The Next Level: The Black Band

&nbsp The Next Level: The Black Band is the second Book in the TNL series.

It chronicles Austin's first year in High School as he meets new friends, his love interest, and reignites his friendship with old friends that might have ulterior motives.

Meanwhile, the Mastermind sends in assassin Spike Estaquilla, a man with who has metallic but still functional internal organs and can shoot metallic spikes from his body. His mission is to destroy the device that regulates Austin's powers, The Black Band.

Part I: Freshman Start
The book starts with a girl entering the city version of Elizabeth Seton School. She, and all the other people entering said school, is transported to the island.

They go as far as the morning assembly where the School President, Dr. Josefina V. Suarez, explains the situation. They are in a school of students with superpowers. They are invited to have their children get superpowers as well.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Spike. He goes through a training simulation, passing it with flying colors.

In class, one girl catches Austin's eye. This girl is Janella Deabanico.

During the power placement session, Austin gives the new students their superpowers. One of them is Ernst De Vera, who asks for the ability to produce laughing gas. Another one is John Jeriel Guino, who asks for steel powers and magnetism. A few other students also go through the process. The last one happens to be Janella, who asks for a Fire/Ice combo. Austin realizes after this that he has a crush on her.

The Mastermind gives Spike his mission: He has to destroy the Black Band, wait for Austin to destroy his closest friends. Then he has to lure him into a power sapping chamber in the Mastermind's base, turning him back to normal. Spike has to kill him and the Mastermind can have his way with Austin's brain.

He personally disagrees with the mission and asks a scientist to cease development of the power sap chamber. Spike plans on giving himself the power sap power by sneaking into the Base on the island and using the Dome of Power.

The scientist declines and threatens to tell the Mastermind about this. Spike then kills him.

Back in Austin's school, he attempts to bond with Janella and a few of his classmates. One of them being Jose Lorenzo Turla (Joel), who becomes one of his closest friends.

During the month of August, Spike attacks the Pirate Ship ride during the Linggo ng Wika, sending all the passengers flying.

A few weeks later, he also attempts to kill Austin when he is in a cable car on a vacation in Woodridge Place.

Both of these attacks were inescapable using superpowers because Anti-Radioactive Matter (A.R.M.'s) appeared out of nowhere, rendering their powers useless.

Austin then trains a few of the new students in the training room below the base which can change into different environments.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Spike comes home one day only to discover that his father knows the truth about his job and he denies causing the cable car incident and leaves the house, angry at his father, vowing never to come back.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin asks Janella to the Freshman-Sophomores Night and she refuses.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">During the FS Night, Austin is depressed. The day after, he tells Janella about his crush on her and she takes it well.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">During Halloween, they bond over the night during the party at the hotel, giving out candy to trick-or-treaters.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin, happy from the bonding, goes to the base to get a drink. He is then ambushed by Spike, who successfully destroys the band and Austin goes into convulsions and drops motionless on the floor, pupils gone.

Part II: ASG
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin's best friend, Kyle Dominic Gomez, goes into the base and finds Austin unconscious in the floor. He tries to revive him but to no avail. He calls the school nurse but when she arrives, Austin already regained consciousness. After Kyle notices he's a behaving oddly, Austin goes on a rampage. Kyle calls for help among Austin's friends but they are too late. Austin had already left, leaving a note on the ground using fire.

<p style="text-align: center">"NOWHERE IS SAFE, NOT HERE, IN THE CITY, EVEN IN THE OCEAN. IN ONE MONTH, IT'S GAME OVER."

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Kyle takes the news to Dr. Suarez, who offers them a month of exemption from classes if they can search and apprehend Austin. They agree and Kyle waits for volunteers. Eventually, he gets most of the people from last night. He gathers fifteen members, (three groups, five members each) himself included and they leave that night as the Austin Search Group (ASG).

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They go to the Ascott hotel in Makati City where they had reservations thanks to the school. They have three separate rooms.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They search for Austin using the Identifier but Austin always ends up showing in three different locations. Kyle splits the three groups up but to no avail.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Meanwhile, Spike is shaken by guilt from what he witnessed. He then sees on the news that his father was killed. He goes to his father's house and sees his corpse and tries to apologize for the other day and confesses that he caused the cable car incident.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">A nurse overhears this and calls the cops. Spike escapes using his powers and finds refuge on an island, crying. The male nurse then appears behind him and reveals himself to be Austin. He shows him how he killed his father and suggests that he just kill himself to put him out of his misery. Spike considers this for a moment and shoots a spike through his chest.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Meanwhile, Kyle and the ASG decide to take a break at the mall (Glorietta). During this break, they detect a disturbance and stand guard. Austin attacks the mall, leading to a rescue operation in the mall and a chase outside.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Kyle and Janella are injured in this chaos.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They take all the injured people to the hospital and the doctor is amazed at Kyle's survival. Berna breaks the news to the doctor and he takes it well after a few minutes of calming down.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They return to the hotel where they find a tape. It turns out to be a tape of Austin murdering Spike's father. Kyle keeps the tape from Janella. Berna gives it to Ernst for safekeeping. Janella returns from the hospital, acting a bit strange, exhibiting a similar behavior to Austin. They blame this on the fire she absorbed. They have Patrick suck the excess heat out of her. She got a little better after that.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Group B and C return to the island for a new plan. Dr. Suarez proposes using the field trip as bait since one of Austin's locations on the Identifier and one of the locations for the field trip is Pasig River. The catch was it was on the date of "Game Over"

