Kihonne: I am so sorry for the lateness of this chapter guys. I wasn't expecting the school semester to pile up so quickly, but it did, and I've been scrambling to keep up since. But I've had the past few days off (the one upside to being sick), and I got a LOT of writing done. I got so much done that I was hoping to give you guys a double update, but I figured it would be better to give you guys this now than make you all wait another second. But before we get onto today's chapter, it's shoutout time!
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Amazingchichi741: Thanks so much! I hope you had a great January and the rest of your year goes just as well! Enjoy the chapter.
LabGirl2001: Yeah, that note is not going to go over well. I'm really glad you enjoyed it, especially the Benaomi bits and the kids' bond together. It's going to be an interesting season where we get to see a lot of the strength of their friendships, especially as they get closer to their goal. It's going to be a good season. I'm so glad you liked it, and I hope you like the rest just as well.
SyzmonS: I think a lot of teenagers are like Kira, especially if they don't necessarily like their high school. I certainly was just like her until I started university. Honestly, I want Leo's apartment too. Designing it was a lot of fun. I'm not going to lie, when I started preparing this series, I always figured my favorite would be Emily, Darius, or Seraphina, but somehow Kira took the spotlight. She's just genuinely so fun to write, and even though they all have their thing, the fact that she is so much less serious than the others makes her a nice change from the others. Calla is in a rough position, isn't she? I have not been nice to her lately. Neither has Emily, but Emily has a lot of things she needs to work through. Kameron and Nyssa are friends, Kira and Nyssa not so much. I do like writing her in, so it's possible she'll have an appearance once they're back on Earth, but that won't be for a while. The majority of the season will not be taking place on Earth, no. But they aren't the only heroes on Earth, and since the only villains left on the run are Lexi and Saturn (and I suppose Darius, depending on which character you ask), the League can spare a little resources to handle things. Or you know, just send one of the heroes who were supposed to go to space with Ben and Naomi. I will say, there's a lot of pressure to get this season right, but I think I've got it right. I've got a really good plan in mind and I think it really stands out from anything I did with the Elite Force (in a good way), so I think I've got this in the bag. The real pressure will be Season 3, as it will be the last season of the entire series. I appreciate the well wishes and send them right back to you. I hope you have a wonderful year. And trust me, when that book is finished, you will be one of the first to know.
Destiny: I'm glad you liked it so much, especially the Ben and Naomi stuff. Ideally, it won't be a full eight months with them in space though, but we'll see how things go.
LegaciesFan: Well, I do enjoy keeping you guys on your toes. And yeah, those kids aren't going to just stow-away. As the saying goes, 'go big or go home', right? Don't worry too much about Calla though: she still has Leo, Katherine, AJ, Spin, and her other friends to support her if she needs them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
MightyMedNerd: I'm glad you liked the start. To answer your question, they brought Ben and Naomi along because they're a part of their team. They're used to having them with them and they do have their own contributions. They may not have actually been able to do the entire rescue without their experience, leadership, and other important skills. Not to mention, they were prepared for this mission to begin with, and that kind of preparation (knowing the ship inside and out, the planned route, training they may have received in preparation for a space journey) could be the difference between life and death for them. As for Calla, she does have Leo and Katherine, so she'll be fine, though she will absolutely be killing those kids when they return for scaring her like that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
AuraGuard207: I believe I covered this in a PM. Please refer there if you haven't already read it.
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Kihonne: Anyway guys, here's the chapter! I hope you enjoy!
Noah: Kihonne doesn't own Lab Rats, Mighty Med, or the Elite Force. She only owns this story, any and all OCs, and anything else you don't recognize from the original shows!
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Noah's POV
When our parents originally left Earth, their mission would have taken approximately 4 months, with the first week just getting them as far as Caldera. Earth's technology had improved vastly over the last twenty years of so (my grandfather often bragged that the rise of bionic superhumans had led to an era of scientific advancement like no other in human history), but space travel hadn't been one of our highest points of advancement. It just wasn't our strong suit. Even with the hundreds of hours of work and tens of thousands of dollars that Calla had put into redesigning the Davenship for the second trip, it only managed to shave a couple of days off our travel time. Ideally, the engine upgrade or whatever Emily was excited about would be able to get us to Venusia much faster.
That being said, what Calla lacked in speed of travel, she at least made up for in comfort. Clearly anticipating the length of the trip, Calla had personally designed the ship to be as comfortable as possible for the occupants, for which we were grateful.
