---

Paul wrapped his arm around me and we watched the girls for a while. With it being just them, Alicia and Jessica they were perfectly comfortable and as bubbly as teenagers can be. Usually they were a little more reserved with new people, but Alicia is even smaller than they are so must have seemed safe.

After that I went hunting again to stock up on food. I figured we'd need it after the attack on the club, which was likely to take place the next day. Jessica wanted Melissa to take it easy a little longer and I was inclined to agree. Besides which, I wanted to talk to Alicia.

When I got back from hunting I went looking for her. She was sitting on the pier dangling her legs in the water and looking miserable.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

She jumped a bit but otherwise didn't move. I sat beside her and waited. It was a good ten minutes before she finally said anything.

"What do you all expect me to do?" she finally asked.

I looked at her in surprise, "Do? We don't expect you to do anything except get on with your life."

She snorted, "What life? I had everything and now I have nothing. Everyone thinks I'm a kid and, by the looks of things, I'm not going to get any bigger. I don't even have an identity anymore! If I went back 'home' I'd probably get locked up or killed. What kind of life am I supposed to get on with?"

I shrugged, "A new one, I suppose. Do you really think you're the only one who has it tough? A lot of the people here didn't even have the ability to escape; they had to be rescued after unspeakable things were done to them. But they are, at least for the most part, looking forward to a new life."

She turned on me angrily, "So what, I'm supposed to go back to that island with you and do...what? Sit around eating coconuts?!"

"You can do anything you want." I replied while trying to keep my own anger in check. "Stay here if you want. Or go back to Mexico or wherever else you want. You can fly now, so you don't even need us for transportation."

That stopped her. She looked surprised and sat back to think for a while. She turned to stare at the water for several minutes before she finally said, "Will you teach me how to fly?"

Maybe flying will help get her out of her funk? I thought. "Sure. Want to start now?" I said.

She smiled a little and nodded. "Okay, let's go." With that I picked her up to a startled, "Eeep!" and flew past the boats to a clearing nearby.

I'd never taught anyone to fly before, but figured if I showed her how I did it she would figure it out. She watched me intently as I took off, landed, took off again, and glided around the clearing before she felt confident enough to give it a try.

After half a dozen failed attempts she collapsed in tears. "I can't even fly! What good is this puny body?!" she screamed.

I'd been watching her the entire time and noticed her wings were shaped differently and seemed to move differently, as well. Thinking about that, and her increased metabolism, gave me an idea. "Maybe we're taking the wrong approach."

"What do you mean?" she asked. She managed to stop crying and looked up at me hopefully. I could see this meant a lot to her, to have something good come from all this.

"I have wings like a hawk and I fly similarly. My wings are larger and probably stronger than yours. Trying to fly like me is probably getting in the way more than it's helping. Plus, you're moving too slow. Your body is geared for a much higher speed. Maybe there's a reason for that." I said.

"Like what?" she said.

"Well, what kind of bird can you think of that moves very fast but is very small?" I replied.

She didn't have to think long before a look of comprehension came over her, "A hummingbird! Do you think that's why I'm so small now?"

I shrugged, "It's a thought, anyway. Why don't you try letting yourself move at your natural pace and see what happens?"

She nodded and gave it a try. It still took her several tries, but she finally found her rhythm. As I'd thought, she flew by flapping her wings extremely fast. Possibly even faster than a normal hummingbird would. But then, she had a lot more mass to move.

She needed some work on her control, and her landings, but after a few hours of practicing she was satisfied that she could, indeed, fly. She seemed much happier than before, though I suspected she was far from recovered from her depression. For whatever reason her transformation hit her harder than most.

Our practicing had used up the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. She was starving after all her exertions and neither of us realized we were both moving and speaking at her speed until we got back to the pier. There we made an effort to get ourselves back to normal speed. It seemed to be more of an effort for her, but then she's faster.

She joined in the conversation a little at dinner, but immediately afterward she went away from the rest. I was about to follow when she began moving in obviously practiced ways. She was having some difficulty, presumably from her altered body, but I could only assume from her movements that she was practicing some kind of martial art.

She kept at it for hours and we took it in turn to keep an eye on her. We all suspected she wasn't recovered yet.

Her clumsiness in her new body obviously frustrated her. So much so that she accidentally punched a hole in one of the unused ships at the end of the pier. She looked down at her fist in surprise. Then she did it again. I ran over to make sure she wasn't hurting herself.

