Things moved quickly for the newly assembled team after the evil twins had caught up the list of heroes. Suddenly, this team was no longer a bunch of teenagers trying to get their feet wet in a new team; their feet were already so wet that they were getting wrinkled. They had to be. The team needed to accelerate past all of the new adjustments that came with working with new people and speed directly into a smoothly working system if they wanted any hope of saving all of the heroes they had now exposed.
Skylar welcomed the easy distraction from her own turmoil of feelings, as did Oliver; the work kept them both from thinking about the ones they loved and could never have. Skylar's lover was miles away, however, whereas Oliver's saw him everyday. The argument could be made, however, that Oliver was truly the one suffering, since he was forced to watch his heart's desire live her life out right in front of him, all the while completely oblivious to his feelings for her.
Therefore, the hard work which sprang up due to the rush of missions that came their way served well to keep everyone's minds off romantic feelings.
For there was a war coming. Chase could feel it. Everyone could. You didn't need to be the smartest bionic in the world in order to know that nothing good could come from the two revenge-hungry twins possessing a list with all the information they needed to terminate superheroes for good. These cruel boys had been nasty enough to burn down a whole hospital full of injured, innocent people; both superheroes and normos. There was no doubt in any of these teens minds' that they were capable of far worse destruction.
It had been two weeks since Roman and Riker had gotten the list. People were tense, tempers were edgy, and muscles were getting tougher by every exhausting workout.
Chase was pushing his team to the outer limits. He was convinced that their powers as well as their human strengths had to be above and beyond normal powers if they wanted any hope of defeating Roman and Riker.
They had just finished one of their hardest training sessions to date, and Skylar and Bree were resting on the couch upstairs, trying to work up enough strength to carry on with the rest of the afternoon.
"Ohh, by muscles are so sore; I don't think I could even paint my nails with these things." Bree shrugged her noodle-like arms.
"I don't think I can do anything," seconded Skylar.
Kaz shuffled by slowly, on his way to the refrigerator.
"Hey, could you grab me a water?" asked Bree.
"Yeah, me too." nodded Skylar. "I don't think I can stand up right now."
Kaz rolled his eyes. "How do you two heroes expect to stand up and fend off the most powerful villains we've ever had to face if you can't even function after training?"
"Look, if we really needed to get up; we would. But we don't have to; that's what you're for."
Kaz was ready with his response when Chase came rushing out of the holo-elevator like his feet were on fire.
"Guys, mission alert; one of the subway tunnels have caved in and there's a train full of people due to arrive there in fifteen minutes. They will be smashed to oblivion if we can't help it."
"Isn't there some way to warn the train before it hits?" asked Bree as she jumped up, sore limbs forgotten.
"I've tried," said Chase, throwing his arms to his sides, signaling his failure in that effort. "Everyone; the fire department, the police; they all said they would see what they can do, but it's already so close to impact that they said they don't have much hope for stopping it. Plus, the train is on a preprogramed route, so there's not even a conductor we can call."
"Well, if it's an electrical train, can't you just hack in and stop it?" asked Kaz. "I thought you were supposed to be the mega-brain of this team."
"I already tried, the signal coming from the train is blocked by a hardware that would take to long to get through. The only hope now is if we can clear the track manually before the train reaches it."
"Okay, let's go," Skylar and Bree were dressed and there long before the boys caught up on Mr. Davenport's speed car.
The members stared at the seemingly endless wall of ruble that was piled all the way up to where the roof of the station would be, if some unknown, very powerful, force hadn't obliterated it. Above the tracks there was no longer a roof; instead, the team could see up beyond where the roof should be into a space of about ten feet, then another concrete structure, which Skylar assumed was the underside of the sidewalk above them. A normal sidewalk where normal people were walking right now; completely unaware of the tragedy about to befall under them.
"Okay, we have seven minutes until impact. We need to get to work now," said Chase. "And everyone watch the third wire by the sides of the track; it has enough electrical power running through it to fry anyone who touches it for good."
All the team members quickly took note of the dangerous wire behind them.
"There's no way we can clear this all by hand in time; it looks like about fifteen feet of the roof has caved in." Skylar observed.
Chase began running calculations in his head to see if there was anyway they could get around this obvious impediment before them.
"Okay, Oliver, use your water cycle. If you can get enough force behind it, then maybe you can blow most of this rubble to the sides and we can clear the rest."
Oliver nodded at Chase's suggestion, and took his stance in the center of the rails, careful not to touch the electric third wire, and raised his hands towards the wall of rock.
Bracing his feet against one of the wooden slates of the track, Oliver slowly began his water cyclone. It steadily gained power, growing larger and larger until it reached a towering side. He then gently angled it towards the ominous rock pile, and gave it more power. He could feel the resistance from the rock gaining more force as his cyclone, likewise, got bigger. The water washed over the rocks with a mighty blow, sounding like the thundering roar of a million waterfalls crashing into the deepest cavern of the world. Even so, the water seemed to have absolutely no effect on the rocks. They stayed wedged together, stubbornly un-budging.
