FSE

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Chapter -9- DESTINY

Friday January 26, 9:55am Jacksonville, Florida ...

** Evan reached over and gave Reno's leg a shake.** "Wake up, man, we're here. And we have a problem. It's a middle school."

Reno sat up in the passenger seat then fixed the backrest and looked around. He palmed his eyes then reached for an energy drink, popped the top and guzzled it. He offered a moue of slight disgust from the taste then rubbed his cheeks.

"You good?"

"Okay, I'm up, kiddo. I see a Duval County cruiser," said Reno in a dry, husky voice. He pointed over to the left at a Sheriff's car. "He was probably assigned to the school, regardless of last night's call-in from Sinopa. Most schools in this country have a cop at every school, now."

Evan stared at the school, somewhat intimidated. "Now what?" He opened the driver-side door and took several deep breaths to calm himself.

Reno opened the passenger door and stretched. "We'll need to head to the office and talk to them. Man, the smell of salt water is strong. Wind must be blowing in off the ocean. Okay, you're going to need your ID and ... expect them not to believe us. Heck, you might even wind up in an interrogation room today. Just ... expect resistance. People do not like when you tell a school staff that there will be a shooting based on a 'hunch.' Stay focused, stay frosty."

A loud noise came from the school's roof, causing both Reno and Evan to kneel down behind the open car doors. Seconds later a silver sedan drove onto the school parking lot at a high rate of speed. It went up over the curb, through the grass and stopped by one of the side doors.

A group of teenage boys came from within the school and met with a couple from the sedan that had a fist full of objects in his hands.

From where Evan stood, he couldn't see what they had until he saw the sedan's driver handing the objects out to each boy. They fastened the objects on top their heads and went to the trunk of the sedan then pulled out what appeared to be Russian assault rifles.

"Oh my God, Reno, look!"

He turned to Nevada, who appeared to be pale and was still kneeling by the passenger door. "Reno?"

Nevada got to his feet, looking tired and sick. "Evan, I feel like I just took a baseball bat to the gut, man. I'll be okay. I just..." He took a labored breath then said, "Call the police. We're going to need help."

Evan pulled his phone out and pressed the button to activate the screen but nothing happened. Frustrated, he hit the button again. "Check your phone, mine's dead."

Reno checked his phone then looked up. "Mine too. What the hell?" He slumped a bit against the car. "That can't be a coincidence. God dammit, I wish she'd have told us it was a school."

"There's no time for this." Evan reached into a first aid kit, behind the driver's seat, pulled out an EpiPen and approached Reno. He pressed the tip up against Nevada's arm and thumbed the trigger. "Adrenaline. Get it together. The car that just drove onto the lot brought rifles and night-vision goggles. This is huge. C'mon."

Reno stood up and rubbed his arm then his face. "I was feeling really drained for a minute there. Damn. Still feel like hell but ... I think I'm good, now, thanks." He tilted his head and glanced across the lot to the sedan by the side of the school. "How many did you see?"

Someone near the door opened fire, causing rounds to strike the windshield of the Chevelle. Evan and Reno dropped back behind the doors for cover.

Reno glanced over the seats at the boy. "You okay over there, Evan?"

"Reno, those were AK-47's right? I've seen them in movies and games. Where'd they get Russian assault rifles?"

"I can't tell from here if that's what they were, Evan. Throw some glass spikes at them."

Evan eased up over the open driver-side door and held his hand out then grimaced. "I need Johann."

"What? Why?"

"Because, Reno, we were a team! He could change the molecular properties of anything. He could use the dust in the air to create sand for me at a moment's notice! I can make some _from the dirt around us, but dirt is different from sand! It's not the same! There's _some sand in this dirt, because we're close to the beach, but..."

"Okay, okay. Calm down, Evan. We both need a level head. We're in this alone. Until someone in the building can call the police, or until the sheriff's deputy can call for help, we're on our own." Another volley of rounds glanced across the front of the car. "Dammit, how'd those things get in the hands of teenage boys and what the hell are they doing here with them."

The gunner near the sedan grabbed a duffle bag from the trunk, unloaded another barrage of bullets then went into the school and pulled the doors shut behind himself.

"Okay! We gotta move before they take up positions in windows!" Reno sprinted across the parking lot towards the sedan.

Evan snatched another EpiPen from the first aid kit then hurried after Nevada. They approached the doors and tugged but both were locked. Reno moved around the silver sedan and looked it over. "Kansas plates."

"We've gotta get inside, Reno. Blast the doors off the hinges."

Nevada turned to the doors and held his hands out. His eyes glowed and his hands began to incandesce but nothing else happened. He tensed up and grimaced. After a moment of trying, he exhaled with a grunt. "What gives? Dammit, I can't use my powers."

Evan groaned. "The small explosion on the roof ... our cellphones. The car that showed up after the noise with duffle bags and headsets ... what if they detonated an EMP bomb on the roof? That'd explain why they brought gear in from offsite."

Reno glanced at his palms then opened the driver side door of the sedan. The keys were still in the ignition but there was no chime. He turned the keys but nothing happened. "Well, it's dead." He huffed with disgust. "Damn I'm tired."

"Reno, can you drain power from something and use it for yourself?"

"What?"

"I got the idea from a video game I played as a kid." Evan pointed over at the Chevelle, forty feet away. "Try it."

Reno put his hands out towards the Chevy and focused on the electrical current in the capacitor in his trunk. He ground his teeth together.

With a sigh of relief, Reno leaned against the silver sedan and nodded. "That helped almost as much as the EpiPen. I'm in good shape now. Thanks for the idea, kiddo."

Evan beamed, glad the idea worked. "Once again, life imitates art. Oh, and don't thank me, thank SuckerPunch for the idea."

"I don't know who the hell that is, kiddo."

Even frowned with a shrug. "I'll explain later." He pulled on the school door handle then frowned. "We gotta head for the front door."

"Evan, the main office has to buzz you in, else the school locks down. We need to break a window and get inside because I can't teleport on a bolt of lightning right now." He paused then picked up a pamphlet from the sedan's passenger seat. "Oh ... shit. You've got to be kidding me."

"Reno, must you? Anyway, what's wrong?"

"You're probably too young to remember, hell I should be, too, but there was this hate group that was really crazy ... they were out of Topeka, Kansas and they attacked people with picketing for years. Well, some crazy yuppie rednecks from West Virginia built a bomb and blew up their crappy little clubhouse a few years ago. No one has heard from them since but the people from that hate group had kids who would probably be about the age of those boys with the guns by now. Look." He lifted the pamphlet so Evan could see it.

Evan grasped it and shook his head. "What kind of moronic propaganda is this? 'God hates fags, niggers, Jews, Complacent America and people who tolerate these abominations. How to abhor your enemy.' Are you serious?"

"Evan ... look how new this school is. What's it called?"

"The school is new. According to the sign out by the main road, it just opened this past August. It's named after the first black president of America and..." the boy trailed off and slapped his forehead.

"What?"

"It was just in the news two days ago! The Principal is some lady who married another woman and it made news because she runs a school. This school. The Principal received excessive threats against the children and the community. I remember seeing how the parents and children came out to support the wedding. It was a big deal on the news because Florida is mostly conservative."

"What? I didn't see any of..."

