Chapter 8
Sportacus didn't say much on the way to Pixel's and Stephanie was surprised. She was sure that she was in for a good talking to but apparently she'd have to wait for that. Stuffing another cough drop into her mouth, she waited for the command seat to stop and then she started to hop out. At this point, Sportacus quickly helped her down.
"Come on. I bet Pixel is wondering what kept us." He smiled.
"Well I'll take the blame for that." Stephanie said and before the above average hero could say anything she hopped knocked on the Gizmo Guy's door.
"Hey Sp… oh hey Stephanie. Come on in, I've got something to show you." Pixel led the two up to his computer and showed them the run down of the program he'd made.
"I was only able to narrow it down to the highlighted area. Unfortunately, it covers approximately three blocks." The fifteen year old said.
"Three blocks?" Stephanie asked.
"What did the National Weather Service say?" Sportacus wondered.
"They are still working on it. Their guy says that he can get my work down but it will take at least another two hours." Pixel explained.
"Did you tell him in another two hours we'll be up to our eyeballs in snow?" Stephanie asked.
"I did. He says that's as fast as he can get it to work in the meantime they are alerting the government to our current situation." The Gizmo Guy said.
"Does the Mayor know?" Sportacus inquired.
"Yes, I called him while you guys were on your way over. He said he and Bessie would start the necessary paperwork and phone calls." Pixel informed them.
"Good. Stephanie and I will start combing the area. Do you have that set of walkie-talkies?" The above average hero wondered.
"Here you go. They both connect to my headset in case I can narrow it down even more." Pixel said as he also handed over two copies of the suspected area as well as the communication devices.
"Excellent. All right, let's go Stephanie." Again Sportacus smiled and the two heroes left the room. Pixel quickly returned to his programming and hoped he could narrow it down.
Outside Sportacus flew to the outlined spot. It was then that he realized how close it was to the edge of town and to Robbie's Lair. Immediately, he knew where to start looking.
"Stephanie look at the map. What do you think?" The above average hero asked. She looked at the map and then around and realized where they were.
"Hard to believe that this is here. With all this snow, I almost didn't recognize it. So I guess we head to Robbie's first then huh?" Stephanie said. Sportacus nodded. He lifted one leg at a time and was soon powering through the knee-high snow. Stephanie started to move too but it was a little harder for her since the snow came up to mid-thigh on her. Despite growing taller, she hadn't grown enough to easily move through the heavy wet snow. Swallowing the rising cough in the throat, the pink haired girl popped another cough drop into her mouth and headed after Sportacus.
"Looks like Robbie is having his own difficulties. The wet snow has appeared to have caved in the lid to his tube." He said.
"You think he's ok down there?" Stephanie wondered.
"Only one way to find out." The above average hero cleaned the snow off the caved in part to find the edges of the tube's lid. Then he put his fingers underneath the edge and pulled upward. Stephanie watched as Sportacus lifted the heavy metal. She could see through his tight-fitting coat that his muscles were bulging. An involuntary shiver when through body and she wondered,
"What is wrong with me?"
"What?" Sportacus asked.
"Nothing." Stephanie quickly covered her accidental utterance.
"Well I'd better go check on him. You stay top side and try to find the source of the weather, ok?" The above average hero said.
"All right. Call me if you need me." She smiled and Sportacus watched her walk away. He found himself watching a little too long and then he quickly jumped into the tube.
"What is wrong with me?" The above average hero shook his head.
To Be Continued…