Indeed, it's not very long at all before the door to their hideout explodes, and a teenage girl storms in wielding a massive sledgehammer.

"Surrender, assholes!" she yells. "I'm legally obligated to claim that I don't want to hurt you!"

The assholes, perhaps predictably, do not in fact surrender! They are not precisely specced for defending against a teenage girl wielding a massive sledgehammer, but they're going to try.

They do have someone with firepowers though!

"This is what we made you for!" one of them yells at him, shoving him violently forward. "Burn her."

He shakes, folding in on himself, and shakes his head violently. "I don't- You said-"

She ignores the terrified boy, instead picking up the nearest asshole and throwing him at the next-nearest. "You have chosen poorly!" she says, swinging her fuckoff giant hammer into another one's kneecap.

From behind her, a white blur zips into the room and starts hitting people with a quarterstaff.

And a teenage boy walks in, and glares at one of the cultists, who is suddenly frozen in a block of ice. "Shit!" the boy exclaims. "Bad magic -" The ice melts instantly, and he glares again, and the cultist sinks into the floor a few feet and sticks there. "Better! I think."

Aaa? Aaaaa. Ice: not good. ...Person sinking into the floor, also not good, but not as bad?? Probably? He starts to curl down on himself, wrapping his arms over his head.

"You owe us!" one of the cultists yells, aiming a kick towards him.

He shies back, and yelps slightly, "Please, I can't, don't make me, please."

That guy: thrown into a wall before the kick can connect. He splinters the wooden siding and slides down, unconscious at the very least.

"You're making me mad," he says to the rest of them, sounding more nervous than intimidating. "I really think you should give up before you get hurt."

He finishes curling up, crouched down on the ground, and terrifyingly small. And...yes, that's flames starting to flicker over his hands.

At least some of the cultists do seem to have enough sense to decide that surrendering is probably in their best interests. A handful don't, but they're probably fairly easy to handle, especially based on how the fighting has gone so far.

The remaining combatants are taken down with a combination of brute force (on the girl's part), finesse (on the white blur's) and bizarre random magical effects (on the boy's). The girl sets to ziptying their wrists behind their backs, the white blur resolves into some kind of... mouse-creature... whose hands glow as he sets the injured cultists' broken bones, and the boy kneels down next to the cultists' hostage.

"Hi," he says. "You, uh, okay?"

He flinches, and the flames around his hands flare. "M'sorry, m'sorry," he mumbles.

"Um!"

It suddenly feels like the flames are pushing against something. They flicker out, leaving only a faint smell of charred wood.

-Oh. Oh that's- Perturbing, but also good, relieving, that he doesn't have to fight with that...

"M'sorry. I can- I can do better at- Thank you?"

"You're welcome, I guess? I'm H- I'm Wiz Kid. These are my friends Leuco and Olafsdottir. We're going to take these guys to the police. Do you want to come with us?"

"Ah- yes,sir?" (He doesn't not appear to be taking that as an actual question so much as an order.)

"...I'm 15. I don't think you're allowed to call somebody 'sir' unless they're, like, at least 20."

"Oh- ah. What- should I call you then?"

"Uh, I don't know if you need to call me anything? Witness me, not calling you anything. -speaking of which, what's your name? Or your codename, if you've got one."

"Oh, ah- they- called me Nova?"

"...do you... have parents."

He shrugs.

"...okay. Um, you're a mutant, though. So that helps, we can get you enrolled in Whateley instead of just, uh, sending you straight to the foster system."

"Our prisoners are bound and secured," Olafsdottir reports. "I also went through their pockets, but none of them had anything particularly interesting. Besides money, which Leuco tells me I am not allowed to keep. So we can take them to the police."

Leuco nods. "I've healed the ones who needed healing. You really did a number on that one guy, Wiz Kid, I think his spine was broken."

"Not intentionally! Um, Nova, can you follow us to the police station and we'll deal with your situation after we've got the cops on this place?"

He flinches a little at the comment about the broken spine, but nods earnestly the question. "Yes si- Yes, I can do that."

"Good! Let's go interact with cops, which is my favorite thing to do."

