(A/N: You know, I'm starting to like the new cast of Total Drama more and more each episode. I mean, Scott isn't THAT great of an antagonist- I really don't see what he's trying to accomplish- but everyone else is actually pretty cool. In fact, I think this is the first season where I haven't flat out hated any of the contestants. Although, I have to say, I think Lightning might be the funniest this season. I have no idea why, but I find his lines amusing. Anyway, on with the chapter!)
Cody was wandering around the film lot, thinking of good places Sierra would be kept locked away. It was approximately six thirty, and the other contestants would all be eating dinner, which meant Cody had the lot to himself.
"Hm," he thought, "if I were Blaineley, or any other power hungry psychopath, for that matter, where would I keep my prisoners?"
Just then, The Shadow dropped out of a tree and landed in front of Cody.
"Cody," Shadow whispered, "I know where Sierra is being kept."
Cody looked at the Shadow suspiciously- something was different about them. They were definitely shorter looking, that much was for sure.
"Uh, Shadow?" Cody asked, "Is that you?"
"Of course it is," The Shadow replied, "now follow me."
The Shadow lead Cody through the woods, and eventually the two came to a deep hole in the ground. Looking down, Cody saw the hole actually lead to a deep, shadowy cavern.
"She's down there," The Shadow yawned, "so uh, you jump in, and go find her."
"Uh, can't you do it?" Cody shivered.
"No, I have to… thwart something," The Shadow muttered, "just jump in the damn hole!"
Cody took a deep breath.
"You're sure she's down there?" Cody asked.
"For the love of-" the shadow hissed.
Shadow lunged forward, and shoved Cody into the cavern. Cody disappeared into the darkness below, and The Shadow heard a loud crash, signifying the geek had landed.
Smiling to himself, Noah removed the Darth Vader helmet he was wearing.
"Too easy," he smirked.
Noah then looked back at the hole.
"AND WATCH OUT FOR THE BEARS!" he laughed.
In the cavern below, Cody's eyes went wide with fear.
"Bears?" he gasped.
He had gone eleven episodes without a single bear attack. Cody had assumed that it would have stayed that way all season- but it seemed like his luck had run out.
"Oh no," Cody groaned, "I think I've just been bamboozled."
Noah knocked on the door of Blaineley's trailer.
"Hello Noah," she greeted, stepping outside, "is Cody taken care of?"
"Yeah," Noah smirked, "and you're going to keep up with your end of the bargain?"
"Of course," Blaineley smiled, "once this show is cancelled, the prize money will be added to a Swedish checking account under the name 'Gustav Jackenheimer'. Account details will be faxed to you once the award ceremony is over."
"Alright then," Noah smirked, "I'm not going to ask why you wanted Cody taken care of, but I will ask this. Why have you waited so long to do it?"
"Because," Blaineley replied, "if Cody went missing immediately after the Sierra incident, people would begin to… talk. This way, when people find him in that cavern, and he talks about a man wearing a Darth Vader mask shoving him in, they'll assume he hit his head on the way down. Now, you go and get ready for your challenge tomorrow morning."
"Challenge?" Noah asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Blaineley smiled, "after all, you are a key player. By the way, does this rag smell like chloroform to you?"
"Wha-" Noah began, but Blaineley put a rag over his face. Noah closed his eyes, then dropped to the ground.
"Okay," she smiled, "this might be the creepiest thing I've done on this show so far. Ironically enough, it actually IS for a challenge."
Meanwhile, in the crafts and services tent, the contestants were having a party to celebrate Sadie's elimination.
Justin and Izzy were having a Mountain Dew chugging contest, Trent was beating Duncan at poker, Chris was trying (and failing) to pull off some dance moves, and Gwen and Heather were both sitting in the corner having soda.
Izzy downed her last can of Mountain Dew, and crushed it on her head.
"Ha ha! I win!" The redhead cheered.
"Oh god," Justin groaned, "I think I'm going to puke."
"Full house," Trent smiled, showing Duncan his cards.
"EVERYTIME!" the punk cried.
"Hey guys!" Izzy called, "I just got the best idea!"
Justin awoke the next morning, not entirely sure where he was- he knew it wasn't the boy's trailer.
"Dude," he groaned, "what happened?"
The pretty boy got to his feet, and surveyed the room he was in… a hotel, perhaps? Justin made his way over to a nearby window, and glanced out of it.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," he groaned.
What Justin saw was not the film lot where he was supposed to be staying at- it was a city that neighbored the lot.
"Oh no," he gulped.
Justin walked to the other side of the hotel room, and opened the door to what appeared to be the bathroom.
"I'll just clean myself up, and sort out this mess," he said, chuckling nervously.
When Justin stepped into the bathroom, however, a tiger was laying on the floor in front of him, growling softly.
Calmly, Justin closed the door.
"Okay," Justin said, "I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that I'M GOING TO DIE HERE!"
"Gah!" Trent exclaimed, popping up at the other end of the room, "What's wron- AHHHH! WHERE ARE WE?"
