02x16: Security Measures

Kyle warns Dr. Suarez about the warning Austin left and forms a team to rescue him.

SECURITY MEASURES

 

     Kyle had asked a few hydrokinetics to wash out the fires after taking some pictures. It was Sunday. Kyle couldn’t sleep that night. He was worried about what was gonna happen. The sight of the message hidden in the flames was haunting him.

 

“NOWHERE IS SAFE. NOT HERE, IN THE CITY, EVEN IN THE OCEAN. IN ONE MONTH, IT’S GAME OVER.”

 

     Game Over, what did that mean? Death? Stripping of Powers? Extinction? Apocalypse?

     Kyle waited for 10:00 AM to go to the school. He took the pictures and went out. He picked up Berna, Patrick, Lanz, and Cedric. They went to the school.

     “Where are we going?” Patrick asked.

     “Dr. Suarez,” Kyle answered.

     “Why?” Lanz asked.

     “I have to warn her about this threat. She has to warn everyone. She’ll know what to do.”

     “I’m not even studying here,” Cedric said.

     “I need witnesses alright? And you didn’t even break a sweat.”

     “I carried Lanz in.”

     “UGH!!!”

     Soon, they arrived at Dr. Suarez’s office. Her secretary was there.

     “Excuse me, where’s Dr. Suarez?”

     “She’s in her office.”

     “Can I talk to her right now?”

     “Umm… she’s very busy. But I’ll try.”

     She stood up and went in Dr. Suarez’s office. After a few seconds, she went back out.

     “Go right in.”

     “Thank you.”

     Kyle and the others rushed into Dr. Suarez’s office.

     “Good morning, Dr. Suarez,” Kyle said.

     “Good morning. You’re a friend of Austin aren’t you?”

     “Yes ma’am. Do you know about the events last night?”

     “Do you mean that De Vera boy’s terrible acceptance speech for best costume?”

     “No, after that.”

     “Not that I know of.”

     “Well, as you can see, Austin isn’t with us.”

     “Well, where is he?”

     “He’s gone.”

     “HE’S DEAD?!”

     “No. He was attacked last night by a man with spikes around his body. I got this tape from the base last night.”

     “Play it over there.”

     Dr. Suarez pointed to a television on the other side of the room. Kyle approached it and put in the tape. He hit play and it showed the base. Austin was drinking his orange soda. There was a man behind him. He pointed his arm at the camera and shot a spike towards it. There was a quick flash of white light then static followed.

     “That was the man who attacked him. We found Austin on the floor, drenched in blood.”

     Dr. Suarez looked shocked and speechless.

     “Dr. Suarez?”

     “This man, who is he?”

     “I don’t know.”

     “Do you know of the cable cars that collapsed in Woodridge Place?” Patrick quickly said.

     “Yes, I’ve read about it.”

     “I was on those cable cars. I saw it, there was a spike heading for the railings. There was no bomb, it was this man.”

     “Do you know of anything else this man has done?”

     “That wouldn’t help,” Kyle said.

     “We should know what he is capable of!”

     “The rides during the Linggo ng Wika!” Lanz quickly said.

     “Oh, yes. The Anchors Away?”

     “That was a result of a spike attack too.”

     “Umm… young dear, would you kindly call my secretary please?” Dr. Suarez said to Cedric. He nodded and went out.

     “Dr. Suarez, this man is the least of our problems. Right now, our main problem is Austin.”
     “Well, a missing student in the hands of a homicidal maniac is a big problem.”

     “No, he’s not missing. He’s not here on his own accord. He wears this black band you see, it controls his powers.”

      “And what about it?”

     “The man who attacked him destroyed the band. It caused an inward release of pent up power. He could’ve exploded if he remained calm, so he had to lose control in order to survive.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “He nearly killed me.”

     “It’s true!” Berna exclaimed.

     Cedric went in. The secretary went beside Dr. Suarez. Dr. Suarez quickly scribbled down something on a piece of paper and gave it to the secretary.

     “Kindly give that to Sr. Rommel. Tell him to send the footage to me ASAP.”

     The secretary nodded and went out. Dr. Suarez took a moment to recollect her thoughts.

     “So you’re saying, Austin Fernandez, head of the power regulation unit, nearly killed you?”

     “He pinned his head to the ground with his hand, hit me with a fireball and hit that Ernst guy with a thunder bolt!” Lanz yelled angrily.

