Every student who was in the hall was escaping the building. Some passed through windows…almost everyone was using the stairs. Bello, Taz and Frank were heading their way to the stairs…when Majeed saw them moving he quickly grabbed Tobias arm.
"Let's go Man Let's go…Run!" Majeed screamed and the two of them were running away from her.
But the lady had a very unusual power. She lifted up her hands and brought them down in the direction the three of them were running towards…
And all of a sudden…Tobias and Majeed were running…but not forward…but back.
"Whoa what's going?" Tobias asked as he looked back and realized they were going back…even though they were running forward.
"Run faster!" Majeed shouted.
"I'm trying!" Tobias replied but, she was already close to them.
Wu was going but when she realized the two of them were running in an inverted direction…she quickly run back to try and pull the two of them forward, but the lady pulled on of her hands back, and Wu went flying away from them.
"No Wu!" Tobias cried, reaching his right hand out, but as the lady got close to them…she raised her hands up again…and Majeed and Tobias of them hit the floor hard. Wu flew and hit a wall really hard…and she was gravitationally pushed against the wall to hold her in that position.
The lady then was about to strike them down with her might…but she stopped. Because she heard something. She heard the sound of something…charging up slowly…and then it got really fast and intense…when it was done charging up, she noticed where the sound was coming from quickly when she heard electric spikes behind her. It was a machine ray gun charging up to fire at her. Then came a purple huge blast heading straight towards her…but she was quick. She pushed her hands back…and the blast was held in mid-air…pulled back by her inverted gravitational powers…and she was holding it making sure it doesn't get to her…then she punched the ground, so she could deflect the blast up in the sky. But that blast was just a distraction.
A teleporter came in quickly and dropped kick her from her back with incredible strength… sending her flying away and landing hard. The teleporter came in with another imagined superhero…it was a woman. Wu was free from her grasp since the gravity lady was distracted…and Tobias and Majeed too. They both got up quickly and watched in surprise what happened.
"Go Now! Hurry!" The woman told the three of them. They listened and run to the stairs so they could escape.
Then gravity lady got up but this time…she was fierce. She removed her jacket and threw it away in style on the floor…she clutched her fists and raised her hands down a little…and there was some kind of gravitational wave around her.
"Alana are you crazy?...What are you doing?" The superpowered woman asked.
She was silent for a bit and she said… "This has nothing to do with the both of you."
"Look just stop!...Why are you hurting them?" She persisted asking. But Alana still remained silent.
"Switch…can you get to her and take her somewhere else?"
He analyzed her movements. "Nah I can't…she's made a force around her…if I do so as much to touch her…she would slow me down." He replied.
"Waste…of…time…" Alana roared. She quickly raised her hands to pull them down…but Switch teleported with the woman away to dodge it. They appeared behind her, but Alana read his movements and she quickly raised her hands again to strike them…but it didn't work. The both of them were resisting her movements very hard…
"Alana…I'm Vacuum…your powers…don't…work." She said as she kept on resisting with Switch. She was holding him so that's why he also couldn't be affected. With her intangibility…she can alter her atoms…and at most…atoms heavily respond more to electromagnetic force…and not by gravity.
"But this will…" Alana tossed her right hand…and the lockers went flying towards them and hit them.
~
The students were all crowded at the entrance…so it was making it so hard for the gang to escape or even find each other. They were at the far back of it…whiles students were stampeding out of the hall.
"We need to find a better shortcut! They're too many of them." Tobias pointed out.
"I know a way. Follow me!" Wu said. They all followed.
"We need to hide…if that woman finds us we are doomed." Majeed said.
"Yo what about Bello… Kenisha and Fab?" Tobias said.
