Author's note: Well, here it is, probably the chapter most of you have been waiting for. You know the drill, so there you go.

Chapter 25

For the second time that night, I began to regain consciousness after being totally knocked out. For the second time, it seemed like my brain was waking up before the rest of my body so I couldn't move anything just yet. However, that was where the similarities ended. It took much, much longer before the beginnings of what could even be considered consciousness began to take hold. The next thing that I realized what that I couldn't remember a single thing, absolutely nothing at all. My mind was a complete, total blank. I didn't know who I was, where I was, and what I was doing. All that was there was a thick, gray fog. There was…something, though. It was so deep within the fog that it was just barely noticeable, but it was there. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but I think that it was telling me that I had to wake up as it was critically important. That was definitely a lot easier said than done, though. However, if I felt as bad when I woke up as I felt right then, I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

The next thing that I felt was the tingling all over my body, as well as the pain in my eyes. It literally felt like my nerves were being shocked and the insides of my eyes had been burned. I couldn't see anything, but that was because I still had my eyes closed, and since I still didn't have full control of my body just yet, I couldn't open them and know if there was any damage to my eyes. All I could really do at that moment was just try to get through the fog in my mind and wonder what exactly happened to me…or was it us? Yes, I was beginning to think that I wasn't alone. There was a boy, no, two boys and a woman. What were their names? Commander? No, that didn't sound right. Ultralight? That wasn't right, either. Their names were right there but just out of reach. Not even that, really. It was like I could touch them with the tips of my fingers, or whatever the equivalent was inside my mind, but just couldn't grab onto them.

There was something else as well. It had to do with my parents. They were in danger. Not just them, either. It was us, and a lot of other people. The city, the whole world? I didn't know. I also knew that something bad had happened to my mother. But what exactly was it? I knew that she wasn't dead, at least I hoped that she wasn't. I also knew that was the main reason that I came to this place, whatever and wherever this place actually was, besides saving Metroville from those missiles.

What a minute, what was that? We were there to save Metroville from those missiles? Yes, we were. I was starting to remember things now. The crazy fog that was occupying and shutting down my mind was starting to finally lift. I was there with two friends, Chameleon and Changeling, and Ultraviolet, one of the famous Incredibles. We were at the ATI Main Testing Facility outside Metroville. We were there because someone, not the CEO as we originally thought, had taken over the place and forced everyone there, including my father, to work on several missiles that carried city-destroying nanobots. We destroyed a couple of them, but there were two left. We were on our way to destroy the last two but something happened. We went through that crazy detour through that huge underground city, Sandersville, and then came back up to face the CEO himself, but we found him dead when we got to his office. There was a voice, and then…what? I couldn't remember that last part.

It didn't matter very much right then, though. I seemed to remember all the critical parts. Now if only I could move or at least open my eyes so I could see where I was at. My nerves were still tingling like crazy and my the insides of my eyes were hurting. Whatever happened to me at that unknown part really screwed my body up. As I fought to become more conscious, I was aware of a slight humming sound. I couldn't tell exactly what it was. It definitely had a mechanical sound to it, like some kind of machinery running, but there was no way to tell until I could actually see what it was. I also became aware that I was laying on a cold, hard surface. It didn't feel like concrete like the last time I was knocked out, but more of a smooth, polished surface. That could mean that I was still inside the facility, but there was a good chance that I wasn't either. I had to get my eyes open.

It took a while, but I was able to slowly creak my eyelids open. I was looking at…green? Yes, that was exactly what it was. My vision was very blurred, but I was staring at nothing but a green wall. Wait a second, that green wall wasn't solid. It was shimmering and I could see right through it. What was it, a force field of some kind? It probably was, but I couldn't tell for sure. I couldn't shake the sudden feeling that I had seen that from somewhere before. But from where, though? I was certain that I never saw a shimmering green wall before in my life. Maybe it was something to do with my messed up head. I was certain of one thing, though. Wherever we were, it looked like we weren't leaving it anytime soon.

It took a few more minutes before I was able to move an arm and a minute later for me to roll over on my back. My body felt really numb and stiff, but at least it was still movable. A small part of my mind had been wondering if I could move it at all judging how it felt then. From that position, I could see that I was totally surrounded by that green force field. There was no doubt about it, then. We had been captured and were being held prisoner. I couldn't help the scared and sad feelings that ran through me, as well as the thoughts going through my head about how much this totally sucked. My first time out as a super and I get caught. If the situation wasn't as deadly serious as it was, then I probably would've laughed. At least I was still alive. The next question was where were the others.

As if someone was reading my mind, a dark silhouette suddenly appeared above me. My eyes were still a little blurry, so it took a few moments to focus on the person. I relaxed when I saw that it was Chameleon. It was great to see that he was still alive, also.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"Sort of," I replied, my voice whispery and slightly hoarse. "What happened to us?"

"I think we were hit by some sort of stun weapon," he told me. "A really powerful one, too, I bet. I'm still feeling the effects of it."

