Author's note: Well, another day, another update. Enjoy and review.

Chapter 21

I remember one very weird summer afternoon when I was about eight years old. I was walking home after spending the night and most of the day over at Allison's house. Just as I was rounding the corner of my street, a pair of hands reached these big bushes that lined the corner and pulled me through them. I'm still shocked to this day that the scream that came from my throat didn't shatter nearby windows or streetlights. Two people immediately climbed onto my back, holding both my arms and legs as well as covering my mouth. When I heard them laugh, my fear immediately changed to anger. It was none other than my two slightly older cousins who had just arrived from out of town, unfortunately. I hated them with an intense passion. It was like the only purpose in their miserable little lives was to make mine as much a living hell as possible. I've never figured out why they treated me like that. It was like they wanted me to really hate them, that they didn't want any trace of a normal relationship between us. They did a really good job of it, too. Believe me, it takes a lot for me to truly hate someone, even if they constantly tick me off. And even if I did, I still wouldn't hate them more than those two spawns of Satan. In fact, they're probably the only two people in the world that I probably wouldn't mind using my powers on. I wouldn't kill them outright or anything, although the temptation is very strong. Maybe just warming up their butts would change their attitudes toward me.

Okay, you're probably wondering what does that have to do with was going on in right then in the room. Well, nothing really. I guess that I was just reminded of it since what Chameleon and I did to this guy and what my two cousins did to me six years earlier were so similar. We were immediately confused by this person that we caught, probably the reason why we both gasped out loud in the first place. The first, main, and probably only thing was that this man certainly didn't look like a guard, unless wearing a dark gray and very expensive looking business suit was the newest fashion statement for mercenary guards. He had auburn hair that was neatly cut and groomed. He looked to be maybe somewhere in his late thirties or forties, but it was hard to tell since he was face down and Chameleon's hand was covering his mouth and part of his lower face. Even with that, he did look a little handsome. He didn't seem to be putting up much of a fight but he was making muffled noises through his mouth.

Chameleon and I kept looking back and forth between the man and each other. It was fairly obvious that both of us didn't know what to make of this guy. He didn't look dangerous but we didn't let down our guard at all. Besides the two of us, Ultraviolet, Changeling, and my parents, anyone here in this place could be a threat. We really couldn't afford to take any unnecessary chances. So if this man wasn't a guard, then who exactly was he? I don't think that it was Harriman himself as I kind of knew what he looked like. I could tell that Chameleon didn't know who this guy was either from the look on his face. Of course, we could just ask him who he was. Could it really be that simple? Unfortunately, just about everything that happened tonight hadn't been, so even that might've been too much of a stretch. We had to do something, though. The longer we held on to him like this, the more he might try to break free and escape. Chameleon realized this as well.

"Alright," he said to the man. "I'm going to let go of your mouth, but only if you promise not to yell or run away. That's the last thing you want to do, anyway. My friend here is very talented with fire, and she'll happily demonstrate her abilities for you if you do, understand?" He gave me a quick sympathetic look right after he said that. He knew that I wouldn't do a thing like that, especially to someone who didn't have protection. I knew that he said that to keep the man under control, as long as he didn't know that. He went on. "Nod if you agree."

The man didn't move for a moment and then he slowly nodded his head. We looked at each other one last time and then Chameleon slowly removed his hand. We still had a hold on his arms and legs in case he really tried to do something. He tried to twist his head around so he could see us through what looked like very nervous blue eyes.

"You…you're supers," he said slowly. "Who are you?"

Chameleon answered him. "My name's Chameleon. My partner here is Phoenicia. And who are you?"

"Um, I'm Devin Woods," he replied. "I'm the vice-president of ATI."

"What?" Chameleon and I almost shouted at the same time.

This guy that we were holding down to the floor was the vice-president of ATI? How was that possible? I never saw the vice-president of the company, so there was no way that I could confirm if what he was saying was the truth. All we had to go by was his word, and sometimes that isn't enough, especially in situations like these. Ultraviolet did tell us that the vice-president had been captured along with everyone else in the facility. So if this person really was the vice-president, then what was he doing here? Did he escape from his captors and was trying to hide somewhere? Were they trying to track him down? Would he actually lead them to us if not careful? Only he could answer those questions. Still, there was something strange about this man that I couldn't pinpoint exactly. It wasn't like he was acting suspiciously or anything like that, but it was just some kind of inner feeling. However, since it seemed like everything that was going on wasn't what it appeared to be, it could be nothing more than a case of over judging and maybe even paranoia. But whether or not there was something wrong with him, I still thought that it would probably be a good idea if we kept some information to ourselves. Who knows what could happen if we told him certain things.

