Nine years later…

Somewhere above China, nearing Mount Everest. Saturday, 3rd March, 2018,11:52 pm.

It all began again when three college teenagers were on their way home after a surprise get-together from their ex-colleagues. They were taking an extended journey for their leisure in their boss' private jet. It was black, sleek and reasonably cramped, but had sick style and some speed to back it up.

These three girls were superspies of W.O.O.H.P., experienced and gifted. They were previously visiting their old guardian Sir Jerry Lewis; he was taking retirement well, and in his absence, the girls were given a pair of new guardians Patryk Detrovski and his wife, Ashley.

There was the lovely Samantha Simpson, the determined brains of the group. The beautiful Clover Thompson, the creative thinker. Last but not least was the enthusiastic Alex Campbell, the acrobatic fighter. All three individuals complemented each other exceptionally well over the years under their guardian's supervision - times change, and people move on. Not these three though, they were best friends forever.

Things at W.O.O.H.P. took an odd turn since Jerry's retirement. Most gadgets were replaced with lethal weapons to help keep terrorism as low as possible, as per Patryk's authorisation, licences to kill were also allowed to all personnel, including his best superspies. It's a dangerous business if it already wasn't. There were some exceptions to allow gadgets.

Some gadgets are irreplaceable. The X-powder is crucial for communication as well as the jetpack backpack and the cable bungee belts. The girls never leave without their tight kevlar jacket to match their classic green, yellow and red jumpsuits.

Their Glock 18Cs were standard issue, along with a form of bladed weapon for close combat. A hidden blade sheathed inside their left sleeve was a popular choice over a knife — the perfect blend of functionality and lethality overall.

The girls were in the cockpit, surrounded by control terminals and various buttons. Alex was flying with Clover acting as copilot; she wasn't doing an exceptional job, too busy filing her nails. Sam was taken by the sights of the night sky, leaning on Alex's chair with a smile. They were alone, nearing the airspace over Mount Everest.

"Nothing quite like a long journey home after seeing some old friends," Sam said, "Life is never uneventful."

"Comes with the job," Clover added, hardly skipping her perfect nails. "We're just too good at what we do."

Alex reared her head to Clover with a tight frown. "Are we? We don't get as many treatments anymore, not since Jerry's retirement."

"Alex, how are you going to learn how to fly if you don't keep your eyes focused?"

"Aren't I already good enough? Clover's here too, Sammy."

Sam sighed. "She's not exactly helping because she's still doing her freakin' nails."

"I'm supervising." Clover stopped filing her nails and shrugged. "You think I'm born this good looking? It's an artform to maintain one's beauty. Since I'm totally out of the fashion game, I gotta at least try to keep up." She continued filing her nails and brushed them clean. "Jerry's retirement makes me feel like time is going too quick; we're not the same kids we were back in the old days. I want to stay young and pretty forever, so you know… better stick to what you're good at."

"Don't we all?" said Alex.

"Keep your eyes on the road."

"We're flying..."

Sam stuttered. "You know what I mean. I just don't want you to crash. Do you remember how many driving lessons you failed? Flying is much, much harder."

Alex blinked rapidly and huffed. "Point taken." Her eyes focused back on the controls. The jet handled a bit smoother.

Clover folded her arms and put her feet up on the terminal in front of her. It wasn't on. "Practice makes perfect."

Alex smiled. "Thanks, girlfriend."

"How do you feel since Patryk took over?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, you took it harder than the rest of us."

Clover rolled her eyes. "Maybe I did. I know how annoying Jerry could be when he constantly invaded our privacy, but it's just not the same without him."

"Things change," Sam murmured sadly, staring at Clover's incredible blue eyes. They matched her feeling of grief. "People move on… They get old and retire."

Clover smiled. "Most men his age would stay home and drink tea all day. Not him. At least our new guardians and their assistant are total hotties. Shame they're married." She smacked her lips. "If they were ten years younger, I would love to get to know them better."

