ONE SHOT:
By: ShadowWing

Disclaimers: Isobelle "Belle" Anderson/ShadowWing, Douglas Anderson, the non-canon version of Richard Grayson/Blade (Deathwing), F-X, Mary Jean "MJ" Green, The Street Patrol, and all related characters belong to me. Shadow Travis/Spirit Wolf, Smoke, Mist, the Travis Family, and Neil Reynolds belong to Valancy Gilliam. Please ask prior to borrowing ;)

Continuity Notes: My guess this would happen before the events of the 'Officer Down!' Bat-Crossover, since Alfred is still living in the Manor with Bruce. Yeah I'm a slow writer, shoot me…LOL!

Looking back at what had happened, Spirit Wolf thought that it was one of those surreal moments that seemed to take forever to happen when in reality it was over in a manner of seconds. Her 'old pal' Neil Reynolds was back in business again and she greeted him back into Austin with a friendly bust in one of his warehouses. It took her long enough to FIND the place, evidently Neil hired a new flunky to take care of the distribution area of his illegal porn business for him. This guy, whoever he was, was slick, no two ways about it; he was a pro to the core. Neil was defiantly getting his money's worth with this one.

The bust was going by the numbers it was absolutely perfect. Spirit should have known things would go sour eventually. The first hint of trouble was ShadowWing crashing into the warehouse. She came roaring through the window like a bat out of hell landing on one of the catwalks above and lunging for the figure on said catwalk.

Several thoughts when through Spirit's head in that moment, all odd; one ShadowWing was in Austin without so much as a 'Hi Shadow!' to the resident super hero, namely Spirit herself. Two, ShadowWing loved to be subtle at times and reveled in the fact she might be one of the few people around to can successfully sneak up on Batman and get away with it, crashing through a window was not her style, unless she was pissed. Three, she was more interested in grabbing the guy up there instead of checking the whole joint out, again not like ShadowWing. This could mean only two things.

One, that wasn't ShadowWing.

Two ShadowWing was very, very, very, pissed.

Spirit was betting on number two. She mentally yelled are her friend, ~Ya know I could use a hand down here! He's not going anywhere he wants to see me reduced to wolf chow by these goons before making a getaway! ~ Spirit had been KO'ing the guys as fast as they were coming at her.

If ShadowWing heard her, mentally or physically, she ignored it. The guy on the catwalk was backing away from the miffed heroine...did they knew each other? It seemed like the goons were thinning out and Spirit thought she heard the faint sounds of sirens in the distance and getting closer. Spirit grinned and pretended to look at a watch on her wrist, which of course was not there. "Ah my favorite law enforcement group the Texas Rangers...right on cue! Come on ShadowWing we better scram, we may like the Rangers, but they sure as hell don't like us!"

Again there was no answer. "Damn it!" Yelled Spirit, she was about to get her tail up to that catwalk and physically drag the younger woman out of the warehouse when another thug grabbed her from behind. Spirit's back was turned for only a second from the catwalk...

All she heard was a single gunshot.

She dumped the goon in record time and turned back to the catwalk, the guy was holding a gun, and ShadowWing was falling. Not a controlled drop or a dodge from a bullet, but free fall, at first Spirit thought that ShadowWing was hit but it was only the force of the impact that ShadowWing was reacting to. The woman did wear triple weave Kevlar armor in that costume, Spirit smelled trouble when ShadowWing didn't recover; she was going to hit the concrete floor hard unless Spirit did something.

A few muttered prayers and a mighty leap later, Spirit Wolf tackled ShadowWing in midair and they both landed none to gracefully on the floor, ShadowWing being a dead weight did not help matters. Spirit was about to verbally blast the younger woman for this mess until she looked down at her.

It was hard to tell on the black costume, but the first indication of trouble was the small rips in the stomach area of ShadowWing's uniform, the dark stains on her gray sleeves however made Spirit Wolf's blood run cold. Not only had ShadowWing been hit, but also the bullet had actually penetrated the Kevlar, and her TK Shield. This was not good. The creep on the catwalk was long gone and the Rangers were practically beating down the door. Spirit swallowed and heaved ShadowWing up to her feet, "Come on hon, let's get out of here and get you fixed up."

"Wha..." Groaned ShadowWing. Awareness was not in her vocabulary at the moment.

"Keep quiet, we've got to move. And don't bleed to much on the interior of the car okay?" Spirit tried for a light note.

ShadowWing gave a weak smile, "I'll keep it in mind." She muttered.

As the two women carefully made their was out of the warehouse one of Reynolds' thugs saw the two as they left, then he saw the small pool of blood on the floor. As the Rangers finally got through the door, he slipped out the back; he had some news to spread.

Somewhere else, who knows where...

Richard Grayson was sitting in the back of a smoke filled bar room keeping a rather close eye on a few figures seated at a table. Thankfully the small mike he had a waitress stick under the edge of the table allowed him to hear it all as well. As he listened he was about to take a sip from his drink when a sudden pain lanced between his temples, and a slightly less intense pain hit him in the stomach.

With a short surprised gasp the glass fell from his hand and shattered on the floor. Several patrons and a few staff members looked to see what happened. He brushed off the concerns of the waitress cleaning up the remains of the glass as he made his way to the men's room. After splashing cold water on his face to clear his head he tried to pin down what happened. One thing came to his mind, Belle.

He focused for a few seconds, trying to contact her through the mental link they shared, though he doubted he could 'talk' to her due to the distance, he should at least find out if she was okay. He got nothing, which meant two things. One she was deliberately blocking him, or two she was really hurt. He sighed, his surveillance was blown now, so he grabbed his cell phone and called F-X, she always knew where her Boss was.

Next morning:

"Okay pal." Hissed Sgt. Paul Travis as he leaned in close to the quivering slime that worked for Reynolds, "Care to run that by me one more time?"

The guy swallowed, he really didn't like how this ranger was looking at him. "Well we were conducting business as usual when this crazy woman with two big dogs came in and began to try and destroy our stuff."

Paul nodded, Spirit Wolf, he silently thought, now lets hope the rumors I've been hearing are not true. "Keep going." He growled.

The small time hood was quaking in his boots, Reynolds would have him skinned alive if he ratted him out, but this Ranger had a look about him that promised much worse if he did not talk. "Well the chick with the dogs was slamming the rest of the guys around on the main floor, when another crazy woman crashed through the windows."

Paul's eyes got huge, "Another one?" He spat. "What did she look like." Though I have a sick feeling that I know whom it is...

"She was a looker!" The slime had a momentary grin, "Dressed in black and silver, made a beeline for the boss's second in command, the next thing I knew that witch with the dogs punched me."

Paul grinned, "Then what...?"

"When I woke up the Rangers were all over the place, though I thought I heard a gunshot and I spotted the two women leaving, one looked hurt..."

Paul got dangerously close to his face and stated in a very quiet, very dangerous voice. "Which one seemed hurt..."

"The black and silver one, the one with the dogs was practically carrying her out." The guy squeaked. If he could scrunch down in the chair any further he would.

Paul pivoted on his heel and stalked out of the room, time to call a family meeting, this had been put off long enough, now there might be a life at stake.

At the Travis's Ranch a short distance from Austin, the Travis' were having a slight disagreement. The only two members of the family were missing, Kyle Travis the youngest brother was off on an assignment for the Texas Rangers and the second was the main topic of discussion.

"Is there any other explanation?" Sighed Andrew as he sat in the kitchen with his elbows on the table.

Paul rolled his eyes while he leaned against the stove; "Everything points to Shadow being Spirit Wolf, right down to the two wolves. I mean come on! Huskies? If Smoke and Mist are huskies I'm a damn Yankee!"

Andrew nodded in agreement with Paul. "I told Shadow we wanted her to come to dinner here tonight and sweetened the deal with the fact Sara was not coming and she turned it down saying she had schoolwork to catch up on. If what you say is true Paul, then that's just more evidence that Shadow is Spirit Wolf." He decided to keep quiet on the fact that he had been secretly helping his sister in law with needed supplies and gear for at least the past few years.

Mama was a tad nervous, unlike her sons she knew for a fact about Shadow's activities she didn't like it but understood her daughter in law's reasons for it. "The rumors said a heroine was shot?" She continued to wash the dishes in the sink while listening to the Paul and Andrew's discussion.

Paul nodded, "But they all agree it was not Spirit Wolf who was hurt, it was another one, wearing black and silver..." He let his voice trail off.

Andrew rolled his eyes, and both said in synch, "ShadowWing." Though normally based in New York, it seemed like the two crime busters had hit it off and paid each other visits into the other's home turf. Much to the Rangers disgust, one masked avenger was bad enough they didn't need two. Discussions on what hell broke loose when both women were in town dominated the dinner conversation.

Andrew, the eldest Travis brother and head of Travis Oil paused in thought; "Doesn't ShadowWing have powers? To prevent things like this from happening?"

Paul nodded, "I did some checking on ShadowWing, I have a few friends in the New York Police Department per their information she's a confirmed telepath and telekinetic, they also told me she been rather active lately, and rather ruthless to boot. A great deal harsher than her usual MO, this fits with what witnesses saw at the warehouse that night."

"So ShadowWing is hurt?" Asked Andrew. "So why are we worried?"

Paul's eyes narrowed, "Because of what else I found out, I checked with every hospital and every morgue in Austin, there was nobody admitted matching ShadowWing's physical description. Not one Jane Doe, or real person, believe me I checked."

Mama Helen swallowed, "That means that poor girl is laying hurt somewhere in the area, and Shadow may know about it?"

Paul nodded, "I can see why Shadow is being tightlipped about it. She may be willing to blow her identity, but ShadowWing may have made Shadow promise not to blow her identity."

Andrew tossed up his hands, "So what are we suppose to do?"

Paul scowled, "Prepare for a few orders of medical equipment Andrew if we may need it, I'm gonna find Shadow and ShadowWing."

Shadow was thanking the gods for old Native American healing techniques and Call Forwarding. She had finally gotten Belle into her Bronco and decided to take her to her hideout instead of her house.

Her hideout was the apartment that she and Holt used before she had Shelby after treating Belle as best she could she took a risk and dashed back to her house to grab some extra supplies, changes of clothing and other necessities. It appeared Shadow was going to be at the apartment for awhile. When she got back she took a deep breath and muttered a few more prayers as she attempted to find exactly where the bullet went.

No such dumb luck, wherever it wound up, it was beyond where Shadow could safely remove it without making things worse or killing Belle. Shadow kept the blood loss to a minimum and went over her options. A hospital was out, she was positive that Belle would understand, her life was at stake here, secret identity be damned. However a certain bat from Gotham would not be happy.

Shadow began to grin...Gotham; there was a person there who was rather experienced in mending heroes who were silly enough to get shot. She lunged for the phone.

A half an hour later in the newly re-built Gotham International Airport an English Gentleman was boarding and Express non-stop Flight to Austin. He had only one bag and due to its contents he checked it rather than carrying it on. As he settled down for the flight he idly wondered how long it would take his employer to figure out where he was and what he was doing.

Paul had pounded on Shadow's front door for several minutes. No answer he sighed and tried the door, as expected the door was locked, he pulled out a set of keys and quickly had the door unlocked and open. Of course Shadow was not home, neither were her two mutts and no evidence that a wounded vigilante had ever been here. Paul began to pace in the living room, Andrew had told him that he had called Shadow and reached her here. He looked at the phone. "I wonder." He muttered. He pulled out a cell phone and dialed the house's number. The phone sitting on the table didn't ring, but soon Paul heard Shadow's familiar voice over the receiver of his phone.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Shadow." Stated Paul, "Where the hell are you?" His tone was one of annoyance.

Shadow winced and wondered how well she could bluff. "At home grading term papers. Where else would I be?" She chirped.

"I have no clue, Shadow, since I'm standing in the middle of your living room, and it's rather obvious that you are not here." Snapped Paul, "I'll repeat myself, where the hell are you!?"

Oh damn and dead buffalo. Thought Shadow, I should have known better than to even try and bluff Paul... "I'm in trouble now aren't I?" She muttered over the receiver.

"You bet you are, now where..." Paul was interrupted by a knocking door on Shadow's end of the line. "Who is that?" He asked.

Perfect timing. Thought Shadow. I love Alfred. "Oops sorry Paul, but I have a guest. I gotta go bye!" She quickly hung up the phone on her sputtering brother-in-law. She sprinted to the front door and peered through the peephole, and sighed with relief at the elegant English gentleman outside carrying a simple black bag. She yanked the door open and let him inside. "Thank you for coming Alfred." She grinned.

"My pleasure to be of assistance Mrs. Travis." Came the crisp reply, "Now where is she? Your phone call sounded grim..." Alfred carefully hung his coat in an available closet and began to roll up his shirtsleeves.

Shadow nodded and led him to the guestroom where Belle was lying unconscience. Alfred swallowed at her condition; he hadn't seen anything this bad since Master Bruce's earliest days. He quickly shoved those thoughts aside, calling on his years of experience as both a Field Doctor in the war and as Batman's personal guide he opened his bag and began to work.

