Back at the Big Hero 6 base, the gang all sat down in the conference room. Except Globby, who was hanging from the ceiling. "Don't you get dizzy doing that?" Kat questioned.
"Meh, not really." Globby looked unbothered. "So, who was that Voltrax lady?"
Basemax's screen showed a photo of the "nurse" around the Heartless incident. "This was the first Galaxian Pirate we encountered." Gogo explained
The screen then showed her Heartless form. "Yikes!" Globby winced.
"Yeah, a guy from this organization turned her into that." Hiro nodded. "She was really powerful in that form."
"You got knocked out at the start of the fight." Fred pointed out.
"Exactly!"
Honey Lemon shook her head at their antics. "Guys, can we get back on topic?" She turned to Kat. "You have explaining to do, y'know."
Gogo agreed with the chemist. "Yeah, spill."
"Okay, in hindsight I guess I should've told you about my plan of invading their base." Kat gestured. "I don't really like working together with people, and last time I teamed up with someone to invade their base I ended up getting someone killed and that was just a rescue mission-"
The gang's faces were pale. "K-Killed?" Wasabi sputtered.
"I don't wanna talk about it." Kat glanced away.
Fred nodded in sympathy. "How did you find out about their base?"
"Elizabeth told me!"
Confused stares came from the heroes at the unfamiliar name. "How's Momakase doing?" Globby beamed.
"She's doing well, still grumpy though." They answered.
Baymax put the pieces together first. "Is Elizabeth her first name?"
"Bingo! She doesn't like using it though." The glob monster gestured. "Can relate."
Hiro wasn't sure if he should be confused that Kat was casual friends with the chef/mercenary, or that they got info about the Galaxian Pirates from Momakase. "How?!"
"Eh, long story, but I didn't expect them to build a base in the desert. So I'm waiting for my sister to get in town and we can bust their base of operations!" Kat exclaimed. "She's a good hacker, and really insisted on coming over since she had finished her online classes."
"So your baby sister insisted on tagging along? I can relate." Hiro nodded. "You must be ancient if she's taking online classes." He couldn't help but tease.
Kat bristled at him. "Hey! I'm not much older than your buddies, pal!"
"I'm 36." Globby raised a hand.
Gogo facepalmed. "Guys, focus." She had Basemax open a map of the city and the surrounding area. "Where is their base?"
Kat got up. "There." They pointed to a location that was at least an hour away from the city. "I scouted and saw them lurking around the area. I was pretty lucky they didn't notice me."
"Wait, that's where Anderson used to be." Wasabi realized.
Baymax turned to him. "What is Anderson?"
"It used to be a neighborhood that passing travelers would stop by, but a really bad fire happened and no one lived there since." He explained. "My parents used to have family there, key word being used to."
The masked superhero of the group awkwardly coughed. "Yeah uh, so since it's an old abandoned town, they've made a base under it."
"And if we destroy it, we'll be done with them, right?" Hiro smiled. But then Kat looked away. "Right?!"
"Well, they make a lot of bases."
Everyone except them and Globby groaned. "I don't know why you guys are shocked, I mean a lot of villains I know have backup bases!" The glob monster frowned.
"Maybe there's info on said backup bases if we invade their headquarters." Wasabi guessed.
Kat pointed to him. "This."
"What'll happen when your sister gets here?" Honey Lemon questioned.
"She can hack into their systems and help shut it down, or download any valuable information. If you wait until she gets here, any info we find will go straight to your robot buddies."
Hiro thought about it. As much as he wanted to shut down that base as soon as possible, it had already been a long day. Plus, Kat's the most experienced dealing with the Galaxian Pirates, it might be better to wait for them and their sister. "Okay, but when she arrives into the city, we're destroying their base asap."
"Sounds like a plan." They gestured with finger guns. "Trust me, she's really good at messing with their systems, it'll be a piece of apple pie!"
"Don't jinx us." Gogo scolded them.
"Sorry!"
Teen Dorks Squad group chat:
June: Guysguysgusyguysysy
Rach: Spam
June: Okay so
June: bh6 showed up at my house
Hiro: I'm listening
Meg: *concerned*
June: And they gave mama her energy orb back!
Karms: Ooooooh they did?
June: Ye!
Ari: That's awesome! Barb def deserves to get it back.
Meg: Did you ask the heroes any questions
Rach: Megan…
June: They flew off before I could ask, but I'm happy rn : D
June: My sibs are getting me food at the lucky cat to celebrate and cheer me up
Hiro: I don't blame you, yesterday was scary
Rach: What's your mom doing with the orb?
June: Putting it in the tool shed that's in the garden.
Rach: okay then
Ari: I'll be sure to give you a big ol' hug when you come by the cafe!
June: : D
"Y'know." Fred mused as he took a sloppy bite of his waffles. "Im knd if thnkng-"
"Fred, don't talk with your mouth full." Gogo chastised him.
He finished chewing before speaking again. "Sorry, I was thinking about Kat's sister."
"What about her?" Wasabi raised an eyebrow.
"Do you think she'd look like a copy of Kat, or maybe they take after separate parents?" He questioned. "We don't even know what Kat looks like!"
"We know that they have green eyes." Honey Lemon pointed out. "So maybe their sister has green eyes too, just a slightly different shade."
Her girlfriend nodded. "Could be, could be not. Not all siblings look the same." Then again, as Gogo thought about it… her mom's siblings did look pretty similar to her, she just slurped her coffee instead of admitting it aloud.
While that conversation with the nerd gang was going on, Hiro was having a different conversation with Juniper. "So, what happened exactly when Big Hero 6 showed up?"
Ari handed them both a plate of pancakes before the dancer spoke. "It wasn't all of Big Hero 6, but it was the ones that don't like me… Green and Yellow, and Yellow really scares me sometimes."
"I'm sure that's only to villains, deep down there's a softie under all that disk-throwing persona." Mikan chimed in with a smirk.
"I'll believe it when I see it." Juniper huffed. "Anyways, so Green was the one who handed the orb to Mama. She was confused why because it was that Mole kid who had it beforehand."
"Which he shouldn't have had." Ari grumbled. Hiro gestured for her to calm down.
He nodded to the dancer. "And then?"
"So Yellow said that since Mole lied about opening a superhero museum, which was why he got the orb, and since me and Mama aren't supervillains anymore, it was okay for them to hand it back to her, as long as we don't do any crime-dancing!"
Hiro noticed that Mikan was giving him an amused smirk, before she nudged Juniper. "Shame that you can't, maybe your dancing would've charmed Hiro like you charmed his sister."
"Hey! I don't even have a crush anymore, don't bring me into this!" Said sister cried in offense.
The robotics genius glared at the snow-striped girl. "Oh, come on. I'm just joking." She chuckled. "We all know that you're more fond of bio-tech majors like-"
"Mika, stop." Juniper snapped at her before continuing. "And that's all they said before speeding away, such a shame as I would've loved to ask them some things."
