Chapter 10 In Time
Everyone sat in the living room, with the chipmunks watching TV with Dave and Claire as Tyler sat on the arm chair reading a history novel, his legs hanging over the side and his back against the arm rest.
The mood in the room was tense, everyone fearing the hospital might phone at anytime, with the worst.
Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say to each other. What could they say? What was there to talk about.
Simon felt a huge need to break the silence, so he started to make small talk to Tyler. "So Tyler, how is life so far?"
Alvin froze, knowing what Tyler was going through with his family.
"Pretty good" he said with his famed smile appearing on his face as he finished reading his page.
He then sat up and placed the book on the table. "I'm working in my dream job. Everyday I get to help people at the human level, and I have become quiet know in my patrol area."
Everyone was amazed at how happy Tyler seemed. All of them were pretty depressed at what happened to Brittany, but no matter what bad situation there was, Tyler always seemed happy.
"How can you be so positive and happy right now after what happened?" said Alvin in complete shock, knowing that just a few hours ago, he saw a tear emerge from Tyler's eye.
Tyler gave a small chuckle, not wanting to go overboard. "A person has to remain positive, no matter what the situation" he said as he stood up. "If a person only stayed negative and feared the worst, usually that is what would occur."
Alvin then recalled what Tyler was saying earlier about his family. That he always had to seem positive, even when he was under great pressure for a good chunk of his life, soon bringing him to the point were he always did feel positive and happy.
"Has it always worked for you?" asked Eleanor, her voice quiet, filled with dread.
"Yes, 99 percent of the time, it works. It has helped me a lot in my life. It was a spark that kept me going."
Everyone then remembered what he heard Alvin talk about last night as he watched Tyler walk out of the living room and into the kitchen for some water. They had a question that they wanted an answer for.
He then walked back in, with the glass in his hands as he sat back down and picked up his book.
"Tyler, can I ask you a question?" Simon asked.
Tyler gave a nod as he set his book back down.
Simon then turned to Alvin. "Before I ask him the question, I just want to say that me, Theodore, Jeanette and Eleanor heard what you said the other night."
Alvin gave a look of embarrassment as he looked down at his feet.
Dave looked down at his kids confused. "What are you all talking about?"
"Nothing important right now" Alvin quickly said.
Simon could tell he didn't want to tell Dave, so he turned back to Tyler.
"What I want to ask is, what is the spark that apparently Alvin has?"
Tyler just nodded his head as he straightened up. "That was one thing I can't really explained to you guys" as he got off the chair. He then went up to the couch and got on his knees in front of the chipmunks. "It would be easier if I showed you."
Everyone watched as Tyler lifted his shirt, revealing his stomach and chest. At first, nothing seemed unusual. Then a gentle glow began to show at Tyler's abdomen. That area then seemed to disolve away as if they were looking inside Tyler, but they didn't see any organs, what they saw was a something much different.
In the hole, were walls of light, and hovering in the middle was a sphere that was slightly transparent with the surface clear with what looked like tiny bolts of lightning making the surfaces shape. In the middle was what could only be described as a cloud made of little spheres constantly changing shape, expanding and contracting.
At the top and sphere was two bolts of energy that seemed to connect it to Tyler's body. The sound coming from the sphere was almost like the sound of electrify on a small tesla coil.
As soon as everyone had a good look, the hole disappeared as Tyler lowered his shirt.
"What was that?" Theodore said in amazement.
Tyler smiled as he went back to his chair. "That was my spark" he said as he sat back down. "The spark is the essence of my people. What we are, who we are, and the main source for our powers. Energon is our power blood, and energon comes from our spark."
Everyone just continued staring at Tyler.
"I guess you could say it is like our soul" Alvin cut in, breaking the silence.
"Funny" said Simon, putting on a small smile. "I thought you had no soul."
"Ha ha, very funny Simon" Alvin said.
Soon, Tyler let a yawn escape his mouth making everyone look at the clock and saw that it was 10:30.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to turn in" Tyler said as he stood up and stretched.
Dave gave a nod in agreement. "I will too. What about you, kids?" he said as he looked down at the chipmunks.
Everyone nodded except Alvin. "I think I will stay up for a while" he said as he went over to the Tv remote.
Dave wanted to tell Alvin otherwise, but realized his son was old enough to choose what he wants to do.
"Alright" he said. "Just don't stay up to late."
Alvin nodded as everyone went to their rooms to go to sleep.