On the flight to Austin, Richard winced yet again as another pain cut through his midsection. It was during times like this he really wished that psi-blade attack of Belle's did not backfire and forge the mental link that the couple now shared. Thankfully the flight was not booked solid and he was able to sit away from the other passengers and avoid the various questions that would have been eventually asked. It was hard to hide pain you were not expecting.

Richard sighed with relief as the pain finally subsided; his call to F-X caused him to go from slightly concerned to borderline panic. Per F-X less than twenty four hours ago she had gotten a call from Belle stating in very blunt tones that she was heading for Austin before she abruptly ended the call. No reasons why for the jaunt to Spirit Wolf's turf, which was odd for Belle as well. F-X promised to do some more digging into ShadowWing's current case load to see if there was a clue there, while Richard gave her the tip to contact Belle's other organization, the Street Patrol maybe this case had nothing to do with Opal Agencies for once.

Richard rubbed his eyes and tried to get some rest before the plane entered Austin, he had a really bad feeling that sleep was going to be something he wasn't going to have time for after he contacted Dr. Shadow Black Horse Travis, AKA Spirit Wolf. Hopefully she would be in a good mood, or had even already made contact with Belle. Hopefully.

"Nasty little thing." Spat Alfred as he glared at the small metal object in the plastic bag sitting on the counter in the guest bathroom of Spirit's Hideout. The operation was a success, and though ShadowWing was not going to be prowling rooftops for a bit, Belle Anderson would live to see another day. Shadow came into the room after finishing cleaning up Belle and making sure she was stable. Shadow picked up the bag and stared at the bullet in the baggie.

"I know enough about guns to know that this bullet is way too perfect to be a normal bullet." Muttered Shadow. "No obvious nicks or damage from where it hit bone or anything else, looks like it was fired into a ballistics' tank, not just pulled out of Belle..." Shadow's voice trailed off as she tilted her head to get a better look at the bullet, "Metal looks different too... It's not lead, but what is it?"

"I would be willing to guess Promethium." Stated Alfred.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "What is it and why do you think this bullet is made out of it?"

"It's a very durable metal, can penetrate almost anything, some villains use it as ammunition because it's been known to be able to kill off MetaHumans, even those with invulnerability powers, like Troia or Wonder Woman for example." Replied Alfred as he finished cleaning the medical equipment and carefully putting it back into its case.

"So a triple weave Kevlar armor would be nothing to this stuff." Winced Shadow. "Yipe. Okay that's one question answered and open's up another..."

"Meaning?" Asked Alfred with eyebrows raised.

"The guy who shot Belle, why would he have that kind of ammo? There are no known MetaHuman heroes flying around these parts, that stuff has got to cost a pretty penny so why have it at the ready?" Shadow frowned. "Unless that guy was expecting ShadowWing..."

Alfred closed his bag with a snap, breaking Shadow's train of thought, "I shall leave the rest of this case to you Ms. Travis, I however had better return to Gotham. I believe Master Dick is visiting and I cannot remember if I double stocked the pantry." He finished his sentence with a wry smile.

Shadow finally broke into a grin, "That boy does eat a lot..." Her eyes grew huge as she suddenly remembered a small thing that could turn into huge trouble. "Oh no! I completely forgot!! Richard!"

"What?" Muttered Alfred.

"Belle's boyfriend, her sweetie, significant other, you know...Richard!!" Shadow was almost yelling as she tossed her arms into the air for emphasis.

Alfred's eyebrows shot up as it finally sunk in. "Oh dear, what are the chances that he already is heading here due to the unique link he and Miss Anderson share?"

"Getting better by the second, oh damn and dead buffalo, I hope I still have his number or that he'll contact me before doing anything stupid." Grumbled Shadow.

"We are referring to a clone of Master Dick aren't we?" Stated Alfred has he made his way to the front door.

Shadow shook her head, "Yes we are. Oh man, I almost feel sorry for the scum on the streets if he decides to hit them before looking for either me or ShadowWing."

Blade really wasn't going to do much on the streets, really, all he was going to do was stay out of sight and keep an eye out for Spirit Wolf. Well that lasted for only an hour or two until he heard a two bit punk brag to his fellow gang members about killing a superhero. He sort of lost it after that.

The good part was they would all live, they'd need serious medical attention, and be in traction for a few weeks, but they'd live. Now the braggart of the gang was pinned to the wall of the dive that was passing for a bar or some sort with the knives that his fellow members had. Blade, despite his code name, didn't normally carry knives but he wasn't going to look several gift horses in the mouth either. This particular gang seemed to prefer various bladed weapons to the usual firearms of other gangs. Fine with him, knives were easier to catch and use against his opponents anyway.

"Wha... What do you wa... want...?" Stuttered the petrified punk.

Blade leaned down and grabbed a discarded bowie knife from the floor, "Information." He growled while testing the edge lightly with his thumb. As he expected it was razor sharp.

"What about?" Whimpered the punk.

"You made a very big boast tonight." Blade paused to make eye contact with the thug, thanks to the wonder of opaque lenses he couldn't see Blade's eyes, and that spooked the guy. He would have been petrified if he really could look into the hero's eyes angry was an understatement. "Now I want info on that boast, like how much is true and how much is as empty as your head." Sneered Blade as he approached.

The guy was so scared he couldn't even talk, that little detail didn't stop Blade, he had ways of making little pieces of slime spill whatever info they had. Granted he was a bit more brutal than ShadowWing, but hey it got the same results. He pressed the dull side of the knife against the punk's neck; he found his voice real soon after that.

"It was only a boast honest! I mean that chick wasn't even knifed...." His breathing was cut off as Blade pressed the metal tighter against his windpipe.

"What do you mean, 'not knifed'?" Spat Blade, "What happened!?" His voice was approaching yelling tones pretty quick.

After the deadly pressure was let up again the slime was talking as fast as he could. "The other night a pair of chicks tried to stop a shipment of Reynolds's, during the fight one was shot, I don't know who it was but it's all over the streets, ya gotta believe me! Ask anybody!"

Shot. Blade silently thought. Made sense with what little he could pick up from Belle. Now for some more details like who in the hell was Reynolds. Blade was about to ask his next question until he picked up the small fact that there was somebody sneaking up behind him. He was about to turn around when he heard a voice and the familiar sound of a gun being cocked.

"Drop the knife and turn around slowly." Growled Paul Travis.

After a few hours of work Paul had finally figured out where his sister in law would be holed up. He knew that Shadow and his brother Holt had owned a good-sized apartment before Shelby was born and that they occasionally rented it out after Holt had bought the house. A quick search of Shadow's desk revealed that the place had not been rented out since Holt had died and yet Shadow was still paying the electric and utility bills for the place on a regular basis. He decided to check it out, it seemed logical that the apartment would be Spirit Wolf's base of operations, and where she would have taken ShadowWing if injured for treatment. Just his luck there would be a call on the Police band of some trouble at a local dive for various slime and assorted scum. The joint was busted about once a week; Paul was going to ignore it until another report came over the radio that a masked individual was involved. Thinking it was Spirit Wolf on the prowl he called in that he was nearby and would look into it.

The current Travis luck was holding true and the masked fighter wasn't Spirit, it was some guy in red and black and a long black overcoat, and he had a piece of slime nailed to the wall with at least a dozen knives while holding another knife to his neck. The rest of the gang was out cold and scattered about the place.

Blade glanced over his shoulder and spotted a man with a revolver pointed directly at him. The badge on the belt marked him a Texas Ranger, and a second look identified him as Spirit Wolf's brother in law, Paul Travis. Normally Blade might have laughed at this whole situation but not tonight, he had very little sleep, his girlfriend was lying somewhere hurt seriously, and now he had a Texas Ranger pointing a gun at him. Blade spoke first and thought about it later. "Put the gun down Ranger." Hissed Blade in a voice that would have done Batman proud, "This is none of you business."

Paul was not amused at this guy's attitude at all, though between the glare from behind those opaque lenses in the mask and the scary voice routine, even he had to suppress a shutter. This guy was pissed, and was trouble to put in mildly, all the more reason to bring him down before somebody got hurt. "Like hell it is pal, not I'm not gonna say it again. Put. The. Knife. Down."

Blade's eyes narrowed and Paul saw that he was going to try something, however Paul was not prepared for how fast the guy moved. Before Paul could blink the guy tossed the knife at him, and it hit his revolver knocking it out of his hands just moments before a black booted foot nailed him in the face knocking him out cold.

Some time later Paul was woke up to a wet tongue licking his face. He slowly opened his eyes and clearly saw the familiar doggie face of Smoke looking down at him. He slowly began to sit up while muttering "Move it mutt." Thankfully Smoke complied. As he looked around he was treated to the sight of the very person he was looking for. Spirit Wolf.

"You okay Ranger?" She asked bending over Paul. Shadow disguised her voice hoping it would be enough to fool her dazed brother in law. No such dumb luck.

Paul answered her question by reaching up and grabbing her by the arm and yanking her down to his level. "Shadow." He hissed in a very low and irritated voice, "We need to talk, now!"

Spirit briefly considered trying to play dumb but decided against it when she saw Paul's angry and bruised face. It was by pure chance that Shadow had turned on her monitor of Austin's Police Band just as the report of a masked individual was tearing up a local bar, closely followed by Paul's call in that he would check it out. Needless to say Alfred offered to keep and eye on Belle while Spirit Wolf checked the bar to see if it was Blade and to save Paul's butt from the irate hero. Well by the time she got there Blade, if he was ever there was long gone and Paul was out cold, Smoke woke him up before she could order the wolf not to. She gulped and attempted a weak smile. "Heh, um I have some explaining to do right?"

Paul nodded. "That is a severe understatement."

"Not here though..." She yanked the still somewhat dazed Ranger to his feet. "Come on I know where we can hide out..." Silently the pair of them, trailed by the two wolves vanished from the bar before anybody else arrived on the scene.

As the two slipped out of the bar the wolves' ears suddenly perked up and they dashed off on the trail of something. Paul was about to yell at the mutts when Spirit stopped him. "I think I know what they found and it's somebody I've been expecting..." She began to count down, "Three, two one..."

"MERDE!!" Yelled an irate male voice, "Smoke! Quit chewing on that!"

Paul blinked Spirit grinned. A form came out of the shadows with the two wolves in tow, and Paul went for his revolver again.

Blade scowled, "Do you want a complete repeat of what happened last time you tried that?" Finishing the sentence with a vicious yank of his coat edge from Smoke's mouth.

Paul put his gun back but still glared at the man before him. "I should put you under arrest for assault on an officer, not to mention the rest of those goons in that joint!"

"I wasn't going to hurt them...much" Blade amended. "You would have been okay if you didn't pull the gun on me!"

"Oh what was I suppose to do when I see a weirdo in a mask holding a knife to some guys neck!" Yelled Paul, "Politely ask you to put it down?"

"It wasn't the cutting edge." Blade growled.

"Oh excuse me!" Roared Paul, "You were sort of it the way and I couldn't see that!"

As the two irate men continued to scream at each other Spirit Wolf looked from one to the other as if she was watching a tennis match she finally rolled her eyes and walked away from the pair, she had a feeling that Paul knew where to find her anyway. The wolves took one last look at Paul and Blade before following Spirit.

Paul finally turned to Spirit to yell at her some more when he finally realized she wasn't there. "Damn it!" Yelled Paul into the night, "Will that woman please stay in one place long enough for me to finish yelling at her!"

Blade scowled. "Typical female behavior." If he was going to continue it was abruptly cut off by a sharp white hot pain in his midsection. It caught him so off guard he had to lean against a wall to keep his balance.

Paul's eyebrows shot up. "You okay?" He asked. "Should we get you to a doctor or something?"

Blade winced and shook his head in a firm no, "I'll live, but I better find ShadowWing fast, not sure if she's doing okay or not."

Paul looked at Blade strangely, "Okay I know that ShadowWing is a telepath, but don't you have to be one too to find out how she's doing?"

Blade shook his head and gave a wry grin, "No I'm not a telepath, but due to a slight accident ShadowWing and I are linked in some strange way, normally she can put up a block so I don't have to go through this, but in this case..."

"She's too under the weather so to speak to do so...again typical female behavior." Paul scowled, "Hopefully I think I know where Spirit Wolf went off to and where she's keeping ShadowWing.

Blade narrowed his eyes, "Where's your car?"

Spirit bolted into her hideout at top speed, "Alfred! You better get out of here quick, both Paul and Blade are on the way here now!"

Alfred's eyebrows shot up, Blade he was expecting but not her brother in law. "How did your brother in law find out about your nocturnal activities?"

Spirit tossed up her hands, "No idea, but I bet he did some detective work, even though my identity is blown all to hell, I'm gonna at least cover Breakfast's tush so vamoose!"

Alfred simply smiled and made a hasty though discreet exit via the back doors of the complex, at the almost same moment Paul was entering through the front door while Blade was using the tradesman entrance.

At the exact same moment Smoke began to bark at the window while Mist barked at the door. Spirit rubbed her temples in frustration as she glared at the guestroom; "You just had to remain out cold all this time didn't you! No you couldn't wake up just enough to help me deal with these two!" She sighed and yelled, "Come in you two and keep the snarling down to a minimum okay!"

