Chapter 9: Chasing Lighting
Thomas glanced at the window that overlooked the street outside. It was getting dark, which meant his shift was almost over. He'd never worked retail before, as he'd inherited the project from his parents as soon as he would've been old enough to have a 'normal' job, but he didn't mind it. It was nice, simple, relatively mindless work. It was pleasant to have time to just think, it was like when he cooked. But one of the best perks were his coworkers. Alfie had quickly become his closest friend outside of the Heeler family, and most of the other people who worked in the store were also around his age. While he certainly appreciated spending time with his parents and sisters it was nice to have time now and again to talk with people (or rather dogs) his age. Because while he didn't mind talking about Cat Squad on occasion with his sisters, he thought it'd drive him bonkers to have to watch another episode.
Thomas and Alfie were working in the toy department of the store setting up new toys on their shelves. They'd gotten in a few dozen boxes of new products in time for the holidays-because apparently there must've been a dog Jesus given how they celebrate Christmas here-which meant that it was their job to make sure the shelves were ready for when pre-Christmas sales started. "So… Jason, how are things going with you?" Alfie asked while looking over at his friend. The two had been chatting on and off for most of their shift, but had had to clam up when their manager walked past. Now that he was back to his office they were free to talk once more.
Thomas glanced over at the dingo and smiled with a small shrug. "It's going good for the most part." He said while putting up some boxes of what he recognized to be Moonlight Unicorns. He knew that while Bingo and Bluey only had a few of the toys, Muffin was absolutely obsessed with them. "You know, just kinda a lot of the same, if I'm being honest."
"Well, I guess that sounds good. How are your sisters doing?" Alfie asked while also putting away some boxes.
"They're doing pretty good; Bingo had to transfer schools since her old one burned down somehow, but otherwise they're fine." Thomas explained as he opened a new box of toys, these ones plush toys of a stuffed chimp that Thomas vaguely knew was from a movie.
"I heard about that! My mum said they still haven't figured out what caused it. I bet it has to do with one of those aliens." Alfie stated, rotating a box that had been returned to the shelf incorrectly before starting to put new stock behind it. He frowned a moment, looking for more of the same figurine before noting the box of extra stock was on the overflow shelf above the display. "But in any case at least she wasn't there when it happened." Alfie said while trying to reach the top shelf for the new toys. He stepped up onto the bottom of the display, when suddenly it gave way. Alfie slipped and was about to fall until Thomas caught him in mid-air, a few plush chimps landing on the two of them.
"Whoa! Thanks mate!" Alfie said as Thomas placed him down.
"Can't be too careful right?" Thomas asked with a chuckle
"Well, we have three more boxes after this; I'll go get them if you don't mind cleaning up my mess." Alfie said as he made his way to the back to get more.
"As usual…" Thomas joked, a grin cracking on his face.
"Hey! I'm not that clumsy!" Alfie said as he knocked into a mannequin, nearly causing it to crash onto a pile of neatly folded clothes. Alfie grabbed it at the last minute and nervously smiled. Thomas shook his head as his friend blushed slightly and turned around the right way to go into the back room and get the last of their stock.
Thomas looked around and made sure no one was looking at him. The aisle was clear, and with it being close to closing there weren't many people out in the store. I really shouldn't, but… Thomas checked and made sure the camera was facing away from him. Just this once won't hurt, right? Thomas smirked as he used his telekinesis to quickly put most of the toys away. He'd even managed to get the stuffed monkeys back in the proper spots and was about to hoist up a final piece when he heard Alfie walking down the center aisle of the store. Thomas quickly slotted the remaining few toys into their places and let a final box drop into his hands as Alfie entered the row.
Alfie looked up from the handcart where he had the final three boxes and blinked as he saw Thomas slot the last toy into its place. The other shipping boxes were empty and all the toys were away, even the broken display had been repaired. "That was… fast." Alfie said, confused as to how his friend had managed so much in such a short amount of time.
"Yeah! I thought I would uh, finish while you were gone." Thomas explained with a smile, gesturing to the shelves.
"But… that was four boxes worth of toys." Alfie said still confused by how Thomas got all the toys done within a minute of him being gone.
"Well, you know, once you're on a role you can't stop…" Thomas said with a nervous chuckle.
Alfie was still confused but then shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, anyway, it's just these three boxes left and then we're done for the night." Alfie said as he pulled out a safety blade and sliced open the packing tape. "Hopefully you stay on a roll, because I'd love to actually get done on time for once."
"Yeah, no problem!" Thomas said as he started to help his co-worker with the new toys.
