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Chapter 18: Home Insecurity

"So these are the mercenaries," Andross circled around the six armored mercenaries that Illyana had brought back with her. "I believe we have some use for them. But what of this... thing?" Andross and stared at the fat slob who stood next to the mercenaries.

"This is Big Joe, he handles being the face of my interests," Illyana waved him off before she continued. "I have more companies of mercenaries ready to go, but I keep them in small cells to keep them from drawing too much attention."

"I might be able to do something with them, if I have some nanites to work with," Andross turned to Quenos, who was hunched over his latest project.

"I have some spares," he pointed to a small canister that sat with several others in his work area. "Don't disturb me, I need to get this finished."

"Very well." Andross took the nanite canister. "I'll need time to experiment on these." He headed for his ship.

"Then perhaps we need to shake things up for the Care Bear Family." Mental Heart seemed to appear out of nowhere among the group. "Their raids of your old lairs mean they're becoming too comfortable with the current situation."

"If I can get to their home, I could take some of them prisoner," Illyana got a wicked grin on her face, "Perhaps their children. I doubt they would be so complacent if we had their children hostage."

"I would agree with that," No-Heart's voice rang out from his crystal throne, "Mental Heart can tell you how to get to their home, but don't draw their attention back here."

"Good," Illyana turned to her employees and pointed to three of them, "follow No-Heart's directions and go to the Kingdom of Caring to claim any children you find up there. Keep them alive, for now."

"You got it," Big Joe had been standing in silence, stunned by what he saw around him, until now.

Mental Heart stepped among the four men and a moment later they were whisked away by his powers.

OoOoO

Take Care wasn't looking forwards to examining the samples of Care Bear remains that Fara had brought back from No-Heart's castle, especially so soon after her own experience, but she was at least grateful they weren't full bodies. As soon as she had finished writing up her report she headed for the Hall of Hearts in the early evening.

Only John, two of his FBI agents, the Star Fox Team, Bright Heart, Grumpy, Tenderheart Brave Heart and the Magi were in the Hall of Hearts. Notes printed from the data they had gathered from both Cold Heart's castle and Quentin Industries spread across the entirety of the large hollow-heart shaped table that was used for meetings. Everyone was walking around to examine the notes, John asking Life Heart what the writing in No-Heart's magic scrolls and books meant.

Brave Heart was the first to see Take Care and set down the notes he had been reading. "So, did you find anything?"

Take Care nodded, "I did." She raised her voice so everyone could hear, "I have the information on the remains Fara brought me." Her voice gathered everyone's attention and they gathered closer to hear what she had to say. "The remains came from more clones of the Care Bear Family. I checked several times to make certain and I found the same variances in their DNA that I found in Truth Bear and Lily's DNA that identify them as clones. I found DNA for Tenderheart, Brave Heart, Swift Heart, Funshine, Cozy Heart and True Heart in the remains."

Brave Heart clenched a fist, "So No-Heart cloned all of us and just disposed of them?!"

Truth Bear was staring at the floor, "He made more, like me? But they never had a chance to live, or find their place in life." Hot tears of rage started to form in his eyes as Defender came over to comfort his brother.

"I hate to say this, but you turning against him is probably what prompted him to be less forgiving with them," Guidance Heart said.

Truth rubbed his eyes, "I know, I don't regret my choices but I can't stand the thought of this."

Take Care waited before she continued, "I can't determine how long the remains have been there, because there are so few microbes and sunlight in No-Heart castle the rate of decay is much lower than what you'd find on Earth." Take Care sighed, "Not sure what else to make of this. What did we find in Cold Heart's notes, Grumpy?"

Grumpy set down the papers her had been reading, "It's all junk. 75% of it is just notes on the machines he's used to fight us in the past, 5% is stuff he never got around to using and the rest of it is just notes from when he was called Alexander Coldwell."

Bright Heart winced, being one of the few Care Bears who knew Take Care's past.

Life Heart picked up the conversation, "As for No-Heart's magic. There aren't any notes about his plans here, just alchemy formulas for his spells and magical notes. He doesn't seem to have kept notes on future plans here. I can use most of these spells but they don't give any real indication as to what he's up to right now."

