A/N: First chapter of the second book--you don't necessarily have to read the first book in order to read this one, although it might be helpful for characters/background. That's up to you, but please don't ask me 'who this person is' or 'why this person did this'...if you're looking for the answer, it's probably either in book one or won't be answered until later chapters of book two. Okay? Okay! So, as always, I ask you to please, PLEASE! review, I really appreciate constructive criticism. Thank you for reading, and I'm really grateful to anyone who's stuck with this so far!

Disclaimer: ...must I say it?

Chapter One:

Game Start!

Stefan coughed as he dodged a streak of knives and disappeared into a thick cloud of smoke, waving a hand. “Geez, I can’t see a damn thing out here. Amon! Since when–whoa!” He did a back handspring over a trash bin that exploded into flames and cringed as he landed hard on his feet. “Since when are we assigned to handle regular street fights? Isn’t that D-FNS’s job?” he shouted.

Reni was breathing hard as he helped a dazed Amon to his feet, his eyebrows drawn down sharply in concentration. He took out a line of fighters even as he was stepping away from a few stray gunshots. Kanesuma called out a harried apology and he shook his head to try and clear it. “This is no ordinary street fight, Stefan. There’s power involved here, though I don’t know how that’s possible–ah!” He shifted his weight as Amon sank again, bringing their leader back up and giving him his full attention. “Amon, are you all right?”

Amon shook his head slowly. “One of them’s got a lock on me. . .they’re slowing me down. I can hardly move.”

“Puppeteer,” Reni’s eyes darkened with anger and just as quickly lighted with power. He set Amon down quickly and then spun, throwing out his hands and sending a line of the stronger rebels back into the nearest wall. Panting, he nodded to Eden, who made sure the rebels were all out cold. When she had declared the job done Reni nodded and turned to a few of the weaker individuals, overcoming their minds easily. As they sank into unconsciousness he stumbled back a step, bracing himself against the wall and waiting for the lightheadedness to clear.

“Don’t overdo it,” came Amon’s warning. “Deshita’s pulling his punches on this one.”

“AH!” Samara fell back out of the smoke and collapsed to the ground hard in a sitting position. Gritting her teeth, she gripped the needle that had pierced her left leg and pulled it out, groaning in pain. She turned to the others as she tossed the needle away. “Damn it! Bodily injury was NOT in the job description!” she shouted at them.

Reni chuckled tiredly. “Oh come on, Sam, what else is there in this job?” He wiped his forehead and pushed off the wall, swaying before collapsing against it again. “Dammit.”

“Reni, look out!” Robyn’s voice rang from somewhere.

Reni pulled his gun from the holster and fired at the person before him, jumping out of the way as they aimed for him with throwing knives. With a grunt he landed on his right shoulder and slid, the pavement slicing a thin cut on his cheek. He watched the person fall and got slowly to his feet with a groan, staggering in place before regaining his balance.

“Are you okay?” Samara asked.

“Yeah, just great,” Reni told her, tilting his head. The three needles that had been headed for him just missed, disappearing into the smoke from the fire. Something else blew up and he cringed, swallowing and tasting ash in the back of his throat. “Where the hell is the fire department, Mark?!” he shouted into his comm. link.

“The--re co–n-! I–ink–said not to–Chief–an’t–be–areful!” Mark’s voice crackled in his ear, the static loud. “I’m–ing–comm–ation–much–ruption!”

“No good,” Reni muttered, reaching up to hit the button on the side of his earpiece and firing off another round of shots. “Sam, get up, would you!”

“I would if I could,” she snapped, annoyed. “Whoever carries those fucking needles is damn accurate in their throws. They’ve hit points, and they hurt like a bitch–I won’t be able to get up for another five minutes at least.”

“What the–!” Eden stumbled out of another cluster of smoke, parrying blows from a sword with her gun. Kanesuma was wielding the sword. “I’m not prepared for this–argh! Kanesuma, what the hell are you doing!”

