Runaways:
Youth Gone Wild
Chapter 1
Stick to Your Guns
by Ri-kun
I used to listen to other kids talk about running away in school. It always sounded like a really bad idea to me. I mean, no matter how bad things are at home, it can only get much worse being out in the real world without someone to lean on. No one to help take care of you, no one with money or experience, or even a place to live!
There were these three guys I knew back in junior high. Not really well, but I had a few classes with them. They decided to run away from home one night, and head off out west towards Texas. I think one of them had lived there as a kid, so he knew some people who'd take them in. They stole a car to get there, though, along with about two grand in cash! That got the police after their asses. I don't think people would have cared to much otherwise, but the long story short is, they were caught pretty quickly. I remembered asking my English teacher on a whim, since she and I got along really well, if she ever thought I'd do something like that.
She'd looked at me and kind of laughed. "No, of course not! I don't think you could ever do that to your parents!"
Guess we all get it wrong every once in a while, huh?
I'd been thinking about that day a lot lately. We'd been on the run for a couple of days now, and life inside the Arcade wasn't easy. There was no central heating and air, for one thing. That might not sound very important, but when you've lived with such luxuries all your life, their absence can cause you to realize just how much you've taken for granted over the years. Also, we hadn't brought any spare clothes with us; there just hadn't been enough time, and the cops were watching all of our houses for any signs of us. I think the Pride still believed that we might come home sooner or later. The truth was, we'd all debated on it more than once, even though nobody was about to say it out loud.
So, we had no clean clothes, which meant the only things for us to wear were what was on our backs. It was cold, we were all tired and dirty, and there was no running water for us to shower with. More to the point, there wasn't anything to drink!
We'd found some leftover snacks in a couple of broken vending machines. O-Ren bitched the whole time about preservatives and fatty acids, until Miguel pointed out that those very things were what was keeping us alive right now. She pouted, but stayed silent. I think the revelation of her folks involvement in the Pride was still too shocking for her to grasp. She'd been strangely quiet, speaking only at odd moments to rant about some random, unrelated thing, before falling back into a dead quiet. It was a little creepy, actually!
That was what our parents called themselves, by the way. The Pride was apparently something that'd been formed about twenty-one years ago. Nicole figured out that one of the gadgets in her bag of stolen time trinkets could translate the Abstract scroll. It was called the Seer's Ring; I remembered seeing her pick it up when we were in Jeff Woltz's secret basement. It really could translate secret messages! We'd tried it out a couple of times just to make sure, writing stuff in a basic code that two or more of us could scrape together in a few minutes, and Nicole got it right each time. There was one problem, however:
The Abstract scroll, it seemed, was a much more complicated encryption than anything Miguel or I could come up with. This shouldn't have surprised me, but we were all a little disappointed. Nicole reasoned that the Seer's Ring had been a child's toy in whatever timeline it was taken out of. The design, she'd pointed out to us, looked like something vaguely out of a cracker jack box. However, the ring was able to put together one or two sentences after several hours. It also turned Nicole's finger green, just like the warning in the case had said!
It wasn't much to go on, but finding out about the Pride was something, I thought. O-Ren had been the only one to not look enthused by it, but I let her be. Poking fun at her right now would only serve to get my ass lit up by a shapeshifting rifle, and I could do without that.
After a while, though, it became clear that our food supply was dwindling. The vending machines we'd plundered for sugary and salty snacks were empty now, and there was still nothing to drink. We'd made do thus far by slipping across the street to a local coke machine. Nicole put a stop to it after the second trip, however, stating that repeated visits would only give our position away. With what little money we had almost gone, it was becoming clear that somebody had to think of something!
Fortunately, that was where I came in.
I'd been waiting for the right moment to bring this up, because something told me Nicole would be against it at first. It was, admittedly, a very risky venture, but the situation we were in wasn't improving. Plus, we'd spent the last several days locked away in an abandoned building with nothing to do but remember all the horrible things that'd happened to lead us here. Everyone was getting a little sick of one another by this point, so a trip outside seemed in order.
"No," was Nicole's first response when I brought it up.
I swallowed, having to fight my attraction and instinctive desire to bend to her will, and went on. "It could work," I pointed out. "Besides, we're running low on money. There's no more food here, and who knows how long it'll take you to finish translating the scroll. We could spend weeks here, or many even months. In that time, it stands to reason we'd get thirsty. The drinks are almost gone, by the way!"
"I know," she said, sounding grave. "But leaving just puts us all at risk! People are going to be on the lookout for us, even if they don't really know what's going on. You know how this town reacts when there's a scandal. Remember the Polkisten sisters?"