"Fortunately, what we copied from Quentin's servers is more revealing. The technological advancements aren't too far ahead of what's being done now." Bright Heart spoke up, "One thing he's been involved in is prolonging medical treatments. Some of his scientists created a cure for muscular dystrophy and were turning it from a single cure into a series life-long treatments."

Take Care tensed up, "Just to extort money from sick people."

Brave Heart turned to John, "So what are you going to do with his innovations?"

John looked over the notes Bright Heart had been pouring over, "We'll try to make them public but medical companies are going to push back against this. It will be a minimum of six years of testing for any of these cures to be even be eligible for FDA approval and that's just the regular testing." John sighed, "Even if we endorse these they will stand to make a lot of treatments obsolete."

"And people who profit off that are going to leverage the money and influence they have to delay them as long as possible," Guidance Heart glared at the notes, "And even if it does get through, they're probably going to charge people an arm and a leg to get them just to keep their margins up when they could just take the money they've made and retire."

"Even if we get it through the red tape, I just know those anti-vaxxers will try to stop it, or refuse treatment for them or their children!" Take Care's voice raised and she tensed up until Indy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Will you be alright?" he asked.

Take Care took a deep breath, "I'll be fine, I've just had a very long day."

"I know," Tenderheart sighed, "We'll do what we can to help them see reason."

"There's more," John motioned for everyone to look at his set of notes. "According to this, Quentin was working on developing nanomachines."

Some of the Care Bears shared looks. They knew what it meant but they knew they had to keep their knowledge of future events secret for now.

Bright Heart was able to play along without giving the game away, "Quentin was running into a problem with heat. All the tiny legs of the nanomachines generate a massive amount of friction which caused them to overheat and the legs to snap off, rendering the machines useless."

"That would be where Cold Heart comes in," Grumpy picked up some notes, "One thing Cold Heart knows better than any I've encountered is cooling systems. If they're working together that would be what they need Cold Heart for: creating a miniaturized cooling system powerful enough to keep the nanomachines from breaking down."

"That explains what happened with the nano assassin at the UN." Tenderheart spoke up, "If Cold Heart developed the cooling system then it's likely vulnerable to the energy of our Care Bear Stare. When I used mine on the nano it probably disabled or destroyed the cooling unit and the nanomachines just broke apart."

"Then if they have that weakness wouldn't they be working to overcome it?" One of the FBI agents asked.

"Most likely. Unless they do what they've always done and just abandon an idea the moment it fails." Grumpy put the notes down.

John shook his head, "If Quentin is working with them I doubt he'll let them do that. He's a scientist and any successful scientist knows that you need to try and fail a number of times before you get something right. Even then we might see more of them, if only the Care Bear Stare can destroy them."

"For now take your copies of the info back to your boss," Bright Heart said, "We'll have to inform the UN about this and take it from there."

"I have my copies secured," John turned to leave, "We can't reveal this to the public yet, but I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to reveal it."

"We'll take it under consideration. Thank you," Tenderheart shook hands with John before he left.

Everyone waited in the Hall of Hearts until they were certain John and his FBI men had left. Anger Heart, Guidance Heart and Flair Heart leaving without anyone taking notice as Guidance was exhausted from her mission.

"They're no longer in Care-a-Lot," Fara confirmed.

Everyone turned to Futureheart. He didn't need psychic powers to know what they were going to ask. "Cold Heart has created a cooling system to keep the nanomachines from overheating and it is disabled by the Care Bear Stare. They will develop a version that is immune to this effect and place it in a machine called The Prank. It's a much more powerful nanomorph that looks like a clown and is all but unstoppable. Bright Heart eventually calculated that it would take over 200 Stares attacking it simultaneously to destroy it."

"When is The Prank coming?" Tenderheart asked.

"Very soon, in less than a week, on Flair Heart's birthday in Paradise Valley." Futureheart looked around, noticing that Anger Heart and Guidance Heart had taken their son, Flair Heart, out before his speech started. "I'll have to talk to them later."

"Then we should evacuate the valley," Brave Heart said.

"Where would we take them?" Tenderheart asked. "I want to help save them too but we can't forcibly relocate them by telling them an evil clown made of tiny robots is going to come and kill them because a man from the future said so."

