Hey there, readers! I was a little disappointed that I got no reviews last chapter. As any writer knows, reviews are the main reason for writing. So, I want 4 reviews on this chapter. 2 for this chapter, and 2 to make up for last chapter. Well, enjoy!
Previously on New friends, New trials: Amy and Nellie looked at each other. "Zai. He's been captured." whispered Amy.
Amy and Nellie looked at each other. "Well, what now?" asked Amy nervously. "We try and find our way to Zai and whoever's captured him." repleid Nellie. "Also, stay tuned to your mouth-microphone. It could give us some idea where we should look. But for now, lets go to the end of this hallway."
They walked on and on, for about 20 minutes.
They didn't speak.
They didn't hear anything on the mouth-microphones.
They didn't slow down.
They hardly breathed.
Inside, Amy was thinking. She was thinking about a lot of things, but most of all, she was thinking about Zai. Zai was hiding some secret from. A horrible, dark secret. Something that he was trying not to show, but to Amy, it was unmistakable. He had the same look in his eyes that she had seen in Dan sometimes, whenever someone mentioned their parents. It was a look of loss and hurt. But, thought Amy, Who did he lose? What hurt him?
Nellie was thinking about the situation they were in. She knew that the Vespers 'Made Isabel look like Mother Teresa'. And she didn't doubt that. Also, the fact that the Vesper that they were up against now was Isabel's sister. Who knew how many more siblings could Isabel have? And if Isabel's sister is a Vesper, that must mean that Isabel is a Vesper as well. Which meant Ian and Natalie could also be Vespers. Not that she didn't sort of trust Ian and Natalie now, but the thought of them being Vespers was a little jolting. If they're Vespers, she thought, then who else could be a Vesper? How many Vespers are lurking around?
Zai was aching all over. He was currently sitting on a posh leather lounge chair. With a glass of tea. It was matcha, his favorite. He would've enjoyed it under different circumstances, but the person sitting across from him made him want to throw up everything he'd eaten in his 14-and-a-half years of life. And them some more. The person across from him made him queasy. He forced himself to sip the aromatic tea. It helped clear his mind. The person across from him's mouth slowly cracked and twisted itself into a horrible smile. "You like it?"
Amy felt like she had been walking for an eternity. She was about to say something to break the haunting silence when Nellie held up her hand and pointed ahead.
There was a faint glow of light. "There's the end of the tunnel!" she whispered. "Stay closed to the wall, and don't make a sound." Amy nodded. They tiptoed closer to the end of the hallway. It was a large door with a push-bar. Nellie pushed it. The door swung open to reveal a small room with two doors. One door was labeled "st+delnothrgannocre" and the other was labeled "rduoooym".
"Oh, great. A code we have to solve." Amy groaned. Nellie grinned. "Good thing I've been taking an advanced cryptology back in Boston! Let me have a crack at this thing." She studied the codes for about 5 minutes. Then, she whipped out a notebook and a pen from her bag. She scribbled furiously for a few moments. Then she looked back at the doors. Then she scribbled some more. "Got it!" she exclaimed. "How did you do that?" asked Amy incredulously. Nellie handed Amy her notebook. "Take a look." Amy examined Nellie's work. "Brilliant." And they went through.
Zai felt like he was staring into a black hole. Nothing around him made sense. From what he saw back in the picture room, to what he was seeing now, he wasn't even sure where he was at times. He was slipping back and forth between hallucinations and the real world around him. One moment, he was seeing them, standing in front of him, calling out to him. But when he tried to reach them, they vanished. He felt like he was losing them all over again...and again...and again.
Across from Zai was the ugliest man he had ever seen. He could not be described in words. He was horrible beyond all reason. He wouldn't even come a close second to a warthog's mutated great-grandmother in a beauty contest. Not even close. And next to him, was a woman who's face was very familiar to Zai. Elizabeth Hamilton Vesper-Hollingsworth smiled, showing all thirty-two perfect pearly white teeth. Zai looked around him. He was no longer in a soft leather armchair. He was now tied to a hard, metal chair. Parts of his body were limp, and he had a bloody gash above his eye. Elizabeth leaned closer to him. "Now," she began, "Tell me about Amy Cahill and Nellie Gomez."
Amy and Nellie walked through the door and went into a large, warehouse-like room. There were cubicles with computers inside, and an elevator on the other side of the room. Amy walked over to one of the computers and pressed the power button. The machine whirred to life. A welcome screen came on, then it asked for a password. Amy looked at 'Password Hint'. It read 'sfroerpesveevr' Amy remembered how Nellie solved the code on the door. She started writing something down. Then she entered the password. The computer welcomed her onto the main screen.
