Halogen Family Ransom

The setting was Rome, 410. The Noble family was sitting down for a dinner party at their extravagant castle with other nobles when suddenly a noise was heard coming from the back cellar; Neon, the son of Helium and Argon is sent to investigate. Neon grabs a piece of aluminum blessed by Zeus the thunder god on the way down, the cellar is immediately illuminated with red light when he enters. He takes a look around, but nothing is out of the ordinary. As Neon turns to leave, he feels a breeze on his shoulder followed by a blunt impact to the side of his head.
The next thing neon he recalls is waking up in a pitch black room. To his dismay, the alluminum he had used before is nowhere to be found. Suddenly he realizes what has happened to him. He has been kidnapped by none other than the arch enemies of the Noble family, the Halogens. This has been going on for many years, the evil gang of Halogens travel around the nation causing mayham within Noble families. They kidnap people out of the blue with no apparent motive other than greed. They are known to demand absurdly high ransoms, sometimes they ask for as much as 20 valence electrons. The Halogens give the victim’s family ten days to deliver. If they do not comply, the victim is never seen again.

Back at the castle: The Nobles are concerned as to why their child has not yet returned to the dinner party. Argon and Helium make their way to the cellar and creep cautiously down the stairs, they call out for Neon but no one responds. They continue deeper into the cellar, Argon notices an object in the distance. “There!” he shouts, the couple rushes over and discovers that the object is only a crumpled wad of paper, they open it at find the following written in dark ugly letters:
“We have your son, bring us 12 noble valence electrons if you want him back, we will be waiting in the cellar of Alkaline castle, you have 10 days”
The Nobles are shocked and distraught over the loss of their child. They do not have 12 noble electrons to offer to the Halogens, they posses a mere 10. The family decides to issue a bounty offering every one of their 10 noble electrons to anyone who can track down and save Neon.
After a few days, two bounty hunters respond to the request. The two bounty hunters go by the name of Hydrogen and Tungsten, they arrive at the Noble castle and are briefed about the kidnapping. The Noble family warns the bounty hunters of the inherent danger present in this mission, but Hydrogen and Tungsten are confident in their abilities.
Six days have passed since his kidnapping and Neon is starting to go insane. “Please” He begs “Take my eight noble valences and leave me and my family be!” The Halogens just chuckle and murmur “Eight is not enough, we need twelve to split evenly between us and the Alkalis, then the Halogen clan will be complete!” a chill runs down Neon’s spine as he imagines a completely negative Halogen clan. All he can do is hope for the best.
After quite a hike, Hydrogen and Tungsten arrive at Alkaline castle and make their way around the castle to the cellar door. The door is locked so Hydrogen slips through and opens it from the inside. The two then proceed deeper into the cellar. Suddenly the cellar door slams shut and all light is cut off, the pair scramble up and down the hall searching for a way out, suddenly Tungsten trips over an object and falls to the ground “owe!” he growls. He feels around for the object he stumbled over and finds a small brick of metal, he takes hold of it and the cellar is lit bright as the current from the Zeus blessed aluminum flows through him. Hydrogen praises Tungsten for his discovery but the glee is short lived, they spot Neon strapped to a chair in a room that opens up from the hallway. His condition is repugnant, he is sickly pale and looks as if his time on this earth is nearly up. Hydrogen and Tungsten rush over to help, as the two struggle to untie him. They freeze when they hear a sinister voice mutter “Look what we have here, and who might you two be?” The voice is unmistakable, it’s Bromine , the leader of the Halogens. Hydrogen and Tungsten are too frightened to speak as they trip over their own words. “Silence!” Bromine beckons. He then snaps his fingers and the rest of his gang appears behind him. “The way I see it, you have two options” says Bromine “Option A: you return to the Nobles and break the news that you have failed your mission and the ransom has doubled to twenty four noble electrons. You will most likely be killed for making the recovery of Neon virtually impossible. Option B: You each donate a few of your electrons, we will take the rest from our friend Neon. It goes without saying that Neon will be killed in this process but you two will get off relativly unscaved.” Hydrogen ponders the two options for a while before speaking “We will never compromise with scum like you, it is our mission to save Neon and we will do whatever it takes to do so!” He declares. “Very well” says Bromine “Seeing as how you two are reluctant to donate your electrons, we will take them by force. Guards seize them!” Fluorine and Chlorine lunge forward, Chlorine snatchs Tungsten and slams him into the ground. Hydrogen attempts to sidestep Fluorine but it’s no use, Fluorines hand brushes Hydrogen. The two react and there is a massive fiery explosion. Neon watches as his life flashes before his eyes. Then he drifts to sleep, and never wakes up. The whole castle is decimated and no one survives.
It has now been ten days since Neon was captured. The Noble family fears for the worst. Argon and Helium decide to ride out to Alkaline castle accompanied by the royal guard. They arrive at ground zero. After seeing the rubble they realize that they are never going to see their son again. With tears running down their faces, a profound thought occurs to them: They live in the world of Chemistry, their life is not a fairy tale. Things are practical, not visceral. You don’t always get what you want and life is hard.