"What's going on?" I asked when I got close enough to be heard, assuming she had near normal human hearing.

She turned to me with a wide smile, "I'm still strong! Even though I'm so tiny I'm as strong as I was before. Maybe stronger!"

I laughed at the almost childlike delight in her eyes, "I guess you're happy about that?"

She laughed, too, "Of course! I thought I'd be helpless in this body. But I'm still strong and I can fly! I need a little work to get used to this body, but otherwise I think I can take care of myself okay."

Lek and Muay had also run over to help their new friend. "Why silly girl punch boat?" Muay asked.

Alicia laughed in embarrassment, "I guess I got a little frustrated."

Lek was looking at Alicia differently and said something to Muay. "Lek say you know how to fight. You teach us?" she asked.

Alicia smiled, "Sure, I'd love to!"

I left them to it and returned to Paul, who was working on dinner with Kim. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"I guess part of Alicia's problem was that she felt helpless because of her size and apparent weakness. Now that she knows she's as strong as before and is getting the hang of her new body it seems to be helping her confidence. I think Lek and Muay wanting her to teach them helped, too." I replied.

Kim nodded thoughtfully, "That's a really good idea, you know?"

"What's that?" Paul asked.

"Martial arts." she replied. "A lot of the girls, and some of the guys, feel really helpless after everything that was done to them. Hell, I wouldn't mind learning a few things myself. I'm strong and reasonably tough, but I really just act on instinct more than anything."

"Hmm, maybe Alicia would be willing to start a class? I'll ask her later." I said.

With the girls keeping Alicia occupied I decided to help with dinner. Something I don't often do as the smell of cooking meat just seems... wrong, somehow now.

At dinner I brought up Kim's idea. Alicia was a little reluctant, but the others were thrilled with the idea. They practically begged her to teach them. Paul suggested it might even be a good thing for us all to do together. Alicia looked a little overwhelmed at the idea but caved in when the girls started pleading with her with those great big eyes of theirs.

We decided to start in the morning since it was already getting dark. One by one everyone left to get some sleep. Melissa, Kim and Stefan stayed around to talk about the club. Melissa felt she was ready for action and even Jessica agreed with her.

I would have liked to do the attack at night, when there would be fewer people around. But few of the others had good night vision. So it was decided to attack in the early afternoon. Hopefully everyone would be busy at their workplace and there wouldn't be too many people on the street.

The mood was more sombre after that and Lek and Muay were clingy again that night. I didn't complain; I understood their fear a little better now.

In the morning Alicia began her class. All of us took part except for Jessica and those with the most serious injuries. There were only four left who hadn't healed enough to take part. They were all from the last trip to the club and one of them was in such bad shape we still didn't know if she would make it. Even mutant healing has its limits.

The class was rather chaotic at first, but Alicia soon got the hang of teaching. She kept to the basics to start, but most of us picked things up pretty well. I was glad we were finally getting this training; we'd been in far too many fights already. I usually relied on speed and brute strength so it'd be nice to have a better idea what I was doing.

After a break from Alicia's class we all had lunch. Nobody talked much as we were all thinking about the upcoming attack. The first time I was there it wasn't too bad, but last time they nearly killed Melissa and I, and they did kill one of the ones we were trying to save. And another might still die yet. This attack could get a lot of people killed on both sides if they were ready for us.

Alicia insisted on joining the air portion of our attack. She has a lot to learn about flying, but seeing as she's our most skilled fighter I could hardly refuse. Although after seeing the glee in her eyes when I agreed I began to question my decision.

"Deep thoughts?" Paul asked, startling me. I was away from the others since I'd already eaten all I needed that morning.

"I was just thinking about Alicia." I said after making sure she wasn't near. I didn't think she had enhanced hearing, or very anyway, but I couldn't be sure.

He frowned, "What about her? Isn't she doing a lot better now? I think she really appreciated being able to help with that class. She'll make a good teacher, I think."

I sighed, "Yeah, but you didn't see her face when I said she could join the attack on the club this afternoon. She wasn't just happy, she was... I don't know. I think she's way too eager to get some of her own back."

Paul took a seat next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "You may be right. But really, can you blame her? It sounds like she had a really good life before. Many of the people here; they never had a good life to begin with. So they didn't lose as much, in a way."

"I know, I just get the feeling her interest isn't healthy." I replied.

