In the year 2024, in the newfound country of Atlantis, Abbie Plasma sat on the rooftop of the city. She wore a rainbow striped half -sleeved shirt, black jeggings, curved eyebrows, and a straight, closed mouth. Her rosy blonde hair was tied in a neat ponytail that curved behind her, and her evergreen colored eyes were accompanied with circular glasses, reflecting off of the rising sun. This building that she sat on was her father’s lab. This lab went by the name of Infinity Laboratories. The lab that was home to the newly built solar extractor. The machine that was planned to power thousands, or possibly millions, of homes in the country. Abbie didn’t expect any less from her father, he had an IQ level of a genius. 

        Whenever Abbie talked about her father’s IQ however, everybody laughed hysterically. She knew they were incredibly rude people, average in this city. If they had truly met Mr. Plasma they would tell he had the IQ of a genius. Of course, Abbie absolutely knew the truth.

     She remembered when her father enrolled themselves in IQ tests. She was five at the time, and the day was her birthday. She would never forget her birthday or their faces. In fact, she giggled at the memory.

  When she walked in the office building to take the tests, everybody looked at her normally. They looked at her father as if the emperor had just walked in the room. Their jaws dropped, almost reaching their shoulder lines, their eyes stretched out wide. At this age, Abbie couldn’t care less, but now, she was sick of the attention. 

She cherished those moments when she was innocent and didn’t have a care in the world. When she could love someone without being told who to love, without being locked into her status.

   She also remembered when she first walked into the office of the tester. She saw a partially bald man, hair looping around his earlobes and grey like uranium. The man sat at a desk with a professional charcoal turtleneck sweater and clean lab coat. He wore silver circular glasses that wrapped around his ears. He also wore a friendly smile to go along with his bright blue eyes.

      “Well, hello there Professor Steinback,” she heard her father say to the man with a welcoming smile. 

      “Mr. Plasma, how nice to see you,” he replied, “and this must be your daughter. She looks just like her mother.”

At these words, she froze. She couldn’t listen to him anymore, especially after he spoke about her mother. The compassionate mother who had to die. The kindest most compassionate person in her entire world had to die.

She was so focussed on the storming thoughts in her head, she could barely hear the professor's following words.

   “It’s very nice to meet you Abbie,” The professor said to her.

All she could do at that moment was stare at the hand reaching down before her. She walked towards her father, hiding behind his left leg.

   “Why don’t we begin the testing, I’m sure my daughter is excited to begin,” she heard her father say. However, even though nobody knew it, she wasn’t ready at all.

     “Feel free to select a position to sit at, I will bring your test papers to you in a few minutes,” the professor said to them. After a few moments, Abbie received her test. She looked at all the questions and completed them all with confusing ease. She checked over them one last time, flipping the endless pages, for what seemed to last hours. She kept a straight face, for she could not forget what had happened. She felt as if she couldn’t get over her mother’s death again, even though she had before. 

A couple weeks later, she received her test scores. Another week forward, she received a newspaper from The Atlantian’s Currency. The title of this newspaper was, “Five Year Old Girl Receives a One-Hundred Eighty and Father with Two-Hundred One.”

Abbie may not have known it then, but her life was about to change drastically. It did. From then forward, everyone crowded around her. The news, famous scientists and mathematicians, her teachers, and most of the population of Atlantis. 

   Now and days, she would pay anything to escape from the trophy case she was placed on and the hole dug out by her father’s reputation. She would do anything to find someone to be her friend that wasn’t just with her to gain status. Possibly someone to love, but it didn’t matter. She just wanted someone to share a possible freedom with.

   She sat looking out into the rainbow sky dawning on her complicated country. She kicked and swayed her legs back and forth repeatedly feeling the air bouncing between her strides. The only constant thing in her life, the one thing that supported her always. She felt this force blowing through her hair while her thoughts surrounded her mind. Whirling around her overestimated brain. She peacefully looked down at her watch, ending her peace in an instant.

  She was late for her father’s meeting with the president of Atlantis.

Zoey watched the city of Atlantis from another view, the skyscraper of “Buy and Sell Exchanges”. She looked into the mists of her city from another perspective, the city of wealth and luxury. A city that could erase the devastating memories of her father’s passing. Still, memories of the letter of her nightmares still remained in her mind. Memories from when she was seven years old.

    She remembered that her father worked for “Buy and Sell”. He was an important asset to the company, so the company sent him on many expeditions through the forest. She was as the company building to finish the mission her beloved father never did. That mission was to find the Huntera wolves. She was around nine years old when she received the letter to an internship at the company. At this age she was old enough to partially understand how to take on the pressure of the economy. 

   Unlike Abbie Plasma however, people often underestimated her. In fact, whenever she saw people carrying a newspaper with Abbie’s face on it she scowled, rolled her eyes, walked away, and then sighed quietly. She was jealous of the mystery person she saw in those newspapers, for she had a father that was famous. Her father died four years previously and was underestimated like her, because her father cooperated with a simple exchange company.  She knew her father deserved better for as long as she could remember. He didn’t deserve the fate the universe installed on him. 

    She turned away from the multi-panelled windows to look at an enormous portrait of her father, enclosed in a golden frame. He wore a dark navy business suit with a white collared shirt beneath it. He had wrinkles around his mouth and eyes and he wore a serious expression on his face. His hair was a whitish blonde complementing his pale skin. You could tell from the photo that he was fit, for his body kept a strong build. He stood behind a black background, and at the bottom of the golden frame a label lay in between deep engulfed swirls. The label read, “Curtis N. Lewie- An Efficient Asset.” 

    Zoey chuckled and sighed, she knew her father was much more than they could even describe. She admired their attempts to venerate her father, but she always knew they only cared about the money. Still, she hoped that she would complete the mission. She knew that she would regret doing nothing if she turned away. She hoped she wouldn’t fall into their pit too.  

   Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice, the president of the company’s voice. 

“Ms. Lewis?” He called in a welcoming manner.

 Zoey looked down from the portrait in an attempt to detach from the inspiring moment they were in, then she looked up into her father’s crystal blue eyes one final time.

 “The team is ready for you in the office, you are welcome to present yourself,” he called to her again. 

Zoey turned away from her father, the portrait staring at her from behind. 

Then she answered her boss by saying, “I’ll be right there!”

     There she was, 10:45 p.m. sharp. Five minutes late, nothing she wouldn’t expect from herself. She stared into a long hexagon shaped table made of shiny, black metal lined with clean, white, thin lines that gazed into the distance where another window stood. Eight complimenting chairs accompanied the table.  Seven people accompanied these chairs, leaving one chair (the chair closest to the door she used to enter the room) for her to sit in. The president of the company stood at the opposite side of the table. He wore a head full of curly white hair paired with a white curly beard. He wore wrinkles on his forehead sliding down to curve around the outer edges of his eye creases. He wore a black suit paired with a white and black stripes collared shirt.  

    On the left side, three people sat in their assigned chairs. These three people were the co-president of the company, the president’s assistant, and the co-president’s assistant. The co-president was an African-American woman with black incredibly short hair. She wore an evergreen colored turtleneck sweater covered by a black cardigan. The president’s assistant was an Australian man with shaggy blonde hair tied in a man-bun. The man wore a red and white striped collared, long-sleeved shirt with black jeans. The assistant of the co-president was an American man with black hair that was gelled down to curve away from his face. He wore a blue v-necked sweater. 

    On the right side, three people also accompanied the chairs. These people were the secretary and the others worked with the military organization that was in charge of the Huntera wolves before they went missing. The secretary sat closest to the president and was an American woman. She wore a light blonde ponytail that landed on a fuchsia tank top that was concealed with a black cardigan. Both of the military workers were men that were of the Atlantean race. Zoey had heard that they were born not long after Atlantis rose up from the water from continetial pressure. She admired the phenomenon and always wondered how it was possible. They both had turquoise hair that was pulled the the area under their hats. Their uniforms consisted of cyan camouflage.

     Zoey stood facing them all, about to take a seat. Her long and dark magenta hair stood out from all of theirs. So did her dark navy sweatshirt and black ripped jeans, but she didn’t care about her appearance. She wouldn’t wear anything else to one of the most stressful meetings she would ever be present in. Her freckled face and worried hazel eyes seemed to be overlapped with her curved eyebrows. She quickly took her moment and sprinted to her seat to face the president.

   She was slightly familiar with the people accompanying her, but she was still stressed.

   “Hello again Zoey, we are glad you could meet us here again. I presume that you are prepared for your mission?” the president asked her.

   She coughed and then replied, “Well, I’ve trained for years for this, so I suppose I am.”

   “This is no easy task, the forest will be full of danger. Do not forget what happened to your father,” a military man spoke. 

   At this, Zoey peered down at the table with sorrow in her eyes. However she still managed to reply, “I w-wont… I will never.” 

   “Well then, I think you are ready to sign the papers,” the co-president finished. 

  Zoey completed the papers quickly, only thinking about her goal. At last, the meeting finished. She was dismissed to take a taxicab to reach the Huntera Forest.

     On the drive there, all she thought about was her father. All her fears and worries surrounded her mind at that moment, but one thought was able to spill out.

  What would my father think about this, about me?   

    A teenage Japenese boy named Alex Zanders, lived in the middle class area of Atlantis. This area was filled with colorful apartments that were are jumbled together. This place was very noisy, but not as noisy as the city. Day by day, cars would honk their horns in an attempt to magically make traffic disappear. 

       Alex lived in a bright red apartment that complimented his vermilion-colored sweater. This sweater was not a turtleneck and it was not neatly collared, for Alex wore a sweater that complimented his wishes for his world. Simple and ordinary. 

   He had to admit that he didn’t live a very busy life. His daily to-do list was to eat a decent breakfast and stay with his streak of B- 's at his high school.

He also had to admit that he wasn’t a perfect student. He would laugh in the classroom if one of his classmates made a simple joke. This act would get him a detention in the high-class country of Atlantis. 

     He was sort of the odd-one-out. Most of his classmates wore collared sweaters and jewelry made from the rarest jewels. They would stay quiet and follow all protocol, and when they did speak, they would talk in British accent and perfect Atlantean (the language of the Atlantean people). Alex would find himself at a dead end in the hallway (even though he had been at the school for years now) and was still learning Atlantean, since he had moved to Atlantis five years previously when his family emigrated from Japan.

   He didn’t remember much from his time in Japan, but he did remember that life was simple. His family lived in a very small house, but they were happy. He was never exactly sure why they moved, but that was when his happiness ended.

  Alex stood in his apartment. Floor 57, room 23.

The apartment consists of a small galley kitchen, one medium sized bedroom, one and a half bathrooms, a living room, and dozens of large windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling.  Alex stood in the galley kitchen, standing in front of the matt black island with a clean white countertop. He was gazing into the living room windows that were right in front of him. 

    He watched as the clouds moved across the sky to paint different pictures. Alex sighed as he rested his elbow on the countertop and thought about his day. Questions brought more traffic into his world.

 When will I have a peaceful life again?

When will people understand me?

When will I find happiness? 

 Suddenly a sound interrupted his thoughts. Ring, ring, ring.

He moved his hand to grasp the object that was continuously ringing.

He grasped it and peered down at the object. The object was his phone, a charcoal black Asus 9.909. On that phone, he saw that his uncle was calling him, Uncle Stevens.

    Alex’s Uncle Stevens worked at Infinity Laboratories, and was the head Doctor. He was the person that first found a job in Atlantis.

  Alex answered the phone and asked, “Hello, Uncle Stevens?”

  “Good evening, Nephew. Are you at your apartment? I would like to meet you at Infinity Labs at 11:30.” Uncle Steven’s replied.

“Yes, I am, it’s Saturday.” he replied in a tone that showed that he was already slightly annoyed.

 “How pleasing,” the phone translated.

 “Why do you want me to meet you at Infinity Laboratories?” he asked curiously.

 “I have a proposition for you, but I will explain that at the meeting.”

 “What is it? How many people will be there?” he asked nervously.

 “Are you deaf, Alexander? Why do you care how many people are there?”

 “I have social anxiety, remember? Why do you have to be so rude?”

 “I’m sorry Alex, I forgot…,” his uncle replied apologetically. “I want you to be there, it’s important. For your information, I only know that five people will be there.”

“Who?” Alex asked quickly, but it was too late. His uncle had ended their conversation by hanging up the phone.

Mariah Curie grew up in the bustling city. She had a career in fashion modeling for the magazine entitled Mira Mirror. She had worked in a modeling agency since she was three years old, but she always knew that she was made for some other purpose. 

    She never fit into the ‘popular group’ at school, even though she was in pictures in magazines. She was always the quirky, nice, and shy girl. This was partly why she felt she didn’t fit into the modeling world. She also didn’t like to have relationships with people who only cared about what she looked like and how much she was pictured in magazines. She had always begged her mother to let her quit her modeling career or even simply allow her to participate in a book club. 

   Her mother seemed to want her daughter to be selfish, bratty, and centered around her own beauty. This was first shown when she was seven years old and she asked to go to a movie with her nerdy friends. Her mom had asked who her friends were. Mariah was very naive back then, and told her mom who they were. Her mother kept asking questions, and finally popped the truth out of her daughter. When she discovered that she was friends with nerds and geeks, she precluded her relationships with her friends. 

  Other times, she went with her to the book clubs when she had enough of her daughter’s whining. She had sat at the table with all the compassionate mothers who had spent hours of their personal time organizing the book club. Her mother had worn a particularly sparkly dress and a lot more expensive makeup than she usually wore. Then when the children began to eat along with her daughter, her mom would throw insults about them and  brag about how rich their family was. 

 Whenever Mariah’s mother took her home, she would sprint up to her bedroom, slam her door angrily, and hop on her bed. She would cry miserably for hours because even at her age, she knew that this behavior from her mother would never stop. She felt enclosed in a cage because she had no one to go to about her troubles because her dad had perished in what her mother called a ‘car crash’ and she had no friends that her mother wouldn’t take away. She couldn’t reunite with her friends either because her mother made a terrible impression on them. 

       Whenever her mother left for an appointment, she would leave Mariah at her home. These were the happiest moments of her life. Mariah would hop on her bed happily and pull out her favorite books. These books varied by subject and the number of pages they held, but they always filled Mariah with an unexplainable joy.  

   Mariah was seventeen years old now, and she still cooperated with her mother. She felt she had no choice, because her mother was always so controlling. At this age, she still had to live in her mother’s penthouse since she wasn’t eighteen years old yet. 

    At the moment, Mariah was watching a fashion show. This was because she convinced her mother to allow her to have a break from catwalking. For whenever she catwalked, her joints began to fill with inexplicable pain. This was because she had been diagnosed with Chondromalacia two years previous. This condition caused her joints to crackle, and her mother had to turn the music up really loud to distract the audience from noticing. This also caused Mariah to gain symptoms of Hyperacusis (hearing disorder), but her mother didn’t seem to care. 

   After the fashion show, Mariah decided that she had had enough of her mother’s control. After they came in their penthouse, she stared straight into her mother’s eyes.

   “I have had enough of your control, Mother!” she yelled. 

  “What on earth are you talking about?” her mother asked, acting confused.

  “What am I talking about? You have controlled me my entire life by telling me what to do and how to do it. You destroyed my relationships, and forced me to stop pursuing my dreams. You don’t seem to care that I am not healthy. I am leaving this house to pursue my dreams and I will not let you incapacitate me again!” Mariah yelled in reply.

  Her mother looked shocked as she laid her hand to her chest while Mariah ran upstairs to pack her belongings into a suitcase.

   I cannot believe I just did that. 

  Mariah thought as she swiftly pulled all of her most precious belongings. She packed five of her favorite books, including Marie Curie: A Scientific Breakthrough and Einstein: A Farmer to an Award Winning Scientist. She packed her phone, her phone charger, several pairs of clothes, and a blanket that was given to her by her ‘father’ before going downstairs. 

   She raced downstairs to grab three water bottles, her wallet, and containers full of food (just in case she couldn’t find anywhere to eat). 

Finally she began to run out the door, but something stopped her. Her mother grasped her wrist forcefully. Then she began to say something.

“You will come home again to me, Daughter. You may run, but you cannot hide from this cruel world,” she says, and lets go of her daughter’s arm.

   As Mariah left her penthouse, she remembered what her mother said to her. 

  You cannot hide from this cruel world. 

 That sentence sends chills down her spine.

  What did she mean, “Cruel World”?

Abbie Plasma jumped off the roof of Infinity Laboratories and jumped into her bedroom window. She threw clothes around the room, desperately looking for something formal to wear. She knew this meeting was important to her father, so she wanted to look her very best. 

   After searching her walk-in-closet for something wearable, she decided on a pair of smooth black jeggings, and a dark navy sweater with a clean white collar. She ran into the shower, switching on the hot water, and hopped out after partially cleaning her hair with conditioner. Then she pulled her sweater over her head, and pulled her leggings onto her legs. She stormed through her damp hair with her hairbrush.

  She sprinted to leave her bedroom before her brain reminded her to grasp for her circular prescription glasses and her phone. Swiftly, she grasped her belongings, and headed out the door. 

     Walking along the halls, she thought about how the solar extractor could change lives for the better. This machine could bring light to people that didn’t have access to light before. She didn’t believe it could have any extreme negative sides, because her father had said that the construction was going very “smoothly”. 

     At last, she arrived at a big open stage with people gathered beside it. Hundreds accumulated into thousands in a matter of minutes. Abbie stepped down the side-stairs to stand in the very front row. This was what her father called “a meeting”. Although, she was not at all surprised. Her father was always ‘grand’.

     She watched as crowds continued to amass as her father appeared on the stage. He stood at the stand and hit the mic. 

  “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to witness an economical phenomenon! I will begin my speech by saying, we are just entering a new chapter of our economic greatness. Together we can bring a new age to energy to Atlantis!” He said into the mic. “The solar extractor will transfer energy from that big ball of flaming gas up in our solar system, and unleash its capability of powering millions of homes in the country. My team and I are working on learning all the capabilities and futures this contraption can unleash. In fact, we are going to invest ninety percent of our income into improving this machine.” 

  At these words, her heart seemed to stop for a second.

