Dragon Fist replied, "Yes..." There was no condemnation in his voice. Lucas remembered the last time that happened...right after the fight with Paragon.

"It's not too late to make things right Don."

Don shakes his head. "It's far too late, but maybe I can at least see justice served." The sound of sirens is outside. "All of this, the killing of John, Ellens death, shooting my best friend, the stain on my soul It was all for nothing, nothings changed. Enigma was right, I'm worse than Brain, at least he was honest to himself." He begins removing his weapons th epolice are getting closer. "You might want to get out of here. It won't look good to see you doing anything other than detaining me."

Dragon Fist turned towards the window.

"I still believe in you Don...you may think that nobody else does...BUT I DO. We will get through this, my friend. If you need me...you know where to find me."

He then leaped out the window and flew skyward, evading the police with any luck.

Inside, Dragon Fist hoped that Hunter would be okay. He didn't want to see him go to prison, but the escape may have been the last straw. Hopefully Captain Jordan wouldn't press charges, but who could say?

There was still so much happening at the moment...

>>>>>>>>>>>To The Streets>>>>>>>>>>>

Hunter holds up his hands as the police arrive they cuff him making a few rude comments as they lead him into the car and haul him off to prison.

>>>>>>>>>>From The Hotel>>>>>>>>>>>

"Thanks for the lift Ex..." Icepick said as he let him down. "All right...I wonder if tall, dark and lanky is gonna come out an' try to thief anything with us here?"

Painter shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe, maybe not. They may go ahead and try because they're afraid that my Grandpa might find them, or Lin or somebody. Or, they may go underground and hope they can cover their tracks."

  Andy shrugged, and said "I have no idea.  Do wizards have legends of an immortal chinese sorceress?"

"That's not a 'wizard' legend, it's a Chinese one. The Xian have been recorded in Chinese texts since the third century BC. Still, this guy's pretty cocky, and I dunno if anything will phase him but a show of force." said Painter, shrugging.

  Andy gave Painter a wry look, and said "And a Xian is . . .  what?"

Icepick looked at Ozzy. "And I'm Japanese....so I've never heard of that before..."

"It literally means 'immortal' or 'transcendent'. The term has evolved since the third century, though. It could also refer to alchemists, faeries, genies, and all kinds of other stuff. It depends on how the word is used, what prefixes or suffixes it has, all kinds of crazy stuff. Chinese mythology is amazing, you should try reading it sometime." replied Painter, doing his best to explain without getting too far into it.

Icepick shrugged. "Well...my Grandpa gave me a fistful of Japanese mythology when I was younger...Bishamonten.....Raiden....then all sorts of stuff about Oni and Bakemono...and now here I am....kinda mythical myself...man, this is some crazy stuff bro..."

  Andy nodded, and said "That sort of makes sense.  Sort of.  With that definition, yeah, she's probably one."

"Hey I want to find out who Meg's mom is as much as the next guy but shouldn't we go to the security van and let the observation guys know we're here?"

  Andy nodded, and said "I'll go let them know.  You guys keep an eye on those daggers."  That said, he headed down to the security locations.

Ex nods as Andy walks off to talk to the DPA guys. HE looks around the room asking. "Is therea  bubbler round here? I'm thirsty..."

  The bubbler over there, by the water-lilies, was perfect.  It offered people drinks before draining into a pond around a statue of a mermaid offering her arms to an unseen potential lover.  Art museums didn't mind nude statuary.

Seeing the Bubler Ex walked over to it and pressed the button leaning in to drink.

Icepick then waited for Andy to come back from meeting with the DPA guys.

"All right....let's see someone try to get those Daggers now..."

  When Ex leaned over the fountain, the water in the pool stirred, and then wound around his legs, swirling up along his body like a giant serpent, giving him a bizarre hug, then slowly forming into a figure of a person, until it colored in as a person they'd all thought dead.  Darren!!

Icepick looked in shock as "Darren" reappeared before him.

"Whoa.....um, not sure what happened..but good to see ya back bro..."

  Andy, just back from the security dudes, said "Holy crap!  I thought you were steamed!!"

As the water moves around him a look of pure joy comes across Ex's face, as Darren Forms Excelsior looks at him opens his mouth as if to say somethign before stepping forward and Kissing him.

  That kiss made Darren's eyes light up, and he put one hand on each side of Ex's face, kissing him back with fervor before he whispered "Took me a bit to put myself back together, Ex.  But here I am."

As Darren kissed him back Ex closed his eyes losing himself in the moment. When they both pull away Bill looks at Darren as if he's the only one in the room with him. "Darren, I thought you were...."