A/N: Part 2 of the 3-part mini-adventure "Laser Tag," the chapter where Nova faces her first proper threat, barely escaping alive.

WARNING: mild adult language

As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and will also keep me motivated to post more. Even if you don't have anything to say about it besides "great story," I'm totally okay with that. It'd at least let me know you're enjoying the story.

Chapter 6: Laser Tag

The arcade was, surprisingly, very empty when we entered. Besides Hazel and I, there were only a handful of other people (not including the employees), the majority of them being our age, which wasn't uncommon in places like this. When we first entered, I initially thought the place would be bustling with teenagers like us, who had just gotten out of school. Then again, it was very fortunate that the place would be this way, as we didn't have to wait in long lines for the games and concession stands.

It was also very fortunate that it was empty, because, unknowingly to us at the time, many innocent people would've been in serious danger, had the place been busy.

Over the course of two hours, we played various games, from Skee-Ball to Mini Golf. We attempted to climb through the tubes of the Children's Play Place (or at least the Ball Pit), even though it was mostly made for kids than teens. I even tried my hand at 'shooting' games, where I had a plastic laser gun to shoot at the screen, which I had a particular knack for.

"Wow, Syd!" Hazel exclaimed as she watched me shoot zombies left-and-right all over the screen. "You're really good with a gun. I'll have to stay away from you if you ever decide to become a cop."

"Nah," I shook my head. "I don't particularly like guns. I just thought I'd try out the game. But yes, I do seem to be very good at this. I think I'll stick with aikido, thank you very much. Yes!" I cheered after finding out I had won the game after killing the last zombie. "Take that, zombie freaks! But no, I hope to not ever have to use my skills. I don't much care for violence."

"Says the girl who massacred all those zombies without mercy," Hazel teased.

"That was just a game," I laughed as well. "I doubt I would ever have to do that in real life."

After a few more games, we decided to take a little break before we tried our hands at Laser Tag, which was what we were planning to do to end the afternoon. We ordered sodas at the concession stand and sat at one of the nearby tables, thinking about what else we could do before the day was over.

As Hazel was suggesting movies that we could watch during our sleepover later in the evening, I happened to be facing the sliding doors of the entrance, and I had the misfortune of spotting someone all-to-familiar that I had hoped to never see again, at least until the end of the summer: a peacock named Samuel Davies.

"Oh, no, no, no," I groaned as I swiftly turned by back on the boy and buried my face in my hands. "Not him. Ugh, I so wish I could regenerate right now."

Sam and I met last year during lunch when I had nowhere to sit (Hazel had a different lunch time), and he had offered for me to sit next to him at the table. Even though he was nice to me that day, I quickly learned that he was another of those self-centered brats like Samantha Owens that always craved attention from others, even when they had absolutely no intentions of giving any. I discovered that he was highly attracted to my looks (I honestly didn't think I was that attractive) and became totally obsessed with me. He asked me to every school event, including Prom and Homecoming, and whenever I hesitated to say 'yes,' he would push me a little harder; he seemed to never take 'no' for an answer when it came to asking people out. Because his anxious energy and obvious obsession with me overwhelmed me, I had tried avoiding him, but it was often unsuccessful, as he always tended to find opportunities to talk to me between and during classes. Even my dual hearts didn't seem to like him, because they always went into overdrive whenever he was around.

"What?" Hazel asked, puzzled at my strange and seemingly random reaction.

"He picked the worst possible time to show up," I groaned again, trying my best to hide my face. "Why now, of all times?"

"Syd, what are you talking about?" Hazel demanded. "What's going on? And what did you mean, you wish you could regenerate?"

"Nothing," I shook my head, chastising myself for almost revealing my secret. I pulled Hazel's arm and turned her around so her back was to the entrance as well, so Sam wouldn't recognize her too. "Don't look now, but Sam Davies from school just walked in."

"Sam Davies?" Hazel asked with dread in her voice. "The annoying one who asks all the dumb questions in class, and who you claimed has a huge obsession with you?"

I shook my head. "It wasn't a claim; it's unfortunately the truth. But yeah, he also does all that stuff to seek attention for himself. That's why I've been trying to avoid him, but he's obsessed with me, mainly because he thinks I'm 'the most beautiful girl in school,' so he claims." I rolled my eyes. "So he keeps claiming. He's worse than Samantha Owens. At least she wasn't obsessed with me. It's bad enough they almost have the same name."