"What… kind of things?" Hiro questioned. Feeling the awkwardness crawl up his throat since the dancer was unaware of the superhero sitting across being able to answer whatever questions.
She placed a hand to her chin. "How did they even get Mama's energy orb back in the first place? Or why does their leader call himself Captain Cutie… he's not that cute anyways."
Mikan cackled at the latter comment, and all Hiro could do was nervously chuckle. "Oh, I'm sure there's answers for that." He sweatdropped.
Jingle-Jingle!
Heads turned as police chief Diego Cruz sauntered into the cafe, bells on the door jingling as they did. "Cruz alert." Ari mumbled to her brother. "Probably here to flirt with our aunt like nothing happened the other day."
"Well, she's definitely not going to let him forget yesterday." Hiro stage-whispered.
"Why are we whispering?" Juniper questioned.
"It's really awkward when he talks to us." Ari explained.
But as Diego tapped on the counter, Cass greeted him with a scowl. "Morning rush a little hard on you today?" He smiled, blissfully unaware that the glare was directed at him.
"Diego, I know what you did the other day." Cass stated. "How could you?"
He blinked. "Pardon?"
"I told you over and over, to leave that poor girl and her mother alone!" She exclaimed. "My niece was in hysterics because she thought her friend was going to be imprisoned for no good reason other than the words of someone out to get them!"
"Cassie, you don't understand-" Diego stammered, but any argument he had was cut off.
"I understand that it's your job to make sure the city is safe, but I doubt the job includes harassing people that want to move on with their lives! Yes, people can do bad things. But they also can change, and punishing people for past actions they've atoned for isn't going to help anyone in San Fransokyo, it'll just make things worse!"
Mikan whistled. "Remind me to not get on your aunt's bad side."
"Trust me, the time period you might've has passed." Hiro reassured her.
She squeaked. "…Might've?"
"-and that's not to mention that it's hypocritical of you to give my niece and nephew's friend a hard time for her past actions when I've done some questionable stuff in the past if we're honest, but you understood that I'm a different person and aren't judging me for it." Cass continued to ramble. "Honestly Diego, what's gotten into you lately? The man I knew from my youth wouldn't have pulled these past few stunts." She shook her head, clearly disappointed in the chief of police.
Diego opened his mouth to try and justify himself, but no words came out. He wanted to explain to Cass that he was worried about his daughter. Nothing got past him after-all, he knew that Megan was still buddy-buddy with the younger member of High Voltage behind his back, and that scared him.
The idea that my daughter could go through what I went through in my youth… After what a supervillain did to him, the same could happen to Megan or even worse! But as he tried to explain that to the cafe owner, there was silence.
Seeing as she wasn't about to get an answer, Cass pinched the bridge of her nose. "Diego… Please leave, I can't even look you in the eyes right now."
"Alright…" To the surprise of Hiro, Diego relented and sulked straight out of the cafe.
He and Ari exchanged shocked glances. "Wow, I haven't seen that reaction out of him since Aunt Cass yelled at him when the cafe was closed!" His sister exclaimed. "You think that'll get him to clean his act?"
"I hope so." Hiro shrugged.
"I don't even know why he hates Mama and I so much." Juniper pouted. "We didn't try blowing up the city or anything…"
Ari thought it was because of her and Megan's relationship, even if Diego didn't know how deep their bond was, but she wasn't going to say that aloud on the off-chance it'd upset her friend. However, Mikan's theory did it for her. "My guess it's because what happened in Bridgeton, y'know, the high school Megan goes to where that disaster of a dance happened?"
"Pssst, Mikan! Ix-nay on the mutant-say!" Hiro elbowed her.
She winced at the jabbing of her arm. "Ow, cut it-'' That's when Mikan noticed that Juniper had gone deadly silent. "Out… oh uh I didn't mean to mention that! I'm sure it's because he doesn't like your cool music, that's all haha!"
Juniper just buried her face into her palms and sighed.
Meanwhile across the city at the train station…
A young woman hopped off of the train with a skip in her step. "Ah, I can see why Kat gushes about this place so much." She brushed her dirty-blonde hair out of her face. "Way more technology stuff than back home in Riverside Springs."
Apart from her large blue suitcase, she had her hair in a ponytail tied with a black hairband. She wore a dark gray turtleneck sweater, tight brown pants, light blue sneakers, and red fingerless gloves. Though her face was hidden due to the red fox mask covering it, raising a few eyebrows from folks but no one questioned her about it. "Though it's a lot more foggy." She squinted, towering over her fellow tourists due to her height. "Yeah I definitely can see why Kat likes it here, it's a nice place."
No wonder the pirates have been trying to take over, they like ruining nice things after all, well not today! "Don't worry San Fransokyo! I, Beatriz Tantalime, will make sure no darn pirates muck up the streets!"
If a few passerby folk shot her weird looks for her dramatic narration, she didn't notice. Bea was just happy to have arrived after such a long trip. It's a shame that Mom can't visit Kat either, while running the flower shop. I'll have to get her a gift since I'm in town! Maybe there's a few stray Mayoi that wouldn't mind a change of scenery? Yarrow would love a new play-mate too! The old cat that her mom owned did get lonely at times.
She could plan getting tourists gifts later, now came the hardest part of Bea's journey. Which is finding my sibling… I never found them when we played hide-and-seek as kids, so this is going to be difficult.
"I really hope Kat remembered to charge their phone today, they always forget the days I need to contact them…"
Superhero Squad group chat:
Captain Cutie: team Granville called us in for a meeting
Flame Jumper: A superhero meeting?
Speed Queen: huh?
Captain Cutie: Yeah she has some stuff to tell us. it's important
Chop Chop: Like rn, rn? I'm on a date...
Speed Queen: So was I but superhero stuff is more important
Chop Chop: Your gf is part of our team tho
Chem Girl: True! Dw Wasabi I'm sure Sara will understand
Ariel: I thought Granville stopped being a 7th wheel
Captain Cutie: Hey there's nothing wrong with some advice!
Red Panda: Hiro is correct
Ariel: Fair point
Ariel: Anything villainous going on?
Captain Cutie: Does Steamer count?
Ariel: What happened…
Flame Jumper: He tried drilling new holes under the city!
Flame Jumper: Where they're building new subways
Chop Chop: It was very scary
Ariel: yeah what was that guy thinking?!
Speed Queen: bold of you to assume he does
Chop Chop: ^
Flame Jumper: XD
Hiro tapped his gloves against the surface of the desk. "So Professor Granville, you wanted to see us?" He and the gang were waiting in the dean's office, as she had requested for him to call them over.
"Yes, I recently got news about the current city threat, the Galaxian Pirates." Granville explained. "I found out about the location of their base, it's outside the city in the desert where-"
Wasabi cut her off. "Uh, we heard about that already. One of our allies told us the location earlier." He then realized that he just interrupted the school dean. "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be rude!"
Granville however, had a surprised look on her face. "I didn't realize you already knew. Professor Ferns was very reluctant to tell you the news herself."
