Endgame

Ryan and Sandy’s apartment

	“Senshi Saggitarius saved the day once again this morning 
when he heroically rescued a bus load of high school students 
from one of Stardust’s evil Bots.”  The news anchor went into 
further detail about Ryan’s exploits that morning, but Ryan 
stopped paying attention.  He had, after all, lived it.
	You did better than usual this morning,” Sandy said, kissing 
the arm Ryan’s had across her chest.  He was reclined on the 
couch and she was reclined on him, her head on his chest, as they 
had been doing every night for the past three weeks.
	“Maybe that Bot was one of your weaker ones,” Ryan said, both 
to downplay his victory and to help her feel less at fault for 
losing.
	“No weaker than usual,” Sandy answered.  “Your skills have 
improved greatly since I arrived.  Every week, I have sent a 
stronger Bot against you, and every week you have risen to the 
challenge.  I am going to have to find something truly terrible 
in order to defeat you.”
	“Do you still want to beat me and make me your servant?”
	“Of course,” Sandy replied.  “I look forward to taking over 
this planet and having you rule by my side.”
	“I will already do whatever you want, Sandy.  I love you.”
	“Then lose next week,” Sandy said.
	“Ok,” Ryan said simply.
	“Just like that?”
	“Just like that,” he stated.  “If you really love me, you 
will not do anything negative to my home.”
	“I will make it a threat only to you,” Sandy said.  “That 
way, no one will be in any danger when you lose.”
	“I know,” Ryan said, having an idea.  “Issue a formal 
challenge over the news.  Say that there will be a battle next 
week, and if I win, you will leave the planet.  If you win, I 
will be your slave.”
	“I will go right now,” Sandy said, standing.  In a split 
second, Stardust stood before him, and in the next, she vanished.
	“Oh my,” the news anchor exclaimed as Stardust appeared 
before him in the news room.  “What do you want?” he asked with 
fear in his trembling voice.
	“Relax,” she told him.  “If I wanted to strike here, I would 
have sent a Bot.  What I want is to offer a challenge to Senshi 
Saggitarius.
	“Next Friday, a week from today, I will send my strongest Bot 
to Bellum Park.  If you do not show up, I will give it the order 
to start destroying the city.  If you do show up, the Bot will 
have orders to face you in a one on one fight.  If you win, I 
will leave the planet and never return, but if you lose...” she 
paused, thinking of something.  “I was about to say that if you 
lose, you will become my slave, but I have a better idea.”
	Ryan was intrigued.  What did she have on her mind?
	“If you, Senshi Saggitarius, lose in a fair, one on one 
battle with my Bot next Friday at Bellum Park, you will become my 
husband.”
	Ryan almost fainted on the spot.  Husband?  They had only 
realized their feelings for one another three weeks ago, and now 
she wanted to marry him?  Yet...something about this felt, 
somehow, right.  The prospect was definitely more appealing to 
him than servitude, and it was better than he would have received 
as a prince.  His father would have arranged his marriage to 
improve the bloodline, regardless of Ryan’s own feelings.  This 
way, he would be able to marry someone he truly loved.  The more 
he thought about it, the more excited he felt about it.  Yes, he 
thought, he would do it.
	“You can’t do that,” the news man protested.
	“Shut up,” Stardust said.  “I am the bad guy.  I can make up 
my own rules.  Besides, making him my slave would be worse for 
you.”  She then opened a portal.  An identical one appeared in 
the apartment, near Ryan, and she stepped from the news room to 
the living room.
	“There you have it,” the anchor said.  “Stardust has made a 
formal challenge to our kingdom’s hero with some rather unusual 
terms.  Will Senshi Saggitarius accept the challenge, or will he 
eliminate the Bot and save the day once more.  We will come back 
to you with more on the story as it arrives.  True to our slogan, 
Channel One is the first to bring you the top stories.  Now for 
the weather.”
	“What a boob,” Stardust said, staring at the TV.
	“I agree,” Ryan said, staring about half a foot beneath her 
chin.  “I do not know why we watch that channel.  At least you 
were good.”
	“So you liked my modification to our agreement?”
	“I would have preferred if you had talked to me about it 
first,” Ryan said, “but the idea is promising, albeit sudden.”
	“I agree that it came to me on the spot,” she conceded, “but 
I couldn’t find any reason why we shouldn’t get married.  We are 
in love, the sex is great, and we have proven that we can live 
together without too much conflict.  I only have one question.”
