on his butt. She raises her arm and goes to stab him but all of a sudden Cassie grabs her arm to stop her.

"You never learned to play nice?" Cassie states as she kicks Raina in the abdomen which sends Raina stumbling back.

Leo backs away as Cassie charges at Raina. Cassie leaps up using a car behind Raina as a step and lands on Raina's shoulders. She whips out a wire-like garrote from her wrists and tries to choke out Raina using the garrote.

Annoyed by this, Raina manages to get the wire from around her neck and throws Cassie off who lands hard on the ground and hits another car, and smashes the side window.

A groggy Cassie tries to get her bearings and Raina, now getting the upper hand, gets Cassie pinned.

"I wonder, do your limbs pop back into place if I pull them out of the socket? I always wanted to try it." Raina said with a sense of whimsy as Cassie groans in pain.

BANG!

A shot rings out as Raina is knocked back after being grazed in the arm by a bullet and causes her to loosen her grip on Cassie who punches Raina in the stomach. Raina backs off in pain as Cassie gets to her feet to see who had fired the gun where she found it:

Danny, still with his gun drawn and pointing it at Raina. A foot behind him stood Galen who flanked him like a loyal ally.

"Hands in the air, Tran!" Danny ordered.

Raina smirks. "Hmm, if it isn't the cavalry." She looks at Cassie. "So you aren't above having men saving you."

Cassie glares at Raina and then takes a look at Danny. "I had her, you know." She said, rubbing the shoulder of the arm that was pinned back by Raina.

"Sure and I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts," Danny said jokingly and Cassie rolled her eyes. He then focuses back on Raina. "Hands up, NOW!"

"You're going to let me go," Raina said arrogantly.

Danny scoffs. "And what on Earth would possess me to do that?"

"Because you've got bigger fish to fry," Raina said. "You do have to save your partner from Deimos' present." The four look at each other surprised and worried. "Did you think I'd betray Deimos so easily? I'm not above it but I'm not about to kill the golden goose before it lays the golden egg, now am I? In other words... Victor go boom."

Suddenly, Raina throws down a smoke bomb and uses the confusion of the scene to make her get away. The four of them cough and gasp for air and they realize that Raina is gone.

Galen helps Leo to his feet as he tends to the gash on his arm.

"Does that hurt?" Galen asked Leo, who grabbed his arm in pain.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Leo lies as he flinches a bit from the pain. "It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine."

Cassie regains her composure and she looks at Danny. The two look at each other with a look of dread.

"Victor." Danny simply said then he takes off running and Cassie soon chases after him.

"Danny!" Cassie yelled as she pursued him.

Leo and Galen follow the pair out of the parking garage and back into the precinct.

•••

Danny runs into Thompson's office who is on the phone. "Captain!"

"Parker, what's wrong? Did Tran get away?" Thompson asked as Cassie caught up to Danny and entered the office.

"We've got a problem," Danny said. "It's a trap."

Thompson looks concerned.

•••

Back at the abandoned warehouse, Victor and the SWAT team as the men paced around the building. Nadira sits in the corner of the room, she looks nervously at her phone.

"When is the bomb squad getting here?" Victor asked Nadira.

"Something's wrong. I've tried calling Thompson but he's not picking up." Nadira said anxiously.

Victor stares at her as he pulls out his phone. "I'm calling Thompson." Without warning, his phone rings and he answers it. "Captain, we've got a problem."

As Victor talks to Thompson, Nadira slips out of the warehouse. Nadira stands outside with her phone in her hands and she receives a text message that reads 'Is it done?'

Inside the warehouse, one of the SWAT approaches the gift-wrapped box in the middle of the room.

Victor continues to talk to Thompson on the phone. "What do you mean it's a-" he stares at the box in the room and the SWAT member puts his hand on the box. "Oh god."

The SWAT member opens the box before Victor can stop him from opening the box. The lid pops open and a bright green-colored mist fills the room.

The must hits the men and they all start coughing and gasping for air when the mist starts affecting their minds. They start screaming, convulsing, and writhing in pain and terror. Including Victor who lets out a scream that echoes through the warehouse.

Nadira hears the scream from outside and then looks remorseful. She looks back at her phone and sends a message back saying 'It's done.'

•••

An hour later, Danny's blue Mustang pulls up to the warehouse/Team Pulse's base of operations where Black Beauty was parked in front of the building. Danny stops the car and just sits there while Cassie sits next to him on the passenger side.

Cassie looks at her phone and reads two text messages on her phone. One from Gabe reads 'Get to the warehouse. Freddie's hurt' and one from Galen reading 'Leo's fine. The cut wasn't deep. They're bringing in Victor. Doesn't look good.

The two of them sit in silence and Danny hangs his head feeling troubled. Cassie, sporting a small bandage on her forehead for a show, looks at him and sees his internal pain.

"It wasn't your fault." Cassie simply said.

"Guess we have a difference of opinion," Danny replied, Cassie's words not comforting him. "Deimos is doing this because he wants revenge. He's doing this because of me."

"Wow. Ego, much?" Cassie quips, trying to get Danny to at least crack a smile.

Danny gives her a weak smile and then frowns. "Deimos is hurting people closest to me to get back at me for what happened to his brother. Victor..." He gently touches Cassie's bandage. "And you."

Cassie grabs his hand. "The guy can try to throw the Empire State Building and I'd still come back swinging. I'm more worried about you."

"Cassie..."

"I know you. You aren't going to let this bastard make you feel like a victim." Cassie said with insistence. "We're going to stop him. He won't get away with it."

Danny sighs. "Do me a favor and-"

"You don't even have to ask," Cassie said with a smile.

"Thank you," Danny replied.

The two of them get out of the car and go to enter the warehouse where the two of them enter. Danny looks around at the state of the building. It looks like it has been cleaned up but it was still looking like a rundown warehouse.

"This place looks... Wow, I cannot find anything nice to say about it without it sounding forced." Danny said.

"It's... It's a work in progress." Cassie said, looking around. "I'm looking for contractors to do estimates but they ask for a crap ton of money. I'm not exactly made of money so your judgments are based on the fact that I'm kinda low on funds."

"So I have no right to judge?" Danny asked.

"You catch on quick," Cassie said with a smirk.

"Where is she? Is she here?" Danny asked when suddenly Gabe and Millie exited from the Pulse Cave.

"Cassie!" Gabe yelled as he and Millie rushed over but stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Danny. "Oh. Hey Danny."

"Hey guys," Cassie said nervously.

"What's going on?" Millie asked, seeing the worry on Cassie and Danny's faces.

"Millie..." Danny began as he walked over to her. "It's your dad."

"What's wrong?" Millie asked with a twinge of fear in her voice.

"There was an incident... and he's in the hospital," Danny said somberly.

"Oh my god! Is he okay?" Millie panicked.

Danny looks at Cassie who bites her bottom lip. "I'll explain in the car. I need to take you to the hospital."

"Oh. Okay." Millie said anxiously. "But Freddie-"

"We'll take care of him. Go be with your dad." Cassie informed her.

Millie nods as she follows Danny out of the building.

Gabe looks at Cassie and they share a look "Is it bad?"

Cassie exhales "Worse. But I'll explain everything as soon as I see Freddie. Where is he?"

"Downstairs. He's kind of... I think it's best if you see it for yourself." Gabe said as he led her down to the Pulse Cave.

The two reach the bottom of the stairs and Cassie looks over and sees Freddie sitting on a metal table. Pete was standing next to him finishing up Millie's treatment of Freddie's burn. Cassie's eyes widened with surprise and horror.

"What the hell happened?" Were the first words out of Cassie's mouth.

Freddie and Pete look over and from seeing the look on Cassie's face, they know they have some explaining to do.

"I know this looks bad," Freddie stated.

"I think 'bad' is an understatement, Fredward!" Cassie snapped as she rushed over to them with Gabe following behind her but not as urgently. "What happened?"

"Well, I needed to blow off some steam so Pete and I sparred. One thing led to another and..." Freddie indicates the burn on his arm with his uninjured arm.

Cassie's ire switches from Freddie to Pete. "You burned him?"

Freddie and Gabe are caught off guard and simultaneously say. "You knew?"

Cassie sighs. "Yeah, I knew."

"For how long?" Freddie asked.

"Since the incident at the Oculus. I was going to tell you but things came up." Cassie said.

"You should've said something." Freddie politely scolded her.

"Do not change the subject here! You're the one with the possible third-degree burn on your arm!" Cassie yelled.

"And you're sporting a bandage on your forehead." Freddie pointed out.

Cassie rolled her eyes and pulled off the bandage to show there was no cut on her head. "It's decorative. Now let me heal that burn. I can probably bring that down to first degree."

Freddie nods as Cassie puts her hands over his burn and her hands glow in the pale blue aura. Freddie groans in pain as the burn begins to slowly heal and Cassie breathes deeply as she works. Gabe and Pete watch this and Cassie finishes up healing her nephew.

Cassie backs away a bit and rubs her head as if she were lightheaded. Freddie quickly jumps off the table and holds her steady. "Wow. You were... More hurt than I thought."

"Just having a rough day," Freddie said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Cassie lets out a deep breath and sits on a chair. "I was hoping not to make it worse but sadly I have to."

"What is it?" Freddie asked as he awkwardly folded his arms to avoid hurting himself.

"This Phobos thing is getting more serious than we originally thought it would be," Cassie stated grimly.

Freddie seems surprised as he looks at Gabe and Pete then back at Cassie, "Tell me everything."

Cassie nods in understanding.

•••

At St James Hospital, Leo was being patched up in the urgent care unit by a nurse who was ten years older than Leo with blond hair and brown eyes. Galen was also in the room, standing like a protective guard.

"You're very lucky you weren't cut too deep, Mr Maxwell." The nurse said to him.

"So I've heard," Leo said dryly. "Am I good to go?"

The nurse nods. "You know, you're certainly calmer than most kids your age with injuries less severe than yours."

Leo shrugs at the statement. "Not a tough guy or anything but I've learned not to complain unless it's really serious."

"Not the strangest thing I've heard all day but definitely in the top five." The nurse said with a laugh. She looks over at Galen "Make sure your friend doesn't get into any more fights with more knife-wielding psychos, okay?"

"I'll do my best," Galen said with a smile that could make any girl melt. Which of course worked with the nurse who walked off.

Leo looks at his bandaged left arm then rolls down his sleeve. "That could've been worse."

"It really could have. Raina could've killed you." Galen said frankly.

"I know. Cassie was in trouble, I wanted to help." Leo stated.

Galen sighs and smiles. "And I'm sure she appreciates the gesture. But I'm also sure she wouldn't have wanted you to die to save her life. It's not her style."

"How was she able to fight like that? It was amazing." Leo stated.

"Yeah, that girl sure is something," Galen replied with a smile.

Leo swallows hard. "How's Detective Flores? Have you heard anything?"

"I was just about to head over now if you'd care to join me," Galen replied.

Leo nods as he puts on his jacket and the two head off.

•••

In another part of the hospital, Danny and Millie enter the ICU wing of the hospital in a determined but frantic state. They round the corner and find a doctor talking to a nurse. It was the same doctor that had taken care of Heather when she was brought in.

"Doctor Welles?" Danny asked and the doctor looked up.

"Yes, that's me. Can I help you?" The doctor asked.

"I'm Detective Danny Parker, my partner Victor Flores was brought in," Danny informs him.

"My dad, is he okay?" Millie asked, not waiting for Danny to introduce her to the doctor.

"This is his daughter, Millie," Danny told Doctor Welles. "We came to see how he is doing."

"With all honesty, Detective, I wish I knew. I've been a resident at this hospital for ten years and have seen many things but this has me puzzled." Dr. Welles replied.

"What happened to them?" Millie asked.

"They were infected with an extremely dangerous batch of a weaponized version of the drug Phobos. Phobos is already an extremely potent substance and we don't know the full effect yet." Dr Welles explained.

"Can we see him?" Millie asked.

Dr Welles seems apprehensive but Danny gives him a look suggesting the doctor should show Victor's daughter the truth.

"Follow me." Dr. Welles said as he led Danny and Millie into a hospital room. The two walk inside and find Victor lying on a bed. He was asleep but not soundly as his body would twitch.

"Your father is currently in a coma and there's no telling when he'll wake up." Dr. Welles said and Millie put her hands over her mouth.

"Can we have a moment alone with him?" Danny asked.

Dr. Welles nods, giving the two a small smile before leaving the room, Millie goes over to the bed, grabs Victor's hand, and squeezes it.

"I hope he's in any pain," Millie said and Danny put his hand on her shoulder.

"He's tough. He'll fight this." Danny said and Millie nodded, her lip quivering as she tried to hold back her tears.

"I can't lose him too." She said quietly and Danny sighed before squeezing her shoulder.

A knock on the door a few seconds later made the two look around to find Nadira.

"What are you doing here?" Millie asked angrily and Nadira flinched slightly at the venom there.

"How is he doing?" She asked.

"He's in a coma. How do you think he's doing? This is all your fault." Millie snapped.

"Millie," Danny said sternly and Millie glared at Nadira.

"It is. She let this happen to him. If she had been doing her job, my dad would be okay!" Millie yelled and a guilty look covered Nadira's face.

"Millicent, that's enough. I apologize for this, Nadira. She's not thinking straight." Danny said and Nadira looked even more guilty.

"She's right. I should go." Nadira said and Danny sighed as she walked out, turning to Millie with a firm look that softened when he saw that her eyes were filled with tears.

"He's going to be okay, Millie," Danny said and Millie turned to him.

"He's all I have left." She said and Danny pulled her into a hug as she started sobbing. Looking to the door, Danny sees Galen and Leo standing there and he nods towards them as Millie cries into his chest.

"That was intense," Galen said and Leo sighed.

"I think I should go." He said and Galen put a hand on his good arm.

"You sure?" He asked and Leo nodded.

"Tell her I'll call her later when she's feeling better. Catch you later." He said and Galen nodded, watching him leave and look through the window at Millie and Danny before walking away.

•••

Back at the Pulse Cave, Cassie had all but finished explaining what had happened at the precinct and what had happened to Victor. Freddie was leaning against a wall while Gabe was standing next to Pete. Cassie sat on the chair she had been sitting on when she started spilling the information.

After a long silence, Freddie lets out a deep breath and finally speaks "So Andre Deimos has a vendetta against Danny?"

"It seems that way," Cassie replied.

"Do you think he could be responsible for what happened to Heather?" Freddie asked. The others look at him surprised. "Call it a hunch."

"It might be a good possibility that Deimos is using his drugs to get his revenge," Cassie said.

Freddie rubs his eyes. A look of exhaustion comes over his face. "This guy is coming after Danny by hurting those who matter to him. His friends..." Terror creeps upon his face. "Oh. No."

"You okay?" Pete asked Freddie.

"He's going to come after Sam, isn't he?" Freddie asked. Cassie gulps as he moves away from the wall and starts pacing "What am I supposed to do? How do I handle this?"

"Freddie, breathe," Cassie said, walking over and putting a gentle hand on his formerly uninjured shoulder. "We'll deal with it the best we can. It's what we do."

Freddie breathes deeply. "I have to be with Sam. I have to make sure she's safe."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Right now, you have to focus on healing. I healed you enough to downgrade it to a minor first-degree burn." Cassie told him.

