A/N: Last time, the Runners found a heel that will pinpoint their culprit on stealing the mind control chips. Question is, what the culprit will do with the chips? Find out right now!
Clubs and Cheats: Part 2
Back at Fils-Aimes Moffitt School, Zeus was walking through the hallways to his class. He saw a vending machine as he walked and his stomach began to growl.
"Man, I sure could go for a snack," he said. Figuring that he had time for a snack, walked up to the machine, put some money in, and pressed a button, causing an apple to come out of it.
But after he took out an apple from the vending machine and takes a bite of it, he turns around to head to his class when he saw something shocking: Duke kissing the teacher he saw with him back at the Activity Fair. Seeing this, he opens his mouth in shock, dropping his apple in the process.
He tries to think many possibilities why Duke is kissing her. But when he can't think up another other than kissing his sister or cousin, Zeus realized one thing: Duke has really cheating on Tina!
Not wanting Duke to see him, Zeus quickly flee the scene in panic.
Back at the hallways, Kani arrived at the clubroom of Sisterhood of the Alphas Club with Jordan and Calla tagging along.
"Oh, I'm so nervous!" Kani said in a said tone.
"Come on, K. Just try to make a first impression that doesn't involve you showing off your skills," Jordan comforted her.
"As in be yourself, cuz. Don't be the show-off Trading Kani, just be Kani Kimura, the girl who wants to make new friends," Calla added.
"Thanks, Cal. You always make the best advice that the little cousin can have," Kani said in relief.
"Hey what else are big cousins for, besides getting you into this club," Calla said without hesitation.
"Yeah, IF she can makes it in."
Knowing that familiar and snobby voice, the girls turned around to see Lena and her posse in their cheerleader outfits.
"Oh, hello Lena. Long time, no see," Calla said with sarcasm in her voice.
"You know, Cal. You could have join our cheerleader squad before you betray me," Lena said as she strikes a pose with her pom-poms in her hands. "Maybe I can give you a second chance to let you get into the In Crowd."
"And let you insult my new best friend, sorry Lena, but I'm not for sale," Calla said in disapproval. "Besides, my real In Crowd is with Jordan and the rest of my real friends, unlike you."
"We at least I have an In Crowd, unlike your cousin. Why else would she be so desperate to join this club?" Lena said before she left with her posse.
"Don't listen to that snobby Lena, Kani! You can try if you just believe in yourself," Jordan said in determination.
"And don't worry, we're here for you through think and thin!" Calla said in the same tone.
Seeing her cousin and her friend's determined face, Kani decided to drop off her disappointed expression and also became determined as the door of the club room has opened, revealing Friena at the door.
"Hola, sisters! Get ready to experience the joy of Alpha life!" she declares when she notices Kani with her friends. "Ah, Kani, is it? I'm glad you're here, come in! The rest of the members are waiting."
"Wish me luck, guys!" Kani said as she enters the club room.
"Knock 'em dead, cuz!" Calla cheered to her cousin.
However, after Kani enters the club room, Friena sees the two girls, stops them, and says, "Say, maybe you can join my club. It's not only have some amedities in our other club house, but we promote friendship and sisterly bond around the campus."
"Thanks for the offer, Friena. But we've got other plans," Jordan said.
"But maybe we'll think about it if we have the time," Calla added.
"Well, that's disappointing. But you're welcome in my sisterhood anytime," Friena said to the girls.
"Thanks. Take care of my little cousin for me!" Call said as she and Jordan left the hallway.
"I will."
Friena then closes the door behind her to focus on the club members, who are amazed at the decorations of their club room. Friena gave them all a special button and the directed them to a flatscreen TV. With a remote in hand, she flipped through a slideshow showing them the amenities of the club.
"From the best spots in the lunch room, to season tickets for school sports games, to the best after-parties for school events, the Sisterhood his chock full of amenities!"
"Sweet! Cool! Radical!," the other girls all said.