"Mary Chaney even came out and made this really beautiful speech about conservative community tolerance and coexistence and stuff."

"I don't even know who that is, man."

"The daughter of the vice-president that was in office when you were kid, and when I was born."

Reno rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Okay, let's focus. We're dealing with highly motivated whack-jobs with guns and a plan. Evan, get us into a window without breaking it or making any noise."

Evan nodded and waved for Reno to follow. The pair moved around the backside of the large building and came up behind dumpsters.

"Obviously we're near the Cafeteria."

Nevada glared at the large metal trash boxes. The stench of food and sight of paper scraps sticking out at the corners brought him back to the night he was reborn. He exhaled and clenched his fists.

Evan led the way to a set of doors with a vertical rectangular glass window. Inside the pane was mesh wireframe. Balmoral put his hand on each small glass panel then stuffed his hand into his pocket. "Sand for later. Never know when it'll come in handy but we're not getting through that metal wire. C'mon."

The two headed down until they came to another set of double doors leading into the backside of the building. Adjacent to the doors, windows lined the hallway. Evan put his hands on the nearest pane and it disappeared. He moved to the next and did the same thing.

Reno went in through the first empty window frame, glanced from left to right then frowned. In a soft voice, he said, "Not a single light."

Distant shouting could be heard from a nearby stairwell.

Evan followed Reno in through the empty window frame then they moved to the doorway leading to the stairs.

The shouting concluded and a gunshot punctuated the angry toned statement.

Evan licked his lips with a look of apprehension. "We've got to start somewhere." They headed for the steps and took two at a time. "Neither of us have full capacity of our abilities right now and we've been driving all night, so we're tired. We best not split up right now. I say we start with the first gunshot."

"No argument here. Don't get yourself killed, man. I heal, you don't."

"Can you use your powers at all?" asked Evan.

"No."

"So how do you know you can heal until the effects of the EMP wear off?"

Reno offered a sour face but refrained from cursing.

At the top of the steps Nevada opened one of the two doors then leaned around the corner and checked the hallways. Other than a few backpacks strewn on the floor, and one or two random lockers open, the hall was empty.

"Okay, kiddo. We need a plan. We're rushing into a hostile environment. We have no real strategy available to us right now except to defend ourselves while moving into various offensive positions. We don't know how well these guys are connected."

"Then we need to take down one, cut him off from the group, and go from there."

"Evan, they may have brought radios from offsite. Let's see what we're dealing with, first. It's already a dumb idea to sneak in here instead of going back and getting trained professionals."

"Reno I say this with all due respect - but every time the cops show up at a school shooting, the gunmen panic. And they wouldn't let us help anyhow. Sinopa wouldn't have called us if she didn't think we could save the day."

"Christ, this is the stupidest thing we've ever done." Nevada took a moment to compose himself and thought back to his crisis training courses. None of it prepared him for this moment.

"Reno?"

"Okay, okay bud. If there really was an EMP thing ... then nobody in this building can call for help. No one is driving out of here to get help because those cars would be as powerless as the sedan. We need to stop these people from killing the students and staff by any means necessary. If you can encase one of them in glass, I'll get their gun and that will be a start. We should try getting a hold of their night-vision goggles."

"Shouldn't we try to evacuate the students?"

Reno narrowed his eyes at Evan. "No, of course not, dude. If you send the kids outside or group them into large rooms like the cafeteria, then one of the gunmen could mow down everyone with ease. The students and staff need to lock the classrooms and lay down against the wall so that a hostile can't see them through the little window in the door. Making a classroom look empty from the hall is a start."

"Get the kids into classrooms and have them hide in the corners. Got it."

"The kids have to stay there and stay quiet until help arrives. Now, we've got a plan ... sort'a. Evan, we could die doing this. I've had some training, you haven't. You can still turn back. You could hoof it up to the main road, flag down someone and get a hold of the authorities."

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself. I still have some of my abilities. But you are defenseless. We're a team, Reno." Evan perked at the sound of another gunshot. He pointed in the direction from which it came and nodded to Nevada to follow. "I can turn those bullets to sand, so let me lead," he whispered then headed out into the hallway.

They knelt down adjacent to a doorway to a classroom, able to hear whimpering on the other side of the wood. Someone shouted something from inside followed by soft crying.

Evan put his hands on the lower portion of the door and grimaced.

Reno whispered, "What are you doing?"

No response. After a moment, Evan winced then tensed up. A small window began to grow in the middle of the door, allowing them a clear view into the classroom from a low vantage point.

Reno patted Evan on the shoulder to show that he was impressed then he crawled about and leaned in to look through it.

Nevada tilted his head, only able to see part of the classroom.

Children were huddled on the floor. A young girl, looking around eleven or twelve years old, was knelt over the body of an adult, sobbing. A sanguine pool spread out from beneath the body of the teaching aid. Her little shoulders heaved with her off-rhythm sniffles and cries of mourning.

Reno ground his teeth together, furious. "We can't go in this way," he whispered.

"What? Why not? Hostage? I can just turn his gun to glass. I've got enough sand in my pocket to..."

The ex-inspector turned to Evan and put a finger on the young man's lips. "There's a pipe bomb directly in front of the door. If we open it, it will go off. If you try turning the bomb to glass ... it might work, but it also might set it off. We can't take the chance - we'd be risking the lives of children."

"I could turn his gun to glass then use what sand I have left to create a blast shield directly in front of the door. IF it blows," Evan said in a hushed tone, "then it'll open the door for us at best."

Reno offered a stern gaze.

"What?" Evan whispered.

"The other gunmen will hear it, too. Slow down. They've shot the teaching aid, but the teacher is alive; he has the kids huddled in the corner. The gunner isn't blasting people at random. They must be following some sort of plan, which buys us time."

"Okay, okay." Evan paused to think then said, "What if I encased the guy in a sound-resistant glass box."

"That might work but I can't see him at this angle. So I don't know where he is or if he has a hostage. Do you have enough sand to do it?"

Evan pointed up the hallway where the darkness faded into light. "There are windows up the way. I can use them - turn them into sand and then we're in business."

"Dammit," Reno hissed through his teeth. He put the side of his face against the floor, trying to peer in through the little window Evan created in the door. "Where is this douchebag? Seems like they've really planned this out. They're staying in defensive positions for maximum control. Okay. Let's keep moving until we find someone we can take down or until we can get to the main office."

"What about the teacher's aid?"

"There's nothing we can do for him, man.

Evan appeared disheartened. "Alright." Together they moved further up the hallway. Balmoral took one of the bookbags off the hallway floor, flipped it over and dumped all the books out.

They approached the section of windows halfway up the hall. He removed each glass pane, transformed it back into silica, and dumped the sandy powder into the backpack then shouldered it.

"Okay. I think we can say we're somewhat armed, now."

The two made their way to the far end of the hall where there was another staircase. They headed downstairs and followed a sign towards the main office. "You feeling okay?" asked Evan, handing Reno the second EpiPen.

"Yeah. Adrenaline was quick thinking, earlier," Reno replied softly. "But it's best to save this for an emergency." He stuffed the second Epinephrine injector into his pocket and glanced around.

They opened the door leading into the office. It appeared abandoned. The secretary desks had chairs drawn back, as if to suggest the secretaries left in a hurry. One chair had a pullover draped over the backrest. There was a purse on the floor besides it.

