Today was Alex's birthday, so she had made an American style birthday cake with the recipe she'd gotten from an old friend. Chocolate with chocolate frosting, it was double layered and very rich. She certainly hoped he liked it.

She walked past the Kuno mansion and shuddered. Kodachi had come by for to refill her herb pouch today... the concotions possible with that combonation of herbs was almost as scary as her laugh.

Finally arriving at the Gate, Silk rang the bell, she hoped Alex was home...

A butler came and answered the gate. He saw the cake and asked, "Is that for the young master?" Silk nodded in reply. "Mr. Funryu and The Amazon Brush are out in the backyard, attending to the shrine. Would you like to go to the back?" With that, the Butler took the cake from her and showed her to the area where Alex and Brush were Alex was putting some flowers down on an elaborate shrine, which had a picture of a woman and a man, who looked a lot like Alex. She also noticed Alex's eyes were somewhat watery as he turned to look at her. "Hi Silk. What's up?"

Silk walked closer and bowed to the shrine respectfully before looking up again to answer the question, "I heard it was your birthday and baked you a cake. I did not realize that it was also the day..." her voice choked for just an instant, "That _your_ parents... Passed Beyond. I am sorry, I did not mean to intrude." Silk's eyes said that she meant every word, and that she was remembering her own long dead parents... who had only recently found peace. "May they both rest forever in the peace that exists beyond dreamspace."

Brush turned to see Silk. "I'm sure that Alex appreciates it, Silk," she said softly. Then she continued, "It's such a shame that the trail ran cold once we got to Japan. Alex knows who did it, but he told me that the trail dried up once he got to Tokyo. And to top it off, Alex isn't inclined to kill anyone." Brush sighed in sadness. "Arisa-san was very wise and kind. She was like another mother to me. Why do bad things have to happen to good people?"

Alex shrugged. "It happens sometimes. But I swear, somehow, Homare is going to pay. I'll bring down his little kingdom down around his ears!" Then he, too, slumpped. "If I only had a way to connect him to his criminal activities..."

Silk blinked. "Do you say Homare? the Yakuza boss?" her voice was urgent, as the name pricked more than one thread of memory... Homare... I know I've heard that name before...

"Yeah, that's him. He the bastard responsible for my parents death. This is one time I wish I hadn't had ethics and fair play drilled into me so well. At then I could have just killed him, or turned Zuberi loose on him." Then something hit Alex. He turned to Silk and asked, "Do you know something?"

Silk's voice was softer than usual, "Yes... I know some, but I have an old friend who knows much more. Enough, I think, to help you a great deal. If you are willing to trust me and him?"

Alex wiped his eyes and took a few quick breaths. then he sadi, "Ok, I'm listening. What do you have? I'd really appeciate it if you could get any info on him."

In the background, they heard Brush mutter, "Screw 'honorable', let's just find him and kill him. It's not like you haven't killed before."

Silk looked sharply at Brush, "For some people, killing is to light a punishment, for there is little suffering in quick death, which is the only death a truly sane and compassionate person can mete out. For some people, who commit certain crimes, there are other consequences that are more appropriate... and this bastard has commited enough of them to deserve them all." She ran her finger across one cheek, "Some scars not even the best of us can heal, though you can never see them. You are not the only one's with reason to hate this man, to wish him behind bars. Him and his whole filthy organization."

Silk looked at Alex, put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, "What I know from memory is little compared to what I can find out. I will ask my friend for details, and he will gladly supply them, I'm sure. But this I do know. Homare's 'associates' once had assets in Hong Kong, and they did some very bad things to some very nice people. Now they don't. And where one piece of vital evidence comes, more can be extracted..." her mood lightened slightly as she grinned lopsidedly, as she ticked off things on her fingers "Provided you are skilled in corporate subterfuge, are accomplished at illegal entry and information pirating, and have the right kinds of contacts. Which, I'm sure, between us" she motioned at herself, Alex and Brush in a wide sweep of her hands, "we can provide."

Alex's sour expression slowly turned into a grin which would look more at home on a shark...or Nabiki. (Wait a sec, that's two of the same thing) Alex said, "I've got the cash and the equipment availible. Let's get to work." He rose from where he was kneeling and led the group by hand into the study in his house, where he went to a bookshelf. "Information pirating, eh? I think we can handle that." He pulled a book and the whole bookcase moved aside to lead into another room, with several files and extremely high-end computers. "Where should we start?"

Silk rolled a chair over to a computer and tapped a few keys, "Well, I want to talk to Kazu face to face, since I trust even the best interenet security as far as I can toss a mainframe, so I'll just page him and tell him to get his butt out here. He needs to get out of the office more anyway." the computer she was on buzzed for a second, and then beeped: Silk read what it said: "He said: 'Yes mistress. Right away mistress. As you command.'" Silk blinked a few times, "Kazu's feeling playful... I thought I'd never see the day. Anyway, he's coming over now, if that's alright?"

"It's cool with me, as long as it nails Homare." Alex growled. "Who's he, and would you like me to send a car for for him?" Alex said as he went over to his desk. Silk could tell from the desk that Alex used this room as an extra office.

Brush went and took a seat next to Alex. "I was thinking more along the lines of death by a thousand cuts, Silk. Alex, as much as I love your honorable side, wouldn't be simpler to kill him? Or I could open a portal and banish him to the Netherworld. I've been working on that spell for a while." Brush looked as if she was ready to let loose with some REALLY nasty magic.

"Brush, he's not here right now, and we're your friends. I hope?" Silk lifted a hopeful eyebrow at Brush. They had been far from friends back in the Amazon village, but had gotten along fairly well since meeting again in Nerima. Silk took a seat on the corner of Alex's desk, where no papers were stacked in the way, and pulled a picture out of her wallet, pointing to the boy in the center of the lineup of six people, [including a younger looking Silk] before handing it to Alex for a look. "Yoshikazu Kisaku, 'Kazu to his friends, son of the CEO of Kisaku, Ltd. He'll be polite, formal, proper... a model Japanese citizen. But he's really an excellent sneak theif and prowler, he taught me about all urban prowling and corporate espionage." taking her wallet back from Alex, she gave the picture to Brush, "A nice guy with money to burn and influence to throw around, and almost as large a grudge against the Yakuza in general as you have against Homare, Alex. About three years older than me, call it 19 or so, but I think you'll like him. And no, don't worry about a car, he'll take his scooter like he always does to escape his office. Expect him in about 15, 20 minutes."

Brush looked at the picture, then looked up at Silk. "I have no real problems with you. I still wouldn't go as far as friends yet, but I'd say we're at least friendly associates." Brush then casually walked up behind Alex and started to unconsiously rub his shoulders, to help her relax herself.

Alex reached out and took the pic from Silk, allowing his hand to linger on hers more than it absolutely needed to, while looking her in the eye with an expression that was slightly difficult to read, but Silk could feel some of what Alex's was thinking, and what she could sense would give most females a warm feeling inside. "I think I met him once at one of those business parties of my dad's. He seemed cool to me." A few moments later, a servant showed Kisaku into the room.