“AaaaAAAH!!” Kanesuma drew back with a cry and delivered another blow to Eden’s gun, slicing the barrel clean in half. She looked furious.

Startled, Eden dropped the gun, ducked another thrust, and slipped behind Reni, who used his power to suspend Kanesuma’s sword arm in midair to buy some time. Tensing under the weight of concentration, he let out a heavy breath. “Nngh...”

“Geez, Eden, what did you do?” Stefan called, from where he was supporting Amon.

“Nothing!” Eden shot back, focused mostly on Reni’s strained body. “Reni, be careful!”

“I’m...trying,” he bit out, gritting his teeth. “Kanesuma’s a lot stronger than she looks...dammit, Eden, move, I can’t hold her back for much longer!”

He went crashing to his knees and let out a hoarse scream as the blade of the sword pierced his shoulder. Eden cried out behind him and Amon called his name. “Kane...suma...” Reni muttered, raising a shaking hand to grip the sword and pull it back out. His hand bled from where the blade cut into it. Mark’s voice echoed in his ear again, telling him he was injured and asking what the hell was going on out there!, but he could hardly hear the secretary over the rush of blood in his ears. Puppeteer...let her go, he thought tiredly, his mind sluggish. Something must have been done to the sword. . . .

A hollow laugh resounded through his mind. I’m finished playing with this one, Reni heard the telekinetic say. He watched Kanesuma come back to her senses and toss the sword away, apologizing frantically, before he swayed and passed out.

“You guys, a little help here!” Robyn shouted from somewhere in the dark. “It’s not like I’m fighting in broad daylight or anything, come on!” Precise flames lit up the scene a few meters away and a woman began screaming, shouts and sirens echoing in the distance. Some of the fires from the explosions were being put out.

Kanesuma bit her lip, deeming Reni a lost cause, and let Stefan handle him as she turned to assist Robyn. Within minutes the group she had been fighting was overtaken, as Eden came to help.

“I think that’s the last of them,” Eden murmured, panting. She was covered in soot just like the rest of them, and looked just as tired if not more. “Can we get out of here now?”

“I still can’t see two feet in front of my face, Stefan muttered. “Robyn, do you have enough strength to give me some light? Reni needs healing.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t control it,” Kanesuma sighed, shaking her head. “God, that was the weirdest feeling ever.”

Eden’s eyes looked almost dark enough to match Stefan’s in the dim light of the fires. “It’s all right, Kanesuma, it wasn’t your fault. We were dealing with rogues, there was no way to prevent it. Even Reni could hardly have overcome him, I’m sure.”

Amon tapped his comm. link, furious, and demanded, “Mark, we could have used some backup. What the hell were you doing?”

Nothing but static. Amon growled in anger and hit the button to turn the link off, slumping back against the wall with exhaustion. There was a cut across his leftt cheek and a gash over his temple, both still bleeding slowly. He brought a hand to his head and closed his eyes, going limp with weariness.

Samara pulled a needle out of her right wrist and winced, tossing it away. She limped over to Stefan and the others as they all gathered together, watching Robyn collect fire in the palm of one hand and hold it carefully near where Stefan was working.

Stefan’s fingertips lit with power that traveled through his hands, making them tremble with his exhaustion. He pressed them over the wound in Reni’s shoulder, slowing his breathing to conserve energy, and closed his eyes. “Kanesuma...hold him,” he murmured softly, barely audible over the sounds of the sirens and crackling fires.

Nodding, Kanesuma knelt and pressed her hands firmly against Reni’s chest and left shoulder, using her weight to hold him down. She gripped his shoulder tighter when Stefan let his power loose and Reni screamed in pain, the telepath fighting her hold unconsciously in his anguish.

Stefan opened his eyes, their color reflecting an eerie bluish-white glow from the healing power. He watched bone, flesh and finally skin knit back together, and when Reni had completely calmed Stefan declared it done. He pulled his hands away, shaking them as they went numb, and rubbed his forehead as a headache started.

