Chapter 2 – Mysterious Cloud
Desmond walks quietly down the block. He puts his hands in his pocket and sighs. Then suddenly, Sarah and Dennis catch up to him and stop in front of him.
(Surprised, not really showing it) "Guys…thought you were still at the bar."
"Well, it's not the same there with you Desmond." Dennis explains
Desmond throws his head up.
"Besides, you really crashed the party." Sarah comments
Desmond nods.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm the real party crasher." Desmond says walking past the two
Dennis and Sarah look at each other and catch up to Desmond.
"Hey, Desmond, I didn't mean it like that." Dennis says
Desmond puts his hand up.
"Not a problem Dennis. If it were you, I'll say anything to put a smile on my face."
Dennis narrows his eyes.
"I wasn't trying to put a smile on my face."
Desmond shrugs.
"Well…either way. It's what I would do."
Desmond stops walking and looks back at Dennis. Desmond sort of smiles and Dennis chuckles.
"That…you would do Desmond."
Desmond thumbs up. Dennis looks to the side and sees it's his house.
"Well, I'm home. I'll see you two later."
Sarah and Desmond wave goodbye at Dennis. He heads in, and now it's just Sarah and Desmond. Desmond begins to walk away and Sarah catches up.
"So." Sarah says
"What?" Desmond asks looking at Sarah
Sarah looks at Desmond.
"Nothing. Thought I get a conversation going."
"You can talk. I'm a good listener."
"That you are. Mind if I ask you a question."
"Hit me."
Sarah does. Desmond rubs his head.
"Not literally."
"But you said…"
"I know what I said. What's the question?" Desmond asks rubbing his head
"Why'd you save that girl?"
Desmond looks back.
"The girl in the bar?"
Sarah nods. Desmond shrugs.
"I wasn't going to just sit by. Seeing every other person in that bar not doing anything just made me sick."
"So you did it because you were sick?"
Desmond shakes his head.
"No, Sarah. I did it because it's who I am. Besides, if it was happening to you, I would pause just to scan the situation. I'd beat the crap out of the person."
Sarah just blinks. Desmond nods and heads on. Sarah catches up.
"You'd beat up anything that'd touch me?"
"Depending on the situation. I wouldn't let anyone put their hands on my friends like that."
Sarah gets the idea now and looks the other way.
"Oh, I see."
They come up to Sarah's house. Sarah looks.
"I'm home."
Desmond nods.
"Well…see you tomorrow Desmond."
Desmond waves. Desmond waits and watches Sarah get into her house. She does and Alex continues onto his house. He slowly starts to come up to it. He stares at it for a moment and shrugs.
"Home sweet home." Desmond whispers to himself
Desmond walks past the yard and up to the door. He places his thumb on the door and it opens. Alex sets down his board and bag to the side and looks up.
"Lights."
The house lights up. Desmond's board floats around and he accidentally bumps into it. It floats in front of the door. Alex heads to the kitchen and pulls out a cold pizza from the fridge. He tosses it in the stove, 2 seconds later; it comes out like it just got out of the oven from the restaurant. Desmond takes it to the living room and grabs a seat at the far end of the table. He pulls up a screen to his left and starts watching TV.
Outside, Jake pulls in the driveway and sighs. He looks up and sees the house lit up and realizes Desmond must be home. He takes a deep breath and grabs his things. He walks to the front door and enters. Inside the kitchen, Desmond continues to stare at the TV screen. Then all of a suddenly, Jake yells and a loud commotion is heard. Desmond turns without a flinch and Jake pushes himself up and sees he tripped over the board…again. Desmond smiles.
"Zero for Miles, two hundred and fifty for me."
Jake walks into the kitchen and grabs a cold one. He walks into the dining room where Desmond is and looks at him, painfully.
"How many times have I told you not to leave your board right in front of the door when I come home?"
Looks at Jake.
"Two hundred fifty one times, including this time."
Jake rolls his eyes.
"Please, Desmond. Don't leave it there for me to break my neck." Jake explains sitting down
Desmond looks down.
"Or maybe your head."
Jake looks across the table.
"What'd you just say?"
Without looking.
"Nothing."
Jake gulps and sees the dinner for tonight.
"Pizza tonight?"
Desmond rolls his eyes.
"Well, obviously. It's the only thing here."
Jake slowly looks the other way.
"I'll just grab a slice." Jake says reaching over
Desmond throws up his eyebrows. Jake takes a bite of the pizza and looks across the table at Desmond again.
"Headquarters got a call today of a big fight in one of the local bars."
Desmond stops what he's doing, but still looks at the screen.
"The report said some kid took it upon himself to beat someone up without any reason."
