"Dean, do your thing," Ty urged in a low voice to his friend.
Dean tilted his head, curiously, at the wolves slowly making a ring around Jonas. "Those aren't normal wolves," he whispered back to Ty.
Confused, Ty peered closer at the pack of wolves. Their grey-brown fur, their white as snow teeth, their heart-juddering growls all looked and sounded real. But there was something that made these wolves very unreal.
"No paw-prints," Ty observed, his fear fading. He glanced over at Ethan. Sure enough, Ethan didn't look the least bit perturbed by the wolves' arrival. Instead, behind his glasses, his gaze was set firmly on the creatures, his concentration visibly evident.
Of all the Gamma Accidents' powers, Ethan's hologram abilities were most extraordinary and perhaps the hardest to explain. He could conjure and project images of absolutely anything, even transforming himself into an insubstantial hologram. He could even create sounds to complement the images, but he couldn't make them tangible, which contributed to his disadvantage. The lack of footprints (or paw-prints, in this case) often gave him away.
But there was just enough of a fear factor that Jonas probably wouldn't notice such minor details such as the absence of wolf paw-prints.
Jonas' widened brown eyes frantically darted from one snarling wolf to the other as he attempted to crawl, backwards on his elbows, to escape.
Ethan wasn't enjoying the show, however. He didn't like to use his holograms to scare people, even though - he conceded - right now, it was necessary.
"Dean, have the squirrels found anything yet?" Ethan asked, his attention dividing yet remaining perfectly steady.
"I'll check," Dean said as he stepped away to report in with the squirrels scouring the radio tower.
Ethan decided to reach for his phone and properly call Audrey, doubting she caught on to his earlier message. He got halfway through redialling when he heard footsteps frantically approaching.
Turning around, he saw Audrey come sprinting through the woods to the clearing with the tower standing predominantly in the middle.
Audrey's bright blue eyes hurriedly scanned the scene and she jumped backwards in fright when she saw the wolves slowly circling Jonas.
Ethan glanced over and saw Dr Noah Harmica running a little haphazardly to catch up to Audrey. He, too, froze in shock when he saw the frightening scene.
Ethan dropped the illusion and the wolves vanished instantaneously into thin air.
Jonas seemed more terrified of the wolves' sudden disappearance than their existence. His frantically darting gaze fell upon the newcomers and his expression of complete and utter confusion somehow managed to deepen.
"Dad?" he hardly managed to breathe the word as he slowly picked himself up off the ground, his gaze locked on the older man.
Noah Harmica stared, utterly dumbstruck, at the son he hadn't seen for years. The glint in his eyes and his slack-jaw expression indicated disbelief but the crinkle in his brow and the almost imperceptible shake of his head bespoke denial.
Audrey, Dean, Ethan and Ty remained unobtrusively silent and simply observed the reunion between estranged father and son.
"What are you doing here?" Jonas asked his father.
Noah Harmica erased the shock from his expression and straightened up. He was notably shorter and stockier than his son but his stance showed his determination, nonetheless. "I've come to stop you," he said. One could hardly hear the waver in his words for his steadfastness.
Jonas' expression changed from bewilderment to something almost indescribable. Resolve? Obstinacy? Diligence? "I don't think you understand what's going on here," he remarked, firmly.
"Whatever you think it is, Jonas, it's not right," his father countered, an almost gentle tone lacing his words. He swept an arm through the air, gesturing to the radio tower swarming with squirrels. "This - this is a weapon you've made. And just unleashing it like the way you did? That's irresponsible."
Jonas shook his head, vigorously. "It's not like that at all!" he insisted, hotly.
"There are innocent people in harm's way now, son!" Noah emphasized, ardently. "What can you say about that?"
"You don't have any idea what's going on!" Jonas retorted.
"What did you hope to gain from this?" Noah probed, fighting to cool his own temper and speak evenly. "Is this some kind of revenge for something? Are you trying to get noticed?.... Is this about your mother?"