It was another hour until they were done with stocking the last of the toys and had thrown away the boxes. Alfie and Thomas headed to the front and waited for their manager to lock up the store before they started to head home. Alfie had driven himself to work, and had offered Thomas a ride, but he'd declined. "My dad's gonna pick me up in a bit. Thanks though!"
"Sure, I'll see you around." Alfie said as he got in his car.
"Yeah, see ya." Thomas waved as his friend drove away. Once I get some money saved up I have got to get a car…
Thomas looked up at the sky and noticed the southern lights were flickering. "I wonder how long these lights will stick around? The news hasn't said anything about them yet, so maybe they're normal here." Thomas muttered as he sat on a bench near the storefront. He felt a buzz and pulled out his phone and saw that his father had texted him.
Dad: Hey mate running a little behind, be there soon.
Thomas read the text to himself. "Yeah, he really is my dad." Thomas said with a chuckle while remembering how his human dad used to do the same thing. Thomas sighed and leaned back on the bench that he was sitting on, tempted to text Jade about their upcoming date. Before he could send anything the southern lights again flickered as clouds started to form around the pulsing ribbons in the sky. "What the fuck?" Thomas said as he looked closely at the sky roiling above him. He watched as the clouds got sucked into the southern lights and spat back out.
"Uh oh…" Thomas said, looking at the clouds as they started to glow dark blue, energy crackling all around them. "Well, that can't be good." Thomas said, nearly certain that this wasn't usual weather for Australia.
A helicopter with a blue and white logo reading "K9 News" on the side of it was flying near the cloud, probably reporting on an accident on the highway that ran around the city. Whether the pilot hadn't noticed, or had foolishly decided to look closer at the cloud, the vehicle was edging nearer to the mass. Please don't go in there… Thomas thought just as the cloud blasted the helicopter with an arcing bolt of cosmic energy. As soon as it was struck the helicopter started to lose control, smoke pouring from the rotors as it started spinning and heading for the ground. It was clear that the copter was going to crash.
"Shit!" Thomas said as he stood up and started sprinting towards the falling helicopter. He looked around; there were too many people on the streets to change. Come on, think! He looked around as he ran. He checked that no one was watching him as he charged into an alley and teleported to a nearby rooftop. Grabbing his costume out of his backpack Thomas undid the Velcro that held the back of the suit together. "Good thing Stripe made this thing easy-on." He quickly slipped into his suit behind an air conditioning unit, struggling with his tail-as usual-and looked up to see the helicopter trying remain in control of itself while spiraling. It was plummeting closer to the ground, only a few stories above a building half a block away. "Here we go…"
Thomas teleported onto the rooftop of the building that the helicopter was about to smash into and grit his teeth as he extended his arms and tried to stop the helicopter with his telekinesis. He'd never figured out exactly what the upward limit was with his telekinetic strength, but he hoped he'd be able to manage this. He could feel his body screaming as he slowed the falling vehicle, but he managed.
Thomas used all his might to safely place the helicopter onto the rooftop. I'm gonna pass out… Thomas lowered his arms and stuck his head between his knees until some of the dizziness had passed and he was fairly certain he wasn't going to faint. He pulled his head back to normal height and noticed blood dripping from his muzzle; I must've broken a blood vessel straining that hard. He quickly sniffed and wiped it away with his paw. He looked over, the helicopter was sitting safely on the rooftop, smoke still pouring from the rotor, but no longer threatening to cause a crash. Thomas walked over to the helicopter and slid open the door. Inside were a pilot and a reporter, both clearly still shaken up from their experience.
"Hey, are you guys okay?" Thomas asked, making sure that neither of them was injured.
"We're okay, t-thank you." A black and brown female French Bulldog said with a cough.
"You're welcome. Happy to help." Thomas said with a nod before he helped them out of the helicopter and onto the rooftop.
"Wait, he's just a kid?" said a Leopard Hound, turning to the reporter, a camera hoisted on his shoulder.
"Lenny, not now." She shot back.
Suddenly the storm cloud moved closer to the building that they were standing on and started shooting lightning bolts at them. Thomas quickly used his force field to cover them while the cloud continued its assault. "I'm going to get you out of here! Just follow me!" Thomas ordered as he looked around for a way to get them off the rooftop.
After a moment's search Thomas noticed a roof access door and looked at the group of dogs he was with. "Follow me to that door, but stay close. I don't exactly have a giant force-field up at the moment." He ordered as he started to move toward the door. The dogs nodded and moved along with him. The dark blue cloud grew more violent as the three moved along the rooftop. As if honing in on Thomas, it continued launching more and more blue bolts of lightning at the costume-clad teen. He could feel that the strikes were doing more damage, weakening the field with every impact. Mercifully they arrived at the door after a tense minute, the reporter grabbing onto the handle and pulling it with all her might.