Once again Spirit Wolf found herself between two irate men. She first looked at Blade and simply pointed to the guestroom, he was off like a shot. Then she turned to Paul, the look on his face said it all. He glared at her she glared right back. "Well," she muttered, "where do you want me to start?"

"With whatever possessed you to don that crazy get up and fight crime?" Snapped Paul.

"Reynolds." Snarled Spirit.

"Oh." Muttered Paul, some of the wind taken out of his sails, "Should have guessed..."

"That slimy bastard killed my husband, you know it and I know it but we cannot prove it, that's what keeps me in this costume, I'm just waiting for him to trip up so I can nail him into the wall... Or at least an eight by ten foot cell for the rest of his miserable life," Snapped Spirit, personally she though Paul was rather dense here, why else would she be in this line of work?

"Get in line Shadow," Muttered Paul as he shook his head, "The line for Reynolds' hide starts way ahead of us and goes around the state of Texas. Twice."

"I know dang it." She growled, "And the strange thing is that ShadowWing also knows how bad I want Reynolds, which makes me wonder why she barged in on that bust the way she did."

"Wait a second." Muttered Paul, "You were not expecting her in town?" Usually the two SW's were inseparable when they were in the same location.

Spirit nodded, "Nope I wasn't expecting her, she's usually pretty good about calling first and barging into busts later, especially if Neil Reynolds is involved."

Paul though for a moment, "That fits."

"What fits?"

"I called a few pals in the New York Police Department, they told me that ShadowWing has been very active and more harsh than normal lately. Something got her gander up in New York and I bet she followed the trail here and somehow Reynolds is involved in the thing to boot." Grumbled Paul.

Spirit shook her head "I doubt she's after Reynolds, I'd have her hide if she at least didn't let me help with that collar, though she was after a specific person at the warehouse..."

Paul pounced on that scrap of information like Smoke on his dinner. "Who?"

"Reynolds' new flunky, never saw him before but if his actions are any clue he's about as slick as Reynolds but without the cash flow if you get my meaning." Answered Spirit as she darted into a bathroom to wash off her 'mask' looks like she wasn't going back out tonight, whatever crime fighting was going to happen was to be done on a keyboard and computer screen.

Sure enough when Shadow came out of the main bedroom Paul has already found her computer and had it booted up and connected to the Rangers main database via modem link. "Don't panic Shadow, I do this all the time they'll think I'm doing work elsewhere." Paul grumbled as he tapped the keys. "Stupid computers I hate them."

Shadow nodded, "But if you get them to cooperate they can be useful little monsters, pity I couldn't find where ShadowWing hid her gear when she was dropping in on me, she has a killer and rather user friendly laptop."

Paul gave a grunt in response, "Do I want to know how many police data bases she has unauthorized access to?" Shadow just grinned in response. "I thought so. Now give me a rough description of this jerk and I'll run it through the files and see if we can give a name to him."

Shadow nodded and thought about for a few seconds, "Let's see white male, about 5' 10" to 6', 200-230 pounds, dark brown or black hair, dark eyes, couldn't see the exact color, medium build, dressed to the nines..." As she spoke Paul tapped the description into the computer.

"Okay lets see how many hits we get with that and then work on narrowing it down a bit." After a few minutes the computer beeped telling Paul that the description matched about a hundred suspects on the database. Shadow groaned, Paul shrugged, "Could have been worse I've gotten at least 500 hits before."

"See if any are from the New York area." Shadow suggested.

Paul nodded and keyed it in. The field was quickly narrowed to about 10 suspects. Both sighed with relief, "Let's see if you recognize any of these faces Shadow." Smiled Paul as he brought up small mug shots on the screen of the ten possible suspects.

Shadow quickly looked over all ten, one practically jumped out at her and she pointed to it. "Him, he was smirking like that at the warehouse." Paul nodded and selected the photo and brought up the files, then he cursed at first glance.

"What?" Asked Shadow.

"This guy is on parole, he requested a change of location to Austin so we have him in our data base but his complete records are still in New York, if they are here they haven't been entered quite yet, damn red tape." Snarled Paul. "I'll bring up what we do have on him though it won't be much."

"I'll poke my head in on Blade and ShadowWing, given the lack of yelling and cursing I think they are doing okay." Paul gave a grunt in response and Shadow carefully cracked open the guest room door, as she expected Blade had taken off his mask and jacket and was sitting next to Belle, if they were talking it was via their mind link. Shadow sighed and carefully closed the door leaving them alone. The loud outburst from Paul broke the tranquil mood in record time.

"THE DAMN YANKEE IS RELATED TO A CONVICTED FELON?!?!?!" The Ranger bellowed.

"Belle is related to whom?" Swallowed Shadow, Belle was the only person who Paul called Yankee, let alone a Damn Yankee.

Paul pointed to the screen his face turning red with anger. Shadow looked and the screen, per the sketchy information the guys name was Douglas Anderson, the rest was listed as expected, vital information, height, weight, it was the next of kin that must have done it thought Shadow as she glanced down the a appropriate line. She swallowed as well as a few pieces clicked together. There were two entries under it.

William Anderson: Father
Isobelle Anderson: Daughter

"Oh my god..." Breathed Shadow, she looked at the now larger and clearer mug shot, his face was a tad more square than Belle's, but the eyes were identical to her friend's. No doubt in Shadow's mind now, the asshole who shot Belle was none other than her father. "I have to agree with you Paul, this guy has to be Belle's father, she once told me he was a royal asshole, she never told me how big of one he really was."

Paul's eyes narrowed, "That's not why I'm mad Shadow, you told me that ShadowWing made a beeline for him, I think I now know why!"

Shadow cringed, if Paul had just figured out Belle's alter ego she was really going be hacked when she got back up to par. "Care to inform me about it?"

"You already know Shadow, it's written all over your face. Admit it! ShadowWing is really the Yankee isn't she?" Snapped Paul.

Shadow shrugged helplessly, "I can't confirm it for you Paul, there is a damn good reason why she wears that mask, it's to protect her family and her friends, it's not that she doesn't trust others it just that the fewer who know the safer everybody is."

Paul was still fuming, Shadow sighed and tossed up her hands while walking to the kitchen. "What do you think you are doing?" He muttered.

"Getting food, I'm a bit hungry and Smoke is about to chew on something if he don't get fed soon. Will you be joining us or will you stew somewhere else?" Quipped Shadow as she pulled out pots, dishes and doggie chow. For some strange reason she felt that everybody involved would be laughing at this in the years to come.

Douglas Anderson was sitting in his new office in the headquarters of Reynolds Construction and smiling at how strange fate could be. A few months ago he was a convicted felon just let out on parole cut off from his so-called family and no real legal prospects. Due to his dear daughter's contacts in law enforcement he knew that the illegal prospects would also be slim. So instead of working for himself as he had done in years past, he decided to work for somebody else till he got his hands on enough capitol to start on his own away from New York. As long as he stayed in the shadows of the underworld he should be safe from his daughter's Street Patrol contacts and spies scattered throughout the city.

It almost worked; he got started distributing various forms of pornography and illegal weapons in the New York and East Coast areas for some big shot in Texas. The flaw in the plan was though he was able to avoid the Street Patrol for the most part; their agents were about but he took great pains not to be seen by them. However he failed to escape the notice of ShadowWing. It appeared that for some odd reason the costumed crime-fighter was interested in this operation. Of course he knew and knew well the connection between the masked woman and his daughter. So once she got on the case he knew his days in New York were numbered and he did not wish to see the inside of Attica Prison ever again. He decided to play a huge gamble. He'd contact his new employer, one Neil Reynolds, and inform him that the operation was in danger of being blown sky high and there was a higher risk that nobody involved would come out unscathed... Unless he was allowed to shut down the operation himself and be relocated to a new area and allowed to rebuild.

He was counting on the fact that most high end crime bosses, like he used to be, hated to deal with the messy business of cleaning up the legal mess a spoiled operation could create. They wanted problems solved, and they wanted them solved quickly, quietly and with as little involvement as possible upon their part. If a few bodies had to be buried in cement or in a freezer somewhere, those were not of their concern. Since he was a veteran of how NOT to clean up an operation he would put his knowledge to good use and maybe get out of the state before ShadowWing, the Street Patrol or the New York Police Department came knocking and in that order.

When Neil Reynolds asked how he would accomplish this feat, Douglas simply shrugged and replied "As long as your name isn't even mentioned in this affair I do not feel that a man of you position likes to bother with such petty details."

At first Douglas thought he overstepped himself, and misjudged Reynolds when he heard the reply. "Only if your plan works, if not I will check your 'petty details' with a fine tooth comb, and you will not like what I use for a comb." Came the curt reply.

But he got the permission to go ahead with his plans, and Reynolds was extremely pleased with the results. Not only had every single person with even the most remote connection to him had gone conveniently missing, but the evidence that would have pointed at himself now was clearly pointing with neon colors to one of his chief rivals. Douglas himself delivered the final profits and the incriminating files to Neil Reynolds for proper destruction or hiding.

The results afterward were much to Douglas's satisfaction. Reynolds realized that a man of his talents and cunning would be wasted on some small distribution network elsewhere in the country and arranged the recently paroled man to have a change of location to Austin, the official reason was new employment in Reynolds Construction. The true reason was to act as the Texan's second in command in the company's real business of weapons dealing and pornography.

The work had gone well, Neil was happy that Austin's resident crime fighter, Spirit Wolf, was running around in circles trying to get a handle on the new network. At least until a few nights ago, when the Wolf had finally sniffed out where they were accepting a shipment and crashed the party. Since she was not a MetaGenetic, Douglas didn't panic. He simply had the shipment moved out quickly while a dozen or so disposable thugs kept the vigilante and her pet wolves busy.

By the time the Rangers arrived there would be only a few thugs left, they knew nothing on whose merchandise they were moving about. No nasty trail to lead to either himself or Reynolds. He was hoping to even have Spirit Wolf herself as a gift for Neil... Until ShadowWing crashed through the windows of the warehouse.

The second he saw the woman dressed in black and silver he knew there was too much at stake to leave her alive. She was as stubborn as a mule, if ShadowWing was here in Austin then it must have meant that she picked up his very well hidden trail that he left in New York. Which meant there was somebody, most likely his daughter was working the case back there and ShadowWing's job was to get him back to the Empire State.

Like hell that was going to happen. So being a prepared individual he pulled out the glock he kept in a holster on his back and shot the woman point blank. Douglas allowed himself a small smile remembering the look on her face as she realized that the promethium bullet had penetrated both her TK shield and her Kevlar uniform. Seeing her fall to the concrete floor was even better. Pity Spirit Wolf had to stop the fall; chances are she was still alive. But that was easily solved, if he couldn't finish ShadowWing off he'd make sure there would be no case to build in New York, at least not one acceptable in court of law that is.

Just as he was finishing up a few phone calls Neil came in, looking a tad ruffled. He must have finally gotten wind of the injured superhero. Before he even spoke Douglas gave his report. "The Rangers can huff and puff all they want, those thugs can say they were working for us all they want, but they can't prove it beyond a doubt because I never told them who they were really working for."

"And about the shooting?" Sneered Reynolds.

Douglas faced his employer with a sly grin, "ShadowWing wants me as badly as Spirit Wolf wants you, if I didn't shoot her things would have gotten very messy. I doubt I killed her, the blasted girl is too damn stubborn to die so easily. But it did buy me a bit of time. Time to make sure that if I am captured and she drags me back to New York it will be for nothing and she will fume as I board the next flight back here, paid for by the city of New York of course..."

Neil had to grin; "Under threats of unlawful arrest they will be happy to pick up your travel tab. Nice, so now that Spirit Wolf is back on my trail, what do you plan on doing about it?"

The statement implied the Neil's problem was now Douglas's problem, he didn't have a problem with it. One of the perks of being the boss, and he already had an answer to that question. "Simple, I'll just make sure that if we do leave a trail it won't be worth anything to anybody in a court. And thanks to my darling daughter I know a great deal on what is needed in a trial and how to make it disappear." Snickered Douglas.

"Your daughter is a lawyer?" Muttered Neil as the two men left the office to inspect the new shipment of 'construction equipment' that just arrived from Mexico.

"No she's a busy-body do-gooder who's too smart for her own good." Replied Douglas casually. "You might have heard of her, she's tied to the Travis Family, a close associate I believe."

"Her name?" Asked Neil keeping the casual tone.

"Belle Anderson."

"Ah I do remember spying her on a few occasions, lovely girl. I'm assuming she's the reason you cannot touch the family business?" Asked Neil.

"Pity yes, but my father is aging and she's very young, with the right pressures I'm sure that could change." Snickered Douglas.

"We'll see." Was Neil's only reply.

Back in New York a raven-haired girl dressed in a skin tight black leather cat suit was pacing. It had everything to do with her current location, the local morgue. Two days ago she had put the word out that she was looking for a few people. It was done quietly, through channels that even New York's Criminal Underworld didn't know about and also gave a quiet word to the local NYPD.

Today she got word back that they were found.

"Miss Green?" Came a voice behind her. Mary Jean Green, who normally went by MJ on the streets, turned around.

