"I Love You" (Book Three In The "I Promise" Series)

Slade Returns

"Priority Red. Priority Red. Priority Red." The tower repeated over and over.

"That doesn't sound too good," Andre muttered.

I flipped open my communicator to find my Dad was calling me.

"Dad! What is it? The Tower's blaring out something about "Priority Red." What does that even mean, anyway?" I asked.

"Rach- Galatia." Dad corrected himself. It was hero time, and codenames were essential. At least according to Uncle Nightwing and Mar'i.

"Galatia, I need you to get your brothers and the team and meet us on Johnson Avenue."

"Okay, where's mom?" I asked.

"I've left her at home, now I need you to get here fa-" he was cut off by a burst of static.

"Dad!" I screamed.

"Come on! You heard him! If we get the rest of the team we can help him!" Andre reminded me, taking my hand.

I blushed, "Oh yeah, right," I said stupidly. Concentrating, I made my entire body glow yellow for a moment, and then when the glow disappeared I was in my superhero uniform. A brown jacket and cargo shorts with a black shirt, boots, and gloves.

Andre changed into his uniform instantly too. He looked like his mother, only his purple hair was pulled back in a ponytail, he was more muscular, and he wore a black spandex that covered almost his whole body.

I levitated the earth beneath me to fly back to the school, and Andre followed me.

Mar'i and the rest of the team met us about a block from the school entrance.

"Where are the others?" I asked, referring to our brothers and sisters who didn't fight.

"Got a text from my dad, he said that John's nanny is watching Eve and Jane as well, and I gave Georgia, Victor, and Arella specific orders to stay put at school." Mar'i informed us.

It's not like they're on the team and you can order them around too, I growled in my mind.

"Alright," I said out loud, "My dad says we need to meet him and the rest of our parents on Johnson Avenue," I informed them, holding up the GPS map displayed on my comm.

"Lead the way, Mar!" Ryan said, wearing a uniform almost identical to the one his dad used to have. The only real difference was that what used to be green was now black, and there was a "C" instead of an "R" on his badge.

"That's Nightstar to you, Cardinal," She told her brother, eyes glowing blue with her starbolt energy.

I took Jai, whose codename was Devil, and Cardinal on my platform of rock and took to the skies after Mar'i and Andre. My brothers shifted into green birds and flew, while Katie, aka Swift, ran below us.

The closer we got to Johnson Avenue, the louder the civilian screams and sounds of fighting grew.

"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!!!" Someone yelled. I looked up and saw aunt Raven throw a car into a cloud of dust just outside the Jump City bank.

"Who are we up against?" I yelled, jumping to the ground and throwing the earth I had ridden after her car. Thank goodness Devil and Cardinal had followed my lead.

"I don't know!" My dad replied from behind uncle Cyborg.

Swift ran up besides me alongside her dad, "I just did a full scout-out of the place. Can't see nothing inside that cloud," she reported.

"Couldn't see anything, sweetie," Auntie Jinx replied, doing a backflip over her husband and sending a pink hex into the cloud.

"Robots! We're fighting robots!" Andre, aka Crow, concluded as a decapitated 'bot head with fuzzing wires clattered  the ground in front of us.

"Surround it!" Uncle Nightwing and Nightstar said at once. We did so, spreading out in a big circle around the cloud.

"Galatia!" Dad said, getting an idea, "Use your powers to clear then dust!"

"Yeah, yeah, good idea!" I told him, putting my goggles on, "Watch out!" I yelled to warn my team and our parents. I raised my hands in the air as they began to glow yellow. I could feel the cloud of dust and debris that had been created by the explosion these robots had made when they broke out of the bank. I closed my eyes and concentrated, pushing down on the dust, pushing it back into the ground.

I kept my eyes closed as I caught my breath, and I heard aunt Kory gasp loudly. Dad and  Nightwing  growled. I opened my eyes to see a man with one eye who wore a suit of armor that was half-orange-half-black.

"Slade..." Dad growled.

DUNDUNDUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!