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"Would you please stop pacing, girl?" IMWNL exclaimed. "You're giving the rest of us a migrane."

"Not what I was expecting my first day as a net.hero to be like," moaned SNB Lass. "One of us is dead, the rest of us locked up, and the killer is the receptionist, fer crying out loud."

"JUST WHAT I WAS THINKING!"

"Murder! Murder! Murder most fowl! And, I, even I, the Great One, am locked in a cage, not guilded, NO! but chrome-plated! To War we shall march, and then their lousy toupés shall we use to nest our young!"

"Unless you have an idea for getting out of here," Stacy retorted, grabbing the Great Oozelfinch by his (relatively) long neck, "SHUT UP!"

"Is... is there a c-c-couch i-in h-h-here?" he managed to choke out.

"No. This is a jail cell. And jail cells aren't known for comfort." IMWNL knocked on the wooden plank he was sitting on.

"What good would a couch do us?" SNB Lass asked.

"Ah.... No reason."

"At least one person in the LNH doesn't believe that the people in the adjacent jail cell killed the Living Monotone," Fearless stated, wandering into the area outside the cell. "However, that LNHer is not Ultimate Ninja."

"We're sunk," SNB Lass groaned. "Well, it's been nice knowing ya all. Hope we get adjacent cells in prison."

"We can't start thinking like that, gang!" Stacy exclaimed. "That creep's still out there! For all we know, one of us was his real target. Or maybe someone else entirely is. It's up to us to get out of here and clear our names."

"Great," IMWNL. "Breaking out of jail will do wonders for our case." "Well, I'm not gonna just sit here on my tail and let them do whatever they want with us," Stacy exclaimed. "I'm getting out of here, and I think you should, too."

"SHE MAKES SENSE!"

"Of course," IMWNL stated. "We must get out of here. It's the only way."

"I'm in," SNB Lass stated. "Though I'm sure I'll end up regretting this."

"Dittos!" the GO warbled.

"But how are we going to get out of here?" IMWNL stated.

"Simple," Stacy replied. "We're outlaw net.heroes. Which means, we do best with property damage. Lots and lots of property damage. CAP, the wall?"

"WITH PLEASURE!"

"This is the LNH, kid," IMWNL informed her. "Even if the alarm was activated, it'd be too late for anyone to notice."

"HEY! WHERE'S THE OOZELFINCH?"

"Who needs him?" demanded Skunk Girl. "Let's get moving. If he wants to join in, he can find us later!"

Bursting into the flight.thingee hangar, the team came face to face with Bicycle Repair Lad as he returned from the tool closet with a large wrench.

"Uh? Oh, hallo. And what might I do for you toda..."

*KLONK*

BRLad hit the floor with a large goose egg forming atop his head.

"Hope you didn't hit him too hard," IMWNL said, stooping down to drag BR Lad back to the closet. "Just hope you haven't given him a concussion."

"'m gettin' better," BR Lad groaned as CAPTAIN CAPITALIZE held him up while IMWNL bound and gagged him.

Putting away her Rolling Pin of Doom, Shake-N-Bake Lass walked over to the nearest flight.thingee. Looking up the entrance ramp, she thought she could hear someone inside warbling a happy tune.

"Guys!" she hissed at the others. "There's somebody else here!"

"IS IT CONTRAPTION MAN?" CAP'N CAPS demanded.

"Most likely Renegade Programmer," IMWNL stated. "He was supposed to be helping Bicycle Repair Lad fix the controls."

Opening the hatch to the Corbomite Moonshine, SNB Lass did a double-take as she eyed the diminutive figure sitting in the pilot's seat, warbling happily to himself.

" o/~ It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater. o/~" "How did you get here?" she asked.

"Greetings my breaded bouncing babely cohort in conspiracy! Long have I awaited the arrival of you serviceman-smashing slow pokes, anticipating that when at last we met in this the form of flight to freedom, we would be joined once more for mirth and menace mangling! And that's for me to know and for you to find out. Dibs on the pilot seat!" Tossing the Great Oozelfinch uncerimoniously towards the back of the flight.thingee, IMWNL and CAP'N CAPS slipped into the pilot and co-pilot seats.

"Let's hope they got around to getting Windows 95 out of the systems of this bird," IMWNL muttered, "or this is gonna be one short trip."

