Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I had a bit of a writer's block with this story, then I got my wisdom teeth taken out, and then I had finals, which are now over.
So now I'm back on this story. And for all of you who've read my story MASQUERADE, prepare for the return of the parallel opposites!
I hope you enjoy!
Regular POV
"Knock the lantern over and run," Danny whispered to Cathy, who gave him a confused look in return. They were trying to escape from the clutches of a villain who had locked them in the basement of whatever building they were in, Cathy didn't know what building as she was unconscious when they were brought there. Why would knocking over a lantern help that process at all?
"Cathy, knock the lantern over," Seth said from Cathy's other side, his voice calmer than Danny's.
"Why?" Cathy asked, not seeing what the guys were. Seth's brown eyes locked with Cathy's before looking down at the floor under the medieval lantern hanging on the wall above the blonde's head. Cathy looked down too. There was a shiny, black liquid on the tile floor. Cathy looked up at Seth again, and then over at Danny who nodded at her.
Cathy sighed before reaching up and knocking the lantern off its hook. The three teammates jumped away as the lamp crashed to the floor and glass flew in all directions. The flames that had been held within the glass made contact with the mystery liquid, and ignited into an even bigger flame. Had Danny and Seth known it was going to do that? Or was it just a lucky guess?
"Run!" Danny cried as the flames began to grow. The three rushed towards the door and out into the street. The sun was setting and the city felt still, too still. It was abandoned, but they'd known that. There were only seven other people anywhere in the city now; the rest of their team and the villain trapped inside the soon to be burning building they were leaving behind.
"We're not safe yet. That fire will reach the explosives we saw in the basement sooner than it'll reach the top floor where our friend is planning the demise of our real friends," Seth said. "We've gotta keep going. Maybe find some of the others." Cathy and Danny nodded in agreement.
The three began walking down the empty street. There was no noise except for the sound of their steps ricocheting off the buildings. The air was still, now wind and no noise to carry.
"Where is this place?" Cathy asked, looking up at the skyscrapers around them. All of the buildings were gray, gray with blank black windows. Had lights ever illuminate those windows? Had people once lived here?
"You'd think we'd know by now," Seth replied. "But the location is among the information that's being with held from us. Why? I'm not quite sure. You'd think location wouldn't effect us escaping at all."
"It might. If we knew where we were, we could try to contact someone from somewhere close by, if anything was close by," Danny reasoned. "But yeah, I don't think knowing the name of a city would help us get out of it." Cathy nodded as the trio kept walking. Then they heard the building collapse and turned around to see three people falling through the air.
"My songbird may have gotten out of her cage, but you won't," the shadow covered man said, relocking the cage Sam was trapped in with a new, unbreakable lock. This one was opened with a number combination, and couldn't be picked open with a hairpin. There's no way I'm getting out of here, Sam thought as the man walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him as he had every other time he'd left.
"Christine, where are you?" Sam asked the silent room, falling backwards and letting herself softly hit the metal bared wall of the cage. They'd decided that she would be the one to go get help. How long ago had that been? An hour? Two? Or was it actually less than that? Sam had completely lost track of time. There were no windows so she couldn't judge the time by the sunlight, and being trapped also tended to make time drag.
Christie was coming back for her. It was just taking her a little time to formulate the perfect plan. That's what Sam kept telling herself over and over again in her head as she closed her eyes and tried to forget about this twisted game she was trapped in, literally!
A creak coming from the left side of the room caught Sam's attention, and she snapped her brown eyes open just in time to see one of the ceiling panels clatter to the floor before Christie jumped down after it.
"Told you I'd be back," she said, and I'm not alone. Chris jumped down after her, followed by Kyle and Danielle. "I ran into these three, and we decided that we didn't have the time to find the others. So we came to get you first."
"Well, I don't know how much time we'll have," Sam replied. "Shadow man didn't leave that long ago. He probably heard the ceiling fall and he's most likely on his way up here. And he locked the cage with one of those electronic code locks."
"Don't worry about that," Kyle said, pulling out a small vile of green liquid. "I found this downstairs. And I think it'll help."
"Does it help you figure out a lock code?" Sam asked.
"Nope. It disintegrates stuff," the blonde boy replied, running over and pouring the liquid on the lock. The metal was slowly eaten away and Kyle pulled the rest of the lock out and opened the door to the cage. "Now let's run. We have three buddies to track down and one evil villain to outsmart."
"Which way do you think'll be faster, down or up?" Danielle asked.
"Down. There's nowhere to go when you get up to the roof," Sam answered, stepping down out of her bared cell. "Let's go."
"Not so fast," shadow man's voice said from the door, where he was currently standing ominously with his red and black cape floating out behind him. His stance took up the entire doorway, making their escape impossible.
"Up it is!" Danielle stated as she followed her team members up the rickety staircase on the opposite side of the room. Hopefully there was something up there they could use to escape.
"What do we do now?" Kyle asked frantically once they'd reached the roof. Danielle slammed the door shut and slammed herself against it in a futile attempt to bar shadow man out when reached the top of the stairs.