     “Now, no need to yell. So, where’s Austin?” Dr. Suarez asked.

     “I don’t know exactly but yesterday night, when he escaped, he left a message with fire,” Kyle said as he took out the photograph.

     “Nowhere is safe, not here, in the city, even in the ocean. In one month, it’s game over. Game Over? What is that supposed to mean?”

     “I was wondering the same thing,” Kyle replied.

     “This is bad.”

     “What do you propose we do about it?”

     Dr. Suarez appeared to be contemplating it for a while.

     “I got it. I’ll make the announcement Monday morning.”

     “What is it?”

     “Just attend the morning assembly tomorrow. Meanwhile, are you people doing anything for the next couple weeks.”

      “No, not at all,” they said.

     “That’s good. If anything comes up, please clear it. I’ll be keeping you busy for the month of November.”

     “Wait, isn’t it still Semestral break tomorrow?”

     “Right, well, I’ll just announce it on Friday then.”

     “Thanks Dr. Suarez.”

     “No problem, anything for the safety of my students.”

     They stepped out of her office and went back to the hotel.

    

They were in the lobby, eating brunch. They were gathered in one table.

     “What do you think Dr. Suarez has in store on Friday?” Lanz asked.

     “We’ll see,” Kyle said.

     “You didn’t read her mind?”

     “She was blocking it.”

     The elevator dinged and Ernst came out.

     “What’s his name again?” Kyle asked.

     “Ernst De Vera, why?” Lanz answered.

     “ERNST! PSST! OVER HERE!” Kyle shouted over the room. He noticed them and went over.

     “Hey, the guys from yesterday. Have we met?”

     “No, I’m Kyle Gomez. Nice to meet you,” Kyle said as he shook his hand.

     “This is Berna Galicha, that’s Cedric Perez, You already know Patrick, and this is Lanz De Leon.”

     “I know Lanz. Berna, Cedric, nice to meet you.”

     “So you’re power is laughing gas?” Cedric asked.

     “Yeah. It’s really just for fun but I can’t go into hardcore combat and that stuff.”

     “Anyway,” Kyle began. “Can you introduce us to Austin’s new friends? You know, the guys last night. I already know Joel and Janella but the others…

     “Sure, sure, no problem.” Ernst said.

     “Join us, please!”

     “Thanks.”

     Ernst sat at the table.

     “You sure you want me here?” Ernst asked.

     “Any friend of Austin is a friend of ours,” Kyle replied.

     “We’re not exactly friends; he and I just hang around a lot.”

     “Anyway, how is he, aside from the fact that he’s not here right now?”

     “He’s fine. Top one in class first quarter.”

     “Who are his new friends?”

     “One of them, Rico, really funny. He can create acid from his hand. He also had a little incident involving spaghetti but I don’t think you’d want to know that.”

     “The others?”

     “Ricardo, he creates supernovas. Johann, he can absorb materials.”

     Kyle, Cedric, Lanz, and Berna looked at each other and said “Noel”

     “Joseph, he can control light.”

     “Well, I can’t see how that’ll be useful.”

     “Anyway, what’re you doing here all together?”

     “We just came from Dr. Suarez’s office.”

     Kyle explained everything to him.

     “I see. So what’s Dr. Suarez gonna do on Friday?”

     “We don’t know either. But whatever it is, it’s gonna help.”

 

The rest of Sunday was a bore. Kyle and the guys, Ernst included, spent the whole afternoon contemplating on what Austin could be doing.

     “He could be blowing up all the famous monuments,” Lanz said.

     “No, he watches movies. He hates clichés,” Kyle said.

     “He could make a giant whirlpool in the ocean; he said the ocean ain’t safe right?” Lanz said.

     “He likes the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies more then the third. The third’s at the bottom.”

     “D****t, you caught my reference.”

     “Hey, don’t you think we should check on Janella?” Ernst said.

     “Why?” Lanz asked.

     “You know, she’s Austin’s closest female friend and I don’t feel right that I’m here and she’s left to imagine terrible things that could be happening to Austin. And besides, you can ask her more questions about where he would be.”

     “Well, they do seem to be close,” Kyle said. “Her reaction when she froze Austin, that’s different than just friends.”

     “Kyle, how about you and I just go,” Ernst said. “We both know her, so it’ll be best.”

     “Yeah, sure.”

     They went out of the room. Berna stood up and followed them.

