Note: This is not a sequel of The Fate of Wawanakwa. Don't bother trying to search for it, it's as expected for my first multi-chapter story. But I'm now ready to rewrite a story. Some elements of the story will change, but the main premise is still there.
And this is a special release, because it is currently my birthday! Sweet 16th!
…I have no idea about the value of a Sweet 16…
A metal door opens up into a walkway on par with that of the Toronto skyline. A man steps outside the building onto the possibly flimsy metal wrapping around the large tower known as the CN Tower. The man had an opaque black cloak covering his body, with the only other piece of clothing seen were khakis sticking out of the bottom.
Ringing was heard. The man takes out his phone and reads the notification to know who was calling him. He turns to look at a large hotel in another area of the city. After a bit of a pause, the man grips both sides of the phone and splits it in half. He then tosses what was left of the phone over the guardrails.
"Ah, it seems you're finally ready." An old voice calls out.
The man turns to see an older man, possibly around his 80s, unaccompanied on the rooftop of the CN Tower. The man was almost as pale as a ghost with white hair, and had a black suit with a white tie.
"Thornheart." The man in the cloak greets.
"I appreciate your loyalty to this cause." Thornheart says. "I can count exactly all the times you would have gone behind my back, and all the times you would've hesitated."
"I'm sure you did. I understand the skepticism when you're involved in what is basically the definition of grandeur." The cloaked man comments.
"It means we have similar goals, I see. Your funding of your resources have been a massive help in moving everything in place. Especially since you have people who know Toronto's sewage system like the back of their hands." Thornheart says.
"I know a guy who knows a guy. Who knows another guy." The cloaked man says. "Besides, with the failure of something as elaborate as the Scarecrow Manor incident, I knew I had to help pull out all the stops."
"I agree. It is a shame that our plans have been thwarted by the AMS time and time again." Thornheart says as he turns to the skyline. "There is a reason why it's always the AMS. They've always had a petty sense of justice that interferes with their ability to see the grand scheme of things."
"And there is reason to believe they might be here as well." The cloaked man adds.
"Of course. Our activity is bound to get detected eventually." Thornheart says as he turns to the man. "I suggest you get a boat from here. A good distance away from the city on Lake Ontario. I'll have assets in the area to act as your bodyguards."
"And by assets, you mean highly intelligent freakazoids, right?" The cloaked man asked.
"Call them whatever you want. Just make sure you're securely protected, we need you for Pandora's Box." Thornheart says.
Thornheart tosses a boat key towards the cloaked man, who pulls off his cloak to reveal Thornheart's assailant, none other than the egotistical psychopathic host, Chris McLean.
Arc 1 Chapter 1: Devolution
"We must close Pandora's Box, now or never!" James yelled.
James activates his PDA's self destruct timer as he turns to the gigantic monstrous creature known as The World that had emerged from Pandora's Box at the foot of the abandoned Goldman Building.
"James! What are you…?!" His partner, Kate, asked upon seeing the timer.
"This is our last hope! This will stop it!" James states. "Kate… don't… give up hope. Even if this works, the battle will not be over."
"What?!" Kate asked with confusion.
"A file I found in the basement we were trapped in. These attacks have an unknown connection to the AMS since 1880." James says. "Discover that connection and put an end to this madness." He then turned to the creature and sprinted.
"Hold on, wait!" Kate yelled. "James!"
James jumps up, gripping the ticking PDA as he nears the evolving beast. The device explodes, covering James and The World in a fiery blast. Kate braces herself from the shockwave when suddenly…
"...huh?" An older Kate wakes up from deep sleep.
Kate took the time to refresh herself, rubbing her eyes in fatigue while moving her blonde hair away from her face. She turns to a clock next to her bed.
"Just before 7 am. Not bad." Kate smirks. "Well, better get ready before 9."
After a quick room service breakfast and a long shower, Kate walks out of her room into the hotel's hallway. Her hair has been made into an elegant long braid and her outfit consists of a red suit over a black shirt, a short black skirt with long stockings.