	“What?”
	“Are you prepared to dump the other people you are seeing?”
	“I am dating someone else?” Ryan asked.
	“Kelli and Ayre,” she said, smirking.
	“Oh no,” Ryan gasped, “I forgot to call Kelli after the 
wedding.  I guess I probably do not have to worry about breaking 
up with her now.”
	“And Ayre?”
	“You are really going to make me give him up?” Ryan joked.
	“I am afraid so, Firefly,” Stardust answered, using the pet 
name she had taken to calling him after he accidentally 
overloaded the blender and set it on fire, sending flaming 
nectarine bits flying through the kitchen.
	“Fine, no more Ayre for me,” Ryan sighed.  “You know he is 
going to take it hard.”
	“From what I hear, he already did,” Stardust said with a wry 
grin.  Ryan didn’t understand for a moment, then he got it and 
started laughing, joined immediately by Stardust.
	When their laughter died down, Stardust’s expression became 
worried.  “What are we going to tell our friends?”
	“Among my friends,” Ryan said, “only one knows Sandy exists, 
and that is Scott.  By now, I do not think anything I told him 
about me would be a surprise.”
	“Good,” Stardust said.  “As for my friends, Ayre never 
believed we were truly brother and sister.  Raoul, on the other 
hand, will be harder to deal with.  I do not know how we can tell 
him that we are not siblings and that we will be getting married 
without telling him who we are.”
	“Why don’t we just wait to do that,” Ryan said.
	The phone rang, breaking into their conversation.  “Ryan, it 
is for you,” Sandy said, handing the phone to him.  “Some girl 
who calls herself Spider.”  Sandy put the phone back on the hook 
and turned on the speaker phone so she could listen in.
	“Hey Spider,” Ryan said, “what’s up?”
	“I take it you haven’t seen the news,” Spider said.  “That 
Stardust thing just challenged you to a duel.  You have to make a 
public refusal to her as soon as possible.”
	“I saw the challenge, but I am afraid I cannot abide your 
wish to refuse.  I have already agreed to it, in fact; Stardust’s 
appearance on the news was purely to bring attention and 
witnesses to the bargain.”
	“I’m sorry Ryan, but you’re not going to go through with 
this.  It is not only stupid, but you’re endangering the kingdom.  
How can we possibly stand up to Stardust without you?”
	“Do you know who you’re ordering around?”
	“Yes: a foolhardy prince without the sense of a toddler.  
Forget about your pride and honor for a minute and think about 
your people.”
	“Spider,” Ryan began in an aggravated tone, but instead of 
berating her, he merely sighed.  “There are things about this 
whole thing that you do not understand.  But I do appreciate your 
concern.”
	Spider gasped.  “You want to marry her!  Why?”
	“How did you know?” a very dumbfounded Ryan asked.
	“You’re a male,” Spider said.  “Males aren’t very complicated 
and can be read easily because their brains are in their pants.  
That’s why you have women to make the important decisions for 
you.”
	Sandy burst into laughter.
	“Who is that?” Spider sniped.
	“Spider,” Ryan said, “meet Stardust.”
	“She’s laughing at me,” Spider stated.
	“Not at all,” Sandy said.  “I am laughing because what you 
said about men was so true.  I surprised him with the marriage 
proposal, but I knew he would go along with it.”
	“It’s the Lowbrain,” Spider said.  “All men have one and it 
takes half of their intelligence, leaving both mentally 
deficient.  It’s a wonder they can even function.  I just accept 
that fact and work around my boyfriend’s stupidity.”
	“Sounds like a good plan,” Sandy said.  “I shall have to keep 
that in mind when Ryan and I are married.  It will certainly make 
things more tolerable.”
	“Ryan,” Spider said, “I’ve changed my mind.  Stardust is a 
competent and rational woman who I know will be able to handle 
running a kingdom once she takes over.  You may marry her.  I 
have to go now and run ten miles for having been mistaken about 
Sandy.”
	There was a click as Spider hung up her phone.  Ryan was 
standing with his mouth wide open, staring at the phone as Sandy 
closed the connection on their end of the phone line.  On her 
face was a large grin and she was trying to suppress her 
laughter.  Ryan shook his head vigorously to clear it.
	“That was just bizarre,” Ryan said.
	“So who exactly is Spider?”
	“She is Scott’s brother’s girlfriend.  I met her and Scott’s 
brother while you were in Carthage.”