"Perhaps. We'll just have to keep an eye on her. But some of the others are just as eager. I'd really rather we just torch the place from outside, but there's no telling if there are more mutants in there being treated like the others were. We'll all have to be cautious and try and rein in the overeager." Paul said thoughtfully.

I nodded, "That's a good idea. Why don't we take the more level headed people who are going aside before we go and spread the word. I'll talk to Melissa and Kim and you can talk to Mike and Tina, okay?"

"Sure." he agreed. After a quick kiss he got up to find Mike. I had an easier time with Melissa thanks to her wings.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" I said once I'd reached her.

"Sure, what's up?" she asked.

"Paul and I were talking and I think some of the others, Alicia in particular, are a little too eager for the attack on the club this afternoon. If they've set another trap for us it's going to be extremely dangerous. Several of us could get killed if we're not careful. We were hoping that you, Kim, Mike and Tina could help to reign in the overeager." I said.

She shrugged, "I can keep an eye on the shrimp, but since we're going in from above I'm not sure how much help I can be with the rest."

I nodded, "I know, but that would still be a big help. If you could take up the rear and keep an eye on her it would put my mind at ease so I could concentrate on the task at hand better."

"Sure, I'm fine with that. I'd hate to have something bad happen to our new martial arts instructor, anyway." Melissa said.

"Thanks. I don't suppose you know where Kim is?" I asked.

"I think she might have been talking to Alicia." Melissa replied. I thanked her and went looking for Alicia. It's generally a lot easier to find people with wings than those without and that proved true with her. She was talking to Kim out on the pier.

"I'm just saying we could make a bigger difference if we hunt down the people doing this." Alicia was saying with more intensity than I'd seen in her yet.

Kim nodded, "I kind of agree, but we can't ignore all the mutants they've victimized, either."

Alicia seemed frustrated and, seeing me approaching, wandered off in a huff. "What was that about?" I asked.

Kim shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure. But I think she's more interested in getting revenge than she is in helping other mutants. I'm a little worried about her, actually."

"So am I. That's why I've asked Melissa to keep an eye on her at the club today. I'd also like to ask you to do the same. Stefan and some of the others are a little too eager and could easily get in over their heads." I said as I watched Alicia storm off with some concern.

Kim turned back to me at that, "I can see what you mean. They're extremely angry about what was done to them. In some ways I think guys handle being raped worse than women do."

"Probably true; it's not something they usually have to worry about. I know I never did, before." I said thoughtfully.

"I didn't either. Not that it's a big concern for me anymore. But I know that being strong isn't always enough. Guns have a habit of equalizing things that way..." she said sadly.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried at the way her voice trailed off at the end.

She shook herself, "Yeah, I'm alright. I'll keep an eye on everyone I can at the club. I was already expecting to have to reign Stefan and his friends in."

I looked at her for a long moment before nodding, "Okay. I'll see how Paul is doing, then." I didn't believe her for a moment, but I knew just about everyone we'd rescued had their issues to deal with and now wasn't the right time for that.

I found Paul finishing up his talk with Mike and Tina. They had also anticipated the problem. The three of them were each going to take separate entrances, with a half dozen or so others following their lead. I knew they'd have difficulty reigning everyone in with that setup but attacking from many directions at once was our best chance to deal with any traps that might be waiting for us.

It was time to go before we knew it so we gathered everyone up, armed them as best we could, and started the long walk into town. Paul would stay behind with those not involved in the attack. Which mostly consisted of Jessica and the injured.

The walk was slow and eerily quiet. As soon as we got to the edge of town I started noticing people going indoors and closing up their homes and businesses. They could see that something big was about to happen and didn't want any part of it.

The first problem that we faced none of us had really anticipated. We probably should have, but they'd been absent during all of our previous fights so had never considered that they might get involved now. But a couple of blocks from the club we encountered a roadblock manned by several police officers. Others, not in uniforms, were also there. All of them were armed.

I took one look at the roadblock and knew that fighting our way through was far too dangerous. "Let me handle this." I told Kim. She nodded and motioned for everyone else to stop. Melissa and Alicia started forward but I shook my head, "No, I've got this." Reluctantly, they stood back with the others.

The men at the blockade yelled at me, presumably to stop, but I ignored them. Once they started pointing their guns at me I stopped and started feeling for the paths I'd need. Once I had them all lined up I raised my hand and released a blinding bolt of electricity. It branched out from my hand and struck every one of the men. Most were thrown back by the force of it, but all of them fell and dropped their weapons.

