ITS HERE!!!! Yeah, I had to go on hiatus for a bit due to Finals, but now that those are over Summer's here and I should have more free time (only not since I have a job).

IMPORTANT: I made a slight retcon to last chapter by making it Klara who escaped rather than Karolina. The reason for this was that it fit the story I was planning better and I wanted the opportunity to do a little more with Klara. Enjoy.

"Locate." Nico held the Witchbreaker's Staff high above her head. She strained her eyes closed and focused. Nothing happened.

"Did it work?" asked Klara.

"I must have used this spell already. Maybe I can take us to them. Teleport."

"Nico, you…" Chase could not finish before a cloud of smoke burst from the staff. The three of them coughed and waved it away. "You already…cough…used that spell."

Nico walked a bit to get away from the smoke. "Well what haven't I used? Any ideas?"

"Maybe if you change your words," suggested Chase. The witch figured it was worth a try.

"Find. Trace. Reveal. Search. Disclose."

The staff flashed multiple times, and Nico found herself encased in a pile of gummy bears with paint splashed over her dress, a duck sitting on her head and a raincloud hovering over it all. With a sigh she murmured, "Clean up," at which point all said items disappeared. "Oh, look, something that worked."

"That was neat," said Klara. Nico glared at her. "Eh, I mean, I'm sure we'll think of something."

"Like what?" Dejected, Nico threw herself on the couch. "The more spells I use, the less power I have."

"Well, we have Old Lace," noted Chase. "Maybe she can track them. Where's Molly's hat collection?"

"Try her room." Chase quickly left to search. "Klara," continued Nico, "Can you tell me anymore about what happened? How did you escape?"

"I mostly just ran. They tossed these rocks in through the window and then there was gas everywhere."

"Not rocks, smoke bombs, but go on."

"Everybody was down and coughing. My eyes hurt and it felt like my face was burning." Tear gas, thought Nico. Klara continued, "Old Lace wasn't affected by it but then there were gunshots and she ran away. I sort of followed her. When I couldn't move anymore I grew a vine that pulled me outside to the garden. Oh, and someone kept shouting El-Eh-Me-Dee."

"El-Eh… L.A.P.D.! Well now at least we know where they are."

Chief Warren Kerlikowske leaned back in his chair and grinned as the three runaways were brought in. The young girl called Molly was desperately trying to break away from the officer behind her, despite the fact that her strength was gone. The chief had properly equipped his men for the capture: the girl had been injected with a serum that temporarily nulled the X-gene. The alien now wore a collar made of the metal that suppressed her powers, and the android had been outfitted with an obscene amount of anti-static bracelets.

"What have we here?" said Kerlikowske. "Some of the runaways that killed their parents."

"We didn't kill our parents," protested Karolina, grimacing at how overweight the police chief was. "They got themselves killed."

He frowned at her impertinence. "Unfortunately, we can't prove that either way," he said. "However, the list of charges against you is still enormous. Property damage, trespassing, heroing without a license, resisting arrest, keeping an exotic pet…"

"I want my phone call," screamed Molly. Kerlikowske smiled. "Hey little girl," he said, "Be nice and I'll hand you over to the X-men, be mean and you'll be here a long time."

"You can't make threats like that," protested Victor.

"Quiet you," the chief snarled. "I'll do what I like, and you'd best not complain. Your barbie friend here is an alien and you're a robot; so as far as I'm concerned you don't have any rights." He addressed the policemen. "Have them interrogated. Find out where their friends are hiding."

Molly stuck out her tongue as the three kids were escorted out of the office. Kerlikowske returned his attention to today's crossword puzzle. He heard the shuffle of his window blinds closing. He looked up but no one was there. Strange, he thought.

"Explain yourself."

The police chief rotated his chair in surprise to see a tall, robed figure. Kenyon had appeared without notice. "Oh, it's just you," he sighed. "Couldn't knock like a normal person?"

