I wasn’t going to take chances. Due to the demand, I had a bunch of shock gloves on standby, and grabbed a pair for myself. I set down one for Cynthia as well, figured her metal arm was beefy enough to do stuff with. “These are shock gloves. They got a dial on the back for intensity. We’re going to hop into my van. We’re going to show up at this address-” I handed Cynthia the note to read over. “And we’re going to go in and bust the kid out. Gonna bring them over here while Clark and Šárka look for a place for them to stay.” I pulled on the gloves and double checked them. “And then we’re going to visit my mother.” I stepped out of the living room and made my way over to the lift to reach the ground floor, waiting for Cy to join me. “Miura you’re not in as deep shit as Cy is so just hang out here for a sec.”
I saw Miura hold Cy’s shoulder comfortingly. “Cy be careful okay, I’ll probably be fine here but we don’t know really anything about this place” Her face screamed confused concern.
“I’ll be fine” Was Cy’s reply, as she went to join me on the lift. I brought us down to the ground floor and then made my way over to the garage, getting into the van.
“Alright Magda, you feeling okay to drive today? You alright with carrying us onto a noble quest to rescue a child?” I pet the dashboard and turned the keys to start the car, the van springing to life. I turned to Cy to check her reaction. “Don’t tell me you don’t talk to your tech miss I Sense Machines.”
“I wouldn’t exactly have a conversation with my Switch, if thats what you were implying” Cy was holding back a giggle. “Your van needs some work done to her I think.” I gasped, moving my hand to my chest in mock shock.
“Ma’am how dare you suggest sweet Magda isn’t taken care of? Sure I don’t give her as much attention as Grandpa Václav did, but that’s because she was his. I’m only looking after her for him, now that he can’t.” I opened the garage door with a remote and drove us out, making our way to the neighboring town. I caught a glimpse of Cy storing her antenna away, before I rubbed my chin, thinking. “I could probably make a Back to the Future reference with this van. Where we’re going we don’t need roads, ya know?... Okay yeah that’s a genius idea, once I’m done with mom I could use your car expertise to convert her into a hovercar.”
“A hovercar?” Finger to temple, I could see the steam coming outta her ears from thought. “Thats unlikely to be viable, could certainly help you make her faster and more efficient though!” I giggled slightly to myself, taking a phone outta the dashboard. It was as disconnected from the network as my laptop, so I unlocked it quickly from memory and handed it to her.
“Check the gallery, folder blueprints. Viable isn’t a thing I deal with.” A lot of my inventions were on it. Hey, an extra backup that’s easy to carry, can be destroyed AND lets me get notes down quickly? How could I not have it. After the pictures of blueprints from before the Emergence, the first thing was the blueprint for Dare’s parts, followed by the jetpack blueprint. “I figure a hovercar is easier than a jetpack.”
“The problem is making it so that one part doesn’t compromise the other, theres a reason amphibious cars are rubbish on the road ya know” She shook her head. “Tell you what I’d love a go on the Jetpack though, brings me back to those glorious GTA San Andreas days”
“Oh I didn’t build it. The moment I finished writing up the thing I realised how dumb it was. I considered the Vulture suit from Spider-Man Homecoming as an option though.” I did a glasses flicked down from forehead onto eyes motion. “And did you forget the legendary line I quoted? Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
“Roads are the best part! Nothing better than challenging a quiet nighttime backroad with all your skill, although I suppose a van wouldn’t be your typical go-to for that huh, Doc Brown turns the DeLorean into a time machine because it was a fairly hopeless sportscar” She winked at me and I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not sure if it was Zemmecis or a producer who wanted to make the It Looks Like An Airplane joke about the DeLorean. Don’t call it rubbish it has nostalgic and nerdy appeal.” We rolled into town not much later after that, and I parked the car in front of the house in question. “Alright. We’re here.” I step out and open the door for Cynthia. “Listen. I looked up your description online, I read what you’re accused of. I wanted you to tell me yourself as a sign of trust.” Ah fuck that set off her panic. Shit, should have figured it would. I can see her taking a couple deep breaths, so I give her a quick shoulder rub.
“I..” she starts, I can see her considering what to say next. “I’m so sorry. Everything happened so fast, before I knew it, I was deeply invested into freeing people like me, people like us” I nodded at her and gave her a smile.
“This falls in the Unlawful but ultimately good category, Cynthia. You did good. I just figured you’d be more open about stuff.” I let go of her shoulder and make my way to the front door of the house. I ring the bell. Mrs. Němec opens the door not too long after, the second she starts opening I put on the perfect customer service smile. “Good Evening ma’am, have you heard the news?” I speak in Czech. If Cynthia understands me, I will be amazed at her knowing foreign languages.
“What news?” There was a combination of fear and disgust in her eyes, wondering what we were going to do. I stepped forward to push her further into the house. Giving space for Cynthia to join me. She closes the door behind herself.