"He'll probably heal up on his own anyway," Gabe said which caused the others to look at him. "I've been observing you for weeks and noticed some stuff happening to your body."

"Like what?" Cassie asked.

"Well for starters, Freddie could be bruised up and sore when he gets back from his late-night activities but the next morning he'll be completely fine," Gabe explained. "I noticed that Freddie seems to be getting less and less sleep in the last month. Normally a person who gets little to no sleep tends to break down both mentally. But Freddie seems fine and able to function."

Freddie thinks and realizes something. "Wait, you've been watching me sleep?"

Gabe stammers nervously. "For scientific purposes. Nothing more."

"Riiiiiiight." Cassie stated dryly, not buying the excuse.

"You haven't noticed it before?" Gabe asked Freddie.

"I guess I never paid any mind to it." Freddie thought back. "I never thought it was anything abnormal."

"Dude, you're a walking abnormality." Gabe retorts.

Freddie glares at him then he looks at Cassie. "So I take it you don't want to hit the streets to find answers?"

"I don't think it's a good idea, kiddo," Cassie said. "Not until we know more."

"And how is me staying here gonna get us more answers?" Freddie asked.

"Freddie, please just trust me, okay?" Cassie begged.

Freddie sighs. "Fine. I'll stay in."

"Good. Now, I gotta go." Cassie said. She hugs him tightly which makes him groan in pain. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. I kind of deserved that." Freddie said with a pained smile.

•••

At Danny's loft an hour later, Sam was sitting on the big leather couch in Danny's living room, drinking a soda. She wasn't wearing her jacket and was looking through some shoebox filled with photographs of Danny growing up.

Her silence is interrupted when Sam's cell phone rings. She checks the caller ID and answers the phone. "Hey, Danny. You heading home?"

"Not exactly," Danny said, sounding somber.

"What's wrong? You sound like something bad happened." Sam said noticing the sound of his voice.

"Because something bad did happen. My partner is in the hospital." Danny informs her.

"Millie's dad? Is he okay?" Sam said, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I wish I could say he was. He's in rough shape, someone drugged him and some other officers." Danny said.

"Do you know who did it?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, someone who has it out for me," Danny said honestly. "I can't come home right now but I'm going to have someone looking after you until I get home."

There was a knock at the door and Sam walked over to the door. "You're gonna have one of your cop buddies watch me?"

"Not exactly but it is someone I trust," Danny informs her. "I'll let you know when I'm headed home. Bye."

Sam hangs up and looks through the peephole then opens the door and sees Cassie standing at the door. She was holding three pizzas in her hands and a grocery bag filled with miscellaneous items.

"Hey," Cassie said with a smile. "Can I come in? I come bearing gifts."

Sam looks at the pizza boxes "What kind are those?"

"Meat lovers. Extra meat." Cassie said, making Sam grin from ear to ear.

"Well, no sense letting those go to waste," Sam said, taking the pizzas from Cassie and welcoming her in. "So my brother asked you to watch me?"

"He figured you shouldn't be alone after what happened today," Cassie said as she set down the grocery bag.

"He says he trusts you," Sam said.

"He said that?" Cassie asks, sounding surprised and Sam nods. "Wow."

"So what's in the bag?" Sam asked.

"I brought some movies we can watch to distract us," Cassie said as she pulled out some DVDs.

"It's not like we have the same tastes in movies or anything," Sam said.

"I brought The Avengers," Cassie said holding up Marvel's The Avengers.

"Are you kidding? That's my favorite movie!" Sam exclaimed. "Hemsworth is hot!"

"I prefer Evans myself but both Chrises aren't bad to look at," Cassie said excitedly. "I also brought Guardians of The Galaxy."

"Awesome!" Sam stated. "Rocket is a furry badass."

"I know, right?" Cassie said. "I'll grab some plates and napkins and we'll have ourselves dinner and a movie."

"Napkins? Didn't figure you for a priss?" Sam said bringing a pizza over to the couch.

Cassie chuckles while grabbing napkins and two plates. "Not a total priss but I do respect a person's home when I'm visiting."

Sam smiles as she pops the movie into the DVD player. "Why didn't you invite Freddie over? Would've been fun to watch these movies with him. Action movies always made Benson a bit jumpy."

Cassie smiles knowingly. "He wanted to but he's studying with Gabe in his dorm tonight. He wants to keep his grades up.

"Oh. He is still a total goody-two-shoes bookworm." Sam said, trying to hide her disappointment. "I hope we can hang out tomorrow."

"I'm sure he'd love that," Cassie said as she brought the paper plates to the couch.

"So, are things always this crazy around here?" Sam asked, grabbing a slice of pizza. "Spencer told me about what happened at his art show. You and Freddie were in the middle of that?"

"Um, yeah. We seem to be in the eye of the chaotic hurricanes in this city." Cassie said with a weak laugh as she also grabbed a slice.

"Have you guys seen that Pulse guy?" Sam asked. "A guy with superpowers seems like a hard guy to miss."

"Well- I've had a couple runs with him. He's... intense." Cassie said.

"But he is a good guy, right?" Sam asked with her mouth full.

Cassie smiles as the two start to watch the movie. "Yeah. He is."

•••

Inside Deimos' base, Andre Deimos was looking at something in a box when Raina walked into the room. "How did it go?" He asked, noticing the bruising on her face and a bandage on her arm.

"It went well even though I got shot by your best pal." Raina quips. "Also, I had a bit of a run-in with an old adversary. Other than that, things went accordingly."

"Did he get my present?" Deimos asked.

"Not exactly. His partner, an old friend of mine, went with Singh and was there when your little gift went boom." Raina said, which only made Deimos chuckle. "You're happy about this?"

"My dear Ms. Tran, I don't want to kill the good detective. No, I want him to suffer." Deimos said with devilish glee. "Watch as everything is destroyed around him. And once he has nothing left, he'll beg me to end his miserable existence."

Raina smirks. "I like the way you think. But aren't you afraid he's already putting it all together? That he'll stop you before your true plans come to fruition?"

"I fear nothing, Ms. Tran, and I don't speak of that metaphorically," Deimos replies as Raina scoffs and sits on a chair in the room. "My years of exposure to the chemicals that are found in my drug have left me immune to fear. Nothing scares me anymore."

"You say that now but wait til you meet something that brings that fear back into you." Raina retorts.

At that moment, one of Deimos' goons walks into the room. "Sir, you have a guest."

Deimos smiles, knowing who it is. "Send her in." The goon leaves and a moment later, Nadira Singh walks inside. "Good evening, Detective. Lovely to see you again."

Nadira is none too pleased to be there. "You got what you wanted, Andre. I lured my men into that warehouse. I lived up to my end of the bargain."

"Yes, you have. However, our business is not finished." Deimos said.

"Like hell! We are done! You gave me your word that if I did as you told me, you would leave her alone!" Nadira snapped.

Deimos motions to Raina who gets up from her chair and pulls out one of the knives from her wrist. She quickly pushes Nadira to the wall who tries to fight her off only to have Raina place the knife close to her neck.

Deimos walks over to Nadira while Raina continues holding the knife to her throat. "You aren't calling the shots here. I am. You do as you're told or I will have my lovely friend here visit her. Now will you do as I say?"

Nadira swallows hard. "I-I'll do it."

"Good," Deimos said with a sinister smile. He motions for Raina to move away and pull the knife away which she does. He pulls out an envelope from his jacket pocket. "You will follow these new instructions or else. Are we clear on your compliance?"

Nadira sighs and she reluctantly takes the envelope. "I will comply."

Deimos grins and Nadira leaves the building.

"Now what?" Raina asked as she put away her knife.

A smile creeps upon his face and simply says "Find out what you can about Parker's sister."

•••

Back at Danny's loft, Cassie and Sam were in the middle of watching The Avengers. Sam was finishing off the last slice of pizza while the two reacted to something from the movie.

"Seriously? That is not even humanly possible!" Sam exclaimed.

"I agree but he is a super soldier. I think he can leap into the air and kick a grenade away." Cassie said.

"If Freddie was here, at least he'd explain how that works scientifically. He may be a nerd but his factoids are pretty useful." Sam stated.

Cassie smiles. "You two are pretty close, huh?"

"Real close. Most of the time, we hated each other's guts. Over time, it became something different." Sam explained.

"That's when you two started dating?" Cassie asked.

Sam nods. "When I kissed him that night at the Lock-In, I thought that maybe I'd be able to understand what I was feeling. Then I thought that if we dated, I could figure things out."

"Then you didn't?" Cassie asked. Sam stares at her. "Sorry, I'm only trying to understand you. That's all."

Sam sighs, "I wanted us to work. I still care about him, I'm just not very good with my emotions."

"Do you think he doesn't feel the same way?" Cassie asked.

"It's not like he tells me. We joke around about this kind of stuff." Sam explained. "Like today, I told his friends that we didn't work out and he seemed fine with it."

Cassie raised an eyebrow, "Was he fine? I mean I only ask because he was pretty upset when I last saw him."

"Do you think he was upset because of what I said?" Sam asked with regret in her voice.

"You know as well as I do that Freddie is very sensitive," Cassie stated. "He takes things in and seems fine but on the inside-"

"He's frustrated and miserable," Sam stated.

Cassie gulps. "Freddie's been through a lot in the last few months. He's- he's not the same person he was."

Sam thinks then says "Would it be all right if I saw him? Just so I can talk to him?"

Cassie smiles and quickly turns off the television. "Let's roll, Sammy."

Sam grins at her.

•••

Inside a large elevator, Leo is on the phone with someone. He was having an intense conversation with that person who turned out to be...

"Claud, I know what I'm doing. I have to go out and get some answers." Leo replied.

"Dude, you just got sewn up from taking a slash to the arm from an assassin? Are you up for going out into the field so soon?" Claud asked.

"I've had worse injuries than this. I'll be fine." Leo stated.

Claud sighs "Look, I know you don't want me to worry so much about you-"

"But I know you're going to worry anyway," Leo said as the elevator dings to signal he's reached the right floor.

"You might be emotionally compromised. Your encounter with Raina Tran and what happened to Millie's dad has made you not think straight." Claud said.

"I can assure you that I am thinking straight. I will get the answers I need." Leo said as the elevator door opened and he exited the elevator. "You trust me, right?"

After a long pause, Claud lets out a sigh "I trust you. Just be careful. I'm not gonna be there to be the voice in your ear. Keep you from doing something reckless."

"I promise to be careful," Leo reassures her as he flips a switch to power the basement room. "If not, you'd never let me hear the end of it. Now you promise me you'll get some rest. Need my Pennyworth back in action."

Claud laughs. "I promise. Have your fun."

"I intend to," Leo said as he hung up the phone.

Leo walked into the room that was lit with bright fluorescent lighting. Several different types of arrows were on display on a table he walked past. He goes over to a large plexiglass display case which had a clothed mannequin inside.

The clothing on the mannequin was a hooded black leather suit with green outlines on it. He opens the case and takes it off the mannequin. He begins to suit up as he puts on the suit. He grabs a pair of black combat boots, puts them on, and zips them up.

Leo walks over to the table and grabs a mask that resembles a Japanese fox mask painted black with a green outline. He slips the mask over his face and the mask covers his entire face. He grabs his loaded quiver and straps it over his back then puts on a high-tech utility belt that is armed and ready to go.

Leo then throws the hood over his head, and grabs his bow: a customized Oneida kestrel compound bow that was curled into a smaller size to make it more compact.

He then goes to make his way out.

•••

At Freddie and Gabe's dorm, Freddie was slumped on his bed moaning in pain as Gabe read something off his PearPad.

"So, on a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?" Gabe asked.

"Shut up!" Freddie snapped in annoyance which made Gabe laugh a bit.

"I still can't believe Pete burned you," Gabe said as Freddie weakly turned his head and looked at his friend.

"I was getting carried away and wasn't paying attention. He was just stopping me from possibly electrocuting him to death." Freddie replied.

"I guess. It is a painful way to learn your lesson." Gabe said

Freddie looked at the sleeve and sighed as he remembered the burn on his arm that wasn't fully healed.

"You can say that," Freddie said as he touched his injured arm and winced in pain.

"Have you talked to Sam since the Groovy Smoothie incident?" Gabe asked after a second and Freddie shook his head, still lying on his bed.

"Not yet. I'm gonna call her later." Freddie replied, but Gabe noticed something off about his friend, not bringing it up however because he knew Freddie wouldn't tell him.

"Why don't you change your shirt and then we can go to see how Millie's doing? It'll be better than moping around here all night." Gabe said.

Freddie groaned, sitting and getting up as Gabe walked into the bathroom. Freddie pulls his shirt off just as someone knocks on the door.

"Who is it?" Freddie called before opening the door to find Sam who smiled then looked down, realizing he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" Freddie asked and Sam tore her eyes off of his torso. Freddie's torso was covered with faded scars and a few recent bruises. He doesn't let Cassie heal everything.

"I don't remember giving you all of those bruises and scars. And what happened to your arm?" She asked quickly as she stormed her way inside.

Freddie stood there with his mouth open to talk but nothing came out. He finally finds words and says "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk. Now that I answered your question, answer mine. What happened to your arm?" Sam demanded.

"Uh, I-I had a minor mishap. No big thing." Freddie said to cover it up.

"And you are still a horrible liar, Freedo," Sam said. "You look like you burned your arm."

"I was helping my aunt with a repair at her office and I got too close to a heat lamp. Just me being profoundly clumsy." Freddie said.

"Well, you were always a total klutz," Sam said jokingly. Freddie goes to put on a shirt but she stops him. She starts to look closely at some of the faded scars on his abdomen. "Then explain these scars. Some of them seem kind of recent."

Freddie gives her a weak smile then flinches at her cool hands touching his warm body. Sam traces one of the scars with her right hand. "Sam- what are-"

Sam realizes what she is doing and pulls her hand away from Freddie, backing up a bit. "Sorry, I kinda got distracted. Your friend wasn't kidding about you being in killer shape."

Freddie laughs at this as Gabe walks out of the bathroom saying something only to mute himself when he sees Sam.

"Oh. Hey Sam." Gabe said.

"Gabe." Sam greeted Freddie quickly and put his clean black T-shirt on.

Sensing the awkwardness in the room with Freddie giving him the hint to leave, Gabe says "Benson, I'll- I'll be downstairs. Just in case you-"

"Bye," Sam said curtly.

"And I'll be downstairs," Gabe said and he quickly exited the room.

"You still have the Puckett Charm, don't you?" Freddie jokes. Sam raises an eyebrow and simply punches him in his injured arm. "Ow!"

"You deserve that." Sam frankly retorts.

Freddie swallows hard and rubs his arm. "How'd you get here anyway?"

"Your aunt brought me. My brother is having your aunt be my bodyguard because of what happened to Millie's dad." Sam explained. "She only let me out of her sight when she let me head up here."

"Oh. She hasn't been weird, has she?" Freddie asked as Sam sat on his bed.

"Nah. She's pretty cool. Well, anyone who buys me three meat lovers pizzas with extra meat is the best person ever." Sam said, which made Freddie laugh.