"If the Guild knew I had any contact with you at all, I would be burned at the stake. I am lucky that my superior will be out of town for some time. Don't speak, let me finish." Kenyon shushed Kerlikowske's half-open mouth with a spindly finger. "You were not supposed to attack the girl's group. I explicitly stated that you could do what you wish with them after I get the girl. Now you've muddled things up."

"Look you Scottish sorcerer, I've been helping you find that group. Hell, I helped get you all the Minoru's old hideaways, so don't come in here telling me how to do my job. The deal was that if I help you, you help me lead the new Pride, but so far you haven't held your promise." Kerlikowske grimaced. "Every two-bit chain gang in the county is vying for control of LA, from the West Coast Morlocks to the California Witchcraft Community. Your pack of cosplayers is hardly the only power here, let alone the only magic group. It takes a lot of effort to consolidate these criminals, and the sooner I get rid of people I can't control, the better."

"Firstly, I'm Welsh. Secondly, with the magic artifacts I've given you and that puppet of yours, Blaine, about to be elected, I suspect your competition will soon diminish. Thirdly…" Kenyon played with the cuffs of his gloves. "I believe one of your officers has captured a spellbook, one very important to the Guild. Where is it?"

"If we captured anything, then it's probably in the evidence locker. Of course I can't just waltz in and remove stuff."

"If you don't, the Guild will come after it."

"But how is it going to look if you just happen to come across it? They'll put two and two together, don't you think."

"If those idiots… no, you're right. They must suspect neither of our plans." Kenyon paused to think. "How many of those children did you capture?"

"Three. The alien, the robot and the mutant. Why?"

"What are the chances of their friends breaking them out?"

"Next to none. The city outside might be underpoliced, but I run this station tight as a fortress."

Kenyon nodded. "We'll just have to tip the scale in their favor then."

"What's the plan, boss?" asked Chase.

"Right now, lunch," said Nico as she cut her orange in half. "Did you grow these, Klara?" Klara quietly nodded as she cut her own fruit. "You could be one hell of a gardener."

"So we're still at base 1 then."

"More like we're striking out at home plate." Chase and Klara stared incredulously. "What? Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't know baseball metaphors." She sighed as she finished cutting the orange into six perfect slices. "I wish Alex was here."

"Ah! It comes out," shouted Chase.

"I didn't mean… he was a strategic genius, okay?" Nico quickly defended herself. "I was thinking how he would have come up with a plan for this. Of all the talents our team has, smarts isn't one of them."

"Why don't you just summon a bunch of elephants or something and we bust in there? I've got the fistigons back and Klara… well… Klara can recon."

"I'd probably be calling that stupid if I wasn't totally out of ideas. My staff might have a few tricks left in it. I could conjure sleeping gas, or disguise us as cops, or…"

"Disguise us as cops?" exclaimed Chase. "Nico, that's an awesome plan. 'Course it'll have to be more than a uniform since I have a history there. You know, high school parties and all."

"Except it won't work." Chase and Klara flinched at the sudden appearance of Kenyon, with Klara being especially tense. Nico just sighed and drank her milk.

"You again? That would impress me if it wasn't like the eighth time you appeared out of nowhere. Didn't I tell you to get lost this morning?"

"The situation has changed a little," said Kenyon. "The police have both your friends and the Minorus' spellbook. I was hoping we could help each other. Your idea is good but I guarantee you'll miss out on the details. What about ID? What if someone does recognize Chase; not everyone is equally susceptible to magical illusions. And once you get in, how will you break your friends out of their holding cell?"

The floors shook suddenly. Klara was making strange motions with her arms. Vines broke from the floor and reached for Kenyon. He tried to step out of their way but they surrounded him and wrapped themselves around his ankles. He wriggled in surprise as more vines sprung from the walls and stretched out his arms.

"Klara," said Nico, "What are you doing?"

"Tell me when they took my friends!" shouted Klara.

"Control that girl," yelled Kenyon as the vines swallowed more of his body. "She's going to crush me."

