A/N: Hey! I know the last chapter sucked, so, now I bring you my apology chapter! I made it to fifteen pages! YAY! Hope you don't hate me any more after this. READ ON, I am very proud of this one.
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Kids Next Door Mission...
Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.
Fragments
Of
Recovery
Gradually
Enable
Team
Chapter 11 – Lazer Tag and Revenge
Abby was acting weird that day. At the creek. She wasn't herself, not the cool and collected girl that never looked out of her depth. It was like something was watching her, like she was about to slip up somehow. I don't know if of the others; Kuki, Wally or Hoagie, seemed to notice, but I certainly did. Maybe that was why I had that feeling near the creek. A feeling of subtle and faint... guilt almost. Not like I'd done something wrong, but like I was doing wrong by someone else.
"So, what were we planning to do here again?" She'd asked, surveying the area as if something there may have caused us harm. In heinsight, that was my first clue.
"To film you three-" Hoagie waggled his finger between Abby, Kuki and Wally- "pretentding to collet water from the creek."
The blondie raised an eyebrow.
"Exscuse me? I thought it was just the girls doing this cruddy water thing." His hands came out in front of him, pleading his case alongside him. Hoagie smiled deviously and shook his head with a simple 'huh-uh.'
"Well, why can't you do it?"
"Do you know how to use a 10.2 megapixel high definition 5-Axel IS camcorder?" He questioned, though the tone of his voice suggested he knew the answer. In return, a now very irritated Wally kicked his foot on the ground and mumble something inaudible.
So the shooting went on, with Hoagie weilding the camera like a professional, me as 'artistic director' (Hoagie can have his commercial-shooting fantasy if he wants. Basically, I was just in charge of anything that didn't come under the title 'actor' or 'cameraman.' That meant setting, direction, props and action. Go me), and as we progressed, Abby's strange behaviour became more and more apparent to me. She would miss her cue simply because she was looking off somewhere where there was nothing at all of interest, and struggle to remain alert to the reason we were at the spot in the first place. She would tune out if we were discussing something, whether it had to do with the projeect or not, and something would happen to her, like she was dreaming while she was awake. Expressions would form on her face, stay for a while, seconds, minutes, the time varied, but then, it would just change. Like she was having an actual conversation with herself. It unsettled me to no end.
"Nigel?" Kuki asked, gently tapping my shoulder from in front, "You alright there?"
I blinked a few times to clear any thoughts on the 'Abby's nerves' subject and looked back to Kuki.
"Yeah. Fine."
~(*)~
By 6pm I could have been back home, having finished quite a good amount of the video. But I still had over another half-hour until dinner, so I called mum and told her I'd be home at about 6:30, and decided to go for a walk. After all, what better thing did I have to do?
Saying a goodbye to the others, I pushed my way out of the bushes, using my hands to sheild my eyes from the oncoming head-high branched of assorted green.
The park was on the verge of sunset, the air tinged a slightly darker shade than daylight. And with that dark came the beginnings of a biting chill. I balled my hands in my pockets, enjoying the cool feeling on my face as I walked. Birds chirruped in the trees as if taking it upon themselves to tell the sun to set. A squirrel peeped out from a thick tuft of leaves and sniffed the air, in that 'never let your guard down' way. I liked that. Being alert and switched on at all times was the one sure fire way to stay ahead. Though what I may want to stay ahead in I don't know.
Scuffing my toes as I strolled, I gazed around at everything inside the park's border, then decided that it was all things that I'd seen before, and so left to walk some of streets around the neighbourhood.
I'd been walking the well-worn sidewalk for about ten minutes when I saw her. She was sitting on a wooden fence, looking out at what would be a sunset in about another twenty minutes. She was facing away from me, her blonde hair being tugged away from her as if attempting to make an escape. I wondered if I should say something, but my feet wanted to keep walking. But, as if the world was telling me that I had to talk to her, I stepped on a twig, sending an echoing 'crick' through the quiet back street.
Her hands remained where they were on the fence for balance, but her head whipped around quickly, as if she'd been disturbed from deep thought. I cursed myself mentally.