"I wonder what James meant by that years ago. That basement is probably long gone by now from that attack." Kate says. "How deep does this war go? What led to the organization's existence in 1880?"
"Excuse me, Miss Green?" A staff member of the hotel called out.
"Yes?" Kate asked.
"You have a delivery at the front desk. Would you like to send it to your room or pick it up at the lobby?" The staff member asked.
"I'll just pick it up. No need to trouble yourselves." Kate smiles.
Kate and the staff member part ways as she heads for the lobby of the hotel. As she turned a corner, her ears were met with sounds of arguing.
"Are you gonna stop pestering me, Heather? I've only been here for five minutes and you're already making me want to vomit on you." A girl with a somewhat gothic outfit and hairstyle and pale skin was seen trying to pull her heavy luggage through the hall.
"Why not, Gwen? Chris is probably gonna put us through another grueling nightmare, so why not ease the stress by doing my favorite hobby." Another girl followed behind with an unsympathetic attitude, with long black hair, maroon tank top and olive shorts.
"You don't want to target anyone else besides me? I'm pretty sure I'm kinda late to the reunion for me to be your metaphorical punching bag." Gwen states.
"I've decided why not? You were the original punching bag after all." Heather smirks.
In a sassy move, Heather tips over Gwen's luggage, making it fall to the ground. Heather lifts her chin up in arrogance as Gwen just stares at her luggage.
"I've always wondered how light you are." Gwen states.
"Wow, you're so angry that you couldn't say an insult right?" Heather asked. "I believe the word you were looking for is 'dense', even though it's far from the truth."
"Nah, I think 'light' is the right word." Gwen turns to Heather.
In a swift motion, Gwen grabs Heather by the arm, locking her shoulder under her own arm.
"What the?!" Heather was caught off guard by this.
Gwen then uses her legs to sweep Heather off her feet, throwing the sassy girl onto her back. Before long, Heather finds herself trapped in an armbar position as Gwen locks her in a technique.
"Wha- an armbar?!" Heather exclaims.
"Try not to squirm around. Even some slight pressure may break these sticks you call arms." Gwen says.
Kate approaches this with confusion, and she kneels down to observe this with caution.
"Are you guys sisters?" Kate asked the two.
"Ha! Hardly!" Heather scoffed in disbelief. "Gah! I can feel my elbow… bending! Since when did you have time to learn this technique?!"
"I don't know. Self defence, probably? Maybe Chris' shenanigans compelled me to train some things." Gwen states while being careful not to break something. "Or maybe that snarky face of yours annoyed me to the point of my decision. Which do you want to believe?"
"Okay, I think you two have had enough fun already." Kate says as she brings the toppled luggage upright. "Just let go already. That is supposed to be a submission hold, right?"
Hearing this, Gwen lets go of Heather's arm and rolls backwards to stand. Heather, on the other hand, was rubbing her arm in pain.
"Hmph, bastard." Heather commented.
Gwen lets the comment slide, and Heather begins to walk away from her. Kate then gives her the luggage.
"Quite the hold and takedown, huh? The armbar could be dangerous to your opponent if you don't know how to properly control the pressure." Kate commented. "But you seemed to handle it well. You learn Aikido?"
"No, Judo. But they're basically the same." Gwen says. "What's your name?"
"Kate Green. What's yours?" Kate follows up.
"Gwen. Gwen Taylor." Gwen says. "Nice to meet you, but I better get going. Got some people waiting for me."
As Gwen takes her luggage and heads for her room, Kate ponders a bit after hearing her name.
"Taylor, huh? The same surname as James and Ryan." Kate thought. "Is she a relative?"
Kate turns back to the goal of getting the package from the front desk. Gwen then reaches the door of the suite she was looking for, and knocks on the door.
"Doesn't seem like Heather went through here. Probably had a different room. Good." Gwen states.
The door opens, and Gwen is greeted by a familiar face.
"Gwen! Man! It's been so long!" Owen greeted his friend.