Moving forward I checked each one to make sure they were unconscious. I had to knock a few heads to make sure, but soon I was clearing the road and the others quickly ran up to help. We relieved the men of their weapons and continued on, with a short stop at some power lines for me to recharge. I hadn't used that much power but I figured I might need all I could get.

"I can't believe you took them all down like that!" Kim said after we'd been moving for a few minutes. There were a few murmurs of agreement from some of the others.

I shrugged, "I'm getting better at controlling it. Not that long ago I would have had to release a lot more power to accomplish the same thing and I probably would have fried everyone within range to a crisp to do it. I doubt I'll be able to pull the same stunt again, though. If we encounter another group they'll probably start shooting right away. Especially at me."

She nodded somberly and we continued walking in silence. We often saw movement out of the corners of our eyes, but whenever we turned to look there were only closed doors and covered windows. Whether it was enemies or just people getting away from a potential fight we couldn't tell.

At my direction we circled the building before breaking up into our four groups. Once I was as sure as I could be that there wasn't anybody outside the building waiting to attack us, I took my little group into the air. We surveyed the outside of the building but still saw neither sign of occupancy nor any guards. So, we dropped onto the roof and prepared to open the door.

The others were waiting for my word to attack, which I'd give only after we'd gotten inside. But I'd taken only a few steps inside before Alicia grabbed me and began frantically pulling me back, "Tripwire, we've got to get out of here!"

Melissa, hearing Alicia's words, grabbed us both and jumped back just as the building erupted into a giant fireball.

---

Heat, flames and smoke buffeted me from seemingly every direction, but somehow never quite engulfed me. I felt a trickle of moisture running down from my ears, but I could hear nothing for several moments. When I could, all I heard was the flapping of massive wings. Looking around I saw that I was hundreds of feet up and being carried by Melissa.

She had something in her other hand, which I finally realized was an unconscious Alicia. Turning to scan the ground, I saw a thick pillar of smoke and flame where the club had once been. I looked around frantically for the others, but I couldn't see much beyond the smoke. "What happened?!" I yelled to be heard above the roaring of the flames.

"They must have rigged it! I don't know where everyone else is. I'll get us back down to the ground." Melissa replied.

Several tense moments later I was finally standing on my own two feet. Melissa carried Alicia liked a small child while we looked for the others. We found Mike's group first.

He was covered in dust, but looked alright. The others were much the same, though one had a little blood on her head. "Are you alright?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, we're okay. Yvette back there got a bump on the head but nothing serious. What about her?" He pointed at Alicia.

"She's okay, just knocked out." Melissa replied. "Have you seen any of the others?"

"Not yet, but Tina's group should be over there." Mike said, pointing off to his right. We all started in that direction, but Tina found us first. She was carrying one of the men from her group, but the others were moving on their own power and seemed unhurt.

"Hey guys, everyone okay over here?" she asked.

I nodded, "Yes, how about that one?"

"I'm not sure, he got partially buried by rubble. We should get him back to Jessica soon. But what about Kim?" she replied.

None of us had seen her group, so we circled halfway around the building to where we thought she should have been. There was no sign of her group. But then we heard a whistle from an alley nearby. Turning, I saw Kim waving for us to come over.

We hurried to her and saw she had three injured; one of them covered in blood. It was Stefan.

"What happened?!" Mike asked.

Kim frowned, "Stefan was pushing to go in right away. He got the door open before I could grab him, but I stopped him there. But when Alicia screamed he pulled away. The blast threw him back out, but he got pretty banged up. Two of the others got hit by flying debris, but I think they'll be okay."

I took a quick look at all the injured. Alicia and the woman with the head wound from Mike's group seemed the least injured. The man Tina was carrying could have internal injuries, so that was a worry. Stefan was the only other whose injuries might be serious, though.

"Okay, we're going to have to split up a little. Melissa, hand Alicia over to Mike. Tina, hand that guy to Melissa and she'll take him back to Jessica. I'll take Stefan. The rest of you, head back to the pier as fast as you can. If you run into any resistance, try to avoid it rather than fight through it. I'll come back as quick as I can." I said, putting action to words. In a moment I had Stefan in hand and was flying back.

Glancing back I saw that Melissa was right behind me, and the others seemed to be doing as I asked. I kept one eye on the ground, but saw no other road blocks or ambushes that the others might run into. Even so, I flew as fast as I could. In minutes I was handing Stefan off to Jessica and heading back.

