Chapter 106: Escape
Ella opened her eyes to the sound of glass crashing to the floor. It possessed a peculiar musicality that appealed to her starved senses. She glanced around, seeing destroyed cylinders and people covering their heads to avoid the shards of falling glass.
She slowly levered herself into a sitting position, trying to organize her muzzy thoughts. She could just barely hear Sphinxie encouraging her to move. Her limbs felt leaden from disuse and kept prickling.
Her gaze zeroed in on Lucy, standing by the door with Court. She followed where they were looking to find Aarti's mom punching a cylinder. The question of where the breaking glass was coming from was answered as the cylinder she hit crumbled into shards. Ella didn't know who the kid cowering in the cylinder was, but then again, she wasn't that familiar with a lot of the kids in the creche.
Or hadn't been. Ella shook her head. She could almost hear her blood fizzing in her veins. She hummed a little to herself, feeling something evaporate from her veins. It wasn't a lot, just a little bit, but it felt so good that she repeated the hum again.
"You're finally awake," Leilani said, standing in front of Ella's cylinder or rather, what was left of it.
Ella looked up at her and managed a smile. Leilani was so persistent. She hadn't wanted to wake up, but the argument had been so sound. She wasn't impaired and others were. She totally blamed Leilani for being awake. Still, it wasn't like she could sleep forever like the fairy tales.
"Were you really stuck in a lab all this time?" Leilani asked, cocking her head to one side, scads of curls cascading over her little shoulders. After all this time, she still looked like a doll-like version of Sabrina and Aarti.
"No, I'm stuck here, right? Then it couldn't have been all that time," Ella replied with a little smile. She swallowed painfully. She was so thirsty. "Is Niles really here? I have to talk to him."
Leilani nodded and trotted off. She seemed relieved to have something to do. Ella glanced around, finding Sabrina nearby, sleeping. That would explain it. Sabrina was impetuous when she thought she had backup, and no one was as dangerous as Lucy and Court when they were mad.
Ella shivered. She'd only been asleep, not unconscious. She and Sphinxie had heard quite a bit of disturbing things while they'd been here.
*****
"Very interesting," Jebediah muttered under his breath. On his shoulder, Trolli nodded her little head. "How does it work, do you think?"
Bruce glanced at the boy and shook his head. He could roughly see why Jebediah had been chained into that lab. The moment the twins had activated their mystical powers fully for the first time had shaken the entire building. Not to mention that they'd aged about ten years in doing so.
He had some questions for Shazam when he saw him next. Now that he thought about it, the man hadn't really aged in the few years that he'd known him.
Jebediah's reaction to the transformation had been wide-eyed curiosity. Bruce had half-expected him to whip out measuring instruments. The two kids, Kuro and Sol had stood patiently as if Jebediah's reaction was expected.
"We can just go find the others, right?" Sol asked, tilting her head in query. Her long hair whirled around her shoulders softly as if she was floating in water. Light and sparks visibly bubbled off of her in arcs.
By contrast, Kuro looked as if he was wearing a cloak of shadows. He was bigger and buffer, but he still moved as if he was unused to his body. He kept trying to duck behind Sol, glancing around warily. Every so often he would look at himself in disbelief.
"Kuro wants to know what do we do next," Sol said, glancing at Jebediah.
Jebediah gave himself a shake.
"We need to find the others. This should help us immensely." On his shoulder, Trolli squeaked, making all the children smile.
Bruce sighed. This was both more interesting and irritating. He glanced at the doorway to the lab. So far, no one had come to investigate the noise, but that good luck couldn't hold for much longer. No matter what was going on outside, the situation inside still seemed a bit more controlled.
"Let's get moving. Someone's going to be interested in what's going on here." Bruce finally said.
The children all turned towards him. Bruce found it a bit disconcerting that his brain was labeling them all as children, even the transformed twins.
"Do you know of another way out of here?" Bruce asked Jebediah who shook his head, looking back towards the open doorway apprehensively.
"We make one, then," Kuro said. He looked at the wall beside the pods. "There's no one over there and a passage."
"Perhaps it'll lead to Lucy?" Sol said hopefully. "Or Simone? Do you think Simone is with Lucy?"
"Only one way to find out," Jebediah said with a shrug. He looked around the lab with dark, brooding eyes. "Hopefully, Carol is there as well. Then we can dispose of all this."
Sol followed his look and shivered.
"We have to get out of here. I don't want to be Disassembled," she muttered, turning towards the wall. "Do you think it'll work?" She asked Kuro with upraised brows. Kuro shrugged.
Bruce was wondering just what she meant when a vibrant bolt of electricity shot out of her palms and cut a hole in the wall. It was just big enough for them to walk through without having to bend down.
"That took a lot," Sol said with a smile before she fainted in Kuro's arms.
"Should go before the guards come," Kuro said diffidently as he shifted her to over his shoulder. He also looked towards the open doorway. "There's a lot of guards running this way."
Then Kuro ducked into the newly opened passage. Jebediah shot one disbelieving look towards the iris before charging after him, followed by the other girl who reminded Bruce of Zatanna.
Bruce thought for a second before lobbing a grenade in the direction of the lab doorway. Then he followed after the kids, smiling at the sound of the explosion behind him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Tashady
Tashady Had a bit of writer's block, but also I'm actually working nowadays. Sorry for the delay!
I saw a quote that said that a dancer dies twice, once when they stop dancing and then when they actually die...I had to pause because that's any creative...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone