EPIC CLIFFHANGER RESOLUTION! Oh wait, did I say that last chapter? I think I did XD

Hermes's POV

I pick up both Nixon and Kelly, making the vines around Laurence's legs disappear. The lynx immediately gets up and races over to where Lydia fell.

Anke has created a forcefield bubble-prison around Blaze, Lapis, Libra, Sphene, Farren, and Charlie. I add Nixon and Kelly to the temporary prison and head towards Carter and Blake, the only two we have not yet captured.

Laurence's POV

Tears running down my face, I kneel down beside Lydia and clutch her hands as she shakes on the grass. "It's okay, it's okay," I keep repeating shakily. "It'll be okay. You'll be okay."

"It hurts!" Lydia gasps out. "It hurts!"

"I know, I know. It's okay, I'm here."

As I touch Lydia's chest, the place where the lightning bolt hit, I feel a sharp and rather painful tingle of electricity fly up my arm.

"Why did you do that?" I tenderly brush my hand against Lydia's cheek. "It wouldn't have killed me."

"I didn't want you to go through any more pain." Lydia's chest is heaving, a shallow breath punctuating every word.

My breath catches in my throat. "Lydi…"

"Laurence, heads up!" yells Hermes.

I see Blake the Bear come running towards me as fast as he can. If he hits me at that speed, with his combined strength, he might just be able to punt me into the atmosphere, and that wouldn't be good.

I take a chance and take away the light to his eyes. The brown bear's paws fly to his eyes and he veers off-course, hitting into a tree. Anke adds him to her forcefield, though she has to expand it a lot to fit him in.

At that moment, Adrian runs out of the OWCA building and skids down next to Lydia. I get up and move away as Adrian begins easing Lydia's pain. I hope she'll be okay…

Hermes's POV

There's only one we haven't captured now: Carter the Cat. Ferrokinesis. Controlling metal. This is not going to be easy…

We regroup: me, Lateysha, Noah, Laurence, and Anke (who is holding the forcefield containing all the Bionics above our heads) in a circle around Adrian and Lydia.

"There!" yells Lateysha, pointing.

A piece of metal that looks like an extremely large radio tower is flying towards us. Anke cannot raise a forcefield to protect us without letting the other Bionics go, and we can't have that.

It's up to me.

"Get down!" I yell.

Everyone ducks down to one knee. I raise my right arm and point my right hand towards the piece of metal. That thing probably weighs the same as our house…

No. Don't think about that.

Just focus.

I focus all my telekinetic power and send it all up into my hand just as the metal structure comes down. The strain hits me immediately but I force my legs, body, and arm to stay completely straight. My fingers are twitching and sweat is running down my face but I hold strong.

Noah's POV

As Hermes struggles to save our lives, I spot Carter coming running out of the bush, preparing to attack the platypus while he's distracted. I roll out from under the metal structure and run towards Carter; at the moment he's too far away for my energy blasts to have a good chance of hitting him.

As I run, I see Carter ferrokinetically pushing down on the metal structure, increasing the strain on Hermes and his powers. Enraged, I let loose from my hands a huge laser blast of energy in a stream. Carter spots it just in time; he brings up a piece of steel or something and holds it ferrokinetically in front of him as a shield. I keep the stream up, trying to stop him from hurting Hermes any more.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Laurence and Tish running to help me, but I have this in hand. With one final push of strength, I break his shield apart, which forces him to literally fall back and drop his control on the large metal structure.

Hermes's POV

My left hand clenches into a fist as I mimic with my right hand the movement that Diana Fay showed me when she taught me how to throw objects. I'm scared for a moment that I haven't succeeded, but then the structure goes flying away from us.

"You did it!" Anke enthuses.

I turn to look at her and see blood running from her nose. I gasp but she already knows and she says, "Relax, I'm just tired. It's happened before."

"I know."

Adrian helps Lydia to her feet while Laurence and Lateysha capture Carter. Now that everyone has been taken down and there are no more attacks, Anke can focus properly on carrying the Bionics in her forcefield.

"Let's get these guys to the prison cells," I say, panting hard. I'm still struggling to get my breath and strength back after straining myself so much.

"Can the cells hold them?" asks Noah doubtfully.

I nod. "They've been holding Anton and Rose for nearly three days now," I point out. "They have power dampeners installed in them now. It's the best place for them without having to send them to Steele Bay."

Anke nods and carries the forcefield inside. The rest of us are about to follow when, all of a sudden, the ground begins to shake. The three of us who have the worst balance—Adrian, Lydia, and Laurence—tumble over. I almost follow but I use my power to steady myself. Noah and Lateysha hover to avoid the same fate.

"What is that?" shouts Lateysha over the noise of the shaking.

The shaking stops and we slowly stand up. Then a soft voice begins laughing evilly.

I quickly get out the phone that Dad gave me and begin a voice recording, just in case.

"You may think you have stopped me but I already have what I want," says a gravelly voice.

"The Overlord…!" gasps Laurence, turning pale.

Lydia protectively steps in front of him.

"We have your minions in custody!" I yell. I don't really think of the Bionics as "minions"; I guess I'm just trying to get a reaction from the Overlord. "Leave us alone and we'll release them back to you."

"You think I care for those weaklings?" sneers the voice. "I was using them as a distraction. They were useful and now that I have what I want, I do not need them anymore."

"What did you do, you monster?" Lateysha yells bravely. "What did you take?"

"By the time you realise, it'll be too late."

We can almost hear the grin in his voice.

"Now, farewell."

The ground shakes again, more violently. This time, the only two who can hover—Lateysha and Noah—are the only two who don't get knocked to the ground.

Then the shaking stops and the voice has gone.

Perry's POV

The first thing I'm aware of is the voice of one of my daughters but, in my hazy mind, I can't place which one it is until I open my eyes and see the silver fur.

"Hazel…?"

"Oh, Dad, thank goodness!" My daughter helps me sit up. "Are you okay?"

I look around and see that I'm still in the records room. I blink several times and rub my forehead to try to stem my splitting headache.

"Something hit me," I remember. "There was a person in here…"

With some protest from my daughter, I struggle to my feet and stumble over to the shelf where I had seen the figure. My shaky hands and blurry vison search the records for anything missing. If my brain were properly in focus, I would have realised that this was the exact same file I was searching through just five years ago. That's why I knew immediately what was missing.

"It's gone," I say quietly. "That's what he or she must have wanted."

"What's gone, Dad?" Hazel asks.

"The list of all of Bill Hawkes's and Dimitri Allen's facilities."

Dun du-you know what, I'm tired of doing that XD