

## Dear Reader,

### So, let's get started, but first let me introduce myself.

### My Name is Hector Dagger and I'm what they call a Dragonfly. Hear me out because what I'm about to tell you is real. I wish I could sugar coat the truth but, that would just make the story less believable. That little bubble of delusion of yours could break when I tell you what's really happening out here as you read through the pages of this book.

### Some identities of the people in this book had the consent of the said individual to be revealed, so feel free to get to know them.

### So, let's start like this.

### There are special people in this world. With special powers. We don't ask to be special. We're just born this way. We were born with it, it runs within our own veins. Altered by our DNA. Waiting to emerge.

### We pass you on the streets every day, unnoticed by most.

It started years ago, New York was witnessing an event where some of the residents there Discovered to posses powers based on elements. Its said to have been caused from a plague in The US. The humans called them, Convicts. For three months, New York was thrown into chaos. The Convicts grew and destroyed the city for their own selfish purposes but over time, the war ended and The Convicts disappeared. After the events of New York the world now has a big question, Where are The Convicts? No one knows.

### So, even though you don't see it, its here in your very city. If your looking for a story about a child being a superhero, this might not be the book for you. Because its not just my story. This is a story of how people like me, who came from all walks of life came together. So if you are curious to know, keep reading. Try to keep track of who is going to be featured in this book, because I'm not your only chronicler. Like I mentioned, its not only my story. As you keep reading further and further, you will have a hard time keeping up with who is talking. These other chroniclers would just pop up and I have no control over what they chronicle about. But you will find that their stories will tie with the main story so sit back and get ready.

### Thank you.

### Hector Dagger

1

The Spark

### Hector:

### I've told myself that this is a dream but sadly its not. I don't even know why am I here. I was born normal, just an average kid like you. You might have even passed by me in school or something but now I'm part of this crazy world right under your feet and even though you don't see it. Its here in your very city. I've seen this world with my own two eyes, and I wanna show it to you.

### But to tell you all about it, I might need to go back, a very long time ago. I was one of those kids who weren't so lucky. I was one of those kids with powers when I 'came of age'.

### Northwest is a widely scattered Early European settlement established on the surrounding hills. Northwest is a neighborhood and autonomous town. So here, you'll find a lot of people with different opinions. Be it politics or religion or about Justin Bieber, everything is fair. There are some places in Northwest such as the public library. These landmarks can define districts as well as neighborhoods. There are schools and even universities here. But the only one I knew is The Northwest School of the Arts, Humanities and Environment. Though out this year, school has been great. I tried to act casually about life in school but there has been a lot going on. I'm not the kind of person who is famous in school.

### I've always been like the cool kids. I usually shuffle around school, dragging my feet to class back and forth. This is my freshmen year and since freshmen is already over, I'm really glad that I am used to my surroundings.

### I'm used to new surroundings. We've been living here all our lives but what I mean to say is I am used to new environments. Lockers, classrooms, science labs, and The Student Body.

### I've watched movies on how Hollywood described high school to be like and honestly, life here is not like that. It's fair to say I'm the weird kid.

### I am an adventurous person.

### Most days you would find me missing from home, out in the forest searching for new gems and new horizons. I would be covered in mud, my shoes will be piled in a layer of sand and I would have wired items in my hands. Which is why my home is very close to the forest.

### The fresh morning fresh air will be a great booster for you to start the day. But today is different. Today is where I call it a day, resting for an entire day in my room reading about all sorts of wired things a casual 14-year-old won't bother to find out. Its summer. Most kids are either out for camps or on road trips. But I just stayed at home. Camps are not my thing. I won't want to waste my summer on a camp to deal with friends, student dramas and all the hoo-ha's.

### It was night time. The midnight heat was hot yet the wind blew in the neighborhood of Northwest, Seattle. Cooling off the unbearable heat. It was a quiet night. Silent. The moonlight was shining over the streets. Nights like these are magical. I used to imagine there are native hunters stalking us, watching over us at night but I'm older now, these things are just part of a kid's imagination.

### We had a campfire earlier that night in the backyard. The wind howled as the laundry flopped around. If you have some keen eyes, you can notice a badger crawling by the trees and into the forest. Dad, who is a strong believer in a healthy family lifestyles organized a backyard campfire for us to enjoy the beautiful night. He told ghost stories which I've heard of since I was little, it's starting to get boring but I was distracted by the smell of the S'mores mom made for us. My little sister, Alice listened in fear when my dad tried to scare us. Alice was two or three years younger than me. She rolled around the grass in horror, restlessly scooting over to the back of my shoulder but I wasn't scared at all. I've heard of it but for Alice's sake I tried to act scared.

### Alice and I are only a few years apart. I'm fourteen and she's ten. Our relationship as siblings are close. Some days, we are inseparable. It's the age gap that makes us very close, given that we are only a few years apart. Alice has long straight black hair and green eyes. Her eyes display the widest sense of wonder about this world. You can say she is half alien because she creates a lot of wonderlands of her own. She has a rounded sharp face, and her smile makes your heart melt.

### We had our last cup of hot chocolate and went to bed. If you stayed quiet, you can only hear the sound of crickets and other animals and bugs minding their own business. It was one of those hot and cold weathers, the temperatures were just right. Summers usually passed by like this. We do an activity and we go to bed and we do another one the day after, every day is an adventure. I could still hear my father, talking with my mother while the fire was still burning from the outside my room window. Their conversations were from what I could gather, about work. None of my business. I walked casually to my bed and fell face first to my pillow. It's been a long day.

### Sometime at night while we were all asleep, the putted out fire from the outside began to emerge from the blowing hot wind. It grew and spread into the house kitchen. The agonizing smell of the smoke teared up my eyes as I curl up in my bedroom. Realizing the smell, I sat up and stared in wide-eyed horror at the fire that's surrounding me. The door, slightly burned and the cupboard in my room burned black. I woke up straight and ran to my parents, warning them, calling them up. They were already wide awake. "Get Alice!" My father yelled. My parents got up and began to run. I followed them from behind. Their eyes were filled with fear. the flames rippled across dressers. the burning wallpaper curled and melted.

### My father carried Alice in their arms and barged out of the house.

### I tried to follow them. But the rising heat rose and got more intense.

### A huge pile of ceiling bits fell. Creating a block over the pathway. Stopping me on my tracks. The brittle crackling sounds of the flames got louder and the ceiling crumbled as the house began to fall apart. The fire began to build its way towards the roof. I wasn't going to let that happen. I wanted to survive. I wanted to live.

### I had to. I had to.

### Suddenly, the fire around me turned green.

### Emerald Green. The fire danced.

### It began to sway itself away from me.

### It's as if its scared of me or something.

### No time to think. Need to run.

### Every step I took, the fire around me turned green and swayed away.

### I didn't look. I just kept running.

### I ran blindly until I tumbled to the cool darkness of the ground.

### Landing on the soft green grass.

### Air! Fresh air at last!

### I gasped while staring at the horrific sight of the fire that took over my home. The flames roared, burning everything it its path. I was panting so loudly, gasping for clean air.

### I was in shock.

### I was confused.

### I had no idea what was going on.

### The fire consumed the house entirely. Seconds after fire fighters came right on time to put the fire out. That was when I had a good look at my hands. Warping my thoughts. Did I just discovered I had powers?

### The water from the firefighters soaked the burning house while the fire was completely being cleared out.

### The damages were not very big.

### Just a few burns and property damage.

### The good news was, the house is still intact.

### Everyone thinks the house has faded, but it hasn't. She was finally stumbling over it with me. The roof had already burnt off, or had been all destroyed by the years of rain and shine, I don't know. The brick skeleton of the building had survived the fire though blackened and charred. The house is safe.

### Imagine once, you were fine then your world was flipped upside down, that's what its like for me now. When my parents discovered that I could control and create fire, they were scared. They were terrified. My mother especially became extremely paranoid. Holding a fire extinguisher ready in case if it happens again. Some nights, I could overhear them arguing to give me up. It became very hard to sleep and wake up these days. Knowing the fact that you suddenly had powers can be quite shocking. When I woke up on the other side of the bed, it was burning hot. It wasn't warmth but real fire on whatever I touched. I was able to put it out but the bed was badly burned. Rough time to sleep.

### It was hard to keep track of these summer days.  
One seemed to melt into another. I was having a lonely summer but that was an interesting way to end it. Most of my friends are either gone for family vacations or camps. But ever since what happened, we've been trying to recover. I sat up in my new bed and muttered to myself.

### "wow, what a mess?" I wish I could just say it's all a dream, a horrible dream. But it really happened. I sank back on my pillow and waited for a moment. I could still picture the flames, the sour smoke and the horror of it all. I glanced at my new desk clock. "8:15 am".

### Put on a T-shirt and marched to my door to the staircase. Mom prepared breakfast, summer was almost over but the neighborhood was still quiet. I got downstairs and grabbed my meal and sat on the new table. Mom stopped talking to me for a while because of the whole power thing. It's not like a mundane thing to know the fact that your kid had powers.

### My mother is considered as a pretty beautiful person. She's in her forties but still maintains her physique in good condition.

### Easy to say she worked out. Like a lot.

### Alice is out with her friends. Since they just came back from their own trip, Alice looked forward to seeing them again. My friends on the other end are still away from town. They look forward to leave this town and go out but I prefer the comforts of home.

### My dad had some friends to help repair the damaged house. Things were quite okay. With some repainting, repairing and additional furniture, the house returned to normal.

### As I turned to the toaster to get my toasted bread, there was a loud knock on the door. "I'll get it!" I said. I ran over and opened the door to find two men in full black suits and sunglasses right outside, looking wilted in the heat.

### "Hello, Dagger residents?"

### "mom!" I called. "who are these people?"

### They smell like government.

### My mother ran to the front door, standing right behind me,

### trying to explain herself. "this is Sean Johann."

### "he is part of a group of people. Special people." she added.

### "may we come in?" Sean asked politely. "yes, come in." my mom said, walking me back to the kitchen.

### Sean was a fairly young man. Probably around his 20-s. He was wearing a long black leather coat. Inside his coat was zipped up to his neck, he also wore a pair of black leather pants.

### The other guard was wearing the same costume looking out at the kitchen window. His hair is blonde. He was keeping his hands into his coat pocket. He looked out the window and walked past the window and walked around slowly.

### "hello Hector." he began. "sorry I spooked you."

### I was trying not to gaze at the looks of his intimidating eyes but his eyes showed that he is serious.

### His hair is red. His skin is quite fair, like snow.

### We sat by the kitchen table.

### My heart beats harder and sweat is rolled down to my face.

### "I know you've been through a lot lately." he comforted but really. Realizing you have the power to control fire is not natural.

### Not for a normal fourteen-year-old that is.

### He took a pause, trying to find the words to say

### "Let me clear it up for you." he finally said.

### "You're part of a group of people called The Convicts. Your category is the Dragonfly." I was surprised.

### "A what?" I asked.

### Sean was trying to explain about Dragonflies while the word, Convict came echoing in my ear. How can a normal teenage kid like me be a Convict? I mean those are like murderers. Even though I don't know much about them, I heard about it in school since the war in New York years ago. "In The Lab you'll not only learn to use your powers but be tested and used to your full extent. You are what we call a Dragonfly."

### "so this is a lab for freak likes us?" I asked.

### The name Dragonfly sounds like I'm the bug.

### I've seen them, bright colored, fast and hard to catch.

### "It's called Pyrokinesis. You have an alleged psychic ability allowing you to create and manipulate fire with your mind. Your fire colors are based on our inner personality. And no, it's not a place for freaks but an institute. A safe place for people like you." Sean explained.

### I browsed through my mind about all this info I have to observe.

### Pyrokinesis... It sounded like an old Greek word.

### "So technically, it's the power of colorful fires." I said.

### "Yes. There are others such as Butterflies, they have the ability to blast powers of light towards objects through the direct influence light. Fireflies, Sand flies, Horseflies, Sawflies. It goes on and on."

### he continued.

### "It's for the best son." he in all seriousness.

### This is not like your regular "sex talk". Normally this is about the typical talk when you come of age but this is not your typical talk.

### This is the "your powers are an issue talk"

### "with your powers, you could..." he paused.

### "affect your family so we'll have to take you in."

### Sean took the cup of warm water and took a big sip on it."

### He placed it back on the table.

### "do you follow?" he asked. "you could kill your own family."

### I kept quiet. The house fire was actually not my fault.

### I mean, it was a natural fire.

### What my powers did was that it saved me from it.

### Unknowingly my powers kicked in again. The intense fire grew inside me. I could feel my blood boil and the temperature around me getting hotter. I tried to calm down. Sean stood, preparing to pounce.

### I focused harder. After a while, my powers came down. Phew!

### That was a close one.

### "now you see why?" Sean asked.

### The fire subsided as I sat back down.

### He's right. Without my training, I could burn down this house again.

### "I love you Hector." my mother said. Resting her arms on my shoulders.

### "someday, you'll thank me but for now, you need to keep your powers in check."

### I turned to her and asked.

### "you knew about this?" I asked.

### "only when you showed your powers earlier the last few nights ago." my mom sighed. "I'm really sorry."

### That was a day that I've made the biggest decision of my life.

### To save my family, I need to learn more about my powers.

### "alright, I'll go." I said.

### I went upstairs and packed a few things with me.

### Scrambling around, I packed some cloths and grabbed my toothbrush.

### This trip could be a long one.

### I looked through my room desk and took a brown frame with a picture of me and Alice last year from our trip to New York last summer.

### It was a long trip. But my dad, got a good photo of me and Alice together under the Brooklyn bridge during a sunrise.

### It was so beautiful, I asked dad to print it and frame it for me.

### It was proof that Alice and I are very very close.

### I will surely miss her.

### "you won't be needing those." Sean said as he crept up towards my room. I packed the picture into my bag and began walking.

### Sean walked up to me and reached his hand out to get a hold of me.

### "don't touch me!" I pulled Sean's arm away from him reaching out from him. "I'll walk myself."

### I yanked his arm away.

### I marched down the stairs slowly.

### Taking in the atmosphere.

### I was mad that my mom wanted me to leave home and go to some special school but I can also see why.

### "don't worry Mrs. Dagger." he said. "I'll watch over him."

### I entered the black Bentley, parked right outside my house.

### Sam. the other black suited man walked out and sat in the front seat while Sean sat in the driver's seat.

### Sean jammed his car keys and turned the engine on.

### He began pushing in a clutch and drove off the area.

### I waved good-bye to my mom.

### With this willing choice to learn about my powers, I was more worried about the lab that I'm going to. We got to the highway, the trees we passing by as I looked out from the window. The car made a stop at the side of the road, the engine still on.

### "calm down boy." Sam said turning over to me.

### "we need to take you out so that you won't try to escape."

### In his hands, Sam held a syringe. The color inside the syringe looked like its a drug. My instincts say fight!

### Run! Get out! I let out a big burst of flames.

### The fire infested on Sam's coat and burning it off.

### I pushed Sam off while he screams to stop the fire.

### I decided to run.

### I blasted out of the car window trying to run. I kicked the door, smashed the windows, struggling to push out from the Bentley. But before I could go any further. Sam quickly grabbed the syringe and stabbed them into my neck. I pushed his arm away and I rose my hand and aimed at Sam. come on! Fire! Nothing.

### I felt dizzy. Giving my all, I tried to struggle harder but my body began to fail. My sight got blurry. My body began to grow weak. I watched in horror as i slammed down to the car sofa. Sean stopped the car by the side of the road and turned towards me "what a mess." he said. The once clean car turned into a slightly wrecked Bentley.

### I lost my sights on him. I glared up on the car ceiling losing my focus even more. "bring him to The Lab." he said while I blacked out.

### They took me in. Away from my family, away from my sister, away from this once normal world of mine. That's where we come back to the present right now.

2

The Laboratory

### Hector:

### When I came to, I was in a very strange place. They call it The Lab. Remember what they said about this place. Turns out, it's a very cold and lifeless place. It smells of medicine. The halls were echoed with the voices of despair and broken lives. It's a special place for us, freaks.

### It's like a big factory. With the robots that can kill you and places that will make you get nightmares. A cold place.

### A horrifying place. This is no place for kids.

### When I set foot to see the Lab, its description is just haunting.

### It looks just like a factory prison. It's so big that its split into four wings.

### The North wing is labs where we are being tested.

### The West wing is the place where we eat and train.

### While the remaining South wing is our cells.

### The East wing is expanded inwards with concrete as our Danger Room.

### A battle zone for us to freely use our powers to fight and train.

### This is no training place. This is a testing place.

### They tested us. Experimented us.

### They had a test range where they trained us. The place was full of concrete. It's build with high levels and blocks.

### They gave us target practice. They taught us how to use our powers and more importantly, they taught us how to control it.

### Life here is different from being in school. Instead of classes, you get most of your days out and about. Play sports, learn how to use your powers and pretty much sleep. They will have basic education because let's be honest, they are not monsters. They provide classes of math, science that is relevant to the use of our powers, history which to me does not make sense and English. Days, months and years seemed to melt by since my stay here.

### I was asked to be in a place called the danger room. Where we have our sources to absorb and use to train. The danger room is this huge concrete ring where there is an entrance and a watch tower at the center.

### If you were me, you would try to fire it and cause havoc but the watchtower is amazingly well shielded.

### Shooting it means you're stupid, you would be brought to a room where you will be pushed till you tire yourself or even die.

### Your powers become your weakness.

### The Danger Room is dark. There was only one spot light, right on top of me. It's too hard to make out what is in the shadows.

### "I need you to focus if you want to do this." a voice said. It was a lady's voice. "Show everything you've learned so far to me. No secrets okay?"

### "Mr. Dagger. Mr. Dagger." I didn't listen. "HECTOR!"

### I woke up disturbed. "what?" I asked.

### "Show me what am I working with?" the voice spoke.

### Okay. I'll show her. I placed my focus on a concrete. The costume was horrible. I was wearing an all-white collar shirt and long pants. I blasted a few douse of flames and the concrete figure burned. The fire climbed on the targets but it was going nowhere. Just attached to the surface. I aimed well so far that I began to fuel up and gave a big heat blast. The other remaining targets began to catch fire as it expands like a shock wave.

### "Good. You're ready!" said the voice. "to do what?" I asked.

### "to become our very own weapon." she replied. "we will set you free."

### I'd like that. To be free.

### Knowing I'm not into nicknames I quickly said "Just call me Hector. That will do. I don't like nicknames."

### "Hector it is." said the voice. It has been a week since I was brought here. Some nights we not easy. I had nightmares.

### Dreams of being drowned in fire and that I was helpless to get out.

### I was given even more training every day. They upped the juice and I became stronger and stronger. They checked me up when I am done with my training. To check if I'm still "their" weapon. I know in the back of my mind that I've got to get out of here. But I need to be smart about it. For about two or three years, I've lost count.

### It's amazing what years can do to you. I've been through a few years without celebrating Christmas, My Birthday. I was hoping for my parents to show up but they never came.

### Some nights, I worried that I won't get out.

### I've been stuck in this place for too long.

### It's time to get out. It turns out after the events of New York, other governments around the world began set up what they called "The Lab", trying to do what they couldn't in the past, to turn us into weapons. On the outside, they say they are an institute for Convicts in reality, it's a big factory of freaks with numerous powers. The one I'm in is for Dragonflies.

### In my years in here, I've made some friends.

### One of them was Jake Flint. He is a Dragonfly like me. His fire is indigo purple, he's got spunk. His a really nice guy. He's like a big brother. He's been here longer than any of us. This means he is like a senior to us. The color of our fires signifies our inner personality. So far I've seen Green, Purple, Blue and even Red itself. They all burn but is only hotter determined by your anger or sometimes other emotions. Example, green which is me signifies the user is neutral person which I am. The doctors suggest that I first used my powers when I was "in-between" with dying and living. Like I will always have my own way on things. Surly enough training was the prove. I did things my own way. This cell only contains all Dragonflies. I was told that there are others. Butterflies, Sand flies, Horseflies and Fireflies. They categorize us based on our powers. So far I've only met Dragonflies but I've never met anyone else with those other categories but I heard that Sand flies are like rock controllers or something. At least so far that's all I know.

### "Hector!" Jake called me from a far. I looked up as if I'm signaling him to come over. He marched towards me and sat down on the bench right opposite me.

### He stared at me like as if I know what he wants or something.

### "what?" I asked.

### "they are in!" Jake replied. "who?" I asked.

### "John, Bruce, Blake and uh...Mike is joining as well."

### "WHAT?!" I whispered a loud. "No way I'm taking a Blue fire. He's got no guts!"

### Mike was the nerd kind among us. He likes comic books and video games. He discovered his powers when he went out to get snacks and burnt the shop down because of being scared of the cashier asking for the last few cents. Easy to say he is the shy kind who only reveals it when his confidence is up. It's been years since we've been here. No one has ever made it out and we're going to be the first ones to do it. We are going to break free and get out of here. Tonight.

### "Okay." I sighed. "but if he screws up, we'll leave him behind."

### "deal!" Jake said with a wink. Jake's fire is indigo because he is more of a peace man. He can only use his powers when relaxed. However, stress in training made him discovered that he could use it when under intense pressure. Like I said. The Fire signifies our inner personality.

### "so how are you holding up?" He asked.

### "been well. You?" I asked. Jake shrugged and moved closer to me.

### "heard they killed another Dragonfly the other day." Jake's voice changed from confident to terrified.

### "what?" I whispered out loud.

### "heard is that poor kid, Brandon." he must have failed The Test.

### The Test is a mental, physical and power stress test.

### Its twice the juice from some of us advanced Dragonflies.

### Its known to have a reputation to kill us Dragonflies.

### Brandon's death makes it the sixth death.

### The push The Lab has given is getting even more forceful, which is why we need to get out. Most of us are just looking forward to die that way than living in this place. A lot of us either die from all the experiments and tests. But Jake is confident that his plan is going to work.

### The we continued to carry out our training and waited till the night comes. At 5:00 pm, we had a lecture from our instructor/ warden. Jake was intimating the instructor's dramatic movements as he began to lecture about dealing with raging hormones. Here, "sex talk" is not like the ones you had with your parents or teachers. They include concerns about your powers as well. After the lecture ended we went to bed. Jake was in the cell opposite mine. He was lying down casually as the guards walked by. There are many things bad about this stink hole. First, the cells. The cells were made of hard metal strengthen by concrete. No bed but a pillow and a small blanket.

### The ground is often hard to sleep on.

### The ground is an undignified spot. It's hard and its rock solid. Our hands are usually free to move during training but for this case, our hands are well covered by concrete to keep us from using our powers. The hall for our cell is a silent place. Only guards are allowed to enter through here. They have somehow discovered ways to block our powers by only giving us limited amount of fire to absorb. Meaning, the fire we absorb will be just enough for training. Not more is given. In a place like this, you feel like your helpless. It's very hard to keep your spirit up. But this is our chance. When the guard left.

### Jake stood up in his cell and winked. We're ready. Jake started to signal the others and the rest began to make their moves. I sat up and took a deep breath and heated up the handcuffs. It melted on the ground cooling off as part of the cell's floor. Not so tough after all. Good! Now for the bars!

### I pointed my hand to the cell and began firing it.

### FLUM! FLUM! BOOM! BOOM!

### FLUM! BOOM!

### I fired again. The fire stuck itself onto the concrete layer slowly melting it off. No sooner after a few more fires the metal bars were exposed, I kept firing like my life depends on it. The fire began melting off the metal bars. Sooner the big concrete and metal cage became broken, creating a big hole. I was free. I walked out and met up with Jake and the others. The room has a lot of space. Perfect for our big boy, Blake to charge out opening a gateway for us. His fire is black. He is said to have it when he was just twelve with his twin brother, Bruce. Jake took out the bars at ease. We sneaked quietly to the end of the cell towards the toilet windows for the inmates.

### "Good. Let's go!" he nodded. No guards noticed. good. "what about the others?" I asked. "we can't just leave them." I was being generous. "We'll come back for them when we get outta here okay?" Jake said quickly. I hesitated and began running with them. Mike followed us up. He broke his cell by taking down the lock. 'great, all here." I said to myself. "that was the easy part. Now to escape, that's the hard part." While the others were thinking how to escape Mike noticed a big red button and triggered the alarm that set all the other Dragonflies free. After a split second, the other inmates in their cells began to make and escape and took to the inmate cafeteria.

### "Your idiot!" yelled Jake. "I-I thought we're all- all- all in this to-to-together." stammered Mike. The another batch of Dragonflies began to head for the main inmate hall, some to the gym to grab weapons such as dumbbells and dumbbell poles. Some attacked the guard room to steal more weapons. The prison was in chaos! Several inmates got the main cell gate open and began to make their escape. As soon as the main cell gates were open, everyone made a run for it. Jake ordered us to follow another direction to the east side hall.

### Once we reached the east side of the cell hall, Jake began to sprout even more fireballs.

### FLUM! FLUM! BOOM! BOOM!

### FLUM! BOOM!

### The wall began to catch purple fire but still not through.

### FLUM! FLUM! BOOM! BOOM!

### FLUM! BOOM!

### My heart raced. "This was not part of the plan!" I said. "well you got a better idea? Now's your chance!" Jake snapped.

### The wall began to give way. KRANGGGG!

### Once the wall was fully breached.

### Jake prepared to jump.

### "Everyone bail! See you on the other side." I said as I began to sprint. I began to focus. I was heating up. My body got warm and little sparks of fire have begun to light up on my boots and hands. I was ready to fly. Before I even noticed, the fire grew towards my torso and my whole body began burn up. I charged up towards the bared window and the glass shattered. Next was the metal bars. They were forcefully blasted outwards. I ran right pass it all and found myself in the air. Nothing to catch me. But I wasn't afraid. The fire began to ignite again and I find myself hovering in the air. I started to burn up even more. But before I could make my escape, I was being sighted by the search lights outside the building. A helicopter was hovering a few feet above me.

### "Hector Dagger! Stand down or we will fire!" sound came from the helicopter. "Oh no way!" I scoffed and hovered forward.

### Below me were the other Dragonflies that escaped. They reached to the outside of The Lab. Some were running. Some were attacking the guards. They were attacking them by hand. Before I knew what was going on, the kitchen began to burn up. Several of the escapees ran back in Absorbing all the fire that has been done in the kitchen and shot back the guards. The helicopter above me began to make its move shooting at Jake and the others trying to escape from the hole.

### "Every man for himself!" Jake yelled as he jumped of the hole and flew off. Heavy heart beats were felt among the others. They were terrified.

### I pointed my left arm at the helicopter and fired it. Jake started firing the search lights and hovered down to join the fight. I hovered a bit and took a few more helicopters down. Blake and Bruce, the power twins ran and joined the other side. Using their powers, they brought down a fire rain and took down the east side and bailed. I was in the middle of the fight. I could see if

### We were winning and we were going to make it.

### We are never going back into The Lab.

### At least I'm not. Not ever. Not while I am still breathing.

### I turned towards a few more guards and took them out from above. I then turned to Jake. "do you see that?" his voice betrayed his shock. "how can I not see that? Well, see ya!" he turned towards the forest.

### "what?" I asked. "we had a deal, Flint!"

### "things changed. Time for plan B!" He soared towards the night sky. Vanished.

### I turned back at The Lab and noticed the west side of the Lab burning up letting out a huge black smoke. I got to help fight back.

### It was the kitchen! The fire there was beginning to build up.

### The fight was really intense.

### I hovered towards one of the search lights and started shooting the trees, creating a forest fire. The guards were fighting with this extinguisher device strapped behind their backs and began to fire at some of the other Dragonflies. I used the fire to pull a burnt log out and threw it towards the gate.

### SHAW CRACK! BOOM!

### One of the logs landed inside the Lab.

### SHAW CRACK!

### People ran as the log rolled towards them.

### The gate was forced open and more of the escapades got their powers back and continued to advanced.

### I hovered down into the forest and hovered slightly higher among the tree branches.

### Good thing Jake told us to conserve our fire fuel during training earlier. I saw the fight in the distance and noticed the true power of Bruce and Blake. They created a fire meteorite blazing in the night and sent it down to the Lab.

### The meteorite was about the size of a house and the heat was intense!

### It's being held at each corners by Bruce and Blake.

### The meteorite spun up rapidly as it makes impact.

### I was watching from a far. This is it!

### The Fire meteorite landed on the earth, thundering the ground!

### A huge heat wave followed like a shock wave after the impact and then,

### Nothing. There was silence.

### No fire, no screaming, no sound. No soul in sight.

### That impact would have killed off anyone in the Lab.

### I assumed that the rest are dead during the blast.

### I tried not to look back. I was about to cry but at the same time, I'm glad it's gone. All those nightmarish days. Gone!

### They'll come for me. I'm sure of it. I have to keep running. I have to keep hiding. I told myself not to think that way, all those inmates. Gone. Dead in an instant. Except for Jake Flint. I'll find him.

### Helicopters soared and scouted across the forest.

### Spot lights from the helicopter scouted across the forest.

### The pine tree leaves were lid then the light is gone.

### "hey!" guards moved further into the forest.

### "tracks are still fresh." one guard said.

### They marched towards the path and moved in with caution.

### I was soaking wet. I was covered in mud.

### Got to keep going! I ran to the streets.

### I blasted a blast of fire at them.

### The guards kept running.

### I kept running.

### Finally! After a few miles, I reached a small town. I had no idea where it was but its considered as a safe zone for me.

### I walked into an ally and melted the door knob at the back door.

### Good. It's a storage room for cloths.

### I took my prison cloths off and changed into a pair of jeans and a worm green collar shirt. I pulled a black coat put it on.

### Its freezing.

### "HECTOR DAGGER!" a voice called.

### Time to move!

### I crouched down and checked out the exits.

### Okay, twenty-seven guards against one Dragonfly.

### I'm almost out of firepower.

### Crud!

### I dared to move out openly.

### "hey!" a guard called. "there he is!"

### The guards fired madly. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

### I ran to a red car and hid behind.

### The glass was shot open. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

### I moved out again. One of the guards fired a grenade against another blue car. I ran further and began absorbing the fire from the exploded blue car. I hid in the next ally and climbed up from the ladder.

### I scouted the guards above and began to leap.

### I kicked my powers and clutched my fist and slammed a huge blast of fire at one of the trucks. The truck exploded.

### I jumped and powered out again and fired a few more blasts of fire and gave a kick against another guard.

### I ran to another car and hid again.

### BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

### More shots fired. Out again.

### I tried to find more sources but it seems they learned.

### More guards fired again.

### BALM! BALM! BALM!

### "We need him alive!" one of the guards said.

### "good luck with that!" I taunted.

### I was worried that I might not make it out alive but being an optimistic person, I brushed that image of dying off my head.

### I crouched and hid behind the guards.

### I sneaked pass a guard and jumped through the cars and began to ran.

### the guard aimed and threw another grenade at me.

### The moment I ran pass the guard.

### The grenade landed in time at my hand but I took a quick absorb towards the grenade with heatwaves shielding it and fired it back at the guards.

### The grenade exploded and gave a big impact at the truck.

### The guards ducked.

### BOOM!

### That did it!

### I fired more fire balls and ran to another car.

### Then a solution.

### I jumped up to the sky and powered up again.

### The guards turned up and began to shoot.

### I dogged the bullets and slammed at the center of where they are.

### The ground began to crack and broke off. Green fire broke out and created a hole in the road.

### I stood up and found the rest of the guards fell to the ground.

### The crash almost obliterated the town.

### Lucky there's no one there.

### No more gun shots.

### No fights.

### One of the guards managed to crawl out from the crash in time.

### He saw me! Fear grew in his eyes after he witnessed the big fire taking down The Lab.

### He pulled out a hand gun and aimed.

### I pushed the gun aside and stared at him.

### My eyes began to glow. I clutch my fists and grabbed him by his uniform.

### I pulled him up and prepared to give him a punch.

### I lighted up the fist

### And gave him a violent pose.

### "consider yourself lucky, but if you call for back up to come after me. I'll kill you!" I threatened him. He was silent. Face filled with fear. I turned and ran into the darkness.

### I gave out a large sigh and looked up to the sky.

### The stars were shining bright.

### The rain began so subside.

### Time to go.

### I got to get out of here.

### I took a big sprint to the highway.

### By body flamed up and jumped off.

### The flied off to the highway and levitated upwards.

### They'll be back.

3

The Stranger

### Alice:

### I've seen him on the news. I followed the stories about what happened in The Lab. Most of these people looked pretty much the same but one caught my eye. From what I can see, He was a tall and lean young man. Maybe a bit older than me but who's judging. About a week ago, there was a fire accident in a lab full of freaks. They called them Dragonflies or something like that. It was reported that no one survived. They all perished in the big fireball blast. But I doubt they died. I mean, who calls themselves Dragonflies if they can't take a spark of fire? They said they are now searching for the Convicts and warned that they are dangerous. Reports said the fight started when a few Convicts tried to escape and one of them caused a decoy by setting the other convicts free. The fight got intense and many good men were down. Ever since then, the city got very protective. More convict activities occur every single day. More road blocks are made since the last incident. The government is working really hard to catch these convicts. They are just slightly misunderstood people. I mean people with powers but still just people. they are just like us. That's what we normal people call them. Convicts.

### Bad choice ow words but it's just a name.

### Welcome to Northwest Lucky High School. Established in 1995, the Northwest Lucky School is one of the smallest districts in Jackson County. Northwest Lucky provides some of the most outstanding educational and extra-curricular programs in the area. The district serves 3,200 students in Pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth grade.

### God, I sounded like a promoter.

Anyways, today is a rainy day. It was very windy in the morning. It was during the evening where it started raining. Not sleeping in this weather would be a crime, but I have school. The Emerald City looks very mysterious when it rains. It's like it's a whole new city compared when its dry. Amanda was talking about one of the convicts she saw the other day. He has yellow fire and he was very kind. He was wearing this brown long sleeve shirt and wears black running shoes and wears a long black jeans.

Amanda Summers is a real playgirl. She loves to date hot guys one after the other. But I guess that's why I hanged out with her. It's her mistakes that makes me learn better. She's in my year at school. Coming from a rich family and being the youngest daughter, you'd expect her to be a snob, but she's all right. She just keeps to herself. Like me. Since neither of us really has a group of friends, we seem to end up together a lot at school. Eating lunch, sitting next to each other at assemblies, partnering for sports activities. We rarely talk, which suits us both just fine. She has long blonde hair and a pair of brown eyes that could make you just want to kiss her. I mean I would want to but I'm conflicted about it if you know what I mean.

### I knew Amanda when I was middle school. We sat next to each other most of the time. It was like two different worlds colliding into one new planet. We shared all our secrets and stories while growing up. We even sometimes had sleepovers at each other's houses. We were inseparable. "Alice..." Amanda said right beside me. I was day dreaming. "Earth to Alice!" I woke up. "come back from your Wonderland, Alice!" Amanda glared at me.

### "what?" I asked as I focus back to her. "who are you going to bring to the prom next weekend?" she asked while blinking her eyes. "uh...I don't know. I don't have a special someone yet." I answered.

### "PEALEEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE!" Amanda mocked rolling her eyes. "I know you like Andrew Waller." I started blushing. I hate it when she does that. Amanda has her ways for making one feel embarrassed. "it's not like that!" I defended. I feel my cheeks turning red hot. "come on, Alice." she said placing her arms on my shoulder. "build up the courage to talk to him. Who knows that he might like you."

She winked. Every girl wants to be asked to prom. I don't care if they're a princess or the biggest tomboy in the world. We all want to be asked. We dream of the day the guy will arrive with flowers and chocolates in hand, possibly swooning us with a song. Believe me, it can be exhausting waiting for this day.

Guys have the most difficult part, actually asking the girl. They have to take a deep breath and swallow their fear. The constant thoughts of rejection and embarrassment flash through their minds as they suck it up and dive into a pool of a girl's thoughts, swimming their way to the surface. Sometimes I wonder if guys dread on days like these. I know if I were a boy, I would.

Andrew is the cute guy in class who is always silent and has a bunch of girls going after him. He had great hair, good posture and brown eyes. He has well built, he played basketball. His face is so dreamy where I can just get lost staring into his eyes. He is like Augustus Waters but in real life. The fact he is still single is a crime. Andrew is the guy ever girl in school wants to date really badly.

### His beautiful face makes a girl's heart faint.

### Even for girls like me. I'm more into comic books, fairy tales and a lot of this not what your average girl will do.

### I'm finishing my twelfth grade, finally getting ready to finish school and go for college or somewhere.

### But really, how can a Wonderland girl like me date a dreamboat like him? Maybe we can just hang out during prom.

### I finally built the courage to go talk to him and just marched towards the other corner where he sat. He was eating his homemade sandwich and drinking a fruit juice. All by himself. I approached him.

### "uh- would you go- I mean uh, Hi Andrew." God! I'm such a CLUTZ! "are you asking me to the prom, Alice?" he asked with a smile. I noticed my face turning red again. "uh...um...ya." I nodded.

### How did he know about this?

### Andrew laughed and nodded. "alright then. Prom it is." he said in a very charming way. The people surrounding us paused and stared at me. Words like "did she just ask Andrew Waller?" made me just want to kill myself. I was mortified. I was embarrassed.

### "it's okay, Alice." he said. "Just go. See you at prom."

### He gave a nice smile.

### I blushed even more and broke off from the crowd and ran. I started to find myself giggling in relive. Hiding my face as I ran pass the other students in walking along the locker room. I followed the stairs and ran up the ECO ROOM.

### I stopped and took big heavy breaths.

### In and out, in and out.

### Looking at the horizon as I began to wrap my mind on what just happened.

### "he actually said yes!" I smiled. I could feel my heart pounding like as if it was going to come out of me. I let out a loud sigh and began to catch my breath. The sun was warm. I could feel my anxiety melting away as I begin to catch my breath.

### The ECO ROOM is like a garden rooftop. It has five white painted metal tables. Each of it has four chairs. It's a complete set. They also had like six long wooden benches. Well carved to sit on. The rooftop had a row of metal benches filled with plants of all sorts. Roses, daises, morning glories, some big leaved plants in pots and a spot where there is a secret swing. The ground was well tiled, it kept the bugs away. Sometimes I see butterflies flying by.

### The school gardener kept the place well.

### The place is where I usually come up to study or even relax after a long day of studying. But today is different. Today is where I come to be thankful for the chance that I was given. All this while, I was a nobody but maybe just maybe this time, I get to date the boy I love and might even get my first kiss. I started blushing again to myself and hurriedly ran back down. Amanda knew that I scored and offered to take me to do what girls do best, shopping.

### Cloths, Make-up, dresses.

### Not my thing.

### Fast forward a few weeks later.

### It was prom night.

### Normally people look forward to prom, but I am not.

### Picture this. Loud music, over the top dress up.

And a couple of prom kings and queens to make you feel jealous. Rich kids would buy expensive prom dresses or rent tuxedos, give corsages to their dates and sometimes ride to the prom in a rented limo.

### Wish I was that rich.

### I was wearing a bright purple dress. Caused me a lot of babysitting money to get it. As much as I love to be Andrew's prom, I hate proms. Imagine loud music by the local crappy DJ. Disco balls and fruit punch. The loud noises like as if it's a legal club for us. The food. Oh so simple, hot dogs, tacos and simple cakes. Poorly budgeted for a special time of our lives. Our glorious gym used for practice and big basketball games is being used to let amateur dancers "show" their moves.

### Perfect excuse to let us use the gym right? Wrong.

### Using the gym for an event like this is good and all but I personally think it's a bad Idea. The trash is not even on us to clean...

### Just on the other side is a girl, Susan Peterson, one of the school gems.

### She is beautiful but oh so cunning.

### She is dancing with Daniel, her brother. Something tells me they are...Ugh, gross... Another one that I could rec

### I just stared at the dancing floor blankly, thinking about all sorts of wired stuff.

### "Excuse me miss, may I have this dance?" uh...yeah.

### "miss? miss?" I was daydreaming again.

### "Alice..." my sight began to focus again. "Uh-huh." I replied confused.

### "Daydreaming again huh?" Andrew asked smiling.

### When I came to, I caught Andrew staring at me.

### "You're a bit off today." he gave me the look. I just smiled back at him, turning red while doing it. "so, do you want to dance?" I asked. "yeah sure." he holds my hand gently and took me to the center of the dance floor. Andrew's presence in prom made him a star. Everyone wanted to hang with him. Which is why he asked me kindly to stand in the corner and promised that he'll be back.

### I tried to relax myself and let lose. But inside, I was crying out to leave.

### Andrew was leading me in the dance. He took two steps forward in a gentle tempo, I could instantly follow it. The dance was doing fine. The crowd began to stop and stare. I was turning red again as usual when I'm nervous. God, make it stop!

### I gave into the anxiety and let the dance flow. "See? Much easier now is it?" Andrew encouraged. I just nodded. I didn't say a word.

### I mean after tonight, we'll just go back to our normal lives, but tonight we're going to have fun.

### It does actually feel much better. I was at ease.

### Too at ease. I wasn't worried but I was terrified. Normally anxiety hits you with heavy breathing and panic.

### But that night my reactions became different.

### Something doesn't feel right.

### Something is off.

### My body became too warm. My hands started glowing.

### I'm getting nervous. Andrew looked scared. He was struggling to hold my hands.

### I could feel his heart pounding faster and faster.

### I wanted to let go. I gave Andrew the scared look while I pulled myself away.

### I gave Amanda a look.

### She was in the other corner, smiling at me seeing me grow up.

But her smile became a frown as my face signaled her that something is wrong. Very, very wrong.

### I mouthed towards Amanda, "we have a problem..."

### My hands began to glow in purple light. It was heating up like as if it's being its own

### light bulb. Burning, radiating and consuming my hands. I ran towards the food isle through the huge crowd and dipped my hands in the fruit punch bowl. Ugh...Sticky!

### The lights in my hands started to glow more. Sooner, I realized that the whole bowl was covered in light.

### I then pulled my hands out staring at it for a few seconds seeing it glow. Good thing no one noticed me.

### Amanda came towards me and dragged me to an empty corner. Looking confused and anxious, she took her red scarf off and warped it around my hands. "explain this!" she whispered.

### "I-I do-don't know." I stammered. I don't know what happened to me but that was a freaky moment. We ran out of the scene and into the available toilet to avoid any further observation. Several guys appeared from the Exit door and stared at us. One of them marched towards me and started catcalling.

### "hey pretty." I tried to avoid them.

### "oh go home guys!" Amanda snapped.

### Andrew showed up a few minutes later, running as he called my name.

### "Hey Alice! You okay?" he asked placing his arms on my shoulder.

### "uh... Yeah. Be there in a sec." I shoved it off and slide towards the girl's toilet with Amanda guiding me in.

### Amanda immediately leaned against the door. I checked each of the toilet doors, it's all empty. I began unwrapping the scarf checking my hands. They were still glowing!

### WHRRRR. The hands began to create this wired sound. Glowing and making this high pitched sound.

### "what the hell is that?" Amanda asked in awe.

### "I have no idea." I said facing blindly at my glowing hands.

### The lights begin to hover down as I calmed myself.

### It seemed controlled.

### Amanda left the door and marched towards me, staring at the hands that stopped glowing. She stared at me expressing the "are you okay?" look. I'm not exactly accustomed to seeing glowing hands.

### But given that it only happened once, I decided to brush it off and walk back to the dance floor. Amanda was surprised to see me pretend as if nothing happened. Before I join Andrew, I turned to Amanda believing that I can trust her on this. "you need a doctor Alice." she said kindly. "no, no doctors. Its only once right?" I answered. I told Amanda that I'm going home straight, Amanda told me to brush it off so I did. The night was still early but given that I just saw my hands glowing, it could be hard to brush it off. "no one must know about this." I whispered. Amanda just nodded.

### NO ONE

### I didn't tell my parents about what happened during prom.

### I was scared of how they would react if I told them my hands could glow. Prom ended with me and Andrew dancing till midnight and went home. He walked me back which was kind of him, on our way he asked me was I having a girl moment. How smart of him I wondered. I just agreed even though I don't have a single clue what is going on.

### I went on in school as usual. No rumors of a girl in a blue glitter dress with glowing hands. Good. Andrew didn't call me or even talked to me after the prom. Not even in school. Guess I scared him off.

### Amanda didn't ask about the glowing hands. She took a few days off to ask me about it. But so far, there was nothing.

### I did however found out that I'm a light bulb sponge. I can absorb any form of light. Neon lights, lamp lights, head lights, except for natural lights from fire and the sun. I'm a fast learner.

### I found that out when I tried to catch a bouncing ball in my bedroom. While catching it my table lamp light started to fade out and flowed to my hands. It tickled a bit but I felt strengthen, charged, powered.

### Suddenly, I became a lucky child.

### "you have to tell me everything, Alice." Amanda said.

### "Yeah but..." I answered. I didn't even know where to start. During prom? in my own room? Or when I used to pretend I would draw with lights? It's actually not a bad thing. Lights, beams, Neon... I could get used to this. My powers are actually very colorful.

### Amanda was more thrilled than I am. She brought out our old cam recorder to document what I could do with my powers. We searched online and found out about other people with my "symptoms" they called it The Butterfly.

### Quote: the ability to blast powers of light towards objects through the direct influence with the power of light.

### "sound familiar?" Amanda asked. "very." I replied.

### "this is amazing! Who knows what you can do with your powers and what limits you can reach?" she squealed excitedly.

### "yeah but how do I even start it?" I asked.

### "do whatever you did to make it work last time." Amanda said while holding my hands together.

### Uh...okay. I was calm right?

### Maybe if I stay at ease, I can power it.

### I focused and let my heart rate drop. Nothing.

### Amanda hurried me like as if she is on a meeting or something and is still in a jam asking the other drivers to get going.

### "come on Alice, keep trying!"

### "CALM DOWN WOULD YOU!" I shouted while raising my hand up, stopping her.

### Then a spark of purple light appeared and blasted Amanda to the ground. WHRRRRR~ PEW!

### Next thing I knew, Amanda was seen flying away from me, landing to the ground.

### Amanda fell onto the grass and dirtied her jeans.

### "OW!" Amanda cried. "I am so sorry..." I apologized.

### I reached my hands and pulled her up from the ground and looked back at my hands again.

### "it's okay." Amanda said standing up to her feet.

### "I think I know how to power it." I said.

### "really? How?" Amanda joined me looking at my hands in confusion.

### I pointed my hands at an old pot and began to fire.

### WHRRRRRR~

### PEW! PEW!

### I hit one of the old pots and realized it shattered into tiny bits.

### "whoa! How did you do that?" Amanda asked.

### "I kept myself calm and confident!" I chuckled.

### I realized that my powers only work if I keep calm and be confident in myself.

### "let's try something else!" I exclaimed.

### Being more excited than Amanda now. I began to sprint out to the pedestrian.

### I was a fast runner and because it's the afternoon, no one would be around to notice. I ran and ran and ran...

### No sooner I realized that a string of light appeared behind me.

### WHRRRRRR~

### ZEZEZEZEZEZEZEZE~ My sprints became turbocharged!

### I was faster. Faster than a race car. I was able to catch up with this plane that was flying by in the sky.

### TEWWWWWW~ TEWWWWWW~

### I was laughing. HAHAHAHAHA...

### I'm running! As I got faster, I noticed my body fading off splitting into bits of five. I noticed my body shrunk as it turns into a butterfly while my whole torso split itself up doing the same. My ligaments followed soon after and no sooner I realized I was the head was the brightest among them. I began to glow and I was faster than how I did before.

### The other butterflies did this formation behind me and soared on the road with me.

### Fast.

### The whole world seemed like it was on slow motion or something.

### I decided to slow down when I reached the big junction but when I stopped, I realized I was already a few kilometers away. My body began to take form. The butterflies slipped into me from behind and I changed to my original form. "this is really something else!" I said to myself.

### Think about it, my speed and powers make me superhuman and I believe this is just a tip of the ice berg. Amanda ran after me like as if I stole something from her.

### I slowed down and waited for her to catch up.

### Amanda later caught up and stopped, placing one hand on my shoulders.

### Huffing and puffing.

### Trying to catch her breath as she tried to speak.

### She finally swollen her breath and began to breath normally.

### "wow. You can be a superhero!" Amanda exclaimed.

### "I think you're right." I smiled.

### "We have a lot of work to do before giving you the superhero name." Amanda said.

### "work?" I asked.

### "what is work? I just can't slow down now..." I said laughing.

### HAHAHAHAHAHA~

### "THIS really is SOMETHING else huh Amanda?" I patted Amanda on the right shoulder.

### Thus, my powers were realized.

### Even though I had no idea how did it I have it, I am sure going to use it.

### But for what? That's the question...

### "wait" Amanda paused. "the site said there is a kid with the same powers as yours that is only in the town right?" her excitement came back. "let's go talk to these people." she said.

### I wasn't too thrilled.

### Why should we get experiences from others like me?

### Most of them are mostly in The Lab. Meaning captured.

### "Amanda, I'm a new bloomer." I said.

### "remember that news about a jail break three months ago?" Amanda just stared at me, confused "yeah?" she answered.

### "maybe there is a reason why people want to keep people like me out from society." I pointed out. "we're too dangerous. We could hurt someone."

### "are you kidding me?" she shouted. "that was freaking awesome!" I tried shushing her down. "will you keep it down?!" I whispered loudly to her. Amanda shrugged and put her arm to my back and walked me back home, smiling.

### Those few seconds of silence were nice...

### I almost felt like I don't have powers.

### We just walked like whatever happened was nothing.

### We keep experimenting more and more the day after. Amanda and I learned that I can knock out people with light beams and that I can walk on buildings as long as I don't stop half way. I could also fade off to be even faster. Cool. There was once where I learn how to write Amanda's name in light and do line drawings with codes of purple.

### The day after I told Amanda about my powers, Amanda and I went to visit her bother and told him about it.

### Amanda's older brother, Phillip owns a shirt printing shop.

### She decided to get me a costume of my own and refine a long sleeved coat of mine. "you'll look bad ass in this." she said.

### Amanda picked up a deep purple cotton shirt and printed a line drawing of a butterfly landing on a rose with three leaves at the end of the branch.

### The butterfly was sky blue and the rose is bright red. Its branches are light green and the drawing is layered in white.

### I like the design. Amanda and I did it ourselves.

### I was the one who drew it and Amanda was the one who made it a real thing.

### By the time it was done, I putted it on and wore my old navy blue long-sleeved coat which Philip helped sow.

### I then wore a pair of brown jeans and long boots.

### I showed Amanda my costume around to show them their work. "you look sick, Alice." Amanda said with a smile. "that looks good on you."

### Philip was not impressed. "could use some originality." he said. "you look like Fetch from Infamous." he pointed out.

### "hey! Don't smudge my masterpiece!" Amanda yelled.

### I think Philip has a point. The costume is amazing but I felt the sense of emptiness. It's not the costume it's the feeling of it. I felt hollow when I wore it.

### It doesn't feel like me.

### Philip is a designer. He is very into style.

### I guess it's his profession. Philip studied diploma in fashion design.

### After he finished his studies, he and some of his friends started a hybrid shop. A shirt printing/ clothing shop. His friend, Sarah and Mike help sell shorts, tank-tops, foodies, jeans, dresses, collar shirts and t-shirts while Philip helps sell some accessories and prints shirts for his customers.

### We used to visit Phillip's shop a lot. And he was an amazing friend and brother.

### When he found out that I had powers he patted me on the shoulder and said "I knew you were special." I was happy. Not because someone knew I had powers but someone valued me as a special kid regardless of the fact that I have or don't have powers. Phillip is a kind person as well as an older brother, seeing me grow up while he studies.

### Now he has his own job, we hanged out even less.

### Amanda used to say the Phillip and I can be siblings since we share the same love for art and patterns. I remember when I was a kid, I showed Amanda one of my drawings of an elephant and though Amanda had no clue what it is, Phillip saw it and decided to print it as a T-shirt and a sew the pattern out of a blue short-sleeved dress.

### Come to think of it, it wasn't revealed yet.

### "someday, you'll see it Alice." Phillip will say.

### "it will be a surprise!" he'll say.

### My powers were still evolving. I discovered that I can use my powers on my eyes, giving me the eyes to have incredible vision. I knew that through using it while drinking soda with Amanda the other day. I was able to capture this old man's face just by looking at him at the corner of the restaurant. My mind was playing his image as I began to sketch on my little notebook. "wicked!" Amanda exclaimed.

### "this would be useful when we try to capture the attacker during a hit and run situation." I muttered.

### Amanda allowed me to roam around the city with my new found powers. The black boots were designed as running shoes while looking like a pair of boots. I got to say, Philip did a really good job helping me with all this. My jeans were well fit. Comfort was what I was looking for.

### "okay Alice. Here's the deal..." Amanda said through a self-made telecommuter. She's good with tech.

### Beautiful and innovative.

### My first mission is to get the city my attention. Its bright and sunny here and all was well. The birds were chirping and the wind was howling in.

### From where I'm at, I could see the Space Needle just fine.

### There is this gang that sells the drugs in schools and it has been on a rise since last month, what these do to kids are that it makes them lose their minds and hallucinate. There were several reports of kids dying from this drug, a perfect moment for taking down the bad guys and making a name for myself.

### I jumped off the building and catch myself by running in thin air. I felt the power surging. Lights glowed up and my body was being completely turned into strands lights. I was running at rapid speed...Amanda had a super RC controlled drone following me as I run, I named it Glitch. Because it shows Amanda images slower than usual sometimes. The butterflies began to appear and my head morphed into the butterflies. I soared through the skies like as if I'm not afraid of it. The air was my road and I am the only one who can run on it.

### I kept my pace and didn't stop. If I did, I'll fall. I ran till I reached for the other end of a building and stopped at the top. My body slowly expanded to my human form and flash itself back to my own body. My ligaments reformed and I was able to walk again.

### "Phew! That was easy..." I muttered.

### I scanned through my surroundings and noticed a very strange man driving a red truck. "that's our guy right?" I asked through the telecommuter. "Yup!" Amanda said on the other side. "get him!" I ran down. Down,down,down.

### TEWWWWWW~ TEWWWWWW~

### Back to the streets I thought I was going to slam into the concrete floor but I balanced myself and turned up. Almost slamming the floor but I bounced back and started running again.

### I ran and ran and ran.

### "whoa! Watch it!", "Hey what's that?", "I think it's one of those convicts!"

### Those were coming from the people around me as I ran pass them.

### The strands of light moved according to me.

### The red truck was ahead of me and its driving faster and faster like it's in a rush.

### I kept myself up to speed after the truck.

### TEWWWWWW~ TEWWWWWW~

### No cops. Wired.

### I kept running. My pace was well kept.

### "come on Alice! Go!" I told myself.

### My speed burst and I began to split open. My arms and legs tore itself apart and my head flew off the body. They began to morph into butterflies.

### "No! No! No! Not now!" I screamed in my head.

### Too late. My head shrunk into the size of a stick with two eyes and my hair blew up to the shape of a butterfly wing. I began to go faster and faster. I looked forward and noticed the strands of lights getting bigger. They glowed of brightness as I rushed through the amount of traffic. I was reaching for the truck door but failed to catch it then a thought came through me.

### I don't need doors. I just need to get the proper entrance.

### I charged up to the truck again.

### "this time..." I said out loud "this time for sure!"

### I kept running.

### Then a voice came in.

### "Alice!" it spoke. It sounded static.

### "Alice! Reach for the top for the truck..." it was Amanda! I can hear her here?

### I ran and ran and prepared myself to stop. My body and legs reconnected my arms came in next while my head stuck itself back.

### I took a big leap as the truck kept going at regular speed.

### JUMP! I faded again into the butterflies and flapped my wings high up a bit and landed on top of the truck.

### My body began to form itself back as a human again.

### It felt like I just snapped back to reality.

### I tried to balance myself on top of the truck with my hands outstretched wide. "Knock! Knock!" I said.

### WHRRRRR~ PEW! WERRR~ PEW!

### I aimed my hands on the top of the driver seat and shot it open.

### The beam fried the top and exploded it causing the corners to turn purple.

### The driver saw me and was in shock.

### He reached for his gun pointed at me.

### "No witnesses!" he said angrily.

### BALM! BLAM!

### Shots were fired. Hitting my chest twice.

### I was surprised that it got through.

### My body lost control and fell straight down the back of the truck and slammed inside. I crashed against several wooden cartels and smashed it down. I thought I was going to die. Suddenly my powers kicked it!

### A ball of light glowed and covered my gunshot wounds. The bullet popped out of my body like as if it was nothing and the hole sealed up looking good as new.

### "this fast healing thing is going to come in real handy!" I thought to myself and stood back up. Continuing where I left off.

### I shot a few more shots of beam while the driver tried to shake me off.

### I was still standing strong.

### The driver took a huge turn on the driving wheel to the left and accelerated even more.

### All the sudden, I lost balance and flung off the truck and flew into the streets. I tried to power up and break my fall.

### Too late. WHAM! KRANGGGG~

### I fell on a pile of trash on the other side of the pedestrian.

### Ow! I landed on my hip and fell on my back. A Passerby and a few others saw me fell and watched as I got back on my feet. That's the bad news but the good news, I'm still alive.

