Here's the 19th chapter of the story! We're coming closer and closer to the climax as our heroes try to reach the Dark Warrior and even ditch school to do so... Before you can read how that plays out, I'll reply to the review of last chapter.
LabRatsWhore: Thanks for your review! And yes, I have read your crossover, and I must say it's quite good. And who says they attentively read the comics and forgot that she has her powers back? Who says Ambrose isn't involved? And I really enjoyed writing about Gus.
Enjoy!
-Writer207
After bringing the two hostages to the Annihilator to include them in their latest plan, Skylar resumed her post, but wearing her costume. She needed a few seconds to super-speed into her official uniform. That way, Alan would know where to be. After all, a superhero in front of a mansion attracted more attention than just a teenage girl in front of a mansion.
Skylar didn't need to wait too long. Within five minutes Alan appeared. He was walking, seemingly on the phone with someone, but they both knew it was just a disguise to make sure they wouldn't link the floating box to the boy it was following. Though, everybody minded their own business and those who showed too much interest lost their memory when a colleague of him noticed the curious civilian who knew too much.
"What took you so long?" Skylar asked when Alan finally had arrived. He shrugged.
"I can't help it if he's heavy." The young boy complained as the box silently made contact with the street. Almost immediately, Titanio came out and took the box inside. Alan couldn't help but look at the box, feeling the urge to pull it out of Henry's hands and take him back home, back to the place where he belonged.
"You can't back down now," Skylar said, almost as if she could read his mind.
"I just…"
"You just, what?" she cut him off, "You wanted this, right? I don't need to remind you what happens when you fail." Alan gulped. He knew the consequences. He knew what would happen. He didn't want to doubt the plan he helped shape, but after seeing Uncle Horace like that… he wasn't so sure if he wanted this right now.
Yes, he thought. Yes, I want this.
But why did it feel so wrong?
Immediately after they woke up, Kaz and Oliver got themselves ready to instantly go to the Mighty Med. They each told their parents school would start an hour later for reasons unknown, and they believed it – but you have to admit, Oliver's parents probably needed a lot more convincing than Kaz telling his parents he was going to leave for school a little later.
So when it was time, Oliver hurried to Kaz' home, where his best friend was already waiting for him. Without saying anything, they walked to the hospital. If anyone (Horace) would ask, today wasn't a school day and came to the hospital to help the others. And in the meantime, they could look out for the Dark Warrior, who sure would help him.
One hour passed. Nothing happened.
Two hour passed. Philip asked them what they were doing here so early and the told him they had a morning shift. Philip minded his own business. Nothing happened.
It was 13:00 when the third hour passed. Nothing happened. Now Kaz and Oliver really got bored. Nothing exciting had happened in the three hours they were here, an realized how lucky they were with the afternoon shifts – that's when most heroes were brought in, and that's probably why Horace appointed them those shifts.
Speaking about Horace, during the three hours in the hospital, they hadn't seen him. Either Horace has been hiding for some reason, or he wasn't present. The first was more likely to happen, because Horace almost never left the hospital, only when it was absolutely necessary. The only one who actually had talked to them was Philip. When they were about to leave, one of the nurses came up to them.
"Are you looking for someone?" she asked, and Oliver nodded. How could they have been so stupid? They could've just asked when the Dark Warrior would arrive.
"We were just waiting for the Dark Warrior, but we forgot when he arrives here." Oliver said.
"When will he come?" Kaz bluntly asked, and the nurse looked up the necessary information, not minding Kaz' way of asking that one particular question. When she found the document, she showed it to Oliver. He read it, and he was supposed to arrive within ten minutes. Oliver and Kaz thanked the nurse, who resumed her work, and the two of them walked towards the television screen. If they had to wait ten minutes, they could also watch the Superhero Network for the latest news regarding the superhero world.
Before they could even touch the device, the screen turned on by itself. Oliver and Kaz shrieked, looking at the screen. It certainly hadn't been turned on when they had entered the room. After some seconds of static, they got a clear view of the program that currently aired on the Superhero Network.
It wasn't a TV-program.
The screen was almost completely filled by the Annihilator and his evil servants behind him.
"Kaz Gordon and Oliver Pyne," the Annihilator began in his extremely scary voice, "we meet again."
"How do you know our names?" Kaz asked, just so he could say something. He completely forgot that he figured out Skylar had been his servant ever since Catastrophe came back a couple of weeks back and he also didn't really care; the villain was talking directly to them and it scared them so much he almost wet his pants.
"I have my ways," the Annihilator responded and he crossed his arms. "Now, surrender to my will."
"We won't." Oliver responded after scratching his throat to make sure he didn't sound like a scared girl. "We will keep fighting you… even if we never fought you before." Kaz supported him with a well-said 'yeah' and a fist in the air. The Annihilator was able to hear and see everything they were doing. He glared at them and if it was any other villain, he would've laughed evilly to scare them. yet, the silence and the black of the Annihilator's mask and the uneasy feeling from the glare worked just as well as an evil laugh.