Desmond slowly looks at his Dad. Jake looks funny at Desmond.
"Know anyone like that?"
Desmond keeps a blank look on his face.
"Lots of kids live here on the island…DAD. Could be anyone."
"The description report seems to fit your look a bit."
"Lots of boys look like me. I just happen to have that face…Jake."
Jake slams his hand into the table.
"Dammit Desmond, why'd you do it?"
Desmond calmly wipes his mouth.
"Must I have a reason?"
"Yes. There's always a reason for everything."
"Except for you though, right?"
Jake narrows his eyes.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
Desmond leans back into the chair.
"It means what it means, DAD. I must have a reason for everything I do. I won't admit that I was there. But just in case if I was…. I think the reason that 'kid' did what he did, was for a very, GOOD, reason."
Jake rubs his face. Desmond crosses his arms.
"You want to know my reason, don't you Desmond?"
Desmond shrugs.
"You always told me someday you would tell me. It's only been seven years. Ready to tell me now or you want to see more description reports at the base more of me?"
Jake stays quiet. Desmond throws his hands up.
"Go figure."
Desmond stands up.
"You know Dad; I don't know what it takes to be a man. I really don't. I'm not one…well yet. But sometimes when I look at you, I wonder if your one…at all."
Desmond walks outside and into the backyard. Jake sighs and follows Desmond.
"Desmond, Desmond!"
At Base…
Inside one of the computer rooms that analyzes the island for weather and earthquake reports. A strange odd cloud starts moving towards the island. A woman spots it and informs another officer to check it out.
Back at the Miles's home…
Desmond walks out in the hard, mad as hell. He stomps his foot and Jake comes up behind him.
"Desmond, let's be civil about this."
Desmond turns around, blinks.
"Civil? Did you just say…? 'Civil'? Oh, you did not just say that, Dad." Alex says walking to his father
Jake sighs.
"Let's just talk Desmond."
"There's nothing to talk about. You said what you wanted to say seven years ago. What difference does it make now?"
"Desmond, give me a chance."
"Chances are earned, not given."
"And respect is earned, not handed out."
"You've lost all my respect. Makes me wonder sometimes how you even got it as the rank you are." Desmond says walking past his father
Jake turns around and grabs Desmond. Desmond slams his hand away.
"Get your hands off me! I'm not ten Dad! I'm not your little boy who you can pick up and scream at in your face. Touch me again, I'll plant you in the ground and watch you sink."
Jake just blinks to see his own son ready to fight him.
Back at the Base…
The cloud moves more and more over the island. Officers report in and try to figure out what's causing this.
Back at home…
The cloud forms above the island. Thunder clashes. Desmond and Jake look up and see the lighting strike above them. And throughout the rest of the city, people look up and see this lighting storm appearing over their heads. The lighting clashes hard, a thousand times worse than any other lightning bolt. Jake stands near his son looking up at the storm above them.
"What the hell?" Jake asks
"That's no ordinary lighting storm."
"No. It isn't."
The lighting strikes down hard on the city. The bolts crash hard in the streets as cars try to avoid them. People in their homes see the lightning bolts crash hard in front of their yawns. They back up into their houses. Desmond and Jake, they separate as a lightning bolt crashes between them. They both hit something and rush back into the house. Desmond runs to the front of the house and gets a clear view of the city from there. He sees the lightning bolts clashing hard down into the city. Jake runs to his son with an earpiece in his ear.
"Base, this is Major Miles! Report! What the hell is happening!"
Colonel Quaritch runs down the hallway into the room where the screens are showing the lighting storm. He asks what's causing this but the officers are finding nothing to the causes of it. Then suddenly, the storm stops. People on the streets of the City move out from what they were hiding behind and look around. The cloud forms some kind of soft light behind it. Something's going on behind the cloud from what it looks like. Desmond blinks and walks outside. Jake sees.
"Desmond!"
Desmond walks outside and looks up. Jake does the same. Back in the monitoring room, the officer analyzes the cloud and pick up something.
"What? What now?" Quaritch asks
"Sir, get down!" Officer yells
And suddenly, the ground begins to shake. All around the island, inside and out the city, it shakes hard. People loose there balance and hit the ground. Desmond tries to keep his balance and looks around.
"Earthquake!" Desmond shouts
"It can't be! The City's walls and around are reinforced! We shouldn't be able to feel anything!"
The shaking gets worse. The cloud above starts to shine. People look up. Desmond falls to the ground and looks up at the light shining through the cloud. And then suddenly, it stops. People look around wondering what the hell is going on. Then the cloud suddenly explodes from the light and completely disappears. Inside the base, all officers get up and check to make sure everyone's okay. Quaritch gets up and asks for a report. Desmond and Jake get up and Jake gets back with a connection.
