PROLOGUE

Her soul was twisted beyond recognition. Had she ever posessed one shred of human compassion, you would not have known it. There was only one, all consuming thought on Logan St. Claire’s mind; the slow and painfully excutiating death of Quinn Mallory. It would be ideal if it were the same Quinn Mallory that had gotten her stuck sliding forever, but any Quinn would do. With every atom of her body, with every strand of her essence, Logan hated Quinn... her double. She stood in the park and aimed the timer in front if her, activating the wormhole she’d come to loathe. The bright colors of the rip in time and space reflected deep within her soulless brown eyes, as they narrowed. And somewhere in the shriveled, balckened mass that had once been her heart, Logan once again vowed to find Quinn Mallory.... and destory him.

With that she leapt into the colors, the bright lights passing unnoticed around her as she focused on the point of light that approcoached. The next lonely world. Logan found herself deposited in a cold snow bank, a withering heep of skin and bone. It was freezing! She pulled herself out of the snow, the white flakes melting as they clung to her brown hair. Her teeth began to catter, but she didn’t notice. Off in the white distance she saw a shape, and began walking towards it. Her feet numbed in the constant cold when finally she reached it. It was a sign post, she realized. There was some type of civilization on this miserable world! The snow in front of the sign seemed more indented, and Logan reasoned it had to be a path. She followed the path, relieved when, in the distance, the snow laced form of a ranch house became visible. Near by, there was a shed. It would do for now, Logan thought, no use drawing attention to herself from the owners of the house. Slipping into the shed, she huddled in a pile of straw in the corner... and slept.

[ Mallory Ranch]

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CHAPTER ONE

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"Sure," Maggie said, pulling her coat tight around her body, "I still can’t believe San Francsico is so cold here!" Colin looked cold as well as he rubbed his nose.

"Yeah, man," Remmy agreed, "I fell like a popcile!" Wade laughed lightly as she came to stand beside Quinn.

"May I do the honors?" she asked.

"Of course," he handed her the timer just as it began to beep. Wade aimed it in the air and watched as the beautiful swirl of greens, blues and whites came to life before her eyes.

"Ladies first!" Quinn ushered Wade and Maggie forward. Maggie lept in, and Wade followed her. All around her she felt the beauty of the colors, the feeling of free fall as she headed towards the point of darkness at the other end. There was a loud sound.... then nothing but bone numbing, skull raking cold.

"It’s cold," Wade stated.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that,"Maggie said between chattering teeth.

"Tell me brother, how is it that was always land on the cold worlds?" Colin asked Quinn.

"I wouldn’t know," Quinn said bitterly, "But we’d better get out of this cold."

"You don’t have to tell me twice!" Wade exclaimed, half expecting her fingers to fall off. The five weary, interdimensional travelers head off towards the only thing they could see in the distance.

"Here," Quinn said as he came up beside Wade and put an arm around her shoulder. She allowed him to draw her in, and brushed the snow off his sleeve, in the process revealing the white bandage that encircled his wrist. She visibly flinched when she saw it, a painful reminder of how close she’d come to loosing him again, and of her deception. She looked up at Quinn to find him smiling at her.

"We’re close!" Maggie declared, breaking the moment. She and Quinn hurried to catch up with the others.

"It’s a sign," Remmy said, inspecting the structure.

"Mallory Ranch," Colin read aloud.

"One of your doubles?" Wade inquired of the Mallory brothers. Quinn and Colin looked at each other, then shrugged.

"Come on, this way," Quinn suggested. They trugged along for what seemed like hours, Wade growing more silent as each moment passed. Quinn slowly began to notice her skin was pale, and icicles were forming against her cheeks. He looked to the others, Maggie and Colin seemed fine, but Colin was also looking ill, "Don’t worry," he told Wade, "We’ll get you warm soon." She could only murmur her reply as her knees gave way. Quinn caught her, scooping up her light form and hurrying on towards the house in the distance.

Logan awoke to the sound of yelling, her cheeks burning from the cold wind that pentrated the shed through small cracks in the walls. Peering through the boards she spied her prey.