Silk lifted an eloquent eyebrow at Alex before rising to give her old friend a hug when he entered. "Ohisashiburi!"

Kazu grinned, running a hand threw his windblown hair. "It's been a while, Silk-san." He was only about 5'3", a good 8 inches shorter than Silk, but strongly built and handsome in jeans and a blue sweater. Kisaku looked and moved like a gymnast, and his hitops made no sound on the floor. He turned to Alex and Brush. "Kazu Kisaku, and you're Alex Funryu, I believe? and this lovely lady is?" he looked at Brush with a wide and charming smile.

Silk smiled, "The Amazon Brush, apprentice loremaster." she said, and Kisaku bowed to Brush.

"I see you finally got your Master's rank."

"Yes, but that's not why I asked you to come."

"Of course Milady Silk, we must discuss Homare's impending downfall."

Kazu and Silk wore near identical feral grins. "Please tell me what you know already, and I can fill in the details and any gaps there may be." the shorter japanese man looked for a place to sit, and decided on a rolling chair from one of the computer terminals, sitting straddling it backwards, leaning his elbows on the backrest.

Alex casually said, "Computer, pull up files on, Homare, Ranma. All known and suspected crimes." Then Alex mentally turned the monitor around. on the screen was a list: drug smuggling, blackmail, weapon smuggling, assasination and a few other shady deals, all neatly catalogued. "Unfortunately, most of this stuff that I found has little to no real evidence to connect it to Hommare directly. If I can link him to just a couple of these high-profile assasinations, I'm pretty sure he'd be put away for a long time." Alex grin matched Silk's and Kazu's.

Kazu quickly scanned the list, making a few mental notes. "Our information is not so broad as yours, but more detailed. There are at least three serious counts that we have proof that any court would accept."

Silk had pulled Kazu's laptop out of his breifcase and booted it up, pulling up the appropriate files using her own password. "Hmmm... you got some new stuff." she scrolled down the page. "Here, you found _three_ willing witnesses living in Tokyo, and got that bunch of.. a hem... 'aquired documents' certified as guenuine! how'd you do that?"

"Connections, my dear, connections. And since the fruits of your efforts are accurate, nothing illegle."

"That's good. That was quite a close shave, I recall." Silk pulled up the file and showed it to Alex. "This is a document authorizing the elimination of... 'those who refuse to adknowledge our authority'... in America. And the post script... 'The Angry Dragon is dangerous, silence those who control Chaos, and order will be ours.' I think you will understand those references.

Kazu put a calming hand on Silk's shoulder, but she continued to rant "They tried to kill us when we were in Hong Kong. 'Thoughts are dangerous if they are overheard.' It always sounds like a damned fortune cookie!" Silk's eyes smoldered. "These bastards are going down. If between us we have enough to do it, we have to. And there's nothing that says we can't enjoy it just a bit."

"Silk, you're glowing again." Kazu said warningly, and Silk visibly forced herself to relaxed. "I know you have personal feelings about this, but don't let that cloud your judgement."

"Right." She rested her head on her hands for a moment, breathing deeply and concentrating on each breath. "Sorry... that's the one thing I can't stand."

"No one expects you to, but going into your kill mode every time you think about it won't help." Kazu frowned. "I don't like your Kill mode. It's dangerous."

"I know." Silk sighed and got up, and did a slow T'ai Chi form as the others continued to talk, trying to calm herself down.

Brush gave Kazu a feral grin as her aura began to build. "I intend to have a LOT of fun with him. I've got a few new spells I've been DYING to try on someone. And it seems I'll have a volunteer soon. Isn't that nice of Homare to offer his services like that?" The look on her face suggested that Homare would wish Brush HAD just killed him when she got done with him.

Alex joined the Feral Grin club as he began to meditate to control his anger. Everyone saw a small grill outside the window full of coal, with began to float in mid-air to land in Alex's hand. He began to apply pressure, and a few moments later, he had a diamond in his hand. "Homare goes down. Hard. As soon as possible."

Kazu felt like he'd just stepped back in time to the conversation they'd had when deciding to persue one of Homare's cohorts back in Hong Kong. Silk doing T'ai chi, and everybody else looking like they were ready to kill the next person who looked at them funny.

"Calm down, all of you. If you want to do it right, you have to be cool, calculating, and above all else, calm. This sort of thing takes time, planning and follow through. First I suggest we cross-reference our information, and then we plan our attack. See what information we still need to get, who we need to talk to, and other such essentials." He reached out to bonk Silk on the head, a gesture she blocked without even thinking. "You should know that already. You were always the cold one before."

Silk gave Kazu her best death glare, which was pretty good for someone as mildmannered as the healer, "It's personal this time, and you know why."

"Ouch." Kazu's face paled for a moment at the memory, then he made placating gestures with both hands, "Yes I know. And I don't fault you in the least, my dear. Just remember Case and Cyan's old motto."

"The hottest fire burns out quickly..."

"...But a cold day lasts forever."

Alex began to calm himself down. Kazu was right. "Ok, Kazu-san, how do you want to do this?" Alex casually put down the diamond he had created in his anger in front of Kazu and join Silk in doing T'ai chi.

Kazu hefted the gem appraisingly, then set it back down. "Well, first is organization. I'd love to introduce you to some people who have as much reason to hate Homare as we do..." the college student's face knit together in thought for a moment, "Actually, tomorrow night there's a dinner party at Kurotori's... almost all of them will be there, if you'd like to go?" he looked expectantly around the room.

Silk paused mid Repulse Monkey and asked "Raven will be there?"

"Since it _is_ at her place, it would logically follow that-." Kazu's smile was indulgent.

"I'll go." Silk's roundhouse kick was dodged... but the follow up arm bar wasn't. "And this time you won't introduce me as your 'shy rustic cousin from China'... right?" she tightened the lock slightly.

"RIGHT! Absolutely Silk-sama-chan!" Kazu yelped, then squirmed until he broke the lock. "You fight dirty." he said with mock accusation.

"Yep."

"Violent, too"

"Yep."

"Complaints will get me nowhere, I take it?"

"Yep."

Kazu just sighed, giving Alex and Brush his best "~Help, change the subject 'cause I'm drowning~" look.

Brush's face lit up. "A party, you say? Is it a formal one or informal?" She began to go through a mental list of things she could wear and what weapons to grab from her dress rack.

Silk looked slightly pained as Kazu grinned, "Formal, but of course!" Kazu patted Silk on the arm reassuringly, "Could you wear the black and jade dress? Please?"

Silk grimaced, "You just like seeing me try to negotiate dress shoes, don't you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Kazu's face was pure innocence.

"Baka."

"Yep."

Silk didn't take the bait.

Alex merely shrugged, not really paying attention to Kazu and Silk's little chat. He just said, "Ok then, formal it is. What time and where?" Alex then went to his computer and said, "Computer, close file, establish security locks." The computer then shut itself down.

"Kikyo Kurotori's place. Nakamura-choo, number 47. It's two blocks from the Nakamura subway line, second station. Tomorrow night, 7 o'clock." Kazu said absently, as he was engaged in an attempt to un-nerve his old friend by staring over her shoulder at the computer screen. She ignored him, pointedly.

