A Whateley Academy Tale

Imp 9: An Imp-eriled Heart

by

Morpheus

Part Three

Sunday afternoon, Dec 30th 2007

“It should not take this long to drive from Rochester to Manhattan,” I complained.

Unfortunately, the traffic situation had only gotten worse. After the encounter with Speedbump, the MCO and H1 had both come out with an even greater presence. It seemed that everywhere I looked, there was either a vehicle marked for one of those groups or someone who was obviously a member.

Just a short distance ahead of us, there was an H1 roadblock. Technically, they weren’t doing a full roadblock since they didn’t have any kind of legal authority to do that that kind of thing, but they were skirting the line as much as they possibly could.

There were three vehicles, two of which had H1 stickers visible in the windows. Two of the cars were parked alongside the road on either side while one was stopped, blocking one of the lanes completely. They were trying to make it look like that car had broken down, forcing all the other drivers to slow down and move around it. And while the other cars were doing that, a small group of men were positioned so that they could look into those cars as they slowly drove past.

“I don’t like the look of that,” I said aloud, wondering how many similar stops had been set up in the area. That would take a lot of people, but if they called in every member they had in New York…

“What are we doing to do?” Chris asked with a worried look.

I thought about it for a moment and then grinned. I could have a lot of fun messing with those idiots. But then, I let out a sigh, reminding myself that this wasn’t the time for that, not when the main goal was to get Chris out of this.

“Too bad you don’t know how to do the camouflage thing yet,” I told Chris. This whole situation would have been so much easier if we’d both been able to turn invisible and sneak past them.

Chris gave me a curious look. “Do you think I’ll ever be able to do that?”

I shrugged. “Who knows. Your PK shell is a lot more flexible than most, but it isn’t quite up to my level. We’ll have to practice and see…sometime when our lives aren’t on the line.”

After this, I pulled off to the side of the road and warned Chris to keep his head down, then I got out of the car and walked towards the group. There were six people in total at their little checkpoint, two for each car, and half of them were wearing H1 pins.

“Do you need some help with your car?” I asked, quickly glancing down at myself to make sure my pendant was active. If they saw the way I really looked, they would have probably attacked me on sight. Either that or run away. You never could tell with some people.

“Engine trouble,” one man said. “We were just about to push it out of the way.”

None of them had made any move to push the car out of the way, but I didn’t call him on this obvious lie since there was probably nothing wrong with the car to start with either.

“Okay,” I responded with a fake smile. “If you guys need another hand…”

“We’re good,” someone else said.

“Alright then,” I told them as I began to turn around, only to pause and look at the H1 sticker on the back window as if it was the first time I’d seen it. “Oh, Humanity First…” I gave a nod of approval, trying hard to hide my contempt. “My husband and I are members too, back in Chicago.”

“Oh, really?” another man said, suddenly giving me a friendly smile. “Good to hear it.”

I looked around, then quietly asked, “Is there something going on here that I should be worried about?”

A couple of the men looked back and forth between each other before the one woman present offered, “We’re keeping an eye out for a dangerous mutant.”

“Really?” I gasped with mock concern.

One of the men nodded agreement, looking grimly determined. “We heard this kid lost control of his powers and killed his parents…then he escaped MCO custody.”

I let out another fake gasp of surprise. So, that was the story they were spreading. It was no wonder H1 and the MCO were so active. Now, the real question was, who was spreading that story. Was it Keller, or maybe the MCO? In the end, the who mattered less than the story itself.

“Then you make sure to keep an eye out,” I warned them.

“We will, ma’am,” one of the men promised. “There is no way I’m going to risk letting some out-of-control mutant get anywhere near my family.”

“Good work,” I told them as I hurried off.

It took every bit of self-control that I had not to flip them all off, or better yet, have some real fun with them. A smirk formed on my lips as I considered all the mischief I could get up to with this group, but I quickly pushed that away.

Once I got back into the car, I told Chris, “Keep down, but crawl into the back seat. Hide down low and throw some of that clutter over yourself because we’re going to drive past those idiots.”

Chris did as I asked without question. Once he was laying down in the foot space, he covered himself with the blanket and bags that I’d left in the back. He couldn’t hide from a real examination, but we didn’t need to. All we needed to do was get past these amateurs who wouldn’t be able to do more than a quick glance through the window as we drove past.

A minute later, I slowly drove past the idiots, giving them a friendly wave as I did so. I got several nods of acknowledgement and even a friendly wave back. And with that, we slipped right past their checkpoint.