Ninety percent of our income? Her father never mentioned anything about that to her.

 Thoughts stormed her mind while her father continued to speak. 

   He always had conversations about their investments, always. 

 They always used their income frugally.

 Most importantly, they never made promises they couldn’t keep.

 Her father’s bank account was wealthy, but not glutted.

 They didn’t have enough income to donate ninety percent of it.

He had to be lying, he was too arrogant.

 Now, she knew her dad occasionally reverted back to his arrogant ways for a short amount of time. However, this action was extreme. Suddenly, Abbie heard her father say the magic words.

   Let the show begin.

 The words they had went over many times.

  Let this moment be remembered as the turning point of Atlantean history!

  She heard a loud boom.

  Then she saw a golden light wash over the atmosphere. The show had begun, the solar extractor had been switched on. The moment seemed peaceful, until she heard ear-bleeding screams. She heard loud crashes, and people in pain. Instinctively, she ran onto the stage. However, it was too late. 

  She looked up to see rubble crashing down on the stage. Her nerves had felt like they had been supercharged. Suddenly, she ran. Faster and faster, she ran. She ran into accumulating flames and winds. 

    The flames and winds blinded her and left her dizzy. Then something hit her. All she could see was an electric blue void as she fell down onto the gravel…

   Zoey waited in the taxi, sitting on the black leather seating as she watches the city turn into suburbs. 

     “Do you know how much longer this car right will last?” she asks the driver, attempting not to sound impatient. “Not to be impatient or anything...,” she quickly finishes, now attempting to clear up her impression on the driver.

  “I believe we are going to stop at the entrance to the Huntera Woodlands. The drive there will last for around… twenty minutes,” the driver kindly replied. 

    At this, she sighed. She couldn’t wait to finish this chapter in her life, to avenge her father’s death. She wasn’t quite sure what she would do when this chapter was finished, and she didn’t exactly know what she really wanted for herself. She only knew that she wanted to make her father proud of her. 

     The taxi veered to the entrance of the woodlands with a loud screech. Twenty- five long minutes had passed, they were at their destination. 

   “This is your stop, Ms. Lewie. Will I be picking you up?” The driver asked her in a sincere voice.

Zoey simply stared into the distance, contemplating the situation. She didn’t want to perish on her mission, but she wasn’t sure if she would survive. She didn’t want to leave her driver hanging, but she also didn’t want to be hanging alone with nobody to bring her back to her city, her home. She thought about the drive there and how long it was. The drive must’ve taken several minutes, if not hours. She was a skilled runner, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to travel to the city on her own two legs. 

 “I… I don’t know yet… maybe? I mean, I don’t want to leave you hanging out here in night or day…,” she started. 

    “I’m fine waiting for you, it’s my job. However, I do have a family to look after. Here’s what I’ll do, I’ll order another driver to pick you up. If you don’t  come out of the forest after they wait for a couple hours, then I will have to order them to leave,” the driver replied. 

  “And what if I am just injured and had stayed in the forest too long?” she asked. 

  “Then I’ll simply bring an ambulance over if the driver doesn’t see you,” he replied, with a kind smile on his face. 

  With her newfound knowledge, Zoey started walking into the forest. Still, fear and anxiety remained. She reminded herself that this was for her father. Any noise that came after she started walking, she would drown out of her mind. All her attention was for this moment. 

   After walking into the forest for what seemed like a mile, Zoey saw the sky start to turn to dark. Her throat felt like sandpaper, rubbing back and forth. She was starving and her stomach felt as if a monster was screeching to escape. Taking a break, she sat on a tree stump.

“Father, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I can’t go any farther. You have to understand, I’m doing this for you,” she cried out. She was left without an answer. Sighing, she finally realized that her father was never going to answer her. He was never going to return from that forest, he was never going to hug her tightly again. Squeezing her arms, she remembered the last time she saw her father.

“Dad, when are you going to return again?” a seven-year old Zoey asked her father from the doorway. Her hair was light blonde and reached no lower than the tips of her shoulders. 

“I’m not sure…,” her father answered uncertainty. She didn’t realize it then, but this was her final warning. This was a sign that her father didn’t know if he was going to return, going to survive. “You have to promise me, Zoey, that you will stay strong. No matter what happens to me. You have to promise-”

Her memory was interrupted by a bright light in the distance. The light was blurry from the strong tears in her eyes that she couldn’t wipe away. Still, she attempted to keep a stiff upper lip; she didn’t sense any real danger at the moment. When the bright and blurry light moved closer and closer to her, now she noticed it. Running in the other direction, not thinking, she attempted to run away. Unfortunately, she was too distracted to think rationally. If she was thinking in her right mind, she would run out of the way, not in the direction the car was driving. If she was thinking rationally, she wouldn’t have blacked out. 

   The next moment, she saw daylight and the inside of the car. Broken glass punchered her flesh, and multiple beer bottles sat broken beside a sleeping man in a red flannel and brown beard. This was all she saw until she found herself in a large, dark cave.

Dizzy, she attempted to sit up. She winced, now feeling the strong pain that surrounded her body. Before she realized she wasn’t alone, she heard a voice. “Why hello, what is your name?” The voice came from an unknown entity and sounded childish. 

“Woof-Paw, don’t scare her, she just experienced a traumatizing accident,” an older voice replied, “how are you feeling, dear? Comfortable? I would expect not-” before the nonentity could respond, Zoey interrupted. 

“Where am I? What am I doing here? What happened to me?” she asked swiftly, not realizing whether she was acting rude or just innocent.

  “Calm down, sweetie. You are safe with us,” the older voice replied to her endless questions. 

Zoey opened her eyes, extremely curious to discover who the mysterious entity. Finally realizing, she screamed, “Who are you? How can I understand you?!” In front of her sat two silver wolves.

  “We are the Huntera wolves your company has been trying to find. Now, you cannot turn us in, for you are one of us now…,” the taller, fluffier wolf replied. 

“I’m a wolf? No, no, no- this is terrible!” Zoey replied anxiously, fearing what she might’ve become.

“Listen to me, you are not a wolf. You are a Huntera, a human that can transform into a wolf.”

“How did this happen?”

“I believe solar radiation did this to you, Miss Lewie,”

“The solar extractor, of course he did this to me ...,” Zoey replied angrily, looking into the exit of the cave to see infinite forests stretching out into the distance.

Alex Zanders prepared to leave his apartment to meet his uncle at Infinite Laboratories. He packed his bag, remembering to bring his ZENELECT 5.0 laptop. As he was about to leave, he looked into the misty view outside his window. Scratching his head, he remembered when he got his first computer. 

At age four, he was about to leave his home to go to a new preschool. 

“Mom, why do I have to go? I don’t wanna go!” he screamed, his hands in tight fists.

“Alex… I know this is hard,” his mother attempted to comfort him with her most kind and sincere voice. She knelt down near her son.

“Do you? You won’t even tell me why we had to leave our amazing home, Mom. You don’t understand how hard this is for me,” he said seriously, taunting his mother.

“You’re right…. You are so smart, my son. I’m sorry I couldn’t understand you more. You have to understand something, though,” she said to him in a whisper. 

“What is it, Mom?” Alex asked.

“The world is a terrible, terrible place, trust no one,” she answered.

He couldn’t stand the memory any more, his most depressing memory. He could not go back to the horrifying moment later that disappointing day.

Swiftly, attempting to pulverize the internal blizzard he was dealing with at  that moment, he hurried out of his apartment. As he stood in the elevator, he looked out the window that demonstrated the selfish city in front of him. 

The view shifted ever so slightly as the elevator went downward a couple floors. Suddenly, he saw the sky turn a shade of gray and he felt a mysterious urge to grasp his laptop.

He obeyed the gut feeling and to his surprise, he felt his computer burning up. This burn was not the usual computer burn when he used it too long, this burn was scorching hot. Curious and frightened, he opened his laptop to see something very peculiar.

A mist of gas was coming out of his computer and the screen was fuzzing in and out of view. At this, he began to panic. Unfortunately, he didn’t even know how much panic his nerves would wield, he didn’t seem to think that his situation could get any worse. All he cared about was getting to the meeting and forcing all of the mental pain out of his system. 

To his surprise, the elevator jerked to a stop. Now, he began to really comprehend the situation he was in. Attempting to call the manager of the apartment complex, he got out his phone. Horrifyingly, his phone was fried like his computer. 

“Somebody help!” he screamed in agony.

To his horror, nobody answered, the air remained silent.

Then the most peculiar and unfortunate event took place. Alex watched from the elevator window as the sky exploded into a bright yellow explosion of eye-piercing light.

After that, he didn’t remember much.

It seemed like an hour or two passed, Alex had found himself on the ground. He attempted to rise up from his uncomfortable position, but when he moved ever so slightly his faced winced in pain. After a few moments of trial and error, he gave up on attempting to rise. He lay his head to the side to see his bruised hand. Surprised another time, he saw to his horror that his hand was twitching repeatedly. Shocked by his discovery, ignoring his wincing pain, he rose up from his position. He attempted to stop his hand from twitching, to control his supernatural wrist. Giving up again, he crouched down in a similar position to what he was in before.

Finally realizing that there was nothing he could do to stop this occurrence, he began to pay attention to the detail consuming everything around him. As he did this, he noticed that small sparks of lightning that wrapped around his body. Suddenly, he rose up uncontrollably. Next, he began to run around the elevator. However, he didn’t run normally, he ran at lightning speed.

Mariah walked out of her past as she walked out of the apartment that held her former home. Her mind was filled with regrets and sorrows, even a few thoughts about what would happen if she returned popped up in her mind. She had made her decision though, she was not returning. She was going to do this, even though her mind was yelling at her to turn back. She knew that her heart was in the right place.

This was the best option, wasn’t it? Going back would be a terrible decision. I cannot, I will not. 

She kept reassuring herself of her decision, and her mind luckily obeyed its host. As she walked, she felt more and more comfortable about her choice.

A few moments passed, and Mariah began to feel calm. She looked up to the sky, expecting to see a bright blue pigment with brushstrokes of white clouds. At first, she saw what she expected to see. Watching the clouds seem to stride on the sky, she noticed something peculiar. 

That’s odd… where did that come from? She asked herself this question as she watched a dark shadow form over the sky. The daylight began to vibrate, slowly changing to a dark grey color. Then the ground began to shake, her nerves began to encharge, and her brain began to ache.

“Is anyone there?” she asked, urgent to know what was happening.

“Someone, help!” she yelled. No one answered her as she cried for someone to help her. 

Though she always felt like she was on her own, she didn’t expect this. In her panic, a memory somehow managed to cross her mind.

“Mother, where has Daddy gone?” her five year-old self asked her mother innocently.

  “Mariah, your father was ... a selfish man who only cared about himself… he left me, your father did. Now, don’t be like your father now, dear, you promise me?”

  “I promise, Mother,” even then, she knew she could not keep her promise. Her life was already falling apart.

  “You know, I was always on my own. Beautiful young ladies with shining complection like us will always be abandoned. My job, as your mother, is to make sure you never get abandoned. To do this, I will never leave you on your own.” her mother lied. Though she may not have known it, she always left her daughter alone. 

The ground began to shake even more as her brain began to ache more painfully. She knelt down on the ground as she continued to lose her balance. As she cowered, she saw the dark cloud in the sky change color suddenly. The sky changed from a dark gray to a bright yellow. Then her vision changed from color to color. This changed her surroundings from their usual gray to several different colors of the rainbow. From red and yellow, to blue and purple her surroundings seemed to change color swiftly.  Every second, a new color caused her vision to fade out until all she could see was a bright, white light.

When Abbie Plasma awoke, she found herself in Infinity Labs. Disgusted to be in a place full of her father’s lies, she attempted to get out of the room. At first, her vision appeared not to be plausible. Soon, her vision recovered. Now, she saw where she was. She lay in a hospital bed with cords strapped to her body (checking her blood flow and giving her supplements of various items) the hospital bed was placed in a small room tiled with polished concrete. In front of her, windows allowed a view of the main headquarters where her father stood. 

“Good morning daughter, I see you have awoken,” her father said to her kindly when he noticed her awakenment. At first, she didn’t reply. Her mind was so full with lies, regrets, and negative enlightenment that if she were to say anything- it would hurt her father and his reputation. Lost with dizziness, she acted irrationally and unlike herself.

“Why would you lie to them, father?” she asked as she pulled the medical cords off of her body, “Why? Answer me!”

Alarmed by his daughters sudden temper, he replied, “What has gotten into you, are you suggesting that I cannot keep my promises?”

“The truth has simply gotten into me,” she replied swiftly and angrily as she got out of her bed and began to walk towards her father. “I know you cannot pay for this because I have checked our income and our accounts. Even if you were telling the truth, you never make this big of a decision without consulting with me first. You have become arrogant and lost in your empire. I did not sign up for this, I did not sign up to watch you tear yourself apart like this,” she walked to the door and out of the room, just fast enough to not hear what her father was going to say.

“I’m not lost by my empire, you are lost with your wish to be plebeian, to be a simple commoner,” her father was going to say as he sighed and watched his daughter walk out of her home.

Abbie sprinted out of Infinity Labs. She could not stand this overly prodigal life. Feeling the conflict within her, she became distracted as she walked across her neighborhood.

He is being too arrogant, his empire is ripping his character away from him.

This provincial life has stretched far enough.

I am going to tell him the truth about what I truly think when I return.

These thoughts stormed her mind as she walked into the unknown. Then a thought outwitted them all.

Does he even know what happened to me?

She wasn’t quite exactly sure what had happened to her. The last thing she saw was a blinding electric blue light, a light she hasn’t seen since then. Submerged in even more curiosity, she looked around herself to see where exactly she was. Somehow, she had run into the middle of a forest covered with leaves that were painted with dozens of several warm pigments. The sky was filled with a deep, dark blue. Trees stretched into the sky and surrounded her as she stood in a gap in their pattern. Her feet were submerged in crunching as she stepped into them. The moon was not in sight in the deep blue above and all clouds were absent from the night. 

Suddenly, she heard other leaves crunch from another direction. Her attention focused on a light that she spotted behind the nearest trees. She felt as if she was being watched as the leaves continued to crackle.

“Why are you here?” she heard someone ask from behind her, “I know who you are, Abbie Plasma.” 

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Oh, of course you have no idea who I am. You, a prodigal that has everything she could ever want. Me, a simple plebeian that happens to be the most unfortunate person in the world,” the mysterious voice replied angrily and sure of itself.

“I am no prodigal, whoever you are, you are not alone. I also deal with unfortunate events. I did not ask to be to most famous child in Atlantis,” she answered willfully. She looked behind her to see a teenager with magenta hair. She did not know it then, but this teenager was Zoey Lewie. Zoey was still in the process of escaping the forest when she stumbled upon her foe. 

“What events have you encountered Ms. Perfect? Both of my parents perished and I have been dealing with poverty my entire life. I have seen you on the front page of every newspaper since my father passed away. Your father is alive and is super famous. Mine is dead, was hard working, and has no voice in this world. My father worked harder than yours did. Your father has ruined everyone’s lives,” Zoey replied in a yell, expressing her true disgust for the Plasmas. 

“How dare you say that. My mother is dead, and my father is being ripped apart-,” she began before she was interrupted.

“Mine is already ripped apart,” Zoey interrupted.

“You know, having a strong reputation isn’t the best thing in the world. You have standards that you cannot keep up with. Carrying the world on your shoulders, being forced to watch as your face appears on everything. True, my father is now ruining everybody’s lives, but he didn’t before. When my mother died, something broke inside him. He tried to keep up with being a good person, at first he was, soon he became stressed about money and his empire. Your father might’ve died physically, but mine died mentally. You don’t have to watch everyday as the person you thought you knew lies and constantly rips himself apart,” Abbie replied angrily, face turning red, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. 

Together, the women just stood in the leaves. Zoey crossed her arms while Abbie placed her palm on her heart, they both looked into the leaves. They had allowed something deep inside of themselves to escape, sharing their misery with someone who understood them. A few minutes had passed before they looked each other in the eyes again.

“So… we need to go somewhere, huh? We can’t sleep in these woods,” Zoey asked her newfound companion calmly. She felt strange, peacefully talking to someone who she had been yelling at some minutes ago. 

Abbie caught Zoey’s gaze and replied politely, “You could return to Infinity Labs with me, I assume that my father may be a bit stressed when he finds me back with a stranger.” 

“Yeah… but isn’t that the best option?” Zoey asked.

“That does cross my mind. You could be right,” Abbie answered kindly.

Once Alex Zanders managed to escape the treacherous elevator, he thought about where he should go.

Staying home would help me to recover, but what do I really need to recover for?

Should I stay on track and go to Infinity Labs as planned? 

Maybe I should go to Xushi Expresso, my favorite Chinese coffee shop in Atlantis, it does remind me of home. I’m not sure why Japan reminds me of China….

What would be the most productive? 

Shouldn’t I try to live up to Atlantean standards?

Alas, he decided to travel to Infinity Laboratories. Even though he wanted a calm life, he knew he needed to live up to the high Atlantean standards sometime in his long years of staying there. This was the time, wasn’t it? He was going to be required to earn a living somewhere, especially since the high school graduation was going to arrive soon. 

Exiting the building with his decision made, he began to walk the half mile to Infinity Laboratories. Waking calmly across the street, he looked up to the sky to find it surprisingly night time already. The last time he looked out a window, it was morning. He also realized that very few lights shone across the skyline. Of course, the Infinity Laboratories building was lit up. However, around four out of every five Atlantean skyscrapers that he saw were lit with their usual lighting. 

Finally, he reached his destination. As he took a moment to breathe it all in, he observed the huge parking lot surrounded by colorful forests and the wide cylindrical building that was accompanied with a dome, glass roof. Tall, concrete pillars aligned the building. The front door was guarded by two more pillars that served as an entranceway.  Bushes and flowers of widely assorted colors accompanied the view itself. Only a few expensive cars sat in the parking lot. He also saw two teenage girls walk through the entranceway. However, he paid it no mind as he walked inside himself.