"Yeah, me, too." I looked some more at the field surrounding us. "I take it we've been caught."

"Yep" he said with a sigh. "Totally sucks, huh. I see no way out of here, either. It looks like we're going nowhere fast." He looked down and seemed to be fidgeting for a moment. At about the time I was about to ask him something, he said very quietly, "Um, Jess, you might want to turn around and look behind you."

I didn't like the way he said that at all. I was able to sit up on one arm. Then, with my heart pounding in my chest, I slowly turned my head and then my whole upper body around to see what was behind me. I saw Ultraviolet laying on the floor still unconscious, her long black hair totally covering her face. I also saw Changeling sitting up on his knees looking slightly dazed but alright. However, those two weren't what Chameleon was motioning to me about. Right next to them both was another woman on the floor. She was wearing a very familiar black, white, and yellow super suit with an equally colored helmet. I knew her all too well, and my heart that had been pounding in my chest had suddenly leapt up into my throat.

"Mom!" I nearly screamed out, but the word came out in more of a horrified whisper.

Ignoring how my body was feeling, I was able to crawl over to her and check her out. She was still breathing, so I was incredibly relieved to see that she was still very much alive. However, looking at her back, there was a very sizeable burn mark on her suit, on the bottom of her right shoulder blade. Comparing it to the burn on Ultraviolet's right arm, it looked likely that my mother had also been hit by one of those laser weapons. But how bad was her injury, though? Getting hit in the back very close to her heart was far different from a glancing hit to the arm. There was no way to tell. She may have been alive, but she could've been seriously hurt as well.

"Mom?" I said to her, giving her as hard a shake as I could as tears began to build in my blurred and sore eyes. "Mom, wake up. Please wake up."

I kept shaking her and begging her to wake up as my tears spilled from my eyes, over my mask and down my face. It took some time, but eventually she let out a small groan and then her eyes slowly opened. An immense wave of relief flowed through me at that moment. Her blue eyes look unfocused for a moment, then they locked onto me.

"Who…who are…you?" she whispered.

"It's me, Mom," I replied, my voice shaky with emotion. I then hugged her tightly. "Thank god you're okay."

"Jessica?" Her very weak voice was filled with surprise. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't have come here. It's far too dangerous, and you're not ready for this yet."

"I…I had to come," I told her. "Edna called me. She said you were hurt."

"Yes, I'm hurt," she said. "It's not that bad. But why are you here? God, how could you be so reckless with your own life? What were you thinking? You're not ready for this at all, and you're very lucky to still be alive. What was Edna thinking calling you?"

She obviously was very upset with me being there, and I didn't blame her at all, either. I pressed on, though, hoping to explain everything to her. "I came here to save both you and Dad. I brought some friends with me. We were able to stop two of those missiles."

Her face took on a look of confusion. "Missiles? What missiles? What are you talking about?"

I was confused myself. "You don't know what's going on here?"

"No. " She was looking more alert at that point. "What's happening?"

"Big trouble, that's what," a voice said from behind us.

We turned to see Ultraviolet sitting up on the floor, rubbing her head and looking very dazed. Chameleon and Changeling went over to her to help her.

"Are you okay?" Changeling asked her.

"I will be eventually," she replied. "That was so stupid of me. I should've seen that one coming from miles away."

"What was that?" he asked.

"It was a stun grenade," she told him. "One of the top of the line models, too."

"Who's that?" Mom asked. She moved her body around to look at Ultraviolet. She had another look of surprise on her face when she saw her. "You," she said in a neutral tone. It was very hard to tell if my mother was happy to see Ultraviolet or not.

"Hey," Ultraviolet replied. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, very long time," Mom said. "Why are you here? Did you drag my daughter into this?"

Ultraviolet chuckled. "You still haven't changed much, have you? Still quick off the draw as always."

"Well, did you or didn't you?" My mother's voice was rising with anger. "You know damn well she's not ready for this. What are you trying to do, get her killed? I thought you had better judgment than that, especially after what happened to you that day, but I see you're just as careless and reckless as I had been."

"Hey, why are you accusing me like it's completely my own fault?" Ultraviolet said, her own anger rising. "I told your daughter several times not to get involved, but she did anyway. What was I supposed to do, leave her and her friends stranded out there in the hills? I might not be the same person I was before, but I'm not that heartless. Besides, they've been a tremendous help and I couldn't have done half the things I did tonight without them. You should be very proud of your daughter. As far as I'm concerned, she's more than ready."

I felt an enormous sense of pride and happiness right then. Ultraviolet really seemed to believe in me, despite our earlier issues. However, my feelings were tempered as Mom still didn't look convinced. I was wondering how both of them really felt about the other. I remembered Ultraviolet telling me that both her and my mother weren't really friends, but more like rivals to one another years ago. What did that really mean, though? Could that mean that they were friendly competitors, or maybe they just didn't like each other? That conversation seemed to support the latter, although it wasn't very conclusive. Still, I didn't want them to actually fight over something that was mostly my decision.

