Disclaimer: Those damn Skitters stole my disclaimer!

…

"Hal!" A fresh-faced blonde kid called out Hal's name and the oldest Mason looked up. "Don't mess it up!"

Hal shot his friend Julian the finger then turned back to the rest of the team as they gathered at the edge of the field. Boston West's lacrosse team stood at the other end, talking animatedly, every so often glancing up at the Bastion Hill team, but Bastion's captain Greg didn't bother with a pep talk, merely slapping the boys on the back as they ran onto the field past him. Hal took his position and glanced around. The stands beyond were filled with mostly Boston High supporters, the Cheetahs dressed head-to-toe in blue and gold, while a small contingent of Knights fans gathered in their black and red. Greg was playing up to them and they cheered but Hal turned his attention as a competitor jogged away from the Boston West team and towards two girls standing on the sidelines. Hal followed his eyes towards them and noticed an excitable brunette and quieter blonde talking to the player.

"Hey, Archer's got himself a hot one!" Hal glanced up at his teammate Eric as he motioned to the girls. "Not bad for a loser."

Hal chuckled. "Boston West girls? Getting desperate man."

"What? Those damn footballers steal all the good Bastion Hill girls." He grinned and jogged away from Hal, back to position.

"Alright Knights. Lets do this!" Greg called out to the team as he moved to the middle of the field. "Let's kick some Cheetah ass!"

…

"I look like Neapolitan ice-cream." Karen muttered, motioning to the white pants and chocolate-brown top she was sporting for the game. "These aren't even school colors."

Amie nodded, dragging her friend towards the field. "Exactly why you'll stand out. Plus, you have me, I'll help Craig notice you."

"If you yell at him during the game and make Boston West lose, you are aware you will be lynch-mobbed by the blue and gold army, right?" Karen smiled at her friend as she said it though.

"Worth it." Then, with a grin, she raised an arm and yelled out. "Hey, Craig!" The brunette boy turned as Amie waved and Karen pretended to be preoccupied by her sneakers. "Good luck!"

Stepping away from his teammates, Craig came to the side of the field, smiling. "Thanks Harper." He looked across at Karen. "Okay Nadler?"

Karen looked up with a smile. "Great." She motioned towards Bastion Hill's team. "Gonna put them in their place today?"

Craig laughed softly. "Hopefully." He looked back at his team as they called out to him. "I better go but thanks for coming. I was gonna ask you to come but I didn't get the chance so…"

Karen felt herself blush a little and just shrugged. "It's okay, a good thing I'm psychic!" Craig laughed as he jogged away from them. Karen glanced across at Amie. "Good thing I'm psychic?" She buried her face in her hands.

Amie just shook her head. "No, it's a good thing you're adorable." Then, throwing her arm around her friend's shoulder, Amie led her back to the seats. "Let's go Cheetahs!"

…

"And at the half-time mark it's Boston High 4…" the commentator stopped as something caught his eye. "What the hell is that?"

From the alien ship in the distance came a bright white light. It shot towards Boston like a comet falling from the sky and then, with an explosion of white, the afternoon sky was lit up brilliantly. Some students screamed, most shielded their eyes, and the commentator swore softly. Only half the word came through however as the audio system, as well as the scoreboard, flickered and died. As the light faded away the voices started up. The main one being 'what the hell was that?'. A few students got up to go, some laughed it off bravely (or foolishly as the case may be), but Karen just stood, looking towards Boston, worried for her aunt and uncle in the city center. Were they okay? Was Boston still safe? A million questions raged until her thoughts were cut off by a yell.

"What the hell is that?"

Coming from the alien ship, just like the white ball of light, was a series of smaller blue ones, shooting out from the base. At first they looked like more lights, then they changed direction, and reality struck. "They're ships!" A junior yelled out. A few students screamed, scattered, the ships causing primal responses. Amie ran with them but Karen stood stock-still, staring up at the ships as they came closer, unable to move. Then someone jolted her, almost pushed her over the line of seats in front, and she awoke from her reverie. And, glancing around her, Karen ran too.

…

"In 49AD the remains of Mac…" Tom Mason's speech slowed to a halt as his computer screen, microphone and projector flickered and turned black. He stepped out from behind his podium and walked towards his students. "Another thing the Macedons didn't have – electricity." His students chuckled. "So, a vote: we brave what knowledge I have stored my head, raise your right hand. We break early and pick up with BU pays its electricity bill, left hand." The students laughed again as they each raised their hands. "Oh, I think the Rights have it. Okay, as I was saying… in 49AD the remains of Macedon was s…" he was cut off again but this time by a booming explosion in the distance. Students at the back of the class reacted immediately, intrigue getting the better of them, and they threw open the doors of the lecture theatre. One girl screamed and instantly Tom jumped into action, moving up the stairs as one of the guys spoke up.

"They're attacking!"

That was enough to set pandemonium loose on the history class. Tom pushed through his students and looked towards the east. Beyond, in the air above Boston and the surrounding suburbs, ships flew low dropping blow balls of what seemed to be electricity onto the town. They also dropped large silver creatures, like an Orson Welles killing machine, to the ground. It was massive, almost 8 foot tall, but landed with agility. One dropped on the outskirts of the campus and strode in towards the students who were now running from the balls of lightning and the silver biped figure striding towards them. Tom pushed his students back and shut the door. He'd just seen a ship drop one of the silver robots in the vicinity of Boston West High. He needed to get there… now!

