California Dreaming (Prodigy)

Xiao's fight or flight reaction kicked in when she saw the clones again, and got up off her butt once Danny sent them back downstairs. Xiao couldn't let Danny risk herself like this for both of them- that's why Xiao used her super lock the door and bar it with a broken chair leg power. That would hopefully keep them there.

With the help of some choice apps, Xiao followed behind Danny, keeping up with her frantic pace as the truck and the Kpop Kommandos came into view. Xiao had a sinking feeling she'd seen such individuals before. But... she could use this too.

Xiao reflexively stopped and raised her hands. Like she could do much against an evil magician... except talk. "So. Uh... You're working with the North Koreans? You know they're just gonna dump you once they get what they want. That's how their Dear Leader operates." Xiao decided to put on a poker face one more time, trying to play her bluff. "I would know. I have South Korean friends."

"Wait. The North one is the one with the crazy baby looking guy? No wonder they did business with me so easily, but those girls made such a compelling argument for stopping you." Manifesto scratched his head as his eyes grew larger. "She was so compelling. Maybe the North Korea would be better. They might think I'm smarter over there." Danny worked her hand under the chain wrapping her to the tree, beginning to saw away some of the bark to give herself some wiggle room. The taut obstacle dug into her, but the pain worked for her benefit. Good to know since Danny could no longer tell the difference between burn from ropes, chains, and tape. "So you can get me into South Korea? Or, wait. I'm already in good with the North Koreans and you have South Korean friends. So, I just kidnap you, and then deliver you to the North Koreans for a hostage or a ransom or-" Danny brought his diatribe to an end with a shot to the back of the head.

"That guy talks way too much." The truck began to roll away. "I think there's something in that truck we need. Are you up to laying down the law for some popstars? Do they have the same training your friend did back with those Russians? Wait, don't answer that. I'll assume they do because everything is always bad."

Lights from the sirens bathed the area, but the police stayed focused on the mansion, making several arrests, but leaving the pop troupe to their escape. Not wanting to tempt fate, the Koreans kept their lights off while they peeled through the forest towards a back road.

Xiao continued the banter to distract Manifesto, somehow getting him to ramble on and on... like some typical villain. This allowed Danny to knock him out from behind.

She simply nodded in response to Danny, following the truck's trail on foot as much as they could. While on the move continued to use her new found not-powers to again use her phone to help them... this time, she opened her Uber App and looked for 4x4's or SUV's in the area. One was available, and Xiao booked it. "I'm getting us a ride."

At this point, having moved away from the amusement park and into the city again, Xiao was moving at a moderate jogging pace on the sidewalk, getting strange looks from people. They sprinted for at least 5 more blocks, before Xiao stopped. At an intersection, a large yellow Humvee had stopped to greet Xiao and Danny. It was one of those large, gas guzzling vehicles men usually bought themselves during midlife crises.

"Okay hop in... hello!" Xiao opened the backseat door for Danny, while she rode shotgun and greeted the driver. The interior of the vehicle was kept fairly clean, the seats covered in black leather. The A/C was turned up to blistering cold, which made being sweaty really uncomfortable. Latino Rap was playing at a subdued volume, as to allow conversation. The humvee's driver was actually a young Latina lady in jeans and a jacket, with a bandana on her head.

"Heya. Where can I take you gals today? What's the matter, you just did some cardio?" She asked, tapping the map on the big ol' touchscreen where a car radio would have been.

"Uh..." Xiao looked at the map, a bit winded, needing a moment to collect her thoughts. "was it here? or there?" She pointed to a few roads leading into the wild, asked Danny for confirmation.

"Right behind- OW!" The forest greeted Danny with nothing short of an aggressive poking into her bare feet. "I forgot to grab some-wait."

The two girls made their way through the edge of the forest, sneaking past the police hauling off the assistants, but no signs of evil Danny or evil Xiao. Danny slipped around in the pair of dress shoes she 'borrowed' from Manifesto. If Xiao had grievances about Danny's theft, Danny simply let her know it was between taking the shoes or Xiao carrying Danny on her back.

