HSMTMTS: The Core Four

49

EJ's POV

"Okay, so we know this gem will start the device" Gina holds up the stone. We're all sitting in the training room. Ricky was able to get the stone away from the others and when he was in trouble, Gina was able to get hold of it, now we're trying to figure out how to use this to stop Ricky's mom and her boyfriend. "Without it, the device is just some unstable thing in the street that travelers would take pictures of."

"Their plan is to cover Utah with Todd's fear toxin. He might be able to cover the whole world with his toxins" Ricky says quietly. We all start to think to ourselves, there has to be another way to stop the gas and save the world.

"Oh, well until we can think of a plan, my vines can surround all of Salt Lake so the gas can't get out, like a barrier" Sadia offers. "And my auroras can surround your vines if the gas is able to sneak out" Jean adds.

"Not only would that keep the gas in, but it would also keep Cosmic Witch and...Todd in, I'm sorry, his name is Todd?" Mal says, snickering as he finds out Nightmare's name. Not gonna lie, I snickered too.

"Maybe the only way to stop the gas...is to destroy the stone. Cause they need the stone to activate the device" I say, taking the stone from Gina's hand. "And then Lily can turn the gas into...I don't know...maybe flowers or something."

"Or I could create a portal sucking in all the gas and send somewhere away, keep everyone safe" Gina suggests. "Like deep space. Very deep space" I say. The plan is coming together.

"But Todd and Ricky's mom will try to stop us," Mal says.

"Behind an army of super-powered zombies," Bruce adds.

"Not to mention they have psionic powers and fear toxins" Jean rolls her eyes.

"They've got a point" Howie mummers.

"Nobody ever said being a superhero would be easy" I interrupt them, standing up. "It's part of the job." Being a superhero comes with challenges, we all knew we'd be putting our lives at risk when we agreed to this, like Nini.

We spend more time coming up with a plan. "Now, the first step would be keeping the stone away from Nightmare or the Wicth, and definitely away from the machine," Lily says, we all nod in agreement, if we got it close to them, they'd definitely steal it back. "But the stone...how do we destroy it?" I ask.

"We all do" Mal speaks up, holding his hand out. Gina gives him the stone and he plays around with it in his hand. "We all blast it together until we disintegrate it into nothing."

"You're scary, sometimes," Ashlyn tells him, but he just chuckles. "Well, I am the son of a dragon" he grins with black energy flowing through his eyes.

"Of course, someone will have to distract you-know-who's," EJ's uncle says. We start thinking about who will fight off Todd and Ricky's mom while the rest of us multitask destroying the stone and fighting off zombies. But who can hold off both villans?

"I'll do it" Ricky volunteers, we all give him sympathetic looks, he hasn't spoken since he had to destroy his locket, he's just been sitting there, fiddling with his fingers and keeping his head down. "You don't have to," I tell him grabbing his shoulder. Ricky's been through so much, he was beaten by his mother, his father's in jail, he's fighting his mom, Nini's still...unknown, not to mention that he had to destroy his locket, the one thing he treasured.

He stays silent for a little, but then he looks up at me with a scary death stare, his pupils glowing gold, which means pure rage for him.

"I want to."