"Didn't he claim at one point that you were his girlfriend?" Hazel asked with a raised eyebrow.

I risked a quick glance behind me and noticed that Sam didn't come here alone; he (no surprise) also brought a large group of friends to accompany him. I sighed as I quickly turned my back to him again. "Yeah, which is embarrassing. I don't even know him that well, except that he is a total peacock that cares only about himself. The only reason why he's asked me to Prom and Homecoming is so he can bring a lot of attention to himself while being with a 'beautiful girl' like me. I mean, yeah, I'm beautiful, but not that beautiful. I've had many boys in our grade claim that they're attracted to me, but Sam is next level. I personally don't like being the center of attention, but Sam doesn't make it any easier. If he sees us here, he'll never leave us alone."

The last thing I wanted was for Sam to ruin this perfect day for us; not to mention him finding out about my secret to not being entirely human. Geez, what a nightmare that would be, I thought with a shudder.

Hazel glanced over our shoulders again, and this time her face bore the expression of dread. "Uh...I hate to be the bearer of bad news," she said apologetically, "but he's coming this way."

You've got to be kidding, I thought, hoping beyond hope that she was saying that to tease me again.

That was until...

"Hey, Sydney!" his squeaky voice said enthusiastically. "I had no idea you'd be here!"

Nope, I thought dismally with a sigh, of course not.

"Fudgeknuckle," I muttered under my breath as I put on the most convincing smile I could muster. "Hey, Sam," I said, turning to him. "I had no idea you'd be here either." I then had an idea; although, I figured the idea working in my favor was going to be a longshot. I grabbed Hazel's arm and rose from my seat, saying in an apologetic voice, "Unfortunately, my friend and I were just leaving."

"What?" Hazel asked, confused; something I hoped she would never say at this time. "I thought we were gonna go laser-tagging."

I glanced incredulously to Hazel, screaming at her in my head, Girl, I would rather laser-tag with literally anyone in the entire universe but him.

"Really?" Sam said, genuinely shocked. "What a coincidence! My friends and I were just coming here for Laser Tag. You and Hazel should join us."

Seriously? I thought in disbelief. No! Way!

"That sounds really nice, Sam," I said, feeling my hearts pounding in desperation to get away from Sam (You have my sympathies, guys; how I so wish I could disappear right now), "but Haze and I have someplace else we need to be now. Maybe some other time." Like, never, I thought in my head.

"Come on," Sam sighed almost in a whine, "it'll be fun. We could be on the same team, and if I had to, I'd sacrifice myself just to let you win."

Seriously? I thought in disbelief again. Is he for real right now?

"Wow, Sam..." I said, glancing to Hazel, at a complete loss for words. "How...heroic of you."

"Totally," he agreed in a proud tone. "What's more heroic than sacrificing one's life for a beautiful girl?"

Here we go again, I sighed rolling my eyes. I then said out loud, "True. Nothing's more heroic than that." I raised an eyebrow. "You realize this is just a game, right? No one's going to get hurt or anything. They aren't actual lasers, just lights."

"I know all that," He shrugged. "I'm just trying to be a gentleman..." He then raised a playful eyebrow. "For the ladies."

I rolled my eyes again for about the millionth time since he arrived. That's not being a gentleman, I thought but didn't say; that's being an ungrateful attention-seeker.

Sam smirked, leaning into me as if to kiss me (thank god he didn't). Instead, he said, "I look forward to seeing you on the 'battlefield,' my liege. I'll make sure to go easy on you."

"I look forward to it," I said sarcastically; a tone that, of course, went over his head. After he was out of earshot, I turned to Hazel with a groan, "God, please kill me now."

"Why?" she asked, puzzled. "It's only one game of Laser Tag. What could go wrong?"

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "With Sam around, anything could go wrong. It's bad enough being stuck with him in class for even an hour."

"That's true," Hazel shrugged in agreement.

"Hey, Syd, you joining us, or not?" Sam called to us from the Laser Tag area. "We're picking teams now!"

Hazel turned to me and exchanged an uncertain glance with me. "What do you want to do?" she asked. "You want to say we're tired and come back tomorrow?"

I smiled, thinking that to not be such a bad idea. As much as I wanted to be Sam-free for the rest of the summer (preferably for good), I dreaded to think that tomorrow wouldn't be any different.

I shook my head. "No, we'll play. Besides, I've heard he comes here, like, every day. I'd hate to come back and run into him two days in a row. That happens plenty of times at school."

Hazel shrugged, feeling obligated to go along with my decision. "Alright, you're the boss."

We reluctantly joined the group for our pre-planned Laser Tag game (although, the original plan did not include Sam). As we were getting into the vests required for the game (which flashed in different colors to indicate where to aim the laser to earn points, and also which came with a plastic laser gun, which was similar to the one I used in the zombie-shooting game), I explained how to play to Hazel, who had never played before; frankly, I never played either, but I did a lot of research on the game before we arrived.

"So, what's the plan?" Hazel asked after I finished explaining the rules. "You have a 'battle plan?'"

I smirked, glancing to Sam. "Not really, but if you want the day to be even better, I'd say keep shooting Sam. Annoy the crap out of him for all the times he's annoyed the crap out of the rest of us in class."

"And eliminate him before we're even five seconds into the game," Hazel sniggered. "I like this plan."

I shrugged. "Well, I don't know if we'll be 'eliminating' anyone, but if so, what better way to get rid of Sam sooner, right?"

"Right," Hazel laughed again.

As everyone else was still getting into their laser-vests, I saw someone sneakily walk into the Laser Tag arena and out of sight. The figure was about the size of a kid and wore a strange-looking set of purple clothing that looked vaguely like armor. The kid wore a massive helmet that covered his whole head and face, and he even held a massive gun that didn't look anything like the laser guns we wielded; in fact, the 'kid's' gun looked like a real laser gun. Upon first noticing him, I suddenly got the familiar sense of danger—the exact same sense I got when the school intruder showed up to our school in Second Grade.

"Who was that?" Hazel asked, also noticing the 'kid's' odd clothing and behavior.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe he was an employee checking the arena or something." Somehow, I doubted my statement to be true.

"You sure?" Hazel said with a frown; she seemed to also feel suspicious about the 'kid's' unobvious intentions. "He wasn't wearing a nametag. Maybe he's another player. Our vests are similar in color to the guy's clothing; though his isn't glowing like ours."

"I don't know," I said again. "Maybe it's nothing to worry about." Of course, when I said that, I was trying to convince myself that that was the case, even though I was eighty-percent sure it wasn't.

"Maybe, but we're not supposed to go in until we're told to," Hazel pointed out; "and that guy just walked in like he owned the place."

I shook my head, thinking that I was just being paranoid for no reason. "Don't worry about it. We'll probably see him when we get inside. He could just be a 'health and safety' checker or something."

"You ready to be tagged with lasers?" Sam said as he approached us with his laser gun ready, a coy smile on his face. I had to fight myself to not roll my eyes again.

"Uh...sure," I said uncertainly. I then stepped a tad closer to Sam and murmured, "Listen, Sam. Did you see a guy in purple armor walk into the arena just now?"

Sam frowned uncertainly. "No. Why?"

I sighed, thinking that everything I was going to say to Sam might sound stupid to him, but my paranoia was beginning to increase in that moment, as was the sense of danger. "I don't know. I'm just getting the sense that he may not be all that he seems," I admitted. "Just...tell your friends to watch out for him, okay?"

"Okay," he shrugged in a way that suggested I was, indeed, being paranoid for no reason. "I'll be watching out for everyone. We're all on our own team. Trust me, I've played this a million times."

I rolled my eyes again; apparently I lost my fight with myself to ceasing the eye-rolling. "Yeah, so I've heard." I then sighed in apparent annoyance. Why doesn't anyone take me seriously? I guess I just have one of those faces.

"What's wrong, Syd?" Hazel asked, concerned. "You're acting really weird, kinda like you did back in Second Grade with the school intruder. Like..." She paused as if fearing how I would react to the next thing on her mind. "Like something bad is about to happen."

"If you recall, something bad did happen back then," I reminded her. "Or rather, something bad was about to happen, if not for that 'River Song' woman."

"You mean your mother?" Hazel pointed out in a murmur, like that was part of a secret, which, for all I knew, probably was.

I shrugged. "Well, I'm still not sure about that. In any case, I'm getting the same feeling as last time, but this time feels a bit different, like this might be something worse than the school intruder incident."

"Worse?" Hazel asked nervously. "What do you mean, worse?"

Suddenly, one of the employees started ushering us inside the Laser Tag arena, using the same entrance that the mysterious, purple-armored figure used. We were about to start the game.

