A.N– Just to clarify from last chapter: there were some more cameos, from the 2003 animated cartoon Teen Titans, mainly the "Titans East"; Karen Beecher, Roy Harper, and Garth Brooks are the real/"civilian" names of Bumblebee, Speedy, and Aqualad, respectively. I had to make up Mas y Manos' names, since they're OCs of the show and have no DC comic counterpart.
Also, I figured it was high time Maka made an appearance, since I touched on everyone but her; I mean, we haven't even heard her voice like with Tsubaki. Sorry that her appearance was her being hostile and possibly immature, but she smoothed out in the end, right? I just kept thinking about she reacted when Crona left (especially in the anime) and just thought it felt right.
Alright, I'll stop talking now – well, one more thing; this chapter does some time jumping, as in, it starts 20 minutes before the explosion in last chapter, and then will jump to after last chapter's explosion. I don't want anyone being confused.
Okay, now here we go!
Previously: Kid's earlier thought, about putting Maka's exceptional Soul Perception to use, sprang back to mind. "You know, Maka, now that you mention it –"
The rest of his words were cut off as the floor suddenly exploded beneath them.
Chapter Seven:
20 minutes earlier...
"Thompsons!"
Liz and Patti looked up at Magenta-hair, expressions guarded as she sauntered towards them into the rec room. Beside the sisters, Jason stopped talking mid-sentence, a mix of surprise and apprehension on his face.
"What?" Liz questioned, tone abrasive as she glared at Magenta-hair. The woman jerked a thumb behind her at the door.
"Callisto wants to see you," she answered.
Jason stepped forward, almost protectively, frowning. "So what? She's not the boss."
Now Magenta-hair was the one frowning. "Better watch your mouth, Jason," she warned. "She's not the boss, true, but she's the boss' boss, and the one he put in charge while he's away. So if she wants to see these two" she pointed a finger at Liz and Patti "then she sees 'em. Capiche?"
"It's okay, Jason," Liz said quickly, laying a hand on his shoulder as he opened his mouth. "We'll be fine. Come on, Patti." Her sister nodded and together they following the smirking Magenta out of the rec room, down the hall, and into Franky's office. As Liz entered, a shiver went down her spine as she thought about how much blood Roy had lost when she'd shot him, and the cruel way Franky's men had dumped him and his partner out in the street.
Patti grabbed her hand and squeezed it in comfort, clearly knowing what direction her sister's thoughts were going. Liz squeezed back, then turned to face Callisto.
The witch, who was leaning against Franky's desk, was dressed in a sapphire blue blouse and black yoga pants that flared out at the bottom. She also wore a pair of gold hoops in her ears. With a wave of her hand, she dismissed Magenta, who closed the door behind them. Her eyes were amused as she looked at them.
"So," she drawled, "you two arrre the famous Thompson sisterrrs, Shinigami's own Weapons."
Though she expected it, Liz scowled at the lack of honorific for Kid's name; neither she nor Kid lorded it over people, but she wouldn't stand for such a deliberate disrespecting of her meister and friend. "That's Shinigami-sama to you," she stressed. "And why did you want us?"
Callisto cocked her head and ignored the question, saying, "How does that make those Death Scythes feel, I wonderrr? When you'rrre not even on theirrr level?"
"We're plenty strong enough!" Patti snapped indignantly. "The only reason we're not Death Scythes is because Kid made a treaty with witches like you! A treaty that you're breaking right now."
"Oh, what do I carrre about trrreaties and Shibusen?" Callisto replied, waving a hand dismissively.
"Enough to defy them both by planting bombs in Death City," Liz countered. "The longer you keep them there, the worse your punishment is going to be."
"I told you, those werrre forrr Frrranky," said Callisto. Then she straightened up and walked towards them, a coy smile on her face. She leaned forward into Liz and Patti's faces, but they each refused to lean away, unwilling to show any sign of weakness to this witch. Callisto whispered, "But between us girls, don't you worrrrry; I'll keep yourrr little secrrret."
Liz frowned. What secret could they have that neither Franky nor his girlfriend knew about? They knew the real reason the Thompsons were in Franky's gang. The only thing she could think of was that Callisto had somehow found out that Garth and Roy were Shibusen agents, and that Liz had told Roy about the bombs in Death City. "What are you talking about?" she asked finally.
Callisto giggled. "That that boy you shot is still alive," she answered.
As Liz stiffened, Patti jumped to defend her, insisting, "That doesn't need to be kept secret! Franky said all Sis had to do was shoot that guy, and that's what she did! And if he wanted him dead so bad, then he shoulda given Sis a real gun, instead of letting her use me!"
