Kihonne: So who's ready for season 2? It's going to be a blast guys – I'm actually more excited about this season than season 1, to be honest. I think you're really going to like it. But before we go onto that, it's shoutout time.
Xxx
LabGirl2001: I hope your exam went well! You have a really good theory about the Elite Force, but you'll have to keep reading to see if you're right. Emily and Darius…I think they were one of the most bittersweet couples I've ever written. I honestly teared up a little writing it.
SzymonS: I'm glad you liked Lexi and Marcus' inclusion this season. They're two of my favorite characters to write (though Marcus is my all time favorite, even more than my OCs). Darius and Emily are so absolutely adorable. I'm glad you liked the random one liners like the ones you mentioned. That phrase (the one about honey for the eyes) isn't one I've heard, but I do understand what you mean. It's a cool phrase. I'm really glad you liked all the fights, especially the ones between Reese & Lexi VS Noah and Emily. As for the Elite Force, I TOTALLY wouldn't kill them off screen…probably. Maybe. Honestly, it does sound like something I'd do. Yes, Ben and Naomi are together! I figured at least one of my couples deserved a happy ending (sorry Emily & Darius), right? As for Lexi telling Darius, well, you're a little right in all three of your theories. Lexi definitely knew more than she was telling Darius at the time, but her benefactor has a lot that they're not telling her either. I guess you'll just have to keep reading to see how much that is though. Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter, and the cliffhanger. I think you're really going to like how I addressed the last thing you said in your review (before the Christmas wishes) in this chapter. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, I hope you had a great Christmas, and I hope your 2020 is an amazing start to an even better decade.
Knightingale: I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter, and that Darius finally made it into your good books! I do want to say about the language – I didn't ease up on it. The characters use whatever language feels most natural in the situation they're in, and sometimes that means swearing, and sometimes that doesn't. I've gotten a few comments about the language used, but this is a T-rated story, and minor coarse language is permitted, to the same degree that it would be any T-rated movie. That being said, I hope you still continue to enjoy the story. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Destiny: Yes! They're together! I'm glad I could give you that Christmas present. And yeah, that would be a surprise for him, wouldn't that be? Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!
TheInquizitor: So, in Mighty Med, it's revealed that Calderan men tend to take the woman's last name, as opposed to how most human cultures being the opposite. Given that knowledge, and the fact that many public figures don't change their names when married due to the fame associated with their names (Carrie Underwood, Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, etc.), I decided that Oliver and Skylar would have most likely chosen to keep their own last names to avoid complicating things. As for Sera, since the woman's name is one traditionally kept for the family, it made more sense for her to take her mother's last name. That's a really good question! I hope you had a great holiday, and that you have a great New Year!
MightyMedNerd: I'm really glad you liked the chapter so much, especially Emily's decision. Interesting theory about whether or not Darius will return. At this time, I'm not going to confirm or deny any theories about his possible return, but either way, I think you'll like this season. There will be plenty of Ben/Naomi, along with maybe another couple or two. We'll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, that you had a great Christmas, and that you have a wonderful New Year and 2020.
TheRealHarrisonW: I'm so glad you liked it so much, especially the Darius' parts. My best friend nearly cried reading his and Emily's last scene, and the note too. I'm glad you're excited for this season too – I know I am. I hope you had a wonderful holiday, and that your New Year is great too!
LegaciesFan: Yes, they're together now! I think a lot of people are happy about that. I'm glad you liked the chapter and the past season so much! I really hope that you enjoy this season too! I hope that your holidays have so far been great and that your new year is amazing!
Xxx
Kihonne: Alright, time for the chapter!
Kira: Kihonne doesn't own Lab Rats, Mighty Med, or the Elite Force. She only owns this story, any and all OCs, and anything else you don't recognize from the original shows!
xxx
Kira's POV
"We're free!" I dropped to my knees, hands in the air and a grin on my face as students filed out of the classroom behind me. Kameron walked around me, giving me an amused look.
"A little dramatic, don't you think?" He asked, shaking my head.