"Hey, Owen. Yeah, I agree. It has been long." Gwen smiles at the sight. "So, it seems we're in the same suite, huh?"
"Yeah, and so are some others." Owen says.
Owen leads Gwen into the room where she sees a couple more faces.
"Yo, Gwen. My favorite white girl is back in business." Leshawna greets while taking out the content of her own luggage. "How's it going, girl?"
"I'm doing good. Just wondering why Chris gathered us for this reunion." Gwen says.
"Who knows? Just about anything can happen with that bastard." Noah states, reading a book on his bed.
"Harold. What do you think, baby?" Leshawna asked.
But Harold, accompanied by Geoff and Bridgette, was watching the suite's TV set on the news channel.
"Guys? Are you gonna talk?" Gwen asks as she walks towards them.
"Oh, hey Gwen. Just a bit, something's on the news." Bridgette states.
Hearing this, the rest of them turned to see what was so important on the news.
"...investigations are currently underway in the wake of the mass disappearances of wastewater technicians and operators within the Toronto area." The reporter explains. "It is unknown what has happened within the sewers, nor the whereabouts of the missing personnel. Carlo Rivers, supervisor of the North Toronto Wastewater Treatment Plant, has been silent in light of the recent events."
"Mass disappearances? For the wastewater personnel of all people?" Noah raised his eyebrows in hearing this.
"Does it have something to do with the sewers?" Geoff asked.
Suddenly, sirens were heard outside. The group looked to see a police convoy moving through the streets.
"Something's wrong." Gwen says. "I think we shouldn't go out for the time being. Or use the bathrooms."
"Is it really that bad?" Harold asked.
Then a police helicopter was seen flying above the hotel, along with a news helicopter.
"I better call Emma. Their apartment is near the treatment plant they were talking about." Noah states.
"Then I'm gonna call Brody. Hopefully he and MacArthur are doing okay. Especially after she and Sanders graduated." Geoff states.
"Really, eh? That's surprising, considering the reputation of the mouthy one." Gwen raised her eyebrow.
"Has anybody else seen the broadcast?" Bridgette asked.
"I'm not sure. But we better let them know just in case." Gwen says as she sets her luggage to the side. "Anyone wanna come?"
"Oh, I'll come." Owen states.
"Well, I got nothing better to do. Why not?" Leshawna states
Kate grabs her package from the front desk. It was a unique plastic crate with the word "AMS" plastered onto the side. After a pause, her PDA began ringing in her pocket. She then takes it out and answers it.
"Hello?" Kate asked.
"Hello, Kate. Did you get the specialized package?" A young male voice was heard.
"I did, and I'll be ready to get to position." Kate says. "Anything on your side, Ryan?"
"Local law enforcement are beginning to spread out. Luckily the Canadian government let us operate in their city." Ryan states. "Just in time too. It seems Thornheart is done moving Pandora's Box from Venice."
"It's good they're spreading their police. Our own men are spread thin enough as it is." Kate asked. "Are you ready to prepare evacuations?"
"I'll be there in a few minutes. Better be on the lookout if we want the evac to go smoothly." Ryan says.
"And once you get here, we have something to discuss about." Kate says. "I just hope this mission will go well."
As the call hangs up, Kate then turns to the elevators of the hotel, wishing to get a better sight of the surrounding area. But before that could happen, a couple policemen were seen gathering in front of the glass door of the hotel. Then one of them basically flew through the doors.
"Booyah! Our first assignment." The female officer yelled out, with a build rearing slightly into the heavyweight zone.
"MacArthur. We're not supposed to be inside here." Another female officer stuck her head into the door, with a thinner build and darker skin than the first.
"Aw. Don't get your gitches in a twist, Sanders." MacArthur then turned to her partner. "Besides, do you even know what we're supposed to do?"
"I don't know, but the guys outside are beginning to put up barricades." Sanders says. "Has anybody told you our objective?"
"Why are you looking at me? You're the brains, and I'm the brawn." MacArthur stated without a care.
