Part 30b 
by Shandi

Val sat talking to a fully dressed Stephanie.  "And since 
Paul has psionic Powers you won't have the problems Raven 
and Shannon and Lorie will: You can be physically on 
another continent with Paul but his mental Powers will keep 
the Claim link from being stretched too far."  She glanced 
up.  "Ace will also be able to handle it since his 
abilities distort physical space. So what did YOU do?"

"Buttercup has Lorie," Ace announced.

Val groaned.  "Lorie's CLAIMED!  He'll have a direct link 
to Bruce and through Bruce to all of you!  Damn damn damn."

"Maybe Buttercup won't realize that," Paul suggested 
hopefully.

"She has a Claim tattoo," Val answered.  "And don't think 
Buttercup won't check that.  Buttercup checks out any woman 
he gets near."  She stood.  "I can try to put up some 
protections around Bruce but I don't think I can do 
anything more than delay Buttercup."

"So what do we do?" Ace asked.

"Find her!" Val ordered.  "Rescue her! Or learn to say 'yes 
Master Buttercup'.  And since none of you seem to be able 
to think with the big head."  She advanced on Ace.

Ace backed up.  "What are you going to do?"

Val held up a small chain.  "Just adding a necklace."  She 
leaned close and fastened the chain around Ace's neck.  
"There."

Ace ran his hand around the chain.  "Where's the fastener?"

Val smiled.  "Gone.  That chain stays on.  It'll prevent 
you from Claiming anyone.  You can Mark, you can Link, but 
you can't screw up and Claim."  She nodded to Paul, who was 
fingering a similar chain around his neck.  "It's a pity I 
didn't do this sooner."  She headed for the door.  "I'll be 
in Bruce's room giving him his necklace and seeing if I can 
do something to protect everyone.  You find Lorie!"  She 
left.

Ace and Paul looked at each other. "Make with the mind 
stuff and find her and I'll teleport her out," Ace 
suggested.

"I don't know where to look," Paul answered.  "And Val 
hasn't taught me a lot about how to use it.  She was afraid 
if we did too much it would awaken the matrix too soon."

"Find one of Buttercup's henchmen and let Stephanie scare 
the information out of him," Ace suggested.

"Thanks a lot," Stephanie said coldly.

Ace pointed over his shoulder.  "Considering how you 
trashed the place I think you could scare anyone."

"We don't want to let Buttercup find out Stephanie has the 
Rage," Paul said.  "It'd make her too much of a target."

"So what do we do?" Jessi asked quietly.

Paul looked at her.  "Do you have any Powers?"

"I don't know. I think I might teleport people," Jessi 
admitted.

Ace grinned.  "Like this?" He flipped his thumb up and 
popped over to the corner.

Jessi shook her head.  "Like this." She thought of where 
she wanted to go and appeared by the window.

Paul sighed.  "So if we can figure out where she is we 
could have either of you teleport in and get Lorie out.  
But how do we find her?"

Stephanie looked at Paul.  "Could you just try to 'hear' 
someone in trouble?"

"In New York City?" Paul asked.

************************************************
Shandi massaged the shampoo into her hair, closing her eyes 
and daydreaming. She thought of Ace, and what she would do 
to him if he were in the shower with her. After rinsing her 
hair out, she started running a loofa sponge with shower 
gel on it, all over her body. She let her mind pretend it 
was Ace's hands. She let the hot water run over her face, 
she ached for his touch.

Ace allowed his mind to open, wanting to check and see what 
Shandi was up too. Her erotic thoughts flooded his mind and 
he suddenly felt himself flush. He looked at Jessi, 
Stephanie, and Paul sitting around him and realized he had 
to hide himself. He ran for Paul's bathroom. "I'll be right 
back!" he said, on his way.

Paul, Stephanie, and Jessi gave each other confused looks.

"What was that all about?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't even want to know!" Paul shook his head. 
***********************************************

"Oh man...." Ace shivered. "I have to get to her!  Oh 
wait..." he shook his head at himself, then stuck his thumb 
out.

Ace grinned, he was standing in Shandi's bathroom.

He looked at his thumb and scratched his head. "This thing 
will work better then I thought!" he whispered to himself, 
then looked up to see Shandi's shadow in the shower 
curtain. An evil grin spread crossed his lips and he stuck 
his thumb out again. This time, his clothes disappeared and 
he chuckled quietly and slipped into the shower behind 
Shandi.