"Trent!" Justin exclaimed, "Thank god you're here! Listen, there's a tiger in the bathroom and-"
At that moment, the two heard banging from a nearby closet. Justin rushed over, and yanked the door open, revealing an exhausted Heather.
"What's going on?" The girl cried, "Where are we?"
"Listen guys, don't panic," Trent said, "this is just like that time in Honolulu."
"Just like that time in- this has happened to you two before?" Heather demanded.
"Once," Justin shrugged, "we got finished performing a small gig at a local mall. We woke up in a hotel room and had no idea where we were. First time we met Sierra."
"A gig?" Heather asked, "You guys are in a band?"
"My Chemical Bromance," Trent said, smiling proudly, "yeah… well, no, we were. We haven't played in a while since the funeral."
"Yeah," Justin said, "some kid's mom hired us to perform at the kid's birthday party. Somehow the directions got mucked up, and we ended up at some guy's funeral. Still, we did a kick-ass cover of We are the Champions."
"I don't think the guy's wife was too happy about it, though," Trent shrugged.
"Yeah," Justin agreed, "well, that, and our drummer spontaneously combusted, too. Right after we saw This is Spinal Tap, actually."
"Yeah, and there isn't much you can do with two members," Trent said, "I play guitar, Justin has bass and vocals, but I mean-"
"Whatever!" Heather scoffed, "We just need to figure out what went down last night. More specifically, why we're stuck in a hotel when we should be at the film lot."
"You're right," Trent scowled, "maybe we should head to the front desk, so we can see what time we checked in around."
Meanwhile, the members of Team Isaak had also woken up in a hotel room. After the initial panicking phase was over, Gwen began to formulate a game plan.
"Okay," she said, "we're stuck in a hotel room in a city somewhere, and Duncan is missing."
"Relax," Izzy smiled, "this happens to me all the time. We should check to see if there's any half-dead boy scouts lying around before the police show up. After we've done that, we bail!"
Chris and Gwen gave Izzy a nervous look.
"Uh," Chris asked, "you've never actually KILLED anyone, right?"
"Okay!" Izzy exclaimed, "Let's go find Duncan!"
With that, Izzy rushed out of the room.
"I'm not going after her," Chris huffed, crossing his arms, "she's freaking NUTS."
"Fine," Gwen huffed, "besides, one of us has to stay here in case Duncan comes back anyway. I'll go after Izzy."
With that, Gwen hurried off after the redhead.
After Chris was sure that they were both gone, he smiled to himself.
"Good," he said, "this way, they won't get suspicious when I find Duncan so quick."
Just then, his cell phone began ringing.
"Hey Courtney," Chris greeted, "how's it going?"
"Not good," she replied, "listen, I had an old friend check into Blaineley's cell phone records. He managed to trace it back to her boss… we couldn't get a first name, or any name for that matter. The number is registered to a male, but that's all we know.
"Okay," Chris said, "so just fire up the computer and get the rest of the data!"
"It's not that simple," Courtney sighed, "something must have come up, because everything is on lockdown."
"What?" Chris gasped, "What do you mean EVERYTHING?"
"I'm not sure, we don't quite understand how it works," Courtney replied, "but Blaineley must have found something that scared her, because all of the records are unreadable. They're heavily encrypted, only a genius could have done it."
Chris' thoughts turned to Noah, and how the boy had been disappearing quite frequently.
"Uh huh," Chris nodded, "anything else?"
"Actually, yes," Courtney said, "we found out what Blaineley's pay is. In addition to being cut a fifty million dollar check, she's being provided the opportunity to host a new reality show. We aren't sure what one yet, there's too many to know. The history channel is ordering a new show about rednecks, there's three more iron chef rip-offs, and countless others. I can probably narrow the list down, but you'll have to give me a day or two. There's a reality show for EVERYTHING nowadays. Did you know that you can claim to be addicted to anything and they'll give you a show on MTV?"
"Yeah, sad right? And thanks, Courtney," Chris replied, "If I ever get my job back, you can have a spot in season 3."
"No problem," Courtney replied, "at least we know that her boss is very rich- and listen, I'm starting to think this isn't about you personally. I think someone's trying to eliminate the competition. Celebrity Manhunt stopped airing, too."
"That doesn't make any sense," Chris muttered, "if anything, they'd WANT celebrity manhunt around to give them publicity for their new show."
"That's what I thought, too," Courtney murmured, "well, listen, I better go. You have a challenge to win."
"How'd you know I have a challenge?" Chris asked.
"Magic," Courtney yawned, "bye, McLean."
The phone went dead.
"Oh well," Chris sighed, "now to find Duncan."
Meanwhile, Heather, Trent, and Justin were pacing around the hotel lobby.
"The front doors are barred!" Trent cried, "Who does that?"
"No one at the front deal either," Justin muttered, "something weird is going on here."
"Hey, did anyone else notice that we're missing Noah?" Heather asked.
"My god," Justin exclaimed, "I know EXACTLY what's going on here! HANGOVER!"
"What?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The Hangover," Justin laughed, "we aren't actually in the city! We're in the film lot! It all makes sense- the tiger, someone not being here, not remembering what happened! Noah is on the roof- c'mon, we have to find him before the other team finds whoever they're missing!"
