She rolled over to feel the cold sweat on the pillow. There would be no sleep now. Her mind was awake and ran with speed. She got up to the bathroom. With a look in the mirror, she noticed the denture. The fit had been so well that she had left it in overnight. With a flick of her tongue, it popped out, and her face dropped. At the sight of herself, she left the mirror open. Go-Go scrubbed the denture. Once clean the denture popped back into place, and her finger poked her lip. She swallowed one of the pain pills and a NoNap. The pills will help, she thought.

Go-Go zipped on a pair of shoes and headed outside. At the tool shed far in the back of the school campus she pulled out the reel mower. The blades gleamed with well used edges. With a push, the reel turned. Cut Grass started to fly as she got up to speed.

The art-deco lobby and common areas of the office building had a sparse openness. Green marble floors and high polished brass trim. Arc and Joel walked off the elevator on the thirteenth floor. To Joel, the building’s air smelled stale. The mop closet should have had a residual of the custodians but not even moisture. Nobody had been here in months. The lobby smelled right, but it lacked the lived-in human scent up here. He would say it was abandoned.

"So this is a lawyers office?" Joel said.

"A space rented by a lawyer with no connection with the Cartel," Arc unlocked the door. The two men walked inside. The door said, Brothers and Brothers.

"Except we have keys and leave stuff here," Joel said.

The room had rows of tall industrial steel file cabinets. Arc walked to a cabinet by the window. He opened one with a red sticky dot on the door. The Rolodex went inside. He pushed the door shut, and peeled the sticker off.

"Think of this as a dead drop with attorney-client privilege.”

"Any ideas what the bosses are going to do with this?" Joel said.

"Could sit here forever. The Cartel Detailer said to forget it was ever here.” Arc made sure the door was locked behind him.

"Are we?" Joel said.

"I've already copied the more interesting names.”

Crested dropped off her books in homeroom. She walked around the high school this week at lunch without luck. Twice she caught a hint of the scent, but it stopped in a bathroom or a closet. The trail just stopped. Crested wanted to work the dorms, going from room to room. But being a dog girl made her noticed. Everyone knew she could track. Walking around with her tongue hanging out breathing through her mouth and nose would be noticed. She had learned not to attract attention when hunting. Too many chases, and while she liked to chase, it didn't always end with a win.

The gym had a class, and Crested knew everyone. The Grand Atrium and cafe had the same results. The smells of brewed coffee and the thick syrups steaming in cups made tracking hard. Crested looked down the hall to the middle school. She hadn’t been down that way in years. With a swipe of her badge she entered the middle school.

Maybe a younger talent, Crested thought. The bell rang as Crested walked down the hall. I remember that bell.

In a rush the middle school classrooms let out. The girls were close to Crested’s height, but her uniform stood out. Attention came to her as a dog girl. That's normal. A high school girl let alone Mean Girl in middle school is unusual. Being back down here brought a flood of nostalgia. At the time, Barbra and Poppy walked the hallways like imaginary titans.

Crested’s mind snapped back to the here and now. She realized she had stopped tracking. Then she caught a hint of the girl. The teleporter was close. Crested walked faster, her tail wagging, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Breaths came through her nose and mouth at once. She went straight down the hallway. Crested stepped between two girls; the scent hit her mouth.

The one on the right turned in surprise to say something then recognized Crested. A plain mouse-haired girl with the right body and height. The two looked at each other for a second.

"Melissa?" the girl next to her said.

Crested pulled her tongue in and got a full breath of the scent. The Teleporter.

She blinked away in a puff of mist. "Oh Bark me," Crested said. What did I think was going to happen? Crested thought

"Melissa?" Margret said.

"Who was that?" Crested turned to the other girl. The rasp in her voice could have left wood shavings. The middle schoolers started to back away from the two girls. Crested’s teeth started to show.

"Melissa? What did you do to her?" She looked around in confusion.

Crested grabbed the girl's ID badge. 'Margret Douglas.' "Do you have Melissa's cell?" Crested asked.

"What's going on?"

"Text Melissa to meet me in the gym," Crested said.

Coy sat at his desk in the one moment of peace he would have that day. At times like this he’d peel an orange with a spoon. As lunches go, it only needed to get him through the day. Florida knocked at the door. She walked in before he could say anything.

"Crested is fighting a lion in the Gym," Florida leaned in through the door.

"Your getting better. You didn't pass out," Coy said.

"It's not a vision. I saw a girl with a skull mask," Florida said.

"Skull mask?" Coy picked up the phone. He dialed the communications room. "This is Coy. We have a fight in the gym. Activate the Robo-Gorillas."

Flat ran down the hallway to the gym. Girls were running past, screaming. She ran to the screams. No one told her to go. It seemed the right thing to do. To run to the trouble.

Maple looked around the corner at the hallway. “Got a lion in there.”

“It's just Tuesday.” Flat turned the corner.

An echoed Bark could be heard from the gym doors. Gyaru followed behind Flat. She stumbled as she stripped off her blouse and skirt. Flat made it to the doors inside the gym; mist covered the floor. A wall of fog swirled on the far side with the outline of the Teleporter. Crested barked and waved her arms near the door between a lion and the last girl to run out. With its ears back and low to the floor, the lion looked confused or scared.

Flat continued her run. Two steps away, she brought her fist back. She put her whole body behind the blow. A sloppy right hook hit the lion in the side of the head. Her toes had pushed off the floor to send her spinning. A paw half-heartily slammed her back. The claws ripped the back of her blouse. Both tumbled over. Flat got up from the mist and looked around. Crested ran to her.

"Where's the lion?" Flat said.

"In the mist," Crested said.

The doors slammed open, and Gyaru walked into the gym. Compression shorts and tube top strained to hold the transformation. The seven foot tall blond werewolf walked past Flat and Crested. Claws extended from her fingers, long and sharp.