After solving other passwords similar to the first, Amy found on a file labeled 'Agent Profiles' She clicked on it. It was a long list of agents, in alphabetical order. She scrolled to the end of the list. Then, something caught her eye. She slowly went back up to it. It said 'Arthur Trent'. Next to that, it said 'Position: Traitor.' 'Status: TERMINATED'
Amy screamed, and fainted.
Nellie was just thinking to herself how strange it was that they hadn't seen a single agent down here when she heard Amy screaming at the top of her lungs. Nellie ran as fast as she could back to where she'd last seen Amy. She found her slumped in a chair in front of a computer. Nellie grabbed Amy by the shoulders. "Amy! Amy! What happened!" Amy opened her eyes. "What is it!" Nellie asked urgently. Amy wordlessly pointed at the screen. Nellie scanned her eyes down till she saw what had gotten her so upset.
Nellie gasped. Amy was hyperventilating and mumbling. It sounded like she was trying to talk while drowning. Nellie took Amy by the shoulders. "Amy, snap out of it!" Amy didn't look her in the eye. Nellie took out her water bottle and splashed a little on Amy's face. Amy slowly stopped mumbling and shook her head. "Come on." said Nellie. "Don't worry about that right now. We need to find Zai. And your brother and uncle." Amy stood up slowly. "Yeah. Let's go."
Zai didn't think he'd ever been in a predicament as bad as this since he'd been 8. He was tied to a hard, cold metal chair. His face was bleeding above his right eye. His hair was disheveled. He was gasping. And the man causing him this pain made his stomach feel like a washing machine. Elizabeth walked over to him again. She smiled again, but it was a smile that would put a great white shark to shame. "I've almost had enough. Tell me. Where. Are. Amy. Cahill. And. Nellie. Gomez?" Zai look up defiantly. "I'm not telling you ANYTHING!" he responded. Elizabeth clucked her tongue. "Why, Zai! You wouldn't want something unspeakably horrible to happen to them, would you?" She leaned within inches of his face. "Like what happened with Zade and Zachi?"
Amy and Nellie were making their way through the large room when they both stopped. They could hear something over their mouth-microphones. "I've almost had enough. Tell me. Where. Are. Amy. Cahill. And. Nellie. Gomez?" "I'm not telling you ANYTHING!" "Why, Zai! You wouldn't want something unspeakably horrible to happen to them, would you? Like what happened to Zade and Zachi?" Amy and Nellie looked at each other. "That was Zai and Elizabeth." said Amy quietly. "Well, now we know that she has him. We'd better get a move on."
Amy was thinking about what she'd heard over her mouth-microphone. Who are Zade and Zachi? Are they the people Zai lost? Who were they, though? How did he loose them? Was they his friends? Siblings? Or maybe, his... Amy stopped herself. It was something else. Amy was also preventing herself from thinking about when she saw her dad's name on the computer. She blocked those images from her mind and refused to let them through.
"Uh, Amy? Are you okay?" Nellie called. Amy stopped. She realized that she had been walking in circles. "I'm fine." Nellie pointed toward the elevator. It was about twenty feet away. "That's where we need to go. It's the only way up. It's where Zai and Elizabeth are." They just started walking again when suddenly, they heard a crashing noise. They both turned around. About 15 Vesper agents wearing black combat fatigues came rushing at them from all sides.
"RUUUNN!" screamed Amy. They sprinted toward the elevator. If we have to wait for the elevator, we're finished! thought Nellie. They reached the elevator. Amy pressed the 'Up' button.
They waited for a few seconds. The elevator still hadn't arrived, and the Vespers were upon them. Any and Nellie knew they would have to fight back as best they could. Nellie reached into her bag. She pulled out two, small glass vials and threw them down. They shattered, releasing stinging, burning fumes. "AAAAAAURRFGHH!" the agents screamed as they staggered back, holding their noses. Next, Amy pulled out two, small, round balls and a lighter. She lit them and threw them down. Each one released a six-foot wide cloud of smoke, creating a barrier between the agents and Any and Nellie.
Just then, they heard a 'Ping!' coming from the elevator, and the doors opened. Amy and Nellie dashed inside. "Press something!" said Nellie. "Which button?" wailed Amy. "Any button!" screamed Nellie, "They're coming!" Amy pressed a button. The doors closed. Or, they thought the doors had closed. Because then Nellie saw two black-gloved hands trying to pry the doors apart. "AAAAAA!" screamed Amy. Nellie reared back and lashed forward with her heel, slamming it into the guy's fingers.
"EROLLRRGHLLRP!" screamed the Vesper as his fingers were crunched beneath Nellie's black motorcycle boots. The elevator jerked upwards. Nellie and Amy stood in the corner, panting. The elevator stopped. They stepped out into a plush office. There was thick red carpeting with a large, black 'V' in the middle. In the corner, there was a soft-looking chair with a small coffee table in front of it. There was a cold cup of tea on the table. "I think we're getting close." said Amy. She and Nellie walked across the office. "Stop!" Nellie screamed suddenly. Amy froze. "What?" she asked nervously. "Don't. Move." said Nellie. Amy looked down. She was standing on a thin wire stretched across the floor. "This place is booby trapped." said Nellie.