"Professor Ferns?" Hiro was puzzled.
"We found out from our friend Kat, what are you talking about?" Gogo questioned.
The dean's eyes widened. "Oh, I had assumed that she had told you this herself…"
"Professor Granville, I don't think she knows we're part of Big Hero 6." Honey Lemon pointed out. "Does she?"
"No, she does not." The gang sighed with relief. "However. She does know that Big Hero 6 is around the same age as your fellow students, and that's why she was adamant of not telling you this information, she didn't want anyone to get injured if you decided to infiltrate their base of operations."
"Well, we're waiting on some support before infiltrating." Hiro explained. "Professor Granville, why does Professor Ferns know this information in the first place?"
The dean sighed. "It's a long story, but she was a victim of their crimes a long time ago. I won't tell you the extent of their actions, but it had caused enough trauma for her to erase her memory for a period of time."
Just like Ari! Doctor Wower mentioned that, but I didn't realize they both got amnesia from the same villains… Hiro realized. "You mean that they wiped Sally's memories?" Honey Lemon questioned.
"That is incorrect. Sally most likely forgot herself. Sometimes the human brain forgets moments of extreme trauma to protect themselves and allow them to cope from the event." Baymax explained.
Granville nodded. "Exactly. Now, they had actually tried taking over the city a couple years ago. But luckily she was able to warn Boss Awesome before they had been able to establish a headquarters, and until now they had left San Fransokyo alone."
"Oooh right! Heathcliff said that your dad got information on them from someone, I thought it was Kat!" Hiro exclaimed. "So what you're saying is that Sally knows how dangerous they are."
"Indeed, I know that you all take a risk by protecting the city. But you must be extremely careful dealing with these new enemies. They are dangerous and vicious, and they will not show you any mercy." Granville warned them.
They nodded. "Got it professor, we'll be careful." Honey Lemon stated.
"Are they really that dangerous?" Fred questioned. "I mean we've been beating them left and right."
The dean raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps after years of having to run and hide they aren't as powerful as they once more, but make no mistake, students. There's a reason they haven't been caught in decades."
Meanwhile at Bridgeton…
"Uhhhhhhhg… why universe, why?!"
Ari facepalmed. "Barry, I warned you to not put off your studying for the biology quiz until the last minute, I really did." It was the start of swimming class, and as everyone was doing a few warm-ups in the pool, Ari was chatting with one of her classmates. Barry sadly did not do well on the latest quiz, and was still moping about his score even after class ended.
"Man no need to rub it in." He groaned. "Why can't I be smart like you?"
She blushed. "I'm not that smart… Hiro helped me with all of my homework, I just got lucky on the test."
"At least you tried more than I did." Barry frowned.
"Hey guys!" They looked over as Claira swam over to them. "Did you hear? We're gonna have a pep rally after class."
Ari raised an eyebrow, she did hear that there was an event coming up. "Why a pep rally?"
"To raise morale since there's a lot of supervillain attacks. Remember that time there was one at our school?" Claira explained.
Phantom pain throbbed on her face. "Don't remind me." She grumbled.
Barry noticed her expression and nudged her a little. "Chin up, it's gonna be fun and games at the pep rally and I heard from Briar there's gonna be a donut eating contest!"
"I hope I can participate in that!" Ari perked up.
"I did last year, I ate my donut the fastest." He bragged.
Claira rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you only say that because you were first in your team."
"Hey I was first because I was the best-"
"Coach Jenkins would like a word with you for that."
Ari just swam away from the incoming argument, at least being in her element cheered her up.
Unaware to the heroes and citizens, the Galaxian Pirates were making their move. "Ta-dah!" Bruce gestured to his laboratory. "See the newest weaponry we've got in store, Lady Voltrax!" He was eager to show off his new inventions to his leader, now that she was back and their group could be back in business.
Voltrax tilted her head at the sight. "And what am I supposed to be locking at?"
"Why, our new mechs!" Bruce boasted. "One of our latest recruits, Trina, helped me get the necessary data!" He gestured to the teenage robot, who was working on a mech suit that looked like a smaller version than her own, with less detail and not much covering around the chest. "We've only been able to make a few, since resource runs have had a lot of delays."
"Thanks to Hamada and the rest of his team." Trina snarled.
Voltrax's eye twitched. "I've been hearing about those brats a lot. You're telling me that you've been having problems with children?"
"Hamada isn't your normal everyday child." The teenage robot argued. "He's a robotics genius, and the brains of the group."
"And Commander Kamara learned the hard way that the rest of them aren't pushovers either." Bruce added. "Plus, Kat's been working with them."
At the mention of Kat, dark lightning cackled off of Voltrax, breaking all the lightbulbs. "WHAT?!" She screamed.
"Lady Voltrax, in our defense, we've been low on resources and morale since your disappearance." Bruce argued.
"So you're telling me that our great and powerful organization is being stalled by children?!" Voltrax had murder in her eyes. "Bad enough one mauled my face, but an entire team?!"
Trina and Bruce shared a wince. "Does this always happen?" She whispered.
"You can't blame her, she's been wanting to get her niece back for ages." Suddenly, realization came on Bruce's face. "But the good news is that another one of our newest recruits, Platinum, has discovered where Ariel is attending school."
Instantly, the co-leader paused. Interest flickering in her orange eye. "You have?" Her mouth opened into a wide grin, exposing her sharp fangs. "Where is it?"
"Some school named Bridgeton, the rat-spawn also attends there."
The grin got wider. "Let's pay my niece a little visit then, shall we?"
Back at Bridgeton, Ari was having the time of her life at the school pep rally. She got to participate in the bean tossing game, and cheered for her sister as Rachel participated in the donut eating contest.
It was funny seeing her little sister shove an entire donut down her throat without using her arms or legs, and frosting got everywhere, even on her shirt.
"I wish donuts weren't so messy." Rachel mumbled as she tried wiping the frosting off of her cheeks. "Or sticky."
"They wouldn't be so enjoyable if they weren't." Ari argued.
"Easy for you to say, you live in a cafe!"
The bandana girl shrugged. "What can I say except I've got good taste."
Katie snickered. "She's got you there, Rach."
"Thanks."
"Attention everyone!" The audience went silent as Principal Pines spoke up through the megaphone. "We're about to start the final event of this here pep rally: Tug O' War!"
The audience cheered. "Now, we'll need about twelve volunteers from each team. Red will face the Green team and Blue will face the Yellow team, whoever wins will fight in the next round!"
"I hope we get to the final round." Rachel stated, they were both on the Green team, so their classmates would face the Red team. "Last pep rally, we didn't."
As the teachers were asked for volunteers, Ari raised her hand up, hoping to be picked for the tug-of-war, and luckily she was chosen. "Good luck, Ari!" Rachel shouted to her for support.
Katie even chimed in. "Yeah, make sure to keep your eyes on the rope!"
