Survivors edited

Survivors

Disappearance

It was a Monday morning in Bishopsgate Comprehensive school and Coral was bored out her mind.

“Coral James , stop doodling and pay attention!” Mr Hitchley barked, pointing his ruler at her as his scowl became more pronounced on his brown wrinkled features.

“Oh congratulations , you noticed. Well at least your eye's work enough to notice me. Shame you didn't notice Jagger Sharp with your daughter behind the school shed yesterday” she smirked. Mr Hitchley looked as though he was about to explode with rage which Coral hoped he would, so long as he didn't do it all over her.

“You...”, he snarled he vanished , without a trace or sound. The normally noisy class suddenly went deathly quiet. “Uh guys” Mahir Bire said nervously, “are my eye's playing up or has Mr Hitchley disappeared?” Coral stood up as a scream pierced the air. Wrenching open the classroom doors she charged into the school corridors to find Katie Ricards on the floor crying and screaming “Dad , Dad! Where are you? Come back , please”! Katie broke down, clutching what looked like a piece of broken pen. Coral took a step forward placing a hand on Katie's shaking shoulders.

“Katie what happened ”? Katie turned and sobbed “he just vanished , he was taking me to class and then he just vanished into thin air , no warning or anything”. By this time, almost the entire class had come out of the room and had gathered around them.

“Okay , this is definitely weird , what's happening to all the teachers , where's everyone gone?” Pavan Lu wondered as he looked around the deserted school corridor.

“Ha, never mind that, lets trash the place!” Gus Shep roared, kicking the nearby bins over with his massive spiked boots. “OI! NO ONE TRASHES THE SCHOOL YOU LITTLE SHIT”! Everyone spun round in shock and saw the new boy Jack Storm seizing Gus by the scruff of his collar.

“Just because all the teachers and every pupil apart from our year has disappeared it does not , are you listening wieprz, does not mean you , can wreck the school , got that”?

Gus nodded weakly looking as though he was about to wet himself.

“Wait a minute did you just say every year apart from our year has vanished”? An astounded Coral asked. Jack glared at Coral with calculating green eyes for a moment before relaxing his gaze. “Yeah , that’s what I just said”. Coral and several other people's jaw's dropped open for a moment and then Coral snapped into action. “Right get everyone up into Phase One hall for a headcount”. Jack gazed at her and then asked “can you read minds”?Coral stopped dead in her tracks.

“What? Are you playing me up Jack Stone? Do you think that this is Tomorrow People and we're all advanced super humans now”?! she snarled at the curly haired boy who backed off slightly.

“I was only joking” Jack replied but he didn't look as though he was joking “it's just that I was about to suggest the same thing”. Coral looked at him eyebrows raised.

“Oh really” then she turned and darted towards the hall . Meanwhile , unknown to her Jack was gazing at Coral 's retreating figure and he whispered under his breath.

“Oh yeah , really Miss Storm and you are really going to find out some horrible truths, very soon.”

Escape

Coral wandered into the hall and stared around her. Jack was right about one thing , the only people left in the whole school were the year eleven kids . Footsteps appeared behind her.

“Coral”? She whipped around to find her best friend Laura standing behind her looking unusually frightened and Coral couldn't blame her.

“Is it true”? she whispered, “has everyone else in the school disappeared”? “Yeah , but don't you think that it's interesting that Jack seems to be pretty calm about things , in fact he is the only one whoes calm around here now” she murmured, darting a glance up at the school stage where Jack was now standing, looking rather impressive.

“Alright , quiet please” Jack called and immediately the year 11's fell silent . Coral turned to watch Jack who was smiling as he said “o.k guys , I know this has been a unsettling day. From what information I have been able to gather from a reliable source we have found that everyone in the world has disappeared to another place which we cannot gain access to . Many of you will be wondering how we know this. Well a man , a great and powerful man who has made great technological advances which saved him from disappearing has discovered the links between the disappearances and a number of other events outside our control and he has kindly decided to help us put the world back together. I know many of you will think this impossible but we can achieve it if we cooperate with this man”!

“So what's his name then? How is he going to help us? Will he bring everyone back? Why isn't he here now”? Coral demanded, stepping closer to the stage and glaring up at Jack. He glowered back at her, his green eyes narrowed in dislike.

“So many questions yet so little time for one who has such a significant part to play in our new regime. I will answer your questions if only to pacify your irritating curiosity and to stop you snooping into other people's business”. A few people laughed at this and Jack grinned , Coral was not well liked among the year elevens and now they were all on Jack's side.

“The man's name, his true name , I do not know but we call him the Grand Master. Why? Because he is the earth's salvation and he is our master”.

“Wouldn't slave driver or supreme ruler of the earth be more appropriate then , or is he just far to modest” Coral laughed.

“Quiet you”!

“Ohhh , temper temper” Coral mocked, grinning at the sight of Jack so riled. He snarled at her.

“You won't be laughing when my Master gets his hand on you for your insolence , in fact, you won't be doing anything much soon except begging for mercy while my Master rules over the world and loves those who adore and respect him” Jack smiled, his eye's glittering madly. And Coral was sure that it wasn't the lighting that was making Jack's face glow eerily. It was pure madness and devotion in it's highest extent. She felt a desperate tug on her arm. She spun around with gasp, ready to snap the neck of the person tugging her shirt. But it was Laura.

“ Lets get outta here”! she cried.

Jack bared his teeth and bellowed, “henchmen,after them”! causing a number of uniformed people to pop up from all around the room, all armed to the teeth. “Henchmen? Seriously?” Coral sniggered. Ratatatatat! Bullets from automatic guns smacked the floor at her feet. “Okay point made”. Coral bolted from the hall . She jumped over the wall in front of her beside the art rooms and landed on the floor, blasting out of the fire door and racing behind Mahir and Sam Edilo. When she had entered the quad she heard pursuing footsteps behind her . She turned around and waited until the henchman was close enough to attack and as he lashed out she seized the arm carrying a long knife and twisted it making the man cry out in pain before she tripped him over so he ended up falling head over heels over one of the picnic tables. She then yanked the knife out of the man's hand, buried it in his right shoulder and punched him unconscious.

It was now starting to rain and Coral noticed several of the students legging it to Bishopsgate Primary school across the field. She instantly started to tear after them, her open blue and red check shirt streaming behind her. As soon as she entered the school, the first thing that Coral noticed was Sam was lying on a bench with his left arm in a odd position and he looked to be in a lot of pain. “What happened to you?” Coral asked moving forward so Sam didn't have to strain his neck or any other part of his body from looking at her. But it was Pavan who answered, “ we were running for it and then one of Jack's cronies popped up out of no where ,he just grabbed Sam and threw him into the Primary school playground laughing his head off ”. Coral stared in surprise.“Blimey , sounds like a right manic to me”. Pavan whirled around to face her,his oriental feature's screwed up in anger as he shouted “Oh , you got that right! We've got ourselves in with some right psychopaths here!” Sighing Coral cut the young man off with a wave of her hand.

“ Shut up drama queen! We need to find somewhere safe so we can make a plan and find out what is going on.”

“But Sam can't travel very far in his condition” Laura protested. She was right ,Coral knew but Jack was probably furiously deciding how cruel and humiliating a punishment to give them all once he caught them, Grand Master or no Grand Master. “Listen , Jack and the henchmen aren't going to hang around waiting for us to leave the school and I bet you that pretty soon they'll will be trying to get into the school so they can come after us ”. Trix Everdeen glanced at Coral and then muttered, “so where do you purpose we hide huh. Those men sound scary” she whimpered .Coral rolled her eye's at her terrified friend and thought for a moment, doing a quick head count of all the teenagers that were there including herself. “Norway House”, she announced “it's smack bang next to Riverswood village. There's bound to be someone on the ships coming into the docks. I mean people who are in ships or planes may not have been affected despite what Jacko wako said” . There was a murmur of agreement but then Lilith Griffin suddenly swaggered towards Coral and the others in ridiculously high platform shoes and sneered “ what about the one's who don't live anywhere near Riverswood? What about our parents? And I don't see any over seventeen's around here so how are we going to get there , fly”? Coral groaned, putting her head in her hands. Lilith could be really annoying at times like this and Coral was very tempted to murder her but then Mahir came to Lilith's rescue. “Easy, I can drive”. The room became so silent Coral could have sworn that she could hear a pin drop before Lilith burst out laughing showing manky teeth and turning her black eye's into slits. “Yeah yeah and pigs , can , fly , seriously Mahir you are hilariously imaginative, probably bordering on being mentally ill. ” Mahir dived at her only to be yanked backwards by a strong hand holding onto his collar. “Just because you can't do something doesn't mean that everyone else can't you bloody bitch”Mahir growled as he struggled to escape from Coral's monkey like grip.

“ Mahir, calm down” the young woman snapped, letting go of his school shirt. “We need to find van big enough so that all fourteen of us can go and collect some of our stuff and try and find people , agreed?”There was a mumble of assent from the audience which Coral and a still angry Mahir took for a yes. Coral turned to Mahir and said “ I think one of the teachers has a big enough van ” . Mahir nodded “ yes , I’ve seen it , it's the big maroon one right”?

“Uhuh.” “We need to get you out first. You're injured and if we get caught then you need to be out of there A.S.A.P” Mahir said to Sam who looked slightly disappointed that there would be no fight between Mahir and Lilith.

“But..” Sam protested.

“No! No arguments. Your my best mate Sam and I don't want to see you hurt”.

“You sound just like my Mum, you know that don't you” Sam grumbled, rolling his eyes.

“Well come on then , let's not stand round here discussing the trials of having over protective parents. There are a bunch of phycos on the loose out there in case you haven't noticed” Coral snapped, clearly growing impatient as her green eye's flashed with annoyance. Mahir and Sam looked at each other and grinned then they and Coral left the Primary school to go to the Secondary school car park .

Fight then flight

As they left the school Coral stopped so suddenly Sam and Mahir almost walked into her.

“What's the matter”? Sam hissed. Coral held up a hand to silence him. The two boys could hear it as well now , the thump of boots against concrete and the muttering of three voices. “That girl is so going to pay for what she did to me , big time”. There was the sound of someone laughing and then another voice chuckled, “can't wait to see you lay into her , can we watch”? Coral and the boys pressed themselves into a hedge and they looked at each other warily then Coral whispered “you guys stay here, I’ll deal with the trolls”. Mahir was about to protest but it was to late. Coral stepped into the quad, hand's in her pockets and humming to herself. The three men stopped in their tracks and stared. Then without warning one of the men who had a ugly scar across his face and torn jeans charged toward Coral with a yell of rage. As the man came forward Coral struck, her arm shooting out so fast the man didn't have time to register anything until a palm of a hand slammed into his chin. The man's head snapped back and Coral seized him flipping him over her shoulder. He landed on the floor with a back breaking crunch and lay unmoving . The his companions were wary now, Coral who was a mere slip of a thing had just taken a trained killer down with ease. She was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. The second man approached with his partner right behind him , raising his fists, looking for a chance to strike. Coral sighed, raising a thick black eyebrow, totally unfazed by the fact that two armed and highly trained murderer's now stood before her, looking for an opportunity to to kill.

“Well , well , well , you two aren't looking very happy for people who now have the perfect opportunity to slaughter everyone in your sight and take over the world. Shouldn't you be pleased? After all , there are no law enforcements to stop you murdering a bunch of innocent teenagers , and your boss doesn't seem like the type of guy to stop you doing whatever you please. Mind you I doubt he has the brains or the gut's to stop you. After all he didn't seem keen on the idea of revealing himself to a bunch of helpless kidiwinks. I expect that was why Jack took charge so the supposed Grand Master could just sit back behind a lead screen and watch while trembling with fright , ' oh , dear those kiddywink's look so scawy I'll just let Jacky be my guinea pig so I don't have to face those little terrors'” Coral squeaked in a high pitched voice, grinning at the furious looks on the men's faces. One of the men had gone bright red and then to blue, the veins on his forehead standing out as he snarled“how dare you insult our Master, ruler of the world”!

He had lost it, just as Coral had hoped. He was angry enough to make a lot of vital mistakes and he had just made his first as he lunged , the ugly knife he was holding darting forward. But Coral side stepped him easily and grabbed the knife plunging it into the man's underarm. The man howled in pain and fury as his partners eyes widened and he rushed forward leaping into the air his swinging feet missing Coral 's face by inches. The man cartwheeled in mid air before landing on his feet and striking out with his fist.

'This man is an expert , not an amateur like the others', Mahir thought as he watched Coral block and return all of the man's attacks before ducking the next blow and round housing the man in the stomach 'and so is Coral , a dangerous one. Not so much of a school yard scrapper then'. The man snarled in pain and retaliated with a fierce head butt which sent Coral toppling to the ground, but not for long . The knife that her attacker threw at her missed by milimeters as Coral quickly rolled out of the way, springing back to her feet and dodging the oncoming attack, only to be engaged in an explosion of high speed punches and counter punches that the boys could barely keep up with.

“Coral look out”! Sam yelled in terror as her previous attacker attempted to sneak up behind her, having pulled the knife out of his underarm with a snarl of pain. To the boys horror her opponent chose the opportune moment to land a punch to Coral's jaw that sent her stumbling right into the injured man's arms. Her grabbed hold of her, pulling her arms above her head in an attempt to restrain her but unfortunately for him, it didn't work. As the bigger man approached, having retrieved his knife with a feral grin Coral launched upwards, her feet slamming into the man's face with a ferocious impact causing him to crumple to the ground unconscious. And she didn't stop there, flipping herself over the other man she managed to free herself and round housed him in the back of the head before he had even realized what had happened.

“Um” Mahir murmured, unsure whether it was safe to even look at her now he had seen what she was capable of doing to other people. Coral sighed , “Mahir , don't look so terrified , your going to wet yourself in a minute otherwise. I'm not going to hurt you or anyone else that doesn't deserve it and these guys were cold blooded murderers.” Mahir and Sam looked at each other and then Coral . Then Sam chirped “okay well we need to get out of here , now , before any more of Jack's men turn up”.

Mahir frowned looking at Sam before saying slowly “yeah , but what I want to know is how come those adults are still here while the schools staff have all gone”?

“Uh, I think you should also be wondering how we are still here Mahir. Context buddy” Sam reminded him. Coral grinned. “we'll find out soon enough” she smirked.

They carried on up towards the car park , the two boys looking nervously behind them at the three prone bodies when Coral spotted the guards that were stamping around the car park gates, all of them armed with semi automatic pistols and machine guns.

“Subtle” she murmured as she slunk back into the shadows like a cat , “don't have much thought for surprise attacks do they”? Mahir smiled in agreement.

“Where has the stereotypical ninja style attack gone huh , away with the school's population”? Then he noticed that Coral wasn't paying attention to what he was saying , she was stripping the bushes of all their dry leaves and twigs and stuffing them inside one of her bright orange socks before pulling a box of matches and a bottle of something clear out of her shirt pocket and stuffing her foot back inside her neon green canvas shoes.

“What”? Sam and Mahir queried but Coral silenced them with a flick of her hand and a death glare which would have frightened off a pack of angry hyenas. With a look of intense concentration she poured the liquid from the bottle into the sock and lit a match. “Stand back” ,Coral told the two boys, looking back at them to make sure they weren't standing too close , then she put the flaming match inside the sock and as the sock caught alight she threw it into the school yard. With a tremendous bang the sock exploded, sending a cloud of smoke into the air. By now Coral had joined the two boys and had pulled her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose and called for the boys to do the same. “The gas can kill you it's so overpowering ” she explained and they could see that she was right , the men were collapsing, choking and gasping as they fought to overcome the powerful gas but it was too late , the final man collapsed with a loud gasp and then fell silent,his eyes staring sightlessly into the distance.

“Bloody hell , who taught you that?” Mahir whispered as they walked into the car park.

“My Dad” Coral replied as they made their way over to a large maroon van that could take a least four people when it was empty of all the junk. Coral tried the door handle but it was locked. “You don't seriously expect it to be open” Sam muttered shaking his head and letting his light brown hair flop over his forehead .

“Well you never know”Coral retorted and then her eyes came to rest on the hair pin in Mahir's hand. He strode up to the van door and began to pick the lock. When Coral looked questioningly at Sam he shook his head and grinned“just leave it to him , it's an art apparently , lock picking”. Mahir snorted as the van doors swung open. “You can say that again , come on, get in, before Jack and his bunch of trained trolls find us , again” . They climbed into the van and after a couple of seconds Mahir had started the van and they were driving back towards the primary school to pick up two others. They arrived at the school and found Laura and Rico Midsummer waiting on the pavement. Rico and Laura climbed into the back with Coral and they headed off to their houses finally arriving in Lakewood Road where Coral lived. When they reached Coral's home they all stared. It was a mansion! Mahir , Rico and Sam had been so busy staring at it they hadn't realized that Coral had already jumped out of the van and was heading down her drive. Mahir shot out of the van holding his hair pin calling “whoa , hang on , how ya gonna get in huh , door should be locked”. Coral gave him a witheringly look and then smashed the door down ignoring the boy's and Laura's raised eyebrows.

'Well that's one way of doing things' , Mahir thought as Coral clambered in yelling for Laura to come and help. As Mahir turned shaking his head at the outrageous and unpredictable things that girls were capable of doing he could hear Laura saying “ you do know that doors can be unlocked and people normally open them to enter a room not break them down”.

“Yeah , but breaking it open is quicker, besides who will tell”? Coral replied as she skipped down the long white hall after giving Laura directions to her room. Coral glanced back to make sure that Laura was not watching her then flitted over to the grand piano in the dining room. Coral and her mother occasionally used it but it was also used as a hiding place for private information like birth certificates and financial information . She opened the piano up and gasped. She was not expecting what lay before her , inside there was a roll of blueprint and a new laptop which looked as though it had been put there in a hurry and not turned off properly. Coral took the laptop out but almost dropped it in surprise as Laura called out “Coral , I've packed your clothes , are you gonna take anything else”? She glanced up, irritated at her own surprise and then went into the large kitchen, opened a draw and found some bin liners and put the blueprints and laptop in one of them before charging to her room to help Laura.

When Laura had entered Coral's room her jaw had dropped , first she didn't expect Coral to have so much stuff but also because the bedroom wall's were painted bright green , purple , yellow , red ,blue , silver and orange making Laura's eyes water at the whirl of colours. When Coral burst in carrying a mass of bin liners Laura frowned as she whirled around like a hurricane, grabbing everything she owned and throwing them haphazardly into the bags.

“What took you so long”? Laura asked as Coral rushed around the room. Coral paused and gave Laura a look that said clearly 'mind you own business' .

“I was just curious , that’s all” she mumbled as she watched Coral flounce out of her room with the bags containing her stuff. Laura walked outside admiring the beautiful garden and the very expensive looking SUV and Jaguar in the drive which the boys were ogling at. Then Coral strode out humming under her breath but still looking a little hay wire and cranky after all that had happened and Laura's probing. They all climbed in the van and took of wondering what they would find in Riverwood.

The Grand Master

Jack swaggered through the Grand Master's H.Q. No one bothered him , gave him strange glances or doubted him. He was one of them now. O.k , he had to admit to himself that the men who took on Coral didn't do as good a job as he had expected of them. Martial art and combat experts Jack had been told , well they failed against a small fifteen year old girl so they can't have been that good. Jack paused at a steel door and then knocked.

“Enter”a strong commanding voice barked. Jack strode into the room well aware of how dark and cold it was, just like it's owner. The owner in person was sitting on a high backed leather chair stroking his pet scorpion Hades.

“Well, what have you come for? I know all about your heroic little speech about me and my work to make the earth a better place and although you speech was very touching , I noted that you had little co-operation from some of the more, head strong students including a certain Coral Star James. Is that right??” Jack nodded as Coral's adoptive parents walked in, scowling at Jack who cringed. He had promised them that Coral wouldn't get away from the school and she would be kept safe but Jack and his men had allowed Coral and several other students to slip through their finger's like smoke. Coral's parents sat down on two chairs facing Jack.

“Well,what do we do now”? The Grand Master hissed. “Do we kill them or let them roam free causing chaos to my new and almost perfect regime”? Coral's father cleared his thought before putting his hand up like a school kid desperate to answer a difficult question. “Yes , Alex , you have a solution” the Grand Master queried, his snake like silky hiss becoming more prominent with each word.

“Yes , well, “ Alex's soft Idrell accent pulled Jack out of his thoughts. “There is a chance that Coral may have separated from the other students and gone else where, so she could have gone to the house , she's not exactly popular. Why would the other children want her around”? The Grand Master nodded. “True but from what our security cameras show us, Coral has stayed with some of her school mates and defended them from my men. Don't you think that Coral's actions speak a little louder than your words …..Captain”? Alex paled , he knew that the Grand Master referring to his elusive past meant trouble with a very large blood red capital T. Suddenly the Grand Master started laughing clapping his bony hands and rocking in his chair. Jack , Alex and Bella stared as the Grand Master cackled. “ Useless fool! Why did I ever employ you?! You see what you want to see and are blind to the truth. Your idiocy could result in Coral fighting against us instead of with us” . He paused before pressing a button on his chair. “Observe and watch carefully” he commanded. The screen showed Coral entering the living room in the James mansion, looking a little cranky but curious and alert at the same time. She then walked over to the grand piano and out of the corner of his left eye Jack saw Alex nervously bite his lower lip as Coral opened up the piano and gasp, her face contorting slightly before reaching inside and pulling out a roll of blueprints and a laptop.

“Well it seems that the spy camera was of some use after all wasn't it , Alex huh” the Grand Master sang. Alex glanced at Bella and sighed “I didn't want to put the camera there but I had to keep an eye out for M.I.5 and the Agency , I wasn't expecting Coral to go snooping and find Bella's laptop and the letter that is on there which I bet she'll find”. He sighed again “I had to hide it there cos it was the last place anyone would look, or so I thought”. The Grand Master cackled, his hand hovering over a large red button that made Jack gulp silently. “Apparently not Alex .Yes, she will find the letter but I’m afraid to say that you, won't live to find out her reaction.” Alex stared, paralysed with fear.

“Wait! Please!”

“Goodbye Alex James , you have been very useful to me” the Grand Master declared before pushing the red button.

“ Bella”! Alex screamed as a large hole opened up in the ground and Alex was swallowed up by the on coming darkness. Jack stared at the giant hole that Alex had fallen down but dared not peer inside , because the Grand Master might decide to throw him in as well and knowing the Grand Master and what he liked to do to people living or dead , whatever had happened to Alex wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

Will they ever leave us alone?

Coral strode inside Norway House with the other's in tow, her head flicking left to right to see if there was anyone around. Sighing, she set her stuff down and looked at Laura who was already sitting on a sofa fiddling with her laptop.

“There's nothing , just these black and white lines flickering across the screen” she moaned as Coral and Rico bounded over a table onto the sofa to look at the laptop. Laura was right. Suddenly the screen flickered and number's started appearing.

“Hey , what's that”? Rico asked, pointing at the numbers scrolling across the screen.

“I don't know. Could be some kind of jamming signal. I can't trace is though until I can get hold of a working laptop and the right cables.”

“Okay” Coral sighed “Mahir go and get the others.”

“Yes Ma'am.” Mahir strode out of the hotel hand's in his pockets, silently praying that the others were okay. Turning back to look at Sam he noticed a definite improvement in his best friend's mood as Rico fixed him up as best he could. Coral had disappeared down one of the long hallways while Laura continued to pour over the laptop , murmuring quietly to herself. Then Mahir turned away ,climbed into the van and drove off, his mouth set into a grim line. Coral, unable to take the silence that had descended on what seemed like the whole of Carnill coast darted upstairs to find herself a room. If they were going to stay here then Coral might as well make the most of it even if the next time they stuck their noses out the door they had an unfortunate meeting with a bullet. But Coral knew one thing was certain , she was not going down without a fight. She swiftly darted down the next corridor and almost crashed into Rico.

“Hey steady on Quicksilver” Rico laughed but his dark brown eyes looked worried, “you want the good news or bad first”?

“Uh good” she answered tentatively.

“ Looks like all technology has gone bust. I can't get any of it to work. I've tried all the T.V channels and nothing.”

“And the bad news ?”

“It looks like we're the only ones left in Idrell”.

“What about international channels” Coral queried, fighting the panic that was trying to crawl up her throat.

“Nope.”

“But then” Coral mused “no international channels must mean that …. live recordings ….Earth's population …..oh stars!”Tthe next thing Rico knew Coral was blasting downstairs, taking them five at a time. “Whoa, Coral , what are you rambling on about??” Rico shouted as he followed her, taking care not to fall down the red carpeted stairs.

“The whole population of the world had disappeared” Coral gasped “ Jack meant what he said , there is no one left on Earth”she whispered fearfully, skidding to a stop as she was joined by Sam and Laura. “Don't you see? We're the only human's left , everyone else has gone.” A ominous silence filled the room and then Sam shook his head , his eyes gazing at the computer which showed so many letters , symbols and numbers that it was impossible to decipher.

“No way, that’s impossible , no, no ,no way , there has to be someone else. I mean who is sending out those numbers”? he protested, gesturing to the computer with his good arm.

“Hmm , maybe your right. Look I need to go and think, call me when when the others get here o.k.” Coral muttered before turning around and heading back upstairs where she wandered aimlessly until she came to a room that caught her eye. The minute she stepped into the room she immediately knew something was wrong. The room was dark with the curtains drawn and there was a strange smell in the air. Dropping her bags, Coral walked into the centre of the room listening out for sounds that could indicate danger. Suddenly a man burst out of the walk in wardrobe holding several deadly looking knifes and wearing a snarl on his dishevelled and scarred face.

“Ahh well , well , well , if it isn't Miss Coral James. The Grand Master will be very pleased that I’ve gotten rid of you , cos you've caused lots of trouble for him” he sneered as advanced towards Coral , adjusting his every move to mirror hers.

He lunged at her Coral launched a roundhouse kick into his stomach which made him drop half his knives as he doubled over wheezing. But then he struck , the movement coming so fast Coral didn't have time to react.The blow send her across the room into the wall. Her head slammed against the wall , causing stars to explode in front of her eyes as she slid down the wall in a daze and somewhere in her mind she heard laughter.

“Not so tough now are we” the man cackled “I thought you were as dangerous and mad as your parents”, he taunted .The insult to her parents sent Coral into rage overdrive. She moved so fast it was her attackers turn to go stumbling towards the wall as he attempted to block the oncoming blows. Then she smashed her fist into his jaw with a right hook to the chin. With a nasty crack that made Coral wince , his head shot up as he howled in pain and he crashed painfully to the carpeted floor. Coral clambered over the bed to stand above him preparing herself to jump on top of him and crush his chest in with the force of her landing when she got the shock of her life. The man grinned at her.

* * *

Jack was busy working out in the school gym, trying to shake of the memories of Alex James' death and the Grand Masters bone chilling words as he explained his plan to kill Coral and anyone else left alive who wasn't on his side. Frankly, Jack thought that apart from having a extremely twisted scene of humour the Grand Master was also rather mad. Brilliant but mad , Jack thought as he pumped his arms furiously on the dumb bells he was holding. Unlike many other boys Jack was skinny but strong as an ox so most left him alone. All apart from his best mates Jagger Sharp and Drusus Melsnake who were also under the care of the Grand Master's secret assassination and intelligence unit , and it was them who were strolling into the gym at that moment.

