Terra rushed through the dark streets back to the bungalow. She told her sisters she went out walking, but not to Zach's house. After Rayne 's scene on the bus, she didn't dare mention Zach, or going over to see him. The feeling of doom struck her after she was off the bus. She expected much devastation upon visiting with her father. She felt better telling someone about it, maybe they could prevent colossal damage if she forewarned it. She was starting to get anxious. She slipped into her room quietly. Gail was sleeping already. She fed Slimy some crickets and joined Gail in dream world, the last peaceful moment she would ever have.
Zach was studying with Magenta and Ethan for a test on de-arming villains before class on the steps in front of Sky High.
"So if a villain has two hyper-bombs you…?" Ethan quizzed Magenta.
"Uh, kick him in the balls?"
"No dude, then the bombs would drop and freeze ever0y on e in time forever!" Zach exclaimed.
"Okay, catch the bombs then?" Magenta suggested.
"You'd have to have some slick hand-eye coordination for that," Ethan noted.
"Hey guys," Layla greeted cheerily with Will behind her.
"Yo," Zach greeted. His mind turned toward Terra's awkward visit the night before. "Will man, can I talk to you?"
"Sure," Will agreed and they went away from the group. 'What's up?"
"Dude, Terra came to visit me last night. She said she felt as though there was going to be some serious damage going on when her and her sisters meet their father. What should we do?"
"Does she know for a fact or is she just speculating?" Will asked.
"Well she sure as hell sounded positive. She asked me to stop it if it started…dude, she gave me permission to kill her sisters if it happened." Zach said amazed and yet horrified.
Will raised his eyebrows at that fact. "Well we can't do anything about it until it happens. Com'on lets go pass the de-arming test." He started off back towards the school but that lingering worry stayed with him; it grew even more when he saw no sign of any of the Matters' sisters all day.
Terra breathed deep as they stood in front of the penitentiary. This was it; they were going to see their father. She shivered quickly.
Gail, Rayne, and Byrn were standing behind her…still with the façade of indifference. They were nervous too she could tell. They found the visiting coordinator and asked to see Felix Cordis.
The man looked impressed "Well he's just so popular this week." He sent them to sit on the visitor side of the glass.
Terra fidgeted profusely while waiting. Would he be mean? Would he be nice? She had no clue about him. Finally, after seeming a millennium of waiting, Felix shuffled in reluctantly. Was he afraid of them?
There was a moment of awkward silence before he muttered, "Hello girls."
"You're our father?" Gail asked.
"Yes," he answered immediately.
Rayne was glaring at him, not even planning to say anything. She just watched his every move on the other side.
"Dad? Can I call you that?" Terra asked shyly.
"Yes, honey," he weakly smiled with relief flooding into his face.
Terra smiled also. "I…we were wondering why you are here…and why you never contacted us."
"You do know mom is dead right?" Byrn snapped all of a sudden with sadness burning in her expression.
Felix winced a bit, "Yes, unfortunately." Terra wondered if he knew more about it. But waited him to answer her first question. "I'm in here because I robbed a bank," he admitted.
"Why?" Gail asked dismayed.
"We needed money," He lied, not daring to tell the whole truth. The bad feeling had even been passed to him about his assembly with his spawn.
Terra cocked her head and realized he wasn't being truly honest. She didn't push it though…not yet.
"So they kept you in jail for twelve years for robbing a bank? That's kind of harsh," Gail noted.
"I've caused some problems while in here," he shrugged. That was a true lie. Felix Cordis did nothing but stay out of trouble while in prison. They could see he wasn't a man to start trouble intentionally.
"What are your powers?" Byrn asked casually, like asking his favorite color.
"All of yours combined,"
They stared at him. He was dangerous, if they thought they could do damage they hadn't seen anything compared to what he was capable of.
"So why didn't you use your powers to escape and come back to us?" Gail wondered. Terra rolled her eyes; well it was against the law to break out of prison.
Felix sighed; he didn't want to explain it. He was glad he could see them; they all had grown into beautiful girls. They all had some of Fiona's spunk he had loved so much; he could feel the tears but refused to cry in front of them. Rayne's glare lifted at seeing his struggle.
"I couldn't come back, " he said quietly.
Terra felt stabbed, maybe a bit annoyed at the way he appeared to be all powerless, and she could tell he wasn't being honest either. He did the same pouty-helpless kind of thing Gail did when she lied.
"You could have," she stated, unsympathetic.
He glanced at her nervously. "No, Terra I couldn't," he assured her.
"Why not? If you loved us enough I'm sure you would have fought tooth and nail to get back to us," she rationalized.
He grew irritated at her assumptions. She didn't know half of it, his youngest, so naïve but yet so wise in her ways.
"If I would have come back to the family, it would have been terrible," he assured.
This made Terra angry. Did he not know how it was for them? "Oh I'm sure it would have been worse than being poor, being teased, moving every time they freaked out." she motioned to her sisters (remember, Terra had not yet caused a triggering in the bonds) "Tell me father, how terrible could it have been with you there on Christmas or any of our birthdays instead of sitting in here and not doing a damn thing!"
"BECAUSE I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE KILLED ALL OF YOU JUST LIKE I KILLED YOUR MOTHER!" He shouted, angered at Terra's monologue. She had pushed him. Before she knew it there were some rumblings going through the walls that she was not creating.
