World at war.

Troy: Thanks, great to know I can count on you guys no matter what.
Tesla: If you go off by yourself, you don't deserve any help.

Tesla realized what Cat was saying. If he can't work with others, it wasn't worth sticking their necks out to rescue him.

.................

By now soldiers was already searching the city under Lee's orders. In addition to the usual weapons, they also carried knock out gas grenades, smoke grenades, and power suppressant needles. See these was smaller groups of about 5 to 6 soldiers each, they had to be well equip for combat. They wear heavy protective gear and riot masks for defense.

...................

Jean knew Serena had a point there, after everything so far, losing control over their home base certainly wouldn't help anything.

.................

Lee was in Kai's room, he expected Heat any minute now to come by.

Hawkeye: They are coming.

Hawkeye moves his couch out of the way and opens a trap door.

Hawkeye: Quick, down there.

Victor enters the passage without questioning Hawkeye and the rest follow his lead. Hawkeye moves the couch back into place with a rug over the trap door to help block it.

---

Heat enters Kai's room after a few minutes of walking. He heads over to the window and leans against it with his arms crossed. A few minutes later, Kai wakes up. Her vision is blurry at first but she can make out Lee's figure.

Kai: General Lee? What happened out there?

---

Bobby and Gandalf are talking over tea.

Gandalf: So you are saying that Victor, Zeik, Reina, and Jim got captured.
Bobby: Precisely. Kai was with the humans the whole time.
Gandalf: Kai...she's crafty. She won't get trusted again. I couldn't tell she was with the white lands.
Bobby: I know. We have to get to Bloomingdale. I'm gathering what Evos I can, I have a group of about 6 with me. Then Sandra and some guy who can teleport are waiting for us later on.
Gandalf: The guy who can warp is Johnny Gat. Anyway we will leave in the morning.
Bobby: Great.
Gandalf: I'll arrange for a couple of horses and a carriage. We can move faster that way.
Bobby: Sandra would be surprised to see us in soon.
Gandalf: It's for the good of the blue lands.

Lee: You got hurt when the mutants escaped. You mentioned Zeik becoming a Rhino. Either way, you are out of action for a while. We'll focus of getting them captured, you focus on resting. With that out of the way, there is someone here who'd like to see you.

..................

The soldiers are doing house to house searches, leaving no building untouched. It's not long till they knock at Hawkeye's door.

Soldier: Open up. This is the city's special ops. Cooperate or we burst in, and hold you for questioning.

The soldiers was obligated to give everyone a chance to cooperate peacefully before using force. Due to this the spotter of the team always covered the rare exists to stop a escape attempt.

.................

With Sandra and Johnny not a lot to speak of is going on. It's peaceful and a lot of the time Sandra spends resting up knowing she has another trip soon coming. Meanwhile both Serena and Cat's group move along towards Bloomingdale.

Heat motions for Lee to leave and Lee does so. Heat then sits down in the chair next to Kai's bed.

Kai: Heat...you are fine.
Heat: Yes. This...this is all my fault. I should have watched Dean more carefully.
Kai: It's both of our faults.
Heat: Anyway the nurse said you won't be on the field for at least 6 months.
Kai: I need to help you guys.
Heat: I talked to the head of security on my way here, he will accept your help watching the cameras. It's not much but it's all I could find.
Kai: That's good.
Heat: Lee has me stationed at the docks.
Kai: That won't work.
Heat: What do you mean by that won't fucking work?
Kai: Victor is too smart. They had that planned out from the beginning. They will try to leave the city to go to a different port.
Heat: ...damn...what can I do to make up for this?
Kai: We are on the southern tip of the white lands. East, West, South are all water but the only docks are West. The other spots with water have jagged rocks that will rip people and ships to shreds.
Heat: Of course. The northern checkpoint. But Lee is certain that they will try to leave via the port.
Kai: You will have to...break Lee's orders. I have a friend from when I was a spy from Japan that will help you stop them from escaping, you need to find a guy who will cover for you.

---

Hawkeye lets the soldiers in.

Hawkeye: Feel free to search.

Solder: Thank you for your cooperation. We'll try not to take to much of your time.