"They must have also found a place to hide…when its over we would call them and find them. Right now, we need to hide. And I know a safe place." Wu said…
~
Alana turned away to go and find the students…but Switch got Vacuum up, asked if she was okay…she was good…and she signaled him about their first plan…he nodded…and he teleported them right in front of Alana and Vacuum gave her a massive punch. She went back a bit…and Switch used that opportunity to try and grab her but she pushed them away with her force. They were pushed back…and Switch was teleporting in different angles so it would confuse Alana. It worked as she was just using her force linearly…and Vacuum separated her body into particles and flew past her and punched her in the nose…and Switch followed up with a kick on the face. She pushed her hands down and every object was just rising up from the ground with full speed so it would hit them…but Vacuum just dodged them all and she flowed three swift punches at her…and she made her froze…and then Switch followed up with two punches and a kick to the face again…she was stunned but she was still throwing forces at them…but they were all dodging swiftly and landing blows at her till she would drop.
"Arrgggghhh!" Now she got mad. She unbelievably radiated some kind of energy that made everything invert so rapidly fast in any direction…so it was making it even harder for the two to get to her…
"Ugh we can't get to her…" Switch said.
"Switch…Plan 2!" Vacuum said. Switch understood. He used his teleportation to make all the items that were flying disappear quickly. Then Vacuum stood face-to-face with Alana, and they both engaged in hand to power combat…dodges, hits, kicks…Alana seemed to have the upper hand since she was well built…then all of a sudden Switch teleports back one item that was flying around and uses it to hit Alana…stunning her…and Vacuum gives her a hard-right kick to the waste. Anytime Alana had the upper hand…Switch would use something else to distract her and Vacuum would use that opportunity to strike. Alana was feeling weakened by this…and so the two of them realized they had almost won the battle.
"Switch go for it now!" Vacuum says. "On it!"
Switch teleports quickly to her…thinking her forcefield was off. But Alana saw it coming. It was always there without their knowing…and when Switch went close to her to take her away from behind…she used her force to slow him down…
"No! Switch!" Vacuum quickly flew in to rescue him but Alana quickly pushed her away with an object…and place a force on the object so Vacuum wouldn't move for a while.
Alana then turned and grabbed him by the throat. She had enough. They had already wasted a lot of her time. She pulled her left hand back and quickly held Switch in mid-air so he doesn't teleport fast. She swung her right hand…he went left to hit a wall very hard…she swung to the left…he went right to hit another wall…she did that about four times…making him weak and hurt. Then she pulled both her arms forwards…and his arms went far back…breaking them. He screamed in pain.
"Swwiiittchhh!!" Vacuum screamed. She manipulated her body and she escaped from the force pull…she flew in quickly but Alana quickly got to her harder…holding her even through Vacuum could still move…but she was just moving slowly…Alana turned her attention to Switch as he was still in mid-air. Then Alana swung her hands up and he bounced on the floor very hard. Then she swung her hands down…and he flew up to the roof face first. Alana knelt down…clutched her fists…and slammed her right fist to the floor…then he went up…her left fist…he went up. She did this consecutively…and kept on slamming the ground in rage and guilt…thinking of the pain she felt about her brother…she slammed and slammed and slammed even harder and harder with her two fists like a male gorilla beating up another male gorilla…she channeled all that stress and frustration unto slamming the floor…all this time too Switch was just hitting the roof so hard. Then she landed the final blow on the ground as she let out a cry of pain…and her wrists were even sore…and a lifeless body…dropped from the roof and hit the ground…with so much injuries and blood all over…
Vacuum screamed in tears as she saw switch lying helpless and half-dead. She got so angry…and the whole place vibrated. Alana included. She made Alana levitate in the air…and she was about to rip Alana apart with her enhanced powers. But then…Alana told her to stop and look behind her…Vacuum just thought that she was telling the truth…and she turned back…she saw a girl behind her…she didn't understand why she was there.
"Hey what are you doing here?!". She didn't respond. As if she was deaf. Which she actually was…unaware of anything that was happening…
"Hey get out of here!" Vacuum screamed. She turned around and she even screamed and gestured louder at her. "Get out of here Now! You're going to get yourself killed…Go before she…"
By the time she even completed her sentence…she lost focus on Alana…and she saw that opportunity. She tossed her right hand and pushed it forward too.
