╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
FIFTEEN!
let's end this
part one
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────
The Mech X4 team was just in the process of outrunning the military's fighter jets as infamous billionaire, Seth Harper, hired them to go after the team after they accidentally blew up their high school. The robot was getting hit left and right by military grade missiles. This caused many problems to occur like a lack of shields, system shutdowns and tons of fire, which caused smoke to build up in the control centre. Ryan had retreated to the outskirts of the city to ensure the citizens of Bay City weren't being harmed by their chase and the incoming missiles. The boy ducked behind a rock to hide.
"Bro, are you alright?" Mark asked worryingly.
"I can't shake these guys." Ryan pointed out.
"I believe the 'let's run away,' plan isn't working! We need a new tactic!" Harris exclaimed.
"Oh, ok, how about this? How about this plan? I get in an escape pod with Natty and we eject." Spyder suggested to the group.
"And?" Ryan questioned.
"And...And, what?" Spyder asked in confusion. Just as the boy finished his question, a another missile hit the robot and they stumbled forward.
"There's goes the last of our shields." Harris said.
"Harris, I think it's time to try out our special project." Ryan suggested. The special project was a feature that could turn the robot invisible.
"It isn't ready yet, I haven't tested it!" Harris exclaimed in a panic.
"Do it!" Ryan demanded before hiding behind a hill covered in large rocks and trees. Harris turned on the system to activate the invisibility mode and it worked on the first try.
"What's up, now? Didn't expect the robot to hologram up, did you? You best, ghost." Harris said smugly at the fact that his invisibility feature worked. Mark came down his ladder and started to put out the small fires with a fire extinguisher.
"Since when could we do that?" Spyder asked.
"I asked Harris to install a hologram generator like the one hiding Mech X3." Ryan explained.
"Consider this our first field test." Harris said.
"I'd say it passed. Always wondered what passing a test felt like." Spyder said.
"Really? I've passed a test before and I never do my homework or study." Hana taunted.
"Leo deserves most of the credit, he invented it." Harris pointed out.
"Speaking of Leo?" Ryan pondered.
"I sent him our GPS coordinates. He's on his way from Mech X3 to help with repairs." Natalie assured.
"Good. Ok, I'm out of here. I'm heading to Harper's to save mom." Ryan declared as he began packing his bag with gravity pucks.
"Right now?" Harris questioned.
"Because that worked out so well the last time. We almost lost the robot." Mark pointed out.
"I don't need the robot to save mom, ok! I have a power." Ryan said before walking over to the hatch in the floor. Just as the boy reached for the handle, Mark placed his foot over to stop Ryan.
"Out of my way." Ryan demanded in annoyance but Mark wouldn't even budge.
"Dude, move or I will move you!" Ryan threatened.
"You're not going. You're the only one who can pilot this robot." Mark pointed out.
"Ry, Mark is right. If the military finds us, the robot will have to make another run for it. You can't leave!" Harris explained and Ryan sighed as he knew that the boy was right.
"I'll take the tech and get mom." Mark said and grabbed the bag from Ryan.
"And I'll go too, I know that place like the back of my perfectly moisturized hand." Harris said and grabbed his sweater from his chair.
"You? I kinda saw this as a solo Mark Walker thing. No offence." Mark explained.
"Some taken." Harris said, kinda hurt.
"I'll go as well. You're gonna need someone, who's not flabby and weak. Again, no offence Harris but just look at you." Hana pointed out, poking fun at the fact that the boy was not in good shape.
"Some taken." Harris said, kinda hurt again. He never expected to be taunted like this.
"I'll take Hana but not Harris." Mark declared.
"Dude, just...You need him. He's been working there every day after school since he won the Harper Grant. He knows the layout." Ryan explained to convince the senior. Mark sighed as he finally gave in to his brother's pleas to bring Harris along.
"Fine, I'll take him too." Mark sighed.
"Be careful, guys." Natalie warned.
"Don't worry, we will." Mark assured. The three teens then walked over to the elevator. Just as they were about to get in, Ryan quickly called his brother.