“I still can’t believe that worked,” Chris said, referring to the H1 checkpoint that we’d evaded.

“Just like slipping an extra kid into a drive-in theater,” I said with a grin, remembering a time when Suzie Q and I had done that very thing. Of course, back in those days, we were the ones being smuggled into the theater to save a couple extra bucks, and her dad had been the one driving the car.

Chris gave me an odd look, then shook his head. He was silent for a full minute before saying, “I can’t go back…can I?”

“Back to the way things were?” I asked. “No, you can’t. But back to Rochester… That shouldn’t be much problem, though you will need to give it a bit of time.”

“I can’t even get my stuff from my bedroom,” he muttered bitterly. “My cousins have probably already raided it.”

I scowled at that. “We’ll get the lawyers involved,” I promised him. “They’ll look over your parents’ will and make sure you’re not being robbed of anything they wanted you to have.” Then I smirked. “And if necessary, I’ll send a recovery agent to get back any of your belongings that they snatched.”

“Lawyers?” Chris asked, giving me a skeptical look.

“I know,” I responded with a sigh. “I’m not a fan of the law since it never seems to work in my favor, and I’m an even lesser fan of lawyers.” I gave an exaggerated shudder. “Some of those guys are worse than most villains I know.”

Chris gave a faint snicker at that. “I’ll have to miss the funeral.”

Those words drained all the levity. “Unfortunately,” I admitted. “It wouldn’t be a good idea to go back so soon…especially not there.” I scowled at that, feeling more than a little unhappy about that fact since I wanted to say goodbye to Suzie Q as well. “But we’ll go back and visit their graves when it’s a bit safer to do so.”

“Sure,” Chris responded without much energy. I didn’t blame him.

A short time after this, Chris suddenly perked up and pointed out the car window. “What’s that?” Before I could answer, he added, “Is it another Humanity First stop?”

I looked to where he was pointing, seeing that it wasn’t any kind of a checkpoint but a small group of large trucks parked well off the road. The tent set up behind the vehicles gave me a good idea of what this was.

“Worse,” I answered with a scowl. “That looks like an MCO field operations site.”

“Oh shit,” Chris blurted out.

“They don’t seem to be watching the road,” I pointed out thoughtfully. After all, they were set up a bit off the road. “No checkpoint or anything like that, so we shouldn’t have any problem getting past. My guess is that these guys are here for rapid deployment in case someone else reports us. Or reports you, since nobody else has any idea that the beautiful, talented, and fabulous Imp is involved.”

“And modest,” Chris added with a snort.

“Oh,” I beamed at him. “You noticed.”

As I expected, we made it past the MCO without any issue, though we were only half a mile past then when I saw a flash of blue from the corner of my eye, right before something smashed into the front corner of the car. Suddenly, I was shoved off the road and came to a quick stop against a guard rail.

“NO!” Chris cried out, curling up in response, at least as much as his seatbelt would let him.

“It’s all right,” I reassured him, even putting a gentle hand on his shoulder, though I was looking out the windows for the cause of our crash. “We’re both all right…”

“Not again,” he whispered. “Not again.”

“We’re both fine,” I repeated. “And right now, we have bigger problems to deal with.”

“What?” Chris asked, looking up and blinking.

I gestured out the window where a familiar figure was standing a good twenty feet away, posing with his hands on his hips. Speedbump.

“Oh shit,” Chris gasped.

“Driving away won’t work,” I pointed out as I put the car in park. “He’d outrun us way too easily.”

“You can beat him again,” Chris said, surprising me a little with how confident he sounded in that. “You did it the last time.”

“I could,” I agreed. After all, I’d made a whole career of escaping and humiliating ‘heroes’ like Speedbump. “But he isn’t our biggest problem.” At Chris’ blank look, I gestured back the way we’d come. “The MCO. You want to bet how quickly they hear about this and come to check it out?”

“Oh shit,” he repeated, his eyes going wide.

“COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP,” Speedbump yelled at us.

“You have to deal with Speedbump,” I told Chris. “I’ll take care of our MCO issue?”

“WHAT?” he exclaimed in disbelief. “He’s a superhero…”

“No,” I corrected. “He’s a superzero. You can take him.”

“But…,” he started to protest.

I held up a finger and told him, “You’ve got this.”