"Look, I know this might seem very strange and suspicious to you," he told us in a voice that I swore had a desperate tone to it. "You have to believe me, though. I am the vice-president of this company, and before you say anything, I have nothing to do with what's happening here. I'm totally innocent. I was taken along with everyone else in this place. Can you let me up, please?"

Chameleon and I again looked at each other for a few moments. It was very difficult to tell if he was lying or not. Would it be a good idea to let him go? Besides telling us that he was the vice-president of ATI, we didn't know a thing about him. He was taller than both of us for one, and probably stronger even though we had a tight hold on him. It didn't look like he was hiding anything under his suit. It was hard to tell anyway as his suit was a little loose fitting, but it looked like he didn't have a weapon or anything. But just because he didn't have a weapon on him meant that he wasn't dangerous. For all we knew, he was some kung-fu master or something. But we also knew that we couldn't hold him down forever and would have to let him go sometime. We had no choice. Chameleon nodded his head and we both let go of Devin and stood up on our feet. Devin slowly got up on his and rubbed his arm.

"You were a little rough on me there," he told us.

"Sorry about that," Chameleon said. "But we had to make sure you wouldn't try anything to us. There's no such thing as being too careful inside this place."

"Believe me, I know." He then seemed to study us even closer. "You said your names are Chameleon and Phoenicia, right? I don't think I've ever heard of you two before."

"That's because we're a little new to the super scene," Chameleon admitted.

"New, huh? Forgive me, but you two look very young to be supers. Is it possible for me to ask why you are here?"

"We're here to rescue my m…Electricia and the others from this place and save Metroville from those missiles," I told him. I almost slipped up and said my mother, but I caught myself in time. Call it being overly cautious or whatever, but I didn't want him to know that she was my mother just yet. Chameleon gave me a strange look for a split second and then turned back to Devin.

"Can you tell us what happened here?" he asked.

"It all happened so fast," he replied. "I was here on routine business and was just about to head back to the main corporate office when the CEO, John Harriman, entered the facility with dozens of people equipped with our experimental weapons and body armor and announced that he was taking over. He killed a few people who questioned him, including the Director of Operations for this place. He's having just about everyone else work on those missiles. He had me locked up in an office. I was finally able to escape after a few hours and was trying to find a hiding place, and I guess that's how I ran into you."

"Do you know why he's doing this?"

"No, I don't. It was totally out of the blue. I probably should've known that something was happening, though, especially in the last few days. He did a lot of things that didn't make any sense, like moving people from all over the corporation to this facility and keeping them here for at least a couple of days as well as having a lot of equipment shipped here. I just don't know why he's doing this. It doesn't make any sense at all."

"Tell me about it," Chameleon agreed. "It seems like no one knows the real reason behind this whole thing."

"Do you know how Electricia got captured?" I asked Devin.

"Not really," he said. "I wasn't in the best position to know that. From what I heard, she was fighting with a few of John's men just outside the facility when she was hit bit one of our UCAVs, a Specter, I think. It just knocked her out and she was brought inside. I don't know how she's doing now."

"Do you know where she's being held?"

"I think she's in the northwest warehouse," he told me. "It's almost directly on the other side of the facility from where we are. I imagine that it's heavily guarded."

"This whole place is heavily guarded if you didn't notice," Chameleon said.

"I suppose so," Devin said. "Again, forgive me for asking, but are you the only two supers here? I'm not doubting your abilities or anything. It just seems like this would be impossible for two new and young supers to handle on their own."

That seemed to be a very iffy question. I didn't know if we should tell him about Changeling and Ultraviolet and how we had been separated from them, not to mention that I dare didn't want to say that we had also been thinking the same thing that it looked impossible for us to do by ourselves. It was very well known that supers were supposed to project an aura of braveness and selflessness. I didn't know exactly what the two of us were projecting to Devin, but I didn't think it was either one of those.

Chameleon did answer his question, despite my reluctance. "There are two others here but we lost contact with them."