"Back door." He pointed down at the emergency exit behind the projector screen. "Don't scream, don't yell, just run." He cast another look towards the main door as his students followed his orders and moved silently out of the class and away from Tom's sight. At the sound of a girl's scream outside his door, Tom pulled it open a little, just in time to watch the biped raise his right arm and fire at one of the professors. The man fell dead and the young student he was protecting, a first year by the look of her, was left face-to-face with the monster. Three lights, two blue and one orange, shone out of the top of the robot's head, seemingly scanning her. Too shocked to move she just accepted it. Then, raising it's left arm this time, the robot fired again. The fire fainted but her breathing continued. She wasn't dead.

"What the hell?" Tom muttered softly, watching the monster step over the girl. The whole business, from murder to scanning and then to knocking the girl unconscious, was all over in less than five seconds. Now the thing was moving again and Tom pushed the classroom door shut again. He had to get to the school. He had to get to the school now.

…

"What is that?" Hal skidded to a stop as Julian spoke. They'd run from the lacrosse field at the sign of the ships, still a little bedazzled by the flash of white light, their sense of direction impaired. The fact they'd found each other was mere luck and, Hal noted as he stopped, he was still holding his lacrosse stick. He threw it away as his eyes followed where Julian was pointing. One of the ships, that had previously been blowing Boston West's school buildings to smithereens, had dropped low and a massive silver creature fell out, landing with the kind of agility unexpected for its size.

"I don't know." Despite his fear Hal watched it, safe in his assumption he was far enough away from it, as it strode across the school grounds, smashing through the football posts in its way like a human stepping on matchsticks. He noticed the blue lights emerge from a point just above its head, turning orange as it stopped on one of Boston West's teachers who was helping a student who'd fallen over. The man didn't even see it coming and, with a quick raise of its arm, he was zapped by the monster's own brand of lightening ball. The student, scanned too, didn't receive the same treatment. Hal frowned. "Why didn't it kill the kid?" He looked at Julian. "That doesn't make sense."

Julian shook his head. "None of this makes sense mate. They've been up there for two weeks." He looked around him. "We have to keep moving."

"Where?" Hal asked. He motioned towards the school. "They're bombing that way, scanner thing that isn't killing kids the other way, we're kinda between a rock and a hard place here." But there was no panic to Hal's voice. More than anything he was confused. Confused but relatively calm. "I wanna face the thing."

"You're a nutcase, its gonna kill you." Julian said, looking back towards the school. "If you wanna face it, good luck, but you're on your own." Then, with a shrug, Julian rushed back towards the school.

Hal watched him go for a moment then started towards the monster. He was almost within its sights when something grabbed the back of his jersey and pulled him behind a small clump of bushes. As he fell, ungracefully, to the ground, he looked up at the blond girl Eric had been checking it out. "What the hell?"

"Are you arrogant or stupid?" She muttered, pushing her fringe back off her face, glancing towards the field where the creature stood. He started to walk slowly towards the school, away from them, and the girl breathed out slowly. "I think it's leaving."

Hal sat up and peered over the top of the bush. "Thanks, now I missed my chance at it."

She glanced across at him. "Yeah, you're stupid." Hal shot her a small glare. "You haven't noticed have you? It's scanning people, shooting the adults, stunning the kids. You really think it's doing that out of the kindness of its heart? It doesn't like killing kids?" Hal shrugged. The blond shook her head. "It wants us. It wants kids."

"Why the hell would it want kids?"

"Well you're welcome to stick around and find out but I'm out of here. I need to find my parents, my aunt and uncle, make sure they're not…" she trailed off. "Well."

"Dead?"

"Yeah." She sank down a little lower behind the bush and pulled her phone from her pocket. It was dead. "That white light then the scoreboard died. Must've fried the power grids." She tossed the phone away like the piece of junk it now was. "No chance of calling mom and making sure she's alive."

Hal frowned. "Where do you live?"

The blonde pointed east. "Three blocks."

Hal glanced around. "I might have a way out." He looked over at her. "The fastest way to the Beech Rd car park?"

She gave a small smile. "Follow me."

…

The blue station wagon pulled into the car park and the driver's side door flung open. Tom stepped out into the car park, looking up at the school. It was destroyed and around him students ran from something he couldn't see. But he could guess what it was. Another mechanical alien was here somewhere. But Hal wasn't.

"Come on." Tom said to himself softly as he scanned the mass of moving students. He couldn't see Julian or Eric or any of Hal's friends among them. "Co…"

"Dad!"

Tom turned and spotted his son running alongside a blond girl. He pulled open the back door and she jumped in as Hal went to the passenger side. "Thank god." Getting behind the wheel he barely got a chance to shut his door when the mechanical monster appeared in his rear vision mirror. "Get down, don't let it scan you."

They all lowered their heads as Tom punched the gas pedal, the car tearing out of the car park, leaving the robot in its wake. "Good timing as ever dad." Hal yelled above an explosion as a ship flew over, dropping a ball of lightening where the car had been a second earlier.

"You know me son," Tom returned, yanking the steering wheel hard so the car peeled into a side street, just missing a large silver monster walking down the road towards them. "Always." He glanced across at Hal. "Who's your friend though?"

"Good question." Turning in his seat Hal gave the blond a look then held out a hand. "Hal Mason." She smiled and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"Karen Nadler." She let go of his hand as a car not far behind them exploded into a ball of flames. "Pleasure's all mine; trust me."