Merry Christmas everybody! This is my present to you guys, chapter 10 of the Wave. How will Oliver and Kaz work together? What about Skylar, Horace and Alan? Well, if you read this chapter, you'll know how this day will end for both. Yet, I'm not forgetting the review who deserve a response:

BTRlover1122: Thanks for your review! I hope you get better soon! And yes, they really need to stop acting like five year olds and Alan just ran away; you'll find out where he went. And Skylar still needs to pretend to be a good guy.

Enjoy this holiday chapter!

-Writer207

Surge looked awful.

That immediately one thing both agreed with. Even though it didn't look all bad at first, they soon realized the hero was in big trouble. And as avid comic book fans, nobody needed to tell them Surge wasn't wearing his gloves, which normally meant he was in big danger and he'd rather be brought to the hospital rather than get captured by the bad guy. And a fast way to get hurt is to remove the gloves and use the powers, which then not only hurt the opponent, but the hero as well.

Both silently performed their tasks, nothing more and nothing less. They didn't talk about the possibilities: they weren't discussing what villain could be behind this, how to make this hero feel better and they definitely didn't think of sharing the comic book when it came out – the one who got there first, would be the one reading the comic book. Period.

They worked together just fine and everything was alright, because they weren't talking or looking at one another. They knew everything they needed to know and assumed a lot. They worked equally long and did everything they had to do.

Their problem showed up again when both knew what Surge's problems were. You see, they both wanted to use a certain object to see if he was all right on the inside, if any infections had gotten hold of him, and Kaz and Oliver both grasped it, only to figure out they took a hold of each other's hands instead of the device.

"What are you doing?" Oliver wanted to know as they quickly pulled back their hands. Kaz shrugged.

"I am trying to make him feel better." Kaz said, pointing at the fallen hero. He didn't look very well. Even as he was lying there, he was in pain. Hey, you'd be too when electricity shot through your body. And you're not electro-proof to a certain amount of it. It was hurting him so much. His head too, but the electricity was more unbearable than the head-ache. If I'd compare the two, the head-ache seemed a small bleeding wound that didn't hurt and the power surge through his body was like a broken arm or leg. Only the pain of both was amplified. Oliver smiled a fake smile at him.

"Kaz, I need it now." Kaz nodded.

"Yeah, well, so do I – I need it to help him." Oliver sighed – he didn't want to fight with Kaz, physically or verbally. And he was very certain Kaz did not want to fight as well. Somehow, Oliver started thinking about the Annihilator's methods of people working for him. He could do many, many things and some of those were contaminating the powers of a hero (or villain), blackmail or placing a small bomb in the victim's stomach. Yes, he has already done all of that, but there are more ways of making someone work for you. Wait a second…

"That's it!" Oliver shouted, and Kaz looked over his shoulder at his friend.

"What is it?" he asked and saw Oliver was looking at him in a worried way. That was at least an improvement – he didn't seem frightened or angry anymore, but just worried. That was a positive improvement. But why his friend was worried, he'd be hearing within a few seconds.

"Kaz… I think I know what's going on! You're being blackmailed by the Annihilator to work for you." Kaz frowned.

"He doesn't blackmail me." he said, but Oliver tried again.

"Okay. Then you're being controlled to do certain things or else you'll…" Oliver paused, "But off course you're gonna deny working for him because he's probably telling you to do that. But he can't see you, can he? Alright, blink if the Annihilator controls you or put a small bomb inside your body to blackmail you." Kaz shook his head and resumed what he was doing, and he didn't blink at Oliver. Oliver tried keeping him from his job to find out whether or not Kaz really did blink to indicate the blackmail.

"Oliver," Kaz groaned eventually, "Listen. I am not working for the Annihilator. He doesn't control me, he doesn't blackmail me and he hasn't put a bomb in me. The last time we've seen him, he was brought to Mighty Max. And I need this to help Surge. Now, would you mind?" he added, silently telling him to stop keeping him away from this work. This is the only paid job he liked and he wasn't gonna give that up because Oliver was obsessed with thinking his best friend worked for the Annihilator.

"Yeah, it's just like you 'needed' the Dagger to help the evil heroes." Kaz turned back to Oliver, his eyes expressing his seriousness and he shook his head.

