Gabriela could only watch as Swarm typed away at the computer. She wasn't sure what to expect from this. She might have thought the man would straight up attack the building, going from floor to floor until he reached the top where her dad worked. But he just stayed behind that computer by the front desk, muttering to himself. He seemed to be looking for something, constantly asking 'so where is it?' as well as 'is this it? no that's not it, damn it.' With every minute, that passed, he looked more and more frustrated. Which was perfect for her as he was more and more distracted.
She may be almost completely cocooned in his microbots, which actually wasn't as uncomfortable she might have thought, but that didn't mean she was helpless. Her mind was already going into overdrive, trying to find some way out of this. She couldn't use her powers on the microbots as they would just absorb it all, making them stronger. And she didn't think any of the others were coming to help her as they had no idea she was in trouble.
Maybe the regular authorities but she didn't think they would come either. It didn't seem like any alarms had been tripped. That or Swarm had hacked them as well. So yeah, no help from the police, not that they would do any good against him anyway.
That just left her with the others. But how to contact them. Unless one of her powers was telepathy that could cover long distances, that was out. And she'd left her phone back at the apartment. Not that it would do much good here anyway as her hands were completely trapped and Swarm was probably blocking all the signals.
She paused on that word. Signals. Maybe she didn't need to send a message, just some kind of signal. But how? The only thing not cocooned right now was her head and it wasn't like she could shoot her energy out of her…eyes?
"Superman style," she whispered softly. She'd never tried that before. Didn't know if it would work at all. But, then again, she hadn't thought she could fly before and she'd done that. And it wasn't like she had anything to lose anyway.
"Ah, that must be where it is."
Gabriela hissed. She was almost out of time. If she was going to do this, it had to be now. She looked straight up and almost laughed as she realized that she was still just under the glass ceiling that canopied the lobby, the sky stretched out right above her.
"Ok, here we go," she said, channeling her energy. It was just like before. She felt the energy within her, moving throughout her body. She just pushed it upwards, right up to her eyes. There was a burning sensation right behind her eyeballs and then suddenly in them, her vision turning orange.
"Yes! That must be it!"
Now! she thought and unleashed it all. She didn't really see what happened. All she knew was that the energy suddenly flew out of her, going straight up. She could hear Swarm shouting behind her and could feel the microbots forming up around her, but she just kept pushing.
Please see this, she thought, just before it all went dark. Please!
"What is it?" Darian Kane asked as he stepped into Shen's lab. "This had better be important. I was at a critical moment in the-"
"I am sorry my lord, but this could not wait," Shen interrupted, sweat trickling down his brow. "A few weeks ago, during the incident at the school, I noticed a strange spike in energy. I thought at first it was part of Swarm's power so I dismissed it. However, earlier tonight, there was another, larger spike and I took another look. What I found…well…"
"Spit it out," Darian told him firmly. "What did you find?"
"Well…perhaps it's better if I show you. Here." He guided Darian over to his various computers and machines, showing him one particular screen tracking the energy signature in the city. Darian blinked when he saw it, sure he must be seeing things, but when he looked again it was still there. And a cold feeling of dread filled him.
"No," he whispered hoarsely. "He's back."
Sumin had been sitting in their room all night, troubled. They hadn't gotten even a second of sleep. They hadn't even tried to lay down, too concerned. They had returned home from the hospital and attempted to try and locate their friends but they didn't have their phone numbers or contact information except Gabriela's Instagram account. But their message to her had no response.
They weren't quite sure what they should do next. Someone had to warn them all that Swarm was finally back and making his move. Unless, of course, the worst had happened and Swarm was attacking them this instant. And Sumin could do nothing. They couldn't even wait til school as it was the weekend now.
Sumin cursed themself for never learning anyone else's phone numbers. They'd never really felt the need. They'd never had close friends before, just friendly acquaintances. They weren't sure why. They'd just been fine on their own with what they had. And now it seemed they were going to pay for that.
