before.”

“Cool,” smiled Hunter. “I wonder what Exile's gonna say.”

“You mean there are more of you guys?” asked Bolt (in dog, of course).

“Yeah,” Hunter said, “There's Exile, Shag, Muzzle, and Blitz.”

“Who?” asked Colleen.

“Blitz. You know, the Doberman.”

Colleen tapped a finger on her chin. “Hmm, must have slipped my mind. Is he new?”

From their back seat vantage point, Penny and Bolt couldn't see the smile creep onto Hunter's lips.

They met up with the rest of the crew in an out-of-the-way area in town. “So you guys were changed too?” asked Penny as Shag amiably knelt down to talk to Bolt. After a string of indecipherable sounds by way of introduction, Shag held out a paw to shake. Bolt sniffed the massive paw, placed his own in it...

… and, smashed it into the pavement.

“Row-oo-oo-oo!” Shag let out a howl of pain and tried to pull his paw away. Surprised at his own strength, Bolt lifted his paw, and Shag fell backward.

“Bolt!” scolded Penny.

Bolt hunched to the ground, his ears flat and his tail tucked between his legs. “I didn't mean to,” he whimpered. “I couldn't help it.”

Hunter placed a hand on Penny's shoulder to calm her down. “He says it was an accident. He can't control his powers yet, remember?”

Penny stopped and nodded. “Right, sorry.” She knelt down to pat Bolt on the head. “It's OK, boy.”

“Mi mi-mi mi mi,” whimpered Shag, clutching his paw as Colleen started to examine it.

Bolt was staring at his own paw, curious now. Experimentally, he tapped the ground with it, knocking everyone over.

“Bolt!” cried Penny. Then, seeing the upset look on the dog's face, she stopped, and her expression softened. She had never been able to stay mad at those eyes for long. “Listen, boy, try to take it easy, OK? Save the rough stuff for the bad guys like that goon who was chasing us.”

Bolt nodded, his tongue hanging out in a doggy grin. Penny stood up and faced the rest of the group. “We've got to find out where they're keeping my father.”

“That's just why we're 'ere,” Colleen replied, smiling.

Hunter nodded. “OK, let's get moving. Maybe one of them is still around and has something we can use to track them back to their base.”

Colleen suddenly started yelling and jumping around, beating at her head like she had been attacked by a flea circus. Nobody blamed her much, given that her hair was on fire. Bolt sat, still looking in her direction, but now with his body hunched up like he knew he'd done something wrong. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

“And let's get some shades for him while we're at it,” added Hunter as Exile used a low-power dose of freeze vision to extinguish the blaze.

It didn't take long to find the man who had come after them. He was cruising around in a black car trying to find them, a scowl on his face as he peered at the crowds.

“How do we catch him?” asked Penny.

“By using a tactic mastered by the ancient Japanese ninjas,” answered Colleen.  “Why don't you do the honors, Huntie-Wuntie?”

Hunter stepped out of the alley they had secluded themselves in and threw a smoke bomb into the car window. Noxious black fumes filled the vehicle, and within seconds the man opened his door and staggered out, bent nearly double and coughing into his fist.

Hunter stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Over this way!” he called. “Please, try to keep up!”

The man ran towards the alley, only to find it completely empty. He walked a few steps in, but got no further when a figure detached itself from the shadows with a shriek and planted a deft strike at the spot where his shoulder met his neck. With a grunt, the man went stiff and then fell limp as an overcooked noodle.

“Wow.” Bolt was awestruck as he came out of hiding with the others. “I've gotta remember that move.”

Hunter rolled the unconscious agent over and began to search his pockets. Bolt nosed his face, then his shirt collar. “Hey, I got something,” he reported.

Hunter opened the man's jacket and removed a radio hooked up to a mini-microphone in his collar and a tiny bud in his ear. “Like taking candy from a baby,” he gloated.

Penny heard a noise behind them and gulped. “Uh, guys? Don't look now, but I think Mommy and Daddy just showed up.”

They turned around to be confronted with half a dozen of the cyber-ninjas they'd face earlier. The six clenched their fists, then flicked them open. Lines of electricity sizzled and danced between their clawed finger tips like the inside of a plasma ball.