"Well, you two know how much I love my Frrranky-bearrr," Callisto responded, "but he does have some flaws. One of which being that he thinks he knows everrrything about ourrr worrrld." She shrugged. "He prrrobably thought yourrr bullet could kill. But you'rrre rrright — I'll have to teach him to be morrre specific."
"What, the next time he asks us to shoot somebody?" Liz asked irritably, having recovered from her fear. "Listen to me, sweetheart, the next person who gets to feel one of our bullets will be either your or Franky."
Callisto's smile disappeared, and she stepped back from the girls. She backed up and, keeping her eyes on the Thompsons the whole time, reached behind her on Franky's desk; in her hand was a black box topped with a red button. Liz's throat when dry when she saw the detonator in the witch's hand. "I'm sorrrrry," Callisto said menacingly, "but did you just thrrreaten me? Because that would be a verrrrry bad idea. Witches can't help be destrrructive, you know?"
They had to approach this cautiously. Liz put her hands up. "Hey now, no need for that," she said soothingly. "How 'bout you tell us what you brought us in for? D-do you want us for a job?"
The witch continued to stare at them, but her eyes seemed unfocused. "Who said I wanted that? Maybe I just wanted to bask in the idea of having Shinigami's own parrrtnerrrs in my thrrrall." She laughed, and it sounded somewhat broken. "I hearrr he begged on his knees for the witches' aid." Her eyes lit up with a crazy, childish glee. "Do you think he'd do the same to get you two back? Oh how delicious! How prrrecious! To see such a powerrrful man beg me for something!"
Her words angered Liz, but it was Patti who replied, saying with a furious tremble in her voice, "Is that all...all a game to you? Some sick plan to boost your own self-esteem? How crazy can you be?!"
"You don't underrrstand," Callisto argued, shaking her head. "You don't underrrstand how it felt, when Frrrancesco Scafidi, one of the most powerrrful men in this city, came to me perrrsonally and asked forrr something only I could give. Make him a vest, plant bombs in Death City, hide them frrrom Shinigami – surrre, why not? It was the least I could do, afterrr he'd placed such contrrrol in my hands!"
"It won't be there forever," Liz warned, dropping her hands. "My sister and I don't plan on hanging around here longer than we have to."
The witch cocked her head, as if considering that fact. "I suppose you'rrre rrright. Hmm." She shrugged. "Well, then I'll just have to press my advantage while I have it."
Then she placed her finger on the big red detonator button, and pressed down.
...
Death City...
Kid clutched his head as he rose, shakily, to his feet. He had a pounding headache, and his whole body just ached. Being a full-fledged shinigami, he had a high pain tolerance, but much of the pain he was feeling was not so much his own but Death City's – he could feel the buildings as if they were his own broken bones; he could feel the panic and pain and fear and sorrow coursing through his citizens' souls. Usually the variance of people's emotions kept him in balance, but the negative emotions were too widespread, too popular, for him to ignore. How had his father ever coped, when Madness had run rampant? His father had been much older and more experienced than he at the time, but still.
He dragged himself out of his reverie when he heard Maka groan; bracing himself against the multitude of misery, he made his way to her. She seemed mostly all right as she used the wall to help stand up. Her clothes were covered in dust, and blood dripped from cuts on her knee and forehead. Her soul wavelength, though slightly disoriented, pulsed strong and steady.
"Are you alright, Maka?" Kid asked. She blinked at him, gathering her bearings, before nodding.
"I think so. You?" When he nodded, her green eyes roamed around the room, grimacing at what she saw. There was large hole in the middle of his office, and his desk had been flipped and thrown against the wall, along with the other furniture. Chunks of ceiling had also come down, but thankfully not on either of them.
"We should go," Kid determined. "Find out how bad the damage is."
Maka nodded, stepping over some debris and rubbing her back. "Right."
As soon as they crossed the threshold, the door of which had been blown off its hinges, they heard running footsteps. Soul was dashing down a flight of stairs, skipping the steps that had fallen in and practically leaping over the holes and debris in the floor. "Kid!" he cried, then, a second later, when his brain registered that his girlfriend was also here, "Maka! Are you alright?!"
"We're ok, Soul," Maka answered, her soul becoming much more at ease. "What about you, do you get hit? Where were you?"
"In the upstairs restroom," said Soul. "That wasn't hit, but I heard and felt it; I think only the downstairs was affected."
"They better not have been able to plant bombs anywhere else," Kid muttered, frowning. Louder, he said, "We need to find out more. Was anywhere else afected? How could this happen? Where is everyone else? What is the extent of the damage? I should also say something to the city."