Freddie sits on Gabe's bed in front of her. "So you came all this way. What did you want to talk about?"

Sam sighs "I wanted to apologize for what happened at the Groovy Smoothie."

"Sam Puckett wants to apologize?" Freddie scoffs. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"Could you please shut your mouth and listen." Sam snapped and Freddie put his hands up defensively. "I-I was out of line. I talked without thinking, not realizing I was hurting your feelings. Although, if you weren't so sensitive-"

"Sam," Freddie said, sounding annoyed.

"Sorry." Sam breathed. "You're one of my best friends, Benson. I don't wanna lose whatever it is we have. Whether it's friendship or something else, I don't want to lose it."

Freddie smiles as he takes her by the hand. "Neither do I."

Sam sighs, "Your aunt says you aren't the same guy. Part of me hopes that's not true."

"Sam." He said somberly.

"But another part of me wants to know what kind of guy you are now," Sam said with a smile. "He could be something special."

Freddie smiles, "Maybe."

•••

Cassie and Gabe wait in the lobby of the St George and the elevator doors open. Out of the elevator, Freddie and Sam step out of the elevator.

"So we're cool, right?" Sam asked.

"Totally. Totally cool." Freddie said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Won't you be at school tomorrow?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but we can still hang out, right?" Freddie asked.

"Well duh, Fredbag," Sam said as she playfully punched Freddie's arm which made him flinch in pain. "See ya tomorrow."

"See you then," Freddie said with a smile.

Sam goes over to Cassie who stops her before they walk out. "I'll meet you by the car." Sam goes to leave but Cassie calls out. "No talking to strangers!"

"What are you? My mother?" Sam asked as she made her way out. "No, wait. You care about my safety."

Cassie rolls her eyes and the boys snicker as she walks out of the hotel. Cassie looks back at the boys. "I'm gonna be at Danny's for the rest of the night. Just so we're clear, no going out tonight. Okay?"

"Got it. I'll stay in." Freddie said.

"Good," Cassie said. She makes her way out and then looks back at the boys. "I mean it. No going out."

"I won't go out. I promise." Freddie said.

Cassie leaves the hotel and once she's out of earshot, Gabe whispers in his ear. "You're going out, aren't you?"

"Is a Rabbi Jewish?" Freddie snarkily said as he and Gabe headed off upstairs.

•••

A few hours later, Pulse was standing on a rooftop in front of a nightclub called Pearl. Twenty and thirty-somethings were walking out of the club, laughing and chatting.

"You see anything?" Gabe asked via the com link.

"Not sure what I'm looking for," Freddie said as he looked at the crowd.

"Drug dealers usually make their deals inside the club but they also approach potential new customers outside of nightclubs," Gabe said.

"You seem to know a lot about this kind of stuff," Freddie said.

"Dark times, my friend. I don't wanna get into it." Gabe said. "Hope you like your new voice."

"I still don't know why you had to change it. It sounded fine to me." Freddie stated.

"Your old voice sounded like a robot. Your new voice sounds a bit more human." Gabe informed him.

Pulse looks over and sees a tall man with greasy dark hair and wearing a dark suit standing around near an alley. He sees a group of pretty young twenty-somethings.

"I got something," Freddie said as he saw the man show the girls the same greenish gel caplets Andre had given Ashlyn and Heather.

"What do you see?" Gabe asked.

"Looks like some guy offering some girls some pills," Freddie said. "This guy looks like a drug dealer."

He sees the girls rudely turn the dealer down and quickly walk away. The dealer looks around but is distracted by a noise in another alley. He walks toward the noise and suddenly is pulled into the alley by a pair of black gloves hands.

"I got a situation," Freddie said. "Someone's attacking the dealer."

"Someone's doing your job for you?" Gabe asked when all of a sudden the dealer's pained scream was heard.

"I'm about to find out," Freddie said as he leaped down from the building using the fire escape. Once reaching the bottom, he runs towards the screaming.

In the other alley, the drug dealer was shoved roughly against a brick wall by Leo who was in his costume.

"Leave me alone! I'm not doing anything wrong!" The dealer shouted.

"Selling drugs is a victimless crime, right?" Leo said only his voice was disguised sounding like his own voice but with booming resonance. "Where is your shipment coming in?"

The dealer laughs in pain and stares at him. "I'm not telling you anything."

Leo, here as The Fox, takes one of his arrows from his quiver and points the arrow at the dealer's head. "I'm not in the mood for games. Where?"

The dealer's eyes widened in horror "I can't- he'll kill me."

"You should be more worried about the guy pointing the arrow at your face," Leo said as he continued to draw back the bow. "You'd better talk quickly because my arm is getting a bit tired."

Suddenly, an electric blue ball of light zooms at the Fox, and the arrow breaks in half. The Fox looks over and sees Pulse standing at the entrance to the alley.

"I never thought I'd run into a copycat vigilante so soon," Freddie said, his voice changer making his voice sound like his normal voice but sounding vibrated. "Although, I don't use a bow and arrow."

The Fox puts his bow down and stares Pulse down "For the record, I'm not a copycat. I've been doing this a lot longer than you." Without warning, he plucks another arrow from his quiver and fires it at Pulse.

Pulse instinctively catches the arrow with his bare hands. "You are seriously doing this? Firing arrows until you hit me?"

"Not exactly," Leo said.

Suddenly, the arrow Pulse was holding released some smoke and tear gas from it. Pulse coughs and gasps as the Fox charges at him and punches Pulse in the face.

Pulse quickly recovers and answers with a face punch of his own. The Fox stumbles back at the power behind the punch. The Fox responds in kind with a right roundhouse kick which Pulse catches and the Fox counters the counter by using his left foot to kick Pulse in the face.

The dealer sees the fight going on and decides to make a break for it. The Fox sees this and pulls out another arrow and goes to fire it.

"No!" Freddie yells and goes to stop him but before he tackles him to the ground, the Fox fires the arrow.

However, the arrow doesn't strike the dealer but the arrow releases a bola that wraps around the dealer's legs. This stops the dealer dead in his tracks.

Pulse looks at the Fox surprised by the action which the Fox notices.

"What did you think I was going to do? Kill him?" Leo asked.

"I barely know you, how am I supposed to know your motives?" Freddie asked.

"This is my turf, what are you even doing here anyway?" Leo asked.

"I'm looking for answers. I'm trying to find out about who is behind Phobos." Freddie stated.

Leo scoffs. "Seems like our interests align." He looks at the drug dealer who is struggling to get to his feet. "If that's true, start with him."

Pulse sighs as the Fox marches towards the dealer. He grabs the dealer by his collar and shoves him against the wall.

"Ow! What the hell!" The dealer exclaimed.

"You're gonna answer some questions," Leo said to him. "Thankfully not mine."

"What do you know about Andre Deimos?" Freddie asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Leo asked as he simply punched the drug dealer in the face. "You're wasting time with questions I know the answers to."

"Ah, my nose." The dealer stated.

"The adults are talking." Leo snapped, then turned his attention to Pulse. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Think we should be focusing on him instead of turning on each other. Does that sound fair?" Freddie asked.

The Fox just shrugs and then turns his attention to the dealer. "Tell me where the next shipment is coming in or-" he looks at Pulse. "You have superpowers, right?"

"Yeah," Freddie said simply as he held up his fist that sparked with electrical energy.

"Well..." Leo said surprised as he looked at the dealer. "Tell me what you know or I'll have him administer some... capital punishment."

The dealer's eyes widen in horror as the energy that emits from Pulse's fist intensifies. He panics and stammers "75th and Lincoln, the boss is expecting a large shipment of supplies. That's all I know, I swear."

Pulse and the Fox look at each other and the Fox lets the dealer go and removes the bola from his leg. "You tell your buddies we're coming and I'll come looking for you. Understand?"

The dealer nods and then takes off running.

"So what should I call you? S&M Robin Hood?" Freddie asked.

"Funny," Leo said. "I'm the Fox. And you're Pulse."

"I am," Freddie said.

The Fox begins to walk off. "Thanks for that but this is where we part ways."

"I can help, you know," Freddie said.

"You'd just get in the way," Leo told him.

"Then why did you help me in the tunnel?" Freddie asked.

Leo scoffs. "And your ego assumes I did that to help you. I had my reasons for helping back in that tunnel and it sure as hell wasn't because of you."

"This isn't me wanting to stroke my ego. Deimos is hurting people I care about. I don't know about you but I want to stop this guy." Freddie replied. "You don't like me, you certainly don't trust me but I just want to help."

The Fox remains silent and he makes a few strides, stops, and looks back at Pulse. "You coming, Pikachu? I haven't got all night."

The Fox starts moving and Pulse looks perplexed. "Pikachu?"

"What is this guy?" Gabe asked via the com link.

Freddie sighs "I'll let you know."

Pulse catches up to the Fox and the two walk side by side to exit the alley.

•••

Back at the St James Hospital, Danny was in the waiting room and had fallen asleep on a couch. As he sleeps, a hand places itself on Danny's shoulder to wake him.

Danny awakens in a start and he looks up to find Galen standing over him.

"Danny? You okay?" Galen asked.

"Yeah, I was just planning to rest my eyes," Danny said as he sat up. "Guess I must've been more tired than I thought."

Galen sits in the chair in front of the couch. "You had a tough day.."

Danny manages a laugh. "Is that what your senses tell you?"

Galen just laughs. "I don't need my wolf senses to sense the obvious." He changes the subject. "How's Victor?"

"He's still the same. Millie hasn't left his side since we got here." Danny said as he rubbed his eyes. "I hate that she has to go through this."

"She's been through a lot. Cassie told me how she lost her mother at a very young age." Galen said. "Millie shared that during her first day of the support group."

"It just surprises me how she can keep up her cheerful nature," Danny said.

"She's stronger than she thinks she is," Galen said.

"I'd better go check on her, make sure she's all right," Danny said as he got up from the couch.

"I'll go with you." Galen volunteers and the two walk towards Victor's room. Danny opens the door to find Victor lying there but Millie is nowhere to be found.

Danny and Galen both look concerned. "She has to be around here."

"You check this floor and I'll look around the other floors. She couldn't have gone far." Galen said.

Danny nods then he makes off down the hallway. Galen looks around, sniffs the air then runs off down the opposite end of the hall.

•••

Galen walks down a hallway and passes by a clerk's desk where Jake is sitting at the desk. He stops and walks over to the desk which gets Jake's attention. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a friend. Pretty girl about average height, long black hair-"

"Millie?" Jake asked, recognizing the description.

"You know her?" Galen asked him.

"We met last night. Sweet girl. Is she in trouble?" Jake asked, concern written on his face.

"Not sure. Her dad's in the hospital and she's not in the best headspace. If you see her, please let me know." Galen pleaded with the younger man.

"I will but I think you might find her before I do," Jake said. "Hope you find her."

"Thanks. I hope so too." Galen said then walked off down the hall.

Jake grabs his phone and goes to text Millie but thinks against it then sets his phone down on the table. He gets off his chair and follows Galen to find Millie.

Galen continues walking until he ends up on a different floor where he finds a door open. He walks over and finds Millie rummaging through some cabinets filled with drugs and other hospital supplies.

"What are you doing?" Galen asked, surprised.

"Trying to save my dad," Millie said, not looking at Galen but focusing on what the bottles of drugs say.

"Millie, you can't be doing this," Galen replied as he walked over to her to stop her.

"Galen, I am exactly the person to be doing this," Millie said, stopping Galen from taking a bottle of drugs. "Something could've been missed. I have to try."

"Whatever it is that's happening, we will stop it," Galen said. "I swear."

"I have to find a way," Millie said not stopping.

"You have to calm down," Galen said. "Do you want to go to jail for stealing from a hospital?"

"I don't care! I am not- I am not going to lose him. I won't!" Millie yelled, catching Galen off guard. "I have to work on this. I lost my mom, I couldn't save her. I will not lose my dad when I know I can do something about it!"

Galen sees Millie's defiance melt and turns into emotional turmoil. "Millie."

"But I wonder..." Millie said softly, looking away. "How very scared I am."

"I swear on my life, we will stop this," Galen said.

Tears start to flow down Millie's cheeks and she hugs him tightly.

"I can't- I can't do this," Millie said through sobs.

"It's okay. It's okay." Galen said as he held her.

From the door, Jake watches this but doesn't speak up. He just watches, feeling it wouldn't be right to intrude.

•••

At a warehouse on 75th and Lincoln, a group of Deimos' flunkies were loading boxes and barrels of chemicals into a moving truck.

On a rooftop across the street, Pulse and the Fox watch this going on. The Fox was crouched down standing at the edge of the building while Pulse stood a few feet behind him.

"Twelve guys, well armed," Leo said observing the scene. "There might be more inside."

"Least he wasn't lying," Freddie said.

"Doesn't say much to me. Most of these clowns would lie to their mothers to save their hides." Leo said. "You would know that if you knew what you were doing."

"I know what I'm doing," Freddie said, defending himself. "I've been doing this-"

"Let me guess, two months?" Leo asked.

"No!" Freddie said defiantly defending him. "Close to three."

"I know. I've been keeping up with you since the whole incident with Mother." Leo told him. "But you've probably never even heard of me."

"Well no, it's not my job to keep up with the competition. I've got bigger fish to fry." Freddie said.

The Fox stands up and gets in Pulse's face. "If you had actually been checking on what I was doing and what's going on down here, you would've found out that Deimos operation has been in business for two months. Also, you'd have to be considered a threat to be 'competition' and you aren't even at my level."

Pulse sighs as his hands spark with electricity. "You want to start this with me?"

"You're threatening me with your powers? Thought you were better than that." Leo stated.

Pulse takes a deep breath and calms down. "Sorry. Got a bit of anger management issues."

"Really?" Leo said as he looked at the men. "Want to put that pent-up rage to good use?"

Pulse watches as the Fox pulls an arrow from his quiver, draws back on his bow, and fires it at the edge of a building on the other side of the street. The arrow was a grappling hook arrow and had a device on the bow that allowed the Fox to jettison across the wire using his bow.

"You saw that, right?" Freddie asked Gabe on the other end of the com link.

"I gotta say, this guy has skills," Gabe replied. "Want to prove yours are better?"

Pulse leaps off the roof and descends effortlessly, speeding towards the scene.

The Fox lands on the ground in the other building and descends. He pulls another arrow from his quiver and readies himself to fire it at whoever approaches first. He rounds the corner and draws his bow to fire but finds a strange sight.

Pulse standing over the flunkies who were all knocked unconscious or groaning in pain.

"You're late," Freddie said amused. "What do you think?"

"What? You want a medal?" Leo said walking past Pulse, not remotely amused. "There's got to be more of them around here."

Pulse sighs as he goes to follow the Fox who stops him.

"You are new at this, aren't you?" Leo said. "Split up and we'll cover more ground. Understand?"

The Fox walks off inside the warehouse, leaving Pulse alone.

"That went well," Gabe replied, feeling bad for Freddie.

"It's like he's going out of his way to make me feel stupid," Freddie said.

Pulse goes into the warehouse and goes on the opposite side of the Fox. The two vigilantes walked around and the place was lined with large wooden crates that made it look like a maze. They find different things. Pulse finds three enforcers checking the area while the Fox finds a lone flunky lifting a box of chemicals.

