Jack looked at the code in his hand. He looked at the ring and scanner read out. How

did he enter the code into the ring so it would respond to voice commands? Maybe

he could use some magic for it.

He thought that Hap was proud of his machines. They were great at what they did. He

wondered what would happen if he dropped a ton of miniature watches like he had

built for Aviras and Laura on the general populace. He could see a world out of the

background of My Hero Academia where the powers fought until someone beat down

a compromise to create the hero system. He decided only his kids would be able to

use what he built for them.

“Jack?,” said his com band. He looked down. Josie’s lightning was lit up.

“I’m here,” said Jack. He thought he could put the code in with a simple application

of magic and then he could watch to see what happened.

“Bea is missing,” said Josie. “I need you to check the model and ask it where she is.”

“Hold on,” said Jack. He jumped to his feet and ran through the apartment, climbing

the stairs two at a time. He pushed into the office and looked at the model with its

moving lights along its surface. “Beatrice Fox.”

One light lit up outside the city and moving north. It was moving fast, like a horse’s

gallop.

Did Bea even know how to ride a horse?

“Josie,” said Jack. “I have a marker moving due north from the city. I am going to say

some kind of horse.”

“I have this,” said Aviras. “I’m the fastest and I can get there the quickest.”

“Do you need me to do something, Jo?,” asked Jack. He could put on Makkari and

hunt the Bea napper down in a second.

“I got it, Jack,” said Josie. “Fass is coming by later to look at the model. I told him

you would wait for him to show up. We’re still working on targets.”

“All right,” said Jack. “She is still going due north. It looks almost like the road up

to the Dark Rider. You don’t think Todd is trying to do the same thing as Corle?”

“She’s gone, Jack,” said Elaine. “She changed shape and vanished.”

“Bring the girls home, Elaine,” said Jack. “I’ll keep watch from here.”

“As soon as we get home to wait for Fass, go after them,” said Elaine. “Beatrice

might be hurt.”

“Okay,” said Jack. “I’ll take Aviras with me so I have a backup.”

“We’re coming home now,” said Elaine. “Laura is lifting us.”

“Show me Josie Fox,” said Jack. A light marking her appeared in front of the Bea

light. He nodded. She must be setting up some kind of ambush.

How long would it take Laura to bring everyone home? How long did he have before

Josie went into action? Why wasn’t she doing something right now? Was this about

Todd?

“Show me Todd Fain,” said Jack. Two lights appeared. One was with the Bea light.

The other was half the country away. Two Todd Fains could be viable if Fain was a

common last name there in Fantasy Land.

“Show me the Ducklings and Elaine,” said Jack. Another set of lights marked the girls

flying home as fast as Laura could push them. He nodded. They would be coming

through the door in a few minutes.

He checked his inventory for someone who might be able to get to the scene faster

than Makkari. Majik would let him teleport but not that whole distance from the city

to where Bea was being carried.

Could the ring carry him that far through the air? Did he have enough mana to power

it?

He had two minutes to plan. He checked the lights for Bea and Todd. He compared

that to where the Hangar was. He had a plan as soon as he could compare the

distance. He doubted he could call Jo if she was using her personas to keep track of

Todd and Bea.

He just needed to move down from the Hangar fast enough to intercept before

something happened to Bea while they were traveling.

The rest would be Josie dropping the hammer.

He had a plan. He had a weapon. He didn’t have an explanation yet, but he felt that

he would not be turning Todd Fain into a baby after this was over.

And he was okay with that.

“We’re home, Jack,” said Elaine from downstairs.

“Office, Elaine,” said Jack.

The horde burst into the office in a few seconds. Aviras rode on Matilda’s head. Jack

stepped back to give them room.

“All right,” said Jack. “Fass is coming by in an unknown amount of time to look at

the model. He is helping Josie with a project. The green light is Bea. The yellow is

Todd. The black is Josie. The purple is you guys. I am going to use the stargate to get

up to the Hangar and come down from there. Elaine, I am going to need directions

once I am on the move. Aviras, you are with me. The flight power should allow you

to repel anyone who wants to get in that we don’t want to get in, Laura. As soon as

we get Bea back, we’ll be home.”

“We’re good,” said Elaine. “I tried calling Beatrice. There’s no answer.”

“She’s not dead yet,” said Jack. “I don’t think the model would light her up if she

was. She might have lost her band, or she might be unable to talk. We will deal with

that when we know what happened. I’m going.”

“We will be fine,” said Elaine. She went to a cabinet and pulled out her crossbow.

“Do what you have to do.”

“We will rescue the female and bite the faces,” said Aviras. “I swear it.”

“To the stargate,” said Jack. “Then we put on some speed.”

