I look at the phone number a classmate had written down for me and pick up the phone, looking around at the hotel room I’m staying in while in Chicago. Grabbing a can of Mountain Dew with my tail, I open it and take a sip while the phone rings in my ear.

“Last Chance Garage, this is Throttle. How may I help you?”

“Is Charley there? Dawn gave me the number when I asked if she knew a good mechanic here in Chicago. I’m here for a couple of months while attending a special class.” I ask him, grabbing a piece of paper and pencil from the desk.

“Charley’s at lunch right now, do you know what is the matter with your car?” Throttle asks, pulling a notepad in front of him as the door across the room opens and Vinnie, Charley and the baby behind him on his bike, return from a picnic in the park.

“I know I need an oil change at least, but I’m staying at a hotel right now and can’t do it myself.” I say, “other than that, my car is running just fine.”

“Okay, I think Charley can fit you in this afternoon. She just came in from lunch, let me ask her.” Throttle says, putting the phone down. “Charley girl, there’s a phone call about an oil change. She says Dawn gave her the number for the garage when she asked about a good mechanic here.”

“Yeah, Dawn told me she’d given my number to a classmate. She lives in New York, but she’s in Chicago taking that special class Micah enrolled Dawn and Rimfire in.” Charley says, walking across the room and taking the phone from his hand. “Hello, this is Charley Davidson, did you just want the oil change or something else?”

”Probably just the oil change, but if you find something else wrong while you’re looking at it, please let me know.” The female voice on the other end of the line says, “Throttle said that he thinks you can work me in this afternoon?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a clear afternoon.” Charley says, “Do you need directions?”

“Dawn drew me a map to the garage yesterday at campus.” I say, finishing the can of pop and tossing the can in the recycling bin in the corner of the room. “I can be over in about an hour, I need to stop and fill up first.”

“I’ll see you then,” Charley says, hanging up the phone and taking Victor from his father’s arms to keep the baby from chewing on his father’s ear. “You little guy, need a bath, a bottle, and a nap.”

“PPPPPPPoooooooooooooooffffffffffffffffffff,” Vic whines, holding out his arms for his father.

“No, nap first, father later.” Charley says calmly, heading up to the bedroom.

“Charley said that she’s attending the class Micah enrolled Dawn and Rimfire in, right?” Vinnie asks Throttle as the two mice walk into the lair.

“Yeah.” Throttle says, dropping into a chair, one of the cats immediately jumping in his lap as Vinnie grabs the phone.

“Call me paranoid,”

“You’re paranoid.” Throttle, Xander, and Modo say in unison.

“Ha, ha, ha, very funny.” Vinnie says, dialing Micah’s number, “But after the military kidnapped Charley, I’m making damn sure that she’s protected.”

“Yeah, Charley’s about ready to brain you and Xander, you’re going so far overboard ‘protecting’ her.” Dawn snorts from the door, returning from the library. “I’ve talked with Greta, she’s on the up and up.”

“Hello?” Micah Simms says, picking up the phone. Lorne and Max, who had been in his office being debriefed, turn back to the desk.

“Micah, it’s Vinnie. Charley got a call from somebody attending the special class you enrolled Dawn and Rimfire in. I’m just calling to see if she’s on the up and up.”

“Micah,” Dawn says, grabbing the phone from Vinnie and putting it on speaker. “Vinnie is just being more paranoid than usual since Charley got kidnapped. Will you please tell him that Greta Logan is okay so he’ll calm down.”

“Greta Logan and Vincent VanWham, both in Chicago?” Lorne asks, heading for the stairs at a fast walk that’s half a step from running in sheer terror. “I’m going to be at the bar, tell me if Chicago survives.” He calls over his shoulder. “You are NOT getting me involved in this.”

“Micah?” Vinnie asks.

“Greta’s okay, she’s just a bit of a hell-raiser.” Micah says, pinching the bridge of his nose as the headache that he’d had earlier after a call from the president comes back full force. “She’s not one of my agents, but she’s worked with us in the past.”

“Then her calling for an oil change is just a coincidence?” Vinnie asks, relaxing slightly.

“Yes Vinnie, it’s just a coincidence.” Micah sighs. “I don’t think it’s an evil plot to drive me insane, but with Greta, we never know.”

“Huh?”

“Xander, you know all the trouble you got in living on the Hellmouth? Of which you’ve only told the others about a quarter because they’d be upset?” Max says, smirking at her boss.

“Yeah,” Xander says, shaking his head frantically at the glares from Throttle and Dawn.

“You’re a piker compared to Greta. Weird shit follows her around like Vinnie follows Charley.”

“Hey,” Vinnie yelps. “I do not follow Charley around like that.”

“Only because she kicks your ass over here when you get too annoying.” Dawn snorts. “Otherwise, you’d follow her around like a lovesick puppy 24/7.”

“Exactly,” Max says, smirking. “Dawn, you can send us a report later. If you survive, that is.” She chuckles and shuts down the connection while her boss pulls a flask from his bottom desk drawer and swallows it in one gulp.

The phone rings again and Micah waves to Max to answer it as he heads for the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he splashes cold water in his face and wonders once again if he’s getting too old for this job.

“No, otherwise you’d have taken retirement and moved to Mount Olympus to grow grapes like you’ve been threatening for the last couple decades.” Asclepius says, popping into the room, leaning against the wall with his arms folded as he looks at his grandson. “Now what’s the matter? You usually don’t touch the stomach remedy I made you, let alone drink the whole thing at once.”

“How did you know I’d opened the flask, let alone drank the entire thing?” Micah asks, turning off the water as his ulcer twinges again. Asclepius frowns, walking behind his grandson and holding his hands over his stomach, glowing slightly. Micah sighs in relief as the pain eases, drooping. His grandfather immediately grabs him, pushing him down into a chair he conjured from the toilet.

“Better fix that before you leave,” Micah says groggily, “otherwise somebody’s going to be pissed.” He giggles as Asclepius rolls his eyes, hands glowing again as he holds them to Micah’s head.

“Micah, you okay in here?” Max asks, sticking her head around the door. She sees Asclepius in the mirror and enters the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

“Lord Asclepius,” she says, bowing. “What brings you here today?”

“To answer both your questions, I put a telltale on the flask, to let me know when it had been opened. When I realized Micah had drank it all at one time, I came down to see what the matter was.”

“You remember me telling you about the group in Chicago we’ve been working with? Xander and the others?” Micah asks, voice muffled by the fact he’s got his hands over his face.

“Yes, I’ve seen Ares and Strife cackling in the Halls of Time over some of the trouble they’ve gotten into. Joxer is convinced that Xander has to be descended from Strife, as much trouble as he gets into, but we haven’t been able to confirm it yet.”

“Well, guess who else is in Chicago and just happened to pick Charley’s garage for an oil change?” Micah asks, looking up at his grandfather. Asclepius frowns, then sighs as he realizes who Micah is talking about. Micah nods.

“Lorne is off at the bar, he told us to let him know if Chicago survived, he wasn’t about to get involved in this mess.”

“Okay, my orders are to go get something to eat, no liquor for the 48 hours, then go home and get some sleep.” Asclepius tells Micah. “Max, go with him to make sure he actually eats. The potion’s going to kill his appetite but he’ll end up collapsing if he doesn’t. How’s your head?”

