Chapter 3
"Wait, how do you know this?" Cara asked.
"Wes called me," John answered. "He couldn't talk, but I heard everything until Ethan found the phone."
"We need to go now," Talia said. "Who knows what they'll do them? Do we have any way to counteract the D-chips or the suppression cuffs?"
"No," Cara replied.
"We can't go in yet," Stephen pointed out. "We could handle the Webbers if the D-chips are turned on, but those normal people still have guns."
"A small electromagnetic pulse will knock out all the power in that area," suggested Jed. "That would give you some time to handle this, but depending on the power system they use, it might not be too much time."
"Do you have something lying around that will create that pulse?" Stephen asked.
"No, but I'm sure someone in Washington, DC does."
"John, did you learn anything about the group while you were on the line?" Cara asked.
"Not much. There was a lot of talking in the background. I think I picked up some religious references, though."
"We might have been right," Cara realized.
"We will find out," Stephen said.
John had a meeting with a group of TPs that Roger recruited from the Refuge while Jed make a couple calls. Jed soon pulled John out of the meeting.
"Do you remember Colonel Black with the Army?"
"Yeah."
"She can lend us an EMP generator prototype," informed Jed. "It's been tested, so it should do the trick. Teleport to her and then take the generator to the Avengers."
"Okay."
"John, I know what you're thinking, but you need to come back as soon as possible. After you finish talking to the Refuge recruits, I need you to help Roger scout potential locations for offices."
"You can't be serious, Jed."
"John, as your boss, I'm telling you to delegate responsibilities to other people. Trust the Avengers to handle this situation. You don't have to do everything. You shouldn't have to."
John waited a couple seconds before nodding.
"All right," said Jed. "Teleport to the Pentagon and Chicago and come right back. The new recruits are already waiting for you."
John complied and soon arrived in Chicago.
"Here's a picture of Ethan that I got from Jed's computer. Here are two keys that should unlock the suppression cuffs. The woman at the Pentagon gave me two generators just in case," John told the Avengers. "If it didn't already occur to you, you should leave your watches and cell phones here."
"You're not staying?" Cara asked.
"I can't. I have new recruits waiting for me and Jed wants me back as soon as possible. Roger pitched the idea of this new initiative to some TPs he knows at the Refuge and a lot were interested."
"John, some of these Avengers are worried that this outreach is a step towards bringing back Ultra," Stephen thought to John.
"What about you? What do you think?"
"I'm giving you and my dad the benefit of the doubt."
"Thanks."
"A part of me wonders, though, if this was somehow Jed's long endgame."
"If you're not 100% sure about this, you should join and monitor it from within."
"Yeah, that's what we actually decided," Stephen said aloud.
"Great minds and all that," responded John.
"Any chance you can take us to Pittwood on your way back to New York?" Cara asked.
"Sure."
John and the Avengers arrived close to the Divine Psyche compound.
"It'd be really great if you could stay," Cara said.
"I don't want to lie to Jed," John replied, half distracted. "However, I did just locate Ethan. If I just inhibit his powers, I could still say I wasn't really part of the attack."
"Any chance you could do that to more of them?" Talia asked.
"Sorry, but this takes a tremendous amount of effort. I could do this to two weaker TPs together, maybe three on a good day, but Ethan's good. Wes and Russell are in the basement, towards the rear."
"I'll get the suppression cuffs off them," Talia said.
"Other Avengers, focus on the TPs, but keep an eye out on the humans," Stephen ordered.
"Stephen and I will take out Ethan first, then focus on the humans," Cara added. "Talia will join us while Russell, Wes, Samia, and Jeannie corral the normal human followers."
"Everyone ready?" Stephen asked. After a few seconds, he activated an EMP.
"Let's go!" Talia yelled.
Stephen and Cara teleported to Ethan. Cara slammed Ethan against a wall using her telekinesis and Stephen injected him with a shot to remove his powers. Cara shoved Ethan against another wall.
Cara detected someone behind her ready to kill. She quickly turned around and aimed a telekinetic burst, but Stephen already blasted the gunman away. Cara teleported behind the gunman and knocked him out.
Stephen returned to Ethan and found the control for the D-chips.
Meanwhile, Talia teleported to the captives and removed the suppression cuffs.
"We have normal human beings here," Talia said. "The ones without weapons need to be evacuated."
"They think that Tomorrow People are holy," Jeannie informed Talia. "The guy in charge has been claiming that our powers are miracles."
"We'll use that to our advantage," Wes suggested. "Convince them that we're helping them."
"We can't take advantage of them!" Jeannie said. "They are innocent and misled."
"Wes is right," Samia countered. "We need to get them out safely and quickly. Playing the part will let us do that. We'll straighten things out later."
Talia looked at Russell.
"Don't look at me. I'll go with the majority. Whatever we decide to do, though, we need to remain anonymous. We're going to have to deal with the fact that normal humans know about Tomorrow People. It'll be easier if they don't know who we are."
"Our priority is their safety," Talia said. "Get them out by whatever means you need."
The TPs teleported back to everyone with masks on and used their telepathic powers to differentiate Death Web from their followers.
Jeannie appeared by two women.
"Let's go, ladies. You really don't want to be here right now."
Jeannie wrapped her arms around the women and teleported them down the road.
"We really should have designated a safe place," Jeannie commented.
Samia soon arrived with two humans. "I suppose this is as good a place as any?"
"Who are you?" someone asked.
"What's going on?" asked another person.
"You've been deceived," Samia responded. "Ethan Vaughn is a bad person. Whatever he's planning, it's bad for everyone, including you."
"Stay here," ordered Jeannie. "We're bringing more people here out of harm's way."
"Do you feel odd?" Samia telepathically asked Jeannie.
"A little, but I'll worry about that later."
Samia and Jeannie returned to the compound and ran into Russell.
"Where did you take the people?" Samia asked.
"The edge of the backyard. This property is huge. Wes is moving people there now, too."
The other Avengers continued to battle the Death Web, eventually defeating them and stripping their powers.
"Where are the followers?" Cara asked.
"Outside," Wes answered. "There's a group in the backyard and another down the road a bit."
"We need everyone back here," Stephen told some of the TPs. "Everyone needs to be accounted for."
Wes, Jeannie, Russell, and Samia teleported the humans back to the compound, where the Death Web had been restrained.
"Wes, could you let John know what's happened?" Cara requested. "We'll need him to take the Death Web back to New York."
Stephen and Cara turned to address the human followers and Ethan took the opportunity to finally make his move. He telekinetically blasted Cara and Stephen onto the ground.
"Whoa!" Russell cried. "I thought you lost your powers!"
Seeing Russell advance, Ethan knocked him away, too. "Listen to me!" Ethan cried to the humans.
Cara interrupted Ethan by teleporting behind him and kicking his knees, making him fall to the ground. She grabbed Ethan's arms and twisted them behind his back.
Ethan broke free momentarily, until Cara slammed him into a wall and injected him with another serum to strip his powers. Ethan convulsed again and was soon still.
"What's going on? What have you done?" a follower asked.
"This guy has been lying to you," Stephen responded. "We came to save you from him and bring down his organization."
"He's been helping us," a follower commented.
"And hurting others," Cara interjected. "He's a bad guy who's been manipulating you."
John arrived at the compound and surveyed the area.
"I had to give Ethan two shots," Cara told John. "I'm not detecting anything from him anymore. Can you?"
"No," John answered after a moment. "Two shots did the trick."
A few human followers approached Cara as John prepared to teleport the Death Web away.
"Are you our holy messenger now?" a human asked Cara.
"What?" replied Cara.
"Will you give us powers like Ethan did?"
"What?" asked John.