Xiao looked out of shape and in heels, Danny could barely walk in the shoes, and both girls still wore the black dresses not made for physical activity, but they made it to the yellow hummer. The lock opened and both girls piled in. "You have no idea." Danny pushed aside the words from the driver as she looked at the computer screen. "They're going to head to the docks. If we can get their before them we can set a trap. Trying to-"

"A trap? For what? Like a surprise party?"

"A very well deserved surprise party. These girls have earned the surprise we're going to give them. Call Ellie and see which docks the Koreans have contacts with to get through tariffs. Just start driving west. We'll let you know which direction to turn once we know."

"I'm Letti, by the way. Hate driving with strangers, all they do is complain about things. Buckle up!" Letti pushed her foot to the floor and shot into traffic without checking to merge. Two cars slammed into each other to avoid the yellow hummer, summoning a praise chorus of horns behind them. Letti merge through two lanes without signaling so she could run through an unprotected lane without using her brakes. "So, are  you guys new to the city or something?"

"Ah... yeah. Newwwwww!" Xiao held on for dear life and got her seatbelt on just in time. She nodded to the inquiry from the driver as she tapped away on her phone, having snapped off the high heels during her run. The phone rang a couple of times then Ellie picked up.

They were greeted by the background sound of some kind of machinery and a man's screaming voice. "OH GOD PLEASE STOP MFFF-" The voice was muffled, and the machinery turned off. Looks like Ellie was in the middle of work.

"Uh... hi Ellie. Are you busy?" Xiao asked meekly, silently wondering what was happening on the other side.

"I can manage. What do you need?"

"Listen... we need to figure out something. We're chasing North Korean soldiers to the docks and we're wondering-" Xiao was quickly interrupted by an answer.

"Dock 14 has a customs officer with a history. A ship is registered in port but no declaration of goods. That might be it." Ellie delivered snappily.

"Thanks. Take us to Dock 14, Letti." Xiao instructed their driver, who complied readily, "Sure thing!" making a turn without even signalling. Letti drives through the unmanned dock gates and drove past 10...11...12... They would reach dock 14 with the subtlety of the Normandy landings. Uber drivers.  

"Here you go girls. I'll charge it to your debit account miss Li." She said, opening the doors for them. Xiao shakedly crawled out of the Humvee.

Danny did not die. "You're not getting a tip. Ever. From anyone. But, wait here, we might need a ride." Equilibrium took Danny out of the car and threw her straight to the ground. "These shoes can go to Hell." Barefoot again, Danny spotted the van next to a cargo trawler. Small enough to slide past authorities and large enough to make it to open seas. "That's got to be them. I bet one of them is my size. I can steal their shoes and then get this mission back on track."

Four pop stars patrolled the perimeter while one of their own worked the fork lift to load the fortune teller onto the boat. The number of five hid someone. The woman who used some degree of mental influence over Manifesto- power or just manipulating a weak minded idiot, Danny could not quite put a finger on it- still hid herself out of the vision.

Danny grabbed a net from along the dock equipment lumbering over on the side. She began to make her way over towards the perimeter once she figured out the patrol route the pony tail sporting pop star took. Each one of the pop stars wore an outfit similar to the sailor moon outfits, but adorned with regalia from communist block military. Olive green outfits with red skirts and boots all wrapped up with golden bows completed their outfits.

Once the pop star Danny stalked turned her back, Danny struck out to wrap the girl up, pulling her back with Danny's hand over her mouth. The outfit looked terrible, but Danny just felt her dress and knew she could really not judge her. The pop star struggled with the ropes Danny tied her up with while trying to call for back up through the rag tied around her mouth.

Once past the first line of defense, Danny got closer towards the trawler. She lost contact with Xiao at sometime during her long period of though about her terrible fashion decisions and that of everyone else in the close vicinity. Now she could spot the woman whom led the group. If Danny could get into the scaffolding, she could move around the upper level, come down on the villain, and put this whole thing to rest. Then a finger tapped on her shoulder.

"Not now Xiao." Danny swatted the finger and turned around.

"Naw, it's me. I forgot to add something to your bill and needed an authorization." Letti popped up behind Danny with a very snarling looking girl behind her. "I found one of your friends all tied up, so I let her loose. Hope I didn't ruin anything for the surprise party."