“Yo , Jack , cool speech earlier bro” Drusus drawled as he strolled towards Jack looking like he owned the place. Jack got up grinning, his earlier worries forgotten in the presence of Drusus and Jagger. Jagger flopped onto one of the bikes raising one, over-muscled , dark skinned arm to point at Jack.

“Dude , you gonna hurt yourself you keep working out like that. Whassit for anyway? I mean shouldn't you be helping Mr G instead of pumping up your muscles”?

“Jeez, guys, can't you give me a break or do I have to go and throw myself in the river Emel just to get some private time around here” then his mood turned serious as he drawled “ and anyway the Grand Master doesn't need me until tomorrow , probably too busy adding Alex to his corpse collection”. Drusus sat up from the foam mattress he had been lounging on.

“Seriously , the Grand Master killed of one of Coral 's folks”. His grey eyes lit up as he thought about the consequences for Coral. “Oh , she'll blow a fuse big time , can't wait to see that ”. Jagger and Jack rolled their eye's at their friend before Jack strolled over to Drusus and began to put his trainers back on.

“Drusus , she ain't gonna find out cos she and the other idiots she took of with think that their parents have disappeared like everyone else , now don't ask me what happened to cause all this crap cos even the Grand Master say's that he doesn't know , so if he doesn't know , no one will ever know”. He finished with a shrug as he put on his hoodie and put his I pod in the pocket of his shorts.

“Come on , lets go wreck some havock”! Jagger shouted before he charged off into the school grounds. “Man, that guy is a destruction fuelled physcopath “ Drusus muttered gazing after Jagger who had kicked the door down before running into the fields. “Ah well, might as well do something” he sighed before the two boys followed Jagger out into the grounds.

***

“Ya know , I knew your parents once , in fact I worked alongside them , your Dad used to work for an organisation called the Agency , under that pompus , lying, idiot John Smith. He fired your dad after he discovered that Alex was working for us , fallen in love with one of our best agents, your Mother , he became assassin you know, still is too, but not as good as your mother , oh no never as brilliant as your Mother ,she was a gift to us you know”. Finair paused only to discover that Coral had placed one foot on his neck like a 19th century hunter standing victorious on top of a exotic big cat he had killed, and she was pressing her bodyweight down on his neck, the pressure building by the second. Already black dots were appearing at the edges of his vision and the dots were slowly growing larger.

“You liar ”! she growled, her green eyes gleaming dangerously. Finair suddenly sensed a lack of strength in the pressure that Coral was applying to his neck and he launched his body upwards causing Coral to fall. Finair pulled a gun out of his jacket. He wanted to finish the fight and finish it now , but Coral clearly had other plans because when Finair fired Coral had vanished. Confused he turned round as Coral slammed into him with the force of a wrecking ball. As Finair doubled over in surprise and pain he was suddenly aware of another sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down he gasped , and even as he put a hand to the wound from which blood gushed out, somewhere in his mind he realized that he had accidentally shot himself , and now Coral was either going to finish him off or he was going to bleed to death. Finair glanced at Coral and saw shock written all over her face to be quickly be replaced by the calm façade she had when she had been choking him. The last thing Finair registered before he died was his body zooming towards the wall and crashing through it. Then blackness took over.

***

Rico had opened the bedroom door wondering what all the noise was about and gasped at the scene in front of him. A tall , shaven haired and very broad man stood in the middle of the room, doubled over, with a gun dangling loosely from his left hand , the man's face scarred with agony. He looked for Coral and saw her standing there in front of the man looking relatively unharmed.. Then next second the man was a blur as he smashed through the opposite wall on to concrete paving seven floors below. Rico winced as he heard the nasty crunch of a bones smashing. After standing there for several seconds he registered Coral strolling towards him saying “s'cuse me Rico , I need a new room. This one isn't suitable for inhabitance any longer”. Then she strolled out of the room carrying her bags and headed up the next flight of stairs. Rico cautiously slipped into the room and saw a hole in the wall where the man had fallen through. He looked out and gulped,hoping he wasn’t going to be sick as he saw the man spread eagled on the tarmac with a pool of blood surrounding his head and covering his dirty white t-shirt. Then he noticed a maroon van driving into the Norway House car park, almost running the man over, but stopping just in time. Rico glanced down , eyes narrowing with suspicion but then breaking into a smile when he saw Pavan's head suddenly protrude from the passenger seat , followed by his broad shoulders. Mahir was in the drivers seat , shock written all over his freckled face as he spotted the dead man lying on the floor just inches from the van wheels. As Rico charged down the stairs he met up with Sam and Laura who were staring at the man with shock.

“Coral” Rico said in answer to the other's unspoken questions. “Well , that's something we haven't seen before” Shane murmured as he shouldered two enormous bags and proceeded to walk into the hotel.

* * *

Rico wondered why Laura hadn't gone up to talk to Coral yet. Then Rico realized that although Coral and Laura were best friends Laura was probably afraid that the girl she knew was a façade which the killer hid behind. Rico had gone back to the room that he had seen the man murdered and immediately noticed a difference. The room was completely tidy and apart from the giant hole in the wall there wasn't a single sign that there had been murder in the room or a fight. There wasn't a speck of dust on the walls.

Typical Coral, cleaning up the evidence of the crime leaving the area spotless as though nothing had ever occurred. He remembered in year eight Lilith and Taricca Jarvis attempted to attack Coral with Jagger and a group of other's who followed the two girls lead. It didn't go well , five boys landed in hospital and guess who got the blame after Coral cleaned up and planted false evidence ,fingerprint's and all around the scene of the crime:Lilith and Tarrica. The two girls never got their revenge. Oh yes ,they tried but after a series of nasty incidents that happened to the two girls , and their so called friends they soon worked out that in order to survive they had to leave Coral alone.

Laura was probably thinking on the same wave length now , having seen Coral's work first hand. Rico conversely, had different plans. Standing up from the squashy sofa he had been lounging on he strode towards the stairs. He found the room that Coral was currently in and knocked on the door.

'At least I’ll have a warning if Coral doesn’t want to be disturbed'. But to Rico's surprise he heard Coral's voice float out towards him. “Who is it”? she called.

“Uh ,it's me , Rico” he replied a little nervously, wondering whether he should leave as it sounded like Coral had been crying. He thought he heard Coral sigh then say “okay, come in Rico”. Rico entered , his canvas shoes sinking into the soft deep purple carpet on the floor. His jaw dropped as he took in the room and he realized that Coral had got a lot done in the way of making things more homely for herself despite the short amount of time since she had left her original room.

“Woah , uh , you work fast” he mumbled looking around. All the vases of flowers and flowery pictures that were scattered all around the hotel had been taken down to be replaced with Coral's things . The room was now over flowing with colour as Rico took in the hundred's of posters of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings , Game of Thrones and abstract art designs . Rico stepped further into the room as Coral replied “thank you Rico , you wanted something?” “Well , I just wanted to see how you were , that guy you killed....” Rico paused as he saw Coral flinch visibly on the king sized bed.

'Hmm, maybe Coral isn't the cold hearted killer I thought she was'.

“He didn't hurt you did he”? Rico finished awkwardly, staring in surprise as Coral gave a short burst of cold laughter. The kind of laughter that he would have never associated with the clever , and mischievous Coral that he was used to. “No, did you really think that pathetic monster of a man could hurt me?! He was nothing”! Rico stumbled back in shocked as Coral's eye's narrowed dangerously and she moved towards him, fists bunched but then she seemed to calm down and apologised. “Sorry , I don't know what came over me. Are the others okay”?

“Hmm , a little gobsmaked after seeing a dead body crash down right under their noses ”. Rico sighed running his hand through his Afro , “I just wish we knew what was going on , what is happening to the ones who have disappeared? Are they alive? Are we really the only ones left”? Coral could see that Rico was getting really wound up as he paced the room, his feet walking over the same circle over and over again and she jumped off the bed and grabbed Rico who stopped in his tracks. “Listen Rico, I don't know the answers but we will find them I promise , and if everyone in the world has vanished ….. well, we'll just have to manage as best we can and make sure that there are no nutter's about that will try and blow everything sky high then won't we”. Rico stared up at Coral surprised at her pragmatism. After what felt like an infinity to him he gave a small nod and grumbled to himself “I must be mad , going along with you ”. Coral's face twitched and his blood froze, 'oops' he thought 'I'm dead'. He shut his eyes, waiting for Coral to let loose. Chimes started playing as a breeze spurted through the room yet no blow. He opened his eyes cautiously and was startled to discover that Coral was laughing, her emerald green eyes alight. “Oh wow , I’m so glad you have such a high opinion of me, I'm honoured” she crowed with delighted sarcasm . Rico smirked “well no offence but I do tend to save my nicer side for Pavan”. Coral's grin grew wider showing blinding white teeth and a pair wolfish incisors. “Oooh , I knew there was something more than just friends going on between you , so I take it your not attracted to girls then are you”? Rico felt uncomfortable as he felt his cheek's darken , was Coral hinting that she fancied him?

“Well, um, no not really , I mean ...” . Coral smiled, properly this time with no sarcasm, cruelty or arrogance hidden there like the other smiles he had seen today. “That's okay” she shrugged “I was only curious since every girl that has asked you out since year seven you've turned down and when ever a girl looks at you for too long Pavan gets pretty possessive”. Rico's jaw fell open “how...” he gasped.

“Anyway , down to business” Coral said sitting back down on the bed and indicating for Rico to join her. Rico sat cautiously on the edge of purple duvet cover, sinking into the soft white mattress. “We need to do something about Lilith , she could get us killed.” She paused, glancing at the opposite wall, “or betray us”. Coral sighed , “I don't want to do this despite how much I loath the bitch but it's either us or her , if only there was some way to get rid of her without killing her? Where are high security prison guards when you need them? Gone AWOL and quite possibly never to return , oh well that's helpful”.Rico glanced at Coral shocked, was she really going to try and kill Lilith? 'Blimey , I hope she's not turning into Moriarty or some other insane serial killer, mind you' , he thought , 'she does have a point'.

Lilith was a right sneak. Constantly snooping in to other people's private lives and spoiling things for everyone. Why she had come he had no idea but perhaps ….. Rico couldn't bear to contemplate the horrible possibility that Lilith was in with Jack and the Grand Master and was spying on them. They were kids for god sake not M.I.5! What did Jack and the Grand Master expect to discover from spying on them? Why did they want to get them killed so badly? All they wanted was to survive and be able to live their lives! Rico was yanked sharply out of his contemplation by Coral turning and saying to him ,“right , tomorrow I'm sending you , Tommo and Lilith up to Madir Castle on guard , go through the forest in case there's trouble , you'll lose any pursuers quicker . Then it's up to you to get rid of Lilith at what ever means necessary.”

Rico nodded solemnly “I will do what I can , I promise , but do you really expect me and Tommo to murder someone. Why can't you do it”?

“ I never said murder her Rico. And I've got other things to do.”

“Like what”?

“Like doing some exploring. Getting rid of Lilith will be easy , going on an exploration to look for any clues or evidence as to what caused this will be quite another thing”.

“Okay but what if she is working for the Grand Master and decides to call the cavalry when she realizes she's in trouble”?

“It's likely that you and Tommo know the area better than they do and Lilith's no local girl. You can lose them.”

“Damn , I hate you , okay then” Rico grumbled,his glare intensifying when Coral broke into an enormous grin “that's my man Rico Midsummer”!

***

Lilith listened with awe and disgust. Rico had sided with Coral! They were going to get rid of her! Well Jack wouldn't be pleased about that. She swished her long black hair away from her pointed face and started down the stairs before freezing as a thought struck her. She didn't have any proof and if one of the others saw her sneaking off , well , they might get suspicious. This was a game of survival of the fittest now. She couldn't afford to take any risks or leave things to chance now, which was why she was going to make sure that she had her own plans in motion. She smiled in satisfaction as a plan clicked in her mind . Rico and Tommo would never return from the castle.

When you need to know when to get the hell outta there

The next morning both Rico and Lilith woke up tense and ready for action. Rico and Coral had explained their plan to Tommo and both boy's would be going in armed with stun gun's and smoke bombs that Coral had taken from her house. Lying in the pristine white sheets of his new four poster bed Rico couldn't help but admit to himself that what he was doing , what he had done , what they had all done was crazy. Normal 21st century kids shouldn't be doing this. They should be sitting at home playing computer games , watching T.V or lounging in bed not charging around fighting for survival and trying to escape from Jack , the Grand Master and their cronies. 'The Earth really is a crazy place to be in' he mused as he rolled out of bed. He got dressed and decided to go and see if Pavan was up. When he reached Pavan's room he could hear him mumbling to himself and the scratching of pen on paper. Rico smiled , Pavan was a born author and he would make a lot of money out of it, Rico was sure. he opened the door and sure enough Pavan sat cross legged on the floor in the middle of the room with his eye's half closed muttering as he wrote things down on a piece of paper from his red notebook.

“Pavan , PAVAN“! Rico called. Pavan opened his dark eyes and flipped his long, silky black hair away from his face.

“Oh , hi Rico” Pavan smiled. “Um , look Pavan I’m going out for a while ,doing something for Coral” already Pavan's eye's started to narrow “nothing personal of course but there is a job I need to do , I won't be long I promise , I just came to make sure you didn't come looking for me. The mission could be dangerous if things go wrong , and um , we need to keep our relationship under wraps , Coral knows , I don't know how she found out but she knows. We can trust her. I think. But we need to be careful”. Rico paused as Pavan stood up. “We “ Pavan said incredulously, raising his dark eye brows as he walked slowly towards Rico. “Well , I um thought that you....” Rico trailed off as Pavan's lips covered his.

“Yes , I know what I said , I was just surprised that you decided about us. I take it you won't be back for a while then” Pavan said once they had stopped kissing. He turned and walked over to the window and gazed out. “Be careful, I don't want to see you hurt , I love you too much”. Rico sighed muttering “ mmm, love you to sweetheart but you worry about me way to much”. He exited the room and went on a hunt for Tommo. As he had suspected,he found Tommo in the wide spacious lounge playing Mario Cart on his play station . “Tommo , we need to go now , you seen Lilith ”.

“Nope , but if I had , she would have hell to pay”. Tommo growled . Rico sighed again.

“What's she done now”? he grumbled . The younger boy smirked. “Well it's not a matter of what's she's done , it's more the matter of her existence if know what I mean” he grinned wolfishly. “Oh, come on” Rico muttered grabbing one of Tommo's arms and pulling him off the couch, “before you cause any more trouble than we're in already, Lilith WE'RE READY, GET DOWN HERE”! he bellowed. Lilith came down to meet them , wearing her long black hair in a unattractively tight bun and her usual bestial scowl.

“Come on then losers, jeez why do you have to come , in fact we do we have to go at all? Following order's from the freak, no, thank, you”. Tommo scowled at Lilith's retreating back as they exited the building. “Don't worry Tommo , she'll be gone soon”. “I ain't committing murder mate ! That's Coral's forte not mine. I say just lock her in one of the dungeons and leave her there to rot.”

“That is committing murder Tommo , only with a helping hand from Mother Nature.”

“Humph , whatever.”

* * *

Coral strode out of the hotel, flicking her mop of curly blonde hair out of her face as she set off down the road. She was off to do some investigating and collect supplies. Laura and Trix had wanted to come with her but Coral had told them that there were likely to be armed and prepared to kill henchmen just waiting for the opportunity to catch Coral or any of the other supposed miscreants so there would probably be danger and bloodshed. Anyway Coral worked best on her own. Pulling on her blue shoulder bag and pulling her purple hoodie closer she set off in the direction of Riverswood Village.

As Coral bent down to look at some foot prints etched onto the muddy promenade she noted that they disappeared seemingly into non existence. One foot had been lifted to take another step while the other one was already in front when they vanished. Coral carried on into Riverswood and stepped into La Costa café to be greeted with an eerie silence. There was no tell tale smell of cakes or cookies cooking, nor the sound of the coffee machine whirring or music playing in the kitchen. She sat down as the fear of being totally alone and alienated started to creep up on her like the sea coming into high tide on Jewel bay. She realized that she and the others holed up in Norway House were on their own against the Grand Master and his croonies with no way of escaping. The trains , planes , boats and cars were useless as no one apart from Mahir had a hope of driving any vehicle without driving up or a tree or killing themselves.

Suddenly Coral's head snapped up as the seashell curtains that were hanging in the back entrance to the café suddenly jangled as though someone had come through. Coral stood up, her senses on full alert but before she could do anything more than twitch her head towards the kitchen where the curtain's were a strong hand clapped down on her mouth. “ Coral it's me Curtis”! a voice grunted as Coral elbowed her ambusher in the stomach and kicked his left kneecap . Coral spun round eyes narrowed and saw to her relief that it was her old childhood friend Curtis Mildew doubled up in pain from her blows. “What are you doing here? ” Coral hissed causing Curtis to back of hastily. ”Hiding, duh. I left when the Grand Master turned up , no one ran after me like they did with you and your friends , it's true I swear. It turns out that the Grand Master was in charge of what happened. Jack was just there to act as a guinea pig , to make sure everything went smoothly and no potential henchmen in other words the year elevens, tried to rebel or run away.”

“You mean this whole everyone but us, the Grand Master and his men disappears thing wasn't a accident it was done on purpose”?! Coral cried excitedly.

“Really? Your happy about that? Anyway how could it be an accident”? Curtis queried.

Coral rolled her eyes and in a voice dripping with sarcasm said “well I don't know , a scientific experiment gone just a little bit woopsie”. Curtis laughed loudly showing large white teeth before he folded his arm's and murmured, “but why us? Why are we and your friends still here”? Suddenly they heard glass smashing in the kitchen. The two of them froze , and then a voice bellowed “come out with your 'ands up before I blow you to ash”! Curtis and Coral looked at each other.

“Grab onto me.”Curtis said firmly.

“What? Curtis we need to..”

“grab onto me I can get us out of here. He'll never catch us.” Scowling and against all the instincts that were screaming at her to leave the idiot boy and run she grabbed onto Curtis who wrapped his arms securely around her. Bam!

“What the”? Coral looked around, they were the other side of the village by Riverswood Primary school which was completely silent. “How the hell did you do that”? she demanded of the young man who was looking at her like a kicked puppy. “Super speed.” He mumbled. “Got it when I was running from Bishopgate.”

“Oh,well that's a pretty cool power.”

“Really” Curtis said excitedly looking less like a kicked puppy and more like an in love one.

“Yeah. Useful. Now stop looking at me like that before I knock your teeth in speedster.” Curtis blushed and laughed. “Come on , I know a place we can hide in case they come after us.”

* * *

Rico strode into the forest that lead to the castle at Tommo's side with Lilith slightly in front showing no interest in the boys quiet discussion about a possible explanation for what had happened to the rest of humanity which in Rico's opinion was not a good sign given that she usually jumped at any chance to interrupt any sensible convalescence with her whiny nattering. Then they were in the castle grounds and even Lilith's jaw flopped open at the amazing work that had been done on the castle and it's grounds in the recent months . It wasn't finished but it was beautiful , the hard work that had gone under way was seriously worth it , Rico thought. They strode inside the castle and looked around with awe then Lilith leaped up the staircase that would take them to the top of the castle with an impatient “come on losers, don't we have something to do for the freak? “Or rather I have” she added with a dark chuckle.

The two boys looked at each other in alarm having heard Lilith's menacing whisper ghost down the dark staircase. Rico slowly and silently pulled out the stun gun that Coral had given him from his chinos and put a finger on the trigger as he advanced up the stairs after Tommo who also had his stun gun out and from his grim facial expression was prepared to use it. Both of them knew that there were only two bullets in there each and Rico at least, really didn't want to use them. He didn’t want to kill her by causing her to fall of the top of the castle but if it came down to a matter of survival he would have to. Then as he came to the last few steps he froze, warning sirens shrieking in his head as he heard Lilith giggle “woopsie daisy Tommo. Careful now or you'll get your head blown off”. Rico burst onto the top floor and the first thing he saw was Tommo with his hands in the air, a murderous expression on his face and Lilith and a man dressed in black combat gear were pointing real guns at him. “Lilith ! No ! What are you playing at”? Rico gasped as Lilith turned her gun towards him.

“Hands in the air Rico, this isn't a child's game I'm afraid. I’m getting my revenge of course , on all of you . Shane , Sam , Coral and the rest of your little friends . Ohh I’m going to enjoy watching you die. Jack and the Grand Master promised that I could watch when they kill Coral”.

“Your crazy”! Tommo snarled “What have you got against us anyway huh, you bitch”?!

'Lilith does look crazy' , Rico thought, 'I'm not actually convinced that she is completely sane'. Rico's doubts about the correctness of Lilith's mental faculties proved correct when Lilith screeched “Coral beat me! In everything! She was always the smart one , always the popular one! Even with the teachers who hated kids , even they liked her . The younger kids admired her , even you worship the ground she walks on ! Don't try and deny it ! It's true! That's why I want my revenge! Always the one to be chosen for awards, always the cool one , the one that all the boys want and all the girls want to be , always the best ! Well now it's time for me to shine ! Soon Coral will be begging for mercy as she watches all her friends die in front of her but she can do nothing to help them! She will be begging for the Grand Master to kill her and I'm going to enjoy watching her die , slowly and painfully”! Lilith smirked, her eye's bulging with rage as thunder and lightening crackled and spat unexpectedly, above them. '

Yep' , Rico thought , 'she's 1000 per cent jealous , evil and insane'.

The rat faced man behind Lilith suddenly moved revealing a small but powerful explosive and before Rico knew what he was doing he had fired the stun gun. The man fell, still holding the explosive which much to the two boy's horror went off with a explosive bang that blew everyone backwards and onto the floor with the impact . Orange and red flames danced up and down the castle walls and smoked leaped up and united itself with the snarling sky . Two deadly natural forces that , if Tommo and Rico didn't get out of there pronto would considerably shorten their lives. Rico dived for the staircase expecting Tommo to follow but Tommo was now standing up right, stock still, glaring at Lilith who had a small smile on her face as she slowly backed away, still on the floor. Then Tommo dived forward with a burst of speed that took Rico by complete surprise. Charging over to Lilith he seized her with a growl of “you don't deserve to live” then a second explosion caused the ground under his feet to crumble sending him and a screaming Lilith tumbling into the inferno below them. “TOMMO , NO!” Rico yelled. He ran to try and save his friend but a third explosion blew Rico off his feet and into a wall as the entrance to the stairs was covered up by a avalanche of stone. Rico picked himself up and fled gasping and panting, trying not to breath in smoke that obscured his vision. He lost his balance for the third time as another explosion rocked the castle and to Rico's horror he was blown into the air and he found himself 60 feet of the ground. With the fiery ground plummeting closer towards him, Rico screamed.

Rotten lies and rotten cores

Coral and Curtis climbed over the wire mesh that kept people out of the old disused mine and went inside. “Figured they wouldn't look here , after all it is supposed to be haunted and a nightmare to get out of if you get lost in this maze”.”

“Humph, idiots”

“Yeah , but now there's this ….. this crappy, everyone on earth vanishes thing, there are men out there , armed, I've seen them , only just escaped with my life! They did this”! He pulled down the top of his T-shirt to show her a long shallow bullet wound, the bullet had just scraped his right shoulder and from the angle of the wound narrowly missed his neck.

“Hmm, doesn't look to bad. Did you put anything on it?”

“No! I was just a little bit busy trying not to get killed! When I ran down to Riverswood Village I thought I saw someone come around the corner so I hid in La Costa , bathed it in water though and I think it helped , I can't feel much pain.”

“We'll get that treated back at Norway House, now come on we've got to get out of here” she turned her head and made a move towards the mine entrance only to be stopped by Curtis who protested loudly. “Whoa , Coral we can't go out there! There are loads of guards”! Coral ignored Curtis and strode to the entrance of the mine and saw that he was right. At least twenty men , all in black were combing the area searching for something . The men had machine guns and they were pointing them in different directions. Curtis stuck his head out behind Coral who jumped, unaccustomed to being taken by surprise. “See , they'll shoot you on sight . I nearly died when they came after me , mind you I rather enjoyed the chase.” Coral turned her head giving Curtis a look the suggested that he had lost his mind.

“Well” Curtis muttered, “ getting chased through Riverswood was kinda fun in a weird way.”

“You didn't hit your head did you , or did we somehow swap personalities cause I'm sure that I'm the one that enjoys getting into trouble” Curtis chuckled making Coral roll her eye's muttering “your insane.” An enormous smirk broke across Curtis freckly face as he laughed “could say the same thing about you. Now what are we going to do to get away? Cos, the last thing I want is to spend another night in this hole” he urtis grumbled jerking his head back in the direction of the mine. Coral pushed Curtis inside and said “I've got a plan , all you need to do is run to Norway House and don't get killed while I deal with these men for us , won't be long” she sang.

“Wha , hang on , you can't do that.”

“Why not”?

“Your a girl.”

“Oh congratulations you've noticed and that's being sexist.”

“But you'll be in danger.”

“So will you if you don't zip it”.

* * *

He was flying. He couldn't breath. He couldn't scream or shout for help. The air moved back from him like a wave while the ground moved up to greet him. He was getting closer and closer to the ground and some small, still working part of his brain screamed that he was going to break every bone in his body. He shut his eyes and pictured Pavan , if he was going to die he wanted the last thing he remembered to be his love. Wham! Rico smashed down on to the warm grass with a loud huff as the air was knocked from his lungs. With a gasp he sat up.

“I should be dead! Why am I not dead?! That's impossible”! Rico gasped looking all over himself. The speed that he had fallen combined with his body mass meant that the force of his landing should have killed him , yet here he was. Suddenly he heard the crackle of flames getting louder and louder as heat drifted over him , he realized that however much he wanted to find out how he survived and his lungs roared at him to take a break , he was going to have to ignore his screaming organs and survival enigma for the moment as the fire was growing and was starting to spread and chase after him. Rico scrambled to his feet, feeling weak and shaky but knew that he had to move and pronto. He tore downhill as fast as his legs could go and he made it down the hill and onto Corin road in a matter of seconds . Pausing for breath, Rico looked around for something preferably fast to travel on. He might be a fast and strong runner but he couldn't out run fire even if he was somehow immortal and he really did not want to test that particular hypothesis at the moment. Rico spotted what he was looking for . A motorbike seemingly dumped in the middle of the road. “Whoa” Rico murmured overcoming his shock over recent events as he checked it over. The last thing he needed was a punctured tyre. The bike was sleek , black and shiny and as a bonus there were a pair of designer sunglasses near by. Rico noticed a whirring sound. It was coming from Garfeild road and getting louder by the minute.

“What the hell”?! Rico cursed as two motorbikes with riders carrying automatic machine guns appeared . Rico mounted the bike , pocketed the sunglasses and kicked the engine into gear. He felt amazing , scared , powerful , and exhausted all at the same time as he blew down the hill and onto the promenade swerving around empty and mostly destroyed cars , buses , bikes and other debris.

“ Oh no” Rico groaned as he saw one of the men quickly catching up with him. He looked around for a possible way to lose the man and quickly spotted one, just in front of him lay a roundabout filled and surrounded by fallen vehicles making it very difficult to manoeuvre but Rico wasn't a proclaimed genius for nothing. He sped up and with all the knowledge of an experimental physicist slash engineer he was able to dart and swerve around the obstacles. The man right behind him however wasn't quite so fortunate and was hurled off his bike as it collided with a Ferrari that was lying broken and dead . The explosion as the bike crashed into the cars engine was deafening but Rico paid little attention to it as he tried to avoid the searing flames and flying vehicle parts. He drove onto the promenade and gulped when he saw the foot high wall in front of him that blocked his path from the beach but by yanking up the bike by the handles he was able to launch it over the wall without any incident. Wham! He crashed onto the sand dunes with a shriek of pain and terror before uttering a few choosy swear words as two of his perusers managed to avoid the wall and dive onto the beach.

