Perhaps because she was nervous, the black-striped girl was gasping for breath, her heart pounding wildly. Otherwise, with a spider-type's physical abilities, merely swinging between buildings would never have consumed so much stamina.
Henry pulled a bottle of water from the car's storage fridge and handed it over. "Calm down. Have some water first."
Marty Franklin took the water without a word, twisted off the cap, and gulped it down.
Only after seeing the black girl's expression calm down did Henry ask, "All right, what did you just say happened to Skye?"
Her innate racial talent made the black girl's freshly cooled expression instantly lively and animated again. Unfortunately, what she said was not good news.
"Anya found a possible way to deal with those strange creatures, so she made some devices and needed people to help test them. Since the three of us had each set our sights on different targets, Skye found a fourth one. So she went by herself."
Lorna interrupted excitedly from the side. "What do you mean, she went by herself? She doesn't have any superpowers. What could she possibly do if she ran into that kind of monster?"
Though Marty did not say it aloud, Lorna understood as well. If she had still been on the team, Skye would never have needed to go out. At that moment, her emotions were tangled between agitation and shame, and her guilt left her speechless.
Soothing the girl in the driver's seat, Henry casually pulled up the handbrake Lorna had forgotten. "Calm down. Then what happened?"
"The ultrasonic device Anya made can emit a sharp, piercing sound. Those sounds are especially effective against those creatures. Whether they're parasitizing humans or animals, they'll be blasted out uncontrollably. Anya is so smart, I didn't even know..."
"Skye!" "What about