"Keep your head down and stay quiet," whispered Reno.

Nevada crawled into the office and went through the purse. He pulled out a cellphone but it was dead.

Both of them froze at the sound of angry shouting from down the hallway at the back of the office. It came from behind a section labeled 'Health Room.'

Reno took a deep breath then nodded for Evan to follow. They crept through the office, heading into a copy room, which had a pass-through doorway at the other end. They moved to either side of the doorway and listened to the emotional tangent. "Don't like his tone," Reno mouthed.

The aggressor spoke with an angry voice to one of the staff members. "As if it wasn't bad enough that you married another woman, seeing as how God hates fags, you slattern whore, but the fact that this Godforsaken school is named after a nigger AntiChrist is all the more reason why Hell will be waiting for you with open arms today."

Evan ground his teeth together in aggravation. "That's it. He's not shooting the Principal. Absolutely not."

"Evan, wait up, man," Reno hissed. "I hate that word, too, man, but you can't just..."

"No. I don't let that word have power over me. Stay here and watch my six." Evan stood up and moved towards the sound of the voice, able to see the sign for the Principal's office just ahead of him.

Reno's eyes widened with fear. "Dude, if they have radios, you could be getting every kid in this school killed."

Nevada's only reply was the sound of the gunman shouting, "WHO ARE YOU?" at Evan.

Reno moved into the hallway, ready to back up Evan if necessary.

Balmoral clenched his hands into fists. "God's wrath and I've come for you."

The gunner aimed his weapon away from the Principal and pulled the trigger but the newly-turned glass gun cracked instead.

Evan stepped into the Principal's office, barely seen in the dim illumination of a small office window.

"Wait, are you a porch monkey? Jesus, have mercy! You are, aren't you?"

Evan drew his right fist back and slugged the man in the face as hard as he could.

Every one of the man's front teeth shattered. He doubled back and cried in agony then dropped to the floor, gagging on glass shards.

With a quick side-nod, Evan gestured for the Principal to leave the office. He shook his hand to lessen the sting of throwing a bunch. Evan picked up the gunner by his shirt collar and pinned him to the wall.

"Fuck you," the man spat. Blood ran down the front of his chin.

"You know, I used to get bullied by kids that look like you when I was in school. I think this is going to be really therapeutic."

"Kill me if you want, Uncle Tom," said the teenaged boy, mumbling through broken teeth and spitting blood on Evan's shirt. "You're going to hell and God will bless me, I'll be exalted and..."

Evan pursed his lips together. Even with a long, drawn out breath, he couldn't hold a lid on his anger and frustration with the attacker.

He trembled with bottled rage. Evan sucked air in through his teeth, glaring, face to face with the man, and said, "I've met deities. And you know what? I've come to realize that God ... hates ... assholes," then jerked his head forward, breaking the leader's nose with his forehead.

The eighteen-something gunman slumped down the wall, hands over his face. Balmoral snatched the night-vision headset off the leader's forehead and tossed it to Reno.

Nevada, impressed, nodded to Evan with pride. "Damn. First time I've ever heard you say something like that, kiddo."

"Yeah, uh, I didn't mean to. He really made me mad."

"No, it's fine. I don't judge, kiddo."

Evan licked his lips then turned back to the Principal next to the doorway and, in an apologetic tone, said, "I'm so sorry. I ... I thought you'd left the room. I didn't mean to swear in front of a lady." He cleared his throat, adding, "I didn't mean to swear at all, but that guy made me so angry. I saw red for a moment, there."

She blinked, as though confused. "I - n-no, no it's fine. Thank you so much. We need to call the police ... who are you? Are you related to one of the children here? Parents?"

"No." Reno put the night-vision headset atop of his bald head, adjusted the strap and said, "It's complicated but ... we're here to help." He cut his eyes over to the man slumped in the dim corner. "Serves you right, pecker head. Trying to attack kids? How many of you are there?"

Evan lifted his foot then stomped on the gunner's wrist. "Don't you even think about it." He leaned over and plucked a radio from the man's grip. "You guys are cowards. Attacking targets that can't fight back. You claim to fight in the name of God - have you ever thought that God can fight His own battles? Why would He need an insignificant group of jerks, like you, to fight for Him?"

"You'll see," the young man groaned. "You'll see when you go to hell for being a fag-loving nigger."

Evan glanced back at the Principal and Reno with a slight shrug. "Just incase you guys were wondering, I'm really _not_insulted. This guy is an idiot."

Reno stepped into the office and leaned over the desk. "What's your name, dummy?"

"William Jeremiah Phelps."

Reno shook his head. "God, I bet it's hard to talk without teeth. So, are you related to the Phelp's family of the WBC?"

"No. They kicked me and my father out years ago. They don't approve of racism and violence. But look at how Christians had to push back the Muslim expansion in the Crusades? They fought in the name of God against heathens. Look at the rape statistics in Africa - they're just as barbaric. This world needs cleansing on a biblical level. This is my mission."

Reno looked up at Evan and shook his head. "Wow. Someone too crazy even for Westboro. The most soulless hatemongers to ever get an article on Wikipedia. Well. This takes the cake. Alright." Nevada took a breath to relax his racing heart and turned back to William. "Did you use an EMP device?"

"Yes. Getting it on the roof was the crowning achievement that made all of this possible, because now nobody can call for help."

"Alright. How many of you are armed?"

"All of us," said William.

"Billy Jay, c'mon now. How many?"

"The whole group. If you want to know how many of us there are ... look it up on the Internet. If you can find a working phone, that is."

Reno glanced at Evan. "Are you against torture?"

"Well, yeah. There's a code, Reno. We can't be like them."

"Shame. I thought maybe you could turn his fingernails to glass."

Evan frowned thoughtfully. He thought about it, turned to the gunman, and asked, "How many?"

"Go to hell, African mutt. Get out of our country. Go back to yours. AIDS was God's way of punishing fags but it has the added bonus of killing rapist Neanderthals like yourself."

Evan rolled his eyes and leaned over then touched his finger against William's left index. Phelps jerked his hand away and cried out in pain. "OH my GOD what did you just do to me you Neanderthal ape?!"

"Don't be such a baby. And stop mumbling, Gumby." Even paused then added, "You're stupid. Don't you read anything besides your own propaganda? All modern humans have Neanderthal DNA except for Africans. Homo sapiens started in Africa. Dummy."

Reno offered a hint of a wan smile, cleared his throat then said, "How many are there, kid?"

"Twenty, plus me."

"And you have assault rifles?" asked Nevada.

"Bulgarian AKS-74u."

Reno picked up a glass chunk from the weapon that cracked into three pieces earlier. "Guy knows his weapons but ... knock offs? Really?" He handed it to the Principal then said, "We've got to get these guys. We are cut off from the police. Are you okay to walk up to the main road and flag down help?"

"Yes, but if I leave the school ... surely they will be watching the windows. If the police show up, they might start shooting students."

Reno nodded. "Good point." He turned back to Evan and sighed. "AKS-74U. Folding shoulder stock, and shortened. It's a carbine from the 70's." Nevada cut his gaze back to Phelps. "Where'd you idiots get fifty year old weapons, huh?"

