Chapter 6:


"Class is in session... Everyone take a seat." The young man said with a bow. Everyone stood perfectly still, not moving a single muscle; all of them terrified due to the army surrounding them. The stranger saw no one was moving and rolled his eyes, before reaching into his jacket and pulling out a revolver. He fired two shots into the ceiling, causing screams to explode across the room.

"I SAID SIT DOWN!" The man roared like a demon, red from anger. No one thought twice as they all rushed to the tables. Cheryl cursed as she had to do the same: there were way too many gunmen and women for her to take out on her own, there was no sign of Jason and she'd be found out. Cheryl sat between Betty and Archie alongside Veronica, Dilton and Jughead.

The young man looked around, pleased as he put his gun back.

"Good." He smiled like a kid. Twirling his cane around he examined the students; they were all looking at him terrified. This made his chuckle.

"Now... First question: Does anyone know who I am?" The man asked as he looked around. No one spoke up as everyone looked at each other unsurely.

"No?" The boss asked. "Ok, maybe that was too hard of a question for you pea-brains, so let me introduce myself properly. I am The Phantom."

A few students gasped with shock, Dilton included as the group turned to him.

"You know of him?" Betty asked.

"Yeah... He's a dangerous crime lord and one of the most wanted men alive. A real psycopath; We're all going to die..." Dilton was on the verge of tears only for Veronica to elbow him in the gut.

"Don't scare Archie!" Veronica growled angrily, before smiling at Archie. Cheryl couldn't believe it; even at a time like this she was obnoxious!

"So... Is no one going to ask why I'm here?" Phantom asked as he looked around. Still no one dared answered him. "No one? No one is wondering what I'm doing here? You're at school, you all should be wanting to learn, discover new things! Don't be afraid to ask!" He exclaimed with a smile.

After a moment of silence one student, a blond kid slowly started to talk. "Wh... What are you doi-"

He was inturrupted as Phantom's biggest man grabbed him by the back of his head by surprise and slammed it as hard as he could against the table. Everyone gasped in shock as he pulled it back up; the kid's nose was broken and pissing with blood as he clutched it, tears streaming down his face. Phantom walked up to the boy, glaring daggers into him.

"Don't you know your manners, you insolent brat?!" Phantom growled. "Raise your hand if you want to ask a question!"

Phantom gave the signal as the colossus of a man let go of him. Phantom turned to the rest of the cafeteria a smile once again adorning his face.

"Anyone else wish to try?" Phantom asked.

Everyone was appauled by what had just happened. The poor kid clutched his bloodied face with all the tissues he could gather quickly drenching them red. Cheryl clenched her fists as she glared at Phantom.

"No? Well, I guess your elders will just have to show you how it's done." Phantom sighed as he snapped his fingers. Two of his men walked inside, dragging a gagged and tied up principal Weatherbee to everyone's surprise. He looked banged up, with a black eye forming and a cut on his forehead.

"Waldo!" Miss Grundy called out in shock as she took a few steps forward before a shot ricochet passed her head, causing her to drop to the ground. The hispanic member of Phantom's army chuckled as he blew the cannon of his gun like a cowboy.

"Thank you Toni" Phantom smirked as he approached Weatherbee. Pulling the gag off he stared Weatherbee down, causing him to whimper as Phantom smirked.

"First off all, congratulations on gathering everyone here. I was afraid I was going to have to go through all the trouble myself, and that could have gotten messy." Phantom chuckled. Suddenly he placed the gun to his forehead and turned to the students.

"Someone ask me what I'm doing here!" Phantom yelled as he cocked his gun. Dozens of hands raised at the same time to save their principal. Phantom pointed his gun to one of them as a student yelled "What do you want?!" Phantom smiled as he paced around while twirling his gun.

"Well you see-" Phantom's gun fired, shooting Weatherbee in the leg. The Principal fell to the ground screaming in pain as some students screamed in horror. Phantom just looked surprised as he stared back and forth between Weatherbee and his smoking pistol.

"Whoops. That one was a misfire." He chuckled. "Sorry 'bout that!" He apologized with a laugh as Iryna rolled her eyes.

"This guy's mad..." Betty whimpered, latching onto Cheryl in fear. Veronica did the same with Archie, and Dilton was doing the same to Veronica until she elbowed him in the nose. Cheryl could only stare in disbelief at this man. Betty was right, he was clearly insane. If he kept on like this, other people would most likely be hurt or even die to him and his goons. Cheryl knew she had to do something... But what?

Cheryl looked around once again, desperately trying to find her brother. If she was going to do anything, she needed him so no one else would get shot. With everyone sitting still it was a lot easier to see across the cafeteria as finally Cheryl spotted her brother; he was on the other side of the cafeteria. Jason noticed Cheryl as well causing them to nod in sync: They needed to do something before anyone else gets hurt. Too bad for their identities, lives were at stake here.

"Betty, let go of me." Cheryl whispered to her. Betty clung on tight, petrified as Cheryl tried to gently get her to let go. "Betty, please let go of me!.."

"Will you two keep it down?! We don't want to get this psycho's attention!" Veronica growled.

"Please, just shut up for once!" Cheryl shot back.

"Excuse me?! Don't tell me to shut up!" Veronica growled back.

"Girls, now's not the time!" Archie tried to interviene.

"Then tell her to shut up!" Cheryl called out as she tried to get Betty off without her noticing Cheryl's strength or hurting her.