"PUNCH IT!"

The team was thrown back in their seats, as the flight.thingee surged forward, full afterburners, towards the closed hangar doors.

"WE'RE GONNA DIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!" screamed the Oozelfinch from his place, plastered against the back wall of the cabin.

"Shut up, runt!" SNB Lass yelled. "Does this crate have any weapons?"

"Of course, they're required by law!" IMWNL shouted back.

Using his spare key to open the closet, he found BRLad hanging on a rack of hacksaws, bound and gagged with Kiwi Tape.

"Bicycle Repair Lad. Are you OK?"

"I've had worse."

"What happened?"

"She turned me into a newt."

"A newt?"

"I got better."

After calling down to the monitoring station, UN learned of the escape of the rogue LNHers, and made a note to assign Procrastination Lad a more fitting post: that of the LNH's ambassador to the Oozelfinches.

Smiling to himself, he made several selections from the assembled files, and closed the rest down.

"Soon," he grinned, "you will be out of my hair, and the Net.amorph will have his revenge."

"I think you should listen to this, first," Shake-N-Bake Lass stated, fiddling with the on-board radio.

"Ultimate Ninja has disavowed the actions of these former LNHers," the person on the radio was saying, "stating that they are wanted for questioning in the death of a fellow LNHer, Living Monotone, and for the theft of one of the LNH flight.thingees. These 'a.outSiders', as the Ninja has called them, are to be considered armed and dangerous. If you see them, do not draw their attention. We repeat, do not draw their attention. Ultimate Ninja has stated that the LNH is organizing a special task force to track them down and bring them to justice...."

"I've heard enough," SNB Lass grunted, shutting it off.

"'a.outSiders', eh?" Stacy commented. "Well, it'll do for now. What's our next move?"

Looking up from a game of chess that he and CAP'N CAPS were playing, the Great Oozelfinch spouted:

"Rook to king's rear end! Bump 'em in the schnozz! Lump 'em together in the same Volkswagon Bug, and carry all their eggs in one Jolt bottle! Cumquats will not suffice, nor will surrender! Now are the times in which we live, and the nine lives we live must turn to the furtherance of purpose perpetual wherein we all became heroes of the beach! Califor.net, here we come!"

"That's one country heard from," SNB Lass muttered. "I say we head for Sig.ago, and enlist Dvandom Force's aid."

"I've got a log cabin up in Ca.net.a," IMWNL remarked. "We could hide out there for a while."

"Talk about cliché," SNB Lass retorted. "A bunch of fugitives hiding out in a log cabin in Ca.net.a? Gimme a break."

"Well, it's better than getting into a fight with Dvandom Force," Skunk Girl commented. "This is the Looniverse, you know."

"EXACTLY! FIGHTS BETWEEN HERO TEAMS HAPPEN ALL THE TIME!"

"You know, Skunky," Shake-N-Bake Lass remarked, "you've got a point. This is the Looniverse. And if they don't find us in the next couple of issues, they'll be too distracted by all the other plots that they'll stop looking. Ca.net.a it is."

"WHY NOT? IT'S BETTER THAN STAYING HERE! WHEREVER HERE IS!"

Looking out his window in the flight.thingee's pilot seat, the Incredible Man-With-No-Life muttered innocently, "Umm... we're already there. Or here."

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"

"There is here."

"WHERE IS HERE?"

"The cabin."

"BUT THE CABIN'S IN CA.NET.A!"

"So're we."

"WHEN WAS THIS?"

"Just now."

"HUH?"

"Don't ask."

"aLLiterative Lass, Anything-You-Can-Do-I-Can-Do-Better Lad, Bandwagon Chick, Curly, Elvis Man, and Frat Boy, I have a mission for you...."

Johnny Fearless, the Great Oozelfinch, Skunk Girl, and Shake-N-Bake Lass, and Net.amorph owned by me.
The Incredible Man-With-No-Life, and CAPTAIN CAPITALIZE are Public Domain, reserved by me.
Ultimate Ninja owned by wReam.
aLLiterative Lass, Anything-You-Can-Do-I-Can-Do-Better Lad, Bandwagon Chick, Curly, Elvis Man, Frat Boy, Bicycle Repair Lad and Procrastination Lad are Public Domain.