"Uhm… Patryk's thirty-eight and Mozz's like… thirty-six. You'd need more than ten years."

"And Ashley's thirty-five. Didn't think you were that bi..."

Clover threw her arms in a huff. "No, I'm not! Not my fault people are better looking with a bit of maturity." Sam and Alex chuckled. "Aged like fine wine those three, I tell ya that. Stickler in the mud much?"

Sam shook her head. "Just reminding you. You do lack doing your homework before jumping into things."

Clover smiled again and leant back in her chair to close her eyes better. "That's what boyfriends are for Sammy. We all share that luxury."

"True, but you got to do things for yourself some days."

"Like, duh. We are so doing that right now, aren't we? I'm just making up for the lost time I wasted swooning over boys instead of men."

"Yeah, when you mention it, Blayne has matured up since."

"It was for the better." Clover closed her eyes for a quick nap.

Alex hated to interrupt a rousing conversation, especially between Clover and Sam, but she just had to ask something important. "Uh, Clover, did you ask Patryk we could borrow his jet? I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable over here."

Clover's eyes suddenly opened. "About that… I never asked Patryk per se. I just borrowed it."

"You stole it?"

Alex shrugged her shoulders, feeling a bit reassured that it was all okay. Almost. "I'm sure he won't mind; he trusts us."

"He trusts me mostly, Alex." Clover folded her arms. "Has he even seen your driving?"

Alex shrugged again. "Ehhh, I'm sure he has bigger things on his mind."

Something beeped from another console by Clover's feet. It was a green radar, it swept in circles, and there was a pulsing dot when it passed over. "Uhhh, Alex, what is that beeping?"

Alex leant her body to her left to look at the green circle with a smaller one inside the steel box. She was a better flyer but not good with the complicated words. It was a radar sweep of some sort, that's all she knew. "I think the jet detected something. Somewhere… behind us?" A horrible sound of a distant explosion growled somewhere behind their jet. "The hell was that?"

"Must have come from Everest."

"We're flying over Everest?" Sam said eagerly. She walked past Clover to the window on her right to look outside. "This is so cool. Wait… I think I see something. Clover look."

Clover swivelled her body over and stood by Sam to see what she was looking at. It was an unidentified building fused into Everest's side, like a tick on the glorious mountain. "That looks like it doesn't belong there.

"Should we radio it in?"

"We're not on duty, Clover." Sam turned her head from the window, and Alex kept her eyes on her flying.

"Wouldn't hurt just to let them know."

Alex flicked on a switch under a computer monitor. It displayed static, and the sound was the same. "WOOHP H.Q., can you hear me?" Silence ensues.

"It must be the blizzard. I hate blizzards."

"Blizzard nothing. This hardware is state of the art." Alex changed the frequency with a little twist of her wrist. The screen was still full of static.

"WOOHP Headquarters. How can I help you?" a dull female voice asked.

"This is Alex Campbell, can you patch me through to Patryk?"

"One moment please," the woman said. Her voice was consumed by sudden static.

"Hello?" No answer. "Darn it. Now what?"

Sam whipped her head around to look out the window on her side again, just after a loud pulsing beep came back on the radar. She focused on the radar a bit more than the others and knew what the beeping was for. Warnings. "What's this radar for Alex?"

"Detects aircraft. Right? Or anything as big..."

"Does it?"

Alex looked at the radar with Sam and read some lettering at the bottom of the screen. Missile detected! A red button with a little icon of a torch or a stick of sorts. "Don't look now girls but I think I made a mistake..."

"Missile incoming!" Every sweep disclosed the small blip to be getting closer. It was right behind their jet.

"Alex!" Clover roared, whipping her body away from the window. "The flares!"