"It's locked!" She cried out while looking at Thomas.
It was then that the force field broke and the first beam of crackling blue light hit Thomas. He fell to the ground and felt a searing pain as the energy seared through him. He spasmed on the ground a moment, screaming in pain as he looked at the two dogs huddled close to the door that lead to the inside of the building. There was fear in their eyes a moment as he realized that in his pain he'd released his canine disguise. His eyes grew wide as he quickly shifted out of his human form and back into his Heeler version. He held his side as he limped to the door, the clouds roaring with thunder as they pelted down rain and wind.
Thomas was breathing hard as he looked at the door and then the cloud. He clenched his teeth as he blasted the door with his cosmic energy, his reserves now nearly empty of their power at the onslaught of use in the last few minutes. "Go!" Thomas shouted looking at the two.
"What about you?" The French bulldog asked, worried for the teen.
"Don't worry about me! I can handle it!" Thomas said as he pushed her and the cameraman/pilot into the building.
The reporter nodded as she went into the building with the pilot. Thomas stood up and looked at the dark blue cloud. "Alright, let's see what you've got! Come on!" Thomas shouted as the cloud roared and readied to blast Thomas again with its blue lightning. He planted his feet on the rooftop and narrowed his eyes, violet light streaming around him as he extended his hands out in front of him trying to grab onto the cloud and force it to disperse. He could feel it fighting him, the energy crackling as he tried to grab on.
As Thomas struggled on the rooftop Bandit arrived at the store, parking the car at the curb out front. He looked around, trying to see where Thomas might be-normally he was waiting on the bench by the front entrance, but he wasn't there. Bandit frowned as he stepped out of the car; he glanced up at the dark skies. "Looks like rain." He commented, rubbing his arms. He looked around further and saw the dark clouds had concentrated over a building down the street. As a bolt of lightning flew down and struck the roof he saw a silhouette in the light. His breath hitched in his throat as he recognized the figure.
"No!" He shouted, running toward the building as another bolt went off. He tore down the street to arrive at the brick apartment block and yanked down the fire escape on the side of the building. He clambered up the rungs as he went up toward the storm, ignoring the possibility that he could also get hit by the lightning. He arrived on the roof to see Thomas braced, his hands and eyes glowing brightly as he screamed.
Bandit didn't know what he was watching, but it was clear that Thomas had somehow contained the cloud and was forcing it into smaller and smaller spaces. He thought it was in some sort of force-field that Thomas was shrinking ever smaller, but he wasn't sure. The cloud compressed further as the teen shook, his body now radiating light from nearly every pore. Then in a moment the cloud dissolved. Thomas sighed as he lowered his arms and shook unsteadily.
Bandit ran over and caught his son before he collapsed. "Thomas!" He held onto the boy as he looked down. As he lost consciousness the Heeler faded into a human and his breathing steadied as blood continued to pour out of his nose. "Shit! Okay, it's okay…" Bandit reassured himself as he pulled his son onto his shoulder and carried him back down the fire escape. He could feel Thomas' chest rising and falling, as well as a damp spot on his shoulder where the blood had pooled. He got him to the car and checked him again, the blood was no longer freely streaming and he was still breathing regularly. If not for the clear trauma he'd just experienced it would've been possible to mistake him for just being asleep. "You're gonna be okay son, I'm gonna make sure you're okay."
Bandit pulled the car away from the curb and started heading home. It was about halfway through the drive that Thomas stirred.
"Dad?"
Bandit glanced over. "Hey, it's okay. You got a bit knocked around but you're okay. You got rid of that cloud thing and you're safe now."
Thomas smiled weakly. "Thanks for being there."
"It's what dads are for."
Thomas was silent a moment as they continued driving, the lights from the streetlamps occasionally blinking in the car to light up his face.
"I'm sorry about the fight. I didn't want you to see that."
Bandit sighed. "I know."
"Are you okay?"
Bandit shook his head in disbelief. "Am I okay? Thomas, you're the one who just got struck by lightning!"
"Twice actually…" He admitted with a sheepish grin.
Bandit sighed, "When I saw that, I was terrified. I thought I was going to lose you."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing. It's alright." Bandit said.
"Okay."
"I guess I thought that I had to protect you, I didn't even know what I'd do but I charged straight toward that thing. I didn't even stop to think about what I would even be able to do, I just felt like I had to help." He smiled slightly, "I guess I need to work on my planning a bit too, huh?"
