Barron and Benjamin stood on the platform surveying the fruits of their labour. Their mission had been risky, deadly even, but incredibly they'd pulled it off. Admittedly five of their men had been lost but the gains were far beyond their wildest dreams. Just over eight hundred former superheroes stood at their feet, looking up at their new leaders. In the battle many had died but those who had survived were well worth the sacrifice.
In fact, they had too many converts and hadn't got enough room on the pod they'd arrived in. Kass, who could fly, had gone back to base to round up anyone who was there to fly shuttles from the base to the school so in time all the ex-heroes would be safely hidden under the Maxville mountain range. This would take some time but Barron wasn't worried. They'd cloaked the school from anyone searching for it and now all that was left for him to do was find his son and whomever he was running around with.
'Welcome, my brothers and sisters, to the rest of your lives!' he announced to his waiting minions. 'My son, Black's daughter, the son of the Commander and some other children are in the school. Now we don't know where they are, who can find them?'
Three people stepped forward.
'Three! Well I suppose it isn't a great power. Anyway you're going to have to split up. Search the school! I want them found! But,' he paused, 'they are not to be hurt. I want to speak with them all myself and I don't doubt that Black will have some words for his daughter,' he said with a smirk.
As quick as he could Ethan ran back to the group and relayed what he'd just heard. When the fighting had stopped he'd gone to see what was going on. He was glad he had; now they had a chance at least.
'What do we do?' asked Ethan, the fear evident in his voice. He was sweating so much he had to keep pushing his glasses back up his face.
'They're splitting up you say?' asked Warren.
When Ethan nodded, Warren carried on with his train of thought.
'If they don't have active powers, they just sense and stuff like that then maybe we can take them on. Chances are, they'll only find us one at a time and I think that between us we can take on one bad guy. Yes?'
He stared round at everyone with ferocity in his eyes. Some nodded but Will and Dara especially were enthusiastic. Perhaps because they had confidence in their powers, who knew, but Warren was grateful for it at this point.
'So what now?' whispered Crystal.
'We wait.'
Back in the main hall, the three men had just split up, each determined to find the kids before the other and impress Barron Battle. After all, now that some of his key men had died, he might be looking for replacements.
Sam explored outside the school while John took himself towards the cafeteria and Mike made a beeline for the science labs…
The six of them were hiding behind Medulla's desk, adrenaline was beating through their bodies and their breaths came short and sharp.
Steps echoed along the corridors of Sky High but only one set approached the science labs. Mike Tinowski was a 23-year-old sidekick for some big-shot space distorter. He'd been at the event to 'represent' his hero. He hated his job and wanted to prove to everyone that he had a purpose on this planet. He scanned each room as he walked past and found nothing until he came upon the lab where he detected six bodies burning brightly on his radar. They were scared, he could tell that much and easy pickings. After all, they were only kids.
'Oh God! Oh God, oh God, oh God,' whispered Crystal frantically. 'We're going to die, in Medulla's lab of all places. Warren, what do we do?'
She clutched at him, holding his arm so tightly it almost hurt.
'Crystal, shut up. If they can see us anyway we don't want to give them a headstart by making a noise.'
'But they're coming and I don't want to die…' she whimpered, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.
The door started to open. 'Oh kids!' called Mike quietly; he didn't want any of the others stealing his prize.
'We're going to -.'
'Oh for God's sake!' muttered Warren. He turned and kissed her hard and fast. She was shocked into silence and Warren took the opportunity to throw Ethan along the floor directly at Mike's feet.
Ethan turned into liquid mid-air and slid under the guy's feet causing him to fall to the floor. Quickly Warren leapt over the desk and landed on top of Mike thrusting a flaming hand into the guy's face.
'Now be quiet and I won't kill you,' he hissed.
'You wouldn't -,' said Mike almost scoffing.
'Wouldn't I?' said Warren pushing his hand a little closer.
Mike swallowed nervously.
'There's a good guy. Now we're going to tie you up here and we're going to wait for another of your friends to come along. Got it?'
Mike, cowed by fear of having his face burnt off by a clearly unstable teen, seemed to go limp. He'd fainted which made carrying him over to the giant cupboard in the corner of the room an awful lot easier. Layla created thick strong vines that bound their captive from head to foot.
'What was that?' whispered Crystal.
'I call that saving our asses. What do you call it?' said Warren.
'Not that you ass! What you did before, with the kissing!'
