Unsure who should answer and what to say, the teenagers exchanged glances amongst themselves. Rust didn't know if they could really understand what each other thought, but he figured their silent communication method must have been a success as Bella began talking and no one interrupted her.
She explained, quickly and efficiently, about Ty accidently grabbing the cell-phone while he and Jack explored the underwater dome they found. Glibly, she related how Ethan hacked into the phone, found the emails and the teens decided to go on a stakeout in the hopes of discovering anything that could help them piece together this mystery.
"But we sort of... messed up," Bella finished, slightly uncomfortable with the admission.
A frown etched itself deeper and deeper into Rust's expression as he listened to Bella's recounting of recent events. "You kids just decided to spy on a stranger? You don't even know who you're dealing with! And what do you mean by 'messed up?'"
"Nothing happened, okay? We're safe," Jack firmly assured his mentor. Silently, he added, "Please don't push it any further: they feel guilty enough as it is."
Rust took a deep breath and composed himself. He resolved to give them a complete and detailed lecture on safety and stupidity later. Right now, there were more pressing matters to address. "Did you hear a name or anything? It would really help if we knew who we were dealing with."
"Not really," Caleb said.
"Actually... I think we did get a name," Jack countered with a slightly victorious lilt in his voice. "We filmed the whole thing from a bunch of angles. One of us has to have gotten a shot of that signature."
"Yeah, everyone but me," Dean mumbled, pulling out his phone, nonetheless.
The friends abandoned their dinner as they focussed on examining the video footage from that evening. Some captured better views than others, some were visibly clearer than others, and some caught the entire exchange between the delivery man and their mystery man.
"I have a lovely shot of their ankles," Ty stated.
"My phone's camera stinks," Lacey said, dismayed at the poor quality of her video. "All I have is grainy images of people-shaped blurs."
"I have a great shot of the signature," Jack said. "But our mystery guy's head is in the way."
"Wait, I got it!" Bella declared. She held her phone up like a fan holding up a baseball they just caught. She promptly passed it to Ethan. "Do your thing, Brainiac."
Ethan adroitly found the precise sequence that showed their mystery man signing his name. Bella had, indeed, caught the perfect angle. Ethan chose one frame in particular and did his best to enhance it until the signature could be determined.
The man's scrawl was abrupt and sharply etched, but with much squinting and staring, the letters eventually made sense.
"Is that a J?" Dean asked.
"J. Harm... Harmica," Caleb said, his brown eyes narrowed to slits as he struggled to read the jagged scrawl. "J. Harmica."
"That makes no sense," Rust said, furrowing his brow. "That can't be the same guy who worked on the Gypes' tech."
"Why not?" Lacey asked.
"Because that guy," Rust pointed to the paused video, "can't be that much older than you guys. The Dr Harmica I heard about worked for District 61 thirty years ago. Do the math."
"Maybe 'Harmica' is more common a name than you think," Ty suggested.
"Dude, I think it's a made-up name," Bella countered.
"Look, his name and his association with District 61 is probably not the most important thing right now," Jack said. "Whoever he is, he's up to something and I'm really doubting it's anything good. I'm getting worried."
"So am I," Rust agreed, grimly. "I don't think any of us realize just how powerful sea creatures are half the time. Can you imagine what someone could do if they had an army of land-roving sea creatures obeying their every command?"
"Nothing good," Lacey said.
"Exactly. It's impossible to know what our guy is thinking, but it's safe to assume the worst. Did you say he was ordering radio parts?"
"Yeah," Ethan responded, nodding his head. "He's gotta be building a bunch of broadcast towers powerful enough to send signals all across the planet. I don't know what that's got to do with flying sharks, though..."
"Maybe nothing," Rust said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. Suddenly, his expression turned serious. "Maybe everything..."
