bomb had caused.
Besides the massive shockwave that had likely thrown everyone off their feet, it was actually a pretty useless explosion, he realized as he stared down at the moonlit, charred playing field. It hadn't killed anyone, it hadn't brought Hero High toppling down and it hadn't destroyed anything besides a stand of bleachers and a football field of freshly cut grass.
Jack watched as teachers, experienced heroes and parents ran out the gym building to investigate the threat, leaving the students inside where they would be protected.
At first, he thought it was a good idea, but his mind never stopped putting the pieces together and, soon, he recognized it as the biggest mistake of the evening.
That was when he radioed Bella. He was relieved to know the global director was inside, but it was only a shred of consolation.
The bomb was a trick, a decoy, a trap.
A terrible fate was about to befall the adults, Jack could feel it. However, something even worse was about to happen to the lonely teenagers standing around, unprotected, in the gymnasium beneath Jack's feet.
He was conflicted, yet again. Fly down and protect the adults or stay and wait to see what was going to happen to the teenagers?
He decided to stay, hoping he had made the right decision.
The wind kicked up, all of a sudden. Jack tilted his head back and looked up at the night sky as a small dot of flashing lights grew.
A helicopter?
Jack searched the rooftop for a place to hide, momentarily. He dashed, like a bolt of lightning, behind the air conditioner unit. From behind the unit, he watched as the helicopter came down for a smooth landing on top of the flat gym roof.
As the helicopter's blades slowed, a figure stepped out. It was easy to see them in the summer moonlight, especially with enhanced eyesight.
A tall man, in his sixties, with electric blue eyes, white hair and a clean-cut beard, wearing a long, black coat; a black shirt; black pants and black combat boots peered over the edge of the roof, surveying the scene of confused adults.
He laughed, lightly, to himself, unaware he shared the rooftop with someone else.
He pulled something out his pocket. A black, bulky disc. He bent down and placed the object on the concrete roof, pressed some buttons and then stepped back.
A little red light bleeped, emitting a petty noise, before the device proved what it was capable of.
It blew a new (though rough-edged) skylight into the gym's roof.
Jack coughed as smoke and dust billowed. The man didn't notice. Instead, he jumped down, through the hole and into the gym below.
30
Dean, Ty, Ethan and Bella came to the same conclusion Jack had reached as soon as they heard the helicopter's blades rapidly chopping the air.
Inside the gym, no one dared so much as breathe as a newcomer's footsteps echoed from the roof.
They heard the faint bleeping, and then the silence-shattering, earth-rocking and heart-stopping explosion erupted.
Screaming students scattered, running or flying (depending on what they could do), as fast as they could to the edges of the gymnasium to avoid being hit by bits of debris.
Bella fell to her knees, covering her head with her arms as bits of broken school roof flew like projectiles. The boys did the same, surrounding Bella, protectively.
Dust enveloped the disaster-zone that minutes before had been the Hero High gym.
Almost all the lights had been destroyed, plunging the vast gym into partial darkness, and Bella (the only glower in Hero High) instantly broke out in a pale blue glow. Pale blue meant she was scared. She didn't know yet how to control her glow colours.
Coughing and shaking shattered pieces of concrete and dirt off herself, Bella opened her eyes to take in the scene.
Smoke and dust began settling as students shakily tried to get back on their feet after being knocked down for the second time in such a short span of time.
Bella caught sight of a new figure, standing tall and menacingly atop the slab of concrete roof that had been above their heads minutes before.
A majority of the students congregated and formed a formidable barrier around the perimeter of the gymnasium, clearly demonstrating whose side they were on. The remaining students, as well as the global director and Mrs Opal, resided in the middle of the fearsome barricade.
"Lance was right," Bella said under her breath as she took in the sight of the villain teacher's hordes of supporters.
"It was Wepaynar the whole time," Jack said to himself as he ran from his hiding spot and fell through the new hole in the Hero High gym roof.
He flew and landed, softly, beside Bella and the boys, careful not to make a sound.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked Bella. Even with explosions, evil masterminds and rebels to deal with, Jack was still concerned about his friends.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Bella replied, brushing herself off.