Underneath Kanesuma’s restraint, Reni groaned weakly and opened his eyes, shifting and then wincing in pain. “Nn–!”

“Easy, Reni, stay still for a moment,” Stefan told him quietly, checking the telepath’s forehead for a fever. There was none, and he sighed in tired relief. “I’ve healed the wound, but you’ll still need to keep it bound for a while until you can move it without it causing you pain. We don’t have bandages here, so try not to shift your arm until we get back to Headquarters. Which reminds me...” He tapped his comm. link and frowned at the static, shaking his head.

“Stefan...” Reni let out a breath carefully and reached up with his good arm to tap into his own link, using his telepathy to make sure there was no interference. “Mark?” He waited for confirmation before continuing; the secretary sounded worried and it made him smile a little. “We’re through here...send transportation.” He cut the link back off without waiting for a response, letting his arm fall and closing his eyes. The sound of the others talking and the sirens blaring all grew muddled in his mind.

“Good God,” Mark exclaimed when the eight of them walked into the building. He was hurrying toward them, with the Commander and the Chief at his heels. “I had no idea it was that bad!”

“Get better equipment, then,” Amon snarled, tossing the communicator at him. “There was so much static we couldn’t call for backup, and we had practically zero visibility.” He stopped in front of the secretary and seized his shirt collar, face-to-face with Mark and very obviously still furious. “Oh, and the next time you send us out on a street mission, let us know exactly what we’re getting into.” He let Mark go and spun on one heel, catching up to the others. Several technicians met them as they stepped into the elevator.

Mark frowned after them as Izuma set a hand on his shoulder. “I wasn’t expecting a fight to that degree, though,” he murmured thoughtfully.

“They’re a little beat up, but they’ll be fine,” Commander Deshita said sharply. “As long as they got the mission done.” He turned and went back to his office.

“Second-in-command, you watch your language,” Izuma called firmly after him, as he and Mark turned to look at the man. The Commander raised his right hand in a salute, but only the middle finger was there when he carried out the action and then dropped his hand.

Izuma turned full to face him, rigid. “Julio Deshita!” he barked, loudly enough that several people in the offices stopped to look at him in surprise. The Commander stiffened and stopped, gave a proper salute, and then continued on into his office.

The Chief sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose, frowning as he turned back to Mark. “I don’t know what to do with that man sometimes,” he muttered.

“You could write him up for insubordination,” Mark offered, dropping the volume of his voice to accommodate the headache he knew his superior was getting.

“I could,” Izuma agreed with another sigh, dropping his hand. “But I won’t.” He fell silent for a few minutes, then shook his head and muttered to himself, “The media will be all over this incident, won’t they?”

“Most likely, sir,” Mark murmured apologetically.

“I figured as much. Remind me next time to make sure I send out a statement beforehand that tells them that we won’t make statements.”

“Duly noted, Chief. Er...you know (and this is all hypothetical, of course), if you were me and I had the headache that I know you have and/or are getting, I might recommend going to the infirmary and procuring some aspirin for myself, so that I could hypothetically get rid of said headache and be able to deal with the press when they finally come around–and that bit isn’t hypothetical at all. You know, in a hypothetical situation,” Mark suggested calmly.

Izuma smiled. “Very subtle, Mark Smith. Also very accurate...” Abruptly he dropped the smile and closing his eyes, frowning deeply as he rubbed his temples.

“Mr. Izuma?”

He shook his head and opened his eyes. “Nothing, Mark, it’s nothing. Merely fatigue.” Izuma started to the elevator. After a moment, Mark followed, not quite convinced but willing to let it drop for the time being.

On the second floor, they were redirected to a large room that was normally used for surgeries and other such medical happenings, especially when it came to large groups of people. Most of the technicians hung around in this room, and at the moment they were watching the treatment of Sector 5.