Inside, the ceiling stretched far overhead towards the dome shaped window above. Two sets of stairs curved to lead scientists upstairs onto a balcony that overlooked him, leading to several different rooms. A futuristic chandelier hangs above him, spreading thin glass cylinders with small needles of light inside of them around the base to form a circular sort of pendant light. The floor below him was formed from a sort of extremely polished dark gray concrete. Windows seemed to form every wall, allowing him to observe many different scientists at work. His surroundings were formed from clean lines from some sort of clear unknown substance. Some meters in front of him stood a curved table meant to serve as a check in desk. One computer lay on the desk as an employee sat at the desk, ready to serve her purpose. The employee wore cat-eye glasses, a collared sweater, and dark brown hair that was tied in a tight ponytail behind her. 

She looked up at him as he continued to stare at her. Finally he mustered enough courage to speak to her.

“Hello? I’m here to sign up for a job,” he said politely to her. 

Before she could reply, another voice answered from behind him. Alex knew this voice from somewhere, but he wasn’t quite sure were he had heard it from.

“Good evening Alexander, I see you survived the explosion from the solar extractor,” the voice answered as Alex looked behind to discover who it  belonged to. 

His suspicions were correct, he did know who the voice belonged to. The owner of the voice was none other than Alex’s uncle. The same uncle who he had spoken to on the phone earlier that morning. He wore black hair than extended down onto his chin to form a black stubble. His pale skin was paired with a white lab coat and a black turtleneck sweater underneath. Eyes were uncovered, showing a bright blue pigment.

“I suppose you missed the meeting because you somehow felt the urge to stare into the distracting windows?” his uncle asked in a monotone. 

“You know me,” Alex answered, unenthusiastically, swinging his arm in contrast with his tone.

“Yes, I do. Now, I suppose you are declining the job offer?” his uncle asked.

“Actually… I am,” Alex answered, unsure of himself.

“Wow, you’re actually using your life for something, great work Alexander,” his uncle answered happily. 

At this, Alex sighed. He was not even going to bother telling his uncle that he was still saying his name incorrectly. His uncle was always a refined and uniform man, always placing certain standards on people that he always expected them to follow. His standards were pretty low, now he was going to be expected to continue exceeding his past standards. 

“Before I go, here is your name tag. You are going to be required to sign into a field of study here by meeting with Mr. Plasma. Now, goodbye Alexander,” his uncle finished, and he just walked away. 

“Bye…,” Alex replied with a sigh as he watched his uncle fade away.

In his hand lay a rectangle of cardstock indented with labels to form the title “Alexander D. Zanders- employee of Infinity Laboratories- Apartment 1101 Swan Ave., Atlantis.” 

Great, now everybody will get my name wrong.

He began to walk mindlessly across the building, dreaming of what he will become. 

What about a computer scientist?

An electrician?

Maybe I could become an engineer.

What if the explosion opened up more opportunities for me? 

What if-

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted. Someone had bumped into him, and they had dropped something.

“I am so, so sorry. Please excuse me, I have to grab them,” the newfound voice answered. 

Alex looked up to see circular glasses on a young woman’s face. These glasses covered deep hazel curious eyes.

The two people continued to stare at each other until Alex Zanders broke the silence.

“Do I know you?” Alex asked her.

A voice behind the woman responded, “Yes, you know her. She is literally in pretty much every newspaper like ever.”

“Zoey, stop it!” the woman responded.

“You know I’m right, Abbie,” Zoey replied.

“I don’t want people to judge me because I’m featured in the press. Just because I’m famous doesn’t make me perfect,” Abbie scowled.

“Wait… you’re Abbie Plasma?” Alex asked, confused.

“Yes, you’ve caught me…,” Abbie replied, putting her hands up in a facetious manner.

“See, she isn’t as smart as you thought is she?” Zoey asked Alex, going along with Abbie’s idea.

“N-no… I wouldn’t say that. I don’t judge people on their intellect. I judge people on their personality,” Alex answered kindly and confidently.

At this, Zoey clapped her hands together in an applause, “Great job, you are just what the genius ordered.”

Abbie simply looked away from Alex and blushed, clasping her hands together.

“Did I say something?” Alex asked the group, confused at their sudden change of emotion.

“Yeah, you sort of said the thing that my new friend here has probably wanted to hear almost her entire life,” Zoey replied, implying that the thing that he had said was pretty fantastic to Abbie. Still, Abbie remained quiet with her face blushing different shades of reds and purples. Alex was still quite confused as the girls stayed quiet for several minutes, he cocked his head to show his confusion to his neighbors. 

“Zoey, don’t pressure him…,” Abbie reminded her friend quietly.

“What do you mean, pressure him? You’re the one being pressured,” Zoey replied.

“Sorry about my friend here,” Abbie apologized politely to Alex.

“No, it’s absolutely fine. By the way, do you know where you can find Mr. Plasma?” Alex asked Abbie kindly.

“H-he’s over in his office… go straight for around twenty-four feet, take a left, and he’ll be right in front of you. I believe he’s refilling his coffee cup around this time so he may be free to speak with you before he continues on his important work,” Abbie answered anxiously, emotions draining the color festival that was appearing on her skin, “I won’t be going with you-”

“You should just show me the way, I’m not used to this place quite yet. I only just arrived into this palace,” Alex interrupted, swiftly taking her hand before she had enough time to even grab the thing she had dropped a few moments before.

“Zoey, help me!” Abbie screamed, surprised by Alex’s sudden moment, as he was leading her away from her friend.

“Sorry, I’m going to talk to a doctor about my injuries from the forest. Don’t worry I’ll grab your notebook,” Zoey replied slyly.

As her friend disappeared from her view, Abbie struggled to keep pace with Alex’s swift strides. Still, she attempted to lead Alex in the right direction. She was nervous about seeing and possibly speaking to her father after their argument. “Walk along this hallway a bit more,” Abbie directed, “Now, take a left…” In front of her stood her father in his usual white lab coat, hair stroked neatly to the left, holding a coffee mug entitled with “Infinity Lab’s” on it. The mug was held uniformly under a machine that poured a warm black substance underneath a metal spout. Alex decided to begin their little conversation.

“Hello, is this Peter Plasma?” Alex asked innocently, his words made Abbie’s face changed to a faint purple, “I am here to sign up for a job here at this fancy place.” 

“Hello there, Alexander Zanders. Your uncle has spoken to me about your potential as a businessman, I’m still not quite sure if I should hire you or not. Do you happen to have your college resume with you?” Mr. Plasma asked him, looking at his daughter through his peripheral vision.

“Umm… has my uncle not told you yet? I haven’t graduated high school yet... ,” Alex replied, feeling his stress begin to simmer inside of him. 

“Hmm, you haven’t graduated. Are you on the honor roll at Atlas Elite? Do you have any experience working in places like these?” Mr. Plasma replied, testing Alex’s gut to see what he could truly withstand.

“No… I think you are misunderstanding my circumstances. I attend Atlania Academy, a public school in the city. I’ve worked at Hangry Happy (fast food place) during my early years of high school…,” Alex replied anxiously.

“I see…,” Mr. Plasma replied, boasting his refined personality, “I’ll speak to you later, Mr. Zanders, please treat my daughter with care. I do not want a commoner placing another mistake inside her head.” At his words, the word had seemed to stop. 

Another mistake?

Commoner?

Abbie’s head was swarming with questions. She was not convinced that her father was fond of Alex, especially with the contrasts in standards and achievements. For some reason, instead of filling her mind about worries of her own, she was focused on her newfound companion’s feelings and well being. 

“Alex,” Abbie began to speak to Alex as they walked along the hallway together, “Are you alright? I’m sorry you guys started off on the wrong foot.”

Moments passed while Alex still did not respond. Alas, they reached the hospital room.

“Yeah, I guess I'm alright. It’s sort of complicated,” Alex finally responded hesitantly as they walked into the hospital room to meet Zoey. Abbie turned her head down to look at her shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world at the moment. 

“Hey, I see you’ve survived,” a familiar voice spoke from across the room. “It wasn’t too bad, was it?”

Abbie and Alex looked up from the floor to see Zoey sitting by a doctor from across the room. They sat in two chairs near a bed that a mysterious person inhabited. Zoey’s arms were being clothed with many long white bandages made from a stretchy cloth, protecting the many cuts she earned while knocking into a car. 

“What happened to you? With those cuts, I’d expect thousands of windows ran straight for you,” Alex asked, confused at why Zoey was being covered with the large amount of bandages that the doctor was securing onto her arms.

At this, Zoey laughed. That was partially the truth. Glass had scared her, but even she knew that glass was an inanimate object and couldn’t move on its own.

“So, Professor, who exactly is the patient that is lying here?” Abbie asked the doctor, curiously, while moving to sit next to the patient that lay near her friend and her employee.

“We haven't quite figured that out yet. We hypothesize that she goes by the name of-” the doctor began before something miraculous interrupted her.

The patient had suddenly jumped up from her sleeping position. 

“Mariah Curie!” the patient had spoken, finishing the doctor's sentence.

“What happened to me? Where am I? What am I doing here? Who are you?” the patient screamed her questions out for what seemed, all the building to hear. 

“Calm down, Mariah. We do not quite know what exactly happened to you. We hypothesize that the explosion from the solar extractor caused this to occur. May we ask you a few questions?” the professor asked Mariah. 

“No, you may not. For your understanding, I was running and an earthquake just appeared out of nowhere and knocked me out,” Mariah answered, stress boiling into her yells of agony. Hands stretched out to her sides, light appeared to come out of them. This light began to glow brighter and brighter from the palms of her hands and seemed to be changing colors. These colors were the same colors Mariah saw right before she fell unconscious.

“What is that?” Alex asked, alarmed.

“Why should I know? This has never occurred before,” the professor replied in shock. 

The light glowed across the room, spreading clear liquid orbs around the room, stretching across people’s faces. As Mariah became stressed about what she was apparently doing, the orbs moved around the room even faster until a blizzard of color was occuring in their surroundings.

“I promise, I do not know what is happening!” Mariah screamed, alarmed and scared about what she was doing. 

The light seemed to cling onto Alex’s hands as the lighting seemed to form off of them. This lightning was similar to the lightning he accumulated in the elevator earlier in the day. This lightning grew as more light swarmed to Alex’s hands, recharging the energy inside of him. Energy traveled to every electronic in the area, attempting to find some source to contain the energy. Fear boiling up from inside him seemed to control the lightning and created more powerful and dangerous bursts to travel out of his hands, into the machines, and frizzed the electronics, overpowering the system. 

As this was occurring, light began to travel to Abbie’s hands. The light changed her pale skin to a faint blue. This blue traveled up to her veins, into her eyes, changing her regular hazel iris to an extremely light blue. Her hands changed the temperature of the air around her to freeze to a colder temperature. 

Taking charge of the situation, Abbie commanded the professor with her words, “Run out of here, tell no one. My father cannot know about this, do you understand?” She told the professor, this caused the professor to nod her head seriously and sprint out the door.

As soon as the professor left the room, the storm began to whirl more vigorously. Now affecting Zoey, her hands began to burn. Her fingernails allowed blood to stream onto the floor, leaving room for her nails to build up layers and length. Silver fur began to pop out of her fingers, swiftly growing the tiny hairs that had inhabilited her tan skin. 

“Guys! How do we stop this?” Zoey asked angrily, angered at the storm that swarmed around the group. 

“I don’t know!” Mariah yelled out, tears streaming down her face. Her hands hurt from being forced to remain severely active during the event, controlling the energy that whirled around her. 

“Listen, you need to calm down. Crying will not stop any of this, trust me,” Zoey replied to Mariah’s cry, feeling her emotions change constantly, allowing her true feelings to become vulnerable. This caused Mariah to smile, but the storm still swarmed around them. The group shut their eyes, feeling the energy around the, finally feeling their emotions strangely let go. Abbie’s eyes began to accumulate small tears. These tears rose from her eyelids and joined the storm. Alex’s hand moved towards hers as his feelings pulsed through his mind. His fingers grasped hers gently as his hate, love, and peace flowed through him, joining the storm. Everyone’s feelings flowed through this storm, joining each other's. For the first time, they felt a strong bond. One bond that no force could break, a bond that could fight through all their sadness and pain. This bond calmed the storm as their energy became controlled. The peace they felt through the connection controlled the storm and their abilities. At last, the storm rested to a stop and their bodies reverted to how they were before the storm. Abbie’s icy blue irises reverted back to their usual deep hazel, veins letting go of their blue along with it. The lightning that pulsed in and out of Alex’s skin rested to a stop, resting onto their proper habitat. Zoey’s skin reverted to its normal lengthed hair and tan color. The light that came from Mariah’s hands faded as the storm disappeared from sight. 

As soon as everything reverted back to how it was a moment ago, the group’s consciousness faded away. Abbie and Alex fell onto the polished concrete floor below them. Zoey’s head rested on her palm as her body slouched onto the chair that she was sitting on. Mariah’s head rested on the headboard of her hospital bed as her body reverted back to a similar position to how it was the last time she was unconscious. Time had appeared to stop as their bodies stayed there in place, unconscious, exhausted from the energy shortage they had suffered.

In the more run down area of Atlantis, a dark neighborhood is almost abandoned. The streets are full of dull buildings with cobwebs connecting them together. The roads are made of old gravel that has been deconstructed by its poor construction, the remains are nothing but rubble. A gray sky accompanied the gray, run down buildings. In the last building that someone still inhabited, the lights were dimmed. Their kitchen was a mess and the electronics were frizzling. The explosion from the solar reactor had even managed to reach this part of the country. 

Only one person inhabited this apartment room, that person was the son of Andrew Atoms. This person went by the name of Adrien Atoms, and he still remembered what had happened to his father.

When he was only seven years old, his life had taken a turn for the worst. To this day, he still remembered this life changing event by heart.

Young Adrien sat by his father’s weak body as the yellow goo from the machine began to spread onto the floor eventually reaching his jeans. He wore a scared and confused expression on his face as he knelt down by his father, tears began to drip down his cheeks onto his father’s forehead.

“Adrien… is that you?” his father asked his son, barely even able to make the words out.

“Yes, yes father, its me… you can talk to me father…,” Adrien responded swiftly, tears now falling down his face. His father placed his gooey hand on his son’s cheek, wiping away his tears. 

“I don’t- I dont want you to go…,” Adrien cried, knowing his father’s fate is near.

“I know my son,  I don’t want to leave you either. You have to listen to me before my time is out…,” his father answered quietly, attempting to make the most out of the little breath he had left.

“What is it?” Adrien asked willfully, dying to know what his father’s last words were.

“I need you to-” his father attempted to reply, hesitant about the proximity of his death.

“Yes?” Adrien replied, encouraging his father to keep going.

“Never…,” his father replied, knowing his time is about done.

“Father, talk to me!” Adrien screamed as his father’s palm lowered to the floor, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

“Stop…,” his father used his last remaining time with a sigh, losing his final breath.

“No, this cannot be, I can’t lose you too!” Adrien screamed in agony, realizing that both of his parents have perished on the same night. His mother had perished just before telling him to go to his father, the father that is lying dead at that very moment.

“No!” he yelled once more. “No…,” he followed his scream with a silent cry, kneeling his head on his father’s chest in tears.

As Adrien returned to the present, tears were falling down his face. Walking over to the other side of the room, he strode towards a cork board filled with pins and red strings of yarn. In the middle of the cork board, the string of yarn ended at a final pin. That pin pierced a colorless photo with Peter Plasma’s face on it. Adrien brought his fist back and transformed his fist into a hoof. With all of his might, he punched the photo. This punch knocked the photo off the cork board as he walked away, with a sinister smile on his face.

Abbie Plasma is the first to wake up from unconsciousness after the storm. As she struggled to open her eyes, she remembered what had happened before she fainted. The most peculiar and surprising thing had just happened, and she was very curious about why. As she lifted herself up from the polished concrete floor, she was able to take a decent look at her surroundings. Electronics still frizzling from Alex’s electricity, the others lay unconscious. She knew her newfound companions wouldn’t wake anytime soon, so she decided to pursue her curiosity. Slowly walking out of the room she had been in for who knows how long, she carefully walked into her bedroom. This room had been around seven meters away from the hospital room, so she wasn’t required to travel far.

Her bedroom was a rectangular shape with clean, white walls. A large circular window took up most of the space of the wall you would first see when you walked in. Blinds were tied to the sides of this window, allowing a midnight light to shine over the darkened room. Her queen size  bed was placed on the wall to the right of the window, three meters away from a small metal desk on the opposite wall. A watercolor painting of a palm leaf hang above her desk, complementing her simple white duvet. Walking towards her desk, she shifted a curved white chair behind her. This chair was curved in a shape that supported her posture while attaining a modern look. One macbook sat on her desk, covered in floral covering, near a clear cup of pens and pencils. The bright light from her macbook blinded her as her eyes adjusted. Once her eyes adjusted, she pulled out a drawer to hold a clear injector. 

Carefully, she injected herself with the tool. Inside, the tool held a sample of her blood. Next, pulling out a small machine around the size of her fist ,she poured the sample into a tube. This tube was placed inside the cylindrical black machine, and that machine was plugged into her macbook. Loading the data from the machine into her macbook, she awaited her results.

A few seconds later, an image popped onto her screen along with a paragraph of data that was collected. The photo showed a microscopic image of the sample, cells moved around the blood at a lightning pace, icy blue spheres accompanied the cells. These spheres moved at an impeccably slow pace, spreading small crystals wherever they moved. Small mists of light travels alongside the orbes. Only becoming curiouser by the photo, she decided to read the paragraph beside the photo.

“Blood contains seven percent plasma, eighty-three percent average blood, and ten percent solar energy. Temperature is seventy degrees fahrenheit. Changed drastically previously.” 

This paragraph confused her, but made a lot of sense in context of her abilities. The solar energy in her blood may have been why she couldn’t tell that her body was drastically colder. With so much cold inside of her, her powers were cold themed. She could not explain were her abilities came from, but she also couldn’t explain why all of the people she had met that they were given similar abilities from the same event. Since she was a scientist with no reliable evidence, she decides to attempt to test her abilities.

