Terra Academy Episode 75

Terra Academy
Episode 75: Conspiracy
By dsguy411

The final bell of the day rang for Terra Academy and Marcus just left his seventh hour history class with Alice following behind.  The boy was looking a bit worn out as he was walking down the hall towards the building’s exit.
“Man, that test was brutal,” Marcus complained.
“I didn’t think it was too difficult,” Alice noted.
“What’s with that teacher, though?” he asked, “None of the test questions he gives are multiple choice.  Well….at least it’s over now.”
The boy dashed out of the hall’s exit and roamed through the campus with Alice following closely behind.  Now Marcus has a bit of an excited look on his face as he was heading towards the upperclassmen dormitories where he met up with Simon and Rachel.  Alice managed to not only catch up but also started to catch up on her breath.
“Hey, Simon,” Marcus greeted, “Are you finally ready?”
“Oh, hey Marcus,” Simon replied, “Ready for what?”
“Don’t you remember?” Marcus asked, pulling two tickets out of his uniform pocket, “Today is the premier of Captain Nebula: Dark Energy.  It’s the most talked about movie of the year.  I even reserved some tickets at the Sandshore Theater.”
“Oh, that’s today?” Simon asked, “Sorry, but I can’t.”
“Why not?” Marcus asked, feeling a bit disappointed.
“Well my Advanced Programming midterm is coming up and I have to study hard to outdo Amanda,” Simon explained.
The boy looked over and saw Amanda under a palm tree, reading books and jotting down notes.
“Someday I will beat her, I swear it,” Simon silently said.
“Okay, I understand,” Marcus replied, “Guess I need to find someone else to come with me.”
Alice’s ears perked up, realizing that this was now her chance to go out with Marcus.
“I’ll go with you,” she volunteered.
“Who can I find to come with me, though?” Marcus pondered, ignoring Alice completely, “Say, Rachel.  Wanna come with?”
“Can’t, busy,” Rachel immediately answered.
“With what?” Marcus asked.
“Robin is doing a project for science involving growing fruit and I got to make sure that Chia doesn’t devour all of her work,” Rachel explained, “Besides, I think superhero movies are overrated.”
“Well who can I get to come with me?” Marcus asked.
“I’ll go with you,” Alice suggested, waving to get Marcus’ attention.
“You sure you can’t come?” Marcus asked Simon.
“Sorry, but I need to study to have any hopes of outdoing Amanda,” Simon confirmed.
“Well there’s got to be someone who has the free time to come with,” Marcus said.
“I’ll come with you,” Alice insisted, her voice a little bit more stern this time.
“Sorry, but I doubt you’ll be able to find anyone on such short notice,” Rachel informed.
“I guess you are right,” Marcus reluctantly agreed.
“I’LL COME WITH YOU!!” Alice shouted, her patience run very thin.
Everyone then faced Alice and looked at her awkwardly, the girl herself feeling a bit embarrassed over her sudden outburst.
“I….I mean I would like to come with you, Marcus,” Alice repeated in her usual nice tone.
“Really?” Marcus asked with a smile, “That’s great.  I’ll meet you over at the ferry in fifteen minutes then.”
With Marcus leaving Alice did a small fist pump over how successful she was in convincing the boy to invite her along.
“Oh, hey, Alice,” Simon greeted, “Didn’t notice you there.”
Alice, feeling completely offended by that statement, just turned and gave Simon and grim look before heading off to her room.
“Was it something I said?” Simon asked.

***

Marcus and Alice changed into their casual wear and one ferry ride later they arrived at Sandshore Island.  Alice brought along a small blue purse to carry her belongings needed for the movie like money.  The two were making their way towards the theater when they noticed a few teens posing some action scenes but Marcus was staring towards the ground and plugging his own ears.
“Uh…..what are you up to?” Alice asked.
“Avoiding spoilers,” Marcus answered.
“Em….why?” Alice asked.
“Because I don’t like them,” Marcus explained, “I don’t want to know what’s going on until I see the actual movie.”
“Makes sense I guess,” Alice agreed.
The two kept on walking down until they walked past an entrance to an alleyway leading to a dead end.  Alice noticed that there was a peculiar individual hanging by a wall with a stray pipe sticking from the wall.  The person was a human wearing all red clothing, complete with a red hood, red shoulder pads, red pants, and a golden yellow chest plate.  On the belt and the chest plate was an insignia resembling a bird talon.  The man turned his head revealing a golden mask with red eyes covering the top part of his face.  He just scowled at Alice, frightening the girl enough to turn her head and focus her attention of Marcus who was staring down towards the ground the whole time.
“Wh….who was that?” she asked.
“Who was what?” Marcus asked.
“That man in the alleyway,” Alice explained, “He was wearing all red and was dressed like a supervillain.  Is he some sort of cosplayer for the movie?”
“Better not be,” Marcus answered, “A surprise villain appearance is consider a major spoiler to me.”
The two walked further away from the alley entrance when and sound of something opening and closing could be heard with steam coming out towards the street.

