Next Chapter! Yay! It hasn't been months since I posted the last chapter!

And so, enjoy!

Sam's POV

"She really did a wonderful job earlier," Adrien told the others later that night. They were having a meeting to see how the plan was going. I've decided that I'm just a prisoner, not a real part of the plan.

"Really? What happened?" Marlena asked, seeming amused.

"She told the boys that her family was moving away with our family. And that was her excuse to quit the MBC; that she was leaving," Adrien explained. "She even took off her communicator and gave it to the brunette one. It was great!"

"But you're forgetting the best part," Nossida said with an evil smirk. "Tell her what happened after all of that." I glared at the winged boy.

"Oh yeah. Then the blunette boy ran after us and tried to convince her to stay. So I hit him," Adrien continued, seeming less excited now. He was looking down, almost as though he were ashamed. "Then Sam told him that she chose me and we left."

"How exciting. But do you think we've shaken them up enough?" Marlena asked. I knew that question was directed toward me, but I didn't want to answer. I didn't want to talk to any of these people ever again. Especially the blonde sitting to my right.

"Not yet. I've dealt with this group before, and they put up a good fight," Nossida answered. "What happened today should put them on a breaking point. What we need now is to tear them apart a little more. Sam mentioned growing tension between Danny and Cathy. Let's make them our next victim."

"Sounds good. I'll go call Axel and give him his directions," Marlena said and began to walk towards the door.

"Axel?" I asked. Marlena turned around to face me.

"Oh yes, we haven't told you about him yet. Axel is the other scout that I told you about. And from the beginning it was his job to help you break the MBC," Marlena explained. "He's out in the field right now and I'm going to tell him to set his sights on Danny and Cathy."

And with that, Marlena left. Now I was alone with the three boys that were on the top of my 'I don't want to be alone with them' list.

"So, what should we talk about now?" Adrien asked.

"I don't know. Sam, what do you think?" Nossida asked in a fake innocent voice. I didn't answer him. That boy really knows how to worsen an already bad situation.

"Come on, Sam. You're going to have to talk to us sometime," Nossida said with the same fake sweetness. "I know you're mad about what happened today. But you can't be mad at Adrien forever."

"You didn't have to hit him," I snapped, mostly just to get Nossida to shut up. Also to let them know what I'd been thinking about ever since it had happened. (Was is five hours now?)

"I know I didn't. And I feel bad about it. But Sam, he's our enemy," Adrien said, trying to reason with me. I looked him right in the eye.

"Our enemy?" I questioned.

"Sam, don't forget you're on our side now. So thus the MBC is your enemy," Nossida said.

"Whatever," I said dismissively.

"Come on, Adrien. Let's go see if Axel needs any help," Nossida said and got up to leave. Adrien gave me one last look; a look that was completely apologetic. Then he left with Nossida, leaving me alone with the silent Penn.

"Well, I guess I'll go too," I sighed and got up to follow the other two.

"Sam, they're lying to you," Penn said suddenly. I stopped and turned to the younger boy. He continued to sit in the same position, staring at the opposite wall.

"What?" I asked, surprised by the sudden outburst.

"They're lying to you. About a lot," Penn repeated, looking down. "Trust me. I know what goes on around here every minute of every day."

Stunned by this, all I could do was stare at Penn. In the one day I'd known him, I'd come to see Penn as the kind of villain that was silently evil. The kind of villain that would keep their plan a secret until the very last moment where they would strike and be victorious. By the words Penn had just said, I was beginning to doubt that theory. But one could never be too quick to judge the character of a bad guy.

"How can I trust that you aren't lying to me?" I finally asked. Penn finally turned to face me with a sad smile.

"You can't," he said plainly. Then, he too got up to leave, but through the door on the opposite side of the room; the same door he'd appeared through on the first night I'd met him.

"Penn, you're hair's a different color," I commented, having just noticed that the smooth, jet-black color it was last night had changed to a medium dark brown shade.

"Yeah. Axel's hair used to be that color. And when I saw him again this morning, I realized that I really don't want to look like Axel anymore," Penn explained. "A little brother can only be so much like his older siblings, you know?"

"Wait, Axel is another brother of yours?" I asked.

"Yeah. He's just a little older than Adrien, but still equates to about your age in human years," Penn continued to explain. "But I won't bore you talking about him. You'll get to meet him here in a day or two."

"You couldn't bore me yet, Penn. I haven't heard you talk once until now," I commented. Penn smiled.

" You can call me Trent if you want, like you call Vincenzio Adrien," he said. "And Sam, don't forget what I told you earlier."

Cathy's POV

"So she's… gone?" I asked, sad and confused. The story Danny had just told me seemed so unreal. Sam moving away? Sam quitting the MBC? Sam dating a boy she'd just met? None of that could be real? Could it?

