The lights in the dojo weren't on. Johnathan and Harper had left. Felix cursed. He took a seat against its walls, holding his legs to his body tightly to combat the cold. With one hand – unfortunately exposed to the elements – Felix searched the internet for any ongoing livestreams from Eastman Tower.
There were only a handful, all of them from relatively unknown people with practically no digital footprint. That would change after tonight; many of these streams had hundreds of thousands of views. The one Felix had clicked on first had millions. It was as if every single person in the country had their eyes glued to this act of terror.
Felix scanned the people he could see on screen. The room was fairly dark, with the majority of the overhead lights turned off, ostensibly to reduce the police's ability to peer through the large windows that comprised the majority of the conference room's walls. None of them were familiar.
Flicking from channel to channel, Felix grew more and more relieved as his efforts turned out to be in vain. Maybe Kyle and Beth weren't at Eastman after all. As soon as he let out his first calming sigh, Blast spoke up. The streamer moved their phone to capture video of the supervillain. Blast faced his own camera, apparently addressing the outside world. Felix turned the volume up.
"No, no, no," he said in a sickeningly playful tone. "If I see so much as a single military unit outside this building, I will bring this entire tower down with me inside it. Of course, I won't be going down alone! I've got all these wonderful people to keep me company! On second thought, they're so wonderful, I'll double their ransom! Give me forty million dollars and full immunity. You have just under sixteen hours. I'll be waiting!"
Blast said nothing from there, cutting the camera and returning to messing around with his powers. The show of confidence, along with his obvious power, induced a tremble in the streamer's hand.
The government must have authorized the deployment of the military to help contain Blast while waiting for Derrick Thompson to arrive. Certainly, they'd have also acted as the government agent's support team as well. Now, the ball was in the government's court.
Felix turned to a news broadcast, hoping to hear about the government's position. Instead, Mindwave, complete in her purple-and-white uniform – the big brain emblazoned on the center of her chest really tying the costume to her – occupied a seat at one of the biggest newscasts.
"What do you think about this new supervillain, Blast? Is he someone you think the American government will be able to handle? Are there more like him?" the host asked the virtual image of the Chilean superhero – the original superhero.
"I can't speak for your country," she began in a heavily-accented but calming voice, "but I do know that there will be those that seek to undermine justice and morality with their abilities. Blast is simply the first to realize the potential personal gain in it."
Felix looked in the direction of Eastman Tower. As he sat, Harper and Johnathan were undoubtedly running head-long into danger. One part of him wanted desperately to follow them and render whatever aid he could. A second, more realistic, part of him deemed the situation entirely too dangerous and he unfit to do anything to help.
He struggled with the decision, until it was out of his hands. Blast's broadcast had finally made its way to the news, and viewing it from Blast's camera was an entirely different experience than the stream. He was far closer, and his manic smile – so much in contrast to his regular scowl – unnerved Felix. But what really got him wasn't the villain himself. No… it was the people sitting directly behind him. His heart forgot how to beat.
Hidden from the view of any streamer by proximity to Blast, Felix's eyes glided past an all-too-familiar man in a fancy suit that absolutely did not suit him. Beside him was a girl who, with eyes the size of saucers, was barely keeping herself together. Kyle and Beth.
Felix didn't care to watch the rest of the broadcast, nor did he need to hear Mindwave's opinion on it. She was half a world away; her opinion didn't matter. Instead, he dug through his backpack for a blue suit, one that he had forsworn wearing until the end of exam season.
With a silent apology to Professor Dietrich, Felix ran into a nearby alley and changed clothes, careful that no one could see him. When he emerge from the alley again, it was without a backpack and much, much colder. Say what you will about spandex, it certainly wasn't a winter coat.
He took off at a run, needing to catch up to Harper and Johnathan before they did anything too stupid without him. That said, they were definitely flying, as Johnathan had proposed in the original plan. There was a snowflake's chance in hell that Felix was going to get to them. Still, he needed to try.
Felix had just reached the base of the tower when he ran smack-dab into a line of police officers, all of whom were incredibly attentive despite the late hour. Adrenaline would do that, yes. The man he nearly bulldozed looked at him and rolled his eyes.
"Great, another masked vigilante. Fancy yourself a superhero, kid?" the officer said, chuckling. Felix rewound time.
"Great, another masked vigilante. Fancy yourself a superhero, kid?" The officer's mouth had barely even opened by the time Felix took the words right out of his mouth. "The name's Rewind. As you probably guessed, I can control time."
The officer's eyes went wide, as if he'd just seen the impossible. And in a manner of speaking, he had. "You're not pulling my leg?"
"No. You need to let me through. I can help stop Blast; my comrades are already in the process of removing him from the building," Felix said quickly, trying to emphasize the urgency. The police officer stuttered for half a minute before settling on an answer.
"Let me go check with my superiors," he said, running away.
Felix sighed. He wished he'd just gone along with Harper and Johnathan.