The morning was as somber as the small band of criminals had ever experienced. With no leader, missing over half of them, Swipe found herself in a position she had never expected to be in. Suddenly she was the one who had to take charge and make decisions. And all she had was Zap to help her. Technically Bella was also there, but Swipe didn’t plan on forcing the poor harpy girl into a life of crime. With a heavy sigh, she finished her breakfast and stood tall at the table.

“We’re gonna get them out of there.” she declared, her voice resolute.

“How?” Zap asked, reasonably. “The place is specially designed to contain superhumans, so we won’t be having any help from the inside, and they’ll be surely expecting us to try something.”

“I don’t know.” Swipe admitted, her tail flicking in agitation. “But we can’t just leave them behind.”

Zap sighed heavily and pushed his chair back, standing up.

“Swipe, if there was any way we could pull it off, I would. But it’s impossible. Armed guards twenty-four seven, they know we’re coming, and there’s only two of us. And you know Black Dragon’s gonna be monitoring that call line like a vulture. I’m sorry, but Huntress has told us before that if anything happened to her, we should lay low and use what we have to live a better life. That’s the whole point of the Rogue Five.”

“Don’t you lecture me on the ‘point’ of this team. I was there when it was formed.” Swipe spat, her hands gripping the table. “After everything they’ve done for you, you’re content to let them rot in prison. Who helped you learn to control your powers? Blaze did. Who was the first person to actually show any respect for you or your abilities? Huntress was. And who helped you every single day with even the small stuff that nobody else would have cared about? Yeah. Kraken did. So either you can help me save them, or you can run away. Leave us all behind. What’s it gonna be?”

A tense silence filled the room, neither Swipe nor Zap backing down. Their eyes bore into each other with an intensity never before seen in either of them. Finally, Zap pushed his chair in and sighed, shaking his head.

“If it were possible, I would help you, Swipe. But it isn’t. And I didn’t sign up to die. I’m sorry. I wish you good luck. You’re going to need it.”

With that, Zap turned and walked right out the front door. He was gone. Zap had left the Rogue Five. No. Without him, they were the Rogue Four. Worse yet, Huntress, Kraken, and Blaze were all in jail. Swipe found herself as the only Rogue remaining. There was no group. There was no team. Zap had just dealt the death blow to this team. Once she was sure he wasn’t coming back, Swipe finally slumped into her chair, her face in her hands, and started sobbing. In less than twenty-four hours, she had lost everyone she had ever cared about.

As her body heaved with emotion, unable to hold back the flood any longer, Swipe felt a pair of soft wings wrapping around her, like a warm, comforting blanket. Bella made sure to be as close as possible to Swipe.

“It’s gonna be okay…” she whispered softly, trying to soothe the catgirl’s frayed nerves. “We can figure this out. I’ll help you. Promise.”

“There’s nothing to figure out… I’m not going to make you do that… You deserve a better life.” Swipe managed to reply softly between her sobs.

She slowly leaned into the embrace of the sweet harpy, finding a comfort in her sheltering wings that she had desperately needed. Swipe’s ears flattened against her head and her tail curled up between her legs as she lay her head on Bella’s shoulder. A moment of peace, of solace, where there had been none for so long.

“You’re not forcing me.” Bella stated, gently rubbing Swipe’s back with her silky feathers. “You guys saved me when I didn’t realize I needed saving… You didn’t have to take me with you, but you did. I’m so grateful for that. I want to do everything I can to help you.”

Time was running out. It would only be a day or two before Lursec came to collect the villains. And once they were in the super prison, there would be no getting them back. No one had ever escaped it. Even with outside help. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Swipe finally sat up and looked into Bella’s eyes.

“Alright. If we’re gonna do this, I’m gonna need to know you’ve got my back. I’ve got yours too.” she said, her voice soft, but determined.

Bella nodded softly, her big blue eyes looking directly into Swipe’s to show her sincerity.

“I promise.”