"Seriously? You're going there again? Dude, for the last time: I don't know how it got there!" Oliver was about to say something back, but he couldn't say the words he had wanted to say. He was interrupted immediately by Horace Diaz, who had walked into the room for a reason he soon was to explain. He looked in it and saw nobody but Kaz, Oliver and Surge. He shut the door and looked at the two Normos.

"What's going on in here? Were you fighting?" Kaz nodded, and so did Oliver. They could've said 'yes', but this was clearer. Plus, if they'd say something, Horace would only interrupt them. It was worth a try, anyway.

"Oliver thinks…" Kaz started, but soon was interrupted by his boss, the chief of staff. He looked at them very carefully before he made a conclusion and shared it with them.

"Boys, you're doctors, you don't fight each other! Take the rest of the evening off. Someone else can take care of Surge, too." Horace said, "By the way, what exactly has happened to him?" The two explained they still had no idea what happened, but they were sure he was trying to get here and defended himself.

Then, Kaz and Oliver left the hospital, blaming the other for what occurred while treating Surge.

When Alan opened his eyes again, he did not recognize where he was. He was in a big room which smelled awful. The room had only one entrance, and that one was blocked by iron bars and a code. At the other side was a shelf or three, with nothing on there, but the name tags suggested someone had been collecting stuff from certain heroes. He was closer to the shelves than the exit, and he looked at the names, being very bored. He read a few. Captain Freedom and Alpha Dog were some of the few he could read. Yet, three of those names drew his attention.

Snow Storm. She recently fought with the Incinerator and he heard Kaz and Oliver went to get the powers back or else she'd die. Last time, she was spotted attacking Solar Flare.

Absolute Zero. The guy had lost his powers in the same battle Snow Storm lost hers. He didn't lose as much as her, but still. Incognito almost died fighting this ice-cold hero.

Skylar Storm. She recently got her powers back as well, and she was acting a little strange lately, something the Normos failed to notice. And she too lost her powers to the Annihilator.

This wasn't just some random place he was kept – it was the Annihilator's lair he was sitting in. he started to panic, shrieked and called out for help. He desperately tried to escape, but the ropes were just too strong and the chair to stable. After what seemed hours, Alan gave up after trying doing everything he could. He had thought he could escape by turning into a fly or something, but he couldn't. He also failed to lift something with his telekinesis. It was a clear unspoken message: I took your powers. And to mock the boy the Annihilator had placed the tube containing his spooky white powers in front of him, out of his reach. If he had any tears left, he'd cry.

"I should've listened," Alan said out loud, voice hoarse of the screaming, "I should've listened to you, Uncle Horace! I should've never left the hospital! I should've not gone to that Normo school! Uncle Horace, if you hear me, I'm sorry for not listening to you!" yet, there was nobody to hear his plea, nobody to hear him beg for forgiveness to a man who probably hadn't even noticed he was gone.

That's it, he thought, I'm gonna die. And that only is because Horace acted too careless whenever it came to Alan. Besides, the young so-called half-Normo knew Horace preferred Zachary above him. Nobody would know he was gone, left in the cruel hands of the Annihilator and his servants, should he have any.

Talking about servants, a space portal opened right in front of Alan, and he shrieked again, not being able to turn into anything.

"Hello, Alan," Skylar Storm said, having an evil look on her face, "Don't try to use your powers. The Annihilator has stolen them from you. There is no place you can go to." Alan rolled his eyes, though still visibly scared.

"I knew that already," he said, and it stayed silent for a while, "So you are the mole! Why are you working for him?" Skylar simply smiled, giving him no response whatsoever, walking closer to him, and Alan tried to back away as far as possible. "W-What does the Annihilator want with me?"

Skylar did bother to answer this question. "I told the Annihilator about the fight between you and Horace and we knew this was the perfect opportunity." Alan tried to stand up, but he just didn't have the muscle for it. Skylar Storm, however, just walked past him and focused on an item lying on the shelf.

"What are you gonna do to me?" he dared to say, and Skylar turned back to him. If Alan could get any paler, it would've happened to him already. "You're gonna kill me!" Skylar rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm not. You're far too useful to kill. Man, I never thought I'd say that to you." She came closer, holding that one device in her hands. First, Alan thought they were slowly gonna torture and then kill him. But now he got his answer and Skylar still was holding that device in her hands, he realized the girl was gonna do something way more dangerous to him than torture.

"Now, stay calm," she said, "You won't even feel it will happen." Skylar advanced to Alan as he shrieked like a little girl again and tried to talk her out of it.