The Alpha Force: The Games of the mind.

The Alpha Force face off against The Gamer and his Goons!

The Games of the Mind

 

 

Chapter 1

 

 

 

It was the Annual Spring Science Fair at Silverton High School.  The rules were simple: You must work as a group, and come up with something original and creative.  Secondly, the group must show the receipts to prove the purchases they made, as the winners would receive a full refund and represent their school in the State Science fair.  The gym was full of students, faculty, and judges from the Oregon Science Institute, who were walking around looking at the different exhibits.

The Alpha Force in their guise as normal teenagers was at their stand showing off their invention, which was a robot who would help a student in trivial problems, whom they named I.Q.-2.  The teens had spent the last four months putting it together, so they were hoping to win for the had spent nearly over $1,000.  When it came time for the judges to come and examine their project, “Now tell us about your invention.”  A male judge in his mid-fifties offered.

“Certainly!”  John spoke up proudly, “This is I.Q.-2, a robot that we created to help students with questions.”

“Of course the students would have to be at no higher than a junior high age.”  Nicole took over, “Observe, I.Q.-2, who was the person who came up with the theory of relativity?”

“Answer:  Albert Einstein.”

“We only put in the basic facts so that no one could use I.Q.-2 as a cheat sheet.”

“Impressive.” A female judge in her mid-thirties complemented, and the other male judge who was a representative of NASA nodded as they walked away.

A few moments later the judges along with the principal James Woods, stood up to the podium to announce the winners; “First of all we want to thank all of you for your participation in this years’ Science Fair.” Principal Woods began and the crowd applauded, “However only one team shall be the winner and team is…Team Woods!”  Most of the people applauded, the others booed. “Now, the runner-up will get half a day off from school and that will be Team Black!”  More applause and boos.

“Second place is better than no place.”  Ally admitted.

“And the third place…”

“Better go to my team.”  Said an annoying voice.

“We already told you, Hector, your team was disqualified for the lack of teamwork.”  Principal Woods told him.

“The Gamer works alone!  As well as my colleagues, which you forced me to be grouped with; after I told you that, I wanted to work alone!"  Hector was a brown, curly-haired teen, who was five feet tall and had zits around his face.

“I told you to stop calling yourself that.  No one is going to take you seriously in life as long as you claim yourself to be something you’re not.”  Woods lectured him, “Besides, I forced all of you to group together because you all wouldn't join one.”

“You know what?  I don’t need to hear this from you old man.  You probably paid the judges to pick your son’s team over everyone else’s.”  There was a stir of agreement among the students.  Hectors’ group began to confront the people upon the stage.

“Shouldn't we do something?”  Whispered Dan.

“No need,” Mike answered, “Besides the school’s security is coming in to take care of the situation.”

“All of you!”  Woods pointed at Hector’s group “Are hereby suspended for the next two days!”

“Under what grounds?”  Hector asked as he and the others struggled with the school’s security.

“Instigating a riot for one, and disrespecting school faculty, as the second offense, don’t think I will not add a third if you keep running your mouth!”  Woods answered with authority.

“You’ll pay for this old man! I guarantee it!”  Hector threatened as he and the others were escorted off the premises.

“Talk about a sore loser.”  Clara shook her head.

“Guys like that don’t need an award; it would only boost their ego.”  Ally pointed out.

“Good thing we’re always putting others before ourselves huh?”  Dave asked.

“Maybe so Dave,” Mike began to comment, “But remember even the most humble of us need to be humbled even more.”  And he started to tear down their display.

“You know for once I wish he would speak English!”  John complained.

“Yeah, just one day without saying anything cryptic.”  Dan agreed.

“But boys don’t forget,” Nicole stood between them, “We had a deal; each time you guys complain about Mike’s cryptic messages, you have to give us girls $5.00 each.”

“Pay up!”  Ally reached out with her hand, and Clara stood next to her doing the same thing.

“Man!”  Dan grunted as he dug out his wallet.

“You’re not there yet, but you will.”  Clara teased him, as she and the other girls started to take off.

“Hey, where are you three going?”  John asked, “We still have to put all this stuff in the van!”

“We’re going shopping!”  Ally announced cheerfully.

“Besides we’re sure you strong boys can handle yourselves without our help.”  Clara taunted.

“Mikey, the girls and I are going for a makeover,” Nicole told him.

“Okay have fun.”  He kissed her good-bye.

“Wait a minute, where did you girls get all this cash?”  Dan asked them in disbelief.

“Simple two months of saving,” Nicole answered and she ran up to catch up with the other girls.

“Lost another bet with the girls’ guys?”  Mike asked them.

“Mike if this is what you meant by your cryptic message, considered me humbled,” Dave admitted.

“Me too.”  John seconded.

“Me 7x77.”  Dan quoted.

“Well, if you “humblers” are ready to help, and then let’s get this stuff back to The Big House.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

 

Hector Goodfreed came home later that afternoon, went into his bedroom, dumped the science project onto his bed, and dropped into his chair.  “How dare they…how dare they mock my genius!  No matter, I’ll show them all.”  He turned to his new invention; it was a pair of glasses that once put on, the person wearing them could create their own world.  “They look like ordinary glasses; however, these will serve only one persons’ purpose…Mine!”  He continued to talk to himself, “First: I’ll just reprogram the setting to where the only person controlling what they see is through my computer…”  He began typing command codes into the computer, “There…Now I just need a test subject.”

“Hector!”  His father bellowed, “Young man, you and I need to talk.”

“Perfect.”  Hector smiled evilly, “I’m in my room dad.”  A few seconds later his dad came in, “Problems father?”  He asked innocently.

“What is this that you got suspended from school?”  His Father asked looking down on him; arms crossed showing his bare muscles tensing up.

“Well, you see they disqualified me…”

“From the Science Fair, I know.”

“How…how did you know?”  Hector asked.

“Your Principal called me at work, which meant that I had to leave, and am now losing the much-needed overtime!”

“It’s not my fault!”

“I know nothing is your fault.”  His father turned his back to him to start taking off his belt, “but disrespecting your elders and those in authority…”  He sighed, “I thought I've taught you better than that.  I guess I’m just going to have to teach you some more.”  And just as he turned around hector moved quickly to put the glasses on his father’s face and he just stood there like someone in a trance.

