AAOOOSC! Junior Powers!

Minutes later, the road morphs into a single lane road surrounded by forestry. Ominous pine trees are scattered throughout the area as far as an eye can see, blending in with the pitch black sky.

Brett guides the black car off to the left side of the road. The car jolts as it rolls off the road, to slightly lower level, and moves against the leaf-scattered dirt ground.

The driver then stops the car at the small clearing between the road and forest. He puts the car in park, turns it off, and exits. The others silently follow him out of the car, stepping out into the eerie night.

Kale, still in his hospital gown, peers around the shadowy surroundings in bewilderment. "Where are we?" He hugs himself as a chilly breeze sweeps by, floating through his gown and prickling at his skin.

Brett nods toward the forest. "Follow me."

He leads the way down into the maze of trees, making his way in the dark and relying on the full moon’s light as the only light.

He then stops in front of a small boulder nestled by a bush.

"I’ll do it." Jeremy brushes in front of Brett and bends over to the boulder.

He gets a good grasp on it and lifts it off the ground effortlessly, revealing what it was covering.

Embedded in the soft dirt ground spewed with twigs and leaves is a wooden trap door with a latch.

Brett kneels on one knee next to it and undoes the latch, using it to hoist the door upward.

On the other side is a concrete staircase leading into the darkness.

Brett peers behind his shoulder at the others. "Get in."

Silently, each member, including Jeremy, goes in one-by-one down the stairs and into the darkness.

Once everyone has passed through, Brett takes a good glance around his surroundings. He then slides himself through the hole and closes the trap door above him.

He runs his hand against the wall as he steps down the dusky staircase. He then spots a warm light ahead, illuminating the staircase. He rushes down the stairs and turns to the left, the only way to turn, entering a room.

The room is square-shaped and cut of concrete. All around the room’s walls are lanterns, which give off the warm light. Its floor is spewed with blankets and worn-out furniture. The only furniture in the room is a wooden table, a bunk bed, and different styled chairs.

Kale is standing by the doorway, watching everyone else settle into their own places. "What is this?"

Jeremy settles down on a tattered saucer chair. "It’s our hideout, before the authorities detect this place and scour it."

He raises his eyebrows. "Wow…"

"We’ve only been here since yesterday," Brett adds on, standing next to him with crossed arms. "We’re planning on staying here for two more nights, if we’re lucky."

"But we didn’t come here to admire the place," Kailer snaps in his beat-up swivel chair by the desk. He whirls to Kale. "We come here because we have a task for you."

Kale eyes him with tentativeness. "Okay…" He shuffles into the room and takes a seat on the frayed armrest next to the scientist.

Kailer spins to face him. "You can be the solution to this crisis. With your powers, which aren’t too powerful—no offense—you have room to hold even more and better powers.

“Therefore, we have chosen you to bear a new powerful ability." He stuffs his hand into his jacket’s pocket and pulls it out, holding up a vial containing clear liquid with a purple shine. "An ability more powerful than practically all the power players combined."

Kale eyes it with curiosity. "What power is it?"

"Physics Distortion." He lowers the object to his lap. "I’ve been creating it since" —he shrugs— "mmm, well, twelve years ago. I wanted to test it out on a qualified candidate, but after the blow-up, I couldn’t. Until now."

"So with that power, I distort physics?"

He nods his head. "Yes. You can bend and break the rules of physics." He raises the vial up again. "Would you like to try?"

Naturally, Kale peers out at the others, who have gathered around the two in their own chairs, with an unsure expression.

They nod their heads vigorously in response with excited expressions.

Kale turns back to Kailer and gives him a firm nod. "Okay."

With a small smile, the scientist holds his hand out behind him, directing everyone’s attention to the bunk bed in the back. "Lie down."

Kale lifts himself to his feet and steps across the room with his eyes on the lower bed. He sits down on its edge and lifts his legs over, lying flat on his back with his eyes on the upper bed’s bottom.

Kailer enters his vision, peering down at him as he inserts a syringe into the vial and extracts liquid from it. "I must warn you, you will feel strange at first." He then lowers his hand out of sight, quickly lifting it back up, this time with a small, light blue gun in his grasp. "Is that alright?" He loads the syringe into the gun and holds it up.