"Who's there! Oh. Nigel, is that you?" She asked, now swinging both legs over the shaky wooden fence and looking at me with a tilted head.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, it's me. So, uhm... what's happening?" I tried to be cool. In short; total failure.
"Just thinking. I like to watch the sun going down."
"Oh. That's... nice," I stumbled over my words, not sure of what to say to make this situation not-awkward. I was just sort of standing there, feeling like I should move but also stay put. She looked at me. I looked at her. She looked at me. I looked at her. Nothing changed but the time on my digital watch.
Then she finally broke the silence.
"You ever felt like something's waiting for you, like there's something you're meant to do?"
"You mean like when you forget to do your homework?" I suggested, unsure of the question.
"No. Something more than that. Like-" she sighed- "never mind. It's crazy anyway."
And with that, I forgot about the awkwardness and made my way over to the fence, jumping up next to her.
"Well, maybe it's nothing. We all get deja vu sometimes. It's just a sign of lack of sleep," I consoled, waving my hand around a bit in an 'it's no problem' way.
She looked unconvinced for a second, then changed the subject adruptly.
"How come you haven't joined any clubs or anything?" She asked, obviously having had enough of the previous topic.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, you've been at our school for almost three months now, and you haven't joined a single extra-curricular group. There are so many that would suit you," it was interesting that she'd noticed. I was also taken aback slightly by the fact that she knew me well enough to know what type of things I'd be interested in.
"I- well, I guess I just haven't found the right one to join yet," I stuttered. The truth was, there was no club that would want me. Football team; no way, for obvious reasons. Book club? Uh-uh, I liked reading, but not when I was forced into one book or kicked out. The idea of me joining the choir just made me crack up laughing. Nothing seemed to fit right.
"Well, how about lazer tag?" She asked. I perked up at that. Lazer tag could be fun.
"The school has a lazer tag team?"
"Yeah! It's really cool. There's a tournament on tomorrow if you want to come watch. It's too late to sign up though, but you can play in the next one if you want," she said hopefully. The idea turned over in my head for a few seconds.
"Sure, I'll come. Sounds like fun."
She smiled. And I smiled back.
~(*)~
Kuki made her way down the sidewalk to the lazer tag place. You could almost call it a warehouse, it was big enough. There were three levels, and many secret ramps and staircases that lead between them. There were bridges that covered the gaps between platforms on the higher levels, and metal grate floors that made everything seem just a little bit less safe. It wasn't a place that anyone who knew Kuki would predict she would be on a Saturday afternoon, but even so, there she was. Heaving open the weighty steel door, she spotted her friends slash teammates in the corner. Plus Nigel, who she wasn't expecting to see.
"Hey guys?" Said Kuki, giving them a happy wave. "What's the matter?" She added upon seeing the five others' disappointed faces.
"Tournament's cancelled," Fanny mumbled, looking up slowly for Kuki's reaction.
"What? Why? What happened?"
"There was a malfunction in the electrical system and now all the registrations are gone. As well as the scoreboard, the lighting in the warehouse and the entire system as well as the lazer packs," Hoagie listed on his fingers, before taking a long sip from a soda bottle.
"Aw! I've been waiting all week for this! It was gonna be so much fun!" Kuki whined.
"Ah know! Ah was all set ta pulverise everyone out there!" Said Wally.
"Hang on, guys. If we can't compete today, that doesn't mean we can't get some practice," Abby pointed out. Rachel merely raised her eyebrows at her.
"And how do you suppose we do that when the entire lazer tag facility is out of service?"
"Well, there's a Dark Zone up at the Mall, isn't there?" Abby suggested, holding out her hands.
"Yeah! That's a great idea!" Kuki cried.
"That way I could actually play," Nigel chimed.
"Well, let's go then."
When the group arrived at the Centro Mall, making their way up to the counter and looking around, one of the first things they saw was another group of teens, five in all, who seemed familiar in a 'not this guy again' way.
"Ace? What are you guys doing 'ere?" Wally mused, trying not to sound annoyed by his presence. This was meant to be time with some people he might be able to call real friends, not some stupid football team I pretended to like.
