The Leathery Taste of Near Defeat

And just like that Pain was back in the council room. No heat, no noise, no odd textured floor below her clawed feet. Her forced shape lifted as she entered the council room.

<Looks like you've been enjoying yourself.>

Octo's voice was back in her core which swirled with reds and soft yellows.

<Indeed sire. I hope you found it entertaining.>

Pain felt his grip tighten over her core. She'd answered too casually, lost her composure. Her attention was on the two humans unconscious on the floor. The portal had worked. As far as she could see they were both in one piece but still broken. Slow heartbeats, Ora's arm was twisted, Seb's prosthetic melted and both had spots of reddened and blistering flesh.

'Holy Mother of Monkey Milk!' shouts a human. Pain had completely forgotten about the hostage. 'What did you do?'

<Did you kill them? Oh, you've been having lots of fun indeed.>

<They're not dead.>

The courtroom rumbled in excitement, ignoring Pain. The councilman of green balls divided into more like bubbles in the fizzy can Paul had shown her.

'I'm a first aider. I can help, a bit.' said the hostage.

'You can fix this?' Pain said enthusiastic, 'Great, do it. Fast!'

'I'll need a first aid kit,' Nimi said approaching the bodies and muttering, 'What were you three doing?'

'The effects of uncalibrated portal travel are understudied and unprecedented.' Pain explained as she shot another portal into the wall.

She zipped through, free of her chicken form sliding along the walls like a shadow. Pain had seen a first aid box in the wall in the museum and she easily pulled it off the wall. Holding it with a "hand", she slid out of the museum. Pain lined up her gun to shoot another portal at the wall when she reached outside.

Then she heard something familiar.

Pain paused, listening as she scanned her surroundings. To her far-right, walking down the road were familiar figures. The other humans perhaps. She opened the portal and walked through throwing the first aid box at the hostage.

'Heal them human, and we'll release you immediately.' Pain demanded before turning to Octo.

<Whilst they are being healed I shall assist.>

Octo flapped his tentacles <Of course y->

<Unpenalised>

<Oh> Octo purred, the council room shook lightly <A rule change has to be punished somehow.>

<Of course sire, I will gladly accept my personal punishment.>

Pain shrunk small enough to cover her core. A sign of respect among Wisps and one she hadn't done for Octo in a long while. The other council members grunted and rumbled in agreement.

<As long as you keep things interesting. That trap was delightful to watch.>

<Yes, sure, thank you, sire.>

With that Pain was back out in Louisville. She shrunk down into a bird - one of those fast flattering birds she'd seen in nature research - and flew to the humans. The perfect size to sit comfortably on their heads. They'd be glad that their friends had survived that horrible game for...

Why would the humans really be pleased? They risked their safety for nothing and were injured, limited because of her?

They needed the recipe from that flickering computer avatar. And Pain could get it easily. She shifted into her shadowy form again and slipped back into the museum, through the small vent in the door and down the long corridor. At least it seemed long when she was sitting on their heads. Now she could zoom down the wall and through the gap in the lift door and down.

The councilmen wanted entertainment, and Pain was more than ready to do her share.

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The lift went up to the ground floor of the white house HQ. A very nice security person named Quinn calmed them down, having seen tourists get lost in storage before. They happily escorted the shaken group outside and pointed them towards the nearest bus station that'd take them to their hotel - luckily Mia remembered a name on the map.

Then, Ben, Mia and Paul left the white house. Past the bigger Harland Sanders statue and down the road.

'They're fine.' Paul finally broke the silence.

Mia could only nod. She had been telling herself the same thing since she watched Ora and Seb slip into the darkness. Ben was frozen, blank stares forward. Mia cried a bit, Paul was in bits in the lift but collected himself quickly, Ben...nothing.

'Does Pain saving them count as a penalty? If so we've probably got an hour left, tops.' Paul said. Mia gave him a cautious glare, 'Sorry, it just crossed my mind.'

The green around the two buildings was bustling now. Tourists park their cars and walk beneath the now cloudless sky. The wind rustled through the trees, and some kid at the edge of the car park was trying to feed chicken to a squirrel. Sunglasses, bell bottoms and a familiar tank top, white instead of pink.

'Pain hasn't come back yet.' Paul says, 'She wouldn't have known we ended up in the headquarters. But she's a Wisp, she could probably find us.'

