Chapter Twenty-One
How Do We Stop It?

Graeme held up the chip so we could all see. "When turned on, these are supposed to take total control over whoever this has been inserted into."

"So it's meant for manipulation?" Sam asked. Graeme nodded.

"So basically, on command, Slick could make every student that's been injected jump off a building?" I asked.

He nodded grimly. "Pretty much."

"So... How do we stop it?" Sam questioned.

"I see the only way possible would be to remove Slick's. Once his is deactivated, so will all the others."

"Wait," Static said, "Do we have to, like, scrape it out of his skin?" I could see Sam flinch at the thought.

Static rejoined a few minutes after I had returned to Graeme and Sam, although he refused to look at me. No matter how much I watched him, he seemed to be looking everywhere but me.

Graeme gave him a look. "Well, I mean, I hope not. I would assume he wouldn't inject himself with anything, so it might just be a little ear piece or something."

Graeme moved to the other end of the room where an old box TV sat. He plugged it into the outlet and adjusted the small screen to be facing us, seeming unbothered by the dust collecting on top.

He pressed the power switch and black screen flickered on to show a static screen. He switched from channel to channel, until he found the one that presented King's Town's daily news.

One of the reporters popped up, and the subject 'Safety Protocol' seemed to be what they were in the midst of talking about.

"Supers claim it will help prevent future accidents and tragedies." The female reporter claimed. "Trackers are meant to keep everyone out of harm's way, and so we ask that everyone has one injected."

"What?" Sam asked. "How is this spreading so fast? Too many people are being injected."

The screen switched to clips of other students from other schools receiving injections from other Supers. The sight was slightly concerning, to see so many people under the potential power of Slick.

"It's alright," Graeme tried to reassure everyone. "As long as whatever control device Slick is using doesn't pick up his brain activity."

The show was abruptly cut off by the static screen once more. Graeme got up to quickly fix the channel when it was quickly replaced with black.

Graeme paused, waiting to see what would happen. Soon, bold white letters appeared on the screen.

MEET ME AT CITY HALL

We all stared at the words in confusion. A few seconds later, it was replaced again by;

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

The words quickly disappeared and the news resumed, as the continued to speak about the new 'trackers.'

"Uh," Sam muttered, "was that adresses to us?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't be," i answered for him.

We all sat quietly for a moment, with the news playing in the background.

"Should we go?" Graeme asked.

"Yeah," Static said as he made his way towards his suit which rested on the armchair. "We're going. You're staying here."

"What? That's not fair," Graeme complained. "I've helped you all so much."

Static nodded. "Thank you for that but we can't risk your life. There are already so many people in trouble already."

Graeme shook his head. "No, I'm coming. I don't have to do anything major, I just want to go along for the ride."

Static took a breath and made a face of annoyance. "Fine. Can you supply us with equipment and drive us there?"

Graeme smiled and jumped to his feet. "Yeah, one second."

He ran off the the other side of the room and brought back a handful of clips in his hand.

"What are these?" Sam picked one up with his fingers to inspect the black object.

"They're just to communicate."

"So they're sort of like small walkie-talkies?"

"Yeah," Graeme nodded. "You just place them in your ear then you can hear and talk to everyone."

"Nice," Sam said as he placed one in his ear.

Graeme handed one out to each of us and we all placed them in our ear.

"So if we talk like this-" Graeme tried to say, but a loud, scratching echo cut him off.

I let out a yell and pulled it it of my ear, along with Sam and Static.

Graeme grimaced. "Oh, sorry. If we use them we should probably be further away from each other."

"At least we know they work," Sam frowned as he picked at his ear.

"Alright." Static sighed. "Let's get going."

***

Sam whistled as City Hall and came into view. The whole square was swarmed with protesters and people, all protesting against the new trackers. Most of them adults who had yet to be injected.

Static hopped out of the car as we came to a halt. We all jumped off, but just as Graeme was about to step off, Static stopped him.

"What?" Graeme asked. "You said I could help."

"No," said static, "I said you could come along for the ride."

Graeme sighed before slowly climbing back inside the van.

"Fine," he said. "But if you guys mention trouble, I'm coming up."

Static only nodded. He started placing the ear piece in his ear and so we all did the same.

"Okay," Static said, adjusting the ear piece. "Let's get going."

We followed behind him as we made our way around the protesters, hiding behind different vehicles and objects as we went.

We made our way to the side of city hall where we found an emergency exit. Static motioned for us to back up, before he kicked the door open.

Lucky for us, no alarm went off. So we all continued inside the small stairwell.

"Okay," We all stopped as Static turned to us. "We honestly should have checked out some blueprints before we came in here." He pressed his ear piece. "Graeme?"

Both me and Sam could hear Static's voice through our ears, and then came Graeme's reply.

"Yeah?" He asked. "Is everything alright?"

Before Static could respond, I heard a click and something pressed against my head.

Just as I was about to deflect it, push it away, or do anything at all, someone spoke.

"Don't move."

I tried whipping my head around to see the person holding me down, but that's when I realized he was pressing the barrel of the gun to my head.

I observed around me. Teenagers have seemed to surround us, all with guns. They held no emotion in their features, almost robotic.

I shifted my graze only to find no Sam. The only people left were me and Static.

Someone tried grabbing onto Static, only to have him kick them away. Another guy tried grabbing at him but he merely fought back.

It all happened so quickly. As Sam continued to successfully keep back the other teens, one girl came up behind him, grabbed him by the neck and injected him with some sort of needle. He passed out on the spot, and the mark left a little gash on his neck.

My eyes widened in fear. The girl looked up at me before moving forward. I started to panic, as the girl held the needle up as she approached.

I shifted, trying to get the gun off my head, but in one swift motion the guy holding me pushed me towards her, she grabbed my shoulder and pressed the needle to my skin before I feel to the ground.

***

Once again, super sorry for the late update. I'm trying to write more frequently and I know I said that before but now I mean it (I think) hope you guys like this chapter!

with love
via