"Just havin' some fun with the guys. We would've asked you but, uh, this place only takes teams of five and we thought you'd be, mm, packing." Well, while Rachel put their team of sixdown for the next session, Wally decided to keep to himself the fact that he wasn't leaving for another two months, three weeks and four days. Not that anyone was counting.
"Whateva, mate."
"Hey, I'm not looking for a fight, man," Ace said, his voice dripping in arrogance.
"Really? There's a sentence that's never bin' said here before." Wally had snapped. He'd had enough of this idiot pretending that he was perfect. People only liked him because he could throw a ball (quite horribly, at that) without messing up his hair.
"What is up with you, Beatles? Why are you acting so stupid?"
"Maybe Ah'm just sick of hearin' about how close ya were to taking Kuki out, and how she'll so say yes next time!"
"You're jealous," Ace spat, aggrivated that someone had challenged his dominance and insulted him so openly.
"Jealous? Of you? Why would I want to be anything like you? The only thing you're good at is pretending you don't suck at everything else."
"This is the maddest I've seen him," Hoagie mumbled to Abby, not taking his eyes off the scene unfolding in front of him.
"No kidding," Abby agreed.
Ace was physically tensing, and his crew seemed unsettled that someone had managed to get to their leader, and they seemed unsure of how to react.
"That right, Beatles? Well, let's see if your theory holds up on the battlefield," Ace taunted, jerking a head in the direction of the door leading into the course.
"Sure, if ya don't mind bein' left there when tha game's ova." And with that, Wally turned on his sneakered heel and resumed talking to us as if nothing had happened.
Ten minutes later, at 2:15 when the session was about to start, the six miss-matched teens were sitting at one of the neon-lined tables on six neon seats, laughing and joking about Wally's apparent 'show-down' with Ace.
"Laugh all ya want, Ace's still gonna get crushed," Wally said matter-of-factly.
"Of course he is, Wally. It's just the idea of him being crushed that's making us laugh," Rachel smirked, while everyone else tried in vain to mask their giggles.
"Yeah, Ah guess it is pretty funny."
A boy only slightly older than them entered through the door to the field, clearing his throat in an important way.
"Excuse me, can the 2:15 group please follow me now, the 2:15 group."
Ace's group, along with Wally, Abby, Kuki, Hoagie, Nigel, Fanny and Rachel's group, as well as some unidentified strangers, filed in after the group leader, eager to get out onto the battlefield and kick some serious butt via lazer.
Suiting up felt strange to a number of the rag-tag team, awkwardly natural and strangely normal at the same time. Clipping their packs on drifted in and out of not important to important, not important, important. Neither admitted this to the others, but they felt like they all had just become, through the cancelling of a lazer tag tournament, almost instantly friends, unlike their own 'friends;' Wally with the football team, Hoagie with the AV club, they were all just friends you were expected to have because of who you were and what you did. This felt more like being friends by choice, not by status quo. And it was a nice change to know that they still had some power over their social lives.
Ace pushed past Wally on the way into the dim-lit room, giving him the predictable delberate shove in the shoulder by way of an attempted 'back off' gesture. Wally's fists balled, and he turned his gaze up to the ceiling, trying to remember the quickest way to the top level. That way he'd have a good shot at everyone under him, and everyone above him would be too scared to come any closer than thirty feet.
"Ready players?" Started a loud computer-controlled voice, "Three, two, one."
Abby settled into her position, ready to take thesse kids by storm from a high-up, safe and easily escapable shooting point.
Kuki hid behind a post, hands on her lazer and waiting patiently and eagerly for the game to start.
Fanny crouched behind a hip-high wall, in front of which another player stood oblivious to the fact that as soon as the buzzer rang, they would be shot out of the game.
Hoagie was by their team's base, preparing himself to guard it from anyone and everyone who tried to shoot at it.
Nigel was at the door, in plain sight, not caring that anyone could see him. He was sure he'd hit them first.
Rachel stood in the direct middle of a bridge on the top floor, assessing the competition and nodding to herself.
