Faerie IV: Love Is Where You Find It IV: Yes Love Flourishes free porn video

Retrenchment and discovery Trillium looked around the corner of the picture on the desk. Rob, or Rue as she had named herself held Hope, staring out of the window sadly. "Rob?" The fairy stiffened. "Rob is gone, Tril. You saw to that." "Please..." She walked over, kneeling behind her love. "I almost lost you in Afghanistan. Manzanita would have died if you had not been there. Then Pat died, and I realized you could die and leave me alone." She sobbed. "Please, don't hate me!" Rue turned, looking at her. "I don't hate you, Tril. I just wish you'd given me a choice. If you had explained it-" "You would have convinced me to wait, to keep taking chances. You were speaking with Midori about flying across the DMZ into North Korean when you thought I was asleep. You spent years being a hobo, forgetting until Las Vegas what you could do, and like all such men you think you're immortal and I know that is not true." She interrupted. "We all begged you to simply abandon the truck and fly across but you wouldn't. Then Martin and Lady P forced your hand. I know you would have considered it. If she had not come to meet you maybe you would have, but you had to stay to distract the enemy. I realized that. As much as I screamed at Martin, as much as I feared, I knew you did what you thought was right. "But I didn't want to lose you. I didn't want to have tell Hope 'Your father did what he thought was right one time too often'." She wept totally bereft. Then she felt her love's arms around her, and she clutched them frantically. She found herself being rocked, Hope touching her saying 'Mama' over and over. Rue kissed her gently. "You're never going to let me live this down are you?" Trillium asked. "Oh I have centuries yet to make your life a living hell." Rue agreed with a gentle smile. ***** Monica looked at the meeting. When last she had seen them two women had sat with two men. Now two faerie, one with Scarlet hair, the other with hair the color of a morning glory with two women behind them. "It wasn't our idea, Monica." The purple maned woman said. "I had to be female to reach Rob, and I was in female form when I took a hit from some shrapnel. Rob did what he had to do to save me." "And when she heard that Pat had been killed, Trillium took it upon herself to change me." The other replied. "It's done, Monica. We have to go on from there." "Easy for you to say." Monica snarled. "We now have only one full team in the field overseas, and one novice team. More than half of our teams are gone!" "What do you mean?" Manzanita asked. "Both Rob and I have all our skills, just not our height. He can keep operating with Midori, and I can keep working with Lady P." "No." Midori looked at them, eyes glistening with tears. "Penelope can operate without a man, but we are dealing with a society thousands of years old that sees women as inferior in the Far East. The Faerie might not have that attitude, but the people we will deal with us will see a woman in societies that think women are weak creatures." "Hey Midori, it isn't that bad." Rus stood up. "We can find a guy to run with you, and between you and I will have him up to speed in no time." "Wait." Manzanita pondered, tiny chin on her fist. "I know just the man." ***** Norman Garret, AKA Vlad Ushenko looked at the Blackberry as it thrummed. MESSAGE RECEIVED it read. He picked it up, thumbing the button. VLAD: MARTIN JOINED THE FAERIE. CAN YOU COME TO CHICAGO? MONICA. He considered. He had developed a rapport with the locals and especially with the faerie of OachtoTetl Chantli, or the first Stone home. But the idea of seeing them everywhere else in the world... He sent back WILL LET THE LOCALS KNOW. WE'LL NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE OVER THE ROUTE DOWN HERE. ***** "All right." Monica set down the Blackberry. Looking at the tattered remainder of her field teams. "As soon as he can get a replacement to run the operation there, he'll be here." "Perhaps we can do something while we are waiting." Sundrop commented. The station crew along with their rescuers had stayed here until transport could be arranged to the Cape and Houston. But Sundrop was the totally focused doctor at the moment. "We have a chance to discover exactly how this works." She motioned at herself, and those like her that had once been fully human sized. "There was no sign of remains of any of us. Yet all of us went from human sized to this size. The human body weighs an average of 75 kilograms, yet combined, all of us from the station weigh less than 400 grams now. That matter had to go somewhere!" She looked up at the humans then at her compatriots. "Doesn't that make you curious? We're scientists by the gods! Su Ma!" She turned to look at the fairy that had once been Fan Shi Mai, the Chinese chemist. "But that isn't really true." Su Ma commented. "78% of the human body is composed of gases. Nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. Another 19.4% is made of elements that make gas compounds, carbon sulfur and phosphorus. That only leaves 2.6% that combines in gases rarely. As an example fluorine can combine to make fluro-methane or fluro-ethane." She suddenly stood. "Wait a minute! Iodine and chlorine will combine naturally with methane gas by what is called radical halogenation. That takes up another .26% of the mass. That leaves 2.34%! That's..." She stalked back and forth, trying to work it out in her head. "After the form we take, it leaves 140.4 grams per body. Only about 3 and a half ounces of material." She paused in thought even more excited. "But it's not is a lump, it's loose atoms and molecules from throughout the body. That would be dust that would not even be noticed unless they did a spectrographic analysis!" "But how does it work the other way?" Lady P asked. "Simplicity itself." Su Ma waved it off. "Every element needed in the human body exists in nature. Soil, rock, you name it! When you grew back to normal, the body absorbed the elements needed from around them. Any deficiencies would be corrected by eating a meal and taking a multivitamin. "That is odd." Lady P leaned back. "I take multivitamins as a matter of course. Martin began taking them too not long after we became a team." She looked at Midori. "Do you..." "I take herbal supplements. Rob was like you in this Lady P." She considered. "My supplements are a lot like your vitamins. They give you the same elements, merely in herbal form. I did begin to increase them, however." "So how do we prove this hypothesis?" Sundrop asked. Su Ma considered. "Miss Braziani, do you have connections with the university chemistry department?" Monica looked at the intent faces. "I have a few people to speak with." ***** It looked like a scene from a science fiction horror story. A Plexiglas box sat in the center of the cleared cellar room. Three of Monica's converts were attaching the equipment at the behest of one named Simon Callas, an organic chemistry student. He had signed out the equipment to test for chemical contaminants in the atmosphere. Once they were done he set up filters, watching the screen of the mass spectrometer. He checked the air inside the container. "We're ready Professor." "How many tests do you intend to do?" Monica asked. "Oh a dozen. " Callas had such a focused expression Monica was sure he hadn't even noticed her until she spoke. "We don't have any full newbies, so we can't check what happens with that first time. So we go for one bite, which takes about 8 minutes on one of us acclimated to the venom. Then say four, then eight. See if speeding up of the process causes different combinations." He looked up. "All right, let's get the first victim." "I wish you wouldn't say it that way." Monica sighed. She walked from the room up into the kitchen, then back to her office. She brought up the website, noticing that there were over two hundred queens in the Queen's