"Wow." Impressed, Argus watched him disappear. Whatever he was, she wasn't going to be able to catch up. She righted her bike and headed (again) toward the front of the building to see what had happened.
    Inside, the two continued to circle and dodge. The Muse was fast and skilled with his weapon, and would have skewered the hero were it not for the White Rose's superhuman abilities of concentration. The Muse then leaped backwards, tucked, and went through the side window of the store. The White Rose followed, of course, and saw the Muse's cloak edge around the corner. He spun immediately, anticipating an attack from the rear, but there was no one there. He ran around toward the front and reached the street just in time to see the two cars full of women pulling away and Captain Vanguard curled in a fetal ball on the sidewalk muttering vile things about Boston women. The Rose followed the cars as they accelerated away. He could see panicked expressions as they realized that he was keeping up with them at 40 MPH. He knew he wouldn't be able to catch them this way, however; he slipped into a shadow, climbed a building and began following them by rooftop, vanishing from their site.
    Argus emerged from the alley just in time to see the getaway cars turn a corner, the White Rose in pursuit.
    "Hey Vanguard, you dying?"
    He groaned.
    She helped him up. "Come on, pull yourself together man." He groaned again but managed to stand on his own and called the autogyro. "So what happened?"
    "It was this woman... first they slammed a car hood on me, and then she, uh, struck me in a vulnerable area."
    "Yeah, I've done that," she nodded.
    He looked scandalized. "That's really low!"
    "Well, that's the point." Even if you're a world-traveling adventuress and vigilante, it's still a man's world.
    He climbed in and tuned into the police band to see if there was any activity; they were on the way to the store in response to the reports of explosions. Argus remained on the ground, where he could direct her via radio since he was so good at that.
    The White Rose had lost the trail, and the other two spent a half hour in fruitless searching on their own before he found them and the three paused to confer.
    "Did anyone happen to see what they got away with?" Argus asked.
    "Something that was under the floorboards," the Rose replied. "Why don't we go back and ask the nice unconscious gentleman by the back door?"
    The area around the shop was swarming with police.
    "I'll go in," Vanguard announced. Argus winced but let him try. He left the autgyro on a rooftop nearby and walked up to the crime scene. "Is there an officer in charge?"
    "Um... sarge?"
    "Yeah, what do you want?"
    "Sargeant, good to meet you. My name is Captain Vanguard, it's wonderful to meet such a conscientious police force."
    "What the hell do you want?"
    "This scene was occupied by a mystery villain known as the Muse, who has committed crimes in many cities; my colleagues and I are on his trail. There was an unconscious thug when we were here last, I was wondering if I might speak to him for a few minutes before you took him off to the can?"
    The sergeant looked him up and down. "So you were here for this?"
    "Well, we arrived too late to stop the mystery villains from escaping before their rampage of destruction."
    "All right, tell you what, why don't you come down to the station with us and explain everything that happened?" His hand crept toward his belt.
    "I'm afraid I have to go," Vanguard demurred. "But if you radio at this frequency I'll be sure to get the message." After a quick motion, Vanguard was holding a pair of handcuffs and the policeman was holding a business card, the latter with no idea how that had happened. He put the cuffs down on nearby car. "Well, if you don't want to cooperate, I understand. I do think that the Los Angeles police department has a much better attitude—"
    "Oh, the Los Angeles police department, I see...."
    "But I'll be going." He ran off a little ways, calling the autogyro.
    "Stop that masked man!"
    The autogyro came down and hovered close enough for him to leap up and grab hold of the rope ladder.
    Seeing that things had not gone perfectly, the White Rose spotted the ambulance parked nearby and stealthed his way over to it. The back doors were still open, and there were two people inside, not speaking.
    "Do the police in this town care if they catch the mystery villains?" Vanguard demanded of Argus. "You know, we don't do things this way in LA. Are they on the payroll, is that it?"
    "Not to my knowledge. Since he's new in town, I don't believe he's paid anyone off."
    The White Rose climbed into the ambulance and drove it away, pulled off into an alley a short distance away.
    "What are we stopping here for, are we at the hospital already?" one of the men in back called.
    "No, we're at where you're going to tell me what was hidden under the floorboards."
    "I'm not talking to any damn cops."
    He turned around, radiating menace.
    "Who is this guy?" one of them whispered nervously.
    "What did he want that was under your floor?"
    "We had some, uh, special merchandise down there. You know, just in case there was trouble," the man stuttered.
    "What type of special merchandise?"
    

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