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Dr. Suarez tells Kyle to pick up the other group, saying she will send teachers to guard the city just in case. She directs him to John, who was appointed technical specialist.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He goes to him and witnesses the creation of the Telegun, a gun that can create portals. Kyle picks up the other group and visits the reunion of the Patola Family. He then sees Nica who tells him about her story. The Mastermind only had a few steps to go before the Power Sap chamber works perfectly and that there was an inside man in the school.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Later that night, while Kyle and Berna are having dinner, Austin takes over Berna in a plot to take Kyle into his mind. He reverts to his normal self for a while, telling Kyle that he'll try to pull his rampant self back in and tells him that "Game Over" was nothing to worry about.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They continue training with five new members of the ASG (John included) until the Field Trip where Janella is drawn into Austin's mind as she witnesses Austin destroying his good self. Later, Austin attacks the ferries as predicted. The plan fails as Austin completely massacres the members of the ASG and manages to sink two of the ships, drowning the student in them. This turns out to be only a dream from Janella. After a while, she realizes it wasn't a normal dream but one caused by Austin, who was outside, begging her to go after him. She refuses to fall in his trap and tells her she'll see them at Florida which is the third location, which he will attack later.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">On the way out, Janella blacks out due to the remaining lifeforce of Austin in her.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">She wakes up in the ward and Berna and Kyle try to convince her to have Austin's lifeforce completely extracted from her. Sad lifeforce causes her refuse as she goes on a similar rampage as Austin. They inject her with the serum John created and she goes back to normal. Kyle suggests she stay here as they go after Austin in Florida.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They teleport to Florida and a chase ensues. Austin creates a giant portal in the middle of the city, opting for a much more clichéd battle location of New York City.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He forces Kyle through it and burns his eyes out on top of the Empire State Building. He drops him from the top and Berna rescues him.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">John goes back the island to get a space stabilizer since the giant portal is too big and when it closes, "very bad things" will happen.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">She goes after Austin but he also beats her into submission by burning her hands in acid. He flew off towards the others.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The rest of the team got most of the dolls Austin animated but Austin comes in to crash their tactic. They decide to retreat to the island. Austin chases them invisibly.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">John arrived and shot the space stabilizer, safely closing it.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The other half of the team tells Roey, who had the power to turn 2d figures into 3d, to use the summoning of the Ninja Army card in his fictional card game, Ninjas and Magic. He used it and all the dolls were gone, leaving Austin alone.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">John saves Kyle and Berna by using the Telegun to bring them to the Base.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The space stabilizer caused a white circular beam to erupt from where the portal was. This passes through the remaining ASG members, revealing Austin's location who was using spatial distortion instead of light distortion for invisibility.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Out of frustration, Austin created a giant wave, headed towards the island. The ASG decides to save the island instead.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Unfortunately, none of their methods work. They rush to the island to ask for help. Luckily, there was a hydrokinetic named Marella Antiporda ready to help. She calms the wave and saved the island.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin appears for a final attack as John lures him into an A.R.M. They use John's Black Band Gun (BB Gun) to install a new band on Austin's wrist, putting him back normal.

