Thunder Shock II: The Force Of Destiny

Chapter Seven

Meteor Impact Crater

Tracy Island, Sometime Later

Dressed in an International Rescue thermal protection suit Gear stood on the edge of the crater carved in the side of the islands central peak by the meteor that had struck yesterday.

Though it had been nearly fourteen hours since impact the heat radiating off the crater was still immense. The steeply sloping edges of the crater still smoked slightly though were now solid enough to walk on. In the centre of the crater all that remained of the meteor that had struck the island and released the metagas were a few fragments some quite large, fragments that still smoked hotly though they were rapidly cooling. Even from here Gear could guess that much of the meteor had been vaporised when it impacted the island and the rest shattered into fragments. If the meteor was largely vaporised then how did it produce metagas, Gear wondered.

"Are you sure you want to go down there bro," Static's voice asked over the radio built into the helmet of the suit.

"Yes," Gear replied. "Though its still really hot down there its well within the capabilities of these suits to withstand. Also the pieces that survived the impact are solid though very hot we can take one or two back to Brains lab for analysis, and maybe get some answers as to how this meteor could have created that organic metagas."

"Alright bro lets do this thing," Static replied.

Slowly carefully – making full use of safety equipment provided by the Tracy's – the two metahuman superhero's started down into the meteor crater.

It took them awhile but they eventually made it to the bottom of the smouldering impact crater where the few shattered pieces of the meteor lay broken and scattered. Most of the pieces were small no bigger than pebbles but there were one or two pieces that were larger.

It was to one of those larger pieces that Gear went. Carefully he scanned it with a small handheld scanner device provided by Brains. He wished he could run a scan with backpack but he'd had to leave backpack back in Brains lab as his faithful robot wouldn't fit in the suit with him, just like he'd also had to leave his helmet and much of his equipment behind. Though he didn't mind leaving most of his equipment behind at the lab and just use the Tracy's technology. Technology that in most cases was superior to his own.

"Whoa," Gear said as he read the scan results being displayed on the handheld unit's small screen. "There is somekind of crystal lattice inside the rock that has almost the same chemical signature as the mutagenic agent in the gas."

"A crystal," Static repeated. "That created the gas cloud?"

"I don't know," Gear replied putting the scanner back in a compartment on the belt of the protective suit. "There are some crystals that don't melt but turn straight into gas when superheated – diamond for example, maybe that's what happened here. We do need to analyse this probably to really get some answers. Virg can you give me the box please?"

"Sure bro," Static replied taking a metallic box like object off his back where he had been carrying it and handing it to Gear. Carefully Gear set it down and opened it with a faint hiss of a breaking seal. Then he carefully picked up the piece of meteor that he had scanned a piece that was about as long as his forearm and put it inside the container and closed it again and made sure the seal was tight.

"Okay lets head back," he said to Static as he carefully picked up the container that now held a piece of the meteor and possibly the key to the scientific puzzle as to how a meteor could create mutagenic gas.

Static nodded and together they began to make their way back out of the crater.

Brains Lab

A Short Time Later

Gear stood beside Brains outside a small sealed chamber watching through the toughened glass as small mechanical arms manipulated the meteor fragment that Gear and Static had recovered just over an hour earlier. The mechanical arms were carefully breaking up the rock and stuffing some components into an analysis machine.

Brains moved away from the chamber to his main workstation and sat down before viewing the information on the screen as the analyser started to give its findings.

"Carbon, n…n…nickel, iron, t…t…traces of copper," Brains said. "N…n…nothing unusual. W…w…we are coming up on the c…c…crystal lattice that you d…d…detected."

As he spoke he left his workstation and rejoined Gear at the window of the analysis chamber and watched as the mechanical arms exposed a section of the meteor fragments interior that contained strange purple-white crystals laid out in a lattice format. The mechanical arms freed a section of the crystal breaking it away from the rest of the lattice.

As the crystal was slowly moved towards the analysis machine it began to slowly but literally smoke, giving off a purple gas that was exactly the same colour as the gas that had been released yesterday. The rate the gas was being produced was slow but noticeable as thin tongues of purple gas came off the crystal, as the gas was produced the crystal seemed to darken and shrink.

