"He will understand...." Billy reassured, sure that would be the truth when Tommy finally saw the replay of events. "Now I want you to go home and make up some sort of cover story for my dad. I don't want him worrying that I've been kidnapped off the plane or something."

Taken off guard Skye nodded. Billy shifted into his normal form and helped his unsteady friend up.As the Crustaceans shared an evil laugh, Les Fortunes crept over to the unconscious Beetleborg. Asleep, he didn't look very formidable. You couldn't see the blazing blue eyes, or the defiant set to the chin. Les had come to know THAT look quite well. It was the one that said Drew wasn't backing down, and usually meant the newest Crustacean monster was headed back to the printed page. But out cold, Drew seemed no more than an average teenage boy.
          Suddenly his eyelids began to flutter. Quickly, Les backed away. If Drew was not under Shadowborg's control, the cartoonist had no desire to be at the center of the impending hurricane. And if the boy WAS Shadowborg's pawn- Les wasn't too sure he wanted to be near him anyway. The Ranger compound was starting to stir by the time she reached it, and the doors to the community center had been thrown open to catch the evening breeze. She wandered in, noting idly that Shei had been fingerpainting again. Child-size handprints covered one of the tables and some of the surrounding floor, and there was a blanket with similar designs hanging near the door to dry. Neither the artist nor her parents were anywhere to be seen, however, and Cassie wondered if one of the Rangers was cooking tonight.

She spent an indecisive moment gazing out into the courtyard, trying to remember whether she should know the answer to that without checking. Eventually, as much out of a desire to postpone the confrontation with Saryn as real curiosity, she went over to investigate the list posted behind the buffet counter. The evening's slot was blank, although Raine had promised to make a walk-through treat before bedtime.

          Sitting up, Drew looked around himself with a calm generally not consistent with finding oneself in the middle of the enemy's stronghold. As his gaze swept the room, his eyes met Les', and the older man shivered. There was no question that Shadowborg's conditioning had worked. The boy's eyes were like blue ice, cold and hostile. Leaping off the table, Drew strolled over to where the Crustaceans stood watching. His movements exuded a subtle, flowing grace more consistent with Shadowborg than with his normal walk. Stopping before Nukus, Drew bowed deeply.

"That was a dirty rotten cutesy wolf trick Billy" Skye said in a voice rough with emotion.

"And who said Adam did the best puppy-dog eyes around here?" Billy asked rhetorically to lighten the moment.