Once all of the team members were chosen, Red and Green took their positions on the rope. "The team who gets the middle of the rope on their side will win and go to the final round!" Principal Pines exclaimed. "But everyone's a winner here so have fun!"
The students snickered, their beloved principal had been reminding them to just have fun for the entire pep rally.
"Ready… set… go!" Instantly, the students were tugged the hardest they could on the rope. Ari felt herself being pulled by the force of a dozen students. Gotta hold on… Her muscles burned as she yanked the rope back as hard as she could.
She wasn't paying attention to how close or how far the rope was, all she cared about at that moment was pulling the rope. "And the Green team takes the win!" The announcement snapped Ari back into reality. They won?
"Awesome!" One of her peers cheered.
"Good game, you guys were tough." Janice, who was on the other team, was giving some of the Green team a few handshakes in a show of good sportsmanship. Ari herself gave a few handshakes, but she was in disbelief that her team won. Well who knows what'll happen in the final round.
Yellow had been beaten by the Blue team, it was a rather close match, but the Blue team had stronger endurance than Yellow, making them the winner. Now it was Green versus the Blue team, Ari's hands felt sweaty as she gripped the rope.
"It's time for the final round! Blue versus Green, both winners no matter who wins, this will be an exciting match!" Principal Pines narrated. "Ready… set… go!"
There was no telling who would win, even with Ari tugging with all of her might, the Blue team could out endure them like they did Yellow. While Green had the best offense, Blue had the best defense.
They might've found out who would win eventually if it wasn't for-
Snap!
The teams yelped as the rope was suddenly cut, knocking everyone off their feet. "Owwww…" Ari rubbed her head.
"Hey! Who cut the rope!" Principal Pines demanded. "That's not a nice thing to do!"
A maniacal laugh went through the air. "Oh, who cares about your stupid little rope game." There was a woman holding a pair of sharp scissors that had cut open the rope. Ari felt panic in her entire body as she recognized that messy blonde hair and crazed look in her eye.
"V-V-Voltrax…" She stammered. It was none other than the woman that disguised herself as a nurse to try and kidnap her and Juniper.
Claira overheard her stammering. "You know this lady?!"
"I wish I didn't…"
Sadly, Voltrax picked up on that. "Aw, I'm hurt. I've been gone for so long and that's the first thing you say to me-" A notebook hit her on the head. "OW! Which one of you brats did that?!"
It was Rachel. "Guys she's a supervillain! She was the one that attacked the Sunshine Boulevard hospital! Run for your lives!"
"PANIC AND RUN! PANIC AND RUN!" One student instantly booked it out of the gymnasium and that's when pandemonium started. Students and teachers tried evacuating out of the gym in a stampede of chaos. Voltrax added more by striking the lights of the gymnasium, the sight of her dark lightning making everyone panic even more.
Ari tried to find her sister but the mass of students made it difficult. Claira gripped her hand. "Oh my god! Why does our school keep being attacked by electric villains?!" She tried tugging Ari to safety.
"I have no idea." Ari stated. "I'll tell you why I know her later, we've gotta run!"
Zap!
They screamed as the lightning blocked their way. "Ohhh you're not going anywhere little Ariel." Voltrax was looming over her like a monster under the bed.
A memory flashed through Ari's mind. "You're not going anywhere sweetie…" Those same cold orange eyes looming over a smaller child. Why was this so hauntingly familliar? Had she been in situation like this before?
Ari felt panic rise up as Claira put herself in front of the bandana girl. "I don't know w-who you are, but you l-leave Ariel alone l-lady! She's n-not going anywhere w-with you!"
"Cute that you think you have cho-" Voltrax was cut off as a backpack hit her upside the head and she fell over.
"Megan!" Both girls recognized their savior.
The reporter gestured for them to move. "C'mon, we've gotta get out of here before she gets back up."
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Claira sprinted, dragging Ari along with her.
As the girls left the gymnasium, Voltrax rubbed her head, groaning as she got up. "I'm really starting to hate these brats." But no matter, she would catch them eventually.
She always caught her prey in the end, there were only so many places they could hide…
"Breaking news!" The TV in the Lucky Cat cafe turned on to Action 7 News. Bluff Dunder appeared on-camera as calm as possible. "Local high school Bridgeton is on lockdown as the supervillain group called the Galaxian Pirates are attacking. Police have arrived to see members of the group barricading the school, staff and students have been trapped inside the building and there are reports that one of the leaders of the group are inside-"
Everyone in the cafe dropped their food. Wasabi almost fainted from shock, Cass started to stress-eat one of the donuts she had made.
And Hiro felt like he was going to throw up. "Oh no…" His sister was in Bridgeton! Oh no what if they're after Ari, I knew something like this was going to happen!
"We've gotta get over there asap." Gogo whispered. "It's bad news if they catch Ari or Rachel."
"Especially bad if they catch Rachel!" Fred added. "Remember what happened with Voltrax? If we didn't get there in time…"
They all shuddered. "Less talking, we've gotta get over there!" Wasabi stated. "C'mon, let's suit up!"
The gang nodded, they weren't going to let the pirates hurt their little sister of the group, or anyone in Bridgeton.
Reports of what was happening at Bridgeton also had reached the Ferns household. "Oh gosh, that's Sienna's high school!" David exclaimed once he heard the news. "I hope everyone's okay."
"I hope Ari's okay." Mikan paled. "Remember what school she goes to?"
The same look of horror flashed across his face. "Nooooo-"
His mother had similar concerns, albeit in a different manner. "Those pirates will be very sorry if they hurt a hair on her head, Big Hero 6 wouldn't tolerate it."
Mikan nodded. "Yeah! They'll rough 'em up good if they hurt her!" She knew that the pirates would regret invoking the wrath of the bandana girl's older brother.
"Tell that to our little sister, she's probably worried sick about her friend." Sara gestured. She walked over to the couch, where she had seen Juniper chilling and watching tv with her pet rabbit. "Juni? Are you okay?"
But Juniper wasn't there. "Maybe she went up to her room, to freak out in peace?" Mikan suggested.
"I'll check on her then." Sara went upstairs, and then a few moments later she came back panicked. "She's not there either!"
"Where did she go?!" Mikan exclaimed.
The sushi chef in the room was able to solve the mystery. "I suspect she snuck out to go rescue her friend while you were processing what the news said." Momakase guessed. "That explains why I thought I heard the backyard door opening."
Silence followed in the household.
"Aunt Barb is going to kill us." David gulped.
"Squeak, squeak!" I think this is a bad idea. She could hear Jackie try to say.
"Don't give me that look Jackie!" Juniper glared at the rabbit on the shoulder as she dashed across the city, hand against the bag she was carrying. "It's like Hiro always says, someone has to help. No way am I letting those pirates hurt my bestie or my girlfriend!"
She probably was going to get in trouble for worrying her mama, but if by helping out she could make up for what she did last time she was at Bridgeton, Juniper would call it a success.