"No." I insisted, smiling at him. He rolled his eyes and offered me his hand. I accepted it and climbed to my feet. "Not everyone likes school, Kam. Some of us can't wait for Spring Break."
"You're just happy that Millennium Academy has a 3-week Spring Break instead of Anderson High's 1-week break." He told me. I beamed at him.
"A 3-week Spring Break, Kameron!" I exclaimed, skipping past him to my locker. "I love private schools."
"I see someone's happy." Charlotte chuckled, walking over to us. Kameron sent her a grin.
"You know how she is." He commented before opening his own locker to grab my backpack. I elbowed him in the ribs before closing my locker and turning around to smile at Charlotte.
"Look, I'm excited for a break from school, alright? I think we earned it, since we didn't have that much of a Christmas break." I reasoned. Charlotte shrugged. "What? I'm right."
"I know. It's just, we might not have that much of a vacation..." She trailed off meaningfully. Kameron and I exchanged looks.
"Emily found something out?" Kameron asked. Charlotte pressed her lips together in a thin line and didn't answer, instead turning around to walk towards the doors. Kameron and I followed her, keeping pacing with the older girl until we exited the school. A nice, dark gray SUV was waiting for us outside, with Noah, Emily, and Sera leaning against it, waiting for us.
"Nice car." Kameron whistled in appreciation at the sight. Noah chuckled. "I didn't realize Calla was paying you enough to buy yourself a new car."
"She doesn't; the car is one of Chase's. Calla let me borrow it to run some errands." He explained. Kameron raised an eyebrow.
"Errands for her or errands for us?" He questioned. Noah smirked.
"Both, though she only needs to know about the ones for her." He replied. We all climbed into the car, Kameron and Charlotte taking the back seats, leaving Sera and I in the middle while Emily and Noah took the front.
"Oh, I told Mrs. Chavez that you went home sick. She probably didn't call home, seeing as Calla probably would have called you by now, but I figured I should tell you just in case."
"Thanks for covering for me, guys." She smiled at us. Kameron leaned forward in his seat.
"Was it worth it?" He asked, looking between her and Emily. The two girls exchanged looks. "Well?"
"Let's get settled somewhere, then we'll talk." Noah suggested. Emily nodded.
"Calla's probably home, so we can't do it there." I reminded them. Charlotte smirked.
"It's okay. I've got a place in mind." She assured us.
Ben's POV
I tapped my car's steering wheel to the rhythm of the rap song on the radio as I waited for Naomi. She'd asked me to pick her up here, since she had to hand in her latest freelance assignment to the news editor. She'd pulled out of school for the semester to make things easier in preparation for the Venusian mission, and had taken to doing some freelance work for the Centium City Daily Report for some extra cash.
I smiled when she finally exited the building. She started walking down the stairs leading up to the news building, bag in one hand and a smile on her face.
"Hey." She greeted as she climbed into the passenger seat, leaning over to kiss me before buckling up. I turned, resting my arm on the back of her seat. "How was visiting your mom?"
"It was good. She hates the mission." I admitted. She smiled apologetically. "I mean, she gets it, but going off planet isn't her idea of 'being safe', you know?"
"Believe me, I get it. My mom kinda freaked out when I went down last week." She agreed. "Dad kept it together better, but I can tell he's not too thrilled about two more of his kids going to Venusia."
"Well, ideally, all four of you come back safe." I offered her a reassuring smile. I knew how much this mission meant to her. It was her brother and sister at stake here. Failing wasn't an option for her.
"Has Calla told the kids yet?" She asked, clearing her throat. I shook my head.
"Not yet. She wants to have that conversation before dinner." I replied. She nodded.
"Any idea who's cooking?" She questioned, sounding apprehensive. I chuckled. "Seriously, I hope it's Leo. or Katherine. Or Kameron."
"Well, it doesn't matter, because I'm taking you out." I told her. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Happy one-month anniversary." She looked at me, mouth opening into a wide, surprised smile. "Don't tell me you thought I'd forget."
"No, I just...I didn't think we were going to celebrate, given everything going on." She admitted, blushing a little. I smiled at her. "Please tell me you didn't get me a gift. I didn't get you anything."
