The Forgotten Zodiac

((Okay then. All the way to the Institute or what?))

James turned and elbowed Quinn in the temple, then ran forward again. Once he realized they were through the wall, he made a new one, much thicker. He was really only trying to buy himself time, but it worked.

((He can steal Malya's car. That would be great.))

((Maybe not THAT far. But I don't think it would be funny if they stole Malya's car. She'd probably shoot Michael and Werr out of sheer rage. :T))

Quinn was unconscious in a second.

Werr kicked at the new wall, but this time rocks flew up and gathered themselves to a point and attacked the wall viciously. He wasn't about to let this freak of a kid get away with Quinn.

((It's happening then.))

After a few seconds, the wall broke, only to reform almost instantly. Once he could get out of sight, James began working his way around behind them, edging closer to the car and Malya, which seemed to be the only fast way out of here.

"Wha--you've gotta be kidding me!" Werr growled, starting to pummel the wall again.

Malya was leaning against her car, muttering something about never having such a security risk before, and something about being blacklisted. She kept checking the ammo slot on her bigger gun; it looked like a modified AK-47, with laser sights and shoulder rest padding. It had a silencer too, but that was in her pocket at the moment. On the ground next to her was what appeared to be a 7.61x5 mm bolt action sniper rifle, which was currently disassembled. Polish equipment, actually. A gift from Vrach.

James got up behind the car after several minutes of running, shoved his hand in Quinn's mouth, and pushed her into the car, though the open door. This was, admittedly, far to easy, but if it was a trap, it was one he would have to take. Once Quinn was in there, he climbed in behind her. Once there, he began looking for the keys, desparately hoping they hadn't taken to keys with them.

Quinn, who was still unconscious (obviously) didn't react much. The keys were on the floor of the car halfway underneath the driver's seat, where Malya usually put them. Theives generally backed off when they saw the small pile of hand grenades that she kept next to her usual spot for the keys.

Malya wasn't even paying attention, too busy double-checking the catch on her gun.

James, eventually, looked down and spotted the keys. He reached down to pull them up and spotted the grenades. Instantly he picked up one of those immediately. "Hey look at this!" He pulled the door shut and started the car, stretching slightly so he could reach the pedals. With that, he started driving away, but not before dropping the grenade out the window, with the pin pulled out.

Malya nearly fell backwards when the car started forward, as she had been leaning against it still. "H-hey! What are you--" She started forward, and possibly would have managed to make it onto the back of the car (or at least could have shot out the tires) if it weren't for the grenade that exploded not two seconds later, only a few feet in front of her. She went flying backwards, shrapnel slamming into her chest and arms. She hit the ground, her equipment landing around her. She quickly realized that if she moved too much, the shrapnel would possibly tear into something more important than her skin, which it was already deeply embedded in. Malya just laid still and focused on breathing and staying awake. She felt her pistol still in her hand, and clutched it tightly for comfort. At least she had that.

Michael whirled around at the explosion, and immediately ran toward Malya and the car. By the time he reached her, however, James was so far gone he wouldn't be able to reach him with a weapon or with his powers. "What just happened?"

"Malya!" Werr looked down at her bleeding body and immediately reached into her pocket for her phone and dialed. "Vrach, forget the password, it's me! Malya's been injured, get out of bed and get down here now! We're just off of interstate nine, now hurry it up before she bleeds out!" He shouted into the phone.

"T-that kid," Malya managed to say, blood forming a bubble at the corner of her mouth. "Found my grenade stash." She stifled a cough, determined not to stir too much.

((Bun... James just took the car. They aren't behind the car.))

Michael muttered something incomprehensible under his breath and looked around nervously. "We're going to get caught." He said, rather quietly but audibly all the same. "Werr, we need something that will hide us, something that won't draw more attention to us. If it won't kill you, that is."

((Oh. Oh yeah. That was stupid of me. I must be tired. I'll edit that part out.))

Werr nodded once, and hit his heel against the ground. The ground shifted under Malya, lifting her up and smoothly pulling her further back. He then raised his hands, palms up, and balled them into fists. He pushed and struggled to get them open again, and as he did so, the ground opened up nearby. It was a large dirt cave-like structure, big enough for all of them to fit comfortably. Werr staggered when he was done, nearly falling over. He stayed on his feet, though, and directed Malya's platform into the mini-cave.

Once in the cave, Michael looked at Werr. "Someone on the way then? He'll be heading for the Institute and killing any police who stop him. If we can check for reports of dead police, we'll be able to stay on his trail."

"Vrach is coming. He'll be here in less than a few minutes, knowing him." Werr replied. "Once he gets here, we can take his bike. He usually has it in the car-top carrier of his van. If he doesn't, we'll have to go back to the house with him before we do anything. And there's a police scanner in his van, too, so we can pick up at least a few reports."

Michael nodded and pulled his knees up to his chest, nervously watching the road. He would have helped Malya, but he really had no idea what he should do, so he would leave that to Werr, who probably knew what he was doing. "A police scanner? Dude, I want one."

Werr wasn't removing the shrapnel, but he was applying pressure around the chunks of metal, helping with the bleeding. "Of course you do." He grunted. "Malya? Listen to me, stay awake, okay? Come on," He patted her on the face.

"Rainbows," Malya gurgled, smiling a little bit.

"What? She's gone into shock..." Werr swore, shaking his head.

"Of course. And she keeps grenades in her car. I have to confess, I may not like you, but I do seem to like your friends. Or enemies. Whatever Vrach and Malya are to you." He watched Werr curiously, wondering what he would do now. He wasn't at all attached to Malya, so he wasn't really worried.

"Acquaintances, though Vrach and Malya are cousins." Werr said simply. "We all have a common enemy."

"Enemy? Dirt." Malya giggled.

"Yes, dirt. But Talos, too. Does the name mean anything to you?" Werr asked, now testing Malya's memory, hoping the shock hadn't damaged anything yet.

"Talos. Don't like him." Malya made a face. Without warning, a large van screeched to a halt nearby, spinning in a same way that Malya had spun her car around. Only Vrach made it so the front of the car was pointing the road instead of the side of the road.

"Where is she?!" Vrach shouted at once, pushing open the trunk doors and dragging out his usual suitcase of supplies.

"Here, Vrach!" Werr called, standing up. "Take care of her. We're going after the kid that did this." He said, moving towards the van.

"Yes, yes, whatever. Move." Vrach pushed him out of the way.

Michael immediately pulled himself out of the cage to avoid getting in Vrach's way. "You did wake someone up before leaving the house, correct?" He couldn't care less about Malya, though it would be annoying and difficult if she died, but if Vrach was seriously stupid enough to leave the house after a kidnapping with no one competent there and no one incompetent awake, Michael would probably hijack the van, go get the others, and then come back for Vrach, Werr, and Malya.

"Tall man was awake," Vrach grunted, already starting his work on Malya. "Sylas, you said his name was."

"Sylas is good enough," Werr nodded. "Come on, Michael, I'll get the bike ready. You check the police scanner for any 10-71s or 11-99s. The scanner is disguised as the car's radio." He turned, then paused. "A 10-71 is a shooting, a 11-99 means there's an officer down." He explained breifly before unstrapping the car-top carrier off of the van.