"Oh you didn't." The pop villain kept her arms crossed. "In fact. Let's get it going. Surprise!"

Xiao wandered around with Danny, learning the art of sneaking around and not getting spotted. The snake cam on the phone helped their progress in penetrating the perimeter and positioning themselves to pounce on their professional foes.

Xiao wondered how she'd handle any of these commandos. Certainly not in a straight fight considering their training. At the very least she needed a weapon... She kept an eye out now for something she could use, but in so doing eventually overlooked Danny moving forward on her own.

She found a bit of old pipes lying around near a refrigeration warehouse and decided to get the 2mm thick pipe. Heavy enough for impact, good. That was when Xiao realized Danny was gone. Oh dear. She quickly moved around to look, using night vision to pick out a sneaky girl sneaking around... And broke into a sprint when she was in trouble.

Danny would likely already have started fighting, but Xiao would get there eventually. She'd go in swinging and bop *someone* over the head!

Danny hated surprise parties. And Uber drivers. The attention of the dock all drew towards Danny and Letti, flanked by the pop star in tow behind her. As soon as the freshly released pop star came at Danny, she found the business end of a fist in her throat. A knocked over pop star would offer no angry resentment for now, but Letti stepped back with a whole new level of surprise. "Why would you-" Another girl from the perimeter watch flew towards Danny to escalate the situation. With no room to maneuver away, Danny opted to grab Letti and pull her in front so she could take the brunt of the blow. "Gah."

"Sorry-" Danny threw a punch to connect with the second pop star's solar plex before flipping her by twisting her knee to the ground. "I just needed to avoid that first shot and I could handle the rest." Before Danny could handle the rest, Xaio showed up with a pipe, knocking another pop star to the ground with a loud thud. "Holy crap Xiao-" Surprise opened Danny's eyes. "Good thinking."

"Not so fast." The slender girl in the North Korea sailor scout outfit walked out, flanked by two other superhumanly perfect girls. They all struck a glamorous pose. "You may have knocked out Wonsan, Hamhung, and Kaesong, but you'll need more than just some tacky outfits to take the rest of us. Nampo!"

"Aye!" The girl to her right moved into a more aggressive post.

"Tanchon!"

"Aye!" A more upright stance took form to her left.

"And, I'm Pyongyang. And in the name of the Un, I will punish you!" Pyongyang pointed her finger through her crossed arms. "But seriously, you three have no chance and are coming with us."

Xiao opened her eyes to see she'd whacked a popstar out cold. Thankfully she didn't hit Danny. Their luck didn't last long and three more commandos showed up. Xiao didn't have much to offer in combat without the element of surprise.

"...I'm sorry Danny but I'm going to go look for my powers!" Xiao proclaims, chucking the pipe at the popstars then turning tail. She headed straight for the boat, navigating the catwalks and ladders all the while calling the police again. She assumed one of them would at least give chase.

"...You again? Is this another prank call?" The dispatch on the other side recognized Xiao's number as the one who called in criminal activity earlier.

"No, no. I'm at the docks this time. North Korean Kpop commandos are trying to steal-"

"Riiiiight. North Korean Popstar Commandos are illegally docked at Warehouse 14. Sorry kiddo, we only fall for this stuff once a night. Have a nice day."

"Stupid..." Xiao mumbled, and kept running toward the boat. The commando though leaps after her and eventually catches up, cutting dragonless girl off. She pulls a combat knife on Xiao. One stab would be all it take. Again Xiao gasps in fear. Stay calm! Distract the enemy! Focus on the threat! Her Ellie training screamed in the back of her head.

"...You're going to be in big trouble if you don't return what you stole." She said, taking a step back with each step the commando took.

(Korean)"Silly girl. Once we have the Dragon Force we'll be invincible. With that truck we'll personally bring the power to Dear Leader... and we'll become the first Korean Dragon Girls. But it doesn't matter, because you don't understand a word I'm saying and you'll be dead." Overconfident and certain in her victory, the commando monologued in Korean, coming closer to her prey, cornered.

