Kihonne: Wow, it has been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the extra-long, unexpected HIATUS. Adulting leaves you with very little spare time, especially right now. But I'm back now, and I brought you an awesome new chapter! I hope it's something you'll all really enjoy. But before we get to that, I have shoutouts to do!
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LabGirl2001: I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! I figured people would want to know what really happened to the Elite Force, and frankly, I just really wanted to write an OG-EF chapter. As much as I love the kids, I do miss writing for the old team. They were…less chaotic. I'm so glad you liked the ending so much. That scene will be continued in the best possible way here, so I hope you like that. Maybe it was a hint? You'll have to read and find out. I hope you're doing well and staying safe yourself! Enjoy the chapter!
SzymonS: I missed the team too. I love all of them so much (but Dani and Kaz are a great couple to write for). Yeah, it's really easy to tell the difference between the adults and the kids. The adults know what they're doing, the kids…well, the best word I use to describe them is 'chaotic', so there's that. It's going to be interesting having chapters with both teams in there. The Venusians do have some interesting technology/powers that make them a formidable foe. Putting Dani is life-threatening situations is fun, okay? Mostly because of Kaz's reactions to it. Chase is not going to be thrilled when he finds out Emily's on Venusia, that's for sure. Venusia certainly has some specific plans in this war, that's for sure. The team learned a bit more than they let on though in their chapter, so we'll really be getting into the Venusian's plans really soon, so you're right, there is more to this than just the council want to build some intergalactic empire. It'll be interesting, you'll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Kaitlin: I'm glad you liked the chapter so much! I hope you like this one too!
TheatreGeek2019: I'm so glad you liked it, and that you enjoyed seeing the original team again. I missed them too. You know what, you're kinda right; it does give off Among Us vibes. Which is super weird because I've only ever played the game once, and I think it might have been after this chapter was posted. Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and your kind words, by the way! They really meant a lot, really! :) :) I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Guest: Do you really think passive aggression is gonna get the chapter out sooner? Dude, life gets busy. I post when I can, but reviews like this aren't going to help.
Amazingchichi741: Thanks, hope you're well too! I hope you like the chapter!
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Kihonne: Alright-y! Let's move onto what I admittedly call the most chaotic chapter I've ever written for this series. Ever. I hope you guys like it!
Kameron: Kihonne doesn't own Lab Rats, Mighty Med, or the Elite Force. She only owns this story, all the OCs, and anything else you don't recognize.
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Kameron's POV
"Try it now!" Charlotte's shout came from the lower deck. I hit a button on either side of the helm's controls. Instantly, the main deck lit up, the controls coming to life.
"It worked!" I called unnecessarily - she would have seen the lights turn on in the engine room. I heard the sound of her shuffling around down there, probably cleaning up from her work, so I set about re-activating the scanners. The holographic map of the planet appeared above the helm but instead of showing the trees and the cities, it showed patches and splotches of color representing temperature.
"Alright, I secured the power cord to the escape pod." Charlotte announced, wiping her hands on a cloth as she walked onto the main deck. "That should get us another hour, hour and a half of power."
"I still can't believe those things ate through the engine." I shook my head. She shrugged, leaning on the back of my chair.
"Earth has termites, Venusia has...whatever those were. But thanks to them, this ship isn't going anywhere anytime soon. We're gonna have to find another way home."
"Let's start by finding by the others." I suggested before nodding at the map. "You said you needed this for your idea?"
"Yeah, so I was thinking," she stepped to my left so I could see her smiling confidently, "you know how the planet's really cold, but the people are supposed to be a tiny bit warmer than normal humans?"
"Yeah, but if you were thinking of using the thermal scanner to try and pick the others out, that won't work. The animals here are about the same temperature as humans, we won't be able to tell the difference on the scanner." I pointed out. She smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"The same temperature as humans, yes, but the same temperature as pyrokinetics? Or Calderans, or cryokinetics?" She questioned. I leaned back, realizing where she was going with this.
"We can track Kira, Sera, Skylar, Oliver, and my dad." I grinned at her. "Wait, why didn't we do this to find them when we first landed?"
"Em and I tried, but we couldn't find them on the radar. But," she added quickly, before I could read too much into that piece of information, "they easily could have been masked by other signals or by being underground or inside a building with thick enough walls."
"Alright," I nodded, hoping she was right, "let's see if there's anything that stands out."
Turning back to the map, I could see that the planet itself was bathed in blue-green hues, with specks and splotches of yellow and light greens scattered throughout. I could easily see the main cities, lit up in large blobs of yellow and light orange.
"I'm not seeing any warm ones that stand out." I frowned, worried.
"Kira could be underground, or if she already made it to Caelus City already, her thermal signature might be blending in with the Venusians. It could easily be hidden in the signatures given off by mass groups of people, like in Caelus City. I'm sure Kira's alright." She lowered her voice gently, glancing at me. I nodded. She was okay. I knew she was. "But you see that?"
She was pointing at a small speck not that far off from Caelus City. Unlike most of the specks representing animals or possibly Venusian people, this one was pale blue, verging on green, and although its movement on the map was extremely slow, it did seem to be moving in the direction of the city. "Thirty bucks says that's our Sera."
"And those two nearby specks," I pointed at two spots of yellow clustered around the blue one, "they could be animals, or they could be some of the others. Only two though."