“You were saying Dad?  Now looks like I’m the one with the authority now!”  Hector laughed and turned to his computer, “Now to create a world just for you dad. I know how about you relive the worst moment of your life.”  Hector typed into his computer to scan his father’s brain through the glasses, and images flashed onto the monitor.  Then one came up which was the day that Hector’s mother died; he pressed a couple of more keys for the image to play repeatedly.  “Now you’ll just stand there and cry until…well you won’t stop, and soon your brain won’t be able to continue the process and then you’ll just die!  And I’ll be free to be me!  Free to be The Gamer!”  Hector laughed hideously as his Father continued crying, “Oh I’m sorry if I brought you so much pain daddy!  For soon, you will not feel anything anymore.  Now to exact my revenge on my peers!  But how?”  

The Gamer looked at his calendar, “Aw that should work tomorrow is the day when NASA is to come and show the students the new planets that they had found, and they showing it through virtual reality and their computer system is too primitive to my superior intellect.  And I’ll use their technology against them, but I can’t do this on my own…” The Gamer picked up the phone and called John Crunch, “Yes John it's Hector…listen Jock face!  How would you and the others like to get back at the whole school for suspending us…Good all of you meet me at the school within the hour?”

Later that night Hector and his fellow suspended classmates broke into the school gym and looked around to make sure everything was ready for tomorrow’s presentation.  “Now you guys cover the exits while I reprogram the computer to obey only my commands.  Then when they begin the presentation everyone will be put into different worlds that I create.”

“How long will it take you?”  Asked Molly.

“Eight hours.”

“Then get to it, little man,” John ordered, as The Gamer turned on the computer and he got into the computers programming systems once he had broken through all the firewalls, and then erased all of the information pertaining the NASA programming.  “Now that all that useless garbage is out of the way, I can put in my own program.”  By the time he was done with putting in his program he then saw that it was nearly time for the faculty to show up for the day.  “Almost show time!”  He called to the others, and once they rejoined them he mapped out the plan.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

 

The teens had met together at The Big House during the half a morning off for a Holo-Dome session.  “Good morning everyone!”  Clara greeted everyone as she came in, “Like my new perm?”

“Looks nice Clara, Where’d you get the money?”  Jacob asked.

“Let’s just say Ally, Nicole and I have a couple of benefactors,” Clara answered as her and the others showed off.

“Well if you gals are done with showing off your looks, maybe we could get down to this morning’s exercise?”  Mike asked impatiently.

“Sorry.”  Ally apologized sadly.

“Now everyone, take off your Changers,” Mike instructed.

“Excuse me?”  Dan questioned.

“You heard.”  Jacob backed up Mike, “Take off your Changers.”

“Good, now each of you shall take a turn in The Holo-Dome.  The goal for this session is to see who can last the longest without the use of their Bio-suit.  Whoever survives the longest will receive a Get out of a session card.”  Jacob explained as they headed to the giant dome in the middle of their headquarters.

“The rules are simple, you can use your abilities to help you survive and you have 1000 life points.  Once they’re gone the session is over.”  Mike continued explaining, “Blaze you go first.”

“Right on!  I’m so going to beat your time.” She bragged, “By the way what was your score?”

“That’s for me to know, and you not to find out.”

“I hate it when you say things like that.”  She scoffed as she entered.  Once she was inside the doors closed behind her.  She then turned up the heat and her body was embraced by pure fire.  “Ready when you are!”  She called out.  The next thing she knew, she was in the middle of the Arctic Circle.  “You've got to be kidding me!”

Off from a distance, she could hear snowmobiles heading her direction, and once they came into range, they opened fire on her.  By the time the bullets reached her they would melt.  “My turn boys.”  She warned them and she threw fireballs at the assailants.  Once each of the fireballs hit the machines they would blow up.  Next up a group of Abominable Snowmen.  “Oh great!  He brought out the heavy hitters!”  She thought to herself.  The beast threw a giant snowball at her, and it hit her head so hard that it knocked her back a few feet.

“Minus 500 points Blaze.”  Green Defender announced.

“Don’t distract me!”  She hollered back.  She got up, flamed up again and let out a long stream of fire and pointed it to the monsters.  Each one of them caught on fire and they howled in pain.  “You thought that was hot?  Let’s see how you like my Wall of Fire!”  She set up a wall of flames in front of the Abominable Snowmen; it was two feet taller than them, and at least seven feet wide.  They ran in fright of the fire, “That’s right you better run!”  She taunted at them proudly.  Little did she know that the heavy footsteps from the creatures had caused an avalanche behind her!  “Now where is that noise coming from?”  She asked as she turned and was hit with a mass of white fine powder.

“Simulation ended.”  The computer announced, as the snow disappeared and Blaze sat there drenched, “Oh no! My new perm!”

“Maybe you should’ve waited till today to get one!”  Frezor laughed and other boys joined in.

“Green Defender, you owe me one!”  Blaze threatened.

“I’ll set you up an appointment for tomorrow.”  He assured her, “Mindra your up.”

“But Green Defender, how am I supposed to go up against things if the only ability is that of my brain?”

“You just answered your own question.”  Green Defender told her and pointed to the door, and with her head down she went inside.

“What was my time anyway?”  Blaze asked as she dried her hair with her hands.

“2:30 minutes.” He answered.

“Let’s hope I beat your time.”  Blaze said proudly.

“I haven’t gone yet.”  He told her honestly.

“You mean…Ah!”  She scoffed.

“Okay Mindra, you ready?”

“Ready Green Defender.”  Mindra looked around and the surroundings changed into an inside of an ancient Egyptian temple.  “Green Defender you have too much time on your hands.”  As she walked cautiously on the floor, knowing that each step could easily set off a trap. She then turned her attention to the hieroglyphics on the walls, “Beware those who trespass the sacred temple of The Great Pharaoh.  For those who are not careful shall meet their fate.  Boy, he watches way too much television.”  When she turned around, she was face to face with a Mummy!  “Why me?”  She whined as she dodged The Mummy’s first attempt to grab her.  “Great!  Mummy wants to tuck me into bed permanently!”  She ran and her foot landed on a panel that caused an arrow to shoot out of the side of a wall, and hit her in the shoulder.”

“Minus three hundred life points!”  Green Defenders’ voice came.

“Thanks for the update!”  She responded, she noticed The Mummy still coming towards her, so she continued her escape.  She kept her eyes moving as she ran, reading off the symbols on the wall and floor…and she spotted a panel on the on the floor that read, “Fire”.  “Hey Ramses, here boy!  C’mon you stupid excuse for toilet paper!”  She baited him, and as soon as it was close, enough she stomped on the panel and back flipped to avoid the flames.  The wall shot out a stream of fire, it landed on the Mummy, and it ran in pain past Mindra ignoring the fact that she was still there.  “And Blaze thought she was too hot to handle.”  She commented dusting off her hands, and she started to continue her exploration of the temple. She then stepped on a panel that caused the floor below her to fall through and she fell down the bottomless pit until the simulation ended and she landed on the floor.