I'd forgotten about that, and actually laughed a little remembering. "Sorry!" I said quickly, lowering my head. "But there would be enough to keep everyone here going for a while."
"It's stealing!" she insisted. "Wouldn't that put us all in the same boat as our parents? Doesn't that make us just as bad as them?"
"It's not stealing," I assured her. "Not when the money is really ours! We don't have to take any more than what's in my account."
Nicole looked at me. "I cannot believe you're actually trying to talk me into robbing a bank! Even if the money in the account is yours, taking it without filling out the withdrawl slips makes it stealing. That's why they put rules like that into place."
"Okay," I shrugged. "If you want, I'll fill out the forms while you guys get the cash. It really doesn't matter where the money comes from, since it's all done by electronic banking these days. But there's roughly two grand in each account, and with three accounts total, that comes to almost six thousand dollars. That could buy us a lot of grocerys!"
"And get us sent to prison for up to fifteen years, if we're caught!" she countered. "But, alright! You do have a point about us needing money. I'm not getting anywhere with this stupid scroll yet. The ring does work, but it's just that the Abstract is so freakin' complicated! I really don't know how long we're going to be here. In fact, it might be a good idea for us to start looking for a new hideout, in case we have to abandon this one for whatever reason."
"You'll figure the scroll out," I assured her, hoping this got me a few bonus points in her favor. "In the meantime, let's go to the bank tonight and get the money. I really want to eat something other than stale Snickers bars for dinner again!"
"Not yet!" she said, firmly. "We need to check the place out, first. It's important to know what sort of security they have, and how hard it would be to get past it."
"What for?" I wondered. "We've got a sorcerer-in-training with a magick spellbook, an alien superhero with all the powers of the Fantastic Four, the daughter of a genius inventor who owns a polymorphing space-age gun... And me," I added. "The son of evil ninjas, with my trusty collapsable staff and rocket-powered hoverboard."
"I notice you didn't throw myself into that equation," she said, raising an eyebrow at me.
"And you!" I added quickly, bowing low in retrobution. "With your almight bag of tricks taken from alternate timelines, and your genius gift for strategy! I'm just grateful you never played Dungeons and Dragons against me!"
"I did play it, when I was younger," she said, thoughtfully. "The mutant kids at my parents' school sometimes got together, and they invited me every now and then. Mostly, I would just watch, but it looked kind of interesting."
"When this is all over, I shall buy you every single book there is in the new 4th edition release!"
"Thanks, but I'll be fine without it," she said, smiling. "And as for your remark concerning our master team, remember that Gabriel just got that spellbook a few days ago. He can't have learned much from it this early on. And Miguel can barely handle his shapeshifting abilities, much less maintain the Thing's powers for more than a couple of minutes. O-Ren still spaces out at random; I think the shock of what happened hasn't worn off yet. To be honest, I'm really worried about her! And as for your flying board, the last time you took a flight on in wasn't exactly your finest hour. At least, I hope it wasn't!"
I blushed, wishing for all the world that I'd kept my mouth shut. "Oh, right..."
"None of us really know how to use our powers yet," she pointed out. "Those of us that have any, at least! We really need to practice together, learn how well we work with one another, and get some training in. Especially before we try and tackle anything as daring as a bank robbery."
"We're robbing banks?" Miguel asked.
His voice came out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me! I looked around for him, but there was no one. At least, not at first; a dim outline of his body suddenly faded into view in front of my eyes. It almost looked like a bad special effect from an old movie, but gradually, the rest of his body came with it.
"You can turn invisible?" Nicole asked, not sounding angry. I was plenty pissed, but kept quiet to avoid getting on her bad side.
"Sure looks that way!" he replied, cheekily, laughing at his own pun. "I'm supposed to have all the powers of the Fantastic Four. Last night got me thinking, and I wondered if I could turn myself invisible like Sue Reeds does. It took me a while, but I finally got the hang of it. Sort of..."
"How long can you stay invisible?" she pressed, curious.
"About two or three minutes. I haven't timed myself yet, but it's around the same amount of time as when I use the Thing's strength and invincibility. Say, do you suppose those drugs my parents were giving me could've..."
"Later!" Nicole interrupted. "Sorry, but I'm getting an idea as to how we can make this work! Get the others and meet me in the main game room in ten minutes."
Miguel and I both watched her leave. "What was that all about?" he wondered, looking at me. "And are we really gonna rob a bank?"
"Not exactly," I said. "Come on, I'll explain on the way."