They could always check the phone book though they weren't even sure if those existed anymore. Wait. Gabriela, she was the daughter of a rich businessman. They quickly booted up their computer and checked the name. Almost instantly a link to the company website appeared alongside a picture of the main building. They nodded, recognizing it from the downtown area. They would have to head there tomorrow and hopefully run into someone willing to tell them about Gabriela. It was a long shot, and definitely edging on stalkery, but it was all they had and time was of the essence.
They looked over at their bed, wondering if perhaps they should get some sleep after all. Tomorrow wouldn't be easy and they would need all the rest they could get.
Before they could ponder on that any further, two bright lights appeared in the sky, shooting up from the city. Sumin frowned, wondering what on earth those could be. Searchlights of some kind? But why? They looked familiar somehow.
Just as quickly, they went off and the horizon was dark once more.
What were they? And why did they look familiar? Sumin thought on it, scrolling through their memories. Nothing really fit though. They were too slim to be searchlights it seemed. And for some reason they looked like…
Gabriela.
They eyes shot over to where they'd seen the lights but it was still dark. Not that it mattered. The second they saw them, Sumin had memorized their details and position. And there was probably one good reason why Gabriela might send up lights like that.
"She's in trouble," they muttered hoarsely.
The right thing to do here would be to call the police, let the proper authorities handle it. But Sumin knew they would be no match for Swarm. He must be even more powerful than before by now. Sumin had to go.
They hesitated for a second, wondering if they really would end up in a hospital bed next to Althea's after this. Or worse, in a coffin. But they shook it off, remembering their promise. Swarm was back and was hurting someone they did consider a friend, or at least someone they didn't mind upgrading from friendly acquaintance to friend. Which meant it was time to kick his ass.
They threw open the window and stepped outside, using their power to create a large indigo manta ray which they stepped on and rode into the night sky.
"Do not worry, Gabriela," they said. "I am coming."
"Maybe blame it on raccoons?" Travis asked himself, yawning as he looked at the mess around him. He fortunately only needed a small nap before getting up. Most of the yard was now soaked with muddy water and the rest looked like a war zone. There were burn marks all around thanks to Travis's lightning and dirt everywhere. "Rocket always gets up to crazy shit so it makes sense his comrades would t-"
He stopped, a bright flash appearing in the night sky. He blinked, looking up to see two beams of light shooting upwards. "What the hell?" he wondered. "Who would…"
An attack. Strange light. It wasn't that hard to piece together for him.
"Gabriela. Shit."
He was just about to race off when the lights turned off as well. "Double shit," he cursed. He was low on energy was it was and now he couldn't tell where she was. He didn't have time to run all over the city.
First thing's first then. He needed energy. He ran into the kitchen and rummaged around the back of the cupboard til he grabbed hold of his chocolate stash. He instantly began chowing down, eating as much as he could as fast as he could, his mouth feeling like a hamster's.
A good start but nowhere near enough. His speed might be fine for a bit now but he needed more. He needed his lightning. And he was all out. He looked at his fingers and winced, the tips a deep red from overuse. It didn't matter, Gabriela was in trouble. But how could he get it back, it wasn't like he could just jumpstart his lightning.
Or was that exactly what he could do? But what would be the right…
His eyes landed on a certain kitchen appliance.
"Lifelong safety warnings, prepare to be ignored!" Travis said a minute later right before he drove the fork into the toaster.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting but it certainly wasn't nothing. "Huh? Are you telling me all those stupid warnings over the years were for no reason at all. What a load of…oh wait, it's not on." He pressed the button down and saw the toaster's light blink red. "Great, now where were we? Oh, right." He grabbed the fork again, sticking it in. "Now let's get cooki-"
ZAP!
"Madison!"
Madison groaned, ignoring the voice. She just wanted to sleep.
"Madison!"
She groaned louder. It wasn't a weekday and it couldn't be close to morning anyway. So who was calling her?
