When they arrived in L.A., it was about 7:00. They stopped at U.C.L.A. but found out that Kelsing wasn't in, that she had in fact left at 5:00. Dragon left instructions not to tell her of his visit and got her home address. After dropping off Kim, Mary, and the Teacher at Homestead, Dragon and Dave went to Kelsing's home in downtown Los Angeles.
Downtown Los Angeles is not a safe place to be at night. There are gangs and lunatics and who knows what else on the street. But when you're Golden Dragon, you don't much care. Dragon was walking down the middle of the street, wondering why a successful mutant biologist would live in this kind of neighborhood, when he found the address.
"This is it," he said to Dave, who was standing beside him with his gun ready.
The building was in good condition, especially compared to the run-down apartments surrounding it. It stood about four stories tall and had a sign saying "Kelsing Mutant Clinic" on the top. The doors were reinforced steel, and there was an electric eye mounted above them.
"Brave woman, with all the anti-mutant sentiments going around," Dragon said.
He walked up and knocked on the door and the electric eye turned on them. A buzzing voice asked, "What do you want?"
"I need to see Dr. Kelsing immediately."
"Go away." The voice trembled a little, which Dragon picked up on even though it was electronically distorted.
"Okay," Dragon said, backing off. He grabbed Dave and started walking. Dave was protesting, but he shut up when Dragon put a finger to his lips and whispered, "She's being held hostage. I know it."
"Let's bust her out, then!" Dave said.
"No. We have a lot more assets in easy reach. We might as well use them, especially in a hostage situation." Dragon tapped his comm twice quickly and voice modified the radio frequency for cellular phone. He spoke a telephone number and was quickly connected with Homestead.
"James, this is Dragon. I have a good lead, but I need some help with a possible hostage situation. Who's there?"
"Me, Elaine, Jenny, and Centurion. Of course, Centurion's not up for a fight, and I'm not sure of Jenny's motivation any more."
"Skip it. Can you and Elaine come out here?"
"Give me a little more information, Dragon, so I know what to bring."
Dragon took a deep breath and said, "Okay, here's what I know." He took a second and then said, "Okay, here's what I think. It's a strong hunch that Kelsing, a mutant biologist, is helping VIPER because they're holding her family hostage. Now she won't let me in and she sounds scared. I think they're holding her in her clinic, but I need help so we can get in quietly and not have any hostages killed."
"Got it. Send the Vagabond for us."
Dave was already on his way to the plane. It lifted off and Dragon quietly gave thanks when Dave activated the cloak and didn't leave with a sonic boom. Dragon sat down inside a doorway across from the clinic and watched.
A few minutes later, Dragon felt wind kick up as Dave landed the invisible plane and James and Elaine disembarked. Elaine was dressed in a hooded black robe, and James was wearing his battle armor. He also had a sophisticated looking radar dish and communications hook-up.
James set up the dish in an alley and they all gathered around the video screen on the attached console. He turned it on and they were treated to a view of an empty lobby.
"It uses a variety of different energies to extrapolate a picture from the inside," James explained.
"See what else is there," Dragon nudged.
James swung the dish around, looking at the whole building. The first three floors were empty, all the beds made and all the instruments in their proper places. For a hospital, that seemed rather odd.
On the fourth floor, in one room, there was an eight foot tall man , made up of brownish bricks. Next to him in the room were five VIPER agents. One of them wore an exoskeleton, two others had Brickbuster cannons, and the other two had weapons Dragon couldn't identify. He looked down at Defender, who said, "The super's name is Citadel. You've heard of him?"
Dragon nodded. He watched as Defender turned the dish on the rest of the fourth floor. In an adjoining room, guarded by two VIPER agents with sinister looking rifles, were several people. It seemed likely that they were Kelsing and her family and Walker's family. They were buffered by one room on either side, so that they couldn't just enter through a wall.
"They're smart," Defender said, "odds are good if we go in somebody will get killed."
"Solitaire, you can ego blast one of the guards, right? Can you take him out with one shot?"
"It's a great risk, Dragon, and not one I care to take. Besides, the other one could kill a hostage."
Dragon was contemplating a plan when the Vagabond became visible, floating over the fourth floor. Dragon and Defender cursed as Solitaire focused her ego blast on one of the guards.
Dragon had time to yell, "Dave, what the hell are you doing?" as he flew up with Defender to the fourth floor. They crashed through a metal window guard and into an empty bedroom.
Defender pointed and Dragon kicked in the wooden door in front of him, diving in front of the families just as the agent released a blast at them. Dragon caught it full in the chest and resisted the punch so that he wouldn't fly back into the families. It stung a little, and he realized this was the same weapon that had been used on him before.
Defender was in the room, and he sprayed the agent with a sticky gray goo from his pistol. The agent was enveloped in it, and the more he struggled, the more entangled he got.