"Play." The robo-voice commanded, and the field sprung to life. Players jumped out from behind, in between and even under things, and a few people, spurred on by the computer-controlled gamemaster, fired their first shot within the first three seconds.
Abby wasn't one of those people. Se waited the few seconds it took for the game to really get started, before assessing the situation and the people she could hit from her little hole in the wall. She targeted on a stranger, giving herself a little smirk before letting her finger slide back on the trigger. There was a pew sound and the lazer fired, and in the blink of an eye, the victim's lit-up pack was switched off.
Ha-ha.
"Fanny!" Kuki whisper-shouted across a metal grated area, to where her friend was standing back against the wall as if it was the only thing that would keep her on her feet.
She jerked her head around to Kuki, taking a moment to realise that she posed no threat, before putting her finger to her mouth and giving her a 'shush' sound. Kuki mouthed an 'okay' and stepped in next to Fanny.
Fanny looked back to her, pointing around the corner then holding up four fingers to indicate how many people were there.
Leaning further back and lowering into a ready position, Kuki then whispered; "now?" to which Fanny shook her head.
"What do you think Beatles was doing back there?" Came someone's voice from around the bend.
"Dunno, but it was a stupid thing to do. Ace'll talk to the coach, make up some story about how 'Wally did this,' or 'His grades are dropping.' I'd say he's got about a week left on the team," said another. There was the sound of two others sniggering at the last comment. At this, both Kuki and Fanny frowned, mouths dropping open.
"What?" Fanny mouthed, looking to Kuki for any answer she might have had. Kuki merely shrugged, looking just as bewildered, maybe more so, than the former.
Fanny, now appearing angry instead of shocked, gave a downward shake of her head, as if she was saying 'That does it. I have heard enough,' And gave Kuki three fingers up, counting down on them.
After putting down her last finger, Fanny broke the silence they had been keeping up and yelled, "GO!"
Her and Kuki burst out from the corner, and the four of Ace's crew jumped back in surprise. The two girls fired their lazers wildly, and each scored two direct hits each. And as the now defeated bunch of football players stood, eyes wide and packs devoid of colour, Kuki and Fanny both gave the barrels of their guns a western-style blow, smirking dominantly down at the four of them, before running off in their own directions once again, leaving the strange pairing of angry redhead and bubbly raven hair with their opponents.
Rachel had been playing for a little under twenty minutes, and already she was into battle-mode. So far she had hit five kids completely unaware, ten kids who were all too aware, and also squished in a couple of commando rolls in the middle, just for the heck of it.
Rachel loved the thrill of battle. She felt like it was just too much fun to do this; ambush, protect, feel like you were invincible.
She was just thinking about that as she started her way down a long ramp to the lower floor, making sure to keep low.
"Hoagie! You found our base already? It's like a labaryinth in here, how did you manage that?" Rachel asked, desending the remainder of the ramp she was on and entering the three-sided box that housed the flashing red light that was their base. If a person from an opposing team hit that too many times, they'd all go down.
"I've been here before. I have a good memory," Hoagie replied simply, not taking his eyes off the small rectangle of metal grate that let him see out of the almost enclosed area. So far, no-one had spotted him, and that was how he wanted it to stay.
"Well done soldier, back luck they didn't do the tournament here," Rachel said jokingly. To be honest, when she first saw Hoagie, she didn't think of him as much of a lazer tagger, but that changed the second she saw him out on the field. He was a great strategist, and always knew exactly where to position himself and the people around him to stage the perfect ambush. Not to mention he could hit a person on the back target of their packs from almost halfway across the feild, if he was given the time to aim. Maybe all those video games payed off when it came to hitting people with lights.
"Okay, so how many points are you on so far?" Hoagie inquired, trying to keep up a friendly conversation.
Rachel checked the small screen on her lazer. "Uh, one thousand, two hundred and twelve." Hoagie raised his eyebrows, impressed.
"Nice. I only have 1180, but I managed to remember where the green base was," the boy said in response.