Shandi felt a wave of excitement stream through her body. 
She felt Ace close by and wondered if there was trouble. 
She closed her eyes and opened her mind searching for 
his...he was keeping his closed from her. She turned to 
step out of the shower and bumped right into Ace.

"Ace!" she shrieked grabbing a towel off the shower curtain 
railing. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Ace chuckled, "I saw what you were thinking about, I 
thought maybe I could help you out with your fantasies."

Shandi stood in shock. "You saw what I was thinking about? 
Oh man...." her face turned beet red.

"Yes, I did."

Ace lifted her chin with a finger and leaned in to taste 
her lips. He gently pulled the towel away from her, tossing 
it out of the shower. 

Suddenly she pulled away from the kiss. "Wait a second, 
how'd you get in here?"

"I teleported, believe it or not." Ace laughed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, let me try something." He pulled her against him and 
stuck his thumb out again.

Shandi gasped, "That was so awesome!"

The two were now lying on Shandi's bed, both dripping from 
the shower still.

"Pretty talented, huh?" he smiled cheesily.

Shandi lifted her head up to catch Ace's mouth in a kiss 
again. Hands started exploring each other's bodies as their 
lips danced. 

"You know, ever since the night after the benefit concert, 
I've thought about you all the time." Ace admitted.

"Are you just saying that because your here with me now?" 
Shandi whispered.

"No, I'm saying it because it's true." Ace replied.

Shandi smiled and pulled him to her mouth.  

They made love, leaving them both tingling with 
satisfaction.

Shandi lay on Ace's chest.  With a content sigh she closed 
her eyes.  Ace wrapped his arms around her and smiled.  
Then he remembered about the mark on her chest.  For a 
brief time while he made love to her, he noticed his face 
appear over her left breast

//Val said this necklace would keep me from enslaving 
anyone// Ace thought to himself.

Shandi lifted her head and looked at Ace, then peered down 
at her chest. "Does this mean I'm your Slave now?" Shandi 
asked.

"It can be...you must be Marked, which is a step more then 
a Link, but not as bad as a Claim." 

"This stuff's too confusing. Just as long as I'm with you, 
I don't care how I'm connected." Shandi smiled, laying her 
head on Ace's chest again.

Ace ran his fingers through her hair, taking in her sweet 
scent. He was happy.

There was a loud knock at Shandi's door which made her and 
Ace both jump slightly.  Shandi sighed and climbed off Ace, 
then grabbed an over-sized t-shirt and pulled it on.

"Put some clothes on, who knows whats going on now." Shandi 
sighed going to her door.

She opened it to find Peter standing there. "Peter, this a 
suprise."

"Is Ace here Shandi?" He asked.

Just then Ace peeked around the door frame,"Peter!" Ace 
grinned broadly. "Val said you disappeared with Gene."

Peter grimaced. "Yeah. Long story." He glanced at the 
smiling Shandi.  "Uh, Ace, you haven't been, uh, you know."

Ace laughed. "You think you're the only one can have a 
Slave?"

Peter made shushing signals with his hands. "Ace! We don't 
know where Buttercup has listening devices."  He grabbed 
the guitarist's arm. "Come on. I need to talk to Val and 
Paul said she was in his room."

"Where's Paul?" Ace asked, letting Peter drag him towards 
Paul's room.

Shandi followed, content to be in the presence of the man 
who Marked her.  She toyed with the barrier between them, 
opening and closing it, enjoying the ability to have her 
privacy and yet also able to share in his thoughts and let 
him share hers. This Mark stuff was really cool. She 
touched her top, remembering the strange Ace tattoo that 
had appeared for a short time over her heart during their 
earlier lovemaking.

Peter knocked at Paul's door. "He's roaming around to see 
if he can find out anything. And he wanted to find Gene and 
talk to him about all this. They have a lot to catch up 
on."

"You haven't been gone that long," Ace protested.

"You have no idea," Peter muttered as the door opened. He 
started to step in and halted when he saw who held the 
door. "YOU?!"

Vinnie grabbed Peter's arm and dragged him inside. "Val! 
Here's Peter."

Val quickly fastened a chain around his neck. "There! Now I 
just have to get the two Erics. Mark is looking for Eric 
Singer for me. I can get Carr when he comes back with Lady 
M."

"Remember your promise," Vinnie said, toying with his own 
necklace.