Silk and Kazu had slipped back into their old pattern of actions without even thinking about it... the teasing banter and lightness that had hid the seriousness of the situation and their determination from casual observers during their years together in Hong Kong. The reaction was automatic, despite the fact that no one but co-conspirators could see it.

"Did you want to meet there or go over together?" Silk asked, looking at Alex and Brush with a smile and a lifted eyebrow as she closed down the programs and clicked off the laptop, handing it back to Kazu.

Alex thought about it for a second. "We can meet here and drive over. That way, we should all get there about the same time. Besides, I haven't been here too long and I don't totally know my way around. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Indeed. Tomorrow, here, right before 7." Kazu grinned, bowed slightly to Alex and Brush, then lifted a questioning eyebrow at Silk, who nodded and followed him out.

"G'night." the healer said as they left.

"Until tomorrow, then. We'll see you then." As the group left, Brush turned to Alex. "I'm going home to get my clothes and things ready. I'll see you tomorrow around six." Examining Alex's confused look, she added, "I've got to help you get ready too, you know." Then she left for home.

Alex snorted. "As if I couldn't dress myself. Sheesh." He then left the room, passing by the cake that Silk had brought him. "Well, since it's here..." He cut himself a slice and ate it, licking his chops. "Gotta tell Silk that this was a great cake." With that, Alex went up to do some things before bed.

"Sorry, we're closed today." she called out through the trapdoor from her basement workroom.

"Since when has that stopped me?" a very familar voice said as he descended the ladder to where she was working.

"Never." she said, "but there's always a first time." turning to actually look at him, she asked, "So, what brings you here, Kisaku Kazu?"

"I want to know why you are so concerned about this. You've never involved yourself in another's vengence before."

"Homare was THERE, Kazu. I remember the name and the face."

"Was he..?" the question hung in the air.

"Yes."

"Damn. No wonder you want a piece of him."

"More precisely, in pieces. But failing that I just want him gone, where he can't hurt anybody else."

"I see." Kazu sat carefully on a countertop. "Then you should know... Kurotori isn't the only one who'll be there."

"Who?"

"James and Jos."

Silk stopped stirring. "WHAT!?"

"They just got back from India. Got back into town today. That's why I didn't tell you last night. They won't be in town long, though. just until tomorrow."

"Drat."

"Still..."

Nods all around. Silk finished mixing her herbs and stuck the crock onto a shelf. "Okay, let's go over those records one more time."

The time passed quickly until six o'clock, and at 6:45 they were heading towards Alex's mansion, dressed for the party, except Silk's shoes, which she firmly refused to put on until neccesary. Kazu had for once decided to drive a car, not see how many times he could come within inches of breaking his neck on that motorbike of his. Silk approved. Still, the roof was awful low in his little compact.

"How can you stand this!" she growled as she unfolded herself from the bright blue imported volkswagon bug.

"Not my fault you're nearly six foot." he grinned, holding up the pair of green heels that matched her dress o so perfectly.

"I don't need those!" she growled as they walked up to the door and knocked. Kazu was dressed in a perfectly tailored Tux, wore it extremely well, like he was used to it. Silk was in the black and jade dress he'd mentioned the previous day, mainly because it was her only formal dress, and it was clear she wasn't really that comfortable with the swooping neckline or the long skirt. "Stupid skirt... who decided girls had to wear these thing, but guys don't?"

Meanwhile in the mansion...

Brush was in the house waiting for Alex to put on the suit she had picked out for him. She smiled to herself as she remembered a scene from a short while ago...

Brush had come to the house dressed in a long blue evening gown, with a long split up the side and a plunging neckline. She was also wearing an elegant ruby necklace that Alex and his mother had given her on her birthday. She remembered that the dress was one Alex liked seeing her in. The last time she had worn it, his eyes had almost popped out of his head. --He definitely was not thinking just 'friendly' thoughts then,-- she mused to herself. She had set out a white tux with a blue shirt to match her dress. As usual, Alex was running late from work and had to rush in and try to shower and change. She walked into the bathroom and said as she heard the butler calling up that Silk and Kazu had arrived, "Alex, the others are here. Hurry up, would you?" Brush looked at Alex, who was just stepping out of the shower, and grinned, enjoying the view.

Alex stepped out of the shower and didn't notice Brush until she spoke. He looked up, and yelled "ACCKKK! Can't a guy get a little privacy?" A towel quickly wrapped itself around Alex. "And thanks for the clothes you set up. It's like you knew I was going to be running late." He ran past her and into his room, coming back out fully dressed in the Armani Tux Brush had laid out for him. Tailor-made by the designer himself, It fit Alex like a glove as the duo went downstairs to greet the others. The suit, combined with his freshly groomed and showered apperacne, gave the impression of a true lady-killer. The boy was dressed to impress, that was for sure. He walked down and said to the group, "Welcome. Are you guys ready to go? I'll drive." He stepped out of the door to his Land Crusier, Black Jade.

Silk nodded, "_Anything_ has got to be better than the Bug."

Kazu shrugged. "It's great for escaping crowds. No one would expect a guy worth several million to drive one, eh? And you just like this overgrown jeep because it matches your dress." he teased.

The land rover did not, in fact, match Silk's dress, which was black silk that looked a deep jade green when the light hit it, with geometric designs in a brighter shade of green at the waist, neck and hem. She held a matching fan with careless ease, but anyone who knew her recognized the grip as that used on fighting fans, not a decorative one. "Baka." she said as she closed and conked Kazu on the head with it in one smooth motion. It made a satisfying 'Thud' on impact. "Enameled stainless steel... I _do_ love modern technology." The healer said as she opened the front door of the Land rover and got in. "Okay, lets move."

"Hey man, don't diss the ride," Alex said to Kazu as he quickly hopped in. Brush and Kazu got in the back. The group pulled off, heading for the party at Kurotori's house.

Brush glared at Silk for stealing her shotgun spot as she got in the back. "Men and their cars. Why they argue about such small things, I'll never know."

"So long as they're satisfied with their toys and stay out of what doesn't concern them." Silk laughed

Kazu smiled, "We're not the only ones with toys. I remember more than one conversation about clothes and jewlery between a certain healer and the telekentic psycho that was her room-mate."

"Case wasn't pscho, just... odd. And that was important; you can't walk into a black tie affair wearing a school uniform, you know! guys have it easy, a tux is standard issue and not particularly hard to coordinate... 'ooh, matching socks.'" Silk shot back, "What do you think, Brush? Guys have it easy."

"They do have it easy. They can be simple and it looks proper and attractive. We have to do much more work to look good. And in Alex's case, he doesn't even always pick out his own clothes!" Alex fumed at the wheel while the girls giggled.

Silk smiled, patting him on the arm "Hey, Alex, relax. We're just teasing. No harm meant, and my friends will be worse- Take a left here." she directed him, then continued, "We banter back and forth a lot out of habit. It's a good disguise: no one worries about babblers being dangerous or having secrets. But believe me, none of them are to be taken lightly, eh, Kazu?"