Chris stared at me for several seconds as if sure that I had to be joking, then he gave a faint nod. “Okay,” he said, not sounding all that confident. “I’ll do my best.”

“Good,” I responded before gesturing to his watch. “But before we go out, you should activate the special feature of your watch.”

Chris gave me another look of surprise. “How did you know about that?” Then he paused and gasped in sudden realization. “You’re the one who gave it to me…”

“Merry Christmas,” I told him wryly.

“THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE,” Speedbump yelled.

I ignored the blowhard and reminded Chris. “As it should have explained in the directions, the special feature is a devisor component that will scramble all video recordings of you for up to ten minutes. You don’t want some onlooker to record this fight, because that will give the MCO and any other idiots a clear picture of what you look like. And besides, it will also keep security from reaming you as bad once we get back to school.”

And with that, I clicked the car door open and stepped out. Chris twisted the watch face, activating the video scrambling effect. I nodded in approval while clicking a similar devise that was hidden in my own belt. It wouldn’t do for any onlookers to catch a picture of pseudo-famous artist Candice Kade in this situation.

“This is just like your combat finals,” I told Chris. “This is the kind of situation that you’ve been training for.”

With that, I gave Chris a nod of approval, then turned and began running back the way we’d come.

Sunday afternoon, Dec 30th 2007

Chris watched as the Imp ran off, leaving him to deal with a real superhero on his own. He felt a knot of nervousness in his stomach as he considered the opponent in front of him.

A superhero. A real superhero. And the Imp…his biological mother…had just abandoned him to face the hero on his own.

“Why do I even have to fight a hero?” Chris quietly asked himself. “I didn’t do anything wrong…”

“I’ve got you now, you dirty murderer,” Speedrun exclaimed before he suddenly ran at Chris.

The speedster slammed into Chris before he could even protest his innocence. He was sent flying back where he hit the guard rail beside the road and severely dented it. His whole body ached from that hit, and if he hadn’t redirected his shell in time to block the worst of the impact… That hit would have been enough to kill a normal person.

“That’s why,” Chris muttered as he got back to his feet, wincing in pain.

Speedrun stood back with a cocky smirk on his face. “You shouldn’t have picked evil,” the hero exclaimed, posing a bit as he did so as if he was in front of a TV camera. Since there were cars nearby and people with cameras, he might very well have been. That made Chris thankful for the watch he’d gotten for Christmas.

“I didn’t do anything,” Chris said. “You attacked me for no good reason. You’re the villain here.”

A look of anger flashed across Speedrun’s face, perhaps because Chris wasn’t playing into the role of being some villain. He rushed at Chris again, who shifted his body to the side just a moment before the impact, letting Speedrun zoom right past him.

Chris let out a sigh of relief, glad that he’d been able to avoid at least one hit from that hero. And Speedrun was a hero, even if the Imp didn’t seem to take him very seriously.

“Is she EVER serious?” Chris snorted to himself.

Then Chris suddenly remembered that video he’d seen of the Imp fighting Mr. Williams, the history teacher at Whateley, in a SIMS match. That fight had been vicious and brutal, not at all goofy or mocking like he would have expected from the usually comedic Imp. He shuddered at the memory.

“She’s SCARY when she’s serious,” he said, turning his full attention to his opponent.

Speedrun had attacked him four times now, twice here and another two times when they’d met earlier. And each time, the speedster just ran straight at him and hit him head-on. Each time. It was…simple. It was…predictable.

Chris’ eyes widened in realization. Speedrun relied entirely on his powers, with no real skill or training involved. All he seemed to do was blindly charge in. This guy never would have made it through a single week in BMA without Sensei Ito breaking him of that habit.

The speedster couldn’t stop in an instant, because after he ran past Chris, it took him several more seconds before he was able to come to a stop and then turn around. Then as Chris expected, he simply charged at Chris one more time.

This time, Chris knew exactly what was coming and he had time to brace himself. He pushed all the energy of his shell to his arm and expanded it like a shield. Then as Speedrun hit him, he simultaneously stepped aside while using his shield to push back and make sure he didn’t take a hit. Once again, Speedrun missed him.

“She said I could do it,” Chris reminded himself, feeling more confident now.

“You little punk,” Speedrun snarled as he positioned himself for another charge.

Chris didn’t bother responding since he knew that Speedrun wouldn’t listen. Instead, he positioned himself for the oncoming attack, imagining that if the Imp was fighting Speedrun, she’d probably be waving a red flag at him as if she was dealing with a charging bull.

