"Jesus," Juno breathes after Fang's done.

"How do you stop something like that? He just...changed her! Made a slave out of her..."

She sits heavily down in the seat next to her and puts her fingers to her temple.

"Did he say anything about who he was after next? Does he want any of us?"

Jay's words and gentle touches were a comfort, but they were also embarrassing. If it had been more than her fellow New People, she wouldn't have been able to tolerate it. But here, it was something like being with family. "Thank you," she murmured to Jay, taking his hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze, feeling scandalous.

Fang shook her head as she stepped away from Jay and did a quick search on her computer. "He planned for Klaus, and captured Caryn when she chased him, but he said I came of my free will. So Caryn and I were opportunistic. He called me 'Seshat', which is a goddess of wisdom and knowledge." Her voice grew thoughtful. "That might be a weakness we can exploit. Michael, for example, has the motif of another religion. I'm not sure if he'd try to embrace Michael into his own mythology or declare him to be alien and not embrace him. That would make Michael safe from alteration."

Helplessly, Fang shrugged. "But I'm not sure how to test that without risking Michael."

"The only bonus I can see is that he can only do one person at a time, and it involves concentration," Fang added. "The others might be able to swamp him." She looked up. "We'll need more supers, though. Lots more. Let's make a list, and see who we can recruit."

"Huh. What goddess would I be?" Juno wants to know. She gets up and peers over Fang's shoulder at the computer screen.

"Fang, what was the name of the one that had those wings? I think that may have been the New Person that I was with who disappeared on me. Did that Ra say anything about Pestilence or something like that?" King asks with a troubled look on his face.

Fang considered. "He called him Set," she said, typing on the computer. "Set is usually seen as a god of storms and chaos, but the in the Upper Delta, he was also a god of Pestilence." She glanced up at Jay with sympathy in her dark eyes. "I think that was your friend."

"Wait, Set? Like the egyptian god? Whats the connection between the four horsemen and these egyptian dieties? Isn't that a combination of Christian and egyptian religions?"

So...he didn't really mean to take Wraith. He came for Skull Head. And he came for Jay's pal. And before that he went for some cat girl we'd never heard of.

Do something once, and it could be random. Do something twice, and it was a tendency. Three points made a line though.

Juno pats Fang's shoulder, trying to get her attention.

"Hey...I think I have an idea. Lets get everything we've got on Kleisner and Jay's friend and see what we can dig up on the other one there, that cat...whatever. He's intentionally going out and looking for certain people. Caryn just got in the way so she doesn't count. Maybe we can figure out what makes him go for someone."

"Then maybe we can figure out who he's going for next. Set up a trap. When he comes, we're ready."

Jay turns and smiles "Juno, that sounds like a really good plan."


"This 'Buzzkill' guy from what I saw of him could fly, and he could make little wasp like things out of his body. That was what really weirded me out about the guy."

"Other than that I don't know shit about him, really so I'm not sure what good my info will be."

Juno beams adorably at the praise.

"Well, Aeon's got to have computer files on all of us. The German guy may have a police file...or or no! Medical records! He was at a hospital! And...cat girl...I don't know."

She looks at Wei Fang.

"Do you know who she is?"

"No," Fang said, "but I'd be shocked if Æon didn't know. Nathan, please go to Margaret Mercer and try to get her to share any information she has, as well as all files on any at-risk New People. We need answers; please copy Michael's ability to foster trust and use it against her." She touched Nathan's arm for emphasis, and spoke the next very softly. "And I mean use. She's not been very cooperative with us.

"Juno, Michael and Jay: I need you to please start doing research on Egyptian deities," she added. She walked over to a white board and tacked a piece of paper next to it. On this, she wrote:

Ra - ?? - jerk!
Set - Buzzkill - confirm!
Seker - Klaus - changed?
Mafdet - ?? - changed
Amunet - Caryn - changed
Seshat - Fang - escaped

She was caught up in the search for information, but she noted that her hands shook on the last two entries.

Pointing to the whiteboard she said, "I need you three to note what research you discover on the board, under the name of the god or goddess. We're going to have to compare their abilities with the New People around the world, and make the best match we can." She paused, thinking. "Focus on how the deities were perceived in the Upper Delta, like Set was."

And with that, Fang returned to her computer and started to work. She began to collate a report, just like when she worked at home. But this wasn't for her superiors - this was her attempt to find the order within the chaos, to find the key that would change everything.

Juno laughs when Fang writes that Ra is a 'jerk.' It's a nervous laugh, but genuine.

"Come on, guys, guess we've got homework to do."

She hesitates, then looks at Nathan to add, "You know...you shouldn't do that...that thing...unless she won't help any other way. Just saying."

Michael nods, interested despite his tiredness. Wei Fang's organzation impressed him.

"I'll look up Mafdet? Mafdat? However you pronounce it... and Seker. I'm not up on the Nile religions, but I've read a fair bit on Egypt itself. I had an interest in early testament Egypt a few years ago."

He shrugs sheepishly.

"We had an exhibit on Moses at my church few years back. I ran it for the kids. As for Ra... he was the Sun God. Chief in the egyptian pantheon... until he was absorbed by Horus somehow. I'm not up on how that worked."

"I'm sorry," Fang said. "I didn't explain well. Please research other gods. We want to find out who he'll take next, not those taken." She paused and swallowed hard. "Please assume for this exercise that I'm not the next one to be taken. If he does take me, please continue this research and find the next New Person he wants." She quickly returned to her research.

"Well I'll leave the research to Fang and Juno, I guess. I'm not the type to sit around looking up stuff, I need to be out doing stuff!"

"Clearly I'm not the brains here but if were looking for stuff on Egyptian gods, shouldn't we think about making a trip there?" he asks.

"What, I look like a librarian?" Juno asks irately, planting her fists on her hips. "There's no way I'm hitting books, while you go off on a vacation overseas. Besides, you don't even know how to speak Egyptian. And it'd take too long to get you there."

"Everyone researches!" Fang said, looking up from the computer. "Finding unrestricted information freely available isn't hard. We must work together; the long it takes us to find the information, the long Caryn is in his clutches." She returned to her work, assuming obedience.

The door to the breifing room burst open, and a man, thirtyish, storms in. (OOC:Nathan, you will remember Max Mercer, won't you?) He is followed by an anxious Margaret Mercer.

"Is it true, Arthur? Er, Nathan, is it true? Has he returned? My God, Zetanhkaton, King of Kings has returned? He must be 5,000 years old!"

Margaret caught his arm. "Max, I don't think-"

He turned on the older woman. "No, you don't think, and that's half your problem. The other half is that you and your people keep each other in the dark, and never share any useful information! Now, I want to know about Zetanhkaton."

He turns back to Nathan, his eyes full of questions.

"Calls himself Ra, and made out of light? Is it true?"

Turning to Juno, "Sorry kid, I didn't mean to get you all riled up. I just thought that this would be more along your lines, guess not."

"And the reason I say about going there is that I've been to Cairo a few years ago. The got a world class museum their that could really help out."

Fang's eyes, glittering with a fervor and focus that bordered on madness, latched onto Max Mercer. "Yes," she said, standing up. "He called himself Ra and was made of light. What can you tell us about him?"

Juno sighs. "I'm not 'riled up,'" she tells him with her little half-smirk. "You'll know if you rile me up."

She inhales to say something else, but is distracted by the Fabulous Mercers and their Traveling Show.

With a glance between them and Nathan, she volunteers, "Me and Michael saw him. He went through the cafeteria. Right through the walls. Looked like a man-shaped...light thing."

Max inhales sharply. He turnes to Fang.

"Madam, I apologize for my abrupt entrance. You, I understand, are the deductive genius. Yes. My name is Maximilian Jones. I am... a researcher for the Society. Records show that the Society discovered a... journal, of sorts. Written by an Egyptian King, before the advent of the Pharoahs. His name was Zetanhkaton, and we believe he may have been the first Novus..."

He pauses to let this sink in.

"Did I just hear that right?" King head burrows again worry. If what he said is true then this Ra guy is a bad ass!

"Excuse me Max, but if he's one of the first Novus then we may be a bit over our heads here. He'd be way to powerful for us to handle."

Juno scowls and goes down to Fang's list of gods on the stand. As the others talk, she writes 'really old' in small letters squished in between Ra's name and the 'jerk ' moniker.

She adds to the entry, scares otherwise brave soldiers, and looks up to see what she should put next.

Max turns to Jay.