Part III: Downfall
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin woke up, feeling terrible after all the bad things he watched himself do. He then saw Janella guarding him. She wakes up and greets Austin. When he responds normally, she is overjoyed and calls everyone. They all celebrate his return.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin heals Kyle and Berna, Kyle now having to wear glasses due to the irreparable damage to his eyes.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin tries to put his life back together, starting with a small bonding session with Janella by flying around the island.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Back in school, Austin is greeted with a warm "welcome back" from everyone. Janella also confesses that she also has a crush on Austin.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Sr. Leo, Bukidnon's co-adviser, begins to take control of the class in a very dictatorial manner.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">In the annual Christmas Dance, Austin doesn't ask Janella but gives her a giant teddy bear as a gift.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">In a Christmas party Austin was invited to, he meets one of the people who was responsible for him getting all the powers, Ivan Jason Immenzo. He storms out in outrage after this.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">During Christmas Eve, Austin talks to Janella on the roof. On the way down, Janella points out that Austin should try having a bit more fun.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">In New Year's Eve, Austin finds the Mastermind in control of Janella's body. He sucks him out and comforts Janella.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Class resumed and the high schoolers started preparing for the Intramurals.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Sr. Leo "terrorized" the entire batch, particularly the boys, during cheering practices but it only paid off a little when they got fourth place at the end of the Intrams.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Sr. Leo reveals that he has to transfer to the third year level. Bukidnon is sad about this despite his treatment of the batch during the Intrams.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin becomes suspicious when Janella acts a bit differently towards Joel and vice versa. He confronts Joel about this. He admits that he also has a crush on Janella.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin is sent on a math contest along with his teammates. Joel texts him after his contest, telling him that he gave Janella a rose. Austin is infuriated and feels betrayed.

Part IV: Unfinished Business
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin decides to take it out on the fourth floor of the High School Building when he meets up with Sr. Rommel. He can't bear to keep secrets from Austin in this state so he leads him to a secret surveillance system (ESS INTELSS). Austin revisits some painful moments before Sr. Rommel turns it back to present time. They notice a man dragging another man up to the second floor and decide to go after it.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They follow the man to the library when it's revealed to be James Landers, a man Austin believed to be dead. It is revealed that he has been transforming into Joel to spy on Austin and the school.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Spike also shows himself, claiming that the metal spike didn't take his life since he was protected by his metallic internal organs.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Janella, Kyle, and Patrick sense trouble as they rush to the library. They are also shocked by this revelation and attempt to help. Kyle defeats Landers but Spike defeats Janella and Patrick. He manages to destroy the Band again as he flees with the Mastermind.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Kyle tells Joel to call for help but as he turns back to Austin, he is already gone.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Kyle decides to go after Spike and Landers instead, trapping them inside the school.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He changes the plan, telling Joel to guard Janella and Patrick as he called for help. He tells Berna to round up the ASG in the school.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He goes to the base to pick up a BB Gun but Austin destroyed them all. Kyle then zips past him. He assembled the ASG and they corner Landers and Spike.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin arrives and announces that he planted a bomb under the hotel where everyone slept and puts the ASG into another compromising position. Kyle tells John to get to work on some BB Guns as he chases Austin.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Cedric, Rico, Ricardo, Roey, and Lanz volunteer to evacuate the hotel.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The remaining ASG members battle with Landers and Spike. Joel, Patrick, and Janella come in to help. Joel reveals his power by knocking out Landers with a simple touch. He can't do the same to Spike due to his metallic structure but he is soon subdued.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They interrogate him regarding the inside job. Spike reveals it has been happening since the beginning of the school year.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin led Kyle to the Base and knocked him into the elevator. They arrived in the Training room as he turned it into a post apocalyptic environment.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Janella and Berna fly to the hotel and see that the evacuation was a success. They find out that Lanz didn't double check so they go back in. Janella and Berna sense something wrong in the Base. They fly towards it.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Michael checks the basement only to see the bomb. Ernst identifies it as an anti-matter bomb and tells Cedric to get everyone away from the hotel.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">It is a fairly weak bomb as it only sent out beams of anti-matter. Ivan saves Marella from the crumbling hotel and they all get out safely.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They rush to the Base to help Kyle, Janella, and Berna. John tells Ernst to make a diversion. They go down but are too late. Austin puts Kyle in mere moments before death. He puts him in a field where time doesn't move and tells the ASG id they make a wrong move, he dies. He flies to the top of a pile of scrap metal and listens to the ASG's words. They try to convince him to no avail. He removes the time-stop field and Kyle says his last words.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He slides down the pile for a final insult but John comes out of the pile of scrap metal (one of his powers is passing through metal) and puts the black band on him.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He is cured and they take Kyle to the ward. Austin successfully heals him as Landers and Spike's guards announce that they got away and are heading towards the portals at the basement. They go out to catch them.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin, Kyle, Janella, Berna, Ivan, and Patrick fought Landers and the rest fought Spike. They discovered that Spike was weakened by fire from Bam's guitar and shot a spike at it.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Meanwhile, they were having a hard time with Landers. Austin goes berserk when he calls Janella a "bitch" and strangles Landers while using the Power Sap. He switched to electricity and electrifies him. Janella tries stopping him but gets knocked out by the electricity as well. Austin realizes this and tries to revive her.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Joel comes in and asks for Patrick's help. Kyle suggests they bring Janella to the ward. Austin agrees as he turns his arms into blades and proceeds to stab Landers. He is stopped by Kyle. Austin goes into a nervous breakdown as he turns the Band to the 22nd spoke and aims at Landers. Everyone wonders what it is and panics as Austin goes more out of control. Joel knocks him out.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Janella regains consciousness. They wonder what Austin was about to do just before Landers slowly regains consciousness. They get ready to attack.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The other group tells Patrick to fire a fireball at Spike. He does so and Spike exploits this by making contact with John, fusing their bodies together.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Marella cooled them down and Spike ripped himself from John and shot a spike at his gut. He shot two spikes to his side and flew off.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin regained consciousness and was calmer than before. Lander suddenly stood back up, turned into Spike, and shot spikes at everyone's feet, knocking them down. He threatened Austin to teleport the two of them to Woodridge or he'll blow Janella's brains out. Austin warns him as Spike comes in and tells Landers that Kyle has a Telegun.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Kyle thinks of the A.R.M. Chamber they trapped Austin in. He whips out the gun and shoots it at Landers, sending him there. Spike shoots at Berna as Kyle shoots at Spike. He quickly shot at the spike, saving Berna. He then saw that he has been hit by Spike. He shot at Spike and he too was sent to the chamber.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They brought Kyle to the base and the others brought John in. Austin pulled the lever to open the chamber but remembered that he disabled it earlier when he was out of control.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Spike flew out, grabbed Austin, and flew them to the school. Austin redirected them to the bridge and they fought. Austin switched to Pyrokinesis and fired up his hands. He grabbed Spikes hands and melted them. When he let go, Spike put his melting hands into Austin's face.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Meanwhile, Landers disguised himself as Austin but they didn't fall for it. Landers disappeared and reappeared behind Ernst. He shot a psychic orb at Ernst and knocked him out. Janella made a fire/ice shield and reflected Landers' psychic orb back to him, knocking him out.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin calmed down and turned his entire body into a fiery mass. He charged at Spike. Spike was overcome by the Mastermind and covered his body with a red psychic field. He shot a spike at Austin's stomach. The spike just passed through the fiery mass but the red psychic field prevented it from closing. He went back his human form and realized he was bleeding.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The Mastermind tells him that if he wants to live, h will teleport them to the Base.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin says that he gives in but shoots a teleport beam towards Spike. Spike disappears but the psychic being remains.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">After a while, Austin defeats this link and tries to fix his bleeding when suddenly, a space rift appears behind him and draws him in.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He looks around and sees the training room. He passes as well and the Mastermind commends him. He also mentions that there is no way out. Janella then appears through a portal and takes Austin with him.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">They arrived at the island and Austin fixed John up. He also repaired the hotel by turning back time. Janella suggests not repairing the basements because the bomb might come back. Austin concludes that they'll have to rebuild it themselves.