The jet took a hit to the very rear; the right engine was destroyed with parts of the rudder and stabiliser along with it. The force of the blast toppled the weight and shifted it to turn over and drag to the right side. Clover and Sam didn't buckle up, so they slipped and fell against the wall. The right side was so forceful, Alex couldn't fight it. She pulled hard to the right and turned all the way over to a flatter trajectory.

Sam and Clover rolled over each other and fell back down on the regular flooring, the sudden change in force toppled the jet back on its side again. Hanging too far to the left now and slowly drifting upside down, Sam and Clover weren't happy with Alex's choice to go with the flow. There was more beeping from the radar; another missile was coming for them. Alex released some flares with a quick button press.

A barrage of flares shot off in several directions, but it was too late, the missile collided with the jet's left wing and that broke it off entirely into pieces. The jet turned upside down, and then the last engine stopped working, and the girls started screaming for their lives. Alex couldn't keep it all together, left was right and down was up. She panicked.

They lost altitude and started to plummet into a nosedive, Clover and Sam were pressed against the door behind them. Alex was thankful she was strapped in. The jet split the low clouds in two and fell into a dark abyss. Clover and Sam flew forward into the window in front of Alex. They were taking some substantial damage. Sam was already unconscious, and Clover's nose was broken. Thankfully the rest of the jet balanced against a small rocky wall.

Alex covered her head, trembling for the next crash. For a second there was nothing, the jet was still on its nose. It was upright. The ice it was balancing on was solid; everything else around was all snow and hard to assume to be safe correctly. Another drop was seen outside on the right window. Clover was about to speak as the jet started to groan and drift towards the right side. Falling again on the rear end, Clover and Sam slammed into the cockpit door.

The jet fell onto its side with enough speed to roll over twice, finally stopping the right way up. It was a few meters away from a ledge that was too dark to see down. Alex was sure they stopped falling after giving it a few seconds to a minute. She unstrapped her seatbelt and went to Sam and Clover's aid. Sam was still unconscious. Clover groaned when she sat up, broken nose and all. Now her right arm was broken.

"I think we stopped moving."

Clover moaned. "Great... Arm's broken and my beautiful face is ruined, but, oh, at least we stopped moving!"

"Jeez, just passing positive vibes, Clove. We're still alive, isn't that enough?"

Clover cursed under her breath after a sudden twitch in her arm hurt her. She laid down on her back and let out a short cry. "I'm sorry… It's not like any of us built an immunity to being shot out of the sky but… damn… my arm's actually broken. Like, for real this time."

Alex poked Sam's body and checked her breathing. She sighed happily. "She's just unconscious. What do we do now?"

"Get a damage report and wait it out."

Alex hesitated. "Wait what out? No one knows we're up here."

"Patryk does. It's his jet. Wouldn't you put trackers on your private jets if you had as many as he did, Al? Once he finds one missing he'll just track it."

"Is it that easy?"

"For our sake it better, or we'll be out here for a long time."

"Makes you almost take whooping for granted, huh?"

Clover smiled. "Look at us now. Three young adults trapped on Everest." Her legs shook when she sprawled up on her feet, clutching her arm. "Try to revive Sam; I'll see if I can get a signal on my X-powder."

Alex saluted. "Aye aye, captain."

"Don't say that… I don't like giving you orders."

"Well… you kind of are. You were the most whooptastic agent. Remember? Taking that supervisory role over us and becoming a major diva."

"We're not kids anymore, Alex; this is serious."

"Gotcha. I'll see if I can get any communication working on this end. Maybe find some medication for you and Sam, a blanket or something… in case we have to stay the night."

"Not looking forward to that." Clover groaned. She looked around the cockpit; everything looked like trash. "See if you can find any emergency rations and supplies, they should be in the very far back of the jet. I know Patryk wasn't stingy about them."

"No problem." Alex stood over Sam. "You mind?"

"What you looking at me for? I can't carry her."

"Have you tried?"

Clover reached out and withdrew her hand. "My arm's broken, give me a break."

"Please; she's too heavy."

"You're stronger than me."

