The Infinite Chapter 4

Americano snuck his way to the prison, which looked like a warzone.  The fences surrounding the vast facility had holes in them, with smoke still smoldering off of them.  It was clear Man Electric had used his powers to destroy this property as best he could, sometimes for no other purpose than fun.  There only needed to be one hole, instead there were many.  There should have been a focused path to getting in; instead there was wanton destruction.  Unfortunately, there were many men lying about, either injured or worse.  The crimes committed here were far beyond your typical burglary; this was murder.  In some ways mass murder.  This was quite the atrocity.

He proceeded to the front door when his instincts told him there was someone behind it, so he quickly dodged to the side, hiding behind a wall near the door.  His instincts served him well; Man Electric, Mr. Combustible, and Giganta opened the door and proceeded forward.  Giganta especially was a sight to behold, weighing half a ton, she was immensely fat, but had to have immense strength just to consistently support her immense weight.  Every step she took looked like it would cause a small earthquake.

“Where to?” asked Mr. Combustible in his squirrely voice.

“We’re going to take a little trip,” replied Man Electric in his sinister deep voice.  “I’ve been making some special arrangements with, and you’re not going to believe this, Synaptico.”  That last part seemed to stop them all in their tracks.  Synaptico was like a bad word to the Changed.  Both Giganta and Combustible had a worried expression on their faces, and they looked at each other in disbelief.

Americano couldn’t believe it either.  For years, The Infinite had battled with the Order, their struggles were legendary.  They were fairly evenly matched, but the Infinite had always stood for good and to protect the harmless citizens of Citopolis.  The Order, on the other hand, always had nefarious schemes they would commit, or at least attempt.  The back and forth nature they shared had been well documented, but since the Infinite’s last victory, Americano was sure they had heard the last of the name Synaptico, their leader.

“Umm…” pondered Giganta.  “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” answered Man Electric.  “What do you think we stole that Blue Lens for?  For fun?”

“I thought it was for money,” Combustible said.

“Yeah, I was so excited about all the food we could buy with it!” huffed Giganta.

“You two are so short sighted,” the hooded figure scolded.  “Once we work with The Order, we’ll be richer than anybody in the world.  We’ll have enough money to create our own food source.  You’ll never be hungry again!”

Giganta clapped her hands excitedly.  “Oh that sounds amazing!  I can’t wait.  So when do we meet him?”

Americano had heard enough.  He stepped out of hiding and stood proud.  “Sorry to say this to you guys, but I think that plan has been canceled.”  He stared the three of them down, and realized this was probably a foolish move, but he couldn’t sit by idly and listen to them try to destroy the world.

“Americano, do you think it wise to interfere here?  There’s three of us and just one of you, do you have some kind of death wish?” asked Man Electric.

Americano stood firm.  “I don’t like to make wishes, they never come true.”  Electricity erupted from Man Electric’s fingers, but Americano backflipped away from it, now standing defensively on a park bench.

“Giganta, Combustible, take care of this worm!” growled the caped villain.

-

Will was back in Titania’s massive arms, her muscles bulging in front of him like rocks on a mountain.  Her breasts wobbled as she walked to the car, threatening to smack him in the face if she wasn’t careful.  But she was; she had really taken to this caretaker position.  She was never one before to be so doting, but something about Will made her want to keep him safe, to nurture him.  Perhaps there was guilt that he got hurt under her watch, but she felt like there was something more.

“Now Will, I know today has been very… trying for you, so I wanted to take you to lunch and show you that being a superhero isn’t all fighting and explosions and action.  We have our downtime and we can unwind, just like everyone else.”

Will was still trying not to stare at her immense breasts bouncing with every step.  Her face was beautiful too, so it wasn’t like it was hard to look at, but he had never seen boobs like this before, especially attached to someone literally carrying him around like a baby.  “But isn’t it weird to be in public when you’re… you know… so different?  Like, don’t you get people looking at you all the time.”

“To some extent, yes, but I have a place I go to where I’m a regular, and the owner treats me like anyone else.  I grew up going there, and he is like a father to me.  It’s never like I’m not a superhero, but it’s as close to normal as a person of my size will ever feel.”  Will still looked unsure.  “Oh stop worrying, it’s not that bad!  Come on, you need to see that people like us can still have a good time.”

