June 1992Garcia returns to his suite at the hotel, contempting the st couple of hours. Stinger and the Twins following behind him. Several hours of talks with the heads of Talcorp, and he has nothing. They didn’t bite. It’s clear that money doesn’t motivate them. They genuinely do it to better the world. How admirable. No matter. He has other ways of getting what he wants.“Get me the others.” He tells his subordinates.

  He takes off his suit jacket and hands it to one of his girls, not looking to see who it is. He doesn’t care. He loosens his tie and sits down on the room’s sofa. How to go about getting the Director’s old data?“Sir, I’ve gotten through.” Stinger says, holding the satellite phone out for him.He takes it. “Autumn?”

  “Yes, sir.” She responds promptly, good girl.“I need you, June, and Julia to come over here immediately. The sooner the better.”“Yes, sir. Should we bring any provisions along, sir?”Garcia thinks for a moment. “Infiltration.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.”“Call me when you arrive. Out.” Garcia ends the call and hands the phone back to Stinger.“Sir, will we be infiltrating TalCorp bs?” Suki asks.“Yes. When the others get here. Until then, I want you three to observe the facility from afar. At night, observe the security.”“Yes, sir.” They respond.

  “Shall we start tonight?” Yuki asks.“No, get some rest for tonight. You will begin tomorrow by scouting the perimeter and setting up watch points. If there are patrolling guards, make notes about changes and anything else. I want a full report before I head in.”“Yes, sir.”

  Garcia gets up and heads to the bathroom, taking his tie off. He pauses at the door. “Stinger.” He calls her name, then nods into the bathroom. She obeys and enters the bathroom. He enters and shuts the door. She starts the water for the shower and checks the water, then goes to him. Taking each article of clothing as he takes it off, folding each accordingly.

  Garcia’s mind was surprisingly calm. The TalCorp head’s denied him, which normally made him upset. But he was actually gd. Maybe he was happy with the prospect of the challenge of breaking into their facility.“Is something troubling you, sir?” Stinger asks as she takes his boxers and folds them and pces them on the counter with the rest of his clothes.

  “No. I’m happy. I think breaking into this facility is making me anxious.”“It has been a while since you did a mission on your own, or with us, sir.”“That is true.” He motions for her to undress. She complies. “Yes. I think this is just what I need. It’s been a while since I’ve had fun. This kind of fun, that is.”

  He guides her into the shower with him. She thers him up as he thinks about the prospect of breaking into a secure facility. He hasn’t done that in years. He smiles wide.

  ********

  June 1992

  Chris and Elle walk along the banks of the stream, barefoot, hand in hand, to the wooden dock Elle’s father had made. The dock stretching out to the excavated section of the stream. The night air was cool, a slight breeze making the night feel great. Their Spark was as strong as ever between them.

  Elle ughs freely.

  “What?” Chris says, smiling.

  She takes a deep breath and exhales. “Nothin’. Just ughing to ugh.”

  Chris has to ugh now. “Silly.”

  “I mean, it just feels…so great. It’s such a beautiful night. And being able to walk and enjoy it.” She gives him one of her happy, free smiles. Chris loved those.

  “And I’m gd you can walk with me to enjoy it.” Chris tells her.

  They reach the dock and roll up their pants. The water is a little cool when Chris puts his feet in as he sits down with Elle on the end, but refreshing. The two sit in silence, holding hands, looking out across the flowing stream. Chris taking in her spark. With her in contact with the stream, the spark he felt from her seemed to flow like the river. A sense of peace and tranquility running through him. He gathers a bunch of it and sends the feeling back to her.

  “Chris, you…whoa!” Elle reels a bit.

  “You okay?” Chris says with a hint of ughter.

  Elle shakes her head a bit. “You trying to make me lose it?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Oh, you…” She takes the back of his head with her free hand and pulls him in for a kiss. They stay like that, their powers mingling.

  But since they first met and started experimenting with their powers, they’ve learned a few tricks. They’ve also learned how not to pass out completely when they make out, using the sensation to enhance their senses. The feeling of touch especially.

  Chris slowly pushes Elle back onto the dock. He covers her, one hand running the length of her arm and caressing her face. Her skin was so smooth, even with the enhanced sense. She tasted so good to him, like…sweet fruit. Her breath was just as sweet. Everything about her was so sweet. She excited him.

  He tried something more out of instinct than choice. His hand moves to her side and just under her t-shirt. She moaned a bit, but didn’t move to stop him. He hooked a leg across hers and moves his kissing to her neck. After a while, her hands explored as well. Her leg moves over his and hooks his body. Her breathing picking up.