“But she didn’t even think he was worth fighting,” Chris mused, now understanding why.

But what really struck Chris was the realization that everything he thought about the way Speedrun was fighting, were things that the Imp had once accused him of. Speedrun was fighting the same way that Chris used to. All power and aggression, no technique or strategy. That was why Chris had always been beaten so badly, and why he was confident that he could beat Speedrun. He’d been where Speedrun was…and he’d grown past it.

This time when Speedrun came, Chris shifted to the side but stuck out his leg, focusing most of his shell’s energy in that area. Instead of slamming him, Speedrun tripped over his leg and went flying face first into the ground in a long slide that looked even worse than when the Imp had taken him out earlier.

Chris walked up to the downed hero and stood over him for several seconds, feeling nothing but contempt. He was really starting to understand why the Imp didn’t like superheroes.

“You healed from that leg injury earlier,” Chris thought aloud. “So, you must have some kind of fast healing…”

With that, Chris kicked the hero’s leg, breaking it with a nasty snap before he shoved him off the road and into the ditch below.

Sunday afternoon, Dec 30th 2007

I ran back towards the MCO encampment, hoping to get this done and over with as soon as possible. It was pretty chilly out, so the faster I could get back into the warm car, the better.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to switch into my working clothes, which would have been much more appropriate and comfortable for what I was doing. Well, technically I was wearing working clothes, but my blouse and slacks were more for a classroom than for tussling with the MCO.

“No help for that now,” I muttered, knowing that time was of the essence.

As I approached the encampment, I saw a large power frame moving out in front. I hadn’t seen it before so they’d either been keeping it in that tent or inside the large truck. Someone was operating it at the moment, so they’d obviously heard about the encounter with Speedbump and were off to check it out. I grimaced in determination, knowing that I had to stop them before they could get anywhere near Chris.

This was the part where I would normally rush in, grab their attention with a daring act of fabulousness, then mock them mercilessly as I led them off in another direction. After that, it would be a simple matter of losing them. However, I couldn’t do that this time.

I couldn’t let them see me. Or more specifically, there was no way in Hell that I was going to let the MCO know that the fabulous Imp was involved. I did NOT want to get on their radar in any way, shape, or form. The MCO had way too many resources and connections for me to risk that.

A moment later, I brought up my chameleon field, using my PK aura to camouflage me. And with that active, I didn’t need my pendant to hide my identity, so I deactivated that in order to save its battery.

I moved faster than I should if I wanted to be undetectable, so that if anyone looked, I’d appear to be a human shaped blur in the air. I’d have to move a bit slower to really be invisible, and I didn’t have time for that luxury. But in spite of that, none of the MCO agents or technicians noticed me, and I reached the power frame before anyone even realized I was there.

A lot of people didn’t know the difference between power armor and a power frame, though the fact was, they were only vaguely similar. Power armor was wrapped around your body and usually wasn’t too much larger than the human body because of that. A power frame was less armor…and more like driving a tank with arms and legs.

This power armor stood about twelve feet tall and was only vaguely humanoid in shape. The cockpit with the pilot was right in the center of the main body, with a thick metal latch that they locked behind them.

I leapt onto the power frame’s back and quickly scrambled up to the hatch. It was locked of course, but that was no real concern. I formed my PK claws and sliced right through the lock, giving me access to the inside.

Normally, I would have taken the opportunity to mock the pilot or give a good one-liner, but I bit back on my instincts and remained silent. Instead, I tossed not one but two stink bombs inside the cockpit, then dropped to the ground, grinning to myself. I got that trick from Melissa.

The stink bombs went off and a thick cloud of stench began to pour out of the hatch. I would have enjoyed watching the pilot gagging and trying to escape, but instead, I remained focused on my task, which was to make sure that they couldn’t come after us. I drove my PK claws right into the power frame, right in the sensitive hydraulics and cables which were exposed at the weak point right behind the knees. That would keep this thing from being able to march forward, even if someone was able to deal with the lingering stench.

“Trixie makes the best stink bombs,” I mused to myself even as I rushed away from the power frame.

MCO agents and the power frame technicians were so distracted by the pilot emerging from the hatch in order to empty his stomach, that they still didn’t notice me. I took full advantage of that to rush to their nearest truck and then to the one beside it. In mere seconds, every one of their vehicles had at least two slashed tires. It would take awhile for them to get moving after this.