The Fox draws back his bow and fires his arrow at the flunky, knocking the box out of his hands. He draws his gun only to have the Fox fire another arrow at him causing him to drop his gun. The Fox charges at him and hits the guy with his bow then backhands him across the face.

The flunky goes to punch him but the Fox catches his fist and bends it back hard. The flunky whimpers in pain and the Fox hits him with an uppercut that knocks the flunky out cold.

"Well, that was easier than I thought," Leo stated. He turns around to get a physical response from a burly man in a business suit. The man was one of Deimos' enforcers who cracked his knuckles, aching to get another crack at the Fox. "Spoke too soon."

The enforcer grabs him by the shoulders and throws the Fox roughly at a crate, cracking it into splinters.

Pulse meanwhile made his presence known to three enforcers on the opposite side of the warehouse. "Hey fellas, is this a private party or can anyone join?"

The three men pulled out their firearms and quickly opened fire on him, forcing Pulse to dive behind some wooden crates in the room.

He held his position for a moment and as soon as the gunfire paused, Pulse whirled out from behind the crates, electrical energy flowing in his hands that turned into hard light constructs shaped into dagger-like projectiles, which he let loose and hit two of the enforcers in the left and right shoulders into the two men respectively.

The men fell to the ground, their guns clattering from his hand. Pulse paid no more attention to the now injured men as walks over to the third enforcer.

The enforcer charges at Pulse then grabs him by the shoulder and shoves him at the wall. He grabs Pulse by the neck and tries to strangle him.

"What's your next move, Mr. Electric?" The enforcer asked arrogantly.

Pulse grabs his hands and shocks the man into unconsciousness. Seeing as he's out cold, Pulse grabs the third man, drags him behind the crates, and puts two other projectiles through each of the man's sleeves, securing him to the heavy wooden crates.

From there, he headed in the direction of where he had seen the Fox scout. Whether he wanted to or not, the Fox needed his help.

The Fox was still struggling with the enforcer, mainly being on the defense as the enforcer just kept coming. The Fox is pushed against a crate and the enforcer forces all his weight on top of him. The Fox reaches for something in his belt, a flechette, and stabs it into his arm.

The enforcer recoils in pain as the Fox uses the open opportunity to punch him hard across the face. He pulls the flechette out of the enforcer and slices it across the enforcer's face.

The enforcer roars in pain as the Fox grabs the bow he dropped on the ground. He grabs one of his arrows and draws his bow again ready to fire.

Suddenly, a surge of electricity hits the injured enforcer who topples over to the ground.

The Fox looks up and finds Pulse standing over the unconscious enforcer. The Fox gets to his feet and dusts himself off. "I had him."

As the Fox walks past him to go over to the box of chemicals the flunky had dropped, Pulse huffs at the behavior. "A simple 'thank you' wouldn't kill you."

The Fox examines the contents of the box and reads the label of the box. "Adrenaline."

"Why are they taking adrenaline?" Freddie asked.

"They're using it in Phobos. Large amounts of adrenaline." Lep explained.

"I'm lost. Why would they use this stuff?" Freddie asked genuinely perplexed.

"Adrenaline is also known as epinephrine. We release it from glands in our bodies that cause a response to fear." Leo explained. "We use adrenaline to help us activate our-"

"Our fight or flight response. It's coming to me." Freddie remembered.

"Adrenaline affects certain parts of the brain. Specifically the thalamus, the sensory cortex, and the amygdala." Leo replied. "It allows Phobos to fully simulate the sensation of fear. Deimos might be combining it with hallucinogens."

"And make a person think that it's real." Freddie surmises.

"He is more than a pretty... face mask and goggles," Leo said with a chuckle. He gets up from the ground. "Gives me a lot to work with."

"Do you have a plan?" Freddie asked the other vigilante.

"It helps to have one. Not running in half-cocked." Leo said snidely as he walked past Pulse.

"Got something to say to me?" Freddie asked angrily.

"Just gonna give you a piece of constructive criticism. You are a reckless, arrogant amateur." Leo said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Freddie said, taken aback.

"You think you're invincible, don't you? Because you have your 'special' gifts but in reality, it's your crutch." Leo chastised him. "You go into situations without so much as a concept of a strategy. Sooner or later, that's going to end up getting you killed and devastate people who care about you."

"Anything else?" Freddie asked, gritting his teeth. What was being said was hitting Freddie hard.

The Fox gets up to Pulse again. "Have you ever lost anyone who matters to you? Because of your careless actions? You think that what you do doesn't affect your loved ones. In reality, you have to understand they will have to bury you or you'll end up burying them."

Police sirens are heard in the distance and approach the warehouse. The two vigilantes look at each other.

"Now this is where we part ways," Leo said as he ran off and out of an open window.

"You all right?" Gabe asked in the com link.

"I wish I knew," Freddie said as he heard the police enter the warehouse.

Pulse follows the Fox's exit strategy and makes it out of the warehouse before the cops arrive on the scene.

The officers look around at the damage Pulse and the Fox left for them.

•••

The following morning at Danny's loft, Sam was lying sound asleep on Danny's couch with a blanket covering her body. On an armchair adjacent to the couch, Cassie sits there with almost dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't slept the entire night watching over Sam and being on guard for Deimos if he wished to use Sam to hurt Danny.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door which made Cassie jump a bit. She slowly gets up from the chair and looks around the room and quickly walks over to a closet. She rummages and smiles at her find, an aluminum baseball bat.

After another knock, Cassie tests the balance on the bat and walks over to the door. She opens the door quickly and goes to swing but her good reflexes stop her from the person at the door, Danny.

"Danny!" Cassie said in a hushed yell. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" Danny whispered, sounding incredulous. "What possessed you to attempt to whack me like piñata?"

"I thought you were an intruder. Sue me for doing my job." Cassie said as she set down the bat and Danny walked inside. "You don't have your keys?"

"I gave them to Sam," Danny told him as he took off his jacket.

Cassie just shrugs. "How's Victor?"

"Still the same. Everyone is in rough shape, it's a nightmare." Danny said.

"And Millie? How is she doing?" Cassie asked with concern in her voice.

"She stayed behind. She didn't want to leave him. Galen said he would stay behind." Danny said.

"That poor girl has been through so much, she doesn't deserve any of this," Cassie said.

"I know," Danny said sadly. "I don't know what I would do if anything happened to Sam. I just found her, I can't lose her."

"Lose what?" Sam asked, half waking up and sitting up on the couch.

"Hey, you okay?" Danny asked.

"I'm fine. Your couch is surprisingly comfortable." Sam said with a yawn. "Is your partner okay?"

"You want the truth?" Danny asked.

"That'd be nice," Sam said.

Danny sighs. "It's pretty bad. They said the stuff used on them was far more aggressive than the drug normally is."

"What does this drug do?" Sam asked.

"It causes hallucinations, makes them experience the sensation of fear including seeing nearly realistic images," Cassie explained.

"Sort of like the Scarecrow's fear toxin?" Sam asked which caused the adults to raise eyebrows. "I've been hanging around the nub for too long."

"Unfortunately, people intentionally ingest this stuff," Danny said.

"People are stupid," Sam said bluntly.

"Preaching to the choir, Samantha," Cassie replied.

"And I started my morning with some Pulse news," Danny said, rubbing his eyes.

"Your superhero 'pest' was spotted?" Sam asked and Cassie's ears perked up.

"That he was. Last night, Pulse was seen coming out of a warehouse where some of Deimos' goons were picking up a shipment of chemicals." Danny explained.

"Are you sure they saw Pulse?" Cassie asked, a mixture of surprise and anger in her voice.

"Evidently so," Danny said.

Cassie sighs and under her breath mumbles. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Kill who?" Sam asked, hearing Cassie.

"Uh my supe, I just remembered he said he was going to check a faulty outlet in my apartment. I got a text this morning that said he can't take care of it until next week." Cassie lied. She learned from years of deception: the more details a lies has, the less people will question it.

"Trying to change the subject, Cassandra?" Sam asked jokingly and Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Anyway... That's not even the more interesting part. They saw another vigilante with Pulse." Danny told the women.

"Another one?" Sam asked. "Wow, New York City seems to be crawling with vigilantes."

"Wait, another vigilante?" Cassie asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, he's been sighted in the last six months. They call him the Fox and his weapon of choice is a bow and arrow." Danny said.

"How long have you known about this... Fox?" Cassie asked.

"The precinct in the Bronx has had an extensive file on the guy. He surfaced about nine months ago and since we're dealing with a vigilante of our own, they thought maybe we'd have better luck catching him." Danny said. "I've been reading the file for the last two weeks. He's an interesting guy."

"Pulse has superpowers so he has to trump this Foxy Legolas." Sam quips which makes Cassie smile.

"Maybe," Danny said. "Sam, I'm not letting you out of my sight today so you're coming to work with me."

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea," Sam stated. "I don't think I should be anywhere close to where cops hang out. Me and guys in uniform don't mix."

"I can't leave you alone, I need to know that you are safe," Danny said.

"You know, she can come with me. I'm headed to the CityTech campus to talk to Freddie." Cassie replied. "Sam can come with me and that way the two of them can hang out. Afterward, I'll bring her back here and stay with her until you come home.

Danny sighs "I don't know..."

"Dude, I'll be fine. I always feel safe with Freddie. Plus, Cassie is kind of awesome so it's a win-win." Sam pleaded.

After half a minute, Danny gives in "All right, fine. You can go with Cassie."

"Yes!" Sam celebrates and hugs Danny. "I'm gonna go hop in the shower and get gussied up."

"Save me some hot water," Danny called out as his sister headed to his bedroom where she had left her suitcase.

"I make no promises, Daniel." Sam as she heads off.

The two adults look at each other with a silence between them. Cassie broke the silence and said "I'll take care of her. You have my word that I will do what I have to keep that girl safe."

"Thank you," Danny said softly. He notices something missing on Cassie's face. "Um, why aren't you sporting your new fashion accessory?" He asked, pointing to his forehead to indicate he was referring to the bandage she had in the same spot.

"Oh. Um, the cut wasn't that deep so I took it off." Cassie said, rubbing her forehead.

Danny inspects her forehead. "There's no scar tissue. Like there wasn't even there."

Danny was now close to Cassie's face and the two of them started to stare into each other's eyes. They stare into each other for a while until Sam returns to the living room.

"Can you- oh! What did I just walk in on?" Sam asked.

Danny and Cassie pull away from their intense stare and look at her. Both of them were amused and a bit embarrassed.

"Did you- Uh- need something?" Danny asked as Cassie bit her lip to stifle her laughter.

"I need help with the shower faucet, this thing is kind of frustrating," Sam asked.

"I got it. I've lived in New York my entire life. Plumbing in these old buildings can be tricky." Cassie said as she followed Sam into the bathroom.

Danny stands in the living room, feeling slightly awkward.

•••

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Millie was sound asleep on a chair in the waiting area. She slowly begins to wake up and she finds Freddie, Gabe, Pete, and Galen standing in the room. Freddie wore a tan brown jacket over a red and blue plaid button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans, and blue sneakers with white laces. Gabe wore a black leather jacket over a tight dark blue long-sleeved shirt with dark pants and all-black Converse shoes. Pete and Galen were in the same clothing they had worn yesterday since the two men watched over Millie and had never gone to their homes.

"Whoa. When did morning happen?" Millie said mid-yawn.

"Probably when the moon went down." Gabe jokes.

Millie gives him a look of annoyance. "Always a pleasure, Gabe."

"How are you holding up?" Freddie asked.

"I'd be lying if I said everything was right as rain. I kind of had a mini-meltdown last night, I'm fine now but I was a wreck." Millie told her friends.

Freddie looks remorsefully at her "I would've come over if I-"

"You don't have to feel guilty. There's nothing you could've done here." Millie told him. "You do better hitting the streets."

"Which I did last night despite Cassie telling me not to," Freddie said as he sat down next to her.

Millie sits up and looks at her friend. "Did you find anything?"

"A few things. I staked out this club to find any dealers who can give me answers." Freddie explained. "But the dealer I was watching got intercepted by another vigilante."

"What?" Millie said surprised. "Him again?"

"Yep. He ran into the Green Arrow knockoff." Gabe stated.

"This guy uses a bow and arrows?" Pete asked.

Freddie nods. "Calls himself the Fox. The guy was good but a royal pain in the butt."

"He got under Freddie's skin," Gabe stated.

"I think I've heard of this guy. Mostly seen in the Bronx." Galen said.

"Do you think Cassie knows about this guy?" Freddie asked Galen.

"You'd have to ask her. She probably does but it's hard to tell." Galen stated.

At that moment, the elevator doors open on that floor and Leo comes out of the elevator and enters the hallway. Leo was wearing a black leather jacket over a dark red shirt, dark blue jeans, and black shoes. He looks up and sees The gang talking, seeing Millie, and he runs over.

"Millie!" Leo called out which caused Millie to stand up. He makes his way over to his girlfriend who hugs him tightly.

After thirty seconds, Millie pulls away. "I heard what happened to you. Are you okay? How's your arm?"

"I'm fine, really," Leo assures her. "How's your dad?"

Millie looks down. "He's... not doing too good. The doctor said he and the officer were dosed with Phobos but it's stronger than a normal dosage. Think he said it-" She rubs her eyes from fatigue, "God, I can't remember."

"It's okay." Leo comforts her and she hugs him again.

"He said it was a weaponized form of Phobos. They don't know whether or not any of them are gonna come out of it on their own." Galen said.

Leo exhales. "Not unless you have an antidote. Something to counterbalance the toxins in this form of Phobos."

"Is it possible to find an antidote for Phobos?" Freddie asked.

"It'd be an antitoxin but it is a possibility, you'd have to be well-versed with chemicals and human biology to figure it out," Leo said. "I think I can probably figure something out."

The team looks surprised by the statement and Millie gasps with mild excitement.

"You can do that?" Gabe asked.

"I think so. I've got what I need back at the lab. I can get my hands on some blood samples of people that were dosed by-" Before Leo can finish his sentence, Millie plants a sweet kiss on his lips that catches Leo and her friends by surprise.

"Um." Leo clears his throat once they both pull away. "Wow."

"If you want some help, I can come with you," Millie said.

"What about your dad?" Leo said.

"I'll stay and look after him." Pete volunteers.

"Is this guy like your bodyguard?" Leo asked jokingly.

"More like a surrogate big brother," Millie said as she looked back at Pete who looked down.

"I'll come too. I'm pretty good at biology myself. Is that okay?" Galen said.

"That'd be all right. Would help to have a referee to keep things fair and balanced." Leo said. "So, what were you guys talking about when I got here? Seemed like a... scintillating conversation."

"Oh, um, Freddie and Gabe were talking about this new vigilante in town," Millie said.

"That Pulse guy?" Leo asked.

"No, I think he's called the Fox," Gabe said.

"Huh," Leo said, biting his bottom lip. "I don't think I know much about him."

"Same here. Guy's news to me." Freddie said.

"But what I do know is that he's been doing it longer than Pulse. At least that's what I believe." Leo said.

Freddie gives him an odd look. "Thought you didn't know much about him?"

"All I know is that this guy has been doing it a lot longer than Pulse," Leo said, coming off as nonchalant.