"Hey, Mark!" Ryan called. Mark immediately turned towards the boy.
"Bring her home." Ryan said and Mark nodded.
"Good luck, guys." Natalie encouraged. They all sent the girl a smile before getting into the elevator. They were gone within a few seconds. This just left Ryan, Spyder and Natalie in the robot.
"Come on, let's go check the damage report." Ryan suggested. They all ran over to Spyder's desk to check out the robot on his system. Ryan hit a few buttons to load the report up and the alarm went off.
"Uh, oh." Spyder panicked.
"Yeah, that's not good." Ryan agreed.
"That definitely doesn't." Natalie nodded.
The three teens then ran over to the hatch that lead down to the lounge room to see what was wrong. "Go, go, go." Ryan rushed as Spyder went down the ladder in the hatch. The boy then helped Natalie down, which made both teens blush intensely. Ryan was the last one to come down.
───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────
The three teens had made it to the lounge room and were instantly met with a military grade missile. Natalie was the first one to notice the explosive trapped in the wall and her eyes doubled in size. "That's not good." She pointed out.
"What's not good...?" Ryan started to ask but stopped when he saw the missile. "Ah, so, um, one of the military's missiles hit, pierced a hole but didn't explode." Ryan pointed out.
"Aww, that's so sad. Didn't fulfill its destiny." Spyder frowned in a joking manner as he reached to touch the missile but luckily, Ryan hit the boy's hand away before he could.
"Hey, let's keep it that way." Ryan demanded. The two other teens just nodded.
The elevator then traveled to the floor to reveal Leo. The scientist was having trouble getting out of the elevator as he was suffering from a bad case of dizziness. "Whoo! Oh! Wow, why would I design an elevator that gives me the dizzies? Ok, so what's the emergency?" Leo asked calmly before realizing that there was a military missile in the lounge room wall. The man was in disbelief at the sight.
"Wow! Man, did I come to the wrong party?" Leo questioned himself.
"Ok, maybe I can defuse it." Ryan suggested suddenly to the scientist.
"Stop! I mean, indoor voice. Stop, it looks too damaged. You might just set it off. It could detonate and destroy the robot at any second." Leo explained.
"So, what do we do?" Ryan asked in confusion.
"Hmm, the hologram was getting real glitchy when I flew in. I need to stabilize it or.." Leo started to say but his sentence was finished by Ryan.
"Before we become sitting ducks for the military." Ryan finished.
"Yes, you guys need to get it out of the wall and get it outside." Leo pointed out.
"And then I can use my power to detonate it from a distance?" Ryan questioned.
"Yes, yes, good luck with that." Leo grinned before leaving the three teens alone.
"Hear that buddy, you get to be you after all." Spyder baby talked as he tried to tap the missile again. Ryan quickly pulled the boy back.
"It's a missile." Ryan pointed out.
"Yeah, better leave it like that and have it not explode in our faces." Natalie added.
The three teens then decided on trying to carrying the missile out of the wall with their bare hands before tossing it out the open window. They all tried to lift the missile gently but it didn't help that the missile weighed a few hundred pounds and all of them had no upper arm strength. They also had Spyder as a weakness as he had slippery hands and a short of attention span that made him zone out in the middle of important tasks.
A ticking noise started to go off when they touched the missile as it was an indication that the timer had started. "Careful, careful, easy, easy, easy." Ryan ordered.
Spyder started to gently pull the missile from the wall as Ryan and Natalie held it still. The boy was able to carefully remove it and they now all had the gruelling task of getting it to the window.
"Oh, man, Tuesday confession. I cheated at my Bar Mitzvah. I'm not a real man yet!" Spyder blurted out nervously. Ryan and Natalie gave him a weird look.
"You were never a real man." Natalie shot back in annoyance and Spyder glared at her.
"Ok." Ryan breathed out, trying to stay calm.
Spyder was definitely testing the boy's patience. The Walker boys could have a bit of a short tempter. They exploded easily under pressure. A tedious task like this, mixed with someone as loud as Spyder was not good for Ryan's temper. The boy was ready to explode and give up on the task at hand.