"Could be that they're so physically close that the computer doesn't recognize them as multiple signatures. Or, they're in the city." Charlotte suggested.
"You're being awfully optimistic." I commented. She shrugged.
"I just like having a direction to go in." She admitted. I nodded.
"The sooner we can get back to the original plan, the better I'll feel." I agreed. "Even if we do have to make a few changes, like becoming ship thieves. Alright," I glanced up at her, "why don't I start packing some supplies, and you do your thing and find a way for us to track the signature even after we leave the ship?"
Charlotte's smile faltered a bit, eyebrows knitting in concern. "Are you sure you're feeling up to it?" She asked gently. "You were pretty sick yesterday."
"I'm up for it. Almost back to 100%." I assured her. She looked me over skeptically. "I'm okay."
"Alright. In that case..." She glanced back at the ship. "I have an idea of how we can get there a lot faster."
Noah's POV
"Um..." I trailed off, glancing at the others before turning back to my parents. "We're here to rescue you?"
Every adult in the room simply stared at me, which yeah, that was a fair reaction. We weren't exactly winning any 'Hero of the Year' awards any time soon.
After a few seconds of staring at me like I was absolutely crazy, my mom slowly drew her attention to Ben, who immediately raised his hands in surrender. "This whole thing was their idea," he told them calmly, instantly throwing us under the bus, "they should be the ones to explain."
"You know, you're being really passive-aggressive about this whole kidnapping thing." Kira muttered to him. Skylar's head snapped towards her, having overheard her.
"I'm sorry, did you just say, 'kidnapping thing'?" She questioned. Ben nodded, crossing his arms. Kira flushed in embarrassment.
"Well, you always said that if we're gonna do stupid stuff, we should bring a responsible adult so we don't die." She argued weakly, looking to her parents for support. Dani's eyebrows shot up at her daughter's explanation.
"So, you kidnapped one?" She clarified. Kira nodded slowly.
"You never told us that it had to be a willing one." She muttered defensively. Kaz sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"That's on us for not anticipating that loophole." He sighed, sending Ben an apologetic look.
"Can we back up to the bit where you said, 'we came to rescue you'? Did I hear that correctly?" Chase questioned, looking at us.
"Yes." Kira nodded.
"No." Chase sounded horrified. "This is an alien planet."
"We've noticed." I replied. Mom gave me a look. "I should just stop talking now."
"Is Kameron here?" Kaz sighed, looking at Kira. Dad's eyes widened.
"Oh god, tell me you didn't bring Justine." He pleaded with me.
"Yes about Kameron, no about Justine." I said quickly, answering for both of us. I glanced at my parents. "I'll do stupid stuff with my own life, not my little sister's."
"Good man." Dad squeezed my shoulder, looking somewhat relieved.
"Charlotte, Emily, Seraphina, and Naomi are also here." Ben added. The other adults all exchanged worried looks.
"Well, at least Naomi's with them." Mom suggested, sounding somewhat hopeful. "She'll keep them out of trouble."
"Actually...we all kinda got separated." Kira admitted. Chase immediately turned on Ben.
"You lost them?" He demanded. Ben reluctantly nodded.
"We were attacked by some of the wildlife." He explained. "But they're tough kids, they know how to handle themselves."
"Nature is not exactly my daughter's best friend." Chase argued, worry turning into anger. Ben nodded.
"I'm aware, but she and Kameron were together when we all got separated, and they're a surprisingly good team. The rest of the girls should all be together too, so they'll take care of each other." Ben added for Skylar and Oliver's sake. "Not to mention, everyone is wearing mission suits with trackers. It's not ideal, but once we're out of here, we can use that to find them."
"Mission suits?" Mom questioned. She looked over Kira, Ben, and I, eyes narrowing when she saw the EF on my belt buckle. "Calla made those?"
"No, she wouldn't." Skylar shook her head. She glanced at Chase, but he didn't look so certain. "There's no way she's supporting this."
"Well, she did make the uniforms." I admitted.
"Why?" Oliver questioned.
"Lexi Krane attacked the city." Kira spoke up. Everyone looked at her, surprised. "She and a bunch of your old enemies did, anyway. And the League was busy dealing with something, so we handled it...well, we mostly handled it. Lexi and Darius kinda went AWOL, but then again, is Darius even a real bad guy?" She looked at me expectantly, and I shrugged. "Whatever. We caught all but, like, one and a half villains, and that's like a B- on a test, so I think that counts as handling it."
By that point, everyone in the room seemed entirely speechless, staring at Kira as if she had three heads. "Or in other words, there was an emergency situation, we had no choice but to let them go on missions, and Calla felt they'd be better protected with suits." Ben cleared up. "And before you get angry about that, there wasn't much of a choice and we made sure they were trained and capable of handling it."
"That's supposed to make us feel better?" Oliver questioned. "They're children."
"The twins are the youngest on the team, and they're the same age you all were when you went on your first missions." I argued. Mom gave me a look.
"We trained longer than a couple of months." She warned before turning back to Ben. "And why couldn't the League handle Lexi?"
"In Liv's defense, there was a big witchcraft thing last year that we're all still cleaning up. She wouldn't have had the manpower." Dani explained. Mom looked at her. "Hey, I'm not defending Calla's decision, just Liv. Calla shouldn't have sent defenseless kids out there."
"Training them was better than them going out and fighting on their own." Ben explained. "You know how they are; they would have gone behind our backs."
