Toka-Ace #1: The Re-Emergence
Chapter 24

It took a little more convincing from Katherine to the assortment of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and legal guardians that were gathered, her desire, and the importance of unsealing the abilities of the kids who had been altered. What it boiled down to was. “We can’t run forever.” She stated. I could see that the concern wash over the faces of the adults.

“Let me get this straight,” A kid named Ben spoke up. “If you inject us with that stuff, we’ll be able to transform like that guy?” he asked pointing at me.

“Your powers will be different from his, but yes.” Katherine confirmed.

“Then it’s a no-brainer,” Ben said. He rolled up his sleeve and patted his strong-looking forearm. “Give it to me, lady, then when these Tovlin guys catch up to me, I’ll show them the back of my hand.” Ben was here by himself. He had no legal guardian to speak for him.

No one objected but Thaddeus’s legal guardian looked as though he was torn between a desire to object and an interest in letting Ben be the guinea pig in this particular experiment.

Katherine tied a band around Ben’s arm and waited for a vein to become more pronounced. When that happened, she stuck the needle in his arm and pushed down the plunger.

“I’m next,” Thaddeus declared holding out his arm.

“Wait,” said his father, “Why don’t we wait to see-“

“No, dad. I’m the one in danger and I’m making this decision.” All the other kids murmured their agreement and the parents gave in. Allison was crying, and it made me sad, thinking of Mom.

Katherine grabbed a new syringe.

Katherine administered the shots one by one. However she was unable to speed up the process as she had done with me. It turned out that the beakers of adrenaline that she used to make me transform quickly were smashed in my fight against the androids. The others would have to wait at least twelve hours until their powers manifested.

The good news is that we knew we had some time before Tovlin would be able to even replace this location.

Francis continued standing guard. Katherine, Yasmine, and Adam got started talking about a long-term plan. The rest of us had nothing to do but wait.

After a while no one seemed as stressed as they had been. Andrew the rock star was in a corner having a back and forth conversation with Eugene and Ivan. I leaned against the wall and decided to take a breather. I closed my eyes and took a mental load off. Ben came over and stood next to me. “So it must be exciting to be able to change like that.” Ben said. “It must be a real rush to have all that power.” There was the beginning of a smile on his face as the wheels turned in his head.

“You won’t think that once an android or some alien monster tries to kill you,” I said. “Or goes after someone you love.”

I really wanted to be more positive, but I just didn’t have the energy.

Ben barked a laugh. “Loved ones?” He questioned incredulously. “All these other kids have homes and families. Who do you think I’m here with?”

“You don’t have anyone looking after you?” I asked surprised. “Like at all?”

“Don’t sound so shocked,” Ben said. “I’ve always been alone. It’s no big deal. If anything, once my powers come in, I can change my life for the better.” With that he walked away.

I decided at that moment that there was something that I just didn’t like about Ben. Did he think that this was a game or something? Maybe I would wash the bad taste I got from him by talking to someone else. Before I could my phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hello again, Troy,” The voice on the other end of the line made the blood freeze in my veins. “Aug-Ig,” I said.

“Nice to talk to you again, Troy.” He said.

“I wish I could say the same.” I said. “Did you call just to talk about the weather or sports maybe?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes Troy. You‘ve gone back on your word. As you can imagine, I‘m not happy,” Aug-Ig said sternly.

“That really sounds like a personal problem,” I said.

“I want you and the rest of the test subjects,” Aug-Ig demanded.

“That’s not going to happen,” I said. I was about to hang up.

“If you do not, then innocent people will die,” he threatened.

I froze.

“I will send my Aanbi-Sali and Vildealo operatives as well as my genetically altered creations to attack people at random. We will attack people in their homes and in public. No one will be safe, and I will make every attack news worthy,” Aug-Ig vowed. “The streets of Milwaukee will run red with blood and all the citizens will live in fear until you all turn yourselves in. And to show you that I’m not bluffing, I’ve already ordered my operatives to conduct three attacks. One near Brown Deer, another near downtown, and one on the lake shortly after that. You think about that. We’ll talk later.”

After that there was silence.

I immediately went to Katherine. It was close to nine o’ clock. The Channel Six News would start in a moment.

“Katherine, something big has happened,” I said. I told her about Aug-Ig’s threat, then we went downstairs and watched the news.

Breaking news started the broadcasts. A concerned sounding news woman was standing in a neighborhood in Brown Deer. She reported on a “wolf” attack. A couple had been taken to the hospital in critical condition.

I knew what kind of “wolf” that had been. I was simultaneously helpless, horrified, and angry at Tovlin’s power and ruthlessness.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“We can’t hand ourselves over,” Katherine said.

“Aug-Ig said that there’d be one more attack by the lake,” I said. “We’ve got to stop them.”