The ship was kinda in a H shape, but the center of it was a huge ovular section, the bottom floor of which being the cargo bay, which led into a kitchen and dining area on the left side, and a small office on the right side (probably for communications or something), and the two, massive, plasma engines at the back ends of either, both keeping the ship moving and making the bottom half of the ship comfortably warm at all times. The top half of the ship was more clearly for the living areas, with the ship's bridge being the only non-luxury part of the floor. The ladder from the cargo bay to the second floor opened up into a small lounge area just behind the bridge. On either side of the bridge and lounge area was a hallway of bedrooms, which were quickly fought over and divided (the four bedrooms on the left side of the ship were smaller, but had better beds, while the three on the right were larger with bunks, intended to be shared). Obviously, we would have to change the sleeping arrangements once we got our parents, but for now, I was quite comfortable having claimed one of the only single person bedrooms on the ship.
Along with the decent accommodations, Calla had filled the ship with a number of things to keep the occupants from getting bored over the long trip, including food synthesizers that could create almost any food imaginable, a massive bookshelf in the office filled with readings of any genre, a second bookshelf filled with bored games, and other such amenities. Overall, it looked like Calla had thought of everything she could to make this trip as smooth and as comfortable as possible. There was only one problem.
There was only one bathroom.
"C'mon Kameron, I really have to go." Kira whimpered, practically dancing in front of the bathroom door. The entrance to the single, small bathroom was in the lounge area, where Ben, Charlotte, Sera, and I were sitting in front of the massive viewing window, playing one of the board games we found in the office. "Kam?"
She only got a groan in reply, and she sighed before leaning against the wall and sliding down until she was sitting with her knees pressed against her chest. "Sixty seconds, that's all I need." She muttered.
"Yahtzee!" Charlotte suddenly shouted, beaming excitedly as she rolled five of the same number.
"Hey, quiet down." Sera hushed her immediately. "Emily's asleep, remember? She was up flying all night."
"Right, sorry." Charlotte apologized, glancing down the hall as if she expected her best friend to come stalking down the hall any second. I gave Sera a look.
"That's what you're upset about?" I questioned incredulously. "That's her third Yahtzee."
"Sucker." Charlotte stuck her tongue out at me as Ben added it to her score, shaking his head all the while.
"You're cheating." I accused. She cocked her head to the side.
"How?" She questioned. I hesitated. "I'm not cheating, Noah. How on earth would I cheat?"
"I haven't figured that out yet." I replied grumpily. She smirked.
"Well, let me know when you do." She told me. "Until then, I'm just gonna keep winning, if that's alright with you."
Just then, Kameron finally came out of the bathroom, looking positively green in the face, and clutching a garbage can. Kira shot him a sympathetic look before bolting into the bathroom, closing the door behind her immediately.
"How're you feeling, buddy?" Ben asked sympathetically. Kameron just groaned and sat down on the floor where his sister had been sitting.
"I hate ships." He groaned after a moment, face hovering over the garbage can. "Water or space, they both suck."
"We should have thought to bring your motion sickness bracelets." Kira, true to her word, emerged from the bathroom less than a minute later, looking altogether relieved at having gotten in there. She looked at her brother apologetically. "I should have put it on the list. Don't worry, we'll be on the ground soon."
"How soon?" He questioned. Almost immediately, Naomi's voice came over the intercom.
"Hey guys. I need everyone up to the bridge. We're about to land." She announced.
"On our way, Naomi." Ben replied, getting up. Charlotte pushed herself to her feet, then walked over to Kameron and offered him her hand.
"C'mon. We'll be on the ground really, really soon." He sighed deeply but took her hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. By time we made it to the bridge, Emily had joined Naomi at the controls, dressed and ready to go.
"Good morning." Kira greeted. Emily shrugged.
"Actually, it's like 22:00 earth time." She corrected. Naomi glanced back at us before turning her attention to windshield. Outside, we could see the crimson, rocky planet approaching fast, its red skies already surrounding us.
"Welcome to Caldera." Seraphina murmured, leaning on the back of a chair.
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We all left the ship quickly, only delaying long enough to get dressed in something better for Caldera (we'd brought our uniforms, but had decided that for the time being, it was best to try and dress a little more subtle) and to receive temperature-controlling patches to protect us from the heat from the hot Calderan sun. However, by time we stepped out of the ship, we realized that we weren't alone.
