"What are her coordinates?" Tausson asked, his fingers hovering over his sleeve.

"I don't know yet," she said, running to sit behind her computer. "Hold on." She frowned at her screen, typing swiftly.

Tausson was grateful he was there to help. The time spent with the Vice President had been grueling, wearing a smile and choosing his words carefully. Miss Dawson had been right in her assessment of the Vice President's aversion to President Freeland. He was always careful to couch it with concern or patriotism, but Vice President Grant was clearly intent on defaming the President and her ability to lead.

"Got it," Miss Dawson said, scribbling the numbers on a scrap of paper. She jumped up and stood beside him.

"And the picture?" he asked.

"We don't need one," she said firmly. "I'm going with you"

Tausson's whole being recoiled from the idea of her being in danger. "No," he said, throwing the weight of his command behind him. "You'll stay."

"I'm not one of your officers," she snapped. "She's my sister. I can't risk you not seeing or recognizing her. I'm going."

He started to object, but the resolve in her eyes told him it would be a waste of valuable time.

"Okay," he said. "The coordinates?"

She read them as he entered them in his mechasuit. He started to reach for her, but she jumped back at his touch.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"We need to be touching."

"Why? We weren't touching when we went up to the ship."

"This is site to site conveyance," he explained, trying to push down the thrill -- the very inappropriate thrill -- that was spiking inside of him at the promise of her being so close to him. "You can't convey unless you're wearing a mechasuit, or if you're in close direct physical contact with me."

He extended his hand, and with only a moment's hesitation, she accepted. Touching the final command into his mechasuit, he drew to him. She rested her head against his shoulder, and as he hugged her body tight against his, feeling her arms wrap around him, he felt a prick of fear -- not of the scene that lay ahead, but that, when the time came for him to ask his question, this goddess of a woman might say no.

* * *

The first thing Tierney felt as the world came into focus was Commander Corwin's chest. It heaved beneath hers with every breath, pushing hard against her breasts. His entire body was rigid, and she was once again reminded of a sculpture, an unyielding, steel form that shielded her from the chaos that was slowly unfolding around them.

Sounds of car alarms and breaking windows, police sirens and screams, filled the air. The thought of Clementine being lost in the middle of this war zone cleared Tierney's mind of all romantic notions. Pushing off of the commander, she looked around. She could smell the pizza, and saw boxes and cans of tomato sauce and other produce in the alley, so she knew they were behind Andy's Pizza.

"Clementine?" she called, running down the wet alley. "Clem? It's Tierney."

Commander Corwin followed, searching the narrow lane, but she wasn't there.

"This is where she thought she was," Tierney said. An explosion went off nearby, and a dark plume of smoke engulfed the mouth of the alley. The commander moved to stand in front of her.

"You should stay here," he said. "I'll find your sister and bring her back here."

"We already discussed this," she snapped, running around him towards the road. Covering her mouth, she squinted against the burning smoke and peered into the street.

People were running everywhere, some with weapons, some with bloody injuries. The storefront for the pizza place was smashed, and smoke streamed out, flooding the street.

"At least this provides some cover for you," she said, eyeing the commander beside her.

He nodded gravely. "Where do you suggest we search?"

"I'll call --" Her heart dropped. "I left my phone in DC."

"You wish to call your sister?"

"If we could get her to describe where she is, then we would have a better shot of finding her."

The commander nodded and began tapping his uniform. "Her name is Clementine Dawson?"

Hope flickered in her chest. "Clementine Angela Dawson, yes."

A small square projected off of the commander's sleeve, and suddenly Tierney could see an alley very similar to the one they were in. Someone was quietly sobbing nearby.

"Clem! Clem, it's Tierney!"

The phone jerked, and her sister called out. "Tierney? Where are you? Tierney?"

"Look on your phone, Clem! Your phone!"

Clementine's tear-stained, freckled face came into view, and Tierney laughed in relief. "I'm in Chicago. Where are you?"

"You're in Chicago? How?" Her sister's eyes widened. "Is that a Relican?"

"Don't worry about that now. I'm at Andy's Pizza, but you're not here. I need you to move closer to the street and tell me what you see so I can come get you."

"I'm scared," her sister whimpered. "A group of guys with knives was hanging at the top of the alley a few minutes ago. I don't want them to see me."

