Wow. It's been almost a month since I posted the first chapter. 66 pages, 24.000 words, and the end is nowhere in sight. That's gotta be a new record for me ;)

A/N 1: As in the previous chapters – ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net

A/N 2: Yes, I'm well aware that this chapter focuses solely on the Guardians, but don't worry – all of the characters *will* get their fifteen minutes of fame. Trust me! *g*

A/N 3: 'Update once or twice a week' flew away with the blizzard. Or actually, I'm trying to get you addicted and then make you go into withdrawals when my midterms start *eg*. So now it's 'update when I can, or until my muse goes on strike again'.

'...' Indicates telepathy

Italics indicates the emotions that Diana makes others feel through her powers

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Escapes

* * *

'RYAN!'

The sudden, desperate scream made Ryan jerk the wheel in surprise. The car spun out of control, heading towards the ditch at an alarming speed, as Ryan frantically tried to regain control. Finally he succeeded and the car came to a screeching halt. Luckily, they had been alone on the relatively small road, so no one had seen the barely avoided crash. Ryan gasped.

"Fuck!"

"What the hell happened?!" Deirdre demanded, with a slightly shrill voice.

Ryan took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit.

"It was Kyle," he breathed and rubbed his temples. "He screamed loud enough to give me a headache."

"Screamed? They're in trouble?" Ben asked worriedly and brushed a lock of brown hair out of his eyes.

Ryan shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out."

He didn't wait for Ben's reply, just closed his eyes and surrendered himself to a hurricane of emotions.

'Kyle? Kyle!'

There was no reply.

Ryan loosened his hold on reality and fell deeper into the hurricane. A chaotic madness of conflicting emotions tore in him, and tried to destroy his fragile lifeline. Hate, joy, pain, grief, insanity – it all merged and clawed at the edge of his sanity.

Ryan knew he wouldn't be able to fight it for long, so he had to hurry.

'Kyle!'

And this time he was greeted with just the faintest hint of recognition, so faint that it was next to impossible to feel.

Unconscious. Kyle was unconscious.

Ryan felt a knot form in his stomach, but he pushed his fear aside and continued his search. Close. They were close. Cops. A police station.

Ryan frowned. It could be a dozen different towns – he had to know the exact one. The faint presence of Kyle drew him further into the hurricane, but Ryan was beyond caring.

So close...just a little bit further...

Ryan gasped and drew away from the chaos, and back to the safety of the real world.

"Well? What did you find?" Deirdre demanded.

Ryan felt a drop of sweat run down his cheek and he dried it off with a weak hand.

"York. They're in the police station in York."

Ben nodded, and opened his door.

"We'll switch places. I'll drive."

Ryan was too tired to object.

* * *

"Fuck!" Suzuka cursed and looked at her two unconscious teammates. "Kyle, damnit, why did you have to do that?!"

Prue put a comforting hand on Suzuka's shoulders.

"The same thing happened to me when I tried to use my powers. Don't worry, he'll wake up soon," she said.

Suzuka sent her a doubting look, but didn't reply. Instead, she reached out and managed to move Kyle to a more comfortable position. Or at least as comfortable as it could get on the hard floor. She tried to move him away from the cold wall, but accidentally bumped her hip against the wall and bit back a scream.

"What's wrong?" Prue asked concerned.

Suzuka winced and loosened her pants enough to be able to examine the sore area.

"A bruise. I must've fallen in a bad angle," she replied through clenched teeth. "Hurts like hell."

Prue sighed and unconsciously touched her hip.

"Probably. I have one, too."

Suzuka's reply was cut off as a faint moan reached their ears, and both girls quickly crawled over to Jhonen.

"Jhonen? Come on, wake up," Suzuka whispered and brushed a lock of red-tipped, brown hair away from his face.

"Suzu?" he mumbled.

Suzuka sighed relieved.

"Yes, and that's the only time you'll ever get away with calling me that," she replied jokingly.

Jhonen smiled weakly.

"Good to be back."

Suzuka frowned.

"Where were you?"

Jhonen opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. He wanted to tell Suzuka about Erik, but the doubt started to nag him. They were the good guys – they weren't supposed to play avenging angels. *He* wasn't supposed to play an avenging angel. But he had given Erik his word, and he wasn't about to break it.

No, he had to keep it a secret, at least for the time being. He had to, no matter how much he hated secrets.

"No sure," he finally mumbled. "Not a nice place."

"Poor Jhonen," Suzuka said.

Jhonen just sighed and tried to ignore the guilt that slowly settled as a knot in his stomach.

* * *

"This is it," Ryan said.

He and Diana stood in front of the deceptively beautiful building that housed the York police force. Deirdre was off to steal yet another car, to replace the one the cops had confiscated. Ryan still wasn't too fond of the idea, but again, he couldn't think of a better alternative. Ben had parked the other car across the street, and was ready pick them up at a moment's notice, in case they needed a quick getaway.

"Diana, if you can convince one of them to let us see the others, I *should* be able to manipulate them for long enough to get all of us out."