"Then let's give you a reason to surrender." He stepped aside, and on the ground lay the chief of staff of the Mighty Med, Horace Diaz! Their jaws dropped. How did Horace get there? From their position, he seemed unharmed, but they couldn't be sure. Yet, they could be sure he was snoring a lot.
That's not the only thing they saw. Behind Diaz stood some heroes they recognized as being a villain. They saw NeoCortex and Snow Storm, Gamma Girl and Blue Tornado and a lot of others. This couldn't possibly be the complete line-up. There were probably a lot of other heroes evil without them knowing, not visible on-screen, just like Skylar Storm. If the Annihilator had known they had discovered she was the mole, she'd be standing next to him to intimidate them. The villain wasn't really trying to hide it.
They were taken out of thought when the Annihilator slammed his hand on a table – at least, they thought it was a table. "I want an answer!" the villain demanded, and Oliver took Kaz apart. Apart from the two Normos, the lobby was completely abandoned. They guessed the nurses and other workers were having a crisis gathering. They probably all had the same frequency on the other screens, but only Kaz and Oliver were standing close to the one with the two-way connection.
"What should we do?" Kaz asked, but Oliver was one step ahead, like always.
"I know what to do. Just follow my lead," Kaz nodded, and the two moved back to the screen so the Annihilator would clearly see and hear their commentaries.
"You win. What do we need to do?" Oliver said, and Kaz stared at his best friend with an open mouth. How could Oliver say something like that and stay so cool? The Annihilator nodded.
"Good choice." He said, "I want you to stay in front of me within two hours or else I will kill Horace Diaz. If you even think about contacting the League of Heroes, think twice about which 'heroes' you can trust and if you can find one that doesn't obey me, my second-strongest henchman will kill you and I will kill Diaz nonetheless. Have I made myself clear?" Oliver nodded. Kaz was still staring at Oliver with an open mouth.
"Very well. Meet us in Tidwell Manor." Then, the screen turned black. And Kaz eventually found the right words he could use to shout at Oliver.
"Have you lost your mind? Surrendering to the villain always results in being taken prisoner or killed or tortured or…"
"Kaz, I'm not surrendering." Oliver tried to explain to his friend, "I told him he was winning. That doesn't mean he's already won the battle. I just said it so he could tell us where to find him. Two hours is more than enough to tell the Dark Warrior what's going on so he can contact the Heroes in Hiding."
"Oh. In that case, good job!" Kaz quickly changed mind. In he looked at it that way, you could say Oliver played this game well. You couldn't survive if you weren't able to lie.
"Oliver," Kaz asked, "Do you know where Tidwell Manor is? And why Tidwell Manor?"
"He's probably hiding out in Henry's basement while keeping him prisoner. They can easily overpower him. And I have no idea where Tidwell Manor is." He admitted. "Wait, the Annihilator said something about the second-strongest henchman killing us if we found someone who doesn't obey him. It can't be Skylar, because she is probably the strongest according to him."
Kaz simply shrugged. "Yeah, I'd like to worry about that if he ever finds out, right? I mean, how can he know we're trying to contact the Dark Warrior? We haven't talked about it in public and nobody should know about it." Tecton walked in the lobby, "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do something we need."
Before Oliver could ask about it, Kaz stepped up to Tecton, who immediately was aware of the situation the two were in. Everyone knew it was Oliver and Kaz the villain had been talking about. And he was more than happy to help them, as long as they stayed true to the guidelines.
"Hey Tecton! You're a member of the League of Heroes, right?" Tecton nodded.
"Yes, I am. Or yes, I was, since we don't know how this situation plays out." The hero did have a point. When this was over, there might not be a League of Heroes anymore because of all the trust issues of the previous weeks.
"Great! Do you know where Tidwell Manor is?"
"Yes, I do." Was his answer. Kaz smiled.
"Awesome! Can you show us the way?" Tecton hesitated and Oliver stood next to his best friend.
"Well, that depends on the situation. I couldn't help but hear you're trying to contact the Dark Warrior. Why?" Kaz was taken aback by this question. He looked at Oliver, hoping to get some answer, but he was busy with his own personal questions, like: why is Tecton interested in the Dark Warrior?
"Because he can help us defeat the Annihilator. I hope you don't mind a third companion." Kaz eventually said as an answer. Tecton crossed his arms and glared at the two Normos.
"There won't be a third companion." Kaz opened his mouth, but Tecton interrupted him before he could say anything. "You violated the rules of your agreement with the Annihilator and the punishment for that action is killing you guys."
"What do you mean?" Oliver decided to ask it anyway. With Tecton towering over them, looking pretty intimidating and scary, he couldn't take any risk. And it now was clear they had taken a risk by trusting Tecton.
"Guess what? I'm still a bad guy."