"At last," she breathed with a smile. She recognized both the voice and form of Quinn Mallory, the man she’d dedicated her existance to destroying. A shrill, evil laugh escaped her lips, and was swallowed by the cold.

The front door was unlocked, Remmy found out as he turned the ice-encrusted knob. With some effort, he and Colin managed to open it, and the five stumbled inside.

"Hello!?" Maggied called out. Nothing stirred, the house was dead...and cold. Though they were sheiled from the unyeilding wind, the sliders soon realized the house was freezing. Quinn laid Wade down on the couch, covering her with the quilt that lay over the back. There was quilts everywhere, hung over the back of every chair, folded on every table. Remmy shed his coat, shaking the snow and ice from it. Maggie, Colin and Quinn folowed the suit, Quinn removing Wade’s jacket and pilling on another quilt.

"Man, and I thought the last world was cold!" Remmy exclaimed, rubbing the icicle that had once been his nose.

"These quilts are nice," Colin commented as he wrapped one around himself, surling up in a wing chair.

"They are," Maggie conceeded as she too found a place to settle. Rembrandt offered each of them a piece of a left over granola bar. A comfortable silence fell, but was broken by a moan from Wade.

"Hey, you okay, sweetheart?" Remmy asked as Quinn checked her forehead.

"Cold.." Wade moaned.

"Yeah, we’re all cold," Maggie said from her chair. She hated the way Remmy and Quinn cattered to the other woman, like she was something they had to protect. No one had ever protected Captain Margaret Louise Beckett... not that she needed to be protected- not anymore.

"Thanks," Wade said as Quinn helped her sit up, offering her part of the garnola bar. Maggie turned away from the couple, turning her gaze to the panel of white that was the window.

Some time later, Wade’s color returned, and she decided to explore the rest of the house. Maggie and Colin were asleep, and Remmy was trying to start a fire in the fire place, since they all knew it would get colder with the coming night.

"How long do we have on this world, Q-ball?" Rembrandt asked as he struck the sticks together.

For the first time on that world, Quinn took the timer out of his pocket and checked the display. "Two days and change," he sighed with relief.

"That’s really good, my man, ‘cause my ass is freezing over here!" the Cry’n Man laughed.

"Mine too," Quinn agreed with a laugh. That laugh was cut short when a scream echoed down the stairway, emanating from the second story, "Wade?" Quinn stood up, looking towards the stairs with worry.

"QUINNNNN!!!!"

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CHAPTER TWO

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"QUINNNN!" Wade’s cry came from upstairs. Quinn clattered up the steps, his heart in his throat. He had no idea what was wrong, but from Wade’s yell she seemed pretty upset. He found her standing in the master bedroom, and, at first, her form blocked his view of what had frightened her so. Then she backed away, colliding with his form and letting out a frightened cry.

"Its okay," Quinn said as he turned her to face him, "Its me." Wade breathed a sigh of relief and hid her face in his chest.

Looking over her shoulder, Quinn saw something that shook his soul from its moorings. There on the bed lay his double, death a pale mask on his face. Curled up at his side, her hands clutching his shirt in a death grip, lay Wades double. She was lovely even in death, her eyes closed and her long curls spread about her and a baby lay in her arms. Quinn put a hand on Wades back, holding her to him, "Its all right," he soothed her, "Dont look."

"What do you think happened?" she asked.

"I dont know," he let her go, moving to inspect the bodies. All three had no pulses, They could have died of the cold, or it could have been a virus. He turned back at Wade, who was standing on the other side of the bed, her eyes transfixed on their doubles.

"I think we should check the rest of the house," she suggested. Quinn was about to say something when Colin poked his head in the room.

"Im sorry to interrupt, he said, but there’s a dead body...", then he noticed their dead doubles and paused, "Never mind."

They found four more bodies. There was young cook, who lay on the floor of the kitchen, her long black hair half undone from its fastening atop her head, and, most disturbing of all, the young twin boys who lay in their beds, as if asleep. It had been Wade who had discovered them. It appeared they had been the last to die, for in their final hours they had climbed into a single bed and piled it high with wooden toys and stuffed bears.

