Perry's POV

What Hermes tells me is worrying. It seems that nearly a dozen Bionics are on their way to attack OWCA. But why? What could the Overlord possibly have to gain by sending them to attack OWCA? What does he want?

Hermes and Anke go to warn Commander Carl while I stay in my office, wondering how we can prepare ourselves. I rest my head wearily against the desk, thinking hard. How can we prepare for powers when we don't know what they are?

Wait…

My head slowly rises off the desk.

There is a way.

I turn to my filing cabinet and search through all the drawers as far back as three and a half years.

Come on…

Yes!

I triumphantly fish out the notebook from the file. I open the book to the pages where three years ago I wrote down all the powers of the Bionics.

I examine the pages and count them off. Twenty Bionics. Seven of them are on our side. Three of them are in our custody. That leaves ten unaccounted for. I need to get this information to Hermes and the team so they can be prepared.

I feel a thrill fly up my spine at that thought. Hermes and the team. My little son has a team and he's helping protect people without having to properly join OWCA. It makes me feel happy, seeing how much he's grown up. And to think I nearly missed it…

Anke's POV

"Okay, guys."

Hermes is addressing the six of us: me, Adrian, Lydia, Lateysha, Noah, and the recently recovered Laurence. It's been one day since Perry came to give us the list of the Bionics and their powers.

"We have ten potential attackers and ten potential powers. We have to prepare defences against them."

I see Lateysha bow her head sadly.

"We have lots of powers and lots of potential weaknesses," continues Hermes. "For example, Nixon the Cat can grow large vines which can attack you. However, he can only do that so long as he has connection with the ground. That's why if Nixon does show up, either I can levitate him off the ground or Tish or Noah can keep him up. Understand?"

We all nod.

"Good. Now, let's get back to training."

Lateysha and Noah go off together to practise and so do Lydia and Laurence. Adrian heads back to the hospital wing. Hermes goes outside. I think about following but he can probably focus a bit better without me there, so I head to practise my abilities with Lydia and Laurence.

Hermes's POV

I focus my power on the nearest car in the car park of OWCA. I lift it into the air, spin it round, throw it into the sky, catch it again, and then put it down. I wish I could do that to a building too but I'm not allowed so I have to keep practising on smaller things.

I feel someone come up behind me. I turn my head and see that it's my brother's mate Piper. The red-furred platypus stands behind me in silence for a minute while I practise, before she says, "You're pushing yourself too far."

I think about denying her statement but I really inadvertently prove it a few moments later when I attempt to pick up six cars at once and fail. "So what?"

"Hermes, don't hurt yourself doing this." Piper puts her hand on my shoulder. "You're becoming obsessed, and that's not good."

"Obsessed with what?" I snap, trying to pick up six cars again. "Trying to save people's lives?"

"I've seen this before." Piper dodges the question. "My brother Luke did the exact same thing. Has anyone told you what happened to our parents?"

"Sam did," I reply. "Last year."

"Then you know that the three of us for many years blamed your father for their deaths?"

"I do." I fling a car high into the air using my powers and nearly miss catching it. "You and Sam eventually realised it wasn't Dad's fault but Luke kept blaming him."

"He did." Piper is silent for another moment. "You know, I remember a time almost eight years ago now where I walked into the gym after hours and found Luke punishing himself. He was hitting the punching bag so hard that his knuckles bled, probably imagining that he was hitting Perry. And it was really scary because he hated Perry that much; he was almost obsessed with getting revenge on him."

"What's your point?" I snap at the platypus who is old enough to be my mother, managing to successfully pick up five cars at once.

"My point is: don't get obsessed. Obsessions like these are unhealthy. They drive you to the point where you'll do anything to fulfil them. You haven't even met this Overlord guy and you're already obsessed with stopping him."

"What am I supposed to do?" I shout at my sister-in-law. "He's turning my friends against me! He sent Kate to our house and nearly killed every single member of our family! He hurt Laurence and got away with it! I can't let him get away with anything else, Piper. If I don't do something about him, he'll kill Teddy or Hazel or Quinn or Mom or Dad or you. Or anyone. We're the only ones with powers. We're the only ones who stand a chance against him. We're the only ones who can stop him."

I put all the cars down with a crash. Then I turn to Piper and face my sister-in-law properly. "I can't lose anyone," I say quietly. "I lost Anke once, and it hurt so much I couldn't think straight. If it were Mom or Dad or any of my siblings that got hurt, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"You don't have to do this alone," Piper says. "You have Anke, Adrian, the phoenixes, Lydia, and Laurence. All of them look up to you and will follow you into battle. And then there's your parents and siblings and their mates. They can support you. We can support you."

"I don't need anything except to stop the Overlord from hurting anyone else."

With those grim words hanging on the air, I turn and go back towards the building.

Before I get there, however, I see something out of the corner of my eye. It looks like a cross between a fireball and a snowball. Whatever it is, it's going for Piper. I whirl round and yell, "Piper, move!"

She turns quickly and sees the missile. She falls over backwards as the missile gets closer. I race towards my sister-in-law but…

…I'm too late.

Well, isn't this the mother of all cliffhangers? I'm so evil XD