The soldiers begin their search. Going to the bedrooms, dining rooms, cellars, attics, where ever people could be hidden. They keep conversation to a bare minimum. If there is chatter, voices, they want to hear. If there is so much much as a cough they want to hear it.

...................

Meanwhile a couple of bandits are heading towards Bloomingdale. One dressed regularly stops to set up a check mark at the half way point. The one dressed as a towns folk continues forward to spy on what's going on.

Reina accidentally knocks over a box in Hawkeye's secret passageway. Zeik instantly transform into a cat and meows.

---

Soldier: What was that?
Hawkeye: My cat gets in the crawlspace at times. He sometimes makes a lot of noise.

---

Heat: It's time for me to go.

Heat leaves the hospital. A while after he leaves, a scientist runs up to General Lee with what looks like a regular hamster in his hands. The scientist is clearly excited.

Scientist: General Lee, we made a breakthrough!

The scientist doesn't give Lee time to answer and just lets the hamster go, which starts flying around the room.

Scientist: The next step is to test it on humans. Unfortunately, every soldier is busy putting the city in lockdown and it would be too dangerous to test it on a prisoner soldier from the mutants. There is one choice that Heat might not like...testing on Kai.

---

Heat has a piece of paper in his hand. On it is a phone number and a name.

Heat: This is how to contact Kai's friend. First I need a guy to cover for me.

If something happened Kai, it could cost Lee of his best men, even make him a enemy. If it worked though, we would have a means to fight mutants on their terms.

Lee: So you gave the hamster power. However can it be controlled, or does it have a time limit?

He wanted to know if this could be contained before trying it on one of his top soldiers.

Lee: As for Kai, depending on your response to my previous question, we'll talk to her. If she agree to try it, then I'll give you the go ahead.

...................

The lead soldier speaks up.

Lead soldier: Remember what Lee said about Ziek.

It may of very well been a cat, however he sent a soldier in the direction of the sound to check it just to be sure.

Lead soldier: Let us know what you find.
Other Soldier: Right sir.

A soldier is sent to search in the direction the sound came from.

When the soldier get to the direction of the sound, a cat runs out from a small hole in the wall. Said cat (Zeik) instantly jumps on Hawkeye's head.

Hawkeye: Easy buddy. These are just some soldiers.

---

Scientist: It can be controlled. Each hamster that it worked on got a different power, one can even talk our language. It seems to only work on certain hamsters with the will power to actually unlock a hidden power.

---

By now Serena's group has made it to Twilight Town. Serena catches Gandalf and Bobby talking through a window and gets off her horse to talk to them.

Serena: Take Suzuna to the inn. I'll meet you later.

Serena enters Gandalf's house as a surprise guest.

Gandalf: Welcome Serena. May I interest you in some tea?
Serena: No thanks.
Gandalf: What do you need?
Serena: Bloomingdale might be in trouble, we only have the knights there right now.
Gandalf: What happened?
Serena: Suzuna, a new ally Jean, and I ran into The Brotherhood today. It looked like they want to attack Bloomingdale.
Bobby: That can't be. What are you going to do?
Serena: Bobby, I need you to take Suzuna and Jean there the long way. Gandalf and I will be enough to hold off the brotherhood.
Gandalf: That is a sound plan. We will leave in the morning.

Gandalf notices Serena is a hiding something.

Gandalf: You have something else to say. What is it?
Serena: I...had to send Jean and Suzuna away during the battle along with Buckeye. I was caught in a bad situation when of all people, 3 of the mutants helped. They claim they want to help us get Victor back.
Gandalf: Really? I'll have to hear their story.
Serena: I know.

---

Heat is talking to one of his friends within the army.

Heat: I need you to cover for me for a few days.
Heat's Friend: Sure. I still owe ya one for the time you saved my life.
Heat: Thanks.

Soldier: What do you think.

The lead soldier looks at the cat, before calling his men together.

Lead soldier: A full grown man can't change to something that small, can he?

The soldiers seem to know Zeik can transform, just not what limits he has. So the cat has them questioning themselves on if it's a true cat or a mutant.

.....................