Thomas smiled.
"But when I got up there you had it under control, well, mostly under control. I didn't even know how powerful you were… But it was incredible." Bandit marveled, "I guess I need to remember that you're stronger than I expect-that you don't need me fighting your battles for you."
Thomas placed his hand on his father's shoulder. "I might not need you fighting for me, but I still need you. You and mom and Bingo and Bluey and everyone else." He smiled. "I was thinking of you guys, what might happen if I didn't win, that's how I managed to defeat it." Thomas paused, "You guys are what lets me use my powers. Without my family, I can't use them half as well as with them. I love you guys."
Bandit smiled. "I love you too, mate."
The two were quiet for the few minutes more until they got home, Bandit pulling the car into the back so that Thomas could walk inside undetected-I'm way too exhausted to teleport right now. Bandit had gotten cleaned up, and Thomas had healed all of the visible wounds and changed out of his costume, so when they walked in the back door things seemed normal enough.
"Hi Thomas! How was work?" Bluey asked as she launched another sticky gecko into the air.
"It was good, Alfie asked about you guys." Thomas said as he placed his bag on the floor.
"I like Alfie, he's nice." Bingo said as she tried to grab the gecko off the wall.
"Maybe you should have him over. You could hang out or whatever." Bluey suggested.
Thomas looked over at his parents, "Would you be okay with that?"
"He seems like a nice enough boy from all I've heard." Chilli commented.
"Cool, maybe I can see if he wants to hang out this weekend."
"Aren't you and Jade going out?" Bandit asked, grinning as he nudged his son.
"Yeah, but that's Saturday night. I could maybe hang out with Alfie during the day."
"Well, either way, I wouldn't mind having him over. It'll be nice to meet some of your friends." Chilli said.
"Alright girls, time for your bath." Bandit said, picking up Bluey under one arm and Bingo under the other.
"No! You'll never take me alive!" Bluey shouted.
"Never!" Bingo said, trying to wriggle free.
Thomas and Chilli chuckled as Bandit rolled his eyes and lumbered up the stairs with the two girls.
Chilli went back to tidying the kitchen as Thomas exhaled. "I promised to keep things honest with dad, and that goes for you too mom."
"What do you need to be honest about?" She asked, putting down the dish she was drying.
"I had another fight today, against some cloud thing. I don't know what it was, only that it really didn't like me and could send out a lot of lightning."
Chilli walked over and inspected Thomas, "Are you okay? What happened?"
"I'm alright, dad made sure to get me home safe. I took care of the cloud, but I did get hit by lightning."
Chilli sighed as she gently ran her hand through Thomas' hair. "Well, you look okay… Thank you for telling me, even though I wish you didn't have to fight things like that, I appreciate that you aren't hiding it." She frowned slightly, a worried look in her eyes.
"Chilli! I need reinforcements!" Bandit yelled from upstairs, a loud splashing sound heard as a fit of giggling echoed through the hallway.
"I'll get the rest of these." Thomas offered as Chilli took off her apron.
"Thanks love." Chilli smiled, hugging her son a moment before going to deal with her daughters.
The Next Morning
Thomas didn't have work until one, which meant that he was able to spend the morning around the house. Bandit also was working from home, which meant that the two were in their usual routine. Chilli had taken the girls to drop them off at school already, and Bandit was sitting on the couch with the news playing in the background as he worked on the morning crossword. Thomas was busy on his phone, trying to learn as much as he could about his new world, having discovered that there was a version of Wikipedia. As he read about this world's version of the Cold War the news segment changed.
"And now an exclusive story from K9 news reporter Sharon Bouledogue and her cameraman and pilot Lenny Hound." A male sheepdog reporter announced.
"Thanks Tim." Sharon stated. "Let's look at the footage."
"Hey, I know her…" Thomas said, stowing his phone.
Bandit looked up as the screen changed to footage from Thomas' fight the day before and his rescue of the two from the helicopter. After a few minutes the footage ended.
"Wow." Tim said.
"Indeed." Sharon stated. "Yesterday an anonymous citizen who goes by the name of Austra-Violet saved my life, along with Lenny's."
"He's only a kid, but he used some sort of powers to keep our plane from crashing. Then he got rid of the storm that had taken us down in the first place." Lenny added.
Sharon continued, "I've looked into police records and it seems this anonymous hero has been helping people all over Brisbane for the last two months. Whoever you are, thank you from all of us. We owe you a debt of gratitude for all you've done to help this city."
