On a road heading for the police station....
    "So, officer, you like baseball?
    "Why do you think we were sittin' outside of the game, hm?"
    "I just thought you might like to watch a good team play at some point."
    "You are gonna get your head kicked in," the cop warned.
    "I find that really unlikely," he replied in a calm voice quite unlike the ranting tones he had used before. "You see that street we're about to turn on? That's where my gang's waiting."
    "Your gang's waiting?"
    "Well, more importantly, Homer."
    The remote-controlled baseball smashed the windshield and did a right-angle turn into the jaw of the officer at the wheel. The car veered out of control, then slid to a halt. The other members of the gang ran over and jimmied open the door to free their leader.
    "Everything go according to plan?" he asked, straightening his uniform.
    "Just like you said, boss. It was cake."
    "Yup. Baseball is all about strategy," he smiled. "I've got a little card for them. I'm sure we'll be running into them again, next time we're here." He reached back in and patted the unconscious cop on the head. "Night, officer. Oh, and—the Sox suck. See you later."

"So I have to say, he's really pulling everybody together," Rick enthused to Dawn as they left the pizzeria.
    "He does have a personality that attracts people, yes," she said carefully.
    He gave her a look. "Do you not think it's a good idea, what he's doing with us?"
    She sighed. "I don't know, Rick. It's just—sometimes Dad gets really caught up in stuff, and... he has an awful lot of focus. That's one of the things they apparently taught him to do in Japan, he just needed to focus more. And now he's kind of focused on you guys."
    "But that's a good thing!"
    "It certainly seems to be. Can I ask you something?" she inquired a bit diffidently.
    "Sure."
    "Why do you do it?"
    "Because he's teaching us how to fight, and—"
    "No, the whole gang thing," she clarified. "What got you into it?"
    "Well, originally it was just having guys to hang with," he shrugged. "And then that whole... Needle thing, what's the word I'm looking for, with an L...."
    "Lamentable?"
    "Yeah. That was just a mistake, but it got us the boards. Up until then we were just riding regular skateboards, and these guys gave us... you don't... I can't explain it," he finished lamely.
    "Show me," she challenged gently.
    A couple minutes later they were in the parking lot, on his board. This naturally required a certain amount of close contact. Dawn's hair and scarf streamed in the breeze.
    "Whew. I can certainly see why you'd enjoy that," she admitted when they stopped. "Can I see your board for a second?"
    "What're you doing?" he asked nervously after he'd handed it to her.
    "Just... thinking of something. There. Go ahead." She handed it back.
    "Yeah, it's a beauty, isn't it?" He looked at her. Blinked at what she was holding: a newly created skateboard. "How did you do that?"
    She shrugged. "Sometimes the world isn't what you want, so you make it something different."
    "What?"
    "Well, that's what you're doing right now with my dad, right? The world isn't what you want, you're making it different."
    "That's a fine-looking deck you made there."
    "Here, you want to try it out?"
    "Dawn, I can't help but notice that it needs wheels," he pointed out gently.
    "No, it doesn't." She dropped it; it came to rest three inches above the ground.
    Rick looked nervous. "We have now officially entered into territory—"
    "Yes, I know, it's Weird Shit. Would you just get on?" she challenged. This time she took the lead; as usual she learned with inhuman speed. Rick clearly wasn't sure what to think about the fact that she was already almost as good as he was. His expression changed to shock as they swooped up the side of a building.
    "Wheee-ow!" he whooped, relaxing when he realized that they weren't falling.
    "You know, I think I might want to start riding with you guys," she yelled to him over the wind.

Talon and Candi finished dinner—he paid the bill without even wincing—and went for a little walk down by the river before he took her back to her place for a good night kiss, after which he returned to base and heard about what had happened.
    "Son of a bitch!"
    In the morning he paid a visit to the station where the Alley Cats had been taken, intending to talk to the officer who had brought them in, but he was off-duty. When the guy called back later, he confirmed that the official story matched what the Blood Boards had told him. He hadn't wanted to doubt them, but it probably best to be careful at this stage. They had held the Cats for twenty-four hours, but since the mugging victims hadn't come forward, they'd been let go. That could mean trouble ahead.

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