### "Alice! Shit man! Are you okay?" Amanda asked on the other side.

### "Hey!" I said with a broken smile and walked after the truck.

### The lights glowed to heal the wounds again.

### The truck lost control and flung to the right and crashed on one of the light posts on the right side of the road.

### "Alice? Alice?" Amanda asked in panic. "you there?"

### "Hey Amanda, I got our guy. I think..." I said walking towards the truck.

### What a ride!

### With my heart pounding really hard, I crept across the street slowly and looked in the car. The man was knocked out.

### Probably because of his reckless driving.

### I opened the back of the truck.

### "got them!" I said as a groan over that fall from the truck.

### "hey Amanda," I said.

### "yeah?" she replied over the telecommuter.

### "you owe me Ice-cream." I moaned.

### Even though having powers helped. It still was a hard crash on the floor.

### It still hurt.

### I walked a few miles towards the nearest neon sign ahead the scene.

### Need to recharge.

### I began to open my hands and focused. My hands began to glow. The colors from the neon sign, though not on began floating.

### The colors came towards my hand and slowly vanished as it enters my body.

### I could feel my body being recharged. My body felt like it just got on fast healing mode.

### That pain that I just had, gone after absorbing that neon sign light. I checked my location, I looked up and saw a street sign. My geography about Seattle wasn't so good but I found out. Bell-town.

### Funny, I was just in East Queen Anne. Maybe I am fast.

### I got my body straight, adjusted myself and began to walk towards home.

### "that was easy." I muttered.

4

The Friend

### Hector:

### I can't believe how hard it is these days to survive from all this power stuff. They don't call this place "The Rain City" for no reason. I've lost a lot during these three months, having shelter to stay low is more than enough. The rain filled the city. Raining like cats and dogs.

### It was crazy.

### For these few days, I've been running in the woods. After miles of running and running, I managed to find a city. Seattle to be exact. I hitch hiked my way to the city. I found a cargo truck at a nearby pit stop miles away from the town I was in. The journey was not so pleasant. I have to bear with the bumpy ride to where the truck was heading. After an insufferable ride, I finally made it. But I was too tired to wake up. The next early morning, I woke up and took off. I had no idea why the driver didn't check his cargo but I'm guessing he is also too tired to check it out. Survival 101. Step 1, Keep moving.

### Step 2, find shelter. The Neon lights lid up the dark corners as the raindrops soaked the buildings around the city. The ally was dark and well, I don't like alleys.

### There are rats, cockroaches in there.

### As much as I hate it I still don't chose to go in it.

### The driver must have spent an entire night driving. I kind of felt sorry for him. The truck was a vegetable truck. It had a load of carrots, apples and many other vegetables and fruits.

### Moments like this is where I thought of Alice.

### Her face, her smile.

### She's probably enjoying life now.

### Going for college, making friends.

### While I had to bear with all this.

### The trial from The Lab is not usually this slow but I managed to escape them all the time. The city was still new to The Lab in Seattle when I came. Lab Trucks were still scouting the area, the streets and take ground when I arrived.

### I need to get out.

### I need to leave.

### There is no way I am going back to The Lab.

### I've did a lot of running but this is like running without food and water. The weather was a bad day to even come out. It was raining that time and I was all wet and cold and I was hungry. The city was covered in a huge fog. Its somewhere around the evening.

### Rain fell without mercy on me.

### I hid among the trees sheltering me from the rain. Struggling to keep myself dry. These new change of clothes won't be dry for long in a weather like this. I've been adventurous but this is a first. Being lost, hungry and tired. I crouched down looking to my left and right for help.

### I can't go anywhere in this weather. As I was sitting there, I noticed this girl wearing a long black rain coat. She was using a big red umbrella. She walked pass me without noticing. I was looking left and right hoping the rain will stop. The wind was howling madly, the rain drops became heavier and heavier. It seems that it won't stop. Another man passed by. I didn't notice it but the figure flashed by my sight and before I could wrap what passed by me, the man snatched the lady's purse and ran. I looked around, no one. Just the snatcher and lady.

### I'm going to use my powers...

### To hate the people who are hunting me down is one thing but that lady is still innocent. I feel the fire burning under my soaked shoes and my arms became consumed in flames. As soon as I realized that the fire reached my back, I ran like the wind and rammed against the snatcher.

### WHAM!

### Slammed the snatcher right down. Uh, ow. Bad idea. I checked the snatcher, still alive.

### Just passed out. Probably because I hit him hard. The lady ran towards us but kept her distance.

### Oh crud! She found out!

### Oh I'm done for!

### All those efforts to escape wasted because of doing the right thing.

### I tried playing cool, keeping my head down while trying to run off.

### "got it! Here you go..." I said with my head down.

### Okay, just make a run for it!

### The lady got lower to my face and just looked at me.

### "um... Are you okay?" she asked while staring at me.

### "uh... Yeah." I stood up. "your purse." I handed the purse to her and she gratefully received it back and that girl was Melissa Wits. That was her name. She was a nice person. She shares the same age as me but has a much better life than I do. Mel had long straight black hair. She has brown eyes and her smile was beautiful. One of the warmest smile I've seen so far for these few days. She was wearing a fully pink rain coat covering her clothing from the rain. She used a bright red umbrella and wears a sunflower pin on her head. And wears a pony tail. Her eyes were brown and it has the word "kindness" in it.

### I think I might like her.

### Some of the people here hate Convicts and wanted to kill them but as for Melissa, I still considered her as some of the humans with no regard for people like us. Convicts and Humans should stay the same no matter if you have powers or not.

### Melissa was just this nice kindhearted girl. She was thankful and wanted to return the favor by giving me a place to stay.

### My jeans were soaked and a worm green collar shirt became squishy. My black coat changed from black to a bright red one when I found another coat to change. It was also wet.

### I was alone and people would just pretend that they didn't see me. But Melissa took empathy and helped me. For the last two weeks out on the streets, I kept my powers a secret and only use it for emergencies. My sources are very limited but I did find shelter that could last for only a few days.

### I managed to get some rain coats and Fire to absorb.

### But what Melissa offered will keep me alive and might even keep me away from the streets. I told her half of the truth, I told her how long I've survived and fought to live. She found it interesting and offered her place for me to stay. Hence, to where we are now.

### Melissa's place is an apartment. She insisted that I stay there until I get things sorted out. I then insisted to go up by flying up to the back exit. Helps make the issue less conspicuous. Melissa went on her way as usual while I prepared myself and made a big fire leap to the rooftop. I reached a great height and began to fire up my arms. They started burning, catching me as I try to float in the air. I keep heating up my arms and they took me higher. The I kept getting higher towards the building and finally reached the back exit Melissa mentioned. It had small pots of morning glories dangled by a hanging spot. The pole is painted black and it has several shelves drilled to the poles. All metal made.  
It's being kept divided by a roller glass window.

### Beyond the divider is a nice house full of bright colored furniture. I noticed there was no sofa. All were bean bags that is in the shape of fruits. A red strawberry, a yellow banana, purple grapes and orange oranges. One however is a huge Totoro bean bag with its name at the center of its tummy written in green.

### The wallpapers were white with Studio Ghibli paintings. I've never seen any of it but I never liked anything Anime but I just leave it as it is.

### One was a girl in a broom stick, another is some in-symmetric robot.

### The doors are all wooden and there is a heater in one corner. I could also find a plush of an orange brown cat that is a hybrid of a bus. Cat Bus? I have no idea. I wasn't accustomed to seeing things like these.

### Melissa came in a few minutes later and opened the glass window for me to come in.

### "Cat Bus?" I asked as I gave the plush a better look.

### Melissa looked shocked. "How did you know?" she asked.

### "I actually don't. But a cat with a bus body is not hard to tell" I replied.

### Melissa just smiled. "The Cat Bus is my fave." She explained that she is a bit of an Anime lover.

### She watches anything that has a very good concept and a good story.

### Not the kind of girl I expected but I thought it was groovy.

### "you should dry yourself up." her hair was soaking wet.

### "It's okay," she smiled. "I can use a towel and hairdryer to dry it off."

### Melissa prepared some cloths for me and let me use her bathroom to clean up. I don't recall using a fancy bathroom in the Lab but just do whatever that makes me clean. I was given my own toothbrush and towel, figured it was hygiene. After all those years of using a huge bathroom, I kind of forgot how to use a proper small one.

### The toilet is simple looking.

### The colors are yellow green and the windows are wide open.

### It smells of lemon with her huge net bag of green and yellow lemon hanged in between the windows.

### There is a glass door dividing the shower from the sink and toilet seat.

### LEMON SMELL.

### Interesting...

### I kept the doors shut and started cleaning up.

### My powers were useful. Fire radiate my palms with heat and began to rub my face against the heated palm.

### I feel the heat baking my skin. Cleaning everything out.

### I feel the facial hair and dirt cleaned up from my skin. I later proceed to the body while the water from the showers rained down. It was warm, just right for me to relax. It took me a while to leave the bathroom. The smell was good and homely.

### I guess it's just that I never been to an actual home. The cloths Mel provided are amazingly kept well. She gave me a brown long sleeve shirt and a pair of black jeans. The cloths were warm and comfy to wear. Mel used to stay with her older brother but He left to work elsewhere. Now it's just Melissa alone. "dinner's ready." Mel knocked.

### I went all over the place and scrambled out of the bathroom and ran to the hall.

### It actually looks different at night. In the day, its bright and homely but at night, its cozy and warm. Mel cooked brown rice with a plate of mixed cabbages, some grilled chicken and cooked eggs. I tried to keep my manners by eating slowly. Surly she is the healthy kind.

### Melissa just smiled "don't have to be polite. You must have been hungry."

### I switched to eating slightly faster. I was really starving!

### Melissa just stared at me. "so, how did you do that fire thing?" I choked as she said those words. "uh, I don't know how to control them yet." I replied. "no way. How did you know you could get up from the back door when you still can't control your powers?" she pointed out.

### I was silent. "I can't help someone who doesn't trust me." she spoke again.

### putted my food down and swallowed the remaining food in my mouth and began to speak when it was empty.

### "I am not your typical street kid who needs help. I have powers. I can control fire. They call us Dragonflies" I began. "who is 'they'?"

### "The people who tested us and categorized us. They are scientist, they study us. They keep us shut while providing openings for us that would be impossible to reach." I explained. "Life in The Lab is undignified." Melissa kept quiet and said nothing while I continued eating. Melissa didn't ask much after that. She just prepared a bed for me at the hall and let me rest for the night.

### I had trouble sleeping last night. I tossed and turned uncomfortably. I felt bad for telling Mel the harsh truth about MY own life problems. It's as if she didn't have enough problems to worry about.

### I felt it was not fair for her, a new friend to bear with all this.

### I woke up early and took my pair of dried up shoes.

### I went to the back door to get my shoes but when I went over, I realized that its gone. "Where did it go?" I asked.

### Mel appeared behind me "Here. New shoes." the pulled out a pair of black Nike Shoes that were the same size as mine. She then marched towards me and handed them to me.

### "thank you Mel." I said. "look if you want to go, sure but I you ever need help. I'm her-" before she could finish,

### A shot of fireball hit Melissa in the chest and killed her!

### "MEL!!!" I cried as she landed to my arms.

### Melissa's face turned pale, she was out cold.

### I was in shock.

### I was mad.

### I looked towards where it was shot and noticed a man on the top of another skyscraper, Sean!

### I ran after him. I smashed through the window with a great leap.

### But I realized that there was no fire coming out from me. I felt strange.

### I had no powers!

### I was left stunned as I witnessed my own fall.

### I am going to die!

### After all this, and this is how it ends? A killer loses?

### A foolish death? An ally's death?

### I was scared.

### Was sweating and I was moving.

### Struggling to move.

### "Help!" I tried to scream but I was too scared.

### The next thing I knew,

### DARKNESS....

### Whoa, what a dream!

### I had nightmares of me being consumed by fire or drowned by water but this is a first. Losing someone I cared and falling to my death. Plus, I just met Mel...That is some deep stuff. My heart pounded loudly as I opened up my eyes to see I am still in Mel's place. I sat up looking out the window. Trying to wrap my mind around what happened. I went out for a walk secretly to distract myself from the horrific images of death in the face in the dream. There's something about it that is not right with it. It was a long walk Why am I feeling sympathy? It's hard to trust people because you're a Convict. You learned the everyone is against you because your different, But I brushed it aside.

### I'll be gone very soon anyway.

### By the time I came back, Mel was already awake.

### "morning." she greeted. "morning." I greeted back.

### Mel prepared breakfast and invited me to join her.

### I was trying to control myself while eating again. Given that I took Mel's dinner, I decided to slow down. It was quiet.

### "so about that fire thing," I started.

### "Hector, stop!" Mel said. "I know why you wanted to keep your powers a secret. "my heart pounded harder. "what? "I asked

### "I went research on your symptoms and I discovered what you are." she began. "I discovered you can feel heat; you can shoot fireballs. You can levitate with your heat waves." She stopped eating and looked at me.

### "You're a Dragonfly. And your being hunted by the people from The Lab." My heart pounded louder and louder.

### "three days ago, an accident happened. A group of escapades broke out of their cells and caused a decoy and escaped." she continued "you're the last of the Dragonflies!"

### I was silent. I was exposed.

### "you got me." I said. "how did you know?" Mel straighten up and began to speak "Hector, I want you to trust me when I say, you and I are allies. Not strangers." she declared.

### I took a moment to think. What should I say?

### I don't want to hurt her or even walk off.

### Then the dream reminded me. My life will cause the life of others. Others who would die for my cause. "I don't want you to get hurt Mel." I was trying to stop her from getting into something that she shouldn't be in. "you're just a normal human."

### "I'm not afraid." She replied, staring at me in the eye.

### She really meant it!

### Thoughts were running in my head as I begin to process what Melissa just said. She's human and she's not afraid.

### What is this girl doing?

### I asked Melissa if I could stay for a few more days.

### She said yes.

### I wandered around the city, trying to get some air after all that I've been through. This is good so far but the Lab is here in Seattle. It's only a matter of time before they set search parties and other of forces to hunt us all down.

### "God damn!" a man called out.

### "how does it feel to loose so many Dragonflies in an entire night?"

### I turned and realized it was Jake Flint.

### His lab cloths changed into a purple hoodie jacket.

### He wore a brown long pants and also a pair of new sneakers.

### "how the hell can you live with that?" I asked.

### "well, I didn't." he said with a smile.

### He walked beside me and stared out at the fog.

### "things are about to change." he said.

### "just you wait. If I were you, I'll head to the towns."

### He turned off and vanished from the fog.

### "what about you?" I asked.

### He didn't answer, disappearing from my sight.

5

The Discovery

### Jacob:

### I am not one of those kids you'll like to hang out with.

### I am nasty. I am an artist!

### I'm the kid who would look like he is a school dropout but sadly, I was NEVER in school. Normally, kids my age will go to college or something. But for Me? I do "community service" by providing free graffiti artwork around town. Nearby the famous Big Fish Restaurant, on the right side of the building, I sprayed painted a big fish bone with other smaller fish bones inside of it. The lines were bold black and some of the fish bones are in Red and Blue.

### Another is outside the local post office; I did this Mocking motion from its first to its last form. Thanks to the local library!

### Those were one of the new books that just came in. The Hunger Games.

### It's a story about this distant future where people had kids killing each other for entertainment or something. I've just started reading.

### They also had these books like Twilight and something by Jeremy Scott. That one was a good book. It talks about these kids with powers or something. But such worlds don't exist but only in fantasies.

### There is no way a kid has superpowers in real life.

### And this world is no different, I'm just an average street kid from town dragged into this big story.

### I've read stories of Superman being Superman because he was born with it, I've read stories of Spider-man because he was bitten by a radioactive spider. I've read of Batman being Batman because he is rich.

### But I'm no rich kid. I am like a misfit in this little town. But they liked it. A little mischief never hurt anyone.

### My mischief is art! Graffiti to be exact.

### Phew, another artwork done!

### I'm around the docks. Best place to do it.

### The docks are connected to a bigger part of the sea.

### I was doing this graffiti about a bird fading into water into a river.

### My graffiti are usually in black,blue,white and red because my God-father is not really rich. He did take me go fishing out at sea with some of his friends once.

### Henry used to be a cop. It's said he once partner with this spunky rookie and in the process decided to retire and become a full time fisherman. Uncle Henry is a single man currently best friends with Aunt May. Both are old but loved each other like best friends and don't plan to date or marry each other anytime soon. It is said he saw some pretty terrifying and beautiful things and he's told me all about it.

### "the city is full of its own people..." he'll always say.

### "JACOB! Get off the new town hero's memorial wall, now!" Henry shouted from below the hero's memorial wall.

### The Hero's Memorial Wall is a wall that has pieces of graffiti of the heroes in this town. It could be anyone. From a local headmaster to a fireman. All are little paintings from local graffiti artists. Except me. Uncle Henry is one of those. Uncle Henry helped kill a wild bear for killing some campers back in his hay day. But I was only messing with the newest one from our town painters.

### Sheriff or officer Vince. He had his face plastered so big on the wall that it could have added a few more faces to the wall.

### He used to be my best friend. Until he took the job for the badge. Now he's just a showboat for charity and a pain to the hillbillies and street kids like me.

### "alright! I promise not to do vandalism on the Hero's Memorial Wall." I simply replied.

### Uncle Henry is always worried about me. I guess that's what all parents do. But with Uncle Henry, he worries that I become a bad kid or something. The memorial wall is a huge wall that is a hundred and fifty feet high and two hundred feet long and its really thick. They all randomly painted on either each other or by itself. All because of some old town tradition...

### You probably never heard of this town. Brinnon is a census-designated place in Jefferson County, Washington. The population here is 803 at the 2000 census. The community is named for Elwell P. Brinnon, who in 1860, took a donation land claim at the river's mouth. Brinnon is the home of Camp Parsons, the oldest Boy Scout camp west of the Mississippi River. It was visited by Lord Baden-Powell in 1926. Its approximately 61 miles north of Olympia, Brinnon is located on the Olympic Peninsula's east side, along Hood Canal on the eastern edge of the Olympic National Forest. My home.

### In another word, sturdy.

### This place offers an abundance of outdoor recreation from kayaking and scuba diving on the Hood Canal to hiking in the Olympic National Park and the Olympic National Forest. Go boating in Pleasant Harbor Marina or play in nearby Dosewallips and Triton Cove State Parks.

### This town is full of people who lived a normal life.

### Me? I'm a street artist. I chop my art at wherever I want.

### I see things with my own ways but I know that I was meant for more.

### But now, the present does not look so great.

### From what I heard, Seattle has recently been taken over by The Lab.

### A group of Convict hunters.

### To me I honestly believe these people are just scared.

### I mean think about it, having someone forcefully flush you out from safe house to safe house must feel really bad.

### But here in Forks, we have chosen not to bother so much.

### I climbed down the ladder and fall to the ground with a hard drop.

### "why must you mess with the wall, son?" Henry asked.

### "why must you be such a pain in my behind, old man?" I shot back.

### "what did you just say?" Henry stopped walking and stared. I was just stood and said nothing. "I am not your old man, punk!" Henry said that angrily while trying to hit my head as a punishment. "yeah, well you are not my dad either." I pulled my arm off. "yeah, your right but I'm your guardian and you live by my rules okay?" he said giving an aggressive push on my head. "now go!" Henry's earlier angry tone became a more nagging one. "head over to Aunt May's" he said that while pushing me forward. "and stay till the end of service!" he yelled as I walked far away from him.

### I walked forward and said good-bye to uncle Henry,

### I find myself in a familiar road.

### Road to the church...

### Yes, I go to church. Our town is small but our faith is on God. I was trying to be late because it would be the same old thing. I want some adventure than reading some old dusty bible. The wind was rustling madly. And the birds flew pass and the sun began do dull.

### The path to the Church is easy to remember. The path is being made because it is being marked by huge stones about the path to the Cross of Jesus Christ.

### With the introduction sign that wrote "THIS PATHWAY IS A REMINDER OF HOW JESUS WENT FROM THE EARTH AFTER THE LAST SUPPER TO HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS TO THE GRAVE TO HIS RISING. WE PRAY YOU HAVE A VERY REFRESHING AND MEANINGFUL TIME AS YOU HIKE TO CHURCH WITH GOD. BLESSINGS, MOUNTAIN TOP CHURCH."

### A few more miles away, I began to notice the first stone that was being en carved in gold saying: "Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. The path is a clear sand pathway. The road was being partly wood buried as a staircase uphill. The grass was well divided although some were passing through to the pathway. After a few minutes of climbing, I noticed the other big rock that wrote "Judas betrays Jesus." "okay." I sighed "two down, way more to go"

### Basically reliving the story of how Jesus went to die on the cross and rose again on the third day.

### The hike is almost a fifty-minute hike.

### I'm no sports guy but I do parkour which makes me quite fit.

### After an insufferable hike, I reached the top of the hill with a metal image of Jesus with the word "He is Risen" on the bottom of the sculpture.

### "Oh thank you, Lord!" I exclaimed in relive.

### I took a while to catch my breath while looking at the well sculpted metal sculpture. Its surroundings are all natural, a wood house made for being the indoor church and further ahead is an outdoor service spot with some stand fans placed around the spot.

### The road is well covered in wood and the trees were standing tall along with it, blocking the sunlight. It gives the place a fantasy look.

### I could see the baptism fountain and man made pool ahead.

### Just a bit more!

### But before I took a few more steps, something crashed into the pool thundering the earth with a furious crash!

### The waters in the pool burst out and soaked the ground nearby...

### Our Pool!

### I got moving and ran to the pool. The figure was horrifying.

### Scary as hell. It was covered in sand. Solid but there was still sand dripping down from it. I was scared.

### The figure turned and stared at me for a couple of seconds then I saw something surprising. It was a man. "what have you done to Aunt May?" I asked as I confront the monster. "now listen kid, I don't want no trouble. "the man spoke. "I was being sent by The Lab."

### I looked at him puzzled. "what Lab?" I asked.

### "look they said they'll gave me a chance." he said.

### This man had a slim figure, lean and muscular. He was wearing a full orange collar shirt and long orange pants.

### "where is aunt May?" I asked again.

### "look, I-I don't know where your aunt is, kid..." he stammered as he tries to escape.

### I reached out and grabbed his hands, stopping him from escaping.

### The man was struggling to release himself.

### My grip grew tighter.

### "I'll ask you again, where is aunt Ma-" my head started turning stiff.

### My body felt like it's got a big shock. I started hallucinating. So this is what being High feels like huh?

### I tried to resist but the images got clearer and I saw even more images. It was all about the man.

### There was a voice over. His voice.

### "I had powers when I was just seventeen..." he started.

### "...guess I am one those Convicts that I heard on the news so much about.... At first I was excited to go this special school but I discovered the truth..." his tone changed to an angry one. I saw an image of this man when he was younger, discovering his powers. "it was a lab for nutters like us..." the tone grew more intense. The image changed to an image of a special cell, keeping this guy in.

### "...they used us...abused us...experiment us... Tore us from the inside out. That's no way for a man to live. But they taught us how to use our powers. That's the fun part. With all that training, I manage to do the impossible! I escaped!" this guy is a prisoner!

### "it wasn't easy I'll tell ya...caused my best friend to escape and I promised to come back for him..." then an image appeared that bugged me. It was the man. And he has other powered people marching to the tall wall and started attacking it. "all I had to lay low for a few days and I'll be back...and I'm bringing my new toys with me." and then nothing.

### No images. No talking.

### No movement. I felt all dizzy...

### Confused...what was that?

### This guy, wanted to wipe out an entire building just to set them free?

### He is crazy! He is nuts!

### "must...stop...him..." I screamed in my head.

### The man woke up, trembling...

### "you-you-you saw everything... You just messed with my head!" he said while trying to stand up.

### Something doesn't feel right...something is wrong with me...but what?

### I tried to stand up from that sudden faint on the wooden pavement that I just landed on. My legs gave way but I stood, slowly.

### "What was that all about?" I asked out loud.

### Something doesn't feel right...

### I stood still trying to regain my balance. My heads all swooned.

### I start sprinting after the man who just ran a few minutes after me.

### He's escaping! I took a step forward...

### Good! When I took another step, my body felt like its turning into dust.

### I began to shatter into chunks of rocks and took a small leap forward...

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! AAH-AHA!

### KAH-SHA!

### "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" I exclaimed in fear...

### I was terrified to discover my ability to use some kind of power of the earth. It appeared to be sand...

### "it's just a dream! It's just a dream!" I told myself and tried to walk again.

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I faded one more time and reappeared again. KAH-SHA!

### "Oh God! Make it stop!!!" I screamed.

### I was accustomed to see magic tricks but not this!

### I'm doing my own magic trick!

### What is happening? My heart pounded hard, thought I was going to lose myself.

### This is where it gets interesting.

### I used to say I am okay with Convicts, now, I feel why people are afraid of them and why people want to hunt them down.

### Uh, okay let's see what they first do when they get powers?

### They test it. And I have to learn it fast!

### I tried breathing slowly and tried walking again. fine. That's a start...

### What else? I clutch my left hand into a fist and focused on getting it to change I took one last breath and clutched harder.

### Seconds after that, the whole arm morphed into sand...

### Whoa! That's so cool.

### Let's see if I can make it bigger. Think big!

### I tried to imagine letting air entering my sanded arm.

### I breathed again and focused on changing my arm again.

### Think big! The second after that thought, my arm started to grow.

### Like a balloon, inflated in seconds.

### The arm expanded, become extremely huge!

### "I'm going to try the fading thing again." I said to myself.

### See where you're going... I thought. I focused at the direction of where I was heading. I took a big deep breath and focused. I took a big leap ahead and...

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA!

### My body faded into bits of sandy rocks while letting out a line of sand as a tail.

### While in this state, I realized that my sight becomes all black and white and narrowed...

### I thought big again and my body instantly pops back.

### KAH-SHA!

### "This is cool!" I exclaimed staring at both of my hands.

### "I'm one of those Convicts!" I exclaimed.

### I ran after the man who somehow gave me my powers.

### I've always believed that I am only out for small work but this is a whole new story.

### "Time to Play with these new tricks!" I said to myself.

### I kept my sights on the path ahead and charged.

### PAK-KAH-SHA-AHA!

### Poof goes the body!

### I turned and turned and turned left to right...

### Balancing myself like as if I am on a see-saw path. If I go way too to the left, I'll trip...way too to the right, I'll also trip...

### Things move at a regular pace so that I can see easily while in this form.

### The feeling is like your being burnt alive into ashes then being turned into rocks then putting it back together again...

### The feeling is wired yet cool.

### KAH-SHA!

### Gone...

### He ran into the woods to find his way out of the mountain. No way he can escape...

### I know this place like the back of my head. To escape takes only a clear path to the bottom. The place was catching fire.

### Flames emerge like tides. Going upwards. Inflating the wooden ground.

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I could hear the sound of the man trying to run faster. PAK-KAH-SHA!

### "not this time!" I said and reached for him again. PAK-KAH-SHA-AHA!

### I kept in form and reappeared again. KAH-SHA! As my arms reform I reached for his collar and caught him."OW!" the man yelled as I slammed him down the ground. "I want you to fix this!" I ordered. "look kid you ain't normal. You just took my powers!" the man explained. "at least teach me how to control it!" I added.

### But before I could react and asked for more...

### Something solid hard appeared from under the ground like the form of concrete or something really hard from where the man and I are standing. A figure that I could describe as scarier than what I just saw from this man.

### Way scarier...

### The ground changed quick while I tried to run from whatever it was trying to get to me. Was it the man?

### The man panicked and started firing sand blasts towards the concrete like object.

### It began to grow even more and more... morphing into something even more horrifying.

### The figure was tall, big and made of concrete.

### Its concrete shards are stuck out of his body like some Doomsday like character from the comics. He grows every second by size and height. Looking down at me like a giant. "shit!" the man cursed.

### I turned and ran without a thought. The giant hit the ground, causing an earthquake moment. Vibrating the earth.

### The ground rumbled, the rocks began to move up to its surface.

### I used my new found powers to get to safety.

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! AAH-AHA!

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! AAH-AHA!

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! AAH-AHA!

### Disappearing and appearing again and again.

### I'm starting to like it...

### This power made me feel like I'm David Rice in Jumper.

### The man ran faster as the concrete monster was slowly praying on the both of us.

### "hey kid, you wanna help?" the man asked.

### "what?" I asked. No way I'm going to help him.

### "this might be our only chance to win this thing!" he said.

### I hesitated and asked "what do you need?"

### "hit it with me!" he said. "Two heads are better than one kid!"

### I took the call and turned, getting my hands aimed at the monster, being fearless.

### The man turned and fired at the torso of the monster.

### I firing towards his position.

### PEZZZZZ~POOF!

### PEZZZZZ~POOF!

### My hands began to create this stream of sand towards the monster.

### The monster grunted as he marches closer towards us, blocking our streams with its arm.

### I quickly noticed the armor started cracking...

### "just a bit more!" the man said.

### I threw in my all and kicked my serious face in.

### The monster began to lose its stand and began to tumble down to the ground. "bit more!" he cried.

### Seconds later, the monster froze and broke open. Empty.

### Derbies of concrete rolled all over the place.

### Phew! "that was easy..." the man muttered.

### I sighed in relive and began to turn towards the man.

### "start explaining!" my voice changed.

### "what is that?", "what did you do to me?", "who are you?" so many questions.

### "look kid." the man began. "my name is James. I'm a Sand fly and we just been through hell okay. So please slow down. Let me explain."

### "what was that?" I asked.

### "that is her!" he said in a very vengeful tone.

### "see ya!You're part of this world now!" he waved and turned.

### "uh-wait!" I began to sprint.

### The man is actually really fast. Plus, he could disappear.

### The forest was not all that bad. It's almost Autumn and the leaves have pretty much fallen.

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### When I found him, the James was being cocooned by concrete...

### "come on now guys, I just want to-" his voice got muffled by the concrete.

### I took a step back and act casual.

### Armed trucks surrounding the place made me realize James was more than just a Convict. He was a Lab property.

### "so uh...he is caught huh...good job guys!" I said.

### Beside this little concrete mountain was a man and a woman. Both were dressed in black leather jackets. The lady was fairly young. Probably around her 30-s. She was wearing a long black skirt and the man, around the same age as the lady is wearing a long leather jean while the other two people that looked like they are going for some comic convention. Imagine a storm trooper. Now add its white and black with dashes of yellow and orange stripes. These men were armed. They turned their focus to me, looking as if they want to shoot.

### "Whoa! Whoa! I'm just a nobody" I lied.

### The man in black spoke "who are you?" he asked. "why are you with a Convict?"

### "What? Me?" I tried to sound puzzled.

### "I was trying to find my Aunt." I said.

### "James. His name was James." the lady asked.

"yeah. How did you know?" I asked.

### "I have detailed files about him. He's a Convict." she revealed.

### "this thing had it all. He is categorized as a Sand Fly." she pointed at her truck. "do you watch the news kid?" she asked.

### "A what?" I was surprised. "who are you?" I asked.

### "Wednesday Johann." she paused. "clearly this is none of your business." the man said. Wednesday singled her men to stop.

### "that's all you need to know now." she said staring in my eye thinking I actually know the truth about her. "after all this is police work."

### She gave me a cold glare. I glared back.

### Not for one second I believed she and her guys are police.

### They looked more like The Men in Black except this is Leather Edition. Her eyes were cold and emotionless.

### She stared with a meddlesome grin.

### Wednesday looked straight through me. Knowing I was hiding something. We stared at each other for a while.

### Then she finally took a move. "well I believe we should go."she said.

### "no way!" I said. "I need to talk to James." the said nothing. "you were with the Convict for a long time." the man spoke again. "why?" I stuttered and kept quiet. "d-did I say James?" I asked.

### "I meant my friend James. Not this James."

### "you have something to say?" he asked.

### I was quiet. What do you think I've done?

### Did it tell them the truth or lied just to live? The man looked behind and single it to come forward. One of the storm trooper like soldiers dragged my aunt out. "Jacob, who are these people?" Aunt may asked in terror.

### Aunt May! "I'll break this old woman's legs to make you talk!" He said.

### They threaten to use my Aunt to make me talk.

### I've always been a good liar but this is pressure!

### My aunt in the hands of Wednesday, the truth in hand.

### What should I do? What should I do?

### "liar!" I challenged. "I'll ask you again." she grinned.

### "do you have something to say?" she asked.

### *Note: during pages like this where there is a blank space, its up to you to decide to what Jacob Brown does. Its your choice to make him decide. However, there is no right or wrong. But as you progress, you'll know the end results.*

  1. ### Be honest about himself or

  2. ### Lie.

###  [___________________________________________________________]

### I responded.

### "alright...now let Aunt May go." I said.

### "oh I will, but not this way." Wednesday eyes began to glow and shards of concrete shards floated. They are gonna hurt her! I have to stop them. If I don't, who will? Move! MOVE! I screamed in my head.

### Before I could even react to save aunt May, Concrete shards jumped up on my legs. The concrete shards had yellow pattern lines. It glowed madly. It started to expand and grow.

### They were giving weight.

### They were pulling me down.

### I struggled to keep myself up but failed terribly.

### For once in my life, I felt useless. I thought it was over.

### Aunt May screamed in pain as the lady taunts.

### The lady showed no mercy. "oh I know, send my regards to the devil."she said.

### The shards grew in size. The pain was unbearable.

### I cried in pain as my life depends on it.

### Anger and pain grew in me when I saw the woman.

### "who are you?" I asked with my remaining strength.

### "the name is Wednesday and he is my brother, Sean." she said while

### giving me an intimating smile. "we're your worst nightmares!" she snared.

### Sean's eyes bean to blink twice. As Wednesday turned and walked off.

### The shards grew more. I lay there aching over the pain of the shards on my legs. Aunt May was fainted right beside me. Life flashed before me.

### My mind keeps screaming to get it out but I can't.

### I thought I was close to death.

6

The Mission

### Alice:

### The first mission was easy so, Amanda asked me to do another one.

### "that was child's play, Alice." Amanda said over the telecommuter.

"child's play?" I exclaimed. "You and I should switch lives then!" I snapped.

### "look, this one is just slightly harder." She said.

### "your insane, Amanda!" I yelled at the telecommuter.

### I was five feet above the air on another building and everything is a blur.

### A fog fell on the city because of yesterday's rain.

### I've never tried doing this Hero thing in the rain or any windy weathers. Because I am not crazy to get myself killed.

### That's Amanda for you, when she puts her mind into doing doing something, she puts her heart into it.

### In this case, she placed me into this.

### Which is scary since she had nothing to lose.

### Amanda found out about a recent incident that happened. A building caught fire took the place down and the police found out that these killers were after a line of bank CEO 's and will target the Newton family because they are next. We took care of that easy.

### To be honest, being a hero is actually boring. Being on patrol, less sleep and you being misunderstood as a threat.

### Because of my act the other day, I was given the title on the local newspaper:

### "DAZZLE GIRL CATCHES DRUG CARTEL"

### Dazzle Girl? Dazzle Girl? Its light!

### No one seems to grasp the concept of the costume. I was suppose to be like Butterfly Girl or something like that. What kind of name is that? I brushed that off my head and went on with the mission. Mission two was to get some kind of super villain or something to make a huge headline to spark the newspapers which I think its ridiculous but I went with it.

### My body began to spark of purple light as I prepare to jump down from the building. As soon as I jumped down, I fired up my powers and ran like wildfire!

### My body glowed brighter as I ran down the Hilton Hotel building. Everything is in slow motion when I go "Butterfly" the word around me catches every single activity so that I can react to it. I can see a buffet of deserts near the swimming pool. Food! I ran even faster and went "Butterfly". I reached for the bottom and reform myself and pop back to "Butterfly" again and ran after three snacks. Everyone was still not noticing me.

### TEWWWWWW~ TEWWWWWW~

### the speed went on a different sound then back to the one I'm used to hearing.

### TEWWWWWWW~ oh ya! Free food! I ran after the food isle.

"Whoa!", "what was that?" that was what I could make out of from what the crowd said. I caught the sweet cornflakes cupcake, mini apple pie and an Ice-cream cake that is placed a bit further on the isle.

### I kept running and before I knew it, I was near the swimming pool.

### There are kids there and some teenage girls wearing bikinis. One girl who is blond wore a pink California Kisses swimsuit tied in a ribbon form.

### Time to get naughty! I got closer and reached out my hand to untie it.

### The girl was talking to this cute boy who is wearing a Quicksilver blue palm tree patterned pants. I got closer and closer and pulled the ribbon open. Easy! Instantly when I passed through, the swimwear started falling.

### "Whoa!" the girl yelped as she reached to cover it.

### The girl started blushing of embarrassment as the guy stood back,

### "whoa! Easy there, young lady." he was embarrassed.

### I giggled. "that did it!" I muttered.

### I began to chew on the food and ran towards my objective.

### Pass the pool, through the building and to the streets.

### The pedestrian is crowded with cars and other vehicles.

### "Whoa! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" I yelled as I ran pass them.

### The people were shocked to see a humanoid light running pass them. They thought they saw a ghost!

### I kept running. About a mile later I saw it.

### That's it! I saw it! The other red cartel! Another drug cartel!

### I redyed myself and charge up...And went "butterfly"

### Same thing as before, I rushed up and leap towards the top of the truck.

### "okay, now what?" I asked.

### "check the back of the truck!" Amanda said. "destroy it!"

### "destroy what?" I asked. "the drugs! Get them your attention, Alice!" Amanda said.

### "this is crazy!" I exclaimed.

### I blasted several blasts to the truck roof and jumped it.

### I did a quick scan and found myself stuck with two other guys with guns.

### They were shocked to see me inside.

### More importantly, they were shocked to see me coming in from a moving truck.

### "hey fellas..."I said in a friendly tone.

### "there are two ways this can end-" before I could finish, one of the men started pointing his gun at me and fired a few shots.

### BALM! BALM!

### I dodged the fires and start working on fighting them off.

### "okay!" I said.

### I made a back flip kick on one of the men and blasted a light ball on the other one, instantly knocking out the target and began searching for the cartel.

### I opened it to check for the drugs and found out that it was a bomb! My eyes widen as I stared at the lethal device right in front of me.

### "crap!" I yelled.

### BOOM! RAGGING~

### I hit against one of the truck doors and flew out to the roads.

### The door fell first and shield my back from the fall...

### The glass broke as the door dragged more.

### Ow! I stood up as it finally stopped and ran like wild fire!

### I ran and ran but this time, I ran even harder as I fight through the rain poring down while I chase after the back door opened truck...

### BALM! BALM!

### The driver had a co-driver on the other side shooting a 90 mm pistol at me.

### I easily dodged it while going on the pursuit...

### I was getting tired, I tried to keep up but got too tired to run as my costume carried some weight collecting water under the coat pocket. I stopped and took it off and pursue it again.

### I was lighter, I was faster, I was...I was charged! My confidence built up...

### My eyes glowed and my powers doubled it's size...

### I ran even faster while consuming all the lights around the building...

### A huge flow of energy flowed within me.

### Raw power!

### OH YEAH!

### I ran and ran....

### The lights began to be absorbed like a super vacuum took it all.

### The road is being lid by this super light on the road.

### The power inside me grew in opacity and size.

### WHOA~ WOW! WHRRRRR~

### I was in awe of my speed. Running like my life depended on it.

### The rain gotten heavier and heavier...

### Its like chaos here. Sounds from an electronics shop was playing something loud and upbeat music.

### ~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### WHRRRRRR~

### The song motivated me to run after the truck even faster.

### Like my life depended on it.

### So fast that I didn't realize that I ran pass the truck. Ramming the truck full...I stopped.

### "whoa!" I said.

### Did I just do that? "Amanda,did you see that?" I asked.

### Her voice betrayed her surprise.

### "how can I NOT see that?" she said.

### The truck was swiped clean in half from back to front clean.

### The driver was terrified... He tried to escape but fear got him to turn soft and faint.

### "another one done." I said.

### The cop arrived and pulled their guns out.

### "its okay guys, I got him..." I said in a friendly tone.

### "put your hands in the air, kid!" one of the cops said.

### "Wait..."I thought "they are after me?"

### The cops just pointed their guns at me.

### All this time, I've been standing on the side where its good.

### But they decided to come after me.

### "guys! Please... I want to help!" I said.

### "I said put your hands up now!" one of the cops ordered.

### I lifted both of my hands to my head and lowered my head.

### "is this really necessary guys?" I asked as I moved towards them.

### "no exceptions, hero..." the cop in a brown coat said.

### I assume he is a detective.

### His presence scares me. The Detective is a good looking man.

### He is quite tall and he has a face of danger in his eyes. He wears a pair of brown long pants and a white shirt with a brown trench coat.

### He also wears black converse which is wired.

### Those wet brown trench coat have been through a lot with its owner, I'm sure. He looks like he is in his thirties.

### The detective had a hat to match the coat.

### I could see who he is.

### He looks like your typical Fair skinned American. On his lips,

### he pulled out the white stick on his mouth that turned out to be a strawberry lollipop. He put it back in his mouth and ordered one of the men to cuff me.

### "Alice, make a run for it!" Amanda said on the other line.

### One of the men marched forward. He began to hand cuff me. "that's not going to be enough..." I pointed out."oh I know." he said with a smile. He walked slowly near me. Heavy breathing. His hat stroked towards my soaked hair and whispered "but there are some things you don't know hero. Its probably best I tell you and your friend." He stared up towards his right looking at the droid. Winking at it.

### This guy knows something.

### I wasn't exactly into dark rooms. I've seen it in movies and shows.

### This is a place where there is a good cop and bad cop.

### My sense of Fear just built up like a sudden spike.

### I was terrified. The room is fully black.

### There was a gray table right in front of me while I sit on a gray chair.

### There is a huge reflection glass. I suppose there are other cops on the other side, observing as I'm being questioned.

### What if they call my mom?

### How should I explain to her about my "condition"?

### What if she calls these people that I heard about so much on TV?

### The people from The Lab! I heard of how they treat people like us...

### My heart began to pound even harder. No way I'm going to the Lab!

### They found out about where Amanda lives and has brought him to another room. Even after a few moments of calming down, I was still thinking about ending up in The Lab.

### The Detective came in with a cup of coffee and his coat on the arm.

### He took small steps marching in to his seat.

### Each step he took worries me.

### Just his footsteps makes you nervous.

### It'll make you sweat all over the place.

### My costume is all grossed up from my sweat and the rain, they gave me a huge warm towel to dry off but I think I might need more. I mean this, is enough to warm me up till I'm all sweaty. From all this displeasure, I became super anxious.

### I'm shaking from my shoulders to my legs.

### The detective was just inches away from the table...

### As he got to his seat and sat down...his expression changed...

### I wasn't buying his sudden change but he seemed honest about his expression.

### His pale skin glowed as the white light shone from above.

### The face is the most intimating part. his face is quite young. His dark brown hair well combed.

### "take it easy, Alice" the detective said.

### "my mom told me not to talk to strangers." I replied.

### "yes and I am pretty sure she said not to go play with your powers too." he reacted.

### "what do you want?" I asked.

### "Alice, there are forces that both you and I can't control." he said. "and you are one of them.." he began to lean on the chair.

### "I believe you know what they are called." he said expecting me to know.

### "I don't know..." I answered.

### The detective sighed in disappointment.

### "you will eventually." he said after a brief time of a pause.

### "what makes you so sure?" I asked.

### "let me ask you a question, what happens if you lose Amanda?" he taunted.

### "if you lose Philip?" he taunted again.

### I was mad. How dare he use Amanda and Philip against me?

### "you don't talk like a cop, cop." I said quickly.

### "do you think this is a game?" he scoffed.

### Is he messing with me?

### "what are you trying to say?" I asked.

### "I am saying..." he paused to drink his coffee.

### "you little crusade is gonna come to an end."

### "why?" I asked "I'm just getting started." I scoffed.

### "they'll come after you..." he added. "your best friend...her brother....they are all targets now."

### His words spoke like a dagger to all parts of by body.

### It was an intense questioning session.

### "why are you telling me all this?" I asked sharply.

### "because you'll need my help." he said.

### "who are you exactly?" I asked.

### "someone who has seen all this happen." he said that while looking straight into my soul.

### "someday, you'll need me. You'll need others..."

### "and what can you do?" I asked

### "Alice Dagger is it?" he suddenly changed the topic.

### "yeah" I paused. "who are you?" I asked again.

### I could feel someone behind me. My heart pounded harder. Its as if my heart could just jump out of my ribs. This room got me into a very nervous state. Its getting nerve-wrecking.

### The room turned cold.

### My heart raced faster and faster. This is not how I want to die!

### I did a quick turn. Nothing. I turned back. He's gone!

### I scratched my long black straight hair, wondering where he went.

### The tables went missing, the chair was there but the table just disappeared.

### The room became a big

### "why?" a voice rang in my head. It was the detective.

### "why do you need to know my name?" the voice spoke.

### "I'll put it simple, something really dark is coming this way to our City.

### You and your friends are all targets now. Be careful."

### But his last words got my attention...

### "We're all targets, Even you." the voice faded.

### "What? Who is targeting us??" I asked the air.

### No answer... I panicked...where is he?

### I walked towards the door, trying to escape.

### The room is creeping me out. I don't know why but I felt a cold shiver of fear roll down my body.

### Is there really someone there? I thought to myself  
My muscles felt week, but I forced myself to be brave.

### My heart pounded hard. I tried to stay fearless. was it an optical illusion? No, it can't be. I thought. An optical illusion doesn't call your name. I warped my hands around my head and took a few breaths. In-out, in-out, in-out...

### Feeling a bit better, I walked to the door and opened the door.

### The door was unlocked. No one was ever here.

### "what the heck is going on?" Amanda said on the other side of the room.

### I peaked my head out. "Amanda?"

### "yeah."Amanda said in confusion.

### The hall was a bright.

### It was painted in blue with waiting benches along with police signs.

### Amanda walked quickly towards me like as if something is chasing her.

### She'll feel scared when she is in a closed tight spaced location.

### "Alice, what did the detective say?" Amanda asked as she tightly grab my arm.

### "nothing. But there is something the he said about us..." I said.

### "us?" Amanda was puzzled.

### His voice rang in my memories. I remembered every tone and every word he said. He did mean us.

### "that's right..." I said. "US..."

### We left building, no guards, no body to hunt us down.

### "who was that?" Amanda asked.

### "I have no idea." I replied.

7

The Summoning

### Jacob:

### It feels like a really really horrible dream. Only this is not a dream.

### My body aches with pain and my legs still hurt.

### I woke up in the indoor hall of the church.

### Its all wooden, painted in green and these very old curtains with flower patterns. Guess this part of the church didn't got demolished.

### I tried to sit up. No nurse or whatever to stop me.Good.

### I gave my legs a glance and noticed that the concrete shards were gone.

### Wait! Do I have healing powers?

### I gave my jeans a good pull up and checked.

### Not a scar in sight...

### Guess I do have a healing factor.

### I began to stand. Still have it.

### I was all dizzy in my head.

### How long have I been out?

### I started looking around. So many cloth dividers...

### The last time they had this much dividers was the day when a virus has spread, which killed like 50 people. But that was like five years ago.

### From the visible cloths I could see people having their legs held up with some shards stabbed into their legs, some the hands.

### They all didn't move.

### What happened?

### I kept following the trail and to my horror, I saw something my eyes could not believe.

### Aunt May!

### She was being put to bed.

### Her body just flayed like a helpless doll. Her legs still had those concrete shards.

### She was awake when she heard me come in.

### "hey aunt May..." I whispered.

### "oh Jacob." she said weakly. "good to see you up on your feet."

### I nodded just to see her smile again. I held her old lady hands softly and just stared at her two kind eyes.

### She's around her fifties like Uncle Henry.

### Her skin felt cold. Her face expresses multiple emotions.

### "you looked terrible..." I said.

### "yeah." she replied with a smile. "I feel terrible."

### "aw man, this is all my fault!" I said with my hands holding tightly at her's. "If I didn't go after that man, none of this would have happen."

### Aunt May shaken her head. "its not on you, son."

### "you're one of us." she placed her hand to my chest.

### "we look out for one another." she added.

### I took a few moments to think.

### I gotta help these people...its my job to do it.

### "I gotta help in some way right?" I asked.

### "yes.." she replied. "I can never stop you but whatever it is you want to do, do it."

### I smiled. "remember, God is watching." she reminded.

### "okay, time to get some rest. Go do what you have to do."

### She turned the other way and began to snooze.

### "I'm gonna make this up to you, Aunt May." I whispered to her ear and kissed her on the forehead.

### I took several quiet steps and leave aunt May to rest.

### Her face was in pain but she looked peaceful while resting.

### She just flayed there with a GET WELL SOON sign and some flowers around her bed. I felt sorry for her being into this mess.

### I began to walk out to the exit of the church.

### The town is quiet. I'm gonna do this!

### I'm gonna save the town.

### I had a plan...I had it figured out...

### I'm gonna get Wednesday and Sean...

### I'm gonna get their powers! She has to come back and fix this!

### But if I'm gonna go after her, I gotta train...

### I gotta get more than this new Sand power of mine in my power arsenal...and then, I'm gonna get her. I started tip toed to the exit.

### "Jacob!" it was Uncle Henry. Stopping me when I exited the church.

### He gave me a hug. "let me get a good look at you."

### "how long I've been out?" I asked. "couple of days."

### His face was in relive yet worried.

### "Uncle Henry, what happened?" I asked.

### Henry looked around to see if there is anyone around.

### "some of the people around the church have been infected."

### "by what?" I asked. "you saw what happened in there kiddo..." he pointed out. "somehow you lived."His face changed "she placed something on them." he whispered it in a slightly angry tone. "and the

### only way to get rid of it is how it went in."

### "okay, good enough for me." I began to march out.

### "whoa, whoa,whoa wait!" Henry followed.

### "where do you think your going This is Wednesday and Sean. We're talking about Johann siblings." he's whisper turned back to casual talking. "okay, now what? You wanna be a hero?" he asked. "they'll kill you when in sight!"

### "yes!"I said with confidence. Henry's face began to worry.

### "I did this, and I gotta fix it." I said.

### I know what I really have to do. I was determined to save the rest and Aunt May.

### "look kid, I know you want to help them. We're family and all..." he gave me a pat. "you gotta be smart about this."

### "I know uncle Henry..." I sighed. "so what do ya say?" I asked.

### "you and me head for the city and go after the Johannes?"

### "what? Are you crazy?" Henry said.

### "what do you have to stand up against the Johannes?"

### I raised my left hand and began to focus on my new powers.

### My hand began to dilute and turned into sand. The particles floated in the shape of a hand and began to expand itself.

### "this." I said.

### "Oh my God, Jacob! How are you one of those.....Convicts?" Henry asked.

### I was offended. "hey come on man. We're called Flyers." I continued.

### "I caught it from that guy that was found during the crash." I said.

### "I'm like a power sponge." I said in confidence.

### That's what I'm calling myself now. The word Flyer is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place or through the mail. Like postcards, pamphlets and small posters, flyers are a low-cost form of mass marketing or communication. There are many different flyer formats but what I meant was since I am categorized as a Sand fly.

### I thought why not just create a cool name that comes from the word

### 'fly' from the end of the word 'Sand Fly' The Flyers.

### Sounds so cool if I do say so myself.

"who is gonna stand in my way?" I asked. I shoved my hands in my jacket pocket and walked off.

### "okay, I'm going with you. But you better make sure you know what you're doing." Henry said. "I'll tell you on the way." I said.

### "no worries. I got this."

### We took Henry's old fishing boat to the next harbor to the city. The journey there takes about a day to get there if you have stops and all. But since his boat is busted after a big wave broke a part of his boat, we took the old truck instead. Henry said nothing during the trip. He just kept quiet as we pass through the lush green forest and beautiful view of The Dabob Bay. I was sitting on the front passenger seat. That beard of his needs a trim. Henry's beard surrounds his whole face from his side burns to his chin. Below his nose is another one growing to the side of his face. We were on our way to Seattle. Its been a long drive.

### I was trying to figure out what to say to Henry...

### After a minute of thinking, I finally spoke...

### "okay, so I got this figured out." I continued. We hit the town. Go sight seeing a little bit. Always wanted to see the Space Needle...real cool, real cool, then we go meet some people, MY people... and then turn them into allies to go after the Johannes, get Wednesday and Sean, their powers and come back and safe the Church. Easy."

### "you do realize if we 'hit' the town the town is gonna hit back right?" Henry said.

### I just kept silent.

### "So?" I asked. "you got me..." I pointed at myself.

### "your heading to the Lion's den with a Daniel here." I joked.

### "well, Mr Daniel Junior look ahead."

### I turned.

### Ahead of us is a sight to just be in awe off. It was a beautiful crash site.

### Well, for me that is.

### The streets were beautifully cut and marked in bright Yellow slashes.

### Something BIG went through here. Sean! I remembered it was him.

### A bus was seen cut in half and a row of cars blocked the road. Some were turned upside down.

### "whoa! Look what passed through here?" I said with a smile.

### "another Convi- I mean Flyer."

### Henry began to looked around. "this is property damage..."

### "if I find out who did this, I am going to make sure they stay in a cell."

### "they are just misunderstood people Uncle Henry." I said.

### "with this kind of damage, its hard to tell..." Henry pointed out.

### "they are dangerous and so are you Jacob."

### I wasn't used to this kind of talk with Henry.

### All we talk about is fishing and God.

### Henry is a very secretive. During his days as a Detective, He caught a nasty bite from a werewolf and ever since then never stopped growing facial hair.He is actually hot tempered but he used to say this, "you are the reason I am better. You are the reason I am being a man again." now that he is old, I doubt he can be as fiery as how he used to.

### I then recalled how he yelled at me to come down from the Hero's Memorial Wall.

### Nope. Still the same nasty old man.

### Henry's old but still has some fight in him.

### "oh look!" I noticed a school bus full of people. They're trapped!

### The people in the bus were quite elderly, some were young and some were very old. People of all sorts inside. It looks like a tour bus for some very very old people. The bus was stuck somewhere in the middle of the road blocked my a huge chunk om concrete and some other damaged buses and other cars.

### Looks like I have to the path clear it up. I cracked my neck and said, "I'll tell you what, you go save those people. I'll go clear the path."

Henry's eyes turned wide "you are not gonna use your powers! Not here!"

### "and then what? We get stuck here and call it a day? No way!" I scoffed.

### "dude, even Peter said:As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. You know what, you go save those people I'll clear the path." I know Henry's tricks.

### There is no way he is stopping me from getting to Wednesday.

### "okay, but promise you won't touch anything. No sneaking into people's cars and stealing."

### Henry turned towards the bus and began to start the engines.

### "oh I am gonna touch EVERYTHING." I whispered.

### By that I mean of that as in some of the cars blocking the way.

### I began to run ahead the bus while Henry climbed in the bus, telling them to stay calm and to not panic.

### I focus on being big.

### Real BIG!

### My body turned hollow.

### The colors of my cloths began to fade.

### The soil of the forest began to emerge towards me.

### I could feel my size being bigger and bigger.

### Before I knew it, I was 3 feet tall.

### Not big enough but it will have to do...

### By whole body has been turned into sand.

### I turned towards the other slashed bus that was blocking the way and rammed towards it.

### THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD

### CRASH!!!!!

### The bus flew.

### I felt the impact right under my indestructible sand skin.

### The crash was hard and solid.

### The bus moved forward I went ahead to hit a few more road blocks.

### RAM!

### RAM!

### RAM! I was indestructible.

### I was running through everything that stood in my way.

### We made a stop back at the highway.

### The bus stopped at the junction of turning to the highway.

### Henry climbed out of the bus and began to put his arms on his waist.

### "listen, they uh...they want you to be on top of the bus. If you come in, they'll run."

### "they are afraid of you. I'm sorry."

### These people are afraid of me?

### But who can blame them really. Convicts have been described as bad people. "alright. I'll be on top." I said.

### The journey to the city was not so smoothing. It was like as if your going on a really bad roller-coaster that has really bad seats. Henry drove like as if he didn't show mercy and just drove like as if I did not exist on top of the bus. But in the end, they took pity and let me in.

### We're at Indianola now. Stopping for gas and food

### By the time we reached for the location where the folks were heading, they began to scatter. .

### Not even a thank you.

### Now I know how Henry felt when he talked about how he moved in to town.

### People know who he was because of some folk who ticked him off to change. Aunt May tamed him.

### "give them a break, kid." Henry pat me on the shoulder.

### "it takes a while for people to open up to new things, your powers for example." The Drive was just a few more miles away. We reached Kingston. Henry knew some guys there who can take us closer to Seattle. Timmy, Henry's friend took us on a boat to Harbor Island.

