R:Ultra Evolution

by Primal WolfBlood

Follow the Renegades as they continue their quest for fixing the world, taking on all comers, including fellow revolutionaries Junction 7 led by their unhinged leader Rhydian, and the sinister Style Council, led by the devilish Caprice. To survive in this cut-throat world, they will have to evolve their power even further beyond. It's a battle for success and survival.

6. Stemming from Misery

R: Ultra Evolution

Book 6: Stemming from Misery

Three days later, Newcastle Cemetery

There exists a place in Newcastle, where all that is heard is the sounds of birds singing a pleasant, polite song. It was a song, not of misery, but of respect. A song that serenades a place where spirits go to rest, where bodies go to return to the earth they all came from, and where families and friends come to grieve, pay respect, and remember those who are no longer with us. Some reached the end of their natural course, others not so; snuffed out before their time, sometimes by fate, sometimes by choice, and sometimes at the hands of another.

There was a simple marker, not even a gravestone but a simple wooden cross. There was no body; rather ashes spread all along, an individual who had always considered themselves as coming from the earth returning to where they began. On the cross there read a name, "Daniel Smith" with the numbers "1965 - 2017" written on it in beautifully etched cursive writing. Above the grave, two doting wives stood side by side, united in grief, one unaware of the presence of the other.

Emma approached Hannah, who was standing silently with her head bowed, staring at the grave. As she saw the widow coming, she exhaled. 'I'm so sorry for what happened. Please understand' 'Believe me, I do. This would never be your fault my dear. What I saw in her eyes that day, that wasn't… human, that wasn't Maddy, that was somebody else… something else. It's not your fault, he's gone crazy with power.' 'He's trying to turn Maddy into some sort of symbol of destruction, and some kind of trophy wife. That's all she is to him, a symbol. That's never what she wanted.'

Emma then reflected on her daughter. 'All Maddy's ever wanted is to make life better for everyone. She took so much abuse when she was a kid, she was never "cool" or anything like that. She took up photography because she wanted to record the best moments of everyone to look back on, she wanted to see the best in everybody and help everyone make the best of themselves. It just breaks my heart seeing her like that.'

'You're not the only one. I can't help but worry that I was responsible, did we push her too hard, give her the opportunity to be something she didn't want to be' 'Nonsense. Maddy made her own choices, she wanted to be with you two, I don't understand what your "revolution" is, but she wanted to be a part of it. When she was with us before she went to New York, she told us that she was happier than she ever had been, because she finally felt like she was a part of something.'

Emma then made a revelation. 'I told the police that I didn't know what happened back there.' 'You did what?' 'Maddy doesn't deserve punishing for this. She wasn't in control of her own actions, and going to prison would destroy her. And if we report Rhydian, he'll just throw her straight under the bus.' She then looked at Hannah. 'She needs curing Hannah. Can you promise me you'll do that?' Hannah tried drying her own tears and nodded. 'We're already on it. She will come home. That's my promise. To you and to Daniel.' She then broke down over the grave. 'I promise we will fix all of this, your sacrifice won't be for nothing.'

In the condo

Rhydian appeared to have mixed feelings over the situation he had created. 'I really wish they hadn't got in my way, I always kind of liked them, but you really should have seen her go, she just destroyed them. A bit of questioning, but I'll talk to Kincade over that and we'll get her sorted.' 'So she did good then?' 'Draining her mind's creating a little monster, I might need to make her do things like that more often. We don't even need to worry about the Renegades, she'll just kill all of them if they oppose me.'

As he talked, Maddy just sat, head tilted, completely catatonic. She knew what she had done was wrong, but the rose was draining her so much that she was losing the ability to feel basic emotions such as guilt or sadness. The last of the light had faded from her eyes as well, her parents' plan being thwarted appearing to spell the end of any chance of her rescue. It was like she was waiting for the last of her mind to be sapped away, a prisoner in her own disobedient body.

At the base

While Maddy was sitting catatonically, Freja's emotions were much more visible. 'I can't believe she'd do this to me! I thought we were friends!' 'She probably couldn't bring herself to say it to you, so she just upped and left in the dead of night.' 'And what the hell does "can't forgive herself for not helping Maddy" mean? She knows that wasn't anything to do with her, she wasn't even in Canada at the time.' 'I know that, you know that, but perhaps Belle just couldn't live with'

'So I'm supposed to? What, she thought it would be better if she just disappeared? Leave me with double the survivor's guilt? Now I've lost my TWO best friends, and it's just not fair!' As Freja continued to scream and cry, Blair put her arm around her. 'I promise we'll sort this.' 'We won't though, will we?' She responded with a warm nod, as Freja looked at her in shock. 'Why are you so calm?' Just trust me, I'm sure Belle will be back' she replied, clearly aware of something that nobody else was.

Before Freja could pick up on this though, a siren went off. 'Club meeting in five minutes.' So still in tears, she stood up and, still in her pyjamas, walked down the stairs. Immediately Lydia was waiting for her, but instead of falling into the arms of her sister, she went straight to Astrid, who was on her first day back and immediately greeted her with a warm arm and back to snuggle up to, the heat being the only thing that could comfort her at this point.