"Well, well, well. Look who's back." A young man about my age was waiting for us, stepping out from behind an outcropping rock just in front of the landing area that Sera had led us to. One look at him told us he was not a Calderan native; his skin was too white, his eyes a bright green, and his beach blonde hair too ironic for a planet without beaches.
"Felix." Sera beamed when she saw him, immediately pulling him into a hug. I raised my eyebrow at that, wondering who this guy was. Looking back at the others, Naomi, Charlotte, and Emily looked equally confused, so at least I wasn't alone in that.
"What are you doing here?" Kira smiled at the older boy, seeming to know him as well.
"The Calderans were looking for volunteers at the hospital, and Horace thought it would be a good place to do my residency." He explained. He looked past us, a concerned look on his face. "Is Kameron okay?"
I looked over my shoulder to see Kameron on his hands and knees next to the ship's ramp, looking as if he was either going to cry or kiss the ground. "Yeah, he'll be fine. It's good to see you, man." Ben shook Felix's hand.
"Uh, hi. We don't know you." Emily interjected. She adjusted the straps on her backpack, then offered him her hand. "Emily Davenport."
"I'm Felix Benson. I also go by Apollo, if you prefer." Felix introduced him. "I'm Horace Diaz's sidekick."
"Oh, cool." I shook his hand. "Noah Parker. This is Charlotte Dooley, and Naomi Davenport."
"It's nice to meet you. From what Seraphina tells me, you all have an important mission." He looked around at us. "I'll do everything I can to help."
"Thank you." Naomi nodded gratefully at him.
"I hate ships." Kameron announced, walking back over to us. "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, I had your ship approved as a medical shipment carrying volunteers from Earth, so no one should question why you're here if you're wearing these." Felix pulled a handful of lanyards out of his bag, each one with Calderan writing on it along with the Mighty Med 2.5. symbol. "As for the plan…"
He trailed off with a sigh. "What's wrong?" Sera stepped away from him, frowning deeply. He hesitated. "Felix?"
"There was an attack a few days ago." He said solemnly. Sera's face fell, her eyes widening.
"I thought your planet has force fields protecting it." Charlotte frowned. He nodded.
"A proton bomb broke through into downtown – it's not the first time." He looked back at Sera. "We managed to evacuate most of that sector, so there weren't many casualties, but the main labs were destroyed."
"Including the one working on the engine upgrade?" Emily's eyes widened. That had been the biggest part of the plan. Everything counted on us getting that engine.
"Yes." To our distraught, Felix nodded solemnly.
"Unfortunately, yes." He confirmed. We all exchanged looks. I could see my despair mirrored on the others' faces, along with looks of disappointed and frustration. Without the engine design, our mission was over. We hadn't prepared for a four-month mission, and even with the extra supplies we'd packed in anticipating for doubling our crew once we found our parents, there wasn't going to be enough.
"The scientists?" Emily asked after a moment. I could see her mind whirling, scrambling to come up with a new plan. She looked between Felix and Ben and Naomi uncertainly. "Maybe we could convince one of them to help?"
"I do have a lead on someone who escaped the ruins alive." Felix confirmed. "I haven't been able to totally track her down though."
"We'll take it. Do you know where she is?" Naomi questioned.
"Somewhere on the northern outskirts. They're really not talking to foreigners right now." He admitted sheepishly. He looked at Sera. "Are you familiar with Dr. Sabiya Seif?"
Seraphina shook her head and turned to Ben. "I don't know Dr. Seif, but I am familiar with the area, and I am half-Calderan. She might talk to me." She suggested. Ben nodded thoughtfully.
"Noah and I will go with you." He decided. She looked like she was going to protest, but Ben didn't give her a chance. "There was just a bombing. If something happens and you're alone, we won't be able to help or even know that you're in trouble."
"Fine." Seraphina allowed.
"What about us?" Kira questioned.
"Don't say go back on the ship." Kameron pleaded. Naomi shot him a kind smile.
"Well, we're here as volunteers, right?" She glanced at Felix for confirmation. "So we'll volunteer."
"There's plenty of non-medical things that you can do to help." Felix added, glancing around. Naomi turned to Ben.
"Meet us at Mighty Med when you've convinced the scientist to help us." She suggested. Ben nodded and gave her a kiss on the cheek before turning to Sera and I.
"Lead the way." He instructed.
Naomi's POV
I stepped away from the wall, pleased when I saw that the bolts we'd nailed into the ends were holding, the wall standing steadily.