Lee took a moment to think it over. It was controllable, so their shouldn't be much risk id Kai couldn't control it. The risk was now to Kai herself.

Lee: What is some expected risks to Kai?

.......................

Jean lead the way to find a inn. Suzuna's horse knew instinctively to follow Jean after hearing Serena. The inn is found quickly and the horses stop. Jean don't know where the barns are here, so she has to tie the horses up outside for the time being. Jean helps Suzuna down, guiding her so she doesn't miss the footholds.

Jean: Don't worry, I got you.

Jean said that as she help Suzuna step down to the ground.

Soldier: There is no way he can get that small. Must just be Hawkeye's pet.

---

Scientist: Worst case is her body rejects the serum and she ends up being tired for about a week. Not a problem since she needs to relax and heal up anyway. We just need to keep this as a private matter, not even Heat can know. Switch out the nurses, give the ones in the past few days a vacation, etc.

---

Suzuna and Jean enter the inn. In the common area, the other evos are sitting there talking. One of the girls instantly recognizes Suzuna and runs up to her.

Girl: What happened? Are you alright?
Suzuna: Kai whipped my face, I'll be fine.
Girl: Kai? But why?

Jean spoke up.

Jean: I'd hate to be the barer of bad news, but your friend Kai was a spy for the white lands all along.

................

Lee: If that is all the risk there is, then I'm willing to approve the test. We have to talk to Kai first through, as one of my highest rank, she deserves a say in if this test is happening or not.

While Lee had no issue applying the test to a grunt solider. People like Heat and Kai he held respect for. Thus they had a say in what happened to them.

...............

After a little back and forth talk, they decide the cat is just a pet. With the house sweeped and no sign od the Evo's found, they soon leave Hawkeye's place and move on to the next house.

With the soldiers clearly out of sight and hearing range, Zeik transforms back into a human form.

Hawkeye: How did you get out?
Zeik: There was an area just large enough for a cat. It led to a small gap in your wall.
Hawkeye: Let's get the others out.

Zeik and Hawkeye move the couch and open the passage, letting the rest of the group back into Hawkeye's house.

---

Scientist: Let's ask her tomorrow. Let her rest for the rest of the day.

---

Heat and the soldier split off. The soldier is wearing an extra pair of Heat's clothes while Heat is in civilian clothes.

Lee: Alright, come see me at noon tomorrow then.

Lee dismissed the scientist back to his normal duties.

...................

Jean had gotten Suzuna to a chair where she could sit and talk to the other evo's.

Kai is seen talking on her cell phone.

???: You know that will be hard for me to do.
Kai: Come on Kunoichi, I need you to do this. Zeik broke my leg and some ribs.
Kunoichi: Alright alright. I don't need a sob story. I can get you Dean, that's it.
Kai: Thanks, it's better than nothing. My friend Heat will be calling you soon, have him meet you away from your base.
Kunoichi: Got it.

---

The scientist takes the hamster back to the lab. He continues working on a quick cure for broken bones, not getting far.

---

Kunoichi is getting off the phone when Gale comes up.

Gale: I do not comprehend. Why would you help General Lee?
Kunoichi: It's not for Lee, it's for Kai. She is a very valuable contact to have.
Gale: I see. Kai can vouch that we aren't with the mutants and Evos, it is most advantageous.

---

Serena walks into the inn after finishing her talk with Gandalf. She notices Suzuna is talking with the other evos.

Serena: Looks like she found some friends.

With the scientist gone Lee checks in with his men to see if any signs of the mutants was found. So far, nothing.

...........

Back at the Inn Johnny is seen bringing Sandra some food. They set at a table and start eating.

Heat calls Kunoichi now.

Kunoichi: What's the password?
Heat: Kai didn't give me a password.
Kunoichi: So you must be Heat.
Heat: Yes. Are you Kunoichi?
Kunoichi: Yes I am. Kai already called me, she said you need my help with a mutant problem.
Heat: I do. 5 highly dangerous mutants recently escaped from Lee's prison.
Kunoichi: Meet me at the beach house on the Eastern Coast of the city tomorrow, it's the one on the top of the hill. We will talk about this there.
Heat: Understood.