Devin seemed kind of surprised by that. "Lost contact? What do you mean by that?"

"Just that. We were separated and we don't know what happened to them."

"I see. Do you think they're still alive?"

Chameleon was quiet for a few seconds and then said, "We don't know. We hope they are."

We were all quiet then. I still didn't think it was a good idea that Chameleon told him that Changeling and Ultraviolet were here, but at least he didn't mention them by name. So as far as Devin was concerned, there were two other young and inexperienced supers here, although that was half right. So the main question now was, with the vice-president of the company with us, what exactly do we do now?

"So what do you two intend to do now?" Devin asked us. "I noticed that you have our experimental EMP weapons around your belts. Were you going to use them for something?"

I looked down and saw the mine still tied around my belt. In all the excitement that happened, I forgot that I still had it. Would it be a good idea to tell him what we intended to do with them, though?

He probably took our silence as reluctance to tell him because he then tried to convince us to trust him. "I know that I have to do a lot to earn your trust, but believe me, I'm totally on your side. I want all this to end as much as you do. I also can help you out a lot. I know this place like the back of my hand. I know exactly where the missiles are. I can get you to them along ways that aren't even guarded. As I said, I know you don't trust me, but can you really afford to pass this up? What do you say?"

After a long silence Chameleon said to him, "Can you excuse us for a moment?"

Chameleon took my hand and led me to the front of the room. Once there, he looked back to see if it was clear and then whispered to me in a very low voice so that Devin couldn't hear him, "Do you trust him?"

"No, I don't," I whispered back to him.

"Neither do I, but he's also right about a couple of things. He does know this place a lot better than either one of us, and we can't afford to pass that up. We don't have much time left to stop the missiles."

"I know, but how do we know he won't be leading us into some sort of trap or something?"

"We don't, but I think we might have to chance it."

"Okay, so let's say he's really being honest and could lead us to the missiles. Then what? We only have two mines on us. We could probably destroy two of the missiles but that leaves two more."

"Then that would be two less to worry about. Besides, we can hope that Changeling and Ultraviolet can get to them."

"That is if they haven't been captured or killed yet."

He rolled his eyes. "Gee, are you the ever so optimistic one."

I sighed. "I'm sorry I said that."

"Yeah. But anyway, do you think we should trust him?"

I took a while to respond to that. "I don't know, but I think we may have to."

"I agree." He then leaned in and whispered into my ear in an even lower voice. "Don't worry, Jess. He doesn't know you hate your powers. Keep him thinking that you won't hesitate to use them if he tries anything and it might keep him honest, okay?"

I nodded very slowly. "Okay."

"So I guess it's settled then."

"I just hope we're making the right decision."

"I hope so, too."

With the decision made, we went back to the end of the room. Devin was busy looking at a crate on an overhead shelf. It was hard to tell if he was acting suspiciously. It didn't look like it and the crate that he was looking at didn't seem strange. Still, the two of us didn't trust him enough as it was and things like that could make it worse. He seemed a little startled when we reappeared.

"Okay, it's a deal," Chameleon told him. "You're right, by the way. We don't trust you. And you're also right that we don't have much of a choice. But remember what I said earlier, my friend is very skilled with fire and she won't hesitate to show you if you try anything funny. Understand?"

"I understand," he said, looking at me closely. I did my best to put on a brave face. I was hoping that he couldn't see through that lie.

"Okay, then. You know this place better than us, so I would like for you to lead. We'll protect you."

Devin chuckled silently. "I was counting on that."

"Alright," Chameleon said and then asked, "Do you have the time?"

"Sure," Devin replied and looked at the watch on his left arm. "It's twenty minutes till four."

Chameleon sighed. "Not much time left. Well, let's do it. I suppose you should go ahead and lead on."

I could swear that Devin looked a little nervous for a moment, but he slowly nodded his head. I suppose I couldn't blame him for being nervous as he probably never done anything like this before. So in a way, the three of us were in the same boat. Hopefully that boat wouldn't sink with us in it.

Slowly, very slowly, Devin started walking around the crates and boxes and toward the door to the room. We followed right behind him. It wasn't like we were scared of him or anything. I can't say that I really was scared, more like uneasy, not to mention I didn't trust him. That was probably the main reason why we kept behind him.