Court. Fearing the worst she logged in. The chat room was hot and heavy. MONMARTE 201: BUT GIBISKUS, WE DO NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES! GIBISKUS40: THE HUMANS THAT AID US WILL TELL YOUR LOCAL REALMS WHAT BOOKS TO GET. EVEN IN MY HOMELAND THEY ARE NOT EXPENSIVE. THIS IS FOR NOT ONLY THE NEWBORN. BUT FOR ALL BELOW FIFTY. AOKIGAHARA JUKAI1: WHY THAT AGE LIMIT? GIBISKUS40: BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONES MOST AFFLICTED BY MODERN EDUCATION. THEY HAVE FACED EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS THAT TEACH THEM ENOUGH TO GET BY, BUT NOT WHAT THEY NEED TO SURVIVE IN A MODERN SOCIETY. ESPECIALLY IN NATIONS LIKE GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES. HAMBURG32: WHY HAVE YOU SINGLED US OUT, YOU RUSSIAN BITCH? GIBISKUS40: MY OWN NATION IS ADMITTEDLY WORSE. FOR US IT WILL BE SET AT A CENTURY. BUT YOU MUST NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE. BOTH NATIONS EMBRACED SOCIAL PROMOTION RATHER THAN GOOD GRADES. YOUR OWN NATION, HAMBURG, HAS UNIVERSAL CONSCRIPTION, BUT ALLOW PEOPLE TO FIND OTHER OUTLETS RATHER THAN MILITARY SERVICE. THE AMERICANS HAVE GONE TO A TOTALLY VOLUNTEER SERVICE, BUT THEY ARE EMBROILED IN THE MOST RECENT GULF WAR AND HAVING PEOPLE REFUSING TO SERVE. EVEN THOUGH THEY KNOW THAT THE CHANCE OF COMBAT IS PART OF THE OTAHS THEY SWORE. PICADILLY07: IT ISN'T MUCH BETTER HERE, LOVE. SHE'S RIGHT. AT LEAST YOUR PEOPLE HAD IT BETTER AND HAVE MORE FEELINGS FOR OTHERS. LEARNING MORE ABOUT HUMAN SOCIETY WILL AID IN THIS. QUEBEC21: I MUST AGREE. Monica sat, logging in. A dozen of the queens said hello. GODMOTHER1: I AM SORRY, WHO IS GIBISKUS40? I HAVE NEVER MET HER. GIBISKUS40: I WAS ONCE EKATRINA OLENKO. YOUR ROB HAS NOT TOLD YOU OF ME? GODMOTHER1: ROB CROSSED OVER TO FAERIE. HE IS RUE NOW. GIBISKUS40: OH. I SHALL MISS HIM AS A MAN. COULD YOU GIVE HIM SOMETHING FOR ME? Monica looked confused. GODMOTHER1: ??? Her computer bleeped. An e-mail had come to her computer, labeled, FOR RUE. Curious she stood, walking back toward the test facility. A boy was shrunk to a three year old's height and shrinking rapidly. In the control room Callas sat staring at the spectrograph with an intent Sundrop on one shoulder, and Su Ma on the other. They were chattering and Callas waved to the side when Monica asked where Rue was. Rue and Tril were laying back against a small beanbag, curled up together. Both were awake, cuddling like a pair of kittens. "Rue?" "Yes, boss?" She asked. "Ekatarina sent you a photo. She went over not long after you left her." Rue looked up, curious. "She did?" "Yes. She is starting a school for the Faerie." Rue stood, unconsciously erotic as she stretched. "So what's the picture?" "You know the old saying. Why waste a thousand words if a picture would do it as well?" Rue shrugged. "Come on Tril." The pair lofted into the air flying to the office. Monica sat, then brought up the message. Rue looked, then stopped. Trillium looked, and the expression matched her lover's, both staring in amazement and wonder. They both remembered Ekatarina as an old woman shriveled and wizened by age. She had hidden among the Russian Faerie when she had shrunk, and neither had seen this. The nude woman revealed in the picture was a vision that reached down to the libido dragged it up and stroked it even in the faerie at this distance. She was sitting on a flat stone, one leg extended, the other delicately fig leafing her sex. A single pair of wings were partially extended, and her antennae were spread as if welcoming. Her hair was a yellow like a cowslip, but had probably been blond when she were human. Her arms were up, hands laced through her hair behind her head, brushing it back, her neck a smooth sinuous line as if she were being pulled back by those hands. Her breasts were not small, but they were not the huge melons so beloved of teen aged boys and the average American male of today. She would have been hired in an instant in Hollywood, or for that matter by Playboy or Penthouse if they had seen her. Her eyes were looking into the camera, and they taunted the viewer. As if daring them to accept what was offered. 'You never saw me when I was young..." The message said. "Christ." Rue gasped. "She was beautiful. No, she is beautiful." "She is." Trillium leaned into her lover, kissing the fairy on the cheek. "And she will be forever." ***** It took three weeks but finally Sundrop's tests were completed. She stood before a small lectern shipped from The Angeles Forest Realm. She remembered giving a lecture in New Delhi, and smiled to herself. She looked into the camera, and suddenly considered that her audience was massive. Every faerie realm was watching along with every human Branch Office. There were almost two hundred humans now, and as much as Monica worried about losing the two original teams, the organization had actually begun to self propagate. In the United States and Canada seven teams were working. Germany Poland and Eastern Europe and Russian east of the Urals had yet to be touched, but inroads had been made in even these areas. The light came on, and she began. "Welcome to all Faerie kind, and those that aid us. I am Sundrop. Once I was doctor Sarai Ranji a member of the International Space Station crew. Professor Fan Shi Mai, now Su Ma and I have proven our theory of how we are able to shrink humans to our size, why they return, and why some stay. If there are questions please ask them but if we have too many, I will be forced to ask you to wait until the end of this discourse." Around the world, the Faerie sat forward. Translators worked overtime in hundred of nests from the Canal Zone to British Columbia, from Tokyo to London. Queens were just like children themselves. "A human is shrunk by the admixture of chemicals naturally created by our bodies, causing them to be reduced in size, and at the same time if we are not already in estrus, causing us to go into it. This is unique in the animal kingdom. The catalyst for want of a better term is composed of extremely complex long chain molecules." Behind her the screen lit up, showing a molecule diagram. "This takes time to be formed. A human shrunk merely for a day does not have the time necessary to create enough of this witch's brew to even begin to affect anyone. A light flashed on her podium. "Yes?" "But I bit a man in Hawaii before I went over!" 'Awapuhi protested. "An instinctive reaction my dear girl. You knew you should bite him, but if you had been the only one there, he would have remained human size. "We know that the human body becomes sensitized to the catalyst. From what Rue and Manzanita have told me they used to take as much as an hour to shrink, but as time went on they could be reduced in mere minutes. Now if you will observe the screen behind me time elapsing at 20 seconds per second." There was a spectrographic representation on a computer screen. A human stood there, and a fairy sat on his shoulder. "Begin." Callas ordered. The fairy bit the man, and a colored flush ran along his skin. "Notice this. Our project head Simon Callas noticed it the first time it happened. The catalyst needs only a single molecule in the human body to cause a human to shrink because what actually causes it is not the catalyst, but the body's reaction to it. It reacts with the body's immune syndrome causing a reaction similar to the body's reaction to an allergen. The body produces enzymes which combine with the molecules and these affect the DNA of the subject. Additional bites accelerate the process. Now watch." On the screen the man's body began to change colors, then shrink. Colored bands flowed away from him like a living rainbow. "When a human shrinks, the cells reduce in size, losing mass in the form of disassociated atoms that naturally recombine in other compounds most of which are gaseous. Here we have carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, small amounts of