"No, no. Just dinner, I promise." I assured her. She let out a relieved breath. "I just figured, this might be our last chance for some downtime for a while, why not make the most of it?"
She smiled at me. "Okay, that's sweet." She told me before leaning over to kiss me, this kiss lasting longer than the last. "Happy one-month anniversary."
Kira's POV
"I love your apartment." Seraphina said, looking around the room as she sat down on the couch, the rest of us all settling in the Dooley's upstairs living room. It was a pretty nice loft, I had to admit, almost nicer than the Davenport's; between the two living rooms, the massive kitchen, and the hot tub on the balcony, I almost wished that we'd moved in here instead of the Davenport's penthouse.
"Thanks. Papa's kinda got a thing for interior design." Charlotte shrugged, walking back into the room with a bowl of chips in her hands. She placed in on the coffee table before sitting down between Emily and Kameron on the left side of the 10-seater wrap around couch. "He's working late, and Mama's helping Logan and Kate on a sea rescue mission, so we've got the place to ourselves for at least a couple of hours."
"Okay, so what have we got?" Kameron asked, leaning forward to grab a handful of chips.
"So, here's what we know," Sera leaned forward in her seat next to Emily. "We need to get to Venusia, but both Venusia and Caldera are currently protected by barriers blocking geoleap access to the planets. But the barriers don't block ship access, so that's how we're going to get in."
"That seems like an oversight they should have thought about." Kameron commented. Sera shook her head.
"They need to allow ships in for import and trading with other allied planets. The access points are monitored, but we have a few ideas about how to sneak in." She explained. "I have a friend who can get us back onto Caldera."
"Caldera's pretty far from Venusia." I pointed out. "Why not go straight to Venusia?"
"Because if we take the ship Calla had built, it'll take us months to reach Venusia. Our parents may not have months." Noah explained. Emily nodded.
"There's a prototype high-speed cpu design on Caldera that their scientists were testing prior to the war. Sera says they're not done yet, since their research had to be put on hold thanks to the conflict with the Venusians, but I think I might be able to use some Davenport Industries tech to finish it and apply it to our light-speed engine. In layman's terms, I'm gonna use a Calderan computer chip to boost our engine's performance to make us go a LOT faster than we would otherwise."
"You said you think you can do that." I commented skeptically. If she was wrong, it would all be in vain.
"I'm sure. Charlotte and I can do it." Emily nodded certainly. She gave me a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't take a risk like this without being sure."
"Okay." I agreed. Emily was prideful and sometimes a little overconfident in her skill set, but her dad's life was on the line too. She was sure.
"How long do we think it'll take us to get from Caldera to Venusia with the new engine?" Kameron questioned.
"A few days." Emily smiled. I looked at her in surprise. The original trip was supposed to be four months, and now it was just a few days? "There's a reason why Mom was trying to recruit non-human scientists prior to the war; they're good."
"Wait, let's back up a moment. You said the ship Calla built." Charlotte realized. She looked at Emily, Noah, and Sera. "It's done?"
"It is." Noah confirmed. "Calla had me drop supplies for the trip off this morning; I brought Emily and Sera along so they could look at the specs and see if the engines would be compatible."
I felt butterflies form in my stomach. This was actually happening. If the ship was done, we'd be leaving soon. We were actually going to go into space. "When do we leave?"
"Well, I need time to get enough supplies for us, but it'll have to be soon. We don't know when Ben and Naomi's team is leaving." Noah explained. Emily nodded.
"We should be ready to leave by Monday." She told us. The rest of us all exchanged looks, understanding what this meant. By this time next week, we could legitimately be on Venusian soil.
Ben's POV
"Oh, good." Calla looked up from the smoke she'd been fanning away from the stove, her expression turning from a frustrated scowl to a gentle smile when the kids all walked through the door. "You're home."
"Uh oh. She's cooking." Kira whispered dramatically to Kameron. Calla gave her a look, and the pyrokinetic wilted under her gaze. "I mean, yay, more of Calla's incredible cuisine."
"I called Leo and hes bringing take out." The genius CEO assured us. "Sit, sit. I wanted to talk to you guys."