When we got to the door, Devin slowly reached out his hand and grabbed the knob. It took a second for me to notice that my hands were already partly up in a defensive position. It was probably my overactive imagination, but I kept thinking that anyone or anything could be on the other side of that door. Anything seemed possible inside this place and I had to be ready.

When he finally did open the door, we saw that there were no guards or robots waiting for us. That brought only slight relief, though. We knew that they were somewhere, no doubt looking for us. I again thought of Ultraviolet and Changeling and wondered if they were doing the same, if they somehow managed to escape from the eight guards to begin with. Maybe we'll find them somewhere.

Stepping out into the corridor, we saw that it was still empty. I also noticed that the fire alarm and flashing red lights were off. It was nice that someone turned it off, but as we already knew, everyone here had been alerted to our presence the moment it went off. That also got me thinking about something. Usually in most businesses and even some homes, the fire alarm system was directly connected to the fire department so that they knew something was up the moment the alarm went off. For a split second I thought with some hope that it was the case here and that the fire department was probably on its way. I then remembered unfortunately that this place was supposed to be cut off from the rest of the outside world, and that most likely included fire alarm systems. In the very unlikely case that it wasn't, the people that took over this place probably already told the fire department that it was a false alarm and then disconnected the system. So it looked like we were still on our own for now. So much for wishful thinking.

Devin started walking to his right, well, more like quickly tiptoeing to his right. It was probably because the shoes he was wearing would make a lot of unneeded noise on a floor like this. We followed, carefully watching around us so that we wouldn't walk into another ambush like earlier. We didn't go all that far as we quickly came to a small door. Devin pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, holding onto them so that they wouldn't jingle loudly. He searched for the right key, inserted it into the lock and opened the door. We went inside and he closed the door quietly behind us. It looked like we were in some kind of service corridor. It had almost the same, although smaller and more toned down, architecture as the main ones, even right down to that annoying blue lighting, even if it was softer and dimmer.

"God, what is up with this place?" I meant to think, but accidentally said out loud.

"What do you mean?" Devin asked, turning to me.

"Huh?" I realized that I just said that out loud. "Oh, um…I meant the style of these hallways and the blue lighting. They look like corridors you'd find on a spaceship or something."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too," Chameleon joined in. "Who was the architect of this place, E.T.?"

He chuckled softly. "Yeah, it almost looks a little alien, doesn't it? Well, it's the way the final plans were. Make it look a little futuristic, kind of like our motto, 'Bringing the Future to Today's World'. I do admit though that it has been a little too much for some people. As for the blue lighting, it's in night mode."

"Night mode?" Chameleon repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. At eleven every night most of the normal lights in this facility switch to blue for a couple of reasons. One, it saves on the power bills since there's not very many people here at that time and two, it acts like a clock, almost like a simulated night."

"Doesn't it drive you crazy, though?" I kind of blurted out unintentionally.

"No, why?" He gave me a curious look. "You don't like the color blue or something?"

"No, that's not it, although I might start to hate it if I spent any time here. Forget it, it's really nothing."

We didn't say anything else as he led us down the service hallway and then up a couple flights of extremely narrow and steep steps at the end. There was a door at the top, but before we reached it, we heard more running footsteps coming from the other side. Chameleon moved in front of Devin and I joined him as the footsteps unfortunately stopped right in front of the door. I couldn't help but groan slightly and slowly shake my head. This was the second time this had happened tonight, that guards or whoever they were had stopped right by our hiding spot. And I thought that things like this happened in those stupid cartoons. Hopefully those people acted just as stupidly as their cartoon counterparts and didn't search the most obvious place right next to them. We then heard a voice, although the door muffled it.

"This is Reynolds. There's no sign of them here. We're expanding our search to most of the eastern areas."

"Roger." That voice sounded like it was coming through a walkie-talkie. "Remember, the boss wants the supers taken alive if possible. Only kill them if you have to."

"Yeah, yeah, Reynolds out. Alright, you three go down that way. The rest of us will go this way. Search everywhere. They have to be somewhere in this complex. If you see them, use your non-lethals first. Only kill them if that doesn't work."

"I still don't see the point of that," a deep-voiced guy said. "Why take them alive? We should kill them on sight. Any super is a threat to the plan. They're very resourceful and keeping them alive only increases the chance of them stopping us."