"Guys," Millie said to Freddie and Gabe. "Shouldn't you be heading to class?"

"What about you?" Gabe asked. "I know you have a valid excuse but-"

"Lucy is dropping off some of the assignments I missed and taking detailed notes on the lessons. I'll be fine." Millie said. "You two get going."

"Yeah, the last thing I want is for Cassie to be on my case for skipping class," Freddie said.

"Least you don't run the risk of losing your trust fund if you flunk out," Gabe said.

"Yes, because regular people have those problems." Leo jokes.

Gabe rolls his eyes as he and Freddie begin to walk to the elevator. "Always a pleasure, Leopold."

"Much obliged, Gabriel." Leo snips back.

The two stand at the elevator and wait for it to arrive. "That guy likes to make me feel stupid, doesn't he?" Gabe said to Freddie as the elevator doors opened.

"Trust me, I understand how you feel," Freddie said as they entered the elevator.

Gabe laughs as the doors close.

•••

At Deimos' base, Deimos was looking over paperwork that looked to be research on Sam Puckett. Stills from the iCarly website, her mugshots, a flyer for Sam & Cat's Super Rockin' Funtime Babysitting Service printed from the web, and surveillance photos taken of Sam.

"This is all you could find?" Deimos asked Raina who was standing in front of his makeshift desk.

"That's pretty much it. She may be a former internet celebrity but she's not as high profile as you would think." Raina said.

Deimos looks at the pictures and smiles. "She is pretty though. I do like blonds."

"Don't underestimate her. The girl has a rap sheet almost as long as mine." Raina said.

"Only hers isn't full of espionage or cold-blooded murder," Deimos said with a grin.

"So, what's your plan?" Raina asked.

"Tonight, we grab her and see how badly Parker wants her back. Once he's out of the picture, we can move forward with my master plan." Deimos explained.

"I thought getting revenge on Parker was a part of your master plan?" Raina asked.

"No, that's just fun for me," Deimos said. He pulls out a long box from his desk. "I want the world to see me as a threat. A master of fear. I want to bring this city to its knees and once this city lies in ashes, they will bow down to me."

Raina looks at the open box to see a brown customized mask that looks like a skeletal scarecrow. She realized this was Deimos' true face. This was Phobos.

•••

On the CityTech campus, Freddie and Gabe were walking out of their entertainment technology class. Freddie looks around feeling anxious.

"Dude, you all right?" Gabe asked.

Freddie groans. "I'm exhausted and I don't mean physically. I just have a bad feeling that things are going to escalate."

Gabe sighs and pats his friend on the back. "I hate to say this but it usually does."

"I'm still surprised my grades haven't plummeted because of my nighttime activities," Freddie said as he rubbed his eyes.

The two of them exit the building and walk across the quad. "I keep telling you that it's your brain. Your mind is moving faster than a normal person's. I'm even having trouble keeping up."

Freddie raises an eyebrow. "Was that a compliment?"

"Or a backhanded insult. I'm having trouble seeing the difference anymore." Gabe said as Freddie laughed.

They look around and find Black Beauty pulling into the parking lot and Cassie and Sam exit from the car. Cassie was in a new outfit, dressed in her tan leather jacket over a black top, tight black pants, and high-heeled ankle boots. Sam wore a red jacket over a top with thick black and gray vertical stripes, black pants, and calf-high boots.

"Oh chizz," Freddie replied.

"What?" Gabe asked, looking around.

"Cassie and Sam are here," Freddie replied.

"So, what's wrong?" Gabe asked.

"Seeing as how I broke my word that I wouldn't go out, I don't think Cassie will be too happy to see me," Freddie said. "Compound the fact that Sam is with her-"

"So, wait. You're fighting bad guys on a nightly basis and you're afraid to face your aunt and your ex-girlfriend?" Gabe questioned.

Freddie gives him a look. "You remember Cassie Sinclair? Add to that, Sam Puckett. A girl who made a cop think his feet got cut off."

Gabe thinks and looks at him. "How did she manage that?"

"I have no idea," Freddie said.

"Look, just bite the bullet and face what Cassie is going to tell you. It's not like she's gonna go all female ninja on you in public." Gabe said. "Plus you can ask her if she's heard of that Fox guy."

Freddie sighs. "Guess you're right."

Freddie and Gabe made their way to Cassie and Sam who were headed their way. "Ladies, what brings you here?"

"Well, I wanted to see the place of higher learning that decided to give the Great Freddzini a full scholarship," Sam said as Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Charming as always, Princess Puckett." Freddie retorts.

Cassie looks at Freddie and glares at him. "Fredward, can I have a word?"

"Ooh, she used your whole name. You must be in trouble." Sam said teasingly.

Freddie laughs nervously.

Gabe senses tension and then goes over to Sam. "Why don't we get something to eat? I'm buying."

"In that case, you're on, MoneyBags," Sam said and Gabe laughed.

The two teens walk off and leave Freddie and Cassie alone.

Cassie lets out a deep breath and finally speaks "You said you were staying in last night."

"Cassie." Freddie tried to defend his actions.

"Then Danny tells me Pulse was involved in a bust of one of Deimos' supply transports," Cassie said, trying to remain calm. "What were you thinking?"

"I was trying to find answers, okay?" Freddie told her. "I hate that this creep is hurting people I care about. I want to stop this guy before anyone else gets hurt."

Cassie sighs. "You mean before Sam gets hurt?" Freddie nods. "You give her very little credit, kiddo. She's a tough girl."

"I know full well how tough she is. Clearly." Freddie said. "But it's my job to protect people from those who prey on the weak. Sam's not weak but she's not lucky enough to be indestructible like some people."

Cassie gives a small smile. "I get that. You just have to understand that you can't save everyone. It's gonna hurt but it's a fact people like us learn the hard way."

Freddie looks down as Cassie sets her arm on his shoulder to comfort him. "So... You wouldn't by any chance have heard of this guy called the Fox?"

"Wow. Here I was going to ask you about him." Cassie said with an amused grin.

"Wait, you don't know about him?" Freddie replied, sounding genuinely shocked.

"As you can see, I've been a tad preoccupied as of late to keep up with news on the streets about a new vigilante," Cassie said laughing.

"Not new. This guy has had a three-month lead on Pulse." Freddie said.

"I've heard," Cassie said. "And you encountered him?"

"Well, more than encountered. We sort of worked together." Freddie said.

"So is the Fox Pulse's new sidekick?" Cassie said in a teasing manner.

"That's if the guy didn't think Pulse was a complete nuisance. The guy can't stand me and, you know, I'm not too fond of him either." Freddie said in a huff.

"Relax, kiddo. Take it from experience, eventually, they come around." Cassie reassures him. "If not, you could easily wipe the floor with this clown."

Freddie laughs at this and nods "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

At a hotdog cart near campus, Gabe and Sam walk over to it. Gabe seems to know the vendor whose cart reads 'Sal's Dogs' but the vendor is a short dark-haired middle-aged woman, Sally 'Sal' Haas.

"Afternoon, Sal," Gabe said to the vendor.

"Hey there, kid. What can I get you and your new lady friend?" Sal said.

"Whoa, he and I are not a thing," Sam said, throwing his hands up defensively. "He's just treating me to lunch."

"Relax, girlie," Sal said. "I'm just so used to seeing him with a pretty girl, the faces blur." So what do you guys want?"

"I'll take a dog with the works," Gabe said and he looked at Sam. "What about you?"

"How's your chili situation?" Sam asked.

"Made fresh daily," Sal told her. "It's a homemade recipe made with corn-fed beef."

"Hmm. In that case, slathered chili on that weiner!" Sam demanded jokingly.

Sal got to work preparing the hot dogs as Sam and Gabe looked back at Freddie and Cassie talking.

"So, that doesn't seem like he's as much trouble as I thought," Sam said.

"Freddie and his aunt have a close bond. They kinda get each other." Gabe said.

"That makes sense. They are family." Sam said. "Although I was never this close with my mom. Heck, I don't think he was that close with his looney mother."

"They do have a lot more in common than most people," Gabe said as Sal handed the two their hot dogs and Gabe gave her a fifty-dollar bill. "Keep the change."

Sal grins "Thanks, kid."

Sam smirks, "You trying to impress me or something?"

Gabe takes a bit of his hot dog. "No. Just trying not to come off as a jerk."

"Well, it's working," Sam said with a mouth full of chili dog.

Just then, Lucy makes her way over to Gabe. "Hey, you."

"Hey," Gabe said as he wiped his mouth. "If I had known I was running into you, I wouldn't have gotten the works."

Lucy takes the hot dog and nibbles on it. "There, now we're even."

Gabe rolls his eyes as Lucy grabs him and kisses him on the lips. Sam snorts at this as she eats her chili dog. The couple pulls away and Lucy looks over at Sam.

"Hey, Sam," Lucy said. "What brings you to CityTech?"

"I came with Freddie's aunt, I kinda wanted to check the place out," Sam said.

"Would you ever consider pursuing going to college?" Lucy asked.

"Nah, I'm not the book-learning type. Plus there's a tiny fact that I can't afford to attend any higher education." Sam said.

"Never say never," Gabe replied.

Sam grins. "What? You're gonna offer me a loan, Tony Stark?"

Gabe smirks. "Maybe I should."

Lucy smiles at this then looks at Gabe "I'm headed over to the police precinct to drop off notes to Millie. Could you come with me? I'm worried about seeing Millie and saying the wrong thing."

"I'd be more than happy to be going with you," Gabe said. "Maybe afterward we can go back to my dorm and-"

Lucy grins and kisses him passionately on the lips which makes Sam snort again as Freddie and Cassie make their way over to them.

"Ready to go?" Cassie asked Sam.

"Do we have to go back to Danny's so soon?" Sam asked.

"I can come with you guys. My classes are done for the day and I can keep you company while you're on house arrest." Freddie said.

"Awesome!" Sam exclaimed.

"I'll see you later, Gabe," Freddie said as he left with Sam and Cassie.

"See ya later, man," Gabe said as he left.

As the three get into Black Beauty, a car that was parked across the street observes the scene. One of the individuals in the car was Raina Tran who was doing surveillance on Sam Puckett.

As soon as Cassie turns on the car and begins to drive off, Raina says "Follow them but keep at a distance. Don't want Sinclair to know we're tailing them."

After a moment, the car begins to follow Black Beauty.

•••

At the precinct, Danny was at his desk looking at a computer monitor at a file on the Deimos case. He looks physically drained. He hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours but he wasn't about to let Deimos catch him off guard. He was going to stop him before he hurt anyone else.

"Boy." Nadira's voice broke his concentration. "You look like hell."

"Gee, thanks," Danny said, rubbing his eyes.

"Have you slept?" Nadira asked with concern.

"My nerves have been ragged since all this imploded," Danny said.

"Tell me about it," Nadira said. "I had to tell the loved ones of the men that got dosed. I couldn't take it."

"This is all my fault," Danny stated. "This wouldn't be happening if I hadn't-"

"Don't blame yourself for what happened," Nadira assures him. "This kind of stuff happens in our line of work."

"I get that but it still doesn't make me feel better over all this," Danny said. "I'm going to make Deimos pay for all this."

Nadira looks guiltily down then looks around "Hey, where's your pretty blond friend?"

"Cassie?" Danny asked. "She's with my sister Sam, keeping an eye on her. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing. I'm just wondering what's her story?" Nadira asked. "For instance, is she single?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Danny replied surprised.

"You know I'm gay, right?" Nadira asked, amused.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that but I don't think the workplace is a proper place to discuss sexual orientation," Danny said. "Why do you want to know if Cassie is single?"

"Well, the girl is gorgeous for one. She's funny, smart." Nadira went on about Cassie.

"Her nose crinkles when she laughs," Danny said absentmindedly.

"I see I'm not her only admirer." Nadira teased.

Danny turns bright red and clears his throat after realizing what he said. "Cassie and I are friends."

"Really?" Nadira replied. "Does that mean I have a shot?"

Danny chuckles softly "Never know unless you try." His computer dings, catching his attention. "Sorry, I gotta get back to work."

"All right. Let me know what I can do to help." Nadira said as she walked off.

Danny nods and looks at the monitor. He reads the email he has just received. It was from Leo that read 'Come to the lab. We need to talk. Delete this email once you've read it.' He sighs and does as instructed by deleting the email and leaving his desk to head to the lab.

Nadira looks back at Danny and frowns as she opens the note with the written instructions from Deimos. The last thing written on it says 'Kill Parker'.

•••

Inside the forensics lab, Leo was looking through a microscope at a blood sample. Millie and Galen were standing next to a centrifuge as it went to work.

"As soon as that's done, we can start breaking down this form of Phobos and making the antitoxin," Leo said.

"How long is it going to take?" Galen asked.

"With the resources at my disposal, it should take me eight hours and I'm being optimistic," Leo stated. "This stuff attacks cells far more aggressively than Phobos normally does. Your dad and the other officers are lucky they are only in a comatose state."

Millie sighs as she runs her hands through her hair. "This is torture. Why did this guy do this? Why-"

Leo looks away from his work and walks over to her. "Easy, it's okay. I promise that I will pull out all the stops to get this antitoxin finished. I'm just looking at it realistically."

"I know," Millie replied, taking his hand. "I'm glad you are, it keeps me sane."

The centrifuge signals that it is ready and Leo walks over to the machine. "Good news is now this version of Phobos is broken down, I can figure out how to find an antitoxin for this stuff."

As Leo looks at the results, Danny enters the lab. "You called me, what's going on?" He notices Galen and Millie in the room. "And why are you two in here?"

The three look at each other than at Danny, Millie elects herself to explain what is going on. "Well, um, Leo thinks he can make an antitoxin to the Phobos my dad and the others were exposed to."

Danny looks at the trio in shock. "An antitoxin? Is that even possible?"

"With the right resources and expertise, it can be achieved," Leo said.

"Did you go over this with the captain?" Danny asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"I think it's best the less people who know, the better," Leo said.

"And what made you come to that conclusion?" Danny asked mildly agitated.

Leo looks down, sighs then looks at him. "Because I think that there might be a mole in this precinct."

The others look at him with surprise. "A mole?" Millie asked questioningly.

Leo exhales. "I have my suspicions. Only because-"

"It seemed like a complete setup?" Danny replied horrified.

"Yeah," Leo said.

Danny grabs his forehead with anxiety written in his posture.

"Danny, you okay?" Millie asked with concern at his discomfort.

Danny takes a breath and calms down. "How sure are you about your suspicions?"

"Enough not to want to include anyone else in these plans?" Leo said. "Look, I get this isn't how you do things but this is important. I know I can use this antitoxin to save Victor and everyone else that got hurt because of Phobos."

Galen looks at Danny. "It's your choice. You can give us the go-ahead or rat us out."

Danny exhales. "If this can save Victor, do it. Just be as discreet about it. I don't want any of you to go down for trying to do the right thing."

Leo nods. "Trust me, I know how to be discreet."

"Good," Danny said. "I'm going to do some old-fashioned detective work. Just be careful."

The three agree as Millie and Leo go to work and Galen follows Danny out of the lab. "Danny, you sure you're okay with this?" Galen asked.