"Yeah?" she replied in her thick Bronx accent.

"We are ready for you to identify them." She nodded and followed the Medical Examiner into the actual morgue rooms. Most of the steel tables were empty, but four of them were occupied, the bodies covered by white sheets, on three of them the shoulders and heads were uncovered. All three were male, all about MJ's age, and she knew every one.

Keith Irons, Jason Stark, and Robert Adams. All sent to investigate a weapons and porno ring, all with vital information on who was calling the shots, all now dead. Belle was going to have a fit, hell MJ was going to commit major bodily damage to whoever did this. MJ nodded to the Examiner, "Yeah these are the guys I was looking for, damn it all, how did they die?"

"Single shot to the back of the skull, after being rendered unconsience but a blow to the head. They never knew what hit them." She tried to give some comfort to the leather-clad woman.

"Oh they knew." Snapped MJ, "I bet whoever killed them made sure they knew what was going to happen." She quickly regained her temper, "I'll notify the families, any idea on who did this?"

"The gunman is over there." The Examiner motioned to the fourth sheet covered table, "Suicide, gun in the hand, shot in the temple, same gun that killed the others."

"Oy." Muttered MJ, "Dead men tell no tales, damn it!" With that MJ stalked out of the room and made for the building's nearest exit. After she finally hit the streets at a rapid walk she began to think. When the new criminal network surfaced she had worked on it like any other case the Street Patrol did. No real action just observation and gathering evidence, photos, taped conversations and the like. Three of the oldest members of the Street Patrol offered to work it. Belle had originally recruited the trio when she started the Patrol. MJ trusted them completely, and vice versa. Less than two weeks later Jason was able to slip a snapshot of the ringleader to MJ, it was closely followed by a verbal message that this guy wasn't the real brain of the operation, the shots were being called by a big gun located out of state.

When MJ saw that picture she immediately yanked Belle off her current Opal Agencies caseload and asked for help. MJ didn't need the help but this case just got real personal for both of them. If she didn't call in Belle severe bodily harm might just follow. The two of them began to pull the sketchy evidence together and prepared for the rest from the trio to build the case. The day after that started the new group vanished almost without a trace, and Keith, Jason and Robert vanished with them. The vain hope was that the group had simply relocated and the guys had followed along for a short time to avoid suspicion.

Both Belle and MJ knew it was a slim chance, but they hoped anyway.

Soon after everybody vanished Belle uncovered a lead on the out of state big shot and followed that trail to Texas while MJ kept and eye out for the missing Patrollers and built up the case in New York. Now there would be no case, whatever evidence the guys had, was gone. They died before they could pass it on to MJ. What really made this stink was who was behind this.

Douglas Anderson, Belle's father, and her father as well.

She was Belle's half sister, neither had any clue that their father had gotten out on parole, let alone back to his old tricks. To make things worse it looked like he picked up some new tricks to boot. He never killed before, either by his own hands or hiring somebody else to do it for him. He was twice as dangerous now; MJ finally reached her apartment and grabbed the phone. She better break the news to Belle and tell her that dragging Dad from the Lone Star State would be about useless and if she hadn't caught up to him yet to give her the warning that he had added murder to his resume as well as smuggling.

At least tell her to wait before dragging him back, they needed more time to build the case. Maybe Belle could look into the reasons to why he flew to Texas in the first place. Belle never told her the name of the suspected out of state boss. Maybe she should have asked...

"You crossed the line this time dad." Hissed MJ as she picked the phone and dialed Belle's cell phone number. "You just hacked off more than your daughters, you pissed off the whole damn Street Patrol, and a hoard of wasps will seem pleasant after we get though with you." As the phone rang MJ remembered Belle's advice when doing an investigation.

There is no such thing as a cold trail or a covered up trail. As long as there is a trail it can be found and followed to the true criminal. It just means that it will take longer to prove, and Justice is very good at waiting...

The phone rang and rang, while MJ got a really bad gut feeling. This number was one Belle always answered, even if she was ShadowWing the calls were forwarded to her gear in her costume. The last time she didn't pick up this line was when the Church of Blood kidnapped her. This was not a good omen. MJ tapped the hang up button on the phone and dialed another number; there was one person who kept closer tabs on Belle than she did.

If even F-X didn't know Belle's exact location, then she'd call Richard. If he couldn't locate her...

MJ decided not to think about that.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again." Rasped the extremely grumpy Belle Anderson. "I HATE guns."

Richard had to crack a smile, if Belle was aware enough to be grumpy, then she must be on the road to recovery, "Welcome back to the land of the living, and next time give me some warning before you get shot will you?" Richard promptly ducked the incoming pillow to his face and caught the glass the tossed at him next.

"Quit snickering, this is not funny, what the hell happened and where the hell am I?" Growled Belle trying to sit up and failing miserably.

"Yes it is funny from my point of view, you got yourself shot and you are in Spirit's Hideout, happy now?" Richard was honestly trying to keep the grin to a minimum, he was more grinning from relief than making fun of Belle, it wasn't working and Belle wouldn't believe him anyway.

"Hell no." Snapped Belle.

He quickly grabbed his mask and decided to make a quick exit before Belle got more aware and could really do some damage. "I think Spirit is whipping up some munchies, and from my estimate you've been out cold for at least 48 hours, so how about I get some food?"

Belle just glared at him and Blade carefully inched out the door, after he was out something odd hit her. Spirit knew who Blade really was, so why did he put the mask back on? Was there somebody else in the apartment who didn't know about? If she weren't trying to use her powers to cope with the pain she'd do a mind scan of the apartment. She gingerly felt the bandages wrapped across her midsection. The damage must have been minimal, if there were any serious internal injuries she'd guess that she'd be in a hospital by now. But oh man, did it HURT! She also noticed that she was wearing what looked to be one of Shadow's sleep shirts, she made a note to tell either Richard or Shadow where she left her gear so she could get her own clothes back. As well as the several thousand dollars of high tech gear and back-up costume she had also brought to Austin. She sighed and leaned back onto the pillows. For now she'd better take her body's advice and rest.

Blade entered the sunken living room to see a very rumpled Paul Travis getting up from the couch, "Morning." Blade smirked.

Paul scowled and stalked up to the masked man, with absolutely no warning he ripped the mask off of Blade's face.

"Yowch!" Blade yelled, due to the special contact glue he used to keep that thing on, careful removal was recommended, ripping it off might result in his eyebrows being ripped out by their roots. After checking to make sure his eyebrows were still there he glared at Paul. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

Paul glared right back; "I knew it! You're the other Grayson this confirms it! That Damn Yankee is ShadowWing!"

Richard has this stupefied look on his face, Shadow poked her head out of the master bedroom saw Paul ranting waving Blade's mask in the air and decided to check on Belle. By the time Shadow snuck into the room Richard had regained the ability to use his voice. "How did you come to the conclusion that Belle is ShadowWing?" Richard was trying in vain to play dumb.

"Because her convicted felon of a father is the one who shot her in the first place!" Bellowed Paul.

"WHAT!" Yelled Richard topping Paul's volume.

Shadow rolled her eyes and groaned, Belle had her head under a pillow. Shadow spoke first, "The cat is out of the bag, but no need to panic I think he'll keep his mouth shut."

Belle carefully poked her head out, "I am having two conversations right now, one with you and one with Richard, I'm ignoring Richard for now, please lock the door he's going to try and open it in about 30 seconds." No sooner did Shadow hit the lock button on the door then the knob jiggled as if somebody was trying to open the door. Several curses followed. Belle grabbed her temples and winced.

Shadow grinned and grabbed the first aid kit so she could change Belle's bandages. "Ya know that link of yours does have it's drawbacks don't it?"

"Yeah." Muttered Belle, "But it has some plusses as well." She closed her eyes for a few seconds and two male yelps echoed from the other room. Thankfully silence followed after that.

"What did you do to them?" Asked Shadow looking at the door with something akin to awe, getting Paul to shut up that quick was next to impossible unless you knocked him out cold.

"Gave them both very quick yet very painful migraines and the threat that I'd keep it up if they didn't shut up." Snapped Belle.

"Yow you are in a foul mood, you were not this bad last time you had to give ShadowWing a vacation. Dare I ask why?" Questioned Shadow as she checked the bandages.

"I'm guessing that you have a theory judging from Paul's bellows out there last night and this morning. I may have been in la-la land on pain killers but I got a few bits." Muttered Belle.

"Yeah your father is teaming up with Reynolds, why the hell didn't you tell me you were coming, I would have been more than happy to lend you a hand here." Asked Shadow, it had been the question foremost on her mind since ShadowWing crashed through that window.

"I would have if it was going to be a long term trip. I had only rumors that he was working with Reynolds, but confirmed information that he was heading for Texas. It order to make the case in New York I had to grab him and drag him back kicking and screaming if necessary. I was fully expecting to be back in New York by now and grilling him over an open fire. If anything on Reynolds popped out trust me I would have given it to you before handing it over to anybody else Shadow, I want my father every bit as bad as you want Reynolds." Sighed Belle. "Now that's even backfired, by now he's got whatever evidence he left in New York cleaned up, if I take him back now he'll be on the next flight back here laughing in my face."

"Okay you once told me he was a asshole, but what did he do to hack you off so much?" Shadow tossed up her hands.

"Let's see." Mused Belle, "It started several years after I left Gotham, by that point Nightingale was pretty much retired and Belle Anderson was a full time investigator, you already know about the Street Patrol and how they work right?" At Shadow's nod she continued, "That had been running for about a year or two, there were only a dozen of us at that point, myself and MJ pretty much leading them. I was staying at the Manor for a few nights when we got an unexpected visitor."

"Your father?" Asked Shadow rolling her eyes.

"Yep, neither Grandpa or I were exactly happy to see him. But we were willing to give him a chance. That first night he was borderline grilling me about the Street Patrol and how they worked, I told him a few sketchy details and ditched the rest of the questions, my Grandfather on the other hand was grilling him on where my half sister disappeared to." Snickered Belle.

"You mean MJ?" Asked Shadow, she had known that the two women were related, but never asked about the full story on it.

"Bingo, after my mother died I was sent to a boarding school out of state, my brother stayed at the Manor under the care of a Nanny, I thought MJ, or Mary Jean, was sent to a different school for some reason. When my Grandfather came back he looked high and low but couldn't figure out what happened to her. Now that dad was back in town he wanted some answers. If I was good at dodging his questions about the Street Patrol, he was equally good at dodging the questions on my sister."

"So when did you find out about the real reason behind his visit?" Asked Shadow putting the medical supplies away.

"The next day, when the cops came with a warrant for his arrest." Answered Belle, "Think you can guess the story from there."

"He wanted you to get him off the hook, but you double crossed him and got him convicted instead." Shadow grinned, she knew Belle well enough to figure that out.

Belle nodded with a slight grin, "Sent him upstate for a good long time, once he was gone I was able to pick up the trail on my sister and it lead straight to MJ. He was never fond of her, it was at my mother's and my grandfather's insistence that she was even brought to the Manor in the first place." Belle paused and swallowed, "She was part of a settlement of a deal he made for something illegal, I never found out exactly what, but gods Shadow I was furious with him, I wanted to kill him so bad..."

"MJ looks good now, but I bet that's not how you found her right?" Muttered Shadow.

Belle nodded, "Let's say this Shadow if I didn't get her off the streets when I did, she would have been dead in less than three days. She was addicted to crack, and hooking to get the cash she needed, she also had a nice sized rap sheet that included petty thievery and other small time crimes. I could never figure out why I yanked her off the streets, neither could she until we found those papers. I guess my knack was telling me something and thankfully I listened."

"So both you and MJ want him bad." Stated Shadow.

Belle nodded, "I was to get him back while she was working on the case, we had three Street Patrol agents in that ring when it vanished, I want them back. I'm hoping that they are still alive, but if Reynolds is involved, that hope just about died. She sighed, "If those two are done glaring at each other I think Richard can do something useful and find my gear, I'm willing to bet that I have several messages from MJ waiting for me."

Shadow snickered and carefully peeked out of the room and saw both men head for the door. Evidently Richard had a spare change of clothing hidden somewhere in his coat, Shadow really wanted to know how he did that, Paul was also heading out the door when Shadow grabbed him by the back of the collar and dragged him back into the apartment. "Hold on there Paul we have a few things to talk about before I let you out of this apartment."

"Such as." Muttered Paul, after he figured out whom ShadowWing really was he made only one call before the real arguments began. It was to his office to make sure that copies of Douglas Anderson files were on his desk first thing, as well as the name and phone number of his new parole officer here in Austin and his old one in New York City.

"I think it's fairly obvious, are you going to spill the beans on everybody here? I don't really care one way or the other, but hey both Belle and Richard have others to protect and have pissed off meaner people than Reynolds. Last thing I wanna see is those mean ones attacking Belle's Grandfather or something like that." Shadow sighed.

"Shadow, I'll be blunt." Began Paul, "I do not like the fact that my little sister is dressing up is a ridiculous costume and beating the crap out of thugs every night. However I do respect the reasons why you are doing this and I think Holt is up there laughing his ass off at this whole mess we have all gotten ourselves into." He paused for a second, "No I will not tell anybody else about Belle or Richard, but the rest of us had Spirit figured out for quite some time now."