With everyone lined up, Rio walked out, dressed smartly wearing a green and ice blue shirt with a navy sailor bow sitting atop it, as well as a pair of formal trousers. She tentatively faced up to everyone, before placing the "President of the Renegades" sign in front of her podium. She went to speak, but then calmly said 'Oh, one more thing', before going back to the sign and writing the word "Interim" in red marker on top of the word "President", before going back to talk to everyone.

'That looks much better now doesn't it? Right, I need to level with you, I don't feel prepared for all of this. But then again, who does? I don't think any of us are here because we think we're ready to lead a revolution are we? We're here because we wanted to be part of the revolution. But at some point, we've lost our way, and we lost our great leader.' She then smiled, and confidently declared 'And now, we're going to get her back.' This elicited a huge cheer as Astrid smiled and nodded at Rio.

'There's a reason that this little sign says "Interim", because I'm not the President of the Renegades, Maddy is. I'm just looking after the hotseat until she returns home, and she will do, because we're the Renegades and we always win, one way or another. I know what Maddy said about not coming after her, and I don't care, because she's a Renegade in need, and when there's a Renegade in need, we all unite and overcome. And I know Belle's gone now, but the same goes for her - we're all Renegades and we're all stronger together.'

'We all need to work together though. Rhydian and Akiza and Junction 7 are a dangerous threat, and they're a smart threat, they will do anything, throw anything at us, to keep us away. No amount of mind control or shenanigans will help us here, what we need to do is we need to win by uniting. Because they are almost our equal, just… almost. Because there's one thing we have which nobody else does - we're a family. Every single person here would sacrifice everything for everyone else, and they aren't like that.'

'Now let me make something clear - this is a RESCUE operation ONLY. Our only goal is to rescue Maddy and Belle and get them home. This is not a revenge operation, do not let your hatred for Rhydian, Akiza or anybody else blind you from our objective. Our priority is finding out the spell that Maddy is under, and then breaking that and getting her home. For now, we have to work towards finding out what they've done to her. We're the Renegades, and we're stronger together. Saddle up, because the FIGHT BEGINS NOW!'

As Rio pumped everyone up, the meeting ended, and she came down to be immediately faced down by Blair. 'If it was cheesy and crap just tell me please.' Blair had a tear in her eye though. 'I'm proud of you Interim. With you leading us they don't stand a chance.' Dakota then walked up to interrupt. 'Everything ok?' 'Just wanted to tell you that you inspired me, for the first time I believe we're going to get her back.' Rio smiled modestly at Dakota's insistence. 'We're going to need everyone, but we can do this.'

At the Segolia Lab, Toronto

When she came to, Donna was tied to a chair, the rope being strong enough to prevent her from moving. As she started to loom around, she saw Maddy stood by her, standing vanguard. 'Hey Maddy, I'm glad to see you here.' She didn't respond though, making Donna remember why she was there. 'Oh yeah, I forgot… it's not you. Snap out of this, you're being controlled and manipulated.'

As she pleaded, Rhydian walked in, carrying a syringe. 'What did you do to her you monster?' 'I'm not a monster, I'm saving her, curing her of what they did to her. I'm creating the perfect Maddy. As for what I've done, why tell you when Maddy can show you?' He passed over the syringe, and told her 'Make her see.' As Donna tried to pull away, Maddy grabbed her by the hair, and without a shred of emotion on her face and a cold look in her eyes, started to inject Donna with the serum, causing intense screaming.

While this was happening, Rhydian was on the phone. 'Hi Alex, it's Rhydian. Look, the serum and all that's working just fine, but there are a few little complications.' 'Like?' 'The spell's working slower than you told me, it's been over 3 weeks and she still hasn't lost all her memories, her emotions are still fighting her orders, her muscles seem to be wasting, and she's missed her period.' 'These aren't complications we are aware of, but if you get us the other girl, we can test them.' 'Well we have another coming for you, she isn't a wolf but she'll have to do for now.' 'Send her over tomorrow and we can continue our experiments.'

Coming off the phone, Rhydian saw that Donna had been full injected and was sat there lifeless. He stroked Maddy gently, and then looked at his phone. 'He's full of bull, but once I have what I want, I'll cut him off immediately. He might think he's pulled the wool over my eyes, but nobody takes me for a mug, I'm fully aware of what he wants Jana for, and he isn't having her - my ultimate aim is far more difficult. But I have the perfect weapon' he confidently stated while staring at Maddy.

In Manchester City Centre

Phil and Hannah were dressed smartly for a visit to some old associates. But they weren't on a business mission, so much as a revenge mission. 'So how long have you known this lot without telling me?' 'About 15 or so years, it's a long story but one that I'd be happy to share with you over a coffee. But we have business to attend to first. You got everything?' He responded by lifting his briefcase. 'I thought you were taking that nice new bag of yours, the one Astrid bought for you.'