“Very well, thank you Lord Asclepius.” Max says, “I get headaches once in a while, but it’s better than being dead.” The day she’d been shot five times is almost a bad dream, all she remembers is being held by Lorne, Micah screaming ‘Grandfather.’” She’d woken up in Micah’s spare bedroom, and the entire story had slowly been told. Her boss is the grandson of Asclepius, God of Medicine and Bliss, God of Happiness, Great-Grandson of Strife and Cupid, and Great, Great-Grandson of Ares and Joxer.

Asclepius frowns and holds his glowing hands to her head a minute before creating a flask, identical to the one Micah keeps on him or in his desk at all times, which he hands to her.

“Take a couple of swallows of this when the headache starts and it will help with the pain. Don’t be like your boss and drink the whole thing at one time.” He says, popping back to Mount Olympus, leaving Micah sitting on the toilet.

“Come on boss, let’s get something to eat. Otherwise somebody’s going to start the rumor that you and I are having sex in the bathroom again.” She says, slipping a hand under his arm and pulling him to his feet.

Asclepius pops back to the Temple he shares with his husband on Mount Olympus and leans against the wall, howling with laughter until tears roll down his cheeks. Bliss, who had been working on some scrolls at the table, calmly looks at him with an eyebrow raised until the older God calms down.

“What was all that about?” He asks dryly, pushing away from the table and handing him a goblet of wine when Asclepius drops onto the overstuffed couch.

“You know the Biker Mice in Chicago that Micah’s been working with?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard Dad Strife and Grandpa Joxer howling with laughter at some of the stuff that’s happened to Xander, why?”

“Guess who else just happens to be in town and is on her way to the Last Chance Garage for an oil change?”

Bliss’ expression is blank for a moment until the shoe drops, then an evil grin reminiscent of his Daddy Strife crosses his face.

“DDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDD.” He bellows at the top of his lungs, waiting for somebody to appear.

“What is it, Bliss?” Cupid asks, popping into the room, his bow in one hand and quiver across his back. “I was off to help mom get some couples together.”

“Sorry Dad, I was yelling for Daddy Strife. DDDDAAAAAAAAADDDDDDD, Yes Strife I mean you.” Bliss calmly yells in midair, sounding exactly like Joxer when he’s yelling for Ares but not wanting to actually get up and go looking for him in their Temple.

“Yeah Squirt, whatcha want?” Strife says, popping into view. “I was busy . . .”

“Harassing the Muses again.” Bliss finishes for him. “Is it important?”

“Not really, but it is fun, why?” Strife drops into a chair, pulling one of his smaller daggers and cleaning his fingernails. “They’ve all been on the rag, and Bright Britches is going nuts because they haven’t been paying him the attention he thinks he deserves. Sorry, Ace.”

“Don’t be Strife, The muses pretty much raised me because Dad was too busy being the ‘All Powerful god of music, the sun, and Medicine.’” Asclepius says dryly, “Zeus only knows what I’d be like if he had spent more time raising me and less time leaving me to the Muses.”

“What did you need Blissy-boy? Apollo’s about ready to get up from his mid-day nap and I’m late for giving him a serious case of bedhead.”

“Okay, if you’d rather torment Apollo instead of watching the Biker Mice meet Greta . . .” Bliss says, his voice trailing off. Strife yelps as he pokes himself with the dagger, he’d moved so fast.

“Greta and Xander in the same place???” He asks in a hushed voice. “Bliss, you ain’t shitting your old man now, are you?”

“No he’s not,” Asclepius says dryly, “Micah got the call from Vinnie a few minutes ago. Greta called for an oil change, and since she’s also attending the class he enrolled Dawn and Rimfire in, they called him to find out if she was on the up and up.”

“Micah knows she’s heading there?” Strife asks with an evil grin.

“Yes, he opened the flask of stomach medicine I made for him and drank the whole thing at once.” Asclepius says dryly, “which is how I found out what was going on. I sent him off with Max to get something to eat and some sleep. Hopefully, Greta and Vinnie will leave Chicago mostly intact by the time they’re done.”

Strife cackles, rubbing his hands together in glee as he pops out of the Temple, heading for Ares and Joxer’ temple. Popping in, he finds Joxer and Ares hearing petitions and grinning maniacally grabs Joxer by the collar and takes them to the Halls of Time.”

“SSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.” Ares yells after the departing pair. “I am going to skin you alive if you don’t bring my consort back here this second.” He shakes his fist in mid-air while Hades calmly pulls him back down onto his throne. “Calm down before you hurt yourself.” Hades says, grabbing a scroll from the shocked priest who had been petitioning. “As for you, close your mouth, you’ll catch flies.”

“Okay, care to tell me what’s going on?” Joxer calmly asks as the pair appear in the Halls of Time. He carefully straightens his formal robes before porting them back to his closet, changing into a pair of sweatpants and muscle shirt.

“Greta is about to meet Vinnie, Xander, and the others.” Strife yells at the top of his lungs in the general direction of the door. Immediately, gods begin popping into the Hall, while the building re-arranges itself to make room for the new occupants.

“You couldn’t have just told us that when you popped in, instead of grabbing our Consort?” Hades asks dryly.

“Now what would the fun be in that?” Strife says with an evil grin as the screen pops into life, showing Greta pulling up in front of the Garage.

“And I really wish Greta would break down and buy a different car.” Ares grumbles under his breath as first Joxer, then Hades elbow him in the ribs as Cupid shoves a tub of popcorn in his hands. “The only thing holding the body together on that rust bucket is the rust.”

“Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.” Joxer says, making talking motions with his hands. “Hush, Grumpy. Hades and I will fuck you through the mattress later, I want to see this.”

Ares bad mood abruptly vanishes, and he smiles, a shy look on his face as he looks at his consorts. “Promise?”

“Yes, I promise,” Hades says with a sigh, “now hush so we can hear this.”

I pull up in front of the garage, smiling as the door opens and a woman in her mid 20’s waves me into the building. I shut the engine off and open the door, stretching before I pop the hood on the 56 station wagon.

“Damn, I haven’t seen one of these in years.” Charley says, whistling as she looks under the hood. “But I do know that this isn’t the original engine.”

“Nope,” I say grinning, “I replaced the engine last summer when I got her.” I pat the top of the car fondly. “I’ve still got some work to do on the body, my family swears the rust is the only thing holding it together, “but you can’t beat the cargo room in the older station wagons. The newer ones are just overgrown sedans with an open back instead an enclosed trunk.”

“How did you even find a ’56?” Charley asks, starting the oil change.

“Ebay,” I say smugly, “I got it pretty cheaply too since the original engine had seized up. Original owner was an older woman who had stopped driving when she entered a nursing home. The family sold the car when she died.”

“It’s nice to see a kid who wants an older car instead of a new one for their first car.” Charley says, smiling as Dawn enters the room, squealing as she pulls me towards the doorway.

“Actually, this is my third car.” I call over my shoulder. “My first car stays in New York.” I pull my wallet out and show them a picture taken by Dad last summer. Dawn whistles, not knowing what car she’s looking at but Charley grabs the wallet out of my hand, staring first at the picture and then at me. “You have a Lamborghini Countach???” She asks in a hushed tone.

“Ohhhh yeahhhhh,” I smirk, taking back the wallet and shoving it in my purse. “Now you know why I keep it at home.”

“I’d keep it in a museum.”

“I live in a mansion behind a ten foot wall with it’s own security force.” I snort. “Almost as good as a museum and I can drive her whenever I want.”

“You actually drive it?”