With that, Swipe and Bella got to work, planning an audacious jailbreak. Just two girls with animal features planning to break into a heavily guarded jail for superhumans, which was also being monitored by a hero that wanted them dead, and escape with three hardened supervillains. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing. If anything went wrong, they were both dead or worse. The plan was simple enough. All they needed now was the time to execute it.

Approaching the jail from the rooftops, Swipe and Bella peeked out over the side at Dilstone’s Superjail. The city hadn’t exactly been creative in naming it. As the group of guards stood around outside the front entrance, Swipe gave Bella the signal, the harpy girl flying over and starting a friendly conversation with the guards.

“Hello, sirs!” she cheerfully greeted, drawing their attention to her. “I came to visit my papa. I heard he’s in jail here. I hope he’s okay. He’s never done anything like this before.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The guards were understandably very confused by this girl talking to them so casually. Visits weren’t allowed. Everyone knew that.

“Uh, kid? You can’t come in here. Not safe for you. Besides, we’re working with superhumans here. Anything could be enough for them to escape.” he answered, professionally. The other guard nodded in agreement to his statement.

“But everyone’s supposed to be allowed a visit! He’s been good, I promise!” Bella whined, intentionally playing up the distressed kid angle.

This proved a perfect distraction as Swipe slipped in right past the guards while they were distracted with Bella’s whining. The vents were probably some of the cleanest Swipe had ever been in. Even the banks weren’t this clean. Then again, someone probably cleaned them to make sure every aspect of containment was working. Swipe quickly smacked herself to stay focused. She had a mission and she needed to be quick about it. No time to admire the vents, even if they were super clean.

Crawling her way through the jailhouse, Swipe soon found the cells, each with something different about them in order to contain the separate members of the Rogue Five. Kraken’s hands had been placed in anti-power cuffs, covering his whole hand and making it impossible to use his gifts. The cell was exceptionally dry too, but surely he would be able to find some water if his hands were just freed…

Blaze was certainly worse off by far. His “cell” if it could even be called that, was more of an aquarium. He was completely submerged in water and chained in place, only a helmet on his head supplied with oxygen to allow him to breathe. Blaze didn’t need his hands to summon fire, just somewhere to summon it. Only he couldn’t do that without risking drowning.

Finally, she found Huntress. Everything about her was dangerous. She was well known for her incredible fighting skills and how she could turn anything into a weapon. She was more or less in a full body straightjacket. Her arms and hands were restrained, and so were her legs. Her eyes were the only thing visible on her, as she could theoretically wield something in her teeth if she had to. And no one doubted she would.

It made her sick. Swipe could almost feel herself throwing up at the sight of the treatment her family had received. She needed to get them out of here. No time to waste. Finally, she found what she was looking for. The chief’s office. And there he was. That sick bastard of a man, fast asleep in his chair. Even the sight of his face caused Swipe to recoil in fear, retreating back into the vents where he wouldn’t be able to see her. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up again, the sensation familiar to her by now. As Katherine relived her pain once more, she found herself in her own mind. She needed to be strong. For her family. For her mama.

Steeling her resolve, Swipe opened the vents and silently slipped out into the chief’s office. A thought crossed her mind to get some grand revenge on him for all the pain he had caused her. Maybe tie him down and lop off his ears like he had planned to do to her. Scratch and claw at his face until even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him. But no. Unlike her father, Swipe wouldn’t inflict such pain without reason.

Besides, she had more important things to worry about. Swipe quickly ducked down by his side, taking the keys from his belt extra slowly to make sure they didn’t jingle and wake the chief up. However, those plans were shattered by Bella running by the window and screaming her little harpy head off as she was chased by the same two guards she had talked the ears off of. Stirring from his slumber, chief Wood watched Bella fly away through the window, muttering something about blasted kids before noticing the catgirl with his keys.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” He spoke darkly, his hand darting out to grab Katherine by the throat. “I had a feeling you’d be here, you worthless excuse for a criminal.”

He quickly pulled Katherine to her feet and pinned her to the wall, paying no mind to her choked protests, her hands prying desperately to get him off despite the futility. Tightening his grip, the chief slowly drew his gun and held it directly to Katherine’s head.