"Bitch is mine," Gyaru growled. An anvil landed on her head with a crunch of bone. Werewolf and anvil fell, lost in the mist.

Flat and Crested looked up. The wall of mist moved forward.

"Any ideas?" Flat said.

"Nope.”

The six gorillas ran in on the far side of the gym; steel fists beat steel chests,then charged with a roar. Flat saw the Teleporter move to the other side of the gym with a blink. The Robo-Gorillas charged. Before the mist reformed, the Teleporter raised a hand. Cannonballs shot out in a line from the girl's shoulders to smash into the gorillas. Flat started to run behind the Teleporter to keep out of her sight.

How can she do that? Flat thought.

A blur passed by. The ribbon streaked a red line in her vision. The mists parted in the wake as Go-Go did laps around the gym. Mist rolled back as the speedster ran. Flat got close. She timed it as Go-Go came around the other side. The Teleporter blinked around the core of the mist to keep Go-Go in front of her.

A yellow school bus spotted with rust appeared high out of the mist above the girl. It crashed onto the gym floor to roll on old tires. Flat jumped out of the way. On the other side, railroad ties bound together like jacks tumbled overhead and skipped wild. Go-Go turned to run past. A second tie spun over to knock the first tie into her. Go-Go dropped to the floor.

The bus stopped moving at the far end of the gym as it smashed into the last gorilla. The ties bounced off the walls. Crested had run to Go-Go. Flat didn't see how Crested made it across the gym. The speedster held her head as the mist started to reform. Flat saw Gyaru get up. The werewolf growled. She made a leap at the Teleporter. Leading with teeth and claws. At the mist wall, Gyaru blinked away. She fell from the ceiling face first next to Flat.

"Misty! Stop. It's over." Colby yelled. The mist swirled but the wall of fog began to fade. Colby walked out to the werewolf, setting down Gyaru's shoes and clothes. "We're done here. Misty, please go to Mr. Coy's office.” The mist faded. The girl was gone.

Flat looked around the gym. The railroad ties had stopped by a row of crushed bleachers. The school bus had smashed a hole in the wall into the locker room. The floor had splinters from the anvil. And a dozen cannonballs rolled around with a dead lion.

"This was less than three minutes," Flat said.

Gyaru turned back to her human form and pulled up the skirt. "Let's get Go-Go down to medical.”

"Bark."

"I know," Gyaru said.

"Colby, Thanks," Flat said.

"I'm a sidekick. It's what we do. Just glad you're not hurt.”

In Coy's office, Misty waited on the far side of the room. The mask lay on Coy's desk. The mood could be called awkward.

"Where's Jenny Cooper?" Coy said.

"In Medical with scratches to her face," Gyaru said. The hair ribbon was wrapped around Gyaru's hand.

"I don't want to leave school," Misty said.

"I'm not throwing anyone out," Coy said.

"Sir. It's my responsibility for not telling you, Flat or Colby," Gyaru said.

"Barbra, I appreciate your honesty, but this is not a Saturday afternoon cartoon mystery for you to solve. We have a neutrality agreement to keep everyone safe. And that includes you not doing this shit."

"Criminals love their children and want the best for them. The P A H A extended a hand for a better future. This is not Great Lakes United, we don't fight each other. It ends here. Melissa, clean up the gym. Everyone else goes back to class.”

Gyaru walked out the door fast. Flat turned to Misty.

"Friends?" Flat said and offered her hand. Misty blinked out in a puff of smoke.

"Try later," Coy said.

"I feel bad about the lion," Flat said.

"Have you ever had to fight a lion before?" Coy said.

"No.”

"You'll do better next time.”

"Yes sir."

Margret had waited outside. Coy sat down in his chair as she knocked.

"Margret?" Coy said.

"Is Melissa still here?"

"She already left," Coy said.

Margret looked around the office, "Oh."

"Margret. It can be hard when you have to respect secrets and privacy. Melissa will tell you when she's ready. And you'll tell Melissa when you're ready," Coy said.

"OK.”

Misty teleported the last of the wreckage. The baseline girl watched from the sidelines. She had watched Misty clean up the wreckage. A Robo-Gorilla with a hammer and tool belt replaced the wood on the gym floor. The girl walked over to Misty as the last railroad tie dropped through the floor out of sight. It landed from above to fold up on a stack of the other ties. When she was done, the entire stack vanished. A Robo-Gorilla with a broom swept up behind her. Before the baseline girl got close, Misty teleported away.

Misty sat in her chair at the dinner table. Spark-Gap waited silently in his chair. Blitzy washed the dishes. Arc put down the newspaper. "Did you win?"

"Maybe," Misty said.

"Your power draws attention. What happened?"

"I got made by the dog girl. I panicked and dropped a lion in the gym. It escalated to a fight with the Mean Girls," Misty said.

"Lions will do that. How did it go with the Mean Girls?"

"I threw a few railroad ties at the Cooper girl," Misty said. Porcelain shattered across the kitchen floor; Blitzy had dropped a plate. Arc rubbed his eyes.

"Mom, this is Cartel business. Step out. Please," Arc said.

Blitzy tossed the rubber gloves in the sink. Spark-Gap got up to walk Blitzy out of the room.

"The Cooper girl? The speedster?" Arc said.

"Yeah.”

"This is a delicate time with the move. Promise me. No revenge. No violence. No more using your powers like this ever," Arc said.

"But?"

"No. You do not shoulder the past between Mom and Go-Go 2. During the last job, I had you teleport that girl away. So we could have a chance at peace. Promise me," Arc said.

"I promise.”

"Misty. Dad brokered an agreement. It cost him everything he had worked for down south. You weren't even born, but I remember the lean years."