"I mean, we already did." I commented, earning a glare from my mom. Kira chuckled.
"Doubly so for Noah." She added. Dad paused.
"What do you mean by that?" He questioned. I sent Kira a glare. "Noah?"
"Can we talk about it later?" I asked, turning back to him and Mom. Mom put her hands on her hips, looking at me expectantly. "Seriously, it's not immediately important and you have the entire ship ride home to yell at me for dumb decision making."
Mom and Dad exchanged looks. "Alright." Dad agreed slowly. "But only because I suspect there's a lot of things on that list."
"Oh, you have no idea." I assured him, patting his arm.
"This was still dangerous." Skylar pointed out.
"I don't disagree." Ben told her. "I've been telling them that since they kidnapped me."
Kira groaned and Kaz chuckled. "Cool it with the passive-aggressiveness, Aftershock. They're in trouble, trust me." He turned to his daughter. "Anything else we need to know?"
Kira considered it for a long moment before answering in a very cheerful voice, "Charlotte made out with Marcus the Robot."
Kameron's POV
"Whoa!" Charlotte laughed into my shoulder as we flew through the trees, pressed up against me as we maneuvered our way through the alien forest atop the skinny, metal hoverboard.
"I still can't believe you stole one of Calla's hoverboards!" I laughed as we curved around a large tree. She laughed again, tightening her grip around my waist.
"It was just sitting there when we were stocking up on supplies! I figured, why not?" She explained. "Calla said it wasn't working yet, but Emily and I figured we could get it to work for us."
"Well, you were half-right! You just needed a little bit of help." I chuckled as we reached an outcropping of rocks. I increased the power of the electricity I was sending between the hoverboard and the ground and the board raised a bit higher. We leapt off the edge of the rock outcropping, flying higher through the air before 'landing' a foot above the ground before continuing on our way. We tore through the trees at breakneck speeds, cutting down the trip time by at least half. "This was a great idea, Char!"
"Figured it would be better than walking. Faster too - we've already cut travel time down by half." She commented. "Now, faster! We've got friends to find!"
Seraphina's POV
"So, this is Caelus City." I hummed, observing the city from the safety of the trees. From here, it looked rather impressive, similar to some of the pictures I'd seen in my history book back on Earth.
"Yes." Naomi confirmed. She glanced at her niece. "And this Court we're looking for is..."
"On the other side of city." Emily confirmed, looking up from the holomap projecting from the disk-like device in her hands. "We should head around the North-East river, avoid getting too close to the city. We don't want to accidentally alert any guards that..."
Crack! Although the sound was too quiet for Emily or Naomi to catch, it drew my attention right away. I looked over my shoulder, tensing.
"Someone's out here." I hissed to them. Naomi raised her sword. I turned, raising my hand in the direction the sound had come from, while Em backed up to give us a chance to attack. I heard another crack, indicating how much closer the person, a guard most likely, was moving. I raised four fingers at Naomi, then dropped one, then another. The moment I twitched my last finger, Naomi lunged forward, twisting the blade at the last minute to knock the figure just coming out of the trees onto the ground, then aiming the blade at his throat. I, meanwhile, sent a blast of ice at a second figure emerging from the trees. She dodged to the left, hitting the ground by the roots of a nearby tree before I recognized her.
"Ouch." Kameron said, more offended than hurt, from where he lay on the ground with Naomi's sword still pointed at his throat. "This isn't my week."
"I'll say." Charlotte agreed, still next to the tree. She slowly got to her feet, hands raised. "Are we good, or are you gonna try to freeze me again?"
"Sorry." I apologized instantly, Emily helping Kameron up behind me while Naomi grabbed the bags that had fallen off when she'd knocked him down. "We didn't realize it was you."
"Obviously. It's fine." Kameron assured us, accepting the bags from Naomi. Emily patted his shoulder before walking past me to hug her cousin tightly. "Glad you guys are okay."
"Likewise." I said sincerely, hugging him. I pulled away and glanced between him and Charlotte. "How'd you find us?"
"Thermal map." Charlotte explained briefly, pulling away from Emily before pulling one of two bags off her back and handing it to her. "We went back to the ship. We resupplied."
"Nice." Emily whistled, digging through the bag until she found what she was looking for: food bars and water bottles. She tossed one to each Naomi and I before tearing open the wrapper of her bar and digging in. "We haven't eaten." She explained between chews before nodding at the long, metal board sticking out of one of Kameron's skateboards. "Is that the hoverboard? You got it working?"
"Yeah. Figured it was faster than walking." Charlotte explained. I frowned and she smiled. "It's Calla's prototype hoverboard."
"Why didn't we take those instead of walking the first time?" I questioned, taking a sip of my water. We probably would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had.
"The girls only thought to steal one." Kameron replied before looking around. "So, where's Kira? And Ben and Noah?"
We all exchanged looks. "They've been captured by the Venusians." Naomi finally said, much to Kameron and Charlotte's horror. "They're alive though, and we know where they, and the Elite Force, are being held."
"How do you know?" Charlotte demanded. Emily pulled a device out of her pocket, the small rectangular piece of technology resembling one of my Dad's outdated phones that he used to let me play games on. Emily hit a button on the side of the device and a pre-recorded message came from it. "...additional threats who may be attempting to do the same and bring them to the Court for prosecution. Three off-worlders have breached the capital. Locate and capture additional threats who-"
Emily cut off the recording. "It's been playing on a loop on all communication channels for a couple of hours now." She explained. "We weren't sure who the three were, but if you two are here..."
