Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXV Episode VII: Close Splitter

Flash perked up from where he was sitting as soon as he heard the cry for help. “...did you hear that?”

“No?” Micro replied as Flash got up and walked to the back of the storage room, “What’s going on?”

Once there, Flash looked around and uncovered some boxes to find.a young woman with a pale skin tone, silver hair, and a brown bomber jacket. “H-help…”

“Who are…wait a sec, I think I remember you…you’re Gilda, right?” Flash asked as he knelt down next to her. “What happened to you? Do you recall how you ended up here?”

Gilda shook her head, unable to answer at the moment.

“Someone you recognize?” Micro asked from nearby.

“Yeah, it’s Gilda,” Flash replied as he lifted the girl onto his shoulder, “She looks hella banged up. Like she’s been down here for--”

“Weeks,” Micro sorted it out as soon as he laid eyes on her, “We can sort out the details later. For now, I think I’ve just figured out our ticket out of here.”

Intrigued, Flash would ask for more info with a more hopeful tone than before, “Alright. We’ve got nothing to lose. Lay it on me, egghead.”

“Remember the nanomachines from a few weeks ago? They’re still with me.” Micro stood aside…

And revealed his spider-bot that had grown to the size of a small car!

“I used them to give my drone a bit of an upgrade so that we can get ourselves out of here.”

“Shit that’s pretty impressive,” Flash commented, “But is it gonna work at that size? Won’t it need more power?”

“I’ve got that figured out. Don’t you worry--”

HSSSSSS!

Just then…the sprinkler system went off…

---

Outside the stadium…

One emotionally charged phone call later, and Aria and Keiji were sprinting to get back to the now-empty baseball stadium.

“...so our boys are captured by those bastards, huh?” said the vamp-boy, “If they so much as harm a hair on their head I swear…”

“Don’t get emotional,” Aria scolded him, “You lose focus when you let your emotions get the better of you so don’t let it start now when our friends’ lives are on the line.”

“Right…I’m just annoyed that we’ll have to be dealing with these idiots again,” Keiji huffed as he ran alongside her, “But at least we’ve figured out their new base. Can’t believe they were right underneath us the whole damn time…”

“I’m just as shocked as you are,” Aria replied, “But there’s not much we can do except focus on getting them out. Sunset is counting on us, remember? If she came down here, they’d take her power and we do not want that.”

Keiji audibly shuddered at the thought. “Blegh…I do not like the idea of one of my strongest friends losing her power to some other jackass. C’mon, let’s go!”

---

Back in the supply closet…

“C’mon, egghead, how much longer?!” Flash yelped as the water rose past their ankles.

“One sec!” Micro called back as he bent down to configure his spider robot. “It needs…dammit, it’s jammed!”

“Your GCM must be stuck!”

“What?!”

Flash kicked the spider-bot’s abdomen…and it immediately started up and fired off explosive paste that blew the door open.

“There! Un-stuck!”

As the dust settled, the boys would walk out of the supply closet. Micro was tapping on his watch while Flash carried Gilda over his shoulder.

And from down the hall…

“What the hell--how did they get--SHOOT THEM!” Tatsu screamed, ordering his goons to fire at them.

A barrage of bullets would rain their way--Flash took cover behind a nearby potted plant while Micro stood behind the corner of a wall.

“What’s our next move, captain??” Micro raised his voice over the gunfire.

“...here’s what we’re gonna do,” Flash reached into his jacket and pulled out his rifle. Imbued with the sound-based magic he had acquired a while ago, as soon as he pulled the trigger--

BLAM!

A massive soundwave was launched down the hall, blowing all of the yakuza members backwards and forcing them to tumble to the ground.

“We take your photos and get Gilda outta here! That’s the exact compound that was used to kill Applejack’s parents. I just know it.”

“Right behind ya!”

---

Meanwhile, at the stadium’s enctrance…

“Dammit, the door’s locked,” Keiji huffed once they got close enough, noting the set of chains that locked the double-doors from the outside.

Aria simply cracked her knuckles and punched the door, blasting it open with a gust of air from her fist. “Now it’s unlocked,” she muttered casually as she ran inside.

“...Well that’s one way to--hey, wait up!” Keiji yelped as he ran after her.

“They should be close by,” Aria continued as they ran through the halls of the stadium, “That explosion probably had something to do with it.”

“...You mean the downed helicopter in the middle of the field?!” Keiji pointed out the destroyed black hawk surrounded by burned patches of grass.

“...That’s…guess we should follow it. Sunset should be here soon to back us up.”

Comments

[Fetch]

Gilda: So the spider bot does explosions and the rifle does sonic booms? Nice. How about, once we get outside, you BRING THIS WHOLE ********* PLACE DOWN ON THOSE ********** HEADS?

Flash: Unlike our enemies, we do not kill needlessly.

[Jmaster49]

11359011
Pretty much. Not to mention they wanna take as many of them alive as possible so they can be arrested and tried in court.

[Snowdrifter]

11359138

If they are even approached by law enforcement, it will be to sell them tickets for the Policeman's Ball. One of the first things organized crime does is commandeer possible assets so they cannot be used against them.