"No, they're all very formidable in their own way. not physically, but mentally, financially and influence-wise." the short young man smiled at Brush, "We can work with them to get the evidence to nab Homare, but we might have to do some wet work." His grin grew even wider as Silk motioned for Alex to pull onto another sidestreet and into a long drive. "But first, you'll have to meet Kurotori and the others. Try not to act TOO startled, ok guys?"

Brush nodded. "I've been to a few of these with Alex and his family before. I think I'll be alright. So what are these friends of yours do, that might startle us so badly, Kazu? Demons? Spirits of some sort? Necromages?"

Kazu laughed, "One Demon's half-human offspring, but no full blooded ones, and Silk here is the only one of us to bring someone back from the dead. But there quite a few mages, a dozen or so free spirits, his" he pointed at Alex, "Second cousin, a Chaos entity, and too many more to name. Our friends, Josephine and James, are both mages: they'll be there tonight as well."

They puled up in front of a large mansion, and got out of the Land rover. Silk led them up to the door, where they were greeted by a short dark skinned woman with her hair in tasteful braids.

"Kurotori." Silk greeted her with a hug, then introduced her to Brush and Alex. "This is Alex Funryu, the Cursed telekentic I told you about, and Brush, an Amazon Lore Master apprentice who has some other training as well."

Kurotori smiled, "Pleased to meet you, ALex, Brush. Please, call me Raven." she led them inside, where about 40 people of various races and... speices mingled easily. A few standouts were the werewolf standing in one corner, the Kitsune holding court next to the stairs, and the small knot of manifested wind spirits floating near the ceiling.

"Pleased to meet you," Alex replied. Then he looked into the party at the guests. Alex blinked, then shrugged. "Ok, nothing too unusual here. As long as I won't have to fight anyone for trying to steal souls or something, I'll be alright." As the group walked into the party, Zuberi began to stir, senseing all the supernatural energy. --Alex, what have you gotten us into NOW?!?-- --Relax,-- was Alex's reply. --We're at a party, and it seems there are a lot of supernatural beings here.-- Zuberi took this information in, and decied to ask a question. --Would you mind terribly if I asked for control of the body? I see some old friends of mine.-- Alex thought about it, then said, --I guess. But let's wait until we can do so and not be noticed by Brush and Silk. No telling what may happen if they find out.-- --Agreed.-- was Zuberi's reply.

Silk grinned, but she was thinking --Alex has a split personality? weird--

--Indeed. But I think the other persona is his cursed form. An old friend of mine, actually. His soul was trapped in a Juusenkyo spring a long time ago.-- the Kitsune, Batoru, confirmed in her mind.

--Interesting-- Kazu put in, --But that's hardly the business at hand. Go talk to the Council, I'll introduce the newbies to James and Jos.-- he said, ending the mental conversation.

--Fine-- Silk led them to the fringe of the mass of people, then smiled to Alex and Brush "Well, I think I'll let you guys wander around a little bit. Don't worry; they won't bite you... there's some people I need to talk to now." Silk walked towards the stairs, collected the Kitsune and a few of his fellows, then wandered off to parts unknown.

Kazu waved her off, then smiled as an unusual pair approached them. A young woman perhaps an inch taller than Kazu, dark skinned and exotic, she was of obvious Indian [India the subcontinent, not native american] heritage. Her escort was an equally short young man with short brown hair and rosy cheeks. Both glowed to the inner eye of powerful magic ability.

"So," the man asked with a slight English Accent, "These are Silk's new compatriots?" He smiled, putting out a hand towards Alex for a handshake. "I'm James Manten, and this is Josephine Hanat." he introduced them. "Like Kazu here, we're Silk-san's old friends from Hong Kong."

Josephine smiled at Brush, "You're Magic level is impressive, Brush-san. Who was your teacher?"

"Lilac, elder Lore Master in my village, and Arisa Funryu, Alex's mother. Very nice lady most of the time. She taught me quite a bit more about other planes of existance and the spells on other worlds. Had a very LARGE library of magical tomes from other realities and such. A lot of it's sealed off, though. You should ask Alex if you're interested in seeing some of it." Brush examined the duo. "So, what kinds of magic are you two into?"

Josephine smiled, "Well, I'm primarily an Elementalist and manipulator of Planes. I change the world to suit myself. James is better at physical manipulations and mind magic. He changes himself to suit the world. Which is to say that, where I'd fireball may way through, he'd become invisible and sneak in. Together we've learned to combine those aspects for some truly...interesting... effects."

James nodded, "But neither of us use set spells. We're freeform mages, not rote. we don't use spellbooks because we make it up as we go along, according to our understanding of magical forces and reality."

"Which is _really_ helpful when you're in a sticky spot where no established spell will help you." Kazu grinned.

"When one is stupid enough to get in said sticky spot..." Josephine winked.

Brush grinned. "I'm sure you could come up with some interesting combinations. I've invented a few spells on the fly myself. I learned mostly holy and wind/water magic in the village myself. But Alex's mother had been showing me how to use Chaos Words in Black magic. She left me a lot of notes on how to translate and understand them. I'm working on adding Black Magic to my bag of tricks. Maybe we could get together and swap spells sometime." Brush looked at Alex wandering off, talking to the chaos spirit. "Shame about that happened to Alex. He understands magic theory quite well, but ever since he was cursed, he can't draw mana to cast any spells."

Josephine frowned, "That can be a problem, when one only has internal reserves and can't draw on Power Lines to replenish one's self. All of our little Hong Kong spook squad could draw on at least some of they different types of power lines. Silk couldn't draw from city lines, but she could touch ocean and sky lines, while Kazu here was just the opposite, total city boy."

"That's hardly my fault." Kazu defended himself. "I wasn't raised in the mountains."

"Still, we all have things we relate to and things we can't. Case was such a firebug she couldn't even see water lines, remember?" James pointed out. "But enough shop talk, we need to introduce Brush to some of the others." And the trio proceeded to introduce Brush to almost every personage, human, inhuman, and those in between, there. And told her stories of their exploits, and so on... slowly the purpose of this group started to surface, beyond a supernatural social club. These people were here for a reason, a common purpose...

****

"Pleased to meet the two of you. Please excuse me for a moment." Alex wandered off and after stashing his clothes, he changed into Zuberi's body and left the griffin take control. Zuberi immediately went to find his old friend, Batoru. He stopped short of where the Council was meeting and let a bit of his energy flow to annouce his presence to the kitsune.

--We know you're there, Zuberi.-- the Kitsune's ever amused mindvoice drifted out of the 'Council Chamber' [aka the rec room, equipped with such extravengances as old beat up furniture and pool table] --I hate to disappont you but we're still discussing Brush-san and that Boy you cohabitate with, so you'll have to--

Another familiar mind voice cut him off --Come in, Zuberi? is it? We need to talk.-- Silk spoke as she unlocked and opened the big double doors and directed the eagle-puma cross to a large and extremely abused couch on one side of the circle of beings that made up the council. Batoru the Kitsune greeted his old friend with a wave, but then turned to look as the opposite end of the circle from the couch, at an ageless seeming Fire Preistess who stared at the golden feathered creature across the room, dark eyes unfathomable.

