Midtown

Twenty Five

Nathen

"You finally came to." Nathen blinked his eyes opened as he heard Tom's voice. He was back in the lab and doesn't remember getting there.

"Why am I back here? Where is Miku or the girl?"

"Lodia and Carly got away. Miku is over there." He pointed to the table. He looked to see her in ruins. Cuts, bruises, burns, and everything else. It'll be almost impossible to fix her by himself with his limited resources. He tried to get up to go over for a better look. He felt a strong pain in his right arm. He looked to see he had been shot, but it looks to have been treated.

"You were losing a lot of blood so I figure to address the wound before it got worse."

"How long have I been out?" Nathen asked.

"A few hours. It's already evening."

"You mean I let myself get taken out of commission during a fight for that long? Now we're back at square one and my best tool is destroyed."

"We've been set back, but I believe we aren't out yet." Tom told him.

"What do you mean?"

"In the forest, when Lodia was overloaded and began shooting everything, one of her shots hit the northern post and it is now damaged."

"It's damaged?" Nathen repeated.

"Yes, damaged to the point KP had to go back to River to get supplies to fix it. I suspect he'll be gone until at least tomorrow. Along with the time it'll take him to repair the post, I say it'll be another day or two before he can fully restore it."

"That still doesn't give us enough time to come up with a way to take it out. Plus, he'll guard it like he did last time until it's fully functioning again."

"I did make some calls while you were out." Tom added.

"What kind of calls? You know you can't call out to too many people."

"I called some people from Tank's team. I asked him to send someone from Ace's team here. That way, we have some people that can help restore Miku and help take down all the posts."

"How do you expect us to take them all down? And of all people, why did you get in touch with Ace's team? You know he doesn't know that I'm here. He'd never assist me knowing I've been captured and held captive in here."

"He already knows you're here."

"How do you know that?"

"When I talked to Tank he mentioned Ace already had a way to take the posts down. Now that he'd be able to get in, it'll be easier than doing it from outside."

"What do you mean he'll be able to get in? Just how badly damaged is it?"

"Lodia is no amateur. That accidental shot cut its power output in half. But it's still too strong for us to penetrate. Especially since you're injured." Tom said. He figured they wouldn't be here if it were actually possible.

"The plan is to have them come in and help with fixing Miku. By the time she's back to working, the post will more than likely be restored, but with the additional assistance, Miku should be ten times more stable and powerful, so she could try to take out one of the posts."

"I see you made use of your time." Nathen said. Tom has never come up with a plan on his own.

"But unfortunately, Miku is not on Lodia's level. She couldn't take out a post single handedly. However," Nathen went to the main computer and pulled up a map of Midtown.

"There is a way we can temporarily shut down the shield if we do get backup." He pulled up the post stations at each mark.

"These posts are separate, but one. They're all synched to each other. I'm positive when the north post was hit, one of the others short circuited as well because he has them tied together in order for the dome to have been created."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, if we can even get two other people to go to one of the other posts and try to take it down, it'll temporarily be stunned while it finds it's connector again. We can use that time to get on the other side."

"Do you think that'll actually work?" he asked.

"Do you have any other plans?" Nathen countered. He didn't say any more.

"I'll commend you for arranging for back up while I was out and getting Miku here, but if it were simple to take down the shield around Midtown, we wouldn't still be here." Nathen told him. He turned back to his computer and shut it down.

"My only hope is that they'll get here before KP gets back. If he finds out we're able to slip some people through the damaged side, he'll have this place on lockdown."

"What about Carly?"

"Carly. There's something about her. She did something to my tools when she was here. I think she may have a hidden ability."

"Are we still going to bring her in?"

"Carly could be of value to this plan if all else fails. If she get's control of her ability, we can use her to take down the posts just like that. Judging by what she did to my table and wand, I say it was telekinesis. That's one of the strongest abilities if mastered correctly. That's almost equivalent to moving land. She could be more powerful than KP or Lodia if she knew how it worked."

"From her reaction afterwards, I'd said she doesn't know how to use it much less knows she even has it."

"But that KP was there. If he knows, then he's sure to try and show her how to use it. That could still be to our advantage. He teachers her and then we can use her."

"These are a lot of risk we're taking. But I think we can do it. I wish I were able to get the girl in here now. But when Lodia regain control of herself, I only had time to get you and Miku out safely."

"It is a shame, but this was all a valuable encounter. So long as your backup call gets through, this situation may actually turn around. And we can't forget the pods. Those useless people will also come in handy. We just cannot screw up the remote reprogramming anymore." Nathen looked to the table to see Miku lying on it in its busted state. Nathen also felt broken with his injuries, but he didn't have time to think about his pains. There is always work to do, and for the first time, he's feeling hoping that they may actually get out of Midtown.