by ToGard
Chapter 28
Sarra passed over the ocean, fully cognizant and very grumpy after being tasked with finding out where Jack had gone. An hour had passed since Jack was detained, and Sarras on-the-spot plot for revenge had been thwarted by both a now-telepathic moron, and her own sister. She figured that finding a chunk of ice would not be that hard, but it was far more difficult than she would have liked. Sarra thought of the search as a metaphor for how Jack was more experienced than she was, not just in hiding, but also in fighting skills, trickery, and overall being an EnWol. This made her even grumpier.
Sarra headed back to shore, swearing her nonexistent lungs out. She passed over the several twisted freight ships, unaware of the sphere of melting ice that had wedged itself between a pier and an oil tanker on that late afternoon September day.
Dr. Garner walked with a low slump to his back and a shuffle as he was escorted into the back seat of a police car. His shield had faded away completely. Anne Redford floated nearby and watched him. She couldn’t help but feel sorry to see him go. Garner looked up at her, his face drooping and tender. Anne fought her tears, but the effort was for naught. She said good bye to her best friend and flew away.
“Alright,” Juno said; a computer tablet in hand. “These data says that Anne’s power ascended into absurd levels without any lasting effects. Levan, having been a dope by trying to save her, actually succeeded and gained some of her power. Because Anne held so much of her ballooned power and with Levan’s copying ability, Levan’s gain of Anne’s power is permanent since there was so much for her to give.”
Levan nodded.
“Precisely. Whatever that means.”
Juno made a sarcastic laugh, sounding not unlike a goat.
“You’re cute, now, what eludes us all is: One: how did Jack get himself to split into independent parts when every single post-human EnWol can only operate in one-one synchronicity when split. Two: why was the odd, ethereal tone that reportedly came from Levan so effective? And three: how in the name of Gaia’s womb did you, sir, with your reputation, make such a deduction right on the spot that you did not know would work at all?”
Juno pointed at Levan, her finger inches from his nose. He leaned back and put his hands up, his stretching power gone.
“Lady Juno, I am as unfathomably unsound as you. To paraphrase, the solutions to the problem stem from the ether and abruptly disembark from my thought process. I cannot express sufficient regret for my absentminded predicament. In short, I find the circumstances incalculable.”
Juno sighed and threw her upper body on the console, her arms supporting her.
“I don’t know if you know what you’re talking about or not.”
Florence walked up.
“Maybe we need to regroup and talk to Bronson about the... odd behavior and give time for Levan to gather his thoughts.”
Juno held her hand up and dropped it, signifying her lack of decision. Florence tilted her head to emphasize her order.
“Go home, Levan, we’ll let you know when we need you. I’m not sure if Juno wants to test you out or not.”
Levan frowned and left without a word.
Anne floated up and watched him go. The heroes could tell that she felt a little better after seeing Dr. Garner go.
“He’s pretty silly.”
Florence sighed and put her hand on Anne’s shoulder.
“Not as silly as he looks.”
Lora and Tench roamed the cave, trying to find out where Morgan had gone. The cave remained a monument in the rubble as the only sign that anyone had been there at all.
Tench knocked a few times on the structure.
“Behold the cave of junk; a great mystery that was built long ago by the same civilization that built Stonehenge, the pyramids, the Easter Island idols, and of course, Fred King on the news channel.” Tench said.
Lora giggled.
“No kidding!”
Tench shared the laugh and walked over to where Lora had said Morgan was last seen. There was a slight, human sized depression in the burnt and wet grass. He shrugged.
“I might be way off on this, Pink, but I’m pretty sure that she escaped.”
Lora frowned.
“Is that bad? I mean, are there ways to track her down?”
Tench shook his head.
“Not really, but you know, you wouldn’t believe how often bad guys get away. It happens all the time. The good part is that they usually come back to do another dastardly deed and we nab them then.
One of the things that Florence teaches new heroes is that small battles have to be lost to win the war. We lost this bogey and Jack, but we’ll get them next time.”
Lora looked away, remembering what Morgan had told her. About her decisions hurting others, and finding only loneliness in a world full of people. Lora bit her lip and her heart shuddered.
Tench frowned and gently took her chin.
“What’s wrong? We saved the day and kept everyone from suffering a permanent relocation to toy land. Who cares that the bad guys escaped today? We all know that they’ll be back, and we’ll be stronger than ever when they do.”
Lora looked up at Tench and thanked him with a smile. She didn’t want to burden her with her worry, and felt that it would bring him down.
Tench backed off and leapt into the air, hovering a few feet up.
“Hey, let’s report in and get that arm patched up. You never know too, we might be able to talk Bronson into fixing up that patch for you too, an EnWol ex machina, if you will.”
Lora laughed and jumped into the air.
“Awesome! Let’s go. I don’t want this to get infected.”
The two sped off back to Meta Corps and into the sunset.