"Mom, don't be mad at her," I said. "It was my decision to come up here. It was my fault. When I heard you were hurt, I…I don't know. I figured I had to do something. If you should be mad at anyone, it should be me. But she's right, also. We did do a lot of things tonight. I know you're disappointed in me, but I hope you can be proud of me, also."

Her face seemed to relax a lot and she reached up to cup my cheek. "Oh, honey, I'll always be proud of you," she told me. "Nothing's going to change that, ever. But the reason I'm so upset is because I care about you so much. I don't want to see you hurt or even killed. I know I said that I'll support any decision you make, but I wish that you could've waited at least a little longer until you were properly trained. I don't want you to make the same mistake I did at such a young age." She gave me a small smile, and then said, "I guess I'm also very proud of what you did here, even if I don't know exactly what it was you did. Obviously you did something really great if she says you did. I always knew you'd grow up to be something special."

I could only smile myself after she said that. Despite being disappointed by me being there, and I could totally understand that, she was still very happy of what I had done so far even though we had been captured. She began to sit up and she was wincing pretty badly from her wound.

"It's okay, it's not that bad," she said before I could ask her.

Ultraviolet didn't seem convinced, either. "Here, let me take a look at it."

"I said it's not that bad," my mother repeated. "I'll be fine."

Ultraviolet sighed. "Will you stop being so damn stubborn for once and let me help you out?"

Mom looked at her for a few more seconds before she relented with a sigh and turned her back to her. "Okay, fine, take a look at it. By the way, I was never stubborn."

"Whatever you say."

I had to chuckle in spite of the situation. I really had to ask Mom what the story was between them. As Ultraviolet looked at the injury to my mother's back, I looked over and saw Chameleon and Changeling standing over by one corner of the field. It looked like they were studying it very closely, possibly trying to find a way out. I don't know if it was the reality of the situation or just plain hopelessness, but I already came to the fact that we weren't getting out of here. The force field ran from the floor to the very high ceiling above. Even if I could burn my way through the floor or ceiling, I didn't want to risk doing that in fear of possible booby traps. I took a quick look outside the field. It was nothing more than a big, bare room with what looked like a control room in front of us, a computer panel on one of the walls, and a couple of doors. That was it.

"Find anything?" I asked them.

"Nope," Chameleon said. "How's your mother doing?"

I looked back at her and saw Ultraviolet still looking at the burn on her back. "I think she'll be fine, for now at least," I replied.

"I have to ask, what's the deal between them?" Changeling asked. "Do they hate each other or something?"

"I don't know," I told him. "Ultraviolet did tell me that they used to team up a few times when they were teens, but they weren't really friends, just rivals."

"I bet they have all kinds of great stories to tell," Chameleon said.

"That's if we get out of here to hear them," his brother said.

"Do you think we will be able to get out of here?" I asked.

Chameleon sighed. "You know, I could lie and say that we could find a way out of here, but there wouldn't be a point. I could take inspiration from the stories of other supers who were able to escape imprisonment at the last moment and save the day, but I can't. Hearing their stories and seeing our own troubles are two very different things. But let's say we were able to escape from here, then what? We probably don't have any time left, and even if we were able to get to the last two missiles, we can't destroy them. They took everything off our belts. I wouldn't be surprised if they took a peek under our masks to see who we really are."

"You're being really negative right now, you know," Changeling said.

"No, I'm being realistic," his older brother shot back.

"There are always ways out of these situations," Ultraviolet's voice came from right behind us. Both she and my mother were standing there and probably heard everything that we said.

"Do you see a way out of here?" Changeling asked.

"This force field is made out of the same energy as the sonic pulse lasers," she explained. "I could go right through it with my own field, but I wouldn't even attempt it. Who knows what kind of failsafe devices are on this thing."

"I agree," Mom said. "Even if there was a wire in here for me to travel through, I wouldn't do it. This is really sophisticated stuff, way beyond my understanding. Maybe someone here can fill me in on what's happening."

"Why do you need filling in, Electricia?" a voice broke into our conversation from a hidden overhead speaker. Actually, it was the voice that we heard in Sandersville and the office earlier. "I thought all of you had it figured out by now. And yes, I wouldn't touch that field if I were you if you want to live."

All five of us backed away from the field and to the center of the area. I had long since hated hearing that digitally disguised voice. I hated it even more now since it didn't belong to the person that we originally thought was behind this whole thing. It was times like this that I wished that I could reach in through the speaker and drag the man out to end this.

"Well, now you obviously have me at a disadvantage," my mother said. "Maybe you can do us all a favor and tell us who you are and what's going on this time. You might as well because we'll find out eventually."

"No need," Ultraviolet told her. She then said loudly, "Come on out Devon. I know it's you who's been behind this, so no use hiding behind that speaker."

My mouth literally dropped, and so did the two boys'. She couldn't mean Devon Woods, the now dead vice president, could she? That seemingly nice guy that went well out of his way to help us out and it ended up costing him his life, right? He had been behind the entire thing the whole time? How was that even possible? According to Chameleon, he was dead, wasn't he?