"Is that so. Thanks for the tip." Xiao responded in Korean, actually knowing the big three Asian languages. The revelation that she just gave away the fortune teller's location caused the lady to go wide eyed. Xiao  raises her phone as if to take a photo, but the flash on her phone was overcharged to work like a blinding flash. Or maybe the normal flash was that blinding.

"Stupid little girl!" Instinctively shielding her eyes but far too late, Xiao rushes the blinded commando and rams her head against a container and taking the knife with a disarm. She'd probably only be incapacitated for a few seconds, but a few seconds was all Xiao needed to slip into the boat's hold, finding her truck and climbing aboard. She hears the commando already chasing not far behind.

"Fortune teller! Fortune teller! Where are you?! I need my powers back, please!" Xiao looked around with her phone light, desperate as she'd run out of time and tricks.

"Yeah, it's fine, but you're actually getting good at this being normal sized and improvising stuff-" The fight remained. One less pop star, but Pyongyang and Tanchon looked less than impressed with the opponent standing before them.

"Nice bracelet white girl."

"Why do people- I'm darker than you! Fine, you think it's a nice bracelet. Let me show you how nice it is."

"I don't need your help." Pyong looked over to Tanchon and motioned towards the boat in Korean. "Me and white girl can end this."

Tanchon ran through the bowels of the boat towards the fortune teller. The stumbling from the awkward fight sounded out through the structure of the metal ship, letting Tanchon use her heightened sense to try and locate Xiao. Sneaking through the cargo hold, Tanchon took refuge behind a crate before findinga pipe to ambush Xiao with.

Danny put her arms up to block a kick from Pyong. Her feet slid a few steps to give up some ground before Pyong tried invading Danny's stance. A quick throw from an elbow sent Pyong back a few feet. "This is mine." Two of the gems in Danny's bracelet lit up while Danny threw a swift kick to knock Pyong's legs out from under her.

"Watch out!" Letti gave out a dire warning as Wonsan swing a pipe towards Danny's back. It missed by a hair. Followed up by the sound of a bone shaking impact from Danny's fist to her opponent's jaw. Wonsan went down but Pyong jumped on Danny's back. Two skinny arms wrapped around Danny's neck to begin the slow process of incapacitating Danny into a more passive state. The world began going blurry for Danny. A few more seconds and Danny would slip into unconsciousness. Those seconds would not come. A blunt hit to the back of Pyong's head left her slumped on the ground with Letti standing behind her with a crowbar.

"Cool. Thank-"

Another smack from the crowbar hit Danny on the head, putting her under as well. Once Wonsan started to try and get up, Letti smacked her as well. "I don't know who to trust with this. Sorry."

"Hey normal girl, I'm over here. But are you sure? You'd stop being such a huge freak. You could do that thing you always wanted to do. Baking. Right? You could put on a hundred pounds on your own with all the carbs and sodium you put into your products." The Fortune Teller was kind enough to respond to Xiao's call after a few times, and the dragonless girl swiftly came over.

"Please I'm sure of it. You wouldn't want to be in North Korea. once you hand that power over, Kim Jong Un is likely to chop you up for firewood and-"

"Oh I should tell you one of those koreans is here waiting to ambu-" The north korean commando was a woman, and she made Xiao hear her roar. "FOR DEAR LEADER!" She wailed in Korean, With pipe in hand she swung for a knock out blow, but Xiao had the knife and tried to parry, though her poor grip and stance meant the weapon went flying. This time she was the subject of the ambush, and her brawler style was no match for the trained soldier.

A telegraphed punch was swiftly countered, and Xiao felt an incredible ache in her jaw from a simultaneous counter punch. It was followed by a swift boot to the gut which sent Xiao sprawling.

"Looking over some of the memories it seems like you might actually want to live like this. Just you and mom a bakery." The Fortune Teller said, rather oblivious to the situation.

The Korean soldier capitalized on Xiao's state and pinned her arms down for a ground pound. "I won't-" punch "live to-" punch "bake with-" punch. "out power" punch. Xiao felt pain like she'd never experienced in her life, like her jaw was on fire. The back of her head was swollen from hitting the metal deck a few times. Her vision was blurry and she was sure she was bleeding. She was tapping out, but of course this wasn't a sparring match. Nearly passing out and unable to resist, the commando took her time to retrieve the knife.

