We were wrapping up the meeting—poor Reilly looking about as unhappy as I've ever seen him—when Phoenix Talon and the reincarnation of Errol Flynn walked into the room. I don't think I've seen a match for sheer flamboyance of costume since I started this job. For one thing, most of it was red with gold trim, so it kind of caught the eye even next to Phoenix Talon's bright orange. No mask, so it's easy to tell that he's pretty young, despite the moustache and all. Overall impression is of swashbuckling, what with the old-fashioned boots, high-collared cloak, billowy shirt, tight pants, gauntlets (fingerless for some reason except for the thumb and little finger). Light sword and dagger and a pair of what look like flintlocks in his belt but which I hope for all our sakes are not. He looked like he'd walked off a movie set—fifty years ago. He also looked tired.
    "Phoenix. Did you catch the Rooster?" Scott greeted our teammate.
    "Yeah, but we got a bigger problem," Talon told him. "Everybody, this is the Privateer, from Harborview."
    "And our bigger problem is a variant-powered serial killer by the name of Sabertooth," Privateer informed us without preamble.
    "As we were taking care of the Rooster last night, she really shredded this woman in a dressing room in the mall."
    "And a prior victim to that at UConn. General modus operandi seems to be targeting people somehow related to the daemon incursions, there was a string of murders earlier in the year."
    "Wait a minute, related how?" Reilly wanted to know.
    "Her targets generally seem to be people who are related to sacrifice victims."
    "Oh dear," Scott observed.
    "Melissa Albright, her first victim at UConn in this second series, her father was sacrificed by the Coven. I'm not exactly sure what the victim in Worcester, what the sacrificial connection was, but I'm sure if we looked we'd find something."
    "We had those people back in January," I observed, frowning.
    "I think that might be our best bet," Reilly nodded somberly.
    "God."
    "How tough is this lady?" he wanted to know.
    "If this is in fact Sabertooth, and my suspicions are very strongly that that is the case, she's been quite powerful over time. She fought Black Dragon to a standstill in '82."
    Our favorite kind of news. Scott reached a 'pod over to the computer and began looking for her file. A flashing red flag was attached to it, warning that the subject was extraordinarily dangerous. She'd been estimated at mid- to high-gamma power level, back before she'd been reported killed. There was a linked file, that of the possibly-new woman, who doesn't look quite like her and is much less powerful, but certainly operates in a similar fashion.
    "The first thing we need to do is get a list of names of potential targets," Talon said.
    "Fortunately, Sphinx was just looking at that last week," I replied. And since the computers are all linked, Scott could go looking for the information quite easily.
    "What I have experienced with Sabertooth, is that she seems increasingly powerful with each battle, presumably with each life she takes," Privateer informed us.
    "Great."
    "Lovely. Let's get to finding those people," I suggested.
    Sphinx had said something about the children involved being used as pawns in their parents' divorces. Custody in all cases reverted to the father after their mothers' deaths at the hands of Gretchen's minion; all but two have since left town. Silas and the flower guy are still in the asylum and a coma, respectively, but Scott suggested the police should keep a closer eye on them than usual for the duration.
    The two who are still in town both live in the same general area; Chris Montesanti and his son Eric still live in the house where it happened, the one where Lucky began tracking the killer into the tunnels all those months ago. The brownstone is just up the hill from Boston Common, near the State House. Mark and David London live south of the park, closer to Copley Square. We've decided that since the distance is so slight, we can split up; the seconds it might take us to reach the scene if we pick the wrong house will almost certainly be fatal. Thunderbolt and I will watch the Montesanti house, with Scott lurking in the tunnels below, and Talon and Privateer, with whom he seems to get along very well, will stake out the Londons' place.
    "Dad?" Dawn had come into the room while we made these plans. "Something's wrong."
    "What is it, hon?"
    "Something's here." She sounded scared.
    "Here at the base, or here in the city?"
    She shook her head, distress clear in her expression. "In the city. I... it's from before. I don't remember anything clearly, but something's here."
    "I think we know what it is, there's this supervillainess, Sabertooth, she's going around killing Daemonwar survivors. Can you sense her? We need to find her."
    "I just know she's here," Dawn said quietly. "She's getting stronger."
    "Yeah, that's what we hear."
    "I don't know.... Who's the guy with the cape?"
    "Privateer. He's been working on this, she's already killed a couple people down in Connecticut, he's following up on it."

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