His honest reply was 'I'm not going to damage a new bag by taking it somewhere I've never been before to meet with some people you met 15 years ago and don't exactly sound like the nicest people in the world. What is it you told me… the underground are some of the nastiest people in the whole of the UK and they're known for breaking your fingers with a hammer if you so much as talk to them in a way that they don't like?' 'Well as far as I'm aware you don't keep your fingers in your bag, so you should be safe.'

After walking through the bustling city centre for what felt like an eternity but in reality was little more than 10 minutes, they swept down a couple of side streets, and found what they were looking for - a series of steep concrete steps leading down to what appeared to be an old council building. Hannah led her husband down them cautiously, before ringing the buzzer at the bottom, and a rough voice replied 'If it's our Pizzas, leave them outside.' 'It's Hannah Cummings. I've come to speak with Jimmy McLaren, I've got a proposition for him.'

As she said this, the door clunked, and unlocked, allowing her in. As they walked through the dimly lit rooms, they came to a large area where several men in suits were sat playing cards. One then looked over, clearly in his 40s with jet black quiffed hair and a grey beard and moustache, and he recognised Hannah immediately. 'Well would you look who it is, somebody's really grown up since the last time I saw her haven't you? What've you been up to then?'

She responded by holding out her hand, her wedding ring shining still. 'And here I thought you were here for me.' 'Oh, I am, just not in that way. See, we've got a little situation with our adopted daughter, she's been abducted by her ex-boyfriend, and we need some real hard men to intervene in the situation. They're in Toronto, so you'll need your passports handy, and I suggest acting with caution.'

Jimmy didn't appear to have any interest though. 'I'm sorry, but we don't do that kind of thing, we're more in the collecting debts kind of business.' 'Yeah, I'm fully aware how you collect debts, and you're fully aware of what happened the time you tried to collect one from my sister. I'll give you a hint, you've probably still not lived down having your arse kicked from here to to France by a random 16 year old girl. But you know, you're more than welcome to play awkward, because I didn't exactly come to negotiate. Phil.'

Phil then pulled out some bank statements as well as photos of the three men looking suspicious. 'Let's see, £50,000 to a bank account in Luxembourg, another £240,000 to an account in Monte Carlo, £182,000 in an account in the Virgin Islands. You can keep these if you like, we've got plenty more where that came from. Now I could go to the police with these, and blow the whole Manchester Underworld wide open if you like, or alternatively, you can sit up and do as I tell you.'

The gangsters looked at each other, and then sat to attention. 'I'm glad we've got an agreement. Now I'm not expecting you to do any of this for free obviously, in fact you've already got flights booked out of Manchester Airport at 8pm.' 'What do you want us to do with him?' Her response was chilling. 'Quite frankly I don't care what you do to him. The girl we're after is Maddy, this is what she looks like, I want you to bring her back home to the address written on this photo. She might resist, so if she does, give her some of this.'

She passed over a strange smelling water, which the gangsters went to question, only to see the look on her face and think better of it. 'And if we do this, you don't go to the feds?' 'Do this for us, and I'll give you the flash drive with all our evidence on it. After that, it's nothing to do with us anymore. There's also the small matter of £50,000 in it for you.' She then stood up to leave. 'There's a private plane arranged for your return, if you're not on that in 24 hours then I'll expect a very good reason. And if you try anything funny with her?' She then bent down and whispered down Jimmy's ear. 'You'll be wishing you were in prison.'

At the Condo

Akiza was sitting down with her lunch, when there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, Belle was standing there, hair down with a packed bag. 'If you're after Maddy' 'I want to join her.' 'Pardon?' 'My only loyalty isn't to the Renegades, it's to Maddy. If this is where she is from now on, then this is where I am. I'll do whatever you and Rhydian want, please I just… I can't go against her. It's not right and I can't do it anymore.'

Interested, Akiza smiled. 'I mean I'll obviously be putting you under the same mind control she's under, but since you're being so good, I'll just keep you here for now.' 'If you don't mind me saying, that's a bad idea. Maddy doesn't remember anything, right?' 'Nope. Her mind's being drained quicker than you could ever imagine.' 'If I keep my mind, I can be the perfect counter to the Renegades.' 'We don't need a counter to them, they're already proving to be useless.' 'What, and you think they're going to be like that forever?'

'What can you tell me then.' Choosing her words carefully, Belle responded 'They're all regrouping, as we speak they're going to be discussing how they can sneak in here and get Maddy without anyone seeing them, I heard Blair hiring one of the UK's most notorious burglars, he's been doing this for 20 years and never been caught. They call him "Black Cat" because he just sneaks into people's houses at night, takes what he wants and disappears again. 20 years and the police haven't even determined anything about them.'

This appeared plausible to Akiza. 'I knew they had connections… fine, I'll talk to Rhydian later about it. In the meantime, you stay in here and I'll keep an eye on you.' 'Yes Mistress' Belle replied, swearing fealty to Akiza. While Belle sat down though, she quickly fired out a message on her phone, before sliding it back into her jacket pocket, as Akiza walked back in. 'Make yourself at home, you're going to be spending a lot of time here with us from now on.'