However, as she and Jackie got close to the school, she noticed there was a cluster of cars filling the road. "Traffic jam?" But as she walked past them and noticed the distressed passengers on their phones and saw a barricade of police cars around the school, it clicked in her head.
All those people… they're concerned parents! Why didn't I realize that sooner? Ari's parents must be freaking out right now.
That's when she noticed the mechs. There were a few Galaxian Pirates in steel mech suits that looked similar to Trina's. And speaking of the devil… The robot herself was tossing boulders at the police, one of them crushed a car that was luckily empty.
"Surrender criminals!" She placed a hand to her ear as Diego was standing atop a vehicle, screaming into a megaphone. "Back away from the school or else we will be forced to take action!" Despite the rage in his voice, Juniper could tell that he was stressed with worry.
Even if she was scared of the chief of police, and was still scared he would try and arrest her and Barb, she understood how he felt at that moment. He's worried about Megan too.
Trina scoffed at the chief of police. "It's cute that you think you're convincing." She picked up another boulder, and tossed it straight at Diego. Juniper felt herself freeze, wishing she could look away but couldn't help but stare at the scene.
As the boulder was moments away from crushing him, a familiar red-winged robot flew in and caught the boulder. "Hello, you are safe now." Red Panda tossed the boulder back at Trina, which knocked her off of her high horse.
"I've been waiting for you!" Trina declared as the rest of Big Hero 6 slid in. "These mech suits are specifically designed to defeat you all!"
"Are you sure about that?" Flame Jumper gestured with a claw. "Let the Bridgeton students go!"
She laughed. "No, attack!" The Galaxian Pirates stopped blocking the school entrance and went for the superheroes, as they were all distracted, Juniper glanced at the school to try and find a way in.
The front entrance is no good… it's blocked with rocks and too many witnesses! She frowned.
Jackie squeaked, pointing his paws to the sides of the school. "Oh right, the windows." She realized. It would be a piece of cake entering through one of those! She tiptoed across the street, ducking under a bush as a blast of ice went in her direction. The mech suits were sturdy and they definitely were made to copy the superhero's gimmicks. I hope Big Hero 6 can find a way out of that…
"Uch! This is so annoying!" Wasabi groaned as he ducked plasma blasts from the mechs. "Now I know how our enemies feel!"
"Yeah!" Flare mocked from the mech suit. "How'd you like us now, suckers?!" She then was promptly smacked by one of Gogo's disks. "OW!"
Gogo skated towards the mech, tossing an electric net that zapped the fiery redhead down. "Good news is that they can't imitate all of us, but yeah, this blows."
As Flare tried getting up, Wasabi's plasma blasts knocked her down. "I'm starting to think I'm cursed…" She grumbled underneath the net.
"Hey, maybe we should stick together to defeat these mechs!" Wasabi realized. "Alone, we're struggling-"
"But if we team up, they go down!" Gogo exclaimed. "Guys, partner up!"
"Already on it!" Honey Lemon and Fred were creating a smokescreen that blinded the pirates, and blasting them with their combo ice-attack. "Haven't used this move since Akuma Island."
Fred roared his own ice attack at the ground, making the mechs slip and fall. "Yeah we-ack!" He was cut off as Trina punched him into the concrete.
"Get off of him!" An officer blasted their taser at the robot. She just laughed.
"Really? You think that little stun gun will do anything?" The claws on her mech stretched out, and shocked the officer. "This is a real stun weapon!"
Hiro bit back a curse. While the pirates weren't too challenging, the mechs were easily breakable after beating their tricks, there was still the matter of Trina. "Rocket fist." He whispered to Baymax. The temptation to use overdrive mode was strong, but his gut told him to not use all their cards in one go. The fist smacked into Trina, grabbing her attention.
She stomped towards him. "Now here's a real challenge!" She attempted to throw him off of Baymax with her stretchy claws, but he was able to duck his head. "You're not going to escape justice this time, Captain Cutie!" She mocked.
Hiro growled, hiding his blush under the opacity of his helm at the taunt. "You and I have very strange definitions of justice." At least one of the mechs knocked out Cruz. Otherwise he would be trying to get the officers to attack us instead of the pirates.
Hang in there little sister… your big brother's coming for you.
"Y'know, for a very nice school with a good budget, you'd think they'd have more secure windows." Juniper stated to her rabbit companion. Jackie nodded in agreement. All it took was a quick zap on the locks to let her in the school.
Immediately as they entered, things were looking off, rubble was in the hallways and the power flickered on and off. "That's not friendly at all…" She winced. One of the Galaxian Pirates was definitely here...
As she passed through a hallway, the door rattled and Juniper shrieked in terror. "H-Hello?! Is anyone out there?" A timid voice echoed on the other side. "Unless you're a baddie don't answer!"
"How did you get stuck?" Juniper frowned. She opened the door and saw mounds of broken ceiling and debris. "Oh…"
The voice spoke louder. "Yeah, I was hiding in Mr. Fox's class, but the ceiling fell down! There's no windows in here so I'm stuck! Can you please help?"
Juniper was certainly going to try. "Alright, can you try moving the debris? I'll move some stuff on my end."
"Alright… be careful, I tried moving it earlier and more stuff fell down."
Yeah that's a problem. Jackie squeaked, tapping his paws on some wooden planks that likely fell from the ceiling. Oh, I could use those to hold up what's left of the roof.
She carefully positioned them to keep the roof up while the person on the other side started moving debris. "Whatever you did worked, it's not making more of a mess!"
"Thank me later until you're out of that." Juniper stated. The debris fell down, creating a small opening above that was big enough for someone to fit through. She stood on some of the debris. "Grab my hand!"
"Alright." Juniper felt the other person tugged her hand, and she pulled. Jackie squeaked words of encouragement as she struggled to pull the other person to safety, however she was too focused to realize she lost her footing and fell backwards. Luckily the trapped student was able to squeeze out of the hole and fell on top of Juniper.
"Owww…" Both of them groaned. The student was a girl with curly golden-blonde hair, tan skin, and brown eyes. She had a black blouse with white sleeves and a brown skirt, she had simple brown flats and a black headband on her hair. As the student got up, her eyes went wide. "You're-" She took a few steps back, Juniper tried to not feel offended by the fear in her eyes. "You saved me."
"I did." She tried to sound calm in her voice. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The student stared at her with a neutral expression. "So why are you here then?"
"Uh, to help?" Juniper questioned. "I know that I can't make up for… what I did last time I was here, but the news said that the school was under attack, and someone has to help."
"I see." She nodded. "Well, I'm coming along with you! While I'm sure my mother would prefer if I was still stuck in that room, it wouldn't be right for me to hide in a corner while my peers are in danger."
"Squeak!" Jackie protested, crossing his paws.
Clearly he didn't want this girl to tag along. Juniper was tempted to agree, she didn't want to put her in danger, or worse. But the determination in the student's eyes mirrored her own.