  “Chris.” Elle says.

  Chris moves his hand higher, Elle moves her hands lower. Both of them lost in the moment. Chris’ hand moves until he reaches the fabric of her bra.

  “Chris!” She says as her hands reach the belt line of his pants.

  Sir, we’ve located the target…

  Chris stops. What the hell?

  “Don’t stop.” Elle says, her breath deepening.

  Chris whispers to her as he works his hand over her stomach. But he listens with his powers.

  The target is now isoted…

  It was coming from the bushes across the stream.

  …shall we proceed with capture? A pause. Yes, sir. Awaiting your word.

  They needed to get out of there. He uses his power to talk to Elle, maniputing the air in her ear canal. “Elle, listen to me.”

  “Yes…Chris.” Still into the moment.

  “Don’t make any sudden moves. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

  Elle pauses for a moment, her breath catching, then she keeps going.

  “Elle, there is someone across the stream in the bushes spying on us. Saying something about capturing one of us.”

  “What do we do?” She barely whispers. Chris had taught her how to talk in what they called air speak. No normal person could hear them, much less understand them.

  “I want you to throw a tsunami of water on top of them. When it sms into them, we run for the house. I’ll create a slipstream in front of us so we get there quicker. Ready?”

  Elle nods. Chris gives her the nod to go ahead. The stream heaves upward into a gigantic column of water. Chris picks her up as she sms the water down on top of the bushes as hard as she can.

  “Run.” Chris says, keeping his voice low. He creates a small vacuum in front of them, making the run to the patio door of Elle’s house twice as fast. Chris opens the patio door for Elle. Once she’s through, he shuts it and draws the curtain.

  “Guys? What’s wrong?” Simon says, looking up from the nightly news.

  “We were down at the dock…” Elle pauses. “Chris heard these people talking in the bushes across the stream.”

  “Yeah, whoever it was, was talking to someone and…something about capturing one of us.”

  Simon stands up and goes to the patio door and peeks out.

  Melissa comes out of the kitchen. “What’s wrong? I didn’t catch all of it.”

  Simon catches her up.

  “Should I call the police?”

  “No. Elle, go get your brothers. We’re all gonna go out to investigate.”

  Elle runs upstairs.

  “I don’t know if they’ll be there. Elle smmed them with a wall of water just as we ran up here.”

  “We’ll see.”

  All of them, minus Melissa who stays just inside to watch the events, head down to the dock, their powers at the ready. The stream has resumed its normal course. Elle’s wave crushed the bushes on the other side.

  “Damn, Elle.” Jackson says quietly.

  “Jackson.” Chris says. “Lets go over.” He was gd one of them learned how to fly.

  Simon hands them the fsh light. “Be careful, boys.”

  Chris and Jackson fly over the stream, shining the light at the bushes. They don’t see anyone, but the light shines on something shiny. They nd, surveying the area carefully. The object they see looks like a knife. Chris picks it up and it’s actually a dagger. A design on the hilt shows a swarm of bees. He shows Jackson the dagger. Jackson just shrugs.

  “What did you guys find? Bring it over.” Simon tells them.

  The boys hop back over and hand the dagger to Simon. Elle and Jerry look at it as Simon looks it over. Chris watches Elle’s eyes widen as he can only imagine what must be running through her head.

  “What do we do now?” Jerry asks.

  “Well, first we call the police and have them come out here.” Simon informs them. “Let’s go inside. Chris, if you could call your parents, let them know.”

  “Sure.”

  Back inside, Chris calls immediately. Telling them everything. Except the making out part. His dad tells him he’s on his way over.

  “Better fly. Just in case.” Chris tells him.

  Larry says he’ll be over in a few minutes and hangs up.

  “He’s on his way.” Chris says, handing the phone over.

  “Good.” Simon acknowledges, then dials the police.

  Once done, Simon tells Chris and Elle to exclude the powers thing. They understand.

  The cops arrive fifteen minutes ter. Larry had already talked to everyone. Discussing the possibility of someone wanting to kidnap Elle so they can get to the cybernetic impnt. Simon had said that its time to upgrade to the best security system for the house.

  The cops take all the information. Chris and Elle describe what they were doing. Chris just said they were hanging out, talking. His voice caught a bit. He hoped the parents didn’t notice. The officer, Detective Moore, taking their story walks with them down to the stream and shows them. Detective Moore has some of his men go around to the other bank and check things out. Besides the other footprints, the officers find another set of footprints leading away. The Detective tells them he’ll get his forensics men on this immediately.