"Lady Silk has sought assistance in a task for the boy that shares that body, Zuberi Goldenfeather." the preistess, obviously head of the council said softly, "Though she told us what she knows, We'd like to hear your version of what happened, Zuberi."

Zuberi sat down and tapped his head with his paw. "Well, I remember Alex was upstairs at home, his parents were downstairs. He went downstairs for a snack, and as he got halfway down the stairs, we heard a crash. He ran down and saw several men in the doorway and the windows, and they opened fire on Alex's parents before they could react. It was kind of odd, though. Because now that I think about it, something was passively blocking Alex's and his father's powers. They should have sensed them as they approached. Alex's burst into the room as the gunmen, seeing that the Funryus were down, left. He went to his mother, seeing that his father had several bullet in his head. His mother told him that it was the Yakuza. Then she died in his arms. Alex then heard tires screeching, and ran outside. One car he hit with a ki-blast, blowing it up. The other car was getting away. He punched a fire hydrant to change into my body. I was rather upset at what had happened as well, and our combined tempers, made us chase the other car down. After we caught the other car, Alex pinned the driver and made him tell who sent him. He gave us Homare's name, and after Alex made sure he wouldn't be talking to anyone, I was able to get Alex to calm down to the point where he could think again. We went back to the house and started making arrangements and phone calls." Zuberi then took a breath and blinked, holding back tears. "You may want to ask Alex if you need to know more."

Batoru got up and walked over to Zuberi, putting his hand on the griffon's shoulder, such as it was. "We're sorry to bring back such painful memories, but if we want to defeat this evil we need all the information we can get."

"Perhaps," Silk began, standing from her seat next to the preistess, "Perhaps you should hear all of my story as well."

Several council members stirred at that comment. A tall african mage broke the uncomfortable silence. "That's not neccesary if you don't wish to tell the story, Silk-sama. We all know it is painful for you to relate."

"I want to." Silk said softly, but her voice did not waver. The doors opened and Kazu, James, Brush and Josephine stpped inside, "Sorry to interupt, but this is our story as well." James said to the council.

"Since Silk is finally willing to tell it, we should be hear to listen." Josephine said, taking a seat on an empty couch. Kazu and James sat on either side of the mage, leaving Brush to find her own seat or to stand.

Silk waited a moment before she began to speak, "It was two years ago, we were all back in Hong Kong. Patrolling for supernatural phoenomena, since that was our job. Lately we'd been finding a lot of people who had been brainwashed and breaking the compulsions. we hadn't found the culprit, but we had a few solid leads and were following them up. Kazu, Case and I were downtown checking a lead when we were attacked by The Hong Kong syndicate hooligans. Normally it would have been an even fight, but they had magical backup we couldn't counter, and Case and I were captured."

At this point in the story a small sound emitted from Kazu, and Josephine patted him on the back softly. Silk went on.

"I woke up in the back of a small warehouse down by the docks, and I wished that I hadn't. All around me I saw the signs of ritual Blood Magic. then I saw the mage. He was smiling, holding my family's Heirloom sword in one hand and a knife in the other." even Silk's old friend's eyes widened at this, this part of the story had never been told. "For a long time that mage preformed his blood magic rituals. I won't describe what he did in detail, but I will say that nothing was to sick, to twisted for him to use. Every way to torment a human's soul possible in those circumstances was used. EVERYTHING. The longer it went on the less I focused on the mage, anything to get my mind off it, because his magic trapped my mind within my body. I couldn't escape even in mind only. But when I tried to think of other things, I looked around and I saw men. Four men standing and watching, and when they saw me looking at them they smiled. A colder smile you would not find on the oldest of ice demons. They goded on the mage, and 'assisted' him in some aspects of the rituals... and the mage called one of them 'master'. That one was Japanese, I recognised, and the mage called him. 'Homare-sama'."

"After what I assume to be the full 12 hours ritual, the mage used that energy he'd collected to summon a demon. Not a lessor demon like we've all see and helped defeat, but a greater demon. And set it loose on downtown Hong Kong. But that is another story, which most of you know already. Case and the others found me and we defeated the demon." Silk sighed, and sat down heavily in her chair once again, "but you can see why I told this part of the tale. Of those men who helped, two are dead, but two still remain. Homare is one who still remains." She put a hand to her cheek, and gasped when she pulled it away and there was blood on it. Silk's only readily visible scar, a thin white line that ran across her left cheekbone, was bleeding like it was freshly cut.

Brush was sickened as she put together what had been done to her. She remembered that something similar had almost happened to her, if not for Alex. She went from sad to enraged. "This is not going to go unpunished. No man treats an Amazon woman like that and lives." Brush looked at the African mage. "What info do you have on Homare that we don't?"

The tall mage frowned at Brush. "Your anger, however righteous, is out of place here. I think in light of this new information we need to pool all our information and plan a course of action. We knew that Homare has a renegade group of mages working for him, but the fact that at least one of them works-"

"Worked." Josephine cut in sharply.

"Worked Blood Magic, and the fact that it's unlikely that a blood mage will work with one not of the same Twisted Path, leads us to the conclusion that at least one blood mage still works for the devil they call Homare. And equally that we HAVE to do something about it."

It was then that Batoru spoke from his place next to Zuberi, "Long we have denied James and Kazu's request for action against Homare because of 'more pressing concerns.' Now I think you see why it is such a pressing concern!" the Kitsune stared into the eyes of the other council members, most of whom had the grace to look shamefaced. "I say that we give Silk and her friends our blessing and offer every assistance that we can in pursuit of this fiend." he looked hard at the preistess at the head of the table. "Though they are young, this group has seen things that none of us have ever had the misfortune to encounter. You are wrong to think them subordinate to you in any way, experience or power."

"Well, I for one agree with Batoru totally. It's time Homare was stopped, for good. Most of you older being knew me before I took my little dip, and I don't think you would say I'm not experienced or powerful. Even without my own magic, I'm still a force to be reckoned with." Several of the older spirts there had to nod in agreement, as they remembered some of the battles Zuberi had helped them in. And as for Alex and Brush, they have faced off with several powerful opponets, and won. Remember a few months back, when there was a odd surge of dark energies in California? Some of you may have realized it was Set trying to get back to the mortal plane from where we had banished him from a few thousand years ago. The two of them were able to prevent his return. I'd have to say that they have the will and the power to stop Homare once and for all. We can't just let an evil like him run free. To not stop him is as bad as helping him!" In the meantime, Alex was going over the info that Zuberi had heard. Everyone there felt a sudden surge of anger, which was quickly chilled. --Homare, you're SO messed up when I get my hands/paws on you. You're going to wish you were never born.--

Batoru put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I agree." One of the other members of the Council make a motion at Batoru, which he nodded in response to. "But do you think we might speak to your friend Alex? I think some of the Council would like to meet him and ask him a few things."

Silk watched them talking rather passively, her expression and eyes distant and cloudy, her mind obviously not totally in the present. "I can listen through Batoru, May I be excused?" she asked of no one, and she got up and quickly left the room, finding her way down the hall and up the stairs to the roof.

