Schaefer was still firing when Li stood up and rushed him. Despite the damage he’d taken from the shotgun, Li still appeared to be very much functional. He had almost reached Schaefer when suddenly his momentum was checked and he flew up into the air, limbs flailing. He hit a large circular object up near the roof with an echoing metallic thud.
It was the industrial magnet. Schaefer had turned it on and positioned it to trap Li, who was struggling to get free. Schaefer pointed his rifle up and fired repeatedly, ripping Li to shreds.
I ran towards him, determined to help. Schaefer saw me coming and dropped the rifle. He held his hands up at chest level to show me what he was gripping: a hand grenade.
“That’s far enough,” he said, when I got close. “I don’t know what your little robot buddy was doing, but one more step and I’ll erase all his efforts.”
I was about to mention that destroying the vortex would leave him stranded here, too, but from what I could sense of his emotions, he was beyond caring about stuff like that. In fact, I could feel an utter, black hate in him, and it was directed at me.
I backed up slowly, then found my movement checked by the hydraulic lift. Up above me was the station wagon I’d seen earlier.
A look of pure evil came over Schaefer’s face. I knew what he was going to do before he even did it. He pulled the pin, then tossed the grenade at me. I phased, and the grenade passed through me, striking the lift before falling to the ground.
I turned my head to the side as the grenade exploded, destroying the base of the lift and cracking the concrete floor. Dust flew up into the air as if caught in a windstorm. There was the unmistakable screech of tearing metal as the lift slowly tilted and then fell forward in Schaefer’s direction. I thought that it would hit him, but instead it struck the ground about three feet in front of him, embedding itself in the floor.
The station wagon that was on the lift, however, thudded to the ground grill-first, headlights shattering and hood crumpling. Then it slowly fell forward onto its roof, crushing a shrieking Schaefer under it.
I didn’t bother checking on him. Instead, I looked to see if the vortex equipment was damaged. There were a few sparks, but in truth I didn’t know enough about the technology to determine if it was still in working order. My thoughts on the subject were interrupted by someone shouting my name.
“Jim!” Kane screamed from the doorway. “Come quick! There’s some kind of red giant out here!”
Red giant? I wasn’t sure that I’d heard him right. I ran outside and saw something I’d never seen before.
Lumbering in our direction from the far north end of the street was a woman. She was red all over - not just her complexion but also the soft light that surrounded her - roughly twelve feet tall, and just as big around. As Kane had said, a red giant. As she came waddling slowly down the street, wailing at the top of her lungs, buildings on both sides seemed to crumble inwards. With a shock, I realized that the woman was Estrella. Whatever was happening to her was running its course at a high rate of speed. In addition, it was affecting the environment, because in the few seconds I’d been outside, the wind had whipped up into a frenzy, blowing in Estrella’s direction.
“You have to get us out of here!” Kane shouted, Gossamer leaning protectively against him.
“Me?” I asked incredulously. “How?”
“Teleport us!”
“Teleport?” I asked, puzzled by what he meant. The word sounded familiar…my head was still throbbing, making it hard to think.
“What’s wrong with him?” I heard Gossamer ask Kane, who gave me an odd look, then poked a finger at my forehead. I flinched away from his touch in pain.
“Oh, jeez!” he yelled. “I think he’s got a concussion! There’s a lump on his head the size of a golf ball!”
Teleport…Teleport…I know that word…
Gossamer pulled out one of her daggers. “I think I could–”
“No!” Kane told her. “You’re too weak!”
Teleport…Teleport… As I tried to concentrate, I glanced at Estrella, who lifted her head to the sky, screamed, and vanished.
“Oh!” I said in sudden realization. “Teleport!”
A second later we were at the Academy, in the room with the vortex gate.
Chapter 38
I have to give Gavin credit; he did an excellent job of rounding everyone up. The room where the vortex normally opened - and the hallway leading into it - was completely packed. It looked like everyone was there, and already wearing their sunglasses.
Magnavolt, despite looking haggard and withdrawn, had taken charge of things since being brought out of sedation just an hour or so earlier. We found him and several of his senior staff near the gate (or rather, what was left of it), trying to keep order. Gavin had already brought him up to speed on everything regarding the virus, and we briefed him on the mission we’d just completed.
“I hate to have to tell you this,” he said when we’d finished, “especially after everything you went through, but I think it’s a bust.”
“Why’s that?” asked Kane.
“Because the vortex opened before you got here,” Magnavolt said. “It was only for a few seconds – not long enough for anyone to go through. Everyone’s been waiting around, hoping it will open again.”
“I guess that explains why everyone already has their sunglasses on,” I said.
“So, after all that,” Gossamer said, “we’re still stuck here.”
“And in a few minutes almost all of the students here will start losing control of their powers,” Kane added.
I didn’t have the heart to tell them about the additional danger posed by Estrella, who could possibly go supernova at any moment and fry the whole planet to a cinder. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but I could hear the wind outside starting to build. I felt someone take my hand; I turned and saw Electra standing there, with Smokey behind her. She gave me a kiss.