The party of teenagers makes its way out into the forest surrounding the cult hideout, and from there they make their way into the nearby town of Dunwich. Wiz Kid is in the lead, with Olafsdottir and Leuco walking slightly behind Nova, unconsciously forming a sort of honor guard.

Nova makes himself very small as he walks, shoulders hunched in, and arms wrapped around himself, seemingly trying to avoid notice.

They reach the police station in pretty good time. Wiz Kid nods to the cop at the desk. "We're here to report some crime."

"What's the crime?" the cop asks, obviously bored.

"There was a cult in the woods and they kidnapped this kid," Wiz Kid nods at Nova, "and they were abusing him and shit. We beat the living hell out of them and rescued him."

"Go play pretend somewhere else, kid."

"I'm reporting a fucking crime, asshole!"

"You kiss your mommy with that mouth?" the cop snickers.

"My mom's dead. Yours, though-"

Leuco puts a hand on his shoulder. "Let me handle this." He steps forward and takes out his wallet, flipping it open to his ID. "We're from Whateley Academy. You may have heard of it. If you haven't, ask your boss. We aren't joking, or playing pretend, or... whatever you think is going on here."

The cop grimaces. "So, you go to some fancy private school for muties and you think that means you can boss me around?"

"No. I go to 'some fancy private school for muties', and unrelatedly, I can boss you around because you're a public servant, and this is your Goddamn job. And, more relevantly, we're not leaving until we speak to someone with actual authority."

He rolls his eyes and gets up to fetch his boss. Leuco sighs heavily after he's gone. "What a jackass."

Nova has shrunk more during the argument.

And when the cop leaves, very quietly: "I- ah, you don't- have to- not for me- It's not-" worth it.

"Oh, this isn't just for you," Olafsdottir says. "Those guys did try to kill us - incompetently, but they did. I consider this purely a retaliatory measure. Since I couldn't take their money or kill them in turn, I wish to do them harm in a legally sanctioned manner."

"What A- Olafsdottir is trying to say," Leuco says hurriedly, "is that this would need to be done regardless. Because these people committed a crime, and it's important that people who do bad things know that bad things will happen to them in turn."

"Also it's not that much of a hardship," Wiz Kid adds. "I got to strongly imply that I fucked that guy's mom, and everything."

...Yeah, that does seem to confuse Nova any, but he nods. "O-okay."

The jackass comes back, trailing his boss, who is significantly larger and more jovial-looking than he is. The boss frowns when he sees the teenagers.

"Whateley?" he asks Leuco.

"Yes."

The officer sits at the desk, frowning deeper. "What seems to be the problem?"

"This boy-" Leuco nods at Nova "-was kidnapped and abused by what seems to be a cult operating out of the woods nearby. We dealt with the cultists who were present; they're currently ziptied in their hideout, and we left one of our teammates to watch over them."

"Shit," the officer says. "How did you find out about this cult?"

"My familiar found them. He couldn't be here for the whole thing, unfortunately."

"Your familiar?" the jackass says. "What, are you a witch?"

"Yeah, I've had congress with the fucking Beast. Can you shut up while the grown-ups are talking?"

"You can't talk to me like-" The jackass's mouth keeps moving, but no sound comes out.

"Sorry, my powers aren't totally controlled," Wiz Kid says blandly. "Should wear off in a minute. As you were saying, cop who knows what he's doing?"

"Well," says the cop who knows what he's doing, "I'll take a squad to check out this cult, obviously, and get them into the holding cells. Did they seem to have powers of any kind?"

"Not that they used against us - uh, Nova, did any of those guys have powers?"

"I- I don't- know? They didn't- Show me. But ah-" Stops, twitches, like he isn't sure he's supposed to be saying this.

"...you're safe now?" Wiz Kid tries.

He takes a deep breath, and tries again. "They- did something. Put something...in me? That made the fire...more?"

"The fire?" the officer asks.

"Yeah, he's got some kind of fire powers. So they - improved your powers, somehow, by putting something inside you? Was it like a gem, or a cybernetic implant, or..."

"Harder to...control, now," Nova admits, a little reluctantly. "And I- it was...not those. Something...I...absorbed something? It was...bright? Hot."

Olafsdottir looks at him oddly. "Hold still," she says, and pokes him on the shoulder. There's a feeling like she's pulling on something, like there's a second skin on top of his skin that she's pinching.

"It's a spirit of some kind," she diagnoses, letting go. "They put a spirit in him. A big one. But there's something strange about it. It feels... wrong. When I interacted with it, it didn't talk, it just... crackled at me. It was like trying to talk to a fire."

He flinches a little at the poke, and again at the tugging sensation. "I- I'm sorry, I don't know- I don't know- what they did."

Wiz Kid clears his throat. "Well, whatever they did, they also kidnapped a kid and tried to kill us."

"Yes," the officer says. "We can get in the paddywagon and you kids can lead me to this hideout." He stands up and heads for the exit, gesturing for the kids to follow him.

And Nova will...continue to respond to gestures and words almost automatically, as though very used to taking things as orders that need to be obeyed immediately.

Wiz Kid will continue to not really know what to do about this, but be concerned anyway! "You okay?" he whispers, for want of a better idea.

Nova doesn't answer for a moment (trying to work out the right answer), and then half-nods, half-shrugs. "Yes?"

That's... not actually super reassuring, but okay.

They reach the paddywagon and pile in, and the officer (who introduces himself belatedly as Sheriff Cook) drives according to their directions until they reach the cult hideout. 

They’re greeted by a saurian-looking fellow wearing armor and a holographic visor, who drops down from the roof and waves one taloned hand. “No escapes,” he says. “I felt extraneous.”

Nova continues to be very small and not seeming to know what to do, and trying to stay out of people's way, and attention. He's a bit startled to find there was another person in this team, despite having been told that.

"Archangel," he introduces himself to Nova. "Didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. You're Nova, right?"

(The cops go in and start leading ziptied cultists into the back of the wagon.)

He gievs a rapid nod. "Ah, yessir?"

(When the cultists start being lead out, he flinches away, half tries to hide behind someone.)

“...Cool.” He scratches the fringe of scales at the back of his head. “D’you like... music?”

He's quiet for a moment, before: "-M'sorry, I don't know?"

“Well. That’s unfortunate. Do you want to hear some?”

-That's a hard question. He doesn't- know?

"-Ah. If you- want, sir?"

Archangel reflects on this for a moment, then, instead of commenting on how this is actually in no way a helpful answer, taps a button on the side of his visor. Music starts playing.

It's classical, mostly violin and flute. It's a bit tinny, due to the visor's small speakers, but it's nice.

-Oh. Oh. That is nice.

(There is, on his lips, a tiny, unpracticed smile, as he sways minutely with the music.)

Music continues, Garrus nodding along as the final cultists are piled into the back of the van. Eventually the entire cult is packed in like clowns in a Volkswagen Beetle, and the cops gesture for the teens to get back in the front.

He goes still for a moment when the cops gesture of the teens to get back in, but he's not going to disobey them. Even if he will hesitate to see what the other teens do first.

Teens get in the front half of the van!

"It's okay, there's a barrier between us and them," Wiz Kid whispers.

...Okay, barrier is good, he's still uncertain, but he'll get in as well! And hope that none of the cultists seem inclined to say anything.

(They don't appear to be, more than a little cowed by the situation.)

It might also be the fact that the chaos mage who almost killed several of them keeps glaring in their general direction.

That is probably a large contributing factor as to why they're keeping their mouths shut!

Nova looks, a little, like he wants to curl his legs up to his chest, but is resisting the urge to do so, settling for hugging himself and hunching his shoulders down.

Leuco puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes gently. "As soon as we get to town, that's the last you'll have to see of them," he murmurs.

He stills a little under the hand, but the touch doesn't hurt, feels almost...comforting. Even if the words don't seem realy. "Ah- what- happens to me then?" He flinches some, at his own audacity for asking that.

"Then we're going to take you to Whateley, and we'll figure out what happens then - most likely you'll be enrolled at the school, and they'll teach you to control your power. You'll be fed and kept safe and taught how to live on your own, as well."

...That doesn't particularly sound real either, but he nods slowly, as though he might possibly understand that, believe that. "O-okay. I-" (He wants to say he can earn his keep, but expects that it would be better to tell whichever people get to make the decision about where he's staying.)

Leuco squeezes his shoulder again.

"...It'll be better," he says eventually. "Better than you can believe right now. But- the worst possibilities from here are still better than what they did."

He nods again, trying to ignore the faint, alien twinge of something (hope) that's trying to grow. "I- thank you."

(-Which is when one of the cultists manages to work up the audacity to snort.)

The cultist abruptly feels an invisible cord tightening around his neck, tighter, tighter-

and it fades. After a few seconds Wiz Kid re-opens his eyes and stops breathing quite so carefully, and turns to stare through the barrier. "Please shut the fuck up. For both of our sakes."

He gets two wide-eyed looks for that. The first from the cultist is terrified as the man gasps for breath, and obviously wants to claw at his throat. He does, however, shut up, and will not make another sound for the rest of the journey.

The other, from Nova is something more like awe.

"Sorry about that," he says to Nova. "I really, um, don't have that much control over my power, and it does things that I want to do even when I shouldn't want to do them."

-And now there's a spark of something else, a shy, tentative look of almost...kinship? Another person who finds it hard to control their powers, it's...nice to know he's not alone in that?

"I- it's- it's okay? I don't- It's okay?"

"Thanks."

He looks consideringly at Nova, and then a breeze ruffles his hair. Inside the car, which does not have its windows open.

He startles a little at first, and then...smiles, that tiny unpracticed smile because it's...nice? And interesting to watch!

The teens seem content to sit relatively peaceably for the rest of the car ride.

Nova settles a little as well, not relaxed, but certainly less tense than he was, somehow, and mostly tries not to draw attention to himself.

Eventually they come to the police station.

Sheriff Cook nods respectfully to the teens. "Alright, are you all going to the shuttle station to get back to Whateley?"

"Unless you need us for paperwork," Archangel says blandly.

"No, we'll handle all that mess." The sheriff grins. "Specifically, Officer Serrano will handle all that, because he grievously mishandled taking your report, and we don't appreciate that."

Archangel nods sharply. "Glad to see you take discipline seriously. And you know where to contact us if you need us again, so... ciao."

Nova is a little uncertain what he's supposed to do, but the teens had said he was supposed to go with them, so he...stays close, and hopes that the police officers don't decide that he shouldn't.

The teens lead him to the shuttlebus station! And Wiz Kid gestures, and instead of the odd stretchy fabric they were wearing they're now dressed in approximately normal human clothes.

"So, uh, re-introduction time, since we're no longer superheroing! I'm Harry. Harry Dresden."

"Gareth Van Akkeren, nice to meet you properly."

"Jojo Weiss." Jojo bows shallowly.

"Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins. Generic pleasantry."

"Ah- um- nice to...meet you? Again?" (Was that what you were supposed to say in this situation? He has no idea.)

"Yes, good, exactly that sort of generic pleasantry. I'm glad we're on the same wavelength."

"Be nice, Anya."

"You've almost certainly known me long enough to know that was me being nice."

Anya's response does appear to have reassured Nova somewhat? At least that he hadn't entirely messed up that interaction. "I- it- I didn't--mind?"

(Never mind that if that wasn't nice it was still far nicer than he was used to.)

"Anya sometimes comes off as sarcastic without meaning to be," Jojo says. "I was worried you might think she was making fun of you."

"Which I was not."

"Probably. I never know what's going on inside her head."

"Oh." He pauses, obviously thinking. "Ah- thank you?" he directs at Jojo after a moment. "But ah- you don't have to- it would've been okay? I can- take it?" (Even if she was making fun of him, that was normal.)

"I try to only make fun of people who enjoy when I make fun of them, or whom I personally dislike. You fit neither category, as far as I can tell, although I have been surprised by people's reactions to me making fun of them before."

...That does not quite seem to compute, but he nods again. "I- see? Okay. Ah- thank you?" (He feels a bit stuck with those words, but they seem to be the only ones that fit, and if in doubt, gratitude had rarely got him in trouble.)

"You are confused. I am bad at explaining. Jojo, help?"

Jojo winces. "I was saving this one for later. Um. Nova, have you been introduced to the concept that most people don't want other people to suffer?"

He blinks at them. "Ah-" He isn't sure how to answer that. "I don't- Yes?" (He doesn't sound very sure.) "But-" that doesn't apply to me.

He twists his fingers together, feeling the fire pushing against the inside of his skin.

Jojo inhales, then pauses. He looks at Anya, and something passes between them.

Something that appears to irritate her!

Harry nods rapidly.

Jojo turns back to Nova and forces a smile. "Let's... talk about this later. On campus."

"Within reach of a fire extinguisher."

"Shh!"

Nova's eyes dart rapidly between them, trying to figure out what's happening, but not able to. He flinches at the mention of the fire extinguisher, and then freezes. "I- it's- I can- I won't-"

Suddenly he's calmer.

It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel bad, either, but it's less like he calmed down, more like someone threw a blanket over his panic. It's still there, it's just... distant, fuzzy, like it takes a second for the impulses to reach his brain.

"I'm sorry about that," Jojo says. "We're not going to turn a fire extinguisher on you, that was a very ill-timed joke on Anya's part. We just don't want you to panic and catch fire until we're on campus, where damage can be repaired easily and we don't have to worry about bystanders. Okay?"

-Oh, that's- Weird. But- at least he doesn't feel like he is going to catch fire right now? That's something at least?

"I- yessir, I- I'm sorry- yes, okay."

Jojo lets up on the blanket of calm slowly, giving the panic time to recede on its own. The bus (more of a van, really) arrives soon after, and they pile in.

Nova breathes, slow and careful, and very controlled, and doesn't let the panic take hold again, and keeps the fire forced down, even though it still feels kind of angry. (He can be good!)

He piles into the van-bus-thing after them.

Jojo and Gareth sit to either side of Nova, with Harry and Anya opposite. Gareth looks like someone who is very perturbed by something, and is trying not to let it show on his face.

Nova continues to keep himself (even) small(er), but shoots the occasional concerned look to Gareth, not sure what to make of his current reaction.

Gareth notices this the first time he glances over, and smooths his expression over further. "I- sorry, I'm just thinking. No need to worry about it."

Nova nods hurriedly, and looks back to his hands. "-Oh. Ah- sorry. Yes."

Gareth's face very carefully doesn't twitch. He takes out a screen-reader and reads something for the rest of the trip back to Whateley.

Nova keeps himself small, sneaking looks out of the window when he can, but mostly keeping his eyes on his lap.

He may notice a very faint feeling of warmth-and-comfort emanating from the mouse-boy to the left of him, who appears to be taking a nap.

...He's a little unsettled by that, but mostly...it's nice? And he lets it wash over him and kind of basks in it.

They reach their destination eventually. Anya shakes Jojo awake. "I don't know why or how you took a nap on a fifteen-minute shuttlebus trip."

"Large family with a propensity for long car trips," Jojo yawns. "I get in a motor vehicle and my brain thinks it's naptime."

That's...actually kind of adorable? Not that Nova is going to say that, but he's definitely thinking it. (Also a little...he's not sure what, envy? Maybe? He's not sure at what. The implied warmth of that memory from Jojo?)

Jojo smiles sleepily at Nova as they all exit the bus.

There's a tall woman in a well-tailored suit, who looks about thirty, waiting for them with her hand on the pommel(?) of an engraved platinum scepter.

"Ms. Carson!" Harry says. "Um. Hello."

     "Hello, mister Dresden," Ms. Carson says grimly. "Would you care to explain why you chose to undertake a hostage rescue mission without informing me or anyone in my administration?"

"Well-" Harry begins.

     "I recommend you think about your answer for a significantly longer time," the woman snaps. She turns to Nova and her expression undergoes a curious alchemy, changing from the flinty glare she had turned on Harry to a sort of comforting-an-injured-animal neutral stare. She takes her hand off the scepter and blinks slowly. "Hello, Nova. We have a lot to discuss, but I want to establish first that I'm not going to hurt you, even if you do something that I don't like or that causes me trouble. I don't expect you to believe me yet, but I'm telling you now so that I have something to refer back to. Alright?"

Nova shrinks in on himself at Ms Carson's manner towards Harry, and shrinks even more when her attention turns to him. He nods rapidly at her words. "I- Ah- yes, ma'am?" (It's said far too quickly to really be true, even if it isn't a lie.)

Jojo steps forward. "I think it might be a good idea for Nova to get some rest before anyone does more stressful things around him," he says quietly but firmly.

     Ms. Carson nods, after a moment's scrutiny. "That does sound like a good idea, if Nova agrees. Nova, would you prefer to rest before we talk about your enrolment, or would you prefer to get the talking out of the way and then rest?"

Nova's eyes go wide, and he twists his fingers together. "I- I don't-" Starts shaking a little bit. "Whatever- whatever you think...best? Ma'am?"

She raises her hands placatingly. "It's alright, it's alright. Why don't I take you to Hawthorne Cottage and get you set up in one of the spare rooms, and we'll talk after you've had a while to recover. It'll give me time to handle the paperwork."

He twitches slightly at the raised hands - even if he is out of arms reach currently. He nods again. "I- ah, yes, ma'am?" (Getting some rest does sound...nice? Even if he's not entirely sure he trusts that that's what's meant...)

"All right. You four," she says to the others, "stay here."

Then she waves her hands, trailing blue sparks behind them, and they're in a different place. It's a room, white and somewhat clinical-looking, with a bed and a window and a little fireplace full of wood. There's also an intricately patterned rug on the floor, and a small stuffed bear on the bed.

"Nothing in this room is vulnerable to temperatures below two thousand degrees Fahrenheit," Ms. Carson says. "Except the wood in the fireplace, obviously. Which is there in case you are more comfortable around fire, in which case you can set it on fire. On the off-chance that you are able to damage anything in this room, we will be impressed, not upset. I'll leave you here for... let's say nine hours. If you want to speak to me any sooner than that, simply press the button by the door and I'll be happy to talk. Someone will bring food in a few minutes. Any questions?"

He startles at suddenly being in a new place, and twists his fingers slightly harder - a flicker of flames goes over them before he can stop it. He looks around a little wildly (it's strange, missing the presence of the four teens he'd just met today, but they'd been nice to him, hadn't hurt him).

"I-" He goes still, looking around the room. "Ah- duties, ma'am?"

She considers this question. "Your duties will be to eat until you feel full, paying attention to whether you feel sick from overeating at any point and stopping immediately if you do, and then to try to go to sleep. Is that a useful framing for you?"

-It doesn't feel like enough, but he doesn't know how to say that, and-

-And right now, he doesn't have the energy to try and explain, so he just nods - more acquiesance than agreement.

Ms. Carson nods, waves her hands again, and vanishes.

Very shortly after, someone opens the door. He's dark-skinned, agonizingly thin, about eight feet tall but hunched slightly, with long arms tipped with savage claws extending from his shoulders and a secondary set of more normal arms extending from his chest. His legs are digitigrade, and he has a long barbed tail. He has spikes running down his spine, and coming out of the backs of his knees, and on both sets of elbows. His eyes are solid black. He's also holding a large tray piled high with food, which he lays on the end table by the bed.

"Enjoy," he says mildly. "Headmistress just said to get food, no specifics, so I tried to get some of everything, on the assumption that something would be appropriate and that if you had allergies she'd have told me."

Nova stares at the amount of food. "I- ah- there's- I don't need-" He shivers slightly and wraps his arms around himself.

He winces. "You definitely need it. Not all of it, not unless you're an Energizer of some description, but you're almost as skinny as I am."

"Haven't done anything to earn it?"

The monster-boy shakes his head slowly. "Not how this works. Louis, little help?"

An entirely ordinary-looking man of about thirty pops his head around the doorframe. "Hmm. Nova, when Elizabeth told you to eat, she didn't think it was going to be an easy task, but she did tell you to try. Would it help if Peter here ate what you didn't, so you don't feel it's being wasted?"

He glances between them, shaking slightly, a moment where he was trying to work out if this was a trick, a test, if there was something intended and-

"Ah- I-" He shivers again, instinct telling him to drop to his knees, and when he takes half a step closer to the end table, his knees sort of...give way. He's not sure if it's instinct, or exhaustion, but it lands him on his knees on the floor and he doesn't bother trying to get back up.

"Maybe?" he manages to say anyway, hoping it's the right answer.