"Look, I don't know how the boss thinks," that other guy, Reynolds, I guess, told him. "He just wants them caught alive. He supposedly has plans for them. You have your orders, men. Move out."

The footsteps moved away until we couldn't hear them anymore. That was when I slowly let out the breath that I was holding. We were having way too many close calls, probably far more than we should be having. It was only a matter of time before that luck finally ran out and both Chameleon and I knew it. Hopefully by the time that it did, we would've destroyed the missiles.

That guy Reynolds or whatever said that their boss wanted us caught alive. I assumed that the boss was Harriman himself. Why would he want us alive? Not that I was complaining as that was certainly better than him wanting us dead. But that other guy was right. Keeping any super alive, no matter how inexperienced, was an immense risk to any villain's plans. So why do it? Also, the other big question, did they already capture Ultraviolet and Changeling? It was almost impossible to tell. They only said that they were searching for us. That was very vague and could've meant just the two of us here or all four of us put together. Sadly, we still didn't know what happened to Ultraviolet and Changeling when that door shut between us. I was praying that they got themselves out of that situation and were looking for us. That gave me a little hope, but until we knew for sure, that was pretty much all that I had to go by. My mind went back to this so-called plan that was supposedly in store for us in the event that we did get captured. What exactly was this plan?

'Oh, come on, Jess,' the very annoying inner voice came back. 'Even you should have an idea what kind of a plan that is. Do the two words TEST SUBJECT ring a bell inside that injured and rattled head of yours?'

'Shut up!' I thought back. 'I didn't ask your opinion.'

'Hey, I'm only stating the obvious. You know that's the only reason they want to just capture you, why they're keeping Mom alive…'

'I said SHUT UP!'

I couldn't believe this! I was having an argument with myself now of all times. Wasn't that one of the first signs that you're completely losing your mind? It was possible. I wouldn't be surprised if I needed some kind of therapy when this was all over. However, the voice was right in a way. Being used as a test subject was probably the main reason Harriman wanted us alive. But for what? Weapons? Drugs? Anything to find out the weaknesses of supers? Possibly all of the above? Well, I had no intention of ever finding out. Still, in spite of all that, I didn't realize that I had a small smile on my mouth from thinking that I was totally losing my mind.

"What's so funny?" Chameleon asked me, his voice low so it wouldn't echo loudly off the walls in the narrow stairway.

"Huh?" I asked him, confused.

"You're smiling," he told me. "Something funny?"

"What?" I then noticed that I had been smiling. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about something, that's all."

He had a small smile of his own then. "Well, it had to be something to make you smile at a time like this."

"It's nothing," I repeated. "Just something funny that crossed my mind."

"Okay, okay," he said. He then turned to Devin. "Do you have any idea why he wants us caught alive?"

"I really don't know," he replied. "It's possible that he wants to use you as test subjects, maybe find something that has an effect on supers."

"That's what I was thinking," Chameleon agreed.

'Me, too,' I thought to myself.

"Is there anything here that has an affect on supers?" Chameleon asked him.

"I honestly don't know," he said. "There are many things being kept here in the facility. Maybe one or a few of them have an affect on supers. But I thought supers all had different weaknesses. Maybe he's searching for something that's universal, you know, affects all supers at once."

"Maybe," Chameleon said. "I have no intention of being used as a lab rat, though. How far are we to the missiles?"

"We're very close to one now," Devin told him.

"Alright." He turned his attention to the door. "It might be a good idea if I go through the door first. I can see if the coast is clear and hopefully no one out there can see me."

I nodded. "That is a good idea," I agreed.

"How are you going to do that?" Devin asked him.

"Allow me to demonstrate," he replied.

Parts of his body began to vanish as he was blending into our surroundings until only his ghostlike outline remained. Even though I've grown used to that, it was still weird to see it happen. Devin looked on in amazement and, well, lack of amazement. It was that type of look you get when you're surprised by something but yet expected it to happen.

"Now you see why I'm called Chameleon," he said.

"Amazing," Devin said. "You have the power of invisibility."

"Yeah, sort of. Okay, here I go. Stay here for a moment. Um, is this door locked, by the way?"

"It is on the other side, but it can be opened from this side."

"Thanks."