	“I like her,” Sandy said simply and walked into their room.  
Technically it was her room, but they had been sharing it for two 
weeks.  Ryan followed, feeling quite fatigued from the last 
hour’s events, and crawled into bed.

***

The Rub

	Ryan and Sandy walked in the back door and were immediately 
greeted by Raoul, who wore a panicked expression.
	“What is wrong?” Sandy asked.
	“There is a man in the waiting room with his face covered,” 
Raoul said, wiping the nervous sweat off of his brow.  “He was 
sitting there when I unlocked the door and walked in.  I asked 
him how he got in and what he wanted, but all he would say was 
that he had to talk to Ryan immediately.”
	“It must be Sean,” Ryan said, “Scott’s brother.  He is the 
only one I know who could get in to a place without there being 
any trace of their arrival.”
	“Why would he sneak in like this when he could have just 
called us like his girlfriend?” Sandy asked.
	“I don’t know,” Ryan said, “but I will ask him.”  He walked 
around Raoul toward the front room.
	“Sean,” Ryan addressed the man, “what are you doing here?”
	“I am not Sean,” the man said.  “I must speak with you 
alone.”
	“That voice,” Ryan muttered.  “It is so familiar.  Come with 
me,” he told the man, leading him into one of the massage rooms.
	“Is this room secure?” the man asked.
	“The only people here are Raoul and Sandy,” Ryan told him.
	“Is there anywhere more private than this?”
	“Sorry, this is the best we have,” Ryan admitted.  “There is 
not much need for soundproofing in a massage room.  Besides, my 
friends are trustworthy.  You can say whatever you want in front 
of them.”
	“I cannot take that chance,” the man said.
	He reached into his coat and pulled a small box out of his 
pocket, placing it on the table near the door.  The sound that 
came out of it when the man turned the knob was enough cover for 
him to do whatever he wanted with no one hearing.
	He removed his hat and the scarf that covered his face.
	The dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes Ryan had known all 
of his life were now right before him.  “Philip!” Ryan exclaimed, 
seeing the brother he’d been away from for nearly half a year.  
“How did you find me?”
	“I hired a detective, using father’s name to authorize a full 
search, and he found you several weeks ago,” Philip said.
	“In that case, what took you so long to come here?”
	“I could not risk father finding out about it,” Philip said 
with a worried look on his face.  “Father issued a proclamation, 
once it was determined that you were Senshi Saggitarius and not 
coming back, that no one was to attempt to search for you.  He 
refuses to admit any weakness in losing you, that he may have 
treated his son unfairly, even to himself.  He is convinced that 
your running away was a childish cry for attention and that you 
will come back when you are done acting up.”
	Ryan gripped the edge of the counter in anger.  “That man is 
completely oblivious to reality,” Ryan growled.
	“He is your father,” Philip scolded, “and your King.”
	“And that makes him right?” Ryan said, his voice squeaking in 
frustration.  “If I have learned anything since I have been gone, 
it is that backing a decision with power doesn’t make it a better 
decision, only better enforced.  The only thing that makes a 
decision better is sound judgment.”
	“And who has better judgment for affairs of the kingdom than 
the man who has nearly a lifetime of experience running it.”
	“Since when is what I do an affair of the kingdom?”
	“Admitting he has no control over you would imply that father 
is not as powerful as people thought he was.  He would lose 
respect, which is what power comes from.”
	“Which is more important, Philip,” Ryan cried, “the respect 
of his people or the respect of his son.”
	Without hesitation, Philip replied: “The respect of his 
people, of course.  Father’s first responsibility is to this 
kingdom, Ryan, you should know that by now.  He can not help it 
if you are too selfish to realize it.”
	The pit of Ryan’s stomach dropped.  He had been expecting his 
brother to back up his position, but this revelation was more 
than he could bear.  He lost his breath and began 
hyperventilating.  Philip remained impassive.
	“Grow up, little brother,” Philip said harshly.  “This is the 
adult world, where the world ceases to revolve around us.  People 
do what is best for the majority, and for themselves after that.  
Only after those requirements are met will they even think about 
doing something for you.  
	“I came here today to tell you that.  We need your powers to 
protect us.  Doing what is best for the majority, in this case, 
means that you must avoid the challenge of the enemy force.  If 
you accept, you will be selfishly satisfying your pride and 
compromising all our safety.  If you fight her, you will be 
considered an enemy of the state - that is how seriously he is 
taking this challenge of hers.”