They died there. Then there had been the young girl. Some one, the boys presumably, had laid her neatly out on her bed of pink and lace, surrounding her with baby dolls and now half-dead flowers, laying at her feet a simple message written in childish handwriting; "We love you Lillian, RIP." Wade had stood in front of the little girl for the longest time, silent tears streaming down her face.

"I always loved the name Lillian," she told Quinn.

Now they bedded down for sleep, each emotionally exhausted, even Maggie, who had found the cook.

"Are you sure we cant move the bodies?" Remmy asked, seemingly disturbed at the thought of sharing his lodgings with the dead.

"Im afraid to touch them... it seems as though they may have had some type of virus," Quinn said. He could only hope that if it were air borne, the cold had somehow killed it. Rembrandt nodded, but didnt seem to comfortable. The other man curled up by the fire.

"Night, guys," Wade said from the couch. The others echoed their goodnights, then turned away, seeking rest.

-----

The moon shone lazily down on the snow, brilliant against the black sky. Slowly, the door of the little shed opened, and Logan St. Claire stepped out into the brilliance of the night.

"Lovely night for a kill," she muttered to herself. Followed by her shadow, Logan crept to the back of the house and entered through the kitchen, selecting a long butchers knife from the rack and slipping into the parlor. She was going to kill Quinns friends first. Let him suffer as he watched them die, one by one. The twisted shell of a woman struggled to keep her giggle with in her throat as she approached Quinns look-alike, "Enjoy your afterlife." she whispered softly. She did her work quickly and methodically, leaving as she had come, a quick and silent shape, dark against the moon.

------

"No!" Quinns cry roused Wade from sleep the next morning.

"Oh, my god!" Maggie exclaimed as she looked at the gore surrounding what had once been Colin.

"Dont look, sweetheart," Remmy said as he pulled Wade into a hug.

"What happened??" she asked, belwildered and shaken.

"We dont know, angel," the Cryn Man told her uncomfortably.

"How could this have happened?" Quinn asked in disbelief. Maggie rose from her crouching position on the floor and moved towards the kitchen.

"Hey guys, did anyone open the kitchen door last night?" she asked.

"No, not that I recall," Wade called back to her, flinching as she looked at the bloody mess surrounding Quinns brother. She laid a hand on Quinns shoulder, willing her strength to flow into him. He didnt need this, not after all that had happened.

"Why do you ask?" Remmy wanted to know.

"Because," Maggie said as she re-entered the parlor, "The kitchen door is open, and the knife drawer is too." The others all looked up at Captain Beckett.

"Then we're not alone," Quinn said as the horrifying truth hit him.

"Bingo."

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CHAPTER THREE

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"How should I know," Maggie snapped, "They didn’t exactly leave a calling card, did they, Wade?" Wade looked up to see a look of pure hatred in the other woman’s eyes.

"Hey, hey," Remmy said, "Take it easy, Maggie, we’re all on edge here." Maggie’s look dropped, as if she had let it fall to the floor and shatter. They spent a moment in silence, respecting Colin’s memory.

"Look," Quinn said at last, "Let’s all stay together until the next slide. Everything will be fine once we reach the next world."

(Oh, you don’t know how wrong you are!) Logan thought at Quinn from her hiding place in the hall closet. She’d crept in earlier to watch their fear... oh she revealed in it, her soul bathing in the terror that flowed from her prey. One of their numbers was dead.... and another would soon follow, Logan thought with satisfaction. For a moment, suspended in time, held above her head like a mighty hot iron, Logan thought of before.... she thought of her mother, strangely enough. Her mind took her briefly to the time she’d cut her finger on a pair of scissors and gotten blood on her hands. It had washed off so easily then, her mother had held her up to the sink and taken Logan’s hands in her own, dowsing both pairs in soap and water. In her mind’s eye, the woman saw the crystalline water washing the blood from her young hands.... then shook her head sharply, to dispel the image. Logan looked down at her hands suddenly, and in the dim light that trickled under the closet door, she thought she saw the stains of ruby red blood on her porcelain digits. Then it was gone, that flicker of conscience smothered by the black and terrible need for revenge. Logan St. Claire was back, and with a renewed need for the kill. The sooner she killed, the easier it would be to forget.