“Simulation ended.”  The computer spoke.  The doors opened up and she exited the room and asked for her time.

“2:37 minutes,” Jacob answered.

“You beat Blaze by seven seconds.”  Molder patted her on the back.

“Frezor you next.”  Green Defender announced.

“Showtime!”  Frezor clapped his hands as he ran into the giant domed room.  As soon as the doors shut, the simulation began.  Frezor lowered his body temperature to solid ice, and as he did so, he realized that volcanoes surrounded him.  “Oh, this is so not cool!”  Frezor commented and out of his peripheral vision, he could see Lava Creatures coming out of the pools of the hot liquid.  “Oh great a warm welcoming committee.”  He shot out freeze blasts out unto the creatures freezing them solid.  He noticed one thing though the more of them that he took out, three more would take its place.  He continued to use his freeze blasts until he was almost surrounded.

“Okay guys, I know I deserve to get burned here but, could you at least give me a head start?”  In addition, he created an ice slide and slid away from danger, but the creatures threw globs of hot lava to knock him off, and finally one did…causing Frezor to fall into a volcano!

“Simulation ended.”  The computer announced.

“Someone get the name of that volcano?”  Frezor asked as he came out.

“3:00 minutes.”  Jacob gave him his time.

“Speaking of time, what time is it anyway?”  Sparks asked.

“Oh my, it's 10:30 we got to get ready to head to school!”  Molder exclaimed.

“I guess we’ll have to finish the rest of the simulations tomorrow,” Shieldra added.

“Well before I go anywhere I’m going to fix my hair.”  Blaze walked off to the woman’s locker room.

“But we’ll be late for the presentation!”  Molder told her as she walked away.

“It’s a VR trip to space, not like we’ll miss anything.” Sparks shrugged.

***

At 11 am, the students were in the gym to begin the NASA presentation.  Hector watched from announcers’ booth above them and watched them as they piled in, “Soon my friends,” he spoke to the others who had just taken out the NASA tech team, “we will get our revenge.”

“Welcome everyone!  My name is Dr. Ronald Jeters of NASA.  For the next few moments, we will be giving you a guided tour through the Milky Way and the galaxy beyond, via VR goggles.  Now if you would be so kind, please put them on and we’ll be on our way to the great world of outer space…now if the tech person above us at the announcers’ booth will turn on the program through our newest supercomputer will begin.”  The students put on the goggles and within seconds, they were transported into a different reality, standing around one another in darkness, looking at one another in confusion.  “I don’t understand...the program worked perfectly yesterday.”  Dr. Jeters scratched his head in confusion.

“Oh yes, it does work perfectly.”  Hectors’ voice came through the void, and then his face appeared, “Welcome to my world.”

“Hector?  Is that you?”  Principal Woods asked.

“That’s right old man!  Only you shall call me The Gamer from now on!”

“What do you want?”  Woods asked impatiently.

“What I've always wanted, revenge!  On those who mocked me, and my genius!  Who scorned and ignored me!  Each and every one of you shall fall to my mercy, you’ll beg for me to kill you…or I may just toy with you some more!”

“I demand that you release us, Hector!  Now!”  Woods negotiated.

“It’s The Gamer!  And since you won’t learn to call me by my true name, then I’m going to take you to school!”  Within seconds, the entire faculty was transported to a different place, where they were chained to desks and the teacher…was The Gamer!  “Now class, let’s begin.”

Back at the void, The Gamer focused his attention on his fellow classmates, “Now that our beloved faculty is getting a re-education, it’s time for me to place you all where I see fit!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

 

The teens arrived at their school and noticed the police were right outside the school.  “Uh-oh, something tells me that they’re not here for free donuts.”  Dave joked lightly as they pulled up.  An officer pulled them aside, and Mike asked, “What’s going on officer?”

“A group of students has taken the school hostage; they called the station less than a half hour ago, stating that they have taken over the building and that they will kill if anyone gets close.  I would suggest you go back to your homes and consider yourselves lucky.”

“Will do officer,” Mike assured him and told Dave to drive them out of there.  “Head back to The Big House; we’ll call our parents’ from there.”  Mike told the others, “Something tells me that The Alpha Force is going to have to intercede.”

Moments later The Alpha Force was in their meeting room, as Jacob began to brief them, “I was able to hack into the police computer, turns out that the group that was disqualified from yesterday's’ Science Fair is the ones’ that have taken the school hostage.”

“But the question is, is how do we stop him?”  Frezor asked,

“Sparks did you install the invisibility chip into the Bio-Suits programming?”  Green Defender asked.

“Did it yesterday, but they haven’t been tested.”

“Well, I don’t see a better time than now,” Shieldra spoke up.

“First we need to see what we’re up against.”  Green Defender told the other, “let’s head out and Bio-Suits activate.”

As they drove up to the school, they could see that the police had called in the S.W.A.T. Team to aid them, and The Press was they're trying to get the latest to tell their viewers.  “Don’t expect warm welcome guys.”  Green Defender warned them, “As far as most of these people are concerned we’re outlaws.”  They stopped the Battle Van a half a block away from the police line and walked out towards it.  The Press began to surround them asking questions of why they were there, but Shieldra had put up a shield around the team to give them space from the crowding paparazzi.

“What are you freaks doing here?”  Asked an S.W.A.T. personnel with his gun trained on them.

“Stand down Lt. I am sure The Alpha Force is here to help.”  Captain Amara came to their defense.

“That’s exactly why we’re here.”  Green Defender assured him.

“Have there been any demands?”  Molder asked.

“Just for us to keep our distance, otherwise he’s threatened to kill them all in one swift move.  The guy calls himself The Gamer.”

“This Gamer character is not to be taken lightly, Captain.”  Sparks said boldly, “He’s unstable enough to carry out his threat.”

“May I?”  Green Defender motioned for the megaphone, which the Captain nodded and handed it off to him, “Gamer, this is The Green Defender of The Alpha Force, we’re here to talk to you!”

“So the infamous Alpha Force has come to join the fun!”  He projected his voice through the schools outside speakers.

“We’re here to ask you to release your hostages and surrender.”  Green Defender called out diplomatically.

