Hey guys, I know it's been a while since my last update but I just had a lot going on and haven't really had the time to write. I'm not very happy with this one but I wanted to get it done so that it didn't hold up the story. I'll revamp it later once inspiration strikes.

For now enjoy…

Chapter 21

Tecna's fingers flew over her keyboard and her eyes darted from screen to screen as she simultaneously analyzed and compared data. Her room was dark and the only light came from the numerous computer screens that illuminated her face in a soft green glow.

"Tecna you need to take a break," Digit's electronic voice piped up from her desk

She turned towards her open compowder via which Digit was overseeing the data she was analyzing. It was then that she noticed the clock and realized that she had been at it for five hours straight. She knew that it would be best to give her computer a break but she was certain she was on the verge of a break through.

Ever since they had got back from their mission in France she had been pulling data from several past missions and cross referencing them with more recent ones like the museum heist and the Isis break in. Bloom was certain that there was something much larger at play and that Ms. Faragonda was hiding something from them. Normally Tecna would have been completely against defying authority and looking beyond the evidence that logic provided her with, however that was before she met Bloom and the others.

It was a strange situation when she thought about how the four of them were thrown together. It was definitely a day she would not easily forget. It was back in their first year of junior high, she had – as she thought of it at the time – the misfortune of being Stella Bright's lab partner. Four chem. Lessons into the year and Stella had somehow melted a hole right through the table they were working on. How she managed that was still a mystery and Tecna was not sure if she wanted to find out. The incident had landed the two girls detention, the first in Tecna's entire academic career and she was not a happy camper.

She stalked into the detention room after school, her anger only increasing when she saw Stella sitting on a desk filing her nails. At that point there was nothing or no one she hated more than the blonde in front of her. For the first time ever she had got an F and detention, both because of the same girl who couldn't comprehend the simplest of instructions.

With a sour face she sat as far away as was possible from the blonde and immersed herself in a book. The sound of two girls laughing as they entered forced her to look up. One was a red head, Bloom Sparks and the other was a very familiar brunette.

"Hey Tech," she called out walking towards her friend. "I never thought I would see you in detention"

"Hi Musa, I didn't expect to be here either however circumstances…" she cast a glance at Stella before turning back "…couldn't be helped."

"Oh get over it already," said Stella exasperatedly. "Bloom and Musa got detention too, see it's not such an alien concept."

Tecna spared her glance, turned to Musa shrugged and once again immersed herself in her book.

Musa sighed as she looked over at Stella and Bloom chatting away or rather Stella talking and Bloom nodding her head from time to time. Stella would probably never understand why this was such a big deal to Tecna. An interruption arrived in the form of Mrs. Kenders, an elderly woman who taught geography.

"Alright girls that's enough chit chat," she said wearily "just take your seats and do your work quietly"

She slowly lowered herself into the chair behind the teacher's desk and pulled out some knitting.

Minutes passed by like hours for the four girls. Bloom had pulled out her sketch book and was lazily tracing the outline of a fairy; Stella was busy playing with her hair; Musa had got to work on her homework and Tecna continued to plough through her book.

Not long after Bloom sat up abruptly catching the attention of the other girls. Mrs. Kenders had long since fallen asleep at her chair and paid no heed to the girls.

"Did you guys hear that?" Bloom whispered as she left her seat and walked over to the window.

"Hear what?"

"Stella" Musa hissed placing her finger on her lips and gesturing to the sleeping teacher with her eyes.

"Hear what?" she repeated in a quiet whisper. A loud clanging sound reverberated through the wall startling the four girls.

"That" said Bloom immediately turning to check on Mrs. Kenders, the other three followed her gaze to find her still fast asleep. They simultaneously let out a breath they were unconsciously holding.

"Let's go check it out," said Bloom after a moment's pause jumping out of her seat as she did.

"What?" Tecna exclaimed "We can't do that we're supposed to stay in here"

"C'mon Tecna aren't you the least bit curious?"

"No, we're in detention we can't just waltz out there, we'd be breaking the rules"

"Seriously Tecna you need to chill, we're only going to get in trouble if we get caught" Stella countered as she pointed out the sleeping teacher over her shoulder.