"Whoa," Gear said watching as the rate of gas production increased, he also noticed that the exposed section of lattice was also smoking giving off purple gas. "The crystal is the gas in a solid state like dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. As soon as it hits the air it starts to revert to a gaseous form."

"A valid h…h…hypothesis," Brains agreed watching as the exposed crystal sections all dissolved completely into gas that formed a layer about half an inch thick that hugged the bottom of the analysis chamber as it was heavier than the surrounding air.

Brains pressed some controls that activated a powerful extractor fan that sucked the gas out of the chamber and channelled it along pipes to small plant where it would be forced into a liquid state and stowed in sealed containers for safe disposal.

"We should extract all the air from the chamber," Gear suggested, "then expose another section of the lattice and see what happens." Brains nodded and again manipulated the controls for the extractor fan, this time directing it to remove all of the atmosphere from the analysis chamber.

"It will t…t…take two m…m…minutes for there to be a v…v…vacuum in the chamber," Brains said.

Gear nodded though he calculated that it would actually take one minute fifty eight point six five seconds to clear the atmosphere from the analysis chamber he decided that he had better not correct Brains statement. He had learned long ago that providing estimates down to the millisecond only annoyed people.

Instead he looked around the lab at all the inventions that Brains was either building or repairing. There were plans on the walls or on boards as well. One especially caught his eye and as he looked at it he released that it was plans for some new piece of International Rescue kit that looked like it was designed for excavation work.

"What's that," he asked. Brains looked at the plans.

"D…d…designs for w…w…what I call a p…p…particle l…l…lance," Brains stammered back. "It's s…s…still in the e…e…early design s…s…stages. If I c…c…can make it work it will h…h…help immensely in m…m…mine and other u…u…underground rescues." Gear nodded and turned his attention away from it.

In seconds though his attention was caught by what looked like a metallic cap of some sort. Covering its surface was a complex pattern of circuitry and hanging down from it was something that looked like it was meant to press against the nape of a person's neck. Looking at the circuitry it reminded him of the circuitry that there was in his helmet that allowed him to link his mind to backpack via a datastream but there were a number of differences as well as similarities.

"What is this," he asked. "It looks similar to the neural net circuitry in my helmet that lets me link my mind to backpack."

"It's s…s…similar," Brains replied. "It's a n…n…neural net c…c…control s…s…system I've been working on. It d…d…doesn't work that w…w…well yet. H…h…here let me s…s…show you."

Gear watched interested as Brains picked up the neural net control system from the hemispherical holder it was sat on and put it on. He made sure the dermal pad on the end of its small cable was pressed against the nape of his neck before focusing his attention on his normal test object, which was a small mobile phone that no longer worked.

Concentrating he willed the phone to lift off the top the workbench. Gear noticed a light appear around the edges of the cap and then before his eyes the phone slowly began to lift off the surface of the workbench. Behind the face plate of his helmet Gear's eyes widened in surprise as he realised that what he was seeing was an artificial form of telekinesis. It was very impressive as the phone came to a stop, about two to three inches above, the surface of the desk and remained there.

Seeing the phone hovering in the air Brains was surprised to find that it was taking less concentration than normal to operate the neural net system. Maybe the adjustments he'd made to it last week were responsible.

Concentrating a little more he tried to make the phone actually move and not just hover in the air. Slowly, ever so slowly it began to do just that moving in the air towards the other side of the workbench. Brains smiled pleased that it was working so well. Then he heard an all to familiar buzz followed by a sharp snap as a circuit in the neural net system shorted out. The phone dropped back onto the workbench and he took the cap off and examined the circuitry to see that one of the main circuits had fused again.

"O…o…one of these d…d…days I will s…s…solve that o…o…overload problem," Brains said frowning at the fused circuitry before putting the cap down on its holder.

"Impressive demonstration Brains," Gear replied.

"T…t…thank you," Brains answered with a smile. "T…t…the analysis c…c…chamber should be in v…v…vacuum now."

"Yes," Gear agreed knowing already that the time projected for all the air to be evacuated from the chamber had passed.

Brains stood up from behind his workstation and started to move over back towards the analysis chamber. He had barely gotten two steps when a strange sensation inside him made him stop in his tracks, a strange tingle that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him, then as quickly as it had appeared it vanished.

Gear looked at Brains in concern having noticed the way Brains had paused.

