"Well, I never thought I'd see myself locked behind bars at the age of fourteen... Wonder what my parents would say? They'd probably freakâmy mom would probably faint, actually... Hmm, that'd be funny."
Zero beamed up at Zippy from where his head rested upon her lap as he listened to her talk. They had already been locked up in a jail cell for juveniles for nearly six hours and yet to Zero, snuggled up with a pretty girl on a cold, hard bench, it had only seemed like a few minutes.
"They'd look at me in these filthy clothes, sitting around with a bunch of sulking bums here in this cell and they would truly believe that I wasn't their daughter," Zippy sighed. "They wouldn't even find me remotely recognizable."
"Yeah right," Zero said. "They're your parents: they love you and they would definitely recognize you. Besides," he added, stroking her bangs away from her face. "You've got the same cute nose, the same quirky smile, and the same gorgeous eyes. Your parents would know you in a heart beat."
Zippy blushed as Zero's finger outlined the curve of her cheek.
"You're lucky to have them," Zero said, sitting up abruptly and hunching his shoulders as he stared down at the cracks in the cement beneath them.
It was almost as if Zippy could see a wave of depression wash over Zero as he sat: in a few seconds his expression had gone from immovable love to desperate anguish and she could tell that he was thinking about his lost mother.
There was nothing Zippy could think to say to comfort Zero, so instead she just wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head against his chest, his breath becoming calmer with each second that they sat like that.
"Urg! I can't believe this! We got so far! We did so much! And now-and now it's over?" Static retired from her pacing and dropped to her knees with a sigh of exhaustion. "I officially hate cops."
Ever since all of D-tent had been caught hours earlier, sneaking out of the hospital window, Static had been frantically pacing around and talking at an exuberant speed. It was as if the insanity that had been locked inside of her ever since that day when Jasmine Applewhite had been rewarded the part in the school play was finally getting the better of her.
"It's okay Static," Lei said, kneeling down beside her and wrapping her arms around her in a tight embrace. "This was bound to happen sometime."
"No. No! It wasn't supposed to happen!" Static cried, breaking free from Lei's arms and jumping back to her feet, staring wildly about at all her friends, just laying around the cell in defeat. "We were gonna get home! We had to get home! I mean, just look at what we all did! We climbed a HUGE mountain! We faced scorching weather! We got cheated by a bus driver; we got split up more then once; and many of us nearly died! And for what? NOTHING! Nothing because we're giving up! Nothing because we're going to let the government walk all over us and stomp us into the ground! I mean, did...did it not mean anything to any of you? Was this whole adventure pointless to you as well?"
No one answered Static immediately and she stood there in the middle of the cell, limp as if her weariness were dragging her towards the ground.
"I'm tired," Magnetic replied slowly. "We're all tired. We had an unforgettable time, yes, but now we need to rest. Wouldn't you like to rest Static?"
Static stood there a moment longer, feeling in some ways betrayed and sick, before she plopped down to the corner of the cell and rested her forehead against the steel bars that served as their cage.
"You've got to understand Static," Lei said, still sitting where Static had left her. "They've contacted our parents. At least now we know for sure that we are going to get home in the end... Well, as soon as we serve time for breaking out of Camp Green Lake... It'll be okay."
But Static wasn't listening as she was much more occupied with an electrical outlet that she had just found on the wall just outside of the steel bars.
Zigzag, who'd been watching her closely during her outburst of frustration, narrowed his eyes. "What are you planning on doing?" he asked slyly, sounding like a parent detecting their child's sneaky intentions.
Static didn't answer immediately, instead she was intently lining the outlet with her eyes, taking in every edge and curve as she thought hard about what she was about to do.
"Don't try to stop me," she said quietly, turning back to look at the other members of D-tent who were all watching her curiously now.
"What are you doing?" Zigzag asked again, now sounding nervous as he began to crawl towards her.
Static reached one of her arms through the large spaces in between the cell walls and began removing the outlet screws with her fingernail.
