Gamma Accidents #1: Journey

by Erin Sheena Byrne

it to his team.

  Nevertheless, he remembered something Rust told him during their last two weeks of training.

  "You need a plan, never underestimate a well thought-out, formulated, detailed plan. But there will come times when you just have to trust that your team can follow the simplest order and create their own plan from that."

  19

  Ethan and Bella instantly bolted for the metallic blue jeep, Ethan snapping it into gear and racing after the Land Rover on the road.

  Caleb started bouncing with giant leaps over cars on the motorway, keeping good pace with Mr Beta.

  Ty shrank down until he was an inch high and Jack placed his minuscule friend on his head. He felt a tickling sensation and knew Ty had grabbed locks of his hair to keep himself stabilized.

  Jack jumped into the air and flew high amongst the clouds, keeping a hawk's eye lock on Mr Beta's Land Rover.

  The dark green vehicle weaved through lunchtime traffic along the freeway, making its way to an unknown destination. Correction: Mr Beta knew exactly where he was going, but the teenagers pursuing him hadn't the faintest clue.

  Each teenager had a different perspective of the situation.

  Ethan saw cars all around, which he had to weave around, safely, while still keeping his eyes locked on the math teacher.

  Bella, sitting in the passenger seat besides the eldest Black triplet, didn't have to worry about watching traffic. She kept her eyes glued to Mr Beta, so that, if Ethan lost him, at least she knew where he was.

  Caleb's point of view changed with every jump. One second, he was looking directly through people's windows, and the next, he was staring down at the multicoloured car roofs.

  Jack had the best view, though. It sure helped to have enhanced sight. His eyes focussed on Mr Beta's Land Rover, on Ethan and Bella in the jeep and on Caleb bouncing through the increasing traffic.

  Ty couldn't see much from his vantage point. Actually, he couldn't see anything, besides a sea of chestnut brown hair, almost his height exactly, and a bright blue sky above.

  The wind tore at his small body, the noise filling his tiny ears, and it took immense resistance to stay on Jack's head and not go tumbling off and down into the surging traffic.

  He clutched the strands of hair for dear life, terrified of what might happen if he ever thought of letting go.

  Please, please, please just land already! Ty yelled in his head, wishing he could send his thoughts telepathically.

  The painstaking fight against being torn off Jack's head eased when Ty sensed a descent. His knuckles turning white, Ty reasoned he could ease his grip on Jack's hair slightly.

  He juddered as Jack landed, thankful he had learnt how to land without crashing.

  Knowing they were on solid ground once again, Ty slid down Jack's head, through his hair, onto his shoulder and from there, jumped into the air. While in midair, he returned to his original size so that he didn't have to land on the ground but just step.

  He took in his surroundings, having only seen hair and sky for the past ten minutes.

  They were in another parking lot by another school. This wasn't a high school, though.

  The single storey building boasted a colourful, cheerful, childish sign: Summer Valley Kindergarten.

  It looked like it was going home time, as parents arrived and small, laughing children met them with hugs and excitable chatter, wearing their backpacks, ready to go.

  Ty frowned. "Okay, why are we here?" he asked Jack, the only other teenager around.

  Jack pointed to Mr Beta's Land Rover, which pulled up into a parking space as close to the doors as possible.

  Mr Beta hopped out and leaned against the vehicle, waiting.

  Caleb bounced up to Jack and Ty, who thought it best to watch the scene play out from behind a tree.

  "What's Mr Beta doing here?" Caleb questioned, lowering his voice slightly. "Is Mr Beta moonlighting... with a kindergarten?"

  Kids between the ages of four and five trickled out the doors, smiling teachers standing in the wings, watching as parents collected their young ones.

  Jack frowned as he observed the young teacher. "He's not working here," he said.

  A small girl, with dark brown hair in a messy braid and wearing jeans slightly too big for her, walked out the school doors and stood, uncertainly, on the steps. Her peers rushed past her, not stopping for a second to glance her way.

  Her big eyes scanned the parking lot, searching for something. A dimpled smile broke out on her young face as she found what she was looking for.

  She ran down the steps and straight into the arms of her waiting father.

  Mr Beta swung the small girl up and hugged her, tightly.

  Caleb blinked as if someone had suddenly shone a brilliant light in his eyes. "Should we go apologize?" he wondered aloud.