In five minutes, all the lights were off, and the only sound in the house was the Tv's programs. Alvin didn't pay attention to it. There was a reason he was staying up, he needed to talk to Tyler.
Since Tyler had told him something deeply personal to him, he figured he should tell something personal to Tyler.
He waited for a half hour before he got up and went for the spare room.
He slowly opened the door, and saw Tyler sleeping on his side facing the door his face half submerged in his pillow.
Alvin walked over to the night stand and in one leap, jumped onto the top.
He looked at Tyler. His breathing was heavy, very close to sounding like a snore. He didn't want to disturb him, but he had to talk to him, he had to tell him.
"Tyler, wake up" he said in a loud whisper.
Tyler was silent for a moment, then gave a small groan as his eyes slowly started to open.
"Alvin?" he said in a sleepy tone, with his voice muffled by the pillow covering half of his face. "Why are you interrupting my beauty sleep?" he said giving a small sleepy chuckle.
"I need to talk to you about something" Alvin said moving to the edge of the night stand so he was almost in front of him.
"If it is about Brittany, like I said, all we can do is hope for the best and wait" he mumbled, his eyes close to shutting again.
"It's about Brittany, but it is not that" he said.
Tyler lifted his head off the pillow so he wouldn't fall back to sleep, staring at Alvin, waiting.
"The other night, you told me something very personal, so I think it is time to tell you something about me and Brittany."
"You didn't get her pregnant, did you?" said Tyler as he rubbed his eyes.
Alvin's eyes instantly widen. "What, no. I mean, we thought about "IT", but we never did "IT". This is something else."
Tyler eyed Alvin, not knowing where he was heading. Alvin then reached into his hoddie pocket.
"You know I love Brittany with all my heart."
Tyler gave a nod as Alvin continued to explain.
"Every time I'm with her, I feel, I feel whole. I know I want to be with her always. You probably know what I'm talking about. I'm sure you have someone special."
Tyler just slowly shook his head. "No, I don't, I don't have anyone special. I never did. The only love I felt was love for my family" he said quietly.
Alvin just stared at Tyler, "And look at what they did."
Tyler just waved away the issue. "This isn't about me right now, this is about you and Brittany. You were saying."
Alvin then felt what he was looking for in his pocket and brought it out. "I was going to give her this in a few weeks, and I'm still going to if she gets better."
"You mean when" said Tyler as he looked closely at Alvin's paw. He could see a small box resting in his palm. Alvin then opened it up, to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.
The centre diamond was pink while the two outer diamonds where the same colour blue as her eyes.
"Is that what I think it is?" said Tyler still staring at the ring.
Alvin nodded. "A wedding ring yes. I'm going to propose to her."
A smile came over Tyler's face as he picked up Alvin and gave him a small huge.
"Congratulations Alvin. You deserve a women like Brittany, and Brittany deserves a man like you."
"Thanks Tyler" said Alvin as he put the ring back into his hoodie.
"Why did you tell me all this?" said Tyler as he put Alvin back on the night stand.
"Because you told me something that you weren't comfortable telling me, just so that you could help me. I haven't told anybody, I was only going to reveal what I was planning after a proposed to her. Now I might not get the chance because I couldn't help her" he said looking down sadly.
"You can't dwell on that Alvin" he said as he sat up. "Nothing is certain, even with these powers. Everyday when I report for duty. I don't know what is going to happen. There is always the chance I could get killed. There was nothing you could do, so it is not your fault."
Alvin looked up back at Tyler. "All I want to know is why this happened."
Tyler gave a small sigh and looked straight at Alvin. "Is the stage still in the same condition that it was the day of the accident?"
Alvin looked at Tyler confused. "Yeah, they still haven't cleaned the debris yet. They say they are waiting for investigators to determine the cause."
Tyler nodded as he started to lay back down. "Tomorrow, I will go and inspect the debris. I have training as a forensic and structural investigator. So I'll go and see what happened."
"You would do that?" he said looking at Tyler with gratitude.
Tyler nodded as he slowly began to fall to sleep. "You never know what those investigators might say" he said as he began to fall back to sleep. Soon Alvin heard the same deep breaths coming from Tyler, his body quickly relaxing.
Alvin sat there for a moment, pleased that he might get some answers.
He then got up and went to his room. He jumped onto his bed and took off his hoodie and grabbed his pyjama top and put it on. He then laid down in his bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Tyler was in the car with Dave driving, heading back to the concert hall. Alvin nervously sat in the back seat with the rest of the chipmunks, trying to keep his breathing from going into massive gasps of panic.
