"I just wonder what the ghost was going to do with her personal day," the teenage sleuth responded.
    Also, there were six boxes of Nike(tm) shoes stacked by the front door. They were all the wrong size. Powerhouse sighed and headed for his room to find replacements for the footwear he had lost while Alchemy checked John Smith's message.
    "Miss Tree, we've done a check and discovered that you're using the line out of the Justice Defenders. We won't be here any longer, thank you very much and have a nice day."
    So much for that idea. Well, it had been worth a shot.
    They looked over the information Scott's own henchmen had forwarded. It included a few more details on Sequoia, including the fact that every time it had attacked in the past it had been under someone else's control. Left on its own, it simply attempted to root. Many botanists feared that some day it would produce a slew of 200-pound seeds, though maybe it would be possible to cross them with some other, more beneficent sort of plant.
    While the Justice Defenders plotted, Sequoia had reached the shore and climbed out, then wandered up to solid ground and simply stood there, arms extended and leaves out, Scott still hidden in the foliage. One thing seemed clear; it was behaving benignly.
    Powerhouse called the police and asked for a blanket investigation on all new interior landscape installations for the last 48 hours. He figured they had to be more or less used to this kind of thing, they lived in Seattle all the time. They did seem pretty blase about the request. Then they headed for the Space Needle.

Meanwhile, at the top of the Space Needle, twelve carefully preprogrammed and prepared plants came to life and began spreading vines everywhere, choking the elevators (and people) and blocking the doors until entry was beyond the abilities of any normal mortal man.
    Fortunately, of course, there were some people around who didn't fit that restrictive description.
    Phil and his four henchmen (Holly, Cedar, Geranium, and Poplar), strode out into the hysterical crowd to take possession. They were all looking a bit the worse for wear, and Phil's costume had taken quite a beating from the dunking.
    "Yes! Finally!" he exulted. "Hoist the device up to the roof."
    "What exactly is this thing going to do, boss?"
    "You don't understand. We've already calculated exactly what makes good plants good and evil plants EVIL."
    "We have?"
    "Of course we have. And it's certain spectrums of sunlight." He rubbed his palms together gleefully. "We'll be transmitting those directly to the area. And that will drive the creature evil, and he will be MINE to CONTROL."
    "Okay boss. Whatever you say."
    "Poplar, carry that thing up there. Hook it up."
    "Why do I have to do it?"
    "Because I said so!" Phil began stomping his feet and waving his arms, the throes of madness upon him.
    "Oh, all right." He hooked up the device.

Scott still hovered around Sequoia, keeping an eye on things. He had no sensors to detect the altered wavelength when it struck the giant redwood, but he couldn't help noticing that the formerly quiet tree had erupted into a cataclysmic rage and was heading into the city, smashing into buildings right and left. He called Powerhouse.
    "Hello?" he answered. "He seems to be upset about something—"
    "Yeah, Tony's Pizza, did you want something?" a new voice broke into the conversation.
    "Powerhouse?" Scott inquired, confused.
    "Did you want anchovies on that?"
    "Please. Yes?" he asked Scott.
    "Twenty-five pizzas. You having a party?"
    "Yeah, sure. Hurry it up."
    "Okay. What's the address?"
    "The Space Needle."
    "OK, catered party, we'll have 'em there in twenty minutes, just need your credit card number."
    Powerhouse gave him the expense account number.
    "Oh, Mr. Van Bluth, no problem!" Tony's assured him, and signed off.
    "Powerhouse?" Scott inquired again. "He seems to be upset about something."
    "I swear, Florence, I think he's going to leave me!" yet another voice spoke.
    "You can't be sure about that, Janice."
    "I think he is! I keep finding receipts—"
    "We're heading to the Needle," Powerhouse told him over the over conversation. Apparently the problem with the Justice Defenders' phone system went deeper than he had realized.
    "Excuse me, ma'am," Scott interrupted Florence, "do you think it would be worse to have a giant sequoia rampaging through the city randomly, or in a direction?"
    "I think we have some kind of interference on the line," she told Janice. "Did you hear something about a tree?"
    "Florence, I just want to talk to you about my husband!"
    "No, I swear I heard something about a tree."
    Powerhouse flew toward the Space Needle with Alchemy and dropped her off on the roof. It was pretty easy to spot Sequoia; he headed for the giant tree, which was still fairly close to the docks; a gray cloud hovered around its head. Eclipse followed in the van, parked and ran inside. Vines were everywhere. She looked for the stairs.
    The roof buckled underneath Alchemy and tossed her upwards; she slipped, skidded downwards, grabbed hold of a rail and pulled herself back up.
    Powerhouse tried to get the tree's attention. It was causing massive damage with every step. He flew down, scooped up a truck, and rammed Sequoia with it at full speed. The tree roared angrily but did not appear harmed.
    Eclipse continued to run up the stairs, forcing her way through the vines. The leaves blocking her path looked like poison oak. She hesitated, sighed and pushed through the barrier. Itch, itch.
    Scott attempted to taunt the tree, hoping to lead it back out of the densely populated area. "You hit like a dandelion!"
    Alchemy pulled herself over the railing and found Holly right in front of her, aiming a kick at her head. She ducked, but it seemed that Holly had known her movement even before she made it, and she almost lost her grip on the railing when the blow connected.
    Meanwhile, inside: "The creature has been driven mad with anger," Phil announced. "Now..." held his hands to his head in concentration, and brought the Living Redwood under his malefic control!
    Scott could tell that something had changed; Sequoia no longer swung its arms at his cloud-form in rage.
    Alchemy got one leg up over the railing, freeing a hand to form a rain of bricks onto Phil's helper, knocking her unconscious. Oddly enough, the faint headache and nicotine craving she'd been having ever since the airport went away just then.

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