Daddy's Little Heroes

By Prenn

.

Chapter 9: Everything Has A Purpose

Taylor didn't know what time it was—all she knew was that it was early. Too early. She, Lolita, and Mara awoke to Leo shaking them.

"What is it Leo?" Lolita groaned with her eyes half closed.

"Go away!" Taylor flipped over and hid her face in a pillow, hoping that they would pretend she was not there so she could sleep.

Leo grasped his hair tightly in his hands. He paced and his feet made a brushing sound as they dragged along the cheap carpet. "Guys, I totally forgot about dad! He's probably worried sick! I can't reach him because my phone is out of service range—"

"That's probably because the portal is closed." Lolita slid out of bed and stood on her feet. "I know how you feel. I have the same fear for my own foster parents. Don't worry. We're safe here. Nothing can harm us."

Leo smiled, but he still wasn't completely secure. "I've already asked Tucker multiple times and each time he's told me that there's no way to get out of here except through a portal. During breakfast, he even rambled on and on about this Infi-Map object which could generate portals, but it was lost to the hands of an evil villain called Undergrowth who lives in his own urban realm…"

"Leo STOP TALKING I'm trying to sleep!" Taylor said loudly. About a millisecond later she poked her head above the covers and surfaced. She looked at Leo. "Since when do you get up before breakfast?"

"Since my life started to get interesting."

Taylor shrugged at Leo's little comeback. She was proud of him in a way. Most of the time, he'd just sit back and take her attitude. Maybe he was starting to change.

Taylor sat up and finger combed her hair. She looked at Mara. "Do you have any extra clothes?"

Mara frowned. "Does it look like you'd fit into any of my clothes?"

"What she meant was: do Tucker and Danielle have any clothes we could wear?" Lolita asked Mara.

Mara shrugged.

Lolita stood to her feet. She took Taylor by the ear. The three girls followed Leo downstairs to a pancake breakfast. Toby and Alek were sitting at the table, all ready to begin the day with a fresh start.

Tucker was at the stove peeling off the last few pancakes from the frying pan. On a large plate now stacked twelve pancakes. Mara got out plates for everyone. Tucker turned toward the kids. "Hey, everyone. Listen, I've gotta jet. There's been an emergency. Some Tossi are attacking the sister base. Apparently I'm the only one available—even though technically I'm not available because I'm taking care of all of you. Anyways, I have to do my job. People's lives are at stake. I hope you understand."

"You mean we're going to have to stay here?" Taylor questioned.

Tucker nodded. "Until Danielle gets home. That won't be too long from now. But considering she's been working all night, she'll probably sleep all day." Tucker began to walk around the house gathering up all the items he'd need for his mission. "Boys, be good for our guests."

"Yes, dad." Toby and Alek said in unison.

Taylor, Leo, and Lolita slowly ate their pancakes. They all kept exchanging glances because they had the same thoughts. Mara, clueless and innocent as ever, wolfed down her breakfast of four pancakes before the other kids even finished their first. Toby and Alek were both playing with their food and the syrup and butter.

"Let's do it." Lolita said to Taylor and Leo.

"You ask." Taylor looked at her brother.

Leo sighed and he stood up. He followed Tucker room to room as he gathered his stuff. Lolita and Taylor watched anxiously from their seats at the dining table. Tucker approached, Leo trailing behind. Tucker folded his arms. His face was grave and inflexible. "Do you have any idea what you're asking?" Tucker gave both Taylor and Lolita that "look" that sent shivers down their spines.

When Lolita didn't answer, Taylor spoke up. "We're asking if we can help you."

"Can any of you even handle a weapon? If you can't fight, then you'd just be deadweight. I wouldn't want to put you in any risk of danger since you are my responsibility until we can get you home."

"I've been in cheerleading, gymnastics and karate. I'd consider myself to be a pretty fair fighter." Taylor said.