"Remain calm. We won't anything done if we're freaking out," Christie said, looking around at everything out on the roof. "Let's see, ways to escape…"
"Electric line," Chris pointed out the wire connecting their building to the one across from the back of it. "We could find something to slide across it with."
"Something like what?" Sam asked.
"Anything that'll hold," Chris answered, searching through the piles of miscellaneous items stacked around the roof. The banging on the door caught all of their attention.
"We're losing time!" Danielle cried, fighting harder to keep the door closed.
"That means we have to take the electric line," Sam said. "Chris, found anything?"
"Not yet," Chris replied nervously, the setting sun reflecting off his blue eyes. No wonder she likes him, Sam thought. I always thought it'd be cute if Chris started dating…
"I can't hold him much longer!" Danielle exclaimed, the door bucking harder and harder as shadow man began to win the upper hand. The whole building suddenly shook.
"What was that?" Kyle asked.
"Earthquake?" Christie suggested.
"More like the fire eating this building away," shadow man said as he pushed the door open, knocking Danielle across the roof toward Chris with the force of the push. She stumbled over and fell, her head hitting the edging of the roof. Chris ran over to make sure she was all right. The brunette hadn't lost consciousness, but it was clear that the world was spinning for her.
"A fire?" Sam asked, her eyes widening along with the rest of her friends. Now the clock was really ticking. The building shook again.
"How long till it collapses?" Kyle asked as though shadow man wasn't the enemy.
"Any second now," the villain replied. "And I'm so sorry I won't be here to see you all go down along with all of this junk." He pulled a yellow button out of his utility belt and pressed it, revealing a jet pack.
"What is all of this stuff anyway?" Sam asked.
"What's it to you?" shadow man asked in response, turning on the jet pack. The little propellers starting to turn with a buzzing sound as the building shook a third time, this time more violent than before.
"Well, it turns out that you have some really great stuff up here," Christie said, pulling out a fold of purple cloth from the middle of one of the piles. "Stuff that's great for doing things like this," she continued as she threw the material at the jetpack. The fabric got caught in the propellers and caused them to jam. Shadow man fell back onto the roof.
"You ruined my escape, Songbird," he cried, pointing a finger at Christie. "You'll pay for that one."
"Doubt it," Kyle said with a laugh. "You haven't seen this girl go warrior, have you?"
"Kyle, we don't have the time," Christie replied.
"You're right about that," shadow man said, pulling a scratched up gun from a stack of items. "I've got full ammo and only five targets. This'll be easy."
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Sam replied, pulling a wrench out of one of the piles.
"And what do you plan to do with that?" shadow man scoffed as Sam whipped the wrench at him, knocking the gun out of his hands. The weapon shot, the bullet zipping through the air right between Chris and Danielle. "Hey!"
"Chris, get Danielle out of here. Take the electric wire. We'll hold off shadow man!" Sam directed. Chris nodded and pulled Danielle to her feet. She wobbled a few times before grabbing onto his shoulder as he dug through the closets pile for something they could use as a zip line. He ended with an umbrella.
"Hold on," Chris said to Danielle as he took a running start off the roof, looping his right arm around her center and guiding the umbrella up to the wire with his left. The hook of the umbrella caught the wire and the two went zipping away.
"Well, missy, two can play at the throwing things game," shadow man said, tossing a piece of a cracked mirror Frisbee style at the electric wire. His angle was perfect, slicing the wire in two.
"NO!" Kyle exclaimed, extending his hand down to catch his two friends and prevent them from plummeting to the ground. He caught the umbrella in one hand and got Chris' forearm with the other.
"Heroic," shadow man scoffed. Kyle clenched his teeth and chose to ignore him. He couldn't make his way over to the edge of the roof to see how far down Chris and Danielle were. But they were far enough for it to be difficult for the alien boy to retract his arms.
Kyle couldn't focus on much more than his current job, so whatever Sam and Christie were doing to take down shadow man was a mystery to him. But just because he couldn't see them, it didn't mean he couldn't hear them. He heard things bouncing off each other, other things clanking against one another. He heard things fall to the ground. He heard Sam scream, then shadow man laughed. The laughing continued, much harder and more triumphant after Christie screamed. It was killing Kyle to not be able to help. But when shadow man cried out, he knew the girls were still holding their own.
"KYLE!" Chris called up to him suddenly. "LET US GO!"
"NO!" Kyle called back.
"LET US GO! TRUST ME!" Chris called back. Kyle wasn't sure what he could do. Drop two of his friends to their potential deaths to save two more of his friends, or continue to hold on to those two and let the others continue to fight for themselves although they sounded hurt.
"OK," Kyle called back, and let go. He pulled his arms back to their normal size and turned around to see shadow man pulling an arrow out of his leg. Sam was armed with a bow that had a few dents in it and Christie had found a sword among the piles of items.
"Naturally, you find the most destructive object available," Kyle commented.
"Naturally," Christie agreed. The building gave another dangerous lurch. "And this building is going down."