"We're good, we're good." Spyder assured, trying to stay positive in this stressful situation.
"We are so not good!" Ryan exclaimed. The boy's patience had completely disappeared and his angry tempter was now present.
"Ok, hey, take it easy. You know, you kind of have been, um, barking orders at everyone. My therapist would call that acting out." Spyder explained and Natalie was actually kind of impressed by the boy's knowledge of mental health.
"It's nice to know that you still see your therapist. Hana got kicked out once and hasn't gone back." Natalie sighed in relief. Hana was forced to go to therapy by her parole officer to treat her anger issues but one incident with a chair was enough to make her not want to go back.
"I'm scared, Spyder. Harper has outmaneuvered us at every turn. The ooze, my mom, the military and we could fail, you know? That doesn't even freak you out?" Ryan questioned, in a panic.
"No." Spyder denied calmly.
"Not even a little?" Ryan wondered.
"No, cause I know my best friend has these powers, so I'm totally not scared of some rich old dude." Spyder explained.
"That's the point. What if my powers and the robot aren't good enough to save mom and the city?" Ryan vented to the teens.
"I know you, Ryan. How many bones did you almost break trying to break the McCallister 720 backwards?" Spyder asked.
"All of them." Ryan chuckled.
"That's what I'm saying. That attitude with these powers, equals victory!" Spyder exclaimed and playfully pushed Ryan.
This sudden action caused all of the weight of the missile to land on Ryan and Natalie. The two teens began to struggle with the sudden increase of weight on their bodies. Ryan and Natalie ended up dropping the missile when it got to much for them. The missile hit the ground harshly and the timer began to beep louder. This indicated that the missile was ready to go off any second.
"It's gonna explode! Door!" Ryan ordered. The teens all ran to the window and opened it it before going back over to the missile. They all tried their best to pick up the missile as fast as possible.
"Come on." Ryan said before they worked together threw it out the open window.
The missile hit the ground below and exploded. The impact caused the three teens to fall over as rubble flew at them. All of them covered their heads with their hands to avoid being hit with a piece of rock.
"Ryan, Spyder, Natalie, you guys ok?" Leo asked, when he popped up on Ryan's Mech-Link.
"Yeah, we're good." Ryan assured.
"I peed." Spyder blurted out randomly and Erina gave him a disgusted look.
"The explosion took out the power. No power means no hologram cover." Leo pointed out.
"Well, we're screwed." Natalie pointed out as she sat up. Both boys got up from the ground and Spyder helped pull Natalie up. The three ran off to find Leo.
───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ────────
Ryan, Spyder and Natalie climbed through the hatch in the floor of the control centre to see Leo was trying to fix the disconnected wires. "Uh, nothing, power's out all over the bot. The core must be damaged. This could take me a while to fix." Leo explained.
"The military could attack any second." Ryan pointed out in fear.
"Well, you're the technopath, Ryan, so I'm gonna need you to hold them off until I get the power back on." Leo suggested.
"Woah, woah, are you serious? You just want me to hold off the entire military?" Ryan asked in disbelief.
"But you fight monsters." Leo pointed out.
"Yeah, in a robot but now it's just me." Ryan stressed, completely nervous.
"And your power, uh...It's gonna have to be enough for now, I'm afraid." Leo said.
"Leo, come on, you're dreaming, ok? I couldn't destroy the ooze. I couldn't rescue my mom and now this? Just face it, ok? The wrong person got the power. It should've been someone else. Someone better." Ryan vented in fear to the scientist. The boy was really on edge about the whole situation and was starting to give up on himself.
"I wish I had something more inspirational to say right now, Ryan but you're the technopath, so it has to be you. If it makes any difference, I believe in you." Leo assured.
"Hey! That's what I said. Although, he said it better. We all know you can do it, Ry." Spyder added.
"We all believe in you. You just have to believe in yourself." Natalie concluded and Ryan nodded.
"Alright, fine but please just hurry and get the power back on." Ryan ordered.
"Yeah." Leo promised.