### Been quite a day actually.

### But the time we got there it was already night.

### For a total of maybe two days, a boring trip to the city.

### I've been thinking about what I need to do when I reach Seattle.

### That moment I left Brinnon, I knew I was meant for more.

### This power, it was given to me for a reason.

### I know that.

### I stood at the top deck of green fishing boat, looking towards the city.

### Man, the things that I might need to do ahead of me is going to be big.

### All those Convicts, there could be by friends or allies.

### Things are about to get exciting for me.

### Once I reach Seattle, I'm gonna do a big homecoming to Wednesday Johann.

### But things are gonna get even more exciting when we pass through that border and head for the city.

### Skyscrapers, people, buildings, rain.

### Oh!

### I can smell it already.

### Its gonna be beautiful.

### But in the back of my head, I know what I'm here for.

### I'm here for Johanns.

### And things are about to get interesting.

### Henry was concern about me. The border is full of the storm trooper guys I saw!

### They are in the city. Keeping it locked under their borders.

### "just follow my lead and go pass it casually." Henry said.

### "well, how can I? My blood has CONVICT written all over it." I whispered.

### "just follow me."

Henry walked through the scanners and turned back at me, looking at me tightly with his eyes.

### I gave in a deep breath and went through the scanners. It was fine at first until the monitor beeped. I was shaking all over. My heart pounded hardly over my ribs. I thought it was gonna jump off. I tried to go pass the border but the path is still blocked. Just to make matters worst, the alarms rang.

### BEEB! BEEB! BEEB!

RINGGGGGGGGG~ "Great!" I thought to myself.

### Henry ran to cover and yelled at me.

### "take it down!" I rose my arms and began to aim.

### "about time!" I grinned.

### I fired at the control room.

### PEZZZZZZ~ POOF!

### PEZZZZ~POOF!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I went for safety.

### "he's a Convict! Get him!"One of the guards ordered.

### "Go! Go! Go!"

### I fired more shots to take down the border.

### PEZZZZZZ~POOF! POOF!

### KERANGGGGG~

### The border began to fall. Some guards ran for safety.

### While some guards carried out their guns to shoot at me.

### Not that easy!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I took the guards down one by one.

### Shooting sand at your target creates an automatic sand ball.

### It smacked the guard in the face and took it out.

### He is out! I turned towards the other one.

### Went up close and ran through him.

### I faded into sand to get pass the guard and knocked him out with my knee. Another was trying to snipe me.

### I fired a ball of sand to the other guard and it knocked him out straight.

### That did it!

### Other people ran and screamed as they rushed for safety.

### Great... My reputation is ruined.

### In the midst of this intense battle, my phone rang.

### I picked up the phone to my ear and answered.

### "Uh bad timing!" I said on the phone.

### "listen kiddo, lay low for a bit." It was Henry.

### "I'm gonna get help. Stay out of trouble okay?"

### "yeah. Good move there old man! Keep in touch, Uncle." I said.

### I took another fire on the border to take it down.

### The fight was so cool.

### Guns! Sand! Things falling down!

### I took a sprint to the nearby ally. I picked up a trash can lid to block off the shots. Another sniper! I fired another one.

### BOOM! Got it!

### I left the fight without a hitch and kept my powers low for a while.

### I made my way to another ally by walking.

### The ally wall is full of graffiti. They were crappy.

### I mean for my taste that is.

### I walked around the streets, amazed at the sight of me a town kid in Seattle. It was a beauty.

### Up ahead of me were two men. One in a purple jacket and a face mask while the other was in a green jacket and a black face mask.

### Time to have some fun. I thought.

### "hey need help." I lied.

### "kill the dude!" one of them said.

### BLAM!

### A gun was fired.

### "Whoa! Whoa!" I shouted. Trying to be nice.

### BLAM! Another gun shot.

### This time hitting me on the chest.

### I landed down to the ground flat.

### Seconds after that, my new powers kicked in. An orange light glew on my chest. The sand in my body began to push the bullet out.

### No blood.

### I was suppose to be dead but now I am not.

### My breath came back.

### This healing factor stuff is going to come in handy.

### I sanded back up.

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### Staring down at the two robbers.

### "he's a freak!" one of the robbers exclaimed.

### "you have no idea how fun this is?" I shouted.

### I disappeared and appeared again and again.

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### Every time I fade, I get closer and closer to the robbers.

### BALM! BALM! The robber fired.

### Not going to work.

### I faded. PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA!

### That feeling of you on a sea-saw happened again.

### I focused my sights on the robber and took the purple one down.

### KAH-SHA!

### I appeared and caught the robber.

### The robber landed down on the ground.

### Now the next one.

### He ran out from the road up to a ally.

### His got nowhere to go.

### "hey man!" he said.

### "I-I know your face!"

### I glared at the robber, shaking while holding his gun.

### "oh I know." I said

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### "but do you think I am scared of you?" I asked.

### The robber began to sweat.

### His face became anxious.

### He tries to aim and shoot but he was too scared.

### "don't steal cars again okay?" I said.

### There was a pause.

### I grabbed his gun and stared back at him.

### BOO!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I got to the outside of the ally.

### That was awesome.

### I am still in awe of what is happening to me.

### But I know I need more than sand powers to take down a concrete lady.

### I need more fire power!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA~AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I got to another ally. Still amazed that I am here.

### I got on to one of the ally staircases and climbed to the top. Height did not scared me. Henry maybe.

### I'm used to heights. I did a little bit of parkour so these heights don't worry me. Good news, I found a tent. Must be someones.

### I opened the zip and climbed in. The tent was surprisingly good and clean.

### "thank you God." I said to myself.

### Guess He is in my favor. I took off my jacket and lay the jacket to my chest. No pillow but there was a child size bean bag. I lied down and closed my eyes.

### First day seems...fun.

### Let's just hope the next day will be better.

8

The Departure

### Hector:

### Mel convinced me to start fresh and be a local hero in the part of the city she is in.

### "you can do some good in this world, Hector." Mel said.

### What makes her think that I could be a hero?

### "I am not a hero, Mel." I replied.

### "only if you think you aren't." she said.

### Mel was trying to convince me about being a local hero and become that hero she saw in the streets the other day.

### "you only become a hero if you start being one." she pointed out.

### "That was just basic instinct!" I said. "still, it was heroic what you did." she replied. Even though I only spent a short time with Mel, I discovered that she could be very convincing sometimes. Her words assures I could trust her. She wanted me to keep that in mind that I'm a hero wherever I go but its up to me to decide, But nonetheless I've made up my mind.

### This short lived friendship with Mel made me realized that some humans like us and some don't. I'm willing to bet Mel likes people like us and are willing to sacrifice themselves for us.

### Most humans don't dare to speak of it because they don't bother while some wanted to but are silenced under the issue.

### Mel was helping me get some items to bring along while I get ready to leave for the town. After a few days of careful consideration, I've decided to head to town. It'll be nice and quiet and no one will know who I am. The town Mel mentioned is just miles away from Seattle. Its near a lake and there are lots of trees there. Nice and quiet. No threats, no city.

### Absolute silence.

### Mel and gave me an untraceable phone so that we could keep in contact. No one but Mel knew about this...

### For once, I believed that I'm actually going to be free...

### When I climb on that bus and live in the town, I am free, free from the past, free from the city, free from anyone who is trying to get me. Free at last...

### I climbed into the bus and waved good-bye to Mel.

### That was the day we went our separate ways.

### I slept while the bus drove to my destination.

### I was too tired to stay awake.

### It was a cold and dismal day. It was the kind of day that made you want to prolong the sleeping hours, and stay snug and comfortable in the warmth of your welcoming bed It was the kind of day that made you have to urge your muscle's to operate properly in order for you to get anywhere. These were the kind of days that I wished I could hide from.

### I was thought about what Jake Flint said the other day."things are about to change." he said.

### "just you wait. If I were you, I'll head to the towns."

### Here I am, running scared from change.

### What does he mean when he said change?

### I have no idea.

### Knowing Jake Flint, I know he is a crazy guy with all sorts of crazy schemes and one of his worked so he must have his reason for planing that for me.

### The scenery outside was beautiful. The grass, the trees passed by just like that at the bus drove across the windy road.

### We passed through the huge mist, the bus slowed down because its a one way path now.

### I looked around me finding some of the passengers around here to be very old people. The one sitting in front of me finally turned to me and began to make conversation.

### "that's some girl huh?" he asked

### She meant Melissa,

### "she's not my girlfriend." I said.

### Not knowing why I just said that. He wasn't even asking.

### "yeah right, that's what they all say." he teased.

### I sat there thinking about Melissa, maybe he is right.

### Though it was a short time with Mel, I could still remember her face.

### Her looks, he soft hair.

### To think that God has given me a beautiful angle to watch over me makes me feel that I can trust humans again.

### I told myself this one thing.

### When I go to Forks, no more powers,

### It's going to be a new day.

### I am just a teen, jobless and homeless but I'm working on finding one. Just like any young adult here. The bus stopped and opened the door. I stood up from my seat and walked out from the bus. The station was a simple small one.

### The stall owner stared at me like I'm some stranger. I passed by some the town residents and overheard something in their conversations.

### From what I could gather. Recently, there were several fire incidents.

### Most blame a killer on the lose but some claimed it was some mythical being.

### "did you hear?" I overheard while looking.

### "this killer just burnt down a farm house recently." a man said.

### "must be an angry spirit!" the other man said. "you know how the farmer treats his wife."

### Whatever it was, it got me into it.

### Here's what you need to know right now.

### Let me try to break it down for you. So,

### Mel sent me to a nearby town and promised to keep me safe.

### For that, I am grateful. The town is a very homely place.

### Simple life, simple things.

### Welcome to Forks. It is about 139 miles away from downtown Seattle.

### Its saturated at the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, this small town exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America.

### It is a small town with a small population, located in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington and is one of the rainiest locations in the United State. Forks is well known for its large timber industry, but in recent years the industry has declined. Currently the largest economic revenue in the town. Great! Perfect to stay low. Nobody knows me here.

### The manager of the local post office was looking for a delivery boy and he sees that I fit for the job.

### I may not know much about this town but it was enough for me to get started.

### I just got to this new to town, looking for a place to stay, when I passed by the post office. I noticed the manager, Rudy kicking one of his employees out of the shop.

### He dragged the man out like a ragged doll and threw him to the sandy road. From what I know, the employee was caught stealing from him and a few other people.

### "If I ever see you again I'll skin you ALIVE!"

### The other man ran off without a thought. Rudy returned to to the shop as I quietly, follow him.

### The shop uses wood mixed with cement. Racks of metal wall stands were drilled on it. The shop looks big and full of space. The shop looks like an old library than a post office. His face is quite round. His smile is the kind where girls will squeal and squeeze.Rudy looks like he is in his thirties. He wears a yellow shirt with black sleeves separating the yellow. He wore a pear of jeans and black Nike shoes.Rudy is quite big size for someone his age. He's only a year older than me.

### "um...hello." I said politely.

### "oh didn't see you there." Rudy raised his right hand towards me.

### "Rudy Robertson, what can I do for you?"

### "Hector Dagger, I need help." I asked.

### "well a friend in need is a friend of ole Rudy!" that's what he told me.

### "I was wondering if I can have a place to stay."

### Rudy shrugged. "depends. How much are you looking for?"

### I did not have any money on me so I told him kindly about my 'current' status. "I am actually an orphan and I just got kicked out cause I came of age. I can work for you if you give me a room." I lied. I learned it from Jake who always did it when he messed with the shooting range back in The Lab.

### "I see," Rudy said. "well, there is a room up stairs but you must promise me that you'll be my delivery boy."

### "deal!" I said with joy.

### Thus, where we are now. Rudy lives his entire life here.

### Rudy is a very adventurous person.

### We would go out for hikes and bike riding around town.

### He was the kind of person I needed.

### He was a good friend.

### I've been here for almost a while now.

### I am part of this town now, and I am not going to let my powers to stop me from being normal again.

### Mel was one of those who've made me feel normal. Through her, I discovered that some "normal's" can be trusted.

### Rudy is new, but who knows.

### I took over for Rudy being his delivery boy.

### Though this town is small but most are already old.

### Rudy gave me a skateboard to travel around. He used to skate but decided to stop and turned to bike riding instead. The skateboard is a Long-board Pin-tail. Its long and it has a well drawn design on the deck.

### It has a picture of a part of an island with a palm tree.

### It also has a design of huge waves rushing towards the island.

### Its top is plastered with black sand paper.

### The trucks are silver and the wheels are neon blue.

### Rudy explained that he rode the Pin-tail for only a while because a friend gave it to him before his friend died in an accident.

### Seems like the board had a history.

### "why would you give something so valuable to me?" I asked.

### Rudy shrugged "don't worry about it man."

### "my old friend would be proud to let you have it."

### "besides you will need it to get around the neighborhood."

### "I never learn skating before" I said.

### Rudy laughed and gave me a pat. "no worries kid. I'll teach ya."

### I never learn skating before but there is a first time for everything.

### I tried learning skating on my own before asking for help from Rudy.

### Rudy just watched as I make a fool out of myself.

### I placed my right foot towards the front of the board.

### I gradually used my left leg to push the board forward and quickly moved my foot to the back of the board.

### The board moved slowly as I got used to the board.

### Quite stable actually.

### I turned my front leg sideways to get more stability.

### The board was quite easy to learn.

### I pedaled faster and faster to gain speed.

### This is going well! I was down a slope.

### The board was rolling faster.

### I tried to stable myself and keep my legs down. Its doing fine.

### Till I realized there was a pebble ahead!

### The board crashed towards the pebble and the board flew to the air.

### I could already sense that I am going to fall.

### "Not this time" I thought.

### I began to flame up a dash of fire flying backwards and caught the board on my legs.

### GOT IT!

### I turned towards the road and landed to the road as usual and rolled down the slope.

### Easy!

### Rudy ran down to catch up to me. He was in shock of how good I was.

### "how did you do that?" he asked.

### "I don't know." I lied.

### "that's really cool..." Rudy said with a smile.

### "you're a natural!"

### "just lucky." I shrugged.

### I got used to the Long-board very easily.

### Its like riding a bike.Back when I was a kid, I used to ride them as a kid before I had my powers. Life back then was easy.

### You go to school, you come back

### You go to school, you come back

### And the days carry on until you go for college

### Or summer. Those were the days when life was easier.

### But I never got that. Instead I had this.

### A life on the run.

### A life that can let others get hurt.

### Bit this town has never even heard of the word Convict.

### I doubt they do.

### Rudy showed me his home upstairs the shop.

### The house is very simple. Its small and simple.

### The curtains were patterned with flower patterns.

### It was just so simple.

### Rudy said that his father died a few years ago from a car accident.

### Rudy loved his father. His mother is still around and well. Mrs Robertson showed me to my room. The room is a very small room with a bed, a cupboard and a study table. The room is just a guest room. Its painted in a very homely coat of yellow green.

### The whole post office/ library is well designed. Mrs Robertson explained that the house was designed by the late Mr Robertson and his family.

### It has been a town landmark for generations. Now its just an old library but sometimes is a post office from town to town. I had a good rest and started working next thing in the morning. Mrs Robertson made pancakes and tea. Simple. After breakfast, I got on my Long-board and started my first delivery.

### My first delivery is to a house of a small family up a hill.

### Its was a very sunny day to go out delivering mails.

### They didn't have the internet here that is why they used mails instead.

### I skated towards the bottom of the hill towards the home of the Millers.

### The roads were well tiled and marked in white paint.

### Trees were in every corner. The people here love to plant trees of fruits and vegetables. Some houses have well planted flowers and herb plants.

### Its a Beautiful day here.

### Better than the rainy and dirty City.

### All its hustle and bustle, all its weather.

### Here is much better.

### I haven't got a word from the City since the day I left.

### Must be great back there for Mel.

### Mel mentioned about how even in a busy city, we can also find nature.

### Considering that Seattle is not much of a busy city, rather a town I can roughly get the picture.

### The wind howled in a peaceful breeze and the grass rustled as the wind blows. The air was fresh.

### Mel would love it here...

### There were days where I was thinking about Melissa.

### The truth is, I think I love her.

### But who am I kidding? Plus, we've just met

### Mel is a good friend. Why would I want her to get hurt?

### Mel made me trust normal humans again.

### She was one of those who've helped me.

### I mean old folks in the streets help too but She did more.

### Guess that's what makes her such a good ally.

### I delivered the letter to the house of the Millers and sent in the letters to their mail box. It seems that they are rich people.

### The house is big and made of cement.

### Its painted with white and its roof is dark blue.

### The windows looked like they are well maintained.

### But the best part is the surrounding garden.

### It looked beautiful.

### Morning glories, curled to the poles made for them.

### Watermelons, big and fresh.

### An apple tree, and a mango tree was planted on the other side.

### And many other colorful flowers were planted.

### Their mailbox was appealing. Its just like a normal mail box.

### All painted in white with a bunch of colored hand prints.

### It had red, blue, purple, orange, yellow, green and brown hand prints all over the mail box.

### It has a long red pole holding the mail box and a small red mail stand.

### Seems like no one is home.

### I left the home and went down with the Long-board.

### The hill to the top is harsh but the road down was epic.

### As you roll down the hill, the wind blows hard on you.

### You feel that rush adrenaline and speed as you head down.

### That sensation is thrilling.

### The lush green forest was a total blur.

### Nothing was clear.

### The best feeling ever since I discovered I could fly.

### With no one looking, I gave the board a turbo by blasting green flames on the back of the board.

### BOOM!

### Super charge!!!

### The board got faster.

### Sending me off to the forest.

### I tried to steer away, but it was too late.

### The board slid off the road and send me off to the forest.

### "Crap!" I said to myself.

### The board flew off faster than I could hold it.

### The board flew ahead of me leaving me on the air sending me off to a nearby tree.

### I panicked and triggered my powers of fire.

### My boots began to catch green fire, they were being infested in flames.

### The blazing emerald flames took over the half of my legs.

### My hands ignited and caught fire.

### "oh no, not this again." I thought.

### The fire rose towards my torso and up to my head.

### Before I could even notice it, where I was heading towards a tree.

### My body slammed pass a tree and caused a large crash on the ground.

### I was floating in the air. The fire grew to my head.

### In a blink, my whole body was covered in fire.

### I hit against another tree.

### I kept myself calm and power down my powers.

### I was rustling through the slope.

### I was grunting and groaning as I fight with the slope.

### Flying out of control.

### The fire slowly extinguished.

### I stopped hovering in the air and fell down to the muddy ground.

### A bit later, I was heading for a cliff.

### SPLASH!

### I fell about four feet down to the sea.

### Huge tide of waves blew in, taking me hit after hit.

### I tried to swim up,

### The waves blew in harder and harder...

### I thought I was going to die.

### I struggled, I pushed, I swam.

### But the sea was too strong.

### One big wave rolled over. It knocked me down to the ocean's depths .

### I was sinking. I went deeper.

### The tidal water was murky green. Hitting me down.

### It was all a blur for me.

### Life flashed before me again. Just like the house fire.

### Then, a spark.

### The flame!

### The fire grew from my heart and expanded all over me.

### One minute I was cold from the water, the next thing I knew I got all warm.

### It grew and grew.

### I burst out the water and flew up.

### WOOSHHHH~

### I soar towards the top of the cliff, I flew higher and higher and took a quick turn up.My powers took me up back to the cliff.I powered down and landed on higher ground. I can still hear the waves rumbling from below.

### My delivery costume which was a green cotton fiber shirt with a NIKE symbol on the right got really soaking while drying itself up with my powers, my long stretchy pants all cold from the water and my sneakers all soggy because of the cold wind. It was wet like as if I showered myself while wearing my cloths and only dried up a bit of the water. I began to heat myself up.

### I'm okay, I'm alive...

### That was the fourth time I used my powers.

### I'm starting to treat this power more like a blessing.

### I'm starting to forgive myself.

### It saved me and it saved others more than once.

### What is there to complain? The Lab is mine, one minute you use your powers, a man hunt will begin. Days will pass for the trial to pass but I'm sure they have bigger things to worry about.

### I began walking home.

### I had a hard time to explain to Rudy about the whole "I fell down to the ocean but got out thing." The board got soaked wet.

### The grip tape was rip away from the board mid way.

### I can't believe that I'm alive.

### "so, let me guess." Rudy said.

### "you tripped and fell into the ocean and miraculously lived when most just die from such a big fall?" we met up in the garage.

### The lights were dim orange and the tools were all over the place.

### In the center is an old black Gran Torino with two white stripes on the sides and the roof of the car in the center.

### No other decorations were made because it was Rudy's grandfather's car when he passed a few years ago. It meant so much to them that they kept it. The insides were unclear but I could tell that it has not been driven long but maintained well.

### "uh...yeah." I said while drying myself off with a towel.

### "you got some superpower or something, kid?" he asked

### My heart skipped a beat.

### "uh...I guess so. But I guess I'm just lucky."I pointed out.

### To be honest I am considered lucky. There were moments where I should be dead but I didn't.

### Put it simply,I have a guardian angle watching over me.

### My powers become an automatic defense.

### They just spark out of nowhere and saves me from dying.

### Its great when your facing a life and death situation.

### Rudy was thinking of countering my comments about how I survived the fall. "you got a condition, Hector." Rudy said with a face of disgust.

### "let's see what else you can do?"

### "uh...no thanks." I said.

### Knowing that I just revealed part of my secret to Rudy but partly lying about it makes me ensure he will know eventually but this first step will make Rudy take in the whole "Convict" thing easier.

### Rudy took the board and fixed it. The grip tape was removed and replaced.After doing the grip tape, Rudy took the trucks and cleaned them up.After several minutes of waiting, it was finally fixed.

### Rudy warned it might not run like how it used to so smoothly.

### "might be a it rusty." He said. "Its alright. Thanks." I thanked.

### I was just about to leave when we heard a loud explosion from outside the garage.

### BOOM!

### "what the hell?" Rudy exclaimed.

### He began to sprint out to the pedestrian, looking around for the source of the blast. I was following because I just knew I had to be there.

### Crowds were panicking. The shop across the street was caught in a fire.

### This is bad...

### The fire blazed towards the roof. The blazing heat was intense.

### A thick, sour, black smoke rose from the windows of the shop.

### People were scrambling around the place, trying to put the fire out.

### Rudy went back to his house and grabbed an Axe.

### He ran towards house, madly swing his Axe. Breaking the wooden door.

### The rising heat was intense.

### Screams of a little girl was heard from the inside of the shop. Rudy heard it too. "Nicole is still in there!" Rudy immediately ran into the burning building.

### I marched towards him, trying to halt Rudy.

### I grabbed Rudy by the arm and asked.

### "Rudy! Don't go in there!"

### Rudy gave me that look. He was wearing a sunglasses goggle. Its hard to see but I could feel it.

### "Nicole is in there, someone has to help!" said Rudy.

### Those choice of words, Rudy is really into saving the kid.

### His eyes, though being covered by a pair lens spoke those words into me just by the glare of his eyes.

### "then I'll go!" I said. I took a deep breath and ran in. Normally, people will start coughing, covering their mouths with one hand while the flames danced around them. But I wasn't afraid. Fire is my friend. "hey guys." I said. I took a good smell at the thick, sour smell of the smoke. The fire around me began to grew less. Fire that was standing on the finishers and walls began to float and went into me. Recharged! Its been a long time since I did this. I turned and started marching inwards. "Nicole! Nicole!" I cried. Every step I took, the fire cowered away from me. This is my kind of place!

### I turned left and right to find Nicole.

### Using all my strength, I braved through the flames and into another room. "help!help!" Nicole shouted from the distance. I walked slowly towards Nicole and reached out my hand. "Hey..." I said in a calm tone. "let's get out of here, okay?" I asked. Nicole was afraid but she reached out her tiny hand to mine. She stood up as I pulled her through the flames. The flames roared, burning everything it its path. Nicole walked with me at ease as the fires hid away from my sight. She tried not to breathe until we made it to the outside of the burning shop. Then, on her hands and knees,panting so loudly,gasping for clean air.

### I looked towards Nicole "you okay?" I whispered.

### "yeah..." Nicole ran to Rudy's arms.

### The other town folks were still trying to put out the fire.

### A fire truck came by a few moments after I and pulled out a long yellow hose and began to fire water against the shop which is now consumed in fire.

### A big thick smoke rose up,

### Surrounding our atmosphere.

### The sharp rise of heat rose to our eyes

### The fire danced on top of the shop crackling and hissing.

### I turned towards the shop.

### The neighbors were still trying to stop the fire.

### I rose my left palm.

### The fire stopped growing, it turned green rapidly. The people stared as I walked into the shop again while the fire shrunk inwards the house. I marched in without fear. The fire shrunk into a small fire ball standing on a pile of burned magazine. Above it is a burned stand lamp with a broken light bulb.

### The fire looked like it's caused from the bursting bulb sending the spark to the old magazine. The fire must have then expanded later resulting the fire. The room was badly destroyed.

### The room was burned black.

### The furniture was badly damaged.

### That seems new. My heart was pounding regularly.

### I turned outside and walked towards Rudy.

### Rudy was stunned.

### He was still shocked that I walked into the burning shop without getting burned. "how did you do that?" he asked. I nodded.

### "this is your 'condition'?" he asked.

### "more or less..." I replied.

9

The Movement

### Jacob:

### I jogged around the streets of Seattle. The people were running here and there. No one bothered to slow down to check out the view and the art surrounding it. The weather is like how Seattle should be.

### Raining. The plan was to get the City to know what's going on and bring them to realize that we The Convicts are actually good people and not monsters. What we need is a Fire.

### We need a Movement, and I'm going to start it

### I said to myself that when I left Brinnon, I knew I was meant for more.

### This power, it was given to me for a reason.

### A reason to keep fighting.

### Go go after Wednesday is one thing but this is more than that.

### I know that.

### A day passed as the lovely City of The Space Needle felt the coming of a hero named, Jacob Brown. Or so I thought.

### You won't believe the way how they treated me.

### I was given names, all sorts of insults but like uncle Henry said.

### "it takes a while for people to open up to new things."

### For these few days, all I did was sight seeing, going on the monorail and just chill. I saved some people, prank some kids and scared off this bully who was picking on a kid. It was a lot of fun. I needed to do more so I started out small.

### Old uncle Henry told me to not get into trouble and I did. Got started with West Seattle, cleaning up some of the checkpoints and started doing this "set the people free" movement and I'm gonna keep going till the Space Needle. Turns out Wednesday and Sean got busy. But when they hear an 'old friend' has return and is making his homecoming, I'm pretty sure old Wednesday is going to be mad.

### And I am counting on it. I'm gonna bring the fight to her to save the Church. I don't need her, I just need her powers.

### The city of Seattle is going to change from this small town hero. Some of them believed that my small actions assured them that Convicts are not dangerous but some of them still believes that we are and wants The Lab to hunt us all down, its time to change that.

### And its going to start with me.

### I took the fight to Wednesday, I took down maybe five or four checkpoint by the minute, I walked passed the rubble with the guards being restrained tight in sand cuffs solid. Getting her attention. My movement became big.

### It was easy. The guards only used guns.

### Healing factor gave me an edge.

### Its cool not to die with so many guns facing you. I'm getting used to using this power of mine bit I'll need more fire power to go after Wednesday. That's why I'm here and not going to to to with Wednesday yet. I need friends. My phone rang in this annoying ring tone but I was too tired to change it. It was Henry.

### "yeah. What's up?" I asked. I'm in the city of Seattle. Same ole same ole. The winds blowing, the sun peaking out from the clouds. Perfect weather. "Jacob, I checked around with some old friends" Henry talked on the phone. "looks like they took the city with checkpoints in every corner. what do you say if you go make a name for yourself?"

### Now he is talking my language! "I'll be there." and I have the perfect place to start. I was nearby the Space Needle.

### Just a few blocks away. I've never been to it. Never been to Seattle either. So navigating my way though the city can be quite a story for a first timer. I got closer to this strange building.

### The Space Needle was being covered by a huge chunks of concrete. Wednesday...

I parkoured my way to the bottom of the Space Needle. Drawing closer to the observation tower in Seattle, Washington), a landmark of the Pacific Northwest, and an icon of Seattle. I stared in awe of this unique structure of the top where the "hovering disk" of the Space Needle stood. All covered in the disgusting concrete enforcer. I'm thinking of getting rid of those to make a statement to Wednesday and Seattle. I ran straight bellow the Needle and began climbing the 605 feet high icon structure.

### A city icon covered in concrete. The biggest base of The Lab. Taking this out will even the playing filed.

### Guards started coming out to fight. About ten or twelve.

### Finally, a real fight after taking down those checkpoints! Its On!

### One guard took shots at me, I sanded my way to the back of him and took a knee to head.

### Another took shots. I sanded my arm and extended it towards his head.

### The helmet landed on my solid knee. The helmet broke as his head lands in after.

### PEZZZZZZ~ POOF! PEZZZZ~POOF!

### Three more came over charging.

### I took a leap up and sanded up again.

### Five more is coming from the back. While in mid-air, I threw a pile of sand waves form my hands to the ground. I turned and created a spiral.

### I got higher. More coming!

### I landed on one of those concrete parts. It feels very hard.

### Some of them climbed up.

### Run! I ran to the other side of the pillar. The guards were getting closer! The phone rang. I hid one side and answered. "yeah."

### "kid! What did you do?" Henry called. I just turned on loud speaker.

### The sound of the fight got Henry's voice on the phone muffled.

### "bad timing again, Uncle!" I answered.

### "I said make a name for your-" I turned it off.

### I took out a few more with a few more blast of sand towards the guards coming out. I ran faster towards the top.

### Too high up! Need a better way. On my left was a vent.

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! AAH-AHA!

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! AAH-AHA!

### I ran into the vent. As I was about to make impact, I shattered into sand bits and flew through the vent.

### The vent tunnel was all dusty but the air blowing made me surfaced to the other end faster. I immediately reassembled.

### Before I could process any of this, I was high up in the air.

### Not dead! Good.

The vents worked. Good to know.

### Guards came up from above, they were ready! I blast a few more blasts of sand and landed on an upper floor.

### PEZZZZZZ~ POOF! PEZZZZ~POOF!

### That did it! I climbed a few more miles upwards.

### The Space Needle was way high up above the ground.

### The top was full of space. "hey Henry," I called.

### "yeah?" he asked. "you said make a name for yourself right? Then how about this?" I asked "Jacob Brown, the hero of The Emerald City." I scoffed. "sounds cool huh?" Henry said nothing. I'll take that as a yes. I flew up and made a huge drop on the top of the Space Needle. Causing it to vibrate heavily. The concrete shattered and tumbled down to the ground. Bits of the disgusting concrete fell. The Space Needle returned to its glorious shape again!

### I escaped the area, hoping that catches her attention,

### I ran somewhere in the streets. away from the Space Needle.

### I stopped next to a 7-Eleven and a KFC. Off a few blocks away. There is a disc shop nearby, it had a Transformers Dark on The Moon poster on the glass window. "this place could use some spice." I walked to the back wall of the shop,took one or two of my spray paints out that I brought that was kept in jeans pocket and began spraying. I used the color black to do an outline of a Raven soaring. All black but its not done yet.

### I sprayed a coat of red and blue on the wings and a bit of green towards the belly. Had white paint to make its eyes and and a circle. Added a few more touches and Voila!

### "a man and a spray can with a plan." I said to myself.

### The art work was nicely done. Perfect.

### I brought myself out there to tell these people I am not like the other Convicts. Neither am I going to give up on them being better.

Like the Bible said. " Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."

### He changes us to be a better person every single day. If that is what its gonna take to make someone be better. I sure am gonna give it a shot.

### Life is strange and yet wonderful. If you believe in something or a someone who is more powerful that you, your boss, your family, that someone is the one you should pay attention to.

### I'm no Church Kid but even I know someone is watching me everyday. Not Henry, Aunt May or the folks from the Church...

### He is. That was one of the reasons I tried to do art around town. I've always tried my very best to create magic with my skills and I am still learning. I remembered a book I read in the local library back home, it called The Perks of Being a Wallflower but to sum it up, the book taught me that we all belong somewhere and that somewhere belonged to the home of Aunt May. Not much can be seen in Brinnon.I spend most of my days in the Brinnon Local Library. Reading comic books and other books. Its a small place but, it was still home for me. It was also back home I had my first spray paint around when I was 14 that I started my artistic days.

### I remembered when I turned 14, I did my first drawing of a school girl that I saw while going out and about after being home schooled by Aunt May. That was the day I discovered I could draw. Then later, graffiti.

### I took my maroon red beanie off my head.

### Giving it a good stare. Its color is fading as it has been through multiple washes dust from my little adventures. The beanie went through a lot than keeping my hair piled up instead of letting it fall. It was a gift from aunt May for my seventeenth birthday.Aunt May has been nothing but a sweetheart. Most people would just leave me be but Aunt May wanted the best for me.

### "I'm gonna make it up to you Aunt May." I said to myself.

### I discovered one truth for these few days. The Lab and its agents,

### The Lab's Hunters are trained to track and hunt Convicts down and take us away from our families and friends. Sometimes they use force if they had to. Which is why the injured Aunt May to get me out.

### To her, to them.

### In the' eyes of The Lab, we're all just lab rats. The Convicts from New York fought against humans to be equal for their existence in this world but all have been captured by uncovering our every weakness. The first generation of Convicts fought hard but was brought down. Not much was known of the people who stood against the powers of The Lab but what they've done created an impact on our society about the Convicts.

### Some humans like us and some don't.

### But who could blame them.

### We are dangerous, but we are still people.

### I started walking around the less city like parts of Seattle

### Out here in the ally, some of the people here are trying to be nice while facing a bad day. Their tents builded out on cardboard and the streets having fire stoves being set up, keeping the people warm.

### The streets, even though cold was filled with laughter.

### I had a plan to end The Lab by going after Wednesday and that plan is working. Her army grew and became more lethal, more dangerous and more advanced than ever. The more the world will see the truth behind The Lab. This once glorious city was being turned upside-down from the inside of this city.

### Time for a Change!

### The checkpoints became harder but I'm not giving up until I get what I need. I was on top of a building. Watching over the streets until something odd showed up.

### A metal firefly with a blue bulb on its back. It zipped across me.

### Annoying me.

### "H-hey!" I said.

### The metal firefly kept zooming around. Flying around me.

### "you want me to follow you?" I asked.

### Who am I kidding? Its a robot firefly.

### The firefly flew off. "Where do you come from?" I asked.

### The firefly flew even further. I hesitated and ran after it while it shows me its way to a huge tunnel under a damaged Lab checkpoint I destroyed previously. The firefly rested hovering on top of the tunnel.

### "you want me to go in there?" I asked.

### The firefly dived in. "okay."

### Down,down and down to the bottom of the pit,

### The darkness is now

### I'm never good with riddles.

### Falling through the broken concrete and metal pipes.

### I began to armor up, preparing to crash.

### The armor made me get down faster.

### Its like a falling plane with nothing to stop it.

### I hardened my armor, preparing to drop.

### My crash brought me sinking into the dry concrete floor.

### I was expecting it to be wet.

### at the end of the pit. A wide tunnel of darkness.

### "where are you I asked the firefly."

### The firefly's blue lights glew.

### I braved through the dark with the firefly as my flash light.

### As a child, I've always loved heights but feared the dark.

### It gets hard for me in places like this.

### The Surface is what makes me alive.

### running through the buildings and feeling the air on my face makes me feel free. "where are you taking me?" I asked.

### The firefly stopped and hovered right in front of me. I stopped walking and stared at it. Nothing.

### I looked around and found a picture of an English kid with a Japanese boy. The English kid was wearing a red jacket while the Japanese kid wore a blue jacket. "this is what you wanted to show me?" I asked.

### The Firefly gave a huge flash of light.

### And the Firefly was gone.

### Big whoop. I thought.

### This place must belong to these two kids.

### Poor souls. I said a prayer and got moving.

### I climbed out of the tunnel thinking about what I felt while I was in there. What was that? I thought for a moment why was the tunnel here.

### I left it aside thinking its nothing. Then the phone rang. I picked up the phone and answered. It was Henry. "yeah?" I asked.

### "well well. Brown, your heroics just triggered a huge group of Lab guards to double the checkpoints form being installed around this city. What next kiddo?" Henry asked.

### My heart pounded loudly. Thoughts ran through my mind while I am trying to make up my next plan. At that moment I remembered something. Violence is never an answer. But He gave me this power for a reason. Should I keep doing this graffiti thing, saving people to send a message or just go for her?

### *Note: during pages like this where there is a blank space, its up to you to decide to what Jacob Brown does. Its your choice to make him decide. However, there is no right or wrong. But as you progress, you'll know the end results.*

  1. ### Be a different Convict, being a hero of the city.

  2. Be the fear driven Convict, ruling the city by fear.

###  [__________________________________________________________]

### I responded.

### I've made my choice I told Henry what I'm going to do.

### I wanted to bring Seattle back. To bring it back to order takes more than just willingness. It takes an unbreakable line to set things straight.

### Henry once told me about choices. "our choices makes us who we are" and that is exactly who I am. I just wanted to save Aunt May and the people in this city. No harm has to be done.

### "I'll be Jacob, you are really getting a hang on this whole power thing."

### "you think?"I asked.

### "bet your parents are real proud of ya."he complimented

### "yeah."I said. "bet they are real proud."

### Henry told me once about choices. "our choices makes us who we are" and that is exactly who I am. I just wanted to save Aunt May and the people in this city. No harm has to be done.

### That's what I said before and that's what I will say till today.

### Seattle was almost back in tip-top shape. With the Space Needle returning back to it former looks and some the new checkpoints destroyed in a day, I was almost on my way to being The Hero of Emerald City.

### The guards grew in numbers as night falls upon Seattle. The sky was painted in bright orange while the sun sets for the day. I was off at night cause Henry called me to meet up with him for recon.

### Night was approaching.

### I was able to get a nice room.

### Great. No more tents.

### Henry and I met up in a place called

### Clockwork Hotel. Wired name huh?

### Yeah, as in Clockwork.

### You would imagine a physio themed surroundings, full of sick wired items and a lot of too colorful wallpapers.

### Like that 1971 movie of those sociopaths.

### But its not. Its just a place full of clocks. Digital, classic and old ones.

### The room Henry picked was an unfortunate one.

### A digital clock room.

### The room was quite big. With two beds in white sheets and sky blue blankets that you see in hotels. A blue neon table with green hexagon themed chairs. No TV, a cupboard and a window with the view of the Space Needle quite far away.

### Henry took his coat off and sat at the chair while I looked around and followed him after.

### "normally I don't say that you did a good job, Jacob." Henry sighed and paused "BUT, good job!" He said in a more friendly tone.

### "well," I sat relaxing my left arm on the other chair.

### "I am really good with my powers. Just a few more pushes Henry." I sat near to the table. "we're almost there."

### I repeated "we're almost there, Henry."

### "just a few more pushes and we will get her." I looked at Henry.

### "Henry?" His expression looked mad. His trying to say something didn't. He seemed troubled.

### I sat there looking at Henry face to face.

### His hair and beard was still. His two blue eyes still and drowned in sadness. His strong looking face turned weak like he just lost his best friend. He seemed troubled.

### His hands covered his whole head rubbing it in distress.

### "is everything okay?" I asked. He stopped rubbing his head.

### "no." he said folding his arms.

### "bad news back at home." he confessed. "the concrete grew more and more. We need to hurry."

### I face changed and turned worried. "Aunt May?"

### "she is holding up. But we need to be fast!" he said in a calmer tone.

### "then we better get to it then!" I exclaimed.

### Wednesday, I'm gonna get her!

### She has to pay for her mistakes. Like Aunt May said: "we're family, we look out for each other like how The Lord does."

### This is why Wednesday has to pay.

### "I'm going to help." Henry said darkly.

### His face turning back to his strong self. Normally, Henry will say my ideas are bad but this time, he seems to agree with my movement.

### "what do you mean?" I asked. He turned to me.

### His wolf teeth appeared. His eyes turned slightly yellow.

### Then I knew what he meant.

### "I'm going to do a bit of huff and puff to some of my resources to find Wednesday." he said "and I'm doing this for May."

### This was the movement I brought.

### This is what I'm going to bring to Wednesday.

### I'll take her off her throne. Bit by bit.

10

The Detective

### Alice:

### I wasn't sure about that detective that I just met.

### Maybe he is just a figment of my imagination, maybe he as a ghost, so maybe...

### But Amanda saw it, Philip saw it...

### How can IT even be a ghost?

Amanda thinks its okay for me to be out alone to take out drug lords and thugs. But I've always felt that I'm meant to do something bigger.

### We were at Philips. My damaged costume would need days to repair so,

### Philip made another costume for me that is a long legging with a short skirt on the waist and a long sleeve black shirt with the symbol on the front.

### The suit is all black with Pink,blue and purple lines decorating the arms, side of the legs and back.

### It was beautiful. The back was my favorite.

### It had the three colors creating a pattern.

### Lovely! But I still need a coat.

### These days, the weather is getting cold.

### Philip made another long coat in navy blue with only two pockets on each side.I wore my dried up black boots

### Looks much better.

### He even had a different pattern design printed on the back too.

### "looks really good on you." Philip said. "thanks." I said

### "what about that really cool one?" I asked again.

### "soon..."

### I sighed. I walked towards the window of the apartment where Philip stayed in and jumped down. My back begins to grow butterfly wings of lights. I pulled up and got higher, waving good-bye and took off to my next mission. Even though I am happy on the outside but I was still recalling what the Detective said.

### "We are all targets. Even you."

### That still bugs me and its still running in my mind.

### The mission is to go and take down another mob.

### But I insisted on something else more dangerous. I wanted to go after the Detective. I knew Amanda will turn down that call so I did it alone.

### I didn't do what Amanda requested and went on my own. I landed on a safe ally and changed to my normal cloths, even though it was beautiful I still have to keep it away. This mission means business.

### I went back to Seattle and went back to the scene of the crime, people were rushing around.

### The city was calm. There were some seagulls in the sky.

### The wind blew of cold breeze.

### The drone was down today. The rain from my previous adventure short circuited the system. Perfect! I wore long jeans and a sweater and a long navy blue jacket out. Its freezing outside.

### As much as it is a very nice weather, but if you are going to say outside too long. You will feel the chills. Its the weekend, days like these are easygoing for me.

### I was somewhere near the Center. The smokes from busy restaurants floated out. Graffiti every corner I turned. I've always felt that's what makes Seattle cool. We're used to so much art that even some older people do it. Its part of our way of life actually.

### Some days, I see the city as a beautiful mess.

### The city is like a huge maze that you hope to never get out.

### The weather and land marks were breathtaking.

### I walked to where I was caught in the act.

### "there was no dispatch that day." I said in my head.

### "how can there be a sudden party of cops after me and my movement?"

### "it was perfectly planed." I pointed out.

### Perhaps, this isn't as easy as it sounds.

### "so, you wanted to see me huh?" a male voice spoke from behind.

### "I never thought an 18 year-old would want to TRY hunting me down."

### I looked behind and found myself staring at the detective.

### He just smiled and just stared at me...

### After several moments staring at each other he finally spoke.

### "lets have some coffee."without a doubt, I just followed.

### That was the moment I realize this could be it.

### I either get caught or get something good out of it.

### He seemed very chilled and calm.

### We went to a nearby Starbucks and talked.

### The detective and I brought a cup of hot latte.

### He took a few sips and finally spoke.

### "so..." he said. "what do you wanna know?"

### "who are you?" I asked. The detective just said nothing and stared at his latte. The sun was up but the air is still cold. Gust of wind blew passed the shop. No talking, just the sound of the city. "are you a Convict?" I asked. After a few seconds, I suddenly noticed the metal spoon on his latte getting electrocuted. Sparks of blue lighting crawled around the spoon. He is one of US? "all my life." He smiled while stirring his latte with his spoon. "I can also do this." his voice rang in my head. Just like last time! "telekinesis?" I asked. "neat party trick..." I added.

### "not really neat. Actually." he said.

### "See, my powers have limits. I need conductive items if I ever need to go far. things made of metal or has powers of its own." he explained.

### He paused and took another sip of his latte with his hand.

### I took mine after him.

### "but that's not important." his said out loud. His face changed.

### He stared straight into my eyes. "there are dark forces moving in Emerald City."he said. His glare was very nerve-wrecking. My heart pounded harder. Just like last time. "like I said." he said in thought speak. We're all targets, Even YOU."

### You won't believe what happened to me lately.

### I got myself into being The Detective, Mr D that's what I call him.

### In this world he is in. He told me many great and horrible things. He made me see the world in a way only he knows how.

### A world full of danger and adventure. He's a Firefly, he has the power to control electricity.He can also talk to people in their heads.

### What's his real name? I don't know, why? Because he doesn't want to tell me about it. Turns out he was not an optical illusion after all.

### He is in fact a person. He seems very mysterious.

### When I echo the question 'who are you?' he brushes it aside.

Later at dinner, I decided not to mention about The Detective . they'll never believe it anyway. instead, I told them about Dazzle Girl.  
"huh? Who is Dazzle Girl?" my dad set down his spoon.  
"she had purple light powers." Hannah reported.   
"that's nice."My mom replied. "this city could use some color."  
"well,don't you think it's wired?" I hinted. Wanting to slowly let them realize Dazzle Girl and I are the same. My parents knew nothing till this day about me in prom an all that. Good news too. No reports, no nothing, I was living the dream like all kids do. A hero.  
but before either parent could reply, dad distracted about his work in the bank.

### Frustrated that my parents weren't interested, I carried my plate to the kitchen. Then wandered into my room thinking about what I'm about to do later with The Detective as I peered out the window. The moonlight shone through the window. The weather was very dry but windy tonight. Perfect time to sleep. "Who is he anyway? Why all the secrecy? " I wondered. But he is one of us so I left it as it is. Too much thoughts can clutter your mind.

### Anyways, Our mission is to investigate a warehouse nearby The Crocodile Bay near The Docks. I tried asking for more information about what we're doing but he didn't say. We're gonna do it tonight. Must be a new cargo of drugs.

### I lay on my bed, thinking about this whole superhero thing.

### Its not easy at times. In school, you could or could not be a nobody but that moment when you show up in costume. Perfect.

### You're free from what the world thinks of you. They would just look at you and just say "wow! What a hero!"

### That was where and when I treasure being the only child.

### Being an only child and hero makes me go in and out hard. There were times recalled having an older brother, Hector.

### I recalled him having black hair like me with green eyes. I think his face was sharp, not rounded like mine. Mom always told me the same story about him, saying he is in a very special place where he studies but will never comeback cause they are very strict about phones and traveling. Wait till he comes back and finds out how special I am.

### I'm used to being the only kid at home.

### Wonder if Hector misses me?

### But its been years since he was away. Not a phone call, not an answer from the people who came to pick him up. Its like he was a ghost. I remembered it was after a house fire that occurred during the summer.

### We all got out alive and all the house needed was to clean up and repair a thing or two there so, the rest of my summer was seeing the house go back to normal. Days after, I was out with a friend, Amanda and when I came back, Mom said he had a chance to study somewhere really cool.

### I was ten.

### I could recall only fragments about Hector. He is a loving and caring brother. But I hated the fact that he just left without a word, messed up!

### The wardrobe was shaking, vibrating madly while I was lost in thought about Hector. That's strange. I got up and went towards it to have a closer look. My heart began pounding as I got closer. Whats in there?

### "Floating thoughts?" The Detective asked as he leaned beside my room door. I rushed towards him and grabbed him. I sighed in relive. Its just The Detective."don't stand there!" I whispered.

### "why not?" he asked." because my parents will see you." I said.

### He followed my direction as I dragged him towards the window.

### "so, why did you choose me?" I asked.

### "because you were one of those who've been out there." he said.

### Our plan was to head to The Docks to send a message. Drug importation has grown more these days, the Detective intends to send a warning to the drug lords telling them to leave the city alone. I thought of the same thing! Only problem, I'm doing it without Amanda.This mission sucks! Doing something behind Amanda's back.

### She and I we're best friends, making us inseparable.

### But this is when I realize Amanda is not fitting for me to get used to this whole superhero thing.

### "Detective, do you think I'll ever get the credit for being a hero in the city?" I asked.

### "by actions, yes." he nodded.

### "but to be a hero, one must do more than just heroics to be remembered." he stared to the outside through my room window. The outside is filled with people walking in groups, laughing and talking out loud. His eyes reflected the lamp posts lights outside. There's a lot in said in his eyes. "are you a hero?" I asked.

### "that's up to you Alice." he said turning to me. "what?" I asked. "why do you say that?" The Detective stared at me sincerely. His slightly wrinkled face shadowed under the light. He looked like he aged a bit.

### "I can be all sorts of things. But there are some that I choose to live by that defies who I am." now using thought speak "and your choices defies you, Alice."

### That moment there made me realize that he's the example I need to be a better hero. "thank you, Detective." I smiled.

### "you still haven't told me your name." I pointed out.

### The Detective did it again. Brushing it aside. "not yet." he said.

### I took a deep breath began to remove my sweater shivering under my sports bra and changed into my hero costume. He didn't noticed.

### "let's do this!" I said.

### The Detective opened up the window with his mind. The window frame pop itself open by a split second. "ladies first." I aimed to the outside of the window and jumped out to the emptied out streets.

### The Detective followed soon after. "let's go." I said.

### It wasn't easy to get to The Docks I'll tell you that. We had to run our way there.

### The Detective levitated by connecting his electronic powers towards the nearby metal poles, street lamps and other metal objects to get it going and his height of levitation is not even really high up. When he uses his powers, a blue stream of lightning will appear.

### "takes a while to get up." he said. I ran from safe route to safe route towards The Docks. Looking out for each other. We made a pretty good team. The streets are quiet but lately there is a lot to talk about. People from The Lab grew. Its agents doubled the security tonight. They are after this sandy kind of guy. He was deemed dangerous. Taking control on West Seattle. Rumor has it that he helped clean up Settle's Space Needle from those hideous concrete bits, bringing it to its glory this morning. I honestly think its awesome.

### Now that's called being a hero!

### I took several routes to make it to The Docks.

### When I reached The Docks, I went in blazing!

### Cue in awesome mix of pop music!

### ZEZEZEZEZEZEZEZE~

### TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### I put on my I-pod shuffle with headphones on and and press play.

### I tossed myself towards one of the guards and pushed them towards the water. "whoa-wah!" the other guards were alarmed!

### They went over to me to check. Wait for it...

### The headphone played the bass drop, time to dance!

### I jumped out, powered up and tossed myself to the guards. I gave a roundhouse kick towards one of them. While in mid air, I gave a side kick towards the other one and flung off to a corner.

### I charged up again this time running towards the other one and gave him a five knuckle shuffle.

### I was feeling it! The beat! The sound cue.

### Wham! Pow! Wham! Pow!

### Oh! The excitement!

### I raced to the one on top of the pillars he was trying to snipe me.

### I grabbed his worm green shirt and pulled him to the water. "hey! Whoa-wah!" he exclaimed.

### I finally go to the top and blasted more and more towards the guards.

### I was winning. Then there was a huge gun fire.

### BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

### The guards showed up and marched towards me.

### "oh crap!" I yelled.

### PEW! PEW!

### I shot a beam of light towards the oil as it spills all over the floor.

### The oil caught fire!

### The light increased. Purple light.

### It glowed brightly. The place is catching fire!

### One guard tried to run over to the light.

### His legs were shaking. Without hesitation, he touched the light.

### "EEEEOWWWW!" he exclaimed.

### "The light burns!" he shouted. I started to chuckle. I shot more and more light beam towards the fuel tanks that is scatted all over the dock.

### WRRRRR~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### WHRRRRRR~

### WRRRRR~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### WHRRRRRR~

### I ran up to my feet.

### More guards showed up.

### Now we talking! This is a REAL fight!

### WRRRRR~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### WHRRRRRR~

### WRRRRR~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### WHRRRRRR~

### The beams landed successfully on the guards.

### "Where is The Detective?" I asked myself.

### I'm almost out! I need to recharge!

### I tried to leap up to The Crocodile Bay neon sign but the guards just kept shooting. My face fell onto the wooden floor as I helplessly stared at the guards moving towards me.

### The number of guards appeared more and more.

### For the first time ever, I was scared.

### "Be brave, be brave..." I told myself.

### I tried wrangling my way out from the guards but they were too big. They hand cuffed me in ropes. I was too powerless to remove them.

### "alright kiddo." one of the guards said."who sent you?" I looked at them trying to act confused. "uh...what? Oh, sorry I was sleep walking."

### The guard didn't buy it and pulled my head phones off and threw it into the sea. "you think I'm kidding?" he asked.

### "just hold it off Alice." The Detective said in thought speak. "I'm right behind you." I smiled confidently at them.

### "oh you're in trouble now..." I declared.

### The man lost his temper, "I'll show you trouble miss!"

### Before he could make a move,

### A piece of metal pipe, coiled with blue lightning, smacked on the guards that were holding me. The pipe hit the guards on their heads. Knocking them out. I turned surprised. It was him. The Detective gave a small shock and pulled the ropes off. "thanks!" I thanked. While running towards his back to take down another one with a kick. The guards grew in numbers. We found ourselves standing back to back as the guards surrounded us.

### Every blast and every punch or kick made the guards grew more.

### "where have you been.?" I asked. "busy!" The Detective pulled out a normal metal rod and pointed at the control room.

### "we gotta go!" I declared.

### "not yet."said The Detective.

### He gave one final blast.

### "bail!" he shouted.

### The Detective kept his aim at the control room and fired a bolt of lightning and fired a few more at the guards. Streams of blue lightning swirled and shocked the guards he targeted. He took a metal trash can lid and hovered himself up while I ran and climbed towards the top of the Crocodile Bay rooftop. I naturally drained some Neon lights from the sign and ran off to the nearby ally.

### Back in action!

### We got over powered! Come to think of it, how can that happen?

### We were mutants against humans with guns.

### I ran towards the Detective and fired a few more bolts of light at the remaining guards.

### The Detective turned back and blasted one or two more bolts of electricity. Towards the control room, the systems were fried and now, we spook them. "that's enough!" I said. The Detective and I fired a few more warning shots at the cargoes.

### I ran the other direction. We sent the message, we spooked them. They might leave us alone. "wait." The Detective mumbled. "that can't be..." I turned towards the control room. "that can't be what?" I asked.

### "nothing...." He said. "go!"

### And we scattered. We met up a bit later and decided to call it a night.

### I wasn't mad.

### I knew he would take a longer time to join in.

### See, The Detective explained he can only use his powers at a very low amp, to strengthen it, he needs things made of metal to amp up his powers as well as original sources. That's why he needed the metal rod.

### I was kind of mad at him for leaving me behind. But in this short period of time, the Detective and I have been a great team.

### I watched his back and he watched mine, even though is was not always. We're like all the dynamic duos in TV shows. We're like Clara and The Doctor.

### The Detective walked me back home as the sun was about to rise. It was around 2 am. Its moments like this that I feel very human with The Detective. The night was silent.

### Crickets chirping. The neighborhood, quiet and its owners fast a sleep.

### While we were walking,

### Questions grew within me about The Detective. "so, you went over to my house tonight," I started.

" I thought maybe I'd walk to The Docks or something, but you showed up. my parents were home. Downstairs."I continued. "so strange, my parents never even heard or noticed you." I paused to look at The Detective's reaction. The Detective did not reply. I wished I could ask him the real questions I wanted to know. Like who is he and why else would he chose me instead of the reason he already gave.

### "Mr D-why didn't my parents see you?" I asked quietly.

### he hesitated "I guess I should tell you the truth." he said finally in a whisper. "there's a good reason why your parents didn't see me," The Detective said leaning close to me. Because your a ghost. I thought. "see, I sneaked into your room window and hid behind your wardrobe." he said "huh?" I reacted. "I got into your room during dinner. Not a sound in sight. I have light feet and amazingly I could fit. Sorry if I creep you out." He explained. "I see,I'm sorry Mr.D. Its okay." I replied patting on his back. That would explain the sound on the wardrobe. "thank you." Mr.D thanked. "for asking me."

### We reached my house. I stopped walking. Mr.D just walked ahead of me as I ran through my thoughts. "see you when I see you." The Detective called. "yeah,okay." I replied, thinking about what I just knew, I raise my head up to ask more. But he just vanished.

### I hate it when he does that.  
realizing that it was all a misunderstanding, I climbed back into my room changed into my purple night gown and lied on my bed in exhaustion. What a night!

### A part of me thought about the others out there.

### I mean, Mr D is one, I am one, surly there is more.

### Wonder if they are doing the same thing as I am.

### If not, what path are they taking?

11

The Extreme

### Hector:

### "The way I see it, there's are two types of people in this world." Rudy said to me. "Most of them are guys like me. We know,see and hear stuff. We do everything and anything we can to change it. To change this screwed up world. But we deal with it." he said while trying to burp. "Cause that's all we can do." we were talking over what happen during the fire. He was drinking glass bottles of Cola like as if its beer. "Then there are guys like you." he continued. "guys with all that power. All cooped up within you." Rudy putted his bottle down and turned towards me "waiting to emerge."

### I felt guilty for not telling Rudy earlier.

### The town knew about my 'condition'. Rudy still believed that there is still that 'Human'. Rudy was another person that I learned to trust.

