A/N: So. Took over a year to update.

Okay, maybe I'm not the best at updating, but even for me that's just very sad. I'm really, really sorry for taking this long, guys. This story accidentally got put on the backburner for a while. But hey, now I'm back. :D

SladeRavenFan: Yup, more or less, and yes, that's true. But I'm taking a bit of creative liberty with this, so Geo-Force is initially a duo. :)

ArtemisHarryAnimorphsfan96: (You know I've been friends with you for a long time and I STILL have to double check whenever typing your name, right? :P) Thank you. :D

AzelmaandEponine: Thanks! And last time I posted this I didn't know what your username meant, but now I do. And it's awesome. :D

Now that that's done, I'm also gonna quickly say that this is the first time that something in the TT universe is referenced! 8D This chapter's the climax of Part 1, so I hope it's nothing short of awesome.

Now, without further adieu. . .

Chapter 5: Immortus

My eyes widened when I took in the view. The lab was ransacked, shards of glass spread out across the floor. The tubes that Brion and I had received our powers in were both tipped over. More of General Immortus's robots were in the room, around six or seven of them. The traitorous Dr. Helga Jace sat patiently in a little chair, a leg crossed over the other.

Rage bubbled inside me when I saw Dr. Jace. Now I was really glad I gave her that black eye.

And right in the center of the room, using his arm to bark orders at the robots he commanded, was a bald man who physically looked to be in his eighties or nineties. His blue eyes kept inspecting the room sharply; making sure things were getting done. Medals accented his purple uniform—medals that recognized his triumph.

General Immortus.

The Forever Soldier seemed to see us arrive before we saw him.

"Ah, Tara, Brion." He spoke as if we were all old friends. "I was hoping I'd be able to see you two."

Brion clenched his fists. "Leave Markovia, Immortus," he growled, immediately transforming from my fourteen-year-old brother into a crime fighter. "Otherwise we'll boot you out of here ourselves."

General Immortus merely chuckled, his eyes shining. "You do realize I'm the one who gave you your powers? Quite frankly, you should be thanking me, not threatening me."

That right there released gallons of anger inside me. I ground my teeth together, trying to keep my face neutral and my emotions from escaping.

Thank Immortus? I really couldn't think of a worse idea. General Immortus was the one who gave me these uncontrollable powers that were beginning to wreck havoc everywhere I went, and he was telling me that I needed to thank him?

It was really all I could do not to charge straight to Immortus and wrench that shriveling little head off of his neck.

However, Brion's words stopped me from doing that. "Why did you give us powers in the first place? And why us?"

"You see, Dr. Jace contacted me recently, informing me that she had been able to discover how to give someone superpowers," General Immortus said. "So we set up quite a dire political situation—what would happen if I threatened your little country? Markovia would need a new weapon, of course, one that they hoped would take me by surprise, and then Dr. Jace here conveniently happens to have a new breakthrough that would suit their desires. You two wound up being the subjects, and the rest is history."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Brion said. "Why?"

He grinned crookedly. "Since you insist. . . I fully intend on joining the Brotherhood soon, and I figured I may as well do so along with others."

"So you were using us the whole time," he put together. "In the end, we were meant to be nothing more than your stupid villain puppets!"

"Exactly!" said Immortus almost gleefully. "Now, will you come with us willingly, or will we have to take you by force?"

Brion gritted his teeth. "You think we'll allow you to control us? Not a chance."

Immortus shrugged. "Suit yourself. In the meantime," he turned to his little army, "seize the children."

On command the robots turned toward us, then began to advance as General Immortus stepped back.

Brion made the first move. One of his rocks flew towards one of the robots, landing on its head, shortly followed by Brion himself, the impact taking heavy effect.

I began hurtling rocks at the robots as well, remaining exactly where I was. Most of the time I missed. My arms were shaking as I found myself taking a few steps back. I was actually in a fight. A life-threatening fight.

I looked to Brion, who had just slammed a robot into a needle-lined table. I had to find a way to help him.

General Immortus looked to me. "Get her."

Instantly red, electronic robot eyes swiveled towards me. Oh no.

I began to back away from Immortus's army in fear until I had hit a wall. I threw what rocks I could at them, but it did nothing to stop them from forming a barricade around me. There was no getting around it—I was trapped.