“Yeah, whenever I’m at home.” I call over my shoulder as I follow Dawn into her home.

“You drive what whenever you’re home?” A voice asks from the other side of the room and I blink when I see a six foot white mouse eating a hot dog at the table. He moans in disappointment when I don’t even blink at his appearance, and a second mouse snickers.

“My Lamborghini Countach.”

“You own a Countach?” The second mouse says, his mouth dropping. The tan mouse sitting next to him calmly closes it with a finger.

“Guys, this is a friend from school, Greta Logan. Greta, this is my adoptive fathers Throttle,” the tan mouse, “ and Xander.” the white mouse who’s mouth he’d closed, “The others are Vinnie,” the first white mouse who’d been disappointed when I hadn’t even blinked, “ and Modo.” a huge gray mouse with a metal arm and an eyepatch. “And you already know Rimfire from school. Nice try though, Vinnie.”

“Is everybody out to spoil my fun today?” the first mouse whines.

“Yep,” Dawn says with an evil grin. “Now, Rimmy and I need to talk to her a couple minutes about our final assignment for class.”

I follow Dawn down the stairs to a bedroom that’s obviously occupied by two people, three if you count the reborn person that’s occupying the cat currently sleeping on the pillow.

Dawn waves me to a seat on the couch in the corner of the room and drops onto the bed, automatically reaching over to pet the cat as she wakes, stretching all four legs and sticking her tongue out before curling around the other direction and going back to her nap.

“You know that things are a little strange here, right?”

“You mean the fact there’s five, make that four,” I correct as the door opens and Rimfire walks into the room, “six foot tall mice standing outside the door listening to everything we say, there’s a human spirit occupying the cat you’re still petting, or the fact that when we both met, we could tell immediately that neither of us are exactly what you would call human baseline normal?”

Dawn snickers. “Yeah, that stuff. Would you be the least bit shocked to find out that aliens are real?”

“Nope, I spent a year on a government operated satellite that nobody knows about and I’m not supposed to talk about,” I’m interrupted by a ringing telephone and raise my voice slightly to be heard through the door though I doubt they need it. “That’s probably Micah calling to complain. Remind him he’s not part of the spy business anymore and the satellite will be announced by the government later this year, along with some of the research conducted on the satellite.” I say dryly. “The satellite has seen quite a few ships going back and forth from Mars and some others that have been identified as Plutarkian. So, what are you really?”

Dawn takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “I'm the Key.”

Meanwhile, all hell(if Hades will pardon the expression) breaks loose on Mount Olympus.

Ares turns to glare at Zeus, while Hera and Hades give him the hairy eyeball as well. “Father, will you please tell me what the Hell my Key is doing human? You took it, sorry her, away from me because you didn’t think I could protect it well enough.”

“Ares,” Zeus says, wilting under the combined glares. “You were preoccupied with Dahok. I felt that you weren’t able to give it the proper attention it deserved, so I gave it to . . .”

“You mean that you not only took the Key from our son, you then turned around and gave it to somebody else?” Hera asks in a tone dripping ice.

“Ummm, yes.” Zeus says slowly, knowing he was in deep shit. “But they said they could take care of it, and I was busy . . .”He whines.

“Who said they could take care of it, Zeus?” Hades says, arms folded over his chest and one foot tapping the floor as Strife freezes the picture so the others could watch Hera and Hades yelling at Zeus.

“Umm, that group of Monks that had been petitioning me for a few years. But they said they could take care of it. . .” Zeus whines as Hera smacks him in the back of the head.

“Idiot.” She snarls. “How the hell could you have given the key to those incompetent power-hungry charlatans? And how did the Key suddenly become human. Strife, I’m done yelling at my husband, for the time being anyway, so start the picture up again and hopefully Greta will ask the right question and we can find out. And you buster,” she whirls and jabs a finger in Zeus’ face, “Are in such deep shit you better hope nothing happens to her. Ares, when you have the time, I want you to put your protections back on her.”

“Gladly mother,” Ares says, watching his youngest daughter blink on the screen.

“Umm, shouldn’t you be a big green ball of energy?” I ask.

“I take it you know what the Key is?” Rimfire asks from his spot on the bed, one arm wrapped around Dawn as the cat leaps into her lap, purring loudly.

“Yeah, I’ve done a lot of research into occult matters. The Key has the power to unlock the barriers between dimensions, almost unlimited magical potential, and cannot be destroyed. Or that’s what most of the books say anyway.”

“In your research, have you come across anything about a being known as the Slayer?:”

“Yeah, a warrior with the ‘destiny’” I hold two fingers in the air in quotation marks, “to slay vampires. To help with this destiny, they have enhanced strength, stamina, knowledge of all weapons, and the ability to feel vampires. They’re always young girls, when one dies another is called, so they’re always at their prime. Most of them have a very short life after being called, less than a year.”

“Yeah, that’s what most of the books say. Until just recently, there was only one at a time, but all the potential Slayers were activated a year or so ago, now there’s over a hundred known active Slayers. My older sister is the oldest known and longest serving Active Slayer, Buffy’s been the Slayer for over nine years now, she was fifteen when she was chosen.”

I cough to hide the snicker at the sound of her sister’s name, but Dawn’s laughing eyes and broad grin tell me she doesn’t mind in the least, so I quietly laugh for a minute.

“Your sister’s name is Buffy? Buffy, the vampire Slayer?”

“It’s really Elizabeth, but she hates her real name.”

“Let me guess, she’s a blonde?”

“Yep, typical dyed blonde valley girl cheerleader, or at least she was before she was Chosen.” Dawn snickers as the cat gives her a chiding look. “Sorry Mom, but you gotta admit that Buffy lives up to her name.”

/Excuse me, I named her Elizabeth Anne Summers. It was her father that came up with that nickname./ A voice says in midair. I look at the cat in disbelief.

“Did you say that?” I asked in a hushed tone. Dawn and Rimfire look at me in disbelief as the door opens and the others come into the room.

/You heard me?/ The cat asks, jumping from Dawn’s lap and walking across the room. She stretches up against my leg, one front paw in midair. /How did you hear me?/

“That’s one of my gifts, just like knowing that you were a reborn human in animal form.” I say, reaching down and gently stroking her. “Why did you choose to return in this manner?”

/I felt my daughter needed her mother, even if I am four-legged./ The voice says calmly, with a glimmer of humor. /Since her sister is too preoccupied with her Slayers to take care of a teenager’s needs./

“You can understand her?” Dawn asks, her hand in her mouth, tears in her eyes as first Rimfire, then Xander and Throttle give her a hug.

/Please tell my daughter that I love her./ The cat says, going back across the room and leaping into her daughter’s lap, purring loudly.

“Your mother says she loves you,” I tell Dawn, “She also says that she felt you needed your mother, since your sister is too preoccupied with her Slayers?”

“Thank you Mommy.” Dawn says, giving her mother a hug. “As I was saying, my older sister is the Slayer. A few years ago, the Monks that had been protecting the Slayer had to hide the Key, so they made me human. They used Buffy’s DNA to make me, to make sure that Buffy would protect me, they made me her sister and altered everybody’s memories to include me.”

“What did the Monks protecting you need to hide you from?”

“A Hellgoddess named Glory, who wanted to use the Key/me to open a doorway to her home dimension so she could take over the Earth.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .errr Mount Olympus, all hell proceeds to break loose yet again.