"Brains are you alright?" he asked.

"Y…y…yes," Brains stammered back. "Just f…f…felt s…s…strange there for a s…s…second. Lets get on with the a…a…analysis of the m…m…meteor f…f…fragment."

Gear nodded though he resolved to keep a careful eye on Brains. That feeling of strangeness that Brains had just experienced could after all be a sign that the metagas he had been exposed to yesterday was starting to affect him as it had affected the Tracy sons and Tin-Tin. He turned back towards the analysis chamber ready to begin the next test.

Brains followed. He had taken barely three steps when he again felt the strange tingle well up from somewhere deep inside him surging through his body in a disorientating wave. Immediately another wave followed bringing with it a knife-edge of pain. Brains gasped and stumbled grabbing onto the nearest workbench for support as a second even more intense wave of pain welled forth from somewhere inside. Brains moaned in pain struggling to keep everything in focus as the world began to spin sickeningly, then a third wave came more intense than the last and it didn't stop instead intense burning pain erupted across his entire body. Brains screamed in agony dropping to his knees as the pain went on and on.

Gear who had spun around when he first heard Brains gasp watched sympathetically guessing what was happening but knowing he could do nothing to help, nothing to ease the pain Brains was experiencing.

Brains screamed again as the pain got worse, then there was something else. The pain began to fade but replacing it came what felt like a surge of energy welling forth from some source deep inside him. The tips of his fingers began to feel warm and then the pain was gone but the energy still surged through him and his fingers got warmer and warmer. Blinking to clear tears from his eyes Brains looked at his hands as short but extremely intense blue-white plasma flames burst into existence from his fingertips.

Where his one hand touched the workbench the inch long plasma flames melted through the tough thermal-stabilised and reinforced plastic in seconds before he could pull his hand away. The wood beneath the plastic blistered and crackled then burst into flames. Brains yanked his hand away though even though the flames from the burning wood were starting to play over the skin it wasn't burning him at all.

The wail of the fire alarm abruptly rent the air and fire control nozzles on the ceiling of the lab swivelled round and squirted dicetylene at the blaze that was spreading rapidly across the surface of the workbench. The moment the fine white mist that dicetylene appeared to be touched the flames they went out.

Working frantically Brains tried to figure out someway of stopping the plasma flames projecting from his fingertips. He barely noticed when the fire alarms shut down, though he did see a blur of motion enter the lab and suddenly Scott was standing there having used his super speed to get here quickly from the surface.

"Brains what's going on," Scott asked then his eyes widened when he saw the short but intense blue-white plasma flames coming from the tips of Brains fingers. "Whoa."

"H…h…how do I s…s…stop these," Brains exclaimed continuing to try and snuff out the flames that he was generating. He tried to stop the energy flow to his hands but it wasn't working.

"Try just imagining the flames out," Gear suggested. "Do what Alan does think of the desired outcome not the action itself."

With nothing to loose Brains did as Gear suggested and imagined the flames gone and to his surprise they did just that. The nails of burning plasma vanished and he felt the heat leave his finger tips as the energy flow inside him stopped, though he could feel the energy was still there inside but now collected in what felt an internal reservoir of power. Guess that's what Alan means by energy inside, Brains thought.

Then he looked at the workbench and sighed when he saw the mess that he'd made. The plastic surface had almost completely melted and the wood underneath was now all cracked and blistered, and everything was covered in dicetylene. In many respects the workbench and the stuff on it were ruined, either by the flames or the dicetylene getting into things. While dicetylene was a neutral, non-toxic chemical substance and didn't react to anything accept fire it wouldn't do electronics any good if it got inside though air vents.

The sound of multiple sets of running feet caught his attention and Brains looked in the direction of the entrance to see through the open door the rest of the Tracy family approaching, and they had both Static and Peter in tow.

"Brains what happened," Jeff asked as they came into the lab. Brains couldn't meet Jeff's gaze suddenly very embarrassed.

"M…m…my p…p…powers a…a…appeared," he stammered. "I a…a...accidentally s…s…started the f…f…fire."

"Started the fire," Static replied. "You have fire powers like Hotstreak."

"No bro," Gear answered. "From what I could see it was more like plasma flames then the fire Hotstreak generates. They came from the tips of Brains fingers and looked like the fire you get on some of the newer plasma welding torches."

