"I can help, too," Audrey piped up, afraid she'd been left out.
"I was getting to that. Audrey, I need you to reunite father and son. Dr Harmica?"
The old man nodded, understandingly. "I'll see what I can do."
"Okay. Everybody clear on this? If not, it doesn't matter. Here we go..."
23
"I haven't seen action in quite some time," Professor Darkins declared as he and Caleb leapt onto the scene, positioning themselves in the middle of the fray, aiming to draw as much attention to themselves as possible.
"I haven't seen action in a few hours," Caleb countered with an adrenalin fuelled laugh. With perfect timing, he hopped up and lunged for the giant squid destroying the shops lining the boardwalk.
Unlike the other sky-dominating sea creatures, the giant squids that joined the odd aquatic army traversed the alien environment using most of their tentacles as legs and the others as arms to wreak havoc.
Caleb wrapped his short arms around the bright orange, squishy body of the squid, as if attempting to hug the gigantic creature. The squid was less than impressed. Halting its spree of complete and utter destruction, the squid began swatting and tugging at Caleb with suction-cup covered tentacles, trying to dislodge him.
"It's just like riding a bike," Professor Darkins said, delightedly, as he ran towards a group of electric eels herding a young family into a corner of a restaurant. He grabbed the nearest item - a white china plate with a half-eaten meal still sitting on it - and tossed it like a Frisbee at the eels. It hit one square on the head. Disturbed, all three eels whipped around, blue electricity sparking along their sleek, black bodies.
Once he had their attention, Professor Darkins hoofed it out of the restaurant, leading the chase. The altered eels pursued but as the crazy professor rounded a corner, they lost him. They couldn't tell he stood right in front of them, completely invisible and undetectable.
On the other end of the boardwalk, Bella and Lacey stood, back to back, as a frenzy of Great White sharks circled, menacingly.
"You know, normal girls get together, paint each others' nails and swap gossip stories," Bella commented as both she and Lacey kept their eyes glued to the circling creatures. The largest shark in the group lunged forward, jaws opening wide, razor sharp teeth at the ready. However, before those powerful jaws could clamp down on anything, a bright flash of orange light dazzled the creature's sensitive eyes and it fell backwards in shock.
At the same time, the other sharks made their move, snapping open their jaws and rushing towards the supposedly easy targets. Not one of them got within an inch of the teenage girls as strong vines exploded from potted plants nearby and wrapped around the robust creatures' tails. Like dogs on leashes, they couldn't go any further than the lush vines allowed.
Lacey shrugged as if it were nothing. "Yeah, but I never have any good gossip to share," she said.
"Me neither," Bella agreed, teasingly sticking her tongue out at a shark snapping his jaws in frustration as he struggled to free himself.
Across the beach, near the carpark, Rust and Jack focussed on ensuring all bystanders made it out unharmed. This translated to 10% herding pedestrians and 90% warding off aerial attacks from sea creatures.
"Have you ever actually tried flying again?" Jack asked Rust, offhandedly, as he hovered off the ground, giving himself a better view of the situation.
"Haven't had a reason to," Rust admitted as he helped an old couple get to their car, shielding them from a swarm of jellyfish with stinging tentacles at the ready. He took the torrent of stings without even grimacing.
"I think there are plenty of reasons," Jack countered. He spotted a surfer struggling to get to shore as a pod of dolphins clustered around him. Although the creatures were characteristically friendly, Jack knew nothing these creatures did tonight was of their own volition. Wasting no time at all, Jack zoomed down to the water. He gripped the edges of the surfboard and fought to maintain perfect balance to ensure the rider didn't fall off as he flew to the carpark. As gently as he could manage, Jack lowered the surfboard.
"Thanks a million, dude," the shaggy haired teenager said, his blue eyes wide with shock. He hurriedly ran as fast as he could from the carpark, holding his board under one arm, the leg strap still secured around his ankle.