"Didn't school let out a couple of hours ago?" Naomi questioned from where she was sitting at the kitchen counter.
"We stopped for ice cream." Noah explained. Calla nodded.
"You got those errands done, though, right?" She questioned. He nodded.
"I finished it all this afternoon." He assured her. Calla nodded, then raised her chin as Emily tried to sneak up the stairs.
"I said I wanted to talk to all of you." She said loudly. Emily sighed and stopped on the stairs.
"Helix!" She called before turning around and walking down the stairs. The cavapoo came running down after his master, butting into her legs as she reached the bottom.
"What's up?" She asked, crossing her arms. I sighed. Things had been cold between the two of them ever since the attack at the Explority building. Between the secrets and what had happened with Darius, Emily was still pretty angry, and though Calla had apologized and tried to make amends at first, it seemed that her new strategy was just to wait Emily out until she had relaxed on her own. I wasn't sure how well that was going to work, but the rest of us had chosen to stay out of it.
"Sit, guys. Team meeting." I told them. Emily visibly relaxed - Calla was the only one she was mad at - and sat down in the blue chair near the holo-streamer. The others followed suit, relaxing on the couch.
"What's going on?" Charlotte questioned, crossing her ankles and smiling at Calla cheerfully.
"We said we'd keep you guys updated on the Venusian mission." I explained. Immediately, they all turned serious.
"The ship is finished being built and tested and is ready for space flight." Calla explained. "It's ready to take the team to Venusia."
"Who's on the team, anyway?" Seraphina questioned. Calla offered her a smile.
"Well, obviously Ben and Naomi here. Adam and Taylor from the Bionic Headquarters have volunteered, as have Spotlight and Nyx from the NLH, along with Dr. Jazz Krane from Mighty Med 2.0." She explained. Kira raised her hand. "Nyssa Bennett will be staying with her aunt in Canada for the duration of the mission, not with us."
"Thank you. I don't think I could survive staying with her for a week, let alone how long this mission is going to take." Kira sighed in relief. Kameron just shook his head at his sister. "What? She's annoying."
"Whatever you say, Kira." He rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, we're going to be leaving tomorrow morning, so we just wanted to-" I started.
"What?" "Tomorrow?" To my surprise, I was cut off by a number of protests and explanations of surprise.
"Um, yes?" Naomi looked at me, frowning. "We don't want to waste any time on this. If the ship's ready, we should leave right away."
"Yes, obviously." Charlotte nodded, smiling. "It just doesn't feel real yet, I guess."
"I know. Neither do we." Naomi assured them. I smiled reassuringly at them.
"Don't worry, guys. We'll be back before you know it, with your parents." I promised them. They all looked at me, their expressions hard to read. "I promise you guys that this mission is going to be a success. You'll see them, and us, again."
"We better." Emily commented half-heartedly. I gave her a gentle smile.
"Anyway, we wanted to go over a couple of things with you guys." I continued. Naomi nodded.
"Firstly, since Ben and I are both going on the mission, you'll need a new team leader." She explained. She turned to the oldest of the remaining heroes. "Noah, you're going to be in charge of the team in my absence."
"Me?" Noah stared at her. She nodded. "I, uh...thank you?"
"Don't worry; you'll do fine." She told him. He nodded, a thoughtful look on his face.
"As for the rest of you, I'm giving you all one last order." She continued, turning to the rest of the kids. "I don't want you to focus on what our team is doing, I want you to focus on what's most important."
"School." I added. "Enjoying the rest of your school year, and your summer, especially you two, Emily and Charlotte."
"Hopefully we'll be back in time for your autumn break." Naomi added. The kids all exchanged looks.
"I guess this is goodbye then?" Kameron asked, uncertain. I chuckled.
"We'll say goodbye before we leave tomorrow." I assured them. "Liam and Rani are supposed to the last ones to arrive, and they're not getting here till nearly 10 tomorrow."
"Okay. I guess we'll say goodbye tomorrow then." Emily said. Noah stood up.
"Um, is that all? I forgot that I had some stuff to do tonight." He told us.