"You're from the RMCP, right? May I talk to the commander of your platoon?" Kate asked.
"Sorry, no can do skinny bones. Just sit back, relax and let us handle the business." MacArthur states.
This prompted Kate to take out her badge from her pocket.
"Kate Green. From the AMS branch of the Department of Security." Kate introduces herself. "We've recently been cleared for operation on Canadian soil, and we're currently cooperating with your supervisors."
"Oh, well why didn't you say that before?" MacArthur then gave a look to the agent. "Right this way, madam."
"Something's off." Zoey states as she looks through the window of the hotel gym.
"You said something, Zo?" Mike turned to his girlfriend.
"Look down there." Zoey states.
Mike and the rest of the Gen 2 gathered at the gym looked at where the indie girl was pointing to. They were confused to see the police squadron creating barricades in the surrounding area.
"You guys didn't see the news of the missing wastewater personnel?" Cameron asked.
"Ew, no. Why would I?" Anne Maria irked at the thought.
"I don't know. This doesn't seem to be connected to those disappearances." Zoey states. "Did any of you hear a couple helicopters come by?"
"Nope, not a thing. As much as I hate to admit it, my family isn't known for the sharpness of their senses." Staci comments.
"Well that's one thing you got right about your family." Jo rolled her eyes at this.
"Wonder if Brick could also be involved in this?" Mike asked. "A lot of the police force seem to be mobilizing in Toronto."
"Let's just not think to hard about it. Who knows? Maybe we'll not get involved at all." Jo states.
As the group conversed about the worrying situation, Chef Hatchet stuck his head into the gym.
"Fellas, I'm gonna need you to gather in the buffet area. Chris told me he's about to announce something." Chef explains. "The bastard has been avoiding my calls."
"At a time like this? Don't you notice the police mobilizing?" Cameron asked.
"My paycheck doesn't cover your whimsy concerns." Chef retorts. "Just get there. I've got other lame-Os to gather."
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Courtney tells Gwen as she and her group visited their suite. "Maybe I can check my PDA on the situation."
"Great. Do so." Gwen smiled at this.
As they were continuing their conversation, the Gen 2 group were seen moving through the hallway in their direction. The two groups collide and begin a conversation.
"Um, hey guys." Cameron called out to the group.
"Cameron? Are you guys gonna go back to your suite?" Gwen asked the group.
"Nah, we're on our way to the dining area. Chef says Chris is going to announce something." Jo states.
"And the Lightning is on his way to know what it is! If the Lightning has a chance at the big bucks, then the Lightning has gotta know before he can take it by the horns!" Lightning states.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. What about the situation outside?" Leshawna asked.
"We're worrying about that as well. But who knows? Maybe the announcement can help us get a grasp on the situation." Zoey states.
"Is it necessary? I mean, we still have internet connection. We could see what else is happening through my PDA." Courtney says.
"Is this about the strange amount of police driving around?" Duncan walked into the conversation.
"Unfortunately." Gwen states.
"Alright. I think we need to calm down about this." Owen states. "Maybe we can all talk about it with delicious food on our table."
"Owen's right. Maybe we can put this off for a while." Mike states.
Just as he says this, some clicking sounds were heard within the group. This immediately alerted some of them and they begin searching for the source of the sound as Cameron reaches into his pocket and takes out a small pocket device.
"My geiger counter?" Cameron explains.
"Geiger what now?" Anne Maria exclaims.
"A geiger counter. It clicks when it detects ionizing radiation." Cameron says. "There seems to be a lot of alpha and beta particles around here."
"Well that can't be good." Gwen comments.
"Where is it coming from?" Mike asked.
Cameron begins to turn the geiger counter around to get a sense of direction. Once he pointed the device into Courtney's suite, the clicking sounds were noticeably more frequent.
"This is peculiar." Cameron states.
"Great, did Izzy bring something dangerous inside here?" Courtney turned to the inside of suite.
Courtney leads Cameron inside the suite as the rest watched in anticipation.
