"How long has it been?" Albert asked.
    "About a month," Scott told him.
    He shook his head. "Caught me by surprise. Never should have happened." He stamped in a circle. Hit the Toy Man in the head with his cane, poked it into the hole in the body's midsection. "What did that?"
    "Don't do that. Phoenix."
    Albert shot him a look. "This is no time for jests! I've studied the psychological blocks in Phoenix's head; he's incapable of doing anything vaguely like this."
    "He really, really, really wants to kill the Toy Man. The side effect of this is that's why he's unconscious and bleeding out his nose," he explained.
    "Hm. What is he saying?" He bent down to the quasi-conscious Talon.
    "Kill him.... Must kill Toy Man...."
    "It seems as if he's having a nice dream."
    "Somehow it seems that Toy Man has had a bad effect on his programming."
    "That seems to be the case. The boy needs therapy; I'll see to it immediately. Once this current crisis calms down, I'm certain he'll be willing to listen to reason."
    "How many times did you get stun-bolted?" Scott inquired.
    Albert sniffed. "I have complete faith in my abilities."
    "I'm quite certain you do."
    
    
    Scott got a phone call while they waited for their pickup.
    "Oh good, you're back. What happened?" Larry asked. "I have some interesting scenes for you."
    "Let's see... we jumped those two, then ended up inflicting a little property damage with the Wuxia, Needle got in a protracted fight with every other member of the Wuxia except the two she was carrying unconscious, then the rest of us showed up, that turned into a protracted fight. Then at the point when everybody was running for the hills, the Toy Man showed up...."
    "Paul, Paul, Paul...." Larry sighed.
    "Which would explain why there's a large hole through his plasticine body at the moment."
    "It is Paul, you are certain of this?" Larry asked.
    "I am fairly positive."
    "His body's plastic?"
    "It's mostly a large toy that he's animating now. He's currently on his way to jail; the life support system that's keeping his brain and remaining organs seems to be okay."
    "Good. Um, I was unable to keep an eye on Miss Hoagland," he admitted. "She grew wings and flew out the window."
    "Really, did she?'
    "Mm. That was about the time Rue Morgue and Ley Lady showed up to kill her, saying that Mind Lazer was upset about the fact that she had killed Mort."
    "Well that's different...."
    "I have to admit that it's an outcome I hadn't seen coming. I was of course able to facilitate my escape before the amateurs that were there were able to take any move against me."
    "Interestingly enough, I suppose if you use a ruler and draw a line through Europe, you're more on a straight line than she was."
    "I find it unlikely I am the next target. It doesn't fit the pattern at all. On the other hand, there's something about being hunted, the sort of roguish way, yes! I can see—"
    "Larry, shut up," Felix sighed in the background.
    "So, she grew wings and flew away?" Scott inquired.
    Larry confirmed it. "She started to stand up and make an evocation as to how they couldn't stand against her. She screamed and fell over, saying that the war was coming and the crows were gathering, and then disappeared. She got thrown out through the window and then grew wings from underneath the floofy sleeves, and then...."
    "Flew away. That would be that whole disturbing winter and the wolf fighting over the sunrise thing. Huh."
    "Mm."
    "I'm really feeling far too beat up to deal with Fimbulwinter vs. Xyrgoth in downtown Boston," he sighed.
    Pause. "I can see how you would be. I'm not looking forward to it either. Why don't we take the show on the road to a sunnier climate for a few months?"
    "That's what the precognitive mystic I talked to has decided to do."
    "I have to say she's remarkably intelligent," Larry approved.
    "She gave me a very nasty look and said 'I didn't need to know that.'"
    "Did you not ask the right questions?"
    "Apparently not; I was supposed to ask simple, easy things she said."
    "Such as?"
    "Where are the Wuxia hiding, how can we find them."
    "Did you ask them that?"
    "Yes. Her answer was in fact, pay no attention to them, they're a distraction now, in fact leave town, it will be faster."
    "Does this mean that we should be trying to hunt down Hoagland?"
    "If we could find her."
    "Hm. We could try and follow the League of Nations who are trying to follow her, and then try and steal her from the League of Nations before they can kill her," he suggested.
    Something clicked. "Wait a minute, wait a minute," Scott said suddenly. "Go back to something, I almost missed it but I just caught it—did you say that Mind Lazer said that she's the one that killed Mort?"
    "I'm making an assumption," Larry admitted. "Rue Morgue said that his employer, well, his business associate."
    "That would probably be Mind Lazer. That would imply that Mind Lazer is somewhere around here."
    "I did notice that."
    "I'm far happier when Mind Lazer's on the other side of the Atlantic."
    "As am I."
    "It's possible that he's just astrally projecting himself here," Felix put in. "That might weaken him."
    "It might, maybe," Larry replied dubiously.
    "Not enough for those of us who don't have mechanical brains to make any real difference," Scott shrugged.
    "Yeah, what are you worried about?" Larry wanted to know.
    "All my friends being turned into brain-dead zombies."

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