"But most important of all, it's a place of warmth and acceptance for all."
Kani had to smile at hearing this.
"So when do we know if we're in?," she asked.
"At the end of the week, after you complete a few tests," Friena said as she passed some papers out to all the girls.
"Such as…?"
"Such as learning and reciting the Sisterhood's pep jingle for starters."
At that moment Friena switched on a radio, and started to recite the jingle, which was on the paper.
Friena: Here at Fils-Aimes Moffitt,
The Alphas are all that's good.
Friena was then joined by Kani and another girl as they recited.
All: We promote acceptance and bondage
And most of all, sisterhood!
"Great job, everybody," Friena said. "And now it's time for test number two: running a little errand for me."
Friena covertly took out a mysterious device and activated it, unknown to Kani and the others, who couldn't wait to get in to the club.
Meanwhile in ULO, in the city of Shwartz, at the restaurant, Le Sol Allite, Tina aka Lilith was on a date with Duke.
"You know Duke, I have met many men before, but none are as charming and generous as you," she said.
"Well I am a generous guy," Duke said, with a Cheshire grin. Suddenly, Zeus appeared at the table.
"Zeus, what are you doing here?"
"Ms. Shroud, I have something I need to tell you," he said.
"What is it?"
Just as Zeus was about to say it, the avatars that just happened to be Fils-Aimes Moffitt's marching band in real-life appeared, playing their instruments so loudly that it blocked out what Zeus was saying.
"What?," Lilith asked, unable to hear Zeus's words. Zeus tried to explain again, but was once more blocked out by the band.
"I can't hear you," Lilith said. As the band stopped playing, Zeus shouted, "I think Duke is cheating on you!"
"What?," Lilith said stunned, as she looked at Duke. "Duke, is this true?"
Duke sighed as he said, "Lilith, I'm so sorry… that your best student Zeus is so jealous of me that he'd make all these false accusations."
"What?!," Zeus said shocked. "I'm not jealous!"
"Come on Zeus, Duke would never cheat on me," Lilith said.
"Yeah, what gave you that idea?," Duke asked.
"Um…maybe the fact that I saw you kissing another woman, at my school."
"Duke told me he has a female cousin at the school," Lilith said.
"The way he was smooching her is not the way you'd smooch a cousin. Come on who are you gonna believe, this lying cheating scum you call a boyfriend or your most dedicated student?"
Lilith thought for a while, and then said, "I choose…him."
"What?!"
"I'm sorry, Zeus, but I just can see why Duke would cheat on me after everything we've been through together the last 2 months. Now I suggest that you get your priorities straight before you make such accusations. Let's go Duke."
"Right behind you babe," Duke said as he and Lilith left the restaurant. Zeus could only walk away in his failure as the band then started playing the funeral march song. Annoyed by the band, Zeus then snapped, "Oh can it, you talentless vultures!"
The band stopped playing as Zeus left the restaurant.
Later at the mansion, Calla is at her bedroom table near her laptop. She was the first one who got home and decided to draw in her bedroom to wait for her cousin and her parents. In her sketchbook, she is drawing herself as a Runner, wearing the same attire as Jordan's avatar outfit, which is colored green in the drawing.
As she continues, she thought, "Wow, I wonder what it be like to be a Runner? Cool clothes, cool weapons, fighting bad guys and travelling other worlds with my best friend, I'm too speechless about it. Man, I just wish I can become a Runner like her, Itzal, and Zeus."
When she thought of it, she starts to imagine herself as a Runner helping Jordan, Itzal, and Zeus save everyone from danger. However, her daydream ended when she heard her doorbell ringing.
"Huh? Who's that?" she said in a confused tone when her butler, Giulio, enters her room and approaches her in a calm manner.
"Ms. Gale, Kani has arrived from school," he said to her.
"Oh, she must be done with her first club meeting," Calla guessed. "I'll greet her right now. Thanks, Giulio."