“About that…” Will said.  “My leg isn’t that bad, I’m sure I could walk now.”

“Nonsense,” she replied.  They reached the car, opened the door, and placed him in his seat.  The mysterious driver seemed to know where to go without any verbal queues, and took off immediately.  They grove through the city, and it looked so much different through the eyes of a superhero.  Granted, Will wasn’t ready to consider himself a superhero; he had one fight under his non utility belt, and it was against apparently one of the weakest villains in the game, and he got hurt.  If Titania wasn’t there, he would have lost that fight, hands down.  I mean, he was wearing underwear.

His power was so strange too.  It was like nothing he’d ever seen before.  He was nervous that they would keep expecting him to produce some magic happening, and he would never achieve it.  Eventually, they would have to get rid of him if he couldn’t do anything, right?  And then what?  They had all of those secret gadgets, those special pieces of machinery.  Were they going to just let him walk away with all that knowledge.  His heart beated faster at the thought of them one day deciding they had to eliminate him.  He looked to his right at Titania.  Sure, she had been warm hearted and kind through all of this, but what if she was told to get rid of him?  Her arms looked bigger than his body.  Her legs were definitely bigger than his body.  With almost no effort, she could rip him in half.  Pick him up and throw him wherever she wanted.  He got the terrifying image in his head of her standing on his spine, grabbing his measly head, and ripping it out, then playing catch with his skull with the rest of the group.  She was certainly capable of all of this.  She was so big, she could probably lift him with one hand and with the other rip off all of his limbs, tiny piece by tiny piece, and it would take next to no effort!  Part of him thought he should get out of here.

“You look nervous, Will,” Titania calmly said.  “Is it your leg?  Do you want to come and sit on my lap?”

“Oh no,” Will replied.  “Just all this stuff is a lot to take in.”  She flexed her arms, and he decided he needed to quickly change the subject.  “I can’t wait to eat though!  I didn’t realize just how hungry I was!”  He laughed awkwardly.

“I’m always hungry!” blurted out Titania, slapping her huge, muscular thighs.  “A girl like me can eat and eat and eat.”

“I don’t doubt that-” Will said accidentally.  He covered his mouth with a shocked expression on his face.  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to… I mean…”

Titania laughed.  “It’s okay, I know usually girls aren’t supposed to eat a lot.  I know I’m different, I’m not blind to that!  I’m proud to be big, I get to fight crime.  Besides,” she flexed her big arm.  “I kinda like the way I look!  Don’t you?”

Pick your words carefully… thought Will.  “I mean… yeah of course you look great!  So… in shape and all…”  He knew he was sounding like an idiot.  He felt like a pathetic peasant talking to a god.  He made an awkward fake construct with his hands, trying to convey how large her arms and legs were, careful to avoid talking about her huge breasts exploding out of her chest.  It was very awkward, but Titania seemed to appreciate it.

“That’s so sweet, you’re making me blush,” she replied.  The car stopped at what appeared to be an Italian restaurant.  It had the red and white colors and had a name in cursive that he couldn’t read, and if he could read it, he probably couldn’t pronounce it.

Thank God, thought Will.  He would be spending the next few days trying to lodge his foot out of his mouth.

-

There was a knock on Roger’s door.  He answered, a look of surprise on his face.  They only knocked when they needed something, and he thought they were all gone for the day.  He got up from his desk and opened the door, and Captain Freeze was standing in the doorway, holding up a tablet.

“A gift?  Thanks, I was just about to upgrade,” joked Roger.

“They have returned,” Freeze said sternly.

“Couldn’t be, that would violate our treaty.  They would be breaking so many rules, both federal and global at this point, it would be-”

“I’m telling you, I just fought them.  Celeste and that giant Brawna.  She threw me off a cliff.  They are here, and if they are here…”

“Synaptico!” exclaimed Roger.  He was suddenly more terrified than he had been in a long while.

-

Mr. Combustible charged forward, causing the bench Americano stood on to explode into a million splinters.  But Americano was too fast, and lept off towards the punky villain.  His feet landed on Combustible’s shoulders, and he did a big leap off of those, shoving him to the floor.  He then dropkicked Giganta in the face, who barely moved, but was able to land back on his feet.  He turned to see Combustible getting to his feet, and hustled over to him.