### Aside from Mel, Rudy trusted my ability to be a hero.

### "Rudy..." I stopped him.

### "come on man, the town saw you swallow a shop fire whole like its your food or something." I kept quiet.

### "you saved Nicole. She'll thank you for that."

### He was right. Rudy wanted me to do the same as how Mel wanted me to be. To be a Hero.

### "you this is not a game right?" I asked.

### "yeah, I know, but my old man once said this." he replied.

### "your choices comes from what you believe in, not who you are." he picked up his bottle again and took a drink.

### "my old man never wanted to do this whole delivery man thing," he began. but he choose to because he believed that he made a difference in this town." he stared at the horizon while the sun sets.

### "you don't make choices,man." he turned to me and said.

### "the choices don't make you either,

### you choose them. Believe in them."

### He said.

### I took a long thought from what Rudy said. He may be right.

### I've been doing some good in my life, its time I bring it all out. Its time to rise.

### "I think you may be right, Rudy."

### he took another bottle of Coke, opened it and passed it to me.

### He rose his bottle, waiting for me to hit back.

### "cheers, Hector."

### "la chaleur est à la hausse, il est temps de se lever."

### I clanked his bottle. "what does that mean?" I asked.

### "means 'the fire is rising, it's time to rise.' in french."

### "how did you know about that?" I asked.

### "french class." he said. "learned it myself."

### "il est temps de se lever." I repeated.

### It's time to rise.

### The town never got really close to me ever since I saved Nicole.

### They got scared and worried.

### Worried that I can burn them down because I can but I won't cause that's not what I do.

### A few days passed since you last heard about me.

### I've been busy.

### More deliveries, more questions and yes, I might end up in The Lab again. The town folks are still friendly but just more cautious.

### But I treat every day as the last day of my life.

### Since there could be someone who will report about a House fire putted out without the use of water, someone will talk.

### But this morning is different.

### Instead of Mrs Robertson making pancakes, we had home made buggers. The smell of beef patty was filling up the kitchen room while Rudy gets the tea ready.

### "so your not so normal." Mrs Robertson said quietly.

### She sat with us while Rudy just ate like a hungry dog.

### "I guess." I said after swallowing a chunk bread and beef patty with some fresh lettuces and ketchup.

### Its raining outside today. Guess the title of Forks having more rains in this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America is true after all.

### Its nice when it rains here.

### Fogs will cover the sea and the clouds will turn the town into another place.

### "well, that could be the reason why our fire is always out." she giggled.

### "you should be out there, protecting the town."

### I ate quietly while Mrs Robertson just gave me a long quiet stare.

### She then stared at Rudy. Rudy shrugged and turned back to his food.

### "Hector, is something wrong?" Rudy asked.

### "you're not the first ones to call me do that Mrs Robertson."

### I replied quietly.

### "a girl once called me to do that."

### "and what was your respond,dear?" Mrs Robertson asked in excitement.

### "nothing..." I said. "I did nothing and traveled here."

### I looked up as they give me a blanked stare.

### "that was the reason why I came here. To Forks." I took a deep breath. "its hard to explain." I said.

### "what you did back there for little Nicole was more than heroic kid." Rudy pointed out. "you did the right thing."

### "what exactly do you want Rudy?" I asked.

### "well I'm glad you asked but first, we have to apologize." Rudy said.

### Rudy placed his burger down and drank his last cup of tea.

### He took a deep breath and finally spoke.

### "my mom and I are residents here...but we are treasure seekers."

### For a moment I went blank. The word " treasure seekers" was still ringing in my head.

### "I'm sorry what?" I asked.

### "treasure seekers?" I repeated

### "I know, hard to believe. But we've always been. We seek to protect ancient artifacts, you know like Indina Jones."

### "okay. So why are you telling me this?" I asked.

### "and why now?"

### Rudy turned and looked at his mother.

### "because we found something." Mrs Robertson said.

### "come on, we'll show you."

### Rudy stood and Mrs Robertson followed. "promise us you won't tell a soul?" she asked. I nodded.

### Rudy brought us to the garage where his dad's car is parked. The doors were shut dark. I could not see where I was going or did I stepped on something. We walked towards the car. Mrs Robertson followed slowly and closed the door shut.

### "this is why I never start my dad's car." Rudy opened placed an old key into the key hole for the car and turned it on.

### A light blue light appeared and illuminated the room. After seconds of darkness, the room is filled with blue lines that looked like maps or some sort. The light glowed in a pattern that seemed like something simple.

### "we've been looking at my dad's last map that is hidden in this car but after a year of observing, we got nothing.

### My vision started to show signs of a rising blue fire that is slowly raising while dying. Its the lines! They are showing directions...

### "Stand back!" I said.

### Rudy and Mrs Robertson stood back while I gave a big burst of fire around the headlight lights.

### The lines started catching fire and the unwanted parts seemed to have been erased. What remains is a straight line that points to several islands and an empty spot.

### "Whoa! Get a load of that!" Rudy exclaimed.

### "my Hector, seems like your the key for this map." Mrs Robertson nodded in agreement.

### "looks like this is a clear map to where ever the map is leading us." Rudy said. "a map within a map."

### "look over there." I pointed at one of the spots connected to the line.

### "that looks like us, Forks." I said.

### "it is dear." Mrs Robertson said with a smile.

### Rudy took his phone camera and took a good picture of it.

### Something suddenly came into Rudy's thoughts.

### "dad used to say: 'a seeker needs a champion.' you don't mean." Rudy said turning staring at me. "oh yes!" I said "look at this, it has a symbol of a dragonfly. Count me in!" I exclaimed.

" I might get answers for my powers."

### "pack your bags gang! Its time to go find The Dragon Eye ." Rudy said. "I'll give the old gang a call, we're going on a road trip."

### "old gang?" I asked. "My crew. You''ll meet them soon." Rudy said with a smile.

### "guess we are back then." Mrs Robertson said. "we are, not you mom." Rudy said. He was being cold. Mrs Robertson nodded "you're probably right anyways, I'm to old for this shit." she joked.

### Rudy turned worried for a second and pulled me out of the garage.

### "I have something to say." Rudy said.

### "what is it? About me being your partner in this hunt? Rudy, this is my chance to get answers." I replied.

### "not that." Rudy said quickly. "its my mom, she is coming and I need protection for her." His face stares at the covered sun underneath the clouds. "This actually could be it! I may be able to search for answers behind my dad's passing and last words." Rudy said as he stares towards the sky. "The reason behind all this."

### "but I can't assure we will all live when other pirates and thugs come after us. just to get rich." he explained. "they will KILL her to get there."

### A thought of Mrs Robertson dead could break me.

### "don't worry Rudy." I said patting my left arm on his shoulder.

### "I'll make sure that won't happen."

### "no, I need protection for her here while we are out. I'm going to call some folks." he said. Di he just answered his own question?

### Rudy gave me a pat on the shoulder and said

### "la chaleur est à la hausse, il est temps de se lever."

### "its time to rise." I repeated. "thanks man!"

### Even though it was not me to begin with.

### Rudy and I packed and jumped on a his red truck and drove to the nearest town nearby, Port Angles to go meet Tony, Rudy's transport guy. Tony is Rudy's God brother. His father is a fisherman who died of old age while the mother recently passed away of cancer. The house is literally a fishing dock . According to Rudy, Tony looks 21 but he is actually 25. Tony has white skin. He has short brown hair with brown eyes.

### He is quite tall for someone his age. His face is a little rounded but just nice. His body is quite muscular.

### Guess he lived a healthy life of carrying heavy items and going outside.

### The house is filled with old pictures of Tony's family and collections of fishing baits.

### The house was a mix of wood and steel. Well painted in dark brown to keep the wood from rotting. I introduced myself and sent my condolences to Tony. I sat down silently while looking at Tony and his big sad eyes.

### We were there a month after his mother's passing. Rudy took it easy on him. " I'm sorry man." Rudy said. "its okay. I was ready for the worst anyways." replied Tony with a broken smile. "why you here anyways?"

### "we hate to bring this to ya at this kind of time but I think we are back for one more treasure hunt." Rudy pulled out a copy of the map on his phone and placed it on Tony's hand. "we found this." Tony gave a good look at the photograph and shook his head. "no thanks man. I've been out of the game for too long." he said returning the phone to Rudy.

### "which is why you should, man. Your the best driver we got." Rudy said.

### Tony shook his head again. "No. But I'll still provide you transport if you need one. I'm done from adventures." Rudy kept silent for a moment. "I understand." he said in a gentle tone. "take care man." Rudy stood up, patted Tony's shoulders and leaves for the door.

### "Rudy." Tony said quietly. "word was James just broke out of jail recently." Tony looked up while Rudy was an inch away from the door.

### "you better be careful."

### "I will man." Rudy smiled.

### Rudy and I got onto the car and drove a little further.

### We drove about half a mile to Park Hanna's place right out of Tony's.

### The skies turned gray, looked like its going to rain.

### Park Hanna is Rudy's old friend. A Chameleon.

### She is as Rudy describes as "a target you won't suspect."

### On our way, Rudy describes her as a young Korean girl.

### She rides on a scooter and Rudy said he used to ride with him and a few others. They used to be part of a skate crew back in Seattle until they all grew up and went off their own ways.

### "who is James?" I asked quietly.

### "we shall not speak of him." Rudy said in a slightly angry tone.

### "I'll take that you have a history with him?" I asked.

### "hmmm.." Rudy groaned.

### "I'll take that as a yes then." I said.

### "take it whatever you want." Rudy said keeping his eyes on the wheel.

### We arrived at Hanna's soon after that conversation. Her place is very close to the sea. We peaked through the windows, Empty...

### Seems like she has been gone in a while.

### The house was a huge worm green painted house with dashes of black green spots all over the house.

### "lets look around." Rudy said.

### "don't you think its a bad idea to snoop around?" I asked.

### "no worries, I'm just looking for some parts. Besides, she owes me."

### We walked to the other end of the house to the garage.

### The garden looked like its well managed.

### There were some morning glories and other flowers.

### I kept a keen eye on my surroundings.

### I've been in situations like this. You never know who's going to show up and attack.

### Rudy noticed the garage door was opened.

### "through here." Rudy said.

### I followed him in. Rudy crept quietly a few steps ahead of me.

### Looking around this place, Hanna must be a hoarder.

### There was an old metal car all rusted,

### A bike with its seat missing and some car parts. The garage is slightly bigger than usual garages. It might be able to fit more items but because of the over crowding items in Hanna's collection, the place looked small.

### Something caught my eye as we scanned around the pile. Behind a bunch of boxes is a silver sword like thing.

### It had wheels and a handle made for swords combined.

### It was all silver while the handle looked like stingray skins.

### I grabbed the handle and pulled it out. Some of the small items fell but everything is still intact.

### I gave it a good look and was marveled by the design of this hybrid sword and skateboard.

### It a silver three steel pipe connected cruiser with a steel handle in the back wrapped in stingray skin.

### "looks like a weapon." I said.

### "more like a mode of transport." Rudy pointed out.

### "or both." Rudy added.

### "think I'll keep it. Hope she is okay with this." I said while getting a good grip on it.

### The handle was bend slightly to show the tip of the skateboard while the other two was well fasten with three steel bars that was perfectly cut to fit and melted and two pairs metal bars for the trucks.

### The bars were all painted black.

### One was on the tip the other was at the near end of the board while three more was on the in between of the board. I looked under the board and find that the wheels were drilled and well fastened.

### The trucks, the wheels, drilled and well fit into the metal bars.

### "looks cool on you." Rudy complimented.

### "thanks." I thanked.

### The tip looked dull but still packs a hit.

### "Hanna's an old man was a black smith." Rudy recalled. "This must be his gift to Hanna."

### "for escape and battle maybe." I said.

### The trucks were also silver with black wheels to match.

### I carried it with care and slid it into what looks like the cover for the sword- skateboard. It was a brown leather sword bag that has a shoulder sling to it. I brushed the dust off from the bag and wore the bag. I adjusted the sling to my size while walking a few steps to catch up with Rudy. Suddenly, I felt something tied towards my right leg. The string tightened and pulled me up from the ground.

### Rudy rushed over and caught me while pulling his pocket knife and sliced the rope.

### "still superstitions eh Hanna?" Rudy whispered to himself.

### "thanks." I said while trying to get up.

### Rudy nodded and walked further inward the garage.

### Rudy noticed a shiny object on the other corner on his right.

### "hey, I've been looking for this." Rudy said in excitement.

### It was a shinny shield.

### Its has a center hub in the middle. The edges were also bolted. The back of the shield is also covered in silver and the handles were in brown leather. No fancy symbol, just a faded three lined arrow facing upright from how Rudy is holding.

### Rudy swung the shield to his left and the shield sprung into what looks like a crossbow. The center hub swings away from its former point nearing the edge of the shield and the sides split apart, forming a wing like form. The back of the Shield also split itself apart but smaller. At the other end of the two opened parts of the shield is a bowstring that is connected to each other. Tightly attached, readying it for use. "Works like a charm!" Rudy said with a smile in his words.

### "you still need a bow to do it." I pointed out.

### "oh? I don't need a bow. I just need that glove." Rudy searched around the shield and pulled out a leather black glove for a left hand and hold the shield turned crossbow on his right hand and wore the glove on his left hand. The bowstring started glowing in bright red. Rudy looked at me with a smile.

### "its an energy crossbow." Rudy pulled the red bowstring to the back and aimed.

### The bowstring began to build up a slightly bigger energy ball on the spot where Rudy placed his fingers on.

### SHEWWW~ Rudy released the string and the energy ball flew towards me. The energy ball had a long tail of red energy stick behind it. The energy ball flunked passed me and crashed towards an old bow target behind me. The energy ball flew into the target. Creating a hole straight inside it.

### "state of the art ingenuity." He commented. "still got it."

### "Hanna made it for me." He then closed it back to its shield form.

### Rudy crawled inward through more items. Other interesting items were around. A Jade Jar, more Metal weapons, old plane parts and more.

### "Hector, give me a hand with this." He said while standing by the door at the other end.

### I got closer and helped Rudy ram the door open.

### Rudy helped give another push.

### In unison, Rudy and I pushed the door again.

### The door budged open.

### Rudy fell onto the carpet while I manage to catch myself from falling.

### I walked a few steps ahead from Rudy while he tried to get himself up his feet. I walked ahead towards a window looking out to the horizon, I noticed a lighthouse by the edge of the house. I ran towards the house

### Door and ran out towards the walkway of the house and rested one of my arms on the benches on the edge of the house.

### "Rudy, look!" I said pointing at the light house.

### Rudy caught up me and stood by me at the bench, Rudy caught a figure of a girl. Its Hanna.

### "that's her alright," Rudy said. "lets go."

### Rudy and I ran into the large bush of grass surrounding the lighthouse.

### We ran through the grass getting closer towards the lighthouse, the image of Hanna became clearer.

### She was wearing a jeans jacket. Her hair was long, black and curly.

### Her hair was tied in a ponytail with a butterfly hair band. She appears to also wear a sword sling with the sword covered. She appears to be running away from something.

### Her face filled with fear. Her skin turned red in exhaustion.

### "Rudy, hold on." I said.

### "what?"

### I grabbed Rudy on the shirt and blasted through the window. A floor below where Hanna went.

### I crashed through the glass and crashed onto the rock floor.

### "Hector!" Rudy yelled. "do not ever do that again!"

### "Hanna is in trouble!" I said.

"let's move!" I said running upstairs. Rudy followed.

### Several armed men started shooting.

### BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

### The bullets missed me. Rudy ducked. Rudy swayed the shield into crossbow mode and shoot at one of the armed men.

### TWANT!

### The bow hit the man and blasted away in mid air.

### I grabbed the skate-sword and swat another man down.

### My sword caught fire. I swatted another man. Hanna kicked another armed man.

### "Rudy?" Hanna said in surprise.

### "Hanna!" Rudy turned towards the armed men and gave one final shot.

### "We need to go." Rudy said.

### "this way!" Hanna said. We ran passed the armed men by blasting them through the men. Rudy shot one off and Hanna kicked one off.

### "hurry!" Hanna said. I blasted at another one and ran out.

### "run!" I shouted. We reached the lower floor and ran for the hills.

### Hanna got onto his scarlet bike and dragged Rudy along.

### she stepped on the pedal started revving up the engines. "Drive!" I commanded. The motorbike accelerated.

### I pulled out the sword-skate and toasted it underneath me and got on it.

### I charged myself and rocketed. The fire blazed towards the direction where Rudy and Hanna are heading, clearing the grass from the blazing fire. "Rudy!" I shouted.

### Rudy swiped his crossbow open and began firing at the tailgating trucks.

### "Hector, heads up!" Rudy snapped.

### I turned my head to the back and began firing bolts of green fire towards the trucks.

### "Bazooka!" Hanna pointed out up ahead.

### I turned and fired. The bazooka fired but collided with the bolt of fire. The armed man got hit and flunked towards a nearby tree. I powered more as we reached for the edge of the road.

### "keep going!" I said.

### "what? Are you crazy?" Rudy yelled. "yup. Probably." I said.

### I skated ahead of Hanna and powered pass the cliff. The rocks caught up and floated on top of the fire.

### "Hanna! Hanna!" I could hear Rudy calling.

### Hanna understood what I'm trying to do and revved harder.

### Her motorbike drove through the rocky bridge and flew down into the ocean. I reached my end and jumped into the air.

### Holding onto my board, I blasted the skate towards Hanna.

### Hanna got off the motorbike and grabbed my hand. Rudy landed on my back, holding on tightly.

### I powered the fire towards the other side of the cliff.

### The back of the skate sword's tip began to glow a wave of heat and fired out to the sky. This board is made for Dragonflies!

### I pulled Hanna up to the board and let her stand on the front of the board. Hanna tried to keep her balance while I brought us to land.

### "Hector!" Rudy said.

### "we cannot EVER do that again!"

### We should have been dead because of a silly mistake.

### Nonetheless, Hanna and Rudy thanked me for that crazy stunt to save us from being shot.

### "thanks," Hanna thanked while trying to think of the next line,

### "for that daredevil act." she took a sigh and continued "you can keep the board and Rudy," she turned to Rudy with a glare "you can keep the shield" she turned back to me and started asking questions.

### "what are you two doing in my house?" she asked.

### "well sorry for the intrusion darling, but we wanted to tell you something." "about what?" she asked. I was distracted by the sword in the bag that she was able rescue from jumping off a cliff. But just taking it from her would be rude.

### We were back at Rudy's. Hanna's place was too dangerous to return to.

### The guys that were after her could be waiting.

### "we found it!" Rudy whispered. "found what?"

### Rudy pulled out his phone and showed the picture of the map.

### "sesang-e..." Hanna spoke softly. "is that real?" she asked.

### "more real than you ever know." Rudy nodded.

### "we gotta find it!" Hanna said.

### "that may be right but we need help. The map talks about the dangers ahead." Rudy explained.

### "he's gonna come with us." Rudy pointed at me. Hanna turned to me and gave me a look.Her eyes scanned at my looks and grinned.

### "well, I guess he can join our little adventure."

### She rested one of her arms on my shoulder and asked

### "so, you're a Convict huh?" she asked

### I smiled and replied "yeah.""well then," Hanna spoke softly.

### "looks like you're in for a ride. I'm in!"

### "you guys talk." Rudy stood and took out his phone.

### "one more friend to call." Hanna looked at Rudy believing she already knew why "him, Rudy? Are you sure?" Hanna asked and folded her arms together. "yes, him." Rudy replied. "besides, he's cool now."

### Things could get nasty.

### In Rudy's world, anything could happen.

### Friends become foes, foes become allies, back stabbing, kill or be killed.

### Just what I need, and I don't mean it in a good way. I've never been on the run before I escaped with Jake and the others, and I sure don't know how to deal with thieves. The road I'm taking ahead is gonna be tough and full of liars. We gotta hold our own. Trust no one.

### Something Hanna said that feels a bit off for me but who knows, she could actually be nice.

### Rudy and I packed a few things and made a few phone calls.

### I walked out the house and called Melissa.

### "hey Mel," I started.

### "hey, everything okay?" she asked.

### "yeah, listen uh....I've been thinking about what you said."

### "and?" I took a huge breath and spoke,

### "I think I should do it." I continued.

### "that's great Hector." she replied.

### "take care out there okay?" she added.

### "yeah, bye." "bye!" the line disconnected, I took the phone off my ear and thought, maybe it is time. After all, this trip could give me answers.

### Its going to help me.

12

The Awakening

### Alice:

### Amanda and I met up in school the night after my secret mission with Mr D. Something he said struck me wired is how does he know me?

### Right, he's telepathic. Plus, I'm the only Dazzle Girl around Seattle.

### I went to school normally, our examinations were just over and summer is almost here. I was not too excited about it.

### "So what's new?" I asked.

### "well." it was Amanda. She's my news follower from now on.

### "there is a Dock incident last night." Amanda said.

### "you don't suppose it could be another Butterfly right?"

### I tried to keep it quiet but Amanda could see it through that I had something to hide.

### "I-I didn't know about that." I said quickly.

### Amanda scanned through my face.

### "are you okay?" Amanda asked. "yeah." I answered. "just tired." I lied.

### "are you sure?" Amanda asked. "you look dreadful."

### I feel dreadful. I mean after such a long night, your bound to get tired but school is important for me.

### "I'm fine, Amanda. Really. Its cool." I pushed her hands away.

### "alright Missy.." Amanda giggled.

### Being friends with her for so long, Amanda can be quite of a know-it-all.

### She knows me so well, its like she could read my mind.

### Time makes us know the good and bad side of each other.

### Which makes us tightly close. Using my powers seems to have a bad hair toll which turns a small chunk of it purple. So far, there's only one on the right side of my hair but I kinda like it. Makes me look cooler. I tried to wash it clean but it was still there.

### No biggie. I mean my black hair could cover it and school allows hair dying anyway, just not too much. In fact I like it.

### So, here is school.

### I had a hard time, trying to piece together of the reasons why school has to exist on mornings. I mean, people need knowledge I guess but why in the morning? I don't trust the research that shows that you learn a lot in the morning, I picture the smart kids being in the survey while they only use one or two people who didn't like school on mornings.

### "so what's next?" I asked.

### "well this docks incident, is like the new big thing. Wanna give it a look?" Amanda asked.

### "I got a better idea." I said. "you? Really?" Amanda smirked.

### "yup." I winked. I hope she understands Mr D.

### Jacob:

### This is the part where I began my real heroic days in Seattle.

### I woke up from the long night and started scouting out again for trouble the next day. Up here on top of the Space Needle, life feels great.

### Henry was still helping me find leads while constantly.

### I went out, doing my graffiti and all that stuff.

### The city was torn about liking and hating me.

### It happens. I traveled in style to the city till I witness a bank robbery.

### I walked in telling the robbers not to shoot. They followed. With their guns facing me. "we don't want trouble." one of the robbers said.

### "I know." I said calmly.

### "but I am." without a warning, a large pile of sand rumbled from the tilled floor. I signaled the sand up and moved it to the robbers.

### The sand smashed two of the robbers while the other started shooting.

### "he's the freak!" he shouted. I shot a few sand blasts to take two more of the robbers and leaped towards the who I think is the boss. Then a horrifying sound rang in my ear from the back.

### A bomb exploded. Inside from the vault.

### Alice:

### I am very worried about Amanda.

### Keeping Mr D away from Amanda was bad enough but telling her about it could get her hurt.

### Nonetheless, I've decided to tell her. After school.

### My hope is that Amanda will take it likely.

### I got home and got ready to go meet Amanda in her house.

### I kept my costume inside a cloak of disguise in random cloths. My suit was covered in a long pink jumpsuit and the coat kept in my back pack.

### I strolled down the streets and head for Amanda's place.

### While on my way, a man in a long brown trench coat and a hat leaned onto a black car that I had no idea what model it is.

### "going somewhere?" the man asked.

### I turned and looked. It was Mr D "oh its you."

### "Alice, there is something I need to tell you."

### "busy." I said.

### "no this is serious."he said

### I turned back and walked to Amanda's.

### "you don't get it don't you?" The detective said. He caught up with me and talked as I marched for Amanda's.

### "thinking you can be new but remain in the world you used to belong to won't bring you back there."

### The Detective walked behind me. The sun was covered under some dark clouds. Looks like it might rain, but the shadow of him still follows behind me.

### "you don't get to decide, Detective." I said.

### The Detective walked ahead of me and stopped me on my tracks.

### "this is not about you...not anymore." he said in a deep tone.

### "so let me do it my way then!" I snapped.

### The Detective stopped following.

### "your arrogance will cost you." The detective warned.

### I turned and stared at him. "really?" I asked.

### "tell me one good reason why I should listen to you?"

### The Detective looked at me in the eye and said nothing.

### "well?" I asked.

### The Detective turned and walked away.

### I turned mad because The Detective decided to sugar coat the truth from me and kept me in the dark.

### "if that's what you want to do, then that's FINE WITH ME!" I yelled.

### The Detective said nothing, walking off to the distance.

### I was mad, I was very mad.

### That he thinks I can't do it, that I can't be a hero while living my normal life.

### I walked to Amanda's and told her everything.

### Even though it was a one off mission with him, I feel that Amanda should know.

### The fact that The Detective is a Convict, the fact that I worked behind her back and the fact that all I ever wanted is to live in this normal life again.

### Amanda, wearing her pink tank top and a pair of jeans lied onto her bed and sighed.

### "you know whatever he said was true right?"

### Amanda's room is what you thought a girl's room to be like.

### All pink but with a twist, other splats of bright colors created patterns or some sort randomly. The bed was in a pink blank bed sheet. Her pillows and blanket was in a winter themed like set up with collages of dark red and dark blue rectangles with snow flakes patterns on top the white blanket. She had a huge red bean bag piling on the other side of the room.

### I turned and glared. "about what he said?" I asked.

### "yeah. Think about it, I won't be able to protect myself if you're out there saving lives right?" she said.

### "then I'll get to it, let's pretend that whatever I could do never happened." I announced.

### "are you kidding me?" Amanda said.

### "no way. You are a hero. You can do more than that."

### "please Amanda, just let it go. I'm trying to let it go." I said.

### "and give away your chance?" Amanda said. "why?"

### Her laptop showed an image of one of the spots in Seattle.

### Looked like there is a fire.

### Amanda shrugged. "you gotta go."

### "I'll finish this later." I said changing into my costume and jumped out from her room window and began to run.

### "no hurry." she whispered while seeing me off.

### I ran out to the city and got to the top of the Art Museum.

### Not a very tall building but it gave me an edge to see where the fire was done.

### "I'll make short work of this." I said to myself. I "butterfly" my way off to the road. The distance from Northwest to Seattle was not very far.

### In addition to my powers, the distance was not an issue.

### Speed can be quite a funny thing. They say super speed makes a person's muscles stronger or something like that but I don't feel it.

### Regardless, I still ran like I just discovered my powers since yesterday.

### My third mission turns out to be a bank robbery.

### I ran fast towards the fire but found a very interesting sight.

### Sand. Just sand... Out from the burning building that was covered in sand burst out a man like figure of a teenage boy.

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! AAH-AHA!

### The figure began to clear up and signs of clothing.

### His face began shape out and began to spoke.

### Jacob:

### It's the hot season anyways, so fires are common.

### So lately, I've been on Fireman duty.

### Five or at least seven fires but the fires were very uncommon.

### It appears to be planted not by natural heat, it appears to be planted by someone. Which is unusual. I managed to sand the fire and subside the fire from getting bigger. The bomb fire was covered and everyone's okay. See? Total control.

### Lately, I've been more into public service. The Lab Hunters had more than one Convict to track but I can't' be sure why it's been quiet lately.

### But anyway, my encounters with these fires were brought to a surprise.

### "its okay, I got it." I said.

### She was a very pretty girl.

### She was wearing a long black legging with a short skirt on the waist and a long sleeve black shirt with a symbol on the front.

### The black suit was decorated with Pink, blue and purple lines on the arms, side of the legs and back.

### She also wore a pair of short black boots.

### It was beautiful. It fits her.

### She also wore a long coat navy blue.

### There was a pattern design printed on the back of the coat.

### She looked like a High School student. Around 18 or something.

### She had green eyes and long straight black hair. Her hair had a large chunk of it dyed in purple on the right side. Kind of a wired hair style.

### Her face is sharp but slightly rounded, and her posture is well kept.

### She walked towards me with fear and courage tugging within her face.

### She began to talk.

### Alice:

### I was scared but also interested.

### Someone is taking over my place.

### He was wearing a orange checkered shirt and long black jeans.

### He wore a red beanie that had black ring figure in the front and a really fetch black pocketed long sleeve jacket.

### My suggestion is that he must have been a town kid. I mean a pair of black All Stars sneakers is way too out of style.

### His face is quite sharp looking.

### His eyes were brown and his hair was tucked in his beanie.

### He is quite tall, I think he is older than me. Probably around 20.

### "who are you?" I asked.

### "your friendly neighborhood, Sandman! Can we talk somewhere else?" he said with a shrug with a man on his arms. His face looked distracted. Is he trying to be charming? Seconds after that,

### Lab Hunters marched out from all around us, armed and ready to kill.

### I'm being hunted!

### "yeah, okay. Let's get out of here." I nodded.

### The guy dropped the man that was in his arms and rose his arms to the ground. PEZZZZZZZZZ~ The sand began to surround him as he waves the sand around us under his command. The cloud took shape and it instantly floated up towards the top of a skyscraper.

### I powered up and ran up to the skyscraper the guy is heading.

### I leaped to the sand cloud. I stood in fear that the sand cloud might break.

### "chill, it won't break." the guy said. "by the way, name's Jacob Brown."

### Jacob fired sand ball at the incoming helicopter, blinding it from firing at us.

### I blasted several light blast and formed an energy shield around us from the other helicopter that was shooting at us."awesome Sand boy, now what?" I asked.

### Jacob:

### "awesome Sand boy, now what?" the girl asked.

### "we get out of here." I said.

### I formed a giant sand cloud and blocked out several Lab Hunters helicopter and kept blocking out their attacks.

### "well, try to that is." I added.

### PEZZZZZZZZZZZZ~ more sand flowed towards the sky up to the sand cloud.

### I warped it up, forming a huge sand cloud and hoping onto it as it forms. Yes, I can do that now. Its up to the user's imagination to use this sand power. So, I thought why no a cloud. This is my first time doing it but I'm sure I can."no problem." The girl answered. She began firing bolts of light towards the helicopters and swatted them to the nearby buildings making them land without any further damage.

### "think you can help protecting us?" I asked. "sure thing Sand boy." the girl said. My powers are only limited by my imagination so, anything is possible.

### the great big sand cloud began to shape up much faster and began to float.

### Ideas from comic books characters. I pushed the sand cloud forward and took us higher.

### Like flying an airplane.

### A big sandy sand cloud airplane.

### Alice:

### I wasn't sure if its safe at all for this dude to drive us both to safety. I mean he looks like a driver without a license. But since he's the driver, I kept it to myself.

### The sand cloud began to rumble as we reached for higher altitude,

### Brown assured that the cloud won't break so I took his word for it.

### I was very unconfident.

### "we're sitting ducks here, miss." Brown said.

### "got it!" I assured him. I began firing bolts of light towards the helicopters.

### "heads up, on your tail!" I turned and fired at whatever came for me.

### "Thanks!" I said and kept firing.

### Jacob:

### The girl held her ground by firing at anything that moved.

### "where are we going?" she asked.

### "no idea!" I replied.

### "anywhere but here." I blinded the helicopters and speeded the cloud somewhere.

### "that was too close." I muttered to myself.

### "Jacob!" Henry called.

### Saw what you did on the news, you better get over hear now or we're going home okay?" I scoffed.

### "and leave the rest and Aunt May to suffer?" I said.

### "No way! I got this, chill."

### Henry's voice changed "just get out of there,"

### in his changed voice he said "the Lab Hunters are after you!"

### That was the official title for the people that's been after us I guess.

### I pushed the cloud, setting us to the course of the safe house I had earlier.

### "HEADS UP!" the girl yelled.

### I turned took a huge sand ball and blasted towards the incoming helicopter.

### I'm getting used to this whole power thing, it may look easy but it required a lot of focus. Something bright flew pass the sand cloud we were standing on in light speed. "uh, what the heck was that?" I asked. "I got it!" the girl cried.

### When I turned back to the girl, she was gone.

### I blasted a few more sand blasts at the helicopters and hovered the sand cloud to another block. I noticed Henry was at one of the roofs of the buildings and began to hover down. I absorbed the sand cloud like a vacuum going down to the roof slowly as the cloud shrinks. I landed softly at the roof, absorbing the remaining sand from the cloud.

"Henry you won't believe who I've just met. Another Flyer!" I said. Henry looked around, "well, where is this OTHER Flyer?" he asked.

### "I don't know. I didn't even get her name." I answered.

### Henry instantly changed the topic when we were done with this other Flyer. "that's the least of our worries." he said.

### "we might have a problem..."

### "like what?" I asked.

### Alice:

### A large bolt of light rained down and swooped right pass the sand cloud.

### I decided to go after it, thinking it was The Detective.

### Whoever it was had a firm grip on me. I raced up against it in mid air but the next thing I knew was that I got hit face first towards the light.

### The lights flashed through me. It was too bright for me to see the color.

### At first, I assumed it was Mr D behind the light. I was blinded for a second but when I opened up my eyes, I found myself at an ally.

### "Mr D, I told you.." I turned around and gasped. This is not Mr D.

### "hello Alice, yes. I know who you are." the man said.

### "should I KNOW you?" I asked. My heart was pounding out from my chest. He was a young fair skinned man, around my age. He's wearing jeans, blue sneakers and a brown jacket with the hood on and the jacket unzipped. Inside, he wore a worm green shirt.

### His eyes glowed in light green while his brown hair was well combed.

### "aw, now I'm hurt!" he said marching across the ally.

### "we've never met before but I sure know you and just a piece of advice for you, maybe you should not nose around and stay at home."

### "what are you?" I asked.

### He walked too close towards me. He swiped his left had to the left side of my face. "I don't know. Ever since Crocodile Bay, I felt... different." his grin became scary.

### I pushed him away and got to a fair distance away from him.

### "good different or bad different?" I asked.

### "bit of both." he said.

### "who are you?" I asked

### "oh its always the same huh?" the man taunted.

### He walked anxiously around me taunting me with his words "Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want?"

### "okay, then what should I say?" I asked. He began to chuckle.

### "I have many names. But you can call me, Luke."

### "Luke." I repeated. "what are you doing here Luke?"

### I don't know why but I felt that cold shiver on my body again, like I did when I first met The Detective. "what do you want?" I asked.

### My legs felt week to run.

### I was gulping for breath. My heart pounded hard. Trying to stay fearless. "revenge..." he said darkly. The second he said that, bolts of green light glew inside of him, Luke's body glowed in bright green light, the light released a banshee like scream.

### The scream began to vibrate the objects all around us. the eerie sound and light blinded me, making me loose my sight.

### I covered my ears up from the sound but it was no use.

### I began to kneel, gasping for relive. I'm gonna die!

### "what's the matter Alice?" he asked.

### I restlessly pushed through the sound, trying to escape. Then I thought "use your powers! Use it! We've gotta get out of here!" My eyes glew in rage. But before I could beam at him the sound stopped, the waves cleared up a bit. "let this be a reminder," he stopped.

### I breathed heavily. Trying to get back to my senses.

### I quickly turn my powers down. And looked around my surroundings. Luke disappeared from the light and reappeared again.

### "well, that's all for my little magic show." he taunted. "see you."

### I turned up and beamed at him again but he vanished. Gone. vanished.  
Was it an optical illusion? No, it can't be. I thought.

### An optical illusion doesn't call your name.  
face it Alice, your making up ghost stories,your scaring yourself again. you're bored and lonely, so your letting your imagination run away with you. First The Detective, now this Luke guy?

### Calm down and stop making stuff up!

### Feeling a bit better, I jogged the rest of the way home.

### Jacob:

### Henry's eyes had "something bad is going down" on it.

### "I got a case about a serial killer." Henry handed me a big yellow file.

### My eyes rolled "really? A super-human witch and you want me to deal with a-" before I could finish, Henry raised his voice."this has to do with them."

### "what?" I was still in disbelief. How could Wednesday be related to a local serial killer? "have you heard from the news?" he asked.

### "no why?" I was still confused.

### "we've been tracking the situation around town. The guys and I we received recent reports of Lab Hunters, Lab Scientists kidnapped and murdered with a strange marking."

### Henry's "guys" are not the cops but are wolves,well to be precise, they were once normal people, but was bitten from a legendary infectious wear wolf, Lupus. After years of training on self-control and how to feed off the trigger for changing, many including Henry became fully controlled of themselves and their powers.

### Most of them are now too old to change or probably passed on.

### Henry showed me photo of a dead Lab Hunter. On his torso, a huge marking of the word "THE DRAGONFLY LIVES" slashed deeply in. The slashes were bright red. The outline especially is maroon red on the corner as though the weapon used was dark or rusted. The slashes passed through their armor. Deeply towards their inner skin. The blood flowed outwards and smeared the armor.

### A face of shock was plastered on my face.

### "Another Flyer?" I asked.

### I could be wrong but the mark was obvious to show that this murder

### Is not a natural.

### "Sean?" I asked. "maybe, or his twin." Henry pointed.

### "Killing a Lab Hunter. This is not Sean, We gotta find out who did this."

### I said. "I'm all for damaging The Lab but this is a personal attack."

### "great! Your taking the case. I'll give you some leads."

"I'll-" I took a quick pause. "You think so?" I asked

### "well its your case after all and this is about The Johanns. Suits you to take the lead."

### "yeah, yeah. I'll do it." I nodded.

### "kid, these heartless people also have families. They are just following orders. Know who's the real enemy."

### I didn't forget.

### And I sure as hell won't.

### Not until she pays for what she's done.

### Not until I get her powers and save Aunt May

### Not until I save the rest that's being put in the hospital.

### Alice:

### I don't know if I'm going mad or something.

### First The Detective now this guy named Luke.

### If you ever heard of an Alice character, they are most likely the crazy ones.

### Alice in Wonderland, Alice Cullen, Alice Cooper.

### Ugh... Scary!

### But they are not all crazy. Most of them ended up being heroes.

### But socially, they are awkward.

### I remembered trying to get the same hair style of Alice Cullen but decided not to do it because I was too afraid to do it.

### The sky turned dark, winds began blowing strongly through the air.

### Leaves flew around and the trees began to sway heavily.

### "thinking you can be new but remain in the world you used to belong to won't bring you back there, Alice." The Detective rang in my head.

### I was trying to lose that thought but it got louder.

### Something's wrong. Somethings really wrong.

### I rushed out from the ally and ran to Amanda's

### The clouds became darker and darker.

### It looks like its going to rain.

### Something is really wrong....

### And its going to be my fault.

### I rushed to Amanda's and barged it looking for her.

### "Amanda!" I shouted.

### "oh, how did it go?" she asked peaking out from her room door.

### I sighed. Good she is safe.

### "oh you're okay!" I gave her a hug.

### Amanda looked confused but I knew what was happening.

### "is everything okay?" she asked.

### "yeah. Its just..." I thought about Luke, best not to tell her.

"everything is okay..." I continued. "I'm just too over my head that's all." I stopped hugging Amanda and got a good look at her face. Her long blonde hair settling on her head. I looked into her pair of beautiful brown eyes assuring that she is okay.

### Amanda looked at me, smiling. "daydreaming again?"

### She began to laugh. "its okay. I'm fine."

### "really?" I asked worried my secret life can get Amanda into trouble.

### Amanda gave me a warm hug. "Totally."

### I embraced these kind of friendships.

### Amanda makes me motivated to keep going and I love her for that.

### But it didn't last long.

### Right outside her room window.

### A man in a trench coat and a hat under a tree. Standing there, looking at me. It was The Detective.

### "thinking you can be new but remain in the world you used to belong to won't bring you back there" his voice rang in my head.

### Then I'll make sure to go after him first. I thought

### If Luke after me, I'd like to even the odds by going after him.

### I walked left Amanda's telling her I had homework.

### The Detective was just outside. "so, you saw him huh?" He asked.

### "yeah" I answered. "who is he?" I asked.

### "Luke, A Butterfly like you." he replied. "but he turned rouge. Now, people just call him The Moth. He's a ghost story. He's not suppose to exist. He just appears like that and goes missing the next. That's what I've been trying to tell you. I saw him at the Docks the other day. He is dangerous and is not afraid to kill, you better stop being hero for these few days. Let me handle this." The Detective reached into my hair and pulled out a neon green worm out. Uh eww! It squirmed, trying to escape. Imagine a sausage. Now picture it tiny with thick lines over it and on one end a big black head on one end that opens its mouth and closes. Feels like I'm on X-Files."its called a Glossy worm. It Causes hallucinations and makes you insane. It also becomes a mind controlling agent, controlling your movements." he kept it in a small glass disk and slid it into his pocket.

### "you know about this?" I asked

### "no, I have to check back at the old records to identify him. I'll get to work finding him again, I promise."

### The Detective turned and marched off.

### "Detective wait." I called out. He turned looking at me.

### "about what I said earlier," I paused swallowing up my pride.

### "I just want to apologize."

### The Detective turned back and said "me too."

### We both smiled at each other and went our separate ways.

### Till the next time.

### That day at night I was still haunted by how that Luke stared at me.

### His eyes was full of danger and he appears to be way too old for me.

### I didn't call and tell Amanda about it or even mentioned Luke, but I was worried of one thing.

### What if Luke finds out about Amanda?

### This is bad. I couldn't sleep well.

### So instead I scouted around the city.

### Maybe Luke is a nothing.

### Like The detective said, he could be just a ghost story.

13

The Unknown

### Hector:

### Rudy was getting things ready for the trip.

### A few supplies, a bit of armory and some men will get us going for the trip. He got a friend John to help watch over Mrs Robertson who is also

### His age. With that settled, we drove to Tony's.

### Going to uncharted waters for the sake of an ancient item is foolish but this will help me find out where I got my powers from and what am I.

### We were at one of Tony's shipyards. He hooked us up with a simple ship and sent us off.

### "you sure you don't wanna come?" Rudy asked Tony.

### "come on Tony, it'll be just like old times." Hanna supported.

### Tony's eyes started to stare to the skies. Gazing to the horizon. With his eyes closed, he took a deep breath and exhaled it out.

### His face tells a story of sadness and despair but who can blame him.Tony was still mourning over his mother's passing but Rudy thought an adventure would cheer him up.

### "Tony." I called gently. Tony turned with his two sad eyes over to me.

### I powered my hands open in green fire for the first time in front of Tony.

### Tony's eyes widened as he witnesses this for the first time.

### I moved it towards Tony. He moved his hands over it.

### The green warmth heated over his palms. "My powers are like a little heartbeat. Not all destruction" I explained.

"you gotta gather your ashes and burn up again Tony. We're here for you." I closed my flames. Tears began to roll out to his face.

### He's smiling! He opened his eyes and turned to the ship.

### He began to gaze at it and turned to wonder.

### When I looked at it, it was horrible.

### Its like those old overused fishing ships with yellow and green striped painted from the wheel house to the dock. Some parts were a bit rusty and the paint is faded. The engine purred like it had a soar throat and the wood was worn.

### The screws were rusty.

### "oh what the hell! Let's do it!" Tony said.

### Tony grabbed his portable white harpoon gun from his house and marched out carrying it over his shoulder.

### "we need a better ship." He said.

### "we need a better ship." Rudy repeated.

### Tony leaded us to the other side of the shipyard

### and climbed into a blue and yellow metal ship through its side ladder.

### I was lost for words when I took sight of the ship.

### Its like a normal ship, it had a stern, control room and a deck.

### All made of metal. Like the material of a normal ship material but slightly longer and a coat of metal all over it.

### I noticed there were three layers at the stern of the ship.

### It had the word "HARDY" painted on the left front of the free board.

### Tony Hardy.

### "now this is a ship!" Rudy exclaimed.

### Tony started the engine.

### With a flip of the switch, the ship engine purred like it was brand new.

### "what are you waiting for? An invitation?" He asked.

### He climbed to the deck and opened the door.

### "let's go!" we got onto the ship and started sailing off.

### Rudy turned to me and said "you are something Hector."

### I smiled. Am I? I thought.

### I know saving people is my thing but this is different.

### For once I'm doing something for me.

### So here we are, the journey to The Dragon Eye.

### We sailed out and began our adventure.

### Riding a ship might give you motion sickness but this was my first.

### I never sailed. I could get seasick.

### But I didn't.

### Tony looked at the compass of the ship. The needle was pointing East.

### In this case, Port. The West is Starboard.

### Its like The compass for ships.

### To be honest. I didn't know about it.

### I just knew. I was in the control room with Tony while Rudy and Hanna are in the discussion room, discussing about the contents of the map.

### I walked pass the blue door, pulling the handle open and march to the staircase and walked down to the discussion room.

### "well, we know its going to be far so there is a start."

### Hanna said. The room was being led by bright orange lights.

### Rudy's shield was on stand-by and Hanna's very strange looking sword is now well placed on the wall. I could only see the handle of the sword.

### There is a gun cock on the handle of the sword. Its still kept in a bag. This could be a sword-gun-hybrid.

### "hey!" Hanna warned.

### "no touching." I turned back facing Hanna. "I'm not."

### "you better not." she said darkly.

### "what are we looking at?" I asked walking towards the table.

### "well the coordinates don't look like they exist in the known world." Rudy explained. "just points to plain sight."

### "nothing." Hanna sighed.

### "okay, now what?" she asked. Then a thought came into mind.

### "what if its not on top, but under?" Hanna scoffed.

### "what makes you think its under?" she asked

" The Eye couldn't be underwater." she added.

### "be nice Hanna! It was just a theory.."Rudy snapped.

### I wasn't offended. Plus I didn't cared.

### Hanna seemed unhappy from being at sea.

### She's a bit of a tomboy. Hanna is my age which makes pretty much in the same age. Hanna and I are 22. Rudy is 23 and Tony is actually 25.

### Her Korean looks has a mix of some sunburns that caused her to be slightly tan. The sea can sometimes make people uncomfortable.

### I can't relate to that but that's just me.

### A low rumble began to rock the ship. The metal parts began to send a strong forced pushed from the outside. Its raining outside.

### The ship began and sway heavily.

### Tides of waves began to rise.

### "whoa!" Rudy exclaimed. Objects began to fall off the table.

### "now what?" Hanna asked. "guys!" it was Tony over the speaker.

### "we are experiencing heavy rain and big waves."

### "yeah no kidding." Rudy said.

### "power should be off about.." He gave a pause.

### "now!" at the exact time Tony said that, the lights went dark.

### Great, now what?

### I wasn't very fond of the dark but by by distorted view of the surroundings from the limited light we have it seems that everyone didn't panic.

### "power is going to be off for a bit." Tony's voice came back. "everyone head back to your bunks!"

### "We are going to be stuck here for a while."

### I headed straight to the other door pulling the latch open.

### "coming?" I asked.

### "yeah, just a moment." Rudy replied.

### walked back to my bunk, pulled my skate sword out hooking it to one of the hooks on the wall and lied my face against the bed.

### All this rocking and swaying made me tired.

### It was a long day.

### I needed to dose off.

### I shut my eyes and began to sigh in exhaustion.

### The rocking didn't bother me. All I knew was I needed sleep.

### I lied for a bit, feeling the weight on my eye lids.

### Closing my eyes I began to get comfortable.

### the next thing I knew, I slept.

### Like a child who had a long day and is exhausted.

### 2:45 pm

### Somewhere at Sea.

### I was fast asleep. The silence is what keeps my mind at ease.

### Nice and quiet. the rain was dripping on the outside window in my bunker.

### Until a very disturbing sound from the outside

### Rang into my ear.

### I tried to get myself up sitting up from my bunker.

### The bunker is very small.

### Its a Double Decker bunker.

### With two lockers to keep our items in.

### The doors are metal and well ventilated. Breathing was made easy for those staying here.

### I grabbed my skate sword and put it on my back.

### And marched out from my bunk. Crew members were running back and forth. The ship began to sway dramatically.

### The metal ship seems to be sinking.

### "prepare for underwater travel!" the speakers repeated in an annoying lady voice.What's going on?

### I looked out to the nearest window and saw a huge figure of a giant humanoid creature face made of small rocks with indigo firing eyes.

### It appears to be grabbing the ship!

### "Hector!" Rudy called running to me.

### "oh crap!" he exclaimed as he looked out to the window.

### "its some kind of rock monster!"

### I ran towards the control room,

### Wobbling my way into the room.

### "alright! Fire torpedoes!" a voice yelled.

### KURAKKKK~

### KURAKKKK~

### Two torpedoes fired out to the sea, hitting the monster.

### "Hector! Wait!" Rudy said as he followed me to the control room.

### "Tony!" I called. "what's going on?"

### "we gotta run!'' Tony commanded. "the monster is sinking our ship down. All some of the controls are down. Abandon ship!"

### "abandon ship?" Rudy repeated. "we gotta fight it off."

### Tony looked at Rudy and began to yell out from all the noise.

### "well in case if you haven't noticed, a big ass monster is attacking The HARDY. The torpedoes won't hold."

### The ship rocked harder towards the left then to the right.

### We tried to keep our balance holding onto the controls and handles.

### "Tony!" I called. Tony turned towards me staring. "keep the torpedoes away, I'm gonna fight this guy off."

### Tony's eyes rose "are you crazy?" he asked. "yup," I answered.

### "get back here!" he command. I hesitated and ran up to the top of the ship. My cloths started getting wet.

### Heavy raindrops fell from the sky.

### The waves knocked the ship and pushed it to the left and right.

### Trying to keep my balance, I barged to the stern of the ship.

### It was damaged badly. Some of the

### I pulled out my skate sword and prepared to fight.

### "come on, lets see what you're made of?" I asked.

### I began to fire up green flames in my hands and tossed a fireball towards the what seems to be like the back of the monster.

### Its looking for something or someone.

### The monster released the ship.

### Its head rose from the water and stared right at me.

### Its eyes were glowing indigo, big and angry.

### The ship let out a big impact on the ocean and rose its giant arm towards me and slammed towards the ship.

### I powered fire to the skate sword and blasted fire slashes to the monster

### "come on!" I yelled.

### I gave a huge leap to the empty air and crushed my skate sword against the monster's arm.

### I pulled it out and ran towards the head of the monster.

### I gave a huge slash against the neck.

### Not very deep but enough to make the monster groan.

### Parts of its neck disconnected and reconnected.

### Its just small rocks in one!

### RAWRRRRRRRRR! It groaned.

### Ashes of indigo lights fell of the slash and flew into the sky.

### Rudy took a shot on the monster.

### Red laser shots landed against the monster.

### "Oi you!" he shouted.

### "keep it distracted! I'm going to try and take it out.

### "send the ship down!" Tony shouted. The rest of his crew scrambled, saving what they can.

### The rain began to fall even heavier.

### I climbed to the back of the neck of the monster and noticed a strange cut on its back.

### The monster's arms began to swing towards the back.

### It roared loudly struggling to grab me.

### No way!

### The waves swayed the ship even more.

### With my skate sword in hand, I began to rise the skate sword and strongly stab the sword into the cut.

### RAWRRRRRR! The monster roared again.

"come on!" I taunted. Its body disconnects and reconnects.

### The monster began to march off the ship. I pushed harder inwards.

### The monster cried in pain even more.RAWRRRRRRR~

### began to lose ground and crash down.

### Its body slammed into the water and drowned into the deep blue sea. Creating a huge wave against the ship. Its cry began to fade.

### I pulled the sword out and jumped out from the monster.

### Trying to keep balance, I stood up straight and took a huge leap to the air. I was going to drown but I positioned my skate sword onto my shoes and began powering up. While Powering up the skate sword, I noticed the monster gasping, struggling to stay up but sunk into the deep blue sea. I floated up in the air. "that did it!" I said.

### I flew back to the ship. The water was freezing cold. Just the breeze gives you the shivers. The water was building up waves and the rain got light. Tony was on the side of The Hardy, waving his arms out wide. "aw man, you just took down that rock monster." Tony was surprised. "You Single handedly took out something way bigger than you? You're even stronger that I thought."

### Rudy said reaching his hands up from the water.

### "yeah, well I did survive drowning twice right?" I said slowly hovering my way down to the ship, reaching for him.

### The ship. was amazingly intact. Tilted over but intact.

### I would suspect one of them to be a Convict but none of them are.

### the amazing thing was, The Hardy ship only got a few leaks and a few scratches."that's some ship, Tony." Rudy said making his way up.

### The ship is still amazingly intact.

### "state of the art bud!" said.

### "uh...We got bigger problems fellas..." Hanna interrupted climbing out. She made it!

### We looked towards the horizon where Hanna was facing.

### Our eyes widen in horror. Our trip is going to take a turn as a tall blanket of wave came sweeping right for us.

### "Tidal wave!" I yelled.

### "get down!" Tony added, shouting.

### The water rolled in slamming towards us and the rest was a total blur.

14

The Device

### Alice:

### Its been a day. No sign of Luke.

### I'm starting to wonder are my powers giving me a hallucination toil too.

### I can't be that crazy right? I mean even The Detective said he is after all a ghost story. I wanted to see Luke again. His tone sounded like he is lost, angry. Like his emotions being tied in a knot. It feels like I should save him than kill him. I went to school as usual, walking towards the locker area. I got to my locker and grabbed a few books. I stared at my locker blankly and scanned around for Amanda. Nothing.

### Often times, Amanda and I had alone time from each other. She was a person who wanted the limelight while I never wanted that but here we are, me having the limelight from the wrong crowd while she only gets it in only some places. That small chunk of purple hair added two more chunks now. Three to be exact. It went from my right to having one at the center and left side of my hair. So far, still nice. Its stopped growing ever since the last time I checked it. Must have been it maximum growth. When my parents asked, I told them I'm trying out some color.

### I mean having the city looking at a badly printed image of you on the newspapers is really. Wired.

### Dazzle Girl got a bit of fame.

### DAZZLE GIRL'S SIDE KICK OR COMPETITION?

### To begin with, Sand boy and I barley know each other.

### It was only one incident where I met Jacob Brown.

### Huh, I remembered his name.

### But anyways, we are neither.

### I felt kind of bad leaving him hanging on the sand cloud but I had other matters to attend to. Just thinking about Luke scares me, with

### Amanda's life is at risk I won't be able to live with myself.

### I have to prevent it from ever happening but I don't even know where to start. I can't imagine life without her.

### She was my only best friend but also my greatest weakness.

### If anyone knew Dazzle Girl is Alice Dagger,

### Its goodnight Amanda Summers And goodnight Alice Dagger.

### Which is why I wanted the Detective to find him fast.

### I walked pass a few classrooms. Thinking about what Luke said. I don't think we've met before. Not even at the Docks if I recall.I still believed I can keep these two lives of mine together. If I could just look for Luke and end him, I can. Because of that, one part of me has to die for now Its

### Dazzle Girl or Alice.

### Several other kids walked in and out from it. I walked pass the kids, making for the toilet. I made it through to the sea of kids with backpacks to the door of the office. Their heavy backpacks bumped me hard. Some were missed.

### I pushed through and walked towards the janitors closet.

### Then I stopped at a horrifying figure of a man appearing from the door.

### A scary man wearing the janitor's uniform.

### That disgusting old orange uniform that tall figure, it looked too familiar. It was him.

### My one of my worst nightmares, finding The Detective in my school.

### Its the Detective! What is he doing here?

### I walked towards the janitor.

### His figure was clear.

### That tall figure, that face young but slightly aged face. His dark brown hair well combed. But looked quite gray a bit.

### He sneaked into the science lab.

### I carefully crept into the lab and sneaked behind him.

### He began to pull out some device in his hand.

### PEZZZZZZZZZ~

### The device buzzed in a low frequency.

### PEZZZZZ~ it stopped. I crouched lower, freezing solid.

### PEZZZZZ~ it started again. I began to move.

### "Detective..." I whispered.

### "Mr D!" I called patting him on the back.

### The Detective panicked, he jolted and began to fumble around the room.

### Trying to hide the device he made.

### "hello girl..." he said in a sweet tone.

### "can it D. Its me." I said.

### His face changed from that smiling face back to his serious face.

### "you really shouldn't call me that." he said. He turned back to the empty lab and pulled his device out.

### PEZZZZZZ~ there is that buzzing again.

### His voice didn't sound too pleasant. It sounded like he had a soar throat.

### "sorry." I said quickly trying not to be awkward.

### "what are you doing here in my school anyway?" I asked.

### "I'm...looking...for something." he said distracted.

### He began to twitch the device in his hand and slid it in his pocket.

### "what's that?" I asked.

### "well," The Detective said.

### "I think I told you I had trouble with my powers before right?"

### "yeah.." I said confidently. The Detective is a Firefly. He has the power to control electricity but at a low amp. Because of this he can only fire his powers for a very limited amount of time and to strengthen it, he needs things made of metal to amp up his powers as well as original sources.He can also talk to people in their heads."this! Could help me." he said pulling out a mini torch light like object.The whole object appears to be made of metal.