Abruptly, he exited the kitchen. He returned without delay, balancing a laptop in one arm. "That Dr Harmica guy - the one that worked for District 61 - deleted all his research notes, but Urban somehow managed to find bits and pieces of information on the Gypes' tech," Rust explained quickly as he set the laptop on the kitchen counter. The teens crowded around to read over his shoulder. "I've been going through it for the past couple of hours. Most of it goes over my head, but I think I understand this: the Gypes used signals to trigger a transformation in the cows when they tried invading Earth last time. Those signals, although alien in origin, are basically just simple radio waves. They made an army of cows to terrorize the country, and they only had to rig a couple of radio stations to do it."
It didn't take long for the information to sink in. Immediately, everyone understood the true weight of the situation.
"There's no way our guy is just building radio towers for the fun of it," Ethan said, clearly distressed as he realized the implications. "He's creating an army."
21
An unsettling quiet descended upon the kitchen as the distressing realization dawned on all present.
All of a sudden, as the grave reality of the situation sank in, they understood they were no longer merely connecting a string of clues and solving a simple mystery. Now so much more was at stake and they couldn't rely on the Superhero Community to swoop in and clean it all up.
Rust only glibly explained about District 61 and their less-than-honourable reputation, but the teenagers understood the deeper meaning: calling on help from the Superhero Community would result in District 61 getting involved and simply restarting the sinister cycle that created this situation in the first place.
Realizing they had no back-up produced an unsettling feeling they knew all too well.
"What are we supposed to do about it?" Lacey asked, her dark, sculpted eyebrows knotting.
"We're supposed to stop that maniac," Jack answered, absently and with little conviction as he looked away, his mind struggling to solve the puzzle.
"How?" Ty asked, his voice clear and honest, carrying a heavy tone of overwhelmed defeat. He switched his gaze evenly between Rust and Jack. "For all our powers, we're only as good as what we know. And there's a lot we don't know: we don't know what this guy wants, we don't know what he's gonna do, and we don't know when he's gonna do whatever he's planning to do! We're in a really tight spot here, guys."
"We don't know nothing, either," Caleb countered, desperate to establish hope. "We know he has a name, maybe even a connection to District 61, and we know what he's done so far. That has to count for something!"
"Caleb's right," Dean chimed in. He may not have felt like he fitted in here but he knew where he stood. "We can't give up now. We don't know everything but that didn't stop you guys back at Hero High. Just... try again. You got this far taking chances, don't stop now."
"I don't know. It's been a long day, I think I'm out of crazy ideas to try," Bella said, tiredly rubbing her eyes as if to wipe the exhaustion away.
"There's one more crazy thing we can try," Ethan said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out the "borrowed" phone that had given them away earlier that evening. "Someone tried to call Harmica. He has no contacts and he's managed to block all unnecessary calls (such as scammers and telemarketers), so whoever called him has to have known his number and tried to contact him on purpose."
"Or it was a random butt-dialling," Ty suggested, cynically.
"It's a fifty-fifty chance," Jack conceded. "It's either a really important clue or it's nothing. What are you thinking, Ethan?"
"I'm gonna
try redialling. What have we got to lose?"
"Seeing as it's not my phone credit we're using, I say: go for it," Rust encouraged.
Speedily, Ethan redialled the mysterious caller who unwittingly gave them away earlier. Electric anticipation hung in the air as he put the phone on speaker and held it out, the dial-tone echoing in everyone's ears.
After only two rings, the person on the other end answered with an anxious "Hello?"
"Uh... hi," Jack stepped forward and replied to the taut, disembodied voice. "You tried calling this number earlier?" he ventured.
"Jonas? Is that you?" the man on the other end asked, uncertainly.
Jack quickly glanced at his friends, each nodding, silently urging him on. "No, this is Jack. Who is this?"
The person on the other end sounded deflated and urgent as he replied, "My name is Noah Harmica. I was hoping to find my son. It's vital I do so soon."
Jaws slowly dropped and eyes grew wider as fuzzy connections became clearer.
"Dr Noah Harmica?" Jack repeated the name. "And your son is Jonas Harmica?"
"Yes. Do you know him?"
The earnest, desperate tone in the older man's voice melted everyone's hearts.
Rust took over. "Dr Harmica? This is Rust Swift. You may have known me as the leader of a team of gamma accidents called G-4."
