said. He came running but flew the last few metres, landing in the driver's seat, quickly buckling his seatbelt and starting the engine as the triplets poured into the back row and Bella took the passenger seat.
The tyres squealing as they raced away from the scene of the crime, the five teenagers couldn't help but laugh hysterically, the thrill and adrenaline pulsing through their young veins.
"You do realize we didn't accomplish what we originally set out to do, right?" Ty asked.
"Yeah, but we left a rocking party in our wake!" Ethan commented.
"Now we just need to pray hard that Bella's mom doesn't find out," Jack said.
"Okay, let's face it, she's caught us doing worse," Bella said.
3
Though her son was out past dark, Alison Painter hadn't the slightest edge of worry in her. She assumed he was off with his friends, playing on the beach, patrolling the boardwalk lined with shops and buskers, or simply unwinding.
It was only when the five laughing teenagers came in through the front door and into the kitchen where she was busy washing dishes that Alison realized they had had another stupid adventure.
Jack was wearing his suit and tie, minus a jacket; Bella was wearing the floral, knee-length dress she had last worn to the spring dance; Ty and Caleb were wearing caterer uniforms, Ty's covered in pudding of some sort and Ethan's jeans had splashes of chocolate all over.
"Okay, what have you been up to?" Alison asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
The teenagers' laughter ended: it was time to confess.
Shuffling feet, shifting eyes and nervous energy abounded. "Well..." Jack began but a knock at the door interrupted the declaration of guilt.
Everyone consulted their wristwatches. "Who would be calling in after ten on a Friday?" Alison questioned, drying her hands with a dishcloth.
"I'll get it!" Rosie, Jack's nine-year-old little sister yelled as she raced down the stairs, in her pyjamas.
"Hey, you should be asleep," Alison said to her daughter, sternly pointing to the time.
"I heard people and it just became impossible to stay asleep," Rosie explained, exaggerating. Without further hesitation, she wrenched the front door open.
A man in his forties or fifties with salt and pepper hair, a five o' clock shadow and crinkly gray eyes, wearing a plain black T-shirt and faded jeans covered with what looked like oil marks, stood on the doorstep.
Standing next to him was a clean and professional young woman with long, neat, black hair and wearing smart glasses.
"Who called the mechanic?" Rosie asked, confused.
Her brother, the girl next door, the triplets and her mother joined her.
"I'm sorry, can we help you?" Alison inquired.
"John Painter's family?" the professional young woman asked.
"Um... yes. Sorry, who are you?"
The young woman smiled, almost nervously. "My name is Audrey Jones and this is the legendary-"
"I thought we talked about that," the man interrupted.
The woman barely faltered for a second, though she did seem slightly annoyed. She hid it well. "Sorry. This is Russell Swift, AKA Rust, former leader of G-4."
Jack's eyes widened and he looked the man up and down, as if he suddenly remembered seeing him before. And he had, many times. In photos, old videos, in the news...
But looking at him now was like watching a movie and staring at the actor, swearing you had seen him somewhere before but finding it impossible to place him because he had changed so much over the years.
And Rust had changed a lot from the last published sighting, eighteen years ago.
"You're dead," Rosie stated, obviously.
"No, I'm not," Rust replied.
Rosie raised an eyebrow. "Well, you were."
"Would you like to come in?" Alison asked, hospitably. She ushered the guests to the living room, gestured to a couch and glared at the dumbstruck teenagers, silently telling them to take seats and look alive.
"Tea? Coffee? An explanation?" Alison said, passively forcing the guests to explain themselves.
Rust addressed the five teenagers sitting directly opposite him and staring, too.
"You kids have powers," he stated, cutting to the point without a moment's hesitation. "You're Gamma Accidents: the result of a child being born on the day of a gamma ray burst from the sun."
Ty threw his hands up. "Okay, just get the pitch forks and lynch mob out and we can finish this up before my curfew."
His friends glared at him.
"Relax, we're not here to run you out of town," Audrey said, calmly.
"Well, actually, that's a lie," Rust clarified. "You kids are going way outta town."
Puzzled, the teenagers exchanged looks.
"Ever heard of Hero High?"
