Donna stayed where she was and kept murmuring prayers to every deity in every religion she'd ever heard of.

Dejah looked back at her. "Don't worry hon," she said soothingly. "If things get too rough, Raven will take you to the estate."

"I think it is they who will take you," the man replied, before speaking into his radio. "Get the Warriors down here *now*...we've got real trouble down here!"

Dejah looked at Kenyon, his jaw was set in stone and his eyes were cloudy. "You ready for this partner?" she asked.

Kenyon only nodded.

Dejah turned back to the men. "It might be a good idea for you to get out of the way or you might get hurt."

It was then that a set of teenagers appeared at the opposite end of the hall. Kenyon recognized one, he stopped breathing for a split second. Connor. Neither agent lowered their weapons as the so called Warriors marched towards them.

The dark haired boy grinned coldly. Beside him on either side stood two girls, one blonde, the other with red hair. All three were wearing identical red shirts and black pants.

Dejah appraised them, by first glance, then through her mental magic. It would take hours to undo the damage on each of them. "We have to get them out of here," she said. "I can't do it split second."

"Right," Kenyon said. He mumbled under his breath. "Connor, please don't do this..."

"You kids want to go for a ride?" Dejah asked with a sweet smile, never letting her gun or her guard down.

The boy took a step back. "She knows magic," he growled. He held up both hands and leveled his fingertips at Dejah. Her eyes widened, she was paralyzed. It was long enough for the boy to take down her ward and put up a small square of his own. Dejah was released, but the wards were too complicated to take down right away. She started working on them.

Kenyon looked down, his shoes were soaked in water which was rising very rapidly.

Donna could manage to keep the boy's magic from affecting her personally, but how to help Dejah?

The elder mage looked down. "Shit," she muttered. "Raven, get her out of here,"

The ghost appeared beside Donna and an open silver road. "I'll get Gregory," Raven said to Dejah.

"Might be a good idea," Dejah responded. "Just make sure the kid gets to the estate and isn't left alone there."

"I'm all right, I can keep magic from hurting *me*--Capri taught me that--but I have to help you!" Donna cried. She raised her hands and threw a burst of magic at the dark haired boy. The boy smirked and waved his hand, the burst vanished.

"Since when did he get that good?" Kenyon asked in disbelief. He turned to Donna. "Don't hurt, whatever you do, please don't hurt him."

Dejah looked back at Donna. "Give me your hand, I can use your energy to help me bring these down faster."

The water had reached their knees. Raven looked at Dejah and disappeared.

Donna took Dejah's hand and glanced to Kenyon. "I don't want to hurt him, but he's not going to hurt you two either if I can help it."

"Don't you worry about him, honey," Dejah said. "I've dealt with much worse." She took Donna's hand and proceeded to take down the wards.

Kenyon put his hands up and felt the invisible wall. It gave a bit, but... it still held the water and the water which was now up to their waists. It seemed as if Connor knew Dejah was almost through the wall, the water started to pick up pace and soon it was at Kenyon's waist. He kept he gun held up and pushed against the wall. He guessed that with enough physical force, he might be able to break through it, but he didn't have the time. He aimed, closed his eyes, murmured a silent prayer that concluded with. "Connor forgive me." Then opened his eyes and pulled the trigger.

The boy fell to the ground with a gargled scream. He clutched his shoulder while blood oozed between his fingers. The wards came down, water splashed to the floor and covered the hall.

The two girls looked at the fallen boy, then at each other, then at the intruders. Both raised their hands and blasts of heat and electricity leapt forth almost simultaneously. "You'll pay for that!" the red haired one cried.

After throwing a burst of electricity, the blonde girl rushed to the boy's side. "Enigma..?" she asked, kneeling beside him. She kept one hand raised, and one eye on the intruders, daring them to try and get closer. She'd zap them again if they did.

The bursts failed in mid flight. There was a loud ringing in the girls' ears, so loud, they clamped their hands down on their heads and wilted with loud moans.

"That's ENOUGH!" came a loud male voice.

Dejah shook her head. "Gregory, my hero." She approached the trio on the floor, stopping only to look back at Kenyon, whose shoulders were shaking, but his face was unreadable.

The redhead had her head on the floor. "Make it stop!" she screeched.

Dejah knelt down beside her. "Raven," she said wearily. "Just take us home."

A tall black man dressed in a designer suit appeared beside the blonde girl and boy. Kenyon reluctantly came over to the group followed by Donna and they disappeared.

