Flight of the Unladen Swallows by Elrodw and Astrodragon

Sunday, October 23, 2016 - After dinner
Band Room, Whateley Academy

Ah, the band is named the Unladen Swallows, cute. Aww, Cally, you will do great singing in public. Great, Mr. August says the sound is off with all the old band equipment. Ouch, no Devisor tech so the old gear, that sucks. Ouch, if not for the Halloween theme of the contest Laura and Tia wouldn't be allowed to go, they might as well not go without their techie to help with gear if that happens.

The extra chaperone is Imp, isn't it? The Kimba Curse is still that infamous 10 years later, dang.

"Group of freshmen, formed a training team, attracted way more than their fair share of trouble, like iron filings to a magnet." He paused and seemed to be scrutinizing the girl with one eyebrow cocked. "You guys aren't like that, are you?"

With how Laura is responding to that, yes, yes the members of M3 have the Kimba Curse.

Tech specs.

"This looks like a strange list."

Laura responding like that, just what are the tech specs? Boy, this is a huge venue from the sounds of it. Easier to test and repair the stuff in her lab space, I hope no one tries to steal their band gear.

Sunday, October 23, 2016 - Evening
Devisor Labs, Whateley Academy

Morgana drinking coffee while sitting at Laura's lab bench, good grief, someone needs to break her of that coffee habit. Bwahaha, Morgana getting boys in the lab to help unload the gear, she knows how to manipulate them. Those boys don't stand a chance, Morgana, stop leading the poor idiots along. Interesting way of testing out the mixer board, I never knew it took so much to keep those working right.

Morgana was back with her 3 admirers and they have the rest of the sound gear, that was fast.

"Minions, admirers - what's the difference? One, you simply direct. The other, you wiggle your butt and ask in a sweet helpless damsel-in-distress voice!" Laura shot back.

"I do NOT do a helpless damsel-in-distress voice!"

"I noticed you didn't deny the butt-wiggling, though," Laura giggled.

Bwahaha, I just love their friendly tease of each other. Koichi shows up and the doctor says Laura's box isn't working, and they need help adjusting it, oh boy, when it rains it pours.

Morgana stuck it out working on the mixer, glad to see her old skills with electronics shown. Morgana had to get the boys to stop helping her at a point, oh boy, nothing worse than someone trying to impress you instead of focusing on the work at hand. Yikes, so glad they were able to work out how to get the neutralizer to help the girl again despite the severe seizure, it is times like this I wish long-distance teleportation was cheap and easy.

Dang, I don't get the reference to the orbiting space station that looks like a tennis shoe. And yes, I bet at least 2-3 alumni of Whateley have their own space stations. Ouch, Morgana, that pun hurt.

Monday, October 24, 2016 - After classes
Schuster Hall, Whateley Academy

Why are Morgana, Laura, Tia, Cally, Tanya, Erica, and Jimmy there, please say they aren't in trouble again. Accusations are thrown at Morgana of doing something, or Erica, and no one has any idea what this is all about. Imp stern-faced, I smell a prank by Imp in the works. She is rarely stern-faced. That is the highlights from the collective files of their 'adventures', oh boy. Imp looking after them since they are prone to getting into trouble, I agree with Laura, eep.

Imp drew the short straw, ah, I remember that now, hehe. Electradyne, Nick, Kieron, Dalton Li, and Emile come into the room, I knew this was one of Imp's gags or pranks. She is the other chaperone for the trip. Tia, you guessed right, Imp got drafted. After dealing with Karma she is the best fit for keeping kids and teens out of trouble.

"No, it's far more important than that. This is every script of every Loony Tunes cartoon ever made," Imp replied, glancing down at the file with an almost reverent expression. "I'm taking it back to my vault after I'm done here; it's way too valuable to just leave lying around my office."

Bwahahaha, I should have known, that is classic Imp.