"They're knockoffs, like you said." He looked up at the Principal and said, "I saw your wedding on TV. Lesbian freak. But you're smart. I'll give you that. My people are watching the windows."

"Twenty gunners," Reno mused. "Leaving the school is suicide."

Evan tensed his hands again. "So is attacking a school." He glanced back at William. "So, Gumby, are your people here to kill themselves? Isn't suicide against God's will?"

"If we're shot by police, then we will ascend to heaven," said William. "My people will fight to the end. We're willing to die but none of us will turn a weapon on themselves. We're here for the long haul. We were going to kill all the teachers and wait for the parents to show up to pick up the children. Then we were going to shoot all the parents. They came out to show their love and support for this abomination. And then for her wedding to be shown on TV, that was the final insult. This attack is God's wrath. The children will watch their parents die. If necessary, they go next unless they choose to accept our help with salvation."

The Principal came around the desk, grabbed William by his collar and forced him to his feet. She pushed him against the wall and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you...?" Reno trailed off.

Evan said nothing.

William glanced from Reno to Evan, nervously, then back at the woman opening his shirt.

She pulled it open exposing a Kevlar vest. The woman reached for his buttoned cuffs and pulled the shirt off his arms then began unfastening his vest. She forcefully jerked it off then threw his shirt back at him and put the vest on over herself. "Okay. Listen, you two ... these kids ... these kids are my number one priority. We're in this together. We need a way to make this guy a prisoner so we can get started on stopping the rest of these crazy nut-jobs. It's ten in the morning and the bell is at quarter after four. We have less than six hours. If anyone shows up early to pick his or her kid for a doctor's appointment ... we're screwed. They'd be bringing a cellphone to a locked-down school. They'd wind up shot. Or worse, the kids become the next target. C'mon." She stepped back from the office. "Do whatever you did with the gun or something."

Reno and Evan looked at each other.

"Saw that, huh?" asked Evan.

"We're running out of time," she said.

Evan put his hand on the small window. It disappeared. He held his hands out and a large pane of glass began to form in the room. Silence. Evan created the barrier so that it only covered half of the window frame for the man to breathe.

The Principal announced, "I'm Jennifer. Let's go." She turned about and walked out of the office, back towards the copy room.

Evan turned to Reno and whispered, "It didn't bother her to see the glass trick. She acted like it was no big deal."

Reno replied in an equally hushed tone. "Something's going on. I somehow doubt this, but maybe she has an ability, too?"

Out by the secretary desks, Jennifer turned back to Reno and Evan. "My wife has the ability to hear and smell colors, see sound and scents. Doctor's say it's a brain condition as if it's a bad thing. But it gives her an edge. I wish I had it right now because it's damned near impossible to sneak up on her. We have twenty people with rifles. We need a plan."

Reno craned his neck and glanced out into the hallway then back at the Principal. "Listen, Jennifer, he's Evan and I'm Reno. I used to be a cop but I got fired because my abilities got me attention with the wrong people with the right ties. I'd like to address the children in rooms without gunmen. They need to be moved along the walls and into corners further away from the classroom doors. Meanwhile Evan and I will go hunting."

"Listen, Mister Reno, you're pretty young. Not quite thirty yet, I'd say. I don't know if the school you went to as a child had shooter drills but ... this school does practice them. The teachers know exactly what to do with their students. They've had to train for this. Let me tell you something. I might be fifty-one, but I'm not old. And my daddy was ... still is close to me. He taught me how to shoot a gun and snare clever animals. We need to draw these guys out one by one."

"They all have radios," Evan said.

Jennifer took the radio from Evan's left hand and smirked. "Watch and learn." She opened the top drawer of the left secretary's desk, withdrew a small watch screwdriver and said, "We fix our own photocopier, too."

She walked back into the copy room with Reno and Evan behind her.

The Principal waved Evan to come closer then approached the glass prison and said, "Make a small hole so we can hear him speak."

Evan did as he was asked and made a hole smaller than a fist in the glass. "Okay. Now what?"

She turned to the man behind the thick glass panel and glowered at him. "I'm going to have this boy turn the rest of your fingernails to glass then shatter each one if you don't do exactly as I tell you. Do you understand? I want you to say what I tell you to say. You're going to announce that something is wrong with the EMP on the roof. That's all you're going to say. If you say anything else, I'm going to put you in a lot of pain. Do you understand? 'Something is wrong with the EMP on the roof.' That's all you're going to say."

"Fag," he muttered. "Fine. Is there?"

"Grow up," she snapped. "And yes, there is. I don't need one of your stupid pals getting antsy if their equipment acts weird. There's no need for them to shoot my school's children. If even one child receives so much as a paper cut, I will make you suffer until the cops arrive."

"Fine. But I'm not doing this to help you. I'm doing it to make sure every child here is given the opportunity to join our cause."

She held the radio up against the hole in the glass and pressed the button on the side. William looked at her, then the radio. Finally he said, "This is BJ. There's something wrong with the EMP generator on the roof." He paused briefly then shouted, "They have me pinned down! KILL ALL THE TEACHERS!"

Jennifer placed the radio on the office desk and folded her arms. "Nice try. I let go of the button before you could make an ass of yourself. I may need you to cooperate again later on. We cannot have you try to start another situation." She cleared her throat in a loud, dramatic manner, then said, "Evan. His other index finger. That way if he gets either hand on a gun ... he won't be shooting it very well."

Balmoral grimaced. "I hate torture." He approached the glass and pinched his thumb and index finger together, as if crushing a small bug. William J. Phelps doubled over, howling in excruciating pain. "I only did that so he can't make use of his trigger fingers. I'm not torturing him anymore. That's not me."

The radio on the desk came back with a reply from one of the gunmen. "Okay. It's the best I could do on such short notice."

Jennifer picked up the radio and used the small screwdriver to stab out the microphone through a tiny hole on the bottom of the plastic case. She opened her desk and rifled through a drawer until she found some rubber bands. The Principal pressed the button in then wrapped the rubber bands around the radio several times to keep the button held in.

She left her office and returned to the front of the main office then placed the radio on the desk counter and waved for Reno and Evan to follow her out into the hallway.

Impressed, Nevada said, "Jamming their method of communication. Good plan. Now they'll think it has something to do with that EMP thing on the roof. If any of them are smart, though, they'll realize it isn't messing with their night-vision goggles. Let's hope they assume the device is simply killing reception. But there's no denying that you're a clever girl."

"It's our best option, Mister Reno. Why did you two come here if you don't have children here?"

Evan rubbed the backside of his neck. "Well, uh, we have another friend with an ability, too ... she occasionally has premonitions. She said there was going to be something awful that we needed to help prevent. She called us in the middle of the night and we came all the way from Texas, drove through the night, and drove way over the speed limit since Houston. We came from San Francisco in thirty-six hours. Counting stops, fighting car-jackers, dropping a friend off at the airport in Nevada. It's been exhausting. From Houston to here, we were traveling around ninety-to-a-hundred miles an hour most of the way."

"I've always thought her senses were mixed up from a head injury as a child or because of a birth defect. But she's always told me there are more people in the world like her. But premonitions? The future?"

"Possible outcomes," Evan said.

"Well what did she see?"