* * * * *

"What do you want to do first?" Gregory asked. The girls were still screaming, covering their ears.

"Ward them up so you don't have to keep them in pain," Dejah said. "Then give me all you've got, this is going to take awhile."

Gregory set up a complex system of wards and placed the girls inside. He then released the siren in their heads and called Marikus to watch them. If anyone knew wards, it was Marikus.

Dejah was already beside the bed Gregory had placed Connor on. The wound was bandaged up, but Gregory was reluctant to heal it until Connor's mind had been set straight. They could not deprogram him if he was going to fight them. Now, all he did was glare at them, biting back the pain. Gregory put his hand on her shoulder and her right hand glowed. She pressed it against Connor's forehead.

The figures of Dejah, Gregory and Connor began to glow so brightly, everyone in the room was blinded. It took a total of two hours and finally the magic gave out. Dejah collapsed into Gregory who helped her into a chair. He was not as winded as she was, being that he was only helping her stay focused enough to finish the job. He looked down at the boy. Connor's eyes were closed tightly, his face and hair wet with perspiration. Gregory reached out and touched the red spot on the boy's shoulder, closing the wound. It would ache and the scar tissue would remain, Gregory's hope was that Dejah had been able to finish deprogramming him.

Donna came over to Dejah. "Are you all right?" she asked, worriedly. "And what about...him?" She waved a hand towards where Connor lay.

Dejah opened her eyes and smiled. "I'm fine," she said. "It's going to be a long night, I can already tell. He's okay now... Or he should be. It's all part and parcel of being a magic user. I undid what the Dawn did. I hope."

Donna nodded. "I tried to follow what you were doing, but got lost," she murmured apologetically. "Maybe if I could see I could help?"

Dejah smiled. "What I did took a tremendous amount of magic," she said. "It's a higher level power, and it takes years to learn. Of course... when it's in the blood..." She inclined her head to Connor. "It hits like puberty."

Donna nodded. "That's how it happened with me. Just after I turned thirteen, was when I started...seeing into people. The searching came a little later." She glanced from Connor to the girls. "It's just...I never thought anyone could forget who they were so completely."

Dejah sat up and looked at Connor. "What happened to them involved drugs and technology - the likes I've never seen before. There was no magic used and they didn't remember who they were. Seeing as I didn't know all their past memories, I couldn't just stick them back in, I had to dig into his subconscious, get his memories out and bring them to the front of his mind. It wasn't easy and it drags the energy out of you."

"I could tell that much, that it wasn't easy, I mean. And you do look tired." Donna replied.

Dejah shrugged. "It only gets worse, but it's all part of wanting to be on the good guy's side."

While Dejah and Gregory had been working on Connor, Kenyon had entered the room, though Donna hadn't noticed this until now, when Kenyon came over to talk to Connor, as Donna and Dejah continued their conversation. After a few minutes, though, Connor dozed off and Kenyon came over to join the women.

"I'll have to tell NT he's back, she'll be glad to hear that." Donna said softly, so as not to wake the boy up. "What about them? Do you think Dejah can get them back too?" she indicated the girls.

Kenyon turned and looked at the girls, with pity more than anything. "I hope so," he said. Then he turned to Dejah. "Find out their names if you can, I'm sure you're gonna need a couple days off to recuperate, you're not planning on doing that tonight, are you?"

"All night if I have to," Dejah sighed.

Kenyon shook his head. "Like I said, get the names, give them to me, I'll run them through and see where they came from before the Dawn got to them."

Dejah only nodded.

Donna looked over at the two captured Dawn girls. She could feel their fear of what would happen to them, either at Dejah's and Gregory's hands or at the hands of the Dawn. She watched as the two girls whispered to each other, it was clear they weren't sure what to do--but she could also feel they were concerned about Connor, though they referred to him as 'Enigma'. It was that concern which had so far kept them from trying to escape back to the Dawn. Donna hoped it would hold them until Dejah could help them, as she had Connor.

Dejah took a deep breath, then she stood up. "Alright," she said curtly, seeming to have gained a second wind. "Who's next?" She approached the girls, cowering in the corner.

"How are we going to hold them?" Gregory asked. "You need physical contact."

Dejah shrugged. "Marikus' turn to feed me, you hold her down."

Gregory nodded and started for the girls.

Both girls glared at him, trying to push aside the fear they still felt.