Well… I guess backup wouldn't hurt. "Okay but be careful, I don't want you to get hurt." For some reason that made the student look at her funny. "What? Just because I was a supervillain doesn't mean I don't have empathy!"
"My apologies, I didn't mean to offend you." She bowed her head. "I was just thinking about something a friend of mine said about you."
Considering the fact Ari complained about students gossiping about that horrible, horrible dance, I'm not surprised. "I don't think I wanna know."
The student shook her head. "Don't worry, it's all positive things!"
"Good to know, uh so you already know who I am." Juniper picked up Jackie, placing him back on her shoulder. "This is Jackie, he's my emotional support rabbit." He gave her a little wave.
"I'm Briar." She introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you two, should we get going now?"
"Don't have to tell me twice."
As Briar was a student of Bridgeton, who knew where everything was, she led the way. Oh man, now I remember her, Rachel talks about her sometimes. Juniper realized. I hope Rachel is okay… she's in a lot of danger if any of the pirates catch her.
"Let's see…" Briar paused. "I think I heard some crashing in the cafeteria, we should head over there." She dashed into a lobby room that had been trashed, flowerpots tossed and the windows were smashed, the entrance to the cafeteria blocked by more debris.
"I don't think the same trick I did last time would work." Juniper paled. "I hope no one's stuck."
"Helllp!" Someone shouted from the other side.
"Jimmy shut up you're gonna get us caught!" Another voice exclaimed.
Jackie facepalmed. "At least they didn't get hit by anything." Briar stated.
"Guys, not helping. Be grateful you're trapped and alive and Voltrax went by this area long ago." Juniper paled. That was Rachel! If she's here… where's Ari and Megan?
"How do you even know the crazy lady's name?" The student named Jimmy questioned. Oh no… he's not gonna be happy when he finds out I'm here if this is the same Jimmy that Ari had problems with.
"She's related to a detective, duh." A boy's voice chimed in.
"Thanks for the feedback, Barry."
Briar looked up, there was an open space atop the rubble. "Can you give me a boost?" She asked Juniper.
"Yeah, sure thing." The dancer whispered back. She carefully lifted up Briar until the student was up to the level of the open space.
"Guys, can you hear me?" She called out.
Rachel sighed with relief. "Briar, you're okay!"
"Yeah, I was stuck. But I managed to find a way out, are you guys okay?"
"The ceiling fell on my head." The one named Barry complained.
Briar nodded. "Okay, I'm trying to think of how to get you out of here, stay tight over there!"
"Not like we can go anywhere…" Jimmy grumbled
As Briar hopped back down to ground level, she tapped the debris. "This is really heavy… I'm scared to move or else the roof will collapse on them."
Juniper nodded. "Yeah, that's bad." A bigger problem will require a bigger solution. Maybe if I… that's risky but I don't have any other ideas. "I bet I could blow the debris away with a blast, but if your friends are too close they might get hurt."
"Okay, I trust you, lift me back up." She complied and Briar relayed the info to her classmates. "Guys I have an idea how to free you, but you have to step back away from the entrance or you'll get hurt."
"Okay, got it!" The unknown voice shouted. There was the sound of shoes shuffling away from the entrance. "Do what you need to do now!"
I really hope this works… Juniper opened her bag, and the object she pulled out made Briar gasp in surprise. "Is that the energy orb?"
"Yes- don't touch it!" She yelped as Briar's hands got too close. "It gives a nasty shock to anyone that isn't DNA-registered."
Her eyes widened as she realized that almost happened to her. "Oh dear."
"Unless you're wearing some of these." Juniper unclipped her gauntlets and pulled out some gloves from her bag, and handed them to Briar. "These will let you channel the orb's power, the gloves are for in case you need to touch the orb, skin contact is what triggers the shock."
Briar blinked. "Y-You're letting me have this?"
"Yeah, in case we get separated and you run into one of those pirates, I'll show you how it works with the debris." Juniper explained.
She created a small shock in her palms. "I think I'll be fine."
Thankfully Briar didn't comment on her electrical powers. "So, how do you use these?"
"It's all in the wrist movements." She showed a couple basic movements for Briar, and then stood up. "Okay, on the count of three, blast the debris in front of the cafeteria."
She nodded. "Got it."
"One… two…" Two sets of electricity cackled in the air. "Three!"
BAM!
The debris went everywhere as the electrical blast decimated it, surprisingly the roof didn't collapse on itself, but some of it got knocked over. However, there was now enough room for the trapped students to escape.
"We're freeeeee!" Barry ran out. "Freedom! Thank you Briar, how did you manage to-" He froze at the sight of Juniper. I knew that was coming, doesn't mean it hurts any less than it does.
The rest of them poked their heads out, and stared at her with wide expressions. A scream coming from Jimmy. "AAAAA IT'S THE-" He got cut off as Rachel elbowed him in the chest. "Ouch!"
"Jimmy I swear if you get us caught." Rachel grumbled, not even batting an eye.
He just pointed to the dancer. "Y-You can't just ignore that! It's right in front of us!"
"Did you just assume my pronouns? Rude." Juniper quipped, causing a snicker from one of the students.
Briar placed a hand on her shoulder. "Juniper came here to help, I would still be trapped in Mr. Fox's room if she didn't rescue me."
"Briar, I know you're an optimist that likes seeing the best in everyone." Jimmy stated. "But did you forget what she did?! She attacked the school dance!"
"Technically it was an accident." One of the girls spoke up, glancing at Juniper. "Right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm really sorry for causing a panic." She gripped her arm. "You weren't the only ones that were freaking out…"
"Just let it go Jimmy." Rachel glared at the still-stuttering boy. "It happened, it's over, we all wanna move on."
"Of course you'd say that." Jimmy glared at her.
Rachel blinked, then shook her head. "I don't have time for this…"
"Wait, where's Katie?!" Juniper realized that the blue was nowhere in sight. "Did you guys get separated?!"
The scruffy brunette shook her head. "No, no, no, Katie's fine. I managed to slip her into a vent so she could escape and try to get help. I'm assuming you didn't bump into her?"
She shook her head. "No, but that was a good idea. Except there's other pirates blocking the entrance to the school, Big Hero 6 is trying to get in but there was a fight when I left so I don't think rescue is going to be soon."
"How did you get in then?"
"The window, it was Jackie's idea." She pointed to the rabbit on her shoulder. Jackie squeaked in approval.
Jimmy shot up. "You're friends with her!" He accused, pointing to Rachel.
"What about it?" She rolled her eyes.
"I knew it." Briar spoke up. "You always said that not every villain is as bad as they seem and there's more to the story. I told you that High Voltage isn't as bad as the old villains that terrorized the city, I'm glad you believed me."
Rachel sheepishly chuckled, and Juniper noticed the blush on her face. "Heh, let's just say that you and Katie brought up good points."
"What is wrong with you?!" Jimmy shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "That freak is the reason your sister has a big eyesore on her face!"
Everyone froze and slowly turned to Jimmy. "Dude… she just saved us." Barry deadpanned.
