An old, run down house close to the river. This was an MI6 safe-house, a place agents who needed to disappear could go to. This was where Shadow and Serena had now arrived, both a little sceptical that the place could possibly be more than what was at natural history museums, let alone a place for MI6 agents to disappear to. They were both weak from walking there and their bullet wounds. They both walked in, their clothes clinging to their skin as they made their way through the house. They found a strange device, with instructions written on a piece of paper beside it. It was a device that kept track of who had or was currently using the safe house, and also told MI6 all that information. Shadow pushed a button, bringing up a strange looking camera like device. It took a picture of them, cross referencing them against the records it contained. It brought up Shadow's picture and profile, then after a minute, brought up the same information for Serena. The file read that she was a former Scorpia assassin, now wanted by the organisation.
The two of them sat near a fire, trying to dry off. A phone rang, and Shadow got up to answer it. The moment he spoke into it, the telling off began. "Agent Shadow, what have you gotten yourself into this time? Why are you charged with helping a Scorpia assassin and planting a bomb?" MI6 boss, Alan Blunt practically shouted through the phone. "Because Scorpia blew up my house and it was a Scorpia agent who saved my life and is now running from them. How exactly can I be charged for that?" Shadow answered calmly, waiting for Blunt's reply. "I see, then in that case, Scorpia are the ones who want you arrested. You may be seen as fugitives, but you and your new friend are going to have to stop Scorpia's new team of "super assassins", apparently based on our own teams," Blunt replied. Shadow hung up, knowing this would mean trouble bigger than what he and Serena were already in.
The next day, a doctor from MI6 came over to check up on them, bandaging the bullet wounds. He had only been an hour, but soon after the two of them felt like their old selves, practicing their combat training. As Shadow unleashed a flying kick on the training dummy, Serena said "You know that even with all this combat knowledge; we still mightn't have a chance against this "super team". Maybe you could use that fire thing you did?" Shadow paused, taking a second to consider it. He shook his head "I don't think I could do again if I wanted to. I have no idea how I did it back then, and still don't right now." Almost as if to show her, he pretended to let out a fire blast, but nothing happened. Serena shrugged, turning back to the training dummy. "Worth a try I guess," she said as she started kicking the dummy.
An hour later, the two of them had turned the news on, hoping to find out about how they were wanted by police. It had just started, but immediately an image of football stadium appeared on the screen, with the newsreader saying "An eyewitness claims to have seen a teenage boy at the stadium who is said to have a link to the bomb a few days ago." Shadow got up, making as if to leave. "Why are you even thinking about going? You'll get caught by police," Serena called after him, following him to the door. Shadow tapped his foot, a look of slight confidence on his face. "They can't catch me if I can fly, now can they," he said, hinting at Serena going with him. Serena sighed, grabbing a second pair the doctor had left them. The two of them flew towards the stadium, not expecting to find what they did.
As they flew over the stadium, they noticed everyone was leaving after the end of the game, the cheering still sounding loud and clear. The two of them both began their descent, looking around for anything strange. Surely, if there was someone there with a link to the bomb, Scorpia would be searching for them. As they touched the ground, someone shouted over to them. "Oh shoot, now we're going to get it," Serena whispered as a boy slightly taller and older than them came towards them. His hair was scruffy, appearing to be a silvery colour. He wore a dark coloured shirt and jeans, and looked a little too thin for his age. He stopped a few metres away from them, saying tauntingly "So, you're the ones Scorpia's after. Guess I arrived just in time." Shadow stepped back, saying "How do you know Scorpia's after us, unless......" "You guessed it, even though it's obvious. They call me agent Shockblast, and here's why," the boy said as he brought his fist down on the ground. Doing this, an invisible shockwave sent Shadow and Serena flying, sending them flying through the player's tunnel. As they came to land, they hurtled into two people who were coming from one of the locker rooms, all four of them landing in a heap. Shadow looked two one of the people they'd flown into, seeing one of them was a blond haired boy at least the same age as he was. Shadow almost smiled, seeing that he'd ran into Alex Rider.
The two of them got up, helping Serena and another girl to their feet. The girl Alex had been with glared angrily at Shadow, almost shouting "What the heck did you think you were doing, flying into us like cruise missiles? You could have killed us." A voice boomed through the tunnel, causing all four of them to look ahead. "You can thank Shockblast for that," Shadow said, pointing up the tunnel in Shockblast's direction. The four of them started running, Alex wondering what a guy with a name like Shockblast would do in an enclosed space. When Shockblast got to the locker room, he smiled, speaking into a com-link "Looks like they're heading into the streets. Think he'll be able to get them." "I hope so, otherwise he'll get an earful of what I have to say when we get back," a girl's voice said.