"What?!" Chameleon shouted.

"Wait a minute, you don't mean Devon Woods, the vice president of the company, do you?" Mom said, some shock in her own voice. "But why would he do such a thing?"

Before Ultraviolet could answer, the door underneath the control center slid open and in came a whole squad of heavily armed guards. They took up positions around the force fields and aimed their weapons at us. Moments later, right behind the last of the guards, in walked the very much alive Devon Woods! I literally rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things. He was still there. He was wearing a new black business suit, presumably because his other one had been destroyed. Instead of the nice and helpful look he had on his face earlier, he now had a very confident smirk as he looked at the five of us. I looked back at Ultraviolet, still not believing that she called it correctly. How did she know?

"This is impossible," Chameleon said, his voice full of tension. "I saw you take three laser blasts to your chest. I saw you die!"

"Did you now?" Devon said to him. "That's one thing of knowing the inner workings of a Specter. Good for faking one's death, you know. Speaking of wanting to know, I'd like to know how you figured it out, Ultraviolet."

"It made the most sense, that's how," she replied in a low, almost angry voice. "There were too many inconsistencies, too many things that didn't add up. There were things that John Harriman could've never done, but only you could. There's also the thing that helping out others and faking one's death is a tactic used by the guilty to throw others off your trail. I know because I've seen it many times before. It was only a matter of time before all the signs pointed straight to you."

Devon walked up to the force field and stopped just a few inches from it. He was glaring at Ultraviolet with I think was pure hatred in his eyes. He was actually frightening me.

"You were always too smart for your own good," he said in nearly the same low, angry tone that she used on him. "I was warned that you had that trait."

"So it was you this whole time?" I said, still not over the shock. "I can't believe this. You made us believe you were a good guy. We trusted you, for God's sake! How could you betray us like this?"

If there wasn't a force field in the way, I probably would've tried to punch him, or maybe do something far worse. I was furious as I felt that he had been using us, playing with us that entire though short time that we had been together. Through my anger, something came to mind. Why would he help us destroy the very weapons he wanted to launch at Metroville? Something wasn't right about that. I then felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see that it was my mother's. She was giving me a very sympathetic look.

"Easy, there," she whispered to me. I nodded and calmed down a little.

He laughed. "Betrayed you? What makes you think I was ever on your side? Now, using you to gather information and study what you could really do, that's a little more like it. You see, I detected you almost the moment you first entered the facility. So why didn't I stop you then, you ask? Because I've learned that just waiting things out and having patience can work out a lot better in certain things. Also, deception can also be useful, and what better way to study supers up close than to play the part of the scared, helpless, and recently escaped vice president. I picked out you two, Phoenicia and Chameleon, because it's been proven that new child supers can be very gullible, and thank you for proving me right."

"I dare you to say that to my face and see what happens," Chameleon told him, clearly very angry by his words.

"I thought I just did," he said.

"But why?" I asked him. "Why are you doing all this in the first place? What's the real reason?"

"You know, I was warned against doing that, also," he replied. "Going into a novel length monologue because that's when supers escape and wreck other people's plans. So what makes you think I'm going to do that?"

"Oh, come on," Ultraviolet said. "You have us trapped behind this force field, you took away all our stuff, and you have a dozen guards pointing weapons at us. I hardly think we're in a position to make a miraculous escape."

"Oh, I don't know," he told her. "I've heard you were able to make a few miraculous escapes before."

"So I take it you're not going to tell us," Changeling said.

Devon was very quiet for a while and I really was starting to think that he wasn't going to tell us his reasons. However, he then surprised me by saying, "Alright, I'll tell you, even though it's going against my judgment. I do owe it to you, and even if you were able to get out of there, you'd still be too late to stop it anyway."

He looked at each of us in turn, then spoke again. "Let's take a trip back into time, say, twenty years ago. Do you remember what happened during the entire month of May and half into June, 1975?"

"Yeah, that was when Syndrome first appeared," Ultraviolet said. "But what does that have to do with this?"

"Everything," he replied. "You see, to truly understand, you must know more about me. For instance, my name really isn't Devon Woods. I was born Randall Allen Pine. I'm sure you understand what that means, Ultraviolet."

I certainly didn't understand, and neither did Chameleon, Changeling, or my mother by the looks on their faces. What did telling us his real name have to do with all this? If anything, it kind of sounded like the name of a serial killer, which made sense in a weird sense of way. Apparently, Ultraviolet knew what it meant.

"Wait a minute," she said. "Pine? As in Buddy Pine? As in Syndrome?"

"Wait a sec, that was his real name?" Chameleon said. "Man, no wonder he went by Syndrome."

"Very good, you guessed correctly," Devon, or Randall now, told her. "But please, call me Randy. Everyone else does, or at least they used to."

"I thought he was dead," Changeling said.