"Already on that, Shinigami-sama," Azusa said, appearig from another room on the ground floor. Suddenly, it seemed his whole staff was around him, from the Death Scythes and the Council to the librarians and maintenance crew, bringing sobs and disbelief, but also productivity: Professor Stein and Marie were directing the injured to a clear area, promising that ambulances were on their way, while Sid was speaking on the phone with Nygus about the school, and many others were checking on family members and the outside of his office. If terrible, it still made Kid glad.
"MAKA! MY BABY GIRL, ARE YOU OK?!" Maka face-palmed, Soul rolled his eyes, and Kid sighed as Spirit Albarn came barreling over to try and hug Maka. She side-stepped his attempt, resulting in the older man falling flat on his face. Against the floor, the Death Scythe mumbled, "Wi was so werbied bout woo!" Kid was fairly sure he meant, "I was so worried about you!"
"I'm fine, Papa," Maka told him. "And, clearly, so are you." Despite her brusque tone, Kid could see Maka was deeply relieved her father seemed to be unhurt.
"C'mon, senpai," Soul said, nudging Spirit with his foot. "Stay like that and Professor Stein might decide you need his medical expertise."
Spirit sprung up immediately.
Dusting himself off, Spirit became serious and turned to Kid. "It looks like the academy, and DCU were the worst hit," he said, "along with Pain Square. Rescue and medical teams are deployed, and the police are looking into the culprit."
"I already know who the culprit is," Kid said with a scowl. "Liz and Patti, through an undercover agent, revealed that Francesco Scafidi hired a witch to conceal bombs in the city. My city. Both he and the witch need to be apprehended as soon as possible."
Spirit pursed his lips, then, hesitantly, said, "If a witch is involved, then should be contact Majo?"
Soul crossed his arms over his chest, looking displeased. "The politics of that would take way too long," he insisted. "The witch might leave Franky by the time the witches give us the OK."
"And Liz and Patti may be in danger now," Maka added. "Franky just detonated his leverage; what if he thinks they're no longer valuable?"
All these things were too much to process right now for Kid, with the stream of stressed and hurting soul wavelengths he was receiving. As much as he wanted to rush to Liz and Patti's location, both to finally see them again and reap the soul of the one who had ambushed Death City, he knew he needed to prioritize. Turning to Azusa, he said, "Have the CIA tighten their net on Scafidi, but every other agency should be working on search and rescue, building clean-up, medical aid, et cetera. Once we're more settled and the people are calm, we'll go after Scafidi and his witch. We can contact the witches later."
"Yes, sir," Azusa answered, not even looking up from her phone as she followed his directions.
...
Brooklyn...
Liz stared at Callisto in shock, not believing that she'd actually pressed the button. Beside her, Patti started to hyperventilate.
"Wha – wha – what have you – done?!" the younger Thompson cried, eyesThe witch cocked her head, as if confused by the question.
"I thought it was obvous," she replied. "Rrreally, I expected morrre from you two. Wherrre's the rrrage, the indignation?" Then her face brightened, and she snapped her fingers. "Oh! I get it! You'rrre not surrre if anything happened, arrre you? I understand." She gave a little giggle. "Well, herrre, I'll show you!"
She made a movement with her hand, and a swirling, colorful orb about twice the size of a dinner plate appeared before them; then, images of Death City came into focus. But it was not the Death City they were used to. These images showed Shibusen's iconic steps blown apart and littered with holes, rubble strewn all over the grounds. Then it moved to Death City University, on whose campus was crowded EMTs, police officers, firefighters, and bleeding, screaming students. Finally, Pain Square shimmered into sight, far too quiet as victims, huddling under blankets, whispered their stories to the police, some looking lost as they stared at broken glass and blackened wood that had been a store.
Liz's legs began to buckle, and she slid to her knees to stop herself from falling. She could feel Callisto's eyes on her, trying to pierce her through with cruel delight. Everything Liz had done, had been to prevent such destruction on her city, on Kid and her other friends, and yet, she had failed. It had all been for nothing.
As Liz succumbed to waves of despair, Patti let her fury consume her. "YOU!" she bellowed at Callisto, who leaned forward eagerly. "You – you – how DARE you? Shibusen is where we met our friends and learned to be Kid's partners! It's where a lot of innocent kids go to school! It's where Kid works. DCU is where Sis is learning how to help Kid, and it's where Soul and Tsubaki and Maka go! You've ruined it, ruined it, ruined it!" Shaking with rage, Patti clenched her fists, and then launched herself at the witch, tackling her and causing them both to slide across Franky's desk and onto the floor.
"Your soul is mine," Patti hissed, hands wrapped around the witch's throat; Callisto seemed legitimately surprised, eyes wide and maybe a little frightened.
Before Patti could ask Liz to transform, however, the side door to Franky's office burst open. Franky looked at the scene before him with narrowed eyes.
"And just what," he growled, "is going on here?"