"I spent a whole summer in what my father called the "shotgun obsession phase"." Leo admitted proudly. He didn't realize how ridiculous that sounded until he said it. "Also, I was into piloting for a few years but I quit at it because I thought I'd never get the change to be a real pilot. But I know all the basic controls."

Tucker nodded in approval.

Everybody looked at Lolita and waited for her to say something. She didn't have any bragging rights here. She wasn't good at anything physical. And she didn't like guns either. She'd never even held a weapon in her life, much less used one. "Okay, I'm not very good at either of those things. But I'm a quick learner." Lolita was hoping they'd accept this as a contribution.

Tucker sighed. "No." He said. Lolita hung her head down, believing his decision to be unwavering. Taylor would have argued with Tucker, but she didn't want to upset him. He was obviously so ladened with stress already and she didn't want to be the one to blame for giving him more.

"Wait." It was Leo's voice. "We won't be deadweight—I promise. If you give us a chance, I'm sure we'll be able to help."

Tucker turned around. "I'm listening."

"And…I don't know about Lolita or my sister, but personally I can say that today and yesterday are by far the most exciting days of my life. And now the three of us have a chance to make it better. And it's not like we're going anywhere. So we may as well be of use to you the best that we can. If you were in my position, wouldn't you do the same thing?"

Tucker scratched his hair. "Can you power an ecto-booster gun?" He asked Leo.

Leo flashed an excited smile.

Taylor and Lolita cheered and stood up in the air.

"I'm glad for y'all, but you know I'll be staying right here." Mara said. She waved goodbye to Tucker and then went to the living room to play with some toys.

"What's an ecto-booster gun?" Leo asked Tucker.

"It's similar to the Vinci Cordoba ComforTech shotgun." Tucker explained. He went into a closet and brought out four ecto-boosters. They were all silver with a peculiar emblem brand on the side.

"What's this?" Taylor pointed to the emblem.

"Oh, that's just the Danny Phantom emblem. Our manufacturers figured it'd be easier to identify Team Phantom's weapons if they were all uniformed with one emblem." Tucker said.

Taylor and Leo fastened their boosters around their shoulder and waist like it was meant to. Leo had to help Lolita.

The teens gathered their items—which were a total of their hoodies and their cell phones and a hair scrunchie Mara gave Lolita to hold back her hair. Taylor and Leo put on their shoes. Lolita put on her combat boots.

Just when the three teens thought they were ready to go, Tucker handed them each a pair of goggles. "You're going to need these since it's your first time using ecto weapons. The ecto-dust and residue from this specific model gets into the air. If your eyes aren't used to it, they'll water. And soon you'll be cryin' so hard you won't be able to see a thing."

The kids obeyed.

Tucker took them out the front door. He locked it. There was a long walk ahead of them down through the suburban streets. Taylor, Lolita and Leo couldn't keep thoughts of self-consciousness out of their heads. Especially Taylor would be embarrassed if anybody she knew saw her like this.

Tucker stopped his followers when they stood in front of a large steel building. It had zero windows. It had only a giant pair of doors on the front side—as well as a few scattered emergency exits. The building was oval-shaped in layout. That was no ordinary roof that this building had; it was a refracting one. That was obvious only because the roofing was flat. If it was angled, then they would have seen the top.

"Whoa!" Leo said in awe. The building towered before him. He looked up so high that his head couldn't even tilt back any more and he still hadn't seen the very top. "This looks like something out of an alien movie!"

Taylor elbowed her brother harshly.

"Ow!" said Leo. He felt his arm where it now hurt. "What was that for?"

"For being weird." Taylor said with a smile.

Lolita giggled.

Tucker opened the door and he and the teens went through a series of security sweeps before they could finally get to their destination. Tucker had to press a security combination on a door which led to a hallway and another door. By then, Leo was a little bored. Taylor was tired. Lolita was distracted by her black nail polish which was chipping off.

Tucker stepped aside as the final door parted. Lolita looked up. Leo looked up. Taylor was waiting for someone to say something. When she looked into the large room before her, she understood in an instant why her friends were speechless.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Said Taylor.