Hello readers! This is the 3rd chapter of my first fanfic, "New friends, new trials" I hope you liked the previous chapter. After this chapter, I'm going go start naming the chapters, so ideas are accepted.
Previously on "New friends, new trials" (Amy looked up, her hands shaking. "The Vespers" she whispered. "They've got him")
Amy started dialing a number on Nellie's phone. "Who are you calling?" Nellie asked "Mr. McIntyre." She replied, not looking up. Nellie shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea." Amy looked up. "What do you mean?" she asked worriedly. "I think we should go home" Nellie said grimly. "I have a feeling they might have left something for us."
Amy and Nellie rushed through the front door. Nellie looked into the living room, then motioned for Amy to follow her in. Sitting on the couch was a small, flat silver device, about 2 feet square and about a quarter of an inch thick and wrapped in gold foil. It looked like a mini flat-screen TV. Amy had never seen anything like it. She looked at it with a dreadful feeling. "Someone was here." She looked at Nellie. "Should we turn it on?" Nellie nodded. "It may be booby-trapped, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Stand back and I'll turn it on." Amy walked to the corner of the room while Nellie pressed a small, almost invisible button on the back. She looked up. "All safe." There was a small fingerprint pad on the bottom. Amy put her finger on it. "Match identified. Amy Cahill. Start message?" said an automated voice. "Yes" said Amy in a loud, clear voice. The screen came to life, showing Elizabeth Vesper-Hollingsworth smiling right into the camera. It looked like she was in the room with them. It was clear that the link was live. "Why hello, Amy and Nellie!" she exclaimed. She sounded like they were getting together to have tea or something. Amy looked at her. "What have you done with Dan?" she demanded. Elizabeth stopped smiling. "Well, fine, if that's how you want to play it." She reached forward and adjusted the camera to show Dan and Fiske Cahill, sitting in chairs and bound and gagged. Dan was looking right into the camera, and he looked tired and defeated. Fiske's clothes were rumpled and his eyes were closed. The camera switched back to Elizabeth. "We haven't harmed them." She grinned evilly. "Yet." she said. "Let me guess." Amy blurted out. "You want the master Cahill serum in exchange for Dan and Uncle Fiske. You only captured Madrigals because they're the only ones that have the serum." Elizabeth smiled again. "Bravo." Amy paused. "But that doesn't explain one thing. Where's Mr. McIntyre? He's the head of the Madrigals." Elizabeth chuckled. "I was just getting to that." She pressed a button on her own remote and it showed an ambulance and some paramedics were carrying a stretcher with a man stretched out on it. Amy gasped, horrified. Then is showed a scene from a hospital, where Mr. McIntyre was lying in a hospital bed he was covered in bandages. There were tubes coming out of his mouth and nose, and there were about 10 doctors and nurses swarming around him. The camera focused on Elizabeth again. "We didn't kidnap the leader of the Madrigals because he is the only one with all the secrets of the Madrigals. If we were to abduct him, we would have no way of drawing information out of him." Her eyes focused on Amy "That's what we need YOU to do. Find the serum, the WHOLE serum, then call us at the number that will appear at the end of this message. You have 3 days. If you don't make it in time, Dan and the old man here will die." The camera switch back to Dan and Uncle Fiske. Dan was looked at Amy, talking to her with his eyes. "Don't give her the serum, no matter what. Two lives are irrelevant compared to the millions of people who will die if the Vespers get their way." Amy looked away, tears streaming down her face. Then Dan looked at Nellie, the same plead in hes eyes. Nellie looked up. "Okay." she said in a shaky voice. "We'll do what you want." Elizabeth smiled again. "Good. I'll talk to you again in 3 days." Then the screen went blank.
"We can't let Dan and Uncle Fiske die!" Amy exclaimed. Nellie nodded. She just finished writing sown the number that had appeared at the end of the message. Then she looked at her watch and pressed a button on it. A tiny, black and green picture appeared on the screen. It was a view of the room from above. A small LED on the top of her watch started flashing. Amy looked at it. "What is that?" she asked. "Bug sensor," Nellie mouthed "That video message thing must bugs planted in it."
She stood up and motioned for Amy to follow her. They got up and went to Nellie's room, which was bug-proof. She shut the door and pulled out her phone. "Who're you texting?" Amy asked. "Zai" she answered without looking up. "Who's Zai?" Amy inquired. Nellie looked up. "Zai is a Madrigal agent. He was originally a Janus, but the Madrigal recruited him, because of his unique skills." "What kind of skills?" Amy asked " He's from Minnesota. He's lived in Dubai for 6 years and in Egypt for 2 years and is fluent in English and Arabic, is moderate in Mandarin Chinese and speaks a little Japanese. He's been traveling since he was 3, is a good chemist, and is an expert at Shaolin Martial arts, fencing, and is pretty good at parkour." Amy nodded. "Definitely a Janus. He sounds like a good guy to call." Nellie texted a message and a few minutes later, she got a reply. "Alright" she stood up. "He said to meet him in a black limousine parked in front of 978 15th Ave. Let's go."
Amy and Nellie hurried outside into the night air. 978 15th Ave. was only about a 4 minute walk. The walk to the limousine was uneventful. There was a stretch limo in front of the house. Nellie walked up to it and pressed her finger against a fingerprint pad on the window, which wasn't a normal window. It was a screen of some sort, and when she touched the pad, an image appeared. It was dark in the limousine, and they could see a silhouette sitting on one of the seats. "Hi, Amy. Hi, Nellie." said a voice. It sounded distorted and rumbly. "Come on in" The door opened, and they stepped in.
The limo was HUGE and nicely decorated. And sitting across from them was Zai. He had thick, shiny black hair and a thick strand of hair that came down to his right eye. He had golden-brown colored skin and serious dark eyes. Amy looked at him. He couldn't be more than 13 years old, but that was not was she noticed. Although she didn't know him, Amy was sure she knew him from somewhere.
Whew! This chapter's done. Usually I update once a week, but if you want me to continue this chapter sooner, just let me know. And yes, Zai is based on on me. (Some people call me Zai sometimes, and I think it sounds cool.)