02x23: Evasion and Capture

The ASG follow Austin to New York as they fight to their last breaths to bring him back.

EVASION AND CAPTURE

 

     Austin flew high up in the air, way above the Empire State Building, Kyle still held by the neck. Austin flung him through the air, straight towards the roof of the Empire State Building.

     “Oww. Shoot. I’m getting pummeled,” Kyle thought to himself.

     Austin lowered himself on the roof.

     “You really think you can fix me?”

     Austin kicked Kyle, who was lying on the roof.

     “Well, think again!”

     Austin kicked him again. He spat blood.

     “You feel like you’re leading these students to victory?!”

     Austin kicked Kyle harder than before. He faced up and spat in the air, blood going back to his face.

     “You lead your girlfriend, the girl the other me loved, A bunch of my best friends, and some other guys who don’t even give a s**t about me and just wanted to get away from doing their algebra and chemistry, all the way to Makati, Pasig, Florida, and now here in New York City, just to get me. I’m proud to say that you wasted YOUR ****ING TIME!”

     “Austin, let me make one thing clear. As of this moment, she�"“

     Kyle stood up slowly.

     “�"is not�"“

     Kyle charged a red psychic orb in his right hand.

     “�"MY GIRLFRIEND!”

     Kyle fired the orb at Austin as he dodged it.

     “Kyle, don’t ever attempt a one liner. Only I have a license to attempt one liners. Okay, maybe Lanz and Cedric and Patrick to some extent but, you, I don’t think so.”

     Austin pulled Kyle in with his psychic powers.

     “Look into my eyes, what do you see?”

     Kyle looked away, he knew this was a trick.

     “LOOK INTO MY EYES!”

     Austin forced Kyle head towards him and his eyelids open.

     “Now tell me, what do you see?”

     “I won’t tell you s**t!”

     “WHAT DO YOU SEE!”

     “I WON’T ANSWER THAT QUESTION!”

     “You have no answer? Well then you see nothing! DO YOU NOT?”

     “I told you, I won’t answer!”

     “You better not be lying. But let me make a guarantee that you, indeed, cannot see anything.”

     Austin shot lazers from his eyes directly into Kyle’s, he couldn’t even shut his eyes because his eyelids were strongly forced open.

     Kyle screamed in agony, louder than he ever screamed in his life, louder than he ever heard anyone scream in his life, whether in real life, television, or the movies, his scream was deafening. Austin, however, was simply laughing. He was laughing like a psychotic maniac.

     He finally withdrew the lazers and set Kyle down on the roof.

     “I hope you learned a lot in Respecting Maniacs 101 today, Kyle.”

     Austin kicked him hard and his body fell all the way from the top of the Empire State Building.

     There was Kyle, the long drop seemed to take forever. All he could think of was what if his friend was truly gone.

     Every inch felt like a mile as he fell to his death. Then out of nowhere, Berna zipped through the air and caught him.

     “Hey Kyle, I got you. Calm down.”

     “You’ve got me, who’s got you?”

     “Now’s not the time for that, Kyle, but I’m glad you’re showing your lighter side.”

     “I am?”

     Berna lowered Kyle to a line of ambulances in the side of the street near the Empire State Building.

     “You’ll be okay.”

     Berna put Kyle on a gurney and he was treated there.

     Berna flew to the portal and JB was flying back and forth through it.

     “Keep up the good work, JB!”

     “Yes, Berna!” JB said in a sick tone, nauseous from the experience of going through a space portal again and again.

     Berna turned around and Austin was there.

     “Hey Berna, like what I did to your boyfriend.”

     “Austin, I hate you so much right now.”

     “Hey, I’m Hateable Harry. See me dance?”

     Berna didn’t even consider using her powers and punched Austin straight across the face.

     “SON OF A�" I will not tolerate such behavior!”

     Austin surrounded his hands in the purple aura again. He aimed at the ground near Berna.

     “Before I dispose of you, for the record Berna, that didn’t hurt.”

     Austin rearranged the ground forming a spike that went straight for Berna. She flew in the air before it was too late.

     “Just like the guy, the girl avoids death. O’ death, why don’t you come to these pricks now?”

     “I really wanna get a tape recorder and make you listen to yourself later on!” Berna said angrily.

     “Oh, please do!”

     Berna charged for Austin, wrapping her hands in the psychic field and punching him repeatedly. Austin just laughed.

 

Cedric was still buzzing through the city chasing and being chased by the killer dolls.

     “Lanz, how many did you get so far?”

     “One in Tallahassee, Two in Gramercy.”

     “Nine to go then.”

     While they were zipping through the city, there were four dolls in front and five at the back. One of the dolls in front just flipped a car causing a fender bender in the road.

     “Did someone slip me any drugs or am I really seeing this?” Cedric commented.