Brave Heart blinked, "I mean... it sounds ridiculous when you say it like that."

"Not to mention we don't know if this will even happen," Bright Heart added. "I trust your judgement, Futureheart, but now that we've raided their old headquarters and destroyed the first nanomorph they're likely to change their plans. You've helped us change the future and now your version of events are far less likely to play out like you remember them."

Futureheart just stared at everyone around him, "I understand, but I can't stop trying to change things. I won't let that future happen." Without another word, Futureheart turned and left the Hall of Hearts.

Tenderheart watched him go then turned back to the papers and books strewn across the Hall of Hearts, "Alright everyone, let's get this cleaned up and organized."

A collective groan arose from everyone.

OoOoO

The next day, Cautious Heart Cat was got a message on her heartphone about a caring mission. She passed by Take Care and Indy on her way out, then paused.

"Indy?"

Indy looked up from the book he was reading, "Yes?"

"Can you come with me on my caring mission?"

Indy closed his book, "Of course." He turned to Take Care and gave her a kiss, "I'll keep her safe."

"I know you will. Good Luck," Take Care watched them go then turned back to her book. Love Heart's order about all caring missions needing a Magi escort still stood as long as Mental Heart was out there. Even though she trusted Indy, Take Care couldn't help but be nervous about what might happen.

Indy conjured a cloud car, "Mind if I drive?"

"Go ahead, I still need to review the mission." Cautious Heart got into the passenger's seat as Indy got behind the wheel then took off.

"So what's the mission?" Indy asked once they were in the air.

Cautious Heart was staring at her heartphone, "A young girl ran away from home after an argument with her parents because they moved from a big city to a small town. She's currently on a bus heading back to the city she used to live in. We should be able to catch up with her at one of the rest stops between cities. Here."

Indy glanced over at the spot Cautious was pointing to on her phone scree, "OK. Resetting the GPS," he turned the car's autopilot on and set it to head for the rest stop in question. Now that he could take his hands and feet off the controls, Indy turned to face Cautious, "So, do you want to talk about me and your mother?"

Cautious stored her phone away in her tummy symbol then turned to Indy, "Sort of, I mean... It's weird seeing mom so affectionate around you. She cares about us but I haven't seen her like that since she used to tuck me in at night when I was a cub."

"I get it," Indy smiled, "So do things make sense now?"

"Mostly," Cautious Heart turned to look out the side of the Cloud Car, "I mean I've seen you around almost daily for the last decade but it's different now. You're cooking for us, I see you two kissing and I find it hard to believe the same person kissing you is mom, but... I'm adjusting." She turned back to Indy, "Are you two going to get married?"

Indy blinked, "Honestly, I hadn't thought that far ahead. I mean it took us so long to get together so maybe in another ten years. With everything Futureheart told us I hope I'll have a long time to figure it out." A smile crept its way onto Indy's face, "Now that I'm thinking about it, yeah at some point I want to."

Cautious Heart rolled her eyes, "So am I going to have to start calling you 'dad'?"

Indy smiled and turned to look forwards as the rest stop came into view, "Only if you want to."

OoOoO

"So this is the Kingdom of Caring?" Big Joe munched on a burger in his hand, "Looks like a rainbow puked." He stood with Mental Heart and three armed and armored mercenaries (wearing white to blend in with the clouds), near the edge of the Forest of Feelings, out of sight of anyone.

"Just do what you were told to do then contact me," Mental Heart didn't even wait for the fat man and three mercenaries to respond before he surrounded himself in psionic energy and flew away from the Kingdom of Caring.

"Alright, stay down and keep quiet," one of the mercenaries pulled out a set of binoculars. "Looks like we lucked out, a bunch of kids playing alone. Move out and stay out of sight."

Miracle Heart Kitsune, Wild Heart Pegasus, Meek Heart Pegasus, Flair Heart Raccoon, Shimmering Star Bear, Marina Bear and the Mulcaheys were all in the small playground that was right next to the Care-a-Lot schoolhouse. Though none of them were attending normal classes at the moment they still were all over the playground.