Lifting her arm to her side, bending her elbow to hold your palm horizontally beside her, she closed her eyes. Mustering all her energy to conjure the mists, she cleared her mind. This act was very challenging since her mind had been a whirlwind most of her lifespan. Eventually, she felt her hand becoming slightly colder. This feeling was confusing, as her hand became colder, she also felt it becoming warmer.

Curiosity overcoming her once more, she opened her eyes to discover what her hand was exactly conjuring. A small electric blue flame danced in her fingertips as her palm contained its source. The longer she stared at the flame, the proximity of her attention span increased. Eventually, her mind took over, bombarding her with thoughts once more. She couldn’t clear her mind any longer, her thoughts were begging for her attention. 

As the flame disappeared, her thoughts finally seized control.

My flame is warm and cold, is it some sort of plasma? 

Possibly Icy Plasma?

The explosion affected the whole country, are my companions the only people who were affected?

Surely, some other person was affected.

If the explosion could give practically anyone in the country supernatural abilities, could the country become more dangerous?

Did the explosion affect the genes of people who were given these supernatural abilities?

Questions attacked her brain, constantly asking her for answers.The only reasonable answer she could brainstorm would be, “yes”. She wasn’t sure if that answer would be wrong. She remembered that she learned about plasma when she was around eight years old. Unfortunately, all she could remember was that it was one of the forms of matter and took the form of lightning. She remembered when she first saw the Atlantean Academic Museum of High Class Scientific Discovery. This was the only museum that her father would allow her to visit.

An eight year old Abbie Plasma stood at one of the exhibits at the museum in her country. Her hair was tied in two dirty-blonde braids, extending down her back, reaching the area around her elbows. Wearing a soft dress in her favorite color, autumn yellow, her arms rested gracefully and comfortably. Staring at the glowing orb, lightning frizzling out of an energy source in the middle of the inside, her eyes widened. She had to admit, she was fascinated at the sight of a scientific wonder. This wasn’t the first time she felt this feeling, the feeling of exploring a world full of possibilities, but she still quite enjoyed it. This feeling kept the weight of her world off her shoulders, and to this moment she still was in awe at its ability to wonder.

Sitting at her desk, she contemplated whether it should be truly called “plasma”, the glowing icy flame.

I’m not sure if dry ice fire exists yet.

Do I even know what this is? It isn’t like anything I know of.

She knew she was smart, but she also knew that no ordinary genius could crack the secret to what the flame she held truly was. Again, she felt the feeling of wonder, of awe, of freedom. This was another thing no ordinary genius could discover.

What is this feeling?

Why is this feeling?

As her boredom struck her once more, she decided it was time to start moving. Moving out of her chair, comfortably and calmly, she scooted the chair behind her. Her mind was still hypothesising.

Other people could’ve have been affected with the explosion too, they had to have been.

Abbie Plasma sat on her bed, feet touching a soft gray-and-white-stripe- patterned rug, head looking down at her toes. Sun shining into her room gently through the window across her. Her feet were covered in grey socks, since she had taken her sneakers off of them before she sat on her bed. She moved her toes up and down, sliding against each other, moving on and off of her rug. Still staring down at the floor, she tied her hair in a ponytail behind her. Eyes closing gently, she rested her palms on top of her black jeggings, holding her hands together to form a shallow-cup shape. Fingers massaging each other, she breathed in and out slowly. Breathing the air in, she furrowed her eyebrows. Breathing the air out, she opened her eyes with her decision made.  

She had to tell her father about this, about everything. If there are more people receiving abilities from the explosion, the receivers could use their abilities for bank robberies as easily as they could to help a cat down from a tree. Some thorough training would be crucial if they don’t want the world to explode in chaos. The thing that made this whole thing so hard for her was the fact that she knew her father wouldn’t act calmly about this. Even “not act calmly” was an understatement. Simply just speaking to him would be a challenge within itself since the last time they talked, it didn’t go so well. Still, she knew that she had to do it. She had to talk to him, had to stand up and say something, or it would become an even worse situation. 

Seizing her situation, Abbie jumped up from her position,suddenly and smoothly. Unbending her legs in such a way that seemed at if she straightened out a book vertically. The comforter on her bed seemed to pop upwards as she stood on her carpet, straightening itself in the process. Her toes rubbed themselves onto the carpet, savoring all of its fibers. Before walking over to the door, she slipped a pair of checkered slip-on sneakers onto her feet. Once her feet were comforted in the soles of their coverings, uniform in the design of the shoes, she lifted her arms from her sides and twisted her waist back and forth in a circular motion. Stretching her body, preparing herself to change her situation entire, taming her internal storm. Alas, she began to walk out of her room, crossing the carpet on to the polished concrete. After what had seemed like fifteen minutes of slow paced walking into the forever curing hallway, she reached her destination. 

In front of her stood a tall black stained glass door. Behind it, her father’s office stood covered with floor-to-ceiling windows that mimicked the door. Swiftly reading the fine printed label on the door, she confirmed her memory. The label read, “Peter O. Plasma- CEO of Infinity Laboratories”. This was indeed, her father’s office. Anxiously lifting her arm up to the door, her knuckles rested upon the glass. 

Am I sure I want to do this now? This moment?

Yes, if I turn back now…

Interrupting her thoughts, she moved her arm off the door and stressfully back onto it repeatedly, forming a knocking sound.

If I turn back now I will never be able to make myself do it again.

In reply to her knock, a familiar man answered, “Yes? Who is it this time?” a voice asked. 

Dad…

Her eyes opened wide in wonder, for the first time in the last few years, she was glad to be talking to her father. She had to admit, she had begun to dread being so far from him. Not being able to laugh with him, to smile at his dad-jokes, was harsh. A smile began to form as her eyes began to water. However, she let it fade. This was not the time to change her past, there was no time. 

“Dad, can I come in?” Abbie asked, showing no fear.

“Abbie? Of course you can,” her father answered, opening the door to his office.

Light flooded the room, causing her face to wince. She hadn’t seen this much light for a few hours. The room consisted of one glass desk on the right side of the room that was paired with a clear rectangular chair, facing the opposite side of the room. White walls were covered with floating shelves that were stocked with books that were clothed with a wide assortment of different shades of gray. Her dad wore a dark green v-neck sweater with a colored black undershirt and grey denim jeans. His shaggy hair parted all sorts of directions, blond with tints of gray. Look completed with a pair of oval shaped glasses with thick black frames. 

The first thing Abbie did when he saw her father was stare at him. Remembered how their family dynamic was so different before her mother died. Looked into his eyes. Playing what she was about to tell him in her mind. His shocked expression. THe surprise and maybe even the fear. Though the things she thought about where not reassuring, she knew that if she didn’t do this now: she would never.

“I’m sorry Dad… for everything. I shouldn't have acted like that, yelled at you, shut you out for so long. I guess I was just so stressed about the fame, expectations, and Mother’s death,” she replied, partially confessing her pain. 

“Uh, just try better next time,” he replied, still confused and weirded out.

Knowing this was her moment, her eyebrows furrowed and her face straightened. “I need to tell you something important, this may change our lives forever and may anger you but I need to tell you,” she told her father seriously, walking into his office as he followed, closing the door. Standing in the middle of the room, facing her father, she lifted her arm at her side.

Closing her eyes, she ignited the flame. Feeling the cold and the warmth finally in balance, she carefully opened her eyes to look at her father’s face once more. His face was more than simply shocked. Eyes wide, jaw hanging open, position frozen with shock.

“The explosion… it caused something to change in me. My cells, they’ve genetically changed. Trust me, it's not bad for me. What’s bad is the impact the explosion might have had on other people,” she swiftly replied, making sure that she was able to give her father the correct perspective before he acted irrationally.

“W-what? When did this happen?” he answered, voice representing his feelings. Shocked. Afraid.

“I already told you- the explosion. Anyway… other’s may have been affected too. Alex was, Mariah-,” she replied swiftly but again, she was interrupted.

“Alexander Zanders? I knew I shouldn’t trust that kid or his family for that matter. They did something to us that can never be forgiven,” he answered, already disapproving the conversation.

“Dad! Don’t you understand? Our country may be in danger, including you. Villains could pop up out of nowhere with abilities that may outpower us if we’re not prepared. We need you to train us. That includes Alex, Zoey, and Mariah, whether you like it or not. You need to do this for our country, me, and yourself,” she replied, desperate for her father to understand. If he didn’t, they would have no chance against the world. Though, she knew that her father would disagree, he would never train them.

“Ok, I guess I’ll do it,” he sighed. “If that’s what you really want….”

“Wait, what? You actually said yes?” she replied, not believing that he truly said that.

“Uh, I’ll meet you in the training facility downstairs,” he said, walking away with Abbie looking at his fading figure in shock of what happened.

That really happened…

Walking out of her father’s office, with eyebrows raised and an open jaw, Abbie Plasma walked towards the hospital room to wake her companions. 

“Alex, Mariah, Zoey, I need you to wake up,” she said as she arrived.

“Abbie, you’re up already?” Alex asked, still lying on the ground, twisting his torso to look at Abbie from the floor.

“Yes, Alex. It is two o’clock in the afternoon,” she replied, looking down at Alex, trying to sound confident. The truth was, she wasn’t confident in herself, she hadn’t been for years. 

“Oh, ok. Why did you wake us up now?” Alex asked, now kneeling on the ground, palm on the ground supporting his body. 

“I actually did some research and… lets just say…. The explosion genetically modified our cells and others in Atlantis and Atllantis could be in serious danger,” she answered happily, a smile on her face, hands pressed against her sides.

“Ok… that’s just fantastic,” he replied sarcastically, “I still don’t know why you woke me up now,” he continued, lifting his body off the ground to stand up, facing Abbie. 

“My father has agreed to train us, I told him everything,” she replied with a sigh, looking at the ground in embarrassment. Even though their conversation went well, she was still not sure about actually doing this. Talking to the person she was now probably wouldn't please him either.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fantastic,” she answered, attempting to hide her feelings.

“You sure?” he asked once more.

At his empathy, Abbie’s cheeks blushed a light red. 

Why did he have to be so kind?

Avoiding him would be so much easier if he wasn’t like this.

Eventually, Alex grew nervous as well.

Her father would kill me if he was here right now.

Together, they looked down at the floor, both blushing, avoiding each other's eye contact. Interrupting their awkward moment, Zoey spoke loudly, teasing her friend, “Aww, you two are perfect for eachother. Aren’t I right, Abbie?” 

“No! Zoey, how can you say something like that?” Abbie demanded an answer. She knew Zoey could not say something like that in the open, especially in front of Alex. 

“You sure? Cause’ Alex is an amazing guy…. Trust me, he is. I know we haven’t even known him for a full day yet, but…” she continued to tease Abbie, a smirk popping onto her face.

“Zoey, stop it. We need to wake up Mariah to go to the training room,” Abbie hissed.

“Ok, ok…,” she replied, “Mariah, wake up!” she screamed into her neighbor’s ear. 

“What?” she answered, drowsy.

“We need to leave, girlfriend!” Zoey replied, still yelling.

“Ok… where are we going?” Mariah asked, propping her legs off of the hospital bed, shifting the blanket off of her to reveal her outfit. A rainbow tie-dye crop top and a light blue ruffled skirt that extended just above the knee. 

“The training room to become used to our powers with Abbie’s dad,” Zoey answered, glancing behind her to see that Abbie and Alex were already leaving the dark room. 

“Coming,” Mariah replied, chasing Zoey’s figure out of the room.

The training facility had a wall that consisted of more floor to ceiling windows that stretched to be around twenty feet high. Looking out of the window, you could see a ginormous forest that consisted with tall oak wood trees. A soft carpet like flat flooring was covered with dozens of charcoal- colored exercise mats on the left side. On the other side of the room, gray exercise machines lay across the wall. The walls were extended inwards to form a windowed balcony for running in, more like an edged tube. A slope of concrete on the left side of the room formed an entrance to the tube. In the middle of the room, Abbie’s father stood on top of a two-foot rectangular platform. The others stood in front of the platform, gazing up at each other.

“I see you’ve made it,” he replied in a monotone, “I assume my daughter has informed you on what is happening here,” he asked then paused to watch four heads nod in confirmation, “You all have earned abilities from my wondrous machine and I am here to train you for the danger ahead. Many criminals may and will pop out of our country with similar abilities and you need to be prepared to halt their villainous schemes. Are you all with me?” More unenthusiastic nods followed, copying his tone. “I can’t hear you…,” he replied with a smirk and listened to a couple quiet unenthusiastic cheers. “Ok, that's decent. Now, I want to discover what abilities you have so make a line next to me. You definitely won’t be able to control them yet, but you can certainly try….”

In reply, they formed a line onto the platform with Abbie in front. Surprisingly, they were able to show almost complete control with their abilities, holding their hands in front of their coach. 

One by one, they presented their abilities until only Alex was left to present himself.

“Ok, Alexander, this is your chance to show me why you should be here,” Peter Plasma replied, already criticizing Alex.

Stressed and frustrated at his arrogant trainer, Alex furrowed his eyebrows smirked. In a flash, he had ran into the balcony, into his office, pulled out a baseball cap that Peter had kept deep inside his desk, and placed it on his head backwards. The second Alex had stopped running and stood next to Abbie, everybody started laughing hysterically. Peter looked like a rapper with his baseball hat because of his harsh criticism. 

“Hahahha, Sir, you look nice in that baseball cap. By the way, my ability is to move lightning swift,” Alex said humorously. Peter’s face was so red it looked like there was supposed to be steam coming out of it. His hands were in tight fists until his civilities interrupted his frustration. Swiftly, he twisted his cap around to form a classic trainer’s hat and pulled his hands behind his back in a superior manner. All Abbie could do was try not to show anyone that she was secretly giggling at Alex’s demonstration.

“Ok, I see you have some interesting abilities Mr. Zanders. This next step will be very diffiult and exhausting, but will build control. Now, how would everyone like to do practices? You should all know well enough how runners prepare for a race. They stretch, train, and show up. However, you are not going to stretch because you are not running.  Abbie and Zoey, go to the left side to do some archery. Alexander and Mariah, go to the right to work on building a forcefield. After an hour has passed, you will switch. Then, Alexander will sprint around the balcony and the remainder of you will participate in a scrimmage,” Peter instructed before leaving his post.

At the end of the day, everyone had learned how to aim and produce barriers with their abilities. Everyone learned how to skillfully seize control of their abilities and unlock new feats. Mariah learned how to fly, Zoey learned how to transform into a full Huntera wolf, Abbie learned how to freeze and burn objects, and Alex learned how to shoot lightning bolts. After training ended, the team traveled to the lounge area. 

The lounge area had a curved window wall that curved outwards onto a balcony. A blue duvet sofa that mimicked the wall, a short clear ponte coffee table that rested next to the sofa, and a clean lit bar area on the opposite wall of the window area. Zoey sat on one of the metal barstools, drinking cherry coca cola at the bar area. Mariah sat on the sofa in between Abbie and Alex as instructed by Peter. Peter was nowhere to be found. Abbie held a tablet and a stylus, sketching designs for future costumes for the group while Alex fidgeted with his fingers. Mariah stared out into the window to see a lit city at night. 

“So… how did the training go for you guys?” Mariah asked the group, still looking into the skyline. 

“Ok, I mean, having these abilities is pretty cool but I am still not used to them quite yet,” Abbie replied in a monotone, eyes still staring into her tablet. 

“Same…,” Zoey replied, taking her lips off of her straw for a second. 

Unfortunately, their chill attitudes were interrupted when Mariah saw red flames burst into the sky from outside.

“Hey, did you see that?” Mariah asked the group. When they didn’t answer, she yelled, “Hey, part of the city just erupted! Lets go, people, we need to find out if anyone is hurt.”

“Are we all ready?” Abbie asked the group.

“Yep, I even got our costumes made, thanks to your amazing sketches,” Zoey answered, holding several long bags of clothing.

“Zoey, the designs weren’t finished yet,” Abbie replied as she received her bag and looked inside to see her costume.

“I really don't care. They already looked exceptional to me so I made them. No big deal,” Zoey teased as Abbie scowled. 

When they all were holding their bags, they dismissed themselves out to the dressing rooms. A moment later, they exited the dressing rooms and gazed at each other’s ornate designs.

Abbie wore an icy blue jumpsuit with a white belt, white fox tail cape with an orange stripe at the bottom, white boots that extended up to her legs, a white spot on her chest that was designed to look like an arctic fox’s markings, and a pair of white arctic fox ears. Alex wore a blue technical suit with a pair of clear blue stained glasses that looked as if a transparent rectangle was wrapping around his face. Lots of light blue lines, circles, and buttons filled most of his jumpsuit with the exception of a dark blue belt. Mariah wore a flowy rainbow dress that bunched in the middle. The dress was paired with a fluffy cape that was tied around her neck with two golden beads and a pair of golden sandals that extended up to her ankles. Zoey wore a light gray jumpsuit with a wolf tail cape, dark gray wolf markings, a pair of wolf ears, and a dark gray belt.

When they would press a button in the middle of their belt, a rope would fly out at attach to the nearest building to replace the use of flying. Alex’s glasses would give him information on his surroundings. Mariah’s golden beads were self sufficient and would heal anything they touched. 

Ready to discover what was happening, they ran to the balcony and jumped off. Traveling to the explosion, they practically flew across the sky, extending their ropes onto buildings, collecting them, and extending them again.

Finally, they reached the explosion. However, when they reached the site, all that was left was an unconscious teenage blond haired boy laying in a park. The boy was dressed in a silk black v-neck vest, a white long-sleeved collared shirt, and black jeans. Moon shining on the boy’s face, he winced, showing that he was in pain. Then Mariah spotted a huge gash on his elbow.

“Look, he’s injured, we need to bring him to the laboratory,” she insisted, already flying downwards to retrieve the boy.

“Are we sure we can trust him?” Zoey asked cautiously.

“It doesn’t matter what he’ll do when he is secure, it only matters if he lives or dies at this moment” Mariah continued nobly, “As the protectors of this city, shouldn't we try to help our citizens at any cost?”

“She’s right,” Abbie replied, taking Mariah’s side.

“Ok, fine. We’ll bring him in,” Zoey scowled.