And Vacuum's neck…was turned backwards. The girl stood there in complete terror as she watched that. Alana pushed her fists down so her inverted force would lift her up to the sky. Then Alana saw the girl…and she was terrified seeing her. But Alana was not here for her. She checked her tracking device the government handed to her…she easily was able to locate all her targets. She also realized that the police were around…so she had to act quick. She noticed one of her targets was just below her. She lifted her hands up in the air…and the force of her power made her break the floor and allowed her to go straight down three rooms without a scratch. She landed down elegantly…to where the students were rushing out of the doorway…there…she found Bello…
~
"There is a bounty on our heads?"
"Are we globally wanted criminals?"
"Is every imagined hero gonna body us like in John Wick?"
"Are we going to change our identities and become Columbiana?"
"Because I watched WANTED…now am I wanted?"
"Why didn't the police just arrest us then?"
"Are they really gonna kill us Jeed?"
"What if they've gotten to our families bro?"
"What if there is a red dot on my head BRO!?"
"Who was that lady that was coming after us?"
"Who was that guy and that lady protecting us?"
"But she looked like Gregory a little didn't she?"
"Who killed Gregory?"
"Does the master behind all this want us to suffer for it?"
"Where did they kill Gregory?"
"Why haven't the high security agencies been able to communicate with us?"
"When did they kill Gregory?"
"How much time do we have before she finds us?"
"Why did they kill Gregory?"
"Why hasn't Kenisha, Fab and Bello answered their phone?"
"What did they use to kill Gregory?"
"Are you asking unnecessary questions?"
"Jeed?"
Majeed paused for a bit. "Was that even a question?"
"Why are you answering questions…with questions?"
"Because I don't know the answers to almost all the questions you're asking me Tobias…That's why!"
Wu cleared her throat loudly so the two of them could turn their attention to her and hear her views as well.
"Well…uhm …you just answered his…last question. So technically speaking…you…did know…an answer…to his…"
"Wu this is not the time for logic and reasoning…the both of us are here discussing the reason behind the logic of what's happening!" Tobias said.
"Yeah…whatever he said…whose side are you on?" Majeed added.
Wu just lifted her hands up, turned around and walked away slowly…showing that she is not going to speak or interfere into their business again.
The library had a room where they hold conference meetings. Not a lot of people go there because sometimes the librarian locks up the place. When they came inside library to look for a place to hide…Wu thought about that room immediately…but it was locked…and Wu just used her…well…science tech skills to unlock the door. And they entered here to hide and discuss the situation they are facing. Wu was just checking the windows… looking around to see if they were safe…then she just looked around the room for anything she could use to protect the guys…she found a scalpel. Tobias and Majeed both sighed and sat down…with all these thoughts and worries running through their minds. They were all just silent for a while.
"So how did she even find us?" Tobias broke the silence with his question.
Wu thought about his question…then the realization hit her.
"I don't know bro…maybe our phones or something?" Majeed answered.
"Of course it's our phones…get up we need to leave now and…"
The door to the conference room was flown open with powerful force. Then Alana entered the room. She had them cornered. It was too late for them to escape. She lifted her hands and all the three hit the floor…and she dragged them on the ground…slowly…heading outside the library…and very soon…outside the building…but by the time she was about to leave…the task force had arrived to put her down. They were waiting for her outside telling her to stand down. Some came in with motorcycles and others with cars…and they all stepped out ready to pin her down. She could have flown away…but there was a sniper up on the library roof…ready to shoot her. But she didn't notice it. She also didn't notice this too…Wu was near her feet when she was dragging them.
The task force told her one more time to surrender…but she was never going to listen. They began to fire at her. She quickly used her force to pull the building's bricks out…to form as cover for her from their electric guns. She used it to form one huge block…and she just pushed it towards the team…and they scattered…she lifted up the cars and ripped it open…leaking gas…and she slammed them hard on the ground…causing an explosion.