Near the sandbox, Mira and Pretty Heart Skunk were sparring again. Mira ducked under on of Pretty Heart's punches and kicked high at her head, just missing as the pink skunk dodged backwards.

"Alright, time out." Pretty Heart held up her gloved hands in the best T shape she could.

Mira grinned, "Told you I'm getting better." She threw her hands down and her training gloves disappeared.

"But it hasn't even been a week," Pretty Heart held her gloved hands forwards so Mira could undo the laces.

"Yeah, but I've been training every day and dad says that we Magi learn and get stronger at fighting faster," she finished untying Pretty Heart's gloves, "Soulful Heart once described us as 'super soldiers' or something like that."

"Makes sense," the voice came from Thorough Heart Weasel, who had taken a break from something he was working on in the sand to watch them. "If you can fight and use magic at this young an age that your dad's going to let you fight then you'd have to be genetically designed for it. But..." he folded his arms and scrutinized Miracle Heart, "Most super soldiers in fiction are mentally unbalanced."

Mira rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, but I can't speak any language I haven't learned."

"What?" Pretty Heart and Thorough Heart just stared at the purple four-tailed fennec fox.

"All Care Bears can speak and understand any language, since they go all over the world to help people, but because we're made to fight, Magi have to learn each language on their own. But dad and grandma made this magic necklaces to let us do that if we need to."

"Kinda like a disability, makes sense," Thorough Heart nodded.

Before any other topics of conversation came up, Mira's ears twitched. Something unfamiliar was nearby. The clunk of metal and plastic rustling together ever so faintly. She ignored the conversation that was springing up between Pretty and Thorough as she turned to listen. The noise stopped.

"Hey Mira-"

"Shh!" Mira shushed Thorough Heart and held up a hand, closing her eyes to try and listen for the sounds again. "Bring everyone over here, don't ask questions," she whispered to them.

Pretty Heart and Thorough Heart saw the serious look on Mira's face and quietly moved to gather all the cubs in the sandbox. Miracle Heart heard what sounded like someone chewing and looked out of the right corner of her eye just in time to see someone being pulled down below a dip in the clouds near the Forest of Feelings. They were close.

Meek Heart had noticed the change in demeanor and walked over to Mira. "What's wrong?" he kept his voice low so only the fennec-kitsune could hear.

"Someone's here," Mira watched as everyone got closer, "Can you raise a magical barrier quickly?"

"Which direction," Meek Heart's horn started to glow faintly.

Mira moved one of her tails to her right, "Over there, if you see any movement, create the barrier." She watched as everyone was gathered by the sandbox.

"Big sister, what's going on?" Shimmering Star asked. He still had his diaper on.

"Stay close, Shimmers, I hope I'm wrong about this." Mira's body was tense.

There was a sudden *click* from nearby and a dart flew out and struck Marina in the arm. Meek Heart reacted quickly and threw up the barrier as two more clicks were heard and the darts broke against the wall.

"Marina!" Flair managed to pull the dark out of the striped blue bear's arm before it injected its entire contents into her. "Tranquilizer, just hold on it won't set in for a while."

"Hold still!" The voice came form Big Joe as he stood up, "Don't make us hurt you!"

"Moron," one of the mercenaries said as they stood up, "alright kids hold still. Let us tranquilize you and you won't be hurt."

"Meek, can you extend that barrier around us?" Mira asked.

"No, I only have enough energy to keep one of these barriers up at a time. I need more practise," Meek Heart still had his hands up to hold the barrier in place.

"Lie still and rest," Flair lay Marina down and stood up to watch as two of the mercs split left and right to flank them.

"We have to fight," Mira said, "Flair take the right, I'll take the left, Meek focus on the front one. Wild Heart, send out an alert signal." Miracle Heart's tummy symbol glowed as she conjured metal gauntlets and greaves; unlike her mother's weapons, Miracle Heart's completely covered her hands and feet. Flair Heart's symbol glowed and he conjured a rapier into his right hand as the two mercenaries got around the barrier.

Mira and Flair both shouted and charged at the mercenaries, Mira bringing up a hand to block the tranquilizer dart that the mercenary fired at her then jumped at him and aimed a punch at his chest. She struck his armor and knocked him back but he didn't flinch and pulled out a tranquilizer dart to reload his gun, only for Mira to strike his gun out of his hand.

