Calamitous (Kaylor)

3

No such luck. Catastrophe's reflexes were, well, catlike. She struck as soon as Karlie got within her arm's reach, punching her squarely in the jaw and leaping away. Reeling from the blow, Karlie saw that the criminal was taking her incapacitation as a chance to escape - the bedroom door was wide open, and there was no sign of the rest of the gang.

"What are you waiting for, idiots?" she snapped at the two men at her side. Why do I have to rely on these guys for backup? Must be nice to have a highly disciplined girl gang. Luckily, Karlie had stationed other groups on the lower floor, so Cat's crew wouldn't be able to make it downstairs uncontested.

She raced out into the hallway and could hear their yells from there. Cursing the size of the house, she ran toward the sounds, expecting to see them locked in some sort of combat. What she saw instead was her men looking a little worse for wear, some still guarding the bottom of the stairs, as Catastrophe vanished out the window, presumably the last of her crew to do so.

Karlie raced to the window, followed by a few officers who were still standing, and looked out at the scene below her. The girls had managed to leap to a nearby tree and were scrambling down before sprinting into the darkness.

Even in the low light, Karlie could see that Catastrophe was still in the tree. She was hanging from a branch, trying to move along it as quickly as possible, but she was still quite a ways behind the rest of her gang.

The officer beside Karlie raised his gun. "What do you want me to do?" he asked. Karlie felt her mouth go dry. This could be our only chance.

"Detective Kloss?" The officer called to her again, more urgently. Catastrophe had nearly reached the base of the branch; a few more seconds and she'd be able to scramble down the trunk and disappear. "Do you want me to shoot?"

Karlie gulped, but knew her boss would never forgive her if they passed up this opportunity. "Yes," she whispered. "But remember what the commissioner said."

Nodding, the officer stepped in front of Karlie. He took aim, and a shot rang out, shattering the silence. A terrified screech was followed by the thump of a body hitting the ground.

Karlie forced herself to look, but the moon was hiding behind clouds, and the ground was hard to make out. "Come on," she said to her squad. "Let's get down there and see what we caught."

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Catastrophe was in pain. Scratch that: Catastrophe was in agony. The bullet hadn't hit her, luckily, but it had hit the branch she had been clinging to, shattering it into many pieces that embedded themselves in her hands and arms, not to mention making her lose her grip and fall to the ground.

The fall had hurt the most. While her arms were bleeding, the pain was only an annoying sting. But she was pretty sure that the fall had broken one of her ankles, if the sharp throb of pain coming from her lower leg was anything to go by. But she could hear the police making their way down the stairs, and the terror of being caught soon outweighed her pain.

Cat struggled to her feet and began to limp toward the woods as quickly as she could manage, recognizing that she didn't have much time. "Arsyn!" she called out quietly. "Arsyn! I need help! Where are you?"

Evidently her second-in-command was too far away to hear her, as were the rest of her crew, because no response came. Cat's eyes weren't fully adjusted to the dark yet, so she didn't have a very good idea of where she was going, and all she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears and the distant yells of the police officers.

Not so distant, she reminded herself. They could be upon her any second. If she could just make it to the woods...suddenly she stepped wrong and a blast of pain shot through her, making her feel dizzy. Oh god...where is Arsyn?

"Cat?" Catastrophe looked up to see Cut Throat's worried face staring down at her. When did I get on the ground? Huh.

"Cat? Can you stand?" Cut Throat whispered urgently. "They're a few hundred feet away, sweeping around the tree. They'll find our footprints soon enough - we've got to get into the woods. Can you get up?"

Cat let out a strangled whimper and rolled onto her front, managing to get one foot underneath her but holding back on the other one. Cut Throat gently helped her to stand, and the two did their best to hurry into the cover of the trees. They weren't a moment too soon; the cloud cover lifted and the moon reappeared seconds after, bathing the lawn in pale light.

Cat could hear the angry yells of the squad as they realized they were too late, which filled her with relief. Up to this point, she had been resolutely ignoring her ankle, but once they were a good distance into the woods, the pain reasserted itself and she had to pause.

Luckily, Frostbyte emerged from around a bush and quickly took in the situation before moving next to Catastrophe. "Help her onto my back," she said quietly to Cut Throat. Cat wanted to protest, but recognized that she probably wasn't getting anywhere fast on her own. Once situated on Frostbyte's back, clinging to her neck tightly, the three set off again to the rendezvous point where they had left their vehicles.

"Cut Throat?" Cat said dazedly, her mind feeling hazy with pain. The young woman turned and looked at her. "I'm sorry. I thought you might have been the mole. But you saved me."

"Don't worry about it, Catastrophe. You have a lot to keep track of and are doing your best to keep us all safe. I know you would have done the same for me," Cut Throat answered. Cat nodded sleepily, resting her head against Frostbyte's back.

"Thank goodness Arsyn had you guys wait for me near the edge of the woods. I'd be toast otherwise," she mumbled. Frostbyte and Cut Throat exchanged glances.

"She didn't," Frostbyte said. "We haven't seen her, actually. I hope they didn't capture her." Cat felt a chill of fear run through her, followed by anger. If those idiots had Arsyn, there would be hell to pay. No one messed with her family and got away with it.