Jonas turned his head away, his hands clenching into hard fists. He took a shaky, deep breath and his stance eased ever so slightly. Straining to speak calmly, he said, "You have to let me explain. This isn't my revenge, this isn't some attention-seeking stunt and I don't have any beef with this town."
"So... flying sharks are your audition for the circus?" Ty interjected. Everybody ignored his quip.
"I made a mistake," Jonas finally admitted.
26
Although time was of the essence, everyone remained silent, prompting Jonas to continue.
"I got a job working at a scientific research facility about a year ago," Jonas began explaining. "We looked into, studied, worked on and improved advanced prosthetics for amputees, nano medical technology, water sanitation - that kind of thing. It was completely legitimate work... so I thought. A few months on the job, and I start hearing rumours about the people who fund us. I got curious and I started digging into things I probably had no business going anywhere near. I soon found out that the research facility I worked for was basically just a front for a small section of District 61. Everything we did - all our research, our designs, our discoveries - was funded, directed and owned by District 61."
Jonas turned to look his father in the eye. Sincerity highlighted his features. "You always warned me about those people, Dad. How they weren't everything they said they were; how they manipulated honest people like you; how they used what you made for purposes you never intended.... I couldn't just sit back and put up with it forever. So I took a stand and it got me in some hot water.
"It was either work for them... or else. I was prepared to take whatever 'or else' meant, but I got an idea. If I agreed to work for them, I could sabotage them from the inside out. It was a brilliant plan on paper... it just didn't play out how I hoped.
"They gave me this project," Jonas said, pointing to the radio tower standing in the middle of the clearing. "They knew who I was, they knew I was your son. They weren't so happy that you destroyed all your research on the Gypes' technology, but they knew I had to have some of your old notes. They were so confident I could figure it out. Unfortunately, they were right. Within a few weeks, I managed to crack the Gypes' tech."
"Okay, so, you figured this stuff out," Dean interjected. "But why did you set it all off if you knew this would happen?"
Jonas sighed, heavily. "I didn't set this up... not the way you think I did, anyway. As soon as they realized I worked out the technology, they scheduled a demonstration. I couldn't argue with them: not if I wanted to risk everything. So I planned to rig this demonstration so that the creatures gained flight, enhanced strength and speed but were completely docile, then District 61 would never have their weapon and maybe they'd leave the Gypes' technology alone."
"I looked into that technology," Noah Harmica said. "The side effect of the radio signals makes the altered creatures hostile. There's no fixing it. I tried."
"I got close," Jonas said. "I found ways to mix the signals enough that the creatures weren't aggressive. I did a few test-runs, and they all seemed promising -"
"The jellyfish!" Ty suddenly exclaimed as the dots connected.
Jonas looked a little confused for a moment but his expression faded as he realized what the younger boy meant. "Oh, yeah. You must've seen them. I thought someone might have."
"But if you managed to make the jellyfish calm, why are all those fish wrecking Crashton now?" Dean asked.
"It only worked on the jellyfish," Jonas admitted. "And once the signals are strong enough, even they can't be calmed."
"So..." Audrey said, cautiously. "Does this mean we're on the same side then?"
"I guess so," Jonas replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Then we better get to work."
~~~
"Jack, this is really not working."
There was no ignoring the despair in Bella's voice as it came through the two-way radios, wavering and distressed.
"Just keep trying," Jack urged, desperate to fuel his friend's determination.
"It doesn't matter how many we haul out to sea - they just come straight back!"
"They're pushing their way further into town," Caleb chimed in.
Splitting up into separate teams was necessary in the attempt to protect Crashton from the advancing, mindless sea creatures. But the move drastically weakened the team's overall strength.
Bella and Lacey ran through the streets, wrangling sharks, dolphins, squids, jellyfish and stingrays with lassos made of glowing hardlight and leafy vines, then they dragged them away from town, past the boardwalk and released their hold as soon as the creatures were a suitable distance from shore. It seemed to work for a short while, but soon they realized it was like pouring water through a sieve: the sea creatures lost little momentum as they circled back around and headed towards Crashton once again.