Kameron began to pace, rubbing the back of his neck with two hands and swearing under his breath. "This isn't good." He told us. Charlotte nodded.
"That's one way to put it." She took the communication device from Emily. "Where'd you get this, by the way? It's not one of ours. Neither is that holomap."
"We, uh, we found some stuff." Emily admitted. Kameron paused, noting her tone.
"What kind of stuff?" He questioned.
"Tech like these, amongst other things." Naomi replied vaguely. Before Kameron could ask for a better explanation, she raised a hand. "We can deal with the other stuff once we've figured out how to rescue the others. One crisis at a time."
"Crisis?" Charlotte repeated, looking at us. When neither Emily nor I responded, she paled. "Oh, yay. Must be serious."
"Actually, I think we can use some of that 'other stuff' to our advantage." Emily piped up. We all looked at her. "I have a plan that might work now that there's more of us, but it's risky."
"Well, I hope that plan involves stealing another ship, because ours is done-zo." Charlotte announced. I looked at her, surprised. "Venusian Weasels, don't ask."
"O-kay. Good thing my plan did involve stealing a ship. But first," Emily rubbed her hands together, "you're gonna wanna see something."
Xxx
One at a time to avoid making too much noise, we led Kameron and Charlotte back to the sinkhole Emily had originally fallen into. Once safely at the bottom, I motioned for them to be quiet, then brushed away the curtain of vines covering the large crack in the rock wall and crawled through onto the tiny rock ledge, just big enough for the three of us. The ledge extended off to the left but shrank in size until it was only big enough for one person and barely that.
"Whoa." Kameron whispered breathlessly, staring out at the sight before us. I nodded, glancing at it myself, looking over the dozens, if not hundreds, of two-man fighter jets in the secret underground hangar. When Emily had initially found them, I'd been stunned at the size of the armada. It was so different than the larger cruisers that had been attacking Caldera for the past couple of years, and so much more threatening.
Charlotte looked at me, as if to ask a question, and I motioned for them to follow me back into the bottom of the sinkhole, where Emily and Naomi were waiting.
"That...that's a lot of ships." Charlotte stuttered, shocked. I nodded.
"We know. And guess where their destination is." I suggested. Kameron frowned.
"Caldera?" He guessed. Emily nodded.
"Caldera..." she agreed, before adding. "And Earth."
Kameron and Charlotte stared at her, eyes going wide. Charlotte seemed at a loss for words. "How...how..." She stammered, a pained look on her face. "No."
"Yes." Naomi replied, grimacing.
"But they're at war with Caldera. No offense," Kameron quickly apologized to me, "but why would they be set to attack a planet they're not at war with?"
"And how do you know they're headed for Earth?" Charlotte added sharply.
"We don't know the why, but it is their destination. Did you see where the ledge narrows?" Emily asked. Kameron and Charlotte nodded. "If you follow that, it leads above what looks like a mission control. We had to be careful because there were guards, but eventually we managed to get access to their computers, along with all the information on the ships. Including their GPS coordinates."
"Venusian's use GPS?" Kameron questioned.
"I'm sure they call it something different, but yeah. And they all have both Earth and Caldera coordinates as their intended targets." I explained.
"Okay, but... which will they attack first?" Kameron questioned. "Actually, not important. Let's just destroy the ships."
"That won't work." Naomi told him. He looked at her, confused. "We don't have time."
"I'm an electrokinetic and she's a technopath. I'm sure we could figure out how to blow this place up quickly." He argued, arms crossed. Charlotte shook her head.
"A hangar this size, with the amount of fuel that's gotta be in those ships...if we blew it up, the damage it would do to the planet would be catastrophic. We could kill innocent people."
"Not all the Venusians are bad. We saw that." I nodded at Emily and Naomi. "That's not an option."
"What about deactivating them? With your powers, it wouldn't take as long as destroying them individually." Charlotte turned to her cousin. Emily nodded.
"I could, and it wouldn't, but it also wouldn't be permanent. It would buy us days, a week at most. But it is part of the plan." She admitted. Naomi looked at her.
"How risky is this plan of yours?" She questioned. Emily considered.
"Riskier than my normal ones." She admitted. Charlotte nodded.
"Okay, I'm in." She declared. I looked at her in surprise; Emily hadn't even told us what her plan was. "What? Crazy Emily plans tend to work out for us."
"Do they?" Kameron asked skeptically. Emily crossed her arms, mildly offended.
"Well, no one's died yet." She argued. He sighed.
"We really need to raise our bar for success." He muttered. "Yeah. I'm in too. We started this rescue mission doing crazy stuff, might as well end it the same way. Besides, if we die doing this, then Calla can't kill us when we get home."
"That's the spirit." Emily grinned, patting his shoulder before turning to face all of us. "Okay, so here's the plan..."
Noah's POV
"So, let me get this straight..." Skylar paced in front of us, rubbing her forehead to ward off a stress-induced headache. Mom, Dad, Kaz, and Dani were all leaning against the wall, looking as tired as Skylar sounded. Ben, Kira, and I were sitting on the beds (which were really just these thin, hard pads with equally thin blankets) while Chase and Oliver worked on removing our handcuffs. "You stole a ship from Calla…"
"Yup." Kira popped the P, smiling as Oliver finally managed to release one of her hands.