     “Cedric! Don’t make jokes like that! That’s inappropriate!” Ernst pointed out.

     “Ernst, trust me when I say that I’m REALLY glad you’re here to tell us these things,” Michael said again in an even more sarcastic tone than before.

     “Cedric, make a hole in my field as well,” Sam said.

     “Two holes at once? It’s gonna be hard but I’ll try!”

     “Hey Cedric, can you do three?” Bam said.

     “Or four?” Michael followed.

     “Or five?” Rico said.

     “Make that six!” Ricardo said.

     “You know guys? Screw this!” Cedric angrily said as he halved all the force fields.

     “YEAH! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” Michael said as he turned his arms into rifles.

     “Be careful with the civilians, Michael.”

     Michael nodded. Bambam took out the Unvostoc and unleashed his guitar. Rico and Ricardo started shooting acid and Supernovas. Patrick fired fireballs at them too.

     Suprisingly, after a few minutes of this, they were only able to take out one doll.

     “We’re causing more damage to civilians than the dolls, Cedric, switch to plan B!” Michael proposed.

     “What exactly is plan B?” Cedric asked.

     “Force Field Roulette.”

     “Great!”

     Cedric made three more half-fields

     “Patrick, Ivan, Roey, hop in.”

     They did as they were told and Cedric led them to Central Park.

 

Berna and Austin were in tight combat. Berna was clearly taking more damage than Austin but Berna didn’t care.

     “This is for Kyle!”

     Berna punched Austin across the face with a supercharged fist.

     “This is for Seton!”

     Berna landed another hit.

     “And this is for Janella!”

     Berna hit Austin with an uppercut.

     “Berna, I had no idea you knew hand to hand combat.”

     Berna grabbed Austin by the neck. Austin reacted by prying her hand open.

     “Berna, do me a favor.”

     Austin spilled acid on Berna’s hand. She dropped to the floor, writhing in pain, screaming but not nearly as loud as Kyle.

     “Do NOT do that ever again.”

     Austin flew off, leaving Berna on the ground with a burning hand.

    

Cedric finally reached Central Park. All the people there had already ran off. Cedric waited for the dolls to be in close proximity. Soon they were all within a 20 meter radius. Cedric made a much bigger force field, trapping the dolls inside.

     He arranged the fourteen half-fields he was handling in a circle.

     “Okay guys, this is Force Field Roulette! I’ll spin the fields slowly and you just aim at the dolls. The one to kill the last doll wins! GO!”

     The dolls zipped about the field as the members of the ASG fired at them. They kept their distance so it was very hard to hit them. Eventually, they took out two more.

     “Good work, guys!”

     Michael aimed at one of the dolls and at the perfect moment, fired. It hit and there were five dolls left.

     “You could have said ‘Say hello to my little friend,” you know,” Lanz said.

     “That would have been cheesy,” Ernst said.

     “Ernst, you know pal, I �" AM REALLY�" HONESTLY�" AND TRUTHFULLY GLAD THAT YOU ARE HERE TO TELL ME THESE WONDERFUL BITS AND PIECES OF VITAL INFORMATION! MAY THE POWER OF WHOEVER YOU WORSHIP BLESS YOU!” Michael said.

     Ernst just stared at Michael in fear.

     “CEDRIC! WATCH OUT!” Lanz yelled. There was a ghostfire orb heading towards the top of the giant force field. The giant force field was disintegrated as Cedric fell to the ground with his hands on fire.

     Austin descended to their level.

     “Hello there, fellas. Long time no see!”

     “Shut up, Austin!” Ernst said.

     “Okay, sheesh, what a harsh greeting!”

     “Today’s the day you get fixed, Austin,” Patrick said.

     “Feeling badass, Patrick?”

     Out of nowhere, a rock hit Austin at the back of his head. Austin caused the rock to dissolve into dust.

     “Ok, ASG, who was the stupid prick who threw that rock at me?”

     Everyone remained silent.

     “Ernst, I can hear your thoughts.”

     “Hey, I don’t wanna make you laugh right now.”

     Another rock hit him at the back of his head.

     “And who that one?”

     “I did!” Ivan said.

     Then a supernova suddenly hit Austin at the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.

     “ALL RIGHT! I’M PRETTY ****ING SURE WHO FIRED THAT ONE!”

     “Cedric, hurry!” Lanz said. Cedric surrounded the team in force field and flew off rather weakly.

     The dolls were chewing at the force field, Cedric was growing weaker and weaker.

     “What about Kyle, Berna, and JB?”

     “They’ll catch up, I guess.”

     They then saw John zipping past them.

     “Was that John?”

     “I can’t take this, guys,” Cedric said.

     “Hang on, just a little more. Open up some slots,” Lanz said.

     Cedric tried his best to open a slot in Lanz’s field. Lanz then tried to take out the remaining dolls.