"Leo's going to be here with the take out soon." Calla told him. Noah smiled.
"That's alright; I'll just eat while we're out. It's to do with my program change application." He explained. Calla nodded.
"Alright. We'll save you a plate." She assured him. He smiled.
"Thanks." He told her before heading out the door. I looked at Naomi, who nodded.
"We should get going too. We have reservations." I told Calla. She nodded.
"I'll see you two tomorrow then." She replied.
Xxx
"This place is nice." Naomi commented, looking around the restaurant after the waitress left to get our drinks. "Where'd you hear about this place?"
"Aroma. She and Tempest came here just after it opened." I explained. Naomi nodded.
"Aroma...isn't she the one with the bubble gum colored hair?" Naomi questioned, trying to remember. I nodded. "Oh yeah. Geminus introduced us. She's an NLH rep for the Coalition, right?"
"Yeah. She's Liv's go-between with Miles. She's nice. Rani hates her though."
"Rani hates everyone." Naomi pointed out. I chuckled.
"Nah, she just acts that way. You'll see what I mean when we're working together." I explained. She nodded thoughtfully.
"It's going to be weird, living in such close quarters with everybody." She commented. I nodded in agreement.
"Which is why I really wanted to do this tonight. We won't really have another chance for a while." I mentioned. She frowned. "It'll be something like eight, nine months before we're back on Earth."
"We can still try and make some time for ourselves on the ship." Naomi insisted. "Sure there's no restaurants, but space sludge in the storage unit is fine with me if it is with you."
I smiled at the idea of the two of us eating whatever astronaut food Calla's guys had packed for us while sitting on boxes in the storage section of the ship while avoiding everyone else. The idea wasn't unappealing, but there was something else bothering me. "That wasn't the part that was bugging me."
"Then what? We're going to be up there for eight months, Ben." She pointed out. I nodded in agreement.
"Yes, we are." I agreed. "Eight months in space, with Adam Davenport." I added. Naomi frowned.
"So?" She questioned. I looked at her.
"Does he know that we're dating?" I asked. She hesitated.
"Not yet. We haven't really talked since the new year." She admitted. "Are you upset that I haven't told him?"
"No, no. I'm not upset." I assured her quickly. She nodded.
"Then I don't see what the big deal is." She told me. I chuckled. "What?"
"You have an overprotective family." I pointed out.
"No I don't." She retorted. I nodded. "No, I don't."
"You do, Naomi." I told her. She rolled her eyes. "Admit it."
"Okay, maybe they're a little overprotective." She admitted reluctantly. I chuckled.
"Leo threatened to kick my ass." I told her. Her eyes widened.
"Did he actually?" She laughed in surprise.
"Well...he tried." I admitted. She smiled, confused. "He started to, got to about 'if you ever hurt her', and then I stood up and he remembered that I can kick his ass a LOT easier than he can kick mine."
"Oh my God." She laughed into her hand. "What did he do next?"
"He just kinda stopped and left the room. It was actually pretty funny." I admitted, laughing as well. She smiled.
"Okay, yeah. I will talk to Adam, make sure he's on his best behavior." She promised. I chuckled.
"Thank you." I smiled as the waitress returned, carrying a beer and a glass of wine. She placed them on the table and left to give us more time. I raised my drink.
"Here's to a successful mission, and to you controlling your crazy family." I teased. She laughed good naturedly at the tease.
"Here's to me trying. Davenports don't exactly do as they're told." She replied, clinking her glass against the glass bottle.
Kira's POV
I had just finishing zipping up my duffel bag when there was a soft knock on my door. I froze instantly, praying it wasn't Naomi. She had told me she'd planned on spending the night at Ben's, so I shouldn't worry when she didn't come back tonight, but that she would come back in the morning before leaving for the mission.
"It's just me." Seraphina whispered, and I relaxed. I quickly opened the door, ushering her inside. "I wasn't sure if you were awake or not."
"I didn't want the lights to wake Calla." I explained, gesturing to the only light source in the room, the tiny fairy lights I'd convinced Naomi to let me put up when I'd moved in.
"Good idea. Noah's gone to finish packing the ship. He took Charlotte with him." She explained.