"Anytime, Ms. Gale," Giulio said as Calla excitingly left the room to meet her cousin.
As she ran downstairs to the entrance, Calla greets out to her cousin, "Kani, how's you're first day as a club member of the Sisterhood of the-"
She quickly gasps at what she saw to her cousin. Kani's clothes is a mess and so does her hair, but she somehow looks happy for some reason.
"I got some new facts for you. Awe-some!" she said in an excited tone. "I can't believe that club is so very enjoyable, that I can't even remember what happened."
"Uh, if you don't remember, then what happened to your clothes and hair?" Calla sheepishly asks as she points out the messes on her cousin.
A confused Kani notices her clothes and became shocked at what Calla just meant.
"Yuck! What just happened to my clothes?! Ugh! How did it even get there, even to my hair?!"
"Uh, I think you better forget about it and clean yourself up before our folks get here," Calla suggested.
"Good idea," Kani said as she quickly heads over to the bathroom. However, Calla is a little suspicious about what happened to Kani.
In the bathroom, Kain was fiddling with her hair trying to get it back to normal. Suddenly the Sisterhood button on her shirt started to glow, as did her eyes. She then started to chant the clubs chant again:
Here at Fils-Aimes Moffitt,
The Alphas are all that's good.
We promote acceptance and bondage
And most of all, sisterhood!
As Kani chanted this, she suddenly opened the bathroom window and jumped out, landing on the ground and running off.
After a few minutes, Calla is finished drawing on her sketchbook back at her bedroom. As she stares at her finished sketch of her in her imagined Runner attire, she was interrupted by a knock on her door and her butler's voice, "Um, excuse me, Ms. Gale, but have you've seen Ms. Kimura?"
She panickly closes her sketchbook and hides it in her desk drawer before regaining her composure.
"Yes, she's in the bathroom, cleaning up from school," she said as she opens the door to greet Giulio.
"That's strange, Ms. Kimura is not in the bathroom," he said.
"Huh? Did she head into her bedroom?" Calla asked in a confused and worried tone.
"I'm afraid she's not there, either," Giulio answered with worry. "I'm afraid something happened to her."
Now suspicious and worried about Kani, Calla quickly asks, "Did you double check at the bathroom just in case?"
"Yes, but the only thing I found is an open window."
"Open window?!"
Hearing this, Calla quickly rushed over to the bathroom, where she gasps upon seeing the mentioned window left opened.
"Kani!" Calla said in shock before turning back to her butler. "Giulio, where's her bag?"
"Back at the living room, but..."
Without letting him finish his sentence, Calla left the bathroom to rush over at the living room.
"Ms. Gale! It's not nice to peek at your cousin's belongings!"
As she made it to the living room, she quickly checks inside her cousin's bag and was more shocked at what she saw. She can't find her textbooks or notes anywhere. Kani wouldn't leave them at school without them!
Guessing something's not right at this picture, Calla now became serious and asks her worried butler, "Giulio, tell my folks I'll be going out for a while. I need to visit my friends."
At the sidewalks of the shopping district, Jordan, Itzal, and Zeus are not only discussing about their current mission so far, but also comparing Itzal's WOOHP gadgets with their items in their in-game inventory.
"So Tina said she's have the results on that heel very soon," Zeus said.
"Good, and back to the topic at hand, I still think the -Smog Bombs- in ULO are better because the smoke is darker," Jordan said.
"No way! WOOHP's Fog Rocket is better because it produces more smoke," Itzal countered.
However, Zeus stops them as he was shocked to see Duke alone at some department store.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I spy that cheating Duke, which I bet he's here to hook up wit his mistress," Zeus said in a serious tone.
However, his vision was blocked when he and his friends saw Calla, who is now serious about something.
"And I spy serious Calla, which I doubt she's here for a fashion or event news," Jordan whispered to her friends before turning her vision to Calla. "Cal, I thought you're back home in your mansion. Why are you here?"
