Runaways:

War Machine

Chapter 2

Wild in the Streets

by Ri-kun

I was crawling out of a war zone. The whole place looked like one great big A-bomb had nuked it completely. Pictures from my old history class depicting Hiroshima didn't do what I was looking at justice. Nothing nuclear had happened here, though. All of this was done by something very big with two legs, standing altogether about fifty or sixty feet tall.

In other words, a robot.

There was no sign of Nicole. For once, I wasn't worried about her because of a lingering crush. That robot, whatever it was, had zeroed in on her the moment it woke up. I have no idea why. The way Miguel was yelling at her to move, however, told me he might have some idea. I made a mental note to ask him, provided of course, he was still alive after I dragged his carcass out from under the rubble. All questions pended on that one little detail.

I heard moaning from the other side of the rubble pile I'd crawled out from. Before I could get to it, Gabriel hauled himself up out from a bunch of broken concrete and wooden slabs. Overall, there was minimal damage to his body. I was just trying to work out how he could have survived something like that, when a desperate whimper came from the spot just behind where he'd emerged from. Scooby looked a little worse for wear, which didn't make much sense once I reminded myself that he was already dead. There was some reassurance in that, at least.

Gabriel held up the Word of Mordo as though he'd been reading my thoughts, then silently patted his dog on the head. "Is everyone else okay?" he asked me, looking around at once.

"I have no idea," I coughed. "I just climbed out myself. How were you able to..."

"Counterfeit spell," he answered. "Allows me to copy a close friend's ability just once. I borrowed the Invisible Woman's force field power from Miguel long enough to shield Scooby and myself. It wore off pretty quickly, though. After that, Scooby used his bulk to keep most of the rubble off me."

"Good boy!" I told him, scratching behind his ears. "Very good boy!"

One ear fell off as I was brushing against it. I couldn't help myself; I jerked my hand away like he'd snapped at it, and quickly rubbed imaginary dead dog cooties off my fingers. Gabriel just calmly picked the ear up and placed it back on the dog's head, who was watching me the whole time like he couldn't figure me out. The ear reattacted itself at once, like it had never come off to begin with. The miracle of nercromancy, I guess!

"We need to get the others out now," said Gabriel, scanning the area. "Last I remember, this place was surrounded by cops before we entered that weird doorway."

I had completely forgotten about the cops! "Right!"

Gabriel looked down at his pet dog. "Scooby, please find the others. Hurry!"

Scooby at once began sniffing the ground diligently. After going around in circles a few times, he managed to lock onto someone's scent. I had no idea who it was, but apparently Gabriel did.

"It's Nicole," he told me, as we followed after the undead Mastiff. "He's found where she is. I think Miguel is there, too!"

"How can you tell?" This might not have been the time, but I really wanted to know how he could guess something like that.

"We're connected to one another. It's like I can understand what he's smelling a little bit."

"Oh." That made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever!

We found O-Ren as we were looking for Nicole and Miguel. Scooby ran right past her like she didn't exist, which made me think Gabriel had put finding Nicole ahead of everything else inside Scooby's head. He and I both stopped, however, to make sure she was alright. Amazingly, she looked really well for an underaged gun nut who'd been trapped underneath a collapsing school building.

"I was thrown out of the way," she told me, when I remarked on that. "Dunno how it happened, but I landed off to the side just outside where the building was. Maybe when that robot brought the room down on us, it teleported everybody to a different location?"

I watched as she shouldered her gun and followed suite. "It's possible," I reasoned. "You're starting to sound like Miguel, you know that?"

"Say that again," I heard her growl. "And I will blow your balls off and stick them into a microwave."

"Got it."

It wasn't easy getting everyone else out; especially Miguel. He had tried using Mr. Fantastic's stretching powers again to keep the roof off Nicole and himself. While I admired his bravery, it was no easy feat yanking each and every extended limb out from under that fallen support beam. When we finally got him out, it was another ten minutes or so before he could pull himself together. Just to pass the time, we reconvened on what each of us remembered happening.

"That robot went apeshit when it saw you, Nicole," I said, fixing my eyes on her. "Any idea why?"

"It was a Sentinel," Miguel answered for her. "They were a bunch of robot police... Dammit! Stupid arm! Anyway, a bunch of robot police created to hunt down the X-Men. Retract already!"

"Why the X-Men?" I wondered aloud.

Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot. "Because they're mutants," Nicole said, as if that explained everything.

"So, Jeff's secret weapon of ultimate power is a mutant-hunting giant robot?"

"Looks that way," O-Ren nodded. "He probably snatched it up to use against Nicole's parents. Sounds like his style, if you ask me."

"We didn't," Nicole said. "But, you're probably right. The question is, where did the robot go?"

I was an idiot, after all. I'd been so intent on finding everyone else that it didn't dawn on me. The robot had to have escaped from that weird dimensional room, or whatever it was, when we did! That meant it was probably roaming around on it's own right now. I looked up and checked overhead to make sure. The thought of a dangerous robot hovering overhead waiting to blast us all wasn't what I wanted to see, and I felt really guilty at the relief that went through me when I saw that it wasn't anywhere around us.

"It must've stomped off on it's own," O-Ren replied.

"It shouldn't be hard to track, then." Nicole was back in charge again. "Let's go see which way it went."

I followed everyone out of the crater, which was all that had been left of the elementary school. The robot was very thorough, at least. It didn't occur to me what we might find once we cleared the top of the hill. I realized once my eyes landed on the wasteland before us that my brain hadn't wanted me to. I didn't want to take in what I saw now. It was making my stomach do cartwheels, and we hadn't seen the worst of it yet!

Police cars had been squashed. I mean, literally squashed like pancakes! They were flatterer than copper pennies. The ones that had avoided being stepped on were flipped over on their sides and blown completely apart. Flames roared out of them, providing just enough light for me to see the dead bodies scattered around. Several of the cops had guns clutched in their hands. They had held on to them even in death, which meant most of them had gone down fighting. They'd taken one look at that monstrosity and opened fire. Something in my gut told me that bullets had no effect whatsoever. These men had chased us everywhere we ran, going on the orders of our parents. They'd been one of the reasons we couldn't trust anybody, and yet I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

They were all dead, and it was our fault. We let that thing out by accident!

"Dan, come on."

It was Gabriel talking to me, but my head didn't register that right away. I turned to look at him in slow motion, like one of those annoying reels in tv movies. There was so much worry in his face as he watched me that I had to pull myself together. He seemed afraid of what I was going to do for a second, so I tried to smile. It was the worst possible time to smile, but the effort was worth it. It helped me get my shit together enough and put my arm around his shoulder.

"Let's move," I said loudly, so everyone could hear. "We've got a big-ass robot to hunt down and stop."

"Great," O-Ren nodded. "So, how are we going to catch up with it. We don't have any wheels, remember?"

"We could take one of those," Gabriel said, pointing.

I followed his slightly trembling finger, and spotted it at once. It was one of those mobile turtle tanks that'd followed us out here earlier. It was laying on it's side, and looked to be knocked out of commission. Nicole seemed to consider it for a moment, then trailed off calmly towards it. We all followed her, albeit at a much slower pace. No one, including myself it seemed, wanted to get very close to one of those things again.

"Can you get it running again?" O-Ren asked.

"It isn't broken," she replied, looking back our way. "Some of it's systems have been knocked offline, and it needs to be righted of course, but it should do nicely. I'll need to get into the computer systems with you once we're inside, just so it doesn't drop us off at our parents' house."

O-Ren shook her head, but stepped forward agreeably. "Guess that means it's your turn, Brickhead!"

"It's clobberin' time!" Miguel roared, cheerfully, shifting his arms to the Thing's power again.

I marvelled with a perverse sort of curiosity at how all of us could make jokes at a time like this. We were standing in what amounted to a graveyard. People had died just moments ago, but we had taken it all in stride like it was no big deal. Miguel reached out and with a single punch knocked the tank back on it's wheels. O-Ren and Nicole climbed in first to do whatever technical voodoo they needed to do.

"Hey guys?" Miguel whispered, moving in close.

"What?" I hissed back in a fake whisper, lowering my head a little.

"Very funny. Since when was Nicole very good with computers?"

"I... dunno. Is it important?"

"Maybe." He wasn't looking at me, but at Gabriel. "She was able to open that invisible door like nothing. And the way she figured out where it was just by staring... Doesn't that seem kinda weird."

"And our lives are normal?" I pointed out. "Nicole was always one of the smartest girls in school."

"I think that may be what he means, Dan." I didn't like the look in Gabriel's eyes for some reason. "She's been getting smarter every day for a while now. I've noticed it since we started..."

