Here's the seventh installment. Can't say when I'll have the next one up. The intended length of this fic is supposed to be 12 parts, give or take 2, btw.
"Don't worry boss," said Chase as he armed himself with the fistigons, "We're not going to lose another friend."
"You have a plan, all-mighty transgender warrior?"
"Yeah. Beat the cops, free the others. Duh."
Nico gave her deadpan face until a pair of policemen came around the corner. "Halt," they shouted.
"Good Idea," Nico stated as the two officers froze in place. "Should wear off in a couple hours. Now how do we get to the interrogation rooms?"
Karolina, Victor and Molly were startled by the sudden entrance of four police guards. The burly men gave a cursory glance as the three tried to look innocent.
"They're all here," said the guard in front, who was barrel-chested and sounded like he had throat cancer. "Keep the door secure."
Victor hid his arm behind his back, something another guard noticed. "What have you got there?" he asked, before he noticed the cut anti-static bracelets strewn all over the floor.
"This." With a wink and an outstretch of his arms, Victor magnetically pulled the guard's gun out of its holster. Actually, he tried to do that, but those things are better strapped in than movies had led Victor to believe. Luckily, the other guards did not catch on to this and pulled out their weapons once they sensed trouble. Pulling firearms from hands was much easier. Soon three guns lay in the hands of Karolina, Molly and Victor. The guards put their hands up.
"Easy enough," said Karolina. "Now move out. Remember that we're crazy metahumans who killed our parents. You don't know we'll do."
The three left and locked the four guards in the interrogation room. Molly wa-hoooed loudly in triumph.
"Keep it down, Molly," said Victor. "We don't want to let anyone know we've escaped." He turned to Karolina. "Nice job with the intimidating speech."
"Thanks," she said as she finished locking the door. "It's not my style, but it's something I picked up from Xavin. How's your arm doing?"
Victor took a sorrowful look at his mangled left arm. He had pulled out a mechanical tendon and used it to cut off the antistatic bracelets. It had left him unable to move his fingers. "It will repair itself," he said. "I'll just have to take things easy for a while."
"Alright, so we've escaped the cell," said Karolina. "But we have a ways to go and we don't know when Molly's strength will return. Any ideas." The three stared blankly at each other. "What would Nico do?"
"Where'd you get that staff?"
"I stole it from one of those kids. There are some more down the hallway."
"Where?"
Thwack! Nico struck the guard's head with the Staff of One. He fell to the floor crying as Nico, Chase and Kenyon ran past him.
"Well I don't know what Klara's doing," said Chase, "but we're still fighting a cop every minute."
Loud alarms were going off by now. Klara's plant monster had turned the entire station into a living panic attack. Everyone from police chiefs to secretaries were running left and right through the hallways; the three only bothered fighting when someone tried to halt them.
"Allow me," said Kenyon as another guard appeared. "Covered with scorpions." Although no appeared scorpions appeared on the guard, he started scratching and shrieking, "Get them off. Get them off!"
Chase punched the guard as they went past. Nico smirked because she did not think such an act was necessary; Chase was acting way too eager to fight, she thought, but she made a note to talk about it after they rescued Karolina and the others.
"We need a bigger distraction," she said. "Running Leprechauns." Five green clouds shaped like, per the spell, leprechauns jumped out of the staff and began sprinting under everyone's legs. "That should keep them busy."
"How?" asked Chase, before he took a moment to see one leprechaun throw a folder of papers off a desk and another unceremoniously slap a female officer's behind. "You sure you didn't summon gremlins instead?"
They reached a locked door at the end of the hallway. "I cast a navigation spell to check where we were going," said Kenyon. "The interrogation rooms are behind here."
"Then we need you to open it," said Nico.
"Sorry, but the evidence lockers are near here. I need to get that spellbook."
"You're not leaving until…" but within an instant, Kenyon was gone. "He… he said he didn't have a teleportation spell!"
"Cover your face, Nico," said Chase in that still annoying sweet female voice as he pulled down his goggles and aimed his fistigons. "Sparks are going to fly.
One the other side of the door, the rest of the runaways were planning something similar.
"I think I can still summon a little bit of energy," said Karolina, "just enough to blow the lock off."
"Alright," said Victor, "try your best."
Karolina concentrated the best she could. A small energy spark emerged from her fingers. Then the door blew up.
Karooosh! Splinters flew everywhere and the three were blown back. Molly did a full backwards summersault as she hit the floor while Karolina and Victor bounced off their backs.
"Madre de Dios!" exclaimed Victor, "You didn't have to hit it that hard."
"Oh my god," yelled a male officer. "We hit someone. Victor!"
"Crap, they found us," said Victor, "I'll get their guns."
"No, wait guys, it's us," chimed in a female officer with oddly shaped hands. "Chase and Nico."
"Nico?" asked Karolina, "Is that you?"
"Actually," said the male officer, "that's…" Nico stopped talking, a horrible pain having traveling up from her groin. Molly, not having grasped Nico and Chase's explanation, had taken the opportunity to kick Nico's temporary male form in the balls. In a pain that felt like but somehow seemed infinitely worse than stomach cramps, Nico crouched over and held her belly in pain.
"Molly, stop," said Victor, "It's Chase and Nico."
"For reals?" asked Molly. "They don't look like them."
