The sun burned a vibrant yellow over the schoolhouse. The children, freshly released from their classes began to pour out of the doors in a chaotic, yet expected, wave. The sounds of hundreds of conversations, pleasantries and goodbyes mixed with the sight of arriving and departing cars of all type amassed together devouring the block.

Derek Powers stood across the street next to his parked, tinted windowed, black car and waited patiently. Though it seemed that there were a million and one children he knew that he would not miss his son the moment he walked out of the school. A few of the parents waved at Powers; but, none of them talked to him, perhaps out of fear, he was a powerful man but, the nature of that power was not what the other parents thought it was. The truth was that if he ever was to come into an adverse situation with one of them they would never know about it until it were either too late or resolved.

They all assumed that he carried a concealed weapon at all times, which was mostly true and that was the reason he never entered the school; but, their assumption was one of negative connotation and the truth was simple and easy to find. In a fifteen year career Powers had only drawn his weapon ten times; fired 4 of those times and never killed a person. Most people assumed that because of his nature of work that he was quick to murder; but, the idea of death in fact put fear into Powers, plus killing someone wasn't the best way to assert his power, if he killed someone he didn't do the job right.

Death wasn't something Powers was used to thinking about and as of right now it was the furthest thing from his mind. The simple joys of life were the most enjoyable to Powers and picking his son up from school was the most simple and enjoyable of them all. Years ago, when his mother was still alive, she would pick him up and if he had the chance Powers would follow the car and watch them meet and go home. Work was a twenty-four hour chance so when he could spare the time to see them he did so and without question. Powers could recall one event when it was raining; she went to take him home and he didn't want to come out of the school house because it was raining. So she stood there and called to him; all the while getting soaked until he was convinced to do the same; they both played in the rain for a small while and went back home. It was that which made Powers happy.

When his wife died six years ago in a hurricane rescue effort, Powers was unsure of what to do with his life. His mind suffered a powerful shock and he was issued to go into several psychiatric care treatments; the evaluations at first appeared to be moot; but, when Powers was briefly reunited his son he showed progress. There wasn't much after that; more treatment and the Powers moved back into his home with his son. They lived and Powers knew his son was his world; everyday he looked more and more like his mother. That wasn't to say that their life together without their wife/mother was not awkward. At best the father and son had a loving; but, often odd relationship. Powers wasn't able to appropriate love in the same his wife did and there were moments where both father and son wanted to call out for the mother to resolve an issue she would be able to handle.

Still they did their best and as much as father looked out for son, son looked after father. Ashton Powers was a precocious young boy; just about to enter puberty, which Derek knew was going to bring more oddity to the table, and knew his father had a burden on him that he didn't expect, so in return he tried to make it easier on his father; but, didn't like that his father ignored and pretended that Ashton didn't understand the issues. It was that understanding that made Ashton somewhat difficult to handle at times. Derek noticed when Ashton was frustrated; but, at the same time couldn't bring himself to not put on a protection coat for Ashton. Derek understood his son; but, wished he was a little more naïve just so he may be able to protect his son more.

Another strain on the relationship was Powers job. Though he's never had to lie about his job; most people were clueless about what he really did, in fact the only person outside his job who possibly knew what he actually did was his son. That didn't worry Derek too much; because, he was sure that his son wasn't positive about what he did; but, in comparison to other people, Ashton knew more.

As If there were some kind of psychic connection Derek knew when his son had exited the schoolhouse. The site of his young boy made him smile instantly, though his son never seemed to have the same enthusiasm. Ashton walked slowly and without acknowledging that he saw his father until he came right up to the car and continued to go straight for the passenger's side back door.

"No Hello?" Derek asked. The boy sighed and began to climb into the car.

"Hello dad."

Despite the traffic coming out of the school, there was barely any traffic for the Powers on the way back home. Most of the families in the school lived closed by; but, the Powers lived in the opposite direction and twice as far as the furthest family. The distance was purposeful and it wasn't because Derek didn't want to live near families as some of the parents assumed; it was really because the drive from the house to the school was forty-five minutes and that was forty-five more minutes to be with his son. His work took him anywhere and often times for longer amounts of time(in that case he would call his wife's family to take care of Ashton in the meantime) so it didn't make any sense to live close to the school; simply because Derek was never home anyway.

They lived in a different city and to get from home to school took them through a small country town. It was intentional, his wife loved the country; but, Derek's line of work determined that he live in a city as much as possible; if only for easy transportation and communication. So driving through the country everyday gave him a bit of solace; it was one of the last connections to his wife that he had.