"Swift? I thought you were -?"
"Dead," Rust quickly interjected. "Yes, but I'm not. That never actually happened, it was just a cover story Samuel Danger came up with. Now I'm responsible for a team of young gamma accidents and I'm a teacher at a new Hero High in Crashton. Lately some very strange things have been happening here involving the marine life such as -"
"Flying sharks?" Dr Harmica interrupted. "Yes, I've been told. That's why I've been trying to contact Jonas. He has my old notes, my research... but I never imagined he'd do anything like this..."
Rust restrained himself from saying the first thing that popped into his head which ran along the lines of, "Guess you don't know your son so well, then, do you?" Instead, he stepped back and gestured for Jack to take over. Only seventeen and he already had more tact than Rust himself had ever cultivated.
"Sir," Jack said, respectfully, "we need your help. We're afraid Jonas is creating an army of sea creatures. We've had a few run-ins with jellyfish and sharks already, and he's built dozens of radio towers. We don't know what he's going to do but we're all a little nervous this side. If you know something - anything at all - that can help us keep Crashton safe from harm, please, don't hesitate."
"Crashton?" Dr Harmica repeated, a note of puzzlement in his voice. "I can't imagine why he'd do anything there. He went to school in Crashton until... of course..."
"Doctor?" Jack prompted, intrigued by the older man's sudden change in tone.
"We lived in Crashton until my wife left. I think Jonas took the blow harder than I did. He grew rather bitter after that. It's the only reason I can think of."
"Do you think he'll try attacking Crashton with his little army?" Bella asked.
The man on the other end of the phone conversation didn't seem perturbed at the inclusion of another voice on the line. "I can't imagine him doing anything so rash... but, then again, I never thought he'd replicate that alien technology I worked on. If he's going to do anything, he'll do it in the one place he connects to bad memories: Crashton."
"Doctor, can you -?" Bella began but her own phone's upbeat ringtone suddenly playing interrupted her question. Slightly annoyed, she hurriedly answered the call, anxious to dismiss the caller. "Josie? What's the matter?"
"Doctor, we need you in Crashton as soon as you can get here," Jack continued as Bella took the call from her sister.
"We're en route," the older man replied.
"You're driving?" Rust questioned.
"No, a nice young lady and a colleague I never met approached me and told me what was happening. Miss Jones is driving."
"Tell Jones to ditch the car and teleport already!" Rust blurted.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Audrey's voice responded in the background, distorted by her distance from the phone.
"Guys," Bella spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to her as Rust argued with Audrey over the phone. "Josephine says to turn the news on - right now. There's something big happening at the Boardwalk."
"I'll get it," Caleb offered as he left the kitchen and jumped along the hallway to the living room. Hurriedly, he turned on the television and switched to the news channel. The others followed.
A bright red "Breaking News" banner scrolled along the bottom of the screen as a very distressed anchorwoman tried to explain the chaos unfolding behind her. The rolling images shook as the cameraman attempted to zoom in and film the ruckus.
Against the familiar backdrop of Crashton's public beach and boardwalk, marine life aggressively initiated a rampage, destroying everything in sight. Umbrellas, store-fronts, cafe tables and chairs... nothing was safe.
No one bothered to listen to the anchorwoman: the images spoke for themselves.
"Well... nuts," Ty said as he stared at the live news report, dumbstruck.
22
It was 9:37 p.m. in Crashton when the most bizarre thing happened. Not many people saw it unfold, but those that did, described it as the craziest thing they would ever see.
Out over the moonlit horizon, shadows emerged from the inky waters. With slow, snaking motions, the shadows loomed closer and closer to the public beach.
A few brave surfers out on the late-night waters were the first to see the shadows up close. As the blurry, dark shapes made their way to the shore, inch by inch, they grew clearer.
Great White sharks led an army of marine life that included glowing jellyfish, sting rays, eels, a few giant squids and one enormous, spotty whale shark.
Crashton residents and visitors abandoned their previous activities and stood, rooted to the spot, as they stared, dumbfounded, at the bewildering sight.