Part V: Deception
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Joel continues to flirt with Janella until one day when he tells Austin that he doesn't have a crush on her anymore. Austin takes his word for it.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin creates a transport car system due to boredom that transports students from the school to the hotel.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Kyle and Berna finish the repairs of the basement. They give it a more futuristic feel.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Janella arrives and notices the basement. They talk for a while and Austin senses that Janella was reading his mind.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He went the base and checked the Mutant Bond and saw that they had a link. He showed this to Janella and they celebrated.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin tried to rebuild his friendship with Joel, standing up for him when the boys kick him out of their group in Science.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin had another contest one day but they arrived early. Austin caught Joel sitting beside Janella and began losing trust in Joel again.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The trust was completely lost the next day. There were a few students exempted in the quarterly test and were playing truth or dare. Austin joined in.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">His confidante told him that they asked Joel if he still had a crush on Janella and he answered yes.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The next day, Joel's betrayal came full circle when he insulted Austin in front of Janella. Janella didn't take it too well, thinking that she ruined their friendship, and threatened to never speak to both of them again if they don't make up.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin pleaded her not to put him in this situation but she refused. Austin made the wrong move and she finally told Austin that he no longer knew him.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin professed his love for her (though not in person) and she was calmed down. Austin also agreed to forgive Joel. Janella asks him if he could wait until fourth year. Austin says yes.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin accepted Joel's apology the next day. Janella also professed her love to Austin (also not in person) but wanted them to remain friends for the moment. Austin agreed.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Austin told Kyle that he needed to do undercover work near the city version of the school. He also tells him to tell Berna that she and Janella would be undercover in Woodridge, which was where the Mastermind's base was.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">During the Bukidnon farewell party, Austin and Janella share some romantic moments. He tells her about the undercover job in which she accepts.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">He spends the rest of the night attempting to profess is love for her in person but ultimately fails

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The book ends with her car driving off and Austin staring at it as it moves farther away. He regrets not having said "I Love You".