Ryan went up the ladder to Mark's station, while the rest of the group went to the hatch to get down to the core. The core was located in the middle of the robot and was its main source of power, without it then no power at all. The core was so powerful that it had to be locked away in a special chamber that would contains it radiation as it could probably kill everyone in the city.
"Ok, yeah, see there, those globes are supposed to be connected. We gotta get the broken ends realigned." Leo explained as he pointed to the broken core.
"Ok, well, have you met my friend duct tape?" Spyder asked and held up a roll of duct tape.
"Ok, yes, I love your enthusiasm. Thank you very much but I have no idea what that energy discharge is gonna do to a human being." Leo breathed out.
"Ryan's in danger. We gotta fix it. He could be getting killed out there." Spyder pointed out and Natalie nodded in agreement.
"I know but you two get the radiation suits. I'll wait here and monitor the core from this window." Leo suggested. Both teens nodded in agreement and ran off to the other room to grab the radiation suits.
"Hurry! Don't look back!" Leo exclaimed.
What they didn't realize was that this was a trick and Leo ran head first into the chamber. The two teens heard the door open and they ran back just as the door closed on them. Leo was was on the other side of the door.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Spyder questioned.
"There's no time. I've got to realign it myself." Leo explained before walking carefully over to the core.
"Leo! Leo! That is not good!" Natalie exclaimed as both teens pounded on the door to get the scientist to get back to safety.
Leo was able to re-connect the broken ends of the core back together as Ryan held off the military's incoming missiles. The pressure of Leo pushing the two repulsed electrical pieces together caused a giant explosion of electricity to occur. The sudden energy bust, sent the scientist against the wall and he harshly fell to the ground, covered in electrical burns.
"Leo!!" Spyder and Natalie exclaimed in disbelief at the sight. Spyder tried to open the door but he forgot that Leo had set up a highly sensitive lock that would keep the teens out.
"I'll hack the lock." Natalie suggested and Spyder nodded.
It took a few tries but the girl was able to figure out how to open the door by hacking into lock that Leo set up to keep them out. The door immediately slid open at the lock being hacked. The high pressure and electrical pulse decreased in the room, so the two teens could run in to pull the scientist out of the room and give him immediate medical care.
"Ryan, you better get down here!" Spyder exclaimed into his Mech-Link.
Natalie and Spyder helped the fainted scientist up and carried him to the Med Bay. Natalie was the one who set up all of the medical equipment as she knew a few things about giving medical treatment as her mother was a doctor. "He's gonna be ok." She sighed after she checked that Leo's vitals were all still stable.
"Thank, god. I thought he was a goner for sure." Spyder joked nervously and the girl hit him in the shoulder. He hissed as he rubbed the spot.
"No time for jokes, even nervous ones." Natalie pointed out and he just nodded. The door then opened to reveal Ryan, who was in disbelief.
"Leo, what were you thinking? And what happened in here?" Ryan asked nervously.
"I had to because the world needs you. You're the only one who can stop Harper. Look, I know sometimes you wish someone else got the power, so you could just be a normal kid but...I'm glad it was you. You're a good kid with a good heart. The right person got the power." Leo explained before falling asleep from exhaustion.
"Let him sleep." Spyder gently ordered.
"It took guts, what he did. He almost died. We're not gonna let that be for nothing. We have to finish what we started." Ryan pointed out.
"So, we're gonna win this thing?" Spyder asked.
"Without a doubt but we need our team." Ryan said and the other two teens nodded in agreement.
"We should get back upstairs since Mark and Harris should be here soon." Ryan suggested.
"Yeah, I'll stay here for a few minutes to make sure everything is stable." Natalie suggested.
"Alright, meet us up there." Ryan ordered.
"I will." Natalie agreed.
"Let's go, Spyder." Ryan said and the boy instantly followed after him as they both left the room.
Natalie decided that she would stay for a few minutes longer with the injured scientist. She adjusted the blanket on his unconscious body before sitting down in the chair next to the bed. She tightened the bandages that currently covered his arms that were littered with bleeding electrical burns. She then gently grabbed his wrist and held it firmly in her hand. She brought over her other hand to gently press her Mech Link to the pressure point on his inner wrist.
