Chapter 8

Herman crouched with the green other energy beam gun in his hand. The sound of hurried footfalls came from around the corner. It was five Hero security guards. He recognized two of them from his interrogation. He moved out of his hiding place and approached them. Herman told them what had happened with the Large Green Others, how he took them down with the energy beam, and how the Hero teacher's suits were reactivated, but the teachers had not yet regained consciousness. The students were all okay, just scared.

Each security guard went into a classroom to show the children they were there to protect them. Herman informed the guards, "I'm leaving to go and help Ralph with whatever needs to be done."

He started advancing toward the Administration building on the other side of the compound, staying hidden when possible.

Ralph and Quinn entered the Administration building. Heroes were wandering up and down the halls, not realizing something terrible was about to happen. Quinn telepathically asked the First, 'Shouldn't we get these people out of here? The invaders are already here. We aren't saving anyone by not informing them.'

Ralph answered, 'You are right. I'll hit the Emergency Evacuation button. You tell the security guards to stay put. The green others won't know what's going on.'

The First rushed over to the red Emergency Evacuation button in the hall and hit it with his palm. Sirens blared all over the compound. Heroes zipped out of the buildings and evacuated the compound quickly. Parents flew to the school and picked up their children. The security guards held the doors open for them, knowing what to expect, having gotten the telepathic message from Quinn.

The screech of the Emergency Evacuation sirens pierced Herman's skull, and he recognized this sound from his HR training. Being a mere human on foot, he could not exit the facility quickly. He decided to stay and see if he could help in some way. He continued toward the Administration building.

The loud sirens startled the green others on the Administration building's roof, and they dropped the explosive assemblies they were working on. The drop activated one of the explosive units. The two aliens looked at each other, and both shouted, "Oh, shit." And turned to run down the stairs.

The security unit assigned to the Administration building roof ascended to the top just as the sirens discontinued. They detected two Large Green Others in fake red suits on the roof and streaked toward them.

When the alien soldiers turned to start running from the activated explosive, three Hero security guards were moving fast toward them. The green others grabbed their suit deactivation rods from their belts and pointed them at the guards. The other two Hero guards ascended from the opposite side of the building, and the alien green others pulled the rods from their belts. The Heroes rushed over, jumped the invaders from behind, and threw them down, surprising the alien soldiers, who both dropped the rods.

The Heroes held them down as one Hero picked up a deactivation rod, pointed at a green other, and pressed the button. The purple beam enveloped the alien lizard, and he dropped unconscious. He then pointed it at the other alien, and he went down as well.

The Hero said, "Looks like it works on them too."

One of the other Hero security guards exclaimed, "I think we have a problem here! The timer is activated on this explosive unit."

Ten seconds was displayed on the timer. One of the security guards, Sean Merryweather, moving at super speed, grabbed the clicking explosive unit and flew straight up from the roof as fast as possible. When the timer reached two seconds, he threw the unit as hard as he could into the sky. It exploded one mile higher in the sky without injuring any Heroes, and the building remained intact.

The sound of the explosion echoing across the Santa Margarita hills and the sight of the fireball made the evacuated Heroes assume that this was why they had to evacuate; they wondered why they hadn't been given the all-clear to return.

Sean came back down and landed on the roof. The others patted him on the back in thanks for getting rid of the bomb. They left one guard on the roof, and the other four hurried down the stairs to check the different floors for Large Green Others.

Ralph and Quinn rushed down the hall toward the basement entrance while all the other Heroes evacuated the structure. The building would be empty within seconds. They descended the stairs, invisible, just as the green other special forces team headed up the stairs with the scientists in tow. The invisibility frequency monitor on Maurice's suit started beeping. He pointed the suit deactivation rod at the open stairwell, and the purple beam outlined two figures.

Ralph dropped the energy beam, and it went off, shooting a ray that bounced off the ceiling and down, missing all the Large Green Others. He and Quinn became visible and fell unconscious onto the stairs, tumbling down toward the military unit.

The alien group grinned as the two heroes' bodies rolled down the steps. When they glanced up, Sherman's security unit came around the corner and flew down the stairs toward the Large Green Others. The Heroes attacked the aliens. Maurice and other team members let loose the purple deactivation beams. Purple rays bounced everywhere, hitting walls and Heroes. Unconscious suit-deactivated Hero bodies were strewn along the stairwell.

The green others hurried up the stairwell, down the now-empty hall, and out the double doors. Herman Polanski stood opposite the front door. Upon seeing the human holding an energy beam gun, the two scientists fell to the ground with their hands over their heads. Two alien soldiers aimed the deactivation rods at the human, but the purple rays did nothing. Herman shot the two Large Green Others without hesitation. The third soldier ran around the corner of the building, leaped, and flew into the air at high speed.

The guards from the school came running around the opposite corner of the Administration building. They recognized Herman standing with the energy beam gun pointed at the two scientists and two dead lizards sprawled on the ground. They took charge of the two lizard scientists.

Herman said, "I haven't seen Ralph yet. I'm going in to find him."

He moved down the stairs to the basement with two security guards behind him. They found the pile of Hero bodies in the stairwell. One of the guards said, "I'm calling for a medical emergency." He called telepathically for a medical emergency. The doctor asked, 'Is it clear to return to the compound.' The guard said, 'Yes.' And sent out the All-Clear telepathic call to everyone. Within a minute, the emergency medical unit examined all the Hero's bodies and brought them up the stairs.

A second medical emergency call came from the fifth floor of the Administration building. The second medical detail arrived to check on all Heroes attacked on the fifth floor. Dr Manners realized most of the unconscious Heroes were exposed to the suit deactivation beams. He took the one-off Ralph's belt and went around reactivating the Hero suits. The Heroes all awoke about half an hour later. Ralph and Quinn bore quite a few bruises from rolling down the stairs, and Ralph had a sprained wrist, but other than that, there were no significant injuries.

They collected and incinerated all the dead Large Green Other bodies. Only one green alien escaped. If it hadn't been for Herman stopping the last of the insurgency team, they would have lost the scientists. Because Herman was only human, the purple beams did nothing to him, and because he had been an ace paintball player, he knew how to take care of armed opponents without getting hit.