Dating? Socializing? Fucking like rabid jackrabbits in spring? All were words I wanted to use, but held in. It wasn't any of my business that Gabriel jumped at the chance to bag Nicole. "Right," I nodded. "So, she's been getting smarter. What is that supposed to mean?"

"She comes from a family of mutants."

"Mutants?" I was confused. "But, her parents took her powers away with some weird virus. She can't be a mutant."

"We're ready!" O-Ren called to us, loudly. "Get your asses in gear and climb aboard boys!"

I guess the conversation would have to be suspended until after killer robot hunting. None of the guys said a word to me as we climbed through the hole in the top of the shell. They'd definitely given me something to postulate as the turtle roared to life and took off in the direction of the carnage.

Kamegami was on the prowl!

*****

I wasn't the one doing the driving. O-Ren had seized the wheel the moment we landed inside, which immediately made me uncomfortable. The last several rides we had were trashed at some point, and one of them had been my red Spyder convertible. O-Ren had been driving it at the time, without the keys and without my permission. For some reason, I had a really good feeling about this hunk of metal and didn't want to see it get trashed. From the looks on their faces, everyone else was thinking the exact same thing!

Granted, O-Ren was doing a better job that I thought she would. Of course, we were pretty much rolling over everything in our path, disregarding all traffic laws and the rights of pedestrians. None of this, I was sure, would help convince people that our generation were safer drivers than given credit for. But, then again, there really wasn't anyone left alive at the moment that we could see to pass judgement on us. That Sentinel robot was making quick work of everything in its way. Good news for those of us who were following it; bad news for when we actually managed to catch it.

Up ahead, flashing red and blue lights suddenly filled the monitors. "Someone called the cops!" O-Ren cried out, gripping the steering controls. "They won't show up when someone's house is being robbed, but a giant robot?!?"

"What the hell makes any of them think they're a match for that thing?" Gabriel mumbled.

I had to wonder what made us think we were a match. "They're doing it on orders of the Pride," Nicole said at once. "Otherwise, the military would have been brought in."

Smoke rolled in over the police cars, obscuring them from our view for a moment. "Hold back, O-Ren!" Nicole ordered. "Something is going on up there."

Something was indeed 'going on' up there. A bunch of cultists in full-on sorcererous garb, like something right out of a Solarus convention, just materialized in front of the cops and opened up on the robot's mechanical ass. A few of the cops looked just as shocked as we were, but then turned and kept right on firing. The Sentinel was ready for them, though.

"It's programed to handle all aspects of the Pride," Nicole answered, as if reading my thoughts. "Jeff made sure it was loaded to capacity with all knowledge of the Pride's skills and abilities. It can take anything they dish out at it."

"So, it's no ordinary Sentinel robot," Miguel finished. "That means... whatever we throw at it, it can throw right back at us, only harder?"

"Okay," I breathed out, slowly. "Who's all for turning tail and running away?"

"I am!" Miguel said at once, raising his hand.

"Nay!" O-Ren objected, looking around. "But only because he voted 'yes'. Let's get the hell outta here, Nicole. Waking that thing up was a stupid idea!"

Nicole looked at all of us. Gabriel had refused to say anything, but my gut told me that wasn't because he was abstaining. "We need that robot to fight our parents," Nicole said slowly, as if testing each word in her mouth. "It knows more about them than we ever could. Even if we had to destroy it, the mainframe computer inside of it could..."

"We'd be dead before dawn," Gabriel cut in. "All of my big spells are used up, Nicole. If I try to cast anything else to take that thing out, it'll bring me down with it. And if the spells those bastards out there are using don't phase it, nothing O-Ren or Miguel could come up with would work, either."

I didn't like how I wasn't being factored into the equation. "We could go see Jeff!" I broke in. "Jeff would know how to deal with this thing. It was his robot to begin with, right? He brought it to this timeline with whatever fucked up time travel magic he uses. No offense, Gabriel!"

"None taken," he replied. "And... not a bad idea, actually."

"What makes you think Jeff will tell us anything?" O-Ren countered, glaring. "Last I checked, the guy was a total psycho. He made that Deadpool freak look like a comedy act for a sideshow! How are we supposed to get information out of him?"

"We could offer to sell him your body?" Miguel quipped, smirking.

"Not funny," I told him. "Remember what was in that guy's basement?"

For the recond, he looked properly ashamed. "Sorry," he said, looking at the floor.

