Grimm stood outside of the meeting room, talking into a small mirror he held in the palm of his hand. "Alice, you there?"

"I am always here, avatar of Death." a voice that sounded of desperate resignation came from the mirror.

"Is Turkish around?" Grimm asked.

"The Prophet is on the far reaches of Afterthought, alongside the other members of the Order. There is trouble among the outerinner planes. Do you wish to join them?"

"Uh, no, just tell him I called." Grimm pocketed the mirror and turned to walk inside the meeting room. He was greeted by Phil Smith. "I'm in mental contact with Tayden. I can relay everything that happens to him without Smith knowing." the telepath said as they walked into the room. The two men were greeting with expectant looks from the assembled field team of Vanguard International. Seated around the meeting table were Velo, TC, Banshee, Leslie,
Michael Ringo, Drake Marshall, and the full membership of the B Team.

"They're all looking at me." Grimm said as an aside to Phil.

"You are the leader." Phil whispered back.

"Dammit, I'm not-" Grimm began. "Nevermind. What's so funny?"

"You sound like Danny." Phil smirked, trying not to laugh.

"Go sit down." As they took their places at the table, Grimm addressed the group. "Gentlemen, ladies, we are about to, where's Priest?"

"He's hurt. He can't go on this one." Phil responded, thinking back to Mandelovia and the battle with Shock.

"Damn. We could use his power. All right, then, as I was saying. Phil and I have made out a plan of action, and we've divided the team up into groupings. Our first grouping will be as follows: Phil, Tayden, Velo, and TC. Your job will be to attempt to reach Naecken to see if there is anything left of the Naecken we knew. Also, to see if you can discover where he is keeping Mick. Tayden will use his empathic ability to attempt to sooth Naecken. Phil will use his telepathy to send Velo inside Naecken's mind where he will attempt to reason with him and find out what he's done with Mick. TC will then find Mick and free him."

"The next group," Phil began taking over, "will be Leslie, Banshee, Dr. Huerta, and Bates. Your job will be to find any captives that may be held inside Naecken's compound and get them to safety. If this means bringing them back to the island in the hovercraft, do it."

Leslie began to object, but was cut off by Grimm. "This is not light detail, people. We remove any civilians first. Then rejoin the main teams as you're able. I don't want any tragedies on this one."

Phil took over again, "Our final team will hang back as a brute force team, with Grimm, Vengeance, Blackwulf, Luchadore, Drax, and Mr. Smith. If we are unable to communicate with Naecken, they will move in and take him out."

"No holding back, people. When we move, I want no hesitation. We leave in an hour." Grimm finished.