Unfortunately, Man Electric fired a deadly burst of power at the hero’s feet, causing the shocks to coarse through his body.  “Ahh!” he cried, dropping to his knees.  The feeling of being electrocuted, even to superheroes, was pure agony.  Americano knew Man Electric was big on torture, and this made it clear why.  He could feel the energy draining from his body.  But his reflexes told him something was behind him.  Something big.  At the last second, he rolled to the right.  He looked at where he had been, and saw the huge Giganta crash into Mr. Combustible.  It was amazing to see her topple on top of him.  She was so immense in size, his body disappeared underneath hers, her large rump at least four feet in the air, not even his legs were visible.

Combustible was completely pinned down.  Giganta’s massive breasts had covered his face completely, and his arms were being crushed and couldn’t push back, not like that would solve anything anyways.  This fat bitch insisted on always wearing low cut blouses, saying they made her feel sexy.  To whom!?

Americano now had his sights set on Man Electric.  He charged towards him, jumping off of Giganta’s huge rear end for extra height.  He made it about halfway on a huge leap when the hooded figure shot a devastating lightning bolt at him, stunning him mid air and sending him sailing backwards.  His body smashed into a concrete wall.  How was he going to stop this man?  Dazed, he looked up to see the huge figure of Giganta slowly rising and making her way over to him.  Her massive frame got bigger and bigger until it was now right up to him, licking her lips hungrily.

With the last of his energy, he pushed off against the wall and slid between her tree trunk legs.  She tried to reach down for him but was too slow.  Much to his horror though, just as he passed from underneath Giganta, he had just enough time to glimpse an enraged Mr. Combustible before a huge explosion went off, sending Americano sailing back.  He rotated mid air, and collided with the huge ass of Giganta, his face planting on the back of her skirt.  He was now on his knees, with his face resting on her right butt cheek.

“I didn’t know you liked me that way,” Giganta joked, looking at the small man behind her and wiggling her backside.

-

It was hard for Will to not be distracted by the monster of a woman sitting in front of him, utterly devouring a plate stacked a foot high with grilled chicken and veggies.  His plate was certainly less impressive; one grilled chicken and some mashed potatoes.  They were in the corner of the restaurant, on a white and red checkered tablecloth table, and somehow, nobody was looking at them.  It was a small miracle there wasn’t a mob of people surrounding them, watching her eat and eat.  And it’s not like she was fat either.  Far from it, in fact.  Maybe more impressive still than the appetite was the physique.  Distraction was the perfect word, as the specimen in front of him also had an impossible bust bulging over the table, wobbling with every bite.  He made sure not to stare for too long, but her thick, tan orbs like two basketballs were impossible to ignore.  Also hard to miss were her arms, and her size in general.  He couldn’t see her legs since they were under the table, but her arms were enormous, bigger than any bodybuilder’s he had ever seen.  How she could run as fast as she could and be as athletic as she was may have been her true super power.

“So who do you like?” she asked.

Will snapped out, realizing she asked him a question.  The points in the conversation were hardly connecting right at this point.  Who does he like?  “You mean like…” he asked.  “Like, as in who-”

“What bands?  You have to like music right?”

“Oh, right,” he responded.  A giant amazon of a woman was eating lunch across the table from him, the last thing he was thinking about was his music taste.  “Um, most recently I was listening to the Traveling Monkeys.  I guess it all depends on the mood, right?”

“Oh for sure,” she said, taking another chunk out of some chicken.  She chewed for a little bit.  “I have to have rock music when I’m working out, but when I want to unwind, I’m a lot more flexible.  I don’t think I’ve heard of the Traveling Monkeys.  What kind of music can I look forward to?”

She almost asked that last question in a flirty tone, which was odd.  Will wasn’t sure if he was mistaken.  It’s not like he was a lothario or anything; he had only ever had one girlfriend, and it was over and done with quickly.  But he sensed something in the way she asked, a playful nature that he wasn’t used to.  “You could certainly listen to them during a workout,” he said.  “Just be careful, they tend to add some extra instruments than your standard rock quartet might use.”

She leaned forward, her breasts now bulging down in front of him.  Her arms were now pinning down the table, pushing her breasts together as well.  Will was unsure if she was aware of this; the size of her arms made it hard for them not to get in the way of things.  But now, as she was, she looked like she was about ready to pop out of her already tight top.  He could tell she was now looking down on him, so he looked up, and the two of them locked eyes, hers piercing into his soul, him desperately trying not to look down.  “That sounds so dangerous!”