### The handle tip appeared to be made of copper. The center of the device is this strange looking cylinder twisting mechanism that is white and behind it is a black button cylinder. The button is also black.

### The twisting mechanism appears to have four turns labeled in well drawn symbols black. There was a big thick line on top of the cylinder, indicating its the selected point.

### The first one is a lighting bolt. Signifying powers of electricity.

### The second one is what appears to be a WI-FI symbols.

### "is this free WI-FI?" I asked.

### "no!" he said. "it stands for scan." he explained.

### "oh.."I said. I kept looking and found third symbol.

### An EMP symbol of a lightning symbol with an arrow tip facing downwards.

### The last symbol is the symbol of a cross.

### "repair I think." I said.

### "yes, it can repair anything including organic stuff." he said.

### "the EMP part is also a force shield. It disturbs other machines and also shields the user from any outer force." he explained.

### "its my tool now." he added.

### The front tip of the device is an emerald ball placed at the end and six copper rings filling up until the tip. Along side the black button, a push-up button. When I pushed up the button, the emerald extended out from the copper ring slightly longer. The buzzing changed than its original buzzing down.

### "looks cool." I said. " you made this? what should you name it?" I asked. "Yes, I'm an inventor too you know. Its called The Wand." he answered "oh" I said quietly.

### "wait, what are you doing in my school?" I asked.

### "I told you, I'm looking for something." he answered.

### There he goes again! Oblivious.

### Is he being oblivious or is he just forgetful?

### The Detective can be smart, straight forward, mysterious but forgetful?

### How is he being all this?

### "yeah I know." I nodded "but what are you after?"

### "follow me!" he said.

### We walked quickly towards the janitor's room.

### The crowd of teenage kids stared as we walked out of the science lab to the janitor's room.

### People started mocking me. It would be totally wired when you hang out with a slightly old man.

### We entered the janitor's room. The Detective crawled through the pile of cleaning items. I followed him through the squishy and gooey brooms and mops. I never been into the janitor's room.

### I mean I am cool in school but I was never bullied.

### I'm not like those super dramatic beauty queens.

### Unlike some of the girls who tried to get close to the next hot guy, I only focused only on one. Andrew Waller.

### Wonder how is he? I didn't talk to him since prom night.

### How did he take in what happened during prom?

### When your prom date ends the night that awkwardly, you might miss your chance getting a kiss from someone as attractive as Andrew Waller.

### "Here it is!" The Detective said.

### The Detective pulled out a picture of a strange figure in the photo.

### "this is what you are after?" I asked.

### The picture shows a metal human torso, its face was four eyed with no mouth. It has three horns sticking out from each side of its top head.

### Its left arm appears to be a slightly bigger Gatling gun and its other arm is an arm with a grappling hook mechanism at the end.

### Its legs are not human legs. Instead, spider like legs with only four.

### It also appeared to have a fairly long retractable tail.

### "they call it Fox Trap." The Detective explained.

### "Lab Tech. Adaptive intelligent machines."

### He pointed the Gatling gun.

### "that gun is not even a gun." he said

### "what is it?" I asked.

### "some kind of heat laser." he explained.

### "capable of destroying an entire town." The Detective kept the picture.

### "rouge experiment." he said. "they were build for hunt and track down Convicts but failed when it went rouge against its creators." he described. "Some of The Lab's rarest dark secrets. This one went live a few days ago. They were all down. I don't know how this came live."

### My eyes widen when I heard that phrase. "then, why is it here?" I asked. "Its sole purpose is to hunt Convicts. Its programmed to hunt YOU."

### "so let me get this straight." I said.

### "This Fox Trap, of all people came to hunt me?" I asked.

### "well, yeah." he said. "your the nearest Convict in town."

### but if the Detective is here, it might have a trace of HIM instead of ME.

### "then why are you here?" I asked.

### "oh ya, I almost forgot." he pulled out a silver badge from his pocket and handed it over. The badge had a kitchen knife that has a butterfly symbol layering it at the back. "you are now officially my partner." He congratulated. "wow." I was lost for words.

### I never got a badge before.

### "what an honor."I said. "thank you."

### "and as your partner, we look out for each other." he have me a pat on the shoulder and stared right into me.

### I tried to pretend that everything is okay.

### But its not. There is something hunting me down.

### I tried to pay attention in class but the thought of The Detective in my school distracted me from paying attention in class.

### Math was difficult. All the calculations made my head hurt.

### I'm good at math but The Detective worries me.

### "sure he is fine." I thought.

### The last period bell rang, the teacher requested us to do home work but I doubt they will. I passed by Andrew Waller but he didn't noticed me.

### I was going to call him but The Detective walked pass me on the other side and said one word that made me turned back "come!" I sighed and followed him into the janitor's room.

### The Detective kept a keen eye on The Fox Trap.

### He was earlier seen marching foolishly around the hall when everyone left. Sometimes I wondered if The Detective is either trying to be funny or is still a child. A grown up child. We cramped inside the janitor's room again. The Detective turned to me.

### I tried smiling. Hiding my worries from The Detective.

### "ready to work?" The Detective.

### I took a deep breath and began power up my powers.

### My palm glowed in a huge purple light.

### The light glowed, reveling my purple short sleeve shirt and a long dark blue jeans."lets just get this over with." I said.

### Its almost dark outside.

### The moonlight was shining in through the windows.

### "I've placed some trackers around the school area." The Detective said.

### "it covers a 50 Millimeter radius, so when something non-organic touches the radius. The tracker will beep and we will get our Fox Trap."

### I am sometimes shocked at the look of the wonders he could create with just a few simple tools.

### He pulled out his i-phone and pressed an app.

### The app revealed a top view blue outlined version of the school on a black background.

### The trackers were red and constantly beeping, letting out a red expansion. Detecting any signs of other beings.

### "dude, how old are you?" I asked.

### The Detective looked me. "we're not very different you know." he said.

### He turned back to the I-phone and checked.

### We're cramped in the janitor's room.

### Its the only room where we can get all the trackers under the i-phone.

### I sat very close to The Detective, I am nervous.

### The tracker in the cafeteria began to beep.

### A strange yellow figure appeared crawling around.

### "there!" The Detective said.

### We marched out to the hall and ran towards the cafeteria.

### The moonlight was our only light.

### I powered my hands preparing to shoot while running.

### The Detective took The Wand out and switched it to SCAN.

### The Wand's emerald glew brighter, creating that buzzing sound I heard earlier.

### We slowed down looking left to right.

### "come on, cafeterias this way." I said.

### "no, no, no..." The Detective mumbled. "oh that's very clever!" he added. "what?" I asked.

### The Detective's Wand beeped weakly at our direction, that indicates that we are cold. The Detective turned to the left, weaker.

### The moment he turned to the right, the beeps become faster.

### "this way!" he said. "how does it know what to search for?" I asked.

### "collected data." he answered. "installed it this evening."

### We ran to the science labs. The beep gets stronger and stronger.

### We're closer.

### I barged into the science lab.

### "watch out!" The Detective shouted.

### Its The Fox Trap!

### Shooting relentless beams of heat laser.

### "SOLUTION EQUALS TERMINATE TERMINATE!"

### "Terminate?" I thought...

### "CODE NAME DETECTIVE, TERRANCE JONES."

### "Terrance Jones?"

### "TERMINATE! TERMINATE!" it screamed in its robotic voice.

### The Detective switched the Wand to ELECTRICITY

### TSEWWWWWWZZZZZZZ~

### The Wand released a stream of green light with blue electricity swirling over the light onto the Fox Trap.

### "VOLTAGE," It said stared down at the stream.

### Its head turned up, glaring at The Detective.

### "SOURCE. WEAPON. ENGAGE!" The Fox Trap started clawing its way to The Detective.

### Without any hesitation, I blasted my light beams at The Fox Trap.

### PEW! PEW! PEWZZZZZZZ~

### The Fox Trap was emotionless, restless. It dosen't seemed bothered by the beam. "TERMINATE! TERMINATE!" repeated The Fox Trap, marching towards The Detective.

### I pushed my beams up to eleven. PEWZZZZZ~

### The Detective struggled to keep up with his powers. "keep it up Alice!" he said. Stopped shooting at the Fox Trap and ran to the nearby cafeteria tables. The Fox Trap was fast but not fast enough.

### "where are you going?" I asked trying to keep it together.

### "distract it!" he said. "I got an idea."

### I switched it to Butterfly Mode.

### My skin glowed, purple lights began to emerge.

### PEW! PEW! PEW!

### I fired several warning shots and backed up.

### The Fox Trap turned to me. Oh boy!

### The Detective began throwing chairs at the Fox Trap. The Fox Trap turned back to The Detective. "TERMINATE!"

### PEWZZZZZ~

### I blasted a long beam again at the Fox Trap..

### "interesting." he said dodging from the heat beams fired at him.

### "it's build to take hits and give hits." he said.

### "TERMINATE! TERMINATE!"

### "is that suppose to be helpful?" I yelled.

### "it would if you'd let me finish." he replied.

### I kept my beams up at at The Fox Trap.

### The Fox Trap just kept marching, slower.

### "TERMINATE!" The Fox Trap repeated. God, does it ever shut up?

### "ANYTIME NOW!" I cried.

### "I've got it!" The Detective crawled out from the counter and threw more chairs at The Fox Trap.

### One of the chairs almost hit me.

### "TERMINATE!" The Fox Trap stopped turning towards me then back to the Detective.

### I took a big side jump to another corner.

### "hey!" I shouted."are you crazy?"

### The Detective switched on his Wand to EMP and launched it to the Fox

### Trap. Instantly, the Wand gave out a blue and green shock wave rings expanding all over our surroundings. I stopped beaming and got down to the nearest table and took cover.

### PEZZZZZ~

### PEZEEEEEEEEEEE~ the sound of the Wand changed.

### The Fox Trap's movements began to slow down.

### The Detective got closer towards The fox Trap

### "TERMINATE! TERMINATE! TERMIN...ATE..."

### It began to power down.

### We both let out a big sigh when it was over.

### The Fox Trap stood there freezing solid.

### "Shut down!" The Detective said.

### "EMP can always turn uncontrollable devices down."

### The Detective turned static.

### "uh-oh!" he said.

### The EMP not only affected the Fox Trap but also The Detective.

### Who turned out to be a hologram.

### The hologram began to fade out.

### The Wand fell to the ground and through that hologram revealed a kid.

### Around fourteen to sixteen-years-old. Fair skinned.

### He has Short black hair, brown eyes, his face slightly round,

### He was wearing worm green jeans,

### blue Converse sneakers and a blue hooded jacket.

### "Terrance Jones?" I asked kindly.

### The kid looked around his surroundings.

### He Picked up The Wand and looked up at me.

### I stared back at him.

### In its slightly deep voice, he began to talk."hello Alice. My name is Terrance Jones. Also known as, The Detective."

### I was stunned. I was confused.

### All along The Detective was just a child?

### Terrance turned to the Fox Trap and scanned the Fox Trap with The Wand. "you're just a kid?" I asked.

### "to be fair Alice, You can't even talk to your crush so ya, I'm a kid and I'm smarter than you." Terrance smirked.

### WHAT?! Is this cheeky kid messing with me?

### Me. An eighteen-year-old girl taunted by a kid.

### Now I'm mad.

### I powered up and marched towards him to hit him in the face.

### I grabbed him on the shoulder fairly tightly "HEY!" I called.

### Terrance turned back to me and switched the Wand to EMP and pushed open the Wand.

### "when I press this button, the Wand will hit you in the face and expands a huge bubble of a force filed that will trap you." he taunted.

### His stare was stunningly scary.

### I wanted to hit him for that cheeky mouth of his but I don't know what will the force filed do either.

### His threat for using a force filed.

### I powered down and lowered my hand.

### I'm trying to beat up a kid here, how low have I gone?

### "sorry." I said quickly.

### "I'm sorry too, Alice." Terrance said.

### "but we've got bigger things to worry about."

### Then it occurred to me.

### Now that we've shut the Fox Trap down, how are we going to take it away from the school?

### More importantly, what are we going to do about this huge mess at the cafeteria? I asked myself.

### "I think I can help with that." Terrance said.

### Remember what I said about the REPAIR icon?

### Its finally going to be seen repairing something for the first time.

### Terrance ran off to the janitor's room and pulled out some brooms and mops. "hey!" I snarled. "you read my mind again!"

### "clean up! I'll fix some of the damages for you." he said.

### He demonstrated by circulating the Wand around a heat beam shot on the counter.

### PEZZZZZ~ the buzzing sound started. A green light glowed over the hole. Blue streams of light layered over the hole.

### I looked at the hole glowing as it repairs itself.

### Within a moment, the hole was fixed. Not a scratch.

### "see?" he said with a smile.

### It took a few minutes to get a hold of everything and clean up the mess and keep everything intact.

### Terrance helped me unlock a door using The Wand's SCAN.

### Its second function. Unlock or lock items.

### We pushed the Fox Trap to my locker.

### Terrance pulled some kind of gun like device from his back pocket and aimed at my locker. Preparing to shoot.

### "whoa! whoa!" I said pushing him off target.

### "what are you doing?" I asked.

### "relax," he said.

### "I need to create a portal back my house. A shortcut if you like." he pulled the device out again. "this can help me." he aimed again.

### "wait wait.."I stopped him again.

### "how is it possible?" I asked, confused. "I don't think portals can exist."

### "uh yeah. You just stopped a Fox Trap and now you think I can't create a portal?" he asked. "now please."

### "but how?" I asked.

### "ah! So you just do this." he reached for the gun out of my hand and aimed this small black revolver like device at the locker. He pushed me a few steps back and aimed again. The device has a slightly bigger barrel on the front expanding from the center of the revolver while the back remains like a typical revolver with the trigger, hammer, grip and cylinder intact.

### Terrance shot at the locker.

### BLAM!

### The shot's impact created a blue hole.

### A huge blue circle began to emerge in size at the locker, I was in awe that this portal appeared out from that hybrid gun.

### "portal revolver. cool huh?" he asked sliding the gun into his jeans pocket

### "ladies first." he stood to the side and bowed politely.

### I slowly walked into the portal and noticed this is a mirrored version of the school. The sign of my school basketball team banner was written upside down. Terrance walked into the portal and emerged pushing The Fox Trap in. The hole vanished and closed up.

### "welcome to the negative zone." he greeted.

### The Negative zone, as described from Terrance is a mirrored version our world without the people or life forms in it.

### "how come no one lives here?" I asked.

### "cause its negative." he answered.

### "negative means everything is an opposite from our world. Including the structure, life forms and..." before he could finish I tripped on a bump on the floor and began to fall.

### But instead of falling face first on the ground, I began floating.

### Terrance grabbed me by the leg, stopping me from floating and higher.

### "even gravity." he finished. Using all the might he had,

### Terrance pushed me off to the air and joined me in the air.

### "this is so cool!" I said. "negative zone, everything is its opposite."

### he said.

### we ventured into the Negative zone with style. Sure, it was hard to get down but once I got used to it, the negative zone became easy.

### Like being in space but with oxygen.

### We passed through the buildings, everything opposite.

### We finally returned to Terrance's house.

### outside his house to his room.

### Terrance's room is what you expect from a teen.

### "so exactly who are you? How is your hologram so good?" I asked.

### "My name is Terrance Jones, I'm sixteen and that's because it reacts to light normally until an EMP showed up." he shows of his white solid wrist band with a black button at its base under his sleeve.

### "this watch allows me to create the hologram. Refereed from some of the cutest guys from movies." no wonder I was so attracted to him.

### "Alice I'm sorry I lied to you but I need to make sure if I could trust you.". "that is not a watch and you can." I said. "so what do you need?"

### "I need to find out about The Fox Trap and why its targeting me instead it was suppose to target you."

### "so it was suppose to come after me, but it turned to go after you?" I asked.

### "yes." he answered. "and I need to find out why."

### He turned to the Fox Trap and started checking.

### I took light steps around and looked.

### His room is very clean. His desk has a good table lamp shining over him. Near to his window. Right behind him is his tidy bed. His bed has an orange background space themed bed sheet and his blanket is blue with sky blue and white circles. The cupboard was well closed at the back of the door. Beside his cupboard is a shelf of neatly kept books of classic fairy tales and right below that shelf is a basket of other tools and electronic devices neatly kept. He seems to be a mature teen.

### "I like it here." I said.

### "go home Alice." Terrance said. "why?" I asked.

### He dropped the Wand and turned to me.

### "cause you're not supposed to be here." he turned back and started working again. "but you brought me here." I said.

### "yeah. And that's a bad idea on my part." he joked.

### That's not even funny. "where are your parents?" I asked.

### "they're are gone." he said quietly after a long pause.

### "gone where?" I asked. Terrance dropped the Wand again and turned around. "why are you so curious Alice?" he asked.

### "well, kinda like Alice in Wonderland isn't it. Curious-er and curious-er by the minute." I smiled back at him. "go home Alice!" he repeated.

### He's not like the Detective. He sounds more grumpier and fussy.

### Maybe this is his real self.

### Maybe Terrance Jones is the reality of his personality and The detective is the loving illusion of him.

### "so how old did you set The Detective to be anyway?"

### "much much older than you. Around 29." he said.

### "I'm actually turning eighteen soon."

### Terrance turned to me slowly.

### "oh, Congratulations." he said. I could feel his sincerity in his words.

### "thank you." I said.

### All this time The Detective treated me like a tool and I fell for it. But he was just a child and we were a good team. Maybe he's just lonely. Maybe he does need a friend who knows a bit of the outside world. I tried not to be passive about it and accept it. There was a long pause while I wrapped my head around what just happened."Alice this doesn't change anything. You can't go back to your old life, your a Convict now. " he said.

### "yeah?" I answered. "and what about you?" I asked. Terrance kept silent. His face filled in guilt. "thought so. I'll see you around Terrance." I took off from his room window and ran home.

### Inside of me I thought to myself, this changes everything.

### I went home thinking about the Detective hologram.

### It felt real, it looked real. But when an EMP hits it, It fades off.

### Maybe just maybe, Luke could be a hologram.

### A good one. Solid like a clay.

### Maybe under that body could be a little child. I turned and ran to a large football filed.

### ZEZEZEZEZEZEZEZE~TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### ZEZEZEZEZEZEZEZE~ TSEEEEEEEW~ TSEEEEEEEW~

### Stopping there to catch my breath.

### I looked up to the night sky.

### Thinking about Luke. Trying to recall if I've seen him before.

### Then out of a sudden I could hear footsteps, rustling through the grass.

### I turned and saw a figure that was all too familiar. A fair skinned young man around my age, wearing jeans, blue sneakers and a brown jacket with the hood on and the jacket unzipped. Inside, he wore a worm green shirt. His eyes glowed in light green while his brown hair was combed.

### He's here! I realized. "Luke?" I asked.  
But the figure just stood there. "you know you are a very brave girl. But why do you have to set that Fox Trap off? They are as hard as they come by you know." He walked up to me and stopped.

### "you sent the Fox Trap to my school?" I asked.

### "bingo!" he said clapping his hands excitedly.

### I got my powers ready. Preparing to beam, he's not going anywhere.

### "but why?" I asked. There was silence. "because 'she' promised that 'we' can live in peace until you came in. " he scowled.

### "what are you? Are you a butterfly?" I asked

### "I have no idea." he said cocking his head to the side as through he's considering it."maybe I am one... Maybe I'm not... Its not for you or me to know. Yet. But what should concern you at the moment is that what am I going to do with you, like right now. All this power at MY finger tips..." heh heh. He said with a smile in his words.

### "what to do with it eh?"

### His tone became even more taunting than it already was.

### "oh I know!" he exclaimed. My eyes widen facing him as he glows in bright green light. A beamed, surrounding the field, following by a loud banshee like scream his light glew brighter and brighter, before I even noticed, I was blinded by the brightness. He started to grow in height and size, morphing into something much more terrifying. I tried to turn up, staring at it but the light became too bright for me to even see.

### The light grew intense and then,

### Gone. In an instant. No Luke, no bright light. Again.

### Realizing it he's back, I ran back home and went to my room.

### "hey!" my mom said. "why are you home so late?" she asked.

### "uh detention." I Lied and raced to my room, closing the doors and started my computer.

### I feel bad for lying but I had no time. I need to get answers.

### I started to Google the site; Convict link Amanda shared it to me.

### The site keeps all info about all Convicts.

### Its made by The Lab to inform the public about Convicts.

### I browsed through the site and found a NATURAL DANGER link. I clicked it and found something that I encountered lately.

### A picture of neon green worm.

### It called a, like Terrance said, A Glossy Worm

### It Causes hallucinations and makes you insane. It also becomes a mind controlling agent, controlling your movements. They need a host to survive. They use our ears and enter the brain. Once that happens, they control you. Mine must have failed because it only entered my hair.

### I kept reading and found something eerie than the worm itself. It came from a Glossy Queen and will turn a human into a, Tsetse Fly. A Convict with the ability to create deadly acid that kills you when in contact. The one that went in me was just a worm.

### I was almost infected?

### This turns out to me more dangerous than I thought.

### And a note on the site, The Lab believes that there is a society of these worms in our world, it is also believed that they also have a Queen, who is an Omega of all the Glossy Worm. That's when it hit me, LUKE!

### He was all this time, maybe a Convict infected by a Glossy Worm.

### Controlled by a worm, helpless.

### This is my fight. This is between me and him.

### If I'm going to stop him and I'll have to do it alone.

15

The Attack

### Jacob:

### I took quite a few days while trying to find leads to getting this scarlet murderer. It occurred to me a few days later that's its the same as the incident from the highway. Like the one from the red murderer.

### Same slashes, but different colors.

### Its possible that it was Sean Johann at the highway but this scarlet murderer could be another one.

### I got back out to the streets and began investigating.

### Henry gave me a GPS about an incident that happened recently.

### I turned on the GPS and followed the way.

### My leads were this so far, they are both the same Convict but different people. I felt like a real detective.

### The clues were obvious, what seemed to be a good is this. Is hits The Lab. Bad news, its murder. A line I'll never cross.

### But these people are murderers.

### They could come after anyone from the people from The Lab to everyday people. I hovered through a few blocks on my sand cloud out at night. The neon signs illuminated the skies as I passed by the buildings. The sun was up and the wind was cool.

### Its nice up here. Patrolling while having the best seat in the house. Then there is helicopter. They soar around. Causing air traffic. Its buzzing sound is like a great big bumblebee. Days like this is where your powers give you the freedom to do anything. Then I got a call from Henry. Yup. Even with this freedom he is still controlling me. But this is not just a robbery. Its much much worst.

### Okay picture this, you walk to an ATM then a simple looking man is lining up right behind you. This man keeps pushing you, you tell him to stop then he gives you a big push then grabs you and carves a logo on you while you're still alive.

### Just that burning sensation of the huge red laser alone will give you the chills on your back.

### That was the scene of the crime.

### Identical with the scarlet murderer.

### Same red slashes on and around the victim.

" is this murderer on steroids?" I asked.

### "can it Jacob!" he demanded.

### "he looks like one though." I continued.

### The body was taken a few weeks ago. The police didn't show given that Seattle has so many crimes committed. The body was still here.

### "ugh. It stinks here." I said. "hey! Respect the body." he ordered.

### "pay attention, this might help you find your murderer."

### "look for clues?" I said.

### "you little-" before he could finish.

### "nah-ah-aha. Words!" I said. But he was right. His job is easy.

### Go to a crime scene, find clues, connect the dots and...

### I was lost in thought for a moment.

### I noticed something stabbed on the person's chest.

### Blood was spilling all over this smartly dressed dude and it nice looking white shirt. With a knife stabbed at the heart of the body with a red ribbon tied at the end. Saying:

### "CONVICT FREEDOM NOW!" Interesting. Not like the previous murderer. Now it leaves a clue.

### "Henry, you might want to see this." I called.

### Henry told me deliver the picture of the body.

### I took the picture of the body and sent it to the him.

### A while later, Henry called.

### "same color." he said. "same target too." he added.

### "this guy is also a man who worked for The Lab. One of the doctors."

### "Henry," I asked. "give me a few days to look Dazzle girl. She might help us." Henry's voice tone changed. "no."

### "come on Henry," I demanded.

### "what happened to 'many parts but the one body' thing? The least we need right now is more forces to get this killer and go find The Johanns. This is big. Like crazy big, I need help, I need Dazzle Girl, We can you know work together and we'll you know, find this scarlet murderer."

### Henry kept silent. I was hoping for an answer.

### For once, I was trying to take charge.

### "okay, fine." he finally said.

### "but you're on your own." he added.

### I continued my scout and went to around the city looking for one Dazzle Girl but it might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

### Turns out I might be right.

### "CONVICT FREEDOM NOW!"

### That's what the message said.

### Convicts do want freedom.

### Our world is like The X-men. Mutants persecuted by humans.

### The Lab are the Sentinels. Killing machines.

### Made to hunt us down. I need help. I need to go look for Dazzle Girl.

### Then I remembered that Dazzle Girl is a teenager.

### Chances are, the other 50,000 teenagers in Seattle.

### Then it occurred to me. Dazzle Girl's got purple hair.

### For another day I searched around the city but realized she was nowhere to be found. I'm starting to realize searching for Dazzle girl might be a bad idea. Another day wasted. Night came.

### Every second we waste two things will happen.

### Aunt May will lose a day and Wednesday will still be lose.

### Then something caught my eye.

### They had a new checkpoint. It wasn't here last time but now its new and it has cages. The base was kept at the edge of a group of buildings. Bigger and twice the security I couldn't make out the people inside the cages but I could tell they are just human. Bigger and nastier. This has to stop! These are people, not Convicts. She's stepped up her game! Its time to even the odds. I got closer towards the base and hid behind a nearby rooftop of a building. I pulled my phone out and began calling.

"hey Henry." I called. "just found a new checkpoint."  
"so?" Henry asked. "I think they are catching normal people." I said.

### "really?" Henry asked. "Don't engage. Calvary is on the way."

### "no its okay."I said. "I can handle this." "Brown," He said "behind you." I turned around, slowly keeping my phone in my pocket and walked to the side. Shocked at the sight of a dark brown bear sized wolf, growling. It was Henry, in his long gone wolf form. On the side of its left back leg is a red mark of an arrow. The wolf growled harder and began to howl. "guess you're back huh?" I asked.

### The dark brown wolf stared at me. Its yellow eyes reflected my face perfectly.

### Those eyes are the eyes of an Alpha.

### A leader. A warrior. The wolf turned and stared at the cages.

### The wolf began to breath heavily. Its teeth showed out for a bit.

### <just shut up and fight already.> Henry said in thought speak.

### I jumped into the base firing sand blasts, which is what I'm calling it now, straight at the observation tower.

### PEZZZZZ~

### The blast hit directly at the tower and destroyed it. "guess they won't need it anymore." I said.

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I disappeared in mid air and appeared again landing at the base and began firing more sand blasts.

### The wolf followed me leaping into the base.

### It leaped off and began the attack.

### Henry began to attack the guards, dodging the shots fired against him.

### "move out!" I shouted. I sprinted towards one of the guards and threw a sanded up fist at one of the guards.

### The guard flew to the back, and landed up on his feet.

### What the-? How did he do that?

### Henry moved to the nearest guard and began moved in for the attack. .

### <gross! These people spit acid!>

### "wait, these are Convict guards!" I said.

### <just keep fighting kid!> I was confused.

### These are Convicts that I've never seen before. They look like normal people but they spit acid from their mouths!

### PK-AAH-ASH-AHA! KAH-SHA!

### I grabbed a few of the guards, took them out and ran towards the cages.

### I took a shot sand blast at the lock.

### PEZZZZZZ~ PAK!

### The lock was destroyed.

### I pulled the cage open and lat the people trapped inside to get out.

### "Come on! Come on! Get out! Get out!" I cried.

### The people ran and screamed at the sight of big brown wolf attacking the guards. Guess bear sized wolves still scare people here.

### Henry leaped and slammed its paws over two guards and sunk its teeth to another guard running towards him.

### I ran over to Henry and rammed at him.

### "no killing!" I yelled. One of the guards on his paws moved and burped out acid from his mouth.

### "Alpha! Heads up!" I shouted.

### I blasted a sand blast at the guard closing in on him.

### The blast smacked the guard on the face and fell unconscious.

### Henry then turned and grabbed one guard by the leg and ran around with it. Toasting it against a group of guards coming out from the base.

### "STRIKE!" I said out loud.

### <TURKEY!> Henry shouted. Showing his power by jumping on top of three trucks and slammed hard on all three of them, putting it out.

### "show off!" I muttered.

### Its total chaos in here, Henry begins to head butted its hard head at the other guards. I ran pass some of the guards and gave a big blast against one of the incoming trucks.

### <watch out!> Henry called as he helped wreck another truck.

### I ran to the next cage and did the same.

### I looked up to the sky, expecting someone to show up.

### Helicopters buzzed its way to the base and fired missiles at the base.

### Their spotlights on and facing us.

### People are still here! <chopper!> Henry shouted.

### I quickly formed a huge sand cloud and rose it to the sky, blocking incoming missiles. I turned to the last cage and released another batch, the people thanked and ran off. Okay, that did it.

### "that's it!" I shouted. "retreat!"

### <uh, little help!> Henry called. "hang on!" I said.

### Convict Lab hunters began to wrestle him down.

### This is not how Lab Hunters fight.

### I leaped it mid air and aimed at another helicopter and fired a sand blast at them. PEZZZZZZZ~POOF!

### The helicopter exploded, losing control.

### I grabbed the helicopter with my sand cloud and sent it to the base, landing it to the ground. I threw a few sand blasts against the Lab Hunters. Alpha grabbed some of them by the shoulders and threw them off. The wolf ran to the streets, escaping the chaos.

### <come on kid!> Henry called.

### I ran towards a nearby vent and sanded myself through it, even though i don't have eyes I could feel that the vent is clogged in large amounts of dust and other stuff that I don't even want to know what it was. I surfaced to roof top and ran. Looking below, I could still see the wolves running.

### <see you in a bit. split!> Henry commanded.

### More helicopters showed up. Hovering in the air waiting for the perfect target. Henry ran off ahead leaving me behind. Now its just me.

### I took a huge leap across to the next block and turned to the edge.

### I accelerated myself and jumped off into thin air.

### Turning towards the helicopter, I fired sand blasts straight at the window of the incoming helicopter and sanded towards another vent.

### I changed into sand and moved towards the vent on the other block.

### But something felt wrong with this vent. Its a fenced vent!

### I tried to get across but landed with both of my hands on the vent and bounced back to the ground. I armed myself in sand armor and tried manipulating it for me to float. I concentrated and pulled up. I'm doing it! Slowly, I hovered down to the ground and ran.

### A guard was still running after me. I faded back to him and hit him down. Time for a message! I pull the guard's commutator and started taunting. I suspect its the commander.

### "listen commander! Tell Wednesday she better leave the people alone. Tell her, I'll reveal every single secret she's been keeping from us. Tell her she is NOT in control."

### I threw the commutator and sanded of to our meet up point.

### Henry called. Not knowing about my message.

### <you okay bud?> he asked in thought speak. "yeah." I answered.

### <then let's get moving.> he demanded.

### Henry's telepathic powers as a wolf not only works among the others but amazingly works on me. As a child, he and I had a somewhat father and son relationship. I never knew my real parents but somehow, I could hear them too. Imagine having another person's ear and mouth in your head, they can talk to you and hear you even though they are not there. A theory I had was my dad is also a wolf-man.

### And that only his telepathy was given to me but not that whole turn into a wolf thing. I never knew my parents, in fact I never will, but from Aunt May and Henry, I was told they were great people.

### Our meet up point was in the forest somewhere near Seattle.

### It was a cornered by a bunch of large trees.

### In the middle was a large worn out dark brown bear sized wolf.

### The Alpha was in the middle, standing on top of a large rock, glaring down at me. I walked towards it, fearless. "coast clear." I said.

### <good.> Henry growled.

### He began to change, his wolf jaw sink into his face, his tail begins to sink back into his back, the bones began to crack back into Henry's human arms and legs. his yellow eyes returned to normal and he begins to stand back on two legs. his ears shrink back and his fur begins to shed off rapidly, revealing him shirtless. Henry rose up before my eyes with large arms and his body still in pristine condition.

### "guess you've been doing it for a while." I complimented.

### "well, at the age of forty something, it gets a bit harder to keep the tummy to get away but I managed. Plus I need to let off some steam."

### he stated. More of Henry's dark brown fur fell off and surrounded the ground. He dusted a few off and gave me a good look.

### "how do I look?" he asked. "like you again." I answered.

### His hair was all messy. His arms covered in dirt.

### I was in awe how all that raw nature is kept inside that body of his.

### Henry and I climbed down the dark forest and got back into our safe house which was nearby the forest.

### He walked quickly inside like he was in a hurry.

### Must have been hard for him.

### Half man and half wolf, some how brought into a world out of his league. Henry walked towards the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk and drank it from the tip. He pulled out some fruits and began chomping down on them.That's the effect if he changes. He'll get extremely hungry and choke on a lot of food. "I'll go get us some food." I said.

### Henry didn't bother. He just kept drinking,

### I took some of his money and went to the nearest grocery store.

### The grocery store was just across the road. I went in and took a basket in. I went to the fruits section and grabbed some fruits and more milk.

### I then went to the part where there are biscuits and took them to my basket. I later walked to the counter and handed the basket to the cashier to scan. The cashier was a slightly older woman smiling at me and scanned the items. "heard of today's event today boy?" she asked trying to create a conversation.

### "no." I answered.

### "there's a huge wolf in town." she said putting the items into the plastic bag. "better be careful now." There was a long pause.

### I stared at her while she stares back at me. "that will be 50.99." she finally said. "oh crap I forgot." I gave her the cash I had and walked back to Henry's. I reached Henry's and dropped of the food.

### He needs rest.

### A thought came to me while I was on my way back, Wednesday is showing weakness. She is being careless. The people could be trying to turn on her but she used fear to control them. Maybe, I am slowly taking her down bit by bit but that also means she is playing dirty. What were those things? They don't fight like normal Lab Hunters and guards. Those are Convict Guards!

### What use is there when you promised that you protect humans with Convicts. That's like using criminals to protect the innocent.

### This was worst than I thought.

### Looks like I need to step up my game as well.

### I need other Convicts if I am ever going to beat Wednesday.

### I need to look for Dazzle Girl.

16

The Encounter

### Alice:

### Today is my eighteenth birthday.

### Its days like this where I wonder a lot about all that I've been through. My life with The Detective, Amanda and Philip felt great. Life is pretty good so far. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him for a while.

### I watched the news lately, Jacob has been busy.

### Last night, I saw the news of this huge wolf attacking.

### I've been wanting to ask him to join Terrance and I to go for missions but decided not to. That wolf must be a friend of his.

### I invited Amanda, Phillip and their parents like I did every year to celebrate it with my mom's home cooked food. Just a few of us, Me, my parents, Amanda, Phillip and their parents sitting together in a round table. I'm not a friend person but Amanda and I got very close until we introduced our parents to each others. They enjoy that company. To feel young and to see your kids having good friends is always a parent's dream. I don't think I've mentioned Phillip to you guys before.

### Philip is a very into style. The other day while we were at Phillip's, his hair way dyed red, now, purple.

### His very skinny for someone his age. Philip is around 22.

### He might be in the same age as my brother, Hector.

### Come to think of it, he missed my birthday again, after a while, you get used to that one person who forgets your birthday. There were days where I entered his room and envisioned him around. Days when I wish I was not the only kid. But still, I had a brother and I'll always have a brother. Wonder how he celebrates his birthday?

### Or Christmas? Or Easter or any celebrations at all.

### Normally, as a single child, your parents will have high hopes for you. But for my parents, they actually don't.

### They trusted my judgment, maybe I'll be a teacher or maybe I'll be famous author. I mean, I like books but that's it.

### Terrance has been working around the clock to searching for Luke but there's no sign of him. The fact that Luke is a Glossy Worm and to make matters worst, is a Queen is on the lose makes me anxious even on my birthday. I didn't tell this to Terrance, I know I have to do this alone. It came after me for a reason. I searched for a weakness about these Glossy Worms, nothing. Guess I'll have to beat it till the illusion falls off.

### "happy birthday to you~"

### The crowed sang. As I blow the candles off the tasty looking cheese cake with chocolate on the bottom. I love being celebrated.

### That means you are very important in this world.

### I'd like to think of it that way. It means I'm special.

### To have your friends to make time to wish you and grow up with you is the best feeling to ever have.

### Mom made us her signature home made Dagger Pizza.

### Don't let the name fool you.

### Its actually a medium sized pizza with fried fish bits and chicken bits along with pineapples topped with cheese and fresh lettuce to wrap it up to get that healthy meal.

### Perfect for my birthday.

### No gifts but I still, it was a good meal.

### It was a good meal. Too good.

### "so Alice, what's with the purple hair?"Mrs Summers asked.

### "uh yeah." I lied. "thought I might want to try out some color."

### "looks cool on you Alice," my dad said.

### "you noticed?" I asked.

### "well, you've been wearing it for a long time." my mom replied.

### "looks cool dear." my mom said bringing another plate of Dagger Pizzas. My parents are very, "in" they have always been loving and caring.

### Days like these is where I forget about my powers.

### I forget about my life as a hero.

### Forget about everything I've been through.

### The feeling feels great but I can't phantom the power that I keep and inherit within me.

### I wish I could just go back to normal but its hard to go back once you see the things I saw. Tonight I told myself to choose to leave a life behind. Dazzle Girl or Alice. We ended our meal as early as expected.

### Mom and I cleaned the place while dad took out the trash.

### It must have been great, since all this time I forgot how it felt what its like to not have powers.

### My parents kissed me goodnight and gave me one final birthday wish.

### I was loved. I was cared for.

### Maybe the life of Dazzle should die and Alice should return.

### Maybe, this is what I should do. After I find and stop Luke.

### I walked up to my room, with the hall light on.

### My parents are still awake.

### I had a nice bath and went to my room, changing into my pajamas and went straight to bed. Life was feeling up again. Till Luke, till Luke and its all over for me. I thought. I was about to sleep until I noticed a head poking out from my room window. I gasped, shocked to see a head show up.

### I pulled my cotton blanket up and hid, only to realize it was Terrance.

### His cloths torn. Was he in a fight? "oh its just you," I said.

### Terrance walked towards my bed side and crouched down.

### "Alice, we have to go." he said. Trying to catch his breath.

### "its my birthday, Terrance." I said. "oh..." he paused. "happy birthday Alice.". "thank you." I sad, staring at his torn cloths.

### "what happened to you?" I asked. "its Luke!" he exclaimed. " he's after you.". "he what?" I asked, shocked to hear that the ghost story from a few days ago to be real. or maybe its the Glossy Queen I thought.

### "we gotta go!" he said, pulling my arm out.

### "h-hey!" I pulled back and hid behind my blanket. "I'm in my pajamas.". "well what are you waiting for?" he asked.

### "get dressed!" I wanted to tell him what I found. That Luke is not Luke. That Luke is just a mind controlled person. But before I could make a move I heard a scream from down stairs. It was my mom.

### I got off my bed and ran down. "Mom! Dad!" I cried.

### Oh no, there he is. In his jeans, blue sneakers and a brown jacket with the hood on and the jacket unzipped. Inside, he wore a worm green shirt. His eyes glowed in light green and his brown hair, well combed.

### He was standing behind my parents, knocked out. "I see you found me again Moth, wanna dance again?" Terrance said taking his Wand out facing him."No, stop believing what your seeing. He is not real." I told Terrance."oh yeah? Look at what he did it to me? He's real enough alright.". "he what?" I asked turning to Terrance. Looking at the slashes. Those are real! "he's after you not me. I was trying to stop him." Terrance defended. "you listen to him?" Luke asked.

### "he brought me here, he led me to you."

### "no he is lying." Terrance defended again.

### Now I don't know who to trust.

### "your here for him right?" I asked.

### Luke nodded, "then let's dance!" I shouted.

### I powered up and charged and flew towards Luke and smashed him out out our house door. I punched him again and again in the face.

### He seems emotionless.I powered up even more and gave him gave him one final blow.

### TWEEEEW~ PEW!

### His whole body flew to the road, landing too fast. "how you like that Luke?" I taunted. He began to chuckle. What's so funny?

### "he is not real!" I told myself. I gave him a huge light blast that pinned him down. I leaped to him again and gave him a big punch.

### "he is not real!" I told myself again but I lost it.

### He came and hurt my family. Now he has to pay! I punched more and more. I was feeling it. Luke kept chuckling.

### I stopped punching and stared at him.

### He's not trying to win. He's expecting this.

### "done?" he asked "my turn."

### Luke's body glowed in bright green light, the light released the banshee like scream. Just like last time!

### I tried covering up my ears, but sound passed through my hands to my ears! My vision became blur.

### "feel that? Am I real enough for you now?" he asked.

### Terrance rushed out and aimed his Wand to Luke and blasted a stream of lighting against him.

### Separating me away from Luke.

### "Luke, its over." he said.

### The lightning worked but but not for long.

### "not yet!" Luke screamed.

### He glew again and this time nastier.

### Terrance fired the Wand again. This time with a huge wave of EMP thundering out from Terrance and hit Luke, taking him out.

### "AHHHH!" he yelled.

### It was Terrance, using his EMP to knock Luke out.

### I stood up and blasted my powers again.

### Luke dodged the blast and unleashed his green sharp butterfly wings.

### "I'm gonna make sure your girl gets this. Your greatest downfall!"

### he yelled. Amanda! He gave a final blast and flew off.

### I stood and began to run to find Amanda.

### I ran to where Amanda was heading. Finding the car wrecked from the crash.I closed my mouth, noticing there was blood all over The Summers. TEWWWWW~

### Phillip began to move weakly.

### "h-he-help." he grunted. My guess is this, Amanda was still on her way home after the party until her car was disturbed by a flying figure, Luke. Smashing the car roof and ripped holes to knock the rest out.

### Philip tried to fight but Luke was too strong for him. Philip was thrown out to the front seat and crashed against a tree.

### Amanda was pulled out just in time and taken off.

### "oh my God Philip!" I cried.

### I blasted the door open and began to pull them out.

### There was a lot of blood. It was madness.

### I thought I was going to lose them.

### I grabbed Phillip and speeded him safely to some soft grass.

### I grabbed Mr and Mrs Summers and speeded him back to Phillip.

### "Amanda, Amanda, Amanda," Phillip mumbled.

### "Amanda? Don't worry, I'll get her."

### I powered up and began to run again.

### I speeded, trying to reach "Butterfly". Its not working.

### Please don't fail me now...then a fade out, by body broke down and transformed into butterflies again. YES! I got faster and faster.

### I kept running and running.

### TEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW~

### I recalled my memories with Amanda, no way!

### No way I'm letting her die! My body begins to reform.

### I sparked my purple light open and discovered a new ability.

### My back begins to sprout out sharpen butterfly wings at its edge and expanded. My pink pajamas, which was a pink shirt and a pink short pants started glowing. A layer of purple light all over, my eyes changed color to purple, my heart pounds hard and fast like this is a super race.

### My normal purple fading powers changed to this fixed light power.

### I was changing.I'm getting stronger.

### This is my new power!

### I faced the road ahead of me and kept running.

### The world seemed to be in a total blur, cars zoomed past me while I crossed them within a matter of seconds. TEWWWWWW~TEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW~

### The sound changed. TEWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRR~

### My eyes entered a void state, seeing things in a tunnel like form. Everything was a blur. The only sights I could see is a green butterfly, Luke! But that was where I saw the truth. I realized he was not real. Terrance used to say he is a ghost story and he was and still is even until tonight. I checked its head, there! The Queen! I was right!

### I kept running until I realized that I'm no longer running, I'm flying.

### I used this new power of mine to find Luke, he's up on top. High up in the sky. He had Amanda in his hands.

### Chuckling.

### I charged higher and fired my light beams, below me, all the neon lights, lamp posts and other forms of lights left their places and came to me.

### I rose my palms up, aiming at him.

### The lights charged me like a wild fire.

### My body glew brighter. Terrance was hovering right below me.

### "LUKE!" I shouted.

### Luke turned to me and grinned.

### "a butterfly needs to know her limitations!"

### He gave a huge light blast towards Amanda's chest.

### Amanda gave a huge yell.

### "AHHHH!" she cried. "NO!" I screamed.

### I moved my arms and swayed it towards Luke.

### The lights floated up ahead of me and smacked against Luke,

### Dropping Amanda while he tries to defend himself.

### I reached my hands out and grabbed her by the arms.

### "its okay, I got you." I said. She's not breathing.

I lowered down to the ground and slowly put her down to the ground.

### I turned back to Luke and flew back to him. He is not real.

### "hey!" I called. Luke turned back and stared deeply back at me.

### "why don't you leave her Alice?" he asked.  
"No! Not a chance." I yelled towards him.  
"you still don't get it Alice? This is nothing! The world is changing and soon, they'll come for us all! Even you." he chuckled. "yeah, so what?" I asked, I remembered what the site said, he is not real. Don't believe what your seeing. "so are you! your a ghost! You're a nothing too! " I claimed. "a ghost?" he chuckled."I'm more real than you can believe. There's a war coming. A very terrible war, there will be chaos. Just you wait." I moved towards Luke, staring him in the eye.

### "you're not real. Why should I even believe you?" I asked.

### "someday, you'll have to make a choice. Its us or them Alice."Luke announced. "so what is for then?" I asked.

### "it dosen't matter. You failed. See you on the other side." he said with a final grin. His body began to fade off.

### His grin disappeared.

### His figure became hollow as he moved towards me.

### Inside this man Luke is a boy, a boy around ten or twelve, asleep.

### He landed on my arms, inside his right ear crawled out a pink neon worm, the Glossy Queen. The one that causes hallucinations and turns you insane. The mind controlling killer parasite. The origins of a Convict called the Tsetse Fly. A Convict with the ability to create deadly acid. The parasite Convict. Beat it till it gives it up.

### It was bigger than the normal ones, instead of green, its pink. That's the 'she' Luke mentioned. I hovered down and showed it to Terrance.

### "is that a..." before he could finish,

### "yes, a Glossy worm. This is the queen." I said.

### "how did you know?" he asked

" I'm a Butterfly, I know when another Butterfly is not himself." I said.

### "better get her to the hospital" Terrance said.

### He pulled out another glass disk and kept it inside.

### I took Amanda to the hospital and ran off, I brought Phillip and the family too, putting them at the emergency ward. I went home and brought my own parents to the hospital as well. My family's alive. Everyone is okay. Everyone except for Amanda.

### I sat right outside the hospital. Thinking about what happened tonight.

### Amanda might not wake up. She suffered a blast to the heart getting into a state of shock and is now in coma. All my fault. This was harder to lose than I thought. That was the moment I realized I have to choose.

### Alice or Dazzle Girl.

### "you gave everything" he said. Terrance walked over. He sat next to me and patted me on the back. "this was your fault!" I said. Realizing this was all on him, If he'd just chose to drop it, they won't get hurt. Amanda won't have to take a blast to the heart. But if I had not discovered it, the world would be taken over by these worms. I couldn't bring myself to repeat those words.

### "I'm sorry for Amanda, but you stopped the Queen. Your friend got hurt for you to save many." he said. "I never expected this to happen."

### I said nothing. I hated every moment of this. This victory meant nothing because someone got hurt. There was a brief silence.

### I sobbed through a good minute or two and wiped my tears off.

### "I gotta ask, how did you know Luke is a hoax?" he asked.

### "because you told me he was a ghost story." I said.

### "and I believed you. The Tsetse Fly is an illusion. He only works when you don't fear it." I explained. Terrance nodded. "huh."

### "yeah, but this is not an illusion." I said. Pointing at the hospital. I feel sick for not trusting Terrance with The Glossy Worm. I should have trusted him. Otherwise, this won't happen. Half of it is on me.

### "sorry for not telling you about this." I said.

### "its okay, if I knew I won't tell you either. It would be hard to believe such things exist. It was more dangerous than I thought." he said.

### The boy turns out to be another Butterfly, Luke.

He was just 14. He had no memories about what happened before.

### Terrence finally told me the whole truth, that he had his powers a bit before me. He told me about Luke's record and that he was also from our time, he never expected Luke to show up let alone hurting someone. Convicts are cool. But they can be used for all the wrong reasons. Its days like this where I find that the truth is, we all are powerful people, our lives as normal people are over. The Lab will find out and come after us. The lives of others will be brought into this. Which is why I need to run. Terrance looked out to the sky.

" this is a mess! I'm really sorry." he said.

### "yeah,me too." I said. "I have work to do."

### I stood and scraped off the sand behind me and walked off

### "Alice wait!" Terrance said. "don't be too hard on yourself."

### I turned back to him and thanked him. We hugged for a while. I could use one. I know he is just a kid but I didn't care. Of all that I've been through with Terrance made me realize one thing, sometimes heroes will be the ones with the most hurt. We risked losing the people we loved most everyday. But we carry on, because we know that people deserve that more than we do. Sometimes being a hero means sucking it up and carry on. I walked inside and went to visit Phillip.

### He had a fractured neck, a broken arm and some scars with a nasty trauma. "hey, how are you?" I asked

### "doing good." he said softly. "such a mess huh?"

### "yeah." I said. Faking a smile at him.

### "I knew you were special." he said. There was a moment of silence.

### "listen, about Amanda..." he asked. "Phillip..." I stopped him right there. "I've been through hell okay." I said. "yeah you sure did." he agreed.

### "but its not on you." there was another moment of silence.

### "Listen Alice, I have something to give you. There's a gift I want to give you. Go over to my room, under my bed, is a purple box, your gift. I'm sure you'll like it." he said. "thank you." I said. I stood and left the room "and Alice," I stopped and turned. "find out who did this, and make sure they pay." I nodded and walked off. My parents are fine now.

### They've recovered but I was too afraid to go see them.

### They filed a report for a missing child. Boy are they wrong.

### Terrance and I left the hospital from the back.

### "Several people saw you in the fight. You caused a black out. Those guys from The Lab will come get you. No more school for you then." Terrance said. I sighed. "never liked it there anyway."

### "so what happens now?" he asked. "I have some running to do." I said.

The people from The Lab came seconds after. I was already gone. I got a costume to find, of all that I've been through, I'm forced to run.

To hide. Things are changing again.

### I ran to The Summers family home and ran to Phillip's room.

### I checked under the bed and found the purple box.

### Inside was a blue dress with a white internal short sleeve collar shirt.

### The dress has a white apron and a pair of leg boots.

### It was beautiful. The dress also came with a note saying;-

Dear Alice,

I made this during the wake of your powers and I hope that one day, you'll wear it, carrying the friendships and strengths you've developed with us and give it back to the world.

Use it well.

Phillip Summers.

### So he has made a special costume for me.

### I kept the letter and kept everything into the box.

### I went home and packed the box into a pink backpack, I thought of changing into my costume but real heroes don't wear costumes. I ditched the long black legging with a short skirt on the waist and wore a long black jeans instead. I folded the long sleeve black shirt with a symbol on the front together and cut the sleeves short with my light beam hands. I kept the long navy blue coat, went over to my doorstep and put on a pair of blue Vans sneakers and ran back to the hospital.

### I'm Alice and Dazzle Girl. Both can't exist together because Alice became Dazzle Girl, and there is no changing that. I went back to the hospital one last time to say good bye to Amanda.

### Her monitor was still beeping.

### She's breathing.resting there on her bed.

### Motionless. Still, asleep.

### Her heart rate was low but I had hope. I believed in hope.

### I am going to set it right. That's what I told myself.

### Maybe that's my next move, to help people, to bring hope to their lives.

### To protect those who needed protecting.

### "get well soon Amanda, I'll be waiting." turned my head down and walked out from the hospital. She'll be fine I thought. Have faith.

### I ran to the city center to meet up with Terrance.

### Terrance looked at me and smiled. He finally noticed the new look.

### "so, you ready?" he asked.

### "to go after more danger yeah." I said.

### "Here!" Terrance handed me to Portal Revolver.

### The revolver had my name carved on it.

### "happy birthday!" he said."use it well."

### "uh thanks?" I said. "you don't have to though." I added.

### "nah, its yours. You deserve it." he said. "this queen turns out to have a king. That means Luke is just a prince."

### "so that means the king is still out there." I said.

### "yeah but she won't be taking anymore brains anytime soon." Terrance pulled out the Queen, frozen solid.

### "we gotta find the King." I said.

### "we'll need more fire power." Terrance pointed out.

### "we'll start with Jacob Brown." I said.

### We will have to find The Glossy King.

### The one who owns the hive to the Tsetse Flies.

### And they came from what we call a Glossy worm. They Causes hallucinations and makes you insane. It also becomes a mind controlling agent, controlling your movements. It enters into your brain through your ear and controls you from there on. A parasite. Its us or them. They could be anyone. They could be the people we love

### Or the people you never expected them to be.

### It started out in The Docks, it will end at the Docks.

### I have a mission.

### I have a hive of Glossy King to hunt down.

### I've decided. I've made my choice,

### I am Convict and I'm a Butterfly, this is my life now.

### Alice Dagger is Dazzle Girl, and this is only the beginning.

17

The Illusion

### Hector:

### I woke up with a huge headache, its like a huge truck smacked me in the face. Must have been quite a ride last night.

### Okay. What happened?

### The waves were wild, constantly splashing against the rocks.

### Several shipwrecks and plane wrecks were seen out at sea.

### Our ship must have been wrecked. I woke up with a splash of salted water in my face. I woke up, still in blur. I adjusted my sight to this new view of all this lush green forest ahead of me and the white soft sand on the ground. I slowly stood up and pulled myself together.

### I picked pulled out my skate sword from the sand that was a few meters away from me and placed it on my back. My head swoons to keep it together from all tossing and turning from that big tidal wave last night or was it a few nights ago. I tried to remember how I got here but it was all a blur, but I would suggest that I swam here.

### I looked around, no sign of The HARDY, Rudy, Tony or Hanna.

### Looks like I'm on my own.

### 3.00 pm.

### I'm not really sure what's the time but based on the sunlight, its the afternoon. I was hungry and thirsty.

### The sun scotched the sky and the land. It feels like forever.

### I walked into the forest, not far from the beach because I don't want to get lost. Sheltering myself from the sun. I rested below a smooth gray tree trunk. It was rough outer bark peels readily. Revealing a smooth-surfaced inner bark. On their branches, The leaves created a shade that still has gaps in between them. This wood appears to be dense and highly rot-resistant so it is excellent for construction and firewood.

### There were many trees like the one I was resting under.

### The mud was slightly dry. Raindrops fell from the leaves, creating a small shower, drip by drip. What's odd about the forest is that has oddly grown big thick vines lying all over the muddy ground. I could also find some bamboo trees oddly planted around the forest, reaching to great heights from the ground.

### This is strange.

### These bamboo trees are not supposed to be here.

### "Hector! Hector!" a voice called.

### It was Rudy with his shield and Tony.

### "you okay bro?" he asked.

### "yeah." I replied.

### "where's Hanna?" Tony asked. "I thought she's with you." I said.

### Tony ran straight into the forest.

### "Hanna! Hanna!" Tony called out.

### "Tony wait!" Rudy caught up.

### I followed them in. Rudy got his crossbow ready.

### "Hanna! Hanna!" Tony repeated.

### Nothing. I looked around this odd forest thinking this is the oddest forest I've been in. I've been into only one forest but this is odd.

### I sensed a strong energy around the place. In fairy tales, the forest is one of these great symbols which have been ever-present in myth, legend, literature, film and others. But this is no fairy tale. We just some how winded up in a beach with a big forest.

### If you followed us on this adventure, you would strike it as odd too. Its like a bad mix of anything that you'll never expected to ever see together.

### Wet tropical rain drops fell, dripping on the ground. The life here in the forest can make you oblivious to the life outside. For a second, I thought I was in vacation. If I recall, the forest constitutes a big collection of living plants and animal species in the world. "watch your step!" Tony warned. "you never know what lurks in here."

### We walked deeper into the forest. The further we walked in, the odder we find this forest to be.

### I found some sunflowers, a few coconut trees and even some oak trees.

### "there you are!" a voice called out.

### It was Hanna, still holding the wired sword bag, revealing the handle of the sword. In her hands.

### "Hanna!" Rudy exclaimed.

### "wired forest huh?' Hanna asked.

### She was standing on a oak tree in between a ring of bamboo trees.

### You can barely see the sun from here. She is still holding on her

### "yeah. Wired." I agreed.

### We gathered around back at the beach, bringing all the supplies that we can salvage. A box with some tools, a bag with some blankets and a cargo with some change of clothes. Who leaves these items together like this? But we were grateful.

### We got changing. Unlucky enough, there was only shirts and coats. Warm and dry but no pants. I only managed to get a worm green shirt that fits to replace other wet white and gray shirt.

### Tony got a big brown coat while Hanna got a long sleeved black shirt.

### Rudy had the most relaxing shirt of all, a colorful red, yellow to orange collar shirt. Rudy added the feel when he tore his long blue jeans short.