"…you snuck onto Caldera, snuck onto Venusia, attempted to travel across an alien planet with limited knowledge on what lived here, without even knowing what the people looked like…"
"I mean, they don't exactly have PicPost here…" I muttered half under my breath.
"…allowed yourselves to get separated with no way to track each other down, infiltrated the Venusian capital city with just the three of you, and then attempted to break into what you were told was their most heavily guarded facility." Skylar finished. Ben cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"I mean, they were planning on killing you, Skylar. We couldn't do nothing." Ben pointed out as Chase finished with his cuffs. The Calderan sighed and stopped pacing as the bionic genius moved onto my cuffs, using a twisted wire to try and pick them.
"And before that...actually, don't tell us that story." Skylar decided. "Not yet. I'm pretty sure that the image I have of you all being good and smart and not making Kaz-like decisions is a lot more comforting than whatever the truth is."
"That's certainly true." The Kira agreed, rubbing her wrists as Oliver finished with her. "Thanks, Uncle Ollie. Too bad our powers still won't work."
"Too bad." Skylar deadpanned. She looked at Kaz and Dani. "You two aren't gonna say anything?"
The Broadmans exchanged looks. "What do you want us to do, send her to her room?" Dani snorted in amusement. Mom sighed.
"I think Skylar's right; we can wait for the rest of the story until we're more prepared to handle it." She suggested. She looked at us. "Is there anything we need to know now that's relevant? And not about anyone's dating life?" She added quickly when she saw Kira perk up.
"Uh, yeah." I rubbed the back of my head with my freshly released hand. I nodded gratefully to Chase as he removed the cuff on my other hand, then turned to my parents. "Don't be mad."
"Any madder, you mean?" Dad corrected.
"Yes." I cleared my throat. Well, might as well get it over with. "I have bionics. Superspeed, if I'm being specific."
Mom and Dad both froze when I said that, staring at me with wide eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time. "You…have superspeed." Dad eventually said, slowly as if he was still trying to understand what I'd said. I nodded.
"Yes." I responded in an equally slow voice.
"Explain. Now." Mom demanded.
"I have superspeed now." I repeated, before quickly rushing to add. "I'm an adult now, so…like if I wanted to get a tattoo, I wouldn't exactly need permission."
"This is so very different from a tattoo." Dad told me, angry. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking I wanted to be bionic." I said plainly. Mom clenched her fists, then unclenched them.
"Douglas, Davenport or Calla?" She questioned. I frowned, not understanding at first. "Which member of our family am I going to be killing for this?"
"Me, I guess? This was all me. No one else had anything to do with it." I lied instantly. They looked at me, not at all buying it. "I'm not an idiot. I can figure out how to make a bionic chip."
"It takes more than an idiot to figure out bionics, Noah. Ben, who did this?" Dad questioned. Ben shrugged.
"He's been sticking to his story." He replied. "It wasn't Calla though. She was pretty shocked when she found out, to say the least."
Mom turned to Chase, an annoyed look on her face. "In that case, I'm going to kill one of our fathers when we get home."
"It wasn't them!" I insisted, but before I could come up with a more convincing argument, the entire room suddenly shook violently, as if something massive had exploded above us. Dirt fell from the ceiling as the room settled, all of us struggling to keep our balance.
"What the hell was that?" Oliver demanded, looking up at the ceiling.
"Not sure. Be on your guard." Chase ordered. He looked at Ben, Kira, and I. "Is this the others? Part of some plan?"
"God, I hope not." Ben answered, but the look in his eyes told me that he was fairly sure it was.
Seraphina's POV
In the time I'd come to know her, I'd learned three very important things about Crazy Emily Plans.
One: they were extremely to the point. Somewhere along the way, she must have realized that most of the team either didn't understand or didn't care for the science often involved in her plans, so she kept her instructions simple and direct: do this, shoot that, don't die. Easy to remember, easy to follow.
Two: they were certainly unconventional. Attempting to guess at what was going on in her crazy little head was a waste of your time. But her out-of-the-box thinking often gave us a leg up against people, especially those who were dumb to underestimate us based on our age.
Three: they weren't exactly subtle.
"AAAHHHH!" Emily, Naomi, Kameron, and I screamed inside the tiny, too-cramped cockpit of the fighter jet we'd stolen as Emily drove it downwards and into the side of the massive, fortified building where our parents and friends were being held.
Between the weight of the small, but sturdy ship, the speed at which we were nose-diving, and the extra power Emily was diverting to our engine and shields, we succeeded in smashing through the side of building, busting into a hallway on the first floor. It was a rough landing - if it could even be called a landing instead of a crash - but the fact that we were all packed in so close together prevented us from being jostled around too much. Still, Charlotte, who was off on a side mission of her own, was going to be the only one of us without bruises later.
"Go!" Naomi ordered the second the ship was stable enough for us to move. Emily snapped her fingers and the cockpit window flipped open, allowing us to jump out. Emily immediately activated the freshly charged cybermask, disguising herself as a Venusian just as guards began tumbling into the room. Naomi, Kameron, and I ducked behind the ship, using it to block the guards view of us as we darted down the nearby hall to our left. By time I looked over my shoulder, Emily was gone, having blended in with the panicked Venusians running away from the crash site.