“What does?” Will asked.

“More instruments!  That sounds dangerous!  I like that!  I want to hear them!” She seemed very excited about Will’s music recommendation.  She slammed back on her chair, which groaned in protest.  “I will look them up immediately!  I’ve been looking for something new to listen to, so this is perfect.”  She sat back down in her seat, her breasts jumping up to her chin, and continued to eat.

“Titania…” Will asked.  “When did you find out you were a Changed?  Did you know right away, or did you find out sometime later?”

“Oh, it was right around puberty.  I just kept growing and growing, and pretty soon I was the tallest kid in school, and by high school, I was the tallest person in school, period.  Early high school, I would say, it became clear that something was very very different.”  She picked up another piece of chicken and took a bite, waiting a bit to chew.  “We took a test, and the government came and everything, logged me, and I was taken to see Roger.  I’ve been with him ever since.  I missed a good portion of my teen years, but I like to think I still had plenty of fun.  I understand I’m different, I shouldn’t expect to have the same life as everyone else.”

“Sounds so lonely!”  Will couldn’t believe it.  The tragedy of finding out she was a Changed ruined her life.

“Well, for a while there, I had my sister with me,” Titania replied.

“Wait, you have a sister?” Will asked.  “Is she… like…?”

Titania nodded.  “We had a bit of a falling out.  It’s a little complicated…”

Will could see she wasn’t exactly thrilled to talk about it, so he quickly changed the subject.  “So you never got go to college or anything?”

“No, but Roger would teach me things all the time.  We’d look through books and he’d tell me all he knew about anything I picked out.  He’s really very smart.  I guess that’s his super power or whatever.  Sometimes I wish I had what he has.  I think that’s one of the weird things about being extraordinary.  Sometimes you don’t appreciate what you have when you look at what someone else has.”

“Yeah… i don’t think you have anything to be jealous about,” responded Will.

She gave a small laugh.  “You are so cute, Will.  Tell me, do you have a girlfriend?  Are you seeing anyone?”

He immediately started blushing.  “No… umm… you see before all this… it’s like…” he couldn’t find the right words, but he wouldn’t need to.  An alarm Titania was carrying sounded, and she reached into her pocket and opened it, like some kind of flip phone from the early 2000’s.  Her eyes looked pensive.  “What is it?” Will asked.

“We gotta go,” she replied.  She looked at the waiter.  “Check please.”

-

Captain Freeze got out of the passenger’s seat of a black car and hustled to the corner of the street.  His sensor told him that Americano was on the other side of this wall, and he was in trouble.  But he was still alive.  There was a built-in heartbeat monitor, and that was still going, which was good.  But who knew how much longer, based on the serious blips happening on the device.  He was getting ready to turn the corner and begin his surprise attack when a familiar voice sounded behind him.

“Freeze, glad you’re here,” said Titania.  He turned to look at the massive statue of a woman behind him, and noticed she had carried Will on her shoulder all the way from… wherever they had come from.

“You know you gotta put him down before we go in there, right?”

“Do I though?” she asked, her cheeks turning red.  “He’s still injured.  We can’t have him getting hurt can we?”

“I’m fine, Titania,” Will said from his high perch atop her shoulder.  “Watch, put me down and I’ll show you I can stand on my own.”  She placed him on the ground, on his own two feet, and truly, he didn’t appear to be falling over, or wincing in pain at all.  Perhaps she had exaggerated his injury, just a bit.  “See?”

She looked him up and down, a stern look suddenly formed on her face.  “Okay, but just stay out of trouble on this one.  These aren’t Flyguys here.  I can’t have you getting seriously hurt, little one.”

“I’ll stay right behind this wall!” chimed Will, as if that was something to be proud of.  He was just excited to be on the team at this point.

Captain Freeze laughed looking at him.  “Stay cool, kid.  Titania, let’s go!”  The two of them nodded to each other, and they rounded the corner, leaving Will alone.  As they made their way to the front of the prison, they found the Collective.  Mr. Combustible, the wiry, scrappy guy that Titania punched out just recently, was sitting on a park bench, clearly catching his breath.  Americano was hoisted in the air, the life being squeezed out of him by the impossibly large and fat Giganta.  She was able to hold him with two hands, and as much as he tried to pry them off, he was unable.  His bones cracked the more she squeezed, and it was clear she was not immediately trying to kill him, but torture him as much as she could.

