A day or two had passed since the four girls had decided to go back down to London. Alex had taken the first portion of the journey as they had decided to stay overnight in Blackpool. Sam was reluctant at first to spend the entire day, but quickly realised the advantage of being able to spend that day disabling the program. It also meant they could buy disguises, as a precaution. Sam drove the second portion of the journey.
Once they neared London, they found a gas station to quickly change into their disguises. They'd decided to be subtle about it, wanting to blend in. They'd bought hoodies to wear, with jeans if they weren't wearing them. Nobody usually cared about teenagers in casual clothes. It was deemed the most teenagery they could look, so blending in would be easy. They'd also all bought a hat of some kind, so they could shield their faces.
Once they'd arrived back in London, they decided to stay in yet another cheap hotel, thinking they wouldn't be staying there for long. The second they'd checked in and Taylor and Dani had dumped their bags into their room, they popped next door into Sam and Alex's room to go over the plan. They'd double-checked and were relieved to see no CCTV cameras around.
"Do we all know our roles?" checked Sam.
"I'm to stay here and observe all the CCTV cameras," replied Dani.
"I'm to be lookout," responded Taylor.
"I'm to be the other lookout," answered Alex.
"Perfect. We'll execute the plan tomorrow," said Sam.
"And how exactly are you going to kidnap one of them?" questioned Taylor.
Sam half smirked. "Oh trust me, they'll be easy to kidnap. I just need one. I'll need you to locate one for me Alex."
"Easy."
"We begin the plan tomorrow. Everyone get a good night's sleep. You'll need it."
The next day, all four girls awoke with nervous excitement. If they pulled this off, they'd be going home. The thought brought a smile to their faces, memories of their homes replaying in their minds. They'd get to see their friends and family again, and it wouldn't be fiction. They'd be real. Their memories would be real, not something they thought they'd imagined. They'd be that much closer to finding out who was behind this whole ordeal and defeat them once and for all.
Sam got up first, feeling the adrenaline pump through her. Alex got up a few minutes afterwards, looking over at her. "Are you ready?" she asked.
"I was born ready."
Alex rolled her eyes, but turned on her laptop all the same. "What type of person are you looking for?"
"A young male is preferable. I can pretend he's my boyfriend then."
"But if you got someone older, you can pretend they're your parent."
"Yes but then they'd have to look like me."
"What about someone who can pretend to be your friend?"
"Friends won't get you in. A partner might."
Alex sighed. "It'd be far easier if your dad was around."
"Yeah but he wouldn't ever let me get near it. A fake boyfriend might."
"Right. Choose out of…these three."
Sam analysed them all before deciding to go with the third boy she saw. "That one," she said pointing out the third boy.
"Why him?"
"He looks easy enough to kidnap, but tough enough that if anyone tried to challenge him, he could beat them up."
"Right. He's heading towards the local Starbucks. Wear some eye contacts, tie your hair up, put on your hat. He might not recognise you."
"That's what I'm hoping for. I'll be back in…half an hour?"
"Try not to scare him away."
"I can't promise anything." She turned to leave, before pausing. "Get the other two up."
"Sure. I just love being punched early in the morning."
"You have fast reflexes. You'll be fine."
"If I do get punched, you owe me breakfast."
"Not likely."
She left without another word.
"Dani, are you ready?" Alex double-checked from across the road to the entrance of the post office through her earpiece. They'd spent half an hour figuring out which was the right post office and they were more than grateful when they'd found it.
Dani rolled her eyes, speaking into the microphone on the laptop into the earpiece. "Yes." Her task was the simplest one. All she had to do was watch the CCTV footage, to give the two lookouts a heads up if anyone suspicious was approaching. Sam had pointed out whom she was looking out for, so she kept a razor sharp focus on them.
Alex nodded before looking at Sam and her 'boyfriend'. He glared at each of them, but they could visibly see he was afraid of Sam. "So we just wait outside here?" asked Alex.
"No, Taylor waits outside here. You're to wait inside."
"Why?" Taylor whined.
"Do you want to be caught?" she hissed in response. "Do your job. As for you, you'd better not have been lying about which post office it was," growled Sam, muttering into his ear. "Otherwise, we'll have some more fun later."
Ian flinched away from her, remembering the horrible ordeal he'd already experienced earlier that day in her hotel room. Alex had gone next door. He didn't want any more torture to happen. That had been enough for a lifetime. "This is it, I swear!"