"I think you're just scared," Jack said, continuing his earlier conversation with Rust. "You told me gamma accidents have maximum power potential right from day one, and that those powers don't ever fade. That means you can't just lose the ability to fly."
"Painter, I don't know what happened, but after the Rampage, I temporarily lost all my powers," Rust explained while at the same time swatting jellyfish away as if they were nothing more than annoying flies. "I slowly regained them - my invincibility, my speed, my strength, et cetera - but I never re-learnt how to fly. Anyway, what is taking Team One so long? That broadcast tower should be a twisted pile of metal by now."
Jack shrugged and dropped the subject as Rust seemed so eager to change topic.
~~~
"Someplace high... but out of sight," Ty said, contemplatively, as Ethan drove along the coastal road, everyone inside the jeep keeping their eyes peeled for anything that could lead them to the broadcast tower.
"Do you think it could be somewhere near you guys?" Dean asked, raising his voice to be heard over the racket the wind created as it rushed in through the open windows. "I mean, that old fire station is sort of on a hill."
"There are higher areas in Crashton," Ethan said. He looked quite comical as he kept his sights fixed on the road ahead while the rushing wind blew his short, dark blonde hair into a clown-like style. "And if I wanted to build a broadcast tower with the best coverage, I'd pick the highest spot I could find."
"Yeah, but it also has to be somewhere no one can just accidently find it," Ty reminded his brother. "I mean, we haven't found it yet, and we've searched these areas a hundred times over, at least."
Dean frowned. "Okay, I haven't really been here that long but even I can tell there aren't many places that no one goes in Crashton."
"Well... there is one place..." Ty said, trailing off as he mulled over the possibility. "Ethan, turn around right now!"
Ethan stomped on the brake, instantly. "Where are you thinking?" he asked, turning the jeep around without hesitation.
"Cliff Avenue."
"There's never anything along Cliff Avenue!"
"Exactly."
As Ethan drove towards the most secluded road in town, he recognized Ty's train of thought. Within minutes, they reached the winding, isolated cliff-side road so appropriately named.
As soon as they reached the highest point along the road, Ethan turned the engine off and the three climbed out. Immediately, they looked up and, situated atop the highest hill, amidst a cluster of trees and surrounded by boulders, stood a tall tower comprised of scraps metals. It seemed obvious to them now, but they would never have spotted it had they not known what to look for.
"Okay. There is something along Cliff Avenue," Ethan conceded.
"Let's get to work," Dean said, walking off, carefully picking his way through the small cluster of woods towards the tower.
24
Regardless of the intense efforts of Bella, Lacey, Jack, Rust, Professor Darkins and Caleb, the chaos only grew. The situation threatened to squirm out of their control as a fresh wave of land-roving sea creatures approached the beach town.
Great Whites, hammerheads, dolphins, eels, squids of all sizes and colours, jellyfish of all kinds and a few more whales entered the already busy scene. It was near impossible to keep track of them!
The boardwalk and beach were clear of all bystanders, but this new wave of sea creatures travelled in a different direction. As soon as they reached the shore, they spread out in an organized manner, making their way into the streets of Crashton.
"Things are heating up, people," Jack said into his walkie-talkie, hoping someone still had their own radios with them.
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"So, we'll just work harder," Bella said, resolutely, over the radio line.
"Guys, we found the tower!" Ty's excited voice exclaimed through the walkie-talkies.
"Destroy it with the utmost prejudice," Bella told him.
"In the meantime, the rest of us have to hold the line," Jack said. "Lacey, Bella: round up as many fish, sharks, eels, whatever as you can and haul 'em back to the ocean. Professor Darkins, Caleb: I don't know if you can hear me, but just keep people safe."
~~~
"Okay, now, someone help me out here," Ty said as he, Dean and Ethan stood, staring at the radio tower. "How on Earth is a shrinker, a hologram and a guy who talks to squirrels supposed to break a transmission tower?"
"We don't have to break the whole thing," Ethan pointed out, walking up to the scrappy tower and examining it. "We just need to find the power source or the transmitter itself."