"He is, although he didn't die from the explosion, although he wished he had. What was left of him survived for a while longer, no thanks to your Jackall. Anyway, Buddy Pine was my cousin."

"Cousin?" My mother said. "I see, then. So I take it this is basically your standard tale of revenge for the death of a family member."

"Not exactly," he replied. "You see, he was extremely intelligent, but not very patient. I warned him that rushing into things would be his downfall. Now as for myself, I'm not quite as intelligent as he was, but I have far more patience, not to mention my own skills." He then spread his arms wide and looked up at the ceiling. "And this is my greatest achievement right here."

"What, taking over this place is your greatest achievement?" Chameleon said, rolling his eyes. "Sorry, I'm not all that impressed."

Randy chuckled. "I think you're not quite getting what I'm telling you," he said.

I didn't get it either at first. Greatest achievement? What was he talking about? Then, suddenly, it hit me as hard as a sledgehammer to my already injured head. My hand flew to my mouth as I gasped loudly, my eyes widened, and I actually felt physically ill as I nearly fell to my knees. No…he couldn't mean…

"Oh, my God," Mom whispered, obviously getting it as well. "That can't be."

"Wait, are you saying that you're the one that created Advanced Technologies, Incorporated?" Changeling asked.

"Partially," he explained. "As I said, I had my own skills, and I knew a lot of things. For one, you could be as smart as my cousin was and could create a lot of high-tech things, but still not be able to accomplish much. However, as in my case, you might not be as smart, but you can still form an incredibly ambitious idea, such as creating a huge corporation from the ground up and employing thousands of unsuspecting people, many of them the best in their fields, to do all the work for you."

I looked back at Ultraviolet at that moment. She was staring at the floor, her face absolutely pale. I didn't blame her at all. She was the Director of Operations of Commercial Systems for a company that, from what Randy was saying, she and her family basically created by accident. Not only that, for twelve years, she was working on the same projects that would be used to destroy Metroville. I really wouldn't know how I would feel if I was in her position. I reached over and took her hand in mine. She seemed to acknowledge it, but still kept looking at the floor.

"Of course, you have to start from somewhere," Randy went on. "So on October 25, 1975, my good old buddy John Harriman and I formed what would become ATI in the garage of my home. It really wasn't very much, literally a typewriter, a computer, a desk and two chairs. That was all we needed, and it didn't take long for us to grow it out of my garage and into a nearby abandoned building, then to a downtown office building, to a multitude of huge buildings around this entire region and for our employment to grow from just two to over fifteen thousand today. Quite an impressive feat, if I might say so, and all thanks to you and your family, Ultraviolet. A shame, too. All of you could have been members of the board or at least major shareholders.

"So you're probably wondering if I was the brains behind ATI, why didn't I become its CEO? Simple, it's what you call hiding in plain sight. It was my decision to become the vice president and for John to be the overall face of ATI. Unfortunately, at the very last minute, he was becoming more scared to the point of wanting out, and in the end I had to terminate our friendship. I guess I learned a lesson right there, always pick the friends that are willing to stay with the cause to the end."

"So let me get this straight just so we're clear," Chameleon said. "You're telling us that you created ATI twenty years ago as a way to get revenge on the Incredibles for them killing Syndrome?"

"Partially, yes," he replied. "I'm also completing what he wasn't able to do due to Jackall's intervention."

"And what's that?" Mom asked.

"You should know that he did what he did because he felt betrayed by Mr. Incredible. He kept telling me over and over what Mr. Incredible told him in that building that night. 'Fly home, Buddy. I work alone'. Practically all day and all night, 'Fly home, Buddy. I work alone.' You know what that kind of rejection does to a person? That's the problem with you supers, you say things without thinking of the consequences. Some people might simply switch to another super. For Buddy, he wanted to make all supers pay, everywhere, starting with Mr. Incredible. At first, he just wanted to kill him outright, but then he changed it to the plan of getting rid of all the other supers and becoming one himself.

"However, he also had a second, backup plan. He was a very firm believer of scorched earth. In other words, if the people of Metroville didn't love him, then he would make them pay by destroying Metroville. He had a second missile on Nomanisan that had a ZPE warhead inside that was ready for launch the moment he sent the signal."

"ZPE?" Changeling asked. "You mean zero point energy? That's only hypothetical, isn't it?"

"He was able to crack the secret of creating it," he told him. "All his technology ran on ZPE. The warhead in that missile was powerful enough to completely vaporize anything within a thirty-mile radius if detonated. He came very close to launching it immediately after he failed, but he decided to do one last thing. Take the Incredibles' baby to train as his sidekick, and then launch the missile once he was in the safety of his plane. Of course, you know what happened after that.

"Unfortunately, he didn't leave any notes behind on how he was able to create ZPE, so we weren't able to create it ourselves. Instead, we focused on something else, a new technology that was starting to emerge in the early eighties, nanotechnology. Project Nanobyte was born. Ten years and many billions of dollars have come to this moment. Sure, tiny machines might not cause the instant destruction of a ZPE warhead, but they would cause the same amount of destruction over time, not to mention having it's own psychological effect."