-------

The four remaining sliders camped out in the parlor for the remaining twelve hours until the slide, each jumpy and nervous, frightened of the lonely shadows that formed on the walls as dusk approached Eventually, Quinn checked the timer and proclaimed;

"Ten minutes ‘''til the slide," much to everyone’s relief.

"I’ll be right back," Wade said, rising from her pile of quilts on the couch.

"Where are you going?" Quinn asked, concerned.

"I just want to go upstairs real quick... I’ll be fine," she assured him. He nodded reluctantly and turned back to the fire. Wade stood still for a moment, then headed up the stairs, her boots making a resounding ‘thump!’ as they hit each step.

Like a silent shadow, Logan withdrew from her hiding place and slunk down the hall and into the kitchen, stepping over the body of the cook and headed for the back staircase. Her bare feet made no sound as they tread on the cold wood steps, and in her hand she carried the butcher’s knife, encrusted with the blood of her last kill. The white washed walls seemed to recoil from her presence as the enraged winter wind whispered; soon, soon, soon.

Oblivious to her hunter, Wade stood before Lillian’s bed in the dusty pink room. She looked around, noting the lonely doll house and abandoned rocking horse. Wade really didn’t know why she’d some up here, to the room of her late doubles’ daughter... but she’d just felt compelled to do so. Her hand reached out of it’s own accord to gently caress a brittle lock of Lillian’s brown hair. It took the woman a moment to find her voice, but at last she spoke, her voice a hushed whisper.

Logan stood just outside the door, ready to pounce, when she heard Wade’s confession.

(So, she thought, Quinn’s little woman is hiding something... I suppose it will just be up to me to tell him. I wonder what she did.)

"This is really big," Logan heard Wade say. There was a pause, in which Logan held her breath, willing her prey to continue, to spill her secret. At last Wade went on, "I lied to Quinn. I’m not really a double who lost her Quinn and Remmy on the last world. I’m his Wade, the Wade from his world. I’m not dead, like he thinks I am. I died... one of his doubles killed me. I was sent back here, to keep him safe, to protect him. I want to tell him so badly... but if I do, I die." Logan clamped her free hand over her mouth to cover the gasp that tried to escape her lips. (No way...) the would-be killer thought.

(Imagine the look on Quinn’s face when I tell him I killed the real Wade! ha! This is priceless!) With that Logan entered the room, holding the knife high, poised for the kill....

Wade turned from the corpse of the young girl, ready to down stairs and meet the others. Her heart felt light, she realized as she turned... and found herself staring into the face of a woman she thought she’d NEVER see again!

"LOGAN!" Wade screamed as she saw Quinn’s female double, knife held high above her, ready to rend flesh from flesh.

"Hello, Wade," Logan smiled sweetly, "Did you miss me?" She grabbed Wade’s arm, pulling the shocked woman into a strangle hold, "In case you’re wondering," she whispered in Wade’s ear, "I heard your dirty little secret. Now, you’re going to die!"

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CHAPTER FOUR

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Three minutes until the slide... where was Wade? Quinn thought worriedly as he glanced at the stairwell, expecting her to appear. Instead, he heard a muffled scream that sent every hair on the back of his neck standing on end. There was a killer loose in the house, for chris’sakes, WHY had he let Wade waunder off by herself? Remmy had also heard the scream, and was on his feet just about the same time as Quinn, both rushing upstairs. Quinn dashed to the threshold of Lillian’s room and found himself face to face with... himself!

"Miss me, Quinn?" Logan asked, her brown eyes glittering with unspeakable evil. She switched hands with the knife so she could pet Wade’s hair as she baited, "Poor Wadey... now she’s going to have to die all over again."

"Logan," Quinn spat the name, "Drop the knife."

"Who’s gonna make me?" she asked, then gripped Wade harder as Quinn took a menacing step forward.

"Uh-ah," Logan shook her short brown locks, "Don’t think so. One more step and I’ll just have to cut Wade’s pretty little neck." There was an almost audiable thump as Quinn’s heart nearly stopped. NOT AGAIN!!! He couldn’t lose her too, he could not be responsible for that... He glanced at Remmy out of the corner of his eye, and realized the other man was gone... that was good, that meant Remmy had a plan. He just needed to keep Logan distracted.