  “Is it possible to get a watch on the b?” Larry asks the Detective.

  “Sure thing. You think this has something to do with your business?”

  Larry and Simon tell him about the visitor they had a couple days ago.

  “I’ll run a check on this, Antonio Vega. See if he checks out.”

  “Thank you so much, Detective.”

  “Of course. I saw the news interview on TV.” He looks at Elle. “Can’t have your daughter miss her dance school.”

  Elle smiles and thanks him, a bit of embarrassment showing.

  The Detective takes over things with his team and lets everyone else go. Simon and Larry tell him they’ll stay up for a while if he needs anything. Including coffee and what-not. The Detective thanks him graciously.

  The kids yawn. Jackson and Jerry head up to bed. Elle and Chris sit down on the sofa. Elle rests her head back. Chris looks at the clock. It was close to midnight.

  “Mom? Can Chris stay tonight? I’d feel better if he was here.”

  “Sure, hun. He can take the guest room.” Melissa says.

  This sort of surprised him.

  “Let me ask your father, just in case.” Melissa says leaving the two to go into the dining room.

  Elle takes his hand and squeezes. “A-About tonight. Uhm…”

  “It’s okay. I’m sorry if I went too far.”

  “It’s not that. It’s just…I was kinda…liking it.” She smiles wide.

  Chris can’t help but return the smile. “Yeah, me too.”

  They stare into each other’s eyes for a few moments until their fathers break them up.

  “Hey, Chris. Fly on home and grab some extra clothes and PJs.” His dad says. “Actually, let me go with you, just in case.”

  “Thanks, dad.” Elle says getting up.

  “You’re welcome, hun. Now go get ready for bed. You look like you’re ready, anyway.” Simon tells her.

  “See ya.” Elle says, giving him a small wave.

  “Be right back.” Chris says.

  Larry goes and takes his shoulder, guiding him to the patio door. “Come on, stud. Let’s go.”

  Chris looks up at him, shocked. He didn’t just say that. Larry smirks. With the cops nowhere in sight, the two take flight.

  “Geez, dad. Could you be any hokier?”

  “Sorry, Chris. Couldn’t help it.”

  Yeah, right. Chris thought.

  “Besides. It’s obvious what you and Elle were getting into.”

  Chris slows down. Busted.

  His dad comes up and puts a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right, Chris. You’re at that age and with that Spark thing you two have doesn’t help. Or does help, sometimes.” He winks.

  Chris has to ugh a bit. “Is this the talk?”

  He gets a pat on the shoulder. “No. Just a warm up for tomorrow while we wait on the police. Look, I know you love her. And you feel good around her. Just use your head, okay?”

  Chris nods. “I will, dad. But it’s hard sometimes when our powers get going…”

  “I know. Me and your mother were just as feisty at your age. Come on.”

  They continue on. Chris can’t wait for tomorrow.

  *?*?*?*?*

  Elle watches Chris leave. Her heart went with him. A little out of sadness for him leaving. Though it was silly, he was coming right back. But her heart left with him cause she loved him so much. With their spark fring, she could feel his love for her. But even without that, she felt so wonderful just being with him. Elle knows she’s only fourteen and they should wait to do anything more than make out. But it was hard.

  “You okay, sweetie?” Elle’s mom says as she sits down next to her. She rubs Elle’s back.

  “Yeah, just a little scared, I guess.”

  Melissa gives her a hug. “Don’t worry Elle, you have lots of great family and friends around you to keep you safe. Not to mention your own power.”

  “I have the best of both.”

  Mother and daughter hug each other tight.

  “So tell me something. Just between us girls.” She looked out into the kitchen, where Elle’s dad was busy talking on the phone. “Have you and Chris been…you know.”

  Elle’s jaw drops. “Mom?!”

  “Listen sweetie. You know I trust you. And I know you and Chris are pretty much as close knit as possible. But I just want to say that you guys are still young. You have your whole lives for all that stuff.”

  Despite being embarrassed, Elle made sense.

  “Taking your time with love will leave you two with no regrets ter.”

  Elle smiles. “Your right, mom. We will…but it’s hard sometimes.” She pauses, her voice lowering. “Like tonight. That spark thing we got…was… If Chris hadn’t heard those people in the bushes…”

  Mom squeezes her hand. “I know, sweetie. Even though I would rather you too wait. I would still be gd that you chose a fine young man in Chris.”

  Elle couldn’t be happier to be with that fine young man.

  “Thanks mom.” Elle hugs her mom again. She had the best family and friends ever. And the best boyfriend anyone could ask for.