The Cyber Age

Chapter 20: The Dinner Party (Part 2)

Jared and Tristan ran as fast as they could. Tristan was carrying three parachute-packs, and Jared carried two. Five packs for five people.
The two of them were running faster then they had ever run in their entire life.
Jared had tried to defuse the craugnazium, but he only made it tick faster. According to the bomb, they had exactly a minute and a half before the back half of the mothership exploded, making the remains plummet down to the fields below.
By now, the two of them were making their way through the maze.
And with only a minute and a half, they had to act fast.

Braden looked around. Kendall sat on the ground hugging her knees.
Poor thing.
This was too much trauma for her.
But what Braden really needed to find was Tim's walkie-talkie.
And there it was. Sitting on a table not far from himself.
Braden ran over to it.
Immediately, Braden pressed the talk button. "Hello?" Braden said urgently.
"Brent!" He repeated.
Then some static came through. "Hey! Braden listen. Tristan and Jared just came by the cockpit. We can't get the door open." Said Brent. Braden's heart sank.
This was not good.
"They also said that they found a bomb in the tail. And we have a minute until it blows up." Said Brent.
Braden's heart sank even more.
If they can't get the door open, and in one minute the ship was going to plummet to the ground and-- Oh no.
"Brent, NO! I won't let this happen! Not this time! I couldn't save my mom, but I will save you!" Braden was yelling at the walkie-talkie, and he didn't even notice the stream of tears running down his cheeks. "Braden! Listen to me right now! It's better that I die than all of us! Now Jared and Tristan are coming up to you with parachutes. I'm so sorry this had to happen. This honestly was the best way I'd like to beat my last year to be alive." Said Brent, who was trying to hide that he was getting choked up as well. "Brent! Brent NO! Brent!--" Said Braden, who was cut off by loud static.
Brent had just turned off his walkie-talkie.
Braden fell to his knees, and put his head in his hands. He was crying so loud, he didn't even notice Kendall's soft sobbing. Braden looked over at Kendall. She wasn't hugging her knees anymore. She was sitting in a chair, resting against the table.
Braden walked over to her, and she stood up.
Kendall's quiet sobs got louder by the moment, and Braden took her into a big hug. The only thing Braden could think to say was, "I think that what he's about to do is more noble than anything Captain America ever did."
Kendall looked up at him.
Braden didn't realize how close they were. Their faces were only a few inches apart. "Thank you." Said Kendall in no more than a whisper. "For what?" Braden asked at the same volume. "For everything." Said Kendall.
Braden was so sad, he didn't know what to say. So he leaned in, and kissed her cheek. "Your welcome." He replied.
"Hey." Said Tristan in a low tone.
Braden didn't even realize they had gotten here. "Hi." Said Braden, matching the tone. "Put this on." Said Jared, who held two parachutes. Braden took the parachute. Tristan gave Kendall hers, and left the fifth one on the ground. "I'm so sorry about Bre--" Jared was cut off by the loudest explosion ever. They could see the fire from where they were standing.
"Hurry! Jump!" Tristan yelled, as they all ran to the edge.
As they were running, Braden's parachute got snagged by a table.
The rest of them had already jumped, and Braden's parachute wouldn't budge.
He had to act fast.
This ship was plummeting faster than anything.
Then he got an idea.
When he holds electricity, he gets stronger.
Maybe even ironclad. So if he absorbed several thousand volts, maybe he would splat when he hit the ground.
It was worth a shot, and it wasn't like he had anything to lose now.
Braden placed both hands on the ground, and sucked in tremendous amounts of electricity.
Braden's whole body was glowing due to the electricity.
Braden was extremely nervous.
The jet on the ship was extremely loud, and the ship was falling almost vertically at five hundred miles per hour.
Braden stopped absorbing electricity, and ran to the edge.
He couldn't really run, due to the weight of the electricity, but he could walk fast.
When Braden got to the edge, he looked down in the direction of the cockpit.
In there was a fourteen-year-old kid who was bravely looking death in the face.
Braden felt remorse, even though there wasn't anything he could do.
And he knew that.
So he jumped.

Once Kendall, Jared and Tristan made it to the ground, the three of them immediately looked around. "Where's Braden?!" Said Kendall in a traumatized voice "BRADEN?!" Kendall yelled at the top of her lungs.
Right then, they all heard a distant buzzing. It must be loud, because they could hear it over the jet of the mothership.
Then, it got louder. "Braden!!" Jared and Tristan yelled consecutively.
Then, as the buzzing was nearly deafening, a glowing white figure slammed onto the ground only ten feet away from them.
The figure held its arms out in opposite directions, and released what must have been thousands of volts of electricity, revealing Braden.
"Oh my gosh, Braden!!" Kendall yelled as she went to hug Braden.
The force of his fall had made a crater.
"Where the freaking heck is your parachute?!?!" Kendall yelled. "It got snag--" Braden was cut off by the mothership exploding onto the open fields only a thousand feet away from them. "How am I gonna explain this to the DCPD?!" Said Jared.
The four of them just stood there, for what seemed like forever, staring at the flaming remains of the mothership, knowing that somewhere in there lied Brent. The flames and small explosions lit the midnight sky, as the four of them stood there in shock.
Then, Jared spoke up,
"I have an idea."