"Um, what's going on?" Beth asked.
"What are you doing with that radio?" Lindsay asked.
"He's just checking if Izzy brought anything dangerous to our suite." Duncan says. "No big deal."
"Where is Izzy anyway?" Tyler asked.
"What the?" Cameron exclaimed as his geiger counter was detecting the radiation in the direction of the balcony.
"Outside?" Courtney exclaimed.
Duncan rushed to get the sliding window opened so that Cameron can get on it. He points the device in directions of the city to discern its location until he stops pointing in the direction of the CN Tower.
"The Tower?" Cameron exclaimed.
The group gathered inside the suite with concern while Cameron tried to make sense of what was happening.
"What's going on?" Gwen asked.
"Come on, you sissies!" Chef guided the participants of the reunion into the room.
"Um, do any of you know where the others are?" Sky asked her companions.
"Maybe they're preparing to get there. Besides, even if they didn't go, we can tell them later." Shawn states. "And is anyone else getting worried about the barricade that's being set up outside."
"Yeah, this is pretty concerning." Jasmine states. "Maybe the announcement can shed some light on the situation."
"What do you mean you don't know where Chris is?!" Chef yelled out into the phone, causing the people who went to the buffet area to turn to him. "He hasn't been answering my calls, and I've got a whole batch of losers that were promised an explanation."
"Chris isn't here?" Jasmine commented. "That's strange. I didn't expect him to be the type to want to be concealed."
"I don't like where this is going." Shawn states.
As they were talking amongst each other about the situation, a strange blue-ish light emanated through the windows of the buffet area. This halted the conversations as they turned to the window.
"What the?" Shawn exclaimed.
The partakers approached the window to see a strange sight. The CN tower began emanating a strange blue glow that shot straight up into the Toronto airspace. Multiple lightning bolts appeared to strike the tower at the tip, with the electrical energy running down the building seemingly helping with the energy radiating off the tower.
"Something's happening!" One of the police recruits yelled out to the rest of the platoon.
"Whoa! Something big's going down." MacArthur perked up in alertness upon seeing the state of the tower.
Kate begins to turn around, anxiously waiting for Ryan to arrive.
"Thornheart has finally shown himself. Where are you, Ryan?" Kate whispered to herself.
The group in Courtney's suite saw the strange glow from the tower and were in awe of the strange occurrence at the city's prized building.
"What is that? Why is the CN Tower glowing?" Lindsay asked.
"The clicking still hasn't stopped! The energy coming from the Tower is growing!" Cameron states as he checks his geiger counter.
Suddenly, distant rumbling sounds were heard. Dust clouds followed by sounds of destruction were seen moving through the city from the CN Tower, and it's moving towards the hotel.
"Oh crap! Something's coming!" Anne Maria begins to panic.
"Everyone! Get to cover! Now!" Duncan orders the people around him.
We then cut back to the buffet area as the Tower continued to glow brightly. Slowly but surely, the rumbling sensation began to get felt more and more by the people inside.
"An earthquake?!" Chef exclaimed.
"Crap, this hotel is thirty floors high!" Shawn yelled out.
"Everyone! Duck, cover and hold on!" Jasmine yells.
Everyone inside the cafeteria went to grab on whatever was sturdy enough to withstand the shock, while some of the others, along with Shawn and Jasmine, watched the windows with anticipation.
Earlier than expected, the buildings in front of the window gets shaken as it begins to get overrun by plant roots that climbed up the bring infrastructure. The roots quickly plow their way into the hotel, shaking the hotel's foundation as it spreads through by force. As the rumbling stopped, the buffet area was overrun by the strange roots, with a lot of the people inside getting stuck as the roots had grown around them.
"What was that?!" Dave yelled out to the people in the buffet area.
"Plant roots?!" Jasmine yelled as she found her arm trapped within the roots.
"Crap! Jasmine!" Shawn exclaimed upon seeing this.
"I think I can handle being trapped in this. Look out the window and see what in the world just happened." Jasmine suggested.
