Multiplicity made a copy of herself next to the sentinel that knocked Phantom to the floor, placing herself between that sentinel and another one. "Hey, guys. I'm right here." She smacked each sentinel on its shoulder. Both of them turned toward her at the same time and fire. She with deleted that copy of herself and the sentinels' shots hit one another, taking them both out of commission.
"Did you see that move?" Multiplicity yelled from her original still safely next to the wall.
"Nice one," Micron hollered back from across the room.
Allison turned to her normal self again. "If we can just get close enough, I can take them out."
"You'll get shot," Thad said. "I have a better idea. But it's going to take all of us."
"Okay, new guy. What's the plan? Duck!"
Thad lowered his head, dipping to his side a little, and felt the heat from sentinel blast warm his cheek. "Close one."
"Plan?" Allison hardened again, taking several more shots unscathed, then changed back.
"Micron!" Thad couldn't see his diminutive companion, but he knew he must be nearby.
Micron grew to his normal size. "Right here." He noticed a shot coming his way, so he shrank halfway down, then regrew once it had passed him. "What's up?"
"Over here. I've got a plan."
Micron jumped toward Thad, who was twenty feet away. A moment after Micron jumped, he shrunk himself, but much of the force of his jump remained, propelling his much smaller body considerably farther than he would have traveled at his normal size. Just before he landed beside Thad, he fully regrew himself. "These things suck, don't they? What's the plan?"
"Shrink yourself and stay that way until I say stop," Thad said, just as Allison hardened herself in front of him again to handle incoming fire.
"What's your idea?" Micron asked.
"He's clever, Micron," Allison said. "Just give him a shot. We're not going to die. The Danger Room isn't set that high."
Micron looked at her. "Doesn't mean it won't hurt."
Thad looked at the Multiplicity by the wall. "I'm going to need your help too."
"Okay," she said. "What's the plan?"
"And you too, Phantom!" Thad looked at him to make sure he'd gotten back on his floating feet, and was still safely phased. He had, and he was.
Between brief pauses in which Allison transformed to protect Thad and Micron, and Multiplicity hopped back and forth between a copy and her original to keep from getting shot, Thad explained his plan to all four of them.
The sentinels had started to move toward them, making it harder to dodge their fire.
"Okay," he said. "Is everyone ready? There's ten left."
Multiplicity made five copies of herself beside her original, then took them all back again. "Hell, yeah!"
"You better get the timing right," Micron said, waving his finger at Thad.
"I will. Trust me." He looked at Allison. "All I need you to do is be my rock."
She chuckled. "Oh, you're corny. I like it. Now?"
"Now."
She transformed herself, once again providing cover for Thad and Micron.
"Phantom!" Thad said. "You're up. Draw them closer, but away from Allison and Multiplicity."
Phantom floated in front of a few of the sentinels, drawing their fire, but he was safe in his phased state. He slowly moved back toward the middle of the room, but well to the side of where Allison, Thad, and Micron were standing.
Multiplicity made a copy of herself behind Thad, then dropped her original that was still by the wall, making the copy behind Thad her primary. "I have to say, I love this plan."
"Thanks." Thad didn't look back, since he was watching Phantom so he could get the timing right for the next move.
When Phantom had drawn one of the sentinels within Thad's throwing distance, Thad glanced at Multiplicity. "Can you handle that? I'll make it quick. They shouldn't have time to turn around, or even see you behind them."
"No problem," she said.
Thad looked at Micron. "It's time."
Micron shook his head. "Here goes crazy." He shrunk down to a very throwable toy soldier size and hopped into the palm of Thad's hand when he reached for the diminutive super.
"Now!" Thad threw Micron high in the air over the closest sentinel of the ones Phantom had lured. As Micron's tiny body fell down toward the sentinel's head, Thad used his power to switch places with Micron, then quickly looked at Allison, who was still in her indestructible and extraordinarily heavy form. Thad switched places with her, and she crashed down onto the sentinel, crushing it almost flat to the floor.
Thad knew he wouldn't have time to pick up Micron and throw him the second time, or the third, or the forth, and so on. But when he was in the air above the first sentinel, switching places with Allison, Multiplicity picked up Micron and made a copy of herself behind the next sentinel to be targeted, while Thad ran as fast as he could to get to Multiplicity's side. He had to slide at the last second to avoid getting shot, but he made it.
As soon as Allison was landing on top of the first sentinel, Thad yelled for Multiplicity to throw Micron high in above the second sentinel, which she did. Thad switch places with Micron once again, then just as he was falling toward the second sentinel, he looked at Allison still on top of the first one she'd crushed. He traded places with her again, and she fell on top of the second one, destroying it as well.
During that, like before, Multiplicity took Micron with her as she changed which copy of herself was her original, then threw Micron above the next sentinel while Thad hurried to her side. Thankfully, getting to the third sentinel was easier, since he didn't have to run as far.
As they were finishing off the first four sentinels, Phantom was luring more their way, careful to draw their fire in a direction which didn't endanger the group of his fellow supers.