Ack! The file on MMM is real and Imp would need a hand cart to bring it over, good grief. Mr. August is a part of the judging committee and can't vote on their performance, rats. Yeah, without Mr. August being serious about it I can just see one of the kids trying to bribe the judges. Nick and Tia can't disguise themselves, but not a bad thing, but Laura and Bianca need to disguise themselves. Bianca as a vampire, classic, and fits, could easily fool most people. Laura and Antonia came up with a Mystique costume for her, ooo.

Ack! No Elvira costume for Bianca, she doesn't want that look. Tavi, you little goof, don't encourage Laura and Morgana. Telling Morgana to go as demon girl, no, the suggested outfit would be too much, and at last, Imp puts her foot down at the mention of being in her fighting form and needing it. Do everything possible to avoid any confrontations. *starts to hear Mission: Impossible music* Morgana in her dragon form as costume, but no dom theme! Jimmy, why are you grinning and waggling your eyebrows at Laura, Erica, and Tanya like that?

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - Mid-afternoon
Doyle Medical Complex, Whateley Academy

Ouch, Cally thinks everything should be okay, that isn't a good sign. Dr. Shu is a good psychiatrist, helping Cally work through her fears. Ah, he is one of the people who suggested letting her friends who aren't part of the band or roadies for the band come on the trip, good man.

Dr. Shu smiled. "A person who suffers a traumatic event must confront the cause of the trauma and overcome the fear."

While this is true, it varies with everyone how long they need before confronting it again and how many times they have to confront it before they can overcome the fear. Ouch, Bianca can't go due to the threat to her, darn Scorn!

"If you do not master your fears," the doctor said somberly, "your fears will master you."

Cally's eyes widened. "Is that something Confucius said?" she asked, curious.

"I thought it was Yoda," Dr. Shu dead-panned in reply. He thought it a good sign that the girl, though discussing traumatizing events, couldn't hold back a giggle at his off-the-wall comment.

Hehehe, I wonder who did say that quote.

Aww, avoiding Bianca so there won't be an embarrassing conversation.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - Late afternoon
Administration Conference Room, Schuster Hall, Whateley Academy

Headmaster Lecompte, and Robert Turner want to know what the problem is, it is Ms. St. Claire aka Bianca. Ugh, staff taking bets on students, if I were Mr. Turner I would make a note of who they were and have a list of strikes against them. Crud, Bianca won't talk to psych staff about her problems.

"A prisoner in a life sentence without possibility of parole will hit a point of depression, sometimes extreme, sometimes desperate," Cody answered grimly. "She's a teenage girl faced with indeterminate confinement to campus in the name of protecting her."

Darn it, if only they could deal with Scorn and his crew once and for all.

Darn, if Hartford was still on campus she could go through the phone records and find out who called Chicago recently besides Bianca to narrow down their suspect on campus. If only Bianca would tell them about Scorn and his screw. What did Turner say that inspired Lecompte's idea of how to get Bianca on the trip without tipping off those who would rat her out? An illusion spell to trick people into thinking Bianca is still on campus when she isn't or is it to disguise Bianca? I'm betting on the latter from the sounds of it.

Thursday, October 27, 2016 - After classes
Security Room, Kane Hall, Whateley Academy

Sergeant Clauser has the duty of doing the pre-brief for the weekend trip, I think Forsythe doesn't like him. Betting on what happens on the trip and when they think it will happen, oh brother.

"Oh, crap!" He mouthed to himself as his stomach dropped. "Not you again!"

I swear, he is going to start balding or his hair will start turning white before the end of the school year due to all the stress M3 gives him. Heh, thinking they won't survive even an hour in public without a fight, he doesn't know Imp very well, do he.

No Humanity First! chapters there, good so far. No, that is where the Mighty Squid fled to 8 months ago, it just had to be that idiot. High-school and college-age, oh boy, some of the idiots are going to hit on the girls thinking they are older. Whoa, Imp has a plan and everything, contingency rendezvous points, and maps of the venue, she is as prepared for this as she would for a theft. Non-lethal, non-obvious holdouts, are always a good idea to have those on hand.