fluro-methane, and water vapor." The man continued shrinking, different bands forming as he did, almost as if the body knew what to get rid of to maintain the form. "Those elements that do not normally combine in gases are released on the molecular level. This was discovered by examining this layer." A laser pointer ran along the bottom of the Plexiglas case. Particles suspended in the air swirled there. "Trace elements of calcium potassium iron phosphorus magnesium cobalt copper zinc and selenium suspended in the atmosphere." The figure reached fairy size, and the screen cleared. The catalyst also has the noticed secondary effect of resetting the biological clock in most people affected, and repairing damage done to them in the process. We do yet not know the full extent of that healing capability but we will have to wait on that. The age the body seems to feel most comfortable at is that of the third decade, between an apparent twenty-seven and thirty-two years of age. I do not know why this is, but personally I believe this is because that is also when a woman is at her sexual peak." She grinned. "I know one question is why do men take the physical form of someone they are attracted to. This is not yet known. But the choices I have seen have been... interesting. "Now on to genetics. Monica has expressed to me her own worries about what Dandelion has been calling the Fairy Genome Project. However the amount of blood necessary at a normal laboratory would mean killing one of us to make that test. However we were lucky when Erika became a woman. We were able to get a proper blood sample, and have discovered that the faerie belong to the L-0 haplogroup!" The light blinked. "We do not understand this." A voice spoke with a soft Korean accent. "There are at present 46 different distinct mitochondrial DNA genotypes detected. These are called haplogroups. Mitochondrial DNA is the portion of human DNA supplied by the mother, making an unbroken chain into the past that can be traced right down to regions. Every human on the planet came from them. However, we came from the very first such group, making 47, all humans except for us were accounted for. " Sundrop said. "We are the daughter of Mitochondrial Eve, and our DNA is represented in different parts of all the others." "Now on to the sexual process." Sundrop changed the screen to yet another chemical mixture. Then to a screen showing an extreme close up of the pair making love. As the male stiffened in orgasm, both bodies began to shift. "Human females generate lubricant when sexually aroused. Faerie do the same but this chemical is different. It is a combination of endorphins adrenaline and the chemical I just showed you with the natural lubricant which reacts with male seed to cause a reaction we all know. "What happens as we have discovered is this reacts with testosterone, causing it to change into female hormone analogs instead, causing such a rapid shift that the body changes sometimes begin during the act, but with increasing speed during ejaculation. Sperm cells oddly enough have the exact opposite affect, changing the female hormones the opposite direction, making the bodies of the lovers change within minutes." On the screen the pair now opposites resumed their lovemaking. "A small portion of the sperm; less than five percent, become sperm for the female now turned male. When it is returned, the process is complete." A light flashed. "Yes?" "Professor Braziani here. Why do humans remain female until they return to normal size?" "The faerie are used to the chemical mixture since it is naturally created by their bodies. Unlike the catalyst for shrinking, the human body does not become sensitized to this mixture. So no matter how many times a human shrinks, they will not become locked into female form unless the sperm is not returned, as is the case with Erika. A light flashed. "Yes?" "Why do males become stupid?" Someone asked in a French accent. "Men have the chemical testosterone in concentration in their bodies. If they have intercourse the level is unaffected, Instead it changes to female hormones instead. However the initial catalyst combines with raw testosterone in time and this new chemical blocks neuron connections in the brain. When a male is fed his own sperm this is drastically accelerated. They become infantile. That is also the reason male faerie became stupid quickly, and remained stupid. You see, the sexual chemical is already in their systems, but in a slightly different form, which does not combine with the sexual hormones. "One thing we have noticed. The chemicals in a female body needed to cause a permanent change from human to faerie only occur during orgasm." The light flashed and Sundrop did not even ask as she punched the button. "Wait!" 'Awapuhi almost shouted. You mean if I had not fallen in love, not made love with Kaunaoa, I would be still be human?" "Are you complaining?" The Hawaiian fairy asked. The connection was broken before everyone could hear the protestations of love they knew followed. "I have gathered reports from all realms in our network, and I have noticed that every report save one that the fairy who moves to convert a human induces this first orgasm through what is called 69. The chemicals when ingested by a human at faerie size causes an effect similar to being drunk or drugged, rendering the male unable to resist crossing over." ***** Dandelion looked at Holly for a long moment. Her lover had the good grace to blush. ***** "This is also used when a Fairy picks a human but does not intend to 'keep' him as it were. The very same pheromones affect the mind in the same way but at a much reduced level. Not totally compliant, merely the equivalent of a couple of drinks before hand for the average human. Constant exposure, such as rubbing her sex or the juices from it over their nostrils keeps the effect going for as much as fourteen hours. The light flashed again. "Why are children not affected?" Madeline Fouchet asked. "It is simplicity itself." Sundrop replied. "Human children have traces of all sexual hormones in their systems. It is only with puberty that one set, either male specific or female specific are suddenly generated in the quantities required to cause a reaction. Your children are still safe for the moment, Madam Fouchet." The light flashed. "What about the healing?" Myra asked. "We are not yet sure why, but it is simple to surmise. The human body has a blueprint of the initial form in every cell. The body merely returns to what it was when it resets. In your case, your eye sight began to go bad when you were eleven. So when you shrank then returned to normal height, your eyes were reset to when you had begun the process. If you had merely met a faerie along the road as a man might, your eyes would begin to deteriorate again over time. However you visit them an average of once a month. As long as this continues, you will have no problems with your eyes." The lecture lasted over an hour. Lost Sheep Thomas Canter sighed, then yawned deeply. Black stringy hair hung in front of his eyes and he shoved it aside. Ever since he had seen them, he had been enamored by the faerie. He wasn't the top student, or the bravest, but damn it he could do this! In the back of his old lime green Nova were five quart bottles of paregoric, fifty vials of dried ampicillin, and five hundred 'trade' kits missing only the medicines. When he got to; The left front tire blew, and he steered into the skid, but even then he smacked the left side retaining wall, the bumper shredding as the car ripped along it. There was a smashing behind him as the carboys shattered on the floor boards He was too busy to react, though he did hear brakes squealing behind him as he finally brought the car to a halt. He stared forward, the adrenal backlash making him shiver. He heard someone walking in the silence as his engine died, and he looked to his left. He saw a brown uniform, then a hat