He very quietly opened up the door and stuck his head out, at least I think he did. It was hard to tell as he was, well…hidden. I could just go ahead and say that he was invisible, but since he kept repeating that he wasn't truly invisible, then it probably wouldn't be right to say that he was invisible. Anyway, after a few moments he went through the door but still held it slightly open. He was out there for about ten to fifteen seconds before he opened it fully again and reappeared.

"Okay, it's clear but hurry," he told us. "I think they're coming back."

Devin and I left the steps and out the door as quickly and silently as we could. We were in an area that had three corridors, two to our left and right and one directly in front of us. Like Chameleon said, it sounded like a few of them were coming back. There were a few voices coming from around the corner of the corridor to our left. They were steadily getting louder and sounded like they were going to be around the corner in a matter of seconds.

"This way," Devin told us.

He quickly moved down the corridor in front of us and we followed just as fast. We went all the way to the end where there was a door with an EXIT sign above it. He opened the door and we found ourselves outside in the still warm night air. We were in between a cluster of buildings. Most of the area around us was lit up in bright lights but we were in an area that was well shadowed. We immediately heard voices and what sounded like hissing and running machines on the other side of one of the buildings. We seemed to be very exposed out here like this.

"Over here," Devin told us.

He went over to the building in front of us and unlocked the nearby door. We went through the now opened door and we were in what looked like a darkened office. The lights were off but there seemed to be quite a bit of light coming through the shut shades of a nearby window. Chameleon went over to the window and peered through the shades.

"Over here, quick," he said, motioning us over with his hand.

We went over to the window and carefully looked through different parts of the shades. There it was, one of the four nanobot-filled missiles that would be launched at Metroville in a little more than an hour from now. It was silver colored and quite long, at least ten to twelve feet. There were fins in the middle and at the end of the missile. There were several hoses connected to it. Something that looked like steam or mist was coming off a few of them and out the end of the missile. That thing looked destructive. Unfortunately, there was a lot of activity around it, far more than we would've liked. There were about seven people working on the missile, and standing guard over them were five armed guards. As the whole area was lit up almost as bright as day, we saw everything clearly. I even took a moment to study each of the faces of the people working on the missile to see if any one of them was my dad. None of them weren't. I felt incredibly disappointed for a moment. I wanted the chance to save him. That didn't mean that I couldn't. He was still here somewhere in this place, and I was just as determined to save him as my mother. Right now, though, the main focus was on how to stop this missile in front of us.

"Well, there it is," Devin told us. "One of the missiles, just like I said."

"Wow," I whispered.

"You could say that again," Chameleon said.

We pulled back from the window and stood at the center of the dark office. Each of us seemed to be at a loss on what to do next. That seemed so unbelievable. There we were, having actually found one of the missiles, having the means to completely destroy them tied around our belts, only to realize that we didn't have a plan to even get to the missile in the first place. Chalk up another point for inexperience.

"Okay, we need some kind of plan," Chameleon said. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"None," I told him.

"I don't have one, either," Devin agreed. "This is a little out of my league since I'm not a super."

Chameleon sighed and went back to the window. He looked out at the scene on the other side and seemed to be deep in thought. I began to think myself for a possible solution to our problem. It didn't take long for me to think of something. I remembered what Ultraviolet told us in the main utility room. We may have to create a diversion. I went over to the window and looked out at the people. A diversion certainly seemed possible. What kind of diversion, though? The phrase 'divide and conquer' came to mind. There were five guards out there and two of us. Okay, three if you included Devin, but I knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to expose him to this kind of danger, even if he was the vice-president and knew this place a lot better than us. Maybe if we could split the guards up or even have them all go away, then maybe we could get to the missile and destroy it. But how do we do that?

"You know, we could create some kind of diversion," Chameleon said.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," I said. "But I have no idea on how to do that."

He then turned to me. "I think I do," he said in a slightly hesitant voice. "And, um, I don't think you're going to like it."

"Why?" I asked, giving him a strange look. "What won't I like about it?"

"Okay, don't get mad," he continued to hesitate.

"Just tell me what your plan is," I said, starting to lose patience.

He sighed. "You're going to be the diversion," he said in a low voice.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. No, he did NOT just say what I thought he did. "What?" I nearly screamed but caught myself in time. "Are you out of your freaking mind?"

"No, I'm not," he said defensively. "Here's the plan. You go out and create a diversion, maybe have a few of them chase you, and then I use my power and sneak in and use the mine to destroy the missile and hopefully save those people working on it in the process."