"I don't know," I said as we prepared to follow the rest of the group. "Just...stay close to me, just in case. I have a feeling this may not be an ordinary game."

We entered the Neon-colored arena in silence. It wasn't until we took our positions at the back of the arena when Hazel spoke up, murmuring to me, "Okay. Now what?"

I shrugged again, readying my laser gun. "I don't know. Just play like normal, I guess. But be careful."

A few seconds later, the game commenced. Everyone began running around, shooting each other with bright laser lights and dodging strikes by taking cover behind brightly-colored walls. For the most part, Hazel and I stayed where we were, occasionally shooting anyone who crossed our path.

After a few minutes of laser-tagging, Hazel panted, "I haven't seen any purple dudes anywhere. Maybe that guy we saw was an employee, after all."

I shrugged, still in doubt. "I don't know. He could still be here."

I suddenly paused, seeing someone dressed in purple streak past me a few feet away, but it wasn't anybody I recognized.

"Wait... Who was that?" I exclaimed in shock at the unexpected appearance of the unknown player.

"Who was who?" Hazel asked, puzzled; evidently, she didn't see the person walk by, seeing as the arena was dark, with only the Neon-colored walls and laser-pointers for light; that, and the mysterious person was not wearing the required Laser Tag vest.

Not even a second after she had said that a deep, otherworldly voice shouted, "Halt, human scum!" followed by the sound of laser shots that sounded unlike the laser shots that came from our plastic laser guns. These other shots sounded like real-life laser shots, like the ones heard in the Star Wars films.

While the laser shots were being fired, I heard several of Sam's friends yell at each other in confused voices:

"Whoa, dude! What was that?"

"Who's this guy? Whose team is he on?"

"Those lasers looked real!"

"He called us 'humans,' like he isn't!"

"Is he one of Sydney's friends?"

"What?!" I yelled instinctively in reply. Who in their right mind would think I invited a crazy psycho to play this game with us? How insane was that?

"Syd!" Hazel cried in sheer panic. "What's going on?"

I honestly didn't know how to respond to her, since I didn't know what was going on either. The only thing I was sure of was that the sense of danger was at its peak at this point, and I had to do something about it.

"Stay here!" I urged. "I'm going to see why everyone is freaking out!"

I ran from wall to wall until I saw one of Sam's friends. Once I found one, a boy in the grade below us named Cyrus, I yelled to him, "Hey! What's happening?"

"Some armored dwarf is shooting at us with real lasers!" He exclaimed incredulously, dodging lasers—real ones—that looked like they were coming from somewhere on the opposite side of us. "He keeps calling us 'humans,' like he isn't one! Who talks like that?"

Aliens, I thought in my head but didn't say out loud, knowing he'd think of me as a freak for suggesting something so ludicrous; however, I knew better, as I may have been one myself.

I was about to suggest to Cyrus that we run when the mysterious figure shouted something I wasn't expecting: "Surrender the Time Lord female, and your deaths will be merciful! Fail, and you will die in agony for the glory of Sontar!"

Despite the laser shots still seeming determined to find our skulls through the walls, I paused at the creature's statement. He—it—was looking for a Time Lord female, one that was possibly my sister Nova...or me. Whoever this sicko was, he was after us for our powers, or possibly just to kill us. I wasn't sure if this guy was part of the school intruder's alliance that was after me back in Second Grade—what did they call themselves? Valkyrie, or something?—but either way, this guy was just as dangerous as the school intruder, maybe even more so. I knew I had to get out of here soon, or I would surely die, and not just by regeneration. But I had to get everyone else out first.

"He's fucking insane!" Cyrus shook his head in disbelief, seemingly giving up on his attempts to comprehend what was going on. I honestly gave up on that long ago. "I am so out of here!" He stood up and made a beeline for the exit.

"Wait!" I screamed at him, suddenly having the disturbing feeling like he was going to get himself brutally killed.

Unfortunately, that did end up happening, as a laser shot was fired at him through his back, and he collapsed to the floor, unmoving.

"No!" I cried in horror as I stood up, about to run to check his pulse, when I was suddenly fired at, and I was forced to take cover again. This time I was able to get a glimpse of the monstrosity that was causing this chaos. It was definitely an alien, because it had three fingers instead of five, and the way it was walking was unlike how a regular human would walk.