***

A small line formed up by the Sandshore Theater has Marcus and Alice were among the newest to join in.  Alice was rummaging through her purse while Marcus was looking ahead on the line.
“You know, I could always buy the snacks for you,” the boy offered, “You didn’t have to bring your money with you.”
“No, I insist!!” Alice blurted, “I…I mean I could never pose as such a burden onto you.”
After digging through some more Alice managed to find a twenty dollar bill.
“Well until my parents refills my monthly allowance this twenty is all that I have left,” she said.
As the girl drag the twenty out of her purse her hand slipped and the bill flew away in the wind.
“Oh, no!” she cried, “I can’t lose that.  It’s all I have until next week.  Marcus….could you hold my place in line for me?”
“No problem,” Marcus accepted.
“Thanks,” Alice said as she took off to catch her twenty.
The girl chased the runaway bill as it flew past Nathan and Natalie who were sitting on a bench eating some ice cream cones.  The twins saw Alice running towards the bill as her chase ended up back towards the alleyway where she saw the strange man earlier but now it was completely empty.  Looking about Alice saw that the twenty dollar bill was hanging onto a stray pipe on the wall.
“There you are,” Alice spoke.
Alice managed to grab the bill out of the stray pipe but she also accidentally lowered it.
“Huh, how did I do that?” she asked.
Without warning a trapdoor opened up beneath Alice’s feet and next thing she knew she was sent into a hallway below the ground.  Knocked down Alice took a look around, wondering where the heck she was.  Getting up she heard footprints so she turned around and saw two human men, both wearing the red costume she saw earlier.
“Uh…..you don’t happen to know where I am, do you?” Alice asked nervously.
“What is she doing here?!” asked one of the men.
“She can’t be here, this whole base is top secret,” said another.
Both men pulled out their phasers and pointed it towards Alice.
“You are going to regret stumbling upon this place, little girl,” the first man said.
“I already am,” Alice said with fright in her voice.
Shots were fire but thankfully the aim of the men weren’t exactly spot on, allowing Alice to flee unscathed.  However the men dressed in the costumes were giving chase.  Running down the hall Alice made a sharp turn through a door to her right but came into what looked like a break room.  Inside there were bunch more humans wearing the same costume, some men and some women.  Alice turned around and saw the same two men blocking her escape.
“Keep her contained,” the first man ordered, “We can’t have her know about our operation.”
With a swift movement of his arm the second man was able to knock Alice out.