“Sorry I can’t do that, not until they pay!  And don’t even think of coming in here or I’ll pull the plug!”

“Well, so much for the diplomatic approach.”  Frezor shrugged.

“Well, we could always go in there.”  Molder suggested.

“Yeah but no telling how long the invisibility will last.”  Mindra brought to their attention, understanding what Molder was suggesting.

“We may need to approach this from a different angle,” Sparks said thoughtfully.

“How so?”  Shieldra asked.

“Think about it, where did Hector spend most of his time outside of school?”

“The library?”  Frezor threw out.

“His house,” Mindra answered knowingly.

“Exactly.”

“Sparks, you take Molder and Blaze to his house and see what you can find.”  Green Defender ordered.

“Roger,” Sparks saluted, and then he and the others left to the Battle Van.

“So you think they’ll find something?”  Shieldra asked Green Defender.

“We can only hope.”

Inside the gym, The Gamer checking on the progress of how his hostages were doing through the Super Computer’s monitor.  “Crunch has all the jocks playing against him and his copies in a game of football.  Molly is scaring the beauty out of the snobby girls.  Robert is giving the freshmen a tough lesson in track and field.  The nerds are enjoying their vacation along with Graham.  Red has the musical talents of the school in the palm of his hands.  In addition, James is giving the teachers a lesson they will never forget.  Ah, revenge is sweet after all.”

At Hector’s house, the trio walked around trying to find out any clue to aid them, “Talk about a need for an interior decorator.”  Blaze commented at the mess of the place.

“No kidding.”  Molder agreed.

“Will you two do less talking and more searching, every second count.”  Sparks scolded, “Here’s Hector’s room.”  He pointed out to them and they entered…and saw Hector's dad lying on the floor dead.  Sparks knelt down to check his pulse to confirm he was no longer in the land of the living, “He’s dead.”

“Great!  So now he’ll have a not just kidnapping on his file, but murder as well.”  Blaze exclaimed.

“Yeah, but the question is how did he kill him?”  Molder asked, “There seems to be no sign of struggle.”

“This is how.”  Sparks presented to the others, “His father linked up through those glasses and made him watch his wife’s death over and over again.”

“But what could that do?” Blaze wondered.

“Simple, the mind can only take so much emotion.  And according to my bio-scanner, his brain is literally fried.”  Sparks explained.

“Boy and I thought only drugs could do that.”  Molder commented.

“Don’t you see that’s exactly what this is?  It’s a mental drug, an overdose of emotions to be exact.”  Sparks continued.

“Do you think you can hack into the computer to see if we can find a way to everyone out of there in the school safely?”  Blaze asked Sparks.

“I could, but time is of the essence, at least we now know he was able to take the whole school hostage without anyone getting harmed…yet.”

“Let’s head back to the school and report our findings to the others.”  Molder told them and they left.

Moments later they returned to the school and reported everything they had found, to both the others and the police, “I’ll send a crime scene unit to The Gamer’s residence.”  Captain Amara informed them and went to go radio it in.

“So what now?”  Frezor asked.

“By using the invisibility program, we’ll sneak in and free them.”  Green Defender informed them.

“Yeah, but if we turn ourselves invisible where he can see us, then we would lose the element of surprise.”  Shieldra pointed out.

“That is why we’ll make it look as if we give up.”  Green Defender told her thoughtfully, as he walked up to Captain Amara and told him, “Sorry Captain but The Alpha Force can’t help,” he shook his hand and motioned the others to follow suit.

Captain Amara looked at the note in his hand, and inside the note, it had a communicator as well as the note saying, “We’ll be in touch.”

The Gamer looked on the monitor, which he had a screen that showed what was going on outside and noticed that The Alpha Force had left, and he busted up laughing, “They’re retreating?  Oh, this is too much!”  He punched into the keyboard and spoke through the computers’ microphone, “Attention everyone, I have news, The Alpha Force has left the area, I thought I might let you know, for I’m sure you were hoping that they would come in and save the day, but now they have proven that they are nothing but a bunch of cowards.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

 

 

 

Once The Alpha Force returned to The Battle Van, everyone turned to Green Defender who told them his plan, “We activate the invisibility chip within our Bio-Suits, go into the gym and confront The Gamer.”

“Then what?”  Asked Molder

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”  Green Defender answered.

Frezor drove the van a couple of blocks away and they exited the vehicle.  When they had walked up close enough to the school, they turned invisible and went into the school.  Moments later, they were in the gym and went inside of the announcers’ booth, and once they had surrounded The Gamer, they became visible.

“Game over, Gamer!”  Sparks snickered, with his hand glowing and crackling with electricity.

“How did you get in here?”

“That’s for us to know, and you to never find out.”  Green Defender answered.

“Doesn’t matter the games have just begun.”  He told them.

“What do you mean?”  Blaze asked.

“If you’re expecting me to give up that easily then you’re sadly mistaken.  I have a password to turn off this program into this computer, and if anything happens to me then all those that are within the system will remain there forever.”

“I could easily extract the password from your brain.”  Mindra threatened.

“No, too dangerous, we can’t risk that many lives.”  Sparks countered.

“Here’s my proposition, if you enter into the program and succeed in defeating my fellow teammates and freeing their captives in their worlds, then I will surrender, and give you the password."

“Then you must release one person from each of those worlds and we will take their place…We’ll do it.”  Green Defender agreed.

“Very well, I shall randomly pick a hostage from each area and you may take their place.”  The Gamer informed them as he began typing in command codes.

“To make sure he keeps his word, I’ll watch over him.”  Shieldra volunteered.

“I’m ready to begin.”  The Gamer announced.

“Be careful.”  Shieldra mouthed to Green Defender and he nodded.

As they walked towards the place of where the former hostages had been freed and they left as soon as they saw that The Alpha Force was coming in to take their place.  The Alpha Force put on the goggles and told The Gamer that they were ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

 

 

As soon as Sparks passed through the doorway, he saw that he was on an island.  He looked around and saw his friends from The Science Club; he walked up to them as gorgeous models were pampering them.  “Are you guys okay?”  He asked them.

“Never better.”  Answered Jim.

“Yeah, we’re having the time of our lives!”  Jim’s twin brother Jack agreed.

“We know it’s not real, and we want to leave but we can’t.  Therefore, we figured we‘d play along until Hector decides to release us.  And now that you’re here maybe we can.”  Jim explained.

“That’s the thing, I’m here to get you out of here because if you don’t you’ll die,” Sparks told all of them.

“How so?”  Jack asked intrigued.

