KISS and the Battle of GOOD vs EVIL
Part 36-B



"So, are you awake?" a cold voice asked.

Gena lifted her aching head.  "Who?"  She tried to 
get her eyes to focus.  She felt some odd 
suffocating weight around her, and yet she felt a 
draft.

The man smiled.  "They call me Buttercup."

Gena blinked and everything finally came into focus.  
She was hanging in the middle of a room, dangling 
from a set of chains locked onto the manacles on her 
wrists, her feet inches from the floor.  She was 
stripped naked.

She tried to summon fire and nothing happened.  She 
tried to sense Gene and got only the void.

"We took the precaution of blocking your magic and 
taking anything that might be used to trace you," 
Buttercup said quietly.  "And searched you 
thoroughly."

Gena recognized certain aches.  "And who got that 
job?"

The Drow stepped in front of her and smiled.  "I 
did."

Gene grabbed the chains in her hands and swung, 
landing a solid kick to the Drow's crotch.  The Drow 
hit the floor and curled into a tight knot of 
misery.  "Touch me again and I'll kill you," she 
promised, swinging back and forth.  "That's TWO I 
owe you."  She gazed at Buttercup to see his 
reaction.

Buttercup shook his head.  "I showed him the line on 
the floor."  He pointed down at a piece of red tape.  
"I'm not stepping into range, my dear traitor."

"Yes," Gena hissed.  "I betrayed KISS.  Or planned 
to.  But if this is how you treat me I'm going to 
have to change my mind about joining E.V.I.L."

"Why did you kill my accountant?"  Buttercup asked.

"Accountant?"  Gena asked, surprised.  "I thought he 
was the Time Talker."

Buttercup laughed loudly and then abruptly stopped.  
"I don't let Magnolia come near this place.  No one 
here even knows what he looks like.  I'm the only 
person who has ever met him.  I deliberately keep 
him separate.  Knowing the possible future is a very 
powerful tool."  His eyes narrowed.  "So that was 
why.  You wanted to stop him from delivering his 
warning.  Too late, my gorgeous fiery wench.  He 
already told me about your plan."

"What plan?"  Dastardly asked, hand resting near his 
holstered gun.

"To take over E.V.I.L.," Buttercup said quietly.  
"Gardenia here has ambitions.  Big ambitions."

"He told you I plan to overthrow you and become head 
of E.V.I.L.?"  Gena asked, shocked.

Buttercup nodded.  "I knew before Petunia brought 
you here.  Or at least knew of the possibility.  You 
always know the Past.  The Future is always 
changing.  You can be pretty sure of the next 
twenty-four hours, but as you move further and 
further into the Future you're never sure if you're 
actually in the Future or in a possibility that will 
vanish because of choices made in the Present.  Much 
as what happens with the Present if we change the 
Past.  Only those with a Time Manipulator can 
weather such an alteration, and since I do not 
control my little Snapdragon Shannon YET I am very 
careful not to change the Past.  Because not even 
Magnolia can tell me how the time stream will 
realign itself, so the tiniest change in the Past 
could have me not being born.  When I think of how 
Shannon was hopping around randomly..."  He 
shivered.  "I expected any moment to see everything 
vanish.  I tried to gain control of her for the good 
of mankind.  Before she destroyed everything.  KISS 
is going to destroy the world if they are not 
careful!  A Time Manipulator, a Probability 
Manipulator, Rage, and a Nexus.  They can destroy 
all of creation with just a thought."

"You know about...?"  Gena stopped.  She thought 
E.V.I.L. did not know about Stephanie.

"We can recognize the destruction Rage leaves in its 
wake," Buttercup assured her.  "And we can recognize 
an organized telepathic network a Nexus creates even 
if we can't break into her connections.  We have met 
Raven and Shannon.  But we have Raven now.  So the 
greatest danger is in our hands.  And as soon as we 
identify the Rage possessor and obtain her, we can 
move on KISS."  Buttercup looked down at the Drow.  
"Remove the spells on her.  She wasn't betraying 
us."  He looked at Gena.  "And you saved me the 
trouble of firing the accountant.  I know he was 
skimming off money for himself.  Replacing him is no 
major problem.  Arthur Anderson has some accountants 
looking for jobs."

