Editing Blood Syndicate (section)

===Tensions===
Masquerade and some other Bang Babies dealt with another branch of S.Y.S.T.E.M.<ref>''Blood Syndicate'' #33-34</ref> They were captured for a brief time, but escaped, transformed and with their powers enhanced. Masquerade knew he could never return to the Syndicate and sought to make a team of those who were captured, but they all went their separate ways.

Third Rail and Brickhouse left the gang,<ref>''Blood Syndicate'' #20</ref> but still found trouble. They opened a burger joint together, but Third was attacked by a gigantic foe, the Techno Shaman. He possessed Third, but Brickhouse called on her old friends for help and they defeated the Shaman. When he lay defeated, Brickhouse sent the others away and finished him off.

Kwai recovered from her injuries but learned that she was on the last of a series of mystically granted lives. She traveled to her home realm, Kwen Lun, the Wondrous Lands, in a desperate attempt to gain at least one more buffer life. During Kwai's troubles, Tech Nine seemingly returned from the dead. They looked for Dogg to confirm things, but Dogg was gone. He had been captured by operatives of a murderous organization called ''S.Y.S.T.E.M.'', who wanted to experiment on him and other Bang Babies.

Tech spoke boldly to Fade about having feelings for him, something the real Tech never had. Fade was attracted to Tech, but Tech never took it seriously, nor did he slam Fade for his sexual orientation. As the gang searched for Dogg, suspicions mounted about Tech.

Upon returning home, Kwai met with her old friend, the [[Sun Wukong|Monkey King]], and the two pleaded to her father, the [[Jade Emperor]] for another life. The Emperor denied this request, declaring that she had grown too attached to the mortal world. He then sentenced her to death without [[reincarnation]] stating that she broke the blood contract between them by rebelling against him.

To save Kwai's life, the Monkey King recruited most of the Syndicate to go with him to Kwen Lun to save her, while Tech-9 and Flashback stayed behind as backup. In the Kingdom of Ti Yu (Hell), Kwai was offered marriage to the Dog God to save her existence, but decides she could not marry him and went to meet the Grey Lady. There she learned that her entire existence as Kwai was nothing more than entertainment for the gods of the Wondrous Lands in the form of a never-ending battle against the [[Fox spirit|Demon Fox]]. The Grey Lady offered Kwai another chance to live and marry the Dog God, but Kwai refused, deciding that she would no longer allow those gods to control her existence, even if it meant her death. The Grey Lady, impressed with her spirit allowed her to return, with the warning that her father would not stop until he had his revenge.