Hannah, Brynn, and Nabile and We Hate Hanso Club 2: Part Four

     "I guess the DoN will have to pay for another window," Hannah said with a shrug as she tossed a rock through one of the windows and jumped through.

     "And I was considered the delinquent," Nabile commented to Brynn as they followed their friend in.

     "Hey, girls, don't look now, but look. I think we've got friends," Hannah said.

     The other two looked up and were dismayed to find a group of Neopets standing on the opposite side of the warehouse, looking at them angrily. The Meerca Brothers were standing there, covered in half dried paint and looking pretty pathetic.

     "You idiots!" a Kyrii cried. "You led them right here."

     "Yes, that was the plan," Brynn said as she rose to her feet and took up a fighting stance. "We're here to apprehend the Meerca Brothers, under power of the Defenders of Neopia. Surrender them and we'll leave peaceably."

     "But, if you want to do this the hard way, we will totally kick your butts," Hannah assured them.

     "Two of them are wearing high-heels. They look more like a fashion plate than a couple of Defenders. They are probably tourists who thought it would be fun to play Defenders for the day. We can take them," one of the gang on the other side snarked.

     "Ooh, you're making such a mistake. We're tourists, and fashionable ones, but we will totally wipe the floor with you for aiding and abetting felons," Nabile said, grinning widely. "The Kougra is a knight."

     They looked to the Kyrii who seemed to be in charge, and then to the Meerca Brothers.

     "Degrass, do we seriously want to take the chance that they are who they say they are? And for those two?" one asked.

     "They know where our warehouse is now. They'll probably have to report it when they take these two in, and you know they will spill all the details. Best to stop these three here."

     "Bring it!" Hannah cried with a little more glee than Nabile liked to hear.

     The other Neopets pulled out various weapons, and the girls raised their weapons into a fighting position. One of the Neopets, an Acara came running, swinging a cudgel that Brynn ducked under. She delivered a swift uppercut to his jaw and he went down and stayed down.

     Hannah charged forward at the group. They put their weapons up, ready to attack when she got too close. At the last moment, she used the staff to vault over them and landed behind a section of them, sweeping her staff and knocking their legs out from under them.

     Two of them charged Nabile, but she started spinning the nun-chucks, not expertly, but well enough to whack her opponents upside the head at the same time. They both went down, rubbing their heads and seeing stars. She parted them from their weapons and advised them to sit quietly. One of them took her advice. The other made a grab for her and she knocked his lights out with a well-placed nun-chuck to the head.

     Degrass himself had chosen to take on Brynn, and he was not the piece of cake her original opponent had proved to be. Hannah looked up from expertly wrestling one of the thugs into submission to see him duck under her roundhouse kick and follow it up with a swift jab. Brynn managed to deflect the blow with her arm, but she could feel the power in it. This Kyrii wasn't like the others, he knew what he was doing.

     She dropped under a punch and tried to sweep his legs out from under him with her leg, but he jumped over it. He followed up with a downward punch, but she dropped to the ground and rolled, then leapt back to her feet in time to deflect a punch and then a kick. She tried three quick jabs to his abdomen, but he dodged each of them expertly.

     A sweat broke out on her forehead as she wondered how she was going to beat him. He grinned confidently at her, obviously thinking he would be able to beat her. Then, his eyes suddenly rolled upwards and he dropped to the ground. Hannah was standing behind him, holding her staff out.

     "Sorry, Brynn, but the first rule you learn on Krawk Island is never to fight clean," Hannah commented as she looked down at the Kyrii she had just coshed. "He was pretty good for such a sharp dresser."

     "Isn't that what we were saying about us?" Nabile asked.

     "What we were saying about us is that we're awesome. Up high!" Hannah cried, raising her hand, and the others high-fived her.

     "Now, where did those little losers sneak off to?" Hannah said, after a moment, looking around.

     "There is a door open over there," Nabile pointed.

     "Oh, they are so not getting away this time," Hannah swore, running for the door.

     The three exited the building to find the Meerca Brothers trying to sneak away. Hannah used her staff to vault herself over them and turned to glare menacingly at them.

     "I have had more than enough of you. You want to make me more annoyed than I already am? Do you?" she demanded.

     The brothers looked at each other and then back at her before shaking their heads no.

     "Good. Now, hand over my necklace."

     Heermeedjet fished it out of his pocket and handed it to her. She put it back on while her friends tied up the brothers and Brynn hefted them over her shoulders.

     "What are we supposed to do about all those guys in the warehouse?" Nabile asked.

     "The packet that assistant gave us didn't say. I guess we report it and the DoN will handle it and anyone who is left by the time they show up. It's almost sunset, I just want to dump these two on the DoN and head to the hotel for dinner and bed," Brynn said as they started off.

     "Do you want me to carry one of them?" Hannah asked.

     "Nope, I'm good. The one good thing about them is that they aren't as heavy as they look."

     "Great, we'll go off our diets promptly!" Meerouladen cried gleefully.

     "Hey, Ixi!" Heermeedjet cried.

     "Let me guess, I have a spotty bum," Nabile said with a frown.

     "Hey, Brother, she knows," he whispered.

     "Fyora, the Defenders have to put up with these guys on a regular basis? I doubt they get paid enough for that," Brynn commented in disgust.