"C'mon girls let's move," Bloom urged already at the door

"You guys go ahead, I'll keep watch here" said Stella

"What?... I'm the fastest texter, I can warn you if she starts waking up" she added in reply to the skeptical looks she received from the other three

"Fair enough" said Musa as she followed Bloom out the door, "You coming Tech?"

Tecna tugged at the hem of the purple tee she was wearing, hesitation was a rare occurrence with her but for some reason she felt compelled to follow the two girls. Finally nodding she crept outside behind the other two.

"Where is that noise coming from? and how come we're the only ones who can hear it?" Musa quizzed as the three girls followed the faint sounds echoing through the hallway.

With lightning speed Tecna whipped out her smart phone and let her fingers fly over the screen.

"If the school blueprints are correct, then this entire section of the school is built like a tunnel because of which a sound from point A travels through the walls and resonates at point B while buffering it from the exterior," she said mater-of-factly.

"O..kay how do you know that?" asked Bloom

"I hacked into the school administration files" Tecna replied as if it were an everyday occurrence

"You can do that?"

Tecna shrugged and took the lead as she pinpointed the origin of the sound. Musa and Bloom shared a confused look before following her.

"What's down there?" asked Bloom as the girls approached a bend

"Supply closet for the assembly room" said Musa as they slowed to a stop behind Tecna who was peering round the wall to get a look

"Oof…watch it you moron…."

"Careful with that…"

Bloom crouched down and peered around the bend as well. Two boys stood by the door of the supply room with metal chairs scattered around them

"It looks like we just found the perps who've been sabotaging the teachers' chairs," said Bloom

"We should get the principal," said Musa

"Muse, we're supposed to be in detention," Bloom reminded

"Got it!" Tecna exclaimed

"Huh got what?..." Bloom was interrupted by the silent buzzing of her own phone

"It's Stella, we've got to get back"

The other two nodded and the three girls raced back to the classroom and quietly slipped into their seats as Mrs. Kenders stirred awake and dismissed them after checking the time.

"It's a real bummer we can't do anything about those twerps," said Stella as soon as Bloom filled her in on what they had found.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired of the same thing happening every morning, not to mention the lecture we get after," Musa complained

"What do you think Tecna?" Bloom asked the girl who's eyes had remained glued to her phone since they were dismissed.

"Uh…Tecna?"

With a final tap she looked up with a sly smile "I don't think we're going to have to worry about those two for a long time"
"Huh?"

She had run off immediately after leaving three very confused girls behind, it wasn't till the next day that they would find out that she had taken a picture of them and anonymously e-mailed it to their principal.

Coming back to the present Tecna chuckled to herself, it wasn't the most daring thing she had done and looking back the whole incident seemed rather silly but she was glad that Bloom and the other's had gotten her to lighten up, it definitely made her life more interesting.

A faint beep alerted her to a message she had received from her school chatroom

techwiz73: Hi…you busy?

Somewhere across town another tech genius was hard at work at the Specialist's headquarters. It was very rare that he sat alone but he was determined to figure something out. Timmy had gathered all the data he could from the security footage from Isis and was trying to piece together a consolidated image. He had tried backtracking the signal that corrupted the image but couldn't figure it out.

He was ready to give up but the thought that Riven was taking the fall for something they were all responsible for wouldn't let him. He couldn't say he and Riven were the best of friends at best he could say that they had a very strange relationship. Now that they were working together he understood him a little better but back when Riven had first transferred to Gardenia Junior High he was a complete mystery.

When he first walked in he was a total jerk to anyone and everyone, students and teachers alike. He constantly behaved like he was above everyone and everything and showed no inkling of change. He was always alone and even when someone tried to talk to him he would brush them off. That was also the time his rivalry with Sky developed, no doubt sky could be a pompous jerk at times but he wasn't like that all the time. Back then Timmy didn't even know if Riven knew his name for all the times he called him 'four-eyes', 'geek', 'nerd-boy' and the like but something changed the way he saw Riven.

Timmy was on his way to school that morning with his laptop in tow and much to his misfortune he ran into some jocks from the school football team. Built like the stereotypical jocks you saw in cartoons they were tall and big built looking smug and please with themselves in their letterman jackets.

"Looky here boys," said the tallest of the three who sported a thick mop of blonde hair "It's a little dweeb all by his lonesome."