"And it's taking you three down with it," shadow man said, clutching his leg and laughing a little insanely. "I may not have been the one to officially take down the MBC, but at least I was there to see them crumble!"
"Good attempt at a joke, but it's time for us to blow out of here," Sam replied, revealing a large tablecloth she'd found. "Come on guys, let's go!"
Kyle ran over to the girls and together they leapt off the roof, using the tablecloth as a parachute. They could hear shadow man's screams, or they could until the sound of the building collapsing drowned him out.
"Are you two alright?" Kyle asked.
"Yeah, we're fine. He didn't get us too bad," Christie answered.
"Just a few bumps and bruises," Sam added.
"Are you sure?" Kyle asked. "Cause it sounded like he really had you hurt."
"Well…" Sam began, looking over at Christie, trying to decided if they should tell him or not. "He did get a few shots at us. But he didn't hit anything serious."
"What?" Kyle exclaimed as they reached the ground. The tablecloth fell on top of them. "You got shot and didn't bother to tell me?"
"Sorry it didn't exactly come up in trying to destroy a villain and escape a burning building," Christie replied.
"Hey! Look who we found," a familiar voice said.
"Danny!" Sam exclaimed as the trio looked up to see Danny, Seth, and Cathy running towards them. "Where were you guys? Are you alright?"
"We're fine. We actually just got out of that building you got off of," Danny replied. "We started that fire. If we'd known you were in there too…"
"It's fine. We wouldn't have been able to escape as awesomely if you hadn't," Kyle responded.
"So we're at six. Have you guys seen Chris and Danielle?" Seth asked. The trio grew silent. "I don't like that reaction. What happened? Were they still in the building?"
"No," Sam answered, looking over at Kyle. "What happened to them?" The blonde sighed and looked toward the ground.
"I let go," he admitted. "Chris told me to. I didn't want to but… I figured he had a good reason for it. And you two were in trouble so…"
"It's alright Kyle. You didn't let them fall in vain," Seth interrupted, placing his hand comfortingly on Kyle's shoulder. "But why were they falling in the first place?"
"Our only escape off the rood was to slide across an electrical wire. Danielle got hurt, so when things started to get rough, I told Chris to take her across the line and out of harm's way, so he did. And then shadow man cut the line and they fell, so Kyle grabbed them," Sam recounted, trying to take a step forward closer to the rest of the team. But she stopped, her face giving away the pain that step gave her.
"Sam? What's wrong?" Danny asked, taking hold of her arm protectively.
"It's nothing," Sam replied quietly.
"Samantha, you got shot in the ankle, that's not nothing," Christie said what she knew Sam never would.
"You got shot?" Cathy exclaimed, her eyes growing wide with fear. Sam nodded in defeat.
"When the end appears so near; there's no place but to fall. When separation tears you up and the distance truly small; when the sun loses it's color, and a shot rings after the brawl. Then level six will be completed, and happiness to you all," Christie recited the lines they had been given before they'd entered the city. "It sounds like we've accomplished all that…"
"Hey, you found the others!"
All six turned with surprise to see Chris and Danielle running over to them from where the building had just recently been standing. Both appeared to be soaking wet, which they were.
"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Kyle exclaimed, pulling both of them into a tight hug. "What happened? And why are you wet?"
"Well, we didn't notice it before, but there was a river behind the building that the wire ran over. So when you dropped us, we fell into it," Chris explained.
"I knew you'd have a reason for me drop you," Kyle said.
"LEVEL SIX COMPLETE," an electronic voice announced all across the city. "PREPARE FOR DEVIRUALIZATION."
"Now we've accomplished all of it," Cathy said, smiling at the newly reunited team. "Happiness to us all…"
Kyle's POV
"What's wrong with her?" I asked.
"It looks like a bite from a Tracker Snatcher," Grandma said, examining the weird marking Seth had found on Christie's arm. Talk about a scary experience when one of your friends just falls over unconscious while you're all out helping with the yard.
"What's a Tracker Snatcher?" Danielle asked as Grandma raced over to the computer and started up a transmission session.
"Very bad news," she answered Danielle. "Very, very bad news."
I didn't like the sound of that. I looked back down at my unconscious friend. Just a minute ago, we'd been talking about writing our own account of Earth's history; one that would be based on facts but filled with our sense of humor. Then, she'd kind of just stopped suddenly, like she'd forgotten something. Then she'd collapsed. And now here we were, trying to figure out what was going on.
I looked at the markings on her arm. They looked so familiar. My hand subconsciously found the spot on my abdomen that had similar markings etched on it.
And thus the plot thickens.
Also, most of this chapter was a dream. I know I didn't make that clear at all. But hopefully you read these author's notes. This is actually what Christie was seeing at that moment Kyle said she froze like she'd forgotten something. I know it seems like a lot for one moment, but it can happen.
So I hope that little twist wasn't too annoying and I hoped you all liked it. It's kind of foreshadowing of coming chapters.
Please review! I love to hear what you think!
Read on!