"Yes, I remember your names from when I was a dog." She suddenly seemed to catch herself. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt."

"That’s okay," said Hunter.

"Abby?" asked Felicia, looking a little stunned as she stared at the cano-sapien that had been her dog. "Is it really you?"

Abby nodded, and Felicia stepped up and hugged her. "Abby," she said. "I’m sorry I have to leave, but it’s the only way you’ll be-"

"Safe, I know," finished Abby.

Felicia stepped back and looked at the Road Rovers, then at the Master. "Please," she said. "Take good care of her."

"Don’t worry," said Abby. "I’m honored that they think I’m good enough to be a Road Rover, and I think I’m going to like this place." She looked at the Master. "Would it be possible for me to call her sometimes?"

The Master nodded. "That would be just fine," he said. "But I’m afraid it’s time to go now."

Felicia hugged Abby one more time. "Bye, Abby," she whispered.

As Felicia was led away, the Master turned back to the others. "Hunter, Colleen, would you show Abby around?"

"Gladly, sir," said Colleen. "Come on, Huntie." Hunter picked up a bag containing a few things Felicia had packed for Abby and followed the two girl dogs.

Colleen and Hunter gave Abby a full tour of the compound, finishing up with the room Abby would sleep in. "Well, I guess you want to get unpacked," said Hunter, "so we’ll see you later."

"Thanks, Huntie," said Abby, causing Colleen to stiffen. Hunter, not noticing, started to walk away.

"I’ll be along in a minute," Colleen called after him. Then she whispered to Abby, "His name’s Hunter. I’m the only one who calls him Huntie."

"Oh, I’m sorry," said Abby. "I didn’t realize."

Colleen suddenly wondered why she was so tense. What was the harm? "Oh, don’t worry," she said offhandedly. "It’s not that important. I just thought I’d mention it." And she walked away.

Abby went into her room smiling. She likes him, she thought. This could be useful.

The next day the Rovers received a distress call. A group of cano-mutants had attacked a government laboratory and were now getting away with a small nuclear device. "Let’s hit the Road, Rovers!" shouted Hunter.

"I’ll fly!" Abby called out as she hopped into the pilot’s seat of the Sky Rover.

"But you don’t know how!" protested Blitz.

"Neither do you," cracked Exile.

"Enough arguing, gents," said Colleen, pushing both of them into the back of the jet. Then she and Hunter headed for the Street Rover.

Despite her lack of training, Abby seemed to know instinctively what to do. She piloted the plane as if she’d been doing it all her life. "Woo-hoo!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as she did a barrel roll. "No wonder you didn’t want to give up your turn at this, Blitz!"

"How did you know it was my turn?" asked Blitz.

"Um, lucky guess?" Abby suggested rather weakly. "Uh-oh. There’s Hunter and Colleen." She pointed to the ground, where the two were trying to fend off about a dozen heavily armed cano-mutants. And they definitely weren’t winning. "Let’s go!" she said, landing the plane. They jumped out and headed for the action.

"Hey, losers!" yelled Abby. "Over here!"

"Are you crazy?" asked Blitz. "You’ll get them to shoot at us!"

The cano-mutants turned to look at them and, sure enough, started shooting their blasters. Abby ran between two of them and stopped long enough for them to fire before she jumped out of the way, causing them to blast each other instead. She somersaulted through the air, crashed down with both feet on one mutant’s head, then grabbed two more and smashed their heads together halfway through another flip. The other Rovers stared in amazement as the one-dog hurricane swept a path of destruction through Parvo’s minions. In about sixty seconds there were only two left. These two, it seemed, had been too busy trying to destroy Hunter and Colleen to see the fighting behind them. Abby slammed into Hunter’s attacker and sent it flying, then did a handspring and planted both feet in the last mutant’s chin. There was silence as she stood, smiling coolly at the fallen enemies.