### Suits him just fine.

### Hanna hid somewhere and changed into a white long sleeved shirt and wore a big red coat.

### We sat back in the beach, trying to figure out what we need to do next.

### Hanna brought some chopped bamboos back after she changed, she went in again and pulled out some rocks as created a circle. Hanna's sword is revealed to be a silver gun-sword with a handle that has a gun cock on. Its sword length is short but bulky. At the base of the blade, there is a dug opened hole that can fit a bullet inside.

### She then took the bamboos and constructed a pyramid and added some leaves and small tree branches. We sat around the campfire with no fire.

### Waiting for someone to say something.

### "so, I'm guessing we've been here for about half a day." Tony began.

### "no sign of HARDY?" Rudy asked.

### "she's gone." Tony said quietly.

### "well that leaves us helpless." Hanna said.

### "what about the map?" she asked. "gone" Rudy said. "all for nothing."

### "alright then, lets find a way to get out." Tony said. Trying to make light of the situation"use those fire powers of yours to start a fire."I powered up and flung my last remaining flame at the pyramid of bamboos began to caught fire. Hanna's eyes widen when she saw the blazing flame ignite.

### "cool!" she smirked.

### "that's why we need him." Rudy said.

### The sky was beginning to turn dark and we must have not eaten for quite some time. Using my powers, I was able to cut some coconuts down and blast some fishes out.

### Tony used his tree climbing skills and the cargo bits to create a tree top scouting spot.

### Rudy used his crossbow to catch some fishes.

### Before dark we happily ate roasted fishes and drank coconut drinks.

### A minute ago we were upset with the map lost, now it seemed to have left us. "you know this is the best fun I had after so long." Rudy said.

### "me too Rudy." Tony added.

### Rudy and Tony went off to sleep early while Hanna and I took first shift.

### There were so many questions I wanted to ask about Hanna.

### "its nice out here huh?" she asked.

### "yeah." I answered.

### "so you're a Convict." she declared.

### "yeah, all my life." I said.

### I told her everything. I told her how I met Rudy. I told her about The Lab and everything I said. Thinking back, The Lab has done good than bad to me. They've taught us how to control and use our powers, how to get out of situations I was in.

### Maybe their motives were bad but their actions, some seemed well.

### There was no one here but just the four of us.

### What was there to fear?

### "must have been hard." Hanna finally said after hearing my story.

### "well, its okay." I said.

### "you must have missed her." she gave me a pat on the back and stared at me with sympathy.

### "yeah." I admitted. "there's never a day I forget about Alice.

### Even when I escaped, I told myself that I need to look for her again. My hope was that she is okay."

### I thought I was going to cry. Mentioning about Alice made me tear up sometimes.

### "what about you?" I asked her.

### "well," Hanna began.

### "lets just say I had a rough start as a kid. Things became sour, then came the first generation of Convicts."

### "you were there when it happened?" I asked.

### "yes." she answered. "then I moved to Seattle and met Rudy and The Guys." she added "I've seen things."

### That I can relate. I believe when you in a middle of a civil war, you'll see things that will turn you literally white. Heck! You can even die.

### "a Convict is still a human, I don't understand why must the world look at people you so differently. You have my respect Hector."

### I was beginning to think people don't hate us at all. Mel, Rudy now Hanna. My faith in humanity might have returned.

### "after this, lets go and destroy The Lab. What do you say?" she asked.

### "if we live that is." I said.

### "don't be such a downer Hector."

### Hanna looked out to the sea. The camp fire revealed little of her face but I could see her fine.

### "life as a human or Convict will have one thing in common." she said.

### "which is?" I asked.

### "hardships."

### Maybe she's right. Maybe for some people. Life is hard but for Convicts, it will always be hard. I vowed to myself never to go back to the city. If I did, I'm not only going to get caught. I'll be dead.

### The way it works is this, the Lab takes escaping or attempts to escape a huge no. Which is why you won't see a Convict around to attack the Lab and eventually dig their own graves and get themselves caught and killed. When Jake mentioned a change, I pictured more guards, more patrol and more of anything from the Lab. Going back there is better but we are here for answers, not on a trip.

### "your a good man, Hector." Hanna said.

### "well, I guess you can say that." I replied.

### "maybe when you discover the truth, you can go back and you know, show them what Convicts are really made of."

### We both rested late that night. What she said might sound like what an Anti-Lab protester would say. I closed my eyes, decoding not to think so much about all that I've heard and slept on my cloth protected bed.

### It felt like forever. We woke up the next morning, spending most of our day exploring the island.

### With some fur coats, and the remaining cargo wood, we've manage to create shelter.

### Tony was hoping to find more food and other resources. Rudy brought her crossbow shield and Hanna with her gun-sword. Working with these few humans was great. Feels like how I used to camp out with Alice and my family. I wonder how are they and if they missed me.

### We decided to journey into the jungle again, finding out exactly where we were.

### Bamboo trees, big vines, same way how we met Hanna.

### "I'm guessing Japan" Rudy said.

### "maybe Korea." Hanna pointed out.

### "I'm no scientist but I doubt its either of those two." Tony said.

### "maybe Tony is right." I agreed.

### I looked at one of the leaves from the bamboo tree.

### why would bamboo trees and big vines be in an island like this?

### I gave a good look at the leave in hand.

### Its not odd just strange. There was something I couldn't get my finger on.While the others were trying to out wit each other, I sensed the oddness of this forest.I looked at the leave again.

### It is odd. A small detail is missing.

### The leaf veins are missing!

### This forest is not natural!

### So the forest is not natural.

### Now what? What caused my concern is who did this.

### "so its not natural." Tony said.

### "what about it?" Rudy asked.

### I was putting in my thoughts about what is going on. If these are not trees, then what are they?

### Rudy began to dodge every single tree he sees.

### "they're not poison Rudy!" Hanna defended.

### "how should you know?" Rudy asked.

### A second after that, the whole forest began to grow even taller.

### "look!" Tony called.

### I looked towards where Tony is pointing and noticed something strange that shouldn't be in a forest. A big block of a wall.

### "hey yeah, why is it there?" Rudy asked.

### "only one way to find out." I said.

### We walked nearer towards the wall but it was empty.

### It was a huge red brick wall. Unpainted. Cemented but unpainted.

### What is going on?

### "you did this?" Rudy asked facing me.

"I can burn stuff not build walls, Rudy." I snapped.

### "then how the heck did it appeared in the middle of a forest?" the forest got weirder for the four of us.

### A loud rustle of trees started falling to the ground.

### It was coming right for us!

We ran as it falls and breaks fall its way on us.

### "come on man!" Rudy said. "do your fire thing!"

"fire at the leaves." I ordered.

### Without a question, Rudy fired. Beams of red sticks landed on the nearby leaves.

### The leaves started to burn up. Creating smoke around us.

### Good. "keep shooting." I said.

### He Fired more.

### I absorbed the fire when I felt it was charged, I powered my hands and threw my fist against the wall.

### The red wall began to rumble and crack. I punched again.

### CRACK!

### The wall begins to break. Rubbles of red breaks cracked from my punch and obliterated the whole wall.

### "whoa" Tony Exclaimed.

### Followed by the rest of us. Even I was surprised.

### I didn't know I had this strength in me.

### The wall reveled an all too familiar. Another Lab!

### This brings back bad memories.

### The cold and lifeless place. The smells of medicine. The halls echoes with the voices of despair and broken lives.

### The Experiments.

### The dark and scary nights.

### Just remembering it gives me the chills.

### The cells was the hard one to forget.

### "wait, so this place is a Lab?" Rudy asked.

### "yeah and has a really strange name." Tony added. The whole thing must have been kept hidden.

### We entered the Lab and looked around.

### The place was surrounded with vines.

### The cells were different from the one I was in.

### The Convicts in it was free to move. There is a bed for all.

### But the walls and even the door is concrete.

### There's only a small hole for oxygen.

### "Sawflies." Hanna said."they are called Sawflies."

### Then I realized.

### Hanna is a Convict.

### "I'm sorry Hector." Hanna said.

### Rudy and Tony turned and turned wide eyed at Hanna.

### Hanna had two Bamboo trees facing at us like snakes.

### Hanna signaled the bamboos.

### The bamboos smacked Rudy and Tony off to the ground.

### "Hanna! What are you doing?" I asked.

### "I need you to collect you Hector! The Dragonfly that has escaped the hands of The Lab." her expression became berserk like.

### I looked at the cells and realized they are kid.

### Shouting, calling me to set them free.

" Hanna?" I asked.

### "what is this place, did you kidnap these kids?"

### Hanna chuckled. "Sawflies stick together right?"

### More bamboos showed up. She laughed loudly like a crazy maniac.

### "if you don't stay, I'll force you!"She begun to attack.

### I dodged the attack and threw some fireballs at her.

### FLUM! FLUM!

### Hanna's bamboos blocked the fire.

### The forest was a trick!

### I leaped and threw another fireball.

### Nothing.

### One of Hanna's bamboos crept up at me and wrangled itself at me.

### I struggled to pull out. "come now Hector!"

### She taunted. Then a person appeared. Bursting out from one of the cells. One cell was secretly broken out. The girl appeared to be very young.

### She appears to be brown skinned. she wore a short jeans at knee length and a white singlet with a jeans crop top unbuttoned

### She wore a large green scarf that clearly super sized her.

### She reached her hands out to the air, aiming at me.

### In a flash a long cubed sized piece of cedar wood appeared from her palm and swiped across the bamboo on me.

### I freed myself. And jumped off to save Rudy and Tony.

### "Cassie!" Hanna yelled.

### The girl, Cassie did it again.

### She opened her palm and fired multiple long cubed sized piece of cedar wood all over the area.

### The cubes gave a loud thud every time it hits something.

### "we gotta go!" I said.

### I pulled Rudy and Tony closer to the hole.

### "kid! Come on!" I said.

### "get out! Its too dangerous." said Cassie.

### "are you nuts?" Rudy asked finally standing up on his feet.

### Tony was still unconscious.

### I threw him out of the window and joined Rudy.

### Without a question, Rudy opened his crossbow released more red arrows at Hanna aimlessly while she blocks each and every one of it.

### "oh Hector~" Hanna sang.

### We gotta go.

### The longer we stay, the more nastier it'll get.

### "come on kid!" Rudy demanded.

### Cassie was still fighting Hanna.

### I jumped and caught her in my arms.

### "what are you doing?" she asked.

### I turned to Hanna and said "till the next time!"

### I flamed up and flung to the hole, grabbing Rudy along.

18

The Extremist

### Hector:

### We got to the forest.

### I was painting heavily. Rudy was trying to get himself together.

### We flew towards safety while Cassie struggled to get me off.

### "let me go punk!" I kept my grip.

### I'm not gonna let this kid go. Rudy asked "what was that?" still confused. "Hanna is a Sawfly." I answered.

### "a what?" he cried.

### We got to the beach. The island got silent again.

### Sitting under the shelter.

### I looked at Cassie sitting down on the sand with her legs folded and her arms folded together too while she glared angrily at me.

### "what is up with kid huh?" Rudy said.

### Yeah. What is wrong with this kid?

### She's just there, watching.

### We didn't even tie her up.

### "what are we waiting for?" I asked.

### "Tony." Rudy replied.

### "found it!" Tony called out among the trees.

### Tony took the gun-sword and studied it. "feels good!"

### Tony tried pulling the trigger.

### The gun fired a small bullet at a tree.

### FLUM! The gun let out a sound.

### The bullet hit the tree and the tree instantly melted.

### "whoa!" Rudy exclaimed

### "acid bullet." Cassie said.

### "that's for Sawflies idiot!" she yelled.

### "wait! That's Sawfly tech?" I asked.

### "yes!" Cassie exclaimed.

### "you have an attitude kid." Tony said.

### "what does it do?" I asked.

### "it is actually pure metal and it has a hole at its edge connected to the handle which is a conductor. The handle has a rare copper seed. You power up and the conductor will grow out."

### Cassie took the sword and begins to swing it around.

### In a sudden flash, the sword glowed and covered the sword in cedar wood.

### "like so." Cassie's face changed from anger to smile.

### "cool." I muttered. "so who are you guys?"

### "I'm Hector." I said.

### "I know who you are Dragonfly." she snapped.

### "and you?" I asked.

### "my name is Cassie Daniels." she said in confidence.

### "I'm a Sawfly. We have the power to control wood." she sat back down and started clapping here hands together.

### "we're going extinct."

### I was shocked by her honesty, "your going extinct?" I asked.

### "yes. The Lab hunted us all down and brought us to The Sawfly District Lab. To here."

### "in the middle of a forest?" Rudy asked.

### "yes, natural wood is out of our control. We can only create them in our hands." It struck me curious why Sawflies are here.

### They can only create wood from their own hands, but they can't manipulate the wood all around them.

### "so if I ask you to control the tree over there, it won't move right?" Tony asked.

### "yes." Daniels replied.

### "you're awfully young Cassie." Tony complimented.

### "thanks I think, I'm actually 16."

### I'm surprised about a sixteen year old girl, in a forest showing no fear at all. Her hair was black and curly.

### Her hair was worn in a big ponytail with a black hair band.

### Her eyes is dark brown.

### Her skin is only slightly brown. Her face shows sweetness but also fearlessness.

### "we gotta free those kids," Cassie said.

### "but where will you go?" I asked.

### "there's a big blue ship hidden somewhere on the island.

### "wait, your saying we didn't almost drown to get here?" Rudy asked, surprised by the fact we didn't lost the ship.

### "yes." Cassie was being positive about her statement.

### "you mean we didn't lose HARDY?" Tony's eyes widen.

### "yeah, that huge monster must have knocked hard to get here huh?"

### Cassie turned her head down like she just lost something.

### "what's wrong?"

### "that's why we can't go anywhere."she explained.

### "what?" Rudy asked. "what do you mean?"

### Cassie looked out to the horizon, her face radiated

### That monster is what we Sawflies call 'Marcus'

### "the what?" Rudy asked.

### "Marcus, he's a Sand Fly. He can control the earth. His specialty is that he controls gravel. What you saw is just the illusion of him."

### "but I slashed him." I said.

### "did you check to make sure it stays dead?" Cassie asked.

### I didn't, sure I won't. "no." I answered.

### "whatever, its only a matter of time before Marcus wakes up.

### We got to get to that ship!."

### We walked around the shore, hoping to find the ship.

### Tony ran like a crazy wild man to find his dearest ship.

### When we found it, we had to admit it was well hid. Like Cassie said, big and blue. That's The Hardy.

### It was kept inside a few tree branches and rocks along the shore.the surprising thing was, its still intact. Still functional.

### "that's a hell of a ship Tony!" Rudy admitted. We were able to salvage more food and water but the others are too soaked in water to use.

### With Cassie, we were able to get the ship out in time.

### Cassie's powers was to me, amazing.

### No only she can be strong but she can very defensive.

### Her powers can create impossible shapes. Because they are not natural, they will appear to be solid on the outside but bends like liquid on the inside.

### Tony and I got into the ship to repair the ship.

### Any sparks of fire, is food for me so that feels good.

### We got into the dark engine room and started working. I lid the room with my powers while Tony went to look for his toolbox and started working. Rudy and Cassie began to set up fires and got us food while Tony gets the ship running in no time.

### We spent the rest of the day fixing some of The Hardy s' damages. Then a sound ignited our hopes for survival.

### The lights came back.

### The engine is purring normally again!

### "yes!" Rudy screamed from the outside.

### I could still hear him even though I'm inside!

### "that did it Hector! Good job!" Tony patted me on the shoulder and walked to the outside of the ship.

### "YES!" he exclaimed.

### That feeling of joy came back to Tony ever since his mom died.

### Its great to see him smile. Again.

### Cassie joined in and embraced the little victory we had in this moment We're well on our way to rescue the rest. Everyone was all dirty and sweaty but we didn't bother.

### Rudy, Tony, Cassie and I had a quick dinner of fish and this time bananas. We also had some water from the ship.

### Tony was able to salvage it from his ship. Cassie drank a lot. She must have grown tired of coconut water.

### We took the ship and anchored it out at bay.

### Rudy went back resting.

### Tony left as well.

### We're gonna have our big day tomorrow.

### I was standing on the top deck of the ship.

### Cassie was still awake. "can't sleep?" I asked approaching her.

### "yeah." her face returned to her angry self.

### She folded her arms around and stared out at sea.I joined in.

### The stars were bright up in the night sky. Like fireflies.

### "Hector," she began. Turning towards me.

### "thank you. For all this."

### I turned towards her. "you know I've been wanting to ask you, how did you ended up here?" I asked.

### She kept silent for a while and finally spoke.

### "well, I had a parent who worked for The Lab. My dad. When I showed I had powers, The Lab Hunters came. He took me away from home and trained me, more importantly, he taught me how to use it and then Sean appeared and killed my father." she began to tear up and started sobbing.

### "I tried to run but Sean took me out and brought me here. The Lab for Sawflies on an island out at sea. When we heard of the news from the guards that a Dragonfly Lab was destroyed and that you escaped, we took that chance. You've inspired us Hector."

### She wiped some of her tears off her face and kept talking.

### "but Hanna became crazy, she surrounded the lab with a huge wired looking forest and locked us up again after we rebelled against the guards. I escaped but I couldn't leave the other kids behind. They won't stand a chance." she wiped off another tear.

### "she killed anyone that got in her way, she became insane..."

### "stop talking." I said.

### I gave her a comforting hug and patted her on the back.

### I knew what happened after that.

### She escaped and came to forks.

### She found out about our treasure hunt and contacted Marcus to attack us, bring us here.

### "I'll make sure that we get out alive." I whispered to her.

### That was my promise. This is inhuman!

### The actions of the Lab to catch Convicts and forced them to join in like that was too much. Which is why tomorrow, we're going to end this.

### The next morning came, I told Rudy and Tony about what Cassie told me."that's messed up."Rudy said.

### "Hanna is crazy." Tony added. "the moment we go for her, we're going back to hell again. So here's the plan." I started.

### "Rudy and Tony will get the ship ready. Cassie and I will go and sneak the kids out." I turned to Cassie, "deal with Hanna for me. In case if Marcus comes back, I'll deal with him."

### We took our moves we got back to the broken wall again.

### "ready?" I asked Cassie.

### "no." she replied.

### "good." I powered up and blasted a fireball inside.

### We got into the Lab again, vines and everything. Some damages here and there but that's about it.

### "oh hey Hector!" Hanna greeted.

### Her grin of just pure evil. Haunted me by the second.

### I got mad. I fired up and leaped towards Hanna grabbing her by her cloths and took her out for a ride.

### "you want me? Well here I am Hanna." I said.

### I opened my palm and threw out a huge burning ball of green fire to her face.

### FLUMMMMMMM~

### When when I stopped. Her face was covered in gravel protecting her face.

### The worst is about to happen.

### I turned and looked up.

### Its Marcus!

### Back from the sea.

### He grew angry and expanded his right arm in gravel and threw it at me.

### I flew off Hanna but was able to catch myself floating on the air like a humming bird.

### Marcus noticed Cassie is going for the control room, he turned and went after her. Not gonna happen!

### I threw a huge fireball at him. Marcus grunted and turned back to me.

### "I'll take care of Cassie,darling!" Hanna got to her feet and threw a bamboo from her hands to destroy the controls

### Cassie reacted by throwing a cedar wood against the bamboo.

### The bamboo cracked. Cassie gave a grin at Hanna.

### She threw another cedar wood her, taking her out.

### Cassie pressed a button from the control room, releasing the kids.

### The kids scrambled out of the Lab and to the beach.

### I fired up again and gave a fire breath at Marcus's face.

### FLUMMMMMM~

### Marcus crouched down from the intense heat.

### Not yet! I kept burning.

### Cassie threw a piece of cedar wood at Marcus and took him out.

### "come on!" Cassie yelled.

### I stood up and fired at the lab ceilings, crashing the place down.

### Cassie thew more cedar wood at the walls, the place is crumbling down.

### "we gotta move!" Cassie said. I gave a final fire and ran out, joining Cassie. We ran to the forest and to the beach.

### The kids got on board and waved. Calling out to us.

### All three hundred of them.

### Some Fair skinned, some Brown skinned, some Chinese but most of them are girls. Rudy was standing with his crossbow ready.

### Cassie grabbed me by the hand and rose her other hand, aiming at the ship.She threw a long piece of cedar wood and pulled.

### I fired my other hand to give us friction.

### We landed at the top deck of The Hardy ship.

### Tony punched the engines and sailed off.

### We were all free.

### Cassie gave each of the kids hugs and kissed some of them on the cheek.

### The worst is now over.

### "well that's a bummer." Rudy said.

### "no treasure, no Dragon Eye."

### "but we saved a bunch of kids though." Tony smiled.

### "good enough for me."

### I joined Cassie and the kids as they looked out and see their past left behind them. "thank you again Hector!" Cassie exclaimed.

### Her joyful self has returned.

### "sure thing kid. We make a good team huh?" I asked.

### "yes we do." Cassie looked at Rudy and Tony up in the control room.

### "you should give them this." Cassie handed me a crystal ball with a unique color pattern inside. It has blue, red, green, purple, orange and the other colors you could imagine. This is it!

### "Rudy!" I called excitedly.

### I ran to Rudy and showed him the crystal. "look!" I said.

### "oh shit! This is the Dragon Eye." he exclaimed.

### "no way!" Tony peaked over.

### "she must have found it while she was here." I said.

### Rudy took the crystal and looked deep inside.

### "you know, we've been through hell to get this." Rudy said.

### "there will be pirates after us." Tony added.

### "we've saved the kids, that's all that matters."

### Tony stopped peaking and turned back.

### He knew what Rudy meant."he's right." Tony said

### "give it to the kids, they need it more than we do." Rudy handed the crystal to me.

### Rudy had a sudden change of heart, greed and mysteries were not his goal for this trip anymore. "bet my old man would be proud." he said.

### "I'm sure he will Rudy."

### I handed the crystal over to one of the kids.

### "they need it more than we do." Rudy's word echoed in my ear.

### Which is true.

### The kids showed Cassie, she turned over, I smiled.

### These kids had a future ahead of them, and this is only the beginning.

### "so where to next kiddo?" Tony asked me.

### "well, I always wanted to go back to Seattle." I said.

### I'm done hiding.

### I'm done running.

### "you only become a hero if you start being one." Mel's words rang in my ear and I remembered.

### This is what I must do, what I will do.

### "lets move Rudy." I said. Tony started laughing.

### Rudy followed.

### "Seattle huh?" Tony asked. "I can do that."

### "what next?" Cassie climbed into the control room and asked.

### "The Lab has a lot to answer for." I said.

### Tony and Rudy stared at each other then back at me.

### "your going after them." Rudy said.

### "Amen to that." Cassie said. "let's get out of here."

19

The Convergence

### Jacob:

### We've done many things in life. Some good and some bad but if there is one thing we don't want to live with is regret. To be honest. I never regretted the day I met James and got his powers. Now that I'm in this crazy world, things seemed more fun. Most days like this are just little victories. After a long day of fighting off The Lab and ruining their plans in their new bases, we had a huge change of plans. Our trail ran cold.

### "hey man how you feeling?" I asked calling Henry on the phone.

### "like shit. Remind me never do that again." he said.

### "so, listen our trail with this Scarlet Murderer turned cold. Sorry bud, guess you gotta try something else."

I cut the line realizing I'm still in square one. After a four nights the search was wasted. I decided to give up and call the case closed.

### I scouted out on the streets again. Its almost dark, the sun sets under the blue shores of the sea while I see that another day going to end.

### I remembered about that last base I've attacked. It had Convict guards there. This game is about to change. 180 style and its going to start right now. I need fire power. Its getting tougher to fight one base alone. I need other Convicts to help me. And I'll start with Dazzle Girl and my words may have called her out. A blazing purple figure running past the buildings in blazing across the roads. Its Dazzle Girl!

### Alice:

### Its been hard now a days, I've been on the run.

### Terrance and I started flushing out the gangs from the Docks.

### I'm not gonna let that happen to another kid again.

### The mission tonight is to run to get their attention but I realized they have stepped up their game.

They're what we called Tsetse Flies.

We will have to find The Glossy King.

### We just took out the Queen.

### The one who owns the hive to the Tsetse Flies.

### And they came from what we call a Glossy worm. Picture a neon green worm. It called a, Glossy Worm. They are like one tiny sausage Neon Green with thick lines over it and a big black head on one end that opens its mouth and closes.

### It Causes hallucinations and makes you insane. It also becomes a mind controlling agent, controlling your movements. They need a host to survive. They use our ears and enter the brain. Once that happens, they control you they turn that you into a, Tsetse Fly. A Convict with the ability to create deadly acid.

### Its us or them. They could be anyone.

### Which is why we are going to get to the bottom of this.

### We need a team to take them out but now, we're in trouble.

### We're being attacked. We were running. Our trip to the Docks was anticipated by Them, the sent a batch of Tsetse Flies after us.

### Terrance turned back and fired his Wand at the nearest Tsetse Fly.

### They've turned aggressive,

### I turned back and beamed at another one.

### The Tsetse Fly is like your normal human being, except they will be very disturbed and that they won't be themselves. Their eyes will turn yellow. Covering their whole eye. Aggressive and dangerous.

### One of them began to burp out a pile of yellow acid at us.

### Terrance switched his wand to EMP and shielded the acid.

### That's the power of a Tsetse Fly if a Glossy worm infects a normal human. They become convicts who are fast, strong. They also can burp deadly acid that kills you when in contact. The acid landed on the ground. Melting the concrete floor.

### We ran and ran.

### "grab on!" I finally called out.

### Terrance stopped and jumped onto my back.

### I powered up and ran. The world became a total blur when you run at my speed. Everything will just become colors and nothing else.

### Terrance began to move, turning his Wand to the back and fired another one.

### I ran as fast as I could to escape this group.

### They are the same people from the Docks.

### "looks like they upgraded." I said.

### "no kidding." Terrance said.

### Terrance is a Firefly. He has the power to control electricity but at a low amp. He can also talk to people in their heads. But he can only fire his powers for a very limited amount of time and he needs things made of metal to amp up his powers as well as original sources.

### That's why he built The Wand.

### The Wand is a tool built by Terrance himself, used to help him use his powers with four functions. The first one is power of ELECTRICITY.

### The second one is SCAN. The third is EMP and SHIELD.

### The last is REPAIR. It repairs anything and everything. Even organic ones. The front tip of the device is an emerald ball placed at the end and six copper rings filling up until the tip. With a black power button and a push-up button. When activated, it creates a buzzing sound.

### We ran across the streets, with more Tsetse Flies swarmed over, running. Terrance jumped off my back and created another shield, blocking off the Tsetse Flies.

### And just like how it happened back during the robbery, a large pile of sand swamped in and slammed the remaining Tsetse Flies.

### Jacob:

### Dazzle Girl appeared in a slightly different costume.

### She was wearing a short sleeved black shirt with a symbol on the front,

### long black jeans. Her long navy blue coat was tied to her waist, her shoes were a pair of blue Vans sneakers. Running with a 16 year old kid.

### I collected a huge pile of sand from a nearby construction site and swooped over against them.

### like a huge sand tidal wave.

### I'm assuming they are Lab Hunters.

### I got my sights on Dazzle Girl and the kid again.

### This time running away to the next building. Leaving the kid behind.

### "hey!" I called. "I just want to talk to you!"

### Alice:

### We ran to the next corner.

### This batch won't last. There will be more.

### I tried to catch my breath but now is not the time.

### "Terrance, get out of here! We're gonna split from now on." I said.

### "yeah good idea, we-" before he could finish, I turned to the next block and ran.

### Jacob:

### I ran towards the kid. Fair skinned with Short black hair, brown eyes, and a round face. He was wearing a blue, hoodie and a pair of green long pants. He wears a pair of green sneakers.

### "kid, where's your sister?" I asked.

### "don't call me kid, kid!" he demanded.

### He pulled out this wired looking torchlight and beamed at me, a stream of green light with blue lighting, swirling around the light.

### The device in the kid's hand gave a wired buzzing sound.

### PEZZZZZ~

### I fell to the ground. Surprised to feel shocked for the first time.

### "and she's not my sister, the name is Terrance Jones,

### I'm a Firefly and this is my Wand." He said.

### "look kid, you might want to stand back." I said.

### I motioned a large pile of sand into three sand wolves.

### The wolves attacked Terrance, one of the wolves smashed Terrance in the face while the other leaped above him and smacked him again.

### Terrance used all his might withstand the attack and grabbed the Wand.

### He turned the white turning part to the center.

### "EMP." he said. He aimed and the other sand wolf and fired the Wand.

### The Wand gave a buzzing sound.

### Unlike how it was last time, the Wand gave out a blue and green sound expanding all over the area.

### The sand wolf dispersed and rained down on him.

### In the mist of the chaos, Terrance reached for his white solid wrist band with a black button at its base and transformed into a man who is probably in his thirties. He is quite tall and he has a face of danger in his eyes. He wears a pair of brown long pants and a white shirt with a brown trench coat with a pair of black converse.

### "meet the Detective!" Terrance said.

### The Detective fired another blast of lightning at me with his Wand.

### "whoa!" I cried. He leaped over towards me and started punching me.

### Every strike of his is thrown well, bet he got black belt in fighting.

### "what's wrong? To scared to hit a kid?" he asked. Throwing another kick at me. "I'm cutting you some slack kid!" I said.

### "well, I'm not!" Terrance grinned. "then neither should I!" I cried.

### I motioned, creating a giant sand gorilla. The sand gorilla growled and charged towards Terrance.

### I took another pile and changed it into a sand cloud.

While The Detective or Terrance fights off the sand gorilla, I moved the cloud up to find Dazzle Girl.

### Alice:

### Sand boy turns out to be more powerful than I thought.

### He was able to distract Terrance and come after me.

### "hey I just want to talk!" he cried.

### "busy!" I answered casually.

### What does he know?

### All he wants is to live that hero life.

### "stay out of my way!" I said.

### "Dazzle please. I need your help." he cried.

### "piss off!" I said. "guess I have to force you to slow down then." he said.

### This guy never gives up!

### Jacob fired sand blasts over towards me like wild fire.

### I turned back and fired more light blasts against his sand blast.

### Taking out his attacks. He's good. He's really good.

### "this guy is going to kill us!" Terrance said in my head.

### He was still trying to fight off whatever it was that stopped him from fighting Jacob. "Terrance, hang on!" I said.

### I turned and used my new powers for the first time.

### I ran pass through Jacob, still shocked at the big purple blur swooping through him. I ran and ran and it happened again.

### My wings sprouted out, and I flew.

### I got to Terrance in time firing light blasts at what looks like a giant sand gorilla.

### The gorilla growled again, he rose his arms and slammed the ground.

### Time to go! I went over to Terrance in The Detective form,

### hiding behind a cab.

### The cars all around began to blared, the lights blinking.

### I took the Portal Revolver out from my pocket. I aimed it at the wall behind us and fired it.

### "come on!" I said pulling his arm and jumped into the Negative Zone.

### "we'll be safe in here." I said "I think."

### I landed at the Negative zone with Terrance in my arms.

### I looked over and realized a huge bolt of lighting hit me on the chest, knocking me out unconscious.

### Jacob:

### Dazzle Girl's got more fight than I thought.

### I followed her into this blue portal on the wall behind a cab.

### "Jacob, found something?" Henry called.

### "yeah, I'm gonna check it out." I said. "be careful kid." he said.

### "yeah, you too." I said bluntly. I jumped into the

### Portal finding every thing in opposite.

### Get a load of this!

### Beyond the portal was a world like our own.

### I ventured around this unusual place.

### I looked around and discovered that the place is a mirror like place.

### Everything is opposite.

### "you shouldn't come here." a voice said.

### I turned over, discovering Terrance is his thirties form.

### Looking down at me.

### "your in my turf now, here in the negative zone, I am the king, no.

### Why be a king when you can be a God!" he chuckled.

### He dropped his Wand and fired multiple bolts of lightning against me.

### I dodged the shots and faded off.

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### Another one,

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### Another one,

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### I ran to the nearest building and got to the roof through the vents

### Where is everyone?

### "YOU DARE HIDE FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE DETECTIVE?"

### Who does this guy think he is?

### "COME NOW CHILD, REVEAL YOURSELF AND FACE YOUR DOOM."

### "your the kid here Terrance." I taunted.

### I fired a few more blasts of sand against its face.

### He's still a regular sized person but his strikes were precise.

### From afar, I saw Alice running towards it.

### That girl is going to kill herself!

### Alice:

### I feel like I just woke up from a crazy train ride,

### The moment I entered the Negative Zone, Terrance's Detective got stronger. I woke up with a horrifying sight seeing him attacking Jacob Brown. "whoa! whoa!" I blasted a few warning shots against him.

### "what's the matter with you?" I asked.

### "LEAVE INSECT!" Terrance used his own hands to fire lightning shots against me.

### "whoa- hey!" I shouted.

### "after all we've been through?" I asked

### "LEAVE INSECT!" he repeated.

### "have it your way then Jones!" I fired more shots against him.

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### Jacob Brown moved closer towards me.

### Terrance's kept firing like a wild man.

### I walked back.

### "Sand Boy!" I shouted. He's my best bet now.

### Jacob faded over towards me and grabbed me by the arm.

### PAK-KAH-SHA!

### In an instant we disappeared!

### my body felt like its turning into dust.

### I began to shatter into chunks of rocks and as Jacob makes a small leap forward.

### Being dust is like a different world.

### I turned and turned and turned left to right with Jacob...

### Balancing myself like as if I am on a see-saw path. If I go way too to the left, I'll trip...way too to the right, I'll also trip...

### Things move at a regular pace so that I can see while in this form.

### The feeling is like your being burnt alive into ashes then being turned into rocks then putting it back together again...

### The feeling is wired yet cool. KAH-SHA!

### Holy shit!

### We appeared further from Terrance, to safety.

### Standing next to me is Sand Boy, Jacob Brown.

### His quite sharp looking face.

### His eyes were brown and his hair was tucked in his red beanie.

### He is quite tall, I think he is older than me.

### He was still wearing his orange checkered shirt and long black jeans.

### He wore a red beanie that had black ring figure in the front and a really fetch black pocketed long sleeve jacket.

### And of course his pair of black All Stars sneakers.

### "holy shit!" I exclaimed. "that's so cool!" I said

### Jacob:

### This girl sure got into a lot of trouble.

### Strangely I didn't get her powers.

### "mind telling me what's going on?"I asked

### "oh this is the Negative Zone, everything is in the opposite." she replied.

### Great. A four dimensional mirror.

### "will we be stuck here?" I asked

### "no, but we need to get The Wand to shut down The Detective." she answered.

### "the who but he's a kid." I said.

### "well its a long story. He's like one guy with two persons." she tried to explain.

### "like Shazam?" I asked

### "yeah, something like that, now come on!" she said hurriedly.

### Alice:

### I ran alongside with Jacob, going across the empty city.

### Jacob couldn't catch up with me, instead, he used his sand powers to

### Disappear and reappear.

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### God, I won't get tired of that.

### Jacob:

### We got back to where Terrance was or was it The Detective.

### Nothing.

### "where did he go?" I asked

### "no idea, keep looking." she answered.

### My phone rang. It was Henry.

### "wow, four bars in the negative zone." I said.

### Surprised to find my phone working.

### "hello?" I asked.

### "wait don't answer that!" Dazzle Girl said.

### "OH HUMAN,YOU ARE A FOOL!" said the other line.

### This is not Henry.

### Terrance came from above dropping towards me with a bolt of lighting.

### "oh, right electricity...." I said to myself.

### Terrance's lightning bolt slammed against the ground,

### Obliterating the place.

### I faded off,

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### That was close.

### Alice quickly ran to find the Wand she mentioned.

### "round two huh Terrance?" I asked

### "I WON'T BE CARELESS HUMAN INSECT!" he snared.

### Alice:

### Jacob Brown distracted the Detective while I looked for the Wand.

### It used to work last time. It has to work this time.

### I scanned around the ground and found both the Portal Revolver and The Wand hidden behind some broken concrete parts.

### "there you are!" I exclaimed.

### Okay, you've only seen him use it two times but the functions are easy right? I thought to myself.

### Okay, great, just turn to the third symbol and press it.

### Easy.

### I focused all my powers at the Wand and aimed it against Terrance.

### He won't enjoy this but we have to.

### I man when someone who used to be easy going and simple turns out to be a crazy guy can't be right.

### Right?

### Jacob:

### I fired more sand blasts at his face distracting him from reaching Dazzle Girl.

### "YOU'RE STALLING INSECT!" he growled.

### "exactly."

### Dazzle Girl fired a beam against him.

### Releasing a huge shock wave of purple and green shock wave rings

### Blasted all over the surroundings.

### The wave blasted pass me and Terrance.

### Knocking him and I out.

### I fell against the ground while the wave knocked Terrance back into his 16 year old self. I faded over feeling stronger but unusual.

### PAK-KAH-SHA! I prepared myself and changed back,

### KAH-SHA! I caught Terrance from behind and landed on the ground again. "its okay kid, I got you." I said.

### Alice:

### Jacob got Terrance after a freak blast off that changed.

### That's the second time an EMP took Terrance's Detective down.

### I'm starting to think he built the Wand to stop him in case if he loses control. I ran towards Terrance.

### "hey, you okay?" I asked.

### "yeah, I think." he said.

### I handed the Wand back to him.

### "here, this belongs to you." I said.

### "thanks." he said grabbing the Wand.

### "uh hate to break it to the both of you here but you can have your reunion later." Jacob chimed in.

### "yeah he is right, let's get the hell out of here." I agreed.

### Jacob:

### We got out of the Negative Zone as fast as we could, Dazzle Girl fired this wired revolver at a wall, creating a hole at a nearby wall that transported us back. She called it the Portal Revolver. Its like a normal revolver with the trigger, hammer, grip and cylinder intact but a change of a slightly bigger barrel on the front expanding from the center of the revolver. Back on the streets again, Dazzle Girl, Terrance and I met up somewhere where we can talk. We got to the top of Clockwork Hotel, I called Henry to meet the rest. We got there just in time to start this small meet up. Its dark now. Night is approaching, the winds began to rise as the air fills this city with its wonder.

### Nights like these are awesome.

### The moment wind enters your face, blowing your hair while it sways as you go along with the wind is a lot of fun.

### Like looking outside with the car window open.

### Neon lights filled the area as night approaches.

### Makes you feel that this place is secretly a magical place when its at night. Henry's arms were folding has he looks at these two kids staring at each other nervously. He was still recovering from his change the other day.

### "So uh, let's introduce ourselves.

### I'm Jacob Brown, Sand Fly, I have the ability to control sand. I can transform, expand and create anything sand related even me. This is Uncle Henry." I said.

### "I'm Alice Dagger, Butterfly, I have the ability o blast powers of light towards objects through the direct influence with the power of light.

### I can also run fast." she said.

### "Terrance Jones, Firefly," the moment Terrance said that he changed into The Detective!

### Alice stared at Terrance, confused at the sight of what's happening.

### Henry got shocked, realizing that a fair skinned blue hoodie boy transformed into a thirty year old, tall man wearing brown long pants and a white shirt with a brown trench coat with a pair of black converse. Before his eyes.

### Alice:

### Terrance suddenly transformed into The Detective without reaching out for his wristband.

### "okay, what the hell is that?" and old man, Henry asked.

### "uh, I don't know." I replied

### I turned to Terrance, "what happened to you?" I asked.

### "uh, wait let me try something." he said.

### Terrance clutched his hands together and focused on his powers,

### Before we knew it,

### A spark of lightning appeared right before his hands.

### This stunned me because Terrance never did this before.

### See, he has the power to control electricity but at a low amp. He can also talk to people in their heads. But he can only fire his powers for a very limited amount of time and he needs things made of metal to amp up his powers as well as original sources.

### That's why he built The Wand.

### But now, he's doing it without the Wand and he's making it stronger.

### His body was charged in blue electricity,

### He tested out by firing it out into thin air.

### "wicked!" he said in his child voice.

### "uh how did you do that?" I asked.

### "I don't know, I just said Firefly-" Terrance changed again.

### Back to his child self.

### "oh cool!" he said.

### "that must EMP must have made The Detective stuck into its Negative state." I said.

### "so, meaning to say he is Shazam now." Jacob said.

### "cool." Terrance said with a smile.

### Jacob:

### Terrance displayed his inner self for the first time ever.

### He's like Shazam now. Every time he says a magic word, he changes into this other self. Which was really cool.

### He's like a real superhero now.

### Henry stared at Alice, feeling suspicious. "wait a minute." he finally said. "your that Dazzle Girl!" Henry said.

### "uh yeah. Why?" Alice asked.

### "there was an incident in Northwest recently." he began.

### "you're behind that incident right?" Henry asked.

### Alice tried to defend herself but Henry won't listen.

### "it was an accident and it wasn't me."she declared.

### "yeah that's what they all say!" Henry moved to Alice and caught her by one arm and grabbed her by the neck.

### "Whoa! Whoa!" I shouted, trying to gain control over the situation.

### "Jacob!" Alice screamed in panic.

### "hey kid, what do ya say we take this girl and maybe, just maybe get Wednesday to trade and save Aunt May?" Henry asked.

### Terrance took his wand out, preparing to fight.

### I stood there, thinking what have I got myself into?

### *Note: during pages like this where there is a blank space, its up to you to decide to what Jacob Brown does. Its your choice to make him decide. However, there is no right or wrong. But as you progress, you'll know the end results.*

  1. ### Liberate Alice and Terrance, asking them to join.

  2. ### Corrupt Alice and Terrance, asking them to join.

###  [____________________________________________________________]

### I responded.

### Henry took his hands off Alice and nodded lightly.

### "I see how it is, looks like you're in charge of this team now." he said.

### "thank you Henry." I said.

### Henry walked back inside his room, giving me free time with the two.

### Alice turned to me thanking me for helping.

### "thanks." she said.

### "you'll get used to him." I defended.

### "soon." Terrance added.

### "so you guys and me, we hit the town and clean up the streets of Seattle, we go save some lives, and take down Wednesday and The Lab. What do ya say?" I asked.

### "gee I don't know, Jacob. We have problems of our own to deal with."

### Alice said rubbing the back of her neck.

### She's still not feeling so well from Henry suddenly wrangling her.

### "hey, don't worry about it. Let me help you guys and you can help me.

### We can help each other you know. Watch each others backs." I patted them on their shoulders, giving them assurance that I'll help them.

20

The Experiment

### Hector:

### Cassie and Tony dropped the kids back to Forks.

### The kids seem to enjoy themselves.

### The lush green grass. A beautiful town.

### We dropped them off at La Push.

### Mrs Robertson was happier than how she use to be.

### Its not an everyday thing you drop your boat of and deliver a bunch of powered kids aged between 12 to 17 to the town of Forks.

### Mrs Robertson, Cassie and Rudy helped bring the kids to shore.

### I was looking out, seeing the kids smiling, cheering and being what they

### Should be doing at this young age. Instead of being held in a forest, they should be free. I need to head to Seattle to stop whoever is operating The Lab's facility. I was once there and now I'm going to end this.

### But my mind was still unclear. So many questions.

### Is this the change Jake mentioned?

### If this is the change, we least we must do is to not run.

### We must fight or at least do something.

### Tony guarded the engines, looking from the control room.

### I walked back in, joining Tony.

### He hasn't smiled for a while, according to Rudy.

### "you know I've been thinking." he began.

### "someone needs to watch over these kids so, how about this? You and Cassie go find out what happened in Seattle and we stay here to take care of them until you guys come back." Tony explained.

### "your right Tony." I said. "but we need a ride."

### "I think I can do that." Tony said.

### Alice:

### We told Jacob everything, about the Glossy Worm.

### About the hallucinations. About the Tsetse Flies. About Luke

### and about ourselves. He listened, he understood our problems.

### I only know Jacob through the news about him doing all the good in the city but I've always doubted him.

### I think his pretty much of snob but once you get to know him, he's quite nice.

### "that bad huh?" he finally said.

### "Wednesday really is stepping up her game. She's been using those things to protect her check points."

### "Wednesday? As in Wednesday Johann?" Terrance asked.

### "yeah." Jacob said.

### "we have leads to find the Glossy Worm's King." Terrance said.

### "wait!" Jacob turned to us. "you have leads to this?"

### Oh great, Terrance of all persons becomes a person who can't keep secrets.

### Terrance turned to me "what? He said he can help right?" he defended.

### "so?" I turned back to Jacob and asked.

### "I'm in." he said.

### With Jacob, we might get an edge.

### And we might need it.

### "listen, I uh...I want to ask if its okay for me to take your powers."

### He asked.

### "you want to what?" Terrance asked.

### "I'm like a power sponge, and if I need to take Wednesday down well.."

### I got the hint.

### "okay, fine. But don't get any ideas." I said.

### Jacob reached her hands out to mine and begins to focus.

### I became anxious. Nervous.

### I don't know what to expect if I do this.

### A sudden tingle triggered my senses, suddenly I became too aware about my surroundings.

### Jacob's warm hands gave me a wired vibe of something getting down.

### Whoa, dis could sting for a bit.

### I closed my eyes,

### Terrance ready to pounce,

### I ready myself for the worst.

### Jacob:

### I reached out for Alice and grabbed her hand.

### I focused on my mind on taking her powers.

### I was prepared for the visions and everything.

### Alice opened her closed eyes with one staring at me.

### "well?" she asked.

### "uh, I don't know..." I said.

### Jacob:

### I was still trying to grasp how I can't absorb Alice's powers.

### I called Henry.

### "Brown, what a surprise! Listen this better be good because you are ruining my beauty sleep." Henry said.

### "Henry, I don't have my absorbing powers."

### I said.

### "great, that's great, I'll bring wine." he answered.

### "would you please focus? How am I suppose to get Wednesday's powers and save the church?"I asked.

### "listen its not that bad."he said.

### "maybe its not meant to be."

### Henry still has that problem of believing I am only out for small work is going to be really wrong. "look man, I don't care if I have to throw stones at Wednesday to win this but I sure as hell am going to try and save the city and the church." I replied.

### I was determined to get Wednesday or I'll die trying get a scratch on her. "well I can't help you but I'll be ready to help you if you need me." he said. "now try to figure out how to get your powers back. We need you kid."

### "thank you Henry." I said feeling comforted.

### Alice:

### Jacob tried effortlessly to get his powers back.

### "Jacob, I would like to suggest an idea." Terrance begin.

### "lets enter the Negative zone and find your powers back. I'm guessing the effects of the Detective is the same and you with your powers."

### "is it even possible?" I asked.

### "yes but he has to do it alone." Terrance theorized.

### "I'll try anything." he said.

### I could sense his confidence and his logging to get his powers back.

### Must be a big thing for him.

### Knowing Jacob Brown for a while made me realized he is a Convict with good intentions.

### When I think about my life as a Convict, I've only stepped out to be a hero. Now, I see what it really means to be a hero is to be selfless as Jacob Brown.

### "we'll help you." I assured.

### Terrance fired The Portal Revolver

### BLAM!

### A blue portal appeared on the wall right in front of us.

### "good luck Jacob." Terrance said.

### Jacob entered the portal. Terrance closed the portal and looked at me.

### "now, about my powers." he said with a smile in his words.

### Jacob:

### I entered the Negative zone, worried what I might find.

### An empty city with nothing in sight.

### I was on top of Clockwork Hotel.

### "okay, where are you?" I said.

"over here." a voice said.

### I turned to find what looks like a clone of me but his eyes were different.

### Instead of brown eyes, his eyes were completely covered in bright red.

### "who are you?" I asked.

"you, from your other part." he said in a eerie tone.

### "my other part?" I asked.

### I begun to notice his skin is pale and his face gives away this evil look.

### "so you took my powers huh? What are you? My evil self?" I asked.

"when you put it that way. Yes." he said with his head turning sideways staring at me mischievously.

### "well I'm here to take it back." I jumped up floating towards him.

### The Negative Zone is completely different with our world.

### Its opposite on some things.

### Opposite of placement, opposite of gravity and opposite of life.

### I grabbed Dark Jacob and pushed him against the buildings.

### Dark Jacob overpowered me and pushed me aside and threw me to the other block.

### I looked around my body for scars.

### No scar. Guess that's one plus side in the Negative zone.

### I jumped back and to Dark Jacob and threw a punch at him.

### "come on Jacob, show me what it really means to to be a Sand Fly, don't you want to kill Wednesday Johann?"

### "I want to. All my life, I told myself through what she has done to me has been nothing but destroying my life, turning it upside down.

"then make the move!" he said.

### "and why should I do that I don't need to spill blood to change the world. I only want her powers to save the town." I defended.

"your a fool you know!" he said taunting me.

### Dark Jacob began to use his Sand Fly powers, disappearing and appearing over and over.

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### I blocked off and took some hits from him.

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### PAK-KAH-SHA! KAH-SHA!

### I timed his movements and finally caught him by the leg and toasted him off to another building.

### Alice:

### We joined Henry, waiting for Jacob to come back.

### "Terrance, why is Jacob's powers in The Negative Zone?" I asked.

### "because he is still deciding which side to choose. This could be the last time he will decide his future." Terrance explained.

### Henry woke up from his short rest.

### His this 50 year-old something man but he appears fit than the other old people I've met. He has a beard connected from his side burns to his chin. He also has a beard from below his nose to the side of his face.

### "the kid has been a kid who's made a lot of tough choices. Sometimes I feel bad for him." He said.

### "your telling me before all this, he's been making choices?" I asked.

### "everyone makes choices Alice like how I decided to chose to tell you the truth about some things about me and about what I do." Terrance said.

### I thought about what he said and remembered about the days we've been in our small world.

### During my first encounter with him to the Docks to Luke and Fox Trap.

### Things sure did change for the both of us.

### "yeah, now its Jacob's turn huh." I said.

### "yeah, so we just have to wait." Henry said.

### Henry looked out to the window staring at the scene of Seattle.

### A digital clock room. The room was quite big.

### With two beds in white sheets and sky blue blankets that you see in hotels. A blue neon table with green hexagon themed chairs. No TV, a cupboard and a window with the view of the Space Needle quite far away. The night was sill.

### My parents were probably worried sick.

### "so what about you two? Mom and dad found out you guys are freaks and you two ran?" Henry asked.

### "well, Alice and I are from different families." Terrance said.

### "I got it recently and I've seen things. I was often bullied in school because of my inventions. Until one day I could release small sparks of lightning to make my toys work. I'm from New York actually. It was when my family moved here that I realized I could do this." Terrance added.

### This is the first time he's opened up to me and other people.

### "you never told me about your parents." I said.

### "well, they turned out to be Convicts too. The moment they realized I'm a Convict, they took a big fight to them. Took me to town but died along the way. That's why I came here."

### Terrance turns out to be a boy in so much hurt.

### I felt sorry for him.

### I now realized why he told me to leave my past behind.

### He wanted to prevent what happened to him to happen to me.

### Luke was totally not his plan.

### "what about Luke?" I asked.

### "Luke was not part of my plan. He was there during my parents death. I hacked into The Lab and discovered he was a ghost. I tried to get some Convicts to help me get answers, its darker than I imagined." he said with his head staring down at floor.

### I realized all I have thought about Terrance was wrong.

### All he wanted was answers.

### I said nothing, I might have teared up.

### I moved closer to him and gave him a huge hug.

### Holding him closely, resting my face on his shoulder.

### Embracing him.

### This kid, he's all he wants was a family.

### Hector:

### We gathered inside the Hardy.

### Cassie, Rudy and Tony stared right at me.

### "uh listen, this is our plan now, we get in, we find the one responsible and we come home." I said.

### "then what? You do realized that when you head over to town now, its gonna be a war zone there right?" Rudy said.

### "I've seen the news, those kids with powers there, they are crazy.

### The moment you step in there..." I stopped Rudy.

### "I know some one who can answer these questions." I turned to Tony,

### "Tony will hitch us a ride to the city and Cassie and I will deal with this person responsible.

### "just you two, no way man. I'm coming." Rudy stood up.

### "look, I don't want to get anyone hurt." I defended.

### "if we don't end this, then the kids will." Rudy said.

### "I'll join you." Tony said finally.

### I turned to Cassie. "don't look at me, you're the boss." she said.

### "well, I guess we're all going." I said.

### Jacob:

### I threw Dark Jacob off to the other end.

### He's more annoying than me!

### He never stops taunting.

"tell me one thing Jacob, why do you believe in God? He has put so much burden on your shoulders and you still believe in him?" he asked.

### "because I know who He was to me. Because He is real. He gave me this power for a reason." I said. Dark Jacob fired more sand blasts against me.

### I ducked some but to my surprise, one smacked against my face and sent me to the floor.

### I slammed face first against the floor.

### Dark Jacob threw another Sand blast to my face and threw a few punches. I landed down to the ground again looking up to him.

### Dark Jacob stared down at me.

"so, what do you say? Give in?" he asked.

### I looked up at him.

### Hoping he would stop.

### I thought about Aunt May and the people who still believed

### We can live in peace.

### Dark Jacob brought me up to kneel and asked me again.

"well? What do you say Jacob?" He asked.

### *Note: during pages like this where there is a blank space, its up to you to decide to what Jacob Brown does. Its your choice to make him decide. However, there is no right or wrong. But as you progress, you'll know the end results.*

### A. Finish Dark Jacob and be a hero.

### B. Join Dark Jacob and be a villain.

###  [____________________________________________________________]

### I responded.

### "so, you've decided. Huh. congratulations Jacob."

### Dark Jacob turned away from me and began to walk off.

### his figure began to disappear while he walks off.

### Dark Jacob turned back to me and grinned.

### I've made my choice. He knows it, I know it.

### That's all that mattered.

### I tested my powers out, I sanded my hands, the hands began to change into sand and this time begun to glow in orange color.

### Oh yeah, it's back!

### Alice:

### I hugged Terrance for a long time.

### Henry understood why.

### I know why.

### "what's that for?" Terrance asked.

### "nothing." I said.

### Henry looked outside the window and noticed a squad of Tsetse Flies.

### Flying towards us. They have wings now?

### They were not like the ones I've seen before.

### Their skins were pealing off, revealing a hard black endoskeleton

### With black wing bones on their back and the wing flaps in yellow.

### More aggressive than they were.

### "we got company. What are those things?" Henry asked.

### "I hope you have powers," I said. "we're in for a fight."

### "time to go!" Terrance fired the portal gun to the wall.

### BLAM!

### We ran in. Henry was in awe of a sudden gateway.

### "no time to explain," I said and pulled him in.

### We came in and opened the window.

### I pulled Henry and jumped up to the top.

### Terrance got to the top and fired again.

### I ran through the portal. Jacob followed behind, did he get his powers back? I thought.Terrance closed the portal.

### "Jacob?" Henry asked shocked to see him show up.

### "how the hell did you get here?"

### "long story." Jacob said.

### "hope you had your powers, we got company." Terrance said.

### "oh I have it alright." Jacob said with a smile.

### Jacob:

### I jumped off the hotel roof and landed on the next.

### Terrance an Alice followed after me,

### Leaping across the buildings, block by block.

### Alice used her light powers and leaped off slightly further from me to scout ahead.

### Terrance changed into The Detective and flew ahead.

### I watched as we went off to battle.

### Alice blasted a few Tsetse Flies with her blasting powers.

### "these are humans, careful. Don't hurt them."

### "how come they had wings?" Terrance asked

### Blasting a string of lightning against five to six Tsetse Flies

### While we get to a new location.

### Henry followed behind in his Alpha form.

### A large bear sized wolf running through the streets, with its brown coat.

### "your Uncle has powers?" she asked. "not exactly." I said.

### "he's a special person like us."

### "sick!" Terrance said in his Detective voice.

### I blasted some sand blasts against the Tsetse Flies incoming.

### Terrance attacked a few more on our right.

### "man, I'm feeling it!" Terrance is enjoying his moment of using his new powers for the first time.

### Alpha, grabbed a few that is on the ground and threw them to the cars.

### <these things are going to kill us!" Henry said.

### "on my way!" I said.

### I threw a few blasts at the Tsetse Flies

### Alice ran down to Henry and begun shooting the Tsetse Flies off.

### Seeing they need help. I called them to back off.

### "guys, get down!" I jumped high up to the air.

### PAK-KAH-SHA!

### and appeared high up in the sky.

### KAH-SHA! I turned back down and curl up into a cannon ball.

### Smiling. My body began to expand as I prepare for my drop.

### Sand bits began to appear from the side of me.

### I aimed my crash and slammed hard on the ground.

### That did it! I thought.

### I stood up from the rubles totally fine from the drop and walked to Alpha, The Detective, and Alice. "so, about our group name." I began.

21

The Mystery

### Before I write about this I want you to know that this is when we've all agreed to go together. The kids in Forks are now staying with Mrs Robertson for now until we come back. Cassie, Rudy and I are on a trip to Seattle now. This dialogue is the only dialogue here where I chronicle my conversation with a British man called Chester Benedict.