He rushed from the room. The tiny dragon flowed after him, using its wings to glide

on the air almost as fast as a rocket.

Jack pressed the code into the pad next to the ring for the gate. He nodded as it

opened the tunnel for him. He jumped through and out the other side miles away. The

dragon flew out after him.

“That is mildly unpleasant,” said Aviras. “And it drains essence from us when we use

it.”

“That’s good to know,” said Jack. He opened the roof of the hangar and led the way

up to the ground bordering the hole where a house used to be.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Where am I, Elaine?,” said Jack into his band.

“You are southeast of the lights, Jack,” said Elaine. “It looks like he is headed up

toward Lake Myra with Beatrice.”

“He won’t be going that way for long,” said Aviras. He blasted in the direction

indicated from the report.

“I’ll be out of contact for a minute,” said Jack. “I’ll call back if I need more

directions.”

Jack dialed down to Ikaris. It was the other movement specialist he had tested with

Makkari. The other Eternal was faster in general but couldn’t fly. Ikaris could fly, and

he was faster than the more leisurely Falcon.

Jack took to the air and arrowed north after his companion. He wondered if Todd had

stuck to the roads, or had moved into the trees. He should be able to see the moving

horses before too long.

Aviras started circling in the air ahead. He seemed to be watching the ground as he

went around. Jack joined him, and spotted a moving wagon heading along the general

road.

“I’m going to have to land so I can talk to Elaine,” said Jack. “Josie might be waiting

for him to come to a stop before she does something. We need to be ready to support

her. Can you stay on station up here until I get back.”

“Yes,” said Aviras. “I am ready to bite his face.”

“Hopefully we’ll give you the chance to do that,” said Jack. “Keep an eye on things

until I get back.”

“I will,” said Aviras. “We might not have to do anything.”

“We’ll see,” said Jack. He aimed for a tree he could watch the road from while he

made his call. Now that he had found the wagon, he didn’t want to lose it before they

got Bea back.

“Elaine?,” Jack asked. “We think we have them in sight. Is Josie still north of us?”

“Yes,” said Elaine. “You are incredibly close to both of them. Josie is not answering

her band. Neither is Beatrice.”

“Josie must have her watch running,” said Jack. “All right. We’re going to let her

make the first move before Aviras and I swoop down and deal out the beating we

should give for this.”

“Call me when you’re done,” said Elaine.

“I will, honey,” said Jack. He let the line go so he could call up the Ikaris persona

again. He took to the air and joined his dragon friend again.

“Josie and Beatrice aren’t answering their coms,” said Jack. “Josie might be waiting

as someone up ahead. I have no idea what is going on with Beatrice.”

“She might be hurt,” said Aviras. “I will check on her. It should be easy for me now.”

“Don’t get hurt,” said Jack. “Matilda will be sad. I think she considers you a member

of the family.”

“She is nice and is reading the history of Garion the Hammer for me,” said Aviras.

“If you can get Beatrice out of the wagon, that’s good,” said Jack. “If you have to

hide until we get things stopped, that will be good too.”

“My only concern is that Beatrice might be so hurt that she needs immediate aid,”

said Aviras. “I will be able to handle any other problem easily.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Go.”

Aviras blasted down. He reached the back of the wagon. He examined it for a second.

Then he slipped inside the wooden cabin on the wheeled base.

Jack checked his watch. He would have to land and change back if he waited for

much longer. What was Josie waiting on?

The horses pulling the wagon vanished one at a time. Jack paused as the wagon

started slowing as it rolled to a stop. He smiled as he thought that Josie had dealt with

the horses so Todd couldn’t try to escape on one of them before he could be stopped.

Jack landed behind the wagon as it rolled to a stop. He changed his persona to

Gravity so he could send Todd into orbit for being a pain. He waited for the guy to

start running in the face of things.

There was blast of burning air, and a scream. Jack paused. What happened there? He

stepped to one side of the wagon. Todd fell off the bench with his head on fire.

Jack couldn’t decide what to do in the moment. He wanted to sling the burning

kidnapper into the air on one hand. On the other, it was a pretty blue flame dancing

on his head.

“You don’t touch my sister,” said Aviras. He climbed out of the back of the wagon.

He looked a little bigger. Flame danced in his maw. “This is how Foxes handle our

business.”

“Good job,” said Jack. “I give you the points and extra pie when we get home.”

“Ice cream?,” said Aviras.

“Ice cream too,” agreed Jack.

“Beatrice is sick,” said Aviras. “I don’t know how to fix that.”

“I got it,” said Jack. He let Gravity go and watched his mana limit climb. When it was

high enough, it would be time for Doctor Strange to take a hand in things.

Josie walked up, garbed in her Zatanna persona. She waved a hand and Todd froze.