"I'm not exactly comfortable with this but if we're going to stop Deimos and his new Phobos operation, we need to be more... unorthodox," Danny said.

Galen smiles "So you aren't as much of a Boy Scout as I thought."

Danny's grim expression melts into a good-natured smile. "Never even made it to my first merit badge."

With that, Danny walks off down the hall and Galen walks back into the lab.

•••

After sunset at Danny's loft, Sam and Freddie were sitting on the couch watching TV. More specifically watching The Walking Dead. Cassie was standing in the kitchen drinking water. There was screaming from the TV and two teens reacted to the scene.

"Ooh, that is nasty," Freddie said.

Sam scoffs. "Don't be such a priss, Fredderina. It's not that bad."

"He just used a nine iron to splatter a zombie's skull!" Freddie yelled.

"And that is why Daryl Dixon is the man!" Sam exclaimed. "Crossbow is my go-to weapon for the zombie apocalypse."

"Give me a machine gun with endless ammo," Freddie replied.

"That's just you being practical," Sam said laughing. "What about you, Cassie? What's your weapon of choice if zombies attack?"

"Easy, a samurai sword," Cassie said, sipping on a glass of water.

"Yes, that's practical," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"If it works for Michionne, it'll work for me." Cassie retorts.

The two laugh at this when Freddie's eyes furrow which Sam notices. "You alright there, Benson?"

"I'm fine. Just a headache." Freddie said when suddenly his Pearphone rang and he answered. "Hey Millie, what's up?"

"Just checking in. I think we might have something that could help my dad." Millie said.

"Like what?" Freddie asked.

"Leo is creating an antitoxin that could save those affected by this form of Phobos," Millie told him.

"How sure is he that it will work?" Freddie asked.

"Fair to say, Leo is very confident in his skills," Millie replied. "He'll get it done."

"Do you need me to do anything?" Freddie asked.

"It's okay. We got this. Why don't you get together with Gabe and try to figure out what Pulse can do." Millie replied.

"Okay. Just let me know how it's going." Freddie said.

"I will. Bye." Millie said as she hung up.

"What was that about?" Sam asked as Cassie looked on and listened.

"Millie said that Leo is coming up with a way to help her dad," Freddie told Sam.

"No way, that's awesome!" Sam said.

"That's great news," Cassie said. She looks at her phone and remembers something. "I gotta call Danny again and check-in. He freaks if I'm not checking in every hour. I'll be back."

Cassie walks into another room and leaves Freddie and Sam alone.

"So..." Sam began.

"Listen, I have enjoyed hanging out but I have to go, I kind of forgot that Gabe wanted me to pick up something for him," Freddie said getting off the couch.

"Can't it wait?" Sam pleaded as she got up off the couch as well.

"It's kind of important. Besides, we've been binge-watching for most of the afternoon, we can do it even more later. I promise." Freddie replied.

"Okay, cool. Text me as soon as you're done." Sam said.

"I will," Freddie replied.

Unexpectedly and without thinking, Freddie gives Sam a quick peck on the lips and quickly makes his way out.

Sam stands in the room, completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. Cassie returns to the room and sees the state Sam is in.

"You okay?" Cassie asked.

"Nothing," Sam answered.

Cassie looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "Okay."

•••

Freddie enters the elevator of the building and stands there in silence for a while. It wasn't until two minutes later did Freddie realized what he had done and a look of disbelief came upon him.

"Oh god," Freddie uttered.

•••

From across the street, Raina and two of Deimos' goons look on and see Freddie leave the building.

"Should we follow the kid?" One of the goons asked.

"No. The girl is our priority. Can't waste our time on some worthless runt." Raina commanded. Her cell phone rings and she sees it is Deimos calling. "What do you want?"

"How are things going?" Deimos asked.

"Fine. The Puckett girl is still being watched over by Sinclair." Raina informs him. "Are we doing this or what?"

"Soon. However, I will be taking upon this personally." Deimos said. "I have different plans for you."

"And that would be?" Raina asked.

"I need you to return to the hospital," Deimos informed the assassin.

•••

At St James Hospital, Pete stands in front of Victor's hospital room. He paces back and forth past the door until he finally stands by a wall and leans against it.

He sighs and pulls out something from his jacket pocket. The object he pulled out was an old pocket watch.

He opened the watch and there was an old picture of two young children inside. It was a young boy of age eleven with short blond hair and the girl was fifteen years old with long brown hair in pigtails.

Pete gives a small smile then frowns and closes the watch. He sighs, gripped with sadness.

•••

Back at the dorm, Gabe and Lucy were lying on Gabe's bed in the middle of an intense make-out session.

[Soundtrack Note: 'Trouble (Stripped)' by Halsey plays in the background]

Lucy gently tugs at Gabe's hair as she kisses him. Gabe caresses her abdomen as he nibbles on her neck. As they kiss, Gabe's hands move down which makes Lucy a bit nervous and she grabs one of his hands.

"Wait. Gabe, wait." Lucy said with hesitation.

Gabe sits up and looks at her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to do this," Lucy said.

Gabe sighs "Look, I won't push you into something you aren't comfortable with."

"Really?" Lucy said, sounding surprised. "I thought that because of your... history with women-"

"I'm gonna let you in on a secret, intimacy scares the crap out of me. That's why I usually got out before things got too deep." Gabe said, brushing her hair from her face. "Until I met you. And don't just assume that it's me using my sexual appeal to manipulate you. You make me feel less scared."

Lucy blushes then jumps on top of him and straddles him.

"Whoa. Easy there, Luce." Gabe said caught off guard.

Lucy smiles as she takes off her blouse and leans in and kisses him passionately.

At that moment, Freddie walks towards the dorm, still shocked and confused by kissing Sam. He didn't mean to do it. It was almost on reflex. He removes a sock from the doorknob, opens the door, and finds Gabe and Lucy making out.

"Oh." Freddie stammered as he looked away from the half-naked girlfriend of his roommate. "Oh, I am sorry."

Lucy was horrified and grabbed her discarded blouse. Gabe looks up and is mortified as Lucy puts on her blouse.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Gabe asked.

"I came from Danny's on edge and now I'm confused by this," Freddie said, covering his eyes with his hand.

"It's okay, Freddie," Lucy replied. She bends down and kisses Gabe. "Call me later, okay?"

Gabe smiles and nods. "I will."

Lucy grabs her jacket and leaves the room. Gabe gets up from the bed. "Dude, don't you know the rules? When there's a sock on the door, you wait in the lobby until I let you know it's safe to come up?"

Freddie holds up the sock and says. "So that's what this meant. Sorry, man."

"It's cool, don't worry," Gabe replied as he turned off the music. "What are you doing here? Thought you'd still be with Sam."

Freddie nods. "I was-"

Gabe raises an eyebrow "And?"

"A-and what? N-nothing happened." Freddie said nervously "I-it's not like I-I kissed her or anything."

Gabe appears confused. "Never said you did." He stares at Freddie who is having a mild panic attack. "And you kissed her."

"Yeah." Freddie breathes.

"Wait to go, Benson," Gabe said excitedly but he saw Freddie's agitation. "And why do you look like you're about to puke?"

"Because I think I might." Freddie gulped. "It just kinda... happened. We were talking, I was leaving and I kissed her. It was our first kiss since our last kiss."

"That's good, you kissed her," Gabe stated.

"I did," Freddie stated. "But I didn't."

Gabe raised an eyebrow. "Was it on the lips?"

"Yeah."

"Was there tongue?" Gabe asked

"No." Freddie stated nervously "I-it was like kissing your grandmother when you're five."

"Oh, chaste," Gabe said, mildly cringing. "You gave her a chaste kiss."

"Yeah, surprised she didn't cream me when I did," Freddie said.

Gabe is amused by this "You face down criminals and superpowered baddies with no fear but Sam Puckett has you jumping out of your skin?"

"Pretty much." Freddie simply said. "What should I do? Should I text her and explain-"

"No. No texting." Gabe adamantly stated. "You need to talk to her. Set things straight with her."

Freddie stares at him. "Wow, you're giving me relationship advice."

"By comparison, my love life is far more normal than yours." Gabe jokes.

Freddie rolls her eyes and playfully punches him.

•••

Back at Danny's loft, Sam stands by the window appearing to be quite agitated after what happened with Freddie. Why did he kiss her? What could have possessed him to kiss her? The more important question going through her mind: why did she let him kiss her?

Was he still in love with her? Was she still in love with him?

Cassie walks over to Sam and stands next to her, noticing Sam's distress. "You okay?"

Sam exhales and looks at Cassie. "Can I ask you something and you promise that this stays with us?"

Cassie nods "You have my word."

"Um, I think Freddie is still in love with me." Sam manages to get out.

Cassie folds her arms over her chest. "What makes you think he's still in love with you?"

"Well... When you were in the other room checking in with Danny, Freddie said he had to leave but just before he did-" Sam runs her hand through her hand. "God, this is so stupid."

"No, it isn't. Just tell me, I promise not to judge," Cassie reassures her.

"He- Uh- Freddie kissed me." Sam finally got out.

Cassie's eyes widened. "Freddie kissed you?"

"It was a peck, it just happened. It wasn't anything special." Sam said.

"If it wasn't special, why has it got you so worked up?" Cassie asked with a smirk.

Sam rolls her eyes. "This isn't you defending your nephew, is it?"

"No!" Cassie said laughing. "Freddie cares about you. And I know you feel the same way."

Sam scoffs. "How do you know how I'm feeling?"

"Because I've been where you are? Afraid to show your true feelings because you're afraid of getting hurt." Cassie replied. "It's terrifying."

"So, that explains your thing with Danny?" Sam said, smirking.

"There is no 'thing' between me and Danny. We're just friends." Cassie stated.

"Not from what I've seen. You two have this vibe going on that reads more than 'just friends'." Sam pointed out. "It surprises me that no matter how old we get, people still act like kids."

Cassie laughs, "Guess that's true."

There was a loud knock at the door which made the two jump.

Sam spoke up. "What the-"

Cassie shushes her as she speaks. "Just a minute!" She motions Sam to go into the kitchen.

The knocking becomes banging while Sam ducks behind the kitchen counter to remain out of sight.

"Hold your horses, I'm coming," Cassie yelled as she casually grabbed the baseball bat from the closet. She looks back at Sam who looks concerned.

Cassie, hiding the bat behind her back, turns the knob and opens the door to find six of Deimos' goons standing there. "Ooh, sorry. The Sopranos reunion is on the next floor." She tries to push the door close but one of the bigger goons forces the door open and forces his way in and pushes Cassie back.

"Where is she?" The main goon demanded.

"Who? Your mother, your junkie sister, or your skank mother of your children? Not sure which 'she' you are referring to." Cassie quips. The goon tries to grab her but she twirls the bat and clocks him across the face, making him stumble back.

The second goon charges at her only to have Cassie twirl the bat and crack him on the shoulder, possibly breaking his collarbone. He yells in pain and backs off.

The third goon rushes her and grabs Cassie by the shoulder to try to take her bat. "Give me the bat!"

"Unless your last name is Jeter, I don't think so," Cassie said as she knees him hard in the groin multiple times until he fell back down.

The fourth and fifth goons rush at her and the fourth goon grabs her arm, forces the bat out of her hand, and pins her arms back while the fifth goon grabs the bat.

"You went down too easy. Starting to wonder why Tran is so afraid of you." The fifth goon said, holding up the bat menacingly.

"She's scared of me? That's sweet." Cassie said with a smile.

The fifth goon goes to beat her with the bat but Cassie kicks the bat out of his hand and kicks him in the stomach. The fourth goon tries to pin her back only to have Cassie elbow him in the abdomen, grab his wrist, bend it back, and flip him into the edge of a coffee table.

Her phone rings and she tries to answer it but the third and the fifth goons swarm her and grab both her arms. She just smirks and says. "Unimpressive." She reverses their grips and manages to throw them to the opposite sides they are standing on.

The main goon gets to his feet, grabs the bat, and gets ready to attack Cassie. "This is becoming frustrating, sweet cheeks."

"I'm having fun." Cassie retorts.

The main goon charges at her and swings the bat only to have Casse duck the swing and hit him with an uppercut. He stumbles back and tries again only to have Cassie sweep his legs and fall to the floor.

Sam watched in awe but knew she had to brace herself for fighting her way out. She pulls something out, something familiar: her buttersock.

The third and fifth goons jump on Cassie and pin her arms again. The main goon twirls the bat and hits Cassie in the stomach.

"Not so tough when the numbers game takes over." The main goon said as he held the bat to Cassie's chin. "Got any smart words to use?"

"Yeah, a few." Cassie quivers out. "Sam, run!"

Sam rushes out of the room as the second and fourth goons try to get up to stop her only to get pummeled mercilessly by the buttersock. She kicks the fourth goon in the groin then punches the second goon in his injured shoulder.

As she goes to make her way to freedom, Sam finds someone standing in her way.

Andre Deimos was wearing the strange mask he had shown Raina and a well-tailored dark green suit.

"Samantha Puckett, I presume," Deimos said with a voice sounding like a demonic creature.

Sam goes to clock him with the sock only to have Deimos lift his arm and spray Sam with a light green mist.

"No!" Cassie screams only to have the main goon hit her hard in the abdomen, forcing her to her knees and the main goon hits her in the back.

Sam coughs and gasps as she looks at Deimos who's face morphs into a demon with flame shooting from his eyes.

Sam screams in horror and as she turns around, the fourth goon punches her in the face, knocking her out cold.

Cassie tries to get up to stop her but the main goon grabs her by the neck and throws across the room into a bookshelf that falls on her. The blow knocks her out.

"Tran wasn't kidding about her." The main goon said, touching his injured lip.

"Grab the girl, someone heard the noise," Deimos ordered.

The third and fifth goon grabs Sam and drags her out. The main goon breaks the bat with his knee and throws both halves on the ground near the practically lifeless Cassie.

Deimos and his goons then leave with Sam.

•••

Half an hour later, Freddie walks towards the building where Danny's loft is, his head trying to come up with a way to explain the chaste kiss he had given Sam. He was confused but he knew that Sam might be as confused as he was.

As he walks towards the entrance, Freddie sees Danny pull up in his car. His heart sank. He was hoping he could talk to Sam privately.

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked, getting out of his car and slamming the car door closed.

"I-uh-I came to talk to Sam." Freddie stammered out.

"She's probably asleep. Is it important?" Danny asked, playing the protective brother role well.

"Actually yeah, something happened earlier today and I want to talk to her about it." Freddie said, "I owe her an explanation."

Danny sighed, sensing that Freddie was anxious and needed to talk to Sam. "All right. Come on."

Danny and Freddie walk down the hall heading towards Danny's loft. "I tried calling Cassie but she wouldn't answer. It's strange because she always answers her phone."

"That's not like Cassie. Hope nothing happened." Freddie said, sounding worried.

"You and me both, kid," Danny replied. "I don't mean to pry but what exactly is going on with you two?"

"What do you mean?" Freddie asked, playing dumb.

"Sam told me you two... dated. I just want to know if you're rekindling an old flame." Danny said.

Freddie exhales. "I don't know. I-I care about Sam very much and I would never-"

The conversation is muted by both men seeing the door open ajar. Danny looks at Freddie and draws his service weapon as the two rush inside the loft.