"Was he able to get everything in time?" I asked, uncertainly. With the mission planned for tomorrow, we had to move our agenda up, but it hadn't left us much time to get everything we'd wanted to do. I'd been hoping to be able to geoleap back to my own house and grab a few things that would be helpful for the mission, but there'd been no time at all.
"I hope so." Sera's answer wasn't all that reassuring, but it was the best I was going to get. "You ready to go?"
"I guess so." I took one last look at my room, then nodded to myself and hoisted my bag over my shoulder. "Let's go."
I carefully and quietly followed her out of my room and into the hall. The door to her and Emily's room was still open, and in the darkness, I could see Emily sitting on her bed, intently petting Helix's fur. Her duffel bag was sitting on the ground at her feet. She was fully dressed in black pants, a dark t-shirt, and a slightly too big dark blue sweater, clearly ready to go but not quite wanting to leave her dog's side just yet.
"Em." Sera murmured. The technopath looked up, startled, then nodded.
"I've got to go, boy." She murmured to her dog. Helix whined in response, jumping to his feet as if to follow us. "No, Helix. I'm sorry, but I can't take you with me. We don't know what those evil Venusians do to doggies."
He whimpered but lied back down on the bed dejectedly. Emily's face crumpled and she dropped to her knees in front of him. "Hey, it's okay. Mom's going to take good care of you." She promised. "And when I get back, I promise I won't leave again for a long, long time, okay? And I'll give you a hundred cuddles and treats, okay? I promise."
Helix looked up at the sound of 'treats' and stared at her for a long moment before leaning close to sniff her. After a moment, he licked her on the face, making Emily's face scrunch up.
"Okay, be good. I love you." She told him, kissing him on the head before grabbing her bag and walking out after us.
As we walked towards the stairs, we passed by Calla's room. The door was slightly ajar, and we could see the pregnant woman asleep. Emily hesitated as she passed the door, looking into her mom's room with a slightly guilty look on her face. She and Calla hadn't been on the greatest terms since Darius had left, but I could tell that lying to her mom and sneaking out wasn't completely agreeing with her either.
I touched her arm gently, and she seemed to shake herself out of it. She tore her gaze away from Calla's room and led the way downstairs, where Kameron was already waiting. He was standing at the counter, writing something on a piece of paper.
"What are you doing?" I whispered to him.
"Writing Calla a note." He explained, finishing what he was doing. He folded the piece of paper and placed it on top of Calla's holo-tablet. "So she doesn't freak out in the morning."
"She's still definitely going to freak out." Seraphina pointed out. Emily nodded.
"Oh yeah, even if we survive this mission, she's definitely going to kill us when we return." She agreed.
"Well, it's still polite." He insisted. Emily and Seraphina both looked at me pointedly.
"Well, it is." I reasoned. Emily rolled her eyes.
"Let's just go." She insisted. She gave the room a once over, then took a deep breath and turned on her heel, walking out the door without another word.
Ben's POV
"Wow." Naomi whistled as I pulled up to the airfield that Calla had bought specifically for this mission. Naomi stared up at the grey and blue spaceship even as she climbed out of the car, eyes wide with wonder. "It's huge."
"Well, it has to carry fourteen people across space for months on end." I reminded her, looking up at the ship myself. It was large - 2 floors, about 40 feet long and 30 feet wide - but having gone inside myself, I knew its appearance was a little deceptive. The bottom halves of each of the two long, large cylinders on either side of the massive circular center were mostly made up of the light speed engines, and the largest part of the ship was the bridge. "It feels a lot smaller on the inside."
"It does?" She questioned, looking back at me. I nodded. "Still, it looks huge."
"Trust me, you won't be saying that after a month stuck in there." I told her. She gave me a look.
"You're awfully grumpy." She commented.
"Maybe that's because your sister-in-law woke us up at 3 in the morning for an 'emergency meeting' at the ship." I grumbled. Naomi rolled her eyes and closed the car door before heading for the open ramp that led into the cargo bay of the ship.