The gun automatically emits a whirring sound as its sides light up.

Kale eyes the device with subtle trepidation. "Yeah, I guess…"

Matteo steps into view, gazing down at him with a gentle expression. "No worries, we won’t do any harm to you."

Kailer rolls his eyes and blurts out, "Okay, it’s gonna be injected into your arm." He reaches the gun out toward Kale, pressing its muzzle against his bare arm. "You’re ready?" He holds his stare at his guinea pig.

Kale takes in a deep breath and exhales, calming down his racing heart. "Alright."

Without saying anything else, Kailer pushes the trigger.

Instantly, Kale senses sharp pinch against his arm. The uncomfortable feeling quickly goes away, rapidly being replaced by a strong surge.

Kale’s eyes fly open at the sudden, contorting sensation.

The surge blasts through Kale, twisting all throughout him as it adjusts itself to its host, leaving a prickly, tingling feeling behind.

Kale holds his breath and tenses his body as an attempt to minimize the painful, gushing feeling.

Beside him, Kailer eyes him with anticipation with his breath held.

Finally, the surge abates, stinging at him as it vanishes. Kale lets out a massive exhale, letting his body relax.

From the middle of the room, Jake is sitting on a blanket staring at Kale with a concerned look. "Is he okay?"

Kailer turns around, peering at the tallest man. "That was his body adapting to the new serum. It seems like it worked."

Kale’s widen eyes blink as his conscience emerges back to the moment. "I feel...so weird," he mutters, focusing on the fuzzy sensation trailing up and down his body.

The scientist faces him again. "I warned you." He then places the gun on the table beside the bed. "Tell me when everything settles down."

Kale squeezes his eyes, attempting to adjust himself with the fizzy sensation. He then opens his eyes, peering up at Kailer. "I think I’m good."

"Can you test it out?" Kailer asks with his thin eyebrows raised.

With a sigh, Kale gradually raises his hands into view. He narrows his eyes on them, focusing on the sparking sensation rushing up to his hands.

His hands begin glowing golden, while emitting a flow of golden sparks.

Kale’s eyes widen with surprise at the sight.

Suddenly, ribbons of white and gold energy leap from his palms, floating magnificently in the air with the consistency of fire.

"Whoa…!" An excited smile forms on Kale’s face as his eyes are filled with awe.

All the others have their attention on the sight of the new powers with wonderment.

"How’s it like?" Jeremy asks, jutting his chin at the teenager.

Still holding his energized hands in the air, Kale swings himself to a sitting position and rises to his feet. "I have...actual powers...better powers…"

"That’s not all," Kailer adds in with a small smirk.

Kale peers up at him with confusion.

"You haven’t distorted physics yet!" he finishes off, his smirk growing.


The ribbons reduce to sparks as his hands proceed to glow.

"How do I do that?" Kale has a frown.

"Go against physics."

Kale peers ahead of him, his eyebrows knitted as his mind rattles as to how to do such thing. His eyes immediately widen as a memory from the imagery in his comatose crosses his mind:

Michael instantly unleashes a thick blast of ribbons, striking my arm.

Right on contact, my left arm shatters into a million of pieces as if it is made out of glass.

My eyes widen at the horrifying sight of my jagged stub. "What the—?"

"Haha—" Michael nods to me. "—nice arm there!"

Kale instantly emerges from his thoughts and flicks his eyes to a lone wooden chair. He lobs a ribbon of energy at it.

Instantly, the chair shatters into millions of pieces, as if it is made out of glass.

From the doorway, Brett gawks at the mess. "Come on!" He whirls to him with the same expression. "That was my chair!"

Kale focuses on the scattered pieces and holds his glowing hands out toward them.

In an instant, the pieces fly back together, morphing back into the chair.

The chair stays still, as if it was never shattered.

Brett shrugs at the sight of his fixed chair. "Alright, that works."

Kailer whirls to Kale, with his hands clasped behind his back. "It’ll take practice to master these powers. But I’m glad you have them and that they work."

Kale gives him a toothy grin. "Thanks, Kswizzy."

A proud smile forms on his face. "You’re most welcome."

Notes