The place had been trashed as if there had been some kind of struggle. Furniture was turned over, a bookshelf had fallen over. It was a disaster area.

Including Cassie who was starting to slowly come to and trying to get the bookshelf off herself. Freddie and Danny rush in and get the shelf off of her.

"Cassie? Are you okay?" Freddie asked.

"Ah! God, that hurt." Cassie said as she slowly recovered.

"What happened?" Danny asked.

"De- Deimos and his goons came... They were looking for Sam." Cassie said. "I-I tried to fight them off- I'm so sorry."

"This isn't your fault, all right?" Danny assures her. He looks at Freddie. "Wait here. I'll look around for any other surprises."

Freddie nods and helps get Cassie to the couch while Danny heads into his bedroom. "Is anything broken?"

Cassie shakes her head. "I'm okay. It feels like my head got kicked in."

Freddie paces a bit until he looks down and sees something on the floor that chills Freddie to the bone. "Is that-"

"That's not mine," Cassie said grimly.

"Danny!" Freddie shouted.

Danny runs into the room and goes over to Freddie. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Freddie bends down and points at something on the floor. "It's blood."

Danny looks down and sees there are a few small droplets of blood on the hardwood floor. His blood ran cold.

"I-it's not hers. Sh-she fought back." Freddie was at a loss for words, trying to think when his eyes furrowed and widened. Their grim silence is broken by Danny's phone ringing.

"It's Sam's phone." Danny said as he looked at Cassie, he knew it wasn't Sam calling, and answered the phone "Hello?"

"Good evening, Detective."

The voice sends a cold chill through Danny's body and he grits his teeth as he responds. "Deimos, where is she?"

Freddie's eyes widen in horror as he looks at Cassie who nurses a pain in her neck.

"You mean, your pretty sister?" Deimos asked. "She's fine. Well as fine as can be expected considering she's on a little... Trip."

"What have you done to my sister?" Danny seethed.

"I gave her some of my medicine. The same stuff I hit your new partner with." Deimos replied. "She looks so beautiful when she's terrified."

"If you so much as harm a hair on her head, you'll live to regret it!" Danny threatened.

"Now, now, Detective. I am merely responding in kind." Deimos said in an oddly soothing tone of voice. "I told you that you would pay. However, this isn't simple vengeance, I'm declaring war."

"You listen and listen well. I'm going to find you and when I do-"

"You'll what? Throw the book at me? Lock me up?" Deimos said, laughing sinisterly. "There is no place you can lock me away that I won't find a way out. I plan to destroy what you love. We could have chosen your mother but that wouldn't have given me lasting satisfaction. Sure it would hurt but she's lived a full life. Ms Puckett on the other hand..."

"Please, don't hurt her." Danny pleaded.

"Stop begging, it's pathetic even for you," Deimos stated.

"You want someone else - a life for hers - you'll get it," Danny said with conviction in his voice. "You can have mine."

"I already do." Deimos simply said.

The phone line goes dead as Danny stands there, thunderstruck.

"Danny?" Freddie asked.

"He took her," Danny stated. "Deimos is gonna pay for this."

Freddie stares back at him, his eyes filled with fear and anger. This guy had crossed a line, he needed to pay and Pulse was the only one who could accomplish that goal.

•••

Yellow police tape is tapped on the doorframe of Danny's loft as the CSI unit goes to work collecting forensic evidence.

Outside of the building, an ambulance where the female EMT was trying to treat Cassie's head wound while she was distracted by Danny and Freddie who both look very distressed.

"You are kind of lucky you weren't more injured than this." The EMT said. "Mostly a mild concussion."

"Yeah, lucky," Cassie said as she looked at the EMT. "You're done?"

"This toughness of yours is a risk to your well-being, you know?" The EMT said.

"Sorry," Cassie said as she looked back at the guys. "I'm more worried about them."

"Then go. I'm all done here, Miss." The EMT replied.

"Thank you," Cassie told her politely then she walked over to Freddie who looked like he got kicked in the stomach. "Hey. You okay?"

"She's gonna be okay," Freddie uttered. "I know it. She won't go down like this. Not by him."

"I know," Cassie reassured him. "The girl is a fighter."

"Like you?" Freddie replied.

Cassie frowns. "Lot of good that did."

"I don't blame you for what happened," Freddie told her outright. "You aren't expected to be everybody's guardian angel. You're still human."

"So are you?" Cassie said with a smile.

Danny walks over to the two and checks on them. "You guys okay?"

"A mild concussion but I'll live," Cassie informed him. "I got off lucky. Considering the condition I left your place, I'm gonna end up having to replace something valuable."

"They're just things. I'm more focused on getting my sister back." Danny said.

At that moment, a car pulls up and Captain Thompson gets out of his car. "I found out about what happened. We've put out an APB on Deimos."

Danny glares at him. "So it takes my sister getting kidnapped for a fire to get lit under you?"

"Daniel, I know you're upset-" Thompson began.

"I'm beyond upset! My partner is in the hospital! Cassie got beat down by a group of thugs trying to keep my sister from being taken! And the icing on the cake, my sister is in the clutches of a madman who has a vendetta against me." Danny shouted. "Upset doesn't cover it!"

Thompson sighs, "Danny, I'm- I think it's best if you are not involved in the investigation."

Freddie and Cassie look surprised by this.

"Excuse me?" Danny asked angrily.

"We can't let your emotions compromise the investigation if there is any hope of finding your sister," Thompson said.

"Sam." Freddie blurted out. "Her name is Sam."

"Irv, I believe you gave that same excuse when we were making deals with Raina," Cassie said. "Or maybe it's my concussion making me think otherwise."

"I'm sorry Danny but you are in no shape to handle this objectively," Thompson said to Danny.

Freddie gets in between Danny and Thompson and stares Thompson down. "You can't pull Danny from this. He's the best man for the job. He knows what we're dealing with. He knows Deimos and what he is capable of."

"Son, this is not your concern-" Thompson replied.

"The hell it isn't! My best friend was kidnapped and you want to pull the one person off this case that can save her?" Freddie said angrily. "Yeah, it's a major concern!"

Cassie goes over and pulls Freddie away. "Excuse us." She pulls them away from them and she looks at his eyes that are now glowing electric blue. "Take a breath. Glow stick, kiddo."

Freddie realizes what he meant and rubs his eyes to make the glow vanish. "They-"

"Don't think so," Cassie said. "Call the others. We're gonna need them for this."

Freddie nods as he pulls out his phone and makes some calls.

Cassie walks back over to Danny. "Are you okay?"

Danny sighs. "I don't give a damn what he says. I'm going to find a way to save Sam."

Cassie swallows hard. "I'm sorry I-"

Danny places his hands on her shoulders. "You have nothing to be sorry about. The fact that you tried and fought like hell to protect Sam... There are no words that can express how grateful I am."

Cassie looks down and blushes. "I'm gonna take Freddie back to my place. He needs to relax and not think about this."

"That might be a good idea," Danny said.

Cassie begins to walk off and goes over to Freddie, she looks back at Danny and smiles.

•••

Back at the lab, Leo was finishing up with the antitoxin as Millie got off the phone. "What's going on?" He asked.

"That was Freddie. Deimos kidnapped Sam." Millie said.

"I thought Cassie was with her?" Galen asked.

"She was and his apes beat her down and took Sam," Millie said.

"Is she okay?" Leo asked as Galen let out a low growl.

"Just a mild concussion but she'll be okay," Millie said. "What if they come after my dad too?"

Leo sighs as he places a liquid inside a vial. "You should go."

"What about the antitoxin?" Millie asked.

Leo walks over to her and hands her the vial. "Take this to your dad. Save him. I'll make more, even if it takes me all night."

Millie smiles and gives him a passionate kiss on his lips. "Thank you."

Leo smiles as she and Galen make their way out of the lab. He sighs and puts on his jacket and makes his way out from a different door.

•••

Inside the Fox's Den, Leo has entered and begins to get ready to go out. First, he hacks into the frequency of the Pulse com link. If he wanted to get this done, he needed superpowered backup.

•••

At St James Hospital, a nurse was checking up on Victor when someone entered the room. The nurse turns around to face the intruder "Visiting hours are over and you-"

Suddenly, Raina punches her in the face. "Sorry, I don't care."

The nurse runs off in panic as Raina looks over at Victor. "Have to admit, Vic. I was kind of hoping to do this when you were at your best." Raina gloated as she got on top of him and straddled him. "But he's paying me to do this. Although, I would've done it for free."

Raina pulls out a knife from her boot and holds it up. "And don't worry. I'll take good care of Millie."

Before she can thrust the knife into Victor, a fireball shoots past her and causes Raina to lose her knife. She looks up to find Pete standing at the door.

"I don't think you should be here unless they changed nurses' uniforms in the last ten minutes," Pete said.

Raina gets off Victor and looks over at Pete. "You're Sinclair's other friend? Tell me, how does it feel to play second best to the cop?"

"Not as bad as being second best to Cassie," Pete said. "Doesn't matter how many people you kill, she's always going to be better than you."

Raina whips out two more knives and charges at him but Pete ducks each slash as he grabs her arm and tosses her out of the room. Raina gets to her feet as Pete stands in front of the room.

"You're gonna die!" Raina spat.

"Not a fan of empty threats," Pete said. "I find them annoying." At that moment, security and two uniformed officers make their way over. "Uh oh, looks like someone knows you're here."

Raina relents and takes off running.

"Make sure no one but hospital personnel comes in here!" Pete orders as he chases after Raina.

At the clerk's desk, Jake was listening to music on his headphones when he barely caught the blur of Raina running past the desk. He turns his head towards where she ran off only to see Pete running in the same direction.

Jake sees the two run towards the service staircase as security follows further behind the pair. He puckered his lips and went back to work, saying "Stay out of it. Stay out of it."

•••

Raina runs down a service staircase and looks up to see if she is being followed but she finds Pete standing in front of her.

Raina wastes no time and tries to slash and slice him but only manages to cut up his right forearm. Pete grabs her wrists tightly and she laughs.

"That's all you got?" Raina said smugly.

"Not really," Pete said.

Suddenly, his hands begin to smoke and Raina screams in pain. She kicks him in the abdomen causing him to let go of her and she takes off running.

Pete recovers and sees that Raina is gone.

•••

At the Pulse Cave, Freddie was pacing about the room while Gabe mans the hub. Millie and Galen enter the cave with a bit of frantic good news.

"Leo was able to make the antitoxin," Millie said.

"Have you tested it?" Gabe asked.

"Not yet," Galen said. "Millie wanted to make sure Freddie was okay first."

Millie walks over to Freddie to check on him. "Are you okay?"

"I wish I had an answer," Freddie said, running his fingers through his hair.

Cassie walks over to him and stands next to him. "We're going to find her. I promise."

"Not before I bash Deimos' head in," Freddie said, gritting his teeth.

Cassie and Millie remain silent as Cassie puts her hand on his right shoulder. Freddie takes his left hand and touches her hand.

"Damn it!" Gabe exclaimed. This caught the attention of others.

"What happened?" Cassie said as she and Freddie walked over to him.

"I can't find where the call came from but the signal is completely scrambled!" Gabe said.

"Have you tried PearMobile to track the phone's location?" Freddie asked.

"Would I be this frustrated if the problem were that simple to solve?" Gabe replied.

"Do you think Deimos has a device like the one Circe used to scramble the com link's signal?" Galen suggested.

"It's a possibility but we don't know for sure," Gabe replied.

Suddenly, Freddie picks up the heavy metal table in the room one-handed. "We're running out of time!"

The team reacts in shock at Freddie's outburst as they see his eyes glowing electric blue. Cassie walks over to him carefully. "Freddie, it's gonna be all right. We're going to find Sam."

"Not by sitting here and waiting!" Freddie snapped. "This is torture!"

Gabe hears something in the comlink that catches his attention.

"Sweetie, I give you my word that we will save her," Cassie promised.

"Uh, Freddie..." Gabe spoke up and held up the com link. "It's for you."

Freddie makes his way over and takes the comlink from Gabe. He puts it in his ear and speaks. "Hello?"

"Is this Pulse?" The Fox's voice is heard.

Freddie's eyes widen and he looks at Gabe and whispers. "Is my voice disguised at the end?" Gabe nods. "Who is this?"

"How quickly you forget about me, Pikachu?" The Fox said.

Freddie looks over at the others and then focuses on talking to the Fox. "How did you gain access to this frequency?"

"Please, your tech expert might be a genius but he is lousy at covering your frequency." The Fox gloated.

Gabe rolls his eyes as he listens from the other com link. He makes it so the others can hear the conversation.

"What do you want?" Freddie asked.

"I need your help." The Fox said.

"Thought you didn't need my help. That I was just a reckless amateur." Freddie said.

"I hate to admit this but this is bigger than my ego." The Fox said. "A girl kidnapped tonight, Sam Puckett. I know where Deimos is hiding out but need your help if I'm going to save her."

The team looks a bit taken aback as Freddie sighs. "How sure are you about Deimos' whereabouts?"

"Pretty damn sure." The Fox said. "You up for the challenge, Pikachu?"

The team looks at Freddie who speaks after a moment of silence. "Where do you want to meet?"

"85th and Rosewood. He's got his hideout there." The Fox said.

"I'm on my way," Freddie said as he turned off the com link.

Freddie walks over to the display case where his costume is and opens it. Cassie and Millie look at each other as the team looks worried.

"Freddie, you aren't thinking of going with that guy?" Millie asked.

"Not thinking, mind's made up. I'm going." Freddie said.

"I don't think it's a good idea, kiddo," Cassie said.

"It's not your decision," Freddie replied as he took off his shirt. "You're not talking me out of it."

Millie spoke "At least wait for-"

"Wait? Wait for what? For Deimos to leave Sam's body in a gutter?" Freddie shouted angrily. "I'm waiting around here as this psycho has the woman I-"Freddie stops and collects himself. "I'm not waiting around when I can do something about it."

Cassie looks at the others and sighs. "Be careful and keep the comlink and the POV cam on."

Freddie nods and walks into the other room to continue changing.

•••

Back at the precinct, Danny sat at his desk completely on edge. His sister was in the clutches of a madman who wanted to make him pay. He felt guilty for everything that was happening.

Nadira walks into the room and sees Danny. She also felt guilty for being used as a puppet by Deimos. He threatened to hurt someone she loved if she didn't do as she was told. Now she was ordered to get rid of Danny once he was in a vulnerable state. This seemed like a good time. Especially with the news she got from the hospital.

"Raina Tran just tried to kill Victor," Nadira informed Danny.

Danny perked up and got out of his chair. "What happened? Is he all right?"

"Yeah, thankfully Peter Sawyer was there and forced her away." Nadira said.

Danny sighs "Seems like Cassie and her friends are coming through for me more than the people in this precinct."

Nadira swallows hard and sets the trap. "I think I may know where to find Deimos' hideout."

"How long have you known?" Danny asked.

"About a half hour ago, I got some valuable info," Nadira said. "I was going to tell Thompson but I think this information benefits you. What do you wanna do?"

Danny exhales and grabs his jacket "Take me there. It's time I end this."

