The Faculty II: The Last Invasion

Freedom, Death, and a Beginning

It was Zeke, slamming his fist against the table. "Everybody sit down!" He growled at the group, meeting each ones eyes in turn before shooting a worried glance towards his manager. She wasn't happy in the least, shooting her employee nasty looks. Great, there went that job. "No talking, English or otherwise," he snarled under his breath.

Silence fell over the table of aliens and humans and all eyes fixated on the boy. Stokely was the first one to sink into her chair, followed by Casey, Riva and the three Atlantians. Riva's face had contorted back into concentration, as had Miss Levinson's, their eyes shooting fire at one another. Henry, Casey noted, had turned pale. Had he hurt the alien, he wondered with a smug grin.

The tension was now to an extreme high, Stokely felt it thick in the air, almost as if she would gag on it. No one dared speak; no one dared be the first to budge. Casey still gripped their first nemesis in his fist, looking ready to crack the glass beaker as a moments notice. Something was happening between Riva and Miss Levinson, the pod in Riva's head, was it regaining control?

It had seemed Miss Levinson had been winning the battle, but Stokes wasn't sure on that subject anymore. She seemed distracted, almost worried, instead of the confidant aura she had before. Riva, on the other hand, was gaining back her color and her hands had stopped trembling. Silently, the girl cheered her alien friend on.

Zeke, though, looked worse for the wear. He still had several prominent bruises from the thrashing Marian had previously given him, and they seemed to stand out on his concerned face. He offered her a flash of a smile before immediately sobering and leaning his elbows on his table. His eyes continued to glance down to the watch around his wrist, Stokely wondered if his break would soon be over. He couldn't leave, they needed him, and he could handle them all. Though it looked like he couldn't handle much more.

Then it happened, the turning point of the battle, the battle that would decide the fate of earth. It was a sequence of events, one right after another, a blur of happenings. Henry turned exceptionally pale, as had the other Atlantians. He stood up, despite Zeke's objections, and began to reach for Casey's throat. Before anyone could react, he collapsed to the floor with a thud. The blue-eyed boy was to his feet, staring down at the alien unconscious on the ground. The man began to shake, foam appearing around the corners of his mouth.

Miss Levinson leapt to her companion's aid, kneeling beside him and calling his name. The distraction was all Riva needed for victory in the battle between the two, and she cried out triumphantly. Gray ooze seeped from Riva's ear, which quickly dried and flaked away. She threw her arms around Casey's neck, her face exuberant with joy, "I'm free, I'm free!"

Miss Levinson glanced sharply up at the girl's happy cries, eyes narrowed. She stood slowly, moving towards Riva. Casey immediately planted himself between them, but it was not needed as the former teacher dropped to her knees. "Water," she wheezed, glancing towards the only, seemingly healthy, Atlantian.

Marian's eyes were wide, wild with rage and shock. She snatched Stokely suddenly, ignoring the teen's angry demands to be let loose, and the trashing the human put up. "Get her water now," she roared to Zeke, her arm twisting into a tentacle dripping with green, "Or I'll kill her!"

"Alright," he said, surprisingly calm which only alarmed Stokely all the more. "I'll get it, just calm down." He went quickly, but evenly, behind the coffee bar. Stokely could make out his manager chewing him out, but he calmed her with his infamous smile and some soothing words before returning with two glasses of water. Marian snatched away the cup, shoving Stokely into Zeke and pressing the water to Miss Levinson.

Zeke, after putting a scared Stokely into one of the chairs, motioned for Casey and Riva to stand closer to him. They crowded together, an odd group standing for earth, the only thing between humanity's freedom or enslavement to the Atlantians.

Miss Levinson guzzled the glass of water, much of it landing on her face in her rush to swallow the Atlantian elixir. Marian licked her lips, eyeing the water as if she also desired to drink it, but something held her back. Perhaps it was the fact that Miss Levinson's skin was smoldering where the water had come into contact with it. The Atlantian screeched in pain, vainly attempting to wipe away the liquid, but already it had begun to take affect.

Miss Levinson fell to the ground, her human disguise thrashing about on the floor, her screams echoing in their corner of the café. She went still, turning white, her skin flaking. Marian didn't move the whole ordeal, watching in transfixed horror as her two companions withered away before her.

"So, where is Delilah? Maybe if you're real nice about it, I'll let you have this glass of water so you don't have to suffer as much as those two," Zeke commented with a wide sneer. Marian turned her eyes to the boy, her face enraged at the same time fear seeping into the lines on her face. "You'll pay," she hissed, "you'll pay dearly for this."

Zeke didn't get a chance to comment before the remaining Atlantian bolted. Zeke's manager was approaching them with worried anger flashing in her eyes, but was rudely shoved aside as Marian whizzed by. Zeke immediately pursued, followed closely by Casey, while Stokely uttered nervously, "Stan!"

She scrambled to retrieve the walkie-talkie from her pocket, yelling into it, "Stan! Stan! Marian just ran out of here, be careful!" Static replied for several moments when the football player's tired voice crackled, "What? Oh, wait, she's escaping? Hey isn't that...what it the heck? Get out! No, hey—"

His voice was cut off, and then the static ended as well. Stokely's eyes went wide, "No! Stan? Stan!" Riva glanced at her companion; the two of them rushed out after the boys, managing to knock down the quite-upset manager once more. As they burst into the alleyway parking lot, the Jeep Cherokee was already squealing out of the parking lot. Stokely stood dumbfounded, her eyes starting to tear, as she knew it couldn't be Stan driving like that.

Moments later another car came to a screeching stop beside them. "Get it," Zeke ordered, Casey pushing open the passenger side door. The two girls piled in, and the chase was on.

A.N: grovels on the ground for forgiveness It's been SO long and I'm SO sorry! This is my senior year, and its nuts! I'm in AP English, which means I don't get any "me" time which means I don't get any writing time. Honestly, this is the big kick off to the winding up of this story. It's all down (or up) hill from here! Have hope, my dear readers, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

P.S. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!