' I need to make those boulders fall' Rico thought as he looked at the huge boulders piled up against the heavily gratified beach wall, he zoomed forwards and found what he was looking for, a large piece of drift wood heavy enough to cause a boulder-y avalanche if it hit it's target which Rico though dispiritedly, was the tricky bit that would probably get him killed. Practically hyperventilating in fear Rico slowed the bike down from 100 miles per hour to forty and started to shift his body around so that he was facing his rapidly oncoming attackers with their machine guns with the stick in one hand and the bike handles in the other. Then after taking a deep breath and saying a quick prayer he threw the drift wood.

“Aaargh!” The third bike rider screamed as he was crushed by the tumbling boulders and his partner swore in Swahili as he barely avoided the same fate. There was only one man on a motor bike left now. He kept pace with Rico who was becoming increasingly nervous as he judged the distance between himself and the hotel. Would he get there in time or would the man shoot him down first? Would he be putting the other's in danger? Would he be able to get rid of the man before he arrived at the hotel or would Coral rescue him?

'Not damn likely' he thought, 'she won't have time'. Rico was jerked out of his contemplating as the man brought out another gun. He gulped and started zig zagging making sand spray up all around him. Bang! A flare of heat whipped past Rico neck and he shrieked in terror. Bang! The man missed completely but it sounded like he was getting closer. Bang! The bullet pinged off the left handle of his bike and Rico almost lost control of it. And suddenly there he was, right in front of him. Oh shit!

Only hours ago he had been a ordinary teenage boy who hung out with Shane , played computer games, went shopping almost every day , experimented constantly and fanboyed over leading scientists. Now he was throwing his life on the line , jumping from castles seconds before he was blown up and somehow not dying and riding a motorbike at one hundred miles per hour while escaping from trained trolls with guns. He flattened himself on the bike as a machine gun chattered before glancing up, gasping with shock. The man on the motorbike was hurtling straight towards him, sending odd bursts of fire at him every now and then and Rico had no where to go. There was only one thing for it Rico though desperately, he would have to jump off the bike and hope it collided with the one heading towards him

. “Five seconds” he muttered nervously as the two bikes came closer and closer. “Five” another chatter of gun fire and Rico swore in pain as a bullet smashed into his left upper arm, nearly making him lose control of the bike. “Four”, he ducked to avoid another burst of fire and swerved slightly. “Three”, he sped the bike up. “Two” he could see the man's face now, he was young, very young, but he was also trying to kill him. “One!” Rico dived off the bike seconds before the two collided and prayed to whatever god's were up there that the boy on the other bike didn't suffer as he slammed in Rico's motorbike with a terrified shriek before he blew into a fireball. Wiping away tears Rico slowly picked himself up, crying out with the pain of his bullet wound and staggered back to the hotel.

* * *

Coral stared up at the ball of flame that had just erupted from the castle. Something had gone wrong , on her part or on Lilith's part she didn't know. She smiled grimly as the men spun around, some of the dropping their gun's in fright , this was clearly the last thing they expected and in one great surge they all ran up the hill towards the smoke that was now billowing into the air.

“Blimey Coral don't tell me that was caused because of you ”!

“Questions later, Curtis. Right now we need to move before those guards come back”. Curtis nodded and the two of them bolted out of the cave and hit the forest. They heard shouting from above but they kept on running.

***

The guards stared in shock as two teenagers appeared out of no where and tore through the forest. The leader raised his gun , took aim , and fired at the girl. But something strange began to happen to the bullet. It was slowing down, until it was barely moving ,then it turned. The second in command, Amos threw himself out of the line of fire and most of the other men did the same. But not their leader. He stared in shock as the bullet picked up speed again and the girl very deliberately turned toward them with a devilish smirk and Amos gasped. It was Asset! Bella and Alex's trainee. He had never seen it before but he had heard of it , how dangerous a weapon it was. Amos then turned and cried out as his leader gave a loud “omph!” as the bullet found it's mark. The General collapsed as the rest of the men opened fire charging down the slope to get revenge for their fallen commander.

***

Coral stared in shock, she had no idea how she had stopped that bullet. All she remembered was almost hearing the woosh of the bullet rocketing towards her, then somehow it had slowed down and in her mind she had willed it to turn around and take out the person who had fired the bullet. Now there were more men hurtling down the slope, firing their guns like crazed things, “how wonderful” she grumbled to herself. As Coral ran she was aware that Curtis had appeared in a blur beside her, shooting terrified glances at the men who were firing in their direction.

“What now? Should we split up?” Curtis asked in a slightly panicked voice , Coral nodded her agreement. “Meet you at the bottom of the castle , in the car park”. Curtis nodded before taking off into the denser greenery. Coral shot off , her feet pounding the earth. She could hear shouting and then she almost collided with a man holding a gun. Coral slid underneath his open legs, spinning around to lash out , her heel connecting with the man's head and he fell unconscious onto the forest floor without a sound. Then she climbed over several fallen trees and realized that there was someone underneath hidden in the ditch .

'What a clumsy mistake to make', Coral thought 'why not go round the logs and hide in the trees you idiot , ah well your about to find out what happens when you don't look for a good shooting spot'. Coral landed silently in the ditch and dropped low sticking one leg out and tripping the man up so he fell head over heels. Coral flipped herself up and as the man attempted to pick himself up Coral punched him with the heel of her hand sending him reeling before she kicked the man in the groin. The man groaned , dropping his gun as he collapsed against a tree muttering curses in Japanese . She picked the gun up, looking at it with disgust. She knew how to use one, her Mum had taught her, but she hated them. Martial arts was fairer and there was less of a chance that she would accidentally kill someone in self defence, but Coral knew that martial arts wouldn't protect her in the face of this many armed men. She would have to use a gun, even if it was just to incapacitate.

She carried on running praying that Curtis was safe and hadn't tried anything stupid like attempting to take down a armed man , the last thing she wanted to be doing was dragging a injured boy back to the hotel , that would really slow her down. Two shots exploded, missing her by centimetres and Coral threw herself to the ground rolling before springing back up, concealed by trees and overgrown shrubbery. She could hear footsteps and then a black boot appeared followed by a leg clad in army's surplus trousers. Coral fired her gun and the man yelled,grabbing his knee where he had been shot as he fell, landing awkwardly on his arm causing him to cry out again in pain as his arm broke. She slid out from behind a tree and removed the man's gun and walkie talkie which she threw into a small river that trickled down from the hill top. By now she had almost reached the bottom of the hill and looked for Curtis. Then her heart stopped. A sniper was hiding in the tree just in front of him, preparing to fire. He fired. Coral screamed out as Curtis fell and she charged down the rest of the hill.

***

Amos looked down into the chaos from high up in a tree with scathing amusement as his sniper dithered unsure weather to take down the Asset or run. Then he fell, his neck snapping with a horrible crack. Amos started and fear began to crawl up his spine like a snake. Asset was telekinetic and even more dangerous than before. He jumped out of the tree and ran down a passage that would take him into the suburban streets of Riverswood. He fully intended to report to the Grand Master on his men's incompetence and Asset's apparent telekinesis, although Amos doubted whether he would come out of the Grand Master's HQ alive . The Grand Master had a very nasty habit of finding creative ways of killing anyone who displeased him in the slightest.

***

Coral sprinted towards her old friend and she could immediately see that it was too late. Curtis was dying. She reached his side and tore off his t-shirt to examine the wound in his chest. It was deep and bleeding badly. Grabbing some leaves and using his t-shirt she pressed firmly against the wound trying to stem the river of blood that was sliding out of him. “That's my favourite top that is , I'd rather die with it intact if you don't mind” Curtis grumbled.

“Oh shut up will you so I can stop you dying”! Coral snapped.

“You know maybe I would be better off if I did die. The whole of the world has gone crazy now that the Grand Master's in charge. What's there to live for? Only death and destruction. ”

“No, don't you dare die on me Curtis Mildew! I need you to help me, I've got to stop the Grand Master and bring everyone back. Please Curtis, you can help me , help me save the world”.

“Nah” Curtis breathed “ saving the world isn't my idea of fun. But you go ahead and save the world Coral. Coral Star James, you will always be my star in the dark I can guarantee you that” Curtis murmured taking her hand. His eye's flickered several times as a small but soft and sweet smile crept up on his face making him look like a sleepy little boy. With a soft contented sigh his eyes shut for one last time. Coral bowed her head as she let go of his lifeless hand , tears streaming silently down her cheeks at the loss of her friend and she silently vowed to get her revenge . But first she had to look for Rico and Tommo. She had a feeling that they were in trouble and usually her suspicions turned out to be right. She just hoped that they were alive. There was enough blood on her hands for one day.

Returns and confessions

The horses hooves clattered on the tarmac road as Coral made her way back to the hotel. She had left Curtis body and stolen a horse from the near by stables. The black stallion turned into Corin road flashing past Alfred's ice cream parlour , the picture shop , the Florists , Nucleus , the sweet shop and Tuskanies. All devoid of human life. The horse picked up speed as they carried on to Riverswood road then it skidded to a stop, almost throwing Coral off but she ignored the horse's fright as she stared at what was left of Riverswood's famous Madir Castle. It looked as though it had been hit by a bomb , or twelve.

“Rico and Tommo! No”! Coral gasped, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She didn't care about Lilith , but she cared about the boys. And she has them sent to their death. They were dead because of her. The castle was a wreck. The front wall had been completely blown away and as for the scaffolding and the rest of the castle, there wasn't much of it left.

“Well you can forget the re-opening of the castle this summer , more like the building of Madir Castle the second ” Coral muttered after wiping away her tears before cracking the reigns with a “ya , come on girl we need to get outta here”. The horse must have picked up on her terror and urgency as it practically flew it was going so fast. Past La Costa , the bank , past the veg shop , the pub , and many other buildings as they zoomed down the road and around the corner. As they hit the promenade Coral swore that she could hear the roar of motorbikes in the distance but with the wind whipping around her she couldn't be sure . Then as the horse slowed to a halt in the entrance to Norway House a dark skinned young man stumbled towards them. He was windswept and bloody and looked as though he had been crying.

“ Rico what happened ?” she asked in a horrified voice.

“ I don't want to talk about it! Don't want to think about it o.k. All I'm telling you is that Tommo and Lilith are dead”! He sobbed, before turning and staggering inside, a bloodied hand on his wounded upper left arm. Coral chased after him but he beat her to his room and locked the door, screaming “go away! I told you, I don't want to talk about it”! Coral stared at the white washed door, wondering what had happened and appalled at the amount of blood on Rico's hand and shirt. She was woken out of her thoughts by Pavan appearing beside her with a frown.“What's happened”?

“Dunno but from what I did manage to get out of him , well it looks like Tommo and Lilith are dead” Coral replied in a flat voice. Pavan clapped a hand to his face , his dark brown eye's filling up with grief for Tommo. “He was one of my best friends, that creep Jack is really asking for a battering” he growled.

“Why Jack? It's the Grand Master who is giving all these orders.”

Pavan's dark brown eyes narrowed . “ Who”?

“No idea, but he's the one sending the men out to kill us , he's the one giving the orders.”

“Say's who”?

“Curtis Mildew.”

“Well where is Curtis”? Pavan queried.

“Dead.”

“Oh Heaven's above! What happened”?

“He was shot by the Grand Master's men. They chased us through the forest by Riverswood Primary school and they shot him. Don't worry about the men. I dealt with them , they won't come here ”. She turned away, unable to face the horror and grief on Pavan's face and fled up the stairs to the temporary sanctuary of her room.

As soon as she had entered her room she grabbed the black bag full of the things that she had collected inside the mini grand piano including her mother's laptop. She had a feeling there was something on there that might give her a clue as to what the hell was going on.

She turned on the laptop and a sent email appeared. It read.

Dear Master ,

I have good news. Although Asset knows nothing of us yet and what we do it has passed the tests you set it and it will make the perfect WRAITH assassin in my opinion. Of course that is up to you to decide, but I know that you will make the best decision. However Alex is getting worried. I think it is about time we got rid of him. Although I care for my husband, he looks at Asset as though it were his real daughter not someone we kidnapped when it was only a day old to be trained to become one of us. This means that he may not allow us to go ahead with Phase Two of the plan when it is time. The brainwashing has proved effective so far but I must ask your permission to upgrade the programme to level 5 as it was showing signs of resistance during the final test. Yes I agree that your bodyguards are more than a match for it but it may decide to escape as soon as Phase One starts and that is the last thing we want. I will ensure that Asset's training continues and that it continues to excel above all your other agents. When you are ready we will activate Phase One and the world will be yours my Master. And I will stand beside you until the end of time itself.

Bella Rider (Head of WRAITH Assassination and Espionage Unit)

Thump. The laptop tumbled to the floor, as a shaking Coral staggered over the the bed where she collapsed in a gasping heap. “No,no” she mumbled, “not true, not real. This is just a cruel trick. You weren't brainwashed. Every single memory you have is real. You went to martial art and pigeon shooting classes and your par...they, gave you extra training. All your memories are real. What that letter says can't be true.”

'And so are superpowers. Yet look what's happening to you and your friends' a snide little voice in the back of her head hissed maliciously. “SHE'S LYING”! Coral howled. Glass exploded as her room was caught in a wave of telekinetic power that burst out of the young woman sobbing on the bed in a torrent of emotion. “But...no, but if she's not then how many of my memories or real and, oh God, Dad, he's dead isn't he? He's dead.” Heavy footfalls passed her door and Coral slowly lifted her head out of her arms, a mad, almost feral gleam in her eyes as her mind struggled to make sense of what was happening. She leaped of the bed and with a wave of her hand managed to undo most of the damage she had done to her room.“Clean everything up. Don't let anyone know something bad's happened. Gotta make things right, pretend everything’s fine” she muttered as she dashed around her room checking that everything looked normal. “They don't need to know about this” she continued in an increasingly hysterical tone “none of them need to know. If they find out terminate them. No can't do that there my friends. Keep them , they might come in useful. I've got a mission and I need to go through with it, eliminate the threat and the threat is Bella and...yes and the Grand Master, yes don't forget him, he's a threat as well. No, what am I saying? I can't just get rid of them like that, I need answers I need...”. A knock on the door stopped her half crazed babbling and she paled for a moment in fear. ' Relax' she told herself ' if you can lie to the bloodhounds that call themselves teachers you can lie to these guys'.

“Coral”? Laura called nervously from the other side of the door. “Coral”? The door slowly opened and Laura and Trix stepped into the room. “Oh, hi, uh sorry I was busy. I stole some of my Mum's stuff and I've been trying to go through it, turns out my parents are Mr and Mrs Psychopath. Their working for the Grand Master.”

“What! What's going on? Why isn't Tommo back? Rico's been hurt and Pavan won't let us see him or talk to him.”

“Tommo is dead, I hope, cause otherwise he's betrayed us. Other than that the most I know is that Grand Master is in charge of all this and Jack is helping him. So that means that Jack works for the Grand Master and they want to kill us.”

“But perhaps Jack thinks that the Grand Master is the good guy”? Trix interjected. Laura and Coral both folded their arms and looked at each other with raised eyebrows and a ,'she's crazy' expression their face's before they turned with a critical eye to face Trix who cowered nervously.

“Well Jack must be dumber than I thought then , cause from where I'm looking the Grand Master seems to be a bad guy and a mental one too” Coral smirked before flouncing into the walk in wardrobe. “Coral what are you doing?” Trix asked only to have a piece of paper thrown at her. Trix shrieked and ducked before her skin darkened as she realized that Coral and Laura were both in hysteric’s after watching her performance . Clumsily and still blushing furiously Trix bent down hoping that her chocolate brown hair would hide her darkening features and picked up the piece of paper and looked at it, her hazel eye's going wide as she realized what the drawing's on the paper were. They were blueprints. “Coral James where the hell did you get these! Your planning to break into the Grand Master's HQ aren't you? But you'll be killed and we don't even know where it is ….. oh, now we do , right in the middle of the common” .

“Okay, I'm not even gonna start berating you for wanting to run off on your own and break into the Grand Master's HQ which will as Trix said get you killed, cause otherwise we'll be here for hours. But have you even considered the possibility that they may be faked”?

“Yes. And their not. Why would they be? I found them hidden at my house. Maybe GM is planning on having a renovation and needed some décor advise from the winners of worst parents ever award”?

“ You think this is so much fun don't you”? Trix mewled. “We could die , we could be abducted , we could be raped and you think that all this is fun” she continued, her voice rapidly climbing in pitch . “What is wrong with you”?!

“Woooh , somebody's a little grumpy this morning. Dear Shakespeare! Lighten up will you before you depress us all”.

“Trix is right. Stop acting like this is all fun and games. Tommo has gone, Sam's got a broken arm, Rico's hurt and only Kami knows what's happened to the year elevens who didn't run. Joined Jack or died probably. And if the others get wind that your all cheerful about this they will leave and get killed by the Grand Master's henchmen if their lucky.”

“Alright, alright, you've made your point”.

“Hang on, so we know where the Grand Master is hiding. But...does he know where we're hiding. I mean it can't just be a coincidence that one of his men came here and Tommo and Lilith haven't made it. Are we safe here Coral”? Trix asked fearfully.

***

The Grand Master stood on top of the highest of the craggy rocks that littered the back of the common which was nearly always covered with a creeping layer of fog that on most day's made seeing impossible. However today the Grand Master had decided to come out with Bella and observe the ground that covered his lair. His black cloak whirled around him giving the impression that he had just stepped out of a Victorian melodrama and like the rest of him just didn't belong in the 21st century.

“Soon the world will be at our finger tips my Bella. And you will rule the world with me” he whispered in his smooth Italian accent.

“Wha about us boss , can't we rule the world with you”? Harry grunted glaring up at the man with one black unintelligent eye. Harry was one of the Grand Master's henchmen and chief torturer with a fondness for mummifying his victims while they were still alive. Unfortunately for Harry he was getting old and the Grand Master's bodyguards did a far better job of torturing people. The Grand Master turned to him drawling “would it make you happier if I said yes so you could die knowing that a small, however crummy piece of the world belonged to you hmm”?

“Yes Sir , I will do anything for my master and take wha'ever 'e offered me “ Harry grunted bowing down low but immediately regretted it when his bad leg crumpled underneath him. With a shout of pain Harry fell, his long black hair blocking his vision.

“Oh you disappoint me Harry , I fear you have lost your touch. And your use” . The Grand Master grinned before pulling a gun out of his dark trousers and shooting Harry in the head. “Put him in the incinerator. I have no use for this one. He's old and a cripple . I wouldn't last five seconds”! Bella quickly called up two more henchmen, both of whom grimaced at the sight of their college lying dead in the long grass and mud. The men picked him up roughly and dragged him to the entrance of WRAITH headquarters, disappearing as they went through the camouflage shield that allowed the Grand Master and his work to remain hidden from the outside world. Of course there had been a few unfortunate incidences where the odd cow or person ignored the warning signs . And every single person or animal that came through the shield died a horrible and painful death at the hands of the Grand Master's men and Bella.

The Grand Master turned to look at Bella who was standing silently beside him observing the unchanging landscape and sighed. “Ahhh , Bella , my Bella , those men have no knowledge of the world and it's potential , the things that we could do with it. All this talk of global warming and stopping poverty , pah! It's nothing compared to what I have seen , what I have done , I what I will do for century’s to come! Oh the new human race shall live in glory! For to long we have lived in a world full of peacemakers , defenders of human rights and all that nonsense. Me, I like all the poverty and corruption. The more terrorist attacks and the more deaths the the happier I am. I live off death and destruction , it feeds me and my soul my Bella”! he shouted as he threw up his long arms cloaked in a blood red shirt. Bella glanced at him, she admired the man and his work and even though he had been around for century's, never dying as he jumped from host to host he still hadn't lost his mind or his talent for his work. “And now Bella I think it is time that I changed my host. This one is getting a little to old and creaky for me. I need someone fit and young again, hmm, how about Finair”?

“No. He had a rather nasty encounter with Asset yesterday” Bella growled,“ the bitch threw him through a wall ”.

“How”?

“This means” Bella carried on as though she hadn't heard him “that his body is badly broken. The damage is to great to be fixed. Sorry, Master but you will have to find someone else”.

“Very well then. Follow me my Bella and help me chose my new host”. The Grand Master limped through the shield and climbed into the lift that whirred up to take him down to the crypt.

When they got down to the crypt where the Grand Master kept his future hosts, the Grand Master strode over to the most recent row of men that had been placed there.

“Ahh , my favourite one this one” he crooned as he placed a black gloved clad hand upon the quadruple layer glass of the cryogenic chamber. “Yassen's brother , Benedict Saxon. He was the man who made human cloning possible. He had six son's all of whom were exact replicas of himself. However the French government intervened , covered things up and five of the boy's were killed but one survived. And he is with us today in fact in the form of Drusus Scorpius”, he purred as he opened the door.

A blonde haired man fell out, his grey-blue eyes glazed over . However before the corpse could collapse onto the floor two henchmen appeared, catching him and taking him to the Grand Master's quarters with Bella and the Grand Master slowly following. As soon as they got there the Grand Master began to gasp , his black eyes bulged and he collapsed. Then black smoke left his mouth , nose and ears travelling towards the blonde man laid out on the black carpeted floor. The smoke entered the corpse and suddenly Benedict Saxon's sat up with a gasp.

“Bloody hell , I'm back! Never dying , always living never dying, never dying, never, never DYING”! He shouted in a deep voice as he jumped up and looked around. “Oh, hello my Bella , my amazing, beautiful Bella”! He took a step closer then spun around to face Yassen who's blue eye's betrayed none of the emotions that were flitting inside him. “Ah Yassen my bro , long time no see ay” he grinned punching the man playfully in the chest. A flicker of a smile darted through Yassen's cold features before he said “well , let's just say I'm going to have to disagree with that one as I had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing your dead body every day ”.

“Aw can't you take a joke? Ah well work to do, people to kill, places to blow up. It's gonna be fun”!

Oddities of Nature

“Of course we are safe Trix . Don't worry so much , and if they did come I'd deal with them” she said with a shug of her shoulders.”

“No way Coral”! both Laura and Trix exploded.

“You could get killed! Come on Coral, we're your friends , we're not gonna let you get yourself killed. You've already had one close call ” Trix reasoned. Coral stubbornly ignored her as she vanished into the depths of the wardrobe to rearrange some of her things.

“And something else that's weird. When I was fighting Finair I didn't touch him , yet he went flying out of the wall. I felt the whole world slow down and my focus grow until I could see every dust particle in the air and I sort of grabbed hold of the air with my mind and pushed it back so Finair would be blasted back. It happened again in the forest with a gunman. I slowed a bullet and sent it back towards the shooter.”

Trix and Laura glanced at each other before turning to Coral who had reappeared carrying a strange assortment of objects, a uncertain expression on her face. Her dark forehead wrinkled with worry and her eye's were wide. “You do believe me don't you”? Asked uncertainly. The last thing she wanted was for her two closest friends to leave her. Then she would go completely mad. “Well” Laura began and Coral braced herself for the blow that would end their 9 year friendship. “It seems hard to believe, but when you think about it it does kinda make sense in a weird way. After all you aren't strong enough to physically throw him out . So it could be possible that you've got some kind of powers. After all everything else is turning weird” she finished with a laugh. “Anyway , I'm going for a surf. I need to clear my head” Laura grinned before turning and waltzing out of the room, her long black hair flowing around her shoulders.

* * *

Laura stood on the beach holding her multicoloured surfboard. She searched for a wave that would give her the best take off into the never ending ocean. Ever since she was little she had loved the sea, loved the feel of it , the graceful way it moved, the sound it made. It calmed her and today , more than any other day in the entire fifteen years that she had lived, she needed the calm that the ocean gave her. She found the perfect wave and she was off. Then she noticed something. The sea had changed colour. It was no longer a sparkling clear blue, instead it was a pure white with a golden glow to it. Suddenly she lost her balance as a enormous wave rocketed over her. Crashing into the dark depths of the sea , she was surrounded by fish swimming in dizzying circles, trapping her from escaping. Not ordinary fish though. These fish had small but very sharp and shiny teeth and their scales were a whirl of phosphorescent colours.

“Time turner , time turner” they whispered in their bubbly, silky voices, moving closer and closer towards her. Then without warning they swam away in an explosion of colour and movement that was over in a second. Laura tried to swim to the surface but her strength was weakening. She was losing consciousness she realized. As she processed that thought she became aware that her chances of survival had now shrunk to zero. The last thing she remembered was pain shooting up her body, surrounding and capturing her on the inside and out. She screamed and darkness claimed her.

***

Back in the hotel, Coral was testing out her powers. So far she had managed to accidentally bring down the chandelier and smash it, making the room a mess but she had also managed to shakily move a jumper from one of the bag's that Laura had packed to her bed. Coral was curious. These abilities weren't normal and she wondered why her abilities hadn't showed before. Perhaps it was her heightened emotions. Perhaps it was the fact that the world had suddenly changed, quite possibly to a paranormal extent. But whatever had caused her telekinesis to appear now wasn't just coincidence. Then suddenly Rico burst in, his eye's wide. “It's Pavan! Something is wrong with him and it's not normal”! he gabbled then he rocketed out of the room, Coral hot on his heels.

*** Laura woke up gasping, eyes widening as she saw where she was. She was on the beach , she must have been washed up onto the shore like a whale. 'But hang on' she thought , 'I'm dry'! She glanced all over her body and checked her hair finding that not an inch of her was wet. She wasn't even in her surfing clothes yet and her surfboard lay on the sand looking bone dry. Scrambling up she looked around , 'this should not be happening' she thought in panic. Then something caught her eye , it was five to twelve when she took off her watch which was now on her wrist but it was ten to twelve now according to her watch , could it be wrong? No if watches broke they stopped , so what on Galifrey was happening?! A blinding pain rocketed through her body and her vision became white, then as her vision cleared she screamed in shock. She was standing on the promenade exactly as she had been, ten minutes before she went onto the beach and her watch had gone back ten minutes. Without pausing to think, she legged it back to the hotel as fast as she could go, trying not to fall over the surfboard clutched tightly in her arms. When she got back to the hotel panting and out of breath she found Mahir and Sam in the leisure room reading Marvel comics while Trix was in the kitchen eating strawberries.

“Want one”? she offered as Laura strolled into the state of the art kitchen. Then she noticed her friends stressed and exhausted features “Hey what's up? You o.k”? Trix asked, sounding very concerned. “Yeah, just tired that's all. Still trying to get my head around all that's been happening . Still in a bit of a shock” Laura smiled. She accepted her strawberries gratefully and began to gobble them down, trying to make sense of what happened on the beach in her mind. Then from upstairs there came a terrified yell and a enormous bang that shook the ceiling. “What the freaking hell was that”?! Mahir yelped, looking fearfully at the ceiling.

“Let's go and find out” Laura replied before charging to the stairs with Trix and Mahir right behind her. Mahir grinned to himself as he raced up behind the girls when he heard Sam grumble

“oh don't mind me, I'll just wait here for the news and hope the ceiling doesn't fall in”.