"Pretty much," Danny said sadly. "She said she'd be leaving in three days, but she made it sound like she was leaving tonight." My shoulders slumped a bit. This was upsetting news. I looked down at the abandoned v-com in my hands. The story was true.

"What about the guy that was with her?" I asked, looking up at Danny. His green eyes were sad. And that only made me feel worse. "Anthony?"

"Adrien. And let's not talk about him right now," Danny said, looking worriedly to the side. I followed his gaze to where Chris was sitting not too far away from us. I'd forgotten that he was even here; he hadn't said anything. That was unusual too.

I knew that Chris liked Sam. I knew that seeing the person you like with someone else hurts. And I knew that getting hit by the person that stole your crush and then getting rejected by your crush hurts worse. So I didn't blame Chris for not wanting to say anything.

"Ok," I said in a quiet voice, looking down at Sam's v-com. I just can't believe she's gone.

"No, let's talk about him." Danny and I both turned to face Chris, his voice surprising the both of us. He stood up, staring at about where the floor met the wall. "Something seemed wrong about him."

"Well yeah, he kinda stole Sam," Danny said.

"Not like that," Chris said in reply. "He seemed to know that I liked her. His eyes were taunting me, then again so were his words. And his fists." Chris' hand absent-mindedly touched the bruise forming on his cheek after he'd said that.

"It seemed like Adrien came to the school today to purposely let us know that Sam was choosing him," he continued. "As though it was a set up."

"A set up?" I asked. "What kind of a set up?"

"Do you remember that alien alert that went off a yesterday?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," I said slowly.

"I think it may have been for him," Chris said, looking up at the wall. "Something seemed unreal about him. And why else would Sam just quit the MBC with no warning what so ever unless somebody else was pulling strings?"

That made sense.

"I see what you're saying," I replied, standing up and moving over to Chris. "And I think it make perfect sense. The only challenge now is figuring out who this Adrien kid is, what he wants with Sam, and where he's hiding."

"And then how to stop him," Danny added, standing up and moving over to us too. "And we have to do all of this in three days. Less actually."

"We've done it before in less," I commented with a confident smile.

"Sam's not getting away from us that easily," Danny said, smiling too.

"You make it sound like she wants to leave," I responded, giving Danny a look.

"Well, at least it's nice to see you two getting along," Chris said, finally making eye contact with me, and then Danny. "It'll be so much easier fighting an alien if you two are getting along."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing," Chris muttered. "Let's just start researching Adrien…"

"Hello?" a voice asked from the doorway. The three of us turned to see Max standing there, looking a little confused.

"Max," I said happily.

"Sorry to just burst in here, but your grandpa said just to come on back," Max replied. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, no it's okay. Come on in," I said, gesturing for Max to come in further. I knew that Chris wasn't going to be too happy with me for letting Max delay our investigation, but he'd have to forgive me for it.

"Thanks. Sorry to just pop in like this," Max said to Chris and Danny, coming further into the clubhouse and closing the door behind him. Good thing we hadn't changed it into MBC headquarters yet!

"It's fine," Chris said. Maybe he wasn't going to be mad at me for putting the investigation on hold. Or maybe Chris is a better actor than I thought.

"Why are you here?" Danny asked sharply.

"Cathy offered to help catch me up in history," Max answered. "And we decided that tonight would be a good time."

"It's not looking that way anymore," Danny said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Max asked, looking at me worriedly.

"Well, we just found out that our friend Sam is moving away. And that she's dating this jerk that none of us have never met," I explained the situation, leaving out all of the alien stuff.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Max said, taking my hand lightly. "Sam was such a nice girl. I would've liked to get to know her better. Do you know where she's moving to?"

"No. She didn't say. Which is surprising. Sam tells me everything," I replied, feeling my throat tightening with each word. The reality of all of this was slowly catching up to me and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. "She was my best friend."

Max pulled me closer into a hug. I didn't like the idea of crying in front of him, but he did know how to make me feel better. And I really liked the way he was holding me right now. But I figured that the best thing right now was to pull it together. I pulled away from Max.

"Are you okay?" he asked, wiping a tear away from my cheek.

"Yeah," I replied.

"It is strange that she didn't tell us where she was moving to," Chris said suddenly. I looked over at him. He looked back at me. "And that she didn't tell you any of this, Cath."

"Chris, what happened?" Max asked, his eyes widening in concern as he saw the bruise.

"He got hit for trying to steal another guy's girl," Danny said, glaring at Max. Well that was weird.

"I wasn't trying to steal her," Chris stated quietly.

"Then why did you say that?" Max asked Danny.

"As a warning," Danny replied.

"A warning? For what?" Max asked, who seemed to be getting just a tad annoyed.

"Stick around for a few more minutes and you'll find out," Danny answered.

!

What will happen next? Where's Axel? And will the MBC be able to take another shock from the bad guys?

Find out!

Read on! =D