"Alright, men! Hold down the fort! Gather as many civilians as you can!" A commanding voice yells from the outside of the hotel amongst all the panic and screaming.
Hearing this command, Shawn quickly sprints around the devastation and injured partygoers around him towards the shattered window. He immediately finds the street and the vehicles around it totaled due to the plant roots. Many cars were crashed or hoisted by the roots, while panic and pandemonium filled the streets.
"Man. What happened?" Shawn gasps at the sight of this.
Shawn turns to the police barricade area, where the squadron are already leading the panicking civilians into safety.
"Over here! Get as many injured as you can!" Sanders ran with MacArthur out of the barricade to lead the civilians.
"Hey! Officers! Up here! There are a bunch trapped in the roots!" Shawn yelled out.
Hearing this, the two partners looked up to Shawn in the window.
"Crap! I forgot about the people in the buildings." MacArthur exclaimed. "Ugh, not right now! We're in complete pandemonium here!"
"Hey, is that… one of the guys from Total Drama?!" Sanders exclaims in recognising the guy.
"Yes! My name's Shawn! A lot of the people here are other people from the show who have come for a reunion!" Shawn explained.
"Then that means Brody's friend Geoff." Sanders exclaimed. "Owen and Noah as well."
"Okay, get me a read on the amount of people in the cafeteria, as well the amount of expected participants!" MacArthur yelled out an order.
As this was going on, a manhole next to the two partners opened up slightly, and a disheveled hand stuck out of it.
"What the?!" Sanders was the first one to notice the arm as it grabbed her leg. "Whoa! What is this thing?!"
The yelp caught MacArthur and Shawn's attention. As they saw what was going on, the hand in the manhole opened up to reveal a corpse-like creature, akin to a zombie. It tries to drag Sanders into the manhole.
"Oh crap! What is that thing?!" MacArthur exclaimed.
As she says this, multiple gunshots were heard, and the creature was blasted to kingdom come. The remains of the creature began to shrivel into dust.
"Gah! Ew!" Sanders retorted in seeing the frightening sight.
The three turned to Kate, who fired the shots at the creature. Right now, she was wielding a medium sized PDW in her hands, known for its versatility and firing speed.
"You said there were people trapped in the hotel?" Kate asked the two.
"Um, yeah." Shawn says. "I don't want them to get mauled by these zombies!"
"Alright. You two. There are many more of these things coming. Get everyone behind the barricades." Kate ordered the two.
The sight turns badly as more of those creatures erupted from the manholes in the street, sending more the civilians and even some of the police into a panic.
"I'll head into the hotel. I've got transport coming to the area." Kate says. "Hold them off until the transport arrives."
Kate then runs into the hotel with reckless abondon, leaving the two confused about the way she was taking it. Shawn was even more confused as the strange agent was seemingly used to the situation.
"Gah!" A roar was heard behind Shawn.
He turns to see Eva breaking Cody and Sierra out of the roots trapping them.
"Come on. We have no time to waste." Eva exclaimed.
As Eva continues to break the trapped partygoers from the strange roots, Shawn relocates towards Jasmine and begins to break the roots with a hunting knife.
"What's the situation?" Jasmine asked.
"Zombies. And they're coming through the sewers." Shawn states.
"What?! You cannot be pulling my leg at a time like this!" Jasmine yelled.
More gunshots were heard on the outside, startling Jasmine and a lot of the others trapped.
"Looks like things are starting to heat up." Shawn says. "The police barricade is going to have people transport survivors from the city. I don't think it will last long. Let's get to higher ground while we can."
Suddenly, Chef slides out of the kitchen, with two massive cleavers in hand.
"Looks like I better help out. This chaos is only starting." Chef says. "Eva! Shawn! Let's get these guys out."
And whew! A new story! And a new rewrite! And because of a new story so soon, I have to announce that Witherstorm Mania and Red Rose City is on a permanent hiatus. A bummer, but those stories are not my fortè.
My 16th!