Still trapped in the chair, I couldn’t stop staring at the blue ball Mom left behind.
What was that thing? I noticed the symbol on it. It’s the same one embedded on the device Zirocco brought.
Two new guards came in, and these two were all too familiar.
“Marcy, Chad, what are you doing here?” I asked, shocked.
“Hello, Maddie,” Chad said. “We’ve been looking for you.”
“We’re responsible for taking you into our dissection chambers,” Marcy said, showing no emotion.
“Dissection?” I said freaking out. I tried to break out of that chair but my abilities failed. It looked like I was about to meet my end.
“It’s nothing against you, Maddie, it’s about our survival,” Marcy said. “We can’t take any chances with hybrids running around so we make sure we understand their powers and defend ourselves a
For anyone who’s ever felt lost before, you probably understand what I was feeling at this point in my life. I curled up next to Marcy’s body, trying to understand how this happened.“Madelyn, I am sorry,” Mom said. “I didn’t expect this to happen.”Without thinking, I summoned a tiger shroud around my arm and grabbed my mom by the neck, pushing her into the wall. I had lost two of the most important people in my life. Now my mother, who betrayed me is trying to apologize for it. Why should I forgive her?“It’s all your fault!” I roared.“Madelyn! I know that you’re upset, but…” she said.“I am past being upset. You sold out to Vanity.”“Let me make up for it,” Mom pleaded. “Please allow me to help save all of us.”“What are you talking about?”“I kn
The six of us landed in an area resembling a spaceship pad. I mourned Mom and hung my head in sorrow while Daryl and Natalie held my arms.“Where are we?” Eric asked. The device we used to escape flew out of Rick’s hand, projecting a hologram of Zirocco.“Hello, children,” Zirocco said. “I see you’ve found the Omni Tower.”“The Omni Tower?” Daryl asked“This is one of the few structures left on this planet that is composed of the same material that as Zen Academy. It was abandoned by your Akarrian parents who rebelled against Chancellor Thorne before she captured and attempted toassimilate my programming into the academy.” “What do you know about Vanity?” Eric asked.“How do you know about our parents?” Rick asked.“According to your genetic signatures, each of you who are offspring of
I started to enter Natalie’s mind and to be honest, I was scared of what I’d find, based on how we met.I learned Natalie didn’t start her life as a soldier or a mercenary. At first, she was a farm girl who worked on a small plot her family owned. She grew up never knowing about her mother, but her father was a soldier in the Vietnamese Army.Natalie and her uncle chose to separate themselves from the Vietnamese government to create a private Taskforce for International Affairs.One day, Natalie received a letter from her uncle informing her father had been killed in action. The news made her angry at the world, shutting out every person in her village.She mostly kept busy doing extra chores around the village to avoid thinking about her father. But one day while she planted vegetables in the local garden, she went through the “change.”Her body collapsed when she felt painful surges of e
It was the ultimatum from hell, and we knew it. Chancellor Thorne’s voice swirled in my head.Submit yourselves to me, and you shall see your loved ones resurrected. It is only logical.Where do your loyalties lie, anyway? With a human planet that abhors your kind, or with me, who has always been on your side?Argh! Thorne was at it again, using twisted logic to try to control us. If you didn’t know better, you’d think siding with her was the moral thing to do.But I had seen too much. Thorne was a monster, and her blood flowing in my veins was poison to my heart. I would give anything to get my dad back—almost anything, that is—except for joining any cause with Thorne written on it. My stomach did flips thinking that the others might not agree with me.I glanced at Rick. I hadn’t known him for long, but I knew his story.Thorne’s ultimatum wasn&r
We took our uniforms and changed into them in a hurry.“Whoa, check me out,” Adrian said.She emerged wearing a red uniform with gold streaks around it and an oval across her chest.“Looking good,” I said. I walked up to Adrian sporting a green uniform with pink stripes on the sides and a pink butterfly outline on my chest.“Same to you, Medulla!” Adrian said.“Medulla?” I asked.“Since we are going to be bad ass super heroes, I figure each of us should have a fitting name,” Adrian said. “You’re a telepath so you use your brain more than any of us. So I thought why not use a codename that fits your powers? On the field, call me Energygrid.”“Five seconds of wearing these pop-rock band costumes and she’s dishing out the nicknames,” Daryl said, entering the room dressed in a dark turquoise uniform wit
It’s hard to imagine that going up against a power-hungry alien could get any scarier.We all stared at the monstrous display of power Thorne was about to unleash. With the partial energy she siphoned from the Anomaly, we hoped we could stop her.“You children should’ve joined me when you had a chance,” Thorne said. “Especially you, my dear. You inherited your father’s weakness. Your pathetic belief in human righteousness blinds you from capabilities of your race.”She continued ranting while the remains of the academy spiraled around her. “It’s a shame that neither them nor any of you could have seen the true vision of New Akarrius.”“We must destroy that thing on her chest,” Primal said. “It should break her connection to the Anomaly forever.”Thorne summoned a massive ball of magenta energy lights and fired it toward us. “Die,
s I woke up, I opened my eyes while Adrian and Eric tried to revive me. Sweat dripped down my face. I could not help but feel these visions had more connections to the academy. How could we plan a successful escape? “Thank goodness you’re awake, chica,” Adrian said. She gave me a tight hug. For a second, I started to think of Marcy. Even though it was not that long ago, it felt like forever since I had an actual real friend worry about me. “What happened? Where’s Natalie? How long have I been out?” I asked. “You’ve been out for 50 years, chica. We are the grandkids of your friends! And the world is now ruled by giant, talking lobsters.” “What?” “Just kidding, lighten up.” Now was not a good time to joke around. Eric elbowed her in the arm. “Not funny,” he said. “You guys are too tense. After that training, we need a little humor,” Adrian said. “The tr
I am nothing like her.....The gunshots blew all around us as Eric Issacs ( Ying yang), Natalie Chang ( Warzone), and myself ( Maddie North, Medulla ) cover the barrage of Vanity's attacks!" Keep calm! We got this !" Ying Yang said as the three of us took cover from the relentless soldiers.You can end this! A sinister voice haunted me as we sat there unable to retaliate." We gotta do something now! " Warzone said as she generated a rifle out of her orange energy. "Use it! Use the Anomaly." Are you sure you can make the shoots? " Ying Yang said." After two years, you're still asking me that? " Warzone responded.You could save them! Just like you should have saved your friends and your mother!" Stop! Get out of my head! " I muttered to myself! I clutch my head struggles to stop the voices from controlling me again." Medulla! If Warzone