Wu saw the opportunity and she took it. She used the scalpel to pierce her leg…and Alana let out a cry of pain. She just threw Wu away with her force as she outstretched her hand…and the commander of the team told the sniper to take the shot. The sniper did and the bullet was floating in the air as it got to her…she knew that was coming…and she repelled it back and it went straight into the sniper's head. Then when she knew that sniper was dead…she could fly away…she got the momentum to take off and levitated with Majeed and Tobias…but she didn't notice that there were more than 3 snipers around…one of the other snipers shot her and got her leg…the other shot and got her left arm…that was what she was using to force pull Tobias…and she lost contact with Tobias, so he dropped on the ground…
"No Jeed! Let him go!" Tobias was running to her as she dropped him. When she saw Tobias running to her…she was about to use her force on him…and Tobias kind of saw it coming so he reacted instinctively by covering his face with his hands…and she raised her weak left arm up towards Tobias…but he realized…nothing happened. So, he removed his hands from his face…and he saw that the lady was just staring at him…like she had something else in mind with him. Tobias didn't know that's she took out the other snipers already…but she was still looking at him. And he was too…with fear…and confusion. Then she flew away with Majeed…and left Tobias there. She was wounded…but she had to keep on going. Tobias just stood there…wondering what was that all about…
"…bias!" He heard Wu calling him.
"Wu!...Wu!" He quickly saw her with some other police men coming towards his direction…
But his sight was getting feint and blurry…he was starting to feel really dizzy…
"bias…okay!?...bias!..." Those were the feint last words Tobias heard from Wu as he passed out. Just out of nowhere…he blacked out.
~
--10:39 am--
Slowly…Tobias woke up…in a hospital bed. He looked around and he saw Wu…she was reading or watching a video on her phone.
"Wu…" he said faintly…. "What…where are…"
"Rest well Toby…I'll be back in a minute…" She nodded at Wu and she left. It was Julia. They were at her hospital. And Wu was just around him for support. Wu came next to him and touched his forehead…and checked his fingers.
"What…what's happening to me?...What's going on?" Tobias asked in desperation.
"It's…complicated…" She answered.
"Where is everyone?...Where's…"
"I don't know where the rest of your friends are…but Thomas and your Aunt…came to see you…they were scared and worried about you…but I assured them you will be fine."
"Am I?"
"Yeah…sort of."
"Wha…What do you mean?"
Then she sat down on a chair…beginning her long story.
"What do you want to hear first?...The Good news or the bad?"
Tobias chuckled. "I think I want to hear the bad side first."
"Okay." She sighed. "Is there anything she did to you…before you passed out?"
"Who the…imagined woman?" "Yep."
"Hmm…uhm…I remember…she was staring at me…like…she was going to come back for me or…like I was going to be used for something…"
"Anything else you remember from that?"
"Uhh…she…she raised her hand up…and I thought I blocked it…but…its like nothing happened…that was right before she looked at me…"
"Then that might explain it."
"Explain what?"
"We were on our way to the hospital in an ambulance truck. The medic checked your pulse, she told me that you were breathing…but it was unusual. Then we arrived and the doctors ran a diagnostics test…the results came out saying your blood circulation was irregular…so they punctured in you a sedative drug to keep you asleep so that they could work on you. They did their best to make sure everything would be fine…but nothing really worked. So far they have managed to just slow down your circulation so…I guess it's fine."
"Wha…what's wrong with my blood circulation?"
"Oh no nothing really…it's fine."
Tobias got confused. "I thought you said this was bad ne…"
"Except for the part where your blood is circulating in an entirely different or opposite direction."
"What?!"
"Currently its not very risky because you were asleep…so your circulation is going pretty much normal. But it is still dangerous because sooner than later…your hands and your feet are going to get pretty red, and your veins are going to become weak and dead because they are not receiving signals anymore from the brain because it's not going to get good oxygen flow anymore. If anybody so much makes the slightest move of cutting your hands or your legs…you would lose a lot of blood instantly…and die."
Tobias swallowed that like a dry pill.
"Wha…how…can't they do anything to stop it?"
"There is a measure they can do…to like reverse back the blood flow…and make it work properly…but for starters…it really costs…and the procedure used in doing it…is not something you are going to enjoy."
Wu took out some paper from a table somewhere in the room and handed it to him to read. He read it. He frowned and he gave a "NO-WAY" reaction. "What the heck…whiles I am alive?...I can't do that!"
"They tried convincing your Aunt about it…that it was the only way to help you out…but she knew it was something you wouldn't like…so she refused to do that…plus…its really expensive."
"But…why can't they just get any imagined hero and just imagine that this would stop?"
