IMA and a few of the characters and all of the ideas are mine, but obviously the Ocs are your guys (the readers) creations and some of the characters are Michael Grant's!
IMA: Chapter Nine.
That night after the challenge, Daniel and the four other MU students were welcome warmly by their fellow MU students.
They were congratulated hugely, and only a few (including Naomi) mentioned Daniel's embarrassing fall whilst trying to catch the flag.
The four MC students were well received by the other MC students, considering their first loss in a while.
The students ate hard and celebrated long into the night, which Daniel enjoyed greatly.
However, Daniel found out from Max, that the lessons that Daniel had that day wouldn't be undertaken everyday.
Instead, lessons alternated. One day they would have something to do with being a mutant, the next they would be like a normal school's lessons (Maths, English, Science etc.).
This put a slight downer on Daniel's night, as Daniel had always struggled at school in comparison to his friends. Daniel had a very poor attention span, so whilst the ability was there, Daniel never seemed to follow through when it came to exams.
Daniel though decided that he wouldn't let these normal lessons upset him, as they worth enduring if they meant he could participate in the mutant lessons.
In the early hours of the morning, Daniel and his friends decided to call it a night after realizing that they had lessons the next day, and Daniel really didn't want to chance being late once again.
**********
Two weeks passed since MU's victory in the Capture the Flag challenge.
Daniel had managed to endure the more mental aspect of the academy, and relished the more mutant based lessons that the academy had to offer.
With the money he had won from the challenge, Suzana and Naomi had taken Daniel into town, where they bought things so that they could re- decorate Daniel's plain bedroom.
By the time they had finished, the room was no longer bland and plain.
Instead, it was sleek and modern. The room was a mix of white and black, but was completely kitted out with the latest technology.
It wasn't particularly Suzana and Naomi's taste, but Daniel was more than pleased at his newly decorated room.
Since the success of both Jack's weapons in the night challenge, Jack had approached Sam about funding for more weapons for the mutants at IMA.
Sam agreed with Jack that the custom weapons had great potential, so together; they pitched the idea to wealthy American business tycoon Albert Hillsborough, another FAYZ survivor.
Albert was also a wealthy benefactor of the academy, and agreed to give Jack the money he needed.
However, even though two weeks had passed, Jack was yet to make any more weapons.
Jack seemed to think that although he had ideas about weapons, he wasn't going to be able to do them justice by making them himself, so he was on the lookout for a master craftsman.
Yet for the students of the International Mutant Academy, life had been fairly normal for the two weeks that followed MU's victory in the night challenge.
However, things were to change.
**********
Daniel, Nathanial, Naomi, Noelle, Aleine and Riley were taking part in their afternoon Power Development class, with Sam and Caine.
The group of students were currently trying out the short range weapons when the lesson was interrupted.
The doors to the gym flew open and Brianna appeared beside Sam.
Brianna looked slightly unnerved as she sighed, "Sam. You've got a call."
The woman held out a mobile phone to the man, who paused. He glanced at Caine who shrugged nonchalantly before taking the phone.
"Thanks Brianna." Sam said before turning to the class, "Carry on guys, this should only take a minute."
Sam and Brianna exited the room, leaving the students muttering between themselves and Caine trying to regain control of the class.
**********
Sam lifted the phone to his ear and said, "Hello?"
A voice on the other end replied, "Sam? It's great to hear you man. Long time no speak!"
Sam laughed casually, "Same here Edilio. How's Dekka?"
Edilio replied, "Not bad. Things have been a bit quiet recently. But, I think we've found the culprit."
Sam gasped, "Of the mutant kidnappings?"
Edilio then said, "Yeah. According to the others, mutant children have gone missing from all around the world."
Sam asked, "Do you reckon...he's behind it?"
Edilio sighed, "Drake? Probably. I mean, everyone we know who died in the FAYZ, had somehow come back to life when the FAYZ was destroyed, so what's to say Drake isn't alive?"
Brianna added, "Remember, Drake will want revenge for us destroying him and the FAYZ."
Sam nodded, "Sounds about right. Edilio, what would he want with mutant children?"
Edilio answered, "Maybe he's creating an army to fight us with."
Sam then asked, "So where have you tracked him down to?"
Edilio then said, "Hold on Sam. We don't know if it's actually Drake there. I don't think he's that stupid as to reveal himself yet."
Sam sighed, "You're probably right dude. Anyway, where are you?"
Edilio replied, "Dekka and I are outside this orphanage in Leeds, north-east of the academy. You better get up here quickly, and we might be able to stop them from taking any children."
