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Part 7: Relocation, Chapter 31

June

Wreckage of the CHESF base

The rock was now a puddle. June breathed in a deep breath as the fresh Rocky Mountain air hit her. It was cold. Crisp. Perfect. Though they had kissed many times, June still felt dazzled by Swipe. Skyler gasped. June turned around.

"What?" She asked.

"Based on how quickly that rock melted, I estimate that you blasted it at around 1500 degrees..." June looked semi-unimpressed by Skyler's statement. Skyler finished. "...Celsius. You almost doubled the temperature needed to melt it." That got a few wide eyes and stutters. Including a few by June herself.

"D-d-doubled?"

Skyler nodded.

Devin stepped in. "Look guys, while discussing this stuff is all fine and well, we need to find a place to stay. We have our powers, our armor, and each other and that is it. We need to discuss our plan of action. Swipe's injured and can't run, I have a hole in my gut, and we have no food and no money. What are we going to do?"

They all thought for a moment.

"Let's see, based on the positioning of the mountains, I would say that the nearest town is..." Skyler spun in a semi circle. "..over there. About 100 miles South of our location."

"How do you know that?" Swipe asked, not accusational, but more with awe.

"Well, look at the sky." They all did.

"What do you notice?" She asked.

"How pretty it is," said Lizzie.

"Start, galaxies, Milky Way, and somewhere in it all, Dark Atlas, who we are supposed to destroy somehow." June gave him an elbow to his arm. He looked at her.

"Yes, but when you look that way, what do you see?"

June did. The stars cut off near the horizon, and gave way to darkness beyond. "Nothing." She replied.

"Exactly. Light pollution. That means that there's a city nearby, or, well, nearby in terms of Earth size. Not human size. We have a long way to go."

"Then let's get moving." Devin commanded.

It was slow going. Swipe and Devin were both injured, and Swipe had to be carried by two or more people. Devin sent the girls ahead to make camp. Right now, Devin and Carter were both struggling to hold him. Even though Devin knew he could probably hold Swipe up with his powers, Devin was too tired to concentrate enough for that, and Devin could tell that the adrenaline crash was getting to Carter. They often fumbled, but they never went completely down. It took them about two hours to get to the campsite that was 5 miles away. When they got there, Sky and June were sitting around a fire looking bored. As soon as June saw them, she rushed to help. Swipe was somehow asleep, aside from being shaken around. It was good that he was sleeping. Painless healing.

They set Swipe on a log, and sat down on the wooden benches Sky and June had made for them. They started discussing places to go.

"I had a place in LA. We could all go there." Carter offered.

"We could, but who knows. If you stopped paying rent it's probably not yours anymore. My mom lives in San Diego. I'm sure that we could hide out with her for a time. We're not particularly rich, but she should be able to support all of us, especially if we each got jobs. We have a nice house that's plenty big." Skyler explained.

"My parents are rich." Swipe said. Everyone looked at him. He was still sleeping, and his voice was slurred so it sounded more like Mmmy paaaaaa-ents are reeech. Carter looked at the rest of the group.

"Did he just say 'my pants itch?"'

"No," Lizzie responded. "He said 'my parents are rich.'"

That got even more stares from the group.

"He has parents?" June asked, while pointing at the sleeping figure.

"Yes, he does. And I think it's about time to pay them a visit."