***

At the Sandshore Theater Marcus was finally at the ticket booth but there was no sign of Alice anywhere and that made the boy very concerned.
“Ah man, I really hope she found that twenty,” the boy said.
Turning around to the ticket salesman Marcus presented his tickets.
“Uh....two tickets for….,” Marcus spoke, stopping when his amulet underneath his shirt suddenly flashed.
Immediately he received a vision of a group of people dressed in red carrying a knocked out Alice throughout the building they were in.  When the vision stopped Marcus knew at that point that his friend was in trouble.
“Yes?” the ticket salesman spoke, “You got two tickets for what?”
“Never mind, something came up,” Marcus said, putting his tickets away.
Leaving the line Marcus was running down the street when he passed someone familiar at the end of the line.  It was none other than Tyler.
“Marcus?” the boy spoke, “Where are you going?  I thought you were seeing the new Captain Nebula movie?”
“Wha…., Marcus spoke, turning around to see his friend, “Oh, hi, Tyler.  I….I can’t….I think Alice is in danger.”
“She is?” Tyler asked, “But….what makes you think that?”
“Well…..it’s complicated but I’ll explain later,” Marcus answered.
The boy left Tyler who was looking a bit concerned about his friend’s odd behavior.  In fact he was concerned enough to actually leave the line and follow Marcus.  Eventually Marcus stopped by the entrance of the alleyway where Alice chased her runaway dollar bill to.  The boy scratched his head, completely stumped as to where to look.
“She….could be anywhere,” Marcus said with worry, “If only I had some sort of clue.”
Hearing footsteps Marcus turned to see that Tyler was following him.
“A…….are you following me?” Marcus asked.
“Well…..since you said that Alice was in trouble I think you need help finding her,” Tyler proposed, “I….I feel like I should help in some way.”
“Well we have to find out where Alice is,” Marcus said, “Problem is that I didn’t really get a good look at the inside of the building she is in.”
“But….how do you know that she’s inside a building?” Tyler asked.
“You know about my Celestial Amulet?” Marcus asked, “Sometime it lets me know whether or not my friends are in danger.  It…..happens fairly often with me.”
“That’s so interesting,” a female voice said.
Marcus and Tyler jumped.  Thinking his secret was exposed he turned around but saw that it was Natalie accompanied by her twin brother, Nathan.  Natalie was carrying a bag while Nathan was not holding onto anything.
“What are you doing here?!” Marcus cried, still a bit spooked.
“Oh, well Nathan is thinking of joining a bake club so he’s buying ingredients to make a cake,” Natalie explained.
“Yeah….why not tweet that to all of your followers while you are at it?” Nathan asked, his face a bright red.
“Okay,” Natalie said, whipping out her cellphone.
“I WAS JUST KIDDING!!” Nathan cried.
“Okay, so you said that you were looking for Alice, right?” Natalie asked.
“That is correct,” Marcus confirmed, “But I have no idea where she ended up.”
“Well the last place I saw her was in that alleyway behind you,” Natalie explained.
Marcus turned around and headed into the alleyway.  However he saw the dead end brick wall straight ahead and he immediately realized that Alice had nowhere to go but back.
“But why would she go all the way in here?” Marcus asked.
“Well I saw her chase after a dollar bill,” Natalie explained.
“That makes sense, but I still don’t see how she could’ve been captured here,” Marcus doubted, “In my vision Alice was in some creepy, old building.”
While Nathalie and Marcus were talking Tyler was just looking around, walking along the wall’s edge.  When he looked up he saw that the building’s windows were in a state of disrepair.  Some were cracked while others were completely broken.  Then he noticed the pipe sticking out of the wall.  Walking around it Tyler got curious when he noticed the wall it was sticking out of had a small groove.
“Well I heard that that building over there used to be a textile factory before it was shut down,” Nathan claimed, pointing at the building that Tyler was inspecting.
“But I don’t see how Alice would get into trouble here,” Marcus doubted, “There’s no sense that a couple of bad guys would make a place this deep into the town their headquarters.”
Tyler grabbed onto the pipe and pulled it down.  Immediately a trap door that Alice fell down through opened up by his feet.  Seeing it he immediately cried out and stepped back, catching the attention of everyone around him.  Marcus looked down and noticed the trapdoor just before it closed itself back up.
“Whoa, what is that?” Marcus asked.
“I….It just opened up,” Tyler explained, a bit startled from his discovery, “I….saw this pipe and next thing I knew a gaping hole appeared beneath my feet.”
Marcus walked up to the pipe and pulled it down, seeing the trap door open up and revealing a slide that led to the direction of the old textile factory.  Then the trapdoor closed itself while Marcus turned around towards the first-year cadets.
“Guys, I have a feeling that Alice could have accidentally set off that pipe and she slid down into that building,” Marcus guessed.
“Are you sure?” Natalie asked.
“Well…..no,” Marcus honestly admitted, “But I have a feeling something weird is going on here and that trap door is a part of it.  I mean, why a trap door?”
“Yeah, can’t you just use the front door?” Nathan asked.
Tyler walked out of the alleyway to take a look at the building’s front, see nothing but a brick wall.
“There is no door!” the boy cried, running back to his friends, “The town must have covered the doorway after the factory closed so that no hoodlum would break in.  That trapdoor appears to be the only way in.”
“Must be a quick way in,” Natalie assumed, “If nobody around was looking that person could just slide down quickly and none would be the wiser.”
“Plus it’s somewhat secluded,” Marcus noted, “Makes it harder for anyone passing by to notice.”
Marcus looked at the pipe and placed his left hand back on it again, but this time he didn’t pull it down just yet.
“So, who’s coming with me?” he asked.
“What?!” Tyler gasped, “I…..I don’t….I mean….that sounds dangerous.”
“Yeah, we should notify Terra Patrol about Alice’s disappearance,” Nathan advised.
“And what would I say?” Marcus asked, “Should I tell them that my magic necklace made me see my friend being grabbed by a bunch of costumed people?”
“Well….that does sound pretty insane to believe,” Nathan agreed, “But this is insane.  We have no idea what is waiting down there for us.”
“I agree…..I….I think I should bail,” Tyler stuttered.
“I can’t believe you,” Natalie scolded the two, “A friend of ours is in trouble and from the way Marcus puts it we are the only one who can save her.  Now are you two going to be scaredy rats or are you going to man up and coming with us?”
Nathan let out a sigh and nodded, agreeing to his sister as he sided up with Marcus.  Tyler, looking a bit nervous and scared, also joined but reluctantly.
“Good, then let’s go down,” Marcus said, pulling down the pipe and opening up the trapdoor, “Just be prepared for anything that comes our way.”
Taking a deep breath Marcus was the first to jump down the trapdoor with Natalie stepping up holding tightly onto the bag of ingredients that was actually for her brother.
“GERONIMO!!” she cried, jumping in.
Nathan was the next to jump down, letting out a scared cry with Tyler not too far behind.  His whole body was shaking, fearing that jumping down the trapdoor could be the last thing he could ever do.  Then he closed his eyes sharply, gritting his teeth as he summoned all of his courage and become the last one to jump down the trapdoor just before it closed up.