     Austin flew closely behind the ASG. Lanz hit one of the dolls chewing on Cedric’s force field.

     “FOUR DOLLS TO GO! Cedric, move my field around a little.”

     “I’ll try my best!”

     Lanz maneuvered around the dolls, trying to hit them.

     “Cedric, let me out,” Patrick said.

     “Okay.”

     Patrick’s force field dissolved as he flew back towards Austin.

 

John had finally arrived in New York City. He went over to the portal and waited for JB to fly through it.

     “Come on, JB, faster!”

     JB finally flew through, his face green. He dropped on the ground and threw up.

     “JB! Hey, Mr. Adiao. It’s over. You did well.”

     John aimed at the portal, nearly half its size before. JB managed to keep it from fully closing.

     “Hope this works…”

     John aimed the stabilizer, a small blaster-like weapon,  at the portal and fired it.

 

Patrick fired fireballs at Austin, they barely burned him.

     “Patrick, you were always quite the badass!”

     “I’m flattered but no thanks, Austin.”

     Patrick charged a gigantic fireball at Austin and fired it. It hit him and he was trapped in the fireball.  When the fireball finally cleared out, Austin was nowhere to be seen.

     “GUYS! HE TELEPORTED!”

     “S**T! We’re not gonna lose him today!” Michael said. “ROEY! GET OUT THERE AND USE IT!”

     “Use what?”

     “Summoning of the Ninja Army!”

     Cedric heard this and halved Roey’s force field. Roey looked for the card and threw it into the air. It became a horn and it, like the name suggests, summoned the ninja army.

     Soon, there was an army of ninjas charging from the east. They took all the dolls with them.

     “Why couldn’t we have used that before?” Cedric asked.

     “The ninjas would have leveled New York,” Michael replied.

     “Okay, now where’s Austin?” Patrick asked.

 

The beam from the stabilizer hit the center of the portal. It quickly closed and a faint white circle erupted from it and went towards the horizon, away from his current location.

     “Thank goodness that worked.”

     John went to the Empire State Building and saw the ambulances there. They were filled with injured people, Kyle and Berna included.

     John went into Berna’s ambulance since she was the at least semi-conscious one.

     “Berna? What happened?”

     “He kicked our asses and left.”

     “What do you mean kicked your asses?”

     “He burned Kyle’s eyes off from the top of the Empire State Building and kicked him all the way down. I caught him and fought Austin. He burned my hand with acid.”

     “Come on, I made two new Teleguns. Let’s get back to the island.”

     John fired the Telegun at the wall of the Empire State Building and pushed Berna’s gurney into it. He found Kyle’s ambulance as well. He has a bandage placed over his eyes. He pushed him in the portal as well. He was going to enter when a male nurse stopped him.

     “What on Earth are you doing?”

     “It would be better if you forgot my face and pretended that I was never here,” John said slipping a hundred dollar bill into the nurse’s uniform. “Remember, sometimes, it’s okay to be greedy.”

     The nurse nodded and John entered the portal.

 

The ASG were headed towards the island, shattered by broken hopes. They had lost Austin on their last chance.

     “Can’t believe we lost him,” Lanz said.

     “Hey guys, what’s that?” Patrick asked, pointing out towards New York, where a white circle erupted from it and approached them.

     “It’s coming towards us!” Lanz said.

     The white beam passed them and out of nowhere, Austin appeared in front of the team.

     “I did not intend to appear here out of nowhere,” Austin said.

     “It ends now, Austin,” Patrick said as he charged for him.

     “D****t, I can’t get out of here!”

     “Forget about me, head towards the island!” Patrick said.

     “Oh no they don’t!” Austin said.

     Austin focused on the far end of the Atlantic Ocean and waved his hand towards the ASG. A large wave started to form and was headed straight for them.

     “NO!” Patrick yelled.

     “If no one does anything, that wave will sink the island, if it doesn’t destroy you guys first.”

     The wave escalated to 100 feet tall.

     “Cedric, drop them off in the island quickly and stop that wave!” Patrick said after catching up to them.

     “Why don’t you do it?!”

     “BECAUSE WATER BEATS FIRE!”

     Cedric didn’t complain and headed towards the island at full speed. After seven minutes, he finally reached the island and dropped off the guys.

     “I have to head back and stop that wave. Ivan, run to the school and look for a hydrokinetic strong enough to help stop this wave,” Cedric said.

     “On my way!” Ivan said before running into the school.

     Cedric departed and the others saw them go.

     “Well, that’s it for the ASG! It’s been nice knowing you guys!” Lanz said.

     “I’m going in the base,” Ernst said.

     Ernst headed for the base and inside were Janella, Joel, John, Monica, Justin, Danie, Queennie, Rica, and Nurse Jen, all watching the news.