"So basically you're fulfilling his debt," Chameleon said. "But then why did you help us destroy two of your missiles?"

"Simple, those aren't the missiles you were looking for. What, did you really think I'd leave weapons as important as those out in the open only for them to be destroyed? No, the real single missile is in a special silo here at the facility, heavily reinforced and guarded. You'd be lucky to even get near it, let alone destroy it, and even if you were to somehow escape from here, you'd still be far too late to stop it anyway. But don't worry, I've arranged for you to see the whole thing live."

He pulled out some kind of remote from his pocket and hit a switch. A huge screen activated on one of the walls, showing the inside of a silo and the huge missile filling it, and the sizable amount of guards and machines around it. A clock superimposed on the screen read five minutes and thirty-seven seconds, and was counting down much too fast.

"You should be honored," Randy told us. "You're probably the only supers to see the destruction of Metroville firsthand, and on such a big screen, no less."

"Yeah, we're really honored," Chameleon said sarcastically. "Throw in some popcorn, soft drinks, and a few La-Z-Boy chairs and we'll be all set."

"So if all this was to get back at Metroville," Changeling asked, "then what was the purpose of those two men at the Westville mall?"

"Ah, yes, those two," Randy replied. "That's one of those great things about having a mercenary force, a few of them can be expendable. Basically, I needed to know how our new combat suits would fare against super attacks, and those two just happened to be the test subjects. Of course, they weren't meant to survive, so I had to eliminate them in jail so they wouldn't talk. You know how people are when offered deals and bargains. Speaking of talks, I told you what you wanted to know, so I say we're done here. Enjoy the show while it lasts, because when it's done, then I'm going to decide what to do with the five of you. Have fun."

"You are one sick, insane person," my mother told him.

"Maybe," he said as he started to leave, but then stopped. "By the way, I wouldn't bother getting any ideas for escape if I were you." He then left the room but a couple of the guards stayed behind at the door to watch over us.

I turned back to Ultraviolet, who was still staring at the floor almost mindlessly. I was seriously starting to wonder if the news hit her far harder than the rest of us. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked her. She didn't reply at first, but then she looked at me for a second before looking back at the floor.

"Twelve years," she whispered. "Twelve damn years. God, was I really that stupid, that blind to everything happening around me?"

"Hey, there was no way you could've known the truth," my mother said.

"Wasn't there?" Ultraviolet whirled around and said to her almost angrily. "What makes you so totally sure of that? You're not the one who worked twelve years for a corporation that shouldn't even be existing. I prided myself of being the smart one in my family and being able to figure out things in an instant, but all that time I was working on and testing things that I never had the slightest idea what they were really going to be used for, never picking up even the tiny clues to what was happening behind the curtains. I'm supposed to be a world-class super and things like that are second nature, but yet I still flunked miserably. So excuse me if I'm feeling a little bit skeptical of what you just said."

Mom then grabbed Ultraviolet's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Listen to me very carefully," she told her. "You're absolutely right. I wouldn't know and probably would be just as upset as you, but remember, you're not the only one he played for a fool. My husband's been working at ATI for ten years. How do you think he's going to feel once he learns the truth, if he hasn't already? How do you think all those fifteen thousand people are going to feel? Obviously you can't go back and change things twelve or even twenty years ago, but maybe we'll still have a chance to deal with what's going on now. We might be the only supers that can. Yes, we might not be able to catch everything as quickly as we'd like, and yes, that might get us down for a while, but the most important thing is to put that behind us and move on. Right now, we need your expertise on everything here. You know I've never asked for your help before, and, well, there were times that I didn't want your help, so I guess I'm asking for both of them now."

Ultraviolet just stared at her for the longest time, although it only had to be for just a few seconds, before she gave my mother a slight smile and said, "Alright, who are you and what did you do with the Electricia I used to know?" After they both had a slight chuckle, she sighed and continued. "Yeah, you're right, I suppose. It still makes you question your abilities if you've been completely fooled for twelve years, though. But I guess I have no other choice. Looks like we'll be partnering up one more time." She then laughed a little. "Looks like I won the bet."

"What bet?" my mother asked.

"Dash bet me a while back that you and I would never team up together again, especially after what happened the last time. He bet me a hundred bucks, but that was nine years ago, so I don't know what that would be now. Anyway, even with all my expertise, it's still useless as long as we're stuck in here."

"There's no way out of here, then?" Changeling asked her.

"Not unless someone shuts down the field," she told him. "Even if that was done now, he was right. There's no way we'd reach the missile in time, especially in," she looked up at the screen, "less than four minutes, and that's factoring in a clear path there, which we can easily see that it's not."

"Do you even know where that area is at?" Mom asked her, looking at the screen as well. "Maybe it's a lot closer than you think."

"I have a pretty good idea," she replied. "I still say we couldn't reach it in time."