Ben mutters something indistinct walking a bit behind them.

'What'd you say?' Mia asks.

'I never got to apologise.' says Ben, 'I do need them. If they're gone-'

'Ora's not gone.' Mia cuts in.

'IF they're gone who's left. When I get sick, normal sick, or lost or just...kinda lonely. I'll have nowhere to return to. Again.'

Mia searched for words and found none of them sounded good enough. Ora had taught her the value of a good hug and silent understanding. But Ben didn't like hugs, hopefully, a shoulder rub would suffice.

They got nearer to the museum and there was a police truck outside. Officers stood outside interviewing security.

'Is that for us?' Paul asks.

'Why would it be?'

'We stole from them- tried to. Probably injured someone when you picked me up and dragged me away.' says Ben.

On cue the security notices them, pointing in their direction. The officers start to approach as they slowed to a halt.

'We can't run, can we?' says Paul, to their right was a busy, fast freeway and to their left were crowds of people and cars in a car park.

'They're the ones who nearly killed us.' Mia snaps.

'I doubt any of them see it that way.' Ben mumbles.

'I doubt the general workforce would even know how to open it.' Paul adds. He fixes his suit and tie and goes ahead to meet the officers. 'Good...afternoon sirs. How may I help you?'

'You ain't helping nobody. You and your friends caused this mess. Where's the illegal robot?'

'There are laws for robots?' Ben whispers, 'I made it worse didn't I?'

The other officer with aviators pushed his colleague aside, 'What he meant to say was we got reports of a disturbance and possible break-in. We believe you were involved and would like to take you in for questioning, do you understand?'

'Sure. We'd be happy to talk. Right?' Paul turned back to them, Mia just nodded afraid she might say something stupid.

'There were two more. A..and the robot? Don't think you can hide them on my grounds?' said the security guard waving his finger at Paul's face, the "Bad" cop holding him back.

'We'll only answer questions asked by an officer.' Paul said unphased.

They were stuffed in a car with the Bad cop, waiting for his partner to return from questioning others. He played music so loud that she could feel the vibration on the bulletproof glass. The seats were awful and squeaky. The roof was so low Mia strained her neck and shoulders hunching to fit. Turns felt like a rollercoaster ride, which, adding the heat brought back nausea from the game room.

As they waited the weather flipped. Dark clouds gathered overhead rolling in like an army procession blocking the sun. Soon the loud music mixed with the sound of rain thundering over the bonnet.

Bad cop pulled out a doughnut....no, a chocolate cake. I was the double chocolate chip one Ora saw at the indoor drive-in, they'd drooled over it before decreeing they could bake a bigger, better one when...if they got home.

The thunder rumbled shaking through the sky. Lightning flashed across the distant fields out Mia's window. She closed her eyes and counted between them. Six seconds - it was 2 kilometres away. Then down to three. For a moment she considered the chances of the lightning hitting the -

Then it did.

'Holy smokes...literally.' Ben gasps.

There was smoke streaming out from somewhere in the back. An audible emptiness as some background droning cut out. Staff were filing people out onto the grass on the side.

Then, through the black clouds and lightning, a bird flew down. Looking not quite right, a dark, black flamingo tapped against the driver's side window in front of Paul. The Bad cop tried to shoo the bird away but it didn't budge. He rolled down his window and the flamingo...shrank.

'Wow!' Paul says pulling out his phone as the bird fluttered in. 'Is that chicken alien? You never told me she could do that?'

'We didn't know.'

The music cut out now. Bad cop was reaching over to open the other door but Pain bit his hand and shook her head. She must have started talking because Bad cop jumped back to the edge of his chair. He started begging for his life or organs. Pain hopped closer saying something about glory and lightning.

The Bad cop stepped out of the car slowly and shuffled to Paul's door opening it. Radio in hand, 'Yo, Brad I need assistance ASAP!' then to Paul, 'Get out get the hell out of my car!'

'Thank you very much for your co-operation.' Pain said sitting on his head. Bad cop panicked, flailing around to get Pain off. He ran to the green where people had evacuated.

'We're gonna run now. Right?' Ben asks.

Pain sitting on the top of a car seat and nods toward a nearby tree in the field. 'I'll open a portal down there, hurry.'

As she fluttered away Mia's brain woke up. Her door should be open. Mia and Ben shuffled out from her side and pulled Paul's chair out of the boot.

