Chapter 20
"Okay, it's off. Now get mine." Luke handed the tools he was using over to Nova and she started picking the lock.
"What about the exploding mechanism inside? Why didn't it go off?"
"My sister. She's here and she knows how to get that kind of thing turned off." There are probably few less guards in the world now, though.
As she worked she kept trying to crane her neck over to see into the flaming cell. All that could be seen was flames licking out of the cell and a glow against the opposite wall. She whimpered and muttered to herself but all that Luke could distinguish was "My poor baby".
"You're free."
"Great. Come on." Luke grabbed her hand and transported them out of the cell and into the hallway. As soon as Nova's feet were solidly on the ground, she took off running towards the burning cell. Now that she was closer, she could hear screaming from inside the cell.
"Bem! Bem can you hear me?" Nova shouted over the roaring of the flames.
"Aunt Nora! You have to get us out of here! It's so hot!"
"Are you staying with Arson? He can keep you safe."
"Yeah," they heard Arson reply," I've got her, she's safe, but the fire is getting hotter than I've ever tried resisting." The smoke was so thick that they couldn't see the pair.
"Get her out of there."
"If I don't know where I'm going then I can get stuck in nowhere."
"Aunt Nora, hurry!"
"Bem, get as far away from the door as possible and duck down behind something if you can. I'm going to blow the door off."
Luke grabbed her shoulder, "keep it small but big enough to count. The force of the blast is going to shoot the fire towards them."
Nova put her hands on the bars of the door and closed her eyes. Her hands started glowing and then the door was blown off its hinges and into the cell. It crashed into the bunk bed and fell to the ground. Nova started to run into the burning cell but Luke caught her arm before she could go in. "You aren't fire proof."
"And you Ghost, are just a kid and can't tell me what to do," Nova said brushing his hand off her.
That sounded childish, Luke thought as Nova called out to Bem, "The door is gone, get out of there."
They came running out of the fiery cell; Arson was shielding Bem from the flames with his body. As soon as they were out, Nova scooped up Bem and carried her away from the fire. Luke grabbed Arson's arm and dragged him away as well.
"Nova, I know you want to make sure Bem is ok but we need to keep moving. My sister will be waiting." He pulled out the pocket watch to see if there was a new message, but it was still green.
"No, we need a moment to… fix some things," Arson said from where he was leaning against the wall. Luke turned to face him and saw that his face was pale and he was holding his right side. Blood was soaking through his orange jumpsuit and running down his fingers.
"Arson!" Bem shouted and she jumped out of her Aunt's arms and ran to his side as he slid to the ground. She pealed his hand back and saw a piece of the metal bar from the door imbedded in his side. It was still red hot from the blast. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
"But, I thought you were immune to fire?" Bem said, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Fire, yes; heat, no," he replied through clenched teeth.
"Now, how is that for an unfortunate loop hole?" a lazy voice said from inside a nearby cell.
"Who are you?" Luke demanded.
"Just a guy that wants in and out."
"In and out?"
"In on whatever you are doing and out of this cell and collar." The guy in the cell was lounging on the floor with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. Starting from where he was lying down in the middle of his cell, there were rings drawn to look like they were expanding out from him. They warped up the walls and all the way on to the ceiling. "I am Pulsar."
"Pulsar?" Bem asked, leaning to see into the cell. "Parker?"
"Hey, B.H. Long time, no see," Pulsar said sitting up, his grey eyes shining.
"You know each other?" Luke asked looking from one to the other.
"He has to come with us."
"Bem, who is this guy? How do you know him?" Nova asked, tugging at the little girls shoulder to turn her around to face her.
"Parker took care of me when my parents first left me. He made sure I had food every day. He helped me get my power under control. We lived in an abandoned house. I never knew what had happened to him. He just didn't come home one night, the night he was captured and taken here."
"But that had to have been years ago. He couldn't have been more than 12 years old."
"And?" Pulsar asked. "You think I couldn't take care of her?"
"Guys, this is neither the time nor the place to get into this. We need to go and we need to go now."
"He has to come with us," Bem insisted.
"Well I don't think we want to get him out the same way we got the two of you out, so I'll take care of this one." Luke blinked himself into the cell, grabbed Pulsar and blinked back out.
