"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.