Jon looked out over his once beautiful city, continuing to press his armored hand over the bloody wound on his stomach. Ringgold City lay in ruins, only a handful of buildings were still standing, and bright red flames contrasted drastically against the darkest sky he had ever seen. For years he had sacrificed so much to defend everything he loved, and to protect this city. He had fought mutated snakes, dear friends, the armies of the world, and himself all within these very city limits. But now everything, and everyone, he loved was gone. He had to watch as it was all ripped away from him, not just once, but twice.

The armored hero looked down at his clinched fist, the one drenched in blood that wasn't his. It infuriated him that not only was all his years of sacrifice in vain, but he himself had been the cause for the end of humanity. He had even spent the past year trying to clean the mess Aura and Syntha had created, which had brought about the Earth's first destruction. In return they presented him with another chance to save his world. Although he still failed Jon got the faintest satisfaction from looking at the headless corpse next to him, something he had failed to do during his first failure. Failure, it was something that never quite agreed with him. Even in defeat he had always been victorious in some sense, the opposite of which best described his current situation. Yes, he was the last one standing, good had triumphed over evil and what not, but what did he win? A few minutes to slowly and painfully die alone on a dead planet?

As darkness began to creep into the outer parts of his vision he ran and re-ran his life through his thoughts, especially the past four years. Four years in which he had lost a brother, and several brothers in arms. Four years in which he had fallen in love and married the girl of his dreams. Four of the most stressful, testing, and then peaceful years of his entire life. He could feel his knees becoming weaker by the second, and he knew his armored suit wouldn't hold him up much longer. He gathered what strength he could to pick up Hell Bringer's head that lay at his feet.

Jon looked into the dull eyes that no longer glowed in the soul piercing, blood red manner he had become accustomed to. He thought about everything that Hell Bringer had revealed to him, all of the dark truths he would have been better off never knowing.

Disgusted that Hell Bringer still had the same devilish grin frozen on his face he threw the head into the burning base of what was once Swanson Tower. Exhausted of all his strength Jon could no longer resist gravity and collapsed. The warrior rolled over on his side so he could see his best friend's body that lay on the opposite side of the roof. Ironic that the two of them had been together practically since birth, and now they would die together as well. He drew in a sharp, rasp breath and then exhaled. With one final breath the world's guardian and destroyer ceased to exist, leaving the third planet from the sun as nothing more then a lifeless rock.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Normally I am against info dumping at the beginning of a story, but I think you (the reader) may be lost without it. This book is actually #5 in a 17 book series. I have not wrote 1-4 yet, because this book started as a short story/fight to occupy myself during study hall Senior year. So once this book is finished I will start from the beginning. Below is a timeline of events leading up to this book. You can either read it now, or just come back to it if something in the story confuses you, your choice. Now keep in mind, the first few chapters I wrote years ago, so read at least to chapter 5 before dismissing my story, it gets better as I improved as a writer. When I have time I plan to re-write the first 5-7 chapters. But for now, enjoy....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

T.A.G. TIMELINE

2000

-Jon and Nicholas are born

2006

-Distant planet destroyed by universal powers personal struggle, brings their battle to Earth

-Jon and Nicholas discover the pod that gives them their first suits, but remain oblivious to the gift as they lay dormant in the metal bracelets

-King cobra in India turned into Snake Maker

2013

-Jon and Nicholas actually discover the gifts they've been given

-TAG makes first appearance in public, assists police with hostage situation. Gunmen found with new weapon made by a company owned by Holloway Enterprises

-TAG confronts local billionaire TJ Holloway for arming the gunmen, but they are shown evidence convicting his business partner, William Gold, of the crime. TAG makes an assault on Gold's mansion to bring him down before his men can stage a fake terrorist attack, which Gold planned to pin on Holloway to force him out of a multi-billion dollar partnership. Afterwards TAG takes two of Gold's Corvettes to flee before the police arrive.

-To show his appreciation Holloway provides TAG with their first base, a abandoned fire station in the middle of the city.

-Snake Maker first reveals himself, stages attack on Ringgold City, defeated by TAG

-Snake Maker has Jon and Nicholas's best friends Chance and Jacob Tanner abducted by snake soldiers when Snake Maker believes they are TAG

-Discovering the Tanners are not TAG Snake Maker begins experimenting with their DNA, fusing it with snake DNA.

-Snake Maker unleashes a mutated Chance and Jacob on Ringgold City. Jon and Nicholas, not knowing who the 'monsters' are kill them. Standing over their friends' corpses Snake Maker reveals their identities. Jon vows to be the brother to Carrie Tanner that he feels he robbed her of.

-Snake Maker creates his generals (Copperhead, Rattler, Viper, and Sea-snake) and snake soldiers

-Snake Maker invades Ringgold City with his army and generals, has victory assured until four members of the Galactic Army (Major Ransam, Lieutenant Diyogi, Private Goegan, and Private Rooky) time travelers, and operators of the Space Rover and Mega Cannon join the fight. Snake Maker losses generals and the battle

-As they recover Major Ransom tells Jon and Nicholas of the future, where in they were supposed to die in Snake Maker’s invasion and the Earth would fall to the creature. After years in captivity Jacob and Chance Tanner would use the TAG armor to begin a upraising, raising their own mini army of armored warriors to defeat Snake Maker.

-Major Ransam and the other Galactic Army soldiers, with no way to return to their own time and discovering the time stream is already polluted by Jacob and Chance’s deaths, decide to help TAG prevent Snake Maker’s eventual conqouring of Earth. They begin work on new, upgraded suits (The G2 armor) for the duo and release nanobots that begin construction of the new TAG base under the fire station.

-Snake Maker sets trap and captures Nicholas

-Jon, in his completed G2 armor, and the Galactic Army defeat the remains of Snake Maker's army, and rescues Nicholas. Jon cuts off Snake Maker's head during battle, and disintegrates his body

-Snake Maker's head taken in for study by renowned Australian scientist Dr. Waltrum

-TAG base completed. TAG gains access to a military plane graveyard where they use nanobots to restore and modify several planes to add to their arsenal.

-Hell Bringer makes his first appearance, destroying a Russian missile launch site to lure in TAG. Escapes with a nuclear warhead.

-Hell Bringer rounds up an army of mercenaries and destroys Seattle completely unopposed with the stolen warhead. Satellite images later show Hell Bringer removing something from the debris, the first of five Galaxy Crystals, sparking the hunt for the crystals.

-Major Ransam insists that TAG round up all the other teens that are scattered across the world who would have joined Jacob and Chance’s  future rebellion to battle the new threat. They do so successfully, even finding other futurists mistakenly brought to their time by the polluted time stream including Zales, Penzot, and the R.O.B.O. squad. TAG uses Holloway to give several of the new TAG members scholarships to Peterson Academy near Ringgold City to have them nearby (One of who is TAG #14 Kimberly Swift, who Jon soon begins dating).

-Major Ransom uses Holloway factory to create “robo-clones” for the other TAG members to allow them security of their secret identities. Each TAG member/robo-clone assigned an AI.

2014

-TAG sub bases built to allow the scattered members of TAG better ability to mobilize world wide.

-TAG first encounters Element, enemy to the Extreme Team, seven armored teens that each is armed with gauntlents that give them power over a specific element. After Element's defeat Jon drafts the Extreme Team into TAG to operate as the groups "special forces".

--TAG recovers the only Galaxy Crystal they beat Hell Bringer to, the green crystal. During the fight Jon is exposed to the crystal, tests fail to show any form of radiation poisoning.

-TAG attacks Hell Bringer's Alaskan stronghold and defeat the villain, who disappears after his base explodes.

-Dr. Waltrum successfully causes Snake Maker to regenerate his body; Snake Maker escapes the labs, kidnapping Dr. Waltrum in the process

-Snake Maker builds a new fortress in the Australian outback

-TAG has their first battle with Tech, Jon’s rogue AI “Zeus” in his robotic clone body.

-Dr. Waltrum forced to create Snake Maker a bride, Lady Venom.

2015

-TAG, finally locating Snake Maker, sends in the members of the Galactic Army to spy on him, before being captured the Galactic troops reveal Snake Maker's plans to invade Sydney.

-While in captivity the Galactic Army troops met Illusion, Snake Maker's new right hand man, then they are thrown into Illusion’s torture maze.

-TAG positions themselves to defend Sydney, Hell Bringer makes his re-appearance, leading an army of snake soldiers, then turns TAG #26 (Robert Wilson) into a villain named Vanisher with the aid of nanobots under his command, Lady Venom also makes her debut

-Nicholas and the Extreme Team sent to rescue the soldiers of the Galactic Army, but they themselves are captured and thrown into the torture maze.

-Extreme Team reveals that they are double agents working for Hell Bringer, and proceed to kill Major Ransam and Goegan

-Defeated, Hell Bringer retreats from Sydney, Kimberly leads her “Red Squad” (All the female TAG members) to place themselves directly in the retreat route while the others give chase to the fleeing villain. Hell Bringer unleashes Vanisher on Red Squad, several of whom are killed/

-When Jon arrives to the scene of the massacre Hell Bringer kills his girlfriend Kimberly in front of him, resulting in Jon's almost defeat at the hands of Hell Bringer and his own blinding rage

-TAG regroups, then destroy Snake Maker's fortress, but the villains have already moved their operations

-After five months of hiding from TAG Snake Maker and the others are tracked to a palace in China

-During an attack on the Chinese palace the Extreme Team are killed, Vanisher is defeated and converted back. Hell Bringer, Snake Maker, and Lady Venom are captured and put into containment. Hell Bringer and Snake Maker almost beaten to death by Jon when he experiences his first "gold mode" within which his suits limiters are cancelled out and the suit sends him into a blind rage. This is the first sign of the radiation Jon was exposed to from the green crystal.

-One week after the palace attack Illusion and three dozen snake soldiers simultaneously launch missiles at the world's major cities from multiple different countries disguised as TAG members. TAG manages to cause a missile aimed for San Francisco to dentonate over the city before it strikes. The city is evactuated over radiation concerns.

-The UN security counsel unanimously agree to declare war on TAG.

-Ringgold City evacuated to free the military of worrying about civilians.

-Illusion, disguised as the president of the United States, releases Hell Bringer and puts him in charge of creating a TAG elimination squad.

-Hell Bringer has all the ex-TAG members drafted and formatted with high tech armor and laser guns, then leads them on an attack on the TAG base.

-TAG base air intoxicated, forcing TAG to move above ground

-Army surrounds Ringgold City and shells it for a brief period to draw out TAG, but to no avail

-Army drops nuke on Ringgold City, TAG members burn out their shields containing the blast and then radiation

-Ambushed while hiding out in Goodwill hospital multiple TAG members taken down by Hell Bringer's squad, including Jon's little brother, Ben. Jon himself is wounded and temporarly places Nicholas in charge.

-TAG separates and flees to multiple sub-bases world wide, only to have most of them destroyed after the various militaries of the world tracks their teleportation destinations.

-Finally cornered at the west coast sub-station in a deserted San Francisco Jon, again leading TAG, and the rest debate if they should engage the Army which is closing in on them.

-A forced, brief engagement with the military helps TAG discover that the soldiers attacking them are all androids. Jon orders a full scale attack, several more TAG members lost.

-After driving the android army back Jon leaves Nicholas in charge again as he makes his way cross country to Washington DC.

-While Illusion, still disguised as the president, is giving a live press conference Jon busts in and forces Illusion to confess to his crimes

-The android army goes rogue after being taken over by Tech, who presses the troops deep into San Francisco to kill the remainders of TAG. Jon returns to the city and goes for the 2nd time into Gold Mode, destroying the army virtually single handedly.

-TAG given full pardon and signs agreement/treaty with US government, Hell Bringer disappears.

-The new President of the United States declares, among other things, a nation wide “redo” of the current school year to equalize for the time lost in school for the children effected by the war, effectively pushing back all graduation dates back a entire year.

2016

-Two months after the official end of World War III Snake Maker attacks Ringgold City again, killing only one Blue Squad member, Jacob Ware, who makes Jon promise to look after his little sister Kendra

-Jon disbands all of TAG except Nicholas and Vanisher (who goes on to be his own hero in NYC), allowing the others to live normal lives

-Jon has his first encounter with the K.A.T.S. when he drops in on them breaking into the uptown museum

-While tracking down leads of who had been supplying the Red Eye, a group of extremist who still believe TAG actually did cause WWIII, with mech robots Jon runs into US gymnast Hannah Hudgens, whom he rescues from a fire and commissions as the new TAG 3

-Jon has several run-ins with Kendra Ware, who is desperate to meet her idol, gets far too close to several TAG battles resulting in Jon saving her life several times.

 

2: Hell Hath No Fury...

CHAPTER ONE:

"HELL HATH NO FURY…"

January 27th, 2018 / Century Mall / Ringgold City, TN

It was an ordinary January day for Jon Hall and Nicholas Briggs. Both boys stood right at 6', and had rather medium sized frames. Jon had short, short brown hair and green eyes, while Nicholas sported spiky, red hair and blue eyes. The two friends were hanging out at the mall, like they did every Saturday night. They seemed content with just window shopping, since neither had any cash. It was getting late, and although it was still pretty packed, the mall would be closing before too long. The pair decided they were done 'shopping' and started back to Jon's car.

But as they passed through the food court, they ran into a fellow classmate of theirs from Ringgold City High, Kendra Ware. Kendra was at least half a foot shorter than the boys, and she had long, curly, light brown hair and sparkling green eyes. She always had a warm and inviting smile, with a personality to match. At least, that was how she normally looked, but the girl who stood before them had uncombed, bleach-blonde hair covering half her face. She was wearing a very heavy trench coat, far too big for her. A look of anger and pain replaced her usual smile, and was it just Nicholas's imagination, or were her eyes actually yellow?

"Kendra,' said Nicholas, 'you should still be in a hospital."

"You!' said Kendra, looking at the pair, 'you did this to me!"

"Did what", Jon asked?

Kendra clenched her fists, her hair standing on end, and her eyes glowed yellow. Slowly, she extended her left hand out to Nicholas. While Nicholas was trying to decide whether or not he should take it, he saw a spark in her palm, and his body was blasted backwards several dozen yards into a row of tables. Jon turned away from Nicholas and stared at Kendra. She was staring right back at him with those yellow eyes.

"I know who you are," she snarled at him.

"What are you talking about?" Jon asked, but he knew. 'She knows', he thought, 'she honest to goodness knows'!

"Playing dumb, are we?" Kendra said tauntingly. "Well, let me jog your memory." She raised her right hand, palm out, and spread her fingers.

Jon watched, horrified, as electricity pulsed between her fingers. "What ARE you?"

"What am I?" Kendra hissed. "I'm your creation, all because of the accident."

The electricity drained from her fingers and gathered in the center of her palm. The last things Jon saw were Kendra's eyes open as wide as they could, and then a bright flash.

The people around the food court had just been standing still, watching in terror, but when they saw Kendra shoot lightening from her hand and blast Jon into a nearby clothing store, they ran. Screams filled the mall. People pushed and shoved each other out of their way in complete horror.

Kendra just watched them, feeding off of their fear. She enjoyed this feeling of power, being in control. An evil grin spread across her face, and she decided to spook the masses even more. She re-clenched her fists, and her eyes began to glow again. Her trench coat began to lift off of the ground, and soon she was floating, her body surging with electricity as she hovered several feet in the air. She spread her arms, closed her eyes, and concentrated on what she was about to do. Then, she smacked her arms together, creating a huge flash.

Fleeing shoppers stopped just long enough to see what had happened. Kendra stood before them, her trench coat landing on the floor behind her, in purple spandex pants and a tank top. She also wore knee-high black boots with tall heels, and a pair of fingerless fishnet gloves. The outfit was covered with well-placed bolts of lightning, with a very dramatic looking one on her chest that stretched from one corner of her top to the other. A purple mask with a bolt-shaped cutout topped off the ensemble.

She paused for a moment to soak in the terror surrounding her; it gave her such a high. Still enjoying her high she looked around and saw a familiar face, she lifted her hand to strike a teenaged girl with another bolt of lightning, sending the shopper sprawling back. When two of her friends ran up to her, Kendra simply blasted them, too. The others continued their desperate stampede for the nearest exit.

Then, a voice came from behind her, "What, is it Halloween already? And me without my trick or treat bag". 'That voice', Kendra knew that almost metallic voice all too well.

She turned around to confirm her fear. Sure enough, there he stood, TAG One. TAG, which stood for Technical Assault Group, was a team of young adults trained to counteract major threats to society, and One was their leader. TAG One stood just over 6' 5", his arms crossed over his chest. His white suit with a big, black '1' emblazed on his torso confirmed that he was the real deal. Every inch of his body was covered, from head to toe, in white armor. His shiny black visor covered his eyes, but she knew that he was glaring at her. His armor had muscle outlines etched in and, knowing what he really looked like, she knew that they were just for show. But she had to admit, the six-pack wasn't half bad looking.

She started to remember why she used to admire him so much, and why she risked her life so many times just to see him in action. All of the things her brother, Jacob, used to say about him flooded her mind. Jacob couldn't get enough of him. He had newspaper clippings all over his wall, video tapes of him on the news. Yes, Jacob really looked up to One as an inspiration, and so had she, until the accident.

Suddenly, she snapped herself out of her daydream. No matter what she used to think of him, TAG One was now her enemy. "How are you still alive?" Kendra demanded.

"What's with the outfit?" One shot back.

"It's my costume, my disguise, just like yours," Kendra snapped.

"Wrong, my disguise is to protect my loved ones, what's your excuse?"

"Well, you haven't been doing a good job keeping your secret, have you Jon?" said Kendra, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"So, you know who I am?" Jon asked, although he had already known.

"I've known for a while now."

"Well, this puts a whole new spin on things."

"Not really, I'm still going to kill you," Kendra said, grinning.

"Haven't we already been down this road?"

"Argh, this conversation is pointless!" Kendra yelled in frustration.

"Finally, something we agree on," said Jon.

Enraged, Kendra pointed her arms at Jon and unleashed all the electricity she could muster. The whole mall flickered, and then plunged into complete darkness. "Ha, no way loud mouth could've avoided that", said Kendra, satisfied that the job had been done.

"Are you sure about that," asked Jon, his voice seeming to come from no where.

'So', thought Kendra, 'he did survive'.

"Well', come Jon's voice through the darkness, 'you've got the powers and the costume, you got a name yet?"

"Your new arch enemy's name is Boltress," boasted Kendra.