"It's probably important." She reasoned as I followed her inside. When I saw that Calla was not in the cargo bay, I stopped next to the ladder that led up to the 2nd floor of the ship.
"I swear, if she just wants to go over the ships controls again because she can't sleep, I'm actually going to kill her this time." I threatened. Naomi rolled her eyes.
"That happened one time, Benji." She sighed. A sudden beeping alerted us to the fact that the cargo bay ramp was slowly raising to seal us in. "Where is Calla, anyway?"
"The bridge is on the second floor." I sighed, grabbing a rung of the ladder. I started to climb up it, but before I could even place a foot on the third rung, the ship suddenly jerked violently, the hum of the engines growing to an audible level as the ship left the ground.
"Are we - are we moving?" Naomi demanded, managing to keep her balance as the ship took off. "Are we flying?"
"C'mon." I quickly ascended the ladder, Naomi following closely behind. Once on the second floor, I led her around the corner and into the bridge, where we were met with the most unexpected sight.
Emily and Seraphina were at the front of the bridge, the former in the pilot's seat while the latter was in the navigator's seat to Emily's right. In the row of 3 seats behind them were Charlotte, Kira, and Noah; Charlotte was in the middle of them, leaning to the right as far as her seat belt would let her in order to explain to Noah how the complicated straps worked, while Kira, also buckled in, was craning her neck to try and look at what Emily was doing at the controls. Her brother was behind her, looking a little grey in the face.
"What the hell is going on?" I demanded loudly. Almost all of them looked back at me, startled by my shout, with guilty looks on their faces. The only one who didn't was Emily, who kept her gaze locked on the controls.
"Hey Ben, hey Naomi. I'd buckle up if I were you." She called back to us, fiddling with the controls. "This is my first time flying a spaceship, and I suspect the roughness of this flight will most likely reflect that."
Kameron groaned at her words, and Kira handed him a small contained, a sympathetic look on her face.
"Uh, you want to explain what's going on here?" Naomi sounded more confused than annoyed, unlike myself who had already realized the kids' reckless, dangerous, and frankly stupid plan.
"We're going to save our parents." Kira told us cheerfully.
"There was a plan in place!" I exclaimed. They ignored me.
"By ourselves?" Naomi questioned. Charlotte nodded.
"We have a plan that'll work faster and better than Calla's. But she wouldn't have let us go, so we took matters into our own hands." She explained. Naomi looked at her, then at Noah.
"I put you in charge and this is what you do?" She questioned incredulously. He shrugged.
"Yeah...not your best decision, Naomi." He told her. She laughed humorlessly at that, shaking her head in amazement at them. Emily sighed.
"Look, your options are simple. Either you can go along with our plan, or you can use the escape pod and bail out before we leave the atmosphere. But either way, we're doing this." She told us, tone serious. I stared at her, then turned to Naomi in disbelief.
"Did we just get kidnapped by a bunch of high school students?" I questioned.
"I'm not in high school." Noah chimed in. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, a bunch of high school students and a college drop out." I corrected myself. Noah scowled, then sighed.
"Fair." He admitted. "Mean, but fair."
"Yeah, looks like it." Naomi replied, answering my question. Seraphina turned around in her seat to face us fully.
"So. Are you with us, or are you against us?" She questioned. Naomi looked around the room, then dropped into the nearest seat, right behind Noah, and began to buckle up wordlessly. Sera smiled when she saw that. The rest of the kids all watched me expectantly.
After a long moment, I sighed and moved past Naomi to sit between her and Kameron, just behind Charlotte. "Calla is definitely going to kill us when we get back." I announced, buckling myself into the seat. Kira beamed in response before turning around in her seat to face the front.
"Oh, it's okay. We left a note."
Xxx
Kihonne: Somehow, I don't think that note is going to go over very well. What did you guys think of the chapter? Good, bad? Somewhere in between? Seriously, I want to know, guys! Anyway, here's the schedule for the first few weeks of Season 2:
January 10th – Caldera
January 17th – Scavenger Hunt
January 24th – Fly Away
Anyway, don't forget to review guys, . I hope you guys have a wonderful start to the new year / new decade, and I'll see you all next Friday!