Leni's head rolled around to waking up. She was sitting down somewhere. There was a deafening buzz in her ears. Something smelled like it was burning.

"Leni," a familiar voice was next to her. She was hushed, trying to keep her voice low. It was panicked. "Leni!"

"Huh?" Leni raised her head. "What's…"

"Ah!" a voice echoed through the room. "Awake at last!"

Leni fought for consciousness, raising her head to the room around her. Side by side, the sisters were chained to the base of an arch, two arches reached up and supported a round pod where they intersected. The pod was suspended above a large bowl, which Lynn's feet dangled into slightly, Leni was adjacent to the pit.

"Funny looking… skate rink…" Leni noted.

"Admiring the craftsmanship?" the voice echoed again.

Leni looked up at the pod to see the Prison's doctor in some kind of lift. The lift descended towards them, and it was then that Leni realized that the chariot wasn't attached to anything. No arm to guide it, nor a platform for it to rest gently on. It floated in the air, just like her.

Leni looked up and around as the madman descended. There were no windows or clocks; just metallic walls and artificial lighting. There was a door, but it was sealed shut, and there doesn't look to be anyone else here.

"Doctor Fiend," Leni asked the scientist as he neared. She even used his preferred pronunciation of "Find." "What is all of this?"

"Revolution, dear girl!" he excitedly explained with a grin. "A new era for humanity! This machine will provide a limitless amount of energy. Just like the experimental generator prior to it!"

Leni tried to remember. A generator? Just like the one that exploded and gave her these powers? He's rebuilt it!?

"How do you know this one won't blow up in your face?" Lynn barked next to her.

"Because I am the superior mind," The doctor proudly claimed. "I am the smartest man alive! Take that Hawking! And that little Loud brat too!"

Leni gulped when he said that.

"What do you want with us?" Leni asked him.

"Oh, nothing really," he waved his hand. "Just the energy that you already have inside you."

Leni tilted her head.

"I love explaining things to simpletons," Fiend relished. "The explosion that essentially created you, and the other freaks running around the city, were all exposed to the generator at one point or another. And, as with more conventional forms of energy, should have calmed down or died off a long time ago. But that is simply not the case!

"The energies that transformed you are still going off. Stronger than ever, even! Like a hurricane passing over an ocean, or a forest fire enrapturing a gas station, your power is spiraling! And I will extract it, one way…"

He held up a shard of glowing, crystalized energy to show them. Leni gasped when she saw it.

"Or the other," he finished with a grin. His eyes were hidden behind his goggles, but his smile was stretched with a sinister sneer.

"Can you believe I found this lying around some warehouse?" Fiend snickered. "All this energy ready to be utilized. It's going to put me and all my friends at Victorious Industries back up top."

"Victorious Industries…" Leni recognized. So, he's still tied to the company in some way?

Doctor Fiend floated his device into the dish, pulling out some tools and working on a section with a blowtorch.

"You didn't answer the question," Lynn demanded. "What do you want with us? Why are we here?"

"Oh, I plan to drain the superhero's life force to jumpstart my machine," Fiend happily explained, looking over his shoulder. "You were just used to bring her here. And to screw with the head of one my lesser intellectual rivals. I know she has more siblings out there somewhere, so I'll probably have to kill more of you before she even notices."

"You…" Lynn shook her head. "It was you! You sent those weapons to the other kids! Made them rob banks!"

"Well, aren't you the detective?" Fiend taunted.

Lynn started swearing and cursing wildly, struggling against the chains. Leni tried to push aside her despair.

"You don't have to do this, Doctor Fiend," she said to him. She slipped and said "Fiend" instead. "If you really are the smartest person in the world, then you can help save it. I don't really understand what it is you've built here-"

"Figures." He dismissed.

"…But it sounds an awful lot like a cure." Leni continued. "You could save hundreds of ruined lives. You could be the hero I could never be. Let's work together and-"

"No."

Leni gasped.

"The world is beyond redemption," he answered. "Beyond saving, even for my superior intellect. Besides, even if I saved it today, they'd ruin it all tomorrow. There's no point to it. And I gain nothing from it."

Leni's brow knit together. Now she struggled against the chains with everything she had.