"We'll find a way to make him talk. But first, we have to get to him."

"By all probability, he should be located at his central house right now." Everyone turned at once to stare at Nicole. "It's his base of operations. He'll want to watch the fireworks from the comfort of his home, where he feels the safest."

I was starting to think that maybe Gabriel and Miguel were on to something. Nevertheless, O-Ren peeled out of the road and rolled Kamegami back the way we'd come. It would take at least twenty minutes to get to the other side of town from here. O-Ren, it seemed, had the idea to take a few shortcuts, however. Several well-manicured lawns and more garden gnomes than could be counted later, we were headed out down the main highway into town, where all of this had started, and where I was praying silently it would end.

Somehow I knew before we got there that things were only beginning.

*****

Jeff's house gave me the creeps. The sort of creeps I only used to get after watching that stupid horror movie with the killer psycho doll in it with Joseph on Halloween night. He had insisted there was nothing to be afraid of. I wound up staying up three nights straight hiding under the bed, after throwing away all of my G.I. Joe action figures. They had looked mighty suspicious after that. When dad found out, he bought me this My Buddy doll to leave on Joseph's bed while he was sleeping. Let's just say that breakfast was an interesting experience the next morning. I had never seen him shake that hard.

That's about how hard I was shaking at the moment. My knees were knocking, my heart was pounding, my knuckles were clicking together, and my adam's apple kept jumping up and down in my throat. I was noiser than a troop of band geeks out on parade! None of us looked all that great at the moment. This was, after all, the place where we first learned about Jeff's little hobby. And that had led us all to discovering what our parents were up to. It had only been a couple of months, but it felt like a lifetime or three ago. A lot of history lay inside that house for us; it was safe to say that pretty much all of it was bad!

I had to be the one to walk up to the front door. It felt like such a stupid idea when I got there, but my brain was still a little on the decaffinated side. No one had suggested how we make our way in. It was assumed that going through the basement was out. No one wanted to see that little chamber of horrors again. And it wasn't as though there were a shortage of windows, but I walked right up to the front door and knocked.

When no one came, I tried ringing the doorbell. Everyone had taken their positions on either side of the door in case it opened. I hadn't heard Nicole give the order, but it was a good idea nonetheless. On the third ring, the door swung open. Jeff stood there in all his glory, and I do mean glory. He had come to the door in his boxers and bathrobe. There was a razor in his left hand, and a five o'clock shadow on the right side of his face. Clearly, we had caught him in the middle of something, but I was relieved. This was actually much better than a couple of other things our former youth minister did in his free time.

I caught him in the abdomen with my staff. Jeff dropped the razor to the floor and backed far enough away for me to sweep it aside. There was no way of knowing if this razor did anything more than just slice off facial hair, but I wasn't taking my chances. The others came in right behind me and surrounded him. Miguel had fists full of fire; it looked like he could use that power only when he was mad enough. Gabriel had Scooby pin him up against the wall, and one hand was glowing a sharp green color; while O-Ren looked as if she was going to fire any second on sheer principle alone.

"Sorry to jump in on you like this, Jeff," I said in a remarkably clear voice. "But we were wondering if you had time to answer a few questions."

Jeff had been roving his eyes between all of us before I spoke, at which point he zeroed in on me. "Not at all," he replied calmly. "Would you prefer to do it here, or maybe the living room would be better. I've just made some popcorn."

Great. A break-in and interrogation with popcorn. That was Jeff for you!

The living room was just as I remembered it. That was the bad part about all of this. Everything in here reminded me of how things used to be. The big screen television was turned on, and tuned into a channel I didn't recognize.

"Something the matter?" Jeff inquired, sounding concerned.

"No," I said quickly. "What we want to know is..."

"How to stop the Sentinel robot the five of you woke up by accident?" he finished. "I'm assuming, of course, that this was an accident, and none of you meant to send that thing reeking havok across town on your folks? They've been very worried about you, incidentally. Calling me at all hours of the night asking whether I know anything."

Jeff chuckled. "They still seem to think that I keep tabs on you all the time."

"How did you know about the robot?" Nicole interrupted.

Jeff gave her a wicked grin, which made me think he was imagining some very naughty and un-youth minister-like thoughts about her. I brought my staff up to his throat to help him stay focused. "How did you know?" I repeated.

Jeff just smiled at me and pointed towards the tv screen. "See for yourself! I've been watching what was going on for some time now."