“You never showed up for dinner,” she said with a pout.
I smiled. If this is how things were going to end, I was glad to have the people I cared about at my side. I thought back to Adam’s last moments…
All of a sudden there was a brilliant burst of light from the direction of the gate. Anyone who hadn’t been looking in that direction turned their head that way now.
A silhouette slowly took shape at the edge of the gate as the vortex opened up. I switched my vision over and almost jumped for joy when I saw who was standing there.
“Anybody need a ride home?” asked Mouse nonchalantly, with the ever-present tablet under his arm.
There was a loud cheer, and people started pressing forward. Magnavolt took to the air, floating in front of the gate, voice booming.
“QUICKLY AND IN ORDERLY FASHION, PEOPLE! THIS IS NOT SOME CATTLE DRIVE!”
Mouse stepped down from the gate as people started to go through the vortex.
“We did it!” Kane screamed. “We did it!”
“I don’t know that we did anything,” Gossamer said. “It looks like this is all work they did on the other side – on Earth.”
“Still, I like to think we helped,” Kane said.
We all stood back as everyone started to file through. I wanted to talk to Mouse, but he was too busy, first speaking to Magnavolt, then running out of the room to do something else. When he came back in, he looked worried.
I grabbed him by the arm. “What is it? What’s happening?”
“Something’s going on here,” he replied. “I don’t know exactly what, but some kind of gravity well is forming on this world and growing fast, becoming more powerful by the second. The vortex is providing some stability for the area we’re in, but it won’t last. The rest of the school’s already coming apart. We’ve got to move faster, before it sucks this school, us, and everything else down its throat – including the vortex.”
I sighed, then gave him (and everyone else standing around) a thirty-second overview about Estrella and what was – theoret
ically - happening to her.
“Well, I think the theory’s being proven,” he stated when I finished. “That said, we should have enough time to make it if we hustle – we only need another minute or two.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “You guys did good. I’m glad you came through it okay.”
“Not all of us,” said Gossamer.
For a moment I didn’t know what she was talking about, then I remembered.
“Li!” I shouted. “I’ve got to go back for him!”
Before anyone could protest, I teleported back to the garage.
*****
When I popped into Manny’s Garage, the wind outside was audibly ferocious and blowing in the direction where we had last seen Estrella. From what I could see out the window, there wasn’t another building on the street…or the next street, or the next, and so on. I also didn’t see a tree, shrub, bush, or blade of grass…anything. Whatever was happening to Estrella, it was, as Mouse indicated, sucking this entire world dry.
That being the case, I was actually surprised to find the garage still in one piece, but then I remembered what Mouse had just said about the vortex providing stability. Although there was no vortex here, the machinery was still on, and maybe that was enough.
Apparently I was getting ahead of myself, though, because the next second the north end of the building ripped away from its foundation and went soaring off into the distance towards something that looked like a shining white dot. Slightly panicked, I flew up to where the industrial magnet was located. This area, being a bit closer to the vortex machinery, seemed slightly more stable, but I knew it wouldn’t last long; the roof was already coming apart.
Li was still there, stuck on the magnet like he’d been welded to it. I spent a minute or two zipping around the garage looking for the magnet’s controls. One set of equipment that I thought might control it actually raised a hydraulic lift I hadn’t noticed before. Another opened a set of bay doors on the east wall. Finally, knowing time was running out, I gave up on finding the controls and flew up to see if there was anything I could do otherwise.
Looking at Li closely, I could see that he was horribly shredded. Thanks to the magnet, Schaefer had really been able to do a number on him. Almost every part of his interior was exposed and obviously damaged: frayed wires, ripped couplings, busted hydraulics. It didn’t look like there was anything to be done even if I could get him off the magnet.
I was about to teleport away when I caught a brief flash of colored light from the area of his sternum. Telekinetically, I peeled back part of the housing that made up his chest and the accompanying wires and connections. There, in the center, I saw the piece of ceramic I had observed earlier when he’d been wounded. Using my telekinesis, I took hold of it and pulled. It seemed to snap right out. I took the ceramic in my hand and teleported back to the school just as the rest of the garage blew away.
Chapter 39
Often, when I teleport to a potentially hostile environment, I make sure to pop up phased so as to avoid injury. In this instance, I thought I knew where I was headed – the Academy’s vortex gate – so I didn’t bother taking any precautions.
When I appeared, however, I didn’t seem to be at the school. In fact, I didn’t see anything that I recognized, because there didn’t seem to be anything there to see except a massive windstorm that was blowing everything away. In essence, the school was gone; my efforts to rescue Li had taken too much time. Even worse, when I arrived, I was immediately and wickedly bonked on the noggin by some piece of metal debris, and at the same time I was savagely swept up into the storm.
I had trouble concentrating and felt blood starting to smear on the side of my face as I was swirled around so fast that I became dizzy and nauseous. I phased, which released me from the grip of the tempest. Now that I was still, I could see that the entire pull of the storm was in one direction: towards the area where Manny’s Garage was located. Everything was being sucked towards that area – towards the gravity well Mouse had mentioned. Estrella.