"Why kill Wade?" he asked suddenly, "Why don’t you just kill me?"

"Why do you think I killed that little friend of yours?" Logan asked. Quinn felt anger rise in him at the senseless murder of his brother, but he tried to keep himself calm. He had to save Wade. He tried not to let the relief show on his face when he saw Remmy inch behind Logan, preparing to stirke. "You know what?" Logan asked, oblivious, "I’m gonna..." Remmy’s leg went out, kicking Logan’s own out from underneath her. The bloody knife fell harmlessly from the woman’s hand, and Remmy helped Wade up.

"You okay sweetheart?" he asked as he kicked Logan again for good measure.

"Fine, fine," Wade said as she dusted herself off, wondering briefly why there seemed to be continuos threats on her life. Logan struggled to get up, but Quinn gave her a punch in the face, surprised at the sense of satisfaction the flowed from his aching fist.

"GUYS!! WE HAVE TO SLIDE!!" Maggie called from the first story. The three would-be victims fled the room, clattering down the stairs and diving right into the already open wormhole without looking back. The vortex closed with a burst of light, leaving the house to it’s dead... and it’s merciless.

------

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CHAPTER FIVE

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Drifting off to sleep, the young woman envisioned Quinn, his eyes filled with the truth, turning his back on her, angry at her deciet.

"How could you lie to me, Wade?" he asked, his voice filled with anger.

"I had to!" she protested, "Quinn, I didn’t *want* to! Honestly!"

"You *lied* to me, Wade," Quinn repeated.

"I’m sorry," Wade gasped as she disolved into tears. Quinn turned his back on her, and her eyes became filled only with deafening silence as night descended, leaving her alone. As he disappeared into the mists of her nightmare, Wade called out to him, declared her undying love to him, but he neither listened or turned around. And she was alone...

Wade Welles awoke only minutes after falling asleep, met with the sound of her own desperate screams.

-------

"Can I help you?" she asked. The newcomer nodded and came to the counter, leaning against it.

"I heard you sell.... unmentionables," she said in a low voice. Yvonne smiled pleasently, but wondered where this woman had gotten her information.

"We might- who’s asking?" Yvonne replied. The woman took a wad of bills out of her pocket and set them on the counter. The clerk’s eyebrows rose, for it was a great deal of money, "Follow me," she said, taking a small engery pistol from the counter drawer and shoving it in her pocket... just to be on the safe side.

She led her customer into the backroom, and then through a smaller door to the area where the weapons were kept. "What exactly are you looking for, Ms...?"

"St. Clare," the other woman supplied as she walked along the racks of illegal merchandise, her eyes wide as a child’s in a sweet shop, "I’ll know it when I see it." The woman walked past racks of the latest in distructive artillary, her eyes merely passing over the guns and small explosives. Finally, she stopped dead in her tracks, her hand reaching out to touch the item before she yanked it back. "What’s this?" she asked, breathless. Yvonne went over to see what she was talking about, a smile growing on her face when she saw the object. Two swords lay side by side on a cushion, the whole of their surfaces a metalic black that glittered red in places, seemingly with a life of their own.

"Organic tech blades. They’re litterally living swords," Yvonne explained, "And much better than regular blades. These move with you, they know what you’re thinking and anticipate how you want to move. They can cut through anything, glass, concrete... bone."

"Perfect," Ms. St. Clare murmured, "Absolutely perfect. How much?" Yvonne named a price, which even she herself would have said to be a little on the high side, but it didn’t even phase her customer. The other woman merely dug in her pocket and pulled out the extra amount. The clerk reached in the case and brought out the swords, which she seethed, and handed to her customer.

"Thanks," Yvonne said as the other woman turned away and exited the way they’d came. By the time Yvonne returned to the main room, she was gone.

"One down, three to go," she whispered to the rain, "And Ms. Beckett is next."

-------

"Ma’am! Ms. Beckett!" the hotel clerk called out to her as she passed. Maggie stopped and went back to the front desk.