“Is looking like they brought the whole family,” remarked Exile, looking like he was really hoping they wouldn't decide to break out the snap-shots.

Colleen tilted her head and put a hand to her chin, as if critiquing their aggressors. “Well, I can't say much for the color, and the style is dreadful, but I abso-bloomin'-lutely love the accessories.”

The figures rushed at them, swiping out with their electrified claws like crazed raptors. “Shag, keep an eye on Penny!” ordered Hunter. “Everyone else, let's roll!”

Colleen lashed out at the first one to come her way. “Tonto!” First, she caught him by the wrist as he took a swipe at her. She yanked on his arm, sending him into a spin. “Kato!” Then, she treated him to a jump-kick in the head, giving him some extra company inside his helmet; a few teeth to amuse him by bouncing around. “Grayson!” Finally, she crouched low to avoid the aimlessly waving claws and spin-kicked his feet out from under him.

The next one went after Hunter, who dodged several strikes before winging a tennis ball into his attacker's stomach.

“GOOoooaaah...”

Or maybe it was a shot-put ball. Either way, the guy apparently didn't like the feeling of it hitting him in the stomach. He clutched his abdomen...

ZZAPP!

Only to remember that, oh yeah, he'd left the old taser talons running (hmm, maybe that's why only licensed professionals get to play around with loose wires). He decided then that it was a really good time to keel over and take a nap.

The next two went after Blitz, who screamed and ducked at the sight of two techno-ninjas about to fry his fur. As he dropped to his knees and covered his head, one ninja tripped over him and fried the other, who very kindly fell on him and returned the favor.

Blitz looked up and saw the two lying sprawled on the ground. “I meant to do that, you know,” he smirked.

The next one was Exile's. He fired off two blasts of freeze vision, icing over the talons. Unfortunately, one crackle of lightning was all it took to shatter the layer.

“OK, I do it hard way,” he rumbled. He shot off another blast, this time of heat vision, and melted the ground under the ninja's feet, sinking him up to his ankles in hot asphalt. But he wasn't there long. The moment he looked down, Exile knocked his lights out.

Unfortunately, while the Rovers had been cleaning up the other five ninjas, the last one slipped past them and was closing in for Penny. And Shag, it seemed, was in no mood to fight. He put one arm in front of Penny and then backed up to the wall.

Bolt jumped forward, teeth bared and throat rumbling. He barked a warning, and the bark came out with such force that it knocked him backwards into the wall behind him, shaking the bricks.

The effect on the Rovers and the ninja was equally dramatic. A gust of wind and a roar of sound lifted them clear off their feet and flung them backwards right out of the alley. The good news was, a grocery truck had parked in just the right spot to keep them out of traffic. The bad, or at least painful news, was...

CLANG!

They didn't land in the groceries.

“Ooooaah...” groaned Hunter as he extracted himself from a dent in the side of the truck. The rest of the team echoed similar complaints as they stepped or fell out of the impressions they had made.

As Penny, Bolt, and Shag-the only ones unaffected by the blast-came running, Colleen moaned, “You'd better 'ave the receipt for those voice lessons.”

“I knew Daddy made him powerful,” Penny admitted, “But not like this.”

Bolt was wide-eyed. “Gosh,” he said, “I was only trying to scare the guy.”

Exile, still rubbing his head, looked at the cyber-ninja. The teched-out warrior was still stuck in the side of the truck with his claws weakly sparking. “I am thinking you maybe overdid-ski,” he observed.

“Any other powers we should know about?” asked Hunter.

“It's all new to me,” said Bolt. “I know I'm really strong, and I can make things catch on fire by staring at them sometimes, but this barking stuff is new on me.”

Penny shook her head. “I dunno,” she admitted. “He's strong, and he's got that heat-ray thing and this mega-bark, but that's all I know.”

“Rah-roh-ruh,” interjected Shag.

“Yeah,” agreed Hunter, “That does sound cooler.”

“What does?” chorused Penny and Bolt.

“Shag says you should call it the super-bark.”

“Whatever,” countered Penny. “Right now we