Zuberi nodded, then gave Alex a mental nudge. --Wake up, sleepyhead. They'd like to talk to you.-- Alex took control of the body and stretched out a bit. "Um, hold on for a second please. I'd like to do this in my own body." The chaos spirt that Alex had seen earlier had brought his suit and a kettle. Zuberi took the kettle and went into another room and used it to change, then grabbed the suit. After getting himself straight, Alex came back out. "Well, what would you like to know?"

Batoru looked at Alex. "Well, let's start with how you managed to get my buddy there out of the springs. Quite a feat for a human, considering the requirements in personality." The Fire Priestess waved him off. "That is not really important right now, Batoru. What we need to know is how Alex feels about this. Will he try to kill Homare, or will he allow him to face justice for all he has done? We really don't need Homare dead. There are many others who have been wronged by him, and would like to see him meet his fate."

Alex looked at the priestess. "If I had really wanted him dead, I'd have just started picking off Yakuza members until he revealed himself. No, death is too kind a punishment for the likes of him. Rest assured, I will not kill him, unless it is to protect someone's life and it's absolutely needed. I want to see him pay fully for his crimes." The African mage nodded. "That settles it, then. We will begin work immediately on this project." With that, all of those present began to disperse, and Alex went back out, to grab a snack and maybe talk to a few people.

Brush went off, to find Josephine and James and talk some more shop about magic. In the meantime, Batoru went to find Silk. He found her on the roof, meditating. "Silk? The council has agreed to go after Homare. Your friend Alex is quite a fellow. They'll want to talk you later. And oh, a few of the nymphs and some others were wondering if he was single." Seeing Silk's look, he added, "Hey they put me up to it."

Silk sighed, setting her chin back into her cupped hand as she looked out over the roof's edge at the city. "Thanks for letting me know, Batoru. And as for Alex, why would I care? Brush is the one who has the hots for Alex, not me." She slowly rose to her feet. "But I think it's almost time for tonight's contest. What is it this time?" The kitsune grinned, glad his friend had decided not to be gloomy all night, "Dancing."

Back downstairs, Brush was still talking shop with James and Josephine. Then all on a sudden there was a bit of a commotion happening as everyone cleared the central floor. "What's going on?"

James and Josephine grinned identical grins, "Dance Contest!" the duo said, pulling their companion over to the edge of the crowd where they'd have an unrestricted view of the proceedings.

Which were, very very veyr long proceedings. it seemed that every spirit and extranormal personage worth the name had there own unquie style of dancing, and all were flaunting it. In the end, the winner was a elfish girl with tiny feet that no one could match. She accepted the prize and accolades of the watchers and contestants with much applomb... then jumped up and clicked her heels together in ill-constrained glee. Everyone laughed, defying the earlier heavy atomosphere.

The others split up and danced for half the night, each thinking private thoughts amoungst the muffled laughter and sounds of conversation. By the time they got home all were exhausted, but agreed to meet the next day.

"Oyasumi!"

"Goodnight!"

Alex felt the light touch of an unfamiliar mind trying to get his attention. It was Kazu. --There is something I think you should see, Funryuu-- he said. --Go to Silk's shop--

Alex replied as he finished his shower, --I'll be there in a few. Let me get dressed.-- In momnets, Alex was roofhopping towards Silk's shop. He soon dropped onto the roof. "WHat's up?"

Kazu, James and Josephine stood on Silk's roof with concerned looks. The cause of their concern was obvious. They were all looking up. Above Silk's shop was a ominous looking black cloud/shadow that hovered only over the Curses and Cures. Kazu turned to Alex as he approached. "I'd hoped you'd bring your lady friend with you. Ever seen one of these before?"

Alex replied, "She'll be along shortly. I called before I left." He then looked up at the cloud. "I've seen this sort of thing before, but I'm not sure it this is Gramp's work or not."

James looked at Alex. "It doesn't feel like an Chaos entity's work, Alex-san. I don't know WHAT it is."

Alex looked questioningly at the cloud. "I don't know what it is either. All of a sudden, I have a bad feeling about it. Can any of you do something about it?"

Brush arrived onto the scene, landing lightly on the rooftop. She looked up at the cloud. "Aiyaah...what is that?"

Joesphine pointed at the darkened magic circle on the roof. "I tried the way I was taught to get rid of the things, but it broke the magic made to banish it." The short mage looked up at Alex, "I wouldn't care, but we can't get in the shop. All the exits are sealed magically, and I think this thing is responsible."

Alex switched mental gears. "Ok, then that means someone is trying to keep us out of there, and away from Silk, or this is something different than what you normally deal with." Alex tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe if you, James and Brush combined your efforts, you might succeed." He privatly thought to himself, --Could Hommare already be on to us?--

--Possibly, possibly.-- Kazu watched as Josephine pulled out the can of paint she'd used to make the circle.

"I think that Brush probably knows more about banishing and ritual magic then we do. We're primarily combat mages. She should lead." The diminutive Indian woman handed Brush the paint. "Please."

Brush took the paint, and looked at the circle, and make a few minor corrections and improvements. After a few minutes, she said, "Ok, let's try it now." Josephine nodded and started to speak in a language Kazu didn;t understand. after a few moments, James joined her. not the same words, but they harmonized. Once Brush joined them, the magic circle flared and the cloud above the roof twisted and contracted, then tried to envelope the trio, but was driven back.

A few seconds after the cloud twisted, they heard the sound of someone scrambling up onto the roof. Silk clawed her way from the balcony rail onto the tile roof, dragging a pitch black glowing sword with her. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"It seems someone was trying to prevent us from getting to you. There was a cloud of some sort that kept everything magically locked. But Brush and the others dispelled it." Alex pointed to the remains of the cloud.

Silk's eyes narrowed. "not again." she looked at Kazu, "can you give me a boost?"

The young man in question nodded, cupping his hands at about knee level to give Silk a boost for her jump. Without a word, Silk used the launch to get up into the cloud, swinging her strange glowing sword once. The remenents of the cloud disappated like they had never been, and Silk landed lightly on the roof. "Should have known this would happen once I got ready to right a wrong."

James and Josephine suddenly nodded. "We should have recognised it." the englishman sighed, wiping some sweat from his forehead, "Are you sure your family connections are worth the trouble of the feuds?"

"Probably not." Silk sighed, letting go of the sword to have it disappear into hammerspace. She looked at the confused looks Alex and Brush were giving her. "My family has many ongoing feuds with various gods and dieties around the world. Some in particular try to block any sort of just retribution and such I may try to mete out, like this cloud. Others like to alert my prey that I'm coming..."

Alex nodded. I know a few of those too. But most tend to leave me alone, since they don't want my grandpa deciding they need some spice in their lives." Alex looked over the group. "Well, let's get to planning this little trip."

Josephine and James gathered up their things quickly and followed behind as Silk led the others into the curses and cures and into the training room, the easiest place to put them all on the upper floor. Silk left for a moment and then returned with a pile of printouts. She handed them each one. It was a map of the warehouse that they'd determined Homare would be at the next night. "Battle plan suggestions?" she asked.