"So... even though we know what we're hitting, we don't know what we're hitting?" Ty summed up.
"Pretty much," Ethan answered.
"So... just hit everything?"
"Go nuts. And, no, Dean, that was not supposed to be a pun or anything."
"I honestly don't even get offended anymore," Dean said. "But, for the record, squirrels are really helpful." To punctuate his point, Dean turned around and called over his shoulder, "Right, guys?"
Promptly on cue, the sound of a hundred little feet scampering along branches and down tree trunks rumbled and a flood of squirrels appeared from seemingly nowhere. Like a militant army, they stood perfectly in line, awaiting further instructions.
Dean grinned, smugly, at Ty and Ethan before returning his attention to his furry friends. "You have permission to go nuts on that tower, guys," he said, gesturing to the radio tower dimly lit with light from the moon and the jeep's headlights.
Obediently, the small army ran forward, scurrying up the wiry tower, moving like a unified mass. The little creatures created a low din of clicking "chit" noises as they swarmed.
"They'll find whatever we need," Dean assured.
"This is strangely cool," Ty commented as he watched the assortment of squirrels cover the radio tower's frame.
Engrossed in watching the living entity of squirrels, the boys didn't hear the sound of another vehicle driving up and parking just beside their jeep.
They jumped to attention, however, as a deep voice yelled a sudden and terse "Hey!"
~~~
As the Gamma Accidents, Rust, Professor Darkins, Lacey and Dean rushed to take care of their assigned tasks, Audrey thought hard and fast about how to accomplish her own little mission.
She understood it very well could be the most important objective of the evening. And, of course, it would be the hardest mission, too.
She understood why she had been given this task: her teleportation powers were exceptionally useful. Unfortunately, even infinite power to instantaneously transport oneself to any location in the universe had its limitations.
Audrey didn't need to see or know exactly where she wanted to end up: all she needed was an idea of where she wanted to be and her powers subconsciously did the rest. She could also hone in on a person and teleport within their general vicinity. But she couldn't hone in on a person she didn't know and had never met face-to-face.
Right now, her usefulness was at an all-time low. Regardless, she hid her despair like a professional actress and turned to the distressed old man watching with wide, steel-blue eyes as pandemonium escalated before him.
"Dr Harmica?" Audrey said, consciously infusing both kindness and urgency into her voice. "Do you have any idea how we can find your son?"
"I don't know how much help I can give," the old man admitted, sadly, not removing his gaze from the frightening scene of marine life rampaging along the boardwalk. "Jonas left home the day he turned nineteen. I haven't seen him since. I didn't know what he was up to... I don't know him anymore. I never thought he could do anything like this... I'm sorry, Miss Jones."
"Don't be sorry," Audrey said. Despite her eagerness to get a move on, she spared a vital moment to reassure the distraught father. "None of this is your fault. Your son may have made some decisions you don't understand, but you still know him. I may not know Jonas, but I know you're the only one who can find him and talk to him."
"He won't listen," Dr Harmica countered, desperately.
"He can't listen if we don't give him a chance," Audrey amended. She held her breath and silently pleaded for the chaotic background noise to quieten as she waited for the retired scientist to respond.
"Alright," he finally said, shifting his gaze to meet the sincere young woman's. "I'll try."
"That's all I ask for."
Audrey waited as Dr Harmica took a deep, steadying breath. She couldn't read his mind, but she could see him thinking hard, searching for any stray piece of information that could possibly prove useful.
Any hope Audrey had managed to cultivate crumbled as the old man shrugged his stocky shoulders, his head shaking, negatively.
"I... I really don't know," he admitted, downheartedly.
Audrey realized the stress was too much for the older man. If she wanted to make this work, she would have to pry the information from the frazzled man's mind.
"Where does Jonas have to be?" she asked, directly. "He has to be somewhere, controlling this, right? Where would that have to be?"