"I said don't tell me to shut up!" Veronica called out a bit louder, fuming mad towards Cheryl.

"Veronica, I swear I will... will..." Cheryl's speech slowed down as she felt something like nothing before. She felt... bad.

Cheryl had no idea what was happening; it was like all of a sudden she could feel her strength being drained from her body. Cheryl was growing weaker and weaker, she felt like she was going to be sick. The young red-head could barely sit straight on her bench as she slouched forward, clutching her whole body in pain. She couldn't believe this: not only had she never felt like this before, but she had never felt... bad before. Her and Jason had always been on top physical health, they never even got the slightest scratch on them. So for her to be feeling this terrible was terrifying to her. Betty was also in shock; she had never seen Cheryl like this before.

"Cheryl? What's wrong?" Betty asked, concerned for her best friend. All of a sudden they all heard a cough behind them and turned around. Phantom stood behind them, the jewel on his cane glowing brightly as he had a look of disdain on his face.

"Am I... inturrupting anything?" He asked with a smile. No one dared answer him; they didn't know how he'd react.

"No? Well, seeing as I'm in a kind mood, I'll repeat myself. But pay attention this time or you'll have to serve detention." Phantom chuckled as he walked around the table. After two of his men picked up a student from the other end of the table and threw him away, Phantom sat down in front of six, his eyes focused on Cheryl.

"What's wrong with lil' red?" He asked indifferently.

"We-We don't know.." Archie answered, fear coating his voice. "All of a sudden she just felt terrible. Maybe we should take her to the nurse's office and have her checked out."

"Hmmm... Nah." Phantom chuckled as he leaned over. A loud slap was heard as Phantom slapped Cheryl across the cheek, causing her to ricochet towards Archie.

"Wake up princess!" Phantom chimed as Cheryl held her cheek in utter shock. That... That hurt... How could that have possibly hurt?..

Jason saw the slap from where he was seated as a look of pure anger was on his face. But also the same shock Cheryl had. How did that son of a bitch not break his hand on his sister? And why did Cheryl look so pale? Jason wanted to do something, but it was clear Cheryl had problems and he couldn't do anything alone. Plus he didn't want to share his sister's situation, otherwise they were all done for sure.

"The reason I'm here because my fundings are a little... tight, shall we say." Phantom started explaining to the six of them. "So I thought I'd make a little withdrawl of cash to fund my next business ideas. Now bank heists are soooo over-done to death by small time crooks, and that is too beneath me... No... I like to go with something a bit more fun... Say a kidnapping and ransom demand?"

Phantom's eyes lingered onto Veronica as she clicked what was going on. She still shared her father's name and he was one of the richest people in the state. But Veronica also knew how stingy he was with his money and seeing how easily Hiram threw her and her mom away... Fear coursed through Veronica's mind as the once cocky vixen was now shivering with fright.

"W-Wait!" Veronica begged. "M-My dad! He'll never pay the ransom!"

"You never know until you try! Joel!" Phantom called out and snapped his fingers. The largest of his men came behind Veronica and grabbed her as Phantom got up from the table.

"Veronica!" Archie called out trying to hold Veronica back by her hand. "You can't do this!"

"But I am." Phantom chuckled. "And by the look of it, you want to come as well! Very well, we'll take him. In fact, take all of them. We can always make other people pay up if Plan A fails."

The whole table was soon swarmed by Phantom's men, all pointing their guns at the teenagers. Reluctently Betty, Archie, Dilton, Jughead and Cheryl got up; Cheryl needing help from Betty to walk as they left. Veronica was trying her best to fight back from Joel, but he was way too strong for her to even feel her resistance. The posse of criminals started to leave through the destroyed entrance before Phantom turned around to the school.

"By the way, we've destroyed all the phones in the building along with the ones we took." Phantom called out. "Better to be safe than sorry in case someone gets the bright idea of trying to call the cops. And I swear if I hear one siren on my way out of this dump, I will come back and personally burn all your houses to the ground! With you and your loved ones in them!" Phantom laughed sadistically as he stormed outside.

Multiple black SUV's were parked on the school courtyard with the drivers waiting for their boss' return.

"Stick 'em in the back." Phantom told his men pointing his cane at the hostages. The men nodded and pointed their guns at the group. One by one they got into the van before Veronica was tossed in by Joel. Phantom and Iryna got in the back with them while Tony and Joel climbed in the front with Tony at the wheel. With a skid of the tires the SUV's set off at high speed.


A few moments after Phantom left no one dared move in case some of his men were still there ready to gun them down. With no sign of anyone else most students stormed outside of the school in a huge panic; only some stayed behind wanting to make sure that the injured were taken care of. The kid who got his nose busted open was being checked on by the nurse while Mr Weatherbee was being taken to the emergencies by the teachers.

Jason used this panic to try and gather some information without anyone growing suspicious. He needed to find his sister and the other hostages before that lunatic killed them all. Jason had no idea why Cheryl was so weak all of a sudden, or how Phantom slapped and hurt her. Something must have been off with that guy and until he found out what he needed to be extra-precautious. This was the first time lives were on the line. He couldn't mess up.

Looking at the courtyard Jason saw the tire tracks from multiple vehicules. That must have been them! Jason looked at where they headed and clenched his fist. It was time to be what Cheryl always wanted to be: it was time to be a hero.