“I don’t have time to explain right now.”  Sparks answered, getting a little impatient, “I’m waiting to do battle with whoever or whatever The Gamer creates.”

“You mean like a creature or something?”  Jim asked him.

“Possibly, why do you ask?”  Sparks wondered.

“Because it’s coming out of the water behind you!”  Jack answered in terror.

Sparks turned around and saw what they were pointing to him, the creature was a mix of different types of creatures: It had a head and upper body of a T-Rex, legs of a spider, the left arm was that of a crabs’ claw, and the right arm was robotic, and a tail of a scorpion.  “Boy and I thought Green Defender watched too much late night monster movies.”  He thought to himself, as he turned to the twins, “You guys get everyone to safety.”

“What about you?”  They asked in unison.

“I’m gonna a fry me a Godzilla wannabe.”  He looked towards the creature and it had just come out of the water, Sparks shot out a few electric bolts, but they did not phase the creature.  “So much for that idea.”  He murmured to himself, he had to think fast for the manipulated version of a T-Rex was approaching quickly.  It breathed fire at the little man, but Sparks dodged with the help of his electrifying speed.

“Come on Sparks think!  This thing is gonna make you his dinner.” He encouraged himself, he then looked at the creature and then the sand, “Of course! If I can hit the sand with the right amount of electricity, it should turn the sand into glass!  Well here goes nothing.”  He concentrated all of his energies and blasted a powerful electrical surge into the sand right in front of the creature.  Water from the ocean splashed over the area and it steamed, and it showed that he had succeeded.  The water also made the glass slippery causing the creature to slip and fall into the glass.  Hot shards of glass cut into the creature’s skin and it hollered in pain!  “Oh yeah!  Now to cool this dumb dino.”  He then went into the water only knee deep and began to taunt the creature who was getting up, “Hey you ugly excuse of a Sci-Fi channel reject!  Over here!”  The creature snarled in anger towards Sparks and ran to attempt to crush him by body splashing into the water, but missed as Sparks ran back to the shore.  When the creature began to get up to make another attempt, Sparks put his hands in the water, and release a huge amount of electricity into the water, it hollered in pain and then finally collapsed unconsciously.  “Cooked dino anyone?”

“Impossible!”  Gamers’ voice rang throughout the area, and he showed his face in where the sun was.

“Well hello, there sunshine!”  Sparks taunted.

“You weren’t supposed to defeat him!  Mega-Rex was invincible!”

“Maybe so, but you didn't make him electric proof.  You cannot defy the laws of science. You of all people should know that.”

“Well, I guess congratulations are in order.”

“Not only that, but releasing this area’s hostages.”  Sparks reminded him.

“Very well, a deal is a deal.”  Gamer quoted and all those who had been held hostage disappeared.

“Now that’s settled, I’ll be going.”  Sparks began to walk off.

“That’s what you think!”  Gamer commented cryptically. Just then, the metallic hand of Mega-Rex grabbed Sparks.

“Hey!  I thought I defeated this guy!”

“You did, but you didn't kill him.  Don’t feel bad you will soon have company!”  The Gamer informed him, and then Mega-Rex and his captive disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7

 

 

 

Mindra found herself in a classroom where she found the entire faculty “Is everyone all right?”  She asked Woods.

“Not really, we’ve already lost three staff members, a science teacher, and two math teachers,” Woods informed her.

“I’m here to put an end to The Gamer’s death toll.”  She assured him.

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”  Gamers’ voice came throughout the room, and a holographic image of the villain appeared in the front of the classroom.

“I always keep my promises!”

“A brave one I see, I hope you’re ready for the task at hand?”

“I’m ready for anything Gamer!”  Mindra informed him.

“Good!  On this chalkboard are a series of equations that translates into a sentence, which is the only way to defeat The Quiz Master!  I will give you a five-minute head start, if do not have it figured out by then, he will eliminate you…permanently!  Good luck!”

“Great, well I’ll give it my best.”  She looked hard at the equations, trying to decipher their meanings.  Three minutes later, she was still on the first one, “These equations don’t add up!”

“The three teachers that died couldn't figure it out either,” Woods told her.

“Causing them to have a mental overload.”  She diagnosed, “Wait for a second!”

“What is it?”  Woods asked in wonder.

“I just remembered something; The Gamer said that the equations formed a sentence.”

“Yeah so?”

“Math is its own language.”  Mindra snapped her fingers.  She then used her ability to decipher the equations.

“Thirty seconds left!”  Woods warned her.

“I know.”  She responded. She was nearly done when a figure came into the doorway, a young man in a lab coat and ruler came in.  “Jamie Glass you’re The Quiz Master?”

“That’s right little girl, and I’m here to take you to school!”  He pointed his ruler at her and it fired a laser blast, which she dodged acrobatically.  She then jumped into the air, landed in front of her adversary, kicked the ruler out of his hand, and punched him in the face with a few quick strikes, knocking him back a bit.  She then shoved him into the wall, picked him up and threw him out the door.  “That’ll give me another fifteen seconds to finish this.”  She told herself as she looked at the chalkboard one more time.

“Time’s up!”  Quiz Master panted as he came back into the room.

“Oh, you got that right.”  She agreed, “Yours!  The answer is, ‘A true scientist does not allow the problem control his actions, but urge him to find the answer.’”

“No!”  The Quiz Master hollered as a bright light shown around him and he was gone.

“How could you!”  Gamers’ annoying voice rang throughout the computerized classroom, and the holographic version of him appeared, “No one should’ve been able to solve it.”

“I guess I just got lucky then?  Now free the faculty!”

“Very well.”  He put his head down in defeat, and seconds later, the hostages disappeared.

“Now if you’ll excuse me.”  She pardoned herself.

“Wait!  I have one more for you to do.”  He waved his hand over the chalkboard and the symbols changed.  “Please…I promise I won’t interfere.”

“All right.”  She agreed, and she walked in front of the chalkboard, and read it aloud, “Never believe what you see.”  She turned to him, “What’s that supposed to mean?”  As soon as she asked, she got her answer in the form of a hand coming out of the chalkboard and it grabbed her and pulled her in as she screamed in horror!

 

 

 

Chapter 8

 

 

 

The first thing that Frezor noticed was that he was on the schools’ football field.  All of the jocks were sitting on the sidelines with their heads down in defeat.  He walked up to them, “Having problems guys?”

“You could say that frosty.”  The team captain answered glumly, but Frezor ignored the insult, “it's halftime and we’re down by 21 points.”