"It's not really like that," Dr Harmica replied, frowning as his mind switched - almost instantly - from worrying to problem-solving. "The transmission tower can be operated remotely. Once he's set it up, he can be anywhere. If he's set it up properly, he doesn't even have to be in Crashton."
Audrey honestly felt like screaming right now. All she needed was one clue, one possibility, and she'd be set. Instead, she reached dead-end after dead-end.
Maybe this had been too much of anyone to ask of her and Dr Harmica. Maybe Jonas would never be found and maybe they'd never truly resolve this. Audrey didn't want to think about what would happen if they failed to locate Jonas. He had already demonstrated his dangerous capabilities. Who was to say he wouldn't strike somewhere else once this was over?
She'd heard people tell her defeat was something just about every super had to face at some point. But some blind optimism managed to convince her she'd never see that day.
Just as her aggravation threatened to overtake her, her cell-phone rang.
"Hello?" she promptly answered, some mad hope reigniting.
She paused, expectantly, but no reply came. Ordinarily, she would have simply hung up right there and then, switched her phone off and continued with the task at hand. Instead, she did none of that.
Maybe it was the excitement the night's events incited, maybe it was that undying hope she tirelessly maintained, or maybe it was just pure chance, but Audrey did not hang up. Within a few seconds, her unusual resolution proved worthwhile.
She heard a voice. A deep, firm yet puzzled voice coming through the phone line from far in the distance on the other end. She couldn't make out what the person was saying.
Undeterred, she quickly checked the caller ID, something she had neglected to do in her haste to answer the call.
"Ethan?" Audrey read aloud, confused.
She didn't know exactly what was going on, but she realized Ethan wouldn't accidently call her. He had to have a reason.
Following her hunch, mentally setting out a plan, she ended the call and turned to Dr Harmica. "Are you okay with teleporting?"
The old man blinked, less stunned at the question than Audrey anticipated. "I suppose so," he said.
"Good."
With that, Audrey focussed. She let go of worries and the frustration that held her back and instead concentrated on honing in on Ethan's location. She closed her eyes and let her power do the rest. Within a fraction of a second, she left the parking lot and reappeared in a patchily lit woodland area.
25
Ethan instantly recognized the voice of the newcomer. The
voice belonged to the tall, tan-skinned, dark-haired young man responsible for the tower's existence.
The three boys turned around. Each wanted to flee, but they knew they had already been spotted: running away now would do nothing. Instead, they stood, rooted to the spot like statues.
Thinking fast, Ethan reached for his phone, safely tucked away in the pocket of his board shorts. With his gaze locked firmly ahead at the newcomer, his fingers adroitly worked the keypad to call Audrey.
Jonas Harmica stepped towards the teenage boys, his expression a mixture of confusion laced with what appeared to be anger.
"What is going on here?" he demanded, his gaze switching between the three boys to the radio tower currently covered by a moving mass of squirrels.
"Justice!" Ty suddenly blurted. Dean and Ethan both glanced sideways at him, questioningly. Ty shrugged, nervously. "What? That is what we're doing here, isn't it?"
Jonas' frown deepened. "Who are you?" he questioned, forcefully. "Who sent you?"
Threateningly, he took a few more steps forward, fuelling the teenaged boys' panicked state.
However, he couldn't get much closer.
A loud noise, like a twig snapping, averted everyone's attention. Immediately alerted, heads whipped around to discover the source of the unexpected snap noise.
In the sporadic lighting cast by the cars' headlights seeping past the cluster of trees, it was difficult to accurately determine the identity of the shadowy forms slinking towards the three boys and Jonas.
Already racing hearts pounded even harder as the figures masked by the night's darkness approached, their frightening features made clearer with every ray of patchy light falling on them.
"Wolves?" Ty choked as he recognised the snarling animals.
Menacingly, the pack of wolves split up, circling the humans, their heads bowed low, their fur standing on end to make them appear bigger, their eyes almost glowing.
Jonas panicked as the wolves crept closer and closer, their hungry sights set purposefully on him. He tried to back away, but ended up stumbling on his own feet and falling backwards.