"Boltress?" said Jon, half disbelieving and half amused.

"Hey, stop laughing! It's not funny!" Kendra yelled.

"Oh, of course it isn't," said Jon, still fighting off laughter.

"Well, I guess my next my next move would be to tell you that I can now sense energy. And since that suit of yours uses enough electricity to light a small town, it’s not hard for me to tell you’re hiding behind the Taco Bell counter," said Kendra, her voice once again full of confidence.

"Oh yeah, that's WONDERFUL!" Jon said as sarcastically as he could.

"Why don't we tilt things more in my favor?" asked Kendra, a hint of a giggle in her voice.

Jon watched as Kendra turned around and recharged her hands, bolts leaping from her fingertips to the ground. 'That whole conversation was nothing but a stall for her to regain her powers!' Jon realized. Kendra's arms swayed the whole length of the food court, igniting tables, chairs, and other restaurant counters. 'What in the heck is this crazy girl doing?' thought Jon.

When she was done, she turned back around to face Jon. The light from the flames flickered across her face, and for a moment he saw pure hatred in her eyes.

"Ever heard of finding a needle in a haystack?" asked Boltress.

"Of course I have," Jon replied.

"Then let's see how good you are at it," Boltress said, levitating off of the ground and backwards into the middle of the fire.

Jon got out of his crouched position from behind the counter, his eyes scanning the scene before him. Flames began to lick at the support columns of the very roof he stood under. The situation was not looking good.

'Where did Kendra disappear to'? His thermal scanner was of no use now. The fire now covered the entire food court, the heat completely blanking out his entire vision. Turning off the heat scanner didn't do much to help either. He couldn't see her thermal body temperature because of the heat, or see her with the naked eye because of the sheer size of the fire. But somewhere in those dancing flames, she was watching. She now was camouflaged, but he, the only source of electricity in the whole mall, was a sitting duck.

Lost in his thoughts, Jon never saw the first attack coming. The blast struck with enough power to knock him off his feet and into the menu board behind him. He fell to the floor, gasping for air. 'She's not kidding around ', thought Jon, 'she's really trying to kill me'.

That's when he first noticed it. The sprinklers, why weren't they going off? As he looked closer, he noticed some sort of electronic detector next to them. 'That's why they're not going off' Jon thought to himself, 'Kendra sucked the power out of the heat detectors. No detectors, no sprinklers. That's technology for you'.

Jon caught most of Boltress' second attack just in time. She threw a dozen electric daggers at him. He dodged the first eleven or so, but number twelve grazed him on his right side. After the attack had ceased, he let his fingers wander across the puncture. It was a long, deep cut into his armor, deep enough to draw blood. He just had to ignore the pain; it was the least of his worries. If he didn't do something soon he would have injuries that would be a lot worse.

He pulled out his gun and started blasting off the sprinkler heads. Thousands of gallons of water came rushing down. Jon could see the sparks out of the corner of his left eye. The water was shorting out her powers. When the blaze had died down, Jon began walking around, searching for Kendra, but she was nowhere to be found. Jon was completely confused. He had seen her, he knew he had. But where could she have gone?

Suddenly, one of the restaurant roller doors flew open, reveling Kendra's hiding place. She hopped over the counter, her boots making an obvious 'slush' sound when she landed.

"Bad move Jon," snarled Boltress.

She spread her arms and her body began to glow as she slammed them back together, causing an electric shockwave. Jon watched the gigantic wall of electricity bearing down on him like a tsunami. There would be no escaping it, so he just dug in, and braced for impact. When the shockwave hit him, Jon was blasted into the wall, leaving a crater. When he had regained his bearings, he wriggled himself free from the crushed brick around him.

He had taken that last hit really hard and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. Jon really didn't want to hurt Kendra, but if he didn't, she would end up killing him. He picked up his gun and began to search for Kendra once again. The broken tile and burnt wood crunched under his feet. If he was going to live through this, he had to take her down. He had to push aside his feelings and put an end to this.

When he turned on his thermal scanner to find her he realized that the three girls Kendra had blasted was nowhere to be seen, this was now a hostage situation. A quick sweep showed him that Nicholas had managed to escape the food court before the fire and was hold up in a nearby store. Jon couldn’t tell if he was hurt, but his heat signature didn’t suggest bleeding or anything life threatening, so he pressed on certain that his best friend would join him soon.

He began to remember the accident Kendra had spoken of earlier. He had received a notice from K.A.T.S., a group of four female thieves. All four were highly attractive, and just as equally deadly. Each gifted with the flexibility, grace, quickness, and cunning of a different big cat: the lion, tiger, panther, and cheetah. They also sported skin tight leather suits and masks designed after their cat. What really made them dangerous were the metallic, retractable claws on their fingers.

The KATS letter stated that they had captured Kendra Ware, a girl they had watched TAG One save multiple times, and were holding her atop of Swanson Tower. They wanted him to bring them the Cat's Eye Diamond in return for Kendra's release. In the past month, Jon had prevented them from stealing it on at least six different occasions. Just four days before, he was interviewed after stopping the KATS latest attempt at seizing the diamond. When asked how long he was willing to stay with the diamond, Jon replied, "my protection of this diamond will be unyielding, and under NO circumstances will the KATS ever get their paws on the Cat's Eye. I'm not sure why they want it so badly, but no matter what their plans are, they WILL NOT succeed."

But now it looked like they might be getting it after all. Swanson Tower lay in the center of Jon's home town, Ringgold City. It was a rainy, Southern Spring day when Jon pulled up next to the tower. It was raining so hard Jon could barely make out the building across the street, much less the top of Swanson Tower. But he turned on his rocket boots and began his accent anyways. He had to smile though, as much as KATS hated water, they had to be pitching a fit right now. Sure enough, when he reached the roof all four of them were soaked, and thoroughly ticked.

"You're late", said Lioness, the leader.

"Well, I drove slow and took my time, this is no kind of weather to be speeding around in", Jon replied.

"Whatever, do you have the diamond or not?" asked Lioness.

"I do, right here in this suitcase."

"Good. Your little friend is tied up at the base of the radio antennae," said Tigress, the 2nd in command.

"So, I just lay down the suitcase, fly up, and get the girl. No tricks?"

"No tricks," assured Lioness.

The KATS might have been thieves, but they were honorable. In all of his encounters with them in the past, they had always been true to their word. One laid down the suitcase and flew up to the antenna to get Kendra. As soon as he got her down safely, he would go after the diamond. When he reached the antennae base Kendra was lying on her side, out cold. He bent down and took her into his arms. Her face was bruised, clearly abused by the KATS, but he would pay them back. She began to stir as he took off. She opened her eyes, and gazed at him in amazement. She had heard him swear to never to give up the Cat's Eye. But he had, and he had done it for her.

Jon began to scan for the KATS, hoping to soon be on their trail, and Kendra couldn't stop staring at him. Neither of them ever saw it coming. A bolt of lightening streaked across the sky, finding its target in Jon's back. Jon tumbled forward thru the air, doing everything he could to hold onto Kendra. He pitched and swayed, trying desperately to regain control. His whole suit was close to a power surge, and if that happened, his suit would fail. This would mean a 700 ft drop straight down for him and Kendra. As a surge grew more and more unavoidable, Jon's suit began shutting down functions to lower power use.

Unfortunately, the system using the most power at that point was his jet boots. The suit shut them down and the two began to freefall. Jon tried to direct them towards the side of the building. He somehow managed to throw Kendra over his left shoulder and used his now free right hand to try and grab the building. He managed to catch a ledge, and his breath. He turned his head just enough to see the dots that were the KATS disappearing over the horizon of rooftops. 'Well' thought Jon, 'no catching them today'.

He watched his power meter drop in the corner of his visor. The suit was trying to save itself by slowly shutting down, system by system. "Stupid safety features," Jon muttered. His power level had dropped to about 30. Jon knew he couldn't hang onto this ledge forever. Eventually, his suit's power would be gone and it would have to retract from his body. When that happened, he and Kendra would be turned into street pancakes. His power level was down to about 15, he could only last a few more minutes. So he did the only thing he could do. He let go.

They began to plummet, passing floor after floor. The passing windows became nothing more than blurs. With only seconds left until impact, Jon dug his right hand into the brick siding. They were slowing down, and taking a lot of brick with them, which only put more strain on the suit. Jon's power was dropping fast… 10, 8, 6, 4… How much longer could he last? At 2% power he just let go, falling the last three floors. The landing took him down to 1.

He had to get into his car quick or else everyone on the street would figure out who he was. By the time he had thrown Kendra into the car and managed to get in, he was out of power. Jon leaned back in his seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Not only did his tinted windows keep any outsiders from seeing in, but Kendra was still out cold. It seemed his identity was safe for another day. He took off towards the nearest hospital to drop off Kendra.

Other then a few visits while she was in the hospital, tonight was the first time that Jon had seen her since, but because she was in a coma, the visits didn't count for much. The doctors were baffled, none of their tests made sense. They simply couldn't figure out what was wrong with her...

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The electrical hum surprised Jon. He spun around just to see a live cable hanging through a hole in the ceiling. 'Wait, how can that cable work when the whole mall is still in darkness'? Suddenly the wire died, and the humming stopped.

Whatever brought Kendra out of her coma had to have something to do with her powers. 'But then why did she blame me?' Jon asked himself. His thermal scan still on, Jon began to leave the food court and search the central hub of the mall. He could make out about a dozen faint thermal images. Were there still shoppers in the mall? "SWAT," Jon muttered, "guess this is my lucky day." He decided to get to the SWAT team before Kendra did.

Jon walked slowly towards them with both hands in the air. He didn't want any accidents. There was no doubt that his suit could take countless bullets, but if one of the SWAT members got trigger happy and fired, one of those shots might find its way into one of the punctures.

"Halt," the SWAT leader's voice boomed.

"Ah, Sergeant Decker, good to see you again," Jon replied. Chris Decker was a tall man, standing at 6'1", and very muscular. He had buzzed black hair and a well trimmed mustache. Jon had saved the officer's life a few years before during a standoff with a group of terrorists, and the two had been friends ever since.

"The feelings mutual', said Decker, 'what's the situation"?

"One crazed female meta-human on a power trip, literally", said Jon.

"This one got an alias?" asked Decker.

"Yeah, get this, Boltress," said Jon with a hint of humor.

"Are you pulling my leg? Where do these loons keep coming up with these crazy names?"

"Your guess would be as good mine. But she's capable of shooting lighting from her hands, throwing electric daggers, and lighting shockwaves," said Jon, serious again.

"How have you been fairing against her?" Decker asked.

"Decent, she's managed to puncture my armor, that's only happened with one other newbie," Jon said, his voice trailing off.

"Is it by chance that Kendra girl you're always saving is it?"

Jon pulled him aside before he answered, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"She flat lined a few hours ago, and the doctors took the defibrillator to her."

Confused, Jon asked, "So, if she died, who am I fighting?"

"Defibrillator jump started her battery so to speak, caused her to flash over."

"Flash over?" asked Jon, still not following.

"When we saw her room, everything was melted, burnt to a crisp and as for the doctor and nurses…" said Decker, his voice full of sadness.

"I don't think I want to hear that part," said Jon, a gruesome picture already forming in his mind.

"You're probably better off," Decker agreed, ‘So, how you plan on taking her out?"

Jon quickly replied, "I don't".

"What do you mean you don't? This girl is a major threat to public safety!" said Decker, trying not to yell.

"I know, I just want to take her down in a non-lethal way."

"You know you can't let your emotions get in the way of your duty, you swore to always aid and protect the innocent," Decker reminded Jon.

"Yeah, I know, but this time it's different…"

Jon was interrupted by another flash of lightening. Two of Decker's men were sent sprawling across the floor. Those who remained standing quickly took cover. Decker turned to Jon and gave him a nasty look. Jon hung his head; there would be no convincing him not to shoot her now.

"Time for a decision, kid, you with us or against us?" asked Decker. Jon didn't say a word; he just held up his gun and cocked it. "That’s my boy."

"But," said Jon, "We do this my way. Alright"?

"And what way would that be?" asked a curious Decker.

"Have three of your men take your injured through the food court and out of the mall," ordered Jon.

"OK, consider it done. You three, you heard him," said Decker, pointing to the three closest men.

"Next, send a team of three down the west wing and three down the east wing."

"But the east wing is clear, that's the way we came in," Decker objected.

"Just do it, Kendra could've gone back down that way after she shot at us," Jon reasoned.

"All right, but that will just leave us two."

"More then enough. We'll take the north wing," Jon said confidently.

"You all heard the man, get to it!" Decker said to his men.

As Decker's men left, Jon stared at what little part of the north wing that wasn't shrouded in darkness. "Sure, we get the darkest one, huh?" Decker joked.

"Don't you know it," said Jon in return.

The two stood in silence for a moment. "You know she's down this way, don't you?" Decker asked.

"I've been watching her on thermal. She's about halfway down the corridor."

Jon suddenly perked up and asked, "Decker, any extra SWAT teams coming in through the north wing?"

"No, I don't think so, why?"

"I just picked up eight more thermal images."

"Human?" Decker asked.

Jon paused, and then said, "at least seven appear to be. Three of them seem unconscious".

"What about the eighth heat source?"

"No idea, but it's too cold to be human," said Jon.

"Cold, like that ice meta-human, Crystal, you fought a few months ago?"

"No, not quite," Jon answered, quickly tiring of all the questions, "though that may be tied to this somehow".

"Then what in the devil is it?"

Jon paused for a minute. His jaw set, his whole body stiffened up, and he clenched his fists. Finally, he spoke. "It's kind of like a reptile."

Decker thought, then said, "Is it him?"

"No," Jon answered quickly, "I would know if that were the case."

"Is it one of his monsters?" asked Decker, a tinge of panic in his voice.

"Sort of, it's his wife."

"Can mutant snakes even have wives?" asked Decker, trying to use humor to cover up his fear.

"Well, maybe mate would be a better term," answered Jon, returning the humor in kind.

"So, what do you think she is doing here?"

"No idea, but I think I recognize the four others who are conscious," said Jon.

"KATS?" Decker suggested automatically.

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"So, what are the five biggest female enemies of TAG doing here?" asked Decker.

"They're possibly looking for the same thing we are."

"Why would they be looking for Ware?"

"To convince her to join their alliance," Jon said. "Obviously."

"So, what's the game plan?"

"I'm going in, stay here," said Jon, walking towards the north wing.

"I'm not just going to stand here like a dog!"

Jon paused, and then turned to Decker. "Go find your men and the other SWAT teams then, I might need the backup."

With that, Jon darted off farther into the darkness. Decker watched until Jon disappeared, then went to get the rest of the SWAT teams.

3: Edge Of Defeat

CHAPTER TWO:

"EDGE OF DEFEAT"

 

January 27th, 2018 / Century Mall / Ringgold City, TN

Jon's steps slowed as he approached the group of super villainesses. The last thing he wanted was to lose the element of surprise.

Soon, he heard Kendra talking, "I've managed to get some of the electricity going without anything kicking back on."

"Good," hissed Lady Venom, "turn on a couple of these over head lights so we can see what we're doing."

Jon watched Kendra stick her hands through a hole in the ceiling. Suddenly, three of the overhead lights sprang to life. Jon had to duck into a nearby store to remain unseen, but now he had proof that it was indeed Lady Venom and the KATS. Lady Venom stood upon her coiled tail, slimy looking as ever. Her arms were crossed, her snake hands shoved into her pits. Lady Venom was once an Australian black mamba, the most poisonous snake alive, but since she'd been mutated by her hubby she had grown to over 30 ft head to tail. Her arms hadn't grown with the rest of her, so Snake Maker fused two more black mambas to her side instead. After re-wiring some nerves, Lady Venom had complete control of her 'arms'.

Although the snakes were quite capable of holding items in their mouths like real hands, they were used more for clasping onto something and dumping tons of venom into it. Jon had seen the damage it could do first hand. A long time ago, when he first fought Lady Venom, he had watched as Lady Venom tore through the ranks of the few remaining Red Squad at the siege of the Chinese palace, piercing their armor with her hands and killing them with her venom. It was a very horrific scene to behold, something he'd never forget.

Jon heard something off to his left.

"You know better then to sneak up on me like that, Three," said Jon, not bothering to turn his head. The noises stopped and everything was silent for a moment, then Jon continued, "I almost blew your head off." Jon turned his head just enough to see a figure silently walk into the light.

"How did you know it was me?" asked Hannah.

"I was the one who taught you everything you know about stealth remember? What are you doing here anyways, TAG Three?"

"Don't call me that when you don't have to."

"As long as you wear that suit I can call you whatever I want…Hannah." Jon said, looking at her to get his point across, "but as long as your COM system is offline and we have to speak aloud it's far from wise to use real names".

His gaze began to move up and down her armor. Her suit was almost exactly like his, except, for her female features and the pink '3' on her chest. She was the only current female TAG member, and an ex-girlfriend.

Under her mask she was also a 5'8" black haired, olive skinned, brown eyed bombshell. Hannah Hudgens was one of the most gorgeous girls in Ringgold City High, and she had the brains to match her looks. But, she occasionally had an extreme problem with authority, which was why her relationship with Jon had failed. She just simply couldn’t date the same person who gave her orders. Actually, Jon didn't mind too much, it made his 'job' less complicated. Besides, there were plenty of other fish in the sea, maybe his cute redheaded lab partner from chemistry?

"Hannah, did you find Nicholas?" asked Jon.

"I didn't even know he was with you."

"Yeah, he got blasted O.O.S. back in the food court."

"Out Of Suit? So, you don't know if he's okay?"

"I was too busy trying to stay alive."

"Police scanner said there was a fire in the food court."

"There was, an electrical fire."

"It's Kendra, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but how did you…?", Jon started to ask, but Hannah kept talking.

"I went with Decker to see her hospital room."

"Was it as bad as they say it was?"

Hannah gave him a serious look, temporarily forgetting he couldn't actually see her face, "No, it was much, much worse."

"I know there was a doctor in there, how many nurses?"

"Four of them, almost five."

"Almost?" Jon asked.

"A nurse was following another nurse in when the flashover happened, she's lucky to be alive. Personally, I think Ware should be fried for what she did."

"Caroline," Jon said to himself, thinking.

"What?"

"Your big sister, Caroline. She was one of the nurses, wasn't she?"

"Yeah…she was the fifth".

"You know you can't hold a grudge," Jon warned her. "Emotions will only blind you."

"Like your feelings for Kendra?"

