Steel walked slowly up to the house where she was supposed to meet Ben. She knew he would be angry. She had let the thread get taken out by the Mods. He would blame her no matter what she said and she knew she would be punished. When she entered the room, she heard a cough and then a puff of smoke from one corner. "Enter." Called the wheezy voice. "But remain standing." Steel did as she was told. "So," she heard his fingers tapping on the table, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Steel broke down and started sobbing, "I'm sorry! I warned them, they made preparations! It wasn't my fault they didn't beat the Mods!" "I don't care about that." He snapped. "One Mod should have died, at least one. Yet Shishka lives!" "But Ben, I wanted to wait until you had taken care of MCs Brother! I didn't want him to attack to soon." "Did you now?" He said thoughtfully. "You have done well in coming straight to me. You shall be rewarded." Steel knelt down on the ground, she couldn't believe she wasn't being punished, "Thank you! I promise I won't let you down." "No," he replied as two men, KingCream and Nightstalker blocked the exit, "I wouldn't allow you to." Steel looked up at the men and back at the man she had been talking to, "Come into the light Ben." He stood up and walked over. Steel gasped, "MCs Brother! But you're supposed to be--" "Gone? Doing some other business?" MCs Brother laughed. "So Ben thinks to usurp me. Well, I shall take care of this." "M-M-Mc, forgive me. I only do what I am told!" Steel had pressed herself to the floor, prostrate on the ground. "Please don't hurt me." "Hurt you?" He said with a mocking tone, "Didn't I tell you you would be rewarded?" "Y-Yes. But what is the reward?" Steel was worried, she knew MCs Brother well enough to know that the reward would be more for his gain than for hers. "Why, you get the finest honor!" MCs Brother shouted gleefully, "You have the single honor of being the one who will bring down Shishka." Steel gulped, "You want me to fight him?" "No. But he will fight for you." MCs Brother said as Night hit Steel over the back of the head. The last words she heard was, "And after he dies, you will too." ------------ Douglas stormed into Halifax's office without waiting. "Halifax!" He shouted, "You did that for the sole purpose of humiliating me! I swear, if the Mods hadn't come I--" Halifax cut him off, "But the Mods did come. As I knew they would." Halifax leaned forward, a mask covering it's face, "Don't you see? Your sole purpose in being there was to help the Mods." Douglas growled with frustration, "They didn't even need my help! I hardly didn't anything!" "Wrong!" Halifax said sharply, if his muffled voice could be considered sharp, "You distracted them! You kept them from preparing adequately for an attack. They were confused and angered by you for dressing up as a woman. Had it not been for you, the Mods would have failed." Halifax settled back in his chair, "So I beg of you. Please trust me when I tell you to do something." Douglas sighed, "Alright, I'm sorry." He glanced over to see Pistolsnipe sitting in the corner, "And what has he been doing?" "He's doing his part, don't you worry." Douglas grunted, "I bet he doesn't have to dress up as a girl." ---------- Shishka looked at all of the Mods. "We have had a successful raid. I congratulate all of you." He looked at the new Mods, "I apologize for not allowing you to come, but we needed to be completely focused, and with Steels accusations I didn't want any distractions." "And where is she now?" Dmbfan asked angrily, "Why has she suddenly disappeared? Could it be that she knew her plan had failed? That you are still alive?" "Silence!" Shishka said, his voice rising, "Do you question my judgement?" "Yes!" Dmbfan shouted, "You are too trusting of her just because she looks like an innocent girl! Do you remember Bacon?" "He came back to our side." Yoozel was quick to point out. "True." Then Dmbfan looked around, "What about Texas Ben?" There was silence in the room. They all knew Ben, they had all considered him a friend at one point or another. His defection was certainly a surprise. The door opened before any more words could be said, and Lilshorty entered. "Well, Lilshorty." Recon said with a grin, "I trust you have learned your lesson." "Indeed I have." She replied, "I also have a message for you." She pulled out a package and handed it to Shishka. He nodded in thanks and she hastily left. Shishka opened the package to reveal a video tape. He looked at the others and then slid it into the VCR sitting across the room. All of the Mods gathered around as the tape began to play. Steel was sitting tied to a chair. She had bruises all over her face and blood was flowing from her nose and mouth. Texas Ben was standing next to her, holding a knife to her neck. "I hope you are proud of yourselves Mods." He sneered, "You have driven away all those you claim to protect. And now you wil pay for your actions." He smacked Steel across the face, causing her to start sobbing, "This girl will die in 4 hours. After that, I will find someone else you are close to. This will continue until your reign as Mods ends." The tape ended. The Mods stood there for a moment, staring at the blank screen. Then Shishka shouted, "Are you happy Dmbfan? Do you think she is still a spy? Does seeing her in such a condition make you pleased?" Dmbfan held his ground as Shishka shouted. When the room was silent again, he replied, "There was a crease under Ben's neck. You were too busy looking at Steel to notice." He looked around at the others, "The man on that screen was not Ben." He turned back to Shishka and said coldly, "We know where Ben is. We can take care of him." Shishka stared at Dmbfan, "What are you saying?" Dmbfan sighed, "We can spend hours in this vast Forum looking for this lone man and Steel. Or, we could take Ben and see what he knows about this. If he doesn't tell us, well, at least we can still get rid of him." Recon nodded, "We'll never find Steel in time. And even if we did, I'm sure whoever that is has traps laid out for us." Shishka sat in the chair and stared at the floor for a long while, all the other Mods shifting their feet uneasily. Finally he said, "I give up. I won't sacrifice someone's life for my own desires." Nosferatu's eyes widened and he said quietly, "You would let them win. You would give up and let them take over?" Shishka looked at them, hopeless and broken. Afraid. "Yes." He answered. "If it means saving her life, yes." Yoozel stood up, "Well then. I think it's time to appoint a new leader." All eyes turned on him and Maka said in a calm, even tone, "And I suppose you think you would be best for the job." "Nonsense," Yoozel said, "But we do need someone. I don't care who, let's vote." He looked at the others who nodded. All except Impurity who looked around incredulously, "So that's it? You're just dropping Shishka like that? He's the reason we have done so well this far! We can't just let him leave!" Yoozel sighed, "He is finished and we don't have much time. There is a possibility of getting to Steel in time, if we can find someone who knows where she is." He looked pointedly at Shishka, hoping the Mod would get the hint. "In the meantime, I suggest you all prepare to raid Ben's lair." The Mods quickly agreed, although Impurity was still hesitant. They finally voted on Recon as leader, and began making preparations for the attack. Shishka came up and put a hand on Yoozel's shoulder, "I would like to speak to my 'old friend' for a moment." Recon nodded and Shishka pulled Yoozel away from the group. "You know something." Yoozel smiled, "I do." He looked back at the others, "Go to Halifax. That person has eyes and ears in all different places. Halifax is the one who told me where Ben was hiding, and if anyone knows where Steel is, it's Halifax." Shishka nodded and put a hand on Yoozel's shoulder, "Thank you. You truly are wise beyond your years." Yoozel laughed, "Well, one of us has to be." With that, Shishka rushed off into the night. --------- [b]Continued[/b] [Edited on 12/19/2005]