"Okay Kaz, see if you can help him out with your blast," said Chase in an authoritative voice, even though his eyes were nervously dancing back and forth between his watch and Oliver's water wave.
"No problem," said Kaz.
He took his place next to Oliver, braced himself, and began to add his power to Oliver's force.
"It's not working!" screamed Bree, nearly hysterical with anticipation.
"Just give them some time to gain power," said Chase, trying to hang onto some of his mission leader attitude.
"But they don't have time!" exclaimed Bree. "The train will be here any minute, and hundreds of people will lose their lives if we can't get this rock away! Tell them to stop spraying water at the rock and give me a shot at clearing it with my speed!"
"NO!" yelled Chase, completely losing his composure. "Let them try! You'd never be able to clear this rock manually in time; their superhero powers are our last hope at getting it all cleared."
"Sorry little bro, but you're not mission leader anymore."
"Bree wait, what are you—" The former commander's sentence was cut short by Bree's familiar swoosh of speed as she dashed towards the rock wall. Oliver and Kaz, who were unaware of the sudden mad run by Bree, did not let up on their blast until she had already made it past them to the rock wall. Before she had even made it to her first rock, the power from Oliver's and Kaz's forces combined threw her backwards into the side of the wall.
Bree hit the wall with a distasteful 'thunk!' and fell to the gravel below, unconscious.
Shocked, Oliver and Kaz quickly stopped their blasts.
"No! Don't stop!" exclaimed Chase, running forward. "I'll get Bree, you guys continue blasting that wall! We only have two minutes!"
"It's not working!" yelled back Oliver, as Kaz ran to make sure Bree was okay. She wasn't.
"And Bree's unconscious!" shouted Kaz. "We need to get her back to the penthouse right now."
"No, we need to clear this track right now," countered Chase.
"Hey Chase, what if I use my blast wave abil—power to break down the wall?" asked Skylar.
"No, that's too risky; you just got your powers back and are still re-adjusting to having them."
"Well, Oliver and Kaz just got their powers, and you let them give it a shot anyway."
"Yes, but they've been training with those powers specifically; you've just been working on speed mostly. If your power goes run and ricochets off these walls, it could kill us all."
"But if I don't try it, in one minute, that-"she gestured to the wall "could kill hundreds of innocents. I've got to try."
"Wait!" yelled Chase uselessly after Skylar.
Skylar ran forward, braced herself, and raised her hands in much of the same fashion that Oliver had. She took a deep breath to steady her racing heart, and conjured up the power within.
The force of her blast could be felt thorough the entire tunnel, and the vibrations carried through the walls down for many miles. Flying rocks and rumbles bounced off the walls and down the tracks, many coming within inches of ending one of the team members for good. As the shower of rock continued, Kaz instinctively wrapped himself protectively around the unconscious Bree, shielding her completely from flying rock.
Chase and Oliver both ran as quickly as they could to Skylar; but Chase's superior experience in the mission field gave him an upper hand in the race.
The seconds on his mental timer were clicking down until the moment the train would make it's way down the track and smash Skylar into the ground.
"Skylar!" he yelled in a warning tone. She didn't seem to hear him. She was trying to regain her strength from another blast at the reaming ruble; but she was far from ready for another blast, and her quick attempt caused her to nearly pass out from the exertion.
Chase saw the lights of the oncoming train out the corner of his left eye. He felt a piece of rock come so close to his head that it brushed his hair. He heard the crunching gravel of a second pair of feet stop behind him, and he heard Oliver's helpless scream to Skylar. He could taste the daunting perception of fear on his tongue.
Everything slowed to an unrealistically slow pace. Skylar's chestnut locks were flying behind her face, which was set in concentration, but quickly giving way to tiredness. Her shoulders drooping, her hand lowering; she was slowly falling backwards onto the track. If she fell, she would be stuck between the two rails while the train rushed over her, surly killing her the minute it passed over her head.
He had to get to her before then. Even as the thought entered his mind, Chase felt another burst of energy erupt in his legs. He felt his legs jump, but he didn't think. He felt his arms opening to reach Skylar, but he didn't think about their motion. He felt Skylar's body become enveloped into his, but he did not have time to think about the events happening. He felt the angry breath of the oncoming train, so close he was sure it was going to bring them both to their death. He saw the lights inches from his eyes. He could smell dirt and sweat, and the fragrance of Skylar's pineapple perfume. He heard the train rush by them, and he felt the harsh gravel on his knees as he tumbled to the ground, holding Skylar, mere centimeters from the third wire of the train tracks as the passenger train roared by with a dragon-like speed.
He felt a hard shock below him, and saw with horror that blood was coming from somewhere. He watched, frozen in silence, as Skylar's eyes became glassy, then slowly closed. The metallic smell of blood was all around him; it was clutching him in its grasp of despair as he tried desperately to understand what had happened.
Then his saw the rock. The jagged edge of the concrete chuck, jutting up inches away from him, and doused in Skylar's ruby blood.
The sight sickened him, but what really made him want to join Skylar in her unconscious state was when he discovered the gash on the back of her neck. She had hit the lower part of her head and her neck against the rock, cutting deep into her flesh and decorating the gravel of the tunnel with her blood.