Tarloh had followed down the hall and noticed the remaining Swarm desperately trying to get through Jane's protective cocoon, but he finally realized something else . . . the Swarm wasn't attacking Jane.

They seemed to be avoiding her. Anyone else would have been dead meat by then. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that it would give the Strays a chance to save Red. He called up their few remaining flame units as well as Natasha, and after several minutes were able to destroy the remaining Swarm drones.

Tarloh put his hand down on Jane's shoulders.

"That's all of them," he said.

“Let her go so we can... ."

Tarloh was unprepared for the sight of Jane's eyes when she whipped her head around . . . they had gone dark and were flickering like the rays of the sun trying to find their way around the moon during an eclipse. In that moment, Tarloh had no doubt that Jane had gone insane. Then, the darkness was gone, and Jane's eyes turned white as they rolled back in her head as she passed out. Her hair returned to its normal length and released its hold on Red.

Red was bleeding from more places than not it would seem, and a few movements could be seen under her skin as a few remaining bugs ate away. These were quickly removed with Tarloh's sharp knife and the bugs were squashed. Red was picked up and rushed towards Arthur's humble medical facilities. For a time, all eyes were on their fallen leader, and it was a moment before anyone thought to go check on Jane. But by the time anyone checked, Jane was gone.

In all their history, the Strays had never been so chaotic. People were running all over the Den looking for Jane, while Arthur tried putting Red and the other victims of the swarm back together again.

There were four more dead and a dozen wounded. Between the Swarm's attack and that of the Hellspawn, the ranks of the Strays had been decimated. There war leader was down, Jane was missing, and there were a lot of people feeling helpless.

Arthur was sweating like a racehorse after its second Kentucky Derby.

He had stabilized the other wounded, but Red had been hit hard. He had worked insect corpses out of her body and closed up all the wounds, but she had lost a great deal of blood and he didn't have the energy to accelerate her replenishing. He wasn't going to ask for an energy boost from anyone, because no one had anything to “Arthur,” Natasha started. She was sitting across from him, looking down at the woman she had spent years with, tears in her brilliant brown eyes. This wasn't how she had imagined her return at all.

There was supposed to be that moment of fond remembrance with Red, followed by some good stories, great sex, the inevitable argument about who left who followed by the tempered reconciliation to hold them over until Nat's next visit. That's the way it had worked for over a year.

“Can you borrow my energy? I know you've done it before."

"You're invulnerable," Arthur reminded her.

"I don't think it could work on you."

"Try," she said.

"Please, take whatever you need."

Arthur was hesitant, but only because he didn't want to have to look into Natasha's eyes if he failed. She reached out and offered him her hand and Arthur took it, a little intimidated by her grip. He felt a barrier there when he tried to draw energy, but noticed that Nat had her eyes closed as she tried to relax and let her power flow.

Suddenly, there was a flood of energy and Arthur felt . . . small.

It was as if he had found himself in the ocean, clinging to the side of the whale and calling its strength his own. He placed his other hand on Red's damaged side and continued to mend her interior wounds and replenish her lost blood. In a moment that felt like a lifetime, Red's body was as healed as Arthur could do without pushing her systems beyond capacity. He felt heady . . . almost drunk with power... and a little awestruck. He'd only sensed power like that once before.

‘What is it about the women in Red's life?' he thought.

Meanwhile, Tarloh was in counsel with the remaining Strays, and thinks were getting even grimmer. A number of the Strays wanted to run in the face of this new enemy, and Tarloh couldn't say he blamed them. Jane was still missing, Red was still down, and Tarloh was at a loss for words. He was a good leader, but he had never had to lead alone. He found himself praying to whatever Gods might be listening to actually cut them a frickin’ break.

Talia wandered up.

“Patrick is missing as well," she said, referring to the Stray who had the Talent of flight.