"I still don't like that idea at all," I said. "Say they do follow me, then what? I could get caught, hurt, maybe even killed. Did you ever stop and think of that?"

"Do you have a better idea?" he countered.

"No," I admitted. "But there has to be a better one than this."

"Unfortunately, we don't have time to hear it," he said. "We're pressed for enough of it as it is. Trust me, this could work."

I didn't like how he said that this could work, although it probably would've sounded like a flat out lie if he said that this would work. But as much as I hated to admit it, he was definitely right. We didn't have much time left and he had the best idea. That didn't mean that I had to like it, and believe me, I didn't. With a heavy sigh, I gave in.

"Okay, I'll do it," I told him. "But I swear, if this doesn't work, I am so gonna kill you."

"That's the spirit," he told me.

"Is there anything that I could do to help?" Devin asked. "Like I said, I'm not a super, but maybe I could do something."

"What can you do?" Chameleon asked him.

"Well, I'm very good at being a vice-president," he said with a small laugh. "Other than that, not much."

"There is one thing that you could help us out with," Chameleon said. He untied the mine off his belt and held it up. "Can you show us how to use these things?"

I nearly burst out laughing. It wasn't at him, but at that most obvious thought. We were so concerned about destroying the missile that we didn't know how to use the weapon that would do it. It had to be some kind of miracle that got us this far with all the bumbling that we've been doing all night.

"Sure," Devin replied.

He took the mine and went over to the window to have enough light. It was the first time that we saw the weapon up close. It had four buttons and what looked like a digital timer above them.

"Okay, to activate it," he explained, "press the lower left button first. While holding that, press the right button next to it and hold them both for about five seconds. That will activate the timer. You then use the two upper buttons to set the time. To arm it, press the lower right button first, then the left and hold them both for about five seconds. You'll hear a tiny beep to let you know that it is armed and running. One important thing, this thing explodes in a very bright flash. Don't look directly at it or it'll blind you. There you go."

"Thanks," Chameleon told him. He then sighed. "Well, let's not put this off any longer. You think you'll be safe in here for a few moments?"

"Hopefully," Devin replied. "I do know a few ways to defend myself, and I also have the element of surprise."

"Okay, stay safe." Chameleon then said to me. "Let's go."

He slowly opened the door and we stepped back outside. There still wasn't anyone around. As quietly as we could, we snuck by the building that we were in and then around the corner toward the brightly lit up area where the missile was. I was desperately trying to control the pounding of my heart and failing miserably.

"God, I can't believe you're making me do this," I whispered.

"I know, and I'm sorry," he whispered back. "But I stand the best chance of getting there undetected, but I can't do that unless there are fewer guards. Follow?"

"Yeah."

He then took my right hand in his and patted the top of it with his other. "You'll be fine, Jess," he said. "I know you can do it. I believe in you."

We looked at each other for a few moments, probably far longer than we should have. I felt myself begin to blush and I looked away, nearly bursting out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles.

"Well, here I go," I told him with a sigh. "Wish me luck."

"Oh, I do," he said with a smile.

I let go of his hand and almost started to go when I remembered something. I reached down and untied the mine around my belt. I then handed it to him. "Here," I said. "I want you to hold onto this. It's in case I have to fly or something and I don't want to damage it."

He took it from me. "Good thinking," he told me. "One last thing. If you can get away, try to make your way back here. I'll wait here as long as I can. If you can find Ultraviolet and my brother along the way, lead them back here."

"I'll try," I said. "No guarantees, though. I still don't know my way around this place."

"You'll find your way back," he reassured me. "Okay, you better get going."

I nodded, and then looking at that corner that would expose me into full view of the five guards, I forced myself to slowly move towards it. I noticed that my breathing was just as ragged and deep as my beating heart. I stopped just before the corner. The voices were a lot louder now but they didn't sound like they were getting any closer. I looked back at Chameleon and he gave me a thumbs up. I gave him one back then looked back at the corner. I still couldn't believe that I was going to do this. I was probably more scared at that moment than I've ever been, and that included all of the things that happened to me tonight. I then looked up to the night sky.

"Grandpa, Grandma," I whispered. "If you're watching me from up there, wish me all the luck in the world."

I then closed my eyes, took a deep breath, counted slowly to three, and then jumped out into full view of the five armed guards.