Brion's head turned around to see how I was doing as he slammed a robot into the ceiling with a large rock. He gasped and immediately began to run toward me. The robot subsequently fell to the floor, the last few sparks of remaining electricity quickly dying.

"Tara!" Brion called. He rammed headfirst into one of the robots and hurtled a rock at it to finish the job. Another robot fired a red laser; he quickly dodged it and, as an effect, it seared into the metal walls instead.

More of the robots decided to take action by aiming more lasers at Brion, who simply kept dodging them and counterattacking. Finally he jumped to avoid a laser, and then landed in front of me, using his body to shield me. A laser came at him the second he landed, and he quickly brought an arm up and deflected it with a rock.

Brion began seething as the robots began to close in. He straightened as he summoned more rocks and began pillaging them into the breastplates of Immortus's army, left to right, one by one, as if in a sequence.

"Don't you," he gritted his teeth as part of the robots were taken down, "dare touch," most of them were gone by now, impossible to reassemble, "my sister!" Brion finished by almost dramatically pushing the rock into a final robot.

With all of the robots defeated, the room fell into an eerie silence.

Finally it was broken as Immortus clapped his wrinkled hands once, followed by Dr. Jace doing the same.

Dr. Jace finally stood up. "Well done, Brion Markov," she said. "You're even better than I thought—you especially will prove to be an excellent general for our army."

Rage began to swell in Brion even more. "We already told you—we're not going with you!" He then recreated a proper, almost princely stature from his deep-breathing, hunched form. "Now, again, leave Markovia, and never come back. Or else—well, you've seen what we're capable of doing."

A grin peeped from a corner of Immortus's mouth. "Of course, Brion Markov. That's what we've been intending all along! But we can't leave without our little prizes. And, here's the thing—if you don't come, in return, a little 'accident' could very well be arranged to happen to your father. And don't get me wrong, I know that Markovians love him as much as you do."

General Immortus tapped a wiry finger on his chin. "Now that would be considerably tragic, wouldn't you agree? King Viktor of Markovia, dead so suddenly . . . are you sure you want that to happen?"

Brion emitted a deep yell as he suddenly charged straight at Immortus and punched him cleanly in the chest. He was sent flying.

However, Immortus was quick to recover. He landed on his feet like a cat with nine lives. Brion moved to again, but Dr. Jace was quick to stop him.

"I don't suggest any more antics, Prince Brion," Dr. Jace warned. "He wasn't lying about our ability to kill your father. We have good contacts in good positions. We can do it. And we can do it now."

That took Brion aback. His face became as pale as ice. For a few seconds, he remained utterly motionless, frozen into place.

Then he lowered his eyes. He looked ready to resign.

But I wasn't.

I stepped forward for the first time. I erected my face stone-hard. "Brion's right," I said with as much authority as I could muster.

Immortus and Dr. Jace seemed to notice me for the first time. A thin smile spread on Immortus's face as he slowly took my words in. He sneered. "Well well, she speaks. Brion is right about what, might I ask?"

I clenched my fists, barely noticing that a bright yellow was starting to ring around them. "He's right. . . I don't think you've seen what we're capable of doing. I don't think you realize how much power you gave us, and what we can use against you! Quit underestimating us!"

The yellow aura around my fists growing thicker and glowing brighter. I barely registered Brion's voice climbing to a cautious height. "Um, Tara, I don't—"

But I tossed his voice aside and stared straight into Immortus's eyes.

"You haven't seen anything yet!"

With that, I clamped my eyes shut. When I reopened them, I found that all of my surroundings were bathed in the same yellow that had surrounded my hands. I could hear something waving in the ear, flapping like a flag waving in the air. I felt a slight tug on my scalp and realized that the thing flying in the air was my hair.

I adjusted within a matter of milliseconds. The faces of Dr. Jace and General Immortus looked to be the very definition of shock. I relished their surprise.

But it was time to get back down to business. My mind cut away the mental metal floor, reaching down to somewhere deep in the earth's crust. As a result, pillars of earth broke through the metal floor and surged up into the air.

The whole lab seemed to shake once the pillars hit the metal ceiling. I tweaked the pillars again, and in turn, fractions of the pillars broke off and flew like discs being fired from a weapon. They aimed themselves at General Immortus and Dr. Jace.

