The Four Elite

Cortana was surprisingly okay, having missed the chameleon, flying out of the now fallen cylinder, and now getting barraged by lasers, all as a blue, glowing, "chakram"
Seemed the tiger woke up as well.

"Persistant."

Speaking of, she managed to gracefully weave through the many beams as she followed the cat to safety inside a... Generator room! Splendid!

Wasting no time, Cortana links up with the generators to recharge. Speaking to the cat, since she had the chance.

"You're the cat with the wisp, correct? I wish to make this quick. If you help me apprehend your partners, I will see that your friend is released as well as the both of you are protected, not just the police."


"Deal?"

Cortana didn't care if he accepted or not, it'd just be another person to knock out.

"I don't know!" Screech responded to Dust as she tried to peek around the machine, but ducked back as a laser hit the corner of the machine. "I can't get around to see! And that bongo playing cat got away from me too!"
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The chameleon finally stopped firing the lasers, taking their tail off of the tiger. They smashed through the dome they had made with a fist and climbed out, the tiger climbing out behind him. The upper half of the cylinder was crumbled and blocked off from Dust's beating. Fortunately the hole that Cortana had made earlier was still visible. The chameleon reactivated his cloaking device and jumped out of the ring of crystals. They decided that they were not going to be able to beat these three, so it would be better to escape. He quickly started to make his way towards the vent that Cortana, Screech, and Dust came through. The tiger started to climb out as well, though they were going to try and make their way towards one of the back exits.
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The cat had slid down the wall to a sitting position, still wincing in pain from the laser that grazed his shoulder. When he heard the voice, he quickly jumped up, his tail poofing up a bit. "Who's there?!" He said before noticing that the voice was coming from the disk. "Urgh... Why should I trust you? I assume you three are working for the police. Also, you wouldn't understand why I'm doing this. It's not just a job for me like the other two. I'm in debt to somebody. I'm doing this because I have to. To protect somebody." The cat turned back to the wall, resting his head and arm against it. "I was just a cat that played bongos for street money. I'm not special like Zith or Ira. The only reason I'm useful is because of my little friend, Beats. They're the ones with the real power. Without Beats, I'm useless."

Once the lasers stopped firing, she heard the sound of crystals shattering. Sadly, even when she tried to look, all she could see was the tiger, who was trying to sneak away it seemed.
"Chaos... You're not getting away!" She was getting rather exasperated, now just wanting this all done and over with. She shoots her bad arm outward, stretching it out as to try and grab around his legs.

Cortana got all she can from the generator, becoming supercharged! As she did so, she heard the cat's words, she wasn't expecting a straightforward answer, but she definitely didn't expect his life story.

He was doing it to protect, because he had to, it's a debt... In a way, he was quite similar to her.

"It's merely a contract, our connection to the police is minimal." "As for the rest..."

Cortana would reform and put her arm on his shoulder, looking him dead in the eye.

"I do understand, I was in a very similar situation until recently, when I met someone that led me to gain the courage to fix it myself." "So let me help you."

Cortana heads for the door, ready to burst out after saying:

"Wisps share their power to those with good hearts, so I trust you know what is right." "You are not useless."

Bursting out of the door, Cortana immediately changed her ocular settings to thermal, noticing the tiger trying to escape, but Dust in hot pursuit, as well as the slight tinges of warmth coming from a particularly room-temperature, and likely cloaked figure...

Bingo.

Taking aim, Cortana fires a massive lightning bolt at the chameleon!