Flair ducked under a shot that struck the clouds behind him and tried to strike through his armor, but only struck across the surface. He was forced to dodge as the merc pulled out a knife and tried to stab him, which give the merc time to back up and reload his tranquilizer gun.

Wild Heart's tummy symbol lit up and a copy of it made of light flew up and towards Care-a-Lot.

"Why aren't you helping them fight?" Curious Heart Wolf had dropped flat in the sandbox and was staring up at the orange unicorn girl.

"I'm not allowed to," Wild Heart turned to watch as her twin brother did his best to keep the barrier between himself and the third mercenary. "I decided to practise my magic without permission at the tummy symbol range and I almost burned down the gym, so my big brother held me back at Sergeant." She clenched her fists, "I want to help but... dad keeps saying I need to have self-control so all I can do is send out an alert signal."

The mercenary that Meek was blocking suddenly whipped around and shot at Mira. The dart struck in her arms which prompted the merc she was fighting to step back. "You're done, that'll put you to sleep in no time."

"Big sister!" Shimmers tried to run over to Mira but was held back by Passive Heart Badger.

Mira winced and pulled the dart out, "It's not instant, so I just have a couple minutes to beat you." Mira took a deep breath and punched her fists together, a spark of electricity flashing at the impact point before her entire body became enveloped in yellow lightning, "So I'll just have to go all out!" Mira suddenly charged unleashing a flurry of punches on her opponent, lightning sparking at each impact point, followed up by a kick that knocked him off his feet.

The mercenary in the middle pulled out his side arm and began firing at Mira, only for her to spin to him and block every bullet with her gauntlets until he was forced to reload. Meek took his chance and shoved the shield at the mercenary, shattering it on impact but sending him stumbling back several paces. Meek Heart magically pulled five small stones from around the nearby swings and hurled them at the mercenary, each striking him with force they shouldn't have had and forcing him back.

"Stone Fist!" Meek charged in and punched him, stone momentarily appearing around his hand as he cast the spell and punched the mercenary

Flair's opponent was caught off guard when the pink raccoon jumped back, a ball of darkness shooting out of his free hand and striking through him. The mercenary felt a massive pain through his body but did his best to ignore it and fired a dart at Flair, hitting him in the leg. Flair ignored it and charged, his rapier flashing in to strike the mercenary, finding a spot in his armor to thrust through, rendering his limb numb. The mercenary was forced to try and deflect the rapier thrusts with his combat knife.

Mira's opponent had jumped back up and was attacking her with his combat knife as she deflected each blow and landing hits that sparked with electricity from her fists and feet.

Pretty Heart watched her with awe, "She didn't fight like that when we were sparring."

"This is a fight for her life, not a friendly sparring match," Thorough Heart said, "She's going to do whatever she can to survive, they all are."

"Force them together!" Mira shouted as she spun around her opponent and began to force him towards Meek Heart with the fury of her onslaught.

It was all Meek could do to dodge around his opponent and stay out of the reach of a taser gun he had pulled out. Flair, meanwhile, was luring his opponent towards Meek Heart instead of trying to force him back.

"Now!" Mira spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to her opponent's chest, getting a cut across the leg but forcing him back. Flair got the message and spun around his opponent and used two powerful swings to make him panic into stepping backwards. The two mercenaries backed into each other, the force from Mira's kick forcing the third merc to smack into them and momentarily knocking them off her feet.

It was all Mira needed as she held up her hands, a transparent blue humming blue ball of electricity forming in her hands, "Stun Sphere!" She hurled the sphere at the three mercenaries before they could get up. The ball expanded on impact, the humming reaching ear-splitting pitch as they shouted in pain, small lightning bolts striking out at them from the edges of the sphere.

Mira could feel her head starting to cloud as she focused all her energy into her hand, "I'm going to do something different with your technique dad," blue lightning danced all along her right gauntlet.

Love Heart, Confidence, Defender and Sage Heart ran up just in time to see Mira charge at the mercenaries trapped in the stun sphere.