like Smokey the Bear used to wear. "Are you all right, boy?" The State trooper asked. Thomas nodded jerkily. The man looked at him, and the trooper's eyes scanned into the back of the car. His head stopped as he looked at the shattered glass, then back at Thomas. "Step out of the car, boy." ***** Processing was anticlimactic. The officer had been almost gentle pulling him from the car checking him for injuries, then had cuffed him before pulling the labels off the shattered bottles. He had stood there as the officer had called a special team to check the spilled chemical, and the grin on his face was bad enough. But Thomas remembered what the Professor had said. Thomas, if you are caught we cannot help you. The only way we could is to reveal their secret. After booking him, he had been left in an interrogation room for almost an hour. He wished he'd contacted the local tribes. They could get him out of this... No. He sighed. He couldn't put them in danger. Not for him. ***** The investigator from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looked at the young man. Five eleven according to the file, Born in Joliet Illinois, going to the University of Chicago. Nineteen years old, sophomore. He frowned. No criminal record, why was he hauling class 3 restricted drugs cross the country? He closed the folder, then opened the door. The kid looked so woebegone, then his chin stiffened, and he looked away from the investigator. "Young man, you are in deep trouble." ***** Thomas obeyed the instructions as they stripped him and put him in an orange jumpsuit. Then he was shackled and loaded on a bus. He had stood it all. He had stood mute as the guy from TBI questioned him, As detectives had tried to get him to reveal his contacts, by troopers talking about all the 'fun' of being in the local jail. He had taken it all. But as the bus came over the hill, and he saw the holding facility, Thomas felt fear. ***** "Trouble." Lady P reported. "How so?" Monica asked. "Our courier was enroute to deliver med supplies to the Washingtons in Georgia when he was in an auto accident in Southern Tennessee. A cop was right there, and witnessed the accident." Monica sighed. "What did we lose?" "Five quarts of paregoric, a kilo of dried Ampicillin and the courier of course." "Who did we lose?" "Thomas Canter," "Shit." Monica rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had worried about this. These kids were going out on a limb big time by delivering the meds needed. They probably didn't realize exactly how much trouble they could be in. While paregoric was only a class III narcotic, a drug lab could convert five quarts into about twenty street level doses of heroin. That made possession without a prescription of even one quart possession for distribution. The kid was looking at thirty years in the slam. It was worse because she remembered that Thomas Canter had been one of those first students to see the Faerie almost two years earlier. One of the first to admit what he had seen. He didn't have the skills they needed. He wasn't a doctor or a scientist or an economics major or even the child of an electronics store owner. He was a history major for Christ's sake! She suddenly pictured the boy stuffed in a prison. It didn't matter what state; her Grandfather's minions had been in them all. If he was lucky, all they would do is abuse him and finally let him go. If he was unlucky... Damn it, I told them we wouldn't try to rescue them, but I can't just sit here like a fucking spy master and cross his name off the roster! "Which realm is closest?" ***** Thomas went through the process in a blind terror. Undressed yet again, forced to stand in a room with hard eyed men who demanded that he lift his feet, open his mouth, and spread his cheeks to verify he had nothing hidden. There were sarcastic comments from the ones behind him in the line, because everyone was done in an assembly line process. When he spread his cheeks as instructed, there were whoops of joy as if a stripper had just mooned them. He was handed a set of denims a lot like a naval enlisted undress uniform and ordered to dress. One of the men in front of him looked at the boy, smirking. "Maybe tonight I get a piece of that." He whispered. At Thomas' blank looked he added, 'You bent over like a bitch getting ready for her man." Only then did Thomas feel real terror. They were marched into the holding facility, and the guard that led them pointed to their beds. Thomas found himself between the same bastard he had gone through the line with, and a huge man with a vacant expression. "Be careful with him. That's Felix Conner." The guard pointed at the hulking brute. "He gets mad when people push him. When he gets mad, he hurts them." He shook his head. "Another fucking appeal. Like the bastard deserves them." Thomas made the bunk mechanically. He looked up and the hulking man was looking at him. He looked away, finishing what he was doing. Only then did he sit down. It was a rough choice, look at the monster? Or the man who had already stated his willingness to rape him? He faced the hulking monster. Thomas looked at the man, noticing the blank expression. The man was twice his age, large enough that he would be able to match the wrestler Haystack Calhoun or Andre the Giant. But he had a childlike wonder at the simple book he held. Something distracted the man, and Thomas watched as those blue eyes moved toward the aisle, the book sagging then falling from his hands. Thomas reacted first as a gentleman of the old school, then as a human being who saw someone being tormented. He dropped to the floor, picking up the book, holding it out as those eyes turned back to him. They saw the human form, then and only then the book being held out. Thomas saw something, fury? Fear, then relief as they locked on the book. The hulking man leaned forward taking the book. For a moment, Thomas was sure he saw gratitude before that hand almost as big across as his chest reached out delicately and took the child's picture book back. The instant it was in his hands Felix was lost in the complexities of the simple story. ***** Briar sighed, moving through the members of her realm. Here near the human city of Tullahoma, they had the best of both worlds Humans near by and yet far enough that they were safe. "My queen, Monica of Chicago calls." Daisy of Tullahoma told her. The queen moved to the Blackberry, signaling her presence. The screen cleared, and she saw Monica, the human that had done so much for her people already. "Hail and well met, Monica; friend of Faerie." "Hail and well met, Briar." Monica did a small seated bow. "I ask your aid if it is possible." Briar almost snorted. To the Faerie a debt was a burden best removed. The best way in fact to drive one mad was to die before they could repay it. "Any debt we can repay is well met, Monica." "Thomas has been taken by the police." "Thomas." The Queen stared at her. "The very one that delivered medicine to us just two days ago?" "Yes." Monica replied. She made a small gesture of helplessness. "I would not ask-" "He gave my own daughter of the womb a child, Monica. He is not a debt, he is family." Monica bowed her head. "You're honor shames me." "Enough." Briar snapped. "Where is he being held?" Monica gave the name of the facility. "We will move tomorrow at the latest." ***** Thomas took the towel and soap, following the dozen other inmates to the showers. He had been terrified before, but the idea of sharing a shower with these animals made that terror spike. The shower was the place of nightmares in fiction. His own personal nightmare now. Behind him moved Conner, just as blank as he had been without his book. They were arrayed under the shower heads, and a blast of water hit him in the face, blessedly lukewarm heating to comfortable. "Hey bitch." He looked to the side at the inmate beside him. The man was lovingly washing himself, smiling lazily. "Going to make it