"No, it's not like that," Jon said.

"Then what is it, Jon?"

Jon turned and glared at her. "Not now, Hannah, you'll give us away."

"If not now, then when? When will you give me the time of day? What's so special about her anyways?" Hannah spat.

Jon was silent for several seconds, "You really want to know?"

"Yes, please, oh great TAG leader, enlighten me."

"Her brother… He died in my arms a few years back. He was a TAG member, too."

Hannah's face paled underneath her suit, "I, I didn't…"

"He was one of the very few who managed to survive the World War."

"World War III, one of the darkest moments in the history of the Earth…."

"Yeah, but then, after all that had been settled, Snake Maker returned, and during the battle, Jacob, Kendra's brother, was attacked and poisoned by him."

"I remember that day, that battle is what proved to many of the doubters that you guys really were the good guys".

"And it came with a hefty price. After Jacob's death, I disbanded those left over from the war. I figured it was best to go back to the basics, we started out with two, and it seemed like all we needed."

"And then I turned that into three," Hannah added.

"Yeah, two just couldn't cut it anymore. Too many morons running around in masks blowing things up."

"Anyways, back to Jacob."

"He made me promise, with his last breath, to look after his little sister."

"So, that's why you're always saving her," Hannah said, finally understanding.

Jon sighed, nodding his head. He looked out into the hallway to see what his enemies were up to. 'GONE', thought Jon, 'they're gone'!

"Hannah, get down," Jon screamed.

CRACK! A bolt of lightening streaked between the pair. Jon rolled out to his right and turned around to face the attacker. Kendra stood atop a sales counter, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I thought he was just an innocent bystander," Kendra choked out, "but he was actually a part of TAG."

"Kendra, I'm sorry you had to find out like this…"

"Shut up! You should have told me a long time ago, Jon. A long, long time ago," said Kendra.

"She knows who you are?" Hannah asked

"Well, yea, I'm still trying to figure that one out" Jon snarled.

CRACK! Kendra's second attack found Hannah in the dead center of her chest, sending her crashing through the store window behind her.

"Kendra, stop this madness," Jon pleaded.

"This 'madness' will stop when you're dead!"

CRACK! A blast grazed past Jon's shoulder. The blast just missed, causing a display case behind Jon to explode into thousands of pieces of wood and glass shrapnel. Jon ran for cover as fast as he could. CRACK! This time, Kendra's attack found its target. Jon was sent hurling out of the store and into the hall. After he stopped rolling, Jon tried to get up, but he couldn't move. Kendra's attack had clearly short circuited something critical in his suit. He heard footsteps approaching. Kendra was coming to finish the job. She stood over him with a satisfied smirk on her face. She pointed one finger at him, Jon began to pray, there was a flash, and then everything went dark.

When his suit finally rebooted, Jon was tied up with a titanium cable. On either side of him were his two comrades, Hannah and Nicholas. Nicholas was in his suit, which told Jon two things: his identity was safe and he had gone down fighting too. While he was gathering his bearings Jon could hear the faint crackle of gunfire. Decker was on his way.

Kendra and all four KATS stood before Jon, clearly not trying to hide their evil grins. The three girls Kendra had blasted in the food court were lying at their feet. 'Lady Venom is missing, she must be what the SWAT teams are shooting at,' thought Jon.

"Well, looky here, the mighty TAG One is finally getting up from his little nap," said Lioness in a mocking, baby voice.

"What are the girls for?" was Jon's only reply.

"Wow, you don't miss a beat. These girls will be the key to our global conquest," said Lioness.

"A couple of teenage girls are going to help you take over the world… how?" asked Jon.

"Soon they, much like our new friend, Boltress, will be incredibly empowered," answered Lioness.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that", asked Jon.

"Using the exact same gene splicing laser used to turn the four of us into the 'gifted' individuals we are today."

"Well maybe you've forgotten, the tritium that mad man used to power the laser was destroyed"

"No, we haven't forgotten at all. We just needed something capable of magnifying the power like the tritium did."

"So, that's why you wanted the Cat's Eye so bad!" Jon said, realization hitting him like one of Kendra's bolts.

"Exactly. Now you're catching on."

"And all this time I thought it was just some freaky thing about it having something to do with a cat."

"For a while, we thought we had found a way to do it without the Cat's Eye, and your friend was going to be our test subject, but when nothing happened after we forced her to drink the starting agent, which doubles as a mind control substance thanks to Tigress, we decided to hold her for ransom for the diamond."

"So, you're the reason she has these powers?"

"We can only take partial credit; the rest belongs to you and Mother Nature. You see, when you was struck by lightening, it surged through your power core and then on into Kendra. The power from your suit, the lightening, and the starting agent all mixed together perfectly".

"And caused the mutation of her genes…"

"So, we got to thinking, why just make more KATS…"

"When you can introduce an element to the equation and control what kind of powers are gained."

"Exactly. I believe you're beginning to understand."

"You're insane, you know that"?

"Of course I do. Alright, let's get started."

With that, the other KATS placed the girls onto the three heroes' laps. They laid a possibly 14 or 15 year old blonde on top of Nicholas, and then drenched them with water. A slightly older redhead was placed in Hannah's lap, and a brunette closer to 18 or 19 was laid in Jon's lap. The KATS then powered up the laser and pointed it at Nicholas. When it was fired the girl in Nicholas's lap was startled awake, then she and Nicholas both started screaming out in complete agony. A huge flash and then both fell limp.

Next, Tigress lit a match and threw it on top of the red head in Hannah's lap. At that exact moment, Panther fired the laser at her. After another flash Jon could see the girl in Nicholas's lap starting to look like Jell-O. Her whole body was turning liquid. The mutation was working, and Jon could've sworn that the redhead's hair was already starting to flicker. He was next, and time was very short.

He started struggling with his bindings, and then noticed the KATS mistake, his gun was still in its holster. Jon could feel the binds on his arms loosening. Tigress was now approaching him with a plant in hand, time was running out. The very same moment Tigress had laid down the plant and moved out of the way, his binds snapped. Jon's hand was on his gun as the laser fired. Jon aimed for Panther but being hit by the laser threw off his aim. Instead he hit the muzzle of the laser, sending the blast down the barrel.

A slight boom and then an explosion, the Cat's Eye shattered and sent a giant pulse of laser heading straight for Jon, all within a blink of an eye. The concussion from the blast sent an electro-magnetic pulse so strong it knocked Jon's suit off-line.

When he came back on-line, he noticed that the explosion had managed to knock everyone else out. He tried to stand, but found that his knees were too weak. Instead, he began to crawl over to Nicholas, kneeling over him and knocking on his helmet. Soon, Nicholas was awake too, but it took a few minutes before either was prepared to stand.

When Kendra began to stir Nicholas wasted no time standing on his wobbly knees and running over to her while Jon went over to wake up Hannah. But before he could get to her, Jon stopped. 'The gun fire has stopped," Jon thought to himself, 'that can mean only one of two things, and I think I know which one."

"Two, forget her. Grab two of those girls and get out of here, I'll get Hannah and the third one," ordered Jon.

"Alright, man, sure thing", replied Nicholas.

Nicholas picked up the blonde and the redhead and started sprinting down the corridor. Jon threw Hannah, still in her suit, over his shoulder and made for the brunette that had been placed in his lap. Right as he was reaching down to scoop her up; something in the corner of Jon's eye caught his attention. He jumped backwards just as a black blur went hurling past right where he was just standing. He followed the blur with his eyes until it stopped on Lady Venom, who was already curling her tail for another attack.

Jon quickly switched Hannah from his right to his left shoulder. Lady Venom pounced at Jon with her arms out stretched. As Jon dove to the left he used his right hand to reach for his laser sword on his left side. As Lady Venom passed by Jon swung down the sword, catching the last foot or so of her tail. The snake let out a hideous shrill of pain and went rolling across the floor. 'Yeah, that will hurt for all of two seconds, better grab the other girl and run,' Jon thought. But when Jon turned around to grab the girl, she was gone.

Jon desperately scanned the scene around him, only to find the KATS and Kendra still out cold and Lady Venom missing, too. Jon turned back around to where the girl had been a few seconds ago. Lady Venom stood high upon her tail, already regenerated, and the brunette stood next to her with her head drooped down, almost as if she was in a trance.

"Now, Edge, rise and lay waste to this despicable human being," hissed Lady Venom.

The girl raised her head, revealing her glowing eyes, and managed a garbled, "yes my mistress."

The girl's body began to shake and jerk, suddenly stiffening up. When she did, Jon noticed something about her skin had changed. There was a terrible ripping sound, and a second jerk. A third jerk and her skin tore open. Jon turned his head to avoid seeing what he was sure was a hideous site, but when he forced himself to look; he didn't see the gory mess he had expected. Instead, in place of the girl there stood a human-shaped diamond statue.

Jon was shocked at the site, and nearly tumbled backwards from surprise when it moved. 'Her element,' thought Jon, 'she's become the Cat's Eye Diamond'! Edge, as Lady Venom had named her, raised her right hand and pointed her fingers at Jon. Jon had seen this routine enough to know what was coming next. He ran for a nearby store as mini diamond knives the size of crayons started to whiz by. Glass was shattering, wood splintering, and metal crunching. The mall had officially been turned into a war zone.

Jon set Hannah down behind a counter and made a dash for the sports store across the hall, trying to keep Hannah out of the line of fire. As he ran Jon fired a blast at Edge, only to have it bounce off her and into one of the three lights above. Jon sat down and laid his back against the wall, desperate to catch his breath. He noticed a glow coming from the other end of the corridor. 'Crap, those other two must have finished mutating, too. I hope Nicholas is alright,' Jon thought to himself. But before he could worry about Nicholas any more, his own problems returned, diamond knives began piercing the very wall he leaned against.

"COME ON,' Jon screamed to nobody in particular, 'GIVE ME A BREAK ALREADY!"

He had just finished when one of the knives ripped through his left shoulder. Jon screamed again, this time swearing at the pain. He put his hand over the exit wound, but the twisted metal prevented him from applying any true pressure. Not to mention the fact that the wound in his back was still wide open. He let the suit do a scan and fortunately no major blood vessels had been hit. But he was still bleeding out, and he had no idea how to stop it.

He looked around him and noticed the weight lifting equipment on the far side of the store. While still under fire Jon ran as fast and low as he could across the store. Even with the deafening sound of everything shattering around him, he could still make out Lady Venom's laughter. When he reached the weights, he threw as many as he could on the ground. Then using his laser gun, laser sword, and the little bit of knowledge he had gained in shop class Jon began to fashion the weights into plates. Then he placed the plates over his wounds and welded them to his suit. 'Well, that's one problem down, about a hundred to go'.

As the barrage of diamonds continued, Jon tried to formulate a plan, but constantly drew a blank. He could only hope that Hannah had come to by now, he certainly needed the backup. He was really missing the old days when there was several dozens of other TAG units; there was no trouble finding back up then. But this was no time to dwell on the past. Jon held his gun in his right hand and his sword in his left. He stood up and ran for the store's entrance, using his sword to deflect the incoming knives.

When he reached the hall he continued to deflect the knives, while blasting away at Lady Venom, who was still standing next to Edge. He managed a few lucky hits, causing the snake to flee for cover. He was fast approaching Edge as he got ready to strike with his sword. But when he brought it down it too was deflected. Edge looked at Jon as if to say "you're an idiot", and then took a swing at him. At first she missed but the second just barely caught Jon's chest.

Jon looked down to the slash about five inches long cutting through his '1'. 'She barely even touched me and managed to cut through my suit like a pair of scissors through paper', thought Jon.

"Ha, not so tough now, are we?" came Lioness's voice.

Jon looked around himself to see that he was surrounded. All four KATS, Kendra, Lady Venom, Edge, and the other two mutated girls now encircled where he stood.

"One, meet my two new followers," said Lady Venom, gesturing to the two mutated girls, "Flare and Aqua Marine."

Flare's entire body was covered in flames. Her hair stood on end, pointing towards the ceiling. Aqua Marine's body looked more like a constantly moving body of water, and her hair floated about as it would if she was under water.

"As if this date wasn't crowded enough," said Jon in the most sarcastic tone he could muster.

"Now, now, that's no way for a gentleman to behave. Girls, teach him some manners," hissed Lady Venom, with that Boltress, Flare, and Aqua Marine joined Edge on either side of her.

As the four 'elemental sisters' stood before Jon, they all raised their right hands. Jon knew what was coming, there was no way he could dodge all the attacks, instead he dug in and braced for the attack. He would take the hit and then charge them. They wouldn't expect the counter-attack, so maybe he could get an edge over them and bring them down.

When the attack came, the diamonds shredded his suit and the lightening and flames burned his now exposed skin. Then, when Aqua Marine let loose her attack, Jon found out in a very painful way that she was using salt water. He lay in a heap on the floor, curled up into a ball. Before he knew it he found himself wishing they would just get it over with, and put him out of his misery. As he watched Kendra approaching him, Jon could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered was his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

4: The Healing Process

 

CHAPTER THREE:

"THE HEALING PROCESS"

 

February 2nd, 2018 / Goodwill Hospital / Ringgold City, TN

When he came to, Jon was lying in a hospital bed. He tried to sit up, but found it far too painful. He cried out, causing someone to stir out in the hallway. Soon, Hannah came running into the room with a nurse.

"Well, look who's finally awake!" she exclaimed.

"What happened, what about Bol..." Jon started to ask before he realized that the nurse was right next to him.

"Hush darling," said the nurse, "you need to save your strength."

Jon looked at the nurse hard, trying to see her clearly despite his blurred vision, "Caroline?"

"Yeah, it's me, how are you feeling' Caroline asked, 'That horrible lightning girl did a real number on you."

"Yeah, you took a real beating at the mall," Hannah added.

Jon became more and more confused about what had happened, and he couldn't understand what Hannah and Caroline were talking about.

"Does she know?" Jon asked, looking at Hannah.

"Jon, EVERYBODY knows," said Caroline. Jon's eyes widened with disbelief.

"Boltress blasted you and Nicholas in the food court, no need to be embarrassed," said Hannah, winking. Jon had to fight hard not to let a smile creep across his face. Hannah had saved his identity yet again.

"Caroline, can you go let Jon's family know he's awake?" Hannah asked.

"Sure, be right back," Caroline replied, already half way out the door.

"Wow,' said Jon when the coast was clear, 'she's healed really well after Kendra's flashover".

"Well, she's had six days to recover. Besides, she wasn't all that injured to begin with."

"6 days? Are you serious? I've been out that long?"

"Unfortunately, Nicholas and I have had our hands full trying to keep the KATS new crime spree under control."

"I can't believe it."

"Speaking of believing, everyone believes that you and Nicholas were just blasted in the food court, and fortunately for the two of you, TAG Three found you and carried you out."

"Hannah, you're a life saver," said Jon, smiling gratefully.

"In more ways then one, I really did rescue you."

"Mind filling me in on how that happened?"

"Before Kendra could do anything to you. I rocketed over, kicked her in the face, scooped you up, and rocketed out of the mall with you and Nicholas over my shoulders," Hannah said proudly.

"Sounds like a thank you is in order."

"You’re welcome. Now here’s the bad part, Boltress let her four hostages go".

"Four hostages?" Jon asked, once again completely confused.

"Yes. Kendra Ware, Katherine Graham, Lindsay Hunter, and Meredith Tate."

"Wait," Jon said, his confusion written all over his face, "you lost me..."

"Nobody knows who Kendra really is. She showed up four days ago with her natural brown hair and claimed she had been freed along with the three girls that witnesses saw Boltress blast. Her story stuck because someone, who we believe is one of KATS, was seen downtown dressed as Boltress and the others while Kendra and company were being debriefed by the police".

"You mean we know who Edge, Flare, and Aqua Marine are?"

"Yeah, I sit behind Edge in Pre-Cal."

"She's a senior? At our school?"

"Yep, and Flare and Aqua Marine are sophomores."

"Well, I would imagine they've managed to make themselves look normal somehow?"

"Nobody can tell a difference. They've blended right back into their natural environments."

"Well, this will certainly make school more interesting,' Jon mumbled to himself, 'have they approached you or Nicholas yet?"

"No, not yet, but we're not sure if Kendra knows who we are."

"I still don't understand how she found out who I was."

"Actually, we think we figured that part out. She was wide awake after you dropped her off at the hospital for a brief period before she slipped into her coma."

"So, while in the car, when I didn't have my suit on, she might have come to"?

"That's what we believe."

"Man this has been a rough night... er, couple of days".

"Well, now that you're awake, you might be able to go back to school Monday," Hannah told him cheerfully.

"What is today?" Jon asked.

"Friday, why?"

"Hannah, I can't even sit up. Do you really expect me to be back to school by then?"

"Of course I do, I slipped you a little extra something before I took you to the paramedics,' Hanna told him, grinning, 'why do you think your wounds have healed so fast?"

Jon took a moment to inspect his arms. Sure enough, the cuts and gashes had been reduced to mere scabs. Even the hole in his shoulder was healing rapidly.

"The wounds have healed on the surface, but some of the deeper injuries are still there. You must have done something to your back," Hannah said.

"What are the doctors saying about my rapid recovery?" asked Jon.

"To be honest, they’ve hardly paid any attention to it. You're forgetting how many freaks you've sent to this hospital, you're normal compared to what they've seen here."

Jon fought yet another grin, but finally let it spread ear to ear. Hannah knew how to make a joke out of almost any situation. He couldn't have asked for better company. Even to this day, he couldn't believe how they had met.

Although they didn't know it at the time, Hannah and Jon had gone to the same elementary school. Then, in 5th grade, Hannah's parents had pulled her out of public school, started home schooling her, and moved the family out to California, and left Caroline in Ringgold City with her grandmother. They had one thing on their mind, and nothing was going to stop their daughter from reaching "her" dream. At age 12, Hannah was a Junior Olympics gold medalist in gymnastics. Nobody could maneuver on the balance beam quite like she could. Soon, endorsements came pouring in, and to her parents Hannah was beginning to look more like a dollar bill sign than a human.

Mr. and Mrs. Hudgens pushed their daughter harder and harder to improve. With each loss she was punished, and each victory bought her short term invisibility as her parents were busy negotiating promotional contracts. As she grew taller her parents forced strict diets to keep her slim. No matter how much weight she lost, it wasn't enough. She was forced to run several miles every morning before the sun came up, and as soon as she was through, they sent her off to the gym to practice, not allowing her to come home until late afternoon.