"Madison!"
It didn't even sound like her parents or her siblings for that matter. It sounded almost like…
She shot up suddenly, hoping it had just been a dream. But nope, there he was, staring at her with his trademark smile and strangely poofed up hair.
"Oh good, you're up," Travis said.
"Travis!" she silent shrieked, instinctively pulling her sheets up to cover herself. "What are you doing in my bedroom?"
"Yeah, I know, so sorry. It seems really creepy and intrusive, and it kind of is, so again sorry. But there's a reason." His smile disappeared and his face became deadly grim. "Swarm is back. And Gabriela is in trouble."
The sheets dropped back down, Madison's hands going numb. She hoped this was some sort of dream because she didn't think she could handle reality right now.
Swarm was back? Already? She knew he would be but…she thought she had more time. And Gabriela was in trouble?
"I know you're not really into this sort of thing, but-"
"I'm in."
It actually almost made her smile to see Travis so surprised. "Y-you are? Seriously?" He then let out a huge grin. "That's amazing!"
"Yeah well," she shrugged. "I have superpowers right? Might as well try to be a superhero."
Travis stared at her for several long seconds. And then, strangely enough, his face turned red.
"Uh, Travis?" she asked. "Are you ok?"
"Um…yeah, totally. Why wouldn't I be?" He shook his head and his expression became serious again. "Alright, we need to gather the others."
"Right." Madison got up and moved to get her shirt when she stopped. "Um…do you mind, uh, turning around?" she asked, her face now becoming warm.
"Huh?" he asked curiously before realizing. "Oh right, of course. Sorry. Let me, uh…how about I go get Franklin while you change, ok?"
"Ok," she said, relieved to not have to change with a boy in her room. She still wasn't sure how she felt about a boy being in her room in the middle of the night, even a boy she was good friends with, but it was an emergency so she was pushing it aside.
"Great. I'll text you when I'm coming back. See you soon." With that, he was gone. As soon as he had, Madison realized she had never asked him how he'd managed to get into their house in the first place.
Franklin woke up to a slash of ice cold water.
"Agh! What the fu-"
"Hey! Quiet!" said a familiar voice as a hand covered Franklin's mouth. "It's me, Travis."
"Travis?" Franklin asked, anger growing. "Why did you just splash me?"
"Sorry. I tried calling your name and poking you but it didn't work."
"What the hell are you doing in my room in the middle of the night? Do you have any-"
"Swarm is back," Travis said, cutting him off. "And Gabriela's in trouble."
Just like that, all of Franklin's anger faded, replaced with fear and concern. "Where? How?"
Travis hesitated. "We don't know. I saw her…laser powers shoot up in the sky. And I was just attacked myself by some of Swarm's dirt monsters."
Franklin frowned. Dirt monsters? he questioned internally, but decided to waive that aside. They had important things to worry about. "So what are you going to do?"
"I've already seen Madison. She's ready to go. Well, she's getting ready to go now. So, how about you?"
Franklin stared at him before looking down, taking a deep breath. He wasn't sure to be honest. This was exactly what he was afraid of. Going into battle against an enemy like Swarm with no real guarantee for success. They could all die from this. They almost had last time. And that would leave his family with one more loss.
But Gabriela.
She had suffered too. Her family had already gone through a loss and if they lost her as well…it would be just the same. As much as he hated to gamble on putting his own family through this thing again, he couldn't risk it happening to someone else. So, just one more time, he would go and play hero.
"Yeah, I'm in," he said.
Travis breathed out in relief. "Great, glad to have you on board."
"Please tell me you have a plan."
"None at all. Or maybe twelve percent." He winked.
"Oh god," Franklin sighed. "Whatever. Just…go see about Sumin, Luke, and Emily if you can. We'll need them as well." He grimaced as he said that, hating the fact they were putting more teenagers' lives at risk. But they were the only ones capable of doing this now, so what choice did they have?