“That’s not so bad,” Frezor commented.

“Each quarter is two minutes long.  Not only just that, but to keep the ball you have to score a touchdown, and only four downs to do it in, no first down’s at all in this twisted game.”

“No 1st and 10’s huh?”  He asked, and they all shook their heads.  “Maybe I could help.”

“Well, I guess we really don’t have a choice, The Gamer said that if we didn't win then he was going to pull the plug on us!”  The Captain admitted,

“Halftime’s over ladies!”  Gamers’ voice came through the sound system, “And here to help the home team is Frezor of The Alpha Force!”  The Gamer then appeared on the field in a referee uniform.

“This game keeps getting better and better!”  Frezor muttered disappointingly.

“And here come the dominating away team:  The Crunchers!”  The Gamer announced as 11 players came out onto the field, each of them looking like John Crunch.

“Now I see why you guys are having trouble, you are going up against someone that knows your plays inside and out,” Frezor observed.

“And that’s why we haven’t scored.”  One of the wide receivers informed him, “Crunch knows everything about us.”

“Have you tried switching positions?”  He asked them, and they nodded.  “Then give me the ball each time, I’ll use my ice abilities to slide into the end zone, you guys just keep them off my tail!”  They all nodded in agreement and headed back onto the field for the first play of the half.  They positioned themselves to receive the ball, and once it was kicked off to them, Frezor caught it and made an ice slide over the players to where they could not touch him, and within fifteen seconds, he scored the home teams’ first touchdown!

“Wait a minute!  You used your powers!  That’s cheating!”  The Gamer complained.

“If you can change the rules, then I can use my abilities!”  Frezor counted.

“Oh, very well.”  The Gamer conceded.

Throughout the remainder of the third quarter and up until thirty seconds left in the fourth, the home team was able to catch up.  The game was tied, the ball was on the fifty-yard line, and the home team had possession.  With no timeouts left to use, they handed the ball off to Frezor, who would run for about fifteen yards and go out of bounds to stop the clock.  He looked up at the clock and it read 15 seconds left.  They formed up at the line of scrimmage and ran a rush play again, handing the ball off to Frezor who ran to the right.  He was just a few yards away from the end zone…with three crunchers blocking his path, he freeze blasted to where they were embedded in ice and Frezor ice slid over them into the end zone!

“Game over!  The Home Team Wins!”  The announcer bellowed.

“No!”  Complained The Gamer.

“Just like the announcer said, ’Game over!’  Now release the jocks!”

“I know, I know.”  The Gamer admitted in defeat, and the players disappeared.

“Now that is done, time for me to go.”  Frezor began to walk away.

“Is that so?”  The Gamer asked with evil intent in his voice.

Before Frezor could respond to the question, a pillar of fire came out of the ground, he hollered in pain, and his icy armor melted, to only showing his Bio-Suit.  Once the fire was gone, Crunch came up and grabbed him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9

 

 

 

Blaze could not believe her eyes as she looked up at the house in front of her.  “This house needs to be put on the condemned list.”  She commented as continued walking up to it.  The house looked like it was a giant dollhouse and it looked as if it was at least two hundred years old.  It was three stories tall, and it looked like it had not been painted in nearly close to a century.  The windows were partially broken and the door had no doorknob.  She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.  She listened for footsteps but heard none.  Well so much for a warm welcome.  She thought to herself.  She laid her hands on the door and pushed it open.  She looked around to see if she could see anyone, she knew from school.  “Hello?  Anybody here?”  She called out, but no one answered.  She searched each room one by one, and finally found a room where she could hear whimpering, the room was dark as she entered in, so she lifts up her hand to shed some light on the subject, “Lord what happened to them?”  She prayed as she looked upon all the girls in the giant room crying.  All the girls that would usually dressed up to outdo others, were now wearing clothes that were dirty and shredded, and their faces were pale and their hair was nearly gone.

“Is everyone all right?”  She asked them, but none of them answered.  They’re too scared to answer.  Blaze thought to herself, “Something must’ve really scared them.”  She then heard a rustling in the closet, she walked up to it cautiously, “Is someone in there?  Are you okay?”  Just then, a figure of a girl jumped out of the closet and tackled Blaze to the ground! Blaze lit up her body a bit more to see who was attacking her, “Molly Hatcher?”

“I’m called Ugly Dolly!  Moreover, I have taken away their confidence, their beauty.  Soon they will be so depressed that will want to end their lives for the fear of being ugly.  And you're next!”

“I don’t think so!”  Not unless you can take the heat!”  Blaze told her and she really poured on the heat, to the point where Ugly Dolly was starting to catch aflame and she backed off, “What’s the matter, can’t take it can you?”

“I hate fire!”  Ugly Dolly whined.

“Is that so?  Well, then I guess I turn it up some more!”  Blaze threatened.

“I’m going to kill you, you overgrown torch!”

“Really?  Well here’s your chance there’s a bucket of water right next to you.  If you put out my flame I may die.”

Ugly Dolly did not waste any time, she grabbed the bucket off the dresser and splashed Blaze with all of its content, and it put her out!  “I did it!”

“Oh no, you put me out!  I’m going to die!” Blaze cried as she began to fall to her knees, “Not!”  She jumped into the air, with her flames hotter than ever, “Sorry if I got your hopes up. Ring of Fire!”  And around the villainous was a ring of burning embers that grew around her.

“No, no, please don’t!”  Ugly Dolly pleaded.

“Sorry but, the ring will grow closer and closer until you admit defeat.”

“Never!”

“Your choice.”  In addition, the flames grew closer and closer as she promised.

“Okay you win, you win!”  And she was gone, and seconds later so was everyone else. “Now to get out here myself.”

“Not so fast my little firefly.”  The Gamer taunted, “Our fun has just begun.”  He pushed her into the closet that Ugly Dolly came out at and closed the door behind her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

 

 

He found himself in a very familiar place, a place where he spent every morning at school.  However, this time it was different for The Green Defender, for the band room was a place where he and his band friends would find peace and comfort playing music, but now it had become their virtual prison.  He looked around and saw not only band members, but choir members as well, This isn’t good.  He thought to himself.  He walked around observing everyone, seeing if he may find a clue to freeing them.  He noticed that those who were the best at their instruments were not able to play a single note and the same with the choir, they could not sing to carry a simple tune.  He also noticed that some of them had begun having breakdowns, “If I don’t get them out here soon they’ll die.”