Before they could even touch him, his eyes popped open. Eyebrows raised, he sat up. The moment he lifted himself upon the ground, his face winced. Setting himself back down, he glanced at his surroundings.

“Who are you?” Mariah asked the mysterious boy.

“My name is Adrien Huxquo, who are you?” Adrien replied.

“Well, I’m Mariah Curie,” Mariah replied.

“Like the fashion magazine?” Adrien asked.

“No… well, yes… but no?” Mariah replied nervously.

“And who are all these other people?” Adrien asked.

“Abbie Plasma, Alex Zanders, and Zoey Lewie,” Mariah replied, pointing at each of her companions as she said their names, “Has the explosion affected you too?” 

“Yes, it has. I have the ability to transform into any animal I please. I occasionally go by the name ‘Animagious’,” Adrien replied, attempting to lift himself off the ground again only to fall down once more, staring at Abbie with his eyebrows furrowed.

“We should bring you to Infinity Laboratories to repair your injuries,” Mariah replied, helping Adrien up from upon the ground. 

On the way to Infinite Laboratories, Mariah and Zoey each held one of Adrien’s arms in an attempt to keep his weight from overpowering one of them. Eventually, they were able to reach their destination and set Adrien down on one of the hospital beds. Adrien sat on one of the beds, legs hanging off of the edge, as Mariah cleaned and repaired his wound. Zoey and Abbie sat on hospital chairs on the other side of the room while Alex stood near Mariah.

“So, what were you doing to get this injury?” Mariah asked politely, placing gauze on his elbow, sitting next to Adrien.

“Well, it’s actually a long story,” Adrien replied, “I was skating at my favorite pizza place when all of a sudden, the power went out. Since all of the lights went out, I fell on the rink and injured my elbow. I had desperately tried to find a hospital that could help me when I hit the park. As I was walking across it, I saw the explosion occur from the sky and an earthquake began. The last thing I remember after that was dropping my soda on the concrete sidewalk. Then, I saw you.” He finished, looking into Mariah’s eyes as she quietly blushed.

“Well, I guess my story was similar. I had just ran away from my home when I got this terrible headache and an earthquake began. The last thing I remember was seeing the world switch from different color tints,” Mariah replied.

Together, Adrien and Mariah silently smiled and blushed as they looked into each other’s eyes. Then, they broke into a quiet laugh before they were interrupted by Peter Plasma.

“Hello Adrien, I see you’ve made it here,” Peter replied harshly.

“Hi, do I know you?” Adrien replied with an eyebrow raised.

“Ugh…. I guess I thought you were someone else,” Peter scowled, “Well, you are going to train with us if you have abilities. Now, everyone, let's go back to the training facility. Chop, chop. We don’t have all day”

“Ok,” Adrien replied as he followed Peter into the training room with Mariah.

When they reached the training room, Adrien walked over to the platform and waited for Peter, catching his gaze.

“So… what can you do?” Peter asked.

In reply, Adrien held out his hand and closed his eyes. Mustering up all of his power and aiming it towards his hand, he transformed his hand into the talons of an eagle. 

“Ok.... why don’t I have the team join you, to see how well you cooperate with others?” Peter suggested, reverting back to his criticizing ways.

“Umm… like a scrimmage?” Adrien asked.

“Yes… like a scrimmage,” Peter replied and called his students in for the scrimmage.

When everyone came in and stood near Adrien, Peter tossed a football into the air. Abbie held out her palm and shot a blast of arctic flame at the football, knocking it into a vertical hoop on the ceiling. Zoey applauded her as Abbie threw her arms into the air, she had scored a point. Then, Peter threw another football into the air. This time, Alex sped towards it, catching it and tossing it to Mariah. Mariah shot a blast of blinding rainbow wind, knocking it towards Adien. In reply, Adrien transformed himself into a human sized bird, sprouting wings and other bird-like qualities, and flew up to the basket with the football in his talons and flung it into the hoop. The game continued like this for around two hours until the game stopped. Adrien’s team had won: 25 to 23.

After Adrien Huxquo’s training session, he decided to stop in the hallway. Fishing his cell phone from his pocket, standing up straight, he dialed a number. Putting the phone to his ear, he began their conversation.

“Hello, this is Adrien,” He replied to the phone.

“Did you get in?” The phone replied in a deep voice.

“Yes, and I managed to fool Plasma,” He answered quietly.

“Are the others fooled?” The phone asked.

“Yes, now what do I do?” He answered.

“Just——-... beep beep beep… boop,” The phone cut in and out of connection until the caller lost connection all together, just in time. Mariah Curie walked into the hallway and bumped into Adrien, not looking in front of her.

“Adrien, what are you doing here?” She asked politely, lifting her head up to look at his face, clueless at what was going on.

“Just making a phone call to a… friend,” he replied, placing his phone in his pocket and catching Mariah’s eye contact. 

“How did it go?” she asked.

“What?” he asked.

“How did the phone call go?” she repeated.

“Oh, it went well, how are you?” he replied.

“Oh, the usual... ,” she replied, stretching her arms behind her back.

“What would the usual be?” he asked.

“Oh, you know…. Just between the lines of devastating and fantastic,” she replied, staring at the wall beside her in deep concentration, “You know?” she broke into a joyful smile, resting her hands at her sides.

“Uh… yeah,” he replied, attempting to hide his confusion.

“Well, I’m not surprised at my feelings. I just ran away from my mother, I never knew my father, but I’m meeting so many amazing friends,” she replied calmly, beginning to stride along the hallways, hoping he would understand.

“Yeah… my past is also devastating. You know, in my childhood I both of my parents died in my arms in the same year…,” he replied, walking beside Mariah.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” she replied sympathetically, looking into Adrien’s eyes. 

“Yeah, but I’d assume that your situation wouldn’t be any less heartbreaking,” he replied, looking into Mariah’s eyes as well.

“Well, I never really had a strong connection with either of them,” she replied, looking down to her feet.

“Yeah… but I would assume that not ever knowing any of your parents would be more difficult than losing the ones you knew,” he replied, still looking at Mariah.

“Yeah... ,” she replied, entering into a phase of silence.

Still looking at Mariah, Adrien felt sympathy for her. He didn’t want to break the silence for he feared that if he did, he would discomfort her. However, he felt he desperately wanted to talk to her, to see her face once more, to look into her eyes again. Heart seizing control of his mind, his silence broke.

“May I ask you a personal question?” Adrien asked her politely, question in mind, looking at her eyes once more as she turns her head with a curious eyebrow raised.

“What is it?” Mariah asked, curious about what he would possibly ask her.

“Why would your parents ever leave such an amazing young woman?” he asked sympathetically. “Oh my, I’m so sorry, I cannot believe I just said that. We just met each other, so I don’t think I…”

“Oh, it’s fine… I left my mother because the fashion shows brought me pain and because my inner self disgraces her, I’m not sure why my father left,” she replied in a polite voice, looking into Adrien’s bright blue eyes.

Mariah began to slowly walk away, waving goodbye to Adrien, tears beginning to accumulate in her eyelids. Then she felt someone grab her wrist. Looking behind her, she saw Adrien. “Adrien?” Mariah was confused at why he had grabbed her at that moment. “What… why?”

“I… I just wanted you to know, you’re not alone,” he replied.

“Um… that’s really nice of you,” Mariah said, even though she wasn’t so sure that she believed him. “Thank you….”

“Your welcome. I’ll always be there for you if you need me,” Adrien continued.

“We’ll see,” Mariah replied. Then she began to walk away from him, leaving Adrien standing alone in the hallway.

Mariah was just a few meters away from Adrien when she was stopped in her tracks by the speakerphone.

“Good evening, students. Please report to the training facility as soon as possible. Good day,” the speakerphone revealed the owner of the mysterious voice, Peter Plasma.

Looking back, Mariah saw that Adrien was looking right at her. 

“I’m going to do what he says. I’d do the same if I were you,” Mariah suggested.

When they reached the entrance of the training facility, Zoey walked over to them. Abbie and Alex stood on the other side of the entrance, standing several feet away from each other.

“What were you two lovebirds doing… alone?” Zoey asked facetiously, teasing her friends.

“Umm… we’re not ‘lovebirds, Zoey. We were just talking as friends. We only just met each other,” Mariah replied, answering for both of them. 

“Ok…,” Zoey said, suspicious of the duo.

“Guys, there’s not really a time to talk right now. My father has made it clear that he requires our presence in the training facility,” Abbie replied, veering her friends’ playful action into convenience and efficiency.

Walking into the facility, they noticed Peter standing on top of his usual post (the platform). Peter looked at the group with serious eyes, watching them like a hawk, not saying a single word. 

“Hi Dad, what did you need us for?” Abbie asked curiously. 

“More training?” Alex asked when he didn’t answer.

“Hello…?” Zoey asked him, waving her hand in front of his face in an attempt to wake him from whatever trance he appeared to be in.

“Are you ok…?” Mariah asked politely.

“Oh… sorry, it really has been a long night. Why don’t you guys train just a bit more and then you can rest. You don’t need to train for an hour, just twenty brief minutes. I want to make sure you are prepared for whatever danger tomorrow may bring,” he answered, returning back to consciousness. 

“Huh… that really just happened,” Zoey replied to the others in surprise.

“Well, I’m going to the archery range, what about you?” Abbie asked nervously.

“Sorry Abbie, I’m going to the balcony to practice my sprinting,” Alex replied.

“I’m going with Alex this time, gonna work on some wolf skills,” Zoey replied, leading Alex to the balcony as she transformed quickly into a wolf. 

“Adrien and I are going to work on our aiming at the scrimmage area,” Mariah answered, knowing Adrien would follow her, as she walked away making sure to retrieve a football. 

As Zoey sprinted in the balcony with Alex, she began to start a conversation with him. “So… Alex. My boy, when are you going to ask Abbie out on a date? You’re financially stable, right? I mean, this is our job, we get paid for being here. You can support a family,” Zoey asked him teasingly, speaking perfect Atlantean even in her wolf form. 

“What? Ask her out on a date? I can’t do that, Zoey. There are myriads of barriers between us. I don’t even know her!” Alex replied, confused at Zoey’s unashamed thinking. 

“Yes, ask her out. It’s just a few words… ‘Watch a movie with me?’ how hard is that? You know you want to…,” she replied.

“Only if you come with us so that it isn’t like a date,” Alex asked.

“Ugh, if that’s what it’s going to take for you to watch a movie with your obvious soulmate, then fine,” Zoey replied.

On Adrien and Mariah’s side of things, they were passing the football to each other. They were not doing a scrimmage or any competitive game, simply just talking and passing the football to each other.

“So… what’s your favorite place to eat?” Adrien asked, hitting the football with a panther paw towards Mariah.

“Umm… why?” Mariah asked. 

“I was wondering if you’d like me to take you to dinner tonight, especially since I’ve never really eaten anywhere nice in the city since there isn’t really anywhere to eat out where I live,” Adrien replied, now hitting the football with a giant hummingbird wing, changing the subject very quickly. 

“Adrien Huxquo, are you asking me out on a date?” Mariah asked facetiously, dodging the ball with the same forcefield.

“Yes, you could think of it like that,” Adrien replied, catching the football with his human hands, causing Mariah to roll her eyes.

“I do not want to start anything more than a friendship,” Mariah answered with a sigh, walking to a drinking fountain by the window.

“Ok, we’ll go as friends then,” Adrien clarified as his eyes followed her as she walked to the drinking fountain.

Two minutes were left in their timer as Abbie continued to shoot blasts of arctic flames at a bullseye. She focused only one achieving her goal, making her third shot count. Moving her hands rapidly around a sphere of icy blue flame, she grew the sphere, waiting until her sphere was big enough. Similar to forming a snowball, she slowly shifted her hands back and forth. One leg advanced in front of the other, preparing her shooting stance for the time to come. Rubbing her foot back and forth on the carpet, she steadied herself. Alas, the sphere was large enough, around the size of an orange. Moving her left arm behind her, she bent her right at her side. Finally her right arm was ready to throw the flame. Unfortunately, before she could actually throw her sphere, a voice interrupted her focus.

“Wow,” a voice said from behind her.

“Who are you?” she asked, frustrated that her focus was broken, turning her head with her eyebrows furrowed to see Alex’s joyful smiling face.

“Oh, Alex.” Her emotions calmed, confusing her further. “Why are you here? I thought you were working on your running.”

“Oh, I was. However, Zoey wants to watch Back to the Future with us. So, you coming?”

“Alex… if I don’t… who’s going to watch Back To the Future?” Abbie replied, with a smile on her face.

Later that night, Zoey, Alex, and Abbie sat in the movie theater. Zoey made Abbie sit in between her and Alex. Sitting in the first of twenty rows of comfy seats in the dark room, Alex holding a large red and white striped box of popcorn in front of a large movie theater screen with remote in hand. Mariah and Adrien were already at Xuchi Expresso.

Together, the three of them stared at the screen while the movie played on a movie screen that took up the entire wall in front of them.

Over at Xuchi Expresso, Mariah sat at a table for two with Adrien, waiting for their food to arrive. The table was metal with a circular top thinning in the middle and widening at the bottom to maximize the support from the floor. A large floor to ceiling glass window extended ten feet in the air, projecting a view of a parking lot and other assorted buildings in the outdoor shopping center. They both sat on wooden planked fold out chairs, complementing the industrial style of the building. Above them were logs of wood and green spider plants, dangling down, barely reaching Adrien’s head. 

“So… friends then?” Adrien asked. 

“Yep. Friends,” Mariah replied.

“Huh,” Adrien said. “Umm… should we get to know each other then?” 

“I guess we could do some icebreakers to break the silence,” Mariah lead the way to several minutes of icebreakers until the waitress brought them some food. As Adrien walked Mariah to Infinity Laboratories, Mariah thought about how the night was a success. Just time with a friend. Nothing more, nothing less.

As the credits began to play in Alex, Zoey, and Abbie’s movie, Zoey started a conversation.

“So… guys, where do you want to go next?”

“Uh…,” Abbie replied, “nowhere.”

“Come on, that’s not the right answer. The right answer is…,” Zoey paused to instill the element of suspense onto their conversation, “the… right… answer…. Is…” she paused again, “the skate park.”

“The what?” Abbie asked.

“The skate park,” Zoey repeated herself.

“I still don’t know what you are talking about...,” she replied.

“Do you really not know what the skate park is?” she asked, confused that she did not understand something that she had known for her entire life.

“No..?” she replied, still confused.

“Seriously?” she replied, “Well… a skate park is where you stand and glide across a platform.”

“Ok… is that where we’re going now?” she asked, letting Alex make the decision on where they were going to go.

“Sure.. let's go,” Zoey replied, grabbing onto Abbie’s and Alex’s hands and leading them out of the room.

Alas, they reached the park. A grey rectangular building with a large orange rectangular sign entitled with white letters that confirmed their thinking. “Atlantean Prime Skate,” the letters spelled. The company’s logo accompanied the sign; a small child skating a pizza to a destination with a smile on his face. All that was surrounding the place was either a cracked, dull building or bare trees. Abbie felt unsure about her decision to go here since everything looked abnormal to her, dull and broken. She had grown up with shiny, colorful buildings in a resource-abundant metropolis. 

“Zoey… are you sure this is the place?” she asked, shivering in her sweater. 

“Yep, this is the place,” Zoey said happily, looking back to see her anxious curved eyebrows, “Don’t worry, the excitement isn’t generally found in appearance.”

“You sure we’ll be ok?” she asked cautiously, beginning to walk towards the door.

“Absolutely positive,” Zoey replied, walking alongside her.

“Ok, so what does this place have to offer?” she asked, stepping into the doorway.

“Well, now to think about it… the concession stand sells amazing pepperoni pizza… and their music is ok,” Alex replied for Zoey, walking into the ten-person line before him. “Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine.”

“What type of music do they play?” she asked Alex, looking ahead of her to watch as the line got shorter and shorter.

“Umm… sort of a mix of 90’s and cheesy modern music,” Alex answered, walking up to the ticket booth as the line passed.

“Well that’s settling,” she answered, lifting her hand up to the booth to have the back of her hand stamped with a roller skate silhouette. 

“I try to tune it out as I glide across the floor, its fairy easy with practice,” he replied, lifting his own arm up as Abbie dropped hers to her side. 

As they walked into the room, they observed what the place had to offer. A retro patterned carpet submerged the floor below them connecting an arcade, a locker area, and concession stand together. Seven foot walls were covered with tacky beige wallpaper. An L-shaped counter served as a wall, faced away from them, as it lead out to plastic tables and fold out chairs. Behind the chairs stood a hexagon black and white pony wall that served as a perimeter around a white plastic skating floor. Several neon disco balls hang above the skating floor, shining on the plastic with many assorted neon lights that moved in a circular motion around the floor. Beside the wall on the other side that ended the rink, a black carpeted island. Behind the island were many shelves full of orange skates. 

Walking around the concession stand towards the island, they imagined their responses to the skating clerk. Alex would ask for a size ten skate and would begin their order, leading the way for Abbie to muster enough courage to order her size nine skates. With Zoey ordering size eights. When they reached the island, they politely ordered their skates.

“Size ten, please,” Alex spoke, watching a black haired cocasion woman pull out a pair of skates and place them on the counter.

“I’ll have a size nine,” she replied, watching the clerk pull out her skates and place them beside Alex’s. With surprised eyes, the woman’s jaw dropped. Swiftly turning away, the woman whispered something to herself. 

“Size eight for me,” Zoey finished.

Grabbing their skates, Abbie, Alex, and Zoey walked away from the island.

“Where should we sit as we switch our shoes with our skates?” Abbie asked, looking at the others.

“Over there,” Zoey replied, pointing to a bench in between two locker isles. 

Once they had tied their skates on, they immediately entered the rink. Having trouble beginning how to skate, Abbie slid over to the pony wall, holding onto the wall as if her life was at stake.

“Guys, I… I can’t do this,” she replied, scared out of her wits.

“Oh, sure you can,” Zoey replied, gliding gracefully towards her. 

“I don’t know how,” she replied, looking into his eyes.

“Know how to do what?” Zoey asked. 

