Crochet didn’t like Cheshire most of the time, but the girl was fast and she cared for Big Sis, almost as much as Crochet did. She bumped into Taylor, sending Big Sis sprawling into a rack of chocolate bars off to the side a moment before the meanie at the door fired.
The noise was super loud, and Crochet wanted to curl into a ball and hide, but the meanie was trying to hurt her Big Sis. That was horribly rude of him.
Cheshire was too busy to take him out, the nice older gentleman behind the counter was diving for cover, and Big Sis was still dazed by her crash into the rack, so it was up to Crochet to save the day.
She swallowed.
“S-stop right there,” she said. With a twist of her will, she reached out to everything she could find in the store, suffusing the whole place with her power. They were in a clothing store, everything around her was porous and absorbent, soaking in her telekinetic grasp like a sponge falling into water.
Reams of cloth unwound themselves like banners, needles darted across the air like teeny tiny missiles, and the stress balls being sold by the counter exploded.
The thug at the door shot at a swarm of needles before they started poking at him, then cloth wrapped itself around his hand and tugged the gun away.
He turned to run, but Crochet was faster. His laces undid themselves and with a bit of focus tied themselves together in a big knot.
She might have needed Big Sis’ help to tie her shoes, but making a knot was easy.
The meanie went down with a thump, face bumping against the closed door hard enough that he stopped moving. Crochet had the gun float over to her on a pillow, then tied the feet and hands of the other meanies with long unicorn covered ribbons. It didn’t match their outfits at all, but you could never go wrong with unicorn ribbons.
“Big sis!” she called as soon as she was done.
Big sis stumbled out of the rack, blinking hard as if dazed for just a moment before her face turned very serious and kind of scary. She scanned the shop, attention going from one meanie to the next. “You, call the police. Not the PRT, the police,” she ordered the old gentleman. “Do you have a security system? Cameras?” she asked.
“Y-yes?” he said.
“Where is it?”
He pointed to something under the counter. “Good. Destroy it. I can't afford to have our faces outed like this, you understand.” She looked at him, and for a moment Crochet’s Big Sis looked super scary. It was awesome.
“Yes, yes, I understand,” he said.
Taylor kicked one of the meanies over, then started going through his pockets. “Crochet, can you make blindfolds for these idiots?”
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“Yes, Big Sis!” Crochet said. She found more ribbons (with puppies on them!) and tied them around the eyes of all three thugs.
Big Sis pulled out wallets and a folding knife and a bunch of other things from the bad guy’s pockets, dropping each thing on the counter above her before going back to searching. It was only when she reached the third guy that she started having a hard time. The meanie wouldn’t stop wiggling and trying to kick at her, so with narrowed eyes and a really scary look, Big Sis punched him in the ribs. “Listen to me, asshole,” Big Sis growled. “You almost shot my sister. I don’t have much pity for dirtbags that try to hurt the people that I love, so lay down and stop fighting or I’ll be taking out my anger on your sorry ass.”
“Oni Lee is coming and, he’s going to kill you bitch!” the leader of the bad guys screamed.
Taylor punched him again, then grimaced and shook her hand. “Oni Lee isn’t here. It’s just me and you. Now stop moving or I’ll make you stop.”
Crochet was wide-eyed. She looked to her side where Cheshire was staring with the same expression. Their gazes met for a second and a flash of understanding passed between the sisters.
Their Big Sis was the coolest.
“I, I’ve called the police,” the store’s proprietor said. He was clutching a cell phone to his chest. “And, and I’ve unplugged the cameras. Is that good enough?”
Taylor stood up and nodded. “Thank you. I’m sorry about the mess. I was hoping to buy a few things, but I don’t want to be here when the police arrive. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I wouldn’t want three young girls to be caught up in this anyway.”
Taylor gave him a wry smile. “No more than we are. Crochet, Cheshire, come on.”
Crochet nodded really hard, then stepped over one of the bad guys on the way to the door. She gave the gentleman at the counter a curtsey as she passed.
“See ya, old guy,” Cheshire said as she picked up a coloring book and tucked it under her arm.
They were nearly out of the door when Big Sis stopped and, a gasp escaped her. Crochet had to lean to the side to see what was blocking her path.
There was a man in the doorway. Not a tall man, but one that still had a presence to him, as if he was larger than life. He stood perfectly, unnaturally still with the brighter light from the sun at his back masking his features until he slowly tilted his head, and the dark red demon’s mask he wore came into focus.
Big Sis pulled Crochet and Cheshire back, pushing both girls in the chest until they were behind her.
The demon in the door looked at her, then down at the three thugs on the ground. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a long, wicked knife. “You will come with me,” he said.