"Target sighted." signaled XK342.
"Acknowledged. Location?" XK345 signaled back.
"Sector J section 8."
"Sighted. Order 4-12, plan 13-B."
"Acknowledged. Informing others."

Bethany wandered up and down Pier 39. It was one of the few places that reminded her of home. She missed Portland terribly. There was too much sun here in the Bay Area. Since she had been here, she hadn't had a minute's peace. ... No, that wasn't it. She liked San Francisco and she liked a lot of the people here and it wasn't like she had many friends to go back to. She didn't know what it was, but she just missed waking up in the morning and knowing she was in Portland. And she couldn't leave now anyway.

She looked at the glass figurines of the vender in front of her. I bet Shannon would like this yellow rose. I'll get it for her. Maybe it'll make her feel better after what she's been through... Bethany smiled in embarrassment at her reaction to finding Shannon beaten by a gang of skinheads. After the fear for Shannon wore off, the anger came. Then going to Katsumi and asking her to help track down and kill the ones who did this to Shannon. And then Katsumi's response, said in a way to make her think about what she was saying. Dammit, I was pissed! Shannon is my friend. One of the few I feel comfortable with. We trust each other... Still, she had to smile. And it didn't stop her from putting the word out on the street that she wanted the names and locations of a group of skinheads with bar-codes tattooed on their foreheads and that she was willing to pay big money for it. That was Katsumi's idea. Thinking of Katsumi, I wonder if she'd like that glass rock garden. Well, we can always find-

Bethany's hair stood on end. She looked around. Everything looked normal, but something was wrong. She panned around again and then did a double-take. There! That guy looking at her. A skinhead with a tattoo on his forehead! She looked around some more and spotted a second one on the other side of her. Oh boy, this doesn't look good. Maybe I should 'Red Alert' someone. They looked like they were closing in.

Bethany started moving up and away from them. I think it's time I go home. Walking quickly, she turned the corner to hop on a bus. As she turned, she saw a third one. She turned to go back the way she came and saw that the other two had converged and that there were actually three there! My God, they look exactly alike! They are definitely not mundane! She shuddered and then ran across the street, down another one, turned the corner and almost ran right into a fifth one! He tried to grab her but missed. Bethany took off down the crowded street, navigating it with correspondence. She didn't want anything to slow her down. The skinhead was right on her heels, but he wasn't gaining any.

Bethany was seriously running now. I've got to start working out. She though as she huffed and puffed. If I get the chance to. The thought came unbidden to her mind. As she turned another corner, she realized she was lost. She shook off her last thought and felt her way around using correspondence. She discovered she had ducked into a dead end alley. She felt the five gang members approach, cutting off her avenue of escape. 'Shit! Vulgar or not, I need to get the fuck outta here!' She tried to use her correspondence magick to get into the chantry and safety. For some reason, it didn't work. 'Christ on a Stick! Why the hell does it always fail at the worse times?!' She turned back to the skinheads. They had fanned out and all of them had blunt weapons: a pipe, a chain, and a couple of clubs. 'Shit, if this isn't a 'Red Alert' I don't know what is!'

Bethany concentrated and sang "Obscene phone caller" sending out what she called a 'Knock-knock A.P.B.' only used in extreme emergencies. Her own creation; a magical 911 call for help.

*******

"Okay, everyone. It's about 12:30pm. Where are you?" Rich said, paging through the Mage player's guide.

"Well, since it's lunch time. Ivan is in the kitchen making lunch for himself and Martika." Kevin said from the floor of the cluttered room.

"Debbie's there, too. What the hell." Johanna laughed.

"Jack's with Debbie in the kitchen." Matt mumbled through a mouthful of Pringles.

"Katsumi is teaching Shannon some self-defense techniques, like we talked about." Shawna called from the kitchen.

"Kuno is watching and giving pointers." Mike said, eyeing Shanwa, who stuck her tongue at him.

"Mark and Egon are in the lab discussing a current project." James answered for Greg and himself.

"Okay, everyone, incoming mind spell from Bethany marked 'Red Alert.' What are you going to do?

"Answer it, I guess." Matt said. The room nodded their agreement.

******

"I'll make lunch." Ivan said.

"Not Borsch, I hope. If it is, I'd rather drink my lunch!" Debbie declared, brandishing her ever-present bottle of scotch.

"No, no. I thought I'd experiment with another Russian dish... No Martika, I'm making fish."

Jack and Debbie simultaneously moved to leave. "I'll take you out." Jack said, turning to Debbie.

"You got a date!" Debbie agreed.

"Wait! Wait, I was just joking. Hamburgers! I'm making hamburgers." Ivan called to them.

They both returned to the kitchen. "You're not going to put anything funny-" Jack began then froze as he recognized the emergency call from Bethany. Everyone in the kitchen fell silent as the mind link was created.

******

Kuno picked himself up off the mat. As he groaned, he heard Katsumi talking to Shannon.