Brush looked over her map. "Hmm...I think Silk and I should strike from here." She pointed to a route on the map south of the warehouse, hidden from observation. "If we can approach from this direction, we should be able to avoid being spotted. Meanwhile, Alex can come in from this way." She pointed out another route. "We should be able to catch them between us."

"we can come in from the other side." James pointed at a side entrance Brush had not mentioned, "While Kazu can accompany Alex. This splits up into teams of two that can work together, but leaves the majority of the party free if one team is captured." Silk looked at the mages and opened her mouth to speak, but Josehpine cut her off, "We've decided to stay long enough to help you out. Don't worry about it."

Kazu fingered the map. "Shall we go down and rehearse just once now, to scout and find any glitches?"

Alex nodded as he checked the routes pointed out. "Sounds like an excellent plan to me. And on the way there, we can talk a bit, Kazu, to see how we can blend our styles to be most effective. Last thing we need is to be getting in each other's way." With that said, Alex rose to his feet, and was waiting to head out.

Kazu hopped to his feet and followed Alex out with a wry grin. James and Josephine rose almost as one and seemed consumed in a silent conversation as they exited.

Silk stayed a moment and put a hand on Brush's shoulder. "I want to thank you." she said softly, "Though I know you have your own reasons for what you do, I'm glad that you are willing to help me in this."

Brush replied, "I'm glad to help out. Even if I didn't have my own reasons for going after Homare, I'd still help you, if only to avenge what he did to you. Alex would too." Brush then grinned. "Now, let's go and get ready to kick some serious butt, Amazon-style!"

Silk grinned right back, "What sort of war cry shall we use? NI HAO!" then Silk's smile quirked, "No, even better. You I kill!"

Alex got out of the car, senses on full alert. He took a quick sniff of the air, and his eyes narrowed. "Well, well, what do we have here...?" He took another sniff to make certain, then he said, "Guess what guys, Homare is somewhere in the area, and he's passed here no more than half-an hour ago, tops."

That got several blinks, as Kazu, James and Josephine all went to the trunk and pulled out belts with pouches and loops filled with various equipment. They belted them into place, and Kazu held out a similar one to Silk, who took it, but held out her hands to the air as well. Twin rune swords appeared in her waiting palms, and she secured one to her belt, the other she kept in her hand. "Let's go, then." Silk said softly.

Alex quickly checked his supply of throwing knives, blinding power and ki levels. He then whispered, "Are we all good? Sound off for equipment check."

Brush checked her own pouch, and saw she had all her items. "I'm good."

"good."

"locked and loaded."

"ready."

Silk was silent for a moment, her eyes closed, her lips moving silently in some sort of verse. She spoke the last words with a sort of reverant air, "...Let us never forget or forsake these things, for without them we are no more then those we hunt. Let the Hunt begin." she rose and faced the others. "I'm ready... Let's go."

Alex nodded in agreement, then gave the signals for everyone to head for their areas. "Ok, let's move out. Let's make this a hit-and-fade operation. Move in, take out our objectives, then move out." As they got ready to head out, Alex added, "I know he's caused all of us trouble at some point or another, but I ask this of you. Then we spot Homare, I want first dibs. Any other Yakuza there are targets of opportunity."

"If I spot him first, and you are not in position, I won't wait to kill him." Silk said softly, "He owes me a debt as well. But I will try to leave him for you. I want the Mage."

Alex nodded. "Works for me. Now, if there's nothing else, let's all get to business, and hit our targets." Alex clenched his fists in anticipation. --Hommare, your soul is mine.--

Kazu looked at Alex as the groups split up to take their sperate routes to the warehouse. --I don;t think you want his soul, Alex. It's surely all black and cancerous by now. Unhealthy to even touch.--

Alex thought about it, then nodded. --Point taken. I guess I'll have to settle for ripping him apart, bare-handed.--

Kazu sweatdroped, thinking to himself, Silk has made some strange friends.

Back with Brush and Silk, Brush asked Silk, "So, what's our movement plan? You fight in close, I provide supporting fire?" This was something she was fairly used to, since Alex always took point.

Silk flipped her sword a few times, and smiled. "Does this look like a long range weapon to you?" She dug into a pouch and pulled out half a dozen throwing knives. "I also have these, but don't use them much."

Brush nodded. "I'll stick to your left flank, then." Brush noted that so far, they hadn't seen any patrols or anything of the sort, but she felt as if she was being watched. "Silk, I suddenly have a bad feeling...it's too quiet."

"Agreed." Silk's eyes flicked back and forth over the area, and she caught sight of a shadow moving. "BRUSH!"

Too late... A group of men stepped out of the shadows, as a spell hit the girls, changing them into giant plush versions of themselves, as the blood mage revealed himself. "It seems that anonymous tip was good. Bring them to the warehouse." The men quickly moved to obey, picking the girls up and carting them off like toys.

Kazu's mental alarms went off as Silk dropped off his mental radar. --Trouble guys. Silk's either unconscious of blocking me, and she wouldn't block me at the moment.--

--We've got our own problems--Joesphine said. --You two look for them, James and I have a mage and a bunch of flunkies chasing us at the moment. We'll join you in a bit.--

Kazu looked at Alex. --Let's go, then.--

Alex nodded, and headed for the last place he had sensed Brush and Silk, sticking to the shadows. When Alex and Kazu arrived, there was no indication of a fight, but there were several scents, as well as the resiual smell of magic.

In the meantime, James and Josephine were in the middle of a magical firefight, and were being overrun...

As the two were finally subdued, the mage wiped his brow. "That's the last of the magic users. You men go nail the other two."

The men moved to comply, while the mage picked up his two prizes and headed for the warehouse.

Kazu winced as James and Jos went off the air. "Alex, we've got trouble. they're expecting us!"

"Sithspawn!" Alex muttered as he felt the rest of the team off-line. Suddenly, they heard the sound of guns cocking, as a burst of machine gun fire hit the crates they were behind.

"Shit." Kazu whispered as he went flat on the ground. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small ball of grey clay-stuff. "be ready to move" he siad as he stuck it on the wall next to them. Moments later a large explosion left a hole in the cement and brick wall next to them, and no trace of the two rescuers/avengers.

A few of the men went to investigate the area the blast was, and found no traces of Alex or Kazu.

In the warehouse...

Silk, Brush, James and Joshephine were coming to, having been restored to their normal states, and wearing collars that kept them from using any special abilites. They saw three men standing over them. Two of them seemed to be a blood mage and apprentice, and the third man was someone they all recognized on sight.

"Hommare," Brush practically spat out. "When I get my hands on you..." She began to struggle against her bonds...and nearly passed out from the pain that they caused in reaction to her struggles. "Uungh...not...good." She looked around, and noticed that the room was set up for a blood ritual.

James and Jos just glared at the mage silently, focussing on destroying the bonds that kept them from their magic.

Silk blanched as she recognised all three men. "Never again."

The blood mage laughed and bent over to scratch under her chin, leaving a long cut the leaked single drops of clood, "But it was so GOOD last time. Don't you remember?"

Silk bit him on the hand. Hard enough to taste blood before he snatched it away and the foot of the apprentice impacted her skull. "This one first, don't you think?"

"Yes." the mage said, sucking on his wounded finger.

