Harsh wind ripples through Vee's black and white hair and torn clothes. In a trail of smoke her blackened body flies over Cerro Gordo. A tall church steeple is shot right through, sending splinters in the same direction she zooms out. In the unkept yard of the Martinez home, Cutie squats her hind legs to water the grass. Out of nowhere, her dog house across the yard is struck by her owner's crashing body. Boards scatter everywhere but not where Cutie stands. Barking at first, the chunky boston terrier waddles over to the remains of her shelter. Snarls leave her teeth bearing mouth, heckles raise on the back of her neck, until she recognizes a face.

Vee lies motionless in the wreckage, clothes torn, bruised, cut, and covered in gunpowder. An exhaustive breath may have been her last, if not for Cutie licking her face and whining. "Nngh...Cutie?" *Bark!* Seeing her owner awake and alive, the chunky dog hops off of her and fetches her empty food bowl with her mouth. Vee stares for a few seconds. "You're no help."

From the ruins of Cutie's dog house, Vee rises to her bruised hands and knees. Right foot goes up. "Ah!" Sharp pain sends the teen flat on her stomach in the tall, patchy grass and dirt. She decided to crawl to the back door stairs. Once the door swings open, Cutie hops inside first and immediately sniffs around. Seconds later, Vee climbs up. One arm, one knee at a time. In this oddly specific moment she was happy her home was so small. Finally the phone is in reach but far too high from the floor. Biting her lip, Vee forced her exhausted body to stand on her right leg. She suppresses a scream, swipes the corded phone from the wall, and collapses on the living room carpet.

Beeps follow every press of the keys. "Come on...answer me!" After the sixth ring, her father's stern voice finally spoke. "I know." Relief fell on Vee for a second, then grief returned with teary eyes. "Mom's dead! I tried to stop him from taking her, but-" "I felt her heart stop. Stay home. I'll handle it." "I'm hurt! Ugh!...bad!" "You'll heal. Now let me work." As tears run down Vee's face, anger enters her tone. "Help me! Don't hang up on- GRAH!!" The cheap, plastic phone shatters in her metal grip. With deep sadness she falls on her side and covers her face with her hands.

I feel...a heartbeat?...and it's not mine? M-Mom? With renewed hope, Vee forces herself to sit up against the wall again. Am I the only one who knows you're alive? *CRASH!* The abrupt sound of a tin trash can falling over startles Vee, but fear makes way for determination. Slowly she rises to one knee with Cutie growling by her side. Footsteps of someone outside approach. If the man in metal followed her home, she would bring the house down on him. Now standing on one foot and one knee, she stares at the wide open front doorway. A shadow casts against the wooden porch. Steel coats the flesh of her arms up to her elbows. The figure makes himself known. "Vee!? Are you in there?"

Tears flow once more at the sight of Lajon, who runs over to hold her in his arms. "I'm so glad it's you," she says, hugging him back. "You-" "Look like hell, I know. Feel like it too." The tall teen looks at his friend with bewildered eyes. "How did you survive that?" "Because she's Miss Steel's freakin' daughter!" Chester enters the trashy trailer in wonder. "Man, I can't believe it! I'm friends with a super- Owww!" Amy pinches the spiky-haired teen's ear and pulls down hard. "Not now, Chester!...Vee, I'm sorry about your mom." Vee finds a bit more energy to stand on one leg and say, "No, she's not dead! I-I can't explain it, but I can feel her heartbeat. She's alive somewhere!"

A pulse of pain in the injured girl's right leg sends her down, but Lajon catches her. "We're taking you to the hospital." "You can't...They'll find out my secret...There might be something below to help." "Below?" he asks in confusion. "The fridge. Reach behind it." As told, Chester sticks his arm between the yellowing fridge and the wood wall. "Got it! I think?" Cutie sniffs the cold food inside, until the large appliance moves with a square section of the tile floor. A long ladder is lit by fluorescent lights turning on from top to bottom. "Dude! Secret lair!?"

The energetic Chester starts to go down, but Amy pulls his tank top strap up. "I'm wearing a skirt." "Ugh, fine. I wasn't gonna look." "Uh huh." After the short girl, Chester descends, then Lajon. "You can stay up here if you-" "No. I can climb. Just be ready for me to fall on you." The boy nods with a confident and warm smile. "I've got you."

Lajon's shoes hit the metal floor at the bottom of the ladder. Darkness surrounds, but the box shaped room the teens stand in appears to be small. He then carefully places his hands under Vee's thigh and on her back as she makes her final steps down. "You missed your chance to touch my butt," she says with a pained laugh. Lajon rolls his eyes and lifts her arm around his shoulders. "Pops raised me to be more polite than that." "More like not smooth enough." Now he laughs and says, "I'm always up for improvement."

Chester wanders around the dark room with both arms out to feel something. At last his hands find a single button on a metal pipe from the floor. "Oooh!! What's this do?" Like a protective mother, Amy raises her normally quiet voice to shout, "Don't touch anything!" It was too late. Lights in the shape of a circle activate on the west wall, revealing a tunnel. Brighter and brighter it glows and begins to spiral into a spectrum of colors. The teens look at each with concern, as even they begin to swirl into the light. On the screen displays a message: TELETUNNEL LOCATION: PHOENIX BASE

Closest to the tunnel, Chester's entire body loses form in the light. His outstretched hand is grabbed by Amy, but she also is dissolved into the rainbow spiral. With her scream silenced, Lajon stands in front of Vee to shield her. "Lajon!" The frightened boy looks over his fading shoulder to find his last remaining friend losing her right arm and top of her hair. Before he can push her away, Lajon's tall frame is pulled into the light. Alone and halfway dissolved, Vee leaps inside the tunnel.

In a much larger, dark room, a flash of light casts its many colors. One at a time the teens are spat out. First Chester, then Amy lands knee first on his crotch. "Owie," he says two octaves higher. Amy manages to stand off of him. "Sorry, Chester...Umm, where are we?" Lajon and Vee pop out at once, holding each other tightly. Once they hit the dust covered floor, the tall boy removes his arms from his friend laying on him. Hesitantly, Vee leans her weight on her injured leg. Lajon goes to help, but she lifts a hand to show she's fine. As her friends squint in the dark, Vee turns to the wall switch to her right.

Three of the six lights hanging from the ceiling flicker on, and the teens take in their 360 view of Knight Vision's old base. The entire room was made of gray concrete, like a doomsday bunker. A raised area to the right housed several cardboard boxes, some of which rotted and spilled old gadgets on the floor. Cubicle walls lean against each other next to those. Most eye-catching, however, was the huge computer screen and control panel next to the teletunnel. An 80s Knight Vision logo hangs above the heavy duty exit door between the tunnel and raised area. Dusty equipment and cloth covered furniture littered everywhere else.

"Your dad is Knight Vision?" asks Amy with wonder, though not as much wonder as Chester. His blonde hair spikes dance. "The conspiracies were totally true!" As Vee limps over to the stairs, she says, "You guys wanted to tour in Phoenix, right? This is where we're gonna practice." Lajon raises an eyebrow and asks, "Are you sure this is ok? I don't think your dad would-" Suddenly he stops. The death stare from Vee told him all he needed to know. "Ok, but why here?"

Despite her injuries, the tired teen reaches the half story floor with dozens of boxes. She opens one, finds nothing, then moves on to the next. "This is where I'm gonna get everything I need..." Now on the fourth dusty box, she reaches deep inside. After almost falling in, she stands and places something on her face. Her friends look with excited smiles, as she turns around. "...to get my mom back!"