The other door burst open and Citadel was standing there. He roared as two of the VIPER agents with Brickbusters kneeled beside him and aimed at Dragon. Dragon couldn't dodge, fearing for the families behind him, and he prepared to take the hit.
Everyone was surprised when the blast hit an invisible wall just beyond where they fired. It went down, but the blasts had lost a considerable amount of power, and Dragon hardly felt them when they struck. Dragon said, "Thanks, Solitaire" and stood up.
Defender grabbed Kelsing and her husband and flew into the next room and out of the building with them. Citadel advanced, slowly, Dragon, smiling a stupid grin.
Dragon hauled back and swung, but was surprised when Citadel blocked his punch. Then he said, "I just play dumb, Dragon, but you are dumb."
He reached behind Dragon's back and pulled the katana out of its sheath. Dragon grabbed for it, but he couldn't get it before Citadel pulled out of reach.
The other VIPER agents were taking up position, all aiming at Dragon now. He knew that Solitaire's telekinesis wouldn't stop enough of the attacks this time. He grinned as Citadel swung the katana at him.
Dragon caught the katana between his hands and yanked on the blade, bringing Citadel in close to him. The blades cut into his hands, but Citadel got the brunt of the energy blasts in his back. He groaned and passed out.
The agents cocked their rifles and were readying for another shot as Defender flew back in and grabbed the children and Walker's wife. With the hostages gone, Dragon was free to cut loose. He reached the VIPER agents before they were ready and took out two of them with a full strength punch.
The other two, armed only with standard rifles, dropped back and fired at the ceiling, collapsing it in front of them and blocking Dragon's view. He laughed it off and punched through the debris.
When he got to the other side, he was struck in the chest by a metal clad fist. He went flying back and hit the concrete wall of the other room, sending cracks all along the top. The agent in the exoskeleton stepped through the rubble and advanced on Dragon.
When he got up, the two agents fired again, hitting him in the legs. It didn't do much damage, but it distracted him enough for the exoskeleton agent to get close. He swung again, but Dragon dropped the katana and blocked. He then punched the man in the ribs with his full strength. The agent went flying back into the other room and landed unconscious on the floor.
Dragon quickly mopped up the other two agents and went down to the ground, where Defender and Solitaire were guarding the families. Dragon looked at Kelsing.
"What's going on?"
Kelsing looked up, in shock, and said, "They wanted me to help build artificial telepathy. I told them I couldn't do it without a test subject, and they said no problem. Then, yesterday, they brought this other woman and child in and told us they were being held against my good behavior too. I had no choice. I gave them all my research."
"What do they have?" Defender asked.
"Nothing much. My research hadn't advanced very far." Kelsing's lips trembled, and she seemed about to cry. "I examined a mutant, but he didn't have telepathy, so he couldn't help me. I didn't tell them that. I was afraid they'd kill him."
"He's safe," Dragon said, assuming she was talking about Torment.
Dragon gathered everyone together and flew them up to the Vagabond. Once they were all on board and headed for Homestead, Dragon went up to cockpit.
"What the hell were you doing, uncloaking the plane?" Dragon bellowed. "You could have killed the hostages!"
"Watch your temper, big guy," Dave warned.
Dragon cooled down. Dave was right in this case. Letting loose Black Dragon's psyche would only make things worse, and though he hadn't had any attacks since Back World, he was better safe than sorry.
"Sorry, Dave. But this is a big deal."
"I don't know, Dragon. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I thought I'd scare them by showing them the plane."
Dragon looked extremely frustrated, but Elaine said, "Dave? When did you get that idea?"
"I don't know, I heard you guys say you weren't going in, and I decided to uncloak the plane."
Defender and Elaine exchanged looks. "That doesn't seem odd to you, Dave?" Defender asked.
Dave shrugged and shook his head. Even Dragon looked at him curiously.
"And Dragon," Defender said, "how did you ever think to come here?"
"It was a hunch, based on some evidence that Argent showed me."
"Was it a real leap in logic?" Defender countered.
"I don't know, I hadn't really thought about it," Dragon responded.
Elaine began casting a spell and a glow appeared around Dragon and Dave. She nodded to Defender.
"You've been mind-controlled," Elaine said.
"What? Hey, I was a detective, I do have hunches. And this wouldn't be the first stupid thing that Dave's ever done," Dragon said.
"Yeah!" Dave added firmly, then, "Hey! I resent that!"
"That was a spell I cast to see if you had been influenced," Elaine insisted, "and you both have."
Elaine cast another spell and the glow flickered and faded out. Dragon shook his head and asked, "What was that one?"
"That enhanced your natural defenses. Now do you feel the control?"
Dragon nodded slowly. "I've been manipulated. And we all know who did it."
"I don't," Dave said cheerfully.
Dragon looked at him and said, "PSI."
