Jack

“Christ, what is this, X-Men?” I barked, shaking my head and roughly fixing my tie.

“It’s REAL. You...You know it is.” The oldest one nearly wailed.

“Look,” I sighed, sick of arguing. I stuck my hands in my pockets, shuffling around for some spare cash. “I’ll give you a few bucks if you go and gossip about your last boyfriend or whatever kids your age do these days. I’ll let you use my phone to contact your legal guardians, if you leave me the hell alone.”

“We don’t have parents,” The brunette answered at the same time the blond spat, “Did you really just say ‘legal guardians’?”

I stopped digging in my pockets and glowered at them. Beside me, Brady let out an uneasy cough. Angrily, I growled,“Isn’t it illegal not to have parents these days?”

“It’s also illegal not to report them.” Brady muttered, as a hint.

“NO, DON’T TELL ANYONE!” Elin unnecessarily screamed, a pitch in her voice that you wouldn't expect her to have. Brady immediately spun around, making eye contact with a very concerned elderly lady. I gritted my teeth together after glancing around quickly, red-faced.

“Are you trying to get me killed? Do you realize what the penalty is for someone as old as me to even be speaking to you?” The laws had changed dramatically over the past few years. Ever since all those goddamn child kidnappings and assaults, it’d became a misdemeanor for a legal adult to speak to a child in a personal or unprofessional way.

“Excuse me,” The elderly lady cut in, sharply. She took a step towards our blocky circle. “Are these men bothering you?”

As I was about to open my mouth and pull the, “I’m a doctor” card, Elin smiled sweetly. I almost gagged. “No, he’s actually my father.”

“WHA—-”

“Oh,” The elderly woman exclaimed, muffling a polite laugh. “You two don’t look anything alike.”

“Oh, no. Me and Ember are half sisters. He’s her father.” She answered with a fake tone, motioning towards Brady.

“I’M—-”

“Dad, it’s okay,” She reached out to touch my arm, calmly. The kid was an actor. She turned back to the elderly woman, and now Ember was wearing a pathetic look as well. “He gets a little grumpy if he doesn’t eat enough.” The senior citizen smiled widely, then carried about her way.

“Kay,” I threw out carelessly. “That was cute. Now—-”

“WHOA, THAT WAS AWESOME!” Brady cut in, slouching down a little to give Elin a high five. He was grinning like the dead man he was about to be, and I turned a different color. “FOR A MINUTE YOU EVEN HAD ME FOOLED.”

“Um, Brady—-”

“I MEAN, HOW DID YOU LEARN TO DO THAT?”

“Well,” Elin blushed, hiding a smile. “I was in a couple school plays...”

“YOU EVEN HAD ME—-”

“Brady.”

“—-GOING FOR A MINUTE THERE. DID YOU SEE HER EXPRESSION?! I WAS—-”

“BRADY!!!!!”

Brady fell silent, and we all exchanged looks, silently. I jutted my jaw out in frustration. They’d hit the last button. Finally, Brady murmured, “Jack. They’re kids. They have no parents. If we leave them here, we’ll both be charged. We’ve got to take them with us.”

“NO—-” Suddenly, something in the passing faces caught my attention. The world seemed to spin, as my eyes settled on one single, young face. Blond hair…

I watched, sick, as the inhuman bionic woman that attacked me earlier began advancing forwards, ready to cross the street. Her eyes were dead set, on us. Her strut was almost cat like, her body language threatening. It was her.

“Get in the car.” I muttered, without tearing my eyes off of our attacker.

“What?” One of the girls asked, surprised. “You just said—-”

“RUN!!! GO NOW!!!” I pushed both of them ahead of me, stumbling on the side walk. Beside me, a very confused Brady began to pick up his pace too. We shot toward the car, as fast as we were able to move, bounding and rebounding against obstacles. Behind us, someone screamed. She was coming after us.