Chase quickly put on the fistigons and burnt off one of the largest vines. Nico meanwhile started shaking and reassuring Klara. "It's alright Klare, it's alright. We're going to get Molly back, okay?"

The young girl sighed and relaxed the vines. Kenyon nervously wriggled out of them and brushed them off the best he could. "I'm sorry. It's just that when they attacked I… I couldn't help."

"You've done enough," said Nico.

"You know," chimed in Kenyon, "you're a very difficult person to talk to."

"So talk," said Nico. She dragged her chair closer to him. "No one's going anywhere."

"I was hoping for it to be more or less private."

"There two are my lackeys-slash-friends. They'll hear whatever you have to say."

"In that case," Kenyon stepped out of the last of the vines, "I'll start with some history."

"If science is the quest to understand the physical laws, magic is the quest to get around those laws. Ever since the first incantation, societies have either exalted magicians as priests or feared and hunted them. Over time, wizards began to develop secret societies to protect themselves while they practiced their arts. One such society was the Guild Arcana, originally a cabal of conquered Druids living in the Roman Empire. The cabal grew and merged with other societies until it reached across continents. Hundreds of years before the telegraph, skilled wizards on opposite ends of the world could communicate through magic, so the Guild was able to maintain chapters beyond political lines, from Rome to Shanghai.

"The Guild, of course, was never lacking in rivals. In the past few centuries, our most dangerous foe has been the Minoru clan. Originally, we mistook them to be a small group of Shinto extremists who occasional dabbled in the Dark Arts. Their influence extended far beyond Japan, however, and they had been influencing political events as early as the Mongol conquest of China.

"They threatened the Guild's interests in Asia, so naturally we fought back, sometimes using their Dark Arts against them. We would not have been so successful if there was not infighting and backstabbing within the clan. All high-ranking membership in the clan had to be familial (as you have no doubt guessed from your last name) so they lacked a large number of highly-skilled wizards. We fought and eventually wiped them out over the centuries; their last great display of power was how they assisted Imperial Japan during the Second World War.

"Even with some of its enemies out of the way, the Guild still does not have the influence it desires. The modern rise of superheroes, along with more powerful magic users such as Doctor Strange, has forced us to remain in hiding. The Guild is always looking for new members, however. I was a brash, young boy when they found me, trying to cast a curse on my teacher for whacking my hands with a ruler. The Guild saw my potential and recruited me. Now they wish to do the same for you, Nico Minoru."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Why do they want me if they hate the Minorus so much?"

"Firstly, you're the only one left. Your parents were the final successors to the clan, making you its only surviving member. Secondly, I can sense that you want nothing to do with your family history, but still want to heighten your magic. The Guild would be perfect teachers for you. Heck, you'd practically be a celebrity, among those who don't want you dead anyway."

"You're telling me I'm the last surviving member of some sort of Japanese Illuminati?" Nico rolled her eyes and expressed disbelief. "It's bad enough being the daughter of two wizards who helped rule LA with an iron fist, but now you're telling me the whole evil wizard thing goes back for generations? Sorry, but I'm distancing myself from this crappy history as much as possible."

"It's your choice, of course," answered Kenyon, "but if I may get back to the matter at hand; the Minorus kept a special spellbook. You dropped it this morning and it fell into the hands of the local police. I'm proposing a deal: I help you free your friends, you help me get the spellbook."

"What's in the spellbook," asked Chase. "Some freaky dark magic stuff?"

"To be honest, I won't fully know until I read it," Kenyon replied. "I imagine it contains all kinds of secrets; about the Minorus, about the Pride, and perhaps even how to perform a resurrection."

Nico perked with interest but controlled herself. She walked up to Kenyon and wagged a finger menacingly. "Pull any tricks and… let's just say I haven't turned anyone into a frog yet. We have a deal."

"Nico, are you sure?" asked Chase.

"With a professional wizard on our side, we might stand a chance at a bloodless rescue. So let's put our heads together and see what we come up with."