Shadow gave a weak grin. "How'd you find me out?"

Paul began to tick off some of the reasons on his fingers, "One Spirit Wolf's appearances began a few months after you woke up from your trace. Two Spirit Wolf's unusual obsession with Neil Reynolds. And three," Paul paused and looked down to where Smoke and Mist were lying on the floor of the apartment. "Huskies?"

Shadow shrugged, "I couldn't think of another breed that was even close to wolf?"

Paul tossed up his hands, "Never mind. I'm gonna warn you know Shadow if I ever catch you in that costume I will arrest your butt and toss you into jail. So please stay out of my way or make sure you get out of there before I arrive. Got it?"

Shadow grinned "Yes sir!" She quipped and tossed in a salute.

Paul could only shake his head as he walked off toward his car. For some reason he felt his life just got a lot more complicated.

Richard finally unlocked the door to the hotel room Belle was using while in Austin, he deduced that she would stay at Spirit Wolf's hideout for the duration of her stay. So all he had to do was grab her gear and get back there. His luck was holding true and Belle never took the time to unpack more than her costume before leaving. So pick up was a breeze. He also found a set of keys for a rental car and grinned even bigger, he doubted the car would be anything unique but hey, some wheels were better than no wheels.

As he checked out of the hotel and loaded everything into the small Ford Focus he headed for his hotel next to get his gear together. He wasn't going to be too far from Belle until she was safely back in New York, and even then he'd keep an eye on her until she was given a clean bill of health. Richard sighed. When he got back to the apartment he was going to have a nice chat with Belle on why she would have done this insane thing.

The file was on one Douglas Anderson, AKA Belle's father and asshole who was going to get Blade's boot where the sun didn't shine if he ever caught up with him. So Richard took the hint and began to read up. He assumed that Belle really was not in the mood to talk about it, and given what just happened in the past 48 hours he honestly didn't blame her either.

As a clone of the original Dick Grayson, he really didn't have parents, he did have the memories of the Flying Graysons the Time Trapper gave him, and the Church didn't even give him that much. He couldn't really imagine the feeling of being betrayed, let alone shot by your own father, though he had a sneaky suspicion that he would get a hint of it via Belle's mental link. As he read the file part of his mind registered that Belle had finally gotten hold of MJ and was quietly talking to her on the phone.

Then Belle exploded.

Between her verbal and mental outburst the papers Richard was holding scattered on the floor, he was about to ask what the hell just happened when he got an eyeful of Belle's face. She was furious and was about to commit wholesale destruction in about 30 seconds, and she really didn't give a damn on whose property she would be damaging either. By either some miracle or the fact she was still in a great deal of pain, she regained control and with a tone of pure ice she quite bluntly said her good-byes to MJ before closing the cell phone with a snap that almost broke the device into two.

"What the hell happened in New York?" Muttered Richard.

Belle swallowed her voice was border line cracking, "The three Street Patrol agents that were working on the case against my father in New York just turned up after being missing for a time." Belle paused to regain her composure, "All three were killed, single shot each to the back of the head."

"Oh boy, your father, he ordered the hits?" Whispered Richard.

"Who else could have? He knew about the Street Patrol, he might have known about some members, all he would have had to do was discover one, the rest would have followed like dominos, per the coroner they died about 12 hours after I was shot." Belle's voice dropped to a whisper.

"He knows your ShadowWing." Stated Richard.

"It's the only thing that makes sense, even if he hasn't put that together, he at least knows that ShadowWing is connected to the Street Patrol and thusly to me and MJ. The second he shot me he must have known it wouldn't have killed me, he ordered those hits the second he left the scene that night." Belle put her head into her hands and whispered, "Oh damn now that he's added murder to his MO there is not telling how far he will go and with a scum like Reynolds footing the bankroll, he'll be almost unstoppable."

"Almost only counts is horseshoes and hand grenades." Sighed Richard gathering Belle up; she leaned into the embrace. "You have more resources than he does and you know that, if he has any clue about the Agency he'll keep his dirty rotten mitts to himself regarding your personal life unless he wants some nasty results."

"I wouldn't bet on that." Muttered Belle, "There is a lot of bad blood between him and my Grandfather. That's why I'm the sole inheritor of Anderson Industries, and even if something happens to Grandfather and I the company control then falls to the Board of Directors and they will answer to Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises. There is a slim family connection between myself and Bruce, it's all nice and legal and will hold up under any court, if I didn't know what my father was capable of I wouldn't go to those extremes."

"Stupid question what will happen to the Agency if your father tried to take control of it?" Muttered Richard. Opal Agencies had way too much power for anybody to handle, at least in his opinion, luckily the women who have led it for centuries had level heads and kept the huge organization low key and on the right side.

"She doesn't know it, but as my sister, MJ would be asked to take control. She's the closest female relative I have, I'm willing to bet that they knew all along where she was after my mother died, and would have intervened if necessary." Sighed Belle she then straightened up, "Enough of this self pity, I've got work to do and three murders whose killer needs to see justice."

"Yes ma'am." Smiled Richard as he grabbed the scattered papers on the floor while Belle booted up her laptop.

That evening the various conspirators gathered back at Spirit Wolf's hideout to compare notes information and news.

"So now that jerk has three murders and an assault on his hands?" Snapped Paul after Belle gave them all the news from New York. "Just great, if I could slap him with violation of parole I'd do it in a heartbeat." Paul began to pace the apartment.

"I'm assuming that the evidence needed on him and Reynolds also died with those friends of yours?" Muttered Shadow. Belle frowned and nodded.

Given the looks of death on the two women's faces Richard decided to keep the discussion going. "So how did a convicted felon from New York get a change of venue order to Austin on such short notice? Don't those things take a few weeks at least?"

Paul sighed and plopped down on a chair grabbing a few thick files from an end table, "From what I can tell Neil Reynolds greased the wheels a bit, he's a respected businessman outside Texas with a clean reputation. The official reason given is an offer of a high paying job here. New York was happy to oblige, one less felon to keep track of from their perspective."

Belle had to grin; "Do you blame them?"

Paul shot her a dirty look before continuing, "I had a chat with your father's Austin parole officer today, he's been already keeping a close eye on him, given the connection to Reynolds and all that. I also was unable to pin down the Austin judge who signed the venue forms, I wonder why?"

Shadow looked a tad confused, Belle spoke up, "In order for a parolee to leave a jurisdiction he or she needs to have permission from both ends, where he's leaving and where's he going. Many times sex offenders cannot get changes of venue, though the origin jurisdiction is happy to get rid of him the destination can object to the order and refuse to take responsibility. No doubt a request for a convicted felon to move to Austin and work for Neil Reynolds would have raised a few eyebrows."

Shadow tossed up her hands in frustration, "Translation Neil either bribed or threatened a judge or DA to get what he wanted as usual. Okay now what do we do?"

After a few minutes of silence Richard spoke first. "We lay low for at least a week."

"Excuse me?" Muttered Paul, "I'd say we turn up the heat and hope either Douglas or Neil slip up and then we nail them."

Richard shook his head, "It'll never work, or else Neil Reynolds would be in jail by now. Douglas is, from what I have leaned, a great deal like Belle. Cunning, intelligent, crazy like a fox and borderline ruthless, just adding more pressure will tick them off and get them to attack us outright."

"Shit." Muttered Paul. "So we are just going to hide and let them get away with murder?"

"No." Answered Shadow, "I think I know where Richard is going with this, we lay low all right but keep very close tabs on the players we let them think they have forced us underground. And hopefully they will get overconfident and they'll slip up faster then if we apply pressure. Both Douglas and Neil have egos the size of the state, it may not take as long as we think."

"And I can really rattle some chains, and maybe toss my father off of ShadowWing's scent." Muttered Belle under her breath.

"Oh no you don't." Spat Richard. "You are in no condition to try anything currently."

"ShadowWing is down, but Belle Anderson is not. I have a very good plan and if my father has put the two together I have to get him off that trail or else I'll have major problems." Belle put her two index fingers above her ears to simulate a certain cowl and both Richard and Shadow got really quiet. "...I see you get the picture. Hopefully somebody should be coming into town tomorrow afternoon and by tomorrow night Blade and both SW's should be able to raid Reynolds Construction offices."

"And how do you plan to accomplish that trick?" Yelled Shadow, Richard and Paul in absolute shock.

Belle grinned and grabbed her cell phone, "Watch and learn what a touch of New York Savvy can do."

Less than thirty minutes later Belle clicked off the phone with a very self-satisfied grin on her face. Paul was slightly dumbfounded; Richard was grinning insanely while Shadow looked bored. "If you are going to have dinner with your father tomorrow night, who the hell will be breaking into Reynolds offices with us?"

Belle continued to grin, "You'll see."

The next morning a very insistent pounding on the apartment's front door woke Shadow, Belle and Richard up. Shadow made her way to the front door and silently hoped it wasn't any of the neighbors coming to complain about the strange activities than had been occurring here the past few days. She carefully peeked through the peephole and spotted a woman dressed from head to toe in black leather, yet she seemed perfectly comfortable in the outfit even in Austin's high heat and sun.

Shadow sighed before unlocking and yanking open the door. "Hello MJ I should have guessed you would be showing up."

The other woman grinned and strolled into the apartment, a lithe feline form jumped off of MJ's shoulder and onto the ground then straight for the tallest piece of furniture when a wolf nose poked out of the master bedroom. Black Magic, Belle's cat, glared at MJ as if to say 'How dare you bring me to the same place as those...dogs!' MJ shot the cat a glare to say 'Shove it cat' before addressing Shadow.

"Yeah I came, Belle told me both of her identities would be making appearances at the same time, so here I am!" MJ peeled off her tight leather jacket, to reveal an even tighter leather bustier underneath.

"You're gonna impersonate Belle?" Muttered Shadow. "No offense hon but how in the hell can you do that?"

MJ simply grinned and replied in a perfect imitation of Belle's upper crust accent, "Like this." She then cocked her head and again spoke in another killer impression of Belle's ShadowWing voice, no accent with a harder edge to it, "Oh maybe this...." MJ then shrugged going back to her normal voice. "Whatever is needed, we mastered this gag years ago we had a blast trading places when the Patrol just started, you should have seen it, once we ALMOST had Rich fooled."

"And I didn't think it was the least bit funny." Muttered the aforementioned male who had entered the living area. "The only reason it didn't work was because of a certain mental link that was not present at the time."

Shadow began to grin, with MJ around things were going to be interesting to say the least. "Okay then what's the game plan?"

"I think since Belle will be having dinner with her father tonight, MJ will be ShadowWing for the evening and break into Reynolds Construction with the two of us." Replied Richard.

MJ was still grinned, "Breaking and Entering? Oh goody goody, my old profession! Despite all that fancy training Belle has had I can still pick a lock and crack a security system faster than she ever could."

"I heard that!" Yelled Belle from the guestroom. Faster than the eye could follow Black Magic leapt from the bookcase she was perched on and darted into the room at warp speed. Mist who had finally figured out that Magic was in the room looked depressed when the guestroom door quietly shut after the cat went through it.

"Ya gotta be quicker than that mutt." Snickered MJ giving the wolf a scratch behind the ears.

"One problem still remains in this plan though." Muttered Shadow. "What are we going to do about Paul? He's not going to sit this one out, and he knows we are going to break into those offices tonight, and you know he'll try and tag along..."

"Try being the obvious word here, for some reason I have the feeling that sneaky is not in that Ranger's vocabulary." Replied Richard.

"Simple." Stated MJ. "Well tell him to be quiet or else."

"Or else what?" Asked Richard and Shadow.

MJ gave a nasty grin. "You don't wanna even think about it."

With a growl and a curse Spirit Wolf unlocked the back of her Bronco and stood aside. On cue MJ, disguised as ShadowWing, and Blade hoisted the bound and gagged Paul Travis into the vehicle's trunk.

"I hope those binds don't leave marks..." Grumbled Spirit.

"They won't" Answered MJ, as she finished double checking the binds she used to tie up Paul.

"How would you... Oh! That's right you are a retired member of the world's oldest profession right?" Quipped Spirit reveling in the shocked and bug eyed look from Paul. Blade clamped a gloved hand over his mouth to keep from busting up laughing.

Paul began to 'hop' to the open door. Spirit quickly shut it and turned to her cohorts. "Break in take two?" She muttered.

"Take two." Replied 'ShadowWing'. "Before anything else happens tonight."

"FYI ladies, somebody is already reporting this mayhem to Douglas as we speak and Belle is highly amused and wants copies of the security camera tapes of us dragging Paul through the building if possible." Stated Blade through gritted teeth.

"Well she wanted us to make ourselves known..." Muttered Spirit, trying to find a bright spot in this whole mess.

"I do not think she had this in mind SW." Snapped 'ShadowWing'.

"Take them where you can get them SW." Quipped Spirit back.

After the two women stalked off Blade muttered, "I really hate it when they do that whole SW thing..." He sighed and followed the women.