"So that's it, then?" Chameleon said in a very disappointed voice. "We have no choice but to just stand here and watch Metroville get destroyed?"

I was feeling almost the exact same way that he was, only I didn't express it like he did. I never felt so helpless in my life, nor was the weight of responsibly so crushing on my shoulders. I was really starting to think that after everything that we did, we still failed and were going to let millions of people down. It wasn't supposed to be like this. No matter how huge the odds were, supers seemed to always come through at the end, sometimes at the last possible moment. However, it didn't look like that would be the case this time. Randy seemed to have thought of everything. Maybe this was something that was bound to happen. There were people out there that were saying that even though the city had been saved countless times in the past, the odds of its eventual destruction were going to catch up sooner or later. Still, I was certain that all five of us wanted one last chance, and if a miracle didn't happen in the next three minutes, Metroville was doomed.

"I wasn't suggesting that," Ultraviolet told him. "Still, we…"

"Wait, do you hear that?" Changeling interrupted.

I listened for any kind of strange noise. All I could hear was the slight hum of the green force field. What could he be hearing?

"I don't hear anything," Chameleon said. "What are you talking about?"

"What are you hearing and where do you think it's coming from?" Mom asked.

"I don't know what it is exactly," Changeling replied. "It sounds like it's coming from the ceiling."

The ceiling? We all looked up at the ceiling of the room, at least the parts that we could see. The field was slightly distorting the view, but there didn't seem to be anything unusual about it, all that we could see, anyway.

But before any of us could ask any more questions, Chameleon pointed and said, "Look at that."

We looked in the direction that he was pointing. The two guards that were left behind to watch over us were starting to sway and stagger on their feet, almost like they were drunk. They seemed to know that something was happening to them, but before they could warn anyone else, they fell down to the ground almost right at the same time and weren't moving at all.

"What the hell?" Ultraviolet said.

My question exactly. What had just happened to those two guards? Were they even alive? Again, before any of us could ask a question, a vent cover opened up in the ceiling and a rope dropped down from it to the floor. A few moments later a person slid down the rope followed immediately by another. They were wearing white lab coats, black gloves, belts, and dark gas masks. I actually had to raise my eyebrows at this unexpected event. Okay, who were these guys? It was almost certain that they were good guys, or at least I thought that they were but could be wrong, but if they were supposed to be some kind of commandos or something, they had the weirdest combat outfits that I've ever seen.

"Who are you guys?" Chameleon asked them.

"We're a couple of the people you freed," one of them told us, his voice muffled by the mask. "There's a lot more of us around regaining control of the facility bit by bit. We got most of it back, but there are still areas out of our control. We also managed to get a signal out to the police and they're on their way, but they won't get here until it's far too late. Anyway, it looks like it's our turn to rescue you. We'd get you out right now, but we have to wait for the gas to clear so you won't be affected. It should only take a few more seconds."

"Gas? What gas?" Changeling asked.

"It's only knockout gas," the other said. "They'll be out for several hours." The two men then removed their masks. One of them was a young blond man, and the other was an older dark-haired guy. The both of them moved over to the control panel. "It's clear, now. Hang on, we'll get you out off there."

The two men looked over the panel for a few seconds before they started pushing a few buttons. The field didn't shut down. They pushed a few more buttons and were talking to each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Still, it was becoming obvious that their rescue attempt was suffering a little setback.

"Is there a problem?" Mom asked.

"It's encrypted," the dark-haired man said. "I got another idea, though. Let's see if this works."

He pressed a couple more buttons. Nothing happened at first. Then suddenly, the whole room plunged into total darkness as the lights and field shut down.

"Now hurry! Get out of there!"

It probably would've been a lot easier if I could see where I was going, or at least had time to make my hands glow, but since it sounded like we didn't have much time, I just picked a direction and dashed out, hoping that I didn't run into anything or anyone. Moments later, the lights and the field came back on, this time with all five of us outside of it. We were free.

"What did you do?" Changeling asked.

"I created a power overload for this area," he explained. "The system is designed to automatically shut down a certain grid to protect the transformers, pretty much temporarily taking out anything connected to it."

"Thanks," Ultraviolet told them both. "Anyway, did you see where he went?"

"Where who went?" the blond asked with a confused expression.

"Never mind. We're pressed for time, so I'll just say find a place to hole up in until the police come and don't take don't take unnecessary risks if you can help it, okay?"

"Sure. Nice seeing you in action again, Ultraviolet, and love the new suit. Go get him, whoever he is."

She just nodded with a slight smile and then started moving toward the door that Randy went out of a few minutes earlier with the four of us right behind her. She pulled open the door and we went through it and into a short concrete hall. Our footsteps echoed loudly as we ran toward the door that was at the very end of the hall. According to the timer at the moment we left, we had almost two minutes left before launch, not nearly enough time to do anything even if we knew exactly where we were going. I wasn't even sure where we were, let alone where we had to go.

"Can we do what that guy did and shut this whole place down?" Chameleon asked.

