𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃

28. 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹

THE LANGS AND HOPE FLEW THROUGH THE BATTLEFIELD UNDETECTED. Danielle swirls mid-air before following Hope through a hole in the glass window; they quickly flew through the smaller version of their time machine. Hope and Scott take up the front seats while Danielle returns to her average size on the floor, between the two adults.

Her helmet retracts back as the teenager groans in discomfort; Danielle's legs suddenly felt cramped with all the mess in the backseat.

"It's a mess back here," Hope scoffs, inspecting the back of the truck.

Danielle huffs. "It looks like the same that I remembered."

Scott clicks a few buttons for the machine, but it wouldn't ignite back to life; there was something wrong with the device, and it wouldn't activate, which was worrying Scott. The man huffs, slamming his hand against the controls in frustration. Danielle looks up in concern.

"It's--It's dead," the man locks his jaw.

"What?"

"It's dead," Scott pulls out a bunch of wires from the headliner of the van. He searches blindly underneath the steering wheel.

Hope furrows her brows, looking at Scott with a skeptical glint in her eyes. "Wait, you know how to do that?"

Danielle wasn't surprised, though it's most likely another reason why Scott is constantly getting arrested. She didn't seem annoyed that her dad is using his thieving tricks, she usually would, but Danielle learned to embrace her dad and his faults.

The teenager scoffs, grinning proudly as she places a hand on Scott's shoulders. "Dad has been to prison," Danielle hears her dad chuckles a bit as he splices the wires, clicking a few buttons. It lit only a bit. "He's pretty good at the whole thieving crap."

Scott glances at his daughter. "Thanks, Peaches," he pats Danielle's hand. "That really means a lot."

"Yeah, well, maybe less talking and more . . . whatever you're doing," Danielle points to the whole mess that Scott is holding, the teen smiles tightly.

But the man sat there for a second, just smiling at his daughter because it was so surreal to have her and back; Scott loves the fact that Danielle is here (although he rather her be home and safe), the man was beyond happy to have her back.

Danielle points to the wires. "Dad!"

He opens his mouth but chuckles lightly. He nods. "Right."

Hope smiles at the two, and maybe it made Scott a little more attractive, but that's beside the point--the point being that the woman knew she fell in love with the right man.

As he continues to do work on the van, Hope and Danielle kept a lookout.

"So, Dad, what'd you do for the past five years that we've been gone?" Danielle starts a conversation. She aims her arm towards the window, clicking the trigger that shot out her stingers, causing an Outrider to collapse. "Hopefully, you didn't miss me too much."

Scott clicks the buttons, and the machine whirls to life before falling short. The man grunts before splices the wires one again. "You know, we really missed you. Wasn't the same with you, Dani."

Danielle raises a brow with sass, stinging an alien that was charging after their friends. "We?" Then she freezes. We. They. Everything was happening so fast that the girl hadn't thought of the chances; she remembered the last memory she had before she vanished. "You mean . . . Cassie never . . .?"