     “Janella, you feeling okay now?”

     “Yeah. What happened, did you get him?”

     “Umm… not yet. In a few minutes.”

     “WHAT! HE’S HEADED HERE?”

     “Well, him and a giant wave, not caused by an earthquake nor the Moon.”

     “I have a little surprise for him when he gets here,” John said.

 

Ivan finally reached the high school building. He ran to the second floor to the freshman classrooms.

     “I NEED A HYDROKINETIC! PLEASE!”

     “Hey! Hey! Chan! Stop running now!” Ms. Ruby shouted. Ivan stopped in front of her.

     “Ms. Ruby, I need a hydrokinetic immediately.”

     “Aren’t you supposed to be in Florida right now, searching for Austin?”

     “Actually, we brought Austin here but he didn’t come alone. Take a look for yourself.”

     Ivan pointed towards the far end of the school. Ms. Ruby was immediately filled with fear at the sight of the wave.

     “Ivan, I’m a hydrokinetic,” a girl from a section behind them said.

     Ivan turned around and it was no other than Marella Antiporda, Ivan and Jericho’s best friend back in 6^th grade.

     “Great, Marella, come on! Hurry!”

     “Wait a sec,” Marella said, turning to Ms. Delia, her adviser. “Ms. Delia, may I?”

     “Sure, good luck trying to stop that gigantic behemoth,” Ms. Delia said.

     “Hold on!” Ivan said as Marella held on to him. Ivan ran back to the front of the base.

     “Well, can you do anything about it?” Ivan asked.

     “I don’t know but I can try.”

     From the distance, a violet field surrounded the front of the wave but was immediately shattered. Cedric had already failed.

     “Marella, do something,” Monica said.

     Marella closed her eyes, focusing on the wave. When she opened them, they were sea blue. Ivan just watched like a little boy watching Star Wars for the first time.

     She pointed her hands at the ocean, towards the wave, and gave the sea a slight, gentle pull. The water splashed on the nearby shore a bit.

     “This isn’t going to work. I’m gonna have to force it down.”

     “Is that even possible?” Janella asked.

     “I’m going to have to make it a possibility.”

     Marella jumped in the water and her whole body became one with the sea. Her skin turned sea blue as well. She glided across the water and Ivan watched like a little kid watching the Millennium Falcon fly away for the first time.

     She glided all the way to the top of the wave and with all her might, pushed down. The wave‘s height decreased by a lot. She tried it again and the wave was now only half its original height. She forced the wave down another time, only much harder and it became a mere three feet tall. Marella used it to ride all the way back to the island.

     She finally landed on the shore and turned back to normal. She sucked out all the water in her uniform.

     “That was hard. But it was fun,” Marella said with a smile. Ivan watched like a little kid watching Luke fly back to Yavin IV after blowing up the Death Star.

     “Now that that’s over, where’s Austin?” John asked.

     “I’m right here!”

     They turned around and he was standing at the door of the base.

     “Game’s over. You’re three days overdue! Well, I’m sure as hell not!”

     Patrick descended down to the island carrying Cedric’s unconscious body.

     “Take him in,” Patrick told Rico. Rico carried Cedric and went in the base. Austin surprisingly let him through.

     “I’m not here to cause trouble, guys. I’m just here to settle some stuff with my old pal, Patrick.”

     Austin went closer to Patrick. Patrick stepped backwards, firing fireballs at Austin. As usual, he wasn’t affected.

     “Why did you try to hit me, Patrick. Ain’t I your friend?”

     “NO YOU’RE NOT! AT LEAST NOT NOW!”

     “Ladies and Gentlemen… and Ernst, please ready your BB Guns!” John yelled.

     “What?” Austin yelled as the ASG took out the BB Guns and armed them.

     John pulled a lever and the ground beneath Austin opened up and dropped him in a pit of A.R.M. Instead of just lying there like a normal human, the usual action for a mutant who was put into that kind of location, he writhed in pain down there.

     “John, he destroyed his other part! He’s pure power, you’re killing him,” Janella said.

     “He only weakened his other part, not destroyed it.”

     Austin used his nails to dig into the walls of the A.R.M. lined pit. He soon got out, albeit writhing and screaming in pain. Janella fired an ice beam at him and he fell straight back in.

     “One of us is gonna have to jump in and do the job,” John said. “Volunteers are appreciated. I’ve done enough for today.”

     Janella, without hesitation, jumped in and shoved the BB Gun through Austin’s iced arm. The ice cracked and Austin grabbed hold of Janella’s neck. She screamed out of shock and pulled the trigger. The band formed around Austin’s arm and sealed itself. Austin fell in Janella’s arms staring into space. The writhing and screaming stopped and his eyes were wide open. Janella then saw the sight that made all this worthwhile, Austin’s pupils were slowly returning…