***

Alice slowly came to and first thing she noticed that her wrists were tied behind her back and her ankles were tied together, rendering unable to move very far.  Trying to talk she realized that duct tape was placed across her mouth.  Looking around she noticed that she was in a dark room with broken windows all around her.  Then the girl saw a door that looked like the exit.  All around her she saw everyone dressed in red and wearing masks to cover their eyes.  They were all surrounding what looked like a jar with purple liquid inside it.
“So, will it actually work?” a female asked.
“Of course,” a male confirmed, “It’s one of the most powerful poisons in the galaxy.  Difficult to get but very effective.”
Alice mumbled a bit, a bit fearful over what this poison was and what her captors intend to do with it.  Her noises did, however, catch their attention.
“The Regalian is awake,” a second female said, “What should we do with her?”
“Well we’ll have to get rid of her at some point,” the first female said, “Permanently.”
Alice’s eyes widened in horror, her heart racing out of fear.
“Now we can’t just get rid of her this soon,” the male told everyone, “Our boss told us that we needed to carry out our mission first.  We can’t do anything that’ll draw any attention to us just yet.  First we do what we are assigned for tonight then we can dispose of this girl quietly.”
Alice whimpered, wondering where Marcus could possibly be.

***

After ending up in the basement of the building Marcus, Natalie, Nathan, and Tyler were all walking down the old, dilapidated hallway.  Tyler was breathing very hardly, feeling a bit scared.
“Wh……what is this place?” Tyler asked.
“Not sure, but it looks super creepy,” Nathan said.
The four kept on walking, looking a little lost.
“Ugh, where do we begin to look in here?” Natalie asked, using her cellphone to find any good snapshots to take.
“One could get easily lost down here,” Marcus said, “If only we had some sort of way to lead us to Alice.”
The four kept on walking until they went around a corner.  Everyone but Tyler, who was still fraught with worry and fear, noticed another member of the secret society.  The three tucked behind the corner of the hallway to say out of the man’s sight but Tyler kept on walking.  When he realized what was going on he was already sighted.  Marcus took note of the man in the costume because it was exactly the same type of person he saw in his vision.  Now the boy had no doubt that this was the right place.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” the masked man in red asked.
Everyone behind the corner gulped, thinking that Tyler was going to be in trouble just like Alice is now.  However, the man did something that came to a shock to the group.
“And what are you doing here, kid?” the man asked nicely, “Don’t you know that this place is dangerous for boys your age?”
“W….well…..I uh….I don’t know what happened,” Tyler fibbed, “I….grabbed a pipe and next thing I knew I…ended up here.”
“Well I can show you the way out,” the man said, “But promise not to tell anyone, this place is a secret to everybody.”
When the guard had his back turned to help Tyler out Marcus noticed a map tucked on the side of his belt.  Nodding towards the twins they came out and easily tackled the man, knocking him down to the ground.  While the man was down the four managed to throw him into a nearby closet.  Taking the map they closed the door with the man still dazed from the ambush.
“That…..that was a close one,” Tyler panted.
“But why was that man all so nice to you?” Marcus asked, “In my vision they had Alice when she was knocked out.”
“Did you maybe assume that they found Alice like that and were just helping her out?” Natalie asked, inspecting the map.
“No, because my amulet always informs me when someone I know is in danger,” Marcus explained, “It would never let me know if someone was going to be alright.”
“Good point, I guess,” Natalie said.
“But one thing I am scratching my head over is why that man was nice to Tyler?” Nathan asked.
“You got a point there,” Marcus agreed.
“Hey, it says here that the stairwell leading to the main floor is just down this hall,” Natalie said.
The four walked towards a door and opened it up, revealing a staircase going up to another floor.  They could also hear voices from the top which was making Tyler a bit scared again.
“Ma….maybe I should stay down here,” he said.
The boy then heard something rattling and turned.  Tyler saw that the closet door where the man his friends ambushed was stashed.  The doorknob on that door began to rattle and turn.  It seems that he was coming to and could be coming out at any second.
“On second thought I am coming with,” Tyler said.
The four quickly, but quietly, got up the stairwell and arrived on the main floor which seemed to have taken up the entire abandoned factory.  Seeing the whole place crawling with the red-wearing people the four hid behind the nearest stack of crates they could find.
“Who are these people?” Marcus asked in a silent tone.
“I don’t know,” Natalie said, “But I doubt they are here for the movie.  Looks like they are all up to something.”
“I….I think my brother told me about these people once,” Tyler answered.
“Really?” Natalie asked.