Diana nodded, and the duo walked through the heavy glass doors. One or two people looked at them, then went back to work.

"Over there," Diana said quietly and nodded toward a man in his early thirties.

Ryan nodded slowly. Good choice – he was old enough to have some influence, but still young enough to be manipulated by Diana's powers.

They crossed the room with forced nonchalance, then stopped at the man's desk. The man looked up, and Diana quickly read his nametag.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Diana sent him a dazzling smile.

"Actually, yes, you can. I'm Michelle Davidson."

The man smiled and motioned for Diana to sit down. She did so, and put on a slightly sad face.

"You see, officer Clarke, yesterday something terrible happened. My brother, Kyle, was out with a few of his friends. But what I didn't know was that those friends were really mutants. And now poor Kyle has been arrested, and he did nothing wrong! I've called my family's attorney, but I want to tell Kyle that I haven't forgotten about him, and that I'm doing all that I can to help him," Diana explained.

Trust us. Trust us...

Clarke nodded slowly.

"And your companion is...?" he asked.

"My boyfriend, Michael," Diana replied.

Trust us. Trust us. Trustustrustustrustus.

Clarke nodded again.

"Kyle, you say? Well, we *did* capture three mutants in a motel last night. One of them *could* be your brother."

"Would it be possible for us to see him?" Diana asked persuasively.

Clarke frowned.

"Well, Miss Davidson, it's against the regulations, and-"

Trustustrustustrustus...

"...But I don't think it could hurt anyone," he corrected himself with a smile. "Follow me, and we'll find your brother."

Diana smiled thankfully, and the duo followed Clarke to the cells.

* * *

The door to the cell was opened, and Suzuka and Prue managed to move into something resembling a defensive stance, while Jhonen and Kyle remained on the floor, both too weak to fight.

"Thank God," Suzuka breathed as she saw whom their visitors were.

Ryan and Diana exchanged a look, and Ryan directed a small mind-bolt at Clarke. The man fell to the floor.

"Let's go," Ryan said. "Everyone alright? Kyle? Jhonen?"

Kyle nodded.

"Yeah...I'm fine. Got knocked out...for a moment...but I'm okay now."

Jhonen just nodded, but didn't elaborate.

Ryan supported Kyle with one arm, while Diana and Prue did their best to keep Jhonen on his legs.

"Ready?" he asked.

The others nodded, and Ryan took a deep breath. Once again he surrendered to the maelstrom of emotions, but this time he fought to remain in control. With the ease that comes only with practice, he reached out and took hold of the minds of the people in the building. He was vaguely aware that he was walking down the hallways with the others, but he forced himself to ignore it and trust his teammates to guide him.

They reached the entrance, and more than a few people looked up at the sight of their strange procession, but Ryan merely reached out and erased those particular memories.

Finally they were out of the building. Ryan waited until they had crossed the street, then released the minds and took a relieved breath.

"Hope you paid attention during your driver's lessons," he mumbled to Diana.

She looked at him questioningly, then realized what he meant. Next to Ben's car, Deirdre had parked their 'new' car – an old van of some sort, the kind with five seats and a big area in the back.

"I'm in no condition to drive, and neither is Kyle. Ben will handle the car, but we'll need you to drive the van."

"No problem," Diana replied, and hid a flicker of nervousness. Sure, she *did* have a driver's license, but she had never tried to drive a van before. Unfortunately, she didn't have a choice. Besides, if Deirdre – not having a license and being too young to drive – could do it, so could she.

"You guys take the lead, we'll follow," Ryan said.

"Gotcha," Prue replied, and along with Suzuka, they managed to half-drag, half-carry Jhonen to the car.

Oddly, no one found it strange that Prue stayed with them – it seemed logical that she would after the time they spent in the cell. Besides, right now they were in a hurry. The questions would come later, once they were safe.

Deirdre moved over so that Diana could take the driver's seat. Ryan somehow managed to get Kyle seated in the back, and fasten his seatbelt, then quickly got inside as well.

It felt strange to suddenly have a barely conscious teammate to take care of. Under normal circumstances Ben would have healed the wounded ones, but in this case they had to get away. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered what had happened, and none of them wanted to be anywhere nearby when it happened.

In front of them Ben sped away, and after a brief look to check that Kyle was okay, Diana followed suit.

* * *

"Captain...the prisoners escaped," the young police officer reported nervously.

"What?!" his superior demanded. The young man flinched, and the captain took a deep breath to calm down a bit.

"Okay...okay. At least tell me that the tracking devices are working."

"Yes, sir, they are," the young man reported. "Do you want us to pick up the muties immediately, sir?"

"No. Let's lull them into a feeling of safety, and let them think they got away with it. Then they'll be more likely to make mistakes," the captain explained and smiled briefly. "Who knows, we might even pick up a few of their friends..."

The young man took his cue and nodded.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Coming up: Blade, Jordane, and Zach reach Pittsburgh and decide to take the night off. Unfortunately, things don't go exactly as planned...