As they ran out of the stadium, Shadow and Serena hid while Alex and the girl went to get the car that the girl claimed she drove, despite being fourteen years old. As she got into the car, a boy came over to the car, leaning on the back of it. He was a bit big for his age, and he also wore dark clothing. She whistled to the girl, saying "You know, maybe you should ditch this guy, seeing as I'm older and stronger." The girl said back angrily "Look, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so get lost!" The guy didn't give up easily, replying "Come on girl, you know you want........" He stopped, feeling something dig into his back. "You heard her, get lost right now," a voice said coldly, filling the guy with dread. He ran to the gate, then heard someone shout over at him "Bullrun, you useless waste of skin! That's the traitor, Serena. GET THEM!!!" Bullrun looked back as the car, a Ferrari Enzo, pull out of the parking space and power towards the gate. He stood in the middle of the road, making as if to stop the car. As the car tried to run him over, he held it back, standing his ground as the wheels started to smoke.
As Shockblast made his way towards the car, Shadow got out and started fighting, knocking Shockblast onto his back. He struck out with a flying kick, trying to knock Bullrun away from the car. Shockblast leapt at him, knocking Shadow into the open gate. He turned back to the car, a smile spreading across his face. "Finally. When I take the credit for capturing Serena and Shadow, I'll finally be able to ditch this misfit team and make my way to the top," he thought to himself. He opened the door, saying calmly "You can either get out, or I can just blast the roof off of this thing. Either way, you'll still be handed over to Scorpia, it's just the well being of this beautiful car that will change.......Uh!" he grunted as something knocked him flying. He looked up to see a girl standing over him, a little shorter but at least the same age. She looked down at Shockblast angrily, saying "So Shockblast, trying to take all the credit again." "Well gee, what gave you that idea Frequency?" Shockblast shouted back as he got back to his feet. As the two of them argued, Bullrun released the car, joining the argument. While he walked over, the car tried to move off, but Frequency, the girl arguing with Shockblast, fired a blast of sound that caused the car's electronics to go haywire.
As the three of them got out of the car, a little dizzy because of the sound blast, the girl who owned the car, who was called Jordan Nommack, shouted over at Frequency, almost as if to challenge her. Frequency laughed, replying back "Let me think, if you want to fight me, then you won't win. You see, I have control over sound, where it seems you can't even control your own temper." She was about to let loose another sound blast, when she was interrupted by a fireball streaking past her. They all looked round at Shadow, seeing he was now alit with flames. Bullrun and Shockblast readied themselves for a fight, while Frequency concentrated on Serena, Alex and Jordan. Bullrun charged towards Shadow with incredible speed, while Shockblast leapt behind Shadow, ready to strike him in the back. Though they both weren't the best of teammates, they could both work well when faced with an enemy. As Bullrun dashed at Shadow, he tried to ram into his stomach, getting knocked back by a blast of flames. This was Shockblast's cue, for he brought his fist slamming into the ground, ready to create one of his famous shockwaves, when Shadow turned round, creating a fire blast that helped him ride the shockwave into the air and knock Shockblast to the ground.
He turned to help Serena, Alex and Jordan, only to watch as Serena and Frequency fought with perfectly timed attacks, countering each other. As Frequency landed after a flying kick, she prepared another sound blast, sending it right at Serena as she recovered. She clutched her head, unable to focus as the blast exploded in her ears. She fell to her knees as Frequency launched continuous blasts, her anger building. As Frequency turned on Alex and Jordan, she stood up, her hands and eyes surrounded by a blood red mist. Frequency launched another sound blast at her, only to fall defeated when somehow Serena unleashed a piercing scream, enough to almost shatter the windows of cars on the street. Frequency got back to her feet, running away with Shockblast and Bullrun close behind.
From where they were standing, Alex and Jordan couldn't believe what they had seen, but didn't have time to ask questions as Serena reminded them what they were doing before being interrupted, all four of them getting back into the car and driving away. On the way to Jordan's house, she asked "Ok, so you two are on the run from pretty much everyone going by the news. What in the world happened that made it that way?" "We got charged for a bomb that blew up my home, when it was those underhand cowards at Scorpia. Because Serena betrayed them, they want her dead as well. Any ideas on what we could do?" Shadow asked, a little unsure if they could trust her. She thought for a moment, then answered "Well, maybe you could help me with something. I'll tell you about it when we get to my house."