In that case it's Yuki's turn to step up, or maybe CSFB!. Both of them have unique talents for enraging evil people.








Now the question comes up, of course, whether it's helping or hurting her that the Hooded Hood took her memory. It protected her once, and it's probably really frustrating anyone who wants to abuse her power. But it also potentially makes it easier to convince her to help people she might not have helped before.

Of course, even with the memory loss, taking command of an undead army and enslaving planets isn't the best resume to convince her to help.





That's what I wondered, because it might be Lara's *reaction* that harms Thugos' chances of wanting to try again anytime soon. Opinions are easy to change over time; attitudes aren't, it's why bad guys hate Hatman so much. Not that I'm comparing the two directly - Lara's attitude is probably more similar to Xander's than Hatman's, worrying less about what's wrong or right, but what produces balance instead.

Also, I thought about why Thugos didn't try speaking to Faite if he wants someone powerful at his side. She's been known to not care about the lines between good and evil. The only problem is she's *very* hard to find unless you have some connection to her (those who have spoken to her before are most likely to speak to her again). She refuses to be summoned, and there's nothing that reliably causes her to appear, except the Hooded Hood annoying her. But on the other hand, Faite probably has seen the wonderwall already, and Thugos isn't corrupt enough to corrupt her, so that's probably not so much fun for him.








This is the one thing that makes Chiaki very angry. Of course she's not one to let anger make her reckless - she knows when she's outmatched and tries to enlist a lot of help. She may be the one who gladly tells Donar about it if someone else doesn't get to it first. If she thinks that might fail, this may even tempt her to speak to the Hooded Hood.





That may be one hell of a rift between Liu Xi and Vinnie. In a small background story that's been playing out for a while, they're already been on shaky ground - Liu Xi is still trying not to let him get *too* close - because of what happened with Vinnie and Kerry, and the fact that she's worried he'll still go back to that. Added to the fact that being Sorcerer Supreme, and her friends being Lair Legion (and possibly her as well) she's protecting herself from bigger heartbreak in the future when Vinnie has to do something cruel to them.

But Vinnie doing something cruel to Liu Xi, afterward she's going to have to reach deep into her soul and character just to forgive him. And this is something even Chiaki won't be able to help her with, except that the Samurai may see Liu Xi's pain and speak to Vinnie directly about making things right so he doesn't lose the closest friend he's ever had.