"Thanks, Ab," said Colleen. She had been so busy fending off her attacker that she hadn’t seen the rest of Abby’s handiwork. "But I could’ve handled him…" she stopped as she realized that everyone was crowding around Abby.

"Whoa," said Hunter. "That was amazing."

"You sent the cano-mutants kaput-ski," said Exile.

"I’ve never seen even Colleen fight that well," added Blitz.

Colleen wasn’t bothered much by the comment. After all, Abby’s fighting was impressive, and anyway Colleen didn’t care much what Blitz thought of her. But when Hunter agreed with the sentiment, that bothered her.

On the way back, Abby took the Street Rover and convinced everyone that Colleen should come with her. "We girls need time to get acquainted," she said.

The others shrugged, and for some reason Colleen didn’t feel much like arguing. Besides, in spite of herself she wanted to know how Abby had taken down so many opponents so fast.

As they drove back to Headquarters, Colleen commented. "Those must have been some impressive techniques you used back there, Abby. Sorry I missed it. What kind of fighting style was it?"

Abby shrugged. "I don’t go for any established style. I just improvise."

"Well, you did a pretty good job of it."

"Yeah, Hunter sure seemed to think so." Abby suppressed a smile at Colleen’s silence, covering it up with a concerned look. "You like Hunter, don’t you?"

Colleen shifted uneasily. For some reason it didn't even occur to her to ask why Abby would bring that up. "Yeah, a little."

"As more than just friends?"

"Maybe," Colleen admitted.

"So now you think I’m a problem because you’re wondering if maybe he likes me instead of you."

Colleen hadn’t been consciously thinking this, but it more or less matched what was on her mind.

"Well I’m not your problem," Abby went on, "although I don’t mind telling you I’ve been watching him too. Your real problem is that you like Hunter, and seeing him say nice things about me makes you uncomfortable about yourself." Every word was like a blow to Colleen’s confidence, as if some invisible foe were throwing punch after punch at her. "Here’s what you need to do, Colleen. Go to Hunter and talk to him, plain and simple. Otherwise, I will. And then I really will be your problem."

Neither of them said anything for the rest of the ride.

Later back at the base, Colleen tried to work up the confidence to talk to Hunter. But her unease kept pushing her away, almost as strongly as a moving wall. The closer she got, the harder it was, like trying to connect two matching magnetic poles. Finally, just when she had resolved to do it no matter how nervous she felt, Abby sat down next to Hunter and started chatting casually. Discouraged, Colleen backed away. ‘Maybe he’s not interested in her,’ she thought hopefully. After all, Abby hardly seemed like Hunter’s type. But then, how was one supposed to guess what a man’s type was, anyway?

Abby waved her hand as if fanning away a bad smell. "Few, it’s getting kind of stuffy in here, isn’t it?" she commented. "Want to go outside and get some fresh air?" Hunter agreed, and the two headed out.

"Ooh, I think he likes her," said Blitz slyly, looking sideways at Colleen. He knew that Colleen liked Hunter. For that matter, just about everyone knew, except maybe Hunter himself. Much to Colleen’s frustration, however, their relationship was almost entirely business. The closest they had ever come to going out was when Colleen took Hunter for a walk on the beach once. The fact that Hunter was in his canine form at the time had left the conversation a little one-sided.

Colleen shrugged off Blitz’s teasing. This sort of thing had happened before. One time Hunter had been trying to track down a female dog none of the other Rovers knew, and Blitz and Exile had teased Colleen all day about Hunter having a girlfriend. But in the end, it turned out that Hunter had just been trying to find his mom. ‘There’s nothing to get excited about,’ Colleen told herself. ‘And even if he does like Abby, that’s their business.’ As she was thinking this, she happened to glance at the seats where Hunter and Abby had been sitting and noticed something under Abby’s. It was a bowl of dry ice! ‘No wonder it was stuffy,’ she thought. She had a pretty good idea where the dry ice had come from, and what its purpose was. Trying to look as if