Reno swallowed with a frown. "A lot of people dying. A lot of anguish and agony ... she said innocent lives were in danger."

"You two came clear across the country, without sleep, so you could help innocent people in danger?"

"That's us," said Evan.

"And you did this all based on a hunch?"

"I only wish we could've got here sooner," Evan murmured.

"Get it together young man," said Jennifer. "I would have had you boys arrested if you came in here an hour ago and told me this was about to happen. Just be glad you didn't arrive too late to help."

Reno eyed her for a moment. "Wait, did you know this was going to happen?"

"Only to a degree, and certainly not when. I received threats from the idiot in my office. William Phelps. I looked him up online because he was dumb enough to sign his threats. He really was too violent and racist for the likes of that hate cult out of Kansas. So he started his own. He calls it something stupid like, "The Sword of Gabriel's Wrath." They're a God damned cult of jackasses. Something wrong Evan? I saw you flinch just now."

"I have this aversion to - never mind. It's all good. Look, there are twenty gunners." He turned to Reno and said, "What about leaving out through the cafeteria. There are no windows on that side. Then one of us can get off the school grounds and call Sinopa to do her mirror thing. I can make mirrors for her to come through. We could really use the help of someone who can't be shot, can't die and can conjure fire. Plus, she could probably help us by..."

"Karla said on the phone she thinks Sinopa wouldn't help things because she might be emotional regarding certain situations. She's untrained and reacts with her instincts first in a fight." Nevada ran his hands up over his head, cupping the smooth flesh in his palms. "Let's face it, we're not going to be alone for long."

"How do you figure?" asked Jennifer.

Reno shrugged. "Topaz will be able to charter a helicopter out to the yacht, pick up people who can help ... like Eric, herself, Karla, and Fox. All we would really need is Karla to come in here and take away everyone's weapon and move those pipe bombs."

Jennifer's eyes widened. "Pipe bombs?" she hissed in hushed tones. "You failed to mention that!"

"Ma'am, we're sorry; a lot is going on at once." Evan rubbed his hands over his face then sighed through his nose. "Okay. We're wasting time. We already know this isn't going to be easy. We know the risks are serious and we know if anyone else drives onto the lot, even a single car, those gunners are going to have a field day."

Reno folded his arms. "That clenches it. One of us has to get off the premises. We need to alert the police and completely block off the entrance to the school. NO matter what. Until this is resolved, we cannot allow any cars to drive onto the lot. It's only a matter of time before someone does it."

"I have to stay," Evan said. "I'm the one that can imprison these people. Jennifer knows the school but Reno, you're a trained officer. I'd say you're both an evenly matched and invaluable help to me ... but when it comes down to it ... the cops are going to question Reno instead of jumping to his aid. Jennifer, you have a vest to protect you incase you're spotted ... and you know the school grounds, so you know where to go to stay out of sight. And you're the school's principal, which will lend credence to what you're telling the police. Don't let anyone pull in here, and, when the police arrive, make sure they know what's going on."

"Dammit, this is my school and..."

Reno turned to the woman and put his hands on her shoulders. "Jennifer, listen to me. I may be tired but I'm on my game today. I'm in the zone. Let me help. I don't know the school grounds as well. You'll know how to avoid being spotted and where to go when you get on the otherside of the trees. Your idea on how to jam their radios was pure genius. Now, go up there and jam traffic before someone drives onto the lot and gets your students killed. And don't tell them people with abilities are saving the day. Just tell them it's the two guys who saved the bank from the robbers in San Francisco."

The Principal's eyes widened. "Jesus. That's where I recognize you two from ... the TV. You used your abilities to stop a bank robbery? You two are going to get yourselves killed!"

"Well, yeah," Reno nodded in agreement. "Probably. But not today. Now get going. Go out through the Cafeteria - we noticed there are no windows out there on that side of the building. How many kids are here?"

"Alright. I'm going. A little over two thousand children. Grades six through eight. Please don't get yourselves killed." She moved away from Reno's hands then took his left into her left and shook. She turned to Evan and clasped his hand. They shook. "You have to hurry. If the parents don't start rolling in around four, the gunmen are going to get suspicious and start wondering why their targets aren't showing up."

"We will have it taken care of."

"Thank you, Mr. Reno."

He and Evan walked her to the Cafeteria, quickly scouted it then shook hands again.

Reno opened the door for her and watched until she made it safely to the tree line. He shut the door, quietly, then turned back to Evan and offered a weak smile in the dim lighting of a wire-mesh window. "Well. At least we saved one person. It's a start."

"The average helicopter, like, a Bell 407, can cruise at around a buck forty or better. They'd better be here by noon." Evan glanced at his wrist then frowned. The iWatch display was blank. "Stupid EMP killed my Apple snap-wrap."

"Good thing my new car is shielded. Let's get to work."

Evan nodded then pointed. "Follow me. I saw a map back in the main office. We need to memorize the layout then we need to start putting these guys down. As it stands, the kids can't even have a bathroom break. They're scared. Some of them have already seen shooters acting out."

Reno gestured for Evan to lead the way back to the main office.

They went up to a wall to the right of a large desk and stopped to study a map that showed the building with a series of dark LED lights. Evan remained quiet.

Reno tapped the map with his finger. "This is for the fire and sprinkler system. These lights would change to red if a smoke detector went off. Each light represents a classroom, I believe. Glad you saw this; I missed it. Check on Phelps; make sure he's not trying to escape or anything. Then we'll get started."

Evan nodded and headed into the back, past the Nurse's office, through the copy room and into the Principal's office. He folded his arms to look tough. "We've already started getting people to safety. You failed. It's only a matter of time before we've evacuated the school. I hope that makes you mad."

William punched the glass in frustration but the glass held. His hand, however, did not. He doubled over in pain and favored a broken knuckle.

"It's bulletproof. It sure won't break from your fist," Evan chastised. "Sit tight. Just came to make sure you didn't hang yourself by your shoelaces."

"I don't need to. There's a bomb in this school. If I don't physically go to it and punch in the code every two hours, it will create a big enough fire to burn this school to the ground. And then my boys will know to kill everyone on the top floor, escape and set off their pipe bombs to finish everyone else off. I might die but I already told you that I have salvation waiting for me."

"That means you punched in the code before you came to find the Principal."

"To activate it, yes."

Evan hurried out of the Principal's office, back through the corridors and back to Reno. "We have, like, ninety minutes before a bomb goes off somewhere in this school. It's designed to start a really big fire. Without power, the smoke detectors won't do their job. Sprinklers will only slow it down - if they even work. There's a lot of paper in a school. This isn't good at all."

Reno threw his hands up in the air. "So much for waiting until Karla arrives! Did you get the code?"

"No. But I wouldn't trust him to give us the right one, anyhow. There's a possibility he might give us a failsafe code to detonate it immediately."

Reno turned to a clipboard next to the Public Announcement gear. He threw it across the office, knocking over an ornamental world globe on the back counter. "Fuck! How'd he get a bomb in here without getting caught?!"

Nevada turned away from the wall panel and kicked a chair out of his way. He stormed into the back office hall, through the copy room and into the Principal's office. "Where is it, motherfucker?"

"Your threats won't work on me," said Phelps.