The cat flinched when Cortana put her hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned around to defend himself from an attack that he thought was coming, but lowered his fist when Cortana explained how she in fact did understand his situation at least in some way. He watched her leave the room as he thought about what she had said. He remained in the generator room, contemplating what the android had said.
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The tiger was nearing the exit, when he was suddenly tripped up by Dust snagging one of his feet. The tiger grunted as he tried to use his other foot to kick at Dust’s hand, he then tried to swing his hand out towards Screech again, but she quickly got up and jumped towards the tiger. “Oh no you don’t! You’re not gonna be controlling me again!” She summoned her energy spear again and knocked his hand to the ground. She then held the tiger’s hand down with her tail as she pointed the spear at the tiger, the tip being an inch from their nose.
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The chameleon was about to get through the vent, when he was hit by the lightning bolt. His cloaking mechanism short circuited as he fell off the wall and onto the floor. He curled up on the floor, his muscles tightening from the shock as electricity sparked from his metallic joints. After twitching for a few moments, the chameleon got up onto his hands and knees and was about to fire one last laser blast. They then suddenly collapsed onto the floor, the blue lights on their robotic prosthetics slowly dimming.

Finally...
Though the tiger still had some fight in them, Screech had him pinned down. Shortly after, the chameleon went down, though she was almost scared into freeing the tiger before they collapsed. And gladly Cortana was okay. Dust walks closer to the tiger and Screech, looking down at them.
"Now it's only a matter of finding out how to get you guys out of here... and finding info., I guess. Stuff needs to get returned." She says before turning her head to look at Cortana. "Do you know where the cat is? I still got his, uh... companion."

Cortana was pleased with the fact that the chameleon was finally downed, looking to Dust as she spoke.


"In the generator room, I may have convinced the cat to switch sides, though, I am not certain, we shall see what he decides. Either way, Screech, I think the tiger can only manipulate organic beings, so I'd suggest letting me watch over him while you let the police in."

"Oh, and release the Rhythm wisp, I trust him."

Cortana deploys a static field over the chameleon to prevent any reboots, while waiting for Screech to get off the tiger, keeping a sparking hand trained on him just in case.

Screech looked to Cortana as she said, “Okay. I’ll use my radio and let the police know that we’ve gotten them taken care of.” She then looked back to the tiger, swinging two fingers from her eyes towards the tiger with squinted eyes. She then let Cortana take over guarding, as she headed over towards the main entrance door of the factory as she took out the police radio.

“This is Screech, the culprits at the electronics factory have been captured.” She said into the radio. The voice of the police officer from earlier responded back.

*KRRT* “Ok Screech. The workers seem to finally be regaining control of their bodies again. We’ll see what we can do about getting in.” *KRRT*

“Alright sir. I’ll try to open the door from this side.” Screech said as she got to the door. She slid her hand along the frame. The metal door looked to be melted to the frame, likely from the chameleon’s laser. “Hmmm…” She thought to herself before summoning her spear. She pressed it in-between one of the hinges of the door and started pushing the spear to try and pry the hinge off the door frame.
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The cat slowly peeked out of the generator room. He looked around the factory, but still remained mostly behind the door of the generator room. He slowly stepped out of the room, still holding a hand over the burn on his shoulder. He walked over to behind Cortana, a somewhat ashamed look on his face. He tried to keep his eyes averted from Dust, feeling sorry for what he did to her earlier. When the tiger saw the cat standing behind Cortana, he said angrily,

“Pip, you traitor! The Big Man will hear about this!”

The cat flinched, scared from the tiger’s threat. He stepped a bit closer to Cortana, hiding  himself from the tiger behind her.

Dust nods to Cortana as the blue fox takes over Screech's position of holding the criminals down. Shortly after the cat comes out of the generator room and steps behind Cortana, Dust relaxes a bit and releases the poor rhythm wisp.
"I'm sorry little guy, you're just... a little much for me, couldn't risk you getting out." She says in a slightly sheepish tone, a little upset with herself over her previous outbursts...
Then the tiger spoke up, even revealing Pip's name, as he threatens him. She steps forward in front of Pip, a low growl heard before she spoke up.
"Shut up, kitten. You're in no position to make threats. How's the 'Big Man' going to hear about this considering where you'll be going, anyway? Would you want him to know you failed him too?"

Cortana smiled as the cat- apparently named Pip- came out of the generator room.

But right as she was about to say something to him, the tiger spoke, changing her expression to something of deep hatred as she grabbed his head and twisted her foot, which would have been on his hand in place of Screech's tail.

"Continue being a nuisance and I will personally make sure that your brain is fried beyond recognition."