In the Segolia lab

Donna was now awake, and completely under control. 'You're now a servant of the night flower Donna, a slave to its overwhelming power.' 'Yes Master Rhydian.' 'You and Maddy, you're one and the same, part of our collective hive mind, and completely at our command, ready to serve. Your job is to make sure that Maddy's spell is never broken, you will be her wall and her guard. Now I understand you create cards with special power?' 'Yes Master.' Rhydian then grinned to himself.

'You're going to create a new card, it's going to lock her soul and mind in it forever, it's going to become her signature.' 'Whatever you desire is my command. I will create it for you.' 'Good girl. Now get on with your work immediately, and do not stop until I have what I desire.' As Donna left to create the card, Rhydian grinned, and patted Maddy on the head. 'You're going to be just fine. Soon enough, all this will be finished and we can begin our lives away from everything.'

Outside the base

Freja was sat outside the base, looking at the note which Belle had left her. "To Freja. I'm sorry, but I have to go. I did it in the middle of the night so you wouldn't try and stop me or follow me, because this is something that I have to do myself. I sincerely wish that I could tell you what is going on, but I can't until it happens. Just trust that not everything is as it seems, and that I still think the world of you. As I say, this is just something I have to do myself for now. Please look after yourself, and please don't hate me, Maddy needs me more than you do now. Signed, Belle."

Reading through it, Freja shouted to the wind, crying and hurting. 'Why are you doing this to me!? I'm a good Catholic all my life and this is what I get? My TWO best friends both being abducted by some maniac? HOW IS ANY OF THIS FAIR!?' As she continued screaming at thin air, Lydia was watching her, and eventually she decided to make her presence known, as she spoke to her sister.

'None of this is your fault.' 'Well it's got to be somebody's, and there's a recurring factor, me. I'm the problem, I'm the thing in common, it's all JUST ME!' 'It's absolutely not you, I promise you. Belle's just ungrateful and doesn't deserve you, just like I've always told you, you're… special, and you need people who will always be there for you, not people who will just let you down. If they've left you, they don't deserve you.'

This had the opposite effect to how it was intended however, as Freja turned and snapped back. 'What, you think all this was by choice? You think they got taken by choice? They needed support and instead they've got me, how do you think that makes them feel? Can you imagine how scared they are right now, can you imagine how scared Maddy is not in control of her own body or mind?' 'Fre' 'Don't "Fre" me, how about you take a moment to stop insulting everybody and trying to prove that you're right, you're always right, everything comes down to the fact that you are Lydia and you're always right, and instead you start trying to be nice, because maybe, just maybe, if you'd treated Belle better instead of always probing about what she did wrong years ago, maybe she'd still be here.'

Angered by the reaction, Lydia shot back. 'Well maybe if you'd spent more time trying to be a reasonable person and less time running around pretending you were Belle's sister and that you didn't recognise me, then maybe she'd still be here, because maybe she'd never have made the mistake of thinking that she deserved to be close to you or even the mistake that she deserved to be here because I was apparently wrong for wanting you to not be running around with a murderer! And maybe if Maddy hadn't have been so unbelievably stupid as to walk into a very obvious trap, maybe we'd never need to have this conversation.'

This was enough to make Freja snap, and she went to attack, but Astrid blocked her hand, and put her large hands on Freja's slender shoulders. 'Fre, I'll speak to you in a few minutes, but this isn't what Belle or Maddy need right now. I'm ordering pizza for everyone so we can try and work out our next steps, so why don't you go and put what you want on the order?' Starting to simmer down, Freja nodded and ran off, leaving Astrid to deal with Lydia.

'Can you blame me for getting annoyed the way she was with me? I only came out here to look after her.' Astrid though, was the furthest thing from sympathetic. 'Would you like to repeat what you said about Maddy, or do you only say these things to people you know won't kick you in the head?' This was the opportunity for Lydia to take back what she had said, profusely apologise and move on. She instead, did none of this, and in fact doubled down.

'Tell me I'm wrong. She knew full well what was going to happen, and instead of doing the correct thing and going nowhere near that duel, she instead walked in there, got attacked like anybody could have predicted, and paid the consequences for it, and now we're all having to risk our own safety for a situation that she could have avoided, all because she was angry and can't control herself, or let me guess, she's a "wolf", it makes her "special". She's not, she's just an idiot who became president because of her adopted Mum.'

Astrid could have snapped herself here, but instead, she went the diplomatic route. 'She could be terrified there, we don't know what's going on, she could be being abused, and we'd never know, because we can't get near her. Someone got killed trying to save her, and you think that's all something to poke fun at and insult her for? What happened to you, we used to be friends the four of us.'

'Yeah, until Belle came along and until Phil started messing with Freja's brain.' 'Maybe none of them are the issue Lydia, maybe the issue's always been you, maybe the issue is that you have no respect for anybody because you just want to go back to being the only reliable one, you want your sister to go back to being annoying and stupid. Maybe the issue is that you just can't stand the fact that your sister has other people in her life. Order your pizza and then I never want to speak to you again.' She stormed away, as Lydia watched at the mess she'd created.