Hera turns angrily on Zeus, who’s already cringing. “I knew one of your bastard children would turn out to be nothing but trouble for us. Sorry Hercules, I don’t mean you this time.” Hera says, turning her attention momentarily to Iolaus and Hercules.

“I understand Hera, but who is this Glory?”

“You know her better as Callisto.” Hera says angrily, turning her attention back to Zeus, who had been slowly making his way towards the door while his wife’s back was turned. “Oh no you don’t Zeus, get your ass back in here this second.”

“Sorry Hera, I just remembered something important I needed to do.” Zeus calls over his shoulder, shutting the Temple door behind him and holding a shoulder against it as it rocks from energy bolts thrown by his angry wife, who he can hear swearing even through the heavy door. Zeus sighs in relief, thinking his wife had finally calmed down only to turn around and find her glaring behind him.

“Didn’t think to put up a no apparating spell, did you Zeus?” She says, tapping her foot against the marble. Zeus sighs, knowing the look well. That’s her ‘you are in deep shit, shut the hell up anything you say will just make it worse’ look. Oh well, Las Vegas is nice this time of year and there’s always a couple showgirls who would love to spend some time with the big spender he thinks before trying to get away again. The pain in his backside as Cerberus grabs hold of him makes him yell before he’s drug back inside.

“Thank you Cerberus, that was nicely done.” Hera says as the dog drops her husband onto the floor in front of her chair. The picture of Greta and the Key is frozen again, this time because Cupid and Bliss are busy comforting Strife, who’s remembering the pain from the Hinds Blood Dagger when Callisto murdered him.

“Hades, I thought that Callisto was rotting in Tartarus.”

“She currently is, Hera. And now that I know what she’s been doing recently, I need to look over her punishment again when I get back home.” Hades rubs a hand over Strife’s hair and whispers soothingly in his ear. Strife straightens up in his lover’s and son’s arms, wipes his eyes and takes a deep breath before turning his attention back to Zeus.

“Hades, how did Callisto escape your realm in the first place?”

“Blame your husband Hera, he whined and complained that it wasn’t fair that she be punished, it was the shock of eating ambrosia and becoming a goddess that had unhinged her. When I refused to stop her punishment, he whined, pouted, and stomped away. Next thing I know, she’s gone. I’m sure that Zeus had something to do with it, and he’ll be more than happy to tell us what happened, won’t you Zeus?” Hades says in a voice that causes chills to run up everybody’s spine as he takes on his full power as judge, jury, and executioner for Asphodel and Mount Olympus.

“Oh shit,” Joxer murmurs in Ares ear. “Zeus is in trouble now, Hades is pulling out the big guns now.”

“Yeah, I hope that I don’t end up becoming King by the time the day is over. I can’t believe father has fucked up this badly.”

“Hello, we are talking about Zeus, right? The man is nearly as arrogant as Apollo.” Joxer whispers. “When Hades gets all official, does it make you as hot as it does me?”

“Oh yeah,” Ares whispers back. “Look at the grin on his face, he knows what that does to us. Why do you think we have so many kids?” Cupid and Strife, overhearing the conversation, snicker quietly. Hera gives her grandson and grandson in law ‘the look’ but sighs when she looks over at Joxer and Ares. Hades, following her look, smirks at her.

“Excuse me, Hera, but is this going to be a formal inquisition?” Iolaus asks, raising a hand. Hera looks at him and nods.

“Yes Iolaus.”

“Then shouldn’t we get Hermes to make a record of the proceedings before we get started?”

“Very good thinking, Iolaus. Hermes, you are needed for a formal Inquest, attend us.” She orders, her voice reverberating through Mount Olympus, bringing the few gods who hadn’t been already at the Halls of Time, running.

“What is it, my Lady Hera?” Hermes asks formally, bowing at the waist as he conjures a unending scroll and self-writing pen.

“We are holding a formal inquiry concerning My dear,.” Ice drips from her voice, “husband's actions in concerning the Key and the mad Goddess Callisto?”

Hermes conjures a desk and sits behind it, quietly checking to make sure the scroll and pen are operating correctly before nodding at Hera.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Greta shivers slightly as she feels a burst of energy on Mount Olympus. Dawn turns to look at her, the packet the teacher had handed out the first night of class dangling from her fingers when an explosion happens outside.

“Oh hell, not now.” Dawn mutters under her breath, turning and running out of the room, followed by Greta and Rimfire. The other mice stand outside the Lair front door. “Tell me it's just a natural disaster guys?” Dawn asks as the mice hop onto their bikes.

“Sorry Dawnie, it's Limburger and his goons. Stay here and protect Greta, Charley, and the baby.” Throttle orders, ”Let's Rock. . .”

“AND RIDE.” the others whoop, heading out the door.

“They do this often?” I ask at Dawn's disgusted look as she walks further into the Lair, returning with an automatic weapon she competently loads and places against the door for easy access.

“Too damn often.” Dawn and Charley say in unison. Charley quickly runs up to the apartment, running up to check on the baby and bring him downstairs.

“You want a gun too, Greta?” Dawn asks. “Since I know how good you shoot.” Dawn snickers, remembering the look on the instructor's face when Greta had calmly pulled her personal weapon from her ankle holster the first day at the range, shooting the second the target had started moving. Ten bullets, ten seconds, and every one had either been a groin shot, a heart shot, or a head shot. Max had gotten a good laugh out of that when she'd passed on the report later that night.

“No thanks, I've got my own.” Greta says, reaching into the back of her station wagon and pulling up a section of carpeting. A compartment in the floor is revealed, one she opens with a key on the chain around her neck. Dawn looks over her shoulder and whistles as Greta pulls out and assembles a sniper rifle, slaps a cartridge of bullets into the breech and pops off a shot at the dune buggy making it's way towards the garage.

“Bros, what was that?” Vinnie asks as bullets calmly pick off the front wheels and gas tanks of three of the buggies the biker mice hadn't got around to blowing up yet.

“That would be Greta,” Rimfire says, taking a quick look over his shoulder and seeing Dawn and Greta standing outside the doorway of the Garage, rifles in their hands. “Damn girl, I knew you could shoot, but I didn't know you were that good a shot.” he whistles. “Vinnie, Throttle, watch out, one's heading for the Garage.”

“Not any longer.” Throttle says, wincing as Dawn shoots a grenade into the buggy. “What did you do to your girl, Rimfire? She seems a mite pissed today.”

“You guys were too loud last night.” Vinnie snickers over the radio. “Even I heard you last night, and I was in the Garage.”

“Oh shoot, Greta's going to be sooooooo pissed.” Rimfire says, as he looks back momentarily during the fight, seeing a dune buggy shooting towards the Garage while Greta shoves Dawn, Charley, and the baby towards the safety of the Lair's bulletproof windows.

'YOU BASTARDS SHOT MY CAR.” can be heard by all the mice a second later.

“Yep, she's pissed.” Rimfire snickers.”Ouch, that had to hurt.” He winces as the first gunman in the building meets Greta in the form of a knee in the groin and a fist in the face. “Uncle Modo, Vinnie, Throttle, Xander. You guys have got to see this.”

“Have your bike record it, we'll watch later Rimfire.” Modo orders, “Are the girls in any danger?”

Rimfire blinks as Greta's hand begins to glow and she throws a ball of energy at the dune buggy, disintegrating it. “Umm, I'd have to say no.”