"I'm here for a reason, Jordan. So please don't be stupid about replying please," Calla said in a serious tone.
"And that is?"
"Let's make this short and simple. I want to become a Runner right now!" Calla declared to her friends without attracting anybody.
"WHAT?!" they shouted in shock. But when they noticed some people are staring at them in confusion, they regained their composure as they let them continue what they are doing.
"Calla, try to think about this! Although you got an invite, doesn't mean you can ask to become a Runner without a reason," Itzal protested.
"Oh, I have a reason, alright. My little cousin is missing and just to prove that she is, she went home a while ago and in a few seconds later, she disappeared through our bathroom window!" Calla explained what happened.
"I'll believe you on the disappearing cousin one. But we still can't let you join! You know what the risks if you get involved!" Jordan said to her best friend. "We'll try to recover Kani."
"Not without me, you're not!" Calla protested in anger. "Calla is like a sister to me and it's my responsibility to protect her no matter what!"
"But Cal…"
"I bet that brother of yours would do the same if he were in my position wouldn't he?"
Realizing that Calla's argument has a point, the two Runners are still doubting about this as Jordan says, "Look I understand, but becoming a Runner could put you both at risk. Plus, you aren't as skilled at gaming like we are. Zeus! Can you help us here why Calla can't become a Runner?!"
However, she received no response from Zeus.
"Zeus?"
When Jordan and Itzal turned around, they saw that Zeus disappeared.
"Great, now where did Zeus disappeared to?!"
At the entrance to the convenience store, Zeus causally strolled up to Duke, who was just coming out, slurping a smoothie, and stood next to him.
"So, seeing anyone lately, Duke?," he said.
"Nobody expect your teacher," Duke said. "And she's a nice one. She's cute, beautiful and kind, al in one. But she's also a little naïve."
Zeus said with a hint of suspicion, "Are you sure she's the only one you're seeing?"
"Look, kid I know what you're doing. You want to expose my little indiscretions to Tina. Well, it ain't happening."
Zeus, though shocked said, "Why would you cheat on her like this?"
"Because, I'm the man in this relationship. I can do what I please. And you will never get here to catch me in the act."
Duke then walked away, dumping his smoothie the trash. A moment later, Bren peaked out of the same trash can with the smoothie on his head. He handed Zeus back the camera.
"Man you'll never stop him from crushing her heart," Bren said.
"Well it's no like I could have used a disguise–," Zeus said befoe stopping as he realized he should've used a disguise. "My God, I'm such an idiot!"
Then, his RunCom is ringing and when he answers it, Jordan's voice rang out as she shouts out in anger, "YOU'RE GONNA BE AN IDIOT IF YOU DON'T GET TO CODEX UNITED THIS INSTANT!"
"Wow, you just got shouted by my own cousin. Harsh," Bren said in a sarcastic tone.
Annoyed with his attitude, Zeus says, "Just meet me at the Mushroom Garden tonight, I'll spare the details later."
He then took off to CodeX United to see what's going on.
Inside the building, Zeus was just filled in on what just happened.
"WHAT?! Calla, you can't be serious?!" Zeus said in shock.
"I'm dead serious, so I'm not the type who blackmails my friends, but either you let me become a Runner or I'm going to stand here waiting for an answer, right now! No exceptions!" Calla said in a serious tone.
"Look, I know you want to help Kani, but this is not the way to go," Zeus said. "You can't just choose to be a Runner, you are chosen by others."
"Then Ms. Reyheart must have chosen me, because she said that I would be joining you guys soon, remember."
"That could have meant plenty of things," Itzal said.
"Well, this is a twist of fate."
Hearing that familiar voice, the kids turned around to see Tina at the hallways.
"Ms. Reyheart?!"
"I was about to approve your application to let you join as a Runner, but somehow, her determination gave me an answer already," she says before turning to Calla. "Ms. Gale, welcome to the world of Unitas."