Reno shouted back towards Evan. "Widen the hole!" He waited until it grew just slightly then reached through it and snatched the young man's collar and pulled him into the glass, flattening William's face against the smooth surface.

Phelps gagged, unable to breathe or swallow from Reno's grip.

"Listen to me. That dude who put you in here won't do much more than break your teeth and fingernails. He turns stuff to glass. But guess what I can do?" Reno's eyes illuminated with a spark of raw energy. "Some people say the true wrath of God is delivered through a lightning bolt. I guess that makes me God's one true Grim Reaper. And, believe me, I won't send you to heaven. I will melt you alive, starting with your hands and feet, then your arms and legs. And every time your heart stops, I will personally zap you back to life. You will tell me where that bomb is, right now."

"The greater my suffering on earth, the higher I will be exalted by God," William replied.

Reno shoved him back, against the wall then withdrew his hand from the hole in the glass panel. "Listen, chump. Thou shalt not murder. You've brought murder to a house of the innocent. One of your people already shot someone. Their blood is on your hands. If that bomb goes off, you'll have murdered two thousand kids and over fifty-plus staff members. Homosexuality isn't on the Ten Commandments, the only list written by God ... but murder is on that list. So you will be going to hell. But only after a lot of suffering. Understand?"

"You've already broke my teeth and my nose. I broke a bone in my hand. You'll have to do better than that, freak-eyes."

"Where. The fuck. Is. The bomb?"

"Enjoy hell," said William. He sat down on the floor with his left shoulder against the wall and his right shoulder against the glass panel. "Geneva convention - if I'm your prisoner, you should feed me."

Reno blinked, incredulous. "You dumb bastard hick, that's a set of rules for international prisoners of war. Starve. Drink your own piss for all I care. There's a special place in hell reserved for people like Harris and Klebold. That's where you're going real soon."

"Sorry. I'm afraid I don't know those names."

"Don't worry, you'll meet'em soon enough." Reno turned away from the glass panel and left the Principal's office. Evan followed him back out to the main office. "Okay. We need to start with the bomb. And we need to stay unseen. And quiet. Man I'm tired."

"Reno..."

"No, I slept from Baton Rouge to here. I slept. I slept pretty good, actually. I'm just exhausted between the road travel and the EMP thing and ... ugh."

Evan reached for Reno's wrist. "I gave you a shot of adrenaline. It's not an all day thing. It doesn't last all that long, really. It's just a stimulant to help you walk off this crap."

"I zapped some juice out of the capacitor in the Chevelle."

"Yeah, but your body is tired. Your mind is tired. Now we've got to find a bomb and you need to calm down so you can think clearly. So ... if you were a crazy hick hell-bent on killing people and had no compunction about harming children ... how would you think? How would you try to get a bomb into a locked school without alerting the authorities? Could he have been lying about a bomb being in the school?"

Reno blinked then widened his eyes. "You're a genius! Of course he was lying about a bomb being in the school! There has to be a way those boys got here before the silver sedan!"

Evan snapped his fingers. "When they arrived, they gave one teen something I couldn't see, then the guns and night-vision goggles. It could have been the bomb!"

"Or, it could have been the detonator." Reno glanced back at the wall to determine where they were standing in the school then said, "Follow me. Stay quiet and stay low." He left the office and led Evan down the hall, away from the Cafeteria. They turned at the next intersection and moved down a seemingly endless row of lockers.

At the far end, they came to a stairwell with an emergency exit behind it. Reno opened the back doors and glanced out over the blacktop. He held the door open and pointed down at the other end of the schoolyard, several hundred feet away.

Even poked his head out of the doorway and looked in the direction of Reno's pointing.

Nevada's expectant grin evolved into a proud smile. "See? They came around back in two fifteen-passenger vans. There are twenty-one of them. Those vans can hold thirty combined. Or ... twenty teens and an explosive. Then the sedan had the twenty-first and the electronics necessary to detonate it. C'mon, let's find another way down to that van. I don't want to leave the school and walk down to it."

"Yeah," Evan murmured. "No use getting seen."

"Or locked out," Reno said with a sigh. "We've got to stay low and find a way down there."

Evan nodded then frowned. "How come all the troubles we've had on this road trip have stemmed from a pair of vans with guys wielding Russian knockoff weapons...?"

"It's a coincidence bud. Those guns are in demand for troublemakers. Ironically, they were designed for defense, not this crap." Reno rubbed the scruff on his chin then said, "We also have to check that Sedan. That's the one thing that doesn't make sense to me."

Evan stepped out of the stairwell and peered down the hall then looked back at Reno. "What doesn't make sense?"

"They used the sedan to navigate the road leading in. They drove up over the curb. They parked the car by the side door. So it wasn't affected by the EMP. But it didn't start, and it didn't have any juice. They came onto the school property seconds after that thing went off. But even the traffic light up by the road was out. So why didn't it kill their sedan, but why was the thing dead when we looked at it? How come the night vision, the radios and, presumably, the detonator still work?"

"Reno ... I don't know."

Reno clenched his jaw then waved for Evan to follow again. "Stay low and move fast, but walk on the balls of your feet like a ninja, okay? Let's go."

They moved down the hall at the back of the school, then back up along the far end. They came out the door near the sedan and Reno propped the door open. He slid back into the driver's seat of the sedan and popped the hood then moved around in front of it. There was no place for a car battery. He went back to the driver's seat and opened the trunk.

The moved around behind the car.

He glanced back at Evan. "This model has the battery in the back, by the wheel well. The theory is most people pull into a parking lot space. If your car dies, it's hard to jump a car from the front. Anyways, the car battery is gone. You didn't see them pull it out?"

"We did take cover behind the doors of your car, Reno. And I went for the EpiPen. He could have put it into the duffle bag when he opened the trunk."

Nevada rubbed his chin. "So it's safe to say they knew the radius of this EMP's reach, and it's safe to assume their bomb is powered by the car battery. It has to be. How good are you with electronics?"

"Johann and I consider ourselves pretty computer savvy if that's what you mean."

"It'll have to do," Reno said. "Let's get up to the roof. I want to see if we can set that EMP off again."

"Again?" Evan blinked.

"Yes. Again."

Evan snapped his fingers. "Right! To keep the bomb from going off. But what about you? You were clear across the lot when that thing went off and you keeled over. We're much closer, now, and we can't go back out to the Chevelle. What if that thing kills you or something?"

Reno glared in reply. "Then at least I'll have taken one for the team so those kids don't burn to death. First priority is to stop that bomb to buy our team time to get here. We both heard the EMP device go off, and, while I don't know how William got it on the roof ... he confirmed that's where it was. Now we gotta see if we can somehow make it go off again. I have a little juice left. I'll throw everything I've got into it, then you hit me with the EpiPen."

"Okay. There will be some way through maintenance to get to the roof, somehow. I used to work at a mall a few years ago. They had a ladder in maintenance with a hatch leading up to the top. I can put some sand in the lock and expand it to break the lock, then ... yeah. Sorry, I'm nervous and excited. Let's find that device."

"I don't know much about EMP devices, let alone homebrew electronics. Do you think it can be fried?"

"Anything is possible. But it might be designed to generate more than one pulse. The design isn't all that complicated. Coil some leads around a block of..."

"Evan, I don't need to know the details. Let's go and find a way to the roof."

