Meanwhile, on the shore of Lake Michigan, by the dock, Matteo and Jeremy are on a motorcycle with Matteo as the driver. In front of them on the asphalt is a red, beat-up pickup truck, where Brett and Jake are in with Brett as the driver. They are all in their street clothes.

Matteo faces the truck and points behind him. "You two head east" —he reverts his hand in front of him— "we’re heading west!" He then grabs his black motorcycle helmet from the vehicle’s handlebars. "And if you need any assistance or find Kale, call the Doc, he’s gonna stay in the base. And if you find the Kale, immediately bring him here!"

Jake pokes his head out the window and salutes him. "Right away, Master Pietroniro!"

Matteo shakes his head before slipping on his helmet. He then turns on the vehicle, peers behind his shoulder to make sure Jeremy is ready.

He spots Jeremy with his helmet on and a thumbs up.

Matteo then faces west and takes off in a cloud of dust and screeching of the engine.

Brett watches the two zip out of the sight. He then faces his passenger. "Alright, Jake Dog, time for a road trip!"

Jake claps excitedly. "Oh goodie, I love road trips!"

Brett then turns on the car and pulls out of the parking lot, rolling down the streets.

Jake sticks his head completely out the window, taking in the wind with his eyes closed and a massive, closed grin. The wind picked up by the car is blasting through his hair, flapping it behind him.

Brett quickly takes a peek to the right, spotting the right window obscured by the tall teenager. "Can you get your head in here? I can’t see to my right."

"I love the wind and the smells it brings!" Jake is heard bellowing over the window.

Brett lets out a heavy sigh while shaking his head.

---

It is a cool, crisp, sunny morning in Toronto: the perfect time to go out for a morning jog.

And that is exactly what Michael does.

Out in the neighbourhood, Michael is jogging with a cool mien, wearing only navy blue basketball shorts, a blue backwards cap, sunglasses over his eyes, and earbuds, which are connected to his smartphone in his shorts’ pockets.

He stares out at the beautiful scenery through his tinted vision.

The trimmed front yards belonging to the houses are to the right and the zooming cars on the main road are to the left.

Then something catches the corner of his eye, closer to his left. He turns to it, spotting a female jogging on the bike line in the opposite direction, gaping at him with awe-filled eyes.

"Ohhhh, he’s sooo hooot…!" she murmurs dreamingly.

Suddenly, an eighteen-wheeler zooms by, smashing her against its grill and taking her away.

Michael peers ahead, following the eighteen-wheeler with his eyes as it disappears around the bend. "Hm." He continues jogging with chill.

Then two other female joggers begin passing by him from behind. The jogger closest to him is ogling at him.

He gives her a smirk. "Want my number?"

"Ahhh…!" The runner instantly rolls her eyes back and goes limp, falling backward.

Her jogging partner, fortunately, catches her before she hits the ground.

She whirls to Michael, who has stopped jogging, with a glare. "I don’t want your number, I want the ambulance’s number!"

He chuckles at her. "Have a good day!" Then with his signature grin, he resumes jogging, leaving the two behind.

He gazes ahead to admire the scenery through his shades. He then spots a red, beat-up pickup truck rushing down the road with a teenager poking his head from it.

With his head out the window, Jake spots a man jogging with dark-coloured hair, olive-coloured skin, and sunglasses obscuring his eyes.

His eyes fly open at the sight. "Wheat Eater!" He pulls himself back into the seat, whirling to the driver. "I spot him!" He points behind him. "He’s back there!"

Brett’s eyebrows shoot up. "Really?" He quickly signals to the right then pulls by the curb and puts the car in park.

After turning off the car, the two friends jump off and rush up toward the jogger, who is approaching their direction.

Brett turns to Jake with a grin. "Good eye, Jake Dog!"

Jake instantly halts with anxiety written all over his face. "Wait...he doesn’t sense like Wheat Eater…"

Unfortunately, Brett does not hear him and continues rushing up to him, waving his hands in the air. "Whea—Kale! Kale!"

Michael notices the wavy-haired teenager rushing up to him. He stops in front of him with curiosity.

"Hey," Brett starts breathlessly, "there you are! What’re you doing?" He takes a quick look at his outfit from head to toe.

Michael spots another teenager feet away from him, appearing nervous. He then turns back to the teenager who stopped him. "I’m jogging…?" He lifts a thick eyebrow over his sunglasses.

"You escaped the HQs to jog?" Brett lets out a chuckle. "Hah, and here we were going nuts for you!"

Michael gives him a big, goofy grin. "Glad I’m being missed."

He then swings his hand behind his shoulder, signalling him to follow him. "Come on, we need you back."

Michael shakes his head. "Sorry, but I got like" —he dips his head at his smartwatch swiftly. "—thirty minutes until I’m done, then I can join you guys."

Brett throws his hands out from his sides. "But we need you now!"