“You will pay dearly for what you did to the Collective, you Infinite Scum!” growled Man Electric at the defeated hero.  He paced around his near lifeless body, his mask making his words somewhat distorted, but all the more sadistic.  He was clearly enjoying this moment, watching as the last bit of life drained from the renowned hero’s eyes.

“Do you want me to break him?” asked Giganta, a devious smile on her face.  “I can feel his flimsy little rib cage.  I bet I could pop it with my thumb!”  Her catcher’s mitt hands seemed to tighten with excitement as she said these words.  Even with all of her fat, you could see some muscles poking out as she prepared to do her worst.  Americano looked like a baby in the hands of this massive blonde woman.

“We’re gonna have to put this little shindig on ice,” called out Freeze.  He shot a freeze bolt at Giganta’s hand.  She winced in pain, losing her grip on Americano, who dropped to his knees.  He lacked the strength to support his own weight, and his head slumped against one of Giganta’s massive thighs.

“Dammit!” exclaimed Giganta.

“Take them out, you two!” yelled Man Electric, pointing at Freeze and Titania.

“I can’t wait to sit on you, Ice Boy!” growled Giganta as she waddled towards Freeze.  Her speed was slow, but menacing due to just how much bigger she was than everyone else.  As she marched forward, she lifted Americano with her knee and tossed him aside with ease.  He landed hard on the concrete, and was desperately trying to pick himself up off the ground, but he could barely breathe after being squeezed for so long.

Meanwhile, Mr. Combustible noticed Giganta picked Freeze as her target, probably because of what happened last time.  Much to his dismay, he turned his head to see his opponent, the massive and muscular Titania.  The last time they battled, she knocked him out with one punch.  It was one of the most embarrassing days of his life, and as much as some other Changed held vendettas against others that may have given them a crushing defeat, he was worried about duplicating his previous failure.  She stood about 20 feet away from them, her hands on her thick hips, looking like a statue, a Greek god.  He rolled his eyes, and she gave a smirk.  She knew he couldn’t beat her.

But he had to try.

He ran forward, and pointed towards the ground in front of him.  An explosion launched him high into the air, where he managed to perform an amazing acrobatic maneuver.  He was surprisingly agile for someone so scrawny, but that was part of the game when you become Changed.  Sometimes, skills awaken within you that you didn’t know you had.  He was now upside down over Titania, staring at her while she looked up at him.  Unfortunately, he misjudged just how tall she was, and she easily reached up into the and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Oh shit,” was all he was able to mutter as he felt her powerful hands grip him upside down.  She used his forward momentum, though she probably didn’t have to, and launched him through a nearby window.  He crashed through the glass and did a few more flips in the process, landing hard on his back.  His head hit the ground hard, and he was once again knocked out.

Titania approached to make sure he was still alive, and when she saw he was now incapacitated, she dusted off her hands in triumph.

Freeze was not having as easy a time.  He backed up as Giganta stormed towards him, shooting ice blasts at her.  Furious, she was able to whack them all away with one meaty hand, cursing under her breath.  These cold balls of ice were painful, but they were not enough to derail this obese woman.  He tried freezing the ground in front of him, with the intention of her losing her footing and slipping.  To his horror, with each step, she was crunching through the ice.  He had never seen anyone do this before.  His luck would get even worse, as he tried backing up once more and found himself backed into a wall.  He tried dodging to the left, but she punched the wall, her hand leaving a crumble mark on the concrete.

“Fuck!” she yelled.

He tried right, same thing.  Her hands were incredibly powerful.  There was only one other way out of this.  He turned the wall he was backed up against to ice, and managed to use it to slip down.  His body moved right between her huge legs.  Unfortunately, Giganta saw this coming, and it took very little effort to sit down.  Her gigantic ass crashed down, and the last thing Freeze saw was her huge pink panties desperately trying to contain her massive, bubbly ass cheeks.  She landed directly on his face, creating a huge rumbling sound.  Luckily, her ass was so big that there was enough room between her cheeks that it didn’t crush his face flat.  Unluckily, there was no way out of this ass prison.  His arms were pinned down by her ass fat, and his legs extended out behind her, kicking to no avail.  He screamed, but his voice was almost completely muffled.

