46. Revelation

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    Midas couldn't believe that he let Willow tag along. He never would have guessed that she of all people would go off on her own in the burning building.

    As worried as he was, he did have a mission to complete here. Hopefully, Willow could stay out of trouble long enough for him to get the serum.

    Toting a clean, half-gallon milk jug that he'd gotten one of the housekeepers to smuggle to him yesterday, he turned into the room where Sam had said the serum would be.

    A glowing, glass tank full of blue liquid was tipped to its side, the contents spilling out fast. Midas stuck the milk jug under the spray, urging it to fill quickly. Some of the serum splashed onto his hand and a tingling sensation shot through his body.

Whoa, that's powerful stuff, Midas thought, being careful not to get any more on him. He filled the jug halfway before screwing the cap back on and placing the serum in his backpack. Just as he did, he heard a disheartening sound.

    "Midas! Midas, help!"

    "Oh, no," Midas murmured. He grabbed his bag and ran back into the hall.

    "Willow!" he bellowed. "Where are you?"

    "Midas!" Willow shouted again, her voice cracking.

    Following the sound of her screams, Midas found Willow in tears, standing in a doorway.

    "Willow! Where did you go?"

    "There's no cure," Willow sobbed.

    Midas shook his head, regret welling in his chest. "I'm sorry, Willow. But we need to leave. Right now."

    "No," Willow said. "We can't just leave him behind." She stepped aside to reveal Iron Ice stuck to the floor.

    Midas stepped forward, his eyes widening in shock. "Iron?"

Iron Ice struggled to look at him. "Why-" He stopped. "Midas?"

"We're gonna get you out of here," Midas said, rushing to his side.

"You- You're a villain," Iron Ice said in disbelief.

Midas sighed. "I'm not a monster. Can you walk?"

"Doesn't matter," Iron Ice answered. "They were working on some artificial conjoiner glue in this lab- I'm stuck to the floor."

"You can't pull away?"

"I'm not strong enough," Iron Ice whimpered.

"Not yet," Midas said. He pulled the serum from his bag and unscrewed the cap. He tilted the container and stuck a finger into the liquid. Ignoring the tingling in his hand, he took the drop that clung to his finger and shook it into a small cut on Iron Ice's cheek.

"Time to see if the old man's serum actually works," he muttered.

"What was that? What did you do?" Iron Ice hissed.

"Try breaking away," Midas ordered.

"But-"

"Try it now!"

Iron Ice grunted and began pulling himself up. Slowly, he began to unpeel from the floor, yelling with effort.

Midas and Willow exchanged wary glances. The serum was indeed super.

    "What was that stuff?" Iron Ice asked, finally sitting up. "What did you give to me?"

    "Explain later," Midas said. "We need to get out before the building comes down on our heads."

    Iron Ice nodded resignedly. He looked at Midas with a strange expression. "I understand you just saved my life. But when this is all over, I'm definitely bringing you in."

Midas shrugged. "We'll see about that."

Without another glance at him, Iron Ice ran ahead of them.

Midas glanced at Willow, placing a hand on her shoulder. "There's no time to look for the cure," he told her.

Willow sniffed and nodded. "I know. Let's get out of here."

Midas began to lead a disoriented Willow through the building. He wasn't able to relax yet- He couldn't shake the feeling that things were going to hit the fan very soon.

<><><><><><><>

Lockson stormed angrily towards the administrative building. In his jacket pocket was evidence of the little twerp that had spilled his coffee and ruined his uniform. She wouldn't escape unpunished; No, she had invoked the wrath of Gerald Lockson.

    Suddenly, a paper airplane floated down over his head and onto the ground. The words, 'Unfold me' were scrawled on the side.

    Curious, Lockson bent down and did as the plane commanded.

    "Behind you?" he read out loud. Carefully, he stood up and slowly began to turn around. He saw nothing. "Hello?" he called as bravely as he could muster. "Is anyone there?"

He got no reply. Just as he was about to turn around, someone jumped from behind him and clung to his back.

    Lockson shouted and tried to shake the assailant off. "Get off!"

    Rachel, the assailant, refused to do so. She had one arm wrapped around his neck, the other reaching into his pocket and pulling out the chip.

    Lockson finally managed to wrench her away. Rachel fell to the ground hard, the chip in hand. "Give that to me," Lockson growled.

    Rachel looked over to where Nate stood. "Heads up!" she shouted, throwing the chip in his direction.

    Nate fumbled with the chip until it clattered to the sidewalk. He scooped it up before Lockson could grab it and threw it at Evan, who was standing by Rachel. "Catch!"

    Lockson glared at the four students who seemed to be teasing him. "You can't play catch forever."

    Ignoring him, Evan tossed the chip to Taro, who froze upon receiving it. He watched Lockson approach him, like a deer in the headlights.

"Just hand it over," Lockson said, "And we can talk about this like civilized people."

Taro looked down at the chip in his hands. Hesitated once. Then, before he could change his mind, he popped it in his mouth and swallowed it.

The others, including Lockson, stared at him in shock. All was silent for a moment, as they tried to make sense of what Taro had just done. Together the team gathered by Taro.

    "Evan?" Sam said into the com.

    "Yes?"

    "Uh... I don't know how to tell you this, but..." She mumbled something indecipherable.

    "What?" Evan said.

"I don't believe it," Rachel breathed, shaking her head. "He actually ate his way out of a problem."

"Is something bad going to happen to me now?" Taro asked, glancing regretfully at his belly.

"Oh, something's going to happen," Lockson said, holding a taser in one shaky hand. He approached the team cautiously. "This is going to hurt. A lot."

"Behind you," Nate suddenly said.

Lockson snorted. "As if I'm going to fall for that again." No sooner were the words out of his mouth when he was suddenly struck in the head from behind. He let out a whimper and slumped slowly to the ground, revealing the boy who had snuck up on him. He was tall, blond, and bore a scar between his eyes.

    "That's what I was going to tell you about," Sam said sheepishly.

    "Who are you?" Evan asked their sudden rescuer.

     The stranger smiled. "You can call me White Flame."

<><><><><><><>

    "This is all my fault," Willow said.

    "It's not," Midas argued, pacing in front of the lab. Where was the rest of the team? Iron Ice had already ran off to get reinforcements. They needed to get out of there immediately.

    "I took too long," Willow continued. "If I hadn't gone off on my own, they wouldn't have left without us."

    "It hasn't been ten minutes," Midas said. "They must have had a good reason for leaving."

    "You bet we did," Rachel shouted as the rest of the team ran towards them.

    Midas and Willow moved quickly to meet them. Evan took the com off and silently handed it back to Midas.

    "Where did you guys go?" Midas asked, sounding relieved. He attached the com back on his ear.

    A flurry of speech from Evan, Nate, Rachel and Taro allowed Midas to understand most of what had happen. He was so caught up in their story, he almost didn't notice the fifth person standing a bit behind them. He froze completely, his face going blank. The others noticed and the noise began to die down. They were all silent, watching the staring match that had started between the two.

    "Who are you?" Midas finally asked. The rage in his voice was apparent. His hands clenched into fists and his eyes had narrowed in a glare that the others hadn't seen in a long time.

    "You know who I am," White Flame said cooly.

    "Answer the question," Midas said, stepping towards him so that he was only inches away. They were the same height and they glared at each other eye to eye.

    "I am White Flame, the hero. And you are Dynamidas, a villain and a coward."

    Midas almost laughed. "Oh. I get it. You're that imposter that's been hanging around Sam lately, huh? Does she know you're a fraud?"

    "Midas, what are you talking about?" Sam asked, her trembling somewhat audible. She watched the entire thing on the video cameras, her heart pounding away in her chest.

    "Does she know you're a fraud?" White Flame countered. "I think it's pretty obvious who you really are- Or, rather, who you used to be. And I think if anyone's a fraud here, it's you."

    "You're not the real White Flame," Midas said. "I know you aren't."

    "Yeah? And how do you know? Last I checked, I look just like him." He spoke louder. "Don't I, Sam?"

    Sam was silent.

    "Yeah," White Flame said. "I know you're watching and listening. So why don't you ask Midas what he's been so desperate to hide? The secrecy? The mask? Go ahead, ask him."

    "Midas?" Sam asked, unsure.

    "You're not the real White Flame!" Midas exploded, shoving him by the shoulders. "Who are you?"

    "Midas, how do you know he's not White Flame?" Sam whispered.

"Prove it," White Flame scoffed. "Why shouldn't they believe me?"

    Midas turned around to face his team members. "I, uh..."

    They watched him confusedly, looking somehow betrayed.

    "I know he's not the real White Flame. Because..." Midas began. He stopped to take a breath. Once he did this, there would be no going back.

    He tilted his head down, reached up and removed his mask. He continued to look down at the ground, breathing hard as if he'd just ran the marathon. What would the others do? What would they say?

    No turning back.

    He slowly lifted his bare face so his teammates could see. They gasped in shock, glancing between Midas and White Flame. Their faces were completely identical, down to the same scar between the eyes. The only difference between the two was the color of their hair.

    "No way," Sam mumbled, feeling dizzy.

    "I was the real White Flame," Midas finally said.

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