"Stun Sphere!" Mira struck the edged of the sphere and plowed right through, passing in between the mercenaries and bursting through the other side, "Burst!" the sphere exploded in a massive burst of blue lightning and when the energy dissipated all three mercenaries lay unconscious and covered in electrical burns on the clouds.

Mira turned in time to see her parents run up to her and gave a thumbs up as the adrenaline wore off and her weapons dissolved off her hands and feet. "I beat them dad." Then she fell to the clouds, thankfully soft enough to cushion her fall.

"Shit, I am not sticking around for this!" Big Joe turned to run only to find himself face-to-face with Defender Bear, his sword drawn.

"Stay still if you want to stay alive." His sword burst into flames. Big Joe was so terrified that he fainted dead away.

Sage Heart walked over to his twin son and daughter, Meek Heart and Wild Heart, who turned to face him as he arrived. "Meek Heart, Wild Heart. Tell me what happened here."

OoOoO

Independent Bear stood nearby as Cautious Heart sat on the bench next to the ten-year old girl named Sarah who was the subject of their caring mission. Indy wasn't really good at caring missions, save for the few where he was asked to talk to an introverted child so they wouldn't feel bad just being along, despite the insistence of their peers.

Cautious Heart leaned forwards to look Sarah in the face, as the girl was leaned forwards with teary eyes, "Do you want to go home now?"

Sarah nodded, "Yes, but the bus doesn't go back."

Cautious Heart smiled and got off the bench, "Don't worry, we can take you home."

"Hey, girl, are you getting on?" the bus driver called from the bus doors.

Sarah stood up and wiped her eyes, "No, I'm going home."

The driver looked at Indy and Cautious, "Alright, Care Bears, just get her home safe."

"Alright, one cloud car coming up." Cautious Heart conjured a cloud car from her tummy symbol.

"Guess I'm the passenger this time," Indy got into the back seat while Cautious Heart got behind the wheel and Sarah got in the passenger's seat.

The ride mostly passed in silence other than Sarah directing Cautious Heart towards her new town. Indy sat back and watched the highway going by underneath them. No cars going either way. He looked up at the open countryside around them until they approached the town. It was small enough that there were only two main streets that met in the middle and the tallest building near the center of the town only had four stories.

"There, that's my house." Sarah directed Cautious Heart to the street she lived on, a cul-de-sac.

"OK, just a moment." Cautious Heart landed the car on the small grassy boulevard in the middle of the road and let Sarah out.

"That went well," Cautious Heart smiled as she watched Sarah run up her front steps.

"Something's wrong." Indy got out of the car.

"Huh?" Cautious Heart looked up at Indy.

Indy's eyes narrowed, "Listen, it's too quiet. No people, no animals, not even any vehicles."

Cautious Heart stepped out of the cloud car and looked around. Indy was right, the silence was eerie.

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Sarah's scream caused both of them to charged towards her house and inside. What they saw stopped them cold.

Sarah's parents and her little brother lay on the floor, their bodies looking like desiccated husks, their faces contorted into screams of pain, and their eyeballs having been torn from their sockets. On the wall, painted in their blood were the words 'WELCOME HOME SARAH'.

Cautious Heart was frozen in shock until Indy touched her shoulder and motioned to Sarah. The young girl was still conscious but she had gone into shock as Indy and Cautious Heart forced her to her feet and helped her outside.

"I see the little girl found her welcome home party." Both Care Bears of them looked up as they got down the front steps to see Mental Heart standing three meters in front of them.

"You monster!" Indy conjured his katana into his left hand and stepped in front of the two girls. "You did this!"

Mental Heart's face remained impassive and his speech far too calm for the situation, "She didn't want her family anymore, so I decided the best this I could do to help her was to get rid of them, and everyone else she didn't want to see."

An icy dread ran through Cautious Heart as she looked around into the houses. Either she hadn't noticed it before or it was only just starting to leak out but there was the faint smell of blood everywhere. She focused on a nearby house and saw an eyeless head sitting in the bay window, and blood splattered across the wall opposite of the window. She tore her gaze away and stared at the ground.

"Stay by me," Indy tensed, ready to attack.