I took a moment to lament on how little time I’d had to set this up. If I’d had time to plan, I would have snuck in earlier, slipped laxative into their lunches, and then caused a lot of subtle sabotages that they wouldn’t find or repair so quickly. Hell, if I’d had more time, I would have thrown in a few ‘clues’ to send them on a wild goose chase and maybe even lead them to someone I didn’t like. But sadly, none of that was to be.

“Such a missed opportunity,” I muttered as I hurried away, being even more careful not to be seen as I slipped away from their camp and returned to where I’d left Chris.

When I got back to the car, Chris was waiting for me without any sign of Speedbump. I took one glance at the car and decided that one of our next steps would be to switch cars again, because this one had drawn way too much attention.

“Where’s the superzero?” I asked curiously.

Chris gestured down the hill beside the road. I glanced over the edge and saw the costumed buffoon below, rolling on the ground in pain and grabbing at his legs.

“Good job,” I told Chris with a grin, pleased to see that I’d been right about this fight. “Now, let’s get out of here while we still can.”

Chris stared at the car with a look of dread. “Yeah,” he muttered. “But…”

“I get it,” I told him gently, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I hate riding in cars too… I feel…trapped.”

He gave me a look of surprise. “You do?”

“It’s not as bad when I’m the one driving,” I admitted. “But yeah, I get it. Unfortunately, it’s either this or try to get away on foot.”

“And that isn’t going to happen,” Chris said with a grimace. Then, he took a deep breath, and with a look of determination, he climbed back into the passenger seat.

I slipped back into my seat and started the car. “It’s a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, and it’s dark…and we’re wearing sunglasses.” I looked to Chris expectantly, waiting for the appropriate line. But instead of replying with ‘Hit it,’ he gave me a blank look. With a disappointed sigh and a shake of my head, I mused, “We definitely need to work on your education of the classics.”

“This should do it,” I announced as I parked the car where it wouldn’t be seen from the road. “We can get a new car there…” I gestured towards the other side of the road.

“A used car dealership?” Chris asked in surprise.

“What?” I asked with a smirk. “Did you expect me to carjack someone?”

“No,” he quickly responded. “But, you know…”

“But I am a professional thief,” I agreed pleasantly, nodding along. “Or at least, I was.” Then I pointed out, “The people I always stole from could afford to lose a painting or two. Hell, half the time, they tried to inflate the numbers for the insurance company, trying to steal from them.”

Of course, I didn’t bother telling Chris that I had no intention of actually buying a car from the dealership. For one, it looked like a fairly shady place, and for another, that would leave a paper trail which could be troublesome later on. Instead, I’d cut their cameras, swipe a car they weren’t likely to notice for awhile, and then let it be found and recovered in a day or two once I was done with it.

Chris and I climbed out of the car and stretched. It hadn’t been long since the encounter with Speedbump, but it was nice to loosen up a bit anyway.

“You wait here with our stuff,” I told Chris. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Okay,” he responded, though he seemed a bit hesitant about something. After a couple seconds, he blurted out, “Thank you for teaching me not to fight like Speedrun.”

“You’re welcome,” I responded with a grin and a happy swish of my tail.

“Did you…,” he started self-consciously, not looking directly at me as he did. “Did you know who I was when…?”

“When we first met?” I asked. “When I first started tutoring you?”

Chris gave a faint nod as he finally looked at me again. “Yeah…”

I shook my head. “No idea. I didn’t find out until a couple weeks ago, after you lost that tracking pendant.”

“Okay,” he mumbled, actually looking relieved. Maybe it was over the fact that I hadn’t known he was my son when I’d been humiliating him in our initial training match. “And is that why you’ve been helping my team… Shenanigans?”

“Partly,” I admitted with a shrug. “But I also have an interest in a couple of your friends as well, and even more importantly, I REALLY like your team name.” I flashed him a grin and he laughed.

After this, I checked myself to make sure that I looked presentable, which included having my pendant active, and I was about to start heading towards the dealership. But just then, I noticed something from the corner of my eye and immediately snapped around.

“We’ve been spotted,” I stated.

There were three figures in the air, flying right towards us. They were far enough away that I couldn’t tell for sure, but they appeared to all be men, and each was wearing some kind of lightweight armor over their entire bodies. The armor looked thin enough that I seriously doubted they were full power armor, though all three seemed to have jetpacks and energy rifles.

