Planning Things

"How, exactly, are you going to get everyone out of here?" Jebediah asked, scooping Trolli away from her new bevy of admirers. He deposited the little being on his shoulder where she balanced carefully, squeaking cheerfully. "Yes, yes, I know you're wonderful. Everyone knows you're wonderful. Now how are we leaving?" He directed towards Lucy who was watching the entire scene with amusement.

"We have the hat," Lucy said to him in a low voice. She glanced around. "We also have Niles and Aarti's mom lurking around."

"That kind of explains the baby," Jebediah said with a grin. "Didn't think I was here long enough for it to be yours."

"Ha-ha," Lucy snarled. "Oh, hush, hush, Auntie didn't mean it," she cooed to Niles Jr who started fussing. She shot Jebediah a fulminating look.

"He's so adorable," Sabrina said as she drifted by with Ella and Leilani in tow.

Lucy smiled, reminded of when they were younger. The trio had always stuck together. Kuro followed them with his gaze before glancing back to his sister who shrugged in reply.

"Very cute," Sol agreed, still keeping a tight grip on the back of Lucy's shirt. "Should me and Kuro know about this hat?"

Lucy paused, thinking. Then she sighed. It wouldn't matter if the two knew or not.

Shaking her head, Lucy said, "it's good if you do. Perhaps we can duplicate science with magic?" Lucy looked at Jebediah. "Would that be feasible?"

"Well, it's been argued that magic and science are indistinguishable at certain levels," Jebediah replied. "I'm not sure if it applies here, though. What they can do is not scientific at all to my understanding." He suddenly brightened. "Perhaps my understanding is too low."

He glanced at Sol, still hiding behind Lucy. Sol clenched her fingers tighter on Lucy's shirt, turning the shirt almost uncomfortable. Lucy looked past him to see Aarti mouthing words to her. She nodded in reply.

"No," Lucy said. Jebediah looked at her, opening his mouth to refute. "No," Lucy repeated. "I declare. It's like I'm running a daycare." Niles Jr. cooed in agreement. "Oh, isn't he the most intelligent nephew ever?" Lucy asked, wandering towards Aarti as she tickled the baby under the chin.

"What about the hat," Jebediah asked, catching up with her.

"Oh, Don has it, I think. He's over there," Lucy nodded in a direction and wasn't exactly surprised to find that she'd lost her persistent tail.

"If it wasn't Don, and I didn't have Rena," Jebediah began.

"I totally understand," Court said, bouncing up to them. "I think I've figured out how to make the sedative containers in the cylinders fire. We just need to take some with us."

"Then you should talk to Cassidy. I think she's been disassembling them for shipping," Lucy told him.

"Still, if you want to duplicate the hat using magic, it might not work. You might be able to cloak it a bit with it, though," Court said as he looked at Jebediah.

"I still need to go pry it out of Don's hands before he winds up letting one of the girls try it on," Jebediah sighed. He signaled to Kathryn who was lurking a few steps behind him. Kathryn and Kuro perked up.

Court and Jebediah nodded to each other before vanishing in different directions.

"This keeps getting more and more complicated, huh, little guy," Lucy cooed. She kissed Niles Jr.'s forehead while she looked around for his parents. "They better not be getting busy somewhere," she muttered darkly. "We still have an escape to effect," she chirped at the confused baby who gurgled and smiled in response.

*****

"So, what do you think?" Bruce asked Diana as he watched her pummel another cylinder into scrap.

"They're warriors, no matter how much they try to hide it. It's only because they're still children that they're discounted," Diana said shortly. "That's still no reason to treat them like livestock," she growled, turning her attention to another empty cylinder.

Bruce grunted as he turned away. He'd already watched the rescue of several limp children. Once out of the cylinders, the grogginess would slowly fade away. It argued that there was some sort of sleeping gas inside.

He itched to take one apart himself to acquire a few samples. He'd watched one of the girls ferry a bunch of cylinder components away via a series of flying drones. They solved the mystery of the holes he'd seen on his way to this massive room, especially after he'd watched a pair burn a hole near the ceiling to exit.

He also resolved to take a more indepth look at the dossiers. The original files had vanished soon after their release, but he'd made copies. Bruce turned to look at a gaggle of girls surrounding a boy with a cowboy hat on his head.

"Isn't that Barry's kid?" Bruce asked, frowning at the scene as Sol joined, squealing happily.

"I think so," Diana agreed. She kicked on a few shards of glass on the floor. "How are we going to get them all out safely?"

"Oh, Lucy will take care of it," Sabrina piped up, appearing beside them out of the shadows. Two girls, one blonde and one brunette stood beside her. "This is Ella, and this is Leilani," Sabrina continued with a smile.

"Hello," the two new girls chorused.

"And why will it be Lucy taking care of it," Bruce asked, turning his attention to the girls.

"Because she will," Sabrina retorted with a slow blink of her eyes. The two girls beside her giggled as if on cue. "You just have to trust her."

"Sabrina," Diana ground out, causing the girl to look dissatisfied.

"Told you it wouldn't work," the brunette, Leilani said. "If it doesn't work on Aarti, why would it work on her mom?" Leilani took a peep at Bruce that unsettled him with its maturity. "I still think," she began.

"Not now, Leilani," Ella said, tugging on her arm. She flashed them a bright smile. "We just came to introduce ourselves. We really have to go talk to Don," she explained as she towed her two friends away.

"What was that about?" Bruce asked.

"You don't want to know," Diana said shortly. "Soldiers. All of them."