When Mahir caught up with the girls he froze at the sight in front of him. Coral and Rico were standing in Pavan's room and as for Pavan, well, he had certainly changed. He was standing in the middle of the room in the form of a rather bad tempered looking elephant that trumpeted loudly at the stunned group. Mahir and the girl's backed off slowly but Rico moved forward.

“Rico. Be careful. He may be dangerous”. Rico glared at Coral.

“What do you know about elephants? Anyway, it's still Pavan in there. He still loves me , I'm sure of it”. He put his hand on Pavan's trunk causing a rumble of contentment to make it's way up Pavan's enormous stomach to his trunk. Rico grinned as Pavan's trunk wrapped itself gently around his lover and pulled him close for a hug. After several contented seconds, with a yelp, the elephant popped into a much less grumpy looking collie . Rico's jaw fell open before he snapped it shut as the dog jumped up and began licking his face. “Eeewwww! Down”! Rico commanded and Pavan got down, landing on an fours, tail wagging crazily in excitement. Rico crouched down and placed a hand on Pavan's black muzzle. Then the dog began to tremble and totter and suddenly a astonished Pavan lay on the floor looking shocked. .

“What? What happened? Did I just ...just shape shift”?! Pavan exclaimed as he slowly clambered to his feet, leaning on his boyfriend for support, and looking to him for awnsers. Rico sighed.

“Yep , Pavan , you did ”he confirmed glancing worriedly at the younger teen. He shot a even more worried look at the other's who looked just as confused and shocked as he felt. If Pavan could turn into a animal, especially an elephant at any time he could cause all kinds of problems.

“Hang on” Mahir interjected in an accusatory tone “since when have you been a shape shifter? How come you didn't tell us before”? “ Seriously, you think that I’ve always been a shape shifter you moron”?! Pavan snapped, his long limb's starting to tremble as the volume of his voice increased and steadily turned into something that resembled a lion's growl. “ This is my first shape shift and, hello shape shifting shouldn't even exist . That's why I yelled. I needed help. I didn't have a clue what was happening and I was in agony”! By now Pavan was trembling violently and bronze hairs were beginning to appear on his dark arms and legs which seemed to be shortening and changing shape. “Pavan calm down” Rico ordered. “ When did this shape shifting start? When did you know something was wrong I mean?” Shane tilted his dark head, as his body changed back to normal and he narrowed his eye's , fingering the wooden cross on his beaded necklace.

“It started at about mid morning, I didn't feel great , everything was just blurry and my limbs felt weird. Then a few seconds before I changed,the pain got unbearable and I couldn't breath properly , I didn't know what to do. That's why I yelled.” Pavan looked at the other's taking in their expressions from Coral's raised eyebrows to Mahir's jaw hanging wide open in a rather comical expression. It was Laura who spoke first in a rather trembly voice. “So that makes three of us now that have superpowers that weren't here before the Grand Master took over , Coral , Pavan and me.”

“You? What's happened to you”? Coral asked curiously. Laura sighed, this was going to be difficult to explain. “I'm time turner it seems . When I was surfing I fell off my surfboard and there were these fish in the water , they talked and they said two words, time turner, I think one of them bit me and I lost concious . I should have drowned but somehow I woke up on land completely dry. I jumped backwards in time twice before I got to the hotel so it was as if I had never been near the beach. “

“Wow , but that's impossible scientifically. You can obviously recollect what happened before you went back in time yet..... can you remember seeing any kind of funny light's just before you time travelled”? Rico asked turning his attention to Laura.

“Yeah I saw a white light, heck that sounds like I was dying.”

“Never mind the scientific principles” Coral interrupted “I'm wondering if you can do it again , and even better whether you can make other people go back in time. Obviously they'll remember it but it might give us an advantage ” she smiled.

“Possibly. But something tells me that you'll try and use me for your own ends.”

“Wha?! Alright, so we could use them to get rid of the Grand Master before his rise to power so none of this would ever happen. And I want to get rid of Bella but I can't take her on directly now, I'm not quite at her level yet I don't think. We could go back in time and kill her before she attains the skills that she has now.” Coral mused, seemingly unaware of the other's growing horror and wariness. “Coral no. There has to be another way to stop the Grand Master without resorting to murder. And why kill Bella if we can stop the Grand Master”? a frightened Trix exclaimed. “Because she took me from my parents that why”! Coral snarled back.

“But if we stop the Grand Master from even meeting her then she won't” Mahir protested.

“You can't just go around murdering people. Not matter what they've done or how dangerous they are murder is not the answer” Pavan added.

“You won't be complaining if I save you from what will probably be certain death since you're all so terrible at looking after yourselves. Think of it as a game if you want to, a chess game , we're one side , the Grand Master is the other.”

“ But who said that you were Queen”? Laura argued.

“Me, I saved your lives didn't I. And if your not careful the next time danger comes for a visit I'll leave you to fend for yourselves” Coral sang, though her eye's were calculating and dangerous , enough to make everyone in the room wish that they were the other side of the world to escape from that terrible gaze. “No! Don't you dare threaten us Coral James because it won't work! And don't you even think about harming anyone here otherwise I'm leaving you”. Instead of shrugging carelessly or laughing as the others expected Coral suddenly stumbled and crashed to the floor with a groan. “Coral, Coral”! Laura cried, beginning to panic as the girl started to spasm uncontrollably. Then before Laura could touch her friend the spasms stopped and Coral clambered to her feet, muttered a quiet sorry to the others and then walked out of the room with a call of “you need to test your powers Pavan, find out what you can do and your limits.”

***

After meeting the Grand Master in his newest form Jack couldn't seem to abandon the sensation of his skin crawling with disgust. He was loyal to the man but, seeing him use a dead man's body. It made Jack feel sick.

“Go away Drusus” he muttered as he heard his friend's footstep's coming towards him.

“Dude what's up? Why are you so upset”?

“I-I wonder if we did the right thing. Sending those men to kill Curtis , murdering those kids who didn't join us. Some of them were our friends and we killed them , their blood is on our hands, literally in Jagger's case. Why couldn't we just let them go”?! Drusus looked at him as though he had gone mad. “Have you gone soft or something?! We killed them cos we had to. Father ordered us to kill them , otherwise , what would they have done? Run off somewhere probably , broke the rules. We need to keep the population down to stop the rebels. The ones who don't like Father's reign or his rules. The ones who try to resist. Curtis was one of them. The rebels, I mean. One of the ones who didn't want change. If we let him go he may have started a resistance movement, an army. So of course we did the right thing”.

“He's not your father Drusus! He may treat you like a son at times and he may have the physical form of your father but he isn't the man who created and raised you. Perhaps if he had lived I wouldn't have to deal with you right now”Jack grumbled glaring at his friend before turning away down another corridor. Drusus sighed and looked at Jack through his grey eye's as he watched him leave. Jack seemed genuinely upset about killing people, especially kids that they knew. Maybe he had gotten to close to them during his short time in Bishopgate. Drusus and Jagger had made sure that they hadn't got to close to any one of the students because they knew what was going to happen in the end . He quickly caught up with Jack and continued walking up the passageway. Suddenly they froze as they heard a voice coming from the room ahead of them. The ran to the room and paused at the door way as they saw Amos standing in front of Bella who had a murderous expression on her usually beautiful face. “Amos , I asked you to kill one, annoying child and anyone who was with her , and you failed to do that one simple task so how can I trust you to take charge of the henchmen”?

“Ma'm you know that I did intend to kill those brat's and one of them did die. The Asset however …... well it took us by surprise. You didn't mention that Asset was telekinetic”.

Bella gaped at Amos who gazed upwards, murmuring something that sounded like a Jewish prayer.

“Telekinetic ? It isn't , unless.......”, half a second passed during which icy fear flickered across her face, then worry wormed it's way out of her mouth. “Perhaps my Master's plan didn't go as well as it should have. Some of the youths have clearly been affected by the virus causing their genes to be mutated giving them super natural abilities . I don't know what kind of power's they may have. They may not all have been affected by the virus in this manner , it may only be a select few. However we will have to be careful , we don't want any more nasty surprises, do we Amos”?

“No Ma'm. Absolutely not Ma'm. But please give me one more chance. I was in shock you see” he wailed “the General had been killed and I saw the bitch kill him, I didn't know what was happening. Please Ma'm please have mercy on me. I can be useful ,I can train the henchmen and Jagger. By the time I am finished with them they will be an unstoppable force and neither you or the Grand Master won't have to lift a finger to kill Asset. Or the other little brat's” he added with a unpleasant sneer. Bella nodded her approval as the two boy's slipped into the room and casually leant against the wooden table at the side, Drusus grabbing the popcorn that lay on the table ,smiling as he watched the show with evident amusement.

“Very well then. I will give you one more chance to prove yourself. Fail , and you will die”! Amos scrambled to his feet , his boots scraping the dark floor gasping, “thank you, thank you Mistress”. He hurried out of the room and as soon as he was out of earshot Drusus and Jack burst out laughing. Bella rounded on them like an angry tiger. “And you two. Shouldn't you be helping the Grand Master”?

“Oh yeah , uh we'll go now” Jack gabbled, his fear of Bella's wrath more than enough to propel him towards the door. Footsteps behind him told him that Drusus was on his heels.

“Drusus stay here” . Jack and Drusus glanced at each other. Usually being called back by Bella meant that you were either about to be promoted or butchered. “Good luck “Jack mouthed to his friend , “tell me later what's happening. If you live to tell the tale” he murmured quietly to himself . Walking away from the room to his quarters he stopped suddenly as he heard mad cackling from next door . “We've got news Master. Asset's friend is a time turner. We saw it with our own eyes. She has power's as well. It seems that Asset is not the only one”!

“Very good , very good Ice , it seems that we will have to be careful of those children and they will need to be watched. I trust that no one saw you or your colleague”.

“No Master”whispered that hissing voice. Jack's blood went cold and the hair's on the back of his neck stood up like soldier's. Ice! He was one of the best and most feared assassin’s in the world, not that anyone knew much about him. That was one of the reason's why the Grand Master had employed Ice and his brother Dark. No one but the Grand Master's people knew anything about Ice and his brother. Terrified ,Jack tore off, running silently deeper and deeper into the labyrinth until he reached the safety of his room.

* * *

After Pavan and Laura's recent super power outbreak and Coral's fit everyone was rather quiet as they lounged in the sitting room. Rico was curled up on a leather sofa reading a Chemistry book while he contentedly stroked Pavan who had managed to turn himself into a ginger tabby cat that purred in contentment as Rico's long fingers played with his fur, while Trix sat as far away from the couple as she could get, watching them warily but also with a little bit of curiosity over her Twilight book.

“So”! Mahir cried as he stood on the table the he had perched on , looking like an overgrown bird. “No T.V ,no radio , no internet, no digital form of communication in fact no working digital equipment at all. Am I correct”?

“Yep, and the Grand Master probably has a couple of goonies prowling around here” Sam complained wincing as a pain pulsed up his broken arm.

“Oh shut up Sam! Surely the Grand Master would keep his men close for protection” Trix worried, putting her book down for a moment. Sam turned to her and said “look, by the sound of it this guy's got loads of henchmen, enough to protect himself and go snooping after us. Think about what you would do if you were trying to conquer the world but a couple of teenage brats spoiled your plans. Actually don't, seeing as you'd probably run away and cry if a fly came near you, ow! Your meant to care for the wounded not abuse them”! Sam yelped as the cushion that Laura had thrown at him struck his bad arm.

“Wimp, now shut up, both of you ”Laura ordered.

“Hey”!

“The both of you”. Mahir grinned at Sam's puppy eyed expression as he turned to the other's for support but he let Laura continue. “The Grand Master may or may not know we are here after our unscheduled meeting's with his cronies so we need to be careful obviously, however as Rico told us Lilith did betray us.

“I always knew that she was a creepy sneak” Trix groused.

“Hang on,I forgot. What are we going to do about Tommo? I mean he saved my life. Without him I would be dead”! Rico exclaimed. Pavan, who had turned back into a human , looked at his boyfriend and wrapped an arm around him. “Sure, Rico is right, we need to do something. At least to say goodbye. And then we'll come up with a plan to find out what the hell is going on”.

Powers

Rico slowly walked up to his room his mind in a whirl. He couldn't believe this , first the whole of the world's population had vanished aside from Norway House's new residents , the Grand Master and his men , and now Tommo was dead. His friend was gone. Of course he'd had plenty of time to get over the shock of his friends death but ever since he had brought up the subject of what to do to say goodbye to him the grief had really started to settle in. Numbly he entered what was now his room. But it didn't feel like his room. It didn't have that sense of warmth and comfort , it didn't have the smell of chocolate and Pavan , nor did it have a enormous amount of C.D's and Star Wars DVD 's and books strewn about the floor. Rico began to feel tired and clumsy as he stumbled towards his bed and immediately crumpled on it and feel into a deep sleep.

When Rico woke early the next morning he felt terrible. He could hear Sam singing some opera song at the top of his voice as he passed his room and the music gave him a headache. Then Rico opened his eye's properly and let out a yell of shock. He was hanging in mid-air several feet above his bed. Frantically Rico twisted around in the air. Nothing was holding him there , there were no strings or any kind of attachments so this obviously was not Mahir and Sam's idea of a practical joke. Rico spun his body around again so he was facing the ceiling and then turned himself back over to face the floor. Slowly Rico began doing a mid-air doggy paddle as he went around his room and tried to lower himself down to the ground. Soon Rico found that he didn't need to move his arms to fly and he started picking up speed before suddenly zooming down to the ground then WHAM!

“Owwwwww ”! Rico yowled as he collided onto the floor. After lying on the floor for a few moments , wincing in pain he picked himself up and gazed around. Everything looked normal. There were no laser beams , no loss of gravity so what on earth had caused him to fly? Moving slowly as though one wrong move might set off a mine , Rico climbed on to his bed and jumped as high as he could. And stayed in the air.

“Oh this will make life interesting” Rico muttered before flying towards the door. Pausing before it Rico contemplated his situation. None of the Grand Master's men could catch him unless they had there own power's. Then he began to worry.

“CORAL”! He burst out of the door and streaked through the sun lit corridor. “Coral”!

Coral came crashing out of her room already preparing to defend herself from whatever she thought was attacking Rico. She looked up and her bright green eyes widened in shock.

“ Holy TARDIS”!

“You can say that I had a similar reaction when I found my self hanging in the air this morning , thought Sam and Mahir were playing a joke on me”. Coral snorted just as Mahir appeared.

“Speak and the devil and the devil shall appear” Mahir vorciferated as he swaggered into the corridor running a hand through his red spiky hair. “Wasu …..woah , no way , another person with power's? Seriously this is getting out of control. I woke up this morning with a head full of space crap and equations , garh what is the Grand Master doing to me”?

Without warning Mahir's head shot up eye's rolling in his head as he gasped “the quantum physics equation is argh …. the macromolecule created by nano subunits and, ah help! Atoms … smallest entity that can be envisaged to retain it's chemical properties such as electro negativity , ionisation potential and preferred oxidation states”! The boy's head flew back into it's normal position with a snap and he stumbled backwards only just preventing himself from taking a unscheduled trip to the floor boards by grabbing hold of a wooden shelf. He straightened himself up gingerly and looked around ,panting with a stunned expression on his face that made Coral and Rico snigger.

“What the bloody hell was that“?! Mahir squawked . “Urh , oh crap all these sciency things racing around my head!”!The teenager shuddered in disgust as though the thought of thinking about equations and other elements of the sciences was an abomination. Rico glared down at Mahir ,arms folded. “What the hell is wrong with that”?!

“Well , let's see. It makes you a geek and uncool. No wonder you get bullied. And it doesn't help that you have a boyfr AAAAAARRHHHHH”! Mahir screeched as he found himself pinned to the wall by sharp knifes that Coral had clearly thrown judging by her stance and the wall's had started to shake violently as Coral glared at him. Mahir stared at her, fear rolling around his stomach making him feel ill. It suddenly dawned on him that Coral was a cold blooded killer. Trained to destroy lives. And not to be messed with.

“Leave Rico alone. What the hell is your problem?! So what if he is gay and clever. There's nothing wrong with being either of those things. And Rico has the gut's to be himself unlike you! Your just some arrogant toe rag who is to scared to show yourself”! Coral spun around and stalked away from him. “Come on Rico. There's something I want to show you and the others”. And with that she was gone. There was a awkward silence in the corridor after Coral's exit, neither boy wanted to look at the other and finally after struggling for several seconds Mahir looked up to where Rico was glaring at him with dark eyes.

“Um , will you help me? I'm kinda stuck here” Mahir uttered. He glanced up again hopefully hoping to see some sign of compassion from Rico, after all Coral had nearly killed him. But Rico's face was cold and hard. “No. Coral was right about you! You are a coward and a arrogant toe rag. If you get killed because of your arrogance, well” Rico laughed “I won't be coming to your funeral”. Then Rico took off, soaring down the stairs, his jaw clenched.

“Oh boy , what have I done”? Mahir grumbled. He knew he was in trouble. Big trouble. Why he had no idea , after all he was a sport's player not a science nerd like the ones that he used to bully for his own entertainment but Coral and Rico had both turned on him and by the end of the day after hearing Coral and Rico's side of the story about what he had said Mahir suspected that he would be on his own and probably kicked out of Norway House , without his things . He sighed, he had lost control of his temper and tongue and he knew it. Now he was stuck. Mahir tugged and pulled until finally with a loud tearing noise he was free. He stared at the wall that he had been pinned to, with his blue T-shirt hanging in shreds off the knives which had been perilously close to his chest. 'Ahh well,could have been worse' he thought before ambling off to his room feeling very sorry for himself.

Down in the main room Rico and Pavan were talking quietly about the events that had taken place upstairs. “ I can't believe it! I liked that idiot! I thought he liked us. I didn't think he had a problem with LGBT's” Pavan burst out, starting to tremble with agitation.

“ I don't know, I think it's just me he has a problem with”.

“Why”?

“Because Mahir and I never got on from the moment we met. We are total opposites. He hates me. And I have a feeling that he would still hate me if I was straight and dumb as a brick.”

“Alright keep your hair on priy” Pavan soothed. He paused and then said “how did Coral react? She's clever so he would have been insulting her as well , poor bloke I don't think he realized that he had just poked a sleeping dragon in the eye, speaking metaphorically.”

Rico burst out laughing as he remembered the look on Mahir's face when Coral had attacked. “Ha , I thought she was going to kill him the look on her face. It was terrifying. To think that one minute Coral gets on with Mahir the next he's target practise. Really scary”. Suddenly Coral bounded into the room carrying several cushions with Trix, Laura and Sam behind her looking curious and exited.“Hey guy's”.

“Lo' tiger” Rico grinned, smirking as Coral grinned in pleasure with a slight blush to her cheeks while the other's watched them with amusement. “Stop flirting , you have a boyfriend. ”

“I wasn't flirting. I was showing you affection through words. There is a difference” Rico protested.

“So....er, what were you going to show us Coral”?

“This”. She turned to the stack of cushions that were now on the table and closed her eye's taking deep calming breaths , then, “woah”! Sam gasped as the top cushion jumped up into the air just a few centimetres from where it had been lying and started to wriggle madly.

“Are you guys seeing this”?

“Shut ,up , Sam. I'm trying to concentrate “ Coral barked before turning back to the cushion which was still wriggling but with less energy then before. Coral closed her eyes again and her whole body stiffened before she raised and hand and the cushion began to slowly rise higher into the air until it was level with Coral's face. She opened her eye's and grinned mischievously before whirling around and with a quick gesture sent the cushion hurtling towards Trix who screamed like a banshee as she dived for cover behind an arm chair, making the other's hoot with laughter.

“Uh , who's being murdered now”? A light voice grouched. Coral stiffened , turning as still as a caught weeping angel , all trace of her previous laughter gone to be replaced with a fierce expression. “Hello Mahir” she called in a deceivingly causal tone, shooting the other's glares as they cautiously moved forward making them stop in their tracks and in the boy's case back off fast.

“Oh. Hello Coral. I um.... I've come to well , apologise, to Rico. What I said was..... pretty.....offensive. I shouldn't have said it and I'm sorry. If you want. I'll leave , you won't see me again I promise”. He paused staring down at his green Nike trainers.

“Why me”? Rico demanded. “What is your problem with me? Is it because I'm gay? Or clever? It can't be. Pavan is gay as well. You know that. And Coral, Laura and Shane are as smart as I am. What is it that makes you target me hmm?”

“ Well , no....it's just ….just that well........ alright , I'm jealous”!

“Excuse me, what”?! Rico spluttered while the other's exchanged stunned looks, all as shocked as he was. Mahir had turned tomato red after his outburst but he knew he had to say more or he would never have another peaceful moment. “It not fair. Your popular ,cool , good at sports , clever, funny , kind and open. You should be bullied because of who you are....”. He trailed of as Coral narrowed her eye's dangerously and Pavan growled softly. “But your not” Mahir continued. “Whereas I can't be myself. I hang out with the sporty people so I can't show that I do have brain's and I can't help people without getting thrown in the trash can.”

“Hmm” Coral murmured, “you don't have a Mother. Or rather you can't remember her as she left before you were even a year old. Am I right”?

“Where did you get that information from”? Mahir raged.

“Oh dear Lord do you people even have eye's. Your just like John Watson, you see but do not observe, stop smirking Laura you know I'm not keen on crime shows”Coral grumbled .

“Sam did you know about this?” Laura asked tentatively . Sam shook his head, light brown hair whipping over his face “no , but.... of course why didn't I see it sooner” he whispered “I never saw his Mum , not once even though I've known Mahir since we were toddlers.” Sam's big blue eye's were wide with shock but neither Coral or Mahir were paying any attention to what Sam was saying as they glared at each other or rather Mahir was glaring while Coral stared at him serenely .

“How long have you known?” Mahir asked in a quavering voice, his mind a whirl with panic but Coral simply continued to gaze at him calmly with her emerald green eye's . “Oh, quite a while actually , well, didn't take me long to put the piece’s together. Whenever you got into trouble it was always your father that came up to the school and you were unusually close”.

“Stop, just stop” Mahir pleaded, his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender “it's true aright, my Mum was put into an mental health hospital when I was a baby and my Dad had to raise me all on his own while trying to bring in enough money to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. He-he sort of encouraged me to hang out with sporty guys, partly I think cause of what happened to him when he went to school. He was bullied for having only one parent and being a bookworm and he was afraid it would happen to me.”

“But times have changed Mahir, societies have moved on” Rico told him gently.

“Have they really? I don't know if you've noticed Pavan but there are still people in the world or at least there were people in this world who would call me a bastard and you a, well I'm not going to say it but you probably know what I'm talking about. Can I go now?” Coral nodded once, her face serious and Mahir fled up the stairs desperate to escape.

Sighing Coral said “ I'm gonna look at the blue prints I found. We need to work out what to do cause we can't stay here forever. Oh and if the Grand Master or any of his cronies come calling do me the great pleasure of showing them to my room.” And with that she bounced up the stair's, her purple scarf flicking out behind her leaving the five teenagers looking shell shocked and stunned beyond belief. When the they were sure that she was not within ear shot they began to relax.

“Whew, never seen Mahir look that stressed before” Laura exclaimed “he is right though, society hasn't changed much in some ways.”

“Why were you yelling Coral's name earlier Rico”? Trix asked with interest.

“Erm, well, two things really, one I have power's, the ability to fly and two I have a very nasty hypothesis that the Grand Master and his goonies may have powers.”

“Why do you think that? The Grand Master clearly wasn't expecting us to be immune to whatever has caused everyone else to disappear”, Sam pointed out.

“But what if he was able to cook up a formula that allowed him and his followers to gain powers even if it's only temporarily? Unless he has found some way to deactivate our powers the only way he can hope to get rid of all of us is to combat fire with fire since he can't know what kind of abilities he is up against ” Trix argued.

“Yeah” Rico murmured “but that would mean giving each of his followers several different abilities and who knows what the ramifications of these abilities on human bodies are”.

“Maybe there's something on Bella's laptop”? Laura suggested.

“Who”? Sam asked in surprise.

“Hang on, laptop, it still work's ”?! Rico yelped, sitting up so suddenly that Pavan started and almost fell off the comfy green sofa that he was resting on with Rico.

“Yes. But we don't know why or how as the laptop belonged to Coral's supposed mother” Laura explained. Pavan's head tilted for a second then his dark eye's widened. “ Supposed mother”? Laura and Trix looked at each other before Laura took a deep breath and said, “it seems that Bella and Alex James aren't who they say they are , they stole Coral from her real parents at birth and are working for the Grand Master apparently”. The three boy's stared at the girl's with their eye's and mouth's wide open.“Okay....” Sam murmured “I don't know about you, but I need breakfast , then you two will explain everything”. Sam glared, staring into their eyes like a hyponotist. Laura and Trix nodded before looking at each other, eye's wide. “If Coral realizes that we told them ...”

“she will kill us.”

“Slowly and painfully I bet. And being her best friends won't help thing's either.”

“Ah , well , we might as well tell them cos they'll find out anyway” Laura concluded.

***

Upstairs, oblivious to what was going on down below and bored of studying blueprints Coral was gleefully testing out her power's. She had concluded from her experiments that there were a lot of thing's that she had to learn about her power's and was now testing her limit's. Laughing, Coral moved her hand up into the air, focussing her energy on the cup's that stood on the floor and the water exploded out of them to form a enormous fountain which hit the ceiling before falling back into the cup which wobbled at the ferocious impact of the water. Then Coral turned to the pillow's. Pinning Mahir to the wall with knives had given her an idea. What if she was able to smash someone up against the wall? It would be a great help, especially if the impact incapacitated them. But she doubted that she would be able to do it without practise first and she couldn't imagine any of the other's volunteering as her guinea pig. Coral pushed her arm's out, focussing on making the pillow move and it gave a little wiggle before leaping a few feet into the air, flipping over and crashing back down. “Pathetic! Is that the best you can manage”? she snarled to herself . After several more tries Coral was getting frustrated as the pillow's had done nothing more than gain height then flop to the ground. With a furious yell Coral accidentally sent the king sized bed hurtling across the room in her anger then CRASH! “AAAAARRRGGHHHH”! The yell of terror came from outside and as Coral climbed over the bed she realized what she had done.

“Woopsie , oh dear, oh , who do we have here? An unexpected visitor. Do come in” she said, staring down at the shell shocked Mahir with a Cheshire cat grin . Gasping Mahir looked up at her and sighed. Apologising to Coral was never going to be an easy feat ,'oh well rather be killed by Coral than the Grand Master' , Mahir thought. Coral stared down at Mahir before climbing over to him and hauling him up right then helping him over the bed and rubble. “Breakfast”? she asked, walking over to a mini fridge tucked into a corner of the room , opening it and producing several chocolate cereal bar's.

“Um , yeah s..sure” Mahir stammered . Coral turned to him, a sad smile on her beautiful face.

“Mahir , it's a little difficult for me to say this, but I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It was cruel and humiliating for you and I'm really, truly sorry for it”. She crossed over to him her green eye's widening. “Can you forgive me”? She asked in a small voice. Mahir was startled by the innocent childlike look on her face and for once he could see the young girl behind the cold mask that she wore and so he made up his mind “yeah sure , just don't do it again or I’ll probably try to kill you”.

“Ha! I doubt you would even have time to get one blow in before I had you on the floor with your limbs smashed up” she grinned knowing what was going to happen next.