Micron was thrown into the air six more times. Multiplicity made six more versions of herself, and Allison, all the while remaining indestructible and heavier than all the weight in the normals' gym on the third floor, smashed the the rest of the sentinels to piles of scrap.
By the time Thad had executed his part in the plan, he'd traded places with someone on his team a total of twenty times. He was exhausted. Phantom was pleased they were victorious. Micron was nauseated. Multiplicity was deeply satisfied from the fun she'd had. And Allison, demonstrating her feelings by kissing Thad long and hard when it was all over, was extremely proud of him.
Chapter 16
"There's my girl."
"Thad," Allison said as he walked into the Supers Lounge. They were the only ones there. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better. Can't even tell I was stung."
"Me too. Thank you."
"No need to thank me. I'm always there for you. You know that." Thad shook his head. "I just can't believe they attacked again, and the Supers building this time."
"But with The Director's ability to keep the rest of the heroes away, I can see why they were so bold."
"Green room. That's what Nymph called it. That so...bizarre."
"TV movie stuff. His powers. I don't understand it either. One of ours is just as strange though. The Author."
"Yeah, I know, but..."
"It's unsettling, I know."
"Yeah. At least he didn't have you and me on his list for the green room."
"Very lucky.
"Very."
"Hey, I want to show you something. Look at this?" She held up a folded piece of paper.
"What is it?" He walked over to her and took it when she offered it to him.
"Read it. It was on my desk."
He unfolded the paper and read what was written on it. 'I know why The Director attacked. Bear Creek Park jogging trails. Noon. Come alone.'
Thad handed the paper back to her. "I'm coming with you."
She shook her head. "The note says to come alone. If whoever wrote it sees two of us, they'll leave. We may not get a second chance."
"It might be a trap.
If you go alone..."
Allison shook her head again. "I'll be okay. I can do this. It'll be in the middle of the day. People around."
"I'll keep my distance."
Allison smiled at him. "I like that you want to protect me, but you need to remember, I'm pretty capable of protecting myself."
Thad sighed, realizing she was right, but he still didn't like the idea of her going alone. "I'll wait across the street." He held up his left arm, nodding toward the wrist band. "Take a tracker chip, just in case. And..."
She tapped the new earpiece she was wearing. Franklin had made a pair of them—one for her, one for Thad. "I'll call you if there's any trouble. Okay?"
Thad knew the precautions were reasonable. He'd have to accept that she was going to meet the writer of the note alone. "I guess it has to be."
Allison nodded. "Or else we don't find out what he knows."
"You're right."
"Thanks." She gave him a kiss on his cheek. "It'll be fine."
~
Thad had been sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, pretending to read a book. He couldn't see the trails across the street, but they were directly behind the trees he'd been staring into for twenty minutes. While he'd been waiting for Allison to come back from the meeting with the mystery person, Thad had touched his earpiece a dozen times to make sure it was still in his ear. Finally, he saw her coming out from the trees. He stood and waited for her to cross the street to meet him.
A few moments later, she stepped onto the sidewalk beside him. "Done."
He gave her a kiss, then backed off and asked, "What did you find out? What happened? What did they say?"
"It was one of the Supers Inc Board members."
"Wow."
"He said he wasn't part of it. Said he just uncovered it."
"What?"
Allison glanced down for a moment, then looked into his eyes again. "We were right. The Director was after something. But not inside the building. The quake we felt was an explosion below."
"In one of the basements? Which one? Was it the power generator? Wait. No. The building never lost power. Where was it? What did he tell you? "
Allison shook her head. "It wasn't in the basements. It was farther down, deep underground. He told me there's cavern somewhere down there, way below everything. He said it held the source of our powers."
"I thought the suits were made in the Powers Lab?"
"Did you ever think about where these new supervillains are coming from? Where they got their powers? It wasn't from the Powers Lab. It's security has never been breached. I checked."
"I hadn't worked it out yet," Thad said. "Someone somewhere else must've made a similar breakthrough."
"I don't think so. I think they came from the same place, but not the lab. The powers are already in the material. And that comes from..."
"What? How are the powers put into the material the suits get made from?"
Allison shook her head, then looked across the street for a moment before turning back to Thad. "There's something down there, something that must've been buried there for a very long time."
"That's what The Director was after?"
"That's what the man told me. Probably so."
"But we stopped him."
"True." Allison glanced down for a moment, then looked at Thad. "But one of his team still took something...someone, actually. A man. A man who'd been down in that cavern since they started building this place. They kept his existence a secret, even to some of the Board members. He's some sort of autist savant. Somehow, he can interface with whatever is down there holding all that power, the power that gets made into our suits."
"Who took him? Where? Did he tell you that?"
Allison nodded, looking at Thad like she had horrible news to share with him. "Thad...it was Mr. Awesome."
Thad's body crumpled into a slump as all the air went out of his chest and he lost the strength in his frame. He slowly shook his head. "Mr. Awesome? But..."