Tyler was wearing his RCMP uniform to trick any security guards that he knew would be there. The car was quiet, the only sound were the papers in Tyler's hands as he went through warrants and paper work just incase.
Once they reached the hall, Dave pulled around back to the VIP entrance, and parked the car.
Everyone hopped out out as Tyler stood up and adjusted his uniform, fixing the belt and creases. He then reached into the car and grabbed a silver case that was thick and wide, and looking very heavy duty.
"Everyone just pretend that I am with you because I was questioning you earlier about what happened" Tyler said as he looked down at them.
Everyone nodded as Tyler made his way to the door were a security guard was standing, leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets. As soon as the guard saw them, he stepped in front of the door and blocked their way, holding out his hand.
"I'm sorry sir, I cannot let you enter."
Tyler walked up to the guard, then pulled out his badge from his back pocket.
"I'm Constable Tyler Pauwel. RCMP. I'm here on behalf of Canadian Investigations to investigate the accident that occurred here."
The guard remained were he was, giving Tyler a tern expression. "We have investigators coming to look into this already already."
"I am aware of that. But I am here on a separate investigation" he said as he placed his badge back in his pocket. "Federal Investigations believe this accident is connected to several we have been having in Canada. I am under orders to investigate."
The guard just remained were he was standing. "And I'm under orders not to let anyone in this facility. That includes nosey Canadians. So why don't you go back to beaver land" he said as he put his hand on his side arm.
Everyone gasped and ran behind a dumpster for cover as Tyler instantly stepped back as he dropped his case, placing his hand on his gun, pulling it out of the holster.
He held his gun towards the guard, while the quard froze, realizing that Tyler meant business.
"If you do not move you hand away from your weapon and step away from the door, you will be charged with interfering with a investigation, and assault on a officer. NOW STEP ASIDE" he yelled, still having his gun trained on the guard.
The air was quiet for a moment, as everyone held their breath. The guard was still for a moment, then stepped away from the door.
Tyler then moved his gun back into the holster as he grabbed his case as he called out to everyone, "It's safe."
Everyone came out from their hiding spot behind the dumpster and slowly walked up to Tyler. As soon as they were close, Tyler went for the door with everyone following behind.
The guard remained were he was as they all entered the back stage, with a relieved look on his face.
"That was close" said Eleanor as they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"You face more tense situations when you actually patrol" said Tyler as they moved to the front of the stage.
As soon as they saw the debris, Alvin felt all the pain resurface.
He still felt like he could have done something to prevent Brittany from being hurt, even though Tyler said nothing could be done.
"I'm completely useless" Alvin growled to himself.
Tyler looked back at Alvin, hearing his words, then turned to the debris, instantly going to work. He placed the case on the ground and set it down on it's side.
He kneeled down as he opened it up, reaching in, putting on rubber gloves and pulling out a UV light and some sort of powder.
"What does this stuff do?" said Theodore as he went up to the case and peered in looking at all the weird chemicals and gadgets.
"The UV light and powder will help me see if this structure was unsound" Tyler said as he tested the light.
He then stood up and went over to the fallen steel supports and started dusting them, while at the same time running the UV light over the spots he just did.
He went over every inch of fallen steel while everyone watched from the side. He took his time, slowly checking every spot carefully then checking it again. After about ten minutes, Tyler went over to his case and put the light and powder away.
"Anything?" asked Dave walking up to Tyler.
Tyler still going though his case, slowly shook his head. "The structure is in good shape, no fractures, no cracks."
He then pulled out a high powered magnifying glass and walked over to the sections that seemed to have been ripped away. Everyone remained quiet, not wanting to disturb him until he found the cause.
Alvin felt his heart beating like so fast, it felt like there was no pulse.
He was determined to learn why this happened to Brittany. Even if Tyler didn't find the answer, he wouldn't stop at nothing until he learned why.
Tyler kept inspecting the breaking points for a good 20 minutes before he suddenly stopped, and remained still.
Alvin felt as if his heart was about to burst out of his chest as Dave called out, "Still nothing?"
Tyler looked back at them, remaining silent for a good ten seconds before he finally replied, "No, I found something."
Everyone instantly got up, running over to Tyler as he slowly got up looking down at the broken steel support he was standing in front of.
"What did you find?" asked Alvin, wanting answers.
Tyler place the magnifier on a piece of twisted steel then put his hand on top of the lens. A image then shot out of his hands and hovered in front of them, showing what was through the magnifier.