“That you’re one call away from going to jail for child abuse.” I kabedoned her against the wall, my free hand crackling with electricity from the shock glove. “Where do you keep your child? Trust me. I wish to hurt you so badly right now, but I’m saving myself for my mother.” My expression is stone cold, at least on my face. My tail is straightened out in an attack declaring way.
“S-she’s upstairs! Please don’t hurt me oh god please don’t hurt me.” She yelled out, panicking. I turned to Cynthia.
“The kid is upstairs. Be gentle with them, I’m not sure how Mrs. Němec has been treating them.” I let her know in English, before I turned back to Mrs. Němec and spoke in Czech. “I’m taking the child with me. Do not call the police. I will know if you do, and I will contact them about an abused child. Be glad my fury is focused mainly on my mother.” Cynthia made her way upstairs, I could hear a padlock being broken.
“W-who is your mother?” Mrs. Němec asked me, deadly afraid.
“Adéla Maidenburgová.” I held her shoulder and gave her a quick zap, only enough to knock her out with causing any issues or pain.
“Bridget! I’ve found her, shes not in a good way at all” Cynthia yells down, and I run up the stairs to join her.
“It’s them. Yup.” I gently walk over to Non, crouching in front of them. “Hey Non, I’m Bridget Crackspanner, Aunt Adéla’s daughter. We’re getting you out.” I held out my hand, waiting for them to take it. They looked between me and Cy, eyes full of hope, as they took the hand. I started leading them outside, passing by the knocked out Mrs. Němec, and helping them get into the van. Once they were in, I turned and went back into the house and started looking around for any documentation pertaining to Non. “Hey Cynthia, not sure how strong you are but could ya move Mrs. Němec from the floor to her bed? Make it look like she had a bad dream?”
“I can indeed” Cynthia hoisted the poor woman over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Miura must be one lucky gal if Cynthia can carry gals around this easily. The moment I had the papers and Mrs. Němec was in bed, I made my way to the van to drive us back to my house. I shoot Šárka a quick message to open the door and help Non out, moving out of the driver’s seat so they can make their way outside.
“Bath, haircut if they want one, we only got girl clothes and I dunno their style, maybe some shirts from Grandpa Václav as a temporary thing for now. See you when I get back from kicking my mom’s ass.” I ruffled Šárka’s hair as I walked back to the van, leaving my daughter and Non at the front door to sort stuff out. I turn to Cynthia. “Let me check something first.” I gesture for her to follow me, leading her out to the backyard. I grabbed a cinderblock that was nearby and put it on a pedestal. “Punch it as hard as you can.” She looked confused for a second, before shrugging and slamming the top of the block, cracking it and the pedestal it was on with her metal arm. Alright, that’s solid. What I wasn’t expecting was for Amálka to pop her head out of her tree.
“What’s all this ruckus then! Shouldn’t you mortals be resting or something?” She spoke in Czech again, and I sighed and shrugged.
“Testing abilities, Amálka, need to know if my mother’s life is in danger from being punched by her.” I reply, also in Czech, as Amálka mumbles and grumbles and goes back into her tree. Just phasing right into it, no hole or door or anything.
“Bridget….what was that?” Cynthia asked, dumbfounded.
“Either I have a dedicated LARPer squatting in a tree, or magic is coming back after like centuries or millennia and magic creatures are waking up.” I shrug. “Either way, her name is Amálka, which I find funny since that’s the name of a czech cartoon faerie. But, alright, time to go kick my mom’s ass for stealing from me.”
“I assume you don’t want me to punch her then? I have punched guys with it before, but they were like properly tough looking assholes” Cynthia lets me know.
“Oh my mother is the fucking Devil, you’d need a silver fist to properly hurt her. Wait no, that was rude to Luci. Sorry for likening you to her, Luci.” I say to the ground as a gag, before going back to the van.
“Luci huh?” Cynthia asks with a small smile before entering the van, as I drive us off.
“The Devil is Genderfluid, why do you think we’re all going to Hell? They’re having a party there for us and The Cis are not invited.”
“Makes sense, uh. I...I was actually a guy, before the Emergence happened, not anymore...obviously” She held her hand to her chest. “Whatever caused the Emergence, I guess it knew something I wasn’t especially aware of. I’m much happier with myself now” I reach out and give Cynthia a quick headpat.
“I was already post-op when the Emergence hit, so finding myself with mouse ears and no hint of testosterone poisoning on me was nice. Hell, I made a poll on Twitter when I posted my Hey I Emerged video the day it happened. So many eggs cracked from being turned into their true bodies.” I smiled to myself, before focusing quickly. I had a mission. I was going to complete the mission.
Much tension ... Why does the motherly confrontation feel like there is an RPG-worthy boss fight ahead?
I mean, I can guess the answer. The own parents can be pretty scary at times...
"The Devil is Genderfluid, why do you think we're all going to Hell? They're having a party there for us and The Cis are not invited."
more like the biggots here, there are plenty of cool cis allies and it would be mean not to invite them and leave them with the aforementioned idiots. :p
i like this name of the chapter