﹙ TAKE A BITE ★ ﹚

CHERRY STEPPED INTO THE LAIR, HER TOTE BAG OVER HER SHOULDER!

Apparently, the family was having an emergency. Colby's shape-shifting between young and old was weakening his molecular structure. If he became too unstable, his body would start to wither away and he would die.

It also didn't help that the power went out for the entire city. They had emergency lights but not enough power to power the re-atomizer.

Eva's powers were much too unstable to power the machine. They needed to wait it out, but if they waited too long, Colby could die.

Aria and Jake stood side by side, watching the group of men dressed in bright yellow construction vests, surrounding the structure.

"Power crew. They'll never be able to fix the lines in time to save Colby." Jake panicked, looking back at his sister.

"Get Cherry in here. Give her a DVD of the Mean Girls movie and a slice of Raising Cane's toast and she'll manage." Aria suggested, half-joking.

"Entertaining but time-consuming." Amy tilted her head at the thought. "We have to create a distraction so they can clear out and we can get to work."

"I'll go pretend to have been missing in the woods for seventeen years." Aria nodded, grabbing a stick off the ground to fit the costume.

"Or maybe Amy could help?" Jake added, his plan much more thought-through.

"Lame." Aria said, tossing her stick to the side.

Amy used her superpowers to mimic the sound of another tower falling over in the distance. The crew raced towards the noise to check it out which bought them some time.

"Okay, come on!" Amy waved them over to the tower. "I have an idea. You lift the tower back up, I'll use my sonic propulsion to go up and reconnect my busted wires with my ultrasonic vibrations. Aria, keep a lookout."

"What? I'm a certified electrician." Aria said but took her post.

They didn't know about her or Cherry's powers, so neither of them provided much use. Jake dragged her along anyway, a habit he'd developed over only a few weeks.

"Got it." Jake lifted the heavy tower.

"No, you don't." Eva appeared, gesturing for him to set the tower back in its original position.

"Okay, here goes!" Amy said and flew to the top of the tower, leaving the pair by themselves.

Jake cleared his throat. There was an ounce of animosity between them that hadn't been cleared up with the chaos of his brother's condition. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Starling."

"Don't be. I just sorta wish you would've told me you were into her." Aria shrugged, though she didn't know why she cared.

"What? I'm not into Starling. I'm not even a little bit into Starling. Like, completely not into her. One hundred percent not-" Jake emphasized.

Thankfully, Amy saved him from his humiliation by calling down from the top of the tower. "I can't fuse the wires together! Mom!"

Eva climbed up the side of the tower, but neither Aria nor Jake could hear the conversation because of the distance. They got a glimpse of Eva using her powers to fuse the wires back together.

Cherry and Hartley were leaning against the table with their elbows propped up, playing rock, paper, scissors to cure their boredom.

Suddenly, the machine's lights turned back on, drawing their attention. A flood of notifications came from Cherry's phone as the WiFi returned.

"They did it!l Hartley cheered. "The power's back on!"

In her celebration, she reached over to hug Colby, who slumped into her side. "Oh, he's getting woozy! I need a hand!"

Vic grabbed his son's side, leading him into the machine. "How many floor cookies did you eat?" He questioned, setting him into the seat.

"We got back as fast as we could!" Jake rushed down the stairs.

"You should be good to go!" Amy jumped down onto the floor beside her friends.

Everyone in the room, besides Colby, pulled on their goggles. Colby was sat in the middle of the machine, lasers surrounding him in waves.

As they circled his body, he realized how much he didn't want to die.

There were so many things he had left to do. So many places he hadn't robbed. Aurora, he remembered. He still hadn't shoved his success in her stupid face. He had to have success to do that, and to succeed, he needed to live.

The waves stopped, leaving only a regular-looking Colby. No middle age, no old age, no young adult age. Just him.

"Say something, Colby," Eva pulled her goggles off to take a closer look at her son.

"Uh, something, Colby." He repeated.

Vic used a metal tool to scan him over like he was searching for metal. "He's up to 10 Vics! Our boy is back!"

Vic and Eva wrapped their son in their arms. Reluctantly, Jake and Amy joined, encircling their little brother in a group that Colby protested against.

Hartley, Aria, and Cherry stood off to the side.

"Did Vic use himself as a form of measurement?" Cherry questioned.

"Yes, he did." Hartley confirmed.

As soon as the hug separated, Vic glared at his two eldest children. "What in the world were you two thinking?"

Vic asked Jake and Amy as soon as the hug separated. "I never thought I'd say this to you, but you are both grounded for... two days?"

"Sounds about right." Eva confirmed but fell into silence as she thought about it. "Although it does mean they'll be in the house with us the entire time.

"Two hours, you guys are grounded for two hours!" Vic decided.

"Unbelievable." Hartley said, watching both adults escape upstairs. "My grandma grounded me for a week just for leaving the window open with the heat on."

"Mm. It's one of the perks of having villains for parents. They have no idea how to do it." Amy grinned.

"How'd they give you guys the talk?" Cherry asked, which earned a glare from Jake.

"Ew. I'm leaving before you do," Aria said, turning for the stairs.

"Same. I gotta go anyway. I was supposed to meet my grandma for dinner eleven hours ago." Hartley remembered.

"Eleven hours ago?" Cherry repeated, following both her friends. "What time is it?"

"Bye, Aria!" Jake called after them.

"Bye, Jake!" Aria replied, waving from the top of the stairs.

Hartley and Cherry shared a look. Was he aware that they were leaving, too? Was Aria even aware that they were right behind her?

Cherry and Aria were standing beside their lockers, retrieving some of their supplies for their last classes of the day.

"You guys know what would be so cool?" Amy grinned as she dropped a stack of papers in Hartley's hands. "You guys doing all my homework!"

Hartley sighed as her friend walked away.

"Good luck with that." Aria patted her shoulder. "See you guys later!"

"Probably after you see Jake." Cherry called out after her.

"Looking good today." Colby spoke as he walked past her. The moment she turned to glare at him, he snatched the drink out of the side pocket of her backpack.

"I seriously hope he gets executed." Cherry said, slamming her locker shut as she walked the opposite way.

"I'm Hartley." She introduced herself to the boy she stumbled right into. "Sorry about what you just saw."

"No worries. I'm Declan! Nice to meet you." The new student shook her hand.

"Is today your first day?"

"Yeah. I got so lost earlier that I ended up in the janitor's closet. He was in there. It was awkward." 

"You know, if you want, I'd be more than happy to give you a quick tour after school."

"That'd be great." 

After awkwardly exchanged flirting, the pair set up a time to meet for the tour. Declan laughed until Hartley disappeared from view.

He lifted his watch to his mouth, lowering his voice. "This is Oculan through Onyx. I investigated the electrical anomaly. It's clear Havoc and her family are here in Valley View. Now I just need to identify them."