Everyone froze, and all eyes turned to my father. The dust was too thick to see his face, but you could still make out his frame. He had stopped moving and was standing still. Then, without warning, he started making an odd sound.
“Ah…ah…” Alpha Prime began. “Ah-choo!!!”
It was a sneeze unlike any I’d ever seen before. First and foremost, it was loud as a foghorn, and seemingly magnified by our underground location. Next, it gushed out with hurricane force, sending an entire fleet of cars tumbling away.
Realizing at the last second what was afflicting my father, I had phased myself and everyone else (except Mouse, who had apparently vanished). I was about to make us substantial again when I suddenly recognized that Alpha Prime wasn’t done yet.
“Ah… Ah-choo!” he sneezed.
Facing a different direction this time, he nevertheless caused the same amount of havoc by once again sending vehicles flying. Moreover, looking at his face, it became clear that there was more to come.
Deciding to tackle the problem from a different angle, I made Buzz and Luna solid again, then teleported Alpha Prime and myself.
Chapter 53
I took us to a spot where my father could sneeze to his heart’s content: the middle of the ocean. There, about a thousand feet up in the air, he was unlikely to cause any harm.
Because he involuntarily closed his eyes while sneezing – and because the sneezing was continuous – I wasn’t sure how much Alpha Prime could actually see. However, I telepathically told him where we were and what I’d done (and not to worry about me because I had phased), and got a mental thumbs-up from him in reply.
The sneezing went on for at least an hour and was a testament to the fact that Mouse had really done a number on my father. He had both incapacitated Alpha Prime as well as turned him into a weapon. Who knows how much damage he would have done without someone there to spirit him away?
Fortunately, I’d had a place to take him to where he wouldn’t be a danger to others, and I spent part of our time over the ocean reflecting on numerous things – including the last time I’d been in this particular locale. It had been during a transcontinental cruise that my grandfather had taken the family on several years earlier. Just the thought of that trip made me painfully aware of how much I missed my family.
That said, I spent the bulk of my time thinking about Mouse. He’d obviously been trying to contact me, in a roundabout sort of way. Moreover, he’d been trying to contact only me, it seemed. Taken altogether, it implied that I shouldn’t share anything I’d recently discovered with anyone else.
Eventually, Alpha Prime’s sneezing came to an end. Once we were certain his sternutation had permanently ceased, I became solid again and teleported us back to Alpha League HQ, at which point my father began rounding folks up for an official debrief. Ultimately, I – along with Smokey and Electra – ended up in the main conference room with Alpha Prime and a bunch of League members.
For the next two hours, I listened to my father drill his colleagues regarding what had happened, how to prepare for the next attack, what leads they had on Mouse’s whereabouts, and so on. Frankly speaking, the latest attack had been pretty straightforward; even I, arriving on the scene late, could easily sum it up: Mouse had appeared, and a battle had ensued. The only thing I’d been unaware of was why Mouse had chosen the underground garage for his latest appearance, but it turned out that the League had been planning to move some of the doomsday components out that way via a transport truck.
Other than details about the latest skirmish, however, no one really had any info to share. At some point early on I was asked about where I’d disappeared to when I left Smokey and Electra in the teen lounge. Not wanting to reveal what I’d learned, I had merely stated that I’d attempted to follow a lead that hadn’t panned out. (I also tried to tack on my thoughts about Mouse possibly being okay, but nobody wanted to hear that – didn’t “jibe with the facts,” as someone put it.) Afterwards, I had tried on more than one occasion to excuse myself, but my father wouldn’t allow it. He said he needed my insights, but I really didn’t add anything to the discussion. Truth be told, I spent most of the time with my own thoughts, continuing my attempts to make sense of everything.
After what felt like forever, my father called the meeting to an end. Almost giddy, I prepared to teleport home. It felt like I’d been trapped in a meeting of bureaucrats: endless talk, but nothing meaningful had been decided or gotten done. Unfortunately, going home was quickly taken off the table.
“Jim,” my father said, “I’d really appreciate it if you would hang around.”
“Oh?” I intoned. “Did you want to talk about something?”
“I probably phrased that wrong,” he stated. “I meant hang around HQ as opposed to going back to the embassy. It’ll make it easier to reach you if something comes up.”
“Sure…no problem,” I replied. “I’ll be in my quarters if you need me.”
Alpha Prime gave a nod of acknowledgment, and then I teleported.
Chapter 54
My quarters at HQ were much the same as those of all members of the League’s teen affiliate – essentially, a one-bedroom apartment. When I popped up, I immediately turned the lights on before flopping down on a sofa in the living room. I took a moment to simply relish the solitude; it felt like the first time I’d been alone in days.
In all honesty – despite the seriousness of the situation with Mouse –