Getting everyone together really wasn't that hard. The Arcade wasn't very big, and I mostly knew where people's haunts were. O-Ren spent most of her time shut up in the small space she'd declared her own, while Gabriel lurked in one of the booths by the concession stand, playing with his tarot cards. He was doing just that when I informed him that Nicole wanted to see us all. Scooby was sitting by his leg, and gave a small growl the moment I came close, but didn't try to gnaw my leg off. The undead canine didn't like the rest of us much, but refused to attack unless Gabriel gave the command. I really glad to be on his good side!
"Peace!" Miguel said, when I brought him to the game room. "Dr. Feelgood!"
He'd taken to using our codenames whenever we walked by. I hadn't given much thought to mine since we first picked them, but Miguel was refusing to answer to anything other than Captain Crash. Nicole had called me 'Dan' a few times, and that was alright with me. I really liked the way my real name sounded when she said it. It was a warm, gooey feeling, and there'd been very few of those recently. We still hadn't come up with a name for Nicole that she liked. Miguel had seriously offered 'Strategem' as one, until he saw the look on her face.
"So, we're robbing banks now?" O-Ren said, looking from Nicole to me. "Well, that shouldn't surprise me! Mom always said I should pick my friends more carefully."
"The money is mine," I told her, fighting the urge to get mad. "It's right there in the bank, and I've got all the proof we need. It's just that we can't walk into the bank and get it without revealing ourselves. If my parents are smart enough to have taken over the criminal underworld, they've probably got every possible branch staked out in case I show up. The security guards will be looking for me."
"And it doesn't bother you that the money in those accounts is covered in blood."
I looked at her closely. "What are you driving at?" I had a feeling I already knew, but wanted to hear it from her first.
"Nothing," was all she said.
Nicole watched the exchange, but when it went no further, she went on. "Dan says he can fill out all the withdrawl information while we're getting the cash. I know it seems like we're sending up a flare as to where we've been, but our parents will learn it was us sooner or later anyway. We just need to take the right ammount, then run for it. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes if all goes well."
"And since when has anything gone 'well' in the past week?"
Nicole got up from her seat, and marched over to stand in front of O-Ren. The look on her face was actually a little scary. I caught Gabriel staring my way, as if asking if we should run from the room. Truth was, I wasn't so sure myself.
"If you've got a problem with the way things are," Nicole said in a calm voice. "Say it. Say it right now, and get it out of the way. Otherwise, shut your mouth and take orders! Because, from this point on, we're all in this together. We either work as a team, or not at all. And if you've got a problem with being here, don't forget that it was your decision to come in the first place. None of us forced you into it, and no one will stop you if you decide to leave."
I couldn't believe she said that. "If you go," she went on. "We won't stop you. We'll have to pack everything up, burn the whole building down to destroy any traces of us being here, but we're not going to force anyone to stay. If you're sick of this, then go back to the Pride and have your memories erased! It's better for you to do that than hold us all back by not being a team player. Understand?"
After that, none of us had any complaints. We were all more than happy to follow any instructions Nicole gave to us, because we sure as hell didn't want her as an enemy! Evil ninjas, black magick sorcerers, time traveling killers... They all paled in comparison to the look of sheer determination on her face at that moment.
God, I loved that woman!
The rest of the day was spent planning for the upcoming heist, for lack of a better term. I kept telling myself that we weren't really doing anything wrong, that circumstances had forced us to take this route, and that it was really just a simple money withdrawl. I really wished that I was a confident about the whole thing as I'd made myself sound when proposing the idea to Nicole. In reality, my conscience was bugging the crap out of me!
After several hours of planning, we decided to slip out and post a watch at the bank. Since this was really no more than a two-man job, Nicole decided to send us out in shifts. I took the first watch with O-Ren, which was about as exciting as watching linoleum curl in the summertime. She hadn't said a word since Nicole verbally leaped down her throat, but it was better than listening to her complain! The quiet was only broken by her occasionally switching modes on the metamorph gun, which gave off a rusty metallic sound each time she did it. It was soft enough that no one else heard it, so I didn't ask her to stop.
We just sat in the van, which was parked down any alley across from the bank, and watched the front doors. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except that I spotted an old car with tinted windows parked way down the street from us. Someone was looking over at the bank in it, but it was too dark to see. Nicole was interested when I brought this up, but didn't say anything about it. Miguel and Gabriel went out next with Scooby, who came back two hours later with the exact same report that we'd filed, followed by a very graphic description of how undead mastiffs smell inside a hot van with no air conditioning!