Tierney fought back her own tears of fear and frustration. "I know, Clem, but I can't help you if I don't know where you are. Just hold up your phone to the street. Maybe that will be enough."

The square moved away from her sister's face and showed the opening of the alley. Although the resolution wasn't great, Tierney thought she saw something long and red on the other side of the street.

"What's that red thing?" she asked.

But before Clementine could answer, a series of gunshots fired close to her, and she dropped her phone, screaming. Tierney heard the same shots near them. They were close.

"Clem!" Tierney cried. "Clementine!"

The screen shorted out, and then went blank.

"She's nearby," said Commander Corwin, pointing in the direction of the gunshots. "That way."

Tierney had all but forgotten the Relican, even though she was standing right beside him. His worried gray eyes met hers, and even though she knew he would be a magnet for trouble in this crowd, she felt safer knowing he was there.

"Right," she said, staring at the still smoking street. A police car raced by, sirens wailing, and someone running past threw a bottle at it.

"I can find her," said the commander, "now that I know her face. You can remain."

She didn't reply. Instead, steeling herself against the havoc ahead, she started running.

The black smoke thinned the farther they moved from the alley. Most of the people running were too caught up in their own escape to notice the commander, but at least a handful stopped in their tracks and pointed him out to those nearby. Tierney did her best to ignore them as she raced down the road.

A man carrying a baseball bat ran up in front of them and started wailing on the window of a store. Someone inside the store, an older woman, opened the door and started shouting at the young man to stop.

Tierney just kept running past, hoping the situation would sort itself out peacefully, when the thug succeeded in breaking the glass. A sharp stinging in her arm and leg made her stumble to the sidewalk.

"Tierney!" Commander Corwin shouted, crouching beside her and anxiously eyeing her bleeding limbs.

"I'm fine," she said, wincing as she began to get back up. "It's just a little glass."

His eyes narrowed as he whirled around on the violence beside them.

Another man, wearing a bloody bandana on his head, had come out of the store, urging the woman inside. The thug raised his bat as if to strike the already injured man.

"No!" Tierney cried.

Commander Corwin leapt forward, grabbing the bat and wrenching it out of the man's hands. All three turned terrified eyes on the Relican. With menacing eyes, the commander stared down the thug, snapping the bat in two with his hands.

"Alien!" cried the thug, and scurried away.

"Are you okay?" Tierney asked the store owners.

The man's mouth hung open, but the woman laughed. "Go get him, E.T.! You go get him!" she said, and hustled the man back into the store.

Commander Corwin turned to Tierney. "E.T.?"

"I'll explain later," she said, and continued towards her sister.

A line of red metal tree planters came into view. "I think that's what we saw on Clem's phone," she panted, slowing and pointing them out to the commander. "She should be just across the street."

The commander grabbed her arm and pulled her behind an upturned car.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, but he merely pointed with a dark expression towards the alley. Tierney peeked around the edge of the car and saw a group of thugs, each holding some kind of weapon, hanging around outside the restaurant where the tree planters were. The man who the commander had frightened off was among them.

"Crap," she said. "They're bound to notice you."

"And you," he said grimly.

"Maybe we can wait them out. Hopefully they'll get bored and go break something -- like each other."

She leaned against the car and let out a deep breath, inspecting her still bleeding leg. "How did you break the bat like that?" she asked. "Are you super strong because of the metal in your bodies?"

"We're stronger than the strongest human," he answered, keeping his eyes on the gang, "but not by much. My mechasuit provides extra force when needed."

"How much extra force?"

His eyes flickered her way, but quickly returned to the street. "As much as I need."

She eyed his arms, bulging even when at rest. A part of her told her she should be afraid of such a powerful alien who even now could be lying to her. But as she watched him, she found not a trace of fear. His silver lips jutted out slightly as he stared ahead, concentrating on the dangers around them. It was such a simple, human mannerism, that Tierney instead felt a rush of gratitude and sympathy for him. Here he was, billions of miles from his home, risking his life to save not only her sister, but her whole planet. And he wanted to save not only the Clementines of the world, but the thugs too.

"Thank you," she said, "for being here."

He glanced back at her, holding her gaze for a few moments before looking back out. "Your sister is in danger."