“How come you didn’t say anything about this before?” Marcus asked.
“Because I never thought it would be them,” Tyler explained, “Plus Isaac never told me much about them except for the fact that they were nothing but insane activists trying to set out what they thought was right.”
“And what did they think they thought was right?” Marcus asked.
“Isaac did not say,” Tyler said, “But he told me they vanished years ago and were thought to be disbanded as their popularity dwindled.”
Nathan looked around and noticed the jar of the purple poison the activists were fawning over.
“What’s with that deal with that juice over there?” Nathan asked.
“Don’t know,” Marcus answered, “But I doubt it’s for something good.”
Natalie was looking around and noticed the bound Alice tucked by a corner.
“Over there,” she said, pointing to the Regalian.
Marcus saw Alice and immediately scowled at the people who captured her.
“Looks like you were right about Alice being in danger,” Nathan said.
“But how are we going to get her out of here?” Tyler asked, “This place is crawling with those red-loving freaks.”
Natalie looked around and noticed a sign bolted onto a support column which looked surprisingly new for a building that was supposed to be closed for years.  On the sign it said that loud noises are strictly prohibited which gave her an idea.
“I have an idea,” she said, pulling out her cellphone and setting down Nathan’s grocery bag, “It’s risky but if it works we can rescue Alice.”
Natalie immediately jumped out from the crates and turned on her cellphone’s ringtone at the highest volume possible.  This immediately caught the attention of everyone in the main floor.
“What is she doing here?!” a man asked.
“She’s playing that at a loud volume,” another man gasped.
“Snatch that cellphone from her!” a female shouted, “We can’t let people on the outside know of our presence.”
Smirking Natalie proceeded to take photos of everyone in the building and the costumed humans didn’t seem too happy about that.
“Somebody snatch her before she takes more photos of us,” the first man ordered.
Natalie turned and started running for the stairwell leading back into the basement as every member of the secret society tried to chase her down.  Now all alone Marcus and his two friends emerged from the hiding place and made a run for Alice who seemed to be a bit happy and relieved that somebody had found her.  Marcus grabbed the piece of duct tape covering her mouth and ripped it right off which made her wince.
“OUCH!!” she cried.
“Sorry,” Marcus apologized.
Nathan and Tyler helped untied Alice and bring the girl up.
“Th….thanks for rescuing me,” she said, looking at Marcus with a huge smile and immediately hugging him.
“Uh….you are welcome,” he said, “But we can’t celebrate yet.  First we still have to find a way out of here.”
Alice then pushed herself away, looking a bit worried.
“But we can’t just leave yet,” she cried, “That poison over there.  They are going to use it for something bad.”
They turned around and approached the table, seeing the jar of poisoning bubbling and letting out a noxious fume of gas.
“It reeks,” Tyler said.
“Just what is this stuff?” Nathan asked.
“You know, I was overhearing their conversation before you came and I have one guess,” Alice said.
“What?” Nathan asked.
“I think that’s the deadly fluid from the nightmare azalea plant,” Alice explained.
“N…nightmare azalea!!!!” Tyler gasped, looking really terrified.
“What the heck is a nightmare azalea?” Marcus asked, not looking too terrified.
“It’s one of the rarest plants in the galaxy,” Alice explained, “And also one of the deadliest.  I learned all about that plant in my Botany II class.  The stem has a special vein inside that contains a deadly toxic liquid used for defense.”
“Is it really that bad?” Nathan asked, grasping his hands onto the glass jar.
“It is so deadly that even skin contact on the liquid can be fatal,” Alice explained.
That made Nathan immediately let go of the jar and stepped back in fear.
“That’s terrible!” Marcus exclaimed.
“It gets worse from there,” Alice continued, “It is said that if anyone is foolish enough to get the liquid into their body in any way that death is inevitable.  The poison is so potent and fast-acting that curing it is said to be nearly impossible.”
“Great, an incurable space poison,” Tyler said, trying to distance himself from the poison as far as he could, “And it’s right here in this old building.”
“But what are those goons going to use it for?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t know but I have a feeling it’s not going to for good,” Marcus guessed.
“But something doesn’t make sense, though,” Alice said, “I read that the poison of the nightmare azalea is highly traceable.  If they intend to poison someone with it then it’ll be surely discovered in an autopsy.”
“Yeah, so?” Nathan asked.
“Well these guys are acting like that they don’t want to be known that they are on Sandshore,” Alice added, “If they want to carry out something nasty like an assassination then why use a traceable poison?”
“Maybe they don’t know it can be detected,” Tyler guessed.
“Or maybe they are waiting for a right time to be known,” Marcus assumed.
“So you are saying they are highly confident?” Nathan asked.