“Aright then Miss You Can't Beat Me , you might have defeated the Grand Master's cronies but because of my new genius intellect I can calculate your movement's and precisely which angle to attack at to cause an injury so bring it on”! He grinned at Coral who simply rolled her eye's at the overconfident teenager before her ,'time to shrink his over inflated ego' she thought before preparing to attack. Then Mahir charged like a bull, a enormous fist coming towards Coral who easily blocked the blow then sent in her own attack. Her blows were precise , fast and furious but amazingly Mahir quickly began to block most of them, easily calculating where Coral was about to attack by judging her body and limb angles until Coral got in a deft kick to the back of the knee and Mahir went crashing down with a yelp. “Hmmm , not bad at blocking attack’s Mahir but your awful at attacking back. A toddler would have been able to block those feeble blows and your foot work was just plain atrocious”.

“Ha , but you couldn't get a punch in back could could ya” Mahir crowed. Coral glared at him “I wasn't trying , I had no intention of harming you . I was just testing your reaction time and seeing how easily you can be distracted enough for me take you off guard which wasn't to difficult. You need to watch you back Mahir. Just because one person is attacking you from the front it doesn't mean that other's will just wait nicely in line for their turn like school children , they'll use your distraction to your advantage and you'll be lucky if you don't get decapitated.”

“That's a nice description” Mahir laughed , then his expression grew sombre as he slid down to the floor and stared at his knee's .“What's it like ….... having both parents who you can rely on and you know that they love you”? Coral paused for a moment coming to sit next to Mahir then her face became pinched and troubled causing him to rocket to her side, “Coral what's wrong”? he cried in alarm.“They're not my real parents” she whispered “I was kidnapped and taken from my real parent's when I was only a day old to be trained as a WRAITH assassin. To become what they are. Murderer's working for the Grand Master. All this ,the whole everyone in the world vanishes thing. That was all planned by the Grand Master I presume. Bella aka the woman who pretended to be my mother for 14 years, said in the letter that it was Phase One . We've messed up the Grand Master's plan to take over the world but I think something else went wrong with Phase One , I think it was only me that was meant to be left on earth with them.”

“Take over the world, well he's gone a good job so far hasn't he? As for us messing up his plan...... If it was a mistake that he made, what kind of mistake ? Could we just fool him into making another one and bring the rest of the population back? Hey! Maybe- maybe our power's are protecting us from what ever the Grand Master did to the rest of the earth”.

“Possibly, but what about Sam, Trix and the other year elevens”?

“Perhaps their power's haven't developed yet. After all, none of our power's came on straight away. Or maybe I was just imagining you beating the crap out of those troll's with your bare hands.” Coral snorted with laughter at this statement ,quaking with it as she chortled “well unless I'm getting premature dementia Laura definitely did not turn back time nor did I bash anyone with my telekinesis . And Trix with power's? That would be something.” Now Mahir was laughing as he imagined Trix reaction to becoming like them. “She'd either become cationic or have a cardiac arrest out of sheer fright. What power's would she have anyway? The ability to turn into a bloody daisy or something”?

“Probably . What about Sam? What power's would he have”?

“I dunno , turning himself into a comic book character”? They laughed until their throats were dry before sitting together in silence and munching on their cereal bars.

“ I dream about them , my real parents almost every night. But I can't see their faces properly” Coral suddenly blurted out. “What do you see then”? Mahir asked feeling incredibly curious

“A short, fairly muscular man with short , curly blonde hair wearing a suit but with no tie. And a woman , with long wavy red hair. She's quite tall and slim with dark skin. She wears a ring , always the same one. It's exactly the same as the one that I have always had, that I thought that Bella had given to me on the day I was born. Look I'll show you.” And with that she pulled out from underneath her scarf, a sliver chain with a purple shell where the clasp met. On it was a slim silver ring . The ring was intricately designed with strange pattern's woven over the ring both on the inside and out in purple and gold. Coral removed the chain , undoing the clasp and removing the ring with delicate fingers and gave it to Mahir who gazed at her with wonder and trepidation. She was giving him something which was very important to her. Why? 'Does she actually trust me?!' Mahir wondered with incredulity as Coral looked back at him. “Read the inscription ,inside the ring”. There in tiny swirly letters, writing lurked, dancing around the ring as it caught the light of the sun and tossed it between the words . Mahir read it and smiled. The inscription said ' Our little star. Our shining beacon of hope'. Mahir's throat became blocked with unshed tears as he read the loving inscription over and over again, wondering what had happened to Coral's parent's. “At least I know that someone loves me” she murmured.

“Aw , Coral, don't look so sad. We care for you to. In a different way of course but we still care for you” Mahir smiled.

“Really”? Coral asked , her eye's widening once again. Mahir smiled as he gave her the ring “Yep really. We've got your back and we're not leaving you any time soon.” Coral's answering grin lit up the whole room and made her ears waggle.“And I've got your back too. Don't you forget that, though if you insult anyone again on their chosen lifestyle and abilities except the Grand Master and his trained trolls then I shall torture you into insanity is that clear?” Mahir jumped up and and saluted playfully with a “Yes Ma'm” The two of them relaxed in each other's company, finally daring to truly believe that they had people who really cared for them and would stick around, no matter what .

Temper tantrums and tall tales

Since seven o clock the night before no one had dared to go within fifty metres of the Grand Master's chambers. His screams of fury echoed down the dark, damp corridor's and made agents and henchmen alike shiver as they felt the Grand Master's spine chilling breath on their back's. Jack crept forward down one of the darker corridor's with Drusus and Jagger at his heels down to a air vent where they could see and listen to what was going on without , hopefully , being caught by the Grand Master or Bella.

“Those pesky children!” the Grand Master roared so loudly that Jack, who was the closest to the air vent jumped about two feet in the air in fright. “You should have killed them while you had the chance you fool's ”!!

“We tried master , we tried. They out witted us” a panicky voice spluttered.

“Out witted you!!! They bloody well didn't even need to try to out wit you morons. I hire you as my henchmen and you can't even kill children! Your a disgrace to humanity, an abomination to the new world that I will build where there will be no mentally delayed fools like you”! The Grand Master screeched making the three boy's wince at the increasing pitch of his voice. Jack peered over the edge of the air vent and saw the Grand Master standing in the middle of the room with several decapitated heads lying at his feet, the owners of the heads lying eviscerated and bloody several paces away in front of twenty henchmen who were all quivering in their grey overall 's as they gazed fearfully at their master. A door screamed open and Ice's brother Dark glided in, his red eye's flickering briefly over the decapitated bodies before gliding to the Grand Master and whispering in his ear. Jack strained to hear as Drusus whispered “what's he saying? Have they caught Coral yet”?

“I don't know. I can't hear with you hissing down my ear like a snake! Now shut up for a moment will you”! Jack hissed back, before he turned to watch the Grand Master who had gone very still. “Yes I know about the incident with Amos. He has been annihilated.” Jack could see the Grand Master's dark eye's narrowing before he strode over to one of the computer dock's and flicked on a red switch which brought up a blue screen with a figure of a very familiar face. “Rico”! Drusus gasped. “ What has he got to do with Coral”?

“He could be allied with her” Jack suggested.

“Yes but he will have had to do more than that to make him important to Dark. He must be causing trouble. That's what happens when you join rebels like Coral. You become a trouble maker” Jagger droned sounding as though he had swallowed all of the Grand Master's dictation's whole for breakfast. “Wow Jagger I'm impressed. Finally something has managed to penetrate that thick skull of yours! Did you have some sort of accident”? Jack teased, his eye's glinting deviously in the darkness while Drusus sniggered. Jack turned to hear Dark state “yes that's him. He is the one. He escaped from the castle and caused several experienced agents to die during the chase in which he out rode them on a motor cycle. He's no child agent, I've checked. But the kid was clever in escaping. Not many would have stopped to get that bike, let alone check it over. They would have just kept on running and been shot down. This kid is a possible danger to us ” Dark rasped but the Grand Master simply spun around laughing“The boy is no danger” he chortled “he just had a bit of luck that is all. His luck will run out soon and then we'll kill him.” Dark has frozen and his dark features darkened even more. Jack squinted, unable to believe that he had just seen a flicker of fear cross Dark's handsome features as he slowly moved forward like a frightened hunter approaching a dangerous ,wild and wounded beast.

“M- M-Master. The uh ….. the boy seems to be like Coral and that other girl. He seems to have powers. We, that is to say, the observers of Lilith's murder attempt, we think that the boy might be able to fly”. The Grand Master's face turned deadly as his nostrils thinned , every muscle became taunt and he sucked in a huge breath of air and Jack hurriedly inched himself away from the air vent and turned whispering frantically to his friends “back! Back! Get back! The Grand Master's gonna blow”! A high pitched shriek echoed down the corridor and from his crouched position against the cold stone wall Jack could see flashes of light darting around the room followed by cries of alarm. When Jack slowly crawled back to the air vent, wary of another explosion of rage he peered into the room and gasped , at least sixteen of the henchmen that had been kneeling now lay dead upon the floor, their gruesome injuries clearly the cause of their demise while the remaining four men and Dark cowered against the controls,waiting for the Grand Master's fit of wrath to abate. The Grand Master was standing in the centre of the room, panting slightly, his face splattered with the blood of those he had just killed. He turned to face Dark who rose slowly, the tips of his black polished shoes covered in the blood of the dead henchmen. “You think”? the Grand Master whispered in a soft ,velvety voice that was dripping with doom and bloodshed. Dark slowly moved forward, his eye's darting around nervously as he glided over to the Grand Master.

“Master , despite our best efforts, the explosion caused by Gregory and the boy's friend caused a lot of smoke and the after effects made it very hard to stand let alone see. I saw the boy launch into the air and stay there for far longer than the normal 4.32 seconds. In fact he stayed in the air for fifteen seconds before he hit the ground and as for his landing , well”, Dark shook his head in disbelief , “he should have smashed every bone in his body but he didn't”. The Grand Master had moved over to his throne on the velvet platform and Dark strode up the steps to place his hands on the Grand Master's ebony throne and whisper in his ear causing Jack to have to strain to hear as he looked at the spiky blonde, tilted head of the Grand Master . “Master I'm sure of it. He flew! And his resilience is a power in itself. Nobody......I doubt even you would have survived that fall without some kind of injury. Not that I doubt you Master”. The Grand Master held up one long figure to silence Dark who backed of respectfully, bowing his head in submission as the Grand Master sat up straighter in his throne.“From which point from the castle did he fall”? he queried.

“From the South West side Master.”

“And the explosion? Where did that go off? How much damage did it do”?

“Quite a lot Master. It went off on the South East side of the castle and took out most of the foundations. I should think that the entrance to our lair would be impossible to penetrate now that the dungeons have been blocked by all that stone and rubble so we are safe from that side. However it does mean that the moor is the only entrance and exit and we will no longer be able to launch a localized surprise attack on Coral.”

The Grand Master tutted but murmured “I still want two....no make it four guards posted by the entrance”.

“But”

“I don't care that the entrance is blocked up. If Coral shows signs of being a telekinesis then she could easily move the rubble and at least those men will slow her down slightly and we have more than enough talent to kill her.” Dark gave a nasty smile at the promise of a kill and Jack leaned over further to hear what the Grand Master was saying to Dark and then suddenly the air vent door gave way. “AARGH”! Jack shrieked as he tumbled onto the hard stone floor. He looked up and groaned , not only had his friends abandoned him but it was clear from the look on Dark and the Grand Master's faces that they were furious that Jack had been listening in on their conversation. Jack found himself dangling several feet in the air as two henchmen seized him at a gesture from Dark.

“Why were you listening in on our conversation”? The Grand Master snapped furiously as he got up from his throne. “You do know that it is rude to spy on other peoples private affairs”? Jack nodded frantically, desperate to find a way out of the deadly situation that he was in.

“Yes Master! I do Master! It's just that.... well. Although I am only a junior agent with little rank it has come to my attention that some of the henchmen who I do not wish to name are starting to doubt you and when I heard of your anger I came to investigate it's source. However I know the rules and as I cannot come down here unless I have been summoned I am ashamed to say that I spied on you Master, as the henchmen's wavering loyalty is troubling me and I wanted to find out if anything had happened to you Master” Jack babbled.

The Grand Master tilted his head to one side while Dark put a hand underneath his chin clearly in deep thought. “Drop him”! The Grand master commanded the henchmen who dumped Jack unceremoniously on the floor and shot him looks of disbelief. He had betrayed their own! Never had that happened before and Jack was thankful that he hadn't mentioned any names. For now anyway. Only part of what Jack had said was true and he prayed the Grand Master wouldn't bother to do too much investigating other wise he might as well throw himself to the sharks. And it was clear to Jack from Alex's fate that it wasn't only the his and the henchmen's lives that were on the line as the Grand Master was clearly willing to murder any thing or any one that got in his way of his twisted idea of a perfect world.

“Your loyalty to me is gratifying and humbling” the Grand Master crooned ,“ you shall be rewarded”, he paused, giving Jack a small smile which was returned a little uncertainly. The Grand Master's grin grew bigger as he realized that Jack was contemplating the idea of this being a trick of some sort. “Tell me Jack , who is it that doubt's my loyalty to them and my promises for a better world? Come on now Jack , you can tell me. I shall reward you even more , or are you to loyal to those who doubt me”? Jack gave a tiny almost imperceptible nod that was spotted by the Grand Master who roared “tell me! And that is an order”! He tossed Jack to the floor and put a foot on his chest to stop him from trying to bolt , not that he would have made it vary far . Then trembling, and with tears sliding down his wren coloured cheeks Jack betrayed some of his nearest and dearest. He had really put his foot in it now. Perhaps he would throw himself to the sharks just to punish himself. But it was for the good of the new world that the Grand Master and WRAITH would create. It was for the good of the new earth and he might stand a chance of getting promoted up to Yassen and Drusus's level which would mean a better and easier life for him .

He was yanked sharply out of his internal conflict by hearing the Grand master 's sharp tones bark out “YASSEN”! Warily Jack slowly stood up, his trainers scraping the floor as the red headed figure of Yassen Demitrius appeared , silent as a ghost as he looked around the room, his blue eye's showing evident curiosity as to what had gone on here. He spotted Jack and his eye's widened slightly. “Yes Master. You summoned me”? he queried in his thick Russian accent.

“Yes Yassen. I need you to do something for me. Young Jack here has just proven his loyalty to me by giving me the names of those who doubt me and their allegiance is wavering.....”

“But how did he get down here? Junior agent 's aren't allowed down here” Yassen pointed out silkily, his eye's turning a accusatory glare onto Jack who shivered at it's coldness. The Grand Master scowled and Yassen stepped back respectfully, bowing his head as he did so. “You do not need to know the answer to those questions Yassen” the Grand Master growled as he stalked forward towards the blue eyed Russian who looked very afraid much to Jack's vindictive pleasure. “Now I have work for you to do. Here is the list, now go and make sure of where their loyalties lie”.

“And if they are not loyal to you....”

“Dispose of them”! The Grand master snapped turning and waving a hand in the air as he turned back to Jack who saw Yassen smiling at the promise of causing pain and death to others. Jack looked back at the Grand Master who wore a strange expression on his face that was gone the instant Jack turned to him. “And now Jack your reward”, he placed a fatherly arm on Jack's muscular shoulders and began to walk him to the his throne. “You are an excellent agent and despite your small errors you have proven yourself above all other junior agents and your loyalty and dedication to the new world that we shall strive to create is obvious to all that look at you. For this you shall receive a great reward. I plan to leave here in two days hence with you , my body guards , Bella and Drusus, the reason for this being that I have unfinished business to attend to with the Agency, who will try to stop our plans and have unfortunately found a way of thwarting Stage One.”

“What”?! Jack gasped ,horrified that they still had other enemies who had resisted Stage One. “How”?

“There will be time for questions later Jack. I need to get rid of Coral. I have created a virus which will destroy her and her powered friends. I want you and several henchmen which I will allow you to select to make sure that they catch it tomorrow. When they are dead you will remove the main source of the virus from it's pod and bring it to me at our main headquarters , I shall give you the coordinates , then we shall destroy the remaining meddlesome members of the Agency . I am promoting you to head of the henchmen to replace Amos who has been disposed of. You now have a high rank and will play a key role in building new earth.” The Grand Master turned and placed both hands on Jack's shoulders looking down at him with his brown eyes. “Listen Jack. You now have responsibility’s , bear them well and you shall be rewarded for it. Go now. Rest while you have the chance for you will have a lot of work to do tomorrow along with plenty of packing.” Jack gazed up, completely nonplussed. “What? Why are you....” he broke off upon feeling the hand that the Grand Master had left on his shoulder begin to tighten until Jack was fighting a gasp of pain. “Uh I mean thank you. Thank you my Master! I won't let you down I promise” he smiled.

“Good, now go away” the Grand Master said with a terrible grinned. Jack sprinted off malaise creeping up on him the further he got from the Grand Master. 'Oh ignore it' he told himself ' he's probably giving me a second chance, that's all. And I am one of his best.'

'So is Drusus' a nasty little voice in his mind hissed, 'in, fact he's better than you. So why isn't he head of the henchmen'?

'Because the Grand Master probably has something better for him to do. Come on Storm, this is a promotion, be happy and grateful for it'!

Back in the control room Dark turned to the Grand Master “Do you really think this will work”?

“Oh yeah. One way or another he won't becoming with us unless it's in a body bag” the Grand Master chuckled as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans and continued to gaze down the corridor where Jack had retreated as Dark moved forward ,stepping off the stage which held the Grand Master's throne. “ So , let me get this straight. Your going to kill Jack who is one of our best agents all because of his link with Coral and the Agency. But he doesn't know! And if we can keep it from him then he won't know! Master I would advise you not to kill him”. The Grand Master tilted his head and raised a light brown eye brow as he folded his arms “Why”? Dark looked a little uncomfortable but stayed his ground. “Because if you do it could ruin us“! He strode over to the Grand Master and gazed into his dark calculating eyes as he whispered “Master , think about it. With Jack deceased not only will Drusus possibly abandon you to grieve but all the agents will doubt you. Jack is one of them. He's family to them and they won't like losing him”.

The Grand Master laughed tilting his head back as he spun around, arms stretched wide as he shouted “Oh , haha. They won't stop me. And if they spend to much time mourning or give even the tiniest hint that their loyalty is wavering then I will wipe their mind's of all memories of the boy and Jack Storm will have never existed.”

“But surely... they'll realize”?

“Oh don't be such an imbecile , I will implant false memories into their minds of a young boy who turned traitor. He stabbed me but it was not enough to kill me straight away , I killed him in retaliation, and you turned up on time to save my soul and place me into a new host. The boy's body was incinerated and thrown into a waste land . You know how I despise traitors. They will not question this as the memories will be as clear as their real memories. It's all about the chemistry of the brain and how the brain works you see” the Grand Master explained as he turned around again, waving his long arms in the air in front of him, grinning in sheer insane delight he turned to gaze back down the passage where Jack had retreated. “Jack won't know what's hit him” he murmured as he moved slowly towards the passage entrance.

***

Jack strode down the dark passage way's his heart whirling in a mess of elation, fear and suspicion. The Grand Master was up to something, he was sure of it, something that wouldn't end well for him. But why? 'Have I not been faithful and loyal to him? Have I not obeyed every order and satisfied every whim? Have I not proven to be one of the best? What have I done that would make him want me dead if my suspicions are indeed true?'

“This is insane” he muttered, bumping his head gently against a door. “Your being paranoid. Now stop it”, he growled to himself, slamming his head against the door which was suddenly yanked open causing him to topple into the room. “Ouch!” he yelped as his body was intimately acquainted with the f cold, hard floor. “You know despite the Grand Master's policy on knocking before entering I don't think he has extended it to knocking for permission to enter your own room Jack. Or did we miss that memo”? a familiar voice drawled. Jack froze for a second in shock before rage overcame him. “What are you doing here? How did you get in”? he demanded of Drusus and Jagger who's expressions of worry were replaced by confusion and fear as they took in Jack's dark expression and his livid tone. “Jack mate”, Drusus cried ,“we were worried about you”!

“Hmph, oh really! And yet you didn't worry enough to stay instead of abandoning me like the cowards that you are! Don't try and lie to me! You were to scared to stay! You would rather save your own skin than make sure that your friend was o.k. How could you”? Jack fumed. Drusus and Jagger both looked terrified as Jack slowly stalked towards them, his voice turning into a silky smooth as he smirked “your lucky that I forgive and forget easily otherwise one word and you would both be dead”.

“Dead! What do you mean Jack? You don't have the power ” Drusus gasped.

“ The Grand Master's promoted me. I'm the new head of the henchmen” Jack smiled.

“But what about Amos”? Drusus questioned, looking seriously worried.

“Dead”. Suddenly Drusus pale feature's split into a huge smile as he stood up and clapped his best friend on the shoulder. “Haha.... brilliant! We're the same status now. One of the top ranks. Ha it's going to be fantastic! You.... head of the henchmen. Brilliant!” He strode over to the small table in the corner of the room which had wine glasses and drinks all placed neatly in a row. Drusus seized two wine glasses and some black current cordial, pouring a healthy measure of the drink into each glass before striding back over to Jack a grin on his face. “A toast” Drusus cried “to friendship and power.”

“To friendship and power” Jack echoed clinking their glasses together and taking a sip, sighing as the drink slid down his throat and pleasured his taste buds. Suddenly a female voice blared out on the intercom making all three boy's jump.

“Will Drusus Scorpius please report to the Grand Master in the tech room. That's Drusus Scorpius to report the the Grand Master in the tech room”. The intercom crackled once before turning itself off. Drusus looked worried as he turned to Jack who shrugged.“Sorry , but I don't know what he wants with you.”

“The tech room, isn't the Grand Master building some sort of teleport there”?

“I think he's already completed it , guess we're gonna find out soon.”

“Mmmm..... I'd better go. Being related to his host won't stop him from killing me or hurting me if I make him angry” Drusus muttered his, pale skin turning almost yellow with fear as he strode out of the room and Jack bit his lip worriedly, praying that his best friend wasn't in trouble. Then he nearly hit the ceiling with fright as a sneering voice spoke up. “Enjoying your promotion Jacko. Think your so special now don't ya. The Grand Master's pet. Haha I bet you think your superior to us... the 'enchmen don't ya”? Jack spun around towards the voice and came face to face with Jagger who's dark face was contorted with rage and his fists, twice the size of a normal man's were clenched , ready to strike. Jack took an automatic step back as he glared back at Jagger through narrowed eye's and analysed him.

“I didn't ask to be promoted , unlike you” he pointed out as he wagged a finger in Jagger's direction. Jagger's eye's narrowed as he stalked forward and one thought swept through Jack's calm mind, 'keep him thinking about what your saying' it was the only way to take him by surprise . If Jagger got an arm around Jack then he was dead. Jagger circled Jack who stood completely still , leg's slightly apart , hands by his sides and eye's half closed as he listened to Jaggre laugh at him. “You think you look so cool like that don't you, with your supposed' X ray eye's'” he sneered “but they'll just make killing you easier.”

“No they won't. I know where you are standing right now. Your moving in circles two meters away from me going anti clockwise ,trying to find a blind spot but I have no blind spot's. Unlike you , your simply covered with them. It's a wonder you get anything done your so blind to anything and everyone but your self ”! Suddenly Jagger's murderous face was almost nose to nose with his as black eye's stared into unblinking emerald green ones that glittered strangely as Jagger roared,

“wha's that's supposed to mean huh!? Wha's that supposed to mean”?!

“See! Your so blind that you can't even see the truth when it's staring you in the face”! With a nasty smirk Jack whispered, “I can see everything , I know every trick , how every synapse of the brain works and you Jagger Sharp are simply a useless piece of trash. A tool , a clown , a toy , a prop for the Grand Master and his agents to play with in our show. Hoho all the marvellous things that we could have done with you”! Laughing as he spun around in a delighted circle he turned back to face him. Jagger was snarling with every breath making Jack laugh madly. “ Calm down Jagger! I want to tell you just how amazing your life would have been if you hadn't messed it all up with the wrong decisions, the wrong job and the wrong mind. I want to tell you what your going to be missing. Of course the Grand Master won't want me telling you this as he doesn't want you to make it out alive but I will.”

By now Jagger was shaking with rage but his black eye's were wide with fear and uncertainty and suddenly, despite the danger, Jack felt very sorry for Jagger. He was only a boy after all, barely fifteen and yet he was dealing with things that belonged in the world of an adult not the world of a child. Jagger tilted his large head as he whispered,“our Master doesn't want me”? Jack gave one swift nod not taking his eye's off Jagger who let out a bellow that almost blasted Jack off his feet and left his ears ringing. “THAT'S A LIE! THAT'S A FUCKING LIE! You don't want me! That's who doesn't want me around here! You. Not the Grand Master , not Drusus nor any of the agents”! And with that, as Jack had anticipated, Jagger charged like a enraged bull. Jack stood there leg's apart and as soon as Jagger was close enough to attack he stepped side ways leaving one leg sticking out for Jagger to fall over , which he did and into the wall with an impact that sounded as though a bomb had just gone off. Panting and rubbing his right shoulder which Jagger had smacked against leaving it feeling as though it had just been trampled on by an elephant, Jack turned to face the unconscious Jagger who was lying slumped against the midnight blue wall, his head close to the red painting of the WRAITH logo and his black leather jacket open and torn. Slowly Jack moved over to the other boy, still rubbing his aching shoulder as he crouched down and looked in the face of his former friend.

“Now what shall I do with you ? Kill you? Ha! You had a go at killing me just now. Nah I think I leave you somewhere for one of the Grand Master's body guards or Bella to find”. With a vicious smile Jack stood up and kicked open the black lead door, the torch light's briefly flickering on his square face as he stood in the dark doorway for a moment. He turned, a plan formulated in his mind , it was just a question of getting Jagger where he wanted to put him without being noticed or Jagger waking up. Slowly he moved over to a cupboard set in the wall above his bed and pulled out some chlorophyll and chains, smiling briefly at the photo of him and Drusus laughing on the wall of the cupboard before turning back to Jagger with a serious expression on his face. He walked over to Jagger and began to tie him up with the chains, making sure that there was no way that Jagger could snap them with his superior strength and sheer mass. Then Jack poured some chlorophyll onto a handful of cotton wool and stuffed it under Jaggar’s nose , wrapping a piece of string around the cotton wool and Jaggers face making sure that when Jagger woke up all he would get was a face full of anaesthetic which would send him straight back under again for at least another six hours. He stood back and admired his work before walking outside into the darkened corridor and stealing a trolley from the body disposal department to carry Jaggar’s enormous muscular mass. After dumping him unceremoniously onto the trolley, with his shoulders ready to drop off, making sure to tie Jagger to it Jack looked at the young man in front of him. What he had in store for Jagger wasn't nice but it would teach him a lesson that he should have learnt a long time ago : that the Grand Master's agents were not to be messed with unless you wanted to die sooner rather than later. Jaggar’s words and attack had shaken him and made him realize that the bond that they had once shared was long gone , the Grand Master and his vision of the new world had taken all that away. Whether the Grand Master was worth that broken bond, Jack was starting to be unsure. Jack wheeled the trolley with Jagger now lying securely on it out the door and tipped toed down dark , cold corridors, the wheel's of the trolley gliding noiselessly along the stone floor and Jack was able to hear murmurs coming from many of the lead door's but he dared not stop and listen in case the occupants of the room's came out and saw what he was doing.