At that moment any patience Juniper had for the little brat instantly went out of the window. How dare he? She didn't care that he called her a freak, she didn't care if he thought she was a monster.
But Rachel didn't deserve that, and seeing the scruffy brunette's face flatten made her see red, she didn't deserve that slander from him.
Jimmy yelped as she lifted him up by the shirt and pulled him close until she was inches away from his face. "You leave Rachel alone, she's allowed to befriend whoever she wants and frankly you're one to talk since you have such a lovely personality!" She snarled. "Since you're so incessant on the subject of the scar, I'll admit, what happened to Ari is my fault and I feel guilty about what I did to this day, but if I catch one word that you're making her feel bad about it I swear I'll-"
The feeling of a hand gripping her arm caused her to step back a little. Rachel was staring at her with concern, the other students had awkward and scared expressions on their faces. Jimmy was a stuttering mess of fear and he promptly passed out from shock.
She immediately dropped him and paled with terror upon realizing what she just did. Oh god I just scared someone unconscious…
There was silence for several moments after Rachel picked up the unconscious Jimmy.
Barry spoke up first. "Uh, Cindy texted me that there's a safe room in the nurse's office, so we should head there asap."
"That's a good idea." Rachel nodded. "I'll lead you guys over, Briar are you gonna come with?"
Briar shook her head. "No, I'm gonna make sure everyone else is safe before heading over, I'll be sure to find your sister."
"Thanks, you be careful."
There were more trapped students in the halls, they had a surprised reaction to see Juniper rescuing them, but didn't react harshly like Jimmy had done. A few even gushed about her previous performances, which managed to put a smile on Juniper's face, but there was still the look of guilt in her eyes.
Briar felt like she had to say something. She had thought Rachel was friends with the dancer after seeing them casually converse, but maybe Rachel wasn't the only Rosemary Juniper knew. "Ari's friends with you, isn't she?"
"Yes." The dancer was holding her rabbit in her arms. Jackie rubbed his paws over her arm to try and comfort her.
"If it makes you feel better, she didn't tell anyone what happened, and… and I don't judge for whatever went on." Briar didn't even have the full story, but a few students had noticed that Ari came back with a scar on her eye coincidentally after the attack on that school dance, so it wasn't hard to connect the dots. But that wasn't completely High Voltage's fault in the first place, so she knew at heart that whatever happened was a terrible accident.
Juniper sighed. "She said that she forgave me, but I don't forgive myself."
"Oh..." She wasn't quite sure what to say to that.
"Uh, so what exactly happened here?" Juniper changed the subject. "Rachel mentioned it was Voltrax, but I forgot to ask her for details."
The student winced at the memory. "She showed up at the last event of the pep rally… Rachel was the one that sounded the alarm and everyone panicked and ran out. Last thing I saw before I ran out too was she was aiming one of her bolts at Ari and Claira. I hope they're okay, I've been able to text my friends but I haven't heard from them…"
"Me too." Juniper nodded. "Wish I knew where-" She froze. "Briar, you're a genius!"
Briar tilted her head in confusion. "You're welcome?"
Before she could ask what Juniper was talking about, the dancer had pulled out her phone and dialed Ari's number. Instantly, the bandana girl picked up in a flash. "Oh my gosh June I'm so glad to hear from you everything's scary!" She looked panicked on the other end. "That crazy Voltrax lady is back! She attacked my school and chased me and my friend to the gymnasium and I'm so scared! We've locked the door and she's been trying to bust through and we're stuck!"
"Oh gosh." Juniper paled. "I'm at the school to help, I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Don't do it!" Megan's face came into view. "She's gonna kill you, she's really not happy about what happened last time, and I don't wanna think what'll happen if she sees you!"
"What happened last time?" Briar questioned.
A loud crash was on the other end. "Ohhhh kiiids~" Voltrax's voice could be heard, sending shivers down everyone's spine. "Come out come out wherever you are-"
The phone was cut off. "Briar, which way's the gym?!" Briar pointed to the right. "Okay we've gotta hurry!"
She sprinted, and the student struggled to keep up. "Wait, you can't rush in there blind!"
Juniper slowed down a little. "I know that, that's why I've already got an idea in mind."
As they arrived at the gymnasium entrance, Juniper felt her nerves hackle. "Wait, this was where the dance was."
"Sadly yes, this is rather uncomfortable." Briar nodded. "The door looked different last time I was here."
"What door?" She frowned, then Briar pointed to the big hole in the wall that opened up to the gym. "I hope we're not-"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Ari's scream ran throughout the halls. Both girls poked their heads through the wall and what they saw filled them with horror.
Voltrax was dangling the bandana girl by her shirt, while Claira and Megan were lying on the floor in pain. "Oh, don't sound so scared little niece, you'll feel right and happy when you're back where you belong."
"You're not my aunt!"
Briar shuddered. "Oh this isn't good… what are we going to do?"
Juniper on the other hand, felt her blood boil at the sight of the crazed pirate dangling her friend like a limp doll. "I'm going to teach that bully a lesson in messing with my friends." She looked across the gym. "Is there a power box in the gym?"
"Yeah, by the locker rooms, why?"
The dancer smiled. "Perfect."
She gestured for Briar to come over. As she complied, Juniper whispered what her plan was. "Oh, that might work." The student blinked. "But how are you going to get her at the right place at the right time?"
"Leave that part to me." Juniper cracked her knuckles. "Just make sure she doesn't see you." She handed Jackie to the student, not wanting her rabbit friend to get hurt.
Briar nodded, carefully holding the rabbit like she saw the dancer hold him. "Okay, be careful."
She smirked. "Don't have to tell me twice."
"Stop squirming you little brat!" Voltrax cursed as Ari continued to kick and scream. "I don't want to have to shock you into being sensible, but you're getting on my last nerves!"
The bandana girl continued to voice her protests. "You'll never take me alive!"
"Not like you have a choice." The crazed pirate tightened her grip on Ari, and as she prepared to leave, something shocked her into letting the bandana girl go. "Who did that?!"
Voltrax turned around, and got another bolt to the face. "Let my friend go." Juniper glared daggers at her.
"June, no!" Ari protested. She tried getting up but it pained her to do so. There were a few bruises on her arm and face. The sight of her friend in pain made the dancer see red. What did that crazy lady do to her?!
"YOU!" Voltrax snarled, and Juniper got a good look at her face. The crazed pirate had sharp fangs that weren't there before, and a nasty electric scar on the spot where she had zapped Voltrax in the eye. "I'll tear you to pieces for what you did to my beautiful face!"
There was a time when Juniper would've been scared out of her mind at the crazed pirate for her threats and dark lightning whipping around the gym floor, but that was a time when she wasn't at full strength. "Your face still looks repulsive as ever, I couldn't make it uglier than it already is if I tried!" She taunted. Just pretend it's one of your performances, and everything will be fine.