"No, it wouldn't work," Ultraviolet replied. "There are too many protections and redundancies in the system to allow that. That guy was extremely lucky to shut down even that small portion of the grid to begin with."

"Maybe I could create a surge through the system and shut it down that way," Mom suggested.

"That won't work, either. You might be able to blow out the main grid, but there are numerous backups that would kick in immediately, and, no offense, but you're probably a lot more powerful than the system could ever hope to handle. Who knows where all that extra power would end up going. It could go into an area with a lot of explosive material. Sorry, we're going to have to do this the very hard way."

"How could we even do that if we don't know where he went?" Changeling asked.

Before she could answer, the door opened about right about the moment that we got to it. It was another guard coming in. He obviously wasn't expecting us because he seemed very surprised to see us there. Before he could do anything else, Ultraviolet grabbed him and pressed him against the wall with her left forearm against his neck.

"Okay, talk now," she growled through gritted teeth. "Where did he go? You know who I'm talking about, so don't try to lie."

"I…I don't know what you're talking about," he stammered.

"No?" Mom said, walking up to him. "Let's see if I could help you out with your little memory problem. If you don't tell us where he went, you're going to know what it's like to have a couple hundred thousand volts of electricity going through your body. Believe me, a human body doesn't look good after that. I suggest you don't try me. I'm not in a very good mood." As if to further illustrate her point, crackling bands of electricity began to run up and down her arms and hands.

"Okay! Okay!" he said in a very scared voice. "Don't hurt me. He went to the special room built under the administration building. That's where he controls the missile."

"How do we get there?" Ultraviolet asked.

"I heard there's some secret elevator or something in the CEO's office. I don't know how it works, I just know it's there. That's all I know, I swear."

Ultraviolet nodded to my mother and let him go. However, Mom then put her hand on his shoulder right next to his neck. "Sorry, can't have you warning anyone else," she told him, and a surge of energy left her hand and went into the man. He stiffened like a board for a second before slumping down to the floor.

"A couple hundred thousand volts of power?" Chameleon asked in amazement.

"Don't worry, it's about as much as a stun gun puts out," Mom told him. "High volts, low amps. It leaves no permanent damage as long as you don't do it too long. The trick is to say that in a way that makes people think instant death or even incineration." She then knelt down next to me and said, "I don't know how dangerous this is going to get, so I want you and your two friends to find a safe place to hide until this is over."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. "But Mom…" I started to say.

"No buts," she said in a stern voice. "I'm still not happy you're here. You've been extremely lucky so far, but we don't know what's going to happen next. I don't want anything to happen to you, so please do as I say, okay?"

"But Mom," I tried again. "I know I screwed up, but like you just said, we don't know what'll happen. What if something happens to you two, what then? Doesn't five of us have a better chance than two? You might need us. Besides, I think we need to see this through to the end. Please let us come with you."

Mom looked like she was about to say no again, but she surprised me when her face softened and then she hugged me tightly. "Oh, honey, you're growing up so fast," she whispered and then sighed. "Alright, you can come, but do exactly as I tell you and absolutely no risks."

"Thank you," I said.

"Okay, we got to go, now," Ultraviolet told us. "We're down to about a minute."

My mother stood back up as Ultraviolet opened the door and we went through it. We were back outside, and almost by sheer luck we happened to be in a building that was almost right next to the administration building. There didn't seem to be anyone guarding the entrances this time. It was almost strange having to come back full circle. I can't say that I was overly thrilled to have to go back inside that building again, especially after what happened the last time. Still, even though it didn't look like it was guarded on the outside, I still had a very bad feeling.

"What happened to the guards?" Changeling asked.

"I don't know," Ultraviolet relied. "We'll worry about them later if we have to."

"You know, it would be a lot easier if we had a way to grapple onto those top story windows and bust through them," Chameleon said. "It'd save us a lot of time."

"I could fly up and blast one out," I suggested. "Maybe find a rope or ladder inside for the rest of you to climb up."

"Absolutely not," my mother objected.

"No, wait," Ultraviolet told her. "That could work."

"Excuse me?" Mom seemed shocked by that.

"I have an idea. I'll explain on the way." With that, she took off running toward the building.

"Wait a minute! But…" My mother actually let out an irritated groan and followed her with the three of us close behind.

Whatever Ultraviolet's plan was, we didn't get a chance to hear it. Just mere moments after we started moving, the bad feeling that I was having came true. The five of us stopped in our tracks as we heard a loud roar overhead. Before we could look up to see what it was, something very huge landed right in front of us, actually shaking the ground underneath our feet. It took a moment for me to get a clear idea of what I was looking at. It was another machine, but this one was absolutely huge, at least ten feet tall. It also was extremely bulky, with a massive main body and equally massive arms, legs, and head. Its eyes were staring at us with an almost frightening blue glow. It was terrifying to say the least, and it was something that I've seen before. It was back at Ultraviolet's hideout in the hills, and was something that I thought she said we didn't have to worry about. It took a moment for me to remember its name.

The Devastator.