When Jack entered the medical department he shivered with cold and the hair's on the back of his neck began to prickle with fear as though he was being watched but when Jack spun around there was no one there except a skeleton balanced on one of the white walls which were lined with gruesome poster's of experiments on people and terrible injuries that made Jack gag just thinking about them. Flicking the light on, Jack blinked for a moment as the bright light temporally blinded him before gazing around at the pristine medical room with all it's sharp instruments and dangerous looking machines that the could both heal and torture people. Despite that fact that Jack had been here many time's , it's instruments still scared him and made him think of all the horrible things that the Grand Master could be using some of them for.

He walked over to the freezer where they kept some of the Grand Master's past and future hosts along with some of the WRAITH's many victims. Jack opened one draw and let out a yelp of shock as he came across a body. It wasn't the first time he had seen a dead person but this body looked strangely familiar, almost as though he had seen this man before , but he couldn't think where. The man chocolate eye's were wide open and even in death they twinkled with mischief and kindness. He looked in his late forties and was quite plump and tall, at least six foot if not more. Slowly Jack closed the draw unable to look at the man any longer and then Jack saw a tag which read Iain Leben, aged 49, born January 8th died January 9th 2012 , brother to Ianto Leben, scientific operative in the Agency. “Leben, Leben” he muttered to himself. He had definitely heard the name Leben before and knew that that surname was associated with his past somehow but Jack couldn't think where or why he knew that the brothers came into his life.

To avoid dwelling on this any longer, Jack fully closed the draw and opened another which fortunately contained no body. Jack turned the temperature up on the freezer so that Jagger wouldn't freeze to death and then began the arduous task of untying Jagger and putting him into the draw. Ten minutes later sweat was pouring down Jack's face as he finally closed Jagger's draw and then realized that he had to find some way of getting air into it to stop him from suffocating , just because Jagger wasn't one of his friends any more it didn't mean that he wanted him to die just yet. He opened the draw again and then ran to the other side of the room to grab a large oxygen tank and oxygen mask , he carried it over to where Jagger lay and placed the gas mask on Jagger's dark and scarred face before placing the tank at his side and making sure that Jagger would be able to breath once he was shut inside the previously freezing cold fridge which was now considerably warmer.

Finally Jack closed the door and sighed with relief , one job done, now all he had to do was put the trolley back and make sure that he didn't get caught. Suddenly Jack became aware of a presence standing right behind him. He gulped . “Hem , hem”. Jack whirled around, already in a defensive position only to face Ice , the insanity to Dark's sanity. 'Oh dear' , Jack thought as he slowly lowered his arms. “And what are you doing here, Mr Storm of all the places you could be”? Ice whispered as he tilted his unusually long head to one side and lifted up his gloved hands in mock surprise. “Uh , I um, uh , nothing really Sir... I-I just had to check something sir.... the Grand Master wants regular check up's on his past and future host's you see Sir and I thought that I might do it to save Bella's time you see Sir” Jack stammered, absolutely terrified of the assassin that stood before him. Ice tilted his pale head, a small small on his face as he brought his hands down to put his jet black cane on the floor and rest his hands on it.

“Oh Mr Storm , I think that you are lying to me , it's your friend Mr Sharp in there isn't it, not a host. Am I correct”? he breathed in his velvety voice.

“Um... I....um , ah yes Sir, it is Sir. He's not dead though, I wanted to punish him Sir, for something he has done.”

“Oh , and what is that , has he been unfaithful to the Grand Master?”

“No! No sir. He attacked me after I told him a few home truths that he didn't like , he doesn't like the fact that Drusus and I are in the Grand Master's inner circle and that he is stuck as a henchmen you see Sir.”

“Oh I see , now run along Mr Storm and I won't tell anyone about what happened between Mr Sharp and you on this fine morning.” Jack stared at the assassin. He never made any promises to anyone except the Grand Master and his brother and now Jack was extremely wary. “How do I know that you will keep your promise Ice. I didn't think your loyalty extended that far.” Ice gave a irritable twitch as his eye's flashed and his snake like nostrils narrowed before he rearranged his face into an expression of complete tranquillity. “Relax Mr Storm,” he soothed in a syrupy tone, “ am I loyal to the others in the Grand Master's circle am I not”? Jack paused for a moment, wondering whether to answer honestly. Deciding that it was better to play along with Ice than have his internal organs become his external organs he gave a stiff nod of agreement, not taking his green eye's off Ice 's calculating silver ones as they stared down at him. “Then I am loyal to you and also …... do not say this to anyone Mr Storm but you are my favourite agent and one of the few people in the world that I trust, so I would never , ever betray you Mr Storm. I shall keep my promise and never tell anyone what you have done to the rather unfortunate Mr Sharp.” Jack nodded . “Thank you Sir” he grinned before turning, seizing the trolley and beginning to wheel it towards the door but before he could leave the room Ice called out, “tell me... will Mr Sharp still be alive this time tomorrow”? Jack turned, his brow furrowed. What a strange question to ask , of course he would still be alive tomorrow , Jack didn't plan to let him die! He turned and answered Ice who had a odd almost half curious , half worried expression on his face which didn't suit his pale snake like features ,“yes , Sir.”

“And you didn't look inside any of the other draws did you”? Ice asked leaning forwards slightly causing Jack to back away. “No Sir I didn't , the first draw that I came across was empty and I didn't open any of the others” Jack gabbled in fear, desperate to be out of the room. Ice nodded and relaxed ,“of course you wouldn't”, he murmured almost to himself ,“your to loyal to our Master , but that is good , that is very good , it shows that we can keep the secret and he won't go nosing.”

“What secret Sir?” Jack asked with a slight smile. At once Ice turned ferocious.

“ NEVER YOU MIND! NOW AWAY WITH YOU BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND AND DRAG YOU TO THE GRAND MASTER”! Ice shrieked. Jack fled the room, leaving the trolley behind him in his haste to leave the enraged , insane assassin. Several minutes later Jack had left the Grand Master's head quarters after spluttering an excuse of needing fresh air after witnessing an autopsy to two henchmen guards and now he was standing on the moor which over looked the school. He needed time to think. All this had happened so quickly , Phase One of the plan going into action , Coral and her friends leaving , his promotion despite his failure in catching Coral , Jagger attacking him , finding the dead brother of a member of the Agency and feeling as though he knew the man from somewhere and then Ice catching him and the words that he had uttered before his threat.

All this ….. some things that had happened just didn't add up. Why had the Grand Master promoted him when he had messed up so badly during Phase One of the Grand Master's operation and failed to catch Coral and those who had run away with her which resulted in the incapacitation or death of several agents and henchmen? Why did he feel like he had known Iain Leben when he had never seen or heard of the man before? It was all very puzzling and Jack didn't like it one bit. And another thing , why was Drusus being constantly called to see the Grand Master and Bella? Yes , he was the Grand Master's son now but even before the Grand master's latest host change he had always displayed a interest in Drusus .

Then a terrible realization hit Jack with the force of a cannon ball , he couldn't trust anyone here in the Grand Master's empire. They were keeping things from him. And now he was on his own in a world full of murderers and monsters.

* * *

Laura and Trix looked at each other before turning to the others who were staring at them with varying expressions of anger and confusion. “Fake parents”! Spluttering, Rico looked at the two other boy's and saw Pavan fingering his aum and cross while Sam was staring at the ceiling looking very concerned.

“Uh , Sam? You all right?” Rico asked but Sam ignored him “Hello! Anybody home in there”? Rico yelled and Sam jumped before spinning round to face Rico. “Wha , what's the matter?” Pavan , Laura and Trix struggled to hide their laughter as Rico rolled his eye's and gave a dramatic sigh.

“What's the matter ? You've gone as white as a ghost”.

“I’m worried about Mahir. I mean Coral really hurt and humiliated him, what if he...I dunno, tried to take revenge”?

“On Coral, who's a telekinetic and has proved that she's perfectly capable of killing someone. I don't think so”.

“Mmm, well he's done stupid things in the past, we both have, fortunately running with you guys wasn't one of them. So, you reckon that at some point she's gonna go after her adoptive parents and the Grand Master and try and save the world yeah”?

“Probably” Trix replied.

“Well, we gonna help her”?

“Yep, but I doubt she'll let us”, smirked Laura.

“Well we'll give her two options then, either she stops being a stubborn ass and lets us come or we band together and tie her up until she agrees to let the rest of us come and help her” Sam suggested.

“What about that fit she had”? Trix asked worriedly

“I, well, I hate to say this but, well you know my Dad's a military physiologist yeah”? Pavan said, a worried crease on his dark forehead.

“Get to the point Pavan.”

“Alright well, Dad said that , with people that have been heavily brainwashed, they tend have fits when there recovering, particularly when they've been triggered and their trying to resist. It's like the fit's that alcoholics have when their coming off alcohol.” A silence, so thick that it became difficult to breath filled the air at his words and it was several moments before any of them could formulate any kind of verbal reaction to the news.

“Wha-what, Coral, she-she was brainwashed, by those monsters that claimed to be her parents?” Laura snarled, eyes flashing in anger.

“Oh, my God, oh my God, that's....that's insane, it's...it's sick, I-I need some air” Rico gasped, practically running out of the door in his haste to escape the suddenly claustrophobic room.

***

Several floor up Coral and Mahir were watching Rico race up Riverswood Road towards the village before slowing down as Pavan caught up with him and took his hand.

“Rico looks upset” Mahir commented, “lovers tiff”?

“No idea, it's not your business or mine. Confident you can use that on a moving target” she asked pointing at the gun in his hand.

“Yep. Just hope our plan works, what if their resistant”? Mahir asked nervously.

“They won't be” Coral answered assuredly. Glancing at the deadly young woman he realized Coral wasn't looking at him any more, instead she was staring out of the open window, a troubled expression on her freckled face and holding a ball point pen between her long finger's , casually pointing it towards Rico's neck. “Hmmm , just in case” . She took aim and pressed the back of the pen and a small dart with a tracking microchip attached to it shot out and soundlessly flew through the air into the back of Rico's ear piercing then she turned away from the window to face Mahir again. “What was that dart for?” Mahir asked suspiciously as he stared at the seemingly innocent turquoise and lilac pen in Coral's hands. “Tracker” Coral replied striding over to a shelf and opening Bella's laptop to observe Rico's movements.“And why have you stuck a tracker in Rico's ear piercing ? It's hardly likely that he'll betray us. ”

“No but I want to make sure that they aren't in danger. If they are, I can go and rescue them before it's to late. Besides I need to do a surveillance of the area , it's changing and I want to know why.” Mahir stared at the laptop screen which now showed grass and tree's flashing past before the camera rolled around revealing the inside of the ear piercing before showing the beginning of the field that lead to Riverswood village .

“Wha , what the hell do you mean “I can go and rescue them” I don't wanna see you get hurt just because of some stupid henchmen. Let me come as well. I can help you.”

“Hmph. If it was henchmen do you think that I would waste my time and energy rescuing them. No. The henchmen are so mentally delayed that Rico and Pavan wouldn't need any help getting away from them. It's the assassin’s I'm worried about.”

“Assassin’s?! I thought it was just henchmen that the Grand Master had.”

“No” Coral sighed folding her arms and resting her head on them.“There were three men that Bella was friends with but Alex didn't really get on with them. I got a brief glimpse of Yassen, one of the assassins when we were running from the school , he was standing on the rooftop with a gun and he shot someone, I'm sure of it. It doesn't take a genius to work it out Mahir , he and the other three are assassin’s. If they attack Rico and Shane I’m going after them. And no you are not coming with me, other's wise if they don't kill you then I will for putting your life in danger ” Coral growled, glaring at Mahir who nodded vigorously. “Right then, now we have that sorted I think we'd better attend to our friends.”

“Yes Ma'am” Mahir saluted before marching out of the room, weapon at the ready.

***

Rico and Pavan stopped running when they reached the field that would lead them to the village then Rico took off high into the air with a burst of energy that sent him rocketing up into the clouds. “Woah , to high , too high!” Rico shrieked, waving his arms like windmills for several seconds before getting his senses back. 'Stupid!' his mind yelled at him 'lean forward. Tilt your self towards the ground and concentrate'! Rico tilted himself downwards and began to swoop down, lower and lower until he was twenty feet from the ground and began to fly towards the village, arms spread out and laughing with sheer joy and exultation before turning upside down and crowing to Pavan who was standing mouth open several miles away, “what , shy are we? Or can't you keep up”? Pavan grinned wolfishly back before closing his eye's , tensing and then exploding into a cheetah which galloped across the field, tripping over his paw's several times in his haste to catch up with Rico who was swooping through the sky twisting , turning and loop the looping until Pavan felt dizzy watching him.

Then Pavan noticed something as he entered the village that made him skid to a clumsy stop. His eye's bulged in shock as he took in the scene before him. The grass was changing colours as it rippled underneath the sunlight. Before Pavan's wide eye's the grass morphed to gold , blue , green , orange ,red , bright yellow and purple. It was totally alien and felt very wrong. It was then Pavan realized that there was no breeze , the leaves of the tree's and plants were deathly still, only the rainbow grass was moving, swaying on it own accord diagonally , sideways , in circles which interlinked with each other and many other shapes and patterns, some of which he recognized and other's he didn't.

“Woah” Rico gasped as he landed lightly beside Pavan “that is awesome...... and weird”. Pavan gave a soft yelp of agreement and Rico glanced side ways at him, his brown eye's sparkling with excitement and curiosity. “You think this is way off ? Look at the sea , and the sun. Blimey even the animals are changing.” Pavan glanced over at a group of near by seagulls and to his horror his saw that the seagulls now had razor sharp fangs protruding from their beaks and each wing was now the length of one of one of Pavan’s arms making them look rather ridiculous. And there was something about their eye's as well. Instead of having a dull , unintelligent look in them, their eye's were filled with intelligence and malice. “Oh boy, that is creepy” Rico gasped as he started to back away and as if there had been some sort of signal as one all the seagulls turned towards the boy and cheetah and out of their long yellow beaks there came a deafening “RAAAR”. As they marched towards the onlookers their pace and tempo of their screeches increased as they got closer.

“Argh,run”! Rico cried and he and Pavan sprinted to the village, desperate to escape the monstrous hybrids. Within a matter of nanoseconds for Pavan he was barrelling up Corin Road and heading towards what was left of Madir Castle but then he heard a shriek of pain coming from further down the road. He whirled around, snapping and snarling and saw that Rico was being attacked by the monstrous hybrids. The were working together to bring Rico down with three by Rico's feet , several attacking his chest and back and when Rico tried to take off to escape the hybrids two of the biggest sent him crashing back down with a whack on the head from their powerful wings and then the biggest and the ugliest bird who must have been the leader shot down towards the semi conscious boys neck, beak wide open and razor sharp fangs out. With a loud, rumbling snarl Pavan threw himself at the monsters determined to stop them from harming his beloved.

His enormous jaw with razor sharp teeth closed around the body of the mutated seagull that had been mere seconds away from ripping out Rico's throat and shook it fiercely, his fangs sinking deeper and deeper into the bird as it struggled until it went still . Pavan dropped the creature in surprise, his human side taking over for a moment as the shock and horror at what he had done overwhelmed him. He shook himself and once again allowed his animal side to take over . Pavan turned back around with a terrifying growl and flung himself at the monsters, some of which were taking off in fright. To the right of him Pavan could see Rico staring at him, wide eyed before one of the seagulls dived , slashing at his neck and Rico rolled out of the way , flipping over so he was standing, then he ran onto the pavement and seized a large fire extinguisher which was hanging from the stone wall of a shop at a disjointed angle. For a second Pavan thought that Rico was going to throw the fire extinguisher at the monsters but instead he uncapped the nozzle and sprayed the white foam at them.

The effect was instantaneous. As soon as the foam hit the nearest mutated bird it began to burn and the bird was partially engulfed in clouds of steam which died away to reveal that the bird's feathers and skin had been burnt away by the foam to show it's organs, which were now moving feebly as the bird crashed down to the ground, exhaling it's last rasping breaths.

“Wow” Rico breathed, his brown eye's dancing with curiosity as they roved around the dead bird while Shane sniffed at the scent of meat before wrinkling his nose in disgust and turning to resume his attack on the rest of the birds who were now screaming with a uncanny resemblance to humans in their fear of the cheetah who could tear them apart with a snap of his deadly jaws. Suddenly Rico heard the now all to familiar screech of one of the mutated birds signalling that it was about to attack , he spun around and fired more foam at the bird which took out two of it's companions as it fell , it's sharp talons tearing into their flesh. Again and again Rico fired at the birds and again and again they fell but still more came even as Rico paused for breath, half wishing that he had never gone out and had fled to his room instead, but that wasn't going to happen now , in fact it was highly probable that he wouldn't be doing anything except dying very slow and painful deaths at the hands of the twisted monsters that were attacking them.

Desperately, Rico looked around for something , anything to use as a weapon . He turned towards a group of shops and winced as he saw Pavan getting slashed by one of the mutated birds claws in his peripheral vision and Pavan gave a high pitched yowl of pain , then it hit Rico , of course! Why didn't he think of it before? There was a music shop that did a speciality in virtual instruments and sounds right in front of him , he just needed time and a way to avoid hurting Pavan who's extremely sensitive hearing would pick up on the sonic wave lengths instantly. Rico sprinted inside the shop and miraculously he found that the computers were working. He hurriedly selected the right computer programme to produce the sonic wavelength that he needed and then connected several amps and microphones to the machines surrounding the computer to give maximum output of the sonic wavelength to every corner of the street. He sprinted outside with the amps and microphones , ducking as one of the creatures made a miscalculated attack on Rico and promptly slammed into the black and white walls of the shop with a splintering crash.

“Pavan”! Rico called, the big cat looked up at him with dark, intelligent eye's and understanding instantly what Rico was going to do he blasted into the shop causing instruments to come crashing off the shelves as Pavan's mass collided into them and Rico slammed the door shut , locking it just in time as the mutated seagulls dived towards the door. “Quick! Board up the windows. Don't let them get in! They'll kill us”! Pavan cried to Rico who jumped at the sound of Pavan's deep voice before hurrying to the computers. “Calm down Pavan , relax everything is under control”! Rico promised as he typed quickly noting out of the corner of his eyes that Shane's arms and hands were starting to violently shake and a soft growl was rumbling it 's way out of his mouth. “Pavan!” Rico barked. “For God's -sorry , for stars sake, calm down and put your hands over you ears. This may hurt” he muttered as he pressed enter and then a incredible thing occurred. As one, all the seagulls let out a terrific high pitched screech which smashed the windows and the birds began to thrash and writhe in the air like fish that had just been caught and dragged out of the water. “Come on”! Rico yelled and the two teenagers sprinted towards the back door and burst into one of the many back passages of Riverswood with their 3D advertisements tucked neatly into the painted sky blue walls . The two of them rocketed up the passage way , turned right and raced back into the heart of Riverswood. “That was close” Rico gasped as he massaged a stitch in his side.

“Very , a little bit too close for my comfort. Those things could have killed us both” Pavan panted. “Where the hell did those things come from any way? They aren't from our world”!

“Pavan, nothing is from our world! Our world has gone to hell! You should know that by now. Everything has changed. Everything! We're fighting against something that we know hardly anything about and that children shouldn't be fighting against.” Pavan growled at the thought that he was considered a child but Rico ploughed on, “we're turning on each other faster then Bilbo can vanish with the One Ring and we're completely on our own. We are on our own, on earth with only the Grand Master and his motley crew and the other year elevens in our school for company and for all we know they could be dead or working for the Grand Master”! Rico shouted his chest heaving with emotion.

“Aright cariad ” Pavan whispered soothingly “you've made your point and your right , we are on our own , this isn't the world we know ….. everything has changed but for better or for worse I don't know.

“Better!? How can things get better now that most of the world's population has gone”!?

“Well, free food for one thing”. Rico laughed.

“Alright I see where your going with this. Lets go get something to eat. I don't know about you but after all that action I’m starving”! he chucked in a crude imitation of Pavan's voice.

“That's a terrible imitation. I'm offended Rico” Pavan laughed as he lead the way to La Costa cafe and darted inside. Rico and Pavan helped themselves to melted banana and mint ice cream and walked over to the window to stare up at the remains of the once grand and intimidating Madir castle. “We should go and find Tommo, give him a service, a hero's send off. He deserves it , he saved my life” Rico murmured sadly.

“ It'll be dangerous mind , going up to the castle.”

“He saved my life Pavan and he was my friend. He sacrificed himself for me. He died a hero's death just like so many of those men who have died fighting for their planet in the war. Weren't you saying just last week that those who die defending the people they love and the places they love should be given a hero's funeral”?

“Yes but.....”

“But what? Oh I don't care what you say ,Tommo was my friend and I'm going to find him”! And with that Rico rocketed up the silent street and into the castle grounds. When he got there his mouth dropped open in shock and horror. He hadn't realized just how much damage the explosion had done to the castle. There was hardly anything left of the castle from the explosion and the resulting fire , all that now remained were the dungeons and the back castle wall which was only half standing , the stones black and crumbly, ready to fall at a moments notice. He was never going to find his friend amongst all the rubble! With a cry of despair and sorrow Rico dropped to his knees not caring that another pair of chinos were getting dirty and he began to sob into his arms. “We're doomed. We 're doomed Pavan. Why does it have to be this way? Why does the Grand Master want to destroy everything”?! he roared to the heavens.

“It doesn't cariad “ a deep Indian voice breathed, “ we can still keep fighting , still keep going , you never know we may survive this thing yet if it is God's will that we should survive. The Grand Master and his gang of monsters may be defeated. Come along Rico, don't be so desolate, there is still hope. Lets go back to the hotel and we can work something out with the others.” Shane gently lifted the teenager onto his feet and began to walk back down the once full of life hillside but paused when he realized that his love wasn't following him.“Rico”?

“Pavan, wait , I think I've found something. Look.” Pavan darted back up the hillside and gazed into the gap in a huge pile of boulders that Rico was pointing to. Behind the boulders lay dark , creepy dungeon that lurked with a sense of evil that made Pavan's skin crawl. Two torches lit with black flames that danced high into the air stood sentinel at the entrance. Further into the dungeon Pavan could see a dark gloomy passage with little swirling red lights illuminating the way. And the smell. It was enough to send what animals that were brave enough to stay in the vicinity of such a sense of evil flying away out of the village. The corridor stank of evil and rotting decay causing Pavan to retch and cover his mouth and nose with his hand as he peered further on into the darkness, straining all of his enhanced senses to the limit.

“There's something , or someone down there” he whispered to Rico.

“Well then shall we go and have a look , after all what can be more dangerous that a evil psychopath with a taste for murder , mutation and mayhem hmm” Rico grinned causing Pavan to roll his eye's at his boyfriend. “Alright then trouble , but if we die I am going to make sure you get booted head first into Hell and I’m going to haunt you there.”

“That means that you will have to land in Hell as well.”

“No I won't, now come on .” The two boy's slowly began to remove some of the boulders, creating a fairly sized gap which they could both slip through into the dungeons and began to follow the swirling red lights that went deeper and deeper into the tunnel.

“This is creepy” Pavan grumbled, in front of Rico. “Where does this tunnel lead , the Grand Master's lair”?

“ Hang on …. my torch , ahh here it is” Rico switched on his yellow torch which he had produced from the pocket of his hoodie and moved the beam of white light along the wall's and ahead of them. They carried on walking through the winding passage for what felt like hours until Rico became hungry and cold ,' not the ideal concoction for someone who wanted to go running around secret passages looking for whatever might be at the other end' he thought.

Pavan meanwhile seemed absolutely fine, not showing the slightest sign of cold or hunger much to Rico's jealously and amazement. Pavan noticed Rico glaring at him and gave a grin that did not meet his eye's as his sharp gaze flickered around the passage and his limbs began to tremble as he got closer to what felt like ( from the rapidly rising passage) the end of the spooky passage.

“Are you alright , do you want to turn back”? Rico asked Pavan who snarled in response before giving a violent shudder and with a petrifying roar that would have made Rico run as fast as he could up the passage not caring what was waiting or hopefully, not waiting for him at the other end, if his legs were not absolutely frozen in fear , Pavan blew into a lion, one of his paws almost cuffing the terrified boy's head off as it sliced through the air. “Oh do let the Grand Master know that we're standing on his doorstep , and as for your breath....blech! Could knock out a hippogriff. Why didn't you just breath all over those genetically engineered seagulls huh? It would have saved us a awful lot of trouble and me a near heart attack when they went for you”.Rico grumbled. Pavan's jaw flopped open in surprise. After several silent minutes Rico began to grow impatient with Pavan and snapped “ so are you coming with me or not , it would be a great help if you did you know as I'm no fighter and if I get caught I'm most likely going to end up dead”!

'I'm not a fighter either and it is against God's will to kill another human being however bad the sin's that they have committed. Besides going into this tunnel was your idea not mine' Pavan wanted to say instead all that came out was a odd sort of woofing noise that made Rico roll his eye's, seize hold of the lion's ear and attempt to pull Pavan after him. Pavan whimpered in protest but reluctantly followed his lover. After several more minutes Pavan suddenly froze and wriggled out of Rico's grip to trot a little further down the passage before going as still as a statue , his ears pricked up in anticipation.

“Pavan , Pavan what is it? What do you see?” Rico hissed as he crept along the stone floor which was now becoming smoother and easier to walk on. “Pavan”! he repeated, creeping up to the lion's side. Then he heard voices. “Do you really think that the Grand master's plan will work Yassen, after all they may have prepared for another attack.”

“Certainly Drusus , most of the remaining people on this forsaken planet are powered people. Our Master has discovered a way to target those people and wipe them all out using their DNA codes.”

“How”?

“A small amount of DNA was taken from Jack and Coral while they were unawares. It was found that Jack and Jagger both have a mutated gene , a similarity that they share with Jagger, Ice, Dark and you. His virus will target that mutated gene which will burn up and as a result will kill them.”

“But won't we be killed as well”?

“No. Your DNA anomalies will be taken out of the equation. The virus will be put into action tomorrow”.

“Will we use the virus on the remains of the Agency”?

“On some. I believe that the Grand Master has agreed with Bella that William Storm will die at her hands”.

“Who's William Storm”?

“A relative of Coral's. I believe that Bella desires to cause the same pain in Jasper and Clara that she experienced at their hands. What are you doing here”? The Russian suddenly hissed.

“We-we-we were or-ordered to-to ssstand g-guard in c-case Coral at-atempted an-an a-at-attack” a man stammered.

“You were ordered to guard the entrance to the lair, do you know where that is”?

“H-here S-Sir.”

“No, it's down there where the light is IMBECILES”! Yassen roared furiously while Drusus laughed at the guard's stupidity.

“Let's go” Rico breathed. He swiftly glided into the air and flew back into the open air as the guards footsteps came nearer and Pavan bounded behind him.

“Tomorrow” Pavan gasped as he changed back into a human, “we've got till tomorrow to either get away or attack back. We've got to tell the others Pavan.”

“If we run away they'll still hunt us. I think it would be a good idea if we attacked them tonight and destroyed that virus.” Rico said, landing beside him on the driveway of Norway House.

“No, we'd die. We're kids Rico, we might have power's but...we've only just got them and there's only seven of us, we've got no shit”! Pavan fell to the floor eyes wide and unseeing. Rico screamed in shock and looked around for Pavan's killer and then he spotted him. Mahir.

“No” he mumbled in shock as he stared at his former friend.

“I'm sorry mate but it's the only way” Mahir apologized, then he pulled the trigger and blackness swept up to greet Rico.

Duck,run and reveal

Jack slowly meandered back into WRAITH' HQ and slipped back into his room. He had two choices, stay and pray that the Grand Master didn't decide to kill him or leave and try to survive on his own, unless he tried to find Coral and the other runaways, but would they help him? 'Not bloody likely' he thought, given what he had done.