Belle Anderson was vainly attempting to keep a straight face. Just after the first course was served in one of Austin's most exclusive dining establishments her father's cell phone rang softly. Belle silently checked the time, she knew the trio should have broken into Reynolds's Offices only ten minutes ago. Surely they had not been caught by now? Had they?

Douglas purposely kept the tone too quiet for Belle to overhear everything, but she caught the words; 'Bound', 'Spandex', 'Texas Ranger' and put things together. Evidently as feared, Paul decided to crash the party. Oh dear. But the plus was her father's facial expressions were priceless. She sent the message to Richard that she wanted those security tapes. She just HAD to known what the hell happened over there tonight.

After he closed the phone with a snap Douglas turned back to his daughter and was wondering how this one was being pulled off. He was so confident that his daughter was indeed ShadowWing. But here she was, perfectly healthy, acting like she was never shot while there were reports of not only ShadowWing, again not acting like she was shot, breaking into Reynolds's Offices. Along with Spirit Wolf, an unidentified spandex suited male, and what appeared to be a bound and gagged Texas Ranger to boot. This was almost too insane to believe. He quickly settled his game face back on and addressed her. "Sorry about that my dear, but there was a slight problem at the office."

"Oh really?" She replied without a trace of sarcasm. "Anything that you can discuss?"

"No." Came the blunt reply. "You never did answer my question, why are you here is Austin, getting you away from New York is quite impossible do to you activities?"

Belle hid her annoyance, she didn't need her powers to know that her father was referring to her Street Patrol work, boy was he behind the times she technically retired from the Street Patrol almost five years ago. "Yes you could say that, working as acting CEO of Anderson Industries does take up a great deal of my time and I rarely get to leave the city anymore." She hid a smug smile as her father choked on he drink; Belle guessed he didn't know about that decision of her Grandfather's either. "I'm here as part business and pleasure, currently working on a deal between the Travis Oil Company and Anderson Industries, I didn't have to come to Austin, but I am good friends with the Travis family so I decided to visit."

Douglas was really annoyed now. His whole plan hinged on the fact that his daughter would not get complete control over the family business until AFTER his father died. Looks like dad was stepping up the time table, by making Belle the CEO now would prevent any legal way for him to step in and contest the will after his father's death. If Belle died as CEO then whatever HER will stated would take precedence, whatever what that was. "Oh really, if you are running Anderson Industries then who is running that investigation service you founded?"

Belle sighed and took a sip from her drink before answering. "Mary Jean of course, she co-founded it with me and was the best prepared to take over when I started learning the ropes of Anderson Industries, but she still keeps me updated whenever there is an interesting case being worked on. Why just recently there was a fair sized smuggling ring, it vanished though, but I think she got enough evidence to do some damage before they cleared out." Belle prayed that he would take the bait, one way or another.

Douglas almost lost his temper, either she was telling a bald faced lie to rattle him, or those three agents he had killed did get some evidence to the Patrol. He quickly put down the fine crystal wineglass before it shattered in his hands. That detail did not escape Belle's notice he was nibbling on the bait, but would he swallow it whole or steal it off the hook?

Andrew Travis was wondering what maggot got into his brother's brain. On a gut feeling he drove by Reynolds Offices and spied Paul's pickup parked nearby and decided to do something about it. Was Paul trying to get his butt arrested? I mean everybody knew what the slime Neil did to Holt, there was only so far you could go to get proof before you were breaking the law in order to uphold it. Anything he did dig up would be tossed out of court so fast it would make your head spin and Neil would have Paul's badge revoked as icing on the cake. Andrew sighed and began to creep up on the building to see if he could stop Paul before his career was so much dust, he'd been acting funny for the past few days.

Paul had to admit one thing. MJ could tie one HELL of a knot, and after roping various critters in rodeos and drunken dares, he knew knots. He also knew how to get out of them as well, at least most of the time. This was one of those times he couldn't get loose. So all he could do was hope that the three spandex amigos would finish up quickly and cut him loose before he heard the call of nature. After about a minute of waiting, he got frustrated yet again and tried to get his bound hands around to the front. He finally figured it out that MJ had tied his hands together as well as tie his bound wrists to the back of his belt. Nice. He was going to kill her for this gag, though he tucked it away as a possible use in a prank sometime in the future.

Andrew was staring at the black Bronco, it looked like Shadow's, and the plates were missing so he couldn't be sure. The windows were tinted too, preventing him from checking the VIN on the left side of the dash, just like Shadow's. Before he could move on, the Bronco shook as if somebody was inside. It stopped and Andrew carefully approached the truck just before it shook again. Very carefully he grabbed the handle of the Bronco's back door and gave it an experimental tug and was surprised to find it unlocked, and was downright shocked when something large tumbled out and almost landing on him.

“Oh what I would give for a camera now.” Muttered Andrew looking skyward after he realized that the form at his feet was his brother Paul, and he was professionally bound and gagged. "So Paul how’d you get into this mess?" He smirked at his younger brothers gagged face.

A few grunts and muffled words were the only answer Paul was willing to provide at the moment.

"Now should I be nice and untie you, or should I drag you home as is to show off?" Andrew taunted in true older brother style.

All Paul could do was have his eyes bug out as give off this ‘Oh please no...’ look at his brother. Then a scowl as if to say, ‘You’d give Mama a heart attack!’

"Heh, not worth the heart attack to Mama anyway, and if she didn't have a heart attack she'd kill me, again not worth it, so hold still while I see how whoever tied you up tied you up." Andrew didn't bother hiding his snickers as he went for the ankle binds first.

"He filed it under what?" Quipped 'ShadowWing' as she looked over Spirit Wolf's shoulder in utter disbelief.

"Gun Smuggling and Pornography." Replied Spirit holding up a few folders. Both were standing in what they assumed was Douglas Anderson's office and quickly ruffling through a filing cabinet looking for new information.

"Neil and Douglas must be either really smug or really stupid." 'ShadowWing' frowned as she walked to the massive oak desk. "Or the stuff in there is a nice trap for innocent crime fighters willing to take the bait, I'm going to check the desk while we wait for Blade the more dirt the better." In less than thirty seconds she had the desk lock popped and was quickly shuffling through the various papers looking for anything interesting to use. She hit paydirt thanks to a small hidden compartment it the back of a top drawer. Inside was a small box that looked like the type bullets and other ammunition were stored in, she quickly pulled it out and opened the box, the box was not quite full of bullets and there was no gun in evidence in either the office, the desk or the compartment. She pulled out one of the bullets and held it up. "Look familiar SW?"

Spirit turned and took the offered bullet into her own hand and closely examined it. "Look's like the same caliber and that funny metal, I assume there are no marks on the box?"

"Plain cardboard." Came the answer.

Spirit smirked as she looked at the bottom of the casing, "This would be history if this bullet was shot, but I do believe that there is a makers mark on the bottom here..." 'ShadowWing' pulled out a second bullet and looked at it's bottom as well.

"Bingo." Smirked both women in synch. They knew taking even one bullet was risky, so 'ShadowWing' pulled out a small camera and a piece of what looked like silly putty. She took a few pictures of the odd marks on the casing and then pressed the bullet into the putty in order to make a mold of it later in case the pictures didn't come out. While 'ShadowWing' was doing that, Spirit was making good use of the Xerox machine and making copies of all the items in the rather suspicious files, then ran a blank sheet through to clean the rollers of the last sheet copied.

Outside Paul was stretching out his frame and ignoring Andrew's pitying looks. "Not one, single comment." He grumbled to his brother.

"Can I ask what the heck you are doing here? Aside from trying to bring and early end to your career?" Andrew sighed running a distracted hand through his hair.

"I was tailing Spirit Wolf and got caught. She stuffed me in there to keep me out of the way I'm guessing." Paul gritted his teeth and glared as Andrew's amusement grew into barely controlled laughter. "She had help." Paul added lamely.

"I bet...uh oh I hear a car coming up..." Hissed Andrew and both Travis brothers dove for cover behind the Bronco and were relieved when the car turned into a parking lot before it drove past the where the black truck was parked. Paul peered around the corner and groaned. "Can this get any worse?"

"Who is it? Neil?" Hissed Andrew from his position behind Paul.

"Worse." Spat Paul back. "It's is new second in command, Douglas Anderson, yes he is related to the Yankee."

"What is he doing here at this hour?" Muttered Andrew, he understood staying to work late, but coming back to the office this late?

"Up to no good, come on lets get the hell out of here before he gets wind of us." Groaned Paul has he inched back to where he left his car.

"What about Spirit Wolf?" Stuttered Andrew.

Paul rubbed his wrists absently, "I think she and her cronies can take care of themselves." Both Travis boys made a beeline out of the area before anything else happened tonight.

Blade's guard was up; Belle had just telepathically relayed to him that her father had cut out on dinner early and to keep an eye out. It seemed just in his character to circle back to the offices just to see for himself what the hell was going on here tonight. He quickly decided to round up the other two and get out before that happened. He was almost home free when the gunshot rang out. Letting out several profanities and getting a few in return from the shooter, thankfully for Blade the shooter missed. Deciding not to see if it was actually Douglas or another paid thug Blade dove around a corner and headed back to the office where he had left Spirit and 'ShadowWing'.

The sound of gunfire soon had the two female crime fighters scrambling to get moving, by the time Blade sprinted by Spirit Wolf and 'ShadowWing' joined him in the round of cursing at the gunfire from multiple sources and aimed at them. "Well this is a perfect ending to this evening!" Yelled ShadowWing as the trio hit the stairs at top speed.

"I'm glad I left the wolves behind for once, this is insane." Growled Spirit as a patch of wall where her head was a second ago exploded from a gunshot.

"More insane than usual or is this the average level?" Snapped Blade with no lack of sarcasm as the trio finally hit the exit door and vanished into the night.

She knew she should be resting, she was no where near up to par yet. Despite the fact she was now walking, it was a serious gun shot injury, one that would make Alfred tie Bruce to the bed for a few days to insure his recovery type. But hell with her father on the loose and up to his eyebrows in illegal activities, how was she supposed to sit still? Most would tell her that he was now the state of Texas's problem and let them deal with him, but Belle knew in her gut that her father was not done putting her through the ringer, not by a long chalk. So Belle had to get him away from Neil Reynolds, or get Neil to toss him out to the wolves. No pun intended.

That would be a trick, from what little she did get out of her father this evening he was so close to Neil you couldn't get a piece of paper between them. Okay option number two, nail both Neil and her father to the wall. Ha! And what to do with the rest if the night?

At long last the trio of slightly irate crime fighters entered the apartment, along the way they had found the time to change back into civilian mode, both Smoke and Mist bounded up to Shadow and she cracked a smile and petted both animals affectionately. Belle broke the silence. "Do I really want to know what happened and where is Paul?"

"No you don't wanna know and he somehow got loose." Answered MJ. At Belle's raised eyebrows she continued. "Yeah I'm the one who tied him up, so he must have had help, you know my skills at tying people up."

Belle was about to comment about how much MJ used to charge for that service but refrained from doing so. Nobody seemed in the mood for jokes. "So I take it the mission was mostly a success?"

"Yeah we got caught is that's what you mean. Letting Douglas and Neil think they have us on the run." Snapped Richard. "I did get the security tapes for you though." He began to crack a grin, "Ah the wonders of blackmail..."

"Not with Mama Helen about you won't." Chuckled Shadow. "Let's hit the sack and figure out our next move in the morning, we all need the sleep after the past few days of madness."

All agreed and made for the individual sleeping areas. The only disturbance was MJ snapping at the wolves for trying to snuggle with her in the living room. "Next time I bring Attitude with me..." She muttered before falling asleep.

All slept soundly until about seven o'clock the next morning. That is when every cell phone in the apartment went nuts. MJ, whose cell phone was right next to her head, fell off the couch and answered it on the way to the floor. "Better be good..." She hissed sleepily into the receiver. There was a pause as the other party answered and MJ's eyes got huge. "What?!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs. At practically the same second MJ heard Belle's yell of shock from the guestroom and the sounds of wolves trying to get out of the master bedroom.

Shadow cam bursting of her room half dressed and immediately flipped on the television. A few seconds later she had it tuned to CNN, while speaking into the phone she carried. "Yeah, yeah Paul I'm watching it now...I'll call you later..." She quickly shut the phone off and gave her full attention to the flickering screen.

Seconds later Richard came out of the guestroom, also half dressed, and joined Shadow next to the television. "I'll get the information faster from CNN for now at least." He muttered knifing his hand though his hair and motioning with the other to the door where Shadow could clearly hear Belle talking on her phone between curses.

MJ retreated to the guestroom to swap notes with Belle, while still on her cell phone. "Slow down Miranda... Yeah, yeah I KNOW that the manor is crawling with people, most work for Belle with the Agency! The rest are NYPD, check the hospital...if they ain't crawling with cops all over the joint make sure it is crawling with Patrollers, double time..." MJ's voice trailed off as she vanished inside the room.

Richard scowled with Shadow as the watched the story unfold on CNN.

"...And for the viewers who have just joined us, recapping the earlier headlines, our lead story occurs in New York City this morning where the head of Anderson Industries, William Anderson was found in his home apparently injured. Details are still sketchy, but sources say the the injuries are not related to any known medical problem.