My eyes fluttered, and I felt myself starting to become solid again. I began to get pulled by the storm once more. I shook my head and focused as hard as I could on staying phased, feeling relieved when the wind let me go. Still, my eyelids felt heavy and I was having trouble concentrating. Counting the fight with Estrella, I had just received several significant blows to the head in a very short time frame. If I didn’t have a concussion before, I surely had one now, as my inability to think straight attested. I needed to find the vortex now, assuming it was still open.
I knew that the storm had dragged me for a while before I phased, so I probably wasn’t anywhere near the vortex gate at the moment. In fact, even switching my vision over to other wavelengths, I couldn’t find any landmarks that I recognized or reference points that were familiar. The gravity well had pulled away everything but bare ground, and even that was disappearing fast. There wasn’t even–
There!
I saw a circular spark of light that seemed familiar off to my right. It was the vortex! It had to be! I started to head towards it and immediately felt sick again. My eyes started fluttering once more, and I felt myself losing the tenuous grip I currently had on my powers.
Mentally, I struggled as hard as I could, focusing everything I had on staying phased and heading towards that light. It was no good; I felt myself slowly succumbing to the dark embrace of unconsciousness. I looked towards the light - the vortex - which was becoming smaller by the second, letting me know that I was substantial again and getting pulled towards the gravity well. I raised my hand to my chest, thankful to see that I still held Li’s core processor. This way neither of us would die alone. Then everything went dark.
Chapter 40
For just the second time in my life (not counting the day I was born), I woke up in a hospital room. My mother and grandfather, who were in the room with me, immediately looked in my direction. My mother had bags under her eyes, something I’d never seen before. Moreover, her eyes were completely red, evidence that she had been doing quite a bit of crying.
She rushed over and gave me a hug. Needless to say, she began crying again.
Gramps stood back, presenting a stoic demeanor.
I smiled. Despite the comment, I was aware of the deep sense of relief Gramps felt, just like my mother, knowing that I had apparently recovered. As even more evidence of how he felt, he eventually shoved Mom out of the way so he could give me a hug as well.
“How long?” I croaked, my throat dry.
“Four days,” Mom said. “You had two massive concussions, various cuts and bruises, radiation poisoning–”
“Radiation poisoning?” I asked incredulously.
“That’s what they said,” Gramps responded.
For a second I wondered how that could have happened, and then I remembered that stars give off radiation. Therefore, it had to have been Estrella. That also would have explained why I suddenly got nauseous while fighting her (although a concussion can cause that as well.)
“Wait a minute,” I said, snapping back to the present. “Where am I?”
“Don’t worry,” Gramps said. “It’s not a regular hospital. It’s a place for capes. Any secrets a super has when he comes here stay under wraps.”
I sighed in relief. I should have known Gramps and Mom wouldn’t let me end up in just any hospital. They were the ones who had always insisted on keeping my unique physiology a secret.
We visited together about an hour, with me insisting that I was fine – aside from being hungry enough to eat a horse. During that time, the doctors and nurses came and checked me out.
“You’ve made a remarkable recovery,” one of the doctors noted. “Your family wouldn’t authorize any conventional treatment – just an IV drip and round-the-clock surveillance.” He looked at Mom and Gramps as he said this, as if their concept of medical care included bl
oodletting with leeches.
“But your body seems to have done all the work and healed itself,” he continued, “even from the radiation poisoning – we were even able to take all of the bandages off yesterday. Hmmm… I don’t suppose you’d consider being part of a study–”
“No,” all three of us – me, Mom, and Gramps – said simultaneously.
A short time after the last doctor left – and after I’d finally gotten some food in me – there was a soft knock on my door. I looked up to find Mouse, Electra, and Smokey in the doorway.
“Is he up for visitors yet?” Smokey asked no one in particular.
“Sure,” said Mom. “Come on in.”
“If we aren’t intruding, that is,” said Mouse.
“Of course not,” said my grandfather. “I’ve seen enough of his mug for now anyway. Come on, Geneva, let’s go get some coffee.”
Gramps and Mom left, but not before my mother and Electra gave each other a kiss on the cheek and exchanged pleasantries.
“What was that about?” I asked Electra as she sat down and took my hand.
“What?” she asked.
“You and my mom acting like old girlfriends,” I said.
“You didn’t know?” asked Mouse. “Those two have practically been tag-team partners in terms of holding a vigil by your bedside.”
“Yeah,” Smokey agreed. “One of them was always here.”
I looked at Electra, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze – she just lowered her head, smiling. I thought how lucky it was that she had survived the virus–
“The virus!” I shouted. “What–”
“No worries on that front,” Mouse said. “A friend and I were able to come up with a vaccine. Everyone’s fine for the most part.”
I let out a sigh of relief. But Mouse’s statement just brought up a million more questions. Before I could ask them, however, a voice I never wished to hear again sounded from the door.
The Kid Sensation Series Box Set Page 36