"The point is to not… act like… such a jerk!"

The chains remained steadfast.

"You'll find it increasingly difficult to break free without your powers," he informed them. He waved a hand at the lights above them without even looking. "So, you might as well sit there quietly."

Leni twitched her nose, and realized her mask and earpiece was missing. No help from the others. The two of them were on their own.

Leni couldn't think of anything other than struggle against the chains. She fought, and she pulled, but it gave no leeway.

"I'm sorry."

Leni looked over to her fellow captive. Lynn hung her head low.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I didn't want this to happen, I just…"

"Just what?" Leni gently tried to nudge her. She reached over with her arm, but was only able to brush her arm.

"I just," She shook her head. "I taught you, you know? How to fight, and I just… I got competitive. And I couldn't even fight with you, so I just sat there… wondering what it was like. And then you keep getting hurt. And you lost your job. And I just… I wanted to help."

She lowered her head back down. "I wanted to matter."

"Lynn," Leni called to her. "You've always mattered. I would never have gotten this far without you. And if anything ever happened to you, I would never forgive myself. I love you, you know that?"

Lynn nodded. It was hard to see her face from this angle, but she looked like she was fighting back tears.

"Doesn't really matter," she said. "I don't know how we're going to get out of this."

Leni looked up at the artificial lighting. She looked at Lynn, seeing that she was still wearing most of the suit. The torso armor piece was still intact, but the arms, legs, and helmet were all missing.

"The last time my powers gave out," Leni told her. "I just had to get out from under the lights. I felt better right after."

"But the only door out is over there," Lynn nodded her head in that direction. "How are going to get out?"

"What if we just turn the lights off?" Leni thought out loud.

"Okay," Lynn nodded, "but where…?"

The two girls looked across the way to the other side. A panel on the wall with an electrical symbol across it.

"Alright," Lynn smiled wickedly. "This could be fun. But the chains…"

"Can you wiggle out of them?" Leni thought. "Like, at all?"

"Maybe…" Lynn tested out some movements. "Uh oh."

"What?"

"I think I can get out," Lynn promised. "But I have to lose the armor I got on."

Leni waited for the part where that was a problem. Then she remembered how insecure the girl was.

"Lynn," she told her, "You don't need it."

"But-"

"You. Don't. Need it."

"…Okay."

Lynn started to wiggle, shimming in the oversized chest piece. Her head sunk further into it. Her legs started to kick out. Her arms started going into the torso piece.

"Quiet over there!"

Lynn froze, and Leni held her breath at the madman's outburst.

Instead of the sounds that follow the discovery of an escape attempt, the sound of a blowtorch resumed.

Lynn soon resumed her wriggling. Her head popped out from under the armor and chains. She was free!

But the danger wasn't over yet. Lynn sat up, with both sets of eyes locked onto the scientist. He shut the panel he was working on and started screwing it into place.

Lynn took the opportunity to walk around the dish of this strange machine. Arms up, legs couched, shoulders hunched. Leni remembered the brief phase of her wanting to be a ninja. She eventually got bored with it, but she apparently hadn't forgotten how to tip-toe like one.

Leni looked at the distance between her and the electrical box. It was such a long ways away. How long before Dr. Fiend noticed one them was missing?

"What's it like, I wonder?" He suddenly spoke. Leni felt a lump in her throat, and Lynn froze where she stood, mid stride. "To have all the power in the world and be so… inferior with it. So unworthy."

It was then Leni looked up at the man. He hadn't looked up from the next panel he was working on. He hadn't even looked over!

"What reasons are there for the sudden mutations?" he pondered. "Why does one subject get one set of abilities, while the other doesn't resemble that at all? What do you think?"

Leni looked from the oblivious man to Lynn, who was a little less than halfway there, and looking back to her expectantly. Leni nodded, and answered.

"It depends," she answered, raising her voice.

"On what?" the scientist quizzed.

"On the person," Leni took a breath. Keep him talking. Keep him distracted. "When I got my powers… I was at a bus stop. I was so sad, and alone. I felt like I wanted to just… leave. I wanted to hear my best friend's voice again. I wanted to go see her, right then and there."

"And this matters why?" the man wondered.