"Base! Come in, report! Hello? It's down? Connections are down?"
Desmond walks forward.
"It's not just the phone lines. The entire City is down."
Jake turns and sees the entire City in darkness.
"What the hell?"
Desmond shakes his head. Then suddenly, Sarah from down the street calls his name.
"Desmond! Desmond!"
Desmond turns his head and sees Sarah running to him.
"Sarah!"
The two run at each other. Jake watches and finally gets a connection.
"Hello? Hello! Finally, someone finally answers. This is Major Miles. Put me through to Colonel Quaritch."
"Quaritch here, Miles?"
"Sire, I finally got to you. What's going on?"
"We don't know yet, were still waiting for the computers to come back online. Oh, wait! They just turned back on. Get me something people!"
Jake looks to the side and sees Desmond making sure Sarah's alright. He walks towards them.
"Desmond."
Desmond turns around.
"I got to get back to the Base."
"Mr. Miles, what's going on?" Sarah asks
"Don't know. That cloud thing somehow managed to wipe out the entire cities power. I need to get back."
Jake runs off. Desmond looks at Sarah.
"You alright? Family okay?"
"We're fine. We were eating dinner and all of a sudden the lighting, the shaking and finally the darkness."
"Yeah, same here. I don't remember a stormy night being on today's Island's Weather Update."
"Me either."
"Guys!" Dennis yells from down the block
Sarah and Desmond turn around and see Dennis running towards them. Desmond waves.
"Dennis. Better late than never."
"Guys, look!" Dennis yells pointing
Sarah and Desmond look up and see Samson's and Scorpion's flying outside the city. Desmond follows.
"Why the hell are Samson's and Scorpion's being dispatched? Even more of the question, why are they heading outside the City?"
"I know. I went outside and saw M.P.'s telling everyone to go back into their homes."
Sarah looks back at Dennis.
"Why?"
"They said something…appeared outside the City."
Desmond slowly turns around.
"Something 'appeared'? What does that mean?"
Dennis shrugs.
"Don't know. From what the M.P. said, something was there after the cloud or something disappeared that wasn't there before the cloud appeared."
Desmond blinks and looks back up at the sky.
At base…
Helen looks at small wounded soldiers. She runs to the next person checking them out. Jake runs in and spots Helen down the hall.
"Helen!"
Helen turns around and sees Jake.
"Jake! Thank God you're here. What the hell's happening?"
"Still trying to figure that one out. Where's Quaritch?"
"In the Search and Party."
"Right."
Jake almost walks away but turns around.
"The Search and Party room? Why the hell is he in there? Why does he have men dispatched? Where the hell are they?"
Helen turns around.
"We found the location to that massive E.M.P force. It occurred', moves somebody, 'outside the City. He dispatched men to check it out."
"There was an E.M.P. blast?"
"Not exactly. Something…stronger, powerful than just an E.M.P. blast."
Jake just blinks. Helen sees it.
"I know, I'm trying to help the wounded here, I'll meet up with you with Quaritch in a bit."
Jake nods.
"Right."
Jake runs off and heads to the room Quaritch is in.
Outside the City…
Samson's lower down to the ground and men dispatch. Scorpion's stay close to any hard level action.
"Ground team in." Soldier says
"Alright, move in and find anything suspicious." Quaritch orders
Jake runs into the room and stares at a bunch of soldier monitors. They see what the soldiers see. Jake looks and moves closer to Quaritch.
"Sir."
Quaritch sees Jake.
"Miles, so glad you could join us."
"Sorry Sir, pitch black out there."
"So I've heard."
"Sir, why do you have men dispatched? "
"We found the source of what we believe that caused all this. I've sent men out there to check it out."
"Sir, couldn't this wait till morning?" Jake asks whispering
Quaritch looks at Jake like he's crazy.
"Miles, I don't if you got hit on the head when the shaking began, but something really weird has happened', moves closer, 'and I want to figure out, what the hell, is going, on."
Jake just blinks. He slowly looks at the monitors. The soldiers move around in the darkness in the forest. Quaritch grabs a microphone.
"Ground team, find anything?"
"Nothing yet Sir, wait. Hold on."
The people in the room wait. The soldiers look around at the ground. The notice, footprints all over the ground, scattered everywhere. Quaritch calls back.
"Tell me what you found."
"Uh, Sir, I…don't know how to say this but I'm seeing what I'm seeing…"
"What is it?"
"It looks like…footprints."
Everyone in the room blinks. Quaritch moves closer.
"Foot…prints?"
"Yeah, look for yourself."
