Either the gods were smiling on them, or maybe they just had exceptional luck the next morning. At the meeting with Captain Murray, Miranda discovered that those injured in the previous night's assault were all still in the Guard's infirmary. Liam and the "friend" whose ribs Jason had broken, were likely to stay there for some time, and possibly all three of the others. It was still too early to be sure.

Consequently, Miranda was able to arrange for Jason to accompany the Captain to his interrogation. The first thing the Captain discovered was that all four who were conscious were badly hung over. The story that gradually emerged morphed substantially as it was related by first one then another of the injured. Initially there were three attackers, then seven and finally 10 who had set upon them without provocation. Upon further questioning, with a number of variations of "are you sure?" all four eventually swore on the graves of their great-grandfathers that every word was true.

At that point Captain Murray excused himself, "So as not to tire you gentlemen overly much," with a promise to return should they remember any new details. After closing the door he marched nine paces down the hall and entered the small room where Jason waited.

"Well?"

"Yessir. At the end there they'd all convinced themselves that what they told you was the absolute truth. Or rather, three of them had. The other was unsure, sorta like something didn't add up completely I guess. I could feel him doubting what the others said at first, but he was also very ashamed about something, I think that he was so drunk. I also got the feeling that he felt incredibly guilty but couldn't remember why. One thing that was very clear was that he was absolutely determined to never, ever drink so much again. He's feeling horribly sick, and I'm pretty sure that he doubts his memory, since it was his first time drinking like that. That's why he went along with the others. He was feeling better when they settled on a story. I'm just guessing, but it felt like he was relieved that things hadn't ended up even worse than they did."

Jason looked up at the Captain. "Does that help any sir?"

"Indeed it does my boy. One other question though, can you tell me which one it was who was feeling guilty?"

"Oh, it was the one whose ribs I broke. Is he going to be all right? I feel sorta bad now that I know he didn't really mean to harm us."

"You shouldn't boy. Lots of people feel bad about having done bad things, sometimes truly awful things, when they're caught out. Stopping them before they can do anything is best, just as you three did last night. And sometimes, like I hope with this one, we can help them straighten themselves out. We may find out that, in the long run, what you did will keep him from ruining his life. "That's surely preferable to jail. He becomes a useful citizen, and we don't have to pay to guard and feed him."

He chuckled somewhat at his own wit, inviting Jason to join him, which he did, if belatedly.

Then the Captain's voice sobered, "As for the others though... Well, let's just say that we already know them much better than we'd like.

" Unfortunately I have to agree with what you told Miranda. If we were to try to charge them with attempted rape and assault, we'd probably be opening a can of snakes rather than a can of worms. It'll also be safer for you three if nobody knows what you can do if you need to defend yourselves."

He patted Jason on the shoulder. "You showed clear thinking in a time of extreme stress, and reported the facts just like a good detective would. You might consider a career in that field. If you're not so inclined, your abilities could be extremely helpful were you to work with the Guard as a, oh I guess the word I want is 'consultant'. You've already shown that you can be discreet. We value that. You're still too young to decide on a life path yet, but I wanted to put a word in, just in case. If you want to talk to me again, let Miranda know and we'll arrange it.

"Now you'd better get going. I'll have Sargeant Rivers show you out our special back door. And don't worry. You can trust her without question. I do, but then she's my twin and I know she'd never betray anyone. For now at least you'll just have to take my word on it.

Jason stammered, "Yessir. Of course I will sir. I'll be going and getting out of your way sir."

Captain Murray gave him a friendly clout on the back. "On your way then. I expect that our paths will cross again, probably fairly often given your talents. Take care."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

He turned and marched down the hall to the right. The Sergeant had been waiting outside the door and led Jason to a narrow door that blended into the rock of the passage if you saw it from more than two or three meters away. She opened it just enough for Jason to squeeze through. "Fare thee well youngling. Gods watch over you."

"Thank you Sergeant. Goodbye."

Jason slipped out the door and found himself in shadows at the end of a blind alley that jutted off a street he knew well. On the way back to report to Miranda he filled the twins in on what had happened. They were both relieved to know that there was nothing tying them to the fight. Yoko however did ask what Liam's condition was.

