Chapter 8

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to say. Finally Emma broke the silence.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

"Em, come on. You know I had to come after him. And…thanks."

"What was that?"

"I said thx okay. If it wasn't for you we would have been doomed."

"You're lucky I remembered that chip I implanted in your cell phone."

"What chip?"

"On nothing, don't worry about it."

"Emma look, I'm sorry about disobeying Mr. Hall and for running off like that. I just had to. Jason is my brother and I would never forget myself if something happened to him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold On! Charlie wanted to rescue me and you wouldn't let him? Come on. Do you not know who he is? He's Aaron Stone. Greatest gamer on Earth and awesome big brother. Emma, I'm very disappointed in you."

"Yeah but did you forget what just happened? If I would have been a second too late, both of you wouldn't be here right now. I told you, Charlie. Powers doesn't play around. This was too dangerous! Promise me that you won't do anything like this again!"

"Emma-"

"Promise!"

"Ok, I promise."

"Ok, now that that is settled we have to deal with Mr. Hall."

"Oh yeah…he's probably really mad at me."

They arrived at Hall Industries and found Mr. Hall behind his desk. He didn't look happy. Then again, you could never tell his expression. The whole gang gathered around Hall's desk and waited for him to start yelling.

"Aaron, I need to speak to you alone."

Charlie didn't want to argue and make him more angry so he followed Mr. Hall.

"Before you say anything, I just want to say I'm sorry and I should of listened to you and I've said this before, Jason's my brother and sorry but family comes first."

"Aaron, you put your life in danger, your brother's life in danger and you disobeyed orders. I can't have you running off like that. You're the best there is and I can't have you going off on suicide missions alone. You're a teenager, I get that. From the beginning I knew this wasn't going to work out. But you proved me wrong. Sure, you've had your good days and your bad days, but that doesn't mean you can go off like that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry because I didn't realize how important your family is to you. It's my responsibility to keep you and your family safe. I sent Stan to keep an eye on your family. Now that your brother knows about this, he's in more danger than before. Powers is still out there and has knowledge of your brother. It won't be long before he finds out about your mother. All I'm saying is that you have reached the next level. It will get harder. Keep up the good work and Aaron, I'm proud of you."

"I don't understand. Aren't you mad at me? I disobeyed your orders and almost got myself killed."

"True, but you survived and have accomplished yet another mission. I have to know something though. Why didn't you take your suit?"

"Well after Powers sent me the message I knew he was serious. If I would of taken my suit then Powers would of known that something was up. And I haven't yet got used to Jason seeing me in my suit."

Charlie got Jason and hurried home. Through all the excitement they had forgotten that their mom was coming home that day. They took the SSJ and raced home. Charlie and Jason ran in through the back door just as their mom was pulling up in the driveway. Jason went up to his room to change out of his singed shirt and Charlie tried to make himself look normal. When Mrs. Landers walked through the door she saw her two sons on the couch watching TV. She didn't think it was weird because according to Charlie, they were spending more quality time together.

"Hey guys, how was your weekend? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Charlie and Jason looked at each other.

"No."

Their mom went upstairs to unpack.

"Hey bro, thanks for saving me from Powers. I promise, next time I'll be extra careful."

"No Jason. It's my fault you got kidnapped. I shouldn't of made you carry all those groceries inside."

"What? This is totally my fault. I embarrassed you and I deserve it."

"Jason I would have made you take them inside anyways."

"No!-"

"Jason, we are not fighting over this. I'm just glad you're okay."

"What are you talking about? I'm always ok. Hey what did Mr. Hall tell you? Did he ground you?"

"No he didn't ground me! He didn't say anything."

"Yeah okay well I don't know about you but I'm about to drop dead from lack of sleep. See you in the morning."

Charlie realized he was tired too and went up to his room. He was about to close his eyes when he heard a knock on his window. He wasn't surprised when he found Emma outside his window.

"Hey. I heard you almost died today."

"Yeah. I heard you're my own personal stalker."

"Oh shut-up. Good job out there."

"Oh so now you congratulate me."

"Charlie, thanks for not dieing."

"You're welcome. I didn't know you cared so much."

"Well I do. More than you know.

They looked at each other and then at the sky. The stars were out and Charlie didn't feel so tired anymore. The two friends sat on Charlie's roof and continued to talk while looking at the stars. It was a perfect night and everything had worked out. Jason was safe and so was Charlie. Powers was still out there. Charlie was kind of glad because he could go back to saving the world. One level at a time.