"Looks like he got separated from his heard," the red head added.

Timmy tried to ignore them and just walk past but they didn't take too kindly to that

"Ah ahh little dweeb you shouldn't ignore us like that," said the brunette as he blocked the way "You might hurt our feelings."

"And you don't want to do that now, do you?" said the blonde as he came up behind Timmy and tugged off his backpack.

"Now what do we have here?," he continued his taunts as he stepped away.

"Hey, give that back" Timmy cried as he tried to reach for it but the three of them had conveniently begun a game of toss.

"C'mon guys my laptop's in there."

"Hear that boys we need to be extra careful," the red head sneered

"Aww, but I don't want to," the brunette mocked

The three of them laughed only to be taken aback when Timmy unexpectedly lurched for the bag. The attempt was gallant and definitely shook them but poor Timmy ended up with his face planted in the concrete below.

"Oww," he moaned as he rubbed his now sore face. His glasses had fallen off leaving the world around him in a blur. He pushed himself to his knees and used his hand to try and feel out his glasses while the laughter of his tormentors echoed in his ears.

"Now, now that wasn't very nice," the red head taunted

"Boys it looks like we need to teach this little dweeb a lesson," the blonde added

"Yeah a nice dip in the dumpster should make him remember his place," the brunette sneered

Timmy groaned and abandoned his search for his glass and try to scramble to his feet and get out of there, but luck was not on his side.

"C'mon guys please don't do this," he cried as he felt two pairs of arms grab him and lift him into the air.

"Guys please," he pleaded as the foul stench warned him of the nearing dumpster but all they did was laugh.

"Put him down"

A new voice had joined the fray. Timmy tried to get a better look but all he saw was a blur of colours.

"What do you want?" one of the bullies questioned

"I don't like repeating myself. I said put Timmy down, on his feet, now"

The voice was clear and the tone harsh, Timmy had no idea who it was, how they knew him or what they were doing. But whatever it was this guy (he assumed) had managed to silence the three bullies.

"Why don't you run along and mind your own business?" he heard the blonde cocky voice say after a while "We're just hanging out with our little friend here"

Timmy had begun to lose all hope of getting out of this situation when the sound of the blonde gasping and struggling to breathe reached his ears. The next thing he knew he was being set on his feet. He sank to his knees with a sigh of relief as he heard three pair of feet running away but stiffened when a fourth walked towards him.

"Are you alright?" asked the voice this time more gentle

"Ye…yeah," he stuttered "T...th…thanks,"

"Here"

He felt his glasses being pushed into his hand and immediately three them on. He blinked a few times as the world came back into focus to find a familiar head of spiky hair crouched in front of him.

"Ri...Riven?"

"Yeah…you alright man?"

Timmy was so surprised at the identity of his rescuer that he could only nod in reply.

"Here, I think this belongs to you," said Riven holding out his backpack after he helped him to his feet

"Thanks"

Riven nodded and turned to leave while Timmy just stood there watching his retreating back. He hadn't gone far when he stopped and turned back.

"Are you coming or what?"

Once again nodding vigorously Timmy strapped on his backpack and followed the other boy. The two walked the rest of the way in silence. Timmy had expected Riven to abandon him once they got to school but to his surprise Riven only left his side once they had taken their usual seats in their first class of the day.

From that day on Timmy couldn't help but notice that as much as he behaved like a jerk Riven never picked on kids who could be considered weaker than him in fact he even stood up for them. The so called 'cool-kids' often made fun of him but he didn't spare them a glance. Timmy was – there was no other word for it – impressed and highly intrigued by the mystery that was Riven Sparks.

That was a long time ago but as time passed and especially after they had been recruited as Specialists Riven had proved to be a real friend even though he could be a little standoffish at time. He had calmed down a bit after he met Nabu and though he still teased him and was never short of a sarcastic remark Timmy had learnt that it was just who he was.

That was what pushed him at this moment he was determined to find something they could use. He might not be able to get Riven out of trouble completely but he could at least find something that ensured that their little adventure wasn't a complete waste. But right now he was lost nothing he tried was working and there was no one he could ask for help except…maybe…it was a long shot but he wasn't going to let it go without giving it a shot. He pulled out his personal laptop and set out to find the one person who might be able to help him.

Hope you liked it.

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