Reilly checked his notes. "Judging from what we've seen in the eyewitness reports, the times that he actually has turned up, Tybalt seems to have variant level agility. Increased reflexes, bodily control...."
    "And superspeed," Phoenix Talon put in. "One of the boys was telling me."
    "I don't know whether we can go that far on it. He can certainly run fast and he's remarkably agile, that's what we've been able to piece together. If he's got superspeed, that's one up on us."
    Talon shrugged. "They're not the most accurate observers yet."
    "Claws?" Scott asked.
    "He seems to prefer firearms," was the dry response.
    "Reilly, can you get me all the police information you guys have on the Alley Cats and Tybalt?" Talon asked.
    "Not a problem. I'm surprised you haven't run into them more often on patrol," he added.
    "It's kinda weird," he agreed. "I'm not sure why."
    "It's almost as if someone knows where you're patrolling every night, and is telling him your every move. Newton, get off the table."
    "It did occur to me. The other day when we caught the Alley Cat punks, I was incognito. So that could have something to do with it. Maybe I've gotten too high a profile."
    "None of the rest of us have seen them either," I noted.
    Reilly shrugged. "In any case. I can get you the information on that. So far, they haven't been—they're certainly a problem, but no more of a problem than the Blood Boards were. If you guys have the time and opportunity to crack down on them, just to get it out of the way before any more 1-800-HENCHMEN idiots show up.... Speaking of 1-800-HENCHMEN idiots," he went on, "two things. We still haven't seen any sign of this 'Babe' guy in the last few days, nor his men, looks like he got away clean on that one. That leaves my end of things with egg on our face."
    "I hate it when they're smarter than we expect them to be," I sighed.
    "Well, he was acting like such an idiot that there was no way we could assume otherwise."
    "You have to watch that," Phoenix Talon stated. "Sometimes people act stupid, but they can really kick your ass."
    "When's the next home game?" Scott asked.
    "Two days."
    "We'll be ready, just in case," I told him.
    "Speaking of baseball, I got a report come in I'm supposed to pass along to you guys. They're looking for some extra security on a VIP baseball game, specifically the Japanese Olympic team's coming to play an exhibition game against the Sox. That's not until the end of September, nothing to really worry about right now, but something to bear in mind if we've got some kind of baseball-obsessed villain out there.
    "The other note on 1-800-HENCHMEN, I'm not sure whether this is connected or not, but in the last two days we've had two burglaries of high-rise apartments. Hasn't been any sign of people breaking in through the front door, certainly looks more like they've been breaking in through the window. We're not talking the top of the apartment complex, we're talking like twelve stories up a fifteen-story building. So we've either got someone climbing up the outside or flying or something. They're leaving a calling card behind, defining themselves as being 'Maglev.' Beats the hell outta me. That certainly sounds like someone doing some sort of stupid 1-800-HENCHMEN thing, but you don't see an awful lot of disgruntled second-story thieves."
    "Any links between the victims?" Scott asked.
    "Other than the fact that they had some fairly expensive jewelry? No."
    "Disgruntled high-energy train engineers, maybe."
    "Disgruntled window washer?" I suggested.
    "I wonder who it could be," Talon said grimly.
    "We'll keep our eyes open," I told Reilly. "There is still that one Wuxia guy on the loose."
    "Yeah, but doesn't really fit his MO."
    "No, not really." I shrugged. You never know. Tigers do change their stripes once in a while.
    "Anyway, if something comes up... unfortunately, anyone who's a successful thief is not going to be setting off any sort of alarms that will let us know where he's going to be. He's not leaving any clues or anything like that."
    "Just the name."
    "Right. Which leads me to believe that we've got another mask, which means that the ball's been kicked into your court."
    "No problem."
    "Sleipnir's still in custody. There's still no sign of Odin. Oh, do you have the keys?"
    I blinked. "Oh, crud. Forgot about that. They're on my dresser. Remind me." I'd left the lot with them in my pocket and hadn't gotten around to giving them back. It's not like the cops are going to go driving it around. I hope.
    "I'll pick them up before I go."
    "We need to find someone who can take a look at the computer. I want to know if it's only cybernetically controlled by Odin, or... I'd hate to risk turning it on to do further tests or whatever and have him pop out of the woodwork and drive off."
    "Well, that's our concern. We'd love to be able to do tests on it, but if it's an actual legitimate AI, or if it's even just a very well-programmed truck, we could turn it on and have it aim guns at everybody."
    "Dad offered to take it off your hands," Scott told us. "If you want it analyzed."
    Reilly looked thoughtful. "That's not a bad idea. I don't know how we'd get it out to Seattle...."
    "Train," I suggested.
    "Worth a shot. I'll make some phone calls. If nothing else, Odin will follow the truck to Seattle, discover it's his natural environment, and stay there," he smiled.
    "This being Odin, it'll probably mean that he'll hang himself for nine days off the side of Sequoia in an attempt to gain power," Scott noted.
    "Fine with me," I shrugged.
    "As long as he's not doing it in my city, I have very little problem with that," Reilly concurred.
    "Justice Defenders can worry about him. I'm sure Powerhouse would enjoy it." From what I've heard, he'd actually love a chance to go up against that truck.
    "That's the majority of the stuff on our plate right now," Reilly concluded.
    "Whew. When did we get so busy."
    "Keep an eye on police reports out of Chicago, if you would," Scott asked.
    "What are you looking for?" Reilly ask him.
    "Henchmen," I said darkly.
    "Yeah," Scott confirmed.
    "Theme villains, okay. That's right, you said there was a Wall, Stone office out there. Can't hurt. Anything else on our plate? Oh, I understand the cartoon starts in a week?"
    "Oh yeah," I rolled my eyes.
    "Everybody signed on?"
    "Everybody but me." You'd think that since they have mo st of the team, they could just leave my stand-in out of it entirely, but no.... Oh, well.

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