Chapter 3

The Loonatics arrived at the crime scene. It was a local museum. There wasn't anything missing, so they assumed they had arrived just in time. But there wasn't anyone there.

"Do-you-see-anyone?" Rev asked Ace.

"No," Ace said, "No guards, no merchants, no robber, no spectators, no…nobody."

"That's weird," said Lexi, "This museum is the most popular in town. It's usually packed full during visiting hours."

Daniella pulled her sisters aside. "I think whoever was here must have used a few spells to disarm the guards and make everyone else disappear."

"You mean, the robber could have been a Warlock?" asked Wendy.

"Yes, and I think the one who tried to rob the bank yesterday was one, too. They were both Warlocks from the Order of the Scorpion."

"The what?" Sophie asked, "Hold on, I-I'm starting to remember."

Suddenly, a strange noise caught everyone's attention. The Loonatics stopped investigating and the girls stopped their conversation.
They all looked around, but they didn't see anyone. Tech used his tracker, but it didn't reveal any life signs other than theirs.

"That's weird," said Tech, "This says there's no one here. Maybe we just imagined that noise."

"His inventions don't adjust for magic shift," Sophie thought out loud.

"All of us?" Lexi asked, "Come on, Tech, I have super hearing. I think I'd know what's real and what's not."

The noise resounded. They didn't know what it was because none of them had ever heard it before…except the girls.

"That's the sound of the Power Withdrawal Spell," said Daniella, terrified. Her sisters received the shock and realized that the spell she was talking about what really dangerous. Whoever was doing this obviously was a Warlock of some kind and an evil one at that. Everyone of the Order of the Scorpion was evil.

Daniella ran down the hall past her sisters and the Loonatics and then turned a corner to see the exact same thief that had attacked them yesterday with his hand in a vase completely surrounded by a blue whirlwind of some sort. The thief turned to see Daniella and took his hand from the vase, releasing the spell to disappear. She looked at him and saw the Symbol of the Scorpion imprinted on his palm. He looked at her and saw her bracelet with the 7 charms, representing the colors of the rainbow as a daughter of the Light Guardians. The Loonatics and Daniella's sisters then came.

"Perhaps you should stay with us next time," suggested Lexi, almost running out of breath as she reached Daniella's side. She looked where Daniella was looking and saw the thief looking straight at them with his deep brown eyes. Rev gasped when he saw the mark on his hand, as did Wendy and Sophie.

Ace drew his sword. "Alright, doc, just like yesterday, we've got a score to settle. You try to steal stuff, I whip your sorry behind. Guardian Strike Sword, attack!" He ran at the thief and threw out his sword. The thief jumped out of the way before the blade touched him and the sword landed right next to him. Lexi brain blasted the thief and he launched right into the wall next to few windows. "You done yet, or do you want a round 2?"

Before anyone could say anything, the thief kicked the sword out of Ace's hand and it went flying…right into Sophie. She fainted.

"Sophie!" Tech, Daniella, and Wendy all cried at the same time. While her sisters were running to her side, Tech took the blade from her and threw it back to Ace who turned around and saw that the thief wasn't there anymore. He had run while everyone was focused on Sophie. Ace put his sword back and went over to see how Sophie was doing and asked Tech, "Is she going to be OK?"

"She's far from OK," said Tech, "I can't fix this. I took psychology and mechanics, not medical training. But, if I could give her my powers, even for a couple seconds, I would."

I'll gladly take you up on that offer, Tech, Sophie thought, though she knew he couldn't hear her. She grasped his hand tightly and he felt a singe of pain. Tech felt as if his arm was being pulled out. He tried to use his powers to make the pain go away but he couldn't access them. If he had been able to open his eyes, he would have known why by seeing Sophie use his powers to repair her wound. As soon as she had completely healed, she quickly let go of him and he fell to the ground, afraid to move at all for fear that the pain would return. Sophie could hear Tech whimpering as she sat up and opened her own eyes and realized what she had done. She regretted every second of it immediately.

While Ace was helping Tech up, Sophie got on her feet and ran out of the building as fast as she could. Her sisters followed her.