"... and you grab there as a leverage point so you can quickly knock the attacker to the ground and use that time to escape. You see how effective it can be." Katsumi looked from Shannon to Kuno and back again. "Now, you try."

Kuno groaned inwardly this time. Well, it's for Shannon's good. Remember that. It's for Shannon's good. Shannon looked uncertain. "I don't know if I-" She stopped mid-sentence and the room froze as everyone heard and responded to Bethany's call for help.

******

It worked! Small comfort when they were there and she was here facing 5 identical bad guys. "*I'm in trouble. Oh boy, am I in trouble.*" She began sending exactly what she was seeing. "*What do I do?*" She was scared.

"*Get out of there!! Use correspondence!*" Jack sent frantically.

"*I tried! It didn't work.*" The five skinheads moved closer, cautiously. Bethany knew the back of wall was within fifteen feet. One of them, the leader, smiled. She realized he had a bandage over his left ear. They were the same guys who had attacked Shannon! Shannon's werewolf friend had ripped an ear off of one of them while defending her. *Oh mi'God, This is it. I'm history.* She didn't mean to send that thought. It just appeared in her head.

Everyone could feel Bethany's fear. It was like they were locked into her now. "*We've got to do something!*" Shannon was terrified of the approaching skinheads and for her friend.

Jack had pulled out his lap top and was typing furiously. "*I've got her. She's down by Pier 39, off of 5th street! We can get -*"

One of the skinheads leaped. Those connected by the mind link could only watch as Bethany was attacked. A feeling a helplessness coursed through the mind link. Bethany threw herself backwards while trying to cut the quintessence to the skinhead. It worked. That one flickered in and out of reality. While she was doing that, the leader swung the pipe, catching her in the arm. There was sickening crack as the bone gave way. Bethany, Shannon and Debbie screamed as they all felt Bethany's arm break. The rest of the people connected winced and grimaced at the pain. Bethany made a desperate, diving leap to get past the men and was rewarded with a vicious kick to the stomach and a blow to the head. She struggled to get her wind back and to keep her eyes open. The leader strode forward and kicked her in the collarbone. Another dull sickening crack. Shannon passed out from the pain while Bethany, with adrenaline born energy and fear, struggled to remain conscious and to escape.

A terrifying roar echoed through the alley. Bethany, crawling as best she could, looked up to see one of the ugliest things she'd ever seen in her life. It was an honest-to-God werewolf. It looked like it had been wearing priest's clothing. With one leap, it was between Bethany and the skinhead leader. It knocked the leader against the wall in one blow. Sparks flew out of the gaping wound in its chest. *HIT Marks!* The thought surged through the mindlink. The werewolf roared again. Bethany tried to warn him that these were HIT Marks. That they weren't even human. A croak came out of her bruised mouth.

"GO! RUN!" The werewolf snarled at her. Bethany got herself to her feet and tried to move quickly, only managing a shambling run while cradling her broken arm and collarbone. She stopped once, at the edge of the alley, to look back at the fight. The werewolf seemed to be doing better than the skinhead HIT Marks. When she turned back, she saw that a limo had pulled up to the entrance of the alleyway.

The driver got out of the limo and went around to the passenger door to open it. A smooth-looking, well-dressed man stepped from the vehicle.

"Please." Bethany croaked. "I need help..."

"Of course you do." the man purred. He nodded at the driver who then put his hand on Bethany's broken collarbone. Bethany let out a weak scream and fell to her knees. The man grabbed her by the chin. "Yes, yes." He said, looking her over. "This is her, the lover of Ziloth's bastard son." The man examined her face some more. "As unremarkable as you are, my dear, we have a definite use for you." He chuckled lightly and let go of her face.

Bethany looked up at him and saw that he was watching the ongoing fight. She looked back and saw the skinhead leader headed towards them. *He looks just like the Terminator.* The inane thought rippled through the mind link. The man casually reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. As he popped the top off the bottle, the skinhead leader's head exploded in a shower of blood and metal parts.

Bethany looked back at the man in confusion. She had assumed that he was Technocracy. Now, she didn't know what he was. "Well, it's time to go." The driver hit Bethany over the back of the head. She slumped forward to the ground. The man got into the limo and the driver picked Bethany up and put her on the floor of the limo. "Drive." The man commanded as the driver got into the limo. He bent down to brush some of Bethany's hair off her face, then casually licked the blood off his fingertips as he smiled to himself.

The six people who had been connected to Bethany sat, shaken and silent, in Shannon's room. She had just woken up. Jack frantically typed on his lap top. "I can't find her. I've tried everything and I can't find her! She's alive. The computer registers her life pattern but it won't tell me were it's registered. I don't understand it!"

"Okay guys." Rich said, grinning from ear to ear at each person in the silent room. "Bethany's just been kidnapped. You don't know by whom or for what reason. You know there are werewolves and the Technocracy involved and there might be a rogue technomancer, a vampire, or a Nephandi involved. Ziloth might even be involved. What are you going to do now?"

"Oh, shit." Someone said and the room agreed.