"Are you going to fight me?" Mental Heart asked. "Before you do you should help that girl and put her out of her misery. After what she's seen today I doubt she'll ever recover, if she even lives long enough to be able to."

"How dare you! You bastard!" Indy charged, white psionic energy flowing around him and into his sword.

"If we must." Mental Heart formed a transparent glowing blue blade of pure psionic energy and brought it up just in time to block Indy's strike. "All that power and you still can't do anything to help her."

"Shut up!" Indy deflected his sword off Mental Heart's blade and sliced upwards. Mental Heart dodged backwards only for Indy to form a sphere of white energy in his right hand and throw it at him, which knocked him back a few meters until it exploded and nearly knocked him off his feet.

"I didn't think you had come this far." Mental Heart reached into his pants pocket then flicked his arm forwards, throwing something flat right past Indy.

Sarah was just standing still and staring off into space when the object flew right at her neck, only to be deflected when Indy jumped in the way and sliced the object off course. The object flew back into Mental Heart's hand and he stashed it back in his pocket. "You should just let her die, but if you're so determined to protect her then let's see if you can." Mental Heart crossed his hands over his chest as his psionic energy began to form into a sphere around him.

Indy's eyes widened as he saw what Mental Heart was doing, then turned and all but threw himself on top of Cautious Heart Cat and Sarah, a white dome of energy forming over top of all three of them. It came not a moment too soon as a massive explosion emanated from Mental Heart.

Indy opened his eyes to look at the surroundings, a flash of memories pouring in as he did so. To describe the town now as a "blasted wasteland" would have been a compliment. The houses were scattered in pieces everywhere and those that were still standing were missing most of their walls. The ground was scorched and littered with craters and the bodies of the townsfolk, hurled from the houses that had been destroyed.

Indy stood up, his barrier dissipating, and turned to face Mental Heart who stood in a wide but shallow crater. "You did this. Those towns years ago," he couldn't forget what he had seen over a decade ago, and he'd read the ancient report from when the rest of the Care Bears were cubs about the similarly devastated town the founders had encountered.

Mental Heart uncrossed his arms, "I see you're familiar with my work."

"But why!? Why destroy those towns and why so long ago?!" Indy demanded, staying defensively in front of Cautious and Sarah.

Mental Heart's demeanor cracked and he bared his teeth, "Because they deserved it! For what they did they deserved nothing less!" The debris surrounding him was starting to levitate until he took a deep breath and calmed down, the debris landing around him and his voice returning to the same icy tone he usually kept, "If you want to protect her then go. The day the world ends is fast approaching, I suggest you use your time wisely." A sphere of energy formed around Mental Heart then rocketed off into the sky.

Indy watched the spec as it vanished into the distance then turned to Cautious Heart and Sarah who were huddled together. Cautious Heart looked up at Indy, "Take me home, please."

Indy nodded and conjured a cloud car. They helped Sarah into the backseat then sat in the front seat. "What can we do for Sarah?" Cautious Heart looked back at the girl who hadn't spoken.

"I don't know..." Indy couldn't manage to drive, he just set the autopilot to take them home and sat in silence.

OoOoO

Thankfully, the tranquilizer in Marina, Mira and Flair didn't take long to flush out thanks to Love Heart's magic and the injuries to the cubs were minimal. Defender and Truth Bear were guarding the disarmed and tied up mercenaries.

Meek Heart Unicorn, Miracle Heart Kitsune and Flair Heart Raccoon stood on a small heart-shaped raised platform in the middle of the Hall of Hearts while most of the Care Bear Family sat around the table. Love Heart stood in front of them wearing his general's uniform and smiling at the. "Warrant Officers Meek Heart Unicorn, Miracle Heart Kitsune and Flair Heart Raccoon, after what has happened today and your skill and response in defending the Kingdom of Caring and your fellow Care Bears, I believe you're ready to be promoted to full Magi. Do you accept the rank of Lieutenant and all the responsibilities that come with it?"

"I do!" Mira, Meek and Flair all responded at once.