The manacles and chains vanished.  Gena landed on 
her feet and quickly created her tiny red and black 
leather outfit again.  "You're not going to punish 
me for killing a fellow member of E.V.I.L.?"

Buttercup shook his head.  "How do you think we move 
up in the organization?"

Gena incinerated Daffodil.

Dastardly went for his gun but did not make it in 
time.

The Drow lay curled up on the ground whimpering, 
waiting for his turn.

Gena smiled at the pale Lily.  "I don't think you're 
a threat to me, are you?"  Lily quickly shook her 
head.  Gena looked at Buttercup.  "What do you need 
those two for when you've got me and Petunia?  And 
Raven.  And I can give you the Rage possessor.  For 
a price."

Buttercup smiled.  "I like the way you think.  Why 
ARE you joining us?"

"Eighteen years," Gena said, her eyes burning cold 
red.  "Gene yanked me around for eighteen years.  
He'd boff any bimbo he could, but the most he'd do 
was give me a backstage pass.  He thought I wasn't 
good enough.  Well, it's time I have MY eighteen 
years of yanking HIM around.  I want Gene on his 
knees.  I don't plan on hurting him, but he's going 
to learn his lesson."

Buttercup nodded.  "And KISS?"

"They're fools!" she spat.  "They're siding with 
G.O.O.D.!  What has G.O.O.D. ever done for them?  
Use them as puppets.  They can be the most powerful 
rock band in the world, in history!  E.V.I.L. will 
give them money, influence, power.  And they want to 
pass all that up and back some bunch of mamsy-pamsy 
goody-goody G.O.O.D.s.  Someone has to stop them 
from blowing their chance."

Buttercup grinned.  "Exactly."

"And I haven't really betrayed Raven," she pointed 
out.  "I'm freeing her of all those stupid goody 
G.O.O.D. ideas that are keeping her down.  She's 
been a good friend to me.  She's got this great 
power and what's she going to do?  Go back to being 
a bottom-of-the-totem-pole professor at a backwater 
university in Appalachia.  No way!  Once we get her 
over those crazy ideas of hers, she'll be able to 
work for E.V.I.L. and E.V.I.L. will work for her.  
It'll be the best thing that ever happened to her."

"My dear, you may well take over," Buttercup 
announced.  "You have a clear view of exactly what 
we do.  Why should we let the world give the rewards 
to those who don't deserve them?  We gather the 
power and use it to keep the sheep safe."

"You don't give a child a loaded gun," Gena agreed.

"Someone has to control them," Buttercup said.

"Better us than someone else," Gena added.

Buttercup put his arm around her shoulders.  "Let's 
go talk about your benefit package, my dear 
Gardenia.  I look forward to a long and fruitful 
partnership."  He held up a finger.  "Be warned.  
Magnolia has talked to them in the Future and he's 
told me when you try your first move directly 
against me.  I really don't want to have to kill 
you.  We have too much to look forward to.  A whole 
world at our feet."

Gena smiled.  "Not just my feet.  Rav and Steph have 
been good to me.  And they'll be useful to E.V.I.L.  
I want Rav to have Peter.  Once she's working for 
us, she deserves some perks.  And Steph should have 
first call for Paul; maybe even sole call if she'll 
not give us any trouble.  I'll have to see how the 
others do when they join, see if they deserve to be 
rewarded.  But KISS needs keepers.  We can't let 
them make their own decisions.  Look at what happens 
when we do that:  They get in fights, quit, run off 
like little boys squabbling over whose turn it is at 
bat.  That's no way to run a world."

*	*	*	*	*

"Don't give me grief, Ace!" Paul yelled into the 
phone.  "Stop whining about being interrupted again 
and have Shandi search for Gena and Raven!  Don't 
argue!  DO IT!"

"Gena."  Gene sat gazing at the floor.

Paul hung up the phone.  "Shandi will find them.  
She's good."  He knelt beside Gene.  "What did you 
feel?  Can you tell me anything about what 
happened?"