Ashton knew it too; one summer the three of them stayed at a summer house and the small country town looked so much like the town they stayed in; especially in the fall. The sight did just as much for Ashton as it did for Derek.

When they were home; Ashton jumped out of the car and went into the house before Derek had shut the car off. Derek, in no rush, walked into the house and into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry!?" Derek shouted out to his son who he thought was in a different room.

"No…" Ashton answered, from the table behind Derek. The misappropriation of his son startled him slightly and he turned quick to compensate. "…I need help with this." Ashton tapped his textbook with a pen.

"What is it?" Derek asked as he walked over to sit next to his son.

"Biology," Ashton answered tersely. "…amino acids and midi-" Ashton started.

"Midichlorians?" Derek tried to joke; but, his son didn't seem amused.

"Mitochondria" Ashton corrected; Derek frowned.

"Well it's been a long time since I've done a question like this." Derek answered truthfully.

"It's been over an hour since I last did it and I don't know what answer is…" Ashton answered. "…So I think that puts us in the same boat." Ashton frowned. Derek looked through the book and came to the back and flipped through the pages.

"I think the answer is A" Derek answered; Ashton looked over the question and the answer and gave a questioning look.

"It says so in the answer index." Derek answered; Ashton frowned again.

"That's not going to help me on my test on Friday." Ashton answered unhappily.

"Well we have some time to figure it out." Derek answered. "…that's if you don't mind sitting around with me for some time." Derek continued.

"I don't as long as this gets down before eight." Ashton answered.

"T.V. Show?" Derek asked.

"Wrestling." Ashton answered.

"I thought you stopped watching that." Derek said.

"I did…" Ashton answered; Derek watched him waiting for the rest of the answer; it came in some time. "…but I have a quiz on that tomorrow during lunch." Ashton answered. Derek laughed and before long they began to work on the homework.

It took until slightly after eight to finish all the homework; but, Derek was more disappointed that Ashton. Disappointed in the fact that his son's home work had proven to be more difficult for him than his son; but, around ten-thirty the two began to decide to settle into bed. Ashton was first and after a couple of minutes Derek went to his room upstairs.

"I don't suppose you want me to read you a bed-time story do you?" Derek asked while going past Ashton's room to the bathroom.

"Goodnight dad" was the generated answer, laced with a bit of fake annoyance to complete the effect of wanting to be left alone.

Derek went into the bathroom and prepared to clean up before laying in bed and reading news stories until two A.M. before deciding to sleep. He took off his shirt and stayed in his undershirt and began to wash his face; the cool water felt refreshing against his skin and was really how he determined a new day coming into play. He grabbed his toothbrush and did his preliminary brushing before adding the toothpaste; as he brushed he felt a vibration on his leg.

Derek had a cell phone and a blackberry. When the phone rung it was nothing; wrong number or some minute issue that he could deal with; but, when the blackberry rung it was something different. When the blackberry went off it was the job. It was rare for it to go off at this time of night; even though it wasn't necessary late; most issues that included his involvement happened earlier in the day. It was always strange when the blackberry went off, it meant that he would have to go out and there wasn't a guaranteed chance that he would come back. Whilst still brushing Derek took his Blackberry out and read the text that had been sent.

Services Needed; Report A.S.A.P. Use landline 48 From: 817

Derek read the message several times; before taking the toothbrush out and took a swig of Listerine. Landline 48 was a phone booth downtown in the city; it was the most frequent phone that he used for communication. However the message read strangely; the Blackberrys were on a secure connection; they were essentially untraceable impossible to intercept. There was no call back number, 817 were the numerical values for the letters HQ which stood for headquarters. The terseness of the text seemed odd; but, it could only mean that something unexpected had happened. It was a fifteen minute drive to 48 and Derek decided not waste any more time. He put his shirt back on and walked out of the bathroom, while passing Ashton's room he called out:

"Work called; I should be back before morning to take you to school."

"And if you're not?" Ashton called back.

"I'll call someone to pick you up before you wake up."

"fine."

Derek walked down the stairs and out the door; he jumped in the car and began to drive in the cool night air. When he got to 48 he put a quarter in and dialed the number and waited.

