Scott called J.T. as he reached their island.
    "Mariner base, where we're girding for the storm," was the answer.
    "Hi!"
    "Oh, hi Scott."
    "This is a stupid question, I know the answer's yes, but do you guys have any sonar sweeps around the island or anything?"
    "Yeah, you think he's underwater?"
    "Well, he's gotta be in the area somewhere."
    "We'll keep an eye out, or more precisely an ear out. I'm also getting a couple of full oil jugs ready to throw at him when he shows up."
    Seeing the storm's increasing fury, Scott changed to gas form and spread himself over the eastern half of Mariner Island, absorbing power from it.
    The manta-face appeared in a bank of furiously dark clouds.
    "So, android, you think you can take all the energy I'm going to throw at you? Ha ha ha!" Lightning began to arc down.
    This could be an interesting experiment, Scott thought, absorbing the bolts without difficulty. Which alien technology would prove more effective?
    "I gotta to tell you, J.T., I think he stole the really good stuff outta that Indian Ocean find."
    "Startin' to look that way," the old man agreed.

    The other impromptu foursome took the hovercycles over to the Caduceus building, Thunderbolt and Cold Steel on one, straining to lift the latter's incredibly dense body, and Phoenix Talon and Xorn on the other.
    "How long you been in the civilian sector?" Steel inquired.
    "Less than six months," Thunderbolt him.
    "What drove you out?"
    "Don't want to talk about it."
    "Oh. RECF." [Footnote: Rear Echelon Cluster Fuck, for those of us ignorant of these things.] They knew the way quite well by now; the recently restored Caduceus building was being rapidly reduced to rubble by a couple dozen eight-foot-high ants, with more crawling out of a gaping hole nearby.
    "I'm willing to bet this is Dr. Twilight," Xorn mused.
    "You think?" Talon asked.
    "Yeah, that's my guess... how'd he even know we were gonna be here? He's operating outside his phylum."
    Cold Steel said, "Thunderbolt, swoop down over that way, will you? Get right over that ant...." He leaped down, his four-hundred-pound metallic frame crushing an ant head on his way through—messy, but effective. The bike complained about the sudden change in mass, but compensated correctly.
    Phoenix Talon switched on his bokken and said, "How do you wanna do this, you getting off?"
    "Nah, I can fly one of these things. Why don't he and I start dragging the people out and you and Steel start dealing with the... bugs?"
    "Okay. Take over." He leapt down onto another ant, brought his bokken down on its head, cracking its exoskeleton and frying its little insectoid brain.
    "Boy, these are made cheap," he noted, jumping free of its death throes.
    "Well, when you buy 'em in bulk..." Steel shrugged. "There is the basic problem that another five have come out while we've been killing these two." He pointed.
    "I'm doing a pass through the building," Xorn yelled to Thunderbolt. "You follow me and start grabbing people out!"
    "Good idea. Let's go!"
    The building was a loss anyway; a vibrational field built ahead of Xorn, creating a hole for them to fly through, tearing an ant to pieces in the process. Thunderbolt piled as many people onto his hovercycle as he could with little regard for their comfort. Dr. Habiki did a running leap and landed catlike on the back without assistance.
    Phoenix Talon identified a cluster of the creatures and hurled a grenade into their midst, destroying one entirely. Cold Steel raised his arms, and the temperature in the immediate area dropped by seventy degrees, slowing the ants considerably. Strange light gleamed across their eyes, then over their antennae, and a peculiar energy sparked off them and into Steel.
    "Ooow," he muttered. "Now I'm pissed."
    "I'm willing to bet these are not ordinary ants," Xorn observed as they came back around after dropping off the cargo.
    "Did the size give them away?" Thunderbolt asked.
    "No, the radiation bursts. Can you do something about that? I think this is everybody," he added, having finished his second pass through the building. "I didn't see anyone else inside the building, anyway."
    "All right, let's get these damn ants!"
    "Wait, what's that one doing!" Xorn pointed.
    It was crawling rapidly toward a tunnel, with something clutched in its mandibles.
    They were after the gene sequencer! "That ant, we have to stop it, now! Not again! Dammit!" Thunderbolt jumped down onto the ant's abdomen, leaving the hovercycle to park itself. He used his combat knives as anchors in his journey toward the thing's head, a dozen or so feet away.
    Phoenix Talon took his bokken to a second ant, pierced a faceted eye. It curled up on its back, twitching as it died.
    "Hey, they seem to be pulling back!" Xorn waved his arms. "One of them stole something from the building! Thunderbolt's on its back!"
    "Y'know, I was hoping for a game of volleyball," Cold Steel sighed. "Not having to track more of Dr. Twilight's crap through ant tunnels under Boston. Let's go."

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