"You have a point. Okay, okay." the Fortune teller replied, trying to peek at the beat down but that was hard from this angle. "Now gimme a minute to figure out how to give it back..." Xiao couldn't reply. She was already half passed out from the beat down.

"The great Dragon Girl. Beaten. Dear Leader! Witness me!" Tanchon said, raising the knife for the killing blow...

Letti moved the bodies of the popstars over into one pile and Danny into another. The surprise party took a very dark turn, but Letti knew if they woke up, they would probably kill each other. No, they would kill each other. The door to her trunk opened up and Letti moved all of the former combatants into confinement with their hands tied up with jumper cables and black electric tape. All but Danny. Letti trusted Danny more than the others, but she still did not know exactly why Danny would want to fight North Korean- oh wait. North Korea. "Whoops."

Danny began to rub her forehead as Letti threw away the crow bar incriminating her. "Hey, did you see which one of those North Korean girls hit you in the head?"

"Yeah. It was the Hispanic one with the yellow bandanna who is about to get a beating once I deal with those pop- um- I can't think of anything mean to say." The air felt soft. So did her head after taking a shot. Maybe they were more things related at hand here.

"Don't worry, I have all the pop stars tied up in my hummer."

"If you told me I would hear that phrase today and be relieved, I would punch you in the face. Still, I might punch you for hitting me in the head with a pipe." Danny got off the ground and started walking off a head injury. And a back injury. And her throat hurt.

"Crowbar, but I think we're good here."

"Let's grab Xiao, get that damn fortune teller, and get out of here. I'm not tipping you either."

"I haven't seen either of those first two things. Maybe they-"

"Nope, they're in the trawler. It's the worst thing and it's always the worst." Danny moved off on her own, rubbing her head and hoping Xiao was not dead. Yet.

Blows to heads kept raining. Another popstar strutted into the cargo hold as Tanchon held a knife maniacally over Xiao. Hey, wait." Her voice carried over the combat scene, holding gazes in stasis. "Let's see if a fake dragon girl is good for fishing. We have a tow on the side of the ship and there might be sharks in the water. Or, maybe we can brainwash her. We have outfits laying around for her. What's it going to be fake girl?"

The knife plunges through Xiao's chest and just like that, Xiao fades into apparent death... again.  

"Wait. Are you right handed or left handed? I need to know so I can put it back- oops." The fortune teller took a peek but saw that the knife was already through the skin.

"Dragon Girl is no more... while the Dragon Force might be gone, her DNA might still be useful to our scientists. But first I will kill that-" Tamchon went to retrieve her knife but found it was stuck in Xiao's chest. Her flesh held fast to the blade.

Xiao opened her eyes to see a knife sticking out of her chest, feeling a tightness there. The dragon muscles held the blade millimeters from her heart.

"Uh... uh..." Xiao was not quite sure what to make of it, her hands shaking over the knife. "My chest feels really tight." She remarked, her left side feeling very cramped as she slowly got up. Tamchon looked on in disbelief.

(Korean) "No. NO! NOOO! MONSTER! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD! CHEATER! CHEATER!" She shouted while crying, making a tantrum like some school girl who was upstaged as Prom Queen. She tries to knock Dragon Girl back down with a swift boot to the gut. She wouldn't budge this time. Tamchon tried a punch to the face, but her arm connected with something unyielding. Her knuckles felt very dislocated, and she knelt down in pain and defeat. Xiao decided to slap her lightly... and sent Tamchon head first through a crate. Ouch. She'd need plastic surgery to get those splinters out of her face.

"A dragon's skin is... ow..." A jolt of searing pain went through her chest when she even touched the knife. It was staying right there. "If it wasn't for t his... ow... I'd turn you into wood pulp myself... ow!" Xiao remarked. Somehow a knife sticking into her chest was every bit as painful as she imagined, as the wound was very slowly bleeding with thick dragon blood.

"Hey. At least you have a kickass scar. Now get me out of here. I don't wanna know what'll happen if I see Whoever this Dear Leader person is." The Fortune Teller then notices Danny.  "Oh hi there. I hope you're not mad about the power thing. Could you get me out of here before an angry dragon girl decides to use me for firewood?" She pleaded with Danny, not comfortable with Xiao's expression turning grimmer by the minute.