Sam then said, "Of course, we'll be up there as soon as possible. Hold tight, and don't do anything without us."
Edilio laughed, "Wouldn't dream of it Sam!"
With that, the phone went dead. Sam handed the mobile back to Brianna and sighed.
Brianna asked, "Do you want me to round everyone up Sam?"
Sam shook his head, "No need Breeze. Just Jack and Orc. I'll catch them up on the way to Leeds; just tell them to meet us by the van in ten minutes."
Before Sam heard a reply from Brianna, she was already gone.
Sam then walked back into the gym, which fell instantly silent.
Sam grinned at the students, "I know it's early, but class dismissed. There are no more lessons for the day!"
Nathanial and Noelle instantly cheered, but Daniel, Naomi, Aleine and Riley had a feeling that something was wrong.
Sam nodded to Caine who got the message and the two brothers left the gym.
Riley turned to the others, "Something's wrong. Why else would lessons be cancelled?"
Naomi nodded, "I agree. But what should we do?"
Aleine suggested, "Why don't we go back to our common rooms and ask the others?"
Daniel nodded, "Okay then. See you girls later."
With that, Daniel, Naomi and Nathanial headed off to the MU common room whilst Aleine, Noelle and Riley made their way to the MC common room in order to ask others about the sudden cancellation of lessons by Sam.
**********
"Is it Drake?" Caine asked as he and his brother walked away from the gym together.
Sam replied, "We think so. We need to get to Leeds, or more mutants may be kidnapped."
Caine then said, "He'll probably not even be there, the coward."
Sam then added, "You're probably right. He wasn't there when you were on your mission in America, was he?"
Caine cursed, "No, but they still got that kid."
Sam put a consoling hand on his brother's shoulder, "It's alright Caine. There was nothing you could do for that kid. We'll get him back, I promise."
Caine then looked at his brother, "Fine. But last time, Penny, Howard and I had to watch as they took that boy away when we were in Texas. Can you promise me that we're not going to just stand by and let them get away with it this time?"
Sam smiled, "I promise you'll have your chance to stop them Caine. Think about it this way, you might be able to save that kid from Texas as well!"
Caine nodded, "Okay. Now let's go."
Then, the two brothers finished their journey to the van that Diana and Jack had initially used to collect Daniel, Naomi and Nathanial two weeks ago.
When they arrived, Brianna, Jack and Orc were already there. Sam explained the situation to the others, before Brianna jumped in the driver's seat.
The other four mutant adults clambered into the back, Sam and Jack sitting on one bench whilst Caine and Orc sat on the other.
The engine roared into life and the passengers could hear the tires squeal as Brianna pressed down hard on the accelerator pedal, meaning that they were on their way to Leeds.
**********
When Edilio had hung up the phone, he turned to face Dekka.
Both of them were survivors of the FAYZ and had grown to be good friends. Dekka was a very powerful mutant, with the power of gravity manipulation, whilst Edilio had no powers. He was just a brave man who had shown in the FAYZ that he was not afraid to fire a gun.
After the academy had been set up, Sam had asked them, and many of the others, a favour.
It was clear that all those who had been killed in the FAYZ or 'poofed' on their 15th birthday, were still actually alive when their time in the FAYZ had ended.
This worried Sam in particular, as this meant that Drake was alive, waiting to strike.
Drake was a very vengeful person, that was clear enough. But when and how he would exact his revenge, no one knew.
Because of this, those who wished not to stay at the academy all the time were to spread around the world.
Penny and Howard were stationed in Texas, relatively close to home in comparison to some of the others. In Texas, like the others, they had to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity that could tell them something about Drake Merwin.
Their other job was to look out for any young mutants and send them to the academy.
A little over two weeks ago, the pair of them had found a 13 year old mutant boy. They informed Sam who sent Caine over to America. The three of them were to meet with the boy and his parents, before Caine would take him back to IMA.
However, someone got there first. A large truck pulled outside the house, and two adults snatched the child from his room.
However, they were told not to act, as there may have been more people in the truck, and the three of them may not have been able to handle the situation.
This had infuriated both Penny and Caine, but Howard had persuaded them not to do anything brash.
The child was taken, and Caine had to return to England without the boy.
Edilio and Dekka did not want the same thing to happen on their watch, so as soon as they had tracked down a pair of mutant twins, they let Sam know before the truck could come to snatch them away again, like it had in Texas.
Apart from themselves in Leeds and Howard and Penny in Texas, there were five more pairs of old Perdido Beach residents.
As far as Edilio and Dekka knew, they were 'Little' Pete Ellison (who happened to be relatively tall now) and Sam's best friend, Quinn Gaither.