"You just don't want to break a nail. Typical."

Clover rolled her eyes and met Alex's once more without a sweet smile. "No… I just don't want to break my other arm!"

"Drama..." Alex hoisted Sam's body over her shoulders with a short grunt. She wasn't that heavy, but she still strained. "Don't tell Sam I said she was heavy."

"Don't tell her I quit fashion design class." An eye for an eye. Clover outgrew her love and rivalry with fashion and shopping years ago. Adult mind. Adult peers. "Fashion and trends are… not who I am anymore."

"Wow… we really did grow up."

"You're right. I feel kinda sick saying that."

The girls left the cockpit to see the damages in the seating room. There was a huge pile of junk at the far end of the room, yet the chairs and tables were all still in place. Having them screwed into the flooring was such a good idea. The chairs, tables and the large couch was unmoved. All the windows were all smashed, however.

The two item boxes were still locked up. One had medical supplies and the other, weapons and gadgets. Clover had her pink X-powder in hand while Alex laid Sam out on the brown couch and wrapped her in a blanket.

"I'll go outside and see if I can get a signal," Alex said, "You try and salvage what you can. We need Patryk on this."

"Yeah, sure." Alex released a switch that opened the door to leave the jet. A gust of snow and wind forced her to pull her yellow hood up. "It's freezing out there."

"Don't take too long. The same dipstick that shot us down is probably still out there."

Alex stepped out, and the sights hit her instantly. The cold wind and snow brushed past her, and the sound was beautiful. Dark night sky with a massive cliff behind the jet, the one they impacted. Some small ledges and rocky mountains were far below, a few hundred feet down. The bad part was the jet's condition. The lack of engines, rudders and stabilisers was awful.

There were no railing, so caution was crucial, Alex made baby steps when she walked around the rim to be confident enough to walk. If the rocky mountains can take the jet's weight, she felt good enough to just walk out on her own to find a signal.

Alex walked around on the left side, following the same slippery ledge. She had to make the few short jumps now and then, but it was worth it; hopefully, they needed a signal, and the wifi is stronger the closer it is to the peak. Alex forgot about her X-powder for a second to focus on something she saw below the ledge she was walking.

The wreckage of a C-130 Hercules was barely noticeable in a crevice, covered in layers of snow; she only noticed it because it was a crack in the rocky ground. Alex used her bungee belt on the ledge she was standing on and lowered herself down to investigate.

There was some wreckage around the crevice, but the cockpit was more or less intact to look around in. Controls were obviously useless to salvage, and then there was the radio, which was still in one piece, so she ripped it out of the rest of the electronics. The cockpit was stuck on its left side.

Everything was cold to the touch; all was undisturbed for years. The radio could be scrapped for parts since the model was similar to their jet's. Alex took a look at all the salvage around the crevice until some words caught her eye. She wiped away the frost and snow to see some bold lettering.

The B.S.A.A. Alex heard about them, a significant anti-terrorism organisation that was very successful in early 2000. W.O.O.H.P. likes to keep things private, which was until Patryk took over two years ago. Since the war on terror is just getting worse, all anti-terrorism organisations need to stick together.

Alex found a nickel-plated handgun with a golden W on the rubber grip. It was flawless, so she kept it as a keepsake, then moved on to see how far along the ledge goes. It wasn't very much; a large pile of snow blocked her off, far too dangerous to plough through it, so she cut her losses and went back to the ledge she bungeed from. There were no changes in signal anyway.

Alex got a call from Clover on her X-powder. Her image was a video capture. "Any luck?" Clover asked.

"No signal just yet. How's Sam?"

"She's already looking into our communications. She says she might be able to get the radio working, but she needs to take it apart."

"I found an old radio from another wreck. It's a similar model."

Clover inched her head closer to her screen. "You just happen to find a wreckage with a radio in it?"

"I'll show you." Alex brought the B.S.A.A. plane into her X-powder's image and shown Clover the broken junk and the leftover cockpit. "I found it in a crevice."