### Is he real? I don't know, I'll leave that to you.

### The man is way older than me.

### He wears a black lather coat and army pants and boots. His skin was fair and his hair was long towards his shoulder, dyed in red. It was around dawn, we were reaching Seattle, I couldn't sleep so, I went for a walk right outside of The Hardy. Thinking about my decision, that's when he showed up and joined me,

### Chester: Its a bloody good time to be alive! Eh?

### Hector: I didn't know Tony had guys on this ship.

### I'm assuming he is one of Tony's new guys.

### Chester: do you regret being out here?

### Hector: I don't.

### Chester: then why do I sense that you are?

### His tone changed into a more curious one.

### I could sense he is a Convict. His questions seem to sound like he knows me.

### Hector: are you a Convict?

### Chester: I don't like that name actually. Its used to describe criminals, both male and female. Not very pleasant.

### Hector: what can I say? We are after all, Convicts of the world.

### Chester: yeah but that was years ago. Its a new era now. Times changed.

### People are stepping up for us than being against us.

### Hector: what are you saying actually?

### Chester: see that is where I find fascinating. The lives of Convicts like

### Yourself have changed the world of what they think about us.

### They believed that some of us use our powers to save people than destroying them. You used to hate yourself for being a Dragonfly. Now, you are more than happy to use it.

### Hector: well, I can say that I used it if I need it. I mean I don't show it around now don't I.

### Chester: you are correct! The world believes in deeds than words.

### How odd is it that at this era, sometimes the sword is mightier than the pen. Such was a story back then in New York. I was once like you, a kid. We were having our summer break, I anted to fly back to London to meet my parents. You do get lonely at times.

### Anyway, I ran through the procedure and the moment I went through a test in a new system they installed, things changed.

### The moment I discovered I was a Horse Fly, metal manipulators. We're like Wolverine but we grow claws on almost everywhere.

### Some days I just wish I could give up and leave the world as it is. Stay hidden and forget this would ever happen, but even you knew it ain't that easy right?

### Hector: Yeah. Then what? What did you do?

### Chester: I was on the run, a generation has begun. People like me. Stronger, better and more powerful. New Convicts were still emerging. But the Lab acknowledges us. A lot of us have gone into hiding. Like I said, in the eyes of these people, we were just lab rats. The humans were still new to this.

### But I believed in peace. That's why I fought against the other Convicts.

### Me and this other guy,Takumi and a few others.

### We worked together, taking down forces one by one.

### From all sides.Convicts and Humans.

### We fought for occupying New York. For three months, New York has been a land of chaos. The Convicts grew and destroyed the city for their own selfish purposes. Homes destroyed, the city torn apart.

### You can't imagine how scared I was of death that time.

### Hector: I can actually. I never thought of being able to live this long.

### I had friends. I had allies. I can Imagine you having those since you mentioned them.

### Chester: Yeah, but...one of them switched sides.

### Some of us were captured and some of us carried on fighting.

### We never got far. But this is your chance.

### You know the truth about them.

### You've lived to tell the tale.

### You could change the way how humans and Convicts lived together.

### Hector: yeah if you count running away as being useful to save the Convicts.

### Chester: you didn't run mate. You found proof.

### Cassie Daniels is proof. You're proof. We make choices of our own to to create a difference in this world.

### Our time was not so lucky. We faced enemies that is one of our own, we changed some lives but those few lives grew to more lives and those lives expanded to many other lives.

### Hector: and did you live?

### Chester: lets just say, we were lucky.

### I was there when New York was hit from the Plague. I was one of those people who lived and fought through that time. You can say, I've seen things that you won't believe. No Lab back then and now, this is what it has come to. Humans are selfish beings.

### We on the other hand believed in doing good and using our powers to save lives.

### Hector: you said, the sword is mightier than the pen. What do you mean by that?

### Chester: someday, you'll write this conversation of our down and the world will see why. Why would a few kids, teens and even young men and women like yourself would defend this generation and fight for it.

### Hector: how did you know?

### Chester: because I saw it coming. Tell me Hector, do you believe in God?

### Hector: yeah but just because I follow religion that's all

### Chester: well you should take it seriously, what if I told you that Convicts have existed along with humans for a long time? See, humans believed that we Convicts are devils but we are not. We have been kept in the dark for a long time and its only recently that we've become known. Being a Convict to me means being a vessel for God to save and protect this world from the real evil out there.

### Hector: are you saying we are part of something bigger?

### Chester: yes. I believed in God. When I see my power, I see that I can change the world. To kill or to save. To protect or destroy. Not to force you to believe in God here but I want to tell you that we are given powers for a very important reason.

### Some of us use it for ourselves.

### Some of us will.

### Hector: you know I've been wanting to ask you. Why do we exist?

### Chester: you mean we Convicts? I have no idea mate. We just happened to emerge against the plague. The alpha species. But something huge is growing out there in Seattle, and you're part of it now.

### Hector: what are you really?

### Chester: that does not matter. What matters is you get Wednesday Johann and when you're done, a lot will be revealed.

### The sun begins to rise as the ship draws nearer to the shores of Seattle.

### Chester begins to slowly fade off.

### Chester: looks like its the end of the road for me. I got nothing left.

### I only hope that the next kid with powers can do better than how we've left it behind.

### Hector: is that what I should do?

### Chester: that depends on you. Your the Calvary, I'm just here to make sure that you are mate.

### Hector: one more question please sir.

### Chester: yes?

### Hector: are you real?

### Chester: that depends on you. Now you must go.

### You have a lot to do. Out on the streets of Seattle, look closely around.

### Find the marks and find me. Cheerio.

### He said waves with one of his arms raised up high.

### He walks to the deck of the boat and was never seen again.

### I'd like to believe he is real. I remembered what he said.

### I arrived to Seattle with a reason, to get answers and its answers that I will find. Maybe that's what Jake is talking about, things will change maybe better or worse, who knows?

### The morning wind began to blow pass The Hardy.

### Cassie woke up joining me a bit longer after Chester left, walking up in her yellow long sleeved pajamas. Rubbing her eyes. Calling me from behind.

### The bright orange sun rose.

### The bright orange light illuminated the skies, revealing the beautiful Space Needle in the distance.

### "hey Hector, who are you talking to?" she asked.

### "nothing but I just know, something has changed in this city." I answered. "cool." she said yawning, trying to stay awake.

### I grabbed Cassie by the shoulder and gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. She smiles and looks out to the city as we reached nearer to it.

### Things are going to change here.

### And it gonna be a big change.

### I went to my locker and changed into a worm green long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. I putted on a sleeveless leather vest and wore a pair of Nike shoes. I took the old Nokia phone out and called Melissa.

### It was an old Nokia 3600.

### "hey Melissa its me, do you mind if we meet up for a while? I said.

### Melissa agreed.

### We stopped at West Seattle and took a bus to where Melissa works.

### She came out from her office and met me at the nearby Starbucks around her office, wearing a black pencil skirt and a black blazer covering her yellow blouse. She sprints across the streets from the rain to the cafe with her high heels.

### "hey, so uh, what's up?" she said while sitting down.

### She ordered a latte and started taking a few sips and

### Turned her eyes at me.

### "is everything okay?" she asked.

### "nothing really," I replied.

### Her eyes began to grow curious. She stares at me with interest in her eyes.

### "so, why are you back here?" she asked.

### "to find Wednesday Johann." I replied.

### "I found a kid, she's like me. You might like her."

### Out behind us was a 16-year-old girl, dressed in a bright yellow hoodie jacket, black leggings and a bad pair of running shoes. Around her neck, is a green long scarf, washed and clean. She was sitting behind us all by herself. passing by her, you'll think its a he and he's a stalker but he is a she. She stood up from her spot and walked towards me and Melissa. It was Cassie.

### Cassie pulled her hoodie off and smiled at Melissa. Her face was shocked to find such a young Convict her age.

### Melissa turned to me, still shocked.

### "so how old are you?" Mel asked.

### "sixteen." Cassie replied.

### "oh, how did you become a..." she paused for a moment "you know."

### "Convict?" Cassie asked.

### "well, its kind of a sad story. I had a parent who worked for The Lab. My dad. When I showed I had powers, The Lab Hunters came. He took me away from home and trained me, more importantly, he taught me how to use it and then Sean appeared and killed my father in front of me. I and many of us whom we call ourselves as Saw Flies, wood manipulators to run but The Lab took us and brought me to an isolated island." Cassie joined us, sitting down, telling what she told me and what happened.

### Melissa sat quietly telling what The Lab does to them from the inside.

### "so, you want to take the chance to make them pay." Mel commented.

### "yes. The girls are in Forks, we are prove that can bring The Lab down." Cassie said.

### "its time they answer for what they've done to us."

### She added.

### For while I can see the leader side of Cassie burning inside.

### Something that she's kept inside her.

### "well here's the thing, you actually can." she said.

### Melissa works for the newspaper, she's like a damsel living with superheroes. I almost forgot to mention she works for the local newspaper.

### That's why she got so interested in me in the first place.

### Melissa also mentioned she is one of the editor who covered the recent stories of events that has been happening in Seattle lately.

### "recent events already won a debate team to believe in the Convicts but its still going," she paused and took another sip on her latte. Cassie drank Hot chocolate.

### "This is the best hot chocolate I've ever had." she said.

### "you never had hot chocolate before?" I asked.

### "well, I'm from a place where hot chocolate is part of life but this is gold!" she exclaimed.

### Melissa giggled for a bit.

### "tell, next time I'll bring you to somewhere better." she said.

### "so, back to the case." I said.

### "right, so uh. Things are looking up for Convicts."

### Mel pulled out a picture of a girl.

### The girl had black hair, green eyes and in a rounded sharp face. She was up close against the camera. Her hair has three chunks of hair dyed purple separately at the left, right and center.

### She appears to have a ball of purple light.

### She was smiling playfully.

### I gave a good look at the picture while Melissa explains her story.

### "she is one of the Convicts in the city. They call her Dazzle Girl, approximately eighteen. She looks a bit like you."

### My eyes tried to comprehend what I'm seeing.

### Melissa showed another picture of a young man, maybe around my age or younger. A full view of him in his sharp looking face, he wears a red beanie, wearing a orange checkered shirt and long black jeans.

### He also wore a black pocketed long sleeve jacket and a

### pair of black All Stars sneakers.

### "Jacob Brown. His name is all over the place. On his graffiti and loved by the public. Has the power of sand or something, they call him Sand Boy." Mel explained.

### "this Dazzle Girl." I thought out loud.

### "you know her?" Mel asked.

### Cassie peaked over and looked at the photo with me

### "oh wow, she's pretty. Like her hair!" she said and turned back to her hot chocolate. "yeah." I may have never seen her for a long time.

### But I never forget. All this time I thought she was just a normal kid, turns out to be just like me. What would mom and dad say?

### Did Sean came over to take her, so many questions.

### "hello?" Mel asked. "Hector who is she?"

### "she's my sister." I said.

22

The Mutation

### Alice:

### Let's just say we've been doing a lot for the last week alone but now, with Jacob Brown, we've made a name for ourselves.

### The Flyers.

### Jacob explains it originally as a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place or through the mail. Like postcards, pamphlets and small posters, flyers are a low-cost form of mass marketing or communication but what he meant was since we are categorized as a Sand flies, Butterflies, and Fireflies...

### Jacob has thought of creating a cool name that comes from the last word

### 'fly' hence, The Flyers.

### I believed in that name.

### We are doing good in this world.

### Saving lives, destroying bases from The Lab, driving them out.

### There was once when we attacked a Lab checkpoint that we discovered about what Jacob said about The Lab using Tsetse Flies.

### Now we really need to drive them out.

### Terrance has been checking on the Fox Trap.

### Turns out, its been activated by itself.

### How can a machine activate itself?

### We've been trying to scout out around Seattle to find out where The King and how The Fox Trap was activated. Terrance even mentioned it was a rouge experiment that was shut down a long time ago.

### "I still found nothing." Terrance said as we gather at his place.

### It appears to be slightly dusty than it was last time when it was clean.

### Terrance and I got out a lot to find the truth about The Fox trap. Again.

### "well be better get a lead or we won't be able to get Wednesday or find the one who tried to kill me." I said.

### "you already knew it was Luke right?" Terrance asked.

### "yeah but, I bet he works for someone else." I said.

### "the queen had a king, its time to find out who is the queen."

### No way a kid his age has all those toys.

### "I saw how you look at Jacob." Terrance suddenly.

### "what?" I asked.

### "oh no, I have NOTHING for that old school sandy, kindhearted..." I paused. What am I saying?

### This is no time for love!

### I got a king to find.

### Jacob:

### We've been busy, to be honest I never would have thought that Aunt May and the folks in The Church will live just to see me come home. Henry checked back home, everyone is okay but the shards are still in place. We need to remove them, and that needs Wednesday's concrete powers. We've been doing the same old thing, taking down a few Checkpoints and pasting our faces out there. We're close to Wednesday.

### Very close. She has no idea what's coming.

### As Flyers, we're stuck here.

### Kept away from our freedom.

### Hunted and locked away from from our family and friends.

### Those people captured by The Lab deserves freedom.

### They deserve to have their own lives.

### And we're gonna do that.

### Making ourselves known.

### I chose to respect Alice for asking me not to take her powers.

### Besides, its Wednesday's power that I want to go after.

### Her forces are growing even bigger by the minute.

### This is reaching its biggest point where Wednesday or Sean will burst, and I am waiting for that to happen.

### Hector:

### "this is reckless!" a voice yelled at my face.

### I cannot stand that. But I was happy today.

### "its clever!" I shot back.

### "the kids are more than capable to be one of us. We can teach them."A girl voice spoke "you are talking about conducting an underground operation to train underage teens and children to be part of an army." the man slammed his left palm on the table. "not to mention your risk of exposing yourself to the people of Seattle." He added.

### "what if people know about this?"

### I was mad. but, I was happy.

"they already know who I am, Rudy." I exclaimed.

### No way something this easy is going to bring me down.

### Rudy just stared down at the table and thought about the plan told him about. "come on Rudy, think about it. Just give me a few kids to help me with this. Even Cassie said yes. What's your say?" I asked Rudy.

"they are only kids, Hector!" Rudy replied. "come to your senses!"

### We're somewhere in a cafe.

### This cafe was very dim lighted. Red bricks stuck on each other. A dart range and a bar with a man with amazing cocktail skills behind it.

Another highlight of this place is that from the outside, it may look like a bar but its a cafe. "look, its my call." I said. "I'll take only one or two of the kids." Rudy sighed and just kept silent. Anger and disappointment under his eyes.

### "Cassie, tell this silly boy about his greatest mistake." he said.

### Cassie kept silent for a brief moment and spoke.

### "I agreed to this, the girls can handle it. We just need some back up Rudy. They won't be in any part of the attack but they will be our getaway. No one gets captured, no one gets hurt."

### knowing Cassie and talking her through what her girls will do.

### The plan is simple, we find the one responsible for The Lab and ask them to explain themselves and reveal the world about all that Cassie and I have been through.

### Easy.

### "if you don't want the kids to help, lets go meet these kids around the city. They can help. Right?" I asked.

### Cassie stared back at me "that feels better actually."

### "they are out there and they are ready. Better than the girls really."

### Rudy took a last sip of his bottle of Cola and turned to me.

### "okay, I'll help you look for the kids. Mel's info will make them easy to find." he said.

### "alright then," I said.

### I marched off to the entrance of the cafe and pushed open the door to the streets while Cassie caught up with me.

### Now its not the time to keep it low anymore.

### Now is the time to make our voices be heard.

### Cassie caught up against me and marched at my speed.

### "so, your looking for her right?" Cassie asked.

### "I'm pretty sure you already knew." I answered.

### "look, I'm coming with you no matter what." she replied.

### "you need someone to watch your back right?" she added.

### "why do you think I wanted you to come along?" I asked. A smile began to grow in Cassie's face. Assuring she is invited on this search.

### She doesn't usually smile.

### "I knew you had my back." I replied turning to her.

### Cassie turned to me with a wide smile on her face. Her child like self is always hiding and when it appears, it becomes a beautiful smile. She started chuckling a bit. Her face turned serious after.

### This is why I need people like her. She is worth it!

### Jacob:

### The trail went hot again.

### Our Scarlet Murderer is back.

### I couldn't wait for Alice and Terrance, plus this is police stuff.

### I took of to the streets,traveling by sand cloud around the streets and found myself looking at a bunch of Lab Hunter helicopters flying towards my way from the distance.

### Something is going on there.

### I moved higher and looked down at the helicopters heading straight to the city. They haven't found me. Good.

### I scanned around, checking for Tsetse Flies on the streets and the skies.

### No Tsetse Flies on the streets or the skies, too bad.

### Time to test this out.

### Hector:

### We walked, some days we just don't feel like revealing ourselves.

### Cassie and I talked through the plan to fin Jacob Brown, the kid in the red beanie and find Alice and the kid. Its daytime. The evening sun is just up there filling its last light on this slightly wet and dry city. The clouds were up and the air was heavy. Its actually a nice day.

### The moment when you strolled through the streets, the atmosphere just fills you in. But we had a job to do.

### We need to find Jacob Brown and my sister.

### We needed their help. I still can't comprehend the fact that Alice is a Convict. Her and these two kids. Was still hard to believe yet, that's what we need now. Maybe my parents changed their mind about Convicts. Maybe.

### Cassie stop walking and turned her head looking up,

### troubled at whatever is in the sky.

### "what is it?" I asked.

### "LAB CHOPPERS!" she screamed and turned to the ally and began to run. Five or around six armed helicopters flew towards us.

### Moving towards us.

### I pulled out my skate sword and took a huge leap to the

### Nearest helicopter and slashed it in half.

### Ever seen an animal sliced in half?

### That's what it looks like, all the parts and bit of helicopter bits in the helicopter cut open and in half.

### The pilots and the shooter jumped off the helicopter, thinking they should rather die than being killed by some freak.

### Cassie threw some wood bits to help her leap to reach for the pilots while I catch the shooter and threw him to the rooftop of a building,

### safe and sound.

### Jacob:

### I moved lower towards the battle filed was shocked to see a man on fire saving the pilot and the shooter since he slashed the helicopter down.

### I got closer to the scene and found a guy, dressed in a worm green long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans with a sleeveless leather vest and a pair of Nike shoes.

### On his hand, he holds a hybrid of long boards meets swords design.

### All silver and on fire. Green fire.

### He swung his sword to another helicopter, hitting another helicopter.

### A girl appeared, brown skinned, fairly younger than the man. She is dressed in a bright yellow hoodie jacket, black leggings and a bad pair of running shoes. Around her neck, is a green long scarf.

### She threw wood at the other helicopters. With her bare hands.

### This is new, I've never met someone like the girl before.

### Time to move in!

### Alice:

### After a minute or two, Terrance finally found the source to the Fox Trap. It might lead us to the King of the Glossy Worms.

### We took off to the nearby warehouse.

### Of at the Docks, so there was something there!

### I told myself that that first mission was not just a normal drug thing but it was more. These 'drugs' helped bring in the forces and the Glossy worm forces in to help The Lab. A discovery that was like a tumor to the city. Now, we're gonna cure it.

### And to do that, we find the source.

### "wait, so your telling me after all this time. The worms have secretly lived under our feet just at the docks?" I asked.

### We know that The Moth was just a child, and all this is happening from a long mystery behind Luke. He was still asleep the last time I saw him.

### "guess who he means by 'she' could be Wednesday since that's where The Fox Trap came from." Terrance confirmed.

### I told quite a few things about Luke to Terrance.

### He seems convinced that Luke and the King is with The Lab.

### That's why the city was fine.

### Most of the people around town has turned into Tsetse Flies.

### "so, what did the data said about Luke?" I asked bluntly.

### "there's no need for that. I knew him. That's all you need to know." he said. There was something that Terrance kept inside him.

### Something that he's kept from me. Terrance is a lot like The Detective, secretive. We found the same cargo ship that we took down a few days ago, the one The Detective and I took down.

### Burnt and destroyed.

### This is it!

### We climbed into the cargo ship and checked around.

### The ship floor was badly burnt, black stains all over the place.

### Bits and pieces of the ship fell, cargo containers opened up, burnt and destroyed. Giant chunks of metal became rusted and burnt.

### Some of them even rolled up from the heat.

### Terrance watched his every step as we crept through the ship to the control room.

### "this was where I saw him." Terrance said referring to Luke.

### "so, the mission in The Docks was not a normal drug cartel after all." I replied.

### "no, to be honest I've been following it up for a while. I just don't know why he was here." Terrance finally said."Luke is nothing but innocent. But The Queen is what made him evil." he recalled what he told me when we were outside at the hospital when Amanda was in the hospital.

### We walked nearer towards the door, creeping cautiously while the intense crackling and squeaking fills my ears in the silence that we are facing.

### The sun is almost down.the cracked opened windows of the ship shows little sunlight in here.

### Terrance reached and opened the door.

### The door nudged. Blocking our path.

### Terrance pushed harder. He pulled his Wand out preparing to unlock the door.

### I rose my hand and blasted the door open.

### WRRRRR~PEW!

### The door blasted open.

### "you're welcome." I said.

### Terrance walked in, observing the blasted door.

### "clean off.." he said to himself aloud.

### Terrance walked in.

### I lid up my powers to give us light.

### The control room was perfectly fine.

### I followed Terrance from behind.

### Terrance turned into the controls, it was dark.

### And to our surprise, we made a shocking discovery.

### Jacob:

### I threw a huge slam on the ground, turning the sand cloud to a sand rain. The sand rain dropped on the helicopter, crushing the bits and parts of the helicopter.

### The pilots and shooters jumped off their helicopters, screaming.

### I swooped over and grabbed them, all on a giant sand cloud.

### The pilots didn't panic, just scared. They crawled onto the cloud. Worried that they will fall.

### The guy fired a few more fire balls at the incoming helicopter.

### The girl reached for the top of a building with her wood powers.

### With a slam of her foot against the floor, a wood piece extended from the ground, lifting her up to the sky.

### Hector:

### Cassie did well, keeping the pilots from falling to their deaths.

### I quickly leaped to higher ground. Out from an incoming Lab truck, came running out a bunch of crazy running people. Their eyes in yellow. Covering their whole eye. Aggressive and dangerous.

### They started attacking the people in the streets.

### It was chaos!

### Some of the people defended themselves, others ran like mad men.

### "Jacob Brown right?" I asked out loud staring to the sand cloud swooping by. He landed right beside me. His quite sharp looking face.

### His eyes were brown and his hair was tucked in his red beanie.

### He is quite tall, he was wearing his orange checkered shirt and long black jeans.

### He wore a red beanie that had black ring figure in the front and a black pocketed long sleeve jacket.

### And a pair of black All Stars sneakers.

### It IS Jacob Brown.

### Jacob:

### This guy knows my name!

### How the hell does this guy know my name?

### I dispersed the sand cloud and dropped the pilots to the rooftop of the building. I wrapped them in a giant sand wrap and turned to the guy.

### "what's up?" I asked.

### The guy slid his skate sword onto his back and looked at me.

### "so, you're like me huh?" he said.

### "well almost." I said. "look, I don't know who you are but I can help. Trust me." I confirmed.

### "okay. Get us out of here."he said.

### I looked down and noticed a pack of Tsetse Flies charging around the pedestrian. Attacking the people.

### "follow me." I jumped off the building and faded off to the spot where the Tsetses are at and slammed against them.

### The guy, let's call him knight for now.

### Jumped down at ease and slammed the Tsetses on my right.

### Wood girl started attacking by throwing wood bits at the one of the Tsetse's face. Knocking the Glossy out.

### Knight looked in disgust as the worm squirmed out to the sewer.

### That's what makes a Tsetse. Glossy Worms.

### They are like one tiny Neon Green sausage with lines to show structure of their body. With a big black head on one end that opens its mouth and closes.

### "get ready!" I shouted.

### Alice:

### Terrance crept towards a functioning Fox Trap.

### Its chest opened, revealing its parts.

### "TERMINATE!" it said weakly..

### "how is the Fox Trap here?" I asked following Terrance.

### "must have been here when Luke destroyed it but why?" Terrance asked.

### "Luke sent the Fox Trap to my school. You know that right?" I asked.

### "yeah, I found out when I realized the Fox Trap back home began to release its final distress signal. The Fox Trap here has a slightly damaged metal human torso, its two eyes went missing and its speaker was revealed. its three horns has been broken.

### Its left arm Gatling gun was sliced off while its other arm is still intact.

### Its two spider like legs was chopped off. it rested in an awkward pose.

### Its fairly long retractable tail was spaghetti all over the place. Tangling it. It turned to Terrance and began to talk in its slightly high pitched voice."CODE NAME DETECTIVE, TERRANCE JONES." it said.

### "hello." Terrance said politely.

### "VOCABULARY LIMITED....SYSTEM MALFUNCTIONING...."

### The Fox Trap began to move.

### "REQUEST, REQUEST... ASSIST...ASSIST." It screamed.

### "request denied." Terrance said coldly.

### I've never seen him like this.

### "REQUEST ASSISTANCE....SYSTEMS MALFUNCTIONING...."

### The Fox Trap kept rambling about it.

### Its damaged really bad.

### "we should help it." I said.

### "are you crazy?" Terrance asked. "this thing kills us!"

### "UNARMED, UNARMED..." The Fox Trap said.

### Out from the Fox Trap's opened torso, crawled a , yellow slime flowed out from the torso.

### A Glossy Worm!

### "you've have got to be kidding me!" I said.

### Terrance took his Wand out and scanned the Fox Trap.

### The Wand began to give out a strange pattern of lights changing repeatedly on its rings.

### "organic metal." he said.

### "what?" I asked.

### "the armor is part of its anatomy." he explained.

### "okay then what should we do?" I asked.

### "we do what you asked, we help it." he replied.

### Hector:

### Jacob Brown leaped and kicked the Tsetse Flies.

### Cassie fired several wood blocks at the incoming Tsetse Flies.

### I slashed a group of these strange people off and launched off to my skate sword.

### Cassie grabbed on after taking out another guy.

### Jacob Brown transformed into a huge pile of floating sand and rose to the top of the sky.

### The creatures started to sprout fly like wings, they soared up and flew to Jacob Brown. Swarming the Sand Cloud.

### More of these creatures appeared, through the other Lab Trucks that were storming by.

### I turned the board around circulating the cloud, expanding as the creatures grew.

### "we gotta help him." Cassie exclaimed.

### She jumped off the board and projected wood ahead of her like platforms to get closer.

### I shot a few fireballs at the incoming creatures and turned back at the sand cloud and fired at the swarm crawling

### Jacob Brown gave a huge blast of sand against the forces and barraged out towards me.

### Cassie followed jumping onto the cloud. More choppers followed. Jacob accelerated his cloud while I accelerated my board out.

### "that was too close!" Cassie exclaimed.

### "so where to Jacob Brown?" I asked.

### "I know a place." Jacob replied.

### Alice:

### We took the damaged Fox Trap back to Terrance's house and placed the Glossy into the other Fox Trap.

### Before we did that, Terrance disengaged the weapons and reprogrammed the Fox Trap for friendly uses and opened the torso and slid the Glossy in.

### The Fox trap glowed and began moving.

### Its head turned.

### The Fox Trap began to speak regularly in a Swedish accent.

### "many thanks, Convict." it said coldly.

### "I added more speeches while trying to figure out about this one." Terrance explained.

### "cool" I said quickly. I turned back on the Fox Trap.

### "who are you?" I asked.

### I don't trust Glossy worms, they are sly and filthy.

### Yet, here I am talking to one.

### "why are you in the Docks, Glossy?" Terrance asked.

### "Luke, the Queen of the Swarm warned me of a changing." he said.

### "what changing?" Terrance asked.

### "the change for the city, Seattle is going to change. A storm is coming. A Convict named Wednesday Johann is going to infect the city." It said. The Fox Trap began to move more.

### "Glossy worms survived living in humans. Infecting them. But now, we had a far more elegant solution. Some humans are more stronger than others. We are evolving. The mutations have given humans the wings we need. Our human swarm is growing."

### "so?" Terrance asked.

### "We see into your souls Convict. You've been our enemy since the day you've become a Convict and the time has come for us to rise. Wednesday Johann is on the move." The Fox Trap began raise its Gatling gun up.

### "and what do you see?" I asked.

### "We see beauty, wonder, anger and hatred. Wednesday is our agent for change. The Swarm has decided to work for the real Queen. A queen with an ambition."

### "we took your Queen." Terrance said coldly.

### "We know, at a great cost as well. Luke was running an operation with the Queen to kill Wednesday out of jealousy. She secretly hacked into the Lab Files. What she discovered was stunning. The Lab has contained all species of Convicts and even lost information about ourselves as well. Two Convict test subjects were given an opportunity to be, stronger! Herself and another who was loyal to her. I am Esplin, royal scientist of the court of The Swarm, a loyal ally to The Queen, Theta of The Swarm." this guy, is a scientist.

### "what info did you find?" I demanded. Luke was innocent after all. To be used like this, its inhuman.

### "The Queen discovered that having Convict host is an astounding discovery. Our ability to use their powers is fascinating. However, at a cost like how it is with some humans, they will rebel but Luke was successful, until you forced the Queen out. So, we found a new solution."

### "what solution?" I asked.

### "You are witnessing it right now. We learned to use artificial intelligence merging with organic matters. it has no conscience. Therefore, it is far easier to control. I am the first ever Glossy Fox Trap and so far it is doing well."

### "and how did you know about the Fox Traps?" Terrance asked.

"The Fox Traps is an extremely confidential operation created by the inventors of The Lab. Using biological engineering, they've created the perfect weapon. What they lack is independent intelligence to power them so we've helped them. The King and Wednesday build an empire of total control." the Fox Trap turned to me.

### "face it Convict, you've lost."

### I was mad I grabbed the Fox Trap by the head and prepared to fire.

### "Wait!" Terrance said.

### I stopped and lowered my hand.

### "as I was saying." The Fox Trap turned to Terrance.

### "we want to assist." it said.

### "you have got to be kidding me?" I said.

### "yes, it would be hard to believe, but on the day of Wednesday's fall. I urge you to remember who the real enemy is." It said.

### Terrance stood up and looked out.

### "uh, we got a problem." Terrance said.

### Lab Choppers showed up on the doorstep and beamed its light through the window. The Fox Trap's eyes began to blink.

### "I'm afraid I've been stalling. Some of my forces from The Lab has to destroy me because now is the time, this is what you should know." Terrance grabbed me by the arm and transformed into The Detective.

### "we are all going to war." it its final words. The Lab Choppers began to fire. Destroying Terrance's room.

### We got to the walk way. Terrance pulled me to the kitchen window and ran off into the darkness as the Choppers fired even more.

### Obliterating the place to rubble.

23

The Reunion

### Hector:

### Jacob Brown leaded us to a place called The Clockwork Hotel.

### We landed on the rooftop.

### Jacob made a phone call and turned back to us.

### "so.." Jacob started.

### "what's your name?" he asked.

### "Hector Dagger, this is Cassie Daniels." I replied.

### "so why were they after you?" Jacob asked.

### "beats me. We actually need your help."I said.

### "well, what do you need?" he asked.

### "your help." I replied.

### Alice:

### Terrance and I somehow survived that attack and ran off back to Clockwork Hotel. The sky became dark.

### The neon signs began to light up.

### The city changed into another world.

### A world of lights. Neon lights.

### We got into the Hotel and went to Henry's room.

### Terrance hit the door while I looked around, keeping an eye out for any Lab Hunters.

### Henry opened the door and peaked one side of his face out and yawned.

### "this better be good..." he said.

### "we need a place to crash," Terrance said.

### "someone's after us." I added.

### "alright come on." Henry opened the door and moved to the side letting us in. We don't even know where to start.

### The fact that we just discovered that we were not the only ones fighting gives us the moment of confusion.

### If whatever Esplin said is true, have we been fighting his forces all along? Have we been helping? So many questions, I looked back at Terrance.

### My face reads "what do we do now?"

### "we tell them everything." Terrance said in thought speak.

### "so, what are you two doing here?" Henry asked sitting on the chair with Terrance while I curled up on the bed.

### "we have a problem." Terrance began.

### "we've been fighting on the wrong side." I said quickly.

### "we found out about something." Terrance added.

### "well you gotta talk later." Henry said turning to his phone.

### "Jacob's got someone you need to see."

### Terrance pulled his Portal Revolver out and fired at the wall.

### Henry ran towards the portal and began running.

### Terrance followed behind and took another shot.

### I followed from behind.

### We got to the roof. Looking at Jacob in the face.

### He was staring at me.

### "where have you been?" he asked.

### "busy listen, there's-" before I could finish my sentence, I noticed a girl standing beside him. Probably around Terrance's age. The sky was dark but the lights showed the features. She is brown skinned. She wore a bright yellow hoodie jacket, black leggings and a bad pair of running shoes. Around her neck, is a green long scarf.

### Her face displayed a sweet child like smile.

### She turned to Terrance and took a deep breath.

### "about time." she said.

### "should I know you?" Terrance asked.

### "no, but you're all over the news. Kinda hard not to recognize." she replied. "hi, I'm Cassie Daniels."

### "Terrance Jones." Terrance replied.

### Beside Cassie was another man. Older than Jacob.

### A fair skinned guy, dressed in a worm green long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans with a sleeveless leather vest and a pair of Nike shoes. His face was sharped faced. He had short black hair and a pair of green eyes.

### On his back, is a hybrid of a long board with a sword handle fully made of metal with black wheels.

### "hello Alice." he said.

### Him, its him!

### The one I've been dreaming about.

### The one I think about.

### My first reaction was to hug him really hard.

### "Hector?" I asked.

### That name slipped out.

### He moved towards me and gave me a hug.

### "its been long sis." he said.

### "where have you been?" I asked.

### "kind of a long story." he explained.

### "you never told me you had a brother." Jacob said.

### "I thought he was in some school." I answered.

### "school?" Hector asked.

### Cassie looked down and noticed something running its way towards the Clockwork Hotel. Henry pulled Jacob by the arm and began to run off.

### "Lab Hunters!" he screamed.

### "move!" Hector said, pulling my arm and leaped off to the other end of the building.

### Jacob:

### "Run!" Hector cried.

### We dispersed. Cassie and Terrance followed me while Henry, Alice and Hector moved over to the other end.

### Terrance changed into the Detective and fired bolts of lightning to the swarming towards us. I pulled Cassie to a huge piece of rubble.

### Terrance followed after.

### Huge rubles fell and crashed the tiny ally we hid in.

### I quickly created a huge pile of sand above us.

### Cassie added by toasting a huge chunk of wood against the other Tsetse Flies coming from the other direction.

### "what are those things?" Cassie asked.

### "Tsetse Flies. They want you, They want your brain. Any questions?" Terrance said dryly.

### "uh...a little cold there." I bluntly.

### Terrance got back up and fired another bolt of lightning.

### "can you fight?" Terrance asked ducking from the overwhelming acid shots.

### I faded off to the front line of the rubble and kicked a Tsetse in the head.

### Terrance fired a few more lightning shots, knocking out a few more Tsetse flies. "come on Cassie!"

### Terrance called. Her face was full of fear but she was determined.

### "can I fight?" she asked. "let me show you!"

### Cassie stomped hard against the ground and leaped in mid air.

### A huge chunk of wood sprang to life.

### Extending to Cassie and moved over Terrance followed by me.

### Cassie launched another chunk of wood ahead of her.

### The wood followed her moves.

### Turning where she's turning.

### Cassie fired another chunk of wood and jumped off the one she was standing on.

### The wood chunks hit a small group of Tsetse Flies.

### The other piece landed on the edge of the ally. Blocking the way.

### She turned back towards us.

### Her scarf opened, flowing out.

### "let's go!"

### Hector:

### Alice and this old man who followed us changed into a giant brown wolf.

### A giant bear sized dark brown wolf, growling. On the side of its back left leg is a red mark of an arrow. The wolf growled harder and began to howl. It crouched, prepared to pounce.

### "HENRY!" Alice screamed.

### The wolf turned to the incoming swarm of creatures and rushed towards it. Headbanging an incoming Lab Hunter.

### Alice got off my arms and fired a few beams of purple light.

### The wolf followed as Alice turned and began to run.

### I took my sword out and slashed a few of the incoming Lab Hunter.

### Out far away from the direction we were running away from, I saw Sean. Slightly older and armed to kill.

### "NO ONE LEAVES!" he screamed.

### "come on Hector!" Alice called.

### We ran pass the street to the next ally.

### Henry ran ahead of us and smashed the dumpsters blocking the way.

### Alice began to speed up.

### I followed.

### Henry stopped ahead of us waiting for the both of us.

### With his jaw, Henry grabbed Alice on her costume and pulled her to his back. Alice grabbed tightly while Henry grabbed me and placed me on his back after.

### "hang on!" Alice said.

### Henry sprang and ran past the ally and out to the next street.  
Henry's speed was fast. The moment I could catch what was going on, I noticed we were already out on the other end of the second ally.

### Sean launched himself from above us and made an attempt to strike.

### Henry dashed across the next street, making him miss.  
Jacob, Cassie and Terrance followed behind, riding on a sand cloud.

### Cassie threw chunks of wood at an incoming flying human creature.

### "what are these things?" I asked.

### "Tsetse Flies," Alice explained.

### "they are creatures mutated from Glossy worms. They are Convicts like us but they are uncontrollable."

### "Technically, they want your brain." Terrance added dryly.

### "oh great!" I said.

### Terrance turned and fired more shots of lightning against the raging Lab Hunters, running towards us on the right.

### Alice:

### "okay. Good." Jacob said.

### He turned back looking. "I think we've lost them."

### "uh-huh" Terrance stared right at me across the sand cloud.

### "one giant sand cloud, five Convicts, one mean brown bear wolf and a swarm of Lab Hunters and Tsetse Flies swarming after us. Not to mention, Lab Choppers tailing us from above that can just kill us with a shot. We are not safe, Jacob. We're dead."

### "things sure changed a lot here." Hector added.

### "listen, we got to get to safety!" I said.

### "yeah, that's well under way." Jacob said.

### "any bright ideas?"

### Hector pulled his hybrid of skateboards and swords out and held the handle with both arms.

### "I hate to ruin your talk here guys, but Lab Hunters straight ahead!"

### I released my hands off Henry's brown fur and jumped off him, I quickly sprinted up to the wall to the edge of the wall and leaped to a Lab Hunter jeep. I knocked the rest and the driver out. I quickly squirmed to get to the drivers seat. Pushing my way through the bodies to get over. Alpha charged against a Lab Hunter and threw it off to a nearby car driving by on the next street.

### Hector launched himself off and hovered to the next side of the street.

### Which is another building.

### Jacob, Cassie and Terrance leaped off the sand cloud and landed across the street.

### We're in the middle of a town center!

### I took over the wheel and stepped hard on the breaks but the jeep lost control, its heading into a disc shop window!

### I made a run for it and leaped out in time to safety while the jeep crashed and destroyed the disc racks.

### People began screaming and running to safety as the Lab Choppers and jeeps moved towards the scene of five youngsters and a giant brown wolf stands at the middle of the road as they run for the park.

### "great, just what we need! An audience!" Terrance said.

### Jacob walked pass me while I tried to catch my breath.

### "get out of here!" he said.

### "what?" I asked.

### Jacob:

### I started to gather huge piles of sand and begin to change.

### My left arm morphed into sand and began to expand.

### I began to grow in height and size,

### Hector launched up towards my giant head, hovering on my left staring down at the swarming Tsetse Flies and Lab Choppers and Jeeps.

### I turned back and noticed Alpha grabbing Terrance and Cassie to his back and began to run.

### Alice ran up to right shoulder.

### I was maybe taller than the Space Needle.

### Piles of sand extended my height.

### "you sure as hell ain't gonna do this alone." she said.

### "I am done running!" Hector said on the left.

### "oh hell yeah!" I said in my deep muffled voice.

### Hector:

### The Lab Choppers began to fire at the giant sand figure while Alice ran back down to the streets and began to grab the people to safety.

### I threw a few fireballs at the swarming Lab Choppers hovering this way.

### Jacob slammed his right arm at the ground full of Tsetse Flies.

### From the top of a Lab Chopper. A familiar figure leaped off and extended its arm to a nearby building and swung its way towards me.

### That's Sean!

### Sean extended his other arm and took a final swing towards me. I moved towards Sean and fired a fire ball at him.

### Sean dodged the fireball and opened his left arm into a giant metal blade. I pulled my skate sword off and cling my sword onto his blade.

### "hey Sean!" I grunted.

### Pushing my sword against his blade.

### "glad to see you've grown, Hector!" he smirked.

### Jacob's right arm swatted where we were, I dodged putting my sword down and hovered below his sandy arm.

### Sean got smacked hard on the palm, stuck on the palm.

### Jacob reached for Sean.

### "Sean!" Jacob growled in his deep muffled voice.

### Sean sprang to life, turning his other arm into a blade and began slicing the arm.

### The giant sand monster growled.

### Alice sprinted back up to the sand giant and engaged Sean.

### Strings of purple light appeared, circling the chest, the arms and the back as Sean and Alice brawled toe to toe with speed and maneuvers.

### I hovered closer and fired directly at him.

### Jacob bursted out from the chest of the sand giant as it begins to lose its balance and crumbles to the ground.

### "Hey!" Jacob screamed, leaping out towards Sean.

### Jacob:

### I leaped out from my giant sand form and clutched my fist.

### I aimed my fist at Sean.

### Sean was a fairly young man. Probably around his 30-s. He was wearing a long black leather coat. Inside his coat was zipped up to his neck, he also wore a pair of black leather pants. His image was clearly shown compared than last time. But the smell of someone who works for Wednesday is hard to miss.

### His eyes were intimidating.

### His hair is hot red. His skin is quite fair. I couldn't recognize him but when Hector mentioned his name, that made me wanted to jump out and hit him hard.

### Sean's other arm began to melt. Turning into liquid metal and changed into hand cannon.

### The hole began to emerge and formed a huge black ball inside.

### He turned towards me and grinned.

### The cannon released the black ball, flying towards me.

### The cannon ball flew fast, I dodged pass the ball and sanded my right arm. While I passed by the ball, I turned and grabbed the ball.

### The sand wrapped around the ball, holding it off from coming out.

### I gave a big twist and threw the ball back to Sean.

### Sean changed his other arm into a metal shield and pushed the ball off.

### I faded pass Sean and reappeared to give him a punch.

### I threw my fist against Sean's hard skinned face.

### Sean looked at me, not a blink, just a fearless stare.

### "not, funny!" he said. Hector burnt his sword and pushed himself away from Sean. Out from behind, a red blur passed by.

### Is that what I think it is?

### Its the Scarlet murderer!

### I wasn't accustomed to see a giant, man sized red blur in the city.

### But from the looks of it, it looked like it knew who Sean was.

### Small metal shards flew out like bullets from this red blur.

### Some of the shards, landed on the sand giant while others were blocked off by Sean. Sean broke free from us and went after the red blur.

### The fight was too fast. Two of these figures moved at top speeds, catching up to one another, clashing and clinging.

### I moved in to the fight, using all my focus to lay my hands on either one of them. Hector and Alice turned their focus on the incoming Lab Hunters and began to fight back.

### I hesitated and blasted a giant pile of sand against Sean knocking him down. Sean became unconscious, falling to the ground 50 feet above the ground. The sand giant's arms fell off as I controlled and turned it into a huge sand cloud. The rest of the sand began to subside slowly, sinking back to the ground.

### I reached for Sean and grabbed him by his arm.

### That same feeling again.

### That feeling I had when I touched James.

### My head started turning stiff.

### My body felt like its got a big shock.

### the images got clear and I even more images began to show up.

### Okay Sean, tell me what do you know? I thought.

### Sean's voice over began to talk.

### "Wednesday and I used to be best friends with this one friend.

### Until we discovered were Convicts..." he began.

### An image of three friends in the sunset began to appear.

### Must be Wednesday, the friend and Sean, I thought.

### The other third figure began to walk off.

### The image split in half, revealing the third figure

### "We were were different and the people were afraid of us. City after city, we ran and ran. Seeing Convicts tear the world apart four US to live. At first we excited to hear the Battle of New York ended but we realized it was the humans that won the war. The Convicts were driven out, killed. We were led to believe that we are monsters, we didn't know what to do. We wanted to do some good so my sister and I joined The Lab. This one friend ours never approved. He left us ad we never saw her again."

### Sean's voice changed.

### "we were gods, we were keeping more and more Convicts in to stop another incident in New York to ever happen. After all the fear, we finally did some good to this world."

### I saw an image of a Convict, begging to in front of Wednesday.

### "but that night, that one night...I knew I had to take precautions. I knew she's no longer my sister." The image turned as Wednesday kills the Convict. Blood spilled all over as the Convict stared in wide eyed horror.

### Through this vision, I realized Wednesday never wanted to do good, all she ever wanted was to even the competition, killing those who are useless and use the ones kept to be framed for murder. Leaving Convicts lose, to grow the hate. Making us the villains. "All she ever wanted is to be famous. Well I'll say I'm done." he cried.

### An image of Sean appeared as he fights with Wednesday.

### "I'm the one thing that can stop her. So I build a clan of rebels under her nose." the image of Sean looking out and a few figures rising from behind showed up. "we are growing and we will still grow, we will show the Convicts and my sister whose the real King here!"

### The image began to fade out, I fainted right beside Sean.

### I lost my grip on him.

### My body was stiff.

### I was Falling....

### Alice:

### Hector hovered up to Jacob and caught him.

### He turned over to me and placed Jacob onto the building roof I was on.

### "I'm okay," he said trying to get up.

### "what happened to you?" I asked.

### "I got Sean's power." he replied.

### Hector:

### My eyes widen when I hear Jacob saying he had Sean's power.

### "let's bail." I said.

### "come on, Jacob." Alice agreed.

### Sean scrambled to get a hold of a Lab Chopper and swung his way towards the buildings.

### I hovered my board, catching up to Alice.

### Sean chased me, throwing metal shards against me.

### I dodged and fired a few fireballs to hit the shards out.

### Sean ran, changing his arms into blades.

### I unleashed a huge flaming fireball above my head and threw it against Sean and speeded up.

### Sean used his blade arms and sliced pass the fireball.

### he began to run faster and faster.

### My shots became effortless as it misses badly.

### I pulled the board off and began to run into roof entrance and hid inside. I closed the door behind me.

### Sean was outside.

### "come out Convict! We've been long patient with you guys wrecking the systems!" he screamed.

### "its time to come in."

### Not on your life, I thought.

### The sound of choppers began to fill the roof.

### "what the hell you want?" Sean's voice asked.

### His tone was anxious.

### "get the two Convict kids off the wolf and make sure they stay dead this time. I got one here." Without a thought, I bursted out against Sean.

### I slashed my skate sword on him restlessly.

### Some slashes, he dodged, some slashes hit him.

### I lid the skate sword and threw it at him again.

### The flames danced on top of the metal as I sway it around.

### Sean lost his balance as I slice him into submission.

### "oh yeah, give me more, show me what are you made off Hector!"

### He yelled. I threw a few more slashes.

### His suit began to peal.

### I started to lose my strength.

### My body began to grow tired.

### "see Hector? There is no way you can win. Wednesday's got a place for you all. To stay, why are you out here anyway?" he taunted

### I got back up, using all my strength.

### Sean turned back, noticing the Red blur attacking him.

### Good time to bail!

### I pull my skate out and launched off.

### Alice:

### We retreated.

### The fight was too much for us.

### Jacob's face was wrapped with loads of thought.

### His mind was clouded. He was not himself.

### His powers seemed to be missing, for a while.

### Seconds after, he began to show signs of changing his arm into metal.

### I was shocked. I thought he was a Sand boy...

### "everything okay?" I asked.

### "no. Things changed." Jacob replied.

### By mean of physically, yeah I get it but he also meant this whole thing.

### We had nowhere to go.

### For now, everyone just wanted to lay low and just hide.

### The Hotel and Terrance's house, gone.

### For once, I lost that sense of hope in me.

### But when I see Jacob, I felt something.

### Something wired yet better that how I used to feel for Andrew Waller.

### Jacob made me feel kind of, empowered yet feeling all of that romance thing for him.

### What do they call it again?

### Love? Yeah, this is it!

### I gotta snap out of this love fest!

### "I know a place. But we gotta find Cassie, Henry and Terrance." Hector said.

### Hector:

### We caught up with Henry and the rest.

### Traveled to West Seattle, the town is awfully quiet considering so much has happened.

### Alice and Jacob followed me to The Hardy and sat there quietly in the discussion room.

### Jacob seems to have a lot to say.

### I sat beside Alice while Rudy and Tony joined in talking to Jacob.

### They were asking him about his powers and all but I was still surprised how Alice is still a Convict like me.

### "how's mom and dad?" I whispered.

### "where have you been all this time?" Alice asked.

### "mom said you're in some special school or something."

### "that's what mom said." I scoffed at the fact that my parents lied to my sister about me being a Convict.

### "I was in The Lab." I said. "you remember that fire years ago during summer?"

### "yeah."

### "that was on me." I said.

### "these guys, they experiment things on us and make us feel sick. I had to get out so that's why I'm here."

### Alice took a moment to reflect what just happened.

### "so..." she began.

### "you were in prison this whole time?"

### "yeah." I replied. I didn't need to lie, its time she knew.

### That her own brother is a Convict.

### This world we live in is no longer simple anymore.

### Its a world full of back danger. Either way, she is part of this now.

### "mom and dad know about this?" she asked.

### "no, Alice this world is no longer the world you know." I said.

### "its full of danger, adventure, the people you love will get hurt."

### Alice kept silent, "yeah, I know that." she replied.

### "ever since I became a Butterfly, a lot of people got hurt. Terrance was my only ally."

### Alice and I hugged for a while.

### She tried not to cry.

### This reunion felt great despite of all that has happened.

### "dyed your hair?" I asked whispering in her ear.

### She tried not to laugh but replied joyfully

### "I like color."

24

The Decision

### Jacob:

### I was still trying to understand how come when Sean's mind says he is not for Wednesday turns out to be working for Wednesday.

### Did he changed his mind or something?

### I have no idea. But I know one thing.

### We have to do something. And we need it fast.

### Cassie and Terrance joined in with Henry.

### "so what now?" I asked.

### "listen guys, we are all on the same team here, we want to take down The Lab and so do I," Hector began.

### "wait, who put you in charge?" Terrance asked.

### "it dosen't matter! Listen, what matters is we put an end to this. Wednesday Johann has to go." I said.

### "yeah, and we know how." Terrance said.

### Alice:

### "we have our ultimate weapon." Terrance reported to the others when we were all safely assembled at a ship called The Hardy.

### A blue and yellow metal ship.

### there are three layers at the stern of the ship.

### It had the word "HARDY" painted on the left front of the free board.

### The owner of the ship was Tony Hardy. One of Hector's friends.

### "what did you find?" Jacob asked.

### "a solution." Terrance answered.

### "there are Glossy worms among us who believed in peace. They have discovered a new way to end this war. To finally finish this. They believed in using machines to let them have the same effect, like how they tried on humans."

### "this changes everything," I added.

### "we have forces that is fighting for us. We call them The Fox Traps. Convict terminators. They are some of the rouge Lab experiments and The Glossy Worms had access to it. The learn how to power it and they offered to help us and they will help us."

### The Fox Trap.

### I remembered them so well,

### One invaded my school but just a few moments ago, Terrence and I found out about a resistance army.

### As crazy as it may sound, we need to take it.

### Its our only chance to even the odds.

### "cool, they want to help us. Great." Cassie said.

### "so what's the plan?"

### "what makes you think you can trust them?" a guy named Rudy asked.

### "he's right Alice." Hector added.

### "what makes you so sure?"

### "because its Sean's plan." Jacob said.

### "I touched Sean and discovered his plan. Look, I know this might sound crazy but I'm with her on this. I've seen it."

### "we still need a plan." Terrance said.

### "if we don't do this, the city will be infected by these worms."

### Hector stood.

### "let's put things together here."he said.

### "what Cassie and I and the guys discovered is that The Lab is all over the place. They want control over this city and once this becomes one hundred percent, they'll move on to the next town." Jacob stood after he finished. "Wednesday has to go, she took out an entire town when I had my powers. That's why I'm going after her, I need her power."

### Jacob raised his arms. His arm began to morph. Changing into metal and into a blade. Yellow markings of light flowed all over the patterns on the metal. "I felt him, I don't know how to describe it but its just there. Sean hated his sister and wants to take her down. When will it happen, I have no idea so we gotta start making plans of our own. I had a town to safe but I also want to save the city. Its time we show them that The Flyers and humans can live in peace."

### Rudy turned to Jacob, Curious. Hector and Cassie too.

### "okay, what's the plan?" Rudy asked.

### "our plan?" Jacob clapped his palms together and rubbed it together.

### "we unite and we strike."

### Hector looked up to me.

### "so what do these Glossy worms want?" he asked.

### "humans." Terrance answered. The only cold sentence he's said all night. Terrance stood. Reluctantly. But he stood.

"as long as the swarm still exist, we can't trust anyone. We might be the only ones left. These Glossy worms already showed signs of mutation. They are getting wings and they are growing fast. But here we are, using our only chance to save the world. Risky but it might be the only way to even the odds."

### The rest kept silent as everyone wraps their minds on what's going on.

### The guy named Tony was the most silent of all the others.

### He was quiet, he was observing.

### "Tony?" Hector asked.

### Tony shakes his head and turns back to mind his own business.

### For once, we were undecided.

### Five convicts, one old man and two humans on a ship parked at the port of West Seattle. I felt the chill up my spine as I scanned around for someone to start talking.

### Hector:

### My lips went tight. This is not my kind of meet up.

### I don't do talks like this but we had no choice.

### I felt like I've been punch in the gut with all this pressure.

### If I'd lose it, we all might lose it.

If only its as easy as Jake said, "leave for the town."

### but I came back.

### I wanted to and I needed to.

### I saw Alice looking at me, Cassie, Henry, Rudy, Terrance, Jacob and even Tony bothered to look up to see my reaction.

### I rose my voice in a gentle but firm tone.

### No time to show weakness here.

### "look." I went on. "we've got a team here and I see that we are all scared to death about being dead, we all had agendas against The Lab.

### Alice knows about their secret rebel army, Jacob wants to save his town, I want them to be responsible for their actions...But this comes down to what our next move here. We need a leader. Someone who we can deal with all this that is going on."

### "so that's it huh?" Rudy asked.

### "we're stuck like this, undecided."

### Rudy is right here. We are stuck. We had no options. Today was just Sean, tomorrow might be Wednesday.

### We could run into Lab Hunters tomorrow or even those wired creatures, The Tsetse Flies could just swarm in and kill even infect us.

### Alice knows them better, so does Terrance.

### I took a deep breath and said what I will regret saying.

### "we go save the Fox Traps." I said.

### "Its our only chance. Its the only way.

### Trust them or not, to hell with it. We got a chance here, I'll say we take it."

### "are you nuts?" Rudy exploded.

### "yeah, maybe I am." I admitted.

### Based on the facts alone, this is our only option.

### We can't wait for more Convicts to pop up. The process would be too slow. "but I trust my sister." I defended. "she knows these things and knows them well, if what she says is true. We take the chance and ask them for help."

### Tony started to turn on his phone with the radio on loudspeaker.

### The radio was very sketchy but we could hear it all.

### The announcer, a voice of a male began to speak:

### "we interrupt this program to bring you a message from The Lab, defenders of Seattle." more like a good for nothing group.

### A deep female voice followed, just like the one I heard in The Lab.

### Wednesday... I thought.

### "allow us to demonstrate what happens to those who betray me."

### Sean was screaming from the back as an eerie sound of something slimming into his ear.

### A Glossy worm!

### Alice gasped. Terrance's face became tense.

### We all listen closely as the slipping sound faded.

### "recently these Convicts destroyed one of our labs, freeing more of these monsters among us. They need to be stopped. Join the Lab! Join the Force!"

### The radio changed into a song from Justin Timberlake.

### "ticktock. Ticktock." Tony said.

### "we're wasting time here!" Terrance said.

### "okay, we really need to do this." I said.

### Screw the moral compass!

### We need a solution here.

### Alice raised his hand, followed by Terrance, then Cassie. Tony, Rudy, Jacob and Henry didn't raise their hands.

### "what the hell?!" Henry said and raised his hand.

### Tony nodded. Meaning he is in agreement.

### I turned to Jacob.

### "okay Jacob, your in charge." I said.

### Rudy followed, raising his hand slowly.

### "you're call. I'm gonna follow you."

### I wanted Jacob to do this, leading this big pack is not my thing.

### Jacob was the only one left to not agree.

### One more call, either way.

### Its on him.

### Jacob:

### Everyone raised their hands.

### Except for me.

### This plan is insane! Joining hands with these, Fox Traps.

### Makes me sick, so what should I do?

### I never knew this would come down to this. I thought.

### I thought long and hard.

### They were right, this is our only chance.

### No matter what, this is all for The city.

### What better option do we have?

### Its either A or B. Simple but hard as hell to choose.

### But its decided by majority.

### Wednesday must pay and this is how she's going to pay.

### "okay, let's do this! But this means some of us might not come back.

### But to hell with this. To have allies is better than nothing." I said.

### "we're with you." Alice said.

### Terrance? Cassie? The rest?

### "yeah! We're in."

### "you bet."

### "we got your back."

### "finally!" Rudy said clapping his hands together.

### This is not like how most comic books end when we have monologues like this and everyone goes 'hell yeah' and suddenly becomes determined. No, this is real.