After Ben, Sera, and Noah had left, Felix had led us to a camp of survivors from the recent attacks, where help was most needed. Emily, Kira, and Kameron had opted to follow him to Mighty Med (though Kira had promised to come back quickly with some more supplies) and Charlotte had walked away after spending no more than three minutes here, but Kira and I had stayed to help out where we could. In my case, that meant helping some of the other Calderans put up temporary shelters for the survivors to stay in until new caves were dug out and reinforced for living in.
The camp wasn't all that different than Earth refugee camps, with too many people stranded and alone and not enough supplies or shelter to go around. There was barely enough food, most of which looked stale and barely edible, and water was scarce. Almost everyone was living in tents or, for the luckier ones, in small wooden shelters like the one I'd just helped put up. Calderan people were minimalists and could survive on very little – they did live in caves, for God's sake – but even this was…awful. It wasn't even my first time in a place like this – the summer before my first college semester, I'd participated in a Davenport Industries funded outreach program where we similarly helped in a refugee camp in a South African country – but it didn't do much to make it any easier to see innocent people in this kind of situation. And while I was kind of annoyed with Charlotte for leaving as quickly as she did, a part of me understood. She'd been more sheltered by this kind of thing growing up, and I could see the shock on her face before she'd left without a word.
"Lunch time!" Kira's voice called, getting my and the workers' attentions. She was walking around the square in the center of the camp, carrying a basket full of small, silver packages around. Five young Calderan children were mimicking her, handing out silver packages from buckets of their own.
"I see you've invested in child labor." I commented, walking over to her as a line started in front of her. I grabbed some packages from her basket, beginning to hand them out so she could keep her hold on the basket.
"They just started following me when I got back." Kira shook her head with a smile. "And when they saw me pulling boxes off the back of the ATV, they insisted on helping."
"I think they like you." I commented, glancing over her shoulder at a little black haired Calderan boy, probably no older than 6, who kept sneaking glances at Kira. The pyrokinetic laughed at that, smiling at me and the Calderan woman who'd come to grab some food.
"They saw your flying earlier." The older woman – Sydney, if I remembered her name correctly – told her. Kira frowned.
"I wanted to see the mountains better." She commented. Sydney chuckled. "We don't have sights like that on Earth."
"Flying's a rare gift, even for those of us with multiple abilities. It's always popular with the children." She explained before moving on. Kira sighed.
"You know who would also be popular with the kids? Charlotte." She commented, sounding annoyed. I hummed, not wanting to get into this now, but Kira wasn't happy at all. "I can't believe she just walked away like that."
"Not everyone can stomach this kind of thing, Kira." I said gently. She gave me a look. "Look, just focus on what you're doing, not what Charlotte isn't, alright?"
"It's just not right. They need the help." She stressed. She looked past her line of people and at the endless array of tents and huts. "This is so wrong."
"This is war." I said gravely. "It doesn't matter where you're from or who you are…it only leaves devastation and destroyed lives in its wake."
"I wish there was something we can do." Kira sighed, shaking her head. I nodded solemnly. Unfortunately, there was little we actually could do. We could stop a criminal here, even a team of them, but ending an intergalactic war was beyond our capabilities. We weren't soldiers, and there were too few of us to begin with. "I…" I looked over at her when she trailed off. She was worrying her lip, barely paying attention to the people taking food from her. "I didn't really get how important my parents' mission was, not really. Why they would abandon everything when Caldera had its own heroes. And now, it was all for nothing."
"Kira." I placed my hand on her shoulder gently. She shook her head.
"We have to stop them. The Venusians. We have to stop them." She muttered.
"We're not soldiers, Kira." I reminded her.
"But we're not civilians either." She replied, looking back at me. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "What the hell is she carrying?"
"Hm?" I turned to see Charlotte walking back into camp, carrying two, long silver tubes under one arm, and a black box under the other. "Charlotte?"
"Sorry it took me so long; I had to stop at Mighty Med to get Emily's help with the solar panels." She apologized, dropping to her knees next to Kira, releasing the items under her arms.
"Solar panels?" I repeated, confused. "Charlotte, where have you been?"
"I went back to the ship." She explained. She looked up at Sydney, who'd walked over when she saw Charlotte return. Charlotte looked up at the Calderan with a smile. "Where's the most popular part of the camp? I want to set these up somewhere everyone will have access."
"…What are they?" Sydney questioned. Charlotte gestured at the silver tubes.
"Food synthesizers. They'll produce three times as much food as the supplies you're getting, and thanks to Emily, they're now solar powered." She explained before glancing at us. "We didn't need all three of the ones on the ship."