Heat hangs up the phone and heads to the motel to check in. He can't risk staying at home cause somebody might see him.

---

Kunoichi put on a show about disliking the mutants, making it sound like she thought they were evil.

Gale: Nice work.
Kunoichi: Thanks. I've had practice.
Gale: I take it you are spending the night at the beach house.
Kunoichi: Yeah. I want you to come.
Gale: I do not comprehend. Why would you need me to come along?
Kunoichi: If this is the Heat I think it is, then I'll need some backup. Things could go south pretty fast.
Gale: I see. It would be advantageous to have some extra help.

---

Cat's group has set up camp again. It still took Troy a long time to set up his tent cause he forgot about the instructions again.

Cat: I know a shortcut to Bloomingdale that will cut out a day of hiking. It's rough terrain but we can easily save a lot of time. Instead of going through the towns, we can climb over the mountain and end up by a trading center near Bloomingdale. It's only accessible by foot and is pretty dangerous.

Troy was curious how she knew this.

Troy: How do you know about shortcuts and such over here?

Tesla hadn't stayed up and was the first one in her tent.

............

As they ate Johnny figured to start a conversation.

Johnny: So your fairly new to all this right? Being a savior of the city or whatever.
Sandra: It was my first major assignment you could say.
Johnny: Not working out so well?
Sandra: Well I trusted Tesla to easily, got injured, almost died a couple of times, and got put in prison. So no, not really going all that well.
Johnny: So what now, going to leave it in the hands of the experienced Evo's?

Sandra shook her head.

Sandra: No way. I want to learn from the mistake I made and be better prepared next time someone tries to attack Bloomingdale. I'm not giving up this easily.

Johnny could see she had will. It's clear she knew many people there and wanted to help keep them safe. While she was a novice and had a rough beginning, it hadn't shook her confidence.

Cat: I was the only real field agent. Dean got stuck covering my prison shifts while I was out here until you got hired.

Cat gets up from the fire and puts it out this time.

Cat: I'd prefer not to have a fire glowing outside my tent tonight.

Cat leaves to her tent to go to sleep for the night.

Troy just shrugged, didn't matter to him if the fire was going or not, he then proceeded to his tent. By morning once again both girls was already awake and packing by the time Troy got it.

Troy: God damnit, how are you two always up so early?

..............

During the morning Lee checked with his men again. Neither the soldiers blocking the docks nor the men searching the city has yet to find anything. Lee knew they had to be hiding out, the question was where. Checking the time he had a while yet before the scientist was suppose to return.

Lee needed more eyes in more places to truly cover the city. The idea of offering a reward was one idea to have the public help out in tracking the mutants down.

.............

By this time Jean was also up. She was seen eating breakfast in a lounge area, just about to finish. She had some food ready to bring back to Suzuna.

Cat: My power is darkness. I don't need as much sleep at night but I prefer to try to sleep.

----

Kunoichi and Gale are eating breakfast in the beach house. Kunoichi made eggs, sausage, toast, and home fries for them.

Kunoichi: I need you here to calm down Heat. He gets angry quickly, you know how to calm him down.
Gale: I do not comprehend. I kicked him out of the U.S. Army.
Kunoichi: You know what makes him angry. Anyway things should go smoothly.
Gale: Always the optimist...

----

Serena, Gandalf, and Bobby are seen standing at the gate, facing the group of Evos.

Serena: Jean, Bobby. You 2 are to protect the rest of the Evos on the trip back to Bloomingdale. Gandalf and I are going to get there as fast as we can to provide some extra protection.
Bobby: Understood.

Serena takes Suzuna's hand and leads her to the carriage (a regular carriage with a cloth covering the top, like from the old west). Serena helps Suzuna get up on the seat at the horses and Bobby sits next to her, taking the reigns. Shiloh and Scarlet are the horses pulling the carriage as Gandalf has his own horse.

Gandalf: We should get going.
Serena: Right. Jean, you can help the others into the back of the carriage under the cloth.

Serena and Gandalf get on their horses and start the ride to Bloomingdale, going as fast as the horses can.

Jean does as instructed and starts helping the other Evo's into the carriage. Jean was really starting to miss Sandra, so little time with her sister and already they was separated.

