A plan immediately popped into his mind. Theodore didn't waste time asking questions about whether it was possible or not.  He threw his consciousness into Sia’s so he could look at the world through her eyes. The force from his mental thrust caused her to stumble back several meters but she managed to steady herself after several unsteady steps.

The scene he saw through her eyes made his heart turn cold, but he stopped himself. He only had limited information about his current situation. Any undue action could have unforeseen consequences. Thankfully he was relatively sure he knew a way to fill in some gaps. He directed a question at Sia. *Can you playback for me what happened starting from when they entered the room.* 

*In a manner of speaking. It will only be a rough interpretation based on what your subconscious heard. I calculate that what you’ll see will be about seven-eight percent accurate.*

He mentally shrugged. *That’s good enough for me. Let's see what you got.*

Sia constructed a small space just inside his psychic barriers then put up an accurate facsimile of a large flat-screen television. 

Once she was done he created an avatar of himself and looked at the fruits of her labor and lavishly complimented her. *This looks great.*

*Thanks.* You could practically hear the blush when she spoke and that irritated her to no end. Ignoring that she waved a hand to activate the screen and start the playback.

The scene played back, starting from the moment three women entered the bedroom and stopped when his sister was taken out by a blast of Grey-Jeweled power. When the playback finished he said nothing but his psychic barriers hardened as his thoughts went cold.

Lisey noticed the sudden chill. Damn, who went cold, she wondered as she unconsciously shivered. She knew she hadn't and her daughter was unconscious so she was excluded as a possibility. Her son was also similarly excluded so that only left Special Agent Steele. But when she breathed in her psychic scent she found nothing but calm determination.

Keeping a wary eye on Steele she shifted her position until she was beside her unconscious daughter. She noted the steady rise and fall of her daughter's chest with a silent sigh of relief. Comforted that her child was alive she directed her full attention at the Marshal. Her Jewels pulsed with Jade power as a skin-tight shield wrapped around her. 

Steele raised an eyebrow at Lisey’s actions. Her Grey-Jewels outranked the Jade-Jewels she was facing but that was both a boon and an issue. 

Lisey smiled. ”You see it too, don't you?”

Steele returned the smile. She saw exactly what Lisey was getting at. Talent was power and could also be used as a power source. Most choose to use the latter instead of the former because Talent by itself could only be safely used directly against a weaker ranked Talent one level below it. Using it against a Talent ranked any lower than that would cause a potentially dangerous rebound of power against the attacker.

Steele’s Grey-Jeweled Talent technically outranked her Jade-Jewels but since her Jewels outranked hers by so much she had little to fear from a direct clash of Talents. All she needed to defend against were the skills she knew a Ranger should have and the abilities she could only theories she may have. 

Sia left Theodore’s mind and was immediately thankful nobody could see her. She looked down at his prone body and said, *If you plan to make a move you need to do it now.*

Instead of a verbal answer, she felt waves of cold wrath ripple through Theodore’s psychic barriers.  

*Sia, bring my Agility up to twenty-five now.*So cold, she thought as she did as she was told.

*Ding!*

*Ding!*

*Ding!*

*Ding!*

Theodore absently looked at each window’s contents before he finally opened his eyes for the first time and sat up. Tendrils of Ebony-Jeweled power encircled his body and physically lifted him from his bed.

The power that she saw radiating from Theodore shocked Steele. But that wasn't the only thing that caught her eye. Looking through the veil of dark energy she saw something that by all right shouldn't have even registered on her radar. I thought all the full-blooded Powers had blue eyes. 

If she only knew Lisey’s thoughts almost perfectly paralleled hers. Since when did he get hazel eyes? She thought, confusion brewing in the back of her thoughts. She looked into her son's eyes, at the emotions she found there and realized the change of color was the least of her worries. 

Grey shields snapped around her as she took stock of her situation. This was not the scenario Steele had in mind when she first accepted this mission. Regardless of their Jewel's relative ranks, she was in a very disadvantageous position. She was stuck between a mother she couldn't directly use Talent against. And a son who’s Talent could wipe the floor with her if she wasn't careful.

His blankets fell neglected to the floor as he hovered above his bed. He loomed over everyone, clothed only in feral instincts and little else. Everything about him felt tight and he felt any sudden movements would threaten what little control he had left. Webs of Ebony-Jeweled power flowed outward and devoured any lesser energies it came in contact with. 

Steele felt her strength being slowly eaten away by the presence of such dark energy. The danger her instincts told her was here as soon as she walked in the room had been verified. But she had been wrong about the nature and source of that danger. Be that as it may, she still had a mission to complete. *You know as well as I do what Protocol says must happen to a male that Awakens with anything darker than Ruby-Jewels?* she asked fiercely, directing the question at Lisey on a distaff thread.

*Yes I do.* Lisey replied just as fiercely. *It says the potential threat must be evaluated on a case by case basis by the Tower.* She thought about the implications of what she was about to say for an instant before she continued resolutely. *I demand that my son be given the Right of Evaluation.* 

As a Ranger, Steele had access to several useful skills, one of them was Battle Time. This skill allowed her to slow down her perception of time, thus allowing her the opportunity to react to scenarios at lightning speeds. Now she was using the skill to give herself the time she needed to consider Lisey’s request. 

Unfortunately, Theodore picked that very moment to make his move. An Ebony infused fist shattered her Grey shield and hit her square in the gut with such force it sent her flying several meters, through a thick wooden writing desk and into a wall.

Theodore’s blood was boiling but his thoughts were ice cold. He saw what his hindbrain perceived as the enemy and was going about the process of destroying it. Before Steele had the opportunity to recover he transformed a portion of Ebony energy into a fist the size of a refrigerator and hurled it at her.