'You wouldn't shut up. I was getting distracted and that's the only way I know how to shut a girl up!' he hissed.
'You could have just asked,' she said sulkily. Secretly she'd hoped there was more behind it but now clearly wasn't the time to pursue anything of that nature.
'Ok, so now what?' asked Will in hushed tones.
'Well I don't think we should move, especially now that we've got him to think about. I say we stick it out here. If my dad knows we're in the school he isn't going to leave until he finds us. We're going to have to face him sooner or later. I'd just prefer it to be when these guys aren't walking around,' replied Warren.
'And it would make sense for your dad to try and get the heroes away from the school wouldn't it?' said Will. 'And there's so many of them that it's going to take a while. So I guess we have some time before the showdown. Maybe the school will be found by then and we'll be saved.'
He sounded hopeful but in the pit of everyone's stomach lay the dread that came with the knowledge that they were going to have to go up against the most notorious villain ever to walk the halls of Sky High. It wasn't something anyone would look forward to, least of all six sophomores.
Having had no luck outside, Sam had come back indoors and was sweeping the school from top to bottom. He was nervous – who knew what, or who, was lurking in these corridors? John, meanwhile, having found nothing in the cafeteria except very old Hero sandwiches, was also making a full sweep of the school. He backed down a corridor just as Sam was doing the same thing.
They bumped into each other and spun around, fists raised. John landed the first punch and then Sam retaliated before realising who it was he had just hit.
'John! John! Damn put down your hands! We're on the same side!'
'Sorry. I thought you were one of those kids,' he said.
'Me too. So, you haven't had any luck either?' asked Sam.
'Nope,' he replied, 'and come to think of it, I haven't seen Mike since we set off. Where do you think he got to?'
'Maybe he gave up. Anyway, let's carry on.'
In a room, just off the corridor currently occupied by Sam and Mike sat the six teens. Crystal was shaking like a leaf, which surprised Warren. He had seen her face so much adversity in the past month or so but now she seemed ready to break.
Sam gazed around the corridor and detected the heat given off by the children. He nudged John and gestured in the direction of the source. Slowly but surely they crept over to the door and turned the handle.
As soon as they entered the room, Will and Dara leapt on the two men and Layla strung out some vines which wrapped around their ankles, pulling them to the ground. Will and Dara sat astride their captives, pinning them to the ground.
'Are there any more of you looking for us?' asked Will.
'Like I'm going to tell you, you little punk,' spat back John.
'You might want to think about re-phrasing your reply there,' said Warren menacingly, appearing over the captives, hands aflame.
'Ah, Barron's kid. You're just like your father,' said Sam.
'If that means fighting for what you believe in then yes,' he hissed. 'Now I suggest you shut it or else you may see the side of my father that you wouldn't like. Now are there any more of you?'
'A guy, called Mike,' whispered Sam, a little afraid of the situation he was in.
'Layla, tie these guys up and let them join their friend,' Warren said, the contempt audible in his voice.
With the three searchers safely trapped in a corner of the room, the group of them sat down to think.
'What do we do now?' asked Ethan. Despite the fact that this was the most danger he'd ever been in, he was both scared and tremendously excited at the same time. He was the only sidekick and he knew he couldn't kick anyone's butt but he hoped to be of some help.
'I think you're going to have to go on recon again. See how many are left in the hall. Then we'll plan from there,' replied Warren. He'd surprised himself and everyone else by taking charge of the whole operation. Usually Will would have assumed the role of leader but somehow Warren seemed right for the job.
Ethan crept out of the door towards the hall leaving the others in the lab. He was shaking like a leaf and his heart was beating so loudly he was sure someone would hear it.
Silently he stole forward and peered through a gap in the doors. There seemed to be about fifty of the former heroes left in the hall and they were filing out of the window into some sort of ship. He ran back to the others as fast as he could to tell them what he had seen.
Back in the hall, business continued as normal for Barron and Black, who had just pulled off the biggest plot ever dared to be construed.
'Right! That seems to be the last of them,' said Barron to Black, 'so where are those three I sent out to find the kids?'
'They're not back then?' said Black.
'Obviously not! God knows what those kids are doing! They've had time to bypass all sorts of systems or find a way to contact the outside world! I can't wait any longer, I've got to find them myself!'
'That won't be necessary.'
At the back of the hall the double doors were flung open and filling the gap left were the six of them, ready to fight.