clean so you taste nothing but me, bitch." "Leave me the fuck alone." Thomas blustered. "On no, bitch." The man rinsed himself, moving his foreskin back and forth to make sure the soap had been washed off. "Tonight, you're going to suck this. Then it's going to bust that cherry." Thomas stared at him with horror. He backed into the wall, shaking his head, mouth open in horror. "Perfect." The man sneered. "Just the right way for that mouth to be when I stuff it." Thomas fled the shower, pursued by laughter. He reached his bunk, dressing, shivering in fear. The hour seemed to drag on until lights out. Thomas was caught between his terrors. On one side the rapist, on the other a homicidal maniac. He undressed for bed as ordered, then the lights went out. He shivered in fear. How long? The night dragged on. An hour, two thr- A hand slapped down on his face, and he screamed in terror, the cry muted by the horny hand. "Make a sound bitch and you're dead." The rapist hissed. Thomas heard a slither of cloth, and tried to struggle. The hand was gone but he felt something pushing against his face. "Open your mouth you bitch!" The rapist growled. "Or I'm going to break every fucking tooth out of your fucking-" Suddenly the weight was gone. There was a smashing sound in the distance, and he sat up. The inmate had been thrown fifteen feet into a wall, the tile shattering as he slammed into the wall. He collapsed, then stood, furious. "You stupid motherfucker!" He leaped to his feet charging the massive person between Thomas and him. That figure reached out almost calmly, snatching the rapist from the air. His huge hands caught the attacker, then as if an adult holding a child, began to shake the body hard. Thomas heard something snap, the rapist falling limp even as those huge hands still shook him with mindless intensity. Guards showed up eventually. ***** Thomas found himself protecting someone who outweighed him by about five to one. He stood between the guards as they charged down with asps and stun guns. Screaming at them to stop. Standing between them, even finally grasping those arms the size of a tree trunk to convince the massive man to stop. It was like gentling an angry horse. For a long time the shaking continued, but the hulking man finally understood. He let go, the rapist fell to the ground bonelessly as guards dragged him out of danger. Not that it would have helped, the man had been dead since his neck snapped. Once he had dropped the body, Conner had gone back to what Thomas decided was his normal mode. The huge man had looked around as if confused until Thomas handed him the same book he had been reading before. The big man took it, then sat back on his bed as if nothing had happened. ***** The next morning at breakfast he sat with the man. Conner looked blankly at him for a moment, then continued shoveling food into his mouth. "Thank you." He said. Conner stopped eating, spoon halfway to his mouth. For a long moment it hung there, then continued. But there was a look of happiness in the man's eyes. Thomas went to the library after yet another interrogation. He was able to discover what had happened with Conner. Conner had been considered retarded enough that he had never attended a school. Arrested when someone had reported a scuffle in his home. Conner had been found shaking his dead father just as he had killed the rapist the night before. It had taken eight officers to subdue the man, two of them seriously injured. Luckily, Conner had not gotten a good grip on them. The Defense attorney had stood on the McNaughton rule. Quite honestly he did not know that what he had done was wrong. While McNaughton required someone convicted under that rule to be sent to a hospital rather than prison the only time he had been hospitalized had ended disastrously. One of the other patients who screamed in the middle of the night had been killed in the same manner. There had been attempts at drug regimens, but they seemed to have no effect. Lithium was ineffective. The one attempt at electroshock had cost four lives, two orderlies a doctor and a nurse all when they tried to strap him down. Any attempt to force him to do anything led to someone dying. But handing him a toy or child's book would make him docile. Finally they had just shunted him back to prison. But every few years, someone tried to get him returned to a hospital. This most recent attempt using irresistible impulse; the defense used by Lorena Bobbit, had also failed. Tomorrow he would return to prison again. He found a couple of kid's picture books, and brought them to the dorm area. Conner was looking at the book in his hand, and only looked up when Thomas sat down on his bed. He opened the first, the Disney version of Snow White. He began to read it aloud, glancing up occasionally. Conner was watching him, childlike pleasure on his face. The book ended, and when he closed it Conner whimpered, then handed him the book he had been reading all this time. Thomas opened it, and began to read it as well. ***** "There." Lotus of Tullahoma said. She was the best of the hunters in her tribe. Seven of them had come with her on this mission. They had heard of the breakouts in Texas and England, and had wished they'd get their chance. This was it on a small scale. The holding facility stood on the outskirts of the town, a large barbed wire enclosure looking not unlike a POW camp from an old war movie. Guards standing in the towers and gate house fit that picture. The faerie dived, flying low. There were lights even searchlights, but they had spent the hours since dark timing them. Getting into the building was a bit harder. They rested above a door for almost an hour before a guard came out, and they slipped through. It would have been hard for a group of people to look without lights or some kind of technological means to assist. But for faerie it was absurdly simple. Thomas had visited their nest, and they knew that scent when either male or female. They flew down the aisle, then landed on the pillow. "Thomas." Lotus whispered. "Thomas wake up." The boy mumbled, rolling over. Magnolia, one of the hunters sighed. "Time for more drastic measures." She whispered. She took her unstrung bow, poking the boy in the back. The result was all out of proportion to the cause. Thomas leaped up, finding himself crouched on the floor between the beds. He looked like he was ready to scream. The faerie ducked frantically as some of inmates sat up, glaring toward him. "Oh for Christ's sake go the fuck back to sleep new meat!" One of them snarled, plumping his pillow fiercely before laying back down. Several others cat called or shouted, but they fell silent, and returned to their beds. Thomas knelt up, and found himself face to face with a fairy with brilliant blue hair. "About time you noticed us." She whispered. "What are you doing here?" He hissed back. "We're here to rescue you, you twit." There was a delighted chuckle from behind him and Thomas looked back at Conner. The man was staring with a look of joy on his face. Not at Thomas, but at the fairy. "We'd better hurry-" "Wait. He comes too." "Has a maggot eaten your brain entire?" Another of the faerie hissed. "We know you, and you are of the tribe by the child you have given us, but this one is a criminal!" "He protected me when one of the others tried to rape me. I owe him my life." "Damn." The angry fairy growled. "Fine! Quickly then." Thomas turned, looking at the huge man. "I don't know how he will react when it begins. He's like a child, but can get violent." He thought about it. He touched Conner's face. "We are going away." The big man's face started to scrunch up but Thomas shook his head. "No, Felix. We are going. You and I are going with them." For a long time he looked at Thomas, then a grin spread. He touched his own chest. "Yes. But they have to bite you so you can shrink. Ladies, slowly." The girls dropped on him, and he flinched as they bit him. He