Love Heart smiled and extended his hand, "Please hand me your Magi ID cards." The three cubs reached into their tummy symbols and pulled out the ID cards with their names, pictures and bronze colored chevrons of a Warrant Officer attached. Love Heart took the cards, cast a simple spell then handed them back, the Warrant Officer's chevrons replaced with the silver bar of a Lieutenant. "Congratulations. As of this moment the three of you have been granted the rank of Lieutenant and full Magi status. You may be asked to perform caring mission escort duties in the near future and you can now access the Magi Gym in the Hall of Hearts for personal training."

There was applause from the rest of the family. Miracle Heart couldn't contain herself any longer and literally jumped for joy, floating softly back to the ground of the Hall of Hearts.

Love Heart smiled then turned around and headed for the table where Wild Heart Unicorn sat with Sage Heart and Life Heart. "Wild Heart, I have one more thing for you."

"Yes, big... I mean General." Wild Heart gulped.

"What you said about not fighting, I would have understood if you fought because your lives were at risk, but I want to applaud you for keeping your self control and not jumping in. I've been informed," he winked at Sage Heart, "That you have gained more control over your magic so I think you're ready for more specialized training." He held his hand out, "Hand me your ID card."

Wild Heart gulped and fumbled for a moment before she produced her card with the Sergeant's chevrons on it. One spell cast later and Love Heart handed it back, the new rank chevrons of Warrant Officer on her ID, "As of now you are a Warrant Officer. You still need more training but I leave it to your discretion to engage in fight for self-defence. I will be pushing you harder from now on though so don't expect to go easier."

Wild Heart's face lit up as she stared at her ID car, "Thanks, big brother." She suddenly covered her mouth upon hearing her faux pas in the formal situation. A fair number of the Care Bears burst out laughing at her embarrassed face and Love Heart chuckled, deciding to overlook this.

It was at that moment that everyone's heartphones went crazy.

Everyone pulled out their phones and saw the caring meter app going crazy, the number going randomly all over the table. Love Heart looked up at Sage Heart. "Just like ten years ago."

"And when you were cubs," Sage Heart looked over at True Heart and Noble Heart.

Love Heart shook his head to dispel the shock and immediately ran to the control room. Others followed him as he tracked the location of the crazy signal, only for the screen to become covered in static when he tried to lock on to the location.

"Just like last time," Tenderheart walked up alongside Love Heart. "Do you know where it is?"

"Whatever the interference is it's completely scrambling the camera." Love Heart sat back, "we'll just have to wait for it to clear up."

"Can you tell where you're looking?" Brave Heart leaned on the control console.

"Not really. Wait, I'm getting a signal from a couple heartphones. It's Indy and Cautious Heart, they're moving out of the area." Love Heart pulled his heartphone out and dialed Indy.

Indy was lost in thought as he went over the day's events in his mind but was jolted back to reality by his phone ringing. "Hello?" he answered.

"Indy, what just happened down there?" Love Heart asked.

Indy's face was grim as he answered, "It was Mental Heart. He was behind it this time and the last two times..."

OoOoO

Mental Heart returned to the hidden cave and turned to where Quenos and Dr. Fright were still working on their project with Cold Heart nearby worked on his own project. The finished body lay in a glass tube. It resembled a clown wearing a yellow outfit with blue and red polka dots, a white face with a big red nose and red curly hair.

"Why is your new project a clown?" Mental Heart asked.

Quenos gave a sinister grin, "Because it's my ultimate joke on the world, or rather my ultimate prank!" He turned to Cold Heart, "Professor, is it finished."

"Yes." Cold Heart was looking through a microscope and set down his tools. "I've refined and reinforced. It would take the power of over 200 of those fuzzy wuzzy's stares to even dent this."

"Good. Install it and I'll get to the programming." Quenos turned back to his screen.

"Hold on a moment," Mental Heart stepped forwards, "I need you to implant an order into your Prank."

Quenos turned to Mental Heart, "I can't do that, if I impose any order into this being of chaos it would temporarily paralyze its body before and after the order is carried out..." Quenos was at first indignant but wilted when he saw the cold stare of Mental Heart's eyes.

The low key but sharp venom in Mental Heart's voice left no doubt in Quenos' mind that he would follow his direction. "I need you to program your Prank to kill the bear named Ursus Futur, or Futureheart Bear. As long as he is alive our plans are in jeopardy."