"William Anderson was first taken to Empire Hospital before being transferred to an unknown and undisclosed medical clinic. His injuries and his condition are currently unknown. William's granddaughter, Isobelle Anderson, Acting CEO of Anderson Industries, was unavailable for comment. Sources say that she is away on a business matter, but is expected to return to New York soon.

"We will keep our viewers updated as more details are released to the press."

As the news anchor moved on to the next story MJ stormed out of the guestroom. Both Shadow and Richard never got to ask a question as MJ launched into a tirade that seemed to explain things. "He was found in the study by the house keeper, somebody shot him and guess what kind of ammo was used on him!"

Shadow shook her head. "Promethium bullets...same as we found last night, same as the one that was pulled out of Belle."

"Exactly." Hissed MJ, "Opal Agencies had Grandpa moved to a more private clinic and secured that slug, Belle is getting more details and plans for what do we do next. Evidently he can't go back to the manor, somebody knows that security system too well to crack it without raising anybody's suspicions" Nobody needed to voice who that might be, only family members had that kind of access to Anderson Manor.

Richard swore. "That son of a bitch, that low down rotten..." He let loose with another round of profanity and began to pace. "If Douglas wanted to get Belle back to New York and out of his hair, he picked a bad way to do it."

"Yes and no." Replied Shadow, "I'll work for the short term and by the time she can make it back down here he could be conveniently, 'over seas' on a 'prolonged business trip' for Reynolds and out of her reach for a good long time."

"Not exactly." Growled Richard. "Opal Agencies has offices and contacts around the globe, there is nowhere and I mean nowhere that Douglas Anderson can hide where we cannot find him eventually, he can hide from the FBI, the NYPD, and the Texas Rangers, but he can't hide from the Agency, believe me I know. I work for them." He finished with a dark grin.

Belle staked out of the guestroom with a cold gleam to her eyes. "Okay here's the plan if you don't like it you are getting tossed out that window." After the appropriate amount of silence passed Belle continued. "FX has already checked the slug that they pulled out of Grandpa, it is Promethium and chances are that it will match what was pulled out of me and the ones you saw in Dad's office last night. Though the ballistics won't match, we know where he was last night however but he must have ordered the hit and gave the hitman the ammo to use."

"That leaves us where?" Asked MJ folding her arms across her chest.v"With some things to do rather quickly if we are going to nail Dad for the hit on Grandpa. MJ, you better practice that accent because you are heading back home disguised as me." Replied Belle.

"Don't you think we should both be here to nail Dad or there to be with Grandpa?" She spat right back moving her hands from across her chest and dug into her hips.

"Normally yes, however somebody has got to be in New York to point the NYPD in the right direction and track that hitman, face it MJ you are the best one for that job." Snapped Belle back. "Dad knows I'm here in Texas but he doesn't know that you are here, if you head back as me he'll think his plan worked and hopefully he'll let his guard down a bit. Then I can nail him to the wall."

"I understand it but I don't like it." She muttered moving toward her bags to pull out some more respectable attire for her next role.

"If it makes you feel better, I was able to have a few words with Grandpa, he was mostly awake, grumpy as all hell and rather lucid." Belle smirked; he was irate to say the least and understood exactly her need to stay in Texas until this mess was settled, one way or the other.

Richard grinned. "I guess we know where she got that trait from." With a nudge toward Shadow, who smirked back at Belle. Both MJ and Belle shot identical dirty looks at Richard, further confirming the blood relationship between the two women.

"For that Rich, you are also heading back to New York with MJ. It'll add to the cover, and you know where the clinic where they took Grandpa would be, it's one of the few Opal Agencies points that MJ has not figured out yet." Belle's eyes narrowed practically daring Richard to say one word against this part of the plan.

Richard glared right back. It was extremely obvious that he did not approve of this part of the plan. Belle alone in her current state of mind was about as smart at lighting a match in a barrel of gunpowder. MJ pointed to herself then to Shadow and motioned with her fingers to the other room. Shadow nodded and quickly moved to the kitchen MJ followed. Once safely in, Shadow commented, "No yelling, is that a good sign?"

"With those two? Hell no, if they are screaming at each other that's a good sign, when they are deadly quiet start running cuz when the explosion hits you do not want to be in the fall out." MJ rolled her eyes.

"So who will win out?" Replied Shadow, guessing that if they were yelling at each other it was via telepathy. She was grateful for that; the neighbors were already edgy enough. Looks like she was moving Spirit Wolf's hideout after this fiasco.

"He'll leave with me I bet, he'll hate it to death, but he'll do it. Belle has her reasons, and nine times out of ten they are right on the money, I hope she doesn't do anything stupid or drastic before heading back home." Replied MJ with a wary eye on the door to the living room.

"And if this is time number ten?" Asked Shadow while she fed the wolves and pulled some semblance of a breakfast together.

MJ gave a huge sigh. "Just try and make sure that she stays in one piece then. I have a bad feeling about this whole thing, do you think that Dad only went out to dinner with Belle to give himself an alibi?"

"I'd bet good money on that." Replied Shadow.

Several hours later found both Richard Grayson and 'Belle Anderson' boarding a plane from Austin Texas non-stop to New York City. An unknown source had tipped off the press about Miss Anderson's whereabouts and had gathered about the airport to try and get a few words out of her about her grandfather's condition. She only gave them quick one to two word answers, mostly of "No Comment."

Her rumored fiancée, Richard Grayson was equally curt, almost to the point of rudeness and his stony countenance was enough to make some of the most hardened of reporters back off. After the plane was safely in the air Richard quietly stated. "I hope she knows what the hell she's doing."

"Oh she is perfectly aware of what she is doing." Replied MJ in Belle's voice. "If it is the right thing, the smart thing and the sensible thing to do remains to be seen, but she knows what she's doing and will take responsibility for the fallout. No matter what that might be."

"I'm hoping it's not murder." Replied Richard looking out the airplane's window as the distance increased from Austin.

"You're not the only one thinking that." Replied MJ in grim tones. "And if she does here also hoping that there is somebody nearby to stop her."

Back at Reynolds Construction, Douglas Anderson saw his daughter board her flight back to New York and smiled. Between her rapid departure and the press corps lack of details on his father's condition, one could only assume that he wasn't doing as well as some would believe. Hopefully a more detailed report would be given once his daughter arrived and they could publicly announce the details.

Opal Agencies or not, maybe this would teach both of his meddling daughters not to rattle his cage anymore. Even if his father survived it wouldn't be a complete loss. He just showed both of them that he had about as much power as they did these days. It was a warning, pure and simple, if they didn't listen; well there were others he could use as well. He clicked off the television in his office and went back to work. He had a meeting with Neil tonight and all had to be ready.

"Nice touch telling FX to tip off the press on this. Your father is sure to hear about this now." Remarked Shadow as CNN gave an updated report and full details on Richard and MJ's departure.

"That was the plan, any word from the ranch?" Belle asked while sitting on the couch petting Black Magic on her lap to keep herself from throwing things around, either physically or mentally.

"Yep, a note from Mama and Andrew evidentially a certain Ranger decided to pay your Dad a visit in his office and nearly got charged with assault while he was at it." Shadow grinned. "If there was any doubt about the relations between Anderson Industries and Travis Oil Company, it's moot point now."

"Remind me to thank Paul for that one later." Replied Belle as she reached for her laptop. "Right now I have a bit more work to do."

"So what’s the plan anyway?" The suspense was killing her, ever since Richard and MJ left Belle had been deadly quiet, you could practically hear the wheels turning her brain from across the room. The only things Shadow wanted to know was how they were going to kick butt and would Neil Reynolds in a prison cell be part of the plan.

"Oh it's not much." Hissed Belle. "We are going to do some shopping and tail a certain person, back to a certain compound where I bet we find two certain slime balls hatching plans and give them a hell of a scare and then some."

Shadow read between the lines. "I get the idea, but why not call FX and ask her for the information on Reynolds's private compound? That would be tons easier. Wouldn't it?"

"Because I'm willing to bet that the second I tag FX, she'll tell Richard and he'll either be down here himself or call Paul in on this." Replied Belle in a very flat tone as she clicked away on the laptop. "He didn't like leaving here and will find some way to keep tabs on me, through FX is the best way to do it. I know how he thinks."

"Gotcha, so lets get cleaned up and see how much of illegally gotten cash Candice Reynolds is spending today." Snickered Shadow rubbing her hands together. With a curt nod Belle shut the laptop and vanished into the guestroom.

A few hours later found Dr. Shadow Travis and an attractive redhead haired woman strolling through a posh shopping mall. They quickly spotted the voluptuous blond with a huge hulking man following close behind with a bulge in his jacket and dark looks for those who gaze lingered a bit too long.

"That's her?" Hissed the redhead.

"Yep." Drawled Shadow. "That's her, Candice Reynolds also known as 'Cotton Candy' star of multiple triple X rated films."

The redhead closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. "I got the make and number of the car, let's got before Igor there figures out that we are not the normal air-headed shoppers here."

"Oh this is going to be good." Snickered Shadow with glee as the pair made their way back to the covered garage areas.

A few hours later Candice Reynolds was sitting comfortably in the back of the limousine going thorough her purchases while her bodyguard guided into traffic and back home. She was completely unaware of the small blinking G.P.S. transmitter that was carefully hidden behind the license plate.

As Belle pulled off the red wig and opened her laptop in Shadow's Bronco she grinned. "Bingo."

"She's on the move?" Inquired Shadow as they headed back to the hideout.

"Yes she is, once she gets there it won't take too long to get an exact address and some idea of the layout of the joint. Only so much I can do without tipping people off. I have no clue how deep Reynolds has his claws into the public offices here." Replied Belle without pausing her typing for more that a second at a time.

"From what I can see, he is in deep. He's into construction so expect the land, building and public safety offices to be chock full of his flunkies. More than happy to report to Neil about some nosing about his holdings." Stated Shadow with a frown.

"Gotcha." Belle tossed back without her eyes ever leaving the dot on her screen. "It's on the outskirts of town that's for sure. Good thing we decided on the tracker instead of following her via car. We'd have been made for sure. How come you didn't know where Neil's house was Shadow?"

"Found it once, but then he moved again, he seems to do that allot, or he's got places all over Austin. Never had the need to find it recently though. I didn’t think I'd have the ability to crack into the place. Its security must be ten times that of his offices, so I never bothered recently." Shadow tossed off as she pulled the Bronco into it's parking spot.

"Well you know now and I think Neil may restrict Candy's shopping to the Home Shopping Network after tonight." Replied Belle grimly.

Shadow gave a dark chuckle in agreement.

Neil Reynolds's private compound was a villa of sorts located several miles outside the city of Austin proper. A man in his line of work needed privacy as well as security. Within the eight-foot high walls mounted with security cameras every few yards lay a carport, a helicopter pad, a few small bungalows for either guests or other needs, as well as the huge Spanish style villa fitted with several bedrooms, a pool, spa and all the trimmings. The entire compound covered several acres and was some distance from any other buildings and main roads.

The gates near the front entrance and the carport were wrought iron and wired to have a high amount of electricity course through them to discourage anybody from climbing them. Not to mention the half dozen well armed guards that stood at the gates and the several others scattered through out the grounds. Very impressive from the two women's perspective as they silently observed the comings and goings of those at the gates.

Spirit Wolf and ShadowWing had no choice but to leave the Bronco behind and hike across the several miles to the compound or they'd be spotted for sure. They allowed the wolves to scout ahead the pair had found some cover and began to watch the main gates looking for a way inside.

Spirit whistled in appreciation. "I'm glad I never tried this before, or I would be dead by now." She peered through her binoculars again, "Any clues on how to get it there?"

"Two." Replied ShadowWing, "We either wait for a delivery truck to cling to, or we scale the walls."

"What about the security cameras?" Muttered Spirit. "Or is that a stupid question?"

"How's your marksmanship?" Quipped ShadowWing. "Or is that also a stupid question?"

"What do you want hit?" Came the response with a feral grin. ShadowWing pulled out of her pack what looked like a pistol with a good scope on it. "This is not an ordinary gun, what it fires are small scramblers that can attach to those cameras, all that will register is a small moment of static, less than a seconds worth, then return to normal. But what really happens is that the camera is in an endless loop shot, we will be able to walk by them and not be seen."

"Got it, and no problem in five minutes those suckers will be as blind as Breakfast's namesake." Smirked Spirit as she took the gun from ShadowWing's hands. True to her word she was able to hit four cameras with four shots in record time, when the guards were not looking the pair whipped out the climbing hooks and quickly scaled the walls. Spirit suggested that ShadowWing use her telekinesis to scale the walls, but was countered by the fact that it was a bit too flashy for this situation.

The pair landed with the slightest of sounds. ShadowWing hid a wince as her injury flared up again, she hoped this would be over with I minimum of fuss, she was not up to a prolonged fight quite yet. No sooner did they began to move through the front yard did a car pull up to the front gates, ShadowWing scowled and began to tense up, her current pain faded as her anger rose.