smiled at the look of wonder on the big man's face as he began to shrink away. The faerie clustered in the air around the big man. For a long time he just looked at them, then at the almost completely shrunken friend. He extended his arms, and they landed biting him. The big man flinched only a little, but there was a giggle of wonder as he saw the world growing away from him. The two men began to shrink. Suddenly the delighted giggle died. Thomas looked toward the large man even as the wings ripped from his back. Felix had a look of dawning horror on his face. He didn't even flinch as the wings ripped from his back. He was still huge, close to 130mm tall. He has such a woebegone expression that Thomas moved to him, resting a gentle hand on his forearm. "Felix?" "Felix." Conner whispered. "I am Felix." He looked up, and for the first time Thomas saw intelligence. "I am Felix." He looked as if he had awakened from a bad dream. "We have to go." Thomas said. Felix nodded. "Yes, we have to go." It was idiot simple to get back out. The faerie hung out above the exit light. When another guard made a circuit, they ducked out the door. The two males followed the women as they disappeared into the darkness. ***** The faerie gathered to look at the men as they landed. They looked at Thomas, greeting him as long lost kin, as he was, then they gathered around Felix. He looked around shyly. He was head and shoulders taller than any of them, yet Thomas felt pity. The man didn't want to meet anyone's eyes. "Felix." Felix collapsed bawling like a child. Thomas found himself holding the huge man as if he were the father soothing a child. In the midst of it, Felix wailed, and Thomas suddenly understood the man that had protected him much better. Felix had been born of a brute of a man, and a meek woman who had only lived long enough to die trying to give the boy a brother. It had been long ago for Thomas, before he was born in fact, but it had been a time when child abuse was not as well documented. The mother had been a colorless woman so much in the background that Felix remembered her only as a figure in a dress; one that had never hurt him. His father made up for it. Always angry at the world, he would take out his anger on someone at that time too small to protect himself. His last clear memory of the huge man had been when he was three, being shaken like a rat in a terrier's jaws. Every time the boy had cried, or whined, his father had shaken him, and that constant abuse had caused damage in his brain. The boy had survived by becoming silent, obedient. Judged too retarded to go to school, he had stayed home when others learned. He had been the silent shadow who followed his mother to the store, or his father on trips when the older man went to enjoy himself. He had been made to help the man move cargo off the truck he drove. Some of it had taxed the boy's muscles, but before long he could move anything. His mother dying had been an incident he recorded, but really didn't remember. The baby had outlived her by mere minutes. If anything that drove his father to even further abuses. He could punch the boy, but for some reason shaking him was more fun. In Felix's mind he soon equated that shaking with being an adult. Adults shook disobedient children, and they deserved it. The man remarried, another woman as lackluster as the first. She gave him the second son he craved. But that same year, his father stopped hitting or shaking him. Felix had never realized that while silent and obedient, he now towered a foot over his father, with muscles a wrestler would envy. He never understood why he was so interesting to women. He never spoke to them, or acknowledged them. In fact his new 'mother' had been the first to teach him about sex, not that he really understood what was happening, only that it felt good. That ended when the brother was three. He had been sitting in the kitchen eating when he heard a squeal of pain. The younger brother had fallen down the stairs, and was now screaming in fear and pain. His father stormed in, grasping the boy and shook him, screaming at him to be silent. For the first time Felix realized that his father was smaller than he was, that his father was... Childlike. He had stood, walking ponderously toward the man. Some instinct had warned the man but he had ignored it. He had thrown the brother aside, screaming at the silent nemesis approaching him. Felix had just done what his father had always done. He had grabbed and shaken him, shaken him until he fell silent. But it had felt good. He was an adult now, and his father was the one who had to be silent. The men in uniforms had talked to him, but he knew what happened to bad boys when they made noise. He didn't make any. Life became a series of room with bars, large rooms with people talking, even for a while a fantasy world of bright light and warm sunshine. But always there were those that tried to push him, that screamed in the night like a child and had to be quieted. Then this one. He was like the brother Felix remembered; shy, afraid. When the big man had tried to hurt him, it had been this boy that had stopped the guards from attacking him. He didn't know why. Then the wonder of a story being read, his mind creating wonderful pictures to fit that voice. He had handed his precious book to the boy, and he finally found out more than the pictures showed. The wonderful world he described, and his favorite character explained. Then as the venom of the Faerie had remade him, he had seen his life with the same brutal clarity. "I killed them." Felix whispered. "When I shook them I... I killed them." He hugged the boy, but his arms were curiously gentle, as if for the first time he understood how strong he was. "It wasn't your fault, Felix. You had been hurt so badly you couldn't understand that you could hurt others." "My father-" "I'd kill the motherfucker myself if he weren't already dead." Thomas growled. "He made you what you were. They," he waved at the silent faerie about them. 'They have made you what you might have been." "I am evil, a monster." "No." One of the faerie with blue to purple-blue hair knelt beside them, touching the huge man's face so gently that he looked surprised. "Your father was the monster. He took a bright mind and made it dark with his violence. Listen to me, Felix. I, Pear Blossom would have you be father to my child. One such as you would prove a better father by far than that monster that sired you. Will you give me this?" He blushed. "I have never done this when I understood what was happening. What if I hurt you?" "Will you let me guide you in this gentle pavane?" "What?" "This dance. Two partners moving as one? I shall lead, and you may follow gently along." She smiled touching his lips. "Perhaps in time you will learn to dance where you lead." ***** Thomas stretched in the dawn light. He always looked like Elizabeth Pena afterward, he didn't know why. He considered that perhaps it was because the most attractive voice in the movie the Incredibles had been Mirage, the same actress. He hadn't even known what she looked like before he checked on websites afterward. "Monica has been told of your escape." Heather of Tullahoma said. Her newly paired wings fluttered as she slid an arm around his waist, molding herself to him. "She thinks it will take only a few days to arrange your transport." "To where?" He asked. "I head home, and the police will be waiting." He shook his head. "I can't help you and the other Faerie from a prison cell." "Do not worry, my love. It will work out, one way or another." A figure came from the clan's den, and Thomas stared in amazement. A group of giggling faerie came out, touching the clothes they had hurriedly altered to fit Felix. Felix had not shrunk from his normal height, so he was still 130mm tall, almost five and a quarter inches tall. That didn't surprise him, what did was who he looked like. The green thigh length