“I should have done this the moment you were born. You’re no child of mine. You never have been and you never will, you worthless bitch.”

In that moment, every fear Katherine had ever had, returned to her in an instant. Her father had always wanted to kill her. And now he finally had a good reason to. She would die here, at his hands, her family left to rot in prison. Just as the tears started to prick at her eyes from a lack of oxygen and the intense sorrow she felt, Katherine found herself right back in that manor. This was no different. The loppers had become a gun, but the intent was the same. To harm her. But his words stuck out to her this time. She wasn’t his daughter. Katherine had never been his daughter in his eyes. For almost two decades now, she had been worried about what he thought of her. Desperately seeking his approval in some way. But why? He would never accept her. She wasn’t his daughter and she never had been. No. Because she wasn’t Katherine Wood. She wasn’t his perfect daughter. She was Swipe.

“You… got that… right. I’ll never… be… yours.”

Finding her strength, Swipe snarled and dug her claws into the chief’s arm, wrenching the gun away from her head just as he fired and he let out a guttural scream. Prying his hand off of her throat, Swipe tossed him to the ground, just outside the door to his office. Still holding onto the gun, he rolled back onto his feet and raised his weapon at Swipe. However, just as it all seemed over, his body spasmed and twitched, writhing on the floor as the gun clattered away. As the electricity coursed through his body, Zap stepped into view.

“You son of a bitch, I thought you were gone!” Swipe yelled, rushing over to give the guy a hug, her tail flicking to the side.

As Zap finally stopped his electrocution, he chuckled softly and a bit nervously. He wasn’t used to this kind of affection. Usually Swipe would just punch him or something. Not knowing what to do, he patted her back awkwardly, like the idiot sibling he always had been to her.

“I just couldn’t leave you to do this alone.” Zap answered. “Alright. Let’s get this done. I don’t think we have much time. I heard the Lursec guys would be here in a couple hours. We need to not be here by then.”

Finally finding something to agree with Zap on, Swipe nodded in affirmation and quickly took the chief’s keys. She stopped for a moment to look down at the man she had once believed to be her father.

“I just want you to know one thing. That I’m better than you. Better off without you. And you have no power over me anymore.”

After that bitter farewell, Swipe found herself racing away down the hall with Zap by her side. Kraken was the first stop, Swipe entering and using the keys to remove his cuffs.

“Swipe? Zap? The hell are you doing here? Your orders from Huntress were to lay low.” He questioned.

“Missed you too, Krak. Blaze is underwater. Let’s get him out.” Swipe replied as the cuffs fell to the floor.

Feeling his power resurge through his veins, Kraken took a deep breath in and pulled every drop of water from Blaze’s room, flooding the jailhouse aside from the cells to wash out any potentially remaining guards. Almost instantly, a blast could be heard from Blaze’s cell as his flames roared back to life.

“I FUCKING HATE WATER!!” could be heard for miles, most likely.

Finally, using the fire that had been so long constrained, Blaze quickly broke free of his restraints and blew down the door to Huntress’s cell, Kraken quickly following. Huntress still lay on the floor, looking up at her team.

“Kraken? Blaze? How have you escaped? You were in cells specifically designed to counteract your abilities.” She questioned, incredulous.

A soft smirk tugged at Kraken’s lips as he stuck the key into Huntress’s straightjacket, unlocking it.

“We may have had some help.” he answered slyly.

“Who the hell would help-” Huntress’s words died on her lips as she sat up and saw Swipe and Zap standing in what was once the doorway to her cell.

Silently standing up, she walked over to her two youngest recruits and pulled them into her arms.

“... Does that mean she’s not going to kill us?” Zap asked hesitantly.

“Oh no. I’m absolutely going to kill both of you. But I’m glad to see you too.” Huntress answered calmly.

“Eh. Kinda figured. Worth it though.” Swipe grinned, returning Huntress’s embrace.

“Let’s go home. I wouldn’t kill you in a jailhouse.” Huntress ordered gently, leading her little family of ragtag criminals away from their most recent crime.