"That doesn't make any sense," Heather said, "wouldn't Blaineley let us know if it was a challenge?"
"No," Justin said, "she most certainly wouldn't. Fine, you hang around here if you want, I'm going to go win this challenge!"
Justin turned and ran back up the hotel stairs, with Trent close behind.
When the two reached the roof, however, everyone on Team Isaak was already there, along with Blaineley.
"Sorry Team Bowie," the hostess announced, "but it looks like Team Isaak has immunity for tonight!"
"Damn it," Trent groaned.
"Seriously though, Bob, how did you know to look on the roof?" Gwen asked.
"Lucky guess?" Chris chuckled nervously.
"Whatever," Blaineley yawned, "I'll unlock the front door. Team Bowie, you have an elimination ceremony to head to!"
Before the elimination ceremony, Trent and Justin were arguing about who to vote for.
"We need to vote off Noah," Justin said, "he could be a threat later on! The only way he could have survived so far was if he either made an alliance with someone, or if he made some sort of secret pact to do Blaineley's bidding in exchange for immunity every night!"
"Let it go," Trent snapped, "we both know Heather is the real threat here!"
"YOU let it go!" Justin exclaimed, "Heather isn't a threat, Noah is!"
"Fine, you vote for Noah if you want to," Trent snapped, "I'M going to vote for Heather."
The two glared at each other, and then walked away.
"So you know what to do?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Noah yawned, "I'll vote for him. What about Cody? He's been missing all day."
"Huh," Heather thought, "you know, I haven't noticed. It doesn't matter, this plays out to our advantage. Trent will vote for me, and Justin will vote for you. Just make sure to vote for HIM tonight, or you won't get another chance."
"Whatever," Noah yawned, "see you at the award ceremony."
"Okay," Blaineley announced, "Welcome to your third elimination ceremony! It seems Cody couldn't be here to attend, but he did not receive any votes, so he's safe anyway."
"Hey, I just noticed Cody wasn't here today," Justin muttered, "huh. Wow, I feel like a terrible person."
"You are," Noah assured him.
Justin glared at Noah.
"the next award goes to…" Blaineley continued, "Noah!"
Noah gave Justin an unusually big smirk, and caught his award.
"Heather is also safe!"
Heather caught her award.
Trent and Justin looked at each other fearfully.
"the last award goes to….
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"…Justin!"
Justin caught his trophy, and immediately turned to face Heather.
"YOU!" he exclaimed, "Trent, you were totally right! If I voted for Noah, and you voted for Heather, and Cody wasn't here to vote, the only way you could have been eliminated is if they both voted for you!"
"I TOLD YOU!" Trent exclaimed, "I told you about Katie last year, too! But no, you didn't listen! Take her down for me, will you?"
"Oh, she'll go down," Justin assured his best friend, "trust me."
"But I didn't vote for Trent!" Heather exclaimed, "I voted for Noah!"
"Then Noah would have gone home by majority vote," Justin said, "because Cody wasn't here!"
"He was gone during Bridgette's elimination too," Heather pointed out.
"What do you mean Cody wasn't here?" Noah asked, "He was by the voting booth earlier."
Before Trent could protest, Blaineley shoved him into the Lame-o-suine.
"Yeah," the blonde agreed, as Trent was taken away, "I saw Cody by the voting booth, too."
The only reason Blaineley came to Heather's defense was because everyone would think that Cody WAS by the voting booth, except for Noah of course. That would make it look like Cody went into hiding from Justin, and that way no one would go looking for him.
"Then, shouldn't there have been a re-vote?" Justin asked, "Two votes for Noah, two for Trent?"
"I flipped a coin," Blaineley shrugged.
"Then, Cody really was behind all of this," Justin muttered. The teen got up, sighed, and trudged back to the boy's trailers.
CONFESSIONAL: Heather
"Not really sure what happened with Blaineley back there. She probably just wanted to keep the drama going, I guess. Either or, this does advance my plans quite nicely. Justin is convinced the Cody arranged for his best friend and girlfriend to be eliminated. By the time Cody does show up, Justin is going to hate him. I'll take out Justin, and have myself and alliance with Noah and Cody- maybe Izzy, if she calms down a little."
(End confessional)
Later that night, a car pulled up to the film lot, and a girl got out.
"Remember," a voice from inside the car called, "you primary objective is to sabotage the show… but we've also traced him to somewhere inside the lot. If you find him, you know what to do."
"Yeah, yeah," the girl yawned, "just keep the money rolling and it'll all be good."
"Good luck," the voice called once again, "…Scarlet."
A smirk formed on the girl's face.
"I don't need it," she said, "but these guys will."
(A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short- I just couldn't think of much for it. But on the bright side, you're about to find out the identity of The Shadow, and who Blaineley's boss is, because next up we have a two-part episode that should make everything very clear. I'll say this, though, I have dropped a few clues about who the Shadow is, some of you might be able to figure it out. I'll try to post the first part of the episode as soon as I can- see if you can go back, figure out what clues I'm talking about, and see if you can figure out who it is.)