"And did you destroy it?" Rachel pushed, though it was an obvious question. Hoagie half rolled his eyes.
"Well, have you seen any green packs running around here in the past ten minutes?"
Nigel was, as some would call, an arrogant player. He preferred to call it 'cutting out all the wait.' Could you blame him if he chose going out alone and giving his best shot straight off the box instead of hiding and waiting for someone to find him? Anyway, his method worked. For him, anyway. He had only been hit twice, temporary imparments both times, and he himself had taken down six of the yellow team in one place. He didn't call himself the hero, he didn't think that he was the best player out there, no. He wasn't that kind of person, though at first glance, his actions may make him appear so. He just liked to give it his all in one burst, because in his opinion, the longer you stretched it out, the weaker you were in the long shot. This was a measure of your highest point, not how long you could last.
Maybe this Lazer tag team was a good idea after all.
Lifting himself back into view, Wally surveyed the area, and the players in range. He could see three out of his five comnrades. Kuki skipped in and out of the obstacles, somehow missing every single lazer fired her way. Fanny kept popping up from her hiding place, shooting at some poor person looking the other way, and then ducking back down. Wally struggled not to laugh out loud at the sight of it.
Nigel, in contrast, took no precautions in staying out of sight; he simply walked through the passages and openings and hit everyone who thought that it was unfair.
But then, Wally spotted who he was looking for.
Ace was standing with his foot up on the wall, pretending he was too cool to get hit. Ah've had about enough of him.
Scowling down at the guy he'd been putting up with for so long, Wally pulled the target lense on his gun up to his eye, flexing his fingers, ready to pull the trigger. But before he could do so, some stupid guy in a yellow pack ran past just in front of him, causing the thing he wanted to hit so badly with a lazer to run off after him.
Ok, if he won't come to me, I'll come to him.
Rising out of his hiding place, Wally took to his feet and turned the corner to the nearest staircase leading down from the top level. He shot between three and five others on the way down (he wasn't sure of the exact number; he wasn't really paying attention) and by the time he jumped from the third step to the bottom, he was too far into the zone to go back.
He jumped over obstacles, slipped through gaps in between walls, he did anything in his power to get to that jerk. After about a minute of random running, jumping and ducking, he didn't even know if he was going in Ace's direction anymore. Stopping for a moment to get his bearings, Wally heard muffled footsteps coming from... directly below him. Turning his gaze downward, Wally saw, through another metal grate floor, Ace, who had a look of utterly fake fearlessness plastered on his face.
Ah'm gonna enjoy this.
Wally readied his gun, aiming straight down, straight for the back of Ace's pack. Three hundred added to his score, Ace out of the game until it was over, an bragging rights from that moment on.
"You're mine now, Kidd," Wally mumbled to no-one in particular. But just as his finger began sliding back on the trigger, the lights switched on one by one, and a mechanical voice proclaimed;
"Game over. Please exit the course."
Wally dropped to his knees, looking up to the roof or the highest point he could see, shaking his hands as if they were in invisible shackles, and mouthed silently over and over;
"WHY?"
A/N: Yeah, I am pretty happy with myself after that chapter. Boy, I'd look like an idiot if you guys didn't! (Oh, gosh, now I'm really worried)
Okay, so one more week of holiday left, then I have to get through term three. So sorry, another 15 page chapter is not likely. Not impossible, but not likely. URGH! But, I have some things I want to tell you;
-I e-mailed Jana Oliver, my favourite author, and SHE REPLIED! SHE SAID SHE LIKED MY WRITING! I AM OVER THE MOON AND BACK AT THAT! THAT'S WHY I AM TYPING IN CAPITALS WITH A LOT OF EXCAMATION MARKS!
-I may be going to Sydney to stay with my grandparents and see the rest of my family up there! I have a big family. There are 17 people here in Melbourne, and more than that in New South Wales. So yeah, dunno why I just said all that. You probably just didn't read any of it.
...
I don't care! My favourite author likes my writing!
-Numbuh 25 out
(And probably being effected by five nights in a row with a bedtime later than 1AM. Ah, holidays!)