“Unless” he breathed, petrified and elated at the same time “I steal Bella's digitized files”. Time to move he decided. Hurriedly he packed his clothes and weapons making sure that he had several concealed about his person then he slipped out of his room and dashed towards one of the last places he wanted to be, Bella's office. After checking the coast was clear he picked the locks and deactivated the alarms and traps preventing the entering of strangers into her abode before darting inside.

“What the hell”?! Jack gasped when the entered the room, his eyes wide with fear and revulsion. “Bones”! And lots of them, covering almost every surface, both animal and human. After several seconds, he mentally shook himself and crept towards her ebony desk, glancing briefly at the photo's strewn on it as he began his search for Bella's digitized files which he knew were kept in a small black box. Then something made him stop and look back at the photo's. 'Odd' he thought as he looked carefully at the nearest one 'that's a photo of my birth certificate, what's that doing here'? He picked up the next photo and gazed at a familiar looking couple, both of whom according to the writing on the back, belonged to the Agency. “Jasper and Clara Storm, what ?” He read the writing scrawled at the bottom of the photo.

PARENTS TO SUBJECTS CORAL AND JAMES.

TO BE MONITORED

Shoving the photo of Coral's apparent parents and his birth certificate into his rucksack he looked carefully at the others, who was James? And if she had been stolen at birth who's to say that others hadn't. He picked up a photo that caught his eye and stared in shock. It was a photo of him as a baby. It had to be, they had the exact same eyes and next to him was Coral , both wrapped in a yellow blanket and gazing sleepily at the camera. On the back, scruffy handwriting read ' Coral and James Storm born weighing 8lb each at approximately 20.00 on the 15th of August 2000' and there was another photo underneath it depicting a young, red haired boy holding James and Coral in his arms and grinning toothily at the camera. Heart racing he turned the photo over and read 'William, aged 6 holding his baby brother and sister James and Coral.” He shoved the two photo's in his rucksack and with his mind whirring ransacked the room in an explosion of rage and desperation.

“Why”!? he bellowed in between tears, not caring if someone heard him 'let them come' he thought 'let them come even if it's Bella or one of the other assassins . I'll fucking kill 'em!' The Grand Master would pay for this he swore to himself, and Coral, he had to find her, tell her everything, she was his sister, his twin sister. Maybe they could find their parents and their brother, maybe they could bring everyone back, but he had to find the files. Wiping away his tears he dived back into the mess that had been Bella's office until with a triumphant smile he found it. Bella's black box. “The die is cast Bella, and you, the Grand Master and every single WRAITH agent will be the ones to fall” he smirked welcoming the taste of vengeance which swept away the sadness and rage that threatened to envelope him. But as he opened the door he noticed a tall dark figure standing right outside. “Oh” he yelped in surprise before he was hit by an explosion of pain.

“Argh”! he screamed, fighting desperately to escape the impossibly strong clutches of his captor. The man chuckled as the pain increased exponentially, his silver eyes dancing in amusement. “Naughty, naughty Jacky boy.” Ice cackled, “thinking you could fool me and then trying to steal dear Bella's files, tut tut. It's the cells for you my lad!”And picking up the barely conscious boy he proceeded to carry him down the corridors , down to the hellish torture cells.

***

After piling their friends unconscious forms onto a truck and driving them to a safe location where they were hastily dumped, Coral and Mahir raced back to Norway House. “I've buried all our things, there no evidence that we were even here” Coral told Mahir who stared at her, stunned. “So we're not coming back here, even if we destroy the Grand Master and the virus”?

“No” she replied “we're going to track down the Agency. They could help us Mahir, we need to find a way to bring everyone back and-and I want to find out about William and Jasper and Clara. William is a relative of mine,I need to find my family.”

“You have a family, me and the people we've just hidden”!

“It's not the same it's....I want a biological family Mahir. The people that I thought were my parents are monsters.”

“Those people that Drusus and the other guy were talking about could be too” he pointed out.

“You don't know that”! Coral cried, making a wall explode in her frustration. “Now let's go.” Sighing Mahir hoisted his black rucksack onto his shoulders and followed his friend towards Madir Castle. When they arrived they crouched down behind a group of large boulders and observed the entrance to the Grand Master's lair. “I count two guards and there are probably more inside” Coral informed Mahir, “rubble has been placed in strategic points so we can't get near the entrance without getting shot.”

“Booby traps”?

“I think we would have found them by now if there were any” Coral replied, glancing at the red headed boy as she did so. “What's that”? she asked in puzzlement when she spotted the strange looking objects in Mahir's big hands. “Take a guess” he grinned before throwing the stone like object in his right hand in the direction of the guards. Coral glanced warily over the top of the boulder that she was hiding behind and her eyes widened as she saw the guards collapse in a heap, eyes wide and unseeing just like their friends. “Is that”?

“The same stuff that's in the stun guns, yeah. I just modified it a bit.”

“Bloody hell” she muttered, awed at his cleverness. “Okay, what does that do”? she asked pointing at the flower shaped object in his other hand. He grinned at her again and tossed the flower shaped object into the air, it floated near the entrance for a few seconds before drifting inside. Five seconds later Mahir smirked as he heard several loud thumps. “Magnet with dedrotoxin gas inside”, he grinned, “finds the nearest human life forms, knocks them out and woosh” he smiled “they get a bit stuck together, won't be able to free themselves until I deactivate the magnet.” They crept out from behind the boulders and slipped inside the Grand Master's lair, shivering as icy cold air breathed and slithered around them. “You got anything to tell us how close the nearest conscious life signs are”? Coral asked nervously as she crept down the steep dark passage.

“Nope, sorry.”

“Wonderful” she muttered crossly, feeling very, very nervous about being jumped by sneaky assassins. “But you've been trained in combat” Mahir protested, sounding as terrified as she felt.

“Yeah but against the assassins, it'll be a struggle incapacitating them.”

“Oh boy”, Mahir panicked ,“okay, so there should be security camera's and microphones around once we've passed this point” he pulled another gadget out of his pocket, a small EMP and grinned.“Poor My Psycho, foiled by his own paranoia” before activating the EMP. Both of them yelped and covered their ears as several small explosions went off followed by a ear piercing screech of fury. They threw themselves down a side passage as boots charged around the corner only slipping out when the footsteps had receded. “Phew, that was close” Mahir breathed “so are we going to take down the Grand Master first or deal with the virus?”

“Get to the virus, though how we'll destroy it, I'm not really sure.”

“Guess we'll have to come up with an idea when we get to it.”

“Oh joy” Coral sighed, “okay we need to turn left at this junc...” she broke off, eyes wide in terror as alarms started wailing. “Shit we've been made”!

“Get back to the exit?” Mahir asked in a terrified voice.

“No. They'll be waiting for us, this way.” And with that they hurtled down a steep dark passage until they came to a room with an open door. After Coral checked that the room was empty she pushed Mahir in and bolted the door. “That was close, they must've found the unconscious WRAITH agents” Mahir panted.

“And soon they'll find that none of the security camera's are working, that's if they haven't found out already.”

“Okay what do we do now”? Mahir said, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

“I think we're in Bella's office. Look at the mess! Someone's obviously been here and ransacked the place. Bella will go mad if she finds out, she such a neat freak. There should be a secret exit which leads out onto the moor.” Coral told Mahir as she began feeling the floor and walls with her hands. “Ah found it!” she cried triumphantly and with a soft click a large square hole opened up in the wall behind Bella's messy desk. “Come on Mahir” she called to the red head, but he was not paying her any attention, instead he was gazing at Bella's desk, his freckled face turning a strange yellowish red with disgust and rage.

“Coral” he said in a quavering voice “your gonna need to see this.”

“Why” she asked quizzically.

“Because I've just found out who your parents are. And it looks like William Storm isn't your only brother.” Hesitantly Coral walked over to the desk strewn with photos and as soon as she had taken their contents in the walls began to shake with Coral's rage as tears flowed down the young woman's cheeks. “The monsters” she growled through her tears. “The foul, evil, loathsome, disgusting creatures”! she screamed. A part of the ceiling came crashing down to land on a tall oak bookshelf which promptly sent others toppling blocking the doorway and much to Mahir horror the secret exit out onto the moor. “Coral you need to calm down”! Mahir cried desperately.

“NO! No” she moaned as she sank to the floor.

“Coral urgh”!

“Mahir”! Coral screamed as her friend collapsed. “You bastards!” she roared at the figures in the door who were having a rather difficult time staying on their feet. Wave upon wave of anger surged through Coral's body making her blood pound and roar into her mind as she sent out uncontrollable blasts of telekinetic energy that destroyed everything in it's path turning bone to dust and stone to rubble. Then suddenly the destruction ceased, and time froze as a tall, slender being surrounded by an aura of dark beauty glided into the room. “Enough Asset”! she hissed through perfect red lips. “You shall obey.”

“N...no” Coral stammered, panic vibrating through her whole body as her mind started to go strangely, almost pleasantly blank. “Clear your mind, breath deeply,relax and all will be well” the woman soothed. 'Yes' Coral thought 'If I clear my mind then all will be well, no one else will get hurt because of me, no more anger, no more pain, all will be well'.

“That's it”, the woman cooed ,“just relax and obey and all will be well.”

'Yes relax and.....obey? No,no that, this', Coral cried out as pain sliced through her head, 'no. No order's. I'm not an assassin. I'm not a puppet. I won't work against my friends'.

“No!” Coral cried sending a wave of telekinesis at the woman, but instead of crumpling as Coral expected her to she seemed to absorb the wave of telekinesis coming towards her. Coral stared in shock. “How?”

“Oh my dear, did you really think that it was just you and your little friends that were given gifts? Did you really think you were that special? Tut, tut, tut, so naïve. I thought I trained you to be better than that.”

“You did” Coral said before launching the first blow at the woman who had made and ruined her. Years later Mahir would say that the fight he witnessed through partially open eyes was not a fight but a dance of destruction, a dance which unfortunately for him Coral appeared to be losing even as she delivered one hell of a blow into the older woman's chest and smashed her skull into the wall. It was as if Coral wasn't functioning properly, as if all the rage and pain she must have been feeling was blinding her to Bella's swiftness and surety, making her miss where she should have hit and her blows weaker than they ought to be, and thus Coral fell, yelping in pain and Bella delivered a vicious kick into her ribs cracking at least two of them. “Stupid girl, thinking you could take me. Looks like you need a few more conditioning lessons.”

“No, leave her alone” Mahir croaked from the floor.“Let us go, please” he begged.

“Let you go”? Bella replied disbelievingly while Coral shot him a look of pure betrayal from where she lay at Bella's feet. “Let you go so you can run to the Agency? I think not.” She kicked Coral in the head leaving the young woman unconscious as she moved, snakelike towards a terrified Mahir. “I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to take you both down to the torture cells where my friends can have a little fun with you both. Then I'm going to take Coral into another room and brainwash her while you watch and listen to her screams, and when she is prepared I'll set her on you and all her other nasty little friends. How fun that will be to watch Mahir”. To angry to even formulate a reply he spat at her. Bella growled in fury and seized him around the neck, strangling him into submission before dragging both teenagers to the cells with a delighted laugh.

The making of monsters and hero's

“Pavan,Rico, Trix, wake up! Wake up you idiots we need to move”!

“Urgh what? Laura what's going on? Where are we”?

“Just off Garnell Bay I think. Sam wake up.”' Rico groaned as he sat up, shielding his eyes from the sun as he did so. “Ah great. This is fantastic this is. They've dumped us in the middle of bloody no where!”

“Why though”? Sam asked looking as scared as the others felt. Laura smiled sadly “it's obvious isn't it? They've gone to try and stop the Grand Master and they wanted us out the way so we wouldn't try to stop them.”

“And if they failed and the Grand Master went looking for us he wouldn't be able to find us. We'd be safe as long as we kept our heads down” Pavan finished.

“Well what are we waiting for? We gotta go and make sure that they don't fail” Trix cried.

“Yeah. Just one teensy problem though. Not only have we got to deal with Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix incarnate but we'll also have to deal with a couple of assassins” Pavan pointed out in a would be casual voice.

“No we won't” Laura grinned, a sparkle of mischief in her eyes.

“Oh boy we're screwed” Rico muttered.

“Hey Laura before you get us all killed can I just point out that when I caught a glimpse of those blueprints that Coral had, they showed that a good portion of the Grand Master's headquarters lies under Bishopgate comp” Trix said.

“We're definitely screwed” Pavan groaned.

“And your suggestion is”? Laura asked Trix who was mouth was curving into an alarming replica of Coral's maniacal grin. “Kaboom, that's what.”

“And what if we accidentally kill Coral and Mahir? That'll be nice won't it, facing an army of snapping snarling assassins and minions lead by Mr Phyco himself and the only people who stand a chance against them dead. Oh and don't forget Coral's parents.....”

“Oh shut up Sam!” Trix snarled. “All the rooms where Coral and Mahir are likely to be are underneath the moor. Unfortunately the offices of Coral and Mahir's biggest threats are also there.”

“But half their base blowing up will certainly distract them from hunting Coral and Mahir” Pavan realised with a smirk.

10 minutes later Sam jumped out of the back seat of the car that Rico had stolen. “Toss a coin” he grinned at Laura. “Aw come on” Rico groaned, “ we're wasting time and blowing things up using chemicals isn't that exciting.”

“Yes it is” Laura and Sam sang.

“Here, 10 p. Heads or tails”? Laura asked.

“Tails” Sam replied. Laura tossed the coin into the air and it smacked down onto her palm head up. “Aw man” Sam whined. “Alright I'm off.”

“Good luck, you'll need it” Rico told him, a serious expression in his dark, slightly haunted eyes.

“You too” Sam said with a tight smile as he trotted off towards the kitchen's.

“Come on” Rico beckoned leading Laura to the science labs.

Bishopgate Comprehensive's numerous laboratory's looked like they had come from an old research facility. The badly marked desks were wider than they were long to accommodate small functioning sinks with powerful taps that tended to give students and staff alike an unwanted soaking if they stood to near and the 3 ft stool's were cold and hard but surprisingly wobbly causing more than one nasty fall for a student who would be promptly intimately acquainted with the grey tile floor that had odd lumps in it. At the back of the largest lab, in the left hand corner there was a door behind which contained all the chemical's, acid's and alkalis that a scientist would need. Unfortunately it was padlocked. “What now”? Rico asked, a slight hint of desperation in his voice. Laura grinned and pulled from her long ash blonde hair a hair pin which she quickly used to expertly pick the lock before throwing it to one side. “Right, we need highly explosive chemicals, the whole of the science block has gotta go kaboom though preferably not with us inside” Rico said.

“I'll block up and fill all the sinks. And what about Bunsen burners? We can set all the books on fire and if we open the gas valve....”

“boom” Rico finished with a smile. “Though I'd never thought I'd see the day when I thought burning books was a good idea.”

“Me neither. Let's get going Oppenheimer.”

Rico walked through the recently looked door and his eyes widened at the vast array of forbidden jewels before him, he couldn't stand there and file them away into his brain though, he had a job to do. He took down the jar nearest to him and read the label which said ethylene glycol dinitrate. It wouldn't do anything in water but it would certainly react to extreme heat. He took it into the lab and placed it on a counter next to a long wooden shelf of books telling Laura who was happily blocking up the sinks with paper towels before filling them “sprinkle some of this onto the papers before you set them on fire. Actually chuck some on the floor instead with...is there a chemical in here that react the same way as oil, yes there is. Mix em up” he ordered as he plonked the oil substitute onto one of the desks. Laura frowned. “It doesn't have to be as risky as that. There's an old broom cupboard at the end of this block that has a way up into the vents. I can empty the water tank for the science block sprinklers

“and put the ethylene glycol dinitrate in instead”

“and position the book piles so their right underneath the sprinklers.” Laura finished with a broad grin that matched Rico's own. “Laura you are brilliant” Rico breathed. She smirked before grabbing the ethylene glycol dinitrate and dashing out of the room. Rico piled up all the books and papers that he could find underneath the sprinklers before smashing up the wooden book shelf into little pieces and destroying as many of the rickety stools as he could by whacking them repeatedly against the desks. He divided up the bits of destroyed shelf and stools amongst the piles, trying to spread each pile out as much as possible to create maximum damage. “Matches, matches” he muttered to himself as he searched for them in the teacher's desk. With a smirk he found them and quickly lit one, throwing it on the nearest pile which went up in a burst of flame. Working quickly he flew around the room setting the piles on fire and before he shot out of the door, and zoomed into the opposite lab. “Think we've got their attention yet”? he called to Laura.

“Probably” she answered with a smile as she turned on the gas valve. “You take care of the next two rooms though stay away from the left wall in case that gets blown up.”

“What about you”?

“I'll deal with the two down the end once I've finished this one.” Rico flew off into the lab next door as as soon as he was through the door he set about destroying as much of it as he could though taking care to keep well away from the left wall. Desks without sinks got over turned, stool's smashed, posters yanked down and paper's and books got ripped and piled. Laughing Rico turned on the gas valve and set the piles on fire. He was having the time of his life!

***

Sam skidded into the school's enormous kitchens, a crowbar that he had pilfered from the wood and metal workshop in hand. He had a cigarette lighter now he needed to find and open the vats of oil that the cooks kept stored. He began meandering around the room, looking for the familiar large silver barrels, occasionally pausing to poke and prod at the stuff that the school staff called food. To be honest this whole power's thing was freaking him out and he was terrified that at any moment he would get some terrifying uncontrollable power that would kill everyone around him, friend or foe. His whole world had changed including Mahir who had bloody attacked him, Laura and Trix with no regret, no shame, only pure determination in his eyes. Sam was sure he was never going to forget nor forgive Mahir for that, no matter what his motive might have been. Once the Grand Master and anyone else that might decide to kill him was gone, he resolved, he was leaving. They might not have actually been trying to kill them, hell, he was sure that if Coral wanted anyone dead they would be. She was telekinetic for Christ's sake! But was never going to be able to trust Mahir or Coral again.

At last he found the oil barrel's and with a bit of heaving and a lot of swearing he was able to push them into Phase One hall. Gasping with pain Sam leant against them for a moment, rubbing his injured arm which was currently resting in a sling and throbbing worse than ever after being slammed into a table when Mahir knocked him out and used to push the oil barrels along. And it was going to hurt even more after he had opened the oil barrels. He undid the sling and let his broken arm flop down then grabbed hold of the crowbar. He roared with pain as he forced open the lid on the first oil barrel, putting all the weight of the top half of his body in his arms then knocked the now open barrel onto it's side. Oil poured out in a thick, viscous wave, coating the floor around it in amonia yellow which glowed gold under the harsh lights of the hall. Soon the entire hall was swimming in it and an exhausted boy stood at the edge, cigarette lighter in his right hand. He flicked it on and raised his arm ready to throw it across the hall then something huge, dark and heavy slammed into him making him scream in agony. A knife slammed into the wrist on his good arm and he screamed again, loud, long and clear. The figure on top of him laughed as he seized Sam's right hand and broke it before plucking the cigarette lighter out of his hand. Sam whimpered. He was going to die, he knew it. The figure above him was going to butcher him. The figure laughed again as it got to it's feet and delivered a powerful kick. “What, no f.....got's nerds? No whiny bitches? No best buddy forever Mahir? What a shame Sammy. I wanted to have some fun with them. Tell me where they are. Go on”. Sam shook his head. “TELL ME” Jagger roared, roughly grabbing Sam's left arm and starting to squeeze. “Argh!” Sam screeched. “Let me go, please”! he gasped.

“No.” Jagger's face shifted into an ugly caracature of a grin, his black eyes gleaming with a kind of dull madness, “but if you tell me where your pathetic powered friends are I'll let you go with two limbs instead of four. How does that sound hmm? And as a bonus I'll let you pick which ones go. Personally I'd recommended the arms. They look a bit useless from where I'm sitting.”

“I'm not telling you anything so fuck off”! Sam growled though a hazy barrier of pain. Jagger cocked his oversized head. “Alright then. Have it your way. I wonder what blood and oil look like mixed together? Well, we'll soon find out.” And with the speed of a hungry predator Jagger bore down on the helpless teenager who's screams for help soon turned into screams of pain. 'Please' Sam begged in his mind, unable to stop the screaming that was pouring from his mouth. 'Please, someone, anyone, help me. Make him stop! Make him stop! Please! Please! Please!' When he had run out of screams and turned to pained, helpless whimpering instead Jagger stopped cutting, leaving his right arm in a bloody stump that ended just above where his elbow had been. “Huh” the large teenager said, twirling his bloody knife between his stubby figures. “I'm impressed Sammy boy. Very impressed.” He reached up and white hot pain burst through Sam as Jagger squeezed the very top of his left bicep The only thing left of his left arm. Sam howled prompting a dark chuckle from the younger boy. “Still life in you yet then Sammy. But I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut this meeting short as fun as it's been. Work to do, people to kill.” He stood up and moved away from Sam's blurred line of sight. When he returned, darkness was creeping into Sam's vision but he could still feel something liquid and thick being poured over him. Oil, he realized with a thrill of terror. Jagger was going to burn him alive. Well at least he'd take half the Grand Master's HQ with him, Sam thought sluggishly. He shut his eyes, pain lanced through him once again and from somewhere came the sound and smell of burning.

***

“Laura! Henchmen!” Laura whirled around as Rico exploded through the wooden doors, a nasty green bruise blooming on the right side of his face. “They're coming”! he cried.

“Shit”! Laura grabbed one of the few intact stool's and tossed it at the nearest window which exploded in a thousand shards. She flipped forward and curled up into a ball as she passed through the window, coming out of the roll and landing catlike on the ground just in time to see one of the Grand Master's men coming right at her. “Shit”! She couldn't fight, she could only..oh, time turn. She shut her eyes as the man advanced, hearing Rico's terrified shriek of her name before whiteness exploded and she found herself back in the lab, alone. She could hear footsteps coming towards the room at quite a pace, Rico was coming. She grabbed the matches and sprinted around the room as fast as her long legs could take her, setting pile after pile of books and broken stools and shelves alight. Rico burst in and grabbed her around the waist, yanking her into the air, narrowly missing several angry bullets. Laura grabbed a stool and hurled it towards the window which blasted open, spraying the two teenagers with bits of glass before they hurtled through and the classroom exploded. “Argh”! they both yelled as they were hurled uncontrollably through the air. “Rico”! Laura screamed. “Get control or you'll kill us” and indeed he would for they were now hurtling towards the ground at a terrifying speed. “Rico”! The boy had his eyes closed, his face screwed up and was muttering to himself, caught in a world of his own nightmares from the sound of it. Laura reached forward and slapped him, as hard as she could with a resounding CRACK that made the boy's head jerk and his eyes snap open. “Rico, we're gonna crash”! Laura yelled at him as he looked around uncomprehendingly. Realisation entered his eyes. “Oh crap”! They jerked to a halt then began to slowly drift to the ground. As soon as they had landed Laura wrenched herself out of Rico's strong grip and rounded on him. “What the bloody hell was that?! Were you trying to get us killed”!

“No” Rico moaned a he placed a hand on his aching forehead. “No I urgh” he stumbled and Laura grabbed him before he could topple over, her eyes wide with concern. “Rico, what's wrong”?

“Head”, he muttered, his eyes closed. “Hurts. Poison. One of the...one of the people working for the Grand Master...had claws..poison on them. Scratched me...on my head, not enough to kill me though.”

“What!?” Laura panicked. “Rico what do I do? Do you know what type of poison it was? We need to make an antidote.” Rico grinned dopily, as a trickle of blood slithered out of his deep brown eyes. “In the right pocket of my jacket. One big syringe and a couple of small ones. Take em out.” Laura plunged a golden hand into the black depths of the right pocket in his expensive leather jacket and found the syringes attempting to take shelter under a bar of half eaten chocolate. “The smaller ones. There for you. It'll take care of any unfriendlies.” Laura's hand shot back from reaching out to take the syringes. “Woah, Rico I'm not killing anyone else.”Rico made a face.

“I'm sorry... we don't have much choice. No chemical's that will instantly incapacitate someone in the lab. Take one life, save several more.”

“Pavan's going to be pissed at you for saying that” Laura stated coldly, snatching the small syringes out of Rico's hand, not caring about the small moan of pain that he uttered. “What's the big syringe for? Oi! Stay awake”! she snarled as Rico's head flopped to one side. She slapped him and he jerked awake. “Ow! Thanks. Cure. You need to give it to me. Don't...don't look at me like that...you've already willingly killed at least 100 people.” Laura found a protuberant vein in Rico's left arm and rammed the needle in as hard as she could. Just as she was about to slam her hand down on the plunger Rico said, “no memories.”

“What?”

Rico coughed up a blob of what looked like blood then said , “the combination of the poison and the antidote in my system will give me hopefully temporary amnesia. I don't know how much I'll forget. Could be hours, days, or even weeks.”

“Fantastic” Laura growled, then she slammed down on the plunger. As the liquid inside the syringe began to flow into Rico's veins Laura jumped up and ran to the other side of the school where Sam should be. BOOM! The shock wave from the explosion of Phase 1 Hall and the kitchen's blew Laura off her feet. “Sam”! She screamed, searching for a sign of the muscular teen amongst the debris and smoke. “Sam”!

“Laura”! A figure emerged from the dancing flames, stumbling and staggering towards her.

“Oh my god. How”? Laura gasped. “How the hell did you survive that”? As he got closer she could see that his t-shirt was in shreds and there was a lot of blood. “Your arms...why are they so pale. They look like they've been drained of blood.”

“That's cause they have” Sam answered grimly. “Argh itchy” he cried suddenly, scratching his left arm furiously. “Jagger...I don't really want to think about what he did but in the end he set me and the rest of the hall on fire and the fire healed me. Where's Rico”?

“On the field, suffering hopefully. He wants me to kill even more people” she explained when she saw Sam's confused expression. “I won't. The only people that need to die are Bella and the Grand Master. The rest should be locked up.”

“I agree. How did he expect you to kill someone though. I'm mean your clever and can time turn but your not exactly Natasha Romanoff.”

“Oh thanks for that” Laura snorted, “Rico made these”, she pulled the small syringes out of the pockets of her jeans and showed him. “Yellow poison” he exclaimed in disbelief, “okay. What are you gonna do with them then? Throw them away”?

“No. I'll keep them but not use them. I won't risk them falling into the wrong hands or destroying the environment.” Sam grinned. What happened next Laura would never recover from. One second she was putting the syringes back into her pockets the next she was on the ground, Sam on top of her, his neck almost completely detached from the rest of his body. She screamed.

Sam's body was yanked off her and tossed to one side revealing a laughing, scarred young man with yellow pointed teeth. “What up beautiful? Enjoying yourself? I am.” He leant forward, his normally dull eyes sparkling with delight as they examined the unstoppable tears rolling down her cheeks. “Awww, was he your boyfriend”?

“Shut up and die” Laura growled.

“Nah, I'd rather torture you and your argh”! Jagger reeled as Laura slammed him in the groin, stomach and face in quick succession with her boots, putting as much force behind the blows as she could. Then she ran. She knew it was no good trying to bring Sam back. She'd seen and read Harry Potter enough times to know that there was no reverse for death so she ran as fast and as hard as she could, trying desperately to come up with a way of getting rid of Jagger without having to get too close. She crashed through the doors to the sports hall, rage diluting the pain she felt in her left shoulder. Then from her right came the strong scent of chlorine. A dark smile slid over Laura's face as she skidded to a halt then entered the swimming pool room. The swimming pool was large and rectangular, there was nothing unusual about it. Above the pool florescent lights glared down, their wires running down, down to the middle of the back, right and left walls. 'Perfect', Laura thought, ignoring the nasty little voice in her head that hissed hypocrite. She was doing this because Jagger had mercilessly murdered a good man who he had tortured and who she cared about.