I hesitated for a moment before reaching up and dropping my illusion. If I’d been on my own, I would have turned invisible and slipped away before those figures ever reached us, but there was no way that I was going to just leave Chris. And since I didn’t want anyone to see Candice Kade fighting, it was time for the Imp to make a reappearance. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem, assuming these guys weren’t MCO.

“My watch,” Chris said, trying to activate the special feature of his watch again.

“Won’t work,” I reminded him. “It needs to be recharged before you can use it again.”

“Damn,” Chris muttered as he braced himself for a fight.

The armored men stopped and hovered in the air a short distance away. Their heads were entirely covered by helmets, but their figures definitely looked masculine. Each of them wore identical looking armor, except for in a different color.

“That’s the car all right,” the man in green armor announced. “And the kid our witness described.”

“So,” the man in blue armor added, “this is the kid who ambushed Speedrun.”

“That’s just what Speedrun told us,” Green responded.

“Yeah,” the man in red armor agreed. “That kid has GOT to be the dangerous mutant that H1 put a bounty on.”

“Bounty hunters,” I muttered with a mixture of annoyance and relief. That meant that they weren’t MCO, which meant that I didn’t have to worry quite as much about them.

“I just want to know who that devil chick is,” Blue added as he pointed his energy rifle in our direction.

“Doesn’t matter,” Red answered. “Not unless H1 pays extra if we kill her too.”

“Get ready,” I warned Chris. “These guys aren’t joking.”

Red was the first to open fire, shooting a blast of energy right at Chris, who dove out of the way. Two of the bounty hunters were focused on him while the last one, Blue was aiming at me as I ran the other direction.

A blast of energy hit the ground beside me, forcing me to keep moving. I glanced back at Chris, who seemed to be doing fine on his own, at least so far. A blast of energy hit him and knocked him back, but he’d focused his PK shell enough to keep from being seriously hurt. Unfortunately, I knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep that up for long. Neither of us could.

“Up in the air and out of reach,” I mused as I considered my opponents and how I could deal with them.

Disappearing and running away wouldn’t work this time, so I’d have to come up with something else. Then I grinned as an idea came to me.

“Ninja vanish,” I exclaimed as I threw a smoke bomb at my feet and did my normal disappearing trick.

I rolled off to the side under the cover of smoke, activating my chameleon effect as I did so. When I stopped moving, I was now so blended in that I would be effectively invisible…unless they had heat sensors or something like that in their helmets.

“Where did she go?” Blue demanded in surprise.

After a moment, he turned away and began looking around to see if he could find me. I took advantage of that to crouch down, focus my PK aura around my legs, and then launched myself into the air with a PK enhanced leap. A moment later, I hit Blue from behind and sliced through his jetpack with my PK claws. An instant later, his jetpack burst into flames and he dropped like a rock.

“CATCH,” I yelled to Chris.

Chris saw Blue falling and ran forward, focusing his own PK aura into his fist, and he punched Blue right before the bounty hunter hit the ground. Blue flew through the air again and smashed into the side of our car, leaving a massive dent.

“HENDRICKS?” Green shouted towards his companion.

Blue was slumped down beside the car, twitching and groaning but clearly no longer a threat. One down and two more to go. That meant, it was time to get back to the basics, which meant mock and distract.

“You don’t tug on Superman’s cape,” I cheerfully sang after I hit the ground and rolled back to my feet. “You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Imp.”

“That devil chick is dangerous,” Red snarled, firing at me and forcing me to dodge.

“Is that the best you can do?” I teased. Another shot and I dodged again. “Have you guys ever been able to hit the broadside of a barn?”

This time I leapt to the side and threw two PK enhanced throwing spikes at Red. One of them hit his leg while the other missed entirely. He yelped in pain but didn’t drop.

“I don’t care if there’s a bounty on her or not,” Red exclaimed. “I’m killing that bitch.”

“I’m with you,” Green agreed as both of them fired on me.

Chris just stood there, staring up at our opponents but not doing anything. Then again, there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment since he didn’t have any kind of ranged attack and they were both focused on me.

I snapped around and threw another spike, but it missed Green by a good distance. He and Red had both moved up a bit higher and were no longer just hovering on one spot. They were moving around, making themselves moving targets which were even harder to hit. From there, they continued firing at me, though their movement seemed to worsen their aim at the same time.