“I wouldn’t say that but what I do know is that we got to get rid of this poison before they have a chance to use it,” Marcus said.
“Well I am not carrying that jar!” Nathan declared, “Not even with waterproof oven mitts.”
“Maybe we don’t have to carry it,” Alice said.
“What do you mean?” Marcus asked.
“While the poison is too fast acting to be reversed it can be neutralized before it has a chance to be sent into someone’s body,” Alice explained, “All we need is some cinnamon and the poison will be completely harmless.”
“If only we had something like that,” Marcus said.
“Oh,” Nathan spoke up, heading towards his bags behind the crate.
Marcus and Alice watched as the boy pulled out a small plastic container from the grocery bag and tossed it over to Alice.  On the label the container read that it was cinnamon.
“Will this be enough?” Nathan asked.
“Indeed,” Alice said, walking up to the jar of nightmare azalea poison, “Okay, now let’s put an end to whatever nasty plan you have.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned a male voice.
Everyone turned around and saw the members of the secret society.  One of the males have Natalie in his arms while the female had her cellphone, deleting whatever pictures of them she took.
“Hey!!” she cried, flailing her legs in the air, “Those memories are precious to me!”
The man who held Natalie then pointed his phaser towards Natalie’s head.
“I recommend that you surrender this instant or the girl gets it,” the man threatened.
“S…..sister!!!” Nathan cried, too terrified to move.
“Sorry, but I forgot that the man we ambushed was still down there,” Natalie explained, “I tried to hide but I didn’t really have a lot of hiding places to go to…”
“Just hand over the jar of cinnamon and we will make things easy for you,” the man said.
“Forget it!” Marcus refused, “We already know that you are planning to poison…..uh…..well we don’t know what that poison is for but we are still going to stop you!”
“Look around you, kid, we have you outnumbered,” the man pointed out, “You really think we are going to allow you to tell anyone about this after what you did to our friend in the basement.”
From behind the group the man who the kids ambushed raised his arms up.
“You little scum rats!” he cried, “I was just going to lead you to our secret exit without having to show you anything but instead you had to be all nosey!”
“And now you know far too much,” the man said, “Now surrender.”
Marcus just looked at the group of people dressed in red and smirked.
“How about I do this instead?” Marcus asked, using his amulet’s power to create a blinding flash of light causing everyone to cover their eyes.
“Augh!!  My eyes!!” the man cried, letting go of Natalie to shield his eyes.
Now free Natalie was able to push down the woman next to him to get her cellphone back.  She then started to run back towards her friends as the flash subsided.  Seeing Natalie freed Alice then poured the cinnamon into the vial of poison which changed from purple to dark green.
“That Regalian just ruined the poison!” the female cried, “Everything we worked for is ruined!”
“Now you are going to really regret that,” the man snarled.
Everyone pointed their phasers at the kids and fired away.  However, Marcus  stuck out his arms used his amulet to create a shield to block the shots but this time instead of blocking it the shield reflected the shots back at the villains, knocking them all down to the ground.
“Whoa, never did that before,” Marcus said, looking at his hands.
“How….did that kid do that?” the man asked, struggling to get back up.
“Really would love to tell you but me and my friends have to bail,” Marcus said with confidence.
The boy turned and ran to the exit of the building.  However, when he got there and opened the door Marcus could see the brick wall behind it.
“What the?!?” the boy gasped.
“It’s no use,” the man said, getting up along with his partners in crime, “The whole building is sealed.  The only way out is through a secret exit that only we know about.”
“Well I supposed I can always located it on the map,” Natalie said.
However, just as she was pulling out her map one of the females fired her phaser at it, making it burn away in the girl’s hands.
“What map?” the woman asked.
The kids ran towards Marcus and huddled up with him as the gang spread out to corner them.
“This is not good,” Tyler whined.
“We…have to find a way out,” Natalie said.
“And how?!” Tyler asked, “These guys have weapons, actual weapons while we are first year students!”
“Just so you know Marcus and I are second year,” Alice corrected.
“Like it matters!” Tyler cried.
“Shut them up before they attract attention!” one of the men ordered.
Then Natalie had an idea and help up her cellphone.
“Not so fast!” Natalie cried, “I have an app that lets me notify any authority figure automatically.  Kinda like a distress signal.  One press and this whole building will be swarming with Terra Patrollers.”
“You’re bluffing,” the man said.
“Try me,” Natalie said with a smirk.
“Go ahead,” the man said, “Call the cops if you want.  By the time they come we’ll be long gone and you’ll be history.”
The men fired again but Marcus was able to create and shield of energy this time to block the shots.
“Thanks, Marcus,” Natalie said.
“Actually, I was hoping to reflect the blasts again this time,” Marcus admitted.