“I don’t know how to skate!” she screamed in frustration, directing hundreds of eyes onto her.

“Alex, this is your time to shine,” Zoey skated backwards for Alex to take her spot.

“Abbie, calm down. It’s going to be alright,” he replied, speaking very slowly in case she would not be able to hear him through her anxiety. 

“How do you know? Nothing has ever been simply ‘all right’,” she replied, eyebrows curving upwards, slouching down on the pony wall, turning her head to face him.

“I know because when I’m with you everything is alright, even though I know that nothing is ever all right,” he replied, “just breathe…. And then lift yourself up and glide to me.”

Slowing her breathing, Abbie lifted herself up from the wall. Turning around, she looked at Alex’s sincere expression. Eyebrows comfortable, mouth curved upwards in a smile, Alex looked at Abbie, slowing his own breathing just a little bit. Pushing herself off the wall, Abbie’s knees clashed against each other as she attempted to glide into Alex’s arms. Surprised by a bend in the plastic, she fell into his arms, landing in a hug.

“Hi,” he whispered, weirded out by their position, holding Abbie’s shoulders and steadying her on the plastic floor.

“Hi,” she whispered back.

“Are you ready?” he asked, moving his leg in front of him to begin.

“I’m ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied in a smile. Moving her own legs back and forth slowly in a V-shape, Abbie copied Alex’s leg motion, eventually able to pick up the pace beside her friends. Gliding across the plastic, following the hexagon motion, she began to notice eyes falling on them again. Other skaters began to whisper to each other, slowing down to capture their moment, accumulating around them. First two skaters, then four, then six, then eight, until she couldn’t count them anymore. 

Nerves spiking, her cheeks blushed dark red. She knew what might happen, she had known her entire life. Whenever she was out in public, people accumulated her. People would pull out their phones, video her, and post her action on social media. This was what they were doing now, beginning to pull out their phones from their pockets, placing them in front of their faces to video her. She had to admit, she couldn’t blame them. If she was them, there was no way she would miss the occurrence of a genius skating with what her father called, a ‘commoner’.

After Abbie had told Alex and Zoey what was happening, they had immediately left. Still, they knew that the videos would be posted, but you know what they say, “better late than never”.  

Arriving at Infinity Laboratories, Abbie sprinted up the stairs with Zoey, leaving Alex alone at the door. As Alex wandered around the corridors, he came in contact with Peter Plasma. Eyebrow raised, frowned mouth, Peter looked displeased with Alex. 

“I thought I told you to stay away from my daughter,” Peter began. 

“I… I’m sorry sir,” Alex apologized quietly.

“Oh, you are, huh?,” Peter asked, stepping closer to Alex.

“Yes, I know I shouldn’t have. We were just… hanging out with Zoey,” Alex replied, stepping away from Peter.

“Huh, I saw,” Peter replied, hands behind his back.

“Oh, of course you did…” he whispered in reply with his face burning up.

“Alex. You should know that our families have never gotten along well, and I will never forgive you or your heritage for that. So if you don't want me to fire you, I suggest you stay away from Abbie,” Peter clarified, “Is. That. Clear?”

If Alex said what he was thinking at the moment, he would’ve replied, “Not clear at all, sir.” However, he feared what Abbie would think if he just left. To him, losing his job was far from the most excruciating part of the deal. Finding new jobs was his talent and his boss wasn’t exactly the most sympathetic person in the world. Still, he was saddened at the thought of what she would feel if he just ignored her or left without warning. Weighing his options, he decided on the only think he felt would be best.

“Fine, I’ll stay away from her, but can I at least tell her why?” Alex asked.

“Nope, she will hear nothing about me or this conversation from you or anyone,” Peter finished, walking away from Alex, pleased with a smile on his face.

Upstairs, Abbie sat on a barstool in the lounge area next to Zoey, drinking a raspberry milkshake. This milkshake lay in a plastic cup and was filled with rich shades of pink that created a marble effect. A dome shaped lid on top was filled with dozens of fresh raspberries that barely had enough room to sit inside the lid.

“So… wasn’t that great?” Zoey asked, looking Abbie in the eyes, sitting on a barstool beside her.

“Umm… well, it sure was interesting,” Abbie replied, lifting her lips from a clear straw, with a smile on her face.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t know how to skate,” Zoey replied.

“I never had enough free time to learn. No, scratch that. I never had any free time to learn,” Abbie replied, trying not to giggle as she thought about how she had grown up so differently than her new friends.

“Oh my. I used to always go with my father before he… died. After he died, I signed up for training and didn’t have any more free time. Also, I couldn’t bear going there again after his death,” Zoey replied calmly.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Zoey,” Abbie replied sincerely.

“No, it’s fine. I was just telling you. So… where did Alex go?” Zoey asked.

“I actually don’t know… I saw him-” Abbie began, just noticing Alex walking in the hallway near the lounge room. Alex couldn’t bear looking at Abbie, so he looked at the floor, kicking dust off of his shoe. Since the door was open, Abbie could see him, hands in his pocket, walking past the door. “Downstairs…,” Abbie finished, saddened by Alex’s sudden change of emotion. 

“What is wrong with him?” Zoey asked, angered by her friend’s heartbreak.

“Oh, nothing is wrong with him…,” Abbie replied, placing her fist under her chin on the counter, looking at the ground.

“Yes there is. No one would ignore you like that,” Zoey replied, eyes wide.

“No, I’m glad he did… I needed someone to remind me that the world isn’t perfect,” Abbie replied, slowly moving her lips onto her straw.

“Look, we both know more than anyone that the world isn’t perfect, but we don’t need more heartbreak to remind us,” Zoey replied, “Look, next time I see him, I swear… I-” Zoey began.

“Zoey, he doesn’t need us to hurt him more. He changed his mind about me; I just have to accept that,” Abbie interrupted.

“Abbie, how are you famous for your IQ? He did not change his mind about you, no one would,” Zoey replied, flicking Abbie’s forehead. 

“You sure?” Abbie asked.

“Positive,” Zoey replied, “C’mon, let's go see how he’s doing,” she ‘suggested’, pulling Abbie’s arm in order to lift her off her seat and drag her over to the hallway. In the hallway, Zoey and Abbie stayed close the way in an attempt to disguise themselves. Shifting over to a guest room, they spotted Alex sitting on a twin size bed. 

The bed was covered in a grey comforter with a white blanket that overlapped it and hang over the side. A large circular window sat behind it,  light dawning on Alex. On the edge of the room that they could see, a small black metal desk lay against the wall. 

Alex sat on the edge of the bed with his hands on his knees in a cup shaped, holding something. Tears accumulated in his eyes and made their way down his cheeks, falling in the thing he was holding. He had changed from his vermillion sweater to a green one with a hexagon imprinted in the top right corner with letters that formed the words “Infinity Labs”. He couldn’t see exactly what he was holding, but he knew. In his hands lay a ticket he had used to enter him in the skate park, Abbie and Zoey didn’t notice the ticket before because he had slid it in without them noticing. Knowing something probably would’ve gone wrong, he kept it. Not even thinking about telling them, he had simply kept it a secret. 

“Oh, Zoey, this is unbearable. Looking at him, feeling like it’s all my fault,” Abbie replied in a whisper, keeping her eyes on Alex from a distance.

“It’s not all your fault, someone probably brainwashed him or something. Or worse, forced him to stray from you. Or even bribed him,” Zoey replied, leading Abbie away from Alex.

“You’re right,” Abbie replied brightly, “but who could’ve done such a thing?”

“Seriously, how are you famous for your genius? You’re dad obviously bribed him,” Zoey replied.

“That makes sense, but doesn’t. I thought he had learned to accept Alex, I mean they train well now… Wait, the social media post. Oh, and earlier he called him a commoner… and I think he might’ve mentioned earlier that our families haven’t gotten along well,” Abbie exclaimed, getting the point.

“So he must've done something. Abbie you should talk to him, I’ll go randomly wandering the hallways,” Zoey replied, walking into the hallways out of sight.

Following her own instructions, Zoey Lewie walked randomly in the hallway.

Trudging around and humming an earworm loudly, she almost didn’t hear Adrien talking in the hallway on the phone.

Alone, Adrien Huxquo leaned against the wall with his phone between his shoulder and ear. Hands fidgeting behind his back and continuing a conversation, his focus was consumed. Still, Zoey felt uneasy about standing there. However, she kept listening.

“They are still fooled like unaware rabbits in a forest of foxes. Ash, listen, I think Curie should join me on my mission. I love her. Wait, did I just say that out loud? I meant that we’re just… great friends.” He barley managed to get the word out of his mouth: friends. “When I’m with her I don’t feel so…. Alone,” Adrien spoke into the phone.

“You think she should join you? Really? Well, you can try…,” ‘Ash’ replied.

“Thank you, I’ll try my best. She’s smart, and funny, and caring, and determined, and hard working, and ingenuite… the list could honestly go on and one,” Adrien replied, lovesick.

“Wow… you really love that girl,” Ash spoke.

“Yep. But you’ll find someone, you know… there are some cool people in this city. So, what’s the next phase of our plan?” Adrien asked.

“Stop the team from interfering with our plan, then we’ll talk,” Ash finished, hanging up the phone.

Zoey’s eyes went wide with shock, her face turned pale, her jaw dropped. 

“Rabbits in a forest of foxes?”

“Interfering with our plan?”

She could not believe what she just heard. All she knew was that Adrien couldn’t be up to something good. He had a plan, probably a despicable one. Of course, she didn’t go walking, assuming everyone around her is a vile human being. Though, the first time she saw him she knew that taking in that boy wasn’t a good idea. Now, he may be plotting to destroy them. As their words went back through in her head, she focused on the ones that stood out to her.

“Stop the team from interfering with our plan”

“My mission?”

“Unaware rabbits in a forest full of foxes?”

With everything going on, Zoey knew she had to tell Abbie so she ran. Ran across the hallway, ran away from Adrien, ran away from her past sadness. She knew that her own conflict could not interrupt this conflict, she needed to direct her focus onto what was happening. 

In the guest room that Alex sat in, Abbie walked in. Standing by the door, Abbie looked down at Alex, but Alex wouldn’t look at her. Folding her arms in front of her, Abbie kept a stiff upper lip. She knew that if she fell apart, she wouldn’t be able to yell at him or simply get her point across.

“Alex, I know my father told you not to talk to me,” Abbie said defensively, waiting till Alex answered but he didn’t, “Listen, whatever he did to you, you can tell me.”

“He threatened to fire me if I didn’t leave you alone,” Alex said after a while, lifting his face up to look at Abbie, letting out a deep breath.

“Oh, I’m sorry...” Abbie replied. “If you really don’t like working here, I can….”

“No, no. I love working here with you. I just ...” Alex paused, “I didn’t want to leave you without saying goodbye.”

“Well, now you don’t have to,” Abbie walked over to sit by Alex on the edge of his bed, “I don’t care if he kicks you out of the building, I will never allow anyone to make you say goodbye… or feel the need to. Understand?”

Alex was just about to say something when Zoey ran into the room.

Eyebrows raised, Zoey’s mouth was wide open. 

“Guys, Adrien lied to us. He said we are like unaware foxes in a forest. You guys need to listen to me, this is super important. He is working with someone in secret to destroy us. The person he was calling said that he needs to stop us from getting in the way. He’s planning to kill us!” Zoey screamed from across the room, making Abbie let go of Alex and raise an eyebrow.

“Zoey, calm down,” Abbie replied, pushing her hands up and down in a motion to show Zoey to turn down her voice and alarm. 

“What, do you expect me to calm down in this mess?” Zoey yelled in a question, still shocked by what she had heard. 

“No, I do not. I would not be able to myself. I’m simply asking you to stop yelling so we can fully understand the situation,” Abbie replied, looking at Zoey, resting her hands on the edge of the bed.

“Ok, good to know. Hmm…. what should we name the situation. The mandela effect? No, that’s not very relevant. How about Joe? Or Bob?” Zoey asked facetiously, hiding her inner stress.

“No, I’m not sure Abbie is saying to name the situation, Zoey,” Alex replied, supporting Abbie.

“So, is anyone specifically in any danger? Sorry, I worded that wrong. Do you have any leads to anyone that could be in serious danger?” Abbie asked, articulating her words very thoroughly.

“We are all in danger. This person named ‘Ash’ ordered Adrien to make sure we don’t get in his way. Though, he did mention that he wants someone named Curie to join them,” Zoey replied, rubbing her chin as if trying to figure something out.  

“Well, why didn’t you say anything? Mariah is in danger,” Abbie said from across the room.

“Oh ... that's what he meant. Mariah’s last name is Curie. That makes so much sense. I thought he was cheating on Mariah for a second. They really do love each other,” Zoey said, getting a better understanding of what was happening.

“You know they’re just friends, right? Just like us,” Alex replied.

“Should we tell Mariah about what’s happening with Adrien?” Alex asked.

“Obviously not. That will only make matters worse,” Zoey replied.

“Shouldn’t she at least know what’s going on?” Alex asked again, trying to support his argument for his sake and Mariah’s.

“If she knows what’s going on and it isn’t what it seems, should she really lose a close friend for no reason?” Zoey asked, thinking about how she could have misunderstood the situation. Deep down, she knew that Adrien was a mystery to her so she still wanted to find out what was happening before ruining her friends’ lives.

“Sorry Alex, I agree with Zoey on this one. I don’t want to worry her until we know more about the situation,” Abbie replied, disagreeing with Alex.

“Ok, that’s understandable. I guess…,” Alex said, uncertain.

“So…. what should we do now?” Zoey asked.

“Investigate,” Abbie answered, standing on the ground and leading the others into the hallway.

After walking around in the hallway for what had seemed like twenty minutes, Abbie Plasma, Alex Zanders, and Zoey Lewie finally found Mariah Curie. Unfortunately, Mariah was talking with Adrien Huxquo- the person they so feared.

“So… what are you talking about?” Mariah asked Adrien, leading the others to think that Adrien had told her everything they know and more.

“Only the world’s most amazing coffee shop, Xuchi Expresso!” Adrien exclaimed in reply, causing Abbie to sigh quietly to herself behind the wall that they were crouching by.

“You want me to go there with you?” Mariah asked.

“No, no. Maybe another time. Do you know what I do want you to go with me to?” Adrien replied.

“Umm… no,” Mariah replied.

“Oh, you really do not know what type of food I like then,” Adrien said.

“Nope, you brought me to a restaurant I recommended to you last time,” Mariah replied further.

“Italian. Oh, the wondrous pasta and breadsticks of the most amazing restaurant of all time. Farm of Olives,” Adrien replied, lifting his arms in the air.

“Farm of Olives? Oh… the restaurant with the mints,” Mariah said, realizing what Adrien was talking about, making his jaw drop.

“How dare you? Farm of Olives is not just the restaurant with the mints. It is the restaurant of the warm greasy seasoned free breadsticks and the never ending bowls of marinara sauce ravioli,” Adrien said facetiously, placing his arms at his sides, dreaming about the delicious food at Farm of Olives.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mariah responded, abashed.

“No, no. It’s ok. I'm the only person I know that adores that place. It wasn’t your fault that you didn’t know it was my favorite restaurant,” Adrien patted Mariah’s back.

“Ok, thanks for understanding. Should we go to that restaurant tomorrow evening? I would like to stay at Infinity Laboratories for today, if that’s alright with you,” Mariah said.

“That’s fine. Would you join me in room 208 in a few?” Adrien asked.

“Sure,” Mariah answered, watching Adrien walk away from her.

Still crouched behind a wall in the hallway, Abbie, Alex, and Zoey watched as Adrien and Mariah walked their separate ways out of sight.

“Hmm, he likes Farm of Olives too,” Abbie said out of nowhere, interrupting the longevity of their silence.

“You’ve been to Farm of Olives? I thought you weren’t allowed to go out of Infinity Laboratories. Farm of Olives is located in the outskirts of the city,” Alex replied.

“Well, I went with my mother when…. She was alive,” Abbie replied, sinking into more silence.

“Oh,” Alex responded, looking at the other side of the hallway into space.

“Well, lets get on to something else cause’ we all know that someone died in our lives. Do you guys have any clue to what Adrien wants to do with Mariah in room 208?” Zoey asked, veering the conversation somewhere more productive.

“Oh, room 208 is the machinery room! Wait… why would he want Mariah to join him in there?” Alex answered.

“How do you know what is inside room 208? I didn’t even know. My father would forbid me to go in there. He said it was ‘too dangerous’,” Abbie asked.

“I accidentally stumbled in there one day. All there was inside that small closet were stone walls and myriads of big machines,” Alex replied.

“Too dangerous? Looks like we’re going to have to investigate again, yay…” Zoey said unenthusiastically, contrasting from Abbie and Alex’s tones.

“Yep, lets go,” Abbie said, standing up from her crouching position, leading the others toward room 208.

Alas, the door appears in sight. As Mariah and Adrien slip inside, Zoey’s eyes dart towards them, almost jumping out of her seat.
“Zoey, wait,” Abbie whispered to her friend as Zoey stood up.

“What? They’re inside,” Zoey replied impatiently, copying Abbie’s whisper sound, eyebrows furrowed.

“We have to have a plan,” Abbie persisted.

“Ok, then what’s the plan?” Zoey asked.

“How about Zoey opens the door, steps in, and reports back. If she returns, we’ll know that if it’s safe or she will tell us that it’s not. If she doesn't, we will be certain that something went wrong,” Alex said.

“Ok, that’s fine. Zoey…,” Abbie began, just realizing that Zoey already had her hand wrapped around the doorknob, “What are you doing?”

“Following the plan,” Zoey answered, causing Abbie to roll her eyes.

Attempting to open the door, Zoey turned the doorknob. As her face winced, expecting to see some evil contraption inside the room, she pulled the doorknob to discover that the door was locked.

Inside the locked room, Adrien Huxquo set Mariah Curie in a metal chair.

Smiling at her, Adrien began to speak.

“So, before I begin, I want you to answer a question,” Adrien said happily.

“Sure, anything,” Mariah replied, straightening herself in the hard chair, setting her arms gracefully on two metal armrests.

