Problem Child 14

Tires screeched.

She was momentarily blinded, dazzled by the transition from the store to the pitch-black sky cruelly cut through with cold streetlights. It took two blinks to fix.

They reached the parking lot as two vans peeled out in opposite directions. Marvel took them lower, nearly to the ground. Aiko flipped out of Marvel’s grip and started running after one randomly. Captain Marvel smoothly zipped off and tracked the other one, no need for conversation. One of them was going to get Herkimer. Assuming he was in one of the vans. Was he smart enough to use them as a shell game? That’s what she would do, have her minions split in different directions and wait, hide. Leave another way.

‘Doesn’t matter. I have to stop this car to know. If he’s in here, then I would lose him for sure by looking around the parking lot. There’s only two of us.’

It wasn’t exactly a sure thing that a 7-year-old could run down a car, anyway. But she had to. 

She gritted her teeth, focusing hard. Her heels hit the cement road hard as she pumped her legs frantically. Her legs were short, but she revved the chakra flow through her body to achieve what were superhuman results in this universe. The burn was going to be awful tomorrow, but for now blood and oxygen flow was at maximum efficiency and energy crackled through her veins. The white van in front of her took a sharp left turn to a mainstreet, swerving wildly into the wrong lane for a block and scaring a horn blare out into the night from a taxi. 

Aiko cut the corner through someone’s yard to buy a few feet. She was catching up. Fuck. She had to catch up. 

Wind hit her face like a cold slap as they passed through an intersection where a night wind roared unimpeded through the city streets. Someone stuck their head out of the passenger window. Aiko bared her teeth– and went unnoticed.

The person was looking up at the sky for Marvel. They shoved themselves out dangerously far, halfway out, and then slipped back inside with a victorious crow. They were damn lucky they did so- the van went over a speed bump a moment later and was severely jarred. If they’d gone flying, could she have saved them in time? Could she even catch their weight?

‘I hate being small,’ Aiko thought mutinously. 

Pavement cracked underneath her foot before she controlled herself and restrained what she was channeling. That was too much chakra. She wasn’t aiming to be Tsunade, after all. 

…Actually, should she?

Aiko took a moment to look at what was available to throw at the van, track how high the property damage would be, and heave a disappointed sigh. She was poor, and she didn’t have hero insurance.

But what if she threw something smaller? She fiddled with her equipment belt without looking, trying to find something by feel even though this kit was new to her. Stupidly, she dropped one of her cute lightning bolt throwing knives. It cut a line down her thigh as it fell onto the street. The quiet metal ting of it skidding across pavement was lost to the wind. 

She got the next one out and swerved into the wrong lane after checking for cars. With an angle on the side of the car, Aiko aimed and flung her knife with cruel precision into the right rear tire. There was a quiet shick as it hit, and then a bang when the tire’s rotation drove the knife all the way in deep.

‘Probably ruined,’ Aiko thought, trying not to feel glum about it. She was going to go back for the dropped knife, for sure. She didn’t know if Batman would give her any more.

The van swerved and dropped down, suspension system struggling to cope with a flat tire. She heard at least two voices scream ahead. The distance rapidly closed as the van turned sideways out of control. She cut her speed to stay clear of the possible wreck. The van spun and then threatened to tip over. Shit. The passengers would probably die if it rolled. Aiko watched two tires raise and leapt to come down feet-first on the top of the van, jarring it back down. Metal crunched under her boots– but it worked. 

“Ahhh!” The driver flung themselves out of the open window and staggered to their feet, trying to scramble away. Aiko darted after them– it was another of the guys who looked like monkeys. She took him down easily and gently, tying him up before he knew what was happening. She heard the passenger door opening and boots hitting the ground. Aiko dropped prisoner one and dashed back to take down the other goon. 

This one had long hair that trailed in the night air behind her. She did choose to run straight down the road, as if she was ever going to get away like that.

Aiko rolled her eyes and planted her feet in the small of the villain’s back to take them down. They hit the pavement hard as she flipped in the air agilely and came down by their head and now-bleeding palms. 

They yelled at her in a language that she didn’t know. That was mildly interesting, but she trussed them up and dragged them back to the van. She moved the other prisoner out of the street, a bit belatedly remembering that another car could come and run them over at any time. Then she crawled into the van to investigate if Herkimer was hiding inside. She opened the back doors, ready for anything.

Boxes fell out at her. Something shattered. 

Air whooshed behind her. She turned to see where her partner had touched down, holding a tied prisoner on either massive shoulder. Aiko opened her mouth to ask if he had gotten Herkimer, and then closed it at the frustration on Marvel’s face. She paused, letting him put all four criminals on the grass in a line as she got her thoughts together.

…Maybe Robin had gotten back to her. She unzipped the right pocket and pulled out her phone optimistically. “Paydirt!” Aiko cheered. She bounced over to Marvel to show him her screen. “Look at this!” she ordered, conscious of the hostiles still cursing at them. It didn’t seem like they had any open lines and they probably wouldn’t get free in time to warn Herkimer that they had the address of his hideout. 

When she looked at his face, she expected gratitude. Marvel was frowning.

“Let’s talk about that somewhere else,” he said.

Aiko nodded and put her phone away, a little off-put by his reaction. “Want me to call the location in?” she offered. At his nod, she dialed emergency services and turned away to focus on her report.