"Sera!" Kameron's call pushed me forward, racing after him and Naomi. The guards hadn't seen which way we'd gone, and many of them would still be investigating the crash itself, so we at least had something in our favor. We only had two halls to go; if we could make it to our destination before we were met by too much resistance, we could build our defense in front of the holding cells and get the rest of our team and the Elite Force to join in the fight.
Unfortunately, things rarely go our way, especially when we're doing something that was arguable chaotic. By time we made it to the end of the first hallway, we found ourselves faced with a wall of guards coming our way. Instinctively, I ducked behind the nearest barrier, using it to shield me from the incoming blasts from the guards' shooter-spheres. Kameron followed suit, hiding behind one on my left, while Naomi half-hid herself in a doorway on our right, somewhat better protected than either Kameron or me.
I pulled out one of the plasma guns that Kameron and Charlotte had brought with them from the ship, took aim at the nearest guard, and fired off a couple of quick shots. Both of them went wide, to my annoyance, but at the very least, the second shot hit another guard, making him stumble a bit. I scowled; I was a much better shot with my actual powers than I was with these weapons, but the Venusians had increased their security measures after capturing the others and were now using some sort of technology to block any and all powers from being used within a certain distance of the building. Without our powers, all we had were these blasters and Naomi's sword (a weapon I fully intended to borrow when all this was over), and needless to say, I was less than thrilled about the idea.
I fired a few more times, missing each and every one of them, much to my annoyance. Meanwhile, Kameron and Naomi were at least hitting their marks, even if the guards' armor was protecting them mostly from the blasts. They were making some headway - they were at least keeping the guards from overwhelming us, despite outnumbering us 12 to 3 - but it wasn't great.
"Hey!" Kameron called as another one of my shots missed. I spared him a brief glance, deciding to keep most of my attention on the fight. "Aim lower!"
"Lower?" I questioned, confused. I was aiming at their chests!
"Yeah. You keep lifting your hand when you fire. Aim lower, and the blow will still hit." He suggested, firing again. I watched as his shots hit a guard in the shoulder, then chest, and figured I'd give it a shot. He was hitting his targets, so he clearly knew more than I did.
I took aim, this time aiming at the guard's crotch, and fired my blaster. The shot went high again, just like the others (that damn recoil), but instead of missing, this one hit the guard square in the head. Without a helmet to protect his head, he dropped like a sack of rocks.
"Yes!" Naomi called, grinning as she continued to fire. "Sera, keep doing exactly that! Kameron, aim for the heads!"
"Already trying to, but thanks!" Kameron called back, firing again at the guards, but this time focusing his aim just a bit more. I grinned before aiming again; I was really starting to get the hang of this thing.
Kameron's POV
Once we realized that headshots were going to be the only way we were going to get rid of these guards - the typical targets like the enemies' chests were too well protected and were only slowing them down - we started focusing the majority of our shots there. It wasn't easy, since their heads were much smaller targets, but it was working. Just barely.
We managed to take out three of the guards by now and were keeping the others at bay with sharp hits to the chest. I figured, eventually we'd be able to get rid of all of them, but the thing was, we didn't have eventually.
"More guards will be coming soon!" I called to Naomi just as she managed to knock out a fourth guard. She nodded breathlessly, ducking back into the doorway as an incoming shot got just a little too close for comfort.
"I know!" She called back, not commenting further. I motioned in annoyance at the hall behind the guards, trying to communicate my plan to her without having to say it aloud.
"Naomi!" I called again after a moment, ducking as a shot just narrowly missed my head. I shot a few more times to ward the guards off, but they were gaining ground.
"Not yet!" She insisted, firing again. I grit my teeth in frustration, leaning heavily against the barrier. I took a breath, then leaned back out across the barrier, firing rapidly at the incoming guards. I managed to clip one of them in the side of the head and two more in the shoulders, but none of the blows were enough to take any of them down.
"This is taking too long." I growled to Sera as I dropped behind the barrier again. She nodded, taking another shot. I winced as this one barely managed to hit a guy's shoulder. "We're about to be overrun."
"I know." She agreed, turning behind the barrier. She glanced at me, worry in her eyes. "We don't have another choice."
"If we go now-" I began, but she shook her head, cutting me off.
"If we go now, we'll just be delaying our capture. We have to follow the plan." She told me before turning to fire again. I followed her lead, shooting at the nearest guard once more. I knew she was right. The plan was...insane, but if we could just hold out long enough, it would work. The only problem was, at this rate, I wasn't sure how much longer we were going to be able to hold out.
"Ah!" My head snapped to the left just in time to see Naomi hit the doorframe hard and slide to a sitting position, clutching her left shoulder. Sera and I both fired at the guards nearest to her to try and give her some space.
"Naomi!" Sera called in concern, glancing at her.
"I'm fine!" The older girl ground out, glancing over her shoulder, and firing with her good shoulder. I craned my neck to try and get a look at the injury. I couldn't see it well from this angle so I couldn't be sure, but it didn't look too serious.
I was about to go check on her for real, but before I could move, the lights in the hall flickered for a moment. Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation run through my arms and into my palms. Closing my fist then opening it, I smiled when a spark of electricity flew from one of my fingers to the other. A quick glance at the grin on Sera's face told me that her powers were back as well.
"Was that Emily?" Naomi questioned, firing as she used the doorframe to push herself up onto her feet.