"Fire," Gene said, eyes glazed.  "Fighting.  And 
then she was gone.  Just gone.  She's gone."

"Shandi will find..."  Paul started.

//I can't find her,// Shandi's mental voice sounded 
like she was crying.  //There's no sign of Gena.  
That connection was broken.  I was... distracted and 
so I never noticed when it happened.  Something 
happened to Gena and I was too busy with Ace to even 
notice.//  Her guilt was an ache that vibrated 
through the whole matrix.

Paul looked at Peter.  "Have you checked on Ra-..."  
He stopped abruptly as Peter stirred.  Paul gave a 
silent prayer and ran across the room to touch 
Peter's shoulder.

Peter lay on the bed gazing up at the ceiling.  He 
did not react to Paul's touch.  He did not react to 
Bruce slowly approaching the bed.  He just lay 
gazing up at the ceiling with a slight smile on his 
face.

Paul jumped as Peter suddenly giggled.  Peter put 
his hand over his mouth and giggled again.

"Peter?"  Paul asked.

Peter turned his head, letting his hand fall away 
from his face.  "Hiya Paulie!  How's it going?" he 
slurred.

//Raven is still there,// Shandi said slowly.  
//Kind of.  I can't get a fix on her.  Anytime I 
start getting close to her, I start feeling drunk.//

Paul looked at Peter as he mentally asked, //How's 
your connection with Peter?//

Short pause.  //Almost as bad.  What'd he have to 
drink tonight?  Or is he on something?  I get the 
impression the connection is wide open between him 
and Raven.  What is going on?//

Paul told everyone, "I think Raven's been drugged 
and they also got Peter because he contacted Raven 
with their special connection."  He grabbed Peter's 
shoulder and shook it.  "Peter!  Can you tell us 
where Raven is?"

Peter shook his head.  "She wasn't here," he said 
wistfully.  "She was asleep.  Somewhere.  Guess Gena 
bored her."  He grinned broadly.  "I left our 
connection open so I'd know when she woke up so I 
could tell her I was home and she should come back."

"Is she awake?"  Paul asked, giving Peter a little 
shake when it looked like the drummer was drifting 
back to sleep.  "Peter!  Is she okay?"

"She feels great and so do I," Peter muttered.

"Can you get her to tell you anything about where 
she is?"  Paul demanded.

Peter snickered.  "Mice."

Paul looked at the Bruce and Spiro.  "Mice?"

*	*	*	*	*

Herr Dokter Herbert H. Herbert watched the congo 
line of mice go across the floor as his mainframe 
computer played festive music.  "Perhaps I should 
have used the other preparation."  He sighed.  "Oh 
well, a reprogrammed computer is a small price to 
pay for obtaining the services of the probability 
manipulator for our purposes."  He smiled down at 
Raven and in a heavy German accent said, "Now, my 
fine Fraulein.  I am Herr Dokter Herbert H. Herbert, 
Director of the Earthshakingly Villainous Influence 
League's Guarded Retreat for Innocents Programming 
and you are about to have a privilege few 
experience: my personal supervision of your re-
education."."

Raven giggled.  "Is a textbook required with this 
course?"

"You have been programmed by our society into 
believing things that are detrimental to..."

Raven giggled again.  "Programming?  HTML, 
JavaScript, Visual BASIC?  Just as long as it's not 
COBOL.  COBOL hits you with tons of code to do the 
least little thing."

*Tons of COBOL,* someone whispered in her ear.

Which was when the shower of books hit Herr Dokter.

Herr Dokter pushed his way out of the library of 
COBOL programming books.  "You have allowed the hair 
to grow too long.  The hair, it must be short."

"I had my hair cut special for the show," Raven 
sighed.  "But it grew out in the Iroquois village 
and then we had to dye it."

"I will remedy that."  Herr Dokter reached for a 
scalpel.  He shivered slightly, wondering where the 
draft came from that was sending a cold chill down 
his back.