### And the five of us are going to end this, tomorrow.

### "I'll get my bow." Rudy announced.

### The rest of the team stood and scattered.

### I watched Hector scrubbing his head as he walks out to the top of the ship. I followed him.

### "this sucks!" Hector said.

### "I know," I said.

### "so your a human who 'touched' someone and had their powers right?"

### "yeah." I said.

### We stood there, silent.

### "I need to blow off some steam." he said.

### "I know how." I replied.

### Hector:

### I was too stressed.

### This was too much for all of us to take it in alone.

### Jacob decided to take us both out on a bit of a retreat.

### "okay, lets do this Hector" Jacob said.

### We were on top of a building. Its really late at night and the city is still awake.

### The people are protesting.

### Jacob and I wondered why but this feels good.

### It means we have the people with us.

### The plan was to take down a new Lab that contained the Fireflies.

### We got to the Lab, armed and ready.

### Different from the one I was in.

### It was covered in Tar and cement. Guards were armed.

### "add a bit to free the rest right?" I asked.

### Jacob smiled.

### "yeah, lets do this."

### Jacob:

### This plan is crazy. But crazy is what we do.

### I moved it with a huge metal shards building up on top of the Lab and crashed them into the base.

### The battle was on!

### Giant piles of metal fell and crashed onto the surface of the Lab and destroyed whatever it landed on completely.

### Hector burnt some of the shards to add extra damage. The guards there began to fire. Some grew wings and others spit acid.

### We blocked off the attacks, working as a duo to fight of hundreds of these creatures. I jumped into one of the vents and reached to the control tower.

### Hector ran into the cells and took off a few guards while he was at it.

### Sean showed up from one of the Lab choppers hovering down. To the center of the base.

### There's something different about him.

### Something very odd.

### Hector:

### I took out the guards easy.

### They were nothing but target practice.

### I ran into the Lab cells, they were stored in a huge wooden door packed with a layer of cement.

### The doors are blocked in a large block of long wood.

### Unlockable for a bunch of electric powered super beings.

### Cement bits flood all over the doors, giving it extra strength.

### I pulled my Skate sword and fired it up.

### I held the handle with both hands and gave a big slash to the door.

### The door cracked.

### Inside was a boy, aged around 13 or 14. In his Lab costume, sitting in one corner. He has brown hair and his eyes was filled with tears.

### He must have been crying.

### "time to go." I said.

### "wait," he said. "are you an Angel of God?"

### "kind of," I said.

### I held his little arms and moved on slashing the other cell.

### Jacob:

### I noticed he was stoned up. He seemed stressed out about something.

### Usually he is cold but this is different.

### Sean turned to the control tower and began to leap up towards my direction.

### I focused, trying to use my new metal powers to fight Sean.

### I touched the nearby metal lock and felt a change within me.

### My body felt all wired. More solid. More heavy.

### He was surprised to see that I could do that.

### Guess that's how I recharge with this power. Other metal stuff.

### "what are you doing Brown?" he asked.

### "saving lives." I answered.

### I fired a metal shard at his chest and ran off the other direction.

### It worked! So that's how it is.

### Sean retaliated by throwing a metal shard back me.

### I leaped back at the base while Sean followed.

### I changed my figure into metal and rammed against him.

### The guards began to show up.

### I started to grow harder, fighting them off.

### Taking down the crowd by cannon balling my way around the area.

### Sean came to and began slashing.

### I held onto a nearby cargo truck that brought supplies and used my metal powers to block off his cuts and changed the other into a giant hammer. I aimed my arm at him and gave it a spin.

### WHAM!

### The hammer hit him hard.

### What about sand? I thought.

### Is there no way to use both?

### Using metal is like being solid. Being hard.

### You feel like no one can hurt you.

### Your organs and other parts felt so soft and yet, its like its been hardened. Somehow.

### Its liquid metal and its easy to change them up.

### Touching another metal is like the saying

### 'iron sharpens iron."

### I'm the old metal, touching other metal objects help sharpen me up.

### Hector was still inside freeing the Fireflies.

### I went over to the other side of the base, fighting off guards and reached into the cargo truck.

### Inside, I found myself surrounded by rubbery plastic tanks.

### I opened one of the tanks and found it was strangely, sand.

### Sweet. I absorbed the sand up onto my arms.

### I figured if I need metal to use my metal powers, same goes for sand.

### The sand began to pile up. Entering my whole arm.

### My body became hollow, agile, and free.

### Lets do this. I absorbed the rest of the sand and began to grow again.

### Just like last time. Now, I'm bigger.

### I grabbed the smashed control tower from our previous battle and left it at a free side.

### Slow and steady, I told myself.

### And placed the tower down. Sean charged over, leaping for the head and stabbed the right eye of the sand giant.

### Nothing.

### I'm inside the body but I'm not the body. Its like controlling a Mega Zord but you are outside it and all.

### I lifted the left arm of the giant and reached for Sean.

### Got him!

### Sean struggled to release himself.

### Not this time, I thought.

### My other arm rose and bashed my left arm's palm.

### I removed it and saw Sean was drowned in sand.

### Again! Sean squirmed.

### One last bash. My fist crushed against the palm like how real giants do on TV. "that will teach him." I muttered.

### Hector:

### The second kid was a bigger 17 year-old girl.

### She had blonde hair.

### She absorbed the lamp electricity and shocked open the third cell.

### Nothing.

### Of course.

### I slashed the cell and rescued another 13 year-old girl.

### Blonde haired girl.

### "listen, hang on I'll call for help." I said.

### I ran outside and noticed Jacob just went on sand giant.

### "hey! Help me out here!" I yelled.

### Some of the guards turned to me and began to fire, the three kids showed up behind me and shocked them down.

### The 17 year-old girl smiled confidently.

### "thanks" I said, smiling back.

### Jacob turned into a giant sand cloud, swirling around the air and turned down to our direction. In a flash, Jacob swooped through the cells and damaged the doors easily. One by one, the cells were crushed.

### At the other end on top, the sand cloud came out and dispersed.

### Jacob fell to the ground and changed into a sand cloud.

### "get ready Anime boy! Its about to get shocking!" moments after he said that, multiple Fireflies jumped or ran out with the power of electricity in their palms, some around their arms or legs and began to fire bolts of lightning.

### Now the battle is on!

### Jacob:

### I freed the rest of the Fireflies and called them to charge to fight.

### Sean, The guards began to panic as they had to deal with a bunch of Fireflies and two other angry Flyers.

### I charged up against the wall and drew a hole out of it, the rest of the Fireflies fought to escape. Some were adults like us.

### Most were kids.

### One by one, the Fireflies escaped.

### Three kids, a 17-year-old blonde girl, a 13-year-old blonde girl and a 14-year-old boy watched his back and helped him get out.

### They reached for one of the cargo trucks and hovered the cargo container up in the air and flew pass the wall while the other Fireflies helped each other escaped.

### I did my thing by creating a giant sand storm. Blocking the way for the Fireflies to escape.

### The Fireflies cheered and ran.

### Some hovered over.

### The guards gave up shooting.

### They know it was effortless.

### Sean was still unconscious.

### I wanted him to feel the hurt so bad.

### I grabbed him and kept him in my sand cloud and left the base.

### Following Hector and the three kids.

### That went so well.

### I think I'm starting to like this Hector.

### He's cool.

### Hector:

### The kids led us to the top of a building on top of a building far way from the base and left the cargo container at one of the parking spots.

### "thank you." the 17-year-old said.

### She gave me a hug and walked a few steps behind, letting the 13-year-old girl give her hug.

### These kids were amazing.

### They helped escaped when we were helping them.

### The boy was next, he looked behind me and saw Jacob Brown,

### "you too mister!" he said smiling.

### The girls both said in unison, "thank you!"

### "I looked at the three of them and gave them a piece of pebble with a burnt marking of a dragonfly.

### "take this, and head to Forks. You'll find a house full of kids like you there. Its a safe house. They'll protect you. Be careful out there." i said.

### The kids hugged me together again.

### "what's your name?" the 13-year-old asked.

### "Hector." I replied.

### "I'm Sara," she said.

### "I'm Rachel." the 17-year-old added.

### "my name is also Hector." the boy said.

### "well, I wish you all well Hector, Sara and Rachel. You are born to do a lot of good in this world. Till we meet again." I said.

### Sara was looking at Jacob then back to me.

### "are you going to change this world?" she asked.

### "yeah we are, and in the future. Convicts like us will live in harmony with people. We'll be heroes." Jacob replied.

### The kids smiled and left the building, hovering down with their electric powers. They entered the cargo and hovered off.

### Jacob:

### I'm surprised to find that Hector has a safe house for Convicts.

### "you're from Forks?" I asked.

### "no," Hector replied.

### "I escaped to Forks but I came back, to save these people. Like you."

### I was in awe.

### Someone actually paid attention to me and my work.

### "you know I gotta ask. How old are you?" I asked Hector.

" twenty two. You?" he replied.

### That was surprising.

### He looked like he was twenty four but twenty two seems reasonable.

"around 19 or 20-ish." I replied.

### "don't get any ideas okay?" Hector warned.

### I laughed hard. Yeah, I won't.

### We looked out at the night.

### It was breezing with warm winds.

### It felt good. Doing all this.

### The lights filled the city. Beautiful as always.

### A messy city but still looked beautiful.

### "you know, I've been thinking," he finally said after a long minute of silence.

### "yeah?"

### "I want you to have my power."

### I looked at him confused.

### "what? Why?" I asked.

### "cause I feel that I could trust you with it." he said.

### "do you accept?" he asked.

### How could I refuse? That power is right there.

### But instead I lifted my sand cloud up and showed him Sean. Still out.

### Hector stared at him wide eyed.

### "you!" he muttered to himself.

### He pulled his sword up and prepared to chop his head off.

### "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I said raising my hands up to stop him.

### "what the hell are you doing?" I asked.

### "what does it look like? I'm gonna kill this filth!" he screamed.

### Hector proves he hates these people, it ruined him.

### What should I do?

### I hated them too but Hector makes it personal.

### They took everything away from him.

### Now with this chance, it could change everything again.

### What are the odds? After all that we learned,

### Nothing would be what it seems right?

### Then I remembered when I touched Sean and had his power.

### I remembered seeing the images and feeling how Sean felt.

### How can someone so determined changed their minds so suddenly?

### *Note: during pages like this where there is a blank space, its up to you to decide to what Jacob Brown does. Its your choice to make him decide. However, there is no right or wrong. But as you progress, you'll know the end results.*

### A. Stop Hector from killing Sean.

### B. Let Hector kill Sean.

###  [____________________________________________________________]

### I responded.

### Sean woke up, with both eyes opened and sprang into action.

### Hector and I were surprised.

### He looked around, noticing he is on top of a building.

### Without a thought, he jumped off and traversed to safety.

### We let him off.

### Revenge is not the answer to this, the city has already decided to take Wednesday down. Hector noticed the Glossy worm crawled out.

### But unlike the last time, this was all blue.

### I picked it up and showed Hector.

### "see?" I asked.

### Alice would like to see this.

### Hector kept his sword back inside. He turned to me and smiled.

### "hey Jacob," he said.

### "yeah?"

### "thanks." he raised his arms and I held on.

### That's how I got fire.

25

The Answer

### Alice:

### We had to go to war today.

### All that we each been through has come down to this.

### We took a rest at The Hardy.

### The next morning, we were surprised to find a blue Glossy Worm during our meeting.

### "oh shit!" Terrance exclaimed.

### "is that real?" Cassie asked.

### "you bet it is." Jacob said in confidence.

### "so is this the king or not?" I asked.

### "only one way to find out." Terrance replied.

### He went over and scooped the worm up and began to look at it.

### I almost forgot!

### Terrance has the ability to talk to people's minds.

### We had a moment of silence.

### It seemed like we waited for hours but it was probably only 30 or 40 seconds before Terrance said anything, and after that insufferable moment of nothing, Terrance finally spoke.

### "he says, he is the King." he said.

### "fair enough. What happened to him?" I asked.

### A minute or two of silence, Terrance finally talked.

### "he used to infect Wednesday. Until The Queen and Sean worked together to defile them. Wednesday will strike and this war will end. Wednesday decided to give Sean a lesson since the Queen is nowhere to be found, and..." he paused and took a deep breath,

### "the King moved out and infected Sean."

### "are you kidding me?" I asked.

### I was mad, this it it!

### "we gotta go now!" I exclaimed.

### I moved over to reach for the door.

### Hector stopped me. Asking me to calm down.

### "HECTOR!" I screamed.

### "there's more!" Terrance said. I calmed down and turned back to Terrance.

" everyone is on our list. That means us too." he said.

### "oh hell no!" Rudy said from the other end.

### I agreed. "its time!" I said.

### Hector looked at Jacob,

### "bet you know what I'm thinking right?" he said.

### Jacob:

### I thought for a while, this is obvious for me.

### I used to tell myself I've made mistakes but I also made good choices.

### This is where it goes down.

### "alright, go time! Let's go there and go kick some ass!

### Cassie, Terrance, bring any human to safety.

### Take down anything in sight, its time to take out these Lab people out of town. We got the city. The team began to scatter.

### Hector with Cassie.

### Alice with Terrance in his Detective form

### "you guys coming?" I looked at Henry, Rudy and Tony.

### "no, this is for your fight." he said.

### "we got better things to do." Rudy said.

### "alright then." I replied.

### "go get them kid! You make that lady pay!" Tony said.

### I nodded lightly and walked out. It was deemed too dangerous for the three to go. Even though two had weapons, skills and all that but still too dangerous. So Hector voted them to stay out of it. They gladly agreed. I created a huge sand cloud and lifted myself off the ship and hovered to the city. Swarms of Lab Hunters came over to The Hardy.

### The three surrendered. We will get them soon.

### The sun came out and the protesters were shouting our names.

### It was still early,the sun was just rising.

### The winds were blowing.

### And like how Seattle would be once in a while, its not clouded.

### Which is good since we are going to change the world today.

### We had a plan. To go after Wednesday. She is done.

### All that she has done is enough for all of us to see that she is nothing but a liar, a thief, a cheater.

### "FLYERS! FLYERS! FLYERS! FLYERS!" the crowd cheered.

### Cassie and Terrance separated their own group and joined the crowd.

### Bringing them to safety.

### They'll join us soon.

### Hector grabbed his sword in the distance and began slashing Tsetse Flies down.

### Alice swiping through a crowd of Lab Hunters.

### Taking them down one by one.

### Me?

### I created a sand storm and rained on the Lab choppers and trucks.

### Tsetse Flies showed up.

### I managed to bring a small metal rod with me.

### I absorbed the metal rod and changed my arms into metal.

### The crowd's cheers faded because we were getting away.

### New protesters showed up.

### "FLYERS! FLYERS! FLYERS! FLYERS!" the crowd cheered.

### This is it!

### The moment of truth and the moment where the last action would change everything.

### I've never fought with Wednesday but that day she hurt my Aunt May was too much for us.

### More Tsetse Flies showed up in a huge army swarm.

### Only five of us and millions of them.

### If this is how its going down.

### It won't be easy.

### We stood out on top of the buildings.

### Together on the same block.

### Standing at the battle before us.

### Hector:

### I've been in fights, escaped a prison, met people and made human allies.

### In addition to this, being friends with other Convicts proves we are stronger when we are together.

### "hey Alice." Jacob said.

### "yeah?" she asked.

### "we might not make it out of this." he said.

### "are you kidding me?" she replied.

### "we're gonna kick ass, this is my stuff." Alice chuckled.

### She looked at me, fire sparking in her eyes.

### "I'm not going anywhere!"

### In sync, me, Alice and Jacob went big.

### I powered my Skate sword and threw a huge fire wave at the swarm.

### Alice leaped up in mid air and fired a huge storm of lights.

### Jacob jumped down and changed.

### Moments after, he rose up in his sand giant form and moved.

### Alice ran down, releasing a huge shield of purple light and ran through a huge swarm. I hovered up and release a huge heat wave of burns and melted the choppers down.

### Jacob grabbed the choppers and moved forward.

### Terrance charged and fired a huge bolt of lighting to hit some flying Tsetse Flies. Alice rammed pass a bunch of Tsetse Flies and fired several shots of beams at some of the Tsetse Flies.

### Jacob moved nearer. We are close!

### This was our plan.

### Charging up on the front with each of us having turns to attack saves our recharge time and takes the forces down easier.

### Cassie fired huge chunks of wood at the area.

### The blocks of wood crashed at some of the incoming forces.

### Blocking them off. Jacob gave a few smashes and slams, destroying the other swarms.Choppers began to shoot the giant while Alice defends the giant by firing bolts of light at the choppers for a far.

### He began to shrink and used his metal powers and reached to the top of a building.Shards of metal flung and hit the choppers, causing the chopper to spin around. Alice carried the people while I destroyed the chopper to bits.Cassie used her powers and created a giant wooden tree, the branches grew out and began to multiply at it hits more and more of the swarm.

### The fight was tense!

### Alice:

### Things are going well here.

### My job was to free the swarm of Fox Traps.

### I ran pass the guards at The Lab and raced inside The Lab Headquarters. I didn't look at the details but all I can see is a lot of windows. It was dark.

### The sunlight only gave the building enough light to show off this news broadcasting studio.

### News studios, Radio stations, they are all here.

### "Alice!" Terrance screamed in thought speak.

### "not in there! I found them. They escaped and they are ready to strike!"

### "good" I said.

### Now we are ready.

### I ran out of the building and took out a few more swarming towards me.

### Cassie hovered pass me and threw a few chunks of wood at the incoming swarm and pulled me up.

### I saw Jacob on top of a building.

### Far away from where we were,

### Standing there.

### I think I actually like him.

### Better than that Andrew Waller.

### Plus, he can take care of himself.

### "thanks Cassie!" I said.

### I jumped down and changed into my Butterfly form.

### Jacob:

### Everything is going well, the team took out the forces like we are in some all stars battle.

### The swarms grow the moment we took them out but we are still holding.

### We fought closer to The Lab Headquarters,

### More swarms came in.

### Hector and Alice stormed pass the swarms in the sky and took the forces down. The plan is to have Hector, Cassie and Terrance to take out the swarm while I give the last big smack.

### Okay, I thought, time do decide.

### *Note: during pages like this where there is a blank space, its up to you to decide to what Jacob Brown does. Its your choice to make him decide. However, there is no right or wrong. But as you progress, you'll know the end results.*

### A. Expose Wednesday

### B. Kill Wednesday

###  [____________________________________________________________]

### I responded.

### From a far, I noticed Alice, running. Catching up with us.

### Purple strands of light filled the night as Alice ran to the building that I was on.

### "hey!" she said trying to catch her breath.

### "hey." I replied.

### "can I just say how hot you look today?"

### "what?" I asked.

### "are you into me? I'm flattered."

### Alice grabbed me by the face and placed her lips onto mine.

### Was that a kiss?

### "you talk too much Sandy." she said giggling.

### She kissed again and turned towards the building.

### The building is one of the news towers, covered in concrete layers.

### Time to take her down!

### Alice turned back to me. Smiling.

### "when this is over, you and me work this out okay?" she asked.

### "then let's go, pumpkin!" I said and leaped over to the building.

### I can't believe it, I got a girl for this!

### We got closer towards the tower, Tsetse Flies are growing by the hour.

### The swarm became big.

### Using my metal powers, I slashed pass towards the top.

### One flying Tsetse Fly flew towards Alice.

### I turned and grabbed it by the throat and threw it off.

### "thanks!" Alice said.

### More came in.

### Cassie join us throwing chunks of wood at the incoming swarm.

### Terrance played God by striking anything the comes near other than us.

### "BEHOLD!" he boomed.

### Behind him was a swarm of Fox Traps infested by Glossy Worms.

### Picture this, a swarm of metal human spiders with four legs, its face four eyed with no mouth. Its three horns sticking out from each side of its top head.

### Its left arm appears to be a slightly bigger Gatling gun and its other arm is an arm with a grappling hook mechanism at the end. And finally, a fairly long retractable tail.

### That's a Fox Trap.

### The swarm marched here with their metal legs.

### Our forces is adding up to even the odds.

### One big swarm against their own and the five of us.

### The Fox Traps began to hover towards the sky.

### Their legs were opened out flat and their bodies began to hover in mid air.

### They got higher.

### Aiming at anything and fired at anything except for us.

### Green lasers were fired all around.

### Now we are even!

### The sun rose even higher.

### Hector, Alice, Terrance and Cassie wrecked the Lab Hunters out.

### Knocking them out swarm by swarm.

### Their numbers grew but our forces are not falling.

### Not a number down.

### "Jacob!" Hector cried.

### I slammed my fist to the ground and release a big sand storm at the swarm.

### Large piles of sand crashed it at the swarm.

### Hector leaped up the roof and used his skate sword to find an opening.

### The rest of us backed him up.

### Suddenly, a group of burning fires flared through the city, coming towards us. The fire crashed revealing several people.

### Dragonflies!

### Hector:

### Turns out I'm not the only one after all.

### The guys from The Lab has been hiding!

### Jake showed up flame jetting his way towards the tower.

### "need help kid?" Jake asked.

### "you little shit!" I scoffed.

### "you can hate me later, cavalry's here!" he laughed.

### Hundreds and thousands of Fireflies of all colors showed up.

### Firing at the Tsetse Flies, helping us take the swarm out.

### I gave a final push of my skate sword and slashed the building open.

### "its open!" I cried.

### Jacob:

### Alice fired a few beams and took out the last batch.

### Its time to go.

### I absorbed my new powers, fire

### And it feels great.

### Its like raw power went into you and you feel like a freaking dragon.

### The sensation was amazing.

### You can feel the heat around you.

### I flamed myself to the next layer of the concrete.

### Alice ran ahead, firing the guards off.

### Very close!

### Terrance hovered across us.

### Bolts of lightning streamed through the metal surrounding the building.

### "Jacob, when you're done with Wednesday let me have her."

### I looked back at him.

### "Actually, Hector called shotgun." I replied.

### "darn it!" he said out loud.

### Alice shot more beams at the incoming choppers.

### "clear! Go get them Tiger!" she cried.

### "CARRY THY DEED COURAGEOUS WARRIOR!" Terrance said in his Detective voice.

### "remember the deal Jacob!" Hector said.

### "go!" Cassie said covering me.

### I took one final blast and jumped into the hole.

### I flamed up to slow down.

### I reached lower and lower, there!

### Wednesday Johann...

### "so you made it!" she said with a grin on her face.

### "I've been watching you, you turn out to be a good Convict."

### I looked around,

### Finding myself inside the tower.

### The area was wrecked.

### I looked in front of me seeing Wednesday Johann in the face for the second time.

### "For these two weeks, I saw you and that band of Convicts out there ad you know what I see? I see confusion. I see anger and now, I see you have hit your lowest coming here, digging your own grave." she said.

### I turned towards her.

### "that's funny. I also saw the real you." I began. "you've used the Glossy worms to up your forces and some of the gangs. Using fear to control the city. Make US look like freaks. Your scared, your scared and the world saw it."

### Wednesday scoffed. "me scared? I can assure you that I am not, I've waited for this. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to Convicts. Those people out there, hate people like you.

### Like me. My Lab has captured all the Convicts and kept them safe. With me and The Lab, we kept the freaks out from the people who hated us. Its the whole, 'freak hunting after freaks' metaphor. In The Lab, the Convicts are safe. Protected under my care. You're foolish if you think I am going to let you release those Convicts in My Labs. Not ever, Jacob." she said.

### "things changed Wednesday, people saw who some of us really are. They've changed their minds and with you going down, exposed for all the abuse you've put The Flyers through, I am going to show the world

### Who the real monster is." I said it in passion.

### "then come on," she rose her arm, reaching for mine."

### I grabbed it and focused.

### Nothing.

### What is happening?

### Wednesday looked at me.

### "what's wrong?" she asked.

### I looked at my hands. Why is nothing changing?

### "you're a Convict and a Sand Fly." she chuckled.

### Her laughter was hysterical.

### "a Sand Fly can't take another Sand Fly's power. See this is why I am not afraid of you." she taunted.

### "your a Sand Fly?" I asked.

### "I am a Alpha Sand Fly." she announced. "Powers like mine needs to be earned. Not absorbed."

### Wednesday removed her arm and began to talk.

### "you know, ever since New York I feel like its my job to stop incidents like New York to happen. I worked for the hunters to be a better hunter, you were right about the Glossy Worms. Sean didn't like it and let's just say, I adjusted him." she tried to keep herself together.

" three years, three years I've built this, keeping Convicts in and you took it down in just two weeks. Amazing. That's the truth."

### I looked deep into her eyes, she's right...

### All that has happened, was on her.

### James was surely not part of the plan but all of this is a set up,

### Just so she can be a hero to the public but they saw her true colors.

### I mentioned before I'm no bible scholar but I remembered a verse saying, "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." and even though now this is not going to be easy,

### I'll die trying.

### Wednesday looked at me, her eyes fueled with rage.

### "now tell me, whose the monster?" she asked.

### "all those years, I've collected them. Sure I pushed them to their abilities but I want to raise a world where they will not be the only ones and the Worms will be that answer. Now tell me, whose the monster?"

### I scoffed.

### "you are, that plan you have is an illusion. What I am going to do is to convince them, one at a time if I had to."

### She stared back at me.

### "alright then, since you asked for this I have no choice. you want it, you need to fight for it. Win me and its yours, lose and I'll have you and your friends in The Lab. The only difference is, I had years of training to get this far."

### I looked as she used her concrete powers and transformed into a huge concrete giant.

### "PREPARE YOURSELF!" the giant said in a deep lady voice.

### I ran for higher ground.

### Wednesday grew and grew until her concrete giant head broke the roof.

### Her hands reached for the top to pull herself up.

### I absorbed the fire nearby and used my fire powers to hover pass the buildings to a safer building rooftop.

### She's coming!

### Alice:

### We were surprised to find a large concrete giant rising from the building, chasing Jacob.

### I turned towards the giant and fired a huge storm of beams against the giant but the giant just ignored the shots.

### This is bad.

### Hector and the rest of the Dragonflies moved out of the way.

### Hovering to safety.

### The swarm became aggressive.

### Some began to sprout wings and flied up to the sky, attacking the Dragonflies.

### The giant swatted the dragonflies like an old lady swatting a bunch of flies.

### I ran towards Jacob.

### He was trying to catch his breath.

### "what happened?" I asked.

### "Wednesday turned into a huge concrete monster, come on let's go!" he replied.

### How can I refuse now?

### Kicking ass is what I do.

### Jacob:

### I fired several fireballs at this concrete giant.

### Nothing.

### Nothing seemed to pierce through its thick skin.

### Alice followed me to Terrance.

### I had a plan. A crazy plan.

### "Terrance, light me up when I go big okay?" I asked.

### Terrance turned looking at the giant then back to me.

### "you got it!" he replied.

### I focused, absorbing the sand that lied around when I last used my sand powers. Like eating rice, the sand bits were crunchy and energizing.

### I looked out, seeing where the sands are and began to absorb more.

### I began to grow, my body turned hollow,

### My size began to change.

### Piles of sand began to swarm all over me as I grow bigger.

### "now you woke up the big guy!" Alice yelled.

### I kept growing until I was looking at Wednesday's concrete giant in the eye.

### Terrance charged up in his Detective form and fired bolts of lighting at me.

### I used all my focus to conduct them,

### Sand is not usually a good conductor of electricity.

### I used my large arms to grab some of the cars on the road and placed them on my palm. The cars slid inside, Terrance fired again at my palms. My giant palms began to spark and burn. The the hot fire danced on top of the sandy surface as I clutched my hand into fist.

### Hector saw what I was doing and hovered closer towards me.

### He began fire my arms.

### The blazing green fire came out from his bare hands and

### stick on top of the sandy arms.

### They began to harden as Hector gives it more.

### That's what I'm talking about!

### My arms became glass boxing gloves.

### The concrete giant maybe stronger but my team and I can improvise.

### I threw my left arm punching the concrete head.

### Hector and a few Dragonflies hovered towards my arm and threw blazing fireballs against her.

### Cassie fired large chunks of wood, hitting the giant's side.

### Terrance shocked me again, giving me that sweet frying effect to harden the sand.

### Alice shot beams of light against the swarm, crawling and flying towards us.

### This fight is getting real!

### Like a Real Steel finale moment moment where the hero goes on a big showdown with the enemy.

### The Fox Traps began to fire, protecting the protesters around the city and us from the swarm.

### I threw another punch at Wednesday's concrete face,

### The glove began to crack.

### I threw another punch, and another punch.

### Wednesday threw one punch to my left, Alice held onto me on the neck tightly as I tried to withstand that strong blow.

### I jabbed the giant three times.

### Left, right, left.

### The giant took it,

### I jabbed it again.

### Right, left, right.

### Just a bit more!

### The giant gave three jabs,

### I ready myself to withstand the blows.

### Wednesday gave me a jab on the left,

### My face was impacted hard, a mark of a concrete punch rested on my sand giant face.

### Another one!

### This time on the right.

### I focused on replenishing it again, prepared for the last.

### The concrete giant punched me on the right chest.

### Hector and the others hovered away and fired at her arm.

### There's no way to beat this woman!

### Terrance jumped up towards my other shoulder and powered my right arm. Hector continued fire up my left arm with a few other Dragonflies.

### We're making a power Mega Zord!

### Alice mixed her beams with Terrance, creating a chain reaction of energy and lightning.

### I rose my arms, aiming for the giant.

### The light beam hit Wednesday's right arm.

### It showed signs of cracking.

### "we're almost there!" I said in my deep muffled voice.

### "Terrance!" Cassie cried.

### She launched her way up to a building, surrounded by the swarm.

### Terrance did a quick turn and sweep his lightning powers against the raging swarm.

### Cassie stomped hard on the ground.

### Releasing a huge chunk of wood from the ground and slammed hard against it the wood split and started hovering around her,

### Ramming through the swarm as she tries to get out.

### Terrance turned back to the beam while Cassie used the wood to hover her up towards Hector.

### "this can't go on." she said.

### "what do you suggest?" Hector asked.

### "hang on!" she replied.

### Her piece of wood began to expand.

### The branches began to multiply, like last time.

### The branches reached for The concrete giant's other arm and tangled it around in unique patterns and wrapped it tight.

### Cassie struggled to keep the arm from moving.

### "Cassie let go!" Hector cried.

### Cassie leaped off the wood and unleashed another one to escape.

### The concrete giant gave a big yank and turned its focus towards Cassie.

### I gave the giant a big punch down.

### Cassie hovered off the fight.

### She fired more chunks of wood hitting the giant off.

"remember me, Wednesday?!" she asked.

### Cassie hovered behind me.

### My giant sandy back helped blocked her from her concrete shots.

### She's getting worried.

### It working!

### Cassie fired a few more chunks of wood as she hovered pass me.

### Terrance shield the chunks of concrete off flying her way.

### The cracks are showing.

### She's getting weaker!

### "pour it on guys, she's almost down!" I said.

### Hector:

### We've created a living giant that is going to bring this overpowered giant down.

### We were winning.

### Cassie hovered all over us, throwing chunks of wood all over the giant, bringing it down bit by bit.

### We're almost there!

### Until the giant mad a move.

### It morphed its cracking right arm into a three clawed arm and grabbed the chest of the sand giant and drilled through it.

### Cassie lost her balance from her hovering wood.

### Terrance abandoned his place and jumped off to get Cassie.

### "Cassie!" he shouted.

### Terrance used his powers to break Cassie's fall and hovered down with her. She's okay.

### He turned back at me and gave a thumbs up and rushed her to safety.

### I turned back to Wednesday. Now I'm mad!

### I threw my final blast of fire at Wednesday.

### With all I got, my blast became big. So big that it becomes part of Jacob's arm. The fire landed onto the concrete surface.

### The concrete giant began to scream.

### I noticed the arms are turning black.

### Is it burnt? Steam began to come out from the burnt arm.

### It is burnt! I turned to Jacob,

### "Jacob! Now!"

### Jacob:

### Hector and Alice jumped off my giant sand figure.

### Time to rock and roll!

### I threw in all my strength and bashed the living life out of Wednesday's giant.

### I threw in punch after punch after punch.

### Wednesday threw more concrete shards, Alice and Hector backed me up blocking the shards from hitting anything.

### Hector with his fire powers.

### Alice with her beams.

### I used my giant arms to grab Wednesday's giant concrete arms and leaped out of the chest of the giant.

### I pulled my metal piece out and absorbed it up.

### Metal time!

### I slashed through the the chest of the concrete and pushed my way through.

### Wednesday fired concrete shards and controlled the concrete to stop me,

### I pushed it off.

### This is not going to hold.

### I switched my arms into metal liquid and slithered to Wednesday.

### With her eyes filled with fear,

### I gave one last push through the shards.

### Wednesday launched her way out of the body from the back and hovered to safety.

### Not for long...

### I pushed again until I reached for the outside of the body.

### No sand powers,

### Screw it!

### Here goes nothing.

### I focused and absorbed the concrete into my hands.

### The shards began to move.

### Slowly dilute into bits and flowed into my body.

### I can do Concrete!

### Wednesday mad her last move by creating a ring of concrete.

### No time to train.

### This is my first time using concrete.

### Unlike Wednesday, my concrete powers just happened.

### My concrete powers showed bright orange lines all over it.

### I transformed some concrete shards into a little platform and hovered towards Wednesday.

### The two figures behind me stayed still.

### Wednesday hovered over to the sand figure but I had a better idea.

### I focused on soft things and used sand to wrap her up.

### I fired my sand powers that toppled her and made her fall on the sand giant arm. I landed onto the sand giant arm, walking towards her as she tries to crawl her way out.

### She's still trying to run...

### I fired my sand powers at her again.

### The sand hit her legs this time.

### I fired a few more bits at her, cocooning her up.

### She began to stay still, seeing the shards she used to create onto people being used onto her.

### The sand surprisingly turned into concrete.

### A tougher layer.

### She's stuck!

### I walked towards her.

### Seeing the fear grow in her eyes.

### That once fearless version of Wednesday Johann was gone.

### Now, she is just tiny and scared.

### I looked deep into her eyes. She was terrified.

### The sun just happened to be in between us as the two giant froze.

### "oh yeah, I know. Consider that a souvenir." I mocked.

### Looking deep into her eyes.

### Nothing.

### She was filled with nothing but fear.

26

The Message

### Jacob:

### The moment when the concrete covered Wednesday up,

### She freaked out.

### Those eyes you saw earlier,

### Those wicked, fearless eyes turned into fear.

### I dragged Wednesday's body out of the two giants and placed her on the middle of the battle filed on the streets.

### News choppers flied pass us as we handed Wednesday over to the army who just came over.

### The soldiers aimed their guns at us,

### We don't blame them. This fight had a huge crowd looking after all.

### Placed her on the road and moved closer to her head.

### "the world is ready to see who you really are. Are you ready to meet them?" I whispered.

### I stood back up and turned towards the giant.

### I focused and shrink both of the giants down, absorbing them for a long run.

### We went over at the news tower and destroyed the concrete and metal shards. For three weeks, Wednesday has taken control over this city.

### Using her swarm. Now, the swarm scattered.

### No Queen to protect them, no swarm to back her up.

### We'll have time for that later.

### We destroyed the fortress she built.

### The army she created.

### The plans she made and the people she wronged.

### The Fox Trap swarm scattered along with the Tsetse Flies swarm.

### The Lab retreated back somewhere. There is still a lot to do.

### The crowds cheered as Wednesday is being taken for questioning.

### Cameras everywhere as she is being asked in a live interview right outside the news tower for what she has done.

### A journalist named, Melissa Wits came out with prove and victims that was wronged because of her.

### Our own Cassie turned out to be one of them.

### Hector was also a victim.

### The other Dragonflies, and many others.

### Claim after claim, Wednesday fell lower where all she has built has been nothing but a big fluke.

### The whole world was watching as she is being charged from the public and the government that she had failed. Smiles were filling the city folk's faces as Wednesday is being held.

### Taken down by a Thief, a Runaway Girl, a Victim, a Genius and a small town Artist. As for the Convicts in The Lab, they will be opened soon and the lives of those people in there will be change as they are freed from their bondage and soar freely. Able to make their own choices and even do more good in this world.

### A new world has begun.

### A world of Convicts living with Humans in peace, it may start out in Seattle but soon, the world will be changed.

### Who would have thought we were the ones who kicked of the second generation of Convicts renamed into Flyers. A name we've decided to give them, representing the souls of super powered people that will do a lot of good in this world.

### There is still a lot to do but first,

### I have a promise to keep.

### Alice:

### For these few weeks, The Lab has done nothing but hunted down people like us.

### Now, we've won.

### The swarm stopped attacking and started to escape.

### God knows where they are.

### With their King and Queen gone,

### They are leaderless.

### A swarm without a leader is good as gone.

### Wednesday was taken by the military for her actions.

### With witnesses like Hector, my brother and Cassie, her kingdom was brought down.

### The city was safe again.

### The people in the Lab were free, and even I found a few friends who are Butterflies like me. The Fox Trap swarm left the city in peace.

### Wherever they left off to, we didn't bother.

### I finally built up the courage to go look for Amanda.

### She just recovered.

### I walked through the halls with a bunch of flowers in my hands.

### The people stared in awe as they noticed I was one of the heroes who took down Wednesday today. Some smiled at me, I smiled back.

### I found Amanda's room.

### Her bed was up, she's awake!

### "hey!" I said quietly.

### "hey!" she replied.

### "my head hurts...the doctors said I had a shock...I'm good now, how did it go?" she asked.

### I said nothing.

### I dropped the flowers on the ground and rushed over to hug her.

### I was crying but I didn't care.

### Amanda held me closer.

### Her heart was beating heavily.

### I could feel it through holding her...

### "hey Amanda," I said.

### "yeah."

### "someone is here to see you."

### I turned back and noticed Hector.

### He just came.

### "Amanda, this is my brother, Hector." I said joyfully.

### I wiped my tears off and looked back at Amanda.

### She started to laugh. "so tell me what happened?" she asked.

### "oh you won't even believe me even if I told you." I replied.

### Amanda gave a nice grin and looked at me in the eye and said

### "try me."

### Hector:

### Cassie and I became witness to testify Wednesday's Lab is nothing but a factory. The torture, the force she uses, the tests, everything.

### For years, The Lab took control and now the world is taking that control back.

### Think of this as the day where people like us gets to have their say about what Wednesday has done.

### Sean is still out there.

### This is still not over. I joined Alice to go see Amanda.

### She's fully awake now. I left the room and wandered to another room.

### It was a slightly older lady, resting on her bed.

### It was my mother.

### After so long, I could finally see her again.

### "Hector..." she said gasping.

### "mom?" I asked.

### "you did well out there. My only regret was to see you suffer through all that in The Lab." she started sobbing.

### I placed my hands on her. Keeping her calm.

### "its okay mom, we were all fooled. What matters is now we know and now she has paid for her mistakes.

### Melissa helped us charge Wednesday, by the public and law. She is considered as a monster, we were the real protectors.

### The Labs were destroyed.

### Some stayed open but we'll get to that later.

### Now, I just wanted to spend some time with mom.

### "I'm proud of you Hector." she said smiling.

### "thanks mom." I said.

### Alice joined in.

### "hey mom." she said happily.

### "Alice," she said looking back at her.

### "your brother is coming home." the moment was so fast that I forgot to breathe.

### I turned back to my mother, "I'm what?" I asked.

### "you are coming home. Would you like that?" she asked.

### I had to admit, I started to cry for a bit.

### Tears rolled down to my cheeks as I stared directly at my mother in the eye.

### Alice gasped walking towards me and mom.

### "we are all going home." she added.

### I gave my mother a hug.

### My arms around he tightly.

### Alice joined in.

### We started to laugh awkwardly.

### "yes." I replied.

### I laughed along.

### I haven't done that for a while.

### It felt good.

### My heart warmed up a bit inside.

### That long emptiness filled with my parents loving me back again.

### "yes, I would like that."

### Jacob:

### The journey home was much faster.

### Henry and the two were freed and were kind enough to hitch us two a ride back even though we used them as bait.

### Tony gave us a ride through the ocean.

### Its almost evening.

### The Church was lighting up dimly.

### If Terrance was here he would power it up. I walked to the Church entrance and walked to Aunt May, shards still attached.

### "I'll check the rest." Henry said.

### I placed my hands gently on her legs and absorbed the concrete shards.

### Aunt May woke up, staring at me.

### "Jacob!" she said, smiling.

### "hey Aunt May." I said quietly.

### "you are here," she said trying to hide her pain but she was surprised to see that the shards were gone.

### Her eyes opened widely.

### She began to laugh.

### "its gone!" she said.

### I nodded, smiling at her.

### "good to have you back darling!" Henry joined in.

### The shards faded out.

### No signs of scars or anything.

### Henry sat down and asked me to look over at the door.

### It was Sean. He came over and went over to another person, a girl. He placed his hands on her and removed the metal shards.

### He looked at me and smiled.

### I smiled back.

### Sean was not so bad after all.

### The two of us took almost half a night to save the rest in the town.

### Any shards of concrete and metal, gone.

### The town forgave Sean and made him our own.

### Our God is a God of second chances so can us giving Sean a second chance. I walked to the ship.

### Tony was waiting.

### There is still a lot to do.

### I looked back, seeing Sean waving as I run off to the port.

### "he coming?" Rudy asked.

### "nah he's done." I replied. Tony took us back to Seattle.

### The city all cleaned up but still, there is one more mystery.

### Where is the Scarlet Murderer?

### Alice:

### Its been three weeks, Wednesday is down and out and we are all free to live among humans. Some still protest to hate us while most loved us.

### We saved lives, the likes of most people like me and many others began to show up. Seattle became a place that openly accepts Convicts which are now renamed as Flyers.

### A bunch of teens and kids working together to save people and do good.

### Jacob and I even began dating.

### Of course Hector being the loving brother disagreed a bit but hey,

### Its all cool.

### We met up at one of the filed in the forest.

### It was empty which was good given the fact that we are going to play

### Flyer baseball.

### The same rules apply,

### Throw the ball, hit the ball, run around the plates and get there faster than the ball while its being passed around.

### Easy.

### Within these three weeks, we discovered several things about Seattle.

### Its a good place to have fun and be a hero at the same time.

### Amanda and Phillip joined in by the benches set by Cassie to watch.

### I doubt the new kids will ever play fair.

### Luke has no memory of the Queen inside her.

### When he came to, he called me 'sister' which is odd to us because we never had a younger brother but Cassie and Terrance decided to bring him along.

### The three are had set up an abandoned house outside of the city.

### Nearby the forest but still on the road.

### Its actually near my house.

### Built out of concrete and wood, the house also acts as a watch tower for us and a safe house for us to meet.

### With our powers, we turned the base into a well furnished and nice looking home.

### Luke used to have a family, until the Queen took over and made him into a killing machine but he's back now.

### We found out he's full name was Luke Barnes.

### A family down the street.

### His family are still alive. They were happy to have their own kid back and were happy to be guardians of Terrance and Cassie.

### Luke and I became great friends ever since.

### His memories were easy to restore.

### With the King and Queen of the swarm frozen and kept,

### The swarm won't be seen in a while.

### Luke and Terrance got along well, they became brothers.

### Terrance later revealed that he was an orphan, his parents died from a car accident until he discovered his powers and became The Detective.

### He hacked the Lab computers and found out about Luke who tried to kill him because he was investigating Luke.

### His exposure could set the Queen's secret plan off, that's when I came in and defeated her.

### Terrance and I chose to forgive Luke, making him part of the team.

### His Butterfly powers is unique. Instead of just neon green lights, he also has the ability to create a banshee like screams.

### Useful if we need a getaway.

### I ran around, setting up the filed.

### I placed the plates around the filed. As long as its placed, it means we are ready. Now the players,

### Hector and Melissa joined in as they walk pass the other end of

### My parents decided to bring him home.

### After all that he has been through, a family is what he needs.

### Ever since The Lab was disbanded, Hector, me and the rest of The Flyers were cleared off the charges.

### I could see that Melissa really likes Hector.

### To be honest, I never thought I might fall for that town boy, Jacob either. When I heard of how Melissa and Hector met, I was happy that they became a couple. Their love with one another might need some work but wow, what a couple.

### Terrance and Luke might have some competition going after Cassie though. The boys seemed interested but Luke is too young.

### Life for us goes on I guess.

### Find love, be a hero, save the day.

### All in a days work.

### Guess being a Flyer is not that bad.

### Sure, you'll have ups and downs but that is normal.

### That's life and it happens.

### What matters is how you overcome it and be brave.

### Like how I did when I was facing all that I've been through.

### "so where is he?" Terrance asked.

### "who cares." Cassie said. She walked to the middle of the plates and stomped her feet on the ground.

### The ground began so shake as a huge chunk of wood rose Cassie a few feet high above the ground.

### I beamed at the woods, making her forced to stand on a hovering wood in the air.

### "no cheating, unless you want me to finish you off." I said grabbing a metal bat and prepared to swing.

### The bat began to be layered by a purple light, like a light saber. Terrance changed into the Detective and stood further from Cassie on the right while Luke stood on the far left.

### "game on?" Cassie asked smirking.

### "Game on!" I yelled.

### I threw the ball into mid air and swung my bat at Cassie.

### The ball flew like a purple shooting star, heading towards Cassie.

### Cassie grabbed the ball firmly.

### "got it!" she shouted.

### Hector smiled as he sees us playing tough at each other.

### "go get them, Alice!" he shouted.

### Cassie threw the ball.

### I locked my eyes at the ball and swung my bat.

### PONG!

### The bat hit the ball. I threw it down and began to run.

### My feet hit the plat Terrance was on as he tries to catch the ball.

### I kept running, Luke ran over and grabbed the ball.

### Second plate through!

### Luke threw the ball as Terrance hovered pass Cassie with is electric powers and got to the third plate.

### Terrance caught the ball while I ran pass him.

### Third plate.

### Last one!

### I ran, Luke ran over to the last plate.

### The ball began to land.

### I ran faster, so did Luke.

### Luke reached the last plate.

### I was still running. I ran faster and faster.

### The ball is falling.

### Luke was about to grab the ball, the game was nail biting.

### Almost there,

### The ball fell and fell...

### Almost!

### I ran so fast that dust smoked the filed.

### And a blur I opened my eyes and found myself at the plate while Luke revealed the ball was in his hands.

### "SAFE!" Cassie declared.

### Jacob:

### Three weeks passed, the city was improving.

### With Wednesday locked up, things are looking up.

### Sean left the moment I went back to Seattle.

### Maybe we are made for something greater and better.

### I was getting ready for baseball.

### I packed them up getting ready to move.

### I'm still watching over the city.

### Some Flyers ran to other towns which helps us handle further locations.

### Life here is much better, the Church is saved and the city is saved.

### More Convicts began to show up.

### With the Convicts all free, the city will be filled with Flyers.

### I walked out of my room, put on a pair of shoes and absorbed some of the sand on the ground.

### My powers of fire and metal are gone now. Seems like my Sand Fly powers have became the most dominant power for me.

### Now with the power of concrete,

### I could pretty much set up my own little shelter and so I did.

### I was supposed to meet Alice and the rest until I saw something familiar,

### The Scarlet Murderer,

### Standing up on top of a nearby building.

### What is it doing here?

### I used my new found concrete powers to hover my way through.

### It works like this,

### Sand plus long exposure or focus equals concrete

### or I can just focus hard and use concrete.

### No need for the source just focus, its like a double sided mental switch.

### Like Metal which is now gone, concrete is solid.

### Hard as well, concrete and good to use.

### Orange lines glow on the concrete cracks.

### Its hard to break through but hey,

### Its a thing.

### The Scarlet Murderer is nothing but an ally and a mystery to me.

### It showed up before,

### Once in a while around the city and even helped us fight off Sean when he became rouge but now its time to get to the bottom of this.

### I got closer and closer.

### The Scarlet Murderer began to do its red blur thing.

### I landed and hovered again.

### In the mid air, I collected concrete and turned them into sand and used it as a sand cloud.

### I hovered above it as it tries to run.

### I kept my eyes on the Murderer but it was too fast.

### The phone in my bag rang.

### Not the time!

### I stopped and took my phone out.

### "hello?" it was Alice, my girlfriend.

### Guess Dazzle Girl and Sand Boy became lovers after all.

### "we're all here, where are you?" she asked.

### "I'm on my way." I lied.

### "okay, see you soon." the line disconnected.

### I turned around, looking for the Scarlet Murderer.

### Gone!

### I was disappointed at how I still can't get the Scarlet Murderer but whoever it was, it left a clue.

### A metal firefly.

### Somehow, this Scarlet murderer knew about Hector and the Dragonflies.

### I traced back at when I first found out about the murderer, I was excited to find another Flyer around.

### Now it feels like a wild goose chase.

### I looked into the clues,

### One metal firefly,

One Scarlet Murderer,

### And several bodies of the people from The Lab.

### It just does not make sense does it? Everything that the Scarlet did was just to cross out all these people who are nothing but background people.

### Henry called.

### "kid, you should hear this." he said in a slightly angry tone.

### "uh hello?" I said.

### "hey Jacob, Its me Sean. Listen, I know I've been on the wrong side before and I am thankful that you saved me an all but I think there is something you should know." he said.

### He took a pause, expecting me to say something.

### "so, what is it?" I asked.

### "ever wondered how you got your powers?" he asked.

### "uh, no." I replied.

### "I woke up being great and the next thing you know, I was even better." I stood up, knowing this is serious.

### "Well either way I need you show you something, recently I've set up a site that will post the information of The..." he paused for a moment.

"...Flyers on the internet. Showing people that you are not a threat. That none of us are."

### "sounds great, so exactly what do you need?" I asked.

### "head to the news tower, there's someone I'd like you to meet. He's a professor who researched Flyers and he's being hunted by The Lab because he is going to hand over some of the information that will help the site that will blow up and take The Lab out but he needs your help, go look for him and he will give it to you."

### I reached the news tower which is now cleared.

### The tower went on as usual. News casters walked pass the hall and people in formal cloths everywhere.

### I looked around the area.

### Scanned for at least someone that might be the professor.

### A cross the corner, an old man with a beard.

### His head was bold and he was sitting on a bench holding a brown backpack tightly.

### He looked around cautiously.

### His eyes were sharp. He caught sight of me and turned away.

### That's him!

### I went over to the bench and sat beside him.

### He placed the bag in the middle and walked off.

### I took the bag and wore it on both straps and began to walk fast.

### The phone rang, I answered. Its Sean again.

### "yeah?" I asked.

### "good you had it, now I need you to go to The Space Needle and look for a blue van with the word Kitchen nine and give it to its driver. Once we are done, the world will see it through that what Wednesday did was more than just capturing Convicts and creating Tsetse Flies. You can check it out but don't steal it." he paused for a while"Any favors you want to ask for?" he asked.

### I thought for a while and thought this might be a good time to ask for help. "I was wondering if you can help me track this Scarlet Murderer.

### Red blur, metal powered people like you."

### Sean laughed. "I'm what they call a Horse Fly. We can bend metal on our own bodies and also around us. A red Horse Fly is rare, we had one back in The Lab. Her name was Rachel Fairchild. A close friend of mine and Wednesdays. She's hybrid." he replied.

### "hybrid what?" I asked.

### "lets just say she had both powers of mine and this Dazzle Girl around the city. Recently, we've been trying to track her down but she's nothing but a gone girl now. There were several murders that had traces of her all over it."

### Sean's voice became soft.

### "Recently we discovered that the Events of New York has led us to believe whatever this Chester Benedict and his group of Convicts did successfully ended the plague in New York. With the Plague's radiation dropping to weak, numbers of Convicts dropped.

### People were saved while some Convicts survived and ended up going underground. Years passed, peaceful years.

### No Convict activity, for years until it happened again.

### The plague appeared to have infected several people into the second generation of Convicts after Chester Benedict.

### New Convicts like yourself and me emerged. The war between Convicts began again and this time, no one was there to stop it. Rachel was one of the rarest ones, Hybrid Convicts. Half Butterfly, half Horse Fly."

"so we are actually a second generation of The Flyers." I said.

### "yeah." he replied.

"In return, I'm going to help enlighten you." he said.

### I thought for a while and figured.

Maybe it's time to find out.

### "what about the Glossy Worms?" I asked.

### "the data shows that the Glossy Worms are a swarm of alien worms from the days before the plague . Recently, they begun to emerge and had developed the ability to mutate the host to have wings. But I'm sure you already knew that." he answered.

### "sounds like we mashed everything into this..." I said.

### Aliens, plagues and even super powered creatures.

### I reached the Space Needle and handed the bag over to the van Sean mentioned.

### "thanks man, we are about to change the world here. You take care of yourself out there and don't try to look for me or Rachel. She and I are going to have a talk. Hope you understand." he said.

### He tried to catch his breath. It sounded like he's been running.

"they are coming after me. Looks like I'm back to the other side of the coin now, Brown." he took a few heavy breaths.

### "hang on Sean, I'm coming. Where are you?" I said.

### Sean didn't answer.

### I made a sand cloud and hovered up in the sky. I searched around the city and found nothing. I called Sean again nothing.

### Where did he go?

### "sorry," Sean finally called back.

### "had to find somewhere to hide and all that, its okay. I'm good." he said.

### "are you okay?" I asked.

"nope, just took out my own sister and The Lab. I'm sure they won't be happy. Listen, The Tsetse Flies." he began.

### "they can't survive on sea water. Sprinkle it inside of the ear and they'll be squirming out. So long man, be careful out there."

### "you too" I replied.

### "and uh about Rachel, just don't take it to hard okay? I know you've made mistakes and so did I but there is always room for change. You just gotta take it slow." I advised.

### "thanks man, till we meet again." he said and the line disconnected.

### I powered up and head over to Alice's.

### I am so late...

### But she won't believe what I'll be telling her after all this.

### Those things about us Flyers will be out soon. It might change some of the people's mind about what they think about us but some will still stay the same because not everyone will accept the fact that we are not threats and this might go on until maybe the end of time.

### Somethings change and some don't.

### Maybe that's the real war here.

### Another Wednesday or another group of Flyers will appear and when it happens, we need to be ready.

### The cycle will still stay the same.

### Rise, revolt and change.

### It will carry on. No matter how you changed it.

### I reached towards the filed where Alice was screaming my name loudly and angrily. Hector laughed as I had to deal with his sister's fury.

### But that didn't matter. I just discovered that this whole war was something so big that even I can't comprehend how big it is.

### A plague, a war and now an invasion.

### This is what we are meant to do.

### This is who we were suppose to be.

### Protectors of earth.

### I sat by the bench with Hector, watching the game.

### A few of Cassie's friends back from Forks joined in.

### Kids from about 13 to 17.

### Smiling, laughing as they played game after game.

### "Sean is gone Hector." I said.

### "Sean? You saw him?" he asked.

### "yeah, he's going to help us change the world about what people think about us." I said.

### Hector didn't answer. His eyes filled from the sunlight.

### He was quiet, still...

### Just two young adults looking out at the of Flyer baseball.

### The two of us.

### Hector:

### I tried to hold in all that I had learned about Sean and picked up new ones from Jacob.

### "so you are telling me he's going to help us." I said.

### "yeah." he replied.

### I scoffed. After all that we've been through, this is where it has lead us to. I was so caught up with the so called change Jake talked about but there was still more.

### More than I expected.

### "any you trusted him because?" I asked.

### "because he said he's going to help." Jacob replied.

### I thought for a moment about what Chester told me back on the ship.

### Help does come in many different ways.

### After all, the chances of us surviving the war in the beginning was stacked against us and yet here we are,

### A small victory,

### For an even bigger victory.

### The swarm's weakness is now being given to us.

### First a plague, then a war, now an invasion.

### Things keep changing that made me believed that in some way, The Lab was preparing us or something. We did take out a swarm and its king and queen but this could be just the beginning.

### "so salt water huh?" I asked.

### "yeah. Salt water. Or sea water." Jacob answered.

### Of all the other plants, they choose to invade the planet that contains their very own weakness.

### I looked out at the filed.

### Seeing how far we've gone just makes it sound like a really good book to write and send it off to.

### So that's why I've decided to ask the rest about what we've learned so far. Jacob left the bench and played as the batter, the game went on as usual. Life may be easy now but is about to get more complex for all of us. A storm is coming and we need to be ready.

### What you've read here is just a slice of what is going on.

### Melissa was on the phone.

### she turned to me, looking into my eyes as I looked into hers.

### "Hector, I just heard the news of a new Convict attacking the city." she said.

### "what power?" I asked.

### "water." she replied.

### "they called it a Mayfly."

# To be continued...

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