Page 5 of 3013: Hellion

He paused as he realized how foolish that thought had been. He wasn’t testing the damn course out like the last time he’d been there, so there was no reason to waste any time. Annoyed with himself, he released his wings and flew the rest of the way toward the beacons to avoid the traps and roadblocks hidden throughout the city.

All of his uniforms had slits in the back that allowed his wings to release without tearing through the material, but he rarely had to use them when he was on duty. From the air, he didn’t see anyone moving so he landed back down on the ground in a scenic park that surrounded a small lake.

Gritting his teeth, he scanned the area but still didn’t see the teens.

Those little troublemakers were hiding from him.

“I know you’re here. Come on out.” When his demand was met with nothing but silence, he said, “Evo, is there something wrong with this map? The kids aren’t here.”

“Since I am still unable to access the security monitors, I am tracking their wrist units which should be about fifteen feet to your left.”

He glanced in that direction and scowled. The teens weren’t there. The only thing he saw was a large statue of some human historical figure. He didn’t have a clue who it was supposed to resemble, but that wasn’t important. What was of significance was what the statue was wearing.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered as he stalked forward.

As he stood in front of the statues, he shook his head and sighed. Those little brats had strapped their wrist units onto the statue, taking precautionary measures to keep from getting caught. That wouldn’t stop him from finding them, though. If anything, it just made him more determined.

He did have to admit that he was kind of amused by their tenacity. Although they had broken the rules, they’d been determined to visit the restricted island and had done whatever it took to make it happen. With that kind of attitude and the obvious skills needed to pull it off, he wouldn’t be surprised if Magnus, Nico, Razar, and their mate, Brielle, ended up hiring the two teens.

That was, if they lived long enough to graduate.

“Evo, the wrist units are here, but the kids aren’t. I’m going to need you to scan all of the sectors you still have access to. Use facial recognition and whatever else you’ve got programmed to try to find which direction they went. They couldn’t have gotten very far.”

“Searching now.”

Studying the map again, he noticed Nicolo Artane’s marker glowing a bright red while the rest of the people on the restricted island were a pale blue. He considered reaching out to Nico, then remembered that he was busy giving their friend, Zack Keller, a personal tour of the island.

While both males would be a big help looking for the kids, he didn’t want to bother them or interrupt their plans. He could ask them to keep an eye out, though. The superhero section of the island might be someplace those boys would be interested in exploring so there was a good chance they would head that way.

“Evo, can you let Nico know about the missing teens and ask them—”

The AI system cut him off.“Commander Renn, Alpha Nico is currently dealing with an emergency situation on the other side of the island.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“A creature is trying to eat one of the power cells in the superhero sector.”

Well, fuck. That sounded bad.

“Like, a real creature? It’s not part of one of the holo programs?”

“Unfortunately, it is very real.”

“Where the hell did it come from?” he muttered more to himself than to the AI system.

“It came out of the water.”

He grimaced. Great, that was nightmare fuel. “Do they need help? I can fly over there and assist—”

“Alpha Nico has declared that everyone should stay away from the area. If the creature eats the power cell, we don’t know what will happen if—”

That was all he heard before a massive explosion rocked the island. A few seconds later, a shockwave of power knocked him off his feet. His massive white wings curled around his body,protecting him from the worst of the impact as he hit the ground with a hard thud.

Fucking hell, that was going to leave a mark.

Groaning, he slowly rolled onto his back, his body cushioned by his wings. That shockwave had been pretty damn strong but he hadn’t been injured. “Evo, is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?”

He cursed when he didn’t get a response. He tried again, but Evo still didn’t answer him. Fantastic, he thought with a sigh. Now they had missing kids, an exploding power cell, and a disconnected AI system to deal with.

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