“You guys were entertaining,” I said with a smirk, “but it’s time for me to get going… Exit, stage left…”

I threw down another smoke bomb and repeated my disappearing trick. However, neither of the bounty hunters let down their guard. They continued moving around, though their attention turned to Chris who quickly scrambled out of the way.

In spite of my ‘dramatic exit’, I had absolutely no intention of going anywhere without Chris. I was just hoping for a repeat of my previous attack, where I could get one of them from behind with a surprise attack. Unfortunately, not only did they continue to move around, but Green seemed focused on looking for me, as if expecting me to pull the same kind of trick that I’d already tried.

“I hate it when my opponents learn,” I muttered in annoyance.

Since it didn’t look like my trick was going to work again, at least not the same way, I decided to try a variation on it. I launched myself up into the air as high as I could go, no longer trying to actively reach them. Instead, I waited until I was at the top of my arc, then I threw another throwing spike right at Green. I caught the edge of his jetpack, enough to put a small hole in it but not enough to do any real damage. And in return, I was out in the open as he fired at me again

Green paused for a moment, just long enough to take aim and fire right at me. I refocused my aura, creating a disk of focused PK armor about a foot across, just in time to block the blast. Then I hit the ground and rolled, having to avoid several more attacks as he was in motion again.

“These guys are hard to hit,” I admitted to Chris.

“What do you usually do?” he asked with a worried look.

“For flyers that I can’t reach?” I asked. “Mock them, then run and hide.”

“I don’t think that will do much good,” he responded with a guilty look. “I’m holding you back…”

“I’m not leaving you,” I assured me. “Sooner or later, one of them will make another mistake…”

“I…I have an idea,” Chris said, gesturing to Blue who was still clutching his rifle.

Chris ran for Blue’s weapon, but Red opened fire and hit the rifle with a blast of energy. The rifle exploded on impact, knocking Chris back and probably injuring Blue even worse.

“Well, that didn’t work,” he muttered in annoyance.

“Still a good idea,” I told him. “Now, I’m going to create a distraction so you can get away.”

“What?” he asked in surprise.

“I’ll follow along once I give them the slip,” I assured him, keeping my eyes on the bounty hunters above. “But first, you need to get away…”

“I’m not leaving you,” Chris insisted.

I rolled my eyes and reached for a couple smoke bombs. All I had left on me were two more, but that should be enough to create the distraction I needed. Maybe if I threw in a stink bomb too, though I didn’t know if those helmets included filtration systems.

But just then, there was a flash of light and Red suddenly dropped from the sky and hit the ground. Without waiting for an invitation, Chris ran forward and formed a PK blade to slice through the bounty hunter’s jetpack. That was followed up by a PK enhanced punch which sent the bounty hunter skipping along the ground.

While Chris was dealing with Red, I was watching Green, who seemed confused. He was looking around to see what happened and didn’t notice when another armor figure appeared above him and then lowered down beside him.

This new arrival wore lightweight blue and white armor, which was thin enough that it easily blended in with the rest of his costume so that it almost looked like spandex from a distance. The armor was in a completely different style from the bounty hunters, and instead of a helmet, he had a dark blue cowl that covered the top part of his head.

Without saying a word, the newcomer grabbed Green’s shoulder and then slammed Green into the ground below. He lowered down until he landed on the ground beside Green, then he held his hand out and fired a sphere of blue light at the downed bounty hunter. An instant later, Green was thrown off to the side where he slammed into the side of a nearby building.

“Getting into trouble again, Imp?” the newcomer asked.

“Who is that?” Chris gasped, gaping at the new arrival.

“That’s Chickenhawk,” I told Chris with a smirk. “He’s a superhero who was something of my archenemy before I retired.”

I’d called Ryan awhile back, letting him know about all the troubles that I’d been running into and that I’d be late getting back to Manhattan. I hadn’t told him the full story of what was going on before I left to get Chris, but I had told him enough. I’d told him that I had a son who needed help, and that was all he needed to know for the moment. The rest could wait until Chris was safe.

“That’s Superhawk,” he corrected me, though he wasn’t as offended as he once would have been. Instead, he seemed more amused. “I’ve been chasing after you for long enough, that you really should know my name by now.”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” I commented as my tail swished back and forth.

I looked down at my clothes, absently adjusting them though that was pointless. My entire outfit had been torn up and ruined by the fight. It would have to be thrown away. Oh, how I wished I’d been wearing my costume instead.