"Static?" Chase said wearily, watching Static with wide eyes now as Static stuck her finger in her mouth to get it wet.
"You guys just run," Static said, sounding completely confident yet incredibly insane at the same time. "Run hard." Then she smiled, "You're good at that Chase."
"NO!!!" about thirteen D-tent members screamed at the same time, all plunging towards Static to try and stop her as she plunged her finger into the exposed electrical wires. As Static had planned, the shock set off sparks which triggered the fire alarm and the sprinklers over their heads. Soon, the jail ward was filled with a cacophony of shrieks from the D-tent members, the loud sirens of the fire alarm, and the heavy downpour from the ceiling sprinklers.
"STATIC!" Lei shrieked, diving for her friend's electrocuted body, which lay, still and fried in a steadily growing puddle.
"What in the hell is goin' on here?" A sheriff yelled furiously, hurrying into the ward and brandishing his gun about like a mad man.
Soon after him a couple of other jail guards raced into the flooded ward yelling, "We've got to get everyone out of here! It's a fire!"
The cell bars were unlocked and pulled open and the next thing they knew, the D-tent members were being yanked out of the cell and pushed down the ward toward the exits.
"This one's injured!" one of the jail guards called, picking up Static and carrying her after the other D-tent members until they were all running out into the hot, Texas sunshine.
"Come on Chase!" Squid said, following Static's instructions and racing towards a police car that was parked on the side of the building. "Come on Zigzag!"
"Static..." Zigzag mouthed, starting to run back towards the jail and the guard who was still carrying Static.
"Zigzag!" Squid yelled, running after him.
The rest of the D-tent members, in a very confused manner, ran towards the police car rather reluctantly, pausing now and then to watch Zigzag and what was happening with Static.
"Get in the car!" X-ray called, deciding to take command for once. "Come on guys!"
"But what about Static?" Zippy asked, stopping mid-sprint to squint back at Zigzag getting closer and closer to the jail guard and Static. Before Zigzag even reached Static however, a very unexpected thing happened. As the D-tent members watched in disbelief, Static opened her eyes, punched the jail guard in the face, jumped from his arms as he staggered back in surprise, and raced towards them, smiling gleefully at Zigzag along the way.
"Wow!" Twitch cried, jumping with excitement before hopping into the driver's seat of the car.
"I guess she really is a good actress!" Zero laughed, turning to run towards the car once more.
Zigzag couldn't stop staring wide eyed at Static as they both ran for the car, following Squid and speeding up when Twitch started the engine. Even when they dived into the cramped back seat along with half of the other D-tent members he seemed lost for words and Static couldn't help beaming at him.
"I love you!" he finally gasped, his eyes still wide with shock.
Static laughed before kissing Zigzag hard on the lips, just as Twitch put the car into reverse and backed away from the jail building.
"WHAT THE HELL?" the jail sheriff screamed, suddenly realizing that someone was stealing his car. He chased after the little black and white police car for a while before remembering his gun and aiming for the car's tires.
Twitch, being the experienced vehicle thief that he was, veered and swerved with each shot the sheriff took, sending everyone in the car on an incredibly painful and stuffy ride. But it paid off as no bullet ever hit the car.
"I'LL SEE YA'LL IN HELL!" Magnetic screamed back at the amused prisoners, all cheering D-tent on as they made their own escapes.
"What was that for?" Lei laughed, staring back at Magnetic from the front seat as her long dark hair whipped about in the wind.
"I think I left an impression on some of them," Magnetic said winking.
Magnet looked thoroughly disgruntled as he raised his eyebrow at Magnetic's suave smile.
"Are you alright?" Chase cried, unable to hold back a grin as she stared in amazement at Static's fried hair and her blackened clothes.
"'Coarse I am!" Static exclaimed. "I've done that a thousand times!"
"I love you!" Zigzag said breathlessly, expecting another kiss.
And considering the exciting circumstances, that's exactly what Zigzag got.