“Scum sucking bastard.” I growl as I backhand a sniveling little guy who's trying to get to Charley and Dawn. “Stay down, dammit”

“Greta, that's Karbunkle. Keep hold of him, Rimmy's people want him for war crimes.” Dawn calls from the doorway.

“Okay.” I call over my shoulder, calmly knocking him unconscious with a fist to the side of the head.

“Youse gonna pay for that girlie. Nobody picks on the doc.” A goon shouts, running at me. I calmly kick him in the gut, causing him to start whimpering in the street.

“Oh hiya Greasepit, wondered when you were going to show up again.” Dawn says, waving at him behind my back.

“Mr. Limburger's going to be mad youse guys hurt the doctor.” Greasepit whines. “I'se gotta hurt you for hurting the doctor. Mr. Limburger's gonna be mad if he's gotta get another science guy.”

“Tough, Mr. Limburger is just going to have to deal with it..” Dawn say, grinning as cop cars come screeching up to in front of the Garage. “Hi Ray, Stan.” She calls, waving at two detectives who get out of their cars, rolling their eyes.

“Can't we have at least one week without somebody attacking you guys.” One of them asks.

“Hey, talk to the bad guys.” Dawn snorts as Greasepit leaps at me. I swear as I slip on some of the grease he drops everywhere, ending up with him on top of me.

“God damn son of a bitch, you're going to pay the dry cleaning bill on my clothes.” I snarl in his ear, throwing him off me and getting to my feet. Dawn holds the two detectives back with a hand on either elbow.

“Don't guys, Greta's enjoying herself.” she snickers as the four bikes roar up. “Hey guys, Karbunkle was part of the attack, Greta knocked him out when I told her that Mars wanted him for War Crimes.”

“Cool, I'll call Stoker as soon as we take care of Greasepit . . . .” Xander's voice trails off as I kick Greasepit in the stomach, head, and balls repeatedly, following through with an elbow to the guts, one to the throat, and finally a karate chop to the back of the neck to keep him down. Dawn snickers as she calmly reaches over, closing Xander and Vinnie's mouths.

“What's the matter Vinnie, still think women can't fight?” Charley asks sweetly, smirking at Vinnie. Vinnie turns to look at her, his eyes wide. Rolling her eyes, she waves a hand in front of Vinnie's face before looking at the others. “Girls, and you too Big Guy, go plug yourselves in. Dawn and I will take care of you once we get your riders taken care of.” I smirk as the four bikes look at their riders, I can almost swear they're sighing, before nudging them, beeping their horns, and heading inside through the open door.

“Hey Dawn, what about this one? You want him too?” I nudge Greasepit none too gently with one boot in his ribs.

“Nah Greta, let the cops have him.”Dawn says, coming back from leading Rimfire and Modo inside.

“Greta? Greta Logan?” one of the detectives asks. I nod. “Okay, we got orders from higher up, not to bother you, and give you any help you need.” Ray Vecchio motions for one of the uniformed officers to cuff Greasepit and drag him into a wagon pulling up.”Can I ask what happened, just for the official records?” He asks as I turn to walk back into the garage, calmly taking apart the rifle and putting it back in my car.

“Yeah, the bastards shot my car. I retaliated.”

“That will do.” Ray Kowalski snickers. “Dawn, let me know when the others snap out of it so I can get their side of the story.”

“Will do, Ray, Chassis's due back tonight anyway..” Dawn calls, “Greta, take that stuff off so we can wash it before it sets, I've got some stuff that should fit you.”

“I've got a change of clothes in my car.” I say as I reach into the back of the second row of seats with the knife from my ankle, coming out a minute later with a bullet that I drop into Ray Kowalski's hands.

“Here, you might want that for evidence.” I say, following Dawn to the downstairs bathroom where I strip and hand off my clothes to Charley.

“You okay?” I ask her. “You know, there were days when the only thing I worried about was making enough to cover the bills on the garage. That was before I met the guys, now, now being attacked is almost commonplace. Besides, now I can finally tell Vinnie and the others that women can fight just as good as they can.”

“Lemme guess, they tend to be very protective of you?”

“Yeah, and it drives us up the wall.” Charley growls. “It was bad before, but now that I've been kidnapped, Vinnie and Xander have gone into hyper protective mode and I'm about ready to swat them for it.”

“Give them time, they'll calm down . . . eventually.” I snicker, standing under the water and letting it soak away the tension from the fight. I'll have to soak in the jacuzzi when I get back to the hotel.

Meanwhile, back at Lorne's bar he gets up to answer a call.

“You want the good news or the bad news? I just got a quick report from Dawn.” He asks with a smirk on his face when he sits back down. Micah looks up blearily from his plate and looks at him. “Greta?” “Greta.” Lorne says smugly.

“What'd she do this time?” Micah asks.

“Well, Limburger's goons decided to attack while Greta was there. The boys took off to deal with the Dune Buggies, leaving Dawn to protect Greta, Charley, and the baby.”

“That must have went over well with Dawn and Greta.” Max snickers.

“According to Dawn's quick report, Greta pulled a sniper rifle from the lock box in her car and started taking out buggies the guys hadn't gotten to yet, as well as the few that had gotten through them to attack the Garage. It would have been a normal fight, but Limburger's goons shot up Greta's car.”

“Ohhhh, that had to have pissed her off.” Max moans. “I know how much work she put into it.”

“Yup, Greta took it personally after that. According to Dawn, Karbunkle was there for some reason and she knocked him out, She was going to call Mars so Stoker and Carbine could set up a trial, then proceeded to kick the shit out of Greasepit after she slipped in his grease and he landed on her. Greta asked Dawn if she wanted him too, and turned him over to Kowalski and Vecchio when Dawn said they didn't need him. No major property damage except for a few bullet holes and some fires from exploding buggies and no major injuries, except for the bad guys. Greta turned over a slug she pulled out of her car so the Chicago PD can cold the surviving gunmen on charges, and the guys are currently still in shock after seeing Greta kick Greasepit's ass. Except for Rimfire, he and Dawn are still snickering at the look on their faces.”

Micah, Max, and Lorne call for a round of beers to celebrate before they leave the bar, heading for their apartments.

Back at the Lair, Dawn snickers as she settles in front of the computer. “Stoker, Carbine, one of you up there?” She asks when she sees the empty council room.

“They'll be back in a couple of minutes Dawn,” Mirror says coming into the room. “What's the matter, Throttle called with his report this morning.”

“Limburger's goons attacked us a few minutes ago. We've got Karbunkle, either the original or another clone, here whenever you want him.”

“How?” Carbine and Stoker ask, running into the room after Mirror contacted them.

“For some reason, he was here with Greasepit, probably to grab us for hostages or to do something to us. Greta, a friend of Rimmy and mine from that special class Micah enrolled us in, was here as well and knocked him out when I told her Mars wanted him for War Crimes. Greta also beat the shit out of Greasepit when she slipped on some of his grease and he landed on top of her.”

“I don't suppose anybody happened to have it on tape.” Stoker says wistfully.

“Yeah, Xander upgraded the Lair's security system with cameras, we might not have everything but . . . “ Dawn's voice trails off as she calls up the pictures from the camera and the bikes. “Yep, between the cameras here and the bikes, I think we have everything. Let me call the bikes and download what they recorded, I'll sort it all out, and I'll send everything up. It will take about an hour, the guys are still in shock from the beating Greta delivered to Greasepit. Well, everybody but Rimmy, he knows what Greta's capable of thanks to a self-defense course that was part of that class.”

