The camp split into two parts, we were prepared for this so it was instant.
Everyone grabbed things and put them into a pile while maddie and croy scanned everything with a few other smokies.
The rest of the smokies packed them and got ready to move.
I on the other hand had a different job.
David ran towards the river to scan tally that had been the reason smoke was discovered the first time. I got ready for a fight.
My group of smokies were geared up and ready.
The single was coming from the northern direction so we got on our boards and went out there.
We waited watching the sky, our radios ready.
The first few hover cars came into view twenty minutes later.
"Maddie five minutes" I warned over the radio.
I noticed something else between the hover cars.
Hover boards, with lifting fans.
Specials gracefully weaved in and out of the hover cars.
"Everyone scatter" I said through the radio.
My group scattered and I adjusted my backpack with Shilo in it and zoomed off.
Specials spotted us as we scattered and they split up.
I managed to shake the special that was on my tail so by the time I got to the meet up point I was alone and the first.
I heard a yell and croy burst through the cover of our meet up point.
He came in to fast and ended up hitting a tree.
"Croy you ok?" I asked running over to him.
He nodded and got up limping slightly.
Anne and dex came next.
Sussy and Fausto appeared last.
Then two people burst through.
Someone had been followed.
The specials stepped off their boards.
"Everyone slowly get down and put your hands where we can see them" one of them said in a harsh voice.
I was the fastest to fire.
One of the specials bent over grunting and grabbing his face.
"What the hell! I can't move my fingers" he complained. Croy went at another pepper spray at the ready.
The special shot out and grabbed croy's arm and it broke cleanly.
Croy let out a scream, not a yell, not a grunt, but a scream.
I was about to throw myself at the special but Fausto beat me to it.
Fausto and the special wrestled as I ran over and helped croy.
"Go to another meet up spot" I whispered as I pushed him and the others out from the hiding spot.
I grabbed a runaway and tossed it at one of the specials.
She fell down with a crash and swore.
The other special that had gotten Fausto on the ground was up.
"MEGAN RUN!" Fausto shouted.
"Megan? Get her tachs!" the girl screamed.
I ducked the attacking special and grabbed a runaway and the special got tangled into them.
I popped up breathing hard.
"GO YOU DUMBASS" Fausto shouted.
I turned and left.
Observatory
Shay dropped Fausto down in the observatory and turned to cable.
"Megan got away" shay said.
"Dammed" cable hissed.
"Sorry doctor" shay said.
"She threw these at us" shay said throwing a runaway down.
"Obviously her invention" cable said examining it.
"And she shot some type of glue at us, like the outer layer was hard but the inside is very sticky" shay said pointing over her shoulder to tachs who was still peeling sap off his fingers.
"She is getting better at what she does, I feel it's going to get harder to catch her" cable said.
"Well we tried our best, she managed to get away with the others" shay replied crossing her arms.
Shay looked over to tally sitting beside Zane who was lying on a pile of blankets.
"At least we got something new to play with" shay said pointing to the runaways.
"Megan knows her inventions inside out obviously if she was able to escape, I don't think it be a good idea to remake it, if she got her hands on a better version of her own invention she would be unstoppable" cable said shaking her head.
"Really?" shay asked.
"How fast was she able to out fly your boards?" cable asked.
"Pretty fast" shay said.
"She was the one who first invented those boards, even remade and better she still understands the mechanics by a glimpse, she will be able to out run anything she invented." Cable replied.
"She invented these?" shay asked looking at her board.
"Yes she did" cable replied.
Megan
We did a head count once we where a safe distance away.
"We lost a few" I said looking at maddie.
"Zane, tally, Fausto and a few others, not as bad as last time thanks to you" maddie said watching me. "Me?" I asked curiously.
"Your tactics rescued us Megan, you're the one who noticed we were being transmitted" maddie pointed out.
"Yea your our hero today Megan" croy called.
"Not really I didn't really do anything but my job" I said uncomfortably.
"Well you did your job well" maddie said clapping me on the back.
"They got Fausto though, I'm not happy about that, we have to get him back" I said eyeing maddie.