Chris stared at Chickenhawk with a look of awe, though it quickly turned to one of fierce determination. Then before I knew it, Chris stepped between me and Chickenhawk and flared his PK shell so he glowed with a fierce golden energy.

“I won’t let you touch her,” Chris stated, clearly ready to fight.

For a moment, Chickenhawk and I both stared at Chris in surprise, then we both laughed. I shouldn’t have been surprised since Chris was always trying to protect people, but I never would have expected him to try protecting me, and especially not against a superhero. I had to admit, I was really touched by that.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Chickenhawk started to say, still watching Chris with a look of sharp interest.

“It’s okay,” I told Chris as I stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got this…”

And with that, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my gold ‘GET OUT OF JAIL FREE’ card and held it out to Chickenhawk.

“A get out of jail free card,” Chickenhawk said as he looked it over, nodding as he did so. “Okay, you’re good to go…”

“What?” Chris gasped, his jaw dropping in disbelief. “That actually works?”

Chickenhawk grinned, obviously trying to hold back a laugh. Then he gave me a wink before flying back up into the air and leaving us behind. Chris remained there, staring up with a look of confusion.

“Okay,” I told Chris a few seconds later. “Time to get a new car and get out of here before more trouble shows up.”

“Here we are,” I announced as we stepped into the freight elevator, and I hit the button to go up.

“And where is that?” Chris asked me with a skeptical tone.

“Why, the place where I plan all of my nefarious schemes,” I told him with a grin. “The Imp Lair.”

Chris gave me a nervous look but didn’t say anything. Instead, he straightened up and kept an eye on the indicator for the rising floor level.

We’d finally made it back to Manhattan, without any more incidents after those bounty hunters. Several times, I’d noticed Chickenhawk flying overhead, keeping an eye on us from a distance and making sure that there were no more problems. And it seemed that once he was sure that we’d made it back to Manhattan safely, he’d taken off.

When the elevator came to a stop, I announced, “Right this way…”

Chris followed me down the hall and to the door of my condo. I quickly glanced down the halls to make sure no one was around, then I opened the door so we could get inside. It was only once I had stepped across the threshold that I let out a sigh of relief and deactivated my pendant. We’d made it home.

“This is,” Chris said as he looked around in surprise, “not what I imagined.”

I chuckled at that, and I probably always would whenever a new visitor had that same reaction. Not that I really had many visitors, but so far all of them reacted much the same.

“What?” I asked with a smirk. “Were you expecting a funhouse with death traps and a giant painting of myself sitting over the fireplace?”

Chris hesitated for a moment before admitting, “Well… Kind of.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” I responded with a grin. “But, I don’t have any henchmen to impress, and the only heroes who ever come here aren’t here to fight. No, this is just my home. And I guess now, it’s yours too.”

Chris looked around the main living area, his eyes darting from place to place. He stared at the classic artworks that hung on the wall, then paused at a framed cell from a classic cartoon that I absolutely loved.

“What’s this?” Chris asked, indicating a small display stand that was a recent addition to my bookshelf.

“A lump of coal,” I answered with a grin. “Given to me this Christmas by Santa himself.”

His eyes widened but he didn’t take the bait. I was sure that he would have denied Santa’s existence at the very least.

“Come on,” I told him as I gestured for the hallway. “This here is my guest bedroom… Well, it was. Now, it’s yours.”

“You have a guest bedroom?” Chris asked me in surprise, probably having a hard time believing that I’d ever have guests.

“A couple of your classmates have used it,” I told him with a shrug. “Unusual circumstances and the like.”

He gave me a look of surprise. “Really?”

I just nodded at that, then gestured to the other doorways. “My room. The bathroom. And that one is my art studio. You can take a look, but please be careful in there.”

With that, I went back to the living room, leaving Chris to get settled into his new room. It was strange having a visitor again. No, not a visitor. He was going to be living with me now, when he wasn’t at Whateley. I felt a mixture of grief and excitement over the prospect, as I was happy to have him back but felt absolutely horrible for the reason why.

A few seconds later, I poured myself a glass of wine and took a sip, which helped me to relax even more. It had been a very long and tiring day, both physically and emotionally. So many things had happened since we woke up in Rochester, that it almost felt like it all should have happened over a week rather than during a single day.

“I’ll order a pizza for dinner,” I called out to Chris.

I had a feeling that after dinner, we’d both be hitting the bed early and sleeping pretty hard. But first, before pizza and bed, I really REALLY needed a long HOT bath and some clean clothes.

To Be Continued