Sam gave him an onceover before nodding. She made sure she looked nice before linking arms with Ian and snuggling into him. "I hope you can act. Act like my boyfriend, okay?"
"I don't know how."
"Smile every once in a while. Relax. You're getting a delivery for me, like a good boyfriend would. Tell the person it's from your mom. They'll give it to you then," instructed Sam.
"Mom? Are you American or something? She doesn't look like me!"
"Play the part. Now, move."
Ian rolled his eyes before putting on a gentle smile and walked to the entrance of the post office. Alex and Taylor followed behind, casually strolling along at enough of a distance. Sam and Ian walked inside, with Sam prompting questions out of him to get him to appear casual. Taylor pretended to drop something outside and waved goodbye to Alex as she similarly entered. Instead of standing behind them in the queue, she decided to look at the interesting booklets on the counters, deciding to read them in one of the provided chairs.
"Now what?" he mumbled.
"Easy. She's your mom. Provide the correct information, and I.D., and we'll be fine."
"Right. I'm gonna snitch on you as soon as you let me go."
"Feel free. We'll be back by that time." Ian growled. "Tell me, does this have anything to do with…" she glanced around before lowering her voice into his ear. "HYDRA?"
Ian smirked for the first time, looking over at her with a quiet confidence. "Oh, it's far better than that."
"What do you mean?"
"I'd tell you more, only you plan to leave afterwards. Aw, pity."
Sam glared at him, before remembering the façade she was meant to be putting on. She forced a smile on, staring straight ahead. They were soon at the front of the queue, waiting for a place to be free. Sam kept her eyes focused on the free booths.
"Next!" called the woman.
Sam smiled at Ian as she tugged him along. Ian reluctantly followed, not really having another choice. "Hello!" Sam said brightly.
"Hey. Uh…my mum put something in here a few days ago. Yeah, I kinda need it," said Ian, trying to appear shifty, but not succeeding.
"Oh course. What's the name?"
"Penelope Summers," interjected Sam.
"Ah yes. She put something in here. I'm going to see a form of I.D. though."
Sam nudged Ian. He reluctantly pulled out his passport and handed it over. "He took his father's surname," interjected Sam once more.
"Hm…it says here she doesn't have any children." The woman squinted her eyes at them suspiciously.
"Well you see, she disowned him for…something truly terrible. But I promise you, he is her son."
"If she disowned him, why would he need the item now?"
"Because mum wanted me to bring it to her. We've recently reconciled and the paperwork hasn't gone through yet," lied Ian, deciding he might as well play along.
"Hm. Well, everything seems to be in order. I'm going to need the reference number and a name." Ian told the woman, who typed it onto her laptop. "Great. I'll get someone to get it for you now. If you'd like to wait over there," said the woman, gesturing over to the waiting area, where similar people were waiting, clearly bored of waiting.
"Thank you," both Sam and Ian said in unison, smiling at her.
They walked over and sat down, Sam resting her head on Ian's shoulder and taking his hand in hers. "I wouldn't go home if I were you," sneered Ian. "You don't know what you're dealing with."
Sam snorted. "And you do? As if they tell you anything."
"They tell me more than you think. I know who did this. You don't."
"What level agent were you?"
"That's irrelevant."
"Ah, so you're bluffing."
"I am not!"
"They wouldn't tell just anybody about who did it."
"That's what you think."
Sam fake laughed, cuddling further into his chest. "You're so funny!"
Ian smiled down at her, pretending. As he continued to pretend, he squeezed her waist tightly into his body. "Keep lying to yourself and your friends. You are going to die."
Sam didn't react, deciding he didn't deserve her reaction. It was what he wanted. A reaction. They waited for another few minutes, just sitting in silence. It felt torturously long, but finally, a woman stepped out of her office, looking bored as she spoke, "Ian Honpike?"
Ian growled at Sam before putting his hand up. The woman handed him the package before going back into her office. "I'll take that," said Sam.
"I don't think so," hissed back Ian, holding onto the package more securely.
"We had a deal."
"Deal's break."
"Hm, okay. I'll just send Alex and Taylor on you." Ian reluctantly handed it over. "Good boy."
They continued to hold hands until they left the building. Ian noticed Alex follow them casually out after a second or two, putting the leaflets back. They crossed the road, Taylor joining Alex's side. "Can I go now?" demanded Ian.