Allison put her hand on his shoulder. "I know. It's hard to believe, but it's true. He hasn't been on the moon this whole time. He went, but came back early. But he didn't come back here to work. He went back to The Director. He's been working with him all along. He's the one who took the Super Threads used to make The Director into who he is, and the rest of his group."
"He was...my hero."
"I know. I'm sorry. I really am." Allison gave him the time he needed to process what he'd just heard.
Thad felt sad, then angry and betrayed. He thought about all he'd been through, and how much he'd looked up to Mr. Awesome since the company's most powerful hero came onto the scene. He remembered how Mr. Awesome had been the inspiration for him, giving him the will to persevere all year working in the mail room, holding fast to the hope of one day becoming a superhero too.
"He's the reason I wanted to become a superhero," Thad said, looking up at Allison.
She stared into his eyes for a few moments, then said, "But he's not the reason you are one." She put her hand on his chest. "This is the reason. You were a hero long before you put on your suit."
Thad looked down at her hand on his chest, then smiled at her and let out a sigh. "Thanks. I...I just want to help people. I always have, ever since..."
"Since you were a kid in your old neighborhood?"
"Yeah, right."
"I remember. You told me how rough it was."
"It would've been nice to have had my powers then. I could've done something to stop the bad guys," Thad said.
"Yes." Allison squeezed his hand. "But you have them now. And me. And now we know who all the bad guys are."
Thad nodded, realizing she was right. He did have powers now. He couldn't change the past, but there were villains loose in the city. One of them might have been his hero once, but that didn't matter now. He was a super. He'd proven he could handle the role—to the company, to his friends, and to himself.
"Thad?"
He'd been staring into the distance. He took a deep breath and let it out, then turned to her. "They're not going to win. I won't let them. Not here. Not anywhere. We're the heroes. If The Director and Mr. Awesome want to team up, let 'em. Our team is more than ready for them. We've got powers too. And more than that, we're fighting for the people. I spent too many years growing up watching thugs and criminals hurt my neighbors, and the people close to me. No more. Supervillains or not. Let 'em come. We'll be waiting for them."
Allison put her arms around him, and curled one arm behind her and pulled her close. "We'll do it together."
She looked into his eyes. "Together forever.
He peered back into her eyes, and everything felt right. He hugged her a little closer as she nestled her chest against his, then winked at her and went in closer. Her lips met his, and they became lost to the world in a long, passionate, ignore-the-shocked-people-walking-by, superheroes-in-love kiss.
Chapter 17
"There's my girl."
"Thad," Allison said as he walked into the Supers Lounge. They were the only ones there. "Look at this?" She held up a folded piece of paper.
"What is it?" He walked over to her and took it when she offered it to him.
"Read it. It was on my desk."
He unfolded the paper and read what was written on it. 'I know why The Director attacked. Bear Creek Park jogging trails. Noon. Come alone.'
Thad handed the paper back to her. "I'm coming with you."
She shook her head. "The note says to come alone. If whoever wrote it sees two of us, they'll leave. We may not get a second chance."
"It might be a trap. If you go alone..."
Allison shook her head again. "I'll be okay. I can do this. It'll be in the middle of the day. People around."
"I'll keep my distance."
Allison smiled at him. "I like that you want to protect me, but you need to remember, I'm pretty capable of protecting myself."
Thad sighed, realizing she was right, but he still didn't like the ide
a of her going alone. "I'll wait across the street." He held up his left arm, nodding toward the wrist band. "Take a tracker chip, just in case. And..."
She tapped the new earpiece she was wearing. Franklin had made a pair of them—one for her, one for Thad. "I'll call you if there's any trouble. Okay?"
Thad knew the precautions were reasonable. He'd have to accept that she was going to meet the writer of the note alone. "I guess it has to be."
Allison nodded. "Or else we don't find out what he knows."
"You're right."
"Thanks." She gave him a kiss on his cheek. "It'll be fine."
Thad had been sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, pretending to read a book. He couldn't see the trails across the street, but they were directly behind the trees he'd been staring into for twenty minutes. While he'd been waiting for Allison to come back from the meeting with the mystery person, Thad had touched his earpiece a dozen times to make sure it was still in his ear. Finally, he saw her coming out from the trees. He stood and waited for her to cross the street to meet him.
A few moments later, she stepped onto the sidewalk beside him. "Done."
He gave her a kiss, then backed off and asked, "What did you find out? What happened? What did they say?"
"It was one of the Supers Inc Board members."
"Wow."
"He said he wasn't part of it. Said he just uncovered it."
"What?"
Allison glanced down for a moment, then looked into his eyes again. "We were right. The Director was after something. But not inside the building. The quake we felt was an explosion below."
"In one of the basements? Which one? Was it the power generator? Wait. No. The building never lost power. Where was it? What did he tell you? "
Allison shook her head. "It wasn't in the basements. It was farther down, deep underground. He told me there's cavern somewhere down there, way below everything. He said it held the source of our powers."
"I thought the suits were made in the Powers Lab?"
"Did you ever think about where these new supervillains are coming from? Where they got their powers? It wasn't from the Powers Lab. It's security has never been breached. I checked."
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