"Please...don't make us fight you." Electra pleaded.

"If we don't, the Dawn will punish us." Heatwave added, a similar note of pleading in her voice. Neither one wanted to face the sirens again, but thinking about what the Dawn would do to them was even worse.

Dejah grunted. "The Dawn ain't gonna do jack," she said matter of factly. "And neither are you. We can do this the hard way or the easy way, I'll give you a couple minutes to decide."

The two girls looked at each other, then back to Dejah, but it was the red haired one who spoke first. "What're you going to do?" she whispered. Both she and the blonde were noticeably paler, the expressions on both faces were "it's over, time to die."

Dejah smiled her award winning, trademark, "Everything is just peachy keen" smile. "We're going to help you," was all she said to them. She then turned to Donna. "Okay, sweet, ready for your first real lesson? Remember back there where I took a little bit of your magic energy? I need it again, only more so this time and more intense. You won't be nearly as worn out but working real magic is going to be difficult for a couple days. You up for it? You'll get to actually see what I do when I work."

Donna nodded. "I said I'd help."

Dejah smiled again and turned back to the girls. She held out her hand to Electra. "Come here sweetheart. Now, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise, but if you try to fight me, I will have that guy - " She inclined her head in Gregory's direction. "Hold you down. I'm a good girl in general, but not someone to piss off, okay? Don't worry honey, believe it or not, I'm on your side and I'm going to make sure the Dawn doesn't do anything to you."

Electra shot a despairing look at Heatwave, then turned to Dejah. "You are the enemies of the Dawn. We are their creations. How can *you* help *us*? And what did you do to Enigma? Please...I don't understand this at all." Her fright and confusion was clear in her face and voice. But she did hold out a hand.

Dejah took it and squeezed it. "It's all very confusing I know," she said smoothly. "This is no picnic for me either. Yes, I am an enemy of the Dawn, this much is true, but you are not their creation." She stopped and thought while Gregory pulled out a chair. "Inasmuch as they didn't make you. You all had a life before the Dawn and the Dawn took that life away." She helped Electra sit down in the chair. Then she went around to the front of the chair and put her hands gently on the girl's shaking knees. She nodded at the boy sleeping in the bed. "That boy's name is Connor," she said. "Not Enigma. And that man standing there." She pointed at Kenyon. "Is his older brother. The Dawn stole him from us like the Dawn stole you from your family. I want to help you get the life you had back before the Dawn even though the Dawn made sure you wouldn't remember it."

Electra shook her head. "No. The Dawn made us."

Dejah shrugged. "Did the Dawn make him too?" She pointed at Connor.

Heatwave nodded. "That's why we're the way we are. Why we can do things other people can't."

Kenyon stepped in defensively. "No, he can the things he can because he was born that way. My mom can do those things too. He's my little brother, no chemical reaction gone wrong."

Donna could sense Electra's fright and confusion growing as Kenyon talked on. The Dawn had done a major number on her, and Heatwave too, just as they had on Connor, and who only knew how many others. She tried her best to project reassurance to the girls, while still remaining quiet, letting Kenyon and Dejah do the actual talking.

"The Dawn lied to you," Kenyon said flatly.

Electra looked at Heatwave, who returned the look. "There's nothing before the Dawn. Not for me--not for her--not for any of us. Because...because there *wasn't* anything...anything but dreams...!" She sounded like she was trying not to start crying.

Connor picked that moment to wake up, and the next few minutes were spent with Connor and Electra talking, with Kenyon doing his best to get through to Electra as well.

Connor, supported by Kenyon, eventually convinced first Electra, then Heatwave, to let him and Dejah try to restore their memories. When they'd done so, Connor was exhausted and both girls were crying, the strain of having years of repressed memories brought back all at once had been hard on them.

Donna moved closer to Dejah. "I...I know you said it'd take a long time to learn...but do you think I could?" she whispered. "Who knows how many other kids the Dawn's screwed with like this."

Dejah shrugged. "Years, if you are lucky to be born with magic but choosing your own path. I don't know though. I studied it, I had to learn it, with you it could be different, you might have been born with the ability to do that like Connor was. We won't know until we try, will we?"

Donna nodded. "I just want to help, any way I can. There's still Connor's brother, right? And there were other kids on that tape I saw.

Dejah and Donna's conversation continued a while longer, then they both headed for bed, planning to continue the search for the Dawn in the morning.