"You know dear one, I don't know. It seemed like every time I was about to ask, Captain Murray asked me something first."

"Thank you dear. That's all I really need to know. He's not expected to survive, or at least not to be able to return to his previously depraved life. At least I hope so. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be private for a while. I need to try to make myself forget him."

Once Yoko had withdrawn from the link, HIbiki contacted Jason on their personal "channel." "She is in a lot more pain than she is letting on. I tell you truly that she believes to the depths of her soul what she said about defending loved ones last night. I also tell you true that doing it hurt her more than I had imagined at first. We are going to need to give her a lot of emotional support, probably for quite some time.

"I must admit that I am not completely sure how to do that. I have never had to deal with something this intense before, but I am sure that we can figure things out by watching her feelings a bit more carefully.

"I expect that what I shall need to do is just be close to her as much as possible."

Jason could tell that she was suddenly wearing her sensual grin. "You on the other hand will probably need to spend more time petting her and kissing her. Otherwise she may think that you are disgusted by what she did. I KNOW her. We can talk to her till the cows come home and it will not penetrate. She is going to need physical demonstrations that you still care for her.

"Worry not. I shall be perfectly content to play guard for you two as much as is necessary."

Jason could swear that he could FEEL Hibiki purring when she added, "I shall be sure to have you make up for the extra time you spend with her. I am sure I will be able to think of something by the time she is feeling better about herself. If you will, consider it a promise."

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Ptica banged on the lectern, "All right class. You can stop your snickering. At least I assume that's what all of you are doing, that or your species' equivalent. All I'm going to say is that Hibiki was a very honest girl. She always kept her promises, including that one. There is however absolutely no way in the world that I'm going to tell you what she did. Oh, and don't bother trying to hack into the server and look at the files. We deleted and overwrote that particular one several decades ago. Even if it did happen over a thousand years in the past, some things should remain private forever."

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"All right Biki, I know that grin. You were just saying something sexy ta Jason on your private channel."

"Of course I was Yoko. You heard him. He has just now left after the Captain finished interrogated those scum. Or so he had thought. What he found out was that one was not really scum at all, just someone who had made a mistake. It was a serious one, but a mistake rather than a deliberate act. Naturally it had to be one of the ones he took out. Jason is feeling guilty. It is silly, but there you are.

"I do not understand why people feel guilty when they have done what they had to to protect themselves and there was no other choice at all, unless it was roll over and let them kill you. I doubt that I shall ever understand that, but I did what I could. Since I cannot help him overcome his negative feelings, I gave him something to think about besides himself."

She looked at Yoko pointedly. "That means you sister mine. You know as well as I do that he is extremely stubborn sometimes, so you are going to have to show him physically that you are not mad at him and that you do not think he did anything awful.

"So get ready for lots of hugs and kisses.

"I have it on the best authority that you enjoy it just as much as I do. I shall even stand guard for you two while you prove how you feel to him, no matter how many days or weeks it takes. I will want equal time later on, but I can be patient."

Biki leered at her sister. "Besides, they say that hunger is the best sauce, and I am quite certain that by the time you have him feeling better I will be very hungry."

Yoko stood and put her hand on Hibiki's chest. Her ears hadn't deceived her. Biki was purring. In fact it was strong enough that it was making both of their bodies vibrate. She had no idea how she did it. Yoko couldn't purr no matter how hard she'd tried when they were little. She'd come to accept it as just one of those unexplainable things.

What she could do was understand that Biki had been right about Jason. He was going to need reassurance, and she was also right that he responded best to touch. Maybe it was for the best that she couldn't purr after all. If she could, Biki would have an insufferable grin on her face when she heard how Yoko was responding to her suggestion about soothing Jason with hugs and kisses.

"I'm going downstairs and get a drink. I'll be back up in a bit."

Hibiki grinned at Yoko's retreating back. Excellent. She'd hooked both of them. They'd help each other through their healing process, something that she couldn't do. She shrugged her shoulders. That's why they were a team. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses. Together though, they were going to be unstoppable.