The robot was on the screen. I don't know how I could have missed it, but the Sentinel robot was on the tv! Some part of my brain whispered frantically that this could be just another of his tricks, but then it stepped on a very familiar-looking Pizza Hut.

"Hey!" I yelled. "I used to eat there, rust bucket!"

"How... how is he doing that?" O-Ren actually lowered her gun a little, prompting Nicole to rib her in the elbow.

"It's not a news report," Nicole said, slowly. "It's like... he can watch somehow from right here."

"All of the Pride are watching right now," Jeff was saying. "They each have their methods of keeping tabs on what happens in the city. Call it 'Pride TV' if you want, or does that sound a little queerish? Definitely not a part of your local cable package, though, and mine's the only one that can provide information on the past and future!"

"None of this has happened yet, then?"

I let Nicole take over with the questioning, then, because I just realized he wasn't in the room with us. Neither was Scooby, for that matter. Stepping away from Jeff, I pointed at O-Ren to keep her gun trained on him, then slid over to where Miguel stood with his hands and hair still on fire.

"Where's Gabriel?" I hissed.

"Bathroom."

He pointed back down the hallway to empathize. "He couldn't hold it?!"

"I saw Nicole whisper to him just before he left. I think she might have sent him to go snooping around."

That made me mad. "He shouldn't have gone alone, least of all in a place like this! What if something happens to him?"

"He's got Scooby with him, remember?" Why had I forgotten that? "He'll be fine."

"If you two are done whispering to each other," Jeff suddenly called out. "Honestly, I feel like I'm back at Pride headquarters. All of you remind me so much of your own parents, you know that? Always running around like nutjobs whenever something goes wrong, pointing weapons in my face, and demanding that I fix everything. I mean, really! I'm not the one who let that robot loose."

"Neither did we!" O-Ren bit at him. "At least, not exactly. And besides, you brought that thing to this timeline, so you know how to stop it."

"I did no such thing," he countered. "It was already here. I just showed the other Pride members how to modify it. None of your parents trusted me to have something like that all to myself. I'm really more like you bunch than they are."

Jeff stopped for a second. "Maybe it's because I never had kids of my own," he said thoughtfully. "Or, maybe it's just because I wanted to murder all of theirs."

"I'm really glad that you're letting us know how you feel," O-Ren spat at him. "It really warms my heart. Now, either shut your fucking mouth, or start explaining to us how we shut that robot down. Otherwise, I pump your sorry psychotic ass with hot plasma!"

"You're not going to kill me," he responded, calmly.

"No, she isn't going to kill you," I agreed. "Are you?"

"Watch me!"

"Superheroes don't kill, O-Ren," Miguel told her. "And besides, we need him alive to get information from him. He knows that, already!"

"He's right. I do." Jeff was grinning that silly grin of his, again. I remembered when I used to like that about him. "But, there's one question I have to ask, because it's been bothering me since all of you showed up here."

Everyone looked at each other, but it was Nicole who met his challenge. Of course.

"What?"

"Why do you want to stop the robot?"

I looked at him. "You've been watching the tv, right? It's going on a frikkin' rampage! It's..."

"In a town that is completely and utterly in the pocket of your parents," he finished. "This entire city is the base of operations for the Pride. They live here, and this is where their central headquarters is. That robot has a failsafe program installed in it. Just something I never bothered to remove. If it wakes up, and not one of the Pride members is there to give it instructions, it will automatically default to its original mutant-hunting objective."

"You're saying it will go after Nicole's parents first?" I demanded.

If Nicole was bothered by this, she wasn't letting it show. "Not just hers," he went on, glancing her way. "I might have tweeked that program ever so slightly. Instead of hunting just mutants, it will go after anyone and anything that's connected to the Pride organization. You were the ones who woke it up, which means it should be stomping all over the Whittaker's territory any minute now."

I paled. I don't know why, but I paled. In that one instant, I wasn't a runaway anymore. I wasn't trying to avenge the wrongs that my mother and father might have committed since before I was born. I wasn't looking down on a muderous psychopath with delusions of grandeur. My mom and dad and older brother were in danger at this very second, and this creep had known all along. I had to go help them.

I was halfway out the door when Miguel grabbed me from behind. "Let me go!" I screamed at him.

"You can't just go running after them," he yelled back, holding on tightly. "That's exactly what he wants!"

"Miguel, let me go!"

"No, not until you listen!"

"You're hands are still on fire!"

The heat was unbearable. Luckily, this ninja outfit was apparently still somewhat flame retardant. I should've figured that out when we were caught in that blaze at the elementary school. Miguel immediately dropped me and backed off.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled, looking properly embarrassed.

"So this is the troop that's going to thwart the entire all-powerful Pride," Jeff sneered. "Oh, I know I'm quaking in my extend-O-boots right now."

"Did you just use the word 'thwart' in a sentence?" O-Ren countered, her gun in a new form, and aimed right at Jeff's head.

"He has a pair of extend-O-boots?" Miguel asked, curiously.

"Shut up, Miguel!"

"Shut up, all of you!" Nicole shouted.

"Guys?"

Gabriel was finally back. Seeing him made me feel relieved, though I wasn't entirely sure why. He didn't look so great at the moment, and I suddenly had a sick feeling as to why that could be.

"I think you all need to come down here," he went on, slowly. "I've... found something."

It was the basement. Of course, it would be the fucking basement; the one place in this entire insane asylum that I absolutely did not want to go. Gabriel had to go checking down there while we were all chatting in the living room and find something. Hadn't we learned something from last time? Apparently not, because here we were, all gathered together again about to go down those steps and find who-knew-what! At that moment, I wanted to feed Gabriel to his stupid, slobbering zombie dog. Scooby was the one who went in first, followed of course by us meddling kids.

I really hated irony.

There was a girl down there. Believe it or not, the first thing that came to my mind was that she was really cute. Alive, and really, really cute actually. What bothered me about thinking this was the fact that she'd been strapped to some kind of elaborate death trap like in that movie 'Saw', and that it didn't register right at first. Obviously, we needed to get her free. And then, I needed to do something about getting laid. Listening to Gabriel and Nicole boink themselves silly was affecting my brain more than just a little.

No one was saying anything. Jeff looked as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on, which, in his case, was probably the truth. I couldn't figure out in that moment what kind of person he was. I just couldn't understand the appeal of this. What makes a guy that I'd known and liked for several years now go out and kidnap girls my age to bring back to his basement and slaughter? Hadn't he ever heard of computer dating? Or, for that matter, just getting a stupid cat!?

"Let her go," I said flatly, turning my bo on him. "Get her out of there right now."

"Or, what?" he asked, amused. "You'll... beat me to death with your stick? Run me down while flying uncontrollably on that jetboard you stole? Burn everyone to death with flame gauntlets you forget you have about half the time?"

Ouch, that hurt. "Why do the rest of you keep him around?" he asked, throwing his hands out. "He doesn't have any powers, unless you count the ability to stay alive despite numerous near-death experiences! And it can't be for his sense of humor. I'm not trying to start a fight here, but this has been bothering me for a while now. What good is he to the rest of you?"

"Let her go," I said again, and hoped my voice didn't really just crack a little. Please, just this once, let it have been my imagination.

Jeff was looking at me like he actually felt sorry for me. This piece of trash was pitying me! "No offense, but your brother really is the better ninja of the two. Maybe, your father was right in bring him to the Hand instead of you. Isn't that why you keep playing at being something you aren't?"

"Cut the psychoanalyst crap," I barked in his face. "And get her out of here right now!"

"As you wish," he said, shrugging. Jeff raised his left hand, and I saw it contained the razor he'd been holding earlier. He still hadn't put it down. Something in my head clicked that this was a very strange thing to do, and that I should have probably taken note of it before now. The top part of it came off, and I had about half a second to realize that a normal razor did not resemble anything like what was underneath there. It wasn't a weapon as far as I could tell, but something in my gut said that this was bad.

Before I could yell for help, Jeff lowered the razor-thingie with the bright lights at the tip in the girl's direction. Something went 'beep', and there was this big flash of light. A door opened up behind her just like the one in the principle's office that took us to where the Sentinel robot was kept. The chair she was strapped to slid backwards through it, and the girl was gone.

Just gone.

There was a lot of screaming afterwards. Gabriel had Scooby pin Jeff up against the wall. O-Ren shot the razor out of his hands, just to make sure he couldn't do the same thing to any of us. Nicole gave instructions while everyone else secured him and dragged his ass back up the stairs to the kitchen. O-Ren kept her gun trained on him. Gabriel had summoned some kind of magical chains out of thin air to wrap him in while Scooby kept a firm grip on his leg, and Miguel was taking great care to bang Jeff's head into as many things as he could while carrying him. Me, I just followed along quietly feeling a bit hollow on the inside.