As Travis dashed off, Franklin got dressed and snuck out of his room. He stopped at the foot of the stairs as he heard a soft snore behind him. He turned and just managed to see through a crack in the door his sister's sleeping form, the blankets tossed all over the place. She let out another snore as he watched.
He wondered what she would make of his decision. Would she agree with him or think he was making a mistake? He wished he had made up with her before now, just in case. He didn't want their last talk to have been an argument. He could always wake her up now but…
No, we will talk again, he told himself. I will make it out of this. Waking her up and telling her would only worry her anyway and he didn't want that. He would be back before morning. Should he leave some kind of note? That would be the right thing to do, just in case he was back a little later.
He made his way down the stairs and wrote on a scrap of paper that he'd gone out for a run. Hopefully he'd be back soon after this was found.
He turned, ready to go, and carefully unlocked the door, stepping into the cool night air. He did his best to stamp out any thoughts about this being the last time he would see his home. He couldn't afford to think like that.
He locked the door again and turned to find Travis and Madison standing right there.
"Jeez!" Franklin gasped, stumbling back. "Travis! Don't do that!"
"Sorry," his friend said a little sheepishly.
"I'm sorry too," Madison added.
"It's fine, whatever," Franklin said. "What about the others?"
"Well, neither of us have Sumin's contact information or know where they live, so they're out. Same with Luke. But Madison has Emily's phone number so we're going to call her."
"Ok, good…hold up," Franklin tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I actually think I might know where Luke lives."
"Really? Where?"
It had been a couple weeks ago. His mom had been out buying groceries and had offered to drive him from school to the deli. When she'd arrived, Luke had been talking to Franklin about strategy for the upcoming Pinecrest match and she'd asked him if he wanted a ride too, which he'd accepted. "21 Rindell Avenue."
"Great. I'll head over there now. Madison, you call Emily. We'll just have to hope Sumin saw the signal too. Ok."
"Wait, one quick thing," Franklin said, stopping him. "Why is your hair like that?"
"Oh, this?" Travis laughed as he rubbed his poofed up hair. "I was low on power so I put a fork in a toaster. It was quite the rush. I've never felt more alive! Which is weird cause for other people, they'd probably never feel more d-"
"Yeah we get it," Franklin interrupted him.
"Right, bye." A second later, he was gone.
Franklin sighed, hardly believing that guy. He did wonder if he would be able to survive a fork in a toaster but wasn't willing to find out. What he did want to know was how they would even find Gabriela. Travis had said something about her laser powers shooting up, but where?
Franklin had a thought and pulled out his phone, typing up their town and then bright lights in the sky. Almost instantly, images and short videos appeared talking about the strange phenomenon. Most of them were talking about what it could mean which wasn't what he wanted. But one did mention something about downtown, which also wasn't helpful.
Then he saw it. A video closer to it just posted that showed it coming from a specific building.
Gabriela's dad's company.
Emily groaned, something cutting into her sleep. She was having such a nice dream about falling into a land of ice cream and cake when a droning noise started to pull her away. She tried forcing herself back in, wanting to take a bit of a delicious sundae when the noise came again, completely dissolving the dream and bringing her in the real world.
The noise came again and she realized it was her phone.
"Who the hell is calling me now?" she grumbled, reaching for it. She missed the first time, accidentally knocking it off her night table and onto the floor. She groaned and shoved her sheets off, reaching down for her phone. She found it after about thirty seconds, now almost fully awake and seriously pissed off about it, before looking at the caller.
"Madison?" she questioned. Why was she calling? Her anger dissipated, replaced with curiosity and concern as she answered the call. "Madison?" she asked again.
"Oh good, you answered," she heard the other girl say. "I was worried there."
"Yeah I was sleeping. You know, the thing most people do at this time of night."
"I know, I'm sorry but this is an emergency. Swarm is back."
Emily was instantly wide awake. "Where?"
"Downtown. He has Gabriela and…oh, Travis you're back. Where's Luke?"