“Are they still trying to keep you and Charley from fighting?” Carbine asks, rolling her eyes.

“Yup, they're still in hyper protective mode.” Dawn snorts. “Imagine their surprise when Greta calmly proceeded to kick Greasepit's ass before they could.”
“You okay, Xander?” Dawn asks when he comes into the room.

“Yeah, I just had a Cordy flashback when Greta complained that Greasepit was going to pay her dry cleaning bill.” Dawn snickers again before signing off, Carbine telling her that a guard would be down for Karbunkle in an hour.

“How's the girls, Charley?” Dawn asks, standing up and stretching as she walks from the library.

“Doing a lot better than their owners.” Charley looks up from where she's checking over Vinnie's bike. Vinnie's bike beeps at her rider, sounding suspiciously like she's snickering at the look on his face. Charley calmly soaks a sponge in water and tosses it at her husband, hitting him in the side of the head and bringing him out of wherever his mind had been hiding.

“Wha? What'd you do that for, Charley?” Vinnie whines.

“Because I got tired of the stunned stupid look on your face. Get up and help Rimfire guard Karbunkle until Carbine can come down to get him.”

“Where are they?”

“The bathroom where Xander had the vampire him when he first showed up.” Charley says. “Xander, poke Modo and kiss Throttle so they wake up too, will you? Dawnnie, don't you have a report to make for Micah?”

“Yeah,” Dawn says, grabbing a coke from the refrigerator and heading back into the library. “And I promised Stoker I'd pass along a clip of the fight. Modo, “ she calls over her shoulder, “Can you relieve Rimmy long enough for him to write his own report?”

”Rimfire, head upstairs long enough to help Dawn with the reports Micah will be screaming for.” Vinnie snorts as he and Modo walk down the hall to see Rimfire sitting in a chair that's leaning on two legs against the wall.

“Okay, Uncle Modo.” Rimfire sits the chair back on all four legs and heads for the library, watching over Dawn's shoulder as she quickly types up a formal report.

“Hurry up and write your report, Rimmy, then you can help me with this.” Dawn calls over her shoulder as Rimfire sits down at the laptop.

“What are you doing?”

“Editing together the footage from the security cameras and the bikes for Stoker, he wanted to see Greta kick Greasepit's ass.”

“I hope you're making more than one copy.” Charley calls from her spot in the living room.

“Of course, I'll send Micah a copy and keep one for us so the next time Vinnie starts going on about how we shouldn't fight we can show him Greta and smirk.” Dawn calls over her shoulder. “I think the Mommas might like to see it too.”

“Dawn, that's mean.” Rimfire snickers from his spot, quickly typing up a report, proofreading it, and hitting send. “There, my part's done, what do you need me to do?”

“Take the footage from the bikes and weed out the duplicates scenes while I combine the footage from the Lair cameras?”

“I can do that,” he smiles, pulling up an editing program and sending Dawn a file fifteen minutes later.

“Thanks Rimmy,” she smiles over her shoulder as Rimfire leaves the library. She pulls up the edited footage from the bikes, quickly looking over the raw footage to see if he missed anything, then adding in the footage she'd edited from the cameras. Hitting send, she sends the file to Stoker's desk.

“Dawn just sent up the fight.” Stoker calls, reading the note Dawn had added to the file. “She says she's sending a copy to Micah as well.”

“Well, play it.” Carbine says with a growl. “I want to see this human who took out both Karbunkle and Greasepit. Have the boys found out whether or not he's the original or another clone?”

“Is there a way to find out?” Mirror asks from his spot as Spike enters the room. He's spending the day as a gopher for the Council, punishment for mouthing off to the teacher again. Giving the message to his 'Auntie Nibbles' he crawls into Stoker's lap.

“A blood test would tell, but I don't believe that Enamel could perform it with equipment he has available to him on Earth, it would take a genetics laboratory.” Mirror says. “The Medical Board figured it out after Karbunkle showed up the last time. There's some sort of shift in the DNA between a clone and the original, you have to look for it and have a copy of the originals DNA structure to compare it to.”

“What's going on?” Spike asks from his spot on his Dad's lap.

“Limburger's goons attacked the Lair earlier, one of Dawn's friends from work was there and captured Karbunkle after Dawn told her that he was wanted here for war crimes. She also fought and subdued Greasepit, but we're allowing the authorities in Chicago to deal with him.” Carbine says primly. “Dawn sent up a copy of the fight from footage taken by the bikes and the security cameras Xander installed at the Lair.”

Stoker starts the tape, bringing the pictures of the Buggies heading for the Lair and the sound of an explosion can be clearly heard. The door opens and the Mice come out, followed by Charley, Dawn, and a young female human.

Spike sits up from the spot where he's leaning against his father, reaching onto the desk and slapping a button to freeze the picture.

“Son, we're trying to watch this.” Stoker grumbles as Spike grins and allows the tape to start playing again.

“That's Greta, I know her.” He smirks, turning to look at his Dad as Greta starts shooting Dune Buggies. He howls with laughter when Greta screams 'You bastards shot my car' freezing the picture again to fall off his father's lap, rolling on the floor laughing.

“You know her?” Carbine asks as Greta greets the first goon trying to break in with a fist to the face and a knee in the groin.

“Yeah, before I tracked down Peaches in SunnyHell, I used to babysit the tyke as a favor for her Father. They hated the fact I taught the little ankle biter to fight dirty, but it looks like she remembered my lessons.”

Spike whistles as I blow up a Dune Buggy, cackling as I calmly knock Karbunkle unconscious at Dawn's comment, howling again as I slip and Greasepit lands on me. Stoker and Carbine's mouths fall open as I make Greasepit very sorry he decided to get up this morning, leaving the man whimpering as Stan cuffs him and shoves him in the direction of a patrol wagon that just showed up.

“I want to meet this young human.” Carbine says, slowly coming out of her daze. “Did Dawn say how she reacted to Rimfire and the others?”

“Let me ask her.” Stoker says, calling down to Earth and getting Xander.

“Hiya Mini-Punk. We just watched the footage Dawn sent us, was she freaked when she first met you guys?”

“Nope, Greta said she spent a year on that satellite you reported seeing when you first arrived on Earth. They've been keeping an eye on ships coming and going from Mars and the Plutarkians.”

“Hey Whelp, is she still there?” Spike asks, getting off the floor and settling back in Stoker's lap. Xander nods. “Yeah, she just got out of the shower. Charley's got her clothes in the wash so the grease doesn't set in.”

“Tell her Spike's on the phone and wants to talk to the overgrown ankle biter.” Xander raises one eyebrow. “I used to babysit the niblet as a favor for her father. She literally bit me in the ankle. It was before I tracked the Poofter down to Sunnyhell.”

“Greta, do you need any help?” Dawn asks as I step out of the shower, drying myself off with a towel before pulling a change of clothes out of the bag.

“I'm good,” I say, opening the door telekinetically as I pull my t-shirt over my head. Dawn blinks when she sees me across the room, looking at the door and wonders how I moved that fast, then snickers as I straighten my t-shirt.

'I have ADHD and a gun. I may forget why I wanted to shoot you but once I'm no
longer distracted I'll shoot you anyway'

“Cute t-shirt.”

“I collect shirts with rude sayings. I'm usually careful where I wear them, I figured you guys wouldn't mind.” I smirk.