"No -- I mean, yes, but..."

He turned back to her, his stern face softening. Even amid the ash and flames of this war zone, the late afternoon sunlight glinted off of his skin. He was like some sort of angel, an ethereal being sent down from above to protect her.

Whoa there, Tierney, a small voice chided. How about we chalk this line of thinking up to blood loss and pretend it never happened, okay?

He smiled gently, and looked like he was about to speak, when a shriek nearby broke their little bubble of isolation.

"Alien!" A girl who looked to be about Clementine's age had spotted them, and was screaming and pointing. "Alien! It has a woman!"

"No!" Tierney hissed, trying to shush the girl. "I'm fine. Get out of here. We're trying to help someone."

But the girl was either part of the gang or just terrified, because she stayed put, wailing like a siren, alerting those around to their presence.

"I don't think we can afford to remain any longer," said the commander.

"Agreed. Let's run for it."

He helped her up and they made a break for the alley. The gang had already started moving in their direction, and as soon as the two of them became visible, they began chasing them. Tierney could see the opening to the alley up ahead, but the thugs were too close. They wouldn't make it.

"You go ahead," the commander muttered.

"What?"

Instead of explaining, Commander Corwin spun around to face the gang.

"Commander!" she cried, turning back to him.

"Go! I'll catch up!"

"You bet your silver ass you will!" one of the thugs shouted, brandishing a large knife and running straight for him.

A silver strand of light shot out from the commander's suit, and everyone jumped aside except for the guy with the knife. When the light struck him, his entire body froze on impact, turning a frosty bluish white color. Tierney knew she should run, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the icy figure of the thug, toppling over and shattering on the sidewalk.

The commander muttered something and pressed his sleeve. The other thugs stared at their fallen comrade. Some of them ran away, but three remained, lunging at the commander with clubs and chains.

Tierney thought he was going to freeze his assailants, but instead he fought them by hand. The fact that Commander Corwin was not only a ship's commander, but also a trained military soldier, became immediately apparent as he deftly weaved in and out between their attacks, disarming each of them within seconds. With a few well-placed punches, he managed to knock them around just enough to make it clear that they weren't going to win this fight, but not so much that they couldn't still run away.

As the thugs followed the path of the rest of their gang, the commander knelt beside the broken pieces of the man who had been frozen. Tierney took a few steps toward him, and heard him murmuring something. Then he stood up and looked at her, his face full of grief.

"I didn't mean to kill him," he said. "It was set to stun, but for a Relican, not a human."

"He would have killed you," she said. "It was self-defense."

He looked back down at the chunks of ice that had once been a man. "It was murder."

"Tierney?"

Clementine's weak voice rose above the clamor, and Tierney turned to see her sister peeking around the corner of the alley.

"Clem!" Tierney ran towards her, taking her in her arms and hugging her close.

Clementine gripped her tight, speaking through her tears. "I dropped my phone in a puddle and it stopped working. I didn't think you'd be able to find me. I thought..."

"Shh, it's okay. We're getting you out of here. You're okay."

More gunshots broke out down the road, and Commander Corwin came up beside them. "We must leave," he said.

Clementine pulled away and wiped her face, eyeing the Relican.

"Where's the best place?" Tierney asked, keeping her arm around her sister's shoulders. "The alley?"

He nodded, and the two sisters followed him back into the secluded spot.

"Where are we going?" he asked, tapping his arm.

"Eleven East Hubbard Street, Chicago, Illinois," said Tierney.

"Home?" groaned Clementine. "Why can't we go to your place? You can bring me back home later." She once again turned her attention to the commander. "After dinner, maybe."

"Because we need to get back to work saving the world," Tierney teased, glad her sister was sounding more like herself, but irked at her blatant flirting. "Commander Corwin isn't your personal travel agent, you know."

"I have the coordinates," said the commander.

Tierney moved next to him, bringing her sister alongside her. "We have to be really close for the conveyer to work," she explained.

Clementine didn't seem to mind at all, nestling right up against the commander. "Holy crap," she said, pulling away enough to gaze appreciatively at his well-defined chest. "You're like a brick wall."

"Clem," Tierney warned, her cheeks blazing as she hugged the commander. "Don't make me regret saving you."