  "Apologize to who?" Bella asked as she and Ethan joined the teens behind the tree. "Sorry we took so long, we drove right past the kindergarten the first time but I was sure I saw you guys stop here. Guess I was right."

  Ty pointed in the direction of the math teacher. "I don't think we have to be suspicious of this guy anymore."

  "Let's go say hi, anyway," Ethan said. "You know, like good stalkers do."

  The teenagers awkwardly walked across the parking lot, trying not to look dodgy as they made their way towards Mr Beta and his daughter.

  He was busy buckling the small girl into a car seat when Jack interrupted him.

  "Um, hi, Mr Beta," he said, doubtfully.

  Mr Beta's eyes widened as he snapped around to see who the voice belonged to. "The accidents?" he said, clearly puzzled as he took in each face. "What are you doing here?"

  The teenagers exchanged a look.

  None of the teachers knew the true reason gamma accidents had been enrolled in Summer Valley Hero High. Of course, it would have been a stupid idea to tell them. Such an act would have dire results.

  "We were following you," Bella answered.

  Mr Beta looked even more confused. "Why?"

  It's time to make an ally, Jack thought as he began. "Someone is training young villains and whoever this someone is; they're hiding as a Hero High teacher. The global director brought in Rust to find a team of gamma accidents, who would be unaffected, to find the traitor."

  Mr Beta crossed his arms, his expression hard to read. "And you thought I was the traitor," he summed up.

  "To be honest, we have no idea where to start," Caleb said, innocently. "But the lunch-ladies told me you've been cutting lunch for the past four years. Gotta admit, Mr Beta, that's pretty suspicious. Why didn't you tell anyone you were just picking up your daughter?"

  Mr Beta sighed. "It was easier before Layla started kindergarten," he admitted. "You see, her mother died when she was born. I had only just started working at Hero High and I couldn't risk the job. As useful as growing extra arms are, it's not easy to hold down a job when you've freaked the boss out. So, I never breathed a word of it. But every day, at lunch, I snuck out to be with my daughter, who I left in the care of my sister while I was teaching. I always got back on school grounds on time, though. But this year she started kindergarten and it's a little harder now. I managed to mess with the schedule but it really is just a matter of time before I have to explain things to the principal."

  "Wow," Caleb said. "That's something else."

  "I wouldn't have it any other way, though," Mr Beta said, smiling to his four-year-old daughter. "Hey, if you kids need any information, some help, even a piece of chalk, don't hesitate to call me."

  Mr Beta finished buckling his daughter in, got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

  "Oh, one more thing," he said before leaving. "I know you've got your sights set on the teachers, but have you considered checking out the students to find your rat?"

  The idea left the teenagers standing in an empty parking space, eye's wide, mouths hanging open, minds completely dumbstruck.

  "It's not a bad suggestion," Ethan mused.<
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  20

  The Accidents dove into mission mode.

  While Alison and Rosie were asleep from a long day in the girls' room, the teenagers plotted their next move in the boys' room.

  The small kitchen table was covered with maps of the school, of Summer Valley and, over-enthusiastically, the country.

  Student records, teacher dossiers and school files were mingled in amongst the mess of notes and papers.

  "Okay, first things first," Jack said, launching into team-leader mode. "Caleb, how did you get school records?"

  "The lunch-ladies," he answered. "And Audrey. She said we're authorized because we have to find a crook. Her words, not mine. And these aren't the in-depth records. Strictly attendance and average grades."

  "Well, okay, then," Jack said, satisfied. "We're looking for anything suspicious, anything out of the ordinary or anything that forms a pattern. We know students are turning into criminals, but we don't exactly know which ones. I've found some reports of crimes involving superpowered teenagers. Our mission now: to match attendance records with news reports, with report cards, with superpowers. If we can just find one kid that fits the bill, we can start putting an end to this. We have two days until Urban Danger's welcoming ceremony. So... snacks are all in the fridge. Are we ready?"

  No one argued: they set to work.

  The teens sat at their job, seriously, for hours, working far past the reasonable hours and late into the, "We really should be asleep," hours.

  Jack, Bella, Ethan, Ty and Caleb were respectable teenagers: they didn't break the rules (normally), they never snuck out (no, that's a lie, they snuck out often), but they always