“Yes, they will die.”  A voice behind him and The Green Defender turned to see who was, “You probably knew me as Red Allen, but here I’m called The Maestro.”  He was dressed in a tuxedo and held a baton in his right hand.

“Talk about someone out of a bad opera.”  Green Defender commented as he set himself into a fighting stance.

“At least I don’t wear a ridiculous green costume.”  The Maestro countered.

“Touché, but I’m not here to debate over fashion issues, I’m here to rescue the hostages.”

“If you wish to do so, but you must go through me first.”

“Suits me just fine!” He agreed, and using his speed, he rushed the villain, and slammed his right fist into the enemy’s jaw!  The impact of the blow made him crash through one of the practice rooms, but he came out of there within seconds.  “This is going to be tougher than I thought.”  Green Defender admitted to himself out loud.

“Now it’s my turn!”  Maestro announced as he pointed his baton at his adversary, and a mix of horrible sounds came out of it, causing The Green Defender to go down to his knees covering his ears through this mask.

The pain…is practically…unbearable.  He thought to himself, But I can’t fail…must defeat him!  He strained to get up and mentally fought off the sounds that were entering his ears.

"What is this?  You’re trying to withstand my power?”  Maestro asked rhetorically, “Then I’ll just increase the decibels!”  More sounds came out of the baton.  Once again, Green Defender was on his knees.  “You’re a resilient one, but I’ll break you, that you can be sure of!”  The Maestro threatened as he walked closer and closer, and as he did so, the sounds got louder and louder!

That’s right you overgrown bagpipe!  Green Defender taunted silently, Come a little closer.  For unknown to The Maestro that Green Defender had tuned out the noise by singing hymns to himself.

The Maestro stood over him and said, “Now you will die, my little green friend.”  He pointed the baton right over the hero’s head.

“That’s what you think!”  Green Defender countered, as he snapped his right hand up and grabbed the baton out of The Maestros’ hand.  He then punched him his left fist knocking the enemy back, “your overconfidence is your weakness,” Green Defender quoted from a famous movie, “And like in all video games, game over!”  He took the baton and snapped it in half.  The Maestro screamed in defeat, and he disappeared.

The Gamer appeared in his holographic form, “Well done,” he applauded, “I was hoping for a bit more of a fight, but oh well.”

“Release them Gamer!”  Green Defender demanded wasting no time.

“Of course,” he nodded, and within seconds, the hostages were gone.

“Now that is over and done with, it’s time for me to go.”  Green Defender said with a sigh of relief.

“Not so fast!”  The Gamer told him, and all of the sudden, a laser-like rope wrapped itself around the green hero.

“You double-crossing nerd!”

          

“Oh, such harsh words.  You really don’t think that I was going to let you and your friends off so easily now did you?”  Gamer grinned evilly.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

 

 

Molder could not believe his eyes, for he found himself in the time of ancient Rome.  “If my history is right, this is an exact recreation of the Roman Coliseum.”

            

“Nice observation.”  Complimented The Gamer as he appeared.

“Tell me what I need to do to free these students.”  Molder pointed to the kids in the stands.

“Simple you must go against my entire computer-generated warriors, including Robert Strong who is now The Gladiator!  And I've decided to be a nice guy and give the students a well-needed rest as they watch you die!”

“How very thoughtful, remind me to send you a Hallmark Card while you’re in prison.”

“Temper, temper, now here are the rules, you can use your powers to defeat your foes, and each passing ten seconds a warrior will come out, and will keep going until you have defeated all of them, and then finally you shall go up against my Gladiator.”

“Fine with me, but it doesn't matter one way or another I’ll win!”  Molder stated boldly.

“A brave one aren't we?  Well in the time old tradition, Let the Games begin!”  The Gamer announced and as he disappeared, a warrior with a short, sword and shield came out.

The warrior swung the sword at Molders’ head, but he dodged to the right and poured concrete out of his hands onto the warriors’ boots.  Moreover, when he tried to move he tumbled forward and Molder sprayed more quick drying cement over the fallen foe until he looked like a slab of concrete.  “One down and a lot more to go.” Another one appeared a few seconds later this time this one was in a chariot!  “Oh too easy!”  Molder thought to himself.  As the warrior came by him to thrust his spear into the concrete hero, Molder threw a clump of mud in his eyes!  The warrior growled in frustration as he tried to get the mud out of his eyes, and by the time he did, he ran right into a wall and was gone.  One by one, they appeared to fend off the lump of mud of a man; however, each of them failed, for Molder was using every trick in the book, by using every form of soil that he had learned throughout the last year.  He would make pits under the ground come out of nowhere, quicksand.

“Boy, this is getting harder with each passing minute.”  Molder told himself, as he felt himself becoming fatigue.  “How many do I got left?”  He then added it up in his head, “If my calculations are correct I should be near to the final guy!”  Just as he said that The Gladiator appeared.  “Good now I just have to finish you off.!”

“That’s what you think little man!”  The Gladiator told him, he held his sword into the air and within seconds, all those whom Molder had defeated regenerated.  “One of you against all of us!  Attack!”  The warriors roared in a battle cry and ran towards Molder.

“I guess I only have one more trick up my sleeve.”  Molder thrust his hands into the ground, it opened up between him and his enemies, and they all fell into the virtual earth until they were all gone, and he closed it up.  “That’s all of them.”  He panted.

“You defeated all of them,” Gamer observed as he appeared.

“Release the students; otherwise I’ll put you into the ground like those roman rejects.”

“No need for threats.”  Gamer told him, and the hostages were gone.

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to join the others.”

“Oh, you certainly shall.” Gamer taunted.  Just then, a glass encased Molder and disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 12

 

 

 

Outside of the school, Captain Amara and his men were waiting to see what was going to happen next.  An hour had passed since The Alpha Force had left to take on The Gamer and his henchmen.  Amara kept his eyes open for any sign of life that may finally come out of the school.

“Do you think we should’ve let them in?”  The S.W.A.T. Lieutenant asked.

“Not sure, but despite what the media says, I believe The Alpha Force is here to do the work of good.”  Just as he said that, a group of students and teachers coming out of the school, “Well I’ll be…Lieutenant you and your men help them.”

“Right away sir.”

“Good job kids, good job.”  Amara complimented.

***

Shieldra was starting to worry, for she knew that an hour had nearly passed and that the rest of her team should have been done by now.  She had kept an eye on The Gamer like, but decided to check on the others by looking out from the announcer's booth and noticed that all of the hostages were gone but only The Alpha Force was still there!  Just as she turned around, a set of glasses was put over her eyes.  “I was wondering when you were going to catch on?” The Gamer asked her, though she could not respond.  “Now you can join the others.”