"We have to know how to control that robot," Nicole said, once we'd settled down in the kitchen. "It's the key to winning the war against our parents."

"What about the girl?" O-Ren asked.

"The robot takes priority," Nicole replied. "It's the reason why we came here. We can't let ourselves get distracted."

"We can't leave that girl to die, Nicole." Miguel was the one who said it, but I'd been thinking the same thing. "If we do..."

"It'll be just like we'd killed her ourselves," Gabriel finished. "Nic, I'm sorry but... I'm with them on this one."

She was quiet for a moment. "I disagree," she said finally. "But alright. The girl and the robot, Jeff."

"I just did like he asked," he laughed. "I let her go. None of you specified where she should go to!"

"The robot," she pressed. "How do we control it?"

"You should be more worried about the girl," he giggled. "Isn't that what real 'heroes' do? I mean, all you kids ever did was watch tv! Surely, you must've picked up on that much by now!"

Nicole stood up slowly, staring him down. "We aren't heroes, Jeff. I came here for a reason, and I'm not leaving before I get the information I want. For the last time, how do I control the robot!"

"And the girl," Miguel added. "We need to know where he sent the girl."

Nicole glared at him. "Where is she, Jeff?"

"Go fish!"

I didn't like the look in her eyes, then. Something told me that she was going to do something we might all regret. My gut wasn't wrong. I watched as Nicole walked over and started going through all the kitchen drawers. She stopped at the third one, and pulled out this huge-ass steak knife that glittered brightly under the light. Nobody moved an inch.

"Tell me what I want to know," Nicole said quietly, coming back to stand over him. "Tell me, and this doesn't have to happen."

I looked down at the knife she was holding. Nicole had seized one of his hands; the left hand he had used to transport that girl away from us. She was holding the blade over one of his fingers, just an inch or so away. I should have felt sick, but kept right on watching her instead.

"You won't do it," he whispered. "No matter what your parents did to your brain, you won't go that far. I know everything there is to know about each and every one of you. None of you have what it takes to go this far!"

"You don't know us at all," Gabriel hissed.

"I know more about you than you could imagine," he jeered. "I've been through all of your timelines, through every choice each of you might have made. I understand how you think especially, Gabriel. I know what's in your heart, and I know the secret you've been keeping from everyone else. And it won't be long before they know, too!"

Thankfully, we didn't all turn to stare at him at the same time. That would've been way too cliche, and I suspect it was exactly what he wanted from us. "You say that you know all of us," I spoke, getting up from my chair. "Does that mean you know me, too?"

Jeff looked at me, but didn't answer. "I said, do you know more about me than I do as well, Jeff? Have you been peeking through my life and my future?"

Something in his eyes flickered. "Don't..."

I held my hand out. "Give me the knife, Nicole."

She didn't move at first. "It may be our only chance!" she whispered.

There was a desperate look in her eye. I did my best to ignore it. "He's right," I said. "You just don't have it in you. He's a killer, so this is his area of expertise. Torturing people is how he gets his gollies, so if anyone would know whether we were capable or not, it would have to be him."

I took the knife from her as she held it out to me slowly. "It's okay," I told her, softly. "Everything's going to be okay."

I went to the drawer where she had gotten it from. Jeff must spend a lot of time sharpening his kitchen utensils, because even the butter knifes looked nasty. There was a much smaller blade tucked in a slot beside the spoons. That seemed funny to me for a split second, but I ignored it, picked the smaller knife up, and shut the door. All eyes were on me as I walked back over to stand where Nicole had been only seconds ago.

"Steak knives are good for show," I said quietly. "But for fingers, you need something small and razor sharp. This looks like it'll do just fine, doesn' it, Jeff?"

"Don't do this," he whispered, struggling against Miguel fruitlessly. "You don't know what you're up against."

"We want to know where you sent that girl," I said, holding the knife over his thumb. "Tell us, and we'll leave you alone. You'll never have to see us again if you want, but we're going to put an end to this."

"There's more to that robot than you know," he begged. "They made me build it. They were using it to blackmail me. There's something inside there that..."

"Jeff..." I said, barely a whisper anymore. "The girl?"

His eyes met mine. "Please..."

I lowered the knife.