Nadira nods as she leads him out, her face filled with anxiety and grief. She didn't want to hurt him but she was out of opinions.

•••

On top of a roof on a building near 85th and Rosewood, the Fox stands there watching a building that was once a meat packing warehouse.

The sound of someone landing on the roof and the Fox turns to find Pulse standing there.

"You're late," Leo spoke up in his disguised voice.

"Not in the mood for the snide comments," Freddie said in his disguised voice. "You said you know where Deimos is hiding."

"I do." Leo points to the building. "He and his goons brought Samantha Puckett into that warehouse."

Pulse looks over the edge of the building and sees the warehouse is guarded by two large men.

"So what's the plan? You want to sneak in and grab the girl with minimal casualties?" Leo asked.

"No." Freddie said in a tone filled with pure rage. "These guys asked for it. They don't deserve to breathe."

The Fox nods, worried about saying something to contradict that plan as the two vigilantes jump off the edge of the building and land gracefully on the ground.

The two goons standing outside hear footsteps approaching the building.

"You hear that?" One of the goons asks.

"Stop being an-"

Suddenly, two arrows hit the other goon in the chest and he falls limply to the ground.

The remaining goon finds the Fox standing there with his bow in hand.

"Who the hell are you?" The frightened goon asked.

"A concerned citizen," Leo said. "But I'd be less concerned about me and more about the other guy."

The goon raised an eyebrow. "What other-"

Out of nowhere, he is hit with a powerful jolt of electricity and falls to the ground. Now Pulse stands where he stood.

"That would be me," Freddie said bitterly. He looks down at the goon the Fox shot. "You don't mess around."

"Got a problem with that?" Leo asked.

"Not tonight," Freddie said through gritted teeth. "Let's move."

The Fox sighs and ties up the other electrified goon.

•••

Back at the Pulse Cave, the team listens in and watches the scene play out.

"He isn't thinking straight," Millie said to Cassie. "He won't kill someone, will he?"

"This is Freddie we're talking about," Cassie reassured her.

"Who just said he didn't mind the Fox taking that guy out," Gabe said with concern in his voice. "He might end up crossing a line."

Cassie lets out a breath. Worried they might be right.

•••

Deep inside the warehouse in a large room, a still masked Deimos stands over a prone and shackled Sam lying on a concrete slab in the middle of the room. It looks almost like a Pagan altar.

Deimos stares down at the girl as Sam starts to regain consciousness and she looks up to find her monstrous-looking captor standing over her.

Sam begins to panic as she tries to get away but Deimos strokes her face to calm her down but that only makes things worse.

"Shhh. It's okay." Deimos whispers in a soothing but menacing-sounding voice. "It won't be long now."

"Plea- please let me go," Sam begged, sounding uncharacteristically terrified.

"Don't worry, my dear," Deimos said, stroking her face. "As soon as your brother comes to save you, you'll see each other again." He goes close and whispers in her ear. "Right before he dies."

Sam whimpers in fear as she tries to get free but is failing and she lets out a panicked yelp. "Help- help me!"

•••

On the main factory floor, some of Deimos' goons were resting up after their mission.

Suddenly, the two large metal doors explode inward which causes the goons to scatter and leap to their feet.

The goons look around and wait for whoever blows up the doors.

"Yoo Hoo!" Freddie's disguised voice calls from the rafters and two figures stand cloaked in shadows. We know who they are.

[Soundtrack Note: 'Build & Destroy' by Deadly Avenger plays during this fight. It'll play on a bit of a loop to make the song seem longer]

"Looking for us?" Leo asked as he had his bow drawn with an arrow.

The goons fire their guns upward at the vigilantes who manage to avoid each shot but one clips Pulse in the shoulder.

Pulse groans angrily and forms two balls of electricity from his hands. He hurls them downward and they land on several highly combustible chemicals that cause small explosions and knock the goons off their feet.

Pulse and the Fox jump down and get ready to face the goons who made it to their feet first.

Five goons get up and go to attack the two vigilantes.

One tries to grab Pulse only to have Pulse twist his arm and crack it viciously, breaking it. Another comes at him but Pulse forms dagger-like energy constructs and throws it at him, hitting his left shoulder.

Pulse charges at him, jump on him, yanks the construct out hard, and knocks the goon out.

The Fox takes on each goon that comes at him viciously but methodically by using his bow and arrows conventionally and unconventionally as well as his wits.

The Fox fires arrows until he is nearly out of regular arrows. He didn't want to use his trick arrows unless he had to. So he'll make do, he goes up to the downed goons with arrows sticking out, yanks them out, and recycles the arrows.

Pulse unleashes a powerful bolt of electricity that knocks several more goons out cold.

[Soundtrack Note: Song stops]

Pulse and the Fox look around at the carnage they left behind then they look at each other.

"I don't know whether to be impressed or terrified," Leo replied.

"They'll live," Freddie said coldly. "Let's move. We need to find Sam."

"Lead the way, Pikachu," Leo said as the two went deep into the warehouse. He recalls Pulse getting shot. "How's your arm?"

"I'm fine. We have to keep moving." Freddie said, focused like a laser on one goal - finding Sam.

"Pulse, you need to calm down," Cassie spoke on the com link.

"Not now, Athena," Freddie said under his breath.

"We saw it all. You're going to kill someone." Cassie said.

"Then allow me to fix that," Freddie said as he shut off the POV cam.

"Pulse! Turn the camera on!" Cassie ordered. "Turn it on, now!" With one motion, Pulse turns off the com link.

•••

Back at the Pulse Cave, Cassie frantically yelled through the comlink as the others looked on.

"Turn it back on! Pulse!" Cassie yelled. "Freddie!"

Cassie throws down the comlink and punches a wall with all her strength.

The others react as Cassie grabs her fist in pain. She sees her fist was cut open and her knuckles were broken by the blow to the wall. The fist starts to heal but Cassie is more in despair than in pain.

Galen goes over and hugs her as she starts to cry.

Gabe and Millie look at each other with worry as Cassie struggles to regain her composure.

•••

Back at the warehouse, Danny and Nadira enter the main room where Pulse and the Fox cleaned house. The carnage they left behind.

"What the hell happened here?" Nadira asked.

Danny looks at one of the downed goons who had an arrow in his shoulder. "The Fox. He did this."

"I don't think he was alone," Nadira said as she showed an electrified puddle of liquid on the ground. "Think they're here to save your sister?"

"Or kill Deimos," Danny said as he got to his feet. "If they don't kill him, then I will."

He begins to walk deeper into the warehouse.

Nadira doesn't know what to do now. This was getting more complicated than she expected. What was she going to do?

She sighs and takes off after Danny. She had to do what she was told.

•••

In the room Deimos had Sam, Pulse, and the Fox burst in. The Fox had his arrow ready to fire. Pulse had two orbs of lightning formed on his palms.

[Soundtrack Note: 'Mercury' by Full Tilt plays. Loops over at 0:21 until the end of the episode]

"Deimos!" Freddie bellowed out. "Andre Deimos! Show yourself!"

Deimos, still wearing his mask, stands over Sam but slowly turns to face the two. "So, the heroes have come to rescue the damsel? Rather cliché, don't you agree?"

"It's over, Deimos. You lose." Freddie said as his hands surged with energy.

"I've lost? You two were not even on the board." Deimos said while he touched Sam's face.

"Guess we should've been, huh Heisenberg?" Leo quips.

"Ah, the prerequisite repartee. How quaint." Deimos retorts. He grabs Sam by the neck roughly which causes Pulse to flinch. "So, I take it she belongs to you?"

"Let her go!" Freddie demanded with his rage vibrating in his voice.

"I find your threats rather pedestrian. They lack conviction." Deimos said as Sam fades in and out of consciousness.

"I'm not going to ask again," Freddie yelled as his entire body surged with electricity worrying the Fox. "Let... Her... GO!"

Pulse unleashes a powerful wave of electrical energy, strong enough to shatter all the windows in the warehouse.

Deimos starts to cower as he feels a sensation he hasn't felt in years: sheer terror.

The Fox reacts with almost the same level of fear. This guy was more than what he thought.

Pulse charges at Deimos who instinctively lifts his hand and sprays Pulse with the Phobos in his arm. Pulse coughs but the drug seems to have little effect on him.

Pulse grabs Deimos by the throat and goes to snap his neck. Thankfully the Fox stops him by reminding him why he was here.

"Get the girl out of here! She needs a hospital." Leo warned. "Save the girl! It's why we're here!"

Pulse roughly shoves a terrified Deimos to the ground, goes over to Sam, and frees her from her restraints. He gently touches her face and picks her up.

"Go, I got this," Leo tells him.

Pulse nods and makes his way out of the warehouse with Sam in his arms.

At that moment, Danny and Nadira enter the room and find the Fox and Deimos in the room.

Danny points his gun at the two. "You the Fox?"

"I am," Leo said.

"Where's your friend? Where's Pulse?" Danny asked.

"He left. He went to take Samantha Puckett to safety." Leo told him.

Nadira looks at Deimos who looks at her. He was ordering her to do as instructed or else, without saying a word.

"Your sister is in good hands," Leo said. "He'll keep her safe."

"Wish I could believe that," Danny said.

Nadira lifts her gun and points it at the back of Danny's head.

Before she could shoot him, the Fox quickly fires an arrow through Nadira's palm which knocks the gun out of her hand. She screams in agony as Danny turns to face Nadira who has fallen to the floor in pain.

"You should be mindful of the company you keep, Detective," Leo warns as Danny looks back at the Fox. "Because she just tried to kill you."

Danny was in shock when he realized something: "Deimos! He's gone!"

Danny runs out the door Deimos left from and sees him on the back of a motorcycle with Raina riding off with the drug lord.

•••

Back at the Pulse Cave, Cassie paces around the room as Galen stays close by. After Freddie shut off the POV camera in his goggles and the comlink, she was worried about Freddie. Whether he got out or if he was able to rescue Sam and get out of there safely.

Or worse, had he crossed the line? A line you can never come back from.

Millie clutched the vial that contained the antitoxin, she was also anxious to know if Freddie was okay.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Millie asked.

"I wish I had the answers to that," Cassie said.

"He won't kill him. He's one of the good ones." Gabe said. "He's- He's just angry."

Cassie sighs and grabs her jacket. "I'm gonna go find him."

"And do what? Get beat up again?" Galen said.

"I can't sit around and wait for the worst," Cassie said.

"And now I see where he gets his temper." Galen joked to make her feel better.

Cassie groans and throws her jacket down to resign her brazenness.

She turns and finds Pulse inside the Pulse Cave with Sam whose arm was draped over his shoulder.

"Oh my god." Millie gasped.

"Is she all right?" Gabe asked.

"She got dosed," Freddie told them with his nerves on fire. His own heart is racing a bit.

"Get her on the bed. We'll test the antitoxin on her." Millie said and she looked at the others. "I know Leo can make another dose for my dad. We need to save Sam first."

The four quickly moved over to the bed with Pulse who gently placed Sam on the bed.

Sam was freaking out as Pulse laid her on the bed and Millie held the needle high.

"Oh god. Don't you dare stab me with that? What is going on?" Sam yelled, her heart racing a million miles per hour.

"Inject her!" Freddie frantically yelled at Millie.

"I can't. If I inject her with the antitoxin while she is still in this state, it will kill her. Her heart could explode!" Millie yelled back. "You need to calm her down."

Sam looked up at the faces of the people around her and there was something wrong. Gabe's face was painted like a psychotic clown, Millie was a fox girl with white fur and long ears, Galen looked like a werewolf from the movie The Howling, and Cassie appeared to have a face made of porcelain that was cracking. The cracks were glowing with blue energy.

The worst visage was of Pulse who she saw as a monstrous demonic entity with no mouth. She was filled with terror.

"You stay away from me! I-I'll kill you. I will kill all of you!" Sam growled, trying to get off the bed.

Gabe and Galen tried to hold her down, but she kept struggling against them, wanting to get away from Pulse and back to Freddie and Danny.

"Man, this girl is freakishly strong," Gabe said as he struggled to hold her down.

"If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them, kid," Galen said to Freddie as he held Sam down but tried not to hurt her.

Freddie stares at Sam who is on the brink. He had no choice. He knew what he had to do.

Cassie watches as Freddie begins to remove his goggles. "What are you doing?"

Before Cassie could say another word, Freddie peeled off his mask and then pushed Gabe out of the way.

"Sam, it's me. Freddie." Freddie said, grabbing her arms and holding them down on the bed.

"Freddie?" Sam said, shock covering her face.

"You need to calm down. They want to help." Freddie said in a soothing voice. "Please."

"Freddie... why are you-" Sam begins to look around at the others but Freddie makes her look at him.

"Just look at me. It's going to be alright." Freddie said as he ran his fingers through her hair and Sam nodded, staring straight into his eyes as he rested his forehead against hers, sitting his hands on her neck.

When her heart rate had returned to a normal pace, Millie, carefully injected the antitoxin into Sam's left arm, a soft whimper coming from Sam at the small sting.

Freddie kissed Sam's forehead and laid her head on the pillow, holding her hand until she fell asleep.

Cassie and Galen stare at each other and then at Freddie as Gabe finally speaks up. "Freddie, you do realize what you did, right?"

Freddie nods, his eyes staying on Sam. "It was the only way to calm her down and it worked. I'll explain everything when she wakes up."

Millie went to say something, but her words were drowned out when Freddie's head started spinning. Before he could say anything, his world went black and the others watched fearfully as he collapsed to the floor.

"Freddie!" Millie yelled as she knelt next to him. "Freddie!"

Freddie looks up and we see his pupils are dilated and had hints of green as everything went dark.

•••

To Be Continued…

•••

•••

Main Cast

Fredward 'Freddie' Benson - Nathan Kress

Cassandra 'Cassie' Sinclair - Sarah Michelle Gellar

Millicent 'Millie' Flores - Ashley Argota

Gabriel 'Gabe' Morgan - Landon Liboiron

Peter 'Pete' Sawyer - Charlie Hunnam

Also Starring

Detective Victor Flores - Daniel Dae Kim

Detective Daniel 'Danny' Parker - David Giuntoli

Guest Stars

Samantha 'Sam' Puckett - Jennette McCurdy

Galen Lennox - Tyler Hoechlin

Andre Deimos - Gabriel Mann

Raina Tran - Kelly Hu

Alec Grayson - Colin Donnell

Fiona Morgan - Mary Louise Parker

Lucy Shepard - AJ Michalka

Leopold 'Leo' Maxwell - Dylan O'Brien

Claudia 'Claud' Moon - Bex Taylor-Klaus

Heather Chase - Ashley Benson

Richard 'Ricky' Maturo - Luke Benward

Jake - Thomas Sanders

Charlotte 'Charlie' Robertson - Mischa Barton

Detective Nadira Singh - Janina Gavankar

Dr Xavier Trenton - Seth Gilliam

•••

And with that, Ladies and Gents, that was episode eleven!

Thanks to all my patient and kind readers and I hope you guys come back for the next episode! Because it's gonna get more interesting!

Please tell me what you guys think and I'll try hard to get the next episode up sooner than this one. I promise!

I know these rewrites seem jarring but I'm trying to fix A LOT of grammar errors as well as making the story better for my readers. I hope you guys like it.