"Surrender the Time Lord female, and I shall grant you a speedy death!" the armored dwarf screamed with manic energy.

Somehow, even if I was the so-called 'Time Lord female' he was after, I doubted he'd let me go with even a scratch, especially when he was so determined to massacre everyone he set eyes on. My guess was that even if he shot me, and he saw me regenerate, that'd be the only way he'd know for sure that he'd caught the right person...

Unless I just died, like Sam's friend and anyone else he brutally murdered.

That last thought suddenly made me think of Hazel, and whether she was still alive or not. Dear god, I hope she is, I prayed.

In tears, I set out to look for her, avoiding any and all laser shots, whether they'd be real or fake.

Instead, I found Sam, thankfully unharmed (for real, as I would never wish death on anyone, no matter what species...well, except for whatever was shooting at us). "Sydney!" he exclaimed in relief upon seeing me.

"Sam!" I said with equal relief. "Have you seen Hazel? We need to get out of here! It isn't safe! One of your friends just got hurt! Those aren't just laser lights; those are—"

"Those are real lasers! Yes, I know!" he said darkly. "I found that out after that sicko shot Brian dead. And no, I haven't seen Hazel. I came to get you!"

I sighed, shaking my head incredulously. A handful of his friends were dead, and he was still more worried about me?

"I said I'd be fine!" I said in exasperation. "We need to find—"

I heard an abrupt laser shot, closely followed by a girl's painful scream.

"Hazel!" I cried in horror. Ignoring Sam's protests, I ran in the direction of the scream, and I saw the murderous armored dwarf standing over Hazel, pointing his laser gun at her.

Don't you dare! I shouted, although I wasn't sure if I'd said it out loud or not. Either way, I wasn't going to let him kill her. I snuck around some nearby walls and behind the armored dwarf. I remembered the psycho saying something about Sontar, which I had guessed was the planet the creature was from. That made him—what—a Sontaran? I briefly wondered.

Hazel looked up at the Sontaran, clutching her arm where he must've shot her. The sick bastard!

"You are female," the Sontaran declared, "but you are not the Time Lord female. The Time Lord female is in the vicinity. You will tell me where the female is, and I shall spare your life from a painfully slow death!"

"T-T-Time Lord?" Hazel stuttered in confusion. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about! W-What is a Time Lord?"

"Spare me your worthless pleas, human scum!" the Sontaran shouted at her. "Extract the Time Lord female, and your death will be merciful! I will give you a count of three! One!" He immediately started counting without giving Hazel a chance to explain herself.

As the Sontaran was speaking, I heard strange breathing sounds (much like what astronauts sounded like through their helmets) coming from a small vent-like hole on the back of the creature's armored collar. A genius idea hit me like a punch to the chest, and I knew I had to quick-think on my feet, or Hazel would surely die.

"Please!" Hazel pleaded, shaking her head, and backing against the wall. "I don't know what a Time Lord is! I don't know anything!"

"Two!" the Sontaran said the next number in the sequence, cocking his gun.

Now's my chance, I thought as I lifted the end of my laser gun to use like a club. Dear god, please don't let me die, I prayed.

"Please! No!" Hazel screamed in horror and desperation.

"Three!" I screamed before the Sontaran could as I brought the plastic laser gun down on the vent-hole with all my strength. Once hit, a huge puff of air was released from the hole in the collar, and the Sontaran screamed in seeming pain and collapsed to the floor, although I wasn't sure if he collapsed dead or unconscious. I then realized that it didn't matter; Hazel was saved with a millisecond to spare.

"Back of the neck, sucker!" I screamed in triumph. I then breathed in shock and disbelief, "Holy crap! I can't believe that worked!"

"Sydney!" Hazel cried, relieved to be alive, as was I.

"Hey!" I panted as I took off my Laser Tag vest and tossed it to the floor. "Perfect timing, huh?"

"It could've been better," Hazel admitted with a small chuckle, despite almost losing her life to a crazy alien.

I sighed sadly. "Yeah, sorry, that was a bit too close. You alright?" I bent down and examined her. She wasn't bleeding anywhere, but she had a large burn mark across her forearm that looked pretty bad.

"No!" Hazel admitted in an obvious tone as I helped her out of the vest. "He shot me!"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine!" I said as I helped her to her feet. "We need to get out of here!"

We ran out of the arena, as well as the arcade, never looking back.

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!