In Toronto

After being put to work for several agonising hours while the rose tortured her, Donna had created the cards. 'Her aura was so powerful, it split into three cards. Wolfblood Witch will seal her heart, she will not be able to feel anything for anyone apart from your greatness. And Clear Wolf will seal her sense of identity, she will never try to break out of your power. And Rose Wolf represents the purist form of the spell she has been captured by, it will drain her mind quicker every time it's used. These are the cards that came from her current state.'

Rhydian then took the trio of cards, and presented them from Maddy. 'You will wield these as your ultimate weapons, use them to destroy all our enemies.' 'Destroy all our enemies, leave nothing, only the greatness of my Master and Mistress will survive.' Delighted, he stroked her hair lovingly. 'It's going to be beautiful seeing you restored. But we have to fight, we have to destroy the Renegades, because you won't be the last that we take from there.'

He was right, but not in the way he expected, as he soon got a phone call from Akiza. 'How are things going?' 'We have an opportunity, Belle of the Renegades has arrived, she has pledged allegiance to us.' Immediately suspicious, Rhydian wasn't keen. 'Sounds like a trap, I hope you've not left her alone.' 'I've not, she's brought a bag and she's already given me some intel on their movements, apparently they're making moves to steal Maddy back in the dead of night.'

'Well it sounds like she has some useful information anyway.' 'I understand your concerns, but don't let that get in the way of opportunities, they're not going to deliberately send us anybody knowing what we did to their precious Maddy.' Starting to be convinced, Rhydian had a test. 'Put her on the phone, I want to talk to her directly. Consider this a test of whether she's actually ready.' Akiza then passed the phone over.

'Belle is it?' 'Yes, I want to join your cause, I have no loyalties to the Renegades, my only loyalties are to Maddy. She has chosen to be one with you, and therefore i want to be as well, so I can serve her like I chose to from the start.' 'You won't miss them though?' Confidently, she stated 'None of them mean anything to me in comparison to Maddy. She's the one who chose me so the least I can do is respect her wishes and join with her.'

This was enough to finally convince him. 'Ok, I'll be there in around 20 minutes. When I am, I'm going to make sure that you're ready to be mine and Akiza's faithful servant.' 'Would you like me to put Mistress Akiza back on?' 'Yes.' She did that, and he relayed the information to her. 'Get her uniform ready for when we get back, I'll text over what I want from her.' 'Of course, you've made an excellent choice.' 'I hope I have, because if I haven't, this is going to come back on you. And in the future, don't invite anybody in without me saying.' Biting her tongue, Akiza was modest. 'I apologise.' 'Good.' The call then terminated.

In the president's office

Rio was starting to put some of her essentials away in the office when Freja walked in, head hung, and quietly stood opposite her. 'I know I shouldn't have reacted the way I did earlier, I just wasn't having her say those things, especially when she knows they're all bullshit, I don't know why people just want to hurt me.' Smiling, Rio calmly responded. 'I wasn't going to have a go, I was going to have a chat with you. So just sit yourself down, and then I'll be able to… erm… talk with you.'

Sitting down, it was clear everything was going to spill out of the twin immediately. 'Before you start, just take a breath, and tell me what you're going to talk about so I can do… I dunno, whatever Maddy does in this situation, write things down I guess? Sorry, this is really all new to me, so I still don't quite know what I'm doing, I'll be honest I'm quite an atrocious leader so you'll just have to bear with me a bit.'

In tears by now, Freja immediately showed her hand. 'I lied to Maddy about the tarot reading Lydia did before Maddy went… you know.' She was expecting an enraged reaction, but what she instead got was an eerily calm one. 'Ok, why don't you begin from the start, and explain to me exactly what happened? Because I'm going to hazard a guess that you didn't just lie for the sake of it.'

'Right, so erm… Maddy asked us to do this reading, and we were just expecting it to be totally normal like usual. But when we started reading the cards, they were warning us that Maddy was at risk of getting herself trapped and that the future was uncertain at best for her. But I was scared of saying anything, because she was so volatile at the time that if I did, she'd never speak to me again. And now she's gone and it's all my fault because I didn't say anything to her. I could have prevented all of this.'

Rio shook her head though. 'Two things there. Firstly, Maddy likely wouldn't have listened, because she was just in that mood at the time, she was so stressed and fried and burned out that I don't think there was any talking sense into her in any sort of way. Secondly, the cards have different interpretations don't they?' 'I mean I guess, but…' 'Can you remember the spread?' 'Yeah, I always keep records of spreads on my phone.' 'Let's discuss them then, because you might now believe this, but I used to be into the cards myself.'

'Really?' 'Yeah, couldn't read them or anything, but I was interested, and I got a few readings, it was one of those that encouraged me to come here for the first time. So I know more than a thing or two about all of this. So if you can get this spread that she got up for me, then let's have a little… investigation we'll call it.' After several minutes of searching, Freja found the information she was desperately looking for.