Voltrax screamed and charged, but Juniper already leapt out of the way. "Too slow!" She teased, sending another blast at the crazed pirate.
"You won't get to land another hit!" Voltrax absorbed the charge and sent her own electric attack at Juniper. "Every blow you strike me with makes me stronger."
The dancer just gracefully jumped backward. "Only counts if you can hit me." She snickered. Voltrax growled in anger, dark electricity channeling in her palms, she slammed the bolts on the ground, sending shockwaves that knocked everyone on the ground back.
Juniper yelped as she got tossed in the air, but she planted her feet on the side of the gym wall, blue bolts wrapped around her feet sent her skyrocketing at the crazed pirate and she delivered a kick to the gut.
"You little-" Voltrax cursed in pain as she clutched her stomach. "I'll kill you!"
"Catch me if you can!" Juniper taunted as Voltrax got up and started throwing shots her way.
Ari felt something tug her. "You okay?" She looked up, almost screaming when she saw blonde hair, but the eyes were a calm brown instead of malicious orange.
"I'm okay Briar." She slowly got up, clutching her stomach. "She only stepped on my guts a little…"
Briar winced. "What happened to Claira and Megan?" She pointed to the two unconscious girls, neither of them looked as injured as Ari did.
"Voltrax knocked them out… I really wish June didn't come here, she's in a lot of danger." Ari shivered.
Her friend shot a glance to the other side of the gym, where Juniper had dodged another one of Voltrax's attacks. "I think she'll be just fine."
"Stay still you little brat!" Voltrax tossed another blast of dark electricity at the dancer, but she hopped out of the way.
Juniper was starting to snicker as Voltrax got angrier and angrier. "But it makes you so mad." She kicked up a few bolts that the crazed pirate easily absorbed. "Aww…"
Voltrax grinned. "You won't be so happy when you feel your own electricity!" She clapped her hands and sent another shockwave, Juniper yelped and quickly formed a wall of electricity to deflect the attack.
But as the wall vanished, Voltrax was gone. "Where did she-"
Crunch!
Pain flared as she felt something slam into her face. "Ha, got you!" Voltrax cackled.
Juniper instantly brought her hand to her nose, something wet dripped on her lip and she tasted something coppery. "Speed Queen hits harder than you." She grumbled.
"What will it take to get you to shut up!" The crazed pirate snarled. She looked up, the roof was crumbling a little. "Don't ignore me you little-"
"Now Briar!"
The lights in the gym went off, except the cackling sparks off of the energy orb as it lifted to the top of the gym. The wires above the ceiling fizzled as electricity channeled into it. There was a crackle, then-
BOOM!
A strike of lightning hit Voltrax, she let out a shriek. "Why can't I absorb this?!" She tried to deflect the attack with her dark bolts, but Juniper flung a barrage of her own to cancel that. Without being able to absorb or deflect the attack, the gym exploded and Voltrax flew into the wall.
"Woahhh…" Ari blinked in shock.
Claira, who had drifted awake, was also staring in shock. "Remind me not to get on her bad side."
"Isn't she amazing?" Megan gushed, Briar and Claira gave her looks. "What?!"
"Crush much?" Claira questioned. "Aren't you already dating someone?"
The reporter shot her a glare. "I don't think that's your business Claira, but I'm also impressed by what she did." Briar stated.
They stopped chattering as Voltrax growled. "How… How did I get beaten by a child?!" She tried to get up, but was stopped by the peanut gallery. "Get off of me!"
"Not on my watch!" Megan glared at her. "Claira, did you find the tug-of-war rope?"
Claira nodded, tying Voltrax's hands with the thick rope. "Wow, all that practice tying my shoelaces worked out!"
The Bridgeton students snickered. "To answer your question, I found a way around your little immunity." Juniper turned to the now tied-up baddie. "I've got electrical powers too, but there's a limit to how much I can handle. So all I had to do was connect the energy orb to the school's power system you kept messing with and overcharge the amount you can take so you wouldn't be able to absorb anymore attacks."
"I didn't see your stupid orb…" Voltrax spat.
"Let's just say I had a little help from my new buddy Briar, not that you know what friends are."
Voltrax chuckled. "I've got something better than a friend." There was a strange glint in her eye. "Isn't that right, dear?"
Everyone blinked. "Deer?" Claira glanced around. "I don't see any deer."
Juniper froze, a shiver went down her spine as she felt a strange presence behind her. "Who's-" She tried to turn around to get a good look, but felt a sharp pain strike her shoulders.
Instinctively, electricity channeled in her palms to zap whatever attacked her, but she felt her eyes droop and her body grow heavy with sleep.
Last thing she saw were gleaming purple eyes before it all went black.
"JUNE!" Ari cried out as she saw a strange man appear out of nowhere and knock her friend out. She got up despite the lingering pain in her body. "Leave her alone!"
The man turned, and his purple eyes sent shivers down her spine. "Don't worry, you'll be reunited soon enough." He smirked. Before she could blink, he moved in front of the bandana girl and knocked her out too.
Megan's eyes widened in horror, seeing her friend and girlfriend knocked out. "You-" Before she could say a word, Briar and Claira pulled her behind the bleachers.
"Shh, in case they try disposing of us, the witnesses." Claira harshly whispered. The reporter nodded, watching the scene with silent tears.
The man extended his hand to help Voltrax up and untie her. "My love, you took too long!" She complained. "That little brat's attacks actually hurt."
"Apologies, but you did well in distracting her." He smiled.
Voltrax shot a glance to where the others were hiding. "There's other kids over there."
"Leave them, we've got what we wanted." Despite knocking Ari out, the man carefully lifted her up. "Take the other girl, she could be useful to us."
"As long as I get to make her pay for what she did, I'll do whatever you want." Voltrax picked up the unconscious Juniper. She then used her dark electricity to blow another hole in the wall.
As they made their escape, the man tapped his earbud. "You can stop blocking the school, we're done here."
"No, let them go-!" Megan shot forward, but was held back by Briar and Claira. "Let me go guys! Let me at them, you two let my friends go or else!"
Both of them laughed at her desperate attempts. "Ah, how naive. You can't even hurt us if you tried!" Voltrax cackled.
"Oh, I'd stay where you are, little one." The man smiled creepily, it made her flinch. "Someone has to tell the heroes when they arrive, you should be grateful, I'm usually not as merciful as I am today."
Merciful? Merciful?! He and the Galaxian Pirates had attacked her school, caused terror in everyone, now they were kidnapping her loved ones, and he had the audacity to call it merciful. "You won't get away with this!" Megan shouted at him.
"I already have." He threw down a smoke bomb, and Voltrax's laugh echoed in the air. And when the dust settled…
They were gone.
AN: The students of Bridgeton cannot catch a break.
Yeah uh... two parter for this one, ha-ha, so you'll find out the second part in 2 weeks!
In case you were wondering, yes Briar is meant to be a reference to Sleeping Beauty
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out Karmi's Camden Adventure next week, which takes place the same time as this fic!