“Not at all. Xander asked me to come get you, he's on the phone with Mars and he told me to ask you if you knew a bleached blond Billy Idol lookalike who just happened to be a vampire?”

“Spike?” I squeal. “You know Spike? I haven't seen him in years, ever since he went to track down Angelus.”

“Yeah, he ended up on the Hellmouth alternately tormenting us and helping us.” Dawn says, leading me out of the bathroom. “He got sucked into Hell when Sunnydale imploded but got released to bug Angel a few months later.”

“What happened to them? I'd heard a couple rumors that Angel and Spike had died, but we couldn't find out for sure one way or another.”

“They did die, but Spike's been reborn. Spike's like Xander, Rimmy, and the guys now, he's a baby mouse living on Mars and he's just as big a terror as a mouse as he was a vampire.” I turn to look at Dawn in disbelief as we enter a library. I see Xander at a computer and blink, walking over to where a young mouse is bouncing, cackling, on another mouse's lap.

“Heya bratling.” Spike says. I stare at him a second, then cackle like Strife after he's just sicked all the Muses on Apollo.

“Dad was wondering why you hadn't been off bothering him with Strife and Iolaus.” I finally say after I stop snickering. “You know, baby white mouse is a good look for you.”

“This is my reward for surviving the Slayer.” Spike says, rolling his eyes. “I'd like you to meet my father Stoker, Carbine, also known as Auntie Nibbles, and Mirror.”

“Hello.” I say, pulling up a chair. “So Evil Incarnate, how's life treating you?”

“Pretty good, I got a couple of sisters, one I'm not sure isn't demented, a whole planet to torment, and a Dad here who tries to keep me out of trouble.”

“Older or younger sisters?” I ask, remembering his rants about what his older sisters did to him growing up.

“One of each, the older one isn't quite right, the younger one hasn't been born yet, I'm going to have to warp her so she grows up normal, unlike our sister.” Spike crows.

“Son,” Stoker whines while everybody laughs..

“Greta, how do you happen to know about vampires anyway?” Xander asks, “I can't see too many people asking the bleached menace to babysit.”

“She's family Whelp, I protect family. Besides, I looked after the Nibblet there, didn't I?”

/Hey Dad, you gotta see this./ I yell telepathically at Hades. Hades holds up one hand during Zeus' Trial, quieting the Hall immediately(it helps that Hera had enough and gagged Zeus), raises an eyebrow, and starts snickering.

“Strife, open another window on Greta, time about a minute ago.” He orders through his laughter. “Greta just yelled at me and told me I needed to see something.

Strife does as ordered, the picture coming up with me just entering the library. The assembled Gods listen to the first words out of the baby's mouse on camera and burst out laughing, Iolaus thoughtfully freezing the image so they don't miss a word of the conversation.

“I'd wondered where William had gotten to.” Hades says, holding his head in his hands. “He's almost as good as Greta at getting into, and out of, tight spots. I knew he had died again, but his soul didn't return home.”

“I have to feel sorry for his parents, stuck with a baby William who remembers his old life.” Hera says, sighing.

“I don't know, from what the Biker Mice have said, Stoker can deal with a son who's a mouthy reborn vampire.” Hades snorts. “I have to feel sorry for everybody else who has to put up with him.”

“Why are they in contact with Mars?” Ares asks.

Hades snickers, “Watch.” and waves the first window running again, showing the fight in all it's glory. Ares snorts as the Mice leave Dawn to protect me, Charley, and the baby, snickering as I calmly pull a rifle from my car and start picking off Buggies before they can blow them up. Ares and Joxer howl when I start yelling about my car getting shot up, wincing and crossing their legs when I take the fight personally. The women present smirk at their husbands, brothers, etc, grinning as every man present winces in unison.

“Greta is going to be swearing about her car for years.” Joxer mumbles, shaking his head. “Hermes, want to start a pool on whether or not Greta goes after Limburger to take it out of his hide?”

“No bet, I have a feeling the next time the Biker Mice decide to blow up his tower again, Greta's going to be there with them.” Hermes says, shaking his head. “I don't know how you guys did it, but your daughter is one scary, scary goddess when she's pissed.”

A sound coming from the garage causes Greta's head to lift up, but Dawn smiles, patting her on the arm.

“That's just the transporter, Carbine must have sent some guards down to pick up Karbunkle.” Dawn says, looking over her shoulder as Vinnie and Modo come in. The transporter sounds again and I can see six huge mice dragging Karbunkle across the screen. Stoker and Carbine lean into each other briefly, speaking too softly to be heard over the computer screen before turning to look back at us.

“Greta?”

“Yes?” Greta asks, looking back at the screen, grinning as Stoker calmly swats Spike who's making faces at the camera.

“Do you have any plans for the rest of the day? The council has decided that we'd like you to come up along with the others . . .”

“Run brat, run,” Spike breaks in, cackling. “They want to give you a medal for taking out Karbunkle and turning him over to the Council.”

“Spike. . .” Stoker complains again as the others present begin laughing. Spike looks over his shoulder at his father and gives him his best 'who me?' look. “What? Just letting the brat know what's gonna happen.”

I sigh and shake my head, snickering softly. “Well, this will be my first medal from another planet, so Dad will probably ask Unc Heph' to make a display case for it, unlike the others I just shove in the back of my closet.”

“Dawn, Xander, do we need to make any arrangements with Micah before Greta comes to Mars?” Carbine asks as I pull my cell phone from my pocket, dialing a familiar number.

“Hello?” a bleary voice answers on the other end.

“Hey Micah, ya drunk yet?” I ask, snickering. “I'm on the link to Mars right now with the others, Carbine is wondering if they need to make any arrangements with you before I can go to Mars to accept a medal for kicking Karbunkle's ass.” I grin again as I hold the phone up, the others clearly hearing Micah moaning and banging his head on the other end.

Back at the bar Micah groans, tosses the phone into the middle of the table and begins banging his head against the table. Lorne and Max exchange looks and say 'Greta' in unison before flipping a coin to see who picks the phone up.

“Hello?” I say patiently into the phone. “Anybody there?”

“What did you do to the boss this time Greta?” Lorne asks, grumbling at the smirk on Max' face when she won the coin toss.

“I'm on the computer link to Mars right now, Carbine wants to know if there's any arrangements they need to make with Micah before I can go up there to accept a medal for kicking Karbunkle's ass and having him turned over to Mars.” Vinnie and Xander snicker at my dead-pan delivery.

Lorne blinks in disbelief before calmly saying, “Let me get back to you about that, Greta.” and hanging up the phone. He tosses the phone back into the center of the table and briefly considers running away to join the French Foreign Legion before turning and smacking Micah on the back of the head. “Carbine wants to know if they need to make any arrangements for Greta to come up and accept a medal for kicking Karbunkle's butt in the fight earlier today.” he tells Max.

“Greta has a high enough security rating.” Micah moans. “Call her back and tell her to go right ahead, I'll fill out the paperwork when I get back to the office.”

Max takes the phone and dials the number all three of them have memorized. “Greta, it's Max. Go right ahead, you've got a high enough security rating, Micah says he'll fill out the paperwork once he recovers from the hangover and heads back to the office.” She snickers at the look on the others faces and hangs up, tossing the phone back into the middle of the table.

“Micah says I've got a high enough security rating, we can go ahead and he'll take care of the paperwork when he gets back to the office.” I say, putting the phone back in my pocket.

“Okay, when do want us to come up?” Xander asks Stoker.