Sam peered her head over Clover's left shoulder. "Is that Alex?"

Clover turned her head to Sam "Don't interrupt…" Then back to the camera. "Alex, bring that radio here, it might be what we need to get in touch with headquarters. Sam… tidied the jet up, so that's cool."

"Sweet!" Alex smiled. "That's no problem girls; I'm heading back now." She put away her X-powder and then heard something moving around in the snow behind her. Probably just the wind, she thought.

Then she heard a voice, a grumble, a groan - sounded almost human. She turned around and saw whatever it was and pulled out her handgun. The figure fell into the snow and stopped moving after a short minute. Alex went over to check what it was.

She wiped the snow off the figure carefully, with her handgun ready in her other hand. She unearthed what appeared to be an arm and shoulders. It was a man. He was covered in a layer of frost, his skin was a delicate shade of light blue, and his body was frozen stiff. He was also dead. Alex concluded that he must have died from the cold over the last few weeks or even months. No amount of CPR in the world would make a difference.

Alex checked his pulse around his neck and got nothing; there was no heartbeat. She squinted her eyes and felt something was off when Zaac's eyes opened. The launched herself back when he suddenly sat up with a blank expression. Gun in hand, she aimed. Zaac didn't budge, his body was trembling, but he didn't make any sudden moves other than raising his hands in surrender.

"Don't shoot..." he croaked.

"Oh my God… You're… You're not dead!"

"Oh, I'm sorry… were you expecting a corpse?"

"Well… yeah. You had no pulse."

"I didn't have a pulse? That's new." Zaac rubbed his frozen arms, slowly picking up the pace to warm himself up. Then he did the same with his face that was losing the shade of blue with every rub. He was warm now. Alex didn't let her guard down. "I'm feeling uncomfortable being held at gunpoint. Would you mind?"

Alex chewed her lip. "Okay… but no funny stuff."

"I'm not going to hurt you, ma'am. You got ten feet on me and a gun." Alex nodded and holstered her handgun. Zaac twisted his body and lifted himself up on his feet until his legs looked like they were going to give away. Alex swooped in and helped him stand up. Her hand was firm on his chest and back.

"You good to walk?"

"Thanks… My muscles ache."

"Who are you?"

Zaac brushed Alex away and stood without any help. He cracked his neck. "Zachariah Wesker, and you are?"

"Alex Campbell. I'm from WOOHP."

"World Organisation Of Human Protection?"

"Oh, yes. How do you know?"

"I know a few people here and there..."

Alex checked her X-powder for any signal. There was nothing, the only communication she had was between Sam and Clover. That radio might come in handy. "You should excuse me for being hasty, but we gotta move. My friends and I are stranded here, and it's pretty cold out here."

Zaac shrugged. "You get used to it."

"You're more than welcome to join us for some warmth."

Zaac nodded. "I can't leave a woman unaccompanied."

"Follow me, but remember no funny stuff."

"I'm sure you're meaner than you look..."

Alex went to the higher ledge she came from and used her bungee belt to launch the coiling wire that she climbed up. Zaac leapt straight up at an angle; it was inhuman. Alex made a short note of that and smiled, though, she felt uneasy... The jet was unmoved since Alex departed, still looking banged up all over.

"Your jet took a bigger beating than my plane. What happened?"

"Some nutjob shot us out of the sky."

Zaac's stomach flipped and churned. "Some asshole shooting planes out of the sky? Didn't know it was so popular over here. Do you have a working radio?"

"I dunno. Let's find out."

Alex pulled out the small set of stairs to enter the jet, swatting away the blanket Clover must have used to block out the cold in the process. Zaac took the whole covering to the face; it was clean but dull. The inside of the jet was tidy now. The ugly couches were up against the windows; chairs were on the sides. Only the tables and chairs were unmoved. There was limited light coming from a small lamp on the table.