Titania saw this going down, and ran towards Giganta, knowing full well she had never moved an object the size of Giganta before.  Due to her size, she was able to grab a hold of her armpits.

“Get your man hands off me bitch!” yelled Giganta, but she wasn’t physically stronger than Titania, so she wasn’t able to get her off.  Unfortunately, while she was stronger than Giganta, she was also not able to lift someone of her weight.  She was close to 1000 pounds, an insane number for a living creature, and she strained trying to lift.  Her legs were pushing against the ground with all her might, her thigh muscles all activating, veins popping out everywhere.  It was truly a sight to behold.

But it was still not enough.

She let go of the fat woman and stepped back, preparing for a second attempt, but a huge electric shock rocked her body.  She felt like her skin was trying to explode off of her body.  She dropped to her knees and screamed in pain.  Man Electric cackled as he shot waves and waves of power through her muscular body.  Now on all fours, she couldn’t believe the pain she was feeling.  It was worse than anything she had ever felt before.

Americano found some strength and leapt to his feet.  Seeing Freeze’s legs kicking in peril, he rushed to the fat woman crushing him.  Using his martial arts skills, he aimed a kick at the back of her head and smashed her with a viscous boot.  She didn’t move, but she had some words for him.

“Ow, you little twerp!” she exclaimed.  “I should have crushed your tiny little rib cage when I had the chance!”

“Should have but didn’t!” retorted Americano.  He planted her with another one.  “Get off of him now!”

“I didn’t know you wanted me so bad, Loverboy,” she mocked.  In one huge movement, she got to her feet, now standing at her imposing height.  She turned to face Americano, looking down at his comparatively tiny body.  “I’m going to have my way with you now, and I’m gonna enjoy myself!”

Amidst all of the action, Will could hear the pained cries from Titania, and he felt conflicted.  He knew he was told to stay put, and that these monsters around the corner could each destroy him with just a thought.  But on the other hand, it sounded like they were in trouble, and as a potential member of the team, he felt like it was his duty to do something about it.  He imagined Titania mad at him, grabbing him by the collar and choking the life out of his frail little body, bludgeoning him senseless with her massive arms.  But then he thought of her as a corpse, not moving, and her angel asking anyone for help.

He decided he could no longer wait.  He rounded the corner and yelled as loud as he could.  It looked like a warzone.  Bodies everywhere, people on the ground, destruction at every turn.  Titania was on the ground, with Man Electric standing above her.  Americano stood bravely but weakly in the shadow of a massive fat woman.  Freeze was on the ground, clutching his throat, spitting out.  He couldn’t believe the level of carnage in front of him.  He locked eyes with Man Electric.

He looked back at the boy.  That was the one!  The one from his nightmares.  He had been picturing this boy ever since that day at the apartment.  The day he lost his power.  This boy spelled the end of his reign of terror.  He was nothing without his powers of electrocution.  He stopped torturing Titania.

“Boys, we’ve done enough, let’s go!” announced Man Electric.

“Did we win?” asked Mr. Combustible, walking in a daze out of a broken window, blood trickling from his forehead.

“We escaped, and that’s good enough,” he replied.

Titania looked down at Americano, breathing heavily.  “The next time we meet, I’ll really show you a good time,” she mocked, making a kissy face.  She turned and walked towards her group.  Titania made it back to her feet, and through the pain, decided she was unwilling to let this go.  She charged the three of them with incredible bravery.

“Ta-ta,” said Man Elecrtic calmly.  He nodded to Mr. Combustible, who motioned to the ground, and an explosion of black smoke erupted from below.  Titania backed up to cover her face, and when the smoke cleared, the Collective was gone.

She picked Freeze up off the ground.  “You okay?” she asked him.

“I’m cool,” he responded.  He looked like he had just been run over by a train, and he felt like it too.

Americano looked at his device, which seemed to be beeping.  “Guys, Roger is requesting us back at HQ.  Looks like he’s pretty excited about something.  Let’s head back and see what he found.”  They all turned and looked at Will.  He was standing alone, in the middle of what used to be a sea of chaos, but what had abruptly turned into a quiet recovery.  They weren’t sure of the power of this kid, but they knew, in some strange way, he had just saved their lives.  They didn’t know if this was good or bad, or what to expect going forward, but they did know they were looking at something special.