Turning back around, her expression changed back.

"Greetings, we may discuss as soon as we're done here, is that alright?"

The wisp now finally freed from its capture, saw Pip and immediately flew over to him, hugging him on the cheek and chirping happily.

“Hey bud! I told you you’d be okay.” Pip said with a smile as he hugged the wisp back with his good arm. Pip then looked to Cortana and responded to her question with a nod.
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The tiger growled in pain when Cortana twisted her foot into his arm. He then responded to Dust.

“The Big Man will find out about this one way or another. He has eyes and ears all over the city. And he doesn’t care about what happens to us. He just cares about getting the job done, whatever that takes.”
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Screech was still grunting and pushing to pry the hinges off the door. After she took a deep breath, she gave one more push, and the first hinge popped off the frame. Screech’s spear dislodged from the frame however, and she went tumbling onto the floor, rolling into a seated position. After a few moments of confusion about what just happened, she looked over to the rest of the group and shouted, “I’m okay!” She then got up and proceeded to begin working on the next hinge.

Dust rolls her eyes at the tiger, before walking over to Screech. Cortana had the tiger handled.
She makes her non-damaged hand more massive as she looks to the door, then immediately swings at it to try and do some damage.
If she could at least punch a hole through it, Screech and/or the police could handle the rest.

Cortana was kind of done hearing this guy blab, but decides to not fry his brain, she'll just let the police handle that bit... Wait, actually-

"Cortana here."
She says through the radio.

"Be sure to bring power nullification equipment, the red tiger has the ability to manipulate organic beings, over."

May as well let them know beforehand.

Aaand it seemed Dust was about to add some collateral fees, more than what they already had... Great.

Screech had gotten the second of three hinges off the door. She was about to start working on the third one when she realized it was to high for her to reach. “Hmm… How are we gonna get this last hinge off so we can get out of here Du-” Screech was cut off by Dust slamming a fist into the door, pulling some of the door frame with it as the door fell down to the sidewalk, revealing the street outside. “Oh, that works too!” Screech said as six police officers rushed inside. They began restraining the chameleon and the tiger, while Pip began hiding behind Cortana again, protecting Beats by wrapping him up in his arms.

“Thank you, you three,” the officer that Screech had talked to before said. “We probably would not have been able to solve these cases, or better yet, apprehend these guys without you.”

“No problem officer!” Screech said as she gave the officer a salute with her left hand. The officer chuckled before saluting back with his right hand as he said,

“I appreciate the gesture, but traditionally you salute with your right hand.”

“Oh, oops!” Screech said as she quickly corrected herself.

Dust gave a cute smile to Screech as the officers rush in to do their job, before turning to face them as they're addressed. 

"You're welcome, sir. But... if I may ask, what of their boss? We know they're working for someone, just not who. Should we look for them...?" She personally didn't feel the job was done quite yet. Too many unanswered questions...

Cortana attempted to reassure Pip that they would be fine, after all, they had a deal.

Dust had a point as well, their boss was still an issue, and due to the nature of organized crime, the tiger may not have been bluffing, there could even have been a rat in the police force...

"I concur, we must know how their leader is going to be handled, clearly whatever they are doing can cause great harm if it requires the components they have obtained."

The officer thought to himself before responding to their question. “While it would be nice to have your help more, that would have to be up to the chief I think. The job you ladies were hired for was figured out. I’m sure with some interrogating we can get some more information about this supposed crime organization.”

Screech really wanted to help more, but the officer was right. They did finish the mission they were assigned. The fact that there were possibly more of these powered up Mobians being out there committing crimes made her shudder.

The other officers finished detaining the tiger and chameleon, then came after Pip. They began to put him in handcuffs before he quickly said, “W-Wait, wait! Disk lady, tell them about our deal, remember?!” One of the officers then caught the wisp and put them in a pet carrier, the wisp making scared cries to Pip. “Please, disk lady, tell them about our deal! Just don’t let them take Beats away again!” The cat said as he resisted being dragged away from the group.