sheath heightened the resemblance. "I should have known." He said. "His favorite story." "She looks like-" Heather giggled. "Well that's different at least." As the figure came closer, the resemblance became more remarkable. The blond figure stopped, the split skirt looking like flower petals hanging around slim hips. The figure stopped, stretching with the same lack of self consciousness you would expect from a cat. "It's a beautiful day." His voice was feminine, but husky, a voice that would set a man's pulse racing. He looked at the faerie around him, a quizzical look on his face. "Why are they giggling?" "Remember your favorite story Felix?" "Yes." The face brightened. "Peter Pan. I never knew what it was until you told me" "And you've seen the Disney movies, right?" "Of course I did." "And at the start of the DVDs and on the TV station what do they always have?" "Tinkerbell flying by." "You still don't get it." Thomas sighed. "Heather?" The Fairy giggled, then made a circle in the air, creating a mirror. "If you will look down?" Felix bent over, looking at the face in the mirror. A hand came up, touching a cheek delicately. "Tinkerbell?" He stood back, puzzled. "How can I look like a cartoon character?" He asked. Thomas explained the process, how a man became the woman he desired the most. Felix listened, nodding. It was as if someone had created a computer generated doll almost eight feet tall, and caused it to rampage through the real world. No, Thomas erased that. Created it to wander through the world with the same sense of wonder the real Tink might have had. "But why her?" Felix asked, reaching out. At his gentle touch the mirror disappeared. "She was your ideal woman, Felix. She was sugar and spice and everything nice. Someone who never took crap, and showed her contempt when others tried. Loyal, loving, and all woman." He shrugged. "She was the woman you would have loved if she had been real." "But she is real!" Felix replied. "Heather Pear Blossom Daisy, even Briar are the spirit of Tinkerbell herself." "But you didn't know that." Heather told the giant. "We were something you only dreamed of, never believed existed." She reached out, her hand on his arm. "Now that your mind is yours again, you will meet someone to love, to become you the next time." The face split in a perfect Tinkerbell grin. "I don't think so. I've loved her all my life." All of them giggled, then one of them slapped him on the back. "Tag, you're it!" An instant later, she leaped into the air followed by all of the faerie. The next team The Gulfstream flared out, landing smoothly. It pulled up to the charter area where a group of customs officials waited. The steps came down, and Dominic followed by Francois came down the steps, handing their passports to the customs agents. Once they had been checked, the junior pilot headed back to the cargo hold, and began bringing down suitcases. Vladimir Ushenko stepped to the door, looking around. Back when he had still worked for the KGB, he had been in the United States a dozen time. But this was his first time in Chicago. He nodded pleasantly to the customs men, handing over his American passport and custom's declaration form. Even post 9-11, American customs was still the easiest to go through in the world. "Mister Garret?" "Yes." Ushenko waved toward a set of six bags stacked together. "Those are mine, sir." The agent looked at the declaration, then at Ushenko. He motioned, two fingers up, and one of the agents picked two bags at random. Ushenko looked on calmly. Twenty years in the Agency had taught him to have an excellent poker face and to never bring anything that might upset customs agents in whatever country he was visiting. "Purpose of trip?" "Business." Ushenko took out his wallet, and held out his card. The Custom's agent looked at it "Some of my suppliers up here are being kind of slow, so I was just coming to check on them. And to pick up some stuff you just can't get down there." The agents opened and checked the bags professionally. Then resealed them. Ushenko moved his bags to the side as the pilots went through the same procedure. A car was driving toward them, and Ushenko watched it closely. It slowed, and a man climbed out. From the other side of the car a woman also climbed out She walked around the hood, and Ushenko smiled. The man spoke to her, then went to open the trunk. The woman jerked her head like a horse shying from a fly, then walked over. "Miss Braziani." He nodded. She smiled. "Norman." They shook hands. "We have a problem." "Don't you always?" ***** "Miss Braziani." The man acknowledged the target. "Norman." They shook hands. "We have a problem." "Don't you always?" Cato marked the tape as Hill took a series of pictures of all of the people. "I have IDs on two of them. Braziani and her butler." Hill marked the film canister. "Why are we still doing this? Dalrymple is missing." "Campbell isn't." Cato replied. "He heard a member of this Innerworld was caught carrying class 3 restricted drugs down in Tennessee." "Yeah?" Hill perked up. "What?" "Ampicillin powder and paregoric." "Big deal." Hill replied. "Paregoric? It's like the ampicillin, just restricted because it's opiate based, and a low damn base at that." "Still possession for distribution." "As if buying opium paste wouldn't be cheaper and easier." Hill argued. "It's an old law." "Still on the books." "So are the witchcraft laws back east, but they haven't enforced them since the 17th century." ***** Vlad listened as Madison drove them toward the city. "We cannot leave them in the nest for too long. There is too much chance they will crossover." Monica finished. "They have been there two days now." "Where is this?" "Tullahoma Tennessee. Northwest of Chattanooga." She bit her lip. "When Pat died and they took out Dalrymple, we thought that investigation was over and done. But when Thomas was arrested it came back with a vengeance." "Ah, good. Martin's supplier in Nevada can send the weapons kits there, and we can have them ship them there to be picked up by Dom, and he can fly them down to Coatzacoalcos along with our friends." Vlad commented. "But the cops!" Monica gasped. "My dear professor, you have these leeches called reporters and lawyers." He smiled, "Why have you never used them?" ***** As the limo drove toward Monica Braziani's house, a trap was set. The pilots went into crew rest, a military term, but after speaking with Vlad they understood why they needed the delay... After all, a trap needs bait, right? ***** Cato drove smoothly, staying a minimum of ten cars back on the Loop. Hill leaned back, stretching. "Any idea who this guy is?" Cato grunted. "We'll find out eventually." ***** Lieutenant Myron Campbell of Internal affairs got off the phone with Customs. He picked up the phone, and dialed. Hill grabbed his cell phone. "Hill." "Norman Garret." Campbell told him. "American from Iowa. Moved to Soteapan in the State of Vera Cruz in Mexico where he started a trucking company named Wholesale Distributing. He ships through all of Eastern Mexico from the Texas border to Belize. In fact, his shipments have extended into both Belize and Guatemala in the last year. "He's started selling gold and silver nuggets as well, averaging about eight to ten pounds a month." There was a deep sigh, "The Mexican authorities have no record of anything illegal. He's so much a straight arrow they only check him a few times a year." "Orders, sir?" "Maintain surveillance. Unit two will meet you there in three hours." ***** What a conman would call a 'sting' requires two things; a plausible story, and a willing mark. Vlad had done this before. Knowing an intelligence agency is watching you, you give them clues that added up to a juicy secret that led nowhere. The police watching them were expecting drug lords to be making deals, so they would see what they expected to see. It had taken four days to arrange, primarily because none of the principal