'So the first card in the reading' '3 card?' 'Yeah, Past, Present and Future. So the first card was the King of Wands, which we took to mean' 'First you need to tell me what the question was.' 'So the question was just "is Maddy going to be successful in her command of the Renegades against Junction 7". The first card was the King of Wands, which we took to mean that she'd really achieved by earning the admiration of her club.'

'Yeah, could also mean that she's a mentor, because she really was being to many of us for a long time, she was the one everyone looked up to. But yeah, pretty much just that she's in a respected position that she had to work hard to achieve.' Rio slowly wrote this down along with notes on the possible meanings, as Freja continued struggling with her composure. Eventually they were both ready to continue though.

'So the next card?' 'The High Priestess, upside down.' 'So High Priestess reversed, and you thought that meant' 'Just that she was repressing feelings about something, I'm worried it's that she still had feelings for Rhydian that she was suppressing because of the history and that she knew nobody would agree with her.' 'Trust me, I'm certain she didn't, don't forget, she double crossed him in court. So I don't think it's that.'

'So what do you think it is?' 'Did you consider that it meant she needed to listen to her inner voice? It can also mean that she's lost that instinct and the little voice inside that tells you when the situation you're involved in is wrong or there's something you're not being told. By the sounds of the tape, she knew that something was going on long before anybody else did, but she managed to hold it all back.'

'I suppose it could be. How about confusion?' 'Yeah, I think we're getting somewhere now, she was confused about how she was supposed to fight an enemy she didn't know.' 'Which means she knew Rhydian was behind this all along?' 'Not quite, I think it means that she knew someone was behind it. She just didn't know who someone was, it was clear that Akiza was a puppet because she had so many opportunities to attack Maddy, but she never did.'

Freja then had a thought of her own. 'It could also mean hidden agendas?' That was an absolute brainwave for the Interim President. 'You're right, because Akiza's agenda was to get revenge on Maddy, but secretly she wanted to capture her. So it was a warning that Akiza was lying about why she wanted revenge, or… who wanted revenge. Perhaps this was never Akiza's plan… so what was the Future card anyway?'

After some hesitation, she murmured 'Eight of Swords, referring to being trapped.' 'Yeah, it certainly looks that way, it could also mean imprisonment.' After some thinking, it was Freja who had a breakthrough. 'It means Powerlessness! It means that Maddy was going to be in a situation where she was powerless to affect the situation, and it's up to us to help her get out of there.' 'I think you're a genius Fre.'

'But… that doesn't matter because we never told her.' 'That's where you're wrong, because we know what the reading meant, so now we can work towards it. If we understand what she's going through, we can start to talk about how to help her. Also the cards confirmed that we need to time our run perfectly. We might only get one shot at this. But while you're here, there is something you can help me with…'

In Toronto

As Rhydian and Maddy returned, they found Belle sat quietly in the kitchen. As she saw him, she knelt and pledged her loyalty. 'I've come because I decided I wanted to be on Maddy's side, and this is her side now. I swear undying loyalty to you.' 'Do you pledge to always do as I tell you?' 'I will be your puppet however you command.' Smiling, he nodded. 'Akiza, you heard my order earlier.' 'I did.'

She then walked up behind Belle and let her hair down. 'You're now going to be made into Rhydian's perfect slave.' 'Yes mistress.' Belle had her hair brushed out vigorously, as she refused to react once, before Akiza pulled it up high, and tied it into a ponytail with a red hair bow. She then started plaiting the tail, pulling it all the way down before putting another red tie in the bottom.

Rhydian then produced an outfit similar to Maddy's. 'Wear this.' 'Yes Master Rhydian.' Belle had the shirt slowly placed on her by Tee, with the tights and skirt being replaced by a pair of skintight trousers. As she was being prepared, she didn't flinch, but did exactly as she was told. 'Now why are you here?' 'To serve you and destroy the Renegades.' 'Good girl. I'll play with you later. First, we need to check this new card out. You can sit there Belle.' 'Yes Master Rhydian.'

As he walked off with everyone, she got her phone out. 'It's me. I managed to infiltrate successfully, but they've captured Donna, she's been brainwashed into making Maddy a new card, I heard Akiza saying that they're going to use it to finish the spell on Maddy early, but I don't know how yet. I'll keep you updated, but I've got to go, I've got to be his slave. Bye.' She put the phone away just as Lukas looked at her suspiciously from the other side of the door.

In the base

After a very tense and brief conversation, Freja returned to Rio. 'So what did she say?' She shook her head in response. 'She told me that she's not doing it because she doesn't trust the power, and that you're an idiot for relying on it.' 'Well bang goes that idea then.' Sighing, Freja offered a lifeline for Rio's plan. 'I could always do it, I'm not as practised as Lydia is recently, but I used to do it in school.'

'That's awesome' Rio responded. 'Wish I'd had the confidence to do anything like that.' 'Well when nobody takes you seriously and you're trying to hide the fact that you couldn't read until you were 8, you have to do something to connect with people.' 'I honestly love it. Could you do it for me?' 'Yeah, we can do it in the office, I just need a few minutes to get the cards, and some sage, and I'll do it myself for you.' 'Thank you.'