“Do you trust me, Mariah Curie?” Adrien asked, moving towards the corner towards a metal stand with several buttons on it.

“Of course, Adrien Huxquo,” she answered, “Why did you bring me here?” 

“To share my past, present, and future with you, Mariah Curie,” Adrien answered, following the pattern of talking to each other and placing their last and first names at the end of their sentences.

“Ok…, Adrien Huxquo. Where shall we begin?” Mariah asked.

“For starters, I want to tell you that I would hate for you to interrupt or veer from me, ok, Mariah Curie?” Adrien asked.

“Of course, Adrien Huxquo. I promise that I would understand you and try not to interrupt you,” Mariah replied. She left out her promise of not to veer from him, because she knew that was a promise she could not keep forever.

“So… when I was a small boy, my father died. This will be hard to understand, but Peter Plasma killed him because he simply warned him about the danger of the solar extractor. Trust me, I looked at the security cameras just to make sure. Peter betrayed my father. They were best friends. He continued to grow in selfish arrogance until he murdered my father and cursed us with these… mutations. Now, I have had to work under him and have him control me in training. I have plans to destroy everything he created because… because he killed the one thing that cared for me right before my mother died,” Adrien began, smirking a sinister smile, looking straight into Mariah’s frightened eyes, “I want you to join me. Join me on our path to greatness. On our journey to avenge our sanity and my father’s death,” he finished as he outstretched his hand towards Mariah, “join me, Mariah Curie. I beg you.”

“I’m sorry Adrien Huxquo, I will not,” Mariah answered, unsure how rational Adrien really was.

“You promised me... you promised that you would understand!” Adrien cried angrily, moving his hand towards a big red button on the control stand.

“Adrien stop, you are going insane!” Mariah yelled.

“You promised…,” Adrien continued, pressing the button. Suddenly, meta cuffs came out of the arm rests and the chair legs so that Mariah was trapped in the chair. As Mariah fought to get out, a machine slowly sank towards her. This machine looked like a semi-sphere metal thinking cap with myriads of buttons and cords connecting to a pillar of medal that extended the cap down onto Mariah’s head as white gas came out of the ceiling.

“Oh, and one more thing. My name is not Adrien Huxquo. It’s Adrien Atoms,” Adrien finished, flicking a metal switch on the control stand. The second after he flicked the switch, lighting up, the helmet electrocuted Mariah until she fell unconscious. “I’m sorry, old friend, I hope you can learn to forgive me,” Adrien apologized with a smirk as a tear slid down his cheek and walked out of the room, leaving Mariah unconscious in the chair with the helmet reverting back into the ceiling.

Another day had passed as Abbie Plasma, Zoey Lewie, and Alex Zanders didn’t grow any less suspicious about Adrien ‘Huxquo’.  Around and hour after they had decided to leave the door alone, they discovered Adrien and Mariah walking together in the hallway. Mariah’s arm was wrapped into Adrien’s as her head leaned on his shoulder. Ever since, their behavior only seemed to get even stranger. 

When Zoey asked the couple anything, for example: what they wanted from the vending machine, they would say the exact same response. Mariah and Adrien were also always being really cheesy. In the morning, Adrien asked if she was ready to go to Farm of Olives in the evening. Mariah answered by saying, “Only for you, Adrien.” This caused everyone to gag. 

“So, Mariah… when are you and Adrien going to Farm of Olives?” Abbie asked Mariah as they were walking with Adrien and Alex. Mariah’s head rested on Adrien’s shoulder as he kissed her head, arms intertwined. Abbie simply held Alex’s hand as they walked beside Adrien and Mariah. 

“Oh, only when Adrien is ready. It is his favorite restaurant,” Mariah replied.

“Oh, Mariah… always so sweet. I’ll go when she is ready,” Adrien followed. The pair never let their eyes veer from each other. 

“Hmm… you know I was asking for a time, right?” Abbie asked sternly. 

“Oh, Abbie. The time is always right to hang out with this amazing guy,” Mariah replied sincerely, head still resting on Adrien’s shoulder, eyes still fixed on Adrien’s eyes.

“Huh,” Abbie finished, walking away from the pair, raising an eyebrow. 

As soon as they were a comfortable distance away from Adrien and Mariah, Alex turned to Abbie to see that they were both raising an eyebrow. 

“That was strange, wasn’t it?” Alex asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway to start a serious conversation. 

“Yep, totally,” Abbie replied, stopping to stand right beside Alex, “they were so occupied in their cheesiness that they couldn’t give me a time that they were going to go. How are we going to learn more if we don’t even know when to go?”

“Well, we could ask them if we could go with…,” Alex answered.

“You are brilliant, Alex Zanders!” Abbie exclaimed, eyes wide open, a smile on her face.

“Yep. It could be like a double date. That wouldn’t be suspicious at all,” Alex replied. “Of course… we could just go as friends… if you want to….”

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go,” Abbie said, running the direction where Adrien and Mariah were walking. 

“Hey, run slower,” Alex said, running to catch up to Abbie.

“And I thought you could run lightning fast,” Abbie replied.

When they finally reached Mariah and Adrien, they were standing in the same position they were in the last time they saw them. Alex walked towards Abbie from behind her as she struggled to catch her breath. Grasping her hand, Alex held her tight, steadying her breath. Together, they smiled as they looked into each other’s eyes. 

“Yes?” Adrien interrupted their heartwarming moment, wondering what they were doing back over by them.

“Oh, we were just wondering if we could do a double date to Farm of Olives. You guys could go as one couple and we could go as the second,” Alex explained.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Abbie persuaded.

“Uh… sure. That’ll be fine, right Mariah?” Adrien replied, waiting for Mariah to respond. 

“Uh… sure. That’ll be fine, right Adrien?” Mariah copied.

“Yep,” Adrien answered.

“Yep,” Mariah copied again.

“Wow, you really are out of it today…,” Zoey said from behind Alex and Abbie as she walked into the conversation, “You guys going on a double date?”

“Yep, wanna come with?” Abbie asked.

“Nah, I’ll be fine. You guys go have your romantic dinner and all that good stuff,” Zoey passed down the offer.

“Zoey, it’s not a romantic dinner. We are just going as friends. Are you sure you don’t want to come with? I would feel bad to leave a friend out,” Abbie persisted.

“Really. It’ll be like I never left,” Zoey winked.

“Ok, if you insist,” Abbie finished, watching Zoey walk out of view.

“Hey, Alex, I’m going to go get ready,” Abbie told Alex, walking away from the group.

“Ok, see you later,” Alex replied.

“Hey Mariah, I’ll be back in a little, ok sweetie?” Adrien asked Mariah then, as soon as she nodded, he walked away too. 

Eventually, everyone left to change for their double date. However, soon, they all met downstairs at the bottom of the stairs. As Alex and Adrien stood at the bottom of each stair dressed in sweaters, Mariah and Abbie walked down the stairs in similar outfits. 

Alex wore a red v-neck sweater. Adrien wore a collared green sweater. Abbie wore a collared navy sweater and Mariah wore a pink long-sleeved blouse.

As the suitors watched their ladies glide down the stairs, they looked them in the eyes and eventually met them at the bottom of the stairs and offered their hands.

“Good, we have plenty of time to get to our reservation,” Adrien said.

“Isn’t he so… amazing?” Mariah asked.

“Yeah… super ‘amazing’,” Abbie replied unenthusiastically. 

“Lets go, shall we? I have a limo to carry us to our reserved restaurant,” Adrien replied, leading Mariah outdoors. The others followed, sitting in the limo as it drove them to Farm of Olives. Alas, they arrived. 

As soon as they checked in and found a perfect table, a semi-booth with two chairs on one side, they glanced around the interior of the interesting building. The room was covered with coffee colored vertical striped wallpaper and giant black and white historical photographs. Their booth area contained a dark wooden table with two straight wooden chairs on one side and a green fabric sofa on the other.

Adrien gestured Mariah over to the sofa as Abbie pulled a chair out from under the table for Alex to sit in, contrasting each other’s manners. Alas, they were all sitting at the table. Alex’s and Abbie’s arms were at their sides as Adrien wrapped his arm over Mariah’s shoulders. As a waitress dressed in a white apron and a black short-sleeved shirt and leggings, Adrien raised an eyebrow. 

“May I help you? I m-mean… may I take your order?” The waitress asked in a kind British accent.

“Uh, sure. I mean, we haven’t even looked at our menus but I’ll have the cheese marinara ravioli,” Abbie replied.

“I’ll have the spaghetti and meatballs please,” Adrien ordered politely.

“I’ll have the same thing,” Mariah replied.

“Umm… you can choose for me. I know that anything here will satisfy my hunger,” Alex told the waitress, finishing their order

“Ok, It’ll be coming to you guys in a few moments now,” the waitress finished, jotting down notes on a small white notepad with a black pen, walking back to where she walked out of. 

After a few moments of silence, the waitress returned with silver platters of delicious Italian food. As the group ate in silence, they all savored each bite of the delicious food from the overlooked Farm of Olives restaurant. Eventually, they were all finished and began to speak to each other.

“Well, that was delicious,” Abbie said out of nowhere, beginning the conversation.

“Yep, Farm of Olives always has the best food in the world,” Alex replied.

“Hey, Mariah, I thought you would’ve asked for mints by now,” Abbie said to Mariah from across the table.

“Well, maybe she just forgot, right love?” Adrien asked Mariah sincerely, turning his head to look into her eyes.

“Yep, mints don’t stand a chance against the distraction of love,” Mariah answered in a monotone.

“Ok…. well, shall we get out of here?” Alex asked.

“Great idea, Alexander. I have to make a phone call anyway,” Adrien replied, standing up and placing his phone on the table, “Mariah, stay with Abbie here, ok love?” 

“Sure, love,” Mariah replied, as if she was a robot.

“Take good care of her, Abbie,” Adrien said, furrowing his eyebrows seriously and then giving a smirk and walking out of the restaurant.

As Abbie stayed at the table and spoke with Mariah, Alex followed Adrien out into a hallway. Adrien stood with his back slouched against a wall as he held his phone up to his ear and began a call. Alex was hidden behind the door that Adrien used to enter the hallway, listening to the conversation.

“So, Ash, my plan didn’t exactly work out the way I wanted it to but I managed to brainwash her. I mean, it wasn’t satifying telling her how I want to murder Peter and how I want to avenger my father’s death, but at least she’s on my side. She’s not herself but it's better than not having her at all, right?” Adrien asked the other side of the phone, speaking to Ash.

“Sure, I’m not sure why you would still want her if she’s… Weird, but I’ve never tried to understand you anyway and I don’t intend to start,” Ash replied.

“Hmm… well, have you planted the bomb?” Adrien asked.

“Yep, and I set up the controls on your phone,” Ash said.

“Perfect, now I can destroy everything he ever held dear. His city, his fame, his daughter…,” Adrien replied, in a sinister tone almost as if he was going to start an evil laugh.

“Are you sure all that revenge will truly make you happy, Atoms? You’ve already lost your love for life, are you sure you want to make matters worse?” Ash asked, worried about Adrien.

“No, I haven’t lost her yet. She is with me at Farm of Olives right now. Look, Ash, I’m not insane. I’m simply paying back the… favor,” Adrien answered with a smirk.

“I’m still not so sure…,” Ash replied uncertain.

“Ash, listen to me,” Adrien yelled angrily, “Your parents didn’t die, ok? Your father didn’t die just because he warned some insane person. I’m not the insane person, Peter Plasma is!”

“Ok, ok. Look, the bomb is planted. Are you happy?” Ash asked.

“No, not until I destroy everything Peter Plasma has ever loved because he did the same thing to me,” Adrien replied.

“Can’t you see? You’ve already destroyed the one thing that you loved that no one would destroy. Mariah. Look, it’s not too late to-” Ash was interrupted in mid sentence as Adrien hang up the phone. Tears flooded down his cheeks as he sunk to the floor, sliding down the wall, compacting his body in a tight ball.

“No, I can’t have lost the one thing I’ve had left in this world,” Adrien cried, feeling the same sadness he had felt when he had knelt down by his father right before he died, maybe he felt even sadder than he was when his father died in his arms, “No….” For through his rage, he still felt like the small devastated kid he was several years ago.

Outside the hallway, Alex dragged Abbie over to the door and told her everything he knew about Adrien. 

“So, Adrien Huxquo is Adrien Atoms?” Abbie asked Alex in a whisper, careful not to let anyone hear their conversation.

“Yes, I believe so. Look, he wants to kill you, Abbie. I will not allow that to happen. So, from now on, let me do the fighting, ok?” Alex asked sincerely, begging for Abbie to stand back and watch as he fought Adrien.

“No,” Abbie replied seriously, suddenly running into the hallway with her flames bursting out of her hands, ready to fight the person she thought was her friend. No, the person that was her friend. As she stood to face Adrien’s shocked and teary face, she remembered the days before their mothers died. The days they would play in the sun and count the number of clouds in the sky, the days where they would quiz each other on calculus. Those days had long been gone. Abbie didn’t even know that Adrien was still alive until that day.

“Abbie?” Adrien asked, lifting himself up from upon the ground to look at her in the eye. Rising to circle her with his fists ready to fight.

“Adrien…,” Abbie replied, standing still, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“You wouldn’t understand… you Plasmas never do,” Adrien said coursly, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“Us Plasmas? Adrien, I’m your friend. You should’ve known that you could tell me anything,” Abbie responded, not knowing what she hoped for. If he had turned back now, her father probably wouldn’t allow him to hang out with her and their situation would be the same as before. However, she knew that if he carried out his plan, he would surely go to prison for homicide or worse.

“You didn’t even think of finding me after I went missing, after my parents died. I was all alone, Abbie. You were my friend and you didn’t even seem to care,” Adrien replied, transforming his fists into sharp clawed paws, about ready to scratch the innocent expression off of her face.  

“Adrien, I thought you were dead,” Abbie said. She felt tears begin to accumulate in her eyes, but she knew she couldn’t allow them to fall or she would go down.

“Well, look at me. I’m not dead. Now, I suggest you join me if you don’t want to actually die,” Adrien attempted to persuade, unraveling his fists and lifting one in front of him, gesturing for Abbie to take his hand.

“Adrien, this isn’t like you. Please, turn back before it’s too late,” Abbie pleaded, holding out her hand for Adrien to take it and turn back from his vile intentions. 

Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed even more as he screamed and scratched Abbie with his paw, cutting her face with his claws, causing blood to drip from her cheek. As she placed her hands in front of her, she created a force field of electric blue flames, burning Adrien’s hands as he continued to try to scratch her even further. As Adrien pushed harder on the forcefield with his paws, ignoring the pain the flames caused him, Abbie’s feet began to slide backwards. Screaming, she mustered up enough energy to push Adrien backwards, gaining the upper hand in the situation. Adrien screamed louder to push Abbie back over by the door. As her head slammed against the doors, flames burning the door, Abbie winced and screamed from the burning pain.

Outside, Alex suddenly heard Abbie screaming from the door. He turned his head to see that the door was melting from a blue flame, Abbie’s flame.

Alarmed, he ran to the door and threw it open to have Abbie fall onto the floor. Laying down with her elbow propped up from the ground, Abbie looked up to see Alex looking at her with eyebrows raised. Alex was about to ask her what was happening when he turned to see Adrien with his eyebrows furrowed and face burning red. 

“This doesn’t look good,” Alex said to Abbie, looking at Adrien as he huffed and puffed.

“You think?” Abbie asked, lifting herself from the ground with flames extracting the air around them to strengthen themselves.

“You do make a crucial point,” Alex replied, lightning surrounding his hands and retinas.

“Why don’t we get this over with, you two?” Adrien asked, transforming his panther paws into red squid tentacles. Reaching into the sky to reveal eight squid arms that spread into the sky to touch the ceiling. Pushing his new limbs towards the Abbie and Alex, he wrapped them tightly around his captives. Smothering them in squid mucus, tightening his grip, he lifted them into the air. Alex’s eyes widened as he struggled to breathe and he eventually passed out in Adrien’s squid arms. Abbie’s face winced as her arms pressed against her neck.

“Abbie, I invite you to join me. Just think of the potential that we can have. We can show Atlantis that we are not objects to mess around with. You know how we have been both treated as objects that no one cares about. Come on, we can rule the world,” Adrien attempted to convince Abbie once more to join him.

“N-no… you are i-insane. We can g-go to j-jail for that… I don’t n-need to c-control people to b-be happy… y-you know that t-there are p-people t-that do love us, A-Adrien… p-people that are r-right i-in front of y-your eyes,” Abbie eventually mustered enough breath to reply, declining Adrien’s offer.

Grinding his teeth with tears pouring down his face, Adrien looked over to where Mariah was sitting at the booth as she looked out the window. Then he looked back over to Alex and Abbie as he tightened his grip around Abbie. As Abbie winced, teeth grinding and tears also falling, Abbie screamed until she could not stand Adrien’s grip any longer. Head falling onto Adrien’s squid arm, Adrien threw her towards Alex and reverted his limbs back to their human state. Crouching onto the ground, Adrien allowed himself to really cry. As tears poured down his face, Mariah walked over to him and sat beside him. As she wrapped his arm over his shoulder, Adrien turned away.

“Adrien, what’s wrong?” Mariah asked sincerely.

“Everything, Mariah,” Adrien replied, not able to face Mariah after what he had done to her, “Can you go?”

As Mariah walked out of Farm of Olives, she walked by a bush to go to the limo. In the bush, stood a Zoey Lewie that had heard and seen everything. After Mariah had closed the door to the limo, Zoey sprinted inside with her claws ready to attack. 

“Zoey? I didn’t know you came along. Come for some Farm of Olives, assume?” Adrien asked, standing up to transform his hands into giant owl claws.

“Well, that’ll be for another time, Adrien Huxquo… or should I say: Adrien Atoms?” Zoey answered.

“I see that you’ve heard what I’ve had to say,” Adrien replied,sharpening his claws,  “That’ll save me a whole lot of time.”

“The more time the better… to scratch your eyes out,” Zoey said, moving closer to Adrien, stretching her claws out. 

“Oh, that’s funny, I was going to say the same thing…” Adrien moved closer to Zoey. 