actors had used their cell phones, and had their conversations in public places away from microphones. The second unit with a parabolic mike arrived on schedule. The two men in it watched, one aiming the mike as if it were a rifle. He checked the distance, then thumbed the button as if pulling the trigger. The concept is simple. You take a laser beam, and bounce it off a window. Micro-movements of the air in the room; say someone talking, causes the glass to vibrate, making the reflected light flutter just a bit. The man grinned as... "The shipment will be there in Tullahoma?" Norman asked. "Yes, enough weapons for a year of normal operations. Are you sure you can handle that weight?" Monica asked "Easily." The man sounded sure. "If I can get it there, we can distribute it easily. And payment as usual?" "Yes." Shifting. Probably someone moving in a chair. "But first, Madison will be bringing Erika home." "How is she?" "Both she and the baby are fine." Out in the van the cops were taping, grinning like fools. Drugs and guns! ***** Phase one was easy compared to phase two. That was just a pair of actors setting the stage. But the new actors had to be on stage, and perfect. Erika held Patricia, looking at her child with love. It had been three weeks before the doctors had allowed the premature baby to be released, and she considered all the problems they had enumerated. The first months would be dangerous; the baby had been almost exactly six weeks premature. But she had been adamant when Madison had asked her assistance. She had named the girl in honor of that dear man Pat. She had been a person looking for an existence when she had met the Faerie. Now she had a mission in life and a family again. Pat had been almost a grandfather to her, and she had wanted to ask him to be the godfather as Monica had already been asked to be godmother. But those damn Internal Affairs bastards had caused his death. The cops had been investigating the organization, hoping to prove Monica no better than her late Grandfather, and that had caused him to die. Pat had merely been collateral damage. Oh they hadn't put him in a position of danger. They had just pushed too far. He had been confronting them and because of his anger had not been paying attention when he crossed the street. She looked up at Henry's face as he pushed the wheelchair. His face was set in a furious mask. He had lost a friend, sure. But thanks to those same police he had almost lost a daughter and the mother of that child. Like Erika he had agreed without demur. The door of the elevator opened, and as they exited, suddenly they were the center of attention. ***** It had been a full court press by Innerworld. Several of the members had called local news stations, bemoaning the death of Sergeant Paddy O'Malley, and the investigation that had caused it. They had invited reporters out to the Braziani mansion, and Miss Braziani had personally taken them on a tour, explaining how she and her friends had brought a disparate group of dreamers together. She had scrolled through the public website, bringing up the fan fiction section, the contacts page, and the forums. She had shown them the e-mails from people who believed Faerie existed, and the section of the forums where those who didn't believe argued. "My assistant Erika Sanger would be helping today except for her condition." Monica commented. It was a baited hook. "You're assistant?" One of them asked. He had seen the hook, but what was that thing wriggling on it? "Yes." Monica brought up the girl's face. The pictures of the members were like college yearbook pictures. Ted Bundy would have looked like an altar boy in them. Erika looked like an angel. "She was pregnant when Paddy died. She was on the phone with him when he was killed in that auto accident." Ears perked up. "She was?" Another fish approached. Maybe that wriggling thing was tasty... "Yes. She heard that dear old man die right in her ear." Monica sighed. "It caused her to go into premature labor. She almost lost the baby." The press circled the bait like sharks circling an injured fish. ***** This was the result. "Mister Sanger-" A reporter asked. "It's Lomax." Henry snarled. "Just because I'm the father of my child doesn't mean I was going to force her to marry me." "Henry never asked if I wanted to marry him." Erika commented, reaching out to touch his arm as if trying to calm him down. "We have been so busy helping Monica that we hadn't considered it." She gave the reporter a warm smile. "But I think Patricia will have something to say about that." She rocked her child, cooing to her. "If you would, Miss Sanger, we have heard that you were on the phone with Sergeant Paddy O'Malley when-" The woman's professional demeanor broke as Erika looked away, sobbing. "End of discussion." Henry snarled. "Sir-" "You don't get it do you?" Henry roared. "Some man trying for an election bid decided to 'investigate' Innerworld! The lady who runs it hired Erika when she had nothing! Paddy O'Malley was like the grandfather she never knew and that... bastard decided to bring him up with a waiver of immunity!" Henry fell to his knees, hugging the sobbing girl. The tableau held, and would be the intro spot for so many newscasts that it rivaled 9-11. Henry looked up, then took pity on them, explaining. "A waiver of immunity strips you of your Fifth Amendment Rights. You are ordered to testify, and if you don't, they hit you with contempt of Grand Jury. Do any of you know what that means?" He scanned the reporters. They were eating this up. "If they file a contempt citation you're thrown in jail. Every now and then, the Grand Jury calls you, and again they demand answers. If you still refuse to answer you're thrown in jail again, and it continues until you answer the questions. "All well and good, but consider this; what if you don't have the answers they want? You are immured in a prison cell as one Grand Jury after another calls you to demand the same answers and again. If you don't have them they merely lock you away again. "We're all upset by the treatment of illegal combatants at Guantanamo. But how many of you liberal jerks consider people condemned because they can't answer the damn questions?" He shoved the chair, slamming through the press. Madison climbed out of the limo, helping Henry and Erika into the car. The vehicle roared away as the press milled like sharks around where the diver had once been. In the car Erika leaned into Henry. "I'm sorry, Henry. I-" "It's all right, Erika." Henry hugged her. "We knew you weren't much of an actor. So pretending to cry was what you could do best." "Who was acting?" Erika asked. Then she shoved him with one arm. "Maybe I wanted to be an actor!" She retorted. The baby grumbled, and she looked down, smiling softly. "Say hello to your daughter, Henry." He took the baby carefully into his arms. "You did good, kid." He said to the baby. "You monster." Erika cried. "She was." Henry tickled the baby, who giggled. "She didn't start crying or..." He sniffed. "Damn, I think..." "She did, lover." Erika giggled. "Now you get to learn the joys of fatherhood. You get to change her." Phase two complete. ***** Phase three was out of their hands, but went like clockwork. The press did research, discovering that what Henry had reported was something a first year law student knew. They flooded the police stations and college campuses, getting filler, then at 6pm that night the story exploded onto the television screens of the people. Chicago has seen it's share of corruption, but injuring the innocent in a quest for elected office infuriated the citizens. ***** Lieutenant Campbell arrived at headquarters in a fury. Dalrymple was missing for almost a month now, and the impetus for the original surveillance had disappeared with him. But he knew in his heart this Innerworld was dirty. The man caught in Tennessee had been proof enough of that. But not sufficient to get him the