The bank had minimal security guards, and what looked like in our unprofessional opinion, standard electronic security. Apparently, the bank wasn't so much worried about crimminals getting in as they were them getting away. The real trick would be timing, according to Nicole. We had to get in and out very quickly, which would be tough. The Thieves Blade she had in her bag was essential, of course. Miguel had suggested teleporting us all in with the watch, but Nicole squashed that plan right off by explaining that she still hadn't worked out all the kinks with it yet. I was relieved, since my experiences with it so far hadn't been good. I wasn't looking forward to having my body turned inside out again!
Nicole really wanted to wait another day or two before taking on this mission, but we were all getting really hungry. Even her stomach growled in protest when she brought the subject up! So, with nothing else to really prepare for, we all marched out and across the street into the van. I was beginning to think Nicole was right about us being seen too much in this area. It wasn't exactly densely populated, but there was always a chance we could slip up. I wondered if there wasn't some unused space in the Arcade we could keep the van in, and my mind immediately went to work.
We were all quiet on the drive over to the bank. I really couldn't belive I was actually about to do this, but there was no turning back at this point. We needed money, and I was the only one that really had it. It was going to be very simple, and real easy to do. Those words kept repeating in my head like a mantra as we got out of the van just down the road from the bank. The same old car was still parked where it'd been before. I wanted to ask Miguel or Gabriel if they'd noticed it earlier, but Nicole motioned for us to stop.
"We need cover!" she said, looking back at us. "It's too exposed out here. Gabriel, if you would..."
Gabriel opened his spellbook and began flipping through pages. In a moment, he raised his hand and mumbled something inaudible. There was this strange pulsing in the air, like the very molecules had slammed into one another all at once, and Scooby gave a loud bark. Smoke burst out from his open mouth, filling the space around us with a noxious-looking black cloud. In seconds, I wasn't able to see my hand in front of my face!
"We can still breathe," I heard him whisper. "The smoke is designed only to conceal, not poison."
"Good," I heard Nicole say. "Everyone, grab each other by the hand. Gabriel, how do we find our way through this?"
"Scooby can lead us," he assured her, and I heard the book close next to me. "I'll take hold of him, and lead all of you up to the bank doors."
I felt Miguel's callous-covered hand take mine, and swore under my breath. This had seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to at least be able to touch Nicole without anyone else noticing. I wound up sandwiched between him and Gabriel, who had grabbed Scooby by the scruff of his decomposing neck. Together, we all walked in a line uphill to where the front doors were. Scooby could be heard sniffing the ground in front of us, leading the way. I had to give the dog credit; we didn't run into anything!
Nicole fumbled with the door for a second. Since none of us could see, pressing the Thieves Blade against the lock was pretty much left up to guesswork. Finally, the door gave a click and opened up. The cloud of smoke remained on the outside, not moving at all past the threshold. It looked really weird seeing that, and I almost got distracted for a second.
"You're turn, Miguel," she said, looking back.
"Captain Crash," he corrected, puffing himself up.
"Whatever! Just give me a minute to check the parameter out." Nicole held up the Psychic Spyglass and peered through it, scoping the whole interior of the bank out. After a moment, she slipped it back into the bag and frowned. "Infa-red beams," she explained, shaking her head. "I wasn't expecting that!"
"So we leave?" O-Ren asked, politely.
"Not yet," she said, thinking hard. "Miguel... Captain Crash, can you project force fields yet?"
"I dunno," he admitted. "I've never tried before."
"Do it," she ordered. "We need you to turn yourself invisible and project those infa-red beams away so you can get to the other side and shut them off. Take the Thieves Blade with you, just in case!"
"Right, boss!" he replied, saluting.
"O-Ren," she said, turning around. "Go through the smoke and station yourself across the street on one of the rooftops. We need you to keep watch in case any uninvited company shows up."
"Okay," she said neutrally. "But, how am I supposed to see through that stuff?"
"Take Scooby with you," Gabriel said at once. "The smoke only circles the bank. Once you get across the street, it should be easy enough to find your way."
"Good idea!" Nicole told him. I saw Gabriel blush as he leaded down to whisper in the dog's ear. When O-Ren left with the mastiff leading the way, I looked over at him.
"What did you tell him?"
"To come back the minute he finishes leading her out of the smoke screen."
"Because there might be trouble? Did the tarot cards warn you about something?"
"No," Gabriel said, grinning. "I just like having him around!"
I shook my head and looked away. "You and your pets!"
The lights suddenly came on in the bank. Miguel's voice rang out to us from across the room loud and clear. "I got the lights on!" he cried out. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure the infa-red beams are down, too."
"Good to know," I muttered.