In the condo

Belle was playing the part well, but still distrusting, Rhydian was determined to get himself some insurance, as he was discussing with Akiza. 'Right so we're going to trance her.' 'Respectfully I think you're being hasty here.' 'I don't, we can't trust her.' 'There's nothing not to trust, do you really think they'd be so stupid as to send someone else here as a double agent? They've seen what we can do, what you can do. Besides, she has a lot of useful information. If she was willing to divulge their current plan without any pressure, she could be just what we need to hold them off.'

Rhydian however, was far more confident in his chances and abilities. 'We're good, we know their plan, and she isn't going to know anything in the future with them unless another one of them defects. Clearly the best strategy is to control her, destroy what will they've got left, and prove to the world that I'm the one they should be worshipping.' 'You're thinking of making a play for her.' 'When she sees it's futile, she'll give up.'

With Rhydian not listening to her, Akiza relented, and produced a golden shining pendulum from her pocket. 'Good job I kept this with me all this time.' 'This the one you used?' 'Yep, or should I say, the one she used. You want it?' 'No, I know exactly how this has to be. It's about time that my little shell of a cub earned her stripes.' They then walked back through, and Rhydian confronted Belle.

'Belle, sit down, and Maddy's going to hypnotise you so you truly see our way.' In order to not attract attention, she did that, the bottom of her plait brushing the chair as she did so. A blank and vacant Maddy was then handed the pendulum. 'Hypnotise her into obeying me Maddy, I want her to join you.' 'Whatever you desire my love' came the quiet and distant reply, as she slipped further and further away.

As the pendulum started to swing, Belle resisted at first, but she couldn't look away due to Tee holding her head, and soon her eyes started to droop, and she started to forget, started to obey, thinking only of what would make Rhydian happy. As this was happening though, there was a knock on the door. 'Keep it up Maddy.' As she did so, Rhydian answered the door, only for the three thugs from Manchester's underground to burst in brandishing various weapons, and as Maddy saw this, instinct took over and she rushed to help her master, leaving Belle to slowly awaken, and confused, she watched on.

At the base

As the club members were continuing to come to terms with everything that had happened, Rio was on the phone. 'Look, I've not got much time to talk now, but I think you might be onto something, so meet us in New Zealand, we'll have a little meeting in the hotel, not like that, and see where we go from there. But no funny business, this is purely business, k? Right, thanks.' Just as she came off the phone, she heard a commotion at the doors, so rushed over to the cameras in the office.

Looking at them, she could see Jana and Blair preventing Caprice from getting past the door. She was just about to turn away when the Interim President got on the tannoy. 'This is an announcement for Jana and Blair, let her in, she's my guest. I repeat, LET. HER. IN.' Hearing this, Blair immediately relented, but still gave the South African a suspicious look as she swept through the foyer.

As she reached the office, she knocked on the door, and Rio's voice came from the other side. 'Come in.' Slowly, she walked into the office, and started having a good snoop around, which wasn't lost on the person who invited her in. 'You're here to discuss business, not to see what you can thieve. So I suggest that you sit down so we can talk.' Humiliated by being talked to this way, she considered leaving, before realising why she was there and sitting.

'Right, I had a call from Hannah earlier, she told me that you think you can help us, but that she wanted you to tell me yourself.' Unable to find a delicate way of putting it, Caprice decided to immediately show her hand. 'I want to get Tee from whatever's happening to her because she and Sara used to be friends before and neither of us can stand what she's become because of them.' 'And?' 'And it's clear that she won't listen to us, so we need your help, because you know how to sort all this weird stuff.'

Nodding away, Rio pitched a clever idea. 'Right, here's the deal, because we don't do anything for free. We can form a mutual partnership, whereby we help you get Tee, and in return, you help us get Maddy back.' 'I don't understand all of this' 'You don't need to, you just need to help us get her from wherever we find her to the airport. We can sort all the rest.' Trying to avoid this dangerous payment, Caprice attempted to pull away.

'Well I'm not exactly what you'd call the best help in all of that, I'm just someone who' 'Look, I know what you're trying to do, and it simply isn't going to work. This isn't up for negotiation, the deal is on the table. Option 1: You agree and we help each other. Option 2: You refuse and have about as much chance of getting Tee away from them as we do of persuading Rhydian to stop being a creepy douche.'

Realising the lack of options, Caprice relented. 'Fine, I'll do it, where do I sign?' This made Rio giggle. 'There isn't any contract, because if you try and stab us in the back, then we'll just keep Tee here until you actually behave. That's the contract.' With harsh eyes, Rio then leant forward. 'And don't even think about trying us, because I might be half brain dead, but I'm the furthest thing from stupid.'

At Ashworth

Phil was just done with feeding Skylar, when Astrid walked in, blonde hair flowing like a river of gold, and she had an immediate proposition. 'Phil, I wanted to talk to you.' 'Sure, go ahead.' 'You know the next event in Auckland?' 'Yep.' 'I want to be there. But I don't want anyone outside of the club seeing me.' 'What, so you want to be' 'Like a phantom, I guess? I want to start contributing again, and maybe if I go like that, I can catch them by surprise.'