"Yep, we're all good," Ty said. "You know, because EXPLODING GYM ROOFS, REBELS, RENEGADE HISTORY TEACHERS AND HELICOPTERS ON THE ROOF ARE TOTALLY NORMAL!"
"Keep it down," hissed Dean and Ethan.
"Round them up," Wepaynar ordered his league of young supporters.
Bella turned to Jack, her eyes asking all the questions.
"Go along," Jack instructed, keeping his voice low as the rebels advanced, herding the students towards the gymnasium doors. "I'll hang back and deal with Wepaynar."
"Be careful," Bella said, quickly hugging Jack.
"I will if you will," he replied.
The Gamma Accidents and Dean joined the stream of students being herded by the rebellious students through the open, double gym doors, into the corridors of Hero High.
A defiant (and shortsighted) hereditary student stood up to the rebels. "Ha! We're superheroes. We can escape anytime we want. What are you going to do to keep us inside?"
Wepaynar barely smiled as he pulled out a device that resembled a remote control and pressed a button.
The sound of metal shutters closing echoed through the gym.
"What just happened?" Ethan asked.
"The school's gone into lockdown," Dean answered as he face-palmed.
"Which means...?" Ty prompted.
"Well, in the event of an extreme nuclear attack, viral epidemic or Professor Darkins' experiments gaining cognitive ability, the school will go into lockdown. Complete shutdown. Maximum protection. Nothing can get in and no one can get out... not even supers."
The adults had been lured away, the teenagers left unprotected with the rebels and now completely alone in a locked down building.
"That can't be good," Ty said.
"It's not," Dean agreed.
The teens, realizing there was no way they could fight a Hero High lockdown, solemnly went along with the rebels' herding.
The rebels gathered the students in the patchily lit, vast cafeteria.
"Wow, this place feels creepy at night," Bella shivered as she and the boys cooperated with the rebels and quietly resided at a table.
Ethan offered her his jacket, which she accepted and pulled on. It was, of course, a couple of sizes too big, the sleeves covering her hands and the shoulders sagging, but she was grateful for the extra warmth.
"So Wepaynar's the one behind this," Bella said in a hushed voice. "To be honest, my money was on the music teacher. The way she makes those weird dolphin noises whenever you hit the wrong note... totally freaked me out."
"What do you think is gonna happen to us now?" Ty mused, glancing around at the formally dressed students hanging around the tables, the entire room under the guard of the rebels.
Dean shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "Do we just wait and see again?"
"Until Jack tells us otherwise... yeah, pretty much," Ethan said.
Dean nodded. "Right... so... who wants to play rock, paper, scissors?"
The traitor, Wepaynar, hung back, casually, as the rebels led the other students away. He quietly fiddled with some kind of device that looked simila
r to the one he used to blow the roof in.
He was not alone, though.
Jack had hung back, too, and was hiding behind what had been the refreshments table, planning his next move.
Wepaynar, he thought. I've heard that name before, but where?
Jack quickly recalled everything he knew about the history teacher.
A well-famed hero, until his retirement seven years ago, Wepaynar doesn't actually have superpowers. He's a gadgeteer and a pilot.
But the name kept sticking in Jack's mind, pestering him. Something in him screamed at him, telling him he had heard the name Wepaynar before.
Trying to focus on the situation at hand, Jack told himself he probably heard the name from his dad or read it in some of the old high school albums lining the shelves of his dad's bookcase.
Jack leaned away from his shelter to get a wider view of the gym and Wepaynar.
The renegade history teacher contently played with his device, adjusting parts and tightening small screws.
Jack stepped out from his hiding spot. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Wepaynar looked up, mildly surprised. He was not taken aback by the sudden appearance of what he believed to be an impulsive teenager who thought he could be a hero and save the day.
Wepaynar continued tinkering with the device. "This is the master bomb," he explained, holding the bulky, black disc up to the light, admiringly. "Connected to four similar bombs set, strategically, at different points in this school. When I set this one to go off, they all go off and the great Hero High becomes a pile of ash."
Jack kept his cool, amazed that Wepaynar hadn't attacked him yet. Instead, he seemed to be talking to him as if he were a friend. Jack still struggled to calm his racing heart.