Chapter 4
Joan grew intensily uneasy, sitting by the unconscious Gaia. Joan didn't want to hang around in case the two thugs regained consciousness. But she didn't want to leave Gaia alone, in case the thugs did wake up and Gaia would have to deal with them again.
God, this would be a really great time for you to show up right now. A little boy ran nearby, stopped, shouted, "it's okay, Joan," and ran off. Gee, thanks.
All of a sudden Joan heard men talking nearby. "The woman said that she heard a scream from that area over there."
A group of cops came into view. Joan stood up slowly. Joan recognized some of the men as co-workers of her father's. "Uh, Chief," one of the men said. "You might want to come over here."
"What is it, Officer-" he stopped once he caught sight of the three unconscious people then at Joan. "Joan."
"Hi, Daddy."
"Joan, what in the world are you doing her? What happened?"
"Daddy, I swear, I didn't do this."
"Joan," her father said. "I know you didn't. I highly doubt that a teenager like yourself could do this."
"Maybe a teenager like me can't," Joan said, "But a teenager like Gaia," I indicated Gaia, "could."
"What? Honey I don't understand. That's not possible."
"Then how do you explain that I just saw Gaia beat the crap out of those two guys?"
"She just walk over and attacked them?"
"No, we were talking, and then we heard this scream, and all of a sudden she started running toward the scream, I didn't really want to follow her, but I didn't want to just leave her, and then there were these two guys who were pinning down this girl. Gaia told them to stop and the girl ran and she attacked the guys."
There was a long silence as the men absorbed the story. "Men," her father ordered. "Put these guys in cuffs, make sure they don't get away. We'll bring them in for questioning later."
Gaia started to stir on the ground. She groaned slightly from her aching body. She started to sit up, Mr. Girardi helped keep her up. Gaia looked around her, taking in all the cops. The first word out of Gaia's mouth shocked Joan. "Shit."
"Don't worry, Gaia," Mr. Girardi said. "You aren't in trouble, you will just have to come in to the station to answer some questions."
"Oh, crap. Oh, crap," Gaia kept repeating. She stood up, Mr. Girardi rushed forward.
"You should sit down," Mr. Girardi said. "You could have a concussion."
"I'm fine," Gaia said and started to run at an impressive speed for someone who was just unconscious. The cops started to chase her but Joan knew already: Gaia was too fast for them.