Hearing this, Calla became overjoyed about this while the Runners are choked at what their superior said.
"I-I'm going to become a Runner?" Calla asked in shock, which Tina nodded in approval.
Calla then rushed over to her and hugs in excitement as she says, "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I promise, I won't let you down!"
"HANG ON A SECOND!" Zeus shouts in a serious tone, as everyone turns to him in confusion. "Ms. Reyheart, you said it to yourself, only experienced ULO players along with the requirements of becoming a Runner are needed to become one. And I doubt Calla is a veteran in ULO or any MMORPG."
"Then you should teach her," Tina suggested.
"But Ms. Reyheart, she can't play video games or anything like that. There is no way for her to join us."
"There is, you just didn't know it until now."
"What do you mean "it"?" Jordan asked in confusion.
"Well she might not be able to become a main Runner. But there is another type of Runner that can bypass veteran requirements and that is the Secondary Runner. S-Runner for short," Tina explained.
"S-Runner?" Itzal asked in confusion as well.
"As with the main Runners, even a new player can become a Runner as a "S-Runner". It is done by referral invite from a Runner you know."
"So they'll have the same level of power as a regular Runner?," Itzal asked.
"A lit bit less, and only a select bunch of a main Runner's abilities and privileges."
"Then in that case, I officially invite Calla Gale to become an S-Runner," Jordan said happily.
"Good idea, Waters. Since you're best friends with Ms. Gale, you may teach her at what you know about the game," Tina said. "As for you two, you need to investigate a certain shoe store. We got the analysis from the heel you sent me. It has a solid diamond tip."
"Solid diamond?," Itzal said. "That explains the clear cut in the glass window at the lab."
"The shoe it came from is only sold in three places, the closest of which is here in L.A. at the Heels Infinity store"
"Hey, that's close to the resta-" Zeus said when he realizes that he's talking to his superior, not wanting to get her angry. "I mean that place is where we should investigate."
"Right," Itzal added, who is suspicious at what Zeus is planning. "We'll head over there straight away."
"Good. Be careful and Zeus?" Tina asked to her student.
"Yes?"
"Please don't do anything stupid."
"Hehehe... Yes, ma'am," Zeus said in a convinced tone, who is still wanting to expose her boyfriend. He then left the building with Itzal.
"As for you two, you need to find somewhere to let the latter to be register," Tina ordered.
"I suggest we better go to a nearby internet cafe. Heard they got some good PCs to let us play in it," Jordan suggested.
"I got an even better idea."
Inside the elevator, Jordan and Calla are confused at this while Ms. Reyheart is patiently waiting for it's destination.
"Uh, so you're better idea is at the basement?" Jordan asked in confusion.
"Yes. Besides, the basement will allow you to register without the cult being able to track you down," Tina explained. "And the second reason..."
Before she can continues, the elevator stops and opens the door, much to Jordan and Calla's shock, reveals an underground internet cafe complete with soda fountains, cafe, and more.
"Our internet cafe has the highest HD graphics and faster internet speed, perfect for a faster level ups."
"I can dig that," Jordan said with confidence, knowing that the faster she will teach Calla about ULO, the better.
Outside of some roller rink, Friena is somehow in front of her club members, along with Kani, about to announce something.
"Hola, sisters! Time for your next assignment! Round up the girls of the cheerleader club, just like you round up the Gossip club earlier today!"
"Gotcha!"
"No big deal!" the girls said in excitement, not awaring at what "rounding up" means.
As they left to go inside, Friena says, "Good. 'Cause once I eliminate the on-school clubs, I'll have unlimited power and influence over everyone in Fils-Aimes Moffitt!"
A/N: Uh-oh! Maybe Friena's club is not about sisterhood and friendship after all. Can the Runners find out the culprit in time? Will Jordan train Calla in ULO before it's too late? And what kind of plan is Zeus planning at? Review and stay tuned!