"Yes," answered Sam, letting their hands drop, as if it were a deadly disease.
Ian sprinted as far away from Sam as he could. Sam looked at the two girls before her, nodding her head. They sprinted as fast as they could back to the hotel, hoping they could get there before Ian could get anyone. They sprinted until they felt their lungs were on fire, and were more than grateful when they saw the hotel sign. Upon arriving however, they noticed black SUVs waiting nearby. That wasn't a good sign.
"Ian must've told them," hissed Sam.
"Now what? We can't leave Dani behind!" hissed back Taylor.
"She needs to come to us," mumbled Alex.
"No way! We are not leaving our stuff behind!"
"Taylor, it's not our stuff. Not really. This is all fake!"
Sam bit her lip before whispering, "Dani, we need you to leave the hotel room."
"I'm already on it," she answered breathlessly into Sam's earpiece. "I left as soon as you were out of the post office."
"Where are you then?" whispered Alex.
"By the fire exit. Meet me there, preferably as fast as you can."
The three girls glanced at each other. There was an alleyway, but it was on the opposite side to where they were. Sam quickly glanced around, searching for anyone across the road. Unfortunately, there were three people, their eyes trained on the hotel door.
"We need to join a crowd," whispered Sam.
"Do you see any crowds nearby?" whispered back Alex.
"Over there," pointed out Taylor, noticing an approaching crowd of, thankfully, teenaged girls from over her shoulder. "If we mingle with them, we won't get caught."
Alex and Sam caught on to where she meant and silently agreed by nodding at each other. All three of them quickly crossed the road and innocently joined the back of the crowd. They linked arms with each other, laughing loudly along with them as they passed. After they'd successfully passed the guards, they casually crossed the road a short distance away, slipping into the alleyway.
They all smiled as they approached Dani at the doorway, who looked more concerned than happy. However, she looked thoroughly relieved to see the package in Sam's hand.
"This is it," she breathed softly in disbelief.
"Yeah. You ready to go home?" Sam asked.
"Definitely!" answered Dani enthusiastically.
"Of course!" answered Taylor, with the same level of enthusiasm.
"Yeah," answered Alex, lacking the excitement the other three felt.
"I can't wait!" squealed Sam.
"Wait, what do we do when we get back?" inquired Dani.
"I was thinking about this. Dani, I need you to leave Hogwarts as soon as possible and meet Alex in London. Alex, I need you to locate the Doctor and use the T.A.R.D.I.S. to locate the Winchesters. With Dani, Sherlock, the Doctor and the Winchesters, you'll go to Taylor. Taylor, I need you to get inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. and come to New York, where we'll meet at Stark Tower. He'll more than likely let us in."
"Wait, wouldn't it make more sense for me to stay a few days in Hogwarts to find the potion?" asked Dani.
"But how would you get to New York?" pointed out Taylor.
"I'll contact you and Alex can send the T.A.R.D.I.S. to collect me."
"Okay. It'll be of great help to us if you can find out what it is," replied Sam. "Now, we each get one drop. It should be powerful enough to wake us up."
"One?" Taylor looked sceptically at the vial. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it took a whole bottle before," agreed Alex.
"Trust me!"
They all shared a weary glance before nodding. Sam held out the vial to Dani first. "Why am I going first?"
"Because we're going in the order of the plan," decided Sam. "Now drink."
Dani looked cautiously at the vial before pulling off the stopper and allowing one single drop to fall onto her tongue. As she did so, she felt the effects kick in, and quickly handed the vial over to Alex. Alex watched Dani gently sit on the ground as her eyes closed. Alex didn't waste any time, following Dani's lead. As her body felt weary, she passed it over to Taylor. Taylor copied the process and almost forgot to pass it over to Sam. Sam quickly took the bottle and had a drop just as the people arrived. She smiled slightly as she also collapsed onto the ground, the content's in the vial spilling out.
"NO!" roared a man. "They've spilt it over the ground!"
"We're…we're trapped?" stuttered a woman.
It didn't matter to the four girls, who remained unconscious on the ground. But as the people began to approach them to take them back to their 'parents', they vanished, teleporting back to their own worlds.
A/N
This is it! They're finally going home! Expect everyone's favourite characters to make their return very soon ;)