The flame on his head became a blue cone pointing up at the sky.

“I have to check Bea,” said Jack. “Then we can take her home.”

“All right,” said Josie. She flexed a hand and the book of knowledge gave her a

notebook on Todd. She scanned the writing and frowned. “This is bad.”

“We’re going to need transport,” said Jack. “You might need to put him in a cage if

you aren’t getting rid of him right now. That way you can keep him around while

your watch is recharging.”

“He’s part of a cult,” said Josie. “They want to sacrifice people to let in monsters like

the God of the Fish People invade this plane of reality.”

“He’s not going to be part of it for long,” said Jack. He climbed up in the back of the

wagon. “Good job on the sneak attack, Aviras. He never saw it coming.”

“I am great and powerful,” said the blue lizard. “What about Beatrice?”

“I’m going to turn into a medical doctor and see what’s wrong with her,” said Jack.

“Then I am going to try to fix it.”

“Are we doing that here, Jack?,” asked Josie. She chopped her hand and a hill of dirt

covered Todd. She let go of the persona.

“The sooner the better,” said Jack. “We don’t know what he gave her. She might die

before we can get her back to the Hole in the Wall.”

Jack summoned his medician and powered up the screens he used to do his work.

Eyes blinked as he took in the knowledge. He started churning together antidotes

based on what he saw.

“He poisoned her with some kind of mixture,” said Jack. “I am going to try to erase

them one by one, and add in a body builder to repair the damage they are doing.”

Josie ignored the ding of Sawtooth being erased. She didn’t know how they were

going to explain this to Bea, but he wouldn’t be around since the ground had crushed

him in his own grave.

“I should have used a book of knowledge at the dinner,” said Josie. “I screwed up.”

“Don’t you have a doctor on your list?,” asked Jack. “I think you can help us with

that.”

“What can I do?,” asked Aviras.

“Do you have any healing magic?,” asked Jack.

“No,” said Aviras. “I don’t. Most of my knowledge was in dimensional arrays and

mana exploitation. I can’t cast the spells like I am now.”

“I have something,” said Josie. “Head back to the Hole in the Wall. Tell them what’s

going on. Tell Elaine that we are going to try to bring Bea to the Hangar so we can

move her through the Stargate to get home. Can do?”

“I am the fastest dragon alive,” said Aviras. He blasted out of the wagon and took off

toward the city.

“We will be able to teleport home in a few minutes,” said Jack. He monitored his

screens. “Right now, I just need to cure what the poison is doing.”

“I know but I wanted to get him out of the way,” said Josie. “I am going to call on

Doctor Occult and see if I can speed this up.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s do what we have to do.”

Josie checked her watch, and then called on her doctor guise. She did a mental

examination. Jack’s various cures were cutting into the poisons and weeding them

out, but Bea needed a little more oomph to get back on track. She closed her eyes and

let the magic scan do the work for her.

“All right,” said Jack. “One ingredient is gone. The rest are trying to take over for it.

See if you can target this red devil turpentine stuff in the lungs and heart.”

The reddish streaks burned away in an instant. Weaker poisons blew up with it out

of the way, erasing themselves in a sweat bath.

“We have three more in the mix,” said Jack. “The most widespread is the green goat

venom.”

“Got it,” said Josie. “The last two are trying to hold on. What do we do about it?”

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” said Jack. “I am going to try for a miracle. You

ready?”

“We need it if we want to save Bea,” said Josie. “All this power, and we have to

worry about practical limitations. What a crock.”

“I told the builder of these things I would get you together with him,” said Jack. He

reverted to normal, grinning. “He said your temper is famous.”

“Really?,” said Josie. She pushed one of the lesser poisons back. It wanted to be

scrubbed, but she didn’t have the time on her watch to do that.

“You’re the Tommy,” Jack said. He checked his watch, grinning at her expression.

He changed to Angel. He wasn’t supremely tall, but he was made of fire with wings

of light and a blade that would cut anything. He sliced the poisons apart with one

swing, cutting them out of his ward in a trail of smoke. He instantly reverted at the

loss of power from his watch.

“That was so excellent,” said Josie. She put her medical magic into healing

everything she could reach. “Why didn’t you do that at first?”

“What happens to Bea if I did that first and it failed, and then I can’t use the watch

for the next twenty minutes?,” asked Jack. He lay down on the wagon floor. He

closed his eyes. “I would be out of power, and dead on my feet at the same time.”

“You saved her, Jack,” said Josie. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” said Jack. “Thank Aviras with the head on fire thing. It was the

perfect ambush. The little gump will never let me live that down.”

“He is a Fox after all,” said Josie. She grinned at him. It was rare these days, but it lit

her face up like it used to when they were kids.