"It's a good thing actually. Means I can work on a cure for specials and we can get him back, I'm putting you in charge of the kidnap mission" maddie said as our eyes met.
"But they also used my own invention to chase us" I added quickly.
"And you used your own inventions to escape" maddie retorted.
"And now they have copies of them to remake" I said crossing my arms.
"Then you can teach people how to escape your own invention" maddie replied.
I sighed, no winning with her tonight.
I nodded and we moved again.
When we were on the edge of the city of Diego we started unpacking.
The next night we started our work.
Croy and I boarded into the city.
It looked like our city at first but as we went on I stopped.
"Croy do you notice anything different?" I asked scanning the ground.
Croy paused to and looked around.
"No why?" he asked.
"There is no separation from uglyvill and new pretty town" I said.
"Are you serious?" croy asked.
"Yes, no wall, no river!" I pointed out.
"Your right" croy said.
We went right for new pretty town.
Pretties where everywhere laughing and enjoying the bashes going around.
Everyone eyed croy curiously.
"Hey what are you doing here?" a girl asked.
Croy looked around and backed up a little.
"He is with me" I said.
"So? Uglies can't be here at night" she said.
At night?
Back in our city uglies were not allowed in new pretty town period, case closed.
"Well, to be honest, if you can keep a secret we are not from this city" I said.
Maybe this city was open minded enough to accept change faster.
She looked at us in surprise.
"You aren't?" she asked.
"We are from a different city in our city everyone is very smart and very successful" I said.
Well maybe a lie or two could help, the cure was tested and a success so we knew it wouldn't hurt them. "Wow you look different, you look prettier than everyone else" she noted.
I smiled all pretties where vain it was a simple fact.
"I'm actually very plain for my city, in our city after the operation we take special pills and we become smarter and better" I said holding up a baggie of pills maddie had given me.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yes we are from smoke" I added.
"Smoke? That's a myth" she said narrowing her eyes.
"Nope" I replied.
"I want to be smart" she said looking at the pills longingly.
Pretties where very dumb as well.
"Well these are just extra's here you can have them, but you have to take both of them" I said handing her the packet.
She nodded.
"Don't tell any wardens you have them" I added.
She nodded and walked away staring at the pills in her hands.
In about two days she would return to her old self, her ugly mind, it would feel like an intelligence gain but would simply be her returning to her natural state of mind.
Word spread fast of the pills and soon pretties where approaching us asking for some.
By the end of the night we were out.
As we watched the city the next few days' runaways started pouring in like crazy.
Soon the wardens where swarming the nearby ruins searching for the missing uglies and pretties.
Our supplies widened greatly and we were able to get more pills out faster.
Soon finally the mayor himself gave up.
In the matter of three weeks, the city was ours and the smokies where public.
Now the smokies didn't have to stay out in the wild.
I was given my lab as promised by maddie and she was given hers.
When I walked through the streets people recognized me from feeds.
Shilo was a big attraction.
She followed me around just as she had done in the wilderness.
She was hunting on her own now and I did try and release her but she ended up finding me again.
Soon I just gave up on Shilo ever having a life in the wild.
She didn't seem to mind being a city cat at all; she thrived on the attention and the food.
She caused very few problems but talk went around of her being put in a zoo.
She still had a tendency to throw herself on people.
I ignored the talk about it and kept her with me at all times.
She knew not to chase after people now and she stayed close.
She still would tackle croy and the other smokies though.
I stayed in a small house on the edge of crumblyvill with maddie and croy.
There we made it the headquarters to the smokies.
Expansion ripped to life because runaways from all over where now starting to get in.
We found a man named Andrew smith Johnson wandering around the wild during a mission to a city. He had been trapped inside of a cruel experiment by special circumstances.
We released a lot of his villagers and taught them how to give out chips that gave directions to the city. Point by point they never gave the exact location.
This was an idea of mine.
Diego even loaned us a fleet of helicopters there rangers used.
I started working in the labs on the plan to capture Fausto.
I had the plan worked out maddie just needed to get her end done.