Most of the agents were either sitting or lying down on cots, all of them scraped up in one way or another, and there was one technician working with each of them. They glanced to the door as Mark and Izuma entered, and then they looked at each other.

“At ease,” Izuma told them quietly, though none of them relaxed. “I haven’t come to chew you out...that’s Deshita’s job, and he and I have already had a discussion.” He paused to survey them all, and sighed. “First thing’s first–Sillivan, are they all going to be all right?”

One of the technicians turned from where he had been in conversation with another technician and adjusted his glasses. “Yes sir, with a few days of rest and easy activity they should for the most part be good as new. Mr. Saaris will experience some discomfort for at least a week until his arm gets used to having been healed at such an accelerated rate, but thanks to Mr. Bashkir there are far less complications.”

Stefan rolled onto his side and propped his head up on an arm, opening his eyes. “Please drop the formalities, we’re all too tired for that,” he murmured, watching a technician tighten a bandage she was winding around Reni’s shoulder; Reni grunted slightly with the force.

Sillivan glanced back at Stefan briefly. “Certainly, Stefan, I’m sorry.” He looked back to Izuma and continued, “The others received mostly just scrapes and shallow cuts, nothing to be concerned about--”

“Hello, does me getting hit with needles and not being able to move for five minutes NOT COUNT as something to be concerned about, or what?!” Samara demanded loudly from her end of the room, flailing; Amon buried his head in his hands with a soft groan and Stefan’s eyes closed tightly in pain. “I mean, seriously, come on, I couldn’t MOVE! The others were fighting and I couldn’t do a damn thing--”

“Samara!” Reni snapped, biting his lip as the medic tightened the bandage again. “You stand corrected: we were not fighting, we were sitting there trying to stay conscious long enough to regroup and assess the damage.” He groaned and hissed between gritted teeth as the medic adjusted his arm and tied off the bandage. “Ow. Dammit.”

Izuma cleared his throat gently. “Samara, that was nothing to be concerned about, as Sillivan informed us. Those needles were most likely coated with analgesic or something similar; it was simply a narcotic that numbed the point of impact and prevented you from moving.”

“Like hell it was,” Samara muttered, but she dropped the point when Amon shot her a glare.

“So aside from that, is everyone else okay?” Izuma asked the agents, receiving various responses.

“I’m tired...”

“Headache. Please stop talking.”

“...Ow...”

Reni swallowed and carefully leaned back against the pillows on the cot, bringing up his good arm to run his fingers through his hair and frowning. “I nearly lost my arm and I can’t get the taste of ash out of my mouth, and it’s making me nauseous. Can we please go back to our floor now?” he sighed wearily.

“I feel like I need to sleep for a week,” Stefan affirmed, stretching his arms in front of his body and wincing as his wrists popped. “Ah, crap, I hate it when that happens.”

Izuma smiled at them, though it was resigned. “Of course, you’re all permitted to go back to the fifth floor. I highly recommend you all get a good night’s sleep as well. In fact, that’s not a suggestion, that’s an order, but I don’t think any of you will argue with it, hmm?”

Various murmurs that all added up to be “no” came from the agents as they stood and started for the door.

“Thank you for your understanding, sir,” Eden sighed softly, glancing at her bandaged left wrist and shaking her head. “I certainly couldn’t have fixed all of this on my own, and certainly not in this small amount of time.”

Izuma patted her shoulder. “Make sure Reni comes back tomorrow morning to have his arm examined,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t trust Stefan’s work, but second opinions never hurt. I believe you’ve all got a mission in a week or so, but we’ll get to that when you’re all well enough to even think about one. Get some rest, I’ll be making a ‘house call’ to check on you all tomorrow.”

“Sir, yes sir,” Eden smiled, and jogged to catch up with the others.

A/N: So ends the first chapter...look for the next one soon! I hope anyone who read this liked it so far, but I won't know for sure unless I get reviews Please? Oh...and by the way, the next few chapters won't have as much action but they're still okay. Until next time!