     “Berna! What’re you doing?”

     “I don’t want to be left in a room full of boys.”

     “Uh-huh. I understand. Well, I’m gonna need company.”

     “I wanna meet this girl. Austin finally found someone.”

     “Actually,” Ernst began. “He really friendly towards the girls. Especially the Vanitiez. They’re the one’s who spread the fact that he had a crush on her.”

     Kyle confirmed it. Austin liked her.

     “Austin told the Vanitiez?”

     “Well, I think he just told Kat. Bad idea.”

     They went in the elevators. Ernst hit the 10^th floor button and the elevator went up.

     “Anyway, Kyle, do you know about Ninjas and Magic?” Ernst asked.

     “No, but I think it’s a game Roey made, right?”

     “Yeah, Austin is playing it.”

     “No really?”

     “Yup.”

     “What does that have to do with anything?”

     “Recently, they had to stop because of the Anti-Rad Matter all over the place.”

     “Yeah, he told me about that.”

     “Who do you think is doing it?”

     “Putting the A.R.M.’s around?”

     “Yeah.”

     The elevator bell dinged. They stepped out.

     “I don’t know for sure. Maybe it’s the Mastermind.”

     “Who is this Mastermind?”

     “Some guy who possessed Ivan Chan last year and started causing stuff to happen. Like Austin getting pushed into the Dome, overloading him with all the powers, eventually leading to a chain reaction that is now at this present moment.”

     “He really is a Mastermind!”

    “Is this her door?”

     “Yeah.”

     Ernst knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Janella opened it.

     “Ernst! Kyle, right? And…”

     “I’m Berna,”

     “Nice to meet you.”

     She seemed sad. Obviously, last night’s events left a mark.

     “Would you like to come with us? Dr. Suarez asked us to clear our schedule for November, I think she’s gonna get Austin’s close friends and find him,” Kyle said.

     “Why didn’t I think of that?” Berna said.

     “Well, ok. Anyone in the group I know?”

     “You have Ernst, here, Me, Berna; I think you know Ivan… Chan.”

     “Yes, I do.”

     “Well, it’s a pretty small group. Of course you know Patrick.”

     “The boy who picked me up last night?”

     “Yeah.”

     “I know him.”

     “Hurry, let’s not waste time.”

     They went down to Kyle’s suite and they explained everything to Janella.

     “What’s gonna happen on Friday?” Janella asked.

     “I’m getting really tired of that question,” Lanz said.

     “It’s only been asked twice!” Cedric replied.

     “His birthday’s on Tuesday right?” Janella asked.

     “Yeah. D****t. That’s depressing. Spending your 13^th birthday as a murderous freak,” Lanz said.
     “Lanz!” Kyle reprimanded him.

     “What?”

     “How are we gonna celebrate that?” Janella asked.

     “I don’t know. Anyway, let’s meet again tomorrow?” Kyle said.

     “What for?” Lanz asked.

     “Advanced planning. I think Dr. Suarez is gonna ask us to find Austin.”

     “Right.”

     “So, I’ll see you guys, 2:00 PM.”

     They agreed to the time and went out of Kyle’s suite.

 

Monday was boring. Morning without Austin without classes without anything happy to look forward too was just depressing. The meeting in the afternoon was a farce. There was very little planning and Lanz and Cedric just decided to lighten up the mood by doing stand-up.

     That night, in Janella’s suite, she wanted to greet Austin for his birthday. It was 10:00, two hours left. She had gotten him a snow globe for his birthday and wrapped it herself. 11:00, she wasn’t sleepy. She was worried. She fell asleep for a while and dreamt about him sinking the whole island, something the Mastermind threatened to do one year ago. Finally, it was 12:00. Janella picked up her phone and called Austin’s. Of course, he wasn’t there, so she just put a message in his voice mail.

     “Hey Austin. I know you’re not there. But anyway, it’s Twelve a.m.! It’s November 3 already. Happy Birthday. I hope I’m the first one to greet you. I’ll be so happy if I am. I always wanted to do that.”

     She couldn’t think of anything else. She put down the phone. She decided to fly in front of his suite’s balcony and put the snow globe on his bed. She did that and went back to her room. She laid down on her bed. She fell fast asleep. She dreamt again. Austin was destroying the hotel. He was blowing it up. Then Austin had fired a psychic orb at Ernst and sent him flying. Then finally Austin faced her and fired a psychic orb right into her face. She was flung back then she woke up. The night was cold. It was November, one month till Christmas and things were not looking good.