"So… I can listen to anything in the city if I'm listen hard enough," Leni answered. "I can go anywhere and be there in a few minutes… I flew all the way to the north pole in a few hours!"

"The north pole?" he took his goggles off and looked at her, blinking heavily.

"Well," Leni sheepishly admitted. "More like… Canada?"

Dr. Fiend nodded and turned back to his work. Sparks lighting up his protective goggles.

Leni shivered as she realized what almost happened. He might've had spots in his eyes, not realizing that Lynn was missing. That was too close.

Leni looked over to Lynn, to see she was closing in. She was more than halfway there. She couldn't give herself away by sprinting to it just yet.

"So you theorize that the explosion is some form of… wish fulfilment?" the mad doctor answered. With a humorless laugh, he added, "What a childish notion. If anyone were to publish that, they'd be the laughing stock of…. Wait-a-moment."

Leni tried to think of a way to draw his attention. Too late, he scrutinized the situation more thoroughly. He knows one of them was missing!

"Where did…?" He spun around in his little chariot. "Security!"

A section of wall slid open, letting a honest-to-goodness robot stomp out. It had backwards legs, precariously balanced. It had a round, triangularly shaped body. Two arms dangled down from gyros, attached at the shoulders. The tube-like limbs ended with two pinchers, ready to snap anything they grabbed in two. Its head was a spinning saucer lying flat on the body; it's red glowing eyes sticking up on two little stalks like a snail's.

If Leni had asked why he built the robot like this, or why he had a robot instead of human guards, she would have guessed Doctor Fiend's answer would have been "I do what I want!"

Then he spotted the brunette teen sprinting towards the electrical box.

"Kill her!" he shouted.

Leni struggled against the chains. She couldn't move against them. She couldn't break them. She couldn't make them any looser-

Oh, wait.

She pushed and shoved the torso piece Lynn had been wearing. She was able to jimmy it out of the chains, and let the bonds drop to the ground.

By this time, the lights shut off around her with a loud "Chuunk!" Leni's sight returned as a red hue permeated the room.

An electronic voice echoed over speakers.

"Emergency generators activated," the female voice said. "All personnel evacuate immediately. All exits are opened, and all non-essential systems are shut down to prevent further damage. Have a nice day."

"What? No! Get that power back online! Reboot, reboot!"

Leni still didn't have her powers back. She ran with everything she could at the electrical box. The robot was making its way there, scanning for her sister.

"Kill them! Kill both of them!"

The robot turned, snapping its pincers at the blonde. She ducked and kept on running. The machine stomped and lumbered after her.

"Leni!"

Leni turned and saw that Lynn had taken to hiding in some crates nearby. She ran over to her and grabbed her shoulders. Still can't fly, now what?

The robot smashed the crate next to them, sending splinters everywhere.

"Run!" Leni huffed out.

Hand in hand, the girls ran with everything they had. The doors were just a few feet away…

Leni was feeling stronger. Energy pumped through her body with every step. She could feel it like a thunderbolt running down her spine.

"Hold on!"

Leni scooped up Lynn, hooking her arms under her knees and shoulders. Her feet left the ground, leaning forward heavily.

"No, no!"

Leni shot forward like a bullet. She got through the door, only to find a long hallway in front of her. She couldn't really see the other end. She flew forwards anyways. She needed to get out of here!

Lynn looked over her shoulder, as another sound reverberated in Leni's eardrums.

"Lights!" Lynn panicked. "Light's are coming back on!"

Leni could see them at the corners of her vision. The same lights that somehow blocked her powers. The lights whose design were invented by her little sister. She had to hurry.

"Fly faster," she muttered to herself. "Fly. Faster!"

The edges of her vision became a blur. She was giving it everything she could.

There. A door. An elevator.

It was everything she could do not to slam into it. She let Lynn down while she tried to catch her breath. Lynn spammed the button; pressing it over and over again.

The lights came over in consecutive order, working its way down to them like a terrible flood.

"Come on, come on!" Lynn complained. "Just open, dang it!"

Shouting was making its way too them as well. Further down the hall. The mad scientist was far behind those lights.