Suddenly the boy was grabbed by the man and he stared at Marcus through his eye mask.
“You like playing games with me, boy?” he asked, “We had been waiting for years to make an everlasting mark and you just set our plan back by months.  Everything the Blood Talons have worked for was for the human race and you had to go and ruin everything!”
“The….Blood Talons?” Tyler gasped.
The man pulled out his phaser and pointed it towards Marcus.
“Well I am going to make sure that you aren’t going to cause us anymore problems ever again!” he threatened.
Alice, not liking that Marcus was in danger, began to whimper.  Then her whole body glowed which caught the attention of everyone in the room.
“That Regalian….she is glowing,” one of the women spoke.
“It can’t be,” said the man holding Marcus, “She…..she has magic?”
Alice let out a mighty scream which forced the man to let go of Marcus to cover his ears.  Along with him everyone caught in Alice’s scream covered their ears all everything make of glass shattered.  Then Alice stopped screaming but her body was still glowing and so were the shards which were pointing towards the members of the Blood Talons.  Everyone was fearful of what Alice would do next as she let out one final roar and the shards came flying right at them.
“Run for it!!” the man cried.
Everyone was in awe of what was happening, especially Natalie who took the picture of the whole event.  The members of the Blood Talons ran off in different directions to avoid the rain of glass shards that was impacting the ground at such a force that they were actually embedded into the concrete ground.  When the rain of shards stopped Alice stopped glowing and looked really exhausted.
“Never….hurt Marcus…..or my friends…..ever again,” she panted before passing out.
“Alice!!” Marcus cried, grabbing the girl before he crashed to the ground.
Natalie went up to the girl and looked at her for a moment.
“Don’t worry, I think she must have tired herself out from….whatever it was she did,” Natalie informed.
“She….she actually did that?” Tyler asked, amazed at what just happened.
“Man, you and your friends are full of surprises, Marcus,” Nathan said.
Tyler was just thinking to himself.  He knows of Natalie’s bravery, Marcus’ amulet, Alice’s apparent magical abilities, and Nathan’s resourcefulness that helped neutralized the poison.
“I….I wonder what talents I have,” Tyler muttered.
“What was that?” Marcus asked.
“N…nothing,” Tyler fibbed.
“You…brats!!” the male member of the Blood Talons cried, the same one who threatened Marcus and Natalie, “You……your friend is magic?  How?  That Regalian is obviously an Earth-born and she has magical potential?  That should be impossible!”
“Alice thought so, too,” Marcus said, “And yet look at what she did.”
The boy showed the glass shards still embedded into the ground.
“You are all threats to our cause,” the man muttered, “Now we have no choice but to…”
The man stopped when he heard noises coming from outside.  The muttering of people that could be heard were not too far.
“You heard that?” one of the people outside asked.
“Yes, it sounded like a girl screaming,” said another person.
The muttering of everyone brought fear to the Blood Talons as they realized that their cover was close to being blown.
“We….we are close to being exposed,” one of the female members said.
“N….not good,” the man spoke, “Everyone!  Retreat!  We are abandoning this facility!”
Everyone but the man turned and ran for the stairwell leading into the basement.  Then the man just turned around and faced the kids, glaring at them.
“You….,” she spoke with a nasty tone, “You cannot even to begin to imagine what your meddling has costed us!”
The man made a charge for the kids but Marcus leapt into the air and kicked the man in his chest, knocking him down.  Upon impacting the ground his mask fell off, revealing her eyes which showed red irises.  The man got up and picked up his mask and noticed Tyler staring at him.
“Why are you doing this?” Tyler asked, “Why are you causing this much trouble?  What are you planning?”
The red-eyed man just smiled.
“Something wonderful,” was all he said before he turned and made a run for the stairs.
“What does he mean by ‘something wonderful’?” Natalie asked.
“I don’t know,” Nathan said, retrieving the bag of his groceries.
The kids turned and heard that more people were gathering around the building’s front.  Then they heard the brick wall being pounded and was becoming loose.  One of the bricks fell showing a hole that they can see through and on the other side they can make out members of Terra Patrol using a battering ram to bash through the wall.
“It’s Terra Patrol!” Natalie cried.
“If they catch us we are going to have to explain how we got here!” Nathan cried.
Marcus took out his Celestial Amulet and held onto it tightly with his left hand while he supported a still worn out Alice with his right arm.
“Everyone grab onto me!” Marcus ordered.
Natalie, Nathan, and Tyler walked up to Marcus and held onto his shoulders.  The boy took a deep breath and activated his amulet’s energy.
“Please work this time,” he muttered.
With a flash the entire group of kids vanished just before Terra Patrol busted into the wall and rushed in to inspect what was making all that noise.