"And you are the soldier, correct? King, if I am not mistaken? Powerful? Yes, you could say so. In his journal, a papyrus tome covering over a hundred years, he slowly begins to refer to himself as Ra-Aton. We believe that he was the basis for the entire mythos. We know, from the writings, that there were others, like himself, that he discovered through the century. He calls one of them Ineluki Mischief-Maker, and refers to another as Zuus Thunderhand. He talks of disagreements with his fellows, and though he speaks of journeying to the 'Kings of Heaven'... we believed that the others, seeing that Zetanhkaton had lost his reason, took steps to contain him. The final entry in his journal is written in cuneiform, and says, 'The brain, heart, lungs, and stomach have been removed. The tomb is sealed, and buried under a mountain of stone. Ra shall trouble man no more.' It is signed Ahu Ramaz."

Max looked around at the assembled Novus.

"If he is indeed free, it will be disastrous for us all."

"Well then we need to go ahead and prepare for that, cause from what Fang here has seen, then this guy is loose. My question though is what can we do? It's obvious he could take us out at any time, but hasn't and that's what got me concerned."


Jay looks around at Fang, Juno, Michael looking to see what their reactions are to this rather unpleasant bit of news.

Michael nods, considering the new information. He looks at Juno, Fang, Jay and Maxwell before speaking.

"Jay is right. We do need to prepare. There is an entire pantheon of Egyptian gods and if he's indoctrinating people it wont take long until there's too many of "his" new Gods to handle. We need more muscle. Maybe Shelby and Titan, and whomever else Aeon has had contact with."

Juno shrugs and puts the cap back on the pen before setting it back down next to the large pad she'd defaced.

"We were just working up a plan when" she waves at the Mercers, "these two came in. But it's still a good plan. We should stick to it."

She nods and starts coming up the shallow steps between the rows of seats, possibly intending to head for the door. On seeing Maxwell though she pauses and asks, "These scrolls you've got or whatever...do they say how they beat him?"

Maximilian Jones shook his head slowly.

"Sadly, young miss, it does not. We can only assume that he was put down by his fellow 'gods'... and that somehow recent events have 'woken' him."

"Yeah, but it said they took out his brains and guts right? Maybe that's a clue," Juno points out. "Maybe whoever wrote it thought he might come back, so he...I don't know...worked in clues just in case."

She shrugs. "You should let Fang take a look at it."

Michael grins at Juno. The young womans quick wit and sarcastic humor always made him smile.

"I'm sure we can handle it. We'll fight him, you can make disparaging comments on his godhood."

He turns to Maximillian, his face hardening as he considers the worried looking man.

"We need to know what you know about New People before Galatea. Are there any other, possibly ancient, 'gods' waiting to surface and kidnap us? Zeus? Thor? ...Jesus?!"

Michaels tone is exasperated and angry.

Jay nods in agreement. "Michael is right, we that info fast though I don't want to be caught off guard again, and I still think that some of us should be out doing something I really don't like the idea of just sitting around and waiting."


Turning back to Fang "Please tell me that you can do something with this new information?"

"Good to see you again, Max. Can I talk to you alone for a second?"

(assuming that Max does so)

Nathan keeps his voice low and an ear out for eavesdroppers. "Someone mentioned you travel through time. What's stopping you from going back and checking for yourself? If there's a risk, I... think I can copy your powers - "

Stop, Nathan. That's insane.

" - and do it myself. Figure out how he was beaten the last time. Or we could go at the same time."

Max says, with a guarded glance at Margaret:

"No. This was the only Novus that I know of before Galatea. We theorized about others, but that's all it was, speculation. As to any other ancient ones, I don't believe so. Surely they would have made an appearance by now. I could, however, be wrong."

He glances over Fang's shoulder at Juno. He looks thoughtful for a moment, then nods firmly.

"An excellent suggestion, young lady." He turns to Margaret, "We should let her look at it, don't you think, Mrs. Mercer?"

Margeret takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. She nods slightly, turns, and leaves the room.

When he is drawn aside by Nathan.

"Yes, Margaret has mentioned her time-travelling stories to me as well. Perhaps. If so, I have done it exactly once that I am aware of, and have no idea how it may be done. No. Not only would I not put you at that sort of risk, but the doctors have studied me extensively as well, if privately. I have no node, such as you Novus. Also, certain Novus have the ability to detect other Novus. They remain unable to find any quantum signature about me. There seems little doubt that, whatever I am, I am not a Novus."

"Give me time to review the information," Fang said, sitting back down at the computer. She looked and sounded a bit harried, but she wasn't. She was focused and determined with a force of will rarely seen. Her entire intellect was fixated on the current problem at hand.