Steele looked up and through blurry eyes saw the attack coming but her body, still recovering from the prior attack, couldn't move fast enough to dodge it in time. To her surprise just before the massive fist made contact it opened and grabbed her. Once she was firmly in its grasp it slammed her against the wall. The force of the impact appeared to knock her out.

He tried his best to fight back the urge to throttle his captive once he had her in his grasp. But a steadily shrinking part of his mind told him he needed answers and he might not get a better opportunity to get them. 

---

”Please explain to me why I'm sitting in the back of an SUV instead of in my palatial office.” That very irritated voice belonged to a cultured male of middle years. 

The woman that sat beside him flinched at the tone in his voice. Behind the apprehension lay a woman with lovely Asian features. Her face was framed by a healthy mane of short black hair that closely framed her face. That face was currently downcast. ”My Lord I am sorry but this conversation could not be held in any other location due to—“

”Never mind,” he said sharply, cutting her off. ”Give me an update on our progress.” He pressed himself further into the plush interior and crossed his legs.

Lauren swallowed in a dry throat bowed her head slightly and said, ”Please be patient, I’m waiting for a ’link call right now that will give me those details.” And as if on cue her ’link signaled. 

A hard light earpiece appeared in her ear and she diligently listened to the speaker on the other end. Her face remained completely blank until the call finally ended.

”Well?”

A tear fell from her eye as lightning crackled through their shared bond. ”My apologies,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. ”One of my contacts has told me that the Tower plans have sent a Ranger to check on your son's condition.”

”Jewels?”

After a slight pause, she replied. ”Grey.”

Arthur’s face hardened noticeably. ”Do I even need to express to you just how displeased that makes me?”

She laced her fingers together and placed them on her lap. ”No you don’t My Lord.” She again bowed her head but this time she didn't stop until all she could see were her heeled feet. ”Please allow me to explain?” All she heard was her master’s grunt. Taking that as implied permission she raised her head. ”My contact knew you wouldn't be pleased with that development so they made sure that the Ranger that was sent would be biased and less likely to look at things too closely.”

Arthur Powers didn't immediately respond, instead, he looked thoughtfully out the window. ”Why is your contact so certain of this?”

”I’m told that this particular Ranger hates two things above all else, the nobility and the fact that she's being forced to bond with one.”

He looked at Lauren sternly. ”How does this help me?”

”The noble she would have been forced to bond with is your son. All she has to do is ignore anything she may find. Your son will eventually die and she’ll be off the hook. Everybody wins.”

Suddenly pain like hot glass ripped through Lauren's mind. Her eyes and nose began to bleed as she slumped against the vehicle's door.

Arthur looked at what was supposed to be his Bonded-Mate but was, in reality, his Bonded-Servant. ”Never again take the pain of my family lightly. I take no joy in my son's pain. What I do I do for the betterment of all.” He tightened his fist and watched as the agony he inflicted on his servant increased. ”You would do well to remember that.”

---

Lisey couldn't maintain her stoic visage any longer. The man before her looked like her son but he didn't act like him. The Theodore she knew was a sneaky introvert that hid behind his privilege and the power of others. The man before her wrapped in dark energy and didn't look like he knew how to hide behind anything or anyone.

Steele was barely holding onto consciousness. She had feigned unconsciousness in hopes of lowering Theodore’s guard but the psychic scent she felt exuding from his direction turned her bones to jelly. The speed and power that he’d hit her with were bad enough. Combining that with cold rage, that to her felt bottomless, left her unable to breathe. 

Lisey had misgivings of her own to contend with. That look. I've only seen that look in his father’s eyes. That thought made her blood run cold. Her husband could be as calm as the surface of a lake. But on the rare occasions when something managed to stoke his anger no one would be safe from his wrath. 

This has to end now. Lisey picked her way through the wreckage strewed room to get closer to her son. ”Theodore,” she said in what she hoped was a calming voice. ”Please calm yourself.” She looked at the Ranger’s slumped figure apprehensively before looking back at Theodore. ”One does not kill a Marshal without suffering grave consequences.”

Theodore gave his mother a look that should have made her wonder if he truly saw her as a person or prey. ”I have no intention of killing this woman.” He replied in a calm voice. ”I simply want to know why she harmed my sister and why she planned on harming me in turn.”

While mother and son were conversing Sia listened to his words in particular with growing trepidation. They didn't sound like they were coming from the Theo she had come to know. There was a cold calculation to his cadence that marked this version of him as other. And she feared this other entity. 

She did not focus on this fear. She used it as fuel to drive her towards a solution. Her mind immediately began working on this at speeds only possible with the fastest processors. Various scenarios we're played out, then discarded in a matter of nano-seconds. Once a viable solution was discovered she immediately took action. First, she shed her gifted form and transformed into a being of pure thought. Using this form she entered Theodore’s brain, specifically targeting the limbic system. When she was certain she was in the right place she sent waves of calming energy outward.

The effects were immediate. Theodore shook his head and raked a hand through his hair. With a flick of his wrist the Ebony fist that held Steele evaporated. The oppressive psychic weight that had saturated the room lifted as his Ebony-Jeweled power was slowly reabsorbed into his Jewels. 

Steele slid down the wall and slumped to the floor with a thud. She looked at Theodore through half-lidded eyes, spat out a mouth full of blood, and promptly lost consciousness for real.

Lisey felt the change in Theodore’s psychic scent immediately. She didn't know or care what caused the change, she was simply glad that it happened. Once she was certain all the Ebony energy was back in his Jewels she called in a blanket and covered him. He gave her a thankful look and promptly lost consciousness.

---