***

Somewhere at the Sandshore Park Marcus and his friends managed to teleport safely back into the area.  First thing they did was place Alice underneath a tree just before she was coming to.
“Ugh….where am I?” she asked.
“Relax, we are safe now,” Marcus told the girl, “And it’s all thanks to you.”
“To me?” Alice asked, getting up and rubbing her head, “I….don’t really know what I did?  Last thing I remember was….seeing you held by that awful man.”
“Well the important thing is that we are all safe,” Marcus said, holding out his Celestial Amulet, “And this time I actually managed to teleport where I wanted to go.  I think I am getting the hang of this thing.”
Marcus then tried teleporting again only to end up in the park’s fountain.  All wet he spat a goldfish that was in his mouth.
“Then again, maybe not,” Marcus said.
Alice couldn’t help but giggle at that while Natalie was looking through her cellphone.
“Guys, check this out,” she said, holding out her cellphone to show the Pacific News Network app.
“Good evening, this is Pacific News Network and I am Anna Wentworth,” the female reported announced, “We are in a live situation where an explosion shattered the windows of the old Sandshore Textile Factory which was closed down ten years ago.  Reports say that evidence of gang activity has been discovered in the old factory but Terra Patrol has yet to comment on this claim which currently remains as speculation.  The investigation is currently ongoing.”
“Really, nothing about a group of men was found,” Nathan said.
“I believe they said that they had a secret exit,” Marcus reminded, stepping out of the fountain, “Guess they had it hidden so well that Terra Patrol couldn’t find it.”
“Man, this whole thing is my fault,” Alice said with her ears down.
“What do you mean?” Natalie asked.
“If I held onto that stupid twenty we wouldn’t have gotten into this mess,” Alice explained, “And now the ferry’s due to leave back to Terra Academy soon and we missed the premiere of that movie me and Marcus were going to.  I am sorry I gotten us all involved.”
“Are you kidding?” Marcus asked, “I can see that movie some other time.  I wasn’t just going to leave you in danger.  Besides, what we do every day has more action than any superhero movie can ever give us.  Plus if we hadn’t stumbled upon their little hideout they could have used that poison for something awful.  What you did helped us save the day.”
“Thanks, Marcus,” Alice said with a smile, feeling much better over what had happened, “But….who were those people?”
“I believe they called themselves the Blood Talons,” Marcus recalled, “Such a dumb team name if you asked me.”
“Well they are not dumb,” Tyler said, “My brother said they caused some problems decades ago before they disappeared.”
“Well it seems like they returned,” Natalie said, “And they had that poison which we never got to figure out what they intended it for.”
“You’re right, almost chilling what they could have done if we hadn’t interfered,” Marcus agreed.
“I just don’t want to think about what they wanted to do with it,” Natalie said, shuddering in fear over the thought.
“I…I just hope that we’ll never get to run into those goons ever again,” Tyler said, “From what I heard from Isaac their goals are very dark.”
“How dark?” Natalie asked.
“He said they are worse than you can imagine,” Tyler claimed.
Everyone else just shuddered, fearing that they may have mingled with the evilest group of bad guys yet.

***

Somewhere underground, somewhere beneath Sandshore Village, the red-eyed man, his mask still off, was in a windowless room staring a desk with a member of a Blood Talon behind it, but this man had spikes on his shoulder pads.  That man was going over some papers and placed out security photos of the kids who ruined their poison.
“Do you realized what your errors have done?” the main with the spiky shoulder pads have asked.
“Yes, General,” the man nodded.
“We have waited months for this opportunity,” the general said, holding out a photograph of Princess Xaria, “Our plans to announce our return involved her assassination at tonight’s private banquet with the mayor.  However that won’t happen now.  Not only did those nosey kids ruined the nightmare azalea poison we worked so hard to get but that banquet is cancelled due to security issues caused by the racket in the abandoned factory those kids caused.  We now have no other choice but to cancel our plans of killing the Princess of Regalia that could have sparked our revolution.”
“I…am sorry, sir,” the red-eyed man spoke.
“This would have been our one and only chance to get close to the princess,” the general said, “Being at that hotel with its security heightened we couldn’t get inside without being spotted.  We needed her here on this island.  But that won’t matter now that our perfect poison is rendered useless.”
“I am sorry, sir,” the man repeated.
“While we figure out what we can come up with our replacement plan there is one thing I want you to do,” the general said, sliding forward a security footage of Marcus, “I want you to find out who those kids are, especially this boy.”
The man looked at the photo with his red eyes and just glared at it.
“You better watch out, kid,” the man muttered, “Soon you’ll feel the deadly grasp of the Blood Talons.”

END