“Give us a couple of hours to arrange things.” Stoker says. “We'll call you when it's time to come up.”

“Okay, I'm going to head back to my hotel and change clothes.” I say, standing up. “I don't think that a pair of shorts and a t-shirt is the proper clothing for traveling to another planet for a medal.”

“Let me look at your car and make sure nothing important was hit by the bullets.” Charley says, heading back to the garage.

“Bad news Greta, one of the bullets hit the engine.” Charley says, wiping her hands on a rag after standing up. “Your engine's going to have to be torn apart to check for damage before I can let you drive it out of here.”

“Well shit,” I mutter under my breath. “Go ahead and do that when you have the time, check for any other damage,change out all the fluids while you're doing it, and let me know how much it's going to be.” I say, sighing. “So tell me Dawn, what do I wear to receive a medal on another planet?”

“Light colored pants, a white blouse or another color that will reflect the heat, light clothing that will breath, a light jacket to bring along in case we're there after dark, and sensible shoes or boots.” Dawn says. “Mars is a desert planet, so make sure you drink a lot of water before we go so you don't get dehydrated. Mars just recovered from a war, everybody's on rations up there, so we usually bring up water and other supplies for ourselves and the mommas if we come up for any length of time.”

“Can I bring a camera up for pictures?”

“Digital camera if you have one, the transporter affects film for some reason. It's like x-rays.”

“Okay, I have a digital camera and extra memory cards back at my hotel.” I say. “Anything else I need to know?”

“Enjoy yourself.” Dawn says, smiling. “It's not going to be all business. Xander, I'm borrowing your car so I can take Greta back to her hotel and bring her back here. Anything you need to get out of your car before we go?” Dawn asks as a pair of keys come flying towards her hand. I grab a couple of bags from the back of my car, putting them in the back seat of the car Dawn leads me to. Five bikes turn and look at us as we enter the garage and I blink.

“I'm running Greta back to her hotel while Charley works on her car, girls and big guy.” she runs a hand over each motorcycle in passing. “We'll be back soon.” The bikes, all but one beep and settle back down. One, the bike Rimfire had been riding during the fight, starts revving her engine. “You behave, I've got to run Greta back to her hotel. If it were just me, I wouldn't be taking the car. Ignore her Greta, she's possessive over what's hers, and doesn't like me riding anything but her. Shot up my bike because I was going to ride it and not her.” The bike beeps and settles under her stroking hand. “I'll ride you in a couple of hours when we head up to Mars.”
We pull up in front of the hotel about fifteen minutes later and I lead the way inside, pausing at the desk when the woman there calls my name and say that I have messages. Pushing them into my pocket, I lead Dawn to the private elevator that goes up to the penthouse.

“Damn this is some place.” Dawn says, walking to a window to enjoy the view as I walk into the closet, pulling out clothes and lying them on the bed before pulling my messages out of my pocket and snorting. “Lorne is blaming me for Micah's impending alcoholism.” I tell Dawn. “Is this good?” She looks over at the clothes I have laid out and nods. I change into the new outfit before picking up the case holding my digital camera and extra memory cards. Turning the camera on, I check to make sure they're empty, dumping the contents into my computer when I find a couple have pictures on them.

“Ready?” Dawn asks after switch some stuff over from my purse to a belt bag I put on.

“Yup,” I say, grabbing my camera bag and a light backpack from the closet on the way out the door. “So you been on Mars before?”

“Not me, but the others were up earlier when we discovered the transporter. Before then we could only get back and forth by ship, and it takes about a day to travel. Now we can go back and forth almost instantly. The mommas, Stoker, Spike, and the others usually come down whenever they can.”

“The Mommas?”

“Modo and Throttle's mothers. They've each pretty much adopted all of us, so everybody calls them Momma. Don't be surprised if they demand you start calling them Momma too.” she snickers. “They're going to love you.”

“I dunno, I find my mouth and bad habits usually make a bad first impression.” I say as we hit the elevator. “It usually takes a while for me to grow on people.”

“Like fungus?” Dawn smirks at me, looking over her shoulder as we exit the elevator. I leave a note at the front desk to hold my messages and any mail I might get until I return and follow her out the door.

“If the mommas can put up with Vinnie in full Van Wham hyped on Muir berries bouncing off the walls mode, I'm sure they can deal with you.” Dawn says. “From what Modo tells me, his mother was a bit of a troublemaker in her youth, she'll probably look at you and sigh, remembering when she was your age.”

“If you say so,” I say dryly as we pull into the Garage, finding the motorcycles gone.

“Don't tell me the guys left without us.” Dawn says, rolling her eyes.
“Well, that's one way to get out of having to accept a medal.” I snicker. Charley comes out of the garage, wiping her hands on a rag.

“Rimfire and Vinny went to Chef Andy's to get dinner, Xander and the boys went to go har. . . err check on Limburger to make sure he's not going to do something the few hours we'll be gone. Enamel's volunteered to come to the garage while we're gone, that way he can call us immediately if something happens.”

“Enamel?” I ask Dawn.

“Our Doc, he's another mouse who's living here on Earth. He got banished from Mars so he can't go back yet, but we're working on it.” Dawn says. “He's got his own apartment, but he's over here a lot, him and his lady.” Dawn looks over. “Here he comes now.” she smiles at the sight of another gray mouse nearly as big as Modo pulling into the garage. “Hey Enamel,” she wraps an arm around him and he returns the hug.

“Hello Dawn, Charley.” he says somewhat stiffly, looking over at me. Dawn follows his gaze and smiles. “Oh, that's Greta, she helped us out when Limburger sent his goons after us. Greta ended up grabbing Karbunkle and we sent him up to Mars, I think Stoker's going to ask you or Micah if there's a way we can know for sure if this is the original or another clone.”

“You're going up to talk to Stoker about what happened?” Enamel asks as the others come into the garage.

“That and the Council want to give Greta a medal for helping out.” Dawn calls over her shoulder, dragging me towards the kitchen with one hand. Enamel blinks after the two girls, stunned. Vinnie pokes him with his tail with a grin and he swats at him.

“What the hell did I miss?” he asks Throttle as they settle around the table, Greta and Dawn sitting by the sink on bar stools, their plates on the counter or their laps. Vic is brought down from his crib and spends most of the meal in either Xander or Vinnie's arms while his mother sighs and rolls her eyes.

“Are you sure you don't want us to take Vic with us?” Vinnie asks Charley, refusing to hand the sleeping baby over. Charley taps her foot and gives him a look and he meekly puts the baby down in his crib, allowing Charley to push him out the door and shut it behind her. “Vinnie, we're only going to be gone a couple of hours, overnight at most. If something happens, Enamel has orders to call Mars and tell them what's going on and then get himself and Vic to the safe room if the Garage is under attack. If it makes you feel better, Enamel can even bring Vic down here with him.”

“I'd rather we take him with us, he's grown since the Mommas saw him last.”

“Nope, not when the baby is so young. We don't know what the transporter can do to a baby that young if they go through it too often.” Enamel says from his spot on the couch. “Your mothers can come down here if they want to see the baby until he's a little older.” Charley nods agreement and pushes Vinnie in the direction of the transporter as a chime lets everybody know Mars is ready for them.

“You ready?” Dawn asks me as we walk towards the glowing transporter.

“Ready for anything.” I say. “How many of my family can say they've been to another planet?” I take a deep breath and walk into the light.