I smiled softly at the girl, a little proud that that was why she'd disappeared. "What about the box?"
"I am going to build an atmospheric water generator." She declared. At Kira's confused look. "It'll produce water from the humidity, give the people some decent drinking water."
"And you know how to do this?" I asked uncertainly. Charlotte nodded.
"Emily and I built one for our term project after Darius and Marcus…well, you know." She explained. Kira stared at her.
"What happened to baking soda volcanos?" She questioned. Charlotte gave her a look telling her exactly what she thought about that idea before turning to the kids.
"Who wants to help me?" She asked, immediately getting a bunch of excited volunteers for her project.
Noah's POV
The trek up into the northern outskirts – though how Sera knew we were headed north even though we'd never passed a city was beyond me – was made in almost complete silence. It was eerie really, the only sounds being our footsteps and the wind blowing across the rocky planet, bits of sand rising with the gust.
"Is it normally this quiet?" I asked after a long time, keeping my tone quiet for a reason I didn't quite understand myself. Sera pressed her lips together before pushing onwards, climbing the rocky mountain just a little bit faster. As we finally made it to the top, I caught sight of a massive crater, deep in the valley below. The rock around it wasn't the strange mix of red, brown, and orange that the rest of the planet was made up of; instead, it was the color of charcoal, the color only returning to normal far away from the center.
"That used to Silica City." Seraphina murmured quietly, staring out at the crater. Ben glanced at me, then at Sera.
"Is that where you grew up?" He asked, gently. She shook her head quickly, though she looked no less upset at the sight.
"No. Mom and Dad preferred a place closer to Mighty Med. And Hapax's cave is ten miles in that direction." She gestured vaguely to our left. "But I…it's our capital city. Felix and I would hang out in the market on weekends when he was up over the summer, and when Mom had meetings with the Calderan Council, I'd tag along to go visit the Dorenbosch kennel."
"The what?" I questioned, staring at her. Ben smacked me in the arm and shook his head. "Oh. I'm sorry, Sera."
"It's...it's fine. C'mon." She turned away from the crater and looked back at the mountain range in front of us, squaring her shoulders purposefully. "So, there should be a cave system in here. The entrance is somewhere on this side, I think. If the scientist that Felix told us about really did escape up here, he'll be in those caves."
"Alright. Let's spread out, see if we can't find that cave entrance." Ben suggested. He didn't wait for a response before walking away to check for a cave entrance.
"He is still really annoyed with us, isn't he?" I questioned rhetorically. Seraphina cracked a smile and responded anyway.
"Well, we did kidnap him." She pointed out, carefully making her way down the side of the mountain to get a better view. I followed her, figuring that if anyone would find the cave, it would be the girl who came from this planet rather than the two idiots from Earth.
"It's been two days. He has to get over it eventually." I rolled my eyes dramatically, and she shook her head, still smiling a little. I grinned back at her before turning to scan the mountain side.
"So, you and Felix seem close." I mentioned. She glanced at me. "I mean, you've just never mentioned any other friends from Caldera before." She hesitated. "I don't mean to pry, sorry."
"No, I...I just don't have any other real friends here." She admitted. I stared at her, stunned. "Keep looking."
"But...how is that possible? You're one of the nicest people I know." With the way she'd adapted to Earth pretty fast, I had just assumed that she'd been one of the popular kids on Caldera. Or at the very least, have her own group of friends that we'd have to try and tell apart while we were here. "You managed to become friends with Emily, of all people."
"She's not that bad." Seraphina rolled her eyes. I gave her a look.
"She can be a right prick when she wants to be and everyone knows it." I retorted. She just sighed and shrugged.
"I didn't really fit in." She explained. I looked at her and she gestured to herself with one hand. "Literally. I look too human to be Calderan, and Calderans weren't exactly the friendliest race to off-worlders before the war. But I look too Calderan for them to treat me like a guest, so..." She shrugged again. I frowned. I'd never really thought about how Sera's human aspects would set her apart from the others here. "It's fine, really. I have Felix, and one good friend is better than a bunch of bad ones who only care about whether or not you 'fit in'."
"Eight good ones." I corrected. She glanced at me. "Hate to break it to you, Storm, but you're stuck with us now."
She smirked. "Is that right, Parker?" She teased. I was about to reply when I heard a shout.
"Over here!" Ben was standing in front of a large looking rock. Sera and I exchanged looks and ran over to him. As I slowed to a stop, I caught sight of the seven-foot-tall crack in the mountain, a dim, flickering light coming from inside. "Found it."