Jack didn't say a thing, but he had heard the name countless times. He was the one who had told his friends about the school that trained super-powered teenagers to become the next generation of Earth-saving superheroes.
They trained everyone... except for gamma accidents.
He had dreamed of one day seeing Hero High for himself, and he knew his friends longed to, someday, walk the halls of superhero school, side by side.
Rust raised an eyebrow, prompting for a response. Jack eventually nodded.
Audrey took over. "Well, there is a villain masquerading among the hero teachers in Summer Valley Hero High School. He's training potential heroes into criminals. They have no idea who he (or possibly she) is. They need a team of unaffected super-powered kids, (that's hopefully you five) trained and enrolled in the school to find this guy."
"And... why us?" Ethan asked.
Rust sighed, inwardly irritated with somebody. "Instead of going on an all-around-the-world search for supers, they went for the easy option and hired me," he explained, unimpressed. "I know all the hot-spots for gamma accidents, I am one myself, and they expect me to train you kids to use your powers, work together and find this villain."
Jack would have said it was a hoax. But he didn't sense any danger and the famous Rust was standing right in front of him.
"Those guys hate gamma accidents. Are you sure you don't just want me?" Jack clarified, ready to completely decline the offer if it came out his friends would be left behind.
"We need to create a team," Audrey simplified. "And the Global Director of Hero Education and Training specifically requested a team consisting of gamma accidents."
"That was a mouthful," Rust commented, amazed at his new assistant's ability to speak in incredibly long sentences filled with big words without taking a breather.
Audrey continued, ignoring the statement. "Rust knew Crashton is a hot-spot, so he looked through records and discovered three gamma ray bursts from the sun in 1997. April 21st, June 3rd and September 17th. That's how he found you five."
"And that stunt you pulled at the community hall tonight?" Rust laughed. "Amazing display of your powers and teamwork."
Alison's eyes narrowed as she glared at the teenagers. "What stunt did you pull at the community hall?"
"Cherry bombs in a chocolate soufflés," Caleb said, simply. "Then Jack hijacked the band, Bella pulled down a disco ball and we left the place rocking."
"Oh, well, if that's all," Alison said, shrugging and dropping the subject as if it were as trivial as a fingerprint on a toddler's sippy-cup.
"I told you our parents have caught us doing worse," Bella whispered to her friends.
"You kids have something no other kid in Hero High has," Audrey said. "And we need that."
"No, you need pest control," Ethan said, scathingly.
Rust held up his hands in a "let's calm down" gesture. "Look, I have a hundred better things to do than train a bunch of teenage gamma accidents to hunt a rat. But I have my orders (and death threats) so let's just keep our eyes on the big picture. This is your chance to train with the best, prove you're not what people think and be real heroes."
No one said anything further, but their minds were
bursting with words unspoken.
"Look," Rust said, getting up. Audrey followed him. "Take your time and think about it," he said. He abruptly ended the talk by stepping away towards the front door, which he opened, stepped outside and started heading for a white van parked in the driveway.
"If you decide you want to take a shot at this thing, give us a call," Audrey said, gently, as she hung back and handed Jack a business-like card. "You should really think about it. Opportunities like this don't come around every lifetime."
With that, she turned and followed Rust. They left before anyone could say anything else.
The stunned group retreated to the living room and sat down, robotically. Jack stared at the simple card in his hand as his friends, sister and mother stared at him. It felt as if the entire decision rested on his shoulders.
Eventually, Caleb piped up.
"Well, that was an eventful ten minutes of our lives, wasn't it?"
"What do we do?" Bella asked Jack, gently.
Jack sighed, the only thing he could do to keep from yawning. "Look, it's late now. We should get to bed. We can discuss this in the morning."
"Call Audrey," Bella urged, interrupting her friend. She shook his arm, lightly, until he looked her straight in the eye. "This is for real and she's right: an opportunity like this only comes around once a lifetime. What if they don't find someone else to do the job? We could be saving the world!"
"What about the Upbeats? They could just call them?" Caleb suggested.
"I'm sure they would have thought of that," Ty said.
"Besides, no one knows how to contact those guys," Ethan added.
"And just think: this is our chance to go to Hero High," Bella continued. "We've been dreaming for years, now we get to