There was also the mutant, Hunter, and John Terrafino.
In the FAYZ, John and his sister Mary had looked after the younger children until Mary decided to 'poof' on her 15th birthday. Now though, she wanted to make up for her mistake, so she was paired with the mutant Duck Zhang.
Another pair was Toto and Darla, both who were originally living in the Project Cassandra research centre in the FAYZ, both of who were mutants.
Finally, the last pair that Edilio and Dekka knew of was Orsay and Sanjit. Orsay was a mutant, unlike Sanjit, yet the pair both wanted to help Sam, so they volunteered to do as he asked.
As Edilio faced his friend, he sighed, "They're on their way Dekka."
Dekka nodded, "Good. Let's just hope they get in here time."
Edilio bowed his head, "Amen to that."
**********
Back at the academy, Nathanial, Daniel and Naomi were walking back to the MU common room when Daniel suddenly stopped.
The two turned to face him and Nathanial asked, "What are you doing mate?"
Daniel grinned, "I know how to find out what's going on."
Naomi gasped, "Really? How?"
Daniel smirked, "It's easy. I think we ought to pay Taylor a visit."
**********
"Sorry guys, I can't tell you." Taylor said as she leant back in her chair.
Nathanial crossed his arms and frowned, "Come on Taylor, we just want to know what's going on."
Naomi added, "Don't you think we have a right to know Taylor?"
Daniel then said, "Anyway, aren't you annoyed at being left behind? Maybe telling us might make you feel better!"
Taylor closed her eyes momentarily whilst contemplating what the three kids had said.
She opened her eyes and sighed, "Yeah, I guess you ought to know."
Then, the woman told the three students about Sam and the others' trip to Leeds.
After Taylor finished, she continued to lean back in her chair and smiled smugly at the kids.
Daniel finally spoke, "Wow. Sounds pretty serious."
Taylor nodded, "It is."
Nathanial raised an eyebrow, "I believe you Taylor, but how did you find out what was going on anyway?"
Taylor grinned, "I have my methods."
Daniel growled, "Taylor!"
Taylor laughed, "Calm down Mr King! I overhead Sam speaking to Edilio when he was on the phone."
Daniel sighed, "Fine. That sounds reasonable Taylor, thank you for telling us."
Taylor shrugged, "No problem."
With that, the three students made their way back to the MU common room.
Upon arriving there, they realized that many others had decided to also go to the common room, as they had.
Daniel took both Nathanial and Naomi to a corner and whispered, "We've got to go after them."
Nathanial laughed, "You're kidding me Daniel! They obviously don't want us in Leeds, otherwise they would have told us themselves!"
Daniel replied, "It isn't fair that we're being excluded because we're younger than them! Why shouldn't we be able to help our fellow mutants?"
Naomi then said, "They're obviously just trying to protect us Daniel. They probably believe that as the adults, they need to take control. Can you understand their thinking?"
Daniel sighed, "I suppose."
Naomi nodded, "Good. Now, let's just sit tight and wait to hear from Sam and the others."
Daniel replied, "Okay Naomi. I'm just going to my room."
Daniel smiled at Nathanial and Naomi before walking further into the common room.
Daniel then looked over his shoulder to find that both Nathanial and Naomi were no longer looking in his direction.
Then, Daniel approached a boy who was reading a book in the corner of the common room.
Daniel coughed, "Excuse me Max?"
Max looked up from his book and smiled, "Ah Daniel. How are you?"
Daniel smiled back at the polite boy, "Not bad thanks mate. But, I have a favour to ask."
Max replied, "A favour?"
Daniel nodded and then quietly retold Max, what Taylor had told him.
After finishing, Daniel asked, "So, I wandered if you could follow them to Leeds, and at the first sight of danger, come and get me, okay?"
Max stood up from the chair he had been sitting in and nodded, "Okay Daniel, I understand."
With that, Daniel made his way back to his room, whilst Max made his way outside the building, in order to travel to Leeds.
As Daniel entered his newly styled bedroom, before lying down on his bed, Daniel closed his eyes and prepared to wait for a signal from Max, as he really didn't like the idea that Sam and the others thought that they were all too young to protect themselves.
Daniel was intent on proving them wrong.
Hey guys and girls! Hope you enjoyed this new chapter which really sets up the main story behind this fanfic! I'm sorry you've had to wait a while for this chapter, so I promise you that the next one will be a lot quicker! Please PM me or review with any questions or general comments you want to make about this new chapter or the fanfic in general, as I'm sure you know by now but I am always happy to help!