.................

Tesla: I've trained myself to usually wake early. Cat is usually up first with her power, but still, I\m not bad myself.
Troy: Great, now y'all going to think I'm lazy.
Tesla: We've been thinking that since long ago Troy.

Bobby gets the horses going when everybody is ready. This is going much faster than just hiking but he doesn't go as fast as Gandalf and Serena.

Bobby: We'll make it to the next town by noon. Then it's only 2 more until we pick up Sandra.

---

Heat knocks on the door to the beach house. Kunoichi opens it.

Heat: So you are Kunoichi.
Kunoichi: Yes, and you must be Heat.
Heat: Right. Where are we going to talk about this?
Kunoichi: We will talk in the kitchen. Do you want anything to drink?
Heat: Tea is fine.

Kunoichi leads Heat into the kitchen and makes him a cup of tea. Heat quickly notices Gale.

Gale: Hello Heat.
Heat: Gale.
Kunoichi: Anyway what did Kai want?
Heat: Kai wanted me to get your help capturing the mutants that escaped Lee's prison. I'm sticking my neck out here for her since I'm supposed to be at the docks.
Gale: I do not comprehend. The mutants would try to go to the docks to get out fast.
Heat: Kai thinks differently, she is convinced they will go for the northern checkpoint and get to a different port.
Kunoichi: We can help you watch the northern checkpoint for a few days, the mutants shouldn't be allowed to escape.
Heat: That's what I was hoping for.
Kunoichi: Why don't you stay for lunch? We can get a plan going and head out before dinner.
Heat: That sounds good.

---

Cat: We have 2 choices to go from here. We can either cut over the mountains and cut off a day of hiking or stick to the main path.

Jean: I sure hope we don't run into more trouble.

.............

Tesla: Let's take the mountains. It's a hard trail yes, but Troy acts like a big ol tough guy, I'm sure he can keep up, can't you?

Tesla knew she and Cat would make the trail without to much trouble. She just thought it'd be a bit of fun making things harder on their tag alone for this trip.

............

Titus was meanwhile checking his camps. The supplies team was already sent out to take their position on the trails, Jenny leading the team again. By now the spy would of made to Bloomingdale going at a steady pace, as well as taking shortcuts. The messager Would be waiting at the half way point between Bloomingdale and camp.

Titus: Time to see if those mutants stir up any more trouble.

Not long after leaving, Bobby notices Suzuna looks a little pale. She is sweating a lot and it's not even that hot out.

Bobby: Whoa.

The horses stop, this causes the Evos to wonder what's going on. The girl who talked to Suzuna climbs out front from the back.

Girl: What's going on?
Bobby: Suzuna, are you alright?
Suzuna: Not really...
Bobby: I have to get you to a doctor. I can't have you getting sick.
Girl: Won't it be better to continue the trip?
Bobby: You lead them to Bloomingdale. Have Jean take the horses if you have to, I'm bringing Suzuna back.
Girl: But it's a 15 minute walk.
Bobby: I got this covered.

Bobby has already helped Suzuna off the carriage. By this time Jean has joined the girl.

---

On the way to Bloomingdale, Serena spots a bandit in the woods.

Serena: It's one of them. Take him out.
Gandalf: Got it.

Gandalf rides up to the bandit and chops his head off without breaking on the way. Conveniently, the bandit had his back turned to watch for any messengers. Gandalf re-joins Serena.

Gandalf: That's not good. They don't normally go this far.
Serena: I know.

---

Cat: Then let's go.

Cat leads the group through an overgrown trail in the woods to the mountain. It is clear that they will be rock climbing without any gear.

It was clear something was wrong with Suzuna.

Jean: Should we wait for you at the next town or continue straight to pick up up Boddy and Sandra, then Bloomingdale? Would you guys make it back all that way by yourselves?

...........

Troy: Well this is gonna be fun.

Troy spoke sarcastically seeing the rough trail ahead.

Troy: Remind me not to go on another camping trip with you girls, will ya.
Tesla: Gladly. Now shut up and come on.

With a sign Troy followed the girls trying to both be careful and fast enough to keep up.