"Yup. We're good to go!" I told her. She nodded.
"Alright. Kam, you're up!" She ordered. "Sera, cover him!"
"Got it!" My cousin called before lunging out from behind the barrier. She raised her hands and spread them towards the guards before they could fire another shot, sending a wave of ice towards them. I took advantage of their distraction, leaping into the air and flying past them, sending blasts of electricity at them as I went. I didn't look to see if I managed to take down any of them but trusted that Naomi and Seraphina could handle them until I got back.
I turned the corner at high speeds and came face to face with two more guards, standing in front of the stairs I knew led down to the holding cells. I landed directly in front of them, a ball of electricity forming between my hands before my feet even touched the ground. I shot it at them before they could fire, managing to hit them both with the single electricity blast. The blast was enough to throw them back, the one on the left smacking into a nearby barrier, knocking him unconscious. The one on the right was just thrown back a few feet, his armor protecting him somewhat from the blast, but a second shot quickly took him out. I bent down, swiping the set of keys off his belt, and turned towards the stairs. I jogged down them two at a time, towards the heavy-looking door at the bottom, but before I could even try to unlock it, the door burst open. Oliver tumbled out, a look of surprise crossing his face when he saw me.
"Oh, hey Uncle Ollie. Fancy seeing you here." I grinned at him. I heard Kira let out a laugh before she ducked under Oliver's arms and ran out of the cell to meet me.
"Good timing. I appreciate getting my powers back." She flexed her hands, flames dancing around her fingers. I grinned at her before turning to my parents, who were following my uncle out of the cell. Behind them, I could see Chase, Bree, Jaden, Skylar, Ben, and Noah, all looking unharmed.
"Are you okay?" Dad questioned immediately, scanning me with his eyes. I nodded and smiled at him and Mom.
"I'm good, but we've got to go." I told them, turning around, and leading the way back up the stairs. "Sera and Naomi are taking care of the guards."
"Alone?" Ben questioned, sounding exasperated.
"We had to make a few changes to the plan." I explained, now running as the sound of combat got louder.
"Where are Emily and Charlotte?" Chase demanded from just behind me.
"Em was Phase 1, so she should be getting out of here soon. Char's off handling Phase 3. You were Phase 2, by the way." I explained, skidding to a stop as we turned the corner. While it looked like Sera and Naomi had managed to take out a few more of the guards, more had clearly come to join the fight, and they were now defending themselves on both sides.
Thankfully, I didn't have to tell anyone to go join the fight; after what must have been months trapped inside that holding cell, it seemed the members of the Elite Force were antsy for a fight themselves. Bree sped forward first, turning into a blur of color as she darted between guards, taking two out with relative ease. Dad and Oliver followed immediately behind her, blasts of fire and ice taking out the nearest guards while the rest of us met Naomi and Sera in the middle.
"Damn!" I whistled, impressed as Skylar tackled a guard from behind and nimbly took him down to the ground with very little effort. "I wish I could do that."
"Believe me, it's harder than it looks." Mom mentioned, sliding up beside me. She nodded at two nearby guards. "Tag team?"
I grinned and created a ball of electricity in my hand as a response. Mom smirked, doing the same, her ball slightly bigger, somehow brighter, and practically crackling with pent-up energy. In perfect unison, we threw our hands out at the guards, hitting them both in the chest with the blasts.
"What exactly is your plan to get out of here?" Chase demanded, not looking at us as he telepathically threw a guard into the air, two fingers pressed against his temple. Before any of us could answer, the entire hall shook suddenly, momentarily distraction everyone.
"That's our queue." Naomi announced. She shoved her blaster into Jaden's hands. "Hold this." She told him before digging through her bag.
"What was that?" Noah questioned, giving me and Sera a confused look before speeding towards the nearest guard, using his momentum to take him out.
"Emily." Sera replied with a shrug as Naomi pulled three metal balls, about the size of golf balls, out of the bag. Chase, who'd turned around to probably question the 'Emily' part, stopped short when he saw them.
"Whoa, hey." He cautioned. "You shouldn't be playing with those."
"What are they?" Jaden questioned, firing a bit at some of the guards.
"Davenbombs, the kind Calla designed for demolition purposes." Chase explained. Naomi nodded.
"Don't worry, we got the vibrational kind. Hey, Oliver, you mind putting a wall up between us and them?" She glanced at the older cryokinetic, who nodded and turned back towards the guards. He swept his hands out and a wall of ice began to build from the ground up, creating a barrier between us and them. Naomi, in the meantime, turned back towards the wall and tossed the Davenbombs at them, the small devices sticking where they landed and beginning to blink rapidly.
"Back up!" Sera called, raising her hand at the Davenbombs, coating them in a layer of ice themselves. The rest of us backed against the ice barrier that Oliver created, the sound of blaster shots chipping away at the ice on the other side not exactly easing anyone's nerves. After a moment, there was a flash of light and, with a quake that shook the entire hall, the wall came apart, bricks crumbling to create an opening out into the streets.
"That tiny layer of ice protected us from the bombs?" Bree sounded skeptical, even though it'd happened right in front of us.
"C'mon!" Naomi motioned for us to follow her right before leaping over the broken part of the wall. We all followed her out into the streets, ignoring the looks coming from confused pedestrians as we raced away from the Caelus Court as fast as we could.
"The bombs use vibrations, not explosives, to take down walls." Chase explained to Bree as we ran. He looked back over at us. "Where's Emily?"
