Atomic Rebooted

60. Ultimatum

CLAIRE

We all sat around the TV in the living room with the volume off and the big breakfast Holly so ambitiously made for all of her sudden guests. Footage of the attacks yesterday replayed. Spliced in between commentary and replays were drone camera feeds of the device causing the shield on top of a building in the middle of downtown New Kingsbury.

"That base is too well-guarded," Reign said with a frown.

"Yeah," Julien added as his fingers glided over his laptop. "Looks like according to these reports that the cops have already tried to get in. Hasn't worked—all of Dr. Electra's minions are there, I think."

"So we have to figure out how to sneak into a well-guarded building or brute-force our way in?" I wasn't liking our chances of stopping Tenebrous and his faction like this.

"Well, can any of us fly?" Tristan looked to Henry.

"Yeah." Henry looked to Reign. "I think I got the power off of you."

"That's true." Reign tilted her head as she entwined her fingers into Mood Ring's. "But I don't have much beyond that—that's exactly why I'm not really fighting supervillains or anything, just apprehending normal petty criminals. You'd be a lot more valuable in that situation."

"You flatter me," Henry laughed.

"I mean, she's not wrong though," I pointed out. "You're our MVP, with all those powers you've got stockpiled. I mean, you can do pretty much all of what we can do and more."

"I'm still only one person—haven't found anyone with cloning powers yet." Henry looked thoughtful. "And I'm only human."

"But you are our best hope for stopping this thing," Tristan added.

"It's not a good plan to just send our best fighter to the top and hope for the best." Dad scribbled something down on his notebook. "Besides, Tristan and Jenna could also get up there and fight."

"But we don't know how to turn off the machine." Henry pointed at the screen. "If we destroy it, there could be physical damage to the building or to us."

"That's where I could come in," Tristan pointed out. "I could destroy it like that, no damage to everything else."

"Except look at who's up there." Mood Ring's voice was quiet.

The drone zoomed in to reveal Titanio, only for him to meet the camera's eye directly and for it to start plummeting toward the street before the channel switched back to the studio.

I looked to Mood Ring—a psychic hero, they were able to read minds to some extent and levitate things.

"I know he's got powers like mine, and if he's really Dark Titan's son like he claims. . . Then he has to have his technomancy, doesn't he?" I mused.

"He's not lying about that," Mood Ring said. "There's a reason beyond that as to why Dr. Electra and Tenebrous are choosing to leave him alone to keep anyone from getting an aerial on him."

"What do you mean?" I couldn't help but be troubled just by the confirmation that Titanio wasn't some lying pretender. After all, half of why we were in this mess was the weapons that Dark Titan left behind.

"He has a third power set, a really strong one," Mood Ring explained. "Maybe that one and the energy power are the same—but I don't think so. I can feel it, there's a difference between them, and the third one does not feel like it belongs to him."

"He stole a superpower?" I blinked. "How's that possible?"

"Maybe Dark Titan left something for him, that would help him do that," Dad suggested. "He was experimenting with making the kind of technology Electric Energy would have killed to have. I always thought it was strange, how much of it disappeared after his defeat."

"Or maybe Dr. Electra helped." Henry's face darkened as he looked to his own curling fists.

"It doesn't matter—what matters is that he can warp our very reality," Mood Ring finished. "We won't be able to get on the roof if he's expecting us."

"What I don't understand then is why he's just a mook." Jenna leaned in. "Kid like that could be running the whole show, with powers like that, but he's content to be some guard in this scheme?"

"He's probably just some dumb kid in over his head pretending to be like his dad." Julien looked up. "But that does make it a no-go on the roof plan. We have to figure out how to sneak into that building."

Before we could continue that avenue of discussion, a breaking news banner popped on the screen.

Holly eagerly turned up the volume with her remote.

"This just in, supervillain Tenebrous has presented Mayor McQueen and the City Council with an ultimatum." Althea Arnolds actually looked angry, finally breaking her unflappable cheery persona. "Hand over Thornton Andersen, CEO of Atomic Energy and control of the city in forty-eight hours, or he will wage war on the city."

"What?" I blinked—I couldn't believe that he'd made his move, and so quickly.

"Mayor McQueen and the council have chosen not to make. a statement yet, but sources close to the mayor claim that he is seriously considering taking this ultimatum."

Suddenly Althea Arnolds breaking her facade made sense.

"I'm sorry, I can't just report this with a straight face and the normal cheer." Althea Arnolds slammed down her clipboard on her desk and tilted her head at the camera. "This is ridiculous, right? Why haven't the Sentinels been able to do anything? This cannot be happening, I mean—"

Holly then decided to take mercy and cut off the TV. "You guys have to stop him, then."

"Tonight," Mira agreed, looking thoughtful.

Silence overtook the room.

The problems were looming over us, all leading to one situation I wasn't sure a room full of vigilantes could get us out of. And yet, there wasn't any other choice.

We had to fight for our city. Even if Mayor McQueen didn't deserve our protection, and especially not Thornton Andersen.

They deserved to face justice, not get killed by a supervillain on a power trip.

But where to even begin? The clock was ticking down before war would be waged on the city.

Our troubled thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

I got up, for everyone else was so still, one would be forgiven for thinking that they'd turned to stone. I wondered who on Earth would be here, especially with the lockdown on activities.

I tensed as I gripped the doorknob. Could it be one of the villains working with Tenebrous? Didn't he know where we were, after all, because of Menlo?

I summoned energy into my palm, ready to fight if I needed to as I opened the door.

That energy fizzled in surprise as I did a double-take.

Standing there was none other than Heretic.

"Mind if I come in?" She lifted a plastic bag. "I believe I have something for my daughter."

I blinked, unsure of what else to do. Then I nodded, gesturing for her to come on in.