"Now let's go. Parker, you are going to help me carry Arson. We are officially behind schedule and we still have other people to find and let out. We will deal with your collar when we get a chance," Luke said. All these unplanned pit stops were murder on his schedule. What was so hard about get caught, get thrown in Bell Rev, make friends and break out? With Lilly pulling the strings on the outside this mission should have been going without a hitch.
They didn't encounter any guards as they stormed down the hall way. Again, probably Lilly's doing. How does she have these kind of connections and I don't? Luke pulled out the pocket watch as they walked and checked the face again. Now, instead of a glowing green face, it was blue. Blue for bust out.
"Stop here. The people in the cells around us are the ones we came for. Let's get to work."
:3( )~~
"JAMIE?!" Jade shrieked when she finally picked her jaw up off the ground.
"Surprise," I said sheepishly. She continued to sputter while I just laughed at her. "Is it really that hard to imagine that I'm Shift? Thanks for that boost of confidence."
She pulled down her mask and continued to stare, and then it dawned on her, "How did you know it was me?"
I couldn't very well sell out Wally so I went with what started this whole fandango.
"You came to my house as Tempest, remember? Then we had the big blow out about it. You are a terrible liar by the way."
"But how can you do the turning into different animals thing?" she asked, disregarding the terrible liar statement.
"You mean like this?" I asked and then poofed myself into a black lion. With all my scars I looked like Scar from The Lion King.
"Yes, like that."
"No clue." I shifted back into a human and wiped the blood off that was running into my eyes.
"You really need to get that check out. What are you going to tell your parents?" she asked.
"Oh you know; the usual. That I hit myself in the head with my sabre in guard while i was practicing."
"It's a good thing we are have a violent sport to blame injuries on, isn't it?"
"Indeed. And what about you Ms. 'Look at me; I can control the elements'? How did that come about?"
It was almost as if a cloud had passed overhead, Jade's face went dark and closed off. "This is not the place to talk about it. Another day, another time. But I will tell you. For now, let's get back into our normal clothes and get you to the doctor."
"The doctor? Jade I'm fine, it's just a little bump," I insisted.
"Little bumps don't bleed profusely," she pointed out. "And I've been standing hear watching your eyes go in and out of focus."
"That's just from all the shape shifting. I'm fine. And head wounds always bleed profusely."
"Hey, when you're puking at school tomorrow because it turns out you have a skull fracture, I'm not going to be the one that drags your but down to the nurse," Tempest said crossing her arms.
I shifted into a large black falcon and flew around Jade a few times. "I'll hold you to that!" I told her before flying off to get my bag and go home.
:3( )~~
The next day I found a red ribbon tied around the light post. I saw that there was something written on it so I untied it and read:
Meet us the same as you did before. Wear the suit. –R
Looks like I'm going to Gotham again, I thought. I almost pocketed the ribbon before I remembered how much Batman and Robin love tracking devices. I retied the ribbon and headed for school.
First period is going to be interesting, I though as I walked into art class. I have my best friend back and am going to prom with the ginger we always mock, who also happens to be a superhero. I sat down in my seat and suddenly Wally was leaning over the table with his head propped up on his hands.
"Well, hello there," he said batting his eyes.
"Hi, Wally. Got something in your eye?"
"I guess there must be, because all I can see is you."
I had to resist gagging. "That's nice, but I think I liked it better when you weren't trying to flirt."
He shrugged his shoulders and slid into a seat at the table as Jade walked into the class room.
"Hey Jamie, did you hear about any shifty business yesterday?" she asked. I picked my sketch book up off the table and smacked her in the arm with it. She merely snickered and sat down.
"I didn't hear anything but I was tempted to find out," i countered and then ducked as her sketchbook came swinging at my face.
"It looks like the two of you are all buddy-buddy again," Wally observed.
"And it looks like you are abandoning your table again."
"Well i wanted to sit by my date."
"Date?" Jade asked, lifting an eyebrow.
I figured this is the kind of thing that she should hear from me, so I jumped in on the conversation. "You know how I said I had a date to the prom? Well, this is him."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No, I was going to ask him."
"Sorry, too late," I told her shrugging my shoulders.
"Ladies, ladies, there is plenty of The Wall- Man to go around." We both turned and looked at him in a way that said, "Yeah, if we each only wanted a toe." Then we turned back to face each other and had a conversation that consisted only of facial expressions. It ended with a nod and we turned back to Wally. "It's a deal."
I realize it took forever to get this chapter out and im sorry for that. if you have questions or coments please message me and don't forget to review!