Emily heard someone else, probably Travis, talking but couldn't make out the words. A few seconds later, Madison was back. "Hey Emily, where do you live? Travis is coming to pick you up."
Emily processed that for a second before nodding. There wasn't really a need to think. She got the gist. The enemy was back. Her friends were in trouble. So it was time to get to work.
"46 Forlock Drive. Give me five minutes to get dressed and I'll meet him outside."
"Got it."
Emily hung up and threw herself out of her bed, rushing for her drawers. She pulled out her track clothes and yanked off her pyjamas before throwing on her new clothes faster than she ever had before. She figured she ripped a few threads when she put her socks on and new shoes in general after she jammed her feet in them. But at least she was ready in record time.
She saw Champion eyeing her curiously from her swing bed. "Don't worry girl," Emily told her softly. "I'm coming back. Just need to take care of some trash first." She slammed her fist into her palm for emphasis. Champion mewed before laying back and going back to sleep.
Emily carefully made her way down the stairs and to the door. She had gotten pretty good at it over the years, but it was mostly to go out to some random party with Britta or something. Never to go fight a bad guy. She felt her heart pounding even faster than when she saw The Conjuring. But it didn't matter. She knew she had to go so there was no point deliberating on it.
She walked outside and quietly closed the door again, glad that it wasn't a creaky one. So this was it. She was really going into battle. Before, it had just happened all of a sudden to her, so she'd had no time to prepare. But now she could actually think on it, and she didn't like that because all she wanted to really do was run back inside and crawl under her sheets until this was all over. She wanted to call Britta and tell her how much she loved and appreciated her. She wanted to run to the cookie jar and gobble it all down, to have that one delicious taste before she went off. She wanted…to do a lot of things. But she couldn't. So she just waited and tried not to think about it.
She didn't have to wait for too long as there was sudden gust of wind and Travis was there, his face deadly serious. "Hey," he said. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," she replied.
"Right. I'm going to have to carry you, you know. So, you want cradle or piggyback."
Emily gave him a look. "Are those seriously the only choices?"
Travis shrugged helplessly. "There's also over the shoulder, but that one's worse."
"Ugh. Piggyback I guess."
Travis nodded and leaned down, presenting his back to her. She grumbled a little but walked over and grabbed hold of his neck, wrapping her legs around him. He took hold of them and hoisted her up. "Alright, let's go," he said and suddenly, they were moving. Emily hadn't really thought much about Travis's speed, too focused on her own powers, but now she realized just how amazing it was. The whole world turned into a blue around them and she felt like her hand whenever she put it outside the window while driving down the highway, fully blasted by the wind.
Then, they came to a stop and Emily blinked from the rush. That was what Travis felt every day? Incredible.
She quickly shook herself off, seeing everyone's somber expressions, and stepped down from Travis's back. "So, what's the plan?" she asked.
"First thing's first. Luke's missing."
Even though she was always annoyed to the point where she wanted to kick him in the coconuts, Emily felt her heart almost stop at the news. "What?"
"I went to his house and saw the door open slightly. The ground was also ripped up, the same way it was when those creatures came out of the walls and floor at the school. Just like it was for me. Swarm must have attacked us both. I looked around but couldn't find him. I think he must have flown out of there and drew the monsters away."
"Shouldn't we go look for him?" Madison asked, a hitch in her voice.
"We should, but we can't," Franklin sighed. "We don't have time. Every second we waste puts Gabriela in more danger. If Luke took to the air, we have no way of following him anyway."
"And I don't have enough energy to spare to go running around looking for him," Travis said. "It sucks, but we just have to hope he made it through."
"He will." They all looked at Emily and even she was a little surprised at her words. "No offense, but Luke's probably the most skilled at this. I've watched him over the years at football practice and he's in the best shape of his life and he always gives it his all. It may seem like a huge difference, but trust me. Luke's got this. There's no way he'll go down to those…things."