Friday, October 28, 2016 - After lunch
Kirby Hall, Whateley Academy

Morgana and Bianca called to Ms. Grimes's office, hhm. Ah, talk with them about Bianca's trip with the band. Letting them in on the plan now, good, don't want Bianca ambushed and dragged onto the bus without warning. Amulets to let Bianca look like Officer Canterbury and Officer Canterbury look like Bianca, so it is both ideas I thought it was, disguise Bianca and disguise someone else as Bianca so they think she is still on campus. All this to ensure Bianca's safety and let her go on the trip, Whateley staff are the best school staff in the world. 3 drops of blood on the amulet, ouch, figured there was a price for the illusion magic perfectly copying her appearance.

Friday, October 29, 2016 - Mid-afternoon
Schuster Hall, Whateley Academy

Looking out the bus window and seeing herself waving goodbye, would be surreal.

Laura grinned. "This is so great! All of us taking a trip together! Just like New York City!"

The other members of M3 gawked at her with horror-stricken expressions. "Don't say that!"

Laura, what have you done? You jinxed the trip, now there will definitely be a fight.

Bianca, it isn't just family business. You are under threat and your friends are in danger when they leave campus as Scorn will probably start to go after them to get at you if he gets desperate enough. Let the Whateley accords deal with him, please. *facepalms* Bianca, that isn't what the counselor meant by problems.

D'oh, the 'Are we there yet?" bit to annoy the driver, it will never end. We will be hundreds of years in the future, traveling in spaceships and kids will still ask that. Imp, please say you are pulling their legs, you can't be lost! No exemplar memory, but a great memory, don't scare us like that.

"But you foiled my fun with logic!" Imp feigned a grumble. She shot a quick frown at Laura, who was seated in the second row on the passenger side of the van. "Remind me to leave you at home next time! Spoilsport!"

"Are we there, yet?" Bianca retorted with a laugh.

Hehe, Imp is a big kid despite being a mother now. So glad to see Bianca actually laughing.

All these band names, good grief, that first one almost made me heave. *eyes go crosswise* Mermaid Sushi!?! After all those names, Unladen Swallows seems completely normal for a band name.

So many different looks for Mystique, and stop being a perv, Jimmy. 2013 looks, is a good choice. Morgana, Bianca; Laura already jinxed the trip earlier, I don't think extra jinxing counts after the first one. Please let everyone have holdouts on them.

Friday, October 29, 2016 - Early Evening
Hotel near Contest Venue, Burlington, Vermont

Parking the bus on the side of the building, a nice spot. Mr. August has a good reason for checking into the hotel first. Rats, stuck in disguise for tonight, no bloodshed, what if they attack with lethal intent first? A few minutes to get everyone checked in, Imp proves she is a pro. 2nd floor and Bianca is in the middle of the other students with their room assignments, good planning ahead.

The bus is like a palace to Mr. August, have fun sleeping through the city noises. Buffet-style at the venue, of those poor people. Morgana brought a pack of energy bars just in case, smart thinking.

"If you didn't guzzle that hyper-caffeinated devisor sludge by the bucket-full," Erica snorted, "you wouldn't be bouncing around like a hyper-active Tigger burning so much energy that you have to refuel with wagon-loads of food! Or energy bars!"

Oh no, don't give the fans ideas, next thing we will see fanart of Morgana in a Tigger costume. =P

Tavi, you just keep goading people to hit you lately. Imp, this weekend will feel like it last for at least a whole week by the time you are done. Boy, if not for her sense of humor Imp would make a great drill sergeant.

Friday, October 29, 2016 - Evening
Maple Tree Concert Hall and Studios, Burlington, Vermont

I've seen concert venues that were the size of arenas, but this one sounds even bigger. Tanya, no teasing Tia like that, that logo for the band is like a combo of Bugs Bunny and Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? No, Jimmy, we don't want to see that logo, we would like to keep our appetite.

Nice take on a Star Wars quote. Oh, good, carts to unload the gear by the stage doors. Ack! Mr. August was stuck in a meeting, he got the short end of the stick.

"M25. British motorway known for bad congestion," Morgana explained.