The spectacle changed in a heartbeat from strange to downright deadly as the creatures from the deep reached the shoreline.
Their slow pace proved to be a facade as Great Whites with roughly scarred bodies zoomed forward with shocking speed, lunging at anything that caught their sights.
A cacophony of screams erupted as old and young, local and tourist, scrambled to flee the area.
Amidst this chaos, local news reporters arrived, having responded to some tip-off.
Within minutes of the unprovoked rampage starting, an old white van and a metallic-blue jeep pulled up along the road, the passengers speedily climbing out and running onto the scene.
The noise and chaos caught the newcomers unawares.
"What do we do now?" Caleb asked, his thick eyebrows knotting with confusion and a hint of trepidation as he, his friends, his mentor and his brothers peered down at the beach and the adjacent boardwalk as sea creatures terrorized the townspeople and trashed the surroundings.
Before anyone could answer Caleb, a grey sedan came zooming along the road. It loudly swerved to a halt and the passengers - a slender young woman with wide, blue eyes behind sleek glasses; a tall, wiry older man with crazy, snow-white hair; and a stout, grey-haired man wearing a smart white shirt, waistcoat and slacks - clamoured out.
"Doctor?" Rust said, registering the three newcomers' presence without turning his gaze towards them. "Your son has lost his marbles."
The stout old man - Dr Noah J. Harmica - panted slightly as he came to stand beside the teenagers and Rust. He stared with impossibly wide eyes at the chaos unfolding before him. "Oh, no..." he breathed. "Jonas..."
"Sir?" Bella said, softly and sincerely. Dr Harmica turned to the short girl with curly hair, an almost pleading glint in his wide eyes. "We need your help now. How do we stop those creatures before they hurt people?"
As if to punctuate the seriousness of the situation, glass shattered loudly in the distance as a Giant Squid thrust a long, thick tentacle through a boardwalk shop window.
/> "The radio towers," Dr Harmica said, fighting through the fog in his brain the intensity of the situation created. "Jonas has to have built a main broadcast tower somewhere high, somewhere overlooking the area but somewhere out of sight."
Jack, Bella, Ethan, Ty and Caleb exchanged knowing glances, grins spreading across their faces as they realized something at the same moment.
"We know plenty of places like that," Ethan said. "We've spent most of the summer so far riding around the outskirts, looking for the new location of Hero High. We know exactly where to look for a tower someone wants out of sight."
"You'll need to stop that tower from broadcasting," Professor Darkins added. "In other words, smash it to smithereens, kids."
"We have more immediate problems," Ty pointed out, gesturing towards the boardwalk which, in a matter of minutes, had turned into a disaster-zone.
"As soon as they're done with the beach, they'll move onto the town," Dean noted, gravely.
"Okay, okay, wait," Jack said, his mind working overtime. "We can make this work. We need two teams. One goes after the tower and the other keeps the flying fish busy."
"Good idea," Rust acknowledged with a curt nod. "Who goes where, Painter?"
Jack suddenly looked taken aback. "Wait, I didn't mean... I was just giving ideas -"
"You're the leader, kid. You know this team, you know what they can and can't do. Stop wasting time and just tell us what to do already," Rust encouraged, firmly.
"Well, alright then," Jack said, hovering as he gave his orders. "Ethan, you're our tech expert; Dean, you can't talk to these guys, and Ty, you're useful. You three are Team One, in charge of finding and destroying the broadcast tower."
"Oh, sure. Everyone gets a reason, but I'm just 'useful'," Ty complained as he, Ethan and Dean turned around and ran towards the jeep to begin their seek-and-destroy mission.
"Let it go, dude," Dean said.
Jack turned his attention to the remaining ones. "Okay, I need everybody else to concentrate on our fishy friends. Bella, Lacey: you're on restraining duty. Caleb, Professor Darkins: you're our distractions. Rust, you and I have to make sure everyone gets away from the chaos. We're also the only ones that can out-run the sea creatures. I'll take 'em high, you get 'em low. And remember people: these creatures aren't evil. They aren't doing this of their own volition. They've become tools, so don't harm them, got it?"