	“Are you threatening me?” Ryan growled.
	“No,” Philip said coldly.  “No one knows I’m here.  I am 
warning you of father’s intentions before you make your 
decision.”
	Ryan sat down and put his hands on his temples.  “I can’t 
believe it.  My own father planning to make me an enemy.  Has he 
no love?”
	“He has a kingdom,” Philip said, “he has no time for love.”
	With that, the crown prince donned his disguise and walked 
out of the room without saying good bye.  Ryan buried his face in 
his arms and wept.
	“What happened?” Sandy said, walking into the room.
	“Close the door,” Ryan requested, “Raoul can not hear this.”
	Sandy did as Ryan said and sat next to him, putting her hands 
on his shoulders.  “Who was that?”
	“My brother,” Ryan told her.  “He just informed me that, 
should I accept your challenge, I will be declared an enemy of 
the state and hunted down.”
	“Your brother is an...”
	“No,” Ryan interrupted, “he is not, no matter what you were 
going to call him.  As cold and mean as he is, he is still an 
ally, otherwise he wouldn’t have disobeyed a royal decree and 
warned me.”
	“What!” Sandy yelled.  “Your own father was preparing to put 
a price on your head and not even let you know that he didn’t 
want you to accept?  Something is wrong here.  A normal father 
would at least tell his son what he expected of him and let his 
son make the right choice from that, before he even thought about 
a punishment.  And making you an enemy of the state - doesn’t 
that mean death?”
	Ryan nodded.
	“So he made a decree that no one could tell you which was the 
right decision, which means that you would most likely choose to 
accept, given your royal blood.  We can only assume that he 
accepts you to make the choice that will allow him to have you 
killed, meaning he wants you dead...but why?”
	“I do not know,” Ryan said vacantly.  He shook his head and 
looked directly at Sandy, tear tracks drying on his cheeks.  
“This is not like him.  Someone must be coercing him or 
controlling him.  Either way, he would have a guard on my mother 
so that she could not warn me, but not on my brother, thinking he 
would follow anything father said.”
	“You are lucky he has some will left of his own then, enough 
that he is willing to risk his own neck to warn you,” Sandy said.  
“I will go on the news again and take back the challenge.  That 
way, he will not have a reason to think of you as a risk.”
	“No,” Ryan said.  “Whatever is going on, it will not stop if 
the challenge is rescinded.  I know my father, and he will employ 
more subtle means to do a job if it can’t be done publicly.  By 
making it public, I can avoid assassins from being sent after me, 
since father will send guards instead.  That is, if he is being 
coerced.  If someone is controlling his mind, then I might get 
both guards and assassins.”
	“Which is still better than having everyone who is after you 
being a skilled killer,” Sandy said, completing the thought.
	“Right,” Ryan said.  “Then we are agreed.  We follow our plan 
on Friday to the letter, agreed?”
	Sandy nodded with the same determination on her face that 
Ryan felt in his heart.

***

Bellum Park, Friday

	The clouds swirled overhead as the news cameras set up for 
what they thought would be the battle of the century.  Ryan and 
Sandy stood on a roof nearby and watched the commotion.
	“I could get so much energy out of these fools,” she 
muttered, “and it would serve them right.  What sane person would 
place themselves in danger - on the battlefield no less - just 
for a story?”
	“Anyone in the journalistic profession,” Ryan said.  “It is 
frightening that they have to do things like that to be good at 
their jobs.”
	One of the reporters looked up and saw them, but instead of 
ducking back, Ryan waved at them with binoculars visible in his 
hand.
	“What are you doing?” Sandy hissed, having ducked down.
	“If they think we are here for the same reason they are, they 
will have no interest in us.”
	“You can stay and play reporter,” Sandy told him, “but I have 
work to do.  I am going to go set up.”  She kissed him lightly 
and walked through a portal, back far enough on the roof that it 
couldn’t be seen from the ground.  Ryan went back to surveying 
the scene.
	He noticed a guard in his father’s colors walking along the 
street, looking around.  Panicking, Ryan jumped back out of 
sight.  He peered over the ledge to see if the guard had spotted 
him and noticed that the reporter that had seen him was missing.  
His pulse raced as he crept along the edge of the roof, below the 
ledge so he wouldn’t be seen, and hid behind the building’s 
rooftop exit.  