"Yes?"

"Ma’am there’s a message here for you," the clerk said.

"You mean, for my party?" Maggie asked.

"No, for you, specifically." the clerk said. Maggie frowned, who on this world would know who she was and where she was staying?

"Alright, what’s the message?"

"She says she’s an old friend of Quinn’s, and that she wants to meet at the house on 2314 Courtland Drive, alone." Maggie raised her eyes brows and drummed her fingers on the desk. It had to be Logan, but what did she want with her? Well, she’d just tell the guys...

Wait a second! Maggie was disgusted with herself, she was starting to think like Wade. She didn’t need the guys, or that little powder-puff double of Wade’s, she could do this by herself! After all, she didn’t have twelve years of millitary experience for nothing, now, did she?

"Thanks," Maggie said, her mind made up. The clerk nodded and Maggie turned away, not even bothering to grab her coat as she headed out once more into the ever-present rain.

--------

"Logan!?" she called out, her head tilting up to look at the massive winding staircase.

"Logan, logan," the walls returned Maggie’s voice in an echo. From somewhere above, a shrill, insane laugh came in response.

"What a piece of work," Maggie muttered. She looked at the steps, and suddenly realized there were red and white things littering them. On closer inspection, she found they were bloody animal bones, "Gross." She began to climb the steep stairs, following the trail of animal bones until she reached the top.

There was only one door, which she pushed open to find herself in a large room. The ceiling had long since fallen in, and the rain made it’self comfortable, every surface drenched in water. "Logan?" Maggie ventured again. She moved just in time to miss the black blade that impaled itself harmlessly on the floor were she had been standing moments before.

Maggie rolled to the side and fond a seethed sword laying near by. She looked up at her attacker. Logan stood tall, dripping in the rain, her eyes wide and ready for the kill.

"Pick up the sword," the other woman ordered, "*Now*. I won’t give you another chance." Maggie unseethed her weapon and gripped it just in time to block Logan’s second blow. Maggie stared at the blade momentarily, it was black, and almost seemed to be moving. It was so dark it seemed to swallow up what little light there was and it made a sizzling sound as the rain dowsed it.

"You’re a real piece of work, you know that?" Maggie asked.

"You should talk, *Captain* Beckett," Logan sneered, "You should talk."

-------

"Yeah, who knows what Logan’s up to now," Remmy shivered. The two had spent all day doing research and trying to pick up Logan’s trail. Quinn fought down a wave of nausia as remembered the report of his double’s murder that very morning. No doubt it was Logan, mocking him. There were days Quinn wished he had never even been born, let alone been allowed to invent sliding, and this was definately one of them.

"I gotta check the ‘net and see if there were anymore killings that could be linked to Logan. Would you mind getting Wade and Maggie?" Quinn asked Remmy.

"No prob, Q-ball," the other man said, making a dash for the stairs. Quinn went to the public access computer console and called up recent news. That was the nice thing about this high-tech world, it made research incredibly easy. A sickening lunp rose in Quinn’s throat when he saw the list of recent killings. Two of the victims he’d never heard of, but the third and the fourth.... The last three names read:

"Hey, Quinn!" Wade called out as she came over, Remmy in tow. Quinn quickly shut off the computer, not wanting Wade to see her own name on a list of dead.

"Hey," he said.

"Did Maggie come through here?" Remmy asked.

"No, why?"

"She never came to the room, Quinn," Wade told him, her expression worried. He knew she had no special love for Maggie, but she didn’t want anything to happen to anyone.

"Maybe she left a message?" Quinn suggested. The others nodded. "Is there a mesage from Ms. Beckett?" Quinn asked the desk clerk, as they came up. The clerk looked at him, then checked the computer.

"No, sir," he replied.

"Have you seen her at all today?" Wade asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes," the clerk replied, "She came in here earlier. There was a message for her, which she took, and then she left again."

"Who was the message from?" Quinn asked, a little too harshly, for the clerk pulled back.

"We’re part of her party," Remmy tried to smooth the ruffled feathers, "We don’t know where she is and we’re kind of worried."