"You are… so… grounded…" squeaked Nico.
"Aaah," exclaimed Kerlikowske as Kenyon poofed into his office. "You need to stop doing that."
"Do you have the book?"
"It's right here," Kerlikowske tossed the strangely bound book at Kenyon's feet. Not bothering to bend over, Kenyon merely summoned the book up into his hand. "I'll make sure we leave quickly."
"You better." Kerlikowske was beet red with frustration, "And take that leafy abomination with you." Kenyon smiled as he saw Klara's handiwork outside the window. It was reminiscent of a sunflower but with a black-teethed mouth at the top and several leafy vines that swung like whips and grabbed debris like arms. Klara was making sure it did not actively hurt anyone; but it provided a good distraction as it banged on buildings and policemen kept trying to shoot it down.
Needing to get back to Nico and the others, Kenyon again "poofed" away.
"I think it's wearing off," said Chase, whose voice was beginning to sound deep again.
"So we consist of two androgynous and three handicapped teammates," said Victor. "Excellent."
"We can still get out of here," said Nico, who still had lingering pains down there. "Although it's getting hard to think of spells. Where the heck is Kenyon?"
"Right here." Kenyon had appeared right behind them. "And look what I've got," he displayed the spellbook. It was certainly old, covered with dust and discolored blotches. Yellowed pages seemed to be falling out, and the binding seemed to be stitched together at points.
"Does that scare bad guys away?" asked Molly.
A group of policemen appeared at the end of the room. They aimed their guns. "Freeze."
"Right, I'm tired of this," said Nico. "Shortcut." An oval portal appeared in between them and the policemen. They saw the parking lot outside, where Klara's monster was, through it. "Let's go."
"What, with that thing?" asked Victor, noticing the giant sunflower with teeth.
"It's Klara's," said Nico. "Quickly before they shoot."
The policemen did shoot, but by then the group had gone through the portal. "That's it," said one of them, "I'm done with New York, and I'm done with LA. I'm moving to Texas."
Klara monitored her monster, controlling where it moved and what it damaged. She was careful not to hurt anyone, but more and more police were approaching it.
Suddenly, a ring of metal touched her head. "Freeze," a gruff voice yelped.
Klara panicked. Sweat glisted everywhere and her heart beat faster. But she was saved by her backup force.
"A dinosaur!" yelled the officer. Old Lace came out from hiding and roared. She pounced and chased the officer away with his hands in the air. Klara wiped her forehead in relief.
"I'm sorry I said you smelled like old laundry," she said. Old Lace just turned his head to the side and starred.
Suddenly an oval circle of light opened up next to her. All five of her friends, and Kenyon, walked out. Nico and Chase had turned back into their old selves, and Nico in particular had trouble walking in clothes that were too big for her.
"I hate my life," she moaned.
"Don't worry," said Kenyon, "It might get better sooner than you think."
The whole gang, having managed to save their friends, fight off the LAPD, recover an ancient spellbook, and cause obligatory property damage, snuck off to the closest abandoned area they knew, which happened to be Victor's old apartment.
"Sorry if it's crowded," said Victor, "I know it's small. Just be glad the owner hasn't sold it off yet."
"Wow Victor," said Karolina as she noticed all the Marvel hero figurines on the shelfs: Spider-man, Captain America, Wolverine, etc. "You were really into superheroes."
"Well, I guess. That's what I was programmed for."
"How's that arm doing," asked Nico. Victor hung it limply. "Better. It should fix itself… I think."
"Allow me," said Kenyon, "Repair." Victor felt a tingly sensation as the ripped tendon regrew itself. Molly, meanwhile, had regained her strength and ripped off the collar inhibiting Karolina's powers. Nico and Chase were back in their old clothes again, and overall morale was high.
Nico took this time to address the group. "Okay, we're all going to stay here for a day or so and rest up, but there are still things we need to be aware of. First off, this is Kenyon. He's a wizard or something. He helped us rescue you guys and has earned my trust." Kenyon did a short bow, while the rest of the team eyed him suspiciously.
"He sure comes in handy," said Victor as he fingered his arm. He seemed to be ruminating about something.
Nico continued, "Our next step is to find a new, more permanent hideout. We may have to use the leapfrog to get out of the city altogether. Also, I know I promised to speak with some of you guys individually, so I'll try to get to that over the next few days. Any questions?"
No one had anything to say. Chase clapped his hands and said, "Well, I got to be a girl for a few hours, so to erase that experience I've decided I'm going to cut my hair shorter than it already is. Until then…" he left the room.
"Me and Klara are going to go play," said Molly.
"Nothing too loud," said Karolina. "We don't want anyone to find us." After the two young girls left, she continued, "I need to sleep. Sapping my powers took a lot out of me. Do you have an extra bed?"
"My mom's," said Victor. "Out the door and to the left."
Karolina nodded sleepily and left. Thus Nico, Kenyon and Victor were the only ones left in the room.
Nico plopped down on Victor's old bed. "Gosh I'm tired. I don't suppose you guys could take a breather?"
"I need to return to the Guild," said Kenyon, "I'll come back later." He left. Victor stayed.
Nico turned to look at him and sighed. "You want your bed, huh? I guess I'll move to the couch." She began to get up.
"Don't bother," said Victor. "I need to talk with you about a few things. Right now if you don't mind."