Val sighed. "I'll keep my bargain. You didn't need to use 
Lady M as a bargaining chip. I have to protect you to 
protect KISS, remember?" She dialed a cellphone number. 
"Holly? We found Peter. Go stay with Raven. She's in 
Peter's room. If your Danger Sense even stirs, both of you 
get out of there! I'll be there as soon as I finish sorting 
out things here. Make sure Raven stays calm. I don't think 
the hotel can take another probability storm." She hung up.

Peter yanked free from Vinnie. "Yeah. I'm here. What are 
YOU doing here?"

Val smiled slightly. "As hard as it is to believe, he's 
helping KISS."

Ace snorted. "Vinnie? Help Gene and Paul?"

"No, KISS," Vinnie corrected with a hint of anger. "Which 
whether you want to admit it or not, I'm part of KISS and 
part of this matrix thing."

Ace and Peter looked at Val.

Val nodded. "Vinnie is part of the matrix. If Buttercup 
gets control of Vinnie again, he'll have all of you by the 
short hairs."

"Then why didn't Buttercup do something when he had 
Vinnie?" Ace asked.

"Because Peter and Raven weren't together," Vinnie 
answered. "He said he had to wait until he maneuvered Peter 
into Claiming Raven."

"Manuever me?" Peter sputtered.

Vinnie gave Peter a disdainful look. "That kidnap attempt 
was all a sham. He thought you'd Claim her when you went to 
her room after she rescued you in the stairwell. He made a 
few very nasty comments about your manhood when you left 
instead. Someone he calls the Time Talker told him when you 
would be where he could fake an attempt and have her 
'stumble' over it. He knew at the time he gave the orders 
that the agents would fail but he still punished them."

"Time Talker?"� Ace asked.

Vinnie shrugged. "I've never met the guy. Not even sure 
it's a guy. Buttercup says the Time Talker is who will get 
him Raven, and once he has Raven no one can stop him."

Peter clenched his hands into tight fists. "When I get my 
hands on Buttercup..."

"You don't go near Buttercup!" Val ordered.

"I can handle Buttercup," Peter answered. "I can use 
Raven's Fate Wind to jinx him and see that all his plans go 
wrong. I did it to some E.V.I.L. agents in the past."

Val groaned. "That's why you had to Claim Raven. If 
Buttercup gets you he controls her through you, and he had 
you in his G.R.I.P. once already so he can reactivate that 
conditioning as soon as he gets his hands on you. And he 
can do the same to Ace."

Both Ace and Peter paled.

"Can Buttercup control us without capturing us?" Ace asked.

Val shook her head. "G.O.O.D. broke the control so the old 
keywords no longer affect you; but E.V.I.L. does not have 
to program the words in again, only reactivate the 
conditioning. If they can get you in one of their labs, or 
just in the hands of one of their specialists; it would 
just take minutes to turn you back into a servant of 
E.V.I.L."

Peter slowly shook his head. "No. Never again. I'd kill 
myself fir-..."He stopped in mid-word. "But if I did that, 
I'd kill Raven."

"That'd be better than handing Buttercup the world on a 
silver platter," Vinnie answered.

"I won't hurt Raven!" Peter exploded.

"You'd rather let Buttercup have her as a plaything?" 
Vinnie asked.

"He has a point," Ace said quietly.

"I can't," Peter said, shoulders hunched. "You don't know 
what we went through together. We spent two years in the 
past. I couldn't."

"Even if Raven asked you to?" Val asked.

Peter thought. "I need to talk to Raven."

"I'll walk you to your door," Vinnie offered.

Peter shot him an annoyed look but said nothing. They left 
the room.

Val looked at Shandi. "I think we need to talk. You're 
Marked now, aren't you?"

Shandi nodded.

Val glared at Ace. "I see certain people have trouble 
listening."

Ace shuffled his feet nervously. "I think I'll go check on 
my computer.  Maybe Raven accidentally repaired it." He 
quickly retreated to his room.

His computer was still quite dead. He tapped a few keys and 
sighed. Things sure had gotten interesting.

A knock at his door broke into his musings. He opened the 
door. Ace looked at Gene and felt his heart stop. The 
desperate look in his eyes and the extreme paleness of his 
face instantly told Ace that all was not well and he knew 
it had to involve Shannon. Gene's breathing was labored and 
he could no longer control the shaking in his hands.

"Gene, what's wrong?" asked Ace. He stepped aside allowing 
Peter, Gene and Paul to come into his room.

"Buttercup has Shannon," said Paul, knowing Gene was in no 
condition to speak.