	He heard the door open seconds later and saw the reporter 
step into view.  “Damn,” the reporter swore as he saw the ledge 
empty.  He walked across to the place he had seen Ryan, his back 
to the young prince the whole time, and signaled to the guard on 
the street.  Ryan took the opportunity to slip through the door 
the reporter had left open and sprint down the stairs.
	He ducked into a closet of the office building, empty due to 
its proximity to the battle area, and transformed into Senshi 
Saggitarius.  Now he felt he could return to the roof safely.
	The roof was empty, however, so Saggitarius let his guard 
down.  Suddenly, from the hiding place he himself had just used 
minutes ago, the reporter, obviously an assassin, lunged at him 
with a knife.  The Stellar Senshi ducked and grabbed the 
assassin’s arm, throwing him to the ground and wrenching the 
knife out of his hand at the same time.
	“I don’t have time for this,” Saggitarius said to the man as 
he cuffed him and knocked him out.  He grabbed the assassin’s hat 
and walked to the ledge.
	“I am here, accepting Stardust’s challenge and defending the 
kingdom,” Senshi Saggitarius announced to the crowd below, now 
more spectators than reporters.  They all turned to face him.  
Raising his arm, he threw the hat down into the crowd as if he 
was throwing them a souvenir, but he made sure he aimed it at the 
guard standing down there.
	“That should scare him and any of his friends that are 
watching enough not to attack me again, at least not today,” 
Saggitarius said to himself.
	He leapt to the next rooftop, closer to the center of the 
battle ground, and stood majestically on the ledge, waiting.  In 
moments, like clockwork, there was a clap of thunder and the 
swirling clouds opened directly above the center of the 
battlefield, letting the daylight fill the park.  Lowering down 
from the hole in the clouds was the biggest Bot the Stellar 
Senshi had ever seen, and on its shoulder sat Stardust, looking 
even more beautiful than usual.
	“Where did you have that one hidden?” he said to himself.
	“I am so glad you decided to take me up on my challenge, 
Senshi Saggitarius,” Stardust over-acted.  She raised her staff 
and pointed at Saggitarius, quickly causing the Bot to raise its 
arm and fire a laser past him.  She had a strange, fearful look 
in her eyes and it seemed she was looking through him.
	Senshi Saggitarius turned and saw another assassin, head 
vaporized by the laser, lying not ten feet behind him.  He 
breathed a sigh of relief, and when he backed off to get a 
running start for his big leap, he mouthed the words ‘thank you’ 
to Stardust.
	He ran and jumped gracefully off of the roof toward the 
field.  Stardust opened a line of cloud cover so that he was 
illuminated as he soared through the air, his armor glittering in 
the sun’s rays.  He had to give her credit for her theatrics.
	Saggitarius landed at the feet of the bot, staring defiantly 
into its face.  “Bring it on,” he yelled defiantly up at 
Stardust, trying not to smile.
	In response, the bot’s fist came down at him, but not to fast 
for him to dodge.  The strike shook the ground and knocked more 
than a few of the spectators off of their feet.
	“You have to be quicker than that to hit me,” Saggitarius 
taunted, which caused a general cheer from the crowd.
	The bot fired a laser and the Stellar Senshi jumped over it.  
However, in the jump, the laser caught his foot...and passed 
right through it without doing any damage.  To the audience, it 
would look like a near miss, but Saggitarius understood that 
Stardust was firing blanks at him.  It was at that moment that he 
knew her “most powerful bot” was no more than a special effect.  
The beam that had roasted the assassin was her own, channeled 
through the counterfeit bot.
	Saggitarius nodded as if he was forming a plan, but he was 
really signaling Stardust that he had caught on to her plan and 
was going to play along.  He dodges several more punches and fake 
lasers and decided it was about time for Senshi Saggitarius to 
become tired.  He slowed his dodges down and allowed one of the 
lasers to hit him full in the chest.  He jumped back as if 
slammed by the force of the beam, and landed on his back.  As he 
sat up, shaking a bit for show, the audience cheered.
	The bot fired once again at him while he was down and he fell 
back to the snow.  Shot after shot rained down on him, each 
accompanied by a smoke pellet to give the effect that the lasers 
were scorching the earth.  Stardust gave a command and the bot’s 
hand came down again, but this time to lift the “unconscious” 
body of the defeated Stellar Senshi.  A panel on the chest of the 
bot slid open and revealed a cage.  Saggitarius remained still as 
he was placed in the cage and the door was closed behind him.  