"I'm s…s…sorry about the m…m…mess," Brains said.

"Don't worry about it Brains you couldn't help what happened," Jeff assured him. "And the mess can easily be cleaned up and the bench can be replaced."

Brains finally looked up at Jeff and smiled before a wave of tiredness abruptly ran through his head and he stumbled.

"Brains are you alright," Jeff asked worriedly wondering if his friend was changing some more.

"I f…f…feel strange," Brains admitted as another wave of tiredness rippled through him. "T…t…tired."

Jeff nodded remembering that he should have expected it. He remembered all to well how Alan had suddenly needed to sleep after his powers first appeared and how John had fallen asleep as his powers started to appear. He remembered how Gear had described it as away of the body adjusting to the sudden changes brought on by becoming a metahuman.

"You need to go to sleep," he said. "Go back to your chalet Brains and go to sleep." To Brains that sounded like a very good idea but he couldn't leave yet.

"W…w…what a…a…about the analysis of the m…m…meteor f…f…fragment," Brains protested.

"Don't worry about it Brains I can finish that," Gear said reassuringly. "If its done and we leave before you wake up don't worry I'll leave the analysis here for you to look over."

Brains gave Gear a grateful look and started to leave the lab only to stumble as another wave of tiredness rippled through his body. He would have fallen if Scott hadn't quickly caught him.

"T…t…thanks Scott," Brains said straightening up.

"No problem. Maybe one of us should accompany you back to your chalet," Scott suggested. Brains looked like he was about to protest only for Jeff to shoot him down.

"That is a good idea," Jeff agreed in a tone that told Brains that resistance was useless. "Scott help Brains get back to his chalet."

"Sure dad," Scott replied, "come on Brains."

Jeff watched as Brains reluctantly left in Scott's company. The rest of his sons followed along with Static. Peter hung back seeing Jeff holding position. Jeff waited until they were out of earshot before moving himself with Peter keeping pace with him.

"Now Brains as well," Jeff said. "How many more are going to be affected by that gas release yesterday?"

"There is no way to know," Peter replied looking at Jeff closely, "you're worried it might do something to you as well."

"Is it that obvious," Jeff asked, though Gear hadn't detected any mutagenic activity in him yesterday it did not mean that the metagas hadn't affected him. He knew of too many instances of delayed reactions to metagas – like Alan who hadn't turned into a metahuman until ten years after he was exposed – to say that he was clear.

"If you know what you're looking for," Peter replied. "Try not to worry about it too much Jeff if it happens if you do turn into a metahuman as well then you'll have to live with it, if it doesn't happen then you just live with that."

"Your right," Jeff agreed with a sigh. "There is no point worrying about it. If it happens to me as well then it happens if it doesn't it doesn't. Either way I've got enough things to worry about at the moment."

"True."

Hackenbacker Chalet

A Few Minutes Later

It took longer than Brains would have thought to reach the chalet he shared with his son and he was more than a little grateful that Scott was with him. The exhaustion plaguing his body was now so intense that he was having trouble keeping his feet under him let alone moving. All his limps felt like they had lead weights attached to them and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Half supporting Brains Scott reached forward and opened the front door to the chalet and he helped Brains inside.

"I c…c…can m…m…manage from here Scott," Brains said weakly.

"Are you sure Brains," Scott asked worriedly.

"Y…y…yes," Brains replied pulling away from Scott and starting across the chalet for the bedrooms in the back. Scott followed ready to intervene and catch Brains if he started to fall again.

Through sheer willpower Brains made it to his bedroom under his own steam. Awkwardly he slipped off his lab coat and let it fall to the floor before moving over to the bed and kicking off his shoes. The last thing he did was take off his glasses and put them down on the bedside cabinet before lying flat out on the bed. Then he closed his eyes and was instantly asleep.

Scott watched from the doorway. Being careful to not disturb Brains though he guessed even the alarm going off would not wake him now he moved across the bedroom to the cupboard that he knew held spare bedsheets. Opening the cupboard he took out a spare sheet and unfolded it before moving over to the bed and covering Brains with it from the shoulders down.

"Pleasant dreams Brains," he said softly then he left making sure to close the door of the chalet behind him, leaving Brains alone to the sleep his body so desperately needed.