Professor Darkins and Caleb had a somewhat harder task: protecting people. It surprised them to see just how many people were out and about at such a late hour. Even more surprising still was how many people purposefully left the safety of their homes to see the chaos firsthand.
Jack and Rust took over as distractions from Professor Darkins and Caleb. Together, they did their best to keep the rampaging sea creatures so preoccupied chasing them that they didn't have any reason to set their sights back on the townsfolk. Unfortunately, though the tactic worked amazingly well, there were more sea creatures than Jack and Rust could distract at once.
Resolve weakened and exhaustion set in. The signs showed, subtle at first but blaringly obvious as the night wore on. Bella's hardlight grew dimmer and dimmer; Caleb's jumping became sloppy and sluggish; and even Jack's enhanced endurance seemed to buckle as he started flying clumsier than usual.
"We need to regroup," Jack said, not even bothering to hide the defeat in his voice.
"I don't think we can," Caleb replied through the radio, a slight pant in his voice. "We may not be making much of a difference, but I don't think we can afford to leave."
"Caleb's right," Lacey said. "At the very least, we're giving people time to run away."
"Okay: don't give up, guys. I'm sure the others will have that tower smashed soon enough," Jack said.
"Good, because as soon as it is and we're done here: I'm gonna sleep for a week," Bella resolved.
~~~
"It's a little complicated," Jonas said as he tinkered with the radio transmitter. "You see, I can't just switch off the signals: it'll be too jarring to the creatures."
"The shock can kill them," his father added as he stood near, watching with intent interest as Jonas fiddled with wires and circuits.
"So you have to weaken the signals first and then shut them off?" Ethan summed up.
"Exactly," both Jonas and Noah answered at the same time.
"But what about that shark that chased us yesterday? She reverted back slowly," Ty piped up.
"Because she wasn't completely out of range of the signals sent from the transmitter in the dome," Jonas explained. "She received just enough of the signals to keep herself alive, but not enough for her to keep from turning back to normal. And, yes, before you ask: I did know about the whole shark escaping thing."
"Oh, yeah, here's your phone, by the way," Ethan said, sheepishly, as he handed Jonas the phone Ty accidently stole.
"In a way, I'm glad you took it," Jonas admitted as he slipped the phone into his pocket. "But you had me worried: I assumed you were from District 61."
Dean frowned. "You thought District 61 sent a bunch of superpowered teenagers after you?"
"What? You think they wouldn't do something like that?"
Dean shrugged. "I thought they were more legit than that..."
"Alright," Jonas said as he finished up his tinkering. "Done. You can call your friends now."
"Actually, I think we'd better hightail it back to them," Ty said. He held up his radio. "It doesn't sound like they're going to manage to get all those fish home."
"They'll need our help," Ethan said. "Okay, Audrey, can you teleport Dean and Ty over? I'll take the Harmicas in the jeep."
Audrey nodded, curtly. "Tell them we're on our way," she said as Dean and Ty stood by her side and an instant later the three of them disappeared, leaving nothing but a fine, blue mist in their wake.
"She teleports?" Jonas asked as he, his father and Ethan raced through the short sprint of woods towards the cars parked on the road.
"Yeah, she does," Ethan replied, distractedly, as he focussed on restarting the jeep's often temperamental engine.
"Cool."
27
"Come on, Painter," Rust said as he ran like a cheetah on steroids to outmanoeuvre a fiercely pursuing pod of flying dolphins. "I'm the old man here: you should be outdoing me!"
Despite the intensity of the situation, Jack smiled at Rust's quip. The once legendary hero seemed to be having a whale of a time and Jack realized - as much as Rust denied it - he honestly missed the adrenalin and excitement associated with saving the day.
"Young or not: I've been on my feet for hours," Jack countered as he swooped down and wrapped his arms around the lead dolphin as if he were hugging the slippery mammal. Maintaining momentum, Jack twisted through the air and released the dolphin. Once free, the dolphin spun around in midair and began chasing the teenager.
As Jack breezed past Rust with the dolphin eagerly tailing him, he called, "Beat that!"