Amy started shaking. "If you step off that wire, this place will blow." said Nellie. "W-what should we do?" stammered Amy, turning white. "My best bet would be to tackle you out of the way." mused Nellie. "I d-d-don't think so." said Amy. "Look." In front of Amy, about 8 more wires lay waiting for someone to step on them. "If you push me off, I'll fall onto one of those wires." Nellie thought it over. "Then I'll have to push you the other way."
Nellie carefully stepped between the wires in front of Amy. Now, she could tackle her into the wire-free zone. "Alright, on the count of 3." said Nellie. "1...2...3!" Nellie sprang forward, grabbing Amy around her midsection. They went tumbling into the area of the room that was free of explosive wires. Then... KABOOOOOOOM! Amy and Nellie were thrown against the wall. "I think," said Nellie, "That we should be more careful from now on."
Elizabeth was looking with scorn at the boy in front of her. He had so much promise, then had thrown it all away. He was weak, he would never make it as a Vesper. At least not yet, that is. Because Elizabeth had plans for him, to restore all his lost promise. That was why he was so valuable to her. Just then, a small, black device clipped to her pocket beeped. She looked at the small screen on it. Then she smiled at Zai. "Looks like your little friends just sprung one of my traps." she gloated. "Now, I know exactly where they are." Zai tried not to show it, but he was worried. He was worried because if Elizabeth got hold of Amy and Nellie, she would kill without a second thought. After all, she had done it before. Whatever you guys do, don't let Elizabeth get you, he thought silently to them.
After carefully avoiding the booby traps in the office, they found themselves in a silver and white room. The room was rounded at the top, and there were two hallways leading off in either direction. "We'll have to split up." decided Amy. "Right" Nellie nodded. "Do you still have the pack that Zai gave you?" "Yep." confirmed Amy. They took off in different directions.
Nellie ran down the pristine white hall. She came to two doors. One labeled 'Holding Cells' The other read 'Interrogation' Interrogation, thought Nellie, From what I heard over my mouth-microphone, Zai was being interrogated. She pushed open the door and went through.
Amy ran down the hall. After about 5 minutes or running, Amy hit a dead-end. Wait, why build a hallway this long that leads to nothing? Uh-oh... Suddenly, 5 Vesper agents clad in black came running down the hallway. Amy reached into her pack. It was time to take action. She pressed a small, black button on the watch Zai had liberated from the Madrigal gadget arsenal before they left. A tiny dart flew out of the watch, precisely aimed at the agent on the far left. He fell with a 'URP!' of surprise. Next, she took out a small, egg-like object from the pack that Zai gave her. The agents were about ten feet away from her, 9...8...7...6...5..Amy squeezed the egg and threw it down. It was a strobe light, meaning it gave off a brilliantly blinding ball of light. The agents staggered and collapsed, blinded.
Amy then took out a small perfume bottle, except that it didn't have perfume in it. She sprayed it at the lurching, stumbling agents, causing them to fall to the ground and faint. She ran past them, grabbing two pistols out of their holsters as she went. She was a little unsure about this, but it was a good thing she had gotten some firearm training with the Madrigals back in Boston. She ran back down the corridor, guns at the ready.
Nellie was walking down the hall when suddenly, she heard someones voice over her mouth-microphone. She kept walking, and suddenly, she heard the voices in her ears, not over her microphone. She inched along the wall, and peeked around the corner. She saw Zai, tied to a chair looking tired, a woman who she assumed was Elizabeth, and a tall man with long, colorless hair. She retreated a few yards and spoke into her mouth-microphone. "Amy! I need backup over here! Go to the end of the hallway that I went down and go through the door that says 'Interrogation' Zai's back here and so's Elizabeth!"
Zai was sitting there, feeling miserable when he saw something poke around the corner. And that something was spiky, black, and blond. Nellie's hair! Zai had to keep his expression the same, so Elizabeth didn't suspect anything. Now, that sense of despair was gone, and he hoped beyond all reason that they would rescue him.
Amy had gotten the message from Nellie and was now sprinting down the hall. She slowed to a walk before she got there so her footsteps couldn't be heard echoing off the walls. She entered the 'Interrogation' door and tiptoed down the hall. She rounded a corner and bumped into Nellie. "Ooof!" she grunted quietly. "Sorry." whispered Amy. "Are you ready?" asked Nellie. Amy nodded. She handed Nellie one of the pistols. Then the ran to the interrogation room and threw open the door.
Well, that chapter was longer than normal. Hope you liked it! And remember, I want 4 reviews. Also, if you can figure out the code that I used on the doors, let me know, and you can choose what happens next chapter. (Except no romance or death)