He smiled at her thought. 'It's worth a go, absolutely. I'll arrange for you to come.' 'Thanks. I've just had enough crying and beating myself up, literally a few times, which reminds me, I should probably get my neck checked out at some point.' 'Still causing you issues?' 'Yeah, just a little. But anyway, you all need my help, and now that Rio's starting to stand up, she's reminded me to do the same. We can do this if we all work together.'

In the office

Rio's busy day concluded with inviting Freja into the office for the reading. 'Right, I do readings a bit different to Lyds. She specialises in 3-card, I do 6-card tarot readings.' 'Six?' 'Yeah.' She then laid out six cards, in a cross formation. 'We'll start off with the question, and how you phrase this is up to you, I can't tell you anything on that.' After some thought, and scribbling down several ideas, Rio came up with a question she was happy with. 'My question is will we be able to awaken Maddy from her trance and save her mind.'

Freja's eyes then started shining a deep red, as she flipped up the central card, concerning Rio. 'You ok?' 'Fine, I can handle it unlike her. The first card is the Present Situation.' She then showed the card as Rio leant over. 'The Eight of Swords.' 'The Eight of Swords is Upright. This tells us that the real Maddy is trapped, imprisoned in a situation that she doesn't believe she can overcome.' 'It's almost like her brainwashed body's become a prison and the real Maddy's buried deep down.'

Freja then moved on to the left hand card. 'The second card is an External Factor, which you have no control over, and is an immovable part of the situation. This is the primary obstacle.' The card was then revealed to them both. 'The Empress is reversed. The obstacle is Rhydian, he is smothering her, his affection won't allow him to let Maddy go. The opportunity to get to her is severely restricted by this.' 'So we need to shoot our shot effectively.' 'If and when there is an opportunity, you need to be ready to seize it immediately.' 'So I need to brief everybody on what to do in the situation, got it' she acknowledged, clearly still learning how to lead.

They then moved over to the right hand card. 'Card 3 is the Current Pathway. What is likely to happen if you stay on the current path.' Rio recoiled somewhat at the reveal. 'The Sun reversed…' 'The Star being reversed represents a lack of success and growing depression. Your people are getting discouraged at their lack of success, and that is leading to increasing levels of tension as they consider giving up on their quest.' 'But people wouldn't give up on Maddy like that…'

'Would they though? Because you don't always hear the way people talk. All people see is the leader they once knew slipping further and further out of reach, sometimes it's easier to remember what you loved than try and fight what they've become. They need some form of hope, some form of breakthrough, a crumb of comfort they can cling to.' 'And that's why we need to work alongside Caprice - if we deliver Tee, maybe she can give us some new information.'

'We move to the bottom card. This is the Conscious Mind. In this case, we are exploring what is in Maddy's conscious right now.' The card revealed spelled out a horrible truth. 'Death reversed. This tells us that the conscious mind of Maddy is currently decaying away, being wasted behind a barrier it can't overcome.' Rio though, had a very different view. 'This is a positive card, because it tells us that it's not Maddy's conscious mind. That means that whatever happened, it wasn't consensual and can be overcome.' 'But overcoming it also involves saving her within a time limit before her mind is lost to the power.'

The card at the top was then flipped, presenting a fascinating look at a secret battle. 'The Strength is upright. That represents…' 'Strength is more than skin deep. While her conscious mind might be decaying, Maddy has reserves of inner strength and is fighting the power that she's under with bravery, if you can help her then she may be able to help herself despite the overwhelming power.' Tears then filled Rio's eyes as she muttered 'She's still in there, we can still do this.'

There was one final card though, separate from the other five, and placed in front of Rio. 'The final card is my own adaptation, this is the summary card. A card which helps to bring the overall picture together. The question was "Can you free Maddy from her trance and save her mind". You must flip the last card, for it is not my destiny, but yours. As the recipient, you must tell me.' 'The Devil reversed.'

Finally Freja's eyes stopped glowing, and she spoke normally. 'When upside down, the Devil represents Freedom and release from control. It tells us that we can restore Maddy. So we bring it back to the question: Can you free Maddy from her trance and save her mind?' Freja then smiled. 'The cards tell us that you can, but you have to keep the faith not just in yourself but in everyone else as well, and Rhydian's smothering means that you need to be mindful of when the opportunity presents itself, and be willing to grasp it. You need to understand when that moment is though, as you may only get one shot.'

Something strange then happened, as while Freja was bringing the deck together and packing the cards up, she briefly mentioned 'I wonder what the spread would be if Maddy was here…', and three cards fell from out of nowhere onto the desk face-up. As Freja looked down, she commented on them. 'That's strange, the Ace of Swords refers to brutality, the 9 of Swords refers to Despair, and the Empress refers to… fertility? Nature? Could be something to do with nature I guess…'

Next time: Phil gambles in his quest to get another shot at Rhydian, Belle explains her actions but must deal with Freja's wrath, and when faced with an unenviable choice, will Astrid go with her heart or her brain? R: Ultra Evolution Book 7: Stealthy Shoots