The jogger holds an index finger in the air. "Thirty minutes."

Brett peers behind his shoulder, eyeing his partner.

Jake shakes head vehemently with wide eyes.

Then an idea pops into his mind. "You know what?" He turns back to Michael with his hands on his hips. "The Doc has great powers for you!"

Michael’s eyebrows immediately shoot up with interest. "Powers?" He points to his bare chest. "I can get better powers?"

"Yeah!" Brett gives him a big grin, nodding toward his truck. "If you come with us!"


"Hah, well then, the thirty minutes can wait." He taps on his smartwatch, then reverts his attention to him. "Let’s go!"

Brett then happily turns around and begins making his way back to his truck, rejoining Jake. Michael follows from behind them.

Jake leans over to him and whispers, "He doesn’t sense like Wheat Eater."

Brett frowns at him with knitted eyebrows. "You pointed him out; you have great vision! The chase is over!" He then says lowly, "We should just teleport straight to the HQs instead of teleporting city-by-city like what we did with the truck."

---

Meanwhile, in the Chicago Loop, Matteo’s motorcycle is zooming down the shadow-covered streets with Matteo and Jeremy on it.

Jeremy peers to his right in search of the missing member. He spots scattered crowds of people on the sidewalks through his tinted vision.

He then turns to the left, expecting the same results. Yet this time in a gap between two crowds, he spots the missing teenager strolling coolly down the sidewalk all alone.

"He’s there!" The goalie jabs a gloved finger toward Kale. "Kings is to the left!"

Matteo swiftly peers left, spotting him. "Great eye, JSway!" He smoothly pulls to the left curb of the one-way street and turns off the engine.

The two hop off from the vehicle, remove their helmets and place them on the handlebars, then rush up toward Kale.

"Kale!" Matteo hollers at him.

Kale peers up, spotting the two running up to him hastily.

"Come here." The Master motions him to move nearer to them with the quick wave of his fingers.

Looking both ways warily, Kale saunters up to them, his hands in his hoodie’s pockets.

Once their meet paths, they halt on the side of the sidewalk, letting the crowds pass by them.

"You’re coming to the base," Matteo starts gravely. "And we’re gonna talk."

Kale shrugs. "Fine."

Matteo swiftly turns around and strolls back to his motorcycle. Kale follows him with Jeremy behind him.

The Master peers over his shoulder to look at the goalie. "JSway, call Doc saying that we got Kale."

Jeremy nods. "Right on it." He pulls back his sleeve to reveal his Wrist-Moto and presses on it with a gloved finger. "Doc," he speaks into it, "we got Kings…" His voice fades for a moment. "Yeah, Clague." He then halts in his tracks as confusion comes across his face. "What? Really?"

He turns to Matteo, who is watching Kale climb onto the motorcycle. "He says Clague is already there."

Bewilderment takes over Matteo’s expression. "What?" He glances at Kale. "We have Kale."

Sitting on the motorcycle, Kale nods his head.

Jeremy turns back to the Wrist-Moto. "We have Clague, Doc." He pauses with pursed lips, then huffs. He turns to the Master. "He’s not having any of it."

Matteo runs his fingers through his wavy brown hair "Alright, tell him we’ll be there and we’ll figure this out."

---

A few minutes later, Matteo, Jeremy, and Kale appear in the main room of the headquarters.

Jeremy rushes deep into the room with speed. "Doc, we got—"

He immediately halts in his tracks with wide eyes. Matteo and Kale also stop advancing.

Sitting around the table is Kailer along with Brett, Jake, and Michael, who now has his heavy-lidded, striking eyes revealed and a white T-shirt over his upper body along with his jogging outfit.

Kailer does not seem too pleased. "We’re beginning to figure that out," he points out bitterly.

Matteo lets out heavy exhale through his nose. "Okay…" He turns around, facing the real Kale. "Kale, you’re coming with me." He faces Michael and points at him. "We’ll deal with him later."

He then walks up to Kale and taps his shoulder. "Let’s go." He ambles toward the right top corner of the room, next to the ocean portal.

Kale follows him into the nearly-empty area with crossed arms.

Matteo gives him a hard stare. "Whatever you were thinking of, don’t ever leave the HQs without us knowing again."

Kale furrows his eyebrows. I got powers, better power than everyone else here. There’s got to be a way I can get out of trouble with them.

"Do you understand?" the Master presses on with a dark expression.

"You won't even notice me," Kale states, lifting his head up with proudness.

Matteo’s facial features soften. He nods his head. "Yeah, that's true."

"You’ll be fine with it," Kale continues on.

"Yeah, I’ll be." He nods his head faster.

"We’re good."

"Yeah. Good talk." With a small smile, Matteo turns around and strolls back to the table.

Kale stays in his place, watching the Master settling in his chair with the other members and the new man. He then whisks to the nearest staircase and climbs up them, leaving the group behind.

Notes