When the war broke out, the whole world became engulfed in it, but Hannah fought her own war at home. What she had wanted to do since she was four had become her own prison. Then came the summer Olympics when she was 16, which were to be held in Japan. They would be the first games after the war, with Hannah leading the USA team into the competition. With the finals on the line she took to the balance beam.

Meanwhile, Jon had been tracking a string of leads to a ring of thugs operating out of Tokyo who were selling robots to the anti-TAG terrorist group named Red Eye. But the leads were rigged, and when Jon tried to bust them the thugs had a trap waiting. The thugs unleashed their most powerful robot, Mech-Omega Z, on the tricked hero. The robot, standing at over 35' feet tall, was monstrous, most of its mass coming from its titanium armor. Its gray colored armor gave it no sign of weakness, and it's huge, red, multi-faceted eye no sign of escape. Although bulky, the mech had maneuverability rivaling Jon's, and with two laser guns almost as tall as Jon himself, the mech had him out-gunned.

Jon tried desperately to retreat when he realized he would never even get a shot in, and soon he was rocketing above the Tokyo city streets. But the mob ring wasn't giving up so easily, and they quickly attached a jet pack to the mech and sent it after him. Mech-Omega was soon on top of Jon, blasting away with both guns. The mech's shots finally found their target and sent him hurtling towards the ground.

Hannah was performing her routine flawlessly, all she had to do was stick her landing and she and the entire USA team would soon be celebrating with their gold medals. She turned her back to the end of the beam, closed her eyes, and began her triple back handspring. Just as she was landing the second something came crashing through the stadium ceiling, the object crashing not five feet from her. The shockwave sent Hannah flying through the air. As she started coming down at least twenty yards away from the beam she put her left arm down to brace for the fall. But as it hit she felt something in her arm snap. She reeled in pain as she landed on her head.

Jon quickly stood up in the shallow crater his impact had made, watching as Mech-Omega dropped into the stadium. He raised his gun and pointed it at the mechanical beast, ordering it to freeze. The mech didn't oblige. It opened fire, causing the stadium to fill with screams. Then, Jon saw the exposed wires on the back of the mech's neck. 'They were still building it', Jon thought to himself with a smirk. He rapidly fired a couple of blasts, only to have the mech deflect his shots with the armor on its arms. Then, he got an idea.

He charged at the mech, firing as many shots as he could. As before, the robot protected its head by raising its arms. While the robot was distracted, Jon fell to his knees and slid between the robots legs. When he had successfully made it behind the mech, he holstered his gun, cocked his legs, drew his laser sword, and pounced at the beast. He landed on the mech's back and sliced off its robotic head. As the oil came gushing out of the giant robot's head, it was ignited by Jon's sword. Soon, the oil and fire had spread across half the mat.

As the unbearable heat increased Hannah tried to stand, but her legs were like Jell-O. She looked over to her teammates for help, but they, along with her coach and parents, were long gone. 'Some teammates,' thought Hannah, 'I guess I always knew this sport would be the death of me'. The fire was now mere feet away; Hannah prepared herself for the end. Then, suddenly, Jon came sprinting through the flames, kneeling by her side. He scooped her into his arms and took off towards the ceiling, but before they could make it outside, she fainted.

Once outside, Jon ordered his jet to come to his location. The black, modified Super Hornet jet fighter came streaking seemingly from nowhere, then hovered over the stadium. He sat Hannah in the backseat, strapped her in, and took her back to the base. When they landed at the base he took her straight to the medical bay and laid her on one of several dozen white beds. He felt responsible for her injuries and since nobody seemed to care enough about her to come save her he assumed she would not be missed. He ran several tests to make sure none of her injuries were serious and when everything came back positive he simply just had to wait for her to wake up from her nap.

When she first opened her eyes, Hannah was scared to say the least. At first, the completely white room reminded her of heaven. Thinking she had met an untimely death, Hannah began to weep. 'Why?' she asked herself. 'Why did I let my whole life just go to waste like that? If only I had one more chance, I would make sure nobody would ever go through what I've been through. I would make sure the innocent would remain safe.'

"Well, look who's finally awake. How's that noggin of yours feeling?" asked Jon.

Hannah sat up and stared blankly at him. For the past several years, she had collected newspaper clippings of him and hid them under her bed. Even during the war, she had faith in him and the others. When her own parents let her down, he was the only thing she had left to believe in. Now, she was looking right at him. She had always dreamed that one day he would rescue her from her parents.

"Not much for speaking, are you?" Jon teased.

"Sorry, it's not everyday you meet your idol," said Hannah.

"I know the feeling. I'm the one talking with THE Hannah Hudgens, home town hero and captain of the USA gymnastics team," said Jon.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, not at all, I'm actually a big fan of yours. Your beam routines are always flawless," said Jon.

"Really? Thank you. That means a lot to me."

"No problem. Heck, a few years ago, I might have tried to recruit you".

"Recruit me?"

"Yeah, you know, recruit you to be in TAG, see the world and all the scum it has to offer. Then once you joined maybe you could've helped us pick out a better motto".

Hannah's eyes lit up at such a compliment, and she grinned. Then, she had an idea. "Why don't you?"

"Then why don't I what, recruit you?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Because it's just me and TAG Two now," said Jon. "We don't recruit anymore."

"Why not? I mean, you needed all the help you could get fighting Snake Maker a few months ago."

"Because we've lost a lot of people unnecessarily. I was really close to some of them."

Hannah's grin disappeared. "Oh. Well, I guess that's a good reason".

"It's good enough for me. Now, let's take you back to your parents."

"NO, YOU CAN'T... Err... what I mean is, what about the Olympics?"

"They just finished the gymnastics finals an hour ago."

"Without me?"

"They had to, but you guys still won. That girl, Allyson Nogaj, took your place."

"No, not that witch! She's always trying to out do me, now she's going to get all of my endorsements, and when I get home dad is going to..." her voice trailed off.

"Going to what, Hannah?" Jon asked, concerned.

"Nothing, just forget I said anything."

"Your parents abuse you if you don't win, don't they?"

"Yes," Hannah said, amazed. "How did you know?"

"I've had my suspicions, I was at the Junior Olympics a few years back, and when you messed up on the vault your dad began cussing you out in front of everyone."

"Yeah, I remember that. I just knew every eye in that place was watching."

Hannah let her mind wonder off, she couldn't imagine how she would be able to get out of this one. Her parents would never believe she had been with One this whole time. If they did, they were sure to jump to some kind of awful conclusion.

"I'm not taking you back to California," Jon said, breaking the silence abruptly.

"You're not?"

"No. You're going to live here in Ringgold City with your grandmother."

"You know where she lives?"

"Sure do, I mow her grass every two weeks."

"What about my folks? They're not just going to sit by and watch their piggy bank walk out the door."

"You let me worry about that. But since Ringgold City High doesn't have a gymnastics team, and you need to be involved in some extracurricular activities, after I get that arm of yours in a cast we're going to start your TAG orientation."

The next day, Jon went and found Hannah's parents, got a confession out of both of them, and turned them over to the police. With any luck, they wouldn't see daylight for the next 5 to 10 years. Shortly after that he had a situation where Hannah went to confront her parents, but that was a whole different story. It was hard for Jon to believe that it was really over a year ago; time had flown by so quickly. Jon and Hannah were discussing how to take down Edge when Jon's mother came into the room.

"Mrs. Hall, so nice to see you again," said Hannah. Jon's mother was a woman of average height with medium sized frame and long brown hair. She was wearing a yellow polo and blue jeans.

"It's good to see you too Hannah," said Mrs. Hall, and then turning to Jon, "How are you feeling sweetheart?"

"You know me Mom, take a licking, keep on ticking," said Jon.

"Good to see that your sense of humor wasn't hurt," said Mr. Hall as he entered the room, wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans.

"Nope, just my pride", said Jon.

"Well, don't feel too bad, son. They're saying she mopped the floor with TAG."

"They were so busy getting their own butts kicked they didn't have time to help those poor officers," said Mr. Hall with a touch of sadness in his voice.

Jon looked at Hannah and mouthed "Decker", asking her if he was alright. Hannah, keeping her hand at her hip, gave him a thumbs-up. Decker had survived the fight.

Turning back to his dad, Jon asked, "So, what happened to those policemen?"

"Well, about thirty SWAT officers went to back up TAG, but only six survived."

Jon gasped at the number. It was nothing compared to the amount of people lost in the war, but it was on his watch. He had let down so many people.

"The doctors are very pleased with your healing,' said Mrs. Hall, picking the conversation back up, ’they're saying we might be able to check you out tomorrow or Sunday."

"I guess this means I'm going back to school Monday?"

"Well, your mother and I decided to let you go a half a day Monday, and if we don't think you're up to it, we'll let you stay home for a few more days," said Mr. Hall.

"Sounds fair to me, I guess."

"Well, it's getting late, so we're going to let you rest. See you tomorrow, sweetheart," said Mrs. Hall, throwing in a kiss on Jon's forehead for good measure.

When his family was gone Jon turned his attention back to Hannah. "Do me a favor?"

"Sure, whatever you need."

"Bring me my laptop and e-mail me all the data we have on Katherine, Lindsay, and Meredith, and throw in any security videos from the mall for good measure."

"Alright, but there won't be much security footage thanks to the blackout," Hannah reminded him.

"Every little bit helps," said Jon.

But over the weekend, he found that he had been wrong. He watched the security videos over and over, but all he saw was Kendra walk into the mall, blast him and Nicholas, his conversation with her when he first appeared in his suit, and then nothing. Fortunately though, none of the cameras picked up him activating his suit, the cameras did however pickup Nicholas running for cover just before the black out. After the disappointing dead end, Jon turned his focus to the backgrounds of his other three assailants.

Lindsay Hunter, Edge, was a 5' 10" brunette, 18 year olds old and a Senior. She had lived in Ringgold City her entire life. Her parents, both in their late forties, were divorced; her mother was a gourmet chef and her father was the president of a local bank. Her father was now in his third marriage to a young former teller at his bank. Lindsay was the pitcher for the softball team, and had won several spelling bees in her childhood years. After viewing her photo, Jon remembered bumping into her at one of the very few basketball games he was ever able to attend. She seemed like an extremely sweet and kind girl, talkative, and friends with anyone who knew her. He hated the KATS and Lady Venom for turning a girl with so much potential into a monster for their own benefit.

Next on the list was Meredith Tate, Flare. She was a 5' 5" natural blonde, but had died her hair a deep maroon. She was a 14 year old sophomore, originally home schooled by her mother while they lived in Michigan, but her father had been offered a job and promotion at a factory just out of town, and she had been placed into a public school at twelve. When she was asked to take a placement test, Meredith was moved from the 8th grade to the 9th. As the new kid, she found it easy to blend into the background. She was often seen sitting by herself during lunch and in the back of the room during class. Although she was secluded, her grades soared, and she had straight A's in all her classes. When a fellow classmate was struggling in Algebra at the end of her freshmen year, the teacher had asked Meredith to tutor her, the two soon became friends.

This girl was Katherine Graham, jock extraordinaire, also known as Aqua Marine. Katherine was a 5'6" 15 year old blonde who was an active member of the volleyball, basketball, and softball teams, and cousin to Lindsay Hunter. Their mothers were sisters. Ever since Katherine's father walked out on the family, the girls' mothers visited each other very often, and the two daughters had formed a very tight bond. On top of that Kendra played volleyball with Katherine; all four girls were connected to one another. Jon spent the rest of the weekend trying to figure out possible weaknesses to his new foes, but could find none.

5: School Daze

CHAPTER FOUR:

"SCHOOL DAZE"

 

February 5th, 2018 / Hall Residence / Ringgold City, TN

Before Jon knew it, he was out of the hospital and getting ready for school Monday morning. He went through the normal routine, a hot shower, breakfast, brushing his teeth, and going over the diagnostic report of his armor. He went over every inch, checking to make sure that Hannah and Nicholas had indeed repaired it, checking for even the smallest puncture. If the suit wasn't completely air tight, it could prove disastrous. He had to be ready just in case Kendra freaked out and attacked him again.

He took a moment to look out his bedroom window and take in what little of the city he could see over the neighbor's roof. Jon lived in a two story house built in the early seventies. It was located in a large community called Brentwood that was connected to the city, much like Queens to New York. When Jon got outside, Nicholas was waiting in his red '09 Chevy Camaro. Jon hopped in and relaxed into the leather seat.

"How are we feeling?" asked Nicholas.

"A whole lot better now, thanks for asking," Jon replied.

"You ready to face Kendra?"

"Kendra, yes. Boltress, no."

"It's do or die time, man."

"Isn't that the truth?" Jon muttered to himself.

"Either you go to school and face her, or I take you back home right now."

"Well, I'm not running from a fight. I just need to know you'll have my back should anything happen."

"Count on it. Hannah and I have been watching all four girls for the past week. If they so much as take one step out of place, we'll be ready."

"That's good to know. I only have one period with Kendra before noon, so hopefully we can avoid any confrontation."

"What class do you have with her?" Nicholas asked.

"Ironically enough, Chemistry."

The two friends managed to get to school early enough to get a parking spot towards the front of the building. Jon relaxed as he walked through the front doors. Seeing the giant, three-story brick building looming over him made him feel, for a brief second, a sense of normalness. Jon breathed in the crisp, cold February morning air and let out a long breath, the cold turning his breath into a vapor. Everyone was dressed in winter garb; long sleeves, jackets, and blue jeans. Once inside, the cold tile floor did little to warm up the cold students.

With their lockers located in separate parts of the building, Jon and Nicholas parted ways, but soon met back up at their first period, English. Jon went straight to the teacher in order to figure out what he had missed while he was out. He sat down in his normal seat, three chairs to the left and four rows back, with Nicholas sitting to his left. The teacher, Ms. Brooks, was a black haired woman in her mid-twenties, and it was only her third year of teaching. She was a good teacher, always eager to help any of her students who struggled and push her students to achieve. Sometimes, though, she pushed too hard.

"Alright, class," Ms. Brooks started, "first off, I want all of you to welcome Mr. Hall back from his visit to the hospital." She paused for a moment for the class of thirty to give a half-hearted golf clap. "Next," she continued, "I want to inform you that we are beginning a new book, 'Pride and Prejudice'. I expect you to have the first six chapters read by Friday."

"Is she serious?" Nicholas whispered to Jon.

"I know, this is the FOURTH book this year. This is getting ridiculous," Jon whispered back.

"With all our other homework AND our 'other work', I don't know how much longer we can keep up with this woman."

"And a book like this too, have you seen how thick it is, six chapters is going to be a nightmare".

"I mean, it would be different if it was four plays or something, but 'The Great Gatsby', 'Absalom Absalom', and 'My Fair Lady' one after another is crossing the line."

"Well, I guess we'll have to get over it or flunk."

Nicholas nodded his head in agreement and the two teenagers sat silently for the rest of class. Second period was Algebra 2 for Jon, but a math honors class for Nicholas. Jon started to head straight for class, but decided to take the long way around, just to make sure he didn't run into Kendra. Unfortunately, this detour caused him to walk right past Lindsay Hunter, but she went on like she didn't even notice him. 'Apparently my secret is safe with Kendra, for now,' thought Jon.

Second period went as well as suspected, for Jon, at least. Mrs. Watson gave the rest of the class a pop quiz, but Jon got an extra day to study because he had been out. Next was US History, which he shared with Hannah. History by far was his favorite subject. Something about seeing how so many different, random events brought about the current path of the world interested him. The forty-five minutes passed by like ten, and then it was time for Chemistry.

Jon shared this class with both Hannah and Nicholas, so they followed him at a distance, just in case. When Jon was turning the handle to the classroom door, he saw Sophia Rose out of the corner of his eye. He opened the door and gestured for her to go first. When she passed she gave a soft, "thanks," which Jon replied to with a, "no problem".

The lab room was set up with nine tables, two chairs for each, with sinks and gas lines. Jon and Sophia sat behind their designated table in the center of the room. Hannah was sitting at the table in front of him, and Nicholas was at the table in the back left corner. Shortly after Jon sat down, Kendra walked into the room. Her eyes were green again, but they were still full of hate. 'Yeah, she still wants to kill me,' thought Jon.

An eerie silence fell over the room. Only those in on the secret knew the cause of it, but everyone in the room felt it. Kendra flashed a smile and came straight at Jon, which completely threw him off.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said as she rounded the table.

Jon was confused. The last time he'd seen Kendra, she'd been trying to kill him. She bent over, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled Jon in close.

"I want to live a normal life after I kill you,' Kendra whispered in his ear, 'so I'll keep your secret as long as you keep mine and the other three's."

'Should've seen THAT coming,' Jon thought. Kendra backed away and took her seat at the table behind Jon. Jon put his arm on the table and used it as a prop to hold up his head. This was going to be a long class.

But while he was drowning in his worries, Jon couldn't help but to look over at Sophia.

The blue eyed redhead was just under the 5' 7" mark. Her crinkled, auburn hair reached just past her shoulders. She was wearing dark blue jeans, a long sleeved shirt, and a corduroy jacket that looked really good on her. She was very slender in size, but had an athletic look to her. When she wore short sleeves, you could see that she had excellent muscle tone. What he really admired, though, was her commitment. When she started something, she finished it ahead of schedule. Even at that moment, she had her nose buried in her text book.

Mr. Walden, the teacher, took his place at the front of the room and called for the attention of the class. Jon really liked this teacher, mainly because he looked a lot like a mad scientist. He always wore the same white lab coat that came to his knees, wide rimmed glasses, and wild, white hair that Jon wasn't sure anyone could ever tame. He informed the class that they had a lab today, and told them to start getting out their equipment.

Sophia opened the drawer that contained the test tubes. Both of them reached for a test tube at the same time, and their hands almost brushed, but Jon caught himself before they made contact. He had to fight hard not to blush.

What was it about this girl? He hadn't felt this way since...'Kimberly,' Jon thought. 'I haven't felt this way since Kimberly. I can't believe it's really been over three years since she was murdered'. As Jon let his mind drift back to those days, it saddened his heart to think of what he had lost. He didn't even notice that he let a tear drift down his cheek.

"Are you okay?" asked Sophia.

"Huh?" said Jon as his mind returned to the present.

"I asked if you're alright, 'because you're crying."

"Oh, uh…..you know these chemicals make your eyes water sometimes."

"Jon, we don't have any of the chemicals out yet."

Jon looked at the nearly clear table. Only two test tubes, a measuring flask, and a Bunsen burner lay on top of it. "Oh," he said, quite embarrassed.

"You're such a dork, you know that?" Sophia wasn't going to make it easy for him to get over it.

"Gee, thanks."

"But that's what I like about you. You're honest about who you really are and don't hide behind a mask."

'If only you really knew,' thought Jon.

"I mean," Sophia continued, "I really hate people who fake who they are, but... I'm guilty of wearing a mask of my own once in a while."

"Well, so do I. We all have a mask we use. Some just never take them off."

"Kind of like that girl who shot you at the mall?"

"Well, I'd be willing to bet she takes hers off, too, and when she does, she's just a normal person like me and you."

"Does anybody know why she attacked you?"

"I think she was just looking for a first victim to scare everyone in the mall."

"Could be. I heard she totally scorched the food court when she was fighting TAG One. Were you still there when that happened?"

"I sure was, but she knocked me out, so I don't remember the actual fire. I just know that she torched the food court while she was fighting One, and it wasn't until the fight was over that TAG Three rescued me."

"Wow, you poor thing."

"I wouldn't say 'poor'; the attack is getting me a lot of sympathy around here."

"You haven't been taking advantage of that, have you?"

"I am now. How about you help me lick my wounds Friday night, and throw in dinner and a movie while we're at it?"

Jon stuck out his lower lip and fluttered his eyes, giving her the 'sad puppy dog' face, thinking he would get a laugh out of Sophia.

"Well, I've got to say, you play the sympathy card very well, and I think I'm free Friday night, but I'll have to check with my friends to see if we're doing something."

"Really? I was just joking, but..."

"Oh, if you were joking, never mind. My bad for not..."

"No, no, if you actually want to go out, that's awesome. But how about we just go catch a movie at the mall?"

"You sure you want to go back there?"

"Yeah, with all the freaky things that go on in this city, you can't let something like that scare you away."

"I guess you're right."

The two continued with the lab and, as always, Sophia pulled the bulk of the work. Not because Jon sat back and made her, but because she wanted to. Chemistry was obviously a passion for her. As usual, they managed to complete the assignment ahead of the rest of the class, so they spent the rest of the period making plans about Friday. By the time the bell rang, three of the groups weren't even finished, including Nicholas and his partner, Adam.

As they were walking out the door, Jon said to Sophia, "well, I'm only here for half a day, so I'll see you Friday?"

"No."

"No, but, I thought we just made plans for..."

"Aren't you coming to school tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah, guess I am. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Like I said, you're a dork, Jon. Don't change that."

With that, Sophia turned on her heels and left. Jon stood and watched her leave, not believing what he had just done. This would be the first girl he dated that wasn't in on his secret. How the heck was this going to work out? Suddenly having to run off, always disappearing, and lying about where he was or what he was doing... it seemed doomed before it ever began.

While Jon was still standing in the doorway, Kendra bumped him as she left the room, looking back over her shoulder at him. "Oops, my bad."

"Sure, no problem," Jon muttered.

Then Hannah rushed out the door, blowing past Jon as she left the room, but she turned right around and got into his face. "What do you think you're doing?" Hannah asked, clearly mad.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Jon. Did you or did you not just ask out Sophia Rose?"

"I did."

"And why did you do that?"

"I don't know, it just happened."

"Just happened? Don't you ever think this stuff through?"

"Hannah, calm down. Try not and make such a big scene."

"Don't you tell me to calm down! Now, answer my question, don't you ever think this stuff through?"

"Well, like I said, it sort of just happened."

"Jon, she doesn't know anything. Have you even given that a thought?"

"Well, mother, in fact, I have."

"Don't get smart with me!"

"Well, you're the one who's getting all up in my face just because you're jealous."

"I am not!"

"Whatever, I'm going home now. I'll call and talk to you tonight after you've calmed down."

"Whatever."

Hannah turned and stomped down the hall. Jon watched her, waiting for her to realize what she was doing. Hannah got about halfway down the hall when she stopped, turned around, and began stomping back towards Jon. "Not a word," she growled as she passed by. She had headed in the wrong direction for her next class, and Jon laughed about it all the way to the exit.

As he rode the city bus home, Jon thought about what Hannah was trying to say. What if Sophia found out his secret, took it the wrong way, and turned him over to the media? There were so many bad things that could come from it. There was a group of extremists, the Red Eye, which still believed TAG had started the world war. If they knew who he actually was, they wouldn't think twice about hunting him, his friends, and his family down. Heck, he had enough problems with them as was.

What about the families of the people that were killed in the war? Jon could never imagine himself facing them. And what about all the collateral damage that was caused when he fought his enemies? He could get sued to cover the repair costs, especially for the cities that Illusion destroyed just to frame him. Would they actually make him pay for the rebuilding of cities like San Francisco? The governments of the world were having a rough time getting the money together themselves, so how could a 17 year old raise that kind of money? Mowing yards?

Jon fought hard to push the thoughts to the back of his mind, but they kept coming back to the front for the rest of the day. About 8 o'clock that night, after Jon had eaten pizza with his family, he went to his bedroom and called Hannah.

"I'm just really concerned about how you're going to pull this off," Hannah told him.

"I am, too, Hannah, but there's just something about this girl."

"Like there was something about me?"

"No, this time, it's... different."

"What's so different?"

"I just get this 'vibe' from her. I know it sounds stupid, but she's different than everyone else in that school."

"Well, I certainly heard her mask speech, if that's what you're talking about."

"That's only part of it, though. I just don't know how to put it to words."

"Alright, you want to go on patrol tonight?"

"Yeah, I could use the fresh air. You want to meet up at base?"

"I guess. Should I call Nicholas?"

"No, leave him to his homework for now. After he gets done, he can join us if he wants to."

"I'll see you in a minute, then."

Jon hung up the phone and walked over to his closet. He pushed some of his clothes aside and twisted the dial he had installed at the end of his hanging rod. Jon shut the door and pulled the chain to his closet light. With a flash, he was gone. Another flash and his robo-clone walked out of the closet.

Originally designed to temporarily replace fallen TAG members until a more natural death could be staged, the robo-clones were now a key aid in keeping Jon and the other's identities a secret. They had even programmed their robo-clones to stay with their families during the war so that their loved ones could stay further out of harm's way.

In a split second, Jon was in the teleportation chamber of the base. The base was just beneath Lake Cathem, which was the center point of the entire city. Jon walked into the main chamber, which was round in shape and had a sixty foot tall ceiling. Two years earlier, it had been completely white with black trim over the doorways, but recently, Jon and Nicholas had started painting the walls and ceiling black, leaving the floor white. The doorways were now trimmed with white and white lettering above them labeling what chamber it was.

There were a dozen chambers in all: the teleportation chamber, vehicle bay, medical bay, male quarters, female quarters, training room, weapons chamber, dining chamber, simulation room, tech bay, storage chamber, and the war room, formally the briefing room. A handful of years ago this room would have been buzzing with activity and people running left and right. Some might have been heading for the training area, some the dining hall, or even the vehicle bay. A small group would have been in the briefing room, preparing for the nightly patrol of the city.

But war had buried those days, and all of the survivors were trying to live normal lives. It seemed like Jon couldn't go anywhere without being reminded of the war. There was even a half mile wide crater downtown from where the army had tried to drop a nuke, but a couple of thrown together shield generators had thwarted that plan.

"Hannah, you in here?" Jon called out, his voice echoing off the giant room's walls

"I'm in here," Hannah called back from the war room. "I'm mapping out patrol routes, you want downtown tonight?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jon replied.

"Okay, then. By the way, I called Nicholas, and you're right, he's swamped with math homework, but he said he might be able to join us in about two hours."

"Alright, we'll have most of the city covered by then, but every bit helps."

"We taking vehicles or flying?"

"You can do whatever you want, but I'm flying."

"It alright if I borrow the bike, then?"

"Knock yourself out."

"Let's get to it."

Hannah made her way to the vehicle bay, with Jon right behind her. The vehicle bay was the largest of all the chambers. It actually was underneath the bank of the lake, allowing for much higher ceilings. The room was a hundred yards wide, but over a mile deep. It housed every mode of transportation in the TAG arsenal, each vehicle lined up one next to the other. All the surviving boats, jets, helicopters, and cars were all there, along with the last motorcycle.

Some of the vehicles hadn't seen action in years. The Space Rover rested in its slot, collecting dust and still wearing the scars of the war, Jon wouldn't be surprised if it didn't even run anymore. The Mega Cannon that was once hitched to it had been destroyed, taking away the main use of the Space Rover. Next to it was the motor home, or mobile command unit, which rested at the end of the room, collecting a blanket of dust. The assault ship hadn't seen action in a long time, either, since halfway through the war, as a matter of fact. TAG had hidden it back in the base after the Navy destroyed the other two.

When Hannah reached the bike, she had to throw her leg over it to get on. Simply by saying "Start", Hannah brought the bike roaring to life. She revved it a few times to get a feel for the power. She looked over to Jon and asked if he was following her out, and he nodded his head yes. Hannah looked forward to the wall, and command the door open. She didn't wait for it to even roll up halfway before she took off, with Jon using his rocket boots to fly right behind her. They traveled at an upward angle, following the ramp to midtown, where there was an abandoned fire station.

Sitting almost in the exact center of Ringgold City, a mere two blocks from Swanson Tower, it was a choice place to use to get the vehicles out from the base. As the two neared the end of the ramp, the fire station's bay floor came down to complete their exit route, while the bay doors began to open. When they reached the street, Hannah made a sharp right turn to head uptown, and Jon went left to head downtown. As Jon flew between the buildings, he looked down to see how the repairing and rebuilding process from the war was going.

The city had taken a pretty good licking from the Army's week-long shelling, but the city was also healing rapidly. Besides some of the construction crews and roped off areas, it looked just like it always had. Jon was proud of his city. He had been all around the world, but always loved coming back home. Jon started at the edge of the city, working his way back to midtown. Along his way there, he stopped by Goodwill Hospital. Jon touched down at the helicopter landing pad and made his way to the spot where Ben had been killed. He knelt down and rubbed his hand across the surface as the tears began to form in his eyes.

"How come trying to do the right thing brings so much pain?" Jon asked himself. He tilted his head back to fight the tears.

He took a couple of minutes to gather himself, and then resumed his patrol. He stopped again at the Maxwell building, which overlooked the nuclear crater. The sun was completely set now, and the air was turning cool and crisp. Jon used the communication system in his suit to make a phone call, using an alleged cell phone number to show up on caller ID. He called out the numbers as the suit dialed, the phone ringing at Sophia Rose's apartment.

"Hello," said a female voice.

"Hey, um, Sophia?" Jon asked.

"This is her sister," came the reply.

"Oh, sorry, is Sophia there?"

"No, sorry, just missed her; she went out with her friends. Can I take a message?"

"No, just tell her Jon Hall called," said Jon, and then he hung up. Jon let out a sigh, half relieved that she wasn't there, because he honestly had no clue what he would have said.

He walked over to the ledge of the building and looked down at the ground below, all the cars and people the size of ants. He then turned his back to the ledge, placed his hands over his head like a diver, and let himself fall backwards. As he neared the ground, he turned on his rocket boots to fall faster, pulling up at the last second, clearing a delivery truck by only a foot. A few people yelled and a couple more honked their horns. As he flew off, he erupted with laughter. It had been years since he'd pulled that gag, he used to love it.

While he was enjoying himself, Jon lost his bearings and looked up to find he was bearing down on an office building. He pulled his legs around and brought his boots to full blast, trying desperately to stop. Jon smacked into the wall, but not nearly enough to jar him. He looked around to see if anyone might have seen him. As he did, he saw a flash of light streak across a window. His experience told him that this was not a good thing.

While he was flying up to it, Jon scanned the room with his thermal vision. 'Four heat signatures, wonder who that could be?' Jon thought sarcastically to himself. He stopped mid-flight and contacted Hannah and Nicholas on a conference call.

"Guys, we've got a class K break-in at the Gordon building," Jon said.

"I'm on my way," Hannah and Nicholas said in unison.

Jon continued his flight upward, but was careful to stay off to the side and out of sight. He drew his gun and got ready to bust the robbers. He stopped in front of the window and yelled "FREEZE", but the heavily tinted windows prevented him from seeing inside. Then he saw the light again. He asked for the person inside to identify themselves, and the light grew bigger and brighter.

"I repeat, this is TAG One, identify yourself or risk being fired upon," Jon called out. The light grew again, and then there was a flash.

"Crap," said Jon as the office window shattered and the lightening bolt struck his chest. Jon was sent sprawling backwards, crashing into a window behind him. 'Last time I checked, the KATS couldn't do that,' Jon thought as he pulled himself back onto his feet. Sure enough, Kendra stood in front of the empty window frame in a new purple latex jump suit, with her same mask but yellow fishnet gloves and boots. Behind her stood her three comrades.

"We going to start this again so soon?" asked Jon.

"I don't have time for wise cracks. Last time was a fluke. This time, you're not leaving alive," said Kendra.

"I've survived mutant snake bites, all the armies in the world, and multiple explosions as powerful as a nuclear bomb. What makes you so sure you can kill me?" asked Jon.

"It's simple. I have the necessary burning hatred for you in every fiber of my being".

"Well, isn't that just wonderful," Jon muttered to himself.

"Enough talking," said Edge, "let's end this."

Edge walked up to Kendra's side and began to fire her daggers at Jon. Jon dove out the window just as the daggers began hitting the office floor. Then, he rocketed across the street and rammed into Edge, sending her busting through several walls. He quickly planted his feet and round-house kicked Kendra in the chest, knocking her out the window. Flare and Aqua Marine stood posed for an attack.

This time, they looked different. Flare had on a red latex jumpsuit with orange mask and gloves, but her hair remained aflame. Aqua Marine wore a dark blue jumpsuit with a lighter shade of blue on her mask and gloves.

"OK, I have to know, what's up with the uniformed costumes?" Jon asked. "I mean, I know me and my team wears matching outfits, but we're the good guys, we can get away with that sort of thing..."

"God, do you EVER shut up?" asked Flare.

"Only on days that don't end on with a 'y'."

"I believe that's today," said Aqua Marine.

"What, you’re going to attack me and ruin your snazzy new gloves? And after you guys went through so much trouble to be all matchy," taunted Jon.

"Wrong. The gloves prevent us from leaving fingerprints, but Dr. Waltrum made it so the molecules in the palms will allow, fire, water, and lightning through," said Flare with a smirk.

"Amazing... can't believe that old coot is still alive!"

"Don't you dare call him that!" came a voice from behind Jon. Jon turned to find Tigress standing in front him.

"This party is getting a little too crowded," said Jon.

Jon raised his gun and fired it through a sprinkler head on the ceiling. Flare began to hiss as the water came pouring down, evaporating as it hit her body like cold water on a hot skillet. Tigress also hissed, in a different way, and she jumped out the window to prevent getting any wetter. Jon holstered his gun and drew his laser sword. He wasn't going to let a couple of innocent looking girls take advantage of his sympathy again.

"You are such an idiot, don't you know I can control the very water falling on your head?" asked Aqua Marine.

"Well, I guess you learn something new every day, don't you?" Jon asked back.

When Aqua Marine raised her hand the water began to fall faster and faster, harder and harder. "Is that all you got?" Jon began before he was interrupted by a load crunch. He looked at his arm and saw the water starting to dent his armor. 'I stay here much longer and this water will make me into Swiss cheese,' Jon thought. He ran at Aqua Marine and jumped to drop kick her, but at the last second fired his rockets full blast, evaporating Aqua Marine's head and most of her torso.

Jon rocketed out the window and up so he was above the buildings. He heard sirens and could see blue lights in the distance. The police were on their way, and after them came the distinct sound of a powerful engine roaring through the streets. Jon looked hard and saw Hannah on the bike, leading the police to the fight. Behind the police was one of the TAG cars, obviously Nicholas. Distracted, Jon never heard Kendra get behind him.

"Why do you continue to delay the inevitable?" Kendra asked.

"Because I haven't figured out how to save you yet, but mainly because the damsel in distress doesn't usually fight the hero," said Jon.

"I'm getting sick of your jokes. Is this what you always do when you face a villain?"

"Not all the time, it's kind of a new thing, you’re a special case."

"Oh, that's right, you swore to my brother to protect me, but I'll kill you if you don't take me down. You've got yourself in quite a conundrum."

"Not exactly. You see, if I'm not the one who takes you out, then I didn't break my promise. Besides, finding you help IS protecting you."

"And I'm the one who's going to do my part by taking you down," said Hannah as she flew up to Jon's side.

"It's eight against two, you're out numbered," Kendra reminded the pair.

"Actually, it's three against eight. I know that seems a little unfair for you," added Nicholas as he joined Jon and Hannah.

"But being outnumbered has never stopped us before", said Jon.

"There's a first time for everything," came Lioness's voice from the roof below them.

There, on top of the Gordon building stood all the KATS, Flare, Aqua Marine, and Edge.

"Hannah, take down Kendra and Aqua Marine, and I'll take Edge and Flare," Jon said. He turned to Nicholas. "Think you can handle all four KATS by yourself for a while?"

"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Nicholas said as he dropped down to the roof.

Hannah rocketed off and tackled Kendra onto another nearby roof, and Aqua Marine propelled herself over to join the other two girls. Jon fell onto the roof, and soon had his back pressed against Nicholas's.

"Well, old buddy, you ready for yet another battle?" Jon asked.

"You know it, ready and willing as always," said Nicholas.

Nicholas drew his laser sword and ran head on at the KATS, while Jon dug in and waited for Flare and Edge to come to him. Tigress brought down her claws with a thunderous clap against Nicholas's sword, which let out a hiss when it made contact with the powerful metal. Nicholas thrust his sword up, leaving Tigress open for a kick, which he swiftly delivered.

As Tigress left an imprint on a roof air conditioning unit, Lioness was positioning herself for a pounce from behind Nicholas. Panther and Cheetah were going all out with Nicholas, and the second in command TAG member waved his sword franticly, trying to keep the two KATS out of clawing range. But as he did, he failed to notice the unaccounted for fourth member of the crime quartet, which came with a price. When Lioness found the perfect time for her attack, she took it, managing to get a good inch of her claws into Nicholas's back. Nicholas fell onto all fours and screamed in pain, his white suit clearly showing the blood trickling down his sides.

Edge fired off another round of her diamond knives, only to have Jon dodge them again.

"Stand still, you whelp," screamed Edge.

"What's the matter? I thought I would make target practice a little more challenging this time", Jon taunted back.

"Your luck can't outlast our aim forever," said Flare as she sent another fiery blast.

Jon tucked and rolled off to his right to avoid the attack, but landed right where Edge wanted him. She fired two daggers, one finding each of Jon's legs.

"Will you stop freaking doing that?" screamed Jon.

He quickly inspected his wounds. This time, the diamond projectiles still poked out of the armor. He ripped both out to avoid a possible infection, which suddenly renewed the immense pain. 'Why can't they ever shoot something soft?' Jon asked himself. 'Pillows or marshmallows, maybe. Is that too much to ask for?' Flare charged at Jon, holding a fire ball in each hand.

"Let us end this quickly, I want to get to TAG One before Edge kills him first," said Kendra to Hannah.

"Agreed, the sooner I get you in cuffs, the better", Hannah replied.

Kendra stretched her arms outwards with her hands in a fist, and as she flicked her hands upward, electric daggers came from each finger. Hannah found it easy to avoid the attack, but Aqua Marine's attack wasn't so easily dodged. The water based enemy let out a concentrated, high pressured stream of water, which managed to slice through Hannah's armor and draw blood from her right shoulder.

"Oh, that one is going to cost you," Hannah snarled.

Flare readied herself to throw her fireballs, her whole body igniting for more power, and Jon stood up quickly to get ready for the attack. Flare cocked her arm back and got ready to throw, but as she did, Aqua Marine came hurtling out of nowhere and crashed into her, causing an extremely thick curtain of steam to form. When the steam cleared, it revealed Meredith and Katherine, sprawled out on the roof, powered down and out cold.

Jon stole a quick glance over to Hannah's roof, where he saw her flash him a thumbs up before returning her attention Kendra. One on one with Edge, Jon liked his odds a lot more. This time, he brought the attack to Edge with an upper cut, which connected firmly on Edge's chin. While she was briefly dazed, Jon grabbed Edge's arm and slung her across the roof, with Lioness in her flight path. When Edge smacked Lioness off his back, Nicholas wasted no time getting up and ready for another attack.

Jon quickly ran over to aid his long time best friend against the oncoming KATS attack. Panther tried to kick Nicholas, but when her attack missed, Jon managed to thrust her leg upward, which made her slam down onto the ground. Cheetah was the next to attack. She tried to punch Jon, but when he blocked it and pushed down on her hand, she was unable to defend herself from Nicholas's roundhouse kick. With all four KATS and Edge down for the count, the two took a step back to admire their work.

"I would count this as a job well done, would you agree?" Nicholas said to Jon.

"Most definitely. Let's get these girl restrained before they get their second wind," Jon replied.

Jon walked over to Lioness, who was still out cold, but as he reached for her mask, Kendra called out to him. "Don't even think about it!"

"And why not?" asked Jon, turning around to face her.

"Because I don't think you'll like the consequences," answered Kendra, who was dangling a limp Hannah over the ledge.

"Put her down, Kendra," ordered Jon.

"Have it your way, go fetch," Kendra said as she let go of Hannah.

Jon and Nicholas both sprinted across the roof in a flash, Jon diving after Hannah and Nicholas at Kendra. Jon fired his rockets, desperate to reach Hannah in time. Everything seemed to switch to slow motion for him. The fall seemed eternal, and it felt as if he was merely inching closer to Hannah. Every foot felt like a mile, and every split second that passed felt like an hour. But that all went away the moment he finally got a grasp on her foot. He pulled her in and put her in a tight embrace as he got ready to rocket off with her. But instead of the thundering sound similar to a jet taking off there was only a sputtering sound. 'Not now', thought Jon panicky. He quickly flipped himself over, with his back to the ground and Hannah pressed to his chest.

A blink of the eye later, they landed on the street, leaving a two foot deep hole. Above them, Nicholas fell onto the roof of a nearby squad car. Jon turned on his thermal vision to locate Kendra, but she and all the others had taken the opportunity to flee. Jon tried to get up, but the way he and Hannah were positioned gave him very limited space to move.

After a few minutes of vain assistance from the police, Jon decided to wait until Nicholas caught his breath, which took a lot longer than he expecting. They had to wait for the paramedics on the scene to treat Nicholas's wounds properly, but the two inch thick armor prevented that from happening. They stuffed cotton swabs into the gashes Lioness's claws had made and then taped them in, hoping for the best.

After being stuck in the hole for nearly half an hour, Jon and Hannah, who had since come to, were freed. Jon, Nicholas, and Hannah decided to call it a night and went back to base. Hannah rode shotgun with Nicholas, and Jon asked to ride the bike. By the time they had put away the vehicles and tended to Nicholas's wounds, it was well past midnight.

"Well, I believe I'm not going to 'feel up for school' tomorrow, so I guess I won't see either of you until tomorrow night."

"You suck, man, that's so not fair," Nicholas said jokingly. He made sure to throw in a punch to the arm to make sure Jon understood he was joking.

"Yeah, well, if you hadn't blacked out on us..." Jon said back.

"Well, excuse me for almost bleeding out," Nicholas snapped, a flare of temper to his voice.

"Well, if you could pay attention during a fight, you would have noticed that there were only three KATS in sight," Jon snapped back. The joking was completely gone now.

"Maybe if we were allowed to shoot at them it wouldn't matter how many there were," said Nicholas as he got in Jon's face.

"I'm the leader, what I say goes," said Jon as he pushed Nicholas back.

"Your being leader was pure luck, or did you forget that I was there when you got the suit? What makes you so freaking sure that your decisions are the best for everyone?" asked Nicholas, getting back in Jon's face.

"We're still standing here, aren't we?"

"Yeah, WE are. But many of us aren't", Nicholas said.

Hannah stepped in between the two, "Both of you need to cool off".

But Nicholas wasn't finished, "Where's Jacob? How about Penzot, Rooky, Commander Swansont, Becca, Amanda, or Zales? I'll tell you where they are, they're all 6 feet under! All of them died under YOUR leadership"!

"NICHOLAS," yelled Hannah, "that was uncalled for, and you know it!"

Jon pushed Hannah aside, he reach out and grabbed onto Nicholas's shirt, pulling him in closer, "Don't you dare tell me that like you need to remind me. You think I don't remember? You think that every night I close my eyes I don't see their faces? And how about you? I had handed command over to you when Ben was killed. Everyday I feel guilty for not staying in control. His life was in YOUR hands, and YOU failed him."

Nicholas cocked his arm back and landed a punch square on Jon's chin, knocking him down. As Jon stood back up he wiped a trickle of blood from his lip with the back of his hand. For several silent moments he stared blankly at Nicholas, clearly hurt. When Nicholas grasped what he had done he tried to apologize, but Jon wouldn't have it. Jon walked as fast as he could to the teleportation chamber and teleported back to his closet. He sent his robo-clone back to the base and crawled under the covers.

Jon lay curled up under his covers for nearly an hour, sleep refusing to come. His entire body screamed for rest, but his eyes just would not shut. Finally, some time after three in the morning, he drifted off, and was greeted by a swarm of nightmares as he flipped all through the night.

 

 

6: Freeway Of Fright

CHAPTER FIVE:

"FREEWAY OF FRIGHT"

 

February 6th, 2018 / Hall Residence / Ringgold City, TN

When Tuesday morning came, Jon did his best to fake illness. His mother came in and felt his forehead.

"Jon, you're burning up," said Mrs. Hall.

"I feel like crap, if that counts for anything," Jon said with a grin.

"Well, it counts enough for you not to go to school today,' said Mrs. Hall as she pulled the thermometer out of Jon's mouth, 'you're worse than I thought; you have a 101 degree fever. I'm going to go get you a cold rag."

Jon watched his mom leave the room through his cracked-open closet door. 'You've got to love those robo-clones,' Jon thought to himself.

Now that his mom believed he was sick, Jon wouldn't have to walk around school with two holes in his legs. He had taken one of Hannah's speed-heal pills, but it hadn't done nearly enough to help him. After his mom returned to tend to the robo-clone and left again, Jon quickly switched places and dove under his covers, sending the robo-clone back to the base. When Hannah called later that night to ask him why he hadn't gone to school and what he wanted to do about the nightly patrol, Jon faked being sick again.

"I don't feel up to a patrol toni-' Jon paused and coughed for good measure, 'tonight. Get Nicholas to go with you."

"Fine, I'll call him right now," said Hannah. Before she hung up, she said, "by the way, you're a horrible liar."

Jon, at a loss for words, said nothing as Hannah slammed her cell phone shut.

"Well, that went well," Jon muttered sarcastically to himself.

By the time he was getting ready to go to sleep, Jon still hadn't heard back from Hannah. Jon slept uneasily that night, constantly debating whether or not to call Hannah. 'What if they got ambushed', Jon asked himself, 'what if they need me'? Jon tried to quiet his nerves with reason, 'If they needed me, they would have called.' But his nerves would have none of it. Finally, around midnight, he caved into temptation and called Hannah. The phone only rang once.

Hannah picked up and said, "The patrol is going fine, Jon, go to bed."

No sooner was the statement said than Jon heard the dial tone. With his nerves eased, Jon managed to find sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, Jon checked his leg wounds, which had healed significantly. Jon got out of bed and walked around his room. Although it still hurt to walk, Jon decided he was ready for school. He threw on blue jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a sweatshirt, and made his way outside. Since Jon didn't feel up to driving, Nicholas was waiting for him. The pair rode to school in silence, neither one wanting to bring up the argument from two nights before. When they arrived at school, the pair still sat together in English, but they didn't talk. When Chemistry rolled around, Kendra was nowhere to be seen, but Jon didn't notice or care, because Sophia was there.

"So, what happened to you yesterday", she asked?

"I was sick," Jon replied.

"Well, you were greatly missed," Sophia said with a playful smile, but before Jon could respond, Mr. Walden began his lecture.

After class, the pair walked to lunch together. As they passed the open doorway to the teacher's lounge, they heard a loud gasp from inside. Jon couldn't help but to poke his head in and see what was happening.

At least a dozen teachers sat or stood around the small TV in the middle of the room. It became apparent that they were watching a news report. As the reporter began to speak, Jon couldn't believe what he heard.

"Oh my... I... I can't believe it...ladies and gentlemen, you all saw it, they just blew up that mini-van, obviously carrying multiple people... this car chase is getting out of hand," came the report.

Jon ran to the TV, pushing aside multiple teachers. The news helicopter zoomed in on the smoldering wreckage, which was still rolling. At the very bottom of the van, the only place that wasn't charred, Jon could make out the color- dark green.

"Aunt Carol..." Jon murmured.

"Jon, are you okay?" Sophia asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

The news report continued, "We have now conformed that there are three suspects involved in this armored car robbery gone bad. The driver is apparently endowed with some sort of water powers, her passenger is completely covered with a crystal like armor, and the third, who remains on the roof, has been throwing fireballs at the police ever since this chase started."

"I'll kill them," Jon said, his fists clenching.

"Jon, talk to me," Sophia said, spinning Jon around to face her.

Making sure to avoid direct eye contact with Sophia, Jon listened to the rest of the report, "The assailants are now making their way north on the freeway, and police are desperate to end this chase."

Jon looked at Sophia and told her he had to go. He set his eyes straight forward and stormed down the hallway. He didn't care who saw him, he just wanted to make it to the roof as soon as possible. Fortunately for him, Hannah and Nicholas saw him and recognized the look in his eye.

They quickly followed suit, unsure of what they were getting into. When they did reach the roof, they walked over to an old carrier pigeon coop. In the back was a closet-sized storage room, which now housed a teleporter to the base. One by one they arrived in the base, starting with Jon. Hannah and Nicholas nearly had to sprint to keep up with him as he made his way to the vehicle bay. Jon activated his suit as he entered the room, heading straight for his bike. As he sat atop the powerful metal war horse, Jon looked at his comrades.

"They've killed my aunt and cousins. They won't live through this, do you understand?" Jon said coldly. Nicholas and Hannah froze, unsure of what to do or say. They had rarely seen this side of Jon.

Jon continued, "I want each of you to take a car and stay behind me. They're currently northbound on the freeway." He revved the motor and was gone, leaving Nicholas and Hannah to wonder what had just happened.

"Well, let's get going before Jon kills someone," said Nicholas, sounding worried.

Meanwhile, Jon had made his way onto the freeway, weaving in and out of traffic. The entire freeway was covered with a curtain of smoke and it was littered with car wrecks, mostly involving squad cars. Neither of these things bothered him. He had seen craters where entire cities had once stood. But the minimum amount of movement coming from the charred wrecks got under his skin. Too many people had lost their lives because of scum like Hell Bringer, Illusion, and now Flare. But by the end of the day, he would make sure one of those people would never hurt another soul.

As the distant sound of sirens grew louder, Jon could also hear multiple explosions, and soon he could see the tops of the fireballs. He knew he was getting closer, and that Flare was running out of time. Finally, as he came roaring over an incline, he could see the chase. The gray armored truck swerved in and out of traffic, but mostly through it, ramming cars into spins or the walls. The police were trying to keep their distance, but Flare was still hitting them with ease.

One squad car swerved to miss an exploding pickup and caught the rear end of the car next to him, sending it crashing into the pickup. Jon tuned into the police scanner to tell them he was there, but he couldn't get a word in edge wise. The scanner was full of activity, "…this is unit 54, still in pursuit of subject... I've been hit, my legs are on fire…car 73 watch yourself, you almost hit me…she's throwing another one!" Sure enough, a fireball exploded as it hit the asphalt, sending the police swerving into each other again.

This time one of cars got turned sideways, about 50 yards directly in front of Jon, who barely managed to get around it. As squad cars continued to crash around him, Jon could hear the TAG cars coming up behind him fast. The powerful, modified cars roared down the road, weaving around wreckage like it was nothing. Nicholas and Hannah soon pulled up to either side of Jon, passing some of the trailing squad cars. As the police noticed that Jon and the others were there, they began to back off, giving up control of the chase.

Once the police were out of the way, catching up with Flare and the others was easy. Flare quickly gave the heroes a warm welcome by exploding a four door sedan as they passed it. The sedan spun wildly, ricochet off the median, managing to catch the side of Hannah's car. Hannah's car slid to the right, nearly side swiping Jon, but she quickly managed to regain control.

"That's someone else that girl has killed. Do they have no regard for human lives?" Nicholas asked.

"No, none of them care. That's why I don't care about theirs," said Jon, retaking the lead.

"This chase has been going on for half an hour," Hannah stated, "I say we put an end to it now."

"Agreed, but I really don't want to try anything with all these civilians on the road."

"Let me take care of that," said Nicholas.

Nicholas sped up to the passenger side of the speeding armored car, and Edge glared at him through the open window. She pointed her arm and began to fire at him. He tapped his brakes to bring him out of her range, and then slammed his car into the side of the truck, making it swerve over two lanes.

As Jon watched Nicholas ramming into the armored truck, he noticed that Flare never moved from her spot. Jon sped up to get a closer look, dodging her fireballs, and figured out Flare's trick. She had welded her feet into place. Nicholas slammed the truck again, sending it into the freeway divider. Nicholas pressed his car against the truck, lifting it up to two wheels as it continued to grind against the divider. Flare leaned over the edge, a fireball in both hands, and began pelting Nicholas's car. Nicholas pulled away, and the truck came down hard, making Aqua Marine fight to keep the truck under control.

As the traffic continued to whip by, Flare made a wall of fire in Nicholas's path. Nicholas did the only thing he knew to do- he stayed in his lane and plowed through the flames. As Nicholas's car went through the flames, it made a hole in the wall; just enough for Hannah to see what was in front of him, her warning would come too late. Jon passed through the wall with ease and pulled into a completely open lane. But as he glanced over to Nicholas he saw his best friend run into the rear end of a semi trailer. Nicholas tried to hit his breaks, but it was far too late. The windshield exploded on impact, the car's roof ripped off, and the semi trailer launched over twenty feet into the air.

The trailer came down on its side and slid down the freeway as Nicholas's car crashed into the side wall. "Oh my God, Jon, what should we do?', asked Hannah, 'We've got to go help Nicholas."

Jon refused to answer. He just continued on after the truck. Now, he had another life to avenge. Hannah pulled her car over to the curb, and ran for Nicholas's car. The once magnificent looking car now resembled a door stop; no average person could have ever survived it. 'Stupid Jon, best friend could be dead or dying and he much rather chase the bad guys,' Hannah thought to herself as she ripped away the driver side door to reach Nicholas. She looked inside and turned her eyes up the freeway. Jon was nowhere in sight. "I hope you get her for this, Jon. They don't deserve mercy anymore."

Jon continued to gain on Flare and the others, his eyesight narrowing, becoming more focused. He didn't see the passing civilian cars, or even the white lines he rode in between. The only thing he saw was Flare. As the chase continued, it began to lead farther and farther out of the city. Skyscrapers gave way to houses, and the concrete jungle was replaced by woods. Now, the four lane freeway had narrowed down to three. When they had actually left the city limits, Jon was right on the armored truck's rear bumper, Jon had the speed to pass the truck, but it was tricky move to pull. Soon, they were over fifteen miles out of the city, both vehicles pushing 90 MPH.

Jon continued to try and pass the truck, but Aqua Marine continued to swerve in and out of traffic, making it next to impossible to get beside her. But even if he did, he would have to come up the driver side, because if he went up Edge's side there was no doubt she'd hit him. Jon was lost in thought for only a second, but it was all Flare needed. Releasing a giant amount of energy, she managed to melt the asphalt behind the truck, leaving a liquid puddle in the middle of the freeway.

Jon saw the trap just in time. He spun his rear tire around to his left, turning his bike sideways it an attempt to swerve away from the tar pit. But instead the bike came out from underneath him; desperately Jon tried to stop the slide using his suit to act as a weight, slowing him down. He used his right hand to dig into the asphalt, the sparks leaping several dozen feet into the air, trying anything he could to prevent getting stuck in the tar. When he finally stopped, he glanced over the bike to find that the armored truck was a mere speck on the horizon.

Jon picked up his bike and quickly inspected his right side, which had been rubbed down. With his armor worn down, he was more vulnerable to an attack, but he kicked his leg back over the bike and sped after the truck. It took him nearly five minutes to get back within striking range of the armored truck, and this time, he wasn't taking any chances. Jon pulled out his gun and began firing, trying to hit Flare, but Flare managed to outsmart Jon by creating a shield of fire to absorb his blasts.

As Jon planed out his next move, he saw that they were only forty miles from Knoxville. 'Knoxville?' Jon thought, 'that's almost two hundred miles away from Ringgold City. How long have I been chasing these girls?' Jon checked the digital time display on his HUD, which told him it was 1:45 in the afternoon. Lunch had started at noon.

As Jon followed the truck around a turn, the outskirts of Knoxville came into view. Jon would make sure that Flare and the others never made it there. They were closing in on an exit when Jon saw the last thing he needed to see, a fuel tanker. Edge stuck her head out the window and yelled out to Flare, obviously telling her about the tanker. She looked over her shoulder and nodded her head. Currently in the middle lane, the truck swung over to the left, side-swiping a civilian car in the process. The white SUV was sent flipping into the grassy medium. Soon, the armored truck was finally side by side with the tanker.

Timing it just right, Edge blew out the tanker's tires, causing it to jackknife and slide sideways under the overpass. Edge sent one final dagger into the tanker itself, giving Flare her chance. When Flare's fireball made contact with the gushing gasoline, it caused the tanker to instantly combust. As the tanker exploded, Jon could actually see the shockwave heading towards him. The overpass bucked upwards, snapping in half, then came crashing down upon the wreckage. Shrapnel was flying everywhere, and a piece the size of a sheet of paper found his front tire.

Jon's bike wobbled, and then flipped forwards, ejecting Jon from his seat and into the burning rubble. Jon rolled on impact. Then, finding his footing, he fired his rocket boots. He zoomed through the air, easily passing the armored truck below. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? He turned off his boots and fell to the ground, just over a hundred yards in front of the truck. Jon put his left foot behind him and dug it into the ground, bracing for the impact. Aqua Marine stayed in the lane, bearing down on him. It was a deadly game of chicken that both refused to lose.

When the truck was ten yards away, Jon lowered his shoulder and lifted right as it pulled up. The front end of the truck launched into the air and came down hard enough to snap the front axle in two. Jon drew his gun and leaped on top of the truck, pointing it in Flare's face. The fiery demon was dazed from the wreck, lying on her side, and in no condition to protect herself. Jon's hands shook as he squeezed the trigger, fighting tears so he could see this villain pay for what she had done. But before he could finish the deed, Hannah's voice came screaming over their communication line, telling him not to do it. Jon looked up to see the TAG transport helicopter landing in the median, next to the wreckage.

"Jon, put down the gun," Hannah screamed into her mic as she ran towards the truck.

"Why should I?', Jon demanded, 'You've seen what this witch has done"

"Yes, I did, but this is no way to handle things,' Hannah reasoned, ’If you kill her, than you'll be breaking the law, the same laws you're trying to enforce."

"She killed my best friend."

"No she didn't, Two is alive"

"What about my aunt and cousins?"

"I know you're in pain, but you of all people should know that revenge is never the answer."

Jon fell silent as he lowered his gun. Hannah was right. He had been the one who had stopped her from killing her father for what he done to her. The last thing he wanted to be was a hypocrite.

He holstered his gun and knelt next to Flare, "You're under arrest for massive homicide, and when we get back to the base, you're telling us everything you know".

He placed his right hand on Flare's shoulder, and she turned off her flames to acknowledge her defeat. His guard down, Jon didn't see the dagger that was streaking in from his right until it was too late. In a split second, the peaceful surrender had turned horrendous, and Jon's white suit was stained red.

7: Deal With The Devil

CHAPTER SIX:

"DEAL WITH THE DEVIL"

 

February 7th, 2018 / Hall Residence / Ringgold City, TN

Jon opened his closet door and stepped into his room, lost in heavy thought. It had been a long day for the young hero. His best friend was barely alive, his aunt and cousins were dead, Flare was killed by her own comrades, he spent a good hour convincing to allow him to take her body to prevent her identity from being released to the public, and Edge along with Aqua Marine had stolen the TAG helicopter. On top of all that he was stumped as to Kendra's location during the whole chase, and that worried him all the more. He came out of his room and headed straight for the kitchen, his stomach growling the whole way. He always hated when his 'job' interfered with his eating.

As Jon came downstairs and rounded the corner he came into the living room where he was shocked to see his Aunt Carol sitting on the love seat. She was hunched over, face buried in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Mrs. Hall, who was sitting next to her sister, looked up at her son; her face clearly expressed how tiring tending to her little sister was.

"Jon, when did you get home?" Mrs. Hall questioned.

"Just a few minutes ago", Jon quickly answered, realizing he had forgotten to have his robo-clone replace him at school.

Jon was still in shock from seeing his aunt alive, he tried to hide the obvious look of surprise on his face, but his mom had already seen it.

"You haven't heard, have you Jon", asked Mrs. Hall?

"Heard what"?

"Your Aunt Carol's fiancé, Dave, was on his way back from dropping your cousins off at daycare, but on the way he got caught in the cross fire of a car chase".

"So what happened to Dave"?

"Dave is dead sweet heart; they blew up the van with him in it".

Being reminded of the death caused Aunt Carol to explode with anger, "It's all those damn TAG people's fault! If it wasn't for them none of these freaks would come here and I would have become Mrs. Albright, but they ruined that, those stupid jack…", Aunt Carol's voice trailed off into un-understandable gibberish as she buried her head into Mrs. Hall's shoulder.

Jon hung his head; he thought of how foolishly he had acted earlier all because he thought his aunt was dead. But here she was, alive and well, or alive at least. How much better could the chase have gone if Jon was thinking straight? He was so blinded by his anger that he broke many of the very rules he made, and all for not. 'No, not for not, they killed plenty of other people, I would've been enraged even if I didn't think Aunt Carol was dead', Jon thought to himself.

"Jon, would you mind picking up Chase and Jordan for your aunt?" asked Mrs. Hall.

"Yes ma'am, where are the car keys?" Jon asked back.

"Sitting on the kitchen counter" answered Mrs. Hall.

'Good, I can grab something to curve my hunger', Jon thought. Jon walked into the kitchen, quickly finding the keys to the family SUV, and then grabbed a nearby banana before heading out the door. As Jon headed into the city he found his travels difficult, the obvious closing of the freeway had traffic backed up on every street. But Jon had a card up his sleeve; he used his watch to remote link with the TAG base's computer. He had the computer over ride the traffic light functions to turn all the lights on his street green. Usually this was used only in emergency situations to halt all traffic when a TAG road vehicle was launched for faster response times. 'But what's one more broken rule, certainly done that a lot today', thought Jon.

With Jon's path greatly cleared he soon found himself in front of the Dumpling Daycare Center. The daycare was located on the bottom floor of a U shaped building, which allowed an open area for a playground. Jon put the car in reverse and backed into a parking space. He got out and leaned on the chain link fence that completed the enclosure of the playground. He watched a girl of no more then four run around the playground. She laughed loudly despite her heavy breathing, her tight blond curls bounced as she ran. Suddenly the girl stopped, and turned to him, and for split second Jon locked eyes with the future of TAG.

"Jon", the girl squealed in delight as she ran towards him.

Jon crouched down to eye level with the girl as she pressed her face up against the fence.

"Hey Jordan, having fun playing?" Jon asked, with a playful smile on his face.

Jordan nodded her head up and down rapidly, overcome with excitement.

"Well', Jon continued, 'I'm here to pick you up today, so go get your stuff and your brother".

Without hesitation the four year old dashed to one of the adults and pointed to Jon as he made his way to the front door. Jon pushed one of the double glass doors, but when it didn't move he realized he must instead pull. Once inside Jon walked up to an elderly woman with salt and pepper hair that sat behind a desk.

"Hi there, I'm here to pick up Chase and Jordan Randolph", Jon told woman.

He handed her a note from his aunt which gave him permission to be the one to pick up his cousins. Jon turned to his left and saw Jordan dash through an open doorway, followed by a brown haired woman in her early thirties who was carrying two year old Chase. Jon squatted down as Jordan wrapped her arms around his neck then stood back up, his left arm holding her in place.

When the brunette reached Jon he extended his right arm for her to hand him Chase. But during the transition the brunette let go of the toddler just a split second too early. As Chase began to fall Jon choked Jordan up to his shoulder, and fell to one knee, placing his hand under Chase's stomach. With his hand under Chase Jon was able slow him down before he hit the ground, and with Chase's face mere inches from the carpeted floor Jon was finally able to bring him to a stop, all before the screams of the two female caretakers could fully escape their lungs.

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I'm sorry", the brunette babbled out.

Jon stood up with both cousins in his arms, "No harm, no foul, don't worry about it".

Jon even threw in a big smile to reassure the brunette, but it had little effect. As he left the day care he heard the elder woman talking harshly to the brunette. As much as it scared him, the woman who now brought her voice to a scream, reminded him of himself. He had lost track a long time ago how many times he yelled at rookies in mid training, or his subordinates during the heat of battle. He knew that most of the time he was giving them information that saved most of their lives, but he still felt regret. There was an old saying, "There's a thousand different ways to say something, be sure and pick the right way the first time", it was something Jon's grandfather had told him multiple times. So why did he so often forget that advice?

Jon reached the SUV, and while still holding both cousins opened the back door, then realized yet another mistake. As his eyes scanned the back seat he saw something very important missing, car seats. "Crap," Jon moaned. He quickly weighed his options, and then decided to 'just screw it'. Jon strapped his cousins into the back seats and jumped back behind the wheel. He hated taking a risk with Jordan and Chase's well being but he had no other choice. He adjusted the rear view mirror so that he could see Jordan who was fighting with the seat belt strap at her neck. He dreaded when they would have to explain to her Dave's death. He had always intended for Ben to take over TAG when Nicholas and himself would have to step down.

Now however the plan called for Vanisher to come down from New York City after Jon's exit from leadership. Then Vanisher would run things best he could until Jordan became old enough to run things on her own, but the Dave situation threw a major wrench into his plans. The entire Hall family already held a grudge against anything TAG related because of Ben's death. Now Jon was certain that because of Dave's death Jordan would be raised to carry that grudge. If that happened there was little doubt in Jon's mind that TAG would cease to exist. But most of that wouldn't be a threat for years, so Jon just focused on his driving.

It wasn't too long until he found himself pulling into his driveway. Jon helped Jordan out of the SUV first, he set her down and she scampered into the house, Jon soon followed, Chase secured in his arms. As he entered the doorway his phone rang, Jon used his free hand to pull it from his pocket and saw that Hannah was calling him.

Jon flipped the phone open and placed it to his ear, but before he could say hello Hannah's voice came screaming through the speaker, "Jon, I need you down here NOW, Nicholas is taking a turn for the worse".

Jon didn't hesitate a moment to put down Chase and lock the door behind him. He made his way up to his room in a fast walk so that no one inside would suspect something. Once down in the base Jon sprinted directly across the main area over to the medical bay. When he entered the medical bay he saw Hannah standing next to Nicholas' bed tapping furiously away at multiple monitors. Jon forced himself to look over the scrap that was his best friend. They had left Nicholas in his suit so as to hold his body together. He had multiple broken ribs, his left lung was partially collapsed, and both of his legs were broken; and those were only the minor injuries.

"So what's wrong," asked Jon.

"Besides the obvious? I haven't a clue. A few seconds ago I could have sworn he was having an aneurysm" said a frustrated Hannah.

"Then what in the heck are we going to do?"

"We've got to get him help Jon, real help"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure it'll go over great when we drag him into Goodwill and try to explain this to the doctors," said Jon angrily.

"Well what else are we suppose to do Jon? If we keep him here he'll die," Hannah yelled back.

"There might be another way…"

"But it isn't legal is it"?

"Not really, no," Jon replied.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Well, you formulated those speed heal pills of yours by going over notes and materials we confiscated from. So I was thinking…"

Hannah knew where Jon was going and would have none of it, she interrupted by saying, "No, no, no, there is NO way we are co-operating with criminals".

"I've been doing this ALOT longer then you have Hannah, and I know this is our best option".

"Jon, what part don't you understand? He needs a REAL doctor," said a frustrated Hannah.

"And DOCTOR Waltrum knows more about genetics then anyone should ever know. This means he’s bound to have or at least be capable of making the ultimate speed heal pill"

"That's the most idiotic thing I have ever heard you say"

"Maybe so, but I think it's worth a try," Jon said as he turned around to leave.

"Where in the heck are YOU going," Hannah asked, clearly aggravated with Jon's attitude.

"Me? I'm going cat hunting," Jon replied with a sly grin on his face.

Hannah shook her head then returned to her monitors. Jon walked into the war room and leaned on the oval platform that projected a 3D display of Ringgold City. "Computer, mark and date all of the KATS' robberies in the past 2 weeks," Jon commanded.

Suddenly nearly 3 dozen red dots appeared across the display, each with a date and time next to it. Jon looked over the map and got an idea. "Computer, mark and date all TAG patrols in the past 2 weeks," Jon ordered. As the green lines crises-crossed before him Jon began to see a pattern that he should have noticed long before. It seemed that the night after TAG patrolled a portion of the city the KATS would make a robbery in that same area. He studied the area in which Hannah and Nicholas had patrolled the night before, looking for a possible target. Then he found it, a jewelry store that claimed to have the best collection of emeralds in the state, not to mention one of the best security systems. 'And bingo was his name-o' Jon thought to himself.

He walked over to the vehicle bay and looked over the selection. He quickly decided upon going out in one of the fighter planes. He didn't take him long to pick out which one, his long time favorite. He walked up to the black, modified F-18 Hornet, the first TAG fighter. Jon hopped into the fighter he had affectionately dubbed the "Black Blade" and started up the engine. He went through the pre-launch checklist, checking all his systems, including the weapons system. Jon ordered the plane forward as the roller door before it rose. He moved his fighter into a confined room with the only exit now behind him. As soon as the roller door closed behind Jon there was a flash, and then another opening door before him.

Jon eased the plane forward, making sure his tail wouldn't hit the door. When Jon exited the room he looked out his canopy to see that it was already dusk, perfect conditions for him to launch. Jon looked down the long runway, HIS runway. After the war Jon and Nicholas had convinced the city to let them build a 1.5 mile long runway that stood 30 feet over the lake surface. Jon did a quick check in with the control tower at Ringgold International airport then pushed the throttle forward. But unlike most of the other TAG jets his didn't roar down the runway, but instead lifted straight off the ground. The fighter rose over 200 feet before Jon finally switched to horizontal flight.

The plane screamed across the darkening sky and up into the clouds, where Jon cut off the running lights. He located the jewelry store and began to circle it. Jon zoomed the spy camera aboard the Black Blade until the jewelry store filled the lens. He linked the image to his Heads Up Display and set the plane to auto pilot. Almost two hours later Jon was growing impatient, and began to wonder if he had picked the right location, then one of the shadows moved. He hesitated a second, doubting if he actually saw one of the KATS. Jon tried to quickly weigh his options, if he had in fact seen the KATS and didn't move quickly they would be gone, but if he was mistaken and made his move now he would scare them away. Jon put on the air brakes and pulled the plane's nose up, switching over to vertical flight.

He opened the canopy while the plane still hovered mid-flight and jumped out. He used his rocket boots to cushion his landing, although it almost felt as if they weren't as powerful. He ran a quick scan and discovered that he had next to no fuel left in them. Jon pushed his worries aside and scanned the area first with his night vision, but the glowing green rooftops that appeared on his HUD showed him nothing of value. However, when he switched to thermal four colorful, distinct blobs moved with rapid speed inside. Jon let a smile of satisfaction creep across his face, all he had to do now was wait until the KATS finished their business and stay hidden. When the KATS had gathered all they could carry they made their way back to the roof access they had entered through.

Tigress was the first to come up, she stuck her head out and made sure the coast was clear. Once insured that it was she signaled to her partners. When all four where in the open Jon activated the spotlight on the underbelly of the Black Blade which enveloped the thieves in white light. While they were briefly stunned Jon walked out from his hiding place, both hands in the air.

"I need to talk to you four", Jon said.

Panther gave him an odd look and asked, "And what exactly do YOU want"?

"I'm interested in striking a deal".

"Oh? And what kind of deal might that be," asked Lioness, stepping up to the front.

"I know that Waltrum is capable of making a super healing pill, which I currently find myself needing for Two," Jon answered.

"So, if we agree to this deal we'll be saving the life of one of our foes"?

"Yes, but in return I will undoubtedly be doing your dirty work," Jon pointed out.

"True, very well then, I'll have Tigress meet you the day after tomorrow night at 10 at the corner of Beachwood and Vine with our answer," said Lioness as she turned to leave.

But Jon wasn't finished, "Yeah, two things real quick. First, can we bump that meeting up? I've got a date that night. Secondly, you are not going anywhere with those jewels".

Lioness turned back around and cocked one eyebrow, she began to speak but Tigress cut her off, "If you expect us to help you then stopping us from leaving with our goods would be extremely foolish".

"Although that may be true I still have to do my job".

"That's what you think," Panther said as she hurled her bag of loot at Jon.

Jon crossed his arms and put them between his head and the bag. As the bag hit it ripped apart, sending rings, bracelets, and necklaces flying across the roof. He looked up to a not so surprising view, an empty roof. Jon mumbled a curse word as he filed the burglary report with the police department through their own computer system. He would wait for the nearest squad car to arrive so he could help them fill out the proper files. He brought up the tactical map on his Heads-Up Display which had every squad car in the department represented by orange dots throughout the city. The nearest car was unit 72, which pulled a U-turn on Lamar Lane and now headed his way.

He jumped down to street level and waited patiently for the police. But when unit 72 was only 2 blocks away its indicator went dark. Instinctively Jon darted into a dark alley; something about the situation didn't feel right. Soon a black SUV came around the corner with a red and blue light bar flashing on the dashboard. It appeared to be an unmarked police car, but why had its indicator gone off? The SUV came to a stop in front of the jewelry store and a man in his mid-thirties stepped out. He wore a white dress shirt with a green tie under a dark sport coat and dark dress pants. Then Jon saw the badge on his pants pocket, indicating that he was a detective. Cautiously, he came out from his hiding place and approached the officer. But while he did he used his HUD to bring up any info on unit 72.

"Ah, TAG One, good to see you're still here, I'm Detective Duff", the officer said, extending his hand out for a shake.

"Good to see you as well detective", Jon said as he shook the man's hand, his eyes still scanning over unit 72's service record.

Then, he found what he was looking for, unit 72 had been destroyed that same day in the freeway chase, but the police had yet to official take it off the roster. Whoever this man was, he was no detective. Jon then ran the badge number of the "detective", which not surprisingly actually belonged to a Lieutenant Shoemaker, who was in ICU currently. Jon noticed the SUV move, so he turned on his thermal vision and saw someone in the backseat desperately working on something. This whole situation was covered with red flags.