"We'll meet up with her." Naomi's response clearly didn't sit well with Chase, but it would have to do for now. Looking over my shoulder, I could see that some of the guards, having broken through Oliver's ice wall, were beginning to follow us.
"Guys!" I called over to them, hesitant to attack the incoming guards. These were public streets, with onlookers close enough to accidentally be caught up in the commotion. Fire was hard enough to control as it was, and I didn't want to hurt any innocent people.
"On it!" Bree and Noah called at the same time. They exchanged looks, then both sped backwards to deal with the guards.
"This way!" Sera led us down a side alley, heading away from the main streets. She glanced back at the others. "We just have to get out of the city."
"And then what?" Skylar demanded just as Noah sped back up to the front.
"Took out the first few, distracted the rest." He announced. Bree sped up a moment later.
"And I made a point of being seen by the guards heading in the other direction. They were too distracted to see where you guys were going, so that should buy us enough time to escape." She added. Noah looked at her in surprise.
"Oh, that's a good idea." He complimented. She gave him a nod, keeping pace with the rest of us. "Where are we headed?"
"Through here." Naomi explained, ducking behind the last building at the end of the alley, the cobblestone ground beneath our feet being replaced by grass. I could see the tree line of the Venusian jungle further ahead. And above the trees, I could see a spaceship coming in, slowing its flight as it approached us.
"I've got it." My Mom announced, raising her hand, and creating a ball of electricity in it. I quickly stepped in front of her, waving my hands to disrupt her aim.
"No, no, no. That's Charlotte! That's Charlotte!" I exclaimed before she could fire on our friend.
"We hope." Sera added, uncertain. I gave her a look.
"It's Charlotte." I repeated firmly as the ship landed just in front of the tree line, a door on its side dropping open to function as a ramp into the ship. Out of the tree line emerged a lone figure, who raced out to meet the ship and hopped up onto the ramp. I grinned as we got closer, recognizing the figure, now waiting in the doorway for us, as Emily.
"C'mon!" I insisted, pushing forward faster. To my surprise, as we got close, Emily pulled out her blaster.
"Behind you!" She shouted, aiming and firing. I hopped up onto the ramp and looked over my shoulder to see that the guards had found us once more and were converging on our location. "Hurry up!"
"Everyone inside!" Chase ordered, leaping onto the ramp alongside Jaden. Jaden turned and began to help Emily hold off the guards while the others scrambled onto the ramp and into the ship as fast as they could.
"We're good!" Emily shouted as Oliver climbed on last. She, Oliver, and Jaden backed away from the ramp and into the belly of the ship as the ramp began to rise, the two armed heroes continuing to fire on the guards until the door was closed. I felt the ship jolt underneath me as it began to take off.
"Now," Emily let out a sigh of relief, turning to grin at us, "that's what I call a rescue plan."
Noah's POV
We just barely managed to get out of the Venusian atmosphere in the end. Emily had used the same trick she had before to create a hole in the shielding that surrounded the planet and while this time she was helped by her father's telekinesis, we also had a number of armed ships following after us, firing at our small and admittedly vulnerable ship.
"Char!" Emily gasped out, eyes screwed shut as she focused. As soon as the triangular shaped hole grew large enough, Charlotte complied and hit the hyperdrive, sending us hurtling through space. Emily dropped her hands in relief, leaning against the back of the pilot seat.
"Are you okay?" Chase questioned in concern. Emily gave him a small smile and nodded before looking over at the scanners.
"Now, I don't read Venusian, but...I don't see anything following us, so...I think we're good?" She mentioned.
"They're most likely regrouping." Dad advised, turning around to look at all of us. "Now, are we going to talk about how reckless you've all been and how you are most definitely grounded for the rest of your lives?"
I winced at the anger in my dad's voice, as did a few of the others, but to my surprise, it was Sera who stood her ground.
"Right after we talk about the Venusians, and how we're going to stop them from invading Caldera and Earth." She decided. I looked at her in surprise, as did Ben and Kira.
"I'm sorry, what?" Ben questioned, looking between her and Naomi. The older girl nodded solemnly.
"We figured out their plan of attack while you were detained." She explained. "They're going to attack Caldera and Earth."
"But we have no idea why." Emily added. A few of the adults exchanged looks.
"We might." Mom sighed. I frowned, confused. "Guards talk, and we had nothing to do but listen."
"Why are they doing all this? People are going to die!" Kira exclaimed, shaking her head.
"Because if they don't, they'll die." Kaz explained. All eyes were on him as he explained. "They don't have another choice. Their planet is dying."
Xxx
Kihonne: Wow, that's a cliffhanger. What did you guys think of the chapter? Good, bad? I really, really want to know. I had some trouble trying to balance the kids' ability to be chaos personified with a plan that could actually work, but I think the end result was both good and entertaining. Tell what you guys thought.
As for the next chapter, I honestly don't know when that will be posted. Things are kind crazy on my end, so it's hard to make a definite decision on when the new chapter will be ready. I will be working on this when I can and I will post the next chapter as soon as it is done and edited. That's a promise. But in terms of chapter names, the next few chapters will be:
Season 2, Episode 11: Homeward Bound
Season 2, Episode 12: Home Again
Season 2, Episode 13: Battle Ready
Anyway, until next time, stay safe! And don't forget to review!