130: A Family’s Resistance

In the silence between the two spies, the scratching of pencil against paper seemed louder than a waterfall. Sat in a dark apartment with the blinds drawn, they crouched behind a low wall with notebooks on their laps. They had pried open the blinds to stick their binoculars through, the crack in light bleeding into the room between the binoculars and blinds acted as the sole illuminating source for their writing.

Communication earpieces spoke into their ears. Each piece had a faint blue light on it to signify its connected status. These lights, though small, provided the only dot of color to break up the all-black outfits they had dressed up in.

[It’s her isn’t it] A voice came through the earpiece, crackling as it spoke to the two spies. [The one who can transform into anything?]

“Not confirmed if it's ‘anything,’ but we’ve found no discernible pattern among the sixty-eight transformations that we’ve observed so far,” One of the hooded figures whispered back. “Is the plan being implemented today?”

Silence came as a reply, before a quiet confirmation came floating through. Commands came through to the two spies to hold their positions as others got into position. Every few minutes, another crackle would fill their ears, and another member of the team would connect to the channel.

“Based on past observations, she will continue to be out here transforming for another twenty three minutes, give or take one and a half minutes,” One of the observers read off their notebook. “We should act soon.”

[Even though there are family members there? This doesn’t seem like a good plan boss,] One of the other agents voiced their concerns over the communication line. Before they could continue though, the sound of a gunshot came over the line. Then a thud.

[What I say goes, I only shot his leg this time, but this serves as a warning to you all,] the boss’s voice filled the communication line. [Trust me, my judgement will work. We have a gas can that fills any house with horse tranquilizing gas in seconds. It doesn’t matter if we’re there. We need the girl as soon as possible. Her energy is the secret to eternal youth.]

Another five minutes passed in tense silence as no one followed up the boss’s words, waiting in place for the operation to start. A short countdown came, and then the operation began.

Three projectiles shot from cannon guns arc'd through the air. Two flew through the crack in the doorway, while one landed near Nyssa in panther form. Two of them clattered against the wooden floor of the living room before exploding and filling the entire living room with opaque gas. The one outside, in a similar fashion, exploded, but this one filled the backyard with a light-blue gas.

Several figures by now, had already begun running across rooftops, leaping across the cracks as they strapped gas masks over their faces. Within two seconds of the gas canisters exploding, three of the figures had already leapt into the backyard, to grab Nyssa.

Frozen and woozy from the gas, Nyssa transformed back into a human and stiffened up as a pair of rough hands grabbed her, tossed her over their shoulder, and began running.

Just as the figures leapt to leave the backyard though, the entire operation began flipping on its head. Kaiser’s household, outfitted with a ridiculous amount of security technology, had turned on its industrial ventilation system, emptying the entire house of gas in just a couple of seconds. Slade, sitting closest to the door, had leapt through the doorway and pressed his hands against the ground, destabilizing the ground.

The figures, unable to leap out of the backyard as a sinkhole appeared beneath them, appeared unfazed as the entire world shook around them. Seconds later though, a giant green tiger leapt into the pit with them while a tiny green dragon swooped in and grabbed Nyssa. Kidnappers dressed in all black kept flooding into the backyard as a full-blown war broke out. Slade stayed near the back, controlling the battlefield to destabilize the attackers while sending blasts of rock towards the unsuspecting ones in the back. Roxanne, with her versatility, summoned everything in her arsenal, attacking ten different people at once.

The last to react, Kaiser, had the most impact though. Slammed open the glass door and burst through the gas. Unfazed, he took Nyssa from the green dragon. Dropping her next to Slade, he rushed into the battle and began wrecking havoc. Each punch sent a black figure flying into the fence, knocking them out and leaving them collapsed by the side of the battlefield.

---

“So, yeah, that’s all I really remember,” Nyssa tapped her chin as everyone looked at her with wide eyes. “There were a few more incidents like that, but that one was the scariest since it happened when I was really young...”

“A FEW more? I haven’t even been part of one attempted kidnapping...” Conrad’s jaw hung open as a couple of the others nodded in agreement.

“I think you’ve been a part of more attempted kidnappings than the rest of us combined,” Celeste shook her head while reaching over and patting Nyssa on the shoulder.

“It’s... fine,” Nyssa shrugged. “It just really was annoying because for the next few months I wasn’t allowed to play outside alone... or nap outside alone. Unless I was with someone else I had to do it in the training room in the basement,” Nyssa grumbled. “And because of the attack, Dad was busy for the next few months while Slade and Roxanne had school.”

“Kaiser’s still got it though, damn,” Ryker whistled, a look of respect on his face as they walked through the transport hub, looking for their bus’s waiting area.

“Not anymore...” Nyssa shook her head. “Dad is old now, he doesn’t like moving. The strongest people in the family are now Slade and Roxanne. Who’d win between them is dependent on the terrain. But honestly their skills are for very different situations.”

“Makes sense, makes sense,” Ryker swept his hair back. “Soon enough, it’ll be you I’m sure.”

As a couple other murmurs of agreement and pats on the back reached Nyssa, she shook her head. “I don’t like fighting like them though. I just want to lay in bed.”

“... Yeah, that’s a very in character response for you,” Ryker acknowledged, an exasperated smile on his face as he shook his head. “Anyway, we’re here everyone. The bus arrives in fifteen minutes, so get some rest before we head out. The bus will take us within two blocks of the Wildheart Sentinels headquarters.”