     "You have spotty bum too!"

     ***

     Brynn dumped the Meercas on the floor of the lobby back at the Defenders HQ with a sigh of relief. Orig the Great and the assistant from earlier stood there, grinning down at the Meerca Brothers.

     "Hey, guys, it's been too long!" Orig said with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

     "It was last week," Meerouladen complained.

     "Too long, considering you snuck out of your cell while your guard was beating his head against the wall after listening to the two of you for three hours straight. We keep warning them to use earplugs and watch the monitors. The Chia Police lose more officers because of mental trauma caused by you two than anything else," the assistant said.

     "We lose more friends that way, too," Heermeedjet said, pretending to sniffle.

     "I'll take them to a holding cell where they can wait until the Chia Police show up," Orig said.

     The assistant smiled at the girls. "There is some paperwork to fill out now. Fun, right? Sorry, ladies, but it keeps us running smoothly. We'll move you through it as fast as we can. Let's go."

     ***

     "I had a dream last night that something awful had befallen Jazan," Nabile said the next morning as they ate breakfast at an outdoor cafe. "I hate to leave you girls so soon, but I guess I miss my husband."

     "Aw, you're so adorable," Hannah crooned.

     "Oh, shut up," Nabile laughed.

     "I miss Hanso," Brynn said, stirring her coffee aimlessly. "I kind of thought he might follow me here. I mean, he knows where we are staying, so it wouldn't have been that hard to find me."

     "Huh, great, you two gloomy grey faeries are making me miss Kanrik," Hannah complained. "Maybe next time we do this, we should bring the boys along. I mean, Hanso doesn't get along well with them, but maybe they could all play nice for our sakes."

     "Ha, Hanso play nice with Jazan? In your dreams," Brynn snorted.

     "Not even for your sake?" Nabile asked.

     "Probably not," Brynn said, shoving the last of her breakfast in her mouth with a little more energy than was necessary.

     "Oh, my, borovan!" Hannah screeched, pointing.

     The other two turned to look and saw Hanso, Jazan and Kanrik exiting a carriage across the street. Hanso took point, hurrying towards them. Brynn jumped up, her cheeks crimson. She ran towards Hanso.

     "Sweetheart, I've been looking everywhere for you!" he cried.

     "Don't call me that, you oaf!" Brynn shouted at him, in an eerie replay of the last time all six of them had been thrown together.

     Only this time, Brynn's fist connected with Hanso's jaw and he went sprawling.

     "Yes, K.O.'d!" Hannah shouted gleefully and high-fived Nabile.

     "You broke my charismatic smile," Hanso whimpered.

     "That makes the last few hours of my life worth it," Jazan said with a contented sigh, stopping to watch Hanso sprawling on the ground.

     "The last few hours?" Brynn asked, looking over at him. "Just what are you doing with Hanso anyway, King Jazan?"

     Nabile and Hannah got up from the table to join the others on the street where Hanso was sprawled and the kings watching the scene with some relish.

     "Fool that I was, I figured he'd already come looking for you here, and I wound up searching unpleasant places with him looking for the three of you," Jazan said.

     "Where, darling?" Nabile asked as she and Hannah joined them.

     "Grave Danger."

     Nabile covered her mouth to hold back a laugh. "Oh, darling. Hannah did try to convince us to go down there, but Brynn and I aren't quite as adventurous as our friend. Besides, I left you a note promising I wouldn't do anything like that."

     "I didn't know there was a note," he said, pulling her into an embrace. She returned it and gave Hannah a look that told her to shut up.

     Hannah flounced over to Kanrik and pouted up at him. "You too? You went down there without me?"

     "Only to haul you back to the surface whether you liked it or not," he told her as he handed her a large pouch. "I got you this to make up for it."

     Hannah opened it and looked inside, the pout instantly vanishing. "Ooh, Kanrik, this is almost enough to make me forgive you."

     Brynn looked down at Hanso, who was still sitting dazedly on the street, and smiled reluctantly. He hadn't been off being doing whatever and forgetting about her. He had even put aside his rivalry with Jazan to try to find her. Mad as she was that he had ditched her in the first place, it kind of made it up to her. She dropped onto her knees and hugged him tight.

     "Oh, Hanso. You may be a lout, but you're my lout."

     "Aw!" Hannah and Nabile cried in unison.

     "Oh, shut up, you two. I didn't ruin your moments," Brynn snapped playfully.

     "I don't suppose our plans are completely ruined, are they?" Hanso asked.

     "A day late is better than never, and better than I expected from you," Brynn said. "I'm sure the rest of the week will be salvageable."

     "We should totally do something fun too, Kanrik," Hannah said cuddling up against him with a sly smile.

     "We are not going back to Grave Danger, Hannah," Kanrik said with a grim smile. "We'll be going home."

     "You are such a stick in the mud," Hannah complained.

     "And you're more excitement than is healthy for anyone," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She chuckled and shook her head, acknowledging the truth of the statement.

     "I suppose we should get home too," Nabile said to Jazan.

     "Yes, thank you. I've had more adventure than I wanted," Jazan replied.

     "I can't wait to do this again," Hannah said to Brynn and Nabile.

     "Let's never do this again," Jazan said as Kanrik and Hanso nodded in hearty agreement.

The End