"Careful." Sera cautioned as I went to climb into the cave. "There could be a dragon's nest in there. You should let me go first."
Ben and I stared at her as she walked past me and climbed in through the crack, one hand out as if to ward off any danger that tried to come close. After a moment, I shrugged and followed her.
"I'm sorry," Ben fell in behind us, his pace slower and more hesitant. "You guys have dragons?"
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The Calderan cave system were actually pretty cool. They were nothing like the Centium City tunnels - they were lit up with torches instead of LEDs, uneven rocky floors instead of flattened cement and asphalt - but that only made them more interesting. If these were on Earth, I could definitely see myself taking a weekend to just explore them. Spelunking was a hobby that one of my buddies from high school had gotten me into, and I'd always wanted to take Blake when we were together, but she'd never really be interested in this kind of thing. It had been forever since I'd gone myself, come to think of it. Maybe when we got back to Earth, once everything was calmed down and hopefully the Calderan-Venusian war was over (though how the hell we hoped to accomplish that was beyond me), I could go again. You know, assuming we survived this crazy trip.
Eventually, we started coming across small caves leading off of the main cavern tunnel. Most of them were unoccupied and whatever was living in the other ones wasn't Calderan or human (Sera insisted that they weren't baby dragons, just some scaly lizard-like creatures that were about as common as the earth house spider, but Ben and I weren't totally convinced).
"Maybe we should go back, check a different cavern system?" I suggested as Sera scared off one of the lizard things.
"Hold on...I think I see something down there." Ben insisted. Sera and I glanced at each other but shrugged.
"After you." Sera told him. He nodded and led the way down the cavern. After a few moments, we caught sight of what Ben's superhuman eyes had seen - a warm light emanating from one of the caverns.
"That's not a dragon, right?" I questioned. Sera gave me a look. Ben just shook his head and sighed before stepping into the cave.
Stepping inside, I saw that the light was coming from a small stream of lava coming from a crack in the wall and spilling into a rock-outlined basin at the bottom. There was a small boulder set in front of a larger, but flat, rock, almost like a stool and a table, along with large, flat rocks used to hold small items around the room.
"Hello?" Ben called as we followed him into the cave. It appeared empty to me, but one should never assume anything about alien planets.
"Who the hell are you?" I spun around to see a Calderan woman standing behind me, a pinkish-red plasma ball formed in the palm of her hand, ready to fire at us.
"Um..." Sera trailed off, looking at the woman for a moment, seeming suddenly hesitant. She must remind her of her mom, I realized with a start.
"I'm Noah." I stepped in, getting the woman's attention. "This Ben and Sera. Are you Dr. Seif?"
"What's it to you?" She demanded, stepping forward threatening.
"We need your help." Ben told her. She scoffed.
"I don't help humans." She sneered. Seraphina stepped forward, giving the scientist a good look at her.
"I'm not human." She said simply, raising her chin confidently. Dr. Seif examined her for a moment.
"You're not quite Calderan either, are you?" She hummed. She frowned. "You're that girl, Dr. Short and Skylar Storm's daughter."
"Seraphina Storm." Sera introduced herself, meeting the woman's gaze. Dr. Seif slowly lowered her hand.
"How'd you find me?" She questioned.
"Apollo heard a rumor you'd escaped the attack." Sera explained. The woman nodded.
"Diaz's sidekick. I remember him." She acknowledged. She sighed and walked past us, towards where a black pot was hovering over the lava basin. "What do you want? I'm cooking."
"We need your help." Ben said again. "You were working on the engine prototype, right?"
To our surprise, she chuckled darkly. "If that's what you're looking for, you're looking under the wrong rock, blondie. I can't help you."
"Please. We need that engine. There are lives at stake." I pleaded with her. She turned to face us, crossing her arms.
"There are always lives at stake, kid." She reminded me. Sera sighed.
"You know of my parents, right?" She asked. Dr. Seif hesitated, then nodded.
"Your mother fought for our research to continue during the war. She lost that fight, but a Calderan fighting for something other than an actual fight? That's memorable." She admitted. She looked over at Seraphina. "I respected her. And your father wasn't bad, for an off-worlder."
"They left the planet in order to try and stop this war, peacefully. But they're in trouble, and they need our help." Sera explained. "We can save them and maybe come up with a new plan to stop the bloodshed, but without that engine, it's going to take us four times as long, at least."