Jumping towards each other with claws ready to scratch, they yelled. However, Zoey didn’t see it coming. For Adrien had transformed his legs into octopus tentacles and had slippery ink running underneath her. Slipping on the ink, about to fall, Adrien caught Zoey with his claws. Digging his claws into Zoey’s chest, hoisting her above him, Zoey winced. 

“A-aren’t y-you w-worried a..about what y-you’re be-becoming?” Zoey mustered her breath to ask.

“Well, I am; but it gets easier over time. Once you hurt so many people, you can’t really turn back,” Adrien replied, hiding his internal whirlwind of anxiety and regret, “So, just tell me when the pain is too much. After all, it should be easy for you to pass out.”

“L-look, A..Adr-rien,... I k-know wh-hat it-t’s l-like f-for y-your f-father t-to die d-doing some-ething gr-reat and h-have… n-no one-care a-about i-it, b-but t-this i-is n-not t-the w-way t-to d-deal w-ith i-it, t-trust… me,” Zoey said to Adrien before she passed out too and left Adrien to cry alone.

When our heroes: Abbie Plasma, Alex Zanders, and Zoey Lewis, awoke, they found themselves in a dark stone room with cobwebs and cardboard boxes. They were strapped onto vertical beds on the wall with tight leather belts. Abbie, with the reputation of waking up at five A.M. every morning, woke up first. Then Alex awoke a while later who was followed by Zoey after an hour. 

“Zoey, I’ve seen that you finally awoken,” Abbie said to her friend when she woke up, “how did Adrien cause you to pass out?”

“Oh, the usual, simply enormous owl claws,” Zoey replied facetiously, after she had jogged back her memory.

“Abbie and Adrien fought for a while until I stepped in and he made me unconscious by choking me with squid tentacles,” Alex replied.

“Well, there is a chance that you didn’t get choked with squid tentacles,” Abbie responded, making the others blush and raise an eyebrow, “Oh, that’s not what I meant…. I meant that squids are cephalopods in the superorder Decapodiformes with eight arms and two tentacles,” she paused when she saw Zoey laughing at her, “On second thought… who really cares?”

“Oh, sorry Abbie. I was just laughing because I knew that you are the only one that would say something like that. Aren’t I right, Alex?” Zoey asked, turning her head to her left to see Alex, turning away from Abbie who was lying at her right. 

“Yep. Even I got a C in that subject,” Alex answered, “not to disinclude you or make you feel uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, Alex, I know that you are great at many things that aren’t biology. Such as performance, believe me, when I was at Atlantia Academy and I saw you act… wow was I amazed. Oh, and your Australian accent sounded so natural,” Abbie complemented.

“You went to Atlantia Academy?” Alex asked, surprised.

“Well, until my IQ test pulled me out of that comfortable place,” Abbie replied, looking down at her grey Converse that she had managed to sneak in under Adrien’s supervision. 

“My circumstances were similar. I went there for a week and then dropped out to train for the Huntera Project,” Zoey replied, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal for her.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Alex and Abbie said at the same time, causing them to look at each other, blush a rosy pink, and then giggle hysterically.

“Well, like you two right now, that school was pretty strange,” Zoey replied with a smile.

“Yeah… Well-” Alex began, but was interrupted when Adrien opened the door with Mariah. As Adrien held the door open, letting some light in, he watched Mariah open a large circular window in front of them to let in more light. After he whispered something to Mariah, he closed the door and left Mariah in the room. 

“So,” Mariah said to them as she stood in the middle of the room, “I’m supposed to stand hear and listen to what you have to say. Adrien is being very strange around me. He said that he wants to let me live my own life, whatever that means. It has been difficult seeing him cry.”

“Well, for starters, Adrien brainwashed you,” Zoey replied, “You guys were friends, and then he told you about his past and his future intentions of killing Abbie and her father. You used to work for Mira Mirror and you left your mom to go live a new life. Then you were affected by the solar extractor so you had to come to Infinity Labs. We are your friends and Adrien is brainwasher.”

“Oh, and I suspect that he was crying because he controlled the woman he cared about without her permission, you,” Abbie added.

“Wow. Adrien really did that. I’m sorry if I did anything wrong to you guys,” Mariah apologized.

“It’s ok. There was no way you could’ve known that you acted like a robot,” Alex forgave her. Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of blue lightning struck Mariah from above and a projector slid down out of the ceiling and turned on the news.

On the news, a tan woman with straight lavender hair that reached her shoulders wore a modest gray cable net sweater and held a microphone that was entitled with “Atlantis Queen News”. Wind blew her hair harshly to the left and hair was covering her face. A silhouette of a man with giant bird wings hovered above far into the sky and was being surrounded by thousands of birds.

“Good morning, Atlantis. The day is November 12th, 2024 and I am reporting live to share this peculiar event. Far above me flies a man with giant eagle wings that can seize control of birds,” the woman lifted her arm up in the direction of the eagle man, Adrien Atoms, “we have the great Professor Plasma with us to share some information and backstory. Now, I am going to hand the floor off to Professor Plasma,” she moved out of the scene and allowed Peter Plasma to speak in front of the camera. 

“Hello there, Atlantis. I am here to say-” Peter was interrupted when Adrien flew to the camera and knocked him down.

“He is a murderer!” Adrien yelled, feeling tears accumulate in his eyes but not allowing them to fall in front of the cameras, furrowing his eyebrows.  Taking up the camera with his furious facial expression,“He murdered my father, his best friend, Professor Atoms, Andrew Atoms. My father tried to warn him about the dangers that the solar extractor brought to our precious country, but he didn’t listen, and he shot him with a gun.”

“Adrien, listen to me-” Peter was interrupted again.

“No. I have listened to your arrogance for far too long. This ends now,” Adrien interrupted Peter, “You took the one thing I loved, and now I will return the favor.” Adrien fished out a remote from a pocket in his black denim jeans. Then he moved his thumb over, trying not to shake and holding his breath, to a large red button. Pushing the button, he triggered a chain reaction, setting off an earthquake along with dozens of explosions that destroyed buildings and more buildings. As skyscrapers fell down like dominos where the explosions hit, thousands of people rushed out of them. 

People screamed for their lost children. Others wept. More were panicked about what was happening. Citizens in distant cities in the country watched the news as they huddled close to one another on their sofas. Even other countries watched as Adrien Atoms began to unleash his revenge on Peter Plasma. Everyone shared the same realization: the country of Atlantis wasn’t safe anymore. 

Over at the silver bricked clock tower, Abbie Plasma, Alex Zanders, Zoey Lewie, and Mariah Curie listened to the ear piercing sound of the explosions in their city. Bright orange and yellow light shone on the foggy window. They struggled with escaping the restraints that held them against the cold stone wall. At the first rip of one of the leather bands, the wall in front of them exploded, exposing the cold autumn air of Atlantis and the sour taste of the sparks of fire in the air and smoke, with a loud boom.

Along with the arm burns and blisters from the fire that caught on the leather bands and their clothing, the explosion granted the team freedom. Our heroes chose to use this freedom to their advantage. Zoey ran to the window and seized the moment to jump out. Alex followed her and jumped with his hand tightly holding Abbie’s. Alas, Mariah followed them. 

As they free-falled down onto the air, the pressure clang onto their clothing and rubbed against their skin and the fires down below only seemed to grow.  They were about to be granted more burns before Mariah saved their skin.

“Guys, catch,” Mariah threw three smooth black rings out to her friends as she pressed a white crystal on her own ring. This action caused her costume to stretch onto her from the crystal until she was dressed the same way she was a couple nights before. “I created these rings for you a couple nights ago when I was in my guest room. All you have to do is press the white crystal on the ring to activate your suits and transform.” Through the strong wind that fought to push them upwards and downwards, Mariah worried that they wouldn’t be able to hear hear. Luckily, they gave her evidence to believe otherwise. After a few moments they were all suited up in their superhero costumes and it began to feel like their first night exploring the city again. 

A scream from below managed to spring them back to their senses just in time for them to position themselves gracefully upon the ground. Then the sounds brought them further back to the present. Citizens screamed for someone to help them as others cried from inside flaming buildings.  

Before the others could even complemplate a possible plan, Mariah created a brilliant set up. “So, guys, we need some sort of organization so I created one. Zoey and I will find Adrien. Abbie needs to stay as far from Adrien as possible, so she will help Alex with making sure our citizens are safe. Alex can evacuate people from the buildings when he finds one of the prisoners of the fire. Abbie, can you somehow manage to calm the flames of the bombs?” Mariah waited for Abbie to nod. Before Alex followed Abbie further into the city, she made him promise to take care of himself and Abbie while he gathers the evacuees. Then the team went their separate ways.

Eventually Mariah and Zoey met up with Adrien. Adrien turned from the cameras to face Mariah as she stood to face him. Their eyes met as they both felt tears began to gather in their eyes, but they both knew they couldn’t allow them to fall. The camera-men positioned the cameras in a few meters away from the group as reporters caught up their audience.

“Mariah, I knew I’d have to face you again and may I say: you are looking fabulous.” Adrien eyed her pastel dress as he cracked a joke. “I just didn’t know I’d come across you so soon, fire bite you too hard?”

“Atoms, this is not the time for jokes. You are not getting away with what you did to Atlantis. This is not the way to avenge your father’s death.” 

“Oh, I’m not sure you would be the best ally to trust for this decision. I wouldn’t side with someone that breaks their promises.”

“She didn’t break anything more than you have, Adrien.” Zoey knew that was the truth the moment she slipped it out of her mouth. He had broken buildings, families, relationships, lives. The evidence was right in front of her. “Why do you love to rub it in people’s faces? I really do not get it. You seem to be breaking everything right about now. How can you simply stand by and watch as you destroy families and this beautiful city?”

“Zoey, you, out of anyone here, should know that this city is not beautiful. This city is the place where our families died, where people pushed us around. You and I both tried to make it here, but we knew we never would. And why should we? This city is the place where people treated our families like dirt, isn’t that right-- Plasma?” Adrien pushed Zoey to find her disgust in this city as she did only weeks before. Zoey had to admit he had a point there. Her father had not been treated nearly as well as he should have, and she had to live with that guilt and anger. Unlike Adrien, she didn’t let that anger control her and she didn’t intend to start. 

“Well, I guess we really should change the topic, shouldn’t we? How about… oh I don’t know… what the Plasmas have done to this ‘perfect’ country”  The reporter’s jaws fell open and Adrien took that as his cue. 

“Our beloved Plasmas think they deserve our attention, and we foolishly give it to them while they destroy our lives. If you want proof, just look at the solar extractor disaster. They stole energy from our star and used it to curse us with these… mutations. See? We were normal people before he did this. He also committed homicide by killing a scientist that simply tried to warn him about the dangers he forced upon us.” He transformed his hand into a lobster claw. “Look at this. Look at this! To think that I am one of several different severe cases of Plasmosis. Come, lawyers and police, I see you back there.”

As several policemen and lawyers followed Adrien’s order, the only person that pushed through the crowd was neither one. That person was someone Mariah never thought she’d see. This person was someone the world thought had died. The person that walked up to Adrien Atoms was Mr. Curie, Mariah’s long lost father. Mariah’s jaw dropping wasn’t alone. Several other citizens were in awe at the black suited agent. Mr. Curie was dressed in a black business suit with a black glasses and short greyish blonde hair. His suit wore a symbol of a white circle with a blue infinity sign in the middle of the shape.

“Dad?” Mariah was in shock as he studied Adrien very closely. “I didn’t even know you were still alive….” She ran into his arms and wrapped him in a tight hug as she allowed her tears to fall.

“Mariah, I’m sorry I couldn’t see you sooner. Your mother didn’t want me interfering with you fashion business. Though, I really don’t see why it did her good to file the divorce papers. I always knew you would find a way to break free from her metal fist.” He stopped the hug and placed his hands on her shoulders after he slid his glasses off of his cobalt blue eyes to look at his daughter in the eye. Then he directed his focus towards Adrien. “I see you have managed to break my daughter’s heart. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I…Uh... Mariah…?” Adrien was confused at what to say and was also in shock at what was happening. Of all the different possibilities of what could’ve happened during his revenge, he never expected this.

“Well, you’ll have plenty to say in prison, Mr. Atoms.” Mr. Curie allowed other agents with the same suits with the same symbols to file out of the crowd and handcuff Adrien. “Oh, and Mr. Plasma?”

“Yes?” Peter walked towards the agents only to have handcuffs placed around his wrists. “What is happening?”

“You, sir, are being arrested for homicide, like Mr. Atoms suggested. Don’t worry, your daughter will do a fine job taking care of Infinity Laboratories alongside us.” Peter had a feeling by “us”, Mr. Curie wasn’t going to include him. 

After their handcuffs were secure, four agents led Adrien and Peter out to a black limo and set them down inside. Abbie arrived just in time to see the agents enter the limo and to hear their final words. Her eyebrows were raised, arms covered in blisters and burns, and sweat glittering on her forehead. Though, these marks were not from seeing her father in the limo. When she saw her father in the car with Adrien, her eyes shone with tears that slid down her red cheeks.

“Abbie, I want you to know that I love you. I always have,” Peter said before the windows were pulled closed. Abbie extended her hand in the direction of her father as the limo drove away.

“Abbie Plasma, I’m pleased to meet you.” Mr. Curie extended his hand to shake hers and catch her attention. “I hope we can work alongside each other as soon as possible. I look forward to seeing what your team can do to help this world.”

Abbie stayed silent as she saw his hand in front of her. She imagined Alex’s hand in front of her instead of Mr. Curie’s as tears began to fall more rapidly. “What’s wrong?” Mr. Curie asked sincerely.

“Alex… he’s injured,” Abbie cried.

As soon as Mariah and Zoey heard Abbie, they moved closer to her and hugged her. All Abbie could do was cry on their shoulders as she dug her head into their costumes. Mariah patted her back slowly as Zoey hugged Abbie tighter. 

“What exactly happened before you lost him?” Mr. Curie stood meters away from her with his hands behind his back. Other agents with the same outfit stood with him.

“A-Alex and I checked all of the buildings except one. T-that building was the one with the most t-terrifying flames one the top, t-the g-gunpowder factory… I b-begged Alex to let me go in, b-but he begged me to stay put and wait for him to return. T-the second he ran in, the builing exploded and collapsed on top of him. His hand lay in the rubble, blood dripping, unconsious… I c-couldn’t look at him anymore… so I w-went over to the others to a-ask for help,” Abbie cried while she pushed the others away. 

“We’ll help him right after we get this place clear,” Mr. Curie decided and ordered the other agents to begin sending people away. 

“No!” Abbie screamed, “If you don’t go with me now, then I’ll have to go on my own.” When Mr. Curie didn’t reply, Abbie shot blue flames out of her limbs and shot up into the sky away from the group.

Alas, she arrived at the scene. Foggy streets were filled with unconsious citezens and smoke that made the place barley breathable. Out of the dozens of skyscrapers, only one was left in a pile of rubble and shards of glass- the one that submerged Alex’s unconsious bloodly body. As Abbie flew towards the pile, she saw Alex’s hand in the rubble with dozens of red blisters and cuts from the glass. Abbie steadied herself onto the street and sprinted over to Alex. Crouching in the rubble, she dug through the rubble to get Alex out of underneath it. When, at last, his body was in the open air, she almost couldn’t bear to look at him. His hands were covered in black burns, scars bled through his suit, blisters curved around his neck and face, blood dripping from his lower lip, eyes closed, tiny rocks infected deep scars on his arms. She shook him in an attempt to wake him up, but his immune system didn’t reply. Then she checked for a pulse: barley readable. Scooting closer to him, Abbie rested her head on his bloody chest in attempt to hear his hearbeat: too slow for an unconsious person. 

Lifting her head, she placed her hand on his cheek and on top of his blisters. Tears fell down her cheeks over dried ones and transformed into sobs. She rested her forehead on top of his and she cried, “I’m sorry, Alex. For everything. Please… wake up.” When he didn’t reply, she cried once more, “I need you. Please, Alex. I need you to wake up… please…” Her mind drifted to their conversation a couple days back when she told him she wouldn’t allow anyone to make him say goodbye to him. He didn’t say goodbye physically, but it sure felt like he had said it when he ran into the building. Laying her arms on his and feeling her hands freeze up, she continued to think about what they had been through. 

He made her smile for the first time in a long time. Taught her how to skate. Risked his well-being for her country. For her. She felt like she had to do the same for him somehow, she had to save him. 

Closing her eyes, she focused her mind to do something she didn’t quite know would work or not. But she had to give it a try. She had to freeze his cuts to preserve his blood, to stop it from spilling out. She knew that this could kill him, stop his heartbeat, cause him to leave her without saying goodbye- the one thing he risked something to stop him from needing to. Her mind focused on imagining her icy flames wrapping around his arms like a blanket as her hands changed from an uncomfortable buring sensation to a chilling cold. When she opened her eyes, she saw his grey eyes meet her hazel ones. 

“Alex!” She yelled. Alex could barley move, but he still managed to move her fingers onto his blue blistered lips. His body was covered in a layer of electric blue flames that she had created to preserve his blood. 

“I didn’t have to say goodbye…” Alex whispered before lifting his chest up to kiss her, sending a warm chill of her flames to her face. Abbie kissed him back and relief filled her system. She couldn’t believe she might’ve never been able to do that. When they let go, Alex winced.

“Sorry,” Abbie apoligized.

“You have nothing to be sorry for anything. It sort of just hurts a bit when a building collapses on top of you.” 

“Oh, Alex, we need to get you to a hospital,” Abbie exclaimed. 

“Already got that covered,” a familiar voice replied from behind them. When Abbie looked back, she saw Mr. Curie with her friends and his agents beside him along with a hospital truck being filled up with injured unconscious citizens. “Sorry, I didn’t listen to you before.” 

Zoey and Mariah rushed over to Alex and Abbie and wrapped them both in a group hug. Tears fell down her cheeks once more as they wrapped her in a hug. However, this time, they weren’t sad tears- they were tears of joy and relief. For, though the last few days were excruciating and slapped her in the face one after another, she had been able to finally leave her past in the dust.