Villains Club Training Camp (5)

Prison Meet

Raven

Jesse and I arrived near the Death Valley Super Max around the same time as Bad Penny. From the air in the space between dimensions we could see the giant mechanical grasshopper already with it's full load of passengers, three kids sat in the car seats, Bad Penny in the sole seat up front with Briar and Quinn in the three-seater further back. Strapped in as they were the centre of the hopper was more or less level, even though the long back, large mechanical wings and legs were splayed six ways from sunday.

In my shadow-shape, looking across to Crow's green haze that he travels in I echoed, "Take my leed!" and swooped down. Carefully, managing the change from the timeless in between to the live and real world, we appeared just in front of the hopper and a grabbed onto it as the machine passed.

"AAAH!" Penny yelped,

"Is it an attack!" Quin screeched.

"If it were we would have already beaten you! This is why science can never beat magic!" Jesse crowed, I let him have that moment.

"Thought you might want to fill us in before we arrived." Where Jesse and the others yelled over the sound of the machines wings, I spoke quietly and let my magic carry my words.

"As I said, we've been asked to test the Prison's security, before they let us try however they want to meet the team so they know who to blame if we succeed. Vera, Lucifar and Apparition will meet us on site."

"Is there anyone we actually want to set free!" I interjected,

"Our Mother!" Quin and Briar yelled, then Briar continued, "Ivy's been in prison for a while now, some eco terrorism charge. Harley's tried twice to free her but most of her team are pretty idiots!"

"Most of her team have been caught as a result. If we're getting a free pass we Need to get our Ivy out!"

"There are a couple others I'm open to freeing as well, two on Cobblepot's list!" Penny yelled. "Metallo, Clayface and Sharkie's grandpa!"

"The list the Seven and a Half gave us had about twenty people on it, but most of them are drug lords, mass murderers and the like. These four are our personal targets!"

The hopper was coming in for landing now, so we all hushed up. At the entrance a long red convertible lounged with an even more casual woman draped over the hood, wearing a bored expression and a sun-hat. Apparition was there, barely visible in the light reflecting off the prison's giant clear dome, and her little orb was flying across towards us and her mother with excited unrestrained glee.

Penny was fully kitted up today, including the flat face-plate of a helmet that had a giant pink heart plastered across it as she pulled her little orb into a hug. "Oh Vera, yes it's good to see you dear. You're so much more responsive than Bootstrap is!"

We marched out across the desert, two guards watching over this crazy group of child supervillains. Looking over the car, Lucifar and the Apparition I found myself asking, "How does a ghost ride in a car?"

"Raven!" I found myself being hissed at by Jesse, "That's really inappropriate! Sorry for my sister, miss, she has no people skills!"

"Oh, no it's a fair question. I possessed Lucy for the ride over, so technically I was driving and she was my passenger!" I blinked at that, of course possession was on the table. That was actually very useful for a prison break now I thought about it. "Since I don't want the guards knowing too much about me, is it alright Penny if I possess Vera for this meeting?"

Penny hesitated, then nodded, "I made her for you, so if she's fine with it so am I."

And with that the barely visible ghost who had been hanging out in the car, drifted up and vanished into the little orb. The lights in her eye flickered, adding additional colours to the Iris.

Having sorted ourselves out, we decided to stop loitering in the Carpark and marched right up to the main gate of the prison. No ID or proof of identification necessary, apparently, as we were shown right inside, walked through the three different scanners one at a time to check for weapons, explosives and the like, which got mixed results cause of course we didn't come armed, but we were all wearing something dodgy as heck. Then marched up to a board-room with a long table and three figures standing down the end.

One was a tall middle aged man, dressed in a pinstripe shirt with long black pants and loose tie, he looked like he'd tried not to be disheveled but failed. The man had a tablet fully a foot by half a foot in size which he palmed, tapping the screen and doing something unseen. Next to him was a weedy, thing. Reptilian, and impossible to tell the gender of except that it also wore a pinstripe suit with no tie, its pants however were full cargo pants with way too many pockets that bulged with various items.

The final person in the middle was an Asian looking woman, maybe Korean, maybe Thai, too difficult to tell. Shorter than you'd expect, she wore a large butterfly mask over her face and a beret. Her shoes were sensible flats, her belt had utilities on it, including a grappling hook and and her bright pink blouse was way too tight for a woman clearly in around forty. It was sleeveless and might be padded, covering the body effectively and was accessorized by leather gloves and an Ascot.

For a strong, way too brief moment Penelope froze, just inside the door and for a brief moment the face-plate of her mask went completely pink before whiting out. I fanned out to her left, Briar and Quinn taking the hint and flanking her right and as Jesse moved beside me I watched Lucyfar step up behind penny. Whisper, "You got it!" and give her a little push.

The Asian lady spoke first. "Lucyfar and the Inscrutable Machine. You children may not know me, but I imagine your senior does. I am The Audit. Long time consultant for the Justice League of America, professor and a Doctor in mathematics and statistical analysis. This man to my right is Ray Palmer, one of the worlds Leading scientists, and the warden of this prison here is Major Tanner!" At their name the human Reptile give a slight bow.

In a second of hesitation, Penny gestured to our group to take seats, and while we did she remained standing. Her mask remained blank for only a moment before displaying a yellow smiling face wearing a bow-tie and glasses. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Audit. Your reputation precedes you."