Xiao felt dizzier as the minutes passed. "Have to call... a doctor... Shauna..." She muttered, trying to dial the emergency number on her phone... stupid slippery phone falling out of her hands... Stupid dragon girl fainting against a wall...

"Oh, what have we hear?" A voice reached around the hallway in utterances of English. "A poor, wounded spy? Looks like you can handle yourself pretty well." The injured pop star in the crate moaned in protest in her crate. "I always felt like I was the best suited for the role of leader and it looks like you've helped me gain some ground on that." Her slender hand pressed against Xiao's shoulder while she pulled the knife out.

"Hey! We're going to talk about these tacky outfits and the fact you took Xiao's powers later. Right now, you're low on the list of terrible things in the room!" Danny burst into the scene of the crime with the knife wielding sailor pop star brandishing a wicked smile over a fainted Xiao. "None of you knock off copyright infringements are capable of running anything close to a functioning team."

"Didn't you and Dragon Girl get captured by a guy we mind controlled?"

"That's different. We were lied to by a fortune teller machine!"

"That sounds really stupid. Now, if you don't mind, I need to take you three back to Korea. So if you and your friend can step into one of those crates, I won't have to turn Dragon girl into sushi." The knife wavered next to Xiao's throat. It threatened every step Danny thought of, hovering in her mind. The taunting eyes of Tanchon lit with an omniscient amusement. Was Danny that predictable? Her friend needed help, and Danny wanted to provide it, but maybe attacking someone with a hostage would only make it worse. Letti put her hands up and walked over to the crate, stepping inside. "And you? I must warn you, my hand is getting tired and I can't hold the knife straight for much longer."

Somehow the knife came loose and Xiao's chest started bleeding again. Xiao's consciousness was about to fade, when the danger had not gone away. At her limit, the dragon power awoke, and Xiao grabbed Tanchon by the wrist.

"RAAAAGH!" Xiao twists the wrist, as spikes and scales began to grow out of her body. This time she was not holding back- with her draconic strength partially restored, she attempted to twist Tanchon's limb off. She proved resilient enough not to lose her whole arm, only to have every bone past her wrist was crushed.

"AUuuugh-!" It was a sick, twisted sound, bone snapping and tendons tearing. Xiao kicks Tanchon- very painfully- through a massive pile of crates and barrels, smashing against the wall. She would survive, for reasons to be revealed later...

Xiao looked at the wound on her chest as she was in the midst of her painfultransformation from humanoid to dragon. She had the presence of mind enough just to rip the ship open for her to escape.

Dragon Girl was now just The Dragon, and she looked upon the ship with disdain, hovering midair. She opened her maw, and a gout of hot flames began pouring onto the offending vessel...

For some reason Xiao just could not keep her chest from bleeding, getting stabbed, and continuing to inflict pain upon herself. But, a chest injury still beat out a straight up heart injury. Another pop star flew through the air with a bone snapping agony to her scream. "Xiao, there's nothing- well, good about breaking every bone in multiple people's bodies." Breaking bones would be the least of Danny's problems. "Dammit. Letti get off the boat. Xiao got her powers back and is far more dangerous to everyone now."

"Um?"

"Get off the boat!" Any number of bad things could happen before Xiao took her monstrous form. Now one of one bad things could happen. "Take those two in the creates as well. Throw them in the back of your hummer and I'll be right out."

Lettie took off after she loaded the crate filled with Korean popstars and power stealing fortune tellers off the trawler. One less thing Danny needed to pay attention to. Trawlers ran into problems with mechanical problems at sea causing them to occasionally need to put out fires, giving Danny something she could use. Danny went to the controls in the bridge, delving into the protocols of the ship until she found a red button linked to the fire control systems. Water began to burst out from the ship's sides to pout into the ship. Saving the ship did not concern Danny at all. She wanted to some how pull the dragon back to the ground.

Once the power to the fire systems came on, Danny ran towards the power hose and turned it towards Xiao's giant dragon mouth, trying to rain on her parade of destruction.