*	*	*	*	*

Paul and Bruce tried to get the drunken Peter 
dressed.  "Foot in the...blast it!"  Paul pushed 
Peter flat on the bed and quickly stuffed Peter's 
legs in his jeans.  "Up!"  Paul pulled him to his 
feet.  Bruce held the unsteady drummer while Paul 
fastened the jeans.  "Okay, sit him down.  I'll find 
a shirt and his shoes are there beside you."  He 
walked across the room.

"Maybe we should just leave him here?"  Bruce 
suggested.

"He's our only means of finding where they have 
Raven," Paul said, grabbing a shirt from the back of 
a chair.  "We get Lorie to get the truth out of him 
and then we go take E.V.I.L. apart.  Gena.  I still 
can't believe it.  E.V.I.L. killed Gena!  I didn't 
even know she was going to be here, it was a 
pleasant surprise to see her again, and now she's 
dead!"  He kept focused on his anger.  He had to 
stay focused.

Bruce wiped at his tears.  "I wish she'd been at the 
Meet and Greet.  I heard she was here and was 
looking forward to finding time for us both to catch 
up on what we've been into.  Now..."  He slowly 
shook his head.

Paul abruptly halted in the middle of the room.  "Oh 
no."

Bruce looked at Paul.  "What's wrong?"

Paul slowly sat down on the bed next to Peter, 
feeling like an arctic wind was whistling through 
his soul.  "It's my fault.  My and Gene's.  We told 
Raven she couldn't attend the Meet and Greet, and 
then he had Gena keep Raven company.  If we'd let 
them attend they'd never been by themselves and 
E.V.I.L. never could have gotten near them."

"You wouldn't let them attend?"  Bruce asked.

Paul wadded the shirt up in his hands.  "We were 
afraid E.V.I.L. might have agents at the Meet and 
Greet.  We thought Raven would be safer in her hotel 
room."  The tears started.  Despite his resolve not 
to mourn until it was over, the tears started.  "We 
set Gena up to be killed and Raven to be captured by 
E.V.I.L."

Peter leaned on Paul, his arm dropping around the 
stricken singer's shoulders.  "What's with the sad 
face, Starchild?"

"I'm sorry, Peter," Paul said tearfully.  "It's our 
fault.  We thought we were protecting them and we 
screwed everything up."

Peter patted him on the back.  " 'S'okay.  Dokter 
take care of Raven."

"Doctor?"  Paul asked quickly.  "What doctor?"

Peter shot his arm out, barely missing hitting Bruce 
in the throat with a knife hand blow.  "Zeig heil!"  
He fell backward on the bed.

"Herr Dokter Herbert H. Herbert," Paul whispered as 
Bruce pulled Peter back up to a sitting position.  
He grabbed Peter and shook him.  "Does Herr Dokter 
Herbert H. Herbert have Raven?!"

Peter poked Paul in the chest.  "You're right.  You 
want to stop now or try for the million?  Gene 
bombed out early on.  What question was it he 
screwed up?"

"WHERE is she?"

Peter thought a moment, looking sober and serious.  
Then he giggled and shrugged.  "No freakin' clue, 
man.  You know, I haven't felt this good in years!"

"Shit," Paul muttered.

"No I feel great, I don't feel like shit," Peter 
corrected.

"Here."  Paul grabbed Peter's arm and tried to guide 
it into the shirtsleeve.  "Bruce, get his shoes on 
him."

"Hey, just cause I'm the Audiodog doesn't mean I 
have to fetch the shoes."

Peter gave a loud howl, laughed, and patted the 
kneeling Bruce on the head.  "Nice doggie.  I'll get 
you a biscuit."

Bruce looked up at Paul.  "Can I bite him?"

"He'd never notice."  Paul was satisfied to get the 
shirt on Peter and did not bother buttoning it.  
"Got the shoes on him?"

Bruce stood.  "Yeah."

"Okay, let's see if your little Truth Detector can 
drag something more out of him."  Paul got under one 
arm, Bruce under the other; and they carried Peter 
out of the room.

"Might be easier to let him walk," Bruce huffed.

"He can't even stand," Paul growled.