"I'm back!" Alex called. "I have the radio."

Zaac stared at the strangely familiar radio; the edgy design and colour was his taste. "You took my radio?"

Alex blinked and intercepted Zaac's glare with her innocent face. "Oh, was that your plane? Huh… Guess that explains how I found you."

"The plane exploded, and I fell… I didn't know what happened to the rest of it."

Alex waved her hand. "It's in a crevice somewhere." Her hands were on her hip with a slight slouch. Their old radio was sat on the table with some tools and spare parts, next to the lamp. Sam's lamp. "Looks like they were trying to fix the radio."

Clover and Sam left the cockpit and saw Alex and Zaac standing by the open door. Clover closed the door tight with a button press; her left arm was in a sling. "Keep the heat in much?" Her pretty blue eyes locked onto Zaac's gold eyes and almost got lost in them.

Clover never swooned over boys for a long time since she met her boyfriend, but this time she almost looked like she was going to break that streak. Zaac's slight shyness when he brushed his hand over his short ruffled auburn hair almost cemented that fact. "Who's this handsome guy?" she asked, almost blushing.

"Since your friend here revived me and gave me a bit of warmth, allow me to introduce myself formally." Zaac cleared his throat with a short cough; his voice wasn't used for some time. "The name's Chief Zachariah Wesker of the Los Angeles Police Department." He ended his little intro with a brief salute. "At your service."

Zaac was cursed with a sour feeling of bitter silence for what reason he didn't know. "Right…" Sam murmured.

Sam sat down at the table that had the radio and terminal on. They were linked together. Clover stepped in. "Alex, we got the radio working so we don't need that radio you found right now."

"Oh?"

"Got the heating on as well, so that's nice. At least we won't freeze to death."

"Can I have my radio back then please?" Zaac asked politely.

Alex handed Zaac his radio. A big and bulky monstrosity. "Sure."

"Thanks. Planes don't grow on trees, you know. I need all the money I can get."

"That was a waste of time then. I swear, they find new ways to get rid of me."

"Perhaps, but you found me. I could've been out there a lot longer if it wasn't for you. Thanks, by the way."

"Happy to help."

Sam was struggling to find the radio's frequency to reach W.O.O.H.P. headquarters, once she found it she was happy. Then the static came back. She sighed but never let go of the dials. "So you're the chief of the L.A.P.D., Mr Wesker?" she said, without taking her eyes off the monitor that just shown static.

"That's right." Zaac smiled. "But Mr Wesker was my father's…" That just sounds weird. Don't finish that joke. "Just call me Zaac."

"Zack?" Clover said, uncertain.

"Try saying it a bit sharper, mostly on the Z."

"Zaac?"

"Bingo. Have you three been in WOOHP long?"

"Four years and running. What about you, Zaac? Been in the L.A.P.D. long?"

Zaac juggled the radio in his hand. "Since 2005. I was freelance until they hired me as their deputy chief. I was promoted to chief of police when my predecessor was killed three years later. She was my friend..."

Clover sighed. "That… sucks."

"How long have you been up here, Zaac?"

"My plane crashed over here in March."

Sam moved away from the radio and monitor to look at Zaac as if she misheard something important. "Uhm… it's March now. What day did you get stuck here."

Zaac pulled his lip and remembered hard. "I was in Africa a few days before…" He clicked his fingers. "The tenth!"

"Zaac..." Alex said with a little sadness in her tone, "It's the third…"

Zaac's face sagged now, and he groaned, staring at the girls, starting with Alex and ending on Sam. "What in Queen Elizabeth's name..." He brushed his hair. "What year is it?"

"Twenty-eighteen."

Zaac's face lost all colour, and his body froze; he dropped the radio he was holding. "I see…" His eyes shifted here and there, almost looking suspicious. "I might need some time alone," he said tightly without any joy.

Alex picked up the radio by Zaac's feet and looked up to him. "Will you be back?" she asked.