Jay watches as Nathan takes Mr Jones off for a private conversation. Using this break in their conversation he moves away from the other's and pulls out his cell.

Dialing up his old unit he asks to get connected with Sgt Smith. After a holding for a few seconds, Smith is on the line.
"Smith here."

King replies "Hey buddy it's Jk, how are things going?"

"Man, what the hell is going on with you is the real questions" Smith says. "We just got word that you plane went missing a few hours ago. No word on if they found it, but it sounds like your okay, what happened?"

"Hey I can't give you all the details, but I need for you to let Col Busby know that Macgruder is missing. Tell him I'm also in the process of trying to locate him as well."

After a pause Smith comes back on the line "Okay brother, man you sure can't seem to catch a break can you? I'll do what you ask but you got to let me in on what's going on."

"I will Smith, just give a bit to sort some things out first. Give the Col this number so he can reach me, gotta run man, I'll be in touch with you soon."

King snaps shut the phone and returns back to the group. "We got any new ideas yet?"

Michael gestures to Wei Fang, her focus almost frightening.

"Its been about 10 seconds since she started working, but it wouldn't suprise me if she had a plan."

He shrugs

"If we actually need research, I'll be heading to the library, but I'm interested if Max has any further info."

Margaret re-enters with a cd-rom case. Without speaking, she hands it to Wei Fang. She looks around at the group and says, "Max, why don't you act as liason on this? I'm certain that you understand the importance we attach to this, and will keep me up to date."

Max nods, but he seems to be very interested in the disc that Fang is holding.

Margaret shakes her head slowly. "I'll send you Pax, just in case." She turned to go.

Fang stopped her research, her eyes going distant. Her intellect wanted to ignore this clue, but she also knew the power of the mind. And right now, Ra had no logic or wisdom, because they'd taken it from him when they'd removed his heart. They'd left his emotions when they'd left his liver. Fang didn't believe any of this, but Ra might. And it was this powerful nova's belief they were fighting.

Then Margaret handed her a disk and started to leave. "Stop," Fang said, her voice filled with frustration. "Rather than handing us a mysterious disk and making cryptic remarks about a 'needed' another New Person 'just in case,' why doesn't someone just tell us what's going on? Huángyú nuodài, we need all the information you can give us, and you're parsing it out like table scraps to a pet!"

To Max, she said much more calmly, "Mr. Jones, you have shown us great respect and honor with what you've shared. In fact, you have been a great help, because I now know that they mummified Zetanhkaton incorrectly. And while that would not matter to you or me, an already unstable New Person believes that his wisdom was taken from him, and his emotions - his pains and joys from being mortal - are all that were left to him.

"He's lonely and afraid. He is wrong in what he does, but he is in pain and not rational. We will use this." She looked around the room. "If we can find his heart, perhaps we can make him believe that his intellect has been restored to him. Mr. Jones, where did they bury him?"

Margaret Mercer looks at Fang for a long moment. She seems to weigh her words before speaking. Finally, she says:

"Fang, I understand your frustration, believe me. You never met my father, but he never, never once told all he knew. Growing up, I could never understand why he shouldn't tell me everything he thought I should know to do the job he knew that I had to do. We fought often, over it. Only now, I understand why he did it. It is often that way between parents and children.

"Now. I am knowledgeable about many aspects of our Society, however Maximilian is a true expert on Zetanhkaton, and will be more beneficial for him to stay with you, than for me to try to remember research and translations that I had reported to me a few times many years ago.

"I am going to get Pax, in case Ra comes back. He may be able to follow him. I am also going to try to get in touch with Allison Pfaltzgraff. She is vacationing with her family in the Poconos, I believe. I will return shortly."

Once she had gone, Max looked at the door for a moment. Then, he shook himself.

"Yes. Yes, of course, we saw almost at once that his burial deviated in two significant ways from traditional Egyptian embalming techniques. Bear in mind that these scrolls predate the Pharoahs and even the first glyphs mentioning the embalming. Still, though we thought it was unusual, we never expected to interact with Zetanhkaton, so the effect on his psyche was not ever considered. You are quick, aren't you?

" Ah. They scrolls were found in an underground pyramid, in the deep desert, about one hundred miles NorthWest of Aswan. The locals called it the 'black' pyramid. Ra is- or perhaps I should say, was- entombed there."

"Are you sure he's not still there?" Juno pipes up.

"He was walking through walls when we saw him. What if this is just a ghost, and his body's still in the pyramid?"