Eric Singer opened the door.  Inside were all the 
members of KISS, members of girltalk who had been 
cleared by Lorie, selected crew they knew they could 
trust, and two other people.

"Who the hell are you?"  Paul demanded as they set 
Peter down on a stool in the middle of the room.

Peter grabbed a nearby empty beer bottle and held it 
like a microphone as he sang,

		"Beth I hear you calling
		And we ain't gotta phone
		You're screaming like a banshee
		And I just wanta be left alone.
		I've got these crazy powers,
		I'm in the Twilight Zone,
		My Raven has been captured,
		Oh, Beth what can I do?"

Everyone turned to look at Peter as he continued.

		"Beth I hear you calling
		Or is it Buttercup collect?
		Herr Dokter's got my Raven
		And I'm a total wreck,
		And in a few more hours,
		I'll be EVIL's errand boy,
		I don't know what they gave her,
		But I want another hit."

Peter collapsed into giggles, Eric Singer having to 
keep him from falling off the stool.

"That's what we want to discuss," the one man said 
solemnly.  "My name is James West.  This is my 
partner Artemis Gordon.  We're Secret Service agents 
who have been operating undercover among your crew.  
We're here to help in whatever way we can."

"James West and Artemis Gordon?"  Paul asked 
suspiciously.

West sighed.  "Grandsons of the originals.  And as 
you can tell, the show was based off fact and the 
movie changed a bunch of things."

Gordon chuckled.  "Jim's mother was ready to kill 
people.  They kept kidding her about her 'other' 
son."

West shot his partner a nasty look.  "We know about 
E.V.I.L., we have had personal experience fighting 
Bez, and we're here to help in any way possible 
because E.V.I.L. is a threat to national security."

"Do you know where they might be holding Raven?"  
Paul asked.  He glanced at Gene but saw that the 
bassist was still too shaken to take an active part 
in the situation.  It was not just the abrupt 
severing of the link, but the loss of someone he had 
known for eighteen years.  Paul hoped Gene had not 
made the connection between the kidnapping/murder 
and their ordering the ladies away from the 
gathering, but with the way Gene was taking this 
Paul feared Gene knew and was blaming himself for 
everything.

West shook his head.  "But we have discretely put 
out feelers to see if we can find something.  Do you 
know what kind of place she's being held?"

"Herr Dokter Herbert H. Herbert has her," Paul said.

West and Gordon looked at each other.  "A 
laboratory."  Gordon quickly sat down at a laptop 
while West continued, "We might be able to spot them 
moving the equipment in for a laboratory."

"They'd have to have rebuilt it recently," SiLK 
reminded them.  "The lab he had when he kidnapped me 
was destroyed."

"Good," Gordon said.  "Do you know the address of 
the old laboratory?  They may have moved some stuff 
from there and it was noticed.  Herr Dokter tends to 
like to build his own stuff, so he'd try to salvage 
what he could.  When was this?"

"Shannon would know all that."  SiLK looked up.  
"Shannon!"

Shannon reluctantly left Gene's side and walked over 
to talk to them.  Luciana and Melissa moved in to 
keep an eye on Gene.

"Peter."  Bruce knelt before the drummer.  "We need 
more information.  Can you tell us anything more 
about where Raven is?"

"Mice," Peter said with a smile.

Bruce looked up.  "That's the second time he has 
mentioned mice."

*	*	*	*	*

Herr Dokter watched the line of mice do the Can-Can 
across the floor while the mainframe played a fast-
paced tune.  "Innn-teresting.  But very foolish."  
He swept the last bit of cut hair from the table.  
"Now, dear Fraulein.  Time for you to learn who is 
your master."

"Peter!"  she answered immediately.

"No no no," Herr Dokter said, shaking his head.  "I 
meant, time for you to learn whom you take orders 
from."

"Do you want fries with that?"  Raven asked with a 
smile.

*Yes, he is a clown isn't he?* the whisper observed.

Herr Dokter glanced down and cussed.  He yanked the 
wig off his head and clomped across the floor in the 
oversized shoes.  "I will be back."  As he stepped 
into his office for a change of clothes he fervently 
hoped the makeup was not permanent.