None of them knew that the thief was only invisible and that he had been watching every bit of what happened from the exact spot he had disappeared in. He then changed back into a bat and flew back to his boss to report on how their plan had worked.

Daniella and Wendy found Sophie just outside the building, crying. "I put his life in danger to save myself. He'll never forgive me for that. They'll never want to see me again. I've just gotten us all kicked out for trying to help."

"Sophie, calm down, you're fine," said Daniella, "It wasn't that bad."

"'Wasn't that bad'?" Wendy shouted, "The coyote's in there whimpering! Mom and Dad told us not to use our powers and you've just gotten us exposed as evil power-stealers when the actual evil power-stealers are the ones that we're trying to stop! Way to go, Softy!"

Daniella looked at her angrily as Sophie cried even more than she was before.

"But on the bright side, you're both still alive," Wendy said to reassure her sister.

"The pain I just put Tech through is worse than death," said Sophie, "That's exactly why I a) didn't want to use powers while we were here, b) didn't want to fall in love again, or c) all of the above."

"'C'?" Daniella asked.

"Ding, ding, ding!" said Wendy.

"Wendy, I'm trying to give sympathy to our coyote sister," said Daniella, "Could you please stop giving off 'comments'?"

"Sorry," said Wendy.

"Look," said Daniella, "Tech will not be upset. He obviously likes you and he said that he would give you his powers if he wanted to and he did. You said last night that you like him. He's not going to throw that away because of one little incident like this."

"'Little'?" Sophie quoted, "Any longer and I could have ripped his arm off. And why are you so intent on staying here if you've never taking any interest in my love life before and--oh my, squirrel, you like Rev!"

"What? I do no--OK, maybe a little bit."

"Ew, you're crushing on a bird?" Wendy asked, "That's--"

"Coming from the girl who likes Duck," Daniella finished her sentence for her. Wendy didn't say anything to that. "I guess we all have our romantic problems. We'll be fine."

At that exact moment, the Loonatics came piling out of the building, Slam carrying Tech in his arms.

"Sophie," Lexi said, "what was that? You completely knocked Tech out!"

"I didn't mean to!" Sophie exclaimed, "I just needed to use his powers and I guess he took it too hard because he wasn't prepared for it or something. I mean, you know that power I was telling you about this morning? That was it. I can temporarily use someone else's abilities, but it comes at a cost and I guess he got the worst of it because I has to use his powers for so long."

"So can your sisters do anything like that?" Duck asked.

"Excuse us," said Daniella, taking her sisters aside, "You told them about our powers?"

"No," said Sophie, "they think we have abilities like them. They don't know that we're Witches. And even if they did, there's no way they'd believe us."

Daniella calmed down and went to tell the Loonatics what little they were aloud to tell them. "I can influence people while I touch them and Wendy can levitate stuff and read minds."

"Really?" Lexi asked, "Prove it."

Wendy raised her hand and the objects around them (backpacks people left behind, skateboards out in the street, etc.) all began to float in the air. Wendy put her hand down and everything dropped.

"OK, you got us there," said Ace, "What about you?"

"You guys are probably immune to it considering the fact that your anthros," said Daniella, "but I can coax Tech awake whether he's immune or not. All immunities drop with unconsciousness." She got closer and laid her hand on Tech's head. She closed her eyes and thought desperately, Come on, Tech, wake up.

Tech opened his eyes and his ears went straight up on the alert (they had been drooping when he was asleep). He sat up as Slam put him down. "What happened? Last thing I remember is someone ripping my arm out."

"Told you," Sophie said. She turned away from her sisters and explained to Tech what had happened. "You did say you would lend me your powers if you could." She began to fake laugh, but stopped when she saw Tech cross his arms and give her a look.

Tech smiled, despite his lingering pain. "Then I guess that was my entire fault since I gave you permission, huh?" He giggled. Sophie smiled.

"Well, if you're up and ready for it, Tech," Ace said, "why don't we head back to HQ and let these kids explain, now that they remember."

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OK, I know I copied the girls' powers off of X-Men and "Race to Witch Mountain" but I couldn't come up with anything better and I had to have something. Let me know what you think (no bad comments please, I'm very senstitive) and please read on!