Though Dust was generally concerned about the criminal organization and the stolen goods, there were currently more pressing matters.

Dust looked to Cortana then back to Pip before rushing into action, stepping in front of them and frantically saying "Woah, woah, hey, he's just a kid. Clearly Cortana and him talked about something so it's really important you talk to her first, please."
She was genuinely uncomfortable with how rough they were being, as well as how the kid was reacting.
If Cortana couldn't help, or they refused to stop, she was afraid she might have to take more serious action...

So their services were no longer required... That felt wrong...

What felt worse is that Pip and Beats were being arrested! This would not do! Cortana puts a hand on the officer who was taking Beats, before shouting.

"Cease this foolishness at once!" "We have arranged an agreement!"

Assuming she got their attention, she speaks more calmly but with an urgent tone, she doesn't break her promises.

"Apologies for the insult but this young man and I have made a deal, in which the conditions were: If he assisted in apprehending his associates, he would be protected from the wrath of his boss, as well as jail time, which is why I request that he instead undertakes community service under me as an intern at me and my father's company."

At the same time, she would have sent what she said as a transmission to the police chief, as it would be unlikely that this mere officer could make such calls.


"This has been taken up with the chief."

The police officers stopped when Dust and Cortana intervened. The one officer that was currently in charge looked over to the three officers holding Pip and Beats and motioned for them to wait.

“If it’s been taken up with the chief, I don’t see a reason why this cat couldn’t do community service, but granted, we will still have to take them to the station to file the paperwork for this case.”

Screech then interjected, “Well could you ask your team maybe to be a bit nicer with how they are handling them? He’s just a Mobian, it’s not like your men couldn’t take him down very easily if he were to try and escape.”

Pip wasn’t sure whether to be thankful to Screech’s comment or insulted, but it did seem to be effective. The head officer nodded to the two officers that were holding onto Pip’s wrists and they let go of the cat’s wrists.

“Thanks you three.” Pip said to Screech, Dust, and Cortana. He then started walking towards the door, with the two officers following behind. The head officer then said to the rest of the group, “I think the cat would be more comfortable if you were to return with us back to the station. You three are welcome to go about your own business if you wish to, but the offer remains open.”

“Are you kidding? Of course I want to go back!” Screech said excitedly. “I want to ask that cat what his little friend is, and how it gave him soundwave powers like mine!” Screech then turned to the other two with a look on her face that said, ‘What about you?’

Dust listens intently as they discuss, before the three are offered a ride back.
"I'm fine with that - I just want to make sure he's okay after this." She says with a small pout, before looking to Cortana for her input.

"Yes, of course."
Cortana responds, happy to see that they were willing to comply.

After seeing that the cops were going to be less rough on the cat, Cortana visibly looked less tense, Pip was going to be alright.

"Of course, I too wish to see that my new associate is unharmed."

As Cortana said this, she looked towards the cat. Sure, if things went smoothly, that is what he'd be. But she had never had people work under her before...
Whatever happens, it'll be interesting.

“Alright then. After you ladies.” The head officer said as he escorted the Mobians to his vehicle.
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Once the group was back at the police station, the tiger and chameleon were taken in separately from Pip as to not cause a fight to break out. The chief talked to Cortana and Pip about the paperwork needed to fill out before he would be allowed to do community service, and what the terms would be for the community service. 

After about thirty minutes of signing the necessary paperwork, the chief gave the ok for Pip to be turned over under Cortana’s watch. One of the officers then brought out the pet carrier Beats was in from another room, and the two once again had a heartwarming reunion. Beats and Pip both thanked the chief and Cortana for letting them do community service instead of going to prison like the other two.

Screech chatted with Pip a bit about wisps, specifically rhythm wisps, and about how they can give their abilities to others. Screech wanted to see how much a wisp fusion would amplify her sonic screech, but Pip quickly shot that idea down before half the buildings and cars on the block lost their windows. The chief then gave one final thanks to Screech, Dust, and Cortana for their help with the case, and said that if they wanted to ever help with a Station Square case in the future, they are more than welcome to.