Tim nodded, "A real life superhero here in Brisbane? Who'd've thought, but with all the recent events it's no longer just something out of the comics." He smiled, turning toward a different camera angle. "But from superheroes to super treats, we interviewed a team of bakers working on making the world's largest Pavlova…"
Bandit clicked off the television and looked over at Thomas, who was wiping the corner of his eyes. "I'm proud of you, mate."
"Thanks dad." He smiled. "How long do you think until Stripe finds out?"
Bandit chuckled. "I give it an hour tops."
Meanwhile
Busker was still asleep in his room when Andy pushed open the door to his room. Jinx had learned a fair deal about the child as he inhabited his mind. Mainly that he was an annoying little brat, but also enough to convincingly affect his mannerisms to where his uncle didn't notice the difference. He knew that he was an orphan, and that he lived with his uncle who worked a handful of jobs and was a street musician in his spare time. Jinx marched the child out of the apartment and down the stairs to the courtyard before he turned him onto the street and headed west.
He hadn't had much luck with finding any landmarks from the handful of memories he had, and it didn't help that Brisbane was a large city to explore on foot when your legs were barely long enough to carry you any decent distance. Andy got worn out easy, but it was too much effort to find another host so he settled for the limitations in stature for the perceived innocence of his thrall. He continued walking down the block of residential buildings, turning to cut across a park as he started to explore more toward a hilly area he hadn't been to yet. As he crossed the park a soccer ball nearly smacked him in the head.
"Sorry!" A young male retriever yelled, running up to grab the ball. "Are you okay?"
Andy smiled, "I'm okay."
"Do you wanna play? We need more people." The boy gestured at a handful of other children standing nearby.
"No thanks." Jinx had Andy turn around. There's no way I'm dealing with more of these pests.
"Come on! It'll be fun!" The boy grabbed his arm and pulled on it.
Jinx was tempted to push the boy off, but he knew that would cause a scene. "Okay, fine, but just for a little bit."
Andy walked over to the group, Jinx trying his best to hide his seething hatred under the child's form.
"I'm Marcus." The retriever said. "And that's Molly, and Ginger, and Kevin, and Biscuit, and Goldie." He pointed at some of the other children.
"I'm Andy."
Jinx boiled as he had to play along for nearly half an hour before he got an out and made an excuse to leave.
"Oh, well, it was nice to meet you. Maybe we could play again sometime at my house." Marcus offered.
Jinx paused; it hadn't occurred to him that the brats could actually offer an opportunity to search more quickly. If he went to different homes to 'play' he could scope out more of the city than if he was on foot. He grit his teeth, knowing he'd have to endure more of the children's inane chatter, but it was a calculated need. "Sure! I'll ask my uncle. Where do you live?"
"Up there!" Marcus pointed at the hill where Jinx had been heading before. "Maybe if you bring him he and my mom can figure something out."
"Okay! Bye!" Andy waved as he headed out of the park.
Andy got back into the apartment before Busker was up; he'd had a late night working as a bartender the evening before. Jinx put on his best cute kid face and went to wake up the dog who was ostensibly his caretaker. "Uncle Busker?"
The dog rubbed his eyes before getting a pair of glasses from the nightstand. "Morning Andy…" He yawned. He looked at the clock. "Oh, geez, sorry I slept in."
"It's okay, I know you work late and you're sleepy in the morning."
Busker sighed. "Not too much longer, Jenna said she's gonna try to get me a better shift. I promise, kiddo."
"Can we go to the park later?"
"The park?" Busker said as he stretched.
"Yeah. I wanna see if I can play with some other kids."
Busker's eyebrows raised. Andy had been withdrawn since his sister's passing. "You're sure? We were there a few days ago and you didn't want to stay very long."
"I know, but I wanna try again." Jinx made Andy nod. "I think mum and dad would want me to try."
Busker's eyes watered slightly, "Okay bud. We can go in a little bit." He threw off the blanket. "But first, let me get some breakfast ready. How do chocolate chip pancakes sound?"
"Yeah!" Andy cheered as Jinx led the boy into the kitchen. Maybe this body won't be so bad after all…
Kodiwolf321 A/N: looks like those Southern lights that brought Thomas, Jinx, and Agent Fenrir into this world still have a purpose to either corrupt or bring good into this world let us know what theories you have about the lights and we'll See you in the next chapter soon!
The-Surburban-Guy A/N: Looks like Thomas is starting to get some publicity, let's see where this ends up! Also, thanks again for everyone reading and commenting, we really appreciate it! I hope you're all enjoying this so far!