The girl was working hard on a new medical program that she was developing for the Mech Link. Her goal with this new program was to help the group heal any injuries faster than the usual human could. If you laid the Mech Link on any pressure point then it would send an electric shock to the body. In return, this would kickstart the white blood cells to begin reproducing at a rapid rate to attack any injury or illness in the body.
This meant that the group could now recover at a faster rate than the average human could. Instead of days, it would only take a few hours. She had tested it out on herself and it worked fine but this was her first time testing it on another person, so she was a bit nervous.
Natalie nervously set up her Mech Link to jumpstart the program. Just as the program was activated, she had received a painful electric shock and this in return, transferred electricity to Leo's pressure point for him to recover. After the program had indicated that it was finished the process, Natalie then slowly pulled back a loose piece of the bandage to access the results. Leo's skin no longer reeked of burns and was completely back to normal again. She unraveled the entire bandage in disbelief as her new program worked on the first go and this would now be valuable to the team.
Despite the success of her test, she had still received a electrical burn of her own. The tips of her fingers were now a bright red colour, which indicated that she had burned herself. She quickly blew on them to cool them down before racing to the sink to run them under cold water. The girl sighed in relief at the feeling. She stood at the sink for a few minutes before pulling her fingers away to wrap them up in little bandages. She then decided to go up to the control centre as the two boys were expecting her.
When Natalie had entered the control centre, the two boys were sitting at Spyder's desk. They had both turned to her once they had heard her enter the room. Spyder was the first one to instantly notice her bandaged up fingers.
"Natty, what happened to your fingers?" Spyder asked worryingly, gently grabbed her hand to get a closer look at them.
"I'm fine." Natalie assured. "Just a little side effect from that medical program I've been working on for the last few weeks or so." She explained and both boys nodded as they understood.
Suddenly, the elevator opened to reveal the other three members of the team, Mark, Harris and Hana. They exited the elevator and immediately went over to see their other three teammates.
"Mom safe?" Ryan asked nervously.
"Yeah, in the Med Bay but you can kiss our secret identities goodbye when she wakes up." Mark pointed out as their mother didn't know anything about their involvement with Mech X4.
"Is that ooze antidote?" Spyder asked Harris as the boy downed the test tube filled with the substance. The team all shuddered in disgust at the sight.
"Leftover from the capsule for the school, long story." Harris simplified.
"No, it's not, he's crazy but maybe, not the worse guy to go into a fight with." Mark nodded.
"Yeah, he turned into a little beast." Hana joked.
"Guys, Harper built a giant monster heart. We have to destroy it before it gets to the school." Harris exclaimed in disbelief.
"We will but right after we end this new monster. It's threatening innocent people right now then we'll kick Harper's butt from here to the moon, sounds good?" Ryan asked as he put his waist belt on.
"Yeah!" The team exclaimed in sync before running back to their designated stations.
"Mech Execute!" Ryan exclaimed before jumping straight to where the monster was located. The robot began to fight the green dinosaur looking monster and was even able to throw it to the ground.
"Let's take this thing apart!" Ryan exclaimed before running right at the monster. The monster was able to deflect Ryan's attack by harshly pushing the robot and he stumbled. The robot was then picked up and tossed towards the ground. The team was thrown to the ground from the impact.
"It just stopped?" Ryan questioned and he stood up.
"You're only gonna take me by surprise once, Ryan." A familiar voice said. It was Seth Harper said and everyone's jaws dropped. He was inside of the monster and controlling it.
"Did that monster just talk?" Spyder questioned.
"Can't be." Harris denied.
"Hello, guys and goodbye." Harper said.
💬 AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Act One of Lucid Dream is almost over. We just have one more chapter left. That's so crazy to think that we're halfway through this book. It took a while to get here but we're here, finally! I promise that Spyder and Natalie will be together soon, just please continue to be patient with me. Thank you for tolerating my mediocre updates, I appreciate all of your love and support.
★ 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 ! spyder johnson ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)