Placeholder: Stormchasers

[basic_powers]

April 14th 2006
Location cannot be disclosed, Kansas, Revenant house
11:00 am

In all the confusion at the school Tyler had been able to slip away un-noticed after getting Ambriel back inside. That was the easy part, the hard part was running flat out to the home that the Revenant had been sending him to for picking up new gear to practice with, which was over 7 miles away from the school.

By the time he got there, after avoiding cars and grownups who would have stopped him, Tyler stood over in the driveway wheezing and privately thanking Milliways for the Mr. Shephard's PT training. It was probably the only thing that had kept him from collapsing in the driveway. Then he felt the Revenant communicator vibrating in his back pocket and took it out, fiddling the earpiece in.

Comments

[justiceoverlaw]

"Tyler? Did you make it to the address I sent you?"

There's a lot background noise: wind, mostly, and a rapid chud-chud-chud.

[basic_powers]

Huff -"Yeah"- Puff. -"I'm"- Wheeze. -"..here..."- Tyler managed to get out into the comm unit, taking a good moment to get his wind back.

[justiceoverlaw]

"You made good time. Stand clear of the driveway."

Even as he's speaking, the garage door opens and a car pulls out—a late-model Ford sedan, something utterly inconspicuous of which no one would question seeing a child in the back seat. It pulls to a halt in front of Tyler and the trunk pops slightly open.

"Please get your gear from the trunk. I trust you'll find it matches your preferred equipment from our training sessions. Then, hop in the car."

[basic_powers]

Not much room to argue, and soon enough, Tyler's no longer wheezing, and has everything loaded with him in the back seat. Much to a completel lack of surprise, it's the driving machine that's going to be chaffuering him on this villian chase, as he peers up over the back of the driver's seat.

-"Where am I going?"-

[justiceoverlaw]

"You're going after Harold Nelson, a.k.a. 'The Rainmaker'. I'll be meeting you at his final destination."

The car pulls out of the driveway and takes off, quickly but not so fast as to draw attention.

[basic_powers]

"But what can I do?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"For starters, you don't have any powers for him to monkey with. Secondly, you know him better than anyone else."

[basic_powers]

"But I only know him from when he was a kid!"

And seriously, his last encounter with a grown-up Ned was a shock in how much the boy Tyler had known had changed. If that was anything to go by, this could go very, very badly.

[justiceoverlaw]

The Revenant may not know the specific instance Tyler's thinking of, but he clearly knows what he means, because he says, rather dryly, "He might not have changed all that much. I'll be in contact with you while I'm en route."

[basic_powers]

"So you know where he's going?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"I have an idea based on what files I was able to dig up and the direction of the tracker you planted on his van." His voice from the dashboard is approving.

[basic_powers]

"Oh." Well that's better than a blind hunt! "How long until I get there?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"I'd say about five hours."

[basic_powers]

"Five HOURS?!?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"We're tailing a fugitive," the Revenant points out, all reason and patience, "not speeding to a crime scene. Besides, you brought your homework, didn't you?"

[basic_powers]

"Well..." There's a pause and a glance at his backpack. "...I do have to write a book report and..."

[justiceoverlaw]

The Revenant cuts him off, cheerfully. "Excellent. You won't fall behind in your studies. Holler if you need anything."

[basic_powers]

******

2:25 pm, Hwy 57

Tyler looked up from the binder spread across his lap, well that had eaten up a couple of hours. "Okay, I'm finished."

[justiceoverlaw]

"That took a while."

[basic_powers]

"I had to write slow. The road kept making my hand bounce."

[justiceoverlaw]

"Hmm... I'll have to look at the car's suspension. Well, I hear you need help in social studies."

[basic_powers]

"Who doesn't know that?" Tyler replied, thumping back into the seat. "But I think I'd like to learn more about how to rescue kidnapped kids, first."

[justiceoverlaw]

"Are you sure?" says the amused voice. "We could have a riveting conversation about the Second Amendment and how it relates to offensive projectile superpowers."

[basic_powers]

"Maybe later. Are we close to Harold's place yet?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"We're getting there. Are you hungry?"

Out the window,

THE PEOPLE OF IOWA WELCOME YOU

whizzes past.

[basic_powers]

"Oh yeh." Tyler replies, looking out at the sign and then out his window at the cars passing by. He had been too occupied with worrying and writing his book report. "I didn't have lunch."

[npc238.livejournal.com]

"Okay," says the drive-through attendant at SuperSonic, "that's a garden salad wrap, two double cheeseburgers, nine orders of fries, three Atlas Burgers™, no onions, a Number Four combo, a chicken sandwich, a twenty pack of Chicken Asteroids™, three chocolate shakes, one vanilla, and five Cokes. Will that be all?"

[npc238.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," says the bearded man in the floppy hat, accepting his order. "You got any of the Super-Kid Meal™ video game watches left?"

[npc238.livejournal.com]

= I can't believe they find such simple devices amusing, = says a metallic voice as the van pulls away.

[npc238.livejournal.com]

"Don't you remember being a kid, Irons?"

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Bleeping and childish voices emanate from the back of the van.

"Awright! Level two! I got there first!"

"You died twice doing it."

"Ahh, you're just a sore loser."

[basic_powers]

Tyler turned, barely catching that last part from inside of the nearly empty restaurant as Harold drove the kids off again out of the SuperSonic drive-thru. Come to think of it, the Rainmaker students hadn't gotten school lunch either, so it made sense they'd have to stop to eat.

Still...he was starting to get butterflies in his stomach about this.

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Behind the counter, a bored, pimply wage-slave clears his throat.

[basic_powers]

Oh right. Lunch.

"I'll have a number three, no mustard."

[npc238.livejournal.com]

"You want a video game watch with that, kid?"

[basic_powers]

"Uh, okay." Really, he could use a new watch, since Winston ate the last one. After reaching up over the counter and picking up the watch the pimply wage-slave offered, he stared at it a few moments....an idea coming to him.

"Can I get two dollars in quarters too?"

[basic_powers]

Having gotten his lunch and extra change, Tyler climbed into the backseat to eat lunch and think about things. Except he was kind of distracted, he hadn't noticed the Advertisement for Earth Defense League Video Game Watches.

[justiceoverlaw]

"Did the children look okay to you?" asks the dashboard.

[basic_powers]

"I think so, they all got video game watches." Tyler replied, setting aside his bag and the watch to look through the quarters. "Missouri, Vermont, Missippi..."

[justiceoverlaw]

The Revenant's voice over the computer is droll. "This kidnapping sponsored by SuperSonic™, the fast-food chain of heroes."

[basic_powers]

There, an Oregon quarter in the mass that he picked up from the burgerjoint. Now to examine the watch.

.
.
.

"These watches have my parents on them."

[justiceoverlaw]

Mildly: "No kidding?"

[basic_powers]

"It's kind of weird. Like the box of Valentines."

[justiceoverlaw]

"Well, supergroups have to support themselves somehow; they're not all government sponsored."

[basic_powers]

"Do you have a video game?"

[justiceoverlaw]

"Someone made a role-playing game with me in it once. I even had a supplement book named after me." There is quiet pride in his voice.

[basic_powers]

"That sounds kind of neat."

[justiceoverlaw]

"I believe there's also an outfit somewhere selling Revenant T-shirts. But it's pretty small stuff. Okay, you'd better suit up. You're almost there..."