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constant anti-Ted chatter on a few choice news channels caused the movement to grow. Now there were thousands of people who met throughout the world to talk about getting Ted to go back to his home planet, as if there was such a thing.
     
    Erica leaned in toward Ted. "Are you alright?"
    Ted squirmed and gave the crowd a final glance before turning to her. She could already see the sweat starting to bead on his forehead.
    "Never been better." Ted's voice cracked. "I'm glad all my fans are here to see it."
    Erica put her hand on his back and took a soothing tone. "Hey, it's okay. It's just like the lair. Just you and me."
    "And a hundred protestors." Dhiraj looked around as if he were playing a game of I-Spy. "Oh, and the local news just got here."
    Erica moved her hand from Ted's back to the base of Dhiraj's neck. When she squeezed, he yelped from the pressure. "We're coddling now, Dhiraj. We're not writing the screenplay."
    Dhiraj shrank from the challenge and nodded. Erica watched Ted as he stared into the camera monitors. She saw a silver necklace on the far wall of the store begin to move as Ted tried to get his bearings.
    "You're doing great, Ted." Erica could hear Ted's breathing grow faster. "One step at a time, okay?"
    The necklace lifted off of the wall and hovered in the air. While all of the kidnappers were concentrating on their hostages, they missed the ghostly piece of jewelry floating in the air behind them. Ted's hand moved as if he were controlling the silver necklace like a puppeteer with his strings. He was about to gently place the necklace back, when a shout rose up from the mob behind him.
    "Just go home!"
    Ted jumped, and his powers caused the entire wall display of necklaces to come crashing to the ground.
    The kidnappers turned and pointed their guns at the commotion. "What the hell was that?!"
    As the men inside investigated the damage, Ted hung his head. "I can't do this, guys. It's too hard."
    The shout from the ground had morphed into a chant of "Just go home! Just go home!" behind them.
    Dhiraj patted him on the back. "They're just a bunch of idiots. Don't worry about them."
    "Consider the necklace a practice run." Erica forced a smile. "Now you've gotta disarm them."
    Ted looked at Erica like she'd asked him to do multi-variable calculus. For a moment, she even saw his lip begin to quiver.
    "Okay." Ted focused back on the monitors. "I think I can do that."
    "Sheriff!" Erica waved the lawman over to her. "Can you quiet down the crowd and get your men in position?"
    The sheriff returned a dubious look. "We'll do our best. Tell me when he's ready."
    Ted let out a huff. "Oh, you'll know." He looked back at the camera and pointed his hands forward.
    In the background, Erica heard one of the sheriff's deputies attempt to silence the crowd with a megaphone. Meanwhile, Ted had zeroed in on the weapon of the kidnappers' leader. The gun was in a holster on the side of his black trunks. Through the camera monitor, Erica could see the gun begin to shake.
    "Almost got it." Ted was focusing so hard, his eyes could have burned a hole in the monitor. "Almost got it."
    "Boo!" A single voice from the crowd bellowed, causing the rest of the mob to join in.
    The noise startled Ted, and instead of removing the gun from the man's holster, he unfastened and removed the belt. The kidnapper's black pants, gun and all, dropped to the floor, revealing boxers with pink and red hearts on a white background. While the other kidnappers laughed at their cohort, he seemed poised to kill.
    "What the heck is going on!?" His face turned bright red as he fumbled for his gun.
    Ted looked back to Erica with worry and pain. "What do I do?"
    "Improvise!"
    Ted looked back at the monitors and used his powers to wrench the leader's belt around his ankles. With a yanking motion, he tripped the robber and let his face hit the carpet. Before the other two kidnappers could realize this was no laughing matter, Ted had undone their belts and let