"Once more, Huntress?" Hommare said, "Oh come on. You know you enjoyed it as much as we did. And you even brought friends to share the joy with. How thoughtful of you." Hommare looked to a pair of thugs. "Get her ready, she's first."

He then looked over at Brush and Josephine, and did a quick count of the men there. He went off a distance, and talked to the mage and his appentice, who nodded after a few moments and made some minor adjustments to the area. "Better yet, we'll do all of them at once. That way, the energy will be multiplied."

A pair of men went over and grabbed up the struggling females, and moved them to the center of the power circle, leering.

In the meantime...

Alex and Kazu had managed to give their pursuers the slip, so they could double back and take the three men out from behind. They died quick, silent deaths, at the hands (and knives) of Alex, each dead from a knife through the medulla oblongata. Alex quickly picked up the trail and he and Kazu headed for the warehouse. They arrived just in time to see the Yakuza members preparing the girls for the ritual through a window.

Alex took a quick glance, noting where each man was and doing a threat assesment. Alex looked over at Kazu, and said, "You go in through that back door, by James, and free them."

"Gotcha." Kazu said as he ran quickly around the side of the building, dispatching two more guards on his way.

As soon as Kazu sent back that he was in position, Alex stepped up to the front door, killing the guards there. --Hmm, no one seems to be around. Guess I need to knock.-- Alex slammed the door with a massive ki-punch, blowing it off the hinges just as the men were about to go to work on the girls. One of the flying metal doors slammed into the mages (guided by TK), knocking them, silly and putting them out of the battle for at least a few moments, while they unburied themselves. "Party's over, last one gone pays the bill." Alex leapt into action with a feral grin, striking hard and fast, drawing all the attention (and fire) to himself, while Kazu was able to sneak in.

Sneak Kazu did, freeing James and with his help untieing Josephine and Brush before very many of the Yakuza could react.

Before half a minute was up James had a Defensive shield up around them and the lightning was flying from Josepine's fingertips.

Meanwhile, Silk was straining to break the leather straps that held her to an all too familiar slab of carved Marble. She was in the middle of a very nasty flashback and whimpering even as she tugged.

Alex dashed over her, just as Hommare whipped out an Uzi and opened fire at the pair. But he didn't count on someone Alex's size to be THAT fast, as he missed. Alex quickly snapped the straps binding Silk, and dashed back off into battle.

By now, the Blood mage and his apprentice had recovered, and were casting fireballs and bolts of their own adding to the fire that was flying around the room.

Silk came off the 'bed' like it was on fire, drawing her swords from nowhere again and rushing the bloodmages. The bolts the threw deflected around her for the most part, and even the hits they did score didn't slow her down any. The apprentice stepped forward to meet her, drawing a flaming sword from out of the air and swinging it down. Silk parried the blow with one sword and cut with the other. The mage in training voided, but not far enough. Both of Silk's swords were full length long swords, and the apprentice split in half rather like a melon.

Brush pulled her naginata out, and immediately began attacking, slicing men down left and right with blade strikes and spells, catching one man who had been sneaking up behind Kazu with a Lightning Blast.

The blood mage responed to the death of his appentice by smacking Silk with a round of fireballs, and a wind gust as well, sending her into the wall on the other side of the room. He quickly followed up with a magma blast spell.

Hommare quickly whipped out a pair of Glock 9mms, and opened fire at Josephine and Alex. Alex quickly rolled out of the way, and began pouncing and leaping, advancing on Hommare.

Josephine defeated the bullets aimed towards her by superheating the bullets, which obligingly lost spin and momentum, leaving lead trails like molten slugs on the ground.

James was helping Brush, and Kazu was having a field day with The lackeys on the catwalk of the second story. He would knock one down, the leap to the next catwalk, kick over another... on and on

Silk gasped as the fire hit her, and hitting the wall didn't feel to good, and she felt one of her swords clatter to the ground and slide far across the room, ending up near Alex. The defensives on her remaining sword helped some, but in the end it was pure bezerk willpower that made her duck the lava wave and advance on the mage again. She rushed at him with her sword upraised, and the mage went to meet her with a flaming blade like his apprentice's.

Silk didn't go for the sword kill this time, though. She caught his 'blade' in a bind and caught him by the throat with the other hand.

A cracking trachea is a rather unpleasant sound.

To Silk is not quite music, but a long awaited feeling. But he wasn't dead yet.

"Remember!" she half screamed, her voice hoarse, as she forced every memory of that Night and every nightmare she'd ever had about it onto his mind. "Yes I remember. I'll never forget. And neither will you!"

The mage's eyes were filled with horror as Silk's pent up fear and pain and hatred crashed down on his like a tsunami, and Silk left him there, lying in his own spit up blood and screaming. Each scream only damaged his breathing passages further, and soon it was relatively quiet in that end of the room.

In the meantime, Hommare had run out of ammo and was loading a fresh clip when Alex pounced on him and crushed the pistols in his grip. Alex lifted Hommare up, and began tapping presure points that even the healer had no knowledge of, then dropped him. "Tag. You're it."

Hommare looked at Alex. "We can make a deal. I can offer you money, power influence, women, whatever you want. Just think about that." The whole time he was talking, he was easing back slowly, towards a gun.

Brush said to Hommare as she glared at him, "We're not interesed in anything other then maybe your head on a pike, Hommare. Give it up."

Silk was wiping some of the Mage's blood from her hands. As far as she was concerned, Alex could take Homare. He'd suffered more from him then she had.

"Alex, he's going for his gun." Kazu said sharply from the balcony where he was standing.

"I gave you a chance." Alex snapped his fingers, and the hand that was reaching for the gun began to swell, before exploding in a shower of gore.

Alex then picked Hommare up and said to him, "For all the evil that you havce done, killing you would be far to light a punishment. So instead..." Brush opened a portal to the underworld. "You get to experience what you did to others for a few millenia. Enjoy."

Alex looked at the rest of the group, to see if they had any final comments for the condemmed man. Brush looked at Hommare, and smiled. "Have a nice trip." She waved her hand, and a bow appeared on Hommare, with a card attached, saying, 'A little something to play with, Morrigan. Enjoy. Signed, Clan Funryu.' She then motioned to Alex to go ahead and toss him in.

"just a moment." Silk waved him to pause for a moment. She Touched the Yakuza lord's forehead and muttered something in ancient Chinese. A glowing line of Kanji appeared there. "This is my clan mark, and my True Name. Rejoice, Homare. You will never die. but you will still age and suffer the ailments of it. And anyone who kills you will have me and My family to answer to. I Doubt you will find your resting place in the next six or seven centuries."

Alex tossed Hommare into the portal, and dusted his hands as if completing a task. "That's one small step for us, one giant leap for the DJ & R department." Alex looked around at the devastation, and said, "THank you all for your help. I can finally know some peace at last."

Silk nodded, "I'm glad you found your peace. I have one more before I have mine." The demon hunter turned away from the others, looking at the downed Yakuza. "We should go. the police will be here soon."

Alex nodded ad the group left the smodering warehouse, feeling as if a burden had been lifted from their shoulders.