'Here.' says Paul after getting in his seat, handing Ben a paper token.

'Huh?'

'One license to push my chair, it'll probably be faster.'

They all stumbled in the rain towards Pain, who had been hovering over a spot like a red beacon, shouting at them to hurry. Behind them, in the grey and rainy blur, Mia could roughly make out a figure giving chase. Mia half tripped, passing under Pain's beacon behind the tree. She felt the ground beneath her feet change from uneven grassy surfaces to something smooth and hard. Paul and Ben pushed her forward as they squeezed into the small dark room.

'Pain, where are we?' asks Paul as the portal closed behind him.

'You have to close your eyes, it's a surprise.' Pain's voice echoed around the room, 'Are they closed?'

There was a chorus of: 'Yes...' Then hisses of pain when the lights turned on.

'Sugarsticks Pain, why? What happened to the count of 3?'

'Ora?'

Ora stood there with their left arm in a cast, wearing Mia's blue blouse, 'Told you I'd be fine.'

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The reunion was brief with Pain immediately shifting gears to fill everyone else in on the plan.

To Ora's surprise when they came round, they were back in the restaurant. Their left arm feeling heavy and rigid, Seb was in a chair, missing a leg and talking to Nimi. There was also a weight on their chest, they looked up to see Pain.

'You've finally awakened human. My apologies for your arm but it's better than losing your existence.'

Even shifting the arm sent a shuddering pain, it crawled up their bones and rattled their teeth. With the pain, the last few hours came back to mind. Pain said she had a plan to get the others before Ora could even ask. When they got to their feet they found the grey briefcase on the mash packing table.

'Is this? How did you-' They mumble but Pain closes the case just as they opened it.

'Nope, not till the others get here. I've got a minute till I have to go.'

'She won't tell us how she got it.' Nimi gestures to the radio, 'From what Seb's told me, I'm surprised we haven't heard the news about the museum being on fire or something.'

'Nimi, how are you-' Ora pauses, asking Pain, 'You didn't set it on fire, did you?'

'I've tried to ensure no human injury.' Pain said before slipping through the portal that brought Mia and the others back from a rainy field.

Now Ora and Ben were on meat duty, Ora positioned the knife and Ben cut up the two chickens Nimi brought from the all-hours supermarket. Paul was on chips, Mia on the spice and flours and Seb on coleslaw because, according to Seb, Paul managed to cut his thumb on a peeler and "lost his right to peel."

'We're lucky it's midnight.' Ben says as he cut off a wing.

Ben had told them all about the great escape and thunderstorm, all Ora got from it was relief that they hadn't been soaked. Ora remembered a burning feeling as they slipped into the portal then blacked out. After that riveting exchange, they stayed in a silent bubble, each with a pin but waiting for the other to pop it.

'Yeah. We'll have less cleaning for one.'

More silence.

'Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you...or ask you. And for what I said in the alley, it wasn't...I didn't mean it like that. I just really want this opportunity but I'm also terrified to follow through. Like you said I'm not the sort of person who-'

'Listen,' Ora sighs, 'I don't think you're weak or something. And I don't want to coddle you either. You didn't have to tell me immediatly, I mean I'm not Mum.'

'Mum would never have messy braids like that.'

'Exactly.' Ora laughs, 'I'm just...I'm overreacted about you not needing me anymore. I think I've attached m...my identity to being your carer, unintentionally, and that's not fair to you. You know, I snapped and panicked and made you think I wasn't proud of you. I am. Proud.

'I'm scared and I know for a fact you are the least likely person to survive in a jungle. But our whole lives, we've been beating the odds so I know you'll be fine. Eventually.'

Ben looked up at them with a small smile and just nods. The bubble popped. They continue cutting the rest of the chicken.

'I'll always need you, Orca.' Ben says, eyes fixed on the chicken, 'No one else out there can make Mom's Jollof.'

Ora bumps him with their hip, 'Love you too, Rabbit.'

Ora placed the last of their chicken in the basket and went to wash their hands. Mia, at the stove opposite, kissed them on the cheek, 'Nicely done.'

'Pfft.' Ora waves her away trying and failing not to smile. 'Focus on your task.'

The chickens were finished and coated in minutes. Ora helped Mia load the cage and they loaded the pressure fryer. Timer set to 20 mins. The countdown had 30 mins remaining.