"Because the more they imagine…the more they might get infected…or they might infect someone else with it…the nurse told me that when I was arguing with her on this…that's why they have a strict rule on anybody is an imagination…or a corrupted one."
He sighed. "Does my Aunt know about…what I was in?"
"Well that was part of the other bad news I wanted to tell you about. Not only her. Everyone knows."
He gasped. "Oh, shoot I'm toast."
"And Upend has all your friends captured and no one kind of knows where she is."
"Up-who?"
"Alana Taylor." She got up…reached for the remote and turned on the TV. She quickly changed the channels that were not showing the daily news.
"Wait go back." Tobias said and she did that. "Cool…wanna see the latest episode of Power Rangers." She gave him a sarcastic look. Then she changed the channel. "Wait no! It was time for the red ranger to transform…"
Then she stopped at the channel that was talking about it.
"…new images revealed an incoming attack from one of the US governments imagined superhero Alana Taylor, which she's prominently known as Upend, who captured four young students at Delaware State University. The police have also reported the death of her brother Gregory Taylor and have seem to construct the connection between the two events we have witnessed. Research and investigations from DEFI have showcased a surveillance video inside her home from Hedgeville that Gregory…was stabbed 6 times…and was shot to the head. The association still have no evidence of Alana Taylor or the suspects or criminal's whereabouts of the murder scene. However, the capturing of these children might have had something to do with the murder of Gregory Taylor…as to whether she plans to threaten the agency with these children or to do something much worse…this has been ADP news at 11:00 am live…later on news we shall discuss the most trending…"
Wu turned it off. And Tobias just felt really bad that all this was happening. Wu noticed his emotion.
"But…you haven't listened the good news."
Then Tobias looked at her with a little hope on his face.
"So, remember when I said everyone knows about…what you guys did?"
"Yeah"
"Well…actually everyone knows what you did…but I didn't mention that they knew the people who did it?"
Tobias felt glad. "That means…"
"Yep. Your Aunt doesn't know you in particular are involved in the hacking."
He sighed in relief. "Thank Goodness."
"But…if the agencies get to know about the situation deeper…you probably are toast."
"Damn. We have to…we gotta do something."
"What exactly?"
"We have to find them Wu they're in trouble."
"So let the police handle it."
"We need to find them first before they do."
"Why? We cannot do anything to…"
"I spent some of the money okay!?" Wu was cut off…and silenced after what he said. "I spent…we spent… some of the money we got…and Gregory kept the rest of it…" Wu was still silent…understanding the situation now…that he is a criminal after all since he took part in the operation. Then Tobias was trying to find a way to get up.
"I highly recommend you don't do that."
"We need to go!"
"Where?"
"Anywhere but here. We're wasting time. She could have killed them by now."
Wu understood and he helped him get up from the bed.
"How you feeling?" Wu asked.
"It's…okay…I think I'm okay."
"You think?"
"What else am I suppose to say? I know?"
Wu got his actual clothes for him and so he headed over to the nearest washroom and changed into that so he could leave the place unannounced.
They both escaped the room and were walking on the hallway and discussing what they could do.
"How are we going to know where she took them?" He sighed.
"You know you didn't fully listen to the other good news you know that?"
Then he looked at her…finding out what other good thing can come out from her after all that is happening.
"So…I might actually know where Upend would be. I must have placed something on her to track her down when I stabbed her foot."
"Whoa…how?"
"Let's just say I was a step ahead of her."
They both left the hospital with ease.
"So, we're heading to where she is right?" Tobias said.
"Nope."
"What?"
"We need to find a way to make sure your blood circulation doesn't affect you."
"But it's fine Wu I can handle…"
"Any sort of sneaking or running causes a rise in blood circulation…because that's exercise…and if you increase blood circulation…you're speeding up your inverted flow…leading to your doom in a matter of seconds."
Tobias looked away thinking…and looking dumb about it. "Wow honestly I didn't think of that…so what do we actually do then…"
"First things first…we find a way to invert the blood flow temporarily. So, you would have some time."
"Great so that means…"
"We hit the gym."
"Yeah we…uhm what?!" …