She wished she felt as confident as she sounded. She was honestly worried about the guy. Come On Luke, she thought. I know how tough you are, I've seen it. So don't tell me you got your ass beat by a bunch of dirt puppets. Wherever you are, get your ass up and get moving. Please.
Franklin nodded. "She's right. I saw the same thing during games. Luke's got this."
"Ok then," Travis said. "Franklin, you said the lightshow came from the Elram Corp building? Alright, I'll take Emily first, then Madison, then you Franklin."
Emily took in Franklin's stature compared to Travis's, wondering how that would work out.
"What about Sumin?" she asked.
"We don't know how to contact them, so…" Travis shrugged helplessly.
"Right," Emily nodded, taking a deep breath. They had no idea what they were about to run into, but it obviously couldn't be good. "Let's do this."
Hold on Gabriela. We're coming.
"Now, what were you hoping to achieve with that little stunt, Ms. Fuentes?"
Gabriela groaned, the microbots completely suffocating her. She couldn't see a thing, surrounded by the writhing dark mass. She couldn't breathe and she felt like her entire body was being squeezed, like a tube of toothpaste. She tried activating her power, just in her feet to see if she could boost her way out of this, but whatever she had quickly fizzled out, absorbed by the bots.
Come on! Think!
And then it stopped. The microbots released their hold a little and she could breathe again, coughing and gasping rapidly. Then a ray of light hit her eyes as her face was uncovered. She found herself suspended in the air, like she was a fly in a spider's web. Swarm was directly below her, shaking his head.
"Do you really think anyone is coming to rescue you?" he snorted at that. "Those brats? I've worked in that school long enough to understand you kids are all the same. Makeshift friendships based solely on convenience. When push comes to shove, none of you would do a damn thing for someone else."
"Oh yeah?" Gabriela growled, struggling against the bonds. "What about when you attacked the school. Travis came running to help us."
"He came running to play hero. Not the same thing."
"You don't know a damn thing about any-"
"Yes, and I don't care to. Now be quiet or else I'll cover your mouth as well. The only reason I'm leaving your face uncovered is because I want at least one witness to history in the making." He clapped his hands together excitedly. "Before you so rudely interrupted me with your little lightshow, I finally uncovered it. The secret of this place."
Gabriela frowned. "What secret?"
"Ha. He even keeps it from his own daughter. That man always did like to keep things close to the belt. You must realize your father has a multitude of projects being developed here. Some for more charitable purposes, some requested by the government, and some so secret that people would die to know them. And there are the ones too dangerous to ever see the light of day."
Mr. Warners has really gone off the deep end, Gabriela realized.
"That's my goal. Years ago, when I was tossed out by your father and had my work stolen from me, it was shelved. I searched for years, trying to learn its location. But eventually I realized I would never be able to get it through subterfuge. It would have to be with brute force." He gestured to all the microbots around him. "It took time to redesign my equipment from scratch, and with only scraps to use compared to what I had before. But once I get my hands on my device, my power will increase a hundred fold! I will be able to control trillions of microbots, perhaps more, at will. And then, no one will be able to stop me."
"My friends and I will stop you."
Swarm turned to her incredulously. "Your friends?"
"Yes," she said assuredly. "They're coming here right now. And we're all going to kick your butt and trash your stupid microbots."
"Ha!" Swarm laughed. "Oh the boldness of youth. You are a bunch of little insects, scurrying about in world you don't even understand. You're not even Awakened yet. And you think you stand a chance? You can't even break free by yourself? Your friends would stand even less of a chance, but we won't really know, will we?" He gave her a fake-pitying look. "Trust me, Ms. Fuentes. No one is coming to save you."
The doors suddenly exploded, showering the lobby with glass. Gabriela winced as a strong gust of wind rushed past them, even making Swarm take a step back. They both looked to the entrance and she couldn't help but gasp as the sight.
Standing there, covered in dirt and blood, looking completely exhausted, was Luke Decker.