Spirit didn’t need to look to know what just set ShadowWing off, but she checked to be sure. As expected it was Douglas Anderson looks like he and Neil were having a late night meeting. Who knew who was inside that villa tonight? Spirit Wolf was now started to have serious doubts about this little adventure. Especially with ShadowWing in the mood she was in, she was still not up to par on top of that. This would not be a pleasant night, but here they were so might as well get the job done. To both women's surprise Smoke and Mist suddenly appeared beside them. Obviously they were able to slip through the gates while Douglas's car was driving through.

After a few quiet commands to keep the wolves quiet the pair moved on. Silently the two women and wolves moved along toward the villa keeping an eye out for guards and keeping out of sight. Creeping along the windows and peeking inside until they spotted Candy leaving a large open-air living room and two men move along to the back porch where the pool and the gardens were. With a silent nod to each other they moved toward the porch to over hear the conversation.

"May I offer my condolences on what happened to your father Douglas?" Remarked Neil with no small amount of sarcasm.

Douglas smiled darkly. "Not necessary, word came out a short time ago that he is well on the road to recovery and that the injury was not that serious after all."

"It seemed to scare your daughter back home in a hurry." Smirked Neil. "Are you hoping she stays there?"

"Yes, and if she is determined to be stubborn then other ways will have to be found." Remarked Douglas casually. Spirit thought she would have to hold ShadowWing back, she looked like she was about to explode.

"Can I expect a merger between Anderson Industries and Reynolds Construction in the near future?" Smiled Neil.

"If all goes well...yes you may." Smirked Douglas returning the smile. Spirit Wolf just closed her eyes and waited for the explosion. She didn't have to wait long, when she opened her eyes she noted that ShadowWing was gone and a form was moving along the low sloped roof of the villa. The Native American sunk deeper into the shadows and kept her eyes on Neil, when all hell broke loose he'd bolt and she wasn't going to loose him this time.

ShadowWing figured that dropping down from the roof would be the best way to catch them both off guard. Pity for poor Candice who decided at that second to join her husband on the back porch just as ShadowWing landed. She never got a chance to scream as the black leather glove closed over her mouth and a cold voice hissed into her ear. "Stay quiet. Turn around and go back inside and you may survive this night."

Candy didn't believe her for a moment and like all ladies of her former profession took matters into her own hands. With a sharp elbow to the leather clad mystery woman's stomach she attempted an escape. Her saving grace was the fact she hit ShadowWing right on the gunshot wound.

That is when all hell officially broke loose.

The shocked yelp from ShadowWing and the blood curdling scream from Candy soon got Neil, Douglas and about a dozen armed guards attention focused on the back porch. When both Neil and Douglas reached inside their jackets ShadowWing bluntly told her body's protest to shove it and grabbed the edge of the low hanging roof above her and quickly flipped back onto it. Candy was dragged back inside the house by her bodyguard seconds before automatic gunfire splattered everywhere.

Spirit Wolf quickly ordered the wolves to hide until called; there was too much stray gunfire around to risk using them yet. She stayed low and in the shadows as she crept behind the closest thug and cracked him across the back of skull with the handle of a Bowie knife. They didn't know she was here yet, but Neil would have to assume that if one SW was here the other couldn't be far behind, time to work fast as she moved on to the next one.

"Who the hell is that!" Snapped Neil scanning the rooftops for the intruder his gun drawn.

"Unless your lupine friend as taken up advanced gymnastic stunts I'd guess that was ShadowWing." Douglas spat back scowling, he figured that ShadowWing had to be either Mary Jean or Belle, and since Belle left for New York, he had to believe that the figure on the roof was Mary.

"That means Spirit Wolf must be on the grounds, she would never turn down a chance at this raid. Guards spread out! I want her found and I want her alive!" Bellowed Neil most complied while one spoke into a small walkie-talkie, suddenly security lights came on turning the shadowy grounds bright as noon.

"Damn it!" Hissed Spirit as she gave the old heave ho into a nearby tree and made it seconds before being spotted, the wolves remained hidden in various bushes and shrubs. However ShadowWing was quickly spotted and there was nowhere to run to on that tile roof.

As if she was going to run in the first place. One guard was about to take aim and open fire when he suddenly grabbed his skull and with a short howl of pain crumpled to the ground. Spirit Wolf swallowed a few times as more guards dropped with seemingly no reason, only the screams and yells of pain gave any clue on what was happening. She had seen ShadowWing use her powers before, but never like this, never this brutal before. "If I didn't already have a healthy respect for your powers before girl, I do now."

Neil and Douglas looked around in horror as the guards dropped one at a time, what few shots that were fired at ShadowWing either wildly missed or were stopped in midair by her telekinesis. Finally they gave a silent nod to each other and split up to escape. Douglas ran for the carport and Neil for the helicopter pad. Spirit jumped from her perch and whistled for the wolves.

That murdering son of a bitch wasn't getting away from her this time.

ShadowWing was silently tailing her father across the compound and her eyes narrowed as she saw him run into the carport. Her gunshot wound was on fire, but she ignored it for now. She leapt from the main house roof to a few trees and finally settled on the ground outside the carport entrance. Clicking on her starlite lenses she began to enter the darkened building all six senses alert for where a rat was hiding.

Later on ShadowWing would put together that her MetaGenetic powers came from her father's side of the family not her mother's like she believed. It was the only possible explanation for what happened next, because she never saw her father coming. The sucker punch was on target for her gunshot wound and she felt his hand grab the back of her neck. Ignoring the increasing pain she shook her head that loosened the back of her headpiece. In a desperate attempt to get an advantage she reached into his jacket seconds before she was on the receiving end of a vicious kick to the gut.

ShadowWing felt herself being tossed back and let herself go with the flow, and heard the ripping and tearing of her mask as she fell away.

"I knew it." Hissed Douglas holding the remains of her mask in his hand. "Mary was posing as ShadowWing last night and posed as yourself earlier today. Nice try Isobelle, but your little meddling ends tonight."

"It'll end when you are back in prison where you belong." Belle spat standing up extremely slowly.

"I'd love to see you try my dear, but you forgot something," Douglas reached into his jacket pocket and the shock on his face was priceless when his discovered his pistol was missing.

"Lose something?" Growled Belle as she leveled the pistol at him. "You know I should have been suspicious when Spirit told me that you shot me with a Promethium bullet, there was no logical reason for you to have that kind of ammo, unless you were expecting me. The only way that works is that you have known I was a psionic from day one, before ShadowWing even appeared."

"Strongest one to appear in the Anderson family in several generations, my dear." Smirked Douglas. "Immune from other family members powers as well, it was how I got the drop on you for once."

"And why you used the same ammo on Grandpa, the power is another one of those deep dark secrets isn't it?" Hissed Belle. "Funny I always thought the powers came from Mom's side, since MJ never showed any psionic skills."

"Genetics are strange aren't they?" Sneered Douglas. "Now unless you want the world to know the little family secret, not to mention that costume you are wearing I suggest you let me go without much fuss."

"Like hell." Growled Belle as she cocked back the hammer of the pistol.

Spirit Wolf got to her dazed feet, and silently made note never to underestimate a porn star again, they were better actresses than she thought. She thought she had Neil and Candy cornered before they had made it to the chopper, but somehow Candy had signaled her bodyguard and the big lug had nailed her from behind. If it wasn't for the wolves she'd be dead, they had kept the gunmen at by long enough for Neil to get fed up and ordered them to get the hell out. After the chopper took off Smoke and Mist whimpered about her encouraging her to get to her feet.

She cursed herself and scowled at the disappearing dot that was the chopper. "Well the only good thing is I bet SW already has Douglas bound and gagged by this point right puppies?" Smoke and Mist barked in agreement as Spirit began a light lope toward the rest of the complex looking for ShadowWing.

All she heard was a single gunshot.

"Not again..." Whispered Spirit as she broke into a full sprint in the direction of the shot with the wolves leading the way.

A second shot rang through the air. Spirit was getting closer now.

The wolves burst into carport and Spirit was close behind them. "ShadowWing!" She yelled praying that she was all right. The sight that greeted her made her blood run cold, Douglas wasn't the one doing the shooting, ShadowWing wasn't the one who was shot and she was missing her mask.

Belle Anderson scowled at her father who was biting his lip in pain practically unaware of his surroundings, both of his kneecaps were blown away and she still had his pistol aimed at him ready to put another slug into him. Spirit swallowed, if it was anybody but Neil Reynolds, she'd be sorely tempted to walk away and let Belle pull the trigger and not shed any tears over that bastards passing. Unfortunately the only way to get Neil now was for Douglas to cop a plea bargain. If he lived through this that is.

"Don't do it, he's not worth it." Began Spirit sounding horribly clichéd.

"It's tempting." Replied Belle flatly. "Very tempting, I'd Psi-Blade him, but he was stupid enough to inform me that the powers come from his side of the family tree, not my mother's like I always thought."

"He's immune and he knew who you were from the start." Replied Spirit. "He's not with the Electric Chair Belle, think of that and think of your Grandfather and your mother. I'd don't think they'd approve of this, even for scum like him."

"You want him alive so you can nail Reynolds." Belle tossed off. "But he knows way to much, about me, about my family, nothing will stop him from trying to kill me, Grandpa, or anybody else I happen to be close to. I've lost to damn much to like a piece of slime like him take anything else away from me."

"He won't have a chance to try again." Snapped Spirit Wolf. "Think about it Anderson! You really think Reynolds will let him testify? Even if he lives that long he'll be looking over his shoulder too damn much to even worry about you. He's as good as dead, leave it at that and turn him in."

Belle finally lowered the pistol and began to take it apart. "Fair enough, but he'll live long enough to testify against Reynolds, I'll see to that myself. It's the least I can do after blowing it for you this time." After dropping the half-loaded ammo clip near to her father's body, he had finally passed out from the pain. "That'll trace to the one they pulled out of Grandpa, he'll have to deal with that charge as well."

Spirit nodded as the pair left the carport once outside and without her mask it was obvious how bad Belle was fairing. "Damn it girl, come on lets out of here before the authorities arrive."

As Belle gratefully leaned on her friend she gave a weak grin. "Isn't this how this mess got started?" Spirit gave her a scowl as they made it back to the Bronco.

After that little adventure, Belle decided to do the rest of her recuperation at the Travis Ranch instead of Spirit's hideout. All was well and the Travis Clan was practically dancing with glee that Neil Reynolds would finally getting nailed as word came down that Douglas Anderson would agree to pony up the dirt in exchange for lesser charges.

Since he was on parole and crossed state lines, the FBI took control of the situation. The Rangers were not happy about this, but the Feds agreed to let Douglas testify in Texas first before he got shipped back to New York to serve charges there. All was right with the world, for now.

"Damn it all to Hell!" Bellowed Belle Anderson a week later sending three Travis brothers, two wolves and one cat running for cover.

"What in the world?" Muttered Mama Helen, as she and Shadow were busy in the kitchen. Shadow was making for the door to see what had set Belle off when Paul entered the kitchen with a puffed out Black Magic clinging to his head.

"What happened?" Gaped Shadow, though she had a sinking feeling what it involved.

"The Feds screwed up, that's what happened!" Roared Paul tossing his hands up. "They had him! They had him lock stock and barrel and he somehow vanished from their custody!" Black Magic got fed up and jumped to the top of the refrigerator, still puffed out like a feather duster.

Five minutes later Paul, Kyle and Andrew bolted out of the ranch and into town to get the details of how Douglas vanished into thin air and from under a dozen noses. Shadow and Belle had left the house as soon as the news broke in order to blow off steam and to discuss things away from the others.

"Do you know what kind of psionic he is?" Shadow sighed leaning on a fence.

Belle shook her head. "No clue could be anything, there are dozens of possible powers and combos, or somehow Neil was able to grease a palm of two and made him vanish. Somehow I doubt that I'm that lucky."

"If he escaped on his own, Neil may or may not take him back." Shadow scowled. "If Neil helped him, he's as good as dead and we'll be lucky to find the body, if there's one left."

"I don't think so Shadow. My dad is crafty enough to use any help that Neil may give him to his advantage, I doubt that Neil knew the family secret and that could be all the edge he needs. He's still alive, I'm pretty sure of that." Belle closed her eyes. "We were so close."

"Don't think that Belle, don't regret sparing him and turning him over to the cops." Warned Shadow.

"I'm not, you were right he was not worth it. Vengeance is short lived, Justice is forever, and I'd take Justice over Vengeance any day." Belle shook her head. "Was I really that bad that night?"

"You made me believe that you would have pulled that trigger." Answered Shadow.

"He always could bring out the worst in me." Sighed Belle, "Always has and always will."

"Grandfather always told me to learn from my mistakes, I guess this is one of them to learn from." Stated Shadow.

"Yeah never go on a raid with a half cocked, seriously injured, hacked off psionic." Replied Belle, finally breaking into a grin.

"I was thinking more along the lines about never letting your enemies get under your skin and control you with your own anger, but yours works well too." Quipped Shadow. "Besides we scared the shit out of both of them and we'll nail them both next time."

"Next time." Mused Belle. "That sounds better by the moment." Both women smiled in silent agreement before heading back to the ranch to plot for that 'next time' when they crossed paths with their enemies again.

ShadowFiles | Writings | Main Entrance | Contact