 

They spent Austin’s birthday in the cinema. Berna and Janella walked out because the guys were watching Saw. Patrick, Ivan, Mark, Carlo (Noel’s Brothers), Lanz, Cedric, and Ernst were enjoying but Kyle was scared of the Billy doll. He soon walked out as well.

     When the boys finally walked out, they seemed to have had fun.

     “I don’t know man, best ending ever,” Lanz said.

     The rest of the day was just them eating in the lobby talking about random stuff. Ernst finally told them about Rico’s “Wag Kang Aalon” incident. Ernst had the most stories like when he was being harassed by the Twihards after suggesting boycotting New Moon.

     Wednesday, there were classes. Kyle went to Seton with Ernst in order to get introduced to Rico, Ricardo, Johann, and Joseph.

     “There they are. HOY! RICO!” Ernst yelled.

     “WHAT?” Rico replied.

     “This is Kyle. He’s a friend of Austin’s.”

     “Nice to meet you, Rico,” Kyle said.

     He held out his hand. Rico shook his then turned his hand into acid. Kyle quickly retreated.

     “WHAT THE HELL?!” Kyle exclaimed.

     “That’s how you’d react to acid?”

     “How do you want me to react?”

    “Never mind. Sorry. What do you want from me?”

    “I just wanted to get to know one of Austin’s new friends. Nice work on your powers by the way.”

     “Speaking of Austin, where is he?”

     “Remember Saturday night?”

     “Yeah, I mean have you found him yet.”

     “No.”

     “Kyle,” Ernst began. “There’s Ricardo! CADO! PSST!”

     “WHAT?”

     “This is Kyle, Austin’s friend.”

     “Nice to meet you,” Kyle said, extending his hand again.

     “Kyle, eh? What’s your power?”

     “I’m psychic. Telekinetic, telepathic, anything you can imagine in the field.”

     “Nice.”

     “What about you?”

     Ricardo released a supernova from his hand.

     “Cool.”

     “Anyway, nice meeting you.”

      Ernst and Kyle walked away.

     “Those are Austin’s new friends?”

     “Yeah!”

     “They seem like the Dave type.”

     “What?”

     “You know, bullies.”

     “Well, Austin gets along with lots of types of people. He gets along with the nerds, me included, the jocks, not so much, and the cool guys. Well not all of them. Some still make fun of him but nothing too bad. He also makes friends with girls.”

     “He’s really changed.”

     Ernst introduced Kyle to Johann and Joseph. It was pretty much the same. When the bell rang. Kyle left Ernst and flew off to his school. He put an illusionism over him so people can’t see.

    

In class, Janella was kind of quiet. Ernst could see this and the reason was pretty obvious. Joel then approached her.

     “Hey Janella. Where’s Austin?”

     “He’s gone remember?” she said coldly.

     “But have they found him?”

     “No. Can you just leave me? Please?”

     “Just worried about my best friend.”

     Joel stood up and approached Ernst.

     “Where were you yesterday?”

     “I was watching Saw in the third floor theatre.”

     “We were supposed to go fishing remember?”

     “It’s Austin’s birthday! Come on!”

     “Oh, I should greet him a belated. I’m really worried about him. I mean damn, going out of control like that… must be tough.”

     The rest of Wednesday was just the routine. Only difference was Janella was silent. Ernst only had Joel to talk to. There was no meeting at Kyle’s suite and of course, the atmosphere was darker than usual. It felt like Austin had just died. It was actually rather odd that he hadn’t come back yet. No reports of anything blowing up. Nothing at all. Thursday was also pretty boring. Same thing. Then finally Friday morning came.

    

Kyle was at the morning assembly that day. He took Berna and Cedric with him.

     “What do you think? Am I right?” Kyle said.

     “About what?” Berna asked.

     “The search party theory.”

     “Oh. There’s a big chance.”

     Patrick just entered the Mindanao Building. Then the assembly started. The Prayer, National Anthem, Panatang Makabayan, and before the School Hymn, Dr. Suarez stepped up.