	He opened one eye to see the stunned faces of the people.  He 
mistakenly laughed, but disguised it as a fit of coughing.  He 
sat up and pretended to struggle with the door of the cage.  It 
opened a bit, but he quickly pulled it shut and held it, hoping 
no one had noticed.
	“Fight all you want, Stellar Senshi,” Stardust gloated 
loudly.  “I have one, and now you must become my husband.”
	Saggitarius hung his head low to hide his grin and show the 
audience that he knew he was defeated.  The bot then floated up, 
back through the hole in the clouds, which closed up behind them.
	They flew off across town and stopped, hovering, at the top 
of a high rise, where Spider stood on the roof waiting for them.  
Ryan and Sandy jumped down to join her, having changed back into 
their civilian forms, and the bot folded itself into a human 
sized version of itself.
	“Ryan, Spider, I would like you to meet the KTF RoboMaid,” 
Sandy said with a smile.
	“Ah,” Ryan groaned playfully.  “I was beaten by a vacuum!”
	“If you two are just about finished,” Spider said, “I would 
like to get out of here.  Sandy, it’s in southern France, if you 
would be so kind.”
	Sandy opened a portal and the three of them stepped through.  
Ryan breathed a sigh of relief when they were out of the city.  
Sandy pushed a button on her RoboMaid and it changed form again, 
this time into a sort of sled with jets on the rear.
	“I have rigged it to handle like a typical car,” Sandy told 
Spider.  “That way, you can drive us there.”
	Spider nodded and sat in the driver’s seat, followed closely 
by Ryan and Sandy.  The sled took off quickly and traveled 
smoothly over the snow drifts.  In lass than a half an hour, 
Spider stopped the sled and got out.  Ryan and Sandy followed her 
to a squat stone building where she unlocked the door and invited 
them in to the nearly bare room.
	“But there is nothing in here,” Ryan protested.
	“Good,” Spider said.  “That’s how it’s supposed to look.”  
She went over to the sofa against the far wall of the hovel and 
took hold of the arm.  As she pulled up on it, the whole top of 
the couch raised as if on a hinge on the far side.  Under it was 
a staircase leading to a very secure looking steel door.  Ryan 
and Sandy stepped over the base of the sofa and onto the stairs, 
taking them down to the door.  Spider followed them and let the 
lid slowly lower on its own.  She passed them on the pitch dark 
stairway without a word and opened the door below somehow.
	“And you are sure no one else knows about this place?” Sandy 
asked.
	“Plenty of people know it exists, but none of them could find 
it,” Spider said.  “You will be safe here.”
	“Thank you so much for this, Spider,” Ryan said.
	“We both truly appreciate your assistance,” Sandy added.
	“Just keep this place a secret and don’t make me regret 
letting you come here,” Spider told them.
	She opened the door to a large cavern, dazzling their eyes 
with all of the gold and jewels piled on the floor.  There were 
torches burning brightly on the walls to give the place a more 
trove-like feel, and the tapestries between the torches added to 
the ambiance.
	“This is amazing,” Ryan said.
	“I know,” Spider stated.  “Don’t take any of it.”
	“We will leave your inheritance as it is,” Sandy said, 
accepting the story Ryan had told her to protect Spider’s 
identity.  “We only need the cover.  Neither one of us can return 
to our apartment now; it will be swarming with assassins, as will 
The Rub.”
	“I’ll stay here with you to help plan your next move,” Spider 
said.
	“Oh no,” Sandy said.  “We could not impose upon you any more.  
This is the second time you have helped us, and we appreciate it, 
but to keep you locked in here with us would be rude and 
ungrateful.”
	“Second time?” Spider began, but Ryan interrupted, saying, 
“yes, I don’t know how we could have gotten out of our financial 
difficulties a couple of months ago if you hadn’t given me that 
Minotaur ring to sell.”
	Spider caught on immediately and said, “it was only the right 
thing to do to help my future brother in law’s best friends out 
of their troubles.”  Her demeanor changed quickly to a sickening 
sweetness as she showed them the room in back with a bed, tables, 
chairs, and various other furnishings.  There was even a 
television so Ryan and Sandy could watch how things were going on 
the news, which was now abuzz with the “surprise” announcement 
that Ryan and Sandy were wanted dead.
	As they settled in for the night, Ryan wondered what they 
could possibly do now that they were both wanted dead by his 
father.

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