Elsewhere:

Ashton never went straight to bed, most nights he sat up reading or thinking to himself about school the next day. This night wasn't any different. He sat up and thought about what could have happened in the twenty-two minutes of wrestling that he missed so that when he was grilled about it the next day he wouldn't seem like he missed any of it. His room was hot; it was fall; but the heat was on and it wasn't necessary. Ashton got up and opened the window and instantly he knew there was something strange. There was no air. Not a breeze could be felt and Ashton found that to be odd. Ashton looked around outside; but, couldn't see anything , it was pitch black. It felt as If the entire world outside his window was in some sort of vacuum; feeling a slight bit of vertigo from the lack of form outside his window Ashton stepped back and took a deep breath. He walked over to his desk and turned on the mini-lamp. For a little moment he thought about looking through his biology book again to see if he really understood what he had done earlier in the day; but, he had a rule about over studying and ruining the information he had taken in earlier. He still sat at the desk for a moment until he felt the entire house vibrate slightly. The movement frightened him; this area wasn't prone to earthquakes; but, if it were one what would he do? His father had left and he didn't know how to prepare for something of that sort. The Vibrations came again and again, slight; but, noticeable. Ashton decided to go to the window and see if he could make out anything going on outside. Still nothingness; couldn't even see his lawn; it was strange…it almost felt as if there were something blocking the view. Ashton slowly stuck his had outside the window and when it was halfway out he hit what felt like metal. Fear suddenly gripped his body and before he could snatch his hand back it was already too late. The roof came crashing down and he was snatched out of the window before he could begin to scream.

Derek was still on hold; waiting for an answer about the text; he had been through four people already and all of them had told him that there were no alerts out that required his assistance. When a voice came back on the phone it was the voice of a gruff older man.

"Agent Powers?" The voice asked; Derek nodded on his end in a bit of agitation.

"Yes; this is agent Powers was going on with this alert?" He asked.

"It seems you were sent an alert in error." The man explained.

"Error?"

"Yes; we have only a few alerts out and none of them require your service; according to my information you should be receiving another text message soon regarding the matter; but, I can assure you that there is nothing requiring your service at this time and you may go back to whatever it was that you were doing before you received the message." The man explained.

"Fine" Upset at the false alarm, Derek rung off and hurried back to his car.

He drove in the night slowly; not fully anxious to get back home and still wondering what was going on with the false alarm. It wasn't like H.Q. at all to send something in error. As he drove the blackberry vibrated again and he quickly glanced at the message.

Disregard last alert. Error in processing. From: 817

Derek scoffed at the message; it was sent ten minutes after he had left the house. What a strange night this had been; but, he would sleep and wake up and forget it happened. As he neared his house he noticed several fire trucks and ambulances parked with their lights on near his block.

"What the hell is going on now?" Derek muttered to himself. He drove slower trying to see the faces of his neighbors; but, as he got closer and closer to home he noticed more and more emergency crews. Until he saw his house. The panic swept his body in one motion and he jumped out of the car with his gun drawn.

The roof looked as if it had been dug out by a massive bulldozer. Derek ran towards the house.'

"Ashton!" He called out at the top of his lungs. "…ASHTON!!!" he screamed again.

Before he could hit the lawn of his property he was intercepted by two cops who wrestled him to the ground; he fought them stuggling to get up continuing to scream his son's name.

"Let go of me…!" He screamed. "…I'm S.F.!" He exploded. With that the cops loosened their restraint and allowed him to stand and show his S.F. I.D. Afterwards they backed off; but, wouldn't let him in the house due to the structural damage.

Derek looked around and saw his neighbors standing in a small crowd staring at him; he sprinted towards them.

"Did any of you see Ashton!?" He begged; no one answered; they only stared at Derek as if they were staring at a ghost. Perplexed and enraged by their lack of answers Derek grabbed one of the women standing in front of him and squeezed her. "…Did you see my son!?" He bellowed. The woman screamed and broke from Derek's grip as if he had been infected with the plague. The way they were reacting to him was odd as if he had done something wrong. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" He asked more calmly.

One of the men who remained staring at Derek made a quick glance to the ground that Derek noticed. Derek turned his attention to his own feet and felt his heart sink.

"Oh my god…" he whispered; tears began to form from his eyes without control. Derek began to shake his head and stutter. "no, no, no, it can't be." He repeated over and over. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. And with his hand he grabbed the dirt under him.

Derek sat there and cried. He sat in the footprint larger than his entire body; crying; he knew what had come and he knew what had happened. It explained the roof; it explained where Ashton was and it explained the neighbors reaction to him. Fear, anger and confusion swelled throughout his body and mind. For a moment he lay there paralyzed by the sight of the footprint.

When he was able to move again he shifted to sit in the crater of a footprint and quickly readjusted not to sit on his blackberry. That's when it all came together. The 'error'; this footprint.

Someone had wanted him to leave the house.

Quickly Derek collected himself and went back to his car.

"Sir where are you going?" one of the policemen asked. Derek looked back and flashed his I.D. again.

"I'm going back to work".