Dr. Seif sighed. "I can't help you." She told Sera. Sera sighed in annoyance.
"You said you respected my mother, but you're still okay with letting her die?" She questioned. Dr. Seif narrowed her eyes at the cryokinetic.
"I didn't say that." She growled.
"You ran away, hid in a cave. What else is she supposed to think?" I questioned. Dr. Seif sent me a look.
"We all live in caves, Earthling." She pointed out, sounding like she was trying not to lose her patience. Sera shook her head.
"Doesn't make him wrong." She insisted. Dr. Seif sighed.
"I see you're as fond of humans as Skylar." She commented. Sera didn't answer, but smirked. "I can't help you because I didn't work on the engine. I'm a chemist. I helped design the fuel, not the engine. The prototypes were destroyed."
"There's got to be something you can do." Ben pleaded hopefully. She looked at him carefully. "We came all this way; we can't turn back empty handed."
Dr. Seif glanced over her shoulder. "I did take the surviving plans." She admitted. "It's not much though; they're damaged and incomplete at best. A skilled engineer might be able to scrape something together from it, but as I said, I'm not an engineer."
"Don't worry, we've got two." Ben smiled, almost seeming proud. Dr. Seif looked at him, then at me, and finally at Sera.
"Not all Calderans want a fight." She said eventually before walking over to one of the rocky shelves. She pulled a small, circular tab out from behind an abstract, black statue. She offered it to Sera. "Your mother understood that. This war needs to end."
"We'll do our best." Seraphina promised. Dr. Seif nodded.
"Good. If you're anything like your parents, that should be interesting to see." She observed.
Kameron's POV
Mighty Med was in a frenzy when we arrived, doctors and nurses rushing around the cavernous hospital, going between examination rooms and the large triage center in the emergency room. There were patients everywhere – on top of gurneys, sitting on rocks around the triage center, and even, sadly, sitting around the entrance to the hospital. The hospital staff were clearly overwhelmed, never having faced crisis like this prior to the war in the nearly seventeen years since it had opened.
The moment I'd told Dr. Emery, the Calderan doctor Oliver had put in charge in his absence, that I'd been working as my mother's assistant in the NLH med bay for the past couple of years, he assigned me to help the nurses with their duties. I spent what must have been at least seven hours bandaging minor injuries, calming panicking civilians (especially the kids), and doing whatever else they would let me do without having gone to medical school.
It was much, much later when I was finally told to take a break. I found Emily in one of the back rooms, lying on her back beneath a piece of heavy looking machine. Her hands were raised towards the machine, her fingers moving quickly as if she was typing, but as far as I could tell, she wasn't touching it at all.
"…Whatcha doing?" I asked after a moment, watching her. Her fingers paused for a moment before continuing, her eyes never leaving the machine.
"I'm trying to repurpose this old food machine into an x-ray machine. It doesn't make food anymore, and radiology is backed up like crazy." She explained. I frowned and knelt down next to her.
"Can you even do that?" I questioned skeptically. She snorted. "I'll take that as a yes."
"My mother once repurposed a toaster into a power source for a computer. If she can do that, I can sure as hell do this." She growled. Suddenly, the bottom of the machine sparked near her fingers, and she let out a surprised cry before cursing under her breath. "Damn it."
"Take a break, c'mon." I sat down and patted the ground next to me. She sighed dramatically, but obediently pulled herself out from under the machine. I offered her the Viridi Bar I'd taken from the rations supply food court. She broke the greenish food bar in half and handed part of it back to me before sniffing it suspiciously.
"What is it?" She questioned.
"I have no idea." I admitted, sniffing it myself. It didn't smell like anything to me, but the greenish-brown shade didn't make it look all that appetizing. "But it is food."
Emily hesitated, then nibbled a little on the end. She frowned, chewing slowly. "Tastes like…burnt broccoli, but with…I think that's peanut butter."
I looked at her, half expecting her to smirk and tell me the truth, but when she didn't, I took a bite of my half. I forced myself not to gag at the peculiar taste. "You are right about that." I grimaced, swallowing. I stared at the bar. "I can't believe these are their rations."
"Whoever made these is an idiot." Emily commented. I raised an eyebrow, then turned over the bar to reveal the Davenport Industries logo on its wrapper. "Thanks Mom. You suck."
"Hey." I scolded gently. Emily rolled her eyes. "You know she's probably really worried about us right now."
"That's why you left the note. To make her not worry." She said nonchalantly. I looked at her and was about to tell her off for being mean to her mom, when there was a knock on the door.
