A/N: THIS CHAPTER ESCALATES QUICKLY. BRACE YOURSELF. (NO SMUT SO PUT DOWN YOUR HOLY WATER JEEZ THEY'RE 14)

Warnings: swearing, mentions of retards (I DO NOT PROMOTE THIS BUT THIS FOLLOWS THE STORY LINE. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED I'M SORRY), guns, ✨kissing✨

Word count: 1380

The next day, Caine sends Howard to give us a message. He stands awkwardly at our front door until I tell him to scram, then I raise my eyebrows at Drake.

'So, Anna and Emma, due to poof today.'

'Yup. Daycare?'

I nod, glancing over at him, finding icy blue eyes locked on me. My breath catches in my throat, and I glance away quickly, wishing he didn't make me feel the way I do.

We hide behind a few cars as they take the kids around the plaza. Emma poofs first, in the blink of an eye, and we see Sam, taking Anna's hand, looking into her eyes, and I check my watch.

'One twenty six,' I whisper. 'She's got one minute left.'

Drake's hand brushes against mine as he leans forward, trying to get a better view. Anna's shaking, terrified. One moment, she's there, the next she's gone, Sam's hands closing around nothing.

'We're done here,' Drake says after waiting a few more seconds. 'Let's go tell Caine.'

Caine looks up from the mayor's chair when we get into the office.

'What happened?' He asks eagerly.

'The older one went first. The second one was holding Diana's boy's hands when she poofed, as that idiot Quinn says. She was terrified, almost going to wet herself. One second there, then she vanished.'

'Sadism: the act of enjoying other's pain,' Diana drawls.

'Your words don't scare me,' Drake growls.

'Knock it off, you two,' Caine orders. 'I have five days to beat this. I - '

Computer Jack bursts in.

'I hacked Nurse Temple's laptop!' He says excitedly. Diana snatches it from him and slams the door in his face. She scans it, eyes jumping from line to line, her brow furrowed, and then she jumps to her feet.

'Where's that box?' She demands, and Caine points to the cupboard. She grabs it and tries to open it, but it's locked. I snort and grab a letter opener, inserting it into the lock and giving it a sharp twist. The cheap lock opens with a satisfying click, and Diana takes out a birth certificate. She throws a smirk at Caine.

'Well, well, well. Two little boys born on November the twenty second, one stays with his mother, one is taken away, adopted by another family.'

'No, no, no,' Caine growls, face going red. 'We don't look like each other, it could be a coincidence - '

'Fraternal twins,' Diana cuts in. 'Same mother and father, different eggs.'

'So you're saying Caine's mother chose to keep Sam over Caine,' Drake says.

I see it a moment too late. Caine turning to Drake, hand outstretched, and then an invisible force slams him hard against the wall. I feel my hand ball into fists, and it's like a string between Drake and I that only I can feel yanks me towards him, and I'm standing over his body, forcefield up, snarl on my lips.

'Do that one more time,' I dare.

'Remember who's the boss,' Caine spits, and I know I won't win this one, so I lower my hands, twisting around and helping Drake to his feet, eyes locked on Caine's, challenging him to go ahead and try.

'Rebel,' Drake hisses so only I can hear, touching my back lightly, and it's like the tension flies from my muscles, and I unclench my fists and sigh.

'So, we're going to find Sam, I guess?' Diana says, smirking.

'You and Drake take Astrid hostage,' Caine orders. 'They're at the shopping mall. Be careful, Sam's power means he can shoot light out his hands.'

'Okay,' Drake says for me. 'We'll go now.'

I force myself not to look back at Caine and flip him off or worse, just stare at Drake's back. We walk in silence to the shopping mall, until halfway there, Drake spins and backs me up against a wall, something in his eyes that scares me, but yet I love it, the way it makes my head spin, the adrenaline rush. He slams his hands either side of my head, and I hear my breath hitch as he leans closer.

'You know you shouldn't have done that.'

'Done what?'

'You know exactly what I'm talking about.'

I turn my face away, but he cups my chin in his hand and forces me to look at him. He's silent for a second, and then suddenly, he's pressed himself up against me, one arm wrapped around my waist, the other curled tight around my shoulders, trapping me against him.

'Dra - ' I start, but he cuts me off with his lips, one hand wrapping around my hip, yanking me closer, and my eyes drift closed as electric shivers run down my spine. I feel the velvety heat of his tongue flicking against my bottom lip, and a whimper leaves me, eyes rolling back in my head, hands tangling in his sandy hair.

Suddenly, he pulls away.

'Sorry,' he says, turning away to hide his smirk at the small pleading noise that escapes my throat.

'Fuck you,' I mumble under my breath, but he hears anyway and turns around. So fast I almost don't feel it, he kisses my forehead and grabs my hand, leading me to the mall. We get Panda to act as a distraction while we jump on Astrid and Orc on Sam.

Astrid screams when Drake yanks her backwards, alerting Sam one second too late, and I hand him some rope to tie her hands.

'C'mon,' Drake says, half dragging her with one hand, making sure Little Petey follows. I smile to myself as we walk to my old school and sit in a random classroom. Drake leans against the wall, watching them carefully, and I stand beside him. He slips an arm around me, and I lean my head on his shoulder, surprised when he almost tenderly runs a hand through my hair.

'How are you so comfortable letting that bastard even touch you?' Astrid snaps. I throw her a snarky smirk, lazily looping my arm around Drake's neck and pulling him down so I can kiss him. He chuckles lowly against my lips as out of his peripheral vision he sees Astrid look away, disgusted. I feel his smile against mine as I hook my foot around his ankle, pressing closer to him, deepening the kiss. We come up for air, and Astrid sneers.

'You're repulsive.'

'Big words from someone who's sitting next to that.' I say, gesturing to Little Petey. 'Kids are gross.'

'And he's retarded,' Drake adds, arm still wrapped around my waist.

'He's not, he's autistic,' she protests.

'Exactly,' he says. 'Retarded.' He stalks forward, towering over where she sits at one of the desks beside Little Petey. 'Say, my little brother is a retard.'

'No,' she snaps, trying to show defiance.

'Say it,' he demands, and I throw her a little smirk as she looks over his shoulder at me with pleading eyes, which means she doesn't see Drake raising his hand until he's slapped her hard across the face.

'My - my little b - brother is a retard,' she says so quietly I almost don't hear it.

'Nice and loud, so the retard hears it,' he says, shoving her face near Little Petey's ear. 'My little brother is a?' She refuses to speak, her mouth a tight line. Drake narrows his eyes. 'Feeling stubborn? Do you need some - ' he slaps her across the face. ' - persuasion? Now, it isn't that hard. My little brother is a?'

'My li - little brother - '

One second she's there, the next she's gone. Drake lunges forward, as if he could somehow follow them, but he catches himself and looks back at me.

'You saw that, didn't you?'

I nod, speechless. 'It wasn't Astrid,' I say slowly. 'I saw Jack's computer, and she's only a two bar.'

'Which means...' Drake trails off.

'Little Pete,' I whisper.

Drake shakes his head. 'There's a girl at Coate's who had that teleportation thing. She was a three bar and could only go across a room.'

'So he's more powerful than Caine.' I groan. 'Let's go. First place they'll be is probably their house.'

'I need my gun first,' he says, and we head off.