     “Good morning everyone. As you can notice, one particular student has been missing for two days. This is his third. Actually, he has been missing since Saturday. He is none other than Ryan Austin Fernandez, the head of the Power Regulation Unit. Ironically, his powers went out of control. The reason for this is humiliating to say but I have to be truthful and warn you all. Austin was attacked, by a man whose superpower is releasing spikes from his body. He somehow snuck on this island and is now attacking students. And Austin has left us a message. In his lack of control, he is now threatening to destroy everything. The exact message he left us was this: Nowhere is safe, not here, in the city, even in the ocean. In one month, it’s game over. The last statement worries me the most. I do not know what ‘Game Over’ means but I have decided to carry out some new security measures. First of all, I am implementing a curfew, for the whole island, anyone under the age of 16 has to be in the hotel by 6:30 PM. There will be no self-travel to the hotel. We will be hiring bus drivers again for all of you. Second, no student meetings are to be arranged without our knowledge. All said meetings are to be supervised by a teacher. And third, we are going to activate the Anti-Radioactive Shields within the school for the entire month of November to prevent attacks from the spiked man or Austin himself.”

     Murmurs followed this. It started to get louder. The teachers were quieting everybody down.

     “Now, I am going to send a search party to look for Austin. These people have been in harsh circumstances in the past and definitely can handle this situation. They are the following: Kyle Dominic Gomez, Patrick John Astom, Bernadette Galicha, Lanz Nathaniel De Leon, Cedric Sam Perez, and Ivan Alfonso Chan. If anyone believes they can handle harsh situations, at your own risk, you may be excused from your classes throughout the month of November and help these people find Austin. If you wish to join them, talk to Kyle Gomez.”

     Kyle didn’t attend school that day. He waited for applicants. During Recess, none came but lunch was where the applicants were. The line was fairly short; all the applicants were known by Kyle. They consisted of Roey, Joseph, Johann, Ricardo, and Rico. He put them all in. The next one was Michael Chua.

    “Hey Michael. Long time no see.”

     “Sup Kyle. You know my power yet?”

     “Nope, impress me.”

     Michael held up his right hand, there was a black glove on it. Michael removed the glove and as expected, there was a normal hand. Then his hand started to morph into a gun. He pointed at the sky and fired.

     “Impressive. You’re in.”

     Patrick then came in accompanying Samantha.

     “So Pat, this is the Sam you’ve been talking about?”

     “Yup.”

     “So Sam, what’s your power? Impress me.”

     Patrick whispered into her ear, “Go for it.”

     She transformed into Kyle. The real Kyle was watching himself in girl’s uniform.

     “That’s all?”

     She turned back, she punched the ground, it formed a shockwave.

     “You’re one strong girl.”

     “Thanks,” she said.

     “Anyway, you’re in.”

     Patrick smiled and they went with the others.

    

Meanwhile, Ernst was convincing Joel to sign up.

     “Why don’t you?”

     “I’m insecure about my powers.”

     “What? Look at me? I create laughing gas and I’m signing up.”

      “Just go alright. Dr. Suarez isn’t activating the Anti-Rad Shields till next week.”

      “You haven’t used your powers yet. This is your chance.”

     “Look, you can’t force me. Just go.”

     Ernst gave up and approached Kyle. He obviously got in.

 

The last person was of course, none other than Janella.

     “Hey, Kyle. I’m signing up.”

     “Sure, I saw what you can do. Ice right?”

     “And fire.”

     “Contradiction, smart choice. You’re in!”

     Kyle did a quick recap and faced the members.

     “So, right now we have fifteen members. I’m splitting us up into three groups. First group, Ernst, Rico, Ricardo, Joseph, Johann.”

     “Rico! YEAH!” Ricardo yelled.

     “Second group, Michael, Lanz, Cedric, Ivan, and Roey.”

     “Yeah, Roey, we’re in the same group!” Ivan said.

     “And the last group, Me, Berna…”

     “YEAH! KYLE AND BERNA FOR THE WIN!” Patrick yelled.

     “UGH! Me, Berna, Patrick, Sam, and Janella”

     “That’s a relief,” Janella whispered to herself.

     “Dr. Suarez said we’d be checking in the Ascott Hotel, Makati City. That will be our main base. Three rooms, paid by Dr. Suarez herself. After this, if you survive, don’t forget to thanks her.”

     “Ascott? That’s expensive.” Patrick said.

     “The best for the bravest right? We start this mission later tonight. Assemble In the lobby of the hotel. We go 7:30 PM.”

     After classes, everyone got prepared. When, the clock hit 7:30, the lobby was full of people. They were there to see them go off.