From there, it was a simple stretch to the caged doorway where the vault lay beyond. We didn't bother checking any of the teller booths, since they would have obviously counted and filed away any money there. Miguel looked a little put out when I pointed this out to him, but cheered up considerably when Nicole informed him that his job wasn't over.
"I need him to open the vault for us," she explained, pressing the Thieves Blade to the cage lock. "You start filling out those withdrawl papers. And make it quick! We need to get out of here. I've suddenly got a bad feeling about this place!"
I couldn't help but wonder what the point of being so sneaky was if she were just going to have Miguel tear the vault door off it's hinges, but obediently walked off to do as Nicole asked. Fortunately, I had all of my information with me in one of my pockets. I'd worn my ninja uniform, which took a few seconds to adjust itself around my wallet. It had been uncomfortable at first, but now there was a nicely-shaped outline in my pants that fit it perfectly!
I was about halfway done filling in all the empty slots, when hell abruptly chose to break loose all around me. There was suddenly gunfire, and lots of screaming and yelling from voices I didn't recognize. Part of the wall booth next to me exploded in a shower of shotgun shell fire, and that was all it took. I drew my bo staff out and drove through the window opening. It wasn't until I heard Gabriel cry out, and Nicole screaming for him to get his head back down, that I risked peaking up to see what was happening.
There were four masked figures standing in front of the entrance to the bank, blocking our way out at gun point. None of them were especially tall, and I realized somewhere in the back of my head that they must be teenagers. Gabriel had his book out, and was mumbling again under the rain of bullets. Hands that were covered in slime and had extra-long, claw-like fingernails burst forth from the pages. I heard one of the armed robbers screaming, before making a run for it.
He didn't get far, however. Scooby bound through the opened doors and tackled him head-on. The poor bastard had just enough time to fire off a shot, which landed squarely in the dog's chest, but didn't even slow him down. Scooby began tearing into his flesh, digging and clawing as if looking for buried bones. I saw bits of human things flying through the air, and ducked back down for an entirely different reason.
The hands, meanwhile, were doing a good job of keeping the others preoccupied. Gabriel was really getting the hang of the whole magick deal, I must say! Two of the three remaining robbers had been completely wrapped up, and were now begging him for mercy. If Gabriel heard any of them, though, he didn't let on. The last robber was putting his gun to use by firing on the remaining hands whenver they came close. He didn't seem to notice me anymore.
I took this opportune moment to race like a mad chicken across the space between myself and the others.
"Glad you could make it!" Miguel told me, as I dove behind the desk with them. I ignored him, and looked to Nicole.
"How do we get out of here now?" I asked.
"We don't," she replied, simply. "Not without the money."
I guess my surprise registered on my face, despite it being covered up. "We came all this way, and we're not going to leave empty-handed! Miguel..."
"Captain Crash!" he insisted.
"Shut up!" I told him. "Fine! I'll go and get the money. Wait here!"
What I really wanted to do was stay hidden, but the fact that bullets were no longer whizzing past my ears gave me courage. That, and knowing that the sooner we got the money we needed, the quicker we could all get the fuck out of there! I was actually tempted to take a little more than what was in my account, despite the present danger. The shock of that really got to me, and I slapped myself across the face as punishment. Now was obviously not the time to be greedy!
"Got it!" I cried, exiting the vault room. "Let's go!"
"Captain Crash," she said, looking at Miguel. "You're on!"
Miguel's arms swelled to about three times their size, turning orange and rocky as they did so. I recognized this from before, and hung back as he lifted the desk up over his head and gave it a hard throw. Nicole, it seemed, had been planning for this while I was in back, because everyone got up and ran forward as it sailed through the air. I followed behind, and watched as the desk landed right in front of the last remaining bank robber.
"Hulk smash!" Miguel roared, pounding the tile floor in front of him.
Whatever he'd been hoping to do, it didn't work, unless Nicole's plan revolved around knocking several ugly paintings off the wall. The robber did stop shooting as he got a good look at all of us, and lowered his weapon.
"Miguel?" he said, tugging at the mask covering his face. "Miguel Wright?"
"Uhhh," he stammered. "Do I know you?"
"It's me!" he said, finally managed to yank the mask off his head. "Joshua Higgins! We had fourth period study hall together!"
Regretably, everyone knew Joshua Higgins. He was the one who'd ran off in a stolen car for Texas with two other kids in junior high, making headlines and rallying a interstate search with the cops. Last I'd heard, he was sentenced to juvenile hall until he turned eighteen and could be tried as an adult.
Life had just gotten weirder for all of us!
Again!