Hey, no teasing about Morgana's British language and the words used. Morgana, that isn't why the United States was founded, it was religious freedom. Great, the cart accident caused by an ogling idiot, living at Whateley they forgot the normal scale of attractiveness for baselines and that all of them are very attractive. A large, locking closet to store their equipment in, Imp and Mr. August has the only keys, hope no one else there knows how to pick locks.

Dang, Imp has helpful tips on getting a lot to eat while making it look like you aren't eating a lot. Light jacket or sweater, this is good stuff. Laura, that is good advice, you never know when an encounter can turn dangerous or if someone has a weapon on them that isn't visible. Hehehe, don't eat everything, rats.

Great, anti-mutant bigot calling out Nick or Tia already. Saved by two fangirls of the Paradise Island show Nick was in back home. Ack! Figures the girls would talk about Nick like that, ew.

Great, a guy staring at Tia and coming over. Jimmy! He deserved those slaps. Asking what band they are with, and he knows who Tia is, oof. Ryan Morris, lead guitarist of the Murder Bunnies, ack. Tia not liking the attention, and is with the tech crew, I don't think she would want to be in front of a crowd after all the press she has dealt with already. Not more guys, they need to get out of there for Tia's sake.

Guys looking at Tia, gawking at Morgana, and girls drooling over Nick, good grief. Laura, not now, you don't want to start a rumor about Morgana. 'Operation Chow Down', is a cute codename.

Jack Hopkins has to deal with his twin sister Jacilyn calling Tia a slut because a guy she likes is drooling over Tia. Ryan is her boyfriend, what a creep to flirt with another girl like that openly in front of his girlfriend. Hyper-jealous and insecure-again, how often does this happen? Great, they know which band Tia is connected to, Jacilyn's friends and stage dancers like Nick and say he has a voice like Barry White, and Jacilyn is plotting to mess with UL's equipment just because Ryan flirting with Tia, what a B.

Friday, October 29, 2016 - Early Evening
Hotel near Concert Hall, Burlington, Vermont

Laura has to switch rooms, Imp is concerned due to the reaction some of the band members had to Tia and Nick.

"No, you don't know!" Imp interrupted brusquely. "You don't know how quickly and how viciously anti-mutant sentiment can turn!"

These kids, if they heard the tales of what Imp went through when she was younger just because of her being a mutant and having an exotic appearance, might shock them into realizing how dangerous anti-mutant sentiment is. Good, sound reasoning behind the room pairings.

Morgana, you snore so loudly that if you were closer to the woods the animals might think a bear was nearby. Shoot, if I were Whateley I would have Imp as a security consultant, she more than has the skills, knowledge, and experience. Trying to stay one step ahead of Karma, you need a subcutaneous tracking device implanted in Karma and even then I don't think it would work even 70% of the time. Hehe, just wait until Karma reaches her teen years, you will look back on these years fondly.

Saturday, October 29, 2016 - After breakfast
Maple Tree Concert Hall and Studios, Burlington, Vermont

Laura can tell things are off in the band's equipment storage room by where things are. They messed with their equipment and stole Laura's tool kit, which is automatic disqualification when caught. They sabotaged their gear, Murder Bunnies are in so much trouble now.

Jimmy, we're in crisis mode and your acting like a sexist pig isn't helping, you deserve the response you get. They trashed their equipment, this is beyond rivalry and petty jealousy, this is malicious. Tavi, not the time. Mr. August and Imp, I hope they can move their performance to later so they have time to fix their equipment.

All that to repair the power cords, and Laura is ready to give up, this sucks. They damaged the circuit boards, dam it! *eyes bug out* Morgana is going to turn the tiniest screwdriver they have into a soldering iron, now that is inventive. Yikes, that much heat that Laura is sweating through her make-up, at least it works.

Detecting small distinctions in music, couldn't Tia do that? Tavi can help, oh boy. Never call Tavi a weasel, he is named after a mongoose after all. Ooo, good ideas to throw off the saboteur.