X

---

X

** Karla glanced over at Eric** and sighed. "I hate not being able to do anything. I hate being helpless. I hate being in a holding pattern. I swear they better not hurt Evan or Reno."

Eric glanced at his wristwatch then leaned up to the pilot and shouted over the roar of the noise. The pilot passed him back a headset. Eric pulled it on, over his ears, and adjusted the boom mic then asked, "What's our arrival time?"

"About ninety minutes, sir. Airspeed's a hundred-thirty knots. We stopped to refuel on a barge arranged by your friend with the money. Trust me when I tell you this is the fastest I've ever gone from Bermuda to Florida."

"Thanks." Eric took off the headset and moved back to the cabin and moved adjacent to Karla so she'd be able to hear him. "Another hour and a half. I'm sorry. Maybe I should handle this. I don't want you in the line of fire."

Karla laughed aloud. "What?! I'm the one who can telekinetically stop bullets. I'm the one who has an inertia dampening bubble. I'm the one who teleports guns out of the hands of their owners. Give me a break. Line of fire? I'm awesome. I even have minor healing abilities."

"Karla ... we should make the decision together. I assure you I'm not trying to be controlling in the relationship. I just think that it's a big decision, considering ... you know."

Her eyes shifted to the left briefly then she turned to Eric and took either side of his face. "Who told you?"

"Karla, everyone knows except for me and, I think, Fox."

Howard offered a giggle. "No. Fox was one of the first to find out. Well, I guess his balls are off the hook, then. So who was it?"

"C'mon, don't be like that. I'm excited. I'm really looking forward to having a family. Feeling normal and important and ... I know our mission is important but ... so is having a child. And..."

"Who ... told you?"

Eric bit his lower lip. He looked down.

"I'm up here."

Eric smiled inwardly then reached for her head and slid his fingers through her hair. He eased her head forward, causing her to look down. "Karla, your shadow is quavering. The baby is mine. Controlling your shadow when you're frustrated is a pain, I know. It ripples like throwing a stone into a pond. Karla, I'm perceptive. I was apparently trained to be perceptive. Perhaps you told me inadvertently. So stop being upset. And let's talk about what's next."

"Rufus told you in Bermuda, huh? Oh well, you had to find out sooner or later. Listen, Eric, I looked up that address."

"Yeah?"

She frowned and leaned back in the padding of the seat. Her sigh went unheard over the ambient noise of the helicopter. Karla rubbed her forehead then pushed a lock of her bangs from her forehead.

"What's wrong, Karla?"

She leaned forward so that her lips brushed his ear. "It's a school. I'm nervous. What if this whole thing is already over by the time we arrive? It's distracting us from our jobs against Falcon. And ... there's more."

"Is there?"

"Falcon has an offer that could let us be a family if I leave him alone."

Eric drew his head back and looked at her then he leaned forward again and asked, "I'm not sure I follow."

"You and I - we could be a family. But I'd have to walk away from everything and leave Falcon alone."

"Karla, these people ... Fox, Topaz, Sinopa ... Evan, Reno, Johann, Rufus ... all of them. They're extremely capable. Have you ever thought about letting them handle it? They don't have a baby to worry about. Lance and Steven have manipulated and done what was necessary to put together an exceptional crew of ... well ... heroes. You've helped but it doesn't mean you need to lead the charge. Why did you get into all of this to begin with?"

"Because I wanted justice over the people who attacked me. You?"

"Because, Karla, I wanted to feel like I had a family. Donovan. I was alone without a soul in the world; without a single memory. No identity, no friends, no family, no sense of self. But I have all of that now. I've made memories with you. I'm learning what kind of person I am. I've made friends. And now I'm making a family. What if we're better suited to save the children in that school? What if that's more important than helping do something that might very well be none of our business to begin with?"

"I need some time to think about our options."

"No rush. To be bluntly honest, I have no desire to risk my life trying to save the world. The world is tough. It's been through more than the human race could ever throw at it. Does it really need you or me risking our lives for it?"

"We're here to save the lives of others beyond our own." Karla glanced out the window. "We're here to get revenge against the people that attacked us and took things from us. Friends, family, lovers." She glared at the horizon, remembering Marcus Howard. "To avenge someone taken from me in 1999."

"Well, you are. But not me."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I'm trying to be closer to you." He reached his hands up and put them on her cheeks, turning her to face him. "Yes, Rufus told me. But he was worried about you. He wanted to make sure I wouldn't accidentally say all the wrong things, so he gave me a heads up. For that, I owe him my respect. At first, I thought he was trying to question if I was good enough for you and it upset me. But it turns out it was his way of asking me to ask myself if I'm ready to be enough for you ... and our baby. And the answer to that, Karla, is yes. Okay?"

"Eric ... what if Falcon and his friends are behind your memory loss? What if this has a connection to you beyond just Donovan?"

Eric shrugged. "Then distancing myself from it is probably for the best. So I was wronged. Big deal. Lots of people are wronged. But ask yourself this ... if I led a normal life and became a corporate cubical computer operator, would we have met? So, wronged or not, it brought us together. I can live with that." He offered her a reassuring smile.

"And if Falcon and his cronies are behind all this other drama"

"I still say to hell with them. However..."

"Yes?"

Eric put his arm around her, kissed her forehead then continued to speak into her ear over the noise. "If you're in this ... then so am I. Because whatever you decide you want to do with your life, we're in this together if you'll have me along for the ride."

She smiled and put her head on his shoulder. After a moment, Karla added, "Okay. We're a team. But under one condition."

"What's the condition, sweetheart?"

Karla chuckled and shook her head. "Sweetheart, huh? Silly boy. The condition is, baby or not, you will not want me benched. If anything, I'm more dangerous now that I have another power. I'm not sure how long it will last, or if I get to keep it forever. But ... I still have more than I had before. So. No benching."

"This will surely be the most interesting pregnancy recorded. A mother who can teleport the child out when it's time for labor."

With a laugh, Karla shook her head. "Nope. I can't teleport something that's attached. Umbilical cord. We're attached. I can't teleport people's hearts out of their chests, or give men vasectomies ... it doesn't work. It's part of the person. If I tried to teleport the baby, I'd only succeed in teleporting myself along with her."

"Her, huh?"

Another grin. "Yeah. Her. I think the first one is going to be a girl."

This time Eric laughed. "What makes you think that?"

"Because." Karla stuck her tongue out. "If you give Sinopa enough sake ... she'll tell you anything." The succubus waggled her brows then offered a toothy, bright smile. "_Any_thing. So here's a spoiler ... we have two. A girl and a boy. Now you know what I know. Obviously we survive. It would be difficult to have several kids if we die in a fight against Falcon and his secret evil empire. And now you know why I've had a cavalier attitude about Falcon as of late. I know we live, so it's pretty easy to conclude that we must win."

"Well," Eric trailed off then drew her close and rested his chin upon her head. Somewhat unheard over the noise of the helicopter, he said, "I like the sound of that. Makes it even easier to love you and follow you into all these messes, knowing I'm not going to lose you. I won't lie, Karla - I want to start a family. I know it is kind of sudden for us, but it feels like I've wanted this with you even before we had sex for the first time."

"You've wanted this with me for a while now?"

"God yes. I want to start a family. Please."