Zaac's eyes never faced anyone in the room. "I don't know..." He pressed the button by the door and left as soon as the stairs set down. The blanket settled as the girls silently glared at each other, all wondering what he was upset about.

Alex put Zaac's radio by Sam on the table. It looked operational; their one still had no signal. "Alex, where did you find Zaac?"

"Didn't Patryk say anything about picking up strangers, Al? That's kinda something I would do, but you?"

Alex looked to Clover. "He's not a stranger; his name is Zaac. I found him buried under some snow by the plane." She looked at Sam with a little smile. "I thought he was dead and then he started moving..."

"Might as well be. If Zaac was stuck out there for at least a year…" Sam shrugged. "I don't know what to say…" She folded her arms. "Humans can't survive in that climate. Days but not months."

"He never said months. He might've just… got the day wrong..."

"If he was the occupant of that plane, he could've survived the crash, but the cold is something I find odd. Alex, you should keep an eye on him."

"Sure boss." Alex frowned.

Sam went back to try out their radio and Clover went into the cockpit for her own reasons. Alex left the plane and put her hood back up. It was colder than before, and it wasn't hard to tell. Finding Zaac wasn't hard; he has sat on an icy ledge quite far on the left. Alex heard some crying; she sat by him.

"This seat taken?" asked Alex, breaking the ice.

Zaac looked away from Alex. "It's a free country," he muttered. He had some tears running over his cheeks.

"You alright?"

"You're quite the caring type, Alex," Zaac said, solemnly. He turned his head over to her on his right. "I've been up here for so long; I don't know what to feel. The world I knew has moved on without me."

"Yeah, you kinda sounded surprised when I told you the year."

"It doesn't matter anyway, old history." Zaac looked away and back to her. "You girls live in Beverly Hills?"

Alex nodded.

"Same. At least we can help each other get home."

Alex stands up and offers him her hand. "Then come on. It's cold out here."

Zaac smiled and took Alex's small hand. He was feeling better, that was apparent. Then there was a loud crack in sound, like a thunderbolt piercing through the sky - a gunshot. Zaac's head rolled back, and he yelled out, covering his face. Spurts of blood trickled through his fingers and with his face bleeding like a tomato, he staggered off the edge.

Alex screamed and covered her mouth. Another round zipped past her head; now she was the prime target. She rushed back into the jet and closed the door behind her. In her lack of breath state, Clover and Sam rushed to ask what was going on first.

Clover rushed from the cockpit. "Did somebody scream?"

"Probably Alex."

"Someone just killed Zaac!" Alex cried. "Somebody shot him and… he's gone..."

Sam stood up so fast her chair flew back; she was almost scared. "Are you serious? Someone out there is trying to kill us?!"

"It must be the same guy who shot us down," Clover added. "Feels like the whole world is out to get us..."

"They killed Zaac!" Alex repeated.

Clover wiped her face. "Okay… Maybe if we just-"

An explosion made contact with the jet and rocked the rear end upwards. The girls tossed and turned over each other and curled up into the corner outside the cockpit, Alex rolled over Sam and Clover. The couches and armchairs piled on the girls, but the way they collided with each other gave the girls space to thrive under.

The jet almost flipped over on its nose but fell back down flat, closer to the ledge and practically hanged off. The icy ledge started to groan under the weight. The couches and armchairs rolled down closer to the rear, breaking from their holds.

"Unbelievable!" Sam cursed. "Someone is still trying to kill us!" She moved the radios and monitor off her and Clover to quickly unlock the crate on the other side of the jet. She took out three heart-shaped backpacks. "Get your jetpacks ready!"

"Good plan."

The jet suddenly jerked downwards and stumbled Sam onto her hands and knees. Alex and Clover tried to get up to support her and secure the jetpacks, but the jet started falling from the heavier opposite end. The hull screeched outside with the icy ledge tearing at the metal before the jet began to slip off and plummet.