Power

Ch4 (E)

The uneasy elevator ride ended as soon as it began, a mechanical chime was heard as it came to a stop, and the doors slid open.

The wind smashed into Lucas's face as his hair flung about, the overwhelming noise from the Helicopter made him want to cover his ears.

Frantic military personnel ran to and fro, loading supplies into the back of what looked like an old Chinook.

"Just started her up, she's ready for flight!" Yelled one of the men standing by the elevator.

"Well done private, right on time!" Sam struggled to be coherent over the sound of the blades.

The three then ran/wheeled onto the back of the chinook and scaled the ramp.

"Take a seat by the door while I head up to the front!" Sam half gestured; half yelled.

Sam continued to the cockpit, simultaneously fitting on a helicopter pilot helmet. He then grabbed two headsets and handed them to Allison and Lucas.

Lucas moved into one of the uncomfortable fold-down seats attached to the side wall, folding his wheelchair, He lay it on its side next to him. Finally, he clicked the red harness to secure himself.

A few seconds passed with nervous looks traded between the young adults.

The back main door began to close, as the sound of the engines tapered off a little. Both Lucas and Allison put on their headphones and the noise was completely silenced.

Buzzing static could be heard, then cutting out, a voice was heard,

"This is going to be kind of a long flight, so I suggest you get comfortable" Sam's voice came through the headset.

Lucas's stomach lurched as the helicopter lifted off the ground, the ascending landing gear vibrated Lucas's seat.

The kids looked out the window, marveling at the sheer size of the perimeter fence the pre-academy had.

'If the low-level schools are this guarded then how guarded is academy zero' this thought crossed Lucas's mind as they ascended into the sky, the buildings getting smaller as time passed.

***

It had been around three hours since they first began their flight and Sam had said that the flight would take at least 6 hours.

They were still moving at incredible speeds for a helicopter, and it showed. The landscape below them had started to get greener and more mountainous eventually turning into a vast deep blue ocean.

The comms system cracked as Sam once again spoke,

"They don't pay me enough for this shit… just to let you guys know we got an unidentified aircraft tailing us," Sam's calm voice was overshadowed by his words.

Hydraulic vibrations were felt as the ramp opened, revealing blue sky and the dark blue water thousands of feet below. A blue dot was on the horizon behind them and was visibly getting closer.

"What t-the hell is that!?" Allison yelled into the microphone, her voice cracking mid-sentence.

"Russian U-94-S. I don't know how long it's been following us, but I just noticed them with my powers."

"Anything lower class and it would be a cakewalk. But this type- It's built to specifically withstand supers, hence the S, along with the initial U indicating that it's an unmanned vessel." Sam let out a small sigh signifying his displeasure.

The door to the cockpit opened and Sam walked out,

"he's only about a quarter of a mile out, judging by his speed it will only take a few minutes at most until he's on top of us,"

"I can only do something if he fires his missiles at us, your time to shine Allison, do you think you can try to mess up the internals?" Sam questioned Allison, her expression turning sour.

She couldn't believe the scenario, the person meant to protect them had just asked her to take care of it?!

Allison wanted to flat-out refuse, but she knew better.

"Sir! It's thousands of feet away I can't affect anything past 100 feet, and even if I could it would be so minuscule that I wouldn't do anything!" Allison was still trying to reason with the Agent.

During this excursion, Lucas was just sitting idly as he watched the jet get closer by the second.

'We are going to die here aren't we, what a shame. Maybe I can finally find solace' Lucas thought, the aircraft rapidly turning from a dot into a blob of black.

"Come on, it's a straight shot and it's the only other metal object in the sky beside us!" Sam was encouraging her to try.

The look on Allison's face was full of dread when she realized that their supervisor refused to do anything in this situation.

She stood up outstretching her hands and pointing them towards the object which had gotten considerably closer, only about 900 feet out at this point.

"Here, my powers can affect electromagnetic waves, I could release an EMP, but it would knock us out too, but if worse comes to worst I can stop the missile from hitting us and I'll try to buff your abilities with my electro-magnetism. It might amplify your range," Sam placed his hand on her shoulder as she started to concentrate, already confiding trust in these kids to keep his powers secret.

Allison concentrated, straining her powers to the absolute limit.

She started to visibly sweat as her arms shook,

Smoke started to billow out of the back of the jet, the prolonged disruption of airflow had caused a major malfunction in the engine, the fire soon broke out as flames spread into the tail.

"Good Job!" Sam rejoiced at the sight of the plane slowing. His face then turned serious "…they locked onto us; I can feel it"

A rocket from the underbelly of the jet was released as it sped toward them. Sam released his grip from Allison's shoulder as the missile closed in.

"Hang onto something! It will blow up as soon as it gets into proximity" Sam yelled as he looked at Lucas who was in his seat holding on for dear life. Still refusing to show a face of major fear all he could do was hope.

Lucas looked at the small white object as a stream of blue jetted out the back, the reality of the situation finally causing him to react.

He closed his eyes wishing that he could go back in time to prevent himself from ever ending up in this situation.

Lucas felt something stir from deep inside him as if a circuit was re-connected in his brain.

'One, two, three, four, five, six… did it miss? No, it couldn't have,' Lucas thought to himself, the vibration of the rotary helicopter engines slowed as Lucas imagined them falling out of the sky because of the decrease in speed.

'Have I already died?' Lucas couldn't believe it. He had to be dead. 'But what is this feeling?'. Lucas felt as if he was floating, everything felt tingly but cozy at the same time.

What is power? If someone were asked to describe the feeling it could be labeled as 'exhilarating', 'scary' some even felt as if it belonged to them.

Not Lucas, he could feel it. Coursing through his veins and making him feel, warm, for the first time in years, his mind was at peace with itself.

Half a minute went by before the feeling started to fade. Lucas didn't know what was going on, his eyes were still tightly closed.

Lucas steeled himself to open them.

He did, and what he saw was extraordinary,

Sam held out his hands as he attempted to alter the direction of the missile.

Except it wasn't happening as fast as it should, in fact, nothing was. Lucas looked over to Allison, her hair slowly waving in the wind as if a light breeze was caressing her.

That's when Lucas realized, everything was moving slower.

Thirty seconds had passed for him, he counted them. But for the world around him, it seemed like only a few.