The heroes found themselves in a virtual prison, and Shieldra was the last to join them, “Sorry guys, I let my guard down at the last second.”

“Don’t worry, The Gamer tricked us all,” Mindra assured her.

“Now that you are all here,” Gamer’s voice came from outside of the door, “The time has come for you to go up against your greatest challenge…me!”

“You?”  Molder asked in disbelief.

“Yes, but you see I've created an ultimate version of myself, the only question is, are you ready?”

“Now that we’re together Gamer, you’re gonna learn why we are a force to reckon with.”  Green Defender warned him.

The door in front of them opened up, and The Alpha Force walked out, looked at one another and pressed a button on their Changers.  The next thing they knew they were no longer in a prison but avoid.  All of the sudden they were in the Roman Coliseum, then the Band Room, The Doll House, all of the places they had fought in. “ He’s trying to distort our surroundings.”  Green Defender pointed out, and then a ten-foot tall version of The Gamer appeared within a metallic suit and his face behind a glass shield.

“Are you ready for your doom?”  Gamer asked them, “Any last words?”

“Sure give us a minute to strategize.”  Green Defender answered.

“Very well, but make it snappy!”

They huddled up together, “Sparks how long will it take for the virus to take effect?”  Green Defender asked him.

“At least five minutes.”

“Then we need to him busy, but remember this; if he kills us in here, we’re dead for good.”  Green Defender told the others, “Shieldra we’ll need you to put shields over us; we’ll to our best not to get hit.”

“I’ll do my best.”  She assured them.

“We’ll do our best to keep him from getting to you…”  Green Defender started to tell her.

“Times’ up!”  Gamer interrupted, “Play time!”  He pointed his metallic fingers at them and missiles fired out of them.

“Scatter!”  Green Defender ordered and they did so, by jumping in all directions, “I hope this works.”  Green Defender told himself as he flew up to the chest of the machine and started punching it.

“Really, you think that a little fly like you can knock someone like me down?”  Gamer asked as he slammed his fist down on Green Defender and he hit the ground hard. Gamer then started to shoot fireballs out of the palms of his metallic body, but Frezor froze them shut. “Your powers are no match for me!  You’re finished!”

“That’s what you think!”  Green Defender told him as he struggled to get up, “Molder blind him, Frezor freeze his legs, and Blaze torch his arms.”

“Hey Gamer here’s mud in your eyes!”  He taunted as he slung the mud into the face of the Gamer.

“Aw!  I can’t see!”  Gamer complained.

Blaze flew up in the range where she welded the hands of The Gamer to his face.  Frezor froze his legs and when he try to move, he fell down to his knees.  “Sparks he’s having problems, let’s help him rest a spell.” Green Defender offered.

“I agree.”  He nodded.  Going at a rate of blinding speed, they slammed their fists into the giants’ chest, knocking him back.  Green Defender leaped up to the head of the Gamers’ creation and tore it off using his strength.  The Gamer looked up, and he could tell that he was in trouble, “Like I said before Gamer, Game Over!”  Green Defender punched The Gamer right in the face; he flew a few feet and landed.

“Can’t we talk about this?”  He asked in defeat, and then he noticed that his metallic body started to distort and then disappeared, as well as the world around them.  “What’s going on?”

“We had a contingency plan just in case you decided to double cross us, we carried a virus within our Bio-Suits and once you transported us here, we activated it,”  Sparks answered brilliantly.

“No, my world!”  Gamer whined as they transported back to the real world.  Once they were back, Shieldra formed a force field around him, and she lifted it up off the ground to carry the prisoner outside along with The Gamers henchmen.

The Alpha Force turned The Gamer and his crew into the hands of the authorities, and a good thing too, for the United Nations Police Force was minutes away.  “Sorry Alpha Force but The Mayor was the one that called them,” Amara informed them.

“It’s okay Captain Amara, we best get out of here.”  Green Defender told his comrades. They got into their Battle Van and left the premises.

 

 

 

Epilogue

 

 

 

The next day at school everyone was back and talking about their experiences inside The Gamers’ world.  The Jocks were bragging about how they got themselves out of their situation, as the Snobby girls held onto their every word.  The Nerds were talking how cool it was to fight side by side with The Alpha Force.  Everything was back to normal as the teens could tell, except that some of the students were having second thoughts about how they were living their lives and said they were going to try to lead better ones.

The teens met at lunch out by the baseball field for it was a nice day out.  “Did you hear how the team captain of the football team boasted how he defeated The Gamer?”  Dave asked everyone.

“Yeah and how he and other jocks saved the girls in The Doll House?”  Clara brought up.

“You would think that some of them would make some serious changes in their lives, especially what they went through.”  Ally thought aloud.

“Rome wasn't built in a day.”  Mike quoted.

“At least you said something that wasn't cryptic or a Sci-Fi reference.”  John pointed out.

Nicole put her arm around Mike, “You can speak any way you want babe.”  She told him and kissed him.  “Besides, the girls and I really need the money for another makeover.” They all busted up laughing and continued their lunch break.

***

At the Salem Institution of the Criminally Insane, Hector sat in his cell quietly.  He asked for a computer but they gave him pencils and paper instead, which was fine with him.  He wrote equations down on the paper, which would lead to another plan to defeat The Alpha Force.  “Hector your lawyer is here.”  The guard told him as he opened the door.

“I don’t have a lawyer.”  Hector countered.

“You do now.”  Said a tall woman in an Armani Suit.  “My name Katherine Ruthers, I've been sent here by my employer, “she handed him a business card, “We understand you like electronics?”

“Yes, that is true,” Hector answered.

“I am also here to discuss your plea bargain.”

“And my friends?”  Hector asked her.

“I am also handling their cases.”  She assured him.

“So what kind of plea bargain are we looking at?”

“If you plead guilty, I can convince them to have you stay here for six months to a year under psychiatric evaluation.  And then you shall be free to go.”

“Is that so?”  Hector asked in glee.

“Yes, my employer is hoping to make use of your skills,” Ruthers informed him.

“Well, then it looks like we got ourselves a deal.”  He shook hands with her.

She left the facility, and once inside her car, she turned on her cell phone and called a number.  “It’s Ruthers,” She spoke in Russian, “He took the deal…No, he has no idea who my true employer is….Ruthers out.”  She put the phone away and looked at Hectors’ file as well as other, “Soon you all are going to be a part of a very special unit.”