Jace's eyes grew, the other bruised one twitching. But she wasn't the only one amazed. Brion was too—in fact, he seemed somewhat horrified, scared.

But why should he be?

I turned my attention back to my two opponents. I reached back down into the earth's field of energy. Boulder surfaced out of the ground, like back in the training area on the very first day.

I aimed the first boulder at Immortus and Dr. Jace. I quickly drew my arm back, and then pushed. The yellow bounder was subsequently launched at the duo. They scrambled for their lives, the boulder missing them just by a few feet.

This routine repeated until I ran out of boulders, and Dr. Jace and General Immortus were still in one piece. A flare of anger burst from my stomach. They needed to pay—to pay for threatening to kill my father, for attempting to capture Brion and me, for grafting these stupid geokinesis abilities into us to begin with!

They needed justice. And it looked like I wouldn't be able to give it to them by hopelessly chucking boulders at them. I needed something they couldn't avoid . . . something big.

I mentally reached down once more, trying to ignore the searing pain in my head as I attempted my grandest move yet.

I grabbed the strings of energy—then I threw them as hard as I could, sending waves surging through the earth's interior.

As a result, I opened my eyes, the world still dyed in yellow. The ground felt as if it were a rocking boat in the ocean yet again, but this time the feeling was much more powerful. The ground slipped and slid beneath my feet, and the rock pillars were crumbling slowly, embracing the floor upon landing. Scientific equipment thrashed, eventually giving in and dropping. I could hear the roaring of the earth, the sound of glass exploding, and the shrill screams of those outside the room.

I was nearly laughing when I saw the expression on their faces. What was the matter, guys? Didn't think I was strong enough to create an earthquake? Who's the one to be feared now?

They seemed to make a decision simultaneously. Genreal Immortus turned his aged head toward Dr. Jace. "Run!"

Dr. Jace hastily nodded. Immortus began to run towards the door.

I narrowed my eyes. That devil duo wasn't gonna get away easily. Not on my watch.

I cut some of the rock away from the multiple summoned columns. But because I had taken too long, I saw the Forever Soldier vanish once he exited. I almost cursed in defeat.

But Dr. Jace wasn't out the door.

I smiled almost wickedly. It was Dr. Jace I was angrier at, after all. True, General Immortus may have been the one to come up with the idea of giving Brion and I geokinesis, but it was filthy Dr. Jace who carried it out. It was Dr. Jace who had betrayed us. It was Dr. Jace who had acted as if I had some sort of contagious curse laid on me.

My surroundings burned a brighter-than-ever yellow as I allowed all the columns to crumble right in front of Dr. Jace. She lunged to get out, reaching out her arm in panic-but drew it back just in time to avoid it getting crushed by a bunch of rocks.

Yes. Now she would face justice.

Brion and I—we had actually done it. We had fought off a bunch of Immortus's robots, duo-handedly drove off one of the biggest threats known to mankind and in the process captured one of his most trusted accomplices.

Oh yes, victory was sweet.

A yell of pain suddenly began to register, cutting off my blazing triumph. My ears strained to place it, and then my eyes grew as I realized just who it was.

It had come from none other than Brion, on the ground, who was clutching his bloodied head as though if it were a lifeline. My breath hitched as I watched him fall down and remain motionless. I immediately whirled on Dr. Jace, more than ready to pommel her in the face for hurting him.

Then I realized . . . he hadn't been hurt before he confronted Immortus personally, then after that neither Dr. Jace nor General Immortus had made a move towards Brion.

The only one who had done any attacking. . .

Was me.

Instantly the world was drained of yellow, and my hair stopped flailing about as I realized what I had done. I rushed over to his side. Tears threatened to crawl down as I called Brion's name. I repeated it, again and again and again as I shook him, desperate to awaken him, to know that he wasn't dead, barely recognizing that Markovian troops had broken through the barrier of rock. All that mattered was Brion. He was severely injured at the very least, and it was entirely my fault. I was so obsessed with Immortus and Dr. Jace that I hadn't noticed him. . .

And because I couldn't control my powers.

This was exactly what I'd been fearing from the very start.

I remained still, paralyzed from the very sight. My breathing became shallow and the world around me began to spin. My eyes drifted down, slowly, slowly, and I let my muscles sag and my body fall to the floor.

The last thing I saw was a medic closely examining Brion before a world of blackness eclipsed all light.