The elevator doors opened, and Leni ducked inside beside her sister. They had just missed the lights by a hair. The box moved, as banging on the door was made evident. They made it, now they just had to survive whatever was waiting for them on the next floor. Oh, and now "Shake it off" is playing as the elevator music.

"Okay," Lynn huffed, readying herself to charge out the door. "Whatever the next floor is like, I suggest we take it hard. Say it loud, say it proud!"

Leni smiled at the limitless energy the girl had. She took a deep breath, walked over to the girl, and picked her up.

"We're getting out of here," Leni promised, "As soon as the doors open up, we're zipping out of here."

Leni crouched down, like a runner at the starting line. She waited for those doors to open just half a hair.

Suddenly, the elevator dinged. The doors opened…

A bunch of large, beefy security guards in black t-shirts stood in her way. One of them tried to hold a hand up to stop her.

Leni didn't even stop to count how many there were. She dashed forward, pushing past the grown men as they tried to grab her. She tucked Lynn's head down as she smashed through the glass of a… lobby? What was this, a hotel?

Didn't matter. They were outside. Leni shot up and over the city, flying straight home.


Leni sat down, physically, and emotionally drained. The general panic of the whole family had finally subsided enough for her to sit down. They'd been missing for a few hours, she learned. Lynn and Leni did their best in explaining everything, but somehow that didn't seem to make them feel any better.

"So Lynn kidnapped you?!" Lola accused.

"She didn't do anything to me," Leni tried to defend. "It was Doctor Fiend."

"But you put on the suit," Lynn Sr. confronted the brunette teen himself. "You got a package from a stranger, used it, and ended up getting yourself and one of your sisters abducted!"

Lynn shrunk in her seat under his words. "Dad, I-"

"Not only that, you left Lincoln in the garage! He was laying on the floor for an hour before Lucy heard him and told us! Do you know what your brashness put us all through?!"

"I-" Lynn Jr. stammered. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry is not going to cut it this time," their father scolded. "I'm glad the both of you are safe, but I want you in your room while your mother and I decide what kind of punishment you'll receive."

Lynn nodded, lip quivering and close to tears. She wiped her nose on her sleeve, before giving a big sniff and slinking off to her room. The siblings watched in silence. Lana's tail swept from side to side as she fidgeted with the scales on her thumbs. She paused by Lincoln's chair, who looked at her with a mixed look of pity and anger.

"M'sorry," Lynn muttered to the boy.

Lincoln's expression softened, but he didn't answer. Lynn continued on.

"That goes for the rest of you kids," Rita stepped in with a sigh. "It's way past your bedtimes now. And your father and I have a lot to talk about."

She looked to her eldest daughter. "Lori, would you give Officer Hobbs a call? Tell him that it's over?"

Lori nodded. The couple gave Leni a look she couldn't identify, and they went into their bedroom, closing and locking the door behind them.

"Any chance you could listen in on them?" Luna whispered to the second oldest.

Leni shook her head. They used to listen in on conversations due to an air vent under the bathroom sink. But they did something to plug it up and muffle noise after they discovered it. Even with her powers, Leni didn't want to listen in anyways.

"Doctor Fiend," Lisa pondered. "I remember him now. He's a disgraced scientist. Brilliant, but unethical to the nth degree. The list of crimes against nature he's committed is longer than my arm."

"That's not saying much," Lola crossed hers in front of her chest. Lana snickered.

"Than Lori's arm, then," Lisa rolled her eyes. "I thought he went underground. Why did he return?"

"He must be getting help from someone," Luna theorized.

"Like his boss?" Luan pointed out sarcastically. "I mean, I know she's a CEO and everything, but Victoria Grace can't be that clueless, right?"

"Guys," Lori held her hands up. "It's late. Let's just talk this over tomorrow."

The girls collectively let their shoudlers slump, and they trudged up the stairs to their rooms. Lori went into the kitchen to make her call. Leni paused by Lincoln in his chair.

"You okay?" the brother held her arm gingerly.

"Yeah," Leni breathed. "Just… thinking, I guess."

Lincoln didn't add anything as she carried him up the stairs and to his room. After checking that he needed anything else, she went to her own room and climbed into her bed.

She didn't like what all of this was adding up to. She just wanted to go to sleep.