A couple of minutes later I waved as Melissa flew by. A few more minutes of flight brought me back to the group. They were making good time so I decided to follow in the air.

Thankfully, there were no more surprises. Everyone got back to the pier in half the time it took to get there. Once I saw the last one safely inside the area I considered our 'territory', I headed inside the hospital ship.

Inside Melissa and Jessica were hustling to take care of the wounded. Jessica ignored the others as she focused on the men Melissa and I carried back. She seemed particularly concerned about the man Melissa carried back. I had expected Stefan to be the greater concern, but she seemed more concerned about the other man.

I found Alicia resting on one of the mattresses, along with the other three with minor wounds. I walked over and shook her shoulder, but she didn't wake.

"Why are you trying to wake her?" Melissa asked, glancing over from where she was cleaning Stefan's wounds.

"I was hoping she could tell me something about what she saw before the explosion." I explained.

"I think she took a blow to the head or something, she's pretty out of it. Let her sleep for now." Melissa said. I nodded and stood aside helplessly.

Paul found me there a few minutes later, "How are you doing Cat?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I'm fine. Melissa got us out just before it blew."

"That's not what I mean." he replied.

Sighing, I said, "I just feel helpless."

He wrapped his arms around me, "I know, so do I. But standing here isn't going to do any good, either. Perhaps we should get out of the way?"

Reluctantly, I allowed him to pull me out of the ship. Before long I found myself sitting on the end of the pier with him. Kim and Tina joined us a few minutes later.

"So, what exactly happened, anyway?" Kim asked.

"I'm not really sure. I started to enter and then Alicia suddenly grabbed me and screamed something about a tripwire. Then Melissa pulled us both back just before the place exploded. I guess they decided to write the club off and move their operations elsewhere, but wired it to blow in case we came back. At least that probably means it was empty." I said.

"There is that. I'm amazed no one was killed." Kim said.

"Unfortunately, the jury is still out on that one." Melissa said, startling us. She sat down next to me. "Stefan should be alright. He's pretty banged up, but Jessica thinks it's nothing serious. He'll be out of action for a while, though."

"So..." Paul said, waiting for an explanation for her cryptic remark.

Melissa sighed, "Yeah. Jimmy, the other one that got hurt the worst, may not make it. He was crushed by rubble. Jessica is pretty sure he has some internal injuries and she just doesn't have the tools or skill to do much about it. She's put him on the IV in hopes that it will provide enough nutrients for him to heal himself. But it doesn't look too good."

"I should have talked them out of it." I said, wiping tears from my eyes.

Paul pulled me to him, "You couldn't have. Even if you told them not to go, they would have. And then a lot more of them would have been hurt and killed. You did the best you could."

"He's right, they were determined." Melissa agreed, with Kim and Tina making sounds of agreement as well.

"See? Besides, Jimmy might make it yet. Mutants are pretty tough." Paul said.

I nodded against his chest, but the tears weren't ready to quit yet. It surprised me how emotional I was getting. I didn't even know Jimmy, or Stefan really. I was beginning to think I wasn't cut out for this. Maybe I should just go back to the island?

A moment later I was engulfed in hugs from Lek and Muay. They'd been helping Jessica but had finally managed to get away and track us down. Melissa, Kim and Tina wandered off while the girls and Paul tried to cheer me up.

Eventually they succeeded, though I was still worried about Jimmy. We checked up on him and the others, but Jessica had no news on them. Alicia was still out, so we returned to the pier. Paul pulled the girls aside and said something to them before wandering off. When they returned to me they were suddenly intensely interested in knowing as much as they could about me.

I had to laugh when I realized how little we really knew about each other, and how transparent Paul's attempt to distract me was. But I humored them and told them all about growing up in Boston, the ship, the island, and everything. I think they were genuinely interested, or are very good actors.

Before I knew it the sky was darkening. I wondered how long it would take for Carl to get back. The original trip had taken most of the day, so it was unlikely that they would return until the next day, at the earliest. I hoped that he would manage to contact Thomas while he was out. We could really use some help both here and on the island. I was beginning to feel very out of my depth.

I eventually managed to convince the girls that it was time for bed. They whined that they wanted to know more about me, but I insisted. Paul joined us a little while later. They still clung to me as we prepared to sleep, but the long talk must have calmed them as they weren't as bad. I hoped that one day they would feel a little more secure than they did now.

---

To Be Continued…