She left the room and jogged towards the cleaners supply closet, keeping a wary eye out for any hiding monsters and quickly let herself in. She grabbed the first pair of cleaning gloves she could find and hunted around for the ruler which the school caretaker sometimes used. Finding it after dodging a murderous mop she sprinted back to the pool. She pulled on the gloves and ran over to the right wall where she grabbed hold of the wiring for the lights and yanked. Sparks exploded, blinding her for a moment causing her to drop the wires on the floor . “Damn” she muttered, “okay, now I just need to peel the protective casing off without getting cooked. Should be easy right”?

It was not, in fact, easy but she managed it and did the same with the wires on the left wall. Then it was time for the tricky bit. Laura was an excellent climber but never before had she attempted to scale a structure with hardly any hand/footholds, and to make things worse she could hear loud, clomping footsteps heading in the direction of the swimming pool room.

'Right, time for a little parkour', she thought, praying that this would work with so little space to manoeuvre without landing in the water or being electrocuted. Laura backed up a bit then sprinted forwards, landing one foot on the wall and jumping as high and far as she could. With a thump, the palms of her hands slammed onto one of the metal bars above the swimming pool that were supporting all the cables and lights. She hauled herself up until she was crouched, catlike on the bar, then carefully, oh so carefully stretched her long legs out until her emerald booted feet were dangling over the other side of the bar opposite her. Then Laura reached down the gap between the bars and plucked the wires from the nearest light. They crackled and spat in disgruntlement but didn't try to blind her much to Laura's relief. Slowly and every so carefully Laura began manoeuvring herself towards the end of the swimming pool, gently pulling the wires along with her. Eventually the trail of wire behind her was long enough that she was able to drop it into the water with a loud splash and fizzle.

“Laura, where are yoooou” a male voice called tauntingly. Laura jumped in fright nearly falling off the platforms, she'd been concentrating so hard on not getting herself killed while setting a trap for Jagger she'd forgot to listen out for his familiar footsteps. Scrambling precariously to her feet Laura leaped of the platform and slammed onto a ladder like structure embedded into the wall with a loud “omph”! She scrambled down and landed on the floor just as Jagger appeared.

“Oh look, you've found me” Laura crowed, desperate to show the murderer that she was not afraid, “took you long enough. I was starting to think that you were to busy sobbing like a little girl to come after me.” Jagger growled and looked around the room, noting the vast swimming pool that lay between him and Laura and the snarling electric cables lying on the walkways either side of the pool. “I deliberately took a long time to find you because I wanted to enjoy the hunt and was considering how to give you the slowest and most painful death possible, whore”!

“God your evil. Mind you, I suppose it makes sense, you know with the whole trollishness.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME”! Jagger exploded.

“A troll, you know, big, ugly, stupid. Scared of billygoats and magic. Although I don't think your scared of billygoats. I think your scared of people who are cleverer than you which technically then makes you afraid of every person left on this planet and probably most of the people who've been zapped off it. I mean, that's why you like causing disgusting and painful death's right?Overcompensating for lack of brains. I wonder what is inside that thick skull of yours, dung and dead flies,d'ya reckon”?

“SHUT UP!”

“Oooh, now,now Sharpy, watch that nasty temper of yours. It might get you killed someday”, Laura said in the most patronizing tone she could manage. “I'll kill you if you don't zip it ,bitch”! Jagger hissed.

“Really, isn't that what your already trying to do? Or did you kill Sam and chase after me so we could have a tickle fight”? By this point Jagger was shaking with rage, the fire of anger roaring red hot in his normally dull black eyes. He took several large steps forward until he was standing at the edge of the pool but made no move to get in. Choking back the wave of self-loathing and exhaustion that was threatening to engulf her Laura yelled , “what's the matter Jagger? Scared of a little water? Or are you scared of me”? Laughing Jagger leaped into the water and screamed. He screamed and screamed and screamed, jerking and thrashing, twisting and writhing and yet Laura could not take her eyes of him. She made herself watch every second of Jagger Sharps death, making sure that every little scrap of detail was glued to her memory as a promise that she would never kill someone unless it was to protect or avenge a friend. She would never become like Coral who had been indoctrinated to kill without a flicker of remorse nor Rico whose greater good ideas made her want to throw up. That wasn't her.

As Jagger's body collapsed with an immense burst of water and sank to the bottom of the pool Laura's legs began to wobble. She had to get out of here and find somewhere safe to let lose the melt down that she knew was coming.

***

20 minutes after Rico, Laura and Sam had left in a big blue van, Trix and Pavan crept up the hill towards the spooky entrance to the Grand Master's lair, darting from boulder to boulder, terrified that they were going to be seen. “Oh no, look , guards” Pavan whispered. And indeed there were, four towering men,all in black combat gear and carrying a mixture of lethal looking weapons. “What do we do, wait for the others to blow up the school?”

“No. Can you turn into something really small, like a scorpion? That way you might be able to distract them enough for me to slip past and find somewhere to hide.” Pavan nodded in agreement, looking nervous but determined as he vanished from Trix side. “Argh, what the hell”?! one of the guards shouted suddenly. “LOOK OUT”! another screamed. Trix glanced over the other side of the boulder that she was hiding behind, ready to run, and for a second she almost did for wasps were flying from every direction, headed straight for the guards. She had never seen so many and the noise they made was deafening. Then the screaming started. Trix clamped her hands and screwed up her eyes, whimpering in terror, heart pounding so hard she felt as if it would burst from her chest. Then as the screams grew louder she heard a voice beside her whispering, “hurry up you idiot. This was you idea in the first place”.

“B..but the wasps”! Trix stammered.

“I'm controlling them. They won't hurt you. Now move”! Pavan hissed. Cursing herself and Pavan Trix yanked her hoodie up over her head and sprinted towards the entrance, neatly slipping past the terrified guards who were to focused on trying to fend off the steadily increasing swarm of wasps to notice her. “Bloody hell, the Grand Master really knows how to discourage visitor's doesn't he” Trix shivered as she looked around the dark, spooky passageway. “Well he does so much time on his hands now that he's become full time ruler of this very sad planet” Pavan quipped next to her making her jump. “Which way”?

“Right, then down the stairs and left.”

“Okay. You stay here, I'll shift into something small and scout ahead.”

“No, don't even think about it” Trix hissed, seizing his arm in a surprisingly strong grip. “What if either of us gets seen and attacked? We'll be on our own and you might be able to shape shift and escape but I can't.”

“ Good point.”

“Come on then.” Together they slipped down the dark as death right passage, walking quietly but quickly, desperate to find their friends and stop the Grand Master without being caught and probably slowly and painfully, killed. As they rounded the corner towards the stairs echoing, heavy footsteps approached, getting louder and louder by the second. Fear burst, ice cold into their veins and they quickly turned to go back only to discover that two henchmen were heading straight towards them. Trix nearly screamed in terror and frustration as two sets of footsteps got closer and closer either side. They'd been so close to saving their friends and stopping the Grand Master and now they would probably end up dead! She jumped as Pavan grabbed her hand and pulled her back against the wall where they waited with frozen throats and desperate hearts for the men to find them. But when they came they walked straight past as if they couldn't see the two teenagers. “What...in the name of Krishna and the Holy Trinity, was that about”? Pavan gasped after the men's footsteps had receded into the darkness and his throat had thawed out. He let go of Trix's hand and stepped forward, looking around as if hoping that the answer would leap at him from out of the shadows. “Did you do that”? He asked turning around to look for Trix, but she was gone. “Trix”?! Pavan cried worriedly.

“Oh stop shouting. I'm here”, the wall that he and Trix had been standing against suddenly said. Shane's eye's bulged as a part of the wall started moving towards him then flickered to reveal a rather haughty looking Trix with her hands on her hips. “Really Pavan, those men fail to see us and instead of jumping to the most logical conclusion which is that I've discovered my power and I'm using it to protect us, you immediately assume that we're being helped from the inside. Sexist much”?

“Wha..uh, sorry I just. That was good timing”! Trix rolled her eyes in disgust.

“Urgh, boys. Grab my hand and let's go.” Still stunned and mildly ashamed of himself for thinking that they were being helped from the inside Pavan took her hand and allowed himself to be lead back down the passage and down the curving onyx steps, shivering as they were hit by repeated blasts of cold air that smelled strongly of ammonia. “Urgh, that stench. We must be near the dungeons”, Trix grumbled as she pulled her purple t-shirt over her nose.

“Dungeon's”?! Pavan hissed underneath his scarf which he had pulled up over his face. “Oh of course, we're dealing with a drama queen. Of course he'd have dungeons.”

“And it's likely that Coral and Mahir are sitting in them. Oh come on Shane, if they get into trouble Coral would be able to fight her way out but she would never risk Mahir's life in order to do it” Trix averred upon seeing Pavan's disbelieving expression. They crept silently down the left hand passage, ever aware of the growing stench of ammonia, now coupled with the almost taste able smell of blood, rage and fear. “Can you hear anything”? Trix breathed. Pavan shook his head, fear burnt into his face. It was quiet, too quiet, as if all the hate and darkness that nested inside the Grand Master and his people had sucked the life out of the place. Then they turned the corner.

“What the hell”?! Trix yelped, letting go of Pavan's had and staring at the scene before her. Coral, Mahir and Jack Storm were locked inside the cell's, all of them locking as though they'd recently been attacked by a dementor and the Hulk. And on the floor lay a boy that Trix recognized as Drusus Melsnake along with two henchmen, all of them deathly pale, their vein's protruding grossly. “What happened”? Pavan queried as he knelt to examine the guards.

“I drained their life” Jack told them , looking exhausted but a little pleased with himself. “Drusus tried to take control of Coral's mind and get her to kill me and Mahir but I managed to stop him after draining Coral enough so that she stopped trying to strangle us with her mind and collapsed instead.”

“And why should we believe you”? Pavan snarled. Jack raised his hands placating but before he could speak Coral said, “because it's true. Now d'ya mind letting us outta here. I feel like crap.”

“Yeah you look it too” Trix noted with concern as she hunted for the key's. “What are you doing here anyway”? she asked, directing her question at Jack who was now holding up a rather battered looking Mahir “Long story short I found out some things that I wasn't supposed to know including the fact that Coral is my sister and I may have slightly drawn attention to myself when I trashed Bella's office in a fit of rage.”

“What”? Pavan and Trix exclaimed.

“We'll explain the details later, now let us outta her” Coral ordered, swaying slightly where she stood until Jack grabbed her and slung an arm around her waist to keep her upright. Trix found the key and opened the door to their cell. “Here, found some energy bars” Pavan said as he took Mahir off Jack who smiled in thanks and took two energy bars off him giving one to Coral who devoured it like it was the most delicious thing on earth. Once Jack had gobbled up his bar Coral turned to him and said “so James..can I call you James or would you prefer Jack”?

“James” he smiled , “what d'ya wanna know?”

“Where are our things being kept? You might have nicely scuppered the Grand Master's plan of killing us but he's still got the virus and we can't save everyone unless we find some way of destroying it.”

“Our things are probably being kept next door” he hauled himself to his feet, “but they'll be guards there mind.”

“So. As long as Bella isn't there I can take them. Telekinetic former assassin remember”?

“Yeah, remind me not to piss you off in future will you. And...” he turned to face a very confused Pavan and Trix “I'm sorry about what happened, when the Grand Master took over. I...I should have done something to protect those who'd stayed.”

“What happened to them? What happened to our friends Jack”? Pavan demanded angrily, body shaking as he fought to stay in control of his shape shifting. James stared back at him, unflinching. “It's James. That's my real name.” He took a deep breath; some of them joined , they became henchmen, some of them ran away after you guys did and most of those got shot down, the rest were killed.”

“On who's order's”? Pavan snarled,his teeth elongating and nails turning into claws, “yours”?

BOOM! “What on Earth was that”?! James exclaimed.

“That'll be the school blowing up” Trix grinned as the ground rumbled and dust bolted from the ceiling. “You blew up the school”? Coral laughed.

“Well, Sam, Rico and Laura blew it up but it was my idea” Trix blushed, yelping as Coral threw herself on the older girl and wrapping her arms around her like an octopus. “You...oh you are brilliant”! Coral laughed, “I've taught you well young padwan. Now let's go.” Together the five of them darted out of the room, Trix grabbing hold of Pavan and a very surprised Mahir in order to camouflage them while Coral and James easily took out the four guards that stood sentry in front of the prison storage room. Coral opened the lock with her power's and she, Mahir and James grabbed their things. “Where too now”? Pavan asked. The Storm siblings looked at one another before replying “the teleporter room.”

“It's the most likely location for the virus” James explained as he handed an un-comoflaged Pavan, Trix and Mahir a gun each. “Once we've destroyed that the Grand Master won't be quite so powerful. He'll have lost his best weapon”, Coral said.

“Aside from Bella” James added.

“Who I plan to destroy once the virus has been dealt with” Coral continued.

“I'll help you with that”, James grinned as he lead the way to the teleporter room.

“No. No revenge. It's cost isn't worth it” Pavan warned “and I'm not using a gun”. He threw it to one side. “And what if you were in our position? What if you'd been taken away from your family before you were even old enough to remember their faces and trained, tortured and brainwashed into becoming a killer? Wouldn't you want payback”? Coral asked, a crinkle of disbelief appearing on her forehead. Pavan had to think about that one. “And what of the consequences” he finally said as they rounded a corner. “Would you risk becoming as bad as them”?

Coral didn't answer that one, disturbed at the thought of becoming as bad as Bella and the Grand Master but at the same time furious that if she did nothing then they would get away with countless crimes including those committed against her family. “Why us though? What do they have against our family James”?

“I dunno.”

“I think it's something to do with something your parents did to Bella. When Rico and I went up to Madir Castle, don't tell me off now”, he barked at the girls who looked absolutely furious with Pavan, “we overheard some guy named Yassen telling what sounded like Drusus that Bella wished to cause your parents the same pain that she had felt by killing someone called William who I presume is your brother. So by taking you two and revealing that you had both been trained and brainwashed and killing William....”

“ ouch.” Mahir finished for him. “Are we there yet? These dark and spooky passages are starting to creep me out.”

“That's the idea” James muttered under his breath “and yes, we are nearly there.” They stopped, Mahir, Shane and Trix looking to Coral for instructions. “There's no plan” she told them candidly “so stop looking at me like you want me to tell you what to do. We just gotta grab that virus, that's the most important thing right now. Once we have we can either shove it down the Grand Master's throat if he makes an appearance or bury it somewhere no one can find it. We need to do this as fast and as quietly as possible then when we're out of here. I'll block up all potential entrances and exits and hopefully Rico, Laura and you Mahir will be able to whip up something to really make sure that the neither the Grand Master nor his followers can't go anywhere. I'll take point on this, James on my six, weapons hot, Trix you go in the middle, Shane and Mahir either side of her. If something moves that isn't us shoot it. The henchmen might be stupid as trolls but the rest of the coakroaches down here aren't and they won't hesitate to harm us or our friends so don't give them the opportunity to do so. Alright”?

“Yep.”

“Gotcha boss.”

“Why do I have to be in the middle, why can't I be in the front of back”? Mahir whined “I can take care of myself.”

“Is he deaf or just stupid” James asked Coral seriously.

“Just stupid” Coral replied while glowering at Mahir. “Your staying in the middle so that James and I can protect you and so that you can protect one of my closest friends. Now lets go.” They slipped deeper into the near suffocating darkness, weapons at the ready, the trio in the middle hyper aware of the noise their feet made as they hit the floor while Coral and James moved silently, like ghosts. Then they turned a corner and entered the teleporter room. “That's the virus”? Coral asked coolly, black eyebrows raised as she and the others stared at the small jar sitting on a podium in the centre of the room, half filled with black gloop.

“Where you expecting something else? Something a little more genocidally looking perhaps? Size doesn't always equal power you know.” James stated knowingly.

“No. It doesn't. But it's very good for getting silly humans to underestimate you. Oh, I could tell you such stories about the pathetic homo-sapiens that dared underestimate me. I danced in their blood and bathed in their screams.”

“Really”? Coral said sardonically “sounds a bit Gene Kelly meets Countess Bathory to me. What did you do with their bones? Play drums”?

“No” the London accent hissed as the room grew darker and darker until it was suffocating the group of teens, slipping and slithering into their pores and torturing their hearts and minds. “What's with all this darkness” James choked, “scared to face us”/

“Not at all Jacko” the Grand Master grinned a he stepped out of the shadows, his dark eyes gleaming madly in his white diamond shaped face. “Oh, hello Asset. What are you doing out here? Your controller will not be pleased” he smiled. Coral glared at him.

“My name is Coral Storm and I am no longer afraid of Bella or any other member of this monster show”! The Grand Master tipped his head and Coral shrieked as he smashed his way into her already fragile mind.

“Coral”! the boys yelled in horror, moving forward only to be smashed against the walls by tendrils of darkness which slowly wound their way around their bodies, suffocating and crushing them like deer's about to be eaten by a boa constrictor. The Grand Master laughed at their pain and Coral's obvious distress. “Oh, your not. Hmm, but you are afraid of something so much more precious to me. Oh ho ho, your afraid of losing the ones you love the most. Laura, Trix, Pavan, Rico, Mahir and even your long lost family. And your even more afraid of losing your agency. Don't worry, we can rectify that, can't we my dear Bella”? he smiled as he turned to gaze lovingly at the she devil that had just appeared out of the twisting darkness like a ghost. “Let, my family, go” Coral growled, angrier than she had ever been in her life and relishing in the raw power that was quickly building up inside her, ready to be unleashed at a seconds notice. “Family? Aww, how sweet. How disgustingly sentimental” Bella moaned as she glided forward. “How about we make you a deal hmm? We let Jack and your annoying friends including the ones who destroyed half our base go, but only if you submit yourself to level 10 conditioning.”

“No!” James roared as he struggled against the darkness, fighting it desperately with his powers and trying to push it away from Pavan, Mahir and himself. Where Trix had gone he had no idea. “Coral don't”!

“Agreed, don't,” Pavan and Mahir gasped as they strained to free themselves from the deadly darkness. “I think for once I'll listen to the people who actually care about me” Coral told the Grand Master coldly, “therefore, bye”! And she lashed out with her powers, concentrating on the Grand Master's body which began to crack and crumble where he stood. He screamed and screamed and screamed. Coral pushed and pushed and pushed. Then the Grand Master was nothing but dust.

“NO”! Bella howled, her once beautiful face turning skull-like with rage. She prepared to use her powers then froze. As the darkness cleared she could see a silhouette standing next to the podium. Then the jar on top of it began to move. “What the...” Bella gasped, evidently as confused as the teens were. The silhouette flickered for a moment like a hologram then solidified into a person that Coral really did not want to lose. “Trix! What the bloody hell do you think your doing”? She exploded. “Helping you save the world” Trix smiled as she opened the jar, “you can't be the self-sacrificing hero all the time Coral, that's what friends are for, to be the shield protecting you when you need it and to be the self-sacrificing hero when you can't be.”

“Trix, no! I can't lose you”! Coral sobbed, taking her eyes off Bella who seemed to be caught between shocked and elation. “Yes you can” Trix smiled though tears were pouring out of her dark eyes. “Your strong and brave and brilliant and you've got so many wonderful things to do and to be. You've gotta find the rest of your family and get to know James. You'll heal and forget me and so will Laura.”

“No.”

“Take care of yourself. I love you.”

“NOOO”! The walls and ceiling exploded as Trix digested the virus which immediately began to destroy her body from the inside and above the pain Trix could here her friend screaming with grief. 'Take care of yourself Coral. Be the hero you were always meant to be,' she thought as the red of pain began to face away to be replaced by the pure, angelic light of death.

Coral's world had frozen again. But not because of hostile outside forces, no this hostile force attacked from the inside. And it's name was overwhelming grief. It bit and clawed it's way into her mind and body, feeding on the screams and whimpers that it had stopped from getting loose. It grew bigger, stronger and more lethal by the second, then anger took the reins.

BOOM! Bella was blasted back by a concussive wave of telekinesis which destroyed everything in reach, burying the monster that had pretended to be Coral's loving Mum for so many years under a pile of rock. Three figures appeared, one glowing white, one midnight personified, the other with hair as red as blood and eyes like the Indian Ocean. Upon taking in the rapidly crumbling scene before him the red head threw himself at Coral then screeched with pain as his right arm began to disintegrate. He crashed to the floor, whimpering and looked to Dark and Ice for help but they were in as much trouble as he was. James was slowly draining their power's and life force, smirking as their veins began to grossly protrude. They crashed to their knees, red and silver eyes bulging, mouths open in a silent scream, then they fell as Pavan broke James concentration with a yell of “James! Enough! We have to get out of here”! James glared at Pavan for a moment but the shape shifter wouldn't back down. “Fine!” He snapped. “Coral, hey sis, come on we need to leave.”

“Not yet. This base is going down first.”

“Coral..”

“No.” She snapped. “Some of the tech down here is too dangerous to carry on existing.”

“And if the cryogenics room gets destroyed the Grand Master won't be able to come back” James realised unpleasantly.

“Get out of here and take Trix with you. Find the others and get them back to Madir Castle. Block up the entrance there. I can protect myself from the falling rubble but I can't protect you. Go”! Reluctantly Rico and Mahir gently picked up the dead girls body and made to follow James out of the room. James turned to look at his sister. “James, take the others and go. I'll be okay, really”, Coral smiled, he nodded and left, leading the two teens to the exit on the moor. As Mahir's back vanished into the darkness Coral focused inwards on her powers. She had to be very careful that she didn't accidentally hurt the boys as they made their way to the moor exit but she had to destroy as much of the Grand Master's head quarters as possible. At her feet Yassen whimpered with pain distracting her from her focus. With a flare of rage she smashed him against the nearest wall and he fell silent, cradling the stump of his right arm with a bloody left hand. She let her mind dive inwards to reach her powers again and felt them reach out at her command as her mind willed the atoms in the air to come together around her like a group of people forming a shield. Once that was done, she allowed her mind to focus on the walls and ceilings around her. She had already worked out that the calmer she was the more control she had over her powers and the more emotional she was the greater the destruction her powers caused so she needed to find a balance between the two. Her rage, the rage that had been building up since everyone disappeared, was easy to tap into but serenity not so much. Any thoughts of Trix or Laura only brought her pain and worry mixed in with even more rage.

But what about James? Her formerly lost twin. There were so many opportunities for happiness with him. They could find the rest of their family together while building bonds between them. If anything could make her serene it was the thought of the chance to build a relationship with her lost twin. She concentrated on that thought, pulling the serenity from it a mixing it in with the roaring anger which quietened until it was a quiet growl then she focused on the walls, floor and ceiling around her her mind zeroing in on the atoms that they were composed of until she felt that she was a part of the structure of the room. Willing the walls and ceiling to topple she unleashed the balance of rage and serenity within her. She wasn't entirely sure what happened next but when she came too sirens were screaming in terror as the walls and the ceiling that made up the Grand Master's head quarter’s crumbled and smashed into the stone floor making it shiver and crack. Protected by her cocoon Coral looked up at the blue cloudless sky above her smiling in victory as she felt every brick, every nail, every piece of stone that made up this hell hole fall victim to her power. Then it skidded to a stop as it reached the Madir Castle entrance to the Grand Master's lair.

Exhausted Coral pushed the atoms around her away and hauled herself out of the Grand Master's lair onto the moor. “I need ice cream, lot's and lot's of ice cream, ice cream's good like that” she smiled dazedly as she looked around the blurring and swirling moor. “Hmmmmm, preetty” she grinned.

“Coral! Coral”! She turned toward the crying and made out a two figures, taller than her standing only a few meters away , with long blonde hair. “Heeeey Lauzie, least your alive. Why are there two of you”? Coral woozed before keeling over and falling flat on her face. Laura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

***

“With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to thy souls of Thy servants, where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but lifelasting. Thou only art immortal, who hast created and fashioned man. For out of the earth were we mortals made, and unto the earth shall we return again, as Thou didst command when Thou madest man, saying unto me:For earth thou art, and unto the earth shall thou return. Whether, also, all we mortals wend our way, making of our funeral dirge the song: Alleluia,Alleluia,Alleluia.” When Pavan had finished, with over bright eyes Coral, Mahir and Rico stepped forward and pushed a single carving made by Laura into the sand on top of their friends graves : a star for Curtis, a figurine of Hawkeye for Sam, a daisy for Trix and a game consul for Tommo. Then they stepped back and sobbing, buried themselves in their friends and each other's arms. There they stayed for what seemed like hours, six teenagers holding one another as the white waves serenaded them. All sufferers, all survivors and a family.

Prologue

A cold wind blew across the moor, ruffling the leaves of the trees and bushes that stood scattered around. The odd sheep wandered through, pausing here and there to snack, completely apathetic to the huge hole in the ground and the smoke drizzling from it. The school was on fire and the body of a young man lay on the ground beside the burning building, flies swarming all over him. They didn't care about that either. But there was a sensation in the air, a sense of evil, slowly growing stronger and stronger until their sheep senses were screaming RUN! That they did care about. They bolted, little legs moving as fast as they could and just in time to as two figures appeared at the edge of the hole, the taller of the two unleashing a blast of blood red gas from a small pod in her hand which destroyed every form of life on the moor. “Expecting company mistress”? the shorter figure asked mildly as he took in the deadness surrounding them. “Not really Sebastian” Bella replied as she peered into the hole “but I just wanted to make sure.”

“Good God”! Sebastian gasped as he stared at what used to be the teleporter room. “What in King David's name happened here”?!

“Asset.” Bella answered coldly, taking a small device out of the pocket of her black jeans. She placed the device on the ground beside the hole where it glowed for a second before letting out a series of clicks as it produced a sturdy looking ladder which fixed itself into the ground and dangled down into the hole. With a smile of satisfaction Bella climbed down the ladder and began to pull rubble off her master's body. “Do you want me to come down and help”? Sebastian offered with a raised eyebrow as he saw Bella take an empty container out of her jacket pocket. “No.” She snapped, “no one touches him except me.” She placed the jar next to the Grand Master's mouth with a small affectionate smile then stood up, her face reverting back to that of the enigmatic, femme fatale assassin then she and Sebastian began to chant. “ 1Sangunis, ossis ,dolor, gaudium, rabiem,feritatem singulis. Frangitur corpus tuum tenebrosum erit anima est, et ne frangat a vinculis tenere monstrum hoc mundo factus reintrara. Dominum meum Domine salutis meae veire”! The world froze as a black noxious, not quite fluid, but not quite gas either flowed out of the Grand Master's mouth and wrapped it self around Bella for a moment cackling gleefully before slithering into the jar and curling up like some grotesque pet snake. The Grand Master's soul now freed from his broken body Bella sealed the jar, climbed up the ladder and grabbed hold of Sebastian who teleported away. As they vanished storm clouds began to gather, a prophecy for what was yet to come.

1 Blood, bone, pain,gladness, madness, savageness separate. Your body is broken, your soul of darkness is not, let it break free from the chains that hold it and re-enter the monster this world has become. My Master, my Lord, my saviour come back!