Arin waited an hour for Dr. Rage to return to his office before giving up around midnight. She knew she should have stayed longer, with how important it was to get him that letter, but the longer she sat alone, in Dr. Rage's office with Melany glancing at her through giant glasses, the more time Arin had to think about it. Some small but excruciatingly loud, part of her didn't want to hand over that letter. South Urbana was awful, and she’d genuinely enjoyed at least some of the time she had at The Ultimatum Training Academy. Giving it all up made all the struggling, everything she’d been through, feel utterly pointless.
And what if she really did have to leave Mae behind…
No. She had to do it, and she would do it. But the parts of her that didn’t want to quit yet convinced her that one more night wouldn’t be the end of the world. With the Ultimatum protecting Mae, she had at least a little time to really think about it all. She hadn't heard anything from Mae, but Arin stood true to her words and remained as calm as she could. She tried to distract herself by getting her old teammates together for Blood ’N Blasters, but they all ignored her. She probably deserved that.
It felt like an eternity went by before Arin finally managed to settle in for a small wink of sleep.
Arin had never woken up with such determination. The second she popped awake and realized it was an early enough hour to see Dr. Rage, she sprang out of her new, much nicer, Ultimatum bed, down the new, much nicer, Ultimatum hallway, and into the new, much nicer, Ultimatum elevator. Rested and ready to rumble, she knew turning in the letter was the right thing to do.
But Dr. Rage’s office remained a ghost town.
Maybe he’s in the Academy office, Arin thought. It was Tuesday.
She entered the Gymnasium to see a bunch of her classmates scattered about, messing with their powers and goofing off. One kid walked on the ceiling sticking wads gum all over and laughing about one falling on someone’s head later. Arin knew Intuit really wanted the position Red Electron took on the Ultimatum, but letting his class run rampant like this didn’t seem like a great way to prove he deserved it.
Flux and Lillian sat on the bleachers, innocent as biscuits. Flux randomly at various students and asked Lillian what they were thinking. There were only three students Lillian could never read (Psych Ike, Metal Mercury, and Yellow Jacket), and Flux thought it was hilarious to ask her to read those three over and over again. It was their favorite pastime. Arin missed that.
“What’s happening here?” Arin asked, walking up to her old friends.
“Intuit never showed up for class this morning, so now everyone is being irresponsible,” Lillian said.
“Weird right? He’s never not shown up for class. I wonder what he is doing. Maybe he finally made it into the Ultimatum. Wouldn’t that be great? I’d be so happy for him!”
“Yeah. Weird. Sure. Have either of you seen Dr. Rage around?” Arin asked, because she had no real reason to care what Intuit was up to.
“No, I haven’t. I hope he isn’t missing too. That would be horrible. Could you imagine if a villain took over when there were no heroes around to save anyone? That would be just the worst thing ever.”
“You’re quitting?” Lillian said, clearly ignoring everything coming out of Flux’s mouth.
“I told you not to read my mind,” Arin groaned.
“It just happens sometimes.”
Flux’s face melted into a frown for the first time, probably ever. “You can’t quit. You’re the coolest hero ever! You saved everyone from Dr. Kas Krisper after one week on the Ultimatum. That’s so cool!”
“I nearly died several times,” Arin pointed out.
“Maybe next time it will go better!”
“I am seriously doubting that would be the case,” said Lillian
Arin was glad her helmet covered her whole face because her expression probably would have been seen as rude. “I’m quitting. It’s over. End of story.”
“That’s really unsatisfying. Stories aren’t supposed to end like that,” Flux cried out, tugging at Arin’s arm, begging her to stay.
Arin didn’t let his (literal) puppy-dog eyes get to her. She broke away from the two teens, determined to leave to see if Dr. Rage was in his Academy office, and end the story which had already gone on far too long. Her story, however, had another plan—a plan initiated by one handsome man with the face of a true hero, who ran into the gymnasium in a panic.
Gasps of, “Oh my god. It’s Legion!” rang through the class, but Legion’s attention only fell on one person. Arin. Red Electron.
“Red?”
“Yes?” said four others in the room.
“Electron,” Legion elaborated.
Arin stepped forward. “What?”
“Your girl. Apryl is it? Something has happened.”
Arin's heart shattered. All the blood left her body. Her worst fear, it was happening. One more night. One more damn night she gave herself. The only reason she was able to remain standing was because Lillian put up a force field to stop her from falling.
“What happened?” Arin managed to squeak out. It wasn’t in her hero voice, but she didn’t care.
Legion led Arin back into the Ultimatum HQ where a television showed a broadcast from Channel 20’s iconic sound stage. The screen behind the metallic, half-circle desk remained a bright green, instead of the typical projected background of the news. Three figures sat at the desk, hooting in laughter, as they rambled off about “justice” and “order.”
Arin recognized all three of them beneath their masks.
Exspender. Dragonscale. Destructor.
“They took over the Mag.Net INC Channel 20 new station. They are using the emergency broadcast alert system to put this on every single TV in the city.” Legion explained. Other Ultimatum heroes gathering around to watch Red Electron. “A brilliant idea, really. But that’s not the point. The executives are having a heart attack that the broadcast might go down and ruin the streak”
“So?” Arin couldn’t care less.
Exspender hopped up from the chair, and straight onto the desk, as if answering Arin’s question. “We know you’re out there, Red Electron you fraud! Come here. Come find us. Face us alone. Show the world what an amazing superhero you are. You’ve become part of the Ultimatum faster than any other superhero out there. Surely, you can defeat us? If you don’t, your precious little woman will regret it!” He leaped off the desk and panned the camera to reveal someone tied up in a chair. Their face was covered, but Arin could see the bits of curly black hair from a ponytail sticking out the bottom.
Mae.
“He addressed her by name. We do think it’s actually her,” said Legion.
Damnit! Arin knew she should have been more worried about not hearing from her last night. Urban City always won over logic.
“I thought she was under the Ultimatum’s watch?” Arin yelled, her face reddening from the rising frustration.
Legion shrugged, “I didn’t hear anything about that.”
Arin’s volume ticked up, uncontrolled. “What do you mean you didn’t hear anything about it? She was in trouble! She’s still in trouble!”
Exspender laughed from the TV. "You have one hour, Red Electron, or else... BOOM!" With big hand motions, Exspender mimicked an explosion. The camera panned over to a timer, propped up and with a time counting down from sixty minutes.
A bomb.
She had a terrible feeling that letter of resignation wasn’t going to do her a whole lot of good anymore...
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