The succubus closed her eyes. Her headache started again, with his last sentence repeating in her mind. She pushed her face against his chest and kept still, hoping the pain would pass quickly. In the back of her head, she heard a man's voice, not that different from Eric, saying the same thing. "...Want to start a family. Please."

"Don't listen to him," said another man at Karla's side. "Open the cockpit door. There will be a switch on the side. I showed you..." The cockpit door began to open. The man reached in, quickly, and used his hand to pull a switch designated as the blackbox recorder. "Secure the pilot!"

Karla tensed up as if trying to fight his demand but found herself telekinetically lifting the Captain with a wave of her hand. His nametag read, "TSU." She turned about and hurled him down the bluish-gray carpeted aisle. Some people screamed in the background.

The man seated in first class licked his lips and said, "I'm Randy and this is my fiancée, Bonny. Please. We were just discussing a family. Don't take that away from us."

Karla looked at the pretty girl next to the man who spoke. She recognized the woman. "Dear God," murmured the blonde with a frown. She kept her eyes on the couple and said, "Please, let me just save those two. She's a model and an author. Her work is making a difference for women in this area. Look at them - they're young and in love."

The tall man at Karla's side folded his arms. "Shut your mouth, succubus whore. It's time to finish this. Stop playing around. Turn towards the cockpit again. You've done everything I've asked so far. Now. It's time we finish it."

Karla brought a hand up to the side of her head then rubbed at her eyes. "Tsu."

"Pardon?" asked Eric. "Did you say something, hon?"

The succubus bit her lip and pushed her face against Loupe's chest again. "Nothing." She clenched her eyes, trying to remember where she'd heard the name 'Tsu' from, but couldn't completely place it. "God," she whispered to herself, "Something about an airplane. Why can't I remember?" She sighed, left with little more than the feeling of a broken heart and a plethora of unanswered questions.

X

---

X

11:17am Jacksonville, Florida

** "So can it be done? We're running out of time.** At least I think we are. Hard to know without a watch." Reno looked back towards the road from the rooftop. He offered a weak smile. "At least the Principal did her job. The road leading into the parking lot is completely blocked off. I've never seen so many cops in my life. And that's saying a lot since I used to see all of them every day at work."

"The original power source is fried. You'll have to juice this thing when it's ready," Even said, using a glass screwdriver in one hand to hold a component against the breadboard. In his other hand, he held the small metal screwdriver that had come from the main office. The metal shaft was black with toner powder.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Melting sand to create the heat necessary to solder something. It'll be ready in a minute or so. I think this is a magnetron from a microwave oven. I've taken lots of stuff apart; that's what this piece right here looks like. Anyway. This might be very dangerous for you, Reno."

"Yeah, I get it. So why make stuff like this? Shouldn't it be illegal to make an EMP or something? I can't think of a single good thing about making these."

"I don't know, man." Evan frowned and paused to think of one single good use for an EMP. "I know the military uses focused electromagnetic pulses to trigger or short out an IED from a distance. I hope those teenagers with the guns don't know much about this stuff. Night-vision goggles, though. Geeze. I mean, give me a break - they really expect to be sitting up in the windows, shooting at parents and police all day, going late into the night? Or did they bring them because the lights are out in the school?"

"Let's just get this done."

"I am, Reno. Talking while I work is calming for me and this thing is a total hack, so it's frustrating to repair. I just hope these sparkplugs I took out of the silver sedan don't have an internal resistor. Anyways. We need to make a way to shield you from this sort of thing in the future."

Nevada shrugged. "I told you I know cars. The Champion D14 doesn't have a resistor. Just get it done so I can feel like I'm dying again. Already done it before. At least this time I'll be ready for it. Maybe I just need an AED that's hooked up to the power lines out on the main road. Just don't freak out if I don't respond or whatever. Doesn't mean I'm dead. It just means you're on your own until we figure out what comes next. I don't want you losing it if I don't have a heartbeat right away ... or ... something."

"Reno ... just stop." Evan took a deep breath then turned the glass screwdriver back to sand and put it into his backpack. "Look. Nobody is dying today. Okay?" He adjusted a grouping of metal Slinkys to each side of the spark gap, which acted as an antenna. "Interesting design here. I think these things help radiate the electromagnetic pulse a little bit more. I don't like that we're going to be so darn close to this thing but ... you have to power it and I have to hit you with the adrenaline so you don't crash or flat-line or whatever."

Reno mostly ignored everything said, not able to follow it. "At least you're fixing it, kiddo."

"I'm just repairing what gave out from the original build. I wouldn't be able to make one of these from scratch. So ... do you want to talk to the press after we save the school?"

With a slight grin, Nevada jumped on the question with a firm nod. "Yeah, yeah. Sure. We did it in California. I'm down for the good publicity. It's supposed to draw Falcon's bad guys out of hiding, right? And give us something to track back to him and all that."

"It's been a while since this thing first went off. How are your abilities?"

Reno held his hands outwards and created a small arc of lightning between his palms. "Well ... would'ja look at that? Wish I had that an hour ago. I'd sure liked to've had it at my disposal, earlier. Okay. So ... what do I do?"

Evan pointed to two leads. "You grab each end. Left hand, you charge positive. Stay negative with your right hand. It's that simple. The more you hit it with the more you get. But I think the range is limited to a quarter mile. Maybe a little more; you're going to blast it with a much higher level of power than the original power source."

"Have mercy. A quarter mile? Seriously?"

"Somewhere in that range, yeah. Whenever you're ready."

"Get the EpiPen ready," Reno said and took the leads. "This is going to suck. It was a cinderblock hailstorm last time. Searing migraine, an imaginary grizzly bear stomping on my gut, in addition to the sensation of having my spine replaced with a hot poker."

"Geeze."

Nevada took a deep breath. "The thought of doing it again, on purpose, isn't exactly appealing. I think I'd rather pass a kidney stone and a gull stone at the same time, while using Tabasco sauce as urethra lubrication. Okay ... ready?"

Evan shuddered, stared at him for a moment then swallowed. "That's ... if I wasn't black, I'd probably look pale right now."

"Oh, no, you definitely do look pale right now. I've never seen a black guy turn pale until today. You must have an active and vividly visual imagination." Reno frowned all of a sudden. "I'm sorry. I'm being completely unprofessional and distracted; I'm just overtired and I don't know how to handle all this pressure."

Evan bit his lip. "Yeah."

"We've got children at stake below our feet." Reno nodded firmly, psyching himself up. "It's time to get my head in the game and stop being a clown. Okay. Have that EpiPen ready."

Evan moved behind Reno and took the auto-injector out of the package. "I'm ready."

"And for the record, Evan, what I said a moment ago is an accurate description of how much it hurt at the time this thing initially went off." The ex-inspector took a deep breath to calm his nerves then, in a sarcastic tone, exclaimed, "Sure can't wait to know what it's like to have this thing go off right in my face!"

Nevada tightened his hands over the leads, thought about Nichole Parker, his fiancé, then ground his teeth together and charged the two wires. The EMP generator hummed for a few seconds. The spark gap flashed with a pop like an old fashion bulb filament going up. It created an enormous noise that threw Reno backwards, into Evan.

Both spilled to the roof, motionless.

Silence.

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Next chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/665219