On it, they could see the steel was discoloured, almost like it was stretched. Tyler then looked at everybody and took a deep breath.
"That shouldn't be there" he said as he removed his hand.
Everyone looked at each other confused as Tyler moved the magnifier over to another spot where the piece broke off and place his hand back on top.
On the image, they could see where the steel broke apart and saw that it was flat and almost smooth. Once everyone had a good look, Tyler removed his hand.
"That isn't normal either" he said as he walked back over to his case and set everything inside.
"How is that all not normal?" asked Jeanette as they all walked up to Tyler as he pulled some other powders and a camera out of the case. He turned to look at them, giving them a serious look. They all then had the feeling they weren't going to like what he was going to say.
"The steel shouldn't be stretched if it was structural failure. It would be riddled with cracks. And the part that broke off wouldn't be flat, it would be rough and uneven" he said as he walked back over to the section and began to dust.
"What does it mean?" said Alvin, believing he already knew what Tyler was saying, but hoped he was wrong.
Tyler took a deep breath and looked right at all of them. "It means that this wasn't an accident, someone cut the supports, causing the whole thing to fail."
Everyone gasped in shock, with tears starting to form in their eyes except Alvin.
He stood there quiet, feeling his anger starting to boil through the roof. The only thing on his mind was who did this and how sorry they were going to be after he got to them.
Then Alvin found himself yelling at the top of his lungs at Tyler. "YOU SAID EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. THEN TELL ME WHAT WAS THE REASON BEHIND THIS PAUWEL?"
Everyone looked at Alvin, shocked at what they heard.
Tyler quickly lifted his head, looking a little surprised by Alvin's outburst. He then looked back at what he was doing as he spoke. "A reason that will be revealed in time, just like everything."
He then pulled out some tape and pressed it against the steel beams and pulled it away. "And in time, the person responsible will be revealed and charged thanks to these prints" he said as he put the tape into the case and locked it up.
Alvin just continued to stare at Tyler, his eyes burning with anger. "And a person I will make pay for what he did to Brittany."
Tyler then looked at Alvin, he could understand why he was so mad, but he had to be careful of his actions in the state of anger he was in.
"You must be careful how you handle the situation Alvin" he said. "If you don't learn how to control you anger, it will control you, and all the negative emotions that you might feel. Remember what I said, act positive, feel positive."
"Positive is not what I think we are all feeling right now Tyler. Why don't you show another emotion instead of being so hip. You know, like a real human, a real man."
Tyler crossed his arms as he looked at Alvin. "You know why Alvin" he said calmly. "It shouldn't surprise you."
Alvin then felt his anger boil down, remembering Tyler had to always seem positive in front of his family in order to ease the suffering and anger.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you" he said rubbing the back of his neck.
Tyler gave a smile as he reached down a grabbed the case at his feet. "No harm done" as he went for the exit.
Alvin then turned to look at his family and saw them staring at him looking concerned as Dave stood behind them shaking his head. Silent, Alvin then followed Tyler with everyone close behind as they went back for the car.
Back at Dave's house in Tyler's room, Tyler began to look over his findings, then pulled out the piece of tape with the finger prints. "How long will it take you to find who those belong to?" said Alvin quietly, still feeling bad about earlier, but still feeling anger and the need to find the person responsible.
Tyler then put the prints in a scanner and connected it to his laptop he brought. "About a week. I've accessed all police records around the world. And to get a positive match, it is going to do it at a slower pace than normal."
Then the image of the finger print appeared on the screen and began to search for a match, showing many others as it scanned each one. Tyler closed his laptop lid and placed on his dresser.
"Alvin" Tyler mumbled, as he turned to him who was sitting on the night stand, looking down at his feet.
"I understand how you are feeling. There is a lot of stress on you right now, but you are at a stage were you have to be careful how you act on you emotions. Before Jordan became what he is, he wasn't so good at controlling his emotions either."
Alvin looked down as he gave a small nod.
Tyler then moved to his bed and sat down next to the night stand.
"Love is the strongest power known in the universe, and it is also the most dangerous. Don't let a thing like that influence you in such a way, it can be deadly. For you and others."
Alvin gave another small nod. A smile then appeared on Tyler's face as he stood up. "Well, I think we need to think about something else, how about some video games."
A small smile grew on Alvin's face as he jumped off the night stand and ran for the living room.
He was still feeling angry and upset, but at least he had a good friend here to help him through this.