"Kameron? Emily?" Felix's head poked in. He smiled when he saw us. "Hey, I thought I'd check in. You guys doing alright?"
I sighed. "Is it always this bad?" I asked. Emily glanced at me sympathetically. Felix sighed.
"The past year, yeah. It didn't use to be." He admitted, walking into the room. He sat down on a rock across from us. "Horace used to send me here every summer as part of my training. I'd spend it treating idiots who let their roughhousing get too far, hypothermia, and the occasional illness. Nothing like this."
"Hypothermia?" Emily repeated skeptically. "It's nearly 5,000 degrees here."
"A whole 100 degrees colder than it was thirty years ago. Climate change, man." Felix replied. At Emily's continuously confused look, he chuckled. "Calderans are so used to the heat that they get cold really easily. Hypothermia's not uncommon with the elderly or the young during the winter months. The only reason Skylar and Sera didn't have bad reactions going to Earth is because of their powers."
"She is cryokinetic." I mentioned. Felix nodded.
"But yeah, it didn't use to be this bad." He explained. "Now it's just…" he sighed. "Horace has sent so many of us to help, but we're still overwhelmed."
"I wish there was something we can do." Emily sighed. Felix offered her a smile.
"You've managed to fix almost all of our broken tech, and repurpose a lot of older stuff. That's helped. And Kameron, I saw you with those kids earlier. That was nice work." He complimented. Emily frowned.
"What did you do?" She inquired. I shrugged.
"There was a little girl who was freaking out because she and her dad were hurt. I calmed her down enough for me to stitch up her leg. It's not a big deal." I brushed it off. Felix shook his head.
"You calmed a patient down so that we could treat her. Being able to talk to patients like that, that's a necessity that a lot of nurses and doctors here are missing. It saves time and pain on both sides, which is vital." Felix insisted. "And that was nice stitch work. It probably won't eve scar that badly. We need more people like that."
I shrugged. "Hey." Emily elbowed me gently. "Take the compliment."
"If you want to help, come back after you save your parents. Preferably with your mom, your dad, and Oliver along with you. We need all the help we can get." He told us before climbing to his feet. "Alright. I got a message from Ben. They should be back in a couple of hours time. You up for another hour or two of work?"
I sighed, then nodded. I quickly swallowed the rest of my rations bar before looking back at the food machine Emily was trying to repurpose. "Good luck with that."
"Thank you." She smirked, taking another bite of her bar before lying back and pulling herself back underneath the machine. "Okay, you done being cranky? Are you going to work with me now?"
Noah's POV
Emily and Charlotte spent a long time going through Dr. Seif's engine plans, mumbling softly to each other as they examined them thoughtfully. Like Dr. Seif had said, the plans were damaged and fragmented, and it was clear that they were having difficulties putting it all together. But after almost thirty minutes, the rest of us were anxious for an answer.
"Well?" Ben questioned, stopping his impatient pacing to look at the girls. They exchanged looks, then quickly turned around to whisper between themselves. Ben threw him hands up in the air in annoyance, sending a look at Naomi. She motioned for him to be patient but crossed her arms with a sigh.
After a moment, the girls turned back towards us, and Emily offered us a sheepish smile. "Maybe." She replied, spreading her hands helplessly.
"Maybe." Kira repeated.
"Maybe." Charlotte confirmed.
"We think we can apply the technology from their prototype engines to our own, which will thankfully save us a lot of time and effort." Emily rushed to explain. "Most of the material we need can be found at Mighty Med or we can take it from the ship itself."
"Most, however, does not mean all." Charlotte added. "We're missing some key components that we can't get here."
"Okay." Kameron nodded. "But you said maybe."
"We did." Emily confirmed. "We're going to improvise. But we think we can make it work."
"Maybe." Naomi repeated. Charlotte pointed at Naomi with a confident smile.
"Maybe." She agreed. Ben sighed and looked at us.
"Well, we've come this far." He decided. "Maybe it is."
Xxx
Kihonne: Alright guys, what did you think? Good, bad? Somewhere in between? I really want to know! Please review! Anyway, given that things have mostly stabilized with school, and how much work I have done on the next chapter, here's the new update schedule:
Scavenger Hunt: February 2nd (TOMORROW!)
Fly Away: February 8th
Venusia: February 14th
Sorry again for the super long HIATUS, but I really hope that this chapter and the promise of a second one tomorrow makes up for it. Don't forget to review, and I'll see you all tomorrow!