"Second wave in three minutes," Horror said.
They both turned as the plane touched down on the roof. A few minutes Rumor came out and directed her gaze towards the building.
"Is Luther in…?" Horror started.
"Yeah," she said, "He wanted to cooperate but…he should've said something sooner. I had to rumor him after all."
"And people say I'm impatient," leered Séance unpleasantly.
Rumor waved her hand in the air as if to swat him away like an annoying fly.
Any sign of Diego or Vanya?" she asked.
"Nope," answered Séance promptly.
"Not yet," Horror said, "They'd better hurry up to. I don't like thinking that something happened to them…"
"If they don't come out then getting Hargreeves furious at us won't be worth it," muttered Rumor.
"Who the fuck cares what he thinks?" cackled Séance, "We're twenty, we don't need to listen to that old bat anymore."
His words resonated within her. She pondered on that idea for a minute before brushing it away. She didn't have time to think about it right now. Later though…there'd be time for many things later.
.
.
.
"That should fix her up," Poker said quietly, getting up from his crouching position, "She'll be unconscious for awhile…but she'll be fine…yeah."
Kraken held her closer to him as he got up. He shifted her into a bridal-style position. True to what Poker had said, she had stopped bleeding but she was also unconscious. He'd better be right about her being fine too. Otherwise Kraken would have to gut him.
He gave a cursory glance at them before looking back to make out an escape route. It would be easy to get out, and he should go now. There probably wasn't much time. However, the people behind them, as much as he hated them, had just saved Vanya's life. That changed things a bit.
"We need to go," he said shortly, "There're more explosives. If you stay here you'll all die."
"And if we go?" asked Blackjack harshly, "We'll just be shut up for the rest of our lives. How is that better then death?"
Pausing, Kraken looked back at them.
"It's no less then you deserve," he snapped, "You're criminals, and you nearly killed her for no reason other than you wanted her to be your pet. I should just leave you all here to die with the rest of your stupid little family."
Blackjack started forwards before Roulette gave him a halting nudge.
"I don't expect you to understand," she said, "But…we wanted a member of our family back. She is a member and…a member that we endured much tragedy and loss over. And yes, we wanted revenge for what we lost. And we've lost so much. Parents, brothers, sisters…husbands and wives."
She choked back what must've been a sob.
"We tried to alleviate that pain by taking it out on what took it from us. But look what that gave us; more loss. We all knew that this was a gamble, we just never imagined that the stakes were this high."
She swallowed.
"As for me…ever since that day in March nineteen years ago when I came home and found that she'd been taken…I wanted to see her again. It was so selfish and childish…but you know what it's like to want something more than anything. That's the way you look at her."
Gripping Vanya closer Kraken stared at her. She chuckled.
"Don't worry," she said, "That part…that part's over. I suppose I didn't want her taken from me. I suppose that what I really wanted was for things to be the way they were. It seems like only yesterday that she was the little miracle child in my arms wrapped up in a blue blanket. But…that's over now. I'm not the woman I was then, so I obviously can't have the same things as I did then. I was just trying…trying to be someone I used to be. I just wanted…"
Her voice trailed off and she smiled sadly at him.
"I just wanted to hear her call me mother," she said, "Like I said, I don't expect you to understand. But you're a hero…and we are criminals…so just take us in like you're supposed to."
In all actuality Kraken didn't understand. He didn't know what it was like to lose everything for a child and then to search for nearly two decades for it. He hoped he never would. He looked at his love's biological family, from face to face. A sigh came from his throat, a harsh sound.
"Let's get something straight before we go any further with this; I'm not a goddamn hero," he snapped, "All I do is protect things I love, like her. And if you listen to me then none of you have to go to prison. All you need to do is…"
.
.
.
The second blast shot chunks of concrete and flame into the air. Horror flinched away from the spectacle, even as Séance whooped in excitement.
"They didn't get out," he mumbled.
"I…I'm sure they did," said Rumor uncertainly.
Both of them watched the flames for a minute, knowing the slim chances of anyone getting out. As his eyes slid to the side of the building, he thought he could make out three figures fleeing out of a side entrance. It might've just been his imagination though.
"Ben," Rumor whispered.
He looked over to the front of the building in time to see Kraken come out of the building, surrounded by a cloud of smoke and flames. In his arms he carried Vanya. He waved to them as he came over. Rumor breathed out the breath she'd been holding and Horror fought back tears of happiness. Séance just snorted.
"I told you all that you didn't need to worry about that sunuvabitch," he complained loudly, "He was just using this whole 'last minute thing to make himself look like a hero after all."