"The message was from some one claiming to be ‘a friend of Quinn’s’, she asked for Ms. Beckett to meet her at 2314 Courtland Drive," the clerk obviously noticed the look that passed between the three-some, "I’m sorry, that’s all I know," he added.

----

"Definately Logan," Quinn remarked. Remmy merely made a low whistle.

"MAGGIE!?" Wade called out.

"Maggie?" Quinn tried as well. No reply came, but there was a clanging noise coming from somehwere upstairs. Quinn looked at Wade, and began to climb the steps.

-----

"Die!" Logan screamed.

"Never, bitch," Maggie said through clenchted teeth. Thrust, block, parry, block. With each lock of their blades, both women seemed more determined to be the victorious. But, Logan had the advantage, she’d studied Maggie during her time on Cold World, and she could predict her. Logan made as if she were going to move to the defensive, and Maggie fell for it, her blade turning to bare down on her opponants. But she was wrong, and Logan moved her blade the opposite direction, and with one, quick, clean swipe, she ment to bring the battle to an end.

Everything seemed suspended, and though the events were moving through mollases. Maggie realized Logan had tricked her, and moved to block the next blow. Logan’s blade moved down, it’s darkness sizzling in the rain. With sudden, surreal clarity, the blade met with Maggie’s right arm, just above the elbow, and rendered flesh from flesh. Maggie watched the appendage fall, not even realizing the scream that came in the distance was her own. Her arm lay on the floor now, severed from her body. Briefly Maggie realized that her friends had come, that Logan had activated her vortex and slid away, that Remmy was holding her. Quinn was shouting and Wade was crying, but Maggie barely noticed. Darkness came.

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CHAPTER SIX

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"Hey, Qball," he said at last, glancing at his watch and blinked rapidly, "How much longer ‘til the slide?" Quinn checked the timer and looked worried.

"Half an hour," he said, "We may have to go in there and get Maggie." Rembandt nodded solemly. Wade stirred and gave a little cry, jerking up and looking around.

"Hey, you okay?" Quinn asked. She looked at him for a moment and nodded mutely. Time trickled by, seconds seemed like hours, minutes seemed like entire eternities. At last, one of the night nurses came out, looking unbarably perky for the hour.

"Mr. Hall?" she asked of Quinn. The young man stood, shoving the timer in his pocket.

"How is she?" he asked.

"I’m sorry to say, sir, but we couldn’t save the arm," the nurse said regretfully, "Ms. Beckett will be fine though, but the doctors want to keep her for a few more days and offer her the option of a prostetic replacement." Quinn looked at Remmy and Wade, his eyes telling them they had to go.

"Don’t bother," Wade said as she and Remmy hurried in after Quinn.

------

"Maggie, it’s us," Remmy said, brushing some hair away from her face, "You up for travel’n, girl?" Much to Wade’s surprised, Maggie looked like she was ready to cry, her brown eyes glistening in the bright hospital lights.

"Just let me die..." Maggie moaned pitifully.

"Come on, Maggie," Remmy said as he helped her up from the hospital bed. Her right arm was nothing more than a stub, but it looked better than it had at first. Wade grimaced, she and Maggie had their differences before, but she wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

"How much longer, Quinn?" Wade asked as grabbed Maggie’s clothes from the table and handed them to the other woman. Remmy started her in the direction of the bathroom, but Wade noticed how terribly unbalanced Maggie looked.

"About... five minutes," Quinn said, "Hurry up, Maggie." Maggie hurried out of the bathroom just as Quinn activated the vortex.

"Come on, girl," Remmy said, taking Maggie’s hand.

"You should leave me here!" she told him. But Rembrandt just pulled her into the vortex.

"Shall we?" Quinn said, offering Wade his arm.

"We shall," Wade looped her arm through his and they jumped through the vortex.

-----

The moist air of the jungle carried the perfume of foreign flowers, which greeted the dawn in a perfusion of exotic scents. The call of strange birds added the mysterious aura of the rain forest, and Wade blinked when she saw the red form of the ringed planet that hung in the sky. Quinn moaned, and Wade turned to help him, checking for damage. She glanced around, looking for her companions. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Quinn," she asked, "Where’s Remmy and Maggie?"