Chapter Two

Chapter 2

We get into our "hero suits" as Tifa calls them. Mine is red and black, with fingerless gloves and an eye mask.
* * *

"You think a library would be a good place to start?" Arlen jokes.

"You know... that actually might not be a bad idea," I say.

"What?! You do know I was kidding, right?!"

"Yeah... but think about it. Don't you always see government-looking people enter libraries?"

"Now that I think about it, you're right," Arlen begins. "But how are we supposed to get into a library, let alone a government section? Only the rich people are allowed in."

"Simple. Shapeshifting." I take out my hunk-of-junk-excuse-for-a-cell-phone and call the others.

"We'll be at the Library of Congress if you need us."

"Alright, good to know. We'll meet you there after," Zoe replies through the phone.

"Okay. See ya soon."

"I thought we were just going to a normal richie library," Arlen says, using our bad nickname for rich people.

"This is a richie library. The richie Library of Congress."

"So, we just wait for a government agent to come then beat him up?"

"Yep, pretty much."

After a while, a guy in a black suit walks by. I pull him into the alley and knock him out before he can see us. We take his suit, ID card, and everything else that he owns. Arlen puts the suit on and transforms into the man.
"Ready for the device?" I ask.

"Yep," she says. "The device" is something Green gave us that makes the breifcase the man had an infinite storage case that we can fit in, knowing we would have to break in somewhere. Arlen attaches the device, opens the case, and Chloe, Kyle, and I step inside. Inside the case, it's all just white, and we can float around. I grab my charm and think of Arlen.

Outside the case...

Arlen walks into the building in her disguise.

"ID please," the old woman at the counter asks.
Arlen shows her the ID card, and walks through many sensors which the device is set up to avoid, finally entering the library.

* * *

After hours of searching, Arlen still hasn't found anything. Then, she reaches for a book, and her ID card starts to glow. A glowing slot opens on the book, and Arlen swiped her card through.

Inside the case...

I place my charm down and I float around inside the case, until I stumble upon one of the man's papers. I stare wide-eyed at what it says. I check my charm one more time.

Outside the case...

Arlen grabs the book, and pulls it down.

* * *

The suitcase opens and I grab the paper with me. Suddenly, we're in a dark room, with a couple of books around us. Arlen has already turned back to normal.

"Look at these things. They could tell us so many things." Arlen grabs a few.

"Wait... the government will find us if we take any." Suddenly, a bony hand grabs my shoulder. A chill runs down my spine.

"Do not be afraid. I see you are with a resistance, for now government agent would be your age." The old lady grabs a book. She pulls it and the wall opens up into a tunnel. "Go. My husband has something to give you. Tell him Miranda sent you now. Go now. We may meet again." The woman fades into the shadows. We walk down the tunnel until we reach a small... workshop of sorts.

"Miranda told us to tell you-"

"I know, I know," the old man running a machine of sorts said. He seems... familiar somehow. He hands us a small box, and points to the exit. "Run along now, there's a ladder out of this sewer tunnel around a few twists and turns. I know we shall meet again. You will know what to do with the box when the time comes." We quickly climb up the ladder and exit.

"They sure had us off in a hurry," Arlen says.

"I dunno... something seemed... special about them," Chloe says.

"I think you're crazy," Jason says.

"I think she has a point," I say. "How are we supposed to get home from here?!"

"Simple. Us." Eddie flies to us. "We didn't find anything."

"We did," I remember the paper from the briefcase and show him it, "they're hunting heroes and stealing their powers!"

"This is bad! We gotta tell the others! They said they'd be at the Empire State Building."
We fly there as fast as we can (with Cloud's help). We reach the building. Crash! A sword flies out the 73rd window up, breaking the glass. Tifa's sword, which she uses to fight, flies out of the window. Tifa, Green, and Michael, all in costume, jump out of the window. Green slows them down, and they land safely on the ground.

"Guys, up here!" They jump on the wind Eddie is using to make us fly. Green speeds us up, and we make it away. Then, we explain everything that happened before heading home. I use my charm to see what happened to them.

Green, Tifa, and Michael's story...

(Note that this segment was written by Arlen McCool in a contest for a companion chapter before the revamp. One part had a word changed because it did not follow site rules.)

Contest Winner: Arlen McCool: Chapter 12 Companion
Michael, Green, and Tifa were standing in the shadows of an alley across the street from the Empire State Building, watching as people entered and exited the building.

“What’s weird is that there doesn’t seem to be any guards, at least outside. You’d think a place that is supposed to be a government base would have better security.” Tifa commented.

“Oh I’m sure they do. But my guess is they know regular guards are not going to do the trick, not when there are people like us that have powers. They probably have some high tech stuff designed to stop us protecting the more important areas.” Green said.

“So how’re we even going to get in there?” Michael asked.

“Like this.” Green said. He crossed the street, slowing time around him to an almost complete stop. Green
walked up to the doors and grabbed a key card out of someone’s hand and swiped it across a scanner. The door popped open and Green signaled for Michael and Tifa to follow.
***


Once inside, they headed for the elevators and time started to return to its normal speed. Michael pressed the button for one of the elevators and the doors quickly slid open. They stepped inside, and the doors shut. There were buttons for floors L-33 and another Keycard scanner.

“Which floor guys?” Michael asked

“I assume that scanner is for access to higher floors.” Green said, and he swiped the card across the scanner. A panel opened above the scanner with buttons for floors 34-102.

“Great. But that still doesn’t answer my question,” Michael said. “Which floor?”

“Let’s try this one,” Green said, and he pressed the button for floor 73.

When the elevator arrived, the three seemed to be standing in some kind of lab.

“Whoa,” Tifa said. “What do you think they do in here?”

“My guess is that this is where they develop their mind control.” Green said.
***

Computers and cabinets lined the walls. On one side of the room a machine seemed to be mixing some kind of liquid in test tubes. Green walked over to one of the computers and began rapidly typing things in and Tifa walked over to one of the cabinets and opened it. Inside were a bunch of vials with a thick blue liquid in them. “Hey Green, what do you think these are?” She asked, holding up one of the vials.

Green looked up from the computers. “That,” he said, “might be a serum the Government Agents are using to control people. I’ll see what I can find on these computers, hacking into their mainframe now.”

Michael was looking through another cabinet. “I just found some more of those vials,” he said. “But the stuff inside these is red.”

“Check the machine.” Green said, not averting his gaze from the computer screen.

Michael walked over to the machine. It was mixing the red and blue liquids together, and then adding some kind of powder to it. “Looks like their mixing the two together and then adding something to it.” Michael said.

“And I just found out what it’s for,” Green said. “What’s in those vials are being mixed together with some kind of powder to form a mind control serum. It doesn’t say what the chemicals are or what the powder is. The names have been blacked out. But they’re planning on using the serum to make themselves an army of people with powers. The serum is going to make people mindless robots, incapable of feeling any emotion or sensation. They will feel no pain, no fear. They will be unable to think for themselves, and only exist to serve the Government. Then, when there is mass turmoil from the trouble this ‘army’ is causing, the Government will step in and call them back and act like the heroes. They will have world domination.”

“Oh my God,” Michael said. “We have to get this information back to base!”

“Yes. I’ve downloaded all this onto a-“Green was interrupted by the sound of footfalls from outside the door.

“Oh no!” Tifa exclaimed. “They know we’re here!”

“But how?!” Michael shouted

Green looked around and spots a camera in the corner of the room for the first time. “Damn.” He said.