Everyone looks at the monitors they see the footprints in the dirt in the ground. One soldier puts his foot alongside it and see how bigger they are.
"Unless some idiot from inside the City stumbled around here with a few of his friends, and they have size…sixteen shoes, this seems like a big joke Sir."
Quaritch sighs.
"Keep looking. And come up with something more than giant footprints."
"Copy that sir."
The soldiers look at one another and move out. Everyone in the room waits around. The soldiers move quietly as possible through the forest. Some noises are heard in the distance and one soldier hears it.
"What was that?"
"Relax Private, probably just a wolf."
"Sounds more bigly then a wolf."
"Focus men. Don't shoot until you can identity if it's hostile."
The men copy the Lt.'s order. The men keep moving. In the distance, Viperwolves see the soldiers in the distance and scatter around. The men keep their guns up wondering what's moving around out there. Another strange noise is heard and a soldier spins around.
"There it is again!"
"Keep calm. It's just a wolf or something."
The soldier fixes his light so it shoots out more.
"Come on, come on, come on!"
He gets the light to where he wants. He flashes it at the noise and sees the Viperwolves.
"Ah, ah, Lt.?"
"What?" Lt. asks turning around
The soldiers turn around and see the Viperwolves all around.
"Those don't look like wolfs sir!"
The Lt. looks around and sees their surrounded. He slowly lifts his gun up and…
"OPEN FIRE!"
The soldiers fire like crazy all around. The people in the room try to see what they're shooting at but can't exactly make it out. Quaritch holds the earpiece close at hand.
"Lt.! Answer me! What are you shooting at!"
"AH! Don't know sir! It's nothing I haven't ever scene before! To the right!"
Quaritch slams his hand down.
"Damn it! Get out of there! Now! Move!"
"Everybody! Move out! Move!"
"Samson one, report back and retrieve."
"Rodger that."
The Samson gets ready and lifts off. The soldiers run away from the Viperwolves. One jumps on a soldier and another soldier fires hard at it. He kills it repeatedly and the other soldier drags him away.
"Come on!"
The soldiers run into an open field. In the distance, a bunch of Titanothere run in a stampede motion. The soldiers look and get out of the way. They watch these giant beasts run past them.
"What the hell are these things?" Soldier asks
"There huge!"
"There not dinosaurs!"
"Good thing there only ground animals."
A soldier looks up and sees a bunch of Banshees.
"Don't speak to fast, look up!"
The soldiers look up and see the Banshees flying around.
"What the hell are those things!"
"I ain't waiting to find out! Move!" Lt. yells
The soldiers get up and run for it. The Samson radios in to the Lt. and tells him he's almost there for a pick up.
"Copy that."
"E.T.A., five minutes…holy SHIT!"
The pilot flies around past the Great Leonopteryx. The pilot looks back.
"What the hell was that?"
"Did you see them? Those big bird things?"
"If that's considered big, I want to see gigantic."
"What? You saw something else?"
"Yeah, it was huge."
The Soldiers keep moving. They suddenly stop as a bunch of Dire Horses. The Soldier waves his hand around and the team moves out. The Soldiers make it to the spot where they got dropped off but they don't see the Samson insight.
"Samson! Where here, where the hell are you?"
"Having trouble here! A bunch of birds are flying around me."
"Oh so you saw the baby birds then."
"Babies?"
"Look, get here as quickly as you can!"
"I'll do my best."
The Soldiers stay on their toes. Up in the trees, the Na'vi look down at the men standing around. They move around quietly. A Soldier catches his breath and looks up at the trees. He sees some movement and points up.
"Nine o clock! Up high!" Soldier yells pointing up
The soldiers point up at the trees. They stay on their toes to, ANYTHING. The Na'vi stay close to the trees. They hop around looking at the Soldiers. The Soldiers don't see anything at first; a Na'vi makes a slip of a mistake on a tree, a branch falls and the soldier's fire upon up at the trees. The Soldiers scream as they shoot at, everything. The Na'vi run away from whatever is firing at them, but one Warrior gets a shot off into his arm. A female Warrior draws her bow back and fires at the soldier. The soldier flies back as his gun breaks in half and he gets an arrow into his soldier. The Samson lands in closer.
The soldiers run and pick up their fellow soldier. The fires some more shots off at the trees. The pick him up and throw him into the Samson. The Samson takes off and heads back to the City.
Hey, hey, Readers, sorry for the wait, work and school, but I soon to do the next chapter really soon. So, the power of the mysterious cloud has began and ended. But was it just more than a cloud? I guess some people wished for rain then giant creatures running around causing chaos. So, Quaritch is going to have his hands full in the next chapter, so next time, Kid Avatar Chapter 3, New Life Forms