"So, do we know who the culprits are?" the detective continued.

"This is definitely the work of the KATS, I confronted them when they exited the store, but they managed to escape", Jon replied, ordering Black Blade to lock onto the SUV and arm the weapons.

"Well that's quite a disappointment', the detective said, then looked over his shoulder and said, 'how do you think we should handle this Charles?"

The back window of the SUV rolled down, and another man, likely in his fifties, leaned his head out. "I don't know exactly Danny, maybe some form of punishment", the man in the SUV asked?

"Oh I quite agree", answered Detective Duff.

The man in the SUV bent over to pick up something from the floorboard and hefted up a bazooka. Jon turned and ran back for the alley as he heard the 'swoosh' from the fired bazooka. He rounded the corner as the projectile hit the adjacent wall. The explosion knocked him off his feet and he slammed face first into a dumpster. Jon shook his head to regain his bearing then quickly stood back up and drew his gun. As he came back around to the street he ordered Black Blade to open fire. Jon tucked and rolled when he came back into sight, then straightened up and sent a blast through Danny's stomach.

As the fake detective began to double over the SUV behind him exploded into thousands of shards of metal. The Black Blade's missile had hit home. At least a dozen of the shards found their way into Danny's back, a loud scream of pain pierced the already well disrupted night. Jon holstered his weapon as he walked over to the wounded man and picked him up by his collar. Crimson liquid began to pool underneath the lifted man.

"Who are you? Who are you working for?" Jon demanded.

Danny tried to speak even as blood began to fill his lungs. He finally managed a gurgled, "I am among the cleansers of the tainted governments of the world that allows such an evil cancer to live among us. I am one of many fighting to remove the irritation from the eye of justice".

"Would've been a lot easier to just say 'I work for Red Eye', you know?"

"You going to hell would be even easier", Danny said as he managed a sneer.

Jon pulled the dying man in closer, face to faceplate, "Now let me explain something to you. I didn't kill those people, and all of you moron's revenge attempts has done nothing but cost more lives, you see how counter productive this is"?

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but then instead spat at Jon. The frustrated hero wiped the spit off his faceplate then reached around to Danny's back where he found one of the shards still lodged in his back. He dealt a swift slap to the piece of metal, sending it further in. Danny screamed out in pain again, more and more of his blood collecting underneath him.

"Now, I'm only going to ask you once, who is running Red Eye?"

Danny gave a crooked smile and replied, "He's an old, old friend of yours, I'm sure he looks forward to getting his cars back…"

Danny never got to finish, at that moment there was a distant gunshot. At that same moment the bullet found Danny's temple. The round tore all the way through, causing an explosion of gore. Jon tried to find the sniper, but there were no obvious signs of where the sniper may be lurking. He knew that whoever had just shot Danny was just tying up loose ends before taking out the main target, him. For the third time in the past five minutes Jon darted back into the alley, venturing a lot deeper, making sure he was out of the sniper's line of sight. As the armored teen strategized he rewound the recording he had made of his conversation with Danny. He played the sound of the gunshot, over and over, although he recognized the sound the first time.

The sound of a 50 caliber sniper rifle with armor piercing rounds was etched into his brain. It was the same sound he heard the night Ben died; it was the same type of gun and bullet that took his brother's life. It was obviously not the same gunman, that would be impossible. But it hit a nerve none the less. Best that he could guess the sniper had to be almost a mile away in order for the sound of the gunshot to be heard when it was compared to when the actual bullet hit Danny. There was no doubting though that the sniper had since changed his position to set up a better shot. Who knew, those cross hairs could be pointed at his head this very moment. But he was going to make sure the sniper never got his shot.

Jon gave Black Blade the coordinates to land on the roof of a building about half a block away. If his estimates were right it would place a 30 floor office building between his plane and the sniper, providing excellent cover. As the plane roared overhead he heard a loud SWOOSH, then a trail of white smoke marked a missile's path through the night sky. Black Blade automatically switched over to evasive mode and pulled a hard right bank, then rolled as it went into a 90 degree climb. The missile managed to follow the first turn, but was unable to take the proper angle to follow the plane's climb. Jon was relieved when the stray missile finally exploded far away from both his plane and civilians. But the explosion only served to cover the sound of other Surface to Air Missiles being launched.

He lost count of the SAMs after sixteen, each one streaked after Black Blade. The nimble craft pitched and rolled furiously; using every possible maneuver it could to avoid destruction. Five missiles missed and strayed off to explode elsewhere, but the sixth had better luck. As the plane rolled left the missile barely missed and exploded, throwing the plane into a spin, while it tried to recover the other missiles homed in and struck. Jon polarized his visor to shield his eyes from the bright explosion. The shower of debris made him think of the stories he heard growing up of Sodom and Gomorra, two ancient cities that were destroyed by fire and brimstone that came raining down from the heavens.

One fragment hit the dumpster that he had been knocked into before. The molten metal blasted a hole the size of a basketball. The suited warrior had to side step as another piece, roughly the size of a baseball, landed at his feet. As a curse word passed his lips he heard the screech of tires. He faced back to the street, where several black SUVs had pulled up, each unloading five men dressed up as American soldiers. Each of the imposters leveled their M16s as he un-holstered his modified 9mm handgun. The white laser handgun gave no kick back as it fired several rounds, each finding their targets. At least seven of the assailants fell to the ground with holes in their legs or firing hands, making sure not to make any fatal hits. As more and more of the attackers streamed into the opening of the alley Jon began to formulate a plan.

As much as he wanted to fly out of this situation his boots would only last a few seconds, not enough in this case, so running away was his only option. He turned his back as gun fire erupted and sprinted towards the other opening. His strides were long and swift, moving like no normal person could ever hope. But his plan fell apart as a fake SWAT van backed into the opening, completely blocking it. The double back doors flew open, revealing another pack of assailants so anxious for a kill that most of their first rounds found the doors. At least half a dozen of them would never fire another round. Those who survived Jon's first shots managed to quickly stack the bodies of their comrades in front of them, and then used the wall of flesh as a shield. The bullets hit and bounced off his armor, littering the ground as he continued to pick them off.

The deafening noise within the suit resembled the sound of hail on a tin roof. He knew it would be several minutes before even one round would be capable of puncturing his armor, and there wouldn't be anyone left to fire those bullets by that time, not at this rate. As another shot dropped an attacker there was a loud shout from the back of the first group, Jon couldn't hear it over the noise, but he knew it wasn't good. Suddenly all the gun fire stopped, and the alley became eerily quite, but the ringing in his ears was still loud and clear. The M16s were quickly lowered, and all of their ammo clips removed. Even as men fidgeted with their guns Jon continued to fire.

Every single part of his body was screaming at him, telling to leave while he could. But why should he? After all, wasn't he dropping these gunmen like flies? They were no match for him, not even with these weapons. No, certainly not with such conventional weapons compared to his standards. But as fresh ammo clips were swiftly loaded into the guns he got a glance at one of the clips. His eyes widened as they read the words "ARMOR PIERCING" spray painted boldly in white letters. And just like that all of his advantages went out the window. His armor was strong; he had actually improved it to be armor piercing resistant in the wake of his brother's death. But resistant wouldn't be enough, not this time, not with so many rounds at once. With their guns still leveled the mob of attackers parted at the center, allowing their commander to the front of the pack. Obviously the usual speech would be coming, the whole bit made out to sound like a mock Las Vegas style trial. The commander wore a patch over his left eye, a scar stretched from his cheek to his forehead and directly across his patched eye.

"Ah, Commander Lefty, nice to see you again", Jon said in a less then pleased tone.

But the commander was un-phased and stood perfectly straight as he began to speak, "TAG One, you have been charged with mass murder and conspiracy to rule the nations of the world. You are un-refutably guilty, and your plea is therefore un-necessary. You are hear-by sentenced to death for your crimes against humanity, and said sentence shall be carried out immediately. It is requested that you accept punishment for your crimes and do not retaliate."

"The exact same speech as always, what a surprise', Jon answered sarcastically, 'and my answer is the same as always".

"Very well, we will now carry out the execution. Red Eye soldiers, prepare to fire".

The clicking of the guns filled the alley as they were checked one last time. Jon looked every one of them in the eyes, each were fixed back on him. Confidence exuded from these men, they truly believed in what they were doing. Virtually all of them had lost their entire families in the war, they had nothing left to lose. Like a wild animal backed into a corner they prepared to attack with everything they had or die trying. His eyes fell upon one soldier whose confidence appeared to be in short supply, as a matter of fact; fear was what filled his eyes. The soldier's shaky hands caused his gun to do the same, his finger became tighter and tighter around the trigger.

The commander raised his hand to give the order, but the fearful soldier squeezed the trigger before the hand drop. The order to fire would be Jon's sign to make his move. But shots rang out before the signal was given, catching him off guard, was this part of their trick? He tried to duck, but found no need for it, whoever was firing acted as if their eyes were closed. The shoots not only missed, they sounded as if they hit the attack team behind him. 'Perfect'.

Jon turned on his heel and ran full sprint for the team behind him. He lowered his shoulder and ran into the midst of them like he was a running back plowing through a defense. He knocked most of them on their backs, clearing a path to the SWAT truck, which still had its back doors swung wide open. In a mere two powerful strides he leapt into the back of the truck and then through the front windshield. The glass shattered with ease against the force, most of which hadn't even hit the ground by the time Jon had landed and rolled onto his feet. He finished his dash across the near empty road, taking up position behind a pick-up truck. He aimed his gun at the alley, but there was no sign of movement except for a lone individual trying desperately to move the truck.

Smoke filled the alley as the truck's tires squealed on the pavement. But all this noise did nothing but prove what Jon had been counting on, it was stuck. The driver continued his efforts; he even rocked back and forth hoping to wriggle anything free. Jon could hear someone screaming at the driver, who turned back around and shouted some obscenities of his own. Before he could turn back around a burst from one of the M16s tore into his torso, he fell over dead. 'They're killing off their own men, they appear more desperate then ever', Jon thought to himself. There was another sequel of rubber, then another, and then another. Undoubtedly the Red Eye soldiers were coming back around in their SUVs. He found another alley and sprinted for it while he opened a communication channel with Hannah.

"Whatever this is Jon I hope it's important, because I really can't afford any distractions right now"

"It's not only important, it's essential, I need an emergency EVAC ASAP", Jon said as he dashed across another empty street.

"Wait, I heard you take one of the jets, what happened"?

"Red Eye happened, they've shot down Black Blade", Jon replied as he climbed a fire escape.

"Why not have one of the other jets pick you up"?

"Hannah! Aren't you listening to me? They shot down BLACK BLADE! As in the most agile and maneuverable plane we have. If they can take it down, then they can do the same to any of the others".

Hannah typed in frustration on one of the medical monitors as she said, "Well I don't know what you expect me to do…."

"I expect you to get in a car and get me out of here!"

"I can't Jon! Not unless you find your life more important then Nicholas's. If I leave him for even a minute he WILL die".

Jon looked off the roof of an apartment building, trying to catch his breath as he weighed his options. He could hear the roaring motors of the SUVs zeroing in on his location. Despite his suits ability to stay at a comfortable 72 degrees in all weather conditions Jon could still feel the bitter cold stinging at his flesh. That's when he noticed the hole in his armor. In the back of his shoulder joint there was a bullet lodged between armor plates which had managed to puncture his suit, but not himself.

"Well we have to do something", he continued.

"How far are you from the fire hall? Maybe you could make a run for it"

Jon brought up the NAV map on his HUD; green 3D buildings filled his view. He highlighted the fire station and then himself. He was just over 30 blocks away, which wasn't too far to him; it didn't help though that he had been heading in the wrong direction so far. This could actually work to his advantage though, with all of Red Eye heading East in pursuit of him he could head West to the fire hall and ditch them. But they obviously knew of the fire hall, and would likely have a trap waiting for him. Should he try to reach one of the three secret entrances he could possibly lead them straight into the base. The station was well protected since everyone in the world knew of it, it would take an army to breach it, and that's exactly what Red Eye was.

"OK, I'm on my way. Be sure and monitor the station, make sure that nobody comes anywhere close to it. Red Eye is sure to try and stage an ambush", Jon finally said.

"I'll do what I can, but my concentration has to stay on Nicholas right now".

"I understand, do whatever you need to, ETA is 35 minutes".

Jon turned around and ran. He leaped from one building to another when he could and climb to the top of the neighbor building when called for. 15 minutes later he found himself 20 blocks closer to the station. He wasn't making as good of time as he had hoped, but he wasn't doing badly either. He stopped on top of an office building to catch his breath. The building was the shortest for as far as Jon could see, which meant a lot of climbing was ahead of him. He noted that he was still heading in the right direction before bringing up the clock on his visor. It was only 10 o'clock but it felt like it was five, in the morning. It had been awhile since he had such a test of his physical endurance.

He jogged in place momentarily and rolled his neck, trying to psych himself back into what he was doing. He had to try to watch his stamina on his return, making sure he wasn't exhausted by the time he reached the station, and a certain trap. He took two short steps before breaking back into his long strides. As he neared the ledge a blur appeared in the corner of his left eye. He changed his direction and angled more towards the blur, giving him a better defensive position. As the blur closed in Jon knew that he would need to make a stand. He stopped and put his left foot to the front, resting most of his weight on it. This would give him leverage if there was impact but also allowed him to intercept.

The blur was a lot closer then he expected, and was no longer a blur. Tigress was sprinting towards him with everything she had, but had her claws retracted. It was apparent she wasn't on the attack, but he had fallen for this trick before. As she closed in he shifted his weight back, ready for anything, or so he thought. Tigress fell to her side and slid to him. She snapped her legs apart as she slid between his, making his legs come out from underneath him. He fell forwards, the faceplate taking the brunt of the impact. He quickly got back up, and found Tigress was still in the process of standing. He rushed her and managed to pin her to the ground. His legs wrapped around hers and with his right hand he held both arms at the wrist above her head.

"Did we not just strike agreement a few minutes ago", Jon asked

"Of course, that's why I'm trying to help you!"

"Attacking and helping tend to be two COMPLETELY different things".

"Not when I'm saving your life, didn't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

Tigress jerked her legs out from Jon's, and then wrapped them around his waist. She used her body to jerk his down to her. Before the gunshot had even reached his ears he heard a bullet ripping through the air where his head had just been. Only an inch of air separated her face from his faceplate as she screamed, "Hear that"! She pushed him off as another round made a hole in the roof.

"We've got to move One, run for that alley", Tigress said, already half-way there.

Jon ran right behind her, using zigzag patterns to throw off the sniper's aim. Tigress never looked back and never hesitated jumping into the gap between buildings, falling the 30 floors to the ground, bouncing off the walls to slow her descent. Jon made sure to do the same as he literally dove over the edge. The last bullet came too close for comfort as he disappeared from the sniper's scope. He flipped his feet back around so they would hit earth first. He landed on top of a dumpster, but the weak metal didn't hold. So instead he found himself buried to his waist in half eaten Chinese food.

"That's just great", Jon moaned.

"What can you possibly complain about? You're alive aren't you?"

"Yeah, but do you have any idea how hard it is to get the smell of soy sauce off this suit?"

"What the hell is up with you and all your freaking jokes?" screamed Tigress.

Jon turned his head, showing he had no interest in answering as he lifted himself free from the dumpster.

But Tigress refused to back down, "Every single time we fight there are more punch lines then actually punches, what are you, mental?"

Again Jon had no wish to reply, so he continued to walk towards the street. Tigress sprinted ahead to cut him off.

"I appreciate your help, but you seriously need to move", said Jon, quite aggravated.

Tigress didn't budge, "Not until I get an answer".

Jon sighed and took great care with his words, "The jokes are what keep me sane. The suits increase our maturity and intelligence by five years. So if I was a fifteen year old then when I wore this suit it would be as if I was twenty years old".

"But that makes no sense, your maturity is increased, yet you act immature?"

"For years I've worn this suit and it has always been connected to my mind when I've witnessed sights that could make any normal person go mad. Every time I put on this suit it brings all those memories into focus, making it feel as if they had just happened. The jokes are used to keep my mind away from those nightmarish memories, for if they were to ever become the full focus my mind….. let's just say it has happened before, and it wasn't pretty. The next time, a great multitude of people could die".

Tigress was unable to hide the look on her face, for a moment Jon saw a mixture of emotions: sorrow, understanding, and compassion. Feelings he would have never imagined for her or any of the other KATS to be capable of feeling. But it was short lived; she soon brought her face to the neutral look he was use to.

"Now answer my question, why did you save me", Jon asked?

"Our lives literally depend on wither or not you can carry out your part of the bargain", Tigress answered.

"What could you possibly need me to do that is so important?"

"Kill the remaining 'Elemental Sisters' is all we ask, which seems fair seeing as how both sides will greatly benefit from their disposal".

"I'm not going to kill anyone"

"That's fine; the Doc has a few non-lethal solutions he's been working on"

"Sshhh", Jon said as held up one finger for silence.

Footsteps, two pairs to be exact, were heading in their direction. Jon turned on his heat vision and could tell it was two adult males who were coming, but wither or not they were hostile he didn't know. But he wasn't taking any chances; he backed into a shadow and drew his handgun. Sure enough, seconds later two of the Red Eye gunmen came around the corner. The pair pointed their guns into the dark alley, but they could only see a few feet in. Then a shadow moved behind the dumpster. Both soldiers fired their rifles, turning the dumpster into scrap. Although they could not hear it, there was a loud cry of pain. The gunmen continued firing until they had completely emptied their clips. Both replaced the clips and slowly ventured into the alley. Suddenly a pair of white arms exploded from the shadows and the powerful hands wrapped around their throats, taking away their ability to scream for help. Jon picked them up and slammed them down onto the hard concrete, knocking one out. The other snapped his head up and let out a yell. But Jon dealt a blow to the soldiers head with his palm, knocking him out cold too.

"Are you ok?", Jon asked Tigress.

"I think so; one of those bullets grazed my side"

"Yea, those suckers are armor piercers, that's some serious stuff their using"

"So are you ready?", Tigress asked.

Jon knew he had a tough fight ahead of him, but he also had a great ally, even if for a moment. He checked his hand gun and patted his sword that was strapped to his side; he had everything he needed and more. He turned towards their destination as he spoke, "Yeah, we better get going, we've got a fire hall to get to".