The bantering helped ease the stress of the situation. Jack suddenly realized why heroes - even in fictional movies and comic books - always made sure to throw in a few cheesy one-liners. It was a coping mechanism.
Rust rounded a corner, sharply. The dolphins didn't take corners as smoothly as others, such as the eels, who banked around corners at break-neck speeds.
As the pod regained velocity, Rust used his speed to zoom up the side of a building. Once high enough, he kicked off the wall, sending himself sailing over the rather confused pod of dolphins. He hit the ground, bending his knees to absorb the impact, and continued running, looking out for his next batch of sea creatures to play distraction with.
Running along the abandoned road, he didn't expect an obstacle to appear out of thin air. With barely any warning, Rust dug his heels in and struggled to come to a halt. Inertia sent him skidding violently across the road. He ended up crashing into a stationary car parked alongside the kerb.
"Mr Swift? Are you alright?" a feminine voice called out.
Rust groaned from annoyance as he pulled himself away from the car with a new human shaped dent. "Jones, what's with the 'Mister' business?" he asked, irritably.
"Rust, sorry," she said, quickly. Rust noticed Ty and Dean standing at her side. "I didn't mean to -"
"What are you doing here?" he asked, tersely interrupting her apology.
"We need to get the sea creatures back to the ocean," Audrey answered, ignoring his interruption.
"Yeah, we've been trying to do that. Exactly where have you been?"
"We found Jonas," Ty chimed in. "He's actually not as bad as we thought. He stopped the radio signals... sort of. Anyway, we need to get the fish back in the water - now!"
Jack swooped down and landed beside his mentor, grabbing onto his arm to stop himself from tumbling forward. "Don't worry, I heard the whole thing," he said, quickly. "Anyone need a lift?"
Dean shot his arm in the air like an excited kid in a classroom. "Take me where I'm needed," he said.
"Where's the Duck parked?" Jack asked.
"In a shed, near the docks," Dean replied.
"Okay, cool
. Dean, we'll need you on the Duck with Ty. Get as many of our salty friends following you and hightail it to the water. Ty, be as annoying as you can be."
Ty nodded, eagerly. "Got it, Mission Control." He shrank, fast, and hopped onto Dean's outstretched hand.
"Audrey, can you go help Bella and Lacey out?"
"On my way," she accepted the instruction and immediately teleported away.
"Rust, lead the chase," Jack said before grabbing Dean under the armpits and zooming off.
"You young people, always in a rush!" Rust mock mumbled. "In my day..."
~~~
Like fuel tossed on a dying fire, hope and determination reignited as everyone put the last of their best into the job.
As the radio signals lessened, the sea creatures calmed down. Though it was almost impossible to see the change in the still aggressively rampaging creatures, it was enough to make them more manageable.
Audrey caught up with Bella and Lacey. Together, the three of them hastily devised a plan: Bella and Lacey would herd together a bunch of altered sea creatures and Audrey would teleport the lot of them out to the ocean.
"Does this count as 'girls' night out'?" Lacey jokingly asked as she grew vine after vine and sent them curling around Great White sharks' tails and giant squids' tentacles.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Bella said as she encased a swarm of jellyfish in a bubble of yellow hardlight. Glowing bubbles containing eels, sea snakes, and even lobsters bobbed along behind her as she went around, gathering more and more rogue sea life. "But we're not painting my nails after this, got it?"
Audrey appeared, her customary blue mist announcing her presence. "Did we do 'Truth or Dare' already?" she asked as she transported the herded marine life to the ocean, returning instantly.
"Fine. I dare you to come up with something more exciting than this," Bella said.
~~~
Ethan, Noah and Jonas arrived at the public beach parking lot. "You guys better stay out of the way," Ethan said, careful to sound kind and not severe.
"We can still help," Jonas said, resolutely.
"We don't want to sit back and watch," Noah agreed.
"Then hold on tight," Ethan ordered as he whipped the steering wheel around and zoomed off towards the centre of town.
"They're easily distracted," Jonas spoke up.