Over 3 hours to do all that in, and over an hour of soldering, I hope the saboteur outs themself after the Unladen Swallows perform. 45 minutes left and having to use the least distorted of the channels, ouch. A 'cheat sheat' for the mixer board, after all that work I hope it doesn't conk out during their performance. Darn, can't open the door all the way, or might set off heat sensors. Tanya has a nice cover for standing watch outside the room. And yes, Laura, you need to rehydrate, I can't imagine how hot that room got, but over an hour of that heat would be enough to mess up almost anyone.

Jacilyn Hopkins striding so confidently after the Murder Bunnies' own performance, thinking the Unlande Swallows are out of the competition, I hope she is caught. She got her brother to do the dirty work, typical of someone like her. And wanting to watch thinking UL will crash and burn, she seriously needs a harsh lesson in treating others right.

Forcing Laura into Dressing Room 14 to get a shower and into her Halloween costume, Morgana is the mother-hen of the group sometimes and they need her to be. Dang, done that quickly, Laura can get things done fast when motivated.

The performance was better than their best rehearsal, dang, guess they were motivated to prove themselves. Boy, a lot of use of a swarm of locusts in this story. Putting something together always takes a lot longer than taking it apart, unfortunate truth of life. Heh, so the band name is from the Holy Grail and part of the music program of Whateley, forgot that detail. Vinny seems nice, concerts and dance are open to the public, why do I have a bad feeling about that?

Jacilyn ticked off, yells at her brother about "fixing" UL's stuff, and he tells her about what he did and that they shouldn't have been able to fix it in 3 hours even with tools. Ugh, a girl talks to Ryan and Jacilyn automatically thinks they are flirting with him, she is unhinged.

A ward to protect their gear, wish Bianca had done that before the whole sabotage, hindsight is 20/20 I guess. Radically Chick, one of the members is Russian, drove up on break from college for the contest, and from somewhere in Florida.

"Yeah. It's Brittany's mom. That's their lead singer. She's really got the rock goddess look down!"

"She must be hot," Morgana whispered to Laura. "You're drooling again."

Morgana, ease up or Laura might send spies to watch you and Thulia's first date on campus to have stuff to tease you about. Or not, I have no idea what Laura might do.

And they are trying to get Bianca into a costume, but she doesn't want to dress up. Zombie, nightmares due to the Necromancer unleashing real zombies on her family a few years ago, yikes. Lady vampire, and no tragic ghost bride, no ghost. They wore her down, she is doing something ghost-like. Bianca, next time plan ahead with your own costume idea.

Some kind of marking high up on the wall that Bianca notices, Tanya, bad idea to just brush it off like that. Same stylistic feel to ancient runic magic, but no active magic, I still would be concerned about it. Whoa, how did someone do that? Disintegrated every line that makes up the symbol, that sounds ominous. Another 'mark' on the opposite wall, all this evidence to gather for the tech department and Ms. Grimes to go over. A mystery.

Morgana dressed as a succubus as if she doesn't get enough attention as is. Jimmy as Sherlock Holmes, and Tavi as Watson would be cute. Bianca is going to turn heads in that costume.

An impromptu dance club, heh, everyone better behave with so many adult eyes on them. Remaining with the Whateley group to avoid excessive socializing aka boys trying to flirt with her. Ack! Tia had to be rescued from crowds of admiring boys multiple times, she needs to get a repellant to use in such situations. Ryan, you ass, going after Tanya when you already have a girlfriend. This is going to cause more trouble.

Radically Chick and the Whateley crew socializing, they seem like the nicest group there so far. The concert of the winners and the guy doesn't immediately announce who the top 5 bands are, good grief.

Clockwork Sheep, The Band that Shall Not Be named, Murder bunnies, Radically Chick, and The Unladen Swallows

If Murder Bunnies wins 1st place I will be ticked, I want those twin creeps taken down for what they did. Unladen Swallows going second, so on early and hopefully catch any attempted break-ins to their equipment storage closet.

Teasing Laura about the Russian guy being into her, oof, if he only knew. Laura was polite turning him down, of course, she was, her mom raised her right. Morgana turns the boys down like that and causes a rumor to start, eh, she has a girlfriend. She dragged Jimmy onto the dance floor, poor guy.

"And did you see how wide Jimmy's eyes got? He hasn't been that panicked since he first saw Tanya in her swimsuit!" Laura laughed.

Jimmy, you need to stop being so shy about the girl you like.

Jacilyn is more and more upset by the minute by Ryan flirting with Tanya, he is an idiot and knows she has a jealous streak. The idiot guy tries to make an excuse for Ryan and ticks Jacilyn off even more, she isn't dancing for them in the concert and the other girls join her. Ryan blew it big time.

Jacilyn's face is red with fury and he says that, Ryan is a moron. A slap, telling him she is done with him, and not dancing for the band before storming off. Idiot trying to say he isn't flirting, then what are you talking with Tia about? Oh no, you are not having Tia join on stage as one of your dancers because all the girls but Katie quit. You try to guilt-trip or manipulate her into this and you are scum.

Ugh, not just Tia, all of the Whateley crew and left out the part where his flirting with Tia caused their problem. Tanya, Erica, and Tia, oh brother, it sounds fun, but I expect trouble. Tavi, no! Oh god, they are going to try and figure out a role for Tavi, I see the audience laughing.

At least Imp realizes the effect Nick's singing has on girls. Crud, jealous boyfriends can easily turn into an angry mob. Imp keeps proving she was the right choice as a chaperone for the group, eagle-eyed, senses alert for trouble.

"Killer Mutant Zombie Bunnies", done in the style of Weird Al, now is someone to emulate. I don't like Ryan for upsetting his girlfriend like that, but this act, man, I would have loved to see such a thing live.

Jacilyn's mood is volatile, I hope she doesn't do anything she will regret later. Ticked off because others have success without you, you have a lot of issues, girl. Calling all of them sluts now, thinking it all should have been for her, not them, yikes. She is calling them mutants just to get people to attack them, she is completely unhinged.

Unnaturally good looking-like most mutants are, good grief, she has never seen a severe GSD case before, has she. She thinks Jimmy is the gadgeteer, doesn't even get the trait name right, and fixed the sound gear, the lies just keep flowing. Now a lie about why the Unladen Swallows equipment was sabotaged, like a bullshit river her mouth has become.

The jock actually knows who Tia is, and Jacilyn, you are toast for using that term! She is a bigot or just using this to manipulate the jock into attacking them. You total B, saying all this just for your idea of revenge over slights that aren't their fault. I hope the contest runners found out and press charges against her for insighting the attack.

Imp notices Jacilyn's attention on the Whateley crew, her obvious hatred towards them, and her chatting with others and spreading lies.

From experience of sometimes needing to distract a crowd, Imp also suspected that if the angry girl's adversarial focus was the Swallows, she would be manipulating others with rumor and innuendo, highlighting anything odd to plant seeds of fear, uncertainty, doubt, and hostility, and stir things up. Her already keen powers of observation ratcheted up a notch or two.

I know I've said this before, but Imp is good, like scary good. Imp isn't taking any chance, get the gear on the bus and ready to move out in case. Smartest move someone has made on a Whateley school trip ever.

The job of loading up the bus was slowed down by all the other bands doing the same thing. With all those obstacles in their way and Imp disables the alarm on an emergency exit, I hope they can avoid the growing mob.

The MC on the stage and how every year this gets bigger and better. Death Valley Lifeguards had the best name, ah well. Whoa, some people came a long way to be in this contest. Radically Chick inked a record deal, yay! 3rd place for Murder Bunnies, uh oh. And Unladen Swallows is 1st place, this would be good except for the rumors and lies Jacilyn has spread in the crowd.

Saying they used mind powers on the judges just because you don't like them, is low. She riled them up but uses excuses to prevent them from attacking the band right now because she is scared of being implicated, Jacilyn, you coward. Huh, no hitting girls, at least he has some sense of honor. But going after Jimmy with two of his friends, that is low.

Great, one of the members of Mermaid Sushi complaining to his girlfriend about UL being mutants which she doesn't think is a big deal. Crud, rumor spreading, and getting worse. Get them out of there now, Imp!

Nathan Peterson of Invisible Nudists is upset at being ignored by his girlfriend for Nick, great, another one. The idiots found the wrong guy dressed as Sherlock Holmes and beat him up, jock thugs are going to be in so much trouble.

Imp hearing the rumors contacts Mr. August and time to gather everyone and get out of there already. Danger is brewing and they need to book it. Morgana wondered why it takes most girls so long to use the bathroom, heh, and thus the long queue at the ladies' restroom. 4 thugs beating up a boy in Sherlock Holmes costume and Morgana thinks it is Jimmy, uh oh. She stops an attack and gets hit in the left kidney, a bunch of idiots riled up into hate-filled attacks. I'm with Morgana on this one, bullies are bullies, and putting them in their place when you can is a duty.

Jacilyn blames others for her own actions and downfall, she needs counseling past tense. You slashed Laura with your nails twice and drew blood, you have done it now. Great, Jacilyn is crying mutant now because she knows Laura isn't wearing make-up. Blueberry causing a pressure wave in the ear drum, just how accurate is Tia with projectiles? Neural neutralizer and Jacilyn go night-night. Tia is told to go find Imp and inform her of what happened while she goes to find the others, hopefully, no one else joins in the attacks on the Whateley crew.

Imp hears all this through the chaos, Tia comes over and informs her of what happened, pair up and head to the bus, leave the gear and the school will send someone to pick it up, they are getting out of there now. Smartest move ever in a dangerous situation, we don't want the local police to show up and this turn tragic.

Laura catches up with Tanya and Jimmy, tells them what happened, and Laura doesn't wish to leave the mixer behind. After all their work on it, I wouldn't either.

Morgana dealing with a growing, angry mob, great, Jacilyn unleashed their hate and it boiled over. Morgana dealing with them without severely injuring them, now that is the complicated part. Bowling ball, I love that Tanya and Jimmy have partner moves from martial arts class with codewords for them. And very appropriately named, there is a move I would love to see done in an animated series. Laura comes to the rescue despite her teammates being bricks is just her, she is a protector.

So glad Imp has a police frequency scanner in the form of a magic charm. Time to book it before things get a whole lot worse. Got all the students but those four on the bus now, at least Imp knows where they are to retrieve them.

8-10 attackers against those 4, a bunch of cowards attacking them just because they are mutants. Neural neutralizer is almost out of juice, oh boy. No! Don't bring Ratel off-campus next time, we want to leave baselines alive and not make things worse for mutants. Morgana gets the door lock broken and the door finally opens so Laura and Morgana can run for it. No! Laura took a bad hit to her ribs and to her left leg from the attackers, she is going to need to be carried to the bus.

Good, Morgana has Laura safely in hand as Tanya and Jimmy join them. Some of the creeps are between them and the bus now, this is bad. Attackers on all sides, the police on their way, this couldn't possibly get any worse.

Imp takes Bianca with her to provide a distraction so she can rescue Laura, Morgana, Tanya, and Jimmy. The bus is that armored, dang. Bianca using her innate wind spell and looking like an angry ghostly phantom using a light glyph, I would be running this point. Oh, increase the wind power after everyone grabs Bianca and moves with her back to the bus. That was some epic use of magic by Bianca.

8 cars and probably more, riot response, and Imp knows the back entrance and roads to avoid them until they hit the street again, good to always know ways out. Six police cars and 2 4x4s following them, darn it! Stop or slow them, just don't kill them, Imp knows how to work in a crisis.

"Bianca, make some water behind the bus. Vic, as soon as she summons it, hold it as a sheet of water on the ground."

And then freezing it, oh, this is a classic getaway move for those with powers. It is super effective! And nice Blues Brothers reference.

Great, a police car is in front of them and Imp uses the hidden control that shifts the bus into a four-wheel drive, the Whateley school bus is tricked out! It has a jet-ski mode too, dang. Hehe, even in this situation you can't tell if Imp is serious or joking.

Sunday, October 30, 2016 - very early morning
Kane Hall, Whateley Academy

Clauser, it wasn't their fault, they didn't start it and they tried to escape without incident. Turner wants to hear this one, he better not have a bet going about Imp for what happened on the trip.

"We are not trouble magnets," Morgana protested firmly and quite insistently. "It's ... just coincidence."

"Or two or three," Laura added to emphasize her friend's point.

Imp smiled wickedly. "More like eight to ten."

They aren't insane, Nick, they are just trouble magnets even if they don't want to admit it.

"Actually, it averages one in five point two off-campus excursions that end up in some type of ... disturbance," a male voice chimed in from the door. The students had been focused on their discussion that they hadn't noticed Assistant Headmaster Turner open the door and pause in the doorway, amused by the running commentary. "So if you had eight incidents, it'd be one in slightly more than half a million," he added with a chuckle.

Never tell us the odds! Ah, so they don't have 8 or more incidents yet. Hehe, Team Kimba is legendary and some of their events are part of standard Security training, good to hear they left a lasting mark.

Sending lots of food, with Tanya and Morgana there they will need it. All that to create a detailed timeline, cool. Poor Laura, suffering through that long and detailed interview, needs rest after the hectic day they have had. Mr. Turner was at more eventful concerts in his younger days, who would have thought. Know the situation before you act, it was a guy being beaten up by four bullies probably twice his size each.

Tia and Nick have to deal with not being able to disguise themselves and not always being recognized as celebrities, ouch. Good advice on the neural neutralizer, always have a means of giving a holdout more juice to function in an emergency. Bianca's plan was a good one, Mr. Turner's advice is good though, you never know who you might encounter in this world.

"At the next staff meeting, we'll discuss how to add backup planning whenever a student formulates a plan. It needs to be practiced until it's automatic and instinctive," Turner continued.

More lessons and things to learn, it never ends.

Good, time to get some sleep, and yes, they won and that can't be taken away from them. Clauser won the pool and got $700, nice.

"You know, if they're betting on us getting in trouble all the time, maybe we really ARE trouble magnets!" she commented as they walked away from Kane Hall.

Tanya laughed. "So the next time we go off campus, we bring Ratel!"

Morgana shook her head. "How about next time we go off campus, we don't get in trouble, just to mess with their betting pool!"

"If that's even possible," Laura mumbled to herself.

*Mission: Impossible theme starts playing again* You are trouble magnets, get used to it now and adapt.

A fun story, I loved they had to work with normal gear instead of what they are used to at Whateley for the band contest. Laura getting it all ready, Morgana helping out and proving she still has her electronic skills, and the whole Scarlet Letter plan to get Bianca on the trip was just perfect. I loved seeing all the interactions throughout the story, between the Whateley crew, and the other bands, especially Radically Chick.

Bianca's worries, Cally's concerns, and the lengths the staff and their friends went to to help them each hit home how much they are dealing with. I hope Bianca will eventually tell the Whateley staff about Scorn, they might be able to make a connection to one of his goons to a student at Whateley if she does.

The band contest, you might have only given descriptions but they stood out, especially the Murder Bunnies concert act, that came alive for me. Ryan, I can't believe he tries to say he wasn't flirting with Tia that whole time. If he wasn't flirting what was he doing? Jacilyn had a right to be jealous, but not to take it out on Tia or the rest of her Unladen Swallows. She is the kind of girl who needs serious help or she is going to end up getting someone killed someday. She almost did this time.

Imp's actions throughout the story, she joked around some, but it was